Monday, October 31, on an Easyjet flight from Paris to Pisa

Well, we're on our way back to Italy. Paris was cool, but as with most of our trips, this one was pretty short. Just a taste of the city, but it's better to do that than to potentially miss out on seeing it until who-knows-when.

Today we really only had until early afternoon, but that gave us time enough to see a couple of things we hadn't gotten to yet. First on the agenda was Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart), a beautiful cathedral in Montemartre. To get there you take the metro to Pigalle, which puts you smack dab in the red-light district - kind of an odd place to keep a famous cathedral when you think about it. From there, we walked up, up, up (more than twice the length of our staircase in Florence - I counted 'em), until you get to the summit of the hill near the church and THEN, when you're bent over and panting, you see the funicular that you could have used to make the ascent. Grr.

Anyhow... we walked through the church sanctuary with the million or so other tourists, and tried not to disturb the faithful as they meditated. It made me feel a little voyeuristic, actually... there were SOOO many of us that it must have been a challenge to focus on what they had come here to do. Although the place was beautiful and I would have liked to linger a little longer, I felt uncomfortable enough that I was glad when we headed out the door.

This landed us back at the funicular station, where we listened to a harpist for a few moments before taking the stairs down. Back to the red light district again, to the Metro station, with our next stop being the Pompideou center. This complex houses both an art museum and a bunch of shops. We didn't have time to explore the center itself, but we stopped for lunch across the way - I had a steak with a red wine and onion sauce, which was pretty good. We've been eating so much pasta in Italy that I've felt a bit on carbohydrate overload, but this trip seems to have satisfied my protein cravings for a while, I think.

Now, as I mentioned, we're on the plane back to Italy. This time around, we were actually able to *board* a flight the first try, and the only hassle seems to be some turbulence. No big deal there; when it gets really bumpy, I just put the laptop on standby until things smooth out.

Next stop... Florence, perhaps.

Ciao,
Leanne

Sunday, October 30 - Paris

Up again for another day in Paris. We're on a mission this morning, to get over to the Louvre and see the art. So, after grabbing a quick breakfast, off we went.

Anyone familiar with the Louvre can attest to the overwhelmed feeling you get when you visit the place for the first time. It's a giant place, with pieces that cover every period form antiquity to the mid-19th century. You have to be a SERIOUS art person to be able to cover it all, and even then it usually takes several days. The average visitor like myself can usually only hope to cover the blockbusters and a few of the representative collections before collapsing, head spinning from trying to absorb the magnitude of what you're seeing. Such was my experience, but it was a happy one. I saw the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and dozens of other famous pieces. Up close and in the flesh (so to speak), it's pretty awesome. It's going to take me a while to get my photographs posted, but as soon as I'm back to Florence I'll get going on them.

Wrapping up that visit, we walked back through Tuilerie Gardens and then along the Champs-Elysees to a Metro stop that would take us to our hotel. After dropping cameras we wandered out for a meal, stopping this time into a café near the hotel. After dinner, were wiped out and my feet were killing me (damn these blisters!), so we decided to let discretion be the better part of valor and went back to the hotel early. For some reason, watching rugby and writing postcards seemed like the perfect way to spend the rest of the evening. We've got another Orly-Pisa-Florence trip ahead of us tomorrow, so it'll probably be a good idea to get some rest.

'Till then,
Leanne

Saturday, October 29 - Paris

I'm awake. Still in Paris, or was it a weird dream?

Yep, looks like we really made it. Cool.

The goal for today was to see all the "biggie" sites that one must see when visiting Paris. We started the day with breakfast (of course), and then walked over to the Metro for our first stop at the Eiffel Tower. Now, I have been known to be as jaded as anyone when it comes to tourist attractions. It's even bad enough that people have suggested to me that I might as well not bother with European travel, seeing as the vast majority of the best places to see are also teeming with other tourists. But even *I* have to confess sometimes that these tourist attractions are packed for a very good reason - they're totally cool - and the ones in Paris are no exception. The Eiffel is an awesome structure, and although we weren't willing to spend a couple of hours in line in order to go to the top, it was neat to see it from the ground. Even got a few travel bug pictures.

From there we walked along the Seine toward the Louvre. That's a bit of a hike, as it turned out, but we did a lot of fun sightseeing along the way. One thing that struck me was the number of boats (ships, whatever... I never know exactly what the distinction is) on the river, from barges to sightseeing cruise boats, many of which looked like they were residences, only a lot bigger than the ones you see in slips back home. Kind of a cool place to live if you ask me. We also passed by the Modern Art Museum (which was closed), and then turned along the Champs-Elysees, headed toward Place de La Concorde. That's (again, I'm including information here for those who might not have been here before) this giant intersection with huge roundabouts, two stunning fountains, an obelisk in the middle that, apparently, was a gift from Greece, and the gate leading into Tuilerie Gardens. We hung around for a while, taking pictures and dodging cars, then walked on toward the gardens. At the gate there was a stand selling crepes and waffles, and since we were getting the munchies by this time we indulged; mine was a waffle with powdered sugar. That was good for a pretty good glucose rush, but it was worth it... kind of reminds me of the beignets we used to live on in New Orleans.

