"Goodbyes" are Stupid

Hi Friends!
The next morning Allison and I got up and got ready to go shopping with one of Allison's friends (who is also an Au Pair) named Anne. Allison and Anne sometimes go check out the sales at the mall and spend the afternoon together while the kids they watch are in school. I was invited to join. :) Our plan was to go get breakfast, do some sightseeing, and go shopping in Mondovi. Not only were we going to do this but Allison and I had to say "Goodbye".

Allison and I were both a bit concerned on how to get me to the airport the next day for my flight back to America. Since my flight left early in the morning while everyone would either be asleep or at work, bumming a ride off of someone that day wasn't possible. Given the circumstance the best solution was to get me there the night before which wasn't ideal but it seemed to be the only way. Anne being very sweet said that she would be willing to drop me off at the train station in Mondovi after our shopping excursion. Problem solved. This meant I had to get on a train in Mondovi to take me to Turin, and then get on a bus to the airport and wait at the airport all night, By. Myself.

Anne came and picked Allison and I up and we headed out to go get some breakfast. Anne was our official chauffeur and drove us around Mondovi all day. We first went to get breakfast, coffee and a croissant at this cute little cafe. Allison had been telling me that I should try an Italian hot chocolate, she said it was to die for. Well I was curious so I decided to try one. I hated it. UGH! It was sooo gross! I pretended that I liked or I tried to anyway but Allison probably saw right through me. It was just so thick and rich, it was like drinking chocolate flavored mud. Yuck! At least I can say I experienced it and now I know. :)

Anne then took Allison and I up to some "time courtyard" (<--- I made that up) where there was a clock tower and a bunch of other "time" devices which was pretty neat. We tried to figure out how to read some of the clocks that they had up there. There was this one clock that was like a riddle. It wasn't a sundial, this was something totally different! We kept trying to figure it out but then after 10 minutes we gave up. Haha! There was also a beautiful view looking out over Mondovi. It wasn't as pretty as looking over Venice but it was still nice. We saw where people were riding in hot air balloons and it was no wonder because it was such a beautiful day.

Anne also took us to some of the cathedrals in Mondovi which were big and beautiful but not like the ones in Venice. Venice cathedrals are in a class all their own. Mondovi was actually under a lot of construction so some of the cathedrals were being redone and we weren't allowed inside. Anne and I did sneak into one and got in trouble by a priest but not before I got the picture that I wanted. Whoopsie!

We then hit the mall. It was a cute mall that kind of reminded me of the Shortpump Mall in Richmond, Va but this one didn't have your typical stores. This mall had a bunch or unique, little botiques with cool Italian designers. One store was really cool. It had all these wallets, handbags, coats, suitcases that had maps on it. If you're curious the designer is Alviero Martini. Unique indeed. Another store I liked was the Ferrero Rocher chocolate store. Just walking into that store was wonderful. The smell of delicious chocolate filled the air. I wanted to buy something and bring it back home for my family but I was afraid security at the airport would confiscate it. . . . and eat it. Soooo no chocolate for this gill. >:(

After shopping at this mall and walking around another indoor mall we all decided we wanted some pizza for lunch. We found this little bakery/restaurant and got our fix. Here the lady at the cash register actually weighed our pizza slices. Allison said thats how Italians sell their pizza especially GOOD pizza, by the pound. I don't know if that's neccessarily a good thing. I see those pounds as pounds of lard sitting on my abs on my stomach. You only live once right?!?! Thankfully these "pounds of lard" were very yummy and well worth it! I even got a cute cupcake. I haven't had one in what seemed like YEARS! DearTaste Selects in Lynchburg, oh how I miss you!

 

 

After lunch the moment of truth was upon us. I had been dreading it all day but here it was, laying at my feet. I had to say "Goodbye" to Allison. UGH!!!! If you know ANYTHING about me you know that I hate, loathe and despise "Goodbyes". In the moment they just seem so final, like your never going to see that person again. What's worse is you never know what tomorrow holds. For all you know you could say "Goodbye" to someone thinking you will see them again and then on their way home they get in a car crash. Life's too short and you never know what the furure holds which can be fun and adventurous but it can also be scary. Sometimes I feel you have to say "Goodbye" to some people and just walk away from a situation that is bad and hurtful. This wasn't the case for us and it never will but it was still heartbreaking for our time in Italy to be up. Allison and I hugged and said our farewells. I hated it. Yea we'll see each other again soon but soon wasn't/isn't soon enough!

