It's finally here!

David and I + Firenze!

Dinner the last night together - Acqua al 2

The story of how this happened is in this entry :-)

[For more photos, you can visit http://picasaweb.google.com/Kathryn.Weatherby]

By It I mean the post you have all been waiting for. Be forewarned, it is epically long... also, it was mostly written by me with some additions from David. Here you go -

Holidays with Visitors in Italy!

Alright, here goes my attempt at describing my past few weeks to you all. I got to see Anne, my closest high school girlfriend, and Dave, one right after the other, so I was booked almost straight through from December 17 to January 3.

Anne stayed with me for three nights in Florence. Since she arrived in Pisa, I met her there the morning of December 17 and we went to see the Leaning Tower, the Duomo, and we had lunch, before heading back to Florence. Over her stay in Florence we saw a few things, including the Uffizi Gallery (for future reference later in my blog, there was NO LINE the day we went). Mostly though, we shopped. We shopped for ourselves (though maybe she mostly watched me buy things for myself) and for gifts – I got Lisa a cute little High School Musical backpack/game console case, which she loved when I gave it to her a few days later! I also took Anne to the cute little earring shop I went to with Kristen – it has great earrings for decent prices and it is barely big enough to hold more than 1 or 2 customers at a time! If you have to wait to be helped, you are literally waiting on the street! Above all, Anne and I had a chance to catch up and talk about our abroad experiences. She spent last semester in Madagascar, stopped in Paris on the way back to the US, and took a trip to Florence to see me in the middle of that. While many of our experiences were common, most were totally different. Anne had so much less technology, lived on the beach part of the time, and experienced a culture even more unfamiliar to me than the Italian one. I told her I was impressed with her for taking that adventure (and dealing with many things most of us would find uncomfortable) yet she said she was impressed that I had been through one semester as the only student really in my “program” – a program that isn’t very structured to begin with. Anyway, it was a really nice chance to spend time with her, because otherwise we wouldn’t have had the chance to see each other for almost an entire year!

Dave was scheduled to get in to Rome on Sunday, December 21, so I had what I thought was a quick turn around – bringing Anne to Pisa December 20 to fly back to Paris and then heading to Rome the next day. However, I found out the night before that Dave was having major problems traveling due to a huge amount of snow that hit the northeast United States. Both his flights (Hartford to New York and New York to Rome) were cancelled, and it became clear he couldn’t get out on December 20. He and his dad turned around and headed back home (because they live 40 minutes from the airport) to try the next day. When I got up on December 21, I had no clue when Dave would be able to arrive, but was certain that we wouldn’t be able to spend our first few days in Rome as planned – and we had to waste hotel reservations and train tickets that we’d booked in advance. As you might guess, the uncertainty and the delays had me pretty upset. It was just a terrible feeling not knowing when the snow would let him leave, if he could find another flight, and so on. It was hard for me to sit around and wait, but it was even harder for him and his parents to deal with all the stress on their end. First, Dave’s mom drove to West Point on Friday in the snowstorm to get him, a drive that took much longer than usual, and then he and his dad went to the airport on two separate days, and stood in incredibly long lines dealing with all of the fun that occurs when airports get backed up like that. For my part, I pretty much wallowed in sadness on December 21, trying to remind myself that Dave would still come at some point and there was really nothing I could do. After his first two flights were cancelled, Dave had an itinerary to fly from Hartford to JFK on Dec 21 in the evening, and depart for Pisa (instead of Rome) from JFK during the night. Pretty early on, both of those flights were listed as delays, but at that point delays made me happy since they weren’t cancellations. I was guardedly optimistic by the time I went to bed that day – Dave had made it to New York and was set to leave on the flight to Pisa later on (though it was delayed by about 3 hours, as his first flight had been).

I awoke on December 22, knowing that if things hadn’t gone wrong, Dave was in the air on the flight to Pisa. I checked the internet, and sure enough there it was, IN FLIGHT! At that point I regained the excitement I’d had before (waiting for his arrival for months) and excitedly got ready to go to Pisa. I made my way to the station, by train to the Pisa Airport, and found the arrivals area. It was crowded with people waiting and with people arriving. A few minutes after I got there, Dave’s flight was listed as having landed, and I was practically bouncing with excitement. I think I may have been tearing up with nerves and relief and excitement as well. It took about half an hour for him to emerge, and it felt like a very long half hour! I was getting impatient, doing the thing where I checked every emerging traveler thinking “not him… not him… where is he?” Finally, at last, he rounded the corner, we met eyes, it was great, we reunited… such a good moment after 4 months apart. I could see the evidence of all the stress, all the waiting, and all the uncertainty, not to mention that he had lost a night of sleep on his flight. After re-grouping a bit, we got some tickets to head back to Florence and got on the train.

