The Barbaric Invasion

I’m on the plane back from Frankfurt to Bangkok, with reality starting to bite me that what has happened in the last 8 days is about to be left behind. My first trip to Italy is officially over! I wanted to capture my thoughts and feelings while they are still fresh, so there it is.

I gave the title “The Barbaric Invasion” because that was what I felt us girls really did to this country. No matter how “Italia blissima”, I couldn’t help but feeling out of place, that I wasn’t really belong there. The way the waitress in risterante in Firenze wouldn’t let us move the table simply because the bill was already set up, we just really wanted to enjoy the moment. How dare she was! The way the salesperson in the shop had to fix everything I touched immediately after I lifted off my finger, as if I would infect their bags through my fingerprints. The way the male street salesmen looked at me as if they could have passed on me any time. And the examples went on… I would say that was the only thing that reduced the greatness of this trip.

In spite of that, this trip still tops my chart, so does this country. I’m so proud of Thailand, but I really have to give it to the Italian. So many highlights. So many wows I lost count. So many overwhelming feelings it was so difficult to suck everything in one go. So I’ll just talk about the high points without any chronological order because it wouldn’t be so Italian if I become so orderly, would it?

Beautiful men: I just have to talk about them. How could I not? You can’t help but thinking it is so unfair that the population of handsome men is really concentrated in such a small area of this world. No matter where you go, you’ll find them. They could be the taxi driver, bell boy, hotel staff, waiter, Murano seller, or scientist, you name the occupation. They’re so good looking that I feel like they are the sex objects, rather than real people. We’ve seen so many of them that we had to develop our ‘code’ of ‘lor alert’. At one point in the boat in Venizia, the ‘lor alert’ alarmed us so much so that the alarm exploded. And they know they’re good looking so they always charm their way around us. They are the best eye candies you could really ask for. But nothing beyond that thou (so far).

The country side of Italy: I’ve never seen such beautiful highway before. Green grass, field filled with tiny yellow flowers, small little hills with a house that looks more like a mini castle on top of the hill surrounded by vineyard, and those beautifully-shaped Mediterranean pines that look like someone diligently climbs up and trims them into those particular shapes. This was the sight I saw on the way from Rome to my outlet shopping in Florence, something close to the area called Tuscany, where I promised to myself I will definitely come back to.

The fashion: The fact that I got that gorgeous white leather Prada bag under 330 euro made so many people jealous of me. But I don’t care, hahaha, in fact, it made me even more proud of that bag. But, really, it’s just not about the Prada stuffs I got, not even just about the Chloe bag I also got. But it’s about the fashion. Everybody there dresses so well, both the guys and the girls. The entire textile shops there, branded or unbranded, feature the best clothes. Guys love to dress up. The bell boys, the waiters, etc, everyone wears really nice suits, and wears them well. It’s really eye-pleasing. And you can’t really tell who’s gay, straight or just metro, coz they’re all well-dressed.

• The transit rush: I will never forget the transit rush. And it taught me to stay in a few places and reduce the transits. For some reason, we always ended up rushing to catch the plane / trains / boat, etc. And the more we stayed, the more stuff we bought. So I ended up being not-so-Khun Nai like I used to.

Roma at night and the tears of joy: It was the first night I arrived in Rome. Right after I got out of Rome Airport, I was kidding with my friend, asking her where the ruins and columns are. She told me to relax. As Unilever car drove us into the heart of the city, my friend said, “See? It started to get more cultured.” And then I saw, the remains of the ancient glorious days started to appear. Then, our driver, as if he knew what these two barbaric Asian really wanted the first night they arrived in Rome, he stopped the car by one place. We didn’t know where we were. So he pointed us to look to the right of the window. And there we saw…The Mouth of Truth…that horrendous face with his mouth wide-open that Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck teasing each other in Roman Holidays was just three feet away from me. And there we screamed, shamelessly. Then, the tear came down my cheek. He then drove us passing the Forum. I kept crying, feeling so overwhelmed with seeing one of the most significant human civilizations with my naked eyes. Then he stopped the car by Colosseum and let us take some pictures. Then, we stopped at Trevi Fountain before arriving to the hotel. So within a good thirty minutes from the Airport, we had a real nice night tour of Roma Bllissima. I actually took another walk at night around Rome, talking to Colosseum, the prime minister’s house, the Forum, and some other places. To me, during the day, Rome seems to be too touristy. At night, it’s more quiet, more calm, less chaotic, and all of the sudden, it’s as if we’re really in Rome, not just seeing Rome.

