Adventures in Italy

This is going to be difficult to write everything that went on for the last two weeks, so I’m going to write about the tournament and then about the rest of the trip. Warning, it is really, really long…

Below are my favorite picts from the trip and the links to albums below:

Paga Picts: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/lauren.gross
/album/576460762398699500

Italy Picts: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/lauren.gross
/album/576460762398716830

Rimini:

The actual traveling part of my trip turned out to be very frustrating on all accounts. Some advice: make sure you do a cost/benefit analysis on buying the cheapest possible airline flights before purchasing. Yes, I got a flight for 18 euros to Milan, but I had to wake up at 4am, then missed the bus to take me to the other bus, which would then take me to the coach that takes an hour to get to the airport. Luckily, I left myself plenty of time to get to the airport (as my flight didn’t really leave til 8:30) and caught the plane to Milan (Bergamo actually). I met a couple Frisbee players on the way; one guy, Seth, who plays for Sockeye in Seattle and some other German players once I got to Bergamo. After the tourney, I took a train to Florence, which wasn’t too bad, but as you can see from my last post, the trains were on strike one day and I couldn’t go anywhere that day. From Florence I went to La Spetzia then to Genova then I spent my last night in Milan (and took several little train trips in between). Coming home to Paris, I missed my flight and ended up paying another 100 euros to catch a train from Milan to Paris (and by the way the statzione centrale is about an hour and 10 euros from the airport). So, instead of getting home at 1pm, I got in around 11:15pm. Ah, the joys of travel…

Apart from the minor frustrations, the trip itself was absolutely wonderful. I got into Rimini in the late afternoon, checked in at the registration/hostel and hung out until the welcoming party. The party was at the beach of course and they served loads of spaghetti with freshly barbequed anchovies and were constantly bringing out vats of red wine from some unseen location. This isn’t any tiny feat either. Paganello is one of the largest tournaments in the world and there were probably around 500 people the first night. Something like 50 teams play and each team has at least 10-20 people. This is the 17^th year of Paga though and they have it down pretty well. So, I spent the night drinking wine and throwing the L.E.D. Frisbee. Also, I ran into my friend Jimmy Lee that I used to play with at OSU! Oh, such a small frickin world, then when you add ultimate on top, it gets even smaller. Later that night, I was walking around the party and saw someone wearing a cool hat. When I passed by him, I told him that I liked it and introduced myself. He asked what team I was playing for. When I told him he got all excited and said “no way, I’m captaining that team!” So, that’s how I met my first teammate.

Play: it’s always difficult to pick up with a team. There are so many different personalities and levels of play. It is hard to get everyone of the same page and even harder to strike a balance between just having fun, but being competitive enough to win some games. Still, I think our team did a pretty good job of hanging together. For me, I hadn’t really been playing and it was difficult to find a rhythm. I mostly played handler and didn’t really find my game until the second day. Still, even though it was a bit hard to get going (and exhausting running in sand) it was amazing playing in 80 degree weather on the beach next to the sea for 5 days. Our team was called Chili, Soy and MSG and though we were the “Greater China Ultimate Team,” only one person was actually a native from China. The others all just lived there or were just picking up like me. Countries represented: New Zealand, Brazil, Venezuela, America, Italy, France and of course China. The New Zealand girl was hilarious. She was about 4’11” and every other phrase was “you know what I mean?” but in a Kiwi accent. For example: “So, I was walking down the street, you know what I mean, and there was another gelato place, you know what I mean”…etc. After the first day we all were staying, “NO, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!” by the end of the tourney, though we all got used to it and it became a running joke.

Oh the parties! There were two big parties one Saturday night and one Sunday and they were both dress up/theme parties. The one was a Hollywood theme and my team went as Austin Powers characters. I went as Frau Farbissina (founded the militant wing of the Salvation Army). There were some really great costumes! And everyone danced in a tent on the beach to a live band until the wee hours of the morning. I had a little wand with me for my costume and my friend and I started a limbo competition with it. Pretty soon there were more and more people lined up to go, then someone grabbed a broom handle and it became a even bigger limbo competition. Everywhere you looked there was something or someone doing something funny. The next night was the 20’s party and my team all wore red feather boas and sequin headbands. It was at some local dance club though and the feeling wasn’t as fun as the previous party, though still went into the wee hours. Thank goodness our games didn’t start until 11 am because I don’t think anyone would have been functioning properly if they started earlier. The games were nice too because there were a couple hour breaks in between each one so we could watch some other games being played. The breaks weren’t so good because your muscles got a bit cold, but whatever it was warm out and I wanted to watch freestyle and some ulti games.

Oh the Italian food! I ate so much great pizza, pasta, and gelato, I can’t even go into it. Just having a plain ol’ margharita pizza (mozzarella and sauce) was amazing. My favorite pasta was the tortellini with cream sauce and I tried to taste as many different kinds of tiramisu gelato as possible. In Italy, there is a gelateria on just about every corner and with the weather being so warm, a nice cool gelati in your tummy is a wonderful thing.

After playing hard, eating well, drinking a lot of chianti and sangeovese, and getting my fill of ultimate, I eventually took the train from Rimini to Florence to start the rest of my trip.

