Daily Archives: April 20, 2008

Dances with the wolves

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Try to imagine this: a Tuscany hill surrounded by wine yards, a country house from 1700 and something. Wisterias and lilacs blossoming, and there is three wolves in the garden. Well, not exactly wolves, Czechoslovakian wolf dogs. Wild enough though to bite your head off if you do a wrong move. Which meant simply: not going out without the permit of the master of the wolves.

But for a reason or another, wolves seemed to like me. There were a male, female and a puppy, not family though. Puppy was a normal puppy, playful and biting with sharp baby teeth. Female was timid and shy, but for the surprise to everyone, she jumped and licked my face – a gesture she hasn’t done to strangers ever before. Because of this trust, I was also allowed to stroke the male: a huge, strong adult wolf dog, tame with the owner on the leach but unpredictable without. Anyway, he licked me too.

Even the cats (five of them) liked me, especially Alexander – named after the Great one – Alex to friends. He slept on my armpit warming me, and kissed me good morning on my mouth so passionately Sasi was jealous. Sasi said it was a bit like living in a zoo, since on top of all these, there was uncountable number of frets. Just what we belong to, a zoo.

After we left Pistoia, it has been feeling a bit like being thrown to wolves, since we were not able to find a place to stay. Sasi went so far he held a paper asking for accommodation on the streets of Siena. We got a lots of smiles but no host, so we ended to a pension which was held by a great Italian elderly lady. Tonight we were able to get beds in the youth hostel.

On the other hand, it is nice to be just two of us just for a change. Couchsurfing, as awesome as it is, can be a bit tiring sometimes since you have to socialize with your hosts. It has been really nice, but after weeks, you need quiet time on your own, at least me being a unsocial and quiet Finn (har har).

It also starts to be a point when you don’t remember clearly where you have been and what you have been doing. We have been offline due to bad internet connections for a while, so am trying to figure where we have visited past week. The things which came to my mind were loads of local train stations. From Bologna to Firenze, from Firenze to Pistoia, and from Pistoia we made day trips to Pisa and Lucca. Then finally a bus to here Siena.

I have spend 2,5 hours of my life in the queue of Uffizi Gallery in Firenze. Folks, if you want to get in there, DO get a reservation of the tickets! It was worth it though. Most of the people went to see Leonardo da Vinci’s and Michelangelo’s paintings, as well as Sandro Botticelli’s La Primavera and The Birth of Venus. Botticelli is nice, except these particular paintings have suffered a bit of inflation due to all kind of posters, mouse pads and fridge magnets. I like his delicate style though, and the other paintings by him in the same hall are almost nicer than these two most famous ones.

I must admit that I don’t admire Da Vinci. I do respect his developments of techniques of painting but the style is… I don’t know. Maybe another inflation. As well as what happened with the leaning tower of Pisa. In real life, that one was not too special at all. I have enjoyed much more about Lucca, which is not the most famous tourist destination in Tuscany. And Siena is just adorable with its medieval narrow streets. I love it. Cant wait to see more.

Maiku, with sore leg muscles after 290 steps of Torre del Maglio.

Two pygmies without a bed

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Hostels are full, couchsurfing doesn’t work, no money and it was cold. We decided to fight it and go for sleeping on the street – or at least that was the idea. Nothing of that happened; come on, we are not that young or wild after all.

Anyhow, let me go back for the last week. The beautiful Tuscany region has been taking lots of our time and money and imagination. We arrived to Florence last week where we got a couchsurfing reply from a lady who owns a villa in Tuscany hills and she said she will host us. It was an awesome place and there were her 2 lovely kids, and her mother, an amazing Italian nonna truly. Well we had to babysit and take care of her kids since she decided to go and party in Rome. It was nice and worth it, except that we were amazed by her reference about us, since we do not deserve this mean reference only because we left without saying goodbye – she wasn’t even home and knew we were leaving. But then, I guess misunderstanding happens.

Italy has been amazing nature and cultural tour but it is so noisy for my ears. The peaceful life of Northern Europe does not exist here for sure. Socializing is something like bread and butter here. And nothing can be noisier than a group of Italian teenagers!

Then came Pistoia, Lucca, Pisa, and now Siena (and they were all awesome). We stayed in Pistoia in a real castle; let’s say with a king and his court. The best hospitality you can get in Italy came from Massimo, a great gentleman and in my opinion a true wolf.

Lucca was a very pretty city, Pisa was a bit dull except the fucked up tower. The most awesome place we have been to so far, however, was today’s visit to tower of Siena, Torre del Maglio.

The trip seems to go better and better, we adapt to the lifestyle of nomads, except there are moments of loneliness and moments of tiredness and fear of not being able to continue. But the beauty and the freedom our trip offers goes above all, we even do wild things now. Yes, we did give each other a new hair style!

We fell in love with Italy and now we are thinking a lot about our next step. We wish we will be luckier to find hosts over couchsurfing in Rome and Naples because our budget keeps getting lower day by day. Money cannot replace the beauty of what we see, though. We have done things that I would have never done by myself. Even trying to sleep on the street was one of my lifetime experiences.

Ciao from Siena, and soon the door of Rome will open for us!

Sasi