TravelinGirl

What, no photos? - Yes, there are many photos. I do not have them downloaded yet. This is not due to laziness (ok, maybe a little bit of jetlag), but because I do not have my card reader. But I promise that once I get my photos downloaded, and then have captions on them, that I will update this (as well as send out email).

Now that I'm home and having a bit of time to think about the trip in the context of my daily life, I have a few thoughts... 1) you get out of travel what you put into it - if you're optimistic and try to see the viewpoint of the people of the country you're visiting, you can't help but have a wonderful time. 2) next time I'm feeling unappreciated, I'll go away... everyone has been so welcoming and happy to see me (genuinely!), that in addition to the happy memories of the trip, I'm also having warm fuzzies about my return. 3) I thought it would be difficult to come home - to not have wonderful surprises just around every corner, to not be on the constant voyage of discovery... it's actually rather nice to be able to come home, let my hair down a bit, not have to be "on" and paying attention all the time and trying to absorb everything. (I'll post my thoughts about actual stuff from the trip later...)

posted by Unknown @ 10:56 PM 0 comments

I'm home, I'm home!! - Wasn't sure if I felt more like blogging or watching completely american drivel on TV (because I can), so decided to split the difference. Quick update - spent Wed. night and Thursday night at the Tooch's. I have no words for how grateful I am (but may come up with some later). I also have to say that while Wed. night was fine (a bit of drinking, much talking, much laughing and a realization that I was feeling very at home...), Thursday was bad. Ok, Thursday itself wasn't bad, and started innocently enough, but the aftermath was felt for days. In the "I'm never going to have another drop of alcohol as long as I live" sort of aftermath way.

It started innocently with the blog entry below - I went into the office and sorted through enough email to get down from roughly 1000 to roughly 500 (without actually reading any). From there we went for lunch to the pub down the street from the Tooch's (we being Brian/Marijo - sp?/Cathy/Tooch and eventually Nicky) flat. I know I had at least 5 ciders over the course of a number of hours. And there were many interesting (and some not so interesting) discussions. Then Tooch went home with Nicky, and Marijo went home to write. From there I somehow figured out that food might be a good idea, so the 3 intrepid drinkers went to a restaurant and ordered wine with dinner. Was this the beginning of the end? Probably not so much the wine + cider combo, but the actual amounts involved was what led to my downfall. I don't remember much more of the evening except the idea that we may have had philosophical discussions in a graveyard, but this may be misremembered on my part (as I don't remember the actual conversations).

Friday was not a happy day. It's not good to wake up too hot. This is a precursor to bad things to come. Let us just say that having too much alcohol on top of previous intestinal difficulties only days before leads one to a VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY uncomfortable morning, and much of the afternoon. It also led me to forget my stupid money belt. Which meant that everyone had to go back to the house to look for it for me, and meant that Terry (who had agreed to pick me up at 1:00) had to A) put me up, B) drive me all over hell and C) entertain me at a point where I was less than the gracious guest that my grandmother taught me to be. All this reaffirms that I am a flaming idiot. Thankfully I'm not this much of a flaming idiot all the time, but what can I say? When I screw something up, I go down in GREAT BIG flames.

Saturday was kinda fun. Terry and I went to run errands (ok, that wasn't the fun part, but it was actually surprisingly nice to be doing something so normal instead of being compelled to see/learn/do/visit something). From there we went to Brighton which is a beach town. We walked on the boardwalk (similar to the one in Santa Cruz) and played a video game or two. From there we went back to his place for Chinese takeout and watched Mission Impossible 2. How lovely to be so mundane and normal for a while!

The flight home was uneventful (woo hoo). And now I'm home. And I've probably never taken such a long shower, and been so happy to see my things. Traveling was wonderful, and I'll probably have some better observations later, but it's also good to be home.

posted by Unknown @ 8:16 PM 0 comments

Cheers from England - I am here in a NetApp office (Stockley Park) briefly while visiting Tooch. Tooch's house is very cute, if spartanly (according to Tooch and Cathy, but not so in my opinion) furnished through the wonders of Ikea. It's quite homey and cheerful (I'm especially taken with the fireplaces for some reason). It's wonderful to use a keyboard with the keys in all the places you'd expect (although my typing isn't really any better...). Even better to eat and drink non-Italian food with friends around whom I can swear! Hasta la bye-bye, more later(ish).

posted by Unknown @ 4:26 AM 0 comments

I suck as a travel writer - Ok, I've had NO time to do any writing, so hence my woefully small number of entries thus far. The only reason I have a few minutes to write right now is because I've confined myself to my hotel environs due to Montezuma's revenge. The idea of wandering around St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel and such in this condition was more than I could deal with, so here I am. I thought it might be kind of blasphemous to pray for my body to cooperate while in Rome's most holy place, so I decided to chill here at the hotel.

