ciao bella, this is eataly! (italy)
but i decided to still write it for my own future purposes ;)
it's always fun to reminisce and remember the funny random stories behind a random photo.
plus. i like to blog.
so i went to italy!
it was amazing.
maybe the funnest road trip i've ever done.
maybe.
it started out as eric (our american dorm mate), bridget and i.
we all flew into venice.
then drove around tuscany.
eric flew home to america at the end of the road trip.
bridget and i caught the train to la spezia where we did day trips to cinque terre.
finally, we made our way to rome.
in rome, we met my friend jenny.
i met jenny in 2009 while on tour from florida to sanfrancisco.
jenny is from germany but is living and working in zurich.
jenny had the exact dates off work that we were going to be in rome
:)
so we planned to meet in rome. and it was SO good to see her again.
so we planned to meet in rome. and it was SO good to see her again.
so i will start with venice!
venice was beautiful.
bridget and i had fun.
for me - aesthetics are everything.
so to be in venice surrounded by cute cafes - oh my heart!
the options on where to eat . . .
gah!
we stayed with air bnb again.
venice was with mr xie.
he offered us chinese breakfast each morning of pork dumplings and chinese tea.
i stuck to my muesli and tea.
the sightseeing and photos continued for 2 days.
i had my first italian pizza.
i'm usually pretty much impossible to share food with because well i don't really like meat or cheese.
but eric and i found a compromise
and it was delicious.
 |
| did you know that italy is famous for their glasswear? |
it was quite amusing seeing people's undies and socks out above the busy street for all the world to see!
this is bridget and i eating our first italian ice cream.
i got pear and a "specialty" flavour which was like hazlenut and coffee.
the buildings and walls were so close together.
as seen by exhibit a. 
and i loved these drink fountains everywhere!
the sun finally set on venice and we packed up to make our way to venice airport where we were to pick up the hire-car.
WOOHOO!!!
bridget and i took turns navigating eric through tuscany.
NOW.
can i please mention.
i don't pose.
i don't know how to pose.
i don't like the look of posing.
i don't pose.
but bridget loves to pose.
she is a poser.
and for the sake of being in italy,
she taught me everything she knew on how to strike a pose.
it was HILLARIOUS.
for me and bridget, anyway. eric may have gotten sick of us.
sorry eric!
"bridget PEOPLE ARE WATCHING ME!"
"who cares kate, do it anyway!"
ok i'm done.
!!
it was a bit foggy at the lake, so i couldn't take a real proper picture of it. but if you want to know what lake garda looks like on google images, click here.
ha!
at 5.30pm, we made our wind-ee way through the mountains and into sienna.
it was about a 7hour drive.
without a gps and only rough instructions to a tuscan villa in the countryside,
we got very lost in the dark.
the maps didn't show the smaller roads
so actually had no idea how to get to our air bnb accomodation.
it had just gone midnight with no idea and we pulled into a petrol station to figure out what to do.
at that moment, we looked over and saw a couple pull into fill up petrol.
eric jumped out to ask them for directions . . .
and alas!
they lived right by the place we were going to!
why not follow them?
thank you Lord.
we collapsed into bed,
and i awoke to a very old, very beautiful tuscan villa.
so i made some coffee and some breakfast and enjoyed the view.
we then made our way into the centre of sienna.
OKAY.
we were in the centre square of sienna when some trumpets started playing.
i observed that most the people there were tourists with cameras.
as soon as the trumpets began playing,
people literally ran or powerwalked, cameras held high, to see what was happening.
they didn't even know what was happening!
tousists.
so i snapped them.
as dad brought us up believing: i'm a traveller, not a tourist.
;)
so we snapped the sights of sienna...
this time to pitligiano.
look at those wineries!
i'm so glad we were blessed with eric to be able to drive.
trains just wouldn't have given the same experience!
we finally arrived into pitligiano where we met our host illvio.
he had the most amazing home too!
