We left on Thursday night to head back up north. The first stop was in the Tuscan town of Firenze (Florence). We made it there in time to have a quick Aperol Spritz and a meal in the Piazza della Repubblica, then do a quick walk around the city. The next morning, Friday, we set out for the sites. We found a tour outside of the Academia, where we saw many works by Michelangelo, including a Pieta, il Prigione, and the David. As many times as I've seen it (don't worry, I'm humble enough to know that I am privileged to have seen it many times), it's still awe inspiring to see the detail that Michelangelo was able to put into that piece of bad marble.
My old Italian cell phone from 2018 was starting to give me fits, so I broke down and bought a new cell phone that I'm loving. It's a Redmi 5G by Xiaomi. I've never seen the brand in the states, but it works well and was economical. They even put a new screen protector on it, one like I've never seen before. They sprayed a gel, then put the plastic cover on the phone, pressed out the bubbles, then hit it with a blow dryer and heat. The salesman said it was a new process that lasts longer than what I am used to.
We made our way through the city's sites, had a nice pizza lunch in the Piazza della Signoria while looking at the Palazza Vecchio and major works of art, then hit up the leather market. We bought a couple of things, then made a wish at the
We pushed off Sabato (Saturday) for Milano. Getting in around 1 in the afternoon, we said goodbye to the rental car. The Fiat 500 X did us well. After assessing the suitcase situation, we took the train to the center of Milan to window shop, see the Duomo, and grab a drink before dinner back at the hotel. We visited the Campari bar. It was very elegant, and I immediately felt underdressed even though we were just having dinner and the most interesting snacks I've ever been served with drinks in Italy (they serve little snacks because it's taboo in Italy to drink without food). Besides pate, there was a tomato and basil candy like treat that was interesting and surprisingly refreshing. It was a little on the sweeter side, but not sweet like candy. But the most interesting snack was the one that had us all guessing. In the center of the dish was what we all thought was an olive, but there was no pit nor was it pitted. I thought it might be a large caper, because it was pickled. We finally asked the waiter, who told us it was a pickled baby peach. As soon as he said it, I bit one and could taste a slight peach flavor.
Today was sad as I bid my cousins bon voyage. After they left, I had a little time to kill. I bought new headphones at the newsstand so I could watch stuff on my journey, then had a seat in the hotel lobby. Then I hopped aboard a train bound for the Milano Centrale train station. I walked around for a half hour, grabbed a couple of pieces of foccacia with procuitto cotto (ham) and some bottles of water, bought some reusable water bottles for the beach, and hopped on board the train bound for Termoli. After about five hours and 45 minutes, I arrived in Termoli. I wanted to visit the ATM while I was there, then went looking for something to eat tonight, settling on two slices of pizza. After taking the cab home, I ran to the farmer nearby to pick up some tomato and cucumber to make a salad to have with the pizza. It was a delicious meal to end the weekend. Zia came down and we hung out for a couple of hours, and now it's bedtime. Tomorrow I hit the beach.
