Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Thanks Tara!
You are so sweet for offering to get us from the airport. We had plenty of ride offers, but I decided that I wanted to make it special for my mother from beginning to end, so I'm splurging. If things change, I'll let you know. Love to you, Sam and AC!
Rome in a Day (teaser)
Back at base, Rome, July 9, 2008, 7:39 PM
I am a day behind in writing in the journal, but I have just uploaded today’s pictures to the slide show at left. Rather than trying to upload a ton of written entries with photos and videos, I will just leave the entries here for the night and write back in the room at this time. Hopefully, future entries will exhibit more brevity without a loss of enthusiasm!
Coming soon, development of the following:
The lines are extremely LONG here, so all we have been able to do is the Coliseum, Forum (Mom only because I am an idiot American--more on that later), Bocca della Veritas, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps. We had to shift to plan B for most of this morning to buy Mom decent shoes (over an hour in a Foot Locker). Stopped for a delish lunch at an outdoor café. Got a gelato at the Steps. Bought some GREAT jewelry--Indian silver cuff bracelet and STUNNING neckalce. Truly, Stunny Rooney. We can’t stop laughing and I am compiling a lexicon of catch phrases from the trip, including the omnipresent, “general _____ vicinity.” As in, "No doubt we can get bottled water in the general Coliseum vicinity" and "Mom, can I use this towel as a washcloth or have you used it in the general crotch vicinity?"
Mom's wind has subsided, yet mine is gearing up. If history is any barometer, something evil this way comes.
I am a day behind in writing in the journal, but I have just uploaded today’s pictures to the slide show at left. Rather than trying to upload a ton of written entries with photos and videos, I will just leave the entries here for the night and write back in the room at this time. Hopefully, future entries will exhibit more brevity without a loss of enthusiasm!
Coming soon, development of the following:
The lines are extremely LONG here, so all we have been able to do is the Coliseum, Forum (Mom only because I am an idiot American--more on that later), Bocca della Veritas, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps. We had to shift to plan B for most of this morning to buy Mom decent shoes (over an hour in a Foot Locker). Stopped for a delish lunch at an outdoor café. Got a gelato at the Steps. Bought some GREAT jewelry--Indian silver cuff bracelet and STUNNING neckalce. Truly, Stunny Rooney. We can’t stop laughing and I am compiling a lexicon of catch phrases from the trip, including the omnipresent, “general _____ vicinity.” As in, "No doubt we can get bottled water in the general Coliseum vicinity" and "Mom, can I use this towel as a washcloth or have you used it in the general crotch vicinity?"
Mom's wind has subsided, yet mine is gearing up. If history is any barometer, something evil this way comes.
Naples to Rome, finally
Rome, Maryelen B&B, July 9, 2008, 8:38 AM
On the second leg of our journey, we shared a compartment with three young female travelers and one middle-aged man. Two of the girls were from Perth who were coming up from the Amalfi coast and were heading to Spain. The other young girl, Anna Maria, was returning to Rome where she worked in some kind of language instruction. She spoke fairly good English, but she understood everything we said.
Anna Maria was with her dog, Andiamo, who was sprawled out an sleeping under my mom’s seat the whole 2 hour train ride. At first, I thought he was a stray, but early in the trip, I understood he was hers. He didn’t flinch when I opened my left over pizza from the night before. I’m beginning to think Ray is the most spoiled dog on the planet. Maybe he needs to live in a train station and be fed scraps for a while to really appreciate how good he has it. ;)
Anna explained to us why Mt. Vesuvius was so filthy. An Italian economic recession and rampant corruption aside, Naples blocked the building of a municipal trash incinerator for environmental reasons. The result was private trash companies bid for the garbage contract, the lowest bidder coming in at twenty cents per kilo. When he discovered he couldn’t do it for that price, he just stopped collecting. No trash has moved for six months and the environmental hazard is now of another kind; stray dogs, feral cats, rats are everywhere and there is no end in sight. She told us of a demonstration against Berlusconi to be held in Piazza Navona later tonight. I would LOVE to get photos of that!
On the second leg of our journey, we shared a compartment with three young female travelers and one middle-aged man. Two of the girls were from Perth who were coming up from the Amalfi coast and were heading to Spain. The other young girl, Anna Maria, was returning to Rome where she worked in some kind of language instruction. She spoke fairly good English, but she understood everything we said.
Anna Maria was with her dog, Andiamo, who was sprawled out an sleeping under my mom’s seat the whole 2 hour train ride. At first, I thought he was a stray, but early in the trip, I understood he was hers. He didn’t flinch when I opened my left over pizza from the night before. I’m beginning to think Ray is the most spoiled dog on the planet. Maybe he needs to live in a train station and be fed scraps for a while to really appreciate how good he has it. ;)
Anna explained to us why Mt. Vesuvius was so filthy. An Italian economic recession and rampant corruption aside, Naples blocked the building of a municipal trash incinerator for environmental reasons. The result was private trash companies bid for the garbage contract, the lowest bidder coming in at twenty cents per kilo. When he discovered he couldn’t do it for that price, he just stopped collecting. No trash has moved for six months and the environmental hazard is now of another kind; stray dogs, feral cats, rats are everywhere and there is no end in sight. She told us of a demonstration against Berlusconi to be held in Piazza Navona later tonight. I would LOVE to get photos of that!
