Peapod on Purpose

Part one: Milan’s wonders (mostly GELATO)!

Yep, it’s me! Middle Pea, broadcasting from Italy! The Peapod landed in Milan, Italy late at night and walked to our apartment. We saw a massive door, two dads high! There was a smaller door inside the big door that we went through and stepped into an apartment build fit for a king! There were arches and marble staircases, courtyards and an elevator with a door fit for a palace… but we were TIRED. So tired that I almost fell asleep while I walked up the stairs. 

I was out the moment mom shut the door to the bedroom in our 3-day house. The next morning, I woke up at nine. “I’m soooooooooooooo hungry!” I thought, cause of course, everyone else was sleeping (except dad, for he was at the Last Supper Museum). Finally everyone was ready to go to the “mysterious breakfast (more like lunch) place” Mom had picked out. We took a tram which was very fancy and yellow. When we got to the “mysterious breakfast place” we realized it was not a “mysterious breakfast place,” it was a treat place! Me and Big Pea got a gluten free cinnamon roll (I am gluten free) and a gluten free Nutella big biscuit thingy! (Mm,mm!). 

After breakfast we went to a small church and then a big church. This wasn’t any church, this was a church with the STATUE OF LIBERTY on it! No kidding! Though a smaller version, I spotted the Statue of Liberty on the outside! Of course Mom told us there was a small Statue of Liberty somewhere, otherwise I would have never seen it. Mom told me to say this place is called il Duomo in Milan, it’s kind of famous.

 Then we walked to a castle where…poof! One of Big Pea’s friends from home showed up with her family! For real! F1(friend one) was with F2, F3, F4, F5, and F6! We talked and played (including rolling down a giant grass hill) for what seemed like a long time. Next, we ended up with a caterpillar that gave up a treasure map to find some enchanted hotdog…Just kidding! We actually did something better. Something much, much, better!

Part two: The MOLSTY GELATO part of Milan’s wonders!

I repeat: Something much, much, better! So much better, that magic hotdogs seem like a nothing-none! Yes, this much better is much colder… CAUSE IT’S GELATO (ice cream)! We got there and me, F5, F2, and F1 all enjoyed a tasty lemon scoop! I can’t remember what everyone else had, but I know mine was ABSA-BOOTY amazing!! Absa-booty Instead of absa-loot-ly because GELATO is the best booty a pirate could ever want!

Part three: Chucka, chucka, choo, choo! Gotta say a whoo hoooo!

“Chucka, chucka, choo, choo!” said Little Pea.

 “Here we are!” said Big Pea.

“These seats are nice!” yelled me.

“Come sit next to me!” yelled me, again.

“Mom, can I watch a movie now?!” shouted Little Pea.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” loud whispered Mom.

“I can hear you two carriages away!” loud whispered Mom again.

Hello again! I just gave you a demonstration of what it is like on a train with three kid- “MOM! I’M THIRSTY!” interrupted Little Pea. (LOUDLY).

“You are arriving in…Venice!” Said the soothing voice in the ceiling of the train. We sat in a train almost dancing in our seats. I jumped up and down and was the first to step onto the isle of canals!

“Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” (That was me). 

Part four: nothing but the best

I was tired as we stepped into our AirBnb so I didn’t appreciate our walk by the grand canal and thought it was just a regular canal. We reached our AirBnb and took off our shoes. Before I could take a step Little Pea was running like mad toward me with a…stuffy apple? And a stuffy pepper? In her arms? (A stuffy is what we call a stuffed toy). Then we checked a bedroom and there sat, in their glory, a stuffy elephant and a stuffy hippo! 

Then, before Big Pea could say: “I am hungry for a carnita taco with cilantro, lime, and cheese!” Me and Little Pea were running through the hall with stuffy fruit and a stuffy tiger and a stuffy dog and the hippo and the elephant! After that we went to the grocery store and got stuff for dinner. We ate it and went to bed with ‘nothing but the best’ in our minds. 

“Yaaaawn,” I woke up and looked around. I almost yelled when I remembered we were in Venice but I, thankfully, didn’t. That day we went to a grocery store that used to be an old theater. I enjoy walking around Venice to the very smallest alley and soon enough, we got on a gondola. 

