One Month in Italy

Whew, the last month and a half really flew by! I still can’t believe that I spent a month in Italy. Now that I am back in England and officially out of quarantine, I want to share all the details of my trip while they are still fresh in my mind. So buckle up, because this one’s probably going to be a long one!

Getting There

Due to the travel restrictions implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19, this trip almost didn’t happen for me. I wasn’t planning on traveling to Italy to meet my mom and my younger brother, Luke, until July 1st. However, I woke up on June 18th to a new piece of news: anyone traveling to Italy from the United Kingdom after June 21st would be required to quarantine (regardless of their vaccination status or ability to produce a negative COVID-19 test). I quickly changed my plans so that I would be able to arrive on June 20th.

However, it wasn’t just as easy as changing my plane ticket. It also meant that I needed to get a rapid COVID-19 test, which I did at a National Health Service (NHS) testing site. However, upon arriving at the London Heathrow airport at 3 AM on June 20th, I was told that my airline (TAP Air Portugal) would not accept any NHS tests. (For anyone wondering, this was not the first time the United Kingdom’s publicly funded healthcare system failed me… But the story of my months-long battle with the NHS is one for another day!) It became clear that I was going to miss my flight, so I quickly booked a later one that would allow me to get tested again once the (expensive) testing center in the airport terminal opened for the day. Unfortunately, I booked my test in terminal 5 and my new flight was scheduled to leave out of terminal 2 shortly afterwards. As soon as I was done being tested, I ran as fast as I could to get to the train which moves between the terminals so that I could go through security and try to make it to my gate before it closed. If you know me very well, you probably know that I hate running with a passion. However, I managed to make it to my gate exactly two minutes before it was scheduled to close! (And in case you’re wondering, I received the negative test results electronically while I was running to the gate.) Thus, a mere five hours after I originally arrived at the airport, I was off to Italy!

After a short flight, I landed at the Roma Fiumicino airport (which is not as close to Rome as you might assume). I was exhausted and ready to crash at my hotel, but unsure how to get there. As I walked out of the airport terminal, I was immediately greeted by a crowd of taxi drivers holding signs with names on them. Since I knew that I hadn’t arranged for a taxi driver to meet me, I had planned to just try to find my own transportation once I got there. Conveniently (and, perhaps, unfortunately), that was made easier since I was approached within seconds of walking past the drivers holding signs. I was approached by a man who seemed to be a taxi driver, but I should have realized immediately that I was being scammed. I ended up riding in a regular car with no meter, and instead a fixed fee of €75 (or roughly $88) to drive less than two miles to the Best Western hotel near the airport. In hindsight, I was clearly a tourist who had no idea what she was doing and I should have known better! I definitely learned my lesson… Regardless, I was grateful to be able to refresh and relax after an exhausting day of travel, and beyond excited to be in Italy!

Varna

June 21 – June 25

After a much-needed night of rest, my first full day in Italy started at the Roma Fiumicino train station! It also started with me being pooped on by a pigeon inside of the train station. (Which apparently is a sign of good luck in Italy! Although to be honest, I would have preferred to be lucky before being pooped on in a train station…) After changing my clothes in the train station bathroom, I took the train to the Bolzano train station to meet my friend, Nora. We grabbed a quick bite to eat in Bolzano before driving to the village she lives in: Varna. With my trip to Italy starting earlier than expected, I was beyond grateful to Nora for finding me a place to crash for a while! I was able to stay at her uncle’s house (with a gorgeous view from my balcony, as shown in the picture below).

On my first night in Varna, Nora took me to an indoor rock climbing gym. While there, I met several of her friends (and quickly figured out that I wasn’t very good at rock climbing). Afterwards, we went to a kebab restaurant. (When my brother, Isaiah, visited a couple of years ago, he absolutely loved this food item so I knew I had to try it!)

Over the next few days, I spent a lot of time working on my dissertation during the hottest hours of the day, and exploring some of the surrounding area with Nora when it cooled off a bit outside. It was really neat to see the agriculture in the area, which mainly included apple trees like the ones shown in the picture below. (The nets covering these apple trees are there to protect them from hail damage.)

