Saturday May 3rd, 2008
I know, I know, its been over a week I havent really posted anything new. I havent been maintaining a daily log of what Ive been doing. and so much has happened. I swear, everyday is different, so different that I need to start a daily log, so I can remember =)
April left to go back to real life in California. Mr. Uomo's birthday passed. I went and came back from Rome in less than a 24 hour period. I wasnt feeling well and I decided to take off to Rome anyway. Bad mistake. I was walking around the Trevi fountain and decided I needed to go back home to Florence and left half of my luggage in Rome and asked my friend Roberto to pick up half of my stuff and to meet me at the train station. Yes, that bad. I guess I feel so blah from not working out, finally getting used to the regular sleep cycle, and all the sugar. yes sugar. so good. I wake up and want to eat a chocolate croissant. Im having espresso more often and for a drip of coffee you need a whole packet of sugar and the packets here are much bigger than in the states. i walk and I stop at the caffe bar for a snack of sweets. Its bad and im gaining weight, which is not making me feel any better.
And now, I'm sitting at La Citte cafe down the street from my house and finally decided to log into my blog and I wonder, is there anyone really reading this? and I wonder if i should, no i shouldnt buy anything sweet to eat. But I have this huge, huge sweet tooth, (thanks dad). Its saturday and I plan on staying in. I know, I'm in Florence, its Saturday and the weather is beautiful outside! But I took some antibotics yesterday that knocked the wind out of me, so I'm pretty much super weak right now. I really dont have any energy to do anything, but eat i guess. and Im planning to watch an italian movie with subtitles, with my italian-english dictionary in one hand so I can finally figure out what they're saying!
I'm debating if I should buy a bicycle or not. I need to walk, I know that. but sometimes I just get so freakin lazy and wish I had a bicycle. But if I had a bicycle, I cant imagine how much bigger I'd be due to my lazy ass bicycling everywhere instead of walking.
Okay, I'm just rambling now, but wait, isnt that what a blog is for? So what I need to now is to keep a daily log of what I do everyday. so i can remember and for your enjoyment!
ciao ciao tesoro's!
carol
Saturday, May 3, 2008
9. April showers brings May flowers
Sunday April 20th.
April is a server at Mesa restaurant in Costa Mesa. I had small intimate going away dinner at Mesa the Friday before I left that Sunday April 6th. One of the managers comes over towards the end of the dinner and we get to chit chatting and come to find out that April is taking the whole month of April off to travel to Europe, including Italy! How funny, I’m at her restaurant having my ‘last meal’ because I’m moving to Italy! So I give her my email address and she emails me to let me know when she’ll be coming into Florence.
And now, she’s here and she will be staying with me, how many days? I have no clue. But I’m opening up my home to her, since she is traveling in Italy by herself and she really only knows me here, well, we don’t really know, know each other, but I’m a familiar face. She comes on a day that the rain finally stopped and I tell her that for the next 2 days, it will be raining again, so she needs to go to Piazza Michelangelo today if she wants to see what Florence is all about. But first, lets go to the bbq so she can grab some food. We walk down the street to Arash’s and I introduce her to everyone, she mingles the best she can and takes off for Piazza Michelangelo. But lord have mercy, she missed out on the homemade desserts! Massemo hands me a plate with a slice of pie like looking thing that has two layers, the bottom layer is dark, but when tasting it, it is some type of cherry marmalade with a custard top layer and bread crumbs on top. I want to go for another slice, but wait! Their bringing out more dessert! Massemo’s sister made a nutella nut bread, another party goer from Lithuania brings this unbelievable nut chocolate layer and layer of ooooey goodness and last but definitely not least, a pie pan that was filled of something that resembled the traditional tiramisu, but really wasn’t, but which I definitely go back for seconds. I feel so full and tired that all I want to do is take a nap. I’ve been here 2 weeks already, but I still feel so lethargic in the middle of the day. Good thing Arash lives a block away from me, so I make the trek to my apartment and take a nap before my first Tandem lesson with Michele.
I wake up and wash my face and meet Michele outside of my apartment, no makeup, super casual. You should have seen the look on his face when I came out, but to me, we’re going to go talk for an hour and learn, not do anything else right? I guess he had a different agenda. He takes out a map and tells me that in our neighborhood, they’re having art shows, at different locations and the last stop is at the garden which is only 10 mins from our house and that we should stop by. Hmm, I brought a notepad and pen because I want to freakin practice Italian. Anyways, then he tells me that he needs to stop by the bank and pull out some money. I got your espresso for you, but he tells me he needs to pull out money anyway. So apparently the atm by our house is out of order so the other one is across the river. Okay, lets just go and get your money and please, can we start our lesson? We’re walking across the river and Michele runs into a girl that he met the night before. She’s from Sweden and then she tags along with us. And we’re walking back towards my neighborhood, Santa Spirito, and then Michele calls his buddy that I guess had a thing for Ms. Sweden and we go walk around the organic market waiting for Ricardo. At this point, I keep looking at my watch, because #1, I have to meet April to open the door for her, and #2 I have to go back to get ready for dinner with April and Mr. Uomo. I tell Michele that I have to go and he asks me to come back to go to the art show at the garden. Yeah, not so much buddy. Didn’t I mention I have a boyfriend? But over here, having a boyfriend, ring on your finger whatever, doesn’t matter. Fair game I guess. So what I thought was going to be my first tandem lesson was really a cover for a date? I say my goodbye to Michele and walk back home to meet April and we get ready to have dinner.
Mr. Uomo and I were trying to see if one of his friends could come out and have dinner with us, so we can introduce April to a hot Italian man. The guy that we had in mind was busy, so okay, its just the 3 of us. But Mr. Uomo has oodles and oodles of cousins that live and walk and dilly dally around town, so while at the restaurant, some stop by here and there. We call Peter to come by but April is not feeling him or any of them, except Ricky. He is one of the cousins cousin from Lebanon that is studying jewelry in Florence and working at the restaurant. He actually calls Mr. Uomo is father. And people buy it. But you see, Ricky is very, very shy and would never ever make the first move. But on this night, he builds up courage to come out with us after the dinner. We all walk to Slowly together, Mr. Uomo and I, April and Ricky, and Ciro and another blonde and Asian couple. Yes, they were pimpin that night. Anyways, we go to Slowly and in the middle of the night, I hear to my surprise that Ricky will be accompanying Ms. April to Rome! Really? That’s cool. And then I think how neat it is to just say, ‘I’m taking off for a couple days and I’ll be back.’ I wouldn’t have been able to do that back in the states. Well, yeah, maybe I did, but my boss’s never knew, or did, but as long as my numbers were there, who cares right? Anyways, we go to Slowly, have a couple of more glasses of wine and you guys, by this point, ive been drinking wine everyday. Lunch, dinner, whatever. Wine is flowing here, and April says who can blame you? My liver is blaming me. So I hang out with Mr. Uomo to give the kids their time together and we just hang out in front, watching the random drunks walk past. OH! I met the most gorgeous GORGEOUS gay man in Florence, his name is Luke. And he was so handsome. So very handsome.
I’m getting tired, so we go in, get everyone and then leave. April’s first night in Florence and then she proceeds to ask me ‘is this really your life?’ I say, ’welcome to my world’ and before I head out to Mr. Uomo’s she says, ’I love your life.’ Honey, you haven’t seen nothing yet.
April is a server at Mesa restaurant in Costa Mesa. I had small intimate going away dinner at Mesa the Friday before I left that Sunday April 6th. One of the managers comes over towards the end of the dinner and we get to chit chatting and come to find out that April is taking the whole month of April off to travel to Europe, including Italy! How funny, I’m at her restaurant having my ‘last meal’ because I’m moving to Italy! So I give her my email address and she emails me to let me know when she’ll be coming into Florence.
And now, she’s here and she will be staying with me, how many days? I have no clue. But I’m opening up my home to her, since she is traveling in Italy by herself and she really only knows me here, well, we don’t really know, know each other, but I’m a familiar face. She comes on a day that the rain finally stopped and I tell her that for the next 2 days, it will be raining again, so she needs to go to Piazza Michelangelo today if she wants to see what Florence is all about. But first, lets go to the bbq so she can grab some food. We walk down the street to Arash’s and I introduce her to everyone, she mingles the best she can and takes off for Piazza Michelangelo. But lord have mercy, she missed out on the homemade desserts! Massemo hands me a plate with a slice of pie like looking thing that has two layers, the bottom layer is dark, but when tasting it, it is some type of cherry marmalade with a custard top layer and bread crumbs on top. I want to go for another slice, but wait! Their bringing out more dessert! Massemo’s sister made a nutella nut bread, another party goer from Lithuania brings this unbelievable nut chocolate layer and layer of ooooey goodness and last but definitely not least, a pie pan that was filled of something that resembled the traditional tiramisu, but really wasn’t, but which I definitely go back for seconds. I feel so full and tired that all I want to do is take a nap. I’ve been here 2 weeks already, but I still feel so lethargic in the middle of the day. Good thing Arash lives a block away from me, so I make the trek to my apartment and take a nap before my first Tandem lesson with Michele.
I wake up and wash my face and meet Michele outside of my apartment, no makeup, super casual. You should have seen the look on his face when I came out, but to me, we’re going to go talk for an hour and learn, not do anything else right? I guess he had a different agenda. He takes out a map and tells me that in our neighborhood, they’re having art shows, at different locations and the last stop is at the garden which is only 10 mins from our house and that we should stop by. Hmm, I brought a notepad and pen because I want to freakin practice Italian. Anyways, then he tells me that he needs to stop by the bank and pull out some money. I got your espresso for you, but he tells me he needs to pull out money anyway. So apparently the atm by our house is out of order so the other one is across the river. Okay, lets just go and get your money and please, can we start our lesson? We’re walking across the river and Michele runs into a girl that he met the night before. She’s from Sweden and then she tags along with us. And we’re walking back towards my neighborhood, Santa Spirito, and then Michele calls his buddy that I guess had a thing for Ms. Sweden and we go walk around the organic market waiting for Ricardo. At this point, I keep looking at my watch, because #1, I have to meet April to open the door for her, and #2 I have to go back to get ready for dinner with April and Mr. Uomo. I tell Michele that I have to go and he asks me to come back to go to the art show at the garden. Yeah, not so much buddy. Didn’t I mention I have a boyfriend? But over here, having a boyfriend, ring on your finger whatever, doesn’t matter. Fair game I guess. So what I thought was going to be my first tandem lesson was really a cover for a date? I say my goodbye to Michele and walk back home to meet April and we get ready to have dinner.
Mr. Uomo and I were trying to see if one of his friends could come out and have dinner with us, so we can introduce April to a hot Italian man. The guy that we had in mind was busy, so okay, its just the 3 of us. But Mr. Uomo has oodles and oodles of cousins that live and walk and dilly dally around town, so while at the restaurant, some stop by here and there. We call Peter to come by but April is not feeling him or any of them, except Ricky. He is one of the cousins cousin from Lebanon that is studying jewelry in Florence and working at the restaurant. He actually calls Mr. Uomo is father. And people buy it. But you see, Ricky is very, very shy and would never ever make the first move. But on this night, he builds up courage to come out with us after the dinner. We all walk to Slowly together, Mr. Uomo and I, April and Ricky, and Ciro and another blonde and Asian couple. Yes, they were pimpin that night. Anyways, we go to Slowly and in the middle of the night, I hear to my surprise that Ricky will be accompanying Ms. April to Rome! Really? That’s cool. And then I think how neat it is to just say, ‘I’m taking off for a couple days and I’ll be back.’ I wouldn’t have been able to do that back in the states. Well, yeah, maybe I did, but my boss’s never knew, or did, but as long as my numbers were there, who cares right? Anyways, we go to Slowly, have a couple of more glasses of wine and you guys, by this point, ive been drinking wine everyday. Lunch, dinner, whatever. Wine is flowing here, and April says who can blame you? My liver is blaming me. So I hang out with Mr. Uomo to give the kids their time together and we just hang out in front, watching the random drunks walk past. OH! I met the most gorgeous GORGEOUS gay man in Florence, his name is Luke. And he was so handsome. So very handsome.
