day 11- returning home

we got a shuttle to the aeroporto di roma and waited on our flight. i bought some funky euro food for the kids and stowed it in my pack. i was tempted to buy a few balls of buffalo mozzarella but wasn't sure how it would keep on the plane- i'd just have to eat it for the good of everyone. sadly, i decided not to buy them.
we are waiting on our flight to newark-it's been delayed a few times. it'll be good to see the kids soon.
we have lots of leg room on this flight but that's because we are in a special section of the airplane. right in front of us in the "stewardess nap station". it's sectioned off with curtains to protect them from cabin light. they take turns taking naps in there, swapping with the flight attendants who aren't very forthcoming with the water. chris and i took turns getting up and going to the back to help ourselves to some acua.
even italian plane food is good! can you tell i'm jealous? why can't we do this? have we tamed our taste buds so much and justified all the cheap food by saying it's saving money? but my taste buds aren't fooled. there is no such thing as a free lunch- or a cheaper dinner, just by cutting corners and growing junk crops and shipping food to the ends of the earth. our bodies will pay. look at old italian people- they look ALOT healthier than american people! i think it's safe to say i saw NO fat italians. isn't that incredible? bread, pasta, cheese. no fat. something's wrong with our idea of "food".

the man sitting behind us won't stop talking. he did take a nap but seriously- it's a 10 hour flight! i could tell you ALL about him. he's a geology professor who took his class to italy to tour pompei and other rocky places. he likes john denver, he has two kids- both are in high school....blah blah blah. the poor gal sitting next to him must be a student and in fear for her grade she is forced to sit patiently through all his verbaflood.
italian pilots are like italian drivers- i came VERY close to losing my lunch on the landing. ugh. the gal behind us lost hers completely- a few times actually. chris said "oh, i could tell you about all the times i ever threw up in my ilfe!" mimicking the geology professor to a "t".


it was kind of humiliating to get full body frisked wearing a dirty shirt and no deoderant. chris likes my stink so sitting next to me on the flight wasn't too bad. but i'm sure that lady at newark security has some singed nose hairs. i don't care how bad i smell- i'm NOT going through the full body radiation oven.
after the frisking i went and bought a csi new york shirt. we grabbed a drink at the bar while we waited for our flight. i had a cranberry juice, because by this time i was %95 certain we were expecting, and chris had a beer. we were hoping to get food but our waitress was so slow we gave up. instead we got some food close to our gate. such a let down. some tex-mex burrito- where all the flavors kind of were one, and not from the freshest ingredients- trying to hide this fact was a cheesy sauce. the difference in cuisine was stark.
we got on a later flight to atlanta, our delays in italy made us miss our connection. this flight was much quieter. no geology professors, no italian pilot's threatening us with crash landings.
mom and dad were at the atlanta airport with the boys- waiting for us to return. so glad to be home with them, can't wait to get the girls back tomorrow.

day 10- spanish steps, trevi fountain, piazza navona

we slept in today. not really sure of what to do, we got up late and got dressed. we had planned on staying the day in bed because facing the rain yet again was just too depressing. i noticed the sun through the shades and realized that if we were ever to fall in love with rome, today was the day.
we headed towards the metro- backpack holding the map, guidebook, and umbrella(just in case). we decided to see the spanish steps,

where's chris?

there he is!!!

trevi fountain,


and the pantheon.


only with at&t could we listen to the podcast AND snap this pic:)

all these spots were rife with tourists and guys from india trying to sell novelties. between each of these spots we'd duck into shops and buy this or that souvenir for the kids. we passed by the italian parliament and a building where the prime minister was reportedly meeting with his cabinet. a throng of people were standing about the doorway and some pretty tough polizia boys were hanging about in swat unis. i had to ask one of the crowd what was going on- why all the press and swat boys? he told me about the prime minister. we noticed dark clouds so we headed towards the metro.