The first part of the visit was filled with the very odd feeling of wow, I have waited for this for so long, and he is here, he’s really here! Also, it was sort of strange having my Florence world and my Dave world collide like that. Dave in the house, Dave watching la Ruota della Fortuna, spending time with Federico, Cristina, Lisa and… Dave! Anyway, it was great. We went to bed early that night, and really didn’t do much that first day, but it was needed – time to rest and time to just enjoy being together again.

A funny story came out of Dave’s first night in Firenze. After we got to the house and relaxed a little, we went back out to the supermarket down the street to get a few groceries. When we came back, Cristina had returned home and had a nail client – a young woman (she seems about my age) who I have seen at least a couple times before. As we sat around and talked, it came out in conversation that Cristina’s nail client had seen us on our way to the supermarket, and when she arrived at the house she said to Cristina, “I saw Kate with a boy. Is she cheating on her boyfriend?” We all had a good chuckle because it would have seemed that way – I was probably holding Dave’s hand at the time and looking very happy, and without the key piece of info that Dave was visiting, anyone would have thought the same. So there you have it, I was cheating on my boyfriend… with my boyfriend.

The next day, December 23, I gave Dave an intro to Firenze. We walked around, had lunch, and did a little shopping. We walked by the Uffizi and decided we could go the next week, when we’d have more time in Florence. This was a bad decision… but hindsight is 20/20.

Dave got two chances to enjoy good dinners at my host family’s house – and the second night that included Cristina’s delicious homemade tiramisu. Though it is one of her specialties, she doesn’t make it much because as she describes, she loves it and could eat “a kilo in one sitting” or something like that, but she likes to watch her figure and obviously that doesn’t really go along with eating lots of tiramisu. So she just tries to protect herself by not making it often. It really was delicious. She also put chocolate chunks on top instead of chocolate powder, which was a nice touch. Incidentally, at this point I have heard the phrase “tiramisu” in context now! It literally means “pick me up!” or “pull me up!” and I heard Lisa say it a few weeks back. It still makes me chuckle when I hear it, because despite knowing its meaning it is fun to hear it in its original context, not as a dessert.

The next day, it was already Christmas Eve, and Dave and I were off to Venice. We said our good-byes to the family and exchanged some presents, and then headed to the station. We had a nice train ride to Venice, though it was cloudy and foggy most of the way. When we got of the train in Venice, we were greeted right away by the Grand Canal right in front of the station! Our first order of business was to make sense of the “bus” system – their buses are obviously large boats though! I got us some tickets and a map/schedule, and then we had to figure out where to go. We didn’t feel alone though because there were plenty of other confused tourists in the same situation.

We found the line we needed, and after at first being in the section waiting for the boat in the wrong direction, we corrected ourselves and boarded the boat going toward our hotel. The ride that followed was like a neat introductory tour of the Grand Canal, as our “bus” traversed almost the entire thing. Eventually we got to our stop, disembarked, and followed the only “street” we could from there. It was remarkably easy to get to the hotel, as after we walked down the “street” (it was a path with high walls/buildings on either side, just wide enough for people going in opposite directions to pass each other), the hotel was right there on our left!

After we checked in and got settled a bit, we did some exploring in Venice. We went to St. Mark’s Square and saw the basilica, and got to walk through as well. It was absolutely stunning inside, with mosaics covering practically every inch of the ceiling and upper walls. For me, it was significantly different from many of the Italian churches I’d seen, most likely due to its Byzantine influences. After San Marco, we walked along a bit more, eventually reaching the church of San Zaccaria (father of John the Baptist). It was also beautiful inside, with huge paintings everywhere.

After going back to the hotel to change, we made our way to our dinner restaurant, where I had a reservation for the ridiculously late hour of 8:30 (or so it felt to Dave). I had pasta with balsamic vinegar and scallops at that restaurant, which was very good. We also got a sampler plate of cheeses with various jams which we shared after our main meals. With the pace of the meal, it ended up being quite the European dinner – I believe we spent maybe 2.5-3 hours there!

What happened next is something that hopefully by now all of you who actually know me are aware of. As we walked back to the hotel and were about to reach the Grand Canal, Dave pulled me over to a little spot overlooking it. After saying some things about the future (which unfortunately I don’t even remember because I was wondering if I was right about what would happen next!), Dave turned me around, got down on one knee, held out a beautiful diamond ring, and asked me to marry him! I know that right away in my head I said “YES!” but from what he says now, in the excitement that never actually made it out as actual speech. Instead, I said things like “Is this for real? We’re really engaged? Oh my God!” Though it sort of makes me cringe now, because of course it was real, he had gotten the ring and brought it over the ocean to me, I think I was really just processing this rather large life event, and it took a little while! As we walked back to the hotel, I kept staring at my ring and was still a bit in shock! After we got back, we called our parents to let them know. Both sets knew Dave’s plan, but it was nice to share the happy and official news. That night and over the next few days, everything set in and I got more used to the fact that we were truly engaged!

