Home again, home again

Being home is a joy. I was homesick. Our kids took incredibly good care of the cats and cars and house and so we came home and started unpacking and putting things away. I made a quickie cholesterol ball because we didn't have a decent breakfast for 19 days. Then I started hanging souvenirs. 

We mailed 3 suitcases home full of souvenirs and we still have one more left to arrive. I can't even remember what's in that one even though it was the most recent to be mailed. We do have about $400 worth of alcohol coming, as well. We got a tad excited at the lemoncello stand. 

We also slept all day yesterday. Probably slept 18 hours, so that's why I woke up at 1am this morning. Today will be an interesting day at work. I can't remember how to do anything except speak Italian and drink cappuccino and walk 10 miles.

I'm amazed our luggage got to Italy and back home. None of us missed any flights. Although it was awfully close in Munich, we did all make it on the plane to the USA. That special shuttle they sent was a miracle.

I think Robert and I will travel alone together if we go anywhere else. I think he really wants to visit the Mediterranean and spend some time on the water, and I would love that. I think it would be so romantic.

I did tell him it's time for us to get married. I don't want to die unmarried. I adore him and I think he likes me a little and it's time. We'll see if he gets it done.

Italy was so amazing. It was the trip of a lifetime. I can never say he didn't take me anywhere. I'm the luckiest woman alive.

Pompeii and Positano

 We knew Anya wasn't going to Pompeii because she didn't feel well, so we got up early, showered and dressed and headed for Piazza con Poppolo. We caught a taxi immediately. 

The Piazza is gorgeous, with a giant Egyptian obelisk brought over by Augustus when he conquered Egypt. Augustus is my favorite. He was intelligent and believed in Ceasar as did the people and he avenged Ceasar's murder.

At any rate, I'd booked a trip to Pompeii with a lunch in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. I wrote a song called Pompeii when I was in a band called 49 Fingers, so Pompeii has special meaning to me.

We found our tour guide, MariAlena. I had set up a day trip from Rome to Pompeii for the three of us. We had an option of visiting Vesuvius or Positano on the Amalfi Coast. I opted for the Amalfi Coast.

So when we got on our tour bus, we were interested to learn that we would drive for an hour and a half and then have a break, then drive for another hour and a half to our Destination. I was still thinking we were going to Pompeii first. That's not what was planned.

To be honest, 20 minutes into our trip I had a panic attack and had to beg Robert to ask the tour guide to find a stop. She did, and she was incredibly gracious about it, too. She said she'd been in my shoes before. I nibbled a tiny corner off one of my strong anti-panic meds and we moved on.

We stopped at a gas station/corner store that had coffee, paninis, sodas, and the weirdest "chochke". (Swag, some call it.) I got a panini for Robert for later and bought a zip-up Italy sweatshirt because it was pouring rain and suddenly cold. 

Because I quit smoking a year ago, I forgot Robert couldn't help me carry drinks; he had to go smoke. So I didn't have enough hands to grab sodas. 

We got back on the bus and continued past Vesuvius. At this point, it became clear they were taking us to Positano first, and we wouldn't even get there until 1pm.

The Amalfi coast is gorgeous. The cliffs are high and the sea is cerulean blue and there's no end to it. It looks like it goes on forever, unlike the Oregon coast that has rocks and islands and commercial ships. 

The Amalfi coast also has bright white buildings all nestled into the hillside with crazy, curvy roads snaking into the towns. I've never seen roads like that except Lombard street in San Francisco. 

So our tour bus guide split us up into two small shuttles to get us into Positano. We were given two hours to either shop or get down to the beach and back.

Positano was a sleepy town but now it's a wealthy person's getaway. The shops in town have this incredible clothing, including men's and women's clothes in linen, silk, cotton, and raw silk. It's all stunning.

They're also known for their pottery and brightly colored Italian plates and bowls, as well as their ocean art. There were also colored gemstone jewelry items that were intensely expensive. 

We opted for finding the beach.

Robert and I hoofed it all the way down to the Mediterranean. He introduced me to it and I of course did a quick rock hounding search. I found sea glass, smoothed terra cotta with a pattern, a smooth red and white rock of some sort that I can't identify but got all excited about, and others. I was happy.

Robert obviously loves the Mediterranean. We talked about doing two weeks in Positano and renting a boat with a captain. What a joy that would be.

We hoofed it back up the crazy walk up the switchbacks among the shops and stairs until we found our shuttle. We still had time so we stopped at a Cafe and ate caprese salad and had apple martinis. Then we got back on our shuttle.

Finally, they took us to Pompeii.

We pulled up, split into two groups, each with our own guide, and our guide showed us about a tenth of the archaeological park. 

The archaic Pompeii is currently about 66 acres of excavated history from the Vesuvius eruption of 79AD. We saw maybe 5 or 6 acres.

Our guide showed us the theater, the homes, the fast food courts of ancient Pompeii, the water systems and the pressure controls, the home water systems fed by open atriums, the brothels, the saunas. It was incredible.