Other than this small setback (which isn't really that big of a deal as I had seen those things on my last trip anyway) though, my trip has been awesome. I got to see some of the great large sights - San Marco in Venice, Uffizi in Florence (I was wishing Meta were with me for the art stuff), remains of various saints in various churches/basilica/duomo, etc., beautiful views of vineyards and coastlines and marble quarries, etc.

I'll have to go back and fill in some of the blanks when I have access to my journal. What I've been finding is that if I don't do my journal within about .5 days of actually experiencing something, I've experience so much more that I can't actually remember it very well.

My next stop is to visit Tooch and Cathy for a day or two, and the to visit Terry (with whom I journeyed through Europe last time). I'm looking forward to seeing friends, and being able to hang out in one place without feeling obliged to go SEE something, or DO something. Ah...

Stupid things about home I didn't know I'd miss - my washer/dryer. I can't wait to have clothes NOT dried on a line (they get all stiff), and clothes that are ACTUALLY DRY. Also looking forward to television that is not news but is in English. I can't possibly watch any more CNN or BBC World. Not sure my shows will be correctly recorded on Tivo when I get back, but I can't wait to find out. Also looking forward to going home where people drive in a logical and orderly manner (although comparitively England will be wonderful compared to Southern Italy) - I didn't know a horn with only one noise could be put to such creative use to convey consternation, anger, warning, happiness, etc. I knew I'd miss family and friends, but didn't realize in what ways. I thought of Jay when I saw Aprilia motorcycles, Craig whenever there was any wonderful food/wine, Dan when I saw cute girls in high heels and mini skirts, Mom when I saw ceramics I couldn't possibly carry home, folks at 1010 when I saw anything absurd or cartoonish (whether deliberate or not), Shane/Alyssa every time I took a picture, SteveRod when hiking in the Alpe di Suisi, etc, etc. (Don't be offended if you didn't rate a mention here - I'm sure I was thinking of you at some point :-)

Things I didn't miss because they're everywhere here - McDonald's (no surprise there). Signs telling you where to go/what to do - the US should have such good signage for visitors. Comparitively, our lack of helpful info for tourists is shameful.

General ideas/impressions - Boy those ancient peoples took their monuments seriously - how the hell did they get those big blocks of marble up so high? And why didn't they write things down so that we didn't have to go through the Dark Ages? I love the Italian language - not only does it sound beautiful, you can figure out most of it if you see stuff written down and/or if you just think it through. Churches are great places to get out of the sun and stay cool (all that marble). If I can ever get the songs Volaré, O Sole Mio (and the Elvis version of Be Mine Tonight), That's Amore and Funiculi/Funicula out of my head, it'll be SUCH a relief!!! Art through the ages is fascinating - and even more fascinating to see how contemporaries drew from the same artistic lexicon. And doesn't is seem funny that some people get ALL the talent (Michaelangelo, Leonardo, etc.) for sculpture, architecture, painting, etc.? In any case, my brain is overstuffed with cool stuff, and it'll take a while to sort out (and will probably leak out in weird ways in my postings) when I get home. Traveling does weird stuff to your dreams. Meltdowns are inevitable when traveling, and come in myriad shapes and sizes. How do the women here manage to walk on the cobblestones in 4 inch heels without breaking their ankles?

More when I can or when I get home... Ciao!

posted by Unknown @ 4:29 AM 0 comments

Hurry, hurry - not much time this time, we only stopped for a second. Yesterday went to San Gimignano. Cute little medieval town. Best part about it was the food - had a selection of cheeses and salamis and wines and bruschetta for lunch. Then walked back up the hill and had gelato. Not sure how Iàm doing this, but am managing to LOSE weight while eating like a glutton on this trip. Today weàre in Siena. Another cute medeival town (need to come back here for Palio - that looks insane). Dinner last night was wild boar stew with fried polenta, wonderful chianti and we all shared some gorgonzola risotto. Oh... My... GOD... itàs heavenly. The views have been awesome everywhere we go - like waking up to postcards. And then we walk all over and look at stupid tourists like us (and occasionally baaa like the sheep we are). Life is really good though - you guys would not believe how much Iàm smiling...

posted by Unknown @ 7:10 AM 0 comments

Where am I again? - Actually I know that right now I'm in the Cinque Terre. It's an absolutely beautiful area.

