Honeymoon - Rome

Rome, our final destination. We had been visiting less crowded parts of Italy for more than a week now, and we felt the atmosphere change the moment we left our train and walked through the Roma Termini.

We needed to find our museum passes somewhere within the crowded train, subway and bus terminal. A girl with a blue collared shirt and lanyard offered to help us, and after walking a little way together, she started demanding we pay her. It was our first "gypsy" encounter, and a much different welcome than warm Montelupo or generous Genoa.

I guess it's no surprise that Rome was a lively and crowded place. Being in such a famous city, of course we wanted to visit some typical tourist highlights. But we also wanted to make sure that the last days of our honeymoon were laidback and fun. So we picked only two destinations to visit per day, making sure we were not rushed and could make whatever random detours we wanted.

Our first full day we visited the Roman Colosseum and Forum. I downloaded some free audio guides and listened to them as we walked through both locations. I repeated the highlights aloud to Isaac, sharing fun facts and figures as I heard them.

We had another interesting encounter with some locals here too as we tried to find the correct queue to enter. Another "gypsy" lady offered to help us, and then began getting pushy about giving us a guided tour of the Colosseum. An Italian man next to us plainly pointed us in the correct direction, and then began criticizing the lady for her behavior. We walked away to the sound of them yelling at one another: the man declaring that the lady was a disgrace to Rome and Italy, the lady defending herself saying she is just doing her job.

The Colosseum was grand and impressive, even if it's now just a shell of its former glory.

Right next to the Colosseum is the Roman Forum, a piece of land that was the heart of Rome for centuries, containing the ruins of many things like government buildings, monuments and temples. I listened to the audioguide, but we had more fun just wandering and walking along the ancient stone walkways.

We were thankful for fountains throughout the Forum like the one showed above, where you could fill your bottle up with cool water. By about 3 in the afternoon, our feet were aching and we were tired from the intense Roman sun. We headed back to our place, stopping by a pastry shop along the way and picking out some fun-looking sweets.

The next morning, we made sure to catch a bus in order to arrive at the Pantheon just as it opens to the public. Our efforts were rewarded and we were able to enjoy the glorious building without having to share it with many other people. The building itself is cool - full of fun details like it's central circular room has the same height and diameter, deliberately the right size to fit a perfect sphere within it. The only light comes through the hole in the ceiling. It was built as a temple for the gods - all gods - and people came and worshiped to whomever they wished. My audioguide mentioned that one reason it is so well-intact, compared to other Roman ruins, is because the temple has pretty much been in constant use since it was built in the second century. First, as a temple to many different gods, then as a Christian church.

The city square out front of the Pantheon was incredibly beautiful. Warm colors and old stonework add a charming frame for the epic, ancient temple.

Our plan for the rest of the day was: eat tiramisu, walk through park, visit art gallery. We tried Tiramisu at Pompi, a place that is supposed to be the standard for classic tiramisu - it was tasty, but nothing revolutionary. I guess tiramisu is delicious wherever you eat it.

Our walk through the Villa Borghese Gardens was an unexpected delight. It's a beautiful, grand park with huge trees and hidden ponds and monuments. Right below is the view from the edge of the gardens over the city of Rome, across the Tiber River, towards the Vatican.

Then to a very nice museum with a very boring name: National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. The highlight for me was seeing The Three Ages of Woman in person. Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite artists, and I felt like I was posing with a celebrity when Isaac took the picture below.

There was also this giant piece of art made out of thorns. Pretty neat.

By the time we arrived in Rome, we had been missing spicy Asian food for some time. It seemed like destiny when we found a Chinese restaurant, Grand Dragon, very close to the place we were staying. Not only was it delicious, the prices were great, the menu was large and there was no coperto. In Italy, we quickly learned what the word coperto means - a cover charge that random restaurants apply to make more money off of tourists. Or at least that's what we figured it means. For all of these reasons, we ate at the Chinese restaurant three times while we were in Rome.

