April 26, 2018

Arrivederci Italy! I just love you— land of enchanting villages, amazing people, incredible food and needlessly complicated toilet flushing handles.
Here are 16 completely random observations after a month in beautiful Tuscany. (All meant with pure love and complete affection🤗!!!)

-Italians scream absolutely everything, no matter the time of day. I mean it— they literally scream everything. I know it is a cliché, but it’s true. They could be saying “you look nice today” or “I like gum” or “I’m going to kill you and your entire family”. It doesn’t matter. It all sounds exactly the same.

-Italian school children are never actually in school. They are always, always on field trips to churches and museums.

-Nobody in Italy is glued to their phones. Even the young people. It’s so amazing. They engage. Nobody is staring at their phones in cafés or on the streets because they’re too busy trying to make out, kick a ball, or scream at each other. They don’t seem to worry at all about what they might be missing.

-Old people like to watch Americans drive and park on insanely twisty narrow streets. It’s basically a sport for them. I’m like “hey, why don’t you open a Chianti shop, sell seats and enjoy the show?”

-The beauty of the countryside here will literally make you burst into tears while driving, especially if listening to Pavarotti. Trust me. Not pretty 😭

-Italians have an amazing sense of history, and preservation and it shows in all of their cities and their towns.

-When I sit in a square in Italy and marvel about how cool and chic everyone looks, I always secretly fear I’m wearing a sweatshirt with two cats chasing a ball of yarn 😳

-Young people are fleeing the villages for life in the city, and can’t imagine why you would ever want to go visit the villages. The villages are populated mostly by old people who can’t imagine why anybody would move to the city.

-Family is absolutely everything. It’s so incredibly sweet to see the generations taking care of each other. Especially the grandkids taking their grandparents for strolls in the evenings ❤️🤗

-If you show up for lunch at 12:30 or before, they look at you like you’re insane. If you show up for lunch past 1pm, they look at you like you’re insane.

-I’m somehow coming home with 27 individual socks- none of which match.

-Peg leg jeans are back 🤔

-Smoking is out 👏... Except for the French. I think French babies are born with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths.

-Both “buongiorno” and “buonasera” are hard to say drunk.

-When snuggling the two stuffed animals that your husband put in your bag to keep you company, it’s best not to do so when the villager next door is looking directly into your window 👀

-Late at night, when all alone in an isolated old house on a hill in the country, I was actually afraid of the dark. It wasn’t at all about what might get me from the outside, but what might get me from the inside. Hmmm... 🤔

After an incredible adventure (1,000+ road miles and 140 miles on foot) this has been a lifelong fantasy fulfilled. Here in TUSCANY, I’ve learned to embrace what they call “slow food”— enjoy each bite fully before taking the next one. Eat, savor, enjoy, ponder... Ciao Italia! Grazie mille! If I could hug a country, I absolutely would ❤️🍷