Home bound

We slept in a bit yesterday because we were up til the wee hours of the morning on Friday (well, Saturday actually). We still can't fathom why the night club was so dead on a Friday, considering how many people are on the streets during the day. Come to think of it though, the average age is older than we are, so I guess it's too late for those old fogies ha ha. Now, the huge task of re-packing everything! We decided that we would put all of our clothes in the new suitcase and check it, and use our carry-on bags to put our purchases in; we don't want things to go missing. That would be heart breaking. My Mom's friend just came back from Italy, and the lady at the check-in counter wouldn't allow her carry-on baggage onboard, so she had to check it. Maybe it was too heavy. When she arrived home, her camera and Italian scarves were missing. How maddening, especially since she couldn't do anything about it after the fact. All her pictures were gone - so sad. That would make me steaming mad. We are taking precautions so that doesn't happen to us. Yesterday we had a relaxing day just leisurely walking around Sorrento, buying last-minute souvenirs. It is a rainy/sunny/rainy type of day, and I bought a really cute umbrella - one that doesn't fall apart as soon as I open it. I should have bought it days ago. They never get the weather forecast right here, but it has always been wrong in a good way for us. We caught the bus to the airport at 4:30, but we arrived at 3:50 because we wanted to get a seat on the bus. We have seen how crowded buses are here and we don't want to stand for an hour and a half to Naples. We got a seat about half way back, so we had a good view; not that it mattered anyway because I was blogging and Arrigo was sleeping. By the time we got on the plane to Frankfurt, we were awake for about 22 hours, with a few catnaps here and there. Now that we are actually on our way home, we are looking forward to getting home - me, so I can start a regular regime of exercise and losing weight from all the good Italian food. I guess that's what holidays are all about though. Arrigo is excited to see his kids and get back into his routine too - with one exception - we aren't looking forward to going to work. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to make our flight - only 12 hours to go. That was the longest night of my life - in an airport with no services or comfortable bed. We had nothing but time on our hands so I went for a stroll around the airport, and came across a sign. Soooooo, I know why my Mom's friend had to check her luggage. Lufthansa's weight limit for carry-on luggage is only 8 kilograms and you aren't allowed anything else except your purse in the cabin. I suspect she had to do the same thing as us, but maybe she didn't have her suitcase locked. What a rip off. Eight kilograms is so light. What's going to happen if the luggage weighs 25 pounds like Air Canada's limit? Will the plane fall from the sky, or is it just that the bag handlers are wimps, or are they trying to save on fuel.p? Hmmmm. I better lose weight fast or we're going down. We were moving our luggage back and forth a few times to get the right weight, and we decided to use my luggage as carry on. We got it down to 8.2 kilos. Now we have to use the totally wimpy, pickable lock that came with my new suitcase and likely pay a fee because our large suitcase is now over weight. This is how Lufthansa makes its extra money. It's a great racket. I've heard stories about Air Canada nickel and diming a person, but Lufthansa is far worse. I hope a store opens so we can buy a good lock for Arrigo's suitcase. No need... there's a baggage wrap machine over there. We paid € 18.80 to have a man wrap two of our suitcases with a thick Saran-wrap so no one could break into Arrigjo's suitcase. We checked in at the Lufthansa desk and our big suitcase was two kilos too heavy. He was going to charge us € 100. Was I right in saying this is a racket. Off came the Saran Wrap and we transferred two kilos to my purse. It also turns out that my carry-on bag wasn't even weighed. If we knew that, we wouldn't have had to go through that entire exercise. Sheesh! When we finally got on the plane, we were jam packed in. Three hours later, we arrived in Frankfurt. Brrrr! I can see my breath. We had to be transferred to the terminal by bus. Not too often am I on a vehicle with a plane taxiing right beside us. It's a picture right out of some comedy. I guess Lufthansa's planes are too small to park in the big planes' parking spot. This airport is HUGE. Where do we go? How do we get there? We eventually made our way to the customs area, and there was a very long line up? They sure didn't give us much time to transfer to our next plane. Finally, we're through. I can't wait to get on the plane. I just looked out the window and we are flying over somewhere cold, because it looks like there are icebergs down there. Next stop - Calgary. It'll be nice to get back in Canada. Our flight to Edmonton has been changed because we were delayed in Frankfurt by 45 minutes. We are in the plane to Edmonton now - a prop plane. I can't hear my keyboard clicks because the plane is so noisy, but we'll be home in half an hour. We have now completed our journey, and we have had a fantastic three and a half weeks in Italy. We saw everything we wanted to see, did everything we wanted to do, and are ready to plan our next vacation - Cuba anyone, with a non-stop flight? Ciao for now.

Stairs, stairs, and more stairs

Italians don't stay healthy by drinking red wine... they stay healthy by climbing lots of stairs. Step one of the day - catch the bus; second step - be patient on the bus; third step - stay patient on the bus. First, there were students protesting something, and they were blocking the main intersection. We got past that, but now it appears the traffic lights aren't working because something is slowing us down. Finally, now we're moving. Ah! Air movement. We were hoping to get on right side of the bus, so we could experience the hair raising, death defying cliff-drop views, but we ended up at the back of the bus, and I think we lucked out because we can see the great views of where we've been. First stop was Positano. I heard someone say that there are 1,700 stairs to get down to the town. I thought that was an exaggeration, but now I think that perhaps that 1,700 was correct; I lost track after 387 and we were only a quarter way up. The good news though - the stairs aren't all in one big stair case; they are clustered into several stair cases all over the place. Going down wasn't too bad, but coming up was a bit more tiring. Positano is a charming town on the coast with great shops with way overpriced everything. There is no wasted space in Italy, and the smallest shop, whether it be a restaurant, dress shop, or bakery may be built into the cliffs. It is the coolest little town. Since things are way over priced, any last-minute shopping we do will be in Sorrento on our last day, which is tomorrow. On with our day tomorrow...I don't want to think about leaving this beautiful country, but I am looking forward to coming home. After our brief stay in Positano, we got on the bus to Amalfi. Another ride with beautiful views. The town of Amalfi is even more charming than Positano. Narrow streets abuzz with life, but not crowded like the big cities like Rome or Florence. We really like these small towns; they are so beautiful. The best part of Amalfi - not so many stairs! The streets are very narrow and there are a lot of curves and hair pin turns along the coast, and when buses pass each other, there is literally what seems to be an inch between them. It's quite amazing to watch. I am always sure that the mirrors are going to collide. Once, on our way back to Sorrento, two buses had to stop and a motorcycle just scooted in front of one of the buses - they get in where ever they can. When we finally arrived in Sorrento, we wanted to go out for a nice dinner, but on our way we thought we might go into the "Woodworks" store, but we thought we better get rid of our backpacks first, so we went to change. I don't know what kind of wood the furniture is made of, but we suspect it is chestnut. There were tables that cost € $25,000 - that's about $35,000 CAN for a table, but it would be a nice table... BUT, does that include shipping ha ha! There were beautiful music boxes for € $3,500, but they were beautiful music boxes, and I'm not even a music box kind of gal. Now do you understand why we changed our backpacks...we didn't want to accidentally knock something down by turning the wrong way. If we did, that would be a pricey accident. Since I am known as a bull in a china shop, I'm sure it would be me saying "Arrigo, can you please give me some money to pay for this broken elephant!" Yesterday Alfonso invited us to his piece of paradise on his boat, and although today wasn't quite as warm and sunny, it is still pretty beautiful, and I'd love to call this our paradise. Gotta go now. We're on our way out to the discotheque at the end of the street. We are in the mood for some dancing. We have to spend our last night in Sorrento in style. The discotheque, Fauna Notte Club Discotheque, is way different than night clubs in Edmonton. They are classy. This night club had nice couches around the dance floor, the bar staff brought our drinks to us, good lighting, dry-ice effect on the dance floor, and the bar was marble. We went to the club at around 12:15 and asked the bartender when things would start getting busy. One o'clock he said. It was getting very close to 1:00, but hardly anyone was coming downstairs. Whaat! It's Friday night. There were only three or four people dancing, and that included us, along with a couple of scantily-clad women. They were putting on a show, so needless to say, no one was on the dance floor - can't compete with that. The music is a bit different too, in that the DJ only played a partial song before he started playing the next song. We danced to Moves Like Jagger, but he cut out Christina Aguilera's part. Okay, it's getting late - time to go. It's now 3:35 am and my eyes are very heavy. Arrigo is checking out the NFL scores - he's a die hard. Next time I'll be able to blog, I will be in the Naples airport tomorrow (that is if there is WiFi there) and I'll tell you all about our last day in Italy. The next destination - Frankfurt.

Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius

Today we go to Pompeii. The train ride is about half an hour. Pompeii, founded in 600 B.C., was a thriving city of 20,000 until it was stopped in its tracks on August 24 A.D. 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The city was buried under 30 feet of volcanic ash. Pompeii offers the best look anywhere at what life in Rome must have been like around 2,000 years ago. Then, in 1599, Pompeii was accidentally rediscovered. For the archaeologists who excavated it centuries later, it was a windfall, teaching them volumes about daily Roman life. Excavations started in 1748. Although the roofs collapsed from the weight of the ash, the walls remained intact. It was interesting to see architecture from Roman times. There were fast-food joints, bakeries, and a brothel. There were a couple of glass cases of two Pompeians eerily captured in their last moments. They were quickly suffocated by a superheated avalanche of ash and gas. Their bodies were encased in volcanic debris. Archaeologists found hollow spaces underfoot, created when the victims' bodies decomposed. The holes were filled with plaster and molds were created of Pompeiians caught in the disaster. Very interesting. The brothels had the beds intact, but they were stone. I don't know if the beds were made of stone 2,000 years ago. I sat on one and it would have been very uncomfortable to sleep on, let alone brotheling. The bakery had its oven intact, and it looks just like a forno pizza oven. There was even a bath house where people went to exercise and relax. Everything we have, they had. Society is stupid today though. For example, the water in the steam baths was channeled down the walls so hot water didn't drip on heads. Steam rooms don't have that today. I don't know if it's because modern society got lazy, cheap, or if we are just stupid. We are now on the bus to Mount Vesuvius to see what stopped Pompeii in its tracks. It you put a bus driver from here in a Formula One race car, he'd probably do alright. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it. The views are spectacular on our way up to Mount Vesuvius. And on our left ladies and gentlemen - the river of lava. Oh no, two buses are going to pass. They are almost touching. I better stop typing now because I'm getting sick. We arrived at the semi-top and we hiked 20 more minutes to the top. We were above the clouds, so didn't see much, but at times we saw the crater of the mountain when the clouds cleared away momentarily. We didn't stay up very long because it was windy and colder - the Italians were wearing toques and winter coats. Sooo funny. I wonder how they'd like Canada. We stopped for bruschetta and a glass of wine at our mid-point down. The bruschetta was flavourful, but I didn't care for the wine, so Arrigo drank my wine. By the time we got down to the train station, it was raining. It's a good thing we have those cheap umbrellas from Florence. Arrigo found an umbrella left behind outside St. Peter's Basilica. We needed more money so found a bank and bought some groceries to make a little picnic for our trip along the Amalfi Coast and Positano tomorrow. Two full days left and then we go home to cold St. Albert.

Capri at the sea

As I sit here in our lovely hotel, drinking my lovely bottle of wine, and eating my lovely salami and pesto bun, I am contemplating what to write. We weren't sure what we were going to do today because the weather wasn't supposed to be good. We thought about our day at breakfast and decided to stick to our plan and go to the island of Capri. Our stick-to-itiveness paid off because it was a gorgeous day. First thing to do was to walk down the 392 steps (a tiny over exaggeration - there isn't a shortage of stairs in Italy) to get to the various boats that would take us to Capri. The boat was late. Oh, gee! Where has that happened before??? Finally, it's here. It wasn't too long of a ride to Capri, and less than a minute after we got off the boat, Alfonso approached us to take us for a private boat ride around the island. He promised to show us a good time, and boy did he ever. He has been doing this all of his life - he is from Capri, so he knew where to take us. We saw cave after cave and the green grotto. We didn't get to see the famous Blue Grotto because the sea was too rough and the cave opening is to small, but he showed us another grotto that was the same. The only difference - a larger opening to the cave... Sounds good to me. We don't need the blue grotto. It's full of tourists anyway. Absolutely beautiful is the only description I can use for this. The water is so blue and the sun shining on the water is radiant. We saw a statue of Mary that was formed from stalagmites. Alfonso even knew where to take me to pee. They left me on a rock to pee, but no worries, they came back for me. Arrigo took pictures from afar. We continued our boat ride around the island. There were a lot of homes and hotels built on the cliffs... talk about a room with a view. Our boat ride came to an end. We paid Alfonso and gave him a good tip. He deserved it. Next stop - Anacapri. We took a hair raising bus trip up the hill to the chair lift that would take us to the top of Anacapri. The first thing I bought up there was some sunglasses because I forgot mine. I now look like I belong in Italy. It only took three weeks! I now know why they have short and narrow buses - they need to do hair pin turns and go around tiny roundabouts. The buses in St. Albert simply couldn't do that. The views were spectacular and the water - so blue and clear. We got a ton of pictures. One direction - islands upon islands, and the other side - wide open Mediterranean Sea. The cliffs were straight down, but it made the views grand. We took the chair lift down to the town of Anacapri. We walked around this charming town and stopped to eat. We could have shared a pizza because they were big enough. We are doughed out though. We then made our way back to catch the bus back to the Capri marina to go back to Sorrento. We stopped in the grocery store in Sorrento to buy some juice, fruit, salami, buns, and pesto sauce to make sandwiches. By the time we finished buying groceries, it was pouring. Good thing we brought our umbrellas. We just wanted to relax after a long day in Capri. On the agenda tomorrow - Pompeii.

Rome to Sorrento, and what a ride

We started packing for our journey to Sorrento, and what a journey it was. We got a taxi to the train station. We didn't want to fight the crowds on the bus again. By the time we arrived at the train station, it was raining cats and dogs. I wonder where that saying came from. I'd hate to see cats and dogs falling from the sky. The first thing that happened was a young girl approached us to see if we need help. We aren't stupid enough to fall for that. Arrigo told her to get lost Monai style. Hey, Arrigo, there is a lot of yelling going on over there. Arrigo understood the yelling. An Indian man was trying to pick pocket a lady. She felt him touch her and she just made a scene so as to draw the police. She was yelling at the top of her lungs and spitting on him. She was saying "you're in my country and you touch me." She dared him to touch her again. There are no trains to Sorrento, so we have to go to Naples and transfer to another train to Sorrento. We get to take the speed train. Ooooohhhhhh, I'm excited to go on a speed train. It doesn't take much to get me excited. I get excited going to Staples, let alone to Naples. Get it, Staples...Naples. Ok, enough of the sick humour. When we got up to speed, we were traveling 294 kph. How do I know, you ask! Because there is a projection TV in the aisle that tells speed, current temperature of the destination, and shot from the back of the train so we can see how fast we were going. Man oh man, is this thing fast. Arrigo said if he could drive this fast, he would be like Fernando Alonso. Weee're here. It only took 70 minutes to get to Naples. On a regular train, it would take over three hours. We had to transfer to a train to Sorrento, and what an experience that was. The tickets only cost €4.70 each for an hour train ride to Sorrento. There were so many people on the train platform, that we couldn't get through to get to the other end of the platform. It looked like shag carpeting. By the time the train came there was less than standing room only. Apparently, one train didn't come, so that's why the train was so packed. The only way more people could have fit on the train is if they hung out of the windows. The first thing we saw when we got to the train station in Naples was a luggage store. I looked at the crappy piece of made-in-China-with-two-broken handles piece of luggage that Arrigo was pulling and I said to myself "Self, you should buy another piece of luggage so Arrigo doesn't have to pull that piece of crap anymore. Not only that, you will be able to buy more stuff if you buy a bigger piece." Idea sold. I'll buy a new piece of luggage. We went into the luggage store and ended up buying a hard-case larger piece of luggage on four wheels, and it rolls really nice. It took no time at all to transfer the luggage from China to the quality "Made-in-Italy" luggage and throw away the old piece of luggage. I can't imagine Arrigo having to haul that old piece of luggage on that train. We got lost looking for our hotel. I see a nice polizia man over there. I think I should ask him for directions. I have to practice my pronunciations here, and even when I do, I screw it up. Once I said benvenuto (welcome) instead of grazie. I think I was just nervous. When we arrived at the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised. We checked in and the porter showed us to our room and we were even more pleasantly surprised - the room was roomy, floors beautifully tiled, bathroom was large with a bath tub and shower (nice rain shower I might add), table in the centre of the room and a closet with more than five hangars. It is the nicest room we have had on our journey. Let's go for a walk. Okay, we'll stop for a drink upstairs first if you insist. Why don't we check out for the pool garden area for a drink. There are lime, lemon, and tangerine trees. I hear there's even a grafted tree of orange and lemons. Okay, if you insist! The fruit on this tree is huge. Wow! After our drink, we went for a walk. This place is fabulous for shopping. I bought a pink pair of shoes. Pashminas only cost €5. I think I will buy a few of those. That's way cheaper than back home.