I’m getting tired, so we go in, get everyone and then leave. April’s first night in Florence and then she proceeds to ask me ‘is this really your life?’ I say, ’welcome to my world’ and before I head out to Mr. Uomo’s she says, ’I love your life.’ Honey, you haven’t seen nothing yet.
8. La Vie en Rose
Saturday evening April 19th.
I’m having dinner tonight with Mr. Uomo, Susie and I’m guessing some other friends. I get ready for dinner and Mr. Uomo picks me up. Off we go to il ristorante La Vie en Rose near Piazza Santa Croce. I’ve eaten there before with just Mr. Uomo, but the first time around I was sick due to the weather and did not really pay attention to the food or the place. But I do know this. That this restaurant is a members only club. If you do not have a membership, you cannot eat there. I guess there’s a handful of these restaurants in Florence, maybe in Italy? We go and im surprised and happy to see Johnny, Alexio and Manuela there with Susie! They already started to order some appetizers, since Mr. Uomo and I were a little late, due to a stop at his restaurant to say hi to some people.
I am starving, I feel like I can eat anything and everything on the menu. I start to eat the foccacia bread and then comes out dried tomatoes in an olive oil sauce. Heaven. Then there’s a chatter about burrata. Everyone is saying oooh, aaah, yeah, lets get some. Susie explains to me that burrata is basically like the heart of the mozzarella. I think to myself, if they’re saying ooooh and aaaah, I’ll probably just die right there when I take my first bite. My mouth begins to water. I take a sip of wine. The burrata comes out and to me, it resembles a bigger version of a Vietnamese bun. But Mr. Uomo prepares to open it. And then he slices open the bag and the water is so milky, the burrata is so soft and he cuts a chunk and puts it on my plate, then rolls up some proscutto and proceeds to place that on my plate (yes, I know, total gentleman). I take my time cutting a slice of burrata and proscuitto. I place it in my mouth, close my eyes, and my heart stops, for that moment in time. Then I open my eyes and just smile. Amazing. I could buy this and eat it all day long, well, I would be extremely overweight, but its so worth it.
During this dinner, there are about 4-5 cigarette breaks so imagine how long this dinner or any dinner in Italy turns out to be. We leave the restaurant after about 3-4 hours to go to a bar. A gay bar. We walk towards Piazza Santa Croce and there’s tons of people outside. Plus its Saturday evening. I learn that it’s the meeting spot for a lot of people. I never come this way when I go out so I’m in awe. We walk to Piccolo bar and immediately Susie is at the bar asking what everyone wants. She comes up to me and asks me what I want and I tell her cognac. She asks me if I’m sure. I say yes. Because back in the states, I only drink Heineken and Hennessey. Maybe I’ll toss in a Vodka tonic double lime once in awhile to switch things up, but mainly, I drink like a guy. So here in Italy, Im switching from beer to wine but still, my after dinner drink of choice is cognac. She comes back with a huge, I mean huge shifter and its filled like halfway. She tells me that she had to tell the bartender to stop pouring because he would have kept on pouring! Salute! So we all start drinking and mingling. A very lovely lesbian came up to our table and wanted to talk to me. So I’m sitting on one side, Mr. Uomo and the lesbian is sitting on Mr. Uomo’s left. I found it very flattering and rude that she was so interested in me, that when Mr. Uomo would say something, she would actually ‘sssh’ him so either she could talk or to listen to what I was saying. But after awhile, and after almost drinking all of my cognac, I was getting sleepy or drunk and didn’t know how long I would last sitting there, and by the looks of it, Alexio was already ahead of me, sitting with his head down, sleeping and falling off the stool once in a while. So off we go, on his scooter back to his place, tomorrow I have to meet up with April. She’s coming in from Amsterdam and will be in town around noon. And look, its already 4 in the morning.
I’m having dinner tonight with Mr. Uomo, Susie and I’m guessing some other friends. I get ready for dinner and Mr. Uomo picks me up. Off we go to il ristorante La Vie en Rose near Piazza Santa Croce. I’ve eaten there before with just Mr. Uomo, but the first time around I was sick due to the weather and did not really pay attention to the food or the place. But I do know this. That this restaurant is a members only club. If you do not have a membership, you cannot eat there. I guess there’s a handful of these restaurants in Florence, maybe in Italy? We go and im surprised and happy to see Johnny, Alexio and Manuela there with Susie! They already started to order some appetizers, since Mr. Uomo and I were a little late, due to a stop at his restaurant to say hi to some people.
I am starving, I feel like I can eat anything and everything on the menu. I start to eat the foccacia bread and then comes out dried tomatoes in an olive oil sauce. Heaven. Then there’s a chatter about burrata. Everyone is saying oooh, aaah, yeah, lets get some. Susie explains to me that burrata is basically like the heart of the mozzarella. I think to myself, if they’re saying ooooh and aaaah, I’ll probably just die right there when I take my first bite. My mouth begins to water. I take a sip of wine. The burrata comes out and to me, it resembles a bigger version of a Vietnamese bun. But Mr. Uomo prepares to open it. And then he slices open the bag and the water is so milky, the burrata is so soft and he cuts a chunk and puts it on my plate, then rolls up some proscutto and proceeds to place that on my plate (yes, I know, total gentleman). I take my time cutting a slice of burrata and proscuitto. I place it in my mouth, close my eyes, and my heart stops, for that moment in time. Then I open my eyes and just smile. Amazing. I could buy this and eat it all day long, well, I would be extremely overweight, but its so worth it.
During this dinner, there are about 4-5 cigarette breaks so imagine how long this dinner or any dinner in Italy turns out to be. We leave the restaurant after about 3-4 hours to go to a bar. A gay bar. We walk towards Piazza Santa Croce and there’s tons of people outside. Plus its Saturday evening. I learn that it’s the meeting spot for a lot of people. I never come this way when I go out so I’m in awe. We walk to Piccolo bar and immediately Susie is at the bar asking what everyone wants. She comes up to me and asks me what I want and I tell her cognac. She asks me if I’m sure. I say yes. Because back in the states, I only drink Heineken and Hennessey. Maybe I’ll toss in a Vodka tonic double lime once in awhile to switch things up, but mainly, I drink like a guy. So here in Italy, Im switching from beer to wine but still, my after dinner drink of choice is cognac. She comes back with a huge, I mean huge shifter and its filled like halfway. She tells me that she had to tell the bartender to stop pouring because he would have kept on pouring! Salute! So we all start drinking and mingling. A very lovely lesbian came up to our table and wanted to talk to me. So I’m sitting on one side, Mr. Uomo and the lesbian is sitting on Mr. Uomo’s left. I found it very flattering and rude that she was so interested in me, that when Mr. Uomo would say something, she would actually ‘sssh’ him so either she could talk or to listen to what I was saying. But after awhile, and after almost drinking all of my cognac, I was getting sleepy or drunk and didn’t know how long I would last sitting there, and by the looks of it, Alexio was already ahead of me, sitting with his head down, sleeping and falling off the stool once in a while. So off we go, on his scooter back to his place, tomorrow I have to meet up with April. She’s coming in from Amsterdam and will be in town around noon. And look, its already 4 in the morning.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
7. Hot date
Saturday April 19th, 2008
Yesterday I had a hot date. With the city I’m in love with.
I woke up and it was sunny! And absolutely beautiful outside! So, I put on my workout clothes and off I go to run along the river, to Piazza Michelangelo. I’m jogging and so excited. Its my first time jogging in Florence and the weather is absolutely freaking awesome! It couldn’t be any more perfect, the sun glistening off the river, the lush green hills and the red roof tops of all the buildings and homes of Florence. After about an hour, I run to the supermarket and buy eggs, salami and a roll of bread. I prepare and eat my breakfast of scrambled eggs, salami and toasted pane. And then I get ready for my date.
I leave my apartment with my Conversational Italian book and off I go. I walk over Pointe Vecchio and first stop by Mr. Uomo’s store to say good morning and chit chat with Bobby, his cousin. I let them know that I have a date, and they both look at me like, with who? Mr. Uomo? No, with the city I’m in love with and they both smile and tell me to have a good time. I then proceed to walk over to Museo Academia, where ’David’ is housed. There’s a line, no problem, I have all the time in the world. There’s a petite Asian girl standing in front of me and I ask her a question and I learn that Thao is from Toronto and that she and her husband are on their honeymoon. Her husband Jean Paulo comes back from asking if the line we were standing in was the correct line for admission. And yes, it was the correct line. So we’re standing in line for about 20 minutes and I tell them all the hot spots for sweets. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I know of the best places for gelato, hot chocolate, zuccato (omg, this is my new favorite dessert, it’s a piece of bread, with ice cream in the middle, with drizzled chocolate and liquor on top, yum) We get inside and I tell them to have a great time because I don’t want to be rude to my date and then I’m in the first room of paintings. I make my round and go into the 2nd room, which at the end of the hallway, I see ’David’. But not yet, I will slowly make my way to him and appreciate all of his glory soon enough. But first there are more marble statues to see. At this point, I’m eating all the arches and curves of the statues with my eyes. And I’m not full, I cant get enough. And then, I’m standing in front of him ‘David’ And he is a sight to behold. He is immaculate. He’s huge, he’s beautiful, he’s perfect. From the veins in his hands to his eyes, his eyes, there’s so much expression in his eyes. I stood there for about 20 minutes looking at his eyes. And I tried so hard to figure out what they were trying to say. I wasn’t about to leave until I knew, for myself, what his eyes were saying. And then I got it. Simply put and from my interpretation, “I can’t believe I did it, but I did.” I sat and observed ‘David’ for about 40 minutes and I slowly make my way to the exit. It is now around 330pm and I decide to have lunch at Trattoria Mario’s.
This is the latest I’ve ever eaten at Mario’s and it’s a good thing, since there was no line. So I go in and sit down and I meet Mateo and a nice couple. The nice couple knows that I’m American so the man decides to joke with me in Italian and I get some of what he was trying to say, but in the end, they know a little English, so we were conversating nicely. Behind our table was a larger table filled with about 8 people and Mateo knows this group. Mateo has been eating at Mario’s for the last 20 years, and the large group of people have also been eating at Mario’s for about 15 years. The restaurant is family owned and customers that are loyal that long are also considered family, so yeah, it’s a definitely a family restaurant. Talk about where everyone knows your name. Anyways, Antonio and Salvatore from the large group are screaming at Mateo to ask me what my name is, where I’m from, what’s my story. So sweet Mateo is asking me some questions and then turns around and gives Antonio and Salvatore my life story. Great. I’m busting out my Conversational Italian handbook, trying my hardest to concentrate, but its hard. I have great people at my table, but the table behind me keeps staring, so I just want to dig my head in my food and book and leave. Then Salvatore sends over some wine to me. Salute! Here we go. So then Antonio comes over and asks me if I smoke, and I say I do, so we go out to the back and smoke. Salvatore comes out and the whole time I thought they did not speak any English, but Salvatore starts to speak excellent English. I learn that Salvatore owns a restaurant in Westwood, CA and lived in California for 12 years. Well, that explains his English. I don’t know what Antonio does, but I do know that when I came into the restaurant, they were singing happy birthday. And Mateo tells me that they have 30 birthdays a month. So they go out and drink and eat everyday? What a life. So we venture back into the restaurant and okay, its about 445pm now and they’re pouring shots of brandy. So they’re peer pressuring me to drink, but whoever knows me, knows that I can drink and hold my liquor. So I take a shot of brandy with them and then its more shots. I only take one more and then we’re off to have caffe. I hang out with Antonio and Salvatore and a nice French couple for a cup of espresso and then I leave and walk back to Mr. Uomo’s store. I visit him for a little bit and then cruise to Susie’s shop, 4 minutes walking from Mr. Uomo’s. I sit with Susie and chit chat and here comes Claudio, my roommie. We’re hanging out and then it hits 6 and Susie’s like, oh, appretivo time. Her store closes at 730pm, but she locks up and we walk across to the caffe. We have a glass of red vino and Susie tells me that Mr. Uomo told her that I cooked for him the other night. She tells me she’s never had Vietnamese food before. And I go, Oh my god, I’ll totally cook for you to try! At this point in my mind, I tell myself I have to start cooking now so when she does come over for dinner, the food will be at least decent? Claudio jokes that our home will now be a Vietnamese/Italian restaurant. The waitress puts a plate in front of me and Susie tells me its for me. On this plate are 3 little pieces of bread with slices of cheese and peels of orange drizzled with honey. I love trying new things and Susie says this is all for me because they have it all the time. The bursts of flavors in my mouth are excellent. I forgot to ask the name of this dish, but its okay, I know where this place is now to come back =) After the glass of wine, Susie and Claudio go back to her shop to close up and I walk over Pointe Vecchio to go home and take a nap. I have a party to go to tonight.
