Mes Aventures en France: Italia

June 6, 2011

Mine and Brittney’s trip to Italy last Monday began with a horrible bus ride to Toulouse and tram to the airport where we found out our flight to Milan had been canceled! But, EasyJet handled it pretty well, and they changed our ticket to a flight on Wednesday and put us in the Holiday Inn. We got our own rooms with huge beds, lots of pillows, and bathtubs! It’s been rainy the past week, so we weren’t able to take advantage of the swimming pool. There were a few other people from our flight also in the hotel: Roberto (Italian student working on his PhD in Astrophysics), another Italian man who was visiting his girlfriend and really didn’t mind being stuck for another week, and “Grandmama” Romana, who was visiting her sister & her sister’s husband in Carmaux. So we hung out in the hotel for two days taking long baths, eating fancy French cuisine, and once using the mini-gym. Needless to say, we didn’t mind the few days of R&R paid for by EasyJet. Only thing missing were massages.

So Wednesday we headed back to the airport with Romana, took a bus to the Stazione Milano Centrale, and got our train tickets for Torino just in time. The train was crowded, hot, and stinky, but we finally got to Torino around 10pm. It looked pretty creepy when we got there, but the next day wasn’t bad at all. It was a holiday (Festa della Repubblica) so lots of shops were closed, but flags were everywhere, and everyone was in the streets. We wandered around town, got gelato, split a pizza, browsed the markets, and bought gifts and souvenirs. The next day we were waiting for the tram into town when I realized I didn’t have my camera, and I panicked. I knew I had set it on the counter in a fancy shop so we said a quick prayer and went back. The moment we walked in the woman behind the counter recognized us and gave me my camera. I was so relieved! We spent the next hour or so walking around shops by the train station before heading to Milano.

Brittney got her first metro experience en route to the hotel. We went out to explore and ended up walking for two hours in pouring rain, something not so fun in shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals. On our way back to the hotel we went into a store soaking wet and grabbed lasagna and bread for dinner. I’m sure it couldn’t have been more obvious that we were foreigners! After a hot shower I was more than ready for bed. Saturday we spent hitting up the tourist sites in Milano. We went to the Duomo, where an African man tied a bracelet on my wrist against my protests, saying it was a gift. He asked if I had a boyfriend and kept saying he only wanted a kiss for the bracelet, but was satisfied when I blew him a kiss haha. We wandered through the Vittorio Emanuele II Plaza shops, to Castle Sforzo (sp?), through Parco Sempiore where some vamous NBA player was visiting, Piazza Sempione, and the place where Leonardo DaVinci’s “The Last Supper” is kept, but we couldn’t go in because the appointments were all booked. So we headed back to the area around the Duomo and did some more window-shopping, and grabbed dinner by the hotel at a little trattoria. The next day we went to church and met a guy named Brandon from Arizona State University! It poured all day, so we didn’t go out once we got back to the hotel. We got bored of watching the intellectual news channels and played a game of cards, “MASHO,” and did lots of doodling.

Then this morning we got up early, grabbed breakfast, and walked to the metro and headed into town. We explored a few shops by the train station, got a few souvenirs, and took a bus to the airport. Somehow I was tired enough to fall asleep on the bus and only woke up as Brittney’s head disappeared out of the bus. So I grabbed my backpack and hurried out.

We had an hour to kill before we could check in, so we sat down and ate a banana, which is when I had a terrible realization: My purse was gone. I purposely put the most important things (such as my passport, state identification cards, debit cards, money, and camera) in my tiny purse so I wouldn’t lose them. I hate putting those things in my backpack- it just seems too easy to steal. So, I once again panicked. Of course, the bus we had taken was already gone (it had probably been only ten minutes, no more than fifteen) so we went to the police office, waited for them to show up, and explained the situation. They told us to sit down and wait while one of them went to the other terminal, where the bus’s next stop was, to look for my purse. So we stood for a little while, before I basically sunk to the floor, probably looking as pathetic as ever. I said another billion little prayers, and five minutes later Britt said the police officer was walking back. I was too afraid to turn and see if he had it or not, so I asked Britt instead… There is no way anyone should be as incredibly lucky as I was. But, it was there, and it was all there! I was nearly in tears. That was the second time in one week that I had realized again how unbelievably honest and good people can be, and the great power in a little faith and a little prayer. I was so immensely relieved… and I felt like a total idiot! I can’t believe I did that twice in a row. I think I’ve learned my lesson now, though! Thankfully, the rest of the trip passed without much excitement. We had to walk through the pouring rain to get to the plane, the pilot was a total “fitty,” we got second row, and on the bus back to Albi I nearly lost my stomach every two minutes. But, we finally made it back, and the internet isn’t working… Guess my ‘luck’ has run out for the week! And then again, it just came on! SWEET!