Pictures of Italy

I know, I know, it took me forever to finally put up any information about my infamous photos of Italy. Unfortunately, this was unavoidable for several reasons, not the least of which was my inability to plan for the logistics of sharing some photos from Italy with some people and not with others through Picasa. However, the wait, for all of you actually interested, is over.

Any of you that would like to see my pictures of Italy, need only follow the link. Enjoy.

Italy Days 6 through 8 (Florence, Sienna, and Rome)

Because I just cannot take drawing this out any longer and because the last few days all sort of bunch together in my brain, with lots of interesting isolated events, but nothing I feel like really focusing on here, I will try to cover the final days of my trip in a more fast and loose, cursory style.

My remaining days in Italy went fairly smoothly, as I attempted to spend as little time as possible with my companion and as much time as I could doing my own thing. This really only worked in Florence, but once I was on my way to Sienna, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and truly felt there was no challenge I could not face.

The day I spent on my own in Florence was rather uneventful. I went and found the post office, via the British Embassy (don't ask) and mailed the one post card I had been requested to send. Although, upon my return I was informed that I was supposed to send a magnet (not a post card) and that they had never actually received either. This was really irritating to me - not because I had someone complaining to me about what I hadn't given them, but more because I had spent so much time finding the darn post office and given up a visit to the palace gardens and the darn thing still hadn't gotten to where it was directed.

I visited another couple of museums and found what was allegedly the best gelato in Italy. It isn't, though. The best gelato I found in Italy is at a place called Gelato de Medici in Florence and it is tasty. It is also outside of the city proper and would not be easily located by most tourists. However, if you happen to get lost and stumble upon it in the northeastern area of the city, I highly recommend that you just stop whatever you are doing and eat because you will likely never have the opportunity to experience that flavor again. (Although, there are many other good gelato places in Italy.)

That night, we all went out to a bar where you would buy a single drink and then eat from this buffet for free until there was nothing left to eat. This was my kind of place. Although, there still wasn't very much meat to be had and I mostly ate pasta and risotto. We then wandered around for a bit and climbed to a summit located a little outside of the main city and admired the night view of the city below. I attempted to take a decent picture of the view, but my camera does not seem to be well suited for night photography and I was eventually forced to give up.

Once we got back down, the women were tired and went off to journey home, but the rest of us went to a local pub. It was pretty cool because almost everyone here were college students and they all spoke English. The majority of them seemed to be much younger than me and I didn't really have very much to discuss with them, but I at least understood the bulk of the words coming out of their mouths. It was nice to not feel so isolated and alone.

On our way up the road, away from the pub, the sole remaining girl in our group let out a shout. It appears some stranger behind me had taken his date's head and slammed it against the stone wall a couple of times. One of the guys in our group was already going after the attacker so the three other guys joined in. This seemed to be probably the coolest thing ever. I was about to get into my first Italian street brawl and I had three other chaps backing me up. It was foolproof. I remember thinking that I was never going to get back to the States and that I'd have to call the American Embassy before the night was over, but still feeling that it was totally worth it. I was also fairly sure that the guy might be able to take at least two of us.

The fight never actually happened, and all we really did was distract him long enough to allow her to retreat back down the road, where there were more people. This, however, seemed to be an acceptable solution to us, as he wasn't likely going to be allowed to beat her up in front of even more people. So our work was done, even though two of us still wanted to go kick his ass. Half of me just wanted to do it to see how it would all work out.

The next day (day seven), we boarded our train to Sienna and bid adieu to all of the wonders and delights of Florence.

We arrived and upon learning our first choice hotel was full, proceeded to the nearest convent. I felt we had to stay with the nuns for our last stop in Italy. After all, had it not been a nun that had helped us so much in Assisi? Plus, it was close and had forty rooms. They couldn't possibly all be filled we figured. Fortunately, our logic appeared to be correct and a room was acquired. Once in our room, we learned that the showers here didn't even have doors, which we felt should make showering even more exciting the next morning.

