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Roma

So it is 11;59 on my last night in Rome so I guess it is appropriate that I sit herein the hotel lobby (free internet!!) and finnish off the trip blog. I am sad to leave and even sadder to pack (hence my preference to sitting the hotel lobby at midnight) but I also miss my family and friends back home and look foward to my very own bed and my very own shower... oh and my kingdom for a washing machine!!!!!!!!!

Rome is an amazing place. It is a perfect way to end this epic journey as it is the perfect blend of many of the things that make Italy so special. The history is staggering, the people are warm, the weather has been great (except for yesterday when I think I ran out of sweat), the food is, well it's Italian so what could be better? The size of the city is impressive but still very manageble once you get your bearings. And it has so much to offer in every little corner and piazza that many many trips would be needed to feel like you really have experienced Rome (let's hope that whole coin in the trevi fountain thing works... pics to come).

We spent our first night in Rome having dinner with Tony and Meagan, an australian couple who were staying in out hotel in Venice. We ran into them by chance in Florence and made plans to have dinner in Rome. Sure that happens every day, right? We ate at a very local place recommended by Fabio, a guy we met on the train to Florence. He also recommended the place in Florence where we met the french and glendalian folks. He even called to make reservations for us. Nice huh?

The restaurant, called Osteria La Gensola in the Piazza of the same name looks like it has been a local favorite forever and we were the only americans in the place. The rest of the diners were seemingly upscale fancily dressed Romans. The staff was great and Mario (80 if he's a day) was a delightful host, even if he did try to get a little frisky with both Carolyn and me... maybe because he tried to get a little frisky with Carolyn and me. I tried fried baby artichokes for the first time... they call the dish Jewish style. Don't ask me why. If you know me at all then you know that getting me to try a new vegetable is a task of national significance, but I am going to jump in, what better way than a vegetable that is fried, right? Well the news is good. While you probably won't see my digging my teeth into any grown up artichokes anytime soon, if you have a plate of baby fried artichokes, jewish style, I'm in.

Unfortunately Carolyn had to cut her trip a few days short and went back to Montreal on the 24th so I have been left on my own for the rest of the journey. Luckily I still had a few tricks up my sleeve so I have not been lonely at all.

One morning I met Tony and Meagan in the morning for a 4 hour tour of the vatican museums and St. Peters. So interesting and very very long. I then made my way back to the hotel via a combination of a city tour bus and my own 2 feet. That night I met my niece Nicole and her mom and stepdad for a great dinner not far from the spanish steps (my hood).

The next day I slept in and then visited the Forum, Colloseum, Piazza Navona and Pantheon and was able to wander around and get good and lost a few times ( in a good way). I eventually got back to the hotel to rest for a bit before I ventured out for dinner all by myself. I found a little cafe near the hotel on the other side of the spanish steps (which I never want to accend again unless I am being carried) and had spaghetti carbonara for the 38th time. Oh and then I had a bit of a date. Did I not mention that the concierge asked me out for a drink that morning? Well I'll skip the details (my mom could be reading this ;) but there was wine and conversation and it was a fun and unexpected evening. If you really want more info you will have to get it in person.

That brings us to today. I again slept in, because I CAN. Meagan and Tony called about meeting for lunch so we met at the Piazza Venecia (I know this means nothing most of you, but indulge me... it makes me feel like such a traveler as opposed to tourist that I actually can get myself around Rome now without a map ...for the most part.) As we walked toward the Campo del Fiori (tee hee tee hee) I suddenly stop in my tracks because something about this one corner looked really familar. And then I realized that we were standing across the street from the very cafe where Carolyn and I had lunch (my first spaghetti carbonara of the trip) on our very first bleary eyed day in Rome. What are the odds? So we stopped and I had my last spaghetti carbonara of the trip (and possibly for the conceivable future...ugh!) It was pure serendipity.

We then made out way to the Campo Del Fiori where this guy Bruno was burned alive a few hundred years ago. Nice huh? Now there is a bronze sculpture of him to mark the festive occasion. We got there just in time see the farmers market closing up and the who campo was littered with fruits and vegetables from the dozens of stands all around. This is were I parted company with Tony and Meagan (but hopefully I will find myself in brisbane one day or they in LA where we can meet again).

