Who’s Tired of Whining?

I am! So, here’s what we’re going to do today…talk about blessings. My eldest daughter got hitched on Saturday 6/4/11. It was a beautiful ceremony & reception! What was more beautiful however was the love that flowed through everyone in attendance. Family & friends really stepped up for us as 2 families became one. The weather was perfect. So perfect that my niece & I went swimming the morning of the wedding. My daughter wore a black beard & a grill while her fiance sported enormous Hulk Hands during the rehearsal. It was hard to take anything seriously with that silliness. Perfect. The Groom’s family threw a delish rehearsal dinner. They gave us a roasted pig with all the fixin’s. They know how to eat!

Saturday began with a yummy breakfast to fuel us up for a day of preparations for the ceremony. And swimming. The bridal party started getting ready around 2pm, pictures started a bit after 3pm then we all made our way up to the grassy knoll where the ceremony was held. A bagpiper blew some nice tunes. Very neat. The ceremony itself was lovely. The officiant is a good friend of both the Bride & Groom, making it that much more meaningful. Pictures pictures pictures then the reception. Such yummy food! Everyone commented on how good the meal was. Toasts by parents, siblings, friends were really fun. I think mine was a zinger. Can’t wait to see the film at 11!! I presented the Groom with a tie in the MacNaughton tartan to welcome him to our Clan. He wore it the rest of the night. Good boy! Dancing dancing dancing then clean-up then some sleep at 1am or so. Gosh, what a fabulous wedding!!

Breakfast the next morning was again delicious. We cleaned up the place, came home & immediately set to work on preparations for the family gathering at my house later in the afternoon. The place was packed with family & friends who qualify as family. Oh, and food. Can’t come to my house and not have a plethora of yummies. That’s how I roll. As the day wound down & we said our goodbyes to those who weren’t staying with me, I basked in the love & warmth that family & friends share. True happiness. I can’t remember what time we crashed. The Bride & Groom left on Monday for a Honeymoon in Hawaii, a trip the Groom won for his exemplary performance at work. The next few days were all about showing 2 of my sibs & their families some of the wonders of this area. We ended each day pretty dang exhausted but also pretty dang happy.

Now that my house contains only me & Archie once again I have quiet time to reflect on the many blessings in my life. I’m finding that even the ‘bad’ stuff that exists is sort of a blessing as it makes me look more closely at & be grateful for the goodness my life holds. People, places & things that aren’t good for me will find their way out of my life because there’s no longer room for them here. Trials & tribulations (one of my Mom’s fav word combinations) will come & go, but keeping the positive in front of my mind will help me live through them. That & the support network I’m growing through AA. I never in a million years expected my life to be at this point. I miss my old lady Cuddles like mad & allow myself to mourn & cry knowing she’s no longer suffering. Turns out I’m learning that sadness & happiness are easier when sober. I’m one of the lucky ones.

Love & blessings, Mommjohamma

Tummy Troubles & Life

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Today started out well enough. I went to Green Spring Gardens with some ladyfriends to make a hanging flower basket. It turned out lovely, by the way. I was starving when I got home so I wolfed down the sandwich left over from Thursday’s foray to the Natural History Museum. I questioned the wisdom of that because the sandwich had already been sitting out for who knows how long before I had it for lunch Thursday, it traveled in my purse for several more hours & today is 2 days later for an already suspicious sandwich. But, I was hungry & it was there. You know where this is going…literally & figuratively. I was in the middle of making cookies to take to a friend’s party when all hell broke loose along with my guts. I needn’t tell you the rest except to say it took awhile to resolve. So, how does this tie in with life? Just when you think things are going pretty well, BAM, there go the guts of it all. And whatever it is that needs to be resolved always takes awhile. You can throw all kinds of remedies at it but it’s not going to resolve until it’s time for it to resolve. Or so it seems to me. I’ve been learning & practicing this new way of life called One Day At A Time & sometimes it’s actually one minute at a time. Being a patient person to begin with, you’d think this would come easily. Well, you’d be wrong. It’s a different kind of patience. It’s not directed outward for someone else but a personal patience. It involves stepping back & trusting some power other than yourself to help you figure stuff out. It’s that letting go of power that can be an issue. I’m fine teaching others to let go & trust the process. But when it comes to me, well, I thought I knew how to live my life just fine, thank you very much. Turns out I was wrong about that too. It’s gotten me in a pickle here these past few years but even more in the past few months. I’ve had to learn that I can’t control anyone else’s anything. Just like I can’t control Tummy Troubles. It takes personal patience to let the process run its course, to trust that this too shall pass. And if it doesn’t pass fast enough for me, well, too bad. For lord’s sake, today’s discomfort lasted a lot longer than usual. Must have been a pretty ripe sandwich, ugh. I was disappointed that I missed the party but it gave me a chance to get some things done around here that have been waiting to be done. Things I’d put off because I don’t like doing them. My style is to find other things to do rather than what I need to do. Procrastination is a defect I’m working on.

Along the lines of not being able to control anyone’s anything reminds me of a song sung by Bonnie Raitt, “I Can’t Make You Love Me If You Don’t”. It helps me realize that if things ARE, they are. If they AREN’T, they aren’t & I can’t do a dang thing about it. I can step back & wait for awhile & see how things pan out, or don’t. But forcing my will or desires won’t get me anywhere. Darn it. It’s been a difficult & painful lesson. I used to think very highly of my (false) self, “Who wouldn’t want to be with me?” Now I think, “Who would want to be with me?” So many defects, flaws, issues, annoyances. But what I’m working toward now is not acceptance or love from others but my own acceptance of my (true) self & to believe that I am worth the investment. That keeping myself true to me is the important thing. Of course I want to be loved, everyone does, but growing that self love is what’s up these days. I may not be enough for anyone else but I jolly well better get to be enough for myself. The New & Improved MO is being tweaked daily. One day she’ll appear. I hope you like her. I know I will.

Hello Darlings! It’s Been Awhile…

So, here we are in mid-April trying to play catch-up with each other. It’s been a roller coaster of a life since the last post but all’s well. I’ve been off the Beachbody wagon for many reasons but with the wedding just around the corner, an adjustment is imperative! The dress is hanging in my closet (a beautiful deep pink/magenta satin number) & it still fits, mercifully. I start back up with ChaLean Extreme next week after my trek up to PA to visit some girlfriends. I suspect there will be a few no-no meals during that weekend so I’ll be back at the workout with a vengeance. I’ve been eating way too much candy…until now when I realized this body can’t handle that much sugar & still function with vigor. Twizzlers and M&Ms, I’ll miss you L

Anyhow, back to some recent thoughts. My life turned upside down when I decided to enter a treatment center in February. It was the best decision I ever made which turned into the best month of my life, truly. I learned some valuable lessons & gained some tools to navigate my new life with less anxiety, fear, & adverse consequences. Some of my friends & family members aren’t keen on the New & Improved MO but hopefully they’ll eventually be able to tolerate her at least. I don’t relate in the predictable way I used to. That bothers some people but I like it. My new friends have proved to be essential in my recovery & I suspect they will be lifelong friends from here on out. Other relationships are tricky…I’m not doing too well in that department.

