Molly arrived a day ahead of her friends, on the Friday of the GAM visit. Luckily, the visit concluded and I had plenty of time to get back to the apartment to get things cleaned up. I felt like I cleaned the house really well last time Molly came so I had set a high standard for myself to maintain. I got home and cleaned everything as best as I could before having to leave to pick her up. To our good fortune, there was no transportation strike this time so I got to pick Molly up and take the metro back. Within 10 minutes of Molly being off the bus we were already standing in the world’s best Kebab store, waiting for our Pizza Kebab. It was amazing. I don’t know if I can explain how awesome these pizzas are. They honestly are some of the best things I have ever tasted. Any pizza that has French fries on it is off to a good start but adding in the Kebab meat, picante sauce, white sauce and whatever kind of dough they use makes for an awesome pizza.
Molly and I kept the night pretty easy, enjoying our Kebab pizzas and getting settled in. She brought a checked piece of luggage that contained the majority of her, Allie and Amanda’s stuff to keep it easier than each of them trying to stuff a suitcase or carry on luggage. We found a place for the suitcase and figured out the remaining logistics of the trip. Molly and her friends are planning a heck of a few days in Italy, seeing Verona, Venice, the Italian Rivera and getting to Rome. We ended up finding a flight for them that was only 60 euro to Rome from Torino (which is about 30-60 euro cheaper than training down to Rome) so that helped clean up and cheapen up their plans.
As the next morning began, Molly and I began to train leisurely to Milan. It was nice to not be reliant on the train working (though we still left a couple hours early to avoid any issues like before…) or being on time. This time was much more enjoyable and it was nice to get to talk to Molly and continue to catch up. I got to learn a good amount about her friends, who was who, how to tell them apart, who likes what and things of that nature. As we arrived in Milan, we actually had time to wander around the train station, enjoy the design of the station and things like that. We planned our train options to Verona, depending on when the girls’ bus got in and got some pounds changed to euros. As the time grew nearer for the girls to be getting to the station, we wandered out of the train station to where the buses drop people off. As we made our way out of the station, however, we almost got ran over by an ambulance that came flying into the station. Though nearly getting run over by vehicles (even in pedestrian areas) is somewhat normal in Italy, the really strange part of it all was the ambulance was actually making American ambulance sounds not the Italian ambulance sounds. We laughed if off and continued down the side of the building where we almost tripped over a homeless man who was asleep, using a stoop on the façade of the building as a pillow. I assured Molly that we were safe and we waited for a few minutes, trying to watch all the buses for Allie and Amanda. After a while, Molly and I decided to walk up and down the side waiting for the girls and sure enough, just ahead of us Molly recognized the red hair of Allie. Molly called their names and we caught up to them. We did the usual how-do-you-do’s and things of that nature and hurried on into the station in hopes of catching the cheaper slow train to Verona. Naturally, we had just missed the mark and ended up catching the more expensive (and much nicer) fast train and hurried off to the platform. 
The train to Verona was awesome. I had never paid for the faster, more awesome trains in Italy because they are, in general, only 10-25% faster and cost twice as much. Though on vacation I may use the fast trains, as a college student, the cheaper slow train is usually fine by me. The fast train, however, was awesome. The seats were softer, every space was a booth with a table and a place to plug in, announcements are made for where you are heading, it was wonderful. With this nice setting, we spent the train ride conversing and getting to know each other and it turned out to be a quite enjoyable. We got off the train and walked toward the Hotel we had booked for the evening in Verona. Hotel Piccolo was a nice hotel not too far from the train station. We walked there with no real problem (except for running across a few roads because of a lack of cross roads and nobody stopping) and checked in relatively easily and quickly. We split a room between the four or us and that made staying in Verona relatively easy. We checked out our room and, with Allie and Amanda ready for some real Italian food, headed out for dinner.
The Hotel had its own restaurant and seemed kind of off to itself in Verona. With most places closed, we took the free ‘shuttle’ to the restaurant. The shuttle was kind of a joke in that it was simply the person behind the desk’s brother who drove us at about 100 miles an hour down narrow side streets to the restaurant. With the girls’ knuckles white, we finally arrived in one piece and made for the door. We walked in and got seated very quickly. We ordered table wine for the girls to try and each ordered something different. I had a calzone, Molly had Margherita pizza, Allie had black pasta while Amanda enjoyed her spaghetti. For dessert, Molly had a great Tiramisu while Allie, Amanda and I enjoyed Gelato.
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