On Christmas Day, after we had breakfast we set up Christmas in our hotel room – Dave’s parents made stockings for us and my parents had sent some presents over with him. It was a smaller Christmas than usual, and of course a bit odd to be in a hotel away from home, but it was a different kind of special, being with my fiancé and in Venice! The stockings and presents from home also helped to make it feel more like Christmas.

For Christmas lunch, I’d made a reservation at a restaurant in the northern part of Venice, so we got to take a pretty long walk through the city to get there. The weather was beautiful, and we were able to see all the other tourists and Venetians out walking on a beautiful Christmas Day. We had a nice lunch at the restaurant – there were two other parties there, both large family groups. After lunch we walked back to the hotel, snapping some photos along the way. Back at the hotel, we bought some computer time in order to spread our happy news to the rest of the world. I e-mailed both sides of the family, and then we changed our facebook “relationship status” which released a big flurry of congratulations! Actually, it was good we got to it when we did because our friend Sebby had already heard the news from Dave’s parents at church Christmas Eve, and posted on my wall! News travels fast in the virtual world.

That night, we went to another nice dinner, though it was bitter cold outside and sort of rainy. On the way back we made sure to snap a few photos of “our spot” – where Dave proposed – because we figured people would want to see and we hadn’t taken any photos there the night before.

The next day, December 26, we were off to Verona. We departed from the hotel after breakfast and went to the water bus stop – except I then had to take a side trip to get our tickets, as we couldn’t by them at the stop. It’s a good thing I did, because right before we got to the station our tickets got checked and we would have had to pay a fine had we skipped buying them! Dave got to witness firsthand another passenger arguing with the ticket checkers… he was holding 40 euros in his hand, which I think soon turned into his fine. The weather that day was also gorgeous – we got some beautiful views of the Grand Canal as we traveled back toward the station.

We had a relatively uneventful trip to Verona – the scenery was gorgeous though, as we were near the mountains and we even saw some snow on the ground! It was a nice dusting though, not the piles and heaps that had made it so hard for Dave to get to Italy.

Sidenote: Dave told me that when he was on hold with Delta, trying to book an alternate flight after his first itinerary was cancelled, the hold song was “Let it Snow!” Can you believe that? Dave thought it was ironic in sort of a mean, insulting way, and I would tend to agree with him. After all, the lyrics are “And if you’ve no place to go…” and guess what, people calling Delta DO have a place to go. That is the end of my rant.

In Verona, we got to the area of our hotel just fine – the bus ride was much shorter than I’d expected. However, we couldn’t find the hotel at first because I only remembered the street name and an unnamed person misplaced the hotel confirmation with the address that he was supposed to bring. (Oh sorry, does the gender give it away?) I did a bad job dealing with the uncertainty and started getting very annoyed and flustered with the situation, and Dave tried to calm me down and get me to think reasonably. At least someone handled it well. Actually, Dave was pretty much the hero and saved the day. We never did find those confirmations, Dave put them in a notebook and managed to lose the entire thing. At Dave’s suggestion, I ended up calling Cristina, who was conveniently on the computer and looked up the address for me. Dave and I headed back down the street with the number in mind, and sure enough, there it was. Denoted by a tiny little plaque next to the door, about the size of a envelope. How helpful. Anyway, one of the owners let us in and showed us to our apartment. Yes, apartment. Our place in Verona was an apartment owned by a couple who lived upstairs – they rent out the two apartments downstairs as sort of a B&B type of thing. We had a sitting area, a kitchen, and a bedroom and bathroom. Sadly, we couldn’t use the kitchen – all the grocery store like establishments in town were closed because December 26 was also a holiday – Santo Stefano day evidently.

We spent the whole afternoon and evening exploring Verona. We found Juliet’s balcony, probably the most famous tourist attraction in Verona, but it wasn’t really THAT interesting. We made our way through the crowd, took a photo, and left. That seems about right. As we traversed the city, we also came upon the old Roman era arena, still intact and in use in the summers. I think that ended up being one of Dave’s favorite things from the trip, apparently he loves that sort of old, it’s still here sort of thing (something I am not sure I really knew before). We got tickets to go inside and then spent quite a while in the arena, climbing on the stairs and through the tunnels and down onto the arena floor. It reminded Dave of his trip to Greece when he was 8, and me of my trip to Turkey this past summer – both trips which included many ruins and old buildings.

