Our last night in Paradise

At first I wondered where all the fabulous green hills were. 

For me, this was the most anticipated place on our itinerary.  But getting there was hectic and making sense of the directions was a bit confusing although Brian had printed out plenty of instructions.

During the entire hour and a half drive, my finger throbbed miserably and I wondered if I might lose the fingernail.  When we loaded the suitcases in the back of the car, I got my finger nearly permanently wedged between my sisters suitcase and the lousy wheels on the thing.  I yelped and knew the worse was yet to come when I had to yank my finger out otherwise I would be carrying the danged thing by one poor fingernail the entire trip.  I cursed my sister when I finally got up the courage to pull my fingernail out from the evil thing.

An hour later we slowly made our way up some small hillsides.

Where are the valleys, where are the hills, where is the lush countryside?  My heart began to sink a little thinking I was going to be more than disappointed in my expectation.

THEN, as the road narrowed and curled and "ssss" around, the descent was barely noticable.   As we rounded curve after curve, the edges of the road dropped off to breaktaking views.

I wanted to tell Brian to look, but I was afraid he would and I didn't want his eyes off the crazy winding roads.

We had long decided to stay in Volterra after watching a Rick Steves show on Tuscany and he named it his favorite.  An agriturismo is a working farm and after much research, we verified San Lorenzo Podere to be the perfect location for our stay by seaching on flickr.com and finding Rnout's pictures and posting a comment.  He's from Amsterdam and was very helpful in helping us make our decision.  Although flickr is a photo sharing site, it's a great way to get feedback from people who have visited anywhere you might want to go.

By law, an agriturismo must make more profit from their farm than their hospitalities.  San Lorenzo Podere is an olive farm.  The dining room, back in the 1200's was originally a monastery for a small group of monks.  The frescos can still be seen near the window.

When we arrived, we were exhausted from the train rides and the car trip, so we all took a long nap.  Our room was next to the dining room and around five we were all awakened by the amazing aroma emanating from supper being prepared from Marinella and her staff.  Each night there was a full seven course genuine Tuscan slice of heaven.  Brian was hooked on the spaghetti carbanara which is unmatched throughout the world.

The peace and quiet was exactly what we needed in the middle of our trip and "our" agriturismo was perfect with it's breathtaking views and natural pool.  We soon learned a natural pool meant that should you decide to swim, you would likely be joined with the melodious frogs that would sing a beautiful frog chorus for the guests.

Surrounding us was the olive fields.

Brian was lucky enough to return in October when the olives were ripened and caught this picture of Marinella harvesting the olives.

On his second trip, Brian brought me back a bottle of San Lorenzo's olive oil.  Of course I can never use it, although I would love to.

Sadly, it was one year ago tonight we were spending our last night at this heavenly place, planning our next adventure to Rome the next day.

There is more to tell about Volterra and Tuscany itself, but I'll save that for the next post.  Needless to say, this was a tie for the top favorite place in Italy. 

I can't wait to return.

My Favorite Part of Italy

REPOST:

One year ago today, I was watching this sunset on the Italy coast.  I want to go back!!!!

We've argued this point. Brian and I. The places we chose to go were so different and so wonderful that's it's very difficult to actually name a favorite.

We started planning a year in advance, studying, reading, researching. Obviously there were easy choices, Rome, Tuscany, Venice.

I first heard of a not-so-obvious choice when I was waiting on a flight out of Indy to Fort Myers, months before we finally selected our itinerary. Bob had flown out earlier in the day, so I was at the airport alone. I was wanting to learn Italian and stopped at the Rosetta Stone kiosk. (By the way, they are way overpriced at airports.)

While listening to the vendor, a middle-age man was slightly behind me. We struck up a conversation and, as it turned out, he and his wife had been to Italy the previous year.

Then he told me their favorite place. Somewhere I had never heard of.

Cinque Terre.

I sat next to him with my Italy book and he told me about these wonderful towns. Five of them (duh, Cinque). I shared the story with Brian and the more we researched, the more we decided we had to find a way to include it in the itinerary.

Wikipedia says: "The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. It is a very popular tourist destination."

"Rugged, steep landscape"? No, they are not kidding.

