Strava

It's a joke amongst cyclists these days that you didn't do the ride until you've uploaded it to Strava. Well, here they are, all my rides from Italy are up on Strava.
A few things I was surprised by: I didn't realize that that climb to Piancavallo which I did on the first day there was an HC* climb (according to Strava). I thought that was supposed to be a shorter easier ride so that's why I started with it. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have done it. But sometimes it's better not to know. It was a great ride and I even went out for another ride later that day.
Also, I was surprised how many top 10 overalls I had on climbs. I am even the owner of a few KOMs** in Italy! I noticed that I have more down near Parma. I have a feeling more Strava users ride up north in the mountains, but not as many down there. Strava is growing every year though so I'm sure I'll have some competition soon!
8/21 Piancavallo
8/21 Verbania Bonus Ride
8/22 Mottarone
8/23 Recovery Day with Amici
8/23 Exploring Intra
8/24 Hard 100k massive headwind all the way back to Verbania
8/26 Scott's ride from Laveno and Monte Rosso. Forgot to turn garmin back on after ferry. Rambling around Pallanza for a while.
8/29 Riding around Parma
8/29 First Emilia Romagna ride. Messed up with Garmin so I missed the first 12km or so.
8/31 Tried but it rained. Try again tomorrow.
9/1 Best ride of the whole Trip 130km to La Spezia. Absolutely what riding in Italy is all about!!
9/5 Last ride in Italy, of course it rains in the mountains, but still a nice ride. Massive Jensie effort to beat the storms on the way back to town.
* For those who don't know, HC means Hors Categorie, meaning beyond category. In the major races they rank climbs from 4 being the easiest classified climb, up to 1. HC means it's beyond 1, the hardest, based on length, grade, and in the races, how far along in the stage it is.
** For those who don't know, Strava uses everyone's GPS times from uploaded rides and makes a virtual leaderboard on the segments, in other words, specific sections of road like climbs, descents, etc. Segments are user created, and pretty much everything is a segment these days. Strava will award you with a "trophy" if you place in the Top 10. If you are number one, it's called a KOM, or King of the Mountain, stemming from similar competitions in Grand Tours.

Heading Home

Well, the fun is over folks. I going to spend a few minutes writing up some final thoughts before I get to packing. My flight is out of Milano Malpsensa tomorrow at 10am, which means I'm on the first train out of Parma at 5:20. It's going to be brutal.
Today I tied up a few loose ends tourist-wise and I think now I can say I've seen Parma. First order of business was to go to Casa del Suono (House of Sound), which is this musuem located in an old church that documents the history of recorded sounds and it's technology. They had all kinds of cool stuff, gramophones, phonographs, radios, turntables, tube amps; it was awesome! The highlight of the musuem was what they called the White Room (no, it didn't have black curtains) and the Sonic Chandelier.
The White Room is this room designed around this Wave Field Synthesis, which using 189 speakers positioned along the perimeter of the room, creates a two-dimentional sonic field. They played a piece of music by Monteverdi which was recorded in four locations: the opera theater in Parma, a house, the theater at the Museum of Opera across the street, and at the York Minster Cathedral. As the track switched between the locations seemlessly, it was incredible to notice the difference. It was an audiophiles dream.
The Sonic Chandelier was kind of stupid, if you ask me. It is bascially this dome made up of 224 speakers that is suspended in the copula of the church. They played a bunch of sounds that swirled around the ring of speakers, which was cool I guess, but I'd rather hear music. It looked cool though. Imagine looking up at 224 speaker cones. Unforuntaly, I could not take photos in the musuem.
Next was the Museum of Opera across the street. Opera has a rich tradition in Parma. There are two historic opera houses here. When many think of Italian Opera, they think of La Scala in Milano, which is gigantic. However, Giusseppe Verdi debuted many of his most famous operas here in his "hometown" of Parma. Richard Wager spent a lof of time here a well. The museum was as interesting as a museum about opera could be. Lots of playbill, posters, phtotos, etc. Again, no photos allowed.

My final stop, after eating my final cone of gelato, was the Pallazzo, to check out the Teatro Farnese. It was the original opera house, located in the old palace. It was mostly destroyed during bombing raids during WWII, and being built almost entirely of wood, they basically just built the whole thing again. It's an exact replica. I guess you'd call it a restoration of sorts, but from the photos I saw, the place was really messed up. But, since it's completion in 1962, it is beautiful again. Practically the entire place is made of wood. It's a trim carpenter's dream (Dad). Interestingly, the stage is pitched pretty severely towards the audience. I don't know what that's about.