I wake up at 1030pm and think oh my goodness, the party started at 830pm. So I get ready real quick and head out to Cardillac Café. The theme tonight is Mad Hatter and the person with the best hat wins a prize. I go there and meet up with Arash, Angelo, Dario, Kari Leigh, Massemo and the rest of the group. I don’t have a hat on and my excuse is that I just woke up. Its okay, by that time, majority of the people have been drinking and then I meet Michele (Mick-kel-eh). I start talking with him and learn that he lives 2 minutes away from me! And that he needs to improve his English! I’m excited because I have another person to practice Italian with, but Michele lives way closer. So we’re talking and after the party he gives me a ride home on his bicycle. But by now, its pouring rain. And when I mean pouring, its so heavy, that even walking or riding, you couldn’t see in front of you, plus the wind was outrageous. Michele tells me in all the 20 years of living in Florence, he’s never seen anything like this and he looks at me and asks me if I’m frightened? I guess you can say I was, because the last time I ever saw it rain that hard was when I was living in Florida during hurricane season. So we had to stop periodically and wait until the rain subsided just a little so we can get to our next stop. Eventually we make it home and I’m drenched. I walk into my apartment and my dining room, kitchen and bathroom is flooded. I don’t know where the water came from, because I’m on the 2nd floor, but it was like an inch of water. I’m so tired, that I decide to take care of it in the morning.
But overall, my date with Florence was amazing. I became smitten in February and now I’m full blown in love. But I want to take my time with him. I don’t want to rush anything because love takes time. If its rushed, then it was basically just passion or lust in the beginning, but I want my relationship with Florence to last. So slowly but surely, everyday gets better and better.
Yesterday I had a hot date. With the city I’m in love with.
I woke up and it was sunny! And absolutely beautiful outside! So, I put on my workout clothes and off I go to run along the river, to Piazza Michelangelo. I’m jogging and so excited. Its my first time jogging in Florence and the weather is absolutely freaking awesome! It couldn’t be any more perfect, the sun glistening off the river, the lush green hills and the red roof tops of all the buildings and homes of Florence. After about an hour, I run to the supermarket and buy eggs, salami and a roll of bread. I prepare and eat my breakfast of scrambled eggs, salami and toasted pane. And then I get ready for my date.
I leave my apartment with my Conversational Italian book and off I go. I walk over Pointe Vecchio and first stop by Mr. Uomo’s store to say good morning and chit chat with Bobby, his cousin. I let them know that I have a date, and they both look at me like, with who? Mr. Uomo? No, with the city I’m in love with and they both smile and tell me to have a good time. I then proceed to walk over to Museo Academia, where ’David’ is housed. There’s a line, no problem, I have all the time in the world. There’s a petite Asian girl standing in front of me and I ask her a question and I learn that Thao is from Toronto and that she and her husband are on their honeymoon. Her husband Jean Paulo comes back from asking if the line we were standing in was the correct line for admission. And yes, it was the correct line. So we’re standing in line for about 20 minutes and I tell them all the hot spots for sweets. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I know of the best places for gelato, hot chocolate, zuccato (omg, this is my new favorite dessert, it’s a piece of bread, with ice cream in the middle, with drizzled chocolate and liquor on top, yum) We get inside and I tell them to have a great time because I don’t want to be rude to my date and then I’m in the first room of paintings. I make my round and go into the 2nd room, which at the end of the hallway, I see ’David’. But not yet, I will slowly make my way to him and appreciate all of his glory soon enough. But first there are more marble statues to see. At this point, I’m eating all the arches and curves of the statues with my eyes. And I’m not full, I cant get enough. And then, I’m standing in front of him ‘David’ And he is a sight to behold. He is immaculate. He’s huge, he’s beautiful, he’s perfect. From the veins in his hands to his eyes, his eyes, there’s so much expression in his eyes. I stood there for about 20 minutes looking at his eyes. And I tried so hard to figure out what they were trying to say. I wasn’t about to leave until I knew, for myself, what his eyes were saying. And then I got it. Simply put and from my interpretation, “I can’t believe I did it, but I did.” I sat and observed ‘David’ for about 40 minutes and I slowly make my way to the exit. It is now around 330pm and I decide to have lunch at Trattoria Mario’s.
This is the latest I’ve ever eaten at Mario’s and it’s a good thing, since there was no line. So I go in and sit down and I meet Mateo and a nice couple. The nice couple knows that I’m American so the man decides to joke with me in Italian and I get some of what he was trying to say, but in the end, they know a little English, so we were conversating nicely. Behind our table was a larger table filled with about 8 people and Mateo knows this group. Mateo has been eating at Mario’s for the last 20 years, and the large group of people have also been eating at Mario’s for about 15 years. The restaurant is family owned and customers that are loyal that long are also considered family, so yeah, it’s a definitely a family restaurant. Talk about where everyone knows your name. Anyways, Antonio and Salvatore from the large group are screaming at Mateo to ask me what my name is, where I’m from, what’s my story. So sweet Mateo is asking me some questions and then turns around and gives Antonio and Salvatore my life story. Great. I’m busting out my Conversational Italian handbook, trying my hardest to concentrate, but its hard. I have great people at my table, but the table behind me keeps staring, so I just want to dig my head in my food and book and leave. Then Salvatore sends over some wine to me. Salute! Here we go. So then Antonio comes over and asks me if I smoke, and I say I do, so we go out to the back and smoke. Salvatore comes out and the whole time I thought they did not speak any English, but Salvatore starts to speak excellent English. I learn that Salvatore owns a restaurant in Westwood, CA and lived in California for 12 years. Well, that explains his English. I don’t know what Antonio does, but I do know that when I came into the restaurant, they were singing happy birthday. And Mateo tells me that they have 30 birthdays a month. So they go out and drink and eat everyday? What a life. So we venture back into the restaurant and okay, its about 445pm now and they’re pouring shots of brandy. So they’re peer pressuring me to drink, but whoever knows me, knows that I can drink and hold my liquor. So I take a shot of brandy with them and then its more shots. I only take one more and then we’re off to have caffe. I hang out with Antonio and Salvatore and a nice French couple for a cup of espresso and then I leave and walk back to Mr. Uomo’s store. I visit him for a little bit and then cruise to Susie’s shop, 4 minutes walking from Mr. Uomo’s. I sit with Susie and chit chat and here comes Claudio, my roommie. We’re hanging out and then it hits 6 and Susie’s like, oh, appretivo time. Her store closes at 730pm, but she locks up and we walk across to the caffe. We have a glass of red vino and Susie tells me that Mr. Uomo told her that I cooked for him the other night. She tells me she’s never had Vietnamese food before. And I go, Oh my god, I’ll totally cook for you to try! At this point in my mind, I tell myself I have to start cooking now so when she does come over for dinner, the food will be at least decent? Claudio jokes that our home will now be a Vietnamese/Italian restaurant. The waitress puts a plate in front of me and Susie tells me its for me. On this plate are 3 little pieces of bread with slices of cheese and peels of orange drizzled with honey. I love trying new things and Susie says this is all for me because they have it all the time. The bursts of flavors in my mouth are excellent. I forgot to ask the name of this dish, but its okay, I know where this place is now to come back =) After the glass of wine, Susie and Claudio go back to her shop to close up and I walk over Pointe Vecchio to go home and take a nap. I have a party to go to tonight.
I wake up at 1030pm and think oh my goodness, the party started at 830pm. So I get ready real quick and head out to Cardillac Café. The theme tonight is Mad Hatter and the person with the best hat wins a prize. I go there and meet up with Arash, Angelo, Dario, Kari Leigh, Massemo and the rest of the group. I don’t have a hat on and my excuse is that I just woke up. Its okay, by that time, majority of the people have been drinking and then I meet Michele (Mick-kel-eh). I start talking with him and learn that he lives 2 minutes away from me! And that he needs to improve his English! I’m excited because I have another person to practice Italian with, but Michele lives way closer. So we’re talking and after the party he gives me a ride home on his bicycle. But by now, its pouring rain. And when I mean pouring, its so heavy, that even walking or riding, you couldn’t see in front of you, plus the wind was outrageous. Michele tells me in all the 20 years of living in Florence, he’s never seen anything like this and he looks at me and asks me if I’m frightened? I guess you can say I was, because the last time I ever saw it rain that hard was when I was living in Florida during hurricane season. So we had to stop periodically and wait until the rain subsided just a little so we can get to our next stop. Eventually we make it home and I’m drenched. I walk into my apartment and my dining room, kitchen and bathroom is flooded. I don’t know where the water came from, because I’m on the 2nd floor, but it was like an inch of water. I’m so tired, that I decide to take care of it in the morning.
But overall, my date with Florence was amazing. I became smitten in February and now I’m full blown in love. But I want to take my time with him. I don’t want to rush anything because love takes time. If its rushed, then it was basically just passion or lust in the beginning, but I want my relationship with Florence to last. So slowly but surely, everyday gets better and better.
6. Im complete! Oh shit!
Wednesday April 15th, 2008
Ciao!
My body is so tired from all the walking and also trying to get used to the time change. I finally moved into my apartment on Sunday and I’m waiting for Claudio to move all his stuff in, hopefully by this upcoming Monday. Oh and today was one of the first days that it was sunny when I woke up! Finally! I thought to myself, yes, today is the day I will jog to Piazza Michelangelo. But unfortunately, it was still chilly outside, super chilly actually. The weather is weird here, like everywhere else in the world. But it was sunny, chilly in the morning, and then it was humid during mid day and then chilly again at night. I was debating, scarf no scarf, jacket or sweater, umbrella or no umbrella. Oh and I finally got my phone today!!!!! I felt so handicapped for the last couple of days. Now im connected to the world! I’ve been waiting for an answer for the wireless connection for my apartment and found out to get a key would be 150 Euro, so $225 which is super costly so I would rather walk to the internet café down the street. So yes, Im finally, finally done with my move, my apartment is done, I have my phone and I will be walking down the street to the internet café. Now I can focus on my next step, which is learning Italian.
