Italia y Otras cosas

ITALIA

I’ll start at the beginning. We had a Ryanair flight around 9pm from Girona to Ciampino. Girona is like an hour away from Barcelona and a 22euro roundtrip bus ride. We were delayed at the airport about 45 minutes, got on a plane, waited some more, and then were told that there was some kind of problem they were “looking for a solution for”. The Italians onboard got what seemed like a more in-depth explanation. Eventually we switched planes. Reassurance.. Anyway, then we got to Ciampino, which, is not Rome. It wasn’t too bad though.. 50euro taxi ride for 4 of us at like 1am. Omar, the hostel guy, had stayed up and waited for us. We just went to bed since it was late.

In the morning we were woken up by the vocal stylings of R Kelly and people chatting over breakfast. A friendly Australian let us know that the Pope would be coming out that day, so we made our way to the Vatican to get a glimpse. We were in the back of the crowd, but we still saw him give part of a speech and.. some songs. Yes, he sings. Afterward we went to the Vatican museum(sistene chapel etc). Oh, PS, this whole time it was raining, and we had one umbrella among us. Tons of people were selling umbrellas on the street for up to 10euro, but eventually after everyone had them we talked one guy down to 2euro. Anyway, what else.. Ah yes, bus tickets in Italy have to be bought at newsstands, and then validated on the bus, but it’s more or less the honor system. We scammed all of our bus rides in Rome. More on that later.

Other things we saw include: Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Palazzo Chigi, Trevi Fountain, the Colliseum, Arco de Tito, Palatino, Santa Maria della Concezione(temple decorated with human bones..), the Spanish steps, the Basilica, aaaand a Reggae club. Hooray Omar. Italian people are so much nicer than Spanish people. Catalán people anyway. We made more friends during our first day there than we have the whole time here. People are so friendly and helpful, and always willing to point you in the right direction-even if you’re foreign.

Italian food is magnífico. Much better than Spanish food. Well..most food is better than Spanish food. Although I do admit, there was a Doner Kebap across the street, and we did hit that up. To give you an idea: giant fresh sandwiches stuffed full with all sorts of veggies, a similar vegetable pizza, gnocchi with mushrooms, 4 cheese macaroni, risotto with seafood, wine, homemade feast of bread-cheese-salami-proscuitto-spicy oil, etc etc.

The second city(but literally 4^th) city we went to was Milan. We actually flew into Bergamo(Bergamo? I know) which is an hour away from Milan. Another special thanks to RyanAir. So yes, Milan after an unexpected hour long bus ride. Anyway, Milan is kindof..unremarkable. But there is Duomo, the largest gothic cathedral in Italy, which is beautiful, and..shopping. Expensive shopping. Expensive food. And—who’d have guessed it—Erasmus parties. Aww, just like home.

Back to the bus ticket scamming. As we were on the (what we didn’t realize at the time was the wrong direction) bus, we came to a stop and noticed a bunch of police officers(uhh, public transport officers?) standing around. When one popped his head in and asked for a ticket that we didn’t have, they made us get off and started questioning us. We played dumb. Billete? What? We just got here… (5 days ago..) Anyway they didn’t speak much English or Spanish, but got the point across that “Now you must pay the penalty. 35 euro each.” We probably only collectively had about 10 euro, so, that wasn’t happening. After frantically looking around at each other and playing the ‘dumb american’ card (as I tried not to laugh the whole time), they let us go with only having to buy bus tickets. Heh. Lexi was escorted to the closest Il Giorno stand and bought some. 1 euro each. I think it helped that we were going in the wrong direction. Yessss.

If you ever go to Milan, don’t stay in the Hotel Medusa. You will get woken up by the crazy linen lady yelling at you in Italian while trying to figure out which beds to change. Due! Due! No parlamos Italiano! If you go to Rome, and are slightly laid back without being bothered by general grossness, stay at the Navigator Hostel. Good times.

*Roma Photos

*Milano Photos

Otras Cosas...

I just walked to the library, and on the way I noticed a sign in the window with a picture of a phone and a ham, one was free, but I didn’t look close enough to see which. It was in the ham store though..so..I don’t know. Free phone? Free ham? They love their ham here.

Speaking of phones.. I briefly got to play with a HTC Touch. Hot.

I finally bought a coat. Good choice. Coats are swell, when it’s cold. Popsicles are for the summertime.

I read the Fountainhead. Loved it. I just checked out 3 random classics for the Paris trip. I’m also going to London next weekend(helloooo broke-ass-ness) with Esmeralda, because the flight was cheap and she has friends there to stay with.

My new battery arrived, which is how I am enjoying my laptop in its literal sense of the word. On my lap. Sin enchufar. Looks like it will last about 2 and a half hours. However it still makes weird noises on battery power. Oh well.

Off to Paris! Bon voyage! Le garçon est sur la table!