The Gelato Diaries: Part 1

3.28.2012 LAX Terminal

K.W.L.

My tickets to Italy.

Things I KNOW about Italy:

• I purchased a plane ticket to fly there with minimal knowledge of the language.
• It is an alleged land of gelato and forward men.  
• My flight to Zurich, Switzerland is leaving on time (hopefully 7:30pm PST)
• Nichole, Kayla and Sam have been lost most of their trip so far

Things I WANT to know:

• If I can successfully meet my self-imposed challenge to gain ten pounds in ten days
• If I can overcome timid travel anxiety to figure out how to meet everyone in the Cinque Terra.
• If I am going to have a chance to gain meaningful sleep in the next 24 hours

Things I've already LEARNED:

• Consider planning, at all, next time

3.29.2012 Zurich, Switzerland

Visa #2 in my passport.

Best night's sleep in my personal history of traveling!  Depending on the reliability of my math, I might have gotten a "solid" eight hours of sleep.  For a plane at least, that's pretty rad!

I'm sure between taking off at 7:30pm PST and arriving in Zurich ~ 6:30am PST, the 30 minutes or so I spent trying to watch Human Planet: Arctic played some sort of factor in the trip I didn't pay attention to, but I'm still overwhelmingly impressed!  My best guess (since I've warped to local time and it's now 4:30pm Zurich time) is that I'm going to arrive in Rome in about three hours and then go on a wild goose chase to figure out which train to take to make it up to the Cinque Terra.

HIGHLIGHT: Customs man liked my Bolivia visa.  Cool!

3.29.2012 Hostel in Rome, Italy

Rome unexpectedly

Tonight, I realized how there are real-life consequences to not planning your international travels.  Firstly, people get grumpy when you fail to so much as attempt to use their language.  Learned this lesson from the lady who sold me my ticket(s) to the Cinque terra.  Not a pleasant interaction.

Once I realized I was unable to make the train I hoped for, the universe provided.  I made it to an internet cafe/souvenir shop, where I paid one euro to message Nichole to tell her the news I would not be arriving as expected at 5am.  Hope she got that.

Wandering down the street, someone asked me if I wanted a bed at a hostel for twenty-five euros.  I said yes, figuring Dad would appreciate me not sleeping at the Termini train station my first night, so...  The dude who walked me back to the hostel spoke broken English, which is awesome.  Speaking absolutely NO Italian besides gratsie and prego, it seemed like a good idea to accept some hospitality.

Dude gave me the tour.  Looks like I'm spending the night with at least two other guys.  Random host dude sleeps on a mattress in the kitchen.  Classy.

Mr. Kitchen Mattress's friend.

Mr. Kitchen Mattress agreed to walk with me back to the train station.  I, of course, am a nervous nelly and wanted to practice walking to the train station since I might not make it there tomorrow morning.  On the way, Mr. Kitchen Mattress comes to think my name is Annie, which is close enough.  He buys me a beer and a suppli.  He then leaves for about twenty minutes, so I got to try and small talk with a non-english speaking store owner.  

We take some photos, and then we finish our walk to the train station.  He sees a friend along the way and says hello.  Strangely, more unfortunately, we see an accident.  Taxi vs. cyclist and potentially pedestrian too.  

Once back at the hostel, I ask Mr. Kitchen Mattress if he has a phone I may borrow to use as an alarm clock.  He seems confused.  I however did receive an offer to be come, at least temporarily, Mrs. Kitchen mattress.  He's not Italian-born, but I officially received my first proposition no fewer than three hours in country.  Thank goodness I have standards.

So, I head to bed very much hoping the universe continues to smile upon me tomorrow during my travels.  I am nervous, but maybe that is incentive to do a little planning for my international travels.

3.30.2012 Roma Termini

Naive moments at the train station

Well, I made it to the train station around 5:45am (Rome time) without thinking to bring an alarm clock, or even a watch for that matter.  One of the very nice men in the hostel offered to set his cell phone for me, but when I woke up (probably around 4:45am) I just let my body start its day.  Not that I didn't trust it was set currectly...but well, I guess I didn't trust it was set correctly.

