Memories from trip to Italy

Life has been a bit crazy since I got back from Easter break and I now realised I didn't even post my adventures from Italy on here! :)

Maite and I had a wonderful time all across Italy and I am really glad I went, as I have been quite skeptical about going there for very personal reasons. Anyway, my friend who lives in Alessandria, not far from Milan was excited to finally have me at her place. She has been asking me to come for more than 4 years!

I left Cairo on a Friday afternoon; we made it to the airport right on time and we were probably the last ones to board after running through the airport trying to find our gate.

The ride was quite interesting... We flew Alitalia, now under the name of AirOne - I did not enjoy the food and I witnessed a bad incident between a flight attendant and a passenger who did not want to put his suitcase in the overhead compartment. They ended up exchanging some very bad words and I was shocked with the flight attendant's attitude; he would've lost his job straight away if I was involved!

Maite had a guide to Italy which contained some very "useful phrases" under a section called "Amore"; some phrases included: "Solo un bacio" (just a kiss), I have a room, She is a bad dancer, why don't you dance with me? Of course people were staring at us while we were trying to read them!!!

Alessandria and Milan

We spent 3 days at Oana's place in Alessandria; thank God for that because the first night there I got so sick! I stayed in bed most of the second day and our third day, we went to Milan. It was so nice to spend time with Oana, see Samy who has grown so much!!! Oana had cooked Romanian food and I was so excited as it's been a while. She had "ciorba de perisoare" though it was not authentic, as it did not have "bors", but I still enjoyed it. Funny enough, I was talking to Maite about "ciorba" on the plane! :)

I will leave the architectural comments to people more skilled than me ... I will detail just facts of memories of MY trip!

I have richly enjoyed Milan - we took the train in the morning and then we took the metro straight to the Dome. The inside of the Dome was impressive .... right when we were there they were having a service. We managed to get all the way to the top; Maite took the stairs, I was lazy and took the lift! We got to appreciate the greenery coming from Egypt!! We loved this one park we saw, behind Castelo d'Angelo. the trees were so green and I remember the magnolia trees ... what a smell!!!

One thing I enjoyed most in Milan was the shopping; on our way to the Dome, we walked first on Via Buenos Aires and we entered all the shops .... heaven!!! After too much shopping we decided to take the metro as time was running out and we needed to see the Dome.

Getting back to Alessandria was quite a challenge; we got off the metro at the wrong station, had to go back, made it to the train station to find out we missed our train! No problem, there was another one, but from Milano Genoa, so here we go again on the metro which was very confusing to me!!! Well, missing the train gave us the opportunity to stop at this nice pub, have a good dinner and enjoy an Italian dinner after the hectic day!

Venice

We took the train early in the morning from Alessandria to Venice; one thing I loved in Italy was to see how all the Mc'Donalds had a "healthy" section with yummy sandwiches and pastries. We went in that morning to get coffee. The ride to Venice was not long ... We got there around 11 o'clock, we left our stuff at the train station and started walking on the narrow streets. i loved the coloured shops, the masks, the HUGE chocolate chip cookies. We stopped at one place for lunch and a bird came to join us; it was not scared to try Maite's sandwich...

After wondering about we decided to take a boat "bus" on the Grand Canale ... so we got to see a lot of the city, I think. We stopped at Piazza San Marco and went to see St Peter's church which was impressive. They were doing a lot of restauration to the buildings in the Piazza, but we still enjoyed it.

The streets were so narrow and we kept getting lost, but most of them lead to the water, so there was no way we couldn't have found our way back! We saw all the fancy shops like Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Prada etc.

For dinner we stopped at this nice restaurant that seemed very popular - we had a 3 course meal for 15 euros + a glass of wine!

