How I ended up in Italy by myself

It all started as a joke. I mentioned taking a trip to Italy to a group of friends... and so many of them seemed excited about going that I thought, Why not? I have always wanted to see Italy. I started to think seriously about it. I got to the point where I was sitting on go, waiting for someone--anyone!--from the group to tell me to book it. Then on Thursday, April 2, at 9:27 p.m., I was chatting about the trip with a friend. We were talking about how I hoped somebody else would commit to going, when I think I had an epiphany. What was I waiting for? I could do this by myself. I decided I was going No Matter What. I gave my group seven days to decide if they were going or not, then bought my plane tickets. A week later no one had decided to go with me, so I booked hotel rooms for one!

First Stop: Paris

When I bought my plane tickets I intentionally chose a flight with a long layover in Paris. So on Saturday, May 23, I dragged my jet-lagged rear to the train from the airport into the city and wandered around for a few hours. I didn't plan much for this part of my trip, and now I wish I had, because I kind of just roamed aimlessly with no map, and I still don't really know what all I was seeing and photographing.

Pictured here is the fountain at Place Saint-Michel, which was really close to the area where I popped up out of the Metro station. (I guess that would make sense since I got off at the Saint-Michel stop).

I also wandered past Notre Dame but decided against going in because there was a crazy line for entry. No hunchback sightings... probably because Shamane hadn't arrived yet. Anyway, I had more fun watching a girl who was feeding pigeons while I wondered how long it would be before she got crapped on. I also enjoyed a stroll through the Jardin du Luxembourg.

I found a really nice little garden to eat lunch in, next to a church called St. Julien le Pauvre, in the Square Rene Viviani. I decided if I lived in Paris I would eat lunch there every day. Maybe it wasn't as pretty as the Jardin du Luxembourg, but I liked how quiet and private it seemed.

I can't wrap up my post about Paris until I show you a picture of my favorite statue on Notre Dame. Wish I knew who he was. His companions look somewhat concerned for him, which is understandable, but he looks at peace with his situation.

Quick stop in Germany

From Paris I headed to Hannover, Germany for a brief visit with my sister Debbi and her family (well, most of it; Josef the birthday boy was out with his friends). I was pretty much just there long enough to eat supper, drink a glass of wine, and get a good night's sleep. Didn't even really have time to take any pictures, though I did take a few pictures of the main train station the next morning after I arrived in Bremen to catch my flight to Florence.

As I waited at the airport for my flight out of Bremen I got to talking with a fellow passenger. He asked what I had been in Bremen for (not much, just passing through) so I explained to him about my sister and how she ended up living in Germany: that she had fallen in love with a German guy ("That's normal," he said with a laugh) and that she liked Germany better than the United States ("That's normal too").

By the way, do you remember hearing the Grimm fairy tale about the "Bremen Town Musicians" when you were little? That story originated in Bremen, Germany, and they have a bronze statue in the town of the four animals stacked up on top of each other. If you don't know the story, you should. It's very common. You can google it.

Arriving in Italy

Seems like I spent all day Sunday traveling: taking a train from Hannover-Vinnhorst to the Hannover Hauptbahnhof to the Bremen Hauptbahnhof, then a tram to the airport in Bremen, then a plane from Bremen to Paris (again! but I just stayed at the airport this time) and from Paris to Florence. It was already getting dark when I landed in Florence.

My first real experience in Italy was on the bus ride from the airport to the Santa Maria Novella train station. That was quite a ride! It was the first bus I ever remember seeing with seat belts in it... and after that ride, I understood the need for the seat belts. It also reinforced my decision against renting a car in Italy. The bus driver was very nice and kept trying to talk to me (even though his accent was so thick that when he was trying to talk English to me I thought he was speaking Italian, like when he asked me if I was in Italy to "stoodee or olleedeh") but I wished he would stop turning towards me as he talked. It seems Italians have a habit of ignoring the driving lanes and driving on whichever part of the road seems convenient to them at the time. And, as my mom says, they use their horns instead of their brakes. At one point the bus was within inches of clipping the back corner of a car ahead of us, and when the driver noticed this at the last second, it didn't seem to faze him a bit. His only reaction was an "Oops" with a sheepish grin. I don't think he even slowed down; the car just fortuitously scooted out of the way.

