Italian Top Cinque

5. Water
One of the few things St. Louis and Prague have in common is that they are landlocked cities with major rivers passing through. As a California kid, sometimes I just need to see some real water. So walking around Venice yesterday was really nice.

4. Costumes
Carnivale!! This is a huge deal in Venice, and while we weren't there for the main weekend (thank god, the crowds would have been extremely overwhelming) we did see the beginnings. People were walking around in costume, especially in St. Mark's Square. Those who went all out would pose for pictures for minutes at a time before moving on. Here's one of my favorite couples:

3. Weather
Sun!! It's gloomy just about every day in Prague, which I think I've mentioned before. So 2+ days of uninterrupted sunlight was amazing. It made everything so much happier, and pictures came out a lot better. It was especially nice from the roof of the Duomo (more to come on that later):

2. Food
This and art were the main reasons Italy was my top country to visit in Europe. The night we arrived in Milan, we lucked out and found one restaurant about to close (just before midnight). If we had been in the Czech Republic, they would have shaken their heads at us, but in Italy, they invited us in and offered to store our luggage. I got penne arrabiata, which is what I usually get at the Cheesecake Factory. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to taste a difference, but it was the BEST pasta I've ever had. We also had some terrific gelato in both cities, espeically in Venice.

The funniest thing we found on the menu was repeated listing of "rocket." We saw rocket salad, and rocket listed as a side for a chicken dish. The Italian word is "rucola," which has two translations in English: 1. Rocket and 2. Arugula. Italians have got to improve their menu translations.

1. The Roof of the Duomo in Milan
This is one of my favorite places in the world. My jaw dropped when I saw the cathedral on Wikipedia last week, and it made me about five times more excited to go to Milan, but I still had no idea how amazing it was going to be. My roommate, Erik, and I walked up really narrow stairs to the roof, and had a ridiculous view. We stayed up there for probably about an hour, walking around almost the entire thing. We were both surprised that they allow people to walk around up there. Now I mentioned a while ago that it was funny walking down a Prague street and hearing Alanis Morrisette. Imagine walking around the roof of one of the world's largest cathedral and hearing construction workers blasting Hillary Duff. I really can only express this place in pictures, so here are a couple more, one of my apt in front and the other of the roof.