Back Home: Honeymoon Recap

Many of you will be reading this blog days after we returned to Chicago from our honeymoon to Italy.

I have to start out with the fact that we were extremely extremely fortunate to be able to  take this trip, and for many reasons, this was a trip of a lifetime. We will never get to take this much time off of work, leave our families, not to mention all the resources required to fund the trip and to make sure our dogs were as well taken care of in our absence as when we are there. Though the trip was great, nothing beat the excitement of seeing our dogs faces as they ran onto our patio to greet us (below)

Anyways, our trip was from June 10 to July 4th, all of it in Italy. We left Chicago on June 10th and made it to Venice, Italy. We were in Venice for three days, until June 14th. From June 14-17, we went to Rome. Then came five days in Naples, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast. Our longest stay was a week in Florence from June 22-29. From there, we went to Verona for two days, then finished up in Bologna from July 1-4.

There is a blog post for pretty much every day of the trip, and you can see the blog post titles on the top right of the blog and pick and choose the ones you want to read.

Some of our highlights were: Learning how to make Gnocchi and Calamari in Sorrento, visiting a glass making shop in Murano, hiking beautiful Cinque Terre, seeing Romeo and Juliet in Verona, and having Greek Food in Bologna.

To Steki Greek Food in Bologna (Honeymoon Days 22 & 23)

This post will talk about To Steki, our favorite Greek restaurant in Bologna, and some of, if not the best Greek food I have had. We went to this restaurant each of the three nights we were in Bologna.

After we settled in to our B&B and took a nap, we ventured over To Steki, which was literarly about 100 feet from where we were staying.

We looked over the menu and started out with this beautiful, fresh Greek salad, which was all vegatables and the square of feta cheese. All of it delicious and we did not miss not having lettuce.

Then for our main courses, I picked the gyros plate (the white sauce is tzatsiki) and then Elisha got a delicous plate with different sauces. 

We decided to go back to To Steki on the second day for dinner becuase we felt like the food was sooo good that everything else would be a dissapointment. On the second day, I got a eggplant and beef dish, with tomatoes, which was also delicious.  To Steki also had this delicious and very strong house wine that we ordered and came in a metal jug

On day 3, we decided to try a few more things off of To Steki's menu including this beautiful Salad with Octopus that I had. Seriously, how good does this look!

Verona to Bologna (Honeymoon Day 21)

Today was our last day in Verona. We did a little walking around in the area near us and visited Giardini Gusti, which was not to far from the Airbnb we were staying at.

For lunch, we went to Osteria Ai Osei, a local Italian restaurant not too far from where were staying.  The food was better than the experience. There was no menu, so we had to tell the waiter some things we like and she suggested items for us to eat. Elisha had a tortellini soup (below left), and I had a spaghetti with the Ragu sauce ( that is so common throughout Italy, most famously as ragu alla bolgonese.

                         

Speaking of things from Bologna, Bologna was the next and last stop on our trip. We picked this since we are flying from Bologna back to the Chicago are. Following lunch, we took the local Verona bus to the train station and then boarded our last train to Bologna. When we arrived in Bologna, we took a bus and arrived at Casa Ilaria, our B&B that we had booked for three nights. 

We were delighted to find a nice room, with a comfortable bed and air conditioning. We took and nap and then we went to To Seki for dinner. More on To Seki in the next post.

Romeo & Juliet! (Honeymoon Day 20)

Today was a great day in Verona!

We started out with a little breakfast, then did a little computer time and reading. For lunch, we decided to try Tabule, a middle eastern restaurant about six minutes away from the Airbnb.  I ordered a chicken plate (12 euro) and everything was pretty good, a little different than our beloved Pita Inn in the Chicago area, but delicious none the last. As you might have imagined, the Tabule (tabuoli) was really good and my favorite thing on the plate. 

After lunch, we started to walk towards the center of Verona, where we saw a kitchen goods store, and Elisha found a potato masher, which can be used making homemade gnocchi. The potato masher was only 7 euros, which was much cheaper than we had found on Amazon so Elisha was excited. We opted to come back and buy it on our way back to the Airbnb versus carry it around to the B&B.

