Creeping into 10

I had a blog started before I went to Italy. I didn´t finsih it though and now it is quite pointless to try and talk about the things that I did as if I hadn´t yet done them, or to write about my feelings before going, post them, and then write about going directly afterwards. This is a somewhat extensive sinopsis of my trip to Italy with Collin, Mary, and Melissa with included before and after thoughts.

Italy,

Somewhat put off by the fact that I would be in a foreign country whose language I do not speak, I decided to research some basic phrases and simple greetings before I left. The trip was half planned and allowed for changes as we went, but we had reserved the first few nights stays already. Getting into Italy and attempting basic navigation was like watching a dizzy bat contest at best. I had been awake for aproximately 24 hours with maybe 1 or 2 hours of sleep on floor of Barajas airport in Madrid before getting into the country, and realized as I approached an information desk that I didn´t speak Italian. This resulted (for a prolonged duration of 9 days) with me approaching people, speaking to them at first in Spanish, and then changing to English once they began saying things to me in English. I really disliked being forced to speak English to these people, and almost felt stereotyped and judged by it. Eventually I adopted a habit of speaking Spanish with an Italian sing-song canter that usually got me the things I wanted - aka: cigarettes, beer, food, directions.

Milan

Milan was not my favorite. While it was rainy and cold the entire time, it was colder in Milan and I had no idea what was going on due to my lack of sleep. Our hostel was outside of the city and we had to take a train to get there. We did not know this and bumbled about in the metro for awhile before just calling a cab to take us there. After napping for a few hours we went into Milan on a train that essentially was free since no one checks your tickets, which I found to be a universal theme in Italy. It was cold as all get out while we explored the bassilica (cathedral) and saw a castle with silly Christmas music and corresponding lights, I mean seriously it had lights lighting up like the piano keys striking notes to the song playing. There was also a gigantic ¨Christmas tree¨which looked more like a terribly disorienting ride at the fair. This ¨tree¨was composed of iron rings and poles surrounded by different colored neon lights that flashed and changed colors constantly while the tree spun around at about 3 G´s , possibly evoking siezures to those who couldn´t handle its magnificence. We found a restaurant that had cheap pizzas, a funny waiter who spoke decent English and was quite amiable, and more importantly a warm interior. That is all that happened in Milan, it was pretty cold and boring. We got on a train early the next morning towards Bologna.

Bologna

Dedicated as our new years eve jump off party spot, Bologna offered very little change in terms of terrible weather, but was definitely a pretty city. There are two towers about 300 feet tall, and are the last remaining two of some earlier 200 towers that used to be in the city a few hundred years ago. There was an extravagant cathedral in the center of the city and many other surrounding ones that offered different styles and sizes. There was a constant of far-off explosions as the throngs of young kids were throwing fire crackers all over the place. Collin and I sequestered ourselves in the hotel room (which was quite expensive I might add) and put in some serious work on bottles of J&B. This sort of attributed to a splotchy memory of the new years; but I believe we went to the plaza at the center of town, watched live music, counted down the new years, yelled, comforted Collin as his camera was stolen, lost, whatever, and then proceeded to walk around for hours in the rain with me commanding Mary to not enter any bars as there were 10 and 15 euro covers JUST to enter. I think it was fun. The next day was spent hazily wandering about the city to churches and parks and plazas and pizza shops. Collin and I found a pizza place with a 12 inch pizza for 4€ which was pretty magical and delicious. We spent another night in Bologna and were off early the next morning to Venice.

