Day 90

Today's my last day in Italy and this is presumably my last post on La Dolce Vita! There's still a bit of packing to be done, I need to clean up my apartment and say my final good byes to my new friends! But I wanted to put down these final thoughts that were running through me last evening. I think you tend to introspect more when you're by yourself on foreign ground. Maybe it's because you're out of comfort zone or perhaps it's because you often have more free time on hand with no major commitments.

So, here's a list of things that I have discovered about myself:

1. I love tea! Now this is a little weird since I should technically have developed a taste for coffee. But the more cozy bars here also serve different (and rather exotic) types of tea. While coming from India I brought my box of Taj tea, thinking that I would find European tea rather tasteless. But surprisingly I have developed a liking for the more subtle flavours that are preferred here. Of course I had to travel all the way to Europe to discover something that's really from the East! I hope I continue exploring tea when I am back home.

2. I realise the there are distinct cultural differences between Europeans. Like most people, I tend to club everybody from a region as being the same. But I know now for instance that interacting and working with people from Southern Europe is very different from working with people from the North. The Italians and Spanish are much more family oriented than the Germans or Dutch. At work, you'd better be careful in the way that you critique an Italian or French. But if you're dealing with a Belgian its probably better to be direct.

3. I enjoy being by myself! This is a huge step for me, since there was a time when I hated being alone. I always wanted company around me. In the last few years I have tried gradually to snap out of this need to be around people and the time I have spent by myself in Italy has been crucial. On many an afternoon I have out of choice stepped out alone for a long walk, to have tea in a cozy restaurant, to read on a park bench, to shop by myself. I think its made be calmer and more comfortable with myself.

4. I have rediscovered the pleasures of blogging. I have truly enjoyed writing these 12 posts. I hope I feel inspired to write again when I am back in Bharat!

Bardonechia

I wanted to see the Italian Alps before I left the country (which is by the way, in two days). With only one day to spare, Bardonechia was an ideal choice as it's only an hour and a half by rail from Turin. Having seen beaches, vineyards, monuments and a lagoon, the mountains seem to complete the Italian experience in some sense. (Aside: I am doubtful about the last statement. I still need to visit Florence, Naples and Sicily at least for me to feel that I have really seen Italy...hope there's another time!)

My first impression of Bardonechia was that it looks so much like a little Swiss village. If somebody had blind folded me on the train and told me on arrival that we were in Switzerland, I think I would have had little trouble believing them.

This time as well I had Deborah for company. Once again it was a trip where the only specific purpose was to have a good time. And there were really only two options - to have a short walk and a nice big meal or to take a nice long walk and grab a quick meal...needless to say that with me around, the choice was rather obvious ;) While tucking into our rather sumptuous Piedmontese meal, we ran into a colleague who happens to be a Swiss national from around the Zermat region. She had done things the Swiss way...tough hike all by herself with only cheese and chocolate for company. Did I feel guilty? Nope! I gleefully shoveled in some more of the Ravioli telling myself that when in Italy I must do as the Italians...even when the town looks more Swiss.

Here are some pictures...one of them is actually from a different trip that I made to a place called Gurten while living in Switzerland! Let's see if you can spot it ;)

Autumn Hues

This post has been in the works for the last three weeks. Unfortunately the weather gods didn't favour me. I waited for the lovely autumn leaves around me to turn a shade more orange so I could capture the leaves at just the right moment. But the downpour we had two weeks ago ruined them completely.

Lesson learned-always always carry your camera so you capture the moment rather than wait for it to get better.

But the photographs aside, I have realised that Autumn is my favourite season in Europe. The air is crisp and nippy and you see the trees in lovely shades of orange, yellow and fuchia. When there's a strong breeze its as if the sky is raining leaves. Once in a while I manage to catch one of the leaves that lazily floats from from the high branches. The glee I feel at that instant is almost child-like.

Despite the rain, lady autumn smiled a little for my Olympus...here are some pictures from the ITC ILO campus and Moncalieri

Stop! My dog needs to poop!!!

I tried hard to resist blogging about this because its really random. But, here goes...

