Italia! Day 1. April 21, 2007

We are back from our incredible Italy trip, which took us through Tuscany. I'm going to post each day of our trip as a separate blog because there is so much to talk about.

We left our flat at 5:30 am to head to the distant Stansted airport and get onto our flying bus. Pisa is only a 2 hour flight from London, so we were in Italy before we knew it. But before we left London, we bought an English/Italian dictionary, which was probably the best purchase we made because even though lots of people spoke English, lots of people didn't. Unfortunately, asking for directions in Italian, when you don't speak the language is a challenge. We found that out first hand.

In Pisa, we headed to the Hertz rental area and picked up our car--a Fiat Punto. The Fiat, it turns out, is a pretty popular car in Italy and we often got our car mixed up with all the other Fiats that looked just like it. Here is a picture of Jim in our trusty rental car. This litle car could really go up the big Tuscan hills!

We also got a "Never Lost" GPS system for the car, so that we could "never get lost" while toodling around Tuscany. Well, never say never. The thing didn't work and we went back to the old fashioned way of getting around: the map. We had mapped out a way to get from Pisa to Montacino, where we were staying, but decided to take an alternate route and check out the town of Volterra.

Volterra is a typical Italian hill town, with a huge wall around it and steep, narrow alleys throughout. On the way there, we drove on winding roads through rolling hills with vineyards and wild flowers, which became familiar as the week went on. Here is Volterra as we drove up:

And Jim, walking up a Volterra Street:

In Volterra, I had my first of many Gelatos

We were eager to get to Montalcino, where we were staying in an Agrotourismo (a farm that has rooms available), so we headed out again into the winding roads and beautiful hills and got really lost when we got to Siena, which is a moderately sized city and which we really couldn't figure out how to get around. After several hours of crossing back and forth through Siena and not being able to figure out what the signs meant, we finally found some guys at a gas station who were so nice that they led us to the road we needed to take to our town. Then, when we weren't quite sure where to go again, we found an Indian Italian man who spoke perfect English and told us very specifically where we needed to turn. Throughout our drive, pheasants wandered on and off the road and we got tailgated a lot because we were driving like old people on the swervy roads.

What we learned on our first day is that Italians are really nice, friendly people who drive like maniacs and that I am not a good navigator (although we already knew that second part). When we arrived at La Crociana, we were warmly greeted by our hosts and bought a bottle of their Bordello wine, because we really thought we deserved it.

I got a job and what we're doing in Italy

I am, officially, gainfully employed until the end of August. Yeehoo!

We are off to Italy at 5:30 am tomorrow morning! Here is our tentative itinerary (we actually wrote this for ourselves. Yes, we are huge dorks.):

ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Itinerary

Day 1 Saturday: Drive to Montalcino via coast. Chill out in Montalcino and have dinner and soak in the hot tub, so Jim better remember to pack his swim suit.

Day 2 Sunday: Explore Montalcino and hike around. Pick olives. Go to a wine tasting.

Day 3 Monday: Northern trip—Siena, San Gimignano. San Gimingnano has a bunch of really tall Tuscan towers and wonderful wine. Siena is known for its awesome plaza and food and shopping. We want to buy some Italian shoes.

Day 4 Tuesday: ?????? Secret Surprise Day (involving Gelato)

Day 5 Wednesday: Eastern Trip— Castiglion Fiorentino, where Jim did his study abroad program, hike to Montecchio where there is an ancient castle, hike back, get in the car and go to Cortona. (eat more gelato?)

Day 6 Thursday: Montepulciano has the best wine ever and a friendly man in a wine shop.

Day 7: Friday: ????ANOTHER Secret Surprise Day!!!!!! (gelato AND bellinis!)

Day 8 Saturday: FIRENZE!!!!! (Duomo, Statue of David, Uffizi Gallery)

Day 9 Sunday: FIRENZE!!!! (soak in the Tuscan sun)

Day 10 Monday: Firenze and Lucca (and then, sadly, we go home)

Domani!!! (tomorrow!!!)

