a train to mestre and a bus to jesolo brought me to one of the longest stretch of beach i have been! i wasn't expecting much but the sight of the sea when i finally found it from the station just brought excitement, once again, i had contact with the ocean! if only the waves were strong enough to surf! i definitely will be back again, it being an hour away.
after a number of couches surfed, i finally have the chance to pay it forward. this weekend, i have two guests. they are art students in berlin, germany but they are not germans. two girls, one from lithuania and the other from japan. today, i brought them around the center and then suggested they visit venice after lunch and then again tomorrow.
it's quite fulfilling to be a host but there is also that pressure of offering a nice experience to your guests. i hope to get more nationalities to surf my couch in the near future.
i ran again today. there's something about running in another country. i'm just more motivated. especially in the states. mostly, i'd attribute it to the weather. sweating is not mostly because it's scorching hot and terribly humid outside but because you actually did work out!
after my run, i did some exercises i used to do for pole vault and i can still do them perfectly! i did not realize i am not that out of shape. in your face, ____!
oh and in the park, i picked a pomegranate from the bush...it wasn't as ripe as people would want them to be but to me the sweet and sour mix of the taste is amazing and the idea that i just grabbed it off the branch! wew. haha
here she is, my H.Gladys. i got her on the 21st of august and since then i have relied on her. she has saved me quite a number of euros already. not to mention the exercise i get from her. bike stealing is quite rampant here, unfortunately. everyone pray that me and H.Gladys will never part.
has any of you seen the movies 'the beach' and 'into the wild?' the beach, i've seen TOO many times, i've memorized some parts of it. into the wild, i've seen twice. once in batanes and the other one in roby's flat here in padova. both are amazing stories and somehow i felt like supertramp and richard during my trip to Milan. as i got off the train and was walking to antonio's car, i saw the bums, trash, unkempt patches of land and saw more as we drove to his house. i was hoping for it to be better but it didn't. the metro was just icky. i'm no clean freak but their metro just can't be described any other way. the factories jutting out to the sky instead of skyscrapers and buildings which are a way better sight than steel pipes, chimneys spewing out smoke. i kept telling my host that there was some new york vibe but unusually, as with the case with new york, milan didn't charm me.
anyway, going back to feeling like supertramp and richard. for into the wild, remember that scene when he went into the city after having been on the road for quite a while? that scene when he was looking into the restaurant and he saw himself in a suit with clean cut hair and a pretentious, superficial smile plastered on his face, obviously used to woo clients as a corporate sellout usually does. then he woke up from the nightmare of going back to the city and decided he couldn't spend another minute there. for the beach, it was the scene when richard and sal went to get supplies. when he saw all the drunk twenty-somethings, partying like there is no tomorrow. it was executed so well. the distinction of the city to the beach they were living in.
at some points in milan, i would feel that way. it was growing on me though and that is why i was better off leaving. it's good maybe for a short stay but the place is not for me. to some extent, it's exhausting. all the stress of city living.
i guess im in the right place after all. quaint little university town. not too far and not too close to the city.
after arriving from Milan, tita amaya and her friends decided it was best to have dinner in Venice. after checking in a hotel, we headed straight back to the train station and got tickets to Venezia S. Lucia. It was already getting dark. everyone kept saying venice is much nicer in the evening but to me, it's better at sunset. at night, it's too dark and so the details of the amazing architecture is hardly seen. although, seeing piazza san marco all lit up is also a sight to see. i could imagine New year's there as it is in the top 5 european cities to spend New Year's! i kept wishing i bought an SLR before i left the philippines because my crappy camera couldnt take a good shot of the place at night.
we almost missed the train. we actually were in a wrong train going back to padova. but thankfully, no one checked the tickets. i bought tickets for 10:20 pm but i did not take into consideration that i was with older folk and i still took them walking which got them tired and so the walk took so much longer. when we came out of the vaporetto, we had to run to catch the 11:30 train. all worked out in the end.
the next day, i showed them around Padova. nothing much to see but the Prato, Basilica of St. Anthony and shopping. had dinner and found a good place for pizza.
after a day in my city, Venice again. i have been to venice 3 times in my whole stay in italy and i havent even been here a month. this time, we skipped the walking part. we took the vaporetto to and from piazza san marco. i was only with tita amaya and tita beth now. the other two left for milan the day before. as we passed the expensive stores, my two companions could not resist going into them...Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, etc...i was reminded of that scene in pretty woman when julia roberts was denied service in one of the stores in rodeo drive. i did not have money to spend in those stores! good thing i was with people who could actually spend money in these stores...
then we had lunch, searched for the linen shirts we saw the other night when the store was closed and then headed back. rushing to get them two in the train to Milan.
it's been a while since i last wrote here. at least i feel like it's been a while.
over the weekend, i was in Milan to meet up with tita amaya. she was there for the MACEF, some design fair for home stuff, jewelries, furniture, etc. the night before my train to Milan, i was rushing to find someone to host me. i sent a couple of requests in the afternoon and then attended a surprise party for one of the indians. after having a couple of drinks, i did my ninja exit in order to send more requests. i slept with no luck in receiving any positive responses from CS. good thing i got one in the morning. a great host even! i couldn't imagine what i would have done, i wasn't really in the mood to book a hostel. maybe, i wouldnt have gone.
so i thought i was all ready, although i had that feeling i made a mistake. i left h.gladys with roby after eating lunch with him and his friends in the mensa. then, i walked briskly to the train station. rode the train which was unusually early...here is where i made a mistake. too early! it was on the way to milan but a more expensive train. so, i had to pay in the train...i didn't have cash! good thing i brought my debit card...stupidity charged to experience...
Milan was nothing great. i felt stressed out. the hectic life with all the buildings, traffic, ugly graffiti, too many filipinos, etc. one time, coming home from the fair, one car of the metro had only filipinos in it. wew. MRT??? but then again, it had that new york vibe and after a few days, it was beginning to grow on me. plus it has the best gelato i have tasted! Chocolat! via Boccaccio, 9!near the cadorna stop...do try it, whoever is reading this.
the fair itself was amazing. stuff from all over the world were showed for distributors...every day, i was there instead of actually exploring Milan. 3 days and i did not finish all the halls... oh and don't worry, Milan supposedly is explored in less than half a day since there is not much to see but the duomo.
oh yeah, during the first night in milan, i went to navigli with my host and we sat down in one restaurant where you pay 7 euros for a drink and eat all the food you can...we already went ahead with the eating since the service was taking too long...after a while, still, no drink...an hour after, the order came but a wrong one...we walked out. and then shouting and confrontations took place...everything in italian..haha. i did not know what to do. still we walked away full from the food but very thirsty.
cia. It was already getting dark. everyone kept saying venice is much nicer in the evening but to me, it's better at sunset. at night, it's too dark and so the details of the amazing architecture is hardly seen. although, seeing piazza san marco all lit up is also a sight to see. i could imagine New year's there as it is in the top 5 european cities to spend New Year's! i kept wishing i bought an SLR before i left the philippines because my crappy camera couldnt take a good shot of the place at night.
o left for milan the day before. as we passed the expensive stores, my two companions could not resist going into them...Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, etc...i was reminded of that scene in pretty woman when julia roberts was denied service in one of the stores in rodeo drive. i did not have money to spend in those stores! good thing i was with people who could actually spend money in these stores...
ng great. i felt stressed out. the hectic life with all the buildings, traffic, ugly graffiti, too many filipinos, etc. one time, coming home from the fair, one car of the metro had only filipinos in it. wew. MRT??? but then again, it had that new york vibe and after a few days, it was beginning to grow on me. plus it has the best gelato i have tasted! Chocolat! via Boccaccio, 9!near the cadorna stop...do try it, whoever is reading this.
