Ancona & the Adriatic

Two weeks ago on Sunday I went to the beautiful sea-side city of Ancona for the day. It's located on the Adriatic Sea in the Marches region of Italy. The weather was amazing, cool and crisp, not cold at all. It seemed as if there barely anyone on the seashore, I did spot two old man-friends in speedo's though. They seemed quite fat & happy!

Ancona is a popular place for Greek settlers because it's so close. I could see huge cruise ships and passenger ships. Unfortunately for me the passenger ships don't commute in the winter months or I would have loved to visit Greece and Croatia.

I met up with my new Greek friend, Antonis who took these photos of me! While Italian food is great, I welcomed the change of flavors with delicious Greek Gyro's. Definitely took in my fair share of tzatziki sauce.

Scarf shirt and floral skirt for less than 2 Euro total at the Bologna outdoor market. 

Croatia lies just beyond this beautiful bit of Sea. How badly I want to go! 

(Thanks to Hugo, Marko & Game of Thrones for introducing this lovely land to me)

Lovely blue dress was thrifted in Bologna for only 5 Euro. One of my favorite new/old things. 

 

On my long train ride there (around 2.5 hours) I was lucky to meet George, a retired old Albanian man who travels around Italy and the world to visit his friends! He was on his way to Rome this time.

He said he was really happy to meet me and practice his English, apparently it had been 3 years since he met an English speaker out and had a conversation. He is hosting some Mormon boys right now who are "spreading the word" through Europe. 

A sweet old man. Definitely my best train trip yet. 

Milano

Started my weekend off in Bologna then headed to Milano Saturday morning. 

Finally figured out what an "aperitivo" is. This amazing thing, sort of like a traditional American happy hour, but so much better. You pay maybe 7 euros for a drink and a buffet of food! Depending on where you go it can be hit or miss, but luckily for me, I went with people who knew where to go, success. 

In Milan I met up with Giulia Bersani who took these lovely photos of me! She and her family were so sweet and let me stay at their flat for the night. When I arrived we went to their flat, I was a bit surprised at how small it was, only 2 bedrooms for 4 people, but oh my was it lovely! It was so well decorated, felt really homey and well lived-in. Everything had a purpose and was well used, they had the coolest bookshelves and made great food. 

I had no idea there was a 3-day yoga festival going on the weekend, I didn't bring any yoga gear, but got a good walking-working walking around the city from Museum to Museum and browsing the fashion art on Via Monte Napoleone. 

Of course we had to go to the Duomo in the city center, it was so beautifully extravagant. There was a 60 year old corpse of an old priest (I think?) in there, it was pretty creepy because you could see his exposed hands and they were all shriveled and green, still wearing huge rings, mind you. The Gothic music definitely added to that haunted church mystery mystique. 

Milano is the first Italian city I've visited that requires the use of the Metro, I was so thankful to have Giulia around to help out direction wise. I still haven't bought a map yet and am hoping I can get off without ever having to get one, ha!

Other things: Men as giraffes on stilts in the city center. Rain. Museums. Jeurgen Teller. A morning full of Polaroids, coffee, and biscuits in Cristina Altieri's flat. Homemade breakfast and lunch. Markets. The most delicious chocolate covered candy/fruit: Alchechengi & Boeri aka the winter cherry with liquor and chocolate. Ferragamo. Prada. Traditional Milanese risotto. Trams. The Metro. The most beautiful train station adorned with the beauties in the Dolce & Gabbana "Italian Family" ads. 

He Said It Well

( i just have one very important edit). 

i need you. 

i'm kinda lonesome without you, you understand?

it's been a long time since you've been in my arms, darling. 

i've never stopped loving you. so why should you let a little misunderstanding stop you from loving me?

but i want you to know that whether or not you're bringing on home to me baby.

i want you to know that nothing can change that love i have for you. 

spend all my money if you want to baby, but listen to me, nothing can change that love i have for you. 

make me cry sometimes. 

oh but listen listen, but nothing can change that love. 

do you understand what i'm talking about?

nothing can change the love that i have for you baby. 

and i want you to know that if i go a million miles away

i'd write a letter each and every day. 

cause i know that nothing, nothing can ever change that love i have for you. 

let me tell you what you can do.

you can make me weak and you can make me cry,

see me coming baby, and you can pass me by. 

but i know that nothing, nothing will ever change that love i have for you. 

let me tell you why nothing can change it. 

you're the apple of my eye. you're cherry pie. 

you're cake and ice cream. and you're that sugar and spice and everything nice.

you're my best friend and the man who has my heart.

you're the guy of my dreams, Hugo. 

but if you wanted to leave me and roam

when you got back, pretty baby, i'd just say welcome home.

because i know that nothing, oh nothing can ever change that thing i got for you. 

