Le Tour. Semi-Homelessness. Running on fumes

So today I got up super early and headed down to the Champs to get my spot for the Tour's final stage. I got to The champs a little before 8 and asked where the best place to find a spot was. Unfortunately I went to the opposite side that I wanted to, but in the scheme of things it made no real difference. Originally i wanted to be on the other side of the finish line, but all the areas near the finish were by invitation only, so that wouldn't work.

I found a spot right after the forbidden zone and settled in for a long day of waiting. I don't think I have ever just sat somewhere and waited for that long willingly, but I was good with it. I realized as I sat down that I forgot my kindle in the hotel so I had nothing to read. I quickly went to the nearest newsstand and bought a National Geographic to read.

The hours seemed to be ticking away quickly, and I was glad that I got there early because I was right near the podiums and had a front row seat. I had a little snack that I packed with me and promptly fell asleep leaning on the barricade. I made a conscious effort not to lie down. I didn't want to look like a complete homeless person, so I just sat there for an hour or so. When I awoke there was an older lady standing with each of her legs on either side of my body having a conversation with the people next to me (probably wondering if I was homeless or not.)

Another couple hours went by and finally the sponsor parade began to roll through. It was just endless cars swerving about on the Champs blaring techno and shouting in French into a microphone. There was one float that really confused me. Ahead of the rest of the companies floats was a chicken on an atv, so naturally I imagined it was a poultry company or something. However, when the rest of the floats drove by each of them had what looked like a big grinder on top. I was shocked that people would advertise the process for making chicken nuggets, but after further inspection the chicken was just the logo for a bread company.

The first float:

Smurfs:

So I waited some more for the riders to get to the Champs. I was watching the race on a huge tv that they had set up down the road from me. I couldn't tell where they were by the scenery, but suddenly there was the sound of a helicopter and I recognized the riders coming around the obelisk at the far end of the Champs. The whole street went nuts. I got my camera ready:

It was pretty exciting seeing all the riders go by. It made me want to get out on a bike and get that fast. Perhaps when I get home.

The riders went around 7 times total so I saw them zoom past 14 times, which was great. I tried to capture some pictures, its just hard to get them in the frame they are moving so fast.

Hopefully this gives an idea of how close I was to the action.

Im pretty tired so I think that I will finish this post another time.

Tomorrow I am going to go lock my stuff up at the train station and wander about for a little.

Then I head home.

Leaving Napoli. Over Night Train. Paris yo

So the trip is winding down. I can't say that I am not ready to head home, but I definitely have a little more travel in me before I board the plane to the States.

Wednesday night I went to an Opera in the San Carlo theater in Naples. the opera was about clowns and love and murder and stuff. It was a really cool theater, but the ropes on the curtains are actually carved wood. My head found that one out.

The class in Portici finished up with our presentations on the projects we had to do with an Italian classmate. My project was on removal of landfill sites and their impact on housing prices. Luckily I went near the end so they didn't have too much time to ask questions. Lets just say I didn't give it my best effort.

After the presentations we went to our friend Simona's house and made Arancini, which is basically deep fried risotto and cheese. Pretty good, but we made like 60 and I could only realistically eat 2. They are very heavy.

Friday was the last day I had in Italy and it was the last full day my Masshole roommates had as well so we decided do go venture to Pompeii and Vesuvius. The only problem was that the trains were on strike so we had to take a 7 am train and make sure to get on the 1:55 (13:55) train home. That made things a little stressful, but clearly we made it.

Pompeii was alright. I was tired and wasn't interested in walking around much. It is weird to say, but Pompeii is almost too preserved. There is something nice about ruins you can see through or over, but in Pompeii the houses mostly are in tact sans roof. Half delirious and annoyed with massive groups of tourists we went in search of the frozen lava people. The search was fueled by my rendition of the Beatles "Eleanor Rigby". I made a slight alteration to the chorus. It went as follows: Ahh look at all the Lava people where have they all gone" and various deviations about the mythical lava people of Pompeii.

Unfortunately, our impatience and schedule did not allow us to have time to search for the erotic sculpture room.

We took a bus up to Vesuvius. Volcanoes are cool, but they smell like sulfur in case you didn't know. I took some videos at the top. The crater is hugeeeee. there is one part that was actually smoking, which was really amazing.

