March 26, 2025 • 19 mins
Ten episodes in and 250 downloads spread across eight countries later, we're celebrating with blueberry cornbread and reflections on our Italian adventure! Taking you with us through the cobblestone streets of Rome, Florence, and Venice, we unpack what surprised us most about Esteban's first European journey.
From duck pasta to eggplant parmesan, we dive into our favorite meals and special moments - like finding shelter from rain in a cozy Florentine café, savoring cappuccinos and citrus cake while watching the world go by. Perhaps most meaningful were the unhurried family moments between destinations, reminding us that sometimes the best travel souvenirs are the connections strengthened along the way.
Having transformed Esteban from reluctant traveller to world explorer with 17 countries under his belts in just four years, he's already dreaming about his next adventure.
Where should we go next? Drop your suggestions in our Instagram DMs @HoopsandCrumbs
Have a question for us to ask each other? We’d love to hear it!
Follow us on Instagram @hoopsandcrumbs and share your thoughts! We are always looking for questions to ask each other on the #doubledouble
https://www.instagram.com/hoopsandcrumbs?igsh=MTBmNjFkOTBueGE2NQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to Hoops and Crumbs with the Browns, the
podcast where life lessons arebaked in like chocolate chips.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm Esteban Brown and I'm Maria Brown Together, we're
talking basketball, life andeverything in between.
Whether we're dunking on thecourt or in the milk, there's
always something cooking.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
So grab a snack and tune in.
So before we talk about ourcrumbs, we need to celebrate our
10th podcast episode.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
This has been such a fun journey so far.
We are 10 episodes in almost250 downloads so far and
listened to in eight countriescanada, us, italy, uk, mexico,
india, panama and japan.
You deserve a slice ofsomething yummy.
Este Esteban Yep.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Congratulations to us .
And I'm celebrating with aslice of blueberry cornbread.
So I've got the cornbread righthere.
Mom, do you want to sayanything about it, because
you're the one that made it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, Listeners, Esteban is enjoying a slice of
cornbread buttered up, slightlysweetened, a little bit crispy
on the top.
Ezi, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh, it's good.
I mean, I'm not the biggest, Ithink you like it a bit more
than I do, but it is good yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Good, we'll try something different next time.
So, a quick basketball questionto tee us up for the main topic
.
And there's a hint in thisbasketball question as to what
we're talking about esteban, whowas the first nba player from
italy to play basketball well,uh, I do know that palo bancaro
(02:01):
on Orlando Magic or Logic, orLogic Raptors.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I know he's Italian born, but he's not the first.
The first was, I think it was aRaptors player Drafted first
overall 2007, andrea BargnaniBargnani Bargnani.
I think it was Andrea BargnaniBargnani Bargnani.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I think it was Andrea Bargnani.
You got to dig a little bitdeeper into the vault for the
answer.
It would be Stefano Rusconi.
Who is that?
He became the first Italianraised player to play in the NBA
as a Phoenix Sun.
He was drafted on November 12th1995.
Huh, I have never heardth 1995.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Huh, I have never heard of that guy.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
No, neither have I.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, that was a good question to kind of segue us
into the topic.
We missed a week of podcastingbecause we're away.
We were preparing for, you know, a lot of big vacation coming
up.
Mom, do you want to tell themwhere we went?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
We went to Italy.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So we had to learn, you know, how to pack for a
different kind of vacation,right, like I'm used to either
having to pack tropical, likewhen we go down to South America
or Central America, you knowhaving to pack for a bit warmer
weather If we go to, like, newYork, I know what to pack for
(03:31):
there.
But you know, I've never beento Europe, I've never been to
Italy, so I guess I kind of hadto learn a new style of packing,
yeah, which is just kind ofcomfort, I guess comfort style,
because I really only broughtsweatpants, a couple pairs of
baggy jeans and one pair ofshorts.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, would you say, those are your packing
essentials.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think those are my packing essentials.
I think it varies based onwhere we're going, but generally
those are pretty good stuff topack's, pretty good stuff to
pack, like for most trips.
Cool, what are your packingessentials?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
My packing essentials .
Well, I always like to puteverything in a packing cube,
and our clothes have to beversatile, so these are things
that should be worn from day tonight, with lots of different
little layers.