Last day in Rome

Today we go to the Vatican museums, which includes the Sistine Chapel. We purchased our tickets online a couple of days ago. When I got to the payment page, it asked for my password (not my PIN) for my Visa. What's this... I have never been asked for a password before. I got on the phone to Visa and the representative was able to walk me through creating a password. Apparently, it's a new security system for online purchasing. In the event that my card gets stolen, it can't be used to purchase anything online. Now the only challenge is for me to remember it; there are so many passwords these days. Ok, now let's buy two tickets to the Vatican museums. The lady at Visa stayed on the line with me to make sure I was able to purchase the tickets. Mission accomplished! This is what we have been looking forward to. If the weather holds out too, we will climb the dome. It's a good thing we bought tickets in advance because the line up just to buy tickets was three hours. Being the smart travelers we are, we didn't have to wait; we just walked in. The museums are a series of rooms you walk through where you can admire different artists' works, such a Rafaello, Bernini, Leonardo Davinci, and other famous artists. Some of the rooms are so long that with the leisurely stroll and stopping to admire the art, it takes five or 10 minutes to walk through. One room was very long, and the ceiling was amazingly beautiful. The frescoes on the walls and ceilings made me want frescoes on the ceilings of our new house, but I don't think that style of painting is done anymore. Now for the pièce de résistance - the Sistine Chapel. The room is kept a bit dimmer than the other rooms; otherwise, the frescoes will fade eventually. The room was absolutely exquisite. Taking pictures or video is absolutely forbidden in the Sistine Chapel. It says that at the door and you can't miss the announcer on microphone saying it too, but there is always one stupido snapping a picture. What would you do with it anyway. Some people are so selfish and disrespectful. Each fresco tells a story, and each story is interesting. I'm getting an appreciation for the stories in the bible. Arrigo makes it interesting. We were admiring the Sistine Chapel for about 20 minutes - I almost didn't want to leave. When we left, we went to climb the dome, but it was closed by the time we got there. If we hadn't stopped for pizza in the cafeteria while we waited for the rain to subside, we would have made it on time. We can't do it tomorrow because we leave for Sorrento tomorrow morning. It was disappointing, but we did get a good view from the castle the other day. As we walked back to our hotel, we went for a walk along what was known as the "Dolce Vita" walk. Arrigo was so sweet and waited patiently as I shopped. I love some of the clothes in Italy, but I have come to be uncomfortable shopping here. They shop differently in Italy. They don't like you to touch anything before you buy, and I like touching what I am interested in buying. I also like to try clothes on and if the clothes don't appeal to me, I won't buy, but they expect you to buy here. I feel guilty to just touch and take my time. We bought some leggings for me and Abi. My feet were so sore that I just wanted to get to the hotel so I could put my feet up and rest. I obviously brought the wrong shoes with me. We finally found our way to the Metro and we stopped at a pasticeria we came across totally by accident last night. The food is so good that we got take-out two nights in a row. We went back to our hotel to eat the food we bought and it was perfect timing that we were able to FaceTime Abi. She was so excited to talk to her Dad and me. All-in-all today was a successful day. We have now done it all in Rome. It is a busy city with tons of people and beggars. I don't think I would come to Rome again. Been there, done that. We like the smaller towns with narrow streets and less people. Rome's traffic is crazy, but we have yet to see an accident. It makes us wonder why they have those crazy police sirens going off every 10 minutes; I think it's just so they can get to where they're going faster.

Some catching up to do

I'm a couple of days behind so I have a lot of catching up to do. It is now Monday morning and we are sitting in the laundromat. Arrigo is playing Candy Crush on his phone and I am blogging. This blog would be so much more interesting for all of you to read if I could add paragraph breaks - such a simple thing, but for some reason, it won't allow me to do it. It would also be nice if I could add pictures. I don't know what has changed from when I used to be able to do those two simple tasks, but it is frustrating. I apologize to all of you because I was really looking forward to all of you being able to read an interesting blog with pictures, but it's turned out to be JUST READING with no interesting pictures. Now is where I should put a paragraph break, but I'm not going to bother because when I publish the blog entry, it ignores it anyway. On with it! Yesterday we went to see the Via Appia Antica catacombs. We took the bus there and rented bikes to get around. They must have weighed 100 pounds each - not like our 20 pound bikes at home. It felt good to get some exercise besides walking. It gave my feet a rest. There are many catacombs in this area, but we went to Callisto Catacomb. The catacombs are where Christians from Roman times buried their families. Our tour guide, Nicola, who wore a scarf and hoodie because it's cold under ground, took us down to the tombs and explained everything to us. It was very comfortable, temperature wise, for us, but then again, we're from Canada. Nicola told everybody there were no pictures allowed, and when we got underground, he noticed somebody with a video camera on his head. Nicola asked him to put it away. He was very slow at putting it away, and Nicola finally told him to "put it away right now." We continued on our tour and there were two more men that had expensive cameras wrapped around their wrists as if to say 'no one will notice if I take a picture.' Nicola said no pictures are allowed. Later, on the tour, one Of the men went into one of the tiny hallways leading to more tombs and snapped a picture. Good thing I saw him because I had the guts to say "you aren't allowed to take pictures down here, have a little respect." He looked at me and it looked as though he was going to say something to me, but he knew he was in the wrong. After that I made sure I was at the back of the line to watch him. I'm the catacomb police. After our visit at the catacomb, we decided to go for a ride for what seemed like 10 kilometers, along via Apia Antica. This is a road that leads to Naples, but of course we didn't go that far. It Was like we were mountain biking because there was no paving. It was stone and uneven rock, just like they were in Roman times. We wanted to see the aqua ducts that were built around the Roman Empire. It's how they transported water way back then. Now that we had seen the aqua ducts, we had to make our way back to the bike rental place. There was also a nice little ristorante where,we had something to eat; we were hungry after mountain biking. These little restaurants that don't seem like much have the best food. Arrigo had mushroom and sausage lasagne. It was the absolutely the best lasagne I had ever tasted. After lunch, we took the bus to the Metro to see yet another museum. I think it called the National Museum Of Art. There were four levels of statues, paintings, frescoes, as well as coins from when the Roman Empire ruled; it was like being in Fort Knox as we stepped in the vault. There was also modern art, which wasn't as interesting. Ok, time to go home now, or should I say back to our home away from home. See you tomorrow.

