Bologna

Our train from Venice arrived in Bologna just after 9 am, and then we dropped our luggage off at our hotel and started in on our day there. Our friends, Michael and Michelle ("Meesh"), had lived in Bologna while Michael was working for Ducati and Meesh was studing abroad, so they planned an amazing day for us here. Jen and I drank our cappuccinos on Piazza Maggiore, the city's main square, and then did the portico walk to the Santuario della Madonna di San Luca, a large sanctuary on a hill outside of town.

Bologna is famous for its porticos, which line the walkways all over the city. The San Luca walk is notable because you walk out of the the old city gates and climb a hill while passing under over 600 porticos. The walk ends at the sanctuary, which is dedicated to Saint Luke. I really liked the porticos because when you are inside them, they make the views seem infinite, and Jen often noted that this was appropriate because to her, the walk up the hill felt infinite. At the top, we were able to see the sanctuary's interior (no pics due to a Mass), and there were great views of the countryside.

By then, it was time to make our way down the hill to continue with our itinerary and find lunch. Michael had chosen a pizzeria (piz-AIR-ee-ah, not peets-er-EE-ah--Italians will act like they don't understand and then correct you), Nicola's, but many business owners in Europe go on holiday in August, and it was closed. However, there was a great restaurant next door, so we had a nice lunch outside.

After lunch, it was time to make a reservation for dinner. Michael had mentioned the Bologna restaurant, Drogheria della Rosa, many times in the two years I've known him. Specifically, on at least a dozen occasions, he has mentioned the owner's signature dish: filet mignon in balsamic vinegar reduction. Jen and I walked over during the lunch hour to meet the owner, Emanuele Addone, and make a reservation for that evening. We walked in a started speaking to an employee, and Emanuele waived from a seat in the back, yelled "Buongiorno!" and then walked over to shake my hand.

Emanuele is the classic Italian restaurant owner. In Italy, the restaurant owner is the big dog, and he is generally always present while the restaurant is open. Emanuele loves to sit at an outside table, have a full conversation with every local passerby, pour Prosecco for his guests, and generally charm and gladhand the day away. He also has amazing red Versace glasses. M&M had visited Bologna about three weeks prior, and I told Emanuele that they had sent us. I also told Emanuele that Michael had often told me about the filet with balsamic vinegar, and he simply responded matter-of-factly, "I have it. I will wait for you tonight."

Most of Michael and Meesh's itinerary involved eating, but Jen and I had no qualms with that whatsoever. Faithfully carrying out our instructions, we marched on to M&M's favorite gelateria and had dark chocolate, hazelnut, and pistacchio gelato. This was definitely the best gelato I've had in Italy.

Then it was time to head over to a row of gourmet shops off of the main square and find Meesh's favorite cheese--pecorino stagionato in foglie di noci (sheep's milk cheese aged in walnut leaves). We asked for a sample ("Posso assagiare?") and bought "un etto" (100 grams). Jen and I loved it, and it reminded me us of Goat Chopper, our favorite sheep's milk cheese from the Bay Area.

At this point, we had been out in the heat for a while, so we took a late afternoon siesta at our hotel and then got back on track with our itinerary. Michael said we should get an apertivo (pre-dinner drink) and people-watch on a specific strip near the gourmet shops. This did not disappoint, mostly because the locals were hilarious and we saw about four Italian men that we decided could be Michael in 20 or 30 years. Our favorite conducted the last ten minutes of his conversation with a group of men while standing up with his helmet on and strapped before jumping on his Vespa and speeding off (while still talking). We each had one of the regional cocktails, a true Bellini (with pureed peach, invented in Venice) for Jen, and at Michael's recommendation, a Campari spritz for me. These were a really nice way to start the evening.

Finally, it was time for dinner. Dinner was a really funny experience, mostly because we were quite unacquainted with how real Italian restaurants work when you get off the tourist track. We sat down and Emanuele poured us a splash of Prosecco to get things started while we spoke with him for a few minutes. As he sat with us, he started naming all of the dishes that were available that night--no menu, Emanuele was the menu. The steak was obligatory, so I ordered that, and then we decided to get the cheese ravioli with zucchini flowers. Then I remembered that Michael had suggested a plate of antipasti (mixed meats and cheeses), and when I told Emanuele that we wanted one of those, as well, he informed me that it was already on its way. We told Emanuele that we needed to take a picture with him for Michael, and he made sure that in the picture, he was handing Jen the rose from the centerpiece of our table.

