Day 16-Homeward Focus

We woke up at around 6-6:30am so that we can be ready and downstairs by 7:30am. Our taxi was coming at 8:00am, but it would be nice to experience the continental breakfast before we leave the hotel for the last time. We make it downstairs, had a HUGE breakfast with croissants & biscotti (and I smothered them all in nutella :))
Lilliana & Christina were also going to the airport to fly back to Romania. Their flight was later than ours, and when they found out that we would be sharing a cab, they were upset because they would have to be at the airport earlier. Since Tim & I try to be as accommodating as possible, we offered to leave an hour later than we wanted. Well, that was problem number one. Problem number two was trying to fit 4 people with luggage and a driver into one car. Our driver, Carlo, did not want to part with his Mercedes for a Van (which would have made more sense), so I volunteered to have one of the most uncomfortable seats in the car. I chose to have a seat behind Tim (who was in the front seat holding my bag up on the dashboard so that it wouldn't cover the gear shift) and I had his smaller bag where my feet should go and 3 other bags on top of me. Christina, seeing my discomfort, offers to take one of the bags off of me, which was very nice of her. And the third problem was being in this position for an hour! My feet were falling asleep.
We finally get to the airport and we only have an hour to get our bags checked in, go through security and get to our terminal. This is all because we wanted to accommodate others. Tim is in a panic, but I just keep thinking that the lines are short and the plane hasn't left yet. We should be fine. I print our boarding passes while Tim checks our bags in. We get through security quickly and get to our terminal with 20 minutes to spare. Whew! We do some last minute shopping that we didn't get a chance to do and walk back to the terminal just as they were boarding. And thank goodness we didn't need a bus to get to our plane.
The plane ride was only 5 minutes late, so getting our next flight in Paris wasn't going to be a problem. We arrive and we have to take a bus to our terminal. Ahh, what is up with all the buses in airports?! We get to the area where our terminal is and I am floored. Why wasn't my Paris airport experience like this before?? High end stores everywhere. A really nice food area and elevators and bathrooms. AND an internet cafe. Where were you internet when I needed you a couple of weeks ago for 5 hours?! Ahh!
Anyway, we make it to the airplane and Tim and I were supposed to be in an aisle and middle seat. The window seat was open. We were getting anxious to see if someone would be sitting there or not, since it would be extremely nice to have this row to ourselves. Too good to be true, especially when a woman comes around saying that she thinks she's supposed to be in this row. But she then freaks out in front of the whole plane, "Why did they tell me I have an aisle seat when this is a WINDOW seat? I WANT AN AISLE SEAT!" "We don't mind moving down.." Thank goodness we were so accommodating AGAIN.
The plane ride wasn't too bad. We hit some turbulence from time to time, but I was able to watch a few more movies: When in Rome, Dear John and The Bounty Hunter. I fell asleep for maybe a half hour, which was definitely not enough. I just couldn't get comfortable. I don't think Tim had slept either on this 7 hour flight.
We finally land and it is like American heaven! Everything is in English...People are speaking in English...For once in the past couple of weeks, I actually know what's going on! Even a little boy who was standing in front of us at the customs line was pointing out us speaking in English. America America America! I love America!
My parents pick us up and they treat us to a lovely Chinese meal. Chinese in America! Awesome! There are some other foods on our list of things to eat: fruit (surprisingly, not very good in Italy), Japanese and Mexican. I'm excited for Mexican and Margaritas at my favorite place, Dos Segundos! Or even just to have a restaurant open throughout the whole day! There are so many things that I look forward to doing and enjoying more from this trip.
Tim and I also picked up our cars. A big thank you to my parents, my brother and Leah. Thanks guys for giving me a full tank of gas and my car in one piece. It was just the way I left it.
Although, it may seem like I didn't enjoy my trip, I really did. It was a great experience and I saw so many good things. It just also made me appreciate the things that I have at home that I might not have appreciated before. I am a lucky girl <3

Day 15-Day on my own #6.5

Oh to be on a routine and only to realize that I will be flying back into the states tomorrow. I did my usual today: blog writing, go to the pool to tan and hang out with Tim when he gets home from work. We went to our last dinner here with some more of Tim's co-workers. They did speak English, but at times I stared out into space when they were speaking in Italian...AND French...AND Romanian. Some what frustrating, but whatever...it's the last night!
Well it's been great. I spent quality time with my man friend, I saw lots of beautiful things (as well as some not so beautiful things) and I got a pretty good tan. All in all this was a great experience. I am extremely thankful that I was able to come to Italy. My travels, however, are not over. To the airplane....!

