Breathless

I was describing to an Italian colleague how I felt my heart stop so many times mostly in absolute wonder of his country's glorious beauty, frequently having left me (and my Southeast Asian girl friends Trang, Noi and Noy) totally breathless.

It's only now that I realise the flight from Bangkok to Frankfurt (connecting flight) provided an ominous sign of what was up ahead. How often does it happen that ones' plane suddenly stops by, dead of night, at a place like Delhi, India to entrust a passenger suffering a heart attack to medics?! It happened with mine.

#1 Our whole trip had been dotted with anxious moments running after trains, boats, shuttles and tours, sometimes with heavy baggages in tow. The most excruciating dash was the walk from Piazza San Roma (Venice) to the train station which included 3 bridges (cummulatively worth as many steps as those of the "Spanish Steps" in Rome) to catch the train from Venice to Milan for me and Noi (to Rome for Noy and Trang). That's experiencing back-packing first-hand, with laptops to boot!

#2 Authentic Italian food and the concept of Slow food vs. Fastfood

#3 Coffee and the proper time for capuccino or espresso (as the rest of the world calls it), otherwise Italians just call it coffee

#4 Gelato

#5 Beautiful cities. Firenze (Florence), Venezia (Venice), Milano (Milan) and Roma (Rome)

#6 Beautiful, fashionable men (ages 12 to 92) who seem to have a strong appreciation for Asian ladies. Check out a hilarious account on this topic at Noi's blog (entitled "The Barbaric Invasion")!

Details on food and cities to follow. Ciao!