(no we didn't drink it all!! )
illvio had a whole bunch of photos on his wall which depicted the history of pitligiano, so we got a history talk too.
he was the most accomodating host! my favourite next to the tree house we stayed in in san fran.
illvio also had a massive stereo sound system.
i pressed play and out belted out italian music.
bridget mused that she wanted to tango.
i said i knew how to tango.
i learnt in year 7 for graduation.
i think.
i decided to teach her!
i haven't laughed that much in a while.
illvio had a river running down the side of his house, so we sat there for hours that night with a glass of wine, a packet of biscotti, blankets and good conversation.
illvio also had this cute little number!
the next day we explored pitligiano, hiked through some open caves and visited the hot springs.
while we were exploring the woods behind illvio's house,
we saw a lone tree in the middle of the field.
bridget and i tried to get a photo of it in the distance with us in the shot too.
and this is the awkward photo that happened.
so anyway.
we checked out too soon of illvio's place and headed to the caves and hot springs.
but not before eric got over excited in pulling over for a photo stop.
this is a little city somewhere between farnise and pitligiano
the poses almost became a joke.
eric is full of information. like. anything you are wondering about, he knows.
i could ask him anything!
"eric, what are the social problems in italy?"
"how can you have corrupt governments!? what is corrupt about them?"
"what is a trojan?"
"then why do you have trojans in computer viruses?"
"what is the meaning of this?"
"what is the history of that?"
"what's the weather/music/religion/food like in this place?"
HE KNEW IT ALL!
so when we found out that eric didn't have a nickname, we decided to call him Wikki ...
short for Wikkipedia and Ric.
and when eric didn't know enough about something i would tell him he needed to update his page.
wikki told us about this cave and the signficance of it being outside, but if you're reading this IM SORRY WIKKI I FORGOT!
i remember the social problems of venice though! ;)
so we kept walking. bridget had a thong and a shoe on because of her blisters and she got stuck in the mud.
we kept walking for a while just trying to get to the fountain.
and we finally found it.
and this is what bridget thought of it.
she had no problem dipping her foot into the famous fountain to spitefully wash her feet.
and i just shook my head, said nothing, laughed and took a photo.
but we love eachother despite our differences.
still no shoes and walking back to the car.
on the road again, we made our way to hot springs.
dad!! this was my first latte in italy. i bought it for you and then drank of it while thinking of you.
it was also maybe the best latte i've had.
i bought a bag of biscotti from most of the small towns we stayed at,
and oh. my.
it was DELICIOUS.
dome, italian biscotti's got nuttin on you!
i think i went through a bag every two days.
shh.
we finally ended up at the hot springs,
and realised we'd have to improvise about the fact we hadn't packed bathers with us to italy.
while all the italian girls had their sexy, stylish bathers,
bridget and i rocked out the black singlets and tights.
so attractive.
;)
that's another thing that happened on this trip.
whenever something unfortunate happened - to help us deal with it, we'd be scarcastic.
like
walking into mcdonalds without shoes, scraggly hair and no makeup bc we just needed a toilet stop and all the girls were staring at us ... we'd pretend it was bc we were 'soooo pretty' and well they must just be jealous.
they weren't judging us at all.
it made situations HILLARIOUS for us.
so we were so pretty in the hot springs.
love it.
but back on the road again, we made our way to lucca.
we chose lucca bc it had beaches (for bridget) and mountains and a small city (for eric). i was happy with anything and everything.
we finally got into lucca, (again, without a gps and a map which showed no little roads we were on!) but the Lord somehow got us there again.
this air bnb was maybe the most hmmm.
what shall i say.
"not-true-to-what-i-had-chosen-it-for" that i'd ever come accross!
since we had been travelling by a car and carried no working phone, it was important when in filtering accomodation options that i selected a place that provided free parking and internet.
unlike it had advertised, this place didn't have a specific place to park, it had no internet, the shower alternated from boiling hot to extremely cold and there was no heating!
and we couldn't figure out how to work the washing machine!
there were also mysterious puddles over the kitchen floor when we awoke the next morning. could it have been from the damp clothes on the seats? who even knows.
i emailed our host and he arranged an internet stick and washing-machine directions to be delivered to us.
we also learnt to shower with a pot of boiling water in the shower so that when the shower went cold, we could mix the hot water in it!
it was an interesting experience!!
bridget and i would say things like "oh man. i can't wait to get home and have a shower."
"i love living without internet. it's so freeing."
" i love sleeping with a scarf around my neck"
it made us laugh and brightened our situation so much that we couldn't seriously complain about it."