Day 14-Day on my own #5.5

I got up to do my usual schedule: Update my blog, Shower, Get to the pool for some good quality tan time, Shower to see the tan progress, Hung out until Tim got home. This time instead of going to the restaurant (thank goodness) or ordering room service (thank goodness), we opted to walk into the heart of the city of Savigliano for dinner.
The walk is about 10-15 minutes from our hotel. And after another 2 minutes, you can walk completely around the piazza thats in the city's center. My stomach starts to growl (so what else is new) and ask Tim if we can eat dinner now. We go into a "restaurant" that only sells Panini's and EVERYONE was basically looking at us as if to want to say, "Why would any english speaking person want to come to this part of town?" Well, because we want to eat! The hotel restaurant is actually the best restaurant in Savigliano, and we thought thats the direction people would point us to. Please, we want to avoid that!
We finally get to a place that specializes in fancy pizza. I ate one called "Godzilla" without the uozo (egg). It came with ham, mushrooms, and bacon. What I didn't know is that most of the bacon was uncooked, so I gladly picked at my pizza and set it off to the side. Tim had a pizza with sausage, onions and that uncooked bacon. We were both a little disappointed in the pizza, but its ok. With only a day and a half left in Europe, it made us look more forward to coming back to America. I <3 America!
We paid for the check, which was tough since they were so busy. We waited about 20-30 minutes until we decided to just go up to the cashier to ask for it. And then the cashier was rushed and speaking so fast that it was a good thing the total flashed on the register. It also gave me a minor strain in my neck from nodding my head pretending I understood what she was saying.
We picked up some gelato, since that is never a disappointment. I had Creme & Caramel on a cone. Now THIS is what I'm going to miss. And I don't even care about my constant forgetting of my lactaid pills (although I know I will care tomorrow). Gelato is one of the best things about Italy.

Day 13-Day on my own #4.5

Sleeping was really great today. I slept so much that I missed going to the pool. Oh well, there's always tomorrow :)

I did, however, meet Tim and his co-workers for lunch and I discovered a new pet peeve of mine. First, I came down to the restaurant in the hotel where they were and his co-workers had put Tim in between the 2 of them. Normally, this would be fine, because it's not like Tim and I need to be next to each other at every moment. But what did bother me was the fact that for 50% of the time they would speak Romanian or Italian to each other, excluding Tim and I basically. And I'm not going to shout over them to speak in English to Tim. I do have manners.

A part of me realizes that they also are a little annoyed that I am here. They both have husbands in Romania and I'm sure they would love for them to be out here. But, they both have been going home every weekend and Tim has yet to go to America for the past 2 months. And although I am here, Tim is still working. The first few days that I was here was the first time he had stopped working since he has been in Italy. So they can be rude all they want about it, but the work shows that Tim does deserve to have me here. Now as for me deserving to be here, who knows?

Anyway, after lunch, Tim (of course) went back to work and we decided that we should just keep to ourselves for the rest of the trip.

Speaking of that, I can't believe we leave in a couple of days. Time is going by very quickly!

PS...Make sure to check out my picture page & that I do enjoy reading every single one of your comments :) Keep them coming (and I think you can comment on the pictures themselves)

Finally...PICTURES!

Here is a link to my picture page.

Enjoy!

Things that I've learned so far about Italy..

1. You must be making a ton of money to live here. Even the poorest towns have ridiculous prices.

2. Saying, "I'm American!," to anyone isn't really that effective.

3. Italians love charging Americans more than any other nationality. (i.e Paying 3 Euro for a bottle of water makes you feel better about paying $2.50 for the same thing at an American movie theater.)

4. Venice does not smell as bad as many people will say.

5. but Deodorant means nothing here. Sometimes showers, too.

6. Manual cars rule in Italy and people cringe over using the brakes.

7. There is a very good reason as to why the red traffic light is 3x larger than the yellow and green.

8. The amount of puppies exceed the amount of children and I really like that.

9. Italians love American music. They know all the words. My favorites that I've heard so far are:

-"Mmmm," Crash Test Dummies

-"Crazy," Seal

-"I Can't Dance," Genesis

-"Toxic," Britney Spears

-"She Bangs," Ricky Martin

10. They really love to clean as early as possible in this hotel, even if it is just to make the bed and give you extra towels.

11. The bread really isn't too bad, unless its stale.

12. I really love Angus fillet.

13. Flies love Fructis hair products, not just cheese and vegetables.

14. The concept of my name having a "ph" instead of an "f" is baffling to people. I also find that I have this same problem in America and I can't quite figure it out yet.

15. In order to blend in as a local, keeping a cigarette handy is the key.

Oh, I'm sure there are more...check back.

Day 12-Where's the chocolate in the middle?

Another day of waking up and opening the window to a river and beauty. I am so sad that we have to leave. One more morning of breakfast and we'll be ready to go. Since I loved the mini jellies so much, I decided to sneak some into my purse to enjoy in America. (I cannot wait for that!)

We pack up our bags and venture over to the train station. Bye, bye Venice and hello, Milano (like the cookie!).

It is about a 2 hour train ride to Milan, which went by pretty quickly. We had almost a whole car to ourselves and the train, once again, was super nice.

We get to Milan and I really only wanted to see one thing. DOMUS! Tim and I decide to take a cab ride there, since we really don't know how far of a walk it would be. We get there and wow, the square is huge with another statue in the middle and, of course, a HUGE church. Funny enough, there was also a Milan Triathalon going on. We also walk into the Vittorio Emannuelle II Galleria. The structure is also large and has many shops in there that I couldn't afford to even step foot in. (i.e Prada, Louis Vutton, etc.) We walk around a little more before deciding to just head back to Savigliano. I knew we weren't going to stay there long considering neither Tim not I are in a high fashion state of mind.

