If you hear the bell, run like hell!

A tour guide in Amsterdam named Rob doled out this invaluable piece of wisdom. He was not wrong. The city plays host to a multitude of different traffics, the bike - featuring the bell - was probably the most numerous. I never thought I'd seen so many bicycles in one area. (Until I went to Copenhagen, but that is for the next post.)

Finally, almost a week after I got home, I am posting about my first week long break. If you were not in the know, Mac and I went to Amsterdam and Copenhagen. And since we are Dutch and Danish, respectively, we were checking out the mother countries. Besides being ties to our lineage, they also reminded us a lot of the California cities we are missing. It was kind of like, instead of a vacation, I got to go home for a week. And it was so cold! I may claim to be a minion of Satan, but I am still not at all adapted to the fiery pit of hell that is Rome. No, I'm kidding. It isn't hell. But northern Europe really beat Italy's weather in my book.

We started in Amsterdam. So that is where I will start these posts. Logic, I've got it. Warning: self-image heavy. For once, I didn't break the camera. So you all are forced to look at my face a lot.

decadent Dutch architecture giving Rome a run for its money!

first place Mac and I go exploring is a bakery

the next place is a cute little place on Singel canal for club sandwiches

too hipster to function in my many layers (I thought that sweater would never see the light of day)

photo cred: Mac Witmer - and any other photos of me, due credit to her

boats docked in the canal where we stayed for two nights

Our second morning, we decided to do Sandeman's New Europe tour. If you don't know what these are, and have any plans to travel, stop reading this blog post and click that link. It is a brilliant concept: 3 hour tours (yes, start singing the Gilligan's Island theme tune...) that are completely free and show you both the historical and the cultural hotspots of major cities. They are tip-based and their tour guides are knowledgable and pretty hilarious. You can tell when they've done so many tours they're starting to get creative. We tested them for the first time in Amsterdam, and loved it so much we later did another in Copenhagen. It is a great way to ensure you see the best parts of a city and to get your bearings for future mulling about.

Rob, our tour guide, showed us this hidden piece of street art from the 1970s that was installed, removed by the government, and then protested back into installation - and conveys the idea of free will and Amsterdam's liberal prostitution laws (no one is forced into the line of work nor participation otherwise)

the headquarters of the now defunct but once all-powerful Dutch East India Trading Company (all I could think of was Pirates of the Caribbean)

hanging out in the hidden gardens

After the tour, Rob recommended a cafe with traditional Dutch treats. We discovered Strongbow Gold (a Bulmer's cider) for the first time, and rediscovered carbs. Where did they go in Italy? We just don't know, but we do know that we missed them.

apple cider with booze! my favorite thing!

a Dutch lunch - tomato soup and french fries

After the first two days, Mac and I met up with the "Zachs" (you've seen them on this blog before, check Mac's birthday post) who coincidentally were in Amsterdam the same days as us. We spent the first part of the Netherlands seeing history; we spent the second part having fun!

on a one-woman quest to hug every cat in Euroland

pancake breakfast was a must!

no photos were allowed inside but I did, of course, go into the Van Gogh museum

I present to y'all, a photo series entitled "Defeat"

the 'I Amsterdam' letters which, at your own risk, you can climb on for a photo shoot, proved to get the better of me (the "I" did, anyway)

but I am unstoppable!

cartwheels were done...

...books were read...

...rainbows appeared at my command

But then, we had to say goodbye to our most recent favorite city to say hello to some place new...Denmark! A 20 hour bus ride - full of German border police, wanted fugitives, a bottle of pills, and a bus on a boat - was in store before we arrived in the "merchant's harbor" aka Copenhagen. I'm leaving you on the edge of your seat, I know, but all of this will be explained in the next post. Until then, here is an accurate representation of getting to nordic Europe.

Nou breekt mijn klomp, Dutch proverb: That breaks my wooden shoe! (English equivalent: Well I'll be damned! Surprisingly, no pun intended. You know, Amster......dam. I crack myself up.)

