Up to the Villa

I slept into the late afternoon, woke up to a dark cave like room in a soft king size bed. I jumped from the bed and threw some clothes on and when I opened the door I hit a wall of beauty indescribable. Podere Pomaia is located on the on the grounds of a winery, agriturismo and organic farm. It sits on top of the of the mountain region looking down onto Arezzo. Peach, walnut and olive trees peppered the rolling hills behind and around the villa, lavender bushes lined the stone steps leading up to the house and rows of grapevines covered the property. Every view was breath taking, surrounded by this beauty was quite humbling.

The restaurant is steps away from the villa, this is where we took most of our meals and learned how to make homemade pasta. Iacopa was the reserved, dreamy proprietor of the whole operation, his vivacious girl friday was Anna. She was a force of nature really, think of an Italian Gilda Radner, all smiles, energy and a laugh that was simply inspiring. Anna acted as server, sommelier, manager, hostess and cooking teacher. They welcomed our little family into their little family.

One Coin in The Fountain

I had to return to Rome Fiumcino Airport to fetch my luggage so I gave myself enough time to be to stop in Rome. There would be no time to see the heavy hitters, Vatican City, the Colisseum and the Pantheon so I planned instead on going to the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder with your right hand you will be returning to Rome so that is where I was headed, following a legend. The same legend has it that if you throw two coins you will find a new love...damn, I never read the fine print.
Like the beauty of Tuscany, the feeling is indescribable of being surrounded by so much history. The streets walked down are the same as that of two and half thousand years, for instance, the aqueduct system still supplies water to the Romans. Being in this city makes these sort of facts more interesting than just reading about them in books, I thought while I read the brochure from the train station gift shop, under the "Interesting Facts About Rome" section.

So, I wandered the ancient streets Rome looking for the fountain, doing the slow touristy walk head pivoting from left to right in slow movements, periodically dodging out of the way of a Roman or two, let's just say that I have a new appreciation and compassion for tourists now. I owned my clueless annoying tourist inside of me unfolding my over sized maps, stopping dead in my tracks in the middle of the sidewalk to read said over sized map, "dove-ing" my way through the ancient streets of quaint Italian villages and cities.
Almost every cobbled street gone down ended with a breath taking view. I found the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II to be most impressive, white marble and shining gold statues. I was on a mission however to see the fountain, throw my coin into the fountain then to the airport to get my luggage.
I had been without other clothes for a couple of days now, wearing the outfit that Hillary gave me. Although I appreciated the kindness of my villa mates, gathering toiletries and clothes for me, I wanted to feel the comfort of washing my face with my face soap, I wanted to use my new purple puffy shower sponge-y thing, the trip so far had been so much work that I wanted a few of my creature comforts. Not to mention what if it rained? I would miss the chance to wear my rain boots.
I found the Trevi Fountain and it was magnificent. I maneuvered stealthily through crowds, I noticed that the tourist mobs here were quite bit different than in the U.S., less pushing and moaning...sorry the U.S. I was focused on getting to the fountain, like I said and then I felt someone grab my hand. Oh boy! Was this the new love legend? I didn't even throw a coin yet...oh happy day. His vise grip tightened and he led me hurriedly through the crowd. "Scuzzi..." I muttered oh but wait this man was not Italian as he turned his head to the side I noticed he was Korean, oh why didn't I pay more attention to Korean in school? I looked behind me, oh good, his wife was there, who if I may say didn't look worried in the least bit about getting separated from her husband. Soon she saw my face and called to him something in Korean. Then we all had ourselves a tourist laugh together. Then I threw my coin and told Rome to wait for me.