Below was our first meal at Grand Dragon. Isaac's plate was never more than three inches from his mouth for the entire meal.

Our last night in Rome, we were heartbroken to find that Grand Dragon was inexplicably closed. But it turned out to be for the best. We ended up finding a unique and exceptional Italian restaurant. Usually you have to make a reservation to eat at Pro Loco Pinciano, but they were kind enough to squeeze us in somewhere. The restaurant had a modern mindset with all fresh, local ingredients. The restaurant owner and her daughter were very passionate about their place and their food. The owner's daughter spoke English very well, and she acted like a food psychiatrist, listening to our tastes and diagnosing us with the menu items most suited to us. Actually she correctly guessed what I would like before I said anything. Mine had some type of fish and cheese I had never heard of. Everything tasted amazing.

Our last day in Rome, we revisited the area around the Pantheon, sipped a latte together and shared some other tasty foods. We arrived at the airport with plenty of extra time for our night flight back to Incheon. Isaac and I agreed that it is a shame that Rome put Leonardo da Vinci in its airport name. Da Vinci surely would have designed a much nicer airport.

Settled onto our airplane, we looked back through the many pictures we had taken, the beautiful places we had been. It already seemed like a distant memory, now that we were surrounded by the plane's familiar interior. We were so excited when the airplane dinners came - instant fish soup and kimchi have never tasted so delicious.

And now we're back! Still reveling in the memories from our trip, but so glad to be back in the land of spicy foods and late night delivery. Our first night home, we couldn't fall asleep and decided to have fun with our jet lag. At 2:00 am we ordered delivery, and thoroughly enjoyed stuffing ourselves.

Honeymoon - Florence

Are you tired of hearing about our honeymoon yet? Time-wise, I've only covered half of our honeymoon. Traveling to Florence marked the middle of our time in Europe.

Our hotel was outside of the big city of Firenze - I never knew this was the real Italian name for Florence! Getting to explore the winding roads, tiny towns and farms of Tuscany for a few days was re-energizing.

There I am, saluting the strong Italian sun and Isaac's panorama photography skills. Our hotel was in part an old church; you can see the bell tower below. It reminded me of being back home - it seemed like even the smallest towns in Italy, like South Carolina, had at least one church. You can see (and hear) the bell towers which rise above the surrounding buildings.

Of course we had to try these chairs out! What a serene view.

We checked out the nearest town, Montelupo, which was adorably small. I looked it up on wikipedia and it has an astoundingly ancient history (click if you're interested). It has a sort-of town square with small shops, with the shop owners sitting outside chatting with one another. It was here that we tasted our first (and best!) gelato in Italy. Isaac had a rich chocolate and vanilla, I had fig-almond and pistachio.

This street is the town square area of Montelupo. We noticed that Italian grandmas love to lean out of their windows and watch you. We saw several grandmas leaning out of these second and third story windows watching the people below.

It took about 20 minutes to leisurely stroll through the heart of the city. Isaac was amazed at how small the place was and by the idea of people living their whole lives here, in such a tiny town.

For a while we tried to find somewhere to eat dinner. But many restaurants in Italy - especially in smaller towns - close between lunch and dinnertime. Again Isaac and I were amazed at the residents of Montelupo, just sitting around and talking, because there is not much else to do. Our search killed just enough time so that our scenic route back to the hotel was during the late afternoon, when the sunlight is golden. Olive trees speckled the grasses and grape vineyards rolled down the hills.

The next day we headed downtown. Florence has a strong and distinct personality - it felt classy and well-made, like its many hand-crafted creations. The city is known for its artisans - making things like fine art, jewelry and leather goods. I kept imagining that Italian women probably love to come shopping in Florence. We admired a few famous old churches from the outside as we wandered the very narrow city sidewalks.

Santa Maria Novella, a church that shares the same name as Florence's main train station, is about 500 years old.