Despite being almost positive that my trains were going to be cancelled due to the strike. I made it to Paris without incident. The over night train was an event for sure. In the size of a normal full bath there were 6 people. I had the top bunk, which was real nice, because it gave me a little privacy and I couldn't get stepped on. The guy across from me kept getting phone calls all night and texts and what not. The calls were fine, but he didn't have his keys on silent, and I am pretty sure he didn't have T9 word because he kept Beep Booping Beep a Deep Booping all night. I woke up with a sore neck (Europeans are so $%#&ing short).

My arrival in Paris was Ok. I figured out where I was and the direction I needed to head in. I took the metro to a station, walked to another station to get to yet another station, randomly got on a platform and found a train that appeared to be going in the right direction. Needless to say I arrived.

After watching the 20th stage in the tour I went back to downtown Paris to scope out the sitch (situation for you old people). The maps are impossible to read because there are just too many streets to fit on a fold up map. So i figured that I would use my survival skills to get to the Champs Elyseeeesiseiisi. I figured it was late afternoon so and that the Champs was South of my location. After much muttering and walking in circles i determined that if I placed the sun on my right I would make it to the Champs. I second guessed myself about 15 times. For the life of me my brain couldn't remember how the directions on the map related to the real world. It was pretty awful.

I made it to the Champs figure out where I need to be for tomorrows race. They should be getting in around 3 ish my time, but I am leaving here at 5:30am to find a spot. So if you tune in to watch the race I am going to try and be near the finish and hopefully get in the front row. I will try and pick up some tour gear as well.

I will fill you all in on my return tomorrow. Hopefully Ill get some good video.

Ciao Ciao

Como. Alps. BUFFET!!!!

This weekend Jon, Rob, and I went up to lake Como. Getting to the lake is quite a journey from our trash littered city. I wish I could say that the trip was uneventful, but we were disturbed from our rest in our first class seats and deported to second class. When we booked our train tickets on our rail passes the machine told us that first and second class were the same price. Of course no rational human would turn down a reclining seat and free drinks and cookies. However, when they came to check our ticket they told us that we had no right to buy a first class ticket. Of course, seeing as it was 8 in the morning, which is quite early for me, I resisted this fascist train-ticket-checker's commands by stating that we could not be expected to choose second class at the same price. Also, the point was made that we had these seats reserved all the way to the final stop of the train and that no one would be using our seats, so who were we hurting? He wouldn't back down, but also was resistant to reserving us seats in second class, but finally realizing we wouldn't move, he booked us seats in second class.

We caught a connecting train to Varenna, which is on the opposite side of the lake from our final destination. We got off the train in Varenna and were immediately struck by the amount that time seemed to slow down. As we exited the train station I noticed, for the first time in my life, the smell of fresh air. I have smelt cleaner air in many places, but being in Naples and coming to Como was the biggest and most noticeable jump. We caught the ferry across the lake and arrived in Bellagio.

Bellagio is really amazing. It just seems kind of frozen. People were going about doing their own things, but they were never in a rush or impatient. It was easy to fall into the rhythm of Bellagio and the lake.

The first day we found a nice spot to sit and relax. There were stairs that just sort of walked right into the lake, which was pretty cool. Surprisingly despite the number of people walking around during the day, there were rarely any other people down on these steps.

Our spot

It rained in the morning on Saturday, which was a great way to start the day. For the first time in almost a month it was cold when I woke up. I welcomed the chill coming through the open window and looked outside to see the lake and the mountains. The rain had just stopped and the cold air coming over the mountains was pouring the clouds over their peaks and towards the lake. All of a sudden the clouds would just level and drift to the middle of the lake and just dissipate.

We decided we were going to go across the lake to Mennaggio and rent kayaks, but the weather was not calm enough, so we rented bikes instead. The guy at the hostel where we rented bikes said that the trail was not so steep. He must have been comparing the ascent to some inverted rock wall. Climbing the hill was pretty tough. I really missed my super light bike.

After a little while we got to this flat part on the saddle between two peaks. There was a park and a music school. We parked our bikes and walked onto this tiny, fence-bordered soccer field that overlooked the lake. Lucky for us there was a ball to play with, so we did that for a bit before heading up to the top of the mountain.

After a bit more riding we came to a small restaurant on the river where we had lunch. The restaurant was really cool. They had their own fishery and some animals just loafing about. We ordered a cheese plate a jug of wine and fresh pasta with smoked trout. It was amazing. Amazing except for one of the cheeses that I am not sure anyone could become accustomed to. They put a bunch of raw honey on the cheese plate, which is something that I have never seen, but I will continue to do back in the states.

the fish spot

We kept climbing until we got to this church where I got the heebie jeebies scared out of me when the bell went off at 4.

