Carnival in Italy!

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Let's start with Friday. My super inconvenient day of school happened (just kidding-I only work from 8-10:40 on Fridays). We celebrated Farsang on Friday, which is basically Carnival for Hungary. My kids all dressed up in costumes like Halloween. Except in Hungary, Halloween means scary costumes and Farsang means silly/cool costumes. Therefore my kids ranged from Flamenco dancer to football player to Zorro to Superman to Fairy to Trash can to Jungle. I wish I could post pictures. Sorry.

After school I rushed home, packed my bag, met Kenzie downstairs with her bag, and headed to Arriba Taqueria: The Budapest Mexican Food. There we met Darcy and Alicia. Then Cindy showed up with her CAR and we all piled in. Since I was the navigator (as per usual), I got to sit in the front. YAY. Cindy's snacks for us included clementines and chocolate cake. It got messy. We bought our vignette (the toll for Hungary) and headed off on the highway. We drove southwest through Hungary and made it through in 2 1/2 hours. It takes me longer to leave Colorado. On the way we passed Lake Balaton, which is one of the biggest lakes in Europe. It has a sandy bottom and is wicked shallow, so it was this unbelievable turquoise color. Also, it goes FOREVER.

Right before we crossed into Slovenia, we saw a police car on the side of the road. The cop inside was PASSED OUT. Like, mouth wide open snoring. Hungarian highway patrol. As we drove through Slovenia we watched the sun set (glare) in front of us and the moon rise behind us while we blasted Bohemian Rhapsody 18 times. The mountains were gorgeous, and the landscape was speckled with small towns and beautiful churches.

It took us 2 hours to drive through Slovenia. THE LONG WAY. THE WHOLE COUNTRY. Also, we stopped at a gas station for coffee, so I can officially say I've been there.

When we got to Italy, it was dark, but we all cheered anyway. Then we couldn't figure out where the sign was taking us, so we almost had to cross the border back into Slovenia. Oops. We drove down a crazy long hill next to a cliff and at the bottom was Trieste. AND THE SEA. My jaw dropped as I looked out the window. When we got to the bottom of the hill, my directions proved USELESS. There are no street signs in Italy, you guys. We drove and found the water and somehow miraculously found the flat we were staying in.

This flat is more than twice as big as my flat. It was sparsely furnished, white, and gorgeous. We explored, chose beds, and went out for dinner. We found a little restaurant on the water and ordered pizza. I had a seafood pizza because, duh. Seafood. We had some Italian wine with our dinner and were the happiest 5 Americans you've ever seen. When we got home we went to bed. I let the other girls have the 2 big beds and opted for the cot because I do weird things in my sleep like talk and walk and move.

In the morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast of eggs, bread, olive oil, vinegar, and spices. Then we went out for the day. We walked down to the water to find a cafe and settled on somewhere we could have cappucino's outside with a view of the pier. Cappucinos in Italy. Yes. Then we went over to where we parked the car because we weren't sure if we had to pay or not. Turns out...yes. But we avoided a ticket! While Cindy and Kenzie went to buy food for dinner and get Cindy's car keys to put the voucher inside, Alicia, Darcy, and I explored the pier. We walked to the end where we could see the water. And the castle. And the Alps. I think I'm going to live in Italy. Water. Mountains. Castles. My favorite things. After Cindy and Kenzie came back we walked around for a while and stumbled on a big conglomerate of people in the main square. They were all kinds of dressed up for carnival and playing all kinds of instruments. Some bands would just randomly march through streets and play music. It was the best. We decided to go get lunch and found a cheap place near the main square where we had some sort of delicious white shallot lasagna that was the best.

Wine time. We found a really cute wine bar and got a pitcher of white wine and a big carafe of red. We sat in the cafe for a couple hours drinking and snacking and talking. Then it was time for the parade. We walked to the main square where the parade was ending. People were walking around selling hats and boas, and little kids were dressed up in cute little costumes. Our favorite though, was goth bunny. There was a girl standing across the street from us who was about 13 and dressed up as a gothic bunny. Throughout the entire parade SHE NEVER SMILED. Goth bunny hates everything.

The parade was fantastic, and people were taking pictures of us as much as we were taking pictures of them. Afterwards we walked back to the flat so that Darcy and Cindy could nap while Kenzie, Alicia, and I kept exploring. We found impromptu concerts all over the city as night was falling, so we watched and danced and had a great time. We went back to the restaurant from the night before, had some pasta, and then went back home where Darcy and Cindy had made us fondue. We went to bed pretty early. Unfortunately, Darcy's phone/camera was a casualty of the parade 😞

Sunday we woke up and everyone but Cindy went to get coffee. We had two cappucinos each and some freshly baked chocolate croissants outside at a little cafe. We walked back to the flat, packed up, and went to the car. We attempted to drive to see the castle and never quite made it. On the way we stopped for lunch. I had calamari. YUM. Plus everyone else's pizza. Lunch had a view of the park and the water. After lunch we took thousands of pictures on the little jetty next to the car, and by the time we were finished, it was time to go home. The car ride back was uneventful, except there were beautiful blue skies, and more Bohemian Rhapsody of course. And a lot of "Would You Rather."

All in all, an unbelievable first trip to Italy.

Ciao!

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Photos

This was right by the restaurant where we had lunch
Notice the castle we didn't go to

Errbody
From the left: Alicia, Darcy, Kenzie, Cindy, Me