Va Bene!

The beginning of this grand time with mom began in London, both mom and I happy to see the cuz, Sasson and his wife Kissley. They were doing quite well and it was great to see them, they took us around and Kissley was a great tour guide. High tea was very fun. We filled are days with much and ate good English food, hahaha, no really it was good. Then mom and I took off to Neverneverland, seriously it feels like it for grown ups at least. Ok so here it is, im in Ittly as my grandma calls it and its been about two and half weeks and ill know is for the first time in my life ive got love handles, i know i know, i should not speak about such things being skinny and all but let me tell you, the amount of food that i have eaten is kinda gross. my madre and I have been eating our way across the country and it has been quite the adventure. I love pasta, i love tomatoes, i love basil, i love olive oil, i love balsamic vinegar,I love the wine, but most of all in the whole wide world I LOVE GELATO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This stuff is way too good, I remembered that I used to eat this stuff 5 times a day and now I realized why I did that. It is the best and normally I dont even like ice cream type of deserts but let me tell you it must be in the water or the cream or the way they mix it but its somethin! I have been goin head to head with mom on who can eat the most, i will have to say that lately she has been edging me out, she found the perfect combo, the nociolla (hazelnut) and super chocolate, i say super because they do not mess around with the coco content of the chocolate, has to be close to around 80-90 percent, which is obviously quite high!!!!! The journey was great from the beginning, we went went through Rome and saw all the sites and coincidentally were in Rome on a Sunday so we went to the Vatican square and the man with the plan came out and blessed us, so that has to be a good start to the journey. We then started driving from Rome to Tuscany, where we went to a few small villages, but first let me tell you something, so last blog I mentioned that the Vietnamese take the cake on crazy drivers, well they might have a run for there money, these Italians are nuttso!!! I see why they do so well in the racing circuits, its just like driving back home everyday!! I tightened my knuckles and bore down and did my best to not freak out, meanwhile, mother oh mother, she was lucky all she had to do was just look out at the beautiful Tuscan countryside and not have to pay attention at all, of course if she did she probably would have had a nervous breakdown!!! So we journeyed up to the first village\town called Montepulciano, where the whole city is walled and is completely old world, it has no modern look to it at all. So we went there and checked it out, ate our first oh my god meal and then drove around the countryside where we saw so much beautiful scenery that we just wanted go to the nearest realator and ask to buy a villa. Its interesting, Tuscany and Sonoma County are very similar in the environment aspect but in the man made aspect they are worlds apart. Sonoma County could have easily gone the old Italian way and made probably the best place in America but of course they sold out to the corpos and built, built, built and basically totally ruined it. The countryside was just blissful, then after doing the small towns of Pienza, San Gimangno, Montalcino, we went to Siena! Another beautiful spot in Tuscany. We ate well of course and saw the mighty Campo(center square) and watched all the festive Italians do there evening activities, which of course was eating on the square and drinking large amounts of wine!! Man I have had the best wine, every night we order a half caraff of the house red and are never let down! So after a day in Siena we contacted my old friend Giuseppe from Florence and wanted to meet up with him before he left out of town so we went to Florence for dinner (its only like 50 miles) and had a wonderful time. We met some of his friends Gene and his daughter who are from LA out here for fun as well. We all had a great time and enjoyed ourselves over good wine and really good food. Then we got lost on the way out of Florence, boy let me tell you how fun that was! Italy at night with crazy drivers all around oh and your lost, huh!! So, back to Siena for the day, then off the Florence. Back to where I studied for 3 months and man it was if I had not left at all, well maybe just a little, it had been ten years!! Holy moly, time flys when life moves and groves! So we wined and dined and checked out the birthplace of the Renaissance, ah what a city to be in! I could easily see myself living there!! Well after two and a half days there we went to Parma, where they specialize in Prosciutto di Parma (aged ham) mmmm.. The best dish they have is Prosciutto e Melone, which is the ham wrapped around cantelope. The sweet and salty mix is divine!! So after the night we went to Cinque Terre the next day, Five Villages, translated. Right on the coast and it was beautifull and quite stormy, they had waves crashing up on the coast bigger than I have ever seen. Had to be about 15-23 feet, no joke. We walked a couple of villages and then went to get gelato of course. After some yummies we headed back to Parma where we packed up and went to Venice, ah Venice the city of romance. Mom and I both had been there but this time was a bit different, a lot more people but we still had a great time. We walked alot there since it is the most confusing city on the planet, more twists turns and dead ends ever!!! But all in a days works,,,,,,, so you can eat gelato..... Ha, ok after we did the Venice thing we headed to Milan where we found the best little Italian restaurant, where all the patrons were Italian and the menu was in Italian, I say that because many place, while they may be delicious and wonderful, still have and English menu or French one cause of the language barrier, not the Osteria dell Oca Giulivia(Talking Geese). Totally Italian, ah the food was divine and wine was excellent. It was so good we ate there both nights in Milan. And the first night I tried this dish that was pasta but had saffron in it, normally you get saffron in rice not pasta but this was oh my god good! The second night after gorging ourselves once again there was a man behind us that mother was asking if they were speaking English, he was a black man but had a very interesting accent and also was speaking Italian. We began to speak and he was from Boston and worked with kids who are troubled a bit but had a talent for boxing. I told him about my experience with troubled kids and we hit off and began a really nice conversation, long story short, he himself was a boxer from the past, I thought I had recognized him but age had changed him a bit, but it was none other than Marvelous Marvin Hagler, the man who was the World Champion and fought Sugar Ray Leonard all those times and years!! Pretty funny! Anyways, we said good by and waddled home. We headed out to Lake Como, which is where we are today! To say the least this time with mom has been unforgetable and she has no idea how special it has been for me!!! Not too many kids get to travel with there moms without being annoyed with each other, not us, and to travel for so long was just as awesome!!! Anyway, the fingers are dead so time to run but the pics are from Italy of course, the special of all special pic is the pope blessing us!!! Till the next time!