Leaving Italy

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan

AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH I'M HOME! IT'S DEVASTATING!

Our final night in Florence was a hoot. We opted to go out for the pub crawl again since, hey, we had a blast the first time. It just got better! There were about 45 people out. Our crawl guide Matt made sure that I was around when they ordered hot wings at the Red Garter, since he knew how badly I've been craving them. Long story short, the night involved a TON of walking. I was prettymuch crippled by the next morning... My feet were seriously swollen to about double size, you couldn't make out any bones in them, and they were in excruciating pain...

The last few days in Milan with my friends were grand. We took it easy once we got there as we were all in various stages of being sick. One day we went out to see some Milan sights like the duomo (the second largest cathedral in the world, after St. Peters at the Vatican, and the largest gothic cathedral in the world), and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele (a 19th century glass-domed mall). We had a great lunch at the Obika Mozzarella Bar on top of the Rinascente department store beside the duomo, and got to do a tasting of three different mozzarellas (the smoked one won). In the evenings we went out to the navigli (canals) district and had apertivo (where you pay about 10 euros and get a drink and all-you-can-eat hors d'oeuvres). Milan is weird in August... it really is like a post-apocalyptic ghost town... there are no people and everything is closed, but the navigli district was hopping at night and it was especially great for people watching. On our second night there, our new French aerospace engineering friends joined us and we walked the city til the early morn.

Yesterday we took the train from Milan to Rome. Stacey and Tamara went out for one last walk around Rome while I stayed in and attempted (unsuccessfully) to sleep off my sickness. We had dinner near Trastavere, ordered too much, gave our leftovers to a very grateful homeless man, and then called it an early night.

Today I flew back direct from Rome to Toronto. The plane was daycare central, but the screaming kids didn't bother me as much as my own congestion. Fortunately I had some good movies to distract me from my misery (I highly recommend Never Let Me Go, but don't watch it on a plane if you don't want strangers to see you crying...).

Now I am home. I'm so dazed that it hasn't totally hit me yet, but I know that I am absolutely 100% not ready to be back here. It's going to be so so hard adjusting back to "real life"... Although I am psyched to see all my friends and get incredible wings tomorrow! Wish me luck... (And thanks for reading my blog this summer!)

Pub crawl on our last night in Florence

Matt and I enjoying wings at the Red Garter

Wings! Yay!

Bomba... the grenade-shaped energy drink that makes your jaw ache and your teeth sting

Outside the Duomo in Milan

Navigli area of Milan

Back in Canada, reunited with my puppy who apparently isn't a puppy anymore...

Friends in Italy... Part Three

Pizza from O'Vesuvio

Very tired. This will be brief.

PIzza the other night was awesome. Outdoor club was closed for the season, which was devastating, so we went to an indoor place called Space instead. Had lots of fun.... but not as much as we could have. One of my Pisa friends, Mike, came down to join us which was nice.

Yesterday we took the train to Siena and strolled around the beautiful city, making frequent stops in stores. I bought a fantastic sweater (see picture below. We had really good gourmet gelato from a place called Grom. We relaxed with a drink on the patio of the Irish pub, and all of a sudden I heard my name and turned around to see my friend and ex-student Stephanie. She's in Siena with the U of T study abroad program.

We got back to Florence, and Stacey opted to stay in for the night to get some much-needed rest. I thumb my nose at sleep. Tamara and I went out. We joined a pub crawl because one of the crawl guides, Matt, had given us a flyer the day before and we figured it sounded actually pretty good. For 18 euros we got an hour of open bar, a free shot at 4 bars afterwards, and entrance to Space. We had an absolute blast and met some cool people, including a group of aerospace engineering students from France. One of them is from Avignon. We had a long conversation about the bridge. Apparently it's underwhelming and in need of repair.

Things got dramatic when one of the French guys found out that a friend from home had committed suicide. There was lots of crying and consoling. We felt terrible for him, but I also felt bad for Matt as it was his first time being in charge of the crawl on his own, and this was quite a disastrous thing to have to deal with. I helped convince the french guys that their friend needed to go home and sleep. Once that downer was rectified, the night continued and we had an awesome time. Also, I've mentioned how I have run into my Turkish friend, Emre, on two separate occasions in Florence. Guess who tapped me on the shoulder last night...

Today the girls and I had a hardcore shopping day. It was successful. Got a gorgeous studded tuscan buffalo-leather collar for my dog, an awesome multi-functional schoolbag/laptop-tote for myself, and some cool clothes too. The second suitcase I bought the other day is pretty full...

Need 20 minute nap before we head out now for another night on the town. Tomorrow we catch the train at 8:30am for Milan (we couldn't go to Venice for the day as planned since the trains were sold out. It's probably for the best...).

