Sunday, February 14, 2010
Buon San Valentino
Happy Saint Valentines Day! It's hard to believe that we've now celebrated 3 US holidays in Europe already, and 4 while in a hotel. Thanksgiving we were in the Seattle Sheraton--but spent Turkey-day at Andrea & Kelly Kimuras which was fabulous, spent Christmas in Berlin, New Years in Napoli, and now Valentines Day in Napoli too. We can't forget the "bomb scare" i experienced on San Lucia day here either, but obviously, that's one of the many, many Italian holidays, or at least Neopolitan, that we don't have in the US.
We started our Valentines day celebration yesterday with a leisurely dinner of take-out Siciliana pizza (eggplant pizza) and due tirimisus in our hotel room, paired with an 8 euro bottle of Prosecco. Evan cooperated by sleeping well, and so we had a nice, relaxing, evening in for a change.
During the day yesterday, we ventured out to try a new place for lunch, as opposed to going to one of our old stand-bys that we typically eat at near our hotel. We had a late lunch--I had insalate mista (basically lettuce w/ tomatoes and carrots) and lasagna, and Josh had meatballs and diavola pizza (the closest thing to pepperoni),and then we indulged in dessert. I had what they translated to vanilla waffles w/ chocolate sauce, but was really vanilla wafers w/ a cup of chocolate to dip them in--delicious! Josh had warm chocolate cake and vanilla icecream for dessert. We also, of course, both had espresso w/ our dessert..Josh getting the typical caffe (just a shot of espresso), and I had a cappuccino--eventhough most Italianis don't have cappuccino in the afternoon...it's generally only something to drink in the morning. Evan just had his usual milk...so boring! When is he going to try something new? haha
After lunch, we strolled the cobblestone streets, Josh popping into a floral shop while I walked ahead, and after a few minutes he emerged w/ a dozen long stem roses for me for Valentines Day. Bellissimo:) The element of surprise wasn't really there, but with a baby, he had to take the opportunity to buy the flowers while we were walking by...hard enough to know where to even find flowers or floral shops around here, never mind, plan a time to go get them:) We meandered home, taking care of a few errands on the way, and then arrived at our hotel. What a mob scene! The Milan soccer team is in town for a big game against Napoli. Our hotel was barricaded, fans were crowded in front and in back of our hotel, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the players as they arrive. Soccer players are like Rock Stars here, and the fans are rabid! I have to admit, it was kind of cool to be able to whip out our hotel key card, allowing us access to cross over the barricade, and through the lines of police protection. As we walked in the closed off area, all the fans started yelling and cheering for us. We weren't sure if they were totally just cheering for Evan (since they love babies so much) as we heard "Complementi"..an exclamation typically heard from folks as they admire your baby, or if they were cheering for Josh since he was carrying my long stem roses, and maybe they were verbally giving him a 'high five' for being such a romantic?! I'm not sure what the answer is, but I loved the attention, and raised my arms and kind of ran in front of the crowd like I was a champion. It was fun to have our family moment in the spotlight:) ha!
When we got to our room, we heard fans also yelling on the back side of the hotel. They had lined up in the back because some of the players were out on their balcony (our old hotel room actually), and so fans were yelling up to them, chanting songs, taking pictures, and checking them out with binoculars. We went out on our balcony to watch and we could feel the excitement amongst them all, so much so, that it may have even inspired us to watch the game tonight!
Barricades are still up, as fans are coming back today to see them as they depart from the hotel. I wonder who'll be checking in next week?
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