Day 17 – Thursday August 26th

Today was our travel day to Florence. We had a 9:27 train from Venezia to Frienze Stazione di Santa Maria Novella. We found a new way to get from our hotel to the train station, which involved only 2 bridges so we were happy girls. The train ride was about 2 hours and we grabbed a taxi in Florence to our hotel. Our hotel is cute and quait. It’s apartment style living, with adorable rooms, which are way nicer than I expected.They have cute painted vintage looking art on the walls and quaint furniture. The walkway from the main door on the street is adorable, full of plants and a little chair and tale set-up.
Camilla, our landlord, gave us some great dining and sightseeing tips and then we headed out. We walked about a block South of our hotel to Piazza del Mercato Centrale to grab some lunch. We ate at Pepó – a cute little trattoria with mintish green walls and pigs stamps, blackboards and chalk. Allyson and I splite the wild boar taglioline and I had Tomato soup known as Pappo de pomodore.
After lunch we headed farther South and saw the Piazza del Duomo, or the giant brick dome with 8 white ribs that towers over the city.
The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is a beautiful green, pink, and white, church made from marble. East of the Cattedrale is Piaza San Giovanni where the Baptistery stands – they used to baptize all of Florence back in the day. The doors are bronze by Lorenzo Ghiberti called the gates of paradise.After checking that out we headed back north just east of our hotel to Galleria dell’Accademia. We spent over 2 hours in academia looking at David and other renaissance art. It was interesting that they layout was mediocre. Denise, Andrea, Allyson and I talked about how Italy differs from America, and even France, with a pride in their art and history, and a drive to excel. Allyson analogized Italy to a rich kid living off their trust fund and now that trust fund is running out but its all they have. They seem to lack the understanding that tourism is a huge part of their survival and they don’t yet know how exactly to capitalize to the fullest with it. Like we were talking about how Italy's reputation far exceeds the reality that the people live in. It seems they are completely segregated, based on influence in the world and even language, from the rest of the modern world. They hold a lot of pride in their history yet can’t seem to keep it up. We’ve had interesting experiences thus far with the people and it’s given me a different perspective on Italy and Italian people.

After Accademia we headed back to the Duomo and had Aperitivos – Rossinis (Strawberry bellini’s) – and then walked back up to Mercato Centrale and ate and La Mamma de Frienze. Allyson and I shared fried lamb chops and rosemary potatoes, and we had Kir Royales, which were deliscious. Denise and Andrea shared a greek salad and beef tenderloin. It was a delicious dinner, but yet again, the bread was bland, chalky and sadly, is an Italian concept I neither like nor appreciate (I learned that it was rude to sop up the leftover juices off of my plate, but in Italy they purposely do not salt their breads so that it will be a blank canvas in which to house the other flavors).

Day 16 – Wednesday August 25th

Today was our day trip to Verona. Denise, Allyson and I caught the train at 9:50, so we headed north out of our hotel to stazione Santa Lucia. We hopped off in Verona. The main goal was to see Casa di Giulietta. We grabbed a taxi and went. Verona is just West of Venice. Casa di Giulietta is from the 13th century and quaint, with her famous balcony (although it was added in 1928) and extremely romantic.
The entrance to the courtyard is covered in multilingual graffiti left by lovers from all over the world. Now they ask you to write a letter to Juliet and leave it in the mailboxes that are placed in the courtyard. Its customary to take a picture with the bronze statue of Juliet, and hold her boob – strange but whatever. It shocked me how they had capitalized on the Romeo and Juliet story. There is a store called Club Juliet and inside they embroider anything you could want – from bibs to aprons to towels to hot mits and chef hats – with your name or with a saying.
They whole 2-floor building is covered in their art. After Juliet’s house we walked down the street northwest towards Piazza Delle Erbe. We stopped in Piazza dei Signori and took some pictures of Dante’s statueand the surrounding buildings and then walked just north and saw Arche Scaligere. We learned that this family had commissioned their tombs to be built next to this church.
We ate at a cute resturant in town and then headed back south towards Arena di Verona.
The arena was vast and now has regular opera shows of Aida and Madame Butterfly. We walked by Palazo Della Gran Guardia, which connects eastward with the first version of the city wall on our way down Via Roma toward Castelvecchio.
The castle sits along the Fiume Adige that runs in a giant sideways S through Verona. Ponte Scaligero was a beautiful bridge that connects the South dwelling castle with the northern bank. After a full day we made it back to the train station at 4:30 and were back for dinner at 6:00. We had it in our minds that we wanted to eat at the adorable trattoria for our last night. We had walked by it many times and really wanted to see it. We headed down towards Rialto on the northern path to catch our gondola ride.
We had some proseco and took a 45-minute tour of the grande canal. Afterwards, we made about 3 concentric circles trying to find the restaurant, never did and finally just went to one we had seen earlier. I had gnoicchi and wine, and for dessert sgrappinos again. They were not as good as the first time - warmer and thicker and less lemony fresh. We went home, packed and went to bed.

