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 Nine

Today was really boring. We didn’t have anything scheduled except for a visit to the beach in the afternoon, so I slept in until 9:30 before going for a run around the city. I managed to get lost but locate our hotel over the roofs of all the buildings, so it wasn’t too bad.

For lunch we went to Il Pomodoro, but they didn’t have any pizza! It was really disappointing. I ended up getting French fries and chicken that might have been turkey. I’m not really sure. It was a good meal that I topped off with a Bacardi Breezer in orange that tasted like orange pop. I’ll need to look for them in the states.

We met up at the hotel afterward and headed to the beach. It took forever for the rest of the group to assemble though, so we waited for almost an hour before we actually stepped onto the bus. The ride was also long and boring. I have an allergy to the parasites that live in sand, so I started itching and breaking out with little red bumps the instant we got to the beach. I ignored it though.

Pam, Chelsea, and I went into the water. It was kind of cold, but definitely manageable. Plus it stopped the itching and now I can say that I’ve been in the Mediterranean Sea! The only problem was the bottom was kind of rocky in random places and I kept accidentally stepping on them, so we had to swim out far and tread water, but then we realized all the waves were closer inland.

The Mediterranean

The beach

When we got out, Pam and I went down to a little restaurant farther down the beach from where the group set up camp. I got a Sex on the Beach while Pam got a sandwich. When we were done, the group split up and left the beach. Pam, Chelsea, Becky, and I headed back to the hotel and I took a shower before Becky and I went to the market. It was closed though, so we ended up wandering around and trying to find some stores that were open for shopping. We only found two and I didn’t see anything in either place.

We met up with Pam and Chelsea back at the hotel and tried to go to La Cantina again for dinner, but it was closed so we ended up going down the street to Burgerlandia and getting pasta and French fries. Then we went down the street to a gelato shop, which actually turned out to be rather gross. The ice cream was really watery.

We came back to the hotel afterward and I got a slice of flipped pizza from Pomodoro on our way. We waited in the lobby for the rest of the group to assimilate for our evening meeting, but nearly all of them were late. It wasn’t us for once though, so no one could complain.

Ireland: ARRGHHHH!

This morning we woke up at the Girl Guide camp and completed our chores by changing the sheets, mopping the bathroom, and cleaning the kitchen after a breakfast of cereal, croissants, and toast.

As soon as we were done cleaning, the taxis arrived to take us to the train station. We piled into three of them and off we went. As soon as we got to the train station, we found Amanda a wheelchair. Then we killed time by hanging around the station, taking exit sign pictures, and waiting in line to board the platform. Finally we boarded the train. It was really fancy and sleek! I was surprised by how comfortable and spacious it was. The train ride wasn’t very scenic though, so I just sat and read for the two hours.

When we got to Dublin, we collected our bags and walked a mile to the hostel! It was a really long walk to take down all the cobblestoned streets.

Once we decided how to arrange ourselves at the hostel: adults in one room and girls in the other, we headed out for lunch. At La Pizza, I ordered an eight-inch cheese pizza that came with fries, salad, and coleslaw. I was disappointed that the fries weren’t called chips on the menu. I cleaned my plate except for the salad (it had gross dressing) and the coleslaw and then took a ketchup packet as a souvenir.

All of the streets warn you to look left before crossing

After lunch, we headed to the Tower Bar Book Market, which almost felt like how I imagine Chinatown. It was very urban with street dancers and a book market outdoors. There were plenty of little shops surrounding the square too. I found two books that looked interesting while we were there. We passed a lot of graffiti around that area as well. It seems fairly prominent in Ireland.

We were in a rush though to make it to our Viking Splash Tour, which left from St. Stephen’s Green. The tour was alright. We wore Viking hats and screamed at people on the footpaths when they weren’t expecting it. After the guide took us around Dublin, we briefly went out on the water and he talked a little bit about the history of Dublin. He also showed us where the World is docked as the ship is currently visiting Ireland. I lost the hat I was wearing on the tour though because it was windy and blew right off my head.

After the tour, we stopped in a small shop on our way back to the hostel. I bought a shot glass, lighter, t-shirt, hat, mug, and some postcards. We also stopped at Tesco, the European version of Meijers, and I bought a Kit-Kat because they taste better here. I’m going to take it home with me.

For dinner, we ate macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders, grapes, and chocolate chip cookies. I had like five cookies because everyone kept giving me theirs. My travel group cleaned up afterwards and then we came upstairs to have a meeting about tomorrow.