Italia: Day Thirteen

We got to sleep in today, so I went for a run around town this morning. I got sort of lost and ended up running in a lot of circles because it seems like every road runs into the town center of Novellara. It’s kind of weird.

When I got back we took a bus to the cheese consortium, which is an official office where they determine whether or not the cheese that is presented to them is of accurate quality and production methods for certification. The presentation was really boring, but it was nice to be in a high quality, air-conditioned building for once. I feel like Europe is kind of behind on the air conditioning, but I guess that’s because so many of their buildings are so old. I made sure to take some of the cheese and chocolate they had out as souveneirs before we left the consortium.

Outside the cheese consortium

We went for pizza at sort of a high class place afterward, but the food wasn’t very good. It was supposed to be a “pizza tasting” so they brought out many different kinds for us, but the ham here is kind of strange in a lot of places and they also put weird bologna-like meat on pizza, so we didn’t eat a lot of it. Then we rushed over to a local education center where they specialize in teaching teachers how to use different methods in their classrooms to approach learning with a new attitude. The woman who gave us a tour around the facilities couldn’t speak English, so I found it really boring. I’ve learned that I need someone to speak English to me without translations for me to be able to pay attention otherwise I lose interest.

Pam, Chelsea, and I entertaining ourselves at the education center

I was relieved when the tour was over, even though it meant that we had to walk around in the city to kill time before dinner. None of the places were open, for some reason, so after we bought gelato, we were forced to walk around in the heat until we found a place to sit. We couldn’t even find a bathroom to use because everything was closed! It was kind of annoying because Pam, Beckie, Chelsea, and I, “the quad”, had decided to wear dresses today in honor of the floral prints three of us bought in Florence. It was a good idea, it was just too hot to be happy in any sort of clothes.

The "Quad"

For dinner, we went out to a newly opened ranch on the top of a mountain where they produce and bottle Lambrusco wine. We received information about how the wine is bottled and chilled for sale before indulging in a short dinner, compared to the others we have experienced in Italy. There was only three courses with an appetizer, main course of lasagna, and desert of rum cake. I didn’t really like the meal or the red wine, but the ranch was beautiful.

On the mountainside before dinner

Italia: Day Eleven

With yesterday’s incident behind me, I got up at 6:15 to run this morning and try to see a different side of Florence. I ran in the opposite direction of downtown because that’s where we walked around yesterday and ended up getting lost because I couldn’t find the river to follow along. I was endlessly relieved when I stumbled upon a familiar looking place and, soon after, the hotel. I wanted to hug it. Miraculously, I still managed to make it back in time, so I wasn’t late meeting the group at 8:15 to walk over to the Ufizzi Art Museum.

I don’t know why I went to the art museum though. It was sooooo boring. We had a guided tour that included a headset so that you could listen to the tour guide anywhere within the same room. I ended up sitting on benches and listening to him talk while reading a book. I just got up and switched rooms every time they moved. I definitely do not appreciate art or visiting museums when I'm travelling.

Locks of Love, symbolizing the everlasting love of the couples whose names are inscribed on each lock, located on the river

I was so glad when we finally left. Pam, Chelsea, and I walked over to the Boboli Gardens and explored a bit. The gardens are actually a lot like the University of Michigan arboretum. I was surprised at how similar. The main difference was the six euro entrance fee. We took a lot of pictures while we were wandering around. I found an empty statue post near an overlook, so we all pretended to pose for some photos too. 

Inside the gardens

A view from the gardens of Florence rooftops

The statue post

After buying some more Bacardi breezers, we walked back across the Ponte Vicchio, a bridge with expensive storefronts on it, and along a pathway where artists had set up stands selling original paintings and sketches. I purchased a picture of one of the bridges on the river before we headed back to the hotel.

Dr. Fink and Kimberlie showed up at the last second to give us enough money for a meal at a nearby pizzeria. We all got sandwiches and water before picking up our bags at the hotel and loading them onto the bus to Novellara. The bus ride was really long, but it was through scenic countryside so when I wasn’t writing my journal entries or reading, I was entertained.

The hotel in Novellara is really cute. It’s small and quaint, stuck in the countryside but a small town is within walking distance. It is the picturesque Italian village that you read about. After arriving at the hotel, we hung out in the room for a few hours before Pam and I walked into town to get our daily gelato. I’m really getting sick of ice cream in general, but I just discovered the amazing flavor combination of fragola and ciccolato, which is strawberries and chocolate.

