City of the day: Berlin = Berlino

Hey guys,

So Im writing this from Berlin where the keyboards are all messed up.  All of the punctuation is in the wrong place and the y and z buttons are transposed.  However, I dont really feel like fixing my tzpos so youll have to deal with it.  Tonight is Thursdaz night, my third day in Berlin.  Before I start, let me just say italians are all very confused when you talk about Berlin.  They very rarely make the connection that Berlin is the american way to say Berlino.

Anyway i arrived in Berlin Tuesdaz afternoon on EasyJet.  Technically my carryon was too large, it didnt fit in the little size measurer thingy at the check in, but I was actually dressed up nicely with a sportcoat and the nice lady behind the desk didnt make me check the luggage (and charge me monez) and instead let me take it on anyway.  So we landed safely enough, found the Ubahn and found the right straße and checked into the hotel.  By know its about 9pm and were all really hungry.  (I flew in with 4 other students from mz program). So the concierge recommended a greek place down the street.  He said that we were all strong looking young lads, and that they have hearty portions and serve good German beer.  So anyways, we made our way to Samos.  I had the roast lamb (served with potatoes, onions, and tomatoes, all mixed intogether kind of like a stew, Dad would have hated it).  It was great.  My classmates have various assortments of gyro combination platters.  And their dishes were literally stack so meat upon stacks of meat with potatoes on the side.  Ive never seen so much food for 10 euros. Especiallz meat!  Especially lamb!  So the food was terrific.  The tzatiki sauce was out of this world.  And the beer was good.  They gave us ouzo as a digestif after dinner.  It was fabulous. 

After we walked down the street and found a weird bar.  It was called Klo, which means toilet.  They had all these weird dolls, and coffins and stuff everywhere.  The really big beers were served in the hospital jar things that people pee in.  It was all very bizarre. The buttons on the table raised and lowered the table which was on hydraulics, some o fthe buttons tilted chairs and stuff.  It was creepy.  I didnt stay for a drink.  Two of my friends did though and thats how i know about all the weird stuff.  We actually met two germans in the street.  They had beer (no open container laws in europe) and we started to talk about stuff.  They gave us recommendations on bars and waht not.  It was nice to meet germans.  They were very friendly.

The architecture tours that weve been on have been really great.  It would be much easier to explain everything once I upload my pictures to shutterfly.  So ill just wait until i do that.  Thats all for now.  Ciao.

Butchering of a global brand name of the day: hoha-hola = coca cola

So in Florence, the residents have a bit of an accent.  They have trouble, or maybe they just don't care to, say their c's.  So in Florence, Coca-Cola becomes Hoha-Hola.  So even though Italy is a small country (by size) compared to the US, they still have tons of regional accents.  And, each region has their own accent and their own slang as well.  I dont' know if Giuditta was just trying to make me feel better, but she was saying that she doesn't always understand what others are saying as well.  While in Genoa, we met this guy from southern Italy.  He spoke with a southern (Italian) accent, and had his own slang as well, which MNG couldn't always understand (or at least that's what she told me).  MNG said that Genovesians have a certain cadence to the way they talk.  When they speak Italian they slow down and speed up in a certain way.  I of course did not pick up on it until she told me, but it reminded me of T. Shreve, which is always a fun bit of memories.

Day of the Day: Sabato - Saturday

So Saturday Giudi had to run into work for a bit.  She went in around 9:30 and finished up by 1ish.  I met up with her at the duomo and then we met to lunch.  We were actually meeting a bunch of her friends at the cafe.  Since Giudi knows seemingly everybody in Genoa, a bunch of people walking by eventually sat with us.  So by the end of lunch I met Fabio, Carlotta, Simona, Mariana, Deborah, and Robbie.  They were all very nice, but it was hard to understand their italian unless they were talking to me directly.  When they were talking amongst themselves they were using slang and talking so quickly that I couldn't always follow what they were saying.  Anyway, I ended up having a faghinata which is a tortilla thingy filled with pesto and cheese and baked.  When I cut into the rolled up faghinata it slowly began to ooze cheese and pesto.  It was sooooooo good.  And of course we all had espressos after the meal.  Actually, while Giudi and I were waiting for her friends to arrive we had espressos.  So I had coffee before and after lunch, but it was all delicious.  So after that Giudi and I retreated to her apartment.  Giudi took a nap and I read part of Hadrian's Dreams for studio.  Maybe about 4ish we went to see the lanterna (lighthouse), the symbol of Genoa.  While we were there we came across an alpine concert.  The alpine are mountain folk who sing and are generally nice human beings.  Recently Genova has been enlisting the Alpine to walk around the city with policemen to help clean up the streets.

The lanterna is quite nice.  They have a long promenade leading up to it where you can see the city and the water.  They've got a bunch of signs and stuff talking about the history of Genoa and the things that are visible from each point.

After the lanterna we met up with Giudi's friends.  Deborah drove and went to Nervi which is about 15 minutes away by car.  Nervi is directly on the coast.   They've got a promenade and park all along the coast; it was really pretty.  So we walked from our parking spot around 6 km to a place to eat.  I had something weird with anchovies.  It was a little too salty for my liking, but pretty good. We met up with Frank and Sandro at the restaurant.  After dinner we walked back up the promenade to a bar where Giudi's friend was DJing.  Although I dont remember the DJ's name.  So we were there and of course saw other people that Giuditta knew.  I only remember Francesco, who is from southern italy.  He was very proud of the mafia in Bari.  Francesco was hosting an erasmus student (european exchange student program) and brought her out.  She was from estonia but I cant remember her name.  So he told me about soccer and how much  better Sampdoria is than Genova (rivals) and started singing the Sampdoria fight song.  It was pretty funny.