Day 15 – Tuesday August 24th

Today was our Basilica and Murano day. We got up early in hopes that we could beat out the crowds from the Cruise Ships at Piazza San Marco so we wouldn’t have to wait for hours to get into Palazzo Ducale or Basilica di San Marco. Allyson waited in line for the Basilica while Denise and I went into Doge’s Palace or Palazzo Ducale.


It was beautiful and was the official resident of the 120 doges who ruled Venice from 697-1797. We saw Scala d’Oro or the sumptuous Golden Staircase with stucco 24-carat gold leaf framing frescoes up to the 2^nd floor – designed by Sansovino and finished by Scarpagnino in 1559.We also saw Sala dello Scudo – or enormous globes and painted wall maps showing the known world in 1762 tracing Marco Polo’s travels to China and the mythical Uncharted Lands of the People Eaters. We also saw Doge’s Apartments furnished with rich brocades, impressive fireplaces, triumphal friezes, gilded ceilings and works of art. After reveling at the huge piazzetta and the quayside, done in pink and cream stonework and the large loggia with an arcade of columns and 36 sculpted Istrian stone capitals, Denise and I headed to meet Allyson in the line for the Basilica.

We got in right away. I had to pay 2 euro for a shawl for my shoulders and my knees. We walked in and just to the right is Pala d’Oro – the dazzling jewel encrusted gold screen commissioned in Constantinople in 976 but added to at later dates. It boasts 250 panels bearing 1,927 authentic gems and cloisonné plaques. The lighting made it hard to see, but it was glitzy and shone beautifully. We went into the treasury where the glittering riches are kept including precious chalices of rock and crystal enameled by medieval silver and goldsmiths and reliquaries from Venice’s eastern conquests including parts of the true cross. The flooring is a magnificent array of mosaic multi-colored stone on uneven levels in geometric designs. When looking up you can see the Ascension Dome depicting the New Testament.

After the basilica we walked due east along the river front out into Castello to San Pietro di Castello church and plaza. There are two ways onto the little island and this eastern area is more quaint and cute than other parts of Venice. We believe that more of the Venetians live out on these parts, its much quieter and more lived in, not as touristy. We walked through Giardini San Isepo and grabbed a quick bite to eat on the waterfront. We wanted gnocchi but they were only serving it to the workers who were doing construction so we ended up splitting grilled eggplant, zucchini and peppers, caprese salad, and 2 pasta dishes – one spicy spaghetti with Adriatic shrimp and another one.

We then caught the boat at Giardini station and headed east then north around Venice to the island of Murano – home of Murano glass.
We were there for a short time, after we saw glass blowing demo and bought some beautiful glasses, we went back to the mainland and relaxed before dinner.

