Liam's Version of "Play Like a Champion Today"

This sign hangs in the staircase leading to the Notre Dame tunnel and the Fighting Irish players touch it for good luck on their way out to the field:



This statue was on the staircase of our hotel in Florence and Liam had his own way of touching it for good luck:

Leaving Italy

No internet access this past week.

Flying home tomorrow. Everyone is sad.

Will fill in posts when we get back.

The trip has been fantastico.

New Posts

Today is our last day in Florence. The Lestina's are here; Jenny and Liam ran into Tom, Jack and Abby at the top of Il Duomo's bell tower. Diane was shopping. We're all heading out to dinner together tonight.

Ali, Dylan and Tim took a side trip via al treni to Pisa. See post below.

We've also just put up several other random posts, about food, St. Peter's, new Italian words we've created, and Dylan's favorite quote (thanks Borat).

Tomorrow we're off to Montalcino for the day and we'll be at Villa Capanne by dinner time.

Ciao!

Ali's Side Trip

Today Alison, Dylan and Tim took a little side trip from Florence to go see the ONE sight Alison had her heart set on seeing while in Italy: the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Here they are:

The three of us headed out from Florence on the 10:57 train. We arrived in Pisa about 75 minutes later at this little train station a few blocks from the Piazza del Duomo and the world’s most famous bell tower (campanile). The grounds and the Duomo itself are impressive, even when packed with tourists.

And the tower itself is just amazing:

After our photo shoot, we stopped for a quick panini at a bar down the street, walked across the street for a gelato (granita for Ali) and headed back to the train station. It was a fun little trip.

Alison Asks, Dad Responds

Alison: How about a little shnaglatte?

Tim: How about a shnagaccino instead?

We're getting this language thing down....

Our First Dinner in Rome

We took our first piece of dinner advice from Sandra Gustafson’s Great Eats Italy and went to Al Fontanone (http://www.alfontanone.com/) in Trastevere (literally, “across the river”), which is something like the Berkeley of Rome. Al Fantonone seems like a little hole in the wall kind of place, but has a great outdoor terrace across a narrow street out front. We decided to wander around the neighborhood for about an hour or so and settled into our table on the terrace just after 8. The terrace adjoins a small piazza which is bordered on one side by the main road that runs along the Tiber. It seems the main hub of activity in the neighborhood, packed with sidewalk vendors and students hanging out in front of the 3 or 4 bars that open onto the piazza.

We started our dinner with antipasti misto, a mixed plate of appetizers which included a wonderful mashed potato with tomato and onion, that while sounding rather plain actually tasted quite exotic. We also had the first of what would become a regular appetizer: prosciutto and melon. We have not had a bad piece of melon while in Italy….each one seems sweeter, colder and more refreshing than the last. Finally, we had the Roman version of the Bloomin’ Onion….except it was a fried whole artichoke, described by our host as artichoke Jewish style, from the Jewish quarter of Rome. (Trastevere is “across the river” from the Jewish quarter). It was delicious. Could we build a chain of restaurants around the Bloomin’ Artichoke?

Our first course include Penne Arriabiato for Dylan, his new favorite pasta. Tim had Fettucine al Fantonone, which was with mushrooms and Liam had ravioli stuffed with spinach. Each was more sublime than the next. Jenny and Ali decided to skip the primi piatti to save room for secondi piatti. Jenny had a house specialtiy, Vignarola while Alison and Dylan had their second pizze of the day: margherita and con salame. Tim had a delicious baked lamb (not the whole lamb) and Liam had veal piccata.

As if that weren’t enough, Jenny and Liam each finished their meal with Tiramisu (Liam has not found a better one, but he’s tried!). Tim enjoyed Vin Santo with biscotti and Dylan had some lemon sorbet.

After dinner, we decided to walk into Rome across the bridge to seek out a gelateria recommended by Ms. Gustafson. Can’t recall what we each had, but it lived up to they hype. Wherelse but Rome do you have dinner, dessert and THEN go find gelati??

We love Sandra Gustafson (thanks Michael for the tip).

Dylan Channels Borat

"Give me your tears, gypsy, or I will take them."

Bird's Eye View of Roma

We took the elevator up as far as it would go and began hiking up to the top of the basilica dome. You can actually walk around the inside of the dome at the level where the dome starts to curve. The wide open space and long drop to the floor of the basilica is a bit scary.

From there you continue to climb up the inside of the dome wall, around the dome to the cupola at the top. The passage is steep and narrow, so not for the claustrophobic or those with a heart condition. But when you get to the top, the view is truly amazing and you immediately forget every painful step it took to get you there. Hmm, there is some life lesson in there somewhere. Here is the view from the top:

First visit to San Pietro

We walked over to St. Peter’s after dropping our bags at the hotel (and getting gelati) to check it out. We were somewhat dazed and confused after not sleeping much on the flight over. On first view, the piazza, Bernini’s colonnade and Michaelangelo’s dome are overwhelming. In person and up close, the scale is just unbelievable.

Ice Cream and Fashion

Two quick posts with photos below about ice cream and fashion. More thoughtful (?) posts to come later, with details on Roma and food and Firenze. Ciao!