Pompeii back to Naples on the Circumvesuviana
I love the word Circumvesuviana because it sounds so much like circumcision but I can say it in mixed company. The C sound at the beginning is pronounced Ch.
Rome, Maryelen B&B, July 9, 2008, 7:48 AM
The train was already crowded when we boarded. It had come from Sorrento and was only halfway through its journey. We sat next to another grizzled character who had spread his belongings over three of the four facing seats. He cleared two seats and let us sit down. At first, we didn’t say anything to each other, but after a few minutes, he asked in Italian if we were American. We struggled through sporadic conversation about New York and Los Angeles, Frank Sinatra and the mafia, before I began to sense that he was likely homeless, or at least some kind of conjurer who tries to turn other people’s waste into money.
Spread on his lap was an intricately annotated racing sheet with the numbers of the horses that had come in first, second and third in recent races, probably over the weekend. In his hands, he held a huge stack of crumpled and discarded betting slips that he had collected, about the size of three or four decks of cards. Each in our own language, but clearly enough that each understood what the other was saying, we communicated that he was comparing the bets to the results to see if anyone threw away a ticket without claiming his winning, but he wasn’t having any luck either.
From his pocket, he drew out a small black box, like a hinged eye glass case but smaller, like a ring box only bigger, and showed us two tiny gold coins, like miniature dimes. One was a commemorative John Kennedy piece, the other was a Roman reproduction. He beamed so much it seemed like those must have been his prized possessions, as if he wanted to show us he was a man of consequential possessions after all. It was a poignant exchange.
As we disembarked onto the platform in Naples, my mom and I reached for our cameras to take a picture with him, but a young women stopped us and said it wasn’t safe to open our purses. I’m still not sure if she meant in front of him or just on the platform with all of the people around, but he had said already said goodbye and moved off in the other direction.
Rome, Maryelen B&B, July 9, 2008, 7:48 AM
The train was already crowded when we boarded. It had come from Sorrento and was only halfway through its journey. We sat next to another grizzled character who had spread his belongings over three of the four facing seats. He cleared two seats and let us sit down. At first, we didn’t say anything to each other, but after a few minutes, he asked in Italian if we were American. We struggled through sporadic conversation about New York and Los Angeles, Frank Sinatra and the mafia, before I began to sense that he was likely homeless, or at least some kind of conjurer who tries to turn other people’s waste into money.
Spread on his lap was an intricately annotated racing sheet with the numbers of the horses that had come in first, second and third in recent races, probably over the weekend. In his hands, he held a huge stack of crumpled and discarded betting slips that he had collected, about the size of three or four decks of cards. Each in our own language, but clearly enough that each understood what the other was saying, we communicated that he was comparing the bets to the results to see if anyone threw away a ticket without claiming his winning, but he wasn’t having any luck either.
From his pocket, he drew out a small black box, like a hinged eye glass case but smaller, like a ring box only bigger, and showed us two tiny gold coins, like miniature dimes. One was a commemorative John Kennedy piece, the other was a Roman reproduction. He beamed so much it seemed like those must have been his prized possessions, as if he wanted to show us he was a man of consequential possessions after all. It was a poignant exchange.
As we disembarked onto the platform in Naples, my mom and I reached for our cameras to take a picture with him, but a young women stopped us and said it wasn’t safe to open our purses. I’m still not sure if she meant in front of him or just on the platform with all of the people around, but he had said already said goodbye and moved off in the other direction.
Leaving Pompeii
Hello to Heidi, Cheri and Tara! You seem to be the only ones reading, or at least commenting! Great to know you are there! Here's the dish on yesterday. I’m going to try to remember to insert the day and time of the entry when I write it. Because I seem to constantly be a day behind, this just gives you a sense of when/where I am when I sit down to write:
Rome, Maryelen B&B, July 9, 2008, 6:47 AM
I woke up early for some reason--I couldn’t sleep beyond 5 AM after having gone to bed so late after the dinner at Bocconci (?)--but stayed in bed until 7 AM when I showered and packed for our trip to Rome. We went upstairs to breakfast where Antonio was running behind schedule and chatted while he finished setting the buffet. After a quick breakfast, not as leisurely as the day before due to our nerves about making the connection in Naples, Mom returned to the room to pack her stuff while I spent close to 30 minutes playing with Romeo, the 5 month old golden retriever. What a schmoo.