We had a bbq back at the hostel and the manager drove us to the ferry, which was pretty cool of him. Sunday we got up and wandered about until we found a place with a buffet, which was AWESOME. I Love BUFFETS.

No one kicked us out of our seats on the ride home. and we got the snack trolley twice. BOOM!

More boating. Naples Underground. Paestum

This past weekend was pretty action packed. We had originally planned to head up to como, but because we have no internet at our apartment it was difficult to book a room in time. We decided that because we had liked the boat from Sorrento that we would do it again, but this time for the whole day. Unfortunately Rob gets sea sick, so he went to Ischia, which is to the west of Capri.

We took the boat much further down the coast this time, and ended up in Positano, which was one of the towns on the Amalfi coast. In comparison to the Cinque Terre towns it is hard to say which is nicer. The regions are pretty different and the landscape on the Amalfi coast allows for slightly larger and more accessible towns. I think I liked the Cinque Terre a little better. We had lunch on some rocky beach and built a little pile of rocks to leave our mark. Karl wasn't happy that Jon and I would throw rocks at the tower and knock it over, but he got over it. We found some cool little artifacts that had washed ashore, but nothing too ancient.

After lunch I drove the boat down towards Capri. A half hour later we were passing through this natural archway around the Southern side of capri. Capri is sort of a big rock sticking out of the water. The southern side has huge white cliffs and overhangs that rise almost vertically out of the med. It was sort of humbling how big and raw the coastline was and made for some good photos. unfortunately, because I was driving, I couldn't get to my camera to take videos or photos, but when people post some of the ones they took I will try to link them.

Saturday we went to the Naples underground. It is an old aqueduct system that stretched about 400km (not willing to convert to miles for my readers). They found the aqueduct and an old Roman stage where Nero performed underneath this guys house and through a wall in his wine cellar. Pretty cool. We had to take candles to navigate some of the narrow channels that kept the water flowing from the cisterns to keep everything cold and clean. During WWII the aqueduct system was used as a bomb shelter.

I ate my first Italian Cannoli .

Sunday, while Rob and Jon went to go brave Rome, Karl and I went down to Salerno to check out this place Paestum. We got off the train in Salerno and everything was closed. No one seemed to know what number bus we needed to take or when it ran, but we were pointed in the general direction. After waiting an hour, and asking countless bus drivers if they went to Paestum we got on a bus and set out on our way.

It is a good thing that there are buses to this place because it is really far away. Looking at the map in the train station is looked close enough to walk in about a half hour. Italians do not believe in putting keys and legends on maps. The tradition dates back many years and is also the reason why there are no street signs, and that the train schedules are completely arbitrary on the local level.

The bus dropped us off in Paestum. There is really nothing around but fields, and suddenly in front of us there were these huge columns supported a Parthenonesque building. We walked to the gate (after downing and extra large Heineken (I am not a huge fan, but in a land that doesn't understand beer, it is amazing)) and bought our tickets. I got bamboozled into also getting a ticket to the museum section. At this point in my journey I absolutely hate museums.

Anyways, Paestum is the best preserved Greek ruin in Western europe. It is on acres of land whose boarders appear to be the areas that people decided not to go walking for the last 2000 years. There are three temples, a couple palaces, a toilet, and a stadium. Pretty cool. The best part was that we were pretty much the only people there. It was really relaxing.

The first temple

The expansive collection of rubble:

Karl on the Toilet:

Some photos:

Finally the weekend.

At last the weekend arrived. After many long hours of commuting and impossibly complicated train schedules the time to visit the area at our own pace was here. We decided to meet up with the other Americans in the program. We met them in the Western part of Napoli where the money grows greener and trash makes it to the dumpster.

The beach, as with almost all beaches or any ocean access in this part of the country requires a rapid decent on uneven stairs to a cliff-bordered tiny little plot of sand. Some call it quaint, some say it is an annoyance, but it was just nice to be by the water on a sunny day. The beach had a separate section that required you to sign in. They only let up to a hundred people go at a time. This part of the beach was actually a preserved archaeological site. The water was very rough. It was a lot of fun swimming over the ruins of some other old thing in a current that twisted and pulled you to any number of treacherously sharp outcroppings. in the middle of this protected bay there was an Island with a house on top. Apparently Virgil lived here. I commented that I too would be a poet if this were my residence.