Once we'd tanked up on snacks and avoided the panhandlers at the gate, we strolled down through the middle of Tuilerie gardens. The gardens lead up to the entrance of the Louvre, and they've got a bunch of sculptures, a couple of outdoor cafés, and several ponds. At one of the ponds, a guy was renting little sailboats to a group of enthusiastic young sailors. Perhaps they were a bit *too* enthusiastic; two boys in particular began fencing with their sticks, which turned into full-fledged swings as things began getting tense. That gave way to tears as the sticks connected, and the combatants were soon dragged away by their embarrassed parents. It reminded me of the way my brother and I would go after each other at times... I guess kids are pretty much the same, regardless of nationality.

By now the sun was setting, so we left the gardens and stopped briefly at the Louvre to check the next days' hours. Turning back down the Champs-Elysees, we walked to a nearby Metro stop and rode back to the hotel for a breather. Paris subways, incidentally, are different from any I've seen yet; instead of metal wheels on rails, many of them have tires that drive them along narrow tracks. I'm not sure whether that is intended to combat noise or improve the ride. The nearest line to our hotel, line #4, is also uncomfortably hot; it's got to be close to ninety degrees in the trains during the afternoons, which gets to be a serious drag if it's crowded. A couple of times, I found myself standing as close as I could to a window in order to grab any breaths of fresh air I could. Yuck.

After a quick break, it was time to set out for dinner. This time we headed out to the Latin Quarter. The neighborhood is named thus because it was the setting of the major university, and students who came from all over Europe would end up communicating in the language everyone knew: Latin. Dinner was a cheese and tomato salad, another steak, and a crème brulee. Not as good as the meal we'd had the night before, but not bad.

By this time we were thoroughly exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel and turned in. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I've also got new blisters developing, dangit. I thought I was through with all that.

G'night!
-Leanne

Paris, Take II

Friday, October 28

Okay, so we're trying this again. Back to the Pisa airport via the oh-my-god-I'm-really-on-a-bus-at-5am shuttle. It looked pretty foreboding again this morning, with the fog worsening the closer we got to Pisa. Dang.

Nevertheless, we went through the motions and checked in. This time, the airport security folks weren't letting people in to the departure lounge until it was time to board the plane, which made me immediately suspicious. It seemed WAY too much like they were wary of a repeat of yesterday's disaster. But, eventually, they allowed us in, and we lined up at the departure gate. So far, so good. At one point, the gate agents even started printing passenger manifests, which is always a good sign. So we waited.

And waited.

By now it's about 10:00, and the plane that would be used for the 7:00am flight to Gerona, Spain, hadn't shown up yet. But we waited patiently, hoping that the fact that they hadn't changed the departure time (even though we were already late) was still a good sign.

So we waited some more.

Finally, out of the fog comes a Ryanair arrival. The Gerona passengers cheered. We were filled with hope.

Then an Alitalia arrival rolls to the gate. Things are looking up!

Now, it's about 10:45. Air Dolomiti boards a flight headed for Munich. And my feet are starting to hurt, but I'm excited because I'm thinking, yes... we're actually going to Paris!

And then, at 11:00, the monitor over our gate flashes a succinct message: "CANCELLED"

Now, I'm nothing short of furious. I call EasyJet on my cellphone, explain we'd been waiting to depart for over 26 hours, and ask exactly what they plan to do with us. The guy on the other end puts me on hold for a few minutes, and then comes back and says the flight is still scheduled. Incredulously, I tell him that at the airport, they seem to have different ideas. So he puts me on hold again, and a few minutes later comes back on the line and tells me that he spoke to operations, and the plane has made a stop at Genoa, but will be inbound as soon as it's been refueled, and that he would contact Pisa airport so that they can get their story straight. Hmm. Okay.

So we go back to the departure lounge. They have no information on the monitors at this point, and they're not letting anyone in past the security checkpoint, saying that only those whose flights are boarding immediately will be allowed in the lounge. Wow. Nothing to do but wait and hope a plane shows up. So, we headed up to the observation deck, staked out a couple of seats, and waited.

Noon comes, then 12:30, then 1:00pm. No sign of our plane.

But finally, at 1:30... an orange-and-white airplane touches down on the opposite side of the airport. Finally, after over 28 hours late, we're getting to Paris. Yay!

The trip itself was uneventful once we left. Arrived at Paris Orly airport (the other one), transferred to an Air France shuttle into the city, then from there took the Metro to within a few blocks of the hotel. Looked like a nice enough place, in sort of an out-of-the-way residential neighborhood. After stopping in for a moment to drop our bags, we headed out to dinner and to see a bit of the city. Dinner was steaks and some very good scalloped potatoes at a restaurant about three-quarters of a mile away. Afterward, we hopped back on the Metro and walked out the Champs-Elysees, stopping at the Arc de Triomphe. For those who haven't seen it, the Arc, built by Napoleon in one if his more narcissistic fits, is HUGE. It's supposed to boast one of the best vistas of the city, and I could see how that would be true; it's in the middle of an enormous roundabout, and (I think) twelve major roads radiate out from the center. It's a gorgeous place to be at night.

Soon enough we were completely exhausted, and so we headed back to the hotel to collapse. Tomorrow, we'll explore some more.

Bon soir!
Leanne

The trip that wasn't... well, yet, anyway

So we're off to Paris, right? wake up at 4:30am, troop over to the train station on foot because no buses run at that hour, and get on a shuttle to Pisa, where we're supposed to catch our flight. Hour on the bus, check in, get to the gate, and wait.

And wait.

And wait some more. Now they're changing the departure time, ten minutes each time.

