Paul visits Italy!

Ciao!

It has been a while since my last update, but I'm swamped with work so I'm going to try to give a brief overview of my week with Paul...

He arrived on schedule Tuesday morning (11:30) and we met at the hotel downtown. Once all was settled, I took him for sandwiches at Antico Noe (our regular place). He seemed to really like it but, after all, who wouldn't like Antico Noe?! After that, we toured Santa Croce, walked around the Ponte Vecchio and got gelato at one of my favorite places. For dinner, we did aperitivo with my friends and then had "pub night" at Kukuya and the Lion's Fountain. It was a great first day!

On Wednesday, it rained and we toured the Uffizi Gallery, which was incredible. One masterpiece after another. I was so overwhelmed with the amazing layout of the museum and the beautiful artwork! It was great though, and I can't wait to go back and spend some more time there. For lunch, I took Paul to Pizzaiuolo and we each got a personal pizza and split a bottle of wine. It was a nice thing to do on a rainy day. After lunch, we visited the Leather School at Santa Croce. Their products are incredible! I think I'm going to go back there to get some Christmas presents for people. We did some more shopping and then rested. At 7:30, we went to Maria Pia's for dinner. She made a ridiculous spread and really enjoyed meeting Paul. Paul was a little nervous at first, but he did just fine. He understood a lot of the Italian too! :)

Thursday was a beautiful day weather-wise, and we went to Fiesole to see an oil press. This was a program set up through Holy Cross and Grace wasn't able to go, so Paul got to take her spot! We got the scoop on harvesting olives and got to see the machines in action. We sampled the olive oil in a light lunch. Paul and I both bought bottles because it was sooo good! After the oil press, I had to go to my tutoring session. Paul's college friend Colleen has been living in Parma, Italy since graduation and decided to take a day trip to Florence with her Italian boyfriend. So, Paul was able to meet up with them while I was in my tutoring session. They climbed the Duomo because Paul had never done it. I was glad that he had someone to go up with. After my tutoring session, I met up with Paul, Colleen and her boyfriend for cocktails. Colleen and her boyfriend left about 2 hours later and at 9:30, Paul and I went to dinner at Il Latini. Paul was sooo excited to be back to his favorite Florentine restaurant, and we had a great time eating everything! We were so full that we ended up with some bad indigestion the next day.

On Friday morning, we headed to the train station around 5 am to catch the train to Rome. It took us a frustrating 15 minutes or so to find a place to sit in the train. This train happened to be a predominantly sleeping train. So, we had to push through all the way to the end, where we found a private room with seats instead of beds. It was actually really enjoyable and comfortable once we got settled in there.

We arrived in Rome around 9am and checked into the hotel right away. It was raining a little, but we decided to go with the original plan anyway. So, we grabbed some breakfast and then walked to Piazza Navona, which was beautiful. Then, we saw the Pantheon. The inside was so cool! Paul told me everything he knew about it and then we continued onto the next sites. We passed Largo Argentina and checked out the ancient ruins there. Then, we went to the Roman Forum and took about 2 hours exploring the whole place. Paul had so much to say about it, so it was really cool to be able to understand what all the ruins had been! After the Forum, we went to the Colosseum. I was completely blown away by its size and architecture. It is such an impressive structure for having been built so long ago! I really don't have the words for it because it was that amazing to see in real life. Everyone MUST see the Colosseum! After the Colosseum, we went to a church (I forget the name) and saw San Pietro in Vincoli (chains). We grabbed a quick lunch at one of Paul's favorite hangouts, Miscellanea. We then returned to the hotel, dried off (we were completely drenched from the rain), and napped. Around 8:00, we headed to Trestevere for dinner. We took a little walk around the area because it was so quaint and enjoyable, and then went to Dar Poeta for dinner. We started with a bruschetta assortment, which was awesome. Then, we each had our own pizzas. I can't believe I am saying this, but they were better than Pizzaiuolo's! We split a nutella and ricotta calzone for dinner. Everything was out of this world. After dinner, we walked around for a little while to get rid of the food and then went to one of Paul's favorite bars (Scholar's) for a drink. It was very crowded and had a great atmosphere. I really enjoyed it, but we got tired pretty quickly.

On Saturday, we woke up early planning to go to the Papal blessing at the Vatican. However, we discovered that it was actually on Sunday. So, since we didn't do that, we were able to fit some more things into our schedule. We had breakfast at the hotel and then went right to the Vatican Museum. I had never been in such an enormous and rich museum! There was sooooo much to see, but we moved at a brisk pace because it was ridiculously overwhelming. We did see just about everything though. My biggest excitements were Raphael's School of Athens and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was especially breathtaking. We spent about 20 minutes staring at the ceiling. Needless to say, I had a bit of a neckache after that. But, it was totally worth it! After the Vatican museum we walked to St. Peter's Square itself and saw the basilica from the outside, and the inside. It was enormous! Again, no words to describe it. Inside the basilica was Michelangelo's Pieta, which I studied in my art history class freshman year. It was so cool to see it up close and in real life! After we toured the inside of the basilica, we climbed the 521 (I think) steps to the top of the cupola to get a view of Rome. The weather was perfect and Rome was beautiful. After the Vatican, we went to one of Paul's favorite panini places for lunch. He calls it "Mrs. Panini's" even though it's actually just called "Pane e Dolci." She recognized him from his time abroad and made us two delicious sandwiches. After lunch, we walked to Paul's apartment and then found an internet cafe to catch up with people. We then grabbed a cab and saw the Ara Pacis and Augustus' mausoleum. Then, we shopped around for a little but I bought nothing. We quickly saw the Trevi Fountain and then went back to the hotel for a nap. Around 7, we went up to the hotel's terrace for a glass of wine and spent about 45 minutes chatting and looking at the Vatican all lit up. Then, we went to dinner at Ristorante Carbornara at Campo de' Fiori. The food was delicious! After dinner, we walked through Campo de' Fiori and then to the Pantheon. We got gelato at this great place and tried to find a club that had apparently been closed down. From the Pantheon, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, threw coins in, and took some pictures. It was sooo beautiful. Then, we walked to the Spanish Steps and enjoyed the scenery.

This morning we woke up and had breakfast. We hung around the hotel for a little while and then checked out. Paul managed to get me on an earlier train so we didn't have much time for goodbyes. So, at this point, he's in the air and I'm back in Florence.

Obviously, we had a wonderful time. Paul was such a great tour guide for Rome and I hope that I did okay for Florence. I feel so refreshed that he was able to visit me. It was nice to take a break from my every day life and really get to enjoy Italy. I saw and learned so much and I'm so glad that Paul was able to make it over to share everything with me!

Now, I have a ton of homework to do so I'm going to stop procrastinating and get to it. I actually have to go to school tomorrow.

Ciao!