After desert, we gathered with the group to go to a dinner hosted at the local production site of balsamic vinegar. The dinner was really weird though. The wine kept coming and the food was very different. We passed all of the plates, so it never really seemed like there was a main course, just a series of appetizers. Pam and I ended up pretty tipsy at the end of the three hour meal. Her having five glasses of the white wine and me six. It would have been fine if only there had been more food.

The group before dinner at our host, Andrea's

Dinner

We came back to the hotel after dinner and passed out.

Italia: Day Ten

We got up super early this morning, at like 4:45, so that we could hop on a bus and go to the airport to catch our flight into Florence. The problem was that even with getting up early, we couldn’t get to the airport because our bus didn’t show up. We ended up taking four taxis so that we could catch our flight on time. It was especially urgent because only one flight goes out of Cagliari to Florence per day and we wouldn’t be able to see the city if we didn’t make it.

 After the one hour flight where I sat between two older businessmen, we checked in Hotel Albion and dispersed into the city. Pam, Chelsea, Becky, and I headed to an underground mall that while similar to the one in Montreal, was actually really ghetto. I didn’t find anything in the mall to buy, so we continued on toward the San Lorenzo market. The stalls were really a repetition of each other, but I managed to find a cute dress, a magnet, a postcard, a jacket, and some cigarettes for Daniel. I wish I could have bought the absinthe that I saw, but I wasn’t sure who I would drink it with and I can’t exactly take it back to the U.S.

The river that runs through Florence 

We stopped for lunch near the side of the market at a restaurant called Za-Za. I ordered the chicken breast and was really surprised by how bland it tasted once it arrived. I also had some potatoes with it. I’ve been craving chicken because of the lack of it since we got here, but the meal definitely did not quench the craving. If anything, it only made it worse because I wanted something that tasted good. The meal was outrageous too and had a 2.50 euro cover charge per person. I swear, the system with which they charge for food in Europe is so unusual.

After lunch, Pam bought a postcard and in our effort to find a post office for her to mail it from, we ended up stumbling upon the Duomi and taking pictures of it. None of us wanted to wait in line to go inside, so we turned back because Pam had lost her postcard by then. We headed back to the hotel so that Becky could unpack her suitcase and Pam could take a nap. Chelsea and I grabbed some delicious gelato along the way and I actually got a really good waffle cone. The man who worked in the shop was really nice too. We made conversation about Jeni’s.

The Duomi doesn't even look real

The bathtubs they have all over Florence

While we were hanging out in the hotel, I looked around on the internet for some clubs that we could go to. Florence has a club that actually sounded really cool, with five floors and different music on each one. It had an outrageous cover charge of twenty euros though, so I decided it wasn’t going to happen. A lot of the other clubs had similar cover charges or weren’t open on Mondays. In fact, only one was free and it was pretty far from our hotel. Monday is such an awkward clubbing night.

We tried to go to the Boboli Gardens after everyone woke up, but the gardens closed at 6:30 and no one wanted to walk all the way there. I tried to find us a bus route, but we had trouble. We ended up going back to the hotel for a little while before we got bored and decided to wander around.

Pam, Chelsea, and I walked along the river, which was feasible once the sun went down a little bit. We took a lot of pictures and walked along the quaint Italian streets. Florence really didn’t feel like home though. We found a market and bought some fruit and Barcadi Breezers then walked down the street drinking them until we found a cheap café for dinner. We all ordered sandwiches and ate them out on the patio before going back for desert. We were charged extra because we ate at the restaurant. I’ll never understand all of the hidden charges.

The expensive gelato in the center of Florence - 15 euros for a waffle cone!

Dinner of sandwiches

A bridge in Florence

After dinner, we wandered the streets of Florence in search of Absinthe, but it sounds like most of the stores that sell hard liquor close at 7PM. It was pretty much a wild goose chase from going where one person told us to where the next person said we would be able to find it. We ended up at some African picnic/dance party that may or may not have been political in orientation. I didn’t really feel like dancing and none of the guys were cute, so I didn’t really want to stay. But I did because Pam and Chelsea were having a good time dancing with the guys.

When it was time to go, Pam suggested that we take a picture with all of the guys that we had been dancing with. They had been teaching us moves and Pam and Chelsea had been sharing theirs, so a sort of camaraderie was formed. They didn’t speak English very well though, so it was difficult getting them into a picture formation. One guy kept doing weird hand signals too, but he would wait right until the guy was taking the picture to do them, so we couldn’t stop it.