Italiano! - a playlist

1. Mama Said - Shirelles
2. Rome - Phoenix
3. Mambo Italiano - Rosemary Clooney and the Mellowmen
4. Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes
5. Il Secondo Giorno (Instrumental) - Air
6. Feeling Good - Michael Bublé
7. Una Notte A Napoli - Pink Martini
8. What Will Be Will Be - Allo Darlin'
9. Blue Skies - Irving Berlin and Ben Selvin
10. Postcards From Italy - Beirut
11. Un Amico - Ennio Morricone
12. Hot Child In The City - Nick Gilder
13. Mamma Mia (In Italian) - A*Teens

Download .zip file

On the heels of leaving for another country, I finally get around to posting this. Figures. But documenting my time in Italy through music is just as important to me as doing it through words, and I thought I would share this record (pun, as always, intended) with you as well. I'm sure there will be more playlists that make their way onto this blog, especially as the fall and winter months roll in, because most of my favorite songs are much more suited to those doom-and-gloom seasons. But until that time arrives, here's some tracks that were in rotation these first three weeks.

Buon viaggio...

"Pretty wild. Lots of green."

That is a direct quote from Marco, one of my school's interns, while on our way to the Abruzzo cheese farm. He was not wrong. The landscape was beautiful and I was surrounded by nature, nature, and more nature! It reminded me a lot of my old job, plus I got to learn some behind the scenes knowledge on one of my favorite food groups. If the waiting room of heaven is a wine cellar, then the place itself is full of cheese.

We were greeted right off the bus by the owner of the farm, who promised us a little snack before we began the tour. Already, I knew this guy understood what is important in life. (If you're still unsure, the answer is food.) While waiting for it to come out, he showed us the property's fig trees and just started picking them right off the branches and handing them to us. Now I could be wrong, but I'm not sure I knew true happiness until I got to gorge myself on unlimited figs.

have to reach high...

...to get the ripe ones

Mac is enjoying the "fruits" of her labor

so is Adrienne

a photo series entitled "A Fig Surprise" because this is a post full of puns

the snack before the tour was delicious

The first thing we saw was the barn, with the sheep and goats. We were waiting for the milk to be ready to be made into cheese, so we could witness this process.

as the sheep scamper away from my camera, this goat must have left his cares in his other trousers

photogenic cheese maker! as Mac so eloquently put, he was "milking it"

after the first round of cheese is in the forms, they heat the milk again and we get ricotta (literally means "recooked" in Italian)

we visited the sheep dogs' new puppies! soon they will be trained to keep the herd in line!

After the whole tour, we were herded into their restaurant for a cheese tasting and lunch. Mac later remarked that you really had to be quite adventurous because they had some funky cheeses. Perhaps I am just such a big fan of cheese that I don't think of eating it as an adventure, but closer to an average Saturday night. Although, truth be told, the dairy overload and the rest of lunch actually upset my stomach, but there was no way I wasn't going to get down on that much cheese!

despite its mean first bite, this spicy cheese was probably my favorite

two kinds of pasta, one featuring (you guessed it) cheese

an actual meat course! but by the time it came around, I was too full to eat more than a couple bites

Before we left for home, we toured the little village the farm was in. It was a shock compared to the big city we've been living in for the past three weeks. (Has it really been three weeks? Where has time gone?) It was cute, but I much prefer the hustle and bustle of Roma.

Mac checking out the local 'chiesa'

straight out of a postcard!

Al contadino non far sapere quanto è buono il formaggio con le pere, Italian proverb: Don't tell a peasant how well cheese goes with pears

Buon compleanno a Mac!

A very important day fell in the middle of last week: my lovely flatmate Mac's birthday! She is a baby and only just turned venti anni - 20 years - but of course, you'd never know it with how classy she acts. On Wednesday, the night before the big day, we went out to an aperitivo in Testaccio with plans to meet her friends from UCSD traveling around Europe. For those of you not in the know, an aperitivo is a great concept that we don't have in the States, and really should. For around 8 euro, give or take, you buy a drink that comes with an all you can eat buffet full of dishes typically in an antipasto. You can easily make a dinner out of one of these, which is what we did. Italians place a lot of importance on eating while you drink, so as to not get excessively drunk, hence the idea of serving essentially free food at a bar.

