Dear Friends,
I swear, i felt like I wrote an email just the day before yesterday and now I see that 4 days have passed. The time here is flying, but we have had a fun few days. The Opera was wonderful. Alex had never been and i don't think he was all that excited, but once it started, he was LOVING it. He was my personal translator. I felt like I was in Moonstruck when Nick Cage is telling Cher what is going on in La Traviatta. So romantic! It was nice to have the show outside, but it got a little chilly and the seats were horrendously uncomfortable. Next time I do the Opera, I would love to get really dressed up and go to an opera house! Now that I know Alex likes it, I want to take him to see Phantom of the Opera, which happens to open on my birthday in Sacramento next year. I hope he can be in Cali. by then.
Plans for our trip have been a little stressful. I know a lot of you will be dissapointed to hear this, but we will not be making it to Elba. We decided that the prices were just a little too much, running about 75-80 Euro perperson. That would have put our hotel at almost 800Euro, which doesn't even count transport and food. There was also the issue of time. Travel to Elba is an all day thing and with only four days, we decided to do something closer to home that would allow is ultimate relaxation time. SO, we are going a mere 1.5 hour train ride to Pietrasanta (which we did not get to go to before). We talked about Viareggio, but Viareggio is too big and touristy. To me, it is not all that beautiful, but Pietrasanta is. From the beach you can see beautiful mountains capped with snow, and lay on a whitish sand beach. Our hotel is quite affordable and is a stone's throw from the beach. It also has a pool. here is the website if you want to check it out. I had a dream last night that it was a wreck. Sometimes pics look amazing on the net, but then you walk into cell like, hospital smelling building and wish you could get out! Good news in Italy is that if you don't like it when you get there, you just leave: www.hotelapuana.com
Alex has a friend there named Gazi, who does portraits at the duomo. You know, the guys who get you to sit down and they do a charcoal sketch of you, or a silly one. Well, that is what this guy does, but apparently his wife's father is a very famous artist in Pietrasanta. Alex showed me Gazi's house in Pietrasanta on google earth and my first question was why the heck he didn't invite us to stay in his mansion?? Oh well, our hotel is closer to the beach anyway and Gazi is going to lend us some bicycles. For those of you who knew me an Easter when I was 12, you know I am a little nervous about the bikes!
Today I am just staying at home. I have done soomething to my lower back and it is being a pain! I am also doing laundry and cleaning to get ready for the trip. We leave first thing in the morning and we were at the shop late last night. Yesterday moring a Jewish family came in and all four of them found jackets they wanted to buy. The problem was that it was the Sabath, so they were not allowed to buy anything until after 9.30PM. So Alex, being the accomodating person he is, offered us up to keep the shop open until they could return to buy the jackets. I am happy to say they did return, so it was a good commission day for him!
One thing I am learnning about Italy is that sometimes Italian logic escapes me. For example, the streets are always filthy with trash, poop, and urin. It stinks! I have seen Italians throw trash on their streets and when i ask them why they would do such a thing, they say two things: ''I pay taxes and they clean the streets every week.'' So, I guess it is worth it to most Florentines to have clean streets one day a week and dirty ones all the other days as long as they don't have to make the effort to throw some trash away. I know they are not all like this, but it is quite common. It has made me realize how clean our little town is. I told Alex we don't have street sweepers (do we?) and he asked how on Earth they stay clean. I told them they stay clean because hardly anyone throws trash in the street and if they get caught doing it they pay a fine. Another thing that is driving me silly is that now when you go to the grocery store and you want to pick out fruit, you have to put on a little plastic glove to touch them. Of all the places to be picky about germs, they choose the fruit? it seems like a waste to me when you are just going to wash the fruit anyway. Not even the states are that sterile. Am I overreacting?
Last night at dinner was pretty funny. We went to Gianni's place, the place I took the Bratton's, and Gianni was really in control. He made the Alex and Stefano get the same pasta I ordered because it was easier for them to make 3 orders of the same pasta. Then I ordered sliced beef loin over arugula with some parmesian. Now, this dish is best completed with some lemon juice, but when I asked for it, Gianni said I could not have lemon becuase there was balsamic on it and you can't do balsamic and lemon. So, what used to be cute integrity is becoming a food dictatorship. Stefano was calling Gianni Mussolini, and we had to engage the Albanian bus boy in a covert, top secret mission to sneak some lemon to the table. if he had been caught, surely all four of us would have been punished. In the end I got my lemon and it wwas DELICIOUS!!! I just remembered, I have a lemon wedge in my purse.
All in all, things are great. My trip is almost half way over. The prospect of leaving Alex is so sad, but I look forward to so many things that will be going on at home when I get back. I am really hoping to get in a weekend at Jackson, so if you wanna come, lets plan for sometime in Sept! I will also be taking a film class on Tuesday nights at Sierra College and I am so excited for that. I also look forward to substitute teaching and tutoring. I only have a few tiny things to do in order to finish up my credential. BUT. What I look forward to the most most most is being aunty Michelle. Everyday I see the cutest babies and get more and more excited at having a new little person in the family! I have also been seeing some really cute clothes here too!
I hope all is well with everyone. I am not sure if we will have internet access on the trip, but I will do my best. If not, I will give you a wonderful update upon our return. Be safe and have fun!
Tanti bacci,
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