Before dinner, we found the Duomo in Verona and took a few photos. At that point, it was about 6, which for Dave seemed high time to eat, but no, the restaurant I had in mind didn’t open til 7. We did pass by and it looked like it would be open even in Santo Stefano day, so we went to a bar to have “aperitivi” – pre-dinner drinks – which is a very Italian thing to do. It was actually the first time I have really formally done it during my year in Italy. It was a nice way to pass the time until our restaurant opened. The restaurant was small and quaint and seemed authentic – the menu was hand written (or scribbled) on a piece of paper, and it seemed like they did new ones each night. We both got “primi” and “secondi” at this particular place – for primi, he got a soup and I got pasta, and for secondi, he got a salad with shredded horse meat (ooh exotic) and I honestly don’t remember what I got… it may have been chicken though. At any rate, it was tasty. I got a cheesecake for dessert, but it had a very odd texture. I am glad I know this now, but basically in Italy you should get tiramisu or other Italian desserts… save the cheesecake for when you are in New York. Or anywhere else in the US for that matter.

The next morning after breakfast, we left Verona to go back to Florence. Breakfast was in the apartment/house of the owners of the B&B, and the lady of the couple, Gianna, served us some delicious food and then talked to me while we ate. I say talked to me because we spoke in Italian while Dave smiled and occasionally added something for me to translate. That was the way most conversations went during the trip, Dave would say “Prego” and “Grazie” and I would order for him and do other transactions on his behalf. There were several occasions when someone would say something in English and Dave wouldn’t respond because he was not in the mode of interacting with people and wasn’t paying attention.

Our train trip from Verona to Florence was definitely the most difficult of all our journeys (not counting Dave’s journey to Italy). The first train was an “InterCity” from Verona to Bologna. I thought it was free seating, but when we boarded I realized some passengers had reserved seats – however when I bought the tickets in Florence the Trenitalia employee didn’t reserve seats for us. Super. Also the train was set up in a very cramped fashion – along one side there was an aisle about wide enough for one person to pass, or two people to squish by each other. Off this aisle there were compartments with 6 seats each, 3 facing 3, and luggage racks above that. The train was crowded, and most people had luggage. Not to mention that everyone was clambering to get on the train first. As I spoke with other passengers in the car, it became clear that if people with reserved seats in the compartment came, Dave and I wouldn’t have seats unless we found others. As the situation got settled we didn’t know if we should keep our luggage there or not. And it was even more complicated because I was speaking in Italian with the passengers and had to tell Dave was what going on separately, in English. When I left, Dave was completely unable to communicate with anyone. Anyway, at the end of the day we did have seats, and my suitcase was set on top of another man’s suitcase on the luggage rack – it was pretty tight. At every stop I was aware that if someone came who’d reserved the seats, we would have to vacate. As it turned out, we only had to do that at the stop before Bologna, so we just stood at the space at the end of the car for the last leg. ANOTHER thing is that our train was slightly late, and we didn’t know if we could make the connection to Firenze as scheduled. Luckily though, it became clear that we’d be alright, though another woman near us wasn’t so lucky. We let her get off so she could run, but it is most likely that she missed her connecting train.

So you’d think that was all the trouble we had. Well, no. Our train from Bologna to Florence was a Eurostar – seating guaranteed. Well, it was very crowded, and when we got to the little set of four seats where we were, mine was open but Dave’s wasn’t. There was a man next to me, a mom and a son across from me, a man next to them, and another man standing in the aisle. I didn’t really know how this happened, but Dave went to stand a little ways down in the aisle as things settled. When they had a bit, I asked the man next to me if they overbooked the trains on purpose – he said no, that there were also spots sold just as sort of free, unreserved seats. I had been thinking that the dad should be sitting near the mom and son, but it became clear that the dad was the man also standing in the aisle, not the one seated next to the mom (in Dave’s reserved seat). I said “well that’s strange, because we have 23 and 28” and the man in Dave’s seat looked at my ticket and said “Oh, well then this is his seat” and sort of offered to get up. I motioned to Dave that he could sit if he wanted, and he did the chivalrous, it’s okay I’ll stand thing. So at the end of this, Dave was standing in the aisle for the entire one hour ride while this man was sitting in his seat, and I don’t know if he had a reserved seat or not. I felt bad for Dave, but that was the situation. He was a little down the car from me, but we made faces at each other occasionally and I watched as he squished himself into the seats whenever people passed. Which was often. He told me later though that he found a kid that was watching Kung Fu Panda, so that gave him something to look at.