So that was my day. Of course, it's only half past five, but I've got a lot of stategic packing to do. Since this was popular last year, I'll do it again:
Best meal I ate: Parmignana di Melanzane, Antica Cerecia, Parma
Best ride: Ride to the sea, La Spezia
Most beautiful scenery: Pretty much anywhere near Lago Maggiore
Best day in general: I have to go with the La Spezia day again. The weather was perfect, the ride was great, the food was great all day.
Worst day in general: The day I rode out of Parma on the busy roads and once I got to the nice roads and hills, it started raining and I had to take the train home after 12 miles. I was really feeling lonely and sad that day.
Favorite people I met: My Sri Lankan friend on my travel day, and the ladies in both the bakeries in Pallanza and Parma that I've gone to almost every day. I didn't meet any Americans on this trip.
Best gelato: Grom, hands down the best Gelato I've ever had.
Best bakery: The bakery that I don't think even had a name in Pallanza.
Best pizza: Technically I only ate two pizze this whole trip. One in Pallanza was outstanding actually. But better yet, the focaccia, of couse Bakery Princi in Milano. It doesn't get better than that!
Worst food I ate: Tortelli errbette con funghi porcini, some place in Parma that was not so good
Favorite market: I was really disappointed with the lack of markets in Parma, the best I visited was that really big one in Intra, but considering I'm coming home without a new belt, I really missed SanLorenzo market in Firenze this year!
Favorite thing I bought here: Balsamic from Modena, I can't wait to open those bottles when I get home.
Thing I wish I could have bought:, but didn't or couldn't: a leather belt made in Itay.
Best road I cycled: SS62 from Salita to Auello.
Worst road I cycled: Every road between Parma and the hills to the east. Though flying back yesterday on SS62 was pretty awesome!
Favorite off the bike activity: Just all the walking I did. Between Pallanza, Intra and Laveno, between Parma, Modena, and Bologna, and of course Milano, I did a lot of walking this trip.
Most memorable moment of the trip: Crossing the Passo del Ciso into Toscana and flying down the other side. There is something about climbing forever, then knowing that the rest of the ride is downhill that is just inspiring. Doesn't hurt that the scenery was spectacular either. I am really glad I did that ride! It made the whole trip.

As a whole, this trip was a lot different than last year. Although last year's trip was only a week longer, it felt a lot longer. It was much more diverse, I spent a lot more time traveling around, seeing all those big races helped too. And I met a lot of great people. This time around was quiet. It was much more routine. Maybe my getting used to the systems in Italy is making it less and less of an adventure. I don't know, but I still love it. My first time here was truly an adventure. we had no idea where we were going to go, we had no bookings. Last trip was planned out and structured around races and Gran Fondi, but my first time riding in Italy. This time, it was truly a vacation. I was able to turn off, relax, just spend time hanging out. I don't want to make it seem like the trip was in any way a disappointment. Of course last year was really something special. But, I'm feeling like my next trip to Italy has to be to share it. I'll always be discovering more, you can even discover new things just outside your door every day. Now it's time to share it.
For once, I'm ready to come home. Usually, I practically leave Italy kicking and screaming but this time is different. I've always said, if you take a trip to Italy, go to Roma last because you'll be ready to leave as soon as you've arrived. Of course, this time I'm not in Roma, and I'm certainly not sick of Parma. I think in the past I've just been on a quest but now I think I have much to look forward to when I get home. So home, here I come.
Thanks for following along. If anything interesting happens between now and my next trip, I'll be sure to write about it here! Ciao ciao!!

Food Coma

Wow, I need to lay down after that meal! I went back to Antica Cereria for dinner again tonight. After a 60 mile ride including a 3000ft climb, I was ready to eat. Tonight I decided upon the Gnocchi di Ricotta al Forno, Parmignana di Melanzane, and to top it off I went for the Begne con Crema Chantilly e Ciocolatte. In English, that giant gnocchi made of ricotta, eggplant parmesan, and beignets filled with chantilly cream in a dark chocolate sauce. I'm going to have to go on a diet when I get home.