We were able to visit one body contained in a glass case. Because I'm currently reading the history of the Jefferson Bass Body Farm in Tennessee, written by Dr. William Bass, I looked at the body with more curiosity. 

It looked like a younger woman. They had laid down with their face down on the circle of their arms, like they knew they were going to die. There was no lava flow over Pompeii. It was just 10 meters of hot ash and pumice that incinerated everything. The "body" was actually a plaster cast of the bodily imprint in the ash.

The entire site was surreal for me. I walked it. I was there. But it was surreal and magical and powerful and mysterious. I wonder if I will ever see it again.

We finally bought some souvenirs and got back on the bus and got home to our flat in Rome after 9pm. We were exhausted. We didn't even bother to stop for dinner.

Leaving Italy now will be like losing a good friend, or finding a beautiful park or beach in your neighborhood that you can't ever find again. My heart is full but I want to go back. I want to see Germany, The Mediterranean, Switzerland. I have the travel bug. Let the house fall down around us: we can't take it with us when we die but we can make love in Venice by the light of the moon and maybe someday our souls will intertwine beyond this life, too. If not, we'll sure have great memories.

Vatican City on Thursday, September 29th, 2022

I can't write about the Sistine Chapel because we didn't see it.

Vatican Museum was amazing.

Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Palatine Hill

 Today was an incredible day. 

Robert and I woke up around five and went for a walk around Rome. We found the Colosseum and the Victor Emmanuel II Monument. We got to watch Rome wake up. Rome wakes up much earlier than Venice or Florence.

Today we got picked up by our excursion driver, at our AirBnB. He dropped us off in front of the Colosseum. There's a US movie being filmed there, so these guys in all black that looked official kept waving us the wrong ways. I finally got frustrated and had enough and said angrily, "Stop waving us the wrong way. We're trying to get to the Colosseum entrance." One of them took pity and explained what was going on and guided us.

Honestly, I can't explain the Colosseum complex. We walked for hours all around the Palatine Hill area and the Forum and the Pantheon and I wept twice. We saw Augustus and Livia's home which was incredible. We saw 50,000 pound columns in front of the Forum. We saw things built by Ceasar.

Palatine Hill is the center of seven hills and the oldest area in Rome. It is the heart of Rome. 

According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf Lupa that kept them alive.

Another legend occurring on the Palatine is Hercules' defeat of Cacus after the monster had stolen some cattle. Hercules struck Cacus with his characteristic club so hard that it formed a cleft on the southeast corner of the hill, where later a staircase bearing the name of Cacus was constructed.

The Pantheon was built in an unknown year but rebuilt by Agrippa and later rebuilt by Hadrian.

The Colosseum is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world today, despite its age.

I can't describe these locations. The pilgrimage is intense but peaceful, powerful yet slightly sad and full of mystery. To see the thousands of people who walk the trails and paths and black marble stones, it's obvious we are all looking for answers to who we are now and who we were then. We are looking for commonality and meaning.

I found great peace in the Palatine complex. I will look at the photos forever until I die. 

The Lab

 This morning, we left the Twins Boboli House. I was sad to leave that beautifully restored, 18th century flat. Before we left, though, the twins showed us their Lab.

So the twins are Sylvia and Carla. They do look exactly alike, but Carla is more refined looking and chic and Sylvia is more earthy and real. They restore art for a living, and are fond of talking about their father, who is a famous art restoration specialist. They point to his pictures often.

Their Lab is right around the corner from our flat, like literally. We opened the kitchen door and stepped out onto the patio and the first door on the left is their Lab. 

Carla started showing us a console table they are restoring. It's from the 1700's. Restoration includes removing old restoration work that is no longer considered current technique, and might be damaging the original wood. 

They also clean it in sections, fill it, stabilize it, and paint it. They use gold leaf like professionals, and Carla had a long palette knife and was tossing around gold leaf like a goddess! Grab, place, cut, smush, move, all with that blade.

Then she showed us all the colors they use, and she explained "tutti colore naturale" meaning all the colors they use are all natural. The colors are incredible! I asked if I could take pictures for my son, who is an artist!

Look up the Twins Boboli House in Flornce and you'll see what they've done. It's amazing!

Random things

 I love Italy. I love the food. I love the people. I love the art.

I do not understand how everyone lives in these old buildings with chunks falling off and stucco crumbling and nine layers of paint peeling. Everything made of iron, from pipes to window grates to door hinges, is orange and black and crumbling. 

But we are in the oldest part of Florence, the part that draws the tourists. I imagine there are rich people who have new homes or brand new high rises somewhere but I don't see it. 

I did get a taxi driver who talked about how awful uncontrolled immigration is, and lamented the "people coming from Africa" and filling up Italy. That's the kind of sentiment that elected that far right woman in her pastel suit. Bummer.

But for me, what I see is a happy people, an earthy people. I hear them bubble up with CIAO! CIAO! to one another and giggle in the mornings and make jokes and offer to help us tourists with everything. 

