These last two weeks have been insanely busy with lots of
traveling around Italy, getting to know Verona, and learning about the health
benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. I'm
writing from our train to Interlaken, Switzerland. I've fallen in love with Italy and I am so
sad to leave it but I know we won't be apart for too long;)
Two weekends ago, we went to Rome. We were so excited to sightsee in the eternal
city but actually found it to be extremely disappointing. I know, I can't complain about being in Rome,
but it wasn't all that it's cracked up to be.
It was really amazing to be in Rome during the first World Cup game
against England. We were on a pub crawl
with a couple of Brits who got extremely heated when Italy beat them. We were obviously on team Italy! We also stayed at a really fun youth hostel
called "The Yellow" that caters to college kids studying abroad. We met people from England, Finland,
Australia, Canada, and Holland in one bar in one night....it was pretty
awesome! The next day was pretty
dissapointing because the Trevi fountain was closed(for 4 years), there was a 3
hour wait for the Colloseum, and the Vatican City line was even longer. So that meant that we didn't really get the
full Rome experience. I've found that
I'd much rather be doing something than just going to look at buildings and
monuments. Some sightseeing is necessary
when you're studying abroad, but on this trip I've really learned that the
things that stick out most are the crazy, spontaneous, and active things that
we've done. Sunday morning we woke up
and decided that we wanted to do something different, outside of the city. This led us to the beautiful little town of
Orvieto. It was so refreshing to get out
of the big city and head to the mile-long town on the hill. Orvieto literally is built on a hill. In order to get up to the city, you have to
take a train that goes up a very steep hill for about 5 minutes. We were instructed to go to Caffe Barrique
and get drinks and snacks from Paulo, so that was our first stop. Then the rain came. And I really didn't even mind, at all. It was so peaceful sitting at this little
cafe that all of our friends had been regulars at and just sit and talk and
people watch while listening to the rain hit the awning. Infinitely better than navigating the dirty,
busy streets of Rome. We spent the rest
of the day getting lost in the beautiful streets of Orvieto and eating the best
minestrone soup I've ever had at a little restaurant on the Corso. I was so sad to leave Orvieto, but our last
week in Verona was calling! We hopped on our train to Verona and learned that
the train was going to split(yes, they can do that), and we were on the train
that was headed for Austria. This could
have ended very badly if the train attendant wasn't nice enough to help us get
onto the correct train car. Disaster
averted! We finally got to the correct
car and were lucky enough to share a cabin with the most smelly obnoxious drunk
man who sprawled out in the cabin taking up 3 seats. Caitlin was sitting on the edge of her seat
and Carly was basically sitting on my lap.
Needless to say, we were elated to get back to sweet Verona.
Monday we came back to Verona and we had a pretty epic day
of exploring. We visited a Proschutto
plant that has been in operation since 1919.
We were able to see the process of ageing the meat and seasoning it to
perfection. Nothing like seeing a bunch
of aging pig legs on a Monday morning! Afterwards,
we went to an all organic farm that was located in Montagnana, which is a
suberb of Verona. This place was pretty
incredible. Everything from the honey,
grains for the pasta, herbs, animals for meat, and fruits and veggies were
grown there and used for making food and educating people on the importance and
benefit of growing their own foods and eating locally. Being able to see how passionate all of these
people were about local organic foods was inspiring. I can't wait to go back home and take all of
the lessons that I've learned here and put them to use! We were also able to visit an old palace that
was designed by the architect Palladio.
This place was truly incredible, and the owners were able to give us a
tour and tell us about the history of the palace.
Tuesday we visited one of our cooking instructor's vineyards
in a suberb of Verona. I was expecting a cute little family vineyard that made
a small production of Amarone wine, but was completely wrong. We arrived at the
Zyme vineyard to find that it was one of the most prestigious wineries in
Verona. The tour of the winey was
absolutely incredible. Zyme was being
rennovated, but it was still the most beatuful buildings I've ever seen. To give you an idea of how high end this
place was, the rennovation cost over 10 million euros. That's over 14 million US dollars. It was absolutely incredible being able to
explore this amazing place and we were the first people who were served at the
restaurant that was a part of the winery!
