So after getting home from Prague, I finally received a break that was about 2 weeks and 1 weekend long from traveling. The first week we were back however just happened to be my friend Maggie’s 21st birthday and our Unofficially Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day. No rest for the weary. We made Maggie a huge birthday dinner complete with tiramisu and tiramisu gelato for desert. Then we all went out to Campus (where else?) and needles to say Maggie had to go home early and her 21st was a success. The next day, we woke her up with a beer and discovered that drinking more really is the best cure for a hangover. The festivities started at about noon to celebrate Unofficial which is usually celebrated the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day but with 38 U of I kids, we brought Unofficial to Verona. Unfortunately, we forgot that unlike at U of I, we live in an apartment building that has real people: adults, children, business people, a door man and they could not comprehend the 20+ Americans wearing green and slamming 40’s before 2 pm on a Friday. Whoops, our America was definitely showing. In the end, we pissed everyone off, the threat of deportation was thrown out there, we apologized, and we were forgiven and it was all chalked up to “Oh, they’re American” haha.
Later that same day, Corey came to visit for a whole week. I was so excited to see him after 2 months! The poor kid had a 9 hour layover in Rome before he could fly to the smaller airport in Verona b/c the pilots went on strike but he made it. He even remembered to bring me some little reminders of home (peanut butter, ranch, and solo cups). We had another fabulous Claudio trip planned that weekend and Claudio was more than pleased to have Corey come along. Saturday, we went to Murano and Venice and to a hand blown glass factory. Murano is where blown glass originated (fact of the day). The Factory was cool but it could have been better but I did get some pretty sweet gifts for the fam. Went to lunch and Corey got to experience a Claudio meal complete with wine, dessert, and squid? Well we were brave enough to try it on pasta and honestly, I didn’t hate it. Later went to a Lace School which was well, full of lace. It did give us a good laugh though when he lady held up a piece of lace and told us “Now this is something you should take a picture of.” We all held up our cameras and did as instructed but had no idea why. Apparently certain kinds of lace take almost a year to make, interesting. Sunday, we went on what is probably my favorite Claudio trip to date. We went back to Lake Garda and went all along the opposite side to Garda Lake and Bordolino. The weather along the lake was sunny and warm. Then we took a cable car up a mountain, Monte Baldo. It was hard to believe that in the same town people were sailing on the lake and skiing down the mountain. The top of was like a beach party on the mountain with people in ski gear laying out on recliners, playing disco music, and drinking beer. It was my kind of mountain top. By the time, we came down, we were all ready for a hardy Claudio meal, which is exactly what we got. The first course took about an hour to make it to the table but the wine was there right on time so we were pretty buzzed by the time the food rolled in. This meal was a little different because it consisted all kinds of fresh squid and salmon. Another successful Claudio meal? Check! I have this theory that Claudio fill us up and gets us drunk so that he can get some peace and quiet on the bus ride back to Verona after a weekend with us lol I’m jk but seriously though…..
Corey had a great week here and got to tour Milan in addition to Venice, Verona and Lake Garda. In Milan, we learned why you can never trust someone when they tell you something is free. This man put a woven rainbow bracelet around my wrist, tied it, all the while telling Corey that his wife was beautiful and this gift was free from him. Then gave Corey one along with one for our "future babies" and right as we were about to walk away asked for a "donation". On the upside, every time we encountered one of these bracelet men, we just held up our already tagged wrists and they backed off so I guess it was worth the one euro we "donated". I introduced Corey to gnocchi and he even got to tag along on another trip for my business class chaperoned by the one and only, Claudio. Bauli cake factory where we saw where the traditional Veronese cake is made. The factory reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and with the get-up they made us wear in the factory, we were the ompa lumpas in this scenario. The second half of the trip was to where else? A winery complete with a tour and yes, you guessed it- a tasting. I purchased a few bottles of wine for 5 euro and Corey made sure to get enough wine to last him until his homesickness for Italy began to fade.
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