On the last day ever of traveling, we embraced different aspects of Italy, which mostly included examination of old buildings. I finally stepped into the Duomo, which didn’t look nearly as majestic from the inside. 2 stars.
On the way back to the hotel, I asked an Italian mobster to look at a couple of paintings. He asked me to pay 35 for it, to which I replied I would give him 10. Eventually we settled on the price of 15, but he followed me to the ATM to ensure he would get his money. Eventually he gave me 2 paintings for 20 which I hope to parlay onto other people as gifts. 1 star for that stupid scam artist. He looked at me and a white person and asked if we were brothers. That was dumb. Only in Italy.
After a 4 hour bus ride we reached our final city of Milan, where we saw the Duomo (church), apparently the third biggest in the world. Not sure I believe that though. 2 stars.
We went to the Italian bookstore to look at some photography before chowing down on desserts and refreshments at McDonald’s. I got a kit kat McFlurry which isn’t available in the United States of America. 3 stars.
For our last dinner in Europe we ate at yet another Italian place, munching on pasta, marinara steak, and some tiramisu. Our wonderful tour director reminded us via a paper map of all the wonderful places we visited, and our life adventures thus far.
The real adventure started later that night where we had fun spending an hour and a half getting to a friend of a friend’s bar. We took the tram, but it was super janky and didn’t work very well, and still required us to walk for roughly another half an hour. When we got there, the waiter was a little rude and off putting, taking forever to serve us our drinks. The bar gets 1 star for that very purpose.
What could have been a buzzkill as a terrible night was obviously heightened by the wonderful connections I’ve made on this trip. 14 days does a good job of bringing you closer to people that you barely knew at the beginning. At the end of the night we took 2 taxis to get back. For some reason 4 taxis came. Only in Italy.
What really sealed Italy’s fate as the strangest country in the world was on the car ride home, where we witnessed a crash site. The victim? A motorcycle. The car that caused it? An ambulance. It was rather odd, yet strangely funny to see the police officer interview and question the ambulance driver. Some funny stuff. I obviously hope the motorcyclist is okay, but it’d be rather ironic if he was put in the back of the actual ambulance that ran into him in the first place. With that said, the travel diaries are done, and I’m happy with the way things turned out. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and look for the best in situations. And the memories in the end will be worth it all, including the nicknames of all the wonderful people I’ve met.
Freddy Rolland – certainly the best tour director I’ve ever met
Ronny Hoffman – Thank you for inviting me to this trip.
Ugly Duckling (now Beautiful Swan) – a wonderful mother.
Czechoslovakia – one of the other Russian spies
Mom and Dad – the lovely couple.
Darryl – a unique and riveting sorority girl. Kappa Kappa Kappa (KKK)
Julio – the worst son an Asian man could have
Crystal Meth – the most well mannered 8th grader I’ve ever met, despite getting a B+ in history
Michael’s – a fascinating and yet eccentrically independent spirit soon to be engaged
DC Cat Woman – who likes catching stray cats for fun
Dora and Diego – the best members of Craigslists
Daughter Piercing and Mama Piercing – adventurists in their own way