Milan

September 26

I took the shuttle bus to Milan Centro Train station in the middle of town. In spite of the rain there were a lot of people on the streets. Although I studied Italian and spent the weeks leading up to this trip, I found the phrase most often used was, "No parle Inglese" or sometimes a simple "Americano" would suffice when I couldn't think of the phrase. The first thing I did was find Il Bar for the my first Italian espresso. The place I found was a small shop, three tables, a cold drink machine, small case with selection of sweet pastries, packs of cigarettes lined the wall behind the counter. The place reminded me of an old timey soda shop or drug store from the movies, somewhere the lone wolf private detective brings the dame he ran into in the street.
The Korean women behind the bar spoke Italian,"Ciao" I answered in a whisper which was how I was speaking since I stepped off the plane. All those hours of practicing at home the how to order part of the lesson.
"Une Cafe"(breaking out the French for some reason)
"espresso"
"Yes, um si si"
an espresso.
"Gracias"( breaking out the restaurant Spanish)
Mind you, I know as much French and Spanish as I do Italian and yet I used them all interchangeably throughout the day. It was a humbling experience to be in a position of confusion of the inability to communicate save for the few basic words, let's just say that I mastered the smile and nod, as a communication devices go that one works for pretty much anything. "Ciao", "Grazie", "Si"
What I struck me was the simple design of the buildings, although some of the buildings had very large and thick wooden doors, they were for the most part plain. However, when I peaked behind one of the doors left ajar there was an expansive courtyard filled with flowers, in another door the ornate window sills laced with vines between iron bars.
The open air markets are really amazing! The vegetable stands in particular, the colors are impressive let alone the taste. I bought a peach, one peach. There is fresh food all around, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits. It's heaven, and to think this is available always. Even the big supermarkets have a very small freezer section because most Italians eat fresh.

Travel tip: the fruit guys don't really like when you just buy one of something.

I got turned around on my wild goose chase for an international sim card. I was told that this is a better way to handle the international calling situation without the huge rates and the international calling plan from AT&T. I went to the left and down the street that the money exchange directed me too but it wasn't there, I went two streets down to the Wind which was closed, then there was a store down in the metro, that was also closed.
With all this searching I got turned around and subsequently lost. I had to use my GPS on the to help me navigate. It took awhile to get back to the bus and I was pretty ready after being in the rain all day. Milan was undergoing a boom of urban growth with scaffolding and construction equipment peppering the landscape. Milan is the modern Italian city with hi rises and luxury hotels, one of the main financial centers of the country. A contrast to the other cities visited in the trip.

Flying to Milan

September 25

I flew Alitalia, overall a good experience although I've heard various travel horror stories involving the airline. I had a meal that was pretty good and served the Italian way. Antipasto, pasta, main dish and for dessert there was a sweet pastry and coffee (this tasted more like truck stop coffee) I was asked to put my shade down so as not disturb sleeping customers which I did and stayed pretty much obedient save for the periodic peak at the sky. Once for the night sky, the sky was so clear and black that the stars against it were bright silver. The second time in early morning when the sun was coming over the horizon to produce this blood orange hue that is truly indescribable.
I arrived at Milan's Malpensa Airport after an overnight flight. Fact is I slept very little throughout the night which was a combination of the excitement of being in Italy, a lack of sleep aid that I apparently had all the time in my wallet (where all effective sleep aids belong) but didn't know it, and the in flight movie "Date Night". This made a fact clear that I knew all along...I like movies better than sleep, they always win out. Instead, between watching the movie I got into a perfectly lovely conversation with Fulvio about food, pies, and Italy...these are a few of my favorite things.
So I was in Milan, I had a few hours before the next leg of flight plan to Rome so I thought I should pop on over to Milan since I had the chance. The one thing that I appreciate about the airports in Italy is that you can, for a small fee, store your bag which was pretty convenient. Before I did that however I dug through my carry on for and clothes I had to guard me from the 12 degrees Celsius (56 degrees Farenheit) weather. I layered everything I had in the pack and lamented not having my rainboots (yes I packed my rainboots on my European vacation) I stored my bag and...

Here we go...

Hey friends, this is my travel blog for September 2010. My attempt to entertain, give some helpful travel tips and show you a little of Italy on my terms. There will be storytelling, food talk and maybe a picture or two. The trip started September 24 but through a number of unforeseen circumstances, I found myself without the technological means to post anything. So, in the beginning, I worked it old school with pen and paper. It made the documenting more visceral an experience.
So let me catch you up and then we'll go on through to the end. Let's go, go,go!