// Milan Cont'd //

Spent a few more days in Milan and went to an art expidition that Flora setup at Frida, the bar/art gallery where she works. Went out again and had fun (again) at a local italian place where I tried the local beer named after the patron saint of Milan??

Anyways, the next day I get to meet Fabiana, Flora's sister who doesn't speak much English but she seems to be a great girl. She seems to think that I have a resemblance with Brad Pitt so she started calling me that and I of course started blushing. She made us a really nice pasta from a Sicilian recipe and we had strawberries and cream for dessert, mmmmhhh.... belissama!

Fabiana & Flora's dinner table, good memories and good cappacino

Genova & the Italian Riviera

The next morning Flora and I headed for the port town of Genova after saying goodbye to Fabiana who responded with a "Ciao Brad Pitt" and a laugh, what a flatterer!

We hit up the train and were in Genova in a few hours, it was so nice to have a native Italian speaker with you! I felt kind of guilty with Flora doing all the work asking for directions and what not but she was definately more qualified to do that than me. Here are some pics from Genova...

Streets of Genova

some pirate ship from a low budget movie and Flora

The next day it was stormy and cool so Flora was kind of bummed since she wanted to take me to Portofino, a little tourist village on the coast. We had a coffee and decided that we were going to try anyways. It was actually an awesome walk, about 5 kilometers to Portofino and it was so beautiful! The sea is a kind of aqua-marine blue and the villas of the rich people who live here have to be seen to be believed, here are some pics to prove it :)

On the way to Portofino, the Italian Riviera

Italian Riviera Again

Looking back at Genova

Portofino is a little town in a little harbor where all the really rich Italian people moor their yachts and stuff. It was a beautiful walk to the place and I was kind of glad it was rainy and cool as it kind of gave everything an ambience that wouldn't have been there on a sunny day. Here are some pics of Portofino...

The entrance to the harbor

Some boats in the harbor, not the huge fancy ones next door but these seemed more photogenic for some reason.

I had been nagging Flox about my "traditional italian meal" that I wanted so we went to a nice restaurant called "lupo" which means "wolf" in latin. We had an awesome dinner, clams for an appetizer and then I had the seafood spaghetti while she had the pesto pasta. We topped it off with a bottle of red from Liguria, we had several courses and were never rushed by the waiter which is something you never get in the States.

The next morning we just hung out in Genova and walked around the market, I bought a "large" italian shirt and found out later that a "large" italian man must be about the size of my little sister because the shirt didn't even fit around my arm! I ended up giving it to Kirstie, this girl from Australia that we met in Greece but I'll get to that...

Flora (Flox) happy now that the sun had come back out.

Almost missed the train to Rome to meet Dave and Kirsten, had to say goodbye to Flora again, I kissed her on the forehead and watched her through the train window fade in the distance, so sad.... I didn't realize how much I had missed her until I spent those last few days with her, she's a great girl and if Tobin and her are happy together all I can do it wish them the best.

// Recent Additions from Flora //

Here are some pics that Flora sent me (thanks Flox!)

Flora and I in front of a neat little church in Genova

At the docks in Genova...

// Rome //

Day 1: Getting there and the Booger on the Wall

We stayed in the official cockroach motel in Rome, Dave emailed me and told me to "bring my bb-gun so we could play rat hunt in the alley." Our balcony looked out over a huge pile of garbage and Dave said he saw a rat that he mistook for a cat at first glance rummaging below in the trash. Not to mention that there was a booger on the wall that someone had circled with pen and signed "my booger" and the walls hadn't been painted in at least 10 years, it was quite the place!

Rome was nice but I missed most of it, Dave and Kirsten took me on a crash course tour when I got there at 7 of the Roman Forum and some of the sights. The Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and several more. Rome is a very cultural and lively city but I couldn't stay there for more than a few days. Here's the pics from my whirlwind tour...

The Roman Forum, the heart of ancient Rome

Roman graffiti with the Coliseum in the background.

The Coliseum, a bit smaller than it looks in "Gladiator" but still impressive.

Dave and Kirsten waiting for my slow ass to take pictures

Trekking to the Metro Station

The streets of Rome

The Pantheon, best preserved ancient building in Rome. Invaders tried to pull it down with elephants but they couldn't, you can still see the grooves in the stone from the ropes, cool.

The Spanish Steps, where artists would take their pick from male and female models who would congregate here.

The next day we took the train to Naples, were were originally going to spend two nights here but found it crowded and dirty and decided to leave right away for Bari to catch the ferry to Greece. Ended up sharing a taxi with a guy named Andrew, he has kind of attached himself to our group which I'm not sure how I feel about that, he's alright but he is now going with us to Santorini.

The ferry ride over was interesting, our eurail passes got us cheap seats on the ferry which was huge. We ended up meeting a bunch of Architecture students from NDSU on the boat. We had quite a crazy night with them and duty-free wine and ended up going to the disco which was on the ship, I ended up sleeping on a plastic bench, then in a hallway to keep warm, which was fine until morning came and the door hit me in the head when the conductor opened it. It was miserable but fun at the same time...
- posted by mark @ 1:01 PM