14 Course Dinner in Castel Gandolfo

Sor Capana Dinner

Some people ask what you would want to eat for your last dinner on Earth. I would want to eat the Ravioli alle fiori di zucca from Sor Capana in Castel Gandolfo. I have to say that many of the Walsh students who have traveled/studied abroad in Castel Gandolfo know what I am talking about here. It is the only dish that I have truly cried over when I licked the plate clean. It is really that good. I decided to convince the group to have our farewell dinner in Castel Gandolfo instead of Spain. We have another week of our trip in Spain. I have to admit that I wanted to cry over that dish one more time. Who knows when I will be back here?


One must be swift and bold when eating a 14 course meal. Pace is important like keeping pace for a marathon. You want to make sure that you at least get to try all 14 dishes before you take that pin to your stomach to break the tension of the masterpiece that you have just consumed. One thing I have learned is that no matter a dinner at a restaurant or in a private home.....when in Italy, one never wants to disappoint the cook. Always nod that you would like to try the next dish the chef has prepared. Once you shake your head no, one can never recover from that deep of an insult.

One thing that I have grown to love about eating in Italy is that I am never rushed to finish. The wine always keeps the conversation going. If you are running out of gas there is always dessert and a digestivo consisting of either an espresso, Jagermister or limoncello. Yes everyone, you can wash it all down with a digestive consisting of alcohol or coffee. I have found that it really is needed for either the coffee or alcohol just so that I could function after eating such an amount. The coffee or alcohol dulls the pain from the food coma that will soon consume my body after eating these mind blowingly amazing 14 dishes.

Hospital System Visits

Termini Train Station

I love the mass chaos of Termini train station. Everyone runs down the binario to their train like it is about to leave seconds after the platform is announced on the board. I love the that everyone seems to be going someplace. One of my favorite moments that I always seem to have is watching the first time visitors to Rome. They glance around in absolute horror not too sure where to go or how to get where they need to go. These newbies stand staring up at the departure board wondering when they should actually ask someone for help to see if their train has actually arrived. I have never been stopped and asked in English whether a train has arrived or not by these newbies. I am always stopped and asked in choppy Italian a question. These newbies are surprised when I reply back in a perfect American accent that their train has arrived on track 17. I have to say that I am thankful for having an Italian mother. I blend right in while traveling in Italy.

      Today we are headed to have a tour of one of the main hospitals near the Vatican. We are also touring another design/management school over near the church Saint John's Latern. I am especially excited to tour the hospital. Italy has their own version of National Health Care. I want to be able to compare my health care system to Italy's healthcare system. I am interested in this fact because I am applying for physical therapy school. I want to work in a hospital setting.
    We had to wear white coats as to be sterile. The director of the hospital explained a general layout of the emergency room. Those who are most urgent are roomed closest to the nurses station. The farther one is away from the station the minor the injury. There is a completely different system for drugs compared to the United States Health Care. Nurses and Doctors had to go to a drug dispensing machine, type in their employee code, medical license number and so on to gain access to the dispenser. After that, they type in the patient code and the machine dispenses everything. This prevents stealing and improper dispensing. Now, there probably is a once in a blue moon mishap but the system is interesting.
    The director of the hospital promised a walk through of the labor and delivery ward. How cool!? On our way to the ward we were stopped because half of the ward went into labor. We were turned around because it was not a good time to tour. What a bummer. We then left the hospital to have lunch before we headed to the school of Design near Termini Train station in the neighbor hood area. The only complaint I have is that by the time lunch comes around I am so tired. This trip is by far very tiresome. We are non-stop right when our feet hit the floor. Sometimes there is so much to do and see that you can't help but to almost fall asleep. An espresso is calling my name just about now.

     When we arrived to the school the students were shooting a project in the filming room. They were putting the "make-up" touches to their sets of food and glasses. There is a music lab, animating lab and film and design lab. These students have so much that they can work with here. They have access to any lab throughout the day. These students go on to be very successful within the design world. Experiencing the differences makes me envious of what these students have. They have creativity around every corner. My education seems to have been confined to the four walls of Capitalism. Not that it is a bad thing. However, I would like to have a more creative education.
      One of their current teachings that they have going on right now is how to be sustainable. The main idea is to be efficient within the systems that one works in so that the systems can be sustainable. When efficiency dwindles, so does the system. I like this saying: Be sustainable.