Then I was off to face this Italian world all by myself. . .
-Jen

Arrivederci Venice!

Hi Friends!

Allison and I begrudgingly woke up early the following morning. The reason for our grumpiness wasn't the normal idea of being up that early instead of sleeping. No we were dreading that morning because it was the morning we were leaving beautiful Venice. The good news was that I found 50 euros in my jean pocket that morning. YEA! We went down to breakfast and ended up having to share a table with some Austrian man who was very nice. He told us about how he was some kind of legit photographer and loved visiting Venice. I secretly felt the same about myself. After this trip and all the photos I took, I FELT "legit" which in my opion is all that matters. :)

We then decided to try one last time to get on the correct water taxi and float down the Grand Canal before we left for good. This time we did get on the right boat, thanks to Allison. Italian confuses me. It's too similar to Spanish and since my Spanish is about as good as my Italian, I was never any help to Allison. Sorry Gill! As we floated down the Canal we saw the Rialto Bridge, the Academy Bridge, the Casino from last night, the Santa Maria Della Salute Cathedral, and a few other fun sights that we saw the day before. I liked revisiting them, well at least viewing them from the water. It was a beautiful ride and so it was well worth it. More pictures were taken of course.

We then got off the boat at San Marco's Square again. As we walked around a bit we saw that the line for the Bell Tower was much shorter than it was the day before. Without skipping a beat Allison and I hopped in line. It wasn't a very long line and we actually made friends with the couple behind us who were from Stratford-Upon-Avon which is where Shakespeare lived. We took pictures of them together they got ones of us, it was a win-win. We all crammed into this elevator that took us to the very top and the view was everything I hoped it would be. You could see for miles. I literally saw ALL of Venice. It was so cool to have a bird's eye view of everything. Words really can not express how wonderful it was.

Allison and I took lots of pics and got our new friends to take some pics of us together. Side note: Thats whats silly about going on roadtrips or special vacas, it's so hard to get a picture with EVERYONE in it. You always have to ask someone to take a picture but 9 times out of 10 they want to be in the picture too or you have to ask a stranger to take it and they usually don't get the shot you originally wanted. Lame. Our new friends however got some good pictures of us so this doesn't apply to them.

Being up in the Bell Tower for the morning seemed to be the perfect way to say "Goodbye" to Venice. A beautiful outlook on such a historically, wonderful place.

We then hopped back on the water taxi and headed back to the train station. Time to find another adventure. We did stop to take some pictures with this statue. It was some water girl but we had fun being silly infront of it. Haha! We then got on our train and headed to Milan. Yes Milan. Unfortunately we only had 30 minutes there and couldn't go exploring. Milan has a really famous cathedral that I DEFINITELY remembered learning about in college for all its Gothic Architecture. Good times. However, we couldn't go see it but at the same time I was "ok" with that. We saw a lot of cathedrals in Venice and I felt surely we would see more before I left. The Milan train station was huge though!

We then hopped on another train and headed to the train station in Mondovi where someone was supposedly going to pick us up and take us back to Allison's. On the train, Allison and I made funny videos to pass the time and they will never be viewed by anyone other than us. All you need to know is that they involve us saying weird things about deoderant and its. . . benefits . . . hahaha! After a long day, we finally arrive in Mondovi and Allison's neighbor came and picked us up because something fell through with Simona. No worries. I was kind of sad though that I wouldn't be able to say "Goodbye" to Allison's "family" in Italy. They were so nice and fun! Sadly that night I had to pack up my things to head back to America the next day.  :(

While I was upstairs packing, Allison was being a good little hostess and was making us dinner. She made some kind of pasta with tomato sauce and tuna. Sounds odd but it was sooo good! Allison's a good little cook. Allison had also got a letter from me (I sent it ages ago) while I was there. It was kind of cool to watch her open it. :)

 

 

We then went upstairs and exchanged pictures from our trip in Venice. If you read my last blog you already know that her pictures didn't turn out so well on my computer and I didn't realize this until after I left. It might have been because my computer has so many pictures on it already and when I went to put so many of hers on it all at once, my computer got angry. No big. I'll see Allie in May and we can fix this. Then it was time for bed for these two Gills.

I couldn't help but be sad that night.