From there, we kept walking and stumbled upon a Verona library branch, which had a Shakespeare 400 display. Shakespeare died 400 years ago and Verona is the "home" of Romeo & Juliet. We were directed to check out Romeo e Giuletta Teatro Nuovo Verona, which would be offering an Italian performance of the famous play that night! (Two weeks later, the English production would start). We bought tickets for the 8pm show, and then kept on exploring. 

Next, we went to the Lamberti Tower, where we were able to get some great panoramic views of Verona. We reached the top of the tower around 3:45 and then waiting to hear the 4pm bell which was very loud! 

After the tower, we did a little more walking around, and then went back to the Airbnb to change for the play.  We were told that there would be dinner before the play (included), but we were skeptical on whether it would be actual dinner, so we decided to pick up a doner kabob to eat on the way to the meeting point for the play, Casa di Guiletta. When we got there, we were proven right. There were some drinks and snacks, but nothing substantial, so we were glad that we got the kabob sandwich. 

The play started at 9pm, but at 8:30ish there were some appetizers and prosecco. 

The play was very interactive, with a lot of audience participation. We started out in the coutyard, beneath the famous balcony and then we moved around inside and outside during different scenes of the play.

The play was so much fun. Here is a video that I assembled of different clips from the traveling play:

Verona Day 1 (Honeymoon Day 19)

We took the train from Florence to Bologna and then connected on a train from Bologna to Verona. At the Verona train station, we had a little time to kill so we got lunch at the train station. Elisha had a sandwich and I had a mozzarella salad. It was about a 20 minute bus ride to our Airbnb host, Maria Angela's place. Once we got there, we put our stuff down and asked if we could do laundry, which was three euros. 

The room was nice, with a lofted double bed, a couch, and a table for eating breakfast. No air conditioning though :/ 

After a little bit, we went to the Piazza Bra, a huge square nearby the ancient Verona Arena. The plazza was lined with restaurants, and it was a little hard to find something non-tourist. We settled on L'Orlogio, which proved to be very mediocre and touristy.  After dinner, we visited a few shops and then we saw the outside of Casa di Giuletta (Juliet's house). The outside gate of Juliet's house is completely covered in graffiti and love notes. 

Just inside the gates (below, from June 30th).

After this, we went to Amaretti, which was supposed to be the best gelato in Verona, but we were not impressed.

Galileo Museum and Pizza Class (Honeymoon Day 17)

We woke up around 8:15am, then we had breakfast. Today, we decided to go to the Galileo Museum, which is a History of Science museum in Florence. On the way to the Museum, we walked through Piazza Della Signora, where my Opa (my late maternal grandfather), visited. 

The Galileo Museum was very nice. The museum was divided into two different collections, the Medici Collection and the Lorraine Collection, showcasing the importance of science among these noble families. My favorite part was an exhibit below, where they showed two apparatuses that Galileo used to test his motion theories.

After the museum, we went to the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy (below). The pharmacy was affiliated with the church of the same name.  I was expecting this pharmacy to be a shack, with a couple of nuns selling non-descript bottles. It was nothing like that! The pharmacy was very beautiful and everything was very commercialized and expensive. A bottle of aftershave was 31 euros! We did not buy anything

In the evening, we attended, a Pizza and Gelato class hosted by the Food and Wine Academy of Florence. The hilarious part was that we had to walk about 8 minutes to a meeting point. Once we were at the meeting point and the whole group was assembled, we walked back and everything was very familar. Then the whole group walked down our street (Via Panicle), then we went to the kitchen, which was only two doors away from the B&B.

 We really learned a lot about making an Italian style pizza. There are two different types of flours used, a fine flour (bread flour) for making the pizza dough, and then semolina to use when you roll the dough and get in onto the pizza pan. In Italy, they only bake the pizza for four minutes, but at roughly 750 degrees.

We went back to La Carraia, which is now our favorite Gelataria!

Tuscan Countryside (Honeymoon Day 16)

Today, we did a tour of the Tuscan Tour started in San Gimigiano, in the countryside. Then to the Chianti area, which is famous for wine, to visit a winery. Lastly, we visited Siena, a medieval city in the heart of Tuscany. Tour ended around 7:30pm, returning us to the Santa Maria Novella station.