So we wait. Then they tell us the flight will be delayed another hour, and our 9:30 takeoff is scheduled for 12:30. So we find a cafe and grab a sandwich.

Then the announcement comes. Flight's been cancelled due to fog--it's on the ground in another city. Then the fun REALLY begins.

No easyJet people at the airport. And they won't talk to us on their customer service line--they tell us to go to the main ticketing counter at the airport (staffed by airport employees who ticket all airlines). The staff there are getting yelled at, and they can't do anything. So we call again. All we can get is a flight out tomorrow morning... the last two seats.

So we get back on the bus, arriving in Florence at about 2:00pm. And we can't get our money back on the pre-booked hotel. Grr. One day down the drain.

We'll try again tomorrow, and we'll be happy about it, come hell or high water. By the way, in case anyone is reading this journal and wondering about the non-sequitur feeling you get as I jump around in time, it isn't that you're losing your mind. I rarely get a chance to post blogs on trips, and when I come back I end up in an eternal state of catch-up on many things, with blogs tending to drift down toward the bottom of the pile. Just keep checking, and things will fall into place. I promise.

Cheers,
Leanne

Trying out a new toy

Trying out a new toy…

Just found out that Blogger has a Word plug-in, and since I’m sort of stuck using this system with Windoze (yuck), I figured I’d give it a shot.  Apologies to those who are bugged by this – at least it isn’t one of those “testing, please ignore” messages people send to e-mail listservers, okay?!?

Sunday, October 16 - Delphi, Greece

Today we left Athens for the Peloponnese, with plans to drive around toward the south and see some of the archaeological sites. To do this we rented a car, which would be dropped off at the hotel. Unfortunately, neither of us remembered exactly what time the rental person would be showing up, so we checked out and installed ourselves in the hotel lobby beginning at about 11:00 and it turned out that we had a couple hours' wait. No big deal, though - the hotel has a wireless internet connection. Not a bad way to pass the time.

Made it out of Athens in one piece. It was kind of scary there for a minute; there were a couple of roundabouts to negotiate and it seems that, in Greece, the approach to right-of-way is something along the lines of "whoever makes the first move has the right of way." That sounds typical, but in practice it gets a little weird, especially when traffic starts merging in from out of nowhere. Guess we just have to be a little more assertive.

At any rate, we drove west for a while, then turned south off the main highway toward a bridge that would get us across to the Peloponnese (it's kind of an island, but I don't know if they actually call it that). Thibes was along the way, and we stopped there hoping to have lunch. We walked up a sort of promenade-type area with a bunch of restaurants, and stopped in at one that had a number of people eating on the patio. At that point, the waiter informed us that the place was a seafood restaurant, and that we would probably be happier at the place across the promenade. Although neither of us had any particular problem with seafood, we figured there must have been SOME reason this had been recommended, so we dutifully walked over to the second restaurant, where we were told the place was closed. By this point - and also having noticed some of the stares we got as we walked up the promenade - it was becoming rapidly apparent that we weren't exactly being welcomed, so after grabbing a brown-bag sandwich at a shop up the road, we moved on.

Before long, we were driving along a mountainside that overlooked the Gulf of Corinth. The scenery had changed from suburban areas and industrial buildings to farms and little towns, and the vistas from the road were often spectacular. By about six or so we had arrived at our destination, a sleepy mountain town called Delphi. Fortunately, the first place we stopped (having seen it in a guidebook), the Hotel Pan, had rooms available. So we checked into a charming little suite with a GREAT view of the valley, and, off in the distance, the gulf. Just to top it off, a full moon was peeking out over the mountains as the sun set, so we grabbed our cameras and headed out to take a few pictures before dinner. Later, after a great dinner of pork kebab and a tomato risotto, we headed off to bed. The only noise is coming from bells on a handful of goats grazing on the hillside below, so I don't think we'll have any problems getting to sleep tonight.

Cheers,
Leanne

Saturday, October 15 - Athens

Up again after somewhat of a fitful nights' sleep. Seems that about 2am there was about fifteen seconds of gunfire near the hotel. I didn't hear it (I must have actually been sleeping at the time and woke up later), but I guess I must have been the only one who didn't. Nobody seems to talk about what it was, and I'm guessing it's the anarchists the cabdriver told us about. Hope they missed whatever they were shooting at.

Found a travel agent today and booked passage to Crete and a hotel. We'll leave on Friday morning from Athens, stay one night in Iraklion, and then return on Saturday to Athens as we have a 9:00 flight back to Rome on Sunday morning. Cool. Also booked a rental car for the rest of this week, and it'll be dropped off at the hotel tomorrow. Apparently, it's customary for the agencies to do that here, which is kind of neat. Sure beats having to go back to the airport to pick it up, or to have to find a rental car lot here in the city somewhere.

Next of the agenda was to track down a couple of geocaches here in Athens. The whole premise behind geocaching is to get the seekers of your cache to neat places, and because of this it ends up being a cool way to explore parts of a city you might not see otherwise. The first caches we looked for were located in the National Gardens, which are very much like Athens' version of New York's Central Park. Out of three caches hidden there we only found one-there were far too many people around to grab the other two without tipping someone off (non-geocachers who stumble across caches often move, throw away, or pillage them, and in rare cases get suspicious and call bomb squads), so we skipped them and moved on. The park was fun to explore, though. It's a popular place for families, and in the center of the park is a small zoo with a handful of critters who seem well-enough taken care of.