 

 

Before either of us took our jobs this year, Allison and I used to have a lot of sleepovers and would sit up and talk about boys, goals, situations with our friends, boys, families, silly "Gill things" and so on and so forth. Sometimes these conversations were extremely sad and we would both weep or we would just giggle until we fell asleep. I couldn't help but think how much I missed nights like that and how our week together went by so fast. I then got even more sad when I realized that it would be a while until we would have another Gill Night. The month of May, at the time, seemed so far away. Allison isn't just my Gill but she is my one true bosom friend. I didn't want to leave the next day.



-Jen

Stop and Stare

Hi Friends!
I would just like to say that mornings in Venice, Italy are never terrible. Why is that Jennifer? BECAUSE YOU'RE IN BEAUTIFUL VENICE ITALY THATS WHY! Scuuusa! That was rude. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I just got excited. Allison and I had a lot of things we wanted to do that day because this would be our only full day in Venice and time was of the essence. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and we were in VENICE! All signs lead me to believe that it was going to be a good day. We headed downstairs for a quick breakfast, some orange juice and a croissant and we were good to go. We each packed a croissant in our coat pocket with a little package of nutella for a light snack for later on in the day. Good decision. :)

Allison and I then hopped on a water taxi to take us down the Grand Canal to get to the famous San Marco's Square. Now I have a confession, yes it would have been nice to ride on a gondala. Yes I always wanted to do that and yes it would still be very cool but honestly the main thing for me was just to be on a boat going up and down the canals of Venice. With the water taxi, Allison and I got to do that. Plus gondalas are expensive and are for lovas. I may love Allison but that miiight be a little weird. Oh well, if I come back to Italy, I'll try and cross it off my list but I've already experienced Venice. Been there done that! But then again, I doubt that I would ever pass up another opportunity to go back. Venice is easily one of the most interesting cities I have ever experienced. I would love to go back someday. . .with a lova. Ha!

Anyways, there we were just two little Gills floatin along, taking pictures of any and everything and then the next thing we know we see the open sea. Well maybe not the open sea but we were definitely not in the Grand Canal anymore. Thankfully, we were on a boat that would take us to San Marco's Square but in the midst of our excitement, we got on the wrong boat. I could tell Allison was a little upset but it was too late now so I just tried to enjoy the ride. I figured, "Well we're seeing the what people of Venice see everyday. I'm a Venician!". We did still get some cool pictures. After this trip, I think it's safe to say I've never taken so many pictures in my life. Another good decision.

We floated up to the dock in San Marco's Square and the atmosphere was so energetic that it was contagious! People were everywhere. Normally too many people in a location freak me out. I get a bit claustrophobic and hold onto my purse for dear life but this was different. I mean I still held onto my purse but maybe it was because I was in awe of my surroundings that I didn't care. Yes I noticed people all around, how could I not!?!? The only people I REALLY noticed were the ones all decked out in costumes for Carnevale. Some of the people looked as if they had just stepped out of the 1700's. If Allison and I weren't staring at the people around us, we were gawking at the amazing architecture of the buildings that seemed to reach the clouds.

To our left we saw The Bell Tower that was very, very high and had an elevator that went to the very top so you could look out over all of Venice. The line for that was way to long so ex-nay on that. To our right was St. Mark's Basilica. The outside of this cathedral was so beautiful. Allison and I couldn't wait to go inside and see what it looked in comparison to the outside. It helped that the line was shorter too. We walk in and I literally froze. I have NEVER seen such a church as this. I tried to take as many photos as I could but they didn't do it justice. Everywhere I looked I saw some ornate scene from the Bible somewhere on the gold walls. (The gold is supposed to be symbolic of the divine and light from God.) This place was huge too. I also noticed that there was a vender/merchant selling things right there in the cathedral. Jesus would not be happy about this. :(

If I couldn't get over what was on the walls I certainly couldn't get over what was going on beneath my feet. The floor had so many different designs in different colored marble, it was so cool. What was even more cool was I suddenly remembered so much about this building. It was like being hit by a tidal wave, the paintings, the floor designs making an overall shape of a cross, and some of the statues. I remembered learning about this and so many other cathedrals in Italy in my Humanities class in college. This day suddenly became a mini scavenger hunt in my mind to see what I could and couldn't rememeber. Oh it was on! We then felt it was time to move on to something new. Although, I probably could've stayed in there all day. My neck would've been sore the next day from looking up so much sooo it was good that we left when we did.