On another bright side, I’ve been out on several photo safaris & have come back with some fairly good snapshots. I’ll be out in the wilderness next week to catch some Springtime scenes. I really need to learn more about the camera before the wedding. If the weather is cooperative, the wedding will be outside so I’m hoping my forays in the next few weeks will give me the experience I need to capture some beautiful pix as my eldest walks down the aisle. There will lots of wonderful subjects…relatives & friends I haven’t seen for too long. I always love looking into the eyes of relatives & see our common ancestors. And to observe them to see how we all move, speak, look like each other. Gene pools are extremely interesting! For the most part there’s no denying my heritage and I’m ok with that…mostly! We’ll see if the feeling is reciprocated :-/

So where am I going from this day forward? Not sure. But it will be a good journey. There will be some fallout, already has been, but through diligence & desire for a better life, there’s no doubt I’ll be ok. Some of you will come along with me, others won’t. But, I’m going anyhow.

My 55th Birthday

I was already thrilled at the notion of being 55, 5 being my favorite number. My friend/Beachbody Coach Richard & I drove down to Bedford VA to pick up a new Beachbody pal, Tammy, so she could spend the weekend with me & go to the Tony Horton book signing. It was a pleasant journey through the countryside, flowing conversation about this & that, some serious, some not. We got Tammy, went to the D-Day Memorial, then headed back North. I made dinner, we chatted, then crashed. As I was getting ready the next morning I heard Sarah come in the door (she always makes a grand entrance!), come upstairs bang on my bedroom door. I thought that was pretty odd as she never knocks. When she came in, who was right behind her? MARY! The little sneak had taken the bus down from NYC the previous night, staying with Sarah. What a GREAT surprise! Truly, it never crossed my mind that she’d be there for this birthday. But, there she was ☺ She knew I was going to be away all day but that was ok. She had pals to visit. Steve, Tammy & I met Richard & Stephanie at the event. We met up with some of our other Beachbody pals & then the fun started. Ira Winkler (our upline Coach) introduced Tony to a resounding hooray. The workout was awesome! I made it through most of it. It was a challenge to be sure. Apparently I am completely lame at Kenpo & got several comments about how badly I suck. That’s ok. When there’s no more room for improvement you’re dead, I suppose. Anyhow, we all had a great day! Tammy & I went to Whole Foods & Trader Joe’s as she had never seen either market. I made some chicken for dinner, we chatted until 10:30-ish at which time I had to go say hi to my pillow. It was a wonderful birthday.

Tammy & I were up early so we could get on the road in time for me to make the trek there & back by 5:30pm. More fine conversations. Sarah had cooked up some surprise birthday scheme for Sunday since I had Tammy over Saturday night. The surprise was dinner at The Tortilla Factory! Oh boy, she couldn’t have chosen anything better for me. LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican food! She had a silly Birthday Girl crown that I wore until I went to bed. Afterwards we had 31-Flavors ice cream cake. It was one of the best birthdays I can remember.

Here’s something about me: I love growing relationships. This li’l ol’ heart of mine is so full of love. It feels warm & wonderful to give that love away. And those special people in my life who accept it so freely make my world a sweet place. One of the best gifts of this birthday has been the chance to grow & nurture some really deep relationships with people who choose to love me back. You know who you are & I want to make sure you know I love you with all my heart. Thank you to everyone who made this birthday so joyful.

Ireland! (long)

Good grief, what’s wrong with me?! Ireland was months ago (6/11/10-6/21/10 & I still haven’t posted anything on here about that. I have to say that this trip tied for #1 so far. Hawaii & Ireland. Overview: the Irish are THE MOST WONDERFUL PEOPLE ON THE PLANET! Beck & I went over to visit Mar & Beto before they left the Emerald Isle. Below is Mar’s itinerary for us ☺ These are Mary’s words:


OK, I've been majorly geeking out lately and planning everything so we can get a good taste of Ireland. I've already booked most of our accomodations too; We'll be staying at a hotel in Killarney, hostels in Dingle and Galway and a guesthouse in Belfast. I still need to figure out 2 more nights. We need to get from Galway way north so we can see the Causeway. I was thinking Co. Donegal would be good. We were there at New Years and it's amazing, there's also the highest cliffs in Europe at a place called Slieve League that I'd like to check out. I think we should go straight from Galway to Donegal (not sure how long the drive would be, probably about 4 hours is my guess) and stay up there for 2 nights. We could stop somewhere along the way (somewhere in Connemara, maybe), that would mean staying at 4 different places for 4 nights, which is kind of a lot of moving about in my opinion.

Anyway, here's the agenda as of now. What do you think?? Also I think it would be good to get a book about Ireland, so see if you can find anything good at the library or something and I'll do the same.
June 12 Mom and Becca arrive in Dublin. Our place


June 13
Get car, drive to Killarney. Via N7 to Adare and then N21 to Killarney or maybe quickest route is Dublin to Limerick and then to Killarney (4.5 hr). See national park and enjoy town. Maybe see Torc Waterfall, Ross Castle, Muckross House etc.
Booked
June 14
Drive the Dingle Peninsula (Slea Head Drive and Conor Pass drive) and stay overnight in Dingle Booked
June 15
Drive to Tarbert to get the 10:30 ferry over to Killimer, Co. CLare. Then drive up the coast to the Cliffs of Moher. Have lunch there. Afterwards, continue on N67 up the coast via The Burren and Ballyvaughan and Kinvara to Galway. Wander around city and spend the night Booked
June 16 Day trip to Aran Islands. Overnight Galway Booked
June 17 Tour Connemara and Co. Mayo, then onto Donegal.
June 18 Drive to the fishing port of Killybegs and on to Teelin to view Slieve League sea cliffs, which reach 1,972 feet, making them the highest in Europe. Continue through the majestic Glengesh Pass to Ardara. Overnight in Donegal
June 19 Drive to Giant’s Causeway then drive via Antrim coast to Belfast for the night Booked
June 20 Drive back to Dublin, return car.
June 21 Mom and Becca leave :o(


6/13/10 We headed off on our trek around the Emerald Isle, first stop Killarney. Mar fixed the itinerary & I have to tell you that if you ever need a ‘fixer’ for wherever you want to go, she’s the ONE! We taxied to Dublin Airport to pick up our rental car. (taxi drivers share their life stories, like it or not. I like it.) The guy at the rental place gave us an ‘upgrade’ to a larger vehicle since there were so many of us…he didn’t want us to be uncomfortable in the compact car I ordered. BIG MISTAKE! We got a minivan that didn’t fit on the tight Irish roads. More on that later. We headed south to Killarney & ended up at Darby O’Gill’s . Yes, of the ‘little people’! The bathroom was full of mold but the rest of the place was ok. First to Muckross Estate, Torc Waterfall, Ross Castle.

6/14/10 A leisurely morning included internet & breakfast. Off we set to Dingle Peninsula. We drove through Conor Pass which was absolutely harrowing in a minivan. I was struck by the incredibly green hills, cows, sheep, stone houses & fences, beautiful roses EVERYWHERE! Regarding the sheep…Beck said to a sheep “Get a haircut!” To which Mary replied, “You can’t heckle a sheep!” We had lunch in the car at the beach at Slea Head because it was very chilly & windy. We stayed at a charming hostel in Dingle called The Rainbow Hostel. Dinner was in town at The Diner after which we went back to the hostel & made reservations for our stay in Donegal. Hit the pillow hard ☺

6/15/10
We traveled to the Cliffs of Moher on a warm, sunny day. What a spectacularly beautiful spot! We had a picnic on the edge after we hiked up a trail next to a pasture full of cows & 1 handsome bull. Bet he was a happy guy. Beto would walk a few steps & then find something interesting to photograph, take a few more steps & repeated this all the way up the trail. It took him FOREVER to reach us. Yes, he got some fantastic shots. Gas cost just over 1euro/litre. That’s right, I said per LITRE! That evening we drove to Galway & found our hostel, The Sleepzone. It was VERY nice. All of us piled into 1 room with 2 bunks. We did a little shopping then found a neat pub, Taafes, for dinner. There was traditional music to entertain us. We thought about adding the Aran Islands to our itinerary but decided against it after talking with the guys at the hostel desk. They said there really isn’t ‘much’ there. We could use our time better.

