Italy

Milan turned out to be way better than I could have imagined. We stayed with Tyler's friend, Elis, and he was very successful in giving us the authentic Italian Experience. I've got a story to tell along with some of the pictures, so there's probably going to be more reading in this one than usual...

Oh, and this is probably the longest post ever. Fair warning. I think it's worth it, though. I really can't emphasize enough the magnitude of awesome that was our trip to Italy.

As always, every good trip begins with an early morning trek to the bus station.

First stop: get some pizza!

A CRAZY club in Milan.

The next day, some sight seeing. Elis took us around town (he's the guy on the right...). First place to see was Duomo.

LARGE PINK SNAILS!!

Another of Milan's tourist gems: Castello Sforzesco. (roll-call)

A shadow roll-call at the Castello Sforzesco. One of the cats that lives there also made it into the photo. Can you spot it? (Reminder..if you click on the picture, it wil get real big.) Hint: the grass in the sun would be a fabulous place for a cat to nap, eh? What a fabulous existence.

Elis took us with him to a materials collection where he needed to do some research for school. Tyler and I couldn't stop taking pictures...that is, until we were told that we were not allowed to. Then we took them very carefully. The next few pictures ars some of the ones I liked best. You will certainly want to click 'em...it's worth seeing the full-size.

...colors...

I spent a comical amount of time arranging this fabric.

See that blue? Certainly my favorite variety.

Mmmmm...texture. It's a shame that some of the sharpness was lost in the uploading...the one on my computer is much better to look at.

I spent a long time with this chain-thing.

More delicious delicious texture...

HOLY CRAP. Chain-thing AND delicious texture??

My favorite chain-thing, and some guy I recognized.

A field filled with little metal pillows. I would visit that field.

I have had just about of Milan. I AM LEAVING! Let's go to Reggio Emilia instead. In the usual style, we caught the very first train after staying up too late having some beers with Elis's room mates.

We found this swanky little coffee house near the train station. Actually it was the train station. That's just how they do things in Italy.

Espresso is becoming a theme... Aren't those cool sugar packetts?

A small church somewhere near the center of Reggio Emilia.

There's the outside...

A SKY BRIDGE! At least near enough that it counts. This was at the flag museum. Did you know that Italy's flag was designed right in Reggio Emilia? The woman who was running the place let us open up the windows despite the freezing weather just so we could get better pictures. The hospitality in Italy is really first rate. You'll see more of that in a bit.

There's the main hall.

The outside of the birthplace of the Italian flag. On the right side of the frame is a bit of the building similar to the skybridge (from before).

I beginning to develop a real taste for the stuff... This was a fancy shop. Espresso here comes with that little stemmed-glass of gently carbonated water. And that pastry behind the water is a deliciously buttery/herby delight specific to the area.

These are some measuring gouges in a column of an old old church that the Romans put there for selling things.

Here's me and a lion. The lion was put there by the Romans.

We found a chocolate named Fiat. Then we got in a Fiat. A little bit after this picture happened, we ate it in a Fiat.

See?

Right about here, an epic pizza dinner at Piccolo Paradiso. (Careful, their website plays music.) I'm still kicking myself for not taking a single picture, but you can get a good idea for the place from their website. Anyway, the first part of that story I was telling you about earlier starts here. We realized that a lot of people were not finishing their pizza crusts, and that those crusts were being gathered on a cart. We wanted to eat those, but the people who ran the restaurant freaked out when we asked. Instead of allowing us to eat trash, they gave us 2 GIGANTIC loaves of bread with ham in the middle. Free. Did I mention something about Italian hospitality before? I have to admit that I felt a little bad, but we seriously did nothing more than ask for some of the abandoned pizza crusts that were headed for the trash. The important part is the huge sandwitches...

We went to a club in Reggio. Tyler and Elis started into a photo battle within the first 20 minutes. Elis definitely won. He owns a fancy external flash. It is much bigger.

That's our favorite bar tender ever (the girl on the right). She hooked us up with some lovely luxurious and luscious libations.

Sittin' in the American corner, jus' sippin' on some sizzurp.

Another cool, clean and copiously crisp cocktail from our friend. (I'll try to stop with the liquor-related alliteration now)

See what I mean about the flashes?

My favorite drink! Green shots!

I took this seconds after I realzed that it was 4 in the morning. I was hoping to capture the time on Tyler's watch, but things really are too blurry at that time of night.

After the club. Yeah, we're still out and drinking espresso. We didn't hit the hay until 6:30.

After an intense night on the town, nobody was feeling talkative as we made our way to Elis's Aunt's for a home-cooked meal. Funny thing is, I woke up on my own at ten and finished an online assignment for school before we left the house. There's a point where drinking and partying all night in a new country removes the need for sleep. Or at least postpones it for a while.

Round One: homemade tortellini (yes, all the way from scratch--pasta and filling). We had a second bowl (mistake...pay attention to how many courses follow) with whipped cream. I guess that's how some people like it.

Round Two: homemade lasagna! Notice the pizza in the middle? No one ate a single piece...it got overlooked I guess. But have no fear! They gave it to me and Tyler before we had the slightest chance to graciously refuse. That's the real truth...I swear. It was packed in a bag along with other leftovers, an espresso set, some fruit, sodas and beers before we even knew what was happening. Maybe this will be the last time I point out the phenomenal Italian hospitality...

