It’s nearing the end of a very busy week here in Italy, and a rather lovely one too! The weather has been amazing; super hot with lovely gentle warmth in the evening. We’ve got to know everyone quite well and it’s safe to say we’ve made some great new friends!

On Tuesday we went for a rather long boat trip on the Adriatic Coast. Our leader told us it would be three hours, but actually five very long, tiring hours of loud music, drunk Italians, especially a grandma in a bikini dancing terribly! Not a nice sight!  Remember P from Peru in my last post? Well he sat with us and kept knocking his fist on the table along to the beat. It’s so annoying for me as not only can I hear it, I can feel the vibrations of his thumping and it does get a BIT annoying!!

I’ve noticed that when Italians are in groups, they talk so loudly that I can’t even hear our own conversation! Especially as they tend to use their arms in a very flamboyant manner which is also visually distracting! So I had to put up with the family opposite us, who were doing all that, whilst I was trying to lipread F, C and J!

I thought it was supposed to be a peaceful guided cruise… Which was let down by the fact that the tour was given in Italian over the loudspeaker- both of which I cannot understand! On the plus side, the view was nice!

Another family of three sat at the end of our table and I thought they were Spanish as P was trying to make conversation with them… So I attempted saying “Me Illamo E..” (My name is E..) , but they didn’t have a clue what I was saying and completely ignored me… I was a bit hurt in a way, but F told me that they might not be Spanish, or couldn’t hear because of my deaf accent, or they’re just plain rude?! Hope it wasn’t my accent… (Sad face). As we were that bored, we resorted to playing the square box dot game on a napkin, then Jenga on my phone..! The girl from the family of three decided to be super annoying and literally started leaning into our group to try and play on my phone with us… We weren’t being selfish but she looked like she could easily break my phone if she laid a finger on it, plus how could we explain a game in Italian, or Spanish, or whatever language they are!?

Afterwards, everyone had a meal of fish and chips- but proper fish- yuk! The funny thing was, we threw ours out of window for the seagulls as it looked very unappealing! We were that bored! We ended up throwing all the bread out too as it was too dry!

In the evening, we went for a drink and went to look at the evening street market. Next thing, P was following us, so we had to look after him! It was getting a bit annoying as we were wondering if he had a learning disability and if so, it felt like we were always taking responsibility for him when we shouldn’t…

He wanted an ice cream. By God, I’ve never seen someone eat an ice cream so messy! It was melting all over his mouth and shoes!! He kept shoving it in our faces asking us if we wanted some… But no thanks, you’ve just been licking it!

Wednesday, we went to the city of Bologna. One of the first things we did was climb the Tower – ‘Torre Asinelli’, 498 steps in the scorching heat… When we got to the top, the view was worth it but it was very orange! Everything looked pretty similar, but interesting at the same time!

I had my first tagliatelle bolognese for lunch which was absolutely delicious, topped with scrumptious Parmesan!

I thought, what could be a better present for my parents than Italian pasta?! Look how awesome it is, never seen anything like it before! What do you think?

The rest of the day was just looking around the city and doing a bit of shopping! The problem with the shops here, is that they’re all either designer shops or very cheap almost fake shops… Nothing in between! Here’s a photo of the city centre!

That evening, we went out to test the nightlife. It is brilliant, the whole town comes alive! All the shops, food places, bars and amusements are open, everyone is out enjoying themselves! We had cocktails and we played boules girls v boys with the adults. It was five rounds and it was 2-2 in fourth round. I was last and scored the winning bowl, bearing in mind I’ve never played before!

Thursday was the trip to Ravenna, we travelled by train and when we arrived there was not much to see! We wandered around the streets, hoping to find something amazing… Only to see the park which was quite bare with a fountain right in the middle! We then had some lunch, which was probably the most entertaining part of the day! I had lasagna but surprisingly it wasn’t that nice?! The apple juice here is ridiculously green… Bizarre! We also had a delicious ice cream from the Gelateria to finish off the trip!

   

When we got back, we went for a swim in the sea and the water was lovely and warm! The boys and I played with their American football which was a laugh! It was hard to understand what they were saying without my hearing aids in! Glad that they kept quickly gesturing me if I had to move as there were lots of paddleboats going past me!

Yesterday was absolutely tipping down when we travelled to San Marino! Did I mention, we were wearing shorts and not-so-waterproof raincoats! Absolutely drenched! Thankfully, it cleared up later in the day and revealed a very beautiful town with stunning scenery. It was amazing!

I brought some lovely home decorations for my parents and a pretty bracelet for myself! Do you like?

Afterwards we went to San Leo, which wasn’t as nice because there wasn’t a lot to see! On the bright side, a pretty good day, despite the fact I forgot to put insect repellent on and I got bitten quite a bit!

During the trip, I’ve had to take one of my hearing aids out because it started to hurt when I wore it… I was wondering whether it was the heat, with my ears not being able to breathe, or the water from the sea or a general ear ache? But due to this, I couldn’t go to the waterpark with everyone today which was disappointing! Guess I’ve got to go to the hospital when I get back… NOOOO!

So F and I went out and got some lunch and another ice cream instead! Strawberry and Nutella- mwah!

I’m going to miss the ice cream and hot weather here but I won’t miss not being able to speak or understand Italian!

And now we’re packing to go home tomorrow evening… The dreaded bus journey!!!

All good times come to an end! But I am looking forward to seeing D again, and then France next week! And I shall try and keep you posted!

Happy holidays,

Love E x