I like to make a spreadsheet ofall of our activities that
we're doing so that I can planoutfits around everything we
have booked, and I love to use alight sweater as a scarf.
(04:33):
That's my little trick.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Actually, I have one more packing essential that I
forgot.
What'd you forget?
You can't forget the shoes.
No, that's right.
I do like to bring a lot ofshoes with us when we go on
vacation.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I agree it's.
Even though we're just livingout of suitcases, it's still
important to look and feel yourbest.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, exactly, you know well, especially because
you're exploring a new place.
You just want to feel like youhave that kind of comfortable
attitude with your you knowlittle pep in your step.
You got it, and I think agreatly designed or greatly
(05:14):
inspired outfit brings a littlepep to your step.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It definitely makes you feel good.
So was there anything thatsurprised you about Italian
style?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
To be honest, nothing really surprised me about
Italian style.
If I had to say, though, Iwould say how small sports is
there?
It's not like, like here,there's no match.
Like you, there's people that,like, dedicate their life to
sports.
People love sports here, mm hmm, like I love sports, but in
(05:44):
Italy, like you, don't reallysee much about sports.
I only really heard of onesoccer team, and it was venice
uh, fb or venice fc, and they'rethe.
Where they play isn't even invenice.
They have like a separateisland where they actually play.
(06:04):
So, like it's not really theydon't treat sports like we do
here.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, that was pretty cool to see boating past the
soccer club, or the footballclub as they would call it.
Yeah, okay, cool.
Well, we landed in Canada andjust jumped right into school
and work, so we haven't had achance to look back on our trip
too much.
So what do you say?
We do that now.
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'll ask the first question what landmark impressed
you the most?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
That's a good one For our listeners.
Just for a bit of background,we went to Rome, florence and
Venice, so we did get to see alot of beautiful things.
I think probably going to theVatican City was the most
impactful.
It was very beautiful, ofcourse, with so much history,
(06:55):
but it really was justincredible to see all the art
and all the intricate work thatgoes into the Vatican City and
also just to think of how old itis and that they had so many
beautiful things so long ago.
What about you?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, obviously the Vatican City is probably my
favorite landmark, or you knowmy favorite, I guess, landmark,
I don't know why I said that Ithink, aside from Vatican City,
probably Doge Palace.
I really love Doge Palace.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That was beautiful.
Do you remember where that was?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Venice.
Yeah, it's very beautiful, sodecorative and elegant.
The marble carve-outs in thewalls of the angels and the
golds, and the beautiful viewover into the water of Venice,
(07:53):
it's all very beautiful, it'spretty special.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Well, what was your first impression of Italy?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
My first impression of Italy.
Well, my first real impressionof Italy was why it was so
tropical.
We saw a lot of palm treescoming out of the airport and I
didn't expect to see that.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, the greenery is so diverse.
Yeah, there's every sort oftree that can be imagined.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
But I think my first real impression of Italy was
it's a tough one, yeah, I thinkjust the architecture very
ancient kind of renaissancecolonial it's all very beautiful
but there's just nothing youwould see like that back home.
So it's very interesting to seehow they kept that same
(08:44):
architecture through basicallyall of recorded time.
They've had that type ofarchitecture and they've never
wanted to change it.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, I think someone someone in our tour group said
that it was like walking throughhistory, and I agree.
Yeah, that was a greatobservation.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So now your turn.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
No, I already asked you.
I just asked oh yeah, what am?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I saying so, uh, I guess now my turn.
Uh, what will you miss the mostabout italy, aside from the
chinese food?
Speaker 1 (09:15):
aside from the chinese food, haha.
Um, I think I will miss thefeeling of exploration and
seeing something new, becausecertainly when you travel, it's
always a really nice treat to beable to see something
unexpected.
We visited a few other smallertowns other than Rome, florence
(09:37):
and Venice, so it was nice tosee how small towns were in
Italy.
And I also just miss havingtime with my family, you know,
just having time to enjoybreakfast or sit in a bus
talking about the sights or justrelaxing together.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yeah, yeah, this is all great.
Yeah, what will you miss themost?
Oh, you know, I think justexploring, seeing new places,
very beautiful place, yeah, justexploring generally.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, did you have a favorite meal?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Did I have a favorite meal, aside from the burritos?
I would have to say tough one.
Our first day in Florence, orthe first night in florence, we
had that really good uh, theduck pasta and the steak and the
ravioli.
