Goals for 2013

I have 3 of them.... as they all come about, you'll know what they each are. 

The one I will share is this... I want to go back and I'm ready to go back. So I picked this up to get an itinerary together... I plan and what will be nice about this trip is I know what to expect. 

Time to upload Rosetta Stone to my Mac and imparare l'italiano!

Arrivederci per ora 

(Good-bye for now)

Earthquake in Italy

Say a prayer for them.

Earthquake in Italy

Images from BCC News

Peace~

Carnival of Venice

The Carnival has very old origins. It is a festival that celebrates the passage from winter into spring, a time when seemingly anything is possible, including the illusion where the most humble of classes become the most powerful by wearing masks on their faces. The official start of the Venice Carnival dates back to 1296, when the Senate of the Republic made the Carnival official with an edict declaring the day before Lent a public holiday. After an interruption lasting almost two centuries, the tradition of Carnival was rediscovered by the Municipality in 1980 and since then it has taken place every year with success.

When I was in Italy, I picked up a mask. Tonight, I was showing Faith some picutres and we talked about the mask I bought while I was there. She wanted to see the mask... so here we are:

Italian Alphabet

So.... not only do I want to complete this degree but I want to be able to have some sort of a conversation when I go back to Italy after I finish my MBA. The only way this will happen is to self teach myself Italian because seriously, when would I have time to take Italian??? On my little drive home I turned on my IPOD to the Italian alphabet. Deciding that it is probably best to learn the alphabet first before I tackle the language. I actually think I got it! As long as I keep repeating the letters, I will remember it. Not saying I completely understand every letter (h = acca, z = zeta, seriously???). I'm working on it!

a a
b bi
c ci
d di
e e
f effe
g gi
h acca
i i
l elle
m emme
n enne
o o
p pi
q cu
r erre
s esse
t ti
u u
v vu
z zeta

To leave you with a photo from Rome of Villa Medici

Happy Thursday!!!

Peace~

Happiness follows frustration!

So... as I am reading for school and about to fall asleep, I get a phone call from "the boy" at Michael's. It is 8:30 at night and he says he found my frames, I can come back down and he'll frame my paintings for me. HOLY HAPPINESS!!!!

Frustrated!

So yesterday I got a phone call from Michael's telling me that my frames were ready for my paintings I purchased in Italy. Last night, I seriously forgot to take them down there and get them framed! {What was I thinking???} So, tonight, I head down totally excited to bring them home, hang them on my newly painted wall, and admire them for the night.

I show up at Michael's, the nice boy looks for the frames, looks a second time, and comes back to tell me he cannot find them! Seriously... it is NOT that big in the framing room!!! GRRRR...

So I sadly take my unframed paintings back home with me and wait to call tomorrow to find out WHERE the frames are so I can bring my drawings back in tomorrow night.

That my friends... makes me sad!

Here is what the paintings are of: Roman Forum & Colosseo (the drawing is the outside, I put a photo up of the inside), the Santa Maria Maggiore, Trevi Fountain

Random shots in Italy

I decided to put up some random photos I took in Italy... so enjoy:

I just love this photo that I took at the Roman Forum.

Random shot of traffic in Rome while we were on our bus tour. It was nice to be off our feet for a little bit and we got to see a lot of Rome. If you are planning to go, I would highly suggest doing a bus tour of Rome your first day and then hitting the sites once you are rested from your long flight over!

So who would think it is safe to drink water in Italy? We all know (being the Arizonians we are) that you cannot drink water when you go to Mexico! So I was a little afraid to just walk up, fill up my water bottle, and start drinking. In Italy... it is ok to do that! Here is a photo of a place (seriously not sure what it is called) you can fill up your water bottle!

Speaking of drinkings.... while you were all in the early morning of work, we were enjoying Venice. Patty and I stopped at a little stand that sold cold beverages... aka: water, coke, and lovely bottles of bacardi breezers! So, why not? We are on vacation! We bought ourselves the delicious beverages and enjoyed every minute of it. Who knew you could walk down the streets of Venice with alcohol in your hand while your friends are back home working! I love Italy!!!

If you look close, you can see the clothes hanging out to dry. They do not have dryers because there is no room in their homes. They put everything out to dry. Now they did have drying racks in their house for the more "delicate" items but I still saw some had it all hanging out! {By the way, this is Genoa and I'll post photos of each place we visited over the month!}

Yep- tell me how the heck you pee here!!!? I had heard about the different toilets and the fact that some places you had to pay to pee (see tip below). A lot of places would have their toilet seats removed so needless to say when we would find a place to go to the bathroom as normal as possible, it was fabulous! This particular toilet we found on our way traveling to Cuneo. I had to pee bad... there was no way I was going to be able to hold it even though I wanted {is this TMI?}. Anyways Patty and I headed for the bathroom first while Brigid stayed behind with the luggage. We are at a train station and walk in to find this... OH NO I tell Patty, let's check out another bathroom... so we head to the next one on a different platform. We find the exact same thing! By now we are busting up laughing and asking each other how we are suppose to pee. DUH... squat! Ok- TMI but I have to say the entire time I was peeing I was laughing and so was Patty. Luckily this was the only toilet we came across like this but you will see the toilet below this has no toilet seat and we came across our fair share of these.

On a side note: As I said, some places charge you to use the restroom (I found this mostly in Venice, Brigid paid 1 euro which at the time was about $1.45 American dollars). Make sure you use the restrooms when you are eating at a restaurant or in a museum.

Some Italian men standing on a street in Rome. Everyone smokes there! That is probably the one thing I did not like about Italy and could not wait to come back to AZ for... non smoking EVERYWHERE!

The street signs throughout Italy

Another street shot in Italy. This again was on our bus tour.

Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum

Just a few pictures from Rome...

By making a commitment to post every day this month, that means the photos I promised will finally get posted here! Here are a few from my first day in Rome.

We went to the Colosseum and then to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.

The first 2 pictures are at the Colosseum.

3rd picture is taken from the Colosseum of the Roman Forum

Last 2 photos are at the Roman Forum. I love the last picture... of the cobblestone street. Just think of who walked along that street so many years ago!

Enjoy!

I don't even know where to begin. Can I just say that Italy was AMAZING! I've been asked what my favorite part was and everything was so different that I don't have a specific favorite. I LOVE the city and therefore Rome was incredible. We spent the most time in Rome seeing all the sites: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Vatican, St. Peter's, Sistine chapel, Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps. We walked for days and days. We basically landed in Rome at 8:30 am on Monday, dropped off our stuff at the hostel and then went out for the day and it seemed to never stop for 4 days.
We found this little ristorante around the corner from our hostel and every night we were in Roma we were there for dinner. They had incredible bruschetta, not to mention lasagna, chicken, basically everything was fabulous! Service was fabulous too... adorable waiters!
After Rome, we headed to Florence where we basically spent half a day and saw the David. Also had the most incredible panini EVER! Salami and mozzarella. I ordered water to drink and they gave me a glass. The glass was broke so I left it on the counter and figured I'd just drink my water from the bottle... OH NO... you cannot do that in Italy. The little old woman brought me a glass to my table so I drank my water from a glass. I might add... no ice (ever). It's the little things you take for granted but I soooo have a new appreciation for ice. I even drank coke without ice!
After Florence, we were off to Genoa. It was beautiful there. We walked along Passeggiata di Nervi which looked over the Ligurian sea (aka Mediterranean sea). There was not any sand and people layed out on rocks! We finally found a beach with some sand but no seashells. Weird but still beautiful!
After Genoa we headed for the Alps (near Cuneo). We stayed with an old friend of Brigid's (Paolