Europe Journal Entry #3: Italy
Part 3 of the 10-part series: Enjoy Abano Terme.
At this point I’m announcing that the journal has had certain tidbits taken out that are personal thoughts that may offend some people. Nobody requested this, I’m just scared someone will read them, and they’re the part of the journal that gets most "journal-y."
July 12, 2006: Road to Abano Terme.
Song of the Day: Bohemian Rhapsody
Today was a driving day. Nine hours, almost 500 kilometers. I tried to take Dramamine before I left so that I could write on the bus without getting carsick, but I couldn’t find the stuff in time. I still wrote on the bus.
I finished the first part of my Westendorf entry before getting carsick. I stopped and ended up talking to Maggie about photography and other stuff. We had a good time, talking like that. I considered becoming better friends with her…
It never really becomes Italy for a while, John told us. The first bit still looks and feels just like Austria. He was right. Eventually, though, every normal farm and small village became a vineyard and a little Italian mountain village.
The first rest stop I used only to relieve myself from the carsickness. That was good enough for me. It did go away, of course.
I’m way behind in the journal. Five days behind. I’m catching up, though. I have to catch up before I get home. I can’t go home with an empty journal; that would be unacceptable! So I’ll keep writing, keep typing, faster and faster… every night, into the darkness….
We stopped in a neat little town around a lake. The lake was incredible and surrounded by mountains, almost reminding me of a fjord. Not that I completely know what a fjord is. I mean, I think I do. I’m just not sure I’m completely right.
The name of the town is… something. Lake something. It doesn’t matter. I was wandering around with everyone because it was meant to be a LUNCH stop, but nobody seemed to want to buy lunch. Well, they did, just not where I wanted to. I didn’t understand what was going on. We passed several places that would have been fine for buying lunch, but these guys all said no. Corson and Brent were smart and left to get gelato in the middle of all the madness.
We entered a residential area looking for food. Why there would be food in a RESIDENTIAL area, I don’t know. We still passed some placed for food, though. A little pub and another little pub. Nothing special. I wanted to stop at a place that had pre-made sandwiches, but nobody else stopped, and I couldn’t go alone. Not unless I wanted to get mugged by a crazy Italian person or something. I learned later that they were walking to an AMERICAN SUPERMARKET. This pissed me off, and I wanted to turn around and get a sandwich.
We ended up going outside of the town and reaching a COOP supermarket. I could hardly bear to enter. I don’t like supermarkets. Thy generally don’t have what I want. If they do, you have to assemble it all yourself. Who wants to do that when I can get it pre-made for cheaper? Not me, that’s who! They say that it’s more expensive, but if they’re spending over six bucks and I spend four, I don’t see what’s cheaper about that.
Myself and a girl whose name I forget but will find out decided that we didn’t want to go to the supermarket. We tried to get other people to leave, but nobody wanted to. We were the only ones who thought and knew that everyone was being stupid. Which they were. We left and walked down the sidewalk.
She mumbled something, and I heard her say "boyfriend." I assume she was blathering on about her boyfriend. She clarified for me what she really said.
"There was a strange man back at the street fair who was hitting on me. If he comes near, you’re my boyfriend, okay?"
I said okay. It didn’t do any harm, and I knew we wouldn’t run into such an asshole a second time. We never did - I was right.
We reached the little bar/restaurant and ordered some sandwiches and drinks. It was cheap and good. We walked back to the busses and made it back long before the rest of the group did. In fact, they ended up being late like we thought they’d be. They were a half an hour walk away; they deserved to be later for a silly decision like that. Many of them came back with shrink-wrapped pre-made sandwiches. I laughed at them, because they could have gone with me and gotten real food.
There was a weird pen at the city’s gift shop, you know. When you pressed the button, the picture of a lady in a bikini would be a picture of a lady without one. It didn’t look anything special, though. Nothing in that shop was worth my money.
I waited on a bathroom line before leaving. I wanted to experience the very odd Bathroom of the Future. It cost thirty cents and was basically a little room that cleans itself after anyone went inside, and gave you a five-minute warning before the fifteen minute time limit was up. A friend and I wondered what the thing did to you after you passed fifteen minutes. Did it boot you out? Did it just open the door for everyone to see you taking a dump?
I’ll never know, partially because the machine ate my money and didn’t let me in. Then it refused my money when I tried again, and just spat it back out at me. So much for the Bathroom of the Future. It almost made me late. I ended up just going on the bus.
