(no subject)
Well, here I am again back at uni for my 2nd semester...not that 'back' means anything much to a manchester girl as i have been to-ing and fro-ing to fallowfield all holiday but anyway. exams soon (like...TOMORROW). ARGH! haven't revised at all!
verona was very nice. very cold but very sunny so very pretty (i like the word very). our hotel was lovely and really near to everywhere! anyway...i should do a diary like prague.
saturday
drive to london stanstead airport. stanstead, despite the name, is very misleading. not near london at all. instead, located in some obscure village in hertfordshire. luckily, luke's mum is happy to be a taxi service, saving us having to spend £40 on a train fare from london (the cheek!)
luke realises he has left all his money behind. silly boy. accidently queue up for santiago while he gets more money.
admire greatly the pertness of the buttocks of the italian gentlemen in front of us in the queue. luke not amused. am forced to look away.
get on plane. horrible horrible turbulence! just like last time i flew to verona only this time the plane didn't do a nosedive and drop a thousand feet with much screaming. thank god.
thankful to be on the ground again, albeit very cold ground. italy colder than england.
get on bus to take us to verona. trip takes AGES! once in verona, have to walk to hotel. crossing italian roads is a death trap in itself. italians seemingly have no concept of traffic lights.
hotel v. posh, if a little OTT in the christmas lights. are taken to our room and decide to have a nap. bad idea to nap naked. wake up to find italian cleaner standing over me. cue horrified screams. cleaner flees the room. note to self - put 'do not disturb' sign on door.
wake up around 7 and decide to go out. go into verona and wander round the cobbled square. a band are playing on the steps of the town hall and there are people in fur coats everywhere. we pick a posh looking restaurant and order a bottle of wine. i have ossobuco (veal) and polenta. luke has pasta in a gorgeous buttery sauce. for dessert he has tirramissu and i have lemon sorbet in a wine glass. we get free chocolates.
now lightly sozzled. find piazza erbe and go for cocktails. have mojitos. mojitos FAR inferior to those experienced in chester but v. strong. luke gets a double sambuca. also v. strong. all the scallies here do shots followed by coffee chasers.
leave the cocktail bar and have the munchies. father christmas is playing the accordian and we find a crappy pizza place and eat a spicy salami pizza (MUCH better than pepperoni)
return to room where we raid the minibar of campari and orange.
sunday
greeted with the familiar sight of a continental breakfast we have all learned to hate. verona breakfast not that bad. lots of spicy salami and hard boiled eggs, but alas, no horses willy. obviously just the communist types then. am very worried by the amount of static shocks i keep getting, mainly off luke who thought it a great joke to prod me all day to hear me spark!
go into verona and spend morning exploring little back alleys and churches. go into san anastasia church where i have sung. luke suitably impressed and suddenly becomes all catholic, crossing me with holy water. ew.
find BERSHKA! oh hallowed of all continetal clothes shops! so fashionable...yet so cheap! bore luke by trying on a hundred things.
fall out over where to eat for lunch. end up eating nowhere. both of us pissed off. day turns horrible. but at least i bought a jacket from bershka.
decide to go back to hotel and forget the day ever happened. stop to eat at mcdonalds so luke can carry on eating mcdonalds in every country in the world. italian mcdonalds rate the 2nd lowest yet. oh dear.
nap at hotel for a bit. then get ready to go out. get to wear my green dress. yay! go to one of the poshest restaurants in verona 'botteglia del vino' or something like that. as probably guessed, it specialises in wine. even the doors were made of wine bottles. they had wine over £100 years old which cost over £2000 for a bottle. v. posh indeed. dinner good but not worth prices. luke has beef with peppers and I have three chunks of venison in a red wine and fruit sauce. value for money? i think not.
go back to hotel and spend evening watching italian tv...amongst other things!
monday
get up early and go to railway station. try to practice italian by ordering two return tickets to venice. it was a lot more complicated than i expected and end up not understanding a word. am not even sure of the platform. get very disheartened when our train does not arrive but cheer up when we realise italian trains are always late. italian scenery very interesting from train.
get into venice and explore the little back streets. shrines to mary EVERYWHERE! also signs to piazza san marco everywhere.stop on the way for lunch. i have veal in lemon and white wine (which was cold) and luke had gnochi (or however it's spelt). are still hungry afterwards. follow signs to san marco and stop for pizza on the way. also stop for lemon and sugar crepes. manage to spill sugary lemon down £200 coat. reminsce of last time i had lemon and sugar crepes in paris and dropped sugary lemon down £600 camera. finally get to san marco after weaving our way through tiny narrow streets full of brightly lit shops. san marco scarily EMPTY. go into the basilica and look round museum. inform luke i have sung mass here. luke suitably impressed.
luke starts getting cold and grouchy. get on a vaporetti (water taxi) and are taken down the grand canal. scenery so beautiful! curse my camera for having hardly any battery. manage to get some nice pictures of the sun going down behind the beautiful waterside palaces. have sudden urge to buy one but realise i would have to win the lottery of be related to royalty. bah. luke cheers up and we get off at the rialto (shopping area!). go into cafe and have steaming cups of hot mulled wine with chunks of apple in. get lightly sozzled and very warm and fuzzy. eventually go back outside and take in the beautiful venice scenery on the rialto bridge. decide to take a wild goose chase to find a restaurant recommended in the guide book. feel very thankful for map provided in guidebook. stumble across place where we sang on the banks of the canal and people watched from their windows. happy memories.
