Ciao! Coming to you from London Town...I'm spending a few days here before I fly home on Sunday. What a difference two months make! It's FREEZING here. But still beautiful. I'll include a bit more on that at the end of this post. Ahh...this post. It will be my longest post and most wonderful to write, since it's all about ITALY!!!
This entire journey has been fantastic thus far, but the last two weeks in Italy have most definitely been the richest. My "Eat, Pray, Drink, Love" tour I'll call it. There's been a lot of food, spirituality, vino, more food, more vino, and romance. This all started in Israel (c'mon - the heart of spirituality), and it flowed seamlessly into Italy. Before I visited Israel, I met a guy online who's from Rome (we'll call him "the Italian") but he moved to Tel Aviv two years ago. We started a dialogue and it took off from there. We met in Tel Aviv and our mini romance began. He ended up visiting his family and friends while I was in Rome, so we spent four days there together - nothing like a local showing you around. I'll get to that in a moment.
Roma
Before the Italian met me in Rome, I spent four days on my own and with friends exploring this phenomenal city. Some snapshots...
Campo de Fiori market
Insane gelato. I indulged quite often. What?
Typcal morning
Piazza Navona
Puntarelle alla Romana with mozzarella di bufala. YUM.
Strange things happen at the colosseum..
Roman Forum
Bucatini all'Amatriciana. OMG.
Spanish steps
Lasagna al Ragu, See a pattern yet?
View from Villa Borghese Gardens
I did a Vatican Museum/St. Peter's Basilica tour. Fascinating of course. Interesting fact...this sphere sculpture looked familiar to me:
Turns out it's by the same artist, Fritz Koenig, who designed the World Trade Center "Sphere for Plaza Fountain."
I saw this sphere every day walking into work. Unreal. And this sphere survived the attacks. Here's some info if you're interested: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/world-trade-center-sphere-911-memorial-battery-park_n_1872779.html
Anyway, I really enjoyed the museum, Basilica (Pieta - wow) and Sistine Chapel. Pretty awesome.
That was the first four days. Typically touristic and wonderful. The next four days were spent with the Italian. We were tourists together but in a much slower-paced manner. This was a beautiful lookout point..
He kept snapping pics of me, which felt awkward at first but then I got into it and pretended I was a Roman model. Totally lying. I felt funny the entire time ;)
The Tiber river is gorgeous this time of year. Perfect for a stroll on the sunny day. I had nine sunny days in a row in Rome. Yeah.
The hat got me every time.
We ate and drank and strolled. Arm in arm. I kept pinching myself. Just standing at the counter downing an espresso was romantic. I know that sounds corny, but I live for this stuff. Let me have this one..
On our last day together we drove to the sea for lunch. We had the patio to ourselves and soaked up the rays.
Spaghetti Vongole. I had it three times in Italy.
What can I say? It was the perfect mini romance and I'll never forget it. We're still in touch but live on opposite ends of the earth, so for now...c'est la vie ;)
Firenze
This was my second visit to Florence - first time was in May '98. It's such a different city during holiday time! Just gorgeous.
I climbed Giotto's Campanile Tower one morning for the views - 414 steps. The steep and narrow cement stairwells are only wide enough for one person, so figuring out how to squeeze by people coming down or going up was an adventure in itself. Here's the tower:
Views from the top
Views of the Arno from the Ponte Vecchio bridge
Made a visit to the Pitti Palace and Bobili Gardens. Pretty view of the city from here.
I enjoyed my two days here very much. The food was delicious and the energy was palpable. I took a day trip to Tuscany (Sienna, Chianti, San Gimignano and Pisa). Here's a few shots:
I couldn't get over the views from San Gimignano. One of the most picturesque places I've ever seen.
Venezia
I was debating making this trip, but I decided to spend two days here. I felt like I was in Vegas or on a Disney ride. It looked fake! I'm so glad I saw it. Here's a few pics from my visit.
I was in awe from the celiing at Doge's Palace. "Ornate" doesn't do it justice.
My last meal in Italy. Heaven.
So, that's my two weeks in Italy in a nutshell. Unforgettable experience in every way. And now I'm sitting in the Notting Hill flat I rented in London, enjoying the last few days of my journey. Today I walked through my happy place here - Kensington Gardens. Looks a bit different from two months ago.
October
Today
Portobello Road in Notting Hill (near my flat)
Afternoon Tea with the girls today (clotted cream = crack)
This was a once in a lifetime trip and I will cherish my memories and the new friendships I created. I hope you all enjoyed hitting the road with me...it's been a pleasure sharing it with you guys!
Happy and Healthy New Year to you all!!!
Love you!
xx jack
