In Closing: Part 1 of 4

Our departure from Palermo on Saturday and Italy on Sunday has crept up much quicker than anticipated. In an effort to fill in the previous 10 weeks and offer an epitaph to our adventure, I will conclude La Dolce Giusti in 4 parts this week. Picking up where we left off in April...

My parents arrived in Rome for the first leg of a two week jaunt through Italy that saw enough red wine consumption to supply a Catholic Church for at least 3 months of mass. We started off touring the various museums and attractions at the Vatican. While the Pope's Gardens, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica overwhelm the senses, the obnoxious crowds of students and tour groups detract from what is otherwise an incredible experience. There's something off putting about overhearing tales from last night's bender while enjoying the majesty of the Pieta. Another image that I'll never understand/forget is the long line of people waiting to have their picture taken in front of a crucified Jesus statue. Is that something you smile for?

After taking in all of Rome's major sights, we headed up to a villa in Tuscany for a week. Situated in between Siena and Florence, the tiny country village of San Barberino Val d'Elsa was precisely the kind of escape that my parents were looking for -- a medieval, walled city with exactly one cafe, one bar, and one restaurant. Our residence was the quintessential, picturesque setting that Diane Lane/Julia Roberts chick flicks are made of. 

We made day trips to Florence (where I'd love to spend the next 10 years), Siena (where I'd love to live after age 50), San Gimignano (perfect for a long weekend), Volterra (perfect for a day trip on a motorcycle), and Bologna (where going to college would have been incredible). Our days were marked by slow mornings, long breakfasts, lunchless afternoons, and enormous dinners that knocked us into deep food comas (or was that the grappa/limoncello/wine?).

When we returned to Rome for a few days, we were met by Meredith and our long-time friend Courtney. With a solid 10 days of Italian cooking stretching our belts, we found an Eritrean spot right around the corner from our hotel that I have been craving ever since. Fabulously seasoned meats and legumes consumed by hand with the aid of spongy flatbread that soaks up all the flavor -- Eritrean cuisine has entered the Pantheon of preferred flavors that delight my pallet, knocking Mexican food from that number 3 spot.

En route home, no doubt slowed by the complimentary after dinner liqueur likely procured when my dad promised the proprietor a favorable rating on TripAdvisor, we encountered a honeymooning couple from Korea that could not find their bed & breakfast. Finding it unfortunate that the newlyweds were spending their first hours of matrimony wandering the dark streets of Rome in a jet-lagged stupor, we overcame our own stupor of a different sort to ensure that this thing wasn't nullified before consummation. Mission Accomplished!

After traipsing around the chaos of Rome for a few more days and taking in Easter Mass (far away from the flock that inundated the Vatican), we descended upon a rain soaked Palermo, jumped aboard the big, red WE ARE TOURISTS bus and got an overview of the city that was enhanced by the sultry narrator.
Riding a craving for foreign food that our guests indulged, we ended up at Uncle Joe's Cantina for tacos, burritos, and Tequila boom booms (again, complimentary because of Dad's TripAdvising) that involve smashing the glass against a table to induce a fizzing that complicates the required rapid consumption.

Following a few additional days of sightseeing, overeating, and adequately imbibing, we bid our guests farewell and looked forward to returning home quickly for the wedding of the century.


Coming Soon: Visiting Dallas for a wedding/rave before it was America's Most Appreciated City (Lebron, tell me how my Dallas tastes!); the Gay Pride Parade that shut the entire city down for at least 3 days; and 3000 US Navy men wearing pink (cue the Village People).