Besides eating like a pig, I spent my penultimate day in Italy on my bike. I had a bit of a slow start to the day, but in reality, what else am I to do? I have no intention of riding more than 100km and that only really takes a little over three hours. I've walked more than my feet can handle and I'm pretty confident I've seen damn near every street and sight worth seeing in Parma centro. I just kind of hung out and took it easy. That's what vacation is for, right?

Once I embarked on my ride, I was immediately distracted by a little market going on at Piazza Ghiaia. There were only a dozen or so vendors, but they had some nice little artisan items, so I was able to pick up a few gifts that I've been on the hunt for. I am only missing one thing on this trip, and it's a new belt. I've given up on that pasta machine, I guess I'm going to just have to take a trip to Bari in the next few years to learn how to make orecchiette from the masters. I digress. I checked out the market, rode back home to put the things I bought in a place safer than my jersey pocket, then I was finally off for my ride.

The ride itself was interesting. The first bunch of miles were of course on flat busy roads. By flat, I mean climbing at 1-2% for 25 miles. Finally I got off that road and then things started to go vertical. At first, the climb was steep. 12% for at least two kilometers. Then I hit the switchbacks and things went down to a resonable 6%. It stayed there for a while, then reduced a bit more. Then I went downhill slightly, only to go back up. The last part of the climb was steady 8-9%, but I finally reached the top. Of course, when I reached the top, it was raining ever so slightly and the roads were wet. Leave it to the last day for it to rain and for me and my bike to get filthy.

The descent was not as much fun as it could have been, since the roads were wet. The clouds were very low today and at the top of the climb, only a little over 3000ft up, it was foggy. I really wasn't feeling so great on the climb and I wasn't sure what way I wanted to go back. You see, once I got to the bottom, I had three options. I could take the long flat road back to Parma, I could take the low road or I could take the high road and end up on that SS62 which I took to La Spezia the other day, just going in the opposite direction. The initial plan was to take the high road. I wasn't really feeling it, but once I started climbing (the choice between the high road and the low road came after climbing a bit), I started to feel good. So, I took the high road and I'm glad I did. It was a short climb compared to the last one, and before I knew it, I was up on SS62. Honestly, the only reason I wanted to take the high road is because I wanted to do that descent down into Salita.

I had climbed up there on Monday and knew that it was wide and smooth and featured lots of sweeping turns. It was awesome! It would have been even more awesome if it didn't rain half way down, but luckily it stopped after a few moments and I somehow didn't really get wet. I knew the storm was looming though and based on the tailwind I had heading back towards Parma, I knew that the storm was chasing me. I absolutely flew on the flat roads back to town. Thirty kilometers went by in a flash, but it really hurt. I was on a mission, I was flying by cars stuck in traffic, taking cues from the mopeds zooming through the gaps. It was a blast and I won't give up until I hit the river in Parma. Finally I did. From there I cruised around the road that circumnavigates the city then took Strada della Republica straight to Grom for a giant cone of gelato! And damn it was good.

With my final ride for this trip done, I can say from a cycling perspective it was great trip. I may not have ridden every day, but I did some great rides and I think the shortest day I had was still 40 miles. If I counted all the miles I spend rolling around towns, not to mention the miles I accumulated walking throughout the last few weeks, I'd say I got a pretty good workout. We'll just have to see when I get back home and ride my familiar roads whether I gained some form or whether I gained some fat. Either way, I rode far and I ate well.

Tomorrow, I have to pack, which includes cleaning my bike too, but there are still a few things left to check out here. It'll be a chill day. I have a lot of strategic packing to do, I have to plan what I am going to eat on the plane (no way in hell I'm eating plane food) and I have to get to bed early. I am taking the first train out of here at 5:20 Sunday morning to get to the airport in Milano.

It's really been a great trip! It was certainly so much different than last year, but I'll sum up more tomorrow. For now, I'm going to relax and digest my giant dinner. Most of you reading (on the East coast anyway) are about to start on yours, so enjoy and eat something Italian! Buona serata.