But let me recap what I’ve been doing for the last couple days. Lets see, Monday evening, Mr. Uomo and I had dinner at one of his friends restaurant. I decided that I want a big fat juicy steak. And that’s it. No appetizers, no primi pratti, just give me a steak. But im still trying to shake this cold I caught last week, oh, I had a cold last week, Mr. Uomo gave it to me and my body has been weak due to the jet lag and the forever changing weather here in Florence. Anyways, his friends restaurant has soup! And oh how I’ve craved soup! Only the touristy restaurants serve soup, not the local restaurants so I order soup before my steak. There is a couple next to us and me and Mr. Uomo are guessing where they’re from. He says New York, I say Florida. Well, after dessert Mr. Uomo goes to speak with the owner of the restaurant and the guy of the couple next to us gets up to use the restroom. Davia looks at me and says, “it’s cold huh?” That was all that was needed to get us started. I learn that Davia and Peter are from Chicago and that it was their last night in Italy. So Mr. Uomo and Peter get back and I’m chatting with Peter while Mr. Uomo is talking with Davia. They spent only a week in Italy and tried really hard to not do the tourist ‘thing’ and wanted to meet locals and they tell me that meeting me and Mr. Uomo is the closest they have come to being off the beaten path. After dinner, Mr. Uomo and I were heading over to Slowly, which is a lounge/bar that a lot of the locals go too. Very nice two story dark lounge with music. We ask if Davia and Peter would like to come with us. They have a flight at 9 in the morning, but come on, its your last night in Florence, come with us. They come with us and immediately love Slowly and tells us over and over again how they wished they met us sooner. I say the only thing you should think about is how we met tonight and lets just have fun. So we dance and dance and dance. But first, champagne glasses are given to us by Mr. M., he is one of the managers at the new Four Seasons opening up in Florence. We met him earlier when we walked in, now we’re drinking champagne and dancing in the middle of Slowly. Peter keeps the drinks coming and I couldn’t have been anymore….. buzzed. Lets see, a bottle of wine for dinner, limonchello, more wine at slowly and then some of Davia’s gin and tonic. I can hold my liquor, but mixing, no good. By the end of the night, Mr. Uomo and I have an invite to Chicago. Ill be spending the month of July in Texas and maybe, just maybe going to Chicago in August? And then coming back to Italy in September. Mr. Uomo tells me at the end of the night, “you have no idea how many people you’re going to meet in the next couple of months.” My answer? “I cant wait.”
So the next day I wake up with a headache and go back to sleep until 3pm. I wake up and get ready to hit the town. Im meeting up with Arash at his bar and then we’re meeting up with Kari leigh. I meet Arash and he’s so tired from working that he walks me over to Kari’s and I meet her friends, while Arash goes home. Jay and Chad are professional photographers from San Francisco that are just visiting and Tracy has lived in Florence for 18 years and she is also from San Francisco. They’re going to do a photo shoot of Florence by night. Kari and Tracy are the models. We first head to Santa Croce and go to an appretivo at the corner. An appreitvo is a restaurant where there’s appetizers lined up, buffet style and you go in and order a drink and you just pay for your drinks while you can keep on going back for appetizers. So an appetizers buffet. Conversation ensues and Jay cant get over that I’ve been in Florence for 8 days and I already have a boyfriend. So I tell them my story of how I met Mr. Uomo and Tracy looks at me, tells me the name of Mr. Uomo’s restaurant and then tells me that she’s known Mr. Uomo and his whole family for years because of the trunks shows they do together in the states. I smile because Mr. Uomo knows everybody. I swear. Here in Italy and also in the states. Florence is a big but small city. Anyways, so off we go walking around Florence and finding places to shoot. Its amazing how many people gather around just to watch, point, laugh, yell, comment, everything while we were shooting. I ended up being the stylist and their assistant. At the end of the night, I have a photo shoot at 10am with Jay and Chad and Im pooped. I take my time walking back home and just take in all the sights of Florence, the river, the reflections off the river, the dog shit.
Oh, I didn’t tell you guys, there’s dog shit everywhere! Usually I do not walk with my head down, but here, I have to walk with my head down, because I’m watching my step! Not a really big concern to pick up after their dogs. One of the things that I do not love about Florence, the poop. Its okay now, because its raining and the rain washes it down the drains, but I cant imagine in summer how its going to be like. Ewww.
So here we are to Wednesday. The day that I finally feel complete and can move on to my next step. So before I go out and find Italian schools and to meet my exchange conversation partner, I want to eat Vietnamese food. Yes, yes, I said in my other bog that I didn’t miss Vietnamese food when I was visiting, but its different when you’re living here. I miss my mom’s cooking. So I decided this morning, im going to cook Vietnamese food. As most of you know, I don’t cook. I can wash the heck out of a dish, but I’ve had the luxury of not needing to cook all my life. My ex- boyfriend was a culinary chef and his aunt cooked for us all day long and if that wasn’t enough, there was always my parents house to eat. Or I would go to eat at restaurants. Oh, but I loved watching the food network. Weird, I could watch the food network all day long, but never have the urge to cook, bake? Yes. Cook? No. so I found a mini market that sold Asian items, from Japanese to Thailand rice. Pretty cool actually. I ask Mr. Uomo if he would like to have dinner with me. Okay, this is where I held back the truth a little. This is my first attempt by myself to prepare a Vietnamese dinner, let alone for me, but for anyone else. I should have just tried it tonight by myself to see if it was good because Mr. Uomo is so nice that he would probably just shove it down his throat even if it wasn’t good. Too late, I already asked him. I haven’t cooked rice in over 10 years. I just kind of left it to everyone else who didn’t want super dry of super wet rice. Anyways, im excited, not because im cooking for Mr. Uomo, no I’m excited because finally, finally I get to eat rice!!!!!!!! But im kind of scared of how Mr. Uomo’s reaction would be. I asked him if he’s ever eaten Vietnamese food and he’s said yes of course, a couple times. So what I found at the market was cauliflower and meat and ended up making rice, cauliflower soup (canh) and sautéed meat and cauliflower. Once again first attempt at soup, wasn’t really happening. Mr. Uomo agreed, but he ate two plates of rice with the sautéed meat and cauliflower! And my rice came out perfecto!!! Or it could be that I miss rice so much that even if there was something wrong with the rice, I didn’t notice or care. Dinner was awesome, I cant wait to cook more often, since I am living on my own and I cant wait for Claudio to move in. He’s off on Sundays and Mondays and I hear that he usually cooks dinner on Mondays. I can already foresee Monday s at my place, Mr. Uomo singing, Claudio cooking, Susie (the owner of the apartment) dancing and I will be playing host to the other guests coming to have dinner with us, and then of course, dancing along with Susie. Va bene!
Ciao!
My body is so tired from all the walking and also trying to get used to the time change. I finally moved into my apartment on Sunday and I’m waiting for Claudio to move all his stuff in, hopefully by this upcoming Monday. Oh and today was one of the first days that it was sunny when I woke up! Finally! I thought to myself, yes, today is the day I will jog to Piazza Michelangelo. But unfortunately, it was still chilly outside, super chilly actually. The weather is weird here, like everywhere else in the world. But it was sunny, chilly in the morning, and then it was humid during mid day and then chilly again at night. I was debating, scarf no scarf, jacket or sweater, umbrella or no umbrella. Oh and I finally got my phone today!!!!! I felt so handicapped for the last couple of days. Now im connected to the world! I’ve been waiting for an answer for the wireless connection for my apartment and found out to get a key would be 150 Euro, so $225 which is super costly so I would rather walk to the internet café down the street. So yes, Im finally, finally done with my move, my apartment is done, I have my phone and I will be walking down the street to the internet café. Now I can focus on my next step, which is learning Italian.
But let me recap what I’ve been doing for the last couple days. Lets see, Monday evening, Mr. Uomo and I had dinner at one of his friends restaurant. I decided that I want a big fat juicy steak. And that’s it. No appetizers, no primi pratti, just give me a steak. But im still trying to shake this cold I caught last week, oh, I had a cold last week, Mr. Uomo gave it to me and my body has been weak due to the jet lag and the forever changing weather here in Florence. Anyways, his friends restaurant has soup! And oh how I’ve craved soup! Only the touristy restaurants serve soup, not the local restaurants so I order soup before my steak. There is a couple next to us and me and Mr. Uomo are guessing where they’re from. He says New York, I say Florida. Well, after dessert Mr. Uomo goes to speak with the owner of the restaurant and the guy of the couple next to us gets up to use the restroom. Davia looks at me and says, “it’s cold huh?” That was all that was needed to get us started. I learn that Davia and Peter are from Chicago and that it was their last night in Italy. So Mr. Uomo and Peter get back and I’m chatting with Peter while Mr. Uomo is talking with Davia. They spent only a week in Italy and tried really hard to not do the tourist ‘thing’ and wanted to meet locals and they tell me that meeting me and Mr. Uomo is the closest they have come to being off the beaten path. After dinner, Mr. Uomo and I were heading over to Slowly, which is a lounge/bar that a lot of the locals go too. Very nice two story dark lounge with music. We ask if Davia and Peter would like to come with us. They have a flight at 9 in the morning, but come on, its your last night in Florence, come with us. They come with us and immediately love Slowly and tells us over and over again how they wished they met us sooner. I say the only thing you should think about is how we met tonight and lets just have fun. So we dance and dance and dance. But first, champagne glasses are given to us by Mr. M., he is one of the managers at the new Four Seasons opening up in Florence. We met him earlier when we walked in, now we’re drinking champagne and dancing in the middle of Slowly. Peter keeps the drinks coming and I couldn’t have been anymore….. buzzed. Lets see, a bottle of wine for dinner, limonchello, more wine at slowly and then some of Davia’s gin and tonic. I can hold my liquor, but mixing, no good. By the end of the night, Mr. Uomo and I have an invite to Chicago. Ill be spending the month of July in Texas and maybe, just maybe going to Chicago in August? And then coming back to Italy in September. Mr. Uomo tells me at the end of the night, “you have no idea how many people you’re going to meet in the next couple of months.” My answer? “I cant wait.”
So the next day I wake up with a headache and go back to sleep until 3pm. I wake up and get ready to hit the town. Im meeting up with Arash at his bar and then we’re meeting up with Kari leigh. I meet Arash and he’s so tired from working that he walks me over to Kari’s and I meet her friends, while Arash goes home. Jay and Chad are professional photographers from San Francisco that are just visiting and Tracy has lived in Florence for 18 years and she is also from San Francisco. They’re going to do a photo shoot of Florence by night. Kari and Tracy are the models. We first head to Santa Croce and go to an appretivo at the corner. An appreitvo is a restaurant where there’s appetizers lined up, buffet style and you go in and order a drink and you just pay for your drinks while you can keep on going back for appetizers. So an appetizers buffet. Conversation ensues and Jay cant get over that I’ve been in Florence for 8 days and I already have a boyfriend. So I tell them my story of how I met Mr. Uomo and Tracy looks at me, tells me the name of Mr. Uomo’s restaurant and then tells me that she’s known Mr. Uomo and his whole family for years because of the trunks shows they do together in the states. I smile because Mr. Uomo knows everybody. I swear. Here in Italy and also in the states. Florence is a big but small city. Anyways, so off we go walking around Florence and finding places to shoot. Its amazing how many people gather around just to watch, point, laugh, yell, comment, everything while we were shooting. I ended up being the stylist and their assistant. At the end of the night, I have a photo shoot at 10am with Jay and Chad and Im pooped. I take my time walking back home and just take in all the sights of Florence, the river, the reflections off the river, the dog shit.
Oh, I didn’t tell you guys, there’s dog shit everywhere! Usually I do not walk with my head down, but here, I have to walk with my head down, because I’m watching my step! Not a really big concern to pick up after their dogs. One of the things that I do not love about Florence, the poop. Its okay now, because its raining and the rain washes it down the drains, but I cant imagine in summer how its going to be like. Ewww.