We stepped back outside and saw that there was kind of a party going on. A bunch of people in costumes were dancing in the street! It was like walking back in time. . . but not. After watching for a bit and playing with some confetti, we hit the trail. No we literally did. Allison's book (The Lonely Planet) informed us about this little trail/hike we should take to help us cover all the important stops in Venice, so we did. It said in the book that it would take about 5 hours to complete because duh theres no cars in Venice, ya gotta walk or float. Allison and I are very fond of walking. We also like taking a lot of pictures so our walk was quite a bit longer than 5 hours. Whoopsie! I think it's safe that we saw just about every cathedral and bridge that Venice had to offer.

We were informed on the water taxi that morning by some English couple that we "must get lost in the streets of Venice". Get lost we did, well sorta. We had the mini map in The Lonely Planet and we glanced at it every now as well as followed signs. I still didn't know where I was so I think it counts. We definitely covered everything that was mentioned in the book while on our walk through Venice. We even stopped and got some gelato at a little restaurant that The Lonely Planet said was the best place to go. We didn't want to pay to sit down at a table so we sat by these stairs that lead down into the canal and had icky slime all over them. But ya know what? Even icky slime looks pretty in Venice. Weird how that works. ha!

As we walked the streets of Venice, we saw more and more bridges, cathedrals and people dressed up. Too many to mention. I swear after this trip, I'll never look at a regular church in America the same. They just seem so boring in comparison. The Rialto Bridge was pretty awesome too. It was one of the most beautiful bridges I had ever seen, very romantic. That area was jam packed with people though which kind of took away from it. :( Allison and I braved the crowd, got our pictures and headed to go get a snack before dinner. We walked back towards our hotel and stopped at a pizza place. Love that real italian pizza. We finished our pizza and then headed back to the room to rest our poor, little, but happy feet.

After our rest we decided that we wanted to experience the night life in Venice, especially since it was the last night of Carnevale. We put on our masks and headed out to dinner. We found this little hole in the wall restaurant that was super cool. Allison and I ended up both ordering the same two course meal that consisted of lasagna and chicken. Both were very yummy but what I liked best was dessert. Our meal came with this dessert called chocolate salami. I know what you're thinking. I thought it too. This was nothing like what I thought. They say Italian chocolate is the best and I can honestly say that this statement is TRUE! I mostly like any kind of white chocolate, I think milk and dark chocolate taste funny but this was definitely the best chocolate I ever had! I can't even describe it other than it was down right sinful.

With full stomachs we hit the streets of Venice again. I suddenly felt like I was in another movie and not the good kind either. Since it was the last night of Carnevale all the crazies seemed to be out. Unbeknownst to us we had wandered into the college courtyard and it was insane but there were soooo many cool costumes! Some of my favs were these four guys who were dressed to the "T" like Ghostbusters. They even had the gun backpack and had a boom box playing the theme song wherever they went. Another was these two guys who had taken individual posters that were famous paintings of women (like the Birth of Venus) and had it framed with their own heads popping out of the picture rather than the ladies'. Lastly there was this group of college kids who had made a Chinese Dragon costume but it was of Falcor from The Neverending Story. Hahah! I WISH I got a picture of that!

The Academy Bridge

Well that was all cool and stuff but that coolness lasted about 5 seconds. Allison and I now felt like we were in some type of war zone. People were yelling (in a foreign language) at each other and throwing empty beer and wine bottles at each other. As we walked we kept accidently kicking bottles that were just rolling around on the ground. We grabbed and hands and headed towards safety that was when we decided that we didn't want to die. haha! Both of us agreed that we felt like we experienced Carnevale as much as we could and decided to leave.

With it still being early we didn't want to head to the hotel and call it a night so we decided to stroll around in an area nowhere near where we just left. The streets of Venice are just as beautiful at night as they are in the day. Allison then remembered that when we bought our tickets for the water taxi that it came with a free pass into the Casino. Well I had never been to one and I don't think Allison had either so we thought we'd go check it out. When we got there they confiscated our jackets and cameras so we wouldn't take any pictures. We then walked around a bit and got glared at by the locals. Maybe it was because we CLEARLY didn't belong in there or because we weren't gambling. No thanks! It was still cool to look around and people watch.

After our "night out on the town" we decided we were exhausted and wanted to go back to the hotel to rest. We then planned on what we were going to do the next day. Our train didn't leave until around 11am so we had the morning to explore. We wanted to get as much time in Venice as possible. Like I said earlier, Venice is the most interesting place I have ever been. I loved every moment of that day. When I wasn't drooling over the food, staring at the domes and paintings in the cathedrals, admiring extravagant costumes, or appreciating every step of a bridge, I was taking a picture of it to help savor the memory. Venice is truly a wonderful place that seems to be bursting with history and I still can't believe that I got to experience it up close and personal with one of my best friends.

