Thursday, March 27, 2008

We lost all our pride in the Venice train station

On Friday, after recovering from the driving escapade through Tuscany, my parents headed to Venice for a romantic evening just the two of them, and Daniel and I prepared for a laid back day in Bologna. We hung at home a bit, and then we toured Piazza Maggiore, climbed the tower, ate some gelato, and went grocery shopping.

At gelato, there was this really cute little boy there with his grandma. He was sitting on the bench and I wanted to as well, but I decided to ask permission. I said, "Posso?" May I? And he gestured out his palm, smiled, and said, "Si!" in the most chivalrous, genial way possible! He was adorable sitting there eating his gelato.

Friday night was supposed to be Daniel and Kelly's Big Night Out, but it ended up being Daniel and Kelly's Regular Ol' Night In. None of my friends were really up to anything and I had just started feeling a cold coming on, so we invited Andrew over and ate dinner and watched LOST together. We had fun, so I don't think Daniel was too disappointed.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad were having what they called a "magical" night in Venice. They wandered around the canals, had a top notch dinner, drank Bellinis at Harry's Bar, and got to go to Good Friday service at St. Mark's. By the time we met up with them on Saturday morning, my Dad had the city pretty well figured out!

Venice was quite crowded, but we managed to see the Duomo, the Rialto Bridge, and St. Mark's Square. We were getting hungry and so decided to stay for dinner. This was where it all went wrong, hehe. By the time we finished dinner, picked up their luggage, and made it to the train station around 9, the only train left that night was at midnight! So we had three hours of waiting in the cold train station ahead of us. Goody.

We go around the food area, buying a few snacks and waters, and my Dad says he's going to go "secure us some seats" because there were a lot of others waiting for this train and not quite as many benches. So eventually my mom and I are over by the bathrooms when Daniel calls me over and says, "Oh my God, Kelly, you have to come see this. Dad has officially done the most embarrassing thing ever," while he's busting at the seams with laughter. So I'm thinking, "the most embarrassing thing ever?" Well, that's saying something.

So I follow him away from the bathroom and the trains and into the main station. Daniel's dragging me along, and I say, "What can it be?!" and he responds, "Let's just say, when I saw Dad I started laughing, and then I noticed that other people around me were laughing at him too." So now I'm super excited to see this train wreck (excuse the pun) of embarrassment unfold before my eyes. Finally we turn the corner, and there he is:

practically spread eagle on a luggage cart, napping! He reminded me of the bird lady in Home Alone or something! So now Daniel and I are Laughing Out Loud and calling even more attention to ourselves until mom finally catches up (while on the phone with Tia Diane) and adds to the hilarity of it all by narrating the situation to her! Dad looks up and says, "What? Tthose other people were doing it! It's the only seats I could find!" So one by one, we each grab a luggage cart and fall (literally) to the embarrassment, sitting in a circle, and laughing so hard we cry.

And then it was Easter Sunday! Brittany's family (her mom, cousin Melissa, and G-Pa Willy) came to visit her for Spring Break and since they were vacationing in Italy anyway, they ended up coming over to my apartment to join us for Easter lunch! Charlotte also has her friend, Sarah, visiting the week, and so they joined us as well. I wanted to give them all a very authentic Italian meal, and I think I succeeded. It was so nice seeing them, although Brittany and I felt cheated and tortured by the shortness of a 5 hour visit. I don't have many pictures from Easter, so to all who were there, please e-mail me any good ones you have!

1 comment:

Kristen said...

HAHA!! That is hilarious about your Dad!!