Oops!

Sorry for the serious MIA posts.... will finish my Italy posts soon!

Italy: Day 3, Part I - Milan

Monday morning, we wake up and head down to the HIE's feast gratis again for a yummy breakfast. We decided we wanted to go for a long walk over to the Duomo again, this time to see the inside of the impressive structure. We wandered the streets of Milan again, this time feeling like we knew what to expect from the people, places and changing landscape. We get to the Duomo again, thinking that we're going to get to climb the stairs to the roof. The cloudy/rainy weather put a damper on that plan though and the roof access was closed. Instead, we found our way inside the main part of the church, all the while keeping a lookout for the "bracelet bandits". Inside the Duomo, eyes adjusting to the darkness, we could see large paintings hanging from the high ceilings, old confessionals lining the right side wall, and a two long tables of candles lit by patrons. It was a dark, yet beautiful place. We each lit a candle, took some photos and headed back out into the plaza.

Conveniently (wink wink), we wandered back over to our favorite little Milan cafe for another round of americanos and after a game of charades with the cafe staff after a miscommunication, had our first slice of pizza that wasn't delivery. We were in love. I wish I remembered the name of this place so I could tell you to go. Just delicious. With full bellies, we decide to sort of get lost on our way back to the hotel and stumble upon a hidden courtyard entrance to a museum that was just architecturally stunning. Not to mention the giant statue of a naked man in its center. After taking more photos, we start our zigzag path through the backstreets of Milan again. We stumble upon another cute cafe and can't resist the urge to get another americano (seriously, we have a problem). The fat little birds landed on our chairs, hoping we would give them a crumb or two. Obviously, they are appeased more often than not.

Again, we wander but are starting to talk about heading back to the hotel. I, generally the navigator of our dynamic duo, say I need to consult the map. Nikki says we just need to make a left and then a right. I look at the map and she's right. In our own little world, looking at all the buildings and nooks on the side streets, we barely notice when someone familiar-looking passes us on the tiny sidewalk. I look up at Nikki, brow furrowed, and our conversation changes gears:
Me: "Didn't that look like..."
Nikki: "Stefan?"
Me: "Was it him?"
Nikki: "I think so"
Me: "Do you want to go say hi?"
Nikki: "Nooo"
Me: "Are you sure?"
Nikki: "Yes"

With that, we did a 360 and headed in the direction of the man that just passed us. We catch up to him and low and behold - it is him! Stefan from DMB. He was so nice and friendly. We took pics with him and told him that we were excited for the show that night and then were back on our way. Of course, now we had big smiles on our faces because we just met one of the reasons we came to Italy for. So cool.

Italy: Day 2, Part III - Milan

Again, we wander the streets of Milan back towards the hotel. We shower, get slightly dolled up (meaning we didn't throw on our standard uniform of hoodies and jeans), and stuff our party shoes in our purses for the long walk we are about to embark on. You see, we were invited to the party that the Italian DMB fan base was throwing to celebrate DMB's return to Italy after 12 years (not counting the Lucca show sometime ago). The Italian DMB community is a surprisingly hard core set. To celebrate, they rented out this jazz club tucked into an old warehouse-looking establishment, had an excellent DMB cover band and fed us like rock stars. This was the first sampling of real Italian food we had and probably the most memorable of all of our stops in Italy. We polished off a bottle of Chianti, sat back and let the moment was over us. Once the band started, we got a little antsy. Hearing the cover band belt out the lyrics to the songs we know and love, complete with near-perfect Dave inflections was a little much the night before a show. We simply wanted the real thing and this was just a tease. Tired from the day's walking (easily 10 miles when all was said and done) we grabbed our stuff and ventured out into the rainy night for our walk back to the HIE... our home away from home.

Italy: Day 2, Part II - Milan

Walking through the streets of Milan, the Duomo being our desired destination, we realized how familiar yet strange Milan was. At first glance, it looked like any other city. Hard architectural lines padded by seemingly endless concrete and neon signs littering the landscape. What was so different was the contents of some of the shops along our walk. Tobacco stores in every block. "Sexy" shops every few blocks. Pharmacies glowing with their neon green crosses outside. Incomprehensible street names. We were surely far away from home.