Moving on from the National Gardens, we boarded a subway to the location of our next cache. This one was located on the Hill of the Nymphs, and we got there by walking through a residential neighborhood near the Acropolis and then taking a trail that began right behind a small church. The trail actually led to several interesting spots; the first was an observatory that was built in 1842. It was closed (it's open to visitors one day a month, apparently), but in front of the observatory was a stunning view of the Acropolis, the surrounding hills, and the city. After gawking at the vista and taking my travel bug photos (ha!), we moved on to the adjacent hill of the Pynx, which was an ancient assembly site at which the great orators would address the citizens. It was awe-inspiring to think of who spoke in this place at one time: Aristides, Pericles... and the site is supposed to have held an assembly of about 5000. Wow.

Back on the trail once again, we got to the summit and were greeted with a cool breeze and a great view of the Saronic Gulf. From there it was a short walk to the cache, and after locating it in a crevice we signed the log and swapped a travel bug I picked up in Scotland for one in the cache. We went back the way we came along the trail, and taking a right turn just before arriving back at the church put us right at the ancient city again, which gave us a great chance to walk over to the theater of Dionysos. This ampitheater, first built around the fourth century B.C.E. and then reconstructed in stone and marble in about 345 B.C.E., is where theater as we know it is supposed to have begun. Of course we couldn't leave Athens without paying homage to such a place, so after taking a few pictures, we took seats and waited for ancient voices to speak to us from beyond as the sun set in a cloudless sky.

By this time we were getting hungry, so we went off in search of sustenance. Tonight's feast turned out to be a tomato and cucumber salad, bread, and an unbelievable risotto, made with pork, cheese, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and who-knows-what-else... one of those meals that will stand out in my memory as a highlight of the trip. Finished it off with a white wine and some sort of apertif supplied by the waiter (I've got the name of the stuff written down somewhere, but I can't seem to find it), and feeling somewhat dumbstruck after all the great food, we wandered back down the hill toward the hotel. Once we had left the tourist center, it seemed everything was deserted except for the cats, which are EVERYWHERE in Greece (this country is in desperate need of a spay-and-neuter program). So we scratched a couple of ears along the way, bidding our thanks for the hospitality, and retired for the night. Hope there's no shooting this time.

Friday, October 14th - Athens

The first of a couple of days in Athens, we think-we'd like to go to the island of Crete, so our length of stay here in the city will depend some on when we're able to arrange a trip over there. Woke up kind of late this morning... should really stop doing that. The shower was sooooo nice, though, and that probably doesn't help speed progress in the mornings either. Argh.

Set out after a quick breakfast at the hotel, and got immediately sidetracked at a CD store. Being in a music store anywhere in Europe is somewhat of a hazard, as it's usually possible to find jazz that's impossible to locate at home. So we browsed some, limiting ourselves to a couple of especially hard-to-find titles. Dropped those off at the hotel, and then I end up stumbling across a bookstore that caters to the business school at the Polytechnic University of Athens, and it's got GREAT stuff-practically the entire management "canon," such as it is. So, I narrowed things down to a couple of things I've had trouble finding, took down a lot of titles, and moved on, vowing to avoid this side of town for the duration of the trip. The guys at the store were very helpful, though, in helping me with contacts at the business school (for a project I'm working on), so that helped make the distraction worthwhile.

After one more hotel drop we were ready to get out and see some of the ancient sites. First on the list, of course, was the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and that was only a moderate walk from the hotel. Soon we were at the bottom of the hill, and since we could see one side of the temple of Athena from there I thought it would be a good place to take pictures of my travel bugs. What transpired next was truly baffling: as I'm getting ready to take a picture of a traffic-cone key chain with the Acropolis in the background, a woman employee of some sort approaches me and asks me what I'm doing. So I explain that the key chain was a toy given to me by a friend, and I was taking it on this trip. Unbelievably, she insisted that I *not* take the picture, because the object I was holding was a "symbol" (of what I never could figure out), and that it wasn't allowed. Huh? So after looking around at the multitudes of other tourists with their cameras, having their own various pictures taken with the hill in the background, I put my stuff away and made a private vow to get the shots from somewhere else.

That minor irritation over, we paid our entrance fees and walked up the hill. As people who stayed awake during their world history class (alas, not me) already know, the Acropolis is home to a number of ancient sites. You begin at the Propylaia, the entrance to the ancient city that was first erected around 430 B.C.E. It's being restored right now, but visitors still enter through the structure, proceeding up a walkway that switchbacks up to the temple of Athena Nike. It was on this footpath where we ran into Judith and Amy, who had hired a guide for their visit. They invited us to join them but we decided instead to explore on our own. We did take this as an opportunity to be annoying, though (so what else is new?), and made sure we got a few compromising photos of their party as we ran into them at the site. I think it's this quality that endears us to all our friends.

Moving on from the Propylaia, you walk up a gently sloping pathway to the Parthenon. The path is made up of both soil and exposed marble, and over the years the marble has become VERY slippery, making me glad I wear my hiking boots just about everywhere I go. After exploring the outside of the Parthenon and taking a bunch of pictures, we walked around it to the south and checked out the museum there. This is where the collection (well, most of it) of sculpture from the site is housed, and we spent an hour or so looking around before we moved on.

