Starting anew.

via(?)

Viva italia!

((viva inquinamento!))

Today is my birthday; tomorrow is Easter, so yay for that!

The past few days–my first of...let's see...35 in Italy–have been good. I already talked about my [semi-rough] day 1. On day two, we mostly just hung around the house until 4pm, when I headed over to my cousins house...

There, I played some Fifa Street against my cousin Marco, at which I lost miserably. [Yes, the secret's out: I'm terrible at all things video-gamey.] Then at around 8pm, my cousin Silvia [who--like Marco--speaks English, woot!] took me to meet some of her friends to watch the Barcelona v. Milan match (which ended unfavorably for Milan). It was fun, and I enjoy watching soccer, but only one of her friends spoke English so I mostly just sat there, watched, smiled, nodded, etc.

(or, probably more accurately...)

Anyway, the real fun started when I got home, and realized that my dear old passport–a traveler's closest and most valuable friend–was missing. Many of you saw this on facebook or twitter, I'm sure, but for those of you relying on this blog: Yep, it really happened. It had been tucked in my wallet (don't ask), and upon returning home I realized that it hadn't been there when I paid for a water at the soccer match viewing.

Commence scouring of belongings.

Nowhere. So I stayed up into the wee hours of the night talking to folks back home about what to do. I, by random chance (i.e. for a reason other than this trip), had a copy of my passport saved to my computer, so we decided to go the police, report it missing, fill out a form, and go to the Embassy to get a new one.

I wasn't worried, really, just bummed for the hassle, the expense, and the loss of my silly little stamps from past trips to Honduras, Italy, Thailand, Burma, Spain, etc. But such is life, eh?

Upon further reflection, however, I realized that my boarding pass from the Madrid-->Milan flight was also MIA, and that they'd been together when I boarded the plane. Could it be? Might it have been left on the plane?? Might they have it at the airport?!  And, voilà!  Found.

So Wednesday's activities consisted solely of retrieving my best friend, il mio passaporto, from the airport way outside of town. Train, metro, bus, walk around giant airport, sit in the airport Police station, sign for retrieved item, bus, metro, train, grocery store, home. Total time: 5.5 hrs. Or more? Who knows.

All I know is: Whew.

-M