a video telling about the pedestrian and motorist blend going on in the streets of rome.
we passed through the piazza populo. it was full of tourists, musicians, groups, strollers, lovers, entertainers, you name it. before he reached the metro our backpack was full of treats. we decided a siesta was needed so that we could hit the piazza navona at night- it stays open REALLY late.
after getting off the metro chris headed to mcdonald's and got a value meal or something. i couldn't bring myself to eat any of that(haven't eaten it in 9 years!) so before laying down at the hotel i got a plate of antipasti at the hotel's osteria. i needed something small because i was about to fall over!
after my antipasti and sharing a bottle of acua naturale we headed upstairs. the nap hit the spot- chris just watched hollywood movies dubbed into italian the whole time. we got up and got dressed to go out to a nice dinner. the shuttle dropped us off closer to the center of downtown this time. we walked towards the piazza navona once we got our bearings. we passed the HUGE palace that was victor emmanuel's house- i think- whatever it was it was big. the piazza navona was large- with shops and risorantes lining the edges. we found a tratoria where a man stood out front and encouraged us to come and sit- everything is fresh, not frozen, and the champagne is free! so we were lured in. since it was friday i decided maybe a nice fish dish. well, every seafood item on the menu had an asterisk by it and that meant "previously frozen". so i decided on ravioli ricotta e spinaci and eggplant parmesan. it was ok. chris' lasagna al forno tasted like chec boyardee. the bottle of merlot we split was decent. i kept thinking we should have gone to arturo's! this- the last night in italy and we are eating chef boyardee! after strolling the piazza and looking at neptune's fountain we headed back towards s pietro's. we were planning on picking up on the metro a little east of st. peter's but hte metro closed at 9. we walked back to s. pietro's and picked up a cab. a mercedes. the car situation is odd in italy. cops drive alfa romeos, mercedes, bmws, and the like. cab drivers drive the same. everyone else drives tiny cars- smart cars are everywhere as well as scooters. scooters don't have to obey traffic laws or at least don't have to stop at red lights.
chris wondered if i was going to be able to sleep after that giant nap.
absolutely.

day 9- vatican, sistene chapel, s. pietro

we went to the vatican today! we ate breakfast at a bar near where the shuttle dropped us off. just a croissant and a cappuccino. we headed over to s. pietro's after that. we walked through the square- it's kind of like how madison square garden's isn't shaped like a square at all. san pietro's is more of an ellipse. we did the tour of st. peter's on my ipod.

more huffing- and getting my hair out of his face.



michelangelo designed not only the dome of san pietro's but also these fabulous duds that the swiss guards- la guardia di suisse- wear.

notice that the religious get a salute. so cool.


i like how these holy water font cherub statues are "daddy sized".


this is the canopy above the altar in san pietro's. looking up towards the dome- the words that go around the top of the WHOLE church are all the words spoken from Christ to peter. AND to give perspective they are 7 feet tall!
also- notice the four spiral pillars- at the foot of each pillar, carved into the support is the shield of the bernini family(it has three bees on it)- AND walking clockwise around the altar it is chronicled- the face of one of the bernini daughters in labor! the last face being that of the newborn babe!


confession anyone? they have a plentitude of confessionals in an assortment of languages.


this was something really cool to me. they can't have paintings up in san pietro's- due to the constant candle burning over many many centuries- so they made them mosaics. they look SO like a painting- like brush strokes- not like other mosaics that just have a mosaicized look.

another video- taken from the back of the church to give you perspective on the sheer giganticism of san pietro's.




swiss guard rain coats- i bet michelangelo didn't design these garments!


me mailing from the vatican post office.

then we did the vatican museo tour on a rented audio guide.

here- a video of a mummy, for my boys;)

we both really liked raphael's art the best. the colors were so vivid. i entered one room and kind of glanced over my shoulder casually and then did a double take. was that the school of athens?!?!? wow! it was! i never knew it was actually a fresco on a wall in the vatican! ok- maybe i did once upon a time, but don't tell my art history teacher i forgot- ok?




chris by a really neat modern painting of his name sake- in the vaticano museo.

we scouted out a seat on the edge of the sistene chapel so we could gaze at the ceiling in relative comfort. i switched my ipod on and we listened to yet another rick steve's podcast. i am NOT regretting these podcasts- they are golden!
it was a good and long podcast, well researched on the ceiling's history. after the museum we headed straight back for mass in the chapel- the one behind the main altar at s. pietro's. the choir was composed of american highschool age kids from connecticut. they were really good. they sang this really white choiry version of "this little light of mine" after communion. not gospely at all- different, but good.



after mass we walked through san pietro's square and across the street. we propped ourselves against a building facing the square so we could listen to the rick steve's podcast describing the square.



here is a video taken from one of the center points in the ellipse. from this point all the columns in each of the four rows on the near side of the ellipse line up to look like one column. but when we looked across to the far side, you could tell there were four rows because they didn't perfectly align. just some math and geometry nerdiness for you.





