How do you say I'm sorry in Italian?

A romantic Italian holiday - just the three of us

So thrilled to finally have my sister here

Almost as thrilled as seeing the David, again that is
Exploring ancient Etruscan caves in Orvieto

Taking posing like statues to another level at the

DaVinci museum

Perfecting the maintenance of eye contact

while cin-cin-ing with limoncello. Italians are

very serious about this

Destroying a 20 oz Tuscan steak

The Cinque Terre really is as beautiful as

everyone says

Wine tasting in the Piemonte

The glory of St Peter's,

dress code observed
At this point I have a new tour book coming

your way,

Dick Stove's guide to Italy
On vacay with these two Lovebirds. Is

three a crowd?

I guess it is the most

ROMEantic place on earth

One of my favorite things that I got to share

with Pete and Alli - the awesomeness of free

ancient aqueduct water available all over Rome

via nasoni. The mayor of Florence recently blew my

mind by making some of the nasoni there pump

sparkling water - next thing you know it will be wine

and this will really be heaven

Pete's top hit of the trip, bumbling into

a place we thought we could have lunch at, only to find

out they'd stopped serving, but we could help ourselves

to the free buffet of porchetta (roast rolled/stuffed pig), lard,

salami, olives and wine - FOR FREE. Sounds like lunch to me,

by stop serving I think they meant stop paying

I found another activity best done in

stripes - wine tasting. Helps you focus

when you're a bit tipsy. See how the owner

already knew this?

Three's Company on Ponte Vecchio in Firenze

Hiking hills and then floating in the Meditteranean,

AND THEN having prosecco on the beach with my sister -

only way it gets better is if our boobs were free, but

then I would have lost an eyeball

Oh Ulix I miss you so!!!!!!

Greetings from the other side of 8 visitors in 6 weeks. Allison and Pete are my last scheduled visitors and even after so much company I was really looking forward to spending quality time with them. It's been a tumultuous year for our family and I've found myself wishing a million times to just be able to sit and hug my sister. Added to that the opportunity to get to know Pete (her man friend) better, and see a few places in Italy that I had yet to conquer.

Pete: Allison always said that she wanted me to be the test of guys she dated, well she decided to really test Pete by forcing him to endure two weeks (with a few probably much needed breaks) with me. He survived and passed (at least in my book) with flying colors. While he didn't quite laugh at all my jokes and we don't see eye to eye on chicken, sugar, or technology; he showed me a whole new side to my sister and a whole new side of Italy. Now whether or not I passed his test is another question - I'm not sure there's many people out there that could stand 2 Bealls for 2 weeks.

So with that, Allison and Pete showed me a few new sides of Italy and a few old sides.....

New side of Italy:

Cinque Terre: I hadn't made it to the Cinque Terre yet in my last visit or in this year, and many of Alison's friends had said it was their favorite so we were all really looking forward to it. Needless to say it's more difficult to find hiking in Italy than it is in New Zealand and I had yet to really do it here. And in true Italian fashion, the Cinque Terre trail has wine stops all along the hike and ends in a long sandy beach of the Mediterranean.

Science/Technology: I had been to Florence before with my lady friends two years ago and frankly we didn't give it much of a shot then spending only 36 hours there, but at the same time nothing made me want to rush back. Well thanks to all of Allison's friends back home who say it's their favorite place in Italy (they must be Jersey Shore fans) and the fact that I rubbed that gosh darn pigs hoof, for making me return. I took Pete and Alli to a few of the favorite places of my last visit - including the spectacular David, and the best panini/wine shop by Ponte Vecchio, and then Pete the engineer took over and showed me a side of Florence I'd yet to experience - SCIENCE. In less than 12 hours in Florence we somehow managed to spend 2 hours in the Galileo museum (but somehow missed Galileo's finger, but got to see lots of disgusting models of breached babies in case you're craving that the next time you're in Italy) and 2 hours in the Michelangelo INTERACTIVE museum. These two museums are far more interesting than the Uffizi and the Accademia combined, and the Michelangelo museum really saves you a lot of time and money because it also houses the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper - so you can skip Milan and Paris and just head there. Did I mention it also has an eight sided mirror and a flying machine?

Navigation: I failed to mention in my last post that before Stephanie's visit, I had been scared to drive in/out of Rome. Maybe it was because Giuseppe was constantly telling me I would die, or maybe it was that walking is dangerous in itself - but once I finally did it, I couldn't remember why I was so scared to try, it's just like a video game - no rules and just be as aggressive as you can without killing or hitting anything. Anyway I was feeling very confident to get on the road again with Alli and Pete, especially with my recent trip and familiarity with Tuscany, and since they brought a GPS with them to help us along. Have I mentioned that Pete is an engineer? Well he loves gadgets and technology like a GPS, whereas I tend to think maps and street signs are usually a safer bet (I sound like I'm ninety). So let's just say that it ended up as a tie with a few battles in between - GPS won half the time and good ol map reading/street signs won the other half. And no matter what, Italy is still easier to navigate than Spain

