ciao!!! feels weird to say that given i am currently not in italy writing this BUT this is THE italy post so … buckle up peeps. its gets a lil wild.
but starts exciting!!! first week of August was reuniting with my dad, stepmom, sister, brother in law and lil nephew, Elliot!! my sister, Molly, is turning 30 this year and so her present from my dad and stepmom was a trip to italy!! and since Ian and I were on that side of the world at the time, we snagged an invite. they rented a villa in Peschiera del Garda in the north part of Italy on Lake Garda. the owner of the villa very kindly came and picked Ian and I up from the train stop!!! it was super strange to see my dad and stepmom in real life in italy?? just seeing people we knew was strange after so long. also really sad but two days before we arrived there was a hugggee hail storm there and it damaged a lot of cars, signs, and buildings. you could see the damage around the place.
the villa they rented was super quant and lovely - had a pool, full kitchen, and was a 10 minute walk from the beach. we got in that pool reaaal quickly. complete with a glass of wine.
and then the sister, BIL and nephew arrived!!! very exciting and i am unsure how much my little nephew understood about what was happening but was sweet to see him. he is very into yelling BOO at people right now and trying to scare them.
not much happened that night, we went and got pizza, I practiced my italian with the waiters and Elliot charmed everyone. it was great to be with the fam.
oh also Ian and I got the room with the bunkbeds!!!! we didnt even have to fight anyone for it!!!
it was really a luxury to be at a place with a pool. it was so nice to get to wake up early, go for a swim and have breakfast. then just hop in whenever. read your book outside and go for a dip at night.
then Tuesday August 1st happened and let me tell you folks, it gets pretty crazy. the crew decided that we would bike to a nearish town called Sirmione because some cool stuff was happening there. we went to the hotel the villa was associated with to rent because they had good rates, however, they didnt have one big enough for Andres, my brother in law, and some bikes were e-bikes. most of the people reading this probably know i am not the most experienced biker and damnnn. these bike lanes were a lil wild. first, the lovely bike lane by the lake just decided to end at some point, with very sharp turns and thin paths that lead right into the water. so we tried other ones - some had holes in the path and were fenced off. then we tried the roads ones, that would switch sides every so often and randomly change size. they also had the two metal barriers that you had to zig zag through. first couple i did, then i went through one too fast and went straight into a cement wall. crunch of my hand. and ta-da!! my hand hurts and starts to swell. well we are still very far, so we continue trying to bike and it is just chaos. these bike lanes are very nonexistent or confusing and you dont know where to go. we MAKE it to the small lil town and it is PACKED. its hilarious because cars be trying to go through the crowd??? doesn’t seem like the best ideas, my guys but idk. they were not getting very far. the town was cute and had the lovely little cobblestone roads with so much to look at. there was some fun castle and castle type walls around. one spot had a sign saying “kiss!” which was random but people were kissing. ian went into the water to cool off and then we had a cute lil lunch at a cafe by the water. our waiter had an epic mustache. and i put some ice on my hand bc it was looking very swollen and not great.
we walked around a lil, there was a cute park space, and then grabbed some gelato. it was then time to bike back…. YAY!!! we decided it was better to bike back on the road (and quicker) and boy was it better. or i felt more comfortable. we dropped the bikes off at the hotel and hopped into the pool to cool off. my hand was not feeling good. so ian taped it for me for the rest of the week (yes yes in hindsight i shouldve gone to the hospital that week but i was stubborn and thought i was fine).
not sure the order at which things happened buuut one day Ian, Molly, Andres and I went on a double date to a small cute place for dinner. it was funny because the person serving us gave us these pepper flakes and said “be careful they are hot!!” well so far none of us had anything that we had deemed spicy but alas!! these were suprisingly very hot and very tasty. very much enjoyed.
another day Molly, Andres and I went to a hike!!! we have always enjoyed hiking together and we rented a car in order to go do some (because unfortunately we were a bit farther from the mountains than we thought)!!! it was a very nice hike - a perfect length and good ratio of scramble types to not. it was a lot of fun but it was a running joke that it was so cloudy so we couldn’t see anything. the views were …. non existent.
except on the way back where we got 2 5 second glimpses of something!!! but it was fun!! and at the top there was this cute lil cafe/restaurant where we got a lil coffee!!! the drive to get there was also pretty cool through the mountains, and switchback roads.
the next day we took Ian and Elliot on a walk/hike. Elliot, poor guy, touched an electric fence … but he was a trouper and it thankfully didn’t last toooo long. He was getting the hang of hiking, got to pee of a mountain, and kept switching between “i can’t do it!!” and “i can do it!!” what a legend. it was a lot of fun.
one night we also ended up renting a boat!!! to go around the lake a bit and jump off. oh we also rented a little paddle boat WITH A SLIDE!!! that was fun to get to slide in and jump off. but you had to make sure it wasn’t too dry. bc that was painful.
the motorboat was fun, Captain Ian took us out and Elliot helped a bit with driving. we made it to a spot and jumped in, then with one working hand i needed a bit of help to swim back in. but wish i jumped in more.
those were the notable moments. most moments were hanging in the pool, playing catch with Elliot being a great cheerleader as he kept saying “great throw!” or “great catch!”, and chilling outside with the family.
