The Happiest Place on Earth

Kirsten and I spent two nights in Vernazza and could happily have spent the rest of our lives there. It's one of the Cinque Terre, five towns on Italy's northern riviera that are connected by a hiking trail (a hiking trail that is mostly lovely except for the last bit we did that made me want to cry when I realized how many steps UP it involved).

This is the view of Vernazza from the hiking trail. See the reddish building behind all the umbrellas on the square? That's where we stayed. And see that pretty sea down there? That's where we rewarded ourselves for our hours of hiking (and where I cut up my foot on rocks).

This is the delicious strawberry and chocolate panna cotta we ate at my favorite Italian restaurant, Il Pirata. We ate breakfast there the morning we were planning to leave, but then we postponed our departure to Milan so we could eat lunch there as well.

I need to go back to Vernazza.

I'm in Italy

I love Italians and their delicious food products even though they are all far more beautiful and well-dressed than I am. I ate a plum today that was so good that I feel inspired to write an ode.

Pictures!

Ah! Not enough time to post lots of pictures. Here are a few.

Here I am at the Leaning Tower. While we were there, the Chinese President (or ambassador?) who was here for the G8 Summit arrived with a GIANT motorcade. Pisa was the first place we ate pizza. A loved it. I preferred the pizza in Florence, where we had our very best food. I now adore prosciutto and I have a new and abiding love for eating smoked pig parts.

This is the baptistry (baptistery?) at Pisa. It also leans but in the opposite direction. This is where the amazing acoustics are.

Yesterday we went to Venice. I have my handy Rick Steves Italy guidebook with me, which is how we knew that if you have a backpack to check, you can skip the line at St. Mark's. I took one for the team and dragged my bag into the city, so we could check it. According to the guidebook, two people per bag check can enter the basilica ahead of the line, so we wanted to check A's bag too, but only backpacks are allowed to be left. When we hesitated, one of the bag check staff told us to go ahead, because the check was good for all four of us. And then a second employee piped up with, Stop reading, Rick Steves! It's bull! The basilica was gorgeous, we got in fast, and we paid to go into the treasury so we could see the relics (including a mummified hand) that the Venetians stole from Constantinople. And then we took off to the lagoon, avoiding most of the crowds most of the day. When we came back to Venice proper, we strolled through the backside, which was practically deserted. Most of the tourists stick to the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's areas.

Here I am with the Coordinatrix and A on Burano, a fishing village in the Lagoon known for its lace work. So charming! The story goes that the houses are painted brightly so that when the men came home drunk, they could find their homes.



Last night I was walking through the hotel lobby, when an Italian man smiled and greeted me. I smiled too. I'm polite. Then he started walking with me, patted me on the back, and asked me how I was doing. It took me a minute to realize it was our driver, Enzo (it had been his day off and I didn't recognize him). Enzo (who I thought was named Ansel for a bit) is so nice to us and helps us off the bus and calls us Bella, actually all the Italian men call us that. It's very endearing.

When in Rome

It is a terrible shame that I canàt download photos on this computer (although maybe not, since my curls get bigger and fluffier as the day progresses) and also a shame that I canàt figure out where the apostrophe key is on the keyboard. Itàs even trickier than a German keyboard.

We are making a whirlwind tour of Italy this week. Highlights so far are as follows (Um, I cannot find the colon key either but picture one here)

1. Tour of the Vatican, Colosseum, and Roman Forum with Francesco, who bears a stiking resemblance to Ira Glass. Francesco knows everything in the world about art history and studied with the artist who restored the Sistine Chapel, so he was a fantastic guide. Also, did I mention that he looks just like Ira Glass? There is a new (to me) trend in tourism in which tour guides have little over the ear microphones and all the tour participants have boxes around their necks and ear pieces so they can hear the guide without being near him. It is fantastic. It made everyone on my tour look like bad CIA operatives and we could wander around the sites without sticking too close to the guide. (Although why wouldnàt you want to stay close to an Italian man (Italian is dead sexy) who looks like Ira Glass?)

2. I took us the secret slow way to the Cappuchin Crypt, but it is morbidly delightful, and we treated ourselves to gelato after the grueling march to the church where the bones are housed.

3. Love the Trevi Fountain.

4. Love the Baptistry in Pisa. The acoustics allow sound to linger for 10 seconds, so a single person can sing three notes and create chords and harmonies with himself. The guard demonstrated and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

Having been a Humanities major is pretty much the best preparation in the world for a trip like this, since I already have memento mori and Medici and other important M words stored up in my brain. I studied Michelangeloàs Pieta in college, but I still wasnàt quite prepared for how gorgeous it is. Seeing it is overwhelming.

Florence and Venice later this week.

Ciao!