At 3pm I met Sean, an american who went to Rome about 4 years ago to finnish his PHD dissertation and never left. Sean is also an architect and a tour guide and we had a lovely few hours wandering through the jewish ghetto and looking at some of the most beautiful renaissance palazzos, fountains and secret gardens in Rome. I also had my first Granita (whipped creme and sweet frozen expresso.. yow! good stuff). I then wandered my way back from the Pantheon and took the long way home. I have spent the last few hours lingering at the Spanish steps. It is saturday night and everyone in Rome seems to be out and about. The steps are crawling with hundreds upon hundreds of tourists and even a few locals. This is the best people watching in Rome.

And as if the city knew that it was my last night, out of nowhere a huge bavarian dance troup and orchestra shows up at the fountain in front of the steps and puts on a festive show for everyone... well I still think it was just for me to send me off in style, but whatever.

This blog has just been the tippy tip of the iceburg of this trip. There are so many more stories about the people we have met (just the trains alone is a full dinner's worth of conversation) and the places we have experienced.

I leave you with this.. if you have ever wanted to travel... DO IT! Seeing the rest of the world and meeting people from everywhere leaves you with an understanding of how alike we all are and how small this planet really is. I think as time goes by the small inconveniences and frustrations that go with any trip will fade (they mostly already have) but the memories will last a lifetime.

Arrividerchi!!!

Firenze

There were 4 highlights that come to mind about Florence:

1) Our hotel was a block from the train station and was freshly rennovated so everything was gleaming.

2) We happened upon the Ponte Veccio bridge right at sunset.

3) We had dinner (after I got us extremely lost first) at a terrific and fun family style place called Il Latini, where we were sat with a couple from champagne, France and a couple from far off exotic Glendale, California. The food was great and the waiters were fun. We closed the place and exchannged emails and promised to be friends forever. Anyone want to visit champagne? or Glendale?

4) David... David... David There is a copy in the Piazza Signorie where the original once stood. So you think how different can they be? I've seen the one at Ceasar's Palace in vegas, so how different can they be? DIFFERENT! The academia museum basically exists to house David plus they fill it with some other stuff to make you feel less foolish about paying the entrance fee. It is a small museum and you enter into a gallery on the right and then have to make a left turn and an immediate right to get to David. When you start to turn your head to the right there is almost a magnetic force that glues your eyes to David. Maybe it is the way he is lit by natural light from an oculus in the center of the dome over his head. Or maybe because this is truly the most spectacular piece of sculpture ever created. I sat there staring at him for about 30 minutes spellbound. And to think that Michaelangelo created him from a piece of marble that had been discarded for being not up to snuff.

Other than these 4 things, Florence left me a bit flat to be honest. The city is very small, which you would think would be a plus the way it is in Venice. but while Venice seems to hug you with it's cozy twisting alleyways, Florence is full of tall dark buildings that sort of impose on you and make it almost hard to breath. This was especially interesting because it seemed like almost everyone we spoke to before this trip said that Florence was so amazing and that we should have extended our stay to more than one night. Well one night was perfect for me. I am glad I was there but I can't say that I have a strong urge to return, whereas say the word Venice, Amalfi, Barcelona, Sorrento and I am there.

We also found that Florence was the only place that we actually had moments of feeling unsafe and guarded, especially in the evening. Not 15 minutes into our stay we had a few shopkeepers make some incredibly crude suggestions to us... and these were guys who wanted out business! Let's just say that one of them (maybe 25 years old if that) let me know that he could show me where the real David was, and it wasn't in the museum... YUCK!!! Carolyn also had a few guys give her uncomfortably long stares and a few choice exclamations. So the net net was that Florence had it's high points, but we were ready to get back to Rome where it all began.

Venezia

Just being on the train approaching Venice was exciting. The dramatic way that you come in on the water was a scene right of out of Summertime and you can't help but feel a bit like Katherine Hepburn about to begin an adventure of a lifetime. We met a nice couple on the train (Eric and Barb) who we shared a vaporetto (water bus) with to San Marco.

Carolyn met a guy on the train (Massimo) who invited us to join him and a few friends for dinner that night. Dinner with the locals? This is what we dreamed about. So we get to San Marco which is as grand and impressive as I had thought and as I am rolling my samsonite bag through the piazza I can't help but picture all of the movies I have seen that started right here. Our hotel is what seems like 50 twisty turny little streets from san marco (in actuality we came to discover it is more like a 3 minute walk once you know where you are going). We check in and no sooner do I get my shoes off is Carolyn saying, " Get dressed! We have to go meet my friend's friend Cat, who lives almost on the Rialto bridge. She can only see us tonight so we gotta go now. OK I am game. We find our way to the bridge (also a 5 minute walk once you know where you are going) and climb up to her flat that is literally 4 buildings from the rialto bridge with a balcony that overlooks the grand canal.