The gelato diaries, and cafe Americano.

The board of arrivi (arrivals) and partenze (departing) trains only runs about 45 minutes in advance, so I have a few minutes before I can start compulsively watching it update.  In the meantime, I am wondering if I should be brave and try espresso or just wait for a cafe that will make an Americano (espresso + hot water).  I suppose caffeine at 6:00am is not essential.  Cafe Americano=good chocie.

3.30.2012 Roma Termini on the Train 

Timid traveler validates wrong train ticket, feels like an idiot.

Headlines all over town.  So leave it to me to stamp the wrong ticket (La Spezia to Levanto, not Roma Termini to La Spezia) after Nichole's urgent advice to make sure I don't forget this important step.  It's only natural that I would screw it up.

Luckily, someone with authority let me know that because the tickets are dated already, I didn't actually need to validate this non-regional one.  Phew. 

Naive traveller note: I apparently welcomed myself onto first class without realizing it!  I bet the man with the very shiny shoes and laptop sitting next to me knew my mistake the whole time.  Honestly though, the controller was very sweet in how she reassigned me.

Interestingly, I just started reading The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins and got into the main plot line.  Class-based warfare to inspire fear in the eyes of a country's people.  Not subtle.  Cue me walking to second class seating.

In other news, there is an absolutely gorgeous view of a body of water to my left and stacked greenhouses built into the rolling hills off to my right.  We're still on our way to Citiavecchia, the first top on the train this morning.   I need to invest in a map!

~10:45am

Learning curve for train travel is growing.  I now not only read the class on my ticket, but I actually can read the schedule to figure out which platform to go to (#5), which carriage I'm supposed to sit on (#3), as well as my actual seat assignment (#62).  Quick check to see which stop is Levanto...looks to be the second one.

Once I get to Levanto, perhaps a taxi to the hostel?  Such a big-girl day maneuvering around Europe (okay, the coast of Italy.)  Um, P.S. this train totally looks like the one they take to Hogwart's in Harry Potter.  Mostly the separate cabins with the rows of seats facing one another entertain me.  

3.30.2012 Manarola Train Stop in the Cinque Terra

TOP 10 PARTS OF FRIDAY (in no order)

Bring on the muffin top.

10. My first of many gelatos in Monterosso (chocolate and berry medley). 

9. Napping on the warm rocks of Riomaggiore.  Pretty sure I also dipped my toes in the Mediterranean Sea.  Why haven't we bought a map yet?

8. Putting a lock along the via del' Amore (walk of love) and agreeing to return to Italy in fifteen years to unlock it together.

Our Lock, aww.

7. Speaking to a friendly taxi driver who used all six english words he knew to help me find the hostel.

6. Finding out hat the North American accent makes the word apple sound noticeably more appealing to Australians than we ever realized.

5. Coming to know of Rick Steves' best publicized secrets of Italy, as of 2009.  Not to mention the complimentary adult beverage we got at Trattoria Il Porticciolo because of our loyalty to Mr. Steves' food recommendation.

Freestyle walking, Cinque Terra.

4. Delicious focaccia bread, one item known well in the Cinque Terra area.

3. The first and second of numerous cappuccinos to be enjoyed this week.  Apparently my affinity for caffeine contributes favorably to the guilt factor Nichole, Kayla and Sam have felt ordering tap water the last week.

2. Successfuly meeting up with Kayla, Sam & Nichole.  They patiently waited for me and guided me through a beautiful afternoon in Coastal Italy!

1. The postcard writing extravaganza has begun!  Nine postcards purchased, and now to write them.  Sounds like I have good news to share with Dad about Rome.

3.31.2012 Levanto, Italy

A very beautiful man just served me gelato.  I wish my two euros would have bought his heart too, but alas, a scoop of pistachio and some cherry will have to do.  Oh, my heart.