So here we are to Wednesday. The day that I finally feel complete and can move on to my next step. So before I go out and find Italian schools and to meet my exchange conversation partner, I want to eat Vietnamese food. Yes, yes, I said in my other bog that I didn’t miss Vietnamese food when I was visiting, but its different when you’re living here. I miss my mom’s cooking. So I decided this morning, im going to cook Vietnamese food. As most of you know, I don’t cook. I can wash the heck out of a dish, but I’ve had the luxury of not needing to cook all my life. My ex- boyfriend was a culinary chef and his aunt cooked for us all day long and if that wasn’t enough, there was always my parents house to eat. Or I would go to eat at restaurants. Oh, but I loved watching the food network. Weird, I could watch the food network all day long, but never have the urge to cook, bake? Yes. Cook? No. so I found a mini market that sold Asian items, from Japanese to Thailand rice. Pretty cool actually. I ask Mr. Uomo if he would like to have dinner with me. Okay, this is where I held back the truth a little. This is my first attempt by myself to prepare a Vietnamese dinner, let alone for me, but for anyone else. I should have just tried it tonight by myself to see if it was good because Mr. Uomo is so nice that he would probably just shove it down his throat even if it wasn’t good. Too late, I already asked him. I haven’t cooked rice in over 10 years. I just kind of left it to everyone else who didn’t want super dry of super wet rice. Anyways, im excited, not because im cooking for Mr. Uomo, no I’m excited because finally, finally I get to eat rice!!!!!!!! But im kind of scared of how Mr. Uomo’s reaction would be. I asked him if he’s ever eaten Vietnamese food and he’s said yes of course, a couple times. So what I found at the market was cauliflower and meat and ended up making rice, cauliflower soup (canh) and sautéed meat and cauliflower. Once again first attempt at soup, wasn’t really happening. Mr. Uomo agreed, but he ate two plates of rice with the sautéed meat and cauliflower! And my rice came out perfecto!!! Or it could be that I miss rice so much that even if there was something wrong with the rice, I didn’t notice or care. Dinner was awesome, I cant wait to cook more often, since I am living on my own and I cant wait for Claudio to move in. He’s off on Sundays and Mondays and I hear that he usually cooks dinner on Mondays. I can already foresee Monday s at my place, Mr. Uomo singing, Claudio cooking, Susie (the owner of the apartment) dancing and I will be playing host to the other guests coming to have dinner with us, and then of course, dancing along with Susie. Va bene!
5. Heart
Friday April 12th, 2008
Fabulous. That’s the word that sums up last night. Last night I was supposed to meet up with Kari Leigh at 730 and then go to a friends dinner party of Mr. Uomo’s.
Let me back track. I met Kari Leigh Friday evening at Cardillac Café at the monthly Florence CS meeting. She is amazing. We immediately connected and we share the same background. She is also in Florence living here after so many years in the corporate world. She was the head HR for her company nationwide organizing, meeting, training everyone under the sun for her company. Realizing there is more to life than the rat race, she picked up her things and moved to Florence about a month and a half ago. I actually just met up with her for appretivo and that turned into 3 hours of talking while checking out our view of the river and then a stroll to get some gelato and walking the streets of Florence. I love it here. I do.
Okay, back to last night. Unfortunately I was spreading myself too thin to meet her and her friends at the restaurant at Santa Croce Piazza while I had to meet Mr. Uomo to drive to his friends house for the dinner party at 830. So I forfeited the dinner with Kari Leigh and off me and Mr. Uomo go to his friends place. My Italian is improving you guys, but not much. Here I am going into a party with pure 100% Italians who speak there native language. BUT its good, I need to learn and listen and that’s exactly what I did, listened and tried to have conversations which by the way ended up pretty nicely. Its amazing how I can communicate with someone that does not have no idea how to say certain things in English but I understand, its like charades. I should be queen by now. =)
We walk up the street to Johnny’s house and its sprinkling a little by now, but it was pouring earlier. First person we meet is Alexiso, who is Johnny’s partner. Mr. Uomo and I are the first to arrive. Alexiso and Johnny , there English is not so good. And you guys, seriously, by a month, my English will not be as crisp as it was before. Anyways, Johnny’s house is fabulous. I mean, the décor and also they have this lounge area outside that I swear, reminded me of a couple’s house in the valley that I went too about a year ago. The color coordination is impeccable and I feel like I’m at a friends house in west Hollywood. I guess its worldwide that gay guys have the best taste in home décor. And trust me, I know a lot of gay guys and their homes are immaculate! (Love you V, when are you coming?) The next couple to arrive is from Sardinia. After that more and more people start to arrive, 13 in total. So the whole night I’m mingling, the best I can anyway, to listen and to get to know people. 4 people total knew how to speak English, myself and Mr. Uomo included. The party gets moved into the dining room and we all sit and immediately there is chatter everywhere. Susie, Mr. Uomo’s close friend and is like ‘a sister to me’ tries to reassure me that Italians are loud sorry for this and that, but im just sitting there loving every moment of it. I tell her not to worry about me and that I absolutely love this. For the appetizers, we first have a plate of stuffed tomatoes, then comes out a plate of stuffed bell peppers and then stuffed eggplant. But these are plates the size of the biggest plate at buca di beppo. Huge. Then out comes the primi pratti, first course, and the first plate that comes out is ravioli with some type of pesto sauce and then comes the ravioli con ragu. Two types of ravioli for our first course, not to mention the 15 bottles of Chianti Classic that is forever flowing. After the first course, we all go for a break, stand up, dance a little, have a cigarette, anything you wanted, you did. The main course is still cooking on the grill, the classic Florentine bisteca. By this point, im rubbing my belly because it hurts, really it does, there’s so much food, but Im going to eat as much as I can because this is the best you can get in Florence, a real home cooked Italian meal with friends. And this group has unbelievable heart. You can just feel the love flowing in the room. At one point, between the serving of ravioli’s I just sat there and observed my surroundings. Candlelight dinner with a group of people full of love, a meal cooked with love and conversation everywhere. I was in love. This is what I came to Italy for. Not to get drunk or fall in love with an Italian. I came to experience experiences like this. And I couldn’t be any happier. And then we dance the night away, while dessert comes out, two types of desserts made by Alexiso’s mother. Food, friends, dancing. Fabulous.
Fabulous. That’s the word that sums up last night. Last night I was supposed to meet up with Kari Leigh at 730 and then go to a friends dinner party of Mr. Uomo’s.
Let me back track. I met Kari Leigh Friday evening at Cardillac Café at the monthly Florence CS meeting. She is amazing. We immediately connected and we share the same background. She is also in Florence living here after so many years in the corporate world. She was the head HR for her company nationwide organizing, meeting, training everyone under the sun for her company. Realizing there is more to life than the rat race, she picked up her things and moved to Florence about a month and a half ago. I actually just met up with her for appretivo and that turned into 3 hours of talking while checking out our view of the river and then a stroll to get some gelato and walking the streets of Florence. I love it here. I do.
Okay, back to last night. Unfortunately I was spreading myself too thin to meet her and her friends at the restaurant at Santa Croce Piazza while I had to meet Mr. Uomo to drive to his friends house for the dinner party at 830. So I forfeited the dinner with Kari Leigh and off me and Mr. Uomo go to his friends place. My Italian is improving you guys, but not much. Here I am going into a party with pure 100% Italians who speak there native language. BUT its good, I need to learn and listen and that’s exactly what I did, listened and tried to have conversations which by the way ended up pretty nicely. Its amazing how I can communicate with someone that does not have no idea how to say certain things in English but I understand, its like charades. I should be queen by now. =)
We walk up the street to Johnny’s house and its sprinkling a little by now, but it was pouring earlier. First person we meet is Alexiso, who is Johnny’s partner. Mr. Uomo and I are the first to arrive. Alexiso and Johnny , there English is not so good. And you guys, seriously, by a month, my English will not be as crisp as it was before. Anyways, Johnny’s house is fabulous. I mean, the décor and also they have this lounge area outside that I swear, reminded me of a couple’s house in the valley that I went too about a year ago. The color coordination is impeccable and I feel like I’m at a friends house in west Hollywood. I guess its worldwide that gay guys have the best taste in home décor. And trust me, I know a lot of gay guys and their homes are immaculate! (Love you V, when are you coming?) The next couple to arrive is from Sardinia. After that more and more people start to arrive, 13 in total. So the whole night I’m mingling, the best I can anyway, to listen and to get to know people. 4 people total knew how to speak English, myself and Mr. Uomo included. The party gets moved into the dining room and we all sit and immediately there is chatter everywhere. Susie, Mr. Uomo’s close friend and is like ‘a sister to me’ tries to reassure me that Italians are loud sorry for this and that, but im just sitting there loving every moment of it. I tell her not to worry about me and that I absolutely love this. For the appetizers, we first have a plate of stuffed tomatoes, then comes out a plate of stuffed bell peppers and then stuffed eggplant. But these are plates the size of the biggest plate at buca di beppo. Huge. Then out comes the primi pratti, first course, and the first plate that comes out is ravioli with some type of pesto sauce and then comes the ravioli con ragu. Two types of ravioli for our first course, not to mention the 15 bottles of Chianti Classic that is forever flowing. After the first course, we all go for a break, stand up, dance a little, have a cigarette, anything you wanted, you did. The main course is still cooking on the grill, the classic Florentine bisteca. By this point, im rubbing my belly because it hurts, really it does, there’s so much food, but Im going to eat as much as I can because this is the best you can get in Florence, a real home cooked Italian meal with friends. And this group has unbelievable heart. You can just feel the love flowing in the room. At one point, between the serving of ravioli’s I just sat there and observed my surroundings. Candlelight dinner with a group of people full of love, a meal cooked with love and conversation everywhere. I was in love. This is what I came to Italy for. Not to get drunk or fall in love with an Italian. I came to experience experiences like this. And I couldn’t be any happier. And then we dance the night away, while dessert comes out, two types of desserts made by Alexiso’s mother. Food, friends, dancing. Fabulous.
4. My first day living as a Florentine
Tuesday April 8th, 2008
My first whole day living as a Florentine. I wake up and get ready to roam the streets. First place to hit up? Il ristorante Marios, where the menu changes daily and is in every 'where to eat' travel magazine, book and newspaper. Simply put, one of the best Florentine steaks around. I arrive and see Fabio, one of the owners of the restaurant and he smiles and instantly puts me at a table with 3 other Italians. 'Ciaos' all around and the 3 go on with their conversation. Perfecto I think because all I want to do is observe and listen and try to make out what they were converstating about. While Im eating, they talk and I love it how they talk with their hands and I kind of get parts of their conversations, but not all. I eat my vegetable soup and roast beef and begin to walk to visit Sara, the manager of the b and b we stayed at last month. I visit her and boy is she surprised im back in Florence. We talk for a little bit, but a couple of customers arrive and she needs to take care of them so I leave. Off to Gelato Mezzanotte, where after tasting the gelato in Florence and Roma, I decided its my favorite spot. Mezzanotte (Midnight) is the name of their specialty, cookies and cream. Walking, smiling with my gelato in my hand, I head to the piazza to sit and have my gelato. I sit and observe the various people walking about, tourists with maps in their hand, groups of students laughing and joking, businessmen walking around with their terrific suits, oh and also the people kicking like how Im kicking it. After my gelato, i feel so sleepy or jet lagged so I begin to walk back home and crash for a couple of hours.