We then set out to explore the main attractions of the city, which included a large bell tower (with approximately 500 steps). The city was a really pretty place, but kind of an annoying one to walk around in because you could not really go anywhere without walking up and down enormous hills. It was like Assisi in that respect, but not as scenic (in my opinion) and was more eclectic in its elevations. However, we were able to quickly cover the main sites in a very short amount of time in our first and second (day eight) days there. After a little sightseeing on day eight, I finished the rest of my shopping and we found our way back to the train station and to Rome. My companion had used her frequent flier miles (she accrues through work) to book us a room at the Hilton adjacent to the airport in Rome so that we wouldn't have to wake up too early to get to our early morning flight the next day. It wouldn't have matter, though, as I could not sleep at all that night and was up and ready to go well before any alarm was set to go off.

We met some cool Americans for our flight home (day nine) and helped the teenager with them get her passport stamped and get through security. It was pretty cool to be able to socialize with random people again. We landed, made it through security twice (once in Rome and once in Paris because somehow even though you never leave the secured area, they have to check you again), caught our connecting flight, which departed an hour late, and flew home. I dropped my companion off at her apartment and haven't spoken to her since.

Italy Day 5 (Florence)

We arrived at the Florence train station and set out to locate the people that would be letting us stay with them. My traveling companion's father had some folks he knew (around our age) that had offered to let us stay with them. I would be staying with a guy and she would be staying with a woman. I thought this was owing to our sexual orientations, but learned upon our arrival that they had been expecting two women.

Locating our hosts proved to be a little difficult, and my companion became irritated that I had decided to exit on the left side of the train station, when the parking lot was located on the right. Note that there was no way for either of us to know which side of the station the parking lot was on, and we didn't actually need the lot to meet our hosts anyway, as they parked away from the station anyway. This did not keep her from becoming irate and lecturing me on the art of meeting people. In retrospect, I'm still surprised that I never lost my temper with her the entire time I was on the trip.

Once we were settled in, we set out for some lunch and then visited the Duomo and Medici Chapel. They were both very impressive. We even hiked up the over 400 stairs to the top of the Duomo to gaze upon the city below. The view was beautiful, and a cold front had just pushed through the day before, forcing all of the haze out of the atmosphere and making the view absolutely crystal clear. Finally, we eventually wandered back to where were to meet our hosts and found a cool souvenir shop where I was able to acquire nearly all of my gift souvenirs for the folks at home.

At this point, I was fairly sure that I really couldn't take any more sacred art. In my opinion, there were only so many different ways you could paint the cross and various scenes from the Bible, and I was fairly sure that I had seen them all, or at least as many as I could take. This seems somewhat understandable, after I had spent five days doing practically nothing but staring at sacred art and architecture. My companion was driving me a little crazy and I was getting pretty tired of eating starch every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It wasn't that I didn't like it. I just wanted more (or any) meat for my money.

Our hosts came home and we eventually walked to dinner. The person leading us (the woman my companion was to stay with) had a fairly terrible sense of direction and we got lost for at least an hour. My companion never complained once, but I knew it was driving her absolutely nuts. I thought it was somehow fitting that she was to be staying, and led home, by this directionless woman.

My companion informed me that she was going to Pisa the next day, but I had opted to forgo this city, as I was told by many that the only real item of note there was the Leaning Tower and I didn't want to spend a bunch of Euros and time on a train with my travelling mate to go see a silly tower that I knew would be leaning.

Dinner was really good. We ate with a few other Italians that worked with our hosts and I had one of the largest calzones I had ever had in my life. It was really good and then we spent the remainder of the night playing soccer and volleyball in the middle of the square outside. It had a ton of other locals there and they were all singing (I distinctly remember Pearl Jam) and drinking until after we went home at about 1am. Bear in mind that this was in the middle of the week. Those Italians sure do know how to have fun.

