my exit from paris was straight out of a movie. i walked along an empty sidewalk in the dark, hunting for one open boulangerie (it was about 6 45 AM) to get a baguette as i trudged on to the metro. it began to snow as i soldiered forward, bags already tugging at my arms, and i passed a delivery truck with two men arguing with one another. until next time paris, arrivederci!
now for more times than not, this would be an ideal spot to end the tales of my travels. however it would be stopping short, because although my travels were pretty much over, my tales were not. thanks to the aforementioned snowfall, flights leaving paris were justly delayed. my luck earned me an hour and a half, although what lay ahead on the plane was worth waiting for. sadly i didn't know this until after it was too late.
my first stint, i think around 7 hrs long, was from paris to toronto sure felt longer. that's because when you have a family of 4 in front of you, 2 of which are young and decide their in-flight entertainment would be screaming, it tends to drag. especially when she's convinced underneath her seat (which translates to my foot room) is a trash can. well the trash i've kicked out into the aisle on behalf of you disagrees ma'am.
however! once you do in fact get into toronto, through security (thanks canada, way to slow down efficiency), and to your gate it's not so bad. thanks to me paying it forward, my delay in paris did not cause me to miss my connection to LA. and in about 5 short hours, i was finally back to california, southern california that is. grazie a dio! so it's been a large circle, but i did in fact make it back to where i started -- LAX, only this time returning after many new adventures. ciao ciao!
xx
a
Sunday, December 27, 2009
paris -- in the thick of it
so our first full day started with a quick walk to a street which was known for its baked goods, and was nearby the pantheon (and what we soon discovered) the mosque. starting the day as every day should, with a baguette, we made our way in the rough direction of which we could remember was the right way. we did end up finding the street, which handsomely rewarded me with an almond croissant, which i acquired with my very little, very butchered, french.
after our morning walk, we headed to the flea market (real original, i know. but it seems to be what i do on the weekends) to hunt through whatever they had to offer and then some. sadly, this flea market had more antiques and less obviously stolen items, so prices were a tiny bit higher than what i have grown accustomed to. but that yields a better selection of higher quality goods set up in slightly more permanent establishments than the usual newspaper or bed sheet laid out on the ground.
from there we headed to the champs elysees to see the arc de triomphe and window shop a bit. i had us pull over, it's nearly required, at la duree to sample some macarons of the finest quality. after the champs, which was very nicely decorated for christmas, we headed to the latin quarter to find dinner and explore that area a bit.
that evening we got our dinner (went with the steak this time) which more than made up for our first blunder, and earlier that afternoon we discovered the joy of low-cost sandwiches from just about every boulangerie. after this meal we headed off to montmartre to explore and go see (not literally of course, no one can afford it) the moulin rouge.
the following day, we set off to the louvre where we were sure to get our ticket prices' worth and spent quite a few hours exploring. after leaving, fully 'museum tired' we went off to recoup in our room before meeting with my friend josephine, who's studying in paris for the year, for dinner.
she took us to bastille for a fantastic dinner, i had a chicken skewer, we headed to an apartment of josephine's friend's where we ate, drank, and were merry for the rest of our night.
james, sadly, had to leave the next morning so i saw him off in as best shape as either of us could be. i spent the rest of the day further exploring the montmartre/latin quarter/notre dame/left bank (at least i think it's the left -- the 'not notre dame' side)/palais de tokyo. i made sure to do my last minute shopping and had as much hot spiced wine (vin chaud) as was available, that is a delicious idea to get rid of the cold.
i also saw some of the christmas markets set up along the bottom (away from the arc de triomphe) portion of the champs elysees which pretty much just sold snacks, like soft pretzels/crepes/waffles/hot wine/hot chocolate/etc and a couple christmas items.
i kinda just explored what that area had to offer as i'd never been there before, and my destination was a hotel and store designed by and carrying goods done by my favorite graffiti artist. after a bit more walking around i started thinking about dinner options.
i settled on cous cous with a lamb skewer which turned out pretty good, but not ideal, as i'm sure i could've found a higher quality moroccan restaurant. oh well, it wasn't bad plus i got some free mint tea since business was slow that night -- score. i went from there to grab my bags from my first hotel and meet josephine who generously offered me her apartment to spend the night before leaving the next morning.
we went to get dinner (she hadn't eaten yet) and i got a creme brulee which was fantastic, she's yet to steer me to bad food -- che buona fortuna! so we hung out at her apartment with her friend that night before we settled in for a couple hours of sleep before i was up and off to the airport.