Nora was even able to get me a personal tour of a dairy farm in the area, which belonged to one of her father’s coworkers. The view from the farm (as shown in the slideshow below) was absolutely gorgeous. (Unfortunately, the drive to get there was a bit more circuitous than anything I am used to back home in Kansas, so I was definitely carsick!) The farmer only spoke German, but Nora translated throughout the tour. It was really interesting to see his operation, and he was proud to show me that his computerized system (which calculates the rations for each individual animal) was made by an American company!

Verona

June 22

After being in Varna for a few days, Nora asked me if I wanted to tag along on a shopping trip she was taking with two friends to Verona. Eager to have an excuse to set my dissertation work aside for a day, I jumped at the opportunity! We took a bus to the train station, and from there we took a train to Verona.

Our first stop of the day was at Juliet’s balcony. Even though Shakespeare never visited Verona, the story of Romeo and Juliet is tied up in the city’s history. This is where you can find the Casa di Giulietta, a 14th-century house which once belonged to the Dal Capallo family (which is close enough to Capulet to add some credibility to the story). A balcony was added to the home in the 20th century, and today this is known as Juliet’s balcony. (Interestingly enough, there would not have been a balcony in Shakespeare’s play because he would not have known what a balcony was!)

After seeing Juliet’s balcony, we spent the rest of the day shopping in Verona. After more than a year of the coronavirus pandemic, it definitely felt strange to be back shopping in person again! Knowing that I would be joining Nora and her friends again to go to the beach for the weekend, I spent the day searching for a swimsuit and a lightweight dress that would be better suited to the overwhelming daytime heat. After several hours of shopping, we walked back to the train station and completed our morning’s trip in reverse.

Jesolo

June 25 – June 27

After spending a few more days in Varna, we woke up early in the morning to leave for Jesolo! We arrived around lunch time, and quickly began getting ready to go to the beach. It had rained the day before, so there were a lot of jellyfish washed up on the shore on our first day at the beach. (However, they were all gone by the next day!)

I enjoyed reading on the beach, as well as eating some of the popular seafood items that Nora encouraged me to try! Before I knew it, the weekend was over and we were checking out of our hotel. On the way home, Nora and I split up from her friends so that we could go to Modena. (This is where Nora’s university is located, and she was preparing to take several exams.)

Modena

June 27 – July 1

Unfortunately, I ended up being carsick again, so my first two days in Modena were just spent relaxing in the air conditioned AirBnB while Nora studied for her oral exams. However, we did go out to enjoy an aperitivo on two of the last nights we were in Modena. As explained in this article, an aperitivo includes a drink, food, and socializing. I loved the food platters, as they were filled with a wide range of bite-sized appetizers. My favorites were balls of fried pizza dough!

Rome

July 1 – July 5

After Nora finished her exams in Modena, we parted ways the following morning. She went back to Varna, while I headed to Rome to meet my mom and Luke! I took the train from Modena to Rome, and arrived at our AirBnB just in time to join a Teams meeting with my dissertation supervisor. During this meeting, we discussed the work I had completed up to that point and determined that I would need to slightly shift the focus of my work. After this meeting, I lazily ordered a food delivery to the AirBnB and crashed for the evening.

When I woke up to the sound of my alarm, I eagerly checked my phone to see if I had any new messages from my mom or Luke about their impending arrival. While they had arrived, I still had to wait for them to take the train from the airport to the train station nearest to our AirBnB. (Unfortunately, I was confused about which train station was closest to our AirBnB, so they ended up walking an hour in the heat with their luggage… But they did get to walk by the Colosseum while doing this, so I suppose it wasn’t all for nothing!) After arriving at the AirBnB, they wanted to relax and wait for the heat to die down a bit. We eventually ventured out that evening and walked to the Roman Forum. We made it through the line before realizing that we needed to have pre-booked a time slot to enter, so we ventured back to our AirBnB (checking out the e-scooters on the way). That evening, we made sure we had all our entries officially booked for the rest of our time in Rome!

The next morning, we walked to Circus Maximus to wait at the Big Bus Tour stop. Once the site of a chariot racetrack, today this location hosts music events.