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as Florence's Duomo, is even older and I still can't help but think of Dan Brown's book Inferno when I see it.

 We visited the Leonardo da Vinci museum, which had several models and machines based off of da Vinci's journals and ideas. Both Isaac and I find da Vinci so fascinating - he was a dreamer who loved learning - and it was amazing to see just a bit of his diverse interests. One thing I didn't know is that Leonardo da Vinci invented the odometer. His odometer looked like a wheelbarrow that would periodically drop rocks into a bucket as you rolled it along. The museum displayed many of his ideas: war machines, fine art, flying contraptions, and more humble instruments like a clock and retractable ladder.

I was excited to see two weather tools that I learned about with my second graders this past spring. We made our own versions of these devices - the anemometer and hygrometer - to measure wind-speed and humidity.

The da Vinci museum was pretty small, so we were able to enjoy all of it and still have energy left for the rest of the city. Of course we walked around more, and checked out some of those Florentine artisan goods.

I asked Isaac to strike a pose in the picture on the left below - the flag, city street and moped - this place seemed so Italian. On the right is a shot of the San Lorenzo market, it doesn't quite capture how long and overwhelming this street is. There are these tents, and then shop fronts on either side of the tents, and there is a smell of leather flowing through the whole place. I have never seen so much leather.

The next day was Sunday, and we stayed in the Tuscan countryside. We rode bikes from our hotel to Montelupo, and ended up eating the most tasty spaghetti with anchovies. Wanting more gelato for dessert, we walked to the town square, only to learn again that small towns in Italy like to take a rest in the afternoons, especially on Sundays.

We found one place open, kind of like a convenience store with a bit of everything, and had refreshments there. I had a cafe latte - served as shown below. Steamed latte (milk) in the cup, cafe (coffee) in the pitcher. Espresso drinks are very cheap in Italy, my cafe latte was 1.5 Euros.

Since Montelupo was having a lazy Sunday, we did too. We went back to our hotel and rested. For dinner, we decided to walk to the village of Turbone, which is even smaller than Montelupo. Turbone has two restaurants and that is about all there is. Even though we arrived an hour before the restaurant opened (at 7:30 p.m.), the family was nice enough to let us sit inside and sip drinks until then. We had fun observing life in this tiny town, where everyone knew one another by name.

I have a few comments about Italian food. We were surprised by the simple flavors we encountered in Italy. Spaghetti sauces usually had only a strong tomato taste and maybe an herb taste too. There were no salt and pepper shakers on restaurant tables, only olive oil and vinegar. Isaac's meat was seasoned with peppercorns and sat in a bed of olive oil. I think Italian food as we know it in America is way more seasoned than the real thing. It seems like Italians like a few strong flavors in their food, and that's it. We didn't come across any spicy food either. I ordered one dish because its description included spicy peppers, and the waitress even warned me that it was spicy. But when I ate it, the dish barely registered as being spicy. I guess the Italian palette is refined and simplified.

Our time in Tuscany came to an end too soon. The next day we packed up and prepared to head to Rome. Our plans were to take the train from Montelupo into Florence, and then head out from there. Our favorite small town of Montelupo had the last laugh. When we called for a taxi to the train station, we were told that the Montelupo train was broken down for the day. We had no other option but to take a long taxi ride to Florence. From there, we took a fast train to Rome. Once again I found myself marveling at the beauty of Italy's countryside as we headed to our last honeymoon destination.

