PHOTOS are here! How to view our personal photo's from the trip!!!

Hi everyone. Anne and I decided to share the photo's with you via shutterfly so your computers won't be bogged down by large files attached to emails. This is simple. You don't need a shutterfly account to enjoy the pictures. Simply look to the column on the right side of our page and find the link for our personal photo's. Click on that link. When you do, your computer will redirect you to shutterfly and you will see three different photo albums. They are labelled by city, Rome, Florence and Venice. Simply click on the name of the city, then the album will appear. In gray area surrounding the pictures you will see "collections, photos and slide show." Click on slideshow and the photos will start rolling. If you wish to stop and look at something or back up to a photo you want to see in greater detail, just use the commands for these actions. When you are ready to resume the slideshow, push the play button again. When you get to the end of the slideshow, click on the "collections" prompt and it will take you back to the albums page where you can choose a different city's album to view.

Home again- Pictures coming soon!

We are back safe,sound and really exhausted. It will take us a while to unpack in every way, physically, mentally and emotionally. We loved our trip, every second of it, and we are very, very, glad to be home. Thanks for coming along with us and watch for the pictures. Please check back in a couple weeks, we should have them up by then.
Looking forward to seeing all your faces soon,
Anne

Arrivederci Italia!

Wow. Has it been 2 weeks? In some ways it flew by and in some ways it seems like much longer. Either way we leave for home tomorrow. We are ready but still, we ache a little to be leaving.
The weather was too kind to us on our last day. It was perfect. It still is this evening, soft light, a gentle breeze, a sweet kiss good bye.
We enjoyed the Accademie today, not so much because we saw so much that was different from what we have been seeing, but because we were able to get close to it. They allow you to walk right up onto the work in most cases and we were able to really look closely at frescos from the 14th century. As you can imagine, they are as amazing up close than they they are from a distance. The museum spans the rennaissance with a little extra on each end. It focuses exculsively on Italian painting. Very worth the trip if you are in Venice.
I feel full of art and beauty. Tonight when we went back to our sweet hotel room we turned on the news, CNN, (something we haven't done since we've been here,) just in time to catch the latest on the assination in Lebanon. Is there a world out there? Yes, yes, there is and we are returning to it. Not everything is art and beauty, although one can forget that here. Venice especially. It reminds me of a lullaby. I think the constant rhythm of the canal aids in that, but also the light, and the ancient, ancient surroundings which remain the same throughout the centuries. I find it easy to be lulled. It's not all bad but I am ready to get back to my life.
So I will see you there! The next we speak will be from home.
Caio!
Anne

Vetrulio Bondi- water guy in Florence

Of all of the people we have met, and we have met a few, Vetrulio who owns the store on the corner near our hotel in Florence is one of the few we have talked to in depth. He first got our attention for being an average Joe, about middle aged with an adoring wife and obviously hard working store owner in which we were faithfully buying our water every morning and evening. He welcomed us each time by announcing we were his best water customers. When we chose to eat dinner there, he sat with us a bit and talked with us a lot. The conversation turned serious and we rather enjoyed what he had to say. He is first and foremost concerned about the young girls of our country that come here to visit from college. There are many of these girls in Florence and many walk past his store in a days time. He quickly notes that they are all clones of "Paris Hilton" and the like and work very hard to show way too much of themselves and are very plastic. He said Beauty was a state of mind in Florence and that it should come from inside and then be present on our exterriors. He was worried that they come to Florence, or Italy in general, and simply buy the designer goods but bipass learning anything about the culture for spending all of their time and money in the markets to return with "things" when they are done here. He feels sad that he sees them coming to Florence and consuming tons of alchohol to the point of being drunk constantly. He has a hard time understanding this because alchohol is considered and consumed differently in their country, perhaps something we could learn from them. They appreciate fine wines and enjoy them slowly with a nice meal, rather than worry with quantity. Thank goodness he also was concerned that we are a lot like Jerry Springer back home in that he has this as a point of reference. We were certainly able to put his mind at ease and assure him that it was a fabricated show for entertainment and that the masses understand that it is trash and don't watch it. He also seemed at ease that if Anne and I were once these 20 year olds that he is worried about, then there is hope if they turn out like us. Thanks for the compliment. He was sweet and smart and adores his wife. He treated us like we were in his home, not his trattoria. He embodies something that most Americans just don't posses because having this approach doesn't earn money...or so we think. I know that Anne and I stayed a bit longer and had a dessert to extend our conversation with him. His charm earned him at least another $20. Later we went back out to get a sandwich for the desk help at our hotel in thanks for their kindness. Naturally, we walked back to Vetrulio's. He suggested that instead we walk across the alley to order a pizza from his restaurant. We had no idea that Nerone's was his restaurant too. We ate there twice because it was so delicious. It didn't surprise either of us that this smart man had already assumed the American dream right here in Florence. We thoroughly enjoyed his food but moreso his company and hope that if any of you make it to Florence that you will visit Vetrulio at the corner of Faenza and Nationale for a water and large helping of Italian charm. (Lisa)

We are from Denver, Tx

So last night Anne and I have a great dinner in our own hood just right across from our hotel. The food was the best we have had so far. Anne had monkfish in some sort of sauce and I had a risotto with shrimp and mushrooms and we shared a plate of grilled vegetables. The owner was charming and struck up some conversation with us which made us think we should blog about being from TX and what that means to Italians. When we said we were from Tx the owner quickly proclaims "Sì, Sì Denver, Tx!" We set him straight but he takes the number one slot on the list.

1. We are from Denver, Tx.
2. We all have oil wells.
3. Due to the numerous oil wells our gas is only 2cents a gallon. (don't we wish)
4. We all have cows and Patrick and Cliff are without a doubt cowboys.
5. We have ample access to slot machines.
6. NASA and the space program play a huge role in our day to day lives.
7. We all have money.
8. And of course, we get the "ah...Bush!" in which we cringe and wait to see if they are going to praise him or spit in our food. I think most have been polite if nothing else. The front page of their newspapers, every day, has a picture of Bush and bold print with many exclamation marks. The photo's are never flattering so conclude what you wish. (Lisa)

Take it's or Leave it's, potpourri of misc facts

1. Sitting and consuming any food or liquids in Italy is a luxury that will cost you at the minimum 1.50€ every time you do it and in most cases will also double the price of your food and drink. Your other option is to "take away" and find a spot to sit to eat and drink yourself, without service, or to stand at their bar and drink/eat. Save sitting for when you just can't stand any longer.

2. The men here are able to pull of orange, yellow and sometimes bright green pants with the complimentary color shirt and sweater draped around their necks and still manage to look smashingly handsome. We are trying to imagine this on Patrick or Cliff and we just keep getting visions of their broken noses and black eyes for trying this out at home.

3. The eye glasses here are a work of art in and of themselves. We couldn't be more boring in this dept after seeing what the folks here are wearing.

4. Bathrooms...this really deserves its own blog but at risk of seeming terribly tacky, I snuck it into this list. The bathrooms in Italy are well hidden, usually disgusting when you do find them, very seldom have a toilet seat attached and sometimes cost you money. My favorite is the co-ed variety where men and women are coming and going from the same bathroom. And without a doubt, levetating is key to not walking away with more than one persons DNA on your body once you are through. The rare and random exceptions to this matter are museum and hotel restrooms. Anywhere else and all bets are off.