Colosseum, Forum and Pantheon

Today on the agenda... the Colosseum, Forum and Pantheon. First stop... The Colosseum. We were walking, and walking, and walking before I asked someone for directions. We were close to it by the time I asked. The Colosseum is amazing. The amazing part is that it is still intact. Parts have been restored, which is understandable. It is 2,000 years old after all. There were mobs of people. Underneath the floors of the Colosseum back in those days was an open cavity that would fill full of water and naval battles would occur. Eventually, they dug channels and a stage was installed and different props would come up through the floor. After we took many pictures and visited the book store, we left to go to the Forum, which was across the street. The Forum is pretty much disintegrated and was very interesting. On one side of the Forum is Palentine Hill. It used to be an area for shops where people lived. It was a nice walk. Romans must have had strong feet because they wore nothing but sandals on cobblestone, and we have support running shoes and pavement. oh, and when we got lost at the start of the day... it turns out that all we had to do was walk around the front, instead of the side of the building, and we would have been at the Colosseum in two minutes instead of 25 minutes. We made our way to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is amazing. It is the world's largest unreinforced cement dome. It is still used as a church and is completely intact. The roof of the dome is open and legend says it doesn't rain in the dome when people hold candles because the heat rises and doesn't allow rain to enter the church. After the Pantheon, we went for a walk, shopped, sat at the Spanish Steps, people watched. We were starting to get a bit hungry so went to a local restaurant for lunch. It was recommended by a local, and the funny thing is... we noticed it walking by just a few minutes before, saying "look at how crowded that place is. It must be good." It was good. Maan, it's been a long day. Let's go back to the hotel and relax for the evening.

Rome

Look, over there, the tourist information booth. Now that we've found that, we aren't as stressed about things. We found out which bus to take to get to our hotel, and bought the Roma Pass. The Roma pass gives us free entry to some museums and other sites, as well as free transportation on the metro or bus system. Let's go to our hotel and plan our attack on the eternal city. Taking the bus was an experience in itself. The bus was beyond packed - standing room only for sure, and packing along three suitcases was an additional challenge. That, coupled with not quite knowing which stop to get off at, made for a stressful ride. Our luggage was rolling around everywhere when the bus would turn, start, or stop. We decided right then and there that a taxi ride back to the train station would be worth the extra euros. Finally, our stop is the next one, but how are we going to get through these crowds politely? The answer - don't be polite - just push through the crowds. We're here, but now which way - left or right? We eventually found our way to the hotel... what a relief. The front desk staff was very helpful by giving us the lay of the land. Sheri is from Missouri - finally, someone who completely understands me! There is also an Italian-speaking man for the folk who speak Italian. We decided that since it is already mid-day, we would just go downtown to check it out, but not do too much. A lot of people drive scooters here and the driving - oh man, it's crazy. There doesn't seem to be any rules in some places. Roundabouts are chaotic - not quite sure who has the right of way. If you want to learn how not to drive, this is the place to do it. Every traffic violation can be broken in a short trip. We took the bus and made our way to Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps (great for a stair workout) and the outside of the Pantheon because it was closed. That will come tomorrow. This building is huge. In fact, all these buildings are huge. If you thought buildings in Vegas are big, you'd be wrong - or at least on a scale compared to these buildings. There were no cranes back in Roman times so it makes you wonder how these 60-ton pillars (and there are a lot of them) were erected. The Pantheon is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome and the best preserved building in Rome. I also found out that the water from all the water fountains in Rome comes from a spring, so it's free. At night time, the passiagiatta is a nice evening stroll with the streets lit up gold, with lots of outdoor cafés - so European... wait, we are in Europe. The passiagiatta is full of Lebanese men trying to sell tacky anything. They are relentless. I don't even look at them anymore. I tell them "I didn't come to Italy to buy something from India." Politeness is starting to wear off. "No grazie" is slowly becoming a not-so-polite hand gesture. There are so many scammers. Time to go to our hotel and get ready for what lies ahead tomorrow - the Colosseum, Forum, and Pantheon. We are following a "5-day itinerary for Rome" that we got off the Internet.

Orvieto and Rome

Part 1 of Orvieto: This entry will be in two parts because of the good WiFi connection we finally have. When we arrived in Orvieto, we took the funicular (cable car) up to the town. It is another medieval city surrounded by a wall. Orvieto is situated on a plateau and the views are spectacular. We checked into Hotel Corso - a quaint little hotel, and an even smaller room, but it was very nice. Hotel rooms this small in Canada would be considered dives, but here they are nice. No such thing here as wasted space. We didn't even unpack because 1) we are only here one night and then on our way to Rome, and 2) we wanted to get out and explore. We don't want to waste time unpacking when we could be out seeing the sights. The first thing we did was go to the Duomo (church). It is as impressive as the duomo in Florence... Just not as massive, but still gigantic. There are four pillars on the front of the church, and each one tells a story from biblical times. We each bought a gelato to enjoy while studying each pillar. The first pillar is the story of Genesis; the second is the Tree of Jesse; the third, episodes from the life of Jesus; and the fourth pillar is the Last Judgment. The detail is amazing. What sculptors could do with marble back then is amazing. I may be wrong, but I don't know if artists would bother with sculpting with such detail these days because now it's all about money and how fast they can get it done to sell it. There is so much history here in Italy that I am still amazed by it all. We climbed down St. Patrick's well, which is 175 feet deep and 45 feet wide and had two spiral stairways with a bridge at the bottom which allowed one-way efficient traffic flow. The well was built because the pope got nervous and moved to Orvieto after Rome was sacked in 1527 by renegade troops of the Holy Roman Empire. After that, we went for a walk on the outside of the wall and it was like being in the Lord of the Rings. Arrigo made a funny video about the walls of Mordor. We'll post it on Facebook since I can't post it on the blog. A few people were out for a run. What a great place for a run... and if you want hill training, whether, running or riding your bike, this is the place to be. The scenery was - oh! have I said how beautiful it is here - spectacular. We came across a castle in the middle of nowhere, and just below our walking path was a couple gardening. Talk about having a room with a view - the rolling hills of the countryside and a castle in the foreground. When we got back to town, we got lost trying to find our way to Piazza de Popolo when we ran into a local who noticed that we looked lost. He asked us where we wanted to go. You know what men are like when they get lost - they won't ask for directions. Arrigo simply said "I'm looking at the map trying to see where we are. I, on the other hand, quickly asked him how to get to the duomo, because once we're at the duomo, we know where we are. We got talking and it turns out that he is from California. Well, actually, he was born in Orvieto, moved to California, and came back to Orvieto after many years away. Enrico, that is his name, suggested a good restaurant for dinner; he even walked us there so we would know where it was. It's a good thing we got a reservation for 7:30 because we were the only people in the restaurant. They eat so late here, and not only that, they have an appetizer, first course, second course and something dolce (dessert). I can see how they don't get fat in these midaeval cities because they stay fit from all the uphill walking. If it wasn't for that, they would be fat. After dinner we relaxed in our hotel for the rest of the evening. The WiFi is much better here than in Florence (go figure), so I was able to publish a blog entry with no problem at all. Tomorrow we leave for Rome, where we will be for five days. Part 2: Orvieto and Rome After breakfast this morning, we went for a walk to see where it would take us. We happened on the market we read about. Perfect! Shopping - hee hee. I did buy some clothes and we bought some fruit for the train ride to Rome. We started making our way to the hotel to check out and then made our way to the funicular to get to the train. We're here... Rome. It's a huge train station. If we ever find our way to the tourist information booth in the train station, I'll be sure to update you on the continuing travels of Arrigo and Ellen. Stay tuned.