After waiting in the shade for a little bit, one of the buses arrived and we officially started an event-packed day of touring Rome! We started by going through the hop-on, hop-off style bus tour all the way through without hopping off. Seated on the top level of the bus with our tour-provided headphones in our ears and the wind in our hair, we sat back and enjoyed the ride! After making it through the loop once, we got off at the stop for Vatican City. The smallest country in the world, Vatican City measures just 0.2 square miles in area. We had purchased tickets to enter the Vatican Museum at 1 PM, eager to see the Sistine Chapel. (Although we first had to figure out which of the many different lines we were supposed to be standing in… We waited in the wrong line for a while before finally figuring it out!)

Once inside, we purchased audio guides and began the tour of the Vatican Museum. Aside from the Sistine Chapel, one of my favorite parts of the museum was seeing the fresco of The School of Athens. I vividly remember seeing this image in my middle and high school science textbooks, so it was really neat to see it in person! It was definitely larger than I expected it would be.

However, the Sistine Chapel was easily the highlight of the museum. It also felt like the holiest part of the museum, as we were encouraged to remain silent (and forbidden from taking any photographs). We stood in the Chapel and listened to our audio guides for nearly half an hour before exiting. After seeing that, we made our way through the rest of the museum’s one-way system fairly quickly before making a stop at the Vatican City post office to send out a few postcards. (Because how often do you get the chance to send mail from within the world’s smallest country?) Unfortunately, none of us had thought to bring a pen—but the post office was more than happy to sell us one for $2!

After mailing our postcards, we made our way back outside to the circle in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

We took a few pictures here before taking an Uber to the Colosseum. (We could have gotten back on the Big Bus Tour instead, but we didn’t want to be late for our timed entry!) Construction on the Colosseum began in 72 AD. After it was completed, the Colosseum was used for gladiator battles, prisoner executions, exhibitions of exotic animals, and recreations of battles. (In fact, there are some theories that the Colosseum was even filled with water for recreations of naval battles!)

After touring the Colosseum, we rode e-scooters back to our AirBnB (where we all collapsed after spending a day walking around Rome during a heat wave). Before falling asleep, we made sure our alarms were set for early the next morning so that we could see the Trevi Fountain first thing!

Eager to arrive at the famous fountain before a crowd of tourists formed, we woke up early and took an Uber. It was definitely worth it to be there early, as we were nearly the only ones at the fountain! To be honest, I expected there to be more fanfare surrounding the famous fountain. Instead, it felt like we were just walking through ordinary blocks of tall buildings and then, all of a sudden, arrived at an opening which was filled by this enormous fountain. Of course, we made sure we each threw a coin into the fountain for good luck! The legend, which originated with the 1950s film Three Coins in the Fountain, suggests that visitors who throw a coin into the fountain will one day return to Rome. This legend led to nearly $1.5 million in change being thrown into the fountain in the year 2016 alone! (All coins thrown into the water are reinvested in charitable initiatives.)

After throwing our coins into the fountain, we walked a few blocks to enjoy breakfast outside with a beautiful view of Palazzo Venezia! (We made sure to stop at a restaurant that served granita, which is similar to a slushy. And, of course, we had to have some Nutella croissants!)

After breakfast, we walked around the area. We had seen many of the sights from the Big Bus Tour the previous day, but we wanted to take more time to see them up close. We started by walking to Palazzo Venezia. This palace was built in 1455. The surrounding piazza, named Piazza Venezia, was built in 1910-1913. An accompanying museum was opened in 1921, before being closed while the palace served as the Fascist headquarters from 1929 to 1943. (After the end of World War II, the museum reopened to the public.)

Next, we walked by the Capitoline Museum. This museum dates back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated several bronze statues (including the famous She-Wolf) to the people of Rome. The museum itself was inaugurated by Pope Clement in 1734.

After walking by the Capitoline Museum, we made our way to Largo di Torre Argentina. During our ride on the Big Bus Tour the previous day, we had been fascinated to learn about this spot—so we made sure to visit it! This is the site where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in 44 BC. Today, it is the site of a cat sanctuary where 150 cats are cared for by daily volunteers. (While walking around the perimeter, we were able to spot 12 of the cats!) If you know me, you probably won’t be surprised to find out that this was by far my favorite spot we visited in Rome!