Walking in Squares

I just got back from dinner. I ate one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. Parmignana di Melanzane at Antica Cereria. This restaurant that has eluded me despite it literally being on the same street as my apartment is phenomenal. It really was the Eggplant Parmesan of all Eggplant Parmesans. It was came to me still bubbling from the oven and clearly, like everything else at the place was prepared for me completely from start to finish while I waited. I know, it doesn't seem that complicated, but when you really nail something that well, it's remarkable. Not only that, the Tortelli stuffed with Ricotta and Erbette (leafy green that is a staple here in Parma) and topped only with butter, the water they were cooked in and grated Parmignano Reggiano, was phenomenal. I didn't get dessert, but tomorrow I'm going back and I'll get dessert. I really don't care if I spend $35 for dinner. Fresh, high quality food is so worth it. This was by far the best meal I had of the whole trip.
The interior of the restaurant was quite unique as well. It used to be a candle factory and it sits right next to the house where Auturo Toscanini was born. Inside, you felt like you were sitting in someone's house. I think the owner, who was the only waiter, and his family must live upstairs. Apparently they have a great wine collection in the basement as well. The family dog would come through every once in a while, wagging his tail as he did the rounds, making sure to pass under every occupied table. It was great, you really felt at home.

I also had great gelato today. There is this great gelateria called GROM, with locations all over Italy, which only uses the finest ingredients. Their gelato really is a cut above the rest, but it's the same price. And they have awesome flavors. Today I had extra-dark chocolate and salted caramel (made with Himalayan pink salt) gelato in a very high quality cone. Most gelato places add lots of colorants, have crappy cones, and never manage to get the gelato to fill the cone. These people are masters. Not only is the gelato the best, so is the cone and their filling technique. I can't wait to go back tomorrow and Saturday to try more flavors. Maybe I'll even go twice in one day! What the hell, I'm only here for two more days!

Today, I walked around Parma... a lot. I am on a mission, which I don't think will be successful, to find street markets here in Parma. I have a list from the city's website, but so far, I haven't actually found any of them. Some may not run every week, some may not run during August. I don't know. The site has no other information except where they are and the day/ time. I'm really looking for something more artsy. I'm a little sick of the chain stores. That's one great thing about Firenze. You know San Lorenzo Market will be there pretty much 365 days a year.

I also walked all the way out to where that vintage shop was supposed to be. They must have closed their storefront and only do online sales now, despite what it says on Google maps. A bit of a disappointment. I was really looking forward to that.

Along the way, and basically ever since I've been in Italy, I've been searching every single kitchen store, hardware store (yes hardware stores here sell tools and nails and make keys right along with kitchen utensils and pots and pans). My quest for the Demetra Cavatelli, Gnocchi di Sardi, and Orecchiete machine has proven unsuccessful. I think I'm going to have to spend time trying to convince Fante's that they need to get if for me. They should have that in their store. They have everything else! I haven't seen a store like that anywhere in Italy. And considering that the machine makes southern Italian shapes, I get a lot of responses like "no we don't have that. This is Parma" said in a way that implies, "we don't eat that southern Italian macaroni crap here in Parma". Needless to say there is a lot of Northern snootiness towards the South, just like in America (yeah, I'm guilty of it, okay).

I also visited the birth house of Auturo Toscanini. It is now a small museum highlighting his career and housing a bit of his stuff. The most interesting thing there was seeing some hand-witten music he wrote. His handwriting was remarkable. But that really only took all of 15 minutes. Luckily, it's just down the street.

Of course, yet again, I didn't ride. I woke up to rain this morning, so I went back to bed for an extra hour. When I woke up and got on with my day, it rained again, and it wasn't until about 18:00 (6pm) that the sun came out and the Italians were comfortable to go out without their umbrellas (Italians really don't like to get wet, I've noticed).

Tomorrow, barring any bad weather, I've got to get one more ride in. It's not all I came here for though and if I wanted to just put in miles, I could do that at home for a lot less money. Being in Italy for me is about all of it. Spending time sorting through the bargain bins of CDs and flipping through Italian cookbooks is part of what I'm here for too. I'm here to visit, I here to eat, I'm here to shop... and I'm here to ride. But this isn't some training camp. If I walk too much one day and then my legs are dead the next, so be it. There is no Gran Fondo to race, I'm just here taking it all in, enjoying my vacation. I have a few days left, surely more to post about, but if you've been following along, I hope you've been vicariously enjoying my vacation too. Thanks for reading!

Also, check this out! I made an awesome panorama of the Baptistry (pictured above) with this app called Photosynth. I'll concede, it the one thing that Microsoft trumps Apple with. You can't do this with the Camera app. Here is it.

Look who it is! Mark Cavendish... you won't see this ad in America.

Coolest bike in Parma.

The opera house. Giuseppe Verdi, who is the hometown hero, premiered many works here. It was destroyed during WWII so they just built an exact replica.

