Eataly Spring Break

If you know me, you know I love Italian food and that I’ve always wanted to go to Italy. In fact, I always thought I would study there in my semester abroad. Studying in Prague was about the most last minute big decision I’ve ever made, but turned out to be one of the best for me. I knew I had to stop at the country of pasta and pizza during my semester, and thankfully I found some friends with the same idea.

Our school gave us just a long weekend for what all of us students dubbed as our Spring Break. Now, Thursday to Monday just didn’t seem like enough time for us, so my roommates and friends from CU took off a few extra days of school to extend our little break. We had to grand idea of going to just about every beautiful, renaissance city Italy had to offer, but we had to settle for just four in the short amount of time we had. Through weighing our options, talking to friends staying in different places, and making an extensive budget sheet, we decided on Venice, Florence, Rome, and Sorrento.

It’s funny because with my friends from school I’m typically the one with no clue what’s going on, but here, I play mom in about every situation. From waking up my roommates for class to reminding them to pay their phone bills, I also took on the responsibility of booking essentially our entire trip. Planes, trains, buses, tour groups, reservations, and more were made and we were off to our first destination of Venice, Italy with my stack on tickets in my mom sized purse and my camera ready to go on Tuesday evening.

Now, I spent a solid week in Italy and could probably write about it for days. So those of you with short attention spans I don’t recommend this blog. For the rest of you, I’ll try to keep it as short and sweet as the gelato I had while on my trip. Though I’m not sure anything could top the pink grapefruit, red raspberry, and white chocolate combination I had in Rome.

As we landed in Venice, we knew we made the right choice. The water taxi took us across the water where we watched the sun set as we cruised to our destination. It was here that I thought my camera was broken and had about the closest thing to a panic attack I’ve ever experienced as I thought I couldn’t take any pictures, but with a little help from Jamie, the crisis was averted and our Instagram accounts were saved.

We explored the beautiful city floating on water during the day on Wednesday. We devoured amazing burrata and seafood, saw the beautiful colored buildings, and took a stroll through the famous square to see St. Mark’s Basilica.

A few of us even treated ourselves to a gondola ride, something I have always wanted to do in Venice and it seemed silly to not take advantage of the opportunity while in the famous city.

Keira, Lisa, and myself hopped onto the gondola with our gondolier, Valentino. Now, I’m sure most of you know the stereotype of Italian men, and Valentino fit that perfectly. He took a liking to us, and even let us steer the gondola around the narrow canals of the city. He sang a few songs, spoke in Italian, and even joked about us living in Venice forever with him. Nice try, Valentino. Better luck with the next girl.

After seeing what we wanted to see and checking things off of our Venice checklist, we headed on the water taxi back to the mainland to catch our train to Florence.

After our smooth travels to Florence, all of us that traveled together went our separate ways to meet with friends with the understanding that we would meet up the next day to see the David. There I met with my friends Bella and Frankie who spent their semester in Florence. Although they came two weekends before to Prague for a visit (read my blog Tour Guide Megs to hear more about that), I have to say I quite missed them. I’ve never met friends that get me quite like them and can almost say I missed their teasing. Almost.

Now before I talk about my time in Florence, I would like to warn you that I ate quite a bit during this portion of my trip. If you are hungry while reading this, I highly recommend grabbing a snack before continuing.

Anyways, my friends took me to about the most fabulous dinner I have had abroad. We treated ourselves to wine and blueberry and balsamic infused steaks. Yes. Blueberry. Balsamic. Steak. It might have been the most delicious steak I have ever eaten, and if you combine that with the homemade pastas, salads, and desserts that we had with the company of good friends, I was extremely satisfied.

The next morning, Bella took me to get her favorite ricotta croissants. Sounds interesting, right? Well, it was phenomenal and I ate two. Yes, two. I’m currently craving one as I write this blog and wish I had not two but three in front of me. Bella, if you’re reading this, bless your sweet soul.

She showed me around her school and we made our way to the Academia, where I had made a reservation to see the David. Bella dropped me off and bid me farewell as I waited for my friends to meet me there. I had no service, no data, and was just hoping that they would find me in the large lines. After waiting and waiting, I finally got ahold of one of the girls and realized my friends weren’t coming. I found a nice Italian family to save my spot to get my ticket for the reservation and headed inside to see what I was most excited for in Florence.

The David was amazing. I marveled at the statue for about forty five minutes and took a total of about twelve thousand pictures. I also placed myself next to tour groups to hear a little bit more about the history of the famous sculpture by Michelangelo. I then saw how his proportions were off and understood why he was on his famous pedestal. I was extremely content with my visit as I continued to walk around to the other exhibits in the gallery.

After working up an appetite with all of that gawking at the David, which I now have a huge crush on, I went to a place Frankie recommended for a cannoli and an arancini. Frankie, if you’re reading this, bless you as well for introducing me to this wonderful food.