We then walked to the Pantheon, which is a former Roman temple. Most textbooks state that this was a temple to all the gods, but scholars now argue that this may be wrong. Although there are still many questions about the history of the Pantheon, it did eventually become a church. This ensured its continuous use, which contributed to its conservation and survival.

Up next on our self-directed walking tour was the Piazza Navona. Interestingly, up until the mid-nineteenth century, the drains on the three fountains located in the Piazza Navona were blocked each summer to create the “Lake of Piazza Navona.”

We then made our way over to the Spanish Steps. These 135 steps lead to the Piazza di Spagna (which is the location of the Spanish embassy to the Vatican).

Finally, we finished our day at the Roman Forum. (And this time, we had our tickets booked for our specific time to enter!) After spending our entire day walking around Rome (during a heat wave), we were fairly exhausted. As a result, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time at the Roman Forum. However, it was still an interesting site to see!

We finished the day back at our AirBnB, where we spent one last night before packing up our things in the morning to head to Sorrento!

Sorrento

July 5 – July 8

Our journey to Sorrento was certainly an interesting one. We started by taking a train from Roma Ostiense to Napoli Centrale. This was a nice, air-conditioned train. However, we knew the next leg of our journey was going to be a bit rougher when the ticket agent told us we would need to keep a closer eye on our belongings as we took the Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Sorrento. This train was certainly not air-conditioned, but we survived the hour-long trip (and pledged to figure out how to take the more expensive express train on our return journey). Upon arriving at the train station in Sorrento, we were met by our AirBnB host (who was a year-round teacher for preschool aged children). She walked us to the AirBnB (which was by far my favorite of all the AirBnB spots we stayed at during our trip). After arriving at the AirBnB, we ventured out for dinner. We ended up enjoying some delicious pizza before I went back to the AirBnB to work on my dissertation while my mom and Luke explored the surrounding area. I was definitely exhausted, and ended up falling asleep before they returned!

The next morning, we walked down to the port to take the Rick Steves-recommend MBS Blu Charter to Capri. This was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip in Italy! There were only five other people on the boat (including our captain), two of whom were also Americans. We were hoping to get to see the Blue Grotto caves on this tour, but unfortunately the water level was too high for us to be able to see them that day. However, we still had an absolutely amazing time! We stopped once on our way to Capri to swim in the Mediterranean, and then made our way to Capri.

The water was a bit rough on our way to Capri, so my mom ended up getting seasick. (Based on the number of times I had already gotten motion sick on this trip, I was really surprised that I didn’t end up sick as well!) Therefore, our first stop in Capri was at a pharmacy to buy Dramamine. (And based on the pharmacist’s reaction to us, I suspect that this is a common occurrence among tourists visiting Capri…) We then made our way to a restaurant, where we snacked on chips, delicious olives, and prosciutto-covered melon. Afterwards, we walked to a gelateria called Buonocore which our boat captain had raved about. Even though our gelato melted really quickly, it was absolutely delicious! We had planned on then walking to a botanical garden on the island which was located near the former Mussolini mansion. However, we ended up getting turned around and walking somewhere else completely. Regardless, the scenery we passed on our walk was still beautiful!

After spending three hours in Capri, we met our captain back at the boat for the return trip to Sorrento. We stopped one more time to swim in the Mediterranean at a spot that was beautiful beyond words. It honestly felt like we were swimming in one of those desktop screensaver images, and I had to keep reminding myself that what we were seeing was reality!

After we finished swimming for the last time, we got back on the boat and rode to the famous Faraglioni. Our captain maneuvered the boat through the rocks there, which was really neat. This is where I took my favorite picture of the entire trip (which you can see below). The names of the Faraglioni are, from left to right: Stella, Faraglione di Mezzo, and Faraglione di Fuori.

Next, our captain took us back to Sorrento and we began the trek to our AirBnB. (But first, we made sure to stop for lemon granita at one of the roadside stands! It was definitely a necessity after spending the day outside in the heat.)

