When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie……

November 7, 2010

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie……

                What a week it has been! I know I went on and on about it before but I will once again reiterate how much I enjoyed Norway. We returned from Norway on Tuesday night and then left early Thursday morning for Italy. Needless to say Wednesday was filled with unpacking, repacking and somewhat of an attempt to get some sleep.

                Thursday began far too early. My alarm clock went off at 3:30 a.m. and I distinctly remember saying, out loud, “I don’t want to go to Italy, I just want to sleep” when it went off. Then I came to my senses and realized, I am going to Italy. I got ready and met Jackie outside to meet the cab at 4:15 a.m. I am not sure there was anything exciting that happened between getting in the taxi and boarding the flight, it is all a little fuzzy, as I was still half asleep. We walked outside to board the plane and I remember it being very windy rainy and cold. It is hard for me to sleep on planes so I was up for most of the flight. I am glad that I was because as we flew over the Swiss Alps the view was breathtaking and reminded me of home.

                When we got to Milan, we found the airport shuttle to the central station fairly easily. Getting from the central station to our hostel was not so easy. As it turns out Milan is very hard to navigate, at least it was for Jackie and me. We wandered around for a while trying to find the hostel and after a lot of walking and a few wrong turns we found it. It was still only about twelve o’clock and we could not get into our room until 3:00. So, we left our luggage and headed off for something to eat. We found a small restaurant nearby and sat down. The menu was all in Italian (duh) so we found something that looked like we would like it. We both got pizza. The waiter brought us fresh bruschetta to start off. It was hands down the best bruschetta I have ever had. The bread was still warm and everything tasted so fresh. Delicious. The pizza was also delicious. Would you expect anything less? After lunch we decided to head into the city centre. It took us so long to try to get there. Milan has about five different modes of public transportation. We could not figure out any of them. We actually rode this one bus for about an hour. We were clueless. After a very long time we finally made it to the city centre. There we found a gorgeous cathedral, and several other very pretty buildings. I quickly learned that I love the architecture of Italy. We were walking around looking a stores and we found Louis Vuitton and Prada and what was in between them….McDonalds. Who would have thought? We went into McDonalds to get a snack. This is the first time I have been to McDonalds in probably years. It was the classiest McDonalds I have ever seen. I did not even feel bad for eating there. I got a croissant and it was so good. I was blown away.

                We did some more walking and eventually decided to head back; we were very tired at this point. We decided to try the metro to get back and it was so much easier. We used the metro the rest of the trip. If only we had known before. You live and you learn though.

                When we got back to the hostel we saw our room and the rest of the hostel and it was less than impressive. There were some other people in the room and they seemed very nice. We watched an American movie ,dubbed over in Italian, in the not so clean common room and headed to bed. That night proved to be a very long night. Jackie and I shared a double bed, there were two Asians in single beds and a Polish couple, probably in their 50’s, in the other double bed. Between the Polish couple being…let’s just say obnoxious and the Asians and two other people I never met coming in and out, Jackie and I slept very little.

                The next morning was hard but we got up and headed into the city again. We had tea and the best croissants ever at a small café and then took the metro in to the city centre. We were not really sure what to do but we first decided to go into the Milan Cathedral. It was breathtakingly beautiful inside and out. So cool to get to walk through it. Then we decided to take a sightseeing tour bus around the city. After our not to successful attempt to navigate the city ourselves we thought it best. It was great to be able to see all the sites of Milan and there are some really beautiful parts of Milan. We wondered around a bit more and went and revisited some of the sites we saw on the bus. Then for dinner we ate at a small little restaurant. And surprise, surprise it was delicious.      Earlier in the day we went to the tourist office, it turned out to be the least helpful tourist office ever. We decided to take a train the next day to Verona, Italy, which is most famous as the home of Romeo and Juliet.

                So we got up at 6:45 a.m. to catch our train and headed to Verona. From the first time we started walking around I knew that I loved Verona. It was an absolutely beautiful city. Again, beautiful architecture. We literally got a map and just wandered around the city all day. We visited a castle, a couple churches and, of course, the house of Juliet. The house of Juliet was really cool. Even though there is not much to it, I was impressed. If you have seen the movie Letters to Juliet, it really does look like that but women do not post letters on the wall. At least they do not anymore. Instead everyone signs the wall in the entranceway. Neither Jackie nor I had a pen. Shoot. What to do? We eventually asked to borrow one and signed the wall. We also took a picture with the Juliet statue. We kept seeing people tour her breast. We thought it was SO weird. As it turns out it is supposed to be good luck to touch Juliet’s breast. We skipped out on that part. We wondered around some more, which neither of us minded because it was such a cool city. And then we caught the train back.

                Once back in Milan we continued our new tradition of trying to eat Mexican food in every country we go to. This is a little silly and weird but also so much fun because both Jackie and I love Mexican food. I got nachos. They were so good. I chalk this up to the cheese they made it with. We also decided that we should have a glass of wine since we were in Italy. When we asked the waiter he said they did not have any Italian wine. So we had Chilean wine. It seems so funny that they would not have Italian wine, but what do I know? This morning we got up at six fifteen and headed to the airport. And made it back to school safe.

                All in all I liked Italy. I do not want to say that I was disappointed with Milan, but a little bit I was. Do not get me wrong, Milan has beautiful architecture and there are some great parts but I just felt like I was in a big city. Verona on the other hand felt very Italian and much more like what I thought Italy would be. As I mentioned the food everywhere we went was delicious. It actually remained me of my Grandpa Valentine’s cooking. It all just seemed so fresh and homemade and real. So So So good. Overall it was a great trip, despite the very disappointing and dirty hostel and Milan letting me down a little. I had a great trip and I am so grateful for the trip I got to take and for the week I had. It is one I will never forget. I also have to say thank you to Jackie. It was so fun to travel with her and I am grateful we got to go to Norway and Italy together.

                I have a lot of sleep to catch up on this week. I also have some school work that I have to do (the latter has been a foreign concept thus far). However this week, on Thursday, I have the opportunity to meet the president of Ireland. I am very excited for that!

I hope you all have had just as good of a week as I have. I miss you all dearly.

Until next time,

Keely

The pictures are a little out of order...but at least they are here this time :)

 

 Verona

Juliet

Juliet's Balcony

The wall going into Juliet's house

Juliet's house

The arena in Verona

Central Station in Milan

The Milan Cathedral

Inside the Milan Cathedral

The Swiss Alps