Never a dull moment

On my way home from work I thought I was going to have to call the office for some help.

I was at an intersection on my scooter (so I could see/hear everything) and I saw that a guy walking his dog had just put a plastic bag of dog poop in a woman's trash can that was on the curb.The woman came running out of her house and yelled at the guy to take the bag of poop out. He started yelling back and insulting her, she was having none of it. It was getting pretty heated.

The woman was in her mid-60's, guy in his mid 20's.

Eventually he came and dumped the trash can over (the poop was the only thing in it) and picked up the bag and walked away, but for a moment there I honestly though it was going to get physical!

I can sort of see both sides - he obviously didn't want the poop in his trash or he would have taken it home, so why would she want it in hers? Then again, it's the trash, it will get picked up - it's not like it was going to go inside her home at any time.

Never a dull moment in the city. People are always negotiating the fine line between anonymity and communal living.

Silence

It's so odd to have silence. On a number of levels.

From the moment I wake up, or from the moment anyone wakes up really, everything is noisy. We turn on the news, we go out to our cars to drive to work with the engine humming and radio going (or we take noisy public transportation), at work we have ringing phones, people talking, the TV on, after work more TV or running through the city with sirens and horns. In the evening more TV or at least conversation. Maybe music. But some kind of noise.

To just turn everything off and sit and read in silence is disconcerting. It's startling to have silence; the very fact underlying how much noise we tolerate in our daily lives.

I try to make a point of having at least an hour of pure silence in the evenings. Reading without music, a little bit of yoga, a crossword puzzle.

No music, no TV. If I'm lucky no sirens or helicopters. Just a slow, quiet hour, a short segment but a very large contrast to the rest of the day.

Feeling Better

After yesterday's disorientation I am feeling great about being home. I missed the comfortable weight of a purring cat on my feet and my own coffee pot, my own books, my own shower, my amazing view of the Capitol dome.





I'm ready to jump back into my routine Monday morning. A detox from red meat, sweets, and alcohol is necessary and will be started this week!

Home!

Well. We are home. And it feels good, but honestly I'm not sure what to do with myself. The first few minutes were spent running around checking the cats' food and water, putting milk in the fridge, throwing all the laundry in, vacuuming the piles of cat hair on my sofa and comforter.

Now I finally have a second to sit down and I feel out of sorts. I feel lonely (which is weird) and not sure what to do with myself. I know I'm still high on adrenaline from the flight, all the logistics, getting home, my body feeling that it's midnight rather than 6:30pm.

But still. It's good to come home but it takes a while to adjust to a new routine - even if the new routine has been in place years longer than the travel routine.

So for tonight I'm just going to put the laundry away, clean up, unwind with some TV, and concentrate on getting back onto a normal sleep schedule.

Kobenhavn!

Copenhagen is great. We don't have nearly enough time to spend here but have already decided to come back.

After resting for a bit we wandered down to Tivoli, a year-round small amusement park/outdoor concert space/garden/lightshow/restaurant row. It's really fun and not at all cheesy. Lots of Danes there with family!

Then we took a ride on the swings and got a great aerial view of the city. Unfortunately I couldn't bring my camera up. But it was fun. This is what it looked like.

That's my attempt at a time-exposure photograph without a tripod. Not the best.

Then we got hungry and lucked out with a great meal. For an appetizer I had smoked salmon with sun-dried cherry tomatoes and fresh asparagus. J had traditional pickled herring and a glass of vodka. We both had a half-liter of Carlsberg on draft.

Then I had fried Camembert with black currants and a glass of black currant vodka. J had this thing called lobscourse which is a traditional sailor's dish made from cured salt beef, potatotoes, and something else all fried up together in a hash. It was good, actually!

For dessert we had a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream and some fresh fruit.

By then we were ready for a short walk and to head back to the hotel. It had been a long, albeit easy day. Still long though.

Tomorrow we fly home.

We're in Denmark!

I don't want to jinx anything but we just had some of the smoothest travel ever.

And we were due it from the hellish ordeal we endured getting here.

