The Brothers Are Coming....

Tomorrow my brothers begin their journey to Bologna. Hopefully the city will survive....

Orvieto

Not too long ago, in a country far, far away, your blogger visited one of those mystical type of towns that is hard to believe actually exists. For this weekend, the mystical Italian city of our choosing was Orvieto, which I believe I mentioned, is a place that I had wanted to visit since I first spied it from the window of a bus when I was 16 years old. Well, earlier this month, I finally visited the town. Mark, Natalie, and our friend Lindsay set out from Bologna on Friday afternoon and had a lovely direct train ride to Orvieto. After disembarking from the train in Orvieto, we had to take a funicular train (which may be my favorite mode of transportation) to the actual town on a hill: (this is a bad picture swiped from the Internet) The village of Orvieto sits on a butte about an hour outside of Rome. The butte is populated with many underground caves, which today are used mostly for wine cellars and basements of the people of Orvieto. At various times in the past, the caves were used to house pigeons, food, etc.

After arriving on Friday night, we went to eat at a restaurant located in a cave. It was rather neat. I would post pictures, but they are stuck in Natalie's camera....After dinner we roamed a very deserted Orvieto. No one was out on the town. It was eerie how silent this place was on a Friday night.

On Saturday, we took to the town and saw everything there was to see, which isn't saying too much, as the town is so small you could walk from one side to the other in 10-15 minutes. Anyway, some of the sights of our tour included a view of the hillside and some of the town's buildings:

Here is me in the town, overlooking the valley:

We also took an underground tour that included caves dating back to the Etruscans. The last time these caves were used for anything other than wine cellars was actually during WW II when the caves were used as air raid shelters:

And can anyone say "Absolut Fortress"?

Here are Mark and Natalie, trying to figure out what we should do next. Or maybe they were looking for a restaurant. I don't recall. But what is funny about this picture are the surroundings. Or maybe the combination of the playground, beer, and wind....
And here are me, Natalie, and Mark:
And then there is the Duomo in the center of town. This was a very interesting church--very ornate gold mosaic scenes on the outside, but very sparsely decorated on the inside. Actually, the inside of the Duomo has huge frescoes on the walls that some credit as the inspiration for Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. The church is also interesting because of its immense size. The town of Orvieto is tiny, but the church is huge. Seems very disproportionate....




After spending the rest of Saturday walking around the town and sampling some of the local vino, we headed to an absolutely amazing dinner at a restaurant called Ristorante Zeppelin. They had a special "surprise" dining menu where one paid a set price for 3 dishes, but the cook decides what you are going to eat. After some deliberation, we decided to take the plunge. And what an amazing meal it was. My first course was a chickpea flan, with pecorino cheese mousse. Then for the second course, I had black truffle pasta. Finally, the third course was rabbit, stuffed with apple and herbs. I probably would never have ordered any of these items on my own, but they were so good. A very good time was had by all, that is certain....

the other thing that was interesting about Saturday night was the amount of people out on the town. It seemed that as soon as Saturday night mass let out, the town became overrun with people and did not clear-out of people until very late. Where these people were on Friday night, I don't know, but they were out in force on Saturday.

And then on Sunday we traveled back to Bologna. It was a very good weekend. I can't wait till my next out-of-Bologna experience....

The Hangovers

A shocking thing happened last night--I saw The Hangovers perform in Bologna.

Who are The Hangovers you ask? Just one of the best a cappella groups at my alma mater, Cornell University. I used to LOVE these guys when I was in school. They would give awesome, sold out concerts and would occasionally sing in the arches of West Campus.

Now, you may be wondering what The Hangovers, a Cornell group, was doing performing at a Johns Hopkins school in Italy. I can't really answer that question. But when I saw the e-mail announcement earlier this week, I flipped out. I actually screamed with excitement, which prompted my roommate, Megan, to ask me who had died. I was so excited, as were the two other Cornellians at SAIS.


And The Hangovers did not disappoint. They even sing some of the same songs as when I was at Cornell. We also got them to do two encores....It was a great concert and a real treat to see them. I am hoping they will be performing at my 5-year Reunion this June, too....

Carnevale--A Bit Late

Well, as many of you are aware, and as I posted about, Lent is now two weeks old. Therefore, this post on my Carnevale in Venice is a tad overdue. Hopefully the pictures of all of the outrageous costumes will help you to forgive me....

On the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, Natalie and I decided to head to Venice for the day to partake in the Carnevale festivities. At first we were going to wear our ballgowns with capes, but luckily we wised up before jumping on a train in our dresses. Instead, we settled on masks and jeans....Here is Natalie on the Rialto:What a scene Venice was that day! First it took tons of time just to weave through the city to Piazza San Marco and then when we got there, even more people were streaming about. Luckily a large number of these people were decked out in very fetching and amazing costumes. There was even a family decked-out. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

And here I am on the water-bus heading back to the train station:

Overall, the day was lots of fun and I fell in love with Venice all over again. What a great city! I highly recommend you visit it, before it sinks into the Adriatic!

