When I was on the train home this morning I got to thinking about how my concept of age has changed. After spending my spring break bouncing around Roman ruins I began thinking about how strange it will be to return home. Buildings will not look as old as they used to. When we were at Mont Saint Michel, a tour guide was showing us the "new" building of the island, built in the early 1800's. How many buildings do we have left in Watertown that were built in the early 1800's?
Here, it is strange to see modern buildings. They stick out like a sore thumb. Sore and ugly. At home, it is the older buildings that stand out. But in these standards our oldest buildings are not even that old. Weird.
Italy was great. I spent two nights in Venice and Florence and three nights in Rome. The first day in Venice was beautiful but the sun didn't come out again til we were in Rome. By far, Rome was my favorite. Although I would have enjoyed a more extensive metro system it was wonderful all the same. Since we didn't have a lot of cash to throw around, we walked pretty much everywhere. And we walked a lot. In fact, I don't think I have ever walked more in my life. I just wish I had brought my running shoes... oh well.
In terms of food, we saved a lot of money by eating lunch and/or dinner in grocery stores. There was a moment in Florence when we looked at our spread of food and just laughed. We had awful, stale, 80 cent bread with salami and pesto, fruit, and nutella spread over the aforementioned bread for dessert. We were on our beds in our hostel, in sweatpants, with only one knife. As we were sitting laughing about our meal, Ethan started singing the theme song to The Jeffersons. Too funny.
When we were not eating our sad little salami sandwiches we were judging the prices of restaurants on the price of their Margherita pizzas. Anything above 6 euro we would laugh and keep walking. The best place that we did eat had a 3.50 euro margherita and looked pretty sketchy from the outside. From all of our restaurant research we have constructed a theory. We call it the "Neon Light Theory." Very creative. If there is a neon light in the window there is a better chance that the prices are lower and the food more authentic. Those restaurants that provide "atmosphere" and "ambiance" are just overpriced and not as delicious. Nicely printed menus? No thanks. Only if it is written on a poster board. Perhaps this just works in touristy cities but I stand by it.
Overall we had a good time. We ate way too much gelatto (if it is possible), walked til we couldn't walk anymore, and even learned some Italian in the process.