From Piazza Giuseppe Garabaldi, Pallazo del Governatore and Santa Maria della Steccata in the background.

Shopping Day Two: Milano

I think I've hit the limit of how much cheese I can consume. The idea of consuming anything with any dairy product in or on it, with the exception maybe of gelato, is becoming revolting to me. But no, mom, I'm not going vegan anytime soon. I just need a break. I need Thai food or basically any greens stirfried with hot pepper, garlic, soy sauce and Shao Hsing. I guess some Americans come to Italy and after a while, they crave American food. I start to crave Chinese food. Last year, I was here for a month and didn't think once about eating anything but Italian food. This time is different, I guess.

But anyway.... today I took the fast train to Milano to go shopping. I had the choice of taking the slow train, but seeing as how the fast train is so much more comfortable (not that the slow train is bad at all, by American standards it's luxury) and I enjoy being on the Frecce trains. It was a bit more expensive, but whatever, it was part of the experience. Ironically, the fast train was 15 minutes late, so we only got to Milano 5 minutes before the slow train. Oh well.
Once I got to Milano, I was very prepared. I know the layout of the city pretty well since spending some time there two years ago. I've noticed that I have a strange memory for places. I can visualize exactly what some place looks like, or how to get there even many years after I visited. It's weird, but very helpful. That said, I went straight for the ticket machine, bought myself a day pass for the Metro (Milano is a big city) and I was off to the Piazza del Duomo.
Piazza del Duomo acts as the center point for lots of giant shopping streets in Milano. You can find anything, from the absurdly high-end Galleria and Rinascente, to the more affordable chain stores around Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via Torino, Via Dante, and so forth. Leading out of the center is Corso Venizia, which features high end boutiques which then turns into Corso Buenos Aires, which has smaller stores and chain stores mixed in. Apparently Corso Buenos Aires is one of the longest city streets in all of Europe. I believe it. I walked all the way out to the end from the center. It's definitely a few miles. It's like the mall, if it went on for a few miles!
One of the great things about Milano is that many of the chain stores have two or more locations, sometimes even on the same street. I went into four different Bata shoe stores today, and when one didn't have my size in the color I was looking for, I just walked down the street and they had it at the other one. Cool! Milano is really a shopper's paradise. I am sure somewhere there are streets of vintage shops, lower end stuff, probably some markets, but it's a big city, you can't see it all. You could shop until you literally drop. And I almost did. Even with taking the subway, I walked countless miles today. My feet hurt!
Basically here's what happened. I walked, I walked and I walked. In and out of stores, picking up shoes, trying on shoes. After all was said and done, after I felt I had covered as much of Milano as possible, I ended up with two very different pairs of shoes. I love European shoes. American shoes suck! It's like you either get sneakers in crazy colors or dress shoes. There is little in between. Europe thrives on the in between. That's because the horrible stupid trend of wearing basketball shorts, crew socks, neon colored basketball or skater shoes, and giant t-shirts luckily hasn't caught on here. Trust me, Italians have some weird style things going on too, but at least there aren't grown men walking around looking like they're ready to hit the gym, though clearly they have not hit the gym in a long time. You can always spot the Americans!
But, like I was saying, Italians thrive on that in-between shoe. The sneaker that also looks like a fancy dress shoe. It's hard to describe. And even sneakers look much more distinguished and high fashion. I love it. In America I have trouble finding one pair of shoes. Here I have trouble deciding on only one pair of shoes, which is why I bought two. I intentionally wore a pair of shoes here that, well, let's say they've served me well. I've broken the laces, parts of the leather are falling off in the creases. They're ready to be retired. It's all part of the plan.
Luckily, since I didn't spend any crazy money on shoes this year (both pairs combined cost less than the one incredible pair I bought last year), I have money for a sweater and another etto of porcini mushrooms. The thing that I realized too is that, by wearing one pair home, I'll have an empty shoe box which I can put in my bike bag to safely carry my balsamic vinegars and porcini mushrooms. It's all coming together.
Before I digress from the subject of fashion, here's what I've noticed is "in" here this year. For guys, it's oddly enough Varsity type jackets, and also sleeveless shirts. The weather is such that a guy can wear sleeveless in the daytime and then need said Varsity jacket at night. Also, all these colored cut-off type shorts are in, which is unusual because for a very long time in Italy, shorts weren't really a thing. Again, at least they're not wearing gym shorts. And for girls, two things I've noticed; the high wasted shorts riding right up the ass is in, just like it is in the US, and high top Converse All Stars (or Chucks, whatever you want to call them) almost exclusively in white. It's almost like no other shoe exists right now. I think 75% of girls in Parma right now are wearing white Chucks, and denim shorts stuck up their asses. How is that comfortable? I'm just thinking about the chaffing. Ouch!

