Episode IV: A New Adventure

Listen my friends to the woeful tale of our first day of travel, of our Trip to Italy, 2012.  Well, woeful might be much. But the day certainly included moments of terror, anxiety, distress, loss and sickness. On the up-side, it also included Italian magic medicine, very friendly locals, most excellent company and a first taste of Roman pizza.

Our day began (if the day before ever ended) around 4am when the nasty alarm went off. Full of excitement and a little leftover BBQ Bratwurst from a bon voyage party our friends threw, we slithered out of bed and finished our packing. A cab pickd us up at 5am to transport us to PDX airport. Our time spent there was pleasant, even so early in the morning. Everybody, from TSA security to the guy at the electronic store were chipper, friendly and helpful.  I mention this for contrast which I'll get to later.

The flight from PDX to JFK in New York was most pleasant -- until our Captain, aka Maverick, flew us through a 747's jet wash and sent us into a near lateral spin!  I'm not joking.  Our plane shook, started to fall, and then turned sideways.  Poor Hannah -- I think I climbed her though I don't remember actually doing it. Perhaps I thought I could climb to the highest possible spot to be safe.  I was in panic mode, after all and wasn't thinking clearly. It took me a while to stop shaking. But I sure was awake after that.

The JFK airport was interesting.  I provided a glimpse of PDX staffers -- friendly and outgoing.  Well, those at JFK reminded me more of that TV show, Scared Straight, where scary prison inmates scare juveniles into being good kids. Their mission was not so much to be helpful as to ensure you didn't make the mistake of coming there again.  Any question -- from "how do I get to my gate" to "where is the nearest bathroom" provoked a glare of contempt, a heavy sigh, rolling of the eyes and a dramatic pause to make sure you felt their discomfort. 

Once on our new plane to Rome, my fanny made the acquaintance of a six year-old who sat directly behind me. He liked to extend his legs and press his toes against the seat in front of him; what he was actually doing was providing me with an unwanted butt massage through the thin fabric at the base of the seat.  No thank you, Mr. Six Year Old.  Thankfully, Mr. Giggilo-in-training was interrupted with dinner.

For us, dinner consisted of chicken salads. They may have come with a little extra treat because I woke up feeling not so good.  At all.  At ALL.  Not so good in fact that as the plane landed, I filled up my very first "feel better" bag.  I'm not going to go into too much detail because my moment was actually trumped...

The luggage carousel turned out my suitcase, but not Hannah's.  Thankfully it was only full of beautiful new clothes that she bought just for the trip, and only a handful of older, sentimentally meaningful clothes.  We think that someone grabbed her suitcase thinking it was theirs.  The luggage people were very soothing and hopeful that someone would return it, though.  Sigh.

We took a short train to Termini Station in Rome where we could catch another train to our first desintation, Assisi. While there, I stopped at a Pharmacia (which is sort of like a heavenly Italian doctors office) and they gave me a magic powder to help my nausea.  They don't practice medicine here -- they practice Italian magic!

The train ride took place in true Italian form. Our tickets said, "Assisi via Orto" which I thought meant a transfer in Orto. But I've learned to take nothing for granted and struck up a conversation with a woman next to me. She indicated that we would transfer in Foligno (sort of halfway between Rome and Assisi) and that she would be doing the same, so follow her.  Great!

Then the train stopped.

The conductor announced that we would be sitting there for 20 minutes, for no special reason. Which would mean that we would miss our connection.  Thankfully, they later decided to alter their usual route and go all the way to Perugia (which would take us by Assisi). They must have heard about my tummy and noted a lack of "feel better" bags.  Really, everything turns out, especially here!

We found our beautiful city, and our sweet little hotel -- a new one for me called Lo Scudo. Very cozy, extremely friendly. Then we headed out on our first walk around the town ... when it started to rain.  You're welcome, Assisi!  We brought it with us.

We weren't here an hour before Hannah bought a new pair of shoes. But honestly, they called to her.  That's what she tells me anyway.

Sigh.  So Hannah is going to get off easy in this blog edition.  She saved my life (or at least another hip) about four times, not including the Top Gun sitch on the airplane.  The rain here makes the beautiful pink sidewalk stones very slippery and I slid into impromptu splits several times -- and each time she caught me.  She probably wants to keep me around because I speak the lingo like a native (of somewhere other than Italy).  I'm kind of an asset.

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That was yesterday.  I didn't get a chance to blog due to internet resources here...

I can't tell you how good it felt to sleep horizontally for more than a couple of hours!  Bags and dark circles are fading, cankles are reducing, digestive systems are resuming normal (if not aggressive) operations. We're still jet-laggy which is to be expected, but a full 8 hours of sleep sure was helpful.

This morning we awoke to the sound of a geriatric Italian clogging team who were apparently rehearsing on the iron steps next to our room.  There is a gaggle of women who like to spend their mornings and evenings together, gossiping and watching television in the common room downstairs.  They are perfect Italian women -- expressive and each holding their own very strong opinions.  I love it!

Well this blog entry has gotten long so I'll sign off for now.  Days will be much shorter than yesterday so these entries should be more reasonable in the future.  Love to you all!!