5. The men: Venetian's are shorter per capita than in Florence and Rome. Rome wins the percentage of handsome men award in that they are a solid 8 in 10 being complete Gods. Florence drops to a dissapointing 6 out of 10 but they had a larger community of accessible average Italians that made up for looks with charm. Venice picks up the pace with about 7 in 10 being gorgeous but the other 3 are likely to be filthy rich so in those cases we will overlook genetics and factor in the wallet.

6. Venice is trapped in another decade...perhaps the 50's or even earlier. The people dress differently, move about differently, etc. While it is like no other place on earth, it does feel very confined/isolated physically and in mentality.

7. Water from the tap is free and tastes great. In comparison, bottled water (Naturale or with gas) is about 1.50€ a pop.

8. The canal water in Venice is a creepy shade of green that looks like faux water used at water parks for the bamboo shoot rides.

9. Did we mention the maps? How bout the phones? They are both useless. Draw your own map and bring a big dixie cup with a long string connected to your house and you are likely to have more luck.

10. As advanced as the Europeans are, for some reason they only get up to the 80's in our music and television. We got into more than one cab with Journey, Aerosmith or Motley Crue. Funny to see the "Mario's" getting their jam on to "Don't stop believing".

11. Italy is as romantic and beautiful as you think it is, times two. Couples really do sit around absorbed only in each other and are wildly affectionate in public.

12. not all Murano glass is beautiful. See the octopus light that was in our room in Venice. It was a little scary to wake up that overhead each morning.

(Lisa)

The Biennale. . .Si! si.si!

Anne here-
By far the most fun we had at the Biennale yesterday was watching Los Torreznos at the Spanish pavillion performing "Electorial Night" as part of "Paridise Broken" ( only in Spanish.) The last bit of the 35 minute video performance was the two artists weighing in on other artists. "Pablo Picasso. . . non! non.non. Los Torreznos. . Si! si. si. Jasper Johns. . .Non! The whole thing is hysterical, as is the rest of what we saw of them. You can find clips on the web, and we recommend you do. Los Torreznos (Rafael Lamata and Jamie Vallaure) deal with repetition, sound and meaning, how one effects the other, or so it seems to us. They are also very, very funny.
In the Italian pavillion, which serves as the international pavillion we saw works by Louise Bourgeois, Rainer Ganhal,Jenny Holzer, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol Dewitt, Elizabeth Murray, Bruce Nauman, Gerhard Richter, Susan Rothenberg, and many others, each given their own room in the pavillion, a lovely expansive space in which to view the work. We took out from there and wandered without a game plan, we managed to land in the British pavillion which featured Tracey Emin; The Korean- Hyungkoo Lee; Canada-David Altmejd ( Scott-look up this guy, amazing, Hyungkoo Lee too for that mater); France- Sophie Calle, Isreal-Yehudit Sasportas; Japan- Masao Okabe; and the good ol' USA- Felix Gonzales Torres, who is actually an imigrant from Cuba. We saw others too. Cheif among them was the African Pavillion, which was a first this year, which housed many artists who worked around the theme of "the unseen, seen".
Speaking of seeing, it was a lot to take in and I could write pages about each exhibit. We took pictures and picked up catalogues whereever they were free and I'm sure we will spend the next year at least decompressing from this as well as everything else we've seen here these past two weeks.
It is our last day here, so hard to believe! We are off to the Accademie (every town has one)today to round out our time. It is a spectacular day and I know we will also spend part of it wandering one last time through the narrow winding streets ( if one can call them that) of this ancient, lovely city. We are melancoly and anxious to be home at once. We look forward to spreading accross our own beds, or any bed since you can't spread accross a bed in Italy without hanging off both ends. But we will miss Italy, we know, and reflect on it with only the fondest thoughts.

Think with your senses, feel with your mind

is the theme of this year's biennale curated by Robert Storr. We found that that is exactly what we found ourselves doing as we wandered through the pavillions today at the lovely Giaradini park. There's a whole lot to say about this but at the moment our internet cafe is closed and we are trying to use the "free" internet at the local bar ( buy a drink, use our computer) which is full at the moment with noisy college kids and bad 80's music. So I will save my comments for the morning when I can hear myself think. Hold that thought. . .(Anne)

Peggy Guggenheim is our hero

Today we travelled to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which is right on the grand canal and was once her home. It was a very impressive space filled with the leading artists of the modern movements. It was even more inspiring to be reminded that she was dedicated to collecting modern art, not for her own purposes, but to amass the best collection of modern art for the world to see. She was quite the patron and very endearing. There were many personal photos of her with many of the greatest modern artists, as well of her family, pets and home. She is also buried there in the beautiful garden beside her beloved pets. Whatìs not to love about Peggy Guggenheim? Nothing, we decided as we sat and watched the boats go by from her terrace. Tomorrow the Biennale. Lisa

Top ten (or more) things NOT to do in Italy

Anne and I decided we should include a top ten list of No-No's for Italy. Please note that some of these we have learned the hard way, we'll let you decide which ones we may have fallen prey to.

1. Do not wear beachwear in the basillica's. You will find yourself wearing a saran wrap like covering or the alternate choice that is akin to a meat packers uniform. All courtesy of the Basillica.

2. Do not trust the vendors that shout out "100-a percent-a discount for you, today."

3. Don't play three boxes under a bridge.

4. Never let a parrot choose your fortune.

5. Stalletos with bon-bons on them are never good in a hot climate.

6. Dresses with carrots or any other fruit or vegetable attached to them are not good in any climate.

7. Don't relieve yourself of extraneous intestinal gases while in quiet art gallery. (note: this was neither Anne nor I, but some unfortunate man with otherwise good sensibilities.)

8. Don't bother with the maps. They are all useless. Bring one from home of your own neighborhood and you are likely to have better luck.

9. Don't bring your big fat American suite case that weighs 80 lbs before you ever start buying souvinirs. Note: There are many bridges, made only of a grillion stairs, in Venice from the hotel to the bus stop for the airport.

10. Don't bring travellers checks, they are obsolete. No one wants them and to exchange them for actual euros will cost you nearly 10€ for every 50€ check you cash...that's $13 a pop. Just use your ATM for more cash when you need it. Its a better rate and you won't lose money. Also, no one wants higher than a 20€ bill so don't bring a stack of 100€ with you.