The bus ride to San Gimigiano was about an hour and while we were riding,  the tour guide gave a little information on the history of  Florence.

 We were given about an hour and a half to walk around San Gimigiano. There were a lot of trinket stores, but eventually we were able to get some nice views of the countryside.

 Then we went to a small art gallery, with some indoor and outdoor displays. On our way we saw a Gelateria with a sign claiming the best Gelato in Tuscany. Gelateria Dondoli lived up to the hype! The Gelato was creamy and they had about 40 flavors and the ones we had were really good

The Chianti region is famous for wine, especially the Chianti classic red wine. This kind of  wine is made with a majority of Sangiovese grapes (usually 75% or more) with the remainder of the mix being a Cab or Merlot. Sangiovese grapes are a  Tuscan grapes, which creates a full-bodied wine.  The Tuscans take their wine very seriously: Several government rules monitor the production of wine.  We stopped at the Casafrassi winery, where we tried three different wines and then had a pasta lunch 

After lunch, we took the bus to Siena. We walked 10 minutes to meet our tour guide Claudia at Piazza Salmbeni. The Salimbeni house is now the Monte del Paschi, which is the oldest bank in Europe. Then this beautiful building, which is the city's oldest

Siena is still surrounded by medieval walls, with 17 neighborhoods. The 17 neighborhoods compete in a horse race, which takes place in July and August in the city's main square. The main square was almost in racing form. 

The brick square is surrounded by sand, which makes up the race track. The race is bareback, no saddle. Sometimes the jockey falls off and the horse wins alone. The beautiful medieval tower, which once was the capital of the republic, now the city's government.

The Cathedral of Siena is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. This is the main church of Siena. The people of Siena even wanted to build a bigger church, but the Black Death happened and there were no workers or money to finish the job. The facade of the church is is unbelievably elaborate (below). Facade was started in 1284 and it evens has 3D statues.

The inside of the cathedral is very nice, too, and just as detailed.

Our last stop was to Castle Monteriggioni, an old Castle. There was a little farmers market that we walked around. We ended up trying a few wines and then buying three bottles to take home.

Sushi in Florence (Honeymoon Day 15)

We woke up a little late and we decided to eat lunch at  Wasabi, a sushi restaurant, where little plates are served on a conveyor belt. The little statue is set there intentionally to keep the little plates centered. 

 For 15 euro per person, one can grab all the little plates they can eat. Many of the little plates had 1-2 pieces of sushi,  but others had seafood, Miso soup, spring rolls, and even Italian specialties like calamari and tiramisu for dessert. The food was very good. Then we went back to the apartment to rest and have some coffee.

Then, we decided to walk around a little near the Duomo. We stopped at a McDonald's just to see what it was like. It was very nice and clean. I wanted a ice tea, but they only had the Lipton soft drink kind and not the fresh brewed kind that I like.

We walked around the Duomo a little and then we decided to check out some of the stores. We stopped at Tiger, which is a home-goods similar to IKEA, but kind of like a micro-Target. Like IKEA, Tiger is a Scandinavian company based in Copenhagen.

After looking at a few more stores, we walked to the Central Market building near our B&B. The market on the first floor of the building was closed, but the second floor was alive and well. On the second floor of the building, there are about 26 stores and restaurants laid out like a food court. There are many tables to eat and relax, and about a dozen TVs that were showing Euro 2016.

We went back to the B&B and had the rest of our salad. After dinner, we decided to get some gelato.

Florence's Central Market (Honeymoon Day 14)

Today we went to Florence's Central Market, which is only a block away from where we are staying. We wanted to make a few healthy meals since we had access to a kitchen in the B&B. This market did not disappoint. Lots of fruit and vegetable venders, as well as others selling meat, cheese, wine, biscotti, and other Italian fare.


We spent part of the afternoon at the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, which is the principle Dominican church of Florence. The church broke ground in 1279 and was completed around 1360.

Later in the day, we went for Gelato at Triangolo delle Bermuda, where Elisha got the mint and "Mars" candybar flavors, and Aaron had a single scoop of Amaretto.

