Like a Big Pizza Pie, That’s Amore

When someone invites you to their wedding in Italy and tells you there will be sailing involved, you don’t decline. You don’t even pretend to ponder. You say yes. Did we mention that the sailing was basically on a pirate ship?

Initially, we weren’t sure if we would make it back to Italy during our trip (there are so many places to see and you only have a 90 day Schengen Visa to do it), but fortunately for us we made it back to Italy to attend a wedding in Positano. What followed was an unexpected and delightful turn in our travels leading us to hunker down in Rome for 12 days. We will come back to this, but first, Positano and the Amalfi Coast.

If you haven’t heard of the Amalfi Coast, it’s worth a Google (or a Yahoo, a Bing, or you can Ask Jeeves). Quaint little vertical villages tucked into cliffs along the coastline with incredible views. Views and stairs.  Stairs and views. Summing up, beautiful towns with stairs and views, make sense? After hanging out in Naples for a night, we took a shuttle to Positano where we were immediately met with somewhere around 10,000 steps to climb. Quite alright, you see, as we knew we’d be partaking in lots of alcohol and food over the next few days. Cardio for the liver and such. The roads in Positano are connected via winding cement staircases. You can easily get lost and have fun at the same time. Here, Michele will brag that she scaled the stairs more times than Trent did. What might be a quick trip to the market for a peach, ends up being a serious glute burner stair master workout.

It never hurts having friends in Europe. It also never hurts to have friends in Europe who are getting married in one of the most beautiful settings on the planet. The now newlywed couple, Chris and Katie, are two of the best people and we can’t thank them enough for inviting us to share their special event. I mean, this should be a shot across the bow for our other friends. Why haven’t you invited us to exotic locations and pampered us with sailing on a Spanish Galleon? We’re anxiously awaiting your attempt at topping this occasion.

Anyway, no big surprise but the first day of sailing was incredible. One day we anchored off of the coast and swam, drank, watched friends get married, then drank and swam some more. Not bad. Another day was a trip to Capri, we did not see George Clooney but Trent swears he felt his presence. The view from the boat was pretty okay. You got to see the vantage point of the little cliff towns that you always see on the post cards. Hundreds of colorful little houses sprinkled among cliffs with the deep blue water all around you. Also, not a single Jimmy Buffett song was played. Life is good.  But, you know what was just as good? Finally being around cool people in a social setting again. We both need space and quiet at times, but we’ve been missing friends a lot lately. Perfect timing. So, here’s to Chris and Katie, thanks again and keep being awesome.

A couple days later, we found ourselves in a café with zero plan of where to head to next. It should be noted that we needed to decide by the next day, as that’s when we had to be out of our place in Positano. Still working on that whole planning thing. Baby steps I guess. Luckily, it only took a little deliberation to decide that we would go back to Rome. While not new to either of us, it’s one of our favorite cities. There is something quite magical about walking outside and being surrounded by 2000+ year old history around every corner. We found a place in the Jewish Quarter and booked it for 5 nights. We had hit the jackpot with this place. A far cry from some of our places where 10 people shared one tiny bathroom. This place was all ours, no wondering if that hair on the sink is yours. You know… oh, you know. Anyway, our host Gaia was so friendly, if you ever go to Italy let us know and we’ll put you in touch to stay in one of her places, you won’t regret it. The apartment had several sunny rooms and a full kitchen equipped with all the necessary utensils.

 It was situated right next to ruins, the Tiber River and walking distance to everything. The ruins next door to us featured nightly piano concerts. We went early to watch the performers warm up, which was basically like getting a free show. All you had to do was pretend to take pictures of everything, giving yourself enough time to loiter and take it all in. It was great. We could relax, write, read, and get to know the area (and the pizza) on a deeper level. We spent a lot of time cooking meals from scratch as the grocery stores in Italy have the freshest of well, everything! So, our initial five-night stay got extended to eight… and soon after to eleven nights. Easily our longest stay yet.

We ate all the pasta and pizza you could imagine. For someone who doesn’t do dairy well, or even okay, Michele would ultimately sacrifice her gut for the land of flour, water and cheese. Remember those good poops from our last post? Kiss ‘em goodbye!

