Barcelona! Part 1 of Spring Break

The first leg of our trip was Barcelona! Gianna’s best friend from home is studying in Barcelona so we met her there and she acted as our tour guide for the few days we were there. First we went to see the fountain show in one of the main squares, which was beautiful! Then we were off to dinner and a night on the town.

The next morning we stopped by this fascinating basilica called Sagrada Familia by the famous architect Gaudi. It has been under continuous construction for over 100 years and since the original designs burned in a fire it has been finished using other architects best guesses. We met Molly at the church then went to brunch were I got this delicious pear salad.

The beach was next, but we had to walk along the docks to get there and they were filled with a lot of beautiful yachts! The weather was perfect but it looked like a storm was coming in so after grabbing some gelato we went back to the Metro to go to the Picasso museum. We didn’t end up going but we wandered around the neighborhood and saw a seagull viciously kill a pigeon.

A lion near the beach :) 

The beach closest to the center of Barcelona! 

This gorgeous yacht is for rent, so if anyone feels like taking a cruise I'm more than up for accompanying them! 

The famous steps in the park! 

Climbing up to this beautiful park was the next thing on our list! The view of the city was amazing and the structures in the park were interesting and pretty in a unique way. Overall it was a perfect way to spend a few hours.

That night we ate dinner and crashed to get up early the next morning and go to Lisbon (which was my favorite of the stops, Paris being a close second)! 

A Brief Update!

             I just got home tonight from my Spring Break trip. We hit up Barcelona in Spain, Lisbon in Portugal, and Paris in France! Highlights of the trip include dancing the night away in Barcelona, surfing in Portugal, and having a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower! Soon I will be putting up a lot more posts about all of those things and much much more! Don’t worry, there will be lots of pictures too!

Modena

Yesterday we got up bright and early to head to Modena! It is located a little less than 2 hours north of Florence and is known for its Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Our group was divided into two and we ended up going to Acetaia Malpighi which is a family owned operation that makes the famous balsamic vinegar.

The building :) It was smaller than expected

            They gave us a tour of the upstairs first, which is where they keep the vinegar to age it. They don’t keep it in a cellar or manage the temperature and humidity because they think that the different seasons and changes allow it to mature more fully and give it a better flavor.

The cloth over the opening prevents dust or other particles from entering. 

            These barrels are full of the vinegar. The larger barrels in the back are where they put the freshly pressed vinegar, basically juice of the grape that has been heated or not depending on the vinegar type. The barrel has an opening on the top to allow the air to circulate and as the year goes by about 10% of the liquid will evaporate. The smaller the barrel the older and more concentrated the vinegar is. So they will bottle some of the liquid in the smaller barrel then refill it with the next size barrels vinegar and so on until the vinegar from the largest barrel has been aged sufficiently to make it to the smaller barrel. The woman giving us the tour described how what type of barrel you use is a big factor in the overall aroma and taste of the vinegar.

The small barrels on the shelf were over 50 years old!

The oldest vinegar goes through several barrels made of different woods and so picks up that flavor and aroma. The age of the barrel also can be of value. The smallest barrel that she was using to explain the process was over 100 years old and because it had been used for that long it was worth upwards of $40,000. When the old barrel starts to leak or breaks somehow instead of buying a new barrel they will just create a second one around it so that the original is still inside and adding it’s flavor to the vinegar.

It can only be considered "Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena" if it is in a bottle and packaged like this. The Gold top means that it has been aged for 25 years and the yellow one for 12. Only one group (or person?) can bottle it in these containers with this label so if you want to put it in this bottle you have to have a special taster come and taste the vinegar before it can be bottled and be a part of the group. 

            After that, we were brought downstairs to the tasting room. I was a little hesitant about trying the vinegar since I had only had the cheap grocery store vinegar but it was WONDERFUL. Oh my goodness SO GOOD! I had no idea balsamic vinegar could taste that good! I would have bought everything except the cheapest bottle was about 10 E and the most expensive was about 75 E…. However I did splurge and got a few things to take home J. Who knew you could just have the vinegar plain and love it? It was almost like having candy. And the chocolate with balsamic vinegar we tried was to die for, however a small box was 10 E. Anyway, moral of the story is if you are going to Italy stop in Modena for the Traditional balsamic Vinegar tastings. I promise you it will be worth it. Just make sure you haven’t spent all your money yet ;) Good news though is that they take credit card!

We got to taste everything on the table! The only thing I didn't like was the spread. 

           

            After that tour we went to the Ferrari Museum. This was fun and cool to look around but since I know absolutely nothing about cars, especially nice ones, it wasn’t as fun as the tasting earlier. I can’t really say all that much more since I have no idea really what I was looking at besides really nice cars…. Oh and that our group only stood out a tiny bit as we were all girls in our 20s mixed in among the very expensively dressed middle aged men with their wives. The gift shop made money on us at least! Model cars is about all any of us could afford.

If you're interested, I have a lot more pictures of cars that I don't really know what they are. This one was my favorite. 

Roommates! 

           

            At the end of the day we had a little time to explore the town but since it was siesta not much was open. We ended up having a nice lunch and then heading back to Florence.

A Portion of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens

Sunday was such a gorgeous day, crystal clear blue skies and a warm sun, that I decided I had to go out and do something! Since I haven’t been to the Palazzo Pitti and only to the Boboli Gardens briefly I decided to spend the day exploring there. However I didn’t realize just how big Palazzo Pitti was! The mansion started out as the residence of the Grand-Dukes of Tuscany and then later became the residence for the King of Italy. However it has now been turned into a museum and the backdrop of beautiful rooms with painted ceilings only competes with the items displayed.

I ended up just going to the Costume museum (mostly because I got lost and was herded towards it and also I wanted to get outside!). The costumes were displayed in a series of rooms on the “second” floor, which in Italy means about four or five flights up. I can’t even begin to picture how big this place is when the rooms that I saw were only a small portion of the entire place! 

One of my favorites!

Just look at how decorated that room is! I couldn't decide if I should look at the room or the cape!

Anyway, moving on to the exhibit! The dresses were fun to look at and they had a huge section on hats, which apparently they have a large collection of and are just now putting on display. The hats were crazy and unique, fun to look at but hard to picture ever wearing.

After that I found my way out of the Palace and into the gardens. For those of you from Midland, they remind me a lot of Dow Gardens. If you just add some more fountains and estately (I’m making that a word) landscaping you would have the same thing. It was beautiful and a nice break from the city landscape. It was a perfect day for this as all the green reminded me of summer in Michigan while the fresh crisp air reminded me of spring. It was good to breathe in some fresh, clean air after smelling the slight taint of pollution for so long.

I’ve been missing greenery a lot lately but didn’t realize it until I found this nice patch of forest on a side path where I could convince myself I was back at home in a Michigan forest. It was perfect and I ended up sitting there for a half hour or so.

Just look at all those flowers! The fields were covered in them and all the people laying on blankets in those fields made it very picturesque! 

Then, as I meandered farther along I found this field covered in spring flowers with this gorgeous view! Who could beat that??

 I sat there for an hour until I felt I should head back home to grab a snack before going to see the sunset at Piazza Michelangelo.

I’ve written a previous post about this spot, but basically it’s this square with a great view of the city. The sunset was pretty but I want to try and go back when there are more clouds so that it’s even better. A musician was playing on the steps and I listened to her as I watched the sun go down.

Over all it was a beautiful day filled with lovely vistas.