29.6.07

south to north the only way to go

Before Perugia there was.....
GAETA....................
and now, here's me!!! (I've heard one should never ever do this, but what the hell, I can always delete it no?)


Beth describes it best: I look like a nocciola!! I was taken off guard (damn you Enzo!!) so I'm not smiling all big and pretty, but I really had a great time.....

Ah yes, I can still hear the waves crashing on the shore.......... damn it sucks to be landlocked!!

The adventure would be incomplete without Enzo....


uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh wait a sec, I think I'm in the wrong country here.....



After the beach, we stopped at a caseificio (read mozzarella maker) for a fresh (think an hour old) mozzarella di bufala (oh my god) which was the best tasting morsel I have ever eaten in my whole life...they cut a whole mozzarella into quarters and put it in a plastic bag with a little of the milk it sits in while waiting to be consumed (if you've ever had fresh mozzarella you know of what I speak) and you take it outside and eat it under a fig tree sitting on a picnic bench while the milk and cream from the cheese is running down your fingers and your hand and your arm and probably down your chin.......oh it is the best experience ever........

And so I leave you with a great shot of our belovèd volcano....Il Vesuvio.....................yeah and somehow a piece of Napoli and Torre del Greco managed to get in the shot....I think Pompeii is there at the bottom of the volcano as well......







26.6.07

Day 3

I went to the Chester Beatty Library where I saw the most AMAZING exhibit!!!!!!!!! On display was the Codex of Leister of none other than (may I have a drumroll please?) Leonardo DaVinci!!!!!!!!!! Oh, it was phenomenal!! they had on display 18 sheets (written on four sides....as in one sheet folded in half yeilding two sides per half for a total of four leaves). It was mostly about water and the hydrologic cycle, the relationship of the sun and moon with each other and how the moon must have had water on it to reflect light the way it does. There were also some personal tidbits and lists thrown in. I saw a 1472 copy of La Comedia di Dante (it was actually give the name La Divina Commedia by Boccaccio) and also some poetry of Petrarch in Latin. The work was amazing...there were copies of many of the works that Leonardo consulted or owned in his library.....fascinating stuff really!!
I made it back to the national museum and finally got to see the Book of Kells which was SO NOT WORTH IT!! but I did get to see the longroom (?) it's the old library at Trinity College ....oh the smell in there....old paper and books and well-kept wood.....much better than the Book of Kells. And here I made such a big deal about going and seeing it....sigh
and then my interesting last night in Dublin began.........


I met a Dubliner but he skipped out on me....the whole thing was very weird. I made it to The Temple Bar (most famous, I hear) it was around nine and still bright like fecking midday (this puzzles me still....how can it still be light like that at 11 at night? I simply fail to comprehend this) and so I decide to take myself out for a coffee at Bewley's (where I had tried to have coffe the night before, alas it was closed) so I'm on my way over there when I pass this sort of improv street theatre thing where this woman was recounting some story about a child an old man and an orange (what the feck? you may be asking....and yes, I second that what the feck?) when my viewing was interrupted by said Dubliner named David. Quite a nice fellow so we walked and talked and walked some more....nedless to say I ended up at the Temple Bar instead of a Bewley's drinking beer instead of coffee.....David had already had "a coupl'a pints" and was working on a coke bottle which was half full with VODKA (who says the Irish aren't open about their alcoholism?? there's nothing to hide!! complete denial, agreed, but totally open about it all the same) and we get the Temple Bar and he's on another pint. Now I was thinking before I left my room that I sort of wanted to go there because it is sort of famous and I did sort of want at least one beer in Ireland (c'mon, it's Ireland!!) ok, so we're sitting along the river liffey (which he totally fecked up and called "the Liver Riffey" <----I swear that really happened, I couldn't make it up) and he tells me that he wants to buy me a drink.....I'm looking at the time thinking that it's kind of late (but damn that bright sky is deceptive!!) but I agree. We get to the bar and he didn't even finish his beer (only half way) when he announces that he's got to use the toilet and keeps assuring me that he's going to use the toilet and will be right back. Beers are paid for, so quite frankly David, I don't care if you don't come back because I've gotta go back to my room and figure out how to readjust my baggage so I'm not over the weight limit (which I was by five kilos incidentally, but the lady was cool and didn't charge me anything!! WOO HOO WE LOVE THE IRISH!!) not to mention that the first two nights were great because I was alone in the room but on the last night I had all three roomates in....one guy from England and one from Australia who were travelling together (but were a little unfriendly to begin with) and some totally weirdo (but seemingly nice I guess) dude named Benedict from Ghana who came in with two empty small suitcases telling me very openly about himself asking me if I am religious and wanting to know if I believe in a superpower (read: divinity) (I told him yes, I do believe in a superpower....ME! he didn't like that very much.....I told him I had a machete in my suitcase he left me alone) then he went out for a bit and came back with yet another larger suitcase and a bunch of stuff to fill the smaller suitcases. he told me he was on his way to someplace else (wales maybe?) and that he could teach english math and science in the United States if he wanted to ......he was leaving at 5 in the morning and I was happy he was gone when I woke up (as was everyone, coincidently) but back to my David story......to after all his reassurances that he was going to the restroom, David never came back. David also spent the last 15 minutes of our conversation telling me that he loved me. I told David I was happily married to a German. I think David might have been ajust a bit drunk. But this is all good because I spend the next half hour chatting with a Dutch couple about world politics (another very warped dude who seemed to sort of agree with the nazis......sigh) Needless to say, I had a very VERY interesting time in Dublin..............

