Finally! A moment of calm...
Whew. How does one start a blog entry when two weeks of drastically varied experiences are swimming around in my head, trying to organize themselves into some sort of logical, condensed order? To say the least, a lot has happened, and with various characters I was totally not expecting. For one, it's been like a high school reunion here, what with meeting up with Alex and Kate, two of early high school's best friends... or middle school even, as my jewish possee of guy friends from seventh grade happened to be in Barcelona and Madrid the same time, two of whom were going to be going on to Brussels with Alex after Spain.
It's funny how you fall out of contact with people in high school and suddenly, *poof*, you're together in a random european city and hanging out and catching up like you never did in four years of high school... travelling has a way of bringing people together, whether for momentary conversations in hostel kitchens {just finished talking with some uber-chill Standford grads just now before they left to catch a train to southern spain}, three day travel stints {like with Kate's old roomie from london who was with us in barcelona}, or reconnecting with old contacts. I feel like Europe has been the melting pot for all of these relationships and people, mixing from every period of my life, back even into infancy, what with parent's friends I'd never met before welcoming me into their home. And interesting experience for sure, and one that has totally loosened me up in terms of getting to know people. I just worry that now I'm so used to meeting cool folks, talking, and then saying bye, fleeting from one connection to the next, one experience to the next, that my notion of enduring friendships might have some cracks in it... but making the connections are better than not, so so be it.
To sum up the last two weeks, I'm going to resort to the bulleted paragraphs, to dissuade my tendancy to embellish and tangentilize to the point of exhaustion. So bear with me...
- Siena... Gretch and I did end up splurging for the Tuscan cooking class, and went on a round a bout ride in an unmarked car by the guy sent -40 minutes late- to gather us from our meeting point and take us to the cooking class. Turns out it was a mere four blocks from our hotel, but since the city is pedestrian-only, our sunglassed italian chauffeur had to drive completely around the entired walled city only to enter it from the otherside. Felt a bit sketchy and gretch and i were currently wondering if our money had found its way into some mafia racket {and us into their car...}... but we finally arrived and were greeted by an enthusiastic italian woman in full kitchen attire, handing us a stapled packet of the night's menu, handing us aprons, and ordering us to wash our hands. The english translator was a good hour late, so we had a fun time figuring out what all we had to do via broken english instructions mixed with hand-motioned italian that did a surprisingly good job of getting the point across. There were about 8 of us in the class, all working on bits and pieces of the five or so different recipes, representing various countries, and a having a fun time of the cooking... ended up with delicious orange-caramel glazed pork, true gnocci with a special sauce, and a creme caramel for desert. A splurge, but our stomachs were happily pleased by the end! And now we can bring the recipes home...
- The Cinque Terre... took awhile to get to. This marvellous haven of the Italian Riviera was supposed to be a doable 3 hours from Siena. But after leaving at 10, we ran into a broken down train, striking, delays and more that ended us in the Cinque Terre at 6:30 pm, exhausted and without a place to stay. An American couple we'd met on the train - and with whom we'd be delayed - offered us a place in their rented apartment if it turned out to be big enough... but it didn't so we went in search of our own room and managed to haggle down a $60 room to $50, landing ourself a room with ajoined bathroom, living room and kitchen all to ourself, as the other room's occupants hadn't arrived yet. Gretchen and I drooled at the sight of kitchen facilities and took full advantage of our being in the land of home-made pesto {a Cinque Terre speciality}, fresh pasta, and high-quality ham to throw together a meal that lasted us {in classy ziplock bags} for the next four meals. We'd already been for a needed dip in the gorgeousness that is the mediterranean to cool off from our day of traveling, and the devineness of the pesto just made the entire day end on a good note.
