Wine lover, Pigeon hater

September 9, 2010


Today our Holy Cross group went on a wine-tasting trip to Chianti!  

*Yes, today is Thursday. 

*Yes, we are supposed to be in school from 9 to 5 every weekday reviewing our imperfect subjunctive verb tenses. 
*Yes, Holy Cross paid for the five of us to venture around the GORGEOUS Italian countryside, eat a delightful pasta dish in the vineyard, and test the Tuscan wine specialty, Chianti Classico.  


Words cannot describe how incredibly lucky we were today.

My favorite part was obviously the vineyard and wine tour... duh. Later, we drove in our pullman to Machiavelli’s home for a tour and--yup, you guessed it--more wine.  There, they offered us a dessert wine that is far too sweet on its own so Italians dip their biscotti in it. Too bad the biscotti were covered in almonds so that I could hardly even look at them. LAME. (Background: I was recently diagnosed with a nut allergy and am the joke among my friends here because I have to carry my uber-cool, epi-pen with me everywhere I go.)

Anyway, as a result of the almond biscotti incident, my friends promised me a gelato upon our return to Florence later in the day. We took our gelati to our favorite people-watching locale: the Duomo steps. Tourists there (and even locals) are freaking hilarious.

Things that are not hilarious: 

(1) the number of pigeons in Florence 

(2) the fact that pigeons even exist.  

They are so creepy and crawly and there is nothing nastier. Well, that's not quite true but they are definitely in the top 10. Anyway, people in Florence think it's a wonderful idea (as do stupid people everywhere) to throw bread at them. Yeah yeah, fun fun. I hate those people because then all of the pigeons crowd around us and we end up having to leave. Today, they seemed to actually keep their distance so we were able to stick around. When we stood up to leave and part ways, however, disaster struck...

My friends start shrieking and running in all directions. 

Away from me. 

‘Um why?’ you ask. 

I don't know why. 

I can't figure it out. 

But it feels like someone is scratching my head. 

Oh wait. 

That's not a person. 

That's a FREAKING PIGEON. 

OH MY GOD A PIGEON LANDED ON MY HEAD AND SAT THERE. 

EW. 

Obviously, here comes the part where I scream like a maniac.  And, yeah, from my description of the Duomo area, you can probably guess that it is exploding with crowds and crowds of people.  So, hundreds of people sat there, pointing and laughing at me. Lovely. What ever am I going to do when I venture up to Venice?

What a nasty end to a beautiful day. Pigeons, you are miserable creeps and cannot be trusted.

Thanks so much, Spencer, for the fine depiction of what my hair looks like to pigeons...