The sound of the gentle slap of the paddle against the water was calming and I was in my dreams. After the gondola ride, we went to a palace and ate lunch in front of it. Big Pea got bitten by a seagull and…it’s true! Big Pea got bitten by a seagull! And when we went to the pharmacy, Mom just said the word seagull and the person at the desk got up and gave us some disinfectant wipes. Then we saw the most beautiful sunset and retired to our AirBnb. I went to bed with ‘nothing but the best’ inside. The early bird gets the worm, they say. Well I am the early bird. 

Part five: father’s day is the last day

I woke up before the rest and decided to be ready. To be ready to say ‘Happy Father’s Day!’ to dad. So I did. After all of the ‘Happy Father’s Day!’ Dad could want, we prepared to go on a water taxi that was going to……………………..………………………………?

THE GLASS BLOWING ISLAND!

Also named Murano. As I was saying, we walked, got on the boat, and landed on the GLASS BLOWING ISLAND! Once off the water taxi, Mom had one word in her mind. No, not glass. If you guessed blowing, you are mistaken. And you are absurd if you think the word is hellomynameis robotiamhungryfor chickenandhamandbeef (not that I might have thought that). The word that Mom was thinking of was shade. So we went into the shade and discussed our plans. 

We looked at the glass blown objects in the shops and I got a little glass blown octopus. We saw a glass blowing demonstration and got to make little jewelry out of small colored cylinder columns that we put into a metal circle. Then the owner of the shop heated up the glass creations. The jewelry we made needed to be polished so we went for GELATO and I got a dark chocolate scoop in a gluten free cone. And then we walked. FAST. We walked to the water taxi stop while dad went to the workshop to get our creations. We got on the water taxi, ate dinner and ended our last night of Venice sleeping. Of course. It’s time to end our trip to Venice. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. As I said, ‘Father’s Day is the last day.’ 

WARNING!

DO NOT STOP READING 

THIS IS NOT THE END

Part six: Bags, bus, and…pizza place?

Uh-oh. Not again.

“Get on the train!” said dad.

“Wrong way!” yelled big pea.

“EVERYBODY STOP!” said me.

Ok! Now that I’ve dealt with that, I’ll tell you what you probably already know. Plain and simple. We are on a train. I enjoy most of it (except the getting on with all the chaos part). The ride was an intense 8-hour voyage, with a transfer. Once we arrived in Lecce (a standard Italian city) we walked thirty minutes with full backpacks and heavy suitcases. Finally, we reached a bus stop. And got on the bus. A very hot, not air-conditioned bus. For a whole hour.

DUN, DUN, DUN!

An hour passed. 

No sign of stopping. 

After an HOUR AND A HALF of bus, sweat, and grump (meaning very grumpy) we got off at what seemed like the middle of nowhere and followed Google Maps to our AirBnB. On foot. Dad wasn’t with us for this journey, so I had to be the man of the house. 

I grabbed my backpack, tossed it to the floor. And walked outside, into the night. It was late at night, eight thirty or so. We walked, looking for a restaurant for dinner. And guess what we found! A… pizza place? Called Jordan? We ate pizza there (how surprising!) and went home (I am astonished) and slept (you have blown my mind). Sorry, those ‘I am astonished’ and things like that were my inner thoughts. Anyway, the next morning we found out that there was a small library near us.

Part seven: Some sort of hive

I woke up. I itched. A lot. I looked at my leg. Suddenly, I felt an iiiiiiitch again. I jumped out of bed, saw some sort of hive on my leg and ran down stairs to see mom. Mom looked at my leg and said ‘it’s a bug bite.’ Oh. Anyway, the first day we walked to the grocery store and didn’t do much else. 

But the next morning,we drove to the beach. The first thing we saw was sand and water. Cold water. We had our sun screen on so we ran right in. We had previously purchased beach toys, and I got to use the snorkel and goggles first, so I dove right in (I had also previously learned coordinating conjunctions).

That evening, we saw a sign at the local cafe, and there was no stopping us. Thursday night rolled around and we went to the cafe. The setting sun said its last goodbye by throwing orange across the sky, breathing pink into the clouds, and finally set a lovely yellow hue over the happy town. Then, everything sped up. We ordered dinner, and had a cheerful time. The fun started at nine-thirty P.M, or ten because in Italy everything is a little late. 

First, some live, lifting music that sounded like bouncing off walls and jumping up and down. Then people started dancing. We were tired and didn’t want to stay, so after two or three songs, we left with plans to return next week.

