Friends in Italy... Part Three

Pizza from O'Vesuvio

Very tired. This will be brief.

PIzza the other night was awesome. Outdoor club was closed for the season, which was devastating, so we went to an indoor place called Space instead. Had lots of fun.... but not as much as we could have. One of my Pisa friends, Mike, came down to join us which was nice.

Yesterday we took the train to Siena and strolled around the beautiful city, making frequent stops in stores. I bought a fantastic sweater (see picture below. We had really good gourmet gelato from a place called Grom. We relaxed with a drink on the patio of the Irish pub, and all of a sudden I heard my name and turned around to see my friend and ex-student Stephanie. She's in Siena with the U of T study abroad program.

We got back to Florence, and Stacey opted to stay in for the night to get some much-needed rest. I thumb my nose at sleep. Tamara and I went out. We joined a pub crawl because one of the crawl guides, Matt, had given us a flyer the day before and we figured it sounded actually pretty good. For 18 euros we got an hour of open bar, a free shot at 4 bars afterwards, and entrance to Space. We had an absolute blast and met some cool people, including a group of aerospace engineering students from France. One of them is from Avignon. We had a long conversation about the bridge. Apparently it's underwhelming and in need of repair.

Things got dramatic when one of the French guys found out that a friend from home had committed suicide. There was lots of crying and consoling. We felt terrible for him, but I also felt bad for Matt as it was his first time being in charge of the crawl on his own, and this was quite a disastrous thing to have to deal with. I helped convince the french guys that their friend needed to go home and sleep. Once that downer was rectified, the night continued and we had an awesome time. Also, I've mentioned how I have run into my Turkish friend, Emre, on two separate occasions in Florence. Guess who tapped me on the shoulder last night...

Today the girls and I had a hardcore shopping day. It was successful. Got a gorgeous studded tuscan buffalo-leather collar for my dog, an awesome multi-functional schoolbag/laptop-tote for myself, and some cool clothes too. The second suitcase I bought the other day is pretty full...

Need 20 minute nap before we head out now for another night on the town. Tomorrow we catch the train at 8:30am for Milan (we couldn't go to Venice for the day as planned since the trains were sold out. It's probably for the best...).

Ciao

Stacey's karaoke skills on the bottom floor of Space (they keep the microphones turned off... a genius idea)

In the Campo of Siena

Pub Crawlin' with our new French friends

My turkish friend who pops up everywhere

My new bag, can also be made into a briefcase, messenger and a backpack

My new bag, can also be made into a tote, messenger and a backpack

New sweater from Siena

Friends in Italy... Part Two

We're having the best time ever!!!

Yesterday we met up with Heather and Jenelle in Florence and went out first to Santa Maria Novella church (Stacey, Tamara and I waited outside since we weren't dressed appropriately). Then we grabbed a yummy little sandwich downtown and did some more sightseeing. We ended our afternoon with some wine drinking on a patio at Piazza Santo Spirito and then we grabbed a cab up to San Miniato al Monte, an 11th century basilica up on the hill overlooking Florence. We got there as the monks were chanting, which was a really beautiful experience. I have some video, but the internet here is terrible and it would take too long to post.

Afterwards we grabbed dinner at my favourite restaurant Za Za and stuffed ourselves silly, and then headed to the fortezza to browse the stalls and enjoy some delicious shisha. A fairly tame night...

This morning we woke up for the FANTASTIC breakfast at our hotel (best scrambled eggs and hot chocolate I've ever had), and then headed off for our adventurous day of horseback riding and wine tasting in the Chianti region. The tour company picked us up at the train station in Florence, and then drove us out to the countryside, making two stops for scenic picture-taking. We arrived at the ranch and got suited up. The horses were all really sweet. Mine was named Acadia. Tamara's was named Bruta (not to be confused with the Italian word "Brutta" which means ugly). The ride was gorgeous (we've been having perfect weather by the way) but now we all have very sore bums. After the ride, we were given some white wine, and then driven out to a nearby hilltop village where we got a great lunch at a tuscan restaurant.... we had crostini, cheese, prosciutto, mini gnocchi with meat ragu, and spaghetti with tomato sauce. Dessert was panna cotta (meh) with chocolate sauce (incredible). We also had more wine, and then went to a wine shop across the square for more tastings. After all of that, our fabulous guide drove us back to Florence. I was talking to a few of the guides and half-jokingly asked if there would be a chance I could get a job with them in a year's time when I'm done school. They said absolutely, and they'd be happy to help me.