When walking home from from Pizzeria da Remo, we passed a modern and interesting looking building (a little out of place in a city that is probably 80 percent monuments) that housed a bar called Rec 23. Mac did some research - her favorite thing! - and found out about their aperitivo and we decided to try it out.

Rec 23 aperitivo menu

waiting for Zakk and Zach...

Mac's Raspberry Cosmo

Kate's Mint Julep (so good that next round, everyone got one)

delizioso!

After the aperitivo, the five of us ventured into the historic center of the city to paint the town red, of sorts. I can now say I have drank in a bar called The Drunken Ship, which is a bragging right I crave because my only ambition in life is to be a pirate king.

accurate photo of the rest of the night

"there is a time and a place for the bars in Campo di Fiori" -Mac (that time was at midnight)

the whole gang!!

photo credit: Mac Witmer

On her actual birthday, we went out for dinner at Flavio Al Velavevodetto, in Testaccio. Mac, Adrienne, and Mac's mom had been there before, and really talked it up so I was quite excited. Unfortunately, our waiter had clearly not been trained in the utmost customer service. But the food was better than I could have expected, which made up for him. Also, there was a cat roaming around their outside tables, and y'all know how I feel about felines!

my dish: pasta all'amatriciana - of course, spicy and delicious

hope your birthday was a roaring success, Mac!

Possano tutti i tuoi desideri avverarsi in questo giorno, Italian: May all your wishes come true

Ask not, wine? But, wine not?

I'm finally posting about our first excursion! I would have sooner, but we had our first composition and the midterm in Italian this week. Getting back in the school groove, especially so early in September, is an interesting experience. But now, after midnight, I am getting around to showing you last weekend.

We have been offered three optional excursions lead by our school, so naturally, I signed up for all of them. At 50 euro apiece, it seems like I am dropping serious bank, but if this first excursion taught me anything, it's that I could have never done this by myself - and certainly not for that price.

Last Saturday, the trip was a tour of a vineyard in Colonna and lunch at Lake Albano. A brief background: both are comunes in the region of Latium and located on the Alban Hills. Colonna is the smallest of the Castelli Romani, frequented by the noble families of Rome, and occupies an ancient, fertile volcanic area which allows flourishing agriculture. It is particularly known for its production of the white wine Frascati. Albano, of course, houses Lake Albano, and the summer residence of the pope.

Detail of Fountain of the Naiads at Piazza della Repubblica, where we met to catch our bus

lovely ladies early in the morning!

Mauro, our guide and sommelier extraordinaire, was full of information and great facial expressions

wondering if someone will pay me to use this as a postcard because it is beautiful and also how else will I pay for nights at the Trastevere bars?

this is what I assume the waiting room of heaven looks like

finally, a picture of me graces this blog! just hanging out next to some barrels, you know, the usual

(photo credit: Mac Witmer)

not quite ripe for the picking yet!

after the tour, we were cordially invited to a tasting of a white and red of the vineyard

we were told often to eat lots of bread - this was a tasting not a drinking excessively

our selections, red and white respectively; the red is a rare - only 4,000 out of their 600,000 bottle yearly production are one of these!

the restaurant right along the lake where we ate lunch

got the ball rolling with bruschetta, which I loved, especially because I was super hungry and a little sleepy from the wine

antipasto plate which always seems to be my favorite course

pasta all'amatriciata - a little spicy, noodles al dente, just the way I like it!

panna cotta topped with berries - an easy dessert to finish with

We spent the rest of our time around the lake dipping our feet in and wandering down the street, eventually settling on a grassy beach where we took it easy until we had to get back on the bus for home. This Saturday is our second excursion; we're off to Abruzzo for cheese tasting, a tour of a farm (with sheep!), and what I'm sure will be a delicious lunch as always. I'm trying not to eat my body weight every time I go out, but these chefs are making it molto difficile.

In Vino Veritas, Latin: In wine [there is] the truth