after our morning walk, we headed to the flea market (real original, i know. but it seems to be what i do on the weekends) to hunt through whatever they had to offer and then some. sadly, this flea market had more antiques and less obviously stolen items, so prices were a tiny bit higher than what i have grown accustomed to. but that yields a better selection of higher quality goods set up in slightly more permanent establishments than the usual newspaper or bed sheet laid out on the ground.
from there we headed to the champs elysees to see the arc de triomphe and window shop a bit. i had us pull over, it's nearly required, at la duree to sample some macarons of the finest quality. after the champs, which was very nicely decorated for christmas, we headed to the latin quarter to find dinner and explore that area a bit.
that evening we got our dinner (went with the steak this time) which more than made up for our first blunder, and earlier that afternoon we discovered the joy of low-cost sandwiches from just about every boulangerie. after this meal we headed off to montmartre to explore and go see (not literally of course, no one can afford it) the moulin rouge.
the following day, we set off to the louvre where we were sure to get our ticket prices' worth and spent quite a few hours exploring. after leaving, fully 'museum tired' we went off to recoup in our room before meeting with my friend josephine, who's studying in paris for the year, for dinner.
she took us to bastille for a fantastic dinner, i had a chicken skewer, we headed to an apartment of josephine's friend's where we ate, drank, and were merry for the rest of our night.
james, sadly, had to leave the next morning so i saw him off in as best shape as either of us could be. i spent the rest of the day further exploring the montmartre/latin quarter/notre dame/left bank (at least i think it's the left -- the 'not notre dame' side)/palais de tokyo. i made sure to do my last minute shopping and had as much hot spiced wine (vin chaud) as was available, that is a delicious idea to get rid of the cold.
i also saw some of the christmas markets set up along the bottom (away from the arc de triomphe) portion of the champs elysees which pretty much just sold snacks, like soft pretzels/crepes/waffles/hot wine/hot chocolate/etc and a couple christmas items.
i kinda just explored what that area had to offer as i'd never been there before, and my destination was a hotel and store designed by and carrying goods done by my favorite graffiti artist. after a bit more walking around i started thinking about dinner options.
i settled on cous cous with a lamb skewer which turned out pretty good, but not ideal, as i'm sure i could've found a higher quality moroccan restaurant. oh well, it wasn't bad plus i got some free mint tea since business was slow that night -- score. i went from there to grab my bags from my first hotel and meet josephine who generously offered me her apartment to spend the night before leaving the next morning.
we went to get dinner (she hadn't eaten yet) and i got a creme brulee which was fantastic, she's yet to steer me to bad food -- che buona fortuna! so we hung out at her apartment with her friend that night before we settled in for a couple hours of sleep before i was up and off to the airport.
gay (gray?) paris!
after getting to the airport from the city center of rome, and checking in, i made my plane with just about no problems. security was very easy, and continues to probably be the easiest i've endured of all my travels, and i found my gate relatively quickly. after a flight (of which i undoubtedly slept through), i had landed in paris!
thanks, sort of, to the parisian metro system you can get into the city's center by connecting a couple lines. both good and bad. good since you don't need a separate way of getting into the center, but bad as it does start you off pretty far out and isn't 100% direct. after my metro trip, i hopped out onto to the street to be greeted by my soon-to-be constant companion in paris -- the cold.
think "going snowboarding/skiing/to the snow right when you first get out of the car and don't have proper clothing," only without any snow, cold. and of course, gray.
so i walked (the map made it seem pretty short, it turned out to be short-ish), to my hotel and checked in to wait for the arrival of my cousin - james, my other companion for the trip. after about an hour, he found the place and we were settled in to go out and start our hunt for dinner as we were both hungry and tired from a long day's travels.
we finally settled on a place nearby the hotel and instead of going with the 'steak frites' option, we did a "andouillette" sausage and frites. it was described as a "chitterling sausage with fried potatoes" which, literally, on paper sounded pretty good. i have had andouille and knew that french sausage is more often than not good, and plus - neither of us have encountered a sausage we didn't like.
until this one.
with the term 'chitterling' as the tell-tale sign of what to expect, we bravely ordered. i figured the word, which i had no concrete definition of, had to be similar to crackling as in maybe cooked until the casing split, aka ideal. this sounded great as i am generally a fan of "well done" meat items, and a big fan of meats in casings. but boy was this not what i had hoped. the casing was rubbery and did not cut well, or pretty much at all. the interior mass was of bits of pork and a general brown mash (which is never a good sign with meat, as i've learned with the possible fried brain incident in rome).
its taste was both sour and unpleasant. it squeaked as you chewed and was only kept down by the fact that you could not think about what you just ate. james managed to get the whole thing down and i was lucky enough to keep down about a third before calling it quits and heading for the (thank god) frites and bit of salad that was included.
after the meal we asked the waiter and learned that this 'delicacy' (big red flag right there) was made of pork tripe. fantastic!