I'm awakened by a kiss on the forehead and a 'ciao bella'. Before coming home, Mr. Uomo stops by his restaurant and tells me that Massimiliano is asking, 'Where is she, when is she coming?' I think to myself, do I have enough energy to see everyone tonight? I àm tired, but I cant wait to see Nico, Massimiliano, Anthony and Patrizia. So off we got to his restaurant on his scooter because its drizzling. Turning the corner, I see Ciro sitting there talking on his phone and I smile to myself. I met Ciro on my first trip to Florence. He is one of the funniest guys I've met recently. He is Italian, but is really Americanized and had a girlfriend from Newport Beach for a couple of years. Walking into the restaurant, I get all smiles, hugs and kisses. Instantly I have a warm feeling that is growing inside my heart and will not stop while having dinner. Even though Mr. Uomo had to do his rounds and talk with his customers, I am never alone. They just changed their menu that day and took off my favorite plate, the carne ensalada, which is thin cut slices of raw beef topped with slices of parmesan cheese, sliced artichoke, chopped up herbs and drizzled with olive oil. My mouth waters every time I think of it, anyways, they took it off the menu! You should have seen my face, well, everyone at the restaurant did, so in less than 10 minutes, a plate of carne ensalada was in front of me. Oh joy! But what Mr. Uomo ordered was incredible, it was shrimp wrapped in I believe pumpkin flower in a cream sauce that instantly melted in my mouth. For our main meal, I ordered the spaghetti de mare and Mr. Uomo ordered the veal. What a surprise when Claudio came in. Who's Claudio? My future roommate.
Mr. Uomo has been a doll lining up places for me to check out to live while in Florence. Im staying at his place for the time being until i get my own place, because I do not want to impose, plus the fact that i need my own closet space and truthfully my own space. but you should see the place that he got for me and Claudio! First off, we go check out the 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment, one street down from Mr. Uomo's and 1 street down from the headquarters of Gucci. I know. Its in the neighborhood of Santa Spirito, one of the last neighborhoods where grandmothers sit outside and talk to their neighbors. Its a little older, which is perfectly okay with me, because it gives it that Italian feel. All the furniture is mix matched, it has a little terrace, the rooms are completely on opposite sides of each other and I absolutely love it.
But Claudio is the best part. He does not speak a lick of English. Okay, he can say 'good and okay' but thats it. And he cooks and cleans! Hes the person Ill be getting my Italian cooking lessons from! At first my thought was okay its a man ill be living with twice divorced, hmmmm. But Mr. Uomo tells me to trust him. He explains to me that he trusts Claudio with his life and he wouldnt hurt a fly and truthfully, Claudio would probably be scared of me. And plus Claudio is not a playboy, in Mr. Uomos words, 'Im crazy, but not stupid to place you with a playboy.' At this point, I already trust Mr. Uomo and his judgement so okay. I meet Claudio and you guys, hes one big teddy bear. He can barely look me in the eye. Hes very shy and all the guys at the restaurant teaste and joke around with him and he just laugh along or smiles. He pulls out a picture from his wallet and Im thinking okay, I get to see a picture of his 26 year old daughter, but no, its a picture of his cat! HIS CAT! Anthony was sitting next to me and wanted to laugh so hard, Poor Claudio. So Claudio and I go outside to smoke a cigarette and we try to have our first conversation and the cool thing is that we understand each other! I sit there thinking while Mr. Uomo goes into the restaurant to grab me a glass of cognac and while Claudio is showing me his lighter that when you push a button, it shows a reflection of a naked donna on the surface, I think how amazing is this? Im sitting here with my future roomie that doesnt speak any english and hes perfect and I have an amazing friend that has helped me transition beautifully to my new home. To actually have my home away from home and people who are dear to me is wonderful!
I want to clarify I was planning to move to Italy before I met Mr. Uomo. I decided while on the motorboat in Venice that I was moving to Italy. I just didn't know which city because we still had Florence and Roma to still see. Alot of people assume that I dropped everything for a man. No. I left because I fell in love with the country of Italy. Mr. Uomo is a gift from God.
On my last night in Florence last month, Mr. Uomo and I were walking and I told him, 'I dont know how I can thank you enough for everything you've done for me and my friends.' And in Mr. Uomos words, 'Dont thank me, thank the gods that our paths crossed.'
And thats precisely what I do every night.
My first whole day living as a Florentine. I wake up and get ready to roam the streets. First place to hit up? Il ristorante Marios, where the menu changes daily and is in every 'where to eat' travel magazine, book and newspaper. Simply put, one of the best Florentine steaks around. I arrive and see Fabio, one of the owners of the restaurant and he smiles and instantly puts me at a table with 3 other Italians. 'Ciaos' all around and the 3 go on with their conversation. Perfecto I think because all I want to do is observe and listen and try to make out what they were converstating about. While Im eating, they talk and I love it how they talk with their hands and I kind of get parts of their conversations, but not all. I eat my vegetable soup and roast beef and begin to walk to visit Sara, the manager of the b and b we stayed at last month. I visit her and boy is she surprised im back in Florence. We talk for a little bit, but a couple of customers arrive and she needs to take care of them so I leave. Off to Gelato Mezzanotte, where after tasting the gelato in Florence and Roma, I decided its my favorite spot. Mezzanotte (Midnight) is the name of their specialty, cookies and cream. Walking, smiling with my gelato in my hand, I head to the piazza to sit and have my gelato. I sit and observe the various people walking about, tourists with maps in their hand, groups of students laughing and joking, businessmen walking around with their terrific suits, oh and also the people kicking like how Im kicking it. After my gelato, i feel so sleepy or jet lagged so I begin to walk back home and crash for a couple of hours.
I'm awakened by a kiss on the forehead and a 'ciao bella'. Before coming home, Mr. Uomo stops by his restaurant and tells me that Massimiliano is asking, 'Where is she, when is she coming?' I think to myself, do I have enough energy to see everyone tonight? I àm tired, but I cant wait to see Nico, Massimiliano, Anthony and Patrizia. So off we got to his restaurant on his scooter because its drizzling. Turning the corner, I see Ciro sitting there talking on his phone and I smile to myself. I met Ciro on my first trip to Florence. He is one of the funniest guys I've met recently. He is Italian, but is really Americanized and had a girlfriend from Newport Beach for a couple of years. Walking into the restaurant, I get all smiles, hugs and kisses. Instantly I have a warm feeling that is growing inside my heart and will not stop while having dinner. Even though Mr. Uomo had to do his rounds and talk with his customers, I am never alone. They just changed their menu that day and took off my favorite plate, the carne ensalada, which is thin cut slices of raw beef topped with slices of parmesan cheese, sliced artichoke, chopped up herbs and drizzled with olive oil. My mouth waters every time I think of it, anyways, they took it off the menu! You should have seen my face, well, everyone at the restaurant did, so in less than 10 minutes, a plate of carne ensalada was in front of me. Oh joy! But what Mr. Uomo ordered was incredible, it was shrimp wrapped in I believe pumpkin flower in a cream sauce that instantly melted in my mouth. For our main meal, I ordered the spaghetti de mare and Mr. Uomo ordered the veal. What a surprise when Claudio came in. Who's Claudio? My future roommate.
Mr. Uomo has been a doll lining up places for me to check out to live while in Florence. Im staying at his place for the time being until i get my own place, because I do not want to impose, plus the fact that i need my own closet space and truthfully my own space. but you should see the place that he got for me and Claudio! First off, we go check out the 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment, one street down from Mr. Uomo's and 1 street down from the headquarters of Gucci. I know. Its in the neighborhood of Santa Spirito, one of the last neighborhoods where grandmothers sit outside and talk to their neighbors. Its a little older, which is perfectly okay with me, because it gives it that Italian feel. All the furniture is mix matched, it has a little terrace, the rooms are completely on opposite sides of each other and I absolutely love it.
But Claudio is the best part. He does not speak a lick of English. Okay, he can say 'good and okay' but thats it. And he cooks and cleans! Hes the person Ill be getting my Italian cooking lessons from! At first my thought was okay its a man ill be living with twice divorced, hmmmm. But Mr. Uomo tells me to trust him. He explains to me that he trusts Claudio with his life and he wouldnt hurt a fly and truthfully, Claudio would probably be scared of me. And plus Claudio is not a playboy, in Mr. Uomos words, 'Im crazy, but not stupid to place you with a playboy.' At this point, I already trust Mr. Uomo and his judgement so okay. I meet Claudio and you guys, hes one big teddy bear. He can barely look me in the eye. Hes very shy and all the guys at the restaurant teaste and joke around with him and he just laugh along or smiles. He pulls out a picture from his wallet and Im thinking okay, I get to see a picture of his 26 year old daughter, but no, its a picture of his cat! HIS CAT! Anthony was sitting next to me and wanted to laugh so hard, Poor Claudio. So Claudio and I go outside to smoke a cigarette and we try to have our first conversation and the cool thing is that we understand each other! I sit there thinking while Mr. Uomo goes into the restaurant to grab me a glass of cognac and while Claudio is showing me his lighter that when you push a button, it shows a reflection of a naked donna on the surface, I think how amazing is this? Im sitting here with my future roomie that doesnt speak any english and hes perfect and I have an amazing friend that has helped me transition beautifully to my new home. To actually have my home away from home and people who are dear to me is wonderful!
I want to clarify I was planning to move to Italy before I met Mr. Uomo. I decided while on the motorboat in Venice that I was moving to Italy. I just didn't know which city because we still had Florence and Roma to still see. Alot of people assume that I dropped everything for a man. No. I left because I fell in love with the country of Italy. Mr. Uomo is a gift from God.
On my last night in Florence last month, Mr. Uomo and I were walking and I told him, 'I dont know how I can thank you enough for everything you've done for me and my friends.' And in Mr. Uomos words, 'Dont thank me, thank the gods that our paths crossed.'
And thats precisely what I do every night.
3. Mr. Uomo
Many of you might be wondering who is this Mr. Uomo? Well, Uomo in Italian translates to Man in English. So I call him Mr. Man. Because he is a man, a manly man.
I met Mr. Uomo on my trip to Italy in the month of February. My good friend Ann wanted to take me to dinner for my birthday. We walked around all day and we came across two restaurants and decided on one to go back too at night for my birthday dinner. But before going back to the hotel, we stop and get gelato. We strike up a conversation with the girl behind the counter and she recommended this restaurant down the street from the gelatteria. We cruise by to take a look at the menu and it seems pretty good, a little pricey, but its next to where we were staying. After showering and getting ready, we decided to go to the restaurant the girl recommended because we really didn’t want to walk all the way across the river with heels on the cobblestones. And Florence is pure cobblestones. Imagine walking on those in heels a little tipsy. We walk into the restaurant and sit down. The manager comes up to us and we start talking to him and I inform him I’m here because its my birthday! He goes to pop a bottle of champagne. But he asks permission from Mr. Uomo first. Well, you see, later I learned that Mr. Uomo was about to leave the restaurant and was about to grab his coat, but we came in, so he stayed and had dinner there. Its his restaurant. Anyways, we have dinner and it was amazing. I hear an Italian version of happy birthday playing on the speakers and Mr. Uomo comes out with a plate of tiramisu and a dessert that actually takes a week to prepare and make which was this chocolate mousse layer cake thingamabob. But then Mr. Uomo disappears in the back and brings out a second plate of tiramisu because I told him earlier that I love tiramisu. So he actually gave me a double helping of tiramisu, because he says, “You love tiramisu.” He remembers and is attentive, I was impressed.