after this we walked towards castle s. angelo on the tiber. it was just about to close so we walked towards the metro.
the bridge by castle sant'angelo.

my shoes were well past soaked so on the way chris bought me some italian leather boots. i put my soggy mary jane's in the bag and gladly wore the dry boots. it was a big mistake- after walking to the metro, getting to our stop, and walking back to the hotel from our metro stop "cornelia"- i had blisterd worked up. so- i have blisters from my mary jane's, raw spots from the tethers of my chaco's, and blisters from my boots. my feet are very interesting looking- i will jst tell you about them instead of taking a picture.


metro riding.


these big black puffy shiny jackets are HOT in italy. guys, gals, babies. everybody has one.

day 8- coliseo, s. maria maggiore, s. giovanni laterano, santa scala

we had breakfast in the back portion of the hotel lobby. it was VERY good- the succo di arancia wasn't as good as others but everything else tasted similar to what we have been having so far.
we headed to the fiumicino aeroporto to return our autonoleggio since we didn't do it last night. returning to roma via the treni i noticed that even in the city people grew citrus trees, olive trees, grape vines, tomatoes and plenty other tasty things- using every square inch they could. we took the treni to roma termina and got off. a nice man helped us figure out where we were and where to go. he had two accoustic guitars in cases slung on his back and his name was bogdan. he told us how to go to the coliseo and santa maria maggiore. we went to s. maria maggiore first and then to the coliseo. we shared my phone- with an earbud a piece under an umbrella- and listened to the free rick steve's coliseo podcast i downloaded before our flight.

whenever i try to take a autophoto(self pic) of us he does this laugh-huff-sniff with his nose. so in this pic i just started laughing about it- how he ALWAYS does it. what is he laughing-huffing-sniffing at? it's just too funny to not laugh at. and then he laughs at me- and we look like this.


he's nose huffing in this pic too- guaranteed.
after the tour we stopped at a bus/van/panini cart. i ordered a fungi and fromaggio panin and a frizzante- chris got a peroni. i was fed up with the rain and asked the panini-man "acua domani?" "rain tomorrow?"
he said- "acua domani? no." good! then he said "domani- no acua. doble domani, no acua." so i hope that means what i think it means- tomorrow and the day after- no rain! it rained ALL day today. despite the looks of disgust i got for wearing my chacos, i am glad i did. they will dry up fast. i am also glad i wore a skirt- no wet pant legs.




as we walked, chris talked about how it would be a good idea to buy a couple of those van/bus/panini cart things and just run a family business selling food at auburn games or taladega. he said we could save money by selling hot dogs. i said "absolutely not! the reason why you fell in love with the panini cart idea was because the food is so good! and the reason why the food is so good is because it is FRESH and LOCAL and NOT a hot dog!" but i still love that he thought of a business where he could spend more time with me and the kids.

we need to get another map from the front desk - ours is soggy and torn a bit. so after the coliseo we headed to s. giovani di laterano.

the floor of the church is quilted mosaic- i LOVE it! such a sewer's fantasy church!

and gigantic! after that i stopped a priest and asked "dove santa scala?" he pointed across the piazza toward a building with doors opening onto the street. i entered and said a rosary- ascending the staris on my knees. these stairs Jesus climbed when he was at pilate's palace. st. helen, emperor constantine's mom, brought them to roma in the 3rd or 4th century from jerusalem. they are covered with wood but there are long slits on the face of each step that you can reach through and touch- which i did, as well as touch the banister.

after that we found a lady from kansas who was looking for the metro. we joined her on teh search- meanwhile conversing. we hit the metro pretty close to the santa scala and headed toward our hotel. tired- wet- wanting some hot tub and some dinner- and needing to wash clothes. the day is wrapping up. the jacuzzi was just a cold pool with jets. what a downer!!! we did try out the roman bath- but didn't like it too much. afterwards we got dressed and headed out for dinner. we ate at a ristorante right next to the hotel- called ristorante di arturo alle aurelia antica. i had creme di pomodoro zuppa and lamb griglia. chris had some insalata mare and fettucine al ragu. we both shared a litre of rosso della casa. gian piero was our waiter and was so great at taking care of us, cracking jokes, and chatting us up. i told chris how usually when we are on vacation back in america i can't wait to stop going out to eat. it's the FIRST thing that gets old. i just want something homecooked. but here- in italy- i could eat out ALL THE TIME! eating at home would be a punishment!
after dinner gian piero treated us to fresh buffalo mozzaralla- it was THE most delicious thing i have EVER eaten. everyone told me "oh, when you go to italy, try the gelato"- i got SO many of those "head's up". but nobody warned me about the buffalo mozzarella. it was juicy and just SO fresh. i hope we eat here again tomorrow. i'm going to dream about that cheese!

