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| huge woman with a tiny car! |
Eureka! I am finally getting around to blogging after close to one year. My apologies, I hope you haven't forgotten about me! I have been busy in Maine with school! No time for blogs, barely time for anything these days. But, that's all about to change, you see I have finished my rigorous spring semester & my schedule will be much lighter from here on out. Or, at least this summer I plan to relax, still taking classes but hopefully only relaxing ones. :)
I have, at this point, been in Maine for exactly ONE YEAR! Woo! I survived that winter, wicked cold, hella freakin snow, virtual hibernation and seasonal affective disorder but, I made it! Maine still hasn't warmed up as much as I'd like but let me tell you, fifty degrees feels downright balmy. I didn't even wear socks today, like heaven! So, that's what's on my mind, warmer weather. Thus, fitting to take a trip back in time to last August when I took a 2 week trip to Italy for my school break. You may know that I lived in Italy for a while just about 2 years ago now (glorious place!!!) and I have been missing it ever since so I splurged on a trip to visit friends in Rome & in the countryside in La Marche. I spent about 5-6 days in Rome and then trained it out to harvest grapes & make wine with a friend I had made when I did a whole ton of WWOOFing (volunteering on organic farms). I was stoked! It was a perfect trip. I was pleasantly surprised that I still knew how to speak Italian & it got better during my stay.
Here are some photo highlights, I will provide captions and remarks. If you are my friend on FB or following me on the instagram I apologize, you may well have seen many of these photos. They are worth another look, Italy is captivating. Disclaimer about the instagram photos, they may be highly filtered for fun effects. So did it really look all that amazing without the filters, etc? Why yes, it sure did. :)
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| Trastevere |
Can you believe I used to live in this neighborhood??? AAAAH, like a dream I tell you. Trastevere (Italy in general...) has not changed much in the past couple of years. I would wager that it will not change to much over the next 100 years. That's magical. It was so nostalgic & romantic to stroll around my old haunts, piazzas, alleyways, churches, fountains...
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| piazza Farnese |
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| St. Peter's square, still amazing |
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| San Pietrini stones |
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| Boom! The parthenon always just pops out of nowhere. Used to walk past it every day, ho hum. |
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| piazza Navona |
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| inside Santa Maria in Aracoeli |
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| the lovely Tevere, ponte Sisto |
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| Capitoline Museums |
In Rome the entire month of August, Ferragosto, is a holiday. Many many locals go to the beach or on vacay somewhere & the city is overrun with TOURISTS! It's also HOT! It's how I remember Rome though so I didn't mind. Always filled with throngs of tourists.
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| They do this cool thing along the Tiber in Trastevere during the summer, it's lined with bars & shops & restaurants. Really pretty on a warm summer night, full of tourists & Italians. |
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| I stayed with my pal Barb in Trastevere, here's her street. |
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| glistening river at night |
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| Trajan's column & the Vittoriano |
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| il colosseo |
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| love love love marble sculpture, especially this one at the sacred stairs, Judas whispering to Jesus |
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| piazza Trilussa, Trastevere |
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| oh the vespas |
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| Here's where I took Ital language classes every day for a long time, made a bunch of friends here, it was nice to visit :) |
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| inside Santa Maria sopra Minerva |
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| Bernini's famous elephant with obelisk |
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| soaking it in!!!!!! |
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| view of the forum from the Tabularium of the Capitoline museum |
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| HUGE broken Constantine |
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| i forget where |
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| on isola Tiberina |
I went for the day to visit my old friend Diana who lives in a fabulous apartment in an old castle in Bracciano, famous for a big lake. It was great to see her & hear about her life. Thanks again, D!
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| lago Bracciano |
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| so quaint in Bracciano |
And then... I took the train a few hours northeast through Umbria into La Marche where I stayed with my friend Liana & her husband in an old farmhouse. It was just about as I remember it. They were hosting another American & two Polish girls so I had some company & that was fun. Liana makes a lovely, dry spumante & I had helped her with it, staying about 3 or so weeks 2 years prior. Last year, the grapes were completely different! It had been a wet season & many of the vines had fallen prey to mold &/or bugs. The yield was low. I had expected to do a ton of grape picking & working in the cantina with the press but, this was not the case. Instead I did a lot of helping in the garden, hanging out & cooking! Liana's mother usually does a lot of cooking for groups but she was away on vacation so the other gals & I did a lot of the cooking & I learned a lot from Liana about the simplicity of ingredients. I met with a few friends I had made on my other visit & even went hiking with a local group I had gone out with before a couple of times. I took walks every day, the countryside is so charming & beautiful.
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| field of sunflowers |
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| picking these delicious, huge figs, such a pleasure |
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| caper flower |
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| Took a trip into Jesi to see some sights with the gang |
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| Autumn, from Asheville NC & I would sneak up to town for a glass of Verdicchio & some wifi |
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| a magic little church built into a cave |
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| tiny towns on hiltops in La Marche |
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| fountain in Ancona |
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| Ancona |
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| Ancona |
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| Cupramontana |
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| glowing grapes, everything was pretty |
Then I blasted back to Rome for 1 night before heading home. I stayed with my friend Paula & we went to a fun expat party where we all ended up having a sweet dance party, loved it. I walked around the city visiting the rest of my spots, stopping in to see famous art like these favorite Caravaggios.
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| piazza di Spagna |
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| santa Cecilia |
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| guys, I broke vegan again for Italy. it just seemed like the right thing to do. Gelato @ Giolitti, my favorite. used to have a gelato for lunch here many days :) |
That was it! I packed a lot in to those 2 weeks & it was totally worth it. I still imagine to live in Italy again one day, restore a farmhouse, tend to grapes and olives, make wine and olive oil... What you say, that's a book/movie "under the tuscan sun"? Well yes, it is but everyone's doing it. Me too one day, I hope. Right after I survive Maine and nursing school...
Stay tuned for more, by parental demand I hope to pop out a couple more posts in the next few days. Thanks for reading :)
xo
Anni
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