Where Have I Been?

It's a bit ironic that the two times I manage to post on this blog are when I'm sitting on my couch in New Jersey. Chad, I apologize to you, my friend. Thank you for holding this blog together and articulating our trip with accuracy and wit.

To be fair, I was going to post. I really was! We were in Munich and I had just written my newest blog post, with words and pictures and stuff. And alas, technology and I got in a fight, everything was erased, and I found myself saying "I'll do it tomorrow" for the next two weeks of our trip. So I'll briefly sum up my experiences in each city before I become a slave to the jet lag that is screaming "why the hell are you awake right now?".

Tuscany: 

Before meeting up with Chad, my parents and I joined a whole team of my mom's closest friends from work and their families for an adventure in the middle of (beautiful) nowhere.  Highlights include:

The Peccioli Pastries

Dad making pasta!

• Peccioli, a nearby town with a tiny restaurant that became the hit of the trip. Our first visit, we were incredibly hungry and she fed us amazing meats and cheeses. The second trip, she brought us samples of almost everything. The third time? She gave us dessert before dinner. Did I mention she's a pastry chef? It felt like we were eating in an old friend's house. And it was delicious. 
• Our villa sat on a hill that took about 5 dirt roads to get to.
• Mom drove our car into a ditch. Sorry if you're reading this, Mom, but the world needs to know how hilarious this experience was (after our initial shock of "oh shit we're in a ditch"). 
• We took a cooking class where we stewed pork in chianti and made our own pasta. Even Dad cooked (and I have the evidence!). 
• Florence, San Gimignano, Lucca, Pisa, and Siena showed us the beautiful Tuscan countryside.
• You have to pay to pee, everywhere you go. No joke. 
• Best thing I ate: Vegetable lasagna with smoked mozzarella.

Sicily:

Where we saw the family. The whole, giant family composed of my Nonna's brothers and sisters, first cousins, second cousins, cousins once removed. Just a lot of family, beach, and food. Liz and I couldn't figure out why we were so exhausted most of the trip- it was the quite literal "food coma."

The cousins

• I will be incorporating a siesta (nap) time into my American life style. Please do not disturb between 3 and 4:30pm daily. 
• Granita=Italian ice for breakfast. 
• Unexpected things I ate: octopus, swordfish. Both were delicious!
• Best thing I ate: Arancini (rice balls stuffed with meat, cheese, and sauce). That's real Sicilian right there. 

Rome:

We saw all the must-see, touristy things. Twice. Once while mom was still with us, and then again when Chad joined us for his first ever Roma experience. I never appreciated it as much in my middle school history classes, but wow, the Romans were incredibly smart. While everything in Rome is old and beautiful, seeing what was left of the Roman Forum re-solidified the awe I have for their advances in technology and government. Highlights:

• More family to see!
• The Trevi fountain had no water in it, the first time we went. They were cleaning out all the bird crap.
• We stumbled upon a cool wine-bar, where the owner-bartender-DJ understood good music (Ella Fitzgerald and Marvin Gaye were two of his favorites) and played classic movies on his four television screens.
• Best thing I ate: Salad. Liz and I were so stuffed with pasta from our Sicilian food-fest, vegetables tasted like heaven.

Lake Como:

• Serene, gorgeous, beautiful. That's all you need to know. 
• We found George Clooney's house! (Kidding.)

Munich:

Oh man, Germany is cool. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. Highlights:

• The English Gardens were incredible. They reminded me of Central Park- rivers, sunbathers, people kicking around a football, surfers in the wave-pool, and the Chinese Tower Beer Garden. 
• This is by far where people were the most friendly to us. And we didn't even speak the language (though we did try!). 
• Best thing I ate: The bratwurst. The sauerkraut. The pretzels that were bigger than my face. The schnitzel. And the beer. Yup, that's basically everything we ate there. 