Now we're getting ready for pizza and a night at my favourite outdoor club. Enjoy the pictures below!

Stacey, Jenelle, Heather and Tamara in front of the Duomo

Heather, Stacey and I in front of San Minato al Monte

Grabbing a drink while waiting for our table at Za Za

Stacey and I at the fortezza

Piazzale Michelangelo before horseback riding

Stacey on her horse

Me and Acadia

Horseback riding

Lunch after horseback riding

Friends in Italy... Part One

Colloseum

So my two friends arrived this weekend... Tamara on Saturday from Toronto, and Stacey on Sunday from Miami... and we're having a blast! It's one thing to be in Italy enjoying myself and meeting new people, but its something else entirely getting to share it with people from home...

On Saturday night after Tamara arrived at the Rome airport, we had dinner and drinks near the pantheon. It was "happy hour", which meant that cocktails went from being "ridiculously expensive" to "moderately expensive". Later on that night, we attempted to find one of Rome's infamous Pub Crawls. Wandering aimlessly around the city center, a girl suddenly came up to us and said "you look like you're looking for the pub crawl!". Wild... so we joined the group of Brits and Canadians (a bunch from Brampton... small world!) and had a great time.

I went to the airport early the next morning to meet Stacey who is in Europe for the first time ever! I'm honored to be her first-time tour guide. Once we got back and checked into our hotel with Tamara, we went out for a rigorous day of Roman sight-seeing, including the colosseum, the pantheon, the trevi fountain, and the spanish steps. By evening we were aching and exhausted, and quite happy to go to dinner at the restaurant I'd read good reviews of and made reservations at. The restaurant was called the Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. It ended up being fantastic (Stacey's gnocchi with black truffle and veal ragu being the hit of the night) and the restaurant had pictures on the walls of celebrities who had eaten there, like Al Pacino and Woody Allen. After dinner we stopped by a great wine shop near the Trevi Fountain, where the friendly staff forced samples on us... truffle spread, cheese, olive oil, liqueurs, wine... we ended up buying a bottle of white to enjoy by the Trevi Fountain.

Yesterday morning We caught the train from Rome to Florence, and then tried to find our hotel. I get a little disoriented in the area north of the station, so I had to stop and ask to make sure we were headed in the right direction. I stopped at one little shop where the man responded to my question "which way is Via Guido Monaco?" (asked politely in Italian) with an abrupt "beh?" multiple times. I finally gave up with him and ran to a hotel nearby to ask, while Stacey and Tamara waiting by the abrupt man's shop. Apparently he came outside to tell them that he wouldn't help me because I "wasn't nice". I didn't realize my direction requests were rude...

We found the hotel, and it's really fantastic, especially considering the great price we got our room for. Once we settled in, we set out for some lunch. I planned on taking the girls to the truffled sandwich place I discovered last month, only to discover that it's CLOSED for the holidays! It closed three days ago! Devastating. So we ended up grabbing a bite on the scenic rooftop terrace of the Rinascente. Then we wandered around, through the leather market by the Porcellino, where Stacey bought a fabulous leather bag. I'm tempted to get my own, in a different colour... it's about time I had a grown-up bag to carry my laptop and stuff in. I have a few days to mull it over though. Then we wandered over ponte vecchio, and then headed to Vivoli, my gelato place, which was... CLOSED FOR HOLIDAYS AS OF YESTERDAY! COULD MY LIFE GET ANY WORSE? Ok I'm being dramatic. But still. So upsetting. I feel like I let the girls down. Today I'm going to find another good gelato place that I went to before...