-Jen

PS:  For some reason when Allison and I were sharing photos on our last night together every single one of her pictures messed up somehow on my computer. I didn't realize this until I had already arrived back in the states. So if some of these pics look funny esp this last one. . .SOYYE!

Venice or Bust!

Hi Friends!
The next day Allison and I had to wake up really early to meet up with Simona. We were both really excited about Venice and so that night we both didn't sleep hardly at all. We were just itchin to already be there, so I guess waking up early wasn't too terrible that day. What made it seem much earlier than it was was the fact that Allison's place in Prato has these windows that you could board up and it locked out every bit of light. I felt like I was underground and all that darkness was messing with my internal clock. I was so lost! The darkness made it feel like the sun hadn't even risen. Good for hibernating. :) When we did open the windows we saw that it had snowed just a little bit during the night. Thankfully Simona had promised us no matter the weather she would get us to the train station and get us to the train station she did. She drove us down that curvy mountain in the snow, faster than I would have, but I guess she's so used to that mountain it's probably like second nature to her. It was a beautiful drive. The mountains looked so pretty with fresh snow and the sun just peaking out.

Allison and I got on our train to Turin, Italy bright eyed and bushy tailed. Well as bright eyed as can be without our Italian coffee. Once we arrived in Turin we had about an hour to explore before our next train that went straight to Venice! Allison showed me the route/plan I had to follow when I had to get to the airport later in the week by myself. She showed me where to purchase my ticket and where to get on the bus. Always so thoughtful Al. :) We then got our coffee fix at this cute little cafe in Turin. This was no Starbucks...it was BETTA but whats coffee without a little croissant and nutella? No good thats what! Haha! Afterwards we wanted to explore a little so we walked around and looked in some stores, Allison was looking for a pin for her map and I was just looking. We also saw some cool statues and a big church, one of many we would soon see in the next 48 hours.

We then headed back to the train station to catch our train. It was then that all that coffee started to hit us but alas we found that at the train station we had to "pay to pee". I didn't think Urinetown was real but apparently in Turin it IS! Haha! No worries we waited and used the one on the train, it was FREE! Once we got going Allison and I pulled out our books for the long ride ahead. At the time I was reading the Harry Potter Series. I had never read them before and I really wanted my friend Josh to whittle me a wand like he did for all my friends. Allison was reading The Lonely Planet about Italy. It's this series thats all about fun places to travel and it tells you the best places to go and eat, experience, and so on and so forth. I think our book choices say a lot about Allison and my personalities. haha!

The train ride wasn't bad at all. It was kind of a mucky day but that was ok because we were on a train for most of the day, not really exploring. We did go through Verona, the place where the "two star-crossed lovers" Romeo and Juliet met. If I ever have the opportunity to come back to Italy I would love to spend a day there. (Sigh) Oh fair Verona.

". . . For I never saw true beauty 'til this night."

Then it happend. The train stopped. We were there.

We couldn't get off the train fast enough! We immediately saw that we were surrounded by all these little stands selling Carnevale masks but no time to look. We gotta a whole city to explore! The moment we stepped out of the train station we saw it. The Grand Canal. EEEE! You'd think seeing it first hand that thats when it would hit me that I was there. Nope. As I sit here and write this blog it has still yet to hit me that I was actually there. I do know that once we were there Allison and I both felt like kids in a candy shop. We were running all over the place, taking pictures and just squealing away. Haha! We must have been a sight but I didn't care. I was in VENICE!!!!!!!

Once we gained our composure we checked into our hotel which luckily for us was about a yard away from the train station. Allison said that this hotel didn't have great reviews but we both agreed that it was a nice hotel. It suited our needs and even had a complementary breakfast. That's all I need. :) After dropping off our backpacks (thats right friends, we backpacked through Venice) we hit the streets. We saw lots of little stands with masks and other cool little stores. I bought my Dad a "Phantom of the Opera" mask. He absolutely loves that show. He has seen it be performed by so many different theatre companies and listens to the music all the time so I knew he'd like it. I also bought some cool souvenirs for my Grandma, Brother and Sister-in-law, I just love them all so much. Allison and I got a mask for ourselves too. :)