The next day we were off on another adventure, having checked out and arrived out the Monterrosso, the last of the Cinque Terre villages, to begin the hike... when we ran into the out-of-date guidebook problem as we were told all the bag checks had been taken out of the smaller italian stations within the last year for security reasons. So, stuck with heavy packs and a dampened moral, we put our heads together to figure out a solution. We were supposed to stay with couchsurfing in Geneva for the evening so didn't want to pay for a new room... but where to leave our bags? Luckily, Italy is filled with people willing to help you {at least as we ran into}, and we found a ramshackle hilltop hostel with an owner willing to store our bags for the day {under our cover story that we were looking for a room, and he was full, but could we maybe leave our bags?}. So two hours after our arrival in Montorroso, we finally headed out on the seven mile, five hour hike linking the five mountain towns. And let me tell you... it really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The initial hike was steps and more steps, winding us up and down past mountain side vineyards and orchards... even bought home made lemon liquor from a four-fingered jovial man sitting at the edge of the trail, offering us panting hikers lemon slices to ease our thirst. We met up with a Canadian with whom we hiked for the next hour or so, an enthusiastic high school grad from Toronto. All of us picked up lunch at a rick steves'recommended Pirate cafe, serving up some of the most delicious pasteries we'd sunk our teeth into. The flirtatious owner offered Gretchen a marriage proposal and the other two of us his card, saying if we were ever in need of a boyfriend... We took pictures, the three of us laughing, and were on our way...
The hike was spectacular, though we didn't make it to the final town {where we'd stayed the first night} because we figured we should get on a early evening train to Geneva to meet up with our couchsurfing contact. But Italy's trains had different plans for us... for two hours it told us the train was another 5 minutes delayed... so we waiting in the blazing sun, instead of taking advantage of an extra two hours of swimming and village wandering... by the time we got back to Montorrosso, it was nearly 9 pm, and to make things even better, the couchsurfing.com website was down and we had no way of contacting our host. Luckily, we ran into our jovial hostel owner downtown and he told us he'd found us a room! Oh synchronicity... at this point, we were happy for anything. And not only did we get a room, but it's renter owned a local products shop and while discussing payment policies, treated us to a local wine and liquor tasting, accompanied by the most delicious red pesto I've ever tasted...
The next day it was off to the french riviera to meet up with Candace, my mom's old Stanford friend...
BUT, I've gotten carried away, as usual, and there's a line for the internet {staying in a small apartment hostel with only one *free* computer... so i need to be respectful of the rules...}. So... more later?
Tomorrow it's off to visit Mme Selvin, my high school french teacher {who, in her own strict, demanding, and ironic style, made high school worth it} before heading back to Stras for a night to restock, unload purchases {i can't believe i thought i'd be able to refrain from buying things throughout my travels...} and check my semester's grades at the university... then it's off to see Martina in Bavaria!!
More to come!!!
It's funny how you fall out of contact with people in high school and suddenly, *poof*, you're together in a random european city and hanging out and catching up like you never did in four years of high school... travelling has a way of bringing people together, whether for momentary conversations in hostel kitchens {just finished talking with some uber-chill Standford grads just now before they left to catch a train to southern spain}, three day travel stints {like with Kate's old roomie from london who was with us in barcelona}, or reconnecting with old contacts. I feel like Europe has been the melting pot for all of these relationships and people, mixing from every period of my life, back even into infancy, what with parent's friends I'd never met before welcoming me into their home. And interesting experience for sure, and one that has totally loosened me up in terms of getting to know people. I just worry that now I'm so used to meeting cool folks, talking, and then saying bye, fleeting from one connection to the next, one experience to the next, that my notion of enduring friendships might have some cracks in it... but making the connections are better than not, so so be it.
To sum up the last two weeks, I'm going to resort to the bulleted paragraphs, to dissuade my tendancy to embellish and tangentilize to the point of exhaustion. So bear with me...
- Siena... Gretch and I did end up splurging for the Tuscan cooking class, and went on a round a bout ride in an unmarked car by the guy sent -40 minutes late- to gather us from our meeting point and take us to the cooking class. Turns out it was a mere four blocks from our hotel, but since the city is pedestrian-only, our sunglassed italian chauffeur had to drive completely around the entired walled city only to enter it from the otherside. Felt a bit sketchy and gretch and i were currently wondering if our money had found its way into some mafia racket {and us into their car...}... but we finally arrived and were greeted by an enthusiastic italian woman in full kitchen attire, handing us a stapled packet of the night's menu, handing us aprons, and ordering us to wash our hands. The english translator was a good hour late, so we had a fun time figuring out what all we had to do via broken english instructions mixed with hand-motioned italian that did a surprisingly good job of getting the point across. There were about 8 of us in the class, all working on bits and pieces of the five or so different recipes, representing various countries, and a having a fun time of the cooking... ended up with delicious orange-caramel glazed pork, true gnocci with a special sauce, and a creme caramel for desert. A splurge, but our stomachs were happily pleased by the end! And now we can bring the recipes home...