so we left and headed off to see the eiffel tower, since it was a mellow activity that would allow us to get to bed at a reasonable time in order for me to get healthy, at this point i definitely had a cold, and get up early for sightseeing.
thanks, sort of, to the parisian metro system you can get into the city's center by connecting a couple lines. both good and bad. good since you don't need a separate way of getting into the center, but bad as it does start you off pretty far out and isn't 100% direct. after my metro trip, i hopped out onto to the street to be greeted by my soon-to-be constant companion in paris -- the cold.
think "going snowboarding/skiing/to the snow right when you first get out of the car and don't have proper clothing," only without any snow, cold. and of course, gray.
so i walked (the map made it seem pretty short, it turned out to be short-ish), to my hotel and checked in to wait for the arrival of my cousin - james, my other companion for the trip. after about an hour, he found the place and we were settled in to go out and start our hunt for dinner as we were both hungry and tired from a long day's travels.
we finally settled on a place nearby the hotel and instead of going with the 'steak frites' option, we did a "andouillette" sausage and frites. it was described as a "chitterling sausage with fried potatoes" which, literally, on paper sounded pretty good. i have had andouille and knew that french sausage is more often than not good, and plus - neither of us have encountered a sausage we didn't like.
until this one.
with the term 'chitterling' as the tell-tale sign of what to expect, we bravely ordered. i figured the word, which i had no concrete definition of, had to be similar to crackling as in maybe cooked until the casing split, aka ideal. this sounded great as i am generally a fan of "well done" meat items, and a big fan of meats in casings. but boy was this not what i had hoped. the casing was rubbery and did not cut well, or pretty much at all. the interior mass was of bits of pork and a general brown mash (which is never a good sign with meat, as i've learned with the possible fried brain incident in rome).
its taste was both sour and unpleasant. it squeaked as you chewed and was only kept down by the fact that you could not think about what you just ate. james managed to get the whole thing down and i was lucky enough to keep down about a third before calling it quits and heading for the (thank god) frites and bit of salad that was included.
after the meal we asked the waiter and learned that this 'delicacy' (big red flag right there) was made of pork tripe. fantastic!
so we left and headed off to see the eiffel tower, since it was a mellow activity that would allow us to get to bed at a reasonable time in order for me to get healthy, at this point i definitely had a cold, and get up early for sightseeing.
wrapping up rome
so it's taken me quite a while to get back here, and that's for good reason -- i've been busy. my stint in rome ended with finals (par normal), a goodbye dinner, and the ever-favorite joy of last minute packing and getting out of an apartment by 11, which soon turned into leaving at 11 45.
the finals were pretty much what i'd come to expect, plenty of studying followed by plenty of writing. i was lucky enough to have my cousin rebecca come visit but sadly didn't get to spend too much time with her as i was in the thick of studying. all of my classes included zero multiple choice and plenty of short-answer questions on one-sided, slightly too long, italian test paper.
after finals, we had a final 'good-bye' dinner (we had a welcome dinner at the start of the program) with all the faculty in attendance. it was there that i was able to tell my sociology professor that his picture on the faculty page of the program's website made him resemble tom wolfe nearly to a t. he responded by saying he hasn't seen it in a while but kinda laughed that i pointed it out.
the next morning we had to be up relatively early to entirely clean and leave the apartment by 11. we did a great job cleaning, however ended up making it out by 11 45ish. good thing no one stopped by to make sure we were out early, huh? after that my roommate philippe and i trekked over to our hotel for the night by the stazione termini where we'd stay before leaving the next morning.
on our final night, all of us roommates and some others who had not quite left hung out by the trevi fountain with plenty of libations to ward off the cold. it was pretty low-key, but that was a good thing because i was starting to get a cold and a night of clubbing probably would've resulted with me in pieces. this couldn't happen because that next morning on was set to head off to paris! and in a city like that, i'd need all the strength i had left.
the finals were pretty much what i'd come to expect, plenty of studying followed by plenty of writing. i was lucky enough to have my cousin rebecca come visit but sadly didn't get to spend too much time with her as i was in the thick of studying. all of my classes included zero multiple choice and plenty of short-answer questions on one-sided, slightly too long, italian test paper.
after finals, we had a final 'good-bye' dinner (we had a welcome dinner at the start of the program) with all the faculty in attendance. it was there that i was able to tell my sociology professor that his picture on the faculty page of the program's website made him resemble tom wolfe nearly to a t. he responded by saying he hasn't seen it in a while but kinda laughed that i pointed it out.