11. Don't expect to sit and eat, drink, snack, coffee, gelato etc, without paying a premium (see misc info blog).

And I don't even like Bellinis

But before I get to that, let me say that I'm so happy to be able to use contractions again, although I'm sure there's some other thing I won't be able to find on this particular keyboard. Oh yeh, it's the dash. . .
Last night after we got lost in Venice, which is so easy to do but who cares?, and had dinner (early, 6pm, they were going to refuse us service until 7, but when we got up to go they decided to feed us. I guess we looked tired and pitiful,) we thought we would go ahead and get our sea legs by taking the vaporetta (the water bus, think city bus on the canal) to Harry's famous bar and have a world famous bellini to kick off our tour of Venice. After we stood in the bus stop ,(which is also on the water) for a couple minutes trying to figure out how it goes (where's the motor?) the actual vaporetta showed up and we got on laughing at our tourist selves. We took a short ride a few stops down past the most amazing sights, and don't think we didn't stand on the side in true outoftowner fashion snapping away. Harry's bar is in the high dollar part of town, right next door to a big swanky hotel and is jammed packed with people dripping with money head to foot. The front room is tiny, about the size of a living room, the bar is very short but there are four bartenders behind it in white tuxedos at all times mixing and pouring bellinis 20 at a pop as fast as they can. There are people 3 deep all around the bar and you have to literally elbow your way up to order your bellini. Lisa gave me her 5 euros (7 bucks) and I had mine and we thought we would just let the bartender keep the change. I ordered duo bellini, the bartender handed me two and asked for 30 euro. I think I actually said "you have got to be kidding me" out loud. Lisa starts digging in her purse as fast as she can and we pay the man. I think I kept on making comments right out loud, you'll have to verify with Lisa, I was still in shock, I don't remember. Lisa downs her's and says drink up and let's get out of here. I said "h. . . no,I'm milking this thing for all it's worth and I don't even like bellinis". We stood smashed against a small wall by the door and people watched for about 15 mins while I nursed that bellini until it bled. I must admit the people watching was worth the 15 euros ( 20 bucks) to me and Lisa managed to take some clandestine shots of the high rollers of Venice.
We then wandered up to Piazza San Marco just in time to see them taking down the flags at sunset, complete happy accident. It was wonderful. After the flags come down the whole Piazza applauds and the musicians begin playing again.
We took the vapporetta back to our (lovely, snazzy ) hotel and Lisa has that story.
The Biennalle is going on, we plan to go to the main location today but there are events all over the city and we keep running into them. We stumbled onto an opening by a British artist and a dance concert by a Latino company already, without even trying.
While we were wandering the city I noticed that Venice loves cats, so automatically I love Venice. Out side the shop of a maskmaker (they were amazing masks, wish I could afford one) his cat posed for me while I snapped his photo over and over. He is obviously used to the papparazzi.

Lisa and Anne of the Brittish Royalty variety....

Hang with me and read the the end as this may be the funniest thing that has happened to us yet...After we became pros at riding the vapporeto's (see Anne's blog) we used this method to get through most of the grand canal last night. We rode out to Harry's Bar (most famous bar in the world...and strap on for Anne's account of our experience in there), for a Bellini then we walked over to Piazza San Marco (for those of you not familiar with this term, Piazza is basically a big open square that is surrounded by a church (basillica) in most cases and many restaurants, sometimes a fountain in the middle and lots of kids running around, dogs on walks, street performers, etc. San Marco is the most famous piazza here in Venice as its surrounded by the Doge's palace which is akin to Versailles in France, as well as the glorious San Marco Basillica).

So we are now at the tail end of the Fish (see map of Venice by clicking the link on the side of the blog) and must traverse the grand canal to get back to our hotel which is at the lower west end of Santa Croce district.(The canal, by the way is absolutely gorgeous and like the Tuscan countryside, moreso than imaginable. It is full of gondoliers just as you see in the movies, beautiful architecture, people bustling about on the canal streets, etc.) Since San Marco is a hot spot the vapporetto's (think subway for the water. Its set up the same way except with boats) are crowded. There are areas to stand and areas with many seats like on a bus. So we go in and sit down. A very old man and woman get on at the next stop up (they were complete doubles of the Shoemackers in Dirty Dancing) and have to separate to sit down. Both shuffled and then sat for quite a while. When some people got off, I got up to sit next to Anne on the other side of the isle and in seconds the old man shuffled up to sit next to me. He was adorable. He is all of 4 ft 11in, max. And in dog years would already be about 75 so I imagine he was about 150 years old but Anne thinks more like 85-90. Sure that he is a tried and true Venetian, I don't attempt to talk to him other than saying Ciaò. So he then looks at me (inches from my face) and in the most broken English asks "first in Venice?" and I think a second and then say "sì, sì" Then I think he asks me if I speak Italian and I answer "non Italiano, mì Inglese." So he opens his eyes wide and exclaims "Welcome to my country. I luf your-a country!" and Anne and I say back to him "We love your country. Italia es Bella!" And he then says...are you ready for this...."And I luf-a your-a Queen. Ah, Ah, Uh...Elisabeth!" Out of respect for this Ancient and endearing old man and the fact that our conversation is likely to be short due to language barriers, we decide to just say "gratzi, sì." So then he goes on to say "And Camilla y Charles!" And we say "sì,sì" then he thinks a minute and says "And Harry, the little one!" and he can't rememeber the older one so I say to him "William." and he says "Yes! I luf-a William!" Then he says "Your queen helped me in-a 19 and uh, 26-a. I luf her!" (not sure what happened in 1926 but we'll research this when we have more time.) So now we are trapped in this and just say "sì,sì." So at this point I feel like I should at least introduce Anne and I since we have had this completely fabricated conversation with this man. I tell him "chiamo Lisa y Anne" and he gets wide eyed and slows down his pronunciation completely and says "mì chiamo Yoooooosefff (Joseph)! You are nice!" and we say "Gratzi, you are nice" and he says "I am old." we can't argue with this so we counter with "but very nice!" So then he procedes to point out landmarks along the canal complete with translations to English (very slow, very wide eyed and very proud) and didn't skip a beat. He got them all correct and it was apparent he had done this before. In idle chat we discovered that he lived in Maestre, just a short train stop back out of Venice and he was there visiting his sister, the older woman he got on the boat with. She was only 125 in dog years and just as adorable. So then he points out a tall tower and says "radio." I didn't quite understand him so I repeat it back to him "radio?" and he says..."sì, sì like-a you BBC!" And we both, trying not to bust out laughing say "ahhh...sì, BBC!" We travelled through about two more stops on the canal and then he pointed out that Ferrovia was our stop. He had to get up to let us off and he took the time to take both of our hands and kiss them. I think he may have kissed my ring.

So here is the summary. We will never forget Joseph and all of his charm and want to befriend us and welcome us to his country. He embodies the spirit of most people we have encountered in Italy, especially the men. We will certainly never forget his love of England and our Queen and his admiration for our country. We are still perplexed that he didn't find our accent to be off a bit but perhaps he thinks we are from Southern England, VERY Southern England. And thus, I leave you my friends feeling a wee bit royal this morning.

We are off to the Guggenheim Museum to see the greatest collection of modern art anywhere. Then we will make our way to the central exhibition of the Biennale. See link on the side bar so you will see how incredibly lucky we are to be here for this.

We are hurting a little more each day that we get up, both of us have a little scratchy throat today and we are missing our families. That aside, we are having a ball and are overwhelmed, humbled and appreciative of all that we are seeing and learning about art and the culture of the Italian people.

Arrevaderci, Lisa

Caio Florence

Anne here. I am (I cannot use any contractions on this post because I cannot find the apostrophe on the keyboard-keyboards are a mystery here) assuming that Lisa has given you the blow by blow on our wonderful bike tour through the lovely hills of Chianti since she has been typing for over an hour and has not posted yet. But let me officially put my thumb way up and urge you to take this tour if you are ever in Tuscany, it was wonderful! And this old gray mare made it just fine with one exception. However, I was not alone in the van up the steep hill with my bike in the back, there were 20 year olds riding with me. So I am feeling frisky, or I would be if I were not completely exhausted. Exhausted but content. I have to also give the shout-out to Keith and Andy our darling guides and the entreprenuers behind the tour who worked their buns of steel off the whole time making sure we all had a great day.
Tuscany is even more beautiful than I expected it to be, and I was expecting it to be as beautiful as it is in the movies and on the postcards. So, if you can imagine it being even more beautiful than that, that is how beautiful it is. We took lots of pics and none of them will do it justice.
I promised you some intelligent thoughts on the art we saw yesterday. We saw a whole lotta art yesterday. But I have no intelligence right now so I will have to promise you again for another time.
My overall impressions of Florence- It is like Chicago to NYC, if Rome is NYC, in tempo and temperment. If you have been to both Chicago and NYC I hope that strikes a cord. If you have not, Rome is intense and vibrant and fast paced, Florence is slower, a little softer around the edges, a little friendlier. but both places are full of art, architecture, theatre, music, hustle bustle, the hoi poloi and all the good things that make up a big walking city.
We leave for Venice and the last leg of our journey tomorrow, and another love affair with a city awaits!