Day 14 – Monday August 23rd

We woke up around 8:00 and had breakfast, I had a croissant, I had a roll with brie, hard boiled egg and smoked meat, and orange juice. We left our hotel in Dorsoduro and headed east to Piazza San Marco.
We spent the day looking around and then walked along the waterfront to Harry’s Bar and got a world famous Bellini aperitif where Ernest Hemmingway used to hang out. It was opened in 1931 by Arrigo Cipriani but named after an American who funded the enterprise.From there we walked in a North and then Westerly walk to Cannaregio into the Jewish Ghetto. The word ghetto originated in Venice, derived fro getto (casting) due to an old iron foundry here. In 1942 many jewish refugees reached Venice after expulsion form spain and in 1527 were obliged by law to move to this landlocked island. Subject to curfew to prevent fraternizing with local women, they slept behind locked gates, their island circles by an armed patrol boat. Today 33 jews still live there, while 450 reside in other parts of the city. In the ghetto Denise and I split the Ghetto panini, just grilled vegetables. It was alright, but the LemonSoda we had was great.
After lunch we walked west and looped around south past the train station and back to our hotel. We then walked south of our hotel to Santa Croce area. The are is a peninsula like area on the south side of Venice. We walked out east and stopped at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Its home to more than 200 works of art focusing on the avant-garde movements such as Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism. The museum is set up somewhat in her old house and throughout the show you can see photos of her living in her house with the various art pieces in her different rooms. Outside in her sculpture garden is a wishing tree where people have attached wishes to the tree, gifted by Yoko Ono.
The gallery was strange, there is a whole segment on her daughter’s art and a story of an untimely death yet you don’t know it’s her daughter until your done and read it in the café afterward. The whole thing was very un-cohesive to a degree but she had works by Chagall and Picasso and Marini and Klee. After the museum, we rounded out eastward to the tip of the area and circled back and up northwesterly towards are hotel. We ate pizza at a recommended pizzeria called Pizzeria ai Sporivia. We got Proscuito pizza with mushrooms and artichoke and a spinach and ricotta and onion pizza. They were good, but by no means life changing, and a bit thicker. We tried to go the a geloteria down the street known for having a specific dessert but they now longer had it. After having had quite a bit of wine, we walked home and went to bed.

Day 13 – Sunday August 22nd

I woke up today around 7:30 and went out and had breakfast. I was the lone wolf in a breakfast room full of canoodleing couples. I had a croissant, a piece of bread and nutella, and a sandwich with brie and smoked meet. It was very delish. After breakfast I took a nap and waited for my Mom, she arrived at 11:00 and we took a moment and then went and had lunch along the waterfront by our hotel – mussels and caprese salad.

We walked around and did some mild shopping and then went back to the hotel. Allyson and Denise showed up around 5:00 and we recollected and then headed back out for dinner. We walked along the tourist path towards academia on our way to san marco plaza, we never made it but we did cross the grand canal at academia towards our destination, we decided to stop and eat dinner.

Allyson and I split the cuttlefish ink risotta and Denise and Andrea shared sea bass and grilled vegetables. We then walked home, got some gelato, and passed out around 11:30.

Day 12 – Saturday August 21st

Today is my epic travel to day to Venice. I got up at 7:00, mildly hungover, I got back last night around 4:00. I finished packing and then Fabi dropped me off at the bus station. I took a bus to Modena and Umberto picked me up on the other end. He took me to their house, with Greta and ChiChi, and we had tuna spaghetti. I felt a tad homesick being with a family and not knowing any Italian. It was the first wave I’ve felt so far. After lunch, Umberto took me to the train station and rode with me to Bologna where I had to transfer trains. We found my new train and he said goodbye. I then rode the train to Venezia Santa Lucia train stop.