6/16/10
This next day was spent motoring around to the beach. The sand was composed of large particles of all kinds of shells. The seaweed was colorful & beautiful Beto must have taken hundreds more pix! We had out picnic in the car because it was pretty nippy out in the wind. We decided to fix dinner in that night. We walked to the market & bought pasta, shrimp, pesto tomatoes & lunch for the next day on the road. Beck, Mar & Beto went out for another night on the town while I zonked.

6/17/10
Beto left us at this point in the journey. Ha had to get back to Dublin to work during the FIFA finals. Off we went on the road again, this time to Killybegs in County Donegal. What a cute name! We dropped our stuff off at the Fintragh House, a private residence acting as a bed & breakfast. We then trekked to Slieve League, another beautiful natural attraction. We hiked to old towers, up & down hillsides, took some beautiful pix. We had dinner at the Tara Hotel in town then back to the b&b to chill. We agreed to mover on to Derry rather than spend another day in Donegal.

6/18/10
Breakfast was delish. A traditional Irish breakfast. On the way to Derry we stopped at Glenveagh Castle & National Park . It was actually built by a wealthy guy from Philadelphia. It was a smallish castle but still beautiful. The gardens & grounds were stunning. We had a picnic lunch before heading on to Derry. Our accommodations in Derry were rather icky. The place smelled terrible & everything was dingy. The bed was terribly uncomfortable, too. Just awful. But oh well, it was home for a night. We took a walk around the old city walls, which was really cool. We had dinner at the restaurant SPICE. The food was pretty good but a bit too salty. Gosh, I sound like such a complainer all of a sudden!

6/19/10
After breakfast we took off toward Belfast. On the way we stopped at the Giant’s Causeway, which was totally awesome! We toured the Bushmill’s distillery. Very interesting tour. Mar & Beck got a sample taste of the whiskey…they hated it! None for me, thanks! Ikk. We shopped around Belfast, got food to fix dinner, watched tv (Kardashians, haha) until 11:30pm when we all crashed.

6/20/10
Bright & early is was back on the road toward Dublin. We had to skedaddle in order to get the car back to the airport on time. I was absolved of ALL damage done to the car! The agent looked it over & said, “Oh, this damage was already here when you picked it up.” Which, of course it wasn’t but thank goodness I purchased unlimited insurance. We were all pretty tired after our circumnavigation of the Emerald Isle. It was a wonderful trip. I could not have asked for better traveling companions. Those kids were delightful. I was relieved when they took the steering wheel away from me early in the journey. I AM A TERRIBLE LEFT SIDE DRIVER & I don’t ever want to have to do it again!

6/21/10
Beck & I tearfully packed up & said our goodbyes, hopped in a cab & got to Dublin Airport in plenty of time. There was a snafu at Newark Airport but we got home safe & sound. Overall impressions/ The Irish people are the most friendly, helpful, delightful set of people I have ever encountered. I’d go back in a heartbeat. I owe so many thanks to Mary for her exemplary planning & research that made the trip pretty much seamless. The itinerary gave us a chance to see many of the highlights Ireland has to offer. And thanks also to Beto for putting up with me & Beck for so many ‘cozy’ days at their place & out on the road. I could be the luckiest Mom on the planet. Yes, I am ☺

Now, to plan the next journey.

New Venture. Join me?

These previous posts are from my Team Beach Body website: www.beachbodycoach.com/Maura5
Also check out www.shakeology.com/Maura5
I’m on a new path ☺

1/2 Way To 30 Days!
November 11, 2010 11:04 AM

Good morning!? Yes, it is. A day of celebration for me here at the homestead. I'm 1/2 way to my first 30 days with Beach Body! I've met with my coach & we're coming up with some exciting ideas to grow our biz. Stay tuned. (I'm supposed to be doing my homework now but words keep popping into my head, begging to be let out to jump onto the page) I connected with my upline upline coach Dave Hunt who seems to think my blog posts are spunky (I like that :-) & several other BBers I met at the Craig Holiday event, referrrals from Richard & random requests. All good people.
My last blog entry was about the new hole in my belt. That was so significant that I've been speechless since then. (shut up, everyone who knows me :-/) There are many postings by other BBers saying, "If I can do it, you can too!" It's true. The neatest thing about BBers is that they're all so friendly, encouraging & accepting. If you decide to join us here in this wonderful enterprise, you'll find countless other people just like you who are looking to improve their time here on this lovely planet. With better nutrition, fitness, wellness & energy you'll find that your days are much more pleasant than when you slogged through your days waiting to greet your pillow. Generally it's an hour or less out of your life everyday that gives you exponential benefits. If you can't keep up with the workout hosts, no biggie...they'll inspire you to do WHAT YOU CAN DO & keep coming back to try harder next time. You can do it! And you'll be happy you did. We BBers are all ages, shapes, sizes but what we ALL share is a desire to make life better physically, mentally & financially for those we care about.
Ok, going to do my homework now..
By Maura5

Addendum
November 9, 2010 7:03 PM
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Belt:
It's on the last hole. Thank goodness I have a leather punch to add another. I'm cursed with a body that gains & loses weight proportionately. Result, few can tell there's been a change. Well, I see my body every hour I'm awake so I can see results. That's what really matters here. That & helping others realize those changes in themselves. On that note, I need to buckle down...get it?...on my business.
By Maura5

So...day 13!
November 9, 2010 5:50 PM
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Last night I heard Craig Holiday 's presentation to the NOVA contingent. Thanks to Chris Batu. And thanks to my coach Richard Harrison who steered me to this event. What came through mostly for me was not Craig's successes with his various biz associations but his passion for helping others. I can relate. So me.
Back to MO's day 13. Still on track fitness-wise. Biz-wise I'm still working. Reaching out...
Working on getting my push-ups lower. Oh man, that's difficult. Hurts.
Tomorrow is 2 weeks...Nobody's more thrilled than I!
By Maura5

Ok! Ok!
November 5, 2010 5:46 PM
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Putting pix up this weekend. I've been crushed under the pressure to do so...
By Maura5

Friday Fixin's
November 5, 2010 1:33 PM
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Nutrition has become an issue for me now more than ever before except when I was pregnant. That pot of potato leek soup I made on Wednesday became potato leek turkey bacon soup. I was feeling low on protein despite enjoying Shakeology most days. This morning's Burn Intervals taxed me more than I liked. My body was craving protein. After a bowl of that tummy-tickling soup I feel great again. So what am I going to do with this renewed sense of wellness? Work on biz cards & those stickers I mentioned yesterday, but not until I do soome yardwork on this beautiful Fall day. If you're looking for a fun way to spend a spare hour (unless you're already in Super Gym), come on by! I have an extra rake & broom. You can use the broom I don't ride on ;-)
By Maura5
1 Comments

Alrighty Then
November 4, 2010 4:32 PM
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So, here I am at day ? I've lost track of time and that's usually a good thing for me. You guys go ahead & calculate my numbers if you want. This AM at TNT the news was very good. Since our last weigh-in/body fat check 6 weeks ago I've lost 6 lbs & 1% body fat! I attribute 3 lbs at least to ChaLean & Shakeology. The body fat loss I think is prob 50/50 TNT & Beach Body. My TNT Coach Chris works me so hard cuz he knows I want it. Today was a day of increased weights & I could. If I can, you can. Besides it's FUN!