Now, let's digress from the subject of fashion. It's not something I know much about, I just know how to put on cloths and not look too stupid, and I know that I like clothes. Something I do know about, however, is food. In Milano there is this amazing bakery that makes the best focaccia, and I guess what would technically be more properly classified as focaccia pizza, that I've ever had! Everything is "bio" which here means organic. It's all baked in a wood-fired oven, and only the best ingredients are used. I went in around lunchtime just as a lot of the varieties were coming out of the oven. I picked up way too much. I think my sister and I ate three big pieces, I got three big pieces to myself. FAT!! But it's so good! One piece had some type of feta-like cheese on it with fresh tomatoes and olives. Another had mozzarella, onions, sweet peppers, eggplant and zucchini and the other was just mozzarella and zucchini. In addition, I got three big crunchy breadsticks- not grissini- with green olives. All in all, it came out to 15 Euro. That's kind of expensive, but some things are worth it. I won't go there again until I'm back in Milano, and who knows when that will be. But... it's on my list of places that are worth going back to a certain city just to eat at. I have a Thai place in Montreal, of course Su Xing House in Philadelphia, Osteria Cento Poveri in Firenze, and Bakery Princi in Milano.
One thing about traveling; experience. Today I showed up in Milano without a camera, without a backpack. I wasn't trying to be a tourists and I don't think anyone on the streets took me as one. It's nice to be out of that mold. Another part of the experience thing is knowing to not buy water at the cafes or little markets. With experience, you pay attention more. When you see the giant Billa sign, with experience you know what that means. Instead of paying 2 Euro for a big bottle of water, you go to the Billa grocery store and pay 30 cents. That's what I like about going places again and again. You start to learn little things about how to "live" there rather than running around like a tourist with your head up you ass. You know, the ones with the backpacks on their fronts, giant camera over their shoulder, maybe a fanny pack in there too (people are now wearing fanny packs across the chest, diagonally... just no). Wearing a bucket hat in the way that only a tourist can wear it, and taking photos with an iPad. Please stop!!
Another observation I made was that in Milano, being a giant city of international commerce and industry, everyone speaks English. It's like I'm not even in Italy. It's kind of a drag. I'd rather attempt to communicate and make it work, learning a little more Italian here and there, than someone just speaking English with me. But there is this real drive to do things in English in Milano. Tons of stores have all there signs in English, lots of fascination with America. I don't know why. It's not that great! The grass is always greener they say.

To add a little culture to my day, I also popped into the Duomo. It's really beautiful inside and out and is a great place to sit down and unwind for a few minutes from the craziness of shopping in Milano. The organ is also notably gigantic! One place I regret not getting to check out is La Scala Opera House. I didn't get there last time either, and it's on my list, but I have a feeling that it's closed for tours in August anyway. Wherever you go, you'll never see it all; there is always something to bring you back.
So anyway, after a day in crazy Milano (which I still enjoy much more than Roma), I'm actually glad to be back in quiet Parma. I have a few more days here, another day of cycling tomorrow if the weather is good and my legs aren't shot from all the walking; plus, a trip to Cinque Terre I guess. We'll see. I don't know how much more I want to ride the train.
Either way, not like I'm rushing to get back to real life or anything, but for once it'll actually be nice to come home. I'll miss Italy's long climbs, but cycling-wise Hunterdon/ Bucks really is a special place to ride a bike. And I know once I'm back I'll miss the fresh pasta everywhere, all the cheeses, and the focaccia. But luckily, I can always cook this stuff. Yes, the food is spectacular, and maybe from the perspective of someone who doesn't eat and cook like this all the time, it's something incredible, but I am very proud to say that what I've grown up eating at home and the food that comes out of my kitchen is not much different that what I'm eating here. That is a great privilege and something that I am very proud of. Plus, I think I've learned some new things, and once I get some diversity back in my diet, I'll be ready to try out some new tricks I've picked up here on my third adventure in bella Italia!