(10:36):
You, you probably remember whatthat place is called.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I don't oh, we did.
When we went to, um, we went toa place called, oh, in florence
, uh, treteria zaza.
Yes, that's where we went.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
That was delicious also in rome, uh, wherever we
got that, I don't remember whatit was called either, but the
eggplant, the eggplant parmesanand the, the carbonara which I
had.
It was all great.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
That was so delicious .
But are you, are you, uh Jones,in for some pasta now?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I don't think, I'm just uh, waiting to dive into
the pasta just yet.
Uh, you know, we'll see in thefuture if I want pasta.
But uh, kind of tired of thepasta pizza lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's so funny.
Okay, what question do you havefor me?
What?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
is your favorite town that we stopped off at.
So she mentioned that westopped off, or we went to
florence, venice and rome, butin between, uh, each city, we
stopped off at little towns thatyou know we just took a couple
hours to explore.
So, uh, we went to a cz orvieto, uh, padova yeah and
(11:54):
bologna, which, uh, bologna orbologna, was actually not
invented in the town of bologna,but you know what was what?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
was it par?
We should actually have tastedsome of our cheese on this that
would have been pretty good ifwe tried the cheese.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Because we did bring home some Parmesan cheese 36
month old cheese.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yep, it's going to be good.
So, my favorite town of all ofthat I think I really loved.
Of the small towns, I thinkAssisi was probably my favorite
of all of that.
I think I really loved.
Um.
Of the small towns, I thinkAssisi was my probably my
favorite.
Um, the colors were so soft.
It was like every shade ofyellow, like butter yellow,
bright yellow, very faint yellow, into beige.
(12:43):
Um, and I I loved thepeacefulness of it.
It seemed, uh, seemed, veryserene there.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
What about you?
I think I really liked Corvieto.
It's very beautiful, verycalming, peaceful town.
It's right on top of a mountain, so you look out.
You see all the other cities,all the other towns at the
bottom, very very beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
It was pretty, I agree, and they had pretty good
strawberries.
Would you go back to any ofthose places that we visited
again, just the little towns orthe big cities Anywhere?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Anything that you saw in the last two weeks, I think,
um, I would want to visitflorence again, because we
didn't really get, uh, to seeall of it um, while we were
there.
Uh, what's the river called?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
The Arno.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
The Arno Flooded, so they actually closed down the
city.
There's nothing to see.
The museums got closed, therestaurants got closed.
We didn't even get to go toPisa, because they closed Pisa
as well, because of how rainyand floody it was.
That was a bummer for sure.
(14:02):
Yeah, I would go back toFlorence.
I think I liked Florence themost.
We also had probably also oneof my favorite meals there,
which was just like it was rainyand we wanted a snack, so we
stopped off at this little cafeand it was very good.
Oh yes, we had two cappuccinosand you had some sort of cake.
(14:33):
I think it was lemon cake orsomething.
What did I have?
You had like a lemon or orangecake, something like that it was
a citrusy cake.
I remember that, yes, and I hada blackberry tart cake,
something like that.
It was a citrusy cake.
I remember that, yes, and I hada blackberry tart, which was
very good, and I think it wasnot only nice Sorry, not only
(14:53):
one of my favorites just becauseof the food, but also because
of the conditions, like a bitrainy outside, but you could
still see people walking by andit was, you know, nice and
soothing inside.
Yeah, I think it was calledGili, f-a-gili, gili, gili or
(15:14):
Gili, I don't remember G-I-L-I.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it was highly recommended, yeah, highly
recommended, and I wouldabsolutely love to go again.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, yeah, highly recommended and we would.
I would absolutely love to goagain.
Yeah, um, but aside from but,but aside from that, I also just
loved the atmosphere offlorence, how I kind of combined
the exploration part, whereit's like you know, you want to
see these old, beautifulcathedrals and and the basilica
and and this bridge that wasmade like thousands of years,
(15:44):
like it was.
It combines that with also,like the luxury that we also
love, yeah, like we love newyork because of the luxury and
the shopping and and seeing allthe bright lights and stuff.
Like that's why people love newyork, yeah, because it's such a
luxurious.
It combines kind of thatessence along with the essence
(16:07):
of Venice, where it's like theold architecture and the
beautiful buildings and thegrand color schemes and
everything and the history.