the next morning we had to be up relatively early to entirely clean and leave the apartment by 11. we did a great job cleaning, however ended up making it out by 11 45ish. good thing no one stopped by to make sure we were out early, huh? after that my roommate philippe and i trekked over to our hotel for the night by the stazione termini where we'd stay before leaving the next morning.
on our final night, all of us roommates and some others who had not quite left hung out by the trevi fountain with plenty of libations to ward off the cold. it was pretty low-key, but that was a good thing because i was starting to get a cold and a night of clubbing probably would've resulted with me in pieces. this couldn't happen because that next morning on was set to head off to paris! and in a city like that, i'd need all the strength i had left.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
western europe's largest gypsy camp is located in rome's periphery.
and boy is it big! it had gypsy camp streets and everything, although i can't say i needed any closer of a view than what i saw as we drove by in the bus on our 'tour of the city periphery' yesterday for my sociology class. it was however very nice to see the lush greenery available just minutes from the city center, and even nicer to see remnants of aqueducts placed amidst that greenery.
as usual, i am late on an update so as usual this will probably be a long one. not too much has been happening though, i've hit the point of the semester where all the papers are due before finals so i've been kept quite busy. luckily i did have time to have no luck finding a leather jacket (i'm not giving up hope though, i've gotten close a couple times!). in fact, i'm currently on break from writing a paper - one of two due this week.
but, that said, i am still trying to find time to enjoy my last bits of roman life before i fly back to california. last weekend was thanksgiving and i personally didn't have a bad one although it was a far cry from what i'm used to, the food was good though. i also caught up with a good amount of the cousins/relatives over for the 'day after' being put on at our house and they all seem to be doing well.
however, on the topic of food, i did get a chance to try a newly discovered seasonal product known as porchetta. for those of you who don't know, it's slow-roasted pork rolled with rosemary. on paper a pretty sweet gig, no? unfortunately with pork people they generally also like to eat things like fat for "flavor." that is where they and i differ. so although the lean meat of the porchetta is quite delectable, the fair portioning of fat was not so much. and thus i don't think the price justifies the parts that i enjoy eating, although a good experience in itself.
in fact, along the lines of food, i have been lacking! looking back on my absence from updating you, it's almost pathetic the proportion of worthwhile memories i've made in relation to the schoolwork i've had to complete. a huge bummer! for instance, i'm still yet to try this cake in the jewish ghetto, in spite of hearing fantastic things. perhaps its time to take my studying elsewhere in hopes of further snack options. too bad i'm not here to just spend money on self-indulgence and visit the periphery huh? maybe sometime in the future though i'll be so lucky.
actually, on the topic of the future i will be quite lucky. not only is my cousin rebecca coming to visit this weekend, i will be attending an as roma soccer (calcio) match. this is notably fantastic because our first scheduled one to go to was canceled due to the local govt declaring it "too dangerous" and only allowing tickets to be bought by showing proof of residency within rome, permanent residency not 'alex' residency. so my fingers are crossed on that one in spite of being a little gun shy from the first go getting canceled. plus when rebecca's here i can indulge in some nicer food and treats while showing her around! va benissimo!
anyway, i think it might be paper time again. not the best post, i'll admit it (especially with such a promising title!), however if it helps no one's winning here. i'll try to live a bit more, and get back to you on things like the roma match. a presto! baci!
as usual, i am late on an update so as usual this will probably be a long one. not too much has been happening though, i've hit the point of the semester where all the papers are due before finals so i've been kept quite busy. luckily i did have time to have no luck finding a leather jacket (i'm not giving up hope though, i've gotten close a couple times!). in fact, i'm currently on break from writing a paper - one of two due this week.
but, that said, i am still trying to find time to enjoy my last bits of roman life before i fly back to california. last weekend was thanksgiving and i personally didn't have a bad one although it was a far cry from what i'm used to, the food was good though. i also caught up with a good amount of the cousins/relatives over for the 'day after' being put on at our house and they all seem to be doing well.
however, on the topic of food, i did get a chance to try a newly discovered seasonal product known as porchetta. for those of you who don't know, it's slow-roasted pork rolled with rosemary. on paper a pretty sweet gig, no? unfortunately with pork people they generally also like to eat things like fat for "flavor." that is where they and i differ. so although the lean meat of the porchetta is quite delectable, the fair portioning of fat was not so much. and thus i don't think the price justifies the parts that i enjoy eating, although a good experience in itself.
in fact, along the lines of food, i have been lacking! looking back on my absence from updating you, it's almost pathetic the proportion of worthwhile memories i've made in relation to the schoolwork i've had to complete. a huge bummer! for instance, i'm still yet to try this cake in the jewish ghetto, in spite of hearing fantastic things. perhaps its time to take my studying elsewhere in hopes of further snack options. too bad i'm not here to just spend money on self-indulgence and visit the periphery huh? maybe sometime in the future though i'll be so lucky.
