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Published: August 9th 2006
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Hi Folks,
We have so much to say, we don't even know where to begin.
We are actually in Salerno right now, in south-west Italy, where we arrived late last night. We took a train to Rome from Venice and then had to transfer in Rome to catch a train to Salerno. From Salerno we were supposed to take an hour bus ride to Atrani Village, where we had a place booked, which is essentially in Amalfi on the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, all the trains were booked so we had to leave Venice a lot later than we wanted. On top of that our train from Rome to Salerno had some technical difficulties so we had to sit for over an hour in Naples, which is only an hour train ride away from Salerno. Anyways to cut this short, there were no buses running late last night to Amalfi, so we had to spend the night at a hotel right next to the train station.
At first the older man at the desk treated us like convicts, until he realized it was Lindsey's birthday, then he perked up. He started teaching us some Italian words that we have
never heard before such as "spaghetti" and "fettucino." He even wrote them down for us, in case we didn't remember. The "restaurant" he recommended for us served us the worst meal we have had in Italy, and possibly our whole trip, or lives Lindsey just noted, as Lindsey spent a good half hour in the bathroom.
Anyways, we are feeling fine today, but are in low spirits because we cannot escape the dreadly rain. We rebooked our room in Amalfi and are heading there tomorrow, because we need a day to recupe and sort things out. When we woke up it was pouring and thundering and so we decided not to rush to the beach. It is supposed to rain tomorrow as well, but what are you gonna do about it? Hopefully the weather will be nice for at least a part of the time we are there. Our hotel room here is as cheap as the hostels we have been staying at and it is actually really decent. We have our own clean room and private bathroom and we are less than a block away from the train and bus station.
Well that's where we are at
now, but let us backtrack a bit...
For those of who who were concerned about my purple feet, I'm happy to report that they are no longer purple thanks to a long shower and an hour-long foot scrub.
We spent quite a bit of time on the metro in Vienna and met some interesting characters. Crazy people have a special fondess for train and metro stations...
Europe is the land of gawkers, men and women. To combat one relentless male gawker we opened up our umbrellas simultaneously in order to prevent him from staring, or at least to prevent us from seeing him staring. He took this as playfullness and instead grinned even wider. We saw him the next day and he acknowledged us like long lost friends.
Ewww. Gross. The umbrella thing was funny though. Everytime someone gawks at us while we are stuck in an enclosed space we are going to do that. Umbrellas are pretty good weapons actually. Pointy and effective.
Anyways, the night we wrote our previous blog we were actually poisened by bad take-out hostel wine. We had two glasses each and both felt sick for the next few days in Venice.
Venice. Wow. It simply is unlike any other city we have ever seen. It is actually a floating city and the streets remind me of the movie Labyrinth. You know the movie. David Bowie in tights singing songs with goblins as Jennifer Connelly tries to find Bowie, the goblin king, so he will return her baby brother, whom he stole. It's a classic. You should rent it. Anyways, the streets are a maze, but kinda fun.
Our first night we were starving as usual, and struggled to find a place that was open. We succeeded and the food was suprisingly good, for a Chinese-run Italian restaurant that is. As a whole, we ate really good in Venice. The salads are so fresh and amazing and the pasta and seafood are intoxicating. Everything is seasoned so well. I had Shrimp Scampi one night and I didn't speak for the entire meal. Our mouths are actually watering right now thinking about it. The gelato is also amazing and so cheap!!!
We only really had one full day in Venice, but we are happy to say that the weather was perfect; warm, but not too hot. It was a good day for exploring. That night we went to watch an old black and white movie, a Billy Wilder film called Double Indemnity, at an outdoor movie theatre. It was a really good movie. Strong dialogue and plot, something you don't always get anymore. We sound like grandmothers, but it's true. I wish all movie theatres were outdoors. There is something magical about watching a movie outside surrounded by such natural beauty and serenity that you don't get from flourescent carpets and stale air.
As for the Italian men, as we noted a few days before, Italian men look at breasts as little boys look at birthday cakes ready to blow out the candles. Luckily, I can hide mine quite well, Lindsey on the other hand doesn't have this luxury. We have devised a pretty effective way of avoiding the comments. Look at the ground at all times and look pissed off. Also, look and smell like tourists who are malnourished and overtired. That works quite well too. Lindsey and I both decided that punching an Italian man in the face is unavoidable. We considered purchasing nun uniforms, because who's going to treat a nun as a piece of meat? Really, you'd have to be pretty sick.
Before we sign off... we have complied a list of most-used phrases that we thought would be humerous for you to hear.
Diana
"I don't know, I've never been here before." (After wandering around aimlessly trying to find really anything from our hostel, an internet cafe, a restaurant... you name it. We are lost, clueless tourists, we even wrote a song about it.)
"Do you wanna take a cab?" (Again, after wandering around aimlessly, you tend to get frustrated, especially in the cold, pouring rain.)
Lindsey
"Sorry." (Sometimes in the form of "I'm sorry" or "I'm so sorry" after stepping on the back of my feet time after time.)
"Ooops." (Read explanation above... or after making inappropriate sounds of bodily functions.)
Well that's all the money we have right now to spend on the internet. Even though we aren't able to respond to all your comments we really appreciate them. If there are any questions you have that we don't address, then please ask away.
We are off to search for food... It should keep us occupied for a couple of hours...
Love, Lindsey and Diana
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Jason
non-member comment
Continue having a Pun-derful trip
Italy you what, where you may Rome, Amalfi ling you (I'm a feeling you... not good?) I hope you Salerno lot. Try to keep the focus off of your Naples. That probably wasn't Ve-nice of me to say... I wonder what time it is.. I don't even know if Europe now!