Sunday we decided to head down to Sorrento. The train was a bit long, but the lemon gelato was well worth the trip. We rented a boat for an hour and cruised out of the harbor into open ocean and to some large rolling waves. It is hard to describe the view. The mountains sort of fall into the ocean. Civilization just sticking its claws into the bare cliff-side. We went swimming, although I am not sure that we were supposed to get out of the boat. But hey, we are American. rules never apply. just kidding.

We took some pictures and video. It felt like an Armani commercial except slightly paler and less defined, but we rolled with it.

Next week I think we are going to head North to Como, but before that there will be many hours of the work I am getting money for.

ciao for now.

Naples. Portici. Classes

We got out of taking the extra class, which was great news. I still haven't brought my laptop to class, but I think we are getting a wifi thing today so I will have internet in our house. I know I am letting all of you down by not posting pictures, but I am extremely lazy in this sweltering heat.

Today we are going to chill by the beach. The water looks quite polluted but the dark volcanic sand beaches should be nice enough. I am not sure what we are doing this weekend, but Naples closes down, so we should get out.

Yesterday I saw a car accident. there were two people (old man and a middle aged lady) yelling at each other. This wasn't the exciting part. The entire street was closed down by a mob of people gesturing wildly and sharing their opinions on the matter. I wanted to stay and watch, but didn't want to risk being involved in any way.

There is a little shop a few streets over that sells 3 bottles of unlabeled wine for a couple euros. I feel like this is the Italy I have been waiting for. Noisy streets, cheap local wine, and slow crowded public transportation.

The streets are really narrow here. Imagine the traffic in Boston, but with smaller vehicles and no room to pass. There are always cars and scooters zooming around on the stone paved streets. Old men sit in plastic chairs on the side of the road pretty much all day. It is impossible to walk abreast for more than a second without risking serious bodily injury.

There is a meat market across from our apartment that has a ice cream stand type display that drips water over stomach and other intestinal products. I am not adventurous enough to try it.

Overall I have been having a good time, but I still feel tired. I am going to try and get as much rest before travelling around this weekend.

The pizza here is good. I think all they eat is pizza and pasta.

Arrival in Napoli

So Naples. I will update on Lauren and my final days in Rome a little later. The internet situation is slightly uncertain. Our apartment is great but we can only get internet by leaning out of our window to steal it from the neighbors. We are going to try and get a wifi thing for the month, but can't figure out which package to get. Right now I am using the school computer. Our first class starts in 20 minutos.

Arriving in Napoli was easy enough, however we found out (the hard way) that italy requires reservations even with a eurail pass. Apparently in other countries you do not need to reserve a seat, but here, not doing so can be quite costly.

Naples is like a third world country. Trash (while not as bad as the pictures) is pretty much on every corner in piles. Near the train station is not the best place to hang around, but our apartment is far enough away to avoid the bad parts of town. In contrast Portici is amazing. It is like the florence of the south in my opinion. We probably should have stayed here, but we will make the best of our situation.

It still has not sunk in that I am in Italy nevermind about to sit in on a two hour econometrics class. Rob and I agree that if we can't make it the beach is right down the road.

The plan is to try to find a fresh food market on the way home and get the rest of the stuff that we need. Tomorrow I will bring my laptop so I can finally upload the promised pictures.

By the way, if you ever go to florence, make sure to visit Fiesole. Great views.

ciao

On my way to Napoli

About to leave for naples. Not much time. will update on everything with pictures when I have settled.

Naples is full of trash. google image it.

ciao.

Last day in florence. Onto Rome

We got up extra early to go see Michelangelo's exhibit with the David scultpure. The doors openned at 8:15 but we got there around 8 and got in line. The line wasn't too bad, and for not having a reservation, getting in an hour later was a huge success. The exhibit is amazing. I saw it the last time I was in Firenze, but it has not lost any of its wonder. Along the aisles on the way to David there are a bunch (6) unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo. While the David sculpture is impressive, these sculptures are what I remembered being so fascinating. It really looks like these characters are trying desperately to release themselves from their stone prisons. Lauren also really enjoyed the exhibit.