My next thing is to get biz cards to pass out at any moment's notice & stickers to attach to those handy Shakeology pouches as my main marketing tool. (This morning was a lifesaver green shake w/pineapple tidbits. If I hadn't done that I woulda died. At least it felt that way) I haven't had any 'wow' moments yet as far as friends/colleagues noticing any difference. My problem is that I gain/lose weight proportionately so the changes aren't obvious. A blessing to some extent but eventually, not so much. Gotta get ripped like my cuz Evodna beachbodycoach.com/espringer
Where to go from here? Well, I'm kinda hungry so I'll be going to the kitchen. Recently got an email from Richard's upline Dave Hunt. NEAT! Thanks Dave!
Ok, going to live the rest of my day fully present. Try it, you might like it :-)
By Maura5

The Journey Has Begun
October 28, 2010 12:16 PM

So, this is Day 3 already! C'mon, don't laugh! I know there are still 27 days left in my first transformation month but heck, I need to encourage myself because who can do that better than moi? I decided to start out with ChaLean partly because it seemed geared more toward women than P90X. Don't know if that's intentional. Anyhow, the 5 workouts I've completed in these first 3 days are just perfect for me. I'm a bit clumsy when the movements switch really fast. Practice practice practice, eh? Yesterday especially, I cracked myself up big time when arms & legs were supposed to be doing something 'abnormal'. <------at least for me at this stage. One thing I really like about this program is that Chalene gives tips for neophytes, not just technique-wise but how much weight to use, correct body mechanics, tips to avoid injury & the like. I already know a lot of stuff of that nature since I've been in a weight-training class at the Y for 5 years but it's helpful to have those reminders. I have yet to take measurements & take pix. Am I embarrassed? Yes, to do them & that I haven't done them. Maybe tomorrow...

Until then, I'm off to the rest of this beautiful day feeling strong, healthy & FIT. Have a good one y'all!
By Maura5
1 Comments

RichardHarrison I'm liking this. Maybe you could ghost my blog for me? And get those pics done girl! Don't think about what they look like now; think about what they'r going to look like in 30-60-90 days. Ninety days from now you're going to be pleased about how "embarrassing" those Day One pics were.

Posted on 10/29/10 10:23 PM.

Sad Times

Death has always been a difficult reality for me. Yeh, I know everyone gets there themselves one day & we all grieve for those who go before us but I’ve not yet figured out how to process all that. Today was the memorial service for my neighbor/fellow HOA Board member, friend/ally/enemy/stupid little brother-type guy who found his own way to escape this crazy thing we call life. This prompted my facebook status, “Remember to say 'I love you'. Especially to people who don't think they need to hear it from you...again.” I think most of us need to know we’re special in some way to someone(s) & that makes all the difference sometimes. Most days go by & you’re just some schmuck who has to go here or there for this or that & little things don’t matter. But during those times when little things really DO matter, it’s good to know someone cares & that the person who shows that caring gives a good god damn about you. I must admit that I’ve not followed through on some of those times for other people. Still figuring out how. Until now I hadn’t really thought I had any regrets (well, not big ones). This time around I have one, BIG TIME. Not claiming anything egotistical here by saying anything I might have done or said would have changed anything for this fella, but the fact that I didn’t follow through on showing that I gave a good god damn bothers me. In retrospect, he was my polar opposite. Maybe that’s why this is so difficult. Anyhow, he’ll not get a second chance in this lifetime & I will. Who knows where he’ll show up next? Hope it’s somewhere near me. Gonna punch him in the face.

 

Glass breaking

Breaking Glass:
So, I have some ‘ability’ that allows me to break glass randomly and make structures release. Some of my family members have been witness to the result of this. Recently my right side fireplace door glass burst while I was sitting at my laptop in the dining area. The glass just broke & fell to the floor in front of the door. Nobody was in danger or hurt. This is the usual scenario. Past breakages were never a threat to anyone either. The glass objects just sort of imploded. In the cases of structural release, a shelf in my cupboards just gave way & all the contents came flowing down upon me. Oddly, nothing broke. There are other people to whom this also happens but so far in all of my searching, there’s no explanation. This recent glass-breaking incident happened 10/8/10 just a day after I’d visited a residence previously inhabited by my Reid relatives. From now on, I’ll note my circumstances. Anyhow, I’m kinda glad I have some weird thing going on here. Clearly.

Negativity

Lately I am surrounded by negativity & need to regroup somehow. Don’t do this, don’t do that. This new Y stuff sucks, this new stuff isn’t good enough. Don’t redo the bathrooms & replace the plastic tub/shower enclosures with real ones. Don’t open up a room into another. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Gaaaahhhhhh! Somehow I retain optimism for life. In won’t be brought down.

8/15/10 An interjection several months hence:

In between the Italian job & now there was a wonderful trip to Ireland with Beck to visit Mar & Beto. And a trek up Half Dome in Yosemite. More on those next. Right now I want to discuss the morning I had today. I actually dressed like a girl & went to church. Both are aberrations to my usual behavior. First of all, my preferred outfit is jeans/cargo shorts & a t-shirt. I own a few dresses & skirts (mostly casual ones) but am not all that comfortable in them. Last week Mar & I went shopping & I bought the shirt & skirt I wore today. Both are really pretty although I think the shirt is a little big for me. I hope I can shrink it next time I wash it. That has been a laundry specialty of mine. Ask anyone in my family. Anyhow, I wore a girl outfit to church. And I’m ok with that. That’s the next odd thing. I went to church & I don’t believe in “god”. I went to First & Franklin Presbyterian Church in Balto where the menfolk of my Mom’s family worshipped eons ago. During the Summer, services are held in the Reid Chapel. That chapel was funded by my ancestor Andrew Reid back in the 1800’s. Yep, I think that’s pretty cool. I try to keep the dang place coated with fresh paint with my donations. Today it looked great! There was a guest pastor this AM, the Rev Jane Richardson Bearden who reminded us to live our lives as Jesus lived his…in love, service & acceptance. Those who choose to live their lives in pursuit of power, money, self-interest & self-aggrandizement are not living lives that benefit humanity. Hello people, it’s NOT all about you.

