pope!

Well tody was the last - but certainly not least memora ble day of our trip. We managed to fit a LOT into just one day. We got up bright and early and went straight to the forum. I was perplexed because Rick Steves said his "forum walk" was free - but we couldn't figure out how to do it without the $12 entrance fee. But that aside we walked all around the ruins of ancient rome - the coliseum, forum, original caesars palace and all of that. A lot of walking on uneven ground, a lot of steps, etc. But cool stuff. Then we took a taxi - and when I asked the cabbie how much it would cost he looked at me like I was nuts and pointed to the meter... At least he was an honest cabbie- to the vatican museum - where they were closing the entrance at 1:00 - well it was 12:20 and there was a long line but we stayed optimistic and made it in with jus five minutes to spare. We did a full walk through in about an hour and a half - I of course loved the egyptian stuff amd the 2 real mummified remains! Found the sistene chapel pretty but somehow underwhelming after all the churches, frescas, paintings, etc that we had seen by this point and all the buildup to it. But it was very pretty. We debated the symbolism in the famous painting - asa, remind me to ask you about this when I get back, but I'm convinced that God inside the brain means that effectively Adam created the idea of God in his brain, that god is an invention of man and not the other way around. But cindy said that's not how it is generally interpreted.

Anyway after that we wanted to go to st peter's bascilica - but were told it wouldn't be open till 4:30. But what we weren't told was that the POPE was going to be giving a special mass to usher in the new year, at 6. But we were surprised to see the huge line (normally there is a huge line for the museum to buy tickets, but st peter's is free and usually not hard to get into. But the line moved fast and by the time we got in we definitely got the sense something was going on as people with some sort of tickets were allowed in to the seats. We soon figured out that the pope would be speaking. Now, Cindy hates this new pope, but here we were at the Vatican and the pope was going to lead mass. How could we NOT stick aound to see this?? So we did, standing right behind the seats, trying to get a glimpse, as for the first half of it he was hidden off to the side so you could really only hear him; then when he came out everyone was standing up and standing on the chairs even though cindy said that at that part of mass you're supposed to sit and they were all bad catholics. Anyway we got a few shots of the hard to see papal one, but the story came out of it anyway. We left when our feet just wouldn't let us take it anymore and took another honest cab back to our hotel, where we added a few layers (I think I could solve all my body temperature issues if I just used those toe-warmers every day!) And went out for CHINESE FOOD - which tasted so good since the bottom line is we really don't LIKE Italian food all that much. Happy tummies full, we headed back to our hotel to celebrate new years eve our favorite way - in our pj's. Here's hoping our flights go smoothly tomorrow. We've had a great trip but are ready to be back home with the cats, and back in our own bed. Personally I miss the rest of my wardrobe, and being able to go outside without 100 layers. Happy New Year everyone!

when in rome...

Well, so much for internet - it's not working here tonight which is probably just as well sice it saves us like $12 and we'll be home day after tomorrow anyway and you'll get the rest of the photos then. Sorry, by the way, for all the typos in these blackberry entries; it's not so easy to type this much on a phone, especially when tired. But anyway, here we are in Rome! This morning I fought with the vaporetto ticket man who really didn't want to give me change of a 20 (7 euros) and kept asking if I had 3 euros even though I told him I didn't have the change. I seriously thought he was going to make me come back when I had change but finally he gave in and gave me the change. Sorta set the tone for the day...
...Anyway we took the vaporetto (which by the way we took 4 of these and no one checked tickets on any of them) back to the train station where we took a nice high speed train to rome where we finally got a private set of 2 seats by the window by themselves so we didn't have to worry about sitting with strangers. Very pleasing. It was a very nice train and we even got to sit down and eat a formal (overpriced) lunch in the dining car which was very salty and in my opinion, made by chef boyardee. But it was still a fun experience sitting in this fancy car eating a meal watching italy fly by outside the window.
After our nice ride we reached Rome and saw a totally different part of the rome train station. I have no idea where we were the first time we came here - but this time we saw the real train station which at least made a little more sense than what we saw last time. Armed with my Rick Steves book I knew all about shady cab drivers and scams. But we were at the official cab stand and the cab had an official Taxi sign and a number, so it was a real cab and we got in. But real cabs can scam too. I saw that the meter wasn't running and told him so. He said "no meter. 20 euros.". I knew we were getting screwed here, but we were already in the cab. I looked for the list of rates and the phone number like Rick Steves said to do but didn't see either and got the sinking feeling that we had somehow fallen into a trap. Rick, if you're out there somewhere... What do you do in that situation? Anyway 20 euros later we made it to our hotel, which was in a great area, but we had a few problems. As I'm checking in the guy took his time and was futzinmg over what kind of room I had booked. I saw him change my room number on the card holder and wondered what that was about. And he wouldn't tell me the room number or hand us the key; instead he gave it directly to his "colleague" the bellman to take us there. Fine. Whatever. We get to our "room" whuch I out on quotes because it's literally a long narrow hallway with 2 single beds, one behind the other. On top of the bed situation it was weird and creepy and bad feng shui and I called and complained that my confirmation said a queen bed, which it did - and they moved us to the old room that we should have had to begin with - clearly they thought they could get away with giving us a crappy room assumong we were singles in case someone else (a "couple") came in or something. Anwyay we were able to switch and had to wait forever for the bellman to come back and move us to the right room. All a bit unnerving but in the end it was all straightened out and we got a perfectly fine room, and we set out to explore Rome. We're only here one full day so we wanted to maximize the extra night we had, and we did. I was totally overwhelmed at first. It is a huge city, rivalling new york, so many people, a little scary, insane drivers, intimidating, stunning, everything all at once, hard to take in, breathtaking... I can't believe Lindsey lived here for a semester! Braver than country mouse me! Anyway we got our bearings, dodged maniac taxis and went first to the Pantheon which we had time to hit before it closed. Very pretty. Lots of people. Then from there we walked to the piazza navona (sp?) which was almost like a carnival around bernini fountains. Booths with games and food and trinkets. We bought some little witches from this italian girl who explained the whole tradition to us (she's like santa claus; comes down the chimney between jan 5th and 6th and brings candy to the kids.) We listened to a very good street musician play Springsteen ("river," for those who care), dire straits, and other classic rock, and while we were there we ate at a rick steves approved restaurant with the famous chocolate tartufo - and finally got good gelato! After a good meal we headed for the trevi fountain. Very beautifuk and great to see at night. Still tons of people- and it was nice to be in a place that doesn't shut down at night. I can only imagine it is wall to wall poeople during the day.a little scary but fun. Back in the room, and ready for the vatican tomorrow!

