Sunday, August 19, 2007

We're leavin' on a jet plane...

Note: I meant to post this before we left, but it didn't post, for some reason. The trip went well, and I'll post again soon (after my jet-lagged brain recovers).

Our summer stateside vacation is finally over, and we leave for Italy later tonight. Aside from family and friends, here are the top three things I'll miss most about the U.S.:

1. the clothes dryer, and all the warm, soft, fluffy clothes that it produces. Sigh.

2. caramel frappucinos

3. ample parking

Here are the top three things I'm looking forward to when we return:

1. The clinking sound of real cups and saucers when I go into a bar for coffee. Since Italians never get coffee to go, there are no paper/Styrofoam cups with lids in Italy. The clinking comes from people setting their cups onto saucers, baristi clearing the cups and saucers from the bar and then stacking them in the sink to await washing. It's funny--I never paid much attention to the clinking until I got here and noticed it was missing.

2. pizza--As much as I love American pizza, I've missed the Italian version. It's not that one is necessarily better than the other. Like chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies--both are good. But different.

3. sagras--These are outdoor cookouts with live music held all over the city and its outskirts. The menu's usually the same--grilled meats, french fries, sauerkraut, Nutella-filled crepes--yanno, food that's bad for you. Can't wait!

4 comments:

rilla jaggia said...

Mmm...hard to miss...the things you miss about Italy are ALL food related...that includes the clinking...because it is all about coffee and Italian coffee rocks...and yes...say it girlee...Italian pizza is better than most American pizza.
Glad you had a great vacation...sigh...all good things come to an end...
I'm leaving for India in 3 weeks...will try to keep blogging and reading from there...hope your homecoming jetlag is gone before you know it...and keep apprising us on how green the grass is in Italy ;)

Anonymous said...

I like the Italian pizza better than American pizza too.

Happy belated birthday, and I hope you had a safe trip.

Anonymous said...

Sigh ... Where are my Italian Moments?

Danette V.

Natalie said...

You're right Rilla...it's all about the food, isn't it? :-) Hope all is/was well in India..are you back yet? I'll have to drop into your blog to find out...

Thanks, Debby! I'm with ya on the Italian vs. American pizza--I love the fact that you're actually supposed to eat an entire pizza in one sitting here. :-)

Hey Danette!
Your Italian Moments are back... thanks for checking in.:-)