Florence - March 2010

Bell Tower to the Duomo

Walking to Michaelangelo Piazza

Standing on Ponte Vecchio

The Duomo and our hotel, Hotel Duomo, to the left.

Top of Bacilica di Santa Maria

Looking up in the Duomo

Florence. Florence is my favorite. I LOVE that city, and the food is a great mix of all types of yummy Italian. Ohhh, Tuscany, how I miss you. Matt and I stayed here for 3 days. One of the days we took a day trip to Lucca and Pisa...they are about 15 minutes apart by train and only an hour or so from Florence. We had debated on renting a car and driving through Chianti Country, but decided that might be too much of a hazard, after watching the drivers!

To me, Florence has the most beautiful architecture and is a perfectly sized city. I could have spent much more time there checking out the sites, eating and drinking all the goodness, and just soaking it all in. I miss this place!

Chianti Classico - We were told Classico is the best, and I have to agree. It was cheap over there, but is actually pretty expensive here:(

We were skeptical. This restarant, or Buca (which I think means underground in Italian), was a cute cavern like place. They only spoke Italian, but the waiter did a good job of selecting great dishes for us. This was fresh meats and chicken livers...scary, but surprisingly awesome.

Ohhh, yum. This was incredible. Matt got a beef pasta...to me a little too much like beef stroganoff, but still good! Their noodles were always cooked so perfectly it made everything good. My dish was stuff with cheese, but the noodles were so delicate, yet firm...I guess the sophisticated word is al dente :) 

Some dessert..lemony yum. Very light and a perfect ending to the dinner.

Vivoli. A famous gelato place in Florence. I was having my favorite, pistachio.

We couldn't pass up the view. This was a cool piazza, and that architecture in the back is what you see all over Florence. It's colored marble, and beautiful.

Peroni

This was my dish. It was actually some sort of traditional ham and egg pasta. Sounds different, but it was very tasty!

Matt's pasta carbonara

Caprese Salad. The basil was AMAZING. 

Our afternoon break. We stopped in the square that contains the fake David, and tons of other beautiful statues. This was Matt's Big Bear (that's how it was spelled in our English menu :) ). Also, my baby wine bottle, and of course, their cool water.

You can see the Birra grande...I should have included the English version so you could see "Big Bear." I thought it was very nice that they even had an English menu in addition to Italian.

Our 2nd afternoon break; we had to try a Pizza Trattoria. It was so cool. There was an even longer section of pizza selections that went down the right.

Our selection. We were close to dinner time so we split one.

Oh, my. This became my favorite appetizer. Bruschetta. Of any kind. The key was SOAKING anything in their olive oil. Their olive oil was drinkable it was so good. Matt and I got over trying to be polite at dinner, and just joined the other Italians and basked in the olive oil as it ran down our faces and arms:) The other key ingredient was garlic; and LOTS of it. The white bean thing became a favorite. They'd soak them in garlic and olive oil, and oh wow. Delicious.

Bone marrow. Yes, Matt got gross. 

:)

My spaghetti with mussels.

The waiter was so nice. He was like, "oh, I bring you something good." Turns out he brought out a plate of french fries and fried zucchini. Oh, the American stereotype:) We ate them, of course:)

House wine, Chianti. It was cool because we asked how much it was and he was like, "oh I just base it on how much you drink." We drank much of that, and I think it was only about 6 euros. 

Very cool appetizer. It was raw artichokes, fresh parmigiana, and olive oil. Very very good.

My FAVORITE. Pesto pasta, with no holding back on the olive oil. This was my favorite of the trip. I have a slight obsession with pesto.

Matt got some meat thing again. Beef maybe? Very good, too, but not like my pesto. He loved it, so that's what matters.

Not a great picture, but this is spinach. YUM.

Those awesome beans again. Note the olive oil...sigh.

Eating my full plate with wine in hand, of course.

Our spread. We were stuffed!

Very impressive that our bill, with a almost 2 bottles of wine (we were lushes this night), an appetizer, 2 huge sides, and 2 pasta dishes was 58 euro. Of course, that was close to $80, but still. Not bad for all of that awesomeness!