Weekend in Rome

Saturday 4/10/10
On this day we trained back to Rome in the morning just to have a bit of time to chill before we flew home. I thought our paid room 3/31-4/2 was nice…yes, it was & the view was spectacular over the Porta Princiana toward the Borghese Gardens . BUT, the room 4/10 & 11 was better…on points. I suppose Marriott might have given us a ‘lesser’ room since it wasn’t paid but I have to say the room was so charming & way more comfy than the previous room. It was big & bright with 2 large windows overlooking the street. The bathroom was enormous. I wish I’d taken pictures. Once we were settled in we went to Santa Maria di Maggiore on Tom’s strong suggestion. Oh my goodness…such a beautiful church. It was the former papal congregation before the move to The Vatican. I thought we’d seen many beautiful churches already but this one was even grander. Bernini, that amazing sculptor is buried there. In a niche under the altar there is housed the Sacra Culla containing boards ostensibly from Jesus’ cradle. A sculpture of Pope Pius X kneeling in front of the niche is quite moving. After touring the church we took a walk to the Piazza del Umberto Emmanuel, then went back to the hotel area, grabbed some sandwiches & had a picnic is the Borghese Gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day so lots of people were out & about. Lots & lots of families with little kids. They were fun to watch. We went back to the hotel & caught up on emails, work, downloading photos, that sort of thing. Sleep came easily.
Sunday 4/11/10
We got up good & early to get to Saint Peter’s Basilica before the hoards descended. Good thing, too. We took the stairs up to the dome first thing. Wow, what a view! Seeing the gardens from above was especially delightful. We toured the basilica with a sense of amazement. The sculptures, architecture, marble columns, mosaics, everything was absolutely gorgeous. It was inspiring to see the works of mere mortals surrounding us. There were several dead popes in glass cases which was kind of creepy but interesting. We witnessed the pomp of Mass with the processions, incense, music, the whole nine yards. It’s quite a production. Of course The Pieta is there also. Now, that is breathtaking. Both of us were drawn in by the beauty, grace & expressiveness of the faces. We took pictures but they can’t in any way capture the sense of the sculpture. You have to see it in real life. We just stood there staring at it for a long time. Our visit to St. Peter’s took most of the day & that’s all the touring we did. It was a wonderful ending to our Italian holiday. For dinner we went back to our favorite café, San Marco. We’ll always remember that lovely place.
We spent the rest of the evening packing, organizing photos, talking, Steve did a little work.

Overall, we agree that the trip was a resounding success. There were a few sights we missed but feel satisfied that we saw most of the ‘must-sees’ in the 3 cities we visited. We’d definitely recommend taking the First Class train & be ready to make a run for it when it arrives at the station as they don’t tarry there long. And if you miss your train, you’re SOL. Beware of gypsies who offer to help you with your luggage. Most Italians are helpful but not very patient. (maybe it was just us) Italian men will sooner help a woman than a man, so guys, take a girl with you! At least try the espresso. You’ll be made fun of for ordering Americano coffee…good natured ribbing, of course. But, Italians don’t really understand how we can drink that ‘black water’! Enjoy as much real Italian food as you can. And definitely eat gelato at every opportunity. Traveling to outlying small towns is a lot of fun. Next time we’ll do more. Also, you MUST see Herculaneum & Pompeii. It’s worth the time & hassle of using the Circumvesuviana. If I think of anything else, I’ll be back to add it. Now, it’s on to the next journey…

Napoli field trip

Sorrento Day 4 Fri 4/9/10
This day bright & early we shuttled to town to catch the Circumvesuviana to Naples to visit the National Archeological Museum where I’d read that many of the prized frescoes & artifacts from Herculaneum & Pompeii are stored. We bought tickets & tried to get through the turnstile at the station only to have our tickets spit back out at us. Steve went back to the window where the guy told him the tickets wouldn’t work until 9:30am. Ok, that was just a few minutes away but in the meantime we watched many nationalities of tourists confused about the same situation. We imparted our 9:30am wisdom to our fellow travelers & all of us just got out of the way of the natives while looking like dumb tourists, which we were. 9:30am came & the floodgates opened for all of us neophytes. Along the journey we connected with 2 college students heading to Pompeii. We urged them to go to Herculaneum in addition to Pompeii. It was a pleasant chat all the way to their stop asking all the usual fellow English-speaking traveler Q’s..Where are you from? What are you doing here? How long are you here? What have you seen…blah,blah,blah? It was fun. They were roomies in London…one from Minnesota & the other from Toronto doing the semester abroad thing.

I had read a TripAdvisor review of the museum, which said that it’s only a 10 minute walk from the station to the museum. No prob I said! Steve had been forewarned that it’s a dangerous place, that Napoli station, & one shouldn’t linger long near there. So he checked his trusty iPhone for our coordinates & found out we needed to take the metro to the Cavour station in order for it to be a 10 minute walk to the museum. Ok, when in Italy you cannot get metro tickets in the train/metro station. You have to find a Tabacchi recognized by a big blue sign with a white T on it to buy your dang ticket. Done. We were on our way! Reminder: we’d taken the 9am shuttle from our hotel to get to town/the Sorrento Circumvesuviana station to catch the 9:37am train to Naples…by the time we got off the metro at the museum stop it was 12:15pm. Man, that’s A LOT of overhead! We were thinking this place better be spectacular! And, it was, in a way. Read on.

There were splendid displays of frescoes, art, sculptures, household items (some melted glass vessels, pans for cooking 24 eggs at a time, lots of stuff you see now from Calphalon & their competitors), surgical & dental instruments that eerily resemble today’s instruments, a cool model of Pompeii made of cork (in the 1920’s maybe? I may need to check my facts on this), charred remains of foodstuffs, explanation of where pine nuts come from, add’l sculptures unrelated to Pompeii & Herculaneum but equally awesome. (Hercules…mmmmmm) Unfortunately, the Etruscan exhibit was closed due to some needed restoration or something. Tom told me that exhibit is a ‘must-see’. Sucks to be me.

We trained back & on our way through the streets of Sorrento who did we see? Those college girl travelers we encountered on the way north to Napoli. They had seen Pompeii & were as wowed as we were. Small world, eh? Anyhow, I had in my mind that I needed some cookies in order to make it through the night, as the hotel was barren. I’d seen a market somewhere along our various walks through Sorrento & magically found it again. We bought bread, cheese, cookies, bananas & a boatload of chocolate bars to bring back to our fam & friends. We dipped in to a café & bought some calzones for dinner on the balcony. Mine was rappini & cheese. Steve’s was prosciutto & cheese. His def won that contest. It was ok…I had cookies! We had some time to kill before the shuttle pickup so we took a walk to Marina Piccola which is actually the big marina where all the ferries to & from Capri & Naples, etc. come & go. Marina Grande is teeny tiny & is used by fishing boats. I need to figure out how to post more pix on here. We shuttled back up to the hotel & ate our calzones on the balcony as the sun went down. I took a gazillion pix, one of which might be to the left. We caught up on emails & crashed. A lovely day.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Sorrento: Day 3 4/8/10 Thu…
What an awesome day this was! We took the Circumvesuviana commuter train to Herculaneum & Pompeii. I strongly recommend they be seen in that order. Herculaneum was spared the destruction Pompeii suffered due to the nature of the pyroclastic rock that rained down upon the town, encasing it in a solid mass ~16 meters high, preserving organic artifacts such as fabrics, plants, furniture & structural parts of wooden building materials & even a boat recovered from the ancient marina. Many of the frescoes & household articles were intact when the site was ‘discovered’ in the 1730’s. The maps & info booklets for both sites were superb. I kept them. It took several hours to see all of Herculaneum even though it’s considerably smaller in area than Pompeii. It was easy to imagine the beauty & opulence of life there. After reading nearly all the signs, as is my compulsion, & seeing everything at Herculaneum we traveled south to Pompeii. It’s a vast and breathtaking site. You walk through the gate & a completely different feeling comes over you. As far as your eye can see there are ruins of people’s lives, livelihoods, hopes, dreams, ambitions. Reading about the owners of the houses & business you visit makes it all come to life. There was even a sort of YMCA (near & dear to my heart) next to the stadium. We spent several hours there in nonstop awe. Location #39 is the brothel with frescoes on the walls depicting the various ‘menu options’. It was arguably THE most popular attraction at Pompeii. The other buildings could be accessed from at least two doorways but the brothel was in one out door, out the other…with a line at the entrance. It was fun. A pic of the ‘bathroom’ is posted. It was the only toilet in the whole place…oddly. The details of both of these amazing (in the truest meaning of the word) are still swimming in my mind. You won’t ‘get it’ until you go there. And you must!