The next structure--to the north this time-was the Erechtheion. This particular temple was built on the site where Poseidon was to have struck the ground with his trident, and where Athena produced the olive tree. The distinguishing feature of this building is the six "Caryatids," women figures who support the southern portion of the structure in place of columns. We took a stroll around it with the cameras, and by this time were somewhat saturated... there's a lot to look at and learn about, and it gets to be a lot to take in. So we decided to head down through the Agora (the central meeting place/administrative center in ancient times), and we had just about made it through as the site closed. Not a bad bit of exploring for one afternoon.

Needing to relax a bit and soak it all in, we stopped at a restaurant just outside the Acropolis gates. Thinking we might end up someplace different for dinner, we decided to have appetizers here, and ordered a Greek salad, some sort of meatball dish, and a half-liter of wine, all of which were excellent. Dinner never ended up coming together (we were pretty wiped out by the time we got back to the hotel) but we finished up the evening with a slice of cheesecake at-this still cracks me up-Starbuck's. There's one right near the hotel, and at 10 p.m. it was the only place still open.

Off to dreamland once again. Tomorrow, we do some geocaching...
-Leanne

Thursday, 13 October

Began the day with another trip to the laundromat. Maybe I’ve mentioned that the only time having no clothes dryer gets to be a MAJOR inconvenience is when you have to catch up on eight day’s worth of laundry (including sheets and towels) in three days. It’s especially problematic when at least one of those days turns out to be cloudy and drizzly. So, I occasionally have to catch up the expensive way. This time, though, I got away with only spending €6. Cool.

So today we’re back on the road again—this time, to Greece. Getting there from Florence involves taking the little bus to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence, then taking the Eurostar (the fast train) to the central station in Rome, then to a local train to the airport, and then finally, a flight on Aegean Airlines to Athens. We’ve are also headed for Athens, and as it turns out we’re on the same flights and even ended up sitting next to one another on the train. Considering that we booked our trips with different travel agents, that’s just plain weird. Go figure.

But we had fun getting there—Judith and Harry had to talk shop (ha ha), while Amy, Ruth, and I poked fun at them for having to work. We also enjoyed the scenery—this train goes through some really pretty countryside. One thing that struck me as odd, though, is that there is a substantial difference in pressure when the train passes through a tunnel—it’s enough that I have to equalize my ears on the way through. Amy is a scientist and I should have asked her about it, but I forgot to for some reason. I’ll have to remember when we catch up with them again.

After arriving in Athens, we hailed a cab at the airport (it was nearly 11:00 pm, and nobody felt like trying to navigate on our own through the subways). The cabdriver was very friendly, filling us in a little bit about the Greek sentiment toward Americans (generally, they like Americans but aren’t as fond of our current Administration… where have I heard *that* before?) as we went along. We spotted some police in riot gear as we got into the city, and the driver explained that there is a bit of an anarchist movement here in Athens, and they sometimes express their displeasure with the establishment by attacking police stations. Ouch. Glad we’re not staying in one.

Finally, though, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. Another set of twin beds, but this time the room was VERY comfortable, and has an AWESOME bathroom. Marble tile, great shower… it’s nicer than our bathroom at home. I could live in there.

Bed beckons. G’night!

-Leanne

Reality check: Fifth week

So life goes on here in Italy. It goes on elsewhere, too, and I suppose that's one of the weird things about being away for an extended period. Yes, I know we're talking about three months, not years. Still, it's long enough to get an idea of time marching on with-or without-your participation. And with this in mind, here's my short list of...

The things I miss about home:

1. The dogs. Though I get to pet dogs a lot, life without Dexter and Punky is definitely not the same as life with them. It's nice that Deborah sends updates a lot, otherwise I'd really be a basket-case. That reminds me, though, that I have made a friend: the neighbors on the first floor (that's the first above street level) have a little tiger-striped cat named Misha, and she gets let out into the stairwell to explore at regular intervals. Since that's where I go type when I'm trying to be quiet, we've become pals, and now she's in the habit of coming up to see if I'm working there (as I have gotten into the habit of propping the door a little open if I think she might come around).

2. Mom and Dad. Though I don't like to rank them against the dogs, the major difference is that I communicate with my parents at regular intervals, where the dogs haven't yet learned to send e-mail.

3. My broadband internet connection. It's HARD to have to go to an internet café a quarter-mile away every time you need to get connected.

4. My bari sax. I've got that rented tenor, and it helps, but it's not a particularly good one-it needs adjusting and misses low notes-and I'm not really a tenor player.

5. Bands. Gosh, I had no idea how much I'd miss playing. For me, music is most fun as a collaborative thing, and it's bumming me out in no small way when I realize it could be next fall before I'm able to get worked back in to any of the groups I've played with. Argh again.

7. Hot showers. Going on trips and staying in hotels really underscores how it positively sucks to be freezing as you shower in the mornings. 'Nuff said.

8. Work time. Although I've been doing my best to get stuff accomplished, it's hard when the necessities of life (cooking, laundry, etc.) take up a lot more time, and then you're without a stable base of operations the rest of it. It's great to travel, but it sure plays hell with getting projects done.



Now that those are out of the way, here's a list of

Things I'm gonna miss when I get home:

1. Not having to drive every day. It's weird-I thought I would have more of a problem with this, but as it turns out, I'm not missing $3.00 a gallon gas or the hassle of having to wash, park, and otherwise deal with cars. I also think that we Americans need to start taking smaller cars a lot more seriously. Some of these little two-seaters have plenty of pep and get something on the order of 50mpg. Now, why can't we figure out how to make something like this available at home?