Once we arrive I grab my bags and start walking towards my hotel. I should have printed a map but I didn’t and I ended up going to the wrong way out of the train station. After walking around for a half hour I found an info desk – she said that I just go to the right of that white building (the one I can’t see) and then go over a bridge and go left and I should be there. Yeah right, It took me another hour to get to my hotel. I’m sweating like a banchee with jeans and a cardigan on, carrying heavy ass bags. I’m walking up the stairs across a canal and an Italian man asks to grab my bags – like way to go Jillian – I say yes, and then he asks me for money DUH. I’m looking for some money and thinking the whole time how I’m about to get pick pocketed or robbed or something, but I give him 1 euro and move on. Could I BE any more naive?

I get to my hotel and press the doorbell, the door clicks and I walk into this walkway with even more stairs. I leave my bags at the bottom and climb the stairs, check in and grab my bags, strip off all my clothes and lay down on the bed. I was overheating. I unpacked my purse, finding a little green stowaway. I was carrying around a glass liter bottle of Heinekin all day without realizing. I'm just having major issues today. I watched bbc cnn on phone applications and then on google, and fell asleep until 7:30 the next morning.

Day 11 – Friday August 20th

Today we woke up at 10:30 and packed. Its my last day in Italy with the Galli’s! Matteo is coming over for lunch at 1:00. Tomorrow I get on a bus for Modena, get picked up in Modena by Umberto and then I’m having lunch with him and Chichi and great. After lunch they’re taking me to the train station so I can grab a train to Bologna with Umberto and then transfer in Bologna onto a train for Venice. I should get into Venice around 6:00 and I booked an extra night on the hotel so I’ll be there. I’m hoping I can be independent and grab dinner and stuff by myself but we’ll see. Then I’ll catch up on my blogging and everything and sleep. My mom arrives on Sunday at 10:00 so hopefully we’ll get some coffee or something and wait for Allyson and Denise to arrive around 3:00. I’m so excited! Interesting fact, pieve used to be a lake – hence pievepelago – it dried up and then a town was built. We went to lunch a town near flimalbo with Matteo, I think it was the best meal I’ve had so far. I had gnocchi with mountain herbs and risotto with mountain herbs, and also had this creamy stuff pasta lasagna thing. It was the best meal thus far.

We went to Flimalbo after lunch and walked around the flee markets. When we got home, Tat and I went to the Internet café and Matteo brought over Olivia. We went to visit Matte and then hung out. Tat and I bough tomatoes, mozerella and breasticks for dinner, we got ready and then went out with Matteo and Matte to have drinks. We went to the new bar and ordered mojitios, and ended up getting home around 4:00, it was a fun last night in Pieve!

Day 10 – Thursday August 19th

We woke up at 12:00, ate lunch with chichi and umberto – we had spicy pasta with pancetta – called matricana. After lunch we went to the fume and I played around on the rocks, fell in and got soaked but it was fun. After that we went up to the internet café and went shopping – not allowed to touch anything. Tat wanted jeans so we looked for some. We got ready, after we bought some beers, then matteo and paqia picked us up and we headed to riolunato to eat pizza at Margharitas house with serena and matte and Fabio. We had pizza with pancetta and patate fritte, which is French fries, a pizza with mushroom and a pizza with proscuito. We then went up to the bar up the hill and hung out until we headed to the piscine back in Pieve to meet up with Tasso – Matteo’s friend - and hang out. It was cold so we left early and went to bed.

Day 9 – Wednesday August 18th

Today was mushroom day. I ate mushrooms at lunch, 2 kinds – porccino and another mushroom sauce with pasta. Matteo picked us up and we went to visit Matte at Il Mulinaccio. We grabbed an apertive and then headed out for the night. We drove forever through the mountains, past Pavullo to Valus (or something) to eat dinner at a restaurant known for having the best mushrooms. We started with polenta con ragu, two different breads with mushrooms sauces, then we had tortellini with mushrooms, gnocchi with mushrooms, fried mushrooms, grilled mushrooms, grilled meat and boiled meet with sauce, then we had mascarpone and drinks. We tried Mirtillino, a raspberry drink, grappa, and limoncello. After drinking, we went back to Margharita’s and hung out. At like 4:00 Matteo brought us home and we went to bed.

