i am in italy, still, and somewhere...

italy
bella
my travels.
superb
its strange to be where i dreamt of being for so many years, and doing it, but i am. and now that i am here, there are breif moments when i wonder what i always wanted. the way you look at a photo of a meadow with flowers and you want nothing more than to walk be there, in the photo. when you find yourself in the meadow, or in my case, atop an alpine forest or on a dark, windy tuscan alleyway, its a strange thing to confront such an intangible longing. because its not like a restaurant you admire. you cant just go and eat and be done. i dont know, its the environment that i appreciate, and the feeling of watching a little old lady watching me from her third story balcony and stare blankly at a map. i spent hours last night walking slowly down every alley i could find, feeling unmistakebly italian texture of weird stucco plaster and bricks.

its nice. all of it. and i met 10 zillion people, and they all have a story, and i want to hear every one. like this buy on the train here to nowheresville, italy. (not true, im in the middle of tyrolian wine vineyards i think. very good whites come from here apparently) but his name is matthew. hes big and fat and blond and has a ponytail and grew up in santa cruz but moved to this place in italy for 8 years and in a few days or weeks is finally going back to cali, to the bay. we talked all about stuff, italians, culture, politics, and they (his ex wife) helped me find a destination and a place to sleep. i hate to break it to you all but this is the beginning.