I was walking to work yesterday when I saw this stylish Italian woman walking her little dog. (Aside: I love dogs...but this one was not exactly likeable. It was one of these really fancy breeds that look more like large rodents than dogs.) Suddenly the dog stops and decides to take a poop right in the middle of the road. The woman makes no effort to pull the dog to the side walk. Instead, she elegantly whips out a gloved wrist to stop this massive trucker that's coming towards her. The beefy driver watches in amazement as the woman waits for the dog to finish and then carefully cleans up the poop with a plastic bag (yes...they can't leave it on the road). The woman looks least hassled by the line up of cars that patiently wait for the trucker who helplessly waits for the woman. By this time I am chuckling at the scene that unfolds. Beefy driver pulls down his cap to cover his face, pretending to be embarrassed. I know he's just playing along since I am so amused. I walk away sighing to myself about hot Italian women, their ugly dogs, beefy truck drivers and cars that don't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere...just another day in Italy :)

Venezia

When Deborah told me that Venice would be like nothing I had ever seen before, I was a little skeptical. The city, not unlike Rome, is after all rather synonymous with Italian tourism. The funny thing is that Venice is indeed quite the tourist spot with its many souvenir shops, expensive restaurants, extremely expensive gondola rides and the infamous list of 'top things to do'. And yet it is surreal, truly something that I had never seen before.

Venice is actually only one of many islands of the Venetian lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. So, the only way to get around the lagoon is via the waterway. The idea fascinated me to no end. If I lived in Venice I would probably have to own a boat instead of a car!

The place apart, this was a trip with no plans. Deborah had insisted that we simply book our train tickets and get there. I had not read anything about the city and had no clue as to what I must expect. Once we got there, we ambled along, stopping for a photograph when something charmed us enough, going along the flow of of tourists to find our way and breaking away from them when we noticed a deserted piazza. I lost track of time. When I glanced at my watch again, it was time to board the train to Milan!

At the end of every trip I try to think of the moment that will define my memory of the trip. I like to think of it as my Aha! moment. But Venice had so many Aha! moments. I hope my photographs can preserve for me those moments at least to some extent.

(Aside: The Aha! moment is actually something I look for when I read a book. It's a nice little activity I picked up during a discussion I once attended on Saul Bellow's Humbolt's Gift...incidentally a book with no Aha! moments for me)

Aha! Moment 1....walking out of the railway station to realise that the only way out of the city is via the water way!

It was a beautiful day...a little chilly but so blue!

Aha! moment 2...Venetian balconies

Aha! moment 3...narrow canals through which gondolas make their way

Deborah was so much fun to be around...here she's writing a postcard to her mother as she chats up with a wayside singer

Italian road signs :D

Gosh those paintings were lovely!

Relaxing with wine at Piazza St. Marco

Aha! moment 4...watching the Venetian sunset

At Murano, another island in Venetian lagoon which is well known for its glass art...the 'garden' in the background is entirely made of glass! I picked up a lovely pair of earrings :)

Quotable Quote

"Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and Via Roma are like spaghetti in Italy"

-Deborah Ferrari

Vittorio Emanuele is revered as the first king of Italy while Roma is...well Roma! Almost every city or town in Italy has at least one Piazza named Vittorio Emanuele and one road named via Roma. Deborah, a colleague and of friend mine aptly sums it up :)

Boots

(To Nanju who always offered to help me shop)

One of the toughest parts of being abroad for me is dressing right. And by this I mean being comfortable in what I wear while not seeming like a complete fashion disaster. And somehow I never seem to get it right. Add to this the inability to communicate with shop assisstants and you have several frustrating weekends spent in the city centre unsure of what to buy, how to wear and how much to spend.

I had been putting off the hunt for boots because I knew it would be one of the more difficult things to buy, especially in Italy, where every woman seems to be wearing a beautiful pair of boots that are perfectly matched with her bag, coat, hat and gloves. But my cold feet (pun intended) got the better of me and I finally dragged myself to the fancy city centre of Turino. I had spent most of last week paying close attention to womens' boots and had concluded that knee length black boots would be the ideal pick. I could wear them over most clothes and they seemed reasonably chic.

But of course there was more to it. I still had to choose between boots with heals versus flat ones, boots that fit snug versus those that hung loose around your calves and boots with buckles versus those with zippers. Four hours, twenty pairs of boots and several unpleasant shop assistants later I finally zeroed in on a pair of black ankle length boots because I realised that I feel like a gladiator in the knee length ones. But I think I mostly chose the boots because the two middle aged women at the store were really nice to me and even managed to communicate in broken English.

One week with my new boots and how do I feel? Well...they're too snug to tuck my jeans into them and too loose to drape my formal trousers over them. Plus they have these tie ups that are always coming loose. So they probably score quite low on the fashion scale. But they keep me warm, which (I have been telling myself) is what really matters.

Lesson learned: If you need to buy boots in Italy, take a friend who's a shopper and can speak Italian