SATURDAY, JUNE 29
CATS IN THE HEAT
Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s all the moving, maybe it’s just plain and simple fatigue, but we are edgy and fighting all the time. Saying things we don’t mean…like cats who scratch with claws out. Granted we literally live on top of each other 24 hours a day, hard to pull off even in the most ideal of circumstances…which is what we have, (nearly) ideal circumstances.
Chloe is sick. My neck and back ache. We whine a lot.
The other thing that could be triggering me at least is leaving Italy. I never want to leave this country and now I wonder when (and even if) I will make it back. I love it so much.
We were scheduled to leave at a reasonable hour — thank heavens as we were very late getting to bed last night . We had time for brunch down the street, a walk through perfect Verona and to pick up food for the five-hour train ride.
OFF WE GO AGAIN
In the heat of the day, we hauling our bags first to the bus then to the train. Immediately we felt that we were leaving this country. The people waiting on the platform who would accompany us on the train were looked different. The suitcases were larger. The train was also different: it was early by 20 minutes so people could sort themselves.
Inside, the cars were air conditioned, the seats actually fit our longer bodies.
The few Italians were on for short rides and disembarked before we reached the Austrian border. The people who boarded from Austria onward were pushy getting on the train, sorting their bags, vying for seats even though they were assigned. They seemed unfriendly and self absorbed compared to the Italians.
But most astonishing of all was their lack of style. Put simply, their clothes. Verona might even be more fashionable than Milan! We saw such beautiful clothes in Verona. So many types of gorgeous dresses, fine fabrics and patterns and combinations of both. And when the Italians dress, it isn’t just their clothes. Shoes compliment the clothes. Their hair is tastefully styled, even when it is 36 C. Every bit of them is put together.
TRAVELLING WITH A DIFFERENT CROWD
Those riding the train with us to Munich wore drab colors, had messy hair, or no hair styles, khaki shorts, plain short-sleeved shirts, practical outdoor long pants with zippers around the knee to shorten them, little granny sweaters. So many round, beer-bellied bodies.
At the back of our minds was the nagging reality of German history. Just as we could not ignore thoughts of the abuses that took place within the Catholic Church when we entered a church in Skibbereen, we could not wipe from our minds thoughts of the evils done by Germans during WWII.
Though neither of us talked about it until the end of the day, thoughts of the atrocities occupied our imaginations. Chloe said she looked out at the wooded areas and thought of Jews trying to escape. I looked over the train at the older people and wondered what it was like to have had a parent who was part of the Third Reich.
We didn’t arrive at our Airbnb until nearly 9:00pm. The grocery stores were closed, so we went to a little beer garden down the street for a burger, fries and beer.
