To finish off, we obviously made it out of Milan as originally planned, so of course the panic was all for nothing. Ah, the joys of hindsight! Our gorgeous hotel in Milan offered us the most extensive breakfast buffet of the whole trip - a sight which was rather exciting for the students (and Michelle since she could indulge her preference for cocktail sausages one more time), while I managed a visit to the local post office to divest myself of a package of dvds for school. They've since arrived in record time which just goes to show that you can assume nothing about Italian efficiency. Of course, in the same post office when I tried to buy some stamps for postcards, this caused much consternation...what, I expected to buy stamps in a post office, I hear you say? Naturally, this proved too difficult but a quick stop in a tabacchaio fixed that. Our mini buses arrived on time to ferry us out the 50kms to Malpensa, giving us our final experience of Italian driving - 145km/hr, whilst texting, and beeping at anyone who dared get in their way. This followed a gobsmacking experience of the night before where, in peak hour traffic, the lights at the intersection nearest to our hotel were flashing amber. In effect, this meant a free-for-all, which caused much amusement and head shaking from us. Still, as Sharon pointed out on our way to the airport, at least we were in Mercedes vans and she won't be travelling in anything less in future.
Once at the airport the challenge of checking in lay before us, and once again this passed smoothly. There were none of the queues of frustrated passengers that I had been expecting, and the SQ staff were all rather chirpy. Our shopaholics even managed to avoid paying excess luggage - this would be Rachel (28kgs), Sharon (27kgs - and that was without the sack she had for hand luggage) and Michelle (25kgs). One last look in the Duty Free shops, a last deliciously cheap Italian coffee, preceded by a final donut or fior di latte gelato, and all too soon, it was time to farewell Italy.
The flights passed quicker than expected, with most people managing to sleep at least part of the way. Dee-Arna gave her neighbour a bit of a fright coming in to Singapore when she accidently clutched his arm, but for the rest of us, it was all smooth. Singapore was its usual lush, green and tropically sticky self so we went for a short walk to ensure luck at the Fountain of Wealth before retiring back at the hotel for a sleep. Then it was time for dinner, the writing of postcards to eachother as a memento of the trip, and back out to the airport for one final shopping fling (mostly
consisting of perfume, it must be said). Our final flight seemed to go ridiculously quickly. As a beautiful dawn broke, we cruised into Adelaide to be reunited with excited family and friends, with countless tales to tell.So,
here's a final summary of our trip:Sharon, now known as the Hooch, the Crazy Ladle Lady, shopaholic and sleepwalker extraordinaire, particularly enjoyed being pursued by the persistent retailers in the Florentine markets. As the resident make-up artiste, she will also be remembered for her lessons in the specific use of different make-up brushes (remember Nick, there's a quiz coming up!), and for her ability to transform herself into a 'Bianca'. After the shopping spree with her sister in Florence, she also discovered her 'inner wog' with the purchase of the requisite Adidas tracksuit. Sharon declared that it was weird to have to pay to use toilets, since your money could be used for much more important things ie the purchase of another LV fake bag or wallet. She coined a new verb as well - squiggiare, as in squiggiamo (let's check it out). I'm expecting a call from Collins-Sansoni to have it added to their new dictionary asap.
Rebecca, aka Strawberry Shortcake, will be remembered for her renditions of Baciami ancora, which
played many times on MTV. However, learning more than the chorus would be a good idea! Her favourite places were Venice because of the water, and Verona for its messages of love. Despite being the cleaner (along with Jen), Rebecca was mildly disturbed by the randomly flushing toilets she encountered throughout Italy, and was surprised by the number of smokers everywhere - cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other.For Jen, Florence will always be a bit special because that's where she met 'Basil', her fiance. She's now addicted to both coffee and Kinder Cereal bars (will they by available in Australia?!?) but still thinks it's a bit strange that you have to order, pay and get your receipt first before you can get your food and drinks in bars. She isn't a fan of squat toilets, and thinks that all Italian drivers clearly are maniacs. Jennifer also wins the award for saying the most incorrect things, such as imagining that there was free pizza to be enjoyed in Venice, and asking if dentists can take out your appendix, because she thought that would be a bad idea. Hmmmm...
Rachel became quite a fan of Kinder Bueno bars but remains convinced that I sneakily tried to poison them with acqua frizzante. In typical Carpentieri fashion, she wins the award for the heaviest suitcase and most time spent on the phone ('I'm fine, and you?'). One of her favourite things were the bananas in Venice (not the canals, shops, monuments etc!!!) and she has realised that pizza back in Adelaide just won't taste the same. Rachel also managed to attract attention to herself by falling down the stairs (unlike Jen, who fell UP them), as well as tripping over bags and people in order to check out the snogging teenage couple in the train compartment on the way back from Venice. However, Rachel is still searching for her 'inner volume button' so that people in the next region cannot actually hear her.