Venice - March 2010

San Marco Square

Gondolas 

From the Rialto Bridge

We had quite an adventure getting to and around Venice. First our train ride was really long because we got on a regional train that stopped EVERYWHERE. It was burning up, too:) But, hard to complain when the country side was so pretty as we went through. We got there later than expected so it was almost dark. Venice is so very easy to get lost in...we hit many dead ends, but finally made it to San Marco square, so we started looking for a hotel somewhere around the area. We looked for a couple of hours and had a few scares. Matt was certain I was almost a victim of being "Taken." I don't think so, but do admit we found a shady place where they were trying to make 'deals' but not knowing Italian kept us out of the know. I'm sure it was all legit, but we were happy to get out of the dimly lit red carpeted, dark walled place. 

Needless to say, as soon as Matt recognized a Hampton Inn, I saw his face say, "AMERICA!!" and we went in....to find they were booked. By now, it was about 9pm. Luckily the people at the Hampton Inn recommended a place on the water, and it turned out this place that was orgininally $350/night, cost us $100/night which wasn't too bad for being desperate! We settled in to find on the wall a map of the hotel and "Camera Room" written at the top. Now, Matt's certain we're being taped (can we say paranoia had set in with us??). Well, long story short, when we got to Florence later the next day, we see another sign for "Camera Room" so we ask the hotel lady who says, "oh, yes, camera is 'room' in Italian. Ha on us.

Back to Venice, with all the fun memorable side stories the views, buildings, and food was amazing. We loved getting lost the next day during the daylight:) The Rialto Bridge was a fun experience, but I mostly loved the ride on the water taxi around the whole place. So neat, and just to think the whole thing is surrounded by water is awesome. We were only in Venice for about 7 hours of daylight, but made the most of it. We walked the city and grabbed a quick lunch. We had a less food focus knowing we had to catch the train to Florence that afternoon. Our favorite site was the favorite tourist spot St. Mark's square. The architecture was beautiful. Venice, was Matt's favorite after Innsbruck. Mine was 1) Innsbruck, 2) Florence, 3) Rome, but Venice wins for unique for sure.

Yummy cappuccino 

Mussels

Some squid at market. I like it when it looks like calamari, not so much an octopus.

I loved the sandwich bars. 

More sandwiches!

Cute Coke.

Sandwich for the train ride.

Bye bye, Venice!

Innsbruck - March 2010

I LOVE this place. Love it. My heart beats faster just saying the word, Innsbruck. So, maybe I'm a dork, but it really does. I have such a special place in my heart for this beautiful Austrian town. It's surrounding by mountains, and set up along the Inn river. The people are beyond welcoming, the scenery is miraculous, and there is a cultural aspect to this place that forces you into an "i love everything" attitude. If there were a way to get to this place without spending about a paycheck on a plane ticket, I'd go every year.

I went to college in Innsbruck in the summer of 2002. I attended The University of Innsbruck and took Philosophy and German. Okay, so maybe I was registered for Finance, too, and dropped it....there was just TOO much cool stuff to do other than look at #'s...that's very fitting because while I was there I made the decision to change my major from business to English when I got home. And I did. Sounds harmless, but it was a big deal since I always got the "what are you going to do with an English major" speech? Aaaannnnd, so maybe I got a master's of business later on, but still. I totally felt liberated by getting my English major and attribute it to the "clarity" while hanging out away from the norm. Anyway. I'm rambling.

While we were there we skied, which I'd never done there while I went to school since it was too hot, so that was a really cool thing for me this time! It was thcary. I wussed out after an hour and sat at the ski lodge and drank a beer and took pictures. Sorry, but falling all over myself on black ski slopes, and then getting a bloody nose from the altitude didn't make me want to ski. But the view was all I needed. Okay, Amanda stop talking, get over it, and get to the food. Here's to the food. yum tum tum.

Dumpling. Dumplings are very popular over there. A traditional Bavarian dish. I liked it! I thought it'd be like a meatball because of its look, but it's doughy. Like a dumpling. Go figure. 

This was my side of potatoes. It was funny because I'm pretty sure Europeans think Americans live off of Cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. At a restaurant in Italy, the waiter was like, "oh, I have a side you like..." and out he comes with 'fried potatoes'...french fries. And, a huge smile on his face, so proud. Of course we ate it. He then swiftly brings out ketchup, and we reluctantly smile:) I guess we bring that on ourselves. Another restaurant had a sign that read, "We have Cheeseburgers! Hamburgers! Hot Dogs!" It was sweet I guess. Nice hospitality to the American tourists, but of course, I wanted THEIR food! not our stuff. So, I added a twist and at my fries with mayonnaise. What? I saw Pulp Fiction.