Allison and I were by this time DYING to experience some real Venician food so we stopped in this little restaurant and got a delicious meal. PS: The Italian men are veeery friendly. Maybe they were just trying to sell us something but I'd like to believe my eyes ARE the most beautiful eyes in all of Italy. Haha kidding! I got some kind of spinach ravioli which was the best meal I ate on this trip and Allison got a two course meal. The first course was a spicy pasta (she couldn't finish it and I GLADLY accepted her offer to finish it for her) and her second course was some kind of fried chicken and french fries. In Allison's defense she didn't realize it was fried chicken and french fries the menu was very misleading. After dinner I was craving some gelato which is basically like ice cream but not. It's an italian dessert but I got something like the real thing when I was in Seattle with Kelly when she and I hung out for the day on the way back from my trip in Forks, Wa. Kelly this was way better, don't hate me!

After dinner, Allison and I explored the streets a little bit more before heading back to the hotel. We were pooped; there was just so much excitement all mixed up in one day. Plus we wanted to rest up for the next day. As we laid in our little beds, dreaming of the adventures to be had the next day, I suddenly heard this really loud yet familiar "BOOM". As I rushed to the window, sure enough my suspicions were correct. The sky was being lit up by some very colorful fireworks. As I sat there and watched the sudden burst of glitter in the sky, I couldn't help but think that this was a good omen.
-Jen

Ask and Ye shall recieve

Hi Friends!

Genova, Italy

After our night out enjoying the Carnevale festivities, Allison and I slept in all morning and just kind of lounged around. We also headed upstairs to hang out with the Nonne and Mattia. Poor Mattia was really sick all weekend and couldn't join in the Carnevale festivities. But while we visited with him and watched a bit on Sponge Bob in Italian we planned our trip for the next day. Allison and I weren't quite sure where we were going. We both really wanted to go to Venice but we weren't sure how to get there so our back up plan was to go to Genova which is a beautiful, colorful city in Italy that wasn't nearly as far. I honestly didn't care where we went. Sure Venice would've been nice and Genova would've been cool but I was just glad to hang out with my Gill. Seriously, just hanging out with her for 5 minutes was like a breath of fresh air. After much discussion we decided to plan for Venice.

We both had NO CLUE how we were going to get there but we had to make a plan and stick to it. We knew we had to take a train into Venice but getting to the train station from the top of the mountain was a problem considering Allison didn't have a car, there was no bus to take down the mountain, Allison's friend had offered but was REALLY wish-washy about the whole thing, and we certainly didn't want to walk, so what were we to do? Allison was also afraid to ask Simona about possibly getting a lift since she was so nice to give her the week off to hang out with me. Plus (understandably) Allison didn't want to appear to be needy to her boss. I felt so bad I really couldn't help because I didn't know what our "options" were, or anything about the area, OR any Italian so I was of no use to Allison in all the planning. Poor little dear.

We then decided to go get a bite to eat at this pizza place down the hill, can't think on an empty stomach. Allison had never been to this one place and I certainly hadn't so we decided to go check it out. What I found to be kind of funny was in Prato at this ski resort there were two ski schools. Naturally they were rivals. Now I've always been a believer that there is nothing wrong with a little friendly competition but this is not how it was up there. Apparently, it gets so bad up there Simona finds letters on her car threatening her and her family. Not cool. This rivalry didn't just go on between the schools but the schools were affiliated with certain restaurants and stores so it would be bad if Simona's Nanny and friend went into the wrong place. Thankfully, the pizza place we had in mind was neutral territory. Yes, it was Switzerland. Ha!

I was super excited one because I was about to engulf an entire pizza by myself and secondly this was my first pizza in ITALY! Awesome. I got the Margarita pizza which come to find out was a glorified  way of saying a big cheese pizza. I didn't mind though, sometimes you just gotta have a good cheese pizza. I asked Allison how to ask for "Ranch" in Italian and she just laughed at me. I didn't know why since everyone knows pizza is ALWAYS better when you can dip it in Ranch. Much to my dismay Allison told me that in Italy they don't "do" sauces they just stick with olive oil and balsalmic. UGH! Oh well, I guess when in Rome. HAHAHAH GET IT! Ok so I wasn't in Rome but you get the idea. Another restaurant fact: in Italy you don't tip your waiter but you do pay to sit down in a restaurant. Yea weird right. You can stand and eat your food all you want but if you even consider leaning on a chair, immediate two dollar fee. LAME! I guess that takes the place of the tip, you're renting the table for about an hour. Whatev!

