Friday, December 24, 2010

Kaitlyn’s arrival and vacation in Italy

As of December 5, Kaitlyn has been in France! After finishing up her student teaching in Wooster, Kaitlyn decided to come and visit me for five weeks. This is her first time to Europe (and in my book, her first real time out of the country…Niagara Falls is in a different league). Anyways, we have been enjoying our time together, getting ready for Christmas, spending time walking around Tours, trying to visit chateaux (we have successfully visited Langeais), and much more….but, the highlight of our time together has been our week long trip to Italy.






Kaitlyn and I left for Italy on December 17 (after successfully completing all my necessary paperwork/formalities with immigration at OFII). Our trip included stops in Rome, Florence, and Pisa. On 12/17, we traveled from Tours to Paris Beauvais (a regional airport outside of Paris) and eventually to Rome….where we spent our first few days. This was my second trip to Rome so I had the chance to revisit some things, as well as see a lot of new and different sites/museums/etc.

DAY ONE: ROME

We arrived in Rome very early Friday morning (around 12:30AM). We were worried that we were going to get in and not get to our hotel in time…since some European hotels close the front desk after midnight. Nevertheless, we made it to our hotel (Hotel Tempi). The hotel was really cute, offered free breakfast (good job Kaitlyn), and not far from the train station in Rome.

Our exploring did not start right way though. We rested and woke up around 9AM to start our first day of sightseeing in “The Eternal City”. After showering we headed down for breakfast (which was quite interesting…a selection of rolls, deli meats/cheese, cereal, and coffee drinks). Regardless, it was food and saved us a lot of money in the long run!

Kaitlyn and I purchased a “ROMA PASS” while in Rome. The passes cost us 25 Euros each and got us free admission into our first two museums/sites in Rome, reduced admission into every museum/site thereafter, and free transportation on Rome’s subway system. It was very worth it!

We started our first day of exploration in Rome by heading to the center of Rome via (1) Santa Maria Maggiore a beautiful church not far from the colosseum, (2) the Colonna Triana a column documenting one of many Roman battles, (3) the Monumeto a Vittorio Emnuelle II a gorgeous white building standing about a quarter of a mile from the Colosseum, and (4) Do-Do a restaurant were Kaitlyn ate some delicious pasta and I ate yummy lasagna. After lunch, we headed to the Colosseum…here I finally realized how peaceful and non-touristy the wintertime is in Italy! Last time I came to Rome with my sister, we were swarmed with vendors trying to sell us something, people dressed as gladiators trying to get pictures with us so they could have our money, and lines that would last for at least an hour…but NOT NOW! It was wonderful! Day one concluded with a visit to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Museo Nazionale Romano, and the Spanish Steps.








DAY TWO: ROME

On our second day in Rome, Kaitlyn and I visited the Vatican (including: Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums). It was an absolutely beautiful day in Rome! There were amazing blue skies and the weather could nto have been more perfect. We had looked at the weather forecast for Italy before we left and it said RAIN, RAIN, and RAIN….so we were excited to not see a cloud in the sky. Our day ended with some delicious gelato (Kaitlyn’s first real taste of Italian ice cream) and coffee at the Piazza del Popolo.








DAY THREE: ROME

I think that our third day in Rome was my favorite. We went to the Castel Sant’Angelo an old castle/fort that guarded the city; it was amazing! We climbed to the top of the castle and had gorgeous views of St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as the rest of Rome. The last time I was in Rome, my sister and I did not have the chance to go into the castle…so this visit was very exciting to me. Another highlight of my day was going to a restaurant called 00100…it was mentioned in the NY Times travel section (“36 hours in Rome”). Kaitlyn and I got pizza and a fried rice ball….all of which were so good! We ended the day with a visit to another museum (Museo Nazionale Romano).







DAY FOUR: ROME-FLORENCE

We picked the perfect day to travel from Rome to Florence. If I learned anything from my last trip to Italy it was that things are closed on Mondays… So, with this being said, Kaitlyn and I decided that Monday would be the perfect day to make the train ride from “The Eternal City” to “The Renaissance Capital”.  We left Rome midday and took a long-train (4-hours…we lost 2-hours in Florence, but saved us 50 Euros). When we arrived in Florence, we checked into our hotel and immediately began to explore the city…which was covered in SNOW. First we headed out to find a brush for Kaitlyn…she “lost” hers in Rome (it was later found in her suitcase…), and then we had dinner at what was my favorite restaurant in Italy during this visit. Kaitlyn and I ate at La Grotta Guelfa. I chose a fixed menu that included: a glass of wine, water, an Italian espresso, a crustini sampler (white beans, tomatoes, pate, mushrooms), cheese ravioli with a tomato sauce and peas, chicken scaloppini with mushrooms,  and a piece of cake with this delicious chocolate layer! Kaitlyn went for something a little lighter…she had a glass of wine and pasta with carbonara sauce. After dinner we just walked around Florence and saw the city lit up for Christmas.




