l'Italia Bella Part 1

After finishing my six weeks of Spanish school I went to Italy on July 18 to join Felicia who had gone there the week before. I had not planned to travel outside of Spain on this trip, so going to Italy was rather spontaneous. I hadn't gotten anywhere with finding a job in Barcelona and no one from home was visiting at the time so I thought it would be really fun to travel with her for a few weeks.

I'm totally glad I went because we saw some really beautiful places and had some wonderful food. Before this trip I had only gone to Rome and Venice for a few days each. This time I really got to learn more about Italy. I flew in to Milan on a dark and stormy night with the wind howling and fallen tree branches strewn across the roadway blocking the path of the bus from the airport. The next day was perfectly clear as we walked around to do a little shopping (I had lost the battery charger for my little camera) and see the big duomo (cathedral) in the middle of down. And, of course we ate gelato.

That night we took the train to Parma, home of Parmesian cheese and thinly sliced Parma ham. We visited and stayed with Angelo, a friend of Felicia's family, both at their apartment in Parma and at their beach house on the coast west of Parma. The town of Parma itself is quite small so we were able to take a stroll through it in a couple of hours. Angelo cooked us a great lunch of pasta with pesto sauce, Parma ham, Parmesian cheese, melon and wine. It was fantastic. That afternoon we drove a couple of hours to the beach town where the rest of his family was staying for the summer. We went to a private beach both that day and the next, where they had rented a spot in the sand with a few chairs and an umbrella. That afternoon we took the train to Pisa to see... of course the leaning tower. Felicia got me to do the pose where it looks like I am holding it up. I took pictures of other people doing the pose as well.

In the early evening we then took the train to Florence, a beautiful city. We walked around the city and also saw Michaelangelo's David. For some reason they don't want anyone to take photos of the statue, which sounds totally silly to me. David was made to be a sculpture outside in a public square for everyone to see. So I think it's wrong that they won't even let anyone take any photos. They must think they can sell more postcards in the gift shop. Flash photography shouldn't harm a sculpture like it can harm paintings. We also saw the famous bridge over the river. Halfway across the bridge there was a small fence forming a square around a small statue. On the fence were dozens of locks. The story goes that if you come with your love and place a lock on the fence then your love will endure as long as the lock stays in place.

The next day we went to Siena, which is a small town on the top of a hill. We saw the duomo, hiked around the old, walled city, and took lots more pictures. My favorite is this view from the top of the duomo.

The next day we were off to Rome. I had been there before but it was nice to return so that I could see more of the many ruins and learn how to get around. One of the best things we discovered after a day at the Colesium and Roman forum were excellent pizza and gelato take-out places right next to each other at the foot of the Spanish Steps! The pizza place had a cold pizza with fresh mozzarella and tomato. The gelato place had a flavor called the Chocolate Orgasm. Both were excellent.

Coming up in part 2... more details about our trip in Rome, Capri, Naples, Popeii, Le Cinque Terre, and Venice!