Feb 17, Day 30: Italian Whirlwind, Titanic Waterworks, and Another Fast Week

 Oops... it's been a bit longer of a break than I hoped, so this is going to be a bit longer than you hoped. Sorry!!

So as anyone who knows me knows, this weirdly-shaped little pup is Valentine Lamonea Lamonie, called Vallie for short. I've had her since Valentine's Day 1994, so this year (as of Wednesday) makes her 18 years old! We've been all over the world together, and while she won't be getting a Jell-O cake for her birthday like in 1999 (no cooking allowed :c), I wanted to commemorate the rather special date for both of us.

As for that whole thing where I'm actually a college student, this past weekend was Lucca and Firenze (or Florence). For those who are wondering (Mom), no I did not get a chance to go to the Blanco [Boar] - however, I did have boar for dinner on Saturday and it was positively magnificent. (Also a bit rich and Alessandra had to help me finish it. The carnivore in me is truly ashamed.)

So the trip there wound up being a full 12 hours, with the taxi company suggesting we get to the airport by 12:30 for a 3:15 flight. While we waited, we all tried this Dutch beer (in Germany, go figure) called Grolsch at the airport café. I didn't get a picture but it was really good! The plane ride was fine, a bit bumpy, followed by a - surprise surprise - one hour bus trip actually into Milan, then a train ride from Milan to Florence.

This was where the drama got going. I accidentally bought the last second-class ticket to Florence through the kiosk, which wouldn't accept my own credit card so I had to use the emergency Parental Fund (I later realized that I'd put my own card in upside down). Meanwhile, the other three girls ran through the line and got their - wait for it - first class tickets. We got to the train and I somehow, again accidentally, seated myself into what I think was possibly business class - there were business men in front of me and we got served by the trolley, but I was scared to ask for anything in case they asked for my ticket, realized I was in the wrong place, and kicked me off the train or something. I was fine though, I studied up in my (well, Katie's) Italiano phrasebook and read the tour book on Lucca; we all met up in Florence and apparently Emma had combed (almost) the entire train twice looking for me, oops. 

Somewhere in the shuffle of reintegrating me to the group, we missed the connecting train from Milan to Lucca. Well, I say "somehow" but mean "because we were looking at the Arrivals board instead of the Departures board." Oops. 

An hour or so after finally landing seats to our goal city, we made it to the wall of Lucca; an hour or so after that, we'd meandered through the inner streets, meowed and awwed at wayfaring cats, and finally found our B&B - with a very tired-looking man, Marco, at the front desk. He got us situated, we decided against trying to find the late-night gorgonzola/pear mac & cheese spot, I realized I'd left my contact case in Well, and (after I fashioned a poor woman's contact case with some plastic cups and a book) all crashed into bed.

The next morning arrived with what will probably be the most splendid breakfast I'll ever have, prepared and served inexhaustibly by Marco's mother, the owner of La Torre. We were all stuffed by the end, but she kept trying to feed us pastries, nuts, eggs, coffee, anything, and by the second morning we were all instructed to call her Nona, so I'm pretty sure she liked us.

Filled to the brim with coffee, blood orange juice, and food, we struck out into the city, Alessandra leading the way (as the return visitor and as the only one of us who speaks Italian). Our first stop: the top of Guinigi Tower, known for its rooftop oak tree garden and view of the city.

Lucca!

The store downstairs was filled with beautiful home-spun items like bags, scarves, hanging lights, and covered journals. Emma bought one of the journals and I had my eye on a gorgeous purple and white bag, but as it was €32 I contented myself with waiting on it and petting the shop owner's collie.

She was such a sweetie and even posed for us later

We kept on going, walking along the wall until a photo op by one of the churches (which we later went into, I to a special section with the Sleeping Beauty tomb).

We just kept trading cameras around for pictures, it was really silly

 We wandered around the city for the next 5 hours - the great thing about Lucca's city structure is that if you keep walking long enough, eventually you will hit the wall. If you wanted to not get to the wall, just bang a Uie (how do you even spell that? Youie? Uey?) and keep walking until you find the shopping street. A few stores later, we stumbled onto an archaeological church - that is, a church that has been further excavated to reveal the previous 12 centuries of church structure on that exact spot. We were all geeking out about the old architecture and stonework, and even threw coins into the ancient baptismal bath for a wish.