I didn't do much in Florence my first night there, though I did take a walk around the block to take some night pictures of the Santa Maria Novella church since I wasn't sure if I'd have time when I returned the following Saturday night and it looked pretty with the lights shining on it at night.

I got a cheap hotel room at the Hotel Elite on Via della Scala right near the train station. I was afraid it was so cheap that I was going to have to contend with bed bugs, but I had a very nice, neat and clean room, and I didn't even have to fight anyone for use of the communal bathroom down the hall.

First day in Florence

I enjoyed the sound of birds singing and the view from my hotel window the next morning when the church bells woke me up at 7 a.m. I didn't enjoy the hotel breakfast so much (no fruit? not even in yogurt?) but of course it was better than nothing. After breakfast I headed out for the walking tour I had planned. I guess that morning I saw the outside of all the main "tourist" places in Florence:

The Duomo

and Giatto's Tower,

the Baptistery with its famous bronze doors, the Medici-Riccardi palace, the San Lorenzo market, lots of shops along Via de Calzaiuoli (at one of which I took this photo of cute little glass figurines as inspiration for Chris, and also to show him that he needs to be charging more for his work!),

the Orsanmichele church,

Piazza della Signoria,

the Palazzo Vecchio and its interior courtyard, the Loggia, with its bizarre collection of statues, which I thought did not work well as an ensemble, but here is a picture of the one that might be my favorite:the courtyard of the Uffizi,

the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. I really didn't go inside anywhere since I only had a few hours before my train, but I took lots of pictures and got a good preview of everything I would be returning to see the following weekend. I also had my first gelato in Florence! I even ordered it in Italian (although I can't guarantee I did it right): "Uno cono piccolo con caffè." Yum!

Montepulciano

From Florence, I took a train to Chiusi, then a bus to Montepulciano. On the bus I met two girls from New Hampshire, right near Gunstock, which was the first place I ever went skiing! (It's been a while, though. I think that was Christmas 1982).

Montepulciano was beautiful. As I walked, I think I stopped every five feet to take a picture. Here is one of the few photos with me in it (you don't manage to get many of those when you're traveling alone!) but look how beautiful the countryside is! Che bello!

One mistake of my trip: renting a bicycle. I stayed at an Agriturismo (kind of like a bed & breakfast without the breakfast) down the hill from Montepulciano. I knew it was a couple of miles from my farmhouse to the town, and I knew it would be difficult to ride the bike up the hill, but I didn't appreciate exactly how difficult until I actually attempted it. I quickly determined I was nowhere near studly enough to ride a bicycle up that hill. I'm not sure I even made it 40 feet. I had thought I was in pretty decent shape but evidently I'm not. And it was definitely a drag pushing that bike up the hill every morning. But rest assured that the ride back down to the farmhouse was a complete blast!!

The Agriturismo "Il Fienile" itself was picturesque. So many beautiful flowers, a charming old stone farmhouse, and an inviting pool surrounded by the Tuscan countryside. My room, "Primola", had a little kitchenette and a sitting area overlooked by a bedroom loft--and no telephone, which took me by surprise.

When I first arrived in Montepulciano I stopped at a grocery store, "Conad", to buy breakfast food since I knew I wasn't going to want to try to get up that hill every morning before breakfast. I bought fruit, yogurt, some bread and cheese. The cheese I bought was gorgonzola. I wanted something soft that I could spread on my bread, and I wanted to choose something I would not normally buy at home. Well, I got that. But I can't say that I was happy about it. My only prior experience with gorgonzola was Johnny Carino's penne gorgonzola, which is mmmmmgood. But this cheese... well, let's just say if my cheddar at home came out of the fridge looking like this it would be going in the trash. Out in the shop. Is it too much information if I tell you it was moldy and slimy? (And yes, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be this way). I actually ate it... with effort. It was very hard to get past the idea that I was eating someone else's refrigerated toe jam on my bread.

