Italian Food and wine: Can it really get much better than that?!

I honestly don't think you can beat authentic Italian food and homemade red wine. But that's just me! So in honoring such a fabulous combination, I think wine harvesting was in order! It was such a picture perfect day. (I feel I say that lot, but that is honestly the best way to describe it!) We drove up to the Tuscany region of Italy to a small hill town a ways from the bigger town of Viterbo. The particular vineyard we went to is just becoming popular and increasing it's ranks in the Italian competition. The "head honcho" said he has about 20 acres of grapes and about 10 acres of hazelnuts, which is significantly larger than a typical vineyard. There is quite a variety of grapes grown at this vineyard.

Brittany and Chris harvesting grapes!

All the grapes we picked!

Upon our arrival to this beautiful place, we were put immediately to work harvesting the grapes. But who knew picking grapes could be so fun?! We harvested for about an hour and a half and we had a whole truck full of crates piled high with red grapes! (They were delicious right off the vine I might add!)

As soon as the grapes are picked, they are put through a machine that completely "de-stems" the grapes and sends them to these large cylinders. Red grapes are crushed while the white grapes aren't. In the cylinders, the yeast is added and fermentation begins. For the red wines, it takes about about a month to complete ferment and whites take about half that time.

This is the machine that de-stems the grapes,  with the "head honcho"

By Italian custom, if you will, after a day of work, Italians reward themselves with a huge 3 hour long meal. So of course, we had to do the same. We get to the fancy little restaurant and the waiter takes us down some stairs and we walk into the coolest room ever!

First course, with the chardonnay

!

It is basically a wine cellar with two huge tables set so fancily for lunch. wine was EVERYWHERE! One huge barrel (walk-in sized) was the focal point of this room with tons of wines inside! It just made my day! The waiter comes out with course numero uno. I have no idea what it is. It was some sort of cheese spread with pesto, turkey and cherry tomatoes. Whatever it was it was out of this world. To go along with this first course, was the white wine from the vineyard we were just at. If anyone wants a phenomenal white wine, try this stuff!

We had the food and wine professor with us from our school (I wish sooo sooo bad that we could take that class! It has my name written all over it for sure!), and he showed us the proper way for wine testing. We swirled the glass, took note of the transparency and smelled it. The aroma was gorgeous: a hint of peach and banana! Well, the waiter continued to pour all of us more of this white chardonnay. I think we had about 2 glasses and that was just the white wine for starters! Course numero due followed. Roasted veal with gravy. Holy guacamole! I don't know what to say to that, it was so darn good though! That was accompanied with bread and the first red wine. This one had a bit of a bite to it, a bit on the dry side, but went soo well with the veal! Shortly after came the wine from the grapes we harvested: the red merlot. This was my favorite one out of the three we tried. Had to have a few more tastes of that one. So after this amazing meal, lets just say everyone was relaxed and very happy :) Even the professors agreed!

                               Food, wine and good company is definitely a recipe for the perfect day!

Subiaco + Soccer (oops, futbol) game + St. Peter's Dome = a full weekend!

Overlooking Subiaco

Wow, that's a weekend full of amazingness! Subiaco, a Roman soccer game and climbing the steps to the top of St. Peter's dome, all in one weekend! First on the agenda: Subiaco, St. Benedict's and Scholastica's Monastery. Let's just start with the bus ride there. The bus pulls up to our CEA campus bright and early and late (on Italian custom) at about 8:45am. We get on the outskirts of Rome and the views become absolutely spectacular! Afterall, we are heading up the mountains! Let me just say, we are in a huge tour bus, driving up the mountains. Roads on the mountains don't go straight up; they weave in and out in an "S" like pattern. Mind you these roads are very narrow and we are in a huge tour bus...yea. There were some VERY close calls. Sometimes I noticed myself leaning to one side thinking that it would prevent us from tipping off the edge! That's what I'm talking about when I say close calls! But none the less we made it to the top, and thank goodness because it was a wonderful day visiting St. Benedict's Monastery.