Porcetta and an Afternoon Walk through Rome

I ended up waking really early and no one was awake to join me. I decided to run a few laps around the campus grounds and found myself taking pictures again of this lovely campus. I have shared many emotions and discoveries on this campus. I have discovered a love of heritage on this campus. I decided to take a leap from everything I knew and understood to examine my life in another country.

 We are in Castel Gandolfo in late May with Walsh University. When my last program ended for the Spring of 2009, none of the olive trees were blooming, none of the kiwi plants were sprouting and the campus barely had a heart beat of spring. My first program ended late April. What a difference one month can make on the growth of life on this campus this May of 2010. I walk around and reintroduce myself to the campus. I love this little private moment I had this morning.


I came back into the lounge area and loaded my pictures up online for my family to view of my experience so far. By this time it was 11 am. I was joined by Dr. Fountain and we chatted about the past few days and what was planned for the day. Since it was the weekend, the Brothers were not supplying any breakfast, lunch or dinner. I asked the others in my group if we could walk up into town and have a Porcetta sandwich for lunch and then go into Rome to walk around. Everyone was up for it.


For anyone that is unsure of what Porcetta is: Porcetta is baby suckling pig roasted to amazing perfection, sliced up and enjoyed on a hard roll bun. This with a bottle of orange Fanta makes for an excellent lunch in my opinion. For lunch the group marched up that god awfully steep hill from campus to the summit of Castel Gandolfo to enjoy lunch. By the time we made it to the square, we were covered in sweat. No need to work out today, we just had our cardio work out walking up that hill.

The group of us with Lago Albano in the background

We all headed into Rome and walked the traditional walk through Rome that everyone from Walsh University does. The walk starts at the Spanish Steps and ends in Vatican Square. Mike, Steve and I pointed out different things to the others about Rome that we loved. We even stopped at the pizza shop just off of Via Octaviano near Vatican Square called Alice to have a piece of potato pizza. I would recommend this to anyone. It was like Rome had never changed and for Mike, Steve and I it was like we never left. The summer group was coming back tonight from their weekend trip in Venice. Our group would finally meet Danilo and for Mike, Steve and I it would be like old times here in Castel Gandolfo.

All Roads Lead to Rome or at least train tracks.

Duomo di Milano

    We checked out of the hotel early to head into the city to see the famed Cathedral of Milan. We ascended the stairs of the subway and just like the Arc di Triumph in Paris or the Coliseum stop in Rome, the church took our breath away. This is the high class neighborhood of famous shopping. Designer labels strut the sidewalks all awhile screaming sophistication at those unable to afford their name. I have to say that this is one of the most exciting piazzas I have walked through. The grande scale of everything is similar to Piazza San Marco in Venice.

The galleries

    The basilica was gorgeous . One of the more interesting things about the church is that St. Bartholomew, the man that was skinned alive is buried in this church. His tomb is below the main alter. There is even a statue of him on the wall near his tomb. It is a great statue to study anatomy from. I walked around and spotted this father lighting candles with his young son. All along the candle area, devoted Catholics or "check the box here" tourists light candles for purposes only in the silence of their own hearts. I call them "check the box here" tourists  because they are the type of tourist that only does certain things to say that they have done them. Doing or taking part in certain things in a city or church without a purpose is something that I do not support or recommend for travelers. Travel and experience with purpose. Do not just check a box and move on. Challenge yourself in new and exciting ways so that when you leave from abroad to come back to what is familiar, you know who you are and what you are all about.