Other than the cheese, I really enjoyed my leisurely solitary breakfasts in my little breakfast nook at the agriturismo. I got in the habit of reading poems from Wendell Berry's book "Given" as I ate each morning. That probably sounds really pretentious. But I had read a novel of his a few years back and really enjoyed it.

For supper my first night in Montepulciano I ate at Ai Quattro Venti, right on the Piazza Grande next to the Palazzo Communale. First I had Bruschetta con Funghi (kind of like toast with a mushroom sauce and a dollop of cheese), then veal with tuna sauce (sorry, I can't remember the Italian for that), of course with a glass of red wine. It was a good meal, but not great. Nice ambiance though!

For lunch my second day in Montepulciano (Tuesday) I ate at Osteria del Conte and had a selection of 6 bruschetta e crostini, then some chick pea soup, of course with a glass of red wine. I enjoyed this meal more than my supper the night before. Except when I first walked in and asked for "Un tavolo per uno al fresco" I must have used the wrong phrase because the hostess replied, "You mean outside." Yup, that's what I meant. With my luck, what I said actually meant something like "a table for one naked."

Am I telling you too much about my meals? Well, look at it this way: if I were to write a list of the top 5 reasons I went to Italy, "Food" and "Wine" would definitely make the cut. As would "Lounging by a pool where no one would call me Mommy."

That afternoon I met some nice American girls, one of whom grew up in Wheaton (where I went to college)! I also met a bunch of college students from Georgia who were doing a 6-week study-abroad program in Montepulciano. Geez, why didn't I do anything like that when I was in college?? Probably because my parents were afraid I would never come back. Thanks, Sis.

On Wednesday I did a wine tasting at Crociani. First they gave me their rosso, which was good, and then they gave me their 2006 Vino Noblie di Montepulciano. Oh my! They did that on purpose. The difference between the two was unbelievable. So of course I bought a bottle of the latter. And a bottle of their 2005 reserve. I also toured a couple of old wine cellars (Gattavecci and Pulcino).

Thursday is market day in Montepulciano. I wanted to check that out in the morning, then take a bus to Siena for the afternoon. Well, the second half of my plan for the day was foiled by a strike that kept the buses from running. But I managed to get a good look at the market. It was a lot like what I saw at San Lorenzo in Florence, only fewer tourist souvenirs and more practical household items. I saw a dress I really liked until I noticed that it cost 185€. Would you believe I also saw some of those hideous sneaker-pump hybrids that I had made fun of when I was looking for a pair of comfortable shoes before my trip? I was sure Italians had better taste than that. They even sold Crocs at this market. To give Italians and their fashion sense the benefit of the doubt, I will point out that although I saw these butt-ugly shoes for sale at the market, I didn't see anyone actually wearing them.

La Foce

Every Wednesday afternoon there are tours of the beautiful garden at La Foce, an estate in the Val d'Orcia near Castelluccio, not far from Montepulciano. This estate, originally built in the 15th century as an inn, was in 1924 purchased by a couple named Antonio and Iris Origo, who subsequently refurbished and enlarged the buildings and put in the amazing garden, which is now tended by three gardeners. It was fun to imagine what it must have been like to live there... although unfortunately neither Hud nor I come from the "privileged background" of both Antonio and Iris. Some day I hope to read the book "War in Val d'Orcia, 1943-44" which was written by Iris and highly recommended by the tour guide. The whole garden was absolutely beautiful, and I took lots of pictures, only a few of which I have uploaded here.

