Just like Lazarus...

the blog is stirring after a long sleep (or une petite mort).  And naturally after such a long hibernation, it's craving a huge serving of contemporary art.  As luck would have it, the 55th Biennale in Venice is now ocurring and so the blog will begin to feed upon the wonders served up there beginning July 8.  Should any of you readers have similar cravings of your own. please meet me back here around July 6 and we'll do an art feed together.  It should be a great time!

Going back

I warned my friend Dawn about a 31st post, saying that if she saw one it would probably mean that the trip home was horrendous in one way or another.  That was not the case.  It's just that I have a few pictures I would like to share.  Eventually.  But first, to catch you up...

We spent the last night in Italy on the Lido of Venice, in a B&B which was once again an old palazzo.  The room was nice but the breakfast was spectacular; it had every single thing that we like to eat for breakfast, including made-to-order cappuccino and croissants filled with chocolate.

You may remember the mound of luggage from a prior post.  The mound has not actually grown in girth, but it has made significant gains in weight.  The big box I added to hold the wine was deliciously empty on the ride over...  and decidedly NOT empty going home.  Beyond that, imagine my glee when I figured out that I could carry three more bottles in my other luggage...  glee that dissolved under the actual hauling of said luggage.  Lets just admit right here that a LOT of help in the form of taxis became necessary.  And the rental of luggage carts.  With the help, it became possible to carry/drag the eleven bottles of wine I purchased instead of jettison them into a Venetian canal (though probably mid-lug that option was considered).  And so you can readily understand the pride with which I presented my luggage mountain to the airport check-in personnel in Venice.  But instead of accolades, I was shocked to note that the wine box was met with a look of horror, (as if in Italy not one person EVER before me took wine back home).  She was making loud sounds of protest to accompany the scandalized facial configurations, and then needed to call up her boss for support/further direction.  In the end I was directed to take the wine box to a special x-ray machine, after which the technician was almost effusive in his praise of the meticulous packing job.  So there.  Anyway, after I'd  finished with the horrification of  staff, I joined this line for the security check:

                              Marco Polo Airport, Venice (not a line for a Disney ride)

I amused myself with snapping photos.  This shoe shot is all I could get of really marvelous boots that a young lady was wearing: they were ankle height and had so much character and soul...  you could tell that she loved them too (and perhaps her father before her)

So, I made it to zurich with little fan-fare, but had to rush for the Boston flight which seemed long, but again I was lucky and got a little sleep.  I'd dreaded customs , but it was really the easiest and smoothest I've ever encountered.  Customs investigation consisted of one guy looking me in the eyes and asking what I'd  bought in Italy;  I answered "wine" which is not a lie as you know, it's just a little bit incomplete.  And that was it.  So... I was able to successfully keep some panchetta and salami I'd bought in Greve.

At the time I was booking all of this initially, it seemed that the Airport Hilton in Boston had the most to offer since it was close, surely had a free shuttle and I could rest vs. sit up in the airport all night (my ticket included a non-requested 10 hour layover in Boston).  I'm not planning on admitting the cost of this decision EVER (though we could say that I will be funding Paris' next three visits to Victoria's Secret).  At any rate, the view toward the city was great:

The obligatory "art shot" I'd like to say was planned but you are far too used to my tricks by now to fall for that!

                                                    I think that I like this one best of all:

                                          The Million Dollar room with mess supplied by me

I got about five hours sleep and then readied myself for the 6:30AM flight to LAX.  The shuttle got me to the airport on time, the flight was LONG but smooth, and after a van ride up to Santa Barbara from LAX, my friend Stan came to collect both me and the copious luggage...  and that dear people is the official end of this trip.  And probably the blog.  Thank you for journeying with me!

The Last (Full) Day in Italy

We got into Venice this afternoon, after a four hr. train ride from Rome.  It was a bit of a hassle to bump all the (excessive) luggage down the steps of the Santa Lucia train station , and then we were treated to a water bus ride on an overcrowded boat to Lido where we were cursed openly and loudly for inconveniencing several of the patrons during the ride.  Frankly it was a hellish situation for two overly polite people-pleasers;  we kept trying to shrink us and the pile of luggage into a little ball, but unfortunately it remained the mountain it was.  After at least eight stops which entailed everyone having to bump past us all the while muttering and fixing us with the Evil Eye, we finally reached Lido. The B&B was three blocks from the boat landing, so we were checked in and soon in a cafe sipping remedial Gin & Tonics, eating a bit of pizza and gelato and generally licking our wounds.  We walked to the beach, and then witnessed a spectacular sunset.  And that's how the day went over here.

Here are some pictures:

                                                     Termini Station, Rome, Italy

                                           From the train window, on the way to Venice:

This is what the inside looked like, until the Florence stop when it filled completely

Venice beach at Lido

                      The "cafe society" of Lido:  the jolly fellow with the stains down his front is bumming cigarettes

And that is the end of our Italian adventures, at least for the time being.  I'm glad that you could come along with me, and I hope that you enjoyed it! 