day 7- cortina, pisa, e roma

so long cortina!

home of the 1954 winter olympic games.

i woke up to a sticky and stiff left knee- a souvenir of one of my less than controled falls yesterday. i took the stairs to and from breakfast to loosen it up before i had to sit in the car all day. breakfast was the same as yesterday- chris said this may be the last real breakfast we have while we are in italy so i made sure to enjoy it. we went back up to the room to pack- keeping all the dirty clothes in the duffle so we could find a lavandaria in roma- i remember seeing a few on the first day during our "find a bancomat- QUICK!" adventure. on the way down with our bags i realized that all the hotels we stayed at so far (at least ones with lifts) NONE of the lifts would have fit our entire family- even without luggage. the lifts here have a maximum capacity of about 5 people, with no room for bags. we are now in the car-

chris wants to take a peek at the west coast so he asked me to map out a path. this is the route i mapped out using the complimentary map in the glove compartment- a4 per padova, a13 per bologna, 64 per pistoia, alora(which means "then", "whatever", "anyway") a11 ovest to pisa. i guess we'll see the tower that leans- or so we've heard. get a chance to check out the west coast, then head south towards roma on any road- because that's what all roads should do here, right? when we get to roma we'll check in, return the car at the airport, and then come back to the hotel and maybe map out our plan for tomorrow.


the tower was neat. i took a few pictures and eavesdropped on a tour guide giving his spiel. at rosemary trattoria- pizzeria between teh parcheggio and the tower we stopped for a bite. i rodered lasagna al forno but the waitress who spoke little engloish and i who spoke little italian got into some difficulty. the owner/business man came over and pointed to the menu item i was pointed to and said, "for people who cannot eat farina." got it. not gluten. i can't remember the word- it began with a "c". there was an asterisk by it saying that it began as a frozen item and they reheated it. so i definitely wanted the real lasagna al forno and not the gluten free stuff.
chris had cuattro salume pizze which looked to have been cooked in a brick ovewn and smelled delicious. we both commented on how food always came to the table PIPING hot- i mean dangerous hot. i think i have burned my tongue at least once a day since arrival. i'm just NOT used to eating HOT food. typically i am the last to eat so it's rather lukewarm by then.
also- when i listend to the rick steve's podcast on italian cuisine he mentioned that espresso was often used as a palate cleanser. i also think frizzante is a good option. it's what i use since caffeine has such a lasting effect on me. s. pellegrino has the fizzing- palate cleansing- effect without all the heavy syrup that soda has to offer. i make it a point to swish around some before trying a bite of something different than what i had been eating. chris and i order different things so we can samply as much variety as we can.
more words- chiuso/closed, aperto/open, diversione/detour, scuola/school. i remember passing a white passenger van in firenze that said "scuola calcio"- that sounded like a school i'd love to have gone to!
after eating we headed south from pisa along the coast- on ss1- kind of equivalent to the pacific coast highway. i kind of wished we hadn't eaten in pisa because there were some clifftop ristorantes overlooking the mediterranean that looked beautiful- even if the food wasn't worth it(which i doubt) the view alone would have been worth it.
we pulled into roma and after driving around a bit we found our hotel. our room had this neat electricity saving device by the door. all the electricity of the room would only turn on if we had our room key plugged into it. and propped on one of the pillows was a tiny box of essential oil blends formulated for more efficient and deeper sleep. one oil blend was a spray you use on the pillows and the other was a roll on that you could apply to any pulse taking spots. we hooked up to the internet and skyped with the girls who are happily staying at christina's house.
after skyping we headed to teh lobby ristorante/buffet. i filled a piati with all the antipasti they were serving- which was alot. i wanted to try all of it- including the baby octopus. it didn't taste salty or fishy- like i thought it would taste- but tasted more like chicken mixed with squid.