The most exciting part of Venice was getting back to the train station around 11:30, sleeping there or trying to with all the homeless people, getting kicked out of the train station because they were closing it ... to my stupefaction; I said to the guys we have a train to catch at 3 am! They asked for the ticket and told us our train leaves from a different train station! Thank God!!! They gave us directions to the bus station; I asked if we could walk there and the guy, answered me quite shocked: "well, there IS a bus... You can take the bus!" I thought, since we have quite a while to wait, we could walk! Well, we did take the bus ... and it was a loooooooooong drive so I am happy we didn't decide to walk. We had another hour to wait ... the train station was ugly and cold ... it was us and homeless people... But the train came and we made our way to Florence.

Florence

I have enjoyed my stay in Florence; I loved the youth hostel called Plus Florence. The staff was very kind, helpful and full of fun + cute! We got there early in the morning and our plan was to sleep for a couple of hours and then hit the city, but we couldn't check in until 3 pm, so we showered at the pool showers, stored our stuff and went to see Florence . We rented bikes that day and cycled through Florence. Florence seemed like a cozy city ... We wanted to see Michelangelo's David and cycled past it 3 times but every time the line was just too long! The 4th time we decided to just wait; we waited for an hour, which was not too bad considering how long the line was and we saw David! Quite impressive!

It rained that day and it felt like a breath of fresh air to my spirit!

We had such a lovely time in Florence that we decided to stay an extra day; we went to see the Tower of Pisa the 2nd day. We took the train for about 2 and a half hrs and then walked to find the tower. I am a map addict so I had to stop every 5 minutes to check the map to Maite's desperation! We kind of stumbled upon the tower at one point... we did not know which way to go and then we look to the left to realise the tower was just there!

We did not have time to take the train to Siena, so we got back to Florence, we had a lovely dinner and I went to bed early. Maite went out that night ...

Our train left Florence early next morning to Rome...

Rome

It took us a while to find the B&B ... we followed the directions from the owner and once we got off the metro people were telling us this is not it...and that we need to take a bus back. Turns out we WERE in the right place! This old man guided us towards our street - Lorenze il Magnifico.

We found a message at the gate saying the key is at the ice-cream shop next door, which was closed, but I knelt down and looked under the shutters ; this good looking guy looked at me, probably thinking "what is she doing?" I said I am looking for the key to the B&B... No problem!

We showered, got ready and left to see the beauty of Rome. On the way to the Metro station I discovered a Romanian shop with Romanian products!!!!! Wow!!! I talked to the lady there and she was telling there are so many Romanians in Rome!!! She said there's even a huge Romanian supermarket! I was delighted to see Romanian things and I bought Viva, pufarine, bors...

We went straight to the Collosseum; I loved it!! There were plenty of guides there offering to take us so we payed 10 euros for a guide. It was interesting to find out some of the history... We also went to the Roman Forum to admire the ruins of what once was the center of the world... Leaving the Forum, we stopped at a nice restaurant for dinner; by the time we left the restaurant, it was dark and it was nice to see the city by night.... Of course we got lost, trying to find our way back to the Collosseum where the metro station was - my fault, as I was convinced I knew exactly where I was going. I discovered I am not too good at orientation ..... :(

we had big plans for next day ... to make it early to Vatican, to avoid the crowd and the long lines. Turns out the lines are crazy, but it order to skip the line you can get a tour and they take you straight to the entrance of the church or the museum of Vatican. Well, we found out the tour was 40 euros, something we were not willing to pay! So, we got there around 8:30 am... the line was VERY long but it did not take us more than 30 minutes to get to the entrance of the Cathedral.

After that I had ice cream and we made our way to the Museum of Vatican; we discovered the Egyptian embassy to Vatican which was quite unusual we thought....

The line for the museum was not as long as the one to the church,but still long. We did not wait too long. My stomach was funny again that morning.... I am not a museum person, but I loved that one!!! It was impressive!!!!!!!! When we got to the Sistine Chapel, everyone was taking pictures, videos etc... and we have been told we are not allowed, so I asked one of the security guards if we are allowed to take pics; he said no.... and I said: "well, how come everybody is taking pictures??" So, completely exhausted he said nobody listens! Sad...

That is in a nutshell what we did in Italy.. among other things...

We flew to Milan from Rome, spent the night in the airport and flew to Cairo next morning...

The day my driver got arrested

Leen is coming to Egypt!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!

Her flight arrived in the middle of the night, which was perfect ... better than arriving during the day when I am at school.

I called the Yellow cab, which was recommended by a friend; before I go on with the story, I have to say that every time I get in a cab, I get anxious - will I make it to the destination? does this driver know how to get there? is he going to rip e off?

Well, my driver did not know how to exit Maadi and I kept looking at the meter... Then, he takes the corniche way, which I do not know very well, because I always take the Autostrade. Anyway, I tried telling him to go on the Autostrade... but he didn't seem to listen to me. I gave up thinking he is the driver, he should know better and I should stop annoying the poor guy! We made it to the airport; I asked him to drop me off at terminal 1 arrivals; he took me to the departures parking when I thought to myself: "I am in my pyjamas with no bags, where does he think I am going?" Then he points to one little door that says arrivals.... to give him credit, I went in there just to say I checked, although I knew that was not the place.

Then I walk back to the parking and tell him it is not there, so I need him to take me to the proper arrivals. he tries telling me he cannot, when I get impatient and tell him I always go there with cars and you can get in. He is telling me the police won't let him! This is all in Arabic.... sometimes I wonder how I manage this. he takes me to talk to the police guy... In my PJ's, looking not very "official" I start just like a nagging woman telling the police guy I need my driver etc. He shuts me down! Oops!!!

He speaks no English and talks to this other man (because by this point we have quite the crowd there) who translates for me..... Hamdulillah!!!!!!!!!! The words are as following: "Madame, this driver - PROBLEM! Cars can go there, this man NO! Police is going to take him!". I am loosing it .... "What am I supposed to do? I need a driver!"; they immediately come up with solutions - their cars are there and they can take me to Maadi. bekem?? 90 pounds!!!!! WHAT?????????? With a meter it's 50 pounds! I leave being fed up with drivers, taxis, men ....

So here I am walking to the right arrival ... it is quite the walk so I decide to call the taxi company and start bashing them on the phone.... it took the worse out of me... I demand to be sent a taxi within the next 10 minutes and of course I tell them the whole story of my arrested driver.

I find Leen waiting for me and then we wait for the taxi ... and we wait...and we wait... and wait. While waiting there's at least 4 telephone conversations that I am having with the taxi company when I lost it completely and started shouting in the phone, that the whole airport could hear me! The guy wouldn't listen to me; he kept saying: Terminal 1, yes ok, ok! The taxi is coming... and I am like: "Hold on, listen... terminal 1 is big!!! There's 3 halls.. how will he know which one to go to, if I don;t tell you?" No... I was talking to a concrete wall....

It took about 40 minutes for the taxi to arrive ... we made it home eventually; while in the taxi I called the company again; they knew my name: "Madame Gabriela??" YES!!! It's me again! I want to complain... Response "yes, tell me now on the phone, what is your complaint?"..... No comment!

To give them credit, 2 days later somebody called me to officially apologize on behalf of the company... this does not happen very often, but I was happy they did! I advised them to keep a record of their drivers, so that they wont get arrested anymore.

The "I hate Egypt" days

We all have our days, most of them are better than others... just like Jo Petty used to say: "There are no bad days, some are just better than others"... I have learned to survive Cairo in the sense of finding my way through the city, doing my groceries, crossing the road without being scared of not making it alive to the other side.

As I was walking home from school yesterday, I passed a boys' school; I usually take that road and in spite of their silliness and questions such as "How are you? What is your name?", they seem to be nice boys; I often talk to them. It happened that I was with my friend Leen who was visiting me, when one of them threw rocks at us; I turned around and said that isn't too friendly, then I continued; shortly after, here comes another rock... I turned around and showed my disappointed face. By the third rock I was annoyed, so I started running after the boy. Of course I didn't catch him, so I turned around again and walked with my friend, thinking that should do it. Apparently not, because here comes a fourth rock ; I dropped my bag on the ground and asked Leen to watch it and walked towards the group of boys. They all tried telling me it was not them, but another one who ran, so I asked them all to follow me; we get to the corner of the street where I see the 2 boys who threw stones.... They run ... two others catch them. I continue walking straight to our school gate, where I get the boab and tell him to tell the boys not to mess with me anymore because next time I will hit them! He walks with me towards the corner, when I see the two boys.... I grabbed one of them by the collar and threatened him. Of course he didn't understand a word of what I was saying, but I thought anger is something they understand in any language. Sometimes I wonder why I don't just speak to them in Romanian, as it sounds much rougher than English ... they might even understand me better!