The next day Mr. Uomo drives me and Ann out to San Gimagnino, which is about 40 mins outside of Florence and its known as the original new york city because it has the original twin towers. Okay, this medieval town was ridiculously amazing plus we had our own personal tour guide. So we’re ooohhhing and aaahhhing and then he brings us to this tower that we climb and it overlooks Tuscany. At this point, I thought I could die right then and there and be absolutely okay with it. Talk about the moments that take your breathe away. I really couldn’t breathe. I had to remind myself to breathe because what I was witnessing got me overly excited that my heart was pounding and tears were in my eyes. So at the end of our second day in Florence, we have dinner at his restaurant in the back VIP room and he orders practically everything so we could taste. The food at his restaurant is magnificent! Its like the Italian version of a Maestro’s or whatever fine dining restaurant you think is great. After the dinner, we go to the club in Florence and dance the night away. After the club, Mr. uomo informs me he wants to kidnap me, but I can’t leave Ann alone. But Mr. Uomo insists it wont take long and Ann tells me she’ll be fine at the hotel and plus I’ll be back in less than an hour so I get the key and off we go on his scooter. Helmet and all. Mr. Uomo kidnapped me to take me on my very own personal scooter tour of Florence at night. He drives me around and makes all these stops and tells me the background of each place. I am in complete and utter awe. I don’t know what to make of it. This is what you see in the movies and its’ happening to me? I don’t want to think about anything else but the feelings I had at that particular moment in time. I actually store them in a little space in my heart so when I close my eyes, I can open the cap of that space and let some of those feelings and memories out. It gives me goose bumps when I let them out. Again, the breathing was kind of difficult. Twice this man has shown me things that has taken my breathe away.
So that is Mr. Uomo in a nutshell. A man who owns one of the most tastiest restaurants in Florence, a man who is an ex-kickboxing champ, a man who showed me Florence through his eyes, a worldly man, but most importantly the man who took my breathe away.
I met Mr. Uomo on my trip to Italy in the month of February. My good friend Ann wanted to take me to dinner for my birthday. We walked around all day and we came across two restaurants and decided on one to go back too at night for my birthday dinner. But before going back to the hotel, we stop and get gelato. We strike up a conversation with the girl behind the counter and she recommended this restaurant down the street from the gelatteria. We cruise by to take a look at the menu and it seems pretty good, a little pricey, but its next to where we were staying. After showering and getting ready, we decided to go to the restaurant the girl recommended because we really didn’t want to walk all the way across the river with heels on the cobblestones. And Florence is pure cobblestones. Imagine walking on those in heels a little tipsy. We walk into the restaurant and sit down. The manager comes up to us and we start talking to him and I inform him I’m here because its my birthday! He goes to pop a bottle of champagne. But he asks permission from Mr. Uomo first. Well, you see, later I learned that Mr. Uomo was about to leave the restaurant and was about to grab his coat, but we came in, so he stayed and had dinner there. Its his restaurant. Anyways, we have dinner and it was amazing. I hear an Italian version of happy birthday playing on the speakers and Mr. Uomo comes out with a plate of tiramisu and a dessert that actually takes a week to prepare and make which was this chocolate mousse layer cake thingamabob. But then Mr. Uomo disappears in the back and brings out a second plate of tiramisu because I told him earlier that I love tiramisu. So he actually gave me a double helping of tiramisu, because he says, “You love tiramisu.” He remembers and is attentive, I was impressed.
The next day Mr. Uomo drives me and Ann out to San Gimagnino, which is about 40 mins outside of Florence and its known as the original new york city because it has the original twin towers. Okay, this medieval town was ridiculously amazing plus we had our own personal tour guide. So we’re ooohhhing and aaahhhing and then he brings us to this tower that we climb and it overlooks Tuscany. At this point, I thought I could die right then and there and be absolutely okay with it. Talk about the moments that take your breathe away. I really couldn’t breathe. I had to remind myself to breathe because what I was witnessing got me overly excited that my heart was pounding and tears were in my eyes. So at the end of our second day in Florence, we have dinner at his restaurant in the back VIP room and he orders practically everything so we could taste. The food at his restaurant is magnificent! Its like the Italian version of a Maestro’s or whatever fine dining restaurant you think is great. After the dinner, we go to the club in Florence and dance the night away. After the club, Mr. uomo informs me he wants to kidnap me, but I can’t leave Ann alone. But Mr. Uomo insists it wont take long and Ann tells me she’ll be fine at the hotel and plus I’ll be back in less than an hour so I get the key and off we go on his scooter. Helmet and all. Mr. Uomo kidnapped me to take me on my very own personal scooter tour of Florence at night. He drives me around and makes all these stops and tells me the background of each place. I am in complete and utter awe. I don’t know what to make of it. This is what you see in the movies and its’ happening to me? I don’t want to think about anything else but the feelings I had at that particular moment in time. I actually store them in a little space in my heart so when I close my eyes, I can open the cap of that space and let some of those feelings and memories out. It gives me goose bumps when I let them out. Again, the breathing was kind of difficult. Twice this man has shown me things that has taken my breathe away.
So that is Mr. Uomo in a nutshell. A man who owns one of the most tastiest restaurants in Florence, a man who is an ex-kickboxing champ, a man who showed me Florence through his eyes, a worldly man, but most importantly the man who took my breathe away.
2. My Long Journey to Italy
Tuesday April 8th, 2008
Ciao my beautiful people!!!
Its about 430pm in Florence and I’m sitting in Mr. Uomo’s house listening to the rain. I finally made it here early this morning at 1am after a long long LONG day worth of traveling including a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 6 hour layover plus a 2.50 hour delay and then another 2 hour flight to Florence. 20.50 hours total and yes, I’m exhausted.
But overall, yesterday wasn’t too bad. You can only bring 2 check in’s weighing a total of 100 pounds and when I was checking in, I was over by 7 pounds. And when you go over, there is a fee of $50. But Keri at KLM was so nice and after our little conversation she actually let me slide! Amazing! So then I board and for some reason I thought I had the aisle, but when the other two people came, I realized I had the window instead. So my first thought to myself was, “Damn” and I said that out loud, so the father and son combo thought I was mad at them! Lets just say they were not too impressed by me. Since the father thought that I was an angry mad woman, he went out of his way to find me an aisle seat. At first, my thoughts were, “Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.” And I tried to make chit chat, but he already was set on his first impression of me. So again, he looks around for an aisle seat and asks the flight attendant. Low and behold, there is an aisle seat, but not just any aisle seat, this seat is pretty good! No seats in front of it and right next to the restroom. Plus its next to a friendly man (Andre) from Amsterdam, who I chit chat the whole way to Amsterdam with. Perfecto! So far so good. I think to myself, wow, I feel good, no nerves, nothing.
I get to the Amsterdam airport and see that it has so many things to do while you’re waiting. Museum, spa, massage, hotel, restaurants, bars, comfort seating, internet etc all inside the airport. But one setback, it is a non-smoking airport, which means, if you want to smoke, you have to go outside through customs and then wait in line to get back in. I learned from Andre that Holland just started to implement a non-smoking rule about 4 months ago and of course, everyone is complaining and he said that starting July 1st it will be in full effect, restaurants, bars, cafes etc. So after a 10 hour flight, all I want to do is smoke a cigarette and sleep, because I’ve been so excited about going back to Italy that I haven’t had a good nights rest in awhile. I choose not to go through the whole ordeal just to have a cigarette and find a lounge chair and sleep for about 2 hours. So after my nap, I get up and walk around. I’m basically counting down now to my flight to Florence and then I look up at the times and my flight is delayed? Until 9pm? I’ve already been in the airport for almost 6 hours and now I have to stay another 2? Well, can’t do anything about that so I go upstairs and find another section of lounge chairs and sleep for another hour. I get up and go to the Mercure hotel located inside the airport and pay 15 Euro ($23) to use their showers. Its pretty neat, you get your own private restroom and everything. I was sooooo close to lighting up a cigarette and taking a couple drags, but I didn’t want to pay a fine or get in trouble before I take off so I leave and start walking to the gate. I pass through the passport line and look for my gate number just to make sure it’s the same gate. My flight leaves at 9pm and I walk up to look at the gate # at 8:20pm. The billboard says my flight has, “departed” So then I run. After the expensive shower I took and getting all nice and ready for Mr. Uomo to pick me up in Florence, I can’t believe I’m freaking running to the gate to my “departed” flight, all the while sweating or should I say perspiring, screw it, I’m sweating and panicking thinking, oh no, I can’t miss my flight, did I miss it? This really blows. Where’s the freaking gate? Why me? So when I’m coming up to the gate, I see 3 people in front of me, that were also running and I watch their body language. I see the woman, put her hand to her forehead and I’m thinking omg, we missed it and omg I do not see a plane outside. So 2 seconds I’m up at the desk and the woman says, very calmly, “Oh no, the plane hasn’t departed yet, please take a seat” and then she gives me this smile and I ask, “then why did it say departed on the billboard?” I love her answer, she just shrugs. What can you do?
Then I’m back walking around the airport looking for some water. I feel so dehydrated and need water. I get my water and walk back. I sit down facing this older man. He strikes up a conversation with me and we start talking and I learn that Steve is originally from Virginia, but has lived in Greece for 20 plus years. He has an accent that is hard to describe because he says, ‘bloody’ ‘eh’ ‘si’ just everything in between that makes you wonder, where does your accent come from? So I ask and he tells me that he just picks it up from all his travels. Weird. So we start talking about Italy and food and olive oil and our lives. Steve used to manufacture hardware but now is a consultant for the same company, he’s going to Florence for a business meeting at his factory . Anyways, we start talking about everything under the sun and he tells me if I love the olive oil in Italy, then I would die for the olive oil from Greece and I tell him I would love to go to Greece one day and to taste the olive oil. And then he says, get this, “Actually, I have some olive oil from Greece….(pause)” and “I say, in your carry- on right now?” and he says, “yes, I do (pause) you know, you can have one.” WHAT????? Are you kidding me? Really? No. Oh my god! He had 3 bottles for his partners he was meeting up in Florence, but lucky me, Ricardo was not going to make it to the meeting and I got his bottle! I HAVE OLIVE OIL FROM GREECE! See how happy I am in my picture? After sitting there with Steve for about an hour I ask him what is his seat number? He tells me, row 4, and I say me too! And then I ask, what seat? He’s says 4C, and then I think really? Because I have 4D! What are the odds?
We hop on the plane and I see this man that reminds me of Mr. Uomo. Exactly. So excitely, I tell Steve that this man reminds me so much of Mr. Uomo, his mannerisms, the way he dresses etc. That passes and we get into our seats, swap jokes, sleep more and then we land. Steve waits to get my luggage and then we’re off. My emotions are going wild. Finally I’m here, I’m home. I wonder how Mr. Uomo looks. I wonder if he’s here. Wow, that cop is cute. Did he bring the big car, I have heavy luggage. I walk out and it’s a sea of people just waiting and I feel fatigued and then Mr. Uomo pops up and grabs my cart, kisses me and says, let’s go, but first I have to say good bye to Steve, so we kiss both cheeks and say our goodbyes. Its nice to know that if I was to travel to Greece, I would have a place to stay (Steve rents out a 2 bedroom apartment to tenants and one of the bedrooms is empty) and a friend to show me around.
But guess who’s standing with Mr. Uomo. The same man that I told Steve reminds me of Mr. Uomo who was on our flight. While Mr. Uomo was waiting for me, he sees Max, a long time family friend, and offers him a ride home. While in the car, Mr. Uomo informs me that we’re going to drop off max first and then we go home. You guys, really, to hear what he just said out of his mouth just made me so warm inside. He didn’t say, we go back to my place, but instead used the word home which I will forever be thankful to God for because for me to come to a foreign country with a foreign language and to see a familiar face and to hear the word home is indescribable……Sorry off track.
Okay, I don’t know who this man is, but I do know that Max dresses well and carries himself very well, is very nice and is chivalrous. We come up to his narrow street and I was expecting an apartment a house, but not this. We come up to a gate and he gets out and puts in his key. And then we drive up his long driveway to his house. Max lives in this grand villa that you would see in magazines. Wow, that’s his house I ask while we’re driving back down. Mr. Uomo says, “diamond dealer.” Cool, now please, lets just go home.