We get a taxi ride back to the train station, another structure that looks more like a castle than a train station. We get in line to get our train tickets and ewwww. Someone smells overly bad. Like I wish I was wearing a face mask kind of bad. Oh foreshadowing, I dislike you...

We have to take two trains: Milan to Turin and Turin to Savigliano. The first train, it was kinda gross to begin with and the guy in the seats across the row from us had his shoes off. Another guy sits near him and every time he opens his mouth to yawn, I get the urge to vomit.

Just about an hour and a half later, we arrive in Turin. We get in line and although more people smell, I get distracted by all the cute puppies and dogs in my eye range. In Italy, for the most part, people supplement children for dogs. This is an idea I would love to try :o)

We get on the next train and what? Where did these kids come from? Why are their mothers letting them be SOOOO loud? Luckily, the kids weren't smelly or that would put this thing a little over the top.

We get to Savigliano and about 15 minutes after we arrived, Lilliana and Christina are there to pick us up. They drop us off at the hotel and make plans to meet with us for dinner. After waiting for their phone call for about 2 hours, we are sooooo hungry. We call them up instead and ask if we could eat now before our stomachs cave in.

Oh this lovely restaurant, with basically the same menu every night...I decide to get the tuna this time. It was reeeeeally good. And it went well with good conversation.

After to dinner, its time for this pleasant weekend to be over and for Tim to mentally start thinking about work for tomorrow. Back to the days by myself by the pool.

Day 11-I love me some Venice

I open my eyes and ahhh...I can't believe I'm still here. We shower and get ready for continental breakfast and start our day. We go into the dining hall, but no one is in there. Did we miss breakfast? :o( A few steps further and we see another beautiful garden by the Grand Canal with tables and umbrellas set up. This must be it!

The complimentary assortment of breads and jellies on the table, along with some croissant sandwiches and orange juice. The sandwiches were either stuffed with ham and cheese, chocolate or apple jelly. It was awesome! We also ordered espresso, a cheese omelette and an apple (we thought it was going to be cut up with oranges and pears, but it was a whole apple. I still ate it :o)) While we ate, we noticed a gang of pigeons staring at us while we ate. They bothered the other 4 tables that were there as well, waiting to get the chance to swoop in and eat the delicious bread and such. After being very satisfied and anxious to start the day, we left and watched the pigeons go crazy over at our table as we walked away.

In the room, we got ready to walk around and explore the awesomeness that is Venice. There were a few tours that sounded interesting, but most of them expected you to have your shoulders and knees covered for the church entries. It was waaaay too hot for me not to wear shorts. We decided to not get wrapped up in where we were going and to just walk around.

I knew that I definitely wanted to ride on a gondola, so we looked around for a place to let us reserve a spot for later. I had my heart on going around dusk, as the sun sets on the water and the street lights start to turn on. It was going to be super late, but I really didn't care, obviously. The first gondola place was saying 7:00pm was the perfect time, but I knew better. We reserved with them anyway. As we walked around some more, going through more narrow streets for shade, a park and more mini bridges connecting street to street, we come across another gondola place. They say 8:00pm is no problem and leave 20 euro to reserve your spot. The other place didn't do that, which was odd, but at least we didn't have a loyalty to them.

After making this reservation, we noticed that all over, there are directional signs for the Piazza San Marco. Tim and I decide to follow the signs to see what the hype was all about. On the way there, there are many hidden shops and eateries with A LOT of people everywhere. I've never heard more English spoken anywhere else in Italy. Not even Rome. We find another great bridge and a sign for a water taxi. Not knowing how far away we were from San Marco, we decide to take the water taxi. It costs 6.50 euro each and we make it on a boat. This was a good idea in order to see some of the buildings that you can only see by taking a water taxi. This place is still taking my breath away. We also met a couple on the taxi ride, where the guy was from New Jersey (with typical Hawaiian shirt intact). Very fun.

We get to San Marco and really didn't know what to expect. Another WOW factor, though, indeed. The Piazza was huge and the churches were big as well. The detail on the outside was unbelievable. We also see that there is apparently a concert that will be going on later that evening, starring Norah Jones. After taking in the sights of the piazza, we opt to start walking back to the hotel. The heat had us exhausted and a nice nap was almost necessary.

Instead of taking the taxi, we decide to walk and realized that we definitely could have walked and not taken a taxi ride. Oh well, but I don't regret it.

After achieving a great nap, we get ready for the gondola ride and for dinner afterwards. I had brought my heels on this trip thinking that this would be the perfect time to wear them, but ehh, whatever. Flip flops are fine.

We make it to the gondola ride and the sun is still up. Jeez, Sun, can't you make an exception this once and start to set right now?! Of course not. We get in the gondola and our "driver" is Stefano. As we introduce ourselves, he quickly catches the name similarity. Tim and I thought we were getting a ride on the Grand Canal, which would have been spectacular. And even though Stefano doesn't speak great English, it sounded like we were given a choice. Nope, sadly mistaken. Instead of the Grand Canal, we go through the "slums" of Venice. How romantic...

The tour included nice facts about the area and even some Stefano history, a born and raised Venician. Although, there was graffiti on a lot of the buildings and we almost crashed a couple of times, it was still extremely romantic and fun.

