Walkin' in Memphis

What I noticed first was the open space. There is just SO much space. Nothing is piled on top of other things, the highway entrance ramps are full clover leaves and not misshapen ovals that force drivers to drop down to speeds in the teens.  There were farms - lots of them.  The forecast said 88 and thunderstorms but the sky was free of clouds, yet somewhat hazy. My first glimpse of the Mississippi river - it is the color of coffee: light and sweet. 

Thanks to Hertz for Melissa and my sweet $26 Toyota Yaris, we drove around and explored Riverside drive's beautiful homes before hitting the Peabody hotel for the march of the ducks. Yes, not penguins. Ducks. They live on the roof of the hotel in the duck palace (I'm still not joking), and come down every afternoon from 11-5 to be cute, play and swim in the fountain, entertain guests, and be a general spectacle. It's basically slave labor if you ask me. But I'm no PETA advocate, so well, I don't care. 

We hit Beale street: memphis blues and rock 'n roll cafe's and eateries. We had fried chicken and waffles that we were told, are "so good you'll want to slap yourself."  That was some damn good chicken but let me just say I kept my hands to myself. 

Did some walking along the river and jumped into the mississippi!  Kidding: I would never put my body in that water but I had to touch it. So I did stick an appendage in - add it to the list! I have a list, you'll see it soon. 

We sat by the river and chatted, drove and walked some more of the city, saw the Lorraine Motel here MLK Jr. was assassinated, got an awesomely interesting tour of Sun Studios where none other than Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash recorded hit albums, and headed to Overton park for a walk in the woods.  On our way to dinner we dropped by 1372 Overton to check out the place where "Lucero," Melissa's favorite band practiced, and it was also the location of Elvis' dojo for karate lessons. Bet you didn't know that. 

Ending our day trip at Marlowe's Restaurant, as seen on Guy Fieri's "Diners, drive-ins and dives," we had some ribs, and by some I mean a 20+ piece full rack, BBQ brisket, refried beans, saltly slaw, and biscuits that were more like zeppoles or doughboys depending on your neck of the woods.  Delicious ribs.  These babies were dry rubbed then smoked for 12 hours before a slathering of house made BBQ goes on top!  Well done Marlowe.  Well done.  

Head back to the airport to fly to our respective homes: NYC + BOS. 

On the descent, the blanket of cloud cover so thick above new York city was glowing a mixture of charcoal and orange, almost as if the entire city below were on fire.  The aircraft skimmed along above the clouds like the pilot was waiting for an opening to dip through. When we finally dropped in, and made our way through, we exited the clouds (or from the ground you'd have called it fog) and were at most 100 meters above the runway. Crossing over the grand central parkway, we touched down brilliantly. Thanks for a smooth ride, cap'n. (That's what she said) 

Febbraio - Swiss Alps, Barcelona, Venice

Kevin, a new friend and apartment-mate, and I decide to go on a weekend trip to Interlaken, Switzerland - the extreme sports capital of Europe, with Bus2Alps, a tour company based in Florence targeting American students.  The bus was waiting for us at La stazione Santa Maria Novella, the main train station in Florence.  Kevin and I are two of the last four passengers to get on the bus.  We sit in the first or second row, and as we get settled look around the coach bus and realize that of the 40 plus people present, we are the ONLY guys.  JACKPOT!!  The last two to get on were Aaron & Chris, and we immediately decided that they were our only male competition and subsequently the scum of the earth, and we would not befriend them....  Today, the four of us are still friends.  

We stayed at Balmers, the famous hostel in the region and there met an Aussie who took us on a day hike of a nearby mountain.  [I continue to meet more Aussies backpacking the world than any other nationality.]  The hike was great, the scenery was beautiful, and the company was excellent.  New friends abound when you stay at hostels; we met a bunch of cool people including Mollie Missouri (she’s from Missouri), Jen & Colleen, and Eve (i’m still coming to Colorado to ski someday, I promise).  Day 2 we went up the Jungfraujoch - even it’s name is intimidating.  It’s the 3rd highest mountain in the Bernese Alps topping out at 13,642 feet... and I’m skiing for only my 3rd or 4th time ever, in the Swiss Alps - great idea, right?  Well, it turned out to be amazing.  I only almost died once or twice and it was warm, sunny and crystal clear - perfect for our group of skiers, and perfect for our counterparts who decided to go skydiving instead.  Day 3 we rented mopeds - in the winter, in the shade of the Swiss mountains.  THIS was a bad idea - there was ice everywhere.  Eve was the only one that didn’t bite it on the pavement; Aaron drove straight into a wall.  Whoops.  

View of Interlaken from the hike

hiking in Interlaken

Hiking Group!

we took the train tracks down, it was way faster

Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfrau, Switzerland - Ski Day

Other travels in February include Barcelona and Venice: 

La Sagrada Familia as seen from Parc Guell

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

Barcelona was spontaneous and combined multiple groups of friends.  It was a good trip, but not the best of the semester.  Barcelona is a massive city, filled with architectural splendor, a port and coastline, thriving nightlife, art museums, Parc Güell, La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló, Casa Mila and everything Gaudí.  Lots of walking, partying, sightseeing, and purchasing of gifts occurred here.  

