High as the Ceiling

Can I just say....ZOMG KELLY JONESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I have to say that if it was not for the concert, I don't think I would have made such a long trek to Milan, it's not SO great. Laura and I were lucky that by some sort of magical ginger luck, I chose an amazing hostel with little to no information about it. It is called Hostel Diablo and it was about a half hour walk from the center. It cost us 16 euro a night (brekky included!). Yes we had to share rooms; once with a girl who snored SOOO loudly that I wanted to smother her, but I didn't of course. And then we had to move rooms and ended up sharing our last night with two slovakian girls who checked in at about midnight haha. Also, nearby the hostel was a TONNNNNE of food places, including our personal fave, White Knight, which supplied us with delicious paninis day or night. There was also a turkish pizza place and a "kebap" place (no i did not misspell kebab), and gelati just around the corner, mmm mmmmmmm.

So our first day (wed.), Laura and I walked to the centre to check out the Duomo. After that we just kinda wandered around, went to the galleria, went to H&M (hazaah!) and found the most picturesque pizzeria EVER on Magenta street. It had room for maybe 25 people TOPS, and was packed, so Laura and I shared a table with two other women. Best pizza EVAR! Crust was perfect and it was just so Italian and wonderful. After lunch, we continued to walk around, and I made Laura try her first candied orange peel after seeing them in a window. We then wandered to a museum of some sort that we didn't actually go into, but took pictures of the outside which was pretty nice on its own. Then, back in the centre, we had some gelati and started the trek back to the hostel.

Later that night, we discovered this restaurant at the end of our street and decided to check it out. As it turns out, it was a buffet style in which you buy any alcoholic drink and you get a buffet for FREE. Aka it cost us 5 euros each for a drink and all you can eat. AMAZING. We had pasta and pizza roll things, grilled veggies, some filo pasty thing with spinach...basically really good food for no money at all. Then we went to find more gelati to take back to the hostel. Before bed we watched a movie on laura's laptop.

On Thursday we went to the train station to get our tickets sorted out in advance because we are smart like that. Then we bussed/trammed/metro-ed from there to the centre and walked to that Santa Maria church to see the "last supper"...but they were dill holes and wouldn't let us in. So we said poopoo on you, we are going to get some more gelati, and that is precisely what we did! As a congratulations to ourselves for not dying in milan, and also managing to use every form of transportation possible in the city, we got the GRANDE COPPETA of gelati. Yum yum yum. Then we went back to the hostel and watched another movie and planned out route to........THE CONCERT! As it turned out, it was one bus alllll the way from the hostel to the venue, which worked out amazingly and surprisingly well! So we bussed there and waited in line to get in with all the other crazies.

Once inside, it didn't look that full. The opener (Trikobalto) came on at 8 to a mediocre response from the audience. I thought they sounded good and put on a good live show, but they did look quite douchey, so maybe that's why Milan hates them. Then, after a quick equipment change, the phonics were on. OH MAN! I still cannot believe I was two rows away from Kelly Jones, it was the most amazing thing in the world. To put it in perspective for those of you who don't know...being this close to him for me would be like my mom being that close to the beatles. The Stereophonics are MY Beatles. The performance was flawless of course, his raspy voice as amazing live as I had hoped, never once missing a note or straying from perfectionnnnnn. Even Laura was impressed at the caliber of their live performance. YAY! Then the Italians went BERSERK! They started doing that circle-jump into each other-knock people over thing that sometimes happens here, but they were soooooo drunk that it was just dangerous. Also, they are allowed to smoke indoors in Italy, so there was a hellavalot of cigarette smoke around..it was very odd. Anyways, it got really insane by the end of the show, but luckily a guy next to laura and I was kinda watching over us as he was protecting his own girlfriend. He would always look around to make sure we were okay, and it was very nice of him. He blocked us from the crazies near the end. The show went on for almost a full two hours, and ended with one of my fave songs, Dakota. SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD. Laura and I waited for a bit after to see if they were coming out to sign things, but no such luck. I think a couple of people who waited by their bus got stuff signed, but it was raining and we were hungry, so we left. We bussed back to the hostel at around 11:30 and White Knight was open, so we got pizza and panini's (the panini's were for the train ride today...we thought ahead!). Then we went back to the hostel and crashed, although I couldn't sleep due to stereophonics related brain explosions.

This morning we caught an early train at 9:30 and headed back to Koper. I am glad to be back; as much as I like italy, Italians get on my nerves! They assume that because they said "scuzi" that they can just walk in front of you and be a general ass hole. NO SIR!... Not with me...that behavior results in a quick shot to the jugular. And if I hear one more person whistle, I swear I'm gonna kick them. And i'm just gunna say that I am very glad that my idea to rent a car and drive there was only a passing (and incredibly stupid) fancy because as soon as I got in the cab in Milan, I realize that had I been driving, I would have peed myself. NO LANES! YOU CAN TURN ANYWHERE! TRAMS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! WHAA?!

The trip home was pretty uneventful in the best possible way. David was kind enough to pick us up at the bus stop and drive us to the apartment and since then we have walked all the way to the mall and back, gone out for dinner, and searched for the other canadian guy who is here. Still alone in my room as Alison and Laura have set up in the other apartment. The fourth and final girl gets here sunday night! That is all for nows, and be sure to check out my article for the culture section of the Manitoban (it's available online at www.themanitoban.com)

Title Track: Stereophonics (of course!)