25.6.07

Day 2

I started out at the Post Office................site of the uprising I'm told


and then I wandered around Henry Street for about thirty minutes or maybe an hour


then I went to Dublin Castle where they give a little tour with some history about the castle, about the presidents, kings, and city, not to mention some other interesting tidbits for your amusement.
In Italy, we would call this the Capella (read: family chapel)
this is the interior courtyard of Dublin Castle

For instance, I found out that Dublin (the name) comes from
old viking for black pool (dove lin....bear with me it's phonic, I have no idea how it would have been spelt)
then I went to Christ Church
Cathedral, absolutely stunning





this is the freakin floor, can you believe it??
and finally to St. Patrick's also absolutely stunning. The stonework here is amazing!




Anyway, there are a ton of Italian (and German) tourists here (not to mention the French, Arabic speakers (could be from just about anywhere, after all if you're reading the Quran, you're speaking Arabic, no?), and even people from Bangladesh!! I met two guys from Bangladesh today!!!) I found two Italians (figures, doesn't it?) with whom I went to Bewley's Cafe, but sadly they were closed so we moved on to Cafe en Siene...very, very nice.....though the waitress was a little weird (it is ridiculously cold here only 12° C probably in the low 50's!!) But I LOVE Dublin! It's amazing!!

and P.S. I met a bricklayer from Saint Louis, MO yesterday (significant because my mom is there and City Council person....when I informed him of this, he seemed totally nonplussed....though I wasn't telling him because I wanted to appear all snooty, just to say hey, we've something in common)...apparently his family is all famous or something his grandfather is like the head bricklayer for the mass conglomerate of
bricklayer's unions here....whatever....then his friend tried to kiss me....it was a totally weird and surreal experience......ah yes, the benefits of being in country where everyone speaks your language.....when you tell someone to fuck off, the underdstand you completely, no translation necessary :-)

24.6.07

Day 1

Day 1: Arrival. After no sleep either friday night (I was restless and organizing things) or saturday (I forgot that the trip to Ireland is only 6 hours and we took off late, so I was even more whacked out because since we got off to a late start, dinner was served late, and of course, we made up time in the air so we landed pretty much on time in Ireland) night, upon arrival at my hostel,
and discovering that the room wasn't going to be ready for at least another hour, I left my luggage downstairs in the luggage room and headed out for some exploring on three hours of sleep, wondering exactly how productive I was actually going to be in my state of stupidity.
I did amazingly well.......
the weather is totally weird....it rained like three times today and was sunny and gorgeous and also rainy and cold all in the span of like 20 minutes....Beth swears it's good for the skin

I visited Trinity College:

the National Museum and the National Gallery:


strolled along the river Liffey.......


saw the customs house (Absolutely breathtaking!!)
checked out the North and South ends of town.....saw all the famous government buildings, walked on Grafton Street (where I saw live music! not once but twice! one guy playing his guitar and singing...he was amazing! and a trio of stringed instruments....cello, violin, and viola? though that viola could well have been a violin in disguise)

went to Temple Bar and walked around in St. Stephen's Green


St. Mary pro something or other......Not bad for a first day on three hours sleep, huh?