Let's catch up to what I had put in last and work backward to today. In Florence we went to see the Bargello - a museum full of sculpture. The top floor also had ceramics and some "guys" exhibits - armor, crossbows, swords, etc. That museum was lovely. We got there early (around 9:30) so there was no crowd. I then went back to the hotel to meet Tonya (our tourguide) so we could go shopping for leathergoods. We went to the main marketplace (I'll fill in the proper name later). It was like a big flea market, except with moderate quality goods. The vendors carts sometimes acted as a teaser for what was actually in their stores. Tonya had bought a leather coat the last time she was in Florence, so she took me back to see the same person that had sold her hers. His name was Abed (he was kinda cute too).

Abed took us upstairs where I tried on 3 or 4 different styles (lapels/no lapels/mandarin collar/regular collar, etc). They didn't have the style I wanted in my size, so he said I should come back later in the evening. He called the person who makes the coats, and she could have it ready by 7:00. We agreed to come back then. Then Tonya and I went shopping thru the market for stuff for her friends and family.

We then went into the main produce market. We ordered a boiled beef sandwich there. It was wonderful - boiled beef on a wonderful roll (crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside). The sandwich was dipped in a broth and had some crushed red pepper on it. Deliciosa! She had to go back for something, so I wandered through the market looking at things.

Downstairs was a meat market. No, really... there was every kind of meat you can imagine (veal, beef, pork, chicken, squab, duck, etc.). Much of it was stuff that you would never normally see in the supermarket at home - tripe, whole pig heads, fowl with the feet still on, etc. I wish I had gotten a pictured downstairs, but I got turned around and couldn't get back to the place that had the coolest meats. There were also vendors with cheeses and lots of cool stuff. Upstairs were the fruits and vegetables. It smelled wonderful. I bought some dried fruits and nuts to snack on later.

From there I walked back to the Uffizi gallery where we had an appointment to go in as a group. That is probably my 2nd favorite museum (next to the one in Paris - not the Louvre). We saw so much great art. And our guide gave us "whisper systems" (little things you wear around your neck with a speaker for your ear), so she was able to tell us more about the stuff we were looking at - it brought everything to life. It was really really cool to see the Botticellis and the Leonardo and lots of other cool stuff. (I am still tired from the last trip of religious art, but at least the renaisance art is a bit more interesting and fun).

From there we went back to the place for my coat. It fits wonderfully (it's black, zips up the front, hip length, has a little collar and simple slash pockets). Now I just need to wear it to a nice dinner/dancing in San Francisco when I get home (hint to the universe).

Ran straight from there to dinner on the other side of town. (I've been getting more exersize...) Had a wonderful dinner with other members of the tour. We had to try to local specialty - bistecca fiorentina (beefsteak Florentine). They serve it to you in HUGE cuts off the bone. They char it over a very hot fire so the outside is cooked, but the inside is rare, and they serve it with lemons. Heaven! The group also shared salmon carpaccio, risotto, gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce, and a lovely wine. From the restaurant we walked back out to Piazza Signori (under the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi) and had gelato and a passegiata (stroll around the square and through the streets) for dessert.

Just to reiterate - Florence is my favorite place I've been to so far. If you don't stay near the train station and stay near the city center, everything is completely walkable. But I have to say that I have much more respect now for what Terry and I saw 2 years ago - we walked EVERYWHERE. I had seen much more of the town than any of the folks on the tour got to see.

From Florence we went to Pisa. We saw the leaning tower. (Apparently we could have climbed it - it's open again after some repairs to keep the tower from falling over. While I've been doing a lot of stair climbing, I didn't think I was ready for that...) That was actually pretty cool. And in the Campo dei Miracoli we also saw the duomo there. From the last tour I was pretty burnt out on cathedrals, but since we had some time to kill I actually went into this one (I think it's the first one I went into on this trip). It was actually quite beautiful. Not as dark and scary as some of the other ones, and it had beautiful frescos all over the church. I may have also liked this one more because someone played the pipe organ for a couple of minutes. That really brought the place alive to me.

We then went into Levanto. From Levanto we caught the train into the little Cinque Terre town I'm staying in - Monterosso al Mare. Cinque Terre is 5 little towns perched on the hills above the Ligurean (sp?) sea. We had dinner in town last night. The owner (or maybe the mom of the owner) of the 2 hotels our group stayed in gave us a demonstration of how to make homemade pesto (with a mortar/pestle, not a food processor). Then we had the BEST pesto lasagna - made with a bechamel sauce and a dollop of fresh pesto over the top - it was amazing. For dessert we had a wonderful dessert wine (schiachetra - when you say it it sounds a little bit like Chaka Khan, so we were singing that all night). I wish I'd had more, but as it is it feels like all we do on this trip is eat and drink! The food and wines we've had have been a great sampling of all the regional cooking, and make me want to get in the kitchen and try to recreate some of this stuff.