From the garden of La Foce you can see this hill which was used at the end of the movie "Gladiator." Seeing this picture reminds me of the taxi ride to La Foce. The driver was on his cell phone with his next customer, trying to figure out where he needed to go to pick her up, and trying to speak English but not doing a very good job of it. He kept repeating, "Where IS you?" in his thick Italian accent. Finally I couldn't help but gently correct him with "Where ARE you," and he just handed his phone to me!

It started to rain a little bit during the garden tour (not a drenching rain, though. The raindrops seemed to be pretty big but somehow far apart). It was still raining when I got back into Montepulciano that evening, so I went to one of the first restaurants I could find for supper: Ristorante la Briciola, where I had my first real Italian pizza. Carole had scared me about Italian pizza when she told me how her parents had tried it and not liked it at all, but this stuff was goooood. The crust was thinner than I usually like, but it was still yum! I don't remember the name of the kind I chose, but it had mushrooms, olives, artichokes, and some thinly-sliced ham (maybe prosciutto? kind of reminded me of canadian bacon). And it was huge! I couldn't finish it. And of course I had it with a glass of red wine. Is it weird to drink wine with pizza? Well, I don't care.

The Fantastic Five

On Thursday afternoon I met a nice group of people (3 Americans, one French girl... can you tell which is which in the picture? I feel like I could guess if I didn't already know) and we ended up hanging out together for the rest of the day. We walked down the hill from Montepulciano to San Biagio to eat supper just across the street at La Grotta. It was very nice of my new friends to not strangle me when we realized the restaurant was not yet open when we finally reached the bottom of the hill (it had been my idea to eat there). We thought we were going to have to wait around for a hour, but they ended up letting us in about 20 minutes early.
La Grotta is a very nice restaurant, and I really enjoyed my meal of wild boar with dried plums, of course with wine--white, this time. I also had some really good soup but I can't remember what kind it was... but I wish I could have some more right now! Mmmmm! We all thought it was funny to see a cat wandering around in the restaurant. I can't say I've ever seen any pets roaming in any restaurants here at home (OK, so maybe fish in tanks, but they don't roam much).

The sun was setting as we left La Grotta and the light on the facade of San Biagio was just beautiful. Our group then hiked back up the hill into Montepulciano (once again my new friends very kindly didn't try to hurt me for forcing this hike on them. It was nothing to me, since for once I was making the trek without pushing a bicycle, but the others weren't too pleased with the uphill climb). We then had the crazy idea of going on a little road trip in search of, um, I guess some night life, of which there is none in Montepulciano. We were not successful in our hunt. But it was certainly a night to remember. I am SURE I will never forget getting stuck in the old part of Chianciano and briefly thinking we were going to have to just leave Christina's car there and walk home.

One of my last pictures of Montepulciano included this night time view of their secondary clock tower topped by a "Pulcinello", which strikes the bell every hour throughout the day.

Romeing

I bet just about my favorite part of my trip was my night in Rome. (As opposed to the next morning, which was awful, but we won't talk about that). I walked all over the city--OK, well not ALL over it, but a big part of it!--and took lots of pictures, most of which pretty much suck because I don't have a cool paparazzi camera like Ray. But I really like how this picture of the Colosseum turned out!

I had my favorite Italian meal in Rome also, at a little restaurant called Cesaretto on Via Bocca di Leone. First "insalata greca", then spaghetti with pesto, of course with un bicchiere di vino rosso. I definitely need to go back there someday. The spaghetti Hud is cooking right now won't even compare to my memory of spaghetti in Rome... but I won't tell Hud that, because it could be worse. I could be cooking it myself.

I stopped to watch some people break-dancing (people still do that??) and a smarmy young guy in a suit stopped and asked me if I wanted him to take a picture of me. I had visions of Chevy Chase standing barefoot in a fountain and getting his camera stolen so I told the guy no, thank you. He asked where I was from and I told him, but I quickly moved on. Not long after that, he slowed down as he passed on his little scooter and he hollered, "Hey USA, want a ride?" No, thank you.

