A Few of Our Favorite Things about Italy
I forgot to post this. I wrote it a few weeks ago.
I decided to make a final post of our favorite things about Italy. First, I'd like to post a few lessons learned from our trip. I guess they are not lessons learned as much as things to do or not to do.
1. Don't pack too much! I have a hard time with this. My sister even tried to suggest it when she said to remember she has a washer/dryer we can use. We lugged two large suitcases through Pisa, the train to Florence and then to the bus stop in Florence. Poor Randy helped us lug the suitcases and watched them as we toured the tower. It's ok to wear your jeans twice in a row!
2. Wash your hands and bring hand sanitizer! We were trying very hard not to get sick. Don't touch your face and use hand sanitizer often!
3. Bring something to entertain you or put you to sleep for the long flight overseas. On the flight over to Italy, the entertainment system didn't work on the plane. Curtis downloaded some books. I tried to sleep. On the flight home, the entertainment system worked. So we watched four movies to try to stay awake as long as possible. I gave in some, but Curtis suffered through.
4. When you get to the foreign country, try to embrace the culture. Yes, it will be different and you'll miss the comforts of home. But learning about a different culture can be a lot of fun. And besides, isn't that why you took the trip in the first place??!
5. Don't forget your medicine! Curtis and I made a list that we kept by the suitcase to make sure we would not forget them! We learned this mistake from a previous trip.
6. Don't forget the converters for your electronics! Curtis ordered some from Amazon before we left. My brother in law had some on hand too.
7. Bring some cash. It stinks to make the exchange, but there are places that won't accept a credit card. My sister was nice enough to give us cash and I just paid her back. I kept telling her "Thank you, Mommy!" when she'd give me Euros. So that helped. But, make sure you have some on hand. And don't forget your debit card so you can pull cash! We learned this lesson the hard way!
8. Learn a few of the basics for the language like: Where is the bathroom? How much does this cost? Please and Thank you. Good morning, good evening...Learn the numbers. Learn names of things like the train station, bus station, etc...study a map of the city and country.
9. Learn about the transportation system. We were lucky enough to have my sister and brother in law to help us. We really loved riding the trains!
10. Try the food! We really enjoyed trying all of the food in Italy. Don't expect the food to taste like it does here. Keep an open mind and try it!
11. Do a little reading on the cities you plan to visit. Research the sites you would like to see. I made notes in my phone on the Notes app to jot down places to see. And if I learned something, I made sure to jot it down. Bring a notebook or do what I did, write it in a blog. Add some pictures. This is a great way to remember your vacation! My sister said to make a list of the things you absolutely want to see first and then add other stuff if you have time.
12. The last thing is the best advice my sister gave us to recover from jet lag. Try to stay awake when you get there as long as you can. Go for a walk or do something to stay awake till normal sleeping time. It's easier for you body to adjust if you force yourself to accept the new time zone you are currently in. You will still be tired, but it won't last for days. At least it worked for us that way.
Now for our favorites. And this is in no particular order!
A few of our favorite things:
1. Aperitivo: snack between lunch and dinner usually including wine of some sort, cheese and meat. We added sweets to the mix and decided to call it an A-Party-Tivo!
2. Wine: Prosecco for me and Amarone for him. I also learned to enjoy red wine! Grappa...not so much!
3. Train system: Curtis and I really enjoyed learning and riding the train system. Curtis enjoyed going almost 200 mph!
4. The bus system: sounds weird, but I did appreciate the public transportation system. It made the city very accessible if you allowed enough time. And everyone rode it so there were all kinds of people on the bus.
5. The hills: I know I'm crazy! But I absolutely loved walking the hills around my sister's neighborhood. It made for a good workout and the views were stunning.
6. Central Market: Mercato Centrale, this market was a great place! It had a great selection of foods and the shopping center in the bottom was so much fun to walk around to sample different foods and see what was available for purchase.
7. San Gimignano: this little fort in wine country was so beautiful to walk through. We enjoyed the streets and the shops. The views from the tower were great!