ghettout of here

Sorry for the lack of pics - this is our last night in venice, so hopefully in rome tomorrow I willhave some decent internet access and won't have to type this all on the bberry, etc. This morning we took a vaporetto to murano, famous for its glass - mom, have you been? You would have loved it. The glass museum even had a step by step guide to how glass is made (you know, take sand and ash, put it in.a furnace...) Anyway we browsed numerous stores and bought a few things and went to the museum which wasn't all that impressive but we had gotten a museum pass which let us in free so what the heck. We really enjoued murano, despite obnoxious salespeople ("that room is closed... Unless you want to buy something".

Then we took another vaporetto to the jewish ghetto - the first of its kind and where the term "ghetto" originated. Wasn't really a lot to see here, though we did briefly stop in at the jewish museum. Small bit informative. We meandered our way, getting lost (and gettting yelled at by an Italian mailman trying (I think) to tell us we we're going the wring way...
Anyway after walking all the way back from there,we needed a break so we relaxed in our hotel for a bit before heading for san zaccaria (open this time). Saw the fascinatig crypts. We ate at another yummy trattoria - came back- and now we are about read to pass out so ill go for now. More with an internet connec tomorrow

layers are good

Sorry again no internet here so have to do the update on bberry. No pics :( but Venice is a wonderful, beautiful city and my favorite part of italy from what I've seen. Though I wish I could have seen it in the spring or summer since it's hard to get the full enjoyment of ambling around when you're covered in 16 layers of clothing just trying to stay warm. It is cold and the water makes it even colder. I don't think we'll even be able to take a gondola ride cause it would likely be colder than the sleigh ride!! Anyway today we went to the Doge's Palace which also houses the Bridge of Sighs and the prison. Beautiful amazing architecture. Then we walked around San Marco,saw the Basilica which is really almost indescribable. We did some shopping, and bought ourselves an exquisite mask to hang on the wall at home, and really enjoyed perusing the selection. We took a hot chocolate break at a cafe and then came back to the hotel so cindy could add a few more layers... Yes, I think she was even colder than I was. Anyway after a little break we ventured out intending to go to san zaccaria and the crypts but it was closed despite the fact that we went precisely during the very specific and random hours it was supposed to be open (4 to 6 pm). So instead we ambled around, shopping and exploring side streets as much as we could, until we settled at a nice (and quite reasonably priced) trattoria for an early dinner. Stopped for gelato on the way back to the room and somehow I wound up with freaking LEMON again. I swear next time it's gonna be chocolate or vanilla. No more experimenting for me!

Anyway we are back in the room now, watching the news in Italian, and getting ready for another full day here tomorrow!

no, these prices are not a joke

Well, after a taxi ride, 2 train rides, and a vaporetto, we have arrived in venice! By the way, I do not like the "compartment" style trains or the way they seat you facing instead of next to your traveling companion. Like, for part of the trip we were in a compartment with 4 loud,fat, coughing Germans (though I'm not sure I'd know the difference between the hacking coughs and the german language). My ipod and numerous vitamin c lozenges didn't really help but fortunately they weren't with us the whole ride. But it's awkward and you can't really talk... But anyway despite the annoying compartments we made it to FREEZING cold venice - temps just dropped all over europe- and lucky us we had to board a vaporetto (water bus) at night, which took us on a lovely but cold as anything ride through the grand canal to our stop in san marco square. We were able to easily walk to our hotel from there and sharon you're totakky right - they have those shutters on the windows - good thing I have the alarm clock! Hehe. Anyway next we went in search of a quick bite to eat. Cindy remebered passing "Harry's Bar" on our way in and had heard it was famous or something so we wandered in there... Not reallu knowing what we were getting into. It looked casual enough at first by the bar so I thpught maybe it was seat yourself - but as I was asking, we were quickly asked if we were here for dinner and if we had a reservation. I said yes we were here for dinner, but we didn't have a reservation. He assured us he had a table "upstairs" for us. When they asked to take our coats (and by asked I mean insisted) we started to wonder... And then they seated us alone in a corner away from everyone else, and I started to notice they were all dressed better than we were. We laughed until we saw the prices... 27 euros for a bowl of soup. 40-some euros for a hamburger. Apparently we had stumbled upon one of venice's legendarily exhorbitant eateries. And the prices were amazingly not a joke. Well, we said, you only live once... We guessed we'd live on pizza the rest of the trip and indulged... What choice did we have? They had our coats! Anyway the food was just ok, which was sort of ridiculou for what we paid for it, and we didn't evem linger over our meal - so, well, it was kind of a rip off but rick steves says venice is expensive, just live it up. So upward and onward. Anyway now we're in the hotel and too broke to pay wireless charges so writing this update on the blackberry... More tomorrow when we have had more time in venice!