We trained back to Sorrento & started looking for a place for dinner. We’d gotten in the habit of having a hearty breakfast & then going all day without food until dinner. Ok, so the next part of the story is that Steve & I missed the 6pm hotel shuttle but agreed to hoof it back up the trail that kept pedestrians off the streets (which are very dangerous unless you’re in a shuttle bus or taxi being driven by an Italian) after dinner in town rather than have dinner at the hotel, which would have been waaaay too expensive & not any better than dinner we could find in town. We found dinner at Piazza Tasso at a tourist restaurant. It was actually quite good. I had a mixed greens salad with shrimp. Steve had bruschetta & penne with mushrooms & proscuitto. So after dinner we headed for the trail. Everything was great until we missed the turnoff for the dang trail. We ended walking all the way back up the cliff on that dangerous road to our hotel. All the while, Steve’s asking me if this all looks familiar (he thought we might have missed something) & here I am saying, “Yes this is the right way! I’ve seen all these hotels & landmarks before! We’re going the right way!” Well, of course I’d seen all those things before…from the taxi & shuttle bus! Poor Steve…he started making a list of reasons why it’s so great (haha, NOT) to vacation with me. 1) A walk up a sheer cliff on a dangerous road after a filling dinner 2) Choking smoke rising up the cliff from burning trash 2) Walking along a dangerous cliff road with no shoulder to speak of 3) All kinds of interesting trash to dodge on the side of the dangerous cliff road…in the non-existent shoulder 4) Italian drivers driving at breakneck speeds on a dangerous road with no shoulder to speak of filled with trash, mere inches away from his shoulder 5) An excited wife pointing out various agricultural crops growing wildly beside the dangerous, trash-strewn cliff road with no shoulder to speak of while crazy Italian drivers pass within mere inches from his shoulder. C’mon…there were random lemon trees, fennel plants, artichokes & onions right there growing along the side of that dangerous road. He just didn’t get it.

Siren Song

Sorrento: Day 2 4/7/10

On this day we were up early for a quick breakfast at 7am before being picked up by a tour bus to take us along the Amalfi Coast. Our driver’s nickname was Casanova, what else? Our guide was Bene, a crack up, what else? His tour was given in French & English. His English was very amusing! We set out up into the hills for 1.5 hours until we reached a rest stop-aka: tourist trap. Bene pointed out some primitive houses that were carved out of the side of the cliff that the Italians call Trogolydite houses. We drove by Positano & viewed it from the road. Then it was on to Amalfi where we disembarked for a short walking tour around the town after which we boarded a boat for a tour of the Amalfi coastline. It was such fun! It was kind of like a Hollywood stars’ homes tour mixed in with a history lesson. Bene pointed out homes owned or rented by celebrities back in the day. Heck, he could have told us anything for all I know. But, it was fun to imagine the heyday of the 50’s & 60’s when this area was a big playground for celebrities of my mother’s era. After the boat ride we had some free time to wander & shop for fun touristy stuff. Also grabbed a couple calzones to bring back for dinner on the balcony.
Next stop, Ravello. Throughout the drive, the bus pulled over so we could get better views of the spectacular scenery. The sheer cliffs diving down to the beautiful, azure sea are breathtaking. What’s more breathtaking is watching the poetry in motion as these buses wend their way down the coast on a very narrow road filled with cars, motor scooters & people. It’s just amazing how it all works.

At Ravello we got another little tour as we walked up the cliff to Ristorante Benadies where we all had lunch. The scoop is that Bill & Hilary stole the chef de cuisine for their very own. It was a lovely place in a hotel that apparently does a brisk business with the bus tour companies. Can you spell kickback?! After lunch Steve & I took a walk around the back streets to get a more relaxed feel of the town away from the tourist area. The terraced gardens and orchards of lemon & olive trees were impressive. The terraces are dug out of the face of the cliffs & tended the same as gardens everywhere. These go far up onto the sides of the cliffs. They’re quite beautiful. We look many pictures but of course few of them give justice to the beauty of the place. They’ll remain in the iPhoto album to be viewed nostalgically over the coming years.

The trip back was nearly as spectacular as the ride out. We traveled through the Milky Mountains (Monti Lattari) past tiny towns with stone bridges spanning deep ravines & a fjord. The engineering feats performed out of necessity make me marvel at human ingenuity. All the while, Bene was telling us so many interesting tidbits that my head was swimming in facts. By the time we returned to the hotel it was just after 5:30pm. It was 10 hours of nonstop enjoyment. We chilled, read email, watched the sunset, I stayed up late to read “The Roman Way” by Edith Hamilton & then collapsed.

Maura McKnight…Noooo Reservations

The train trip from Florence to Naples/Sorrento was supposed to be used to write the Florence leg of the blog but we were seated across from a thoroughly entertaining American Mom who was finishing a European journey at the end of her son’s last semester of Law school. She & I ended up talking the whole way to Rome, their terminus. Steve said we could have been sisters. Not sure if that was a compliment? We got here to the Grand Grand Hotel Aminta (www.aminta.it) at ~2pm. It’s located 2.5 miles up in the mountains above Sorrento, a splendid location. Checking in was a snafu. The front desk couldn’t find any record that I’d reserved the room for 4 nights. Well, it was because I hadn’t booked the room. Maura McKnight had No Reservations. I am not a celebrity chef with a camera crew so I had no clout whatsoever. We forwarded the email exchanges from 2/17/10 to present (from the iPhone…love that gadget!) so they would have something to look up. Ah, their emails confirmed availability of the room I requested but hadn’t confirmed that I actually could have it. Steve said it’s like asking, “Have you the time?” & being told, “I’m happy to inform you that the time is available”, & then walking away. I thought he was hilarious! In the end, the room was ours, including balcony w/sunset, Mediterranean Sea & Mt. Vesuvious views ☺ After settling in, we hoofed it down to the town of Sorrento, grabbed a bite, walked around a few hours to get the lay of the land, then took the shuttle back up the hill in time for dinner, which was yummy. Baby squid soup with fennel for me, swordfish & potatoes for Steve. Blog update, pix posted, collapsed.

ALL ART HAS BEEN CONTEMPORARY

Florence (Firenze) 4/3-4/6 2010

This is a neon sign on the Arno River side of the Uffizi Museum in Florence. We arrived at Hotel David from Rome at ~11am on Saturday 4/3/10. We got such a warm welcome! After dropping off our luggage we hoofed it to Florence city center to have a look see. What a charming city. All of the major historic sites are within walking distance of each other making the city easy to negotiate. Given the time constraint of being there over the Easter weekend we had to pack in as much sightseeing as possible. It was a thrill to see & then walk over Ponte Vecchio. As you know, the bridge is lined with gold shops. The storefronts are beautiful & chock full of every style of gold jewelry you can think of. Our first stop was to secure tickets for the Uffizi. The line to get in Saturday was very long & disheartening. Then we spied a separate line for Sunday timed tickets. We hopped right in that one & had tickets in hand for 10:30am in 15 minutes. Passing by the Loggia of Lanzi at Piazze Della Signioria we were struck by the dozens of beautiful sculptures just sitting there. David is everywhere in Florence. Even though we didn’t get to the Accademie Museum to see the original David, there are enough copies around the city that it ended up being ok. Well, except we didn’t see Michaelangelo’s cool unfinished sculptures. Maybe next time. We also missed out on the Medici Chapel but when you read on you’ll see that we missed precious little else in Florence.