Cinque Terre (Honeymoon Day 13)

Today, we took a Day Trip to Cinque Terre, on the northwest coast of Italy's "Italian Riviera" Cinque Terre, which literally means five towns, has become a national park, which surrounds the villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The villages are either cliffside or inlets from the Gulf of La Spezia.  The region is known for their white white

The day started by meeting our tour guides, Fabian and Molly, at the central train station, not far from where we were staying. From the train station we boarded a bus to the Cinque Terre region, which was about 1 hour, fourty minutes,  we made a rest stop and then caught a train in La Spezia.

We started the trip at Manarola, where we could view the little community and out into the Gulf of La Spezia.

Then we walked about 380 steps up a zigzag pathway similar to San Francisco's Lombard Street. At the top we walked to Corniglia, the smallest of the five villages. They have two churches. After a brief walk, we sat down for a rooftop lunch. We had an seafood sampler antipasti followed by a main dish of spaghetti with homemade pesto and potatoes.

 

 It was a good meal and it served as good fuel for our hike, walking from Corniglia to the next of the five towns, Montorosso. The hike was 2.5 miles, and with temperatures close to 90 degrees, it was not a walk in the park. The views were beautiful; lush, green hillsides on Italy's Northwest coast.

At the halfway point,  there is a cafe, which serves a variety of cold drinks and snacks. We settled on a lemon granita and a cold water which both came in handy. Once we reached the cafe, the second part of the hike was easier. At the end of the hike, we saw a dog swimming in the water.

Once we were done with the hike, Fabian had recommended a cinnamon Gelato, so we decided to treat ourselves to Gelato as a reward for finishing the hike. Aaron picked cinnamon only and Elisha picked cinnamon and pistachio. The cinnamon was outstanding

For dinner, we had a mix of fried seafood and veggies, which was great. We were pretty tired by the end though. 

Naples Recap and Welcome to Florence (Honeymoon Day 12)

We woke up around 10:30am, had a little breakfast, and showered. We were both pretty excited because at 2pm, our train would depart to Florence, where we will spend a week--our longest stay of the trip. As we lugged our bags through the cobbled, congested streets of Naples, it was nice knowing that we would not have to do traverse the Neopolitan streets again. 

I am glad that we went to Naples though. It is much more of an Italian city than Rome and Venice and we were able to get a better feel for what like is like in Italy. Here is a typical street in Naples:

Elisha had booked the high-speed train for us to take from Naples to Florence. It was very comfortable, and I was able to watch a couple episodes of Downton Abbey. We got to Florence around 5pm, and we went to our B&B, which is only about 5-10 minutes from the central train station. We met our host Faly outside the building and he lead us up to an apartment on the 3rd floor. It is a shared apartment,  with a private bathroom. I am excited that we will be staying here for a week. It is nice, with a good kitchen to relax in, a family room, and a big bedroom for Elisha and I.

         

Immediately after, we had to catch the bus for our pastry class.

  

Elisha had booked us the express train from Naples, which was 

Weird Museum and More Gelato in Naples (Honeymoon Day 11)

Today was another leisurely morning. We slept in, had another late breakfast. In the early afternoon, we decided to head out to the Naples National Archeological Museum, which is only about a 10-15 minute walk from our Airbnb. Unfortunately, as we got there, we saw the sign that said it was closed on Tuesdays. 

Never fear, gelato to the rescue. We made the walk to try Gelateria Manella once more. I mean, if it is Elisha's all-time favorite Gelateria, you cannot only go once. This time we shared a two-scoop small portion, trying Melon and Lemon, both delicious. From there, we decided to check out an art museum within walking distance.

The museum for Hermann Nitsch in Naples is not for the light of heart. Nitsch, who is part of the Vienna Actionist movement, combines animal sacrifices and mock-human suffering  to create really visceral performance art and some of the paintings and photography associated with the performances are housed in this museum. It was very graphic, but it was good to go because it is definitely not something you'd see back home. 

After the museum, we went to OVS, which is a chain clothing store, where Aaron bought a white dress shirt and two pairs of socks. OVS is very much like H&M. We had some time to kill before Locanda del Cerriglio, a Neapolitan restaurant, opened for dinner.  Once we were finished shopping, we walked about ten minutes to the restaurant. We thought we might have to wait outside the restaurant, but once we got there, the waiter ushered us into the restaurant and sat us at a table. 