At any rate, we were both very happy when the train arrived in Firenze and we disembarked. Dave’s first words were “That… was… awful!” He described all the people passing, including people who smelled, and in particular one rather large man who refused to even try to share the aisle with Dave as he passed, forcing Dave to move a ways down in order to create some space. Lovely. Happy survivors of the voyage, we first headed back to the house to exchange some of our belongings and say hi to the family. After that we had to head to our hotel – we’d booked there for the last week of the trip in order to give the family and ourselves some space and not take advantage of their generosity. First though, I told Cristina our news (as Federico wasn’t home) while she had a nail client. She seemed happy and all, but one of the first things she said was “Aren’t you a little young to be getting married?” (She meant you in the plural sense.) I sort of explained that in the US being younger was more common, and above all when the military is involved. I realized later that this was actually just another place where I was going to experience culture differences, but at the time it took me aback a little, in that it contrasted slightly with all the effusive (and unquestioning) congratulations that were coming our way from friends and family in the United States.

Brief explanation: As I know even more now, there are some cultural factors which make marriage different in Italy than in the US. For one, as I have said before here, Italians are considered “ragazzi” or “young people” for much longer than they are in the US. You are not expected to have your life together (job, family, house) so early, and certainly not at 22 years of age. I would say that most Italians still live with their parents at 22, and many up until their late 20s. And they aren’t considered lazy like they would be in the US – for many reasons, it is just a normal pattern. This fact leads to Italians not really “settling down” as early as many Americans do – probably late 20s or early 30s, at the earliest. And to top it off, marriage just isn’t as big of a deal here. For example, my host parents aren’t technically married – though the structure of their lives is such that if I just observed them without knowing, I would say they were married. All of these factors combine to create a situation where many Italians probably react to my news/life decisions as rather odd, much beyond the possible American attitude of “well, you are pretty young, but if it’s what you want…” Regardless, Cristina and her nail client were very good about oohing and ahhing over my ring, and Cristina said Dave and I should come by for dinner later in the week to celebrate.

After we left the house, Dave and I went downtown and checked into our hotel. On first glance it seemed kind of musty, and overall, sort of old. I think it was nominally a three star hotel, and Dave and I decided that maybe it was… 30 years ago. But, it was a room to sleep in and breakfast in the morning, and that was all we needed. That night we took it easy, and got Turkish wraps for dinner from a place I’d discovered in Piazza San Marco.

The next day was sort of a recovery day. We didn’t really do much except have our meals and do Dave’s laundry. We found a laundromat near the hotel where he could wash his clothes. The tricky thing was that the machines for the tokens and the soap didn’t give change, so in order to get the correct change here is what we ended up obtaining with 20 euro: two bottles of Coke, one bottle of cheap sparkling wine, 3 hot chocolate beverages from a machine, and one hot milk beverage from the same machine. That is in addition to the washing and drying of Dave’s clothing. A small adventure, so say the least. Luckily there was a small grocery store next door where I went to grab the Cokes and sparkling beverage.

You would think that the laundry would have been a boring part of our trip, but it was actually really nice in how it reminded me that even the most boring things, when I’m with Dave, are fun (and I think he feels the same way vice versa). While we waited for the laundry, we bopped/danced (Dave did most of the dancing) along to the radio, talked, tried to make the right change, and scouted out a place for lunch (cheap Chinese down the street!). Soon enough we’d accomplished our mission and Dave’s clothes were clean and dry.

That night, we searched out a dinner place, and I ended up bringing Dave to Yellow, a restaurant where I’d been 3 times before, one of my favorites in Florence (from my limited experience eating out). He was really happy with the meal, as was I. He got a pizza and I got spaghetti alla carbonara – my first authentic Italian carbonara. If I am not mistaken, we also got tiramisu for dessert, as the tiramisu at Yellow is one of the many fantastic tiramisu’s I’ve had in Florence.

The next day, Dave and I did a daytrip to Rome in order to make up a bit for the fact that we couldn’t do it as planned at the beginning of his trip. We were really proud by the end of the day – we hit many of the famous sites and walked everywhere on foot. More or less in order, we went to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, saw the Vittorio Emmanuale II monument (it’s enormous), and went to the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the Vatican, specifically St. Peter’s Square and Basilica. Sadly we couldn’t go inside the Colosseum (long lines) but we agreed it was more important to see more things than to go inside. We did walk all along the outside, appreciating the oldness and the history. Toward the end of the day, we did go inside St. Peter’s Basilica, and the sheer size impressed us both, Dave in particular (I was there 7 years ago and remembered that it was just massive). Of course it was also incredibly ornate and decorated everywhere, being St. Peter’s Basilica. The day on the whole was really fun, especially due to the sense of accomplishment we felt having seen so much. There is a pretty good photographic account of this daytrip on Picasa (and there are photos of the rest of my trip there as well).