 

It was freezing in the church, so we went back outside to explore one of the center squares (on the way I found a bead for my charm bracelet) and find lunch. Gino's Café, thankfully not just a café, suited us quite nicely with water, bread and olive oil, bruschetta, delicious local wine (nothing below 13.5% though, yowza), and our various plates of pasta. I don't honestly know what I ordered, but it sounded like "boar" and had parma ham so I got it. Good choice.

 

There wasn't actually any boar involved but my god was it good

I'm guessing that whatever sounded like "boar" actually meant "leek," but regardless of the ingredient list it was delicious.

After lunch was more wandering and generally being in love with the city, including a stop at a ridiculously cute café/bar (apparently it was also gender-segregated, considering how the local boys kept walking straight past the counter ladies and us with the pastries and coffees to the dark back section with male bartenders and alcohol and whatnot). It took a few tries to get to the Anfiteatro (the old amphitheatre), but eventually we made it there, shopped around in the center (I almost had a gorgeous pair of €10 blue heels, they even fit my wide toebox, but the shoe was too long!), shopped around on the main street (including at the United Colors of Benneton outlet, what in the world it was doing in Lucca I don't know but Emma got great shoes there), and eventually went into a 70% off store that we'd seen earlier but had agreed that "it's probably 70% off for a reason, etc etc."

Well, that reason is apparently "because it's a lot of really cute clothes in the same color sets and we had too many at the other store so here they are, go for it!"

And oh, did we go for it.

 We all tried on at least one dress (the same dress...), but looked around for the better part of 30 minutes. Well, I tried on about seven dresses, a sweater while I was waiting in the sleeveless dress for one of the three changing rooms that we four were all using simultaneously, and a grey peasant blouse. Let's just say that the peasant blouse was a unanimous winner, the responses were embarrassingly nice, and it was also 70% off of €24.90 (or €29.40) down to €8.something. Um, yes please. The sweater I'd grabbed off the shelf to cover my shoulders was also a winner - beautiful light green color, very soft, gorgeous cut, and around €10. All in all, I'd call it a good buy.

We dropped off our bags back in the B&B, hunted down the restaurant I'd read about only to find that it was full, then went down the street to another place we'd seen. This wonderful little restaurant satisfied my boar craving, then (after we accidentally stayed past closing time and grazie'd our way out) we played Follow The Local Youths Because They Probably Know Where The Demographically-Correct Bar Is to a crowded little spot a few blocks from our B&B. I had my first whiskey sour that night; don't let the short glass trick you, those bad boys are fierce. We were all only planning on one drink, but the bartender - who must've taken a liking to at least one of us, we're pretty sure Mollie - brought us whiskey shots on the house and insisted we try them. When in Lucca...

Actually, they weren't harsh at all - not to mention, those sugar-covered orange slices were tasty!

 The next morning was not as much fun, as we only had time for a short breakfast before racing off to catch a train to Firenze. We got a bit turned around and it was snowing when we got there, but all things considered it wasn't a complete wash of a morning. We dumped our bags at the station bag check and bustled off into the wind to see what we could in the four short hours before our next train.

Turns out, we could see a lot.

The Duomo

Chocolate bears (and pipes, and wrenches) at what was possibly a chocolate festival

Ferocity at the Accademia Gallery

In front of the Ponte Vecchio: Mollie, Me, Alessandra, and Emma

Right after we took this, I noticed from afar a beautiful red and grey scarf at a street cart- I actually went with its tan/neutral twin - and later Alessandra and I each found a charm in the bridge jewelry shops.

And of course, despite the weather: GELATO!

Strawberry and blackberry, mmm!

This was followed by a cup of tea that at least kept me going until the train station. Again, we were split up, but in 2-1-1 this time instead of 3-1, and we'd actually bought specific cars and seats this time so it wasn't really an issue, just funny. We landed in about two feet of snow in Bologna, at which point we had about three hours to wait for our plane - a good three hours to have, considering how my boarding pass had somehow shuffled itself to the bottom of my bag and I had the distinct honor of unpacking my weekend in public to find it. 

