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Luckiest [and Craziest] Girls in the World

My first real vacation without parental supervision and the warm fuzzy cloak of my dad planning everything was ahhmaaaaaaaayyyyyyzing against all odds. Leah and I only picked the destination 13 days before our departure after originally scheming to make it to Carthage (which I was kindly reminded several times was destroyed about 2000 years ago...). 

Anyhoo, on Sunday we went first to Napoli and stayed in a s00perd00per sketchy hostel right near the train station, but it was the closest one and we didn't want to be wandering around at night. The next morning we headed off to the hostel we booked for that night and dropped our bags. We tried to map out the next few days since we literally had no specific plans after that point. 

Monday was the National Archeological Museum in Napoli, tasty pizza (I still have a special place in my heart for Chicago deepdish. go figure), MADRE modern art museum (free entrance!), dumpster diving (the trash was so artistic!)

Tuesday was Pompei ruins and lots of confusion with how to get to the top of Mt Vesuvius. We thought we missed the opportunity because of a rather enormous gap in communication between the tourist information office and the actual bus schedules. I'm pretty sure they just like to mess with tourists. Then we were trying to catch a bus back to Napoli but the bus stop was elusive and impossible to find. After wandering around the Orlando-ish new city of Pompei riddled with ghastly tourist traps we came back to the central train station where we were essentially pummeled into joining another party two in a taxi to the top of the Vesuvius. I was so annoyed at the lack of organization I conceded to the scheming of the overly tan and grintastically leathery taxi driver. He turned out to be a nice guy, but the whole scenario was bizarre, especially when he started giving the four young ladies in the car advice about love and relationships while obscure British 80s music was playing in the background...

Wednesday was getting the heck out of Napoli and heading to Sorrento. We had gotten lost on the way back to our hostel and were exhausted from Tuesday's adventures so I fell asleep in my clothes at 9 pm. Leah and I woke up and decided that we should probably look for a place to sleep tonight and there was only one available. A B&B that sounded quaint and promising. Little did we know that we were in for a surprise: a delightfully Italian host named Luigi who was our chauffeur since it was the low season, made freshly squeezed orange juice every morning, gave us the room with the best view of the Sorrento view (we were up pretty high so the panorama was gorgeous). We arrived about midday and unorthodoxly enough, we decided to walk 7 km to Positano and see what there was to see along the way. This turned out to be my favorite day. We took our time along the winding coastal road and just soaked up the beauty with glee. I tallied the cat calls targeted toward us and the total was 21. They ranged from ordinary honking, creative honking rhythms, whistling, winking, a ride invitation, even attention from an ambulance... "I've had it up to here with these horny Italians!" We made it to the beach in Positano where we touched the frigid water and beachcombed for a while. In the spirit of packing light, I gathered some rocks to take back with me. We made dinner in our room (pasta in a cream sauce with gamberetti (shrimp)) while listening to Italian MTV.

Thursday was a glorious breakfast with homemade cappuccini and then off to downtown Sorrento to rent bikes. We headed off with a map of internal roads (no names, though) and stares from people who found our Americanness painfully obvious. (I was wearing shorts in March.) We tried following the map with no names and somehow started off wrong. The road we took was a 30 degree incline (we walked the bikes for a while), but then we got on a main road and "coasted" for a while. The whole day was lots of ups and downs. The biggest downhill was to the beach where we picnic-ed, which consequently lead to the biggest uphill section... I was in lowwww geeeear. Everything was so beautiful; it was a lovely way to see the less touristy part of the peninsula. I miss biking on a regular basis so much! We barely made it back to Sorrento alive, exhausted and weary with satisfaction of a day well spent. Leah and I met up with Sylva and her parents for a Limoncello aperitivo. It was quite strong. We made dinner again in our room (linguine with onions and eggplants in a red sauce + red wine) and then passed out.

Friday was going to Amalfi and Ravello by bus ("pullman"). Since there part of the road was blocked off, we had to walk down to the beach in Praiano and then up again to meet a different bus that took us the rest of the way. Amalfi was choked with touristy things. We took a bus to Ravello and walked around. The view was amazing since it is so high up. We went to Villa Cimbrone and paid full price to see a dormant garden.... It was an exercise in using our imagination. After mistakenly thinking the bus would adhere to the schedule listed, we walked to a nearby paesino called Scala and tried to chase down the bus supposedly headed back to Amalfi. There was no need to run and there was no need to leave Ravello because the bus went to the downtown stop... It was an exercise in futility (and just plain exercise). Making the walk down to the beach in Praiano was infinitely more interesting when it was totally dark outside and we were the only ones trying to make it to the other side. We made it back to Sorrento and stayed the night in a hostel and met a non-narcoleptic Argentinian traveling around Europe.