St. Benedict's Monastery

It was so great for us Bennies and Johnnies to see where are school kind of got it's start, so it had quite a significant meaning for us all. We were given a tour by a Johnnie grad as well, making it even more significant! Everything was so picturesque! Here we all are on top of a mountain, overlooking Subiaco. Wonderful!! It was a bit of an overcast day, perfect for touring these two beautiful Monasteries (Benedict's and Scholastica's). All the frescoes in these Monasteries were so beautiful and for the most part, pretty well preserved. Each one had a meaning or some sort of story to portray. We also saw the cave where it is believed that St. Benedict had lived for three years of his life. This Monastery was built right into the side of the mountain and the art work was incorporated right into the rock as well! Such a great site to see, especially for us at CSB/SJU!

PASTA!

Enjoying the wine and eventually the food!

After our tour, we drove back down the mountain a ways (much smoother I might add) to enjoy lunch at a ristorante. For a group of about 35 of us or so, I was thinking a nice little outdoor eatery with pasta and water. I was definitely wrong! We walk in and see two long tables waiting to be filled with 35 hungry people. One on side, there was a huge picture window overlooking the view over the mountain. But wait, I haven't even started on the actual lunch. Water AND red wine is sitting out on the table for us to enjoy. I do open the wine :) I love a glass with my meal, what can I say?! And warm bread is sitting in baskets as well. The waiter eventually comes out carry these huge platters of pasta, and we all were dished HUGE helpings of this delicacy!  Divine pasta, hands down, some of the best I have tried as of yet! Well, we all quickly finished that off (we were all starving) and then course number 2 comes around: fried potatoe wedges with rosemary and pork! Incredible! It gets better...then comes dessert! I really have no idea what we had, but I will just say it was fantastic! I think mine was some sort of almond dessert. Like I said, not sure what is was but I'd definitely eat it again! :) Italian meals are always very long, so we sat there and enjoyed each others company and this wonderful lunch for about 2 hours. Next was St. Scholastica's Monastery, the twin sister of St. Benedict. We had a tour from Fr. Luigi for this one. Again, beautiful frescoes and courtyards of gardens and flowers! It was such an enjoyable afternoon! I'm pretty sure about 80% of us slept on the trip back home to Rome!

Go Roma!

Futbol Game!! Soccer  (futbol) is a huge sport here in Italy, so of course, we couldn't pass one up! I have never been to a professional soccer game anyways, so why not?! We got our tickets and Sunday morning we woke up and got our new jerseys on and we were ready to get our game on! We all gather at the guys apartment here on Via de Nomentana for some festivities before the game started. (Our belief was that it started at 1, so we'd leave at around 11:30) Well, we all look at our tickets and realize it doesn't actually start until 3 pm (15:00, since Europe goes by military time). Oops! good thing we noticed that though! We continued on with our day until we left at about 1:30 for the stadium, which was a bit outside central Rome. We easily find it (because we saw everyone walking in one direction and all wearing Maroon and yellow attire, which are the colors of Roma) so it was hard to miss. The fans for futbol are amazing! Everyone was so into the game and it was just so exciting!

Roma vs. Bologna

I loved just hearing all the fans shouting in Italian at the refs for something they didn't agree with! It was quite an intense match against Bologna (another region in Italy). But oh so much fun! The final score was 2 to 2, and apparently they leave the score at a tie, which I was not aware of. We squeeze our way through the crowds to the exits and walk all the way back to the metro station. We would have taken a bus, but seeing how the bus ride there went, we decided to walk (I have never been so squished on a bus than the one to the game! crazy!) And good thing we did walk! We came across the most delicious bakery..and SO cheap! Everything looked so fresh and yummy! I got myself a creme filled canoli, which is pretty similar to a donut. And it was wonderful! I am definitely coming back to that bakery. Yes, it may be a ways away from home, but it is so worth taking the metro for!!

Finally, in our busy weekend, our whole group climbed the stairs to the top of St. Peter's Dome in the Vatican! and not just a few stairs or an elevator ride, it was 551 all the way to the top and 551 all the way back down. So I got my work out for the day again! As we got higher and higher the spiral staircases got more narrow and skinny, so I got a bit claustrophobic, but made it to the top anyways. And what a spectacular view! It was definitely worth the 551 stair workout! You could see for miles and all of Rome and St. Peter's Square...another experience words can't describe or do justice to the real deal. Plus we were out of breath anyways to say a whole lot right away. I'll just let a few of these pictures do the talking. Enjoy! :)

View from the Dome: St. Peter's Square

Overlooking Rome!

