The Chestnut King

On Sunday I was heading out to this small town outside of Florence.  This town is so small that is not even on Google Maps unless you know to look for it.  In Marridi I would find a pretty famous and highly popular Chestnut festival (otherwise know as: Castagne di Marroni).

However my story doesn't begin truly until I reached the S.M.Novella train station and bought my train ticket.   It was 20 to 11 and I figured I had time to settle myself on the train, set up my sketch pad, pull out my almonds for a nice train snack (clean, requires no additional steps other than eat, and quiet) and watch as I go through the Tuscan hills.  Oh boy was I wrong.

They Can Take Your Money, But They Can't Take Your Attitude

Paris was such an unexpected adventure.  I left with the intentions of only staying two days at a friends flat and ended up staying for four!  I have had many a crazy travel shenanigan in my day but nothing compared to what this past weekend had in store for me.  It all started in India where I met Solen(see   India Part I), we had such a fab time on our trip and hanging out we both invited each other to visit any time.  So my first free weekend I booked a trip out to Paris to visit!  I planned a short stay friday night through Sunday afternoon, just expecting Solen to show me a couple thing but thinking I would be trekking out on my own for the most part.  I was so wrong, not only did she show me around, introduce me to the locals and show me the inner workings of Paris but when tragic circumstances struck she saved my life quite literally.  My trip was mind blowing and I owe it to Solen for showing me all that she did.  

India: How to survive a rickshaw

 I awoke, early the next morning (day two) feeling bruised and like I had taken a turn in a washing machine on high...  I would soon learn, that the feeling would be a reoccurring event each morning.     We arose extra early to try and watch the sunrise over the Taj Mehal.   By the time we had walked over to the Taj, the sun had already risen and there was a considerable line.  There were four different lines to get in to seethe monument: Indian Men, Men, Indian Women, Women with seperate prices for each group.  I'll leave you to your own emotions on that on, but we had gotten half way through the line when we realized, they didn't sell tickets.  Robin ran back to one of the shop owners who had tried to corral us into buying something from him, and somehow convinced him to take her on his moped to buy tickets and that we would stop in after our trip inside.

The Spirit of Adventure is a Four Door Nissan

Notes: I was really nervous about starting this blog for many reasons: I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do everything I set out to do, I would get busy and forget, I would lose interest and end up ditching the project but after today a lot of those fears have been squashed.  I know now that all I need is a little can-do attitude, a travel mug filled with coffee and some elbow grease and this project can become a reality.

Today was my first trip, I woke up worried about everything you could imagine: that the project was too big, that I would never accomplish what I set out to do, that I would be disappointed that I really couldn't find anything and finally that I would disappoint myself.  I know that the first step is always the hardest, just like the first sentence of an essay, dictating the tone of your whole entire project.  I dove right in with only one address in my GPS knowing that if I just went for it I would figure out everything else later(I always do).  I left the house ready for what ever the day would bring me, knowing that just leaving the house was an accomplishment.  With no one but my GPS for company I drove away with trepidation and a little John Meyer.  

I had some wonderful realizations that really helped me to hone in on what I want to accomplish and who I want to talk to when I visit these towns.  I came to realize when in doubt ALWAYS pack a rain jacket(which thankfully I did).  I realized that I cannot feasibility see everything that each town I visit has to offer, I can only really see a few attractions to get a feel of a town, it would be impossible to see everything.  So I narrowed my project and expectations down.  Originally I set my limit of cities to 100 now its 60, I figured that 60 would be reasonable and very doable to accomplish.  Seeing as how I also having a full time job and occasionally need to see my family to remind them yes I am alive and not to turn my bedroom into a weight room.  I also need to make sure I visit a wide variety of towns so I am not just limiting myself to towns that are closer to me in the south so the plan is to go to the far north corner on Saturday.

I made another realization last night, as I was driving home from work, most people in Connecticut(and towns too!) shut down relatively early compared to what I was used to in New York.  I coasted down all the hills home seeing maybe five cars on the road and it was only 11:30 pm!  If I actually want to talk to people and see attractions I am going to have to leave in the morning and probably be home around 7pm(after all the shops close).  Unless I have somewhere else to stay or there is a nightlife scene that I really wanted to check out.  Logistically I am going to have to figure out how I could see this type of night life if I have to drive home (for up to three hours) at 1am, and still be up the next day at a reasonable hour.  I guess I can work that our later.  The other concern I need to address is cost, what with gas and meals. Food is a big part of culture that I don't want to miss out on because of my small budget, so I need to discover how to really experience these cultures without breaking the bank.  I will get back to you when I figure that one out. 

I am going to set up a slide show of all the pictures I take (hopefully by the end of the week) so that each post has a slide show of the day.   I am also going to creating a running external list of the names, addresses and information of the places I visited that way is anyone else wants to visit these places they can find them but at the same time my blog wont get clogged up with superfluous information and messy data everywhere.  I will edit this later to include the links for easy access.(my full list can be found here)