2. Regular opportunities to work on a second language. I realize I can take lessons at home and make progress, but there's nothing better than being able to practice every day.

3. The food in Italy. It's AWESOME. Don't know how else to describe it.

4. Italian wine. I arrived in Italy not liking wine of any kind, and it only took about a week to clear up that problem. Gosh, I hope the stuff isn't too expensive back home.

5. Gelato de Neri. If this were a normal ice cream shop, I'd lump it in with food, but this place deserves its own mention. If there were a way to transport the whole place back to Burbank I would.

6. The dog-friendly culture in Italy. People who allow dogs into nearly all public places (including shops and on buses) just seem... I dunno... more civilized.

7. The pace of life in Florence. That's not to imply that Italians are lazy-in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. It just doesn't appear that they share America's tendency to live life at an impossible, break-neck speed.

8. Live performances of classical music by world-class ensembles. They're just a short walk and a few euros away here, and we've seen some wonderful stuff.

9. Being in a culture where I don't have to feel like a moral failure because I can't function before 9am. The typical workday here is from 9am-1pm, and then from 3pm-7pm. Gets people home for lunch, too, which has to be good for families.


Anyhow, those are my lists for today. I'm sure they'll change over the next six or so weeks, so I'll probably revisit the topic.

Cheers,
Leanne

Saturday, 10/8/05 11pm

Made it to Madrid and back, and had a blast! Found the U.K. Airliners.net contingent by nearly-quite literally-running into them on the moving walkway. My arrival into the lounge had been delayed by having to drive all over the airport on the terminal shuttle and THEN go through passport control for some reason, and so I was running to catch up with the rest of the group. As I hopped onto one of those moving sidewalks, I was being slowed down by a bunch of English folks who seemed preoccupied with the equipment they had just been flying on, and suddenly... it clicked.

The next couple of hours were an airplane geek's heaven: being able to wander slack-jawed through an international airport, in the company of people who didn't seem to think that sort of thing was odd. We hung out in the terminal cafeteria (good windows) while we waited for more of our brethren to arrive. By 1pm we'd collected most of the lot, which included members from the U.K., Spain, France, the Netherlands, and me from the U.S. Then, finally, we were ready to roll.

So we headed out-with Andy, our representative from the Isle of Man-driving. Of course Andy was on the wrong side of the road (for him), so I was quite impressed with his ability to navigate the streets of Madrid... he did a far better job that I would have been able to, and I'm used to driving on the right. In any case, after checking him out of a hotel on the opposite side of town (he would join the rest of the group that night), we proceeded to a spotting location that Alfonso (our guide from Spain) had showed Andy the day before. It was right near the taxiway, with arrivals coming from one direction, and departures headed the opposite direction, and the traffic was great-I got pictures of at least a half dozen airlines I had never seen before. Thus it went for the next couple of hours... about ten photographers were there in all, and we had a great time until, all to soon, I had to head back to the terminal for my flight back to Barcelona.

The ride home on Iberia was pleasant enough, but this trip was way too short, and I only got to read about the fun the rest of the crew had over the next couple of days. Still, it was a total kick to be able to jump over there and meet them, even if only for a few hours.

Until Amsterdam, that is... :-)

Bye,
Leanne

Saturday, October 8th

On an AM flight to Madrid...

Another early morning. Today the plan is for me to fly from Barcelona to Madrid to meet my airliners.net friends. A bunch of us are invading Madrid to photograph stuff there and generally hang out. I can't wait-it's been a year and a half since I joined that community, and I've never met anyone in person in that time. This should be cool.

Harry graciously offered to drive me to the airport, and so we headed out. I had a map of Spain to work with (hint: not the best scale in the world), and I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to get there. But the airport turned out to be nearly impossible to find; after making about a thousand U-turns, it seemed as though we weren't much closer. We hopped off the highway onto a side street, and having no real idea where to go from there (none of this is helped by the fact that the road signage-throughout Spain, it seems-truly sucks), Harry deposited me in a cab to get me the rest of the way there. It cost nearly €30 to get there, but I made it just in time to run up to self-check-in, and then run onto my flight. Now, I'm on an Iberia A320 headed to the MAD (an airline I only see in pictures, let alone actually FLY on). Also managed to get a window seat, since the person who was apparently supposed to be sitting next to me never showed up. And I even got a peek at a Russian jet-probably an Ilyushin IL-62-which was sitting on the ramp as we took off. Very cool.

We're descending now over some hilly terrain. I see what appears to be a nuclear power plant in the distance off the right side of the plane. The ground below me looks like a desert with a number of what must be freshwater lakes strewn about. I don't know if the appearance is because crops have been harvested by now, but I suppose I'll find out. At any rate, I guess I'll have to finish this later, so...

Ciao for now,
Leanne

Friday, 10/7 - Lloret de Mar, Spain

Woke up shivering this morning. Apparently, all the rooms at this hotel come with twin beds, which would be tolerable if they had provided adequate blankets. Argh. Memories of the inferno hotel in Glasgow are floating deliciously through my head...

But we had things to do. First on the agenda was breakfast; turns out there was a little boardwalk-style shopping area behind the hotel, where we found a café that served these awesome chocolate croissants. Gotta love a country in which chocolate is practically a national treasure! Also behind the hotel was a small Catalunian chapel, and I had to grab a few pictures before we moved on. That style is like nothing else I've seen in Europe; bright colors, polished tiles... looks a lot like something I'd put on the wall at home.