Our instructor Rosa, who owned the vineyard stayed up all night setting
up the tables and kitchen to make sure it was ready for us. Rosa is the most happy woman I've ever
encountered. She is also extremely
humble- she doesn't need the money to help out with this program but she was
just excited to share her knowledge. She
doesn't speak english very well, but her smile says it all! Rosa taught us how to use wine while cooking
in the kitchen. We had the most amazing
Amarone risotto and pairs that were also cooked in Amarone wine, paired with
what else but Amarone wine! This may
have been my favorite day of cooking class!
One of the things on our Verona bucket list was to try a
delicacy that is special to Verona- horse meat.
The 9 of us headed out on this culinary adventure and of course, it
started pouring. We had umbrellas but they
were useless against the wind and rain!
This didn't stop us from making it to the retaurant and trying the
famous horse meat of Verona. I literally
never thought that I would be able to try such outrageous foods, but I have
really enjoyed branching out of my comfort zone and trying some very different
things here- including but not limited to: seafood(even the kind with eyes),
veal, cheese(just by itself), and now horse meat with polenta. I've got to say it was really good. It tasted a lot like a brisket! The restaurant we went to was a popular place
for locals to go to called Osteria Sottoriva.
The motto of the restaurant was "don't think, we have drinking to
do."
Wednesday, we stayed in town after class and climbed the
436(ish) steps up to the top of the bell tower in the middle of Piazza
Erbe. The view was an incredible
panorama of the entire city- it was truly breathtaking! Afterwards, we headed over to the house of
Juliet to "touch her boob" for good luck. I'm not kidding people do this! So much so that the statue of Juliete is a
different color on her right boob.
A huge part of the Mediterranean diet is community, or
conviviality. This means exercising
together, cooking together, and living together. This worked perfectly with our program
because all of us became so close over the month that we lived together! I'm so lucky that I've gotten to know all of
these amazing people over the last month.
Wednesday night we had a Convivality event with food, dancing, and of
course, wine!
Thursday night we went to our favorite Pizzeria that used to
be a church and spent as much time with
eachother as possible before we all headed our separate ways! Bonnie and I also got Foccacia with gelato
aka breaded ice cream after dinner! Good
thing i'm running 30 miles a week!
Our last day together we went rafting down the Adige river
with our extremely attractive Italian river rat tour guide, Max. Max spoke pretty good english but used words
like "funky" instead of "awesome." We gave Max the nickname "master of the
funk."
In the evening, we had the closing ceremony for the
program. As always, it completely
exceeded all expectations that I had. We
went to Ristorante 12 Apostoli, which was owned by Antonia's father. This restaurant had been in the family for 3
generations and was really special because it was built on ancient roman
ruins. In the 1980's they were
expanding the restaurant when the floor caved in and they discovered that the
restaurant was build on ancient ruins.
Since then, they have made this area another room in the restaurant that
is attached to the private wine cellar.
We arrived at the restaurant and had appetizers and champagne in the
cellar then went to our seats at dinner.
The food was incredible, and the atmosphere was almost overwhelming
because it was so fancy. There was a
harp player for our group to give you an idea of the type of place we were
at. It was incredible. I sat next to one of our cooking instructors
and the son of the owner of the Turri Olive Oil plant who happened to be an
avid cyclist! He spoke some English,
which was nice because we were able to talk bikes! After an amazing evening, it was time to say
our goodbyes to everyone. I'm amazed at
how close I got with my 25 roommates!
Saturday, we didn't want to sit in Verona all day so we took
a quick day trip to Venice! Venice
really is incredible. Through all the
crowds and tourism it really does have a unique charm. We got lost in the city on the water and
worked our way through Murano glass shops and cute cafes. We took a train back to Verona and Caitlin
and I headed to the Opera! We sat in the
nosebleed section of the coliseum, but it was cool to be sitting where people
used to watch gladiator fights!! Now off to Switzerland, and SPAIN to meet the
Jenks family in Madrid! It's a constant
struggle for the wee fee(wifi), but i'll try to be better about blogging!
There are SO many photos...but here are some of my favorites! Cheers!