Then we made our way back to the hotel, via the station where we did a bit of shopping. Stopped by the Conad supermarket and picked up some 1 euro cartons of wine. For dinner we went to a restaurant on the other side of the Arno that I'd read good reviews of, called Quattro Leoni. Despite cranky service (they wouldn't bring us olive oil for our bread if we didn't pay, and they brought Stacey's main at the same time as our appetizers) the food was really good! Tamara and Stacey were big fans of my pappa al pomodoro (traditional Tuscan tomato and bread stew). After dinner, we stopped by a trendy-looking little gelateria nearby where Stacey had great mint gelato made with fresh mint. Then we took our cartons of 1 euro wine to the bridge and enjoyed the view and the company for a few hours.

Today at noon, an old friend from elementary/highschool, Heather, and her friend from university, Jenelle, arrive in Florence as a part of their current eurotrip. Should be fun!

Colloseum

Extraordinary repairs...?

View from Piazza Venezia

Enjoying some evening wine by the Trevi Fountain

Scary doll!

One-euro wine in Florence

Sten, a well-known Roman graffiti artist

Last Week of Work

Spaghetti All'Ubriaca

Well it literally feels like I arrived a week ago, yet here I am, three months later, with just 4 days left of my internship! Katie left this morning, so I get to finish out the job on my own. I have a tour this evening (provided it doesn't thunderstorm) and one on Saturday morning, after which I will head to Prato and spend the night at Miranda's, before catching the train on Sunday for my next adventure! 18 more days of excitement lie beyond my job, so I'll be sure to post about my continued Italian adventures.

Besides attempting to pack (ugggghhhhhh), not much is going on this week, except for the big excitement of "the party" tomorrow night. Signor Gori's daughter Patrizia is turning 60 and there's going to be a big bash here with about 80 friends and family. It will be a catered affair with dancing under the stars (provided, again, that it doesn't thunderstorm... If it does, the dancing will take place inside one of the rooms filled with fantastic art). It will also be one last chance for me to get super dressed up, which should be fun.

This past week has been pretty relaxed too. Been flexing my culinary muscles... one day I made Spaghetti all'Ubriaca (Drunkard's Spaghetti... see picture above) which is cooked in red wine and then tossed in butter, olive oil, garlic, and some basil and parsley. I also made 5-cheese pasta. I technically had the ingredients for 8-cheese pasta, but I figured that was a bit excessive.

Last Friday, Katie and I were invited out by Riccardo, the guy who does all the tech/computer/fixing-the-internet stuff around here. We went for drinks and dancing to a place called Torre del Lago which is very close to Pisa. It was a lot of fun, and a really neat place... definitely the gayest neighbourhood I've ever been to in Europe.

Last night after I gave a brief tour to a French mayor, I headed down to meet Katie in Florence for one last evening out. I rediscovered my love of shopping in the station (the train station in Florence has an underground shopping center that is AWESOME... got a great skirt and pair of pants for 15 euros altogether). Then after a great dinner at our favourite restaurant, we headed to the summer festival at the Fortezza (the fortress) which I used to frequent, well, frequently, when I was in Florence a few years ago. It was as fun as I remembered, with tons of vendors selling cool things from around the world (I got some great 5-euro pashminas). We had some cannoli and ricotta cake, and then sat down for a bit to enjoy some beers and shisha. There was also a concert going on that was pretty good.

A dopo :)

PS. On Sunday I read a great book:

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What an utterly captivating and fascinating quick read!



View all my reviews

Shisha at the Fortezza

At Torre del Lago

At Torre del Lago

A Moment You Will Always Remember

So I think this is probably my last required blog post for the internship (I'll keep posting more! Just no more of the blog topics provided by YIIP)... I'm going to attempt to tackle "a moment you will always remember". I'm going to do a really bad job...

Essentially... I will always remember LOTS of moments. Especially EVERY moment I spent in Florence. I may live a solid 2-hour trek away from the city, but I get there as often as possible and I desperately want to live there someday soon (*side note to my parents... yes, I know I said that about Reykjavik last year. I desperately want to live both places. It's feasible... Can't a girl dream big? Or at least have several dreams, so if one ends up being more feasible than the others, then there are main dreams and backup dreams?).