Venice

Venice was an absolute dream. After desembarking from the train the rain was coming down hard enough to the point that I had to buy myself an umbrella. Someone approached me for 5€, I said no, he said 4€, I gave him 3.70€, he looked pissed and I laughed as I walked off. Venice is really a place you truly have to see for yourself to understand how it makes you feel. There are no roads, there are no cars, there are no yards. There are waterbuses, water taxis, water ambulances and police boats, gondollas and traghettos. This place was pretty magical, and while the rain might have ruined it for some, I found it to be that much more interesting since the entire city was flooding. An entire plaza was flooded and makeshift walkways 1.5 feet tall were put up all over the city to get around without being completely miserable. Our ¨hostel¨was a homey little apartment with two rooms, a kitchen and bathroom, and a small Italian man who we assumed was ¨Miss Rita¨as the hostel world booking said. Actually quite hilarious, we stood by a ticket booth waiting for ¨Miss Rita¨and constantly shouted RITA!? at every woman who came near us. When we saw this person waiting by the rendezous spot we yelled Rita at him(her?), and he pointed to the left and promptly took off in his galoshas at a pace we could hardly match, let alone with our luggage, but on an elevated walkway that was about as wide as it was tall and 2 lanes of people passing it was nearly impossible to follow his crafty navigation through tight alleyways and passages. After settling in, we headed right back out to the Bassilica di San Marco which was created in the 13th century, Palazzo Ducale and its' museums, and essentially anywhere else we could find before it was really dark and rainy. When it was too dark to care of any more tourism, we got some items at the grocery and went back to our spot to make dinner. I cooked dinner for everyone which included some bruschetta to start, and pasta with creamy tomato sauce and parmigiana along with a salad made by the girls. Delish. After many bottles of wine we wandered around the streets of Venice and I asked people for cigarettes in my elusive Spanish Italian accent language that I had created. When we woke the next day to the first nice weather we'd seen. I must say that it is a shame I did not know the weather was so nice earlier than 11am fore I was a bit sluggish from the night before. We took a waterbus to the train station and boarded our first train with individual rooms. We had no assigned seats since we bought our tickets just before we boarded the train, but had the luck of finding a car with 4 fun Australian travelers that were our age and seats for us. Eventually some of us were kicked out of our seats, but I won in rock-paper-scissors to hold my seat. We were safely on our way to Florence none the less.

Florence

We all made plans to meet with the Australians the evening that we got into Florence and headed off to our hostel. Just a stones' throw away from the train station, across a nice plaza with a cathedral was Hostal Ottaviano (which apparently despite having simple directions was very easy to confuse for other hostels according to Collin). The owner was a HILARIOUS British guy named Benjamin who continuously messed with us, and I unabashedly did the same to him as I knew that it would make the situation much more interesting and entertaining. We went to meet the Aussies at the Duomo and this turned into QUITE a NIGHT. joder. We went to Shotz Cafe, and proceeded to begin a drinking contest between Aussies and Americans, and apparently Chileños as well (who apparently won the contest, but I refute this). I know that we were awake until quite late, and that a certain Australian peed in a plant in the living room of my hostel, and that another certain Aussie went on a nuts berzerker rampage, that I was of course completely fine and calm and passive the whole time, and that a certain American was completely incapacitated very early in the night as we left the bar, but other than that, its a bit foggy. It was a blast. The next day was not. It was raining constantly and most things were closed because it was Monday? I saw the Duomo which was impressive and a few churches, but was incapable of seeing much else, plus with a rambo sized knife stabbing the inside of my brains due to dehydration was not helping the situation. The next day we went to the Uffizi, which was absolutely marvelous and had many works by artists such Boticelli, Pielo dela Francesca, Michaelangelo, and Giorgione. The museum was massive and the line to get in was heinous. I wanted to tear my arms off and beat myself to death with them after waiting in this cold rainy line for about 1.5 hours. Before the Uffizi, we had marched up quite a steep hill to piazzale michelangelo where there was an illustrious view of the entire city, its cathedrals, castles, parks, and rain clouds. The Palazzo Pitti was big, but I only saw it from the outside and only it's front. Ponte Vechio was interestingly constructed as there are some houses and shops on it that appear to hang off the sides without support. A famous goldsmith has a statue of his torso dedicated to him on the bridge and it is surrounded by a little fence that has hundreds of locks shackled to it. The bridge in its entirety is full of jewelery shops, gold, gold, and more gold. Florence was quite an experience and has much pride for its artists and definitely plenty of history to back it up. The same goes for Venice as countless artists flocked to their cities for inspiration and experience in such a pivotal ambiance. I left feeling somewhat inspired on my way to Rome.

Rome

The capital of Italy was my last destination and I had so many places to visit. The architecture through the city was all so awe inspiring that I walked around and it could have just been a random bank, but good enough to have me crane my neck and look like a total tourist. So much culture, language, history, and art has come from Rome that has spread all over the world, and to feel its presence and see it in person is really something else. Each day I woke early to make the sites, see the churches, museums, plazas, and ruins. I met a really cool Ecuadorian named Indira who spoke 4 languages. My hostel was run by a South African named Nyasha (i know right) and a Romanian named Maurizio. They were a riot and constantly fought with each other, but in the most passive and absurdly docile tones ever. I teamed back up with the Australians for sight-seeing and some drinks, and near the end my original posse came back and we got a few hours of sleep before heading to a bus, to a plane, to Madrid. So little sleep, so little shower, so few clothes. I stayed a night in Madrid with my friend Ed and Jeff, and saw my friend Sonia and some of her friends. We partied really hard really late and I caught a bus back to Logroño the following afternoon.

No more money, need to work, need to eat tuna and rice for a few weeks. It just so happens that I love tuna, and rice.