There was hardly a line at the Palazzo Vecchio, which I just don’t understand. That place is a must-see. The architecture is beautiful, the rooms are filled with amazing sculptures, artwork & furnishings with inlaid stone forming glorious landscapes & pictures of various birds & animals, the ceilings & walls are painted & ornate & the views from the upper floors are gorgeous. From there we went to the Baptistry to see the famous copy of the Ghilberti doors. They’re much more impressive in person than any picture can portray. We went inside & saw they elaborate gold mosaic ceiling & more beautiful artwork. There was a mural depicting horrendous scenes of Hell. I don’t want to go there.

We tried to get into the Duomo after that but it was closed so we walked on toward Santa Croce. Along the way we stopped to go through the market at Piazza della Repubblica. There were vendors all around the square selling all kinds of foodstuffs. Meat, cheese, honey, olive oil, bread, jellies, wine, much more. There is a pretty merry-go-round in the square decorated with more nice pictures…of bare-breasted ladies. Steve laughed & commented that it could only be in Italy where that would be seen on a kids' ride! Ok, so on to Santa Croce. This is another absolutely gorgeous church. There are more beautiful painted walls, tile on the beams of the basilica, tombs in the niches & on the floor of people you’ve learned about long ago such as Michaelangelo (yes, THE Michaelangelo), Galileo, Dante, Rossini & Marconi. We stopped at a restaurant at one of the Piazzas for a quick lunch. I had a salad & Steve had a pizza. They were ok but not great. The food filled a hole. A lovely walk back to the hotel for heavy snacks & juice ended our first day in Florence. The Hotel David (www.davidhotel.it) was a sweet find on TripAdvisor. It’s an 18th century home that was converted to a hotel some time ago. It’s furnished with antiques & the walls have lovely paintings of little critters & scenes of Florence on them. Very charming. I’ll save the remainder of my review for TripAdvisor. I culled photos, read email & collapsed.

Day 2 (4/4/10)in Florence began with beautiful sunshine & a delicious breakfast courtesy of the hotel. It was yet another sumptuous feast of Italian breads, cakes, eggs, bacon, cereals, yogurt, of course café Americano, fruit, cheese, & the most delicious ham I ever tasted. Strolling over the Ponte Vecchio with a smaller crowd allowed some fun window shopping along the gold stores. Not being much of a jewelry type I saved Steve thousands of dollars, I’m sure. We had an appointment at the Uffizi at 10:30am. It was Easter Sunday but thankfully some of the sights that are usually closed on Sundays were open regardless. The Uffizi (www.uffizi.com) is organized by dates of the items. The museum was begun in 1581 by one of the Medicis. They acquired lots & lots of the goodies the world had to offer. As a matter of fact, their collection is still growing due to active acquisition personnel. There were ancient sculptures dating back to the 3rd century BC right in arm’s reach. You can look into the eyes of these pieces of marble & see the past. It was rather romantic. The wow factor in this place is incredible! Since it’s organized in a logical fashion it was easy to relax & enjoy each successive room without having to regroup & figure out what came next. That may sound really stupid but if you think logically, it works well. A guide book wasn’t necessary but might have been helpful. It took ~3 hours to see ‘everything’…as if we could. Botticelli’s mentor Fra Filippo Lippi’s work is gorgeous. There were several works that I had to pull myself away from. After his room came Botticelli’s room. There were 3 or 4 works that I thought were even more brilliant than Primavera & The Birth of Venus. Those 2 rooms might have been my favorites. There’s a lovely terrace on the top floor that’s great for grabbing a snack & drink as well as snap pictures of the city below. Even though we had already seen a gazillion beautiful paintings, sculptures, ceilings, furnishings, the Uffizi dazzled both of us. You MUST go there!

Later that evening we took a walk to find someplace for dinner but only found one place open. Lunch was ample so we ended up just having a snack & went to Caffe Michaelangelo just around the corner from the hotel for gelato. The place is mainly a bar but the gelato was pretty good.

Day 3 (4/5/10)
After another delish breakfast we strolled to the Duomo. We confirmed the day before that it would be open Monday…again not usual but given the crowds over the Easter holiday someone must have taken pity on the tourists. The wait was only 45 minutes. And man, was it ever worth it! The climb up was thrilling. About 1/3 up there’s a room that looks like an attic for storing friezes, various sculptures of priests & popes and some busts of who knows who. It was as if they had extra stuff they needed to store somewhere. The stairway shrinks the higher up you go to the point that we could go only single-file. The guards had 2-ways to regulate traffic. There are 2 levels that have balconies inside the church for viewing the art on the ceiling. There’s a mural depicting heaven, purgatory, life & hell that can be seen up close. The depiction of hell on the Duomo was the most terrifying scene. I can’t even describe it to you because it’s more disgusting than I can handle. Suffice it to say I REALLY REALLY REALLY don’t want to go there. Once the top is reached you are at the highest observation point in Florence. The view is amazing! The whole city spreads out below in all its red-tiled glory. When it was our turn to descend the guards stopped ascending traffic to let us by. It was a tight squeeze in there. Thankfully everyone was pleasant about the big squeeze & were very polite.

The afternoon led us up to a charming town north of Florence called Fiesole. We took an enjoyable bus trip up that wound through the streets of Florence & on up into the hills. Lunch was adequate but filling. Steve had pizza (no, really?!) & I had a bresaeola sandwich. we walked all around the town looking for interesting sights. We came upon the Etruscan wall that surrounded the village & an Etruscan tomb. See pic of me in the sidebar. We saw as much of the town as we wanted to in a couple hours. Home sweet home to the Hotel David to chill a bit in our room & grab a snack. Later, a pleasant walk along the Arno River led us back to Ponte Vecchio for gelato. It was by far the least tasty of all the gelato we’d had so far but not-so-good gelato is better than no gelato ;-/ Sleep came easily. We had to get up & out early to make our train to Sorrento the next morning…after another delicious breakfast, of course! Florence is so very different from Rome. It’s much quieter although traffic noise & honking horns remain a constant in Italy. Italian drivers are absolutely nuts. Somehow they don’t crash into each other or kill pedestrians. It’s no wonder that Italians win all kinds of road races.

Well, this is it for the Florence leg. More to come from Sorrento…

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your…melatonin. This is a long one...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your…melatonin.

These next few entries are being produced in Italy! We left Tuesday evening, 3/30/10. Arrived at Leonardo Da Vinci/Fumicino Airport at 8:15am Rome time. The cab ride to the hotel was really neat because we got to see the countryside & environs on our way into town. The folks at the hotel were kind enough to allow us to check in early. After settling in to the room we ventured out to enjoy the rest of out first day in Rome. We walked for hours & experienced the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (more on that later), Piazza Colonna, Piazza Navona & a lovely walk back to the hotel. I looked through the itinerary & the list of restaurant recommendations from Ken when I suddenly crashed. It was close to 4pm & I simply could not stay conscious any longer. Steve wasn’t far behind me. It was a couple hours later when we finally awoke & got hungry. We hadn’t eaten all day…odd for us. The concierge suggested a small restaurant 4 blocks away that allowed jeans. Coffee was a necessity. We strolled down Via Veneto & found a café. The proprietor laughed at us for asking for coffee. He said, “You mean black water?” I’d heard that expression from Tom so I just laughed & admitted to being American. We joked around a bit before he agreed to make us some coffee. He said next time I need to order marrocchino…will do. After coffee we strolled to the restaurant San Marco on Via Sardegna. It’s a ‘local’ place so we were the only Americans there for most of the dine. A single American dude came in later. The place was lively with families & groups of people having a good time. We both ordered salads which turned out to be so good that Steve couldn’t stop raving about it. They were simple greens with tomato & mushrooms but they were so fresh. Balsamic vinegar & olive oil was the simple dressing. Superb. Probably the best green salad either of us ever ate. The bread was delicious too. For dinner I had buccatini d’amatriciana. Steve ordered a mushroom, prosciutto & cheese pizza. Both dinners were delicious. There was no room for dessert. A leisurely walk back to the hotel, some BBC news, a melatonin tablet a close encounter with a pillow ended the day. Ken suggested the melatonin to aid jet lag. What a fabulous idea.