Saturday was taking a ferry to Capri, and walking around. A lot. We decided that Luigi's hospitality was way worth the 4E difference in price from the hostel so we came crawling back. Leah called us the "prodigal daughters," which I thought was fitting. We made an eclectic dinner (hamburgers and mushroom omelettes) and settled down for the night. Luigi brought us some of his homemade limoncello, which was really tasty. Much better than the other stuff I tried. This morning we were dropped off and said goodbye to Luigi for the 2nd time. He joked that we would call to come back to his B&B tomorrow. The train connections were actually NOT stressful for once in my life and I've been back in Florence for less than two hours. I'm off to do laundry!

Destination: Dirtiest Place Ever

Yesterday I left the marvelously accomodating nest of Olevano and found myself disoriented and chased by cars (the opposite of the Snow Patrol song). Leah and I barely caught our train from Roma to Napoli due to an obnoxious delay. Somehow I am blessed with the skills to catch trains by the skin of my teeth. Today Leah and I dropped our bag at our 2nd hostel and found out that 8 other WashU students happen to be staying at the same one! Che coincidence! Anyhoo, we trapsed around the city and saw the Archeological Museum, ate pizza that puts quella di Firenze to dispicable shame, went to a contemporary art museum that was really impressive, walked around the historical center, went casual dumpster diving, ya know...

This evening the WashU students collaborated for dinner and cooked at the hostel. Now we are watching Moulin Rouge, which I havent seen in a ''coon's age.'' Tomorrow we are headed to Pompeii. The hope of renting bikes has been transferred to Sorrento, but we havent given up yet, dagnabbit. I will be sure to post pretty pictures when I get back. Maybe I'll be able to check in at another hostel along the way. Im scheming to ride a hydrofoil this week! I remember learning about them in junior year physics class. Physics is everywhere :)

Lists

Things I miss (cose che mi mancano)

• carpet - frozen tile abounds in this country
  
• hugs - baci (kisses on the cheek) are nice and intimate, but they can't replace solid human contact
  
• rollerblading - seeing bladers in Valencia reminded me how much I miss looking super cool while sporting wrist guards
  
• peanut butter toast with honey
  
• eggs - they just simply don't exist in their natural form here
  
• cereal - every morning is simply and strictly only 2 pieces of bread and jam
  
• TEA at odd hours of the night and day

Things about me that have changed since I've been in Italy

• I actually drink coffee (ogni tanto)
• I wear scarves (my whiteness is becoming increasingly undeniable)
• These days I rarely wish I was the moon
• I'm seriously considering wearing wigs (think a slightly less eccentric version of the voice of reason in Pretty in Pink
• That last one doesn't really have anything to do with Italy now that I think about it

Carnavale!

This fine settimana was very unique. The train each way was 5 hours. Il mare (the sea) was absolutely stunning. Rita recognized me from the train window and was beaming as she swept me into her arms. I'm really getting spoiled with quasi royal treatment over here. 

The weekend took and unexpected turn when Rita's mother broke her arm on Friday, so a lot of plans changed accordingly. Rita was at the hospital a lot so we didn't get to spend a lot of time together this time. I'm excited to come back in the summer so I can put that sea to some practical use. Rita did shower me with new clothes and a purse, which was quite a surprise. Belated birthday gifts, I suppose.

Leone is something else. I can see why he likes my grandpa so much. They are kindred spirits when it comes to joking and eating. Leo wouldn't stop talking about Zia Marietta and all the great times they had together. Apparently, she only ate figs. (side note: figs and dates have each become an achilles heel for me so if I ever face off with a Dried Fruit supervillain, I won't stand a grapefruit's chance in a chuckee cheese ball pit.) Dinner on Friday night was very elaborate. Everyone ended up with 5 different bicchieri from all the different types of alcohol we tried. (one white spumante, a red one, mistra, one with dessert, one special one from under the counter) It was pretty wild. For dessert we ordered 7 dolci (for 6 people) and then shared them. My favorite was the coffee creme brulee with cream. mmmmmm

Gionata and Leone were great tourguides of Offida, Grottamare, Ascoli Piceno, and Patrignone (even if they didn't recite the cities' histories from memory like Federico). We saw 4 different Carnavale events during the course of the weekend. There were a lot of cute kiddies in costumes (bambini mascherati) running around throwing confetti everywhere. When I come back to the area I'm sure everything will look totally different, cast in another light of enchantment.

48 Hours in Spain

It started with running to beat the bus at the next stop in order to make
it to the train station where we ran through the underground tunnel,
dashed to (i can only think of the word in french...) "compost" the
ticket and sprint to the train on binario 2. Literally right after we
leapt on board the doors beeped and closed and we pulled away amazed by
how unbelievably close we came to missing the train.

