All the Italian You Need to Know

Scuzi, dove gelateria? (Excuse me, where is the gelateria?)

Best thing about Italy? The gelato. And we sampled them all. By popular opinion, the best gelato we had in Rome was at Ciampini, where we went to celebrate my sister Pookie’s birthday, and a close second was the little hole in the wall just west of Piazza Navona (not to be confused with overrated Tre Scalini in Piazza Navona, below). Third place is occupied by another excellent gelateria, the highly-regarded Giolitti, where all Parliamentarians go for gelato. Sadly, we were disappointed by one of the highly-touted gelaterias, which we found to be too pint-size (small gelato cups don’t make us happy) for our taste, Tre Scalini. We were also annoyed by the fact that this place was overpriced. Not to be denied last minute gelato, we also bought a cup at the airport, and Pookie kept the spoon as a souvenir.

Ciao, Alpaca!

Alpaca also enjoyed a tour of Pompeii (http://touritaly.org/pompeii/pompeii-main.htm) to see the exceptionally well-preserved city ravaged by Mount Vesuvius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Vesuvius), a stop in the Italian resort towns of Sorrento and Amalfi (just stunning - and the white-knucke bus ride between the two, teetering at the edge of a cliff on a one-lane highway is frightful but fantastic) and visits to Pisa for the Leaning Tower (http://torre.duomo.pisa.it/, see separate entry) and Florence for Academia (http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/accademia/) and the breathtaking Rennaisance art contained in the Uffizi Gallery (http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/uffizi/).

Although Alpaca loved Milan's beautiful Duomo (Alpaca is pictured with it, above, http://milan.arounder.com/milans_duomo_cathedral/fullscreen.html), he didn't care for the crappy food and joked that now he knows why fashion shows are held in Milan - the models are not tempted to eat. He did, however, love the romantic bridge-connected-islands of Venice (http://www.venetia.it/).

Alpaca Helps Prop Up the Leaning Tower

It was heavy, but he's a team player.

Alpaca Travels-a To-a Roma!

The Alpaca was craving pizza, so he went... where else but Italy. He started in Rome, where he excitedly visited the famous Roman Coliseum (http://wikitravel.org/en/Rome/Colosseo), where man was pitted against animal. The Roman Forum (what's left of it anyway) and the Pantheon was next (http://wikitravel.org/en/Rome/Pantheon).


Mandatory stops at the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica (http://www.stpetersbasilica.org/), beautiful Trevi Fountain (http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/trevi.htm, where Alpaca tried to bob for change until he calculated the $1 to 2,000 lira exchange rate) and the Spanish Steps (with the famous Ugly Boat Fountain - which really is quite ugly, http://www.romaclick.com/Pages/Rome/Tosee/Rome-guide-Spanish-Steps.htm) arounded out the highlights of Rome. Or so we thought. Little did we know that Ryan was going to take us on a church tour of Italy. We've seen every church in Italy. Every last one. Including the church next door to a church. Really. I'm not making this up. There was a church next door to a church. Both Catholic. The entire country is going straight to heaven, I'm sure of it.