“Dolce Vita” – My love of Italy continues….

WOW! So it’s been a month since I’ve blogged! WAY past due. Suffice it to say, life has been crazy this past month with finishing exams, Kyle arriving, traveling throughout Italy for 9 days, having our entire apartment torn apartment for remodeling (while we were living in it), so having to relocate to Dan’s place for a few weeks, working a bunch at my job, planning a last minute trip to Amsterdam with Dan, and now my upcoming trip to Dublin with Michelle! Whew! So much going on. But that said, I owe some updates on all this cool stuff, so here is one of a few posts that I will do in the coming week or two: ITALY!!!!

So Kyle (brother – if that wasn’t immediately obvious) has never been to Europe. I’ve given him merciless shit for this, so it didn’t take long for us to plot out this trip. I haven’t been back to Italy since I studied in Florence 8+ years ago and have been dying to return, so this Italy trip was super exciting for both of us and honestly has been one of the biggest highlights of this European year for me so far.

I’m going to throw Kyle under the bus here and tell you that he didn’t start our trip out the most smoothly. He waited too long to check in and then got locked out. This caused a huge panic, resulted in us running late, nearly missing our coach to the airport, etc. Thankfully though – after literally running with suitcases to the shuttle bus – we made it just in the knick of time. Whew. Crisis averted. 

I also realized at that point that Kyle does a pretty good job of handling stressed-out-annoyed Kirsti, which was a good sign for our trip. :)

The Basics – Dolce Vita (“the good life”)

As I mentioned earlier, I studied in Florence my senior year of college and credit that trip with giving me my ‘travel bug’. I learned so much about myself, it was my first experience with a vastly different culture, and it opened my eyes up to so many new things. Basically, I love Italy. I think it will always be my special, happy place. Italians just get it. They know that the point of life is to LIVE, not to WORK. And right now that resonates with me more than ever. I know that living a modern, business-world life there would probably be really different and maybe I wouldn’t like it as much. I actually did realize that on this trip. But either way, slowing down the pace of life – dramatically – was a welcome change.

Where We Went

(Yes, I like bullets, underlines and italics to organize and categorize my paragraphs. It’s my blog. I do it my way)

Here was the itinerary: 

Rome > Somewhere TBD* > Florence > Cinque Terre.

*That “TBD” Place was intentionally left undecided so we had some flexibility. Kyle and I both struggled with not predetermining that TBD, but we are both glad we left it open. We tossed around Sienna, Montepulciano, etc but in the end opted for Orvieto, a small town on a hill in Umbria that’s known for being charming, beautiful and calm (which it was). 

We flew into Rome and took the train everywhere else (which still is my preferred method of travel over flying).  The idea was to start with the heavy-hitting touristy stuff that would exhaust us, and finish at Cinque Terre in the mountains and on the beach. Perfect.

My Travel Buddy

Kyle was also an awesome travel buddy. I am so fortunate we get along so well. Honestly when you spend 24 hours a day for 9 days straight with someone in small little rental rooms or B&Bs, having your patient brother with you makes things a lot more enjoyable. And adding in a few funny faces and some laughs helps quite a bit too...although I admittedly didn't realize how much we posed with a screaming face until I looked at all these photos...

In Orvieto, walking around the streets

In Florence, at Piazzale Michelangelo - one of my favorite places in the city.

What can you say to your brother kissing a boar??

In Rome, right in front of the Castel Sant Angelo

It also made things way more relaxed that Kyle wasn't super into going to every tourist site, every church and every museum. It's easy to get overwhelmed and exhausted in Italy – especially Rome – with all there is to do. So Kyle’s laid-back attitude resulted in some touristing, but more strolling around neighborhoods, drinking wine and just experiencing the “good life” they are so known for. Not gonna lie: it. was. awesome! (Sorry for the incorrect punctuation there.)

Our Italy Top 5

I kept trying to make Kyle tell me his favorites throughout the trip, and he refused. However at the end, we realized we had a pretty similar list of favorites that spanned across the cities:

1) Staying in Trastevere in Rome

Trastevere is on the other side of the river - just slightly off the beaten path (but not much). We had several recommendations to stay over there and couldn't have loved it more. We rented an awesome apartment and sort of just immersed ourselves in the local culture. It was a very vibrant and lively area all weekend long, but didn't feel overrun with tourists. If you ever go to Rome, stay there!!!

Strolling around our street in Trastevere

Our apartment

First night dinner: musicians playing the accordion next to our table

Dinner our first night in Rome

One of the main piazzas in Trastevere

We literally just bought a bottle of wine and walked around our neighborhood at night.

LOVE the outdoor eating. And aperitivo!

 2) The gelato we had by Piazza Navona in Rome
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say we had gelato every day, and some days twice in one day! I LOVE gelato! But we both agreed this place by Piazza Navona (who's name I cannot remember for the life of me) was the best!