I slept until we reached near Abano Terme. I took a couple pictures and vides along the way. People got disappointed when the mountains became more hilly and eventually became flat land.
Abano Terme was not as impressive as it sounds. "Spa Town" in very misleading. It did not resemble a town with many spas. In fact, it looked like any normal city. I suppose it’s just because the hotels all have spas in them.
We passed a giant statue of Columbus. Dino said upon passing, "Hey look, there’s that white guy America discovered."
We reached the hotel and walked inside. It was quite fancy. The lobby was large and lavishly decorated. I asked for the key to room 419, and was handed the smallest key in the pile. Everyone else had very large things attached to their keys, but ours was miniscule.
The elevator was packed, but we managed to get upstairs anyway. I went into the spa area of the hotel to catch a different elevator (the doors I could have sworn were mirrors. Or that the mirrors were doors. Or that there wasn’t any wall at all. It was freaky. I guess that’s why they left one door open.). Piros took the stairs because he got tired of waiting. Alex and Wyatt kept waiting for the same original packed elevator.
The room was comfortable. The bathroom had a blow-dryer, which was good. Or rather, it would have been good if I could do some laundry, which I didn’t. There were two separate beds in the room, a small TV, and a desk where the TV rested so that I could write. I feel fortunate, because every room I’ve been in has had a very nice writing desk. It makes me comfortable to see that.
Dinner was meant to be in uniform, but because I had time I went for a swim. Yes, there was pool! It reminded me of the pool in Hershey Park, how you could swim in and out of the building by swimming under the wall. There were also massage rocks on one side of the pool. You walked over them (they were all submerged) and it felt good and stuff. I tried it out. It’s neat walking on loose rocks underwater.
You had to wear a bathing cap when you entered the pool area. You also needed a shirt and shoes. I didn’t have shoes the first time going down, so I had to run back and get my sandals. I played with the shower cap while I was in the pool, filling it with water and watching it stretch and then tumble over in turgid-ness.
I didn’t shower, but I changed right into my uniform. Everyone was downstairs sitting and waiting for dinner to start. On the bus we had been told that this would be one of the better dinners of the trip and that we should really enjoy it, which I hoped would mean that we were getting something new.
We poured into the room once it was available and at wherever we could. I was with Dino and Casey. During the entire dinner, Dino attempted and succeeded at destroying Casey’s ego. "Look familiar?" he says, holding up a small piece of breadstick.
We were still playing around with our crystal glasses. Dino couldn’t get his to make a note. He deemed the glass was broken and demanded a new one to satisfy his need for note-making.
Dinner was a TWO COURSE meal! First we received pasta, and then the same old chicken and mushy vegetables. But it was good chicken and mushy vegetables. After the dinner had ended, announcements were made and people slowly pooled out into the lobby again. Corson and Brent began playing Burble, and after Corson screamed "BUUUURRBLLLLLE!" a little too loud, we were asked to stop. Shortly after sitting quietly, we were told to leave the hotel and follow everyone to the concert site.
The concert site was just around the corner from the hotel. It was bright out, and on an unparallel note stores surrounded the entire area, as though we were in the middle of a strip mall. The "stage" was a very small square. We were told we’d have to arc tightly to fit. We didn’t’ have to arc as tightly as I thought we’d have to. Belo us in a "pit" the band played their music.
I moved up to the front row because one of the guys there was too tall. I doubt it’ll be permanent, though. At any ate, something in the air that night made it excellent for singing. Corson said it was the humidity. I bet he was right, it was nice and hot and humid. The choir sounded great because of it.
The orchestra sounded as usual, but didn’t take quite as long this time. I’m very glad they didn’t, because now when I hear their songs I get bored to death. I hate the wait between the end of the show and the orchestra. It’s so goddamned long. But the show did end, late at night. I noticed how it had gone from very bright out to very dark. Huge swarms of gnats swirled around yellow and blue flood lights for hours. Some bugs were less fortunate and couldn’t make it all the way to the tall light.
By the end of the concert, the bugs were nearly all gone. Off to bed, I suppose. And so was I. We went back to the room, had bed check, and watched TV for a little bit. I tried to write, and got some stuff down. I’m falling way behind. I guess I need more motivation to write, journal! I have plenty of motivation, really. I’m just tired, which means I’m off to bed. Buenas noches!
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