The moment of truth

Tomorrow I will find out whether or not I got a job. If I didn't, I will kind of be glad because that means that I can go home for as long as I want and bring Emma back with me. If I did....back to reality.

Jim is working really hard, but Saturday we leave for ITALIA! Don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a while, as we'll be exploring Tuscany, visiting vineyards, taking hikes, and checking out the Duomo. Fabuloso!

Spring weekend

Spring has definitely sprung here in London. We're even having a "heat wave!" That means that it's about as warm as it is in January in Texas--yesterday it was around 80, we think!

So, in honor of spring, here are a few spring pictures from out and about in London.

The tree in front of our house bloomed last week and yesterday we noticed that many of the trees along our road, suddenly have leaves again. We noted that we are not used to this phenomenon, having spent most of our lives in the South where most of the trees are evergreens of some sort.


This is Spike, our neighbor's cat who likes to come hang out. Don't be jealous, Emma and Chowder. He means nothing to us. Plus, as Jim pointed out, he has a dirty mouth.


On Saturday night, Jim booked us at a Jazz Club called 606. Getting there, as usual, was an adventure because of tube engineering and then a traffic jam once we got a cab. The club was in a basement and we had to ring the bell from above and be let in. Inside, we were squished at a tiny table between a pregnant woman and her husband and 6 chainsmokers. The jazz was great, but because we were "non-members" we had to pay a premium price and overall it wasn't really worth it. But still fun to get out and do something!

Sunday we decided to go for a picnic (along with everyone else in London) and headed to Hyde Park, which is like London's Central Park.
There were lots of people out and women were stripped down to their bikinis all around.


Jim was sporting his new man capris and his glasses..he looked very cute.

After our lunch, we headed to the Natural History Museum. On the way we saw some beautiful tulips.

With much excitement, Jim ascended into the Natural History Museum!

There seemed to be a lot of rocks in the Natural History Museum and after looking at about 6000 of them, we decided we would get down to the real reason we came: the dinosaurs! This is my best imitation of the dinosaur behind me:

One thing we have noticed about London is that as it gets warmer outside, it also gets warmer inside. We got a taste of what it will be like on the tube this summer and the museum was pretty stuffy, too. So we moved through the dinosaurs pretty quickly. T.Rex kind of scared Jim:

But he got along REALLY well with the stegasaurus:


Overall, it is my opinion that the Natural History Museum in Cleveland is superior to the Natural History Museum in London. It definitely has a better dinosaur exhibit. I'm also pretty sure that we missed about half the museum because we were eventually overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the children all around us and bailed early.

Finally,this is our dining room table...which is featured a lot in this last batch of pictures, so I thought I would share. During my unemployment, I planted the flowers in the background! (I'm still unemployed, by the way, but have a job interview today!)

Only five more days until we go to ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Weekend

In England, Easter weekend is one of the biggest holiday times there is. The schools are out for two weeks and Friday before Easter and Monday after are bank holidays, so most businesses are closed. Including Jim's! So, we gathered Dan, who was feeling sad and lonely because Meg was on vacation in America, and we had many English adventures.

Our first adventure was the Cambridge/Oxford boat race, a "very English" event. The conclusion that we have come to after attending the Cambridge/Oxford boat race is that no one actually cares about the boat race and that it is just an opportunity to go out with your friends and families and get snockered throughout the day. We were amused to find that no one around us even knew what the team colors were and then, when the boats came by, we discovered that they were all wearing WHITE shirts...so we really had no clue who we were supposed to be cheering for. Some of Jim's colleagues also joined us for part of the time and the weather was beautiful. A good time was had by all. Here are some pictures of our cultural experiences.

The first thing we saw when we arrived at the first pub was a group of men wearing striped socks, short pants, top hats, bells on their feet, and some ribbons, hopping around like leprechauns to accordion music and smacking large sticks together. We thought this was pretty funny and came up with all kinds of theories for why men were dancing around in such a away. On Sunday, our friend Simon cleared it all up for us with a sigh, "They were Morris Dancing." The Scottish have their dance, the Irish do the jig, and the English...Morris Dance. Since Dan has such a great attitude about being part of our ever evolving blog, I made him pose in front of the Morris Dancers.