I see happy, well behaved children. I see cooler-than-you teenagers, all sitting in a clump on their cell phones, looking just like clumps of American kids. I see gorgeous women and beautiful men. Didn't Sophia Loren come from Italy? That was my father's crush. Easy to see why.

The Italians recycle everything. They separate bottles and plastic and paper. Everyone recycles. It's a national thing. We've not run across one location here that doesn't recycle and separate. And lots of things here say "made with recycled plastic" etc. 

The Italians also smoke. Restaurants give you an ashtray. If someone wrinkles their nose at you for lighting up, you can bet 100% it's an American.

The other thing is time. In Italy, time is different. The Italians have their own concept of time. You can't assume they'll be late, but they certainly aren't ever early. And dinners can take four hours. Anya didn't finish her meal one night and the waiter said "slowly. Slowly. You must take your time and eat." He figured she could finish it if she sat there for another hour!

But if you're a coffee lover, you'll understand this. I will miss the cappuccino so, so much when we go home. It's plentiful, it's strong, it's tasty, and it's cheap. I just paid $1.30 for a double cappuccino at a gorgeous Cafe and drank it piping hot with just one sugar. It was divine. I will miss the cappuccino so much, and I will miss the Italian people as well.

Medici Chapel and Santa Maria Novella

 Today is Medici Chapel and Santa Maria Novella. I'm glad that after today we won't be visiting any more churches or Basilicas, except the Vatican. Which is actually hysterical, now that I think about it. I'm sick of churches but I still have the mother of all church complexes to visit in Rome.

Medici Chapel starts with the darker ground floor with a lot of tombs in the floor and names on the plaques. Upstairs is another matter entirely.

The Chapel is huge. All the Cosimo's are interred here. Only two of them have gigantic statues. We don't know why the others don't. But the floor is complex designs with red, green, white and brown marble. The walls are the same. And the ceiling is painted on the entire enormous dome with colorful scenes in the style of all the churches. 

There are two rooms behind the altar that are open today. They house reliqueries in fine crystal, silver, gold, and gemstones with bones and fingers and skin from famous Medici's. It's creepy as hell. There aren't just a few. There are *dozens*. Bones on display. One looks like half a scalp and skull.

There is a room where two of the most famous Medicis are actually interred. Giuliano Medici, the younger brother of Lorenzo Medici, was nursing a bad knee on Easter Day 1478 and had to be helped to the cathedral—by the very men who were plotting to kill him and his brother during mass. The assassins, members and supporters of the Pazzi family, banking rivals of the Medici, killed him. Lorenzo escaped and later assumed control of the government again. 

Both brothers are buried in this back room, with gorgeous marble statues over their crypts. Each group of statues has Day and Night or Dawn and Dusk, represented by a man and a woman. They're stunning. It's insane to think these two famous brothers are laid to rest right here where I'm standing. 

Next, we walk to Santa Maria Novella. Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. Groundbreaking began in the 1200's, but some of the art is from 1100.

The church is obviously one that was designed for actual religious practitioners, not the wealthy. It's stucco and sandstone and cement. The flood in 1966 did a huge amount of damage to anything 12 feet and lower. The water line is marked and commemorated. It's shocking, considering it's a good ways from the Arno river.

We get multimedia guides and each of us wanders the complex and grounds. I can't imagine how anyone remembers everything. There's so much to learn and to know.

It takes us several hours to finish visiting Novella, and the walk back to our flat is exhausting. Robert and I immediately turn around and leave to take another piece of luggage, filled with souvenirs, to Mail Boxes Etcetera to mail home. 

We end our day with dinner at the local eatery close to our flat. Robert is bottomless, as usual, but Anya and I are stuffed full pretty quickly. Robert has two gin and tonic and I have a bright orange "spritz". It tastes like orange peels and nyquil? 

That's fine, because I'm out cold the second I get home. Robert writes a nice letter to the twins who own the flat, in Italian.

This is what's on our celing:

The Duomo

 Sunday dawned lovely and mostly clear so we gathered everything together and decided we would head across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and do our climb of the Duomo, which is 450 stairs. 

We walked to the Duomo and found out we could not get in to see the cathedral because there was a mass happening and it was by invitation and for priests.

So we decided to climb Giotto's Bell Tower, which is only 414 steps. Ho. Ho. Ho.

We started up and it's this tiny stone stairway that everyone has to go up and down in, so you're constantly stopping and shimmying past people coming down. And as you climb, the stairs get tighter and smaller and it's hard to see because it's dark. 

Anya, Robert, and I all made it to the top and took photos of the whole city, but we all agreed our Duomo excursion was right out as none of us could do a climb like that again. Climbing down was almost as hard.

We wandered Florence and bought leather and t-shirts and textiles and plates and souvenirs for our kids. We had an American breakfast at one Cafe and a Florentine dinner at another. Robert had lasagne, which was more like ghoulash, Anya had Gnudi, and I had filet mignon again.

We got a note from our tour operator that's said our balloon ride was canceled due to rain and lightning expected. Robert was bummed.

We bought new luggage which was very inexpensive and we made it home by 8pm and swapped out all our things into the new luggage. We will be mailing the old luggage home with the souvenirs. 