Florence (Firenze):
I left for Florence at 2pm from Rimini and stayed at a hostel the first two nights (actually two different hostels). My foot was a bit sore from playing in the sand and what else do you do when you are a tourist but walk everywhere? So, I tried to take it a bit easy, meaning I spent quite a lot of time sitting, drinking cappuccinos and reading. Florence is such a great city full of art and culture (and a ton of American tourists). The first day I went to the Leonardo de Vinci museum and to the Galleria Acedamia to see the original David. I had to wait in line to get into the museum for about 2 hours, but no worries, I just read my book and listened to/laughed at the American and Canadian tourist conversations around me. My first night, I stayed in a really nice hostel room that had three beds and a private bath, but no one else was staying there, so I had it all to my self. The next night I stayed in a cheaper one with more people, but it was good because I got to meet a lot of other women who were traveling (again, mostly Americans). At night, I went to see the sunset in a local park that overlooks the city with a girl I met at the hostel who is from California. It is so interesting meeting other travelers and to see what they are up to. Several of the girls who were staying there were actually living in France also, but they were doing their own thing and were friendly, but seemed to only want conversation. Ah, screw em, they were boring anyway J.

The next day was Thursday and during the day I hiked to the top of the Duomo and got a great view of the city and just kind of bumbled about the city to see what I could see. Of course I went to Ponte Vecchio several times, but didn’t buy anything because it is way too expensive there. At night I ended up staying with a guy named Massimo who lived about a half hour north of Firenze in a town called Pistoia. He lives in a huge house overlooking several vineyards with his animals. First he met me in Florence though and we went out for a really nice dinner with appetizers and a second course and expensive wine and dessert and grappe (Italian liquor) oh, it was good. He knows a lot about art and is a semollier, so we chatted a lot about food and wine, etc.

Speaking of wine, I went into a local wine store with Salina and the guy working came over to us and started telling us about the different wines. (all the people I met in Italy were so friendly!) Anyway, he told us the story of the Chianti Classico region and why there is a black rooster on the label. Chianti Classico is made in this specific area between Florence and Sienna and there is a black rooster because the people needed to determine the boarder between Florence and Sienna. So, the story goes that one rooster was let loose from Sienna and one from Florence and where they met is where they drew the boarder. And, I guess the Sienna area is larger because that rooster apparently didn’t have any thing to eat and was more motivated to look for food. Kind of a silly story, but none the less, I bought a bottle of Chianti Classico, which turned out to be very tasty!

Like I said earlier, on Friday I wanted to visit Pisa, but the trains were on strike. My foot was still sore and I didn’t want to spend much money, so I just kind of walked around and looked in shops, ate some tiramisu, etc. For lunch I ordered spaghetti and all I wanted was a class of wine, but they sell it by the liter/centi liter. I didn’t know how much to get so I got what the waiter asked if I wanted. Next thing I know, he’s bringing out a half liter of red wine. Yeah, so the afternoon was pretty fun, though I don’t remember a whole lot of what I did J. Massimo met me in Firenze at night and we went to a couchsurfing meeting at a local bar. The meeting was a “Mad Hatter Party” where everyone had to where a crazy hat. I had so much fun meeting everyone! There were Germans, Italians, Americans, a guy from Israel…and they serve free food at the bars in Italy. Not just chips and popcorn though, like gourmet pizza, couscous, salad, and whatever else. Good times.

Florence is a great city, but three days was enough for me and the need to move was strong, so I headed to Cinque Terre which is on the Ligurian Sea. A guy from my team (the only Chinese one) told me about the town and how he couldn’t spend enough time there. Then after that, I kept hearing about it and how it was so great, so I decided to go check it out. The day before I left, I found a guy on Couchsurfing who lives in La Spetzia, which is on the sea as well, but not as touristy and only 10 mins by train away. He works three jobs, so I was pretty much left to my own devices to explore. I spent a lot of time lounging on the beach or rocks or going for hikes on the many trails around the area. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 little towns (hence the name). Each one is very charming, but there is not a whole lot to do. No worries though, I was very happy just soaking up the sun and whatnot.

I ended up staying in Cinque Terre for a couple nights. The first night we met up with some of Sergio’s friends, who happened to also be hosting couch surfers. All in all, there were about 15 of us who stuffed ourselves with pasta and ham and potatoes and an amazing desert made of ricotta cheese and chocolate. Of course we had coffee after dinner and some homemade ice cream. Ugh, I couldn’t eat again until dinner the next day I was so full! The second day I spent hiking from Manarola to Corniglia and then bought a bit of cheese and wine and bread and hiked up just past Riomaggori on the bluff to watch the Sunset.

The next day it was time to hit the road again, so I hopped on the back of Sergio’s scooter again (which is absolutely the best way to get around, especially on beautiful, sunny coastal roads) and he took me to the train station. The plan was to go to Genova then catch a train to Milan. I wish I could have spent more time in Genova. I guess there is the biggest aquarium in Italy there. It is also where pesto is originally from (yes, of course I bought some there from a local store). I also saw a specialty beers store that was selling American beer. You know what the microbrew was?? Rogue! They had maybe 4 or 5 different kinds too! I was so excited that I went into the store and tried to explain that the beer was from where I was from. The sales woman was not as thrilled as I was and just kind of looked at me with a distant expression, but I didn’t care.

So, next it was off to Milan to stay for one night, then back to Paris. I met another couchsurfer, Elena, who let me stay with her. Elena is an Italian teacher and also works for a computer company. I really enjoyed staying with her and it made me want to stay in Milan a bit longer and check out the city. I didn’t get into Milan til about 7pm, so we went right to meet her friend for a pizza. I’m so glad she made me order one because it was the best pizza I had had in Italy. After dinner, we just went back to her place and chatted until late into the night. It was so great meeting her and I hope that she comes to visit me in Paris or possibly the US because she said she might plan a trip there.

As I said above, I missed my flight back to Paris and had to take the train, but if I hadn’t taken the train, I wouldn’t have seen the sunset in the Alps, which really made it all worth it. Now I’m back in Paris and the little ones are as rambunctious as ever. Chloe gave me a big hug when I saw her and the other two are constantly making me laugh. If only I could get Pablo to get dressed in the morning without a struggle, life would be wonderful. On to the next adventure…