A few Italy notes

June 9, 2014

 

Hi Readers! I am home from one of the most exhilarating, exhausting, educational, expensive and (burp) expansive two weeks of my life.

I have so much to share with you and I will, I promise. As soon as the photos are downloaded and organized and my house is back in order, I’ll get crackin’.

Well, and after tackling Laundry Mountain and the great refrigerator re-stock…

But there are just a couple of things I wanted to blab about right away, a few random observations, just to get the ball rolling.  After so much time away, I feel like I need to put at least something in this space.  Heck, I’ve almost forgotten how to do this writing thing. Sloth is a dangerous pastime.

Anyways, first item of business:

~ Nothing major went wrong on this trip. Nothing really even minor went wrong on this trip. What strange kind of alternate reality was at work?!? I mean, seriously! I don’t believe I’ve ever had traveling normalcy EVEREVER in my life.

Traveling normalcy is da bomb, folks.

I may not ever experience traveling normalcy again, but I’m okay with it, because this once, when it really mattered, the travel gods didn’t fuck with me, and for that I am very, very grateful.

Other Odds and Ends:

~ In Italy, is is fully your responsibility not to step in somebody else’s dog’s shit. Got that? Your responsibility.

~ Speaking of dogs, Italians bring their dogs everywhere. One evening, during apertiva hour (around 7pm), I looked around the café and was in the presence of a beagle, 2 weiner dogs and a very unnaturally groomed standard poodle. Apparently, pooches love cocktail hour too.

~ Seeing all of those dogs every day made me really miss this guy.

My husband got sick of me whining about it.

~ I don’t know where taxpayer dollars go in Italy, but I can tell you where they don’t go: sidewalk repair. I nearly killed myself dozens of times on crumbling sidewalks. The sidewalks are super narrow, too–I feared tripping into the path of a speeding Vespa because there literally is an inch of room between the sidewalk and the road. It made me a Nervous Nellie.

~ Italian women never let a few crumbling sidewalks get in the way of rockin’ sets of impossibly high heels. I have NO idea how those chicks held their balance.

~ Italian birds hate me just as much as American birds do. Details on this later.

~ Italian mosquitoes love me just as much as American mosquitoes do. Italian ones are much smaller in size though, so they’re harder to squash.

~ If you sit down, jet-lagged, to a very late lunch and the restaurant gives you a menu without prices listed on it, you probably ought to think twice. We didn’t, and our reward was the now legendary 300 euro lunch bill. Whaaaa?!

~ Most hotel bathrooms come equipped with a bidet. In a pinch, a bidet makes a very fine washing machine for stinky, sweaty socks.

~ And you’ll sweat. Copiously.

~ It is fully your responsibility in Italy not to get run over by a speeding car or Vespa. They ain’t stopping for ya, so eyes open, folks.

~ Homemade pasta makes all the difference.

~ There is nothing wrong with eating a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad for breakfast.

~ There is no such thing as too many gelaterias.

~ Italians have a lot to teach Americans about the art of chilling out. They make it look so easy!

~ It is unwise to seek a bathroom during a tour of the Coliseum or the Vatican. Details forthcoming.

~ It really hurts to leave Italy.  But coming home still feels pretty good. Warm puppies and cheeky Minxes are the perfect solution to post-holiday blues.

 

Happy Summer, Readers! I’ve missed you and am going to try hard to play catch-up with y’all. My jet-lagged and pasta-enlarged butt is dragging, but I’m going to try!

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Rudri Bhatt Patel @ Being Rudri June 9, 2014 at 12:04 pm

Welcome Back, Kitch!

I can’t wait to hear about the details of your trip.
You are right about the gelato. During our trip, we ate pizza and gelato. Repeat. Day after day.

Observation I had in Italy: People are gorgeous. All their fat seems to land in the right places. Lol.

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Katybeth June 9, 2014 at 1:10 pm

Welcome home and I’m so glad you had a wonderful trip. Italy is so fabulous and it sounds like you experienced it to its fullest. Looking forward to the stories and pictures.

Ciao.

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Shannon June 9, 2014 at 1:53 pm

Yay! So glad you had a great trip and that you are home safe. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Italy is at the top of my list of places to go!

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Abby June 9, 2014 at 2:13 pm

Glad you’re home safe, sound and sane. ;)

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Kim Jorgensen Gane June 9, 2014 at 8:18 pm

Sounds wonderful! So glad it was unfettered by the travel gods, and you made it back in one piece. xo

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Alison June 10, 2014 at 12:21 am

Hello you, welcome home! I’m glad the travel gods didn’t mess with you this time, because you deserve an awesome time away, and it sounds like you did. Yes, there can NEVER be too many gelaterias.

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Sherri June 10, 2014 at 6:07 am

Have been MIA lately – glad to see there are people having fun :). Italy is great – have not been in years – need to go again soon. Yes – photos – soon :).

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elizabeth June 10, 2014 at 6:48 am

Welcome back!! I’m so, so happy for you that you didn’t run into any travel issues and that you could have caprese salad for breakfast (hopefully more than once!). Can’t wait to hear about the rest of the trip and to see photos.

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Barbara June 10, 2014 at 12:01 pm

So glad all went perfectly and you had a fabulous time!

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Jamie June 10, 2014 at 5:42 pm

You’re back! You’re back! You’re back! :)

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Lisa @ The Meaning of Me June 11, 2014 at 3:50 pm

Sounds fabulous! Glad you had a great trip. :)

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Tiffany June 12, 2014 at 5:42 pm

I’m so glad you had a wonderful trip!!

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Jennifer June 17, 2014 at 11:29 am

I’m so glad you had a “normal” vacation. You were due.

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