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Friday, February 28, 2003
Obligatory food comment: I just came back from cooking class and made the most awesome gnocchi pesto. I was always fairly nervous around gnocchi, it being big, filling balls of potato, and the last time I had it I think I was immobile for three hours straight. Today's gnocchi was great though, fairly light, and nothing in the world beats fresh pesto.
As always, the week flew by here, and it's already Friday again. Tomorrow will be Florence day, and I will try my hardest to visit at least one site here, most likely the Uffizi gallery, as Leanne really wants to see that. It will be nice to visit a world famous museum and only have to walk five minutes from my home.
I had my first ethnic music class the other day, and while it was extremely difficult to sit through a two and a half hour lecture that didn't involve cooking or computer, it was still pretty enjoyable. We have to write a eight page essay on one of twenty topics in music, one of which was the Grateful Dead, which sounded great because I knew I could just call them and get eight pages worth of information in fifteen minutes. Turns out someone already took that topic though, so I chose Indian music instead, since I loved the music from Monsoon Wedding.
I've been floating some spring break ideas through my head the past week. Right now me and Leanne are leaning towards spending the break with our three friends Diana, Eve, and Stephanie. The plan is to visit Brussels for three or so days, and then travel to Paris, France. Up until ten minutes ago, I didn't know what a "Brussels" was, where exactly it was located, and whether or not it had anything to do with that horrible food item with the word 'sprouts'. I see that it's a nice looking city, and that it's kind of on the way to France anyway. I'll probably look into it more before I decide to actually go there though.
Two days ago me and Leanne joined the gym here. It was pretty expensive, but not all that bad compared to the prices of gyms back home. It was kind of funny to get on the treadmill and have to figure out how fast I run in kilometers per hour and how much I can lift in kilograms. Leanne jumped right into the abs class there, and came out feeling great.
We may be going out to dinner tonight with some new people we met recently, and then Sunday is a big potluck at Leanne's house - last time there were thirty people but this time it sounds like there might be even double that. I'm looking foward to spending a full weekend here though. I just finished a book my mom gave me, Rabbit Run by John Updike, and am moving on to a Stephen King book in my endless pursuit to read all his books.
Buffy: I sure do hope you can buy La Caudrina back home! In any case, I'm still going to chuck all my clothes out and just try to sneak thirty bottles home in my suitcase. Let's just hope that customs doesn't notice.
Kari: Venice was quite smelly indeed. The water wasn't quite as dirty as some of the horror stories I heard (i.e. pig heads floating down the canals right alongside the gondolas!), but it does live up to part of its reputation. I woudln't want to be there one of the days during the year that St. Mark's square is flooded.
posted by Jon at 12:40 PM
2 comments
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Looking back at it now, I'd still say that I enjoy Venice, but won't be hurrying back there soon: I feel like I already saw the city in all the movies and books its in.
Our day there consisted of a two or so hour tour of a few of the main sites, such as St. Mark's Square and the ... bridge, which I've already forgotten the name of. After the tour me and a few friends ate a two and a half hour lunch, mostly because it was so extremely cold there. Then after that we made our way to Harry's Bar, a famous place where Hemmingway used to hang out. We never made it because it took 5 minutes to traverse ten feet, due to all the people, but I wasn't all that crestfalled, as I absolutely hated The Sun Also Rises. We hung out in the square for awhile, enjoying a carnival parade, before heading back to the bus.
I spent Sunday pretty much lounging around here, but had one of the best nights yet. Me, Leanne, and eight of our friends went out to dinner to celebrate our engagement. We went to a fairly famous place called Il Latini, which a few of our friends have been to before. It's actually one of the few places that is open on Sunday nights. We had an excellent three hour dinner, with not only wonderful quality food but an insane quantity of it as well. We had liver patee (which I don't know how to spell, and ate quickly so that I didn't realize I was eating liver), bruchetta, ribolitta (a fantastic Tuscan soup of bread and vegetables), tomato soup, bean soup, ravioli, penne pasta, and then pheasant, rabbit, lamb, pork, and chicken, finished off with tiramisu. For drinks we had some of their house red wine and to top it off the absolute best drink I've had yet: La Caudrina Moscato D'asti, a sparkling white wine / champagne which I will definitely be buying a whole lot of.
The bill came to $330 for the ten of us, which was a bit surprisnig to say the least (especially since I promised Leanne I would treat her!). Then, unbelievable, our friends offered (actually, insisted) to pay for our dinners. I was stunned, as was Leanne, and it was an extremely generous gift of them. I'm thinking a few bottles of La Caudrina would be excellent thank you gifts.
posted by Jon at 3:41 PM
2 comments
Sunday, February 23, 2003
Just a quick update for today. First impression of Venice was: I'm tired. Second impression: I'm very tired. Third impression: A very beautiful city with a lot to offer that should not be visited during its 10 most busy days of the year. Waking up at 4:45AM and then having to deal with 60,000 tourists is not a very pleasant experience. By the end of the day I was really enjoying things, but I may make another trip back another time.
Right now I'm in a bit of a hurry, as I'm trying to plan a dinner tonight with everyone to celebrate me and Leanne's engagement, but I'll write about Venice and upload its pictures soon. It's actually pretty difficult to find a restaurant here because the vast majority of restaurants are closed on Sunday, even though back in the U.S. that's the main day when people go out.
posted by Jon at 4:48 PM
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