Anyways. Florence. Love it. I'm sure it would get frustrating living there, having to battle through swarms of tourists half the year, plus the sweltering heat, plus the endless noise from concerts and drunken tourist hooligans. But for the time being, I love it. It's a magical place where unique, once-in-a-lifetime moments occur on a regular basis. I've already mentioned some of the random friendships that have started in Florence. Trust me, there are many more.

I'll never forget the American girls who invited me to be an honorary member of their sorority after we spent 20 minutes together battling the broken bathroom door at my favorite Florence bar.

I'll never forget the night of my birthday, at my favorite Florence restaurant, Za Za, when Katie and I cheered up a waiter after an obnoxious tourist yelled at him for not speaking English "well enough".

I'll never forget the first time I tasted pizza from Pizzeria O'Vesuvio.

I'll never forget the time I figured out that chocolate gelato and yogurt gelato together taste like cheesecake.

I'll never forget the time I dared to try gorgonzola gelato (...yes, it's as terrible as it sounds).

I'll never forget dancing on Ponte Vecchio with a bunch of strangers while the Ponte Vecchio guitar guy played "Don't Worry Be Happy".

I'll never forget yesterday afternoon, when I was walking through some back alleys to go meet a friend at Piazza Signoria, and I walked past a church window where inside was a little concert going on with stunning music being played by a cellist, violinist, and pianist (see video below).

I'll also never forget yesterday, when I was walking through Via Tornabuoni, thinking to myself "I'm STARVING! I just want a SNACK! Something with TRUFFLES!" and I turned a corner to find myself face to face with an adorable antique cafe with the words "Panini Tartufati" (Truffle Sandwiches) written across the windows. This place seriously just sells little 2-bite sandwiches with different truffle products inside, like truffle butter, and truffled cheese, and truffled foie gras.

Of course this entire internship has been an incredible, unforgettable experience, and there are a million more moments at Celle, Pistoia, and beyond that I will always remember, but I just wanted to try to convey the bizarre way that fleeting Florence moments can really surprise you and stick with you. If your response to reading this is "big whoop, you met people and ate food", I say to you... "you just had to be there".

BTW, FYI, in case you were wondering... today is the most beautiful, breezy, sunny, colourful July day that Italy has ever seen.

Thinking About the Real World

So as my internship here is more than 2/3 done (a depressing thought) I guess it's time to start contemplating the ways in which my experience here will apply to my studies when I return. I thought I'd do a post about it for anyone interested.

I'm going into my second year of my masters and intend on writing my thesis/MRP about graffiti and the movement of graffiti from the streets into the galleries. In other words, I want to examine what happens when there start to be gallery exhibitions (like one that I went to earlier this year in a swanky new gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan that featured French street artist Zevs). My general idea is that graffiti is no longer graffiti when it is removed from the streets, since its original context is such an intrinsic part of what it is (I would argue that graffiti is not just a final product, but comprises an entire performative process in which context/location plays an integral role).

At first, it would seem like working at a contemporary site-specific sculpture park in rural Tuscany would have little to do with my research interests. However, I'm finding it very interesting examining the ways in which ideas of site-specificity (as they apply to art like the sculptures here at Celle) parallel those that I believe to be crucial in the whole graffiti-gallery issue.

As an aside, if you're interested in seeing the pictures I shoot of graffiti during my travels in Italy and beyond, you can find them on my other blog here.

A couple other unrelated thoughts/stories for the day...

1) Italian transit officially has WAY too many strikes. This is getting ridiculous. At least I finally found the extremely obscure link on the TrenItalia website that gives strike info a day or two in advance.

2) Last night in Florence I had a very bizarre chance encounter. I heard someone call my name and turned around to find a Turkish friend that I went to school with in Florence 3 years ago! I was amazed that he even recognized me, seeing as I went from blonde to black hair since then. WHAT A SMALL WORLD!