I was in bed by 8:30.

Monday is Santa Maria Novella and Medici Chapel. Then Tuesday we hit the train for Rome. Woohoo!

Santa Croce

 It's finally happened. We visited Santa Croce and The Barghello National Museum yesterday and I just could not go to one more church. I had hit the proverbial wall. 

Santa Croce is beautiful and grand, but more to the point, it's where the world's most famous minds are buried. Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Galileo, Marconi, Dante, and a plaque for Da Vinci. There are Bonapartes and Princes' wives.

I found each one of the most important ones in turn and took photos. I spent some time with each one. And upon approaching Galileo's tomb I burst into tears. I imagine it would be like visiting Jerusalem for a Christian. 

Standing at the tombs of all the greatest thinkers, scientists, and mathematicians, it was not lost on me that they are all entombed in a church. Except Da Vinci is actually buried in France.

Barghello was a bit more exhausting, and by the time we were done with three floors of antiquities, I just couldn't do anything else. 

We ate gelatto while we walked. We stopped and had ceasar salad and pizza and then when we started walking home, it started raining. We tried to get a taxi but that didn't work so we walked home in the rain. It was POURING. We were all partially wet when we got home.

We needed to rest so we could go to our La Giostra dinner at 10:30 pm. At around 8, Robert called and found out our reservation was for Sunday night. Not Saturday. So we walked in the rain to where we had eaten the first night and ate inside. I had filet again.

Sunday is the Accademia and the Duomo and we have to decide if we keep our La Giostra reservation considering Monday morning is the early early balloon ride.

What day is it??

The bells are ringing in Florence

 This morning, the bells are ringing in Florence. 

This AirBnB is 1000 times better than the one in Venice. The Twins Boboli house. It's an apartment in a building that was a wedding gift to someone from Cosimo Medici! The twins Carla and Sylvia restored this portion and turned it into an apartment. 

We are directly across from the Boboli gardens. So yesterday we visited the Uffizi, the Boboli gardens, and the Pitti Palace. 

How do we describe the Uffizi? We paid a grand sum for a private tour guide who taught us the history as well as the art appreciation details and stories of the artworks by Botticelli, Rafael, Michaelangelo, and DaVinci! Robert was terrifically pleased to know the stories behind each painting and the secrets they hold, that would have been obvious to everyone at the times they were painted but get lost hundreds of years later.

La Primavera is Anya's favorite art piece but mine was the unfinished DaVinci and the first painting by Michaelangelo. We saw both in person.

The Uffizi had some lovely art. But the Pitti palace was the shocker. There were thousands and thousands of paintings from the Byzantine Era through the 1700's that the Medici family had collected to show off. It was more intense than the Hapsburg palace in Vienna, and Robert said it rivaled the Louvre.

The Boboli gardens were beautiful and there are renovations going on all throughout the grounds. I loved the little turtles and koi in the pond. I found two small bits of pottery with pink and green art on them, in the gravel dirt on a pathway. They may or may not have found their way into a pocket.

We came home and ate meat and cheese and sandwiches and fresh fruit and chips and were in bed by 8pm!

Today is Santa Croce and San Miniato and Barghello!

Belle caos!

 This morning came very early and all of us got up, got showers, and got packed. Robert and I have so much stuff we've decided to buy a new piece of luggage in Florence and mail home my small luggage with souvenirs and extra clothes we won't need. 

Venice was gorgeous. I'm sad we're already leaving. I've fallen in love with "Venetian Time" which is late to everything. The Toro d'orologio clock strikes 2 minutes before the hour, signifying the past and older age, and 2 minutes after the hour signifying the future and youth. And the 2 minutes after is part of the Venetian culture of being late for everything. They also hear the gongs 2 minutes before the hour and say "the future is coming".

Venice has a bit of ocean smell mixed with a bit of musty, still canal water. Every window is covered in heavily rusted iron bars. Every building is flaking, decaying, salt-rimmed, crumbling, eroding. All the streets are cobblestones. Those cobblestones ate the wheels on Anya's suitcase.

Some streets have small slats in the sides that apparently let rain drain off the alleyway. And there are shrines built into walls that are rusted and Ancient. Shrines to saints and the virgin are on every other block. There are ancient small statues and silk roses and tiny brass brazier and things inside the glass enclosed shrines that mostly have iron bars as well. Venice is catholic.

The Venetians sweep the side streets dutifully every morning, using a long broom with long, medieval like bristles. I assume it must be easier to gather the garbage on the cobblestones. But it's charming. The island is incredibly clean.

The Venetian people are 100% fit and totally mellow, until they're not. On one vaporetto I heard an Italian man scream at a couple to "get off the stairs! Go up or go down but WAKE UP AND GET OFF THE STAIRS." I can tell you I was absolutely glad he wasn't screaming at me! He was mad. 

But most Venetians seem to be patient and relaxed at all times. Nobody was unkind to us and everyone was jovial. One young waiter told us he wished he could eat In And Out Burgers all day, in the U.S. that was funny. But most Venetians love where they live.