Unfortunately, Frankie and Bella were traveling and left in the morning, so I met with my roommates to continue our Florence adventures. We stopped for panini sandwiches (I told you I ate a lot this day) and went by the Duomo. Venturing into the cathedral was lovely, but I have to say St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague has my heart.

A stroll across the famous bridge, adventuring in the Boboli gardens, and some gelato (again, I warned you) was a perfect way to spend our warm Italian afternoon with friends. We spent some time having appetizers of cheese and meats at a restaurant (my stomach is unstoppable) and just enjoyed people watching and chatting with friends.

For the sunset, we headed to Piazelle Michelangelo, a famous place for the occasion. Thank goodness we hiked a bit so I could work off at least one bite of my days indulgences and the few cups of wine I had at the top. We marveled at the beautiful city and the view of the Tuscan region we were settled in.

Finally, we made our way down and I met with my other friends I traveled there with for dinner at a place Frankie and Bella also swore by. Great, more food. Gusta Pizza, known for heart shaped pizza and a restaurant with truffle gnocchi was the move of the night. By this time, I had gained five pounds in a day and would need to be rolled back to Prague, but when in Italy with my favorite type of food, my stretchy pants and I had been waiting for this moment. My weight gain is probably why Gusta Pizza gave me only a  circle pizza as opposed to the heart shaped one when I ordered. Ya win some, ya lose some.

The next day, all of us girls woke up and met for our Tuscany wine tour. We boarded a bus with other passengers and off to the Chianti region of Tuscany we were.

The hills were breathtakingly beautiful. The first vineyard we went to was absolutely amazing. Our guide there was the fifteenth generation to be working at that vineyard. Wow. He taught us how to taste wine properly and even talked about the perfect dimension of a wine glass. We tested our skills on seven different wines, ranging from whites to reds, and even a dessert wine. My roommate Jamie got up in front of everyone to display drinking the dessert wine with biscotti. This wine instructor took a liking to us, adding us all on snapchat during our little tour.

We also snacked on crackers in the most delicious oils (how I was able to eat after all the food from the day before isn’t beyond me, I was waiting for this Italy trip for a while I’m telling you). The balsamic was aged for over thirty years and the hot pepper oil could make any dish fabulous. The truffle oil was too good to pass up, and I knew my sister loved it. She is currently in California doing treatments for Lymes disease, and I knew that this would give her something to look forward to. I ordered some to be shipped home for her (and maybe a little for me) and even splurged on some wine for my parents. Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this…. surprise!

The next vineyard was more focused on the making of wine. We saw the grape vines and the wine cellars where the wine was aging for years. Here we snacked on bruschetta (pronounced broo-sket-a by the way, not how you typically imagine) and looked out onto the most beautiful terrace. The entire view looked completely photoshopped and made for the perfect background for pictures.

Jamie, Joanna, and I

We stopped at San Gimignano, a beautiful Tuscan town to walk around. The streets were amazing and the views incredible.

After soaking in the Tuscan sun, wine, gelato, and views, we were ready to head back to Florence to gather our things and hop on our bus to Rome.

Once in Rome, our Air BnB host met us. Turns out, I accidentally booked a private room as opposed to a private home. Oops, my bad. Our host was kind as we were missing a bed and offered us free breakfast. He even went with us to grab some food since we were starving and unfamiliar with the area. We grabbed paninis (I think it’s hilarious how it is panino for singular and paninis for plural) and talked for a bit. My friends asked a lot of questions and I think our Air BnB host took quite a liking to us and felt very comfortable with us. Somehow my friends and I always get our Air BnB hosts to come eat with us and offer a lot of great recommendations.

Our day in Rome was phenomenal. The weather was perfect and we headed to the colosseum first thing in the morning. After getting all of our tickets situated, I saw about the longest line of my life that we still had to wait in though we had tickets. I thought it couldn’t be right an wanted to make sure and ended up going to the front, showing the man my ticket to ask if that was the line, and he lead me right in. Whoops!

We walked all around the ruins from 80 AD and talked about the events that went on here. This had to be one of the highlights of my entire trip. The building was absolutely huge and held so much history that it was beyond me. We could have stayed there all day but there were more sights to see.

The Trevi Fountain was the next thing on our list. We joked about feeling like Lizzie McGuire in her movie and threw in our Czech crowns into the beautiful fountain as we made our wishes. I forgot to wish the first time and had to do it again, but don’t worry, my wish was made and let’s hope for the best. Let it also be known that here is where Joanna had her hilarious moment, but that will be saved as an inside joke only those of us there will fully be able to laugh about.

A pizza lunch and the best gelato I had in Italy (the pink grapefruit one I mentioned earlier) kept us going. I heard about the gelato from Lucie, who works for ISA, and boy was it worth the slight detour on our way to the Vatican.