This is my picture, which is almost exactly like every picture you will find online when you google Cinque Terre.

 

This is Manarola, the least "touristy" of the five towns.  We chose Manarola after alot, and I do mean alot of research.

Our best and most reliable research came from flickr.com.   No, it's not a travel site, it's a picture website.  Typing in a destination and finding people's picture, adding a comment asking for information and.....you get real live feedback on great places to stay.  (This is also how we found our lovely agriturismo in Volterra.)  In Manarola we stayed at Arpaiu.  Their Odina room was an efficiency with two doors that opened directly out to the cliff.

A little closer look at where we stayed.  The orange building with the green shutters that looked directly out to the sea.

Yes, we stayed at the very top of the cliff.  And no, there was no method of reaching the top without walking. 

It's a great place for college kids with all of their luggage stuffed in their backpacks.  For a couple of old ladies and a mid-30 guy who had back surgery 3 weeks prior to our trip.......it was still a great place, just not one easy to get to. 

But it was worth it.

From what I have been able to discern, Cinque Terre was "developed" in 1000 AD.  All I can say is those people had to have been some badasses to manage to build on a cliff side.  Add to that, there was quite a few pirates who found a method to scale the cliffsides and kidnap people.  Geez, we have grown soft compared to the people of that age.

The view out of our room was breathtaking.  The Mediterranean is cold (at least in April), rugged, and crystal blue.

Helen - at the foot of our cliff, in front of the dog rock.

Brian, on the hike between Manarola and Riomaggoire.

Corniglia was our first hike.  I loved the town and found the best pizza in all of Italy there.

On our last night in Manarola, we revisited a restaurant that had the most wonderful minestrone.  Since Brian's back was not cooperating since we sat for awhile on rocks on the Mediterranean, we were planning on heading straight there.

On a whim I decided, despite the argument my calves were giving me, to venture UP the path of Manarola.   I strolled, taking in the stream, the town, the locals and rounded a corner where I literally gasped when I came upon this:

I felt absolutely drawn.  I entered the outer doors where I could hear a service.  Not wanting to interfere, I listened through the crack of the inner doors.   Even though I couldn't understand one word, the chills just ran through me.  I remained there for a couple of minutes and then quietly, awestruck, I left.  

Helen and Brian were making their way up as I descended the "hill".  By the time we reached back up to the church, the service was over and we entered The Church of San Lorenzo, which was built in 1338 AD.  It took my breath away, more so than any grand Basillica throughout Italy.  It was like finding a diamond when you were looking for a rhinestone.

I want to go back.  We spent three nights in Manarola.   Next time I want a week there.  Vernazza, Manarola and Corniglia were soooo worth it.  The Italian Riviera, sounds exotic, doesn't it?

So Cinque Terre and Volterra in Tuscany were a toss up as my favorite places.  Each were special, but then so was Venice and Rome and the Amalfi Coast. 

Pisa?  It has a tower that leans.  I can say I've seen it, but it was the least impressive part of the trip.  It qualifies as one of those "been there, done that".  I would not classify any other part of Italy like that.   Every other place far exceeded my expectations.

The minestone:

Toes dipped into the Mediterranian.

Brian crossing the suspension bridge on a hike between Manarola and Corniglia

Braving the cold splash.  He looks cool here, right?  That's only because I've promised not to post the picture taken a second later where he is turning away like a little girl.  But.... he got a fascinating shot.

Venice

I didn't expect much. I don't know why, but I was expecting the least from Venice. We had chosen our itinerary carefully and I definitely wanted to see Venice, but I didn't expect to love it.

I had heard it was smelly and dirty. Ok, so I knew what to expect. Well, at least I thought I did.

We landed around 9:30 a.m. Brian had prepared notebooks for the trip which included all of our research, mostly his. Anyway, we were planning on buying a 72 hour vaporetti (think water bus)pass. We got our luggage at the airport, well Helen got our luggage. We were trying to keep Brian from using his newly-surgically-enhanced back. I was standing on one side and Helen on the other and the next thing I knew she was trying to wheel all of our bags.