Prato

After our yummy pizza, Allison wanted to show me the ruins on the mountain which was a great idea. I just ate that entire pizza, I had to walk it off. So we walked around Prato and went into a few shops just to look/ What I liked about this little town was that it was just so cool to look at. It reminded me of a town in movies or something it was just so cute. Once we got to where the ruins were I decided I wanted a closer look, Allison wasn't wearing her snowboots so I went by myself. I felt like an explorer. The ruins were pretty cool, you could see the layouts of the houses and the view of the mountains from where I stood was beautiful.

We then meet up with the other Au Pairs at Appetivos. I was still pretty full from the pizza so I didn't get anything. After hanging out with them we all agreed to hang out later that night after dinner which kind of fell through at the last second. All the Au Pairs wanted to go do their own thing and Allison and I still needed to pack for our trip plus figure out how to get to the train station. While I was downstairs packing, Allison was upstairs talking to Simona. Simona asked how our trip planning was coming along and Allison mentioned that she was worried about how to get to the train station (not expecting anything just a passing comment/thought) when Simona said the best thing ever. She said that she actually had a meeting somewhere down the mountain not far from the train station and would be glad to drop us off. YEA!!!!!!!!!!

The Lord answered our prayers! I think that was a little lesson Allison and I both learned that weekend, sometimes you just need to ask. By going about it in a round about way and never actually voicing your concerns because you don't want to seem "needy"  you actually make more work for yourself and undergo a lot of unnecessary stress. Vacations aren't supposed to be stressful anyhow. I've always felt when it comes to vacations, careers, or relationships that if it doesn't just naturally fall into place it's not meant to be. This trip and several others I've been on this year have just fallen into place with ease. Now that we "asked" our trip to Venice was suddenly looking like a breeze. :)
-Jen

Carnevale in Prato!

Hi Friends!
The day I had been waiting for all winter had finally arrived . . . I was gonna go SNOWBOARDING!!! I love snowboarding it's so fun but I normally only get to go once a year. The reason for that is probably because I don't actually own a snowboard. Although, I figure with as much as I've gone with all the money that I've spent on getting a rental, I probably would have paid for one by now. THEN if I own one I would be more inclined to go because it would be less expensive. Welp. I know what I'm gonna buy when I get home! Not only was I excited about snowboarding but the cherry on top was that I was going to be snowboarding in ITALY! Very exciting. Allison and I decided we wanted to get as much time on the slopes as we could so we woke up early, ate breakfast and hit the trail by 9am.

Hit the trail? Yes friends, remember when I said Allison didn't have a car? Well literally had to walk (what felt like) over a mile down the mountain (carrying Allison's ski equipment) to get to the ski slopes. It really wasn't too bad. The road was really curvy and steep so walking down it was never bad but walking up was another story. By the end of our weekend in Prato we must have walked up and down that hill like 10 times. It was a butt workout for sure that I did not mind. :)

We went and get my snowboard from the rental place and then stood in line to get our ski lift pass. We said we knew Simona so I didn't have to show my Id when getting the snowboard which made me feel really cool. We were doing pretty good by this time it was almost 11 and we were like "Yea got plenty of time!" Wrong. For some reason Allison's ski's were not working. She couldn't get them to lock and after struggling for a few minutes she finally went and got the guy and the rental place to look at them. When she finally got them on it was close to 11:30. Ok not bad, let's get on the ski lift, we'll be up there in no time. Wrong again.

We stood in line for over 30 minutes just to get on the ski lift. There were soooo many people it was ridiculous. I felt kind of like the odd man out. Everyone around me had skis and I had the only snowboard. Haha! Way to represent! As we got closer and closer to the ski lift, I noticed more snowboards and Allison getting a little quieter and quieter. I suddenly remembered Allison writing in her blog how she doesn't do well getting on the ski lift. She's afraid that she'll miss it and it'll run over top of her while she's trying to sit down. I'm the opposite. I don't mind the getting on, its the getting off that I'm terrible at! I'm afraid that I'll get stuck getting off and the lift will just plow over me and then the people behind me will run over me as they get off. We are a pair.