Goodbye to Rome

This is our last full day here.  We put off visiting the Forum until today and that turned out to be a bit unfortunate.  We are in a hotel which is about 1 1/2 blocks from there and even before opening the doors to the street you could sense that today was different.  It was quiet on the street!  Why?  There were no cars!  It took me a moment to realize that.  All around this area, the streets had been blocked and people were walking down the middle of them.  As we looked toward the Forum, we saw a huge glut of humans...  all waiting in a line to gain entrance.  Wow.  Just yesterday there were no lines.  Why??  As it turns out, the Forum was free today and the line was for free tickets.  I don't know how frequently (or infrequently) this occurs,  but it was like one big free-for-all party in the streets connecting the Colosseum and the Forum, and I'll bet that the Colosseum was the same mobbed (and free) scene as the Forum.  Anyway,we sailed past the lines, happily, since we already had tickets, and were soon walking over the same stones that Caesar and Nero trod upon (or were carried over by slaves or horses).  Since we got there around noon, it was hot (it felt like it must be around 100 F), so water drinking became major.  I eavesdropped on a few guides and picked up some tidbits like:

                                                                                  NERO

 This is a bust of him which was de-faced shortly after his death.  He was not popular with pretty much anyone by that time.  For instance, he had his mother, stepbrother and first wife who also happened to be his step-sister killed, kicked his second wife to death when she was pregnant, and reportedly the source of light for his gardens at night was Christians being burned alive...  you get the picture.  Just your basic sociopath blossoming into full blown megalomania.  He committed suicide just before he would have been murdered.


                                     These are thought to be the busts of his first two wives:

All of what follows dates from around 55AD, or what I cavalierly call "really old stuff"

The gas station on our hotel block, and yes that's the whole thing; a guy sits there on a folding chair beside the pump, waiting for customers

This was by a fountain in a small square where people were gathered; the police always seem to be around in this kind of situation.  They are usually joking and friendly, and so their presence is not hostile.  I took the picture mainly because I like the blue color of their lights.

                    Scene in an alley tonight that caught my eye, although I admit it's pretty cliche

Say arrivederci to Roma, and don't worry...  I threw a few coins in the Fountain for you and so I am certain that you'll be here yourself at some point.  Ciao.

Rome on a Saturday night

Today we walked a bit, and also hopped on the red bus for some more touring around.  This is the only decent picture I took on the bus.  It's of a portion of the Forum.

 We ate lunch up near the train station in an area filled with Ethiopian restaurants, though this particular place made pizza. 

That's pizza dough in his hands and a marvelous wood-burning cavern behind him.  He'd shove limp pieces of dough into it and in just a few seconds it seemed, the pieces would be transformed into puffed bread marvels.

We grabbed dinner at an Argentinian restaurant before heading over to the Colosseum for the night tour.  The food was good, but what mainly impressed me was the young woman who carried the food to our table.  She was tall, had dark hair and the super-erect carriage of a dancer, plus that haughty sort of remote expression that you see sometimes on the faces of Tango dancers (for me, only in pictures up to this point).  I'm sure that she was a wonderful Tangoer, or Tangress.  I would love to have seen them dance.

At any rate, we needed to streak off to the Colosseum.  And the almost-full moon was coming up.

NOW the moon decides to show up....you can barely see it

This is not the glamorous poster shot I'd been hoping to capture:

We walked to the Trevi Fountain, still packed with people at 11:30 PM

This looks a bit like Times Square on New Year's Eve (minus the overcoats), but these are the thousand or so lemoncello-swilling revellers parked for the evening in front of the Trevi Fountain

                                                            Good night from Rome

Rome Day 3: The Colosseum

Today we walked up to the site of the old Baths, which were of massive size, let me tell you!  They could accommodate three thousand people at one time, and covered a huge area.  Today a church stands on the site, Santa Maria degli Angeli.  Inside, it feels almost as large as St. Peter's. 

At that point we got on one of the tourist double-decker buses, rode around briefly and then got off in order to meet the tour we'd signed up for at the Colosseum.  It was a special one in that we got to go into the pits as well as up on the top level... both areas not generally open to the public.


Here are some pictures from the walk and the tour:

                             This is a bit of preserved ruin near the Vittorio Emmanuel Monument

                             Vittorio Emmanuel, which looks like a gigantic wedding cake to me

                                                      Walking towards the Colosseum

                                     

                                                           Beginning the dungeon tour

Standing in the dungeons... now the guide is talking about the animals that were brought in in cages and the pulley systems that transported them from one place to the next.  Note the cross erected for the copious amounts of animals and people who died here

Part of the waterway system which helped to flood the arena (before the rooms were built) so that mock ship battles could be staged

                    Now we  are up on the middle level, so you can see the whole arena more clearly

                                The platform is built to show where the arena floor would have been

All of those rooms and alleyways are to house the animals and people acting in the spectacles.  Some of these were criminals accused of crimes and sentenced to die;   they were given over to lions

                                                 And now from the highest tier currently available:

Tomorrow night we will tour through it after dark for another glimpse, hopefully with the full moon in evidence.