The restaurant was decorated really nicely, and we started off with some wine and bread before looking at the menu.

 I was immediately drawn to a pasta dish with pumpkin and mussels (below, left). Pumpkin sauce is just something that is not served in the US, so I was really interested to try this out. The waiter recommended an pasta with an onion and meat sauce (below, right), which he said was typical of the region.

Dinner was great, though a little salty. The waiter offered us dessert , but Elisha had her eyes set up trying two more flavors at Gelateria Manella.  However, when the check came, it was inside a cool mini treasure chest:

For family reading, we received the first digital proofs of our wedding photos! So we spent last night picking out the 45 photos that will make up our wedding album. We will receive all of the digital files (which are being mailed to us), and Aaron will upload and share once we get home.

Lounging in Naples (Honeymoon Day 10)

Today, after back to back day trips, we decided to have a more relaxing day in Naples. We had a long breakfast in the Airbnb and watched a few more episodes of Man in the High Castle, leaving only the 10th episode (series finale) left.

In the afternoon, we decided to check out a gelateria, Gay-Odin, but it turns out they no longer serve gelato. We did sample this chocolate covered, pistachio ice cream cones 

So we walked some more...the nice thing about Naples is that there are about 1000x less tourists than in Venice and Rome, however it is difficult to walk through this city. Scooters are very popular and there are many places where cars and/or scooters are parked on the sidewalk forcing the pedestrian to go into the street, where a scooter can constantly whiz by you with literally no notice. But with every city, there has to be some good and bad. 

Anyways, we did find another place, Gelateria Mennella, which is Elisha's new all-time favorite gelato, she had hazelnut and chocolate nut and later posted this review on Yelp:

"Absolutely delicious, the best gelato I've had in my life!! This gelato is served at the perfect temperature and has no iciness. It is smooth, creamy, and rich in flavor. Every flavor I sampled was delicious. I had a small cone, which was more than enough for me. (There was a baby cone, which I asked for, but it is only for actual babies). It was a big enough cone that it was dripping down the sides and I couldn't eat it fast enough...maybe next time I'd get a cup."

I had also wanted the baby size too, but alas, I had to make due with a small size :)

Then onto pizza. Naples is the birthplace of pizza and they are famous for two kinds of pizza: Pizza Margherita and Pizza Marinara. Margherita is mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil and Marinara is literally just crust, marinara sauce, garlic, and olive oil. We walked to Da Michele, a highly regarded pizza place considered one of the best in Naples. 

One of the unique things about Da Michele, is that they ONLY serve Pizza Margherita and Pizza Marinara. 

Pizza Marinara

No extra toppings. Just the two pizza types and different sizes. They also sell beer,  Coca Cola, and water. We selected Pizza Marinara, because we were pretty familiar with the Pizza Margherita at this point. It was really good.

While we were eating, the girl across from us was playing some sort of iPad game where the objective is to wash dishes.

After dinner, we walked home, about a 30 minute walk.and then finished the finale of Man in the High Castle. We are both looking forward to season 2 (Aaron a little more so :))

Amalfi Coast (Honeymoon Day 8- PT 2)

For lunch, which was included in the day trip, we went with the group to the nearby Restaurant Vesuvio. It was a three-course meal, which was nice because we had not yet had a three course meal. We selected spaghetti with clams (over pizza) for our first course.  This was followed by a small dish of potatoes with parsley. For the second course, Elisha picked a shrimp and calamari platter and a veal plate for Aaron.

After lunch,  we got on the bus for the Amalfi Coast leg of our trip. Our first stop was to pull over on the road in Sorrento to take some pictures and try a lemon sobert,

which was amazing and refershing. Then we went to a the Limoncello di Capri factory where we tried some Limoncello and bought a little to take home. We kept driving towards Amalfi, stopping again for another photo opportunity. At Amalfi we paid 15 euro each to take a 30 minutes boat ride around the beautiful Amalfi Coast. Very cool to see the houses and green vegetation popping out of the coast lines.

After Amalfi, we took the bus back to Naples, stopping at several hotels of the other passangers. Eventually, we just got off, stopped for some groceries at the Carrefour and then went home. We didn't get home until around 9pm.

More pictures of the Amalfi Coastline: