Little Change of Plans

Caio, everybody!

Remember yesterday when we said we were going to the Isle of Capri?  Well, um, we lied!

When we got back to the hotel yesterday we confirmed our trip.  The desk clerk asked if we could bring our luggage up before we went so that we could check out.

HUH?  We were supposed to stay another night!... so we thought.  We made a mistakeypoo.

Actually, it was no big deal.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to Capri, but all of our reservations were just fine.  We (read: I) were just a little mixed up.

We had an interesting evening out last night at dinner.  We went to a new restaurant in the S. Agata area up the hill from our hotel.  Another mistakeypoo!

First, the extremely friendly waiter (we have to give him credit -- he really does try) had cheese or something in his teeth.  Wait, no, he had cheese for teeth.  All we really saw was cheese.  At least that's all WE could see.  Ak.

Secondly, the music belonged in a dentist's office, not in a restaurant.  After the Girl from Ipanema, we got to hear "Fillings...  Nothing more than fillings..."    Then to make matters worse, a British fella at a nearby table had a whistling contest with John.  It was all I could do to not shout, "USA!  USA!"  (John obviously won, the other guy had NO vibrato...)

The food was not bad.  Actually, my fish was pretty good.  The deserts -- which we REALLY shouldn't have anyway -- were nasty.  The mousse tasted more like cake frosting.

At the very least, it made for an entertaining evening.  And that's what we're here for!

Today we made our way to Rome, the eternal city.  We checked into our bed and breakfast which is so cool!  It's in the Travestere section of town, sort of an artsy area of town just south of Vatican City.  It's a large 3rd-floor apartment, and the woman who owns it (Sylvie, a French girl who moved to Rome) rents out a couple of rooms.  She is VERY nice -- a photographer.


Once we tossed our luggage into our room, we set out into the city.  It's easy to overdo it in Rome.  The sun was shining and the excitement is undeniable.  Every turn reveals yet another ancient artifact or work of art.  In the few hours that we've been here, we've walked by Circo Massimo (where they once had chariot races), the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and many, many churches.
We also went shopping. I bought some new Prada sunglasses!  They are fairly large but pale in comparison to the ski goggles that most people wear here.  They are so cool!

We also tried to find some new Italian boots or shoes and clothes.  An incredibly skinny Italian woman tried to "help" me figure out the sizes.  Let's just say John had to hold me back so I wouldn't poke her eyes out.

We've walked so far from our room -- we're making our way back slowly -- but wanted to stop and say howdy!  Much love to you all!

Nicucio and Johncalangelo

Two thousand years ago, the region of Campania in Italy was a thriving area, littered with small outposts and highlighting several large cities, including Pompei and Herculaneum.  The cultures were advanced enough to have social programs, central government, and even plumbing (which in my opinion is always a plus).

However, on August 24, AD 79, the people of these cities felt the ground shake.  Since it was a fairly seismic area, most thought nothing of it; only came out of the buildings in case an earthquake shook their building.  But very quickly, the towns were overcome with a shower of pumice and gas that completely covered them both, freezing them in time, and 13 meters of rock.

Pompeii is currently a very excavated city and one that John and I got to visit today.  We sort of thought we would be going to visit something the size of a few city blocks, but we were very wrong.  Pompeii is an actual city!  It is quite large, probably half of the size of Venice (probably almost as big as downtown Portland).

The city is amazingly well preserved for being 2000 years old and having been buried in mud.  Most of the city walls are still intact, except for places that were held up by wood (such as roofs or second floors).

To get there we caught our usual "barf bus" down to the train station, and then took the city train.  The city train actually stops about 200 meters before the entrance to Pompeii, so it is quite convenient.  On the train, we were delighted ... and annoyed to receive some onboard entertainment.

First, we got to hear a saxophone player who performed some boogie-woogie, while his partner walked around with an empty tambourine (into which we were supposed to put cash).  He was actually pretty good!  Then, at the next stop where he got off, a young boy boarded with a small accordion.

I will have his 5 notes stuck in my head until the day I die.  He played them over and over and over and over and over.  It could have been used as a form of torture.  It started out being cute, but after a few minutes of the same little ditty, you sort of became hypnotized into a psychotic state.

AK!

When we reached Pompeii, we tried to decide whether we would check out an audio guide (a recorded guide that gives you information at each checkpoint, usually a Mary Poppins voice over recorded "ancient-sounding" music), make it on our own with a map, or hire a live guide.  We figured it would be more fun to hire one of the 20 or 30 guides for hire, as they looked like they'd stand on their head and meow if you hired them.  We ended up joining a small group lead by Ciro Favocchio, "Official Tourist Guide, and Archeologist".

Ciro assured us again and again of his credentials and included the fact that "Ifa I don' know something, I will lie."  Who could ask for anything more??

Ciro led us on a tour that lasted about 90 minutes, showing us the traditional citizen's Villa, ancient original artwork, the Town Square, different temples, highlights of daily Pompeiian life, and more.  He really was delightful and charming, in a very Italian way.

After our tour, we enjoyed a very expensive lunch at the cafeteria there and then headed back into Pompeii on our own.  Ciro's tour seemed a little fast so we decided to stroll through wherever we felt.

At one point we walked through a gate that looked like it should have been closed (we didn't open it so...).  I asked John what if we got in trouble.  His response was "What are they going to do, throw us in a Pompeiian jail?  There are no roofs -- we'll just climb out!"

We spent a good four or five hours in Pompeii and are so glad we took the time to go.  With the excavations and the rebuilding, we got to see in vivid detail what humanity was like 2000 years ago.

We also got to compare their culture to hours, which is pretty fun.  For example, we think that morality has gone downhill over the years?  Not by Pompeii or Roman standards!  We saw brothels with illustrated "menus", anatomically correct statues doing things that aren't currently allowed on public television, and even paintings in the entryways of wealthy citizens' homes bragging about their own masculinity!

Ciro also translated some of the words that were inscribed on walls and doors.  One home's fresco said, "Money is what makes you happy."

It is truly interesting to see how our concepts of philosophy and morality have changed!

Well, it's nap time.  And I think we will both have to put on some lotion -- we got a bit of sun.  Tomorrow we take a tour of the Isle of Capri (pronounced CA-pri, not the way you would think).

A big hug to everybody back home!

Johnatrucio and Nicapillo

Ciao Venezia, Buongiorno Firenze!

Hello!

We left off yesterday (Nicole's birthday, happy birthday to me, yada yada yada) with an easy, low-key afternoon in Venice.

We did a little re-packing, a little reading, and then decided to go to a local trattoria for dinner.  The plan was to have some salad and maybe a meat dish, as most meals here are served ala carte (first salad or insalata, then first course of pasta, then second course of meat and then dessert).  We've had so much pizza and pasta lately that we were really looking forward to some vegetables (for regularity's sake -- you knew it would come up eventually).  You can only eat so much dough and cheese... well, you get the idea.

Instead, we got in a celebratory mood and went nuts with the menu (and the vino which is cheap and yummy).  We started with a Caprese salad (tomatoes, mozzarella, olives, olive oil, arugula salad), then had pasta.  By that time, we were getting a little bit giddy.  We started into a laughing spasm about the Tracy Chapman soundtrack that was playing in the restaurant, with the waiter singing along.  He couldn't speak English, but he knew Tracy!

Then we had a major laughing fit about my napkin.  You sorta had to be there.  But I grabbed my napkin to daintily wipe the corners of my mouth and ended up smacking my forehead with the bulk of it.  I blame it on the starch.  We could NOT stop laughing.  There was an Austrian couple across the room that was not amused.

You know, as I write this it's not as funny. Tell you what.  Go have a few glasses of wine, coffee or sugar or whatever, and then come read this.  We'll wait.

After completely gorging ourselves, we waddled out of the restaurant and took a walk one last time down the streets of Venice before we turned in for the night.

When we got back to our hotel, we were greeted with a hotel clerk other than the somber fella that normally greeted us.  This one looked like Einstein with olives in his teeth.  We grabbed our hotel key from its hook and he said, with a big olivey grin, "Ow Kaey!!" and went back to smoking in front of his tiny television (I think he was watching Benny Hill).

Today, we got up early...ish and got ready for our departure from Venice.  We said goodbye to our Mosquito Motel (where mosquitos check in but they don't check out), grabbed a quick caffe latte, and headed to the train station.

We bought our tickets and sought the track at which we would catch our train.  After confusing several other groups of Americans (we're going to Florence, but I think the train will say Rome or something different!!), we attempted to board our train.

The plan was that I would board the train, and John would "toss" each piece of luggage to me up the stairs.  I greatly overestimated John's ability to toss luggage, and my ability to catch them.  It's an exercise in physics to attempt to catch a 50 pound, 3-foot suitcase up a 2-foot wide staircase.

Then we realized we were on the wrong car and had to do it all over again.  Mama mia.

The trip was really very pretty, through rolling Tuscan hills.  When we reached Florence, we hastily found our hotel (restrooms on the train were ... damp) and realized we then had to lug our 50+ pound suitcases up another THREE FLIGHTS of stairs, clutching our hearts the entire way.  John's calves are now as hard as walnuts.

We decided that there's no better way to learn a city than to dive right in!  So we fluffed our hair, donned our sweaters (note, not raincoats) and made our way into the heart of Florence, with me saying how we did not need our city map because I had it all in my noggin.

You know, Florence is arranged differently than I remember.

We managed to make it first to the Duomo, one of the largest basilicas in Italy.  It spans several city blocks and seems to touch the clouds.  As usual, it was surrounded with tourists.  This we expected.  What we did not expect was that every tourist was armed with an open umbrella.

We made our way through the crowds with sunglasses on... not because it was sunny -- it was in fact raining -- but because every bewildered tourist tried to nail us in the eyeballs with their umbrella tines.

We then decided to find the Uffizi
Gallery, because I remembered there were many lovely little cafes that surrounded a large piazza, where we could have lunch.  As the crow flies, the piazza is probably 7 city blocks.  We, however, found it in just over 25.

We dined on extremely overpriced (half) sandwiches and water, paid the bill and ran from the waiter as he scoured our table for a larger tip.

We're back at our hotel for a rest and to freshen up.  Pray that tonight we have fewer mosquitos and get a good night's rest.  We have some 450 stone stairs to climb tomorrow at the Duomo!

Love to you all!

John and Nicola

Oregonians Should Know to Bring an Umbrella

Hello, all!

We would like to start off with an official tourist recommendation, courtesy of John, er, uh, Juan, and Nicole.  That is:

If you visit Venice, spend the extra €20 or €30 per night and get a good hotel.  The place we are staying is quite clean and looks very nice, but they apparently got the mattresses from a prison.  And the pillows.  They seem like they are intended as punishment, not comfort.  The only thing it's missing is a nice set of nails.  It is an inexpensive hotel for Venice... somewhere in the neighborhood of €60 ($77) per night.  But if we had the chance to choose again, we'd spend a little more to get a bed that was intended to allow the individual to actually rest.

So the first thing we decided to do today when we left the hotel was buy some new pillows!!!  Seems silly, but if you had to sleep with your head on a stack of newspapers in a rough cotton sack, you'd know why we did it.  Fortunately, we found a shop with a very nice shopkeeper who helped us buy some nice, fluffy soft pillows.

I (Nicole) did get a little confused, though.  She brought two bags out of the back of the shop.  One held a nice, fluffy pillow.  The other held what looked like an inflatable plastic pillow.  I opted for two of the nice fluffy brand.  It took some major explaining by her in Italian .. and then even by John ... for me to realize that they were one and the same.  When you cut the bag and allow in the air, the 'deflated' pillow becomes fluffy.  I argued very confusingly that I didn't want to inflate my pillow -- I wanted one that already had air in it.

Ahem.  I also learned how to apologize and say 'sono lento' which means, 'I'm slow'.  Sigh...

We were thinking that since this list goes out to so many people -- including people that each of us might not know -- that we should tell you folks a little something about ourselves.  Today, we'll start with John.  Er, Juan.

John has come a long way since his days in the trailer park.

Maybe I should back up here a little bit.  John was born and raised in Missouri (that's in the middle somewhere, I'm told) and went to college in Columbia, Missouri (1996).  He spent some time living 'inexpensively' in a trailer park to save money for beer.  Or books.  Or something.

The trailer was a 1972 'deluxe edition' brown (tin) siding single wide.  Apparently, ground in Missouri is too valuable to place a trailer on.  So they found a cliff and stacked cinder blocks up the side.  The front of the trailer was sort of on the ledge, while the rest of the trailer rested on 2 stories of stacked cinder blocks.  This was to ensure the safety and stability of the trailer so that the valuable Star Trek memorabilia (belonging to John's roommate that John was NOT allowed to touch) would be safe from things like raccoons, possums (or is it possi?) and tornadoes...

Fortunately for John, after a brush with death (aka tornado when one lives in a trailer park), his parents realized that perhaps it wasn't the safest place to live and helped him into an apartment built on actual land.

Today he still lives on land in Southeast Portland, Oregon.

On with our tour today...

It was a bit cooler in Venice today.  We decided that, since we were both still a bit sleep-deprived, that we would take it easy.  Also, it's my birthday (il mio compleanno), and that's what I wanted to do so we did.

We started off in Venice's Ghetto.  Whenever you hear the word, ghetto, to describe a 'poor area' of town, it doesn't really capture its true meaning.  Venice's ghetto was the first.  It was the small island of land inside Venice where the Jews were made to live during the fascist occupation of Italy in the 1930's and 1940's.  From this place, they were made to board trains and sent to concentration camps in Germany.

It is not a large part of town.  There was a bit of a shortage of places to live, despite the number of people.  Instead of being able to grow outside the boundaries of the Ghetto, they instead built up, on top of the existing buildings.  So the buildings inside the ghetto are quite tall.

Today there are small, somber monuments to its history, but it is now called the Ghetto Nuovo, or New Ghetto.  They try to reinforce the hope of the present and future, while also remembering their past.

Though so many tragedies have befallen the Jewish people, their culture remains incredibly beautiful.  Seeing it all here together with the joy and friendliness that they demonstrate made us wish we were entitled to that depth of tradition.

There are many shops that feature art and works of skilled hands.  One such shop featured some very beautiful, colorful works of art that portrayed The Creation, as described in the Torah (Old Testament of the Bible).  For my birthday, I chose one of these paintings to take home with me.  I can't wait to have its beautiful colors and ancient intent in my home.

We would like to say a big 'you're welcome' to the people of Venice and all of Italy, really.  It rained today for the first time in a long time.  Until today, Italy was the fourth country on a list of those suffering from lack of rain.  NO MORE!  We brought a bit of Portland with us.  :)

You're welcome, Venice!!

You would think, coming from where we do, that we'd know better than to leave the house without an umbrella.  We heard on the news that it would rain.  We saw the clouds.  We even asked somebody if they expected rain and they said yes.  We chose to wear cotton sweaters.

So we pretty much spent our afternoon running from doorway to doorway, or standing under the occasional (thin) tree.  Well, John could get away with it (I mean he's not as robust as I).  I stuck a plastic sack on my head.

After the rain calmed and we found a comfortable cafe, we decided to people-watch to get a grasp on Italian fashion and culture.  We found that:
1.  Anything goes!  There was no style unrepresented.  (including mullets)
2.  Men wear the most colorful and most extravagant clothes.  Today we saw a burly fella wearing pink pants.  Another wore bright gold (sparkly!) tennis shoes.  All of them walk like runway models.  (John and I tucked our giant white tennis shoes under a tablecloth.)
3.  Even the geeky guys wear Dolce & Gabbana belt buckles.  Large ones.  With rhinestones.
4.  Shoes are an ultimate style accessory.  We saw a rather Rubenesque woman in four-inch heels.  The tip of them was VERY pointy.  So pointy in fact that her little toes were popping out the sides.  Despite her obvious discomfort, she shuffled over the cobblestones with painful pride (and lack of grace).
5.  There are also no limits on hairstyles.  Any color is acceptable.  50- and 60-year-old women wear bright red hairdos, ratted out as far as their shoulders.  Cher's and Phyllis Diller's hairdos would be considered frumpy in comparison.
6.  Women are loud.  Very loud.  Women are an empowered sex here in Italy.

Well, that's it for today, friends.  We will continue with our relaxed day.  Tomorrow we take our first train ride to Florence, home of the Medici family, Michelangelo and even Leonardo DaVinci.

Caio (for naio)
Juan and Nicole

*Scratch Scratch

This might be a bit of a brief entry today.  We're a little bit pooped.  And itchy.

We learned a new word this morning!  "Zanzara", which means mosquito!
We also learned "graffiatura" which means scratch.

We were unaware of this, but apparently the mosquitos in Venice can get quite aggressive at night.  Unfortunately, our hotel does not have air conditioning, and it gets quite warm at night so we are forced to sleep with the windows open.  (there are no window screens here).

Which means that
1.  We got NO sleep.
2.  John looks like a constellation.

I (Nicole) got away pretty well with only a few bites.  John, unfortunately, has about two bites for every square inch of exposed (and to be honest, a lot of typically unexposed) skin.  I could give him a cup and he could stand on one of the streets here and make us some CASH.  I've seen a woman begging here with a hairy face (I mean like an ape) that doesn't look as bad as John and his bites.

We may join the gypsies.

Another thing that apparently kept John awake earlier this morning was the sound of neighbors having rather loud "relations".  At least, that's what John said he heard.

Found out later it was pidgeons doing some very hearty cooing.  Can't blame him really, they're very rhythmic.  (ahem)

We did manage to do some lovely sightseeing today.  We took a ferry down the Grand Canale and disembarked near the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, where we saw some amazing surrealist paintings and sculptures.  We saw a couple of incredible basilicas and ancient artwork.  For our lack of sleep, it really was a beautiful day.