DAY FIVE: FLORENCE

When we woke up on Tuesday for our first official day of exploring in Florence the sky was hazy and the ground was still slippery from the snow/ice combination. Nevertheless, we headed to the Piazzale Michelangelo where we had gorgeous views of Florence…though slightly hazy. We also visited the San Miniato al Monte a gorgeous green and white church that sits in the hills overlooking Florence. Again, we were so lucky to be in Florence when there was a tourist-low…we could only imagine how packed these two sites would have been during the late summer months! We descended from the hills of Florence slowly…making a snowman along the way…and headed to a restaurant recommend by The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Oliandolo is about two blocks from the Duomo (Florence’s main church) and changes it’s menu daily. I had a tart-like/quiche-like dish that had a layer of pasta in it…very tasty and interesting. Kaitlyn had a salad with tuna, AMAZING cheese, green beans, and some other stuff… It was then gelato time before we ascended into Giotto’s bell tower, went to the Uffizi galleries, and thought about having dinner at Za-Za (a restaurant that two of my friends—Heather and Jenny—said was a must go to place).  








DAY SIX: FLORENCE

On our third day in Florence we headed to see Michelangelo’s David, the Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce churches, and the Plazzo Vecchio a fortress-like townhall turned into a museum.



DAY SEVEN: FLORENCE-PISA-PARIS-(TOURS)

We left Florence on 12/23 with the intention of being home in Tours late that night (1AM on 12/24)… Kaitlyn and I left Florence around 11AM to head to Pisa where we would be flying out of to get to Paris. While in Pisa we made a stop at the Leaning Tower of Pisa…because that is what you do in Pisa! It was pretty cool to see, but not as tall as I had imagined it would be. It was, however, a gorgeous day (probably 55-60 degrees). We spent about 3-4 hours in Pisa before heading to the airport where both Kaitlyn and I sat biting our nails constantly calculating if we would have enough time from our landing in Paris Beauvais (9PM) to get into the center of Paris to get to Gare Austerlitz for our train (10:52PM) to Tours.

In the end, we did not make our train to Tours…we spent the night in Paris. We found a hotel around 1AM and slept till 5AM. We spent about 25 Euros/hour for our hotel room/bed. We finally got back to Tours at about 10AM on Christmas Eve…with enough time to get groceries for our Christmas Eve/Day dinner!




Well, another trip to Italy has come and gone…and what an incredible time and trip it was!

Off to Paris for a few days,
-Alex and Kaitlyn

Thursday, December 2, 2010

My New French Friend

Last night I met Chantal, a 58-year old retired teacher. She sent an email to all of the elementary school English assistants looking for someone to spend a couple of hours with a week. I respond yes…and yesterday we had our first “meeting” (if I should call it that).

I am really excited about this opportunity. Chantal did the same thing last year with another assistant named Diana (who is now in Brazil) and they spent time together cooking, walking around Tours, going to the movies, shopping for groceries, etc. Chantal speaks English and is doing this purely for her pleasure. She hopes that her English will improve, she will make a new friend, and she can help me perfect my French.

I arrived at Chantal’s beautiful home (filled with furniture and art from Asia and Africa) around 5:30PM. I was late….I misread the email (which had actually said 5:00PM). I get confused because the French use military time so whenever I see 17h00 I never think 5:00PM right away. Anyways, I made it and we had a cup of tea together and she went over the emails I sent her and corrected all the grammar/word usage for me! It was great! When we were talking she would stop me mid-sentence to correct my verb conjugations, prepositions, and masculine/feminine problems with nouns. I met her husband (Francois) and granddaughter as well….who I think I will be seeing regularly when I go to her home.

We are going to meet once a week (at least)….most likely every Wednesday around 5PM. I am looking forward to my next visit to her home….when Kaitlyn will accompany me! She will learn some French and Chantal will be forced to speak English! ;)