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Alrighty, folks…here is the deal. It has now fallen to me to pick this neglected blog up of the floor and dust it off. Gina was not happy about relinquishing control; however, she is very busy. Her level of busy will be reflected at the end of the blog in “our” (her) “Friends” tracker. Don’t worry…I will not try and recap a full 4 month period.Mamma Mia…dove posso cominciare?
I suppose I had better start with one of the most important days of the year, Gina’s Birthday! Our original plan for this very special day was to go to Tijuana, an American style Mexican restaurant in Italy. They have very tasty nachos and good happy hour specials on Margaritas. We didn’t make it there on this specific occasion. Some of Gina’s colleagues from the French School were planning on going out for apperitivo (appetizers) at a bar on the Arno River and invited us along. We met them at the bar had a great time bouncing between French, Italian, and English. I mostly focused on my pint of Haufbrau and watched Gina’s head spin. After apperitivo we went with this group of 15 people to an amazing pizzeria outside the
center of Florence. Most Italian pizzerias serve pizzas for the individual but this one had huge pizzas for three people. After we had had our fill of pizza we ordered desert and Gina was surprised with a piece of cheesecake and three choruses of Happy Birthday. The first was in French, the second in Italian, and finally in English. The Spanish rendition died before it really got off the ground. It was an amazing night!
A mere 18 hours later, our friend Laura arrived in Florence! Laura is no stranger to Firenze. Gina and Laura were roommates during our previous adventures in Italy. One downside of the timing of the visit…was that Gina decided to get sick. It also decided to be a little chilly and rainy. This did not stop the fun. The first night, while Gina was curled up in bed, Laura and I got some Gelato at Gelateria Dei Neri. We had to wait for about 50 kids in front of us, but the Nutella Doughnut and Gelato were totally worth it. We played tourist for a few days and helped Laura break in her new camera. Gina and Laura also ventured to the Darkside…of the
Arno. They walked to the southernmost city gate of Florence, Porta Romana, close to where they lived in 2006. They then wandered up and down the street trying to remember which apartment building was theirs. After some unsuccessful pictures in front of the incorrect buildings, they found the right one. It was a lot of fun having Laura join us for a visit and one interesting fact about the few days she was here is the massive amount of mozzarella that was consumed. My guestimation puts the tally somewhere around 23 balls… Pretty sure it may be some kind of record. Laura left us on Thursday morning and the following Sunday, Gina and I headed for Carnivale!
Carnivale, for many, is most famous for the celebrations in Rio, Venice and New Orleans. Well I am here to tell you that Viareggio throws one hell of a party. Gina and I took a short train ride to the coastal town of Viareggio where they have huge parades every weekend of Carnivale. The parade floats make the “City of the North” parade in Duluth look like the kid that brings a colored smoke ball to 4
th of July fireworks
show. (*GINA EDIT: Phil has never even BEEN to the City of the North Parade...lameface.) Every main float had an army of people operating/dancing and its own personal DJ. We seemed to have missed the memo that everyone wears a costume to this party. We saw a family of penguins, a family of Smurfs, and a few dynamic duos of Mario and Luigi! Gina and I were thoroughly covered in paper confetti! We did manage to avoid the silly string. This made a great end to February!
March 1
st, I started my new job at Leonardo’s Leather Works here in Florence. The shop is a mere 30 second walk from our front door. The shop mostly caters to English speaking tour groups from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya and many other places around the world. I give leather demonstrations to a groups varying in size from 3 to 60, and from 10 to 85 years old. I explain how a Florentine Jewelry box is made and its history dating back to the 1400’s. I also get to demonstrate the how to navigate the tricky Florentine Leather markets and how to tell the difference
between real and fake leather. One of the most interesting parts of my job is watching the people in the group get an odd look on their faces during my spiel as they reach into the bag from another leather shop. They then proceed to apply the knowledge I have just bestowed upon them while their neighbor giggles a little. The best part of my job is getting to tell bad jokes to large groups of people and working with people from all over world. It is definitely a great experience.
We have been spending a great deal of time with our language exchange partner Gianluca and we have really been developing a close friendship. Gina had the opportunity to spend a Sunday with Gianluca in the country and she learned many interesting facts about the towns she visited. She does not however remember the facts or the names of the towns. (*GINA EDIT: ARG!! I do to remember!! We had an awesome time in San Gimignano and Monteriggioni! Both are awesome and Monteriggioni houses an ancient city wall dating back to the 11th century!!) (**Phil's edit to Gina's edit: She had to look at a map to remember.)
She did, however, have an amazing lunch of Tuscan Meats and Cheeses and Pici al Cinghiale (Wild Boar). She had a great time! We also invited Gianluca and his wife over for some “Midwestern United States Cold Weather Comfort Food.” I made some chili and some twice baked potatoes. Gina made some sweet chocolate chip cookies to top it all off. Everything turned out great and they were both happy with the new food experience.
So there is the start of the “Too Much Awesome for One Blog” blog. Gina will probably try and retake control as I am sure there are many things I have left out. I think the new idea is to put out several small blogs rather than the monsters blogs of old.
I’m sure you all are wondering about the “Friends” tracker… Season 6, Disc 3, Episode 6 “The One with Joey’s Fridge"
Some of you may be saying, “Hey wait a minute, that is only seven episodes after the last blog 4 months ago." In actuality, it is 238 + 7 episodes later. That’s right! We went around the horn, mostly due to Gina missing school due to illness.
Thank
you for reading! To be continued…
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