what have youve been eating?
pizza, pasta, homemade pasta, homemade pizza, homemade pizza with pasta, pasta with pizza. oh, and i went to this chinese restaurant last night, which was awesome.
capuccino with corneto for breakfast, and just lunches for lunch.
La prima settimana e gia finita
Lets see… how can I divide this first entry. Lets start with dates.
Il primo giorno: Tuesday/Wednesday - yes very long day.
Lets talk about planes. My flights were overall pretty good. The first flight from LA to Washington DC was probably the easiest to go through. The flight itself was good, quiet people... it was early in the morning so many of them, including me, took naps throughtout the trip. Unfortunately you had to pay for the breakfast in the plane, I wish I had known that before the fligth... once we got out of the plane, I bought some food and exchanged money... with a very high exchange rate, I deeply regret it.
The second flight, from DC to Rome was exhausting. I was assigned a seat in the middle of a row of 5. Yes, it was pretty bad. The flight was 9 hours, and it was slightly delayed. Most people in the plane were either students or retired people heading for vacation, nothing else. This flight actually came with entertainment. A good number of films such as: Thor, source code, Rio, and some other comedies... two channels for each, one English and the other in Italian, which I deeply enjoyed. There was also a GPS to check the status of the fight. Food was also provided, a choice meat and pasta... I chose the pasta, it was decent... just like any other plane food. Here again people tried to take naps, something which I forced myself to do to avoid the jetlag.. but it didn't really work.
The Leonardo Da Vinci airport. I though my worse nightmares came from LAX, but boy I was wrong. That airport is a mess, even with the signs in multiple languages is hard to get around the airport. I honestly don't know how I'll find my way back this coming December.
After the airport we went t a hotel close by where they took our photo... (after walking for 20min between the airport and the hotel with our loggage) signed us in, and gave us a ride to our dorms, pretty stsndard.
Once we got to our apparment, we were given a presentation about housing rules, it was lenghty. After all of that... being already Wednesday.. I just crashed for the rest of the day until night.. when me and my roommates roamed the city for a while... and get some drinks.
Well, that’s the first day.. I’ll keep updating as often as possible. And… so far, sorry no pictures yet. I can’t get my camera to connect to the tablet yet. But for imagery, the city is like a HUGE church… and possibly the best place on earth that I’ve seen… so far.
Friend recommended places to see:
Cinque Terre Coastal cities that are built into rugged coast lines. The train goes by most of them now, but they used to be so remote that they developed their own dialect and were without worry of invasion from hordes that ravaged the plains. Amazing views, amazing architecture, fantastic walks between towns. It’s a state park now.
Villa D”Este (outside Rome) You HAVE to see this. It’s out of the way and as such not as well known. This place is just an amazing treasure trove of extravagent fountains done before they had pumps. Theres one walk that is known as they alley of a thousand fountains (literal).
San Gimignano, Tuscany Smaller fort town, where the rich families competed by building tall towers. They had no value other than to show off wealth, so the town has a bunch of just tall pointless towers that look awesome. It’s surrounded by amazing rolling hills with small groves of trees and fields.
Bagno Vignoni, S. Quirico d’Orcia Hot springs of the emperors, nuff said
Villa Adrianna (Hadrians Vila, outside Rome) Get away from Rome for Hadrian; designed at the peak of his power.
Genova Port town; largest aquarium in the country (not really saying much). Awesome villas, museums, plazas, very scenic bay. It was the European City of the year a few years back.
Monastery - functional benedetine abbey This isn’t near the top ONLY because I can’t remember the name, all I have is the description. It’s in a lightly forested area and was a bastion of knowledge during the dark ages. This place is heavily fortified for a monastery and just well..I geeked out.
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Other Cities to check out (not as tourist heavy) Sienna - This is famous in movies / photographs for the massive plaza; where they had a big race/fight. The first Italian planned City. Florence - Just really nice architecture / history.
Places I regretted not seeing Catacombs in Rome
Spending more time in Italian Alphs
Obviously tour Tuscany and go to Rome / Vatican.
-Thanks Brian!
If anyone have any other must-see places to see, let me know :D
