Ciao!
I am going to kick off today's post off by sharing with you my current favorite Italian word: Zucchero. (Zoo-kair-o) This--no surprise to some of you--means "sugar." Oh my goodness gracious. I love saying this word. I love the way it rolls like a wave through my mouth. My heart glows warmer and warmer the more Italian I speak... or maybe I'm confusing that with heartburn due to all the carbolicious food I'm eating (made that word up yesterday by the way, catchy eh? I think I am going to have to copyright it.)
Actually, I love the word so much that I accidentally said "Zucchero" when I really meant "Grazie!" Maybe because, subconsciously, sugar in my head is synonymous with thank you. I do thank the gods for providing us mere mortals with this wonderful gift.
Zuchhero. Zucchero. Zucchero.
Never gets old.
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| Love my zucchero! |
Beware: I'm switching topics on you now.
Jetlag. Let me switch the topics to jetlag and then I will get back to some more Zucchero (love, love, love that word!). I am not as jetlagged as I was yesterday, but I was feeling pretty dang lethargic at about 13:00 (I know some of you out there are not Military clock savvy, so I will save you the headache of trying to figure out what that means in American time: 1:00pm). My step-dad came into the city today and he was definitely tuckered out from flying all day. So, while he took a nap I read my book "The Help" (which is a FABULOUS book by the way) and started to drowse off too. The three of us (remember my mama is here) took a two hour nap. It felt good, but YUCKY... it was so difficult to get my butt cheeks out of that comfy bed. (Yes, the bed here is actually being incredibly generous to my back, which is a rarity when it comes to my screwed up back [like the pun?])
So, yes, jetlag sucks, but here are some things that can help you get out of this lethargic-I-want-to-see-nothing-but-the-insides-of-my-eyelids syndrome.
1. Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate. Drink tons of water. (Seriously this helps. Plus you should do it anyways.)
2. You may take naps, but restrict them to one hour. Otherwise it will take longer for you to adjust to the current time zone. Note that the adjustment takes three days average.
3. Walking around. Exercise. (This helps SO much. See some Italian men. That will get your heart thumping...)
4. Eat healthy. Vitamin C is a good idea.
Ooh, I got to tell you about this morning... I mean, after all, I did title this post after this particular event.
The markets!!!
Oh my good golly gosh! The markets here are absolutely amazing.
A-MA-ZING!
My mother and I walked out into the streets. The cobblestone streets that is. Some of the cobblestones actually wobbled and made gritty sounds beneath my worn out orangy sneakers. The city here is bursting with life. People are everywhere! You have to be aggressive if you want to cross the streets (Italian word for crossing the streets is: attraversiamo [learned that in Liz Gilbert's memoir "Eat Pray Love"]) because people--all shapes & sizes, walking speeds, etc--are literally everywhere. Good thing I have had lots of practice with this particular issue during my high school years--the halls of Sprague are hellish. Another thing you have to look out for when crossing the streets are bicycles, scooters, and cars. Some people don't even warn you that you are coming. They just come!
I thought I was going to get flattened down like that pigeon my mom and I saw the other day. Yes... we saw a cobblestone crushed pigeon outside our hotel. It looked like a freaking pancake with feathers! How did that pigeon not see that wheel coming I will never know. As you see, this flattening-of-the-pigeon thing still boggles my mind.
I also noticed a lot of people coughing today.
I wonder why?
Oh let me take a wild gander here... (Sidenote: Looked up "gander" in the dictionary on my lovely laptop and it means: male goose. Learn something everyday.)
Maybe it's because they smoke so much here!!!
WAHA! I think I found my answer.
So, my momma and I were cruising down the markets and I was in awe at the beautiful scarves, purses, leather jackets, jewelry, etc. My mom and I talked with this very sweet middle-aged Italian man about where we came from and guess what??? You are never going to believe this... HE KNEW WHERE OREGON WAS!!! It was so exciting. He actually knew more about Oregon than even some Oregonians know about Oregon. I was fascinated. His wife went on a study abroad trip, met him, fell in love, and now has been living there for 19 years. My mom turned toward me and then wiggled her eyebrows. I just shook my head. Ain't going to happen chica.
This very kind surprising-Oregon-savvy Italian man sold hats. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful hats. I bought this gray felt hat. It will keep me nice and warm in the summer and not just warm, but I'll be stylin' too, which is good because I need to up the stylin' factor... remember I'm Amanda Yancey aka: THE DORK.
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| My awesome felt hat. |
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| My beautiful elephant bag! :) |
We walked a little further and came across a man selling these gorgeous hand-made muslin purses. I really liked this white purse with an elephant on it. The man asked for 20 euros. Mom offered 10. He took it. Mom realized she offered too much. He didn’t barter back. Maybe she should have offered 5.
Next Mom and I walked into the indoor market. Sooooo cool. Nearly everyplace had samples. And these samples definitely beat out the ones Costco. We tried some bone-melting black truffle broushetta (sp?) on a square piece of bread. I am NOT a mushroom person, but goodness… that was just down right delicious. Some advice: Be adventurous in life. I promise you will be pleasantly surprised.
Momma and I ended up eating at a little German delicatessen. We shared a bowl goulash—warm and spicy deliciousness. I dipped my bread into it. Holy moly moly holy the bread was heavenly. It definitely qualified as CARBOLICIOUS! I also had a bratwurst sandwich. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Mom taught me something smart today. When I am sitting outside with my purse. I need to sit with it by my side with my foot through the loop—this makes it harder to steal.
Ba-bam! That’s how it’s done.
Oh I got to tell you something sad. Something very sad…
Mom and I were walking around the market place and we saw this meat deli and on top of the glass was a little statue of a horse.
