Home again

I am home from France and Italy at last. It was such an incredible trip and I had a blast. But being as I am jet lagged and have day and night confused, I am too lazy to post pictures just yet and too brain dead to write an interesting proper post. What I have decided to do instead is share the itenerary of places Best Friend and I visited and a couple of other tidbits.

We visited Paris for 3 lovely days before taking the night train into Venice where we spent the day and night. It was also where I "bumped" into that blogger friend I mentioned. Actually, I waited for Sexy Suburbanite at the train station where we got to spend a few minutes together. It was unfortuantely not long enough, but still very cool to run into a good friend all the way across the Atlantic in the beautiful country of Italy! The next morning we boarded a train for Florence, where we spent 2 days and nights and worked in an afternoon trip to Pisa, where indeed the tower leans! Next we boarded another train for 3 days and nights in Rome. Of course we experienced the sites and city of ancient Rome, but we also visited the holy Vatican City, where they made it perfectly clear that you are no longer in Rome, nor Italy, while within the walls of the Vatican. We used our last day in Rome to visit Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento where we experienced a nice boat ride in the beautiful, blue waters of the Mediterranean.

We saw so many ancient, unbelievable, and amazing sites that it seems surreal. From famous works of art to Roman ruins to world-known buildings and architecture, we got to experience it all. I tasted so much of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello that I feel like a Ninja Turtle now. But speaking of ninjas and names of such geniuses, Best Friend and I, possibly feeling the inspiration of that genius Leonardo Da Vinci, invented a couple of things ourselves.

Let me introduce you the art of Elbow Ninja. This fine skill is quick, (mostly) quiet, (usually) graceful and quite often violent. But it was a necessary evil to survive walking the crowded streets with Italians. I quickly learned that Italians do not move to one side of the sidewalk or street in crowds but rather plow you over without so much as a "Mi escusi" or acknowledgement or care that they just bruised your battered body. I quickly allowed my southern hospitality and good down-home manners of stepping to one side of the sidewalk when another pedestrian approaches fly right out the window. I also dropped those good country girl manners that my mama taught me of saying, "Excuse me" when I wished to pass by or an apologetic "I'm sorry" when accidentally bumping into someone. Instead, for my own survival, whenever I saw an approaching crowd I bent my arms into Elbow Ninja position and extended my elbows out just enough to clear my way through the crowd making sure to jab anyone who first jabbed me. Funny thing is, I think this is what you are supposed to do, for I got not one ugly look or comment from anyone I assaulted! I perfected this so well that one time I hit the person in front of me with my right elbow while simultaneously knocking the man on my heels with my left elbow and while pulling back my left elbow knocked away a space-invading woman trying to stick her camera in front of me to take a picture of Pope John Paul II's tomb (which was strictly forbidden, by the way.) So yeah, I pulled out this move in St. Peter's Basilica. I do hope God will forgive me.

We also compiled a universal Hot Guys of the World List. For a long time, Best Friend and I had referred to a hot American guy as a "Josh". Josh is nice, all-American boy name so that's what we picked. This is how it works: Let's say a hot guy is detected by the red car in the parking lot. I simply say to Best Friend, "There's Josh by the red car." If she were to whisper to me "Josh", just a guy passed us, then I know just what she means. So last year in Germany, the hotties there became "Hans" to us. I still miss Hans from the Marienplatz McCafe in Munich. However, it is important to note that "Hansel" is NOT the same thing. Those are the girlie-guys who purse their lips together like Hansel (Owen Wilson) from Zoolander. We also met a couple of Hansels in Germany as well as Hans. Anyway, while in Paris, the hotties became "Francois". Let me just say I am firmly convinced that you must be a Francois to be a police officer in Paris. Ahhhhh... Mmmmm!!! Oh excuse me...I got a little sidetracked thinking about Francois and handcuffs. ;) Okay, so this leaves us with the Italian hotties a/k/a "Giovanni". I saw more of Francois than Giovanni, but I must confess that I fell hard for Giovanni from our hotel in Rome. He was such a sweetheart, too. I will never forget how he sang "You Shook Me All Night Long" along with me or how he smiled every time we walked into the room or the excellent plan (his word for map) of Roma he gave us. I was broken hearted that I didn't get to tell him goodbye yesterday before I left.

Well, this is all the nonsense I have for you all today. I will be posting pictures and adventures of Eurotrip 2008 soon. Ciao!