Soon after a security guy came.... I just said whatever I had to say and I left.... Went back to my friend and said, just like all the Egyptians do: "welcome to Egypt!"

I was talking to a mum today and I came to realise that this is the way boys get the girls' attention here; they are rude, rough ... just because they do not know any better!

I felt slightly bad for reacting the way that I did, but in this culture, this is the "language" that they speak in their families and schools.

First days in Italy

Maite and I have arrived safely in Italy and we seem to manage very well with a mixture of 3 languages (Spanish, Romanian and English) - Maite speaks Spanish to the people so they can understand us, they speak Italian back to us, which I understand.

So far we were in Alessandria with my friend Oana, where we did some shopping; then we visited Milan and set off to Venice!

We are now in Florence getting ready to start the day! :)

Milan was quite and adventure, especially with the Metro system that we kind of figured out only when we left!

Venice is out of this world!!!! Very beautiful and just amazing! Whoever has said that Venice is expensive was very wrong.... we have managed to find good food for cheap.... and restaurants seem to have affordable food!!!!

We took a boat on the Grand Canale and just enjoyed the ride.... we spent a lot of time in St. Mark's Square and then getting lost on the narrow streets.........

More to come!!

Spring

For the past weeks I have been waking up in the morning, opening the balcony door or the window and just breathing. There is something special about it ... reminds me of spring at home; although it is only March it gets really hot during the day now, the mornings are just perfect... I think of the spring days of my childhood when I used to investigate the first blossom of a tree. The air is still fresh in the morning, in spite of the pollution and it just made me think of home ... i guess home is where your heart is and you are carrying it with you, just like a snail. I have carried home with me to Cairo in the form of the morning freshness (which sounds weird as there is nothing fresh about Cairo), but I still manage to find the freshness in it.

I am thinking of Ireland ... the green of Ireland where a close friend from Uni years is ...

Reading the newspapers...

I've never been into politics ... or maybe I was in my teenage years, when i used to get into political debates with my friends; we just thought it was cool and it made us look smart! lol

I was reading a newspaper the other day, just to put myself up to date with what is going on at home in Romania. Apparently, Iranians seem to be bothered that Romania is hosting American military... We've been hosting them for years now!!! Obviously they do not like it and started saying childish things and making accusations such as my country had Russia (former URSS) as a master before 1989 (during the communist era) and now we have another, referring to the USA just because we are allies. They went on saying the US is just using my country to place its military forces and equipment and that they will ditch us the minute Romania won't be useful anymore. I won't get into that....

An Iranian blogger goes on to say that during Ceausescu's times we were friends of the Muslims and now the US has made us their colony. He is saying that after we killed Ceausescu, we got ourselves a society like the Americans with crime, drugs, corruption, nasty movies ...

People started posting comments on this article ... I couldn't be bothered!!!

Here's the link, for those of you who can read Romanian http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/887273/Pana-in-1989-ati-avut-un-stapan---Rusia-acum-aveti-altul/

People around... the Mogamma

Saturday morning ... 7 am; looks like a wonderful day... smells like spring to me; that smell brings me back to my childhood, when I stopped and looked at the first blossom in the cherry tree in our garden. Well, the spring smell did not last long... as I left the house and got hit in the face by the pollution in Cairo!

