March 26, 2024

Wow. What a week(?) less? More? Hard to say. 

Cooper and Mom left on Monday, mom in the morning in a teary taxi, and Coop later in the afternoon. It was really nice to get some bro time with him, just meandering around Rome. The next few days I had a lot of work, mostly really interesting, but still enough time to hang out with my Rome friends a lot. Kiki, Ava, and Josh were so kind to put my smelly butt up for so long, and I got to spend great time with Yana and Elena both, including going to the volleyball team’s practice! Honestly, so much of being in Rome was a total mind-bleep. Walking through the grocery store, stretching in the volleyball gym, and strolling around the streets that I spent so much time in one year ago. It felt like I had just been gone for a week or two honestly, and I felt myself almost getting sucked back into my routines. Being in a place where I’ve known a lot of stability (a lot relative to right now) made me curious how it’ll be adjusting to a stationary life in Belgrade, especially considering that I’ve only got about a week and a half of nomadicism left. Boy have I been on the move, too!

I left Rome for Florence on Thursday evening. My hostel was meh, but to access it I walked through a gorgeous courtyard lined with arched walkways complete with frescoes. I’d been to Florence already last year, but I stil went for a few walks around. I have got to say it’s probably among my least favorite Italian cities, and certainly the most overrated. It’s got a very sterile feeling. Although I must say, the duomo has got to be one of my favorite buildings of all time. I could look at that thing forever honestly. However, I had places to be. 

Many people I’ve talked to have said that Northern Italy is nice, but a lot more expensive and a touch snobbier than the south. Since I have much more of a connection down south with family, I figured that I might not make it this far North again, probably not any time soon that is. So, I decided that I’d try to see the most of it that I could. My primary strategy for doing this was to book a few leapfrog trains to my destination instead of just getting there in one go. So, applying this strategy, I embarked from Florence upon a beautiful trenItalia specimen to Bologna where I spent the morning and afternoon. I loved bologna. It has the architectural class and historical significance of Florence and the gritty Italian-ness of Napoli with some beautiful aesthetic hallmarks of Northern Italy– the tall watch tower and long walks under arched roofs. Fantastic. I didn’t indulge in Pasta Bolognese (i know, bummer), but I did have some bologna, more specifically Mortadella, the classic Italian baloney. It was fun but nothing special, especially when paired with my next destination: Parma. 

Parma was a cute little city, very small with a charming river running through it. I looked around the main square, park, old town, and cathedral of course, but my eyes were on another food item. More specifically, parmagianno cheese and prosciutto di Parma. I was able to consume both in what might be the most delicious sandwich of my life, which consisted of a crema di parmagiano, prosciutto, and arugula on a nice subtle roll. Really just sensational food. 

From Parma I hopped on a train to my fourth gorgeous Italian city of the day: Milan! I had initially been tinkering with the idea of staying in a few places around Northern Italy for a day or two at a time but I just decided to set up base in Milan and do day trips instead. It worked out great. But first, about Milan. It’s a very elegant city, and also certainly a city city, much more so than anywhere else I’ve been in Italy. I was reminded very strongly of Paris, and I even accidentally threw in a few s.v.p.’s instead of p.f.’s! No matter where I walked around, everyone was absolutely dripped out, really just classy fashion. I *definitely* can’t hang, especially with my current wardrobe selection. There are a few amazing sights in Milan of course, including the Duomo di Milano, which ahs got to be the greatest Gothic cathedral anywhere. Talk about awesome and creepy! I dig it. 

On Saturday I executed my next day trip, this time starting with a long-ish train to Verona, city of Romeo and Juliet! I’ll tell ya, it would be hard to find a more charming Italian town. Sure, it’s pretty touristic, but walking a block away from the main attractions yields a private alley with gorgeous balconies dripping with ivy and class. So nice. The old town takes up the space in the middle of a U-shaped bend in a river. By crossing the river and ascending a few stories of stairs, one is treated to a fantastic view of the whole town from a castle’s front yard. How awesome!

After a few hours of touring around, I embarked for Lago di Garda, one of several huge and stunning lakes in Northern Italy that seep out of the Alps. I got off in a small town called Pescheria di Garda (fishery of), and immediately heard thumping bass– how odd for a small lakeside town. I followed my ears and was rather stunned to discover a huge parade of elaborate floats, each with their own seemingly equally gigantic speaker system bumping completely different music. Each float had a theme- fire, penguins, green, formal, old-timey, pirates, and a team of dancers dressed up to match. The whole thing was so Italian, with some aspects so carefully and clearly planned out with some crucial details happily ignored. I loved it and was able to take home a few pieces of confetti in my hair as a souvenir. 

My final stop of the day was Brescia, a pretty big city closer to Milan. I walked around for an hour or so and found a charming modern city without a massive old town. Don’t get me wrong, it would still be the most beautiful town in all of America, but after Verona and Lago di Garda, I was exhausted and ready to hit the hay after a long day, especially considering my plans for Sunday…

The next morning (the aforementioned Sunday), I took a train from Milan to Como, the famous lake town after which Lake Como is named. It’s been a few weeks since I had any really nice nature time, and I knew Como lies at the feet of the Italian Alps, so a hike was in my sights. From the station I strolled through the town center and the brief water front, then up the hills I went. It was a long uphill but eventually I was treated with a sensational panoramic view of Lake Como and the Swiss and Italian alps sprawling out before my eyes. Just wow! The down hike was calm, and then I had a few miles of trekking back along a flat path that wove through tiny villages in the mountainside. It reminded me a lot of the Cammino, the road textures, the nature, the signage. I suppose it is closer to France than the hiking I’ve been doing recently, and the distance was pretty solid, I ended up getting almost 45k steps on the day, my biggest day in 2024! Hopefully I’ll shatter that within the week… No spoilers!!

After a cheap dinner in Como, I decided to make a stop in Monza, one of the two Italian cities which hold Formula 1 races. You see, that morning, Ferarri (the main Italian team, and the one I happen to support), scored a 1-2 victory in a massive upset against Red Bull and other teams. This is huge! So, I figured that walking around Monza the evening of this mega win, I would find all kinds of boisterousness and frivolity. I was disappointing to find yet another small, quiet, stunningly beautiful Italian town (queue sarcastic eye roll). The only F1 bar I could find online was closing, seeing as it was really just a coffee bar. Alas! 

Monday was spent mostly working and poking around Milan a touch more in an attempt to take it easy. I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather recently. It makes sense– not enough sleep and water, not tons of good social interaction (my Milan hostel was the worst hostel I’ve had yet, not at all conducive to hanging and meeting), lots of moving, worst air quality in the north, and pollen with Spring coming. This week I’ll take it verrrrry easy, going into full rest mode so that I can hopefully get back to 100% for my big adventure Saturday… 

Right now, I’m on a flight from Milan, Bergamo, to Prague!!!! Yippee!!