Il compleanno di Christie and other adventures

Today was the birthday of sweet Christie of Borgo San Jacopo, 5. She turned 2o. That's right. 20. A baby. But it was so fun to celebrate in a new place with such fantastic people! Because it was a birthday and we're in Italy, we had to do lots of new and exciting things.

1) We took a cab to Italian class this morning. Okay, maybe that wasn't a decision categorized as a birthday girl privilege, but the birthday girl lives with a gimp. Amy has a hurt foot, and Italian class is about a 30 minute walk. Christie and I decided we would be willing to make a sacrifice and ride with her to the molto Italiano, tres cool pasticceria around the corner from the university where we have our Italian class for a birthday cappuccino and pastry before heading to class. Don't worry, I virtually ate a sugar donut filled with chocolate creme. It was an exceptional start to an exceptional day.

2) I tried a new panino for lunch with MR and Margaret. The Oil Shoppe. Packed with Americans but was cheap, satisfying, and offered whole-wheat bread. Plus, they press their panini! That doesn't happen everywhere, but it is certainly a perk. Not my favorite panino I have had so far, but I definitely left happy and full!

3) Bought a tub of gelato (Cantina's cookies flavor, one of Christie's favorites)--with complementary cones--to hide in the freezer for post birthday dinner celebrations. It was so fun to make ice cream cones in our kitchen with gelato and sweet friends. Learned also that gelato from Cantina tastes divine even after being re-frozen in our freezer. You learn something new everyday!

4) Had aperitivi--an Italian tradition where restaurants offer appetizers and munchies with the order of one drink. You pay between 5 and 8 euros for your drink and then have unlimited snacks. Aperitivi usually happens from about 7pm-9pm. We went to a spot in the Piazza Santo Spirito around the corner, and Cate, our Italian roommate, joined us along with Mary Raine and Margaret. We powered through not one, not two, but four plates of the food. But fear not, there were seven of us regazze (girls) working on it...right Caroline?? ;) Had a delightful time despite the staff probably thinking we were fools. Looking forward to trying some other spots!

5) Christie, Caroline, and I went to the Secret Bakery after dinner and ice cream cones and nutella-espresso cupcakes. The Secret Bakery is a bakery that opens up its back doors in the middle of the night and serves the freshest baked treats of the day straight from the kitchen as they prepare their stock for their opening in the morning. I've been dying to try it out but we hadn't made it there yet. We had some good news and some bad news in this endeavor.

Good News:

• We found the Secret Bakery and only had to reference a map twice--it's up a bridge and just across the river from us.
  
• The entire dark, narrow alley that the Secret Bakery is on smells out of this world good.
• There was no line at 12:30am.

Bad News:

• Although a baker came to the door when we knocked, they apparently weren't serving until 2:00am.
• We forgot to pull out the "But it's her birthday!" card.

We were discouraged but not defeated and plan to venture to the secret bakery once again very soon. I'll let you know what sort of news we get next time.

All in all, it was a great day! Now I am going to get some sleep so that I can be ready to crack down on my Italian tomorrow in preparation for our first quiz...!!

Ciao for now!
Grace

**POST TO COME ABOUT CHIANTI BIKE TOUR AND SIENA SOON (waiting to get pictures developed from temporary disposable camera)