Since the beginning is usually a logical place to start, I’ll jump in at last Friday, April 10, my birthday! Rachel and I took a trip to Livorno with our Benvenudi class. As is typical with these trips, we toured the Emergency Room (“just in case”), the mall and several markets. I had my first Italian gelato and was nothing less than impressed. Always up for an adventure, I ordered the ‘zuppa inglese’ flavor. Turns out, that translates to English soup. It was a yummy mixture of cherries, cake, vanilla and chocolate pieces – not sure how that translates to English soup, but I’ll take it! I’ve since tried out a few other flavors and fruti del bosco is my favorite.
Friday night, we met up with Jessica and John, friends from Benvenudi. Jessica brought her husband and his friend along – both Italian carabinieris. The boys took us to the only pizza place they’ll eat at in Livorno where we experienced our first 3-hour meal. I had heard the Italians were notorious for lingering over dinner, but I didn’t believe it until I experienced it first hand. We arrived a little after 8pm and didn’t leave until 11pm. Funny thing was, all we had was pizza, dessert (tiramisu, mmm) and coffee. The company was great and the food was even better… I’ll get used to this life style, for sure!
Despite our late dinner the night before, Rachel and I woke up early Saturday morning to head to Camp Darby, where we met the tour bus for our trip to the Tuscan wine resort. We met our tour guide, Tony, who I swear was straight out of The Sopranos and took off for the hour and half bus ride to Borgo Tollena (http://www.borgotollena.com/). As we pulled in to the vineyard, I knew we were in for the most amazing afternoon. The sun was warm, the sky was bright blue and the Italian country side, complete with the rolling hills and olive trees you’d expect to see only in the movies was in a word, breath-taking.
We spent hours eating and drinking before boarding the bus for San Gimignano to shop at Tollena’s retail shop in town. I need to get back to this place and explore more on my own. The tour group spent less than an hour there, but I could tell it was my kind of place – narrow, winding roads open only to pedestrians, quaint shops and restaurants, friendly people, beautiful mountains all around, centuries of history behind every door and all only an hour or so away from my new home in Ponsacco. Yep. I’ll definitely be back soon.
As if wine tasting and a quick trip to San Gimignano wasn’t enough fun for one day, Rachel and I met Maria and Frank, a co-worker and her boyfriend, in Livorno later Saturday evening for, get this, sushi! I’m not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical of sushi in Italy, but the restaurant and the food were both great. I was completely exhausted after dinner, so when a hunt for birthday gelato (I declared the whole weekend my birthday weekend) failed, we went home to sleep. I didn’t get out of bed until 11:00am the next day!
On Tuesday, I went house hunting again with Riccardo. Again, he only had two places to show me, this time in Tirrenia. Both places were in the same building and under going renovations until the end of May. (When the Italians tell you the end of May, what they really mean to say, is sometime by the Fall.) Neither place was great enough to warrant waiting who-knows-how-long. A little disappointed, I asked to see the house in Ponsacco again. I saw this place the first time we went looking, but worried it was too far from base (about a 30 minute drive) and not near any real town. After the second walk through, I loved the place even more, and decided to ask Riccardo to take me through the city center. As it turns out, about 1 mile away from the house, is a cute square with bars, restaurants, shops and even a market that runs every Wednesday. The commute will still be a pain, but everything else was too perfect to pass up. I signed the contract on Thursday.
My land lady lives above me, and is the cutest little old lady, ever. She reminds me a bit of Carmen Martin, my host mother in Nerja, only calmer. She told me via Riccardo (my Italian definitely isn’t good enough to communicate without a translator yet) that if I ever want to practice my Italian, just ring the bell and come up to chat. Before me, there was an Air Force family living in the place for 6 years. She says they moved to New Orleans, but that she still keeps in touch with them. The home has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, entry-way and office… Way more space than I need, which means I’ll need a lot of visitors to keep it full! I’m thinking about turning the office in to a make-shift walk in closet, but I’m not completely decided just yet. I’ll keep you posted as plans develop, and if I ever find my battery charger, I might even post photos!
My work week was shortened once again by more Benvenudi trips, this time to Pisa on Thursday and Florence on Friday. The weather was rainy and cold for our trip to Pisa, but I threw on my rain coat and made the most of it. It was a bit surreal to see the leaning tower in person. Again, we checked out the emergency room (again, “just in case”), the local mall and several markets. Friday was set to be the big trip to Florence, and I admittedly had very high expectations. Unfortunately, there is only so much a large group can see with only 4 hours in Florence. So, that trip didn’t quite live up to my expectations. We did get to ride the train over and took a brief walking tour with the guide pointing out things “we really should see one day” along the way. I’m all set to go back on my own –good thing I live less than an hour away!
Yesterday, after a full day in Florence, I grabbed a bar stool at the Community Club on base for a few drinks with my co-workers. While there, I met a few new faces and made a couple more friends. Since we didn’t have dinner plans, Rachel and I jumped at Maria’s invitation to get Indian food in Pisa. Since sushi proved to be such a success, I wasn’t worried at all about trying out Indian. Sure enough, it was awesome! The food was great but the company was even better. I’m constantly amazed at how welcoming everyone is here and how easy it is to make friends at Camp Darby. It’s a relief really, and I can already tell it’s going to make my adjustment to this new life so much easier.
Despite the fact that dinner wasn’t Italian, we still lingered for almost 3 hours. At least this time we had a few course. I ordered a chai, which kept me awake and alert for a while, but soon enough I started to get sleepy. When John and I started dozing off at the dinner table, we decided to get up for some fresh air. The rest of the party followed, and we headed back towards the car. On our after dinner stroll, we wandered past the leaning tower again, and John remarked, “We’re walking past the leaning tower of Pisa at midnight. We really are living in Italy, huh?” It was most certainly a magical moment that even your most seasoned tourist will never experience. The square was quiet and calm, and the tower was just barely lit up. I couldn’t decide if I felt like a true European or like I was on a movie set.
In need of some rest, I slept in again this morning until 10am. After wandering around the apartment in my PJs for a while, I got dressed and joined Rachel at the nearby café for what was the best cappuccino I’ve had yet. We picked up John after our coffee break and drove to a home store called Casarama – think Hobby Lobby meets Home Depot. Despite going armed with a page long list each, neither John nor Rachel made a single purchase. Since the weather was pretty rainy and overcast, we hunkered down at John’s house for hours and just lazed around. We ventured out only long enough to get a quick lunch between the rain drops. Later, we left John’s for Rachel’s apartment where we (actually, all I helped with was clean-up) made a spaghetti dinner in preparation for their half marathon tomorrow morning.
Depending on the weather – I’ve seen reports calling for a 90% chance of rain – I’m going to set off exploring on my own in Livorno tomorrow. John and Rachel are going to Florence to run a half-marathon, and while I toyed with the idea of going along to cheer them on, I just couldn’t stomach the 5am wake up call. I’m sure I will find plenty to keep me occupied and still get to sleep in a little bit. There is a great fresh market in Livorno that we discovered with Benvenudi. I’m just hoping its open on Sunday’s and I can find it…
YAY! You signed a contract!! You better start fluffing up that guest room! I cannot wait to visit for my pre-honeymoon!! Love you to pieces!
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