actually, on the topic of the future i will be quite lucky. not only is my cousin rebecca coming to visit this weekend, i will be attending an as roma soccer (calcio) match. this is notably fantastic because our first scheduled one to go to was canceled due to the local govt declaring it "too dangerous" and only allowing tickets to be bought by showing proof of residency within rome, permanent residency not 'alex' residency. so my fingers are crossed on that one in spite of being a little gun shy from the first go getting canceled. plus when rebecca's here i can indulge in some nicer food and treats while showing her around! va benissimo!
anyway, i think it might be paper time again. not the best post, i'll admit it (especially with such a promising title!), however if it helps no one's winning here. i'll try to live a bit more, and get back to you on things like the roma match. a presto! baci!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
italian taralli and pizzelle, i'm gonna say better homemade.
and i know this because i recently bought some of each and was not as impressed. i think the biggest issue with them was simply not crunchy enough.
anyway, as some of you may have recognized my posting trend has been pretty much as upside down and backwards as can be. this is because both: i have been very busy with school, and that we had our second break! now luckily for you, i already know that "busy with school" needs to go no further than that and i'll pretty much just focus on the break. unfortunately i won't break it down like last time but i can just about recall everything that went on. allora andiamo!
at the beginning of the break we went to tuscany/florence area. well, to be fair the very beginning of break was halloween, which i naturally celebrated to its fullest. this, as always, resulted in my sleeping pretty much the entire drive to that area (a solid 3ish hours? who knows, non me importa). but what was pretty funny was the italian way of dressing up for halloween. they did a lot of generic costumes, the most common being -- bloody guy.
this consists of wearing a white shirt, then putting fake blood on it and yourself. done. real creative guys, realllll creative. that or my other favorite: 'non-continuity costume guy' which was a puma sweatshirt, hood up, wearing an alien mask and a freddy krueger glove. hey is that alien freddy krueger? awesome! and this, mind you, were the italians who dressed up. a good 75% of them didn't at all, instead they dressed like always. great spirit guys. i however went as a devil with some cheap face paint i bought next to the metro shop, yahtzee! of course it came at a price when it left splotchy red marks the next day just in time to go to florence with.
however (italian: comunque), to be technical, we started in rome seeing what there is to see (not much of anything, right? WRONG! we left many a stone unturned before the full fiek force had to leave). we also went to the vatican/st. peter's where we climbed the duomo, saw my dad trip on a step -- make enough commotion in the process to turn heads, and the sistine chapel. all went well, even our fiek travel tradition of generally skipping lunch, awesome.
so, our break started in the quite cold, somewhat more northern, area of tuscany. like last break, i packed the morning of (this is the second time i've done this, both times turned out just 'ok' -- try to avoid it) and left out one or two essentials. this time it was a second outer layer and boy was i cold! but i made it through it and learned my lesson about what i should definitely bring to berlin later on in the week.
back to tuscany, we toured around the wine country in our rented fiat. we ate panforte (actually not bad for that many candied/dried fruits in one place -- you know who's not a panettone fan? this guy!). apart from visitng the cinghiale (which, as a symbol of florence, is essentially a boar), we also visited some rad florentine sites, revisiting one of my favorite sets of stairs to get winded on, and ate (more) highly indulgent meats. i shouldn't love veal as much as i do, but more on that later.
after florence, we came back to rome -- after enduring a longer-feeling-than-duration car trip, where i overdid it on nutella and felt sub-par the rest of the night. after checking into the 'eco-hotel' i hopped on a bus, in the pouring rain, to get back to my apartment to re-pack before berlin. after florence i needed proper winter clothing for berlin.
but in true alex form (it's starting to become a trend) i had some bizarre adventure the night before our departure. so after taking the bus to the end of the line, then kind of sticking my head out of the window, in the rain, i got to the metro. then took that (it was the second to last stop!) back to my area to grab stuff. thank GOD the rain stopped when i was heading back because little did i know i had quite the walk ahead of me.
after getting off the metro (on my way back to the hotel) it was nearly midnight. now midnight in bus time means that the bus comes once an hour, on fewer routes -- it's appropriately named the 'night bus.' so i missed the first one on account of it not going my direction, options are limited when you're OUTSIDE of the aurelian walls -- meaning quite far from the city center aka my apt. now my options were hanging till 1 (after finding a stop to help me) orrrr walking to the hotel.
so i did what anyone else would, and calculated some rough timing estimates as i hung out under mcdonald's light telling people you can still get food from the side window as i read my map. i figured in at most 45 min i could get pretty damn far, and that's still 15 min before the bus would arrive. and just like that i was off walkin. after roughly 40, i did in fact not only get a sweet tour of the aurelian wall (due to me walking along them) but i also made it to the hotel. take that night bus! and was quickly to bed before our flight the next morning.