The Vatican was packed. We were in just about the most Catholic place on planet earth the day before easter in the place the pope would be giving a mass the next morning. For this reason, St. Peter’s Basilica was closed for preparation, but Joanna and I fought the crowds full of selfie sticks and families to go to the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel (that Joanna called the sixteenth chapel for the majority of our time).

The museum was beautiful, full of frescoes and different paintings. We were in awe and my neck began to hurt from looking at the paintings on the ceiling the entire time. We finally made our way through the maze of a museum crowded with tour groups and visitors to get to the Sistine Chapel. Here, we saw the famous painting by Michelangelo. I thought this would be huge and on display, but instead it was lost among the other paintings in the chapel. I was amazed by all of the paintings and went against the rules to take a photo of the painting. Watch out world, I’m a rebel!

We found our friends among the beautiful streets of Rome and went back to our Air BnB by walking by the Pantheon. All of us talked about how we were pleasantly surprised by Rome. My expectations weren’t very high and all of the ruins and many things to do absolutely blew my mind. Topping it off with a delicious ravioli dinner only made my experience in Rome better. I was sad to say goodbye to the beautiful city, but was happy with everything we had accomplished in just a day.

The next morning, we parted a few friends and left for Sorrento. A train and a ferry got us to our extremely cute art house Air BnB located in the middle of Sorrento. We explored to a private little beach, watched the sunset, strolled past a plethora of lemon trees, and tried limoncello which we all agreed was absolutely disgusting but we were happy we tried it.

The next day, I took a day trip by myself to the island of Capri. I’ve always wanted to go and though it was a little pricey, I knew I would regret not going since I was so close. I boarded my ferry and listened as the teenage boys next to me talked about my pop socket, my camera, and every movement I made the entire time. I don’t think they knew I heard them, but I also didn’t realize how observant I was when it was just me, myself, and I.

My day in Capri included a boat tour around the island. Of course, with my luck, the famous blue grotto was closed that day because of the weather. Are we surprised? Not at all. I would have been more shocked if it was actually open. Regardless, my boat ride was amazing. I was amidst couples and my kind boat driver noticed and offered to take my picture a few times so I could capture the moment.

Although I didn’t see the blue grotto, I saw about the most beautiful water I have ever seen. It almost glowed as we went into a few caved and around some bends. The guide made sure to point out the house of a famous Italian writer and a few other points along the way.

Finally, I got off of the boat named Carmelita and went to the next part of my adventure, a trip up the Funicular. This crowded little train took the many tourists with the same idea as me up to the top of the island where the town of Capri lived. As I rode up to the top, I was shocked to see all of the houses and cars that I did. In the middle of the sea by the Almafi coast there were people just living their everyday lives. Small houses with gardens were on the side of the island and I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my days on such a secluded place, though with how beautiful it was, I can’t say I would be completely opposed.

The top of the island was beautiful. I was treated to a wonderful three course meal with fried calamari, seafood pasta, salad, and most importantly, wine. My waiter asked me over three times if I was alone where I continued to tell him that yes I am in fact alone. I think it’s funny because I actually do a lot of activities by myself. It’s not that I don’t like people, in fact I would prefer to have a friend, but if abroad has taught me anything it’s that sometimes you have to do what you want to do no matter what that takes.

A trip around the Augustus Gardens and a treat of Limoncello flavored gelato (bizarre because I hated the actual drink but not the gelato) ended my perfect little time in Capri.

My friends had spent their day in Positano and after a frustrating two hours waiting for a bus as it was Easter holiday still and the buses were running at weird times, I made my way over to them. This was the place it seems everyone goes, so I was excited to see the houses piled up on top of each other on the hill. The beach was absolutely breathtaking. I couldn’t believe I was actually there, seeing it in person.

Our last Italian dinner was quite the adventure. I finally ordered my spritz and got my heart shaped pizza. Keira accidentally ordered a strange meat and was still hungry so she ordered a fish soup. Turns out the fish soup was actually an extremely extravagant dish of about ten different types of seafood that was definitely not cheap. We laughed about what she had ordered and knew it was our time to leave this country full of confusion, aggressive men, and shrinking wallets with growing waistbands.

We waved goodbye to our beautiful few days in Almafi, woke up early and boarded our ferry to a train to a plane to get  back to beautiful Prague.

Our trip was a whirlwind of sightseeing, relaxing, friends, eating, and more. I have to say, I was nervous I would enjoy Italy too much and wish I studied there, and while my time was fantastic, I have to say I’m happy I chose the Czech Republic as my home for three months. I do love my pasta and pizza, but goulash and Pilsner Urquell have a special place in my heart. I know I’ll be back to Italy some day in the future.

Until then, thanks Italy and my fun friends for the best spring break yet. Ciao!