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.