The Latest Vending Machine

Although the best distributore might be the one pawning porno DVD's (click for my post), there's a new and enticing offer in giro (around): Gratta e vinci. Centro Giotto, the old-school shopping center in Padua has this machine perched outside the Auchan megamarket entrance. All those who remember late in the evening that they still haven't bought that possible winning ticket can rush here before 9:30 p.m. and get their fix, or rather, rub.

It may be interesting to note that this Gratta e vinci machine is directly across the street from the porno version. This section, Padua Est, seems to push fast-and-easy access to its citizens' vizi (bad habits).

It's Spring, Damn it!

Paduans, like me, are dying for Spring. It just doesn't want to come on full throttle.

After two days of overcast or hazy days and fairly cool temps, the sky decided to clear out this Sunday afternoon. Then the Paduan proceeded to literally flood the piazze. The café tables were sprawled all across Piazza dei Signori and everyone filled them! It was time for a wonderful spritz in the vanishing sun of a Spring day. Here, we are starting to worry that we are going to go from a very cool season to the preludes of summer next week, when the climate should finally click over. For now, it still seems like Spring is in some kind of slump.

Cherry Blossoms on Opposite Sides of the Pond

After about 25 years, I was lucky enough to be in Washington, D.C. at the peak of the cherry blossom season. It was fabulous for the hot spring sun that day, cobalt blue skies and bursting flowers.

It struck me as strange to be there for that famous time of year because although I grew up nearby, we basically never went to see them. Baltimore, my home town located 40 miles away, tends to view that season in the capital city as a hectic traffic mess, which honestly it is on a peak weekend, but that bars them from even trying to go see the spectacle.

This year I was able to get into downtown D.C. on a Thursday so traffic wasn't any unusual problem (although there is always too much traffic there) and visited for other reasons but found myself completely and pleasantly surprised by the flower event along the mall.

Two weeks later, there is a cherry tree which has peaked outside my house in Padua. This will be the last season I can enjoy this albero, one thing I will very soon leave behind from this rented abode.

Padua:





(Official move to the new house scheduled 24 April.)

Ten American Things I'll Miss

steak
pants that fit me in the shops
old friends
excellent cocktails
cheap beer
young people who are independent by 23 years old
DC's cherry blossoms
vanilla cake with chocolate icing
the rumble of the NY subway
24-hour pharmacy service

Free Press Officially Demoted for Italy

Italy should be ashamed. According to the world map and journalist team at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Italy's freedom of press status has been recently demoted to only "Partly Free". The reasons for their curatorial and journalistic decision is explained in the second photo below. The map at the Newseum has the world divided into 3 major categories and colors: red for Not Free, yellow for Partly Free and green for Free.


Explanation for Italy:



The Newseum, created by the Freedom Forum to show the influence of the media on the world, demonstrates the importance of the free press and highlights technology's impact on media and the news.

The museum located just off Washington's mall, at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, was opened about two year ago and has a temporary exhibition currently running about the history of the FBI, including its fight against the mafia last century in the USA.

Expensive Food and Oodles of Time

The airport experience. Hurry up and wait. This time I have a 5 hour layover. The loudspeaker blares announcements, searching for people about to lose their flight, the security check rings, the internal airport cars honk their horns to make way. Groups of people stagger down the halls with their heavy luggage. The news rumbles across the rafters and emanates from big TV screens scattered across the grounds.



I just finished having an expensive portobello mushroom pizza and overpriced Sam Adams beer at the sports bar at JFK Airport. At least I got to watch some baseball while eating.

I know. Why am I eating pizza in the US? Well, it looks more appetizing than most of the carissimi panini in the airport. I'm still doing the American experience because I even got ID-ed!

Now it's on to surfing the net to kill time and get back in touch with my cyber followers. It's been hard to find the time or best Internet connection to make blogging easy. I am back thanks to T-mobile wi-fi at JFK.

Airports are such an ordeal for ex-pats. They offer the opportunity to go anywhere in the world yet drain us physically, mentally and financially. Getting "home" is never easy. The endless hours of layovers and jet lag to boot at the end of the trip make them dreadful. People turn into numbers and get pre-occupied with bags and passports as they race to distant terminals in the pursuit of the connecting flight and get inspected repeatedly. We study monitors for flights to appear and instruct us about our destiny: gate number, boarding call, wait time. We wander around the shopping area, not wanting to spend any more money but too bored not to go in and look. Our cumbersome bags make us think again, whether it is worth entering into Hudson News or the Prada store. But it's just so boring here!

Soon I'll get onto a plane and hope that there isn't a crying child next to me tonight as I try to sleep. Maybe the movies will be new and interesting for me to watch. What's for dinner, the big event while in-flight? And why do airplane meals always make my stomach feel strange, even when I order a vegetarian menu?

Eventually I will land in Italy and be welcomed by my husband's embrace and the long trip's annoyances will be forgotten. 'Tis travel in 2010 of An American in Padua.

Mopeds USA

While spending a few days in New York, I also noticed mopeds parked around the area. There are not many, but they are there. This picture shows a cream Vespa locked to a sign in Brooklyn during a downpour. With the rain I encountered in the Big Apple, it was definitely not a nice day to take those wheels out for a spin. Americans are warming up the these "wasps".

Did you know why they call it a Vespa?

Because the sound its engine makes resembles the insect's buzz.



My thirteen days in the US are coming to a close. Tomorrow, I will be in airports and airplanes for too long, since I have a 5.5 hr layover at JFK, the ugliest airport in the country (at least at Delta's terminal). I will be back in Italy in time for Easter lunch.

It was a wonderful time after so long. I was able to see old friends, meet new people, connect with a lot of family. Hopefully the next time won't be so far off in the future. Over two and a half years was a bit too long to stay away.