HOWEVER! when i left a review for our host - saying it hadn't really offered what we had signed up for - the host reviewed ME and recommended other hosts to "beware of this difficult and fussy guest"
!!!!!!!!!!
OH MY!
to my knowledge, i don't think i've ever heard anybody ever say something like that about me!
it certainly made me laugh, but yeah. my first and hopefully that is my ONLY run in with a host.
eek!
but anyhow.
i tried a typical italian dish our first night in lucca : rabbit with grilled vegetables.
i warn - it doesn't look as great as it tasted!
the city of lucca has a large wall around it which wikki tells me prevented people from plundering it back in the day.
but it was so pretty inside the city!we hired out bikes and rode around the top of the wall and in throughout the city.
we stopped for lunch,
after exploring the city of lucca, we drove up to the mountains ..
before making our way to the beach
it was no australian beach (!!) but it was still cool to see.
on the way home, we saw some night markets by the beach!
and that was our last day with eric.
the next day we drove to pisa,
this was our "last supper" of coffee and biscotti.
since we left the car at pisa air port, bridget and i then caught the train to la spezia, where we stayed for a night so that we could make day-trips to cinque terre.
cinque terre is a bunch of mini-towns along the coast of tuscany.
la spezia is one train stop away from the beginning of the towns and cheaper to stay in.
we dropped our bags into the hostel in la spezia and set off for the first town in cinque terre: riomaggore.
we were getting kinda peckish, so we made our way along this wall to find the cutest eating spots!
since we were by the beach, i decided i should have a burger and a pepsi max.
but when in italy, i got a panini and a glass of wine :)
the next day, we decided to go to corniglia. the trail was closed, but we were able to walk a bit through the mountains.
we'd been on the go for a while now, so this was nice.
after a few hours in the sun, we made our way to our final city, monteresso and soaked up sun along the beach.
WE TRAVELLED TO ROME.
i'm not the most overtly expressive person but i was SO INTERNALLY EXCITED TO SEE JENNY.
our reuniting was kind of something out of a film.
we were both lost and not sure how to find the other. i thought she had arrived hours before us and already was at the hostel which bridget and i couldn't seem to find.
i looked over the street, and i recognised a familiar face and figure. she called out "kate?!" i said "jenny!?!"
it was dark, it was raining but cars were nowhere to be found .. so we ran across the road and embraced in the middle of the street.
hillarious.
just out of a movie ;)
it was SO great to see her again.
it was so cool to compare photos that we'd taken in 2009 with photos from 2013. the above photo we took was in new orleans, and this one was in rome.we welcome yoy to vatican city!
we joked about that too. rome had so many hacklers and hasslers - constantly calling out to us to buy and eat from them.
they would say things like "ciao bella, you very beautiful princess, you eat here!"
since they were young italians, we joked about how so many 'paolo's' wanted us... ha!
we called them "paolo's" because of paolo in lizzie mcguire.
he too, tried to sweep a young traveller off her feet and exploit her, but she knew better ;)
see how much of a girls trip this turned into?
ah. when in rome.
we made our way to the vatican city, which i found really interesting.
so i gave her my cardigan and she wrapped her white shawl around her legs.
when the security gaurds smarted smirking, i wondered whether they were joking about the whole thing.
jenny, in her german accent asked loudly "are you kidding with me?"
oop.
they said "no."
there was a section where people could sit in a pew and pray,
so i went and sat down in some pews and said a prayer for friends and family.
it was quite a surreal and powerful experience to be honest.
i thought the vatican city was interesting.
it is a humungous church which operates as it's own independent state, which is ruled by the pope.
it even issues it's own special passports!
thousands of peole were streaming in and out of the vatican while we were there, and it wasn't even high tourist season.
everybody seemed eager to snaps of this "holy site".
but in all honesty -
to me it felt like a huge establishment with statues, rules and regulations on how to be religious.
i don't know . . .i just felt like there was something missing.
don't get me wrong,
i find complete joy and freedom in my christian faith.
but what i love about it is it's a personal faith, not bound by any regulation set by an institution.
there is freedom knowing that Jesus died on the cross so that we could access God
anytime, anywhere, through praying to him alone.
there is such peace in knowing that the spirit of God is always with you
guiding you, gaurding you, orchastrating your life.