Dashing through the snow in a two-horse open sleigh...

Well, you'll be happy (I hope) to know that I survived the sleigh ride, though you'll also be happy to know it wasn't without some drama and amusement. We headed out for our 8-hour day at 9 in the morning, all of us bundled from head to toe. For me that meant wool undershirt, warm sweater, 2 layer coat, 2 pairs of long thermal underwear and my warmest pants, boots and two sets of toe-warmers in each foot. Okay so my feet felt like they were on fire all morning but I'll take that over the cold. Then of course there were the obligatory scarves, hats, gloves and handwarmers. This is why I hate winter, people. All this just to go outside. But anyway we set off on the bus up into the mountains to find the snow. I've never in my life participated in any activity that involved looking FOR the snow, versus, you know, trying to get AWAY from it. But we certainly found it in a town called Rempau . This was the first snow we'd hit all trip and the minute I set foot out of the bus I was ready to be done with it. Half the group would be going on the morning sleigh ride and the other half would be going in the afternoon. Boy was I glad that Marianne the Energizer bunny was up and hooking us up on the first tour because the day only got colder as it went on. The sleigh driver spoke pretty much no English (I love how this surprises us, as we just get used to everyone speaking English as if they for any reason should) and Cindy and I were in the front with him while Marianne, Steve and Milt were in the back. I tried to wear Milton's ski mask... ... but really couldn't see much through it so I managed with just my scarf over my face. Because we jumped on so quickly and they put Cindy's bag away for her, she hadn't had time to get out her hat and gloves. I didn't realize this until she kept asking me if I was okay, and I told her yes, I was doing okay, and she finally said "I'm not!" Fortunately there was a stop for the horses to rest for about half an hour at a little inn, where we were able to warm up for a bit and get ourselves organized before getting back on the ride. Oh, and it was a for real sleigh pulled by two horses... Here was our view anyway.

That was pretty much what it was like. It was very pretty. Not so much my kind of pretty (Freezing, ice cold winds, close your eyes and imagine cactus plants around you) -- but beautiful in a sort of I'd like to see it from my window and not be IN it pretty. Anyway everyone enjoyed the ride, and after it ended we were taken to the restaurant to eat, where we were ignored for quite a bit, but got to watch a bunch of kids from our tour who'd never seen snow before play outside, trying to make snowballs, sliding down the hill... This was nice -- like I said, much more fun to look out the window at than to be in. But we finally managed to get our food -- and this time Marianne got yelled at, not me, as the waitress handed me my plate and Marianne reached up to help her pass Steve's along, and she yanked it away. Marianne said "Oh, sorry," and the waitress said "That's not okay." and served the food and left. These people, let me tell you... Anyway the food here has been so good -- even this random resetaurant in the middle of this small town where no one speaks English (again, ethnocentrist-me, why would they?) there was a vegetarian menu -- I got a vegetabale strudel with boiled potatoes, and loved it. Oh and Cindy and I got "soup with strips of pancakes" -- a broth with strips of crepes in it. Yum. Oh and POSSIBLY chicken broth, but I ignored that, as I decided for this trip I didn't have the energy to worry about broths, and as long as I didn't have to eat any meat, it would be fine. But anyway the food was good, the service was crappy, and after that we headed back to the bus for the long ride back to Salzburg. Eight hours later, we were returned to our hotel, and after a breather we went to a pizzeria for our last night with the family (though none of us were all that hungry after that filling lunch - I just had a salad, Cindy just had some bread!). Tonight we'll be packing, trying to figure out how to get all this crap we bought into our suitcases in some way that we'll be able to get on the water buses in Venice. OY! Long train day tomorrow, will report from Venice...