      I lite a few candles for family members and for the dead and walked out. In the piazza a band walked by in full regalia. We wanted to follow after them to see what they were playing for. Instead, we headed back to the hotel gathered our suit cases and headed to the train station. We were taking the fast train to Rome. Termini train station in Rome has nothing on Milan's train station. It is huge. We ended up on the fast train into Rome. I remember when I first boarded one of these trains. I thought that it would go so fast that we would just float into our arrival city. What the imagination can do to virgin experiences such as riding the fast train?! ahahah. The boys were sitting in a car down from us while all the girls were in my car. I was sitting across from Jenn. The two seats next to us were empty. Sara and Laura decided to join us and we had a rousing game of eucre going. The train was making stops in Bologna, Florence and finally Rome. We had enough time to have several rounds going. Now, I just learned how to play at the beginning of this trip. Sara kept calling me out on renigs. That happens when you do not lay down the right card. The game is similar to spades or hearts. We played until Florence when someone came to take Sara and Laura's seats next to us. Laura went to sit out in the connector section because she was not feeling well much to do with the deep conversation last night.
      When we arrived in Rome the familiar hussel and buzzle greated me like it was just yesterday that I left. We had to change to the local train into Castel Gandolfo. It has been a year since I have rode the train into the all too familiar stop of Castel Gandolfo. "Prossima Fermata Castel Gandolfo" the train would announce. I noticed something different from the last time I was here. Conductors were walking through the train checking tickets. Never once was I ever stopped when I was here the previous year to have my ticket checked. I wonder if policy has changed or there are too many people jumping on the train without a ticket. Steve, Mike and I have studied in Castel Gandolfo before. Steve and Mike were part of the 2008 spring group. I was part of the 2009 spring group. On the train into town we were telling the girls how beautiful the area was but the girls could not see it through the rain. We assured them that they would not disappointed when the rain did finally stop. When we arrived to our stop we had to run down to campus in the rain with our suit cases. We had the campus to ourselves for the weekend because the summer group was off on a weekend excursion. It was so nice to be back somewhere that feels safe and welcoming.

Mike playing the guitar

    We decided to head next door to Casale degli Archi for dinner. http://www.casaledegliarchi.it/. The nuns down the road usually make dinner for the Walsh Campus. Since we had arrived on a Friday evening, we would not be having dinner on campus.The Nuns do not make dinner friday-sunday for Walsh. Fortunately, it was nice to head next door for dinner. Mike shared some incriminating stories about Steve. After such a rousing story, rounds were made of the table telling different stories of each other. 
       It was a lovely evening. After dinner, a few of us headed up into town to stop in at Cafe Baruffa or Andre's Bar to grab a drink. http://www.baruffacafe.it/. I had forgotten how crazy it is to walk up this hill. It is barely a quarter of a mile up into town but it take 30 minutes to walk it because it is pretty much at a 90 degree climb up the hill. This place has become the watering hole for Walsh University and for the town's people to gather. This night however, he was not open. We caught a restaurant open and bought a few beers and headed back to campus to play cards and a round of catch phrase. It was nice to be back here.

IL Triennale: Arte Italiana Contemporanea e Design

Today we are headed to walk through the Triennale di Milano contempary Italian design, urban planning, architecture, music, and media arts. It is located in the Palace of Arts building part of the Parco Sempione. We were getting the chance to see how art intermingles with industry and design. Before walking through this museum, I hated contempary art and design. I had a difficult time understanding how art can threaten its boundaries and still be art. This museum gave me the chance to understand the concept of play. Here is a link to the museum: http://www.triennale.org/it/ This is another website describing the museum: http://www.charmingitaly.com/article/triennale-of-milan By far one of the most interesting museums I have walked through. The sad thing about the museum is that we were not allowed to take any photos.
        Many of the exhibits were outrageous. It was like staring into the eyes of a horse only to realize that it was a statue. Lamps were made out of pens and the skeletons hanging in the closets had abnormally long legs. David even made an appearance not in Italian marble but in a miniature plasterer cast. One of the more interesting items on exhibit was a lion made out of wood. Now, that is rather ordinary. However, his hind legs were completely mechanized along with a beating heart and various other organs. There was one item that I could not grasp the concept of at all. It was a plaster oval with the center cut out. In the center hung a piece of medal. When I got closer to the piece, the medal was a punched piece of metal fashioned to look like the country of Italy but hung upside down. I wonder if there was some sort of message behind the piece or just left open for interpretation. One of my favorite rooms housed retro lamps made out of plastic. When we first entered the room the lamps were dimmed to create a certain environment. Half way round the room the lamps were light which created a whole new experience. The lamps were interesting when you first look at them. When they were lite, the appreciation of the lamps created something completely different. They created a different mood and lighting of the room. This is true design.