Today was wonderful. Got up late (relatively speaking 8:30) and went down to breakfast in the hotel. Met up with Emily/Angie and we decided to take the ferry to the southernmost town (we're in the northernmost) and from there to hike to the middle town (Corniglia). The ferry to Riomaggiore was fun - the day is beautiful and partly sunny/partly cloudy, but the sea is calm. We got off the ferry and walked up (it's a hillside town) into town and wandered around. Hiked from that town to Manorola (an easy, flat walk above the sea). The area reminded me of home - lots of plant life like at home, and in one particular spot there was a bit that looked like Monterey and 17 Mile Drive (without the actual cars). From there the trail got a bit rougher (but not very steep) up to Corniglia. Then we made the brilliant move of following the advice in the book and taking the bus into the actual town. It was brilliant because otherwise it would have been up over 400 stairs to get to the town. We had lunch in a little outdoor cafe (fresh anchovies for appetizer, insalata misto and trennete al pesto). We hiked down to the train station and caught the train to the next town. There we had gelato. (We seem to need those almost daily... it's strange that Italy has that effect on you - you feel compelled to try EVERY flavor of gelato that you can find.)

Too many things I've been seeing and learning to write about all of them, especially as this is the most uninterupted time I've had at a computer. I'm also way behind on my postcards, so don't be surprised if you either don't get one, or don't get one for a LONG while. I'll write again when/if I can. I hope everyone at home is doing well, and as for me, I couldn't be happier. Now I know what they mean when they talk about la dolce vita (the sweet life).

posted by Unknown @ 8:29 AM 0 comments

Buono sera di Firenze - Last night was great - went for a gondola ride on the canals of Venice. We thought we might not be able to because it was pouring at the time we were supposed to go. So we hung around Piazza San Marco for a while, and the rain stopped. We then went for a gondola ride with a cute gondolier named Alex. The fearsome foursome and Bill and I went through the canals. It was incredible and beautiful. We also saw some local wildlife (rats).

Today we wandered around Florence a bit. Went to the Accademia and saw David... what a man... That Michaelangelo guy knew what he was doing. Iàll probably do the Bargello tomorrow, and shop for a leather coat (and maybe shoes...)

Itàs tough to write when thereàs only one computer and 3 people breathing down your neck. And this mosquito is getting fat off of me. Speaking of getting fat, Iàd be huge if it werenàt for the stairmaster days Iàve been having. There are lots of stairs on the bridges of Venice. Not to mention that I walked over most of that island twice yesterday. From San Marco to the Rialto bridge to the train station, back to the Rialto, over to the Accademia bridge and back toward the train station. LOTS of walking. And today was a stairmaster day with a couple trips up the 3 flights of stairs just to get to my room, and an additional 2 flights up/down the stairs to the tower. But what a view! The moon is full, and you can clearly see Mars. The duomo is amazing (even up as high as our tower the Duomo makes me feel small), and you can see all around the city. Itàs amazing, and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of this trip and this place.

posted by Unknown @ 1:12 PM 0 comments

First post from the actual road - Hi folks. Typing from Venice, in a strange little internet cafe where a bunch of people are playing first person shooter games against each other. Could be home except for the cigarette smoke and foreign languages.

So far I've been to Lake Como. It's beautiful - think of the lake scene in the last crappy Star Wars movie. I think that was filmed at Lake Como. I met the first member of my tour group in the train station in Milan. Angie is also the person who lives the closest (in Fremont). [It's weird typing on this keyboard.] The tour is actually ending up to be really cool. The folks are nice (lots of food and wine people), and not too filled with old folks. It's nice not being the only single person on tour. And how weird is it to have only been feeling out of touch today by not having email?

Ok, this is going to be disjointed and out of order a bit because I'm having to think this thru backwards. Started in Milan (I still hate Milan - no change there - it's dirty and ugly and a pain to get into\out of except for the metro). The one fun thing about Milan was looking at the fashion - both on just the people walking by on their way to work (I've never seen so many women in 4 inch heels - I think they're not allowed to wear anything else), but also in the shop windows. It was when I was looking around at the names in the shop windows that I remembered that Milan is a world fashion capital. Too bad I have A) no money and B) no way to carry anything that I might want to buy.