Romeo is in the teething phase of his puppy career, so I let him pretend to chew my fists the way I let Radar do when he was little. Although he is a much bigger dog, his breed is known for its soft bite, so it only got painful a couple of times. He released when I said ouch--he was very responsive to all commands--so it never became a problem. After about 30 mins, I put a dirty sock over my hand, which he loved, and we transitioned into tug of war then catch.
Saying goodbye to A and I was bittersweet. We had really bonded with them over our helplessness with the train strike and our reports of our passegiatta, delicious meals and Pompeian and Vesuvian discoveries. Mom had brought along four Pittsburgh kitchen magnets to leave with each of our hosts as a memento and Ione was so touched she gave us each commemorative bronze coins they had in their office. We took photos with each A and I and vowed to stay in touch (which they were quick to add they don’t say to everyone.)
On the way to the train station, Antonio told us more about their lives. It is his second marriage (which Mom has suspected) and he has an 18-year-old daughter who normally lives with him, but is on a tour of Greece and Cyprus for two weeks. He said he had been in the food import/export business, but didn’t like having to deal all of his employees’ issues, so sold off the business 5 years ago and opened the B&B. Ione has two advanced degrees, one in Art History and one in ancient Italian, and is an accomplished piano player. He says she may be small of body but she is big of mind. They have been together three years and she is 15 years younger. She wants to have a baby, but he’s not sure he wants to start all over again, plus his daughter is very jealous and doesn’t want a younger brother or sister running around.
We made the train with two minutes to spare.
Rome, Maryelen B&B, July 9, 2008, 6:47 AM
I woke up early for some reason--I couldn’t sleep beyond 5 AM after having gone to bed so late after the dinner at Bocconci (?)--but stayed in bed until 7 AM when I showered and packed for our trip to Rome. We went upstairs to breakfast where Antonio was running behind schedule and chatted while he finished setting the buffet. After a quick breakfast, not as leisurely as the day before due to our nerves about making the connection in Naples, Mom returned to the room to pack her stuff while I spent close to 30 minutes playing with Romeo, the 5 month old golden retriever. What a schmoo.
Romeo is in the teething phase of his puppy career, so I let him pretend to chew my fists the way I let Radar do when he was little. Although he is a much bigger dog, his breed is known for its soft bite, so it only got painful a couple of times. He released when I said ouch--he was very responsive to all commands--so it never became a problem. After about 30 mins, I put a dirty sock over my hand, which he loved, and we transitioned into tug of war then catch.
Saying goodbye to A and I was bittersweet. We had really bonded with them over our helplessness with the train strike and our reports of our passegiatta, delicious meals and Pompeian and Vesuvian discoveries. Mom had brought along four Pittsburgh kitchen magnets to leave with each of our hosts as a memento and Ione was so touched she gave us each commemorative bronze coins they had in their office. We took photos with each A and I and vowed to stay in touch (which they were quick to add they don’t say to everyone.)
On the way to the train station, Antonio told us more about their lives. It is his second marriage (which Mom has suspected) and he has an 18-year-old daughter who normally lives with him, but is on a tour of Greece and Cyprus for two weeks. He said he had been in the food import/export business, but didn’t like having to deal all of his employees’ issues, so sold off the business 5 years ago and opened the B&B. Ione has two advanced degrees, one in Art History and one in ancient Italian, and is an accomplished piano player. He says she may be small of body but she is big of mind. They have been together three years and she is 15 years younger. She wants to have a baby, but he’s not sure he wants to start all over again, plus his daughter is very jealous and doesn’t want a younger brother or sister running around.
We made the train with two minutes to spare.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Blog under construction
Just a personal note to everyone:
I am sitting in an Internet cafe on the Principe Amadeo near the train station in Rome where it has taken me one hour and five minutes to cut and paste entries I have written previously on my lap top and to upload the accompanying photos. I had intended to include many more photos and video clips (I am getting GREAT video), but because the process is extremely slow, I might not be able to do that until I get to Florence and Venice later in the week. Worst case scenario, you'll get the highlights now and you can tune in after the 15th for the full show. Trust me, it's going to be a good one.
Also, I am going to try to upload a running series of photos to the left, but that might crash all the computers in the place. Keep checking back to see if I can iron out the bugs.
Much love to everyone!
I am sitting in an Internet cafe on the Principe Amadeo near the train station in Rome where it has taken me one hour and five minutes to cut and paste entries I have written previously on my lap top and to upload the accompanying photos. I had intended to include many more photos and video clips (I am getting GREAT video), but because the process is extremely slow, I might not be able to do that until I get to Florence and Venice later in the week. Worst case scenario, you'll get the highlights now and you can tune in after the 15th for the full show. Trust me, it's going to be a good one.
Also, I am going to try to upload a running series of photos to the left, but that might crash all the computers in the place. Keep checking back to see if I can iron out the bugs.
Much love to everyone!
Forecast: more wind
She shouldn’t laugh either. But, we have decided that the cause is a train strike of her own. ;)
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