Il gelato e i scooter

Ok the gelato I ate today might be THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER TASTED. ever. Sound like I'm exaggerating? You come here, taste it, and then tell me I'm exaggerating. I tried to take a picture but my camera died. Don't worry though, I'll be going there again.

I talked to a man about scooters for 20 minutes yesterday- it was one of the most encouraging conversations I've had all week. He was just this old Italian guy who manned the desk at the studentato (dorm for the university- most students don't live in the dorms though, they're only for students with scholarships), which I met when I went to visit Diana there. I had to give him my passport to go up so he saw my name, then he asked me where I was from and freaked out when I said California. He proceeded to tell me that one of his lifelong dreams has been to ride one of his Ducati scooters up and down the coast of California. We talked about how difficult it is to do this, and I tried to come up with solutions for him. By boat it takes 40 days for the scooter to arrive and he can't survive without it for 40 days.. even though he has 2 scooters (one of them has no lights and is simply for cruising around during the daytime, not super functional for mandatory routes in the center everyday for work). By plane it is way too expensive. Renting a scooter in California once he gets there is not an option, even if it is a Ducati, because there is something special about it being his Ducati- of course. However, there is a huge festival/Ducati promotion for a couple weeks in the summer where people come from all over to get them and then they are delivered in bulk, by air, to different countries. A solution! But alas, he doesn't think he would be able to get his Ducati on the same plane with the others for the cheaper price... I ended by telling him it was one of my dad's dreams to own a real Italian scooter. Which he was not at all surprised by. But this launched him into a whole comparison about how Ducati scooters are like the Ferraris of cars so incredibly expensive and it has to be your passion, like it is for him, if you are going to put up the money for it. Loved this man. Might never see him again but he gave me a priceless gift: hope. A full, successful conversation in Italian, maybe this isn't going to be impossible after all...