The Lamborghini models on the track 

   For lunch, we decided to have lunch in the very posh restaurant housed within the museum. I decided to have gnocci with lemon sauce. The restaurant had these cute little stools that you may only find in a high class  Asian restaurant. Piercing white walls decorated with white cutlery and dishes greeted us while we ate.
     After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a change because we were visiting the industrial design section of the Scuola Politecnica di Design http://www.scuoladesign.com/gallery/industrial-design-master/2010/?lang=it. The design school has designed for Lamborghini. The design school is located in one of the most up coming

neighborhoods of Milan. The walls of the design school are painted white so that the projects can stand out. The students have recently developed a project for 3M recycling their cleaning products to create new uses for the recycled remains. They have also developed a plastic couch out of old plastic. At first glance, it did not look like a couch. However, with a flick of a switch an outline of a Victorian couch appeared on the plastic. They showed us a design for a hotel that appears to be a tree overtaking the surrounding buildings. The idea of this project is to overtake run down buildings and re-develop these buildings into new and exciting sites. This way the buildings will not be torn down. The director of the school showed us his award that looked like a protractor. He had to cut his visit with us short. He had his assistant show us around the complex. We were taken to the rooftop terrace to have an espresso. He then pointed out buildings on the campus. One building housed Radio 101 Italy, another was where the most prominent design magazines in Italy and Europe was printed, another building was where the furniture designs were displayed. This area is so intriguing. I love the idea of design that these students are having the chance to tackle while they are pursuing their education at this school. They are involved in many of the most interesting and refreshing ideas. The threatening nature of these new designs to the solid boundaries of what we are comfortable with is what is so intriguing. These new projects create an unfamiliar environment that force our interactions with the project to be more complex.

Milan Trolley cars

    So we headed back to the hotel to have a period to ourselves before dinner. I headed downstairs to use the hotel wifi. I loaded a few picture online and reflected on the day. We leave tomorrow for Castel Gandolfo. I am happy to be returning home to a place that I loved so much but I am sad to leave Milan. I feel that this is the first time that I have been able to experience the region that my grandfather was from. I have this odd feeling that I am being torn away from him. I have never even met him. I bet he would have been a wonderful grandfather. If I am having this bold of emotion over a man I have never met, that backs up my claim.

Bri and I in the club

        For dinner, we settled on a restaurant around the corner of the hotel. The hotel recommended it. I ended up having Spaghetti al'vongule. Jenn and Sara decided to split a plate of octopus before they ordered their pizza. Jenn was funny about her octopus. She said it was too squishy but ate it anyways. By the time Jenn and Sara's pizza came, they were full. Dr. Fountain started telling stories of yester year and how he made his millions in finance. Behind us was this table of happy drunk Germans. We thought that we were loud in the restaurant. They were so much more. The "son" was rather on the drunk side and knocked over their bottle of wine. They laughed it off and continued on with their merriment. The waiter came back and asked us all if we would like a digestivo. I was all over that. One limoncello for me per favore. The girls were not taken by the limoncello and gave me theirs. After dinner we headed to the club/bar that we had a late dinner at. I love this little side street because people gather in the street with their glasses of wine and have the chat outside as well as inside. There is no dancing but the music still plays. The dance is through conversation. This is the root of Italian conversation. The entertainment came when someone got very heated and did the backward hand waving gesture that all Italians are all too familiar with. Capiroskas were ordered in the round and an exercise routine of conversation was laid out by Dr. Fountain. We then developed the conversation into memories. When we decided to go back to the hotel for the night a bill of 34 euros each came to our table. Hmmm, the conversation must have been too deep. But, I would pay it anytime to share memories with the people in my group. On the way back to the hotel, some lovely Italian men stopped me, Bri, Mer and Jenn. They started to speak Italian. I stopped to talk. They didn't want me but my blonde friend. What is with Italian men and American blondes? I asked them why not me? I am Italian? They said they see women like me everyday. Blondes are exotic. Blah!!!