The Socks and Sandals tour de Chianti...

Dear Friends, it pains me that there is no secure way for us to upload the photos from todays bike ride in Chianti until we get home. Of course for the scenery, but mostly so you could see how rediculously un-bike like Anne and I looked for our super deluxe bike tour of Chianti. We have appropriately named it the Socks and Sandals tour of Chianti as this is what Anne decided to wear today for her foot gear. Neither of us brought tennis shoes so Anne just announced she would be "a big dork" today where her feet were concerned. I wore sandals as well but being 17 years her junior inhibited me enough to leave the socks at the hotel where they belong. I wish I could stop here but I must also confess that the rest of us looked just like trendy middle aged, non-athletic fashionistas as our feet did. (Complete with Anne bringing along her giant floppy hat to keep the sun out of her face. I was crushed when they said she couldn't wear it and instead said we had to wear bike safety helmets. Have you seen those? They rounded out our rediculous get ups quite nicely.)So once we got past the pointing and laughing by the other attendees...which might I add were mostly made up of perfectly sweet 20 year old American girls that eat lettuce twice a day and bake themselves to a pork rhind regularly. In addition to America's Top Model's there was a family consisting Mom, Dad and three teenage girls. To give you and idea of what they looked like: They were all twelve feet tall, weighed right at 110lbs, had perfect teeth, blonde hair and were no doubt filthy rich and all had modeling careers at some point. All of which are perfectly fine attributes but I just wanted you to see the juxtiposition between the rest of our group and Anne and I. This will all make more sense to you when you see the pictures of us. So on with the tour.

So now in all seriousness. If we had only two days in Tuscany, giving up a day of museums and Basillicas to do what we did today, would be more than worth it and I don't say this flipantly. We expected to meet a couple of bike guys, ride on second rate bikes for a bit, end up at a winery and then be on our way. We walked away today being blown away by the experience because it was anything but what we expected. First, the two guys that own this company are from Ireland and Scottland. They have been doing this for two years and love their jobs and it shows. They have worked hard to develop a wonderful experience that enables tourists to get out of the city and see how Florentines really live in the suburbs of town and to see the sites that we only see in movies or read about in books. They drove us up and out of the city to a castle that is occupied by Count and Countess Guinccairdini (see link on the side bar). We were given a knowledgable tour of the winery which also produces some of the finest olive oil either of us have tasted. We traversed the castle tower for a breathtaking view of Tuscany and photo ops. We then went down to be met by a table full of glasses of fine Chianti and bread to dip in their amazing olive oil. Great selling point as we then went in to the winery store and bought vats of the oil to bring back with us. So then we were fitted for bikes and helmets and set out from the castle for the ride. Good news is that while this day did require a bit of fitness, the first leg of the bike ride was mostly coasting downhill from the castle. About 40 minutes into the ride, we stopped at a mom and pop restaurant and our bike guides quickly tranformed to waiters, took our orders and we were off on a three course meal. We all had a great family style salad, bread, pasta and then a lemon desert with cappucino, all included in the price of the tour. Now that we were good and sleepy and stuffed to the gills, what else was there to do but get back on the mountain bikes for the tougher leg of the ride. We set out for about twenty minutes on the bikes, mostly flat and a little uphill, until we reached a small town square where we stopped for water and a short rest. The last leg of the ride was the toughest. It was all mildly uphill until we reached a very steep winding portion of the course. I quickly took up the offer to ride up the hill in the van. Anne, as determined as always, wanted the mountain to defeat her first. So about five minutes in, she hopped in the van as well and rode up, but not until she gave it the old college try. I mean she did have on those socks and sandals, I was so sure she was going to fly up that mountain. So then we got back on bikes and coasted along a cypress tree lined road that led back to the castle winery. You now have an idea of the route but what you should know is that every bit of the way overlooked all of Florence. It was rolling hills of vineyards and villas that were in shades of the yellow sun, green of olives and the reds of chianti. There were palacial estates surrounded by lush gardens and there were poor working people shaking out their rugs behind their modest homes. There were bright red poppies growing wild in the feilds and tall cypress trees that are so indicative of Tuscany, everywhere on the horizon. Like the difference between beautiful artwork by seasoned artists and the masters that stand out amongst them, the sights we saw today are indescribable on many levels. All we can say is that if you are ever in Florence, Italy, it would be a crime not to find these guys for this exact tour and take it. It cost us 60euros (About $75) for a full day and wonderful meal, which is less than it would have cost us to stay in town, and we had an irreplaceable experience. It's a must.

So now we drag ourselves back across town on foot. Socks with sandals, jello for legs, unimaginable helmet head and a smell that is akin to a goat under each arm, we now have complete satisfaction that we have checked every box in Florence. This will be our last post from here as we travel to Venice tomorrow by fast train. We'll arrive some time around 2:00 and will hope to find our hotel and an internet cafe at some point. Please stay tuned until then...the adventures of the fish is next. Please say a small prayer that two old art teachers in Florence will not be crippled with pain and will be able to get up in the morning to depart. Ciaò, Lisa

The flood, the big rain and a minor (or major ) correction

Claire (thanks!) has requested that we let ya'll know who is speaking, so Anne here. . .
first, I must make a correction. The copy of David is out side the Uffizi not the Bargello, as I misinformed you earlier.
Now on to being wet. In 1966, when our dear friend Suzanne was here staying in the same hotel we are in now ( thanks for the GREAT tip Suzannie!) there was a huge flood, we don't know much about it except that it was big and there are water markers everywhere that are way, way above our heads. It destroyed a bunch of art. Yesterday in what we consider a pretty standard down pour by Houston standards, we were caught in the most rainfall in 30 years. We didn't really think much about the rain because sudden showers are so common here, evidently, that umbrella vendors wander the streets everywhere everyday. However, we got a clue that something fishy (oh bad pun) was going on when we saw a bunch of folks pumping water into the street this morning. Our lovely housekeeper, who is fluent in English, told us about the record. Suzanne must have sent along the water mojo with us, I hope noone around here finds out.
Today is lovely, hot even at times. (Ellen, if you are reading this, it's going to be HOT here in July,bring a hat and a ton of sunscreen). We started the day at the Bargello, then went to Santa Croce, the Duomo,Santa Maria Novella and rounded out our day visiting a craftsshop where we watched an artist make etchings. Lisa bought one for her home.
We still hope to go to San Marco tonight. Lisa will post links for all these places and when our brains unwind we will probably be able to make some intelligent comments.

Keep those cards and letters coming!