The Hills Are Alive (and so are we)

Well, I’ve definitely never had a Christmas like this one before. We got up bright and early to enjoy the hotel’s pricey but yummy breakfast buffet. I could eat that Muesli every day of my life… God I love cereal. Anyway if I sound a bit loopy it’s because we spent the following four hours on the official Sound of Music Tour, a bus ride that plays the songs from the movie (that is, when the CD player is working), and takes you through all the places where they shot… and didn’t shoot… and thought about shooting… the Julie Andrews movie. And yes, if you were wondering, the family from Indianapolis via Ireland from our Mozart dinner, they were indeed on the bus with us. Now, generally I’m not a fan of tours, mainly because my own neuroses cause me to spend most of the time wondering when the next bathroom break will be and stressing because I can’t stop whenever I want to. But, that was way too far into my head than any of y’all need to be. Anyway, as tours go, though, it wasn’t too bad, our guide, sort of a poor man’s Ricky Gervais, had something of a sense of humor, and was pretty good. It was nice to get out of the city itself, at least, the section within walking distance from our hotel which we’ve pretty much covered all angles of, and getting to see the landscape and the countryside was definitely a plus. I didn’t remember most of the details of the movie that the guide was referencing cause I’m not a huge fan (sorry, Em… you would have LOVED this tour, we thought of you many times), but we did get to see that gazebo...


where the girl and the boy sing that inanely misogynistic Sixteen Going on Seventeen song which is the main reason I hate that movie, and some of the mountains and the Church that Julie Andrews marries the Baron in, which is in a quaint small town known for its apple strudel (you know, one of her “Favorite Things” – a song I DON’T hate, and actually kind of like). We stopped in the town just long enough to take a walk through the church, sit down and enjoy some strudel, and browse the two souvenir shops in town open on Christmas Day, where I bought some natural salt from the Salzburg salt mines to cook with when I get home.

After that it was back on the bus and back to Salzburg. And well, at least I can say I’ve never done anything like that before, certainly not on Christmas! And I’ll have left Austria having eaten authentic strudel J After we got back, Marianne, who we call the Energizer Bunny, took Steve and Milton to look at the Churches in town while Cindy and I went back to the hotel and down to the Sauna and solarium, where I closed my eyes and pretended we were spending Christmas in Palm Springs. Needless to say this was quite pleasing. Even though the “solarium” is a couple chaise lounges in the basement. No windows, no contact with the sun, I’m not sure they really know what that word means… but fortunately Sauna translates in every language. Happy times.

Then we headed out for Christmas dinner at the Chinese Restaurant right near our hotel, a tradition held sacred by many Jews and devotees of “A Christmas Story.” A yummy dinner was enjoyed by all with ice cream concoctions for dessert. Everyone left full and happy.

Tomorrow, we bundle up and I pile every item into my suitcase onto my body for the sleigh ride, which is a little less scary now that I know most of it is a bus ride, and there’s just about an hour of sleigh ride. Still, piles of handwarmers, toe warmers, and layers will be applied…and if I don’t survive, do ship my body off to Palm Springs, will y’all? Thanks!

Worst Brot?

Well, if nothing else, this definitely goes down as a memorable Christmas Eve, though truth be told it does feel weird to be spending it in a hotel in the middle of Austria, doing laundry by hand which is so awful and time consuming I don’t see how anyone survived before the invention of the washing machine. As if I didn’t need a manicure badly enough as is. Anyway, it has indeed been an odd day. First, we spent the morning panicking to try to find something to do on Christmas day and ended up booking ourselves on the Sound of Music tour, which should prove even more cheesy and touristy than our Mozart Dinner concert last night, which by the way, was way better than the opera. The singers were fantastic, the food was great, and it was fun to be in “central Europe’s oldest restaurant.” And we managed to stay awake for the whole thing which is more than I can say for the opera. But anyway, I do hope that on the Sound of Music tour we manage to run into the people who sat next to us at the dinner, a couple and their daughter who were from Indianapolis but living in Ireland, the daughter goes to Purdue, was traveling with her parents on break and was so awesomely whiny that I wanted to write a teen soap around her. Anyway, that’s what they’re doing on Christmas so we may yet see them again. But… as for today…

After frantically booking the tour, we set out in search of breakfast since this hotel charges 15 Euros a person, and we knew that Christmas day we’d be stuck doing that for lack of too many other options, so we decided to find someplace else. And we did, in the form of Café Tomaselli, where I received a TINY bowl of muesli (my new favorite thing) – literally like two tablespoons, and everyone else got eggs and ham on sizzling hot plates, which was, I hear, very tasty. The funniest moment though, was when we were just about finishing up our meal and the waitress yanked up our bread bowl, pulled out one that had been half-eaten, and took the rest away… to another table. I kid you not. Okay, it was bad enough that she decided we had had enough bread and that apparently we were done… but she BROUGHT IT TO ANOTHER TABLE. This was about ten hours ago and I’m still not over it!

Oh and on our bill there was 5 x 1 Euro for something called Semmel – was this the tiny glasses of tap water she brought each of us? The bread she yaked away? We couldn’t figure that one out either.

Anyway we spent the rest of the morning getting our shopping done, as we learned that all the stores were going to close at 1 pm for Christmas, and apparently they’ve never heard of Day After Christmas sales because that day’s a holiday too here… so no shopping again until Saturday. As if I needed more proof I was not in America!

After shopping till we dropped, buying some amazing looking pretzels to eat later, and regrouping a bit, the next task was to find someplace to eat an early dinner – though we were warned by our hotel staff that “everything” in the area was closed for the holiday, Cindy and I didn’t believe her for a second, and within a few blocks we found a nice and yummy Japanese restaurant, where we watched customer after customer come in because of the advertised Weinerschnitzel, only to learn that that was only a lunch special, and leave. Satisfied with the rest of the menu, we stuck around and had a great meal. By the way, the food here has been excellent and vegetarian options have abounded. Lucky me.