Roommates in front of the Basilica!

Inside the Basilica

Michelangelo's Pieta

In St. Peter's Square

The Dome at sunset

9 mile hike of Cinque Terre!

Can one really find a little slice of heaven here on earth? I think I did this past weekend! After a 5 hour train ride to northern Italy, and of course a stop at one of the largest tourist traps: the Tower of Pisa, we made it to Monetrosso, the first town of the gorgeous Cinque Terre. I think these 5 (Cinque) towns (Terre) are the smallest towns I've ever seen. Definitely the complete opposite of Roma! Each town is connected by train and hiking trails (the most beautiful I might add) and sit along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Words can not grasp the beauty of these towns and landscape and views of the sea. It is exactly as I pictured rural Italy. Small, narrow canon-like alley ways with dogs and cats wandering around, clothes lines filled with laundry hanging between windows and outdoor restaurants line the streets, fresh fruit and vegetable markets, fishing nets and boats bob in the sea, mountains lining the coast line continuing for miles--everything!

Our delicious carb dinner!

After carb loading on delicious pasta and topping that off with peach gelato for dinner, we had all the energy we needed for our long trek the next day! Now I don't usually go out of my way to say much about the hostels/hotels, but I have to mention the Hotel Souvenir, where we stayed the night. Quality right there! The cleanest rooms ever, I think even more so than a typical hotel room at home. Definitely worth the 25 euro, which is not a bad price for the exceptional quality and service there. Long story short: I highly recommend this hotel!

Fresh, energy-filled grapes!

Anyways, we woke up to the sun rising over the mountains. We got to the trail head in Monetrooso and immediately climbed who knows how many stairs, hundreds for sure, and they were steep! I thought taking the 4 flights of stairs in the Quad at school was bad enough. I think I could easily run up all those stairs after climbing the ones on the trail here! Definitely got my workout in the first hour or so of the trip! But once you reach the top, the view is breath taking! (Literally, especially having just climbed all those stairs!) I could try and describe it, but I could not do justice to it! The funny thing is is that you could see the next town we were hiking to and our first thought was "oh that's not too far, we're almost there!" Yea, no, definitely not that close. This trail leads you up and down and in and out of the mountains, slowly weaving the way to the next town. We met an old Italian farmer selling fresh grapes from his vineyard on the trail to Vernazza. He told us in Italian that they were full of energy for our hike. They looked delicious and we needed some more energy, so we bought some from him and of course, they were delicious! We bid him farwell (arrivederci) , and continued on our way.

Vernazza!

The narrow trails were right along the edge of the cliffs and every now and then I'd look down and see the clear, turquoise water. We were so hot and sweaty that we were tempted to just jump from where we were into the refreshing water, but we didn't....As we got closer to out final destination, Riomaggiore, the trail got easier--less steps to climb and less treacherous terrain. the last leg of the trail was called Via Dell'Amore. It is dedicated to couples, love etc...obviously. There is a place on the trail where the fence is covered in hundreds of locks. Couples will come to this place to "lock their love" by securing a lock on the fence and throwing the key into the sea. Cute!

Via Dell'Amore

I loved being able to say "Buongiorno" ("good day" in Italian) to people we passed! We passed people from Australia, France, Italy of course and plenty of other places around the world! I enjoyed hearing all the different accents!

Look at the water!

After trekking our 8 mile hike up and down mountains, we finally succeeded by reaching Riomaggiore! it took us about 5 hours to hike its entirety and we were taking our time. We were in search of a place to swim, but of course the last town had no place to swim! What the heck?! Nothing sounded more refreshing than a swim in the sea. Not even gelato, and that's saying a lot!! So what did we do?! We hiked back to the previous town, Manarola, where earlier we spotted the most gorgeous cove to swim in. The hike back was definitely worth it! It was wonderful! Swimming in the salt water is so much easier that fresh water because you can kind of float in this water! I could taste the salt on my lips after I got out and dried off in the sun. But it is so worth that refreshing swim!! Loved it!