At the end of our ride, we take pictures and go on our merry way to dinner. We decide that since we didn't get the Grand Canal tour that we should at least eat by it. We get to a restaurant, whose name escapes me at the moment, and the waiter comes over asks us what we would like to drink and would we like to order and this and that and omg, slow down, we just got here! He leaves for us to decide and starts to sing a little tune as he walks away. Tim and I look at each other and are like, uhh, what jut happened? I ordered a Salmon Pasta dish and Tim ordered a Seafood Pasta dish. With that, we got a bottle of Chianti (obviously, not the right wine for fish, whooopsie!) and just enjoyed the view. We could see our hotel garden from where we were sitting.

After a wonderful dinner and bottle of wine, we go to a mini vendor to pick up some gelato. I automatically go for the one they called "Cookies" with a dancing cookie cartoon. Tim opts for mint and regular chocolate chip. Sooooo good!! We walked around the city some more hoping that this entire day would never end. Alas, we ventured back to our room to get some rest. We had another travel day ahead of us in the morning--onward to Milan!

*Birthday Shout Out: ROCHBEE! I hope you had a fabulous birthday!! <3

Day 10-Day on my own #3.5 & Travels to Venice

After a looooong day in Rome, I woke up a little later than usual, but not too late. Tim would be back early from work, so we can start our Venice travels ASAP.

Instead of going to the pool, I opt to just shower and mini pack and get myself ready to go. I also was thinking about possibly using my flat iron for the first time since I've been here. I knew that the conversion is a little different, considering when I use my blow dryer, my warm and low settings over here are now hot and high settings. Instead of putting it on #10 in heat, I put it on #5 and hope that it works out properly. After maybe 90 seconds of the flat iron being on, all of the sudden I hear a pop and a spark comes from the plug and everything shuts off. Oh man! I'm such an ass and I blew a fuse. I quickly unplugged everything and wrapped up the flat iron and quietly said obscenities to myself. I couldn't stop thinking that what if nothing in the hotel works now, because of me?!? Just another "stupid American" move.

I go out my door and it seems like everything is working, so that's good. I end up going to the front desk, since I would like to at least have the air on. My favorite receptionist is down there and confused by my panic. She is like "Ehh, no problem!" (She is the best!) And someone comes up to the room and presses one button and everything turns back on. Seriously, that was it? I could have done that. I thanked her for fixing my mistake.

Tim arrives and we get ready to leave. His co-workers, Lilliana and Christina, agree to drive us to the train station. They are very nice. Lilliana, when asked if it was okay (she was the driver) to even pick us up when we came back from Venice, she replied, "It's pleasure!" I knew what she meant, but it did sound pretty funny.

The train ride wasn't too bad. It was split up a few times. We went from Savigliano to Turin. We grab something to eat at McDonalds (of all places) and then we are back on a train to Bologna. Literally, we were only in Bologna for 15 minutes. We went outside to see what its all about, which probably isn't enough time to be in lunch meat land. At least we can say..."yes, we've been to Bologna!"

From Bologna to Venice, I'm on the edge of my seat. I am sooooo excited! I have heard of what a romantic and beautiful city it was and it was hard for me to not get my hopes up. Even the train to get there was pretty beautiful. We get off the train and reach the exit and....WOW! This place so far is everything I could imagine. It's about 11:00pm and the lights are glistening on the water. There's so many people walking and enjoying the atmosphere. The gondolas are floating in the Grand Canal. I am so thrown back by how friggin pretty this place is. We walked over a porcelain type bridge and circled a couple of corners to reach our hotel. It is a high brick wall blocking the entry and when you enter, it is a blooming garden with a walkway leading to the glass front doors. We enter into the pristine marble lobby and check in. They showed us to our room which was just steps from the front desk and opened the door. Another WOW! this place is beyond any expectation I had. I will post up pictures later, but here is basically what it looks like according to the site.

After trying to get over the awesomeness that just happened, we showered (after riding on trains, you get gross) and fell asleep. We couldn't wait to explore in the morning.

Day 9-Day on my own #4 (ROMA)

I woke up at the butt crack of dawn and got ready to go to Rome via airplane. I also woke up to the surprise that I had an incredibly horrible sore throat. Foreshadowing? Not sure, but I got in our taxi driver's car (his name is Carlo and he doesn't speak much English, which makes for a very quiet car ride). He drops me off and I know that I'm about 90 min. early, which is perfect for flight. What a surprise, the flight is delayed for almost an hour. Not a big deal since I don't have a definite plan yet.

The flight was great. I slept for a bit and the landing was one of the smoothest landings I've ever been a part of. I land and the first thing I look for are maps. 18 EURO?! no thanks. So I get into a cab and tell him "Colosseum, por favore." I might as well had told him pronto, because he was going super fast. A couple of times I almost thought that we are definitely getting into an accident.

We make it to the destination and there are sooooo many people. And its soooo hot. I really don't care what anyone says, but Rome is probably one of the hottest cities on the planet. It may say 90+ degrees on weather. com, but it felt like I was going to die. As I'm walking around, I get approached for a tour, which of course I get sceptic about, but I joined it anyway. It was actually a really good tour that lasted about an hour or so about the history of the Colosseum and such. I learned a lot and I would recommend it if anyone goes there.