Got some more gelato in Rome. Did I not mention that I probably bought gelato every day that I was in Italy? The first time I got coffee flavor, which was good, but I decided my favorite flavor was "crema". It was so good that I didn't even bother trying any others.

I was impressed by the talent of the street artists in Rome. The first few that caught my eye were at the top of the Spanish Steps; some of these would draw portraits on demand, and others were selling previously-created paintings and drawings. But then I was especially enthralled by the mass of artists at the north end of Piazza Navona. If I hadn't been nearly out of cash by that point, I would have loved to browse for longer and maybe even buy something. One woman artist in particular was displaying a "Madonna and Child" painting that arguably rivaled anything I'd yet seen during my trip, AND anything I was to see the next day in Florence. I felt bad when she went to the trouble of digging out another, slightly different "Madonna" painting when she saw I was marveling at the first one, because I had no intention of buying either, but they were both absolutely beautiful. I wished Hud could be with me to see it all. As different as our opinions can be on some subjects, we have done well picking out art we both like.

I also loved my hotel room in Rome. I had chosen the hotel (which was the Hotel Select Giardino) partly because it was close to the train station but mainly because it has a lemon tree garden behind it. So I was more than excited to find that my room opened right into the garden! I was less excited about my choice of hotels at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning when a construction crew got to work with hammers and buzz saws right behind my room.

Another thing that made Rome fun was hanging out with Emiliano, a nice guy (not a strange guy!) I met at Piazza Navona. He seemed like a normal, down-to-earth person, as opposed to Mr. Suit on his little scooter. We hung out at Campo dei Fiori for a while and enjoyed converstation and wine. It's crazy how different our lives are: he has traveled to all kinds of third world countries with his job, but has never been to the US.

Florence Revisited

From Rome I headed back to Florence, first for my reservations to see the Uffizi and Accademia museums, then for my flight back to Germany. By the way, backing up to my train trip from Rome to Florence--what is the deal with the weird air pressure changes in the tunnels? It made my ears pop, like being in a plane. Anyway, I did not take this picture of Michelangelo's David statue; in fact, in looking at my pictures it appears that I did not take any more pictures in Florence this second time around...? I was sure I did... Anyway, I found a few pictures on the Internet that matched what I saw, and they're probably better than any pictures I've taken.

This time in Florence I crossed over the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio. Once on the other side I noticed a pair of earrings that I really liked in a shop window but I was too hungry to stop (and after having all too recently been down to 5€ in cash I was somewhat loath to spend any money frivolously) but now I wish I had at least stopped to ask "Quanto costa?" That way if they were too expensive I wouldn't regret the fact that I didn't buy them. Not that I need another pair of earrings. I pretty much wear the same pair all the time. I rarely even wear my so-called "Edward earrings". But what if they had been 55€ or less...? A regret...

On to the Trattoria Pizzaria Dante, where I had my second Real Italian Pizza, which was just as good as the first. Same toppings, too, I think, except (it was called Quattro Stagioni) the toppings were kept separate from one another instead of being all mixed up. They serve their wine in great big goblets, so huge that it felt like I was drinking out of a fishbowl. I think my head could have fit into that glass. But I didn't try it. They also gave me, as an appetizer, a plain pizza crust drizzled with olive oil. Mmmm, that was good!! I managed to finish the whole pizza this time. Well, both of them, actually. And I was invited to join two nice American PAs at the table next to me for dessert, as Nathan insisted that eating alone gives you indigestion (although I'd been doing it all week with no problems). He and Kim were on a 4-week Europe trip! Wow! I didn't know Americans ever got to take such long trips.

After my late night out on the previous night, Hud made me promise to go right back to my hotel room after supper tonight. So I did. I had to get up early to see the Accademia anyway. I didn't even talk to the guy who started walking with me and saying "Buon giorno" (at 9 p.m.??) and "Come stai?" When I wouldn't talk to him in Italian he switched to English but I still wouldn't talk and kept walking so he finally gave up. Hud would have been proud.