Brian directed us to a stand in the airport which sold the vaporetti tickets. We got ours and got on the bus, which took us to the vaporetti area. Wheeling our luggage up to the water, we wanted to make sure we were taking the right vaporetti. First warning of Italy, there isn't alot of written information regarding their transit systems, from the vaporettis to the Trenitalia (the trains).

Helen and I stood by our luggage while Brian decided to go up to the overly crowded stand to see if he could find information about the vaporettis.

All of us were cautious on the trip, we had heard of too many stories of people trying to distract you to take off with your luggage, handbags, etc.

Brian had his backpack on and was standing in a crowd. He said there was some guy behind him that stood very close, so he kept looking back. Often.

It had been several minutes and I turned around to see if Brian was emerging from the crowd. Then I look up and I see, not Brian. But someone who looks exactly like my Indian nephew, Saumil. There's a huge crowd and I'm thinking, "Weird, that guy looks just like Saumil." Then I see his big grin. It WAS Saumil.

Saumil became part of my family when he was getting him MBA at Purdue several years ago. Helen had contacted him because of an issue she had for work and Saumil had written a book on Viruses. Over the years, he became her "son" and ergo, my nephew. Helen and Brian had gone off to India when he married and since then he and Brian have traveled all over the world. Saumil makes a visit to his Indiana home every so often.

At one point in our trip planning, Saumil and his wife talked about joining us. Unfortunately it had not worked out. He had kept up with our itinerary. He was at a conference in Amsterdam and was heading to Dubai, but had two nights that coincided with our time in Venice.

He hadn't told any of us. He had called the lady who owned our flat to get the address in case he didn't find us before that. He did. His plane flew in at another airport 20 minutes before ours. He figured he just might catch us at the vaporetti.

So Brian was standing in line and watching the people behind him when he gets a big slap on his back. He turned around and was shocked that Saumil was there.

It was the start of a perfect trip. Here's a pic of me and my two nephews enjoying Venice.

So, I hadn't expected to love Venice. But that is exactly what I did. It was wonderful.

We had been told to expect jet lag and to take a nap for 3 hours. Well, with Saumil's surprise, there was no way that was going to happen. Maybe Saumil is the cure for jetlag.

We took everything to the flat, which was right on a canal where we could watch gondola after gondola go right past our windows.

This is one of the first pictures I took from our window.

We started out immediately seeing all the sights. All I can say is that I was overwhelmed. Venice had such charm. The narrow pathways and numerous canal bridges. You can completely get lost and yet not be lost.

And, as I've made it more than clear, I hate to shop. But along all the streets were small, intimate shops where everything looked like it was asking to be taken home. I was fascinated. I really really wanted to buy an authentic Venetian mask, but I did not want to pay the shipping cost and I knew I would have to carry it over the next 16 days and not damage it.

The next morning we were awoken by the serenading of an accordian player taking a ride with some tourist on a gondola. I wanna have that kind of "alarm clock" every morning.

Saumil has friends all over the world and the next morning he had arranged for two of Italian friends to provide us some tours. This is me, Saumil, Andrea, Danieli, Helen and Brian in Murano.

Murano is an island off of Venice that is world-known for it's glass. It was such a quaint gorgeous place. And it was fun having Italian escorts as we made our way through the town.

In short, Venice was nothing like I expected. It was not dirty or smelly. It was wonderfully enchanting. St. Mark's Basilica was the highlight. Well, except for being surprised before we even set foot in Venice.

It's all about the shoes

Admittably, I hate to shop. As I have mentioned before I was not born with the shopping gene. Shopping for shoes is no exception. I have several pairs now but only because I haven't thrown away ones that are 10 years past their prime.

I refuse to buy or wear cruel shoes for the sake of fashion.

OK, yeah I know, I've never been about fashion in anything. I just want to wear things that are comfortable. I have some lower high heel shoes that I still have from when I had to wear suits to work, but I never wear them now.

