À bientôt, Paris! Italia, arrivo!

Ladies and gentleman, my bag is PACKED and STUFFED like you’ve never seen it before!  Planes are up and running, hopefully without delay!

I am leaving in just a few short hours for the beautiful country of Italy, where Kelsey, Chrissy and I will be backpacking through Rome, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, Bologna and Venice.  I have stuffed all of my belongings into a single, black North Face backpack, and there is a distinct possibility that the zipper may burst; it’s really no easy feat to pack everything one could possibly need for a week into one bag.  I would LOVE to take a picture to show you how ridiculous it looks, but my camera is tucked away safely in the middle of the bag, and there is absolutely no way to remove it without risking its compactness…as phenomenal as my packing abilities are, I may never be able to get everything back in.

And just as my belongings may not fit in my backpack on the way home, I may not fit into my clothes!  I’m planning on exploring (and indulging quite heavily in) the Italian culinary culture…lots of delicious gelato, plenty of Italian wine, and of course, oodles and oodles of noodles, YUM!  This, again, is the reason I will not be bringing jeans with me to Italy, and also the reason why I will be wearing over-sized clothing for a week or so after my return.  Heck, I may even poke around in the maternity clothing store just up the street from my apartment.  I mean at this point, I’m pretty used to Parisians judging me…

Oh and also, I’m already falling in LOVE with Italy.  I e-mailed Lapo, the owner of the hostel we’re staying at in Venice, to let him know we would be arriving late and I asked him to hold our reservation, to which he responded, “yes dear, we wait for you.”  I love this man and his country.

On that note, I shall take my leave.  ITALIA, ARRIVO!!!