We love your comments. They really make us smile and even though being here is incredible, it would be so much more so if you were all with us. We miss you! So thanks for the comments. It's nice to know there are folks that are with us in spirit. Anne

Thoughts on the Uffizi 6-7-07 in Florence

It poured down rain today in Florence which made it the perfect day for hanging out in museums. Our creativity in getting in to the Uffizi was worth it ten times over. It is clear to see why it is THE museum in Florence and why it is also a sell out. We kicked off our visit by getting a surprise exibit of etchings by Albrecht Durer. It is without a doubt the most concentrated group of his work that either of us have seen and more than impressive in use of line, contrast, pattern and composition. His work ranged from not much larger than a postage stamp to the coup de gras in the last room that nearly took up the entire wall. Funny what artists you study in books and never give them much thought until seeing them in this format. He will be someone we both give time to in our classrooms. Of course we saw the Birth of Venus but perhaps its been on one too many t-shirts or mouse pads as it is certainly beautiful but we were both more taken with the Primavera. Botticelli's italian counterpart in the Renaissance is Pollaiolo and his work is almost as impressive. There was a large salon dedicated to both of these artists in the Uffizi. The only dissapointment in the museum is when we entered the original collection of the Medici's and the curator took the wrong page from the Pitti Palace. The works were dark, hung salon style and the lighting couldn't have been worse. They may as well of turned out the lights and given us all candle sticks to walk through. Speaking of lighting, that Tintoretto was something. Needless to say, we could go on and on about the amazing work in the Uffizi but instead we are going to create a link so you can check it out. By the time we left the Uffizi, the heavens had opened up and we had shorts on and only one umbrella between us. Thank God we had the good sense to duck into a pastry shop and just hang out and sample for about an hour. By the time we worked our way through the cannoli's and realized it was only getting worse out we decided to hail a cab. We did a quick change and set out on foot for the Duomo only to find the guide book was wrong about times and it was already closed. We stumbled past a small gallery dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci and ducked in. It was great. They had commissioned an artist to replicate some of his inventions and most were interactive. It was great to see and a solid reminder to us of his genius.
We are drying out and about to grab some dinner. The college kids are having a party in the downstairs breakfast area, hosted by the hotel, so we decided not to hang around for that. Tomorrow we have to check a few boxes in order to say we have done it all. We are hoping for dry weather so we can make our list. Then Friday we are headed out on bikes to Chianti. This could either be wonderful or an entire blog dedicated to the misadventures of Lisa and Anne...we shall see... (Lisa)

A few thoughts about art and other things

first of all let me just say that Lisa has been digging in her big red bag for everything since we got here, making all kinds of noises, and today she threw away her phone card and brought her empty water bottle to the phone booth. I'm just sayin'. . .

Now about art: just a couple quick thoughts.
First of all, it is so apparent here that the great works only utilize technical skill but the skill does not define them. When we are in the galleries the works of the great masters fly off the walls and those of the lesser masters fade in comparison and it has little to do with technique. I wish the kids could really see that in the books. Whatever it is that makes me want to stare at a work and draws me into it is intangible.
Secondly, Leaving David today was like leaving a lover. I just had to walk away at some point because no amount of time in his presence would have been enough. And I did not feel that way at all about the copy outside the Borgello. Can't explain that. Again, intangible.

Now about feet: they are still killing me. (Anne)

We'd like to introduce you to our new Italian friends..

So you know Anne and I, right? Even though we are both shy wallflowers we have managed to attract a few friends here in Florence that we thought we should pay homage to on our blog.

We already told you about Gianni and Carlo the two barely twenty year old desk clerks that are happy to help a couple of old women when we need it and rescue the college girls that are trapped in the bathroom.

At the internet joint across the street that we use to blog daily, we are always greeted with "hey, teachers...how are you today?" Anne's ability to flip her hair and bat her eyelashes got us a student discount on the internet time under the guise that we were teachers and as broke as students.

We have a favorite spot on the corner that is in route to the hotel at the end of each day. I am sure the owners name is Mario or Guiseppi or something like that but what is more important is that he is a middle aged Italian shop owner that knows how to schmooze. Every day he greets us as if we are his two favorite sisters, and a hearty "Why-a you-a nice-a ladies only buy-a my water? Why no gelato? Why no wine? You-a need-a to-a come-a back-a when you-a are-a hungry so-a you-a are-a not-a just-a my best-a water customers-a!" Then more patting on the arm and smiling...Cute.

So then there is the HILARIOUS story of Anne misplacing her items (a-lot) Any of you that know her know what this looks like. It starts with the frustration noise "eeeh" or "aaaah" and "now where did I put that...I know I just had that...." then follows the digging randomly through and around things. So yesterday Anne and I go to do laundry and she is writing in the nice red journal that Claire got her for the trip, while I went out to get stamps and toenail polish (yes..both were necessities, our feet are feeling beaten and neglected). Later we get to our room and Anne realizes she has lost it. She starts the whole drill and can't find it. So she decides to back track to the laundrymat around the corner and of course its not there. She tells the older man that works the desk with Carlo in the evening times that she has lost her red book and wonders if anyone has picked on up and turned it in. So the man, in true European form, says "Hey-a don't-a worry. We have-a lottsa red books-a here. Just-a pick one-a" as he points to their giant book shelf. Funnier in person than on the blog for sure. The good news is that the adorable cleaning lady must have found it on the floor while cleaning because it was sitting on our crisply made beds today when we came back after the Pitti Palace visit.

Oh then there is the vendor in the market area...every day we walk by the thousands of little carts of folks selling stuff, the same young guy says "Hey-a, my customer. I have-a been waiting for you-a all day.Why-a you-a make-a me wait-a all day-a?"

We have also had our encounters with a couple of true Cassanova's. Anne was propositioned by an older, portly and balding man on the floor below ours. He says to her "Hey-a, you-a from America, eh? Whataya, on vacation-a with your-a husband-a?" Of which, Anne answers "no, a colleague." So the man, without skipping a beat says to her "Well-a in-a that case, I am-a in-a room-a three-a, maybe-a you-a can come by-a later." Okay..this was funnier than the red book story. Of all the hunky Italians here, why this one??? Also a caution to the younger but not as wise girls that come here and get this request more than once.

So then today, we are walking through the market and one of the not so adorable vendors says to me "Hey-a, just in time-a. I am just about-a done-a working-a and I am free-a tonight-a!" NOT!!!

So don't worry about us, we have made lots of friends...I am sure more are to come!
(Lisa)

Pictures, Pittiful Palace and the Uffizi

Sorry, we can't really post our pictures until we get home. If you'd like to view them after we return we plan to post them on a photo share site so that you can see them easily. We will have a link to the site on the blog. But rest assured we are snapping away, we have everything from great art, to street scenes, to amusing little vignettes, to the carrot and chicken leg dress in the theatre retrospective at the modern.
We just came out of the Pitti Palace which houses a ton of really great art inside this amazing old Palace. However, the Palace is in poor repair and you can't see the art because it is hung salon style and the lighting seem to all point to the ceiling. We did manage to see some beautiful paintings by squinting and standing to the side.
Lisa is a genious, and even though we were not supposed to be able to get into the Uffizi she found a site on line, paid the piper a few extra euros and got us in for tomorrow. She has posted the site for you all.
This afternoon we will zip into the Santo Spirito on our way to the Accademia to see David, our adorable hotel clerk, Carlo, scored us tickets for that sparing us the 4 hour line. We love Carlo and Gianni our hotel clerks.
We are sharing our hotel with a group of young college students who are here with their proffessors studying art and art history. They have the entire wing of the hotel we are in, except for our room. They are sweet and polite and stay up late giggling in the hallway. Last night I had to play mother and get my finger out and shaking in order for Lisa and I to get some sleep, which was a better choice than retribution on our end of the day. They spent the rest of the night shhhhing each other which still kept us awake, but at least it was charming. (Anne)

Florence is a heart...

