Nadine Towers Over the Nuns in Italy
Flying the Friendly Skies
Greetings from the town of Cinque Terre in Bella Italia, home of the best food in the world. Our travels in the last week have carried us across three countries in three continents.
Our time in South Africa passed by in a flash compared to those five months in Asia. The lengthy journey marathon lasted 28 hours. Instead of a long bus up to Joburg from Cape Town, we paid money to save 26 hours for a 2 hour flight. Great deal. The next flight on Emirates was the nicest one of the trip. Of our life actually. The Emirates plane to Dubai was stock full of drinks, video games, and all the music you could want, and it even included leg room.
In Dubai, the onset of fatigue from a sleepless night playing Tetris crept up. I sleptwalk to the next flight for Milan and slept a solid two hours on the six hour flight, a rarity. With one last flight, we were in Roma . . . but only long enough to catch a train to Florence to meet up with Nadine’s mom, Clare, and sister, Susie.
Bissonnette Girls Back Together
Bouncing Around Italy
The walk across Florence felt heavy, but still with an added bounce in our step. Italy is easy to navigate compared to the last six months. Public transportation leaves on time. The hotel room, courtesy of Clare, looked over the Arno River. That was nothing compared to Nadine seeing her mom and sister and them seeing Nadine’s every growing belly. From that point on, it was chat, chat, chat, chat, and chat.
Over the next couple of days, we visited all of the major sites, the Duomo, Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria dell’Accademia, the Ponte Vecchio, but it was spent amongst the soundtrack of happy chatter between Nadine, Clare, and Susie.
From the beauty of Florence, our travels held even finer views in Pisa with the Leaning Tower of Pisa, excellent calzone in Lucca, and the region where five small villages perched on rocky picturesque outcrops make a national park, Cinque Terre.
Il Duomo
Walking Cinque Terre
The intercity hike is popular in Cinque Terre. That was the activity of choice between the three Bissonnette girls, and being outnumbered, that is what one White boy had to do. The path began from Vernazza to the small village of Corniglia with ocean waves crashing below. Along the way, a simple but excellent lunch of meat and cheese sandwiches fueled us. Then we continued to Manarola by train, only because of a rock slide, and finally to Riomaggiore. The hike provided easy hiking with great views, definitely worth the three Bissonnette girls dragging me along.
The town of Vernazza is home to one of the best Italian restaurants in the world, Trattoria da Sandro. A packed house left us literally out in the cold on Saturday night. We made reservations for Sunday night. Promptly at seven that next day, the feast began as planned. It was pure indulgence with a perfect meal of pasta, ravioli, penne, and house red wine. Every bite was followed with a healthy “mmmmm” and “can I have a bite of yours?” We left satiated. If you ever think about going to Trattoria da Sandro in the near future, let me know, I’ll meet you there for dinner.
All By Myself
Food Comatose
That leads us to our next topic, a very important one for that matter close to my heart. In life and in travels, we have come across some great food. Mexican. Tex-Mex. Indian. Thai. Vietnamese. But they all come in a distant second to Italian food. As Nadine said, “All meals are good or great.”
It’s amazing what Italians are able to do with a tomatoe, pasta, olive, a few spices, and tahdah, perfection. And to top off the perfect dinner, ten gelaterias stand on every street serving creamy Italian ice cream, gelato. Now if you love food, this is the place to come to indulge and then walk it all off.
Back home in the United States, there all types of restaurants. In Italy, there Italian restaurants serving Italian food. What does that tell ya?
Excuse me as I slip off into food comatose.
JW