But tourists outweigh locals on Venice, 10 to 1. It's an odd thing. We know people live there and make love there because we saw children going to school each day, but I wonder how they feel about the tourism.

Everything is cheap. Linen shirts for men? $28 Euro. All 3 of the masks we bought and had shipped home? $200. Crazy.

And when people say the Italians are well dressed, they're not kidding. You can tell an Italian from a tourist by shoes alone, and definitely by shirt!

But I'm sad to not be navigating the canals, the waterways, the squares, and the water closets there anymore. 

What I will miss is the getting up, going to the local coffee stop, and ordering cappuccino e macchiato e a plain croissant.

Belle caos!!!

 

Torcello, Burano, Murano

 I can tell I'm getting exhausted. I just want to list off the things we did today. We knew Anya needed to see the Doge's Palace so we took her there first thing this morning and dropped her off. We told her we'd be back by noon.

Robert and I headed for the historical Ca'macanna mask making laboratory. They have costumed tons of films with masks and hats, including Eyes Wide Shut. They even sport Tom Cruise's signature along with people like Leonardo Dicaprio.

The first thing we did was Robert told me to choose a mask or a couple of them and we would ship them home. I looked at everything a hundred times and we finally settled on a gold cat mask, a colorful fox mask, and a blue and purple and white crescent moon mask! All very ornate♡. Even with shipping, it was cheap!

Then we went back to get Anya but she needed food, so it was a while before we could get going. When we finally did go, we headed to Torcello first, by way of half a dozen long vaporetto rides. Here's some info about Torcello:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcello

It's a fantastic representation of 7th century Roman architecture that has survived incredibly well. The mosaics inside the church were designed for the common man who could not read (especially the bible) and yet the priests wanted to scare them into behaving. 

So there's fire and brimstone at the bottom of the triptych on the wall so the heathens knew they had to do what the priests told them to do. Fun.

Once we looked around, we rode back to Burano and went to find some lace makers. Robert got some beautiful lace and I got a top for myself in lace and gauze in a sage green. So awesome. 

Then we went to Murano and ogled all the glass. The furnaces aren't going, due to the raised cost of the natural gas. Its impressive that Europe is thimbing their noses at Putin, considering it means they lose out on getting the gas they need. The Murano pieces Robert and I loved were just too expensive, running in the thousands. So we bought small trinkets and called it good. We loved the two lamps they had that were unique, special pieces, but $16,000 was just too much. Ah, well.

We finally rode back to our BnB in our neighborhood and cleaned up for dinner. We are now at Ba'ghetto, which is a Jewish Kosher restaurant. They don't do meat and milk together, plus everything is prepared a special way. I had lamb and potatoes, Robert had steak, and Anya had kebab with tabhouli and Tahini. They were all fantastic. But the olive oil they served with our bread was a thick, unsalted oil that tasted cold pressed. It was stellar.

Tomorrow it's on to Florence already!

Venizia

 How do we talk about Venice? What do we say that explains the city? It's like an island sized museum lost in time.

When we arrived at the Venice Airport, we got our baggage and met up with Anya. All of us actually got our luggage, which I wasn't expecting. I called the Airbnb host and told her we'd landed. 

We figured out we needed to take the orange Alilaguna line vaporetto to the Cannaregio area so we found the orange line. Somehow, the porter (who was a big, burly, old italian guy) decided we needed The Orto stop and so he rushed us past a huge line of people who were waiting and he dropped us on a vaporetto. 

We drove through swampy, marshy, seagull laden areas and across open water until we could see St. Mark's Basilica on our left in the skyline. The vaporetto dropped us at the Orto stop and Robert found our BnB within 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, all of us had hit the wall at this point and our luggage felt like shackles and balls and chains, at this point. Anya was visibly exhausted. Nobody slept on our flights.

Once we got the BnB, our host met us there. She said she had the wrong key and that our power was out. I was livid, considering the unit had a 5 star review rating and was featured in Architectural Digest. Spoiler alert: we had electricity issues until Tuesday.

Once we got in, Anya fell asleep. Robert took a nap but woke up by 3pm. We went downstairs and had coffee and dinner, with him ordering spaghetti vongole (with clams) and me ordering carbonara, which has egg and bacon.

Anya woke while we were gone and was a little lost, but we eventually got her right as rain. 

On Monday, Anya stayed home to watch Queen Elizabeth's funeral, while Robert and I explored the island. We visited Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's square and found the Correr Museum. We found a supermarket in an old Theater and got some food for Anya and some grapes, veggies, chips, and chocolate. 

On Monday night, we went to see the la Traviata opera in a small castle. It was insanely good. The singers performed in 3 different rooms, one Act in each room. We followed them and drank champagne. The musicians were a piano player, violinist, and a cellist. Robert said he could have listened to them all night.

Tuesday we all went to St. Mark's square. We had breakfast at Florian Cafe. They brought us this gorgeous, layered tray with toast, cakes, meats and cheeses, breads, and a fruit medley with the best pineapple I've ever eaten and fat, sweet red currants. We had cappuccino and Robert said he doesn't know what the swill is they've been feeding us in the U.S.