First, we were a five-minute walk from a water stop in Venice that was the last before the ferry set out for the airport. So we hopped right on and since it was a boat there was no traffic. We were at the airport after a really nice 30-minute trip on the water.

We were second in line to check our bags at the counter and then we discovered a security line with no one - no one - in it. AND in Europe you don't have to take your shoes off!! We zipped through thinking this was too good to be true.

We had one last binge at the airport - a prosciutto and mozzarella panini and two pastries - before boarding.

The flight to Italy was amazing - clear as day over the Alps, and very smooth.

Since we were in the fourth row on the airplane we were off in no time.

Now, since we have an 18-hour layover and only one night in town, we didn't want to lug our bags. But right after grabbing them and walking upstairs, we checked in for the next leg of our flight and walked straight up to the baggage counter to check our bags through to Washington, DC.

A very nice man helped us get train tickets to Copenhagen City Center and we almost walked onto the wrong train but I know my Swedish geography (Hi Nicky!) and knew that Malmo and Ystad were in the wrong country, so we easily got on the right train.

Thirty minutes from stepping off the flight we were on the train , twelve minutes later we were in town center, ten minutes later we were at our hotel, and currently I am sipping a Carlsberg from the FREE minibar and using the FREE internet and we are about to have a great end to our amazing trip.

I just can't believe how fortuitous this leg of the trip has been. But we deserve it.

Venetian Dinner

We got a recommendation from our hotel for a small restaurant just down the street - the 40 Thieves (I can't remember the name in Italian). It was the perfect way to end our time in Italy. We had the garden almost to ourselves and indulged in some traditional Venetian fare - a seafood risotto, jumbo grilled shrimp (with the heads on!) and spaghetti with meat sauce along with a really nice bottle of merlot.

The restaurant had two small kittens running around, the orange one of whom actually untied J's shoe :)

Then we came back to our hotel for a nightcap - our hotel is actually very nice, right on the canal, a lovely breeze and the water rippling. We can see the shimmering reflection of the water on our hotel room's ceiling, but right now we are outside, long sleeves, enjoying the quiet of the Venetian night.

This is what I've looked like every night, blogging away.

Venice Day Two

We walked Venice top to bottom today! It was great. A perfect combination of getting lost and following signs. Since Venice is on several small islands you really can't get too lost, but the streets are truly maze-like and the maps are not good. But you just need to go with it... there's a jewel around every corner. And you can always find your way to some big square in order to orient yourself.

We took the water bus all the way around to Piazza San Marco, the main square in Venice, and paid a hefty price for entrance into the basilica and museums which really ended up worth it. To wander through the Senate chambers, the courtrooms, and the prisons (which are so dark and damp you feel you must be underground but really you're on the second floor!) was fun.

From there we just walked.

We found ourselves at one point in a big piazza, San Polo, where I found a guy blowing huge bubbles for kids. I took full advantage of this priceless photographic opportunity!

I also photographed a policeman walking across the square, and a homeless woman.

It was a day of photographing people, but I enjoy that! I did snap a shot of someone's private water entrance. Can you imagine using a boat every time you have to enter or leave your home??

Tomorrow we have a short time in the morning to enjoy the sights before we fly off to Copenhagen for one overnight. It's a long layover, 22 hours, so we're sending our bags on to DC but leaving the airport for an evening and morning in Denmark!

Venezia!

Oh Venice how I love you! Your gently burbling canals, quaint iron-wrought bridges, your winding streets and narrow, dark alleys that come out onto wide squares. Your apartment building lapped by the water with overflowing window boxes. The mountains in the distance.

Venice was the city I was most worried about logistically (no cars... you have to get everywhere by water taxi or water bus! How does that work??) But ironically, we had the least amount of trouble finding our way of any city so far.

We walked out of the train station (train from Florence was right on time, no issues there) into mayhem. All kinds of water transportation, all kinds of ticket lines. So we set our GPS to "walking" and were at our hotel in about thirteen minutes, no wrong turns, nada. The bridges you take to cross the canals have steps so it's not ideal for suitcases (or strollers, as I've seen), but we're able-bodied so no problems there.