The next morning, we left our AirBnB early so that we could hop on a guided tour bus to see the Pompeii ruins and Mt. Vesuvius. Our day started at the Pompeii ruins, where our guide kept instructing us to “focus our attention” on specific aspects of the ruins. We were really glad that we had decided to visit with a tour guide, because we learned so much on the 2.5 hour long tour! For example, we learned about how the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli came up with the idea to reconstruct the bodies of Vesuvius’s victims by pouring plaster into the voids in the 18th century. Fiorelli’s plaster casts preserved the voids left by the victims, and give us a glimpse into the tragic destruction at the moment of the catastrophic eruption. (The cast of a young child was particularly heartbreaking to see.)

We also learned about how archaeologists found carbonized bread when excavating an area believed to be a bakery, which supports the theory that Pompeii’s citizens did not know the mountain they were living by (Mt. Vesuvius) was a volcano. Instead, they were going about their normal routines (such as baking!) when the volcano erupted in 79 AD.

We also saw a fistula, which would have carried drinking water in Pompeii. All of the pipes used to transport water (including the one pictured below) were made of lead.

Our tour guide also pointed out graffiti spelling “Cornelium” on the side of one of the buildings. She likened this graffiti to political propaganda of the day.

The picture below shows one of the two theaters which can be viewed at Pompeii today. This theater would have been covered by a roof, which was destroyed during the eruption. It also would have been divided into sections, with the most “important” people (like politicians) having the best seats, followed by the richest people, and then women and slaves having the worst seats.

One of the highlights of the tour was getting to see excavation in action! Our tour guide told us that they are finding things which lead to new insights all the time.

For example, finding wine in containers has lead to questions about the date of the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. While the date is believed to be August 24th, this would have been the wrong time of year for wine consumption. This has lead some to conclude that the actual date of the catastrophic eruption was October 24th.

After leaving the Pompeii ruins, we were given an hour to eat. After enjoying some $8 pizza, we made our way back to the tour bus. Now, if you are ever planning on visiting Italy, I highly recommend that you end your day here and skip out on the next portion of the tour. (This is an option, but we were unaware of how miserable the next leg of the tour would be, so we didn’t take it.) While the tour bus was air conditioned, it was also extremely large for the narrow roads leading up Mt. Vesuvius. In addition to being narrow, these roads were extremely circuitous. As you might be able to imagine, I was already not feeling so hot once we arrived at Mt. Vesuvius. Things got progressively worse as we exited the bus into the heat (which felt like 106 degrees that day), and attempted to hike to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. If you’ve ever hiked in the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, you’ve experienced the type of terrain leading up Mt. Vesuvius: one step forward, two steps back. There was absolutely no shade, but we tried to power on and make it to the top. After making it more than halfway to the top, I decided that it just wasn’t worth it. (At that point, I would have paid the entire cost of the tour just to have avoided the tour.) We turned around and returned to the tour bus, where we waited for an hour for everyone else to return. By this point, I knew I was going to be sick. I thought I could hold out for an hour until we were off the bus, but unfortunately this was not the case. I’ll spare you the details, as it is sufficient to say that I ended up throwing up repeatedly as the bus made its way back down Mt. Vesuvius. (Thank the Lord for a group of tourists on the bus who had brought Dramamine with them, because this was the only thing that helped at all!) In summary: If you’re curious about what Mt. Vesuvius looks like, just Google it!

Florence

July 8 – July 10

Feeling somewhat refreshed the next morning, we made our way back to the train station. This time around, we were able to take the express train from Sorrento to Naples (instead of the sketchier one we took from Naples to Sorrento). After arriving in Naples, we then hopped on a train to Florence. From there, we walked to our AirBnB, which was located in the attic of one of the buildings near the city’s center. From our AirBnB, we could see the rooftops across the city! We left the AirBnB to grab gelato and walk around for a little while, before returning so that I could hop on a Zoom meeting in the evening.

The next morning, we walked to Boboli Gardens. My mom is a huge fan of gardens, which is why we visited. (However, I think I can safely say that Luke and I were not impressed.) The one spot of the garden which I did find to be really interesting was the Buontalenti Grotto, which was commissioned by Francesco I de’ Medici and built between 1583 and 1593. This grotto is pictured below.

