20.4.09

Back from the Dead (Part 1)

I didn't bring my camera with me to the computer lab so pictures from Italy will have to wait. Even though I don't have pics this second, I can say that this trip was amazing! It was really expensive but if you go anywhere on the Euro, expensive goes without saying. Rome during Holy Week was an experience. First, there was the Krakow Airport. At Polish airports, instead of regular security personnel, they have military commando looking people. We flew RyanAir which translates to we only brought carry-on luggage. I brought my face wash (112 mL) and my conditioner (200 mL), both of which were over the 100 mL limit for liquids allowed in the cabin. I cunningly avoided having to throw my stuff away by spilling the entire contents of my luggage on to the floor. Although it wasn't really planned, I pulled my bag off the table but neglected to zip up my bag before doing so. I thought I was just creating a whole new route for the struggle bus but it ended up working in my favor. All the commotion meant that they forgot about my liquids and went on to the next person. After a pleasant flight, we arrived in Bergamo, a town about 50 km from Milan. The plan was to just take the train to Milan but that would have entailed waiting a long ass time in a podunk suburb while a major city neither Ashley nor I had ever seen was tantalizingly close. We bought a bus ticket to Milan and got to explore there for a few hours. The people in Italy are way nice than the people in Poland. We had no idea how to get to Il Duomo from the train station so we went to a tram stop shelter and were looking at the map, trying to get the slightest clue where we were. This middle aged gentleman, dressed in the manner of the residentially challenged, stopped and asked in alarmingly good English where we were trying to get to. He gave very clear and easy to follow directions to where we wanted to go. That would never happen in Poland.
Il Duomo is gorgeous. Mark Twain had it right when he called it "poetry in marble." So many details and embellishments. You could spend a lifetime looking at it and notice something new every day. This is about all I have time for at the moment but trust me. There is plenty more to come.

1 comment:

A said...

ok, so I just realized you had a new blog and I've had to catch up on your entire semester in one morning! Luckily I'm at work and don't have much better to do. I'm so jealous that you are still experiencing all this stuff and all I have left are the wonderful memories of my semester. I am really happy for you though and I know you're probably not looking forward to coming home, but I am looking forward to you being here! Will you be staying in Plainwell for the summer? Cause in case you forgot, that's awfully close to where I live...