Ahh!!! I finally made it to Italy. It's weird to say I guess but it feels familiar and I think it's because I look out at the people and their faces and see my Dad and his family and even my brothers and sister to a degree. I'm a little bummed I didn't receive a stamp in my passport, the border control was super chill and boarded the bus and quickly looked at each of our passports. It was a long bus ride and I ended up sleeping for a lot of it but occasionally snapped a photo.
Once I got there I quickly found a cafe to use the restroom and get some food. It was crowded and I ended up asking an older woman to share her table. She tried to talk to me eventually but didn't speak English and my Italian is shit. But we both apparently were up for the challenge and with use of Google translate and my ability to at least pronounce things well enough managed to have a conversation. She's 72 and from Cagliari on the island of Sardegna. She was on her second marriage, has a brother and a sister, and two children who have made her a nonna four times. She was concerned about me traveling alone and told me to watch out for the negros...so she might have been racist but also it seems like that was an easy way to tell me to watch out for the pick pockets. She asked why alone, did I not have a boyfriend or a sister? I told her I was divorced and hadn't met any one serious since and that my sister tried but couldn't. I told her I was tired of waiting for someone else to see what I wanted to see and that I treated myself for my birthday. She loved this, started clapping. Eventually she asked my name and exclaimed Liz Taylor and I laughed and had to tell her that my father had once said she was indeed inspiration for my name. Then she finally told me her name, Rosaria, which is what my father's mother's name was, whom I never had the chance to meet, she died when my dad was about 13. It just felt so fitting that the first person in Italy I meet be this sweet older lady who shared my grandmother's name and grasped my hands and hugged me when we parted ways. The hug was welcomed, I hadn't realized how much I'd been aching for one since my night in Paris.
My first meal in Italy, grilled veggies and brie.
From the metro station I got on the bus and made my way to my accommodations, however there had been no kiosk at the stop and there was no way to pay for a ticket on the bus... No one really seemed to care but I felt lucky to have the ride to where I was going. Finally I managed to meet up with Valentina who was able to inform me all biglietti (bus tickets) are sold at the tabacchi (tobacco shop) and they're only good for 100 minutes from first use, but they're only 1.5€. So was grateful for the info and the she showed me the place and my word am I obsessed with this place. It's this adorable guesthouse that Valentina runs on her father's behalf. If ever in this life I manage to become a writer and have to focus for a week or two to get through a book, this room, and this city is where I'd want to be.
The street I was staying on. Most people here have scooters.
Even the entrance to the building was beautiful.
I loved that the key felt so old school.
I thought this duvet was so gorgeous.
The main room with so much natural light.
There were all sorts of notes to Valentina thanking her for her hospitality.
Valentina was wonderful and provided a map of the city and called out all sorts of recommendations. I mentioned I like to do things nearby, to be able to walk, that you see more that way, to which she readily agreed. She said it was not a short walk at all, but if I was willing, to go and check out Boccadasse. So I set out to make my way through town and then towards the water and just follow the coast until I got there. What a great afternoon of exploring. Saw some of the Castelettos, which were not truly castles, but fancy ass houses belonging to very wealthy families. Then I headed to Via Garibaldi, which is a UNESCO road and was just peppered with beautiful homes with public entrance ways formerly belonging to the genoesian aristocrats. However my first stop once I reached this road was to finally have my first bonafide Italian Gelato, mint and salted caramel. It was delicious.
View from the little patch of open space in front of the Castelettos.
I eventually wandered to the Port and took it all in for a bit and then just kept walking east as close to the waters edge as I could get.
I believe this is a part of the Aquarium, it looked really cool.
This random sculpture was in this area and I HAD to take a picture lol
They had these fountains EVERYWHERE for people...
And for dogs! I saw a dog before this use it properly but this pup refused lol. There are SO many dogs in Italy. It's great.
Eventually I linked up with a promenade running along the beach and was able to get something to drink. My Poppy loved orangina and when I saw this was an option I decided it was close enough and the perfect choice. This whole area was quite lovely and I snagged some great photos.
There were just random statues all over.
Just a random collection of rides. All beach towns have this lol
I thought these soccer fields by the water were so cool. Soccer is everywhere here and everyone seems to play.
Finally I made it to Boccadasse and man was that an on point recommendation. This place was bopping from young families, to high school aged kids, young professionals, the Bros, it just was completely alive. I looked around this little square like place and it had gotten chilly and was just going to get colder with the sun setting. This one place had these nice large windows and was in former building 16, so in I went. As I sat there I watched several groups try to be seated but they were all turned away, the place was reserved. Seems I really lucked out. This being a port town I had to get seafood so I got the Fettuccine e frutti de mare, aka handmade pasta with mussels, baby clams, shrimp, and calamari. It was absolutely delicious, and it was followed up with tiramisu.
I spent a lot of time just watching everyone out on the "beach" especially this one family where the dad, albeit on the heavier side, looked so much like my dad. He was letting the kids jump off a ledge and catching them. This quickly put him out of breath and I watched him tell them to pause and then he started exaggeratedly stretching which made me chuckle and then he said ok and one jumps and then he clutches his back in pain and I ended up laughing out loud alone at my table 🤦 Mean of me I guess but the whole scene was just so funny.