If Rome is a clock and Venice is a fish then after one day in Florence, it can only be a heart. While only Rome will match Paris in its art and architecture, Florence offers all of the amoré of Paris. We have left our hotel and wandered the streets without a map. We stopped at a huge indoor market that is full of cheese, procutto hanging from the ceilings, pasta of every shape and variety imaginable, fresh fruits, dried fruits, candied fruits and nuts. We stocked up on fresh fruit and nuts and set out on the streets for some shopping. Florence is the leather capitol of the world no doubt. There is stall after stall of the finest leathers in any shape or variety imaginable. It was very hard not to spend the rest of our money and live like vagrants the remainder of the trip, although we did manage to put a big dent in our "gifts" lists and get a little something for ourselves. Today we do our laundry and continue to get a feel for the city. The people here are absolutely beautiful and charming. We can't walk more than five feet without engaging in a conversation with vendors. They are so interested in where we are from and just chat in general even when it is evident that we are not shopping for what they are selling. Its just all the charm a southern gal (and one southern transplant) can soak up in a day. As much as I adore the company of my dear friend Anne, I cannot get my darling Patrick out of my head today. He looks like many of the beautiful Italian men here and I can imagine coming back here with him to Florence. Florence is definately a heart for all of these reasons and more.

Anne and I are staying at the most precious hotel that was recommended to us by Suzanne who stayed her in 1966 when the great flood came. It is just as charming now as she felt it was then. The desk help is quick to rescue damsels. For us, they were happy to call and make reservations for us at some of the galleries and yesterday the same darling Carlo had to remove a bathroom door from its hinges as a young girl was trapped in there when the door handle came off. I am sure Carlo didn't mind at all and he is now the hotel hero. We did discover that you cannot simply set out for any location in Italy and just waltz up to museums and hope to get in. We got a reservation to the Accademia but we are just going to have to show up very early and hope to get in at the Uffizi which makes both of our stomachs hurt thinking that we might not get in. But I am sure if persistence is key, that we will somehow manage to weasel in. So any of you taking a journey to Italy, read the books well in advance and make note of museums you want to visit and book a month in advance to be safe.

Our feet seem to be back in good shape today and we are well rested. Our room is airconditioned and large by European standards and all the ammenities of an American hotel. A good nights rest last night was not hard to accomplish and we slept in until 11am.

We decided to take a tour, later in the week, of Chianti on bicycles. We could not imagine anything more charming once we saw this as an option. We knew we would take a side trip from Florence during our extended stay and we already know this will be perfect. Its all day. Shuttle out to Chianti, through Siena, then gear up on bikes and ride through the Tuscan countryside via vineyards and olive groves. We will stop at an old castle that is part of a vineyard, sample the various wines, have a lovely lunch as part of the deal then return in the afternoon. I am certain I will think of Patrick the entire day we are doing this because of his love of biking and beautiful scenery as I am sure Anne will think of Cliff and his love of being outdoors. Anyway, you can certainly understand why this seemed like an obvious good choice. We'll let you know after the trip.

The other discovery we have made is that there is a large area of working craftsman that can be observed making leather goods, marbled paper, metal trinkets, etchings, jewelry making, etc. We will definately go here and watch as these craftsman work as they have for centuries making some if Italy's hand crafts. What a great thing to bring back to our classrooms, in addition to all of the obvious high art we are seeing. (Lisa)

The Vatican

It almost seems sacriligious to try and sum up the Vatican in a blog. So I won't. I am simply going to say that it is as jaw dropping as you might imagine. The technicalities of getting in is a bit tricky. The lines go on for miles. We decided to pay the piper and do a guided tour for about $60 (otherwise its just $13 to get in) just to get ahead in the line but it turned out to be a much better way to see the sights of the Vatican. You could easily walk through and miss details that you should note, without the help of an expert. Matter of fact, I would say you should only go if you take a guided tour. We only saw a small perecentage of the vatican in our full day there but it was impressive. Roman statues are everywhere, we made our way down a long hallway of maps that was akin to the hall of mirrors in Versailles. Of course we went into the Sistine Chapel. It's there that you have to pinch yourself or else think you are in a dream. The chapel isn't huge in comparison to others but it is so ornately painted by sir Michaelangelo that it feels like it goes on for miles. It is rectangular is shape but is divided into sections by an ornate wall. The entire space is painted and the most noted portion of Michaelangelo's work (the fingers touching, symbolic of the creation) is only a small detail of the room but in the center of the ceiling. There are Roman gaurds walking about yelling out "nooo pictures" and shushing people all the while they are snapping away and murmuring. The main basillica to the Vatican is most impressive. Its enormous for one. When you see the pictures of the altar, be sure and look at the people's heads at the bottom of the photo's for scale. Its really indescribable at how enormous and ornate this place is. Anne nor I are Catholic so we learned today that the Catholics truly do put their Sainted Popes bodies on display. For clarification, after a Pope has been buried for three years, the body is pulled out of its tomb. If it has not decayed, then the Pope is sainted then dressed and put into a hyperbarric chamber of a sort and given an elaborate altar space along the nave of the Basillica. Some of these Popes truly are, miraculously, preserved. Some not so much...a little creepy.
The view of the city in front of the Vatican is amazing. Which by the way, the Vatican is in what is termed "Vatican City" as it has its own zip code it is so huge. There is no way to describe it all in detail. Please see the pictures to get a better idea of what we saw.

Comedia del Roma...

Okay there have been some funny moments in the last two days. I think it best to start with the current and work our way backwards as our brains are fried. What day is this??? is the question of the day.

So on the train, we are talking with the younger brainy hunk that was helping us make our plans and comparing the age and architecture of Italy vs. US. HE notes that his dad chuckled when they were in Maryland once and someone pointed out an "OLD" house and it was only 200 years old. Since they live in a place that has history before Christ this is almost obsurd to them. So Anne notes "yes, our country is a baby." and Andrea then states "but a BIG baby." So we told him we MUST quote him on this as it is applicable in many other areas than architecture.

Next, we finally found out about the blasted birds from the night clerk at the Mimosa hotel. He has limited English and it was late but given that he quickly insisted that we were listening to Garbinos, which are a sea bird. He was sure of this after Anne, yet again, squawked like something between a mcaw and a howler monkey. We also noted that these birds have many renditions to their night noises, all of which require sleeping aids to ignore.

There is a mystery water flow from the roof above our room at the Mimosa. It starts at sun down and goes away at daylight. This is not a sound Anne knows apparently, because she wasn't as quick to ask about this one. So for now, we are just hoping it was someone doing their laundry??? but again, required some sleep aids.

Ledian the desk clerk is sure to need a chiropractor tomorrow as he has now hauled our very big, very American luggage once up and once down the stairs as we left. I am sure these bags, the big bags over our shoulders with multiple pouches and map in hand (probably our very bad italian too) is a dead ringer for "tourista Americano."
We did decide to ask a lovely group of waitstaff at a "takeaway" eating place why they immediately talked to us in English? Anne asked the lady at the cash register "Do we really just LOOK American?" and the lady almost broke her neck and her eyebrows almost flew off of her head as she nodded yes and raised her brows vehemently. Nuff said...we're total Gringos here.