After lunch, Cindy, Marianne and co. headed to the Silent Night church in nearby Oberndorf. I stayed here, to get a little work done, get caught up, and in fear of the cold, since as Steve said about me, “you could roll her up in a cardboard tube, and put a lid on both ends, she’d still be cold.” Not if he mailed me back to L.A.

Anyway they took off and left me here to do some work, to do this awful laundry which about halfway through I decided I’d rather wear dirty clothes, and to scope out the fitness center and sauna here. The “fitness center” consists of a crappy elliptical trainer and an even crappier upright bike. And I would have gotten a better look at the sauna if it wasn’t populated by a group of Austrian men in their speedos, which was enough to send me back up to the room!

Tonight we’ll be eating our pretzels and watching god knows what on Austrian TV. Think they have the Yule Log here?

munching in munchen - addendum to yesterday

Okay now that I am awake, I'm writing from the train from Munich to salzburg. Forgot to tell some good stories from yesterday. First of all, the christmas markets all over town sell local foods of every variety. Next time I can upload I'll try to post a pic of the huge Bavarian pretzel - from real Bavaria - that cindy bought for us to share. We were surprised to find it was not warm. Once again, third street promenade wins. At least wetzel's pretzels are served hot. But you don't get this kind of unique fun and festive atmosphere... Or the freezing temps... Which I could live without. One thing I can't get on the promenade _ they were serving fresh potato pancakes - cooked just how they're supposed to be - in melted crisco - with a side of apple sauce! Especially since I'm missing chanukah (and the rosin party :( ) I couldn't resist. Yum!! But of course not as good as mom's. Oh and there is alcohol everywhere - apparently no rules about open containers or anything. Marianne was brave enough to try some warm "kinderpunch." It was pretty strong.
One thing to add also is the contrast between Germany and Italy. We've gone from the land of no real rules or order to almost a psychotic degree of both. Here the trains not only leave on time but it isclearly posted which train is where, where the first and second class cars come in, information down to every last detail, and they actually have ramps at the station for luggage dragging instead of a million flights of stairs. All of this is great - only problem is these very ordered people keep yelling at me. I keep getting yelled at in german - for taking too long at the atm, for standing too close to the heater at the museum, even by a bathroom attendant who was apparently about to change the toilet paper roll when I walked in - and she hissed all sorts of things at me in german despite my apologizing and letting her finish. Oh well. Anyway I think that's all I forgot from yesterday - now we are cozy on the train headed for Salzburg!

you think YOU had a bad flight?

This will have to be another quick, photo-less entry but I think tomorrow we should be back on the grid... The sleeper train was so cozy and so much fun that we didn't quite want to "miss" it and thus slept very little and are now dead to the world... But no matter how tired we are we keep trying to put it in perspective - we met up with cindy's mom, marianne, and steve and milton in munich today, after their fligt was delayed for 12 hours! They had the worst experience you can imagine, but they were all troppers and got up to greet us when we arrived at the hotel at 7 am. We spent the day exploring the christmas markets, which mom, you would love, very festive, seeing some famous churchesan and going to the Residentz museum (the main thong that had going for it was that it was inside, away from the cold, and did I mention it is COLD here??? And wet and rainy so no amount of layers is quite enough. Fortunately our room is warm :)

Went to a nice dinner at a touristy but great restaurant, before heading back here. They had the energyand inclination to go back out into the blustery air for dessert now - we did not. But then, they didn't do 4 days of museums in a row. Anyway all in all other than the cold I like munich, looking fwd to salzburg tomorrow!

midnight train to germany

Just a quick update tonight... Spent our last day in florence, visited the boboli gardens and met lots of kitties there! Had our first fantastic italian meal for lunch at golden view which appropriately has an amazing view of the ponte vecchio which was so filling I may never eat again... We wandered through the city, stopped in for a church organ concert, tried again for amazing gelato and wound up with lemon flavor. Don't ask. Another story for another day because right now we are in our deluxe (ok not quite as deluxe as it looked in the pictures, but cozy) train compartment on the overnight to munich. We get in at 6:30 so we have to get up early to be ready - so I'm going to curl up into my sleeper bed here... More tomorrow... :)

more pictures

In no particular order...

Six Flavors & Attitude

Florence is cosmopolitan and sophisticated and exciting and cold. Despite freezing my ass off, we're having a great time. We'll see what happens when it's twenty degrees colder in Austria... But for now, the highlights of our day. This morning was a blast of cultural activity. See, museums and stuff here pretty much operate on the "whenever we feel like it" system. Seriously, I think the idea of schedules goes against some kind of Italian cultural sensibility or something. But anyway for fear of things closing, we got stuff DONE this morning, which meant a series of museums, churches, and sights that I confess have already started to blend together in my head. But, Cindy reminds me, first we went to the Medici chapel, followed by the Bascillica San Lorenzo, followed by the Duomo Museum (which was closed by the time we got to the Duomo itself yesterday), the Bargello (sp?) and finally the Ufizzi. Lots of art, and bones, including the finger of John the Baptist and the jawbone of San Lorenzo. Or so they claim. I was somewhat skeptical. Or really, I was spending my time on feminist theory as I compared the nude male sculptures to the nude females and wondered how come the male genitalia was so, um, detailed, and the females just appeared to have an absence thereof. Anyway I babbled a lot about this I think, as we shuttled from museo to museo. Really liked the Bargello, where the building itself was as pretty as the artwork. By the time we hit the Ufizzi though, I was kind of arted out and the Boticellis kind of went by in a blur...