My 3rd & 4th Visitors--My Parents

Towards the end of February, my parents came to visit me in Italy. It was my mother's first trip out of North America, so the trip contained many interesting moments of my mother taking in and adapting to the Italian environment. My parents first spent a day with me in Bologna, then traveled to Florence, Assisi, Rome, and then spent their last couple days again in Bologna. I accompanied them to Florence and, since it was the very beginning of the semester and missing a couple days of class wouldn't seal my academic doom, I spent 3 days in Rome with them.

Here are my parents in front of the Neptune statue in Bologna, which should be recognizable from previous posts:

On my parents' first day in Bologna, I treated them to a day-in-the-life of me--we walked to my school, made the long walk to my apartment from school, ate a very good meal at a great restaurant, etc. Just a typical Bolognese day....

Then on Sunday, we traveled to Florence, which did not seem to impress my parents too much. I think it is one of those things where sometimes you can visit a city and it completely impresses you and almost challenges you to comprehend its awesomeness. Then sometimes you visit a city and it is just, uh. Nothing too special. Unfortunately my parents and I (although I think this was my 4th or 5th trip to Florence) experienced the latter on this day....I don't even have any pictures....

Anyway, on Monday my parents went to Assisi, while I spent some time working in Bologna, before catching a train to meet them in Rome.

I feel like I have to detail the full meaning and impact of the Rome visit for my mother. Watching my mother see the Vatican and St. Peter's for the first time was like seeing a 7 year old catch their first glimpse of the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. I am not trying to suggest the Vatican is in any way similar to the house that Mickey Mouse built, but just trying to provide the best analogy possible. Either way, my mother was very excited. She was so excited and had so much of her and my father's Rome trip planned around the Vatican activities that our hotel was literally a stone's throw from the Vatican. This is the view of the entrance to the Vatican Musuem (where the Sistine Chapel is), as seen from the window of our hotel room:
So, our three days in Rome were pretty good. My mother met the Pope, or at least shook his hand, we took an excavation tour of St. Peter's, where we saw tombs from the necropolis that the original basilica was built atop of in the 3rd century, and walked around and saw many of the other major sites in Rome. Here are some pictures:

This is Trevi Fountain, where visitors throw coins over their shoulders to ensure their return to Rome, to ensure falling in love, or to ensure getting married. I just love this fountain. I don't know why, but I think it is the same reason I love aquariums and Sea World. I love to see the large pools of clear water and secretly desire the ability to jump into them. Not that I want to swim with Shamu, but the water always looks so refreshing....Here I am top the cupola of St. Peter's. My mother and I made the long journey up to the top. I was a little surprised that she wanted to do this, as she hates heights, but she made the journey. Plus, the sun was out in vibrant fashion, so that made it especially pleasant. Anyway, here I am:
Here is the view of Vatican City and the rest of Rome from the top:
Here is my mother, perched on a seat, trying to stay as far from the edge as possible:And here is St. Peter's as seen from the inside of the dome. I didn't expect to see this, so I was surprised when we walked through a door and I found myself perched atop the inside of the basilica:

And here is St. Peter's, as seen from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo:

After another day in Rome, my parents and I traveled back to Bologna in time for dinner at Al 15, which is a restaurant located directly behind my apartment and which was also written up in the New York Times. Natalie and Mark joined us for dinner, too. My parents commented how my blog usually contains pictures and stories of dinners out, so we took pictures of this dinner, too, for inclusion on my blog. So, here are my parents, Mark, and me at dinner:

Here are my parents:

And here are Natalie, me, and Mark:

After dinner, we all, minus my mother, went to the Celtic Druid. I think my dad wanted to check out the joint where we spend so much time....I don't have any pictures from that, though....

And that was pretty much my parents' trip to Italy. I think a good time was had by all....

Lent Has Begun....

As many of you may know, yesterday marked the commencement of Lent, a time when Catholics are encouraged to refrain from eating/doing certain foods, drinks, or things. In the past, I have given up candy, meat, and, hardest of all, alcohol (during my first months working for that car company, which was certainly a time I probably could have used the distraction). This year I am attempting perhaps my greatest feat yet. I am giving up diet soda.

To give you an indication of how much fun this has been so far, I will tell you my story of yesterday morning. On Wednesday, the first day of Lent, I woke up and 5 minutes after waking I wondered if the store downstairs was open, so I could buy a Diet Coke. This thought did not fill me with confidence....

Tomorrow, Friday, I am heading to Orvieto for a couple of days. I have wanted to visit this town since I saw it from the window of a bus when I was 16. I think it was my first case of travel-lust. And now I get to fulfill this lust. I am very excited. When I return, I will have lots of posts on my parents' visit to Italy, Carnivale in Venice, and Orvieto. Ciao!