May 28
Got up at 5am and left our place at 6:05. We walked a few blocks to the taxi stand outside of Piazza Navona. Goodbyes were said, and tears were cried. Ciao Rome.
Ending trips is always sad. Especially if you’re traveling with someone and you don’t get to sit next to them on the airplane. You feel disjointed, alone.
Trips ending suck. There is no more excitement, just finality’s. Going back unhappy that life is moving on, life is getting older, quickly fading away.
I assess that I have about 30 years of able travel left in my life, before bones and knees ache and travel is difficult. Lately I have gone on big trips every couple of years (London/Paris in 2007, Rome in 2009), so that would leave 15 years left of able worldwide travel. I better make every trip count.
It is sad leaving Rome, ending this trip. Where will I be in life next time I come to Rome? The last time I came to Rome I was about to be a senior in college. How much different is my life now from what I expected and hoped? Will this have been my last time to Rome? Did I just say goodbye to the Trevi Fountain? Even more, will this be my last trip to Europe?
I just got on the plane and I am sad–as you can tell. I hope the person that will be sitting next to me is small in size, not grotesque, doesn’t smell badly, and is a nice person.
This flying stuff has been a lot easier than I remember. I could almost get used to it. I have been on the plane for 7 hours now, taken little naps, and watched 1.5 movies. I have put on Coconut Records 21 tracks on my ipod and I have not made it to song 11 awake, multiple times. I think i have done this play-list 4 times now and I sleep till it finishes, then the engine noise wakes me up.
I watched the movie Marley and Me and I must admit that I cried numerous times. Why do they advertise these movies as comedies and then draw the rain?
One part that got me was when Owen Wilson said “He gets to come home” and then of course the other moments towards the end, and the sudden end (which reminds me of a scene in the movie Fletch).
Dr. Joseph Dolan: You know, it’s a shame about Ed.
Fletch: Oh, it was. Yeah, it was really a shame. To go so suddenly like that.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: Ahh, he was dying for years.
Fletch: Sure, but… the end was really… very sudden.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: He was in intensive care for eight weeks!
Fletch: Yeah, but I mean the very end, when he actually died. That was extremely sudden.
I woke up from one of those naps to see that Get Smart was on and about 75% done. Darn. I feel that I need to take advantage of the things that make time go fast: the movies, the sleeping…
They just showed the chart of where the plane is. I love those things. They show a picture of where in the world the plane is and the course it has taken. Right now we are nearing Newfoundland and the edges of Canada. It says we have 3:03 left till NY. Oops, maybe I spoke too soon about getting used to this.
When I get into NY, there is customs and then a 2 hour layover before another 6.5 hour flight.
It’s been 10 hours since I caught the cab in Rome and an exact 12 hours till we arrive in San Diego. Add that up, plus the hour earlier than that that I woke up this morning in Rome…travelling is tough.
And if I haven’t mentioned it, let me make sure I do here: My last 3 meals in Italy regretfully sucked!
We are currently flying 841 Km/hr. It’s 4:30 pm in Italy, I wonder what Debbie, Steve, Kathie and Jeane are doing.
I am now writing this the next day, after getting home.
I shouldn’t have mentioned during our layover in NYC that the 3 flights of the this trip had been relatively easy compared to flights in the past. Well, 3 out of 4 now.
We were delayed at first boarding our plane, and then when I boarded, they were frantically still cleaning the plane. We taxied out and sat for 30 minutes due to rain and busy-ness and then they announced that they heard a funny noise and we had to go back and get maintenance done.
As we were heading back, they said that they think it was just too much air conditioning and that they were gonna head back out and get in line again.
We waited 2 hours on the runway.
We took off and I was sitting near a cougher, a baby crying, a lady interrupting me asking random questions (Is the ocean cold in San Diego?), and next to a guy that had zero spacial sensitivity as he had his legs spread wide, was shaking and singing out loud to his death metal music and who was often reaching down and up his shorts to itch himself.