... which clearly indicated it was time for a break. Unfortunately after like five museums we didn't have the energy to be choosy so we found ourselves in a touristy cafe in the middle of the Piazza di Signoria which we regretted the minute we got there because we were subjected to listening to this annoyingly loud Italian archetype guy making friends with an even more annoyingly archtypical American family. Example. "I come to your country, you can show me around San Francisco." "Oh, definitely. We know a lot of good Italian food there." "No, no Italian food, I want zee seafood..." They were loud enough that we had to hear their entire small talky chatty conversation, down to where he should take his father-in-law for lunch. Fortunately (for them) they left before I killed them.

Anyway we had a mediocre lunch, and then headed for the Ponte Vecchio and what I hoped would finally be my chance for the best gelato in the world. We went to one of the places recommended by Rick Steves, but I was disappointed. First of all, when I think Gelato, I think like about 100 flavors laid out in like 6 freezers. That's how it is at Angelato on the Promenade anyway. Okay, fine, not everything, even Florence, can compare to the culture of Santa MOnica :-; but when we were in the south of France, there were similar places. Well, this place had about six flavors, and I tasted one, found it so-so, and asked for another taste to which the woman haughtily replied that I only get one. Okay, I know this isn't Santa Monica, or anything, but even at Angelato, you get three. ONE? Isn't the whole CONCEPT of gelato to taste a few before you make your selection? Anyway I decided I didn't like her so we moved on. Finally settled on one of the overpriced touristy places Rick Steves warned me about (7 Euros for a cup of ice cream? Really?) -- but it was homemade, fresh, and finished with a waffle on top, so how could I complain? Still though the flavor selection was surprisingly limited. Anyway it was good, and so huge that Cindy and I just shared one instead of getting another, and tomorrow I will make one more valiant effort for the "real" gelato experience I had in mind.

Anyway we sat and ate our ice cream on the Ponte Vecchio, which was very picturesque and full of tacky tourist stands which I loved. From there we slowly made our way back, meandering throug the "mercatos" (markets) trying to find a purse and feeling overwhelmed by the choices and wishing I had a sense of style or could magically import Sharon or Katie to tell me what to buy. Anyway I did not find a purse but we did find the Porcino (the pig) at the market -- a metal pig sculpture whose head you're supposed to rub to ensure that you will return to FLorence again one day. So we rubbed his head. Oh, and you're supposed to give him coins, too, and we watched as some sort of either city employee or intrepid homeless man collected them all. Then as we continued back Cindy was happy to find the Baptistry was open -- again, randomly, for no real reason, and we went in for a while and stared at the ceiling. Though I do get sick of art, somehow I never get sick of those amazing, ornate, decorative story-telling dome-shaped ceilings.

Leaving there we were treated to something odd and unexpected. There was some sort of traveling Renaissance marching band drumming their way through the streets. The drumming sounded more ominous than festive, like they were taking someone to be executed or something... but they were dressed in full on Renaissance garb marching their way through the streets. I have no idea why exactly but it was kind of hilarious. See for yourself.



After that we walked through another market and I bought a cute coat like I'd been eyeing on many of the girls here, which really isn't warm enough for me here but will be super cute and just right for LA winter. Tried on a pair of boots despite the fact that the vendor knew full well when I told him I was a 6 1/2, that the size he had wouldn't fit me (what, did he think I'd like, buy them anyway? Cause my foot might grow two sizes? Or that I wouldn't notice??) Anyway now we're back at our hotel room resting up for our big night at the OPERA tonight. Nervous about staying awake since we've been going to bed so early and I have no idea how interesting I will find it. WE shall see.

more pics

Sooo tired right now but wanted to try to get these up...

Via Faenza, 77... or something like that

There are things I don't get about Italy. Like their "flexible" sense of time, like their incessant cigarette smoking (like, did they just not get the memo that it's like, bad for you? I guess that was the same memo about high carb diets...) And the fact that numbers seem to not really matter all that much to them. But, more on that in a moment...

Woke up bright and early, ate our last cozy in room breakfast at the Grand Royal Hotel (highly recommended), and caught the 7:55 Circumvesuvius train to Naples, where we were to meet our train to Florence. Oh, here's another example. I get to the train station, where I see a "Tourist Information" office and I think maybe i'll ask them what track my train is coming in on, since it's not posted yet, and I want to make sure I'm in the right place. Well, a big sign says "No Railway Information!" even though I'm like, in the train statino. Okay, well, fine, they're juat a tourist place. I find the windows marked "Railway Information" and they are all closed. Inexplicably. So I finally go into the ticket office, attempt my awful Italian and gather that the man has told me to watch for the diaplays. Anyway, we did make our train, sat next to 2 walking cliches (late 40s businessman dressed in fancy suit with botoxed fake blonde in fur and furry boots) who insisted that theirs were the window seats and ours were the aisles when we knew full well it was the other way around though I refused to compalin since I was quite happy on the aisle, and perplexed as to why when I booked the reservations, they didn't book us in the single pair instead of the 4 person little unit. Cindy was fuming mad that the couple deliberately stole our seats, but felt eventual satisfaction when the conductor told Mr. Businessman that he had to pay extra for the botoxed blonde for some reason and forked over his credit card. Probably she didn't get a validation or something. The train system here is ridiculous. I don't get why every other country on the planet seems to have very easy efficient systems for buying tickets, etc. Here you have to stick your ticket in a yellow box to "validate" it which sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. On the metro you slide your card, except when you don't. It really seems like a confusing system and I don't see why everyone else can do it right but the Italians had to make the whole thing harder than it is. But anyway, the trains are comfy in first class :)