After the Galleria we went to the dome of the duomo. The outside of the duomo is really nice, which makes it a little strange when you get inside and just see white walls with minimal scultpures or art of any kind. It was a relief in some ways and it certainly made everything look much bigger. We climbed up to the top of the dome and followed the curvature all the way to the top. Italians are short. I have scabs on my head to prove it. The view was really cool. We had our picture taken a few times (when I get to Naples I will add all of the pictures).

A nice pasta dinner and some gelato wrapped up the evening and we headed back to the hotel. Lauren left the windows open and let in all the most annoying bugs. These little things buzz in your ears for minutes at a time and when they get bored they bite. Lauren also didn't want the fan on because it was too loud, but it was maybe 80 degrees in our room. She is certainly cold blooded. I finally got my way and had to move the fan all the way around the room so it wouldn't be closest to her. I woke up covered in bug bites, Lauren was unscathed. As the eternal optimist I take this to mean that I am much sweeter than she is, which of course I know to be true.

We hopped on the train and got to Rome around 11. Our hotel is on the 3rd floor of a building next to a cafe where we checked in. We get free breakfast! However, we have to switch rooms because the hotel above us exploded the toilets and there is water in the room we were supposed to be in.

We have reservations for the Vatican tomorrow, but for today its off to the collesseum.

ciao

First day in Firenze. Pointless bus trips. Random parades.

We arrived in Firenze (Florence) around noon. The train station was bustling with travelers catching their departing trains out of Tuscany. Lauren and I were anything but bustling. Pretty much confused. We knew we had to (or did we) take a bus to get to our hotel, but we couldn't figure out the ticket situation for a while. After some perfectly time passive aggressive comments Lauren saw a sign above the newspaper stand that said bus tickets. Problem solved (for now).

Bus 6 from the train station claimed to take us to our destination, however the stop we were looking for was four stops behind the train station, and there were about 20 more to go in the loop before it got back to our stop. It never occurred to us that buses could go in both directions, at least it didn't occur to us until after we boarded the bus and contemplated the strange decision we had just made. Needless to say hindsight (which much to Lauren's delight I think should be spelled heinzheit) has become a motto for us on this trip, and this time we didn't leave anything to be desired. We pretty much messed up everywhere we could mess up, but it has been fun. The bus finally made its way back North of the Arno and towards our destination. But Wait! No! Could it Be! We arrived right back at the effing train station. The worst part is that we didn't even see anything interesting the entire time plus it was lunch time and all we had were chocolate filled biscuit cookies (which are delicious).

We gave up and took a cab.

After checking into our hotel we got a map from the lady at the reception desk who by now thinks I am about as dense as a block of parmigiana. This place confuses me. I can't open doors, I can't flush the toilet, and I can't figure out the signs at the train station.

Florence is pretty dopesauce. Lots of old buildings built with class (unlike venice which is cool, but its like that lady you know who wears all of her jewelry all the time and puts on all her perfume just cuz). We wandered about because all of the exhibits are closed on Monday, so we will try our luck by going into town early tomorrow.

Lauren found every pot hole or crack in the street to trip on. I am not joking when I say that she tripped about 15 times and fell off at least 5 curbs. The open air market is pretty sweet. Lauren got me a hat because my head was smoldering. It is linen, which is good because many years from now when I am dead and famous my work from this era will be known as my linen era, much like the primavera's of some other famous dead artists.

On our way to get dinner we heard the sounds of drums of in the distance. We rushed to see what all the hullabaloo (I spelled that right on the first try!) was about. A bunch of dudes in tights and tunics were waving flags, playing drums, and blowing horns. A renaissance parade! We watched it go by as the flag dudes threw their flags high in the air and caught them one handed. We went around another street to try to get ahead of them to get food, but they came right back around the other side and were headed straight back towards us. Cornered. To make matters worse the police horsees were not staying calm. No matter where I seemed to go the thing was slobbering and coming at me. The guy on the horse even looked concerned. As a good man I made sure I kept Lauren out of danger from the horses and right in the crowd of pickpockets and American hating thieves.

All in all it was a good day.

The plan for tomorrow is to see stuff. lots of stuff.

Cinque Terre. Anchovies. Walking forever.

We arrived in Cinque Terre yesterday. We were both real tired, but managed to make it to the hostel without any serious incidents. Taking trains across Italy is nice, but it can get a little tedious, especially when you have to take a regional train as the last leg.