Wiener schnitzel. And, potato salad. It was so yummy! I loved the potato salad. The wiener schnitzel was just like fried steak tasting, but still cool.

Such a cool liquor store. We thought we were such rebels for buying some absinthe. 

The key to life. Arugula. Why is it so good? They seemed to add it to everything, and I was totally cool with that. This was a snack. We took many snack/beverage breaks. We'd tour for a few hours, then decide it was time for some food/drink culture. It was obviously a favorite cultural aspect:)

Their salads were so awesome. I'm guessing it was the season, but everything was so fresh! I didn't even know what some of the stuff was on this, but I loved it all. And the dressing was a yogurt dressing. Usually, I'd think that sounded like a bad idea, but it was really good!

Guess who's plate this is? The meat deluxe. I can't even try to name what these are. I recognize a dumpling.

Goulash. For some reason I imagined something different, and have to admit, this was a little Dinty Moore beef stew-ish. But, hey, I like Dinty Moore.

I love wheat beer. Maybe I just like the way they pronounce it. I wish I had the "B" looking German symbol, so I could write weiBbeir correctly. Vicebier. There.

I bought this bottle of wine at the train station in Innsbruck before heading to Italy, thinking we'd drink it maybe on the train, or somewhere for sure. Plus, it was like 3.99 euros. It became the infamous bottle of wine, and traveled the rest of the trip with us. Matt insisted we leave it at every hotel we left with it still in tow, as we only had backpacks and this took up space and weight, but I was determined to drink it. It was left at our last stop. Never saw our stomachs, or America. I have to think it'd have been nice.

Always water. And, check out the wine glass. Oh, and a matching WATER glass to the water type? These guys are over achievers. very cool.

McDonald's late night. 

That was my dumpling platter. I forgot to take a picture until I was finished. I still remember there was an onion one, a spinach one, and a cheese one.

I look like a troll in every ski picture. Never remove the ski cap for pictures. Matt got it right:)

Munich - March 2010

It's been a while since I've been in a good cooking habit. Tonight, I decided to start back with my food diaries, and to get it going, I wanted to share the food we had in Europe, since that's where I left off...and since, it's way better than anything I could cook:)

Our first stop was Munich. The food was a favorite for Matt because it was mostly meats and cheeses. I preferred cheeses and pasta, so Italy was my favorite. But, I have to admit, their meats, bread, and cheeses were so good in Germany...along with the beer

Well, this was our airplane meal. I was super pumped. There's something about everything having its own little cute package and compartment that excites me. My favorite part was the cheese over there to the left. How cute it that? Also, there was butter and a single serving of ranch in that thing. Then, cannelloni, salad, a roll, and a little cookie thing. I loved the baby water thing, too. I'm obviously too easily entertained.

Deutsche Bier, Spaten. Yummm. 

This was our first meal. We just stopped in the middle of a busy shopping area so we could people watch, and sat outside. I had a traditional ham and eggs pasta dish, and Matt got some kind of sausage thing with sauerkraut. We also got a big pretzel with mustard.

This was a beautiful market in the middle of a big market/beer garden area.

CHEESE!!!!

We stopped in the 'bier garten' at a Paulaner spot. They only served Paulaner, so I got a wheat beer, and Matt got a pilsner ( i think that's the type it was). I really love how in Europe they serve you the type of beer in it's corresponding glass. They must have a huge stash of glasses. I was impressed. We actually started keeping up with it and there was NOWHERE we went that they didn't serve the beer in a glass that matched its type.

This was at the Hofbrauhaus. One of Munich's oldest breweries. We joined some Germans at a huge table, and sang along with their little chant they sing before hitting the bottom of the beer glass on the table and then clanging your beer glasses together. Beer spilling is totally normal in this routine. All I remember was, "Eins, zwei, gesoffen!" Which is something like, One, two, 'drunk'...also there was a lot of "Prost!!"

McDonald's photo op? Why not?!?!