Monday, June 9, 2008
1:56 PM
We find that after years of struggle we do not take a journey, but rather a journey takes us.
sooo Europe was amazing! It was wonderful to take a vacation, and I had a great time with Jon and all of his friends. I also fell in love with Lyon. Paris, Milan, and Bologna were also a lot of fun to visit, but I could see myself living in Lyon. I think that I partially enjoyed that city so much because it reminded me of Pittsburgh, both the local geography and the size of the city. It is situated at the confluence of the Saone and the Rhone rivers and surrounded by hills. Remi lives on Le Fourviere, the hill to the west of the city. There are two funiculars (2 inclines in Pgh..) that you can ride to get to the top. On one of the mornings in Lyon, Jon and I did a run down the hill and back up. whew! We only did one other run on the trip, in a park in Monza outside of Milan.
Speaking of Milan, I don't think that I've ever eaten so much red meat in such a short span of time. Giorgio's goal was for us to try every variety of prosciutto that they have in Italy. I must admit that the Parma ham and the Bresaola were very good tho. OMG, and I ate lardo. You guessed it? It's fat! Imagine extracting the white fatty part from a slice of bacon and just eating it. That's what lardo essentially is. I'm embarassed to say that I actually thought that it was a vegetable when I ate it the first night. Let me see if I can find a good picture of this stuff.
Literally, it was on the pizza that Jon got, and I thought that it was similar to onion. I'm not even kidding. After Milan, I decided to refrain from eating ham for the rest of my life ha. We ate much healthier on the rest of the trip, minus the abundance of cheese in our diet. Really, the entire trip was basically a gastronomical tour of France and Italy :-D
Yeah, in case your haven't guessed, I'm nowhere near prepared for a half ironman. I'm surprised that I didn't gain 10 lbs in Europe. Actually, we did so much walking that it probably would have been difficult to gain weight. The only portion of a half ironman that I can confidently say I am prepared for right now is the swim. classic! I need to find a race in CA to sign-up for! That's right - CA!!!! I actually can't express how excited I am to do the Big Sur marathon. I remember reading about it in Runner's World..
Speaking of Milan, I don't think that I've ever eaten so much red meat in such a short span of time. Giorgio's goal was for us to try every variety of prosciutto that they have in Italy. I must admit that the Parma ham and the Bresaola were very good tho. OMG, and I ate lardo. You guessed it? It's fat! Imagine extracting the white fatty part from a slice of bacon and just eating it. That's what lardo essentially is. I'm embarassed to say that I actually thought that it was a vegetable when I ate it the first night. Let me see if I can find a good picture of this stuff.
Literally, it was on the pizza that Jon got, and I thought that it was similar to onion. I'm not even kidding. After Milan, I decided to refrain from eating ham for the rest of my life ha. We ate much healthier on the rest of the trip, minus the abundance of cheese in our diet. Really, the entire trip was basically a gastronomical tour of France and Italy :-D
Yeah, in case your haven't guessed, I'm nowhere near prepared for a half ironman. I'm surprised that I didn't gain 10 lbs in Europe. Actually, we did so much walking that it probably would have been difficult to gain weight. The only portion of a half ironman that I can confidently say I am prepared for right now is the swim. classic! I need to find a race in CA to sign-up for! That's right - CA!!!! I actually can't express how excited I am to do the Big Sur marathon. I remember reading about it in Runner's World..