We made it to Florence and searched up and down the street for the Hotel Porta Faenza. Via Faenze, you see, has an interesting numbering system that appears to have old numbers and new numbers on the walls, so you'll walk down the street and see something like "33" then "59" then "24" -- it's all totally random, I had to call the hotel to find out where they are! But we found them, the place is good, and we got all settled in.

In the afternoon, we stopped for some Chinese food. Yes, okay, yes, we ate Chinese food in FLorence, what do you want me to say? We both have a limited tolerance for Italian food and needed a break. We'll have some tomorrow. But anyway, then we went to the Accademia to see Michaelangelo's David as well as the other stuff there. That was impresive! But I still don't see why they insist on displaying these white statues against white walls. How 'bout a paint job?? Anyway then we went to the Duomo, with that incredible dome ceilnig with all the art on it, and yes, I climbed up 463 steps to see the top! Needless to say, Cindy did not. But I got a great view and quite a workout! And it's amazing they let all these people cimb these stairs that way. I see it and think "lawsuit waiting to happen..'

After that we were pretty much wiped and we came back to the room to recouperate. Went out attempting to find the good gelato, but didn't want to venture too far as once again, of course, we're exhausted, so I settled for generic gelato. Tomorrow though I am going to get the real stuff -- yum!

Now we're back and I'm gonna try to post some more pics since I've got free wireless for the time being...

when life gives you lemons...make limoncello!

Today was an unusual first for us - we took it easy! Yes, that's right, the two of us, who usually jam pack it all in, were charmed by the lazy pace of life in Sorrento, and instead of trying to squeeze in Capri, we stayed in Sorrento the whole day, from the sunny blue-skied morning to the random mid afternoon downpour to a cool bit pretty night. (And we were glad we skipped Capri as it really wasn't the right season and would have been raining and a lot of expense, time, and effort to not get to see the main (summery) attractions.

So anyway we spent the day here, wandering through stores selling limoncello, the area's big product, along with limoncello creme, candies, even lemon pastas and the like. We walked through the pretty lemon orchard, tasted samples of limoncelo (which um, SOMEONE forgot to tell me was very strong! Ouch!). And lemon filled chocolates - even someone like me, not a fan of lemons, could find something tasty here. So anyway we went shopping, walked by a cliff and looked at the water and mount vesuvius, got some souvenirs, and ate lunch at an empty restaurant - somehow this always happens to us in europe - we have yet to figure out or really understand how their schedules work - ie when normal italians eat since apparently no one eats lunch at 1:00. Oh and sidebar, if someone could explain to me why all public bathrooms in italy seem to have no toilet seats, that would be great. Anyway.
After lunch it was apparently siesta. Everything shut down. How this place functions mystfies mee but anyway, when in rome... Or in this case sorrento... We went back to our hotel and took a nap, but FORCED ourselves to get our butts out of bed and see the town at night (had we not we would have killed any progress we had made on the jetlag and wound up awake at 2 am). So anyway we went back into town. Still full from lunch (how these people live on this high-carb diet is also a mystery to me - pasta and bread...) We decided to just get gelato, which we found at the Tea Room, an odd bakery slash ice cream shop slash cafe, complete with a collection of quasi-celebrity guest pictures including an entire wall of laminated pictures with the stars of The Bold and the Beautiful from sometime in the early 90s... Also present with less prominence, sofia loren, whitney houston, and (only sharon and mom will get this - stefano dimera - lol! But how appropriate in southern italy!). Anyway, we actually really enjoyed our lazy shopping and eating day, gearing up for tomorrow, when we take the high-speed train to florence and get back to the world of sightseeing, museums and "beware of pickpockets.". It would sure be nice if all of italy didn't come with a warning label...ok time to crash, hopefully more pics tomorrow but I don't feel like paying another 10 Euros an hour to get on the internet which I would need to do to do that... Perhaps tomorrow...

pictures

Had a hard time loading these, but I think they're there now... re the post below, here are a few shots from our day today... Cindy eating Naples pizza, me in Pompeii, a Pompeii dog and the "theater" in Pompeii... More later, A.

This Was Pompeii

This Was Pompeii

Okay, well, when you go to sleep at 4 pm, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when you wake up at 2 am ready to go. But after a long morning waiting for the sun to come up, and despite anxiety over our cats (who had successfully hidden from my pet-sitter, but have since re-emerged) we managed to make it through our first real day in Italy.