At Pisa Centrale station we knew we needed to
transfer to a different train to get to the airport, but by the time we
made it to the biglietteria and back the only train that would work had
just pulled away and we were running out of time to make it to the
check in desk. We hurriedly took a cab and a ran through the airport
only to find out that our flight was delayed THREE HOURS and that there
was no need to rush.

So......we decided to see what Pisa had to offer
since there was no need to mope around the airport. We helped some non
italian speaking forlorn travelers talk to a shop owner about a nearby
hotel and then we had an aperitivo. Let's just say that it helped take
the edge off a little bit. After our adult snack we trapsed around an
obscure part of Pisa for a while, saw the river (it's still the Arno
like in Firenze!), debated whether or not to touch the water just to be
able to say that we did, saw a church downtown, walked around what
could have been an ancient city wall, and meandered back to the
airport. All the gelaterias had closed by the time we thought of
getting gelato so we chilled out with some ice cream at the airport. It
was overpriced but totally worth it. (I guess that's a contradiction.
Oh well.)

Anyhoo, in the airport we met a native Valencian
that studies in Hamburg and was traveling back to Valencia because he
missed warm weather and he gave us some places to check out. We boarded
the flight and then were pleasantly surprised to find out that instead
of an airline, Ryanair is a wannabe game show. The flight attendants
donned in schiffo gold and navy blue outfits try to sell something new
every few minutes while the overhead announcements offer tempting ways
to "be a millionaire with ryanair." It was quite restful. Just what I
needed before what lay ahead...

By the time we arrived the metro had stopped
running so we had to take another cab to the place we were staying.
Fortunately, our host was very sympathetic and helpful. We collapsed
onto the futon and tried to recharge.

We woke up bright and early and headed to the
beach. It was wild to be so warm in February. By wild I mean extremely
wonderful. For our first meal in Spain, we picked a restaurant and
ordered the most expensive thing on the menu (it was only 10 E) having
absolutely no idea what it was. To our language barriered delight, it
was delicious! Steak and veggies. miammm. Afterwards, we walked around
the historic center, saw some lovely fountains and artfully enjoyable
graffiti. It's a very different feel of graffiti. Somewhere between
Florence and Berlin in the time space schema of city graffiti. We went
to the central market and bought some dried and non dried fruit. If you
time your entrance just right, you can snap up the mistakenly labeled
"expired" produce tossed into the aisle at closing time. Basically,
Sylva grabbed a few perfectly decent strawberries with her starving
artist ninja skills. It's a jungle out there.

Later we went up the Bell Tower and then walked
a ways in what used to be the river that runs through Valencia. It was
converted into a beautiful winding park/bike path/playground that seems
more like a futuristic spaceship wonderland than a city in Spain. At
one end there is incredibly fantastical architecture and at the other
end, a BioParc.

Dinner on Friday was quite interesting. We tried
several restaurants and eventually picked one that seemed like it would
be good. The tapas we ended up with was more like a combination of
dim-sum and hush puppies...but now we
can say we had tapas in Spain.

We rented bikes Saturday morning and spent two
hours blissfully riding around the "river" in unbeatable weather. It
was wonderful to bike for the first time in over a month. Lately I've
been following the Giorgio work out plan that includes only running
when you're trying to catch a bus.

Downtown we ate the local dish called Paella and
then found a creperie with a bus that serves as the kitchen cemented
into the restaurant. It was way cool. I think chestnuts are my favorite
sweet crepe ingredient. Afterwards we took our time walking back and
hit up a supermarket and bought some things for dinner. Then we left
for the airport. And of course we had to rush, but at least the plane
was on time.

Once back in Pisa, we had a memorable experience
waiting at the bus stop. The crew at one in the morning is the epitome
of sketch so we waited outside a clean, well-lit hotel. Once we finally
made it back to our homestay, it was immediately lights out. I think I
slept like a metamorphic rock. (Try to figure that simile
out)

All in all it was a great trip and a great
experience. I was very humbled by the fact that none of my language
skills helped very much at all. I would very much like to go back to
Spain. Che bello!

=] =] =] =] =] =]

My 20 birthday was probably my most memorable one to date. I had royal treatment with my relatives who can be called "obscure" in more than one sense. The word of the weekend was most definitely "particolaro" which means peculiar. I went to Roma and saw some tourist sights plus some other lesser known posti. It was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to going back to Roma sometime. I'm most proud of the fact that I only spoke english for less than 20 minutes the whole weekend. (I didn't talk a lot in general, but still, i tried)

I'm still not sure how I feel about photo. I've developed some decent looking photos, but it doesn't seem to fit me very well. Hopefully it will grow on me.

Gotta run to do the compiti I neglected this weekend!