old italian woman helpfully points out directions. unfortunately, this is not very helpful as we cannot understand a word she is saying. luke says i'm a woman and so have no sense of direction. prove him wrong by finding restaurant...only to find it closed. luke grouchy again. says he could have told me it would have been closed as it is only 6pm. silly boy, why didn't he tell me then??
end up eating at some touristy pizzaria. food shit and get charged EIGHTEN EUROS for HALF a bottle of wine! are outraged. paid fifteen euros the day before for full bottle. leave in disgust.
get vaporetti back to railway station. venice very pretty in darkness, all lit up with fairy lights. v. romantic! get back to station and miss train. sit in cafe playing table football and eating more pizza. eventually get on train and i play sudoku until we get back.
tuesday
luke makes resolution to get up early and keeps it! hurrah! no having to jump on him to get him out of bed! he takes me to an old ruined castle in verona. v. interesting. suddenly wish i was a princess.
go to bus station and enquire about getting to lake garda. get on bus. much cleaner than english buses. beautiful day and beautiful scenery. luke falls asleep. typical!
decide to get off at little village called lazise. lazise completely dead but very pretty. very medieval. real italians are setting up shops and fruit stalls instead of being surrounded by tourists! go down to waterfront and are awestruck with how beautiful it is. so still and calm and cold. the mountains have snow on them. the ducks are still there! hurray! unfortunately, our plans are scuppered when we discover garda ferries do not run in the winter. back to the bus then.
no bus to be seen. luke and i sit on the grassy road and amuse ourselves by blowing grass and discussing bad sex. as with the trains, timetables mean nothing to the italians. watch old lady trying to cross the road. takes her about half an hour!
bus finally arrives! hurray! go a few stops down to bardolino, another gorgeous little medieval town. go in church i have sang in. absolutely DEAD again and nowhere is open. realise that everyone is on their siesta, but finally find place to eat. luke has spicy pasta and i have two huge trout fillets caught fresh from lake garda. watch the simpsons in italian, but i know the words anyway!
static shocks are getting worse. luke now getting them. are horrified when we go to kiss and get a huge shock. this is terrible! i can't even kiss my own boyfriend!
decide to get the bus up to riva del garda but yet again, the bus doesn't turn up. i am distraught we will miss the sunset, and eventually decide to go back to bardolino and watch the sunset. get there just in time. sun a great red ball sinking below the glass like calm of the lake. luke and i just stand and watch in silence, our arms round each other. beautiful moment. felt like we were the only two people in the world. am very very happy. wish we weren't going home the next day.
go back into bardolino. everywhere suddenly woken up! strange disco lights are coming from the church and people are out shopping! have sudden urge to shop too but luke pulls me away! go to have our first gelato. luke eyes up ice cream girl and i eye up a distinguished looking italian gentleman in his 40s (think jose mourinho!). satisfaction all around! go on to a delightful little wine shop which sells home made pasta, chocolate and all sorts of lake garda delicaces. eccentric italian gentleman speaks fantastic english and tells us all about his produce in great detail. end up buying lots of presents including feta cheese and truffles, a huge slab of italian chocolate, sundried tomatoes, red pepper jelly, LOTS of wine and grappa. very satisfactory trip.
unfortunately, have to catch the last bus back (late as usual). the thermometer shows -4 degrees. much colder than in england! bus drops us off right outside our hotel. very nice.
get changed and go out for dinner. go to delightful little restaurant passed earlier, by far the best of the holiday. gorgeous decor, very friendly owner who seems to know everyone - the mark of a good restaurant is how many locals eat there, and everyone but us was local - , and so CHEAP! the meal at the botteglia cost us over 100 euros! this a mere 45. food SO gorgeous! we have polenta to start, topped with gruyere, parma ham and some weird white stuff which looked like pure fat but tasted wonderful! next luke has rabbit stew and polenta which is delicious, and i have roast crispy sucking pig in white wine and herb sauce and really nice roast garlic potatoes. we have a very cheap but gorgeous bottle of wine, and have apple and cinnamon tart to finish. cannot understand why this restaurant isn't more popular! glad we found it!
go back to hotel for our last night. :-(
tuesday
choose to skip breakfast in favour of lie in. pay gargantuan minibar bill (probably cost more than the room!) and drag our cases to the station to get the bus. are seated behind a very worrying teenage couple who insist on slurping each others faces for the entire journey. luke and i do slurping of our own, but irony is lost on them. ah well.
reach airport and luke almost dies when he realises he has not got his passport. after running back to the bus/phoning the hotel i eventually find it in his SUITCASE! silly boy! satan child toddles up to me and grabs hold of my passport, trying to steal it from me! i grab it back and satan child wanders over to random american boy and proceeds to hit him violently. quite amusing.
am dying for a drink. flight half an hour late. typical. can nobody keep time in this country?? eventually get on flight and take off back to stansted, and england...