- The Cinque Terre... took awhile to get to. This marvellous haven of the Italian Riviera was supposed to be a doable 3 hours from Siena. But after leaving at 10, we ran into a broken down train, striking, delays and more that ended us in the Cinque Terre at 6:30 pm, exhausted and without a place to stay. An American couple we'd met on the train - and with whom we'd be delayed - offered us a place in their rented apartment if it turned out to be big enough... but it didn't so we went in search of our own room and managed to haggle down a $60 room to $50, landing ourself a room with ajoined bathroom, living room and kitchen all to ourself, as the other room's occupants hadn't arrived yet. Gretchen and I drooled at the sight of kitchen facilities and took full advantage of our being in the land of home-made pesto {a Cinque Terre speciality}, fresh pasta, and high-quality ham to throw together a meal that lasted us {in classy ziplock bags} for the next four meals. We'd already been for a needed dip in the gorgeousness that is the mediterranean to cool off from our day of traveling, and the devineness of the pesto just made the entire day end on a good note.
The next day we were off on another adventure, having checked out and arrived out the Monterrosso, the last of the Cinque Terre villages, to begin the hike... when we ran into the out-of-date guidebook problem as we were told all the bag checks had been taken out of the smaller italian stations within the last year for security reasons. So, stuck with heavy packs and a dampened moral, we put our heads together to figure out a solution. We were supposed to stay with couchsurfing in Geneva for the evening so didn't want to pay for a new room... but where to leave our bags? Luckily, Italy is filled with people willing to help you {at least as we ran into}, and we found a ramshackle hilltop hostel with an owner willing to store our bags for the day {under our cover story that we were looking for a room, and he was full, but could we maybe leave our bags?}. So two hours after our arrival in Montorroso, we finally headed out on the seven mile, five hour hike linking the five mountain towns. And let me tell you... it really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The initial hike was steps and more steps, winding us up and down past mountain side vineyards and orchards... even bought home made lemon liquor from a four-fingered jovial man sitting at the edge of the trail, offering us panting hikers lemon slices to ease our thirst. We met up with a Canadian with whom we hiked for the next hour or so, an enthusiastic high school grad from Toronto. All of us picked up lunch at a rick steves'recommended Pirate cafe, serving up some of the most delicious pasteries we'd sunk our teeth into. The flirtatious owner offered Gretchen a marriage proposal and the other two of us his card, saying if we were ever in need of a boyfriend... We took pictures, the three of us laughing, and were on our way...
The hike was spectacular, though we didn't make it to the final town {where we'd stayed the first night} because we figured we should get on a early evening train to Geneva to meet up with our couchsurfing contact. But Italy's trains had different plans for us... for two hours it told us the train was another 5 minutes delayed... so we waiting in the blazing sun, instead of taking advantage of an extra two hours of swimming and village wandering... by the time we got back to Montorrosso, it was nearly 9 pm, and to make things even better, the couchsurfing.com website was down and we had no way of contacting our host. Luckily, we ran into our jovial hostel owner downtown and he told us he'd found us a room! Oh synchronicity... at this point, we were happy for anything. And not only did we get a room, but it's renter owned a local products shop and while discussing payment policies, treated us to a local wine and liquor tasting, accompanied by the most delicious red pesto I've ever tasted...
The next day it was off to the french riviera to meet up with Candace, my mom's old Stanford friend...
BUT, I've gotten carried away, as usual, and there's a line for the internet {staying in a small apartment hostel with only one *free* computer... so i need to be respectful of the rules...}. So... more later?
Tomorrow it's off to visit Mme Selvin, my high school french teacher {who, in her own strict, demanding, and ironic style, made high school worth it} before heading back to Stras for a night to restock, unload purchases {i can't believe i thought i'd be able to refrain from buying things throughout my travels...} and check my semester's grades at the university... then it's off to see Martina in Bavaria!!
More to come!!!
posted by Melia at 11:45 AM
1 Comments:
Melia,
When, oh when, my dear, are you coming home? There is exciting news you will be anxious to hear. (Home = US, not necessarily PDX). :-p
Sounds like you're having tons of fun. I can't wait to see your thousands of pictures......
SHD
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