we awoke and after our breakfast, went to wait at the airport. upon finally boarding and, naturally, getting back some sleep mid-flight we were ready for our in-flight snack. ham sandwich? "aw man, if this is anything like the flight to canada this sandwich is gonna rock!" and you know what? berlin is nothing like canada. a 'ham' (it looked more like bologna and tasted more like nothing) sandwich is german for 'ham and butter sandwich that tastes like cream cheese and is on nearly-pita bread' which is alex for 'not getting eaten.'
after arriving we were warmly greeted by jurgen and brigitte who are the brother and brother's wife of my grandfather. actually, i should say i personally was greeted by jurgen's awesome bowtie, THEN by the pair. we were actually staying in the nearby city of wannsee (which believe it or not is not pronounced 'vahn-sie' -- like onesie but with a vah- prefixing it) which was in the forest. a forest which looked frightening both the night we arrived and essentially every other time. of course this may be attributed to the wild pigs that roam (rome?) these forests, at least 1500 of em in fact, but the jury's still out.
so after touring around wannsee and seeing a bit of fiek family history, we had a great first dinner. i opted for the schnitzel, which is as good as the name is fun to say. after further wannsee and potsdam touring we had coffee and cake at the relative's and the next day we were off to berlin.
berlin was fantastic, as a modern city, but not as rad as a charming city of yore. this, naturally, is due to rebuilding after the war and there are enough leftovers to remind of what once was. including parts of the wall and the holocaust memorial.
but on a brighter note, it was still flooded with sausage! we tried the local go-to 'curry wurst' which tasted like sausage in watered-down barbecue sauce, and a bratwurst of course. we also had a soft pretzel. i loved them all. we later had some very posh cake in a very upscale store which was rumored to house over 1000 types of sausage. at least that's what we were told, but whether or not 1000 types or just 1000 sausages was the claim, that's a mystery yet to be solved. certainly not 1000 types though. also, berlin was not as cold as i expected and apart from some wind chill the weather was gorgeous with plenty of fall foliage and colors. che bellissima!
anyway, that was the trip, i got back to a paper that needed writing and no groceries. luckily a few of my favorite dj's are coming to rome so i'll get that work done ahead of time in order to go see them play! also, peter was kind enough to upload pictures onto the picasa so tutto va bene when it comes to that (and captions!). until next time, hopefully sooner than later, baci e ciao ciao!
*side note, there was an article recently released about part of a corpse being sold to a kebab stand in russia, no comment on whether or not customers were served. now i'm not saying i'd buy ANY food off the street in russia, but at least now i know where it's coming from, right?
*side note, i may or may not have eaten fried brain. when you get a "fritta mista" it's just that, a fried mix, and if a little grey ball is in there it could be brain. all the signs point to it however i'm not convinced because it was supposed to be vegetarian, so i think it's best left unknown.
anyway, as some of you may have recognized my posting trend has been pretty much as upside down and backwards as can be. this is because both: i have been very busy with school, and that we had our second break! now luckily for you, i already know that "busy with school" needs to go no further than that and i'll pretty much just focus on the break. unfortunately i won't break it down like last time but i can just about recall everything that went on. allora andiamo!
at the beginning of the break we went to tuscany/florence area. well, to be fair the very beginning of break was halloween, which i naturally celebrated to its fullest. this, as always, resulted in my sleeping pretty much the entire drive to that area (a solid 3ish hours? who knows, non me importa). but what was pretty funny was the italian way of dressing up for halloween. they did a lot of generic costumes, the most common being -- bloody guy.
this consists of wearing a white shirt, then putting fake blood on it and yourself. done. real creative guys, realllll creative. that or my other favorite: 'non-continuity costume guy' which was a puma sweatshirt, hood up, wearing an alien mask and a freddy krueger glove. hey is that alien freddy krueger? awesome! and this, mind you, were the italians who dressed up. a good 75% of them didn't at all, instead they dressed like always. great spirit guys. i however went as a devil with some cheap face paint i bought next to the metro shop, yahtzee! of course it came at a price when it left splotchy red marks the next day just in time to go to florence with.
however (italian: comunque), to be technical, we started in rome seeing what there is to see (not much of anything, right? WRONG! we left many a stone unturned before the full fiek force had to leave). we also went to the vatican/st. peter's where we climbed the duomo, saw my dad trip on a step -- make enough commotion in the process to turn heads, and the sistine chapel. all went well, even our fiek travel tradition of generally skipping lunch, awesome.