Once the pictures were over, we went to leave and Pam noticed that nearly ninety euros were missing from the front pocket of her shirt. She immediately asked who had taken it, but obviously, no one confessed. We looked at the pictures that had just been taken and you could clearly see a guy reaching toward the same pocket the money was in. Everyone in the picture, his friends included, started blaming this guy and Pam got into an argument with him. A bunch of other people who had been sitting under some of the tents set up for the party came over to see what the commotion was. They also started arguing that Pam probably lost the money and there’s no way one of the guys took it because he’s one of them, one of the “hardworking people”. It all pretty much sounded like bullshit but we didn’t know what to do. Pam was really flustered and me and Chelsea were just standing on the sidelines, upset.

The guy that Pam accused gave her twenty euros and another guy came over and kept saying that we should be friendly and was trying to keep the peace while saying that Pam was wrong. Another girl came over and started arguing that no one was at fault, that they were just trying to have fun and we shouldn’t bring bad vibes into their party. She seemed kind of drunk while she was arguing, but she knew both English and Italian, so it made the most sense to pay attention to what she was saying. She gave Pam another thirty-five euros in an attempt to get us to stop worrying about the money.

We were still trying to figure out what to do. It sort of seemed like Pam wanted to report the theft and I had seen a few police cars drive by before everything happened, so I started to walk out to the street near the plaza to see if I could find another. Just as I started walking, one drove by. I ran over to the car with my hand in the air, trying to get their attention. The woman who spoke both English and Italian realized what I was doing and started charging after me with a beer bottle in her hand. Apparently, it was quite the sight.

I managed to get the police’s attention though and they parked their car nearby. One of the officers only spoke Italian though and the woman started into her side of the story in fast Italian before I even had the chance to explain what was happening. She put her beer bottle down on the ground while she was having the conversation with them.

Once the other officer walked over, I was able to tell them what happened, but I have no way of knowing what she said to them. Essentially the officer just kept repeating that we needed to be “friendly, friendly.” He said there was really nothing we could do except go to the police station and file a report in the morning, and even then, he didn’t really see what that would do since we’re just tourists. Pam was freaking out because she didn’t have her passport on her and she was afraid that they would ask her for it if she filed a report, but I tried to calm her down while conversing with the officer. The whole time my legs were shaking. I hate talking to figures of authority.

It was ridiculous though because it was like he looked down on us because we weren’t citizens and felt no need to help us whatsoever. I never realized foreign police were so rude. As much as I hate the local police and all that I’ve been through with the law, this has made me respect the way they enforce things in America a little bit more. On top of the lack of help, the officer proceeded to lecture me about trying to get their attention. He said that running after a police car and calling for help are things that you only do if someone is getting hurt or killed. He made it sound like their job was basically to drive around writing tickets and preventing murders. I wanted to fight back against the lecture, but I just tried to thank him for his assistance with the smallest amount of sarcasm possible before walking away. I needed to leave to control my temper. I can’t stand when people are rude and unhelpful.

We spent the walk back to the hotel trying to calm Pam down and figure out where we were. We were actually pretty far away when this all happened and we ended up being twenty minutes late for the meeting. I think Kimberlie and Dr. Fink understand though.

Italia: Day Seven

Our hotel in Cagliari is really nice. It has a modern design to it and we are staying in triples, so I’m rooming with Becky and Chelsea. We took a Mercedes-Benz tour bus from the airport to our hotel and then we looked around real quick before heading up to the rooms and passing out. I've been exhausted this whole trip. It’s ridiculous.

The inside of The Hotel

This morning I got up at 7 and went for a run on my own. It was nice to see some of the town before everyone else and I did really good with not getting lost and remembering all the turns I took. Sometimes I think it’s easier to pay attention when it’s just me, the wind against my face, and the music in my ears. I can tune everything else out and focus on the next step.

The breakfast was really good too. There was some amazing bread in the hotel restaurant and I had some ham and cheese as well. We had to eat quickly though so that we could catch our bus to the university of Cagliari. It turns out that the students there don’t speak very much English compared to those in Torino and the language barrier was immediately evident. They gave us a tour of the school but we couldn’t communicate with them much because of it. The only thing that I was sure about was that they wanted us to come to a concert with them tonight near our hotel. They struggled through their translated presentation as well.