At the end of the tour, she says we are free to walk around and the second part of the tour is at 3:00pm. OMG another 2-3 hours to wait in the heat? My mind is finding it hard to fathom sitting out here for that long, but I attempted, because I wanted to get what I could while I was here. I walk around and sit down and put my head between my legs appx. every 10 minutes. After about an hour and a half of doing this while simultaneously taking pictures (I came out with some pretty good ones), I decided I need to exit. I needed water so badly. All I had for the past 6 hours was a mini eclair ball, a biscotti and a mini bottle of water. I got a frozen bottle of water and was doing the same thing of standing up and squatting down. At some point when I was squatting, I smelled something really horrible. I ignored it for a bit, but at some point I was questioning why it smelled so bad. I look to my left and there was actually poop. Must have been a kid or something who did it behind this huge rock I was using for balance. How nice.

Other groups are being called and I'm still waiting. It was getting close to 3 and I don't see anyone from my group. I don't think I can wait any longer, so I begin to just walk around and take more pictures of things and think about what moves I'm going to make. I see a bunch of bus stop signs to signify tours. One of them I actually looked into trying to get on before, but I didn't know where they meet up. A guy that was standing there sold me a ticket and it was very much worth it. Although I did not get off the bus after that, I saw a lot of things. Everything that I wanted to see. I was even able to see Vatican City from this bus and get some side notes at the same time. It was pretty cool. Another thing I would recommend to anyone taking a trip to Rome, use the City Sightseeing Rome bus, its cool looking and stops at the most places.

The last stop was the Romani termini, where I'm thinking about getting a cab back to the Aeroporti de Roma. OR I'm thinking, like there is in one in most American cities, maybe theres a train that goes to the Airport. I also went in to see if I can find something to eat and drink, as well as go to the bathroom. I head to the toilettes and what? .80 Euro to get into the bathroom? Wow, no wonder this place has feces all over...no one wants to pay to get to the bathroom.

I found a mini market right next to it where I got an apple and a Cola Zero. I know you are thinking, "Steph, why didn't you get something bigger for lunch?" Well, I saw a girl eating an apple at the Colosseum and I knew that that was allllllll that I wanted. Yum!

Okay, back to figuring out if I can get to the airport from the train station. I looked around for polizia, which I saw plenty of before hand, I could not find one now. With 15 minutes left for train time, I get desperate and find someone in a uniform, who does not speak good English, but does tell me that I should get on the train. I look to see that its on track 28 and I walk towards it. The tracks that are in front are 1-25 and tracks 26-29 are about a half a mile down the length of the first tracks. Well, this sucks. I start to hustle and then realize I'm not going to make it. I am also not going back to get a ticket from an actual person, when I can get one a machine thats right there. Of course, it is all in Italian, but I took what I learned and applied it. I started to do what I thought was right. All the buttons I was pressing makes sense, but it was coming up that the ticket couldn't be printed. AHHH! Ok, no problem. I can pay on the train.

I get on the train and I'm disgusting. I was sweaty and smelly and exhausted from being in Rome. I really just wanted to get back to Savigliano, to a nice bed, to a nice Timmy, to a nice sleep.

The ticket collector gets to me and I tell her, "How much?" And she has the balls to say, "Oh its an extra 50 EURO, so thats 64 EURO, please." This girl is out of her mind. 64 EURO?! And I thought this was going to save me money. NO ONE do what I did. Always get your tickets. I really regret that now.

I make it to the airport (YAY!) and I kind of wish that I didn't have to hang out with myself for another few hours, since I smelled sooooo bad. Yuck! I'm looking up my Terminal, but I forget exactly what time I should be leaving and there are a few for Torino that I could be taking. I take a chance and go towards Terminal 1. Good thing I got something right...I get my ticket and find something to eat. There wasn't a lot to choose from, but I got a Cheese Sandwich with tomatoes and lettuce that actually was pretty good. After I ate I headed towards my gate.

The gate said I was at B5, so I got a seat and waited. Maybe after an hour of waiting, a whole family (about 10 people) came to the same gate and sat right next to me being so loud that I could barely focus on my brick breaker game (how rude :op) I get up and walked around, checked my gate again (still B5) and sat back down in a different seat. People leave for Amsterdam...and then Milan. Oooh, I'm next :o). Why are the gate attendants leaving? What is happening? I saw that there were a few people waiting, but I wanted to check again the flight status. B17?! Why was no one told. I quickly try to find it and luckily everyone was waiting for a bus to take us to the plane. (Although Rome is technology forward at this airport, you still need a bus to take you to a plane...odd).

All 80 something of us get on this bus, which could have been mistaken for a clown car. No one should fill a bus with that many people. We get to the plane and I'm hoping I don't need to sit next to anyone and subject them to my smell. Luckily, I had a window seat and no one was sitting directly next to me. The guy who was on the aisle seat started talking to me in Italian. "Parli Inglese?" And then in English. It was nice to be able to talk to someone on the flight.

The flight was delayed about a half hour (how shocking) and when we landed, I was too excited. I saw Carlo and got more excited. The car ride, like usual, was quiet, but I didn't care. I was looking forward to showering and to bed time.

I made it back to the hotel :o) Tim was up waiting for me :o) The shower was awesome :o) And the sleep was awesome :o)

Tomorrow, VENICE!!!