Next on the agenda was to find the car and head toward Barcelona. That turned out to be a slow process, mostly because the signage in Spain is almost completely useless to the tourist. For example, the signs on roads coming out of a roundabout may not be visible until AFTER you've had to turn on that road. This results-in our case, anyway-in a lot of U-turns, and it took until almost 1pm to find a place to catch a train into the Barcelona city center (driving there is sort of like driving to central Manhattan-not worth the trouble). Once we found it, however, the remainder of the trip was smooth, and it was fun to speed along the coast, often within a stone's throw of the water's edge.

Arriving in Barcelona, we transferred to the Metro (subway), and found the Sagrada Familia cathedral. This is the famous gothic cathedral designed by Gaudi, and it lived up to its billing in a big way; the art that covered it was nothing short of amazing. We walked around the cathedral (it takes up about a city block), shooting pictures along the way. Most intriguing to me was the gargoyles; they came in all shapes, including animals such as frogs, lizards, serpents, and snails. Lunch came next at a café across from the cathedral, and consisted of a very decent paella (seasoned rice and vegetables baked with chicken or shrimp in a metal pan). It was fun to sit there and people-watch-we were very close to the metro station and saw people ranging from the most jaded tourists to Spanish schoolkids.

Hopping back on the metro, our next stop was Las Ramblas Avenue, which is sort of a "Tourist Central" in Barcelona. They say that if you get pickpocketed anywhere in Europe, it will most likely happen here, and I can see how that's true-there are about a gazillion people walking along this road (it's actually more like a very wide median that goes down the center of the avenue), and lots to distract oneself with. It started with bird vendors, then progressed to flower stalls, with street performers in all kinds of costumes along the way. Fortunately we didn't get pickpocketed, and before turning back toward the metro that evening we stopped for dinner... at an Indian restaurant. Leave it to us to eat Indian in whatever country we end up in.

This took us up to our witching hour, and it was time to hit the metro back to the regional train that would take us toward Lloret de Mar. After about a 45-minute wait in the underground station (we found we could doze by sitting back-to-back on a bench), we were on a train speeding back up the starlit coast. Back to the car and back to Hotel de Frigidare for the night. Still, a hot shower makes up for a lot.

More manaña,
Leanne

Hitting the dusty trail again

Well, my birthday came and went without any ill effects, and as of 3:45 this morning, we're on our way to Spain. The hideous hour is necessary because Ryanair (one of Europe's low-cost airlines) keeps its flights cheap by flying at strange hours to the strange airports it flies to. Since more of the low-cost airlines fly from Pisa than from Florence (well, actually, more of the regular airlines fly from there, too), the trip to the airport involves about a mile or so walk to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence (no buses operate at that hour), a 1 1/2 hour train trip to Pisa, and then the 2-hour flight from Pisa to Barcelona. The airport we're flying to (again, this is a Ryanair thing) is Girona, about 70km north of Barcelona. To split the difference, we booked a hotel in between, in Lloret de Mar. It's right on the coast, so it should be a nice place to hang out.

After getting off the plane, we waiting in an interminable line at the Hertz rental counter--seems the system was running a bit slow. Our patience was rewarded, however, with an upgrade to a Renault Magane instead of the tiny hamster-powered car we'd booked, and it's pretty nice. It's also diesel-burning, which seems odd but is obviously very common in Spain. Gets some nice pick-up on the roundabouts, too.

Once we had the car, we drove north. One of us noticed that the French border was just about 75 km away, and so we thought, hey... what a cool place to go for lunch. Then, having no other agenda for the day, I persuaded (though it wasn't all that hard) Harry to stick in southern France for the day, and we drove on toward Tolouse, home of the Airbus plant and the test facility for the behemoth A380. The drive was gorgeous, and in a couple of hours (allowing for a few twists and turns), we were at the airport, looking for anything that resembled a super-jumbo aircraft. Somehow, we found the active runway, and a cool spot right at the threshold where we were able to watch the arrivals at close range. The only drag about this spot was that it was totally backlit at this time of day, but it was still fun, and I even found a spotter's platform with a couple of guys there taking pictures over the fence. Incredibly, one of them-a French chap with a Canon set-up similar to mine, asked (in French) if I'd like to see a spot on the other side of the airport. Of course I did, and after collecting Harry, we drove around the end of the runway to the opposite side, parked, and walked up a short hill to a spot at the top. It had an unbelievable view of the taxiway, the touchdown point, and--as a bonus--full sun that made for great photography.

Needless to say, I was having a blast clicking away, but the best was still yet to come. Soon, a Virgin Atlantic A340-so new it wasn't yet painted-was taxiing by for a run-up test. A few minutes later, a Turkish A330 did a high-speed taxi and brake test on the runway. Then, when I thought things couldn't get any better, Beluga Five, one of Airbus's five Super Transporters, began a slow roll toward us, preparing for its takeoff to Hamburg, Germany. The Beluga is a wild-looking airplane; it's used to ferry large assemblies (like fuselages) from one Airbus plant to another, and its enormous fuselage is the widest of any transport except, possibly, for the Antonov AN-225. I got some great shots of it taxiing by, then as it made its takeoff roll and lifted off into the blue sky. It was the weirdest-looking aircraft I've ever photographed.


