Italy, March 8-10

Ok so where do I even begin? Maybe this is a good start....this weekend was the MOST fun I have had since I have been here in Europe. After a slight change in itinerary because of a job interview, I took flight to Milan and met Ilanit at the Cardorna station. From there we took a train to Bologna, which took about 2 hours. We arrived fairly late at night to where there were no more buses to our last stop, which was Pieve di Cento, where the Bologna Salsa Festival was to be held. So we decided to stop and have a slice of pizza, something I have been anticipating since reading the Italy section of my book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Well, the pizza didn't let me down!
So while deciding how we were going to get to our final destination, which was about 50km away still, a man approached us and told us he was a "private" taxi driver, and that was his car over there, the one with the hazards flashing that had no taxi sign or meter! hahaha! No way were we about to get in that cab! So we continued looking. All the legitimate cab drivers were gonna charge us 40-50 euros. The trai wouldn't get us there until 11:30pm, so against every advice our parents gave us about riding in cars with strangers, we got in the undercover cab. Even better, he made Ilanit sit up front so none of the cops thought he was operating illegally as as a taxi driver! hahahaha! let me tell u, every time this guy turned opposite of where he GPS system told him to turn, I started thinking of ways we could jump out of a moving vehicle, how badly it would hurt, and if we would still be able to dance later that night! :)
To our surprise, he took us directly to the hotel and charged us 20 euros! what a nice guy! and to think I was making assumptions about him.... :)
So once at the hotel, we go to put our bags in Jen and Stephanie's room (girls from LA dancing with Johnny Vasquez), since of course we didn't have a room of our own and figured we would just stay up all night so we could save money :)
We got ready, and then headed downstairs to watch the shows, which didn't finish until 1:30am! After that we got some social dancing in, and before we knew it, it was 5am! Well, that meant it was time for the afterparty, which would tide us over until the free breakfast (mind u, for guests of the hotel, which we weren't, but who's counting, right?). So we went to Juan Matos' suite, and continued the party there with his dancers, Johnny Vasquez, Jen, Stephanie, Peter, and a bunch of other peeps from U-tribe from France, and dancers from Italy. That was fun to get to know people we had only seen in videos or heard about.
Around 7am we headed downstairs for continental breakfast of coffee, pastries, nutella to your heart's content, and a few pieces of fruit. Johnny serenaded us to El Cantante (will post this on youtube later), and then we moved to the lobby and hung out there until about 9am when people started to come downstairs. That's when we realized how embarrassing it was that we were still in our clothes from the night before. Well we went and grabbed our bags from Jen and Stephanie's room because Juan Matos had offered us the couches in his suite. We headed there, and TRIED to sleep. We thought it was a perfect situation, but Juan evidently snores really loudly, and therefore, there was NO sleep for the weary. So Ilanit and I decided to try to have a conversation with each other, except we couldn't even hear each other, so we awaited the pauses in the snoring to conversate! :) ahahahahaa! omg what a funny night/day!
when everyone else awoke in the suite we all got ready and we headed with Juan and his dance team back to Milan. From there he took us to a Peruvian restaurant for lunch that had live music. Lo and behold, right as we walked in, the signer was singing..."El Cantante!" Hahaha! It was perfect!
After lunch, Juan, Ilanit and I headed to Brescia where he had been invited to teach a cha cha cha class, and since we didn't have plans, we went along. We checked into the hotel, and then our ride came to pick us up. The club was an old villa that was transformed to a club. There were free appetizers (well free to us, don't know about the other guests) and drinks. The club was so beautiful!!! We danced and laughed all night long! What a fun night!
The next day Ilanit and I headed out for lunch of gnocchi and gelato, my final "must-haves" in italian cuisine. Delicious!
Back to the train, to the bus, to the airport, to the metro, and finally home in Madrid late last night. Exhausting journey, but well worth it :)
Check out my pics!