So today after the Vatican (which by the way deserves its own blog but we are hungry and are trying to wrap this up to go eat) we go to eat at a tourist trap right outside, we sat to eat a bite and rest our feet. The waiter asked us where we were from in decent English. Anne says "Houston" and he very tenderly said "I love Houston. It gave me back my life" and then he pointed to the scar on his head where he had cancer removed. IT was very sweet to hear this as until now we had been accused of having slot machines and being cowboys and of course home of our President. Since none of those items give us the fuzzies, this guy really was a treat.

Enough side bar chat for now. We have to fill our stomachs and venture out a bit from the hotel before calling it a day. (Lisa)

The Skinny on the last 2 days

We had intended to extend our stay in Rome through tonight, the 4th, and leave Rome late tomorrow, the 5th, to make up for the time we spent in Cintukey. However we would have been homeless tonight since the Mimosa had no room for us except the "Emergency" room, which is a room under the stairs with a cot. So we opted to stick to plan A and go on to Florence. Because of this wimpy decision we lost a day in Rome and had to bust our hienies to try to see some of the stuff on the must see list. Since we last logged in we : learned to use both the bus and the subway system in Rome, saw the Santa Andrea della Valle, went to Mass at the Pantheon ( or at least stood outside and watched), tried to crash the Villa Borghese museum (you MUST book a week in advance which we negleced to do and thus missed one of the biggies, major blunder, so we bought out the bookstore) Walked the Villa grounds over to the Museum of Modern Art( only in Italian) which we really enjoyed for many reasons, not the least because it meant we got out of yesterday's rain, went to the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain where we both threw coins over our shoulders and then tried to eat Pizza at the Buffetto but gave up after we saw the line, and went instead around the corner where the locals eat. There I was able to ask 2 adorable locals next to us about what it was like to live around all the art. They say they never tire of it.
Today we spent the day at the Vatican. We got up very early to get there but by the time we figured out the post office ( another story) we didn't arrive until 9:30 am which is too late to avoid the longest line in the entire universe which leads you to the next longest line in the entire universe. Because of the fact that we had to be on a train at 6:30 pm we choose to pay really big bucks for a guided tour which meant we got to skip the first line. We still stood in the second line for over an hour. We met a bunch of nice folks in line so it wasn't so bad and once we got in we were really glad we both paid for the tour and stood in line. If you go, take the "When in Rome" tours. You will be glad you did.
We went straight from St. Peters to the train and had a wonderfully enjoyable trip up to Florence on the Euro Star where we not only enjoyed the view of the Italian country side, which looks exactly like, if not better than, the postcards, but also the company of two charming Italian men who took us under their wings and gave us all sorts of travel advice. It turns out that they are both brilliant ( as well as handsome), one a seasoned scientist, and one a recent Ph.d who is working as an electronic engineer. I'll let Lisa embellish on all this but that is the gist of it.
I have some observations about Rome:
1. Gotta LOVE that it has a cat sanctuary right in the heart of the city which is also a ancient ruin, (Largo di Torre Argentina) which Lisa has dubbed "The Divine Order of the Sacred Cats". Gotta also love that the cats are all fat.
2. Who is wearing all the FABULOUS ( and I mean it) clothing in the store fronts? Beacuse it sure isn't the locals.
3. You only think your shoes are comfortable, but they're not, I don't care who makes them and how long you've been breaking them in, they are miserable. Bring a lot of pairs and change them up every day, that way you can be miserable in a new way each day and it somehow makes it better.
4. I love Rome, Lisa not so much. I love that everywhere, everywhere, no I mean everywhere you look is beautiful and very very old. I love that the streets wind in crazy ways and that there are no rules of the road. I love that within 2 feet of you there is something and someone beautiful and interesting or good to eat no matter where the heck you are. And much more. So, So far, so very good. Italy: thumbs up.
And so far so good in Florence. Our hotel is precious and the internet cafe is right accross the street and the phones seem to be useable. We're happy. (Anne)

**Addendum by Lisa. I love Rome too, very fortunate to have been there and agree on the oppulence, bustle and beauty of the city. My reasons for not loving it in the same way as Anne is that it is one of the hardest cities to navigate in my experiences, namely my comparisons to Paris and now Florence. It offers some of the same beauties as any of these cities (beautiful architecture, beautiful people, great food) but it is VERY crowded streets, very and the maps are not accurate. So navigating an ancient city full of piazzas, back streets, side alleys, etc, with essentually no map and being on a tight schedule, makes it much less enjoyable than say Paris. Also, Rome's public transportation is a mess. The bus routes are ill marked and in some cases not marked at all, the two metro's only go in straight lines on the outskirst of the city so basically are useless unless traveling out of the city center which we did to get to the Borghese and the Modern. Taxi's are too expensive to take everywhere so we are left back with our bad maps and aching feet to get place to place. So while I love the sites and sounds of Rome and will never forget my experiences there, I don't love trying to see Rome.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We are about to catch our train to Florence! So.....still alive and very well, and will get back on the page SOON! We're having fun and LOTS to report. (Anne)

We took the 610loop west instead of East...

and thus our feet are killing us because we walked the whole way. We have had a doozy of a day navigating Rome. It feels like we have been here a week given all we have done today. Here are the highlights: We have met all shifts of folks at our hotel now and have decided that we like Mario "with a dot" after his name (as opposed to the Mario w/o a dot) but the most charming part about him is that his name is really Andy. We are thinking this is like the sweet woman that does our pedicures. Her real name is Theung Foung but she goes by "Jenny" and we like her just as much as "Andy". We have't figured out what kind of birds are keeping me up at night because Ledian, the daytime staff at the hotel could not understand what we were asking him even though Anne crowed like a cross between a howler monkey and a McCaw, not once but twice, so that he would know exactly what we were asking him. Still, no clue, but I am sure he is enjoying describing the crazy American woman to his friends. So we set out today to a new area of town and made it to the piazza of flowers. Sweet little place. We found all sorts of other places we needed to see including an enormous church in route to the Capitoline Museum. So we go in and we couldn't make this up...we crashed an Italian wedding. Assuming they can't close the church for this event because its a public gov't run space, all of us that happened to be inside got to be witnesses. But the sheer irony is that the place was so oppulent and yet this was a one of a kind white trash, Italian style, wedding complete with family members with Mullets (see the pictures for proof) and girls that were smacking gum and couldn't walk in their nice heals and prom dresses. So then we get a bite to eat at an outside cafe where Anne decides to practice some acrobatic feats and bites the dust pretty hard next to our table. The tiniest, un-Fabio, was our water and jammed both of his arms under hers to hoist her up. It was not funny at the time, but we sure laughed a lot later. And by "we" I mean me. I could have thumped this fella and knocked him over but he scooped her up like his job depended on it. Very sweet but very Saturday night live from where I was sitting. So then we get our bearings and decide to go to the Colliseum and ancient ruins. Well this is where we got off track and took the 610 loop West and walked a good two miles completely around it without seeing it. Which if you have any idea of the scale of this thing, you'd really appreciate the humor. Our feet weren't laughing so much however, as when we arrived the Colliseum was closing. Nothing for a girl to do at this point but to have an expensive meal in a sicilian mom and pop restaurant. We are worn out but feel satisfied that day one in this complex city has been a success. Oh and by the way, we did see some art in the mix of all of this architecture, at the Capitoline Museum. They house a few Carravagio's in addition to some of their local favorites (Remi). Now, if we can just figure out how to use these dang phones here, we'll start those crank calls home. This is the one part of our experience we are rating as an F. The phones are just not good. If you have been here and have any advice for us, please post. Stay tuned for tomorrow, if we can top today, the blog will be a doozy. (Lisa)