Compounding our confusion, we ordered the house red wine, and the bottle came open with about a quarter already gone. I was a little perplexed because I was wondering if they put an already-opened bottle in front of you but charge you for the whole bottle. Later I learned that some restaurants serve the house wine in this "passed bottle" manner, and then you simply pay pro rata for what you drink. But not understanding the custom, and not wanting to be rude or difficult with Michael's friend (and also not knowing the prices for anything we had ordered), I simply resigned myself to having fun with the experience and paying whatever the check said at the end. Long story short, everything was absolutely delicious, and the steak that I had heard about for so long came with an assortment of grilled vegetables and was an incredible dish. As in, if I were back in the region, I would probably make a special trip to Bologna to eat that dish again. Confused about how the wine would work, but assuming we were just paying for the whole bottle, Jen and I decided to just finish it since we had no idea what we were paying anyway.

After our primi and secondi were done, the waitress asked if we would like dessert. We had a late-night granite-and-gelato appointment per M&M's itinerary, so we declined. She asked if we wanted fruit, and we politely declined that, as well. Then, about ten minutes later, another waitress came over and, without saying anything, simply gave us a bowl of fruit and walked away. Again a bit confused, but thoroughly enjoying the experience, we went ahead and ate it. When the check came, it was a bit like a mystery box, because I literally had no idea what to expect. Emanuele had hooked us up--all it said was, "Coperto (Cover), 2, €50." Basically, for antipasti, a ravioli dish with zucchini flowers, a filet, wine, and fruit, he only charged us €50 total (about $66), which is a great deal considering the quality of the food and that Italy does not add on tax or tip (you can tip a bit at your discretion, which we did). Emanuele being the smooth operator that he is, he made sure Jen left with our table's red rose.

Finally, it was time for late-night granite (what we know as "Italian Ice," but it is better here and not as sweet). Following M&M's suggestion, we got fragola (strawberry) granite topped with fior di latte (sweet cream) gelato. It was a really nice way to end the day, and Jen said this was one of her favorite things we have eaten during our entire trip. And with Florence ahead of us for the next day, it was time for bed.

Many thanks to Michael and Meesh for planning such a great day for us. It was fun to see the city where you two lived (and met) over here in Italy, and we had an awesome time (and an incredible number of calories) in Bologna. Hopefully we'll be back for that filet before too long, and in the meantime, I'm going to try to figure out how to reproduce that dish at home.

Grazie for reading. Ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao.

Venice

On Saturday morning, our hostess in Vernazza brought us coffee and breakfast, and then I went to an Internet cafe to make sure Jen's flight to Amsterdam had arrived as planned. Then I took trains to Levanto, Milan, and Venice to meet Jen near the Venezia San Lucia train station. Addresses in Venice are not especially helpful for navigation, and, joyously, Google Maps marked our hotel about a third of a mile away from its actual location. That would be no big deal in most cities, but in Venice that means you literally have no idea where your hotel is, and no one else does, either. Fortunately, the hotel manager was very nice, and after calling her at AT&T's bargain rate of $1.29/minute (very competitive with Skype's rate of $0.06/minute) and telling her what piazza (plaza) we were in, she ventured out to find us and lead us to the hotel.

Our hotel, Alla Vite Dorata, was very charming, and our room was right on the neighboring canal. Jen and I had a very nice dinner at a nearby restaurant (lamb ragu for me and cheese ravioli for her). After that, Jen was absolutely exhausted from traveling and being up for the better part of 36 hours, so we went right to sleep.

