After our conversational Italian class on Thursday, Aaron and I had dinner at our friends Elyse’s apartment near the Spanish Steps before we ran home to grab our bags for our trip to Udine. Our train was scheduled to leave at 10:50pm so we were at Termini Station at 9:30 waiting. We couldn’t seem to find the platform where the train was supposed to be. We kept circling the station trying to find an open office where we could ask a train official about it but they were all closed because it was so late at night. At 10:39, we finally found an engineer for TranItalia who told us that we were at the wrong train station. I know, we’re idiots…. He told us that the station was only 4 metro stops away so we raced downstairs to where the metros leave from, illegally got through the ticket gates without being busted by the train police and got to the platform that we needed…but the metro decided to take 8 minutes to get to us. We missed our train by less than 10 minutes. After we paid for an all new set of train tickets (that hurt the bank, trust me) we made it to the correct station to wait for the next train to leave in 2 hours. This station was by FAR the scariest place I have ever been in. We watched about 3 drug deals take place while waiting for the train to arrive after midnight. About 20 minutes before we were supposed to depart, we made our way out to the platform to wait. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. The train finally showed up about an hour and a half late. This would have been fine if we hadn’t purchased all new train tickets with a connecting train in Bologna. Consequently, we missed all our trains that day including the one in Bologna and our connection to Venice AND the connection from Venice to Udine. I was having a little bit of a panic attack because I hadn’t been able to reach Grandpa on the cell number that he gave me and when I called Zio Valerio’s house, I got a very angry Italian woman that I couldn’t understand. I finally got in touch with them when we were waiting to leave out of Bologna to let them know that we wouldn’t be arriving until that afternoon (we were originally supposed to be there at 8am).

NOTE TO GRANDPA: I know that I’ve butchered the spelling of these Italian cities in this next paragraph. Sorry 

After a very hectic and stressful night/morning, we made it to the train station in Udine where Grandma and Grandpa were waiting. We loaded the bags into the Ford Fiesta (which is basically a Ford Focus) and headed towards Meduzza. Along the way, we stopped off for lunch at a Chinese buffet. I know… Chinese food in Italy?? But really…the Chinese food here is WAY better than what you get in the states  When we finally got to Zio Valerio’s house, we sat down and had something to drink. Aaron tried Grappa for the first time. He’s a fan. After that, we saw some more family before going back up to the apartment to eat dinner. On Saturday, Marino, Ariella, Aida and Lauro took us around to different cities. We saw Trieste, Malfalcone (where Grandpa went to school) Regipulia and a Castle in Miramare. The castle sits on the edge of the ocean and has a really pretty view. The captain that built it named it Miramare because it means “view of the ocean.” We saw a movie crew filming outside the castle and in the gardens and also a couple that just got married taking their wedding photos by the ocean. It was a really nice trip along the coast. After that, we crossed the Italian border into Slovenia to eat lunch at restaurant that Marino goes to all the time. You wouldn’t BELIEVE the amounts of food that they brought to the table. We all ordered dishes that were meant for 2 people to share…but they could have easily fed a family of 4. Well…a family of 4 or 1 Aaron. It was our first taste of Slavic food! We attempted to head to the horse stables to see the famous leg… horses but we were caught in a huge thunderstorm as we were walking to the pasture. We headed home after that.

On Sunday morning, we had been planning to go on a motorcycle ride with Marino and Ariella back to Slovenia and drive along the coast but the weather looked like it would be bad that day so we headed into Cita Fierra instead to get Aaron his first Italian hair cut and try to find us the cards that plugged into our computers to give us Internet as we traveled. We picked one up at the Mall and ate lunch there as well. The internet won’t be activated for a few days so I’m typing this now and I’ll paste it into my blog tomorrow or Wednesday. Sunday night, Zia Alma made and HUGE dinner for us before we left. I want to fly Zia Alma to America to live with me. Seriously. That was the best food I’ve had in a REALLY long time and certainly the best that I’ve had during my 3 months in Italy. After devouring 4 of the 5 courses (including the world’s best lasagna) we said our goodbyes and promised to return soon. Zia Alma sent us an container of lasagna for the train ride on Monday and we made our way back up to the apartment to pack our bags and get everything ready for the next 2 weeks of travel. It was really funny trying to comprehend what was being said this weekend. Grandpa basically had to translate everything that someone said to me because I fail at the Italian language. Haha I had such a great time seeing everyone again and I’m really glad that we were able to come. Aaron pretty much loves everything about Udine, mostly the food, but he enjoyed himself as well. Hopefully we can make it back in a few weeks for the family reunion!

Love you!

Michelle