At the beach in Vernazza

When we finished our hike, we had no train tickets back home, so we figured we should probably get them. But that's another thing I've noticed: not having a set plan or plans to return home didn't bother me at all! Usually I'd be a bit concerned, but not at all! I'm completely going with the flow and everything falls into place. It's not worth the worry I realized (mom, take note :) ) We made it back to Termini station late Saturday night and eventually (emphasis on "eventually") made it back to our apartment. It felt great to return!

in Manarola, the 4th town!

Plans for this trip were literally made Thursday night (we left that Friday morning) and it was the best last minute trip! It was such a sense of accomplishment, finishing this hike and what not. 9 miles, hundreds of stairs, 5 hours...simply heaven!

This and That: Random snippets of Rome

I've been here in Rome for almost 2 weeks now, and I feel so overwhelmed, in a good way. There is just so much to take in and experience, I don't want to just skim the surface of this experience, but somehow, eventually be able to percieve all this and take something from it. The little things, I've noticed, have meant so much to me. Simply finding an ATM, or ordering a meal in broken Italian give me such an accomplished feeling! Probably sounds silly reading this, but it's true: it's been the little things that have felt so accomplishing and have helped me to not take things for granted.

Anyways, on that note, I've picked up on a few little quirks that make Italians, well Italians. Lets start with the traffic. One word to sum it up: Chaos! I swear, there are no strict regulations regarding parking, crosswalks, noise, speed...need I go on? Trying to cross a street is like putting your life on the line. Ok, maybe not to that extreme, but close enough. Even when the light says it's safe to walk, don't trust it. We've learned that sometimes, since the traffic is usually constant (all day and night), you just have to start walking across and pray they stop! (Don't worry Mom, I'm still here and alive seeing as I'm writing this!) But honestly, sometimes you just have to make a run for it! Parking: is basically anywhere, and many times, they block traffic. No big deal, just go around. Passing happens all the time. Mopeds and motorcycles weave in and out all the time, and they make some close turns! I've also noticed that every single person on a motorcylce/moped has incredibly good posture and all wear helmets! I think it might be a law here, and a very good one at that, seeing how smoothly traffic runs. The other day I witnessed quite the accident: A car hit a motorcycle and the motorcycle driver was flipped off and skidded across the road! Thankfully, no one was hurt, but it was pretty intense. And as usual, traffic continues around the scene of the accident. I'm sure it happens all the time anyways...

Here is a video one of our Professors here showed us, and laughed so hard because it's pretty legit! Enjoy!      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHWBL9_alKs

Secondly: signs of affection (or as we like to call them, PDA's): Well, it'a everywhere! haha Couples think absolutely nothing of it! Kissing in the metro station, bus stops, in the grocery store. No big deal! It's very different that what is considered "normal" for us back at home where kissing passionately, if you will, is rarely ever seen in public. What's wrong with expressing your affection? lol

Thirdly: Time. All I have to say is that time is nothing. There is no metro schedule, no bus schedule. They just come whenever, basically. So if you're planning on the metro or bus for transportation, give yourself plenty of time. Who knows, you might be waiting for a bus or about a half an hour! And P.S. Bus #62 I think is close to nonexistent. (This is the bus that takes us to a great deal of places in central Rome, so a fairly important bus)

Lastly: Food. But that will have to wait for a later post. It deserves one all to itself, enough said! :)

Until next time!

~Laura

Roaming around Rome

4 Rivers Fountain!

The Pantheon

Less than a week here and so much to say! This past weekend was a busy one, but quite enjoyable none the less! Roaming around Rome (ha ha, no pun intended :)) is definitely the thing to do! On Friday our entire group had a walking tour around a small portion of central Rome. Starting at the Piazza Navona and eventually seeing the Pantheon! The Piazza Navona (which is where the Roman circus used to take place) is such an incredible atmosphere! Live music playing, the 4 Rivers Fountain in the center (which was, at the time, the 4 largest rivers that were known: Ganges, Nile, Danu and Rio de la Plata), tons of vendors, artists selling their beautiful artwork, street preforms; you name it, it's probably there! Not to mention a handful of gelatarias as busy as ever with people like me that are in love with gelato! Rome is such an amazing place. I know I've said this a million times by now, but I can't express it enough. There is so much history here and modern life continues around it. You walk down a modern day street, turn the corner and boom! Some monument, or museum is unexpectedly right there in front of you! The modern, contemporary life has been built up around these massive, ancient Roman buildings and it has become apart of Italians' everyday life. Take the Colosseum for example. Driving to our apartment it did not look like the area for any sort of museum or anything of the like, but low and behold right around the hairpin turn, there lies the gorgeous Colosseum! I love it! The perfect combination of contemporary and historical!