Oh! Orvieto

Yesterday was our last day in Florence andI felt a cold coming on. Oh great! I'm in Italy and I have a cold. We went on a couple of tours yesterday - the morning tour was a waking tour, which included the Duomo and the Academia Gallery. At first we were worried that it was just a walking tour and we wouldn't get to go into the Duomo or get to see the original "David" in Academia. We had already seen the outside of both, and we didn't need to see them again. We asked the tour guide, and she assured us that we would go inside. Yeah! Our guide walked us around to various sights around the centre of the city and then we got to go into the Duomo. This is one of the sights we were looking forward to. It was a little disappointing, considering how massive it is outside. There wasn't the amount of sculptures and floor detail as there was in other churches, but it is because rich families weren't allowed to donate money and bury their family members in this church. Don't get me wrong though... the church was still beautiful; the inside of the dome, stained glass, and altar were exquisite, but all the other churches we saw had a lot of sculptures and graves (either marble caskets above ground or graves in the floor). Next stop...Academia to see David. There are copies of David throughout Florence; everything from shops called David's Leather to David Gelato. David was the hero of Florence and he is known as perfection, and he is. If you are interested in a brief history of Michelangelo, read on. For those of you who aren't interested, you're going to get a history lesson anyway. From 6 to 10 years of age, Michelangelo's parents left him with a family. I don't remember why. The man of this family was a stone cutter, and this piqued Michelangelo's interest. He wanted to know everything about cutting stone. He caught on quickly and wanted to know even more. He wanted to add realism to his sculptures, and he got the opportunity to learn about anatomy by dissecting bodies. By the time his parents came to pick him up at 10 years old, he was already accomplished. His father had grand plans for him to be a professional, but Michelangelo would have nothing of that... he wanted to be a sculptor. He became a renowned sculptor and was commissioned for many projects. He also didn't believe in having a helper, which is why his projects took so long to complete. He didn't want the risk of someone messing up his work. One wrong chisel after years of work could mean disaster. Maybe that's why he lived to be 89 - because he always had a project to complete. You would not believe the detail of David - from the veins in his neck and right hand that holds the stone of his slingshot, as if he was getting psyched up to kill Goliath to the way his brows furrough as if he's thinking about his plan of attack. His eyes are even carved with the detail of eye lids and brows, and talk about a six-pack. Michelangelo decided he wanted to depict David before he killed Goliath, not after, like so many other statues. David is vey fragile because the marble Michelangelo carved with had imperfections, so he covered up the major ones, but some day David might break apart, so he is connected to a fibre optic sensor to monitor any movement. That will be a very sad day if David breaks. In the afternoon, we went on a tour of the Uffizzi - another museum. I wasn't so interested in this tour because it was all paintings and how painting has changed over the years in the Rennaisance. There were sculptures as well, but by this time, my feet were sore. I think I'm going to have to see a physiotherapist when I get home because my feet shouldn't be so sore. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent buying a piece of luggage at a street vendor to carry all our new luggage in. We knew it would be cheap, but we just need it to get us home. After that, we just spent the night in our hotel because we wanted to relax. We are now on the train going to Orvieto, and that cheap piece of luggage we bought last night - the handle broke letting it onto the train. I'll by a good one in Orvieto if I can find one.

Siena and San Gimignano

We set our alarm because we didn't want to be late for our tour to Siena and San Gimignano. We had our usual morning cappuccino and caffe latte, along with breakfast and then left to go to where we were to meet our tour bus. The bus is a double-decker and we sat on the top. We have a tour guide who can speak at least four languages. There are French, Spanish, Italian and English speaking tourists on this bus. An hour and a half later, we arrived in Siena. This city is from mediaeval times and has succeeded in keeping its mediaeval appearance intact over the years. Interestingly enough, Siena and Firenze were rivals in the old days. Siena had one-upmanship issues - what ever Firenze had, Siena had to outdo it. The one thing Siena tried to make bigger than Firenze was their duomo (cathedral), but it doesn't even come close to measuring up to the duomo in Florence. The duomo here is beautiful though. The entire floor is made of marble and is a sight to see. We only had 20 minutes to see the duomo - it wasn't nearly enough time to see everything we would have liked to see. After the tour guide guided us around, we only had an hour and a half to roam around and do what we wanted to do. We went to a local shop that sold fruit and meats and made sandwiches on the type of buns we wanted. The proprietor and Arrigo were having a good time talking about whatever they were talking about. We took our sandwich and glass of wine and sat on the curb to eat where there was a spot for customers to eat; just a piece of cardboard that said "Poggia" and "Mele" and below ...Serve per Seders - a place to sit and there wee two big apples for us to sit on. We like the off-the-beaten-path restaurants because we get to talk (or at least Arrigo does) to the locals and they treat us better, especially once they hear Arrigo speak Italian. It's time for us to go to the bus to the next stop at San Gimignano. We enjoyed seeing the mediaeval city of Siena. It reminds me of the movie Les Miserables. We just passed a couple of fields of sunflowers, but they were all limp. I don't know if it's because it's the end of summer or because it is a rainy day. It would be beautiful if they were fully open and smiling at us. I love sunflowers. San Gimignano is a city surrounded by a wall. In the mediaeval times, the wall protected the people from their enemies. It is beautiful and a tourist trap, just like Siena. I saw some nice purses and boots, but I think I can find them for cheaper in Florence or Rome. We stopped at a winery on our way back to Florence and Arrigo bought some wine and cenerone cheese and also bought a package of dehydrated Ribollita soup - the same kind of soup that we had at lunch with Sara yesterday. Tonight is going to be a night in after we go for supper at the Archie Bunker place. We need to have some of that Tuscan tomato soup again, or maybe there will be Ribollita. After that, laundry and postcards. It's insanely expensive to send a postcard home - €2 - so needless to say, we aren't going to send many.

History lesson and day of churches

Today we met Sara. We knew the forecast called for rain, so we dressed accordingly. We were walking towards the train station where we were to meet Sara, and Arrigo got a text message from her. She told him she arrived at the station early and just as he read the text, Sara was in front of us. Arrigo had never met Sara before, and I definitely hadn't, but we have seen pictures of her, so we recognized her right away. We greeted her in typical Italian style - a kiss on each cheek. We spent the entire day with her and had a great time, and at the same time learning about the history of Firenze. The first church we went to was Santa Maria Novella, but it wasn't open to the public yet. We wandered over to Santa Croce, which is also a museum, and on the way we stopped at one of the oldest pharmacies in the world called Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. It was established in 1221, and it's where the rich go to buy their lotions and potions. The museum and church at Santa Croce are amazing, just like all the other churches here. Michelangelo and Galileo were buried here. There is so much history here in Florence, not unlike all of Italy. The churches here make churches in Edmonton look like houses. The Basilica in Edmonton would be a corner church here. Even the corner, out-of-the-way churches have prcieless works of art by Michelangelo and other masters of architecture, painting and sculpture. From there, we went for lunch at a small (like a lot of restaurants here) cafe right beside the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. By this time it was pouring rain and it was nice to be inside and stay dry. We had soup called Ribolatti - a bread and bean soup that is boiled over and over again. The more times it's boiled, the better it tastes. This soup was like a meal. I also had pici, sort of like broad spaghetti noodles> I forget what kind of sauce it had, but it was delicious. We showed Sara some videos of the family, the same videos we showed Fanny and Pierina. Well, staying dry only lasted as long as it took to eat lunch; it was raining hard outside, so I bought a cheap rain poncho for four euros.

Are my feet supposed to get this sore?