Tuo Vuo' Fa' L'Americano

      I love the song titled Tuo Vuo Fa' L'Americano: translated to So you want to be American. I am American but I love being of Italian decent. My mother is the full blooded Italian. My father is Irish. I have two of the best cultures in my blood. You want to know what you get when an Italian woman and an Irish Man get married and have children? You get gnocci: potato pasta. hahah. Or you get a McWhopper. Now, that is more derogative  I like the first joke. My older brother came up with the second joke one time.
       My grandfather died in July of 1974 of a massive heart attack. My mother was 17 when he passed. His name was Enrico Bardelli or Henry Bardelli jr. His father, Enrico Bardelli Sr.,  was born and lived in Sesto Calende, Italy in the Lombardy regione. His wife, Maria Varalli, was born in Mercallo, just outside of Sesto Calende. The family history/story is that the Bardelli family owned a tree farm on the current Milan Malpensa Airport land. Enrico Sr. was said to have been friends with iL Dulce himself Benito Mussolini. He left the land to his mother and left for America with his wife. His mother gave the land to iL Dulce to use for military land during World War Two. Now, you ask yourself why I am putting this into this blog. Well, my group will be landing at the Milan Malpensa airport from Paris. I will be landing on my ancestors land. This is a surreal moment! I do have a lot of information to back this claim up. I want to visit Sesto Calende to learn more about them. I never knew my grandfather nor did my mother well enough in the 17 years she knew him. One of the reasons why I chose to come on this trip especially is because of the trip to Milan. I wanted to understand the regione of my grandfather and great-grandparents. I feel that traveling to this area will give me the chance to understand the man I was never given the chance to know.

I altered this photo. When I first took this photo I was so taken by the little boy's face focusing on the candle flame. I wish that it was just the boy and his father since of the people in the background. This photo looks like an old advertisement add. The photo was taken in the famous Cathedral. 

      We landed in the middle of a thunderstorm. When the plane wheels touched down the plane skidded to one side. A panicked grasp for the nearest arm rests was triggered. We had to run off the plane and onto a bus to be shuttled to the main terminal. We were meeting Sara, Danilo's new assistant for the Castel Gandolfo Walsh Campus. She was going to be our guide for Milan. We walked through customs and no one stopped us. I wanted a stamp in my passport. I felt like a child when first told that Santa really isn't real. I mopped up my tears and continued on to meet with Sara. Sara told us that we had an hour ride on a bus into the city. I didn't realize that this airport was so far away from the city of Milan. I asked Sara if it were closer to Lago Maggiore and she said yes, about 5 miles away. Holy Crap, I am walking on my family's land. Sorry, it just hit me that I had finally come to my grandfather's land.
     While on the bus I told Sara the story of my great-grandfather as a little boy would sneak onto the trains and travel into Milan to see the Operas with his friend. When he left for American he received a pair of opera glasses from his friend as a memorial to the trips to the Opera. My mother still has these opera glasses. The story behind these glasses is that Mussolini gave him these glasses. They do date from around the turn of the 20th century. My great-grandfather came to America in the early 1900's. We do not have any time to see any opera but I am fascinated with the thought that I am taking the same path into Milan as my great-grandfather did as a little boy.
    We arrived to the hotel and Ron asked if anyone was hungry or wanted a drink. The hotel recommended a small cute little restaurant/ club where we could grab sandwiches and a drink. We sat down around a round table and started chatting about the day. It has been exactly 1 year since I have stepped foot in Italy. It has been one year since I have heard the passionate language swirl around in my ears. And I am loving every minute of it.

1 Titty to Show the World.

Paris Opera House

     For our morning visit, we headed out to Galeries Lafeyette mall. Lafeyette is a six floor competitor of Harrods in London or Macy's in New York. (I have read that it is actually 10 floors. I must have missed some.) On our way to the mall, we passed by the Paris Opera House. This is where the Phantom of the Opera is set. I could almost hear his voice singing to Christine begging her for her love. I would have died if we could have had a tour of the place instead of walk through the mall. Instead, I gave in and decided to see the Paris fashion.
      Lafeyette is directly behind the opera house. Our main purpose of our visit was the atrium design of the building. On our way over I deposited a post card to my Great-Aunt Mary (she was 95 in 2010 when I traveled to Paris). She the only living sister of my deceased Italian Grandmother. Every city I travel to, I always send her a post card. I could never forget Great-Aunt Mary. Out of no where this man dressed in a chicken suit came running up to us and started clucking. Dr. Fountain loved this because it is a good example of entrepreneurship. Honestly,. if you are going to sell yourself like this good for you. Mer became his target. After getting a picture with the chicken, he demanded money. hahah We ran so fast out of there. So funny. A buck can be made doing anything.

