(Photo1) Giusi, Giulia, Alex and Kirsty.
Enjoying our first meal with the Galimberti's.
(Photo2) From left to right: Giusi, Ausilio, Kirsty and Alex.
Having some gelato in Cremona, Italy.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Finally! Photos!
(Photo1) Giusi, Giulia, Alex and Kirsty.
Enjoying our first meal with the Galimberti's.
(Photo2) From left to right: Giusi, Ausilio, Kirsty and Alex.
Having some gelato in Cremona, Italy.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Poorer and Wiser...and now tanner.
Okay so we suck at doing this whole blog thing. It's been nearly two weeks, and there has been no update! Please forgive us.
Thanks to those who have emailed us asking if we were affected by the earthquake...we are safe and sound. It is horrible to think of all the lives lost in Italy as well as the destruction done to the beautiful city.
There is much to catch up on! After we left Rome, we headed north to the quaint city of Cremona. Alex knows a family that lives there and they kindly opened their home to us. From all the walking in Rome, it was nice to have a place for some much needed R&R, plus many three-course meals. Giusi, the mother, was an expert cook and spoiled us rotten with her mounds of homecooked, Italian delicious-ness. Many of you may not have heard about Cremona, but if you like Stradaveri violins, gelato, and old churches, you should go.
During our time in Cremona, we also had the chance to hop on a train to Venezia! Venice was glorious. As a city on water, it was humorous to see how Venetians managed day-to-day life. There were water taxis, police boats, and even a floating ambulance. Very surreal. Although we got lost many times, one such moment resulted in a seemingly impossible run-in. As we were meandering around the canals, Alex felt a hand grab her and looked up to find Senora Lynch, her high school spanish teacher. Senora Lynch was in Venice on a much-deserved vacation and it seemed almost like fate for us to find her. She even checked up on our Spanish skills, which was sad because we have none.
The theme of this trip has been poorer and wiser, which we are now due to our trip to Venice. First, the train ticket ¨customer service¨ person was very un-customer service like when we sold us tickets for the expensive train, despite our demands for a cheaper train. Then, another ticket person almost sold us tickets to Sulmona when we clearly asked for Cremona. We don't even know where Sulmona is. But we did recognize that it seemed wrong to have to pay triple the price and take four trains and a bus to get back. So we figured out our own route. After basking in our glory for outsmarting the ticket man, we jumped on the train, forgetting to validate our ticket. Let us rant. The law about validating tickets is dumb. It is not well advertised and the validating machines are not well marked. It´s just stupid and easy for tourists to not realize. And that's what happened to us. So when the conducter came around to check tickets, he informed us that ours were not validated, and therefore needed to pay a steep fine. Because of our ignorance (and overwhelming beauty), he only made us pay one fine instead of two. Stupid Italy trains...
So now we're back in Spain! Back to a country that speaks a language we can kind of understand. We are in Malága, which is a little coastal city on the south of Spain. We found a cheap apartment (not owned by Brian Cole) and will be here for a month. Malága is one of the best Spanish cities to celebrate Easter, and is known for their huge parades during Semana Santa. There are floats depicting the Passion and people carrying large crosses. We were surprised to see robed people with conical hats, much resembling the KKK. Scary! We later discovered (right now on Wikipedia) that they are called penitential robes, not related to the KKK.
We look forward to getting to nearby cities and spending time in the sun. We send our love!
Happy Easter!
-Alex + Kirsty = creeped out by the heavy, breathing habits of the man next to us in this cyber cafe.
Thanks to those who have emailed us asking if we were affected by the earthquake...we are safe and sound. It is horrible to think of all the lives lost in Italy as well as the destruction done to the beautiful city.
There is much to catch up on! After we left Rome, we headed north to the quaint city of Cremona. Alex knows a family that lives there and they kindly opened their home to us. From all the walking in Rome, it was nice to have a place for some much needed R&R, plus many three-course meals. Giusi, the mother, was an expert cook and spoiled us rotten with her mounds of homecooked, Italian delicious-ness. Many of you may not have heard about Cremona, but if you like Stradaveri violins, gelato, and old churches, you should go.
During our time in Cremona, we also had the chance to hop on a train to Venezia! Venice was glorious. As a city on water, it was humorous to see how Venetians managed day-to-day life. There were water taxis, police boats, and even a floating ambulance. Very surreal. Although we got lost many times, one such moment resulted in a seemingly impossible run-in. As we were meandering around the canals, Alex felt a hand grab her and looked up to find Senora Lynch, her high school spanish teacher. Senora Lynch was in Venice on a much-deserved vacation and it seemed almost like fate for us to find her. She even checked up on our Spanish skills, which was sad because we have none.
The theme of this trip has been poorer and wiser, which we are now due to our trip to Venice. First, the train ticket ¨customer service¨ person was very un-customer service like when we sold us tickets for the expensive train, despite our demands for a cheaper train. Then, another ticket person almost sold us tickets to Sulmona when we clearly asked for Cremona. We don't even know where Sulmona is. But we did recognize that it seemed wrong to have to pay triple the price and take four trains and a bus to get back. So we figured out our own route. After basking in our glory for outsmarting the ticket man, we jumped on the train, forgetting to validate our ticket. Let us rant. The law about validating tickets is dumb. It is not well advertised and the validating machines are not well marked. It´s just stupid and easy for tourists to not realize. And that's what happened to us. So when the conducter came around to check tickets, he informed us that ours were not validated, and therefore needed to pay a steep fine. Because of our ignorance (and overwhelming beauty), he only made us pay one fine instead of two. Stupid Italy trains...
So now we're back in Spain! Back to a country that speaks a language we can kind of understand. We are in Malága, which is a little coastal city on the south of Spain. We found a cheap apartment (not owned by Brian Cole) and will be here for a month. Malága is one of the best Spanish cities to celebrate Easter, and is known for their huge parades during Semana Santa. There are floats depicting the Passion and people carrying large crosses. We were surprised to see robed people with conical hats, much resembling the KKK. Scary! We later discovered (right now on Wikipedia) that they are called penitential robes, not related to the KKK.
We look forward to getting to nearby cities and spending time in the sun. We send our love!
Happy Easter!
-Alex + Kirsty = creeped out by the heavy, breathing habits of the man next to us in this cyber cafe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)