We've decided to go have an early supper now so that we can try to get some sleep so that we can have a more energetic day tomorrow.  Pray that the mosquitos don't come back.  Or if they do, that they bring orange juice so that when John donates blood AGAIN, he doesn't pass out in the shower.  AGAIN.

Love to all of you back home!!!

John and Nicole

Buongiorno, Venizia!

Buongiorno, nostro amici e familie!

Today was our first official day in Italy and we LOVED it!

I suppose we should catch you up on our trip a little bit so far.  We left Portland on Saturday morning at 9:3AM and, after plane delays, fistfuls of gummy worms, and restless drugged naps, we arrived in Venice at 10:00PM Sunday night.  To be honest, the flights were quite uneventful, just like we like 'em.  Hooray for the lack of John's bad travel karma!

Today we decided to take it easy and just see the city.  For those of you who don't know or who weren't paying attention the last time Nicole went to Italy (ahem), Venice is a city built on silt and sticks.  There was never really an island here, they made one.  It is essentially built on forests of logs that hold up the buildings, streets, and bridges that make this city what it is.  (By the way, I'm totally plagiarizing a travel guide that we eavesdropped on in the Doge's Palace.)

But it makes it into quite an interesting place.  There are no cars, only boats.  So if there is a sound of engines, it's those.  Beyond that, the only other really loud noise is that of the gondoliers trying to sing tenor when they really shouldn't.


So like we said, we decided to stroll around, looking at shops (Murano glass, Italian leather, fashion, etc.), drinking lots of caffe, and people-watching.  Let's say it now so we can just get it out of the way.  EVERYBODY here is GORGEOUS.  Seriously.  Every older woman looks like Sophia Lauren.  The older men look like George Hamilton (but not orange).  (by the way, John is looking forward to getting a bit of natural sun now that his orange spray tan has rubbed off on the airplane cushions and sheets.  You should have seen the bathroom this morning.  I thought they gave us white towels but now some resemble the Shroud of Turin.)  The younger women look like fashion models.  The young men look like movie and soccer stars.

We are also working on our Italian.  From this moment on, John will be known as "Juan" (he doesn't believe me when I say it's Spanish, not Italian).  He's actually not doing bad, except that he only speaks Italian to me.  Every now and then I'll hand him something and he'll mumble, "gracias".  (FYI, it should be "gratzie" but I don't want to discourage him.)

I, on the other hand, almost had to duke it out with a woman at a cafe when I thought she gave me the wrong change.  I thought I'd given her a 10 Euro bill and she soon made it clear that I'd given her a 5 Euro bill.  When she started climbing over the bar, I realized my error.

We made it all the way across the island to Piazza di San Marco, which is home to the Basilica di San Marco, and the Ducal Palace, which is where we decided to begin our tours.  We saw the first half in about 20 minutes, and the last half in about 1 minute 20 seconds (I had to use the loo).  I think John got a lot out of the second half, but his neck might be sore tomorrow from the rubbernecking.

After a bit of touring, we decided to do some window shopping.  We started in a glass shop where they had the most beautiful pieces of glass with amazing shapes and designs inside the glass.  However, I think they thought we were going to steal something because everywhere we went, the shop owner had their nose in John's ear, asking if he could help us.  We said we were just looking.  He then insisted he could ship his wares anywhere in the world, no problem (for a small, insignificant fee).  No, we were just looking, we said.  He backed off a few inches until he got distracted by more would-be thieves at which time we made our escape.

We did buy one souvenir so far.  Ice packs for my feet.  John even helped me to communicate at the pharmacy what I needed.  I was trying to describe (with words) what I was looking for to the pharmacist.  When I didn't quite describe it accurately by pointing at my feet, John crossed his arms, shivered like a homeless child in Alaska, and said, brrrrrr!  the pharmacist must have spoken "John" because she knew then exactly what we needed.

John decided he really likes the look of the men that wear capris.  But he's a little self-conscious about skinny legs.  Here are some ideas we had about getting around that:

1.  Leg warmers

2.  When my ice packs thaw, he can tape them around his ankles.

3.  Borrow a couple of the local' small dogs to stand in front of his ankles.

We'll make it work.

We're going to take a little time to rest now and then have dinner.   Tomorrow we're going to take a Traghetto (boat) to S Marco again and then see the Peggy Guggenheim museum.

We love you all very much and miss you (mostly cause we're really liking it here).  We'll keep you posted on our adventures!

Much love,

John and Nicole from Venice