Upon finishing our tour of Boboli Gardens, we left in search of breakfast. After breakfast, we met up with our walking tour guide. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were excited to find out that we would be the only people in the tour group that day! One of the first things we saw on our walking tour was a wine window. Wine windows were originally used to sell surplus wine to working-class buyers. These Florentine wine windows date back to 1559, and they may have played a role in preventing the spread of the plague. Some businesses revived the tradition of using these windows during the COVID-19 pandemic!

We then walked by the Orsanmichele Church, which is surrounded by fourteen sculptures that were commissioned by the guilds of Florence to decorate the church’s exterior. The marble sculpture pictured below is of St. George. It was commissioned by the guild of the armor and sword makers, and made by Donatello. Our tour guide described the scene in the stone relief at the bottom of the sculpture as a type of marketing, which showed that men needed to buy armor and swords to be able to be the “hero” in the story.

We also made a stop at the bronze fountain decoration of a boar. This fountain decoration was originally sculpted in 1634 to adorn a fountain in Boboli Gardens, but instead ended up being placed on a fountain in front of a pharmacy. Today, visitors rub the snout of the boar and place a coin in its jaws for good luck.

After our walking tour, we went to see the Statue of David. Michelangelo worked on this sculpture between 1501 and 1504. It depicts David from the Biblical story of David and Goliath. Traditionally, artists depicted David after the battle. In this case, it is believed that Michelangelo depicted David before the start of the battle. After Michelangelo was done, it took forty men to move the statue from his workshop to the Piazza della Signoria. It remained there until 1873, when it was moved to its current location inside the Galleria dell’Accademia to protect it from weather damage.

By this point, we had definitely had enough walking for the day. However, we still had tickets to climb the 463 stairs up to the top of Brunelleschi’s Duomo. We ended up chickening out and just peaking our heads inside to view the interior of the dome before going to a gelato bar outside. Interestingly, the gelato bar was playing American country music! This was definitely an interesting way to end our last full day in Florence.

Venice

July 10 – July 12

The next morning, we made our way back to the train station to travel from Florence to Venice. Once we arrived in Venice, we hauled our luggage up and down the many bridges crossing the canals. We met our AirBnB host, and I settled in while my mom and Luke went to get dinner. (Don’t worry, they brought back lasagna for me!) After a day of travel, we were all too exhausted to do anything else.

The next morning, we bought tickets for the water bus. We had planned to take the water bus to Lido in the morning, but we ended up taking the bus in the wrong direction for 2.5 hours. (At least we were on the right line, though! And hey, isn’t life supposed to be about the journey?) We went back to the AirBnB to cool down for a bit before returning to take the water bus to Lido in the evening.

We were on the water bus when the Euro 2020 final game began, with Italy playing against England. Everyone around us was keyed in to the game, with several people playing the game on their phones on the water bus. At one of the water bus stations, we even saw three Italian soldiers sitting around a cellphone that was playing the game! After we returned from Lido, we found a restaurant that was playing the game on a big screen outside. We sat and enjoyed pizza and some delicious desserts while watching the game. When Italy won at the last minute on penalty kicks, everyone around us erupted with joy! We decided to go back to our AirBnB to avoid some of the craziness, but we did see two men strip to their underwear and jump into the canal to celebrate!

South Tyrol

July 12 – July 17

After staying up late watching the madness from the balcony of our AirBnB, we went to sleep for a little bit. The next morning, we packed our things again and picked up a rental car near the train station in Venice. While we were originally supposed to be renting a manual car, my mom was excited to upgrade to an automatic at the last minute! She drove us to Varna, and we met up with Nora. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, where my favorite item was watermelon salad, before crashing at our hotel for the night.

The next morning, we rode a cable car up the mountain in Bruneck to see the landscape before it started raining. While up on top of the mountain, it was neat to see cattle! They were behind a fence at the time, but Nora told us that they used to roam freely around the area. (Apparently, too many tourists tried to ride the cattle.)