On our way to the Duomo, we saw the La Scala Opera House, a statue of DaVinci and the Galleria (an impressive architectural shopping center housing the flagship Prada store). Just through the tremendous arches of the Galleria, we saw something that made us both gape. It was an incredible sight. An unexpected gasp in the breaths of our journey. The Duomo, the 4th largest church in the world, was a sight unlike any other. We eagerly whipped out our cameras, carefully watching out for pickpockets, and filled our lenses with its beauty. As I focus my camera on the one of the pink marble spires, I notice someone walking directly at me. I put my camera away, Nikki and I on high alert. The man puts a rainbow-threaded bracelet on my jacket and says to have it and that it is free. I don't believe him. I put it up off my arm and try to give it back. He insists it is free and then ties one on Nikki's wrist. Finally giving in, I allow him to tie one on my wrist too. Then he asks where we're from and says he has a friend in NYC. Then, he asks for money, shaking some change he has in hand at us to show us what he means. Feeling like we should give him something (silly Americans), we try and find some change in our pockets. When Nikki hands him less than 1 Euro in change, he changes his tone completely and asks for 2 Euros/bracelet. We tell him we don't have that. He tries again. We say no and walk away. For the rest of the day, we hid those bracelets under our long sleeves feeling like idiots. (We finally cut them off at the hotel later that night) From then on, we steered clear of anyone with bracelets or books (different object, same sales tactic). And the Duomo was swarming with these "salesmen".

After seeing the impressive exterior of the Duomo, we decided that we'd like to stroll along the less touristy streets in the area. We had a map, but didn't bother consulting it. We let our instincts be our guide. We ended up walking down a gorgeous little street that had a string of sidewalk cafes. We picked one, deciding to get a cafe americano and sit down outside. Well, this was the first place I think we went where no one spoke English at all. Lucky for me and my natural spastic tendencies, I can easily use my hands to speak. In fact, I did a lot of our communicating on this trip. :) We ordered our coffees and I got a bowl of pasta and we sat outside for our first Italian cafe experience.

Italy: Day 2, Part I - Milan

One of the things we love most about the HIE (besides the obvious triple sheet technology) is that you always get a free breakfast. Our beloved HIE in Wisconsin serves up warm biscuits, cheese omelets, yogurt, sausages, and more... A feast gratis, if you will. Well, this little Italian gem of a hotel served up their own version of the feast with fresh croissants, pastries, meats, cheeses and cereals. Oh, and the best darn little coffees you ever did get from a push-button machine. The biggest adjustment was the size of the coffees. They were so little! How ever is one supposed to survive a whole day of tourist activities in Milan without the accustomed 20oz bucket of caffeine?

Nikki turned down my offer to fill up one of the miniature pitchers lying around with the delicious coffee, choosing not to stand out like a silly American. So, we gulped down our first coffee and then filled up a tiny to-go cup (think dentist chair size) and went about our journey through Milan.

Now, I don't think everyone knows about the influx of pickpocketing in Italy, so let me just explain that we were forewarned (what felt like hundreds of times) about the its prevalence and how to avoid it. As two slightly neurotic people, all of these warnings stressed us out more than I'd care to admit. In fact, we basically stopped talking about the Italy trip before we left because we were both on edge. But I digress... We headed out on the streets of Milan, me with a map and my Rick Steve's Italy 2010 guide book in hand, Nikki with her iPhone. We were amused by the little things around the hotel's neighborhood. Like the little dog named Pippo around the corner or the Italian Chinese food places lining the streets. This is about when we started perfecting our Italian accents. "Mi amore, Pippo!" "Let's getta soma pizza!" I'm sure you can imagine. We definitely sounded like we were mimicking Dracula, not an Italian.

Italy: Day 1 - Milan

As I said before, neither Nikki nor I like to fly. Despite this, we held up phenomenally well on both of our flights that day. The flight to Milan from JFK was around 8 hrs long and it went surprisingly quick. Oh, and the food! Delicious! I don't know that I have ever, ever even come close to describing airline food with such exclamation before, and maybe a more cultured foodie would cringe at the stuff, but it was good. Our first experience dealing with the language barrier we were up against was on the plane. The flight attendants asked us questions in Italian before realizing we were clueless and switching to English. Looking back now, we had no idea how often we'd feel like stammering idiots in the coming week. We had a smooth landing in Milan; One of those landings where the entire plane full of passengers starts applauding the pilot for getting them there safely. Strange, but positive nonetheless.

Navigating the Milan airport wasn't too hard. We managed to find the baggage claim area and our matching backpacks relatively quickly. As soon as we got off the plane though, we went into high alert. Before we left Boston, we must have been told 100 times about pickpockets and thieves abound in Italy. Walking through the airport was our first test. We somehow managed to find an ATM machine (bancomat), buy bus tickets and find the bus... all while guarding our backpacks and purses with our lives. In fact, we were even approached by a taxi driver trying to convince us to take a taxi to our hotel for a mere 80 Euros. Uh no. We're not that naive, buddy. At this point, we were on the bus and exhausted. We were desperately trying to keep our eyes open so we wouldn't miss our stop. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only 30 minutes, we made it to Stazione Central (Central Station) in Milan and hopped off the bus. Next challenge: get a taxi to our hotel. This one was a cinch and a super quick ride. Bless the HIE (Holiday Inn Express for those not in the know) for it's wonderful staff and triple-sheet technology. Although, it must be said that Italy has seemingly not yet embraced the triple-sheet tech yet, but the hotel itself was well above what one might expect.