Today was our first full day in Florence and believe it or not, the first thing I did is log into my blog just to check it out. Arrigo better drive me to the insane asylum because this blog is driving me crazy. It doesn't recognize my paragraph breaks. I'm an editor for a living and I can't edit my own blog. The first thing we did is go for breakfast. It wasn't as good as in Cinque Terre, but it'll do ha ha. We went to the market, and our plan was to walk the market first to see what there was to offer. That plan didn't last very long. I bought a purse at the first purse stand we saw. Apparently we got a really good deal because we were his first customers of the day. I'm sure everybody makes the same mistake. I know this because there were stands everywhere with the same purse for less money. Oh well! We bought a few more things before we went into the indoor market. The indoor market is for fish and fruit and vegetables. Last night when we went for dinner, a couple from Toronto sat beside us. They told us about a place in the market that sells a delicious dish of beef on a bun. Just look for the long line of people and you'll know you found it. Sure enough, we ended up in the middle of mob central. So many locals were lined up for this beef on a bun, that we thought that maybe these Torontonians knew what they were talking about, and they did. It was delicious. These Italians really know how to cook...you don't even have to go to a restaurant. It's just as good from a stand of some sort. We went exploring all day. First we checked out a few museums. You wouldn't believe the sculptures and the detail. I am officially amazed yet again. We lucked out at all the museums we visited today. There were no entrance fees. We walked to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, which is amazing. This bridge is unbelievable. There are homes on the bridge, as well as several shops, mostly jewelry shops. We stopped for a cappuccino and continued on our way to the Micheal Angelo Piazzale. Amazing views, not to mention a sculpture of David - one of the many in Venice, but we are going to the Academia and Uffizzi galleries on Tuesday where we will see the original "David" - the one that is protected. We decided to take the bus back to the hotel from the Piazzale because our feet were sore, but we stopped for food first at a street vendor. We each had a sandwich and then some pasta. Man oh man, they know how to cook pasta here. It is delicious. Let's all count now - how many times have I said delicious. When we got back to the hotel and before we went up to our room, Arrigo bought a beer for 2 euros, and the beer here is in big bottles. It's time to turn in now; our feet are killing us. We had a long day, and tomorrow Sara, Pierina's daughter, is meeting us. Stay tuned.

Fabulous Firenze

We leave for Florence today. First thing's first though - breakfast. The breakfast that comes with our room is no continental breakfast - it's much better. Fresh fruit salad; yogurt; meats (we have learned about a meat that we haven't heard of that resembles a sort-of ham, called speck and sliced so thin that it feels like silk); hard-boiled eggs, and they are kept warm in some sort of hard-boiled-egg warmer...that's the only way I can explain it; muesli; and pastries. It's a great way to start our day to the last two villages of Cinque Terre - Manarola and Riomaggiore. We couldn't hike to them like yesterday because the trail beyond Corniglia is closed from the land slide a few years ago, so we took the train. We left our luggage at the front desk for the day and we picked it up later. I experienced a whole new type of toilet in Riomaggiore - there was no toilet. It was a whole in the ground. There was a sort-of porcelain basin on the ground with a whole in the middle, but it isn't something you can sit on. It did flush though. Weird! There were a couple of women that walked in and then walked out again - they didn't even want to try it. Our last stop in Riomaggiore was in an art store where we bought a colourful silk screen painting. It was expensive, but it's another piece of art for our new house to remember Italy by. Oops, I ended a sentence with a preposition - please forgive me. The painting is being shipped home because we don't want it to get damaged. We thought we had missed the train back to Monterosso, but we arrived just in time. Good thing for us that the trains are late on a regular basis. When we arrived in Monterosso, we bought some souvenirs and had a bite to eat before catching the train to Firenze. We are now on the train and we have decided not to go to Pisa today. We don't want to check into our hotel after dark. Maybe we'll take the train to Pisa another day. There is a well-known market in Florence that we will go to tomorrow to buy leather goods - more carry-on luggage to carry all of the things we have bought. I'll definitely have to buy a leather purse or three. I'm going to have to down size my purse collection at home. I have heard that Florence is known for its leather. That is why I didn't buy a purse in Venice... because I was holding out for Florence. Maybe we should buy a purse for Arrigo too ha ha. He is enjoying carrying the urban man-bag I bought before we left home. He's feeling quite at home - all the men carry them here. We are meeting up with Sara, Arrigo's cousin, and if she has the day off tomorrow, she is going to come to the market with us. I'm sure she'll be able to show us where to go for the deals. I'm looking forward to meeting her. After I meet Sara, I will have met the entire Monai family - all 65 of them, and that's only an approximate number. Today, whenever I stopped in a store to look at clothes, Arrigo simply said "Florence." I knew what he meant - Florence will have better prices, and I can't spend all my money in one place. He was right. He knows me so well. There will be better shopping in Florence. Rose, too bad you aren't here...we could shop up a storm! We're here. We got lost as soon as we got out of the train station. We eventually found our hotel and the front desk attendant speaks very good English. Complimentary coffee and croissants and happy hour from 6:30 to 7:30. I think it's free too. The hotel room is nice, and the bathroom is huge. The other hotels we were at were much smaller. A laptop is even supplied. Finally, maybe I can post some pictures, but the only problem now is to get them from my iPad to the lap top. Oh great, an Italian keyboard!!! We went to a restaurant called Tratorria La Burrassa. It was a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant just down the street from our hotel. We both had Tuscan Tomato Soup - nothing like the soup we have at home. It was very thick and tasty. Your spoon would stand up in it. It was the best soup we have ever tasted. Arrigo had lamb and I had Tortelli with porchini mushrooms. Delicioso. It wasn't very expensive. If Archie Bunker were Italian, he'd eat at this Tratorria for special nights out. After dinner, we explored. I can't even begin to explain how massive the Duomo (basilica) is. I could just sit in awe and look at it for hours. I didn't have any idea what to expect, but maaaan, is this impressive. You can almost feel the blood, sweat and tears that went into building it. It is constructed of brick and marble and took 140 years to build. Amaaaazing! So much history. WOW! There was a lot of entertainment in the square and tons of activity. Sara is meeting us tomorrow and going to show us around. It turns out that the market is open every day. We already have our eye on a piece of luggage to bring all our new stuff home in. Turns out I can't add pictures. I'll post pictures to Facebook. Oh, and by the way, I'm never using this blog again after this trip. I think it is outdated and there are better blog sites out there. Ciao of now.

Cinque Terre

We arrived in Monterroso yesterday. I was impressed and said to Arrigo "can we please, pretty please stay here an extra night and just forfeit one night's accommodation in Florence?" He quickly convinced me that although Cinque Terre is beautiful, two nights is enough. Cinque Terre is a tourist trap and expensive anyway, so let's save our money so we can buy things in Florence. We leave for Florence tomorrow. Back to Cinque Terre. Today we went for a hike, a very tiring hike to Vernazza and Corniglia. The tough hike wasn't for the faint of heart, but is well worth the sweat. The views were beautiful. I was taking pictures like they were going out of style. Arrigo must have been thinking "mama Mia, what you take all these pictures for?" When we got to Vernazza, we shopped around a bit, but didn't buy anything, but we did have a gelato. Next stop...Corniglia in an hour and a half. Not again. I didn't sign up for this! When we arrived in Corniglia, the sweat was worth the trek. Another beautiful village of Cinque Terre. I wish I could share my pictures with you, but I can't figure out how to upload my pictures to Picasa. When I try to add pictures to my blog, it doesn't give me the option of choosing a picture from my photo gallery. I can only add from a URL, my blog (that's a pretty stupid selection, since I am TRYING to add them to my blog), or I can choose to add pictures from Picasa.