24 Hour Adventure

So last night Katie and I decided at the last minute to head into Florence for some pizza from O'Vesuvio, AKA the pizzeria we discovered that makes pizza that tastes like angels. Our pizzeria expedition turned into epic 24 hour adventure. We got into Florence at 6pm, got our pizza, and ate it in piazza Signoria where an orchestra series was also going on. After that, I remembered that it was the final night that my favourite bar, Naima, would be open, since they're closing for renovations/the summer holiday season (in Italy, many businesses close in late July and throughout August since most Italians go away to the sea) so we went to Naima where, as always, we made tons of new friends, including the bouncer who we talked to for about an hour and discovered that he also makes jewellery. Interesting.

Needless to say, we missed the last train back to Pistoia, so we stayed at Naima all night. Later on, we met an awesome group of Americans and ended up hanging out with them. A few of the guys work at the US army base in Pisa, a couple of them study biology in Florence, and a girl named Lisa whom they had just met 2 hours prior to meeting us is studying Italian in Florence for the summer. It was a wild chance encounter that we all met each other like that, because we ended up having the greatest time with them and feeling like we'd known them forever. We all talked for a bit, and then at 6am they said they were heading back to Pisa and we were invited to come, so we agreed. There wasn't room in their car for 9 of us, so Katie, myself, Lisa and another guy (Matt) took the train and Mike picked us up. When we got there, we went to the army base so Katie and I could buy bathing suits. Then after a delicious Chinese all-you-can-eat lunch, Katie, Mike, Lisa and I went to the beach at Pisa and spent a glorious few hours enjoying the sun, the breeze, the water, and the fabulous people watching.

So that was my weekend! Tomorrow after work we're going to go back to Pisa to a 4th of July party on the beach with our new friends.

Now I'm going to try to go to sleep, despite the incredibly loud karaoke event going on in the village at the bottom of the hill. (Our apartment is in a sort of sound tunnel, so it essentially sounds like the karaoke is taking place in our apartment. Agony.)

Ciao for now!

PS. Unfortunately my camera battery died partway through the night, so I'm counting on Katie's camera for some good shots. I'll grab pictures off her later this week and share if there's anything good

A day in Bologna

Bologna

I finally got to Bologna yesterday! Something to check off my list...

The train ride was surprisingly short (about an hour including changeover at Prato Centrale) and cheap (7 euros). The train ride from Prato to Bologna was mostly through tunnels, as you essentially need to go through mountains to get there. There was a guy on the train, typical Italian, wearing pink shorts and a purple top (not that there's anything wrong with that, it was just memorable) and he was trying to have a phone conversation and kept stalking back and forth from one end of the train to the other trying to get service. He also had an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth for most of the trip. I wanted to tell him "dude... you know we won't be arrive for another half hour, put the cigarette down and chill out!".

The city of Bologna is beautiful, with tons of public art and impressive statues, and with a unique tendency towards covered walkways with vaulted arched ceilings, rather than regular sidewalks. The city also had great shopping (hello new shoes) and I found the people (in stores, restaurants, on the streets) to be noticeably more pleasant than in other Italian cities. Unfortunately my lunch was a bit disappointing... I trusted Lonely Planet and went to a place called Osteria de Poeti, which had a neat location in the basement of an old wine cellar. But something felt a bit off when I entered... I quickly realized it was the fact that they were playing "Sweet Home Alabama" on the speakers... hmmmm... And my meal wasn't that great. I made up for it later though...

I also checked out the Museo Civico's collection of art, which was very nice. I was disappointed that the archaeological museum was closed for no apparent reason... I was looking forward to going asI hear that they have an impressive collection of Egyptian and Etruscan artifacts.