The movie sucked. I watched 15 minutes of it and then read 400 pages of the Angels and Demons book that I bought at the airport in JFK, and then I took a nap.
During my nap, I pulled my hood over my head and put my earphones on. The Itcher next to me wanted to go to the bathroom, but didn’t realize I was asleep. When he tapped me, I jumped and let out a startled yelp. It was funny.
26 or 27 or…hours after leaving Rome, we arrived in San Diego and Robbie picked us up.
Got home and talked to Adam for awhile, gave him his arsenal jersey, did a few random things and went to bed.
It’s odd being “home.” I am afraid of falling back into habits of becoming lazy again, and not challenging myself.
I also am stressing about all I need to do to be responsible, to catch up on things, to eat, to see…I keep reminding myself that I don’t have to do it all in one day.
It was a fun trip. Much different mentally than 11 years ago. I wonder if that was because I was in charge this time and had responsibility to think and worry about other people? Maybe it’s cause I’m older? Maybe I had less enstranglement of thoughts and worries of life last time?
Seasons of life are strange.
I write this on the 29th now. I woke up in the middle of the night with strange dreams, not sure where I was, quickly throwing on my shorts. I realized shortly that it was 2 am and I had been asleep for 90 minutes only.
Got up eventually and went and ate pancakes for my first meal back. I still can’t believe that my last meal in Italy was a hot dog.
Now I am going to try and have a lazy afternoon, finishing hopefully the last 300 pages of that book.
Sad.
Longing.
Grateful.
Arreviderchi Italia!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVYpL5Mky5w
When we awoke this morning for our last full day here, we headed over to meet up with JeanE and Kathie. Their place is really cool one bedroom, living room, mini kitchen studio-like place right near the 
While my dad was away, my mother sneakily bought a tool that would turn carrots into curly-q designs. She swore she would use it (**its been almost a year now and she has used it once?).
In one corner of the church Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo is the pice called 
From that church we made our way down the street till we reached the 
We continued walking down the streets, till we reached the Trevi Fountain. If the Spanish Steps was the meeting place, this place was the party. Fan upon fan chanting and singing and dancing. What an experience. I am so happy that I am here during this time. Although extremely crowded, I can’t get enough of the revelry. I have a little video, however do note that video and pictures only capture about 1/10th of a story. And indeed, my video is not as loud or as chant full as the experience was.
This big game is in town, and the town –without warning– decides that no alcohol will be sold today anywhere. So there will be no wine with lunch today. This is probably a good thing. But imagine the Super Bowl, or a tailgate party, at the last minute decided that no alcohol could be bought.
After our lunch, we walked over to 
We got on the bus again and headed towards the 
After way too much debate, we decided to go for it. When else would I have this amazing chance? Little did we know the headache that would then occur.
It is always an interesting experience trying to explore a museum with others. Everyone has their own style. Some are fast, some are slow, some like to sit and stare, and others just like to sit.
We snuck out the back door so that we would get directly into St. Peter’s rather than having to wait in the long line at the front of the church. Inside the church, we walked around, touched Peter’s toe, enjoyed the mosaic art and most of all the cool temperatures.
We were there till ab
out 4:30 pm, and then we trekked back to Campo di Fiori and picked up some happy hour snacks. Following that we walked to dinner to an interesting calzone and pumpkin place. Yes, a pumpkin place. Most entrees had pumpkin in it.
We decided to take the double decker bus tour today since we were denied that yesterday. Once again it is a really hot day. We sat on the top deck so that we could enjoy the breeze. However, each stop was rather long, and everytime we stopped we absolutely were baking.