so, our break started in the quite cold, somewhat more northern, area of tuscany. like last break, i packed the morning of (this is the second time i've done this, both times turned out just 'ok' -- try to avoid it) and left out one or two essentials. this time it was a second outer layer and boy was i cold! but i made it through it and learned my lesson about what i should definitely bring to berlin later on in the week.
back to tuscany, we toured around the wine country in our rented fiat. we ate panforte (actually not bad for that many candied/dried fruits in one place -- you know who's not a panettone fan? this guy!). apart from visitng the cinghiale (which, as a symbol of florence, is essentially a boar), we also visited some rad florentine sites, revisiting one of my favorite sets of stairs to get winded on, and ate (more) highly indulgent meats. i shouldn't love veal as much as i do, but more on that later.
after florence, we came back to rome -- after enduring a longer-feeling-than-duration car trip, where i overdid it on nutella and felt sub-par the rest of the night. after checking into the 'eco-hotel' i hopped on a bus, in the pouring rain, to get back to my apartment to re-pack before berlin. after florence i needed proper winter clothing for berlin.
but in true alex form (it's starting to become a trend) i had some bizarre adventure the night before our departure. so after taking the bus to the end of the line, then kind of sticking my head out of the window, in the rain, i got to the metro. then took that (it was the second to last stop!) back to my area to grab stuff. thank GOD the rain stopped when i was heading back because little did i know i had quite the walk ahead of me.
after getting off the metro (on my way back to the hotel) it was nearly midnight. now midnight in bus time means that the bus comes once an hour, on fewer routes -- it's appropriately named the 'night bus.' so i missed the first one on account of it not going my direction, options are limited when you're OUTSIDE of the aurelian walls -- meaning quite far from the city center aka my apt. now my options were hanging till 1 (after finding a stop to help me) orrrr walking to the hotel.
so i did what anyone else would, and calculated some rough timing estimates as i hung out under mcdonald's light telling people you can still get food from the side window as i read my map. i figured in at most 45 min i could get pretty damn far, and that's still 15 min before the bus would arrive. and just like that i was off walkin. after roughly 40, i did in fact not only get a sweet tour of the aurelian wall (due to me walking along them) but i also made it to the hotel. take that night bus! and was quickly to bed before our flight the next morning.
we awoke and after our breakfast, went to wait at the airport. upon finally boarding and, naturally, getting back some sleep mid-flight we were ready for our in-flight snack. ham sandwich? "aw man, if this is anything like the flight to canada this sandwich is gonna rock!" and you know what? berlin is nothing like canada. a 'ham' (it looked more like bologna and tasted more like nothing) sandwich is german for 'ham and butter sandwich that tastes like cream cheese and is on nearly-pita bread' which is alex for 'not getting eaten.'
after arriving we were warmly greeted by jurgen and brigitte who are the brother and brother's wife of my grandfather. actually, i should say i personally was greeted by jurgen's awesome bowtie, THEN by the pair. we were actually staying in the nearby city of wannsee (which believe it or not is not pronounced 'vahn-sie' -- like onesie but with a vah- prefixing it) which was in the forest. a forest which looked frightening both the night we arrived and essentially every other time. of course this may be attributed to the wild pigs that roam (rome?) these forests, at least 1500 of em in fact, but the jury's still out.
so after touring around wannsee and seeing a bit of fiek family history, we had a great first dinner. i opted for the schnitzel, which is as good as the name is fun to say. after further wannsee and potsdam touring we had coffee and cake at the relative's and the next day we were off to berlin.
berlin was fantastic, as a modern city, but not as rad as a charming city of yore. this, naturally, is due to rebuilding after the war and there are enough leftovers to remind of what once was. including parts of the wall and the holocaust memorial.
but on a brighter note, it was still flooded with sausage! we tried the local go-to 'curry wurst' which tasted like sausage in watered-down barbecue sauce, and a bratwurst of course. we also had a soft pretzel. i loved them all. we later had some very posh cake in a very upscale store which was rumored to house over 1000 types of sausage. at least that's what we were told, but whether or not 1000 types or just 1000 sausages was the claim, that's a mystery yet to be solved. certainly not 1000 types though. also, berlin was not as cold as i expected and apart from some wind chill the weather was gorgeous with plenty of fall foliage and colors. che bellissima!
anyway, that was the trip, i got back to a paper that needed writing and no groceries. luckily a few of my favorite dj's are coming to rome so i'll get that work done ahead of time in order to go see them play! also, peter was kind enough to upload pictures onto the picasa so tutto va bene when it comes to that (and captions!). until next time, hopefully sooner than later, baci e ciao ciao!