Our hostel is near the top of Via Columbo in Riomaggiore, but instead of walking the easy way through the tunnel, Lauren and I decided to cirumnavigate the entire town, which consists a never ending steep grade. The walk would have been nice if we werent tired, hungry, mad at Italy, or carrying all of our stuff. To make things even more fun, our hostel room was pretty much at the top of the building. If you look at pictures of Cinque Terre, the towns are all built on the slopes of mountains, so everything is built extremely narrow and vertical.

The area is really nice. when you walk down to the water the layers of rock that at one point were horizontal and flat have been pushed up out of the sea and are almost vertical with some bends. The sight is really magnificent. You can really appreciate the force the Earth exerts to push these mountains right out of the ocean. Lauren had pasta with pesto for dinner. I had anchovie pizza. Of course we finished the evening with a night time stroll and a gelato.

This morning we woke up early and headed out to walk the 9km to monterrosso which is the furthest of the 5 towns. There is a lower path and a higher path with a couple zigzagging in between to connect them. The first trail from Riomaggiore to Manrola is short and flat along the ocean. It was a beautiful way to enjoy a brioche and cappuccino to go as well as an unassuming beginning to long difficult journey. The next lower trail was closed so we decided to walk up to the upper trail. Hopefully when I have a computer and connection that allows for uploads I will put the pictures. The view from the upper trail is unbelievable. To the south the ocean crashes into the coast and the towns slope upward along the mountains. Above the mountains there are ridges of walled gardens growing everything from cherries to olives.

The walk took about an hour and a half and added an extra 3 km to the trip, but it was well worth it. The trails are pretty steep and dangerous in some spots, but if you have the energy it is well worth the trip. Once we reached Corniglia we got back on the main trail. We kept getting passed by this shirtless old man with walking sticks who was practically running up the trail and then waiting for his wife, who was slightly less enthused. a couple hours later we made it to Vernazza where we had lunch (consisting of cherries, apricots, and cookies) out on the breakers. There were lots of people laying out on the rocks so we decided to join them for our feast. Not a few moments later a huge wave crashes into the rocks and drenches Lauren and me, only Lauren and me. We laughed it off and continued our regional snack. After that we walked the rest of the way and reached monterrosso by 3. 6 hours in total seems pretty good considering the detour.

I would definitely suggest coming to the Cinque Terre for a couple of days and hiking about. Maybe not all of it in one day, but it was certainly worth it for us. Tonight we are going to cook ourselves some dinner. Maybe pasta with pesto or a tomato and mozzerella sandwich. Lauren spotted some really interesting striped pasta so we may have to try it.

Here is Lauren washing her hands. A moment of zen.

Tomorrow to Florence.

Venezia. Boat buses, and street vendors.

We arrived in Venizia at around 9:30 yesterday morning. It was hot and humid. The train ride was really pretty cool. We followed the base of the Alps almost the entire way. It is strange in Italy that there will be nice villas built into the side of these mountains, but in the foreground there is a water treatment plant, or industrial park.

I tried to get a phone when we were in Milan. I am really trying to speak the language, but a few words in the guy just told me to speak English. Lauren thinks it has something to do with the fact that I was yelling poorly pronounced, and unconjugated Italian while gesturing violently with my hands in some catastrophically humiliating charade (a french drinking game). However, I am looking at my language failure another way entirely. If I can get everyone to want to speak English (Ingles) with me, then I believe I am the net winner. Needles to say I have graduated to a level 2 tourist as I know longer speak loud and infuriatingly slow English as if everyone here is hearing impaired.

Venice is pretty cool. There just isn't anything similar anywhere I have been. It is a little bit sad that everyone always warns you about how you are going to get robbed and cursed for being American. I can't help but think that this only perpetuates any hatred, if there is any to begin with. However, after getting of the train with one hand in my pocket (and the other one giving a peace sign) and the other one covering my face to protect me from spit, I realized that maybe the world isn't such an awful place after all.

We saw the basilica in Saint Marc's Square. Pretty sick. Lots of gold. It is interesting how because Venice has no solid foundation, all of the floors are wavy and make you feel like you are completely pissed (british for drunk). We tried to get into a glass blowing tour, but we didn't make it past the door. Everything here is super expensive, but we are only in town for the day. It rained and we tried to get into an exhibit that was supposed to have Da Vinci's Virtruvian Man, but it was not on display. Instead we saw about five thousand pictures of Jesus and some guy all stuck up with arrows. There were only two pictures in the entire place that showed any skin, for a total of three breasts. What happened to the Renaissance? Where is the nudity? the love of the human form? Lauren was extremely disappointed, but she is getting better at not running away when required to communicate. I am so proud.