After walking around for a bit, we took the cable car back down the mountain for lunch. We walked into Bruneck, and my mom and Luke tried kebab for the first time! We then walked by the Castello di Brunico. We weren’t able to go inside because it was closed that day, but it was still neat to see the 13th century castle from the outside!

Our last stop of the day was at MPREIS. Like stereotypical Americans, we were craving junk food (which you literally cannot find in Italian grocery stores). Nora informed us that we would be able to remedy our junk food cravings by stopping at an Austrian supermarket. She was definitely right—and I particularly enjoyed the Katzenzungen chocolate!

After returning to Varna, we enjoyed a delicious dinner with Nora’s family! It was wonderful to enjoy conversation, and we were so grateful to Nora’s family for so generously welcoming us into their home. My favorite part of the meal was definitely the dessert, which consisted of delicious Austrian pastries!

The next morning, we drove to Bolzano.

While in Bolzano, we got a history lesson on fascism from Nora! South Tyrol (Südtirol) was once part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire before being annexed to Italy in 1919. In the 1920s and 1930s, Mussolini encouraged Italians from the south to move into the region. Speaking German was prohibited, and names were Italianized (like Bolzen becoming Bolzano). In 1939, German speakers were forced to choose between completely integrating into Italian culture (including the language) or returning to Germany. The clash between the different cultures was readily apparent in the architecture in Bolzano, as illustrated in the picture below! The buildings on the left and center are examples of fascist architecture (with fascist designs emblazoned on the center building). To the right, you can see buildings of a completely different style (which would be similar to Austrian architecture).

We also saw several other remnants of the fascist regime while in Bolzano, such as the Bolzano Victory Monument. On the orders of Mussolini, this monument was erected on the site of an Austrian war memorial. It was inaugurated in 1928. After the end of World War II, the monument became a controversial symbol of tensions in the region. (In the 1970s, various separatist groups attempted to blow it up.) Some have argued for the removal of the overtly fascist symbols located on the monument (such as the axes located at the top of the pillars), while others have argued for its demolition. Today, a museum contextualizing the monument’s history is located inside the monument.

Another remnant of the fascist regime which we saw while in Bolzano was a bas-relief which was commissioned to adorn the Italian party headquarters. It was constructed between 1939 and 1942. It features Mussolini on horseback in the center of the scene, as well as several other elements included to illustrate the “triumphs” of fascism. Today, the building houses the town’s financial offices. Although many German-speaking South Tyroleans protested the continued exhibition of this fascist relief in the decades following the end of World War II (when most symbols of the Nazi regime were destroyed or removed from public view in Germany), the relief remained unchanged and largely untouched until 2017. At this point, a quotation from the German Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt was added to the relief in three different languages, stating: “No one has the right to obey.”

After learning all about the history of South Tyrol from Nora, we parted ways so that she could go tutor a student in English while we stood in line to see Ötzi the Iceman. After waiting in line in the rain for three hours, we finally got to see Ötzi! Ötzi is a mummy from the Copper Age who was preserved in a glacier and eventually discovered by hikers in 1991. Interestingly, the conservation of Ötzi costs more than €200,000 per year. While we couldn’t take pictures of the actual mummy, we did take pictures with the recreation of what he might have looked like!

After seeing Ötzi, we drove back to Varna and enjoyed a dinner of cheeseburgers before going back to the hotel to sleep. The next morning, we woke up to a message from Nora asking if we would be interested in visiting Austria that day. We were all immediately excited about the possibility of visiting Austria, especially since we thought that would be impossible due to COVID-19. Fortunately, we were able to drive to Innsbruck, Austria with no problems! Once we arrived in Innsbruck, we immediately saw people tabling in the streets about COVID-19 being a hoax. I found this interesting, because it certainly reminded me of quite a few Facebook posts I had seen from Americans. (And I also appreciated the table’s reference to 1984.)

We managed to (mostly) avoid the people working at the table, before making our way further into Innsbruck to see some of the neat buildings there. One of the first things we saw was Goldenes Dachl (or Golden Roof), which was commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I (1459 to 1519) to commemorate his wedding to Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan and quiet the rumors of his imperial financial difficulties. The roof is tiled with 2,657 fire-gilded copper shingles. (The original tiles were replaced by copies in the 20th century.)