A long post, without pictures

I am very disappointed in the Internet connection here. It is difficult to attach a picture. Until I figure out how to do it, I will only be writing about our travels. Before we caught the train to Montebelluna, we walked around Venice for a few hours, watching kids play soccer and just enjoying our last bit of time in this beautiful city. When we finally made our way to the train station, we almost missed it. The schedule said the train was to leave from platform 7, but we found out later, with just a few minutes to spare, that the train was leaving from platform 2. Good thing Arrigo asked an attendant, or we would have missed it. As an FYI, the train system is called Trenitalia. Fanny picked us up from the train station, and it was a short 5-minute drive to hers and Nicola's house. This was going to be our home for the next four days. We will be sharing it with their children, Sophia,11 and Agata, 8; their three cats, Charlie, Otello, and Silvery; and their dog, Lucky. With Arrigo and me, it was a full house. I felt bad that I couldn't communicate much with Agata and Sophia. Sophia is learning English in school so I could speak a bit with her. I mostly communicated with Agata by using sign language, laughter, and simple words. Arrigo has been able to practice speaking Italian a lot since we have been in Montebelluna, so he was a hit with the girls and they loved his humour. Day 1 - Arrival in Montebelluna By the time we arrived, we hadn't eaten since breakfast and we were starving. Fanny felt like she was being a horrible host letting us starve. I guess she thought she should be able to read our minds and know we were hungry. I suppose I should have told her about "Mind Reading 101" at the U of A. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying Fanny and her family's company. The girls were very entertaining, especially Agata...she's quite a little rascal. Their house is tiled throughout - tiles on the support posts, walls, floors, stairs, and even the garage floor. Not just plain tiles either, but colourful mosaics. Can you imagine tile in our garages? Everything is made of stone and the floors are all made of ceramic tile. The garage floors are even made of ceramic tile. Try and imagine nice ceramic tile in Canada, not only in the bathroom and kitchen, but on the garage floor too. It wouldn't take long before the tiles would be destroyed from the snow, salt, and mud. If our houses had tile like they have tile here in Italy, our houses would be unaffordable, almost like they are now ha ha. The only problem though... the homes take four to five years to build because they have to make them earthquake proof, and they are made from cement. There are a lot of regulations to follow. Arrigo thinks it takes so long to build because the workers take a lot of coffee breaks. Day 2 - Visiting Fanny and Nicola dropped us off at Pierina and Gianni's house in the morning, and they went to visit Nicola's sister in Milano, so we spent the entire day with Pierina, Gianni, Sylvia, and Antonio. Pierina and Sylvia were very happy to see Arrigo and were delighted to meet me. Sylvia and her boyfriend, Antonio, could both speak English, so at least I had a chance to participate in the conversations. Pierina spoke a bit of English. I felt bad that I couldn't contribute more to a conversation. Pierina's husband, Gianni, couldn't speak English at all, so I couldn't speak to him. I'm sure glad I had interpreters with me. Pierina cooked lunch for all of us. There was a lot of wine on the kitchen table - I think I counted three bottles. Not only do they drink wine at dinner, but at lunch too - wine flows freely here! Pierina made gnocchi! But it was better than any gnocchi I have ever tasted. It was a special dish called Gnocchi di Roma. They enjoy their food here and preparing special dishes for us. Sylvia's tiramisu was also the best tiramisu we have ever tasted - and with that...dessert wine. I think I'm going to gain weight. After dinner, we went next door to visit Zio Zeno, Arrigo's uncle. He was happy to see Arrigo, and to meet me. Arrigo' family are very nice people. It's nice to see such a loving family. Zio Zeno was smiling the whole time. We showed him a video of Arrigo's family from the Sunday before we left. Zio Zeno was happy to see the family. He was waving to the video as if they were right there. It was funny and nice to see. We recorded a video of Zio Zeno to play to the family when we get back to Canada. When we returned to Pierina's house, we ate dinner. I don't know how they don't gain weight here...the food is delicioso. Day 3 - We're Trapped On Monday morning, Fanny took the girls to school and the dog for a walk, and she told us she was going to be gone for half an hour. We decided we wanted to go for a walk, but couldn't get out of the front yard because there is a gate we didn't know how to open. All the homes here are gated. OK, let's go back inside. It turned out that we were locked out of the house too because unbeknownst to us, the door locked automatically when we closed it. We were trapped. We waited for Fanny to come back, and waited...and waited...and waited. When she finally came back, she was very apologetic. We were all joking that she is a bad host - first, when we arrived, she didn't feed us; and now we get locked out! We quickly forgave her though. For lunch today, Nicola prepared a special pasta dish for us. They enjoy preparing special meals for family. Later in the day, we went to Asolo. The most beautiful town I have ever seen has got to be this town. The roads are only wide enough for one-way traffic because the streets were originally intended for horses and walking only? It's just like you see in the Tour de France - narrow streets through small towns. One might ask "How is traffic not chaotic?" There is a timed light at each end of the main thoroughfare so each direction knows when to go. Arrigo was always holding my hand because I have a tendency to just bolt. You shouldn't bolt onto the road here because the road is narrow and windy. There are shops and cafés on both sides of the street, and I would tend to bolt from one side to the other. Fanny bought a cup to match another cup they have at home. We continued on our hike up to the top of Asolo, where there was a fort/castle. The view from the top was fantastic. On our way back to Montebelluna, we stopped for pizza. Nicola opened the hatch back, and out fell the cup and saucer that Fanny bought. It was broken, and boy oh boy, was Fanny angry with Nicola. I must say that listening to an argument in Italian is much more enjoyable than listening to one in English. Once the argument was over, we ate pizza as if nothing happened. Fanny told us it was known as the most famous pizza in the area, and she was right. Delicioso! Another fabulous day in the beautiful country of Italia. Day 4 - Our Last Day Today is our last day in Montebelluna, and the first thing on the agenda... the post office. We wanted to send the two papier-mâché masks that we bought in Venice home. We didn't want them to get destroyed during our journey. Now that that's out of the way, we can go for a cappucino. The cappuccinos here are much better than in Canada. Come to think of it, I don't drink cappuccinos, but I know cappuccinos in Canada are too strong for me. Maybe it's the milk, but I don't need to add sugar...it's smooth. Before we knew it, we had to start making our way home for lunch. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some ingredients to make sandwiches for our ride on the train to Cinque Terre tomorrow. This evening, we go to a city called Treviso. We stopped in a candy shop and bought some marons, candies that are made from 90 per cent chestnuts and 10 per cent chocolate. Arrigo bought them because Fanny mentioned that she craved them during her pregnancies. He also bought a sweater for the cool evenings ... wait, there are no cool evenings. I guess he'll have to wait until we get back to Canada to wear it. Fanny and I bought shoes. We were both happy that we got such a good deal on shoes. Actually, I'm excited that I bought shoes made in Italy and that they were such a good deal - double whammy! I couldn't come to Italy and not buy shoes. I think we will be buying a small suit case for all the stuff we buy. When 7:30 rolled around, we had to head home for dinner. We had a choice between ravioli or another kind of pasta I haven't heard of, but made with Zia Lina's pasta sauce. There was no question... we have to have Zia Lina's home made pasta sauce. There's nothing like home-made pasta sauce, especially when it's made with love. Pierina and Gianni came by for a visit after dinner and the wine flowed freely again. We were all laughing at my several attempts of taking a picture using the timer on my camera. Fanny took a picture too and I accidentally deleted the picture because I can't read Italian. Stupido Ellen! It's time to go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow morning to catch the train to Cinque Terre. We had a very enjoyable time with family. I really like Arrigo's family, but then again, who wouldn't? Fanny and Nicola welcomed me with open arms. Entertained by Agata and Sophia, not to mention the cats and dog. They made us all laugh. When we got to the train station, we realized we forgot our sandwiches we made for our train ride. Yet another reason for Fanny to think she was a horrible host.

Venice - Day 2

Today, our agenda was to go and see St. Mark's Basilica, go to the top of the Bell Tower in the square, and visit the island of Murano, famous for its hand-blown glass. First though, breakfast on the patio of our hotel. The menu - warm cream-filled croissants and other pastries brought to our table, fresh fruit salad, a granola-type cereal, yogurt, and coffee. The coffee here is much tastier than I usually drink. A couple from Australia (nick-named banana benders because they are from New South Wales) were at the next table. we struck up a conversation with them. I remembered the term banana benders from when I went to Australia. This was their last day in Venice, but it just the beginning for us. Time to go and start our day. We made our way to St. Mark's Square, but not without passing through the markets first. We walked through the fish market, which smelled like, well, fish. We stopped at a few places before getting to St. Mark's. We both had to dress with our knees and shoulders covered because that is they way you are supposed to dress in a church here in Italy. As I type this, a police boat just sped by, complete with syrens and flashing lights. On with our day! The basilica was beautiful inside. The ceilings were painted, the floors and artwork was all done in mosaics. It's also huge. After we finished in the basilica, we moved on to the Bell Tower. It is a tower overlooking St. Mark's Square. It is so tall that it provides a spectacular view of all of Venice. Now, on to Murano. We took the Vaporetto to Murano and as soon as we disembarked the boat, an employee of the glass factory was there to greet us and guide us to watch a demonstration of glass blowing. I wasn't too thrilled at watching the demo. It was a lure into the overpriced glass factory. We just bought a small colourful paperweight for 15 euros. We started wandering around and ended up in another store selling Murano glass (well, almost every store sells Murano glass). To After Stefano, the store owner, showed us various lamp shades, we mixed and matched two lamps. He is going to make the lamps for us and ship it over to us. Another piece for our home. When we finished shopping on Murano, we took the Vaporetto back to Venice and then walked back to our hotel. I started to type my blog, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. It must be the air that makes me so tired. Tomorrow morning we check out and make our way on the train to Montebelluna. It'll be nice to chill out with family. I'm getting angry that I can figure out how to add pictures to my blog when my pictures are right here on my iPad. I have a feeling it is the Internet connection in this hotel. I'm going to try again tomorrow and then if I can't figure it out, I'm afraid I'm going to give up. Ciao for now!

