Italian Sand Through The American Eyeglass: 10/25/06

Hello all,

Tonight will be alittle short, as nothing much has happened. I also have no pics. However, I wanted to check in because I will be heading to Siena for 2 days and probably will not have internet access.

So, I had a pretty mellow day. I went to Pitti Palace yesterday and saw three museums, plus the Boboli Gardens, so I was a little tired, which is a strange since I was in by ten and aleep by 11. You see, my night life has dwindled. As it turns out Benjamin is really just not such a nice guy anymore. Apart from having no ability to cmmunicate on any level, he is boring and seems to think I have some sort of exclusive allegiance to him. Apparently a friend not calling one night due to needed alone time is not cool in his land. Whatever. Like I said he is boring and I had a hard time translating one grunt from the next.

So, today I decided to go clothes shopping because I have no clothes for warm weather and it is friggin' summer here. That is why there are so many mosquitos. I now have 20 (that I know of) mosquito bites. For Halloween , I think I will go as a vampire, as I have two perfect bites on my neck, perfectly spaced, right on the jugular. I also have 4 more on my face. I also have one on the BOTTOM of my foot. It is quite miserable and the spray may not be working, duh! I am sure it doesn't help to go looking for clothes that would cover less of my body, but it is too hot for pants and walking. Well, I found no clothes. Everything here is either too expensive or too funky. What I would not give for a Ross right now. I did find a cute skirt which will go a long way.

Thanks to Mrs. Rose Metivier, I had a wonderful lunch at The Yellow Bar. The Spaghetti alla Carbonara was great and the portions were huge. Unfortunately I forgot that I am allergic to some types of parmesan, and sometimes lemon, so the mix of the two on my salad made my gums and mouth ache pretty bad. Now they are irritated. Mmmm, didn't you want to hear that. What a wierd allergy, the only one I have.

I also decided to treat myself to a pedicure today. Um, it was a pretty wierd experience. Instead of sitting in one of those nice massage chairs, I was made to sit on a waxing table with my knees up to put into a little portable foot bath. Really, it was not unlike my annual girl doctor visit. No wait, it was less pleasant than that. How do you say, ''Oh my God, it feels like you are ripping chunks of my skin off piece by piece with your toe nail clippers,'' in Italian? At least I have pretty toes.

And on to icky italian men. When one of them says to you that you have a nice ass as you walk by, be patient and realize he has not seen your ass and what he is really saying is you have nice eyes. Really, be calm, there is no need to yell at him and give him the stare of Medusa.

I cannot wait for my trip to Siena. It will be a nice change in pace. I will hang there tomorrow and then take a bus from there to Pienza and Montalcino on Friday. Then, I head back to Siena and home on Sat morning. I look forward to it. Maybe there will be less mosquiti. I made a new friend today and we plan to do some dinner later with his friends. By friends, I mean some girls too. What I would not give for some estrogen these days! His name is Alex and he speaks English perfectly. On top, he is smart, so I am finally finding myself in adult company. God knows I am ready!

Love to you all!

Tanti Bacci!