Bars in Rome are more like cafes that we think of at home. Cafeterias or pubs are what we think of as bars in the US, and there are plenty of them! One in particular, Scholars bar (an Irish pub) is a great place for students to go. Why this one in particular? Because CSB/SJU students get discounts! And who doesn't love cheap, quality beer! I can now say that I have tried Guiness...opinion: Fantastic! I honestly didn't I would like it, but surprise, surprise, it was very good! This will definitely be a pub we all return to! Speaking of drinks, I had my first epsresso! (Free of charge, so even better) and after adding most of the sugar packet, it wasn't all too bad! haha

Guiness!

Sunday was our last day of summer (but it still feels like we're on a vacation here) and what better way to enjoy it than a day at the beach?! After an hour and a half metro ride and some wandering, we made it to the coast of Italy and waiting for us was the Tyrrhenian Sea (To be technical, it's not considered the Mediterranean Sea until farther off the coast). Either way, it was spectacular! Quite a different atmosphere than what I'm used to at home with little Square lake. Colorful umbrellas lined the shoreline, vendors toting their carts around selling coconut, dresses, bracelets, etc. Not going to lie though, having to tell these salemen no hundreds of times does get a little nerve wracking, but they are just doing their job I suppose. And talk about bikinis! Or in many cases, lack there of! Going topless for women is definitely not uncommon. We'll just leave it at that...The water, the salty sea water was perfect temperature though! But you get out of the water and your skin feels rather dry. Not only that, but the very fine, dark sand gets everywhere! A shower never felts so refreshing afterward! However, the day would not be complete without gelato! This time: Strawberry and chocolate! Delicious combo right there! :)

A beautiful day at the beach!

Monday, Sept 6: First day of school! First of school! Not a very stressful or overwhelming first day though. One hour and we were done at 10:30am! Pretty chill first day I'd say! It is going to take a while for me to get back into the swing of school work though! Up next for the weekend (possibly) Le Cinque Terre!

This is our CEA global Campus!

And the homework begins...

~Laura :)

Dove la Fontana de Trevi?

Before answering this question, how about this one: How many roommates does it take to open a bottle of wine? Well, I can answer from experience now...about 20 minutes and 4 people later, we were finally able to enjoy my 1 euro bottle of wine (Yup, moving up in the wine world, better that the 79 cent boxed wine!). now what Italian apartment doesn't have a corkscrew?! Ours apparently doesn't! But thanks to my pocket knife, we were able to get it open, eventually! (Thanks Dad for the pocket knife!)

I love our apartment! It is completely picture perfect. However we've all ready had a few mishaps. For one, we already blew a fuse :/ oops, but that was a  a quick fix, no worries. We also have 2 bathrooms, and we found out that one of the showers doesn't exactly drain. I think you can all fill in the blank as to what happened next. This is still in the process of getting fixed! I just love the fact that none of the windows have screens on them. You open the windows overlooking the city and there are no screens! It's wonderful! Speaking of open windows, the weather has been gorgeous! Yea, a bit hot during that day, I'd say upper 80's but it's not humid, there are no bugs and no rain! Perfect for spending time walking and sight seeing!

We have our coins, we will all someday return to Roma!

