Ciao ciao!
A few thoughts about this trip: In generale, I love the food here, which is to be expected. But I must emphasize that the Italian concept of pizza is amazing. Pizza in America will never satisfy me again. First of all, (unless it's just us stupid foreigners, stranieri stupidi), it's not uncommon here to order an entire pizza for yourself. They don't really always have different sizes of pizza. You just choose what kind you want. And there are so many different kinds here! You won't find pepperoni anywhere. Pepperoni pizza is an American invention. And so every time we go to una pizzeria, I try to order something that sounds completely strange to me, something that I know I probably couldn't find negli Stati Uniti. At one, I had una pizza al salmone--salmon pizza. It sounds strange, but it was amazing. I loved it. At a pizzeria in Napoli, I ordered a pizza (I forget the name! I'll ask Riccardo ASAP) with ham, peas, and topped in the middle with a fried egg. It was so wet after I cut it and broke the yolk that I had to eat most of it with a fork, but it was so good. All the others think I have a talent for picking out amazing pizzas. And I do.
Above: My egg pizza in Napoli! Buonissima!
We went to Napoli, Pompei, e Capri this past weekend. It was exhausting, but so much fun. In general, I didn't like Napoli all that much. There were some beautiful things in the city, but it was dirty and not well-taken-care-of. As Riccardo told us, "the only problem with Napoli is the napoletani (people from Naples)." They don't have the same spirit of preservation that much of Italy does, but I think in bigger cities even in the U.S. that's generally true. But we walked around Napoli for a half a day before leaving for Pompei.
To me, Pompei was the kind of thing that's hard to wrap my mind around. I know what happened (Vesuvio erupted in 79 A.D.), and it's incredible that so much of the city is still intact. It fascinated me, but I have a hard time really feeling the tragedy of the place. I can't relate. It was a beautiful place to see, and it was sobering to see a few of the people who were essentially mummified in volcanic ash and lava: someone sitting in a fetal position with their hands over their face, for example. But worst of all was the mummified dog.
To the left: One of the mummies in Pompei.
We went to Capri on Sunday. We took a boat tour around the entire island, and we went into la grotta azzurra (the blue grotto), which was so pretty! The island itself is gorgeous. The cliffs were magnificent; there was so much greenery. And the water was an incredible, shocking blue. But I didn't care much for the beach. Although I spent most of the day there after the tour, and it was a lot of fun, it was also very small and crowded. I thought Capri was famous for its beaches, but I didn't even see any other beaches on our boat around the island, so I'm a little confused. I lost track of time and didn't get to see the city uptown, which was disappointing, but perhaps I'll go back someday and get to some of the less touristy areas.
I'm back in Perugia now. I like my classes some days, but I haven't been sleeping enough and some days they irritate me. Unfortunately, I'm only here for a month, and being a little short on sleep doesn't bother me. The Umbria Jazz festival has started! I've been out two or three nights to listen to music in la piazza, and I just walked around downtown for a while last night with a few of the guys and this girl named Breck from their class. Breck made us dinner, and it was amazing. We decided to take wine for dinner, and so we finally checked out this vineria nearby. It's so interesting. You take empty wine bottles, and they have several kinds of wine in enormous casks, and they fill and cork your bottles. And though it's incredibly cheap, the two we tried yesterday are probably the best wines we've had so far. I'm no wine connoisseur, but it's still a really smart and interesting way to do things, and many of their wines are from the Umbria region of Italy, so they're local.
I'm going to go study a bit. In class we're learning il congiuntivo, the subjunctive mood, which I've always ignored before, and so I need to practice conjugations. Tonight should be fun. Breck is coming over for dinner, so Kathleen is probably making something badass, and a bit later is guy's night out, with the four of us and Riccardo! Excited!
Later, because the internet is incredibly slow right now, I'll post a few more pictures that I wanted to put in this entry. And maybe a few extras, too.
Ci vediamo!
Haha, I kind of hate the entire-pizza-for-one-person concept. I tried eating an entire one once, and the pizza was soooo good... but once I was about 75% done I felt like I was going to throw up and it took forever to chew once piece and it just didn't taste good anymore. I can put away a lot of food, but that much pizza is...impossible.
ReplyDeleteI think your comment on Pompei encapsulates how I felt about it as well. It was interesting to see, but emotionally... I don't know, there is a detachment?
In response to Ada:
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how much I eat in Italy. I already have a reputation among the entire group for being the biggest eater. Every night I have seconds and thirds, and after I finish my own personal pizza, people usually offer me pieces that they can't finish. Love it.
Haha, I gained that reputation as well... Surprise, surprise. Actually...I gained nearly 10lbs while in Italy :( This is the most I've ever weighed in my life, and I've never put on weight in a short period like this before. It's a bit disconcerting, and even though I know I'm still at a healthy place, I'm going to try to lose it so my pants aren't so tight hahaha.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you do during guy's night out? Enquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDelete