Day 6

More than half gone now.
I will be so sad to leave Italy.  Kaity already said she wants me to come back next year, that made me feel good. I am constantly afraid I am going to be a burden. *happy warm love feelings*
So… I was SO tired after yesterday – museum wore me out.
Got up at 10:30!
10:30!
Craziness.
AND the it is snowing again! It was lightly snowing last now, but now it is snowing HARD THICK AND FAST!
Took a shower (too tired last night)
Had delicious lemon bread we made last night for breakfast
Kaity was tired too, she slept in until 1:30, she was tired too.
Well, it was too late to go to the museum I wanted to go to so we went out shopping.  And brought Kaity’s Eeyore to take pictures with us.  And it was still snowing!
Got a present for brother – not telling what it is, as he will get it later this year.
Found the yarn store and got mom some yarn.
GotTodd  a FANTASTIC Italian cookbook! I love it!
By then my knee really hurt and we were both FROZEN from all the walking in the wet and the snow so we went home.
Put up our lovely purchases (Kaity got a book and some yarn too) and the camera (and Eeyore) – and I took some painkillers, my knee was really hurting.
Walked to the grocery store to pick up supplies for Canneloni.
Made canneloni with Kaity – got the recipe too. It was DELICIOUS! She is such a great cook!
Painted a bear on a bicycle for Kaity She wants to hug a bear, and said earlier today that she doesn’t believe they would really eat her, that they really like to give hugs and ride bicycles. So I painted her a bear on a bicycle.
Then watched some Jim henson “The Storyteller” episodes and now it is time for bed as i am tired and my wrist hurts.

Day 7

Well, anyhow.
I had these weird dreams about carving longhorn horns which had been naturally shed in the pasture near my parents house and then learning that a werewolf venom infected tick had bitten a friend and spent the rest of the dream rescuing my friends, and bits of carved horn from the destruction of my crazy werewolf friend.
And woke up freaked out that Kaity had missed her appointment with the police station.
You see today we had to leave by 9 to get to the police and immigration station by 10:35 so that she could meet her appointment and officially become a resident.  She has been here and had started processing back in november…. but, it’s italy. They are SLOW and apparently inefficient.
So anyhow, woke up at 7:50 and thought we had to leave at 8 and ran to wake her up – whereupon she told me my error and my sleep foggy head tried to go back to sleep for a bit.  Didn’t work.  Had breakfast and got ready.  When we were about to leave I asked about my camera and was told not only NO but HECK NO it’s in a bad neighborhood and by the way do I have any cash/credit/valuables on me? if so ditch them.
So vaguely concerned but glad there were two of us, I set off with her.  Knee still bothering me, but not as much, and it was warmer today, I think that helped.  Freaking beautiful day.
We got there around 10:10 or so.
It is a huge holding room.
Rather than see our appointment time, they gave us a number.
701.
They were on 800 something or another…
At least a couple of her friends that she knew from Johns work were there so we chatted with them.
At around 11:30 or so we ran out to get food.
At around 2:00 we were finally done.
It was a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day.
But that’s all right.
We went out afterwords to a pizzeria, though it turns out it doesn’t serve pizza for lunch.  Oops. She had risotto with artichokes and I had Spaghetti with ‘fruita de mare’ (I think that’s how you spell it) meaning fruit of the sea.  It had clams mussels and shrimp.  Omnomnomnomnom… with tomatoes too.
Lovely. I wish I had my camera it was beautiful.
Then we went home and grabbed the camera.  Kaity was so sweet. she was so thankful I was there and helpful and not upset that we had to wait (sure it was a bit sad we had to spend the amazing day in that place, but what can you do??) I think she was really glad not to have to go to the bad part of town alone.  (Honestly – it was bad, but as I told her, I think Dallas scares me worse… though her remark that she would rather be mugged in a language you can understand does hold merit). Anyhow.  Got home, had a cup of tea, then went out!
Took a few pictures but the real destination was the art store a few blocks down.
Watercolors here are CHEAP! $2.50 per tube (Euro not dollars but $3 US is a FANTASTIC DEAL)!!! I got a few and a block of paper to try, with the intentions of going back and getting more if I liked it, and got home, tested it and LOVED IT!  Went back to get more but they were about to close.  Kaity got me some for my birthday – she said she wanted to get me an early birthday present.  She is SO super sweet. I felt like a princess or something.  She also got us both these Macceto (Not sure if the spelling is right) but it is a wonderfully delicious coffee drink… three layers, bottom is hot chocolate (which here is just melted chocolate) middle is espresso, top is whipped cream (real cream) then you stir it together and it is FANTASTIC!

I am going to go back and get more paints though. Good deal and I can’t wait!
So we came back, ate leftover cannelonni and pasta, watched an episode of scrubs, I painted for a bit and took a shower and now I’m writing to you.
Tomorrow we plan on going to the armorie museum – which has 12 wooden statues of horses, covered in horsehair, with authentic equestrian armor on it! I’m excited!

From my balcony

Snow day! Yeah, so between the fact that is was sunday and, more importantly, it was snowing and Kaity isn’t a big cold person. We didn’t leave the apt today.  Oh well. So started w/breakfast – banana and tea- then watched some Dexter, had lunch (3 cheeses, an asiago, a gorgonzola… and a something else….) with prosciutto. Made a orange lemon bread, also nummy – the oranges here aren’t orange inside. They are pale pale red and yellow with dark red splotches. One we opened to juice was blood red. They are SO tasty though. Bread came out nicely. Had bread and tea, deveined shrimp for dinner, had dinner, skyped Johns mom and then watched more Dexter. Nice day, beautiful snow. Wish we had gone out Oh well. Sure we’ll get to go tomorrow.

Day 4

Woke up this morning at 10:30
10:30!
Freaking late for me.
Oh well, thought “That’s okay, Kaity isn’t up yet…”
had breakfast (eggs and an orange and tea).
waited and checked mail and sketched. She woke up at noon thirty.
We had lunch (cheese and prosciutto for me)
talked about what we could do
realized it was too late to do much
Had grilled cheese while she had soup
About 2pm we left – walked to the Piazza d’Armi which is south of where we are (about 9 blocks) which turns out to be pretty much a military area we can’t get in! Oops! nice walk though, saw lotsa puppies and cool buildings. If it was the US I would so be on Secret Services list, I kept taking all these pictures of military buildings, but they had such cool statuary!

Eagle statue that flanked the gates

Then took the tram north to the area around the polytechnic institute,there is beautiful old old old housing there, so walked and took tons of pictures.

There is also a street there called the Corso Stati Unitit – the United States Street – roughly) Then had a cannoli and a cappuccino at a local cafe (Kaity’s fave – the Corner Cafe) Then walked back via the Corso Meditterraneo – which is a popular thoroughfare and saw a really cool old complex of buildings that apparently used to repair old rail cars. I think it would make a really cool farmers market if they cleaned it out… also a cool metal building… took a pic of it at night too.
Back to the apt to warm up and get tea, then out for pizza for dinner.
I had pear and gorgonzola pizza and NOM It was delish. And they gave me flowers, little yellow ones called mimosas. It is womens day here. A Day! To celebrate women! D’awww…. John says I should my boyfriend hell b/c on womans day you are supposed to give the woman you love flowers and being in the states is no excuse
Walked back home via the Corso Meditterraneo and took the picture of that building.
Came home, had a cappuccino and watched Marley and Me (fantastic, but a little sad)
Now looking at flights – we were going to try and puddle jump to Napoli – hoping to see Pompei, as it is supposed to be AMAZING and Kaity loves it, but it looks like it may be too expense… normally flights are round trip 50 euros but can’t find any for that price So we’ll see.  Honestly there is enough here to keep me occupied!  I really want to see the egyptian museum and there is another cool armorie museum I’d like to see… we’ll see what we make it to.

Stunning Mountains

So I got the flights went well, they were good, but sheesh.  I didn’t get much sleep at all  I got about and hour of sleep, got to Amsterdam and was freaked when I realized I the plane was supposed to board in twenty minutes, and leave in an hour and a bit.  Well, actually boarded in about forty minutes and left in an hour, so whatever.  Sat on the plane next to an Ecuadorian man who let me lean over him to take pictures when I wanted and we communicated a little, he knew NO English, so it was up to my minimal Spanish.  And also next to a lady going to an optical faire (right, faire for glasses) in Milan.  She was from a place on the northern coast of south America, I forget the name.  She was quite nice though.

Got in and Milan… customs… either I got it WRONG or they just don’t bother with such things.  Walked out of the plane followed the signs for exit.  Followed the signs and passed though an area where it looked they could put a queue. and then I was out.

k

So John was right there and happy to see me!  It was good to see him.  Kaity is still kind of sick so that is why she didn’t meet me.  But we went and he said rather than rent a car or try and take the train (which requires a bus to the city to meet the train and then another bus) he just got us tickets to the bus.  So we waited around the airport for about an hour and had coffee (Mmmmm delicious cappuccino) it is SO good to see him.  He was glad to get caught up on some church/family/people stuff.  Then bus to Torin.  Bout an hour and the scenery is just STUNNING. I’d love to come is spring. though if I come then you may never get me to come home    So we chatted and then got to Torin.  Which is a big city!  took us a tram and a bus to make it to his place and then YAY! Kaity!  She is so fantastic! We hung out just catching up for a while, ran to the grocery store (which is right across the street, a little market store no big super store and everything here is SUPER fresh – which means you only get what you are going to eat in the next few days b/c they aren’t big on preservatives or chemicals! How great is that?) and got CHEESE tried camembert (sp?) and we had a lovely little luncheon of grilled cheese (with this nice mild white cheese they have that is stringy like mozzarella but tastes a bit stronger/different/is more creamy) and soup, and I got a chance to take a bath… ooooh so nice after the plane ride… loosened up my neck/back/sacrem… I had gotten all out of whack.

Their apartment is SO lovely.  All tiled and hardwood floors and frescoed ceilings.  Just beautiful, there is a balcony off of my room that looks down the street and on clear days I can see the alps. So stunning.  The bustle of the market is visible when it is running and the park jobs – oh the park jobs in Italy. Double parked, parked on the sidewalk.  It is quite fun to see.

You can see the mountains down the street from John and Kaitys Apartment on a clear day

And dinner… we took the bus to a pizzeria, and I have to say. I needed proof that a)I have good taste in food/pizza  or b)New York/Jersey Pizza is better/more authentic, I have it.  I didn’t get pizza but had a SMALL piece of Johns and it was very Jersey style, my fave pizza. Omnomnom.  I had risotto (rice – generally cooked in broth) with scallops and artichokes (nummy nummy nummy) and so filling.  Happiness.  John had a salad with octopus and a pizza (minus the two small pieces Kaity and I stole) to himself.  Love it.  The pizzeria itself was lovely, with exposed arched brick ceilings, and plaster statues withing.  One of them was rather unfortunately painted and made my eyes hurt, but what can you do?

Went back and watched a TV show that they have about the Italian/Swiss alps as we may go there next weekend pending Kaity getting her resident visa thing. Which she should hopefully have this week.  By the end I was done though.  Went to bed and CRASHED  I was tired.

End of Day 1!

Begin Day 2

Of course I woke up at 3 wide awake, but got back to sleep and got up at 9:30
Had a lovely breakfast, Kaity made me eggs with the same delicious cheese and mushrooms. omnomnom and once she had her shower we went to the post office, the weather was beautiful.  I did not bring the right slacks though. I thought I brought my lined ones.  erm. no.  Wind goes right through these. Looks like I’ll be wearing my jeans just about the whole time. Oh well. Then Kaity and I went to the street market… I almost found a little Buddha for my boy but he was REALLY expensive.. so he stayed there.  The place had a lot of really nice stuff, unfortunately they had it priced right/normal.  Or I would have gotten the little Buddha for and a pair of moonstone earrings.  Oh well.  Lots of very gypsy jewelry, way cool.  Street markets are always fun, seeing the piles of product, shoes, scarves, perfume, stockings, jewelry and  more.  Nothing I needed but tons of fun to see.

Street Market a block down from my hosts lovely apartment

Then back to the house, had a lovely little salad for lunch, (the tomatoes here are fab!) and cappuccino.  Then out, walked to Romo (not Rome, but an area in Torin) to try and get Johns cell fixed (had to walk another 15 blocks or so from there and they couldn’t do it, he’d have to leave it for at least a week and it’s a work phone soes… not now, then back the same 15 blocks) and the district is having a Chocomotion celebration this weekend. Apparently Torin is the chocolate capital of Italy, and walked for blocks sampling chocolate and watching this guy makes sculptures out of chocolate, and seeing all the Easter paraphernalia.  I tried chocolate with lavender and it was meh.  Sad.  Smelled LOVELY.  Kaity got a brick of mint dark chocolate that is HEAVENLY.  I got some chocolate covered candied oranged and clementines, a few pieces of chocolate with raspberries (lampones), one with rose petals, and one with toasted rice.  Also found some amazing nutella like chocolate.  Thick chocolate with ground hazelnuts, best on crepes or in coffee, according to shop lady.  Walked more, saw lots of BEAUTIFUL architecture and statues (they are EVERYWHERE).  Got COLD towards the end there, but it was still stunning. the alps are almost always in view… so fantastic.  Can’t see them over the buildings, but at the end of the street…  I’m trying with the language but I’m having trouble… awful close to Spanish but NOT the same, the numbers really mix me up.

Hand carved chocolate sculpture available at the "Ciokemotion" Chocolate festival

Umm.. back to the house one more time, ran to the grocery (closed on Sundays so needed food for tomorrow) picked up some prosciutto to see how it is, some more cheese (he he he – my stomach is going to hate me and I don’t care).  I love the grocery store, less than 1/3 the size of the supermarkets here and 1/2 of it is fresh fruit/meat/pasta/cheese.  Such a difference in attitude. Then had dinner at a local sushi joint. Omnomnom.  Kaity and John split ‘the boat’.  It was HUGE!  Started with a salad (which Kaity must be allergic to something in it – she took on bite and her lips were burning – now she has a rash on her hand – needless to say she stopped eating that right away), then tempura, then sushi ‘boat’ which was pretty big, then fried rice with seafood, then half a lobster (each) and I think there was one more thing but I forget what it could have been.  We split some white wine.  I just had a small sushi boat – there is octopus EVERYWHERE here and it is lovely… omnomnom.

Back to the house watched some big bang, and it was 12 something when I started this it’s almost one now and I’m going to sleep.

I never knew I would get to this point this year. I have to thank all of you who fave my work here. If I missed thanking a new watcher or a new commenter, then here, thanks to you as well! I will still try and respond to all comments, and will normally be able to thank watchers. But these next two weeks… if you find me I won’t say anything because I am going to be IN ITALY!!!!

I am so excited about this trip. I’ve never been and am all fizzy with nerves and happiness.

So thanks again EVERYONE for your support. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.

When I get back, look forward to some cheap commissions to pay off the $$ I will be spending there/to fund my future con trips. I am hoping to make FA United, Apollocon, OklaCon, and maaaaybe Anthrocon… other than that it is up in the air.

Hope everyone is well!

Buona sera!