Ciao

Stacey's karaoke skills on the bottom floor of Space (they keep the microphones turned off... a genius idea)

In the Campo of Siena

Pub Crawlin' with our new French friends

My turkish friend who pops up everywhere

My new bag, can also be made into a briefcase, messenger and a backpack

My new bag, can also be made into a tote, messenger and a backpack

New sweater from Siena

Friends in Italy... Part One

Colloseum

So my two friends arrived this weekend... Tamara on Saturday from Toronto, and Stacey on Sunday from Miami... and we're having a blast! It's one thing to be in Italy enjoying myself and meeting new people, but its something else entirely getting to share it with people from home...

On Saturday night after Tamara arrived at the Rome airport, we had dinner and drinks near the pantheon. It was "happy hour", which meant that cocktails went from being "ridiculously expensive" to "moderately expensive". Later on that night, we attempted to find one of Rome's infamous Pub Crawls. Wandering aimlessly around the city center, a girl suddenly came up to us and said "you look like you're looking for the pub crawl!". Wild... so we joined the group of Brits and Canadians (a bunch from Brampton... small world!) and had a great time.

I went to the airport early the next morning to meet Stacey who is in Europe for the first time ever! I'm honored to be her first-time tour guide. Once we got back and checked into our hotel with Tamara, we went out for a rigorous day of Roman sight-seeing, including the colosseum, the pantheon, the trevi fountain, and the spanish steps. By evening we were aching and exhausted, and quite happy to go to dinner at the restaurant I'd read good reviews of and made reservations at. The restaurant was called the Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. It ended up being fantastic (Stacey's gnocchi with black truffle and veal ragu being the hit of the night) and the restaurant had pictures on the walls of celebrities who had eaten there, like Al Pacino and Woody Allen. After dinner we stopped by a great wine shop near the Trevi Fountain, where the friendly staff forced samples on us... truffle spread, cheese, olive oil, liqueurs, wine... we ended up buying a bottle of white to enjoy by the Trevi Fountain.

Yesterday morning We caught the train from Rome to Florence, and then tried to find our hotel. I get a little disoriented in the area north of the station, so I had to stop and ask to make sure we were headed in the right direction. I stopped at one little shop where the man responded to my question "which way is Via Guido Monaco?" (asked politely in Italian) with an abrupt "beh?" multiple times. I finally gave up with him and ran to a hotel nearby to ask, while Stacey and Tamara waiting by the abrupt man's shop. Apparently he came outside to tell them that he wouldn't help me because I "wasn't nice". I didn't realize my direction requests were rude...

We found the hotel, and it's really fantastic, especially considering the great price we got our room for. Once we settled in, we set out for some lunch. I planned on taking the girls to the truffled sandwich place I discovered last month, only to discover that it's CLOSED for the holidays! It closed three days ago! Devastating. So we ended up grabbing a bite on the scenic rooftop terrace of the Rinascente. Then we wandered around, through the leather market by the Porcellino, where Stacey bought a fabulous leather bag. I'm tempted to get my own, in a different colour... it's about time I had a grown-up bag to carry my laptop and stuff in. I have a few days to mull it over though. Then we wandered over ponte vecchio, and then headed to Vivoli, my gelato place, which was... CLOSED FOR HOLIDAYS AS OF YESTERDAY! COULD MY LIFE GET ANY WORSE? Ok I'm being dramatic. But still. So upsetting. I feel like I let the girls down. Today I'm going to find another good gelato place that I went to before...

Then we made our way back to the hotel, via the station where we did a bit of shopping. Stopped by the Conad supermarket and picked up some 1 euro cartons of wine. For dinner we went to a restaurant on the other side of the Arno that I'd read good reviews of, called Quattro Leoni. Despite cranky service (they wouldn't bring us olive oil for our bread if we didn't pay, and they brought Stacey's main at the same time as our appetizers) the food was really good! Tamara and Stacey were big fans of my pappa al pomodoro (traditional Tuscan tomato and bread stew). After dinner, we stopped by a trendy-looking little gelateria nearby where Stacey had great mint gelato made with fresh mint. Then we took our cartons of 1 euro wine to the bridge and enjoyed the view and the company for a few hours.

Today at noon, an old friend from elementary/highschool, Heather, and her friend from university, Jenelle, arrive in Florence as a part of their current eurotrip. Should be fun!

Colloseum

Extraordinary repairs...?

View from Piazza Venezia

Enjoying some evening wine by the Trevi Fountain

Scary doll!

One-euro wine in Florence

Sten, a well-known Roman graffiti artist