wine is more expensive here at the hotel. we headed out for a walk after dinner and got lost. it rained, thundered, and lightninged- my leather mary janes were soaked through- bleeding all over my feet.

day 6- cortina d'ampezzo e pistes di falovia

we breakfasted thoroughly and well. salume e fromaggio- babybel. alpen jogurt. succo de arancia. cappuccino and a donut. we headed over to the ski office and got outfitted. i bought a compression underarmor type shirt and chris bought some shades and a warm. the guys there hooked us up further with rentals- skis and boots. once we were hooked up we headed towards the funicular- the cable car type thing that takes skiers above the town and to falovia and the lifts. we had to take two funiculars, switching to another halfway up the side of the mountain face. we had to return to falovia at the end of the day so we could ride the right funicular down to cortina. so we left our shoes in a locker at the funicular office and headed towards the pistes(slopes). all these ski pics are taken with my phone- i didn't want to take my big bulky regular camera. the first lift at falovia was interesting. something i've never encountered before. each lift looked like a large disk hung by a rope attached to the center of the disk- much like a tree swing. the tree swings were about 10 yards apart and circulating- like a normal lift. at first i thought- well, we just grab it and hold on. but then the disks farther up the hill were dangling 20 feet from the ground so i nixed that idea. we sat back and watched until someone else did it to see what to do. the man just waited for a circulating tree swing, grabbed the rope just above the disk, and held on. the rope then extended, like one of those retractable dog leashes when the dog bolts after something. once it had accepted his weight it became tight and pulled him, skiing, up the hill. so we hopped on. once i was comfortable i straddled the rope and sat on it- like a tree swing! i let it pull me up the hill- and i took a few pics of chris behind me.
the first run was terrible! SO foggy! i hadn't gotten my bearings yet- i was NOT comfortable opening up and speeding along yet- so what else was there to do? go slow. and going slow = falling for me. and fall alot! which i did. everything was white and it was so foggy i couldn't read the terrain, minor bumps shocked me, big bumps shattered me. i was ready for this to be over.
either my eyes adjusted to the glare and fog or the fog cleared up a bit, because after that i was comfortable. i started to open up. it was fun skiing fast with chris- or at least faster than we typically ski with the kids.
we headed over to another big mountain once we did falovia a couple times. we ate il zuppo di giorno which was yummy and warm barley and ham at rifugio di rio gere. in the rifugio bar they were selling swiss chocolate bars. i bought a bar-since nothing else convenient was sold for fuel- i stowed it in my jacket. from rio gere we took a lift and then another up to san forco. after doing that ride and returning we decided to take a lift from there that went all the way to the top- excpet the top was closed so we had to unload midway- which was as high as i was wanting to go anyway. we asked a guy to take a pic of us at the top- we could be anywhere. but i guarantee we were high up in the dolomites. i heard a jet and looked up. it looked big and close and the fluffy white streamers the jets left behind looked so close i could touch them.
every piste from the top looked too vertical for my liking, even from midway lift drop, i thought "this can't be happening". my legs were already shot- all i wanted was a fluffy "so-long cortina" run. we made it down the difficult part without too many falls. i was getting sloppy and tired. i didn't want to get hurt so i started doing controlled falls. poor chris kept on having to wait for me. back at rio gere we learned from a japanese ski/tourist group that the lift to get us back to falovia and our locker was shut down due to fog. chris decided that instead of waiting at rio gere for a bus with a bunch of other skiers- we should take the lift from rio gere, ski down to below falovia, then take off our skis and hike up to the falovia funicular- the only way to get there without the lift or bus. so we headed out. when we got to the broken lift there was a short line of about 10 people. the caribinieri were carting people up the hill on snowmobiles. i got to go for my first snowmobile ride- behind a caribinieri and in front of a swiss lady. i had to hold on with my arms AND legs to make sure i wasn't thrown off when we hit a bump- which was often. it was so much FUN! and MUCH better than hiking. once back down in cortina we returned our rental stuff and headed(hobbled) back to the room and to warm showers and warm pj's and molto acua naturale! now my stomach is growling and i am hungry- chris needs to wake up from his nap and take me someplace where the food is "slap your momma" good.

