To start this blog off as a tribute to The Titanic which will celebrate its 100th anniversary of sinking this coming Sunday, and mainly because I can, here is "My Heart Will Go On" By Celine Dion.
Last semester we took a day trip to Aosta to do a little bit of hiking and walking around the city and I absolutely loved it. It is such a special city because it is located in this valley that is surrounded on every side by beautiful and massive mountains including Mont Blanc. We went up to Pila (the ski resort town of Aosta) and had an awesome picnic lunch and hung out.
However this time my experience was a little bit different, and in my opinion a lot cooler! Since the beginning of this semester we have met our neighbors Silvia and Francesca, and spent a good bit of time hanging out with them and enjoying practicing Italian with them over the delicious dinners that they sometimes cook for us! Luckily for us, Silvia is from Aosta, and invited us to her house one weekend. Unfortunately we were not able to stay as long as we had originally hoped to stay for, but non-the-less it was still a good time.
Marcus and I arrived in Aosta a few hours before Silvia because we didn't have class on Friday and she did. We took these few hours as a chance to grab some foccacia and after some gelato, walk around the city, and even check out the Roman ruins. I have now been to Rome (the heart of the Roman Empire), Paestum (where you can see a Roman civilization surrounding the preexisting Greek temples), and other places around Italy where some Roman ruins are visible, but speaking specifically on location and the surrounding beauty, this is by far the prettiest location that the Roman Empire decided to make camp!
Friday night we went to a really cool pizzeria for dinner that on the inside was designed like a ship. The whole feel was very nautical, and just gave off a very unique vibe. It was interesting to me because in America it is much easier to find restaurants that are "theme" based, however this was the first restaurant that I can remember going to here that was all based off of a specific theme. The best part of the place was its pizza though. When they came out the pizzas didn't even fit on the plates that they were served on. It was hanging off the edge by 1/2" - 1" all of the way around. It was by far the biggest pizza that I have ever eaten since I have been here in Italy. I was worried that I was not going to finish it, but then I realized I was not going to tarnish my reputation of finishing my pizza AND SOME at every dinner I have ever had here in Italy!
After dinner Silvia and her boyfriend took us to two really cool bars. The first one was in the heart of the city and had potentially the coolest bar ever; the bar was made out of an old VW bus! It was a really chill place with lots of lounge chairs and couches in the basement. My roommate Marcus goes to school in Chico and apparently Saturday was Cesar Chavez day, so we took it as a chance to have a couple Coronas in his honor! There was also a Foosball table in the basement, so we played a few rounds [ I actually am worried about my level of Foosball, ping pong, pool, and other games because I have not played them in over 7 months now and they may just embarrass me! ]. The second place we went was much more local pub that was actually the courtyard and the bottom floor of a huge house in Aosta. Apparently the guy who owns it is British and most of the workers are from Scotland, but the beer was cheap, the people were plentiful, and it is enough of the way off of the beaten path that if you don't live there you wouldn't find it, so it is somewhat of a "local" bar to the young generation of Aosta.
On Saturday Silvia took us to Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, and we were able to check that out as well as a few small towns along the way! The mountain is so big that when you see it in the distance it looks like you are right up upon it, but then you drive for another 30 minutes until you finally reach it! I have a hard time even describing the views, so I am just going to show you some of the cool pictures that I took;
All in all it was a really great weekend that I was able to spend with some really great people in potentially my favorite mountain area of Italy! It is sort of sad to think that will potentially be the last time that I go to Aosta, but I am thankful for at least being able to go not once, but twice, and having seen the things I did when I went.
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT AS MUCH AS I DO!!
Last semester we took a day trip to Aosta to do a little bit of hiking and walking around the city and I absolutely loved it. It is such a special city because it is located in this valley that is surrounded on every side by beautiful and massive mountains including Mont Blanc. We went up to Pila (the ski resort town of Aosta) and had an awesome picnic lunch and hung out.
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| BEST PICNIC EVER.... No argument! |
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| Marcus and the Roman Amphitheater surrounded by mountains |
Friday night we went to a really cool pizzeria for dinner that on the inside was designed like a ship. The whole feel was very nautical, and just gave off a very unique vibe. It was interesting to me because in America it is much easier to find restaurants that are "theme" based, however this was the first restaurant that I can remember going to here that was all based off of a specific theme. The best part of the place was its pizza though. When they came out the pizzas didn't even fit on the plates that they were served on. It was hanging off the edge by 1/2" - 1" all of the way around. It was by far the biggest pizza that I have ever eaten since I have been here in Italy. I was worried that I was not going to finish it, but then I realized I was not going to tarnish my reputation of finishing my pizza AND SOME at every dinner I have ever had here in Italy!
After dinner Silvia and her boyfriend took us to two really cool bars. The first one was in the heart of the city and had potentially the coolest bar ever; the bar was made out of an old VW bus! It was a really chill place with lots of lounge chairs and couches in the basement. My roommate Marcus goes to school in Chico and apparently Saturday was Cesar Chavez day, so we took it as a chance to have a couple Coronas in his honor! There was also a Foosball table in the basement, so we played a few rounds [ I actually am worried about my level of Foosball, ping pong, pool, and other games because I have not played them in over 7 months now and they may just embarrass me! ]. The second place we went was much more local pub that was actually the courtyard and the bottom floor of a huge house in Aosta. Apparently the guy who owns it is British and most of the workers are from Scotland, but the beer was cheap, the people were plentiful, and it is enough of the way off of the beaten path that if you don't live there you wouldn't find it, so it is somewhat of a "local" bar to the young generation of Aosta.On Saturday Silvia took us to Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, and we were able to check that out as well as a few small towns along the way! The mountain is so big that when you see it in the distance it looks like you are right up upon it, but then you drive for another 30 minutes until you finally reach it! I have a hard time even describing the views, so I am just going to show you some of the cool pictures that I took;
All in all it was a really great weekend that I was able to spend with some really great people in potentially my favorite mountain area of Italy! It is sort of sad to think that will potentially be the last time that I go to Aosta, but I am thankful for at least being able to go not once, but twice, and having seen the things I did when I went.
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