After a bizarre airport dinner and some truly grating gate switches, we waited around for twenty minutes in line, then huddled in a bus, for the shuttle to literally go in a circle around the airplane to drop us off.

Seriously. We waited. For the better part of half an hour, we waited. On an outdoor staircase. Within meters of our plane. To go into a shuttle. TO GO IN A CIRCLE AROUND SAID PROXIMAL PLANE.

Italy, WHAT

The plane ride itself was fine; we had extra space, so I actually got some homework/napping done (woohoo!) before we got home around 11; good thing, too, because I went upstairs shortly after getting home to hear about the Budapest group's and Najah's Paris experiences around Europe. 

AS FOR THIS WEEK

it's been a lot of shopping, but I'm home for the weekend so it works out.

I went grocery shopping on Monday (then again today for things I forgot), got presents for an early birthday package for Alyssa (she's in Venice this weekend, turning 20 on Sunday!), and got some last-minute things for my Secret Valentine. 

Tuesday, Valentine's Day, marks Vallie's 18th birthday and what was possibly the least socially engaged V-Day ever. It was awesome. V-Night, on the other hand, consisted of 15 girls (and Chris B) watching Titanic with a huge pile of Rolos, eventually whittling down to Emma, Alyssa, Val, and I watching to the end. Emma and Alyssa had been sobbing for the better part of the second half, but I didn't snap until Rose died and then...

"She met him at the clock! Everyone's applauding their love!"

 Happy Valentine's Day, ladies and gentlemen.

 

The big Secret Valentine reveal was on Wednesday: we all sat in Sophie's for an hour or so, watching performances and having our names called out to deliver our valentine gifts by hand to whoever we'd pulled. I'd actually been working on mine for a good four days, leaving "postcards" - printed-out pictures glued to cardboard with a little poem on the back - with a chocolate or something in her mailbox. The big package on Wednesday was a set of "tattoo" glitter body pens (thank you EUOR) and chocolate bottle-opener (yes, you read that right) from Florence, but the piece de resistance was a blue paper accordion calendar that I had to give late because it wouldn't fold together in the five minutes I had between class and the party.

My secret valentine had put a letter covered in hearts with a hand-drawn bear saying "Have a blast!" - so I was pretty sure whoever'd gotten me was a girl. Actually, it was Bryan from next door, known since Prague as Big Papa or Dad, who brought over - in front of everyone - a Targé bag filled with Cheetos (god knows when those got to Europe), Chokotoffs (my third bag since getting here!), a Milka bar, and mints from our favorite restaurant in Prague. He even signed the card "From Dad" and drew a dog and bear on the front - what detail!

American Night was Carnaval-themed this week (meaning come in a costume and the best one wins drinks and a crown); I got there late, as our ethics professor sprung a four-page paper on us on Tuesday, due Thursday, but went as "Partly Sunny With A Chance Of Rain." I didn't take a picture - my makeup was so not up to par - but it involved my gold shoes, grey dress, and quite a bit of eyeshadow. I'll do it again someday though, so pictures will come.

We're all preparing for Carneval, so I have a cardboard waffle mostly cut out for my Belgium costume - it'll be done by Sunday - and the stores are closing down for the weekend. Alessandra, Emily, Lane and I were planning on going into Dusseldorf today to go shopping, but all three of them woke up still feeling pretty sick so we nixed the "Go Out and Spend Lots of Money!" plan for the unanimously loved "Sleep Four More Hours, Walk Around Well, Eat Inexpensive Food" option.

Today has been a lot of PJ time, let's just say that. I just had my first Well pizza and it was not bad at all; there were definitely some unfamiliar flavors involved but it was overall perfectly adequate. Currently I'm debating between staying in or going out, but I finally found a Gilmore Girls link that (kind of) works (when it wants to) and I think it's raining outside, so there's that.

Hopefully my next post won't be so epic! Phew, that was a lot. Brownie points if you got this far.

- That kid who buys too much and writes even more a.k.a. Bekka