We spent hours at the Correr Museum. We did the Torre d'orologio clock tower tour where we learned a family had been living in the tower among the clock workings for hundreds of years until 1998 when they stopped. 

Then we took Anya back to the Correr Museum so she could do all of the second floor, and we went to see the San Zaccariah church where Zaccariah is buried in a Crypt underneath, half covered in water. He was the father of Saint John the Baptist. The church was from the 15th century, with paintings on the stucco walls from floor to ceiling AND the ceiling. 

Then we went to see the Doge's palace. That was incredible. It was all a big PR stunt to show off their wealth and power, but by the time they built it, they were losing both. There was also a contemporary art installation in the last couple rooms, by Anselm Kiefer, called "These writings, when burned, will finally give a little light."

We went back to pick up Anya and went back to Rialto and the Hard Rock cafe and did some shopping. Then last night we went out late for dinner and had mushroom risotto, Lobster fettuccine, and steak Florentino. It was awesome. 

Today is Murano, Burano, and Torcello!

Every journey begins with a step...

 Here we are at the train station, starting our journey on a Friday night. We brought my little 2 seater and all our luggage almost didn't even fit in it. But we made it here and we're about 30 minutes early. 

Robert's idea is to get to Portland and take TWO Max trams to the airport from the train station. I'm afraid of two things: how heavy my luggage is and getting mugged. He finally conceded he would agree to take a taxi if it looks sketchy (the kids call that "sus") but I'm really determined to try the Max. Why not. I've swum in a bottomless underground cenote' cavern with eels and fishes. I should be ok on a tram.

There are 4 other people here, all young guys except one. She's an older woman that looks maybe 60. Everyone is looking at their phones 

We check our bags for free and weigh them. Robert's is 47 pounds and mine is 41. Mine sure feels a lot heavier than that when I'm lugging it around on the sidewalk. I think I should have stuck with the backpack. But I'll certainly enjoy having a nice group of dresses to choose from for dinners.

I can't believe we're really going to Italy. I text my best friend Anya and we chat back and forth for a while. She can't believe it either.

Robert and I finally get on the train after he makes sure they put our checked luggage on the train. We bought business class tickets so we sit at a big table with four seats. We decide to grab a snack from the cade car, so get 2 hotdogs, chips, and 2 cokes. Ya gotta love train food.

Robert decides he's going to break out his notebook and pencil and write a blog. He starts by writing at the top "Robert's Blog" and underlining it. Who's going to tell him it's more of a diary? Not me.

We get to Union Station in Portland and get our luggage. We ask how to get on the green line Mac, so we can transfer to the red line Max that goes to the airport, and the station worker tells us to go outside and take a left and wait at the max platform. That turns out to be a terrible idea, as homeless people start casing us the second we show up and it takes 45 minutes to catch a green line Max here. We get tested a couple times while waiting but the only thing that suffers is my nerves. 

We ride the green line to the Rose Quarter and hop off, thinking we will swap to the red line. We do, but it takes forEVER to get to the airport, at which time Robert says we have to find a shuttle to our Hamton Inn. I am not amused. He decides to pay a taxi but there's confusion about Hilton vs Hampton. Turns out Hilton owns this Hampton.

We check in and then go next door to the Sheraton and their restaurant. We have beer battered fish and chips which is actually stellar, then we go back to the hotel and crawl in bed. We are exhausted.

We're up by 3:30 and get down to the lobby by 4. There are a plethora of couples waiting for shuttle service to the airport. We all get shuttled to our flights and Anya shows up in time to board with us. Turns out she's sitting next to me!

We fly to Chicago and step off the plane and onto the street out front so Anya and Robert can smoke. The heat is 85 and the humidity is 50%. It's not Florida but it's sure nothing like home. Gross!

We sit down to eat Italian food and Anya orders the biggest single meatball we've ever seen! Then at the end of the meal, Anya realizes her next boarding pass has disappeared! She got through security with it but now it's gone. I confirm it's literally missing. So Anya finds a Lufthansa rep at a desk and gets him to print all her remaining boarding passes. Thank gawd!

We all fly to Germany and then on to Venice. We catch up with Anya, get all our luggage, and get vaporetto tickets. Somehow, the vaporetto barker runs us past a huge line of people waiting and throws us on a boat leaving RIGHT NOW. We are so lucky.

We get to see the Venice skyline. When we get off the boat, we start following Robert, who says that even though we were dropped off in a weird place, he knows where we are. He finds the AirBnB easily. Anya and I are nearly dead though. The only thing that keeps us going is the loud, solemn gongs of a Sunday church bell ringing slowly through the canals and alleys.

The AirBnB host says she grabbed the wrong key so she can't let us in, and the electrician is coming because no electricity works in the apartment. This was a $2,000 cost to rent this apartment, so I'm not pleased. But we all look at each other and realize these Venetians move on their own time. Like Hawaii time. So we sit and have prosecco and a macchiatto while we wait.