Met Angie in the train station in Milan. She sat down on a bench next to me, saw that I was reading an English language book and ask if I was american, and then immediately if I was on the tour. We hit it off right away. She's probably in her early 50's, and we get along great. She's lot's of fun and adventurous. We almost got on the wrong train, but got it sorted and went to the train to Varenna. Varenna is a cute little town on Lake Como (which is sort of shaped like a man walking). We trekked up the hill a bit to our hotel, a cute little place overlooking some gardens and the lake. We had a getting to know you hour, and everyone on the tour just hit it off right away. We all then adjourned to a nearby restaurant (walking through the tiny town square, past the little church, through winding, picturesque alleys). The restaurant had an outside terrace overlooking the lake, and we had appetizers and wine and got a orientation to the tour. Our tour guide Tonya and the assistant Kitty told us what to expect, etc.

From there I went with my first roommate (they rotate the single travelers - in this case all women - at each stop) Nancy, and new friends Emily and the "fearsome foursome" (Marge\Donna\Tarnia and Carol - a bunch of fun older blonde ladies who are just a hoot - thank god they're here so I'm not the only alcoholic) and Angie went to dinner and dessert, and then for a stroll back to the hotel. The next day we took ferries around to a couple of cute little villages on the shores of the lake and just wandered around. Bellagio is a pretty little place - I can see why folks would retire to and vacation on Lake Como - I started to run out of superlatives for how beautiful it was.

Oops, in the interest of time at the internet cafe - the highlights. Next we went up into the mountains in northern Italy to the Dolomites. We wandered around a pretty German-looking area in alpine meadows. Lots of hiking, also lots of rain. Hiked up a mountain that had a ski lift on it (I'm sure it's much easier in the winter to go DOWN the hill). Also took the gondola down into the little town (whose name escapes me) for a lunch of Wienerschnitzel and pizza and minestrone (among the 3 folks). The gondola ride up thru the fog was eerie... FABULOUS dinners and meals and wine every day so far. I'll go back and detail that when I get home. Today we drove down the mountain to see Bolzano (another insanely cute little town - but Italian instead of German this time) and the frozen guy Oetzie (or something like that), a 5000 year old mummified\frozen guy. Then we came into Venice, where I found the internet again (hurray!) and where tomorrow I'll probably wander around Piazza San Marco, take a cruise up the grand canal, have a gondola ride, shop and look for my Italian sugar-daddy (yeah... right...). More when I can find another internet cafe - probably in a few days in Florence.

posted by Unknown @ 12:36 PM 0 comments

First missive from (almost) the road - Ok, so I haven't really left yet. For those of you who are not familiar with blogs, they usually have the latest info at the top. So you may need to read from the bottom up. I'll be taking a digital camera, but not a laptop, so I won't be able to upload the pictures until I get home.

I've now obsessively packed and repacked a number of times. I'm sure I have tooooooo much stuff with me, and I'm also sure I've left out something I'll need/want later. (What's the equivalent of c'est la vie in Italian?) Hopefully I'll have wonderful stories and observations to share when I get either back to the internet or back home (or both).

I can't wait to stroll Italian piazzas and museums. I also can't wait for gelati as big as my head, and lattes til I either drown or bounce off the walls. I also wish I could take folks with me to experience this too, but I'll compensate with tales from the road. Ok, I'm off to the airport...

posted by Unknown @ 11:19 AM 0 comments

Pre-tour info - Here's my general itinerary... I leave on Wednesday for London, the layover for about 2 hours and then depart for Milan. I arrive in Milan around 5PM their time. I'll be staying at a hotel near the central train station. At around 5PM the next day I meet the tour group in Varenna.

I'm not sure how often I'll have free time to get internet access. Theoretically I'll have time in Cinque Terre, and possibly in Florence (though I loved Florence so much that I'm not sure I'll want to take time out there). I'll try to update this and/or send email as often as I can, but I'll be sending postcards along the way as well (as I can write those out in the bus between stops. After the end of the tour in Rome, I fly to London to spend a couple of days with Tooch/Cathy and a couple of days with Terry.

I will not have a phone with me last time. (For those of you who don't remember my trip 2 years ago, I rented a cell phone to carry with me. While it came in handy at times, I'm not feeling as "on my own" this time, and felt like I could dispense with the phone. We'll see how that goes.) I'll be bringing a digital camera with me. I won't be posting photos as I go since I don't want to carry any of the necessary cables/equipment to download.

posted by Unknown @ 11:44 PM 0 comments