Venizia: a giant movie set that looks so real. Venice is so adorable. Everyone I know who’s been to Venice love it coz it’s so unique. We all felt like we were in a giant movie set (something like a market where Harry Potter shops his stationary). I can’t believe that place has no access for cars. It looks like the entire city was trapped in an ancient time, refusing to evolve through time. On top of that, it’s got the hand-crafted mask shops, the Murano glass, the gondola, etc. The houses look really old, like centuries-old. We wondered whether real people live in those houses. And San Marco was beautiful. Someone said that you can easily get lost in Venice, and happy to do so. That was so true for us who took 3.5 hours for a 45-minute walk from San Roma to San Marco.

David: We got to see David in the Accademia in Florence. It was stunning. I’ve never seen such a man so physically perfect, and we’re talking about a sculpture here. David represents the word “perfection” in every sense, the face, the hair, the poise, the muscles, the hands, the arms, the legs, even the veins. There’s not an ounce of fat. I suppose Michaelangelo envisioned a Roman warrior when creating David. And I had no wonder Italy is the land of beautiful men, starting from David himself. I mean, if you are descended from such a beautiful creature, how can you not be? We took a long look at him in the front and back. We actually sat down, starring at his back for a good 15 minutes, admiring everything we could. What a man.

The Birth of Venus: I am a big fan of Botticelli. He and Raffael are my favorite Renaissance artists. I went into Uffizi, not expecting so much coz I didn’t have time to study which pieces are in there (how barbaric, right?). Anyway, I got in the morning of the second day. And we three split up, each had our own audio guide, and roaming through 13th – 18th century of Italian (and some western Europe) art history. One room was dedicated to Botticelli. And I was drawn towards the biggest picture in the middle of the wall which the audio guide mentioned “this time we don’t have to tell you where the picture is”. Of course, it’s the very picture I’ve been seeing a hundred of times, the magnificent “Birth of Venus”. My small drop of tear came down my cheek again, for no reason. It was one of those moments you can’t describe your own feeling. I was touched by…I don’t know…its beauty, its significance, its grandeur, or probably most by the fact that I was standing in that very room.

My Klimpt “The Kiss” in Murano glass: Honestly, I want to admit that I was not familiar with Murano glass before. Nor I ever received Murano glass from anyone. So I didn’t intend to buy ANY Murano. Then, all of the sudden, I browsed into one Murano glass shop, and saw Gustuv Klimpt’s works in Murano glass, including my all-time most favorite painting, the Kiss. I didn’t buy it right away, of course. But then I thought, if I want some Murano, it has to be something meaningful to me. And its value will increase through times. So don’t ask how much it cost me.

Real Café, no Americano, No and the wine: Italy is heaven for coffee and wine. I don’t drink so much so I couldn’t appreciate wine as much as some people probably would. But I know every glass I had when I was there was really good. Coffee, though, I can comment. It’s the best coffee I’ve had. And it’s good everywhere. And it taught me how to drink coffee appropriately. Like what my Italian colleague said, “Starbuck doesn’t exist, and it shall never do.” You cannot compare Italian coffee with Starbuck coffee coz they have different definitions. They compete in different leagues. It’s like you can’t compare apples to oranges. (But I’d like to compare them. Starbuck coffee is so lousy to me now.) Here, there’s certain way to drink. You have to drink a cappuccino in the morning. After noon, you should drink an espresso. You can add some milk, but just a tiny drop of it, and then it becomes a macchiato. You drink in a small shot, and finish it right then, and there. If you want to add hot water, and carry out a big cup, then you want an Americano, which is an absolute barbaric behavior you could have done there.

The food: The food was divine. I was not a big fan of Italian food before this trip. I realized now why. Coz I’ve never tasted authentic one. Italian food in Italy was great. Oh boy. The cheese was so great, especially that buffalo Mozzarella cheese pizza. The ham, can’t really describe it, even the restaurant by the highway has got great hams. The pasta, so good, every pasta type, every sauce, with meet or without. The seafood, the lamp, the soup, the veggie, and the list goes on. I love the way they cherish food, cooking and meal times. It’s so refreshing to see people taking time to wine & dine and enjoying themselves, rather than rushing through the meals and gauging whatever they can find. Oh, but our barbaric selves emerged here by asking the waiter to serve the second dish when we hadn’t finished the first dish. Hey, in Thailand, we serve everything at once!

In short, I love the place because it is real. It’s not pretentious. People there are cultured, because they’ve been living that way for many centuries. The cute houses in Venice with flowered balcony, the old buildings with similar ancient windows in Florence, the remains of the glorified Forum in the middle of the city, the many centuries-old houses with the fading paint that was washed away by rain and time, the small house surrounded by vineyard and Mediterranean Pines, the street-side café with beautiful people dressing in beautiful clothes engaging into their conversation, the tradition of fine dining rituals, and I can keep going forever. They never have to try too hard, like us barbaric do. And that what makes Italy so special coz we can never replicate thousand years of culture, no matter how hard we try. So I gladly acknowledge myself as a barbaric Asian invading this amazingly cultured wonder, and look forward to invade again very soon.