Tuscany

Ciao! Greetings from the beautiful and famous Tuscany region of Italy! Since I last wrote many things have happened (as usual). The last time I wrote was Friday, and that night my host Maria Jose (MaJo) and I went to the local grocery store to get food and wine and made some very delicious Italian-style pasta, then sat around eating, drinking, and talking. The next day MaJo called a French friend of hers and the three of us went to a local weekend market where they sell tons of fruit, vegetables, cheeses, and olives that are both insanely delicious and very cheap. We loaded up on tons of food and then made our way back to the flat for lunch and to unburden ourselves of the bags we had accumulated. After lunch we went to the yearly international arts and crafts fair. Although, I soon discovered that it was more like the international sell everything fair. They were selling clothes, furniture, art, food, appliances, jewlerry, everything! I got to look at lots of pretty things and I tried my first real Italian gellatto- so delicious! After a bit the enormously huge building absolutely crammed with vendors became a little overwhleming, so we only stayed for a few hours. MaJo's french friend went home, and we went back to the flat. Hanging with the two girls was hilarious because I would speak to her french friend in french, I'd speak to MaJo in enlgish, and the two girls would speak to each other in Italian! It was like a little language festival. Same with MaJo's roommate, who is also french.
After cooking another delicious pasta dinner, we grabbed some wine, and got ourselves all fancied up to go to one of Milano's famous and ultra-swanky disco clubs. The place was completely packed! Everyone was all dressed up and absolutely trashed! it was a cool experience, but not really my scene, although it's very Milanese, so of course I had to experience it!
The next day my plan was to take a train to Venice for the day, but sadly I missed my train, and it was freezing outside, so I spent the day indoors with MaJo, cooking, reading, and talking. I can't get enough of this Italian food! I now understand why it's so famous. It's not the recepies, but the indredients! The food is all so fresh and delicious that you can throw anything together and it will taste amazing. I have a fear that Italy will make me very, very fat!
On the next day (Monday) my plan had been to take a 3 hour train-ride (changing trains once on the way there) to Pistoia, a beautiful city in the Tuscany region of Italy, near Firenze (Florence). However, after about an hour or so, the train broke down in some little town and we had to wait for TWO AND A HALF HOURS for them to bring a new engine so we could continue on our way. At first I had no idea what was going on, because the man in my compartment who spoke English left, and at one point most of the people got off the train after they made some announcement. I finally found a very nice german girl named Maria, who spoke English and informed me that all the passengers going to only Florence were allowed to take another train, while everyone else waited. Lucky for me Maria was really nice and cool, and I kept myself much occuppied by talking to her while we waited. Unluckily for me, I had no way of getting a hold of my new host Manuel to tell him I'd be very, very late.
I eventually got to Pistoia, got a hold of Manuel, and made it to his house. That night he took me to a climbing gym where he often goes and I did my first ever real wall-climbing! It was very exciting, but boy was I ever sore the next day! I think I will need lots of practise if I want to make a habit of climbing. Yesterday I got up very early when Manuel had to go to work, and took a train to Firenze to wlak around for the day. Firenze is incredibly beautiful, with loads of churches, museums, and statues. Unfortunately they have the audacity to charge a lot for every attraction, including the churches! So I mostly walked around and looked at the outsides of all the famous buildings. I did, however, pay to get into the Gallery of the Academia, an art gallery that holds many of Michelangelo's famous statues, including the statue of David. Wow, just wow. That statue is so incredibly amazing! It definitely deserves its renown. It's really, really big, and perfectly preserved. I stood there, mouth agape, for quite awhile basking in its excellence. After the gallery I went to a restaurant and had a fabulous lunch of real Italian pizza. So good! Sadly, though, the whole day was (weather-wise) miserable and rainy, and I was once again walking around for hours in wet boots with cold, wet feet. Apparently in the last week Italy has experienced more rain than it ever gets this time of year. I took the evening train back to Pistoia a little early so that I could walk around Pistoia for a bit, which is also very beautiful with loads of churches. I then met up with Manuel and he walked me around some of the most famous churches in Pistoia. It's so great staying with people who really know the area you're going to! However, after being in wet boots all day I was feeling really, really sick (lame) and we went back to Manuel's where I could drink tea under many blankets. Wanting me to still get a good Italian experience, Manuel showed me an old, famous movie from Italy, which was really hilarious.
This morning when I woke up I felt like absolute death, so I opted to stay inside for the day. I will probably do the same tomorrow just in case, because if I'm traveling to Rome (where I'm heading next) I want to be healthy enough to lug my huge bags around. I really need to get waterproof boots or something, because this being sick nonsense is absolute crap. Luckily, though, Manuel has a record player and the complete disc-ology of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Bob Dylan, so the day wasn't at all a waste since I was listening to amazing music on vynel. Now I just need to make a speedy recovery and continue my travels.