Ciao bellas,
Carol
Ciao my beautiful people!!!
Its about 430pm in Florence and I’m sitting in Mr. Uomo’s house listening to the rain. I finally made it here early this morning at 1am after a long long LONG day worth of traveling including a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 6 hour layover plus a 2.50 hour delay and then another 2 hour flight to Florence. 20.50 hours total and yes, I’m exhausted.
But overall, yesterday wasn’t too bad. You can only bring 2 check in’s weighing a total of 100 pounds and when I was checking in, I was over by 7 pounds. And when you go over, there is a fee of $50. But Keri at KLM was so nice and after our little conversation she actually let me slide! Amazing! So then I board and for some reason I thought I had the aisle, but when the other two people came, I realized I had the window instead. So my first thought to myself was, “Damn” and I said that out loud, so the father and son combo thought I was mad at them! Lets just say they were not too impressed by me. Since the father thought that I was an angry mad woman, he went out of his way to find me an aisle seat. At first, my thoughts were, “Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.” And I tried to make chit chat, but he already was set on his first impression of me. So again, he looks around for an aisle seat and asks the flight attendant. Low and behold, there is an aisle seat, but not just any aisle seat, this seat is pretty good! No seats in front of it and right next to the restroom. Plus its next to a friendly man (Andre) from Amsterdam, who I chit chat the whole way to Amsterdam with. Perfecto! So far so good. I think to myself, wow, I feel good, no nerves, nothing.
I get to the Amsterdam airport and see that it has so many things to do while you’re waiting. Museum, spa, massage, hotel, restaurants, bars, comfort seating, internet etc all inside the airport. But one setback, it is a non-smoking airport, which means, if you want to smoke, you have to go outside through customs and then wait in line to get back in. I learned from Andre that Holland just started to implement a non-smoking rule about 4 months ago and of course, everyone is complaining and he said that starting July 1st it will be in full effect, restaurants, bars, cafes etc. So after a 10 hour flight, all I want to do is smoke a cigarette and sleep, because I’ve been so excited about going back to Italy that I haven’t had a good nights rest in awhile. I choose not to go through the whole ordeal just to have a cigarette and find a lounge chair and sleep for about 2 hours. So after my nap, I get up and walk around. I’m basically counting down now to my flight to Florence and then I look up at the times and my flight is delayed? Until 9pm? I’ve already been in the airport for almost 6 hours and now I have to stay another 2? Well, can’t do anything about that so I go upstairs and find another section of lounge chairs and sleep for another hour. I get up and go to the Mercure hotel located inside the airport and pay 15 Euro ($23) to use their showers. Its pretty neat, you get your own private restroom and everything. I was sooooo close to lighting up a cigarette and taking a couple drags, but I didn’t want to pay a fine or get in trouble before I take off so I leave and start walking to the gate. I pass through the passport line and look for my gate number just to make sure it’s the same gate. My flight leaves at 9pm and I walk up to look at the gate # at 8:20pm. The billboard says my flight has, “departed” So then I run. After the expensive shower I took and getting all nice and ready for Mr. Uomo to pick me up in Florence, I can’t believe I’m freaking running to the gate to my “departed” flight, all the while sweating or should I say perspiring, screw it, I’m sweating and panicking thinking, oh no, I can’t miss my flight, did I miss it? This really blows. Where’s the freaking gate? Why me? So when I’m coming up to the gate, I see 3 people in front of me, that were also running and I watch their body language. I see the woman, put her hand to her forehead and I’m thinking omg, we missed it and omg I do not see a plane outside. So 2 seconds I’m up at the desk and the woman says, very calmly, “Oh no, the plane hasn’t departed yet, please take a seat” and then she gives me this smile and I ask, “then why did it say departed on the billboard?” I love her answer, she just shrugs. What can you do?
Then I’m back walking around the airport looking for some water. I feel so dehydrated and need water. I get my water and walk back. I sit down facing this older man. He strikes up a conversation with me and we start talking and I learn that Steve is originally from Virginia, but has lived in Greece for 20 plus years. He has an accent that is hard to describe because he says, ‘bloody’ ‘eh’ ‘si’ just everything in between that makes you wonder, where does your accent come from? So I ask and he tells me that he just picks it up from all his travels. Weird. So we start talking about Italy and food and olive oil and our lives. Steve used to manufacture hardware but now is a consultant for the same company, he’s going to Florence for a business meeting at his factory . Anyways, we start talking about everything under the sun and he tells me if I love the olive oil in Italy, then I would die for the olive oil from Greece and I tell him I would love to go to Greece one day and to taste the olive oil. And then he says, get this, “Actually, I have some olive oil from Greece….(pause)” and “I say, in your carry- on right now?” and he says, “yes, I do (pause) you know, you can have one.” WHAT????? Are you kidding me? Really? No. Oh my god! He had 3 bottles for his partners he was meeting up in Florence, but lucky me, Ricardo was not going to make it to the meeting and I got his bottle! I HAVE OLIVE OIL FROM GREECE! See how happy I am in my picture? After sitting there with Steve for about an hour I ask him what is his seat number? He tells me, row 4, and I say me too! And then I ask, what seat? He’s says 4C, and then I think really? Because I have 4D! What are the odds?
We hop on the plane and I see this man that reminds me of Mr. Uomo. Exactly. So excitely, I tell Steve that this man reminds me so much of Mr. Uomo, his mannerisms, the way he dresses etc. That passes and we get into our seats, swap jokes, sleep more and then we land. Steve waits to get my luggage and then we’re off. My emotions are going wild. Finally I’m here, I’m home. I wonder how Mr. Uomo looks. I wonder if he’s here. Wow, that cop is cute. Did he bring the big car, I have heavy luggage. I walk out and it’s a sea of people just waiting and I feel fatigued and then Mr. Uomo pops up and grabs my cart, kisses me and says, let’s go, but first I have to say good bye to Steve, so we kiss both cheeks and say our goodbyes. Its nice to know that if I was to travel to Greece, I would have a place to stay (Steve rents out a 2 bedroom apartment to tenants and one of the bedrooms is empty) and a friend to show me around.
But guess who’s standing with Mr. Uomo. The same man that I told Steve reminds me of Mr. Uomo who was on our flight. While Mr. Uomo was waiting for me, he sees Max, a long time family friend, and offers him a ride home. While in the car, Mr. Uomo informs me that we’re going to drop off max first and then we go home. You guys, really, to hear what he just said out of his mouth just made me so warm inside. He didn’t say, we go back to my place, but instead used the word home which I will forever be thankful to God for because for me to come to a foreign country with a foreign language and to see a familiar face and to hear the word home is indescribable……Sorry off track.
Okay, I don’t know who this man is, but I do know that Max dresses well and carries himself very well, is very nice and is chivalrous. We come up to his narrow street and I was expecting an apartment a house, but not this. We come up to a gate and he gets out and puts in his key. And then we drive up his long driveway to his house. Max lives in this grand villa that you would see in magazines. Wow, that’s his house I ask while we’re driving back down. Mr. Uomo says, “diamond dealer.” Cool, now please, lets just go home.
Ciao bellas,
Carol
1. The first of many too come
Saturday April 19th, 2008
Ciao my beautiful people! I know, I know. I was supposed to be writing this continuous blog when I got to Italy. But its been so hectic plus ive been sleeping most days, due to the weather and the time change and a cold. Oh plus the fact I don’t have wireless access at my place, it costs an arm and leg $225 to hook it up. But, ive been keeping somewhat of a daily log of what im doing, so when I go to the internet café to post my blogs, they’re going to be in bulk. So here it is, my first bulk of what ive been doing for the last week and 6 days.
I miss you guys. I just got back from lunch and a walk to Central Park, yes, Central park in Florence with David. David is 29, Italian and unbelievably gorgeous. Im sitting at my kitchen table looking out the window, the TV is on, some Italian guy cooking fish and listening to the birds chirp. Tranquillo.
Enjoy Tesoro!
Carol
Ciao my beautiful people! I know, I know. I was supposed to be writing this continuous blog when I got to Italy. But its been so hectic plus ive been sleeping most days, due to the weather and the time change and a cold. Oh plus the fact I don’t have wireless access at my place, it costs an arm and leg $225 to hook it up. But, ive been keeping somewhat of a daily log of what im doing, so when I go to the internet café to post my blogs, they’re going to be in bulk. So here it is, my first bulk of what ive been doing for the last week and 6 days.
I miss you guys. I just got back from lunch and a walk to Central Park, yes, Central park in Florence with David. David is 29, Italian and unbelievably gorgeous. Im sitting at my kitchen table looking out the window, the TV is on, some Italian guy cooking fish and listening to the birds chirp. Tranquillo.
Enjoy Tesoro!
Carol
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Who, What, When, Where, and of course Why?
Okay, here goes, i have never even attempted to write a blog. But I'm always down to try something twice.
WHO: Me, carol dao.
WHAT: Decided on my 27th birthday (Feb. 19th) while sitting on the motorboat in Venice, Italy that i'm going to move to Italy.
WHEN: April 6th, 2008
WHERE: To Florence, Italy.
WHY: Such a short word, with so much meaning. there's so many reasons why I'm moving. But I think the best reason for me, would be, "why not?" A couple years back, I once read one of the many Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar, Suze Orman, Napoleon Hill books and towards the end of one of these, I forget which one, the author starts to give his examples of whats he's been able to do. I mean, he goes into saying that he knows what it's like to sit in a parisian bakery on a sunday and smell the bread baking. He knows what the seashells looks like off Fort Lauderdale from deep sea diving and then he concludes with, "why not you?" And I took that to heart. Why not me? What's stopping me? I quit my job in October of last year, I moved back to my parents house, I turned in one lease and finally sold the other car, I gave back my land, paid off my credit card. First question people ask me is, "Kids? Married?" Nope. As much as they do not want me too, I have my parents approval. And the belief of my mother, who I cherish more than anything in this world. and my friends and acquaintances who tell me go for it, 'you're living my dream.' I've been extremely blessed for the life I'm living and I cannot thank God enough for everything. "THANK YOU." So all in all, there's really no one or anything stopping me... =) Oh, and something I've always wanted to do was watch the running of the bulls in Pampolona, Spain ever since reading the Ernest Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' in 5th grade. So then i ask myself, why not me?
ciao
carol
WHO: Me, carol dao.
WHAT: Decided on my 27th birthday (Feb. 19th) while sitting on the motorboat in Venice, Italy that i'm going to move to Italy.
WHEN: April 6th, 2008
WHERE: To Florence, Italy.
WHY: Such a short word, with so much meaning. there's so many reasons why I'm moving. But I think the best reason for me, would be, "why not?" A couple years back, I once read one of the many Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar, Suze Orman, Napoleon Hill books and towards the end of one of these, I forget which one, the author starts to give his examples of whats he's been able to do. I mean, he goes into saying that he knows what it's like to sit in a parisian bakery on a sunday and smell the bread baking. He knows what the seashells looks like off Fort Lauderdale from deep sea diving and then he concludes with, "why not you?" And I took that to heart. Why not me? What's stopping me? I quit my job in October of last year, I moved back to my parents house, I turned in one lease and finally sold the other car, I gave back my land, paid off my credit card. First question people ask me is, "Kids? Married?" Nope. As much as they do not want me too, I have my parents approval. And the belief of my mother, who I cherish more than anything in this world. and my friends and acquaintances who tell me go for it, 'you're living my dream.' I've been extremely blessed for the life I'm living and I cannot thank God enough for everything. "THANK YOU." So all in all, there's really no one or anything stopping me... =) Oh, and something I've always wanted to do was watch the running of the bulls in Pampolona, Spain ever since reading the Ernest Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' in 5th grade. So then i ask myself, why not me?
ciao
carol
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