It combines both and I think itjust clashes very well.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, it was pretty special.
Was there something unique thatyou picked up while you were
there?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I got.
Let me see if I can remember itoff the top of my head because
I know you will know what it'scalled.
I got a cologne from the brand.
I want to say somethingSiciliana.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Santa Maria Novella.
Santa Maria Novella.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Santa Maria Novella, I got a cologne that they only
sell in Italy, I'm pretty sure.
It's very special yeah it's avery special cologne.
You probably wouldn't find itback home and you know it smells
nice.
It smells very fruity andelegant and I like to smell kind
(17:05):
of citrusy.
Yeah, I think that's my smell.
So it's, it's, it's a greatgreat smell, great great scent
yeah, it was a nice treat yeah,uh.
So yeah, this, you know, thistalk kind of makes me want to
book another vacation.
So where's our next?
Where's our next trip?
(17:27):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I don't know.
I think I'm ready for another.
Another tropical destination.
Need some more snorkeling in mylife.
What about you?
What do you think?
Well, obviously there's beentalks about Costa Rica.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
But also, you know, I like to also kind of stick with
what we already do.
So you know, um, new yorkcruise, florida, all sounds nice
to me as well.
But you know, whatever you guysdecide, I'll be grateful to be
along the journey for well, it'sa pretty big world.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
There's a lot for us to see.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I'm so happy that you've caught the travel bug,
though yeah, I mean, up until acouple years ago, I didn't
really want to travel.
You really didn't?
I hated planes, I hated theidea of flying.
I I'd only been to what twocountries like gen, I think.
I had four countries.
I'd only been to four countriesbefore.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I really started traveling.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I'd only been to four countries, and now and now,
I've been to 17.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
All right.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
And I only started traveling.
Well, one's the first time.
We went to Mexico Four yearsago.
Maybe Four years ago I onlyMexico Four years ago.
Maybe Four years ago I onlystarted traveling four years ago
.
So in the last four years I'veseen 13 different countries.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
You've done a pretty good job.
I don't even know if you.
I don't even know if I've gotthat many.
I'll have to take time to count.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, I mean you probably have.
I think you'd have to, becausewe would have gone to those
countries together, you're right, because we would have gone to
those countries together, you'reright.
So you probably have that ormore Well, listeners.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
if you've got any ideas for trips that we should
add to our list, please drop inon our DMs on Instagram at Hoops
and Crumbs and we will be sureto add them to our travel list
ideas.
Hopefully we get some ideasfrom folks out there.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, join us next time for more Hoops and Crumbs
on Apple Podcasts, spotify,amazon Music and anywhere else
you can find your favoritepodcasts.
We talk basketball cookies andshare other random life musings
Till next time.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.
Welcome to Hoops and Crumbs with the Browns, the
podcast where life lessons arebaked in like chocolate chips.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm Esteban Brown and I'm Maria Brown Together, we're
talking basketball, life andeverything in between.
Whether we're dunking on thecourt or in the milk, there's
always something cooking.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
So grab a snack and tune in.
So before we talk about ourcrumbs, we need to celebrate our
10th podcast episode.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
This has been such a fun journey so far.
We are 10 episodes in almost250 downloads so far and
listened to in eight countriescanada, us, italy, uk, mexico,
india, panama and japan.
You deserve a slice ofsomething yummy.
Este Esteban Yep.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Congratulations to us .
And I'm celebrating with aslice of blueberry cornbread.
So I've got the cornbread righthere.
Mom, do you want to sayanything about it, because
you're the one that made it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, Listeners, Esteban is enjoying a slice of
cornbread buttered up, slightlysweetened, a little bit crispy
on the top.
Ezi, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh, it's good.
I mean, I'm not the biggest, Ithink you like it a bit more
than I do, but it is good yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Good, we'll try something different next time.
So, a quick basketball questionto tee us up for the main topic
.
And there's a hint in thisbasketball question as to what
we're talking about esteban, whowas the first nba player from
italy to play basketball well,uh, I do know that palo bancaro
(02:01):
on Orlando Magic or Logic, orLogic Raptors.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I know he's Italian born, but he's not the first.
The first was, I think it was aRaptors player Drafted first
overall 2007, andrea BargnaniBargnani Bargnani.
I think it was Andrea BargnaniBargnani Bargnani.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I think it was Andrea Bargnani.