Gloria, aka G'oria Josephine, discovered coffee and fior di latte gelato in a BIG way, and is well aware that these just won't be the same out of Italy. And she will miss her friends at the Bar Medioevo, along with her flirting instructor/
gondoliere from Venice. GJ found it weird that you must don plastic gloves to handle fruit and vegetables at La Coop, and then weigh them yourself. Thus food shopping was an adventure. On the culinary side, she is a proud founding member of the International Food Inhalation Society (a Carnovale tradition). Finally, she is still recovering from my refusal to let her catch the night train to spend a day in Paris, especially once she found out that tickets could be purchased for 25 euros each way. Next time Gloria!!!Big sister Dee-Arna was the guide for the students and the protector in classes with scary Ersilia. She soon settled back into life in 'good old Peroooge' , admiring the sexy Italian men who just smell so good. Florence and the Hotel Aprile emerged once again as her favourite locations for travels, but Milan's beautiful Duomo is a new love as well. A fellow coffee
addict, Dee-Arna claims to be surprised at the amount she pizza she consumed, but she is a Carnovale of course! Known for her expressions such as "you're joking!", "That's amazing/weird/bizarre/funny!" and "Are you serious?", she is also now a connoiseur of FDS and VCS (that's Florence Drain Smell and Venetian Canal Smell). No doubt, she will be first in line to buy them when they are released as eau de parfum in the future! However, in a frenzy to avoid excess luggage, Dee-Arna did go overboard in ditching belongings, only to discover at the airport that her suitcase actually weighed LESS than when she left. Oh the shopping she could have done!!! On a positive note, she does feel that her butt (and its new 6 pack) is distinctly tighter after a month of trekking up hills.Anastasia is yet another new convert to the joys of coffee. On the trip, she also discovered her 'inner girl' following a few shopping excursions with Gloria and Dee-Arna, and a make-over with Sharon. She liked Venice most of all, although she was very excited to rediscover both Bershka (a clothing store) and Yves Rocher (for beauty products - highly recommended, if they'd like to reward my plug on their behalf, I'll gratefully accept any products they'd like to give me). Due to remarks such as filling in 'Specific Hotel' instead of 'Grand PACIFIC Hotel' on peoples' Singapore Immigration cards, she was frequently heard to say "you're so mean to me!". However, underneath she knows the laughter she brought was affectionate. If she fulfils her desire to own a scooter, Anastasia will become a 'proper' Italian.
The highlight for Luke undoubtedly was the visit to San Siro. However, there were also numerous games of appartment volleyball which I'm not sure were enjoyed equally by their neighbours, and in fact his too close encounter with the corner of a table left a telling mark for a while there (Nick's request for 'little clouds' ie cotton balls to staunch the bleeding is yet another tale). Flying pears also caused some issues in Venice, as did his seeming ability to attract the attention of strange men. Perhaps the mental scarring of the time in Florence's Piazza della Signoria, with its array of statues, only added to this effect. Along with Nick, Luke kept the sales at Ferrari healthy for the month of April, and please pay attention to where you put your feet, in case they come into contact with his new shoes. Finally, Luke's enthusiasm for Italian sports cars (and others) only increased as the month wore on, along with his amusement whenever they came across American tourists.
Like Luke, Nick can't rate anything higher than San Siro and it was clearly very remiss of me not to plan more time in Milan. He is still recovering from the alcoholic digestive drink 'forced' on him during his lunch with Cousin Lino, but a few more mignon rum babas would
probably help. Not known for his sparkling conversation skills first thing in the morning (it would be perhaps unkind to extend this until after 10am at least, but true), Nick also became known as 'the lost boy' when he failed to find his way up one road about 50 metres to find his apartment building. Besides Milan, Nick enjoyed his post-dinner passeggiate, and found dealing with 'the brothers' irresistible, meaning that he couldn't pass by a single street seller of African extraction without a chat and a quick perusal of the stock on offer. While cleaning remained a foreign concept and clothes washing was a challenge needing the girls' support, he did conquer making salad dressing, much to his surprise.Michelle, aka the donut queen, seemed surprised to find her suitcase weighing 25kgs at the airport, given that she had only come back from Europe in January, having done 'all her shopping then'. Clearly this was not the case. Our hotel room in Venice failed to leave any lasting groove in her scalp as a memento of the ludicrously low beams in the ceiling although Nic
k's forehead may still bear the imprint of a pear that she ditched at him with sparkling precision. The fact that at the time she was aiming at Luke is entirely another matter. Michelle kept eveyone amused with her tales of classes with Marcella ie 'Loud and Louder' and her 'dad jokes'. These included treasures such as 'Why is the river in Florence called the Arno? Because there are no fish in it' and trying to get people to say 'Irish wrist watch' quickly. Her serious face when joking meant that Jennifer was fooled every time without fail, much to her annoyance, and even when she was the mischief-maker, I still got the blame! Hmmmm.....As for me, I thought I should finally put in some photographic evidence that I actually was in Italy. I hope I really wasn't too scary even if my idea of a short walk translated into an arduous hike for you. Luckily for me, purple is seriously in vogue so I could add to my already considerable collection of clothing in dark hues. Of course, my new purple Benetton sneakers are a design statement all on their own. Clearly, you all now know that I have a well-formed addiction to coffee and enjoy the odd glass of wine with dinner - well, it's a duty to sample the local produce! I enjoyed sharing some of my favourite places in Italy with you all and hope this trip stays in your memories for a long time to come. Thanks in turn for your part in our Italian adventure!
The final words now go to our trip mascots. Unfortunately, Mojo appeared to spend a lot of his time in the animal quarantine of Rebecca's suitcase, especially when the lock broke and she couldn't open it. However, when let loose he did enjoy hanging out in the MiniMetro and in the stylish rooms of the Hotel Aprile. Little G, in contrast, certainly got around and enjoyed meeting the locals. After being threatened repeatedly with decapitation each time she was taken out of Gloria's bag, our final stop in Milan provided us with an emergency sewing kit. Of course, by then it was clear that she would survive. Finally, we hope that Uncle Gavin and his family enjoyed taking in the many breathtaking sights that Italy has to offer.
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