We now went back upstairs and rode the bus till we reached our beginning stop, near Piazza Navona. It was lunch time so we decided to go have lunch near 
It was tiny and there was a bigger side and a smaller side. I wasn’t sure which side to put in the front. The smaller side didn’t really cover much, so I went big in the front, which left it tiny and crammed in the back. It was a nice massage, but I think if I do it again, I will go back to the traditional thai massage. The traditional felt much more beneficial to my body with muscles being stretched and kinks worked out. The oil massage felt too meager. However, the nice comfortable hot shower afterwards felt fantastic.
We grabbed their bags, and took the 4 of them back to our apartment to show them, and drop off the bags. We then went into Piazza Navona and found a resteraunt there and enjoyed a nice meal and some wine together. It was a great and fun reunion.
We have been moving so fast, seeing so much, tiring ourselves out for almost 2 weeks now that I think the lack of sleep is catching up to us. We rested late, but kept worrying if we were gonna over sleep the pope. It is Sunday and I want to see the Pope give his blessing at noon from the 
We are in Rome the week of a large, Super Bowl type event. It is the 
Rome, as well as trying to secure ticket reservations for them to the Vatican museum with us. Talked to grandad via skype while there and he told me m a racist Italian joke (ok, I told him, but I’ll give him credit since older people can say whatever they want and get away with it).
Started the morning the same way most mornings here in Montalcino would start for me, and that was downstairs at the winebar/internet cafe. It is such a great convenience having it just outside the front door. Almost as convenient as having it inside the apartment, but with better coffe.
could see the pride in both of my parents faces as they discussed this church, its sinking, the art that was hanging, and the statue of peter that was here.
We arrived and we walked amongst the grape vines as she told us some of the history of the winery and some of the patterns of growth. She told us about 
She also told us about pinching the grapes and how they do not want too many grapes growing on any particular vine because then all the energy of the vine is spread out through larger numbers, rather than focusing all its strength and flavors on a smaller number of grapes. We walked up and down some vines, pinching the vines. 
We then went into the barrel rooms where we were gonna taste some of the wines that were in the middle of the aging process as well as some fresh wines.
It was a great experience and I really enjoyed the first hand tour and imparted knowledge.
We piled all 6 of us into the tiny volvo convertable. It was tight. We closed the roof so that we’d be less visible to the local police, and we drove over to Fattoria Resta where we were scheduled to meet and have a cooking class with 
wine. In the cellar etched on the stone wall, was an inscription that was chiseled by the builder, Martin del Nero in 1573. The carving was a humble prayer asking for blessings on the cellar, and hopes that he did a good job tending the land, and that he was sorry if he did not. Anna Lisa was touched by the humility and tenderness of this prayer that she named her wine after him. The wine recently scored 87 pts from the 
It was now time to cook. On top of caring for the grounds, running a winery, having a family, Anna Lisa has a passion for cooking. Today we were going to cook a fine Italian meal together. You may have jumped ahead of yourself and already seen the 
water right in a pile on the table. Once there was a dough, they cut strips and then came the hard part of rolling the noodle. We all tried. Most of us failed. It’s an act of rolling the noodle between your palm and the table so that it becomes perfectly round, shaped like a pencil. Most of us had the problem of squishing it flat instead of keeping it round. It was very frustrating, and a lot of work for a pasta noodle. But I thoroughly enjoyed the attempt, and later the eating.
similar to a fettuccine noodle. This dough we took and spread through a pasta machine/roller over and over till it stretched and thinned itself out. There was more pasta than space on the table so our long strands would sometimes be touching. We learned the hard way that this was not good, as the noodle dough would stick to each other and we’d have to back track a little. Steve and Lisa ran the noodles through the machine over and over till we had a really large flat pasta, which we later sliced into noodles. This was a really fun experience. I once attempted to make a fettuccini noodle on my own back in high school. Without the machine to stretch and thin the noodle, I tried it by hand and rolling pin. I was always proud of myself, but my noodle definetly was thick and not so great back then.
did this till we reached the top, and then we grated fresh chocolate on top. We let it set in the refrigerator till desert time.