Italy Day 4 (Assisi)

After our rude awakening and after my traveling companion had given the bathroom a good washing, we set off to explore the city that is Assisi. (Incidentally, I have pictures of the entire trip posted with captions online, but some of the photos are personal and I've been trying to decide how to handle this. At some point, I will transfer over the personal ones to a private album and only leave the public ones up and post a link here. However, until that day comes, I have to know you and you have to email me and request the link.)

Assisi is commonly associated with St. Francis, who believed that the church should be more interested in simplicity and not so pretentious in its displays. The city itself, is really rather hilly and you can't get much of anywhere without walking up or down, and it remains basically unchanged from more ancient times. It even still have the wall to the city intact. For me, this was much more like the Italy I had wanted to see, much less touristy and far more authentic feeling.

One thing we learned was that after doing Rome in three days, doing any other city was a piece of cake, more or less. We were able to walk the entire span of the city in very little time and the number of sights to see was far less compared to the ancient Roman city. This afforded me the time to take a long secluded three mile uphill walk (and hike) to St. Francis' private sanctuary. (They even still hold Mass in the woods up there.) Most people take a taxi to the Sanctuary, but my feeling was that if St. Francis could do it, I could do it.

The sanctuary is really an amazing area for nature lovers and they have hiking and biking trails that you could likely explore for many hours. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, I no longer had many hours. However, the journey up was a bit humorous to me, as lots of people making the walk up have hiking shoes and gear. I had basketball sneakers and a pair of cargo shorts, with my trusty iPod. I'd get to a resting point and take a two minute break and see a few hikers (usually from Germany) come up with their big packs and they'd look at me - this strange little fellow with none of the required gear.

Hours later, I returned (going down was so much easier than going up - except for the falling rocks) and we went to dinner, which was good because I had neglected to eat the whole day and had built up a bit of an appetite. The restaurant we chose was really cool. There were no other patrons there when we arrived and it was definitely off the beaten path. I had pasta and Italian sausage and my companion had rabbit, which she wanted me to try, but after having the sausage, there was simply no way I could do it. I simply could not bring myself to blemish the delightful flavor that was still swirling in my mouth. I have never had sausage that good. (Minor caveat - when I go to an Italian restaurant in America, I am always served bread and there is olive oil on the side with herbs in it. I was never served this way the entire time I was in Italy.)

The next morning, we left for Florence - the city that I awaited with great anticipation, after so many people (not the least of which being Jill) told me what an amazing city it is.

Italy (Night 3/Morning 4) Assisi

After exploring Rome for the third day, we boarded a train and headed to Assisi. For those of you that have no idea where I'm talking about, you can read more about it. Basically, it's a small city located in Umbria, but that probably doesn't tell many of you very much more than when I said we headed to Assisi. However, if you take a gander at this map, you can more easily see where I went. One thing I have to say about traveling is it sure will help you learn your geography.

So the train ride was basically uneventful. My traveling companion looked at me with raised eyebrow upon learning that I wrote in my journal everyday. Apparently, this somehow conflicted with the very serious reading she was doing across for me, or somehow didn't comport with what she felt a journal was meant to be. Perhaps a journal, in her mind, is only met to be updated with significant events - like meeting the Pope or witnessing a bank robbery - I'm not sure. All I know is that it clearly did not meet her approval that I was updating my journal again. I mean, it had only been a day.

So the train ride was mostly uneventful. We did meet a young Albanian girl traveling with her family who desperately wanted to make friends with us and talk, but there was quite a language barrier. This did not dissuade her from trying as hard as possible to teach us and I have to say it was immensely entertaining. It also helped keep my traveling companion from absolutely stressing out that we had missed our stop or were going the wrong way or some other ridiculous thing. As soon as we went through a stop that wasn't in her little book, there was no calming her down, and despite her professions that she was calm and it wasn't a "big deal", you could tell from her inability to sit still and her constantly looking everywhere from some sort of direction that she was immediately stressed. Enter the Albanian girl to set things right. (We had just been to the Vatican and St. Peter's Cathedral that day so I was pretty much feeling God was at work.) Now if you don't think that was divine, wait for what comes next.