Day 8 – Tuesday August 17th

We had lunch with Tat’s Uncle Mark and his five kiddies. After lunch of mashed potatoes, meat, peas and gelato, and after Tat and Matteo talked again, we went to the Lake on Monte Cimone to meet his friends. We sat around for a bit and then headed back so we could all get ready. We got ready and Tat and I went to Il Mulinaccio and had veggie pizza and French fries and a spritz. Then Tat’s dad drove us to Riolunato – where Matteo and his friends have houses - and we hung out at Margharita’s. Then we decided to come back to Pieve and to go the piscina. We tried shots of mint vodka and had some rhuma di coca’s. We went to bed early tonight – around 1:30.

Day 7 – Monday August 16th

We went to the market today. After the market we went and had lunch at her grandma’s house with her mom, grandpa and her uncle Mark’s mother in law. We had polenta with mushrooms that her grandma’s friend had found earlier. I had a lot of mushrooms. Matteo picked us up and we went to Margharita’s for an aperitve. Then we drove to the neighboring town of Costella to go to Matte’s house and to a festival in town. Every town in Italy has a saint who represents the town, and they have festivals in honor of the saint. We went to their festival. We got to here a classic Italian band, sounded a bit like polka or like an Italian band stuck in the 80’s, even the performer’s clothes were silly. We ordered pasta fritte with proscuito. It’s funny that their fast food is like polenta and meet and pasta fritte and cristintine. I ended up drinking a ton of beers and spent the night talked to some of Matteo’s friends – Kino and his girlfriend Alicia – all night. We ended up getting home around 5:00 – a very long night.

Day 6 – Sunday August 15th

Today is Fair Augusto or fair of August. It happens over the weekend. Tat’s Mom told me that it is the celebration of the ascension of the Madonna. They celebrate by having a procession through town, like a parade, and line the street with candles and have decorative windows and such. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to bad weather.

We took a little walk/shopped around town for a bit. The stores are just not really my style. Some stuff is cute, but a lot of it is a bit too kitschy for me. Her cousin Melissa wears a lot of glittery tee shirts with Disney characters and such on them. It’s different than I would have imagined. They have a ton of jeans, all skinny and some of them are all right but most of them have a different look to them even though they’re 80+ euros. The shoes are pretty typical too. Some of the tennis shoes are cute in a European sort of way.

At 1:00 we had lunch with everyone. It was a special lunch because ChiChi, Umberto, Melissa, Sergio, and Greta are all leaving to go back to Modena and it is feraugusto. We started off the meal with tortellini, which traditionally is made stuffed with meats, not cheese like in America, in broth. Tat’s aunt – Zia – Lucana – made each tortellini by hand and made the broth out of the meatloaf drippings and such. It was very good. After soup we had meat; I had some meatloaf, some other type of beef and then I tried Zomboni – which is bratwurst type mixed meat. It is very gelatinous and cased in fat. I had to try it but I wouldn’t eat it again. It just helped solidify my theory that America is not fat due solely to food consumption, but to lifestyle. We’re lazy and entitled and don’t walk and don’t care. We also had salsa verde, mashed potatoes, pepperonato, which is a mixture of yellow, red and green peppers with some juices. There was also homemade mayonnaise, which they eat by the spoonful.

After lunch Tat and I walked around and she showed me some of the town and then we sat in the park. Tomorrow is the marcato. The town closes down from 1:00-4:00 for a break time, known as siesta in Spain, is a time for them to rest after lunch and slowdown and enjoy life. The market subsequently closes down at 1:00 too but for good. I really have learned how much music is an international thing. They play American music all the time. Greta was signing and humming Mamma Mia all through Lunch and she’s 6. It is funny to be walking around and hear people singing “Hey Soul Sister” but not know exactly what they are saying or understand maybe. It really shows you how Music is an American thing that the world had adopted to a degree, we have yet to see a universal non-English singer/star.

