Christmas in the Desert, The End

Day 9: Dec 24th

One of my most feared days came. 24th of December, one of the days you're supposed to be with your family or close friends, to gather around the fireplace and wait for the midnight.

That day I checked out from the hostel and I decided to not sleep and simply stay at the airport and wait for the plane to depart at 7:00 am of the 25th.

I wasn't in the mood of planning and see a lot of things. I had some gifts left to make and I tried to enjoy the sunlight as much as possible by walking near the sea. I felt like a vampire walking in the night afraid that the sun will rise and he will have to hide again. Seriously Gab?

At 4:30 pm the sun was off. I was walking back to grab the stuff I stored in the hostel when I see a place called Cinecitta'

Cinecitta' is a movie studio in Rome, and I guess the neighbourhood took its name.  I used to live there for a while. The place seemed authentic, they claimed they had Roman style pizza (which is a paper-thin crust variety we eat in central Italy). I stopped by a little bit hesitant at first, but I finally decided to get in. I had an interesting dialogue with the waitress.

"What are the service hours today?"

"What?", said the waitress
"Are you Italian?"
"Yes"
"A che ora siete aperti oggi?" (the Italian for "Till what time are you open today?"
"Fino alle otto se c'e gente, altrimenti fino alle 9" ("Till 8 if there are clients, otherwise till 9")
"Ok, allora torno dopo" ("Ok, I'll be back later")
"Te prego non veni tardii" ("Please don't come laate"), She cried, in Roman dialect.

I was back there at around 7, I had a pizza "Capricciosa" and "Nastro Azzurro" beer, like we use to do in Rome. I can't say that the pizza was just like in Rome, but I had fun and it filled me pretty well.

The place was almost empty and I talked to the waitress. Her name was Deborah, she was living in San Francisco since 4 months even if this wasn't her first experience abroad. She was a really genuine person, the typical, simple girl from Rome.

And there's a detail I remember:
"Caffe?"

I really appreciated the conversation with this person. It took me back in time with all the good things and memories. It was a nice and warm Christmas Eve after all.

After dinner I went to the airport, where I spent the following 11 hours, blogging, reading and talking to my friends. Internet really bring us together even when we're apart, you can't deny that.

Day 10: Dec 25th

I arrived at Seattle at 10:00. A nice, sunny day. But the city was desert.

I went to the hostel to check in, I sat down and wait for my friends to wake up and join me. Everything in Christmas day is closed, except a few places. We didn't have much choice but to go and have breakfast in a small diner place. Food was approximately disgusting (in my opinion) for my taste, but this didn't matter. The pictures on the walls were on sale.
Now, go and buy this fish for 60 bucks, come on.

We enjoyed the rest of the day walking in the Sun. Soon enough we figured that on Christmas day you kinda have to go for a movie. Forget coffee, Starbucks was too full to actually get in.

While waiting for the show we played poker on a side table with 2.50$ total change. We argued that what we were doing was probably illegal. It was like betting.

It was nice spending Christmas with close friends, I guess it's all that matters.

I didn't experience Seattle life, but I must admit the city surprised me for its sceneries, and general layout. Not really for the golden pigs and the chewing gum wall.

Time to sleep, and to go. Back home.

The End

So my journey ended. But not like it started.

Something has definitely changed.

The Bike Ride

Day 8: 23rd December

That day I went biking with those two guys I met the previous night. Before doing that, we decided to admire the sunrise from a tower, Telegraph Hill.

We woke up at 6 am and at 7 am (the sunrise was at 7:22 am) we reached the tower. It was closed, under renovation. N. and me decided to give it a shot anyway and we sneak in through the fence into the courtyard, like a boss.

There were a few machines and some workers, we walked around like if we didn't know what we were doing. We saw that the tower was closed and well "guarded," so we decided to check the perimeter for a decent view. Soon enough one of the workers said (direct quote), "Ehy guys, I don't give a shit that you're there. But if a supervisor comes he will ask you to leave, anyway tower's closed."

"Oh.. Sure," we said to him, and since there wasn't a good spot anyway we sneak out on the street again.

It was pretty hard yo find a good spot outside the tower, the view was obstructed by trees and houses. Many houses had pretty nice views, the people who live there wake up and see something like that:

Now, if you were paying attention, you should be wondering how do I know that they see something like that.

"I've got an idea"—I said to N.—"But I think that's a little bit dangerous, plus there's people sleeping there."

N. went first, he silently climbed the (very low) roof, and carefully headed in the middle. After taking some shots to the sunrise he went back.

"There's someone sleeping... be silent." He added when coming back.

My turn. I went up and did the same, but I also took a picture pointing in the other direction.

After breakfast, we went on to rent the bikes. It was 21 dollars per-day. The bikes looked fine—I repeat, looked.

After riding for an hour or so, something happens to one of the bros, "Shit.. I've got a flat tire!"

He was pretty calm and called the renting company that suggested a repair in a close bike shop. We walked there (like a mile) and parked our bikes. It was a huge sport shop, with a bike repair area.

That trip turned out really useful. During the previous days I repeatedly failed to find a specific item to buy as a gift. One of those gifts that you planned in advance, and if you can't find you have to think about something else that would ultimately turn out inferior.  If I didn't went with the guys, and H. didn't break his tire, I most likely wouldn't have find the item I was looking for. It was fun how a series of random events turned out positively. You can call it luck or destiny. Believe your destiny.

We biked till Sausalito, a place which is just as cool and as small as the name implies. There I got the best hamburger I've ever had. Perhaps the fact that I was hungry like a pterodactyl contributed to make it tastier.

This was a view from one of the parking lots in Sausalito.

Which is quite impressive compared to the view I see from my parking lot. 

Because I don't have a parking lot.

N. left and took the ferry, while me and H. biked, biked and biked again to the Golden Gate National Park. Which is a park with all sorts of museums. The ride back was intense cause San Francisco is pretty damn hilly.

Back at the hostel I collapsed. I was done for the day.

The bike ride was a nice experience, and that day was the only one that I joined someone. It was less adventurous than the previous days, there were more vistas though. But you know, I don't care about vistas, right?