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View Full Version : Major Childhood Flashbacks Courtesy of Google


livius drusus
08-26-2009, 05:13 AM
When I was a wee sprog (5 and younger), we lived in a small town outside of Milan called Vanzago. This was in the mid-70's and the small denominations of lire coins were being phased out. Five and ten lire coins still existed, but they were these wahfer thin barely-metallic things that nobody really bothered to carry.

So when we bought groceries, the ladies in the store would make change by throwing a handful of honey candies into the bag instead of a crappy coin. This was an endless source of pleasure for me, as I would eat one on the spot but leave the rest for me to find later when poking around the kitchen.

Anyway, I was talking to my mom about this the other day, and I mentioned that they don't have honey candies like that in America. Y'all have these weird Bit 'O Honey chewy things. My Miele candies were hard on the outside with a gooey honey center.

Tonight for some reason I Googled "Italian honey candy" and I found them (http://www.artisansweets.com/product/bergamini-italian-honey-filled-candy)! The exact ones with the yellow wrappers with the bee on them! It's like stepping back in time. I'm Prousting like crazy up in here.

Then my old address from those days popped into my head, so I headed over to Google Maps and holy shit there it is!

<iframe width="425" height="240" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/sv?cbp=12,276.51,,0,5&amp;cbll=45.527469,8.994817&amp;panoid=&amp;v=1&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=us"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=embed&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=vanzago+via+matteotti+9&amp;sll=45.527472,8.99482&amp;sspn=0.008193,0.01929&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=45.536055,8.99909&amp;spn=0.008193,0.01929&amp;z=14&amp;iwloc=A&amp;layer=c&amp;cbll=45.527469,8.994817&amp;panoid=XleOKt0KKuS9Ko7UJBmQ6g&amp;cbp=12,276.51,,0,5" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

That big double door on the right was our portone where we'd maneuver our Fiat 500 in the crazy Lombard fog. Sometimes it was so bad my mom would stick her arm out the window and touch the walls so we'd know when to turn. Click the right arrow to see the house itself. We lived on the ground floor. The groundskeeper and his wife lived upstairs.

I :heart: this crazy series of tubes we're on.

Anastasia Beaverhausen
08-26-2009, 05:44 AM
Yay is livius!

I love that building.

LadyShea
08-26-2009, 05:56 AM
I am about to explode with envy that you lived in a house like that and in Italy. However, I am also happy you got hit with some happy memories :)

Kevlar
08-26-2009, 06:35 AM
That is so cool!

Qingdai
08-26-2009, 07:55 AM
I think I've seen those candies at an Italian market around here.
Did you order any?

Sock Puppet
08-26-2009, 04:01 PM
Oooh, a "portone"! Miz hoity-toity Italian person. It's a car-hole!
:moe:

livius drusus
08-26-2009, 05:37 PM
I think I've seen those candies at an Italian market around here.
Did you order any?
I didn't. Yet. I'm going to try looking for them locally first.

livius drusus
08-26-2009, 05:41 PM
I am about to explode with envy that you lived in a house like that and in Italy. However, I am also happy you got hit with some happy memories :)
It's beautiful, isn't it? The ceilings were 20 feet high. Christmas was like Rockefeller Center in there, the trees were so huge. On the other hand, the kitchen was miniscule, like the size of a bathroom. Europe is werd.

trientalis
08-27-2009, 12:53 AM
I am about to explode with envy that you lived in a house like that and in Italy. However, I am also happy you got hit with some happy memories :)

Seconded with enthusiasm. What lovely memories and how lucky you were to live in such a place.

Shelli
09-03-2009, 01:23 AM
How neat is that? :^^