Day 5 – Saturday August 14th

Matteo and his mother came over. She’s cute; we talked and had some tea for an hour or so and then they headed off. It was pouring all day so Matteo had told us later that he/his friends weren’t going to be coming to Pieve tonight so we stayed in and started to play cards. We ended up just watching My Best Friend’s Girl on my computer, talking, and falling asleep.

Day 4 – Friday August 13th

It was storming outside, the thunder was enough to shake the house, it sounded like it was right outside our window. It’s been a dreary day today, so I decided to read my book Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik. It is such an interesting book, he moved to Paris with his wife and newborn in 1995. He has such an insider/still American look on Paris and it’s culture.

We ate tortellini de brodo – which is tortellini stuffed with veal in broth. It was very good sprinkled with some Parmesan. We left the restaurant and walked down the street to La Dolce Vita for an espresso.

I spent the afternoon with Tanya – Tat’s cousin – and her family. We got gelato (hazelnut and pistachio) and then I drove to Flimalbo with her family. It is a beautiful town. It has an older feel to it. There are built in stone arches and tunnels under buildings like you see in old movies. It has a more gothic and stone city feel than Pieve. Fimalbo is really cute. Its interesting because the US is so flat, especially the Midwest, but coming here, the towns are built in valleys and on hills. They flow with the earth and natural surroundings; they don’t combat it and conquer it.

Tanya is doing a fashion show with her cousin Alicia for the town. So she tired on clothes for an hour – the outfits were such a different style, almost 80’s throw back with a bit of Len Druskin feel to them. We walked about Flimalbo for a bit and then headed up to Indoca to see Monte Chimone.

Monte Chimone is thee highest mountain in Italy at 7,000 feet roughly. Looking out from the top you get to the see the valleys of the mountains. It was such a beautiful site, seeing the different shades of green in the different tree and gassy spots. It was a beautiful day so I lucked out. It is interesting to look out and see the expansive mountains of Italy and compare them to the Rockies back home that I know so well. It’s a bit hard to grasp that the mountains in Colorado are 14,000 feet and the highest one here is half the size. They really feel much smaller and more gradual compared to the steepness of the Rockies. The houses on it are from the old farming days where they would put planks across the roofs and layer straw and hay on top, where the two parts were at different ground levels, so the animals could walk in to the basement from outside down below and the people could walk in at ground level for their house on the level above.

Tat and I made our own dinner – pasta with red sauce. It was good and we listened to music. After dinner we got ready and went out. We met Barbara at Albergo Galli – which is the rooster hotel – and had some drinks. I drank blueberry vodka with blueberries in it called Mirtillino. I guess that’s a traditional Italian drink usually used as a digestive after meals. Then we stopped by the new bar down the street and then off to the Picsina, we ended up closing the place down and came home around 3:00. We went to bed and woke up at 3:00 the next day. Thankfully her family had gone to Tuscany for the day.

Day 3 - Thursday August 12th

I woke up around 7:00 today and decided to sit out on the balcony and journal. It is a beautiful morning, the mornings are a little chilly in the shade but keep you warm with the sun. Looking out from her balcony, you can see one of the two entrances into Pieve. It's a little street lined with Apartment style living all the way through the tiny mountain town.

I ate breakfast with Fabrizio and Patricia – Tat’s parents – we had coffee, little mini toasts with cream cheese, butter, and Jam (which Fabi’s brother makes fresh). We sat and talked about the history of Pieve and such. Their house was built in 1949, it’s cute and little, the kitchen is tiny with a sink about at the height of my knees.

Each town, or area, in Italy, has medieval reenactments and such every year where they have banquet tables, roast pigs, royalty dressed up etc. They set up in the piatzas of the town. Patty was talking to me about the book Under the Tuscan Sun, they drove through Tuscany – specifically Cortona the town where the woman buys her old farm house. She said the town is so grateful for this women and the exposure she’s brought the little town. Ever year she holds a festival, the Sun Festival, and has people performing and such. Sting and his wife have a house there and frequent the town when they are visiting; Sting and his wife both were performing at the festival this year.