Sunday I woke up around 9ish.  Had a coffee in the apartment with Giudi.  Then we decided to get breakfast.  So we went to a focacceria and had another coffee with the focaccia.  Then, after the focaccia, Giudi had another coffee.  So to those of you counting thats 3 espressos in 2 hours.  So then we walked around a bit.  Giudi took me to her friend's place who runs a pasticceria.  So instead of waiting for the nice lady behind the counter to wait on us, she ran into the back and got one of her friends to come out and help us.  She of course got me a discount on the pasta.  It was troffie, which is the traditionaly wormy like noodle of Genova.  I had already bought a jar of pesto earlier that weekend.  So after we walked for a bit, we took the finiculare up to San Nicolas (near the villa).  From there we walked downhill a little bit to i tre Merli (the three crows).  They are a traditional little restaurant that has started to gain some success.  We went to the original one.  But they also have one near Via Garibaldi in Genoa, and also at Porto Antico in Genoa, and then one in New York City somewhere.  So I had carpaccio which was raw swordfish with lemon juice as an appetizer.  I had pasta with mushrooms, and then roast rabbit.  The rabbit was good, but kind of hard to eat.  There were so many little bones all the time.  So then after lunch, we had another espresso.  I had so much coffee, but it was so good!  So after lunch we walked downhill back to the apartment.  My train left at 5 so we had a little bit of free time to talk and lounge about in the apartment.

Oh, I almost forgot.  So while Giudi was at work Saturday morning I walked around the medieval part of Genova and found a local enoteca.  I talked to the man working (strictly in italian) that i wanted to get a bottle of wine for a friend as a gift.  He helped me choose a good one and even wrapped it for me.  And, he gave me a one euro discount for some reason.  So anyway, when I eventually gave the bottle to Giuditta as a small token of thanks she started beating me up.  She started hitting me and said I'm not supposed to give her anything blah blah blah.  It was funny.  I got her a Francello something or other nero d'avola from sicily.  So that was my weekend.  It was really fun.  I'm glad I went.  I got all my work done that was due on monday on the 3.5 hour train ride (each way) and I've got Tuesday and Wednesday to work on my studio stuff.  So no worries.

Nickname of the day: Genova la Superba - Genova the Proud

So last weekend I ended up going to visit Giuditta (my former professor) in Genova and had an absolutely great time.  She was kind of nervous because she wanted to be "doing something" all the time.  She didn't want me to be bored.  But, honestly, visiting places that i used to live in, is not like that.  I didn't feel obligated to do anything.  It was just nice to visit with her, see things, eat food, drink coffee, you know, be lazy.  It was really nice.

So I found a direct train form Firenze to Genova leaving at 8am and arriving at 11am.  It also happened that the democratic party of Italy was hosting a party in Genova.  So I walked aorund the port looking at tents and saw a great sign:

Who knew that the Sugarhill gang was still together?  And that they would be in Genova???  Anyway, I eventually made my way to the villa and saw something that made me sad:  the remains of what was once the best bar in europe:

So what was once La Pinta: an american bar has become Babylon, and according to Miss New Giudi is decorated with Scarface posters.  Quite strenge.

The villa was fun.  I found Angela and Andreina's daughter in law in the kitchen.  They cooked up some meat ravioli, sliced pork with sauce, and a salad for us.  Giuditta found me in the kitchen.  And later I found Sylvia in her office.  Giudi and Sylvia think I lost weight.  And Giudi thinks I could use a tan too.  Oh well.  So at lunch Sylvia didn't clink her glass with her spoon, but she did make an announcement and introduced me to the others who didn't know me.  It's kind of a strange group this year because all 11 of the students are post bac (they are getting a graduate degree in architecture but did not have an architecture related degree in undergrad).  So thats quite strenge.  Anyway, Giuditta got two cartons of gelato from Casteletto that were incredibly good.  She got a bunch of differnet flavors but I stuck to my favorite:  fragole (strawberry).  I also forgot how the coffee machines work.  After lunch I made myself an espresso but forgot that I have to tell the machine to stop.  So I had my espresso cup filled to the very tippy top.  It was kind of funny.  It was nice to see everybody; I even got an invitation to the villa party.  unfortunately I"ll be in berlin so I wont be able to make it back.  The grotto in the garden now has 2 turtles, although I can't remember their names.  So they're cute.

After lunch Giudi eventually had to go back to work.  So I walked her back to her office and then I got the keys to her apartment.  I found the apartment easily enough and dropped off my bags.  I then just walked around the city.  The weather was so nice!  It was like I was back in a dream.  I was just wandering around the mideval quarter of the city, in the shade, surrounded by cold bricks, and fun boutiques.  Although I didn't end up buying any clothes, I was tempted a few times.  Later that night we had the requisite apertivo at Cafe Latino.   We get drinks and the bar gives us sandwiches, breadsticks, cheese, and lunchmeats.  Oh, and this time they also gave us some lasagne.  Pretty good stuff.  Eventually the rest of the babies from clemson came down to piazza dell'erbe to join us.  Its strange because I think only one person is actually from SC.

That's all for now.  I will give an updated post with the rest of the weekend.