Vivacious Venice

We arrived in Venice almost an hour early...we must have had a tail wind. Arrigo‘s cousin, Fanny met us at the airport, armed with train and water bus schedules. She reminds me of Caterina...she looks just like her. We took the bus to one of the public water buses...the Vaporetto...that would get us to our hotel. In fact, we bought a 3 day pass to use the water buses. The Gondolas are waaay too expensive. We might still take a ride on one for the romanticism aspect, but we would rather spend our money on other things, like shoes and purses, and stuff like that ha ha. We arrived at our hotel and Walter just happened to be outside to greet us. We were pleasantly surprised with the helpfullness Walter showed us. Upon checking in, Walter made us an espresso and then took us to our room. The rooms are not very big, but very clean. Bidets are something we are not used to, so we have not taken advantage of that part of the bathroom yet. We went out to explore Venice and got lost several times, but that is the charm of Venice. It is not very big, so it is easy to get back on track again. You just have to look for bridges...there are hundreds of them. We found a jester mask that we really like, and we decided to buy it because it is not made in China, but rather made in Italy. We think it will go nicely somewhere in our new house. I bought a purse too, and then we went to St. Mark‘s Square to people watch and walk around abit...who am I kidding, we walked around alot. Later in the evening, we went back to St. Marks Square to see what its like after dark. There were still a lot of people in the square and three groups of musicians playing classical music. To sit down and watch them and order a coffee or food was expensive. We paid six euros just to sit and watch them play and paid for our food on top of that. Go ahead, guess how much we paid for 2 cappuccinos and a few cookies...33 euros, which is the equivalent of $45. No, we would not usually pay that much money for a couple of non alcoholic (or alcoholic for that matter) drinks, but we are in Venice after all. Writing this blog is frustrating because my keyboard is not reacting to my commands the way it should be. Wireless keyboards, they are more hassle than they are worth. I will figure it out hopefully before my next entry. I am not able to figure out how to attach pictures either. I figured it out yesterday in the Edmonton airport, but for some reason today, it is beyond me. I will attach them when I figure out how to do it. Tomorrow, we are going to see the many churches they have here in Venice, as well as the Murano Glass Factory. In the meantime, enjoy reading. Ciao

We're here...well, almost

We arrived at the airport a mere four hours in advance.  Just as we expected, Mom and Dad arrived to pick us up at least 15 minutes early...have to ensure we don't miss our flight ha ha.

Since we already had our boarding passes, we didn't even have to check in at the front counter.  First stop - security.  We crossed our fingers that it would be smooth sailing, and it was a breeze.  Next stop...breakfast.  Maaaaan, is stuff here at the airport ever expensive. It cost $18 for a coffee, chocolate milk, and two egg croissants.  My chocolate milk was $3.69 alone.

Arrigo is reading the newspaper on his phone as I type this blog entry.

Local news

Enough of this blogging...let's go shopping to get some maple syrup for the relatives.

Stay tuned for more.  Next blog entry will be coming to you live from Venezia, Italia.

Ciao

World Championships here we come!

Arrigo and I were in a race called World Cup this past weekend at Hawrelak Park.  There were a couple of distances we could have raced, but we chose to do the sprint distance - 750-metre swim, 20-km bike, and a 5-km run.  I figured that with my sporadic (AKA next to non-existent) training regime, I could do this distance; afterall, I have done seven Ironmen.  I was quickley reminded though of why training is important - this distance was hard.  I was painfully reminded that doing a shorter distance race requires all-out exertion - for all three disciplines.  I did it though.  It really tests your cardiovascular capacity.

Arrigo and I qualified for the world championships in Edmonton next year; we both came in 7th place in our age category.   I guess now that we qualified, we will have to do that thing called training.

It isn't cheap to be on Team Canada - first, we each have to pay about $825 which includes being a member of Triathlon Canada, our team uniform (with our name on our jersey and shorts), and registration for next year's race.  Who knows what other expenses there may be, but we get to represent our country on home soil with - and let's not forget, representing our country with our names on the bum of our cycling shorts.  We're both excited.

Check out my results here
Arrigo's results can be found here

So...what did you do on Sunday??

While most of you were in your bed all cozy and warm on Sunday morning, Arrigo and I were getting out of bed preparing to race in the Coronation triathlon in Edmonton.  The triathlon was a 1 km swim, 26 km bike, and 8 km run, and we had to be there by 6:30 a.m.  I haven't been training diligently like last year, so I wasn't expecting results on a grand scale.  It was a long day, but a lot of fun.  We both had a good race, but somehow Arrigo's results ended up in the female category.  Go figure!

We woke up to a balmy 3 degrees, and we prayed that by the time we got out of the pool to start our bike that it would be warm enough to not have to wear gloves and a jacket.  Putting spandex on a wet body doesn't make for a speedy transition.  Arrigo started his race 50 minutes before me at about 8:55.  I don't even know what time my race started, but it must have been about an hour later.  We were both relieved that the weather had warmed up enough to be comfortable on the bike.  I've been in races where my fingers have been so frozen that it was difficult to use the brakes and change gears.  Frozen toes aren't enjoyable either; it felt like I was running on golf balls.  Those are the races that give you character - and test your toughness.

The bike was fun because Groat Road was closed to traffic so we didn't have to contend with vehicles.  The route took us from Peter Hemingway Pool to Groat Road south, down to the turnaround at River Road and then back to 111 Avenue; then we did three more laps. We broke the speed limit going down Groat Road.  It was so much fun.  I'd like to see photo radar zero in on a bike speeding.  There's nothing quite like riding downhill without even touching the brakes.  Wheee!!!  We could have went faster if there hadn't been a head wind...but the upside is that we had a tail wind going the other way.

The run started at transition in the pool parking lot down Groat Road into MacKinnon Ravine and back up.  It was great crossing the finish line and hearing my name announced.  The announcer said I was finishing the race with a big smile on my face.  I don't recall smiling until he said that though  I was just glad to be finished.

Arrigo took 4 minutes off of his time from last year.  I was less than 2 minutes slower than last year, but I came in second place in my age group, so won a silver medal. All-in-all, I was very happy with my performance.  We have a new philosophy - train MINIMALLY so we can be well rested.

Check out our results here.

Five months and counting

I've been saving for this trip for four years, and it's almost here.  Only five months to go and we'll be on a plane to Venice.  Ahhh...Venice - I can't wait.  Our flights and hotels are booked.  We arrive on September 19.  All that remains is booking day trips, excursions, and tours - and of course, packing our bags.  We have to decide if we will take backpack-type luggage or rolling luggage and a small day pack.

We will visit many places on our three-and-a half-week get-away.  We start in Venice in the north and make our way to Naples in the south, with a lot of fun in between, from visiting the vineyards in Tuscany to seeing the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.  How about seeing the statue of David in Florence or drinking more wine in Orvieto!  This map is just a taste of what we will see in Italy.

The picture on the top of this blog is of Vernazza ...one of the five towns of Cinque Terre - one of the places we will be visiting.  I am so looking forward to being on the Italian Riviera.  I'll have to lose weight so that when I gain weight in Italy from all the gelato and pasta we'll be eating, I won't be too fat when I come home.  Stay tuned for more adventures leading up to our departure.