There we are, waiting at our bus stop, outside the train station in the cold. (OK, it was probably 50, but for me and the other Italians there that's pretty darn cold.) And in walks the nun. Now seeing nuns, priests, and monks in Italy is not rare. I think they are about as prolific as ancient monuments in Rome, but I had never seen one waiting for a bus. She walked up to me and asked me what time it was. Upon figuring out that I didn't speak Italian and she barely spoke English, she stared at my watch with me and figured out whether she had understood what I had tried to tell her. My traveling companion came over a few minutes later and was able to communicate a little better with the nun and explained to her where we were trying to stay for the night. (We had no hotel reservations after Rome, so we were totally winging it.) Upon boarding the bus, the locals and the bus driver burst into a spirited discussion about where we should get let off for our hotel. They ended up letting us off one stop early, which was good because our planned stop would have involved walking down a whole lot stairs, and the nun walked us to our hotel. How cool is that? I decided God was totally on our side at that point, and we got to the hotel and got a room. We had to get a triple, which was a little bit more than the double we had planned on, but it was worth it.

We hadn't eaten dinner so we went to try and find somewhere still open. In Rome or Florence this would not have been much of an issue, as Italians generally eat pretty late anyway and 8 or 9 at night is just about the time they show up for dinner. However, in Assisi, getting food at 10PM was not going to be easily accomplished. We settled for whatever was open, and I think I had some sort of pizza. We had planned to sleep in the next morning. However, we quickly learned that was so not going to happen, as you could hear absolutely all of the outdoor sounds perfectly from our room - the car driving past, the people walking, the churches bells (oh, I said churches) - and all of them conspired against us sleeping anywhere past 7. So I got up to take our shower, which ended up being tricky.

Our shower didn't really have walls. It sort of had doors that were to act as walls, but if you were in the shower too long and the water was too high, you'd quickly overflow into the remainder of the bathroom. I quickly realized this before even getting into the shower and was very strategic in my water usage and showering. I came out and warned my companion. She came out a while later and informed me that she had more or less flooded the bathroom. Convinced that it had to be a problem with the drain, she later complained to the hotel folks, who sent a young Peruvian goddess over to mop up my companion's mess and provide us with new towels. (The next morning pretty much went the same way for my companion. She just couldn't quite seem to get a handle on using less water pressure or something.)

Clean and awake, off we went to explore the splendors of Assisi.

Rome (Days 2 & 3)

My second two days in Rome were mostly spent looking at really old things. That's the thing about Rome, you can't really go anywhere without stumbling over some ancient building or monument, or something else equally impressive. This is the reason Rome has been having such a hard time creating a third subway line - every time they go digging, they find something historical. Those Romans sure did like to build.

We went to the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, which is where a huge ancient castle stood for many, many years. Most or all of the marble from these two immense structures was taken for the Vatican. Apparently, while it's good to be the king, it is sometimes better to be the Pope. It is also a "little known fact" that the Vatican never paid for most of the marble that was quarried for it. I guess it was hard to collect from the person that was supposed to be the representation of God.

We also went to the Vatican and St. Peter's Cathedral and a few places in-between. It is not easy to get into the Vatican and we had to wait in-line for almost three hours, which brings me to an interesting caveat. Lines mean nothing in Italy. I don't care if it's the line to get into the Vatican or the line in the grocery store. If you aren't cutting in line, you aren't Italian. The other interesting thing was that I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside most of the places I went to. So while I went there, I can't really prove it. I saw the Sistine Chapel, however, and was duly impressed. Although, I believe I might have been more impressed by the Raphael Rooms for their amazing use of light.

