I decided to escape Milano for a few days. Fede has been wanting me to come visit him for awhile now, so I thought I would finally take him up on his offer. So Monday morning I took off to Bologna where I met up with him and his girlfriend, Abbi (I dont remember her real name, as Fede always calls her Abbi). We grabbed some lunch, and wandered around Bologna. Fede was mad as he didnt realize I'd been there before, and everytime he tried to show me something I already knew about it. The one thing he did show me which I didnt know before, was if you stand at the right spot, the statue in the piazza looks as though it has a really big penis because of how the hand lines up. He was quite proud of being able to show me this. :) To escape the cold we stopped in a bar and got some hot chocolate. We were speaking a combo of English/Italian, but I guess we had gone through an english spell, as someone came over and started talking to us in English trying to sell us things (cds etc). We looked up at him and started responding to him in Italian. He was quite surprised as he had thought we were tourists. Nonetheless he tried to sell us things anyways.

That evening we headed to Castel San Pietro Terme, where Fede lives, just outside of Bologna. It was really nice to get into the country side a bit. Felt a lot like home being in a valley with hills all around. We went to Dozza, another nearby town for dinner. There we ate at one of the two open restraunts (I was later blamed for everything being closed, as the next morning the bar we tried to go to was also closed). I surprised Fede again by knowing what Ragu was. For some reason he thought Americans didnt have it.

The next morning I took off and headed to Faenza, 20 min away, where I met Jackie, Cyndi, and Danilo (Cyndi's husband) for the day. Before checking out Faenza, we drove to another nearby town, Brisighella. It was a cute little town, with a castle and clock tower on the hills above. (Cyndi has an excellent description of the town on her blog, with more historical information.)

the main road in Brisighella

Jackie, Cyndi, and Danilo as we climbed to the top

the view of the town below from the tower

me having a bit of fun climbing on stuff

We climbed up to the clock tower where we were awarded with excellent views, despite the gate being locked so we couldnt go in. Afterwards we headed back to town and ate at the only open restraunt for lunch. The owner and her family were really nice, showing us photo albums of the town, and talking to us about America. Her brother was seated at the table next to us and was excited to speak about America. It was cute as he would be silent for awhile until he thought of something to say, and then he'd lean over and talk for awhile. Towards the end of the meal Danilo made us all crack up, as he asked to take a picture of the "Chickens" - he meant Chicks, but got a bit confussed.

After lunch we headed back to Faenza where we wandered through town, ate Gelato, and checked out different ceramics stores. It was a nice town, much more lively than sleepy Brisighella. This is a great time to travel through the smaller towns as they are all decorated with lights and everyone is in a festive mood.
the main piazza in Faenza

a beautiful sunset in Faenza

Jackie wanted to take a photo of the lights, but couldnt hold her camera still enough. So she decided to put it on a car and use the timer. After a min or so of messing with it, trying to get it lined up right, she was surprised by the window rolling down, and the guy in the car asking what she was doing! She came running over to us and told us what happened and we all laughed and giggled like a bunch of little school girls. Sometimes its great fun to play tourists.

After awhile Jackie and I said goodbye to Cyndi and Danilo who were headed home after a long day together of laughs. It was great to spend some time with other Americans and be able to have some girltalk. Poor Danilo was a bit out numbered, but was a good sport through the whole day. Jackie and I checked out a couple more shops before heading to the trainstation. We still had a couple hours to kill, so we stopped at a bar nearby that Fede had recommended to me, and had an aperativo. It was extremely inexpensive, and a very nice atmosphere. Definitely the hang out for people our age. Eventually it became time to catch our trains, and Jackie and I said goodbye, trying to figure out when the next time we'll be able to meet up with be. It was great to see Jackie again after 2 months, and be able to catch up a bit.

I took the train back to Castel S. Pietro, where Fede picked me up. We went and grabbed some pizzas from the best pizzaria in all of Italy (as Fede claims) and headed back to his house to eat. After dinner we went to his friend Cicho's house (another nick name - his name is also Federico) up in the hills. There we hung out, listened to music and talked. I had met Cicho one time before, as he also goes to school in Milano, and it was fun to see him again. We played with his cat, and I shocked the Italians by telling them about catnip. They had never heard of it before, and couldnt believe me that we actually gave our cats a type of drug. As I wasnt sure exactly what catnip was, thus making it impossible to explain correctly in Italian, we looked it up online. After they were convinced that it was harmless to cats, Fede agreed to give some to his cat if I could get some mailed to me. It was really relaxing just chillin, and was nice to be in real homes (as in living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, just like in America!) rather than small student apartments. I'd been missing that feeling and it was so nice to do it again.
Cicho
Fede
Abbi
(Fotos at Cicho's house taken by the marvelous Fede with his wonderful photographic skills.)

Soon enough though I needed to return to Milano and get back to work. So wednesday morning I headed home. I was a bit scared by all the snow on the way - EVERYTHING was covered in white. But when I got into Milano I was greeted by sunny skies, and some of the warmest weather we've had in awhile (42 degrees!!!). It was a great couple of days and just what I needed to help cure my big-grey-city blues.