In the morning, we had breakfast on our hotel's dock on the canal, and then we walked to St. Mark's Square to see the famous basilica and some museums. I do not have many pictures because a mass was being performed in the church and the museums did not allow pictures, but it was fun to walk around St. Mark's with Jen, as it may be Europe's most famous city square. Our favorite museum was the Doge's Palace, which was the seat of government in Venice for hundreds of years and housed the many councils. The governments of Venice through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance served as a model for today's republican governments and are even discussed a bit in the Federalist Papers. Jen and I did laugh a bit at all the council names--the Councils of 6, 10, 17, 100; the three or four councils of 10 that together made up the appellate courts; the Great Council; the Senate; etc. It was also interesting that many of the higher courts held legislative powers, which I found an odd way to separate and balance powers (though it seems many American courts have discovered that they have that power, as well . . . ).

The upper floors of the Doge's Palace hold amazing rooms, such as the room for the Great Council, and along the molding of these rooms, they have the name and face of every Doge (analogous to a Prime Minister today) except one, because there is simply a black cloth for the one that attempted a coup, and in return his name and likeness were to be struck so that he would be forgotten by history altogether. The rooms had many elaborate paintings of notable Venetian naval battles, Mary interceding on Venice's behalf to rid the city of the plague, fires that damaged the Doge's Palace, etc. I also enjoyed learning about the fierce, winged lion seen all around Venice. This symbolizes St. Mark, the city's patron saint, and over time it became the primary symbol of Venice.

For lunch, we bought a half-dozen small sandwiches with different variations of Italian meats and cheeses and split a half-bottle of the red wine made from the terraced vineyards of Cinque Terre (most of the wine from CT is white and pairs with their pesto and fish, but the red was delicious and spicy). Then we explored the city a bit more, took a boat to the glass-making island of Murano, and saw the largest dog in Europe (which prompted an American tourist with a southern accent to yell out, "Holy ****!"). Around sunset, we took a boat down the Grand Canal and saw all of the neat homes and palaces that line what is effectively the city's main highway/thoroughfare, and then we went to the home of what the Guardian called the best pizza in Venice to get a Margherita and a speck pizza (speck = what Americans call prosciutto . . . for Italians, "prosciutto" is usually what Americans call ham). I had bought some Prosecco (Italy's answer to Champagne) in anticipation of meeting up with Jen, but we were too exhausted to have some the night before, so we paired our wood-fired pizzas with Prosecco and called it a night.

We really enjoyed our time in Venice, and it was a fun city to see and explore because it was so different from any city I had seen before. That said, we both agreed that it often felt like a bit of a tourist trap. We don't think we would fight to return in the near future, but we're certainly glad we went to see it. (Photo album here.)

The next morning, we were on to Bologna, where our friends, Michael and Michelle, had planned an amazing day for us. Thanks for reading, and I will post Bologna right away.

- R

Cinque Terre

I woke up in Nice around 4:45 am, packed up my bag, and caught the 5:52 train to Monaco. From there, it was on to Ventimiglia, Italy, and there I boarded the train to Cinque Terre. This was probably the most amazing train ride of my life. For about five hours, the train made its way south down the west coast of Italy. After every tunnel, we were greeted with another amazing view of this dramatic coastline. Finally, the train pulled into my stop, Vernazza, the second of the five towns of Cinque Terre (going from north to south). (Cinque Terre photos here.)

Cinque Terre is the stuff of Disney movies and Tolkien books. It's that place I didn't think existed in the world anymore--five small, beautiful little towns, practically inaccessible by road, nestled into the steep hillsides on a beautiful stretch of coastline. Italy in general is an amazing place, possessing the rare combination where the landscapes, the food and wine, and the language are all beautiful. And Cinque Terre is special even within Italy. The five towns have been there for over 800 years, and they are connected by a railroad track (since 1847) and by a trail that winds along the hillsides above the Mediterranean. Today, it is an Italian national park as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

CT was pretty unknown to Americans until bespectacled travel writer Rick Steves featured it on his television show, and it is safe to say that the secret is out. It was on practically every post-bar itinerary that I heard about this year. Actually, this morning, as we were leaving to board our train to Milan, I was thinking that at times, Vernazza was a bit like entering "Italy" in Disneyland--everything is Italian, but everyone is American. Nevertheless, it was not so touristy that the effect was lost.

This was one of the stops that I had looked forward to the most on my entire trip, and in two days I was able to experience two of the best hikes of my life. During the many hours of studying for the bar, I had often looked forward to August 27, because that was the day we were planning to hike the trail between the five towns. It did not disappoint.