Back in Hannover

I returned to Hannover late Sunday night... but not too late for a glass of wine before bed. My sister and her husband are on a kick of drinking Spanish wine, which I appreciated. I guess I'd never had Spanish wine before. An interesting side note: I noticed that the cork was not actually made of cork and mentioned this to Debbi. She said this is somewhat of a controversy in Germany now. Cork oaks grow very slowly, and wine drinking is on the rise (I promise it's not all my fault). In fact, would you believe that now in Germany more wine is consumed than beer? Anyway, the synthetic cork was a matter of cork oak conservation.

On Monday afternoon Debbi and I rode bikes (no hills! so I managed nicely) to a garden party for Franziska's 10th birthday. I would explain to you who Franziska is but... it's complicated. Somehow every time I go to Germany I find myself at a party with a bunch of people who don't speak English. This time wasn't as bad as usual, though--sometimes I could guess at what they were talking about (I kind of made a little game of it!)--although most of the time I only understood about one word in every sentence. And of course every now and then Debbi translated a little for me.

On Tuesday Debbi and I made an excursion to downtown Hannover. We stopped by the "new" town hall (which is about 100 years old) and saw the scale models of the city (one from 1609, one from 1939, one from just after WWII, and a current model). Our main stop was at the Sprengel Museum to see an expressionist exhibition of works by Franz Marc, August Macke and Robert Delaunay. I enjoyed it, but after having so recently seen such beautiful artwork in Florence and Rome, these more modern paintings weren't as impressive. In fact, a good number of them appeared decidedly lacking in talent. My favorites were the small pencil "sketches from the front" by Marc which showed pleasing balance and interesting movement. My favorite painting was, I think, called "Sea", by Henk Chabot, and I wish I could find a picture of it. The museum houses several Picassos on permanent exhibition and I wondered how much they were worth... but (don't shoot me!) they fell in the "lacking in talent" category for me. And thumbs down to Hannover's own Kurt Schwitters... I think he "has a bird".

On Tuesday night the older two of my three nephews were getting together with a group of friends to watch DVDs. Lukas jokingly invited me to join them and I hope he wasn't too surprised when I actually decided to go. We watched Deja Vu and Before the Sunset, the first of which I hadn't seen before (though I somehow felt like I had...) and the second of which I don't recommend you waste your time on. The group graciously watched both of the movies in English for my benefit. And shared their pizza with me!

On Wednesday Debbi and I once again took the train into the city center, this time mainly for shopping. I had some leftover Euros to use up. (I think I mistakenly threw a 2€ coin in the trash... that wasn't the way I meant to use them up). Anway, I needed to pick up a few souvenirs so my kids wouldn't ship me right back as soon as I got home. We ate some Turkish "döners" for lunch which are similar to Greek "gyros" but don't let them hear you say that. Very good, but very spicy (on the way in and on the way out!)

On Wednesday afternoon my oldest nephew let me go through his 50GB music collection and pick out a bunch to take home with me. I'm sure it was all perfectly legal. He also showed me a funny video he is working on of his school's class trip to Greece. He needs to post it on youtube when he's finished. I guarantee it will go viral. Later that evening we watched video clips of Jeff Dunham's ventriloquist acts. While drinking wine, of course.

And that's pretty much it! The next day was a looooong day of traveling, ending with a 3-hour drive back home during which I was so tired that I am pretty sure I was hallucinating. I can't imagine what it would have been like without the help of my first Red Bull. But I made it home in one piece, as did all my luggage (most importantly my wine and Hud's beer), the only casualty being one glass jar of Nutella--good thing the other two jars made it safely. By the way, I still have 55€ left over, so apparently I need to go back. Girls, get ready for 2013! No excuses this time!