A sign on the back of one of the desks

Monkey watching the presentation

The lunch was amazing though. We just ate in their cantina, or cafeteria, but the pasta was the best that I’ve tasted. The beef and bread were okay too. The only thing I didn’t like was the oil that I put on my lettuce, but I should have predicted that.

Our presentation came after lunch. It was a lot to endure. We needed a translator for the entire thing to make sure all of the students understood what we were saying. It dragged on for over two hours once you accounted for the question and answer session that followed. We got to come back to the hotel immediately afterward though, so there was relief in that.

I took a nap for an hour and woke up when my mother called to say that I still haven’t received a check for my Holocaust grant in the mail yet. It was a good rest though.

I got ready and went with Pam to dinner at the il Pomodoro restaurant down the street. They had the most amazing pizza. It was a really strange experience though because we got our food at the counter and then sat down to eat. When we were done, we had to pay for it and remind the woman what we ate.

We walked around the streets near our hotel afterward in search of a gelato shop, but we couldn’t find one so we ended up having to go to McDonald’s and get McFlurry’s to meet our day’s gelato quota. I was actually surprised by how good the brownie bit McFlurry tasted. I made it chocolate ice cream essentially by mixing in the fudge to the vanilla and just had to suffer through the bits of chocolate.

Once we were done with our meal, we hung out in the lobby of the hotel and wrote our "homework" journal entries while sitting in the bar area.

Italia: Day Six

Since we stayed out so late, I decided not to get up and run in the morning, which may not have been the best choice, but I do need to try and sleep when I can. I got up at nine and packed my bag because today was our last day in Torino. The group met and walked to a local market together to look at their produce. After admiring the large amounts of fresh fruit, Pam, Chelsea, and I met up with Patti (Loredana’s Italian friend) and wandered around the clothing side of the market. I purchased a corset and tank top that were pretty cheap in price. I also found a bottle of white nail polish that I wanted to get because the color is in style. All of the people I interacted with in the market were very nice, although we were warned ahead of time to be wary of pickpockets. It was somewhat difficult to communicate that I wanted to try things on though.

We spent the rest of the day wandering in and out of stores on the Garibaldi strip, a large collection of fashion stores. Everything was pretty expensive though, so we just looked and tried things on. In a cheaper clothing store, we all tried on matching dresses in different colors and took some pictures. Then we went to an underwear store where we tried on fruit-decorated boxer briefs and took more pictures.

Trying on our fruity underwear

After buying postcards from a small, touristy shop, we sat down at a restaurant called Happy Days for lunch. We all got the pasta and it was amazing – possibly the best that I've had so far on this trip. It’s funny though because it was really just shelled noodles in a tomato sauce. The bread at the restaurant was really good too.

We met up with Becky and Loredana after lunch and stopped into a bar to get some drinks and sit on the patio. I got some weird strawberry and vodka concoction that was very strong and tolerable, but not my favorite. It was a little too fruity for me. Pam got a Amaretto and Coke that was really good though, so I vowed that I would try it at our next stop.

We kept walking toward the river and went back to the park in the center of the city that we keep visiting to rent a four-person bike/car (I don’t know what the technical name for them is but they're covered vehicles powered with your legs, like a bicycle, but that look like an old-fashioned car). We had trouble on some of the hills, but we managed by putting our brute strength into it. It helped that four of us were peddling. At one point, we picked up some random guy who spoke very little English and dropped him off at his bus stop like we were a taxi service. We also steered down this massive hill though and spent the whole way down screaming and having the Italians stare at us. At the bottom of the hill there was even an amusement park-style bump that Becky lost her bag on.

Our rental bike/car

 We wanted to go ziplining after we returned the bike, but the stand by the river was closed so we didn’t end up getting the chance. It’s a shame though because the experience would have only been seven euros.

On our way back to meet the group, we stopped for another drink at a different bar. This time I got the Amaretto and coke. I decided I didn’t like it very much toward the end of the drink because the Amaretto is really sweet tasting and not my style at all. I sucked it down though and proceeded to feel a little bit tipsy for the rest of the afternoon. I’m just glad the glasses we got at the second bar were two euros cheaper and double the size of the first.

We met the rest of the group at a chain ice cream shop, GROM, near our hotel and picked up our luggage before boarding a bus to the airport. I’m really surprised by how big the Torino Airport is. I was expecting a dinky little three-terminal airport, but it’s actually quite nice and decent sized. Even our plane is bigger than I expected. We did have to take a little bus out on the tarmac to board though, which reminds me of 
travelling to Ireland.

Boarding the plane to leave Torino