Jim and Dan were both thrilled to be pictured in front of the first pub. We got there so early that we had a great spot against the wall, from which to watch the boats go by. All around us were people dancing (the Morris Dancers), laughing and eating hamburgers and hot dogs and drinking Pimm's, which I haven't acquired a taste for, but which is part of the English package. It was a beautiful day!

Soon, Jim's colleagues showed up and we had a large group of Americans hanging out along the wall, vocalizing about how we don't really like Pimm's and how you couldn't find decent bacon anywhere. This is what always happens when you get a bunch of Americans together in London. Here are Jim's colleagues:

We relinquished our good spot on the wall, because after standing there for a few hours, we really wanted to sit down. Close to where we were, and, as it happens, right next to the world's smallest bar, there was a park. Everyone was picnicking and drinking and laughing and making merry (but no Morris Dancing) and queuing for the loo (which was actually a pretty funny experience. Through careful observation, I learned that if you jump the queue for the loo, you will suffer the consequences. I saw more than one person who jumped get directed by the crowd to a loo that was occupied--embarrassing both for the person who jumped and the person who forgot to lock the door. If they weren't being mislead, they had to suffer the wrath of 300 people who had to use the bathroom--verbal assaults abound!). We settled down in a patch of grass and started to get ready for the big race! Jim practiced his rowing:

and then promptly passed out (only joking...we staged this picture...but it does look kind of realistic):

Dan really did take a nap in the park, which impressed us:

I bet Dan that Jim would get Thai food at one of the stands on the way back from the bathroom and I won (a pound). then I got to take a picture of Jim eating--REVENGE!

The boat racers went by really fast and you can't see them very well in this picture, but this--about 5 seconds--is what we had been waiting for for FIVE HOURS! And we couldn't even tell who was winning! (Cambridge won, we found out later.)

It was worth the wait, though, and it was fun to be part of something so traditional. I really liked the crowds, too!

On Easter Sunday, we thought we were going to a pot luck, but that ended up not happening, so we threw together a picnic and went with Dan, Simon, and Kate to Hampstead Heath, where, along with a bunch of other people, we enjoyed the still fabulous weather, gorged ourselves on picnic food, played Frisbee, and strolled around the park. Jim and I were excited because we had saved some moldy bread to feed the ducks, but the duck feeding experience was pretty disappointing. The Hampstead Heath ducks are well fed, so they weren't interested in our moldy old bread. Even the Canada Geese weren't hungry, a phenomenon that I didn't think was possible--those things are notorious pigs!

After our failed duck feeding attempt, we made our way back towards Dan and Meg's house and stopped off at a fair that was set up at the South End of the Heath. Just like in America, the fair brings all kinds and the guys who were running "the rambler" (the British version of the Tilt A Whirl), largely had no teeth. Kate was very good at convincing Jim and me that getting on the Rambler was the thing that we needed to do and before we knew it, we were strapped in and ready to go. Dan, smartly, declined and he stayed behind to watch our bags, which were also being closely watched by a sketchball who was sitting on the Rambler's stairs. At first we didn't spin too much, but then Jim realized that if he shifted his weight to one side or the other, we could really start to spin. I was definitely feeling pretty nauseated after that ride, but it was fun.

One thing led to another and eventually we decided that BBQ was a good idea. Jim and Dan tracked down food and the grill-meisters went to work. Here are Jim and Kate, preparing for action:

Meg would have been proud because we used environmentally safe charcoals and this contraption, which reduces the need to use kerosene:


I didn't really help much, but I was happy and I played with the cat:

Playing with the cat (who was outside of the frame--he fetches!)...or possibly dancing to Oasis??

There was much celebrating when we finished cooking and realized that everything was delicious and not burned (a miracle, in my opinion..too many cooks in the kitchen, etc.)

Tomorrow Jim goes back to work and I go back to doing whatever I can think of while Jim is at work. It was a fun weekend!