*birthday shout-out to Mac Attack! Hope you had a wonderful birthday!

For YOUR Information

I have started to load pictures and I will also be posting up links to things, so you get a better sense of whats going on. Please check back periodically and see what I've done.

(Note: I only loaded up 3 pictures so far, but thats an achievement, right?)

Day 8-Day on my own #3

So, I did the same thing as yesterday BUT I can tell you that my plans for the rest of the time I am here are going to be busy! :o)
Tomorrow, I am flying to Rome and coming back at night to Savigliano. Apparently, flying is the best way to go since it will give me more time to see everything that I need to see. I am very excited for this trip and I will hopefully take plenty of photos to show you.
Friday and Saturday, Tim and I will be in Venice. We just booked the hotel, which looks awesome! I can't wait to get on a gondola.
On Sunday, when we leave Venice, we are going to stop in Milan. Another day of awesomeness!
Then either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (the last day), we will go have dinner at the Riveria. It isn't too far from here and Tim said it is beautiful.
This trip is really looking up :o)

Day 7-Day on my own #2

Hmm...any new information about today? I did the same exact thing I did yesterday. Went to the pool, got my tan on, came back to the room, slept for a little, Tim came home and went to the gym, then we had dinner, watching "It's Complicated," Skyping with the Fines and then bed time.

New information:

• The pool asks that you wear a "bathing cap" while in the pool. I guess they haven't told me or cared since I'm American?
• The air conditioner was blowing out hot air and the shower was cold. Coincidence?
• The internet adores my lap top so much in fact that it refuses to loosen up its grasp and let Tim's computer have a shot. Only one internet connection per room.
• The laundry did not come today, therefore, I did not work out (no sports bras) and I will now go stag. I only packed enough for a week and my week is up. YIKES!

Hope everyone is doing well back in the states. Its days like these I miss Philadelphia, where my apartment is cold, my shower is hot and I have plenty of underwear. THE END

Day 6-Day on my own #1

Tim had work today, so before I officially woke up, I went over in my mind the things I could do. Very limited, but okay none the less. I awoke maybe a half hour after Tim had left and I wanted to get a nice swig of cool water to cleanse my palate. My choices were very limited in the fridge, so either sparkling or mineral water. I opted for the mineral water, but I questioned it considering it was a little bit darker than normal water and the bottle was different. It did, however, say mineral water on it, so I went for it. OMG, wow! Is this alcohol?? WTF?! I was definitely not ready for that. The alcohol was burning my entire mouth and was the grossest alcohol I have ever tasted. I ran to the bathroom and spit it out and ran my mouth underneath some running water. Why would Tim have this in the fridge? So I wrote him an email telling him how eventful my morning already was. He quickly wrote back that it was a gift of Romanian alcohol from a co-worker that he is holding on to just in case the guy ever says, "Hey, we should have some of that alcohol." I would have just given it back and said, "Sorry buddy...not interested!" Wow, I'm definitely not over it haha

Anyway, after that, I decided to ease into my day a little bit better and watch a movie. I watched the first half of "Doubt" before thinking, "I really need to get out of this bed." Hopped in the shower, got my bathing suit on and headed to the pool. Before leaving the hotel room, I also decided to look up some Italian sentences. Last time, which I omitted from this blog earlier, was not the best. Tim and I went to the pool to check out what it looked like and the guy in charge started speaking to me in really fast Italian and I freaked out, since I didn't know what to do. I basically yelled, "Hold on! I'm AMERICAN!" Tim laughed, as did I, but I was super embarrassed. I looked up the phrase, "Sorry, I do not speak Italian." Actually, the guy was really nice when I finally got there and every time I thanked him in Italian, he looked at me like I had 10 heads.

The pool is about 4' deep all around and about 20' in length. It was a nice fit for the amount of people that stay at this hotel. I kept to myself while trying to achieve a nice and even tan. I couldn't believe how hot it got so quickly. I laid down for not even 2 minutes and I was sweating bullets. It was HOT! I laid out for about 2 hours and took a dip in the pool after each hour. If you can believe it, even the chlorine smells a little different. It was very refreshing though.

I came back to the room and finished "Doubt" and watched "Funny People" until Tim arrived home. What a relief that he came home early, because I was starting to get bored. We ordered room service, where I, once again, ordered the Angus filet. I love it waaay too much. And we finished watching the third season of Californication and I'm sad that I have to wait until the next season starts. All in all, it was another relaxing day and I look forward to having another one tomorrow.

I am also looking forward to traveling by myself in Rome either Wednesday or Thursday. I really hope I can make this just a day trip. *fingers crossed*

Day 5- The Recharge

After a crazy night, Tim and I awake in Hotel Amedeus and grab a taxi to get to the train to head back to Savigliano. When we arrive in Savigliano, instead of taking a cab, we walked back to the hotel. Another thing about Italy is that there are dumpsters on every other street making the aroma of trash fill the air. Walking around with that made me want to vomit every time. Well that and the sun, which was really hot.

We finally make is back to the hotel and take nice cold showers and take a nice nap. I love naps.

We wake up and head down to the ristorante attached to the hotel. I decided to try the lobster, which was great, but a lot of work. Most of the meals come out with the body still intact. If you order the fish, the fish will be staring right at you. Not entirely appetizing, but still made it through the meal. I also tried the Tiramisu...perfecto! Maybe I will gain back all my weight?