Day Two in Rome: April Fool’s Day! Rabbit rabbit everyone! Did you see Google’s home page? What a bunch of hooligans…

Thank goodness for the melatonin. Sleep came easily. Neither of us budged all night. It turns out a whole tablet was too much for me. Steve had to ‘kick the bed’ to get me up at 7am. We had breakfast in the top floor terrace dining room. A delightful buffet of American & Italian offerings awaited us. Here’s a partial list:
Croissants, fruit bread, hot cross buns, several more types of bread, raspberry torte, dry cereals, yogurt, mini pancakes & waffles, omelet, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, lox, cream cheese, melons, kiwi fruit, pineapple, blood oranges, stewed prunes & apricots, mixed vegetables (that was odd but oh well), fries (odd as well), 3 kinds of cheese wedges, a tray of condiments-corn, black & green olives, cornichons, cioppilini, giardiniera-fruit juices, still & sparkling water, Coke, Coke ‘light’, Sprite, several types of fruit juices, ‘American’ coffee, Champagne. It was so over the top! After breakfast it was a dash through the shower because we had a looooong day ahead. I had a hard time getting started because of the overdose of melatonin but finally we were on the street around 10:30am. We took the metro from Piazza Barberini to Termini then on to Colosseo. You come out of the station & right there is the Colosseum. Oh my, that’s a moment I shall never forget. I felt the same way when I turned to corner to find the Pantheon right before my eyes. After all of those years of coming home from school only to be met by my dear mother & her after-school schooling I really appreciated her efforts to make sure we all knew our history-all the way back to the ancient Greeks & Romans. Seriously, to see those structures ‘in real life’ was thrilling! Anyhow, hours later we went to Palatine Hill for a couple more hours, then down to the Forum & up to Capitoline Hill. After a quick lunch below the Vittorio Emanuele Monument we went back up the hill to the Capitoline Museum. Several hours & many hundreds of busts, statues & paintings later, we decided we’d had enough. The walk up Via Veneto was so taxing (not really) we decided to stop for coffee & gelato. Yes, we got guff for ordering ‘American’ coffee again. I had chocolate chip & chocolate orange & Steve had chocolate chip & lemon cream. Heaven in a dish. Good god that stuff is yummy! Back to the hotel, download a couple hundred pix, label them, Steve did some work, I worked on this entry. We weren’t hungry for a whole dinner so we scarfed down a bag of trail mix (TJ’s of course), the rest of my cheetos (Beck will never believe that they lasted that long, but it’s true) & I gobbled some chocolates from my pillow. Well, I ate Steve’s, too. Couldn’t help it. It’s 11pm but I’m going to look at email to see what y’all are up to back at the ranch. After that it’s ½ of a melatonin & a good snooze. Chat again in a day or so.

Day Three in Rome: April 2nd
Well, ½ a melatonin tablet was still too much. What is wrong with me? Oh well, I eventually awoke enough to crawl upstairs for another delicious breakfast. Then it was off to the Galleria Borghese at our appointed time. Thanks to Barbara we added that to our ‘must see’ list. It was spectacular. The ceilings & doors are all painted &/or embellished…every room is different. Fabulous sculptures, busts, beautiful paintings & furnishings were crammed in everywhere. There were several by Bernini that were absolutely breathtaking. Seeing them nearly brought tears to me eyes. I'd never before seen such beauty find its way out of a rock. What was so interesting is that some of the windows were opened & fresh air poured in making it seem as if you were in someone’s home without regard to the potential damage to the artwork. It was delightful. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed in the galleries so memories will have to suffice.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Vatican Museum with a quick jaunt to St. Peter’s Square. Since this was our last day in Rome on this leg of the journey, we didn’t spend time in line to get into the Basilica. We’ll do that on Saturday 4/10/10 when we return to Rome. The Vatican Museum was unbelievable! It was like going into a hoarder’s house, though a hoarder with very good taste & lots of money! We scurried through the main exhibit halls to get to the Sistine Chapel first since that was the highlight of the visit. Maybe you can imagine the wonder of seeing this magnificent place for the first time. Maybe you’ve felt it, too. No photograph can capture the grandeur or splendor of the room. You can look at books of the Chapel all your life thinking yeh, yeh that’s really beautiful but when you lay your own eyes on it, you simply can’t believe it. There are many, many decorated ceilings in Italy, it’s true, but seeing this one is something really special. This is another memory of a lifetime. I have been wondering if the people who live in Italy’s magnificent cities have a ho-hum attitude about the richness around them. Probably to some extent. But they’re lucky indeed. I feel lucky to live so near D.C. & we’re just a baby in comparison…although we have some awesome treasures of our own. I digress. After taking in the Sistine Chapel for who knows how long (time sort of stood still), we went back around & through the rest of the museum. The other exhibit I had my heart set on was the Etruscan section. Too bad for me, it was closed. Ah well, next time.

We had a quick snack & diet Pepsi then headed back to the hotel to get dressed for a dinner at Al Ceppo, a restaurant recommended by Ken. We were the only Americans in the place. We were put in the back room as if we were meant for the children’s room. I had hoped our rudimentary French would help us with the menu but that didn’t happen! The first waiter had to turn us over to the only other person in the place who could speak any English at all. He was very patient & read parts of the menu we couldn’t decipher. We were welcomed with an amuse bouche of monk fish in a tomato & red pepper sauce. Yummm. For the appetizer we ordered olive ascolane which is green olives stuffed with spicy ground meat then breaded & fried. Oh my, what a treat! Ken suggested that dish specifically. The breadbasket was filled with black olive & Italian bread. Additional homemade bread was served warm. Now THAT was delicious. For dinner I had grilled tilapia in a light lemony sauce with baby greens. Steve had a grilled beef filet with potatoes. Dessert was chocolate gelato for me, chestnut for Steve. His had tiny bits of meringue on top. We asked for espresso with our dessert. The waiter asked us if we wanted it WITH dessert? We said, yes with dessert. I think that was the wrong answer…he looked at us with such disdain. Oops! Oh & when we said we weren’t having wine with dinner I think he thought we must have just landed from another planet. We were obviously so in over our heads! Gulp! Dinner was absolutely marvelous though. A real Italian meal to be sure. By the time we return to Italy I’ll have learned A LOT more of the language. I’ll bet they were happy to see us leave!

Bedtime came, ¼ of a melatonin went down the hatch, I read for a bit & then off to DreamLand thinking of the journey to Florence the next morning. That was yesterday. I’ll tell you about Florence tomorrow night as I have to get some sleep soon. Tomorrow morning we’re off to the Duomo & Giotto’s tower then a quick jaunt up to Fiesole, a little town in the hills north of Florence, for the remainder of our Florentine visit. Oh, I have to talk about this hotel too. And post pix. This place is a charmer! Ok…pix & then sleep. ‘Night.