Some home made wine. Seriously. Elis's family makes their own wine.

Round three: infinite mini sandwitches. Elis's Uncle made the breads (you'll see more of that in a bit). There was a huge selection of meats and a delicious herb-lard mixture to spread on along with a limitless supply of parmesan cheese.

What's that? Oh, just some homemade vinegar. You mix it with oil and seasonings in the little dish to make a dressing for vegetables. Just dip and eat.

How cool is that device?

Here's a nice view of the table. You can see a couple of the more exotic meats for the mini sandwitches, the parmesan cheese, the herb-lard, the bowl of veggies in the background and a platter of meats off to the left.

A young onion. We ate these with the other veggies. Elis's grandfather told us a story about when he was young. During the Fascist rule, he and his siblings would walk past a farm on the way to/from school. Since there was nothing to eat, they would steal onions like this one for food. I guess they developed a taste for them, and it's somewhat of a tradition in the family to eat them now.

The Nutella version of the mini sandwitch.

Dessert! Left to right, we have English pudding (just what they call it...it's custard, chocolate mousse, and liqueur-soaked lady fingers), a pear pastry (pears, cinnamon, pine nuts, pastry crust), and some fruit salad. At this point, I was beginning to have sharp stabbing pains in my stomach. I'm not sure I've ever been so full.

Liquor after dinner is mandatory. Left to right: a spicy chocolate liqueur, boring rum, home made coffee liqueur, and home made licorice liquor.

Espresso, of course.

Another of the home made liqueurs. I forget what it is specifically, but it's 15 years old and POTENT. The bottle is from something else...

The family.

Driving away. The air was perfecly cool, I was perfectly full and we had no where in particular to be. Happy.

Look at that abandoned place! Let's go get in it. This post is already insanely long, so I'm only gonna put documentary pictures from this place. If you want more, check here. I would recommend taking a look...there are alot of neat ones. Also, on that website, you will find my repository of pictures. All of the recent ones, at least.

Someone was living in the back rooms. Recently, too...there were alot of recently-dated newspapers, and some of the personal affects were not as soiled and dank as the things which had clearly been there for years. I'm not sure why they would sit that way. I thought it was a bit spooky.

There were a bunch of neat old mechanical drawings.

Look at that brick. Stuck right in the window.

Elis's cat and my pant leg had a little thang goin' on.

Car ride in Elis's friend's nice Volvo back to Milan. We got a plane to catch. At this point, Tyler and I are wearing all of our clothes just to fit all of the food we gathered in our carry-on. In addition to the free gigantic sandwitches and leftovers from dinner, we bought 2 kilos of spaghetti and 750g of Nutella (important) because it's so much cheaper than in Sweden. I also had an espresso maker, a kilo of espresso and some espresso cups. So much loot.

Last roll-call with Elis, right back where we started.

Ready for the journey home? Let's go.

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 6:40am, but there is no bus from Milan at that time. So we booked a room at a hotel near the airport. Actually, that hotel was the airport.

This sweet plane was hanging over the center of the main entryway to the airport. Of course we wanted to sleep under that. We were shooed away just as we were settling in, though.

Ok. The part of the story that I've been building up to. Surely, everybody knows the rules about planes and liquid. Well, it turns out that 3/4 of a kilogram of Nutella is a violation of the liquid rule. There is a specific clarification of chocolate creme as a liquid in the rule book. But there's a loophole: chocolate creme spread on a sandwitch is not a violation. Well we just happened to have a sandwitch man enough to handle 750 grams of chocolate creme.

Unfortunately, I was on the other side of the security check when Tyler made the sandwich (he had the jar of Nutella in his bag and I had already sent my items through the x-ray machine). So, no pictures, but imagine an American, dressed in everything he owns (even 2 pairs of pants...look for the double cuffs in the next image), making a gigantic Nutella sandwitch. He was refused utensils and a table (actually forbidden from using a table), so you need to modify your mental picture to reflect that he was in the middle of the floor of the check in area using a flashlight and his bear hands to do the deed.

Well, I'm pleased to admit that the plan worked. He sailed directly through security, sandwich in tow, and we continued on our journey back to Sweden as depicted below.

We found a Swedish-looking waiting area to set up shop. At this point a few people walking by were confused by the large sandwitch and empty jar of Nutella accompanying the lunatic in two pairs of pants and five shirts.

Now, we're beginning to draw stares. You've never been stared at like this...People would look, and then not look away. There were no less than thee people who I caught staring and made eye contact with before they simply returned their attention to the situation that was unfolding about three feet in front of me.

Gooping the Nutella back into the jar.

And now for a nice breakfast of Nutella-bread and ham in a cup. Where did the cup come from? I was able to acquire a plastic knife from a near by coffee shop. In Italy, free plastic utensils are not given without a cup to accompany. This one pretty well captures how nice the waiting area is. See the man in the white in the background. Notice how he is STILL staring, even though I am clearly taking a picture of him doing it. He walked by during the Nutella transfer and posted up nearby to keep an eye on things, I suppose.

The aftermath. The ham had definitely gone bad, so Tyler took the liberty of mincing it in the cup.

Italy was nice, but it's always good to be back in Sweden.

I brought a bit of Italy back with us.. That's the kitchen here in Västerås.

That's gonna have to do for now. The week that we've had in back here in Sweden has been noteworthy, to understate it, but I've been working on this post for too long by now. There will be another real soon to document the previous week.