sono ritornato a roma!

ciaoooo roma! it goes without saying that i haven't updated the ol' (or should i say vecchio?) blog. and if you're still reading this it is also safe to say that you're a more patient person than myself, which is fortunate. that said i have a great excuse for not updating for a while and that of course is vacanza! i finished my first 3 weeks of intensive italian and was rewarded with a week-long break. naturally there's a week-long's worth of pictures but that may take even longer to update due to the quantity, stay patient! luckily i took notes on my trip so i didn't forget anything, side note it's gonna be a long one (think lord of the rings-long) so grab that caffè e biscotti and settle in. anyway i'll break it down locale by locale for continuity's sake starting with the very beginning:

PRE-DEPARTURE/DEPARTURE DAY/SUNDAY
like all sundays i went to the flea market, however getting up late meant that it was gonna be a shorter trip. and when it came time to return to the apt, i was greeted with a confidence-inspiring "No Servizio" on my necessary tram. i've only missed one train in my life and i was hell bent on keeping it at that, so naturally (for me at least) i hoofed it. is that a lanky boy dressed in a canadian tuxedo* running towards the colosseum? you bet it is. and for good reason, i did in fact make it, and after a short passport-forgetting scare, we were headed to stazione termini to get the hell out of dodge, because after that showing, rome clearly didn't want us here any longer.

VENEZIA
after a brief(?) 5 hr train ride my roommate philippe and i arrived in venice. the ride flew by on our 'eurostar' train, and not just because there was a man across the aisle intending to eat his way to venice. 3 drinks and 2 full size containers of cookies made it down his gullet by the time we pulled in. and when i mean in venice i mean the island of, because there is a mainland venice where our hotel was located -- sweet. another quick slap in the face was the fact that i naturally assumed venice was part of italy. this was wrong. as canada is to america, venice is an italy-light thanks to its seemingly constant tourism. luckily however that was quickly pushed off (as i try to do with most of my problems) until tomorrow, because after a quick gelato we had checked in and settled down to watch the "miss italia pageant 2009", yahtzee! we also ate at the only other open option for dinner on a sunday at 11 30 PM, which was chinese (our other option was mcdonald's, which for the record had a full bar built in -- yahtzee due?). now i only mention this to give you a scope of the obscurity of mainland venice -- our check came in euro AND lire options, i wonder if they took discover cards too?

however the island itself was a true wonder. things like, "no wonder it's sinking," (the rain drains right onto the sidewalk) came into my mind as we waded through what little streets they had. luckily rain (torrential rain) in venice means pretty much vacant streets, so i can deal. plus it wasn't cold. but after a bit of roaming (rome-ing?) we were ready for our second stop.

LA SPEZIA/CINQUE TERRE
what a place! as the trend follows, falling in love with something (generally somethings) italian - more often than not le ragazze - happens daily. this lovely town is lucky enough to belong to the region able to call itself the home of foccacia as well as provide some seriously proper pesto. or if you prefer, propsto. also lucky was the fact that i am a qualified aficionado of both, for the record i was not disappointed. cinque terre also lived up to its hype as one of the most beautiful places i've ever been, in spite of its rain. truly incredible. in fact, i'm letting you down for lagging with the pictures it was that gorgeous. but after a quick sojourn there, it was time for our chaotic day before reaching florence.

PISA/PONTEDERA/FIRENZE
yep, and in that order, which if you look at a map does in fact result in backtracking. and we did just that, backtrack. but boy was it worth it, because apart from pisa (honestly all it's got to offer is the tower) we went to pontedera! however, i will say pisa not only allowed me to walk clear across town to reach the tower (with my bag, thanks pisa) and have pine nut gelato. which was pretty good due to it being mixed with vanilla, otherwise i think the flavor would be too powerful and you're reading the blog of a guy who loves things piney.

so after arriving to pontedera, which is essentially the italian equivalent of any town you've ever arrived in and said "boy i'm glad i don't live here" we looked for any and everything 'piaggio'. luckily right as you get out of the station there is that word. unluckily is the fact that what you're greeted by is the manufacturing plant, and not anything close to 'il museo piaggio.'** sweet. so after a good 15 minutes wandering into the heart of the piaggio plant and realizing we were the only non-employee persons on the premise (when you trade a blue piaggio shirt for a duffel and rolling suit case with tags reading LAX to FCO the jig is up) we u-turned and headed out. so we asked the nearby bartender because i'll be damned if i made it out to god-forsaken pontedera and didn't make it to the museum. so we got directions and made it to heaven, i mean the museum. what a great place. 60+ years of vespa history can really complete one's day, ya know? but we wrapped up quickly to get to our accommodations in firenze.

FIRENZE
so cool! of course how could it not be when it's essentially the davis of italy. small enough that you can walk end to end, long enough that said walk will take you just long enough. and the place is home to artisan leather-work AND high quality meat? scoresville. needless to say i was a fan. we did the tourist necessities like get to the top of the duomo (463 steps, which they make very clear are not accessible by lift), see the birth of venus (very cool, i liked it better than the david statue) and the david statue (not bad, but it was no birth of venus). we also visited ponte vecchio and had a hostel which included one of the most 'charming' bathrooms we'd ever stayed in. just a shower head and push squeegee separated it from being called a shower to a toilet, because nothing quite says europe like getting all your stuff inevitably soaked by the shower you're taking as you watch in helpless agony. we also met up with an old school friend of mine, who's studying there now, and some others from our program which meant for a good time exploring florence's party scene. and honestly, that was its downside. as a smaller city, the night life noticeably died out after a certain hour, whereas rome essentially runs by whatever schedule you're on. other than that, i loved firenze and plan on returning for more good times (and maybe some leather or paper goods/inks?)

all in all, i had a great time, ate some great foods, and stared at some fantastic ragazz - i mean - monuments. i am however, glad to be back in rome in spite of starting real classes. so far, they're ok, 2 hrs is a little long but i am looking forward to doing the site visit (let's face it, their field trips) portion and getting past the intro stuff. sure it means waking up at 8.20 AM daily, but it's only mon-thurs so can i really be that bummed? in the words of kevin mccallister***: "i don't think so."

*canadian tuxedo - when one wears both a denim shirt/jacket, or both, AND similarly colored jeans.
**il museo piaggio - www.museopiaggo.it - yea, it totally exists.
***macaulay culkin's character in home alone responding to the grocery store clerk asking if he's shopping alone. the answer includes a pretty great head-shake whilst saying the line.