8. Gelato: similar to ice cream, but better! Gelato is typically soft served. If you're lucky enough to find a small shop with just a few flavors, then it will be really delicious because it's home made.
9. Florence: We visited several cities in Italy, but Florence is our absolute favorite. There were no places in Florence that were not pretty or picturesque, except near the train station. The downtown area was great with people walking around and shopping. We saw a lot of older Italian couples holding hands, walking slowly together. I absolutely loved this!
10. Pizza: I don't know what it is, but the pizza was really delicious! They were simple, natural ingredients...not a lot of sauce...no muss, no fuss as the saying goes. The crust was thin and chewy. Perfect everytime! We ate pizza at every meal I think!
11. Olive Oil: I may have become an olive oil snob. My sister had some fresh pressed olive oil that she served. Dipping homemade bread in olive oil with salt is amazingly simple, but delicious!
12. The Monster Hill: I know, I know! Craziness! But I really loved the challenge of trying to jog this hill. I never made it completely up the hill while jogging. But I almost did one day!
13. Tiny, two way roads with high walls: I REALLY loved jogging/walking in the coutryside along these roads. We were always on the lookout for little Fiats that looked gigantic so we wouldn't get run over! I had one car almost brush my arm. And they are traveling at a decent speed and most of them don't slow down. They are used to people walking on the roads all the time. Remember the game, Frogger???
14. The views: we were blessed with great views from my sister's house and the surrounding area.
15: Pastries: I found a new favorite pastry. Panforte! We tried every sweet we could get our hands on. Randy had one that was really good, but I can't remember the name now. We didn't really find a good cannoli which was really disappointing. Other sweets are tiramisu, panettone, biscotti, almond cookies, and several others. The Pasticcerias all had great looking baked goods that were probably bad for you! But, hey, we were on vacation!!
16. Last but definitely not least: Brigette and Randy of course! I love my sister and really missed her at Christmas. So I was so happy to see her. I was excited to see Italy, but more happy to see her and Randy! Italy was just an added bonus!
I decided to make a final post of our favorite things about Italy. First, I'd like to post a few lessons learned from our trip. I guess they are not lessons learned as much as things to do or not to do.
1. Don't pack too much! I have a hard time with this. My sister even tried to suggest it when she said to remember she has a washer/dryer we can use. We lugged two large suitcases through Pisa, the train to Florence and then to the bus stop in Florence. Poor Randy helped us lug the suitcases and watched them as we toured the tower. It's ok to wear your jeans twice in a row!
2. Wash your hands and bring hand sanitizer! We were trying very hard not to get sick. Don't touch your face and use hand sanitizer often!
3. Bring something to entertain you or put you to sleep for the long flight overseas. On the flight over to Italy, the entertainment system didn't work on the plane. Curtis downloaded some books. I tried to sleep. On the flight home, the entertainment system worked. So we watched four movies to try to stay awake as long as possible. I gave in some, but Curtis suffered through.
4. When you get to the foreign country, try to embrace the culture. Yes, it will be different and you'll miss the comforts of home. But learning about a different culture can be a lot of fun. And besides, isn't that why you took the trip in the first place??!
5. Don't forget your medicine! Curtis and I made a list that we kept by the suitcase to make sure we would not forget them! We learned this mistake from a previous trip.
6. Don't forget the converters for your electronics! Curtis ordered some from Amazon before we left. My brother in law had some on hand too.
7. Bring some cash. It stinks to make the exchange, but there are places that won't accept a credit card. My sister was nice enough to give us cash and I just paid her back. I kept telling her "Thank you, Mommy!" when she'd give me Euros. So that helped. But, make sure you have some on hand. And don't forget your debit card so you can pull cash! We learned this lesson the hard way!
8. Learn a few of the basics for the language like: Where is the bathroom? How much does this cost? Please and Thank you. Good morning, good evening...Learn the numbers. Learn names of things like the train station, bus station, etc...study a map of the city and country.