we walked a little ways and in the same block that the church of cortina's church tower is on we ate at a pizzeria called porto rotundo. i ordered this pizze that was called "rugby". the description was- artichoke, mozerella, olives, prochiuto, uovo- which i figured was egg. i thought that it was interesting sounding. true to the description it had artichokes, whole black olives, and an over easy egg in the middle. i popped the egg and spread the yolk around the pizze and split the white about it evenly. it was SO tasty! then i had a salad- which was an insalate miste- mixed. with hardboiled egg, olives, corn- it was tasty as well. as i ate the salad, a couple guys were seated at the table immediately next to us. we began talking- luca and evgheni. luca is from sardenia- he told us the owner was sardenian as well- based on the name of the ristorante. evgheni was from bulgaria and was in town for a kite-boarding competition(like kite surfing but snowboarding). luca ordered these little pieces of food- it tasted like smoked dehydrated salty fish. he said it was a traditional dish from sardenia- and i found it rather savory. luca told us he was originally from modena. i immediately reached for the balsamico on the table- "like this modena?" he nodded but then also disagreed. he called the aceto on our table a word i won't repeat here. he recounted the LONG process his ancestors used to make aceto balsamico- how it takes 25 years, moving 200 litres down to 5 along casks of decreasing sizes and varying woods. he said he ended up in sardenia because he was a professional wind surfer- he showed us a picture of him windsurfing just yesterday off sardenia- it looked beautiful there! he told us of the emnity between kite surfers and wind surfers- probably like auburn and alabama fans. then luca ordered us a traditional sardenese drink- called mirto. it came in tall shot glasses and was accompanied by a bown of ice. you throw a piece of ice into the glass and then drink it. chris said it tasted like jaeger mixed with wine and evgheni said it tasted like jaeger mixed with sherry. i thought it was sweet and kind of syrupy.
i don't know how talk turned to kids but luca told us he had one- he asked us if we had kids. we told them we have 7 kids. evgheni clarified "you have a 7 year old boy?" it took them awhile to understand that we were, in fact, parents of 7 children. they were so amazed- asking us all kinds of questions- what car do we drive? do we need a special license to drive our van? what does chris do because we surely must be millionaires. what do we do when they want to eat something other than what is served? what do we do if they want to wear stylish clothes and not hand-me-downs? i guess we'd have to be millionaires if we felt the need to cater to every little whim of the kids. good thing i don't feel that need, nor do the kids often express those desires. i told them alot of that "need to fit in with other kids" isn't something we have to deal with because we home school. he said homeschooling is illegal in italy- your child MUST show up to school- the consequence of not showing up? i'm not sure but i'm glad i don't have to find out:)
luca is also a big rugby player- and a very passionate one at that. he argued that all the worlds problems would be easily solved if everyone payed rugby. he says in a rugby match there are 3 parts. the first two parts are the 80 minutes played out rough on the field. the third part is located at the bar- where tht two teams mix seamlessly and everything is peace and harmony. all disagreement is left on the field. indeed, many rugby stadiums have a bar between the locker rooms for this very purpose.


it was a nice evening- and the first real time we conversed on a deeper level with someone since our arrival. luca gave us his card and made us promise to look him up if ever we are in sardenia.
chris and i returned to the hotel and played gin at one of the various card tables in the lobby. at the other tables were older italian couples drinking and playing cards like us- and listening to the italian lounge singer. i think the only songs i recognized were "beseme mucho" and "i did it my way"- which he sang all but the chorus in italian.