Unfortunately, it was getting late in the afternoon by this time, so we had to bid my new friend good-bye and head back south to Spain. It was a lovely drive and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Soon, we were in Lloret de Mar and hunting around for the hotel. We found it-right on the waterfront overlooking the Mediterranean-and although it isn't exactly the Ritz, it's clean and has a wonderful bathroom with GREAT water pressure. Funny how those little things can mean SO much.

Ciao for now,
Leanne

The second chapter...

… of a very busy month. It seems that, over the month of September, none of the planned trips ended up being scheduled and instead, they got stacked up in October. Given that the semester break also falls this month, it may well turn out that we end up spending more time out of Italy than in it. It’s kind of cool in a stupefying sort of way—we end up getting three days between trips to get work done and do laundry, and then we’re off again. But hey—far be it for me to complain. This is still the opportunity of a lifetime. The next stop: Spain—a day or so in Barcelona, and I’ll also take a one-day side trip to Madrid to meet some of my airplane-geek friends and hopefully, do some photography at the airport. Can’t wait.

Meanwhile, though, I’m trying to get some website work out for a couple of clients, and wishing I had time to edit all the pictures I’ve been taking. I just looked, and it seems that they’re really beginning to stack up. Might take me longer than the duration of this trip to get them all posted.

What else is happening… oh yeah, it’s my birthday. Whoopee… I’m screaming down that awful hill toward forty. It’s kind of weird to be celebrating it six thousand miles from home, but then again, it could be worse—a few years ago, I spent a birthday doing a press check in Greenfield, Ohio, which is this tiny town hidden in the cornfields, somewhere between Dayton and hell. I remember, like it was yesterday, going to Bob Evans for dinner that night (it made Denny’s look like the Ritz Carlton) and sleeping on a couch at the printing plant for about an hour and a half at a time before they’d wake me again to check something. And the worst part about that entire trip? The plant STILL managed to screw up our job when they trimmed it. What a wasted birthday.

On other fronts, it seems the vermin wars down on the Arno have taken a sinister turn. This afternoon we were walking across the bridge toward home when we noticed that one of the rats had made a kill and was dragging the spoils away toward its lair. I didn’t see the event, but a couple of British gents had and confirmed that the rat had scrambled up the wall pigeons sit on to grab its prey. Yikes! I don’t think I could have possibly influenced this behavior (any rat that’s snatching pigeons off a wall knows what it’s doing), but it’s creepy nonetheless. Could I be contributing to a race of super-rats? Ew.

That’s all for the moment… got to get back to work. I’m putting electric fencing around the apartment building. Just in case.

Cheers,
Leanne

In search of Nessie

Saturday morning we were back in the car-driving on the left, of course-and headed north to chase monsters. Judging from our map, the Loch Ness and its famous inhabitant should be about 130 or so miles away, so we figured it would be a workable day trip. However, first on the agenda was to try again to find that geocache by the river. Having taken another look at the cache page I felt pretty certain I knew where it was, and so we drove back out to the airport. With Harry standing guard at the car, I took a brisk stroll back out to the beacon, found the cache (yay!), said goodbye to Builder Bob as I swapped out two travel bugs I was carrying for two different ones, and jumped back into the car just as it started to rain again. With that find, I've now logged geocaches in three different countries. Cool, eh? (Yeah, I know it's geeky... but it's fun.)

Hopping back on the road, we turned the car north toward what we thought would be the highway junction at Dumbarton. And it might have worked, except that we missed the turnoff and found ourselves headed west along the Firth of Clyde-and there were no other bridges nearby that would get us to where we needed to be. Fortunately we're used to stuff like that happening, and so we decided instead to see if we could find a ferry to a town called Dunoon, take highway 815 north to highway A83, and take that back to the highway we originally needed to be on.

Lesson #1 about highways in Scotland: they always do WAY more winding around than you realize when you look at a road map of the entire country, and that results in speeds far slower than what you'd experience on, say, I-395 in the middle of the California desert.

Oh well. At least the car ferry was fun, and using my long lens I was able to get some great pictures of the coastline. A 20-minute boat ride put us into Dunoon, and we drove around the Argyll Forest Park, stopping frequently to take pictures.








Once we hit highway A83-hours after we had originally planned to-we drove north around Loch Long, and then ambled north up A82 in the hopes of getting to Loch Ness before Nessie turned in for the evening. Sad to say, we searched and searched, but I didn't see her anywhere. I took a few pictures, though-some say she's actually easier to spot that way, and I've posted the results here for further inspection. Seems she's a friendly monster, and I also heard a tale that she actually follows the odd visitor around. I didn't notice anything of the sort, but you know how those legends are... maybe I'll be surprised.

Heading southeast now around an area known as Rob Roy Country, we were treated to some beautiful views of mountains and waterfalls. We drove through the tiny towns of Strathyre and Callander, and then stopped in Doune to visit the Doune castle. It's closed to visitors for the winter, but we were able to walk around the castle and the surrounding streams and take pictures. Along the way we passed several fly fishermen who were taking advantage of an evening hatch, and the setting couldn't have been more idyllic... it looked exactly like the pictures I've seen in fishing calendars. I would have liked to hike out a little farther, but the sun was beginning to set so we had to begin the journey back to Glasgow.

Arriving back at the hotel after stopping for dinner along the way, we had to shower and crash pretty quickly so we could catch a 7:00 flight the next morning back to Italy. It was kind of an exhausting pace, but I'm glad we came. Scotland is beautiful, and I'd love to return again someday. Even if Nessie really *is* just a mythical creature...

More from Italy,
Leanne