Our hotel is in a really lovely part of town well away from the main square in what used to be the Jewish Ghetto. We're right on a canal (not the Grand Canal) in a real neighborhood where people are jogging and walking their dogs, yet it's a short walk back to the main areas of town.

We wandered around and saw the sights at will today. J, a sailor, is having a great time watching the gondoliers and water taxi drivers maneuver around the small canals (and around each other!)

Now we're sitting by a narrow canal enjoying a bottle of wine by candlelight as the sun goes down. Tomorrow we'll try to devise a more concrete plan as we have to make the most of our time.

Some photos.

Who's Watching Whom?

We were in the town of Castellina in Chianti when J noticed a stereotypical Italian phenomenon - old men watching the parade of (attractive) young women walking by. Admiring the ones who are admiring their town.

He captured this image rather cleverly... and without me knowing.

Firenze/Florence

We planned a mellow day for our last one in Florence. After sleeping in a little we trekked down to the Duomo to climb the 463 steps to the top. A harrowing climb up steep and narrow spiral staircases but well worth the effort. Here are some shots from the top!

While waiting in line to go up to the dome a nun rode by on a bicycle! I wasn't camera ready. How disappointing!! That would have been a classic photograph.

Unfortunately the Galleria dell'Academia (where David lives) is closed on Mondays so we didn't get to see him.

After climbing all the way down from the dome we stopped by some covered leather craft vendors and in the mean time narrowly missed being out on the streets for a short hailstorm! Nuns on bicycles and hail in September - what a weird day!

Feeling as though we deserved some coffee we found a great little sidewalk cafe with an older woman proprietor. She reminded me of my Italian grandmother. I photographed two women who occupied the next table, one after the other.

We then made our way back over Ponte Vecchio across the river to Palazzo Pitti which has an amazing Tuscan garden (Giardino Boboli). We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the gardens and I took a ton of photos.

We're having a quiet evening back at the hotel. It's actually a very nice place to sit - the patio and garden have some little nooks for privacy and we're in a very quiet neighborhood. The wine is good, there are a few kitties who pass by on occasion, and to be honest, we're starting to slow down a little after being on the go for seven straight days!

J stopped by a tabacchi and bought a few Italian cigars.

Florence!

We're in Florence! We walked down to the main piazza a little early for our tour and found ourselves in the middle of a marching band competition. Seriously. A little too jarring for us having just come off of three quiet days in the country, so we found a cafe and waited it out.

I like Florence so far. Cleaner and quieter than Rome, also smaller and more compact.

We wandered around and found some of the sights, then met up with our very small tour (six people) for another spin around town and a trip through the Uffizi museum.

The Cattedrale di Santa Maria di Fiore:

The Duomo. So much money was spent building it that they didn't have anything left to use to decorate the inside, which is very sparse:

Ponte Vecchio, a merchant bridge. Hundreds of years ago the butchers were set up there but were kicked out and replaced with jewelry and craft vendors when they wouldn't stop throwing the leftover meat cuttings into the river!

The tour was really great - we went into the Uffizi, bypassing most of the lines, and saw two pieces of art that I really wanted to see - Da Vinci's Annunciation and his Adoration of the Magi, which isn't finished - just the base drawing.

We're pretty much done for the day - walked out! We'll head down to a local shop for dinner where J wants to try Florence's most typical dish - tripe. Tomorrow we'll try to see the David and wander around a few parks that look interesting. Then on to Venice.

No photography allowed, but I pulled these images off the web.

We also saw the Birth of Venus and the Primavera, both very famous works by Botticelli. Very cool.

Winery Tour in Chianti

We signed up for a tour of the Chianti region to include tastings at two wineries! To our pleasant surprise only three other people were in our van, all ladies – two travelling together from Australia and a solo traveller from South Africa. It was nice to be in a small group and without other Americans. Our tour guide was Giancarlo, a proto-typical Italian man who had spent his early years working at Disney in order to learn English.

Our first stop was a fortress and castle at Monteriggioni. This the Sienese built to hold off the Florentines who apparently liked to invade everyone. We were able to walk along the fortress walls and stroll around the outskirts. People actually live within the walls, which is so interesting to me. Both of my photos from the walls were irreparably over-exposed, but I did shoot this man chatting with a friend outside their home.