We did our usual site seeing, checking out the marvels of Ancient Rome and roaming the Borghese Gardens. If you haven’t been to Rome, note it down on your bucket list.

In fact, scratch out most and put this first. Go there and be prepared to walk around with your mouth agape the entire time. Truly amazing. The Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine, along with the random ruins peppered throughout the city, is a marvel in and of itself. Like taking a step back in time. The Colosseum and Forum, in particular, are mind blowing.  However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note one “site”. So, on the other hand, this trip we made it to Circus Maximus.

Look at the reviews and you’ll be anxious to go, mostly 4 and 5 stars talking about amazing history and such. The people that left these reviews are suffering from what is known as cognitive dissonance. Basically, justifying the experience because they wanted it to be what they had built up in their mind. Let us save you some trouble, go to any Midwestern town and find an empty dirt field, ideally an old dirt track of some kind so it’s in an oval. Make sure there are no real trees and a decent amount of trash scattered about. Guess what, you’ve been to Circus Maximus! The history is cool, it’s what used to be the site of the chariot games and the setting of Ben Hur. But, underwhelming is being kind.

“Clark, baby, I can picture it in my mind, and it’s breathtaking.”
– Mama Griswold

Over the course of our time in Rome, we just lived life. We wandered through used book stores, sought out endless gelato, enjoyed long runs along the river, and counted the cats everyday at Torre Argentina. Torre Argentina is a fun ruin where hundreds of cats live. Locals take care and feed the cats, who mostly bask in the sun and walk around. Torre Argentina is home to currently 250 cats! Meow. Oh, and this is also where Julius Caesar was murdered. Et tu brute! Michele got her nose pierced at one point, because “it just felt like a good day to do it.” So far, no nose infection; fingers crossed. We visited local bars and watched Roma football (soccer) games and cheered with some diehard fans.

Europe loves football. Football is everything. We danced in Trastavere Square listening to acoustic English songs and sat on a lover’s bridge enjoying the local scene. Our only regret might have been wandering into a bar based on reviews only to find out it was a love-of-everything, Pittsburg bar. Steeler paraphernalia, ICB-light beer posters, and statue of Jesus wearing a Steelers helmet. Too soon. American tourists came in just to get photos with the bartender. It was awkward so we left.

One mistake, not that bad. We love Italy. We love the language, the over-the-top gesticulation, the food, the romance, the vibe. For a place where there is often a language barrier, strikes messing up the public transit system, a little pricey, but it just feels comfortable to us.

So, it’s on to Prague next, recharged and ready to go to a place that neither of us know really anything about. But hey, isn’t that what this thing we’re doing is about? Until next time drifters, and keep us informed of where you guys want to meet up with us. We’ll be out of Europe soon, but there is whole rest of the world to see.

STATS TO DATE
Chocolate croissants consumed:  TONS
Beds slept in:  25
Cropdustings by old folks: 7?

NOTICINGS
Europe doesn’t seem to neuter their dogs. So many balls.

QUOTES
“That’s the reason why you don’t go around licking random things”
— (reply) “Well… that’s one of the reasons”

Q&A from friends: 

“Which places would you considering living since the beginning of your travels?”

Most places around Europe would make for easy living. Europe in general is just, well, easy. Michele bases her love of cities based on their love of dogs and whether or not the grocery stores carry crunchy peanut butter. However, assuming we could get peanut butter anywhere thanks to Amazon, all of Europe has been an incredible experience so far. As far as living goes, we are certainly both partial to Rome. It just makes sense. Beautiful at every turn.  So far, Denver is hard to beat in our minds. The city has us wrapped around its finger!

“Are you coming home at all during your trip?”

Yes! Well, possibly. We are becoming more aware of the fact that this trip is ours and we can pop in and out of the U.S. as we please. At the beginning, we thought that we wouldn’t as flights over the big blue can be quite pricey. But hey it’s only money right. It’s more important for us that we fill our hearts on friends and family than try to save every penny. We are currently deciding whether or not a short break to see loved ones before hopping to the next continent is in the cards for us. Stay tuned.