We then walked by Helblinghaus, which was likely given its baroque façade by the stucco plasterer Anton Gigl. Gigl moved to Innsbruck around 1723. The house itself was built in the late Middle Ages.

We also made a stop at the Swarovski Kristallwelten Store, which was a mixture of a museum and a store. (And surprisingly, we were able to find some good deals inside!)

Our last stop before lunch was outside the childhood home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

We then enjoyed lunch at Stiegl-Bräu in Innsbruck. (This was also the only place where we were asked to show our vaccine cards while altogether on the entire trip! While we showed our vaccine cards, we also could have showed evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the last 72 hours or evidence of a recent recovery from COVID-19 to be able to enter the restaurant.)

Our last stop in Austria was at an Austrian ALDI (which was called HOFER). I always enjoy visiting grocery stores in other countries, because I think it is really interesting to see how the stores are set up and how they differ from the grocery stores I am accustomed to back in Kansas!

We then drove back to Italy to see the Dolomites. Learning from my experience at the dairy farm, I took Dramamine before the start of the drive. So while I slept for most of the drive there, I was able to arrive feeling great (albeit a bit drowsy)! The weather was somewhat dreary the entire time we were in South Tyrol, but it was still beautiful and we were still able to see the Dolomites!

The Dramamine kicked back in once we returned to the car, so we were back at the hotel before I knew it! While we had the best of intentions about packing everything before going to sleep, we all ended up falling asleep before getting anything packed.

Fortunately, we were able to pack quickly in the morning before rushing to the testing center to get tested before it closed for the day at 9:30 AM. (Apparently they were trying to make testing less available so that people would have to get vaccinated for the COVID pass instead of being able to get the pass by being tested every 72 hours.) After being tested, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before going to Neustift Monastery. Nora walked around with us for a little while, and talked to us about her church (which was absolutely gorgeous inside). She then left for another tutoring session, and we enjoyed lunch at the monastery. Afterwards, we went through the museum, the basilica, and the garden!

Afterwards, we met back up with Nora so that we could go through the Kneipp walk in the mountains behind her home in Varna. The steps of a Kneipp walk are as follows:

1. Walk barefoot through freezing cold water.
2. Walk barefoot on rocks, pine boughs, pinecones, hay, and sand.
3. Repeat the previous steps two more times.
4. Move arms back and forth in freezing cold water.

While it may sound a bit crazy, it actually does make you feel really good afterwards! It is supposed to help with circulation and sleep quality, and it certainly helps to cool you down on hot days. The water comes directly from the glaciers melting at the top of the mountains, so it is both fresh and ice cold!

After the Kneipp walk, we said goodbye to Nora. It was hard to say goodbye after spending so much time with her over the previous month, and with the knowledge that our trip would absolutely not have been the same without her amazing guidance (as well as her amazing translation skills). After saying goodbye, we drove to Milan to stay at a hotel near the airport. We packed our things, and got a good night’s sleep before making our way to the Milan airport. Per usual, our airport experience was absolutely hectic.

My mom and Luke flew to London with me, and then hopped on a connecting flight to the United States. Meanwhile, I waited in line for over an hour to try to leave the London airport. While they have implemented a system designed to separate fliers coming from amber list countries from those coming from red list countries, we all stood crammed together in a narrow hallway for at least half an hour before we were separated. (It definitely makes you wonder how effective their processes are, since we all could have exposed each other to COVID-19 while waiting to be separated properly… It definitely felt more like an attempt to comply with bureaucratic regulations rather than an actual method of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Border control didn’t even ask to see my COVID-19 information, which was surprising to me until I read a news article later that day which announced that arrivals from amber list countries would no longer be asked to show their negative COVID-19 test results to border control agents. Instead, spot checks would be run.) Anyway, I made it out of the airport and back to Reading! After ten days in quarantine, I am now out of quarantine and focused on my dissertation work. My deadline is September 5th, but I am hoping to complete it before the end of August! So by the next time I post on this blog, I should officially be done with my degree. Fingers crossed!