My Mommy and Daddy Are Here!

And so are my aunt Donna, family friend Toni, and her friend, Janet.

Just a quick side note on Donna: every year for Easter, she gives me, my brother, my sister, and my cousin an Easter Egg from Aunt Charlotte's, the greatest chocolate store in the world.

And guess what! She brought me one all the way from New Jersey!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was beyond excited.

Anyways, for our first meal, we headed to Stallo del Pomodoro for lunch--a restaurant that used to be a horse stable.

We got some salumi and prosciutto to start of course.

I got cheese tortelli with cinghiali ragu--more of that wild boar meat!

The next morning, we headed to one of my favorite cafes for a late breakfast.

Tiny espresso cups!

I LOVE the pastries at this place. This croissant is filled with a lemon cream and topped with fruits of the forrest.

Then I took my parents to Mercato Albinelli. They are in love.

They got to meet my salami guy (who first thought we were from England, and then, when I said we were American, thought we were from Minnesota. Interesting).

We got a bunch of food and had a delicious lunch of cheese, meat, and bread.

That night we went out for aperitivo. The sky was looking pretty cool.

Yesterday, we went to Genova.

Mostly because I wanted pesto.

Alright, we went there for the sole reason of getting me some pesto.

We had a fabulous lunch with prosciutto and melon...

and pasta with PESTO! It was incredible. Definitely worth the four-hour train ride.

However, if you can tell from this picture, it was pouring for a majority of the five hours we were there.

Luckily, we found an Eataly to pass the time in.

I could live in this place and never get bored.

An hour before we had to leave it finally stopped raining.

And now I really want to go back to Genova because it's a really cool town.

I just have to convince someone to go with me...

So I picked out four kinds of pesto while at Eataly. I find it much easier to get things when my parents are paying.

One is traditional Genovese pesto (basil and pine nuts), another is sun-dried tomato, another is pistachio, and the last is fennel.

Of course I got the giant jar of the Genovese and realized this morning that it has to be consumed within three days after opening.

This will be an interesting challenge.

-Meri

Farewell, Amanda

I know. I can't believe it either. Right now, Amanda is on her way back to the United States. Crazy.

But, in between the last post and this morning, we accomplished quite a bit! Here is a short summary.

We went to Parma.

It was a cute little town.

It had gelato. So we of course took advantage of that. You know, it's not like gelato is easy to find in Italy...

Cool clock tower.

It was also just absolutely beautiful out. Probably the best weather we had.

You can't really tell from this picture, but there is a sundial on this building.

And this is a horrible picture, but I was really excited to see Prosciutto di Parma hanging in all of the restaurants!

Tiny beer! I swear I'm not drunk in this photo.

Antipasto: prosciutto di Parma and parmigiano. Could life get any better?

(Answer: no.)

My pizza: prosciutto cotto, parmigiano, and an egg! I love eggs on my pizza and this was the first time I saw it available in Italy!

I bought a block of parmigiano because, well, I was in Parma. I had a whole conversation with the young man who worked at the store. Before I bought it, I asked if this parmigiano was good to eat plain or with bread, etc. Well. It was as if I had uttered the most blasphemous comment known to man.

Dude in store: "Con pane???" *insert utterly confused face*

I just stood there and nodded while my face turned bright red.

Then he said: "Oh, anch'io." ("Me too.")

Well, sir, if you're going to taunt me, at least don't admit to committing the same act yourself.

I'll give him a break though. He was very cute.

The next day was super rainy and our time in Reggio-Emilia was generally unsuccessful because we basically just sat in a cafe the whole time. Not that cafe sitting isn't awesome. It's just not great for photo-taking.

When we got back, we went to Cafe Concerto to dry off for a few hours.

Mmmmmmmm aperitivo.

Amanda got a Cosmopolitan.

I got a Long Island Iced Tea. It was absolutely disgusting.

Friday, we went to Florence!

Adorable pony.

Ponte Vecchio!

Cat on a leash. Our favorite part of Florence.

My favorite site in Florence--the church on a hill.

I don't have any pictures, but Ana showed us around later in the day. Thanks Ana!

Saturday we headed over to Bologna. The flowers behind Amanda were purple so I had to take a picture.

These are the tops of the tents of the massive flea market in Bologna. I got myself a 3-euro sweater.

When we got to the center of town, we saw this guy and his show. He was pretty great.

His dog was even better.

That is one talented chin.

This morning I met Amanda at the bus station to say a final goodbye.

I was sad to see Amanda go. I will see her in four months...

-Meri