From there we climbed a mountain made of hairpin turns (me alternately gazing at the countryside and closing my eyes as we sped up the hill) to Casanova, our first winery. Casanova is a family farm and they sell only to private inviduals – not to grocery stores or restaurants at all. They also make balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and essential lavendar oils (I learned that it takes 450 plants to produce 3 ounces of lavendar oil!). The owner of the winery spent his early years as a veterinary doctor before pursuring his dream to own a small winery in the hills of Tuscany.

I have always wanted to do a balsamic tasting so it was great that this was included in this stop!!

We bought three bottles of Casanova chianti and one bottle of balsamic vinegar.

I learned that Chianti Classico is heavily regulated and must have at least 80% Sangiovese grapes in order to classify. You know it’s Chianti Classico if the label bears a black rooster.

Our second stop was a tiny village high in the hills called Castellina in Chianti. In about ten minutes we circled the town and took the incredible underground tunnel back to the main gate. Again, it’s amazing to think that families raise their children in a town like this.

And finally we travelled to the Amorelli winery, a slightly bigger Chianti producing vineyeard where we sampled red and white wine with various cheeses and salamis. There is a certain kind of salami that’s produced here from a species of pig that is actually protected under the Italian government. They pay farmers EU500 per offspring that the females can produce. The salami is rare, regulated, and very good. It’s a shame we can’t take any cured meats home with us, but we’re eating our fill while we can!

We woke up early this morning and drove to Florence (only about an hour from Siena) and dropped the car off with no problems. We have a guided tour this afternoon and a whole day to ourselves tomorrow!

Monks Chanting in a San Gimignano crypt

The first thing we did when we got to San Gimignano was stumble across a crypt. J walked in and quickly motioned for me to come inside. I soon found out why. There were monks chanting in the main room of the crypt. I slyly took some audio video.


Absolutely awe-inspiring... unbelievable.

Morning in Tuscany - San Gimignano

The towered town of San Gimignano took some time to find but was well worth it this morning. Like all other Tusan towns it sits high up on a hill. There were originally 72 towers but only 12 currently exist. The towers date back to the year 1199 when the leader of the town, San Gimignano, supposedly held off the forces of Attila the Hun.

We wandered around for a short time before heading back to our hotel for our afternoon winery tour.

It's just so interesting to be in these little mountain towns where things seem frozen in time. But life is moving in San Gimignano - we saw the trash pick-up, mail delivery trucks, children playing in the parks. Buildings with doorbells and peoples' names next to them. People are living here, their daily lives.

From Trevi to Siena via Todi

We left Trevi this morning with the same trouble as we had finding it! Our GPS was basically useless on these tiny mountain streets, most of which are unmarked. But we finally found our way to the main roads and decided to stop by the town of Todi on our way to our next stop.

Todi has three sets of ruined city walls - the Estruscan, Roman, and "new" medieval walls.

We did a truffle tasting - oh my god - I liked the black truffle with porcini mushrooms the best so we bought some of that, and some truffle honey (to eat with cheese) and some local olive oil.

On our way to Siena we saw a countryside produce stand so we just had to stop! There were chickens and rabbits outside, and lots of produce, wine, and olive oil inside. We bought a bottle of wine and two interesting looking apples.

We didn't spent much time wandering around Siena. We wandered a little but are kind of tired to be honest. Tomorrow we've booked a half-day wine tour (we're in the Chianti region) and will have the morning to take a little excursion if we feel like it.

FOOD POST

This was the setting of our meal in Trevi. We’re in truffle country to be sure – our first course consisted of ravioli with olive oil and truffles. I haven’t smelled as strong a truffle flavor in… well… ever.

For our second course J had a mixed meat grill including lamb, pork, ribs, and sausage. I had grilled raddiccio with sheep’s milk and truffles. We shared a mixed fresh grilled meat (including zucchini, tomato, and eggplant) and then split a vanilla cake with ricotta cake and chocolate sauce for dessert. All this with a liter of the house wine for about EU40 in an absolutely priceless setting.

By far the best meal we've had so far. And we had the whole place to ourselves.