At about 5pm I decided it was time to extract myself from Bologna (the fact that I was seriously contemplating buying a pair of boots for 550 euros was a pretty good indicator that it was time to leave). I took the train to Florence and met Katie who had done a bit of shopping at H&M, and after we showed each other our purchases, we headed to the bridge beside Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge of Florence... the only one to survive WWII) to enjoy a bottle of bubbly. It's really fun to have wine outside in Florence (or anywhere in Italy/Europe) since there are so many tourists around who can't believe that you can legally drink in the streets and therefore think of you as, for lack of a better term, super cool. A lot of Americans struck up conversations with us, including a family from California who had just arrived that morning... They also asked for restaurant recommendations. I hope they found Piazza Santo Spirito and had a good meal there!

After our wine, we decided it was time for dinner. We decided to try Pizzeria O'Vesuvio, which is the pizzeria where the Jersey Shore cast was "working" (...catch all their thrilling Florence adventures next season... or don't...). I'd heard that O'Vesuvio is actually the best pizza in Florence, but was rather skeptical... anywhere that's been tainted by Jersey Shore has to be dismal. But Oh. My. Gosh. That pizza was indescribable. I didn't even know pizza had the ability to BE so good. It changed my life... everything else that has ever happened to me, or will ever happen to me, will now be categorized as pre-pizza, or post-pizza. Post-pizza Ally is a new woman, a woman who sees the potential beauty in everything, especially cheesy doughy messes. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it. I don't know why Florence residents would ever eat anywhere else!

Still reeling from our pizza experience, we ran to the train station to hop the train to Prato, as Miranda had kindly offered to let us stay the night. Once in Prato we grabbed a beer at a very cool bar in a very old grotto-like space, and then I located an exceptional gelato place... their flavors were nothing extraordinary, but the texture was superb! And then we called it a night.

Bologna "sidewalks" & graffiti

Bologna

Bologna's art collection at the Museo Civico

Italians know how to make awesome door hardware!

Statues in Bologna

Part of a series of statues at the Museo Civico in Bologna

Fountain of Neptune

Bologna

Sculptures in Bologna

Bologna

Ponte Vecchio behind us

Pizza bliss

Best Pizza of Life

Fun day in Florence

Fountain of Neptune in Boboli Gardens

Yesterday katie and I went to Florence after a great short tour in the morning (massive english-speaking group of art deans from around the world that we split up and took around at the same time). When we got to Florence we got gelato (the new flavour I tried was Mille Foglie, basically like crushed up phyllo pastry in ice cream), and then went to see the Boboli gardens and Bardini gardens... a big florence site that neither of us has been to before. We figured we probably should go. It was very pretty, but extremely exhausting in the blazing sun and after not too long we were all gardened out. 

Then we went and got cannoli and then met up with Katie's new friend Francis that she met on my birthday, and his very nice friend Greg who is doing a trip around Italy and Turkey and was in Florence just for the day & night. Francis has been working in florence for 2 years as a program director for Rutgers' study abroad program but it just got cancelled so he's out of a job and is moving back to NYC on monday so yesterday he was moving all of his stuff. The four of us walked around a bit and then i went off for about half an hour to see a museum  exhibition of art works by Picasso, Dali, and Miro which was cool (Katie and Francis had already seen it last week so thats why they didn't come). I regrouped with Greg, Katie and Francis who had gone to Francis' apartment to grab his TV and a frying pan to take to his other friend Nick's house.

After that errand was done, the 5 of us went to a bar and had some beers and then the 3 guys went off to some dinner at a friend's house and Katie and I went for INDIAN FOOOOOD. The only thing that tastes better than Indian food, is Indian food when you haven't had any for several months! Incredible. Satiated, we went down to the Arno (the river that runs through Florence) to watch some fireworks (I don't remember the occasion).

Indian fooooood!

Statue outside of Palazzo Pitti

Statue in Boboli Gardens

Statue in Boboli Gardens

Fountain behind Palazzo Pitti

Statue in Bardini Gardens

Statue in Bardini Gardens

View from Bardini Gardens

Bardini Gardens

My new gal pal in Bardini Gardens

Canine friend in Bardini Gardens

We found the Hossein Golba Lover's Fountains in Boboli Gardens! (We have the same series of fountains at Celle. These are the only contemporary permanent work in the Boboli Gardens)