Do Vidjenja Hrvatska, Buon Giornio Italia!

Hello from Italy!
Yesterday was a pretty administrative travel day. We enjoyed our final morning in Bol, on the Island on Brac. The weather was grey and a bit chilly, which helped because it was easier to leave! We caught a ferry back to the mainland and arrived at the port in Split. We won't bore you with all the details, but we had to purchase tickets for our ship ride to Italy and return our rental car, and stuff like that. Luckily though, it all went smoothly, and we had time to enjoy a nice early dinner in Split. We had some extra dog and cat food left over from our stray animal feeding project, but we easily found many stray cats in Split who were delighted to have a big meal.

The boat to Italy was super cool! We loved it! We decided to get a private cabin, with little beds, so that we could hopefully have a good night's rest. Our little cabin was very small, but very cozy and amazingly comfy too! The ferry boat was really big, but still we could feel the movement of the boat on the water. It was very neat. The boat took off from Split around 9pm and we went up on the deck to watch the lights of Split fade into the distance. We both felt a bit sad to say goodbye to Croatia, after such a fun and interesting trip, but seeing the lights from the sea was a nice goodbye. We spent a couple hours exploring the ship and mostly just sitting out on the deck and watching the water and the lights on the coast... until we were ready for bed.

Then, this morning! We woke up around 5:45 and we were both excited. We got up and went out on the deck to watch the lights of italy get closer and closer. It was really beautiful watching the sunrise over the sea and over the coast.

So, around 7:30 or so, we got off the boat and found ourselves in Ancona, Italy. After 3 weeks, we were both feeling quite accomodated in Croatia, so it's a big suprise to find ourselves somewhere new. Even though I speak pretty good italian, and pretty crummy croatian, I find that all my verbal reflexes are in croatian now! I keep saying "da" instead of "si" or "hvala" instead of "grazie". How weird. However, even with these little hiccups, it is really, really nice to have the ability to communicate effectively, and to be somewhere where I understand the system of how things work.

We made our way to the train station, and eventually up to Bologna, where Fabrizio picked us up! It's super nice to see a familiar friendly face! Fabrizio had a busy day today, but he got us very nicely appointed at his place and then brought us back downtown, so we could explore the city. We spent hours walking around, window shopping, eating snacks, having tea in the piazza... it was great fun. I am super psyched to be back in the land of Italian food!! I had my first gelato of the trip, since the fruit flavors here are mostly all vegan... and I had some nice pasta for lunch, and found a bakery selling great foccacia bread with cherry tomatoes on it. YUM!

There are so many things and stories and observations to share... but only so much time I can spend in front of the computer! Tonight I'm sleepy after our exciting night on the boat, so I think I'll hit the hay early.

love to you all,
amey