You got to dig a little bitdeeper into the vault for the
answer.
It would be Stefano Rusconi.
Who is that?
He became the first Italianraised player to play in the NBA
as a Phoenix Sun.
He was drafted on November 12th1995.
Huh, I have never heardth 1995.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Huh, I have never heard of that guy.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
No, neither have I.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, that was a good question to kind of segue us
into the topic.
We missed a week of podcastingbecause we're away.
We were preparing for, you know, a lot of big vacation coming
up.
Mom, do you want to tell themwhere we went?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
We went to Italy.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So we had to learn, you know, how to pack for a
different kind of vacation,right, like I'm used to either
having to pack tropical, likewhen we go down to South America
or Central America, you knowhaving to pack for a bit warmer
weather If we go to, like, newYork, I know what to pack for
(03:31):
there.
But you know, I've never beento Europe, I've never been to
Italy, so I guess I kind of hadto learn a new style of packing,
yeah, which is just kind ofcomfort, I guess comfort style,
because I really only broughtsweatpants, a couple pairs of
baggy jeans and one pair ofshorts.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, would you say, those are your packing
essentials.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think those are my packing essentials.
I think it varies based onwhere we're going, but generally
those are pretty good stuff topack's, pretty good stuff to
pack, like for most trips.
Cool, what are your packingessentials?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
My packing essentials .
Well, I always like to puteverything in a packing cube,
and our clothes have to beversatile, so these are things
that should be worn from day tonight, with lots of different
little layers.
I like to make a spreadsheet ofall of our activities that
we're doing so that I can planoutfits around everything we
have booked, and I love to use alight sweater as a scarf.
(04:33):
That's my little trick.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Actually, I have one more packing essential that I
forgot.
What'd you forget?
You can't forget the shoes.
No, that's right.
I do like to bring a lot ofshoes with us when we go on
vacation.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I agree it's.
Even though we're just livingout of suitcases, it's still
important to look and feel yourbest.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, exactly, you know well, especially because
you're exploring a new place.
You just want to feel like youhave that kind of comfortable
attitude with your you knowlittle pep in your step.
You got it, and I think agreatly designed or greatly
(05:14):
inspired outfit brings a littlepep to your step.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It definitely makes you feel good.
So was there anything thatsurprised you about Italian
style?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
To be honest, nothing really surprised me about
Italian style.
If I had to say, though, Iwould say how small sports is
there?
It's not like, like here,there's no match.
Like you, there's people that,like, dedicate their life to
sports.
People love sports here, mm hmm, like I love sports, but in
(05:44):
Italy, like you, don't reallysee much about sports.
I only really heard of onesoccer team, and it was venice
uh, fb or venice fc, and they'rethe.
Where they play isn't even invenice.
They have like a separateisland where they actually play.
(06:04):
So, like it's not really theydon't treat sports like we do
here.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, that was pretty cool to see boating past the
soccer club, or the footballclub as they would call it.
Yeah, okay, cool.
Well, we landed in Canada andjust jumped right into school
and work, so we haven't had achance to look back on our trip
too much.
So what do you say?
We do that now.
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'll ask the first question what landmark impressed
you the most?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
That's a good one For our listeners.
Just for a bit of background,we went to Rome, florence and
Venice, so we did get to see alot of beautiful things.
I think probably going to theVatican City was the most
impactful.
It was very beautiful, ofcourse, with so much history,
(06:55):
but it really was justincredible to see all the art
and all the intricate work thatgoes into the Vatican City and
also just to think of how old itis and that they had so many
beautiful things so long ago.
What about you?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, obviously the Vatican City is probably my
favorite landmark, or you knowmy favorite, I guess, landmark,
I don't know why I said that Ithink, aside from Vatican City,
probably Doge Palace.
I really love Doge Palace.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That was beautiful.
Do you remember where that was?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Venice.
Yeah, it's very beautiful, sodecorative and elegant.
The marble carve-outs in thewalls of the angels and the
golds, and the beautiful viewover into the water of Venice,
(07:53):
it's all very beautiful, it'spretty special.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Well, what was your first impression of Italy?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
My first impression of Italy.
Well, my first real impressionof Italy was why it was so
tropical.
We saw a lot of palm treescoming out of the airport and I
didn't expect to see that.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, the greenery is so diverse.