it was weird and hard to say goodbye as … i am not exactly sure when we will see each other again…
next Ian and I took a long train right to Bari, Italy - the plan was to make our way down to the bottom of Italy to take a ferry to Greece. Bari had a lovely little fountain right outside the station, and a long main road that had a park and shops. it was very cute. we made it there very late and out host Stephano was very sweet and was like “you must be hungry LETS GO GET PIZZA” hahah. much appreciated but we just wanted to drop our stuff off and lay down for a bit.
we did end up going to a pizza place down the street and damn it was POPPING. we are still unsure what was going on really but seemed like 1 masssiiive family party. but they seemed to know the staff well?? it was like midnight at this point. and the staff was clearly busy. there were odd music videos on the screen and there was a man sitting, observing that we swear was the owner. sure enough, he got up at one point and started to help the staff and get our order done as i think he could tell it had been a little bit. very odd experience and very yummy pizza.
we mostly chilled, worked, walked and wandered that week in Bari. we went to the beach one day and it was a great experience. i love salt water, and it was so lovely playing in the waves. i missed saltwater beaches. to top it off, we had a lovely sunset to enjoy complete with pinks and oranges.
then this takes us to my Bari Hospital Experience … Ian and I decided (more like i finally agreed its a good idea to go) to venture out and go to the Bari hospital. Well folks, it was an experience. A good one. Thankfully (??) my injury was easily mime-able and they were able to see my taped hand. The emergency staff was incredibly kind and helpful. And then I was called in quite quickly given how busy it was. It was a very nice hospital!!! lots of signage and nice rooms. The man who first saw me was funny and gave me a thumbs up for punching a wall. Thank you, sir. Your approval strangely helped.
Then I was whisked away to a hallway to wait for the X-ray. I tried to tell people my name but it seemed much easier to just show people my passport. The X-ray technician was kind and had a bit of english. He asked me how I injured myself and laughed with his colleagues about it. But the xray was quite an easy process. Then i got confused because someone who didnt speak english whisked me away and with 3 other people, i got into an ambulance?? we dropped the other people off at various buildings and i was just sitting there with hope. i got let out at this building and the gestured for me to go downstairs. so i did … and i managed to find people after a bit. where once again i kinda just showed peeps my passport and explained i got an xray. it felt like a random basement room i was in but this doctor brought me and voila!!! on his computer was my hand x ray!!!
he gave me the news that i fractured my fifth metacarpal on my right hand!!! but he was kind and said “its okay!!”. he told me that i needed a splint for 30 days and i needed to get a check up xray in a week to ensure it was healing okay because … i may need surgery. joy!!! so then another man came in with an assistant? and he splinted up my hand very well and told me to keep it elevated. he gave me a sling, made a few fun jokes, and the assistant asked me what they call splints in english which in the moment … i didnt know!!! but he looked it up and we laughed about it!! they then told me i was good to head back to the emergency room to be discharged. well folks. i was lost. i didn’t know my way back since they brought me in an ambulance. but i made it!!! i then sat in the original big busy room, where the security guard (who also seemed to be managing/running the whole inflow of people) could tell we were a lil lost and told us to not worry and take a seat, he will figure it out. all i knew was i needed “my papers”. while we waited we watched this man yell at people as peeps were not being patient and they were just going into rooms randomly. but he was really kind and after awhile saw we were still waiting and brought us over to a guy at a computer to print our papers so we could go. shoutout to you sir you truly seemed like an MVP. we then left and were like … do we have to pay???? but it seems like it was a public hospital??? so no??? anyways very lucky experience and i feel very honoured and grateful for their care.
welp peeps, your girl is now in splint and can’t get it wet, and can hardly use the hand. and i do know it could be worse, but those first few days i was pretty down on myself about it. there were moments we thought i may need to come home. i couldn't get it wet or take it off. and i still get frustrated, but i am trying to see the good/positive things so here they are:
- it is a great conversation starter with people!!!
- i get a lot of practice using my left hand
- it looks kinda cool bc i have a metal piece on my hand and i can “flip” people off in a fun way. i also can do the hang loose sign in a fun way.
- it wasn’t my foot or leg!!! wouldve been worse
- i can still swim with the bottom half of my body
- its a good lesson to take care of myself
- i can use it as a sheild
- i have a fun memory
- i am very lucky and grateful to be traveling with Ian as he can help me open things and do things
wow this post is long. hey to the peeps that are still reading. very quickly, we then headed to Brindisi, where our ferry was going to depart from!! we were in this apartment where there were 2 other rooms and one shared kitchen. it was hilarious because often people were coming into our room by accident. multiple times this happened as there was some confusion over room numbers. oh boy. there was also an ADORABLE young lil kitten that needed a lot of attention and was super kind.
we mostly worked, chilled, ate pizza from this yummy shwarma place, had gelato, walked down by the port and went on walks on the major long shopping stretch. it was a lovely pedestrian place. one hilarious memory was this little carousel for kids and there was a group of kids that went together. the song playing mustve been a popular pop song because these kids were SINGING at the top of their lungs all the lyrics. it was very entertaining. also??? italians looove their small lil chihuahuas and other tiny dogs. so be careful where you step!!! so many times i was thinking there was a gap in the crowd to go around and BOOM small lil doggy. also hot tip the grapes were very good in italy. oh!!!! and ian and i got to take some pics in a photobooth!!! i have been wanting to do that for awhile 🙂
alright enough i am tired of my own voice at this point!!! ciao!!!!
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