There you have it, folks. The leaning tower of Pisa:
The main drag of the town of Pisa is small and jam-packed with tourists and open shops on the street selling souvenirs and…well, pasta shaped like this:
If you can’t see what I am talking about, take a closer look…
Yes Pisa, you are great.
Roma. Rome. Italy. I saw pretty much all of the touristy sites of Rome in just about 12 hours. 12 hours of non-stop walking, photo-snapping, historical site-seeing Italian craziness.
Ok so I was in Roma for more than 12 hours. I was there for about a day and a half, which really is not much. The first night I did a quick walking tour where I saw the Spanish steps, the Fontana di Trevi, the Pantheon, and some swanky chic shops amongst other famous Roman hallmarks. Oh yes, and there were people roasting chestnuts on the streets!
The next day began with a tour of the fascinating and huuuugeee Vatican City complete with St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and quite possibly my favorite part…a statue of this lady, a woman of great fertility as symbolized by her many supple breasts:
With a full day still ahead of us, we stopped for a quick bite of lunch before moving on to more sites. A quick bite of cheap, good pizza to-go. I can’t even remember the name of the place. You choose your flavor, and you pay by the weight. The Vatican took a lot out of me and I was super hungry so I ate 5 fairly large squares. I was full for hours and hours afterward.
Cheese with Prosciutto and Wilted Greens
Roasted Eggplant with Herbs
After lunch, it was off to the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Catacombs…Then, we browsed around one favorite places: the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, otherwise known as the “wedding cake.” I think the reason I like it so much is because it is called the “wedding cake,” and fittingly so, it really does look like a cake:
After a full day in the sweltering sun, it suddenly started to pour rain. Luckily my traveling companions and I ducked in to a quaint little restaurant at just the right time. We were seated outside under a covered awning, which was quite nice because we were sitting and we were dry and we could watch the rain trickle down all around us.
Bring on the drinks! Bright red Campari and Italian Prosecco took the edge off our sore bodies and set the mood for a lovely dinner.
I ordered a simple pasta dish–tonarelli shaped pasta with (mostly butter) black pepper and Pecorino Romano cheese.
Yeahhh baby!
Italy Day 1. After sitting on a bus all day with 50 other young tourists like myself, I was ready to hop off and paint the town of Venice. We only had a few hours to spend in the famously romantic and water-way filled town. Thus, our time spent was jam-packed.
First, a walking tour…Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square), the Campanille, churches, palaces, waterways, old buildings, the Rialto bridge, boats…oh yes, and lots of pigeons, tourists, and HOOOOTTT weather.
I very much enjoyed stumbling upon some vibrant produce stands in Venice…
We also took a little gondola ride complete with bubbling Italian champagne (Prosecco) and peach bellinis! Too bad that our boat guide did not sing for us; actually he did seem to enjoy his job very much at all…so much for romantic, eh? Apparently though, these men are the only men who can paddle and steer with one oar standing up. Neat.
I was feeling much more relaxed after the gondola ride and a few glasses of bubbly. The sun was setting and the air was still and slightly cooler. While the rest of the group when off to an extravagant dinner, I ducked out with these two lovely ladies to have our own quiet meal.
We were hungry! Having not really eaten much all day, I was ready to chow down Italian-style. And yes, our table had red and white checkered table cloths.
The ladies ordered two kinds of pasta: simple spaghetti al pomodoro and a penne al pesto.
I ordered a pizza margherita which looked pretty much like a cheese pizza with tomato and basil. This was definitely not a classic margherita, but it was still good. Simple.
They brought the pizza out as an entire pie, uncut. I had to cut it myself, which was actually quite fun. Except for a few pieces that I made my dining companions taste, I easily finished the whole thing and felt extremely satisfied. And I still had room for tiramisu and a coffee.
What a treat to finish off a meal with a milky frothy espresso. Mmm so decadent and so perfect.
The tiramisu was not very authentic either. Instead of marscarpone cheese filling, it had ice cream between the layers of espresso soaked lady fingers. Nevertheless, this was bellisimo. Grazie!
NOTE: In Italy, one must pay for water and bread when dining out at a restaurant. Also, one must ask for the bill, the waiter will never come back unless you ask. And tipping? One euro is sufficient, apparently it is seen as strange if a larger tip is left.
Home-cooked meals and macaron tastings aside, I spent most of my days in Paris out and about meandering through the city streets, seeing the sights and eating many a delight! Below are just some of my many memorable food finds…
1. A damn good crepe. Square shaped (actually, it looks very much like a sting ray). Stuffed with champignons (mushrooms), tomatoes, and cheese. The actual crepe dough was bubbling deliciousness, so savory so perfect.
