Arrivederci Italia!

Good news, I used the credit card today and it worked - L'Occitane here I come! My purchase was these flip flops, since I left all mine at home d'oh. Please do excuse my awful feet though - I do think feet are (with the odd exception usually of tanned, slim ones) hideous things which should be kept in hiding as much as possible. I could never be a chiropodist!

Got the train to Vicenza today for a bit of a wander round - it's 25 minutes on the fast train and 55 minutes on the slow one but, crucially, half the price. And even the regional trains are fab! I imagined the kind of cattle truck type contraption you see in India (and occasionally in England...) with people hanging out of the doors and sitting on the roof. But no - a sleek, silver bullet, double-decker, air conditioned wonder! On the train back I asked an Italian lady if I was on the right train - I was - and before she got off she explained to me that Verona has two stations, Porta Vescovo and Porta Nuova, and I should make sure I got off at the right one. Now, this I knew already but I said grazie mille and smiled. Chuffed to bits because she explained all that in Italian and I understood :-D

Anyhoo, Vicenza is beautiful and - on a Monday - closed... Hey ho, I saw the outside of a lot of lovely buildings and had a fabulous ice cream - mascarpone with actual caramel in it (not just sauce or flavouring). Marvellous. I do still prefer the sharpness of limone however, so I might need to refresh my palate later he he. I really should move here - in a week I've had no desire for chocolate or to bite my nails - bad habits both! - and have even developed a liking for salad! For those of you who know me well, don't worry. Somehow (given the ice cream consumption) I doubt I'll come back waif-like, and will probably revert to type in short order!

I think i'll always love Italy - in spite of the Italians! - but Austria beckons. Exciting!

A domani x