The next day, we started off with a trip to the Mercato Centrale, near the hotel. In particular I brought Dave inside to see the building where they sell all the food, which as he pointed out sort of has the vibe of early 1900s New York. There are tons of stands with people selling all the varieties of cheese, meat, and other products you could ever desire. For lunch, we got sandwiches from one of the stands in the market. As we ate, we went upstairs to see the produce section, and we stood there for a moment with our sandwiches. Apparently someone else liked our idea, because another English-speaking couple came and asked us where we got our sandwiches. We felt so smart and with it!

Dave and I were set to hit up some museums later that day, but as we walked near the Duomo, I was appreciating the beautiful blue sky and realized the weather was perfect for a trip up to Piazzale Michelangelo for a great view of the city. Dave, being the great travel buddy that he is, had no qualms about my sudden change of plans and we headed off to take the bus to the piazza. When we got there, the view was just as beautiful as I thought it would be. I pointed out some of the main Florence sites, we saw how huge the Duomo really is (it really sticks out from the rest of the cityscape), and we took some photos. I used a strategy that worked a few other times to get a good photo of us – when another couple asked us to take a photo of them, I asked them to take one of us in return. After the Piazza itself, we headed to the nearby church of San Miniato al Monte. This church also has a beautiful view of Florence, and is the very first place I visited when I got to Florence. Lucia took me there and to Piazzale Michelangelo before I even set foot in the house where I live! Anyway, we enjoyed ogling the inside and outside of the church, then took some more pictures and explored the gardens/cemeteries immediately in front of the church. I was really happy with that outing – a nice chance to relax, explore, and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery with Dave.

If I’m not mistaken, that was the night Dave and I went to Brincello, a restaurant near our hotel. I knew we had to get bistecca alla fiorentina at some point, as I had not yet tried it and Dave is a meat fan in general. At Brincello we got an appetizer of bruschetta and ordered a bistecca to share. It was tasty, but possibly not quite up to our expectations. It was very rare inside as well – something which appealed to me and but not as much to Dave. I also thought it tasted better when I spritzed a bit of lemon on it, from the wedge they’d provided. Even if it wasn’t our favorite meal, it was still good to have the experience and split a kilogram of meat between us! Brincello was also where Dave actually ordered and drank an espresso. Apparently he had a huge desire to taste it for himself, despite the fact that he doesn’t like coffee at all. He drank it straight, and hated it, just like I told him he would. Still, I think he felt good knowing he’d done it.

On New Year’s Eve, we decided to try to really get to some museums, but much to our chagrin the line at the Accademia was pretty long and the line at the Uffizi was even more ridiculous. This was when we first realized that we should have gone the first couple days Dave was in Florence. Maybe I should have been thinking more, but I hadn’t seen lines like that at either museum since the warmer tourist season, and didn’t really think we’d have that kind of problem. Should have realized that right around New Year’s could be tricky, but there you go. Since the lines were quite long, we headed to the Bargello, a museum full of sculpture and other pieces of art which is not as heavily touristed as the other two main museums. It was an enjoyable visit – they had a room of Islamic art along with a variety of other exhibits, and were featuring the newly restored David statue by Donatello (not to be confused with Michelangelo’s famed David). After we left the Bargello, I decided to take Dave to my favorite pizza place in Firenze for lunch. It was a ways to walk, as we had to cross the Arno, but it was worth it. Dave was able to taste exactly why I like the pizza there – it’s really really tasty! I opted for the simplest pizza, marinara, which has tomato sauce, herbs, and olive oil, and Dave got the “Calabrese” which had salami, mozzarella cheese, and tomato sauce. It was very good – I may have to get it sometime when I go back to that pizzeria.

Later that afternoon, we went back to Mercato Centrale in search of a gift for Dave’s mom. We got the authentic experience for sure – at one point we were looking at these cloak-like garments, and I asked the man at the booth how much they were. He told me 18 euro. Dave and I stood there discussing for a moment, and decided to look for something else. As we walked away, we heard “16 euro!” and a moment later “15 euro!” It was a funny moment that we both very much enjoyed.

We ended up staying in for New Year’s, because we just weren’t feeling like venturing out into the city in the cold rain. Dave went out and got us Chinese food, and from his report it seems that many local young people wander the streets with bottles of Prosecco ready to go at midnight. We did hear plenty of fireworks though, and enjoyed being together as 2008 ended and 2009 began.

The day after that, Dave and I took the not-so-nice weather as a chance to stay in a bit more and relax. After all, what is vacation for if not to spend some lazy time together? Eventually we did venture out, and managed to find a restaurant that was open despite the fact that it was New Year’s Day. It was yet another cute Italian place – quaint in the way that American restaurants try to be, but Italian restaurants just are. I believe Dave got gnocchi with tomato there, and I got a spaghetti-like pasta with cheese, olive oil, garlic, breadcrumbs, and parsley, which I really enjoyed. To start we got a “crostone” – a large piece of bread, topped with white beans, greens, and oil/seasonings.

