Okay so I'm really behind on my blogs now! Sorry!!!!!
Thursday 7th August - Day 52!
Well I can assure you that my first night sleeping in Italy was absolutely amazing haha! After being awake for approximately 38 hours I definitely hit that pillow hard! No alarm to wake up ready for the kids, and no responsibilities at all - something I've grown accustomed to since Au Pairing but now felt incredible to forget for a few days. I think I woke up at 12noon lol and headed straight for the kitchen window to be welcomed by the glorious view of the lake again - I don't think it would ever be possible to grow tired of this view. Mattia and I headed out and were picked up by his brother and girlfriend. They dropped us off at the port down at the edge of the lake and we went to a little restaurant-bar that Mattia highly suggested we go to! They sell these things called padena's which are like soft warm pizza bread wrapped around smoked ham, mozzarella cheese and spinach. But not just any old ham, cheese and spinach - this stuff is like the real deal - the shizz of the nizz - and the potentially the best tasting edible thing in the world! My mouth is watering just thinking about them! So again, my dietary requirements went out the window and we indulged. Mattia even spoke to the owner about what Australia is like and the guy asked if we thought he would do well if he opened something up like this in Australia but it just wouldn't be the same - and you can't get the same ingredients. Mozzarella in Italy isn't yellow and hard cheese, it's white, so soft and gooey and melts in your mouth! Anyway... Afterwards we went a walk along the river and then got picked up again by his brother who took us to Mattia's favourite coffee shop and we sat out the back with one of his friends - Matteo, who I was yet to meet. Matteo is a studying photographer and has an incredible camera so after coffee we decide to head down to the lake to jump in like yesterday! Matteo took some wicked photos and a video of Mattia and I jumping in from the bridge, which I put on Facebook! He was standing a fair distance away down on the pier but his camera was able to zoom in and get the footage! Today I didn't have my bikini on me though so it was my bra and then Matteo's board shorts lol! After jumping in a couple of times, we headed to the cafe on the pier and relaxed with the lake as our scenery - not bad if you ask me :)
Later on we said bye to Matteo and were picked up by Irena and headed back to Mattia's Mums (Denis) house for dinner! On the way we stopped by a supermarket to get wine and a few other things for his Mum and just so my Aussie friends know; the alcohol here is stupidly and ridiculously cheap. A big bottle of Becks beer is like a couple of €uro and really good wine is like €9! I couldn't believe it. At Denis's we had another beautifully cooked meal and good company - I officially want to live at that house forever, I felt completely at home. After relaxing for a little while we headed out to a bar and picked up Irena's boyfriend along the way. We also saw this big Chinese market shop open (at 11pm which was weird) and I ended up buying some sandals after mine broke a few weeks ago. They were only €12 and totally 'me' - I haven't seen anything like them before and yet they were nothing glamorous or fancy...The bar we went to was on the water front close to where we were earlier in the day. There we met Irena's boyfriend along with some other friends of Mattia. A very different atmosphere to Adelaide and my first time properly out since traveling I think. Here there aren't such things as 'dry zones' like we have at home so there are just people everywhere standing around drinking and socialising. It seems people here seem to also know how to handle their alcohol a bit better than Australians as there wasn't one fight, one police officer or anything. Just people out having a good night and being merry :)
Friday 8th August - Day 53!
In the morning we got up and headed to the Markets which are huge and packed with people young and old and with stores selling everything from shoes to animals! I ended up finding a really nice black and gold bikini for only €10 and only bought because Mattia convinced me it would look nice; normally I have to try on a bikini before buying it but obviously I couldn't strip naked in the middle of the market haha. From here we went for a walk along the waterfront and saw beautiful boats including one that is apparently top of the range and costs around €300,000 or something ridonculous! It definitely was spectacular but that's a lot of money! This led to a very interesting conversation about how the tax system works here and how you have to pay 70% - not so appealing to live here maybe after all. It's very hard to make money here and the politicians apparently get paid more than President Obama :/ I guess I don't really know much about this side of things in each country so it was good to hear about it from Mattia and compare it to the way Australia and other countries are.
For lunch we headed to a lovely cafe, again on the waterfront and while waiting for our food I went to the bathroom to try on my new bikini - a little nervous actually - and would you believe it, it fit like it was made for me!!! Perfectly!! Very happy with my Italy purchases lol! Mattia and I had lunch together before Ben (Denis's partner) joined us and demanded I have to try Italian ice cream ("You can't come to Italy without trying our ice cream!") - I can't come to Italy without trying everything it seems!!!! So we ordered ice cream and were then soon joined by Denis who was on lunch break from work.
After lunch Mattia and I headed back to the village and met Irena who had just finished work. She teaches English to students one-on-one. We decided we would head over to the island today on the boat that goes to and from. I've been wanting to go to the island ever since we arrived and so I felt like a little kid as we got on the boat and sat out on the dock crossing the lake!! A panoramic view of the mountains, the lake, the village and all the houses. I wish I had taken a video of it but I didn't! The views were amazing once we reached the island and it was like looking at a painting as we looked back at the village. We walked down onto a grassed area down on the dock where everyone was jumping in the water or relaxing with their friends and families. I didn't hesitate to jump straight in the water and we spent the next couple of hours simply doing nothing but just enjoying the beauty and serenity of the place. Here we were quite close to the tiny island with the castle built into it and I was so tempted to swim across to it! Apparently the lake is about 600m at it's deepest point and that point is right near the little island, so maybe not!
Later on we went to Mattia's cousins house who lives even higher up than us in the mountain - a beautiful house and the most stunning views. A storm was brewing on the other side of the lake as well so every few seconds the sky would light up with flickers of white and yellow! We met Mattia's cousins husband who have recently married and relaxed together outside before heading back to the same bar as the night before. Mattia's cousin invites us back for dinner the following night though which was so lovely and so we say ciao and back down the mountain. We stayed out late and I spoke to the friends a bit more including a female friend who Mattia went to school with. I forget her name but she was hilarious and we immediately clicked. There were some silly boys jumping off the rails into the water and some other foreigners from Amsterdam were trying to talk to us. The girl and I decided to walk around together visiting other bars near by and laughing at almost everything - who knows why! A really good night out but Irena and I knew we would have to be getting up early the following day as we had planned to go to Milan together for the day :)