No sooner than she breaks out a bottle of Proseco and starts regailing us with tales of life in Venice and the politics and intrigue of being an author and trying to get a book published and launched do we get a call from Massimo and his friends. They are crossing the canal as we speak in a little motor boat to come up and meet us at Cat's. Cut to us all having a welcome to Venice toast and off Carolyn and I go to dinner with Massimo, Franco and Oscar. (Oscar is the one with the boat, an invaluable thing in Venice.)

The boys (well let's call them boys) take us to a restaurant where they know the owners and without seeing a menu the food begins to arrive (scampi, scallops, baked crab, on and on) course after course until we close the place. We head back to the boat and see Massimo following behind with a bottle of, yes you guessed it, Prosseco and 5 glasses. We then get a private tour of Venice by night with the appropriate Prosseco accompaniment. You can't make this stuff up if you tried! The boys then drop us off at the Rialto bridge where they found us, intact and deliriously happy to be in Venice. We make plans to meet them the next day so we can take them to lunch to thank them for their hospitality.

Same place...next day at noon. We meet our now buddies and get back on our boat and head off to Torchello, an island of of the north coast of Venice that is famous for their spider crab... and for good reason. More prosseco, more crab, some sightseeing through Murano and Borano islands by boat and we find outrselves in the middle of the Venetian lagoon, where the locals come on weekends to relax.

I notice a strange sight and at first think my eyes are playing tricks on me because it appears that a few people are literally walking on water next to their boat in the middle of the lagoon. Well it turns out that there is an area that is only 2 and a half feet deep and so we anchor the boat and the guys proceed to strip down to their bathing suits and get out of the boat. You have to see the pictures to believe it.

After laying out in the sun for a bit we find our way back to Venice proper where we move into a teeny tiny narrow canal and stop at what seems to be a window in the middle of the wall about 5 feet above the water. One of the guys climbs up into the window and Carolyn and I are looking at each other and thinking "What is going on now?" Well turns out this is the back window of a restaurant that is owned by a friend of Massimo's (of course, we should have guessed) and the proprietor (Emiglio) comes out with bottles of beer and a few plates of snacks for us to enjoy on the boat. Meanwhile overpriced gondolas full of Americans are floating by wondering what the heck our little floating picnic was all about. It was extremely satisfying I must say.

So we leave for another tour of Venice by dusk and end up at a Pizzeria nearthe Rialto fish market that plays classic jazz. Franco had heard that I like jazz and so we had pizza to the sounds of Billy Holiday and Frank Sinatra. I don't think we could top this day in a million years, so why even try.

The next day Carolyn and I split up for a few hours in the morning and arrange to meet back up in the hotel before dinner. I bump into Franco on the streets on my way to the Jewish Ghetto. What are the odds? Better yet when I come back to the hotel Carolyn tells me that she ran into Oscar on her journey about the city. Small town? Small world? You decide. This was our last night in Venice so we went to Harry's Bar to indulge one of my lifelong dreams...a bellini at Harry's Bar where Hemingway and Lauren Bacall and every other notable has been. Carolyn, while investigating the restroom situation inadvertantly walks in on a staff meeting upstairs and ends up meeting Nevvio, the manager, who comes down and meets me and gives me his card and makes us take a picture together. Can this get any better?

We have a swanky dinner and then meet Franco in San Marco for a quick drink and to say our goodbyes. We then stroll the piazza listening to the dueling orchestras until we get tired enough to call it a night and get ready to go off to Florence.

Milanese

Ok I am running a bit behind on posting to this blog. What can I say? I am on vacation and have gotten lazy. I believe I last left you in Nice. We did go to Cannes for the zoo that is the Cannes film festival. It was a sight for sure with people walking every which way and all the hype of a hollywood premier times 100! We met up with a colleague of Carolyn's from Lakeshore entertainment and had lunch at a little cafe. I ordered what was supposed to be lasagna with pesto and riccota. My first mistake: don't order italian food in France (and vice versa as Carolyn learned when she ordered french onion soup in Venice... but that's later in the story). What came to my table was a slice of bread with no crusts (about 1.5 by 4 inches big) with a layer of cream cheese a piece of cheese and a layer of pesto... all cold. This was basically a cold cheese sandwichette that was layered to look like a lasagna. Creative? very. Tasty? not bad. Lasagna? Not on your life.

