Our first stop in Venice was Rialto Market, where you can buy gorgeous fresh produce, seafood, and various knick knacks. Here's some produce:
Here's some seafood:
After the market we met up with two of my favorite people, Natalie and Sanaz, for lunch. They are now best friends with my mom and will be hanging out with her and not inviting me. I'm pretty sure of it. We had an amazing meal of cheeses, eggplant, pasta with shrimp, and whatever Sanaz ate. Meat sauce?
I miss you already, Nat and Sanaz! After lunch we went to take in some of the sights of Venice. For some reason people are really into touching pigeons there.
We also spent some time in Padova eating gelato and seeing the sights. We both loved Padova because it was quiet and beautiful.
The next day we went back to Venice, ate lunch, and went to a couple museums (oh, and there was gelato, of course)
. I didn't take many pictures there because everyone knows pictures of pictures are boring. We both really enjoyed the Peggy Guggeinheim collection - it had a lot of neat modern art.
That night we had a divine dinner in Padova. Our starter was polenta with some sort of cured ham, mushrooms, and grayed parmesan on top. I had amazing chicken and Mom had lasagna. It was soooooooooooooooo good.
In the morning we strolled around Padova. Such a beautiful town!
On the way back to Torino we spent a couple of hours in Verona. It's a pretty town but very touristy. There's an amphitheater there as well as Juliet's fake balcony. Verona is the setting of Romey & Juliet, but the balcony wasn't added until 1929... I thought the balcony was kinda lame, but all the graffiti from lovers who had passed through was pretty cool. There were also locks to symbolize undying love.
That night we finally arrived in Torino and I took Mom to her first aperitivo. In the morning I took her to Porta Palazzo, which has the largest open-air market in all of Europe. Really!
I took Mom to see my school, followed by lunch and her first Grom experience! (lunch: asparagus risotto and gnocchi in cheese sauce with hazelnuts)
That night my roommates and I took Mom to Eataly. I had steak with potatoes and salad - so delicious.
Mom and I took a trip to Mole Antonelliana, which is the highest building in Turin and its most iconic landmark. We took a trip to the top. So beautiful!
That night we went to a delicious dinner. I realized that despite the title of my blog, I haven't eaten any ravioli... what a crime! So I ordered agnolotti del plin, which is a traditional dish of Piedmont. They're stuffed with different meats like veal, pork, and turkey. Mom had gnocchi with swordfish, and we shared salad and sauteed spinach.
During Mom's last weekend in Italy, we went to Lake Como and stayed in Lezzeno. It's extremely picturesque and one of the most beautiful places I've been in Europe. Sadly, I did not meet George Clooney. :( Oh yeah, it was also really cold!
On our first night in Como, we had an amazing dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Cheese plate, artichokes ala Romana, ravioli stuffed with pear in cheese sauce, delicious fish, and dolci!
We paid a visit to Villa Balbianello, where they apparently filmed Casino Royale and part of Star Wars with Natalie Portman. There was a bit of a hike to get up, but the view was amazing!
After the villa we spent some time wandering around Bellagio, which is the main tourist town on the lake. It's made up of small wandering streets made mostly of stairs. More gelato!
For our last dinner together, we went to a local fish restaurant in Lezzeno. The owner pretty much picked all of our food for us, and it was all amazing. We tried toc, which is polenta mixed with butter and cheese - IT WAS SO GOOD!
On our last day together, we stopped in Como and walked around a bit. The town is small and beautiful. We happened across this tree art thing near the Duomo, which was really neat!
And that's it! I loved having my mom here, and it was so great to travel with her. Now back to reality in Torino..
xo,
R