Eventually, the electrician fixes most of the lights in the 14th century apartment. The hostess is so charming, we forgive her. She shows us the article about this apartment in Architectural Digest from last year, 2021. It's hard to be huffy when you realize what a gem the place is and how seriously old it is.

The hostess and electrician leave and I go looking for my partner and my best friend. It's 1pm here and they're both out cold in their respective beds!

Italy 101

Italy has quite a history. Italy is one of Western Europe's youngest countries, but 13 of Shakespeare’s 38 plays are set in Italy.

Italian societies emerged about 1200 B.C. Then around 800 B.C. the Greeks settled in the south and the Etruscans rose to prominence in central Italy. Latin and Sabine people then merged to form a city-state called Rome.

Etruscan kings ruled Rome for a hundred years, but Romans exiled the Etruscans in 510 and conquered the entire peninsula. In 117 A.D., the Roman Empire stretched from Portugal to Syria and from Britain to North Africa.

In the 12th century, Italy again began to get rich through trade. But in 1859, an uprising forced the foreigners out, and in 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was formed.

In 1914, Italy took the side of the UK and the US in World War I, but was left in poverty by the end of the war. Benito Mussolini and the Fascist Party rose to power on the back of the promise to restore the Roman Empire. Mussolini ruled as dictator and entered World War II on the side of Germany and Japan but he was later captured and executed. After WWII the country voted to become a republic and King Umberto II ruled from 9 May to 12 June 1946 - just 36 days. He's known as the May King. 

Today, Italy boasts millions of visitors. It is the fifth most visited country in the world. Italy is also home to all 3 of Europe's active volcanoes as well as Vatican City, the world's smallest "country". And Italians invented eyeglasses. Also, the world's first bank was opened in Italy in around 1100 A.D.

The average age in Italy is 45.7 years, giving it Europe's oldest population. In world terms only Japan's population is older. And estimates suggest the average age in Italy will be 54 years by 2050. I like the idea of not being looked at like an invisible human due to my age, like what happens in the U.S.

That's all I know about Italy.  I'm looking forward to learning more. 

Nearly there...ish

The Covid restrictions have eased in the US and in Italy. That's a good thing. Unfortunately, monkeypox is now a thing. What will happen with Monkeypox is anybody guess, but at the moment it's being declared an emergency in some places like Washington state. 

My luggage only weighs 35 pounds but it feels like 100. I'm considering lightening it a bit but I don't know if I will. How does one go for 3 weeks to another country with next to nothing for clothing? We keep saying there will be washers in the Airbnb's but I don't think they use dryers, which is bizarre to us Americans. 

Speaking of strange things, Anya says she'll believe we're going on this trip when we actually get there. The Icelandic volcano exploded, which halted all air travel the last time it did so. Luggage has been lost at an unprecedented rate.  Lufthansa had a major strike and they've only settled with the ground crew so far and not the pilots, so flights have gotten canceled left and right. They canceled 800 flight yesterday and stranded 130,000 travelers. Apparently these strikes are an annual occurrence and they don't typically get resolved very quickly. It's so stressful as a consumer.

On top of all of this, my loving partner has decided he doesn't want to drive to the airport, nor drive home after our trip. So we're taking a train to Portland and two Max busses to the airport from there. This is also stressing me out. I dislike the idea of lugging very large, 40 pound luggage around on trains and busses. Then again, that's what we'll be doing in Italy. I wonder if I should whittle down my clothing I'm taking.

Last night our tour operator for the St. Mark's Basilica night-tour reached out and said they had to cancel our reservation, which we'd had since February. The only night a replacement was available is the night of our Opera tickets. Finally, this afternoon, Robert agreed to check and see if the Opera could be rescheduled. It could! So we swapped nights for St. Mark's and the Opera! I'm so relieved. The night tour is one of the few things Erin and Mui suggested. I'm glad we get to go. The new tickets were over $400 for the three of us, but they're worth it I hope. We've spent a mint on this trip. I hope it goes well.

I don't pray. I'm not religious. I've seen too much pain and heartache and senseless violence to believe in a deity. But I might hedge my bets on this one. Maybe I'll say a little prayer every night, asking that we make it to Italy and that we survive Italy. 

Wouldn't that be nice??

Here's my Opera Dress:

Planning for Italy 2022

It's February. It's cold and rainy. I know our shed is going to have mold in it when we open it up in the spring. It needs to be rebuilt. But rather than push for a new one, I've taken my mom's advice and suggested to my partner we should travel while we're still young enough to do it. Who's going to care if the shed has mold when I'm dead? I won't ever have grandchildren so really I just need to spoil my adult children and that's it.

Today, Robert finally takes the bait.

"We should go to Italy. They have pasta." he says, with zero expression on his face.

"Really? Who knew." My guy is a goof. It's part of what I love about him. He keeps me from taking every damn thing too seriously. 

"Yeah. They have spaghetti with clams."

I'm not a clam person so I ignore that and we start discussing where we would go, which cities would be best, and what time of year we should go. Robert says at the end of the tourist season would be good, like into October. That way the weather is still nice but the bulk of the tourists are gone. 

We aren't even sure if Italy is opened up yet, after Covid. Italy was hit hard by the pandemic and you're still required to have your vaccination card with you to travel into Italy, not to mention Germany or New York, common stops along the way.

So we start planning. We buy tons of books and maps and my mother buys us the Rick Steve's Italy book. She's nearly as excited as we are. She went to Florence and the Italian coast with my middle sister, Deanna, a few years ago. She's bursting to tell me the things we need to see.

I start learning Italian on Babbel and Robert starts with Duolingo. Eventually I switch to Duolingo because he's learning faster and I'm salty about it. But he's already a month ahead of me. I may or may not sulk silently when he speaks Italian at me TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY.

We decide to take large 80L backpacks because you can't roll luggage in Venice and getting luggage into a gondola is ridiculous. That idea lasts all of about five months. We buy gorgeous packs at REI for like $400. They got returned two weeks ago. We've decided to use one peice of luggage each. Robert has the biggest one and I have the next one in our set. 

Robert has purchased tuxedo jackets and Tommy Bahama shirts for the trip, but refuses to take any of his Fluevog shoes because he says taking care of one's feet is top priority when traveling. He walked 2600 miles of the PCT so I'm not going to argue.

I've hand picked every single item I'm taking for clothing. While Robert is learning Italian TWENTY FOR HOURS A DAY, I'm studying clothing sites and reading reviews and ordering, testing, returning, packing. I've chosen a blue & white palette with black and brown for formal items. It's all interchangeable and I'm proud of the entire wardrobe. 

We've added heavier, more rigid packing cubes to our packing and it's paying off. We've gotten so much clothing in our bags. I have 6 formal style dresses, alone. But we plan on eating out every night over a nearly 3 week trip (I think it's 18 days) so 6 dresses is pretty good, imho. We also have two other pairs of shoes each, other than what we'll be wearing. I'm convinced the airlines will lose our luggage. The summer of 2022 has been the year of lost luggage. They even flew an entire plan from overseas to the US, filled with nothing but lost luggage 

At one point, Robert wanted to invite his parents. We talked about the best way to bring it up. He asked them finally but they declined. Robert was heartbroken but we understood. Traveling at a certain age can be very complex. I made an offhand comment on social media about them not going, and said if any of my friends wanted to go, they should consider it. My reasoning was that I'd already set up the Airbnb's with at LEAST 2 bedrooms, so why not share?

My best friend texted me a day or two later and mentioned she would love to see Italy. I felt like an absolute idiot. Of COURSE she would want to go. She was a medieval history major in college and it's what she has her degree in. I've rarely felt that oblivious. But I talked to Robert about it and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, and so she's going too. I'm ecstatic about it. 

I do worry a little about her going. She's strong and opinionated and so am I and once in a while we butt heads. Robert says we're adults and we can figure it out if it happens, of course. He says it's bound to happen on a trip this long and complex, with him and I even. I'm hoping we can all avoid that. Confrontation puts me into irrational fight-or-flight. That's a leftover from a childhood filled with abuse and an ex husband who was a severe narcissist who gaslit me 24/7. Thank goodness my doctor gave me some great drugs to cope.

Speaking of. Last weekend I started having panic attacks. Saturday I ended up in a field next to the freeway, dealing with it. Sunday it happened again near the same area. I almost threw myself out of our moving vehicle, feeling I needed to get out of the confinement of the truck RIGHT NOW. It was irrational and weird. Lucky me, my doctor set me up with the chemistry I mentioned earlier. It's supposed to help. We shall see. I've been testing them this weekend.

Our plans for our trip are done, at this point. We're starting in Venice for a week, then going to Florence for a week, and ending in Rome with a day trip to Pompeii. We'll travel on the bullet train from town to town, including a whole day of bullet train travel back to Venice from Rome for the flight home at the end.

Here's a list of everything we're doing:

St. Mark's Basilica night tour

Tour of the Standing Capuchin monks

Acqua Alta bookshop

Ca'Macanna carnivale venetian mask-making factory

Rialto Bridge

Doge's palace 

Correr Museum

Climbing the Torre dell’Orologio clock 

Torcello Cathedral (built in 639 AD)

Murano island

Burano island

Traveling Opera in a castle in Venice

Uffizi gallery

Accademia

Pitti Palace

Boboli gardens

Museum of costumes/fashion

Basilica of San Miniato al Monte

Santa Croce Basilica that hosts the tombs of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Galileo

Climbing the Duomo

3 hour hot air balloon ride over Florence

Visiting the Medici chapel

Seeing the Palazzo Vecchio

Visiting Church of Santa Maria Novella

The Colosseum, Forum, Palatine

The Pantheon

The Roman catacombs 

The APIAN WAY

St Peter's tomb 

Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno "the mother of all churches in Rome and the world"

Private tour of the Sistine Chapel

Vatican Museums tours (there are 26 museums)

And a private tour of Pompeii with a meal on the Amalfi Coast in Positano

Ciao!!