Tomorrow, Tim goes back to work and I...well, I will try and find something else to do. Wish me luck!

Day 4-At this time, everything tastes like Pepsi

Another day of sleeping in, but we woke up and went to the gym provided by the hotel. It's a little room with one of each machine, a spin bike, elliptical, treadmill, one set of free weights (the kind where you turn a dial and its a different weight), an upper body weight machine and this thing that shakes you so much that you lose feeling in your legs. We spent only a half hour there after realizing how out of shape we are that it wouldn't matter what we did. Then we got ready to go to Torino for what would be an insane night out.

We took a 35 minute train ride from Savigliano to Torino. It was nice to finally be in more of a city setting where everything is close together and there are bars and restaurants everywhere. (Actually, Will, an irish bar named Murphy's was there just for you.) We got a little lost on the way to our hotel, since we decided to walk. We really had no idea where we were, so Tim called up Fabio, his co-worker, and he picked us up. He offered to drive us around the city and show us the sites. In the heart of Torino is a Piazza, much like the one in Philly but 10x bigger! It's the same concept with businesses on the ground floor and residences on the floors above it. It is beautiful. We decided this would be the place to go to after we settle in at our hotel.

As our evening began, we met Fabio again in the Piazza where no one drinks inside. There are tables outside for people to sit and socialize at. And FYI, these people are about 16 years old. It has been a while since I've been to a bar/club where I feel like I am the oldest, but this is crazy. Apparently, you can walk around the Piazza with a drink your hand and no police officer will stop you and ask you your age. I was also expecting to see great fashionistas and fashion forward trends from people at such a young age, but there was a popped collar here and a guy wearing jorts over there. Ahhh...feels like home :)

After a nice walk around the Piazza and grabbing a drink, Fabio has us get into a cab to head towards a non-touristy type of place. This place was unreal. (Mark, you should have totally been there...definitely your type of place.) Think of the Riverdeck on Del Ave, but another 10x bigger and stadium staircases leading you to the dance floor. We were introduced to Fabio's friends who were pretty awesome. They were insecure about their English, but they were definitely pretty good at it in my opinion. Waaaay better than me speaking Italian any day.

One of Fabio's friends was able to get us a table before we got in. It was a swarm of people at the door trying to get in, but you were only allowed in if you had a lot of people in your group. We were also given drink cards. After you give your drink card in for a drink (in our case, we had bottles upon bottles sent to our table), then you get another card that will allow you to exit. It was free to get in, but if you didn't have this card, than you would have to pay to get out.

The club was playing lots of American music, with the Italian song here and there. Tim and I were having a great time and about an hour in, we decide to take potty break.

The stairs to get to the toillettes are insane. Plus there are strobe lights flashing on them, so you have to move pretty slowly in order to make sure your feet are secure on each step. So we finally reach the bathrooms and I came to find out that the toilet for the ladies was a mere hole in the ground! I was absolutely not peeing in there. Next thing you know, I'll slip and fall and...well you get the picture. GROSS! I really don't know how these girls do it. Anyway, I decided I can take it like a champ and not go, considering I am not really drinking anything (as usual).Us at Cacao, a club in Torino

After partying until 4am, the club closes, but our group is still up for going out all night aka 7am. Tim and I are all for it to take in the experience. We get to the first club and it was pretty empty, but it seemed like it would be a good time. All of Fabio's friends have been so energetic and friendly to Tim and I. The night was great anywhere we were.

The group decides that they need something bigger and better at another bar close by. Tim checks the clock and it was 5am! It was a quick decision to say, hey guys...we are really tired and are going to go back to the hotel. Fabio was a little disappointed, but totally understood. A part of me really wished that I could hang out for that long, but oh well, my trip is certainly not over. :o)

Day 3-Fly, just eat the cheese...

This morning, we were woken up by housekeeping. We had totally forgotten to put the "do not disturb" sign on the door. Boy, that was fun. Buongiorno!

Today went well. We had missed breakfast, which seems like what will happen more on this trip if we keep sleeping the way we do. However, we did make it to lunch (FINALLY!). The Dinner and Lunch menu are the same. I didn't write that we did go to dinner last night. I had an Angus filet and big potato fries. This was soooo good! I couldn't eat all of it, since my stomach had shrunk from not really eating since I came to Italy. I also ordered grilled veggies, but didn't eat them since there was a fly who loved them a little bit more than I did. I was feeling extra generous and decided not to shoo him away.

Getting back to today, for lunch I had pineapple and cantaloupe (I actually wanted ham and not cantaloupe, but with the language barrier, I let it slide) and I had the standard Penne pasta with some marinara type sauce and basil. They also gave me some cheese on the side, which I used. The flies were swarming like crazy and landed on the cheese after I took what I wanted. So like the day before, I let them have the cheese. But if they came near my food, I was going to smack them silly!

Tim had to go to work today for a second, so I stayed in the room. It was soooo hot outside, when Tim came back he was soaked. With that in mind, Tim and I decided to stay in and watch some episodes of Californication.

