Arrivederci

Three years ago when I left Paris, I posted on my blog that the French word for "goodbye" (au revoir) actually means "until we see each other again." There's a different word (adieu) for when you will never see the person again; then if you'll see the person again the next day or soon after, you say something like "à bientôt" or see you soon. Well, the same is true in Italian: arrivederci is literally the direct translation of "au revoir" and I will force myself to say that to Urbino, a place where saying goodbye was quite sad. 

Sure, the living accommodations weren't ideal, but the town was just a delight. Saying goodbye to Nicola (who I ran into randomly an hour before he was leaving for the weekend) was hard, then saying goodbye to Davide and Luca was even harder. Fortunately, Luca woke up early this morning so he could say goodbye again as we boarded the bus at 5am. The last thing he said to me was "ciao francese" (bye French girl). Yes, if I come back, he will probably say the same thing (since ciao is hello and goodbye). 

Davide, me, Gabriella, Luca

Our last night in Urbino consisted of another Italian marathon meal: 3+ hours of courses, appetizers, primi (pasta dishes), secondi (meats that I would never consider eating on my own...like shoulder of veal), and dolci (desserts). Then, followed by drinks and goodbyes at the caffè degli amici. 

This morning, I woke up at 4:30am after a record-breaking LOW amount of sleep in my life: 2 hours. I brought my (extremely overweight) suitcase down three flights of stairs, then up another four, then up a hill, all to get it out of Tridente and onto the bus. Fun times, fun times. Then, 3 hours (a little less actually) in the bus to the Bologna airport, a 20 minute bus to the train station, an hour-long train, and I was in Milano! Upon checking into the hotel, I promptly took a shower (without wearing sandals like I did in Tridente) and passed out for a few hours. Then, I walked around for 4 hours. This city is ugly. Nothing matches, it's very industrial, but has lots of fancy brand-name stores and Italian-style food/architecture to balance out the skyscrapers. It's an interesting place. I saw the duomo (gorgeous), La Scala (the world's greatest opera house), and a few other sights. Tomorrow, I'll see The Last Supper! But as for tonight, it is 10pm, and I think it's time for me to sleep. 

The duomo of Milano. Gorgeous, right? The inside wasn't bad either!

PS: I am walking around the fashion capital of this country with my handmade shoes from the local artisan in Urbino. I feel like such a small-town girl lost in a big city!