9. Learn about the transportation system. We were lucky enough to have my sister and brother in law to help us. We really loved riding the trains!
10. Try the food! We really enjoyed trying all of the food in Italy. Don't expect the food to taste like it does here. Keep an open mind and try it!
11. Do a little reading on the cities you plan to visit. Research the sites you would like to see. I made notes in my phone on the Notes app to jot down places to see. And if I learned something, I made sure to jot it down. Bring a notebook or do what I did, write it in a blog. Add some pictures. This is a great way to remember your vacation! My sister said to make a list of the things you absolutely want to see first and then add other stuff if you have time.
12. The last thing is the best advice my sister gave us to recover from jet lag. Try to stay awake when you get there as long as you can. Go for a walk or do something to stay awake till normal sleeping time. It's easier for you body to adjust if you force yourself to accept the new time zone you are currently in. You will still be tired, but it won't last for days. At least it worked for us that way.
Now for our favorites. And this is in no particular order!
A few of our favorite things:
1. Aperitivo: snack between lunch and dinner usually including wine of some sort, cheese and meat. We added sweets to the mix and decided to call it an A-Party-Tivo!
2. Wine: Prosecco for me and Amarone for him. I also learned to enjoy red wine! Grappa...not so much!
3. Train system: Curtis and I really enjoyed learning and riding the train system. Curtis enjoyed going almost 200 mph!
4. The bus system: sounds weird, but I did appreciate the public transportation system. It made the city very accessible if you allowed enough time. And everyone rode it so there were all kinds of people on the bus.
5. The hills: I know I'm crazy! But I absolutely loved walking the hills around my sister's neighborhood. It made for a good workout and the views were stunning.
6. Central Market: Mercato Centrale, this market was a great place! It had a great selection of foods and the shopping center in the bottom was so much fun to walk around to sample different foods and see what was available for purchase.
7. San Gimignano: this little fort in wine country was so beautiful to walk through. We enjoyed the streets and the shops. The views from the tower were great!
8. Gelato: similar to ice cream, but better! Gelato is typically soft served. If you're lucky enough to find a small shop with just a few flavors, then it will be really delicious because it's home made.
9. Florence: We visited several cities in Italy, but Florence is our absolute favorite. There were no places in Florence that were not pretty or picturesque, except near the train station. The downtown area was great with people walking around and shopping. We saw a lot of older Italian couples holding hands, walking slowly together. I absolutely loved this!
10. Pizza: I don't know what it is, but the pizza was really delicious! They were simple, natural ingredients...not a lot of sauce...no muss, no fuss as the saying goes. The crust was thin and chewy. Perfect everytime! We ate pizza at every meal I think!
11. Olive Oil: I may have become an olive oil snob. My sister had some fresh pressed olive oil that she served. Dipping homemade bread in olive oil with salt is amazingly simple, but delicious!
12. The Monster Hill: I know, I know! Craziness! But I really loved the challenge of trying to jog this hill. I never made it completely up the hill while jogging. But I almost did one day!
13. Tiny, two way roads with high walls: I REALLY loved jogging/walking in the coutryside along these roads. We were always on the lookout for little Fiats that looked gigantic so we wouldn't get run over! I had one car almost brush my arm. And they are traveling at a decent speed and most of them don't slow down. They are used to people walking on the roads all the time. Remember the game, Frogger???
14. The views: we were blessed with great views from my sister's house and the surrounding area.
15: Pastries: I found a new favorite pastry. Panforte! We tried every sweet we could get our hands on. Randy had one that was really good, but I can't remember the name now. We didn't really find a good cannoli which was really disappointing. Other sweets are tiramisu, panettone, biscotti, almond cookies, and several others. The Pasticcerias all had great looking baked goods that were probably bad for you! But, hey, we were on vacation!!
16. Last but definitely not least: Brigette and Randy of course! I love my sister and really missed her at Christmas. So I was so happy to see her. I was excited to see Italy, but more happy to see her and Randy! Italy was just an added bonus!
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