there is peace and security knowing that your life is held in the hands of the creator of the universe.
and that that creator loves you more than you can comprehend.
you don't have to worry about ANYTHING.
there is intimicy in such relationship.
i don't need to go to a priest or a church to experience this relationship.
sure, those things can help build up this relationship
but they aren't the medium for this relationship.
there is joy and freedom having God with me all. the. time.
so seeing people take photos of a "holy site" without actually knowing how to experience the real thing in their hearts,
watching them buy souvenirs of the vatican to bring them safety and blessings,
reading all the rules of how to access God,
it was like they'd missed the point.hmmm.
but anyway.
maybe my deep-in-thought-daydream
was the reason that I GOT LOST!
we were inside the church,
when i got separated from bridget and jenny for an hour.
there were thousands of people streaming in and out of doors and corridors
and i had no way of contacting them.
after an hour of dipping, ducking, backtracking and straining,
i headed outside to see a thousand faces all over the square.
i prayed 'God, really, you gotta do something here!
this should be interesting to see what happens, i mused.
then, about 100 meters away, i saw my coral cardigan waving in the air like a flag.
AGH!!!!!
jenny had spotted me.
praise the Lord for coral cardigans.
it reminded me of a similar thing which happened in san fran.
my sister thought i actually might have been kidnapped.
ha!
but that's a story for another day.
afterward!!
we caught the bus to the designer shops
i think i left it on the bus.
it had about 120-150 euroes in it, which wasn't too much thankfully.
i think the most irritating thing was that when i was younger - i'd always loose the "bad stuff".
i'd leave my passport on the plane, the toilet floor, i lost my entire wallet with all my cash and cards on the first day of ski trip .... i left my personal diary in the back of the plane once when i was 16 and ran back onto the tarmac to collect it!
and those experiences have made my extremely vigilant about NOT loosing or forgetting things.
but it's ok. it wasn't my credit cards or my phone.
and i've had my important wake-up!!
so we kept exploring rome...
and on our last day we went to the colloseum!
its
it's absolutely crazy to me that people used to come to these stadiums to watch animals and people tear eachother apart.
it was literally "last man standing"
people got such a kick out of watching it. the emporer had his own special entrace and spot to see too! 
do we do the same today in playing violent video games where people kill eachother?
i guess human beings still have that weird and sick (in my personal opinion) tendency.
aka the wishing fountain!
fountain!
until we took some happy snaps, of course! we got coins and, making a wish, threw them in behind us!
and again, for us all to be in it :
!!!later that night . . . we got really girly.
we dressed up to go out for our final dinner in rome.
as we walked across the city, we noticed police cars blocking off parts of streets.
ignoring it, we kept walking.
until,
we got to a large intersection and noticed that there were lots and lots of police cars.
i then saw a waiter leave his post of calling people in to go and stand on the road with his iPhone camera.
what in the world!!
so we went to the road and saw a trail of cars coming down the road.
THE POPE drove past!
see him in the back in the white gown.
after dinner, we wandered into a late night little italian patisserie,
and the waiter gave us a selection of italian treats, most for free!
ABSOLUTELY HILLARIOUS.
but one of those times you're not allowed to laugh because the leader gets mad.
oh my soul. i couldn't barely contain myself.
it wasn't me, i promise.
but anyway!
that was our trip to italy!
it's funny, in italy i kept accidentally saying "undskyld" (danish for excuse me)
in france i kept saying "merci" instead of "pardon"
and just yesterday at the supermarket i said "gratzia" instead of "tak" for thank you.
i am mixing up all my languages!
bridget left aarhus today for good.
it was amazing to have had the opportunity to travel to all these places around europe with her.
i couldn't have asked for anybody more perfect.
i'll miss you b!!!
but for now,
i'm very excited to finally start my research project.
while i've appreciated the opportunity to travel on this exchange program
(becuse of the very different, non-class-based-teaching style here)
i am definately excited to finally be able to work at my own pace and do my own research.
i'm hoping to look at the situation of trafficked prostitutes into denmark and compare it with the situation in australia.
but you'll hear more about that later!
i'll try to put the rest of my eataly photos up onto flikr or facebook.
but for now,
ciao bella!
x
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