day 5- venezia e cortina d'ampezzo

in the morning we watched a bit more of the news on the tsunami as we took turns washing up. we got directions from venezia to cortina d'ampezzo and saved it to the computer. we ate breakfast in the lobby- not at all like the cafeteria of a dorm. cioccolata croissant and cafe con latte- salume and fromaggio. succo di arancia.
we loaded up our wheely night bag and laptop backpack and headed to find a ferry for tronchetto. after walking a ways we found the ferry we should have ridden on last night. it proved to be a straight- yet slow- shot to and from the tronchetto parking garage to lido. so slow i had time to sketch this grandpa- yes grandpa with his grandkid. the things we rode on last night were vaporettos- or water taxi's. in the parking decks we located our car and stuffed all our belongings into the trunk. this time we rode the people mover and actually got somewhere we wanted to go. AND other people were on with us. this is probably going to be the funniest part of our trip- this next part. but it will probably be lost on you all- kind of a "you had to be there" moment. so i will attempt to describe as best i can.
while we were on the ferry we noticed two guys- probably college age- good looking italian kids, you know? they were wearing rayer soccer stuff- a scarf, a hat, etc. and ray ban aviators. but were VERY suavely dressed. very stylish. having product keep all their hair organizedly disheveled. so we ran into them again on the people mover. it's a train connecting little compartments about 1/3 the size of a marta car. so it's more intimate. anyway- one of the rayer fans was talking on a cell and it went something like this- (italian means he was speaking in italian and i couldn't understand what he was saying)
"italian italian italian italian people, people mover italian italian italian italian"
and when he got to the part where he said "people, people mover" he sang it. chris and i sat and smiled- wanting to laugh because we thought it MUST be an advertisement for this thing on italian tv. i told chris- "it sounds like something i've heard before" so i hummed it a few times. "i got it! it's the flinstone's song- flintstones, meet the flintsones, they're the modern stoneage family"
we were walking toward venezia proper now. and ahead of us were the guys- now both weren't talking on the phone. and he takes up the song- "people, people mover italian italian italian italian" and it's ALL in the flintstone's tune. i was proven right and we both gave a laugh. i don't know why we found it so amuzing. maybe because last night was frustrating a bit and we needed to get it out and laugh about it. but i think we'll always remember that funny "people mover" tune.
we walked and walked and walked- crossing bridges over canals- getting accosted by gondoliers "wouldn't we like a ride? for 80 euro?" nah. we just kept walking, following signs for s. marco's. i started feeling worse and worse. the day was wearing on faster than i would've liked, i needed to find a church and NOW! we are in italy! it shouldn't be so hard to find a church! it should be like finding a starbuck's on peachtree street- but it seemed like a never ending row of shops, ristorantes, and consumer traps.
my "wake up" alarm went off. that meant it was 6:30 in atlanta, and 12:30 in italy! i almost started crying. i was literally falling apart. chris found a church and we snuck in just in time for the gospel. mass was all in english- with an american/canadian/english congregation we sat down and just before communion i told chris i felt terrible- just physically awful. all these late nights sharing litres of rosso and early mornings with cappucino- full days of sight seeing. i told him we needed to get the vitamin b caps out of our suitcase and take them! i swore off rosso and cappucino. as we left mass i put my hand on his back and it was soaking wet! he was sweating profusely. he admitted to me that he was about to pass out. he was shaking and probably had low sugars. RIGHT outside the side door of the church we stepped up to a sidewalk cafe and grabbed a seat under the large awning/tent. i ordered spaghetti carbonera and chris ordered another seafood spaghetti. it was yummy as usual. i think food seemed to solve all our problems. i didn't feel so terrible anymore- my outlook was sunny. chris stopped shaking and sweating. we felt human again. it was nice to have renewed energy.
after lunch we found san marco's and toured the building and terrace. very impressive. the horses on the terrace were SO old- but timeless- great pieces of metal work. we walked back to ferrevia by way of the rialto bridge
and found the people mover back to tronchetto. of course we sang our new favorite song and got back into our car. we pointed ourselves in the direction of cortina and were off. look at us! reading directions in italian!
we ended up in cortina at about 6. we made one sweep of the town and on our second way back through we spotted a nice place to stay. it said "alaska" on the roof but had confusing other names on their letterhead, keys, etc. it's also called domina or home. which i guess means the same thing just in different languages- alaska probably is a sign that distinguishes the hotel and is probably a fixture in town that no body wanted to see taken down.
we took a nap and then headed out to dinner on the next corner over. it looked to be a pub of some sort. hacker-pschorr or something. i ordered some sandwich- roasted pig with peppers and chris got this sausage and chips plate. it came with three sausages that were pale pink, french fries, and sauerkraut. a bit of the sausage and kraut together was a good pairing. i asked for some kraut to add to my sandwich and that was YUM! best kraut ever! and we were still in italy!! being this far north in italy and so close to the swiss border- brought other plates to our attention for sure. over dinner we discussed staying in cortina for two nights- i just had to stay two nights in a row somewhere- all this hotel hopping was wearing me out! he quickly agreed.
the pub soon got crowded fast with the cortina calcio team. the waitress, liliana, said that they were a talented bunch. after dinner she talked us into shots of limoncello- a VERY sweet liquor made from lemons- and lots of sugar!
our friend liliana.
we returned to the hotel, and toured a gallery of reproductions, including the mona lisa. we called back home and then went to sleep- with dreams of a big day of skiing.