That night, January 1, we went to the house where I live for dinner with the family. It was nice to see them again and enjoy another of Cristina’s meals (well for Dave to – I am lucky enough to have them most nights!). We told them about what we’d been up to, and as it turned out Federico said he knew the owners of Brincello! It seems like Federico and Cristina have many friends in the culinary world of Florence – something I’ll have to take advantage of while planning restaurants to visit with my parents.

On January 2, Dave and I made sure to get up nice and early so we could arrive at the Accademia before opening time – we wanted to be absolutely sure he got to see Michelangelo’s David (aka, THE David). We waited about 15 minutes in line, and then got right in when the museum opened. We explored the entire museum, and when that visit was done decided to try our luck at the Uffizi. While the area wasn’t as crazy as it had been two days earlier, the line was still quite long. We went ahead and tried, and waited in line for at least an hour and a half. We were optimistic at one point, but for the last 40 minutes the line was moving very slowly, if at all. After seeing how many people there still were in front of us, we decided to just give up hope of seeing the Uffizi and spend the rest of our day not waiting in a line (The electronic line machine estimated a 4 hour wait). It was pretty sad, and of course I wish Dave had gotten to see the Uffizi (mostly since we had been by with no line before), but we agreed that it was the best thing to do. At least he saw the two other museums, and I will be more careful about the Uffizi with future visitors. Plus, who knows, maybe Dave and I will make it back to Florence, someday in our married adulthood. If we do get that opportunity, we will make the Uffizi a priority!

After bailing from the line, we went to Trattoria Anita, which I had seen in my guidebook. It was a good find – primo, secondo, contorno (side dish), all for 7 euros! Dave and I actually were a little adventurous with the pasta – we chose two pasta dishes that I couldn’t figure out from the menu and each ordered one! It still turned out well… it’s hard to go wrong with pasta in Firenze! For the secondi, I got chicken cacciatore and Dave got some sort of beef thing. As far as side dishes, his green beans were disappointing but my roasted potatoes were delicious.

After the trattoria, our next order of business was to find a place for Dave to get a haircut – so that he wouldn’t have to compete with all the other cadets returning from vacation, trying to get a haircut on post right away. I had seen a closed barbershop the day before, on New Year’s Day, so we wandered a bit while I tried to place where exactly I’d seen it. Sure enough, eventually we found it. It was quite small and the only people inside were the barber and a man he was talking to (not so unusual in Italy). We stopped in and I asked if he could cut Dave’s hair, and he said sure. Throughout the whole thing, I sort of played translator. Dave said it reminded him of going to get his hair cut with his mother when he was younger. It’s good Dave wasn’t too particular about his cut, because the barber would ask if it was fine, then I’d have to ask Dave, and then attempt to translate what Dave said back. Though the barber did some peculiar things (used a type of manual clipper that Dave as only seen in WWII movies and pictures, for one), it worked out well and I had a nice little conversation with the barber. I think he asked “Why do you speak Italian but not him?” so I told him how I was there studying for the year and Dave was just visiting me. I told him about what I study in school and what Dave studies in school, and when I said American politics he said “Ah! Presidente degli Stati Uniti!” which Dave understood well enough. I also added in that Dave was in military school to be an officer soon enough and at that point the barber said “Ah, o Presidente o Generale di tutte le forze armate!” It’s always fun when other people dream big for you. Anyway, we felt quite accomplished getting Dave’s hair cut, as it would help him out once he got back to the US.

After the haircut, I took Dave by the library where I often use the internet, read, and rent DVDs. We checked our e-mail and it was just a nice way to show Dave another place in Firenze that is a part of my daily life. That was one of the best things about the visit – now when I describe my life to Dave he has a much better frame of reference because he has actually been here.

For dinner, we went to Acqua al 2, a place which is good, albeit a bit touristy (very popular with Americans). There is even an Acqua al 2 in San Diego. After trying to figure out what combination of primi and secondi to get, we started by sharing their pasta sampler – a succession of about five different types of pasta. If I remember correctly, there was one dressed with spinach, one with pumpkin or a yellow squash, one with artichokes, one in a meat sauce, and one in sort of a spicy vegetable ragu – maybe. Then we both got secondo dishes – for Dave, veal with a green pepper sauce (which he enjoyed), and for me, steak smothered in a balsamic vinegar sauce! It was quite good – though I am partial to anything that involves balsamic vinegar. To finish off, we shared the dessert sampler plate, which had chocolate cake, tiramisu, cheesecake, and a sort of fluffy-whipped cream related confection. The cheesecake was a bit better than what I’d had before, but still quite distinct from its proper American counterpart. It was a lovely dinner, capping off many other lovely Italian-style meals. It was bittersweet to know it was our last dinner together in Italy, but I tried my best to focus on enjoying Dave’s company as long as he was there – and on celebrating what a great visit it was.