I ate my crepe at a restaurant called “Le Menhir,” a little fondu place in Paris’s Latin Quarter, a district known as the student area where young people flock to the many bistros, cafes, and funky shops.
2. An eclair. A coffee eclair. An eclair filled with coffee pastry cream and smeared on top with a coffee glaze. Uh, so good. Eclairs can be found at pretty much any patisserie or boulangerie anywhere in France, and let me tell you, I walked into every patisserie and boulangerie that I saw. Chocolate or coffee eclairs are the standard, but vanilla and pistachio can be found in some places as well.
3. Ice cream. Oh, ice cream. Glaces as they say in French. Ok, the best ice cream I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a LOT of ice cream in my life, was from Berthillon, a famous shop in Pont Marie area of Paris. The flavor: Caramel-Buerre-Sale. A tiny scoop on a cone. That was all I needed (and usually I don’t say that, I usually want more and more and more until I burst). That one little scoop was pure bliss; I savored every lick. The ice cream really tastes like what it says. Its really is the perfect scoop, even David Lebovitz agrees. Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying my tasty treat to snap a photo. I just could not break away from that wonderful moment.
BUT…I did have more ice cream outside the Luxembourg Gardens. The Luxembourg Gardens are also in the Latin Quarter of Paris and on a nice sunny day, everyone basks in the sunshine with a book or a picnic blanket in these darling gardens.
I absolutely adore this little girl’s hat!
This reminded me of San Francisco’s Dolores Park on a sunny day!
Yes, it was purple, well…lavender purple. And yes, it tasted like I was eating a lavender plant. Very good, something different. But man oh man there were so many other flavors to choose from. Oh the choices!
Bonjour Margot!
This was our dessert from LeChartier. Profiteroles drowning in chocolate sauce. Intense.
Le Petit Pâtissier by Chaïm Soutine (from Paris’s l’Orangerie museum)
An ongoing debate exists among the French macaron aficionados: Ladurée or Pierre Hermé? These are both famous shops in Paris that have built quite the reputation for their macarons; people come from all over the world to taste these little treats at these specific shops. So what’s all the hype about?
Here are some of my thoughts:
Ladurée
Just from the outside, Ladurée exudes fine detail and femininity. I gawked in the window only to find people sipping tea with a delicate pastry. Classy.
Inside the shop there was a long line of eager eaters to purchase their macarons among other beautifully designed sweet treats at the boutique. I actually enjoyed standing in line because it gave me more time to admire the art of pastry and choose exactly what I wanted to order.
A box of macarons, mini macarons. Assorted flavors. A gift for the wonderful family who I was staying with. Vanilla, pistachio, cassis (black currant), coffee, salted caramel, lemon, dark chocolate.
“je vous dre un petit macaron caramel si vous plez”
*TRANSLATION: I would like a small caramel macaron please.
One bite is all it takes. So rich but so light and airy all at the same time, all in this one bite. Woah, I instantly feel all gooey inside, like I’m all drunk and silly. I could really taste the care that went into making that one petit macaroon. Yes folks, it was that good. Even the box was beautiful:
The palace of Versailles has a Ladurée shop inside, too, because the bakery made the macarons and other confections for Sofia Coppola’s film, Marie Antoinette.
Pierre Hermé
A tiny shop, very chic, very modern.
Funky shop, funky flavors. Strawberry wasabi, vanilla jasmine, olive oil and vanilla, pistachio-griottine (brandied cherry), chocolate- passion fruit, rose, apricot-peach-safron (my favorite one!)…
Tasting the flavors was more of an adventure with Pierre Hermé. We would cut each macaron in half, close our eyes, and really try to taste the flavors. This little booklet on all of the flavors came with the box and we used it as our reference guide for tasting:
So, who does it best, Ladurée or Pierre Hermé? I say, why not have both? Two great bakeries, two totally different experiences that are both worth the ride.
I like how this blogger put it: “I can’t pick a favorite between the two stores because it’s like picking a favorite ice cream flavor. Sometimes you’re in the mood for vanilla, sometimes you’re in the mood for Gold Medal Ribbon. Both stores make their macaroons with the perfect ratio of chewy to soft and crumbly.”
Upon googling Ladurée vs. Pierre Hermé, a whole slew of bloggers and articles show up. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Parisian Escapades
Ladurée:
Fans of Pierre Hermé:
Figsinmybelly 