Thankfully Allison got on ok. She did however drop one of her ski sticks and a very nice man behind us got it for her but none-the-less we were safe...for the time being. We rode up the mountain for what seemed like a very long time, it's a big mountain, but the view was breathtaking. You could see mountains for miles and miles. I love mountains. They're one of my favorite things to look at in nature, next to the ocean of course. The moment of truth, time to get off. Well there's no flowery way to put it other than I panicked and grabbed hold of Allison and almost took her down with me. Whoopsie! Hahaha!

As I was about to get ready to snowboard down the mounatin I couldn't help but notice my left knee was killing me. I couldn't tell if it was because of the awkward way you have to sit on the ski lift with a snowboard attached to you leg or if it was my old knee injury flaring up. Back in college we were doing West Side Story and in the middle of "Cool" I was doing my normal "Jet kick" when suddenly I fell to the ground like a spaghetti noodle. To my surprise my left knee cap was not where it was supposed to be but all the way to the side almost to the back of my leg. What did I do? Pushed it back in place and finished the dance, thats what! I've done all kinds of knee strengthening exercises but to be honest my knee has never been the same.

I told myself, "You didn't come all this way to sit out on your snowboarding adventure!". So I decided to snowboard through the pain. Not the wisest decision I ever made. What made this even more scary was I was not used to this mountain at all! There was so many sharp turns that had like a 10 foot drop off and I was used to Wintergreen back home where you just go on down. I kept imagining myself going over the side of the mountain and be sitting in a pile of snow not able to climb back up to the slope because of my knee. UGH! I'd like to think I'm a pretty tough girl but something about that really scared me.

Once I got to the bottom, Allison and I decided to go get some coffee and a croissant. Good decision. After feeling refreshed it was time to try again. I was not about to be defeated because of some stupid knee. This time the ski lift wasn't as long of a wait and Allison and I both had a better ski lift experience gettin on and off. Ha! This time going down was more of a success for me so that was good. I believe we went down a couple more times after the first run so we felt like we got our moneys worth. Allison was brave and went down one of the more steep slopes and almost took out a child. Hahah TEN POINTS! I wish I had seen it! Towards the end of the day we noticed some of the kids were coming out to be apart of the Carnevale parade. This consisted of the kids dressing up and skiing down the slopes. Some of the costumes were pretty funny. The categories went from Dalmations to Butchers, go figure.

Allison and I then decided it was time to head back up the mountain up for the night. After our little naps we met up with some of the Au Pair's for "Appetivos" back down the mountain. In Italy they eat dinner around 8 pm so everyone goes to Appetivos for a bit of a snack before dinner time. By the time we left, it was dinner time with the Nonnes. We had some kind of pasta with tuna in it. Yea, I know what you're thinking. I thought it too but it actually was really good! I probably wouldn't make it as yummy as they did but it was still good. Allison and I then went downstairs to get ready for the night. We were meeting the girls to go dancing. I mean cmon, it's CARNEVALE!

I put on my mask and got all cute, I was ready to go. After meeting up with Allison's friends I quickly realized that they were not into the whole "dressing up" for the night. They wanted to look cool. I mean I thought my mask looked cool but then again I'm a theatre person and have no shame. We then all headed down the mountain (I was in heals...I'm a trouper....or stupid) and we walked into this one place and again I felt like I was in a movie. I walked in and since I was the ONLY one wearing any type of costume everyone and I mean EVERYONE stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I might've heard the music skid to a stop. It was really awkward. I then saw these Italian guys in the corner pointing at me and laughing so I decided that I should probably take off my mask and hide in a corner.

Later we went to this place called Snowfever which was like a club and I had so much fun. People were dressed up ther and I fit right in. Allison and her friends even found little glittery masks and wore them! After dancing around like an idiot, this group of guys came up and started talking to me. Low and Behold it was the very same group of guys that were pointing and laughing at me at the other place!!! Here they were trying to hit on me! Not feeling it. After calling them out right there on the dance floor they soon saw that they weren't getting anywhere with me so they moved on to Allison who liked the attention more than I did. It was funny to watch for sure.

We then decide it was time to go and caught a ride with one of the Au Pair's friend to the top of the mountain which was very nice. While in Italy my phone didn't work because it doesn't have a "global plan" and I hardly had internet while I was there. Thankfully that night I had a very weak internet connection and I saw where I had got some messages from certain friends that just made me feel like a million bucks. Thats all I'm gonna say about that. :) Allison and I then climbed into our little beds and moments later were fast asleep. It had been a very long and exciting day for sure. Recap: Snowboarding and Dancing, two of my favoritest things, Prato, you've been real good to me.
-Jen