What to Wear

Go Crazy! run the spectrum between black and gray! Shake it up! Wear beige! In my travel duds I am the blinking neon TOURIST sign. I yam what I yam.
We spent yesterday getting our bearings around our little neck of the woods which includes the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona where we spent much of the afternoon eating yummy Pizza ( Da Buffetta was closed, we will try again) drinking wine and watching the street performers. One cheecky little boy played a wicked violin and entertained us with schmaltzy American love ballads topping off the performance with O Solo Mio of course. From there we ended our day trying to figure out how to use our phone cards, which require a Ph.d. We ate gellato and went back to our rooms where I slept like a rock except for the hours between 1 and 3 a.m. when my body clock insisted it was time to get up. Lisa, however, well she'll tell you about the birds outside our window. Let me just say this, once I realized no murders were occuring, they didn't keep me awake.
Lisa has our life planned for the rest of our time here. I am the poodle and loving it. (Anne)

Whew...we made it!

We are here and in a sweet part of town in a cute little pensione hotel. We are checking off our priorities quickly...showers, fresh clothes, internet cafe then FOOD!! The streets are going to be a real bear here. Much worse than Paris, very tight streets poorly marked and drivers with positive disregard for the rules of the road, including pedestrians. Its a little rainy here right now but the temperature is perfect. Perfect for eating PIZZA so off we go to the place that is dubbed the world's best. We'll let you know...

PS. "Limo" in Italian is a common word used to mean many things. In our case, it didn't mean a stretch type but it did get us a ride in a Mercedez with an oh so darling Italian man who spoke little English. You should know that its all true about the Italian Men. Gaggle of hunks...they look JUST LIKE Patrick and Cliff!
(Lisa)

We spent a week in Cincinnati one night

And by that we mean Kentucky. When we left Houston, we didn't really leave at all. We sat on the tarmac for two hours, already knowing we missed Rome. We did however, make it to the oh so beautiful Cincinnati airport, which we have now learned is actually Ft. Mitchell Kentucky. Confused? Delta was kind enough to give us a "kit" for the night, because the airport is no longer open past midnight and therefore we could not get our luggage. Laughing? Hold on...So Anne and I opted for the "it's really nice" Drawbridge hotel/motel/conference center/wedding destination/josting center/dog show arena/Medieval fortress. So here we are to blog about it because we just couldn't have made this up. We slept in our Delta Skyteam t-shirts after going to Walmart with Fred the shuttle driver to get matching clean underwear (which concerns us as Fred was very available for this run and went in to shop with us, but not for underwear like ours (thank God!). So this morning, we put back on our same attire with gold bond powder on it to make it "fresh" and slathered on our man deodorant from our "courtesy kit" (which by the way, if you miss your flight to Debuque or Rome, the kit is the same.) and decided to catch you all up to speed. We risked our lives walking to the Kinko's on the Buttermilk Pike. They decided that pedestrians should have to cross the busy freeway, every other block to access the "safe" sidewalks. In true form, we bucked the rules in one location and we are certain to have a good case of poison Ivy by the time we blog again. So back to the Drawbridge. We were asked by Fund for Teachers to document our trip and to please hold the bags they gave us for PR reasons. We thought our stop in "Cintucky" was too good to pass up. After all, the Drawbridge is a fine example of Medieval architecture. Think Renaissance Festival, meets motel 6 that is twenty years past remodeling schedule. Oh, as for Rome, we leave tonight on the 7:30flight, identical to yesterdays that we missed due to "weather" delays. So we shall arrive at 10:45am on the 1st instead of the 31st. Meanwhile, we do hope you enjoy the pictures of us on day one of our trip (scroll below). Stay tuned.... (Lisa)

Bon Ciao!

Since neither my sister in law, Barbara, nor I know how to say the equivalent of Bon Voyage in Italian she just made this up- Bon Ciao to us! We leave tomorrow and will be in the air for about 12 hours so don't expect to hear from us for a day or two. The next we blog will be from Bella Roma. Thanks to everyone for all the restaurant recommendations. We all know what is important on a trip don't we? And, oh yeh, we're going to see Michelangelo’s David too.

Rome or Bust!

T minus 1 and counting. Or something like that...

So you should know right off, before we ever leave the states that Anne and I are both very type A. I know this comes as a shock to both of you. It pains me to admit that Anne has correctly dubbed me as A+ and she as A-, which may genuinely be a shock to those of you that know us both (or at least I am hoping so). So in the true spirit of an A+, I used a swingin' website recommended by Fodor's as a concierge for our train tickets. Yes, I suppose we could have just gotten the tickets there once we arrived but that would not be very "A" behavior so just go with me here. I bought our fast train passes for Rome to Florence and then from Florence to Venice and get this, they deliver them right to our hotel in Rome. Again I am picturing Fabio (not the guy driving the limo, a new hunkier Fabio with good hair) swooping in to the Mimosa looking for the smokin', American art teachers in need of train tickets. Isn't that nifty? So of course I am so pleased with my A+ discovery that I search options for calling home. No surprises that it is the international calling card that tops the list, but there is an exciting twist on buying these. I was able to purchase our pin codes on-line via zaptel (another recommendation by Fodor's) and they just emailed me our "cards" with pins. The rate is so low this way that we got a zillion minutes for $35 bucks. If you get giggly calls in the night from chicks with bad Italian impersonations, repeatedly using English entwined with the occasional "Arrevaderci" and "ciao", its us and we are having a great time!!! Stay tuned!!

Only three days until Arrevaderci time!!

By the way, you'll see us use "Arrevaderci" and "Ciao" alot because its the only two words we know with confidence. We thought early on we would learn some of the language then that thing we do in the daytime...ya know, teaching, sort of got in the way of our big ambitions to be multilingual. Like the old college days, we are planning a last minute cram session on the flight there, which is also likely to go south as it contradicts with our plans for in flight sleeping aids and eye masks so we aren't jet lagged. So...thank goodness the Italians are pretty nice to us and have a great grasp of the English language, nor do they become immediately insulted when we murder their beautiful language. If this were a trip to France, I fear we would be in big trouble. We just got confirmation that Hotel Mimosa will be sending a limo to the airport to pick us up when we arrive in Rome. I guess they got word of the two babe-alicious, super-star, art teachers coming from America. Or maybe it was the 45euro deposit we sent for limo pick up...although we like the flaming stars theory much better. Either way, confirming that Fabio will be curbside waving a sign with our names on it, is making us feel like this is really going to happen. STay tuned for the adventure as it unfolds....

Bad time to apply for a passport renewal

But I got it in the nick of time. As you've probably heard on the news, passports are now required when traveling by air anywhere outside the US except to the US territories. Even though I applied 10 weeks in advance of our departure date, it still took several phone calls and a lot of positive vibes out to the universe to get my passport in time. But I did! Thanks to all you vibe senders. If you are planning to go anywhere that requires a passport this year, don't wait, renew now!

Anne and Lisa get a grant

Whoo Hoo! We're going to Italy on a Fund For Teachers grant! We leave May 30th. Check out the Fund For Teachers site under "Links",