Mom: Hmm… makes you wonder. (Suspiciously eyes the meat.)
Me: Makes you wonder what? (Totally clueless here.)
[We both look up at the menu. There we see two gut-wrenching words: Horse Meat.]
Me: (On the verge of tears.) Oh… no… no! (I was about to fall to my knees and throw my arms up. YOU CAN’T EAT HORSES. Of course the man selling the meat would beg to differ.)
Hmm, hmm, hmm… what else should I talk about.
Oh yes. So, I’ll say that even though food is outrageously delicious and incredibly fatting, the people here in Firenze aren’t fat. Not even close to being fat. Actually they have GREAT figures. It’s because everyone walks here.
I will walk a lot too. I will walk, walk, WALK, climb stairs—do whatever I got to do in order to continue chowing down this carbolicious food.
Here is my mantra: Must exercise. Must eat carbolicious food.
Oh! I need to tell you about the big domed church we saw today. You can see this grand structure in pretty much any picture of Firenze. We saw it from the aeroplano. Such a spectacular sight! This red-tiled amazing human-made structure is called the Santa Maria. The building just towers over you like some fierce giant, demanding your attention. There are these marble statues everywhere--I love the one of little baby Jesus giving a blessing--some of them are just demonic looking. Want to know something amazing?
Of course you do.
This grand structure was built in the 1300s.
Has your jaw popped open?
I know mine did as I craned my neck back to look up at it, but then I had to shut it quickly before a pigeon pooped in my mouth.
If you look up at the tippy-top of the dome you’ll see people up their admiring the view. Yes, you can actually climb the stairs to the top. I am going to do this before I leave.
My apartment is just down the street from this beautiful structure. How lucky am I???
That’s the end of my gloating.
I’m just really appreciative and thankful for this INCREDIBLE experience.
Periodically throughout the day the bells would tong away. I was trying to think of how to describe the sound to you. I guess right now the words that come to mind are deep, guttural, calming sort of…
There were a lot of nuns and priests walking around. For some odd reason the sight of them always made me giggle.
There were a lot of horse carriage rides in this area and I couldn’t help worry for these horses lives. I mean where do they go when they retire??? I mean—as my Mom would say—it makes you wonder…
I have to admit that when I smelled the horse dumplings on the cobblestones I got a little nostalgic… I was starting to miss my Red-a-Roo. I realize I’m one of the few—possibly the only--people who gets nostalgic when she smells horse crap, but oh well… I’m weird like that.
Interesting fact: The street signs of Italy are not like those in the U.S. They are actually inscribed on placards, located on the corner of buildings.
Ooh I got some gelato today. From a group of women this time—I made sure of this—so we didn’t have a Ground Hog’s Day moment. I got a scoop of berries and a scoop of lemon in a waffle cone. GOOD GOD!!! The waffle cones here are beyond words. I could say tons of things about them—they are amazing, delicious, out of this world, mouth watering, yummy, finger-licking good—but I’d never find the RIGHT word to adequately describe my experience with this waffle cone. Bite after crunchy bite, my eyes would roll back into my head, like I was having a flippin’ ... (I’ll let you fill in the blank here)Yep, it was that good.
We sat on a concrete bench, listening to a three-man band play in the square as I ate my gelato. The violinist got my foot tapping—remember exercise is important in this carbolicious country.
Next Mike, Momma, and I walked down the cobblestreet alleyways, walked along the river, then came up to a little Caffe. I had my first cappuccino. It was served in a ceramic cup with the world’s map painted on it. A breeze sailed through the air, playing over my skin, as I sipped the foam from my cup. Oh! Here is the fun part. I got to add something VERY, VERY, VERY special in this cappuccino… what oh what could this be???
ZUCCHERO!!!!
Yay! I told you we’d get back to this wonderful word.
You still reading?
I’m amazed if you are because this is turning out to be a freaking novel. At this point it is 7 pages on my Word document. Oh well… what can I say—I’m a writer. I’m also a serial babbler.
Go ahead and take a potty break now if you wish.
I promise I'm almost done.
At around 19:35 (7:35pm) we went out to dinner--same place as the previous night. I had penne pasta with tomato sauce again. So, so, unbelievable delicious!!! I am neither an onion person nor a tomato person and I gobbled up that sauce like my life depended on it. It was a spicy, peppery, tangy, warm sauce that seemed to melt in my mouth. It tasted as though it was made that day—not sitting in some can with a wanna-be-Italian man on the label on the shelves of a Safeway for months. No, this was fresh. I had a cappuccino with some more ZUCCHERO after dinner. It was incredibly pleasant. Like this was my reward for all those hellish years of back surgeries.
Now I am back in our hotel, sitting on the third story balcony. The warm arm kissing the back of my neck, making my fingers sweat and slip across the keys as I type. The city is so bright that when I look to the sky I only see about… hold on, let me count… FOUR stars out. Yep, FOUR stars, that’s all. I see a cute little gray kitty looking out the window to the right of me.
Well—GROSS—now he is licking his crotch, so I will glance up to the building in front of me.
There is only one window lit, it’s got that bluish, eery glow to it, that kind made by a TV, there is also a silhouette of man staring out the window. He is totally creeping me out right now. All he needs is a woman’s wig and we have Normano Bates.
The city is noisy at night. I keep hearing cars honking, cars zooming by, drunkards yelling at one another, scooters whizzing by, cats screeching like their in heat or in a fight or possibly both, etc.
Well, I’ve been typing away on this post of mine for a good two hours and need to go to bed now. Plus I think I’m convinced I chatted a storm up for you. Like always, if you made it to this point without flickering eyes of boredom I salute you!
Till next time.
Arrivederci!
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