Though the next day was the day Dave left, we weren’t quite done with tourist activities. We got up really early, checked out of the hotel, and got ourselves on a train to Pisa. After depositing his luggage at the train station, we headed off toward the Leaning Tower and spent a while exploring, and oohing and ahhing and saying wow, it really does lean! Well, I knew that… but it was the first time Dave had ever seen it. I mean, obviously it wasn’t a surprise to Dave either, but he said that it actually looks more tilted in person than it does in photographs.

As we got back to the train station to head to the airport, my emotions started to get the better of me. It is always hard to say good-bye to Dave, but these circumstances were particularly difficult. We’d spent almost every moment together for two weeks, officially decided to get married, and just had an amazing time together. At that point it was really hitting home that life had to go back to normal, I had to readjust to my more independent self, he had to go back to West Point, and to top things off, we probably wouldn’t see each other until July. Despite the fact that I am going home in June, Dave will be busy with West Point summer training activities til July. So yes, ending it was hard. We got Dave to the airport at the perfect time. There was a line for check in when we got there, but it really grew quite a bit while he was checking in. There was a symbolic rude awakening when I was told I had to wait outside the barriers because I wasn’t traveling with him. I know that there are safety reasons why they needed Dave to check in himself, but it felt a bit like “… but I have been helping him with everything for two weeks!” Since I speak Italian, and also because I often just take charge with navigation and planning and logistics, I had been the one getting us places and explaining how Italy worked – and now I was forced to stand off to the side and be reminded that Dave was about to travel – without me. It sounds all dramatic, I know, but it was part of what made everything hit home.

After Dave checked in, it was that time that neither of us really wanted to come. Before he got in the security line, we gave each other a really big hug – and by that point we were both crying. I knew it was just something that had to happen, and part of having a great trip together like that is having it end, but it was still very hard. We’d agreed that I would watch him go through security and wait to leave until he was through. It ended up being sort of like a sad scene in a movie, maybe Casablanca with the gender roles reversed. He made his way through the line, crying, and I stood there watching him, crying. Every once in a while he’d look back and our eyes would meet, and I would cry a little extra… sigh. Then he got through security and had to go back to the gates, where I couldn’t see him, and we waved one last time. It was tough. After two weeks together, watching him walk away from me, knowing he was going back across the ocean, was hard. I cried on the train on the way home, and just had this general feeling of heartache and withdrawal. When I got back to Florence, I had to go back to our hotel to pick up my suitcase, and it brought the reality even more to life that I was in our hotel, but by myself. I honestly wanted to leave pretty quickly, because it reminded me that I was on my own again, and being with him had been so wonderful.

Looking through pictures made me smile though – even through the tears. On the train and when I got home, I looked through them all. When I got home I spent a lot of time on the computer, uploading photos and catching up on things online. It definitely helped to numb the emotional pain a bit – especially since my Italian family was away for the weekend so I was alone at the house. I made pizza for myself for dinner (as per instructions Cristina had given me), and tried my best to just be calm and unwind. The good news is that after that first day that he left, I got back to normal relatively quickly. I tried to focus on all the things I had to get done, and move forward. That and, I knew (and still know now) that I had tons of positives that I needed to focus on. I had to get ready to enjoy the last semester in Italy, I had a trip to Spain to look forward to, my parents’ visit coming up in February, and other Georgetown students arriving later in January. And those are just the things from early on in the semester! Every once in a while I would be struck by the “Ugh, Dave isn’t here anymore and it was so wonderful when he was” feeling – but I just tried to turn it into, yes, and you have so many wonderful memories. That and that we would still be able to talk – we make it work surprisingly well considering the distance and the 6 our time difference. And of course, I had to realize that while I was alone for the moment, Dave and I had plenty of time to be together in the future, as marriage generally entails spending time together! :-)

Alright, so this entry is epic. I am sorry it took me so long, but it gets hard to type so much all at once. Plus, I ended up having to reconstruct our last few days in Firenze as it all started to run together… I hope you all enjoy reading it. I will hopefully post something in the next few days about what I have been up to this past week since Dave left.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays at home with family and friends. I loved the chance to vacation with Dave and enjoy Italy during this season, but I also found myself looking forward to future Christmases with my family and also with my future in-laws. I may have written it before, but being over here has really made me appreciate the importance and the joys of family time in a way that I never have before. Til next time!