But to answer the question in question "dove la fontana de Trevi?" That's a different story. It was our first night downtown central Rome. Our goal: To find the Trevi Fountain. Just to warn you, the busing system here in Rome is the most confusing thing ever. Not to mention time doesn't seem to be too important. The bus never seems to be on time, or to really have a schedule for that matter. But we eventually hopped on one that brought us to the underground metro..wayyy underground. I don't know how many flights of stairs we went down to get to the metro, but it was a lot. We didn't really know where to go after exiting the metro so we wandered. You never what you might find if you just wander around. We were after the Trevi fountain, but we came across the Spanish steps as well!! Awesome! But we still had our goal to accomplish, and before 11pm. At this time is was about 9:30. We asked multiple people "dove la fontana de Trevi?" Of course we didn't understand really anything they said, but we tried to take their hand motions and make the most of them. Italians love their hand gestures and thank goodness for that because without the gestures, we would be more than lost. But to put you all at ease we finally, and safely made it to the Trevi fountain. It was absolutely amazing. Better than I could have imagined. The lights illuminated everything so elegantly! And of course, legend has it if you toss a coin from your right hand over your left shoulder, you are destined to return to Rome. Definitely had to do that, but I wondered, would I have to leave to even have to worry whether or not I'll return? I have fallen in love with this city, why leave? (just kidding, mom) Not to mention, I am in love with GELATO! We unintentionally found a cute gelato shop on our excursion downtown and to say the least it is one of the best things I've ever had. Definitely better than ice cream! Later this semester we will be attending a gelato crawl where we'll be visiting all the top, most famous gelato shops around Rome! Best day ever? I think yes!

The Beautiful Trevi Fountain

We have our second day of orientation later today and I believe we'll be walking to the Pantheon! Definitely looking forward to that. But what I am saying? I'm looking forward to everything here! It is definitely going to go by too fast, it all ready is! But time is nothing here, what am I worried about?!

P.S. I honestly believe that Nutella should be an individual food group, at least for me. It has become a staple for us here in our apartment. It is a very good source of protein! :) As well as a great source of deliciousness! 

Salve!
~Laura :)

Via de Nomentana

The view of Rome from our terrace

Ciao from beautiful Roma! As I'm writing this, I am overlooking the street of Via de Nomentana. (But I'm not eating Gelato) This is the street that I currently am now living on! And what an adventure it took to get to this beautiful place! All of our flights went very smoothly. No delays, no cancellations; things were great! It still feels surreal to say that I am now living in Rome, Italy! So many interesting stories to tell! After landing in Rome we got a shuttle to our hostel, which was more like a camp ground. The bare minimum. (Had to get the hostel experience sometime, right?!) But hey, it was a place to rest our heads after 2 days of travel! (which I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep, inconsistently). At this particular hostel, a country club, to be specific, there was an outdoor bar with hammocks and jacuzzi included! After enjoying a delicious strawberry dacquiri and a slice of real Italian pizza, I fell asleep on the comfortable hammock! Sleep was slightly nonexistent that night as well. In the morning, we paid 50 euro just to get a taxi to our apartment, which took us about an hour to get there. We did however drive right past the Colosseum. It kind of came out of the blue and when we passed it, it really took me by surprise. "Wow, there's the Colosseum!" When people warn you about the driving here in Italy, they are not joking. Everyone thinks they have the right away and that everyone should look out for them. We had a few close calls, but we made it there in one piece...and short 50 euros (insanely expensive)! On the ride there, our taxi driver was calling/texting while driving, and slightly swerving down the road; saw a motorcycle driver tip his bike over and get up like nothing happened (which apparently was not big deal seeing as traffic continued to go around him); and had a random guy come up to the taxi car at a stop light and clean the windshield. No big deal.

The roommates that had already arrived went on a little adventure on the streets around our apartment. Street signs are pretty rare, and usually hard to find. But with our wicked map reading skills we found CEA campus where we will be taking all of our classes! Next on our adventure: grocery shopping! And to put it plainly: Success!

But once seeing our apartment, all that craziness is forgotten. It is absolutely gorgeous. It's cute, if I do say so myself. The best part, by far, is the terrace we have the overlooks the entire city with mountains in the background. (I will have to try and post some pictures on here sometime soon). We enjoyed our first homemade dinner with the roommates (7 total!) out on our terrace with homemade pasta, olive bread and white wine (boxed wine for 79 cents! can't beat that! Granted, it wasn't the best but hey, pasta dinner in Rome is not complete without some wine!) And for dessert, none other than Nutella and crackers! Perfect!

Our quaint living room

Once getting unpacked and situated in our apartment, we enjoyed homemade sangrias! (compliments of the guys in Scala C!) Delicious! Thanks guys!

Well, Via Nometana definitely has my approval! It is undoubtedly a city of walking, which I definitely enjoy! The next few days are orientation with, what sounds like, some awesome excursions in store! (Sunday might just be a Mediterranean beach day!)

Hope things are going well at home! Miss you all!

Our terrace

Arrividerci! Until next time! :)

~Laura