*side note, there was an article recently released about part of a corpse being sold to a kebab stand in russia, no comment on whether or not customers were served. now i'm not saying i'd buy ANY food off the street in russia, but at least now i know where it's coming from, right?
*side note, i may or may not have eaten fried brain. when you get a "fritta mista" it's just that, a fried mix, and if a little grey ball is in there it could be brain. all the signs point to it however i'm not convinced because it was supposed to be vegetarian, so i think it's best left unknown.
Monday, October 26, 2009
red pants, they're going to be a thing.
and i only bring this up because as i sit here watching "il grande fratello" (big brother of italy) the first person introduced was sporting some strikingly red pants. just saying.
my last week essentially ended on tuesday when i had three tests (an italian oral, then both classes i had that day). i nearly got a sweet case of carpel tunnel from all the writing i was doing that day. but luckily, it was over soon enough and i could take a quick breather before my last (of the first round of midterms) which happened today.
that is why i'm a bit late in this post as well, i have been quite busy. although luckily with all these things to keep up with, i've earned myself a break. this coming thursday, the rest of the fiek's are packing their bags (according to predetermined dimension and weight requirements, of course) and heading to italy! unfortunately for them, one of the best parts of a prolonged stay anywhere foreign is getting over jet lag and into the full swing of things. this is an aspect of short-term travel that can pose as a problem, a personal let down for me is when i get good and hungry at about 1 AM. super.
but as their destination is italy, there will be no shortage of available food. after touring around italy for a few days we're headed to berlin to see the fatherland. i'm personally very excited because not only have i heard great things about berlin from just about everyone i've asked (including an international relations advisor with plenty of travel experience), you can literally buy sausage all over the city, and great sausage at that. of course there's also the rich history (both familial and historical) that i am far overdue in visiting, much like italy -- big year for lineal reconnection eh?
so that will be a blast, and of course i'm looking forward to halloween (who wouldn't!). anyway, i better get heading off as my italian class (having past the halfway mark, it switched times) now starts an hour earlier. that coupled with our recent daylight savings is giving me quite the run for my money so i play it safe and just get plenty of sleep.
**side note, i looked up the term for a 'cobbler' in italian to see if i could get the zipper to my leather bag fixed prior to the aforementioned travel and have learned the term, either ciabattino or calzolaio. funny part is that a group of calzolai(?) have created a website to direct people to nearby cobblers throughout italy based on region and city. you too, can find your most convenient cobbler at www.calzolaio.it -- according to their front picture they'll also repair sneakers? i didn't think sneakers needed repair/could even be repaired? what's the guy doing just whipping out the "shoe goo" and going "eehhh, dieci euro." anyway, until next time (which may be delayed due to travel, as a head's up) a presto!
my last week essentially ended on tuesday when i had three tests (an italian oral, then both classes i had that day). i nearly got a sweet case of carpel tunnel from all the writing i was doing that day. but luckily, it was over soon enough and i could take a quick breather before my last (of the first round of midterms) which happened today.
that is why i'm a bit late in this post as well, i have been quite busy. although luckily with all these things to keep up with, i've earned myself a break. this coming thursday, the rest of the fiek's are packing their bags (according to predetermined dimension and weight requirements, of course) and heading to italy! unfortunately for them, one of the best parts of a prolonged stay anywhere foreign is getting over jet lag and into the full swing of things. this is an aspect of short-term travel that can pose as a problem, a personal let down for me is when i get good and hungry at about 1 AM. super.
but as their destination is italy, there will be no shortage of available food. after touring around italy for a few days we're headed to berlin to see the fatherland. i'm personally very excited because not only have i heard great things about berlin from just about everyone i've asked (including an international relations advisor with plenty of travel experience), you can literally buy sausage all over the city, and great sausage at that. of course there's also the rich history (both familial and historical) that i am far overdue in visiting, much like italy -- big year for lineal reconnection eh?
so that will be a blast, and of course i'm looking forward to halloween (who wouldn't!). anyway, i better get heading off as my italian class (having past the halfway mark, it switched times) now starts an hour earlier. that coupled with our recent daylight savings is giving me quite the run for my money so i play it safe and just get plenty of sleep.
**side note, i looked up the term for a 'cobbler' in italian to see if i could get the zipper to my leather bag fixed prior to the aforementioned travel and have learned the term, either ciabattino or calzolaio. funny part is that a group of calzolai(?) have created a website to direct people to nearby cobblers throughout italy based on region and city. you too, can find your most convenient cobbler at www.calzolaio.it -- according to their front picture they'll also repair sneakers? i didn't think sneakers needed repair/could even be repaired? what's the guy doing just whipping out the "shoe goo" and going "eehhh, dieci euro." anyway, until next time (which may be delayed due to travel, as a head's up) a presto!
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