Terrible Two's?

Terrible Two's. Try Terrible almost 4 year old.

No one could have prepared me mentally, or physically, for the seemingly simple job of being an Au Pair for this specific almost-4-year old. 

Yes, my job is amazingly easy. A breakdown of my normal weekday:

I wake up at 7:15am 

Am downstairs by 7:30am.

Wake up the older boy.

Make breakfast/coffee.

Eat // clean dishes.

Take the kids to the bakery and to school.

Pick up the older one at 1pm.

Prepare // eat lunch // clean dishes. 

Teach English from 2-3pm.

Pick up the younger one at 3:45PM

Hang around // play // help with dinner // clean up after dinner. 

Done. 

Easy, right? I thought so too. 

Who would have know that between picking up the younger boy at 3:45 and hanging around, A LOT can happen. Today was one of those days.

Carlo wanted a snack after school. He gets one every day. Sometimes chocolate, sometimes candy, today it was chips. Never anything good for him, but his parents say to do it, so I do. Inside said bag of chips is a little toy, a sort of catapulting mini Frisbee. We catapulted the mini Frisbee and guess what, it flew away! That's what happens to things that catapult. Unfortunately this little toy decided to land behind a locked gate where we couldn't retrieve it. Although he was speaking in Italian, it was obvious that he really wanted to get another bag of chips and a toy. 

I say NO. He already got his snack and his toy, and now it's gone. A great way to learn and deal with disappointment. It's not like he's short on toys, these kids have an entire basement filled with things I'm even in awe of. Not to mention, he doesn't need to be eating another bag of chips. Carlo does not take well to "NO," and is accustomed to getting his way.

I start to walk home and he begins crying/screaming at me (in Italian) to go get another toy. I just keep walking home. He follows me for a while until he decides to wrap himself around my legs so I can't walk. I pick him up and he is screaming for someone to help him & I look like a child napper. We finally cross the street and I put him down in the bike/pedestrian lane to see if he feels like walking for himself, he's also pretty heavy so my arms are getting tired... Not a good idea. He's trying to run away and I find myself on the ground, trying to claw onto him so he doesn't run into the street, he's practically ripped my shirt off by now and his nose is starting to bleed. Good God. I don't know what to do, so I call his mother. 5 minutes later she comes by on her bike, he's freaking out at her, demanding the toy. I take her bike so she can try and calm him down, then he runs away from her! She dashes down the street after him, and after a while catches up with him. I offer to take her purse off her hands so she can be hands free. She agrees, but takes her wallet so she can buy him another toy and meet me at home. 

Wow. Really? That's ridiculous.

This kid gets everything he wants. If it doesn't come easily, he'll cry and scream until he gets his way. 

He's going to grow up and get slapped in the face by reality if he doesn't start to figure some things out now. Apparently Italians are stereotyped for spoiling their children - it's prevalent in this household, that's for sure. He's not my child so I don't have any right to "parent" him, but I wish they would say no and make him deal with it sometimes. 

I feel for the parents, I really do. Parenting must be so difficult, the mom talks about how tired she is all the time, I didn't really understand why but today has made it much clearer. Children are physically and mentally exhausting, they cry and scream and fight, give you major physical work outs and ruin your clothes. Despite all of that, the bond between child and parent is so strong, so innate and overcome with love that it makes all of that shitty stuff worth it. Too bad for me, I'm just the Au Pair... ;)

He is actually quite sweet, a lot of the time. Kids are cool, I definitely want to have them (2 at least), but not for a long long time.