I am not a huge fan of sacred art and, to an extent, I think a lot of it is pretty ridiculous. However, while I was there, I gained a new appreciation for much of what these artists were doing and attempting to convey. I saw the progression of the positioning of people and the way light is reflected and represented. I saw the importance that the artists attached to certain sections of biblical text and their tireless devotion to achieving a finished product that was often simply amazing. At the same time, I was often struck with all the adornments that decorated these places of God and was left to puzzle over whether all of the money used on these things might not have been better spent on feeding the poor. However, I learned that I was not alone in this question and there were many spiritual leaders even back then that thought along these same lines.

Each day, we walked for about ten hours and tried to see as much as possible. The food was always good, but it was far more starchy than I had expected. The thing I had to remind myself of was that Italians were poor and often Italian food was peasant food. So they cooked mostly what was cheap and in great supply, bread, pasta, and other various starches are easy to come by - as is really good cheese. However, if you're looking for meat, you're looking to spend an awful lot to get it, and usually the two do not mix. If there is any meat added to a starch, it is often a very small amount. For example, a panini will often have a single slice of prosciutto. Pizza will have a hunk or two of sausage or ham if you ask for it. Pasta might have a few hunks of meat in its meat sauce. However, more often than not, you're usually eating a lot of starch and drinking wine, which is cheaper or about as expensive as water.

Rome still remains an amazing city and I would say that if you are only ever going to see one city in Italy, Rome would have to be at the top of the list. There is just so much to see in it.

Rome (Day 1)

Just to start out, I want to make clear that I'm not sure I will be giving a day by day account of my trip, but I thought the first day of it deserved a little something special. I am still working on the photos.

We arrived in Rome the day after we left. For those of you playing at home, I got on a plane at about 5:30 in the afternoon on a Friday, but didn't arrive in Rome until about midday Saturday. Fortunately, our hotel was near the central train station in Rome (Termini). So after taking the express shuttle from the main airport to Rome (11 Euros poorer - the rate has gone up since the tour books were published - and about a half hour later) we completed our brief walk to our hotel. Of course, it being midday and all (even though I hadn't really slept), we showered and immediately set off to take in some of the sights, sounds, and smells that are Italy.

Our journey began at the Spanish Steps. All great journeys begin with a single step they say, or in this case, several. I think it was as soon as I got to there that I felt Rome was like Disney World. Just the amazing amount of tourists and folks crowding around both The Steps and every other major sight I saw in Rome made me feel that I could have had the same experience going to Epcot, and it would have been cheaper, dammit.

Rome has some amazing architecture, however, and is truly a splendor to behold. You really cannot go anywhere without seeing something impressive, even if it's just the pizza in the window of a local eatery or the gelato that flows like water. Something is bound to impress. My travelling companion was lured in by a painting in one of the squares that she decided she simply had to have. So after looking at all of the others, and really considering it for a while, she gave in and spent the 100 Euros necessary to acquire it. (100 Euros was half price, but really everything was half price unless you were really dumb like this one girl we saw who quickly expressed her love for everything to the kiosk folks).

Pictures taken and painting in hand, it was time for dinner. I had mapped out all of our food destinations in every city we were going to before we arrived. So off we went to a place that even had red and white checked table clothes and of course, house wine (Chianti). (For those of you that don't know, the house wines come in unmarked containers. I say containers because sometimes it came in bottles, sometimes in carafes, and other times in pitches.) The food was so good, I decided I needed to have two meals - a pizza and then a full plate of pasta with Italian sausage. While I know German sausage is supposed to be a marvel to behold, I have always been somewhat partial to the Italian variety.

Afterwards, we meandered home and I took a Tylenol sleeping pill and passed out by ten (Italy time), 4PM (US).

Euro -J

I had attempted to post this through an outside program, but it - for whatever reason - did not seem to actually appear after it reflected completion. In any event, this is simply a post to notify you all that I am indeed back. I have even posted pictures into an online account for your viewing pleasure, but I have not been able to isolate the private photos from the public ones, as of yet. So, even though it pains me, you will have to wait to see more until I have had more time to organize.