Today I said bye to the ruins, the pasta and the cappuccinos of Italy, ending my 10 day tour of the country. Moving from Bologna, Florence, Rome to Capri a few things about that boot of a nation struck me:
1) who thought up the English translation of the cities? Florence from Firenze is beyond me. And I'm sure we could pronounce Roma if we tried. The Italians use the same alphabet as us.
2) These folks should all have serious weight issues. The Italians have given us good pasta, the Italian company Ferrero invented nutella and kinder bueno, and then there's delicious gelato.
3) Again about food: we need to step our nutella game up America. In Bologna I went to a Nutelleria, it was something out of a dream. That's right kids, a restaurant dedicated to hazelnut chocolate products.
4) How did Prego become the name of a pasta sauce brand when it means "you're welcome" in Italian? Not really a question directed to Italy, but a good one nonetheless.
However, my time among the Roman ruins and the nuns coming to and fro the Vatican has come to a close and now I'm back in Londra (Italian version of London). And although it was the usual overcast and rainy, it felt like a sort of homecoming. Walking down the street, into my building, into my broom closet of a room I kept thinking it feels good to be semi-home. This little slice of London is my kind of home, I made it my own.
