Food, Food & More Food

So Italians eat gelato 4 times a day. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure it's true. There are more gelato shops in Italy than Starbucks in America. And, I have nothing to back that up, but I'm pretty sure it's true. Ha! We were told you could find the best gelato but looking at the colors. If the pistachio gelato is a bright green, then it's not good because it has artificial flavors. We usually got chocolate fudge, vanilla, peanut butter or peanut butter fudge. You could usually get 2-3 flavors per bowl. Also, gelato is made with milk instead of cream, so it's healthier for you than ice cream. So that means you can eat more.

This was our dinner the first night in Rome. A $10 carry-out pizza and a $4 bottle of wine. 

At this stop, we had spicy rice cakes and potato chips for our wine snack. We sat at a table on the sidewalk to people watch. 

This was one of the best pizzas we had - it had four cheese. It was delicious. 

In Orvieto, there were these Boar heads everywhere. Apparently Boar meat is one of their claim to fames. That and pigeon meat. 

We did try the boar meat. But not the pigeon. ha! The boar was not bad at all. Just tasted like beef to us. Oh, and the pasta was homemade. This dinner was our first night in Orvieto and we went to a cooking demonstration at a restaurant where they showed you how to make pasta. Barilla is headquartered in Italy. But our tour guide said a lot of people have boycotted them because they are now producing firearms too. Weird, I know. ha! 

Lemoncello is the after-dinner drink of Italy. It's a super strong lemon flavored liquor. I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't even drink the glass they gave me. I love lemon but it's super strong!

Ah, the breakfast of champions! I think Ryan went through withdrawals after we got home, he missed his chocolate croissants every morning. Some hotels had chocolate-filled croissants and some didn't. But those that didn't, had Nutella, so he topped the croissant with Nutella. 

Oh the best pizza we had. We found this treasure in Orvieto. It's a pizza with sausage and french fries. It was delicious! We shared this pizza, but again, everyone around us was ordering their own. ha!

More Vatican City & College of Design

I knew I was missing some from Vatican City. Apparently they weren't in order on my computer. 

The FOOD!! It was soooo delicious. This was a calzone that could feed a family. Ryan and I ordered it to share, and the waiter looked at us like we were crazy, shrugged his shoulders, then walked away. We were not crazy. I'm not sure we even finished it and we were both stuffed. The people at the table next to us each had their own...... 

We got to visit the College of Design from ISU at their Rome Campus. It was pretty cool to meet the students and hear about their time there. My roommate Sarah in college studied there. Hindsight's 20/20, why didn't I go visit her?!? 

 We had to take a photo to commemorate the first time we have ever ordered a bottle of wine at a restaurant - ha! We stopped at a little sandwich/wine shop on a busy corner in Rome. Ordered a bottle of the house white. It was delicious. We did this a few more times during our stay in Rome, it was enjoyable.

And one thing Landon talked about from their trip - the snacks. When you order a bottle of wine, they give you a snack too. He told us to scout out the snacks before you stop somewhere. Ha! This snack was just regular peanuts, but we ate the whole thing of course. 

Roman Forum & The Coliseum

We thought the Roman Forum was super cool. It's just amazing to stand among these ruins and know that these structures were here before Jesus was alive.

This was apparently Julius Caesar's grave in the Roman Forum. Don't ask me to prove it, that's just what the rumor is - ha! 

The Coliseum was a highlight of our trip. 

It was huge! And super cool. We got pushed through with the tour group, we could have stayed longer. 

The cell where they kept the fighters until it was their time to go. 

The whole group! Since our trip, I've seen roughly 5 of the couples at ISU football games. It's been fun getting to know our travelers. 

Rome & Vatican City

On our way to Rome, we visited a monastery. It was at the top of a mountain, beautiful scenery on the way there. It was interesting, something we had never seen before! 

The Spanish Steps in Rome. Can't really tell by this picture, but there was a ton of people there! 

And there were even more people at the Trevi Fountain - yikes. That was insane. People bumping into you left and right and guys trying to selling you stuff. And more selfie-sticks than I've ever seen. Ha! 

Now that I've been to the Trevi Fountain, I feel like I see it all the time on TV. I never realized how many Italian landmarks are in TV shows and movies! Shortly after we got home, the CBS Sunday morning show was in Rome, visiting all the places we had just been. It was pretty cool. 

One of our first sites when we arrived in Vatican City. 

One of the massively long hallways we were ushered through at the Vatican. We saw the "Rug Room" as Landon calls it (the Tapestry Room) and a bunch of paintings and statues. We also saw St. Peter's Basilica (where you see the Pope on TV) and the Sistine Chapel. It was so crazy to me to see things that I only ever thought I would see in pictures. 

We were in Vatican City the day before Easter. So they were getting setup for their outdoor church service. In the 2nd building in this photo, it's the window that you see the pope lean out of on TV. The tours of the buildings got kind of long, but it was still pretty cool to go to Vatican City! 

Some time at the farm

As Ryan and I were off exploring new towns and eating pastries and drinking wine, Addison was playing on the farm. Well actually, there wasn't much playing going on the first 6 days. She got the stomach flu less than 24 hours after she got there. And it stuck around. We felt SO BAD for my parents!! She didn't sleep for days, which meant my mom didn't sleep either. When Addy's sick, she gets up about every 20 minutes for a drink of water all night long. She got sick Monday and I don't think she ate anything until Saturday. 

But she started to feel better Easter weekend. They had to postpone her birthday party in Minneapolis so she didn't get the other kids sick, but she still got presents at the farm :)

Her farm puzzle, this has ended up being one of her favorites because there are pieces within pieces. 

Sorrento

After Pompeii, we hopped on the bus and drove to Sorrento. It was beautiful! Weather was beautiful...... view was beautiful..... 

And the chocolate fountain was beautiful too.... :) There are lots of candy and pastry shops in Italy with chocolate fountains. 

We found a nice little shop in an alley (haha) and there was a gentleman outside trying to get people in. He was actually "normal" compared to most. He gave us about 4 free samples of gelato. And there was a table of other people eating the cannoli's and they said they were amazing. So we bought a couple. Salted Carmel and Chocolate Fudge. 

It was pretty delicious! I could have ate a few more, easily. Yes we are sitting at a small table in an alley. The alley was full of shops and people. The town was a pretty interesting set-up. I apparently didn't take photos in the shop where we did shots of limoncello with some travelers. It's a strong lemon flavored liquor. Italians drink it as a palette cleanser after dinner.

We were driving back to Maiori where our hotel was and our bus stopped for us to take some scenic photos. 

AHHHH..... I MISS the pastries!! The croissants were huge and delicious!! Yumm.......