Honeymoon - Lake Como

Our first mission in Italy was to find our way from the train station to the Genova airport to pick up our rental car. The moment we stepped off of the train in Italy, we were moved by the locals' kindness towards us. We found our first steps in an Italian city to be cute and charming, but this did not help us track down a taxi or find our way towards the airport. We hopped on a bus, only to learn we should have bought tickets prior to boarding. The bus driver was kind enough to let us ride two stops for free and then let us off closer to the airport. Stepping off of the bus, the roads were like a pile of spaghetti noodles but we were encouraged because we could see an air traffic control tower. An Italian man saw us going the wrong direction, dragging our luggage along, flagged us down and then said he would show us the way to the aeroporto. He led us on a fifteen minute walk, knowing when to cross the busy highways from one narrow rocky sidewalk to another. When we arrived, he said goodbye with a smile, expecting no money and starting back the way we came.

I snapped this picture as we dragged our luggage, following the kind Italian to the airport. Rain clouds covered the sprawling city and a chilly wind blew, but Isaac and I felt so warm and welcome in this place, where people treat strangers like family.

An afternoon of driving north through the mountains and then flat lands, and then more mountains. We had arrived on the small, twisty roads of Lake Como. Our lodging, a one bedroom flat overlooking the lake, was stunning and made the place seem all the more magical.

Here is the view from our balcony. Our first day in Como was rainy, which felt quite nice since we were loving our cozy accommodations and wanting some rest after two days of travelling.

We tried our first espresso drink in Italy, determined to distinguish it as truly being the best coffee in the world. Laughing as we enjoyed our lattes, we had to admit that it tasted the same as cafes in South Korea. Very delicious.

Not only are the people of Italy generous, the food portions are too. We read online that it can be considered rude not to finish all of the food on your plate. At this particular restaurant, the waiters were very friendly, but once you were served your food they would walk by with evident glares at your plate, checking your progress. Isaac finished all of that meat and I ate my entire pizza too.

And every day we returned to this gorgeous view. We enjoyed coffee and breakfast on our balcony and saw many people come onto our car park and patio (where Isaac is standing) to take pictures of the scenery.

Another wonderful thing about Como is the trails. There are hiking trails that meander through the mountain tops, on both sides of the lake. There are additional trails you can take up to reach the mountain tops and down to the lake shore. Our short stay prevented us from checking out the mountain top trails, but one day we explored a lower road - first going down from our place to the lake, then climbing up into the mountains.

These paths are the original roads used by residents of Lake Como before cars came along, foot paths and oxcart trails paved with old stones. One of the most charming things to me was seeing so much old stone work with plants filling in cracks and cascading down.

Lake Como is a lovely place, a peaceful escape with plenty of opportunities to explore and eat good food. I'd love to go back and hike along the mountain ridges we admired from our balcony.  I can confidently say that this was a honeymoon highlight for us.

Okay, just one more picture of that view.

Honeymoon - Nice

Nice (pronounced Neese), what a tease.

Isaac and I have never planned an international roadtrip before, so there were bound to be a few hiccups, less-than-ideal things that made us optimistically say "now we know". Nice was one of those things. I did most of the planning, and logistics has never been my thing. I get caught up in the details. Nice ended up being a very out-of-the-way stop on our route from Paris to Lake Como.

We left Paris in the morning and traveled to Nice. It's more than an eight hour drive to the south of France, and we only stayed in the city by the sea for one night. We still tried to enjoy the tiring journey and those sights we could see (mostly out of windows). We grabbed some fun snacks like rotisserie chicken flavored Lay's and the best drinkable yogurt ever.

We both thought that the French countryside looked pretty familiar. If not for the road signs and cars, maybe it could be mistaken for America. Normal, peaceful country.

Then suddenly, CASTLE!

That is different. It became a fun game to spot castles out in the landscape. I was surprised at how many there were, and we only stayed on the big highway.

 
After a few u-turns on the tiny sea-side roads of Nice, we arrived at our hotel just as the sun was setting. We didn't even have to leave our room to enjoy the view.

The sunrise was beautiful too, the most notable difference being that the neighbors' lights were off.

We had a hearty breakfast at the hotel, eating as many French breads and pastries as we could since it was our last morning in France. From Nice station, we took a train that crossed into Italy, taking us towards our next destination, Lake Como.