This morning we are off to the Cinque Terre to eat some anchovies and olive oil. Maybe I'll start getting my tan on.

ciao for now

Touchdown, some Foo, a little Milan, and the brutal sun

So we landed. Lauren stole my window seat when I went to the bathroom, but its ok because she didn't sleep well. The dinner was pasta with a blondie for desert. The flight was fairly uneventful, and we landed without a hitch. My bag was one of the first to come out and we made our way right for the train to Cadrona station. Apparently in Italy buying a train ticket isn't enough. In Italy it is necessary to find a non-existent validation machine to validate your previously purchased ticket. This machine exists somewhere in the 30 feet (approx. 10 meters (metres?)) between the ticket booth and the train itself.

The hotel was a bit of a hoof, but it was nice enough out. A little bit of history for everyone: Hannibal gave this city its name, which translates roughly from his native dialect to "land with few street signs". When we departed the metro station and realized that there was no way we were going to find our hotel by using our google map address, so I immediately went into bear grylls mode. I found the sun and using some trigonometry lacated our hotel without making a single error. Lauren was not as impressed as she should have been.

The Foo Fighters concert was great. Everyone here really likes to kick garbage around like it is a soccer ball. Lauren got scared when she got to the front of the food line and ran away after we both waited a good 20 minutes to get to the front. Apparently Milan has the best fans and hottest women out of everywhere all of the bands had ever toured. I'm a little saddened by this as I remember Boston and the surrounding areas used to have the hottest girls and best audiences, oh well.

We got back to the hotel and turned on the tv. It was about 2 milan time, which is right when the Bruins game was supposed to start. Lucky for us they had the game on, but with horrible announcers. Fading in and out of slumber we saw the Bruins lift the stanley cup for the first time in our life time. The streets of Milan were filled with people celebrating the victory over the Canucks who represent the Canadien people who are basically French; Italians hate the French.

We woke up, went to a few places around here. Lauren got suckered in to almost buying some bracelet from some tourist hound, but we survived. She did order Gelato though, it was good.

Im off to find some grub. Venice early in the morning.

Ciao

Waiting for Liftoff

Lauren and I have checked in and are awaiting our flight to NY. A lot has changed since the last time I was required to check a bag. Apparently you need your boarding pass first, and then you get in line to check your belongings. Needless to say this added a frustrating element to the afternoon as we scrambled to find our 300 digit e-ticket numbers while people shuffled around muttering curses at the unprepared tourists occupying the ticket kiosks.

The trip to the airport was nice enough. Lauren's father was nice enough to drive us, and her sister came along for the ride as well. The conversation was pleasant, mostly consisting of places we hoped to see and the varying ways in which we could meet our demise on our journey over the sea. We almost got out of the house without incident, but Lauren thought she should track mud about right before her departure; a last defiant gesture.

I always get nervous going through security because I am never sure how many bins I am entitled to use. This time I used two, but I could have justified five or six. Lauren brought two bags of toiletries (major no-no), so at the last second she dropped one of them (obviously containing the most feminine of products) into my laptop bin (it was too late to grab another from the stack).

I am hoping that we will board soon. I want to settle in. Maybe I will get an orange juice, but who really knows. Until next time.

I wanted to leave you all with a moment of Zen titled "Galen: a search for undetonated fireworks in my shorts", but I couldn't upload it on Logan's WiFi. I will get that to you ASAP.

Toodles

Beginnings

This summer, the University of Massachusetts and the Italian Ministry of Agriculture have graciously offered to float me for a month in Naples for a class. Life is pretty rough these days. Because I have been robbed of the opportunity to sink deeply in debt for this trip along with the absurdity of a foreign (host country) country giving me money to motor about, I feel it is my duty to document this adventure.
I am currently watching the Bruins stompface the Canucks. I don't know if I am the only one, but I have come to the realization that the Canucks have stolen the Hartford Whalers colors. Unfortunately, A few moments of research on the internet would show that they had these colors in the 70's.
I am leaving, with Lauren, from Boston tomorrow at 2:10 and will arrive in Milan at some horrible hour (for us) that even farmers and garbage men have yet to see. I am excited to have secured a window seat for both the puddle-jump to NY and the million hour flight to Milan. We should land at 8 Italy time.
Any guesses on dinner?