We dumped our bags in our room and went out for a quick stroll to see what Milan was like. We were both so defeated by the long hours of traveling that our quick walk was literally about 15 minutes around the block and back. We hopped into bed and took a long afternoon nap, followed by a call for some pizza delivery to our room. Off to a great start, right? Ha!

Italy: Getting There

Everyone I've seen today has asked me how my vacation was. There's simply nothing I can say to adequately describe even a day of my dream-like vacation with Nikki. I figure I should at least try though. So, here's an attempt...

Last Friday, I scrambled to get packed and clean my house so that I would make my plane in time and have the benefit of returning to a refreshingly clean house when I returned. I said a heartfelt goodbye to my little soul cat and hauled my pristine new backpack, full of life's little necessities, out to Nikki's car. We ran a few errands and headed to her apartment to say goodbye to her cats and then hopped in a cab to the airport. Neither of us like flying. The reality of being airborne just scares the pants off us both. So, you could feel the anxiety building for the both of us on our journey to the airport. Especially since we were both getting nauseous due to the cabbie's lack of grace upon the winding streets of Boston.

We got the the airport, checked in and waited patiently for our flight to JFK to board. Then, there was an announcement that our plane was still not here and our flight was delayed 45 mins. I went up to the desk and asked what we should do since our connection from JFK left shortly after our planned arrival there. The airline staffer bumped us up to the front of the plane so we would be able to get off the plane as soon as possible. Sounded good to me. Everything went smoothly until we landed in New York and had to sit on the runway for another 45 minutes. We fervidly checked our next flight's status on Nikki's iPhone and saw that our flight to Milan was already boarding! Eek! As soon as our plane pulled up to the gate and let us off, we bolted towards the monitors showing us the status of our flight to Milan. "Closed", it said. We ran towards the gate anyways, huffing and puffing the whole way. When we finally got to our gate, we saw that there were still some airline staff there. We asked what we should do. Luckily, a third passenger in our same situation rolled up behind us. Not sure that mattered, but it felt like it would be harder for them to turn down 3 people instead of 2. One of the women told us it was our lucky day. The plane was still at the gate even though it was closed, and we had already been booked on tomorrow's flight given that we hadn't shown up in time, but she made it happen. Luck was on our side... maybe it was because Nikki booked us in row 34? Who knows. All I can say is that it was the happiest moment for all 3 of us stranded bodies when she let us on the plane. Our trip was actually happening. We were going to Italy.

let there be hope

recently, there has been a sprinkling of people in my life that have really given me hope for the whole of humanity. maybe that sounds like i carry around a rather pessimistic outlook in my back pocket, just waiting to pull it out and say "see? i told you!". really, i don't. instead, i tend to be overly optimistic about people and fall blind to all but their good qualities (i'm sure i've mentioned this before, as it gets me into trouble more often than not). this less than sparkly view of humanity comes from many years of being slapped in the face by the sometimes harsh reality of human behavior. call it cynicism. call it life. as usual though, i digress.

the recent rays of sunshine that have renewed my hope have come in random forms:
- a mechanic who worked on my car for free, just because it didn't take much time and he was a genuinely nice person.
- a boss that asks how life is and truly appreciates the hard work i do (and tells me that)
- a landlord that brings me a plate of fresh picked grapes, just because she thought i'd like them

Morning Story

Here's how my morning has gone....

Wake up exhausted, but get up anyways.
Dudley is extra happy because I fed him early and went back to bed.
Get ready for work while Happy Dudley follows me around room to room.
Put on a dress, heels and full makeup in an attempt to psych myself into feeling better.
Sadly leave Happy Dudley to go to work.
Stop in Starbucks (nearly flashing the below-the-belt goods to the entire Starbucks parking lot).
Notice a hot guy at a table in Starbucks.
Hot guy notices me.
Get my coffee and go to work.
Nearly flash the top floor of the parking garage "the goods".
Say "hi" to coworkers in the office next door.
Get to my desk and feel like I have an alien growing inside me.
Sit down and try to breathe the feeling away.
Realize I have a pounding headache, stomach ache, and a scary cough to boot.
Email boss.
Say "bye" to coworkers in the office next door.
Return to vehicle and head home.
Happy Dudley is happy again.

Captain's Log

Day 1 of Official DMB Fan Status

This morning while driving my new jeep into work, the local radio station was talking about how wonderful a band DMB is and how great their shows are. Then, much to my dismay, they proceeded to pronounce LeRoi's name incorrectly and suggest that he died in a snowmobile accident. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at their lack of band knowledge, which apparently, I have bulimicly consumed over recent months. After talking at the radio DJs from within the confines of the jeep, I was pleasantly relieved to hear a loyal fan call in and correct them. It is this very incident that has made me realize that I have tip-toed into the DMB world and am no longer a complete outsider. Be proud, mama bear, be proud. :)