The Atrium Glass Ceiling

Below the Artium: the different floors

     Galeries Lafeyette is at least 2 block long as far as I could see. It could have been more. I don't know if I saw it all to tell you the truth. I know that one building is strictly dedicated to men's apparel. The Galeries were finished in 1912 caped by the stunning Art Nouveau steel dome. The stair wells were designed specifically for this location. The Galeries originated as a small fashion haberdasher shop on this very location. The owners bought up the other shops along these block and developed the Galeries Lafeyette.
     To accomplish the overwhelming feat of Galeries Lafeyette, I focused mainly on buying one bottle of Chanel Number 5. If I found anything else, I would think on buying it. Other wise, just like the Louvre, one can get overwhelmed in all of the options of apparel and trinkets. The guys separated from us girls and we set out on finding something of our liking.  We looked at everything imaginable ranging from lingerie to wedding dresses. I ended up buying my parents a typical Eiffel Tour statue and something else. I did find my bottle of Chanel. The other girls bought various bottles of perfume too. 
   We had seen just about every fashion line for this summer's fashion and started to get hungry. We debated where to have lunch then settled to have lunch outside the Galeries. We found this lovely small place that only had 8 tables. We squeezed into the last table next to a book case all the way in the back. The walls were stained with age. The tables have had countless meals shared on their surfaces. The waiter started yelling at a gypsy boy trying to beg for money outside of the restaurant. I love that we were sitting all in way in the back. We had the best view of everything. We all ordered the croque monsieur and drank copious amounts of water to stave off the dehydration from our eucre game and wine last night. Our little story has now added character to the walls of this little place. I love little random places like this. After lunch we headed back to the Galeries to meet up with the boys to head back to the Hotel and head to the airport.

The Sacre' Coeur in the background from Galeries

 
      On the subway back to the hotel the gypsies were at large again. This time it was a trumpet player and most likely his wife. He wasn't that bad of a player. After he finished the usual extension of the cup was held out to everyone on the train. I always put my hand on my bag when they come by on the trains just so I know they haven't taken it. Some of them are real crafty in stealing your items. The wife was the one heading around to everyone. When she walked over to me I got a glimpse that she had a baby in a little carrier in front of her. I never really realize how tall I am until these moments. I peered down at her. She barely was 4' 5". Immediately, I regretted looking down because the baby she was carrying was attached to her breast. She had her breast out to show the world. The baby pulled away for a brief moment from the breast and started to cry. The mother forced the baby onto the breast. Vomit!!!! At this point everyone in our group noticed. Jenn started to gag. Now, don't get me wrong. I support breast feeding and all but I also would rather not have a show in public. No wonder most tourists are turned off by begging. The bad thing about this is that many tourist make bad judgments about the city. This is how many people get turned off by traveling. There are good things about a city. One just has to be brave enough to look beyond the bad judgments.
       We caught the RER back to the airport. We kind of just jumped on the train because we couldn't find a ticket booth that sold the RER tickets. If we didn't jump on the train we would have missed out flight to Milan. So, we are about 5 minutes away from the airport when the porter comes by asking for tickets. We show him our tickets and they were not the correct ones for the RER train. Needless to say we were fined 100 euros and had to buy new tickets. It was such a funny scene because we are all trying to argue with this man that only speaks French. I come over and try my luck at him (Get this: I don't speak French only Spanish and Italian). He grabbed a student's ticket from a guy sitting next to me and showed me RER compared to mine that didn't have the RER. Bloody ticket porter. Needless to say we all were not happy when we arrived to Charles deGuille airport.
       We were flying to Easyjet to Milan Malpensa Airport. Just like Ryanair, Easyjet is mas chaos and does not have assigned seating. It is like a mad dash to the plane. While we were standing in line to board, Dr. Fountain made his way to the front of the line and motioned us all up to join him. As the plane was going down the runway it started to make this awful noise. Jenn, Steve and I looked at each other and crossed ourselves. We thought we wouldn't make it to Italy. We did make it into the air with no problem. As I was sitting