Walking Backwards

Ah, crazy day. I forgot that I would have to start heading up the whole domestic front when I got home. Today was spent running errands and going to the grocery store and cleaning. Damn life returning to normal.

More on my trip (a brief summary). We did so much while we were there (I mean we were there for a month, come on) that I don't think that I can remember and record all of the idiosyncrasies it.

- We went to Rome for several days and still didn't fit in everything that I wanted to do. It rained for the first two days and was so very cold that I was inclined to stay at the hotel and watch Italian TV most of the time. Italian television was mostly just bad American television dubbed in Italian or game shows. They have a version of MTV's 'Pimp my Ride' called 'Pimp my Wheels' where they re-make scooters. The sun did come out and my mom found a baby store that sold strollers (I am not going to even go into this because it is as bad as you can imagine - never go to Europe without a goddamn stroller) so my trip was brightened vastly. We went to the Vatican and saw the Sistine Chapel. We threw coins into the Trevi Fountain. I had some really good pasta with grilled vegetables. We took a tour of the Colosseum. I ate some really, really bad Chinese food. I honestly can't remember it all, but I know it was fun. I was hoping to make it to Ostia Antica, but plans fell through at the last minute and we couldn't go. Our group took the Eurostar back to Florence and went through so many tunnels I lost count. Nicholas also got an ear infection and I got a cold.

- The town in which the villa was located had this incredible restaurant called La Saletta. They made this soup called zuppa di cipolle, which is translated as simply "onion soup". It is so much more than that, though. Love in a spoonful, it is amazing. I'll probably be in the kitchen trying to replicate it for the next several months. La Saletta will always have a special place in my heart because of it. They did get on my bad side, though, when I ordered a bottle of an Ornelaia thinking they would bring me one of the cheaper ones and they brought our group the hundred dollar bottle. It was so incredibly good, but we ordered three bottles and that wasn't a pretty bill. I had many people pissed off at me that night.

- We went to Florence a lot. I love Florence and had the best cup of hot chocolate I had ever had in my life there at Cafeé Rivoire in Piazza della Signore. Sure it was five and a half euro, but I would pay it again. I also had my special Italy moment in Florence. My mother and I were walking out of the Uffizi down to the duomo and I was looking up at these amazing buildings and it was perfect fall weather and Nicholas was back at the villa with his dad. While I thought it couldn't get any better and as soon as I started blissing out, two street musicians started playing Vivaldi and I started crying. It was my ultimate Italy moment.

- One of my favorite cities in Italy was Lucca, which I had never heard of before I got there, but it's this really cool walled city that is almost entirely pedestrian and has several small but amazing churches. We went to an exhibit of DaVinci machines there and I bought a lot of gelato and some great olive oil. You're allowed to walk along the tops of the walls and Joe, Nico, and I headed up there at sunset with the leaves falling around us. When we were sitting on the swings at one of the playscapes on top of the walls, a group of Italian women started singing children's songs. I want to remember that for awhile.

- I missed Venice and am still pissed about it, but it is not a city for children.

- We went to San Gimignano and Volterra on the same day and were wowed by the drive there. It was some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in my life. We bought some alabaster for my dad and made our way quietly back to the villa. Both cities are rated very highly for their wine, but we were all wiped out and I had a hangover from drinking a half of a bottle of limoncello the night before so we didn't feel like being tourists that day. I did learn how to play rummy, though.

- For some reason everyone thought I was Italian or that I could speak Italian. Whenever we would go to restaurants the waitress would look directly at me after everyone fumbled over their orders like I could somehow make it clear to her what they were trying to get across. People would ask me directions on the street in Italian. Once, we went to the grocery store and a woman tried desperately to get across to me, in Italian of course, that she needed to find the pine nuts and would I help her "in inglese, per favore"? This is after I had told her that I speak English, too. People are weird.

- The men in Italy are so incredibly hot and so polite (if you have a child with you). I had so many guys stop and ask me if I needed help with my bags or with Nicholas, that I had a skewed view of what these men were really like. After I went out on my own without Nico, I learned that they're all pigs, but damn gorgeous pigs.

Well, I think I'll stop here for now. My network card isn't working, so I'll have to wait until I can burn a cd to get pictures up. Right now, though, I'm going to bed. I've been working on this entry for two hours and I don't think I can concentrate on anything anymore.

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