I made my way downtown to Tahrir Square to collect my visa. I left the house thinking I am going to enjoy the day and observe the people around me. The metro ride was pretty busy - a lot of people heading to work, school or somewhere else. I turned my ipod on and listened to music. As I entered the Mogamma building I turned it off and full of confidence went straight to desk 38 and asked for my visa. It was not 9 o'clock yet, so they made me wait; finally, I managed to squeeze through the crowd of people already gathered there and handed in my passport. This time, there was a different lady - not the one with nice make-up on and lovely colours on, but another one - this particular lady was chewing gum and it made me think of my sheep on FarmVille, she had no make-up on and her clothes were dark green... a green that makes me think of the army.

Anyway, after the usual answer: "Come back in 2 hours", I left for breakfast. I usually go and have breakfast at mcDonalds, but decided to go to Cilantro this time, just for a change. Cilantro was very busy for that time of the day - a lot of loud people, loud music ... I put my headphones on, listened to my own music, ordered a Mocha (the only kind of coffee that I get at Cilantro's) and a croissant. I pulled a book out and started reading... I got immersed in my book and did not realise when everybody has left and the music was turned down. After the 2 hrs had passed, I went back to get my passport. To my surprise they didn't have it yet. I sat down and continued reading my book. I kept watching the people passing by, collecting their passports and wondered why mine was not ready. I started building scenarios in my mind that something might be wrong ... Then I looked around and noticed so many different people, so many different passports - usually you see 2 colours of passports: blue or dark red. I saw different shades of green passports, light blue, red passports and tried to figure out the countries ... It was a difficult exercise. This one lady who sat next to me pulled her passport out, as soon as I sat down ... it was an American passport; she looked Egyptian to me ... her features, the colour of her hair and soon I discovered she spoke Arabic and could read Arabic. Hmm... I should write a different entry about this particular gesture!

I saw the policeman that usually asks for my passport, the old lady with VERY thick glasses who sells stamps (last time i went, she was not there - I like her!!! she looks sweet), the lady who wears a lot of make-up that does not quite suit the colour of her clothes, especially that bright red lipstick, and of course, my favourite - the big fat blonde lady!!! That woman is bitter!!! I tried everything but I cant win her .. she just wouldnt smile!

By this time I'd been waiting for over 3 hrs .... an old lady comes and sits next to me ... I guess she is from Norway or a Scandinavian country ... She smells like an old person... I've noticed that most old people have a particular smell... I am feeling rather sick, needing a bathroom and wanting to be home in my bed. She talks to this Egyptian young woman who is helping her with the paperwork. I hear she had divorced her husband (an Egyptian) a long time ago. Then, a young man, asks for permission to sit next to the young woman; she compliments him on his Arabic and she asks where he's from. He says his mom is American and his dad is Lebanese (btw, he looked very blonde and very white!) and that he goes back and forth from here to the States. This conversation is in Arabic, so I am impressed with myself - I understood!!! :D Then they switch to English and talk about Lebanon ... The old lady joins their conversation; it is revealed that she is actually from Denmark and moved back to Cairo where she's bought a flat to be closer to her grandchildren. They end up talking about the States - very bluntly (like most Scandinavians), the old lady says she has lived in the US and hates it! she says she did not like it at all ... she did not like the people and how ignorant they are. The young man tries telling her that "America is beautiful" and "there are many lovely people there!"... She goes: "NO!! I dont like America, I dont like the people!" He goes: "Well, I am American!" The old lady interrupts him: "I dont care!". That is where that conversation stopped; no one said anything ...

It was funny for me to watch this old lady, not willing to listen to anything the young man was trying to tell her... she was really decided she does not like America and nothing he could say or do could make her change her mind.

I turn around, keep watching the people ... when I decide to ask for my passport again (4th time). I guess the lady with the chewing gum felt sorry for me and directs me to her colleague on her right; yep!!! she had my passport this whole time!!!! I decide it is not worth getting upset over it, I say thank you and leave.

One last interesting thing was on the metro - this one lady with her black burka, big glitzy shades and ..... a PINK pair of trainers with a chain that went across it with charms. The trainers were brand new .... I liked them (I think I should get a pair), but for some reason they did just not fit the black burka and the shades!