I also refuse to spend alot of money on shoes. In fact, when I went to buy new tennis shoes for all of our hiking in Italy, I was prepared to spend another whopping $50. We went to Dick's Sporting Goods and this wonderful sales lady helped me. I told her what I wanted and she was willing to show me exactly what I asked for, but she politely encouraged me to try some walking shoes. They were double the price. I had a cheap shoe on one foot and a walking shoe on the other. The difference was amazing. I splurged and bought the "expensive" shoe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that fashionistas would not consider that expensive, but it is the most I have ever spent on any shoe in my life. Period. After walking 6 to 10 hours every day for 2 weeks I can assure you it was the best $100 I have ever spent. I will never again buy cheap tennis shoes.

If you ever travel to Italy and are not on a Donald Trump budget, visiting exclusive restaurants, don't bother packing any shoes other than good walking shoes. Every road, sidewalk, step, etc is incredibly uneven. I read this week where Tom Hanks said the hardest thing to do in the movie Angels & Demons was running. He talks about how uneven every step was and it was a wonder he didn't break his ankle.

So I was so fascinated with the choice of some women's shoes, I decided to take some pictures of the shoes I saw.






















The first picture was taken at the Vatican. Zooming in you can see her ankle is turned slightly. The second was taken just outside of San Gimignano, Tuscany. The streets look like this:

Notice this woman is long past caring about how she looks in her shoes. Uphill, downhill, stones, bricks, rocks, boulders, steps, ramps. The only area that was flat was Venice, but it was NOT even. Now you know why all the Italian women slowly stroll down the street arm-in-arm.

So, as a finale to this discussion, around 6:30 p.m. tonight, we were playing with our grandkids, I happened to look down at my feet.

Ummmm, I simply cannot defend myself here. Only photographic evidence will suffice. I took a picture below after I got home.

Now you have to realize I had not changed my shoes from work all day.



And the really sad thing is that the back is even worse. The heels are different heights and the shoe on the right side has no back on the ankle side. The shoe on the left is a regular shoe.

Luckily the color at least matched. The funny thing is that no one at work noticed. And don't think they were just being polite, they would have loved to razz me all day had it been seen.

At least they were both cheap and comfortable. Isn't that what shoes are supposed to be for?

OK OK, I'll show you the back just to convince you.

Italy - Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Nearly a year ago I was getting ready for work and walking through our bathroom. As I passed by the shower doors, I heard them rattling as if someone was pushing their hand on them. I know our house is not that flimsy that me simply walking past the shower causes the doors to rattle.

I'm looking at the doors as I pass and then I heard the large mirror over the double sinks begin to rattle loudly. I felt a little like I was in a Twilight Zone show. My head is swiveling between the doors and the mirror with an extremely puzzled look on my face. What in the world?

Bob had not gotten up yet and I had a fleeting idea that maybe this could be an earthquake. Now I realize that Indiana does lie on the New Madrid fault, but we so rarely ever have one that most of us simply do not recognize them when they happen. Just as the thought is forming in my head I hear Bob say, "What the hell is that?" He didn't hear the rattling but felt the shake HARD. I didn't feel the shaking, maybe because I was standing or maybe because I was so confused by the noise.

They said it was a 5.2 magnitude 40 miles north of Evansville. We lived well over 150 miles away. I quickly turned on the morning news and saw the crew from Channel 13 come back from a commercial wide-eyed and was talking about the studio shaking.

We had a few aftershocks later in the day while I was at work. I could feel those, not just hear them. The whole office was abuzz with earthquake stories.

I got a call from my "California" daughter who now lives in Texas. She wanted to make sure we were all okay. When I explained about the mirror rattling she had a slight panic in her voice, "Did you get under a doorway?" Uhhh, well no. I just stood there gaping at the mirror and shower doors. Having lived most of her life in California, she does not have the same reaction to earthquakes that we do.

Sadly, we who have not lived in a frequent quake zone area do not understand the seriousness of an earthquake. It's just something we hear about in California, or Bali or China. In Indiana, we ignorantly spend a "quake" day saying, "Did you FEEL that one?" We simply do not take them seriously, which one day, I fear will be a big mistake given the size of the fault we live on.

On Monday, 70 northeast of Rome there was a 6.3 quake, yesterday a 5.5 aftershock and only 9 hours ago a 5.3 aftershock. We pray for L'Aquila and all those affected in Italy and throughout the world. It is unfathomable for us Midwesterners to fully grasp what this must be like, but we do grieve along with you for your loss.