Part eight: Beach.beach.beach.SLIDE.beach.beach

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. We slept and woke up. And went to the beach. Every day. For a month. Now, let me explain the beach. A harbor full of murky, oily, fishy, and deep water. Why would someone want to swim here? And it was packed. So, we decided to walk a little farther. We found nothing. Woah, woah, woah. Don’t leave this page yet. 

Everything’s about to get interesting. So as I was saying, we walked and finally found a staircase down to a cove. With a cave and all. Ok. Now there was no sand, the beach came straight from the deep blue sea to the man made pool, and it didn’t slope; it was directly deep. And the fish there were colorful! Silver fish, big fish, little fish and lots more. The water was bright blue and crystal clear. So we played. The snorkel and goggles were essential for viewing all the underwater wonders. We completed our very first beach day. (Mom tells me we went to this beach a few weeks after we arrived, but that’s how it goes.) 

We went to tons of different beaches in Italy. Rocky beaches and sandy beaches that I’m told look like the Caribbean. A new beach every day. The beaches were amazing. Oh, and I just realized, Veggie Tales is a good album. So now, I might as well tell you about the ultimate slide boat. We were going to the beach when we saw people who were renting out paddle boats with slides on them. And, just like the time when we saw the sign at the cafe, there was no stopping us. We went home after a full day of beach. In a few days, we were back. The boat that we rented had a yellow slide. It was so fun. We enjoyed pedaling out and had a great time playing on that slide.

Part nine: The ultimate bald 

Uh-oh. This is what I’ve been watching for all along. I saved this part for last but I couldn’t hold it back. Here comes. THE ULTIMATE BALD! And so we were going to a standard Italian city called Lecce. And we were going to a barber shop. We arrived and I was first to get my hair cut. Then Dad said “take it all off.” Now, Dad had long gray hair that shot out in all directions. The person who was gonna cut it said ‘totally?’ The answer was simply “all gone.” Then, the first giant strip of hair was shaved from his head. I stared until the final piece of hair said goodbye and fell to the floor. Then, we walked to the car and drove home. And that’s what I call The Ultimate Bald. 

 Part ten: Attack of the red sauce 

It was night when the red sauce attacked. We were driving to a restaurant at a farm where there were animals, giant chess, playhouses, and the dreaded, horrible, terrifying, and monstrous Red Sauce. And I had to eat it. Because the restaurant didn’t have a menu and they just brought you what they made that day. So, when I saw it on my plate I wanted to shout, “I want a hot dog!” But I didn’t. And when I put the first bite in my mouth, the horrible flavor attacked. I sat strong, fighting off the flavor that was oh so gross. Finally, my bowl was empty. The evening was ending and we went home.

Part eleven: The dinner

Me and Dad arrived at the water park at approximately 10:00 AM. When it opened, we were the first to get in. The slides were fun,and there was a three story tall one where you could go face first. We got slushies and enjoyed the day.That was fun. But really, this part is about dinner. The Dinner. Some ‘neighbors’ we knew nothing about invited us to an ‘aperitivo’ which could mean a drink, a drink and snack, or a small dinner. AND THEY DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH!

So we went. There were kids and small electric motor bikes, and we realized that an ‘aperitivo’ was a five course dinner. We stayed there till about 10:00 PM. Now I will tell you about another beach. We went there and found no sand but tall jaggedrocks that people were jumping off. And then, I jumped. The place where I jumped was about ten feet above the water. But it was about thirty-five feet down in the water. And the fish! They were everywhere! The highest I jumped was about twenty five feet high! And then, we ended the day.

Part twelve: Groooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

Now I will tell you my least favorite part. I was walking on the standard sandy beach, when ‘sccccccwealch’! My foot sank into a hypothermic needle. Not on purpose. The pain was so strong. Dad ran over and pulled it out. It went in about three inches (or at least it seemed like it) and it thankfully didn’t have any medicine in it. The needle made a clean cut, far but not wide. Once my foot stopped bleeding I couldn’t see the cut  And that was that.

Part thirteen: The final voyage of the peapod

Next, we went to Rome. After all the train chaos, we arrived. The Peapod saw our friends the next day. Friend number 1 had a birthday! We celebrated it at a play ground, and enjoyed some Australian delicacies. We saw them again the next day. Then we said goodbye. And through many emotions, a Peapod, one Peapod, the Peapod, boarded a plane on the final voyage of the Peapod. (for now) 

“Veggie tales, veggie tales, veggie tales.”

Yep that’s me! Middle pea!

The end