The highlights. Hotel brought the included breakfast to our room – reminded me of the hotel we stayed in in France when I was a teenager where they brought me hot cocoa and croissants every morning. Abundant breakfast was a good way to start the day. But shortly after, we got an email from the pet-sitter that only Izzy had greeted him that day and he couldn’t find the others. Naturally we spent all day telling ourselves that there was little chance that all the cats EXCEPT the one most prone to walking out the door, escaped. But we didn’t calm down about this until tonight, when he visited again and found all four roaming around. But, that aside…

We headed straight for the ruins of Pompeii first thing on the Circumvesuvius train, which is much better when you actually have a seat. We had heard it was scary and sketchy but really had no problems on it (Cindy found the Metro in Naples much spookier), and it actually seemed to run on time, unlike much of Italy, from what I can see. Pompeii was pretty much everything I imagined it to be. Mount Vesuvius looming overhead, the amazing remains of a town well-preserved from 2000 years ago, with people who lived pretty much like we do. They hung out at bars, ate fast food, went to the theater, bathed at the spa, and frequented the brothel. What? I said “pretty much” like we do…

Anyway we spent a good 2 or 3 hours hiking through uneven cobblestone in the misty, gray weather, though didn’t actually rain, which was a relief, exploring the ancient world and petting the MANY docile stray dogs there before heading into Naples to see the artifacts which had been transported to the Archaeological Museum… We successfully navigated the train system there, but first we had to stop for the food that Naples is famous for… pizza! Though Cindy forgot to mention she doesn’t like feta cheese… so much for her pizza quarto fromagi. I, of course, had spaghetti. Anyway, we headed from there to the museum, which while full of some really neat stuff, is absolutely the worst designed museum I’ve ever been in. Like the rest of Naples, it’s dirty, run-down, and in much disrepair. There are so few employees patrolling the place it’s a wonder it hasn’t been covered in graffiti like the rest of the city, the buses, the platforms, everywhere. It apparently was once a University building before they turned it into a museum, and it pretty much looks like they stuck a bunch of art in some classrooms. The walls are painted stark white, making the sculptures kind of just blend in. There’s very little organization and information. The lighting was terrible. Asa, have you been to this place?? It mystifies me why these Italians, who can create such beautiful things, appear to have no pride in their presentation here. Though the artistic tradition seems to have been passed down to budding graffiti artists… What would Da Vinci think?

Anyway the highlight was, of course the “Secret Room,” full of shockingly graphic ancient porn. Though, the guides assure us, the phallus was, apparently an ancient good luck amulet… which I’m sure explains its presence everywhere.

Anyway after exploring the museum and the amazing number of stairs it took to get to it, we were wiped. I struggled to stay awake on the 70 minute, 34-stop ride back down to Sorrento, staring out the window at the suburbs of Naples, which sorta look like Queens, with a lot of laundry hanging on lines outside despite the fact that it’s been rainy the past three days. Anyway, back in Sorrento, we hit the hotel room, room-serviced some ice cream, learned the cats were fine and apparently just finding ways to make us feel good and guilty for leaving them, and now, I think we might just pass out pretty soon… will post this and add a couple pics.

long night's journey into day

Okay, we are pretty exhausted so this has to be quick, but I wanted everyone to know that after literally over 24 hours of travel, including a cab ride at 3:45 in the morning mon to LAX, a 5 hour flight through the rainy US to washington dc followed by a 9 hour flight into Rome, followed by waiting on a platform for 40 minutes for the 55 minute late "express" train on which we had to stAnd the whole way to rome's train station, followed by a harrowing nightmare, the details of which I will spare you for now, of trying to figure out where the hell to get our railpass validated, giving up, almost missing our train to naples (thank goodness apparently ALL trains run late here) and convincing the conductor to validate it, then having to stand for the entire 70 minute (yes that's count 'em 34 stops) trian to Sorrento, and a walk to our hotel room... We are here. Oh yes, we had planned to go out to dinner, see some of the town tonight, you know, just after this little nap... But I think we are going to see sorrento bright and early tomorrow morning and until then sleep our way out of yesterday's madness in our truly lovely sorrento hotel room. Goodnight!

Itinerary 2008

On December 15, we take off for another journey through Europe, this time to Italy and Austria, traveling city to city by train, staying in Sorrento, Florence, Munich (Germany), Salzburg, Venice, and Rome. Below is our itinerary, and as always, I'll be updating the blog with our travel adventures after we depart...



December 15 Depart LAX --> Rome, Italy

December 16 Arrive in Rome, train to Naples, train to Sorrento, staying at Grand Hotel Royal

December 19 train to Naples, train to Florence, staying at Hotel Porta Faenza

December 20 See L'Elisir D'Amore at Teatro Comunale in Florence

December 21 Florence---> Munich overnight train!

December 22 Arrive Munich, meet up with Marianne, Steve, and Milton -- stay at Hotel Am Viktualienmarkt

December 23 Munich---> Salzburg, stay at NH Salzburg City, Mozart Concert & Dinner

December 26 Horse Drawn Sleigh Ride in Salzburg

December 27 Salzburg ---> Venice, stay at Hotel Violino D'Oro

December 30 Venice ----> Rome, stay at Cosmopolita Hotel

January 1 Depart Rome --> LAX Home at last!

That's what we know so far!