Yeah, there's every sort oftree that can be imagined.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
But I think my first real impression of Italy was
it's a tough one, yeah, I thinkjust the architecture very
ancient kind of renaissancecolonial it's all very beautiful
but there's just nothing youwould see like that back home.
So it's very interesting to seehow they kept that same
(08:44):
architecture through basicallyall of recorded time.
They've had that type ofarchitecture and they've never
wanted to change it.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, I think someone someone in our tour group said
that it was like walking throughhistory, and I agree.
Yeah, that was a greatobservation.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So now your turn.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
No, I already asked you.
I just asked oh yeah, what am?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I saying so, uh, I guess now my turn.
Uh, what will you miss the mostabout italy, aside from the
chinese food?
Speaker 1 (09:15):
aside from the chinese food, haha.
Um, I think I will miss thefeeling of exploration and
seeing something new, becausecertainly when you travel, it's
always a really nice treat to beable to see something
unexpected.
We visited a few other smallertowns other than Rome, florence
(09:37):
and Venice, so it was nice tosee how small towns were in
Italy.
And I also just miss havingtime with my family, you know,
just having time to enjoybreakfast or sit in a bus
talking about the sights or justrelaxing together.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yeah, yeah, this is all great.
Yeah, what will you miss themost?
Oh, you know, I think justexploring, seeing new places,
very beautiful place, yeah, justexploring generally.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, did you have a favorite meal?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Did I have a favorite meal, aside from the burritos?
I would have to say tough one.
Our first day in Florence, orthe first night in florence, we
had that really good uh, theduck pasta and the steak and the
ravioli.
(10:36):
You, you probably remember whatthat place is called.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I don't oh, we did.
When we went to, um, we went toa place called, oh, in florence
, uh, treteria zaza.
Yes, that's where we went.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
That was delicious also in rome, uh, wherever we
got that, I don't remember whatit was called either, but the
eggplant, the eggplant parmesanand the, the carbonara which I
had.
It was all great.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
That was so delicious .
But are you, are you, uh Jones,in for some pasta now?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I don't think, I'm just uh, waiting to dive into
the pasta just yet.
Uh, you know, we'll see in thefuture if I want pasta.
But uh, kind of tired of thepasta pizza lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's so funny.
Okay, what question do you havefor me?
What?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
is your favorite town that we stopped off at.
So she mentioned that westopped off, or we went to
florence, venice and rome, butin between, uh, each city, we
stopped off at little towns thatyou know we just took a couple
hours to explore.
So, uh, we went to a cz orvieto, uh, padova yeah and
(11:54):
bologna, which, uh, bologna orbologna, was actually not
invented in the town of bologna,but you know what was what?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
was it par?
We should actually have tastedsome of our cheese on this that
would have been pretty good ifwe tried the cheese.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Because we did bring home some Parmesan cheese 36
month old cheese.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yep, it's going to be good.
So, my favorite town of all ofthat I think I really loved.
Of the small towns, I thinkAssisi was probably my favorite
of all of that.
I think I really loved.
Um.
Of the small towns, I thinkAssisi was my probably my
favorite.
Um, the colors were so soft.
It was like every shade ofyellow, like butter yellow,
bright yellow, very faint yellow, into beige.
(12:43):
Um, and I I loved thepeacefulness of it.
It seemed, uh, seemed, veryserene there.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
What about you?
I think I really liked Corvieto.
It's very beautiful, verycalming, peaceful town.
It's right on top of a mountain, so you look out.
You see all the other cities,all the other towns at the
bottom, very very beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
It was pretty, I agree, and they had pretty good
strawberries.
Would you go back to any ofthose places that we visited
again, just the little towns orthe big cities Anywhere?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Anything that you saw in the last two weeks, I think,
um, I would want to visitflorence again, because we
didn't really get, uh, to seeall of it um, while we were
there.
Uh, what's the river called?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
The Arno.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
The Arno Flooded, so they actually closed down the
city.
There's nothing to see.
The museums got closed, therestaurants got closed.
We didn't even get to go toPisa, because they closed Pisa
as well, because of how rainyand floody it was.
That was a bummer for sure.
(14:02):
Yeah, I would go back toFlorence.
I think I liked Florence themost.