Venezia.  We decided on a day trip.  Took a three hour train from Florence to Venice and arrived in the early afternoon.  Explored the main city and the labryinth of canals, ate at ‘street’-side cafe’s and passed on the uber-expensive gondola ride.  The fun came at night.  It was the Carnivale di Venezia - masks and costumes, parades, crazy looking people all intermixing at Piazza San Marco (or, St. Marks square, for those of you who don’t speak Italian).  Though Venice is beautiful, the architecture of a city built on the water is astounding, the best part of the trip came at night.  The simple pleasure of drinking in public to American young adults.  We all bought our own bottles of wine, popped the corks and drank while walking the streets and froze our asses off napping in the windy train station at 3am waiting for the first train back to Florence.  Upon returning, my silly friends headed straight to the apartments to get an ounce of sleep - I, on the other hand, went directly to the Arno to walk the river, cross the bridges, and watch the sunrise.  The photos and memories I have of these moments are some of my favorites of all times.  

One of my favorite photos, sunrise over the Arno, Florence, Italy

Street drinking at Carnivale

Sleeping & Freezing, Venice, Italy

The end of the month saw us prepping for midterms and continuing the exploration of Italy!  Look at that, two posts & my semester of bliss is already half over!

Eat it in a pita...

I’ll get back to my semester in Italy in a few hours, but we need to pause so I can show you the delicious lunch I just made myself.  You know what you can do with a pita? ANYTHING.  

Italian sweet sausage with fennel seeds + sauteed mushrooms & asparagus, and mozzarella cheese over baby spinach.  Really basic with just some salt and pepper, the natural flavors of the ingredients mix together nicely.  The key here is not to overcook the asparagus.  Nobody likes mushy asparagus.  

I will now reminisce about the February of my semester abroad as I wait for my pee to begin to smell funny... 

Mmmmmm

Gennaio, Due mila sette

I have arrived in Florence, Italy.  Consumed with the anticipation of living in a foreign country and learning a new language, we make our way to the apartment - home for the next 4+ months just two blocks from Filippo Brunelleschi's Duomo, the famous and massive cathedral in the center of the city.  Numero otto, via dell’Oriuolo.  One floor, four apartments, eight new friends.  Sounds like MTV’s Real World, right?

Il Duomo

Jeff (left) & I in 2009, revisiting our old home

Four years later, digging through my closet I was able to find a calendar where I kept track of the events of the semester.  Given the fact that this was so long ago, I’ll give you the abridged version of my travels throughout Europe, and highlight a few worthwhile stories.  

The first weeks of life in Europe consisted of exploring the city, getting lost and finding my way home, marveling at historic architecture, and finding a few local haunts to call our own - Full Up, Red Garter, The Lion’s Fountain, Twice, Maracana, Dolce Zucchero, YAB... if you stopped into Florence in the past four years and went out for a drink, you probably have heard of at least one of these places, and my friends and I stumbled home in the wee hours of the morning from all of them.  Now, it has come to my realization over time that my sole responsibility during this semester was to come home in one piece - the classes weren’t terribly hard and it was a time all about exploring and finding myself.  I’m still here, and I kinda know what I want to do with my life, so I guess I did something right.  

Me, Will, Jeff, Kevin: Moped rentals to Fiesole

The end of January included a day of moped rentals with the guys in Florence and a trip up to Fiesole, (the sight of the infamous ‘arm’ photo... we’ll get there) a small town in the hills overlooking the city.  As well as day trips into the Tuscan countryside to see a chianti winery, Sienna, and the small, walled medieval city of fourteen towers, San Gimignano.  Lastly, I began a weekly cooking class that enhanced my love of food and was a catalyst for my passion in culinary arts.  I’ll come back to this later, but for now, lesson one, we prepared coniglio (rabbit), and that little bunny was delicious.  

Chianti Classico

San Gimignano

Inception

My passion and desire for travel (and subsequently cuisine, culture, foreign language, adventure, and photography) began at a relatively early age as my family traveled together frequently.  However, I really hit my stride while living in Florence, Italy during the Spring of 2007.  So, as much as I’d like to jump right into telling you about my latest weekend in Zürich, strolling the rocky beaches of the Côte d'Azur, a spontaneous flight to London, or an exotic getaway on a Thai island paradise, I’m going to “Tarantino” this blog for a short while.  I’d like to go back to where this began, and tell you about some of my travels in retrospect, and I’ll try to quickly bring you up to date.  

Presently, I work for a major airline whose logo is a red triangle - representing change in a variable, the fourth in a series of items, or the mouth of a river.  If you can’t figure out which one I’m talking about, move on to a blog about cats doing stupid things.  

As a non-revenue passenger since September 2010, I have logged over 80,000 miles and cashed in on over $65,000 worth of flights on the airline. 

This is travel solely for pleasure, not for business.

Now, let me take you back to January, 2007.