3) Orvieto - as a whole

I know it's sort of cheating to say an entire town is on your Top 5 list. But honestly this was just one of those places you take a chance and go to, and then end up loving it. It was the opposite of Rome. Quiet. Not much to "do", but plenty to see. We stayed at the most amazing B&B with a man who loved hosting us. We walked around quaint, charming streets, drank awesome wine, ate cheese sitting on the top of a city wall, and just relaxed. We made friends with an American dude who lives in Florence, talked more than I did, drove us sort of crazy, but in the end we realized it was sort of cool just making random friends. We saw underground caves that have been around for centuries. It just was all-in-all a wonderful place to visit. 

View of the Italian countryside

Sitting on previously-mentioned wall, drinking wine and goofing around

Kyle with our new friend Scott, just chilling out for a few hours. Thankfully Scott spoke fluent Italian and was able to order the cheese we wanted from the local shop.  

This is where I decided my future in-laws will live.

The view of our piazza while eating ice cream.

Just strolling around the streets...

I have a weird obsession with all of the flowers there.

This was HANDS DOWN the best glass of wine we'd had the entire trip, drinking at a local enoteca and overlooking the Duomo.

Right before Kyle bit my head off for taking so many touristy pictures....

The landing at the B&B we stayed at. Super cute. 

View from our bedroom.

Our cute little B&B

 4) The Bistecca Fiorentina in Florence
I admittedly didn't eat out much when I lived in Florence the first time. I was a poor student (ha, some things never change...). Anyway, I'd never had the famous 'Bistecca Fiorentina" that Florence is known for. Honestly I don't know what I expected, but it superseded every hope. We got recommendations to this awesome Trattoria Mario that's off the beaten path. You wouldn't even know it existed if it weren't for the line of people waiting at lunch outside (they aren't even open for dinner). Inside is so basic and unassuming it has it's own charm. Of course I have zero photos of this... but trust me, it was the most amazing steak I've ever eaten. It's my new dying day meal. You could literally hear them chop the steak in the back. They brought it out, showed us the size, and then cooked it. It was HUGE!!! Seriously a full kilo. All we had for lunch was a salad and steak. And we were stuffed. But it was incredible. 

5) Cinque Terre, as a whole

Most people know how incredible and beautiful Cinque Terre is so I don't need to go into too much detail here. And I posted like 4509 photos on Facebook, so I won't repost everything. But let's just say that I am SO glad we ended our trip here for 2 days. The place we stayed was pretty "eh". But everything else? Perfect. We also happened to be in Cinque Terre - even staying in the same town - as friends from Chicago, Jill and Kyle. My brother Kyle ironically also knows Kyle because they work together at Twitter. So it was pretty fun to meet up with other people for a day. We also made buddies with Jill's friend Gina who lives in Rome, but was there at the same time as us, so she's in quite a few of our photos. Really all we did in Cinque Terre is eat, lay on the beach, kayak on the water, and hike from town to town. All 5 towns have their own feel and their own charm. I would've stayed for weeks. It was so incredible. 

Day 1. We just arrived. Kyle is happy.

Can't beat this!

One of the towns we hiked through.

Just goofing around a bit after 9 days of "couple" photos

Again, the hike continues

One of the fishing villages

Group shot: Gina, Kyle, Kyle, Jill and me

Of course the Kyles found the only American bar in Cinque Terre

Success after a long hike!

Not a bad way to enjoy a cocktail! :) My favorite: Aperol Spritz!

Last night: enjoying the view.

Other Overall Favorites

If you can't tell, we had an awesome trip! I was really sad to go home. I've totally drank the Kool-Aid and sound all crazy when I talk about how much I love Italy and the way they approach life, but it's so true. 

I also really cannot get over all the outdoor cafes. They are everywhere. And if you can't find a cafe, you sure can find a beautiful piazza and bring your own bottle of wine. Seriously piazzas pretty much take the place of bars in my opinion.

It also is sort of hilarious to me that in every city (except Florence) we made friends. In Rome we met a couple from Columbus, Ohio of all things!!!! In Orvieto, our gold old buddy Scott. In Florence I went back to my old neighborhood and met up with the owners of my favorite restaurant Gusta Panino. They've since expanded their panini shop and now have a full Osteria (nice restaurant) and a pizza joint. Pasquale and Mauricio were there names, so they will count as our "friends" in Florence. And then in Cinque Terre we met Gina. 

I think that's all the random rattling on I'll do today. I feel like I've rewritten this blog post in my head 4 times so it's just time to post it. Plus next you have Wimbledon, Amsterdam and Ireland to look forward to! Hope all you Americans are enjoying summer, because I'm really missing it here, but since it's actually sunny today I'm going to soak it up! 

Ciao!