Most of the restaurant was taken over by a large family reservation that I noticed some English mixed in with the Italian. I had just finished and was about to ask for the check when one of the men looked right at me and just asked me if I was Italian and when I said no I'm American and they asked where and I said Philly two women exclaimed in joy. They invited me over to their table to join them for some wine and ask me all sorts of questions. Turns out Sam was from New York and Katie was from Rhode Island and they had met each other over 20 years ago at auditions for an Italian cruise line. It was this first ship where Sam met her husband who is from Milan, and then on a following ship, the Victoria, Sam's now boyfriend introduced his friend to Katie, who now has a three year old named Victoria. Katie and her family live in Genoa and Sam and hers live in Orlando. They come to Italy for the summer every two years. They were so nice and welcoming and I really enjoyed sharing my story with them but the person who made the biggest impression on me was Sam's nearly 8 year old daughter Stella. She reminded me of me in all honesty, but with a much more sophisticated and nuanced grasp on sarcasm. She and I might have ended up chatting for close to an hour, I'm not sure, I lost track of time with this group. One part of the conversation struck me and has stayed because I think it was one I needed to have. She got off topic and found herself saying that she doesn't like to be alone ever and because of that she oftentimes will sneak into her brother's room after bed time but that her dad is magic and somehow always seems to know even when she's really quiet. I told her that it's ok she doesn't like to be alone but that there's nothing scary about it and eventually it will stop feeling that way. But it made me wonder why we spend our lives looking for someone to sleep next to because it makes you feel safer and let's you fall asleep faster and yet we make our little helpless kids learn to sleep alone... sometimes I really do think our focus on individuality and self sufficiency is a detriment to a healthy community. At the end of the night Stella exclaimed she made a new best friend that is an adult and gave me a big hug. It really was a perfect ending to my first day in Italy. After all the walking, I took the bus back to the guesthouse and it was packed with youth. Hoards of young men are insufferable in all countries haha they were just loud and obnoxious and egging each other on and then started smoking pot and the bus driver pulled over and told them to get off. They were like "ma perché?? (But why) and I didn't understand everything he said back but I definitely heard "stupido" and giggled but he waited a bit and they didn't get off and then he closed the doors and they all shouted "grazie mille!" And were more well behaved the rest of the ride.
"Only with the headwind does the Kite take flight" saw this on my short walk back to the guesthouse. Felt really fitting for this idea I've been internalizing lately that things happen when they should and the more you try to force things the more you chance wrecking something that was perfectly fine waiting for its moment.
The next morning was an adventure to get to the airport to pick up my rental car, wrong trains, bad signs, way too much walking with all of my stuff, but eventually I made it. And of course my rental car was blue again and to remember the license plate and because my oldest friend's dad is one of the most Italian people I know, I named him Frank.
Had to capture this moment of love on the bus on the way to the airport.
So my first stop of the day was Milan and it might have been wasted on me. The Duomo of Milan was definitely something to behold, but it was a Saturday and it was hot, the place was crowded. I walked through the mall a bit where the store displays were like works of art but I really just wanted to leave. If I had been there with my ex-husband he would have wanted to go into every store and look around and definitely would have wanted to buy shit that he didn't need and I probably would have started to get pissy that I was wasting my time in another country shopping. I thought this too in Paris as I walked by all the fun boutiques to make it to the things I wanted to see. Definitely a HUGE plus to traveling alone, you do what you want, when you want, for however long you want. Ideally I'll eventually meet someone who pretty much wants to do what I want to already do haha. I think when it comes to compatibility there's some things where it's great to be opposites and to help balance each other, but I think for most things I think seeing the world from a similar plane and being on the same page is how you reach harmony.
This was just hanging in the part of the mall I wandered to, to use the restroom.
So after an hour in Milan I got myself back on the road and decided I had time to stop in Verona and I'm so glad I did. The story of Romeo and Juliet was very much inspired by real feuding political families with a forbidden love during the 13th century. I saw Romeo's house which was a joke compared to Juliet's, and the famous balcony. It was a really nice evening walking around and I ended up having dinner at a pizza place called Salvatore's. I've never been one to be obsessed with celebrities, not actors or musicians, I barely know the names of people in bands I actually really love. I just don't store this information... But I have been obsessed with people that I find interesting, and this poor boy Tore was my first true obsession so eating here felt fitting lol.
Romeo's house lol
That's candy!
Fortuna Madonna
It's apparently good luck to touch her boob.
There were so many people.... You can write Juliet a letter... I didn't feel like dealing with the crowds but in my heart I asked her to send good fortune to my cousin who got married that day and I unfortunately was missing it.
People have attached notes and graffitied all over the entranceway and then in the "garden" there's all these warnings about how defaming the monument is illegal lol
I got the Salvatore Pizze, it had ham, olives, wurstel, and mushrooms on it.
Eventually I made it to Venice and called it a night.
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