Shortly, we will be ordering room service (from the same lunch and dinner menu). I'm actually excited for tomorrow. We are getting out of this hotel room and staying at a hotel in Tornio for the night. One of Tim's work friends, who speaks very good English, wants to take us out. Fingers crossed, I think this will be good :)

Day 2-Ice Cubes, Please?

Well, we slept in, which was nice and expected since I was catching up on two nights of sleep. We slept in so late though that there was no room service available until 7:30pm tonight. Instead of starving ourselves, we figure what better way to show me around than walking to the supermerkati.

As we walk, there aren't really any sidewalks, but the people in the cars are very nice to let us go ahead. And it is BEYOND hot out. I was happy to be wearing a tank top and not go for my usual layered look.

We get so close to the supermerkati and i keep thinking of all the fruit I am going to buy and how good it will be when they are in my belly. But, wait....the doors are closed? But its only 3:00pm! It is crazy how un-work-oriented Italy is. They could be making money, but nooooo...they would rather eat lunch for 5 hours until they have to eat dinner for another 5 hours. STOP EATING and START WORKING! No wonder they hate America...land of the free, but only if you work your butt off. Personally, I don't know how people could not work and survive.

Anyway, Tim remembers that there is a supermerkati closer to the hotel, but smaller. I'm sweating so badly! I'm usually pretty good about the amount of sweat that pours out of my pores, but my shirt was practically soaked. I was saying that I don't care what we do, I just want a cold water with some ice to chew on. Tim said,"Uhh...I don't think I've had an ice cube in my drink since I left America. Everything is room temperature." How do these people survive in heat?!

Us all sweaty on the walk back

Now, we walked back to the room and I'm about to re-shower. We bought some ice cream (I remembered my lactaid pills!) and more water to put in the fridge (they were sitting on a table when we bought them) and are hanging out in the air conditioned room.

I promise, when I find something awesome about Italy, you guys will be the first to know.

PS the power just went out...bye bye air conditioning and refridgeration...womp womp

Day 1-Airport frenzy

I was packed and ready to go today for my first trip to Europe. I was so excited that I took a ride to the airport (thanks, Joel!) which had me at the terminal for about 3 hours before the plane was supposed to take off. I occupied my time with some episodes of Caifornication. While I was enjoying watching them on my laptop, a guy had asked if I could watch his stuff. I said sure. How hard could that be? Although, I was pretty good at making sure no one touched his stuff, I was not so good at making sure his seat wouldn't be taken. The first time, the man that took the guy's, who later introduced himself as Mike, seat was nice and found another seat. The second time, which I don't know why he would trust me again, had a young woman sitting in Mike's spot. I said very nicely, "Just so you know, someone is sitting there." "Well, he can't take up 2 seats! I need a seat!" and I said, nicely, again, "Okay, but I'm just telling you he's going to be upset." This lady wouldn't stop being nasty to both me and Mike when he returned. He moved his stuff and sat next to me and we both talked about this nasty broad, while she was still sitting in the seat. Needless to say, after that, we just had a good conversation covering the Bush Administration to Grandmothers, which made the time pass by pretty quickly.

Mike & I

Then, I boarded my plane for Paris. The plane was pretty empty, so I had lots of room to spread out with no one sitting next to me. I caught up on my movie watching with the movies: Alice in Wonderland, Valentine's Day and Remember Me. I still had time leftover and watched an episode of Dexter (I would highly recommend this show, if you aren't hooked on it already). Then we landed, which was not the smoothest landing ever...Maybe foreshadowing? When i got off the plane, I quickly realized that my phone wouldn't work, since I never turned on my international plan. The guy from information just brushed me off as a stupid American. I lost money on exchanging my dollars for euros. I couldn't go on the internet without paying for it, not shocking, but I was going to break down and get an internet card, if I could find them or even a phone card. Then the plane was being boarded 20 minutes after its original boarding time. Even worse, when we boarded the plane, it didn't leave the terminal for 2 HOURS! I would close my eyes for what I thought was a few minutes, but it was 30-60 minutes at a time, and when I would open my eyes I couldn't believe that we still didn't leave for Turin (Torino) yet. Needless to say, I'm not a big Paris fan. I'm open minded to a better experience, but right now, Paris is in the pooper!

I finally made it to Turin and a driver was sent to pick me up and take me to Savigliano, not too far from Turin. We made it to the hotel and the driver stayed and translated for me with the little English that he knew. At first, I thought they weren't giving me keys to the room, but eventually they did. And now that I think about it, they still have my Passport downstairs. I'll have to check that out...Anyway, the room is on the third floor...no elevators! I shlepped my 46lb bag and my carry-on up the steps, which made me feel like I've had the workout of my life. And I get to the room and I can't open the door (dumb American). The manager comes up and helps me in and I open the door and its sooooo hot! At least I was let in and have a waiting spot for when Tim is set to arrive. I'm very excited to see him since its been 5 weeks. :)

Here's to hoping that tomorrow will not have as many mishaps.

PS, my Mac laptop is too high maintenance to care that I want to put up pictures with these posts. Hoping to figure it out soon enough.

The Beginning

Hey everyone! Thanks for swinging on over to my blog. I started this blog since many people wanted me to start an email chain. Instead of doing that, I'm just going to post it here and you guys can make do with whatever you want with it. :)

PS feel free to comment!