Roma!

While it was a little overwhelming at first, I grew to love Rome. Everywhere you look there's roman ruins next door to a gelato place, but this one story perfectly illustrates my 4 day stay in Rome:

On recommendation from dear Ricky, I went to a tiny restaurant for lunch right outside the pantheon. Ricky was sure to note that I should leave the book on the table for some special treatment. That book has to be $11 of the best money I've ever spent. As soon as I sit down the waiter exclaims "you have my book!". Grazie, Ricky. I ordered a sandwich that turned out to be kind of plain, until the waiter brought out this special sauce. God only knows what it was, but it turned that sandwich from a peasant into a roman god. Then about two bites from the end, with my book still in plain view, all of a sudden a large man comes up and puts both his hands on my face and shakes my head from side to side. To say I was a bit taken back would be a conservative statement. He flashes me a huge grin and returns with a small portion of lasagna. "A taste for you, I cook all morning." Real lasagna from a real Italian, Ricky how will I ever repay you? As if that wasn't enough, the waiter brings me a glass of their homemade strawberry "sexy wine". Absolutely divine. I couldn't decide what was better; the wine or the fact that the waiter refilled my glass three times. It's a miracle I remember the pantheon.
The big man who grabbed my face earlier came over to observe my delight. By now he has already pinched my cheeks a second time and showed me his copy of the book, explaining that he is Micky, the owner. He reported that the wine was a huge seller with high school (only in Italy) and college students. Another interesting tid-bit? "Legend has it, you share a bottle with your boy, you fly all night." If I saw this scene in a movie I wouldn't believe it. I couldn't even respond to him, I could only laugh. The waiter looked over as if he knew what Micky just revealed and smiled. All of this only cost me 5 euro, but looking back on it now, it's priceless. Mickey kissed me on the hand as I left to explore the pantheon from my strawberry glaze.

I love Rome.

Florence

So my first stop was Florence. It took 4 connecting trains and one Italian train station bathroom with no sinks, but I finally got there! The most difficult part wasn't catching all the trains, but rather getting my suitcase onto said trains. Since I was stationary for 4 weeks, I opted for a suitcase instead of a backpack. It was fine for a while, but it seems Europe does not believe in elevators. For every train platform there's 2 sets of stairs, not counting the ones you take coming into the station, and there's no telling how many of those there are. I can barely get it up and down stairs, and usually some kind soul helps me onto the train, since there's 4 more steep stairs there. Don't even ask me to lift it over my head for the storage compartment, I will be crushed. Again, a kind soul usually rescues me.

After checking into my hostel, I go out to explore Florence and find it's a very pleasant city to get lost in. The medieval winding roads always lead you to a quaint church or a square, or pickpockets and guys selling toys on the street. Florence is a lot like Barcelona, but with charm. There's a more intimate feel to it. For dinner, I followed Rick's advice(that's Rick Steve's to you) and checked out this restaurant overlooking the arno river. My new boyfriend has yet to lead me astray, and I had the best pasta dish of my life here. To top it off, a man saw that I was alone and sent over a glass of champagne, not strings attached. It was also the best champagne of my life, possibly because I was now sitting in a nice restaurant in Europe drinking champagne. Doesn't get any better than that. Welcome to Italy!

The next day I did the typical Florence shuffle; Uffizi, Academia, Duomo, and every church in between. The reservations I booked for the museums were costly but they let me cut the lines as desperate tourists gave me smoldering looks, which was almost as good a show as the museums themselves. I could prance inside to air conditioning and they still had up to an hour left to wait. I chose time, they chose money. For lunch, Ricky suggested a hole in the wall next to the David, so I investigated and yet again was not disappointed. Refreshingly local, the waiter gave me a warm welcome and a little Italian woman whipped up what I ordered; a simple but divine pesto pasta.

With all the charm that Florence has shown me, it might be hard for Rome to live up to th challenge. Can the eternal city top the center of the renaissance? Stay tuned!

Ashley's extended adventure in Europe continues

After an amazing 4 weeks in the south of France, I'm off to see the rest of Europe. I'll be blogging my adventures so stay tuned!