VOTE

Thanks to "Democrats in Italy" and Votefromabroad.org for helping me get everything I needed together in order to make sure my vote counts. 

You can bet i'll be watching the debate tonight, even if it does start at 2AM my time. 

The Queen of the Adriatic

I was given a city map, but only needed it once (to get back to that beautiful bookstore). I had no plan, just wanted to walk around and explore. I had very specific memories of sitting on the steps at Piazza San Marco when I  visited 4 years ago and remember that I wanted to come back to this exact place and sit at one of those expensive tables in the middle of the square by myself for hours. 

Yes, San Marco is stunning. It's essentially a huge outdoor ballroom created by Napolean. Too bad they were doing renovations on part of the wall, but there was an out-of-this world sized poster of Scarlett Johansson in a Moët & Chandon advert so I guess that made up for it, somehow. I didn't end up getting one of those tables in the square, I found out it costs 15 Euros just to sit, so I decided to go elsewhere. And a good thing, too. 

My favorite places were hidden in little residential nooks that I just sort of stumbled upon. Most of the city is littered with tourists and shops geared towards tourists, all selling the same masks, postcards, magnets, and Murano glass jewelry. You have to wander off a bit in order to get to where you really want to go. 

Here are some photos of the little wonders I found...

I didn't snap a photo of the Venetian winged lion, but I think it's no coincidence that this this city speaks so well to this Leo. Also, Gryffindor House's colors are scarlet & gold and their animal is the Lion... all the same as Venezia...! 

The Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World

Note: Smile and be happy because you are in Venezia.
(An automatic physical reaction upon crossing the bridge into the most magical place on earth... that I know of, thus far)

Photo taken by the lovely Giorgia Pallaro. The sweetest lady I've met in Italy so far. 

The Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World. So glad to have found this gem! Piles upon piles of stuff. Cats everywhere, old (non-used) condoms for sale in a bowl, postcards, deadstock vintage postcards, already used vintage postcards, books in all the languages I can't understand, free wi-fi!, dusty, musty and lovely paper aromas, a book-case staircase. Sigh. So beautiful. 

(Photo by Giorgia Pallaro) 

On these weekend trips I've been taking I figure out my sleeping accommodations via couchsurfing.org. It's great because it gives me a way to meet locals who can show me around, where to get good food (almost anywhere) for cheap (not so common), and hopefully have someone around for good company. Not to mention a free place to stay! I've met some really interesting people who I'm excited to continue knowing, but I've also met some others... This was the case in Venezia.

Initally, the guy was really great. He was beyond helpful, picked me up at the train station with a bus ticket, keys, and city map in hand! He prepared dinner and we had a great 1st night with another Brazilian couch-surfer and two Columbian Air BnB'ers. My first day in town I met up with Giorgia for a few hours (actually, 6 - we got along so well), but then wanted to be by myself. 

I didn't really "do" much of anything other than walk around, sit, drink, eat, watch people, write, walk in the rain, and enjoy. The next day, my CS host wanted to come with me, bring his camera along for a photoshoot, and explore. Sounded fine to me, but I quickly learned that unwanted company is not fun.  I went along with it (but not the photo-taking) for a while, just because he was an interesting person to study (and the fact my backpack was in his house). He kept talking. And talking. And talking. Talking at me. He had some interesting things to say and I'll definitely remember him, he had a very strong personality. Then he started hating on America hardcore (and I felt like, at me!) and then told me he thought women needed to be kept on a leash. Right. Not cool. I think from now on I'll be approaching my accommodations in a different way. Luckily, I think he got the hint and after a lunch we parted ways. 

In Florence I saw a few people sleeping on benches and the grass. I think in the right city/situation - I would definitely be down to do that. I've decided not knowing where I'm going to sleep, sleeping outside, or in a train, is much preferred to feeling trapped in the company of un-wanted strangers. Maybe I'll splurge on a hostel or even a hotel, but I think I'm going to cut back on couch-surfing for now.

Even with the unwanted company of a strange stranger, my time in Venezia was perfect. I think every time it will be. I'm looking forward to going back in December and  hopefully, one day, with someone very dear to my heart. 

(Photo by Giorgia Pallaro)