After breakfast, Tat, me, Patty, and Fabrizio and his brother Umberto, went up the mountains to Roccopegio – which is a little town with a castle from the 1400’s. It was a very wealthy area with much agriculture. It was highly valued so people kept trying to conquer it by force, eventually, since it was never successful, the castle and surrounding houses (originally for the court and subjects under the rule of the Duke Obelsite) was bought and subsequently deserted in the 1500’s. They buried the castle under dirt and in the 17^th century built a castle over the remains. Today archeologists are trying to slowly uncover the buried castle and configure the rest of the structure. When we got back from Roccopelegio Tat and I sat out on the balcony until Lunch.

It’s Fabi’s birthday and he cooked us pasta with sausage red sauce. We had some peaches, grapes, salad and tomatoes.

Tat and I walked down to the Fume, which is the River and sat next to the river, which runs through Pieve. There were young boys throwing stones and fishing, and the weather was beautiful, spouts of sun but mostly perfectly cloudy. On the way home we stopped on had Gelato – my first on my European tour – I had straccitella and chiocolato, Tat had noiccela and soya (Hazelnut and Soy). It was delish.

Me, Tat, Patty and Fabi all walked down to the restaurant for his surprise BDay party. Matteo and Fabi’s brother met us outside. We walked in and got an aperitif – it was orange something and white wine, it was awful. Fabi was really surprised. There were around 50 people there. We all sat down and had more crestines again, then the next course was pasta fritte, which is fried pasta dough – it balloons up and ends up becoming a little pocket you can stuff things like more pancetta or salami into. We also had crisp bread and then the finale was pizza – or pizze with anchovies. It was good although I hate anchovies.

Greta arrived – Fabi’s brother’s daughter’s child – who is 6 and adorable. I’m not sure if she’s so cute because she’s 6 and speaks Italian, I wonder if she would be as cute if he were speaking English, probably not. We ended the meal with birthday cake, a yellow sponge cake layered with creamlike frosting and fresh fruit on top. It was very rich.

We hopped into Matteo’s car and drove through the mountains to a neighboring town and went to a bar to meet his friends. We met his sister and Matteo’s friend Diego. After I drank a shot of grappa – blech – I wouldn't recommend grappa straight and in a shot, we left and headed to aquapelago or another neighboring town like a 30 plus drive away. We were driving forever, through the hills in the dark. You couldn’t see anything; it’s impressive how they know where they are going and how to get there. After sometime, we finally pull up to this beacon of light in the midst of all the dark foliage. We parked and got out, Tat didn’t come with, she just slept in the car. So Tanya, Matteo and I went in, and met up with his friends Diego, Matte and Margharita others. We danced for a bit but after about 45 minutes we decided to leave.

Let me tell you, if I had been drunk in any sense of the word and had to sit in the back seat through this drive back to Pieve I would have died. Yikes.

Day 2 - Wednesday August 11th

I arrived today in Bologna at 9:45. We landed on the tarmac and headed in. The airport is tiny but cute; I got my bags and headed off to a pay phone to call Tat. I try to figure out how to use it – can’t – try to call collect – can’t – ask the info lady to help – she tells me to put in a euro and dial the number – I put in the euro and dial Tat's number – person unavailable at the moment – I try the house number – number is not assigned – I call Matteo – person unavailable – I call all 3 numbers at least 15 times – no luck. I am almost in tears. Giving myself a pep talk to not be a baby, and thinking about how much I want to call home (but probably can’t figure that out either) I turn to my computer.