Dijon: 

• A cute little town in the south-eastern part of France, where we learned about wine and, more importantly, CHEESE. 
• A little secret: Dijon is supposed to make dijon mustard, right? Well, yeah. But, only one company makes one type of original mustard that is actually made in Dijon. Everything else is an impostor that is actually made in Canada. But whatever, we like mustard and we bought some anyway. 
• Best thing I ate: The cheese, obviously. 

Paris:

Yes, I did go to Paris twice on this trip, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I adore Paris. It stole my heart. Even though Italy will always be very special to me, what with the whole "I'm Sicilian and my family is there and I speak the language and I think the ability to make Italian food must be in my blood somewhere right??" thing, Paris has to be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. We never ran out of things to do. In fact, I wish I had another month there to accomplish everything. Highlights:

The Macarons

• People in France are nice. We earnestly attempted to order everything in French when we went out for food or coffee; we were successful and well received!
• Notre Dame is incredible and I pretended that Quasimodo was ringing the bells. 
• We watched a dress rehearsal/sound check of an orchestra and opera company perform a concert version of Carmen in front of the Eiffel Tower, in preparation for Bastille Day. 
• The winding side streets of Marais and the Latin Quarter are so cool. I could get lost in this city for hours and not panic about being lost, that's how much I love it. 
• The Louvre was incredible. The vast amount of art in this one museum alone, never mind the rest of the city, is mind-blowing.
• Best thing(s) I ate: The macaroons. The crepes stuffed with Nutella and bananas. THE FALAFEL. 

THE MACARONS

Did I mention the macarons?

Tea Time!

London:

• Apparently London was in the middle of their heatwave. We caught the hottest day in 7 years. 
• Westminster Abbey and Poet's Corner is beyond amazing. 
• HARRODS. Will they let me live there?
• The British Library's collection of manuscripts, original compositions by Handel, Vaughn Williams, Mendelssohn, and Mozart, the earliest editions of Shakespeare's work, and handwritten lyrics from McCartney and Lennon were incredible.
• We did tea time. With scones and finger sandwiches. 
• THE ROYAL BABY WAS BORN WHILE WE WERE THERE. 
• Best thing I ate: Chips with malt vinegar (British chips, mind you). And those finger sandwiches. 




These booths had "No Faking" signs on them. Whoops.

The most important lesson that I experienced first hand while we were in Europe: there are genuinely kind people in the world. Normally I'd call them "friendly strangers," but I'm inclined to call them "kind souls" instead. The word "stranger" makes me think of the "don't talk to strangers" rule we learn when we're small. I'm incredibly thankful for even the smallest results of our interactions with the kind souls we met. Here are a few:

• When we were forced off the train somewhere in Switzerland, and told we had to take 3 more commuter trains to get to Zurich, we actually had no idea that this was what the train crew was telling us to do. A kind soul, whose name we did not learn, escorted us onto each train and talked to us like we were old friends. When he left us in Zurich, we knew that we could never have navigated our way around those Swiss train stations without his help, especially with our many language barriers. 
• Another woman told us where to buy the best Swiss chocolate in the Zurich station. 
• A older British man in Como saw us struggling to find a map, after a shop owner tried to rip us off, and offered us his copy from his Best Western hotel. 
• And then there was the two-year old who I sat next to on the train in Germany. I had the toddler's toys dumped all over my lap while she happily taught me the German names for her farm animals. Her excitement made the 4 hour train ride more than bearable. 
• Chad and I overheard the words "Ann Arbor" in the middle of Dijon, France, and met a girl who is going to be an exchange student in the fall at the University of Michigan. Studying psychology. Ten bucks we have every class together. Just goes to show that the Maize and Blue really are everywhere!

Well, I'd like to say that just about covers it, but that's completely untrue. Guess you had to be there! Now I have to come to terms with the fact that I'm graduating in 5 months from college and have to be a real person. But first, I'll sleep and maybe find the motivation to unpack.