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360 days ago
A Margherita is NOT a Margarita! OK, fess up... how many of you have ordered a Margherita pizza and assumed it was some sort of Mexican pizza? It has green stuff on it, right? A Mexican margarita is green, right? That's where the similarities end; for it was the Queen of Italy, Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna di Savoia, (or Margaret of Savoy) who inadvertently started this pizza tradition. What happened was, she was hungry and she wanted a pizza. Her chef, wanting to impress the almighty Queen, baked a pizza with the colors of the national flag, green, white, and red. Tradition holds that green represents the country's plains and the hills, white, the snow-capped Alps and red, blood spilt in the Wars of Italian Independence. The good Queen's pizza held Bazil, fresh Mozeralla cheese, and of course, homemade tomato sauce. She loved the pizza, and the Margherita pizza was born. Had the good Queen enjoyed a Tequilla ridden Margarita at the same time, an entirely new dish would ...
361 days ago
I'm not sure what to say today. Today, we saw/covered the following sites: -Ancient Rome -The Forum -The Cupola over St. Peter's Basilica -The "Actual" St. Peter's Basilica -The Coliseum -Caesar Augustus' Palace -Trevi Fountain -Walk through the shopping district back to our hotel I'm so tired, I'm having trouble sitting up straight enough to write this. I think for this entry that in lieu of writing something pithy, humorous, or informative, I'll just post a bucket-load of pictures and go to bed. If you have questions about anything, shoot me an email and I'll do my best!
362 days ago
The Red Lights of Pompeii I struggled with whether or not to write this in the blog, because it's a bit on the naughty side. However, our trip is all about history and these are, after all, the facts! So here goes... While in Pompeii, we would occasionally these stone phallic symbols in the streets or on the walls of shops, all pointing in one general direction. Our guide told us that those were original stones, set by the builders of the town to point to the red light district. Sailors and merchants from all over the world would come (remember, Pompeii was an international sea port) and the arrows pointed them in the direction of the girls and their rooms. Moreover, above each room, there was a painting that illustrated precisely what that particular girl's uh, "specialty" was. All of those paintings were still extremely well preserved (see pictures) and we certainly got a kick out them! A Latin sign inscribed on the wall says, "Show us your money!" ...
363 days ago
Parking Parallel parking presents a challenge to some people. In Italy, I’ve noticed that the cars parked along the curb in parallel are closer to each other than you might be comfortable with in the good ol’ U.S. of A. A LOT closer! There’s maybe, oh, six inches of space in front and behind most of the cars. “How do they parallel park that closely,” you ask? Simple… You start by backing into the space, like you normally would under any other parallel parking circumstance. In Italy, however, you proceed until you hear the “THUMP” of your rear bumper against the front bumper of the car behind you (an immediate “failure” of your attempt at any driving school in America). Then, you turn your front wheels inward and you ease forward until you hear the “THUMP” of your front bumper against the rear of the car in front of you. You repeat this procedure, forwards and backwards until you’re “in.” Simple. When it comes to ...
365 days ago
My Bathtub Epiphany So, I was laying in a bathtub with the water 2 degrees hotter than I could possibly stand it, trying to soak some of the day’s walking out of my feet and legs and I had this epiphany… I had a pizza box in my lap and a slice of the most wonderful pizza in my left hand, and a very dry Martini in the right, and I thought, as I took another bite, “In America, Grandmothers all over the country have figured out the dichotomy of tender and flaky. Somehow, when you put a fork through a nice pie crust, it flakes apart; but it’s still a bit tender as your teeth gnash their way through the base of the crust.” I thought about this as I thoughtfully chewed some pizza crust. “The Italians, on the other hand, have invested their culinary wisdom into the simultaneous concurrence of crunchy and chewy.” God bless the Italians, for when it comes to pizza, a three day old piece of the worst in Florence, is still better than a fresh pie from Pappa John’s any day. ...