So, my morning writing postcards on the picnic bench outside the laundromat, walking the narrow streets, eating focaccia and making some German friends who fed me ceci (soft bean-curd stuff/quiche) made for a relaxing morning.

This afternoon we will hopefully be up and down the coast walking between Levanto and Monterroso.  Nichole is headed back down to Rome to meet her mom, so it will be Kayla, Sam and I until we all meet again in Venice.  Off to buy our tickets to Venice.  Uh, I can't believe I get to go to Venice!  Did I mention, I'm going to Venice?

Dear Diary,

Sam touching Neptune's butt

So glad I'm here to tell the tale of an epic fail to hike between Levanto and Monterosso.  Could we have bought a map?  Yes.  Could we have asked for more help?  Well, sure.  But instead, we walked past the beach in Levanto to find a dead-end by a private residence.  Then, we took the train to Monterosso, thinking we would find the trail between the first of the Cinque Terra towns and our hostel more easily.  The focaccia lady confirmed our instincts about where to go and headed out.  We got distracted and took some perspective photos with the dude carved into the side of the cliff, then headed through the two ivy-grown arches, past a small castle, to the nudie beach.

Nudie beach photo shoot.

I took off my pants, naturally, and we started hiking the trail.  (I was wearing my running tights underneath courdoroys in ~60 degree Fahrenheit weather).  The trail started with scaffolding, chained off to prevent entry.  So, we climbed over the scaffolding.  Then, we went past a sinkhole 4 feet by 2.5 feet.  We skirted around the sinkhole.  Mildly skeptical that the Germans from the hostel were athletic enough to have hiked this trail without mentioning any of the hazards, we continued to keep from feeling like pansies.  The ropes tied to buses and trees to be used as stabilization?  Those concerned us.  So the third time we crossed over a dangerously loose ravine, I agreed to scout one more trail segment to keep Sam and Kayle from having to follow.  

The sign at the end of the short switchback said something to the effect of, "Duh.  Stay out!"  I think it actually said private property, but you know what I mean.

The real trail!

So we turned around, saving our own lives.

On the way back to Monterosso, I saw the actual trail, but it was crazy to me that the trail is paved.  I suppose it was most likely just that section since it started with stairs up to a balcony/vista, but such is life.  Tonight we are going to eat some delicious food and maybe pack up.  Gelato spot number two was extreme dark chocolate and strawberry, in case you were wondering.

3/31/2012 Levanto Piazza

What a patient town.  Levanto exists in at least a small part in conjunction with tourism.  There is far too much English and overall courtesy toward me being shown for tourism not to be a factor.  The hostel seems to be well-received by the smiles we receive from patrons nearby, which is nice too.

And yet, the town has a warm identity beyond tourism.  Maybe that's called history, but that might be my naive Americanism snowing.  The direct correlation between the number of super cute old grandmas and the happiness of the families seems apparent.  We actually saw one of the hostel workers celebrating her Grandma's birthday yesterday.

Things I am happy to get used to are so basic: like the dramatic lack of variety at the grocery store, compared to home.  I saw so few canned foods, it's almost refreshing.  Pickled head of a hooved animal?  That, they have.

To Do:

-Ticket to Venice

-Figure out international postage

-Eat gelato

-Eat gelato again

-Window shop at bakery

-Attempt bidet.

3.31.2012 Ostello del  Mare, Levanto

Bidet much?

That's Italian for Hostel of the ocean.

The lesson: try new things

Nichole took the fried sardine challenge.  Kayla is learning to overeat.  Sam is branching away from the safety of chocolate gelato.  And yet, no one wanted to embrace the refreshing european delight of the bidet. 

I wasn't really sure how you spell the machine whose sole purpose is to freshen you up after a hard day's work, but it seems fancy enough to have a silent "t" on the end of it.

• First mission, 50% success, 50% sprayed water all over the floor in the bathroom.
• Second mission, 80% success, room for improvement since the technique still doesn't feel quite natural.