Friends: I've mentioned before that it's not easy to make friends in Italy and I've also mentioned before how in New Zealand my dear sister was so adept at making us friends, well she delivered again. The first with an American couple who joined us in Cinque Terre. I think Pete was probably most thankful to have another dude around, but this couple was also awesome in that the dude loved hills just as much as me and the missus is a nurse practitioner in Seattle (job connect for another Beall). Well Alli and Pete's friend making skills delivered this couple to me for two days after their departure to help me deal with the worst days of when my visitors depart. I also managed to finally introduce one of my visitors to the elusive Giuseppe, at which point my sister grilled him so much he might not actually be my friend anymore (jokes). And what else are friends for than connecting you with a free bottle of wine and aged balsamic vinegar tasting? My sister came with connections from back home that enabled us to have the red carpet treatment at a winery in Tuscany.

Old side -

St Peter's and the rest: People often ask if I get sick of seeing the Colosseum and St. Peters with how many visitors I've had. Well two secrets - 1) I have left most of my visitors on their own for the major sites while I slave away at my job; 2) frankly Rome's sites never get old (er, that is older than they already are, meaning ancient), now if I could just get rid of the hoards of tourists and mobs following umbrellas. My favorite historic site in Rome is the Pantheon, and I absolutely never get tired of seeing it and since it is on the way to a lot of the places I'm going I often just bump into it and am always floored by its majesty. I am thrilled to get to share it with each and every one of my visitors. And ol Trevi is so tired of me at this point, he keeps asking me what I want this time. That said, I don't exactly wait in line to climb St Peter's dome or meander around the Forum every weekend, or if I'm honest never since I have arrived. I was glad to have the excuse to revisit the dome of St Peter's from my visit two years ago, and it was just as worth it once again. Some things really are eternal

Tuscany - And just like all those monuments, the Tuscan sun, chiantis, brunellos, nobiles, and wild boar never, ever get old. However, one thing I do know about Tuscany and Italy in general, is that it doesn't work on speed. If you try to operate on your normal productive quick pace, it will knock you around a little and make things real inconvenient until you just slow down, sip some wine, gnaw on some boar, and meander down a country road. Allison and I love packing things into our vacays, but when in Tuscany.....we stayed at an agritourismo, stopped a few picturesque vineyards/castles dating back to the 15th century, played pingpong, went swimming, sampled wild roasted boar and succulent lard (that I mistook for pecorino cheese spread, that's how good it is), explored Etruscan caves, and talked about our hopes and dreams (and how bad sugar is for you and babies - the wine may have been involved here).

Customer Service - One thing I've eluded to before is that customer service in the American sense does not exist in Italy. To explain, Italians have no middle ground, they are either outright rude/illogical or the most lovely people you've ever met. I was glad that Alli and Pete got to see this paradox play out during their visit:

1) My family gave me an SLR camera for my 30th birthday that I have loved, and then unfortunately broke while Erica was visiting - perfect timing not only because I was on vacation, but also because nothing is open in August. I was filled with dread at what it was going to take to fix it, and after waiting patiently for Italians to finally get back to work in September I took it to a store in my neighborhood where they told me clearly they would call me with an estimate before fixing it so I could decide if I wanted it done there. Flash forward, to them not calling and me showing up to check on it, them handing me the FIXED camera and telling me the amount I owed. When I explained that this was a breach of our agreement, they offered to rebreak the camera for me so I could take it somewhere else - oh yes perfectly logical

2) Pete wanted a SIM card so he could have a phone while here. I asked for the wrong SIM card and then realized before they finished the transaction and asked to switch - to which they told me - It's not possible (Non c'e possibile). There's one thing I know about my Italian, I will not win a verbal argument, so I resorted to my tried and true method here, don't say anything, just give it back to them and stare them down.

3) And on the other side of the paradox, we stopped into a cafe/deli to have lunch to which they told us they'd stopped serving, then handed us a glass of wine (which they continued to refill) and sliced open an enormous stuffed giant porchetta and laid out a buffet of bread with lard, olives, salami, and more. Pete was incredulous that this could all be free. Yes, sometimes Italians can be incredibly generous

Heart to Hearts - And of course it wouldn't be time spent with family without a few heart to hearts and tears. My sister observed that I've become a bit cold and not very good at hugging - I blame New Zealand and 20 months on my own. I promise to practice

And as with every one of my visitors, I wish I could do it all over again and again. I am one very lucky girl and I'm so appreciative that you take your precious vacation time to come spend time with me in Italy. Thank you Pietro and Ale!!!

I have no more scheduled visitors on my agenda and yet the day I got back, I had two friends email me to say they'd be in town and could they stay with me :) In the meantime, my thesis is finished (woo hoo), so I'm going to get busy finally mastering Italian so I can win a verbal argument with a customer service representative