When I left Nice early on Aug. 26, Nate stayed behind to sleep in a little. I wanted to come early so that I could spend an extra day in Vernazza. After checking in for our guest room and dropping my pack, I got a slice of pesto pizza (the local specialty--pesto came from this region of Italy) for lunch, followed by real Italian gelato (tiramisu and fior di latte--sweet cream). Then I decided to go see what the trail was like, and I hiked south most of the way to the next town, Corniglia. That got me quite excited about what the next day would hold. When I was hiking back, however, I remembered a NYT article about CT in which the author discussed the other trails higher up in the mountains--the ones rarely traveled. So with about 0.25L of water left, I decided to get off the main trail and climb the mountain above Vernazza.

Getting off the main trail was a great experience. The main trail does take you through many groves of olive trees and several vineyards, but on the secondary trails, you hike up through the terraced vineyards, and I literally did not see another hiker during this hour-long portion of my hike. I was surrounded by wine grapes and clusters of delicious, sweet, wild blackberries as the towns below faded farther and farther away. Eventually, I reached the little house on the top of the hill, and a sweet old Italian woman gave me some water despite her dog's fervent protest. The views from the top of the hill were truly expansive, and the hike was a pretty special experience for me. I'm a big believer in "mountaintop" experiences, and I enjoyed this one a great deal.

I hiked down and arrived back in Vernazza at around 4:30 pm, and by then Nate had arrived. I swam by the rocks, and then we ate dinner in two stages: pizza at around 5, and then "secondi" at about 8:30. One thing I love about France and Italy is that in each region, the wine and food have been made over hundreds of years to complement each other. Accordingly, in CT, the white wine made from the terraced vineyards is the perfect complement to the villages' pesto and fish dishes. For secondi, I got a plate with about 30 mussels that only cost 9€. The local white wine was perfect for both the pesto and the mussels. Anticipating the next day's hike, we went to sleep fairly early and slept until the church bells woke us up at 7 and 8 am.

Our hostess brought us coffee and breakfast at 8:30, and then we were off around 9. The first section of our hike, from Vernazza to Corniglia, was probably my favorite. Corniglia sits up on its own small peninsula high above the rocky coast below, so it makes for a dramatic scene while you approach it. I was told to seek out the town's fig and walnut pastries (hat tip, Sonia), so I happily complied. Very good. Then we made our way down to the rocks and I cooled off in the bay for a few minutes before we loaded up and went on to Manarola.

In Manarola, we had lunch, which for me consisted of some type of thin, sponge-like bread that was soaked in olive oil and then covered in pesto. Sounds delicious, but it was a bit over-the-top in that I think I could have squeezed about a cup of olive oil from the bread. This was followed by a regional dessert: chestnut flour bread with pine nuts and raisins.

After lunch, it was on to the southernmost town of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore, and then we took the Regionale train north through the tunnels to Monterosso, the northernmost town on the trail. Here, I had a granite, which is essentially crushed ice with straight lemon juice from the town's sweet lemons--tart but very refreshing.

Finally, we hiked the longest leg of the trail, which connects Monterosso to Vernazza. If you have ever done the Dipsea Trail from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach, you probably recall that the Dipsea begins with about 700 stairs. This hike had stages that were quite similar (this morning some girls from Seattle complained that it was the most difficult hike they had ever done). It was definitely rewarding, though. In parts, you could see all four towns south of Monterosso, and the vistas were incredible. Eventually we were treated to a great view down into Vernazza, and then we made our way back into the narrow streets of town.

Back in Vernazza after about ten miles of hiking, I jumped into the Med and then laid in the sun for a while. I had a slice of pesto lasagna for dinner (picking up on a theme yet?), and then I checked in with Jen to make sure her flights to Italy were working out all right. And as I am writing this, I am heading to Milan and then Venice to meet up with her. It has been a great 2.5 weeks, but I cannot wait to see her and explore more of Italy with her. It's going to be a great two weeks for us.

Again, you can view my CT photos here. Photos cannot do justice to the towering hillsides of olive groves, terraced vineyards, wild blackberries, and bright wildflowers, but perhaps they can give you some sense of this stretch of Italian coastline. Thanks for reading!

- R