I take a seat next to the arrivals area, thinking that if Tat and her Dad show up, they’ll come there first and try to get on the Internet. I buy 7 euros worth of Internet and then Fabrizio (Tat's Dad) walks up. I was so happy to be found! We then get to the car and make our way up through the mountains into Pieve. It’s about a 2 hour ride, and after a half an hour we stop and get lunch and a Trattoria. We sat outside and had tortellaci filled with ricotta and spinach with meat sauce. We drank the best Lambrusco I’ve ever had. We sat outside and watched people parachuting and planes and gliders land in the tiny airport out on the fields under the balcony. After lunch we finished the 2-hour trek through the tiny switchbacks of the mountains overlooking beautiful valleys and towns nestled into them. The view was amazing; I fought back heavy eyelids the whole way home.

Once we got into Pieve, we pulled up to the Galli’s house and got settled in. I didn’t even unpack, Tat and I went into out bedroom and fell asleep the moment our eyes hit the pillows. I slept for 3 hours. When I awoke, we had dinner – crestinine – that is dough that is cooked on the stove top and then cut open and stuffed with various things. The traditional way to eat it is with a layer of lard with herbs – it’s a kind of butter type substitute – then some Parmesan cheese or a slice of pancietta or other lunch meat. I ate mine with cream cheese or butter and some Parmesan or just some pancietta. With that we also had sciatica, which is bread wrapped around pancietta or other lunch meat.

It gets colder than expected in the mountains at night. Tanya (her cousin) came over after we got ready and we sat at the dinner table with Patricia (Tat's Mom) and had some tequila – Gila – and anarancia juice – orange.

Tat took me to the piscina – pool – bar. We drank Grappa Mele Verde shots – green apple grappa. Grappa is a vodka-like distilled beverage made from the waste of wine making. All the leftovers from the grape, such as the skin, stem etc, are distilled and made into grappa. It’s potent and delish. We then went dancing on stage – my personal favorites of the night – Mamma Mia and Black Betty. It was great; such a fun first night.

We got back at 2:30; I washed my face, brushed my teeth and was out like a light.

Day 1 - Tuesday August 10th

I’m off on my European adventure!

My flight to Philadelphia is at 11:15; I get on the plane and relax. They man next to me, who is as hairy as one can imagine, curly hair too, and strawberry blond tight curls like afro Jew curls, shoves a tampon-like stick apparatus into his nose. At first he was pulling it out and taking long sniffs of it, I was convinced he was doing drugs. My guess is that it was some sort of aromatherapy type thing for flying. He also had earplugs in and wore a studded man purse. He was a strange man.

We get to Philadelphia around 2:45 and my connecting flight to Frankfurt is at 4:15. I literally walked like 3 miles to the other side of the Philadelphia airport to get to my terminal. Its very nice, modern, glass everywhere, pretty. 3:45 rolls around, our boarding time, and the lady announces we have plane problems and will be boarding now at 4:15 instead. A half an hour later she tells us the plane is going to take longer and that we are switching planes and need to get to a different terminal at a new gate. We all get up and walk the 3 miles to our new gate, and then wait there until 5:30 when the woman announces that we will be boarding soon. I was so worried that I would miss my connecting flight to Bologna.

I sat next to a German family who were deaf and signing to each other. The whole time I couldn’t help but think about if sign language was universal, or if there were dialects and short had and things for different countries that their languages. I got a hold of Tat and told her I might not make it on my connection, and boarded the plane. I had an entire 4-chair row in the middle of the plane to myself until an old Asian woman came and stole the left two. I watched 3 movies: Last Song, Date Night, and started to watch Dear John but didn’t finish. As we were beginning to land the Asian woman’s son, Jeffrey, sat next to me instead. We made small talk, he was also connecting to Bologna for vacation with his Mother and Sister, and he went to college in Nevada –University of Nevada – and was 19. We ended up landing with barely anytime – like 20 minutes – to catch our flight to Bologna. The airport workers, shepherded us onto a shuttle, and whisked up pass security and onto our flight, which was also empty. After a short flight I was in Italy!