We also had probably also oneof my favorite meals there,
which was just like it was rainyand we wanted a snack, so we
stopped off at this little cafeand it was very good.
Oh yes, we had two cappuccinosand you had some sort of cake.
(14:33):
I think it was lemon cake orsomething.
What did I have?
You had like a lemon or orangecake, something like that it was
a citrusy cake.
I remember that, yes, and I hada blackberry tart cake,
something like that.
It was a citrusy cake.
I remember that, yes, and I hada blackberry tart, which was
very good, and I think it wasnot only nice Sorry, not only
(14:53):
one of my favorites just becauseof the food, but also because
of the conditions, like a bitrainy outside, but you could
still see people walking by andit was, you know, nice and
soothing inside.
Yeah, I think it was calledGili, f-a-gili, gili, gili or
(15:14):
Gili, I don't remember G-I-L-I.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it was highly recommended, yeah, highly
recommended, and I wouldabsolutely love to go again.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, yeah, highly recommended and we would.
I would absolutely love to goagain.
Yeah, um, but aside from but,but aside from that, I also just
loved the atmosphere offlorence, how I kind of combined
the exploration part, whereit's like you know, you want to
see these old, beautifulcathedrals and and the basilica
and and this bridge that wasmade like thousands of years,
(15:44):
like it was.
It combines that with also,like the luxury that we also
love, yeah, like we love newyork because of the luxury and
the shopping and and seeing allthe bright lights and stuff.
Like that's why people love newyork, yeah, because it's such a
luxurious.
It combines kind of thatessence along with the essence
(16:07):
of Venice, where it's like theold architecture and the
beautiful buildings and thegrand color schemes and
everything and the history.
It combines both and I think itjust clashes very well.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, it was pretty special.
Was there something unique thatyou picked up while you were
there?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I got.
Let me see if I can remember itoff the top of my head because
I know you will know what it'scalled.
I got a cologne from the brand.
I want to say somethingSiciliana.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Santa Maria Novella.
Santa Maria Novella.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Santa Maria Novella, I got a cologne that they only
sell in Italy, I'm pretty sure.
It's very special yeah it's avery special cologne.
You probably wouldn't find itback home and you know it smells
nice.
It smells very fruity andelegant and I like to smell kind
(17:05):
of citrusy.
Yeah, I think that's my smell.
So it's, it's, it's a greatgreat smell, great great scent
yeah, it was a nice treat yeah,uh.
So yeah, this, you know, thistalk kind of makes me want to
book another vacation.
So where's our next?
Where's our next trip?
(17:27):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
I don't know.
I think I'm ready for another.
Another tropical destination.
Need some more snorkeling in mylife.
What about you?
What do you think?
Well, obviously there's beentalks about Costa Rica.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
But also, you know, I like to also kind of stick with
what we already do.
So you know, um, new yorkcruise, florida, all sounds nice
to me as well.
But you know, whatever you guysdecide, I'll be grateful to be
along the journey for well, it'sa pretty big world.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
There's a lot for us to see.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I'm so happy that you've caught the travel bug,
though yeah, I mean, up until acouple years ago, I didn't
really want to travel.
You really didn't?
I hated planes, I hated theidea of flying.
I I'd only been to what twocountries like gen, I think.
I had four countries.
I'd only been to four countriesbefore.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I really started traveling.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I'd only been to four countries, and now and now,
I've been to 17.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
All right.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
And I only started traveling.
Well, one's the first time.
We went to Mexico Four yearsago.
Maybe Four years ago I onlyMexico Four years ago.
Maybe Four years ago I onlystarted traveling four years ago
.
So in the last four years I'veseen 13 different countries.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
You've done a pretty good job.
I don't even know if you.
I don't even know if I've gotthat many.
I'll have to take time to count.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, I mean you probably have.
I think you'd have to, becausewe would have gone to those
countries together, you're right, because we would have gone to
those countries together, you'reright.
So you probably have that ormore Well, listeners.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
if you've got any ideas for trips that we should
add to our list, please drop inon our DMs on Instagram at Hoops
and Crumbs and we will be sureto add them to our travel list
ideas.
Hopefully we get some ideasfrom folks out there.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, join us next time for more Hoops and Crumbs
on Apple Podcasts, spotify,amazon Music and anywhere else
you can find your favoritepodcasts.
We talk basketball cookies andshare other random life musings
Till next time.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.
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