On the way back from Nice we met a man who is an "expert du jewelry" who recommended a seafood place for dinner in the older city center of Nice. This place was great and the service and portions were both very generous. Carolyn ordered a selection of fresh (read raw) seafood that came in a colossolas iron pan filled with ice. It was a sight to see.

The next morning we headed off to Milan where our hotel was literally next door to the train station, which made it very convenient. Milan is a big city of the modern world. The streets are big and the traffic is plentiful. I can't say that Milan has the same romantic or historical impact of the other places we have been, but if you like to shop Milan is the place. Carolyn bought a fabulous red designer jacket on the swanky version of Rodeo drive. We also got a terrific recommendation for dinner (Del Binari) which a historic place that has a georgeous outdoor garden with tables under canapies of leaves. The service was terrific and the food was outstanding. They even greet you with complimentary pheasant pate and a glass of proseco. Not too shabby!

Nice is Nice

We got into Nice late yesterday afternoon and checking to the Hotel West End across the street from the beach right in the middle of the Promenade de Anglais - that's the Ocean Ave. of Nice. We walked down the coast a bit and got a rather dissapointing dinner (our first truly bad meal) at a french cafe but then we got a recommendation to go to a cuban restaurant/bar a few blocks away that was terrific. They had a live cuban band and dancing and by the time we left the place was packed and hopping!

This morning I slept in and now we are on our way to Cannes to check out the film festival goings on and to have lunch with an aquaintance of Carolyn's. Nice is a resort town that manages to be casual and snooty at the same time - leave that one to the French.

Tomorrow we may stop in Monte Carlo on the way to Milan. I am really looking forward to getting back to Italy.

Bye Bye Montpellier

Well tomorrow morning we take the train to Nice and visit Cannes on the first day of the film festival - I expect it to be a complete zoo! It has been so nice staying with Carolyn's friends, Phillipe and Carolyn and their 3 month old son, Theo. They have been so very gracious and the house is an amazing old vintners house that they are restoring.

Montpellier is a great city with all of the modern ammenities and a georgeous and charming historic city center full of cafes and plazas. I also had the best meal I have yet to have in Europe (and that is saying a lot!) at a great cafe with the 2 Carolyns and french Carolyn's business partner, Pascale... just 4 girls in the south of france having a 3 hour lunch of scallops and pasta...is this really happening? And the weather has been phenominal -it rained while we were on the train but by the time we pulled into Montpellier the sun was out and the temperature has held in the 70s... perfect!

See you soon!
Claudia

Oui Oui

We arrived in Montpellier France today and are staying with a friend of Carolyn's. We took the train from Barcelona, which took about 3 and a half hours and let us see the countryside change from spain to france. Montpellier is a beautiful town of about 300K people and tomorrow we will spend some time in the historical city center.

Tonight we had a really nice quiet dinner at home and I spent some time finally being able to upload some pictures of the trip so far.

Barcelona was impressive and big and full of activity. We managed to do a mini tour of some of the highlights like La Rambla and Sagrada Familia with a couple from the cruiseship - Nestor and Abbey, who were great fun. But the best part of Barcelona for me was simply sitting in a beautiful plaza and having tapas while watching the world go by.

Sorrento & Capri

Just a quick post to tell you that the Italian Riviera is more beautiful in person that one can ever capture in pictures, though I am sure trying. Sorrento was more touristy but just as amazing and Capri is the Rodeo Drive of the Italian west coast with shops like Robert Cavalli and Fendi in between the pizza and gelato offerings.

The weather has been spectacular! Yesterday we went to the blue grotto where you 4 people get into a tiny rowboat and squeeze through a miniature opening the mountain at just the right moment in the tide in order to enter. It was terrific. And the lobster that Giovanni made us was almost as good as the view from the cafe.

I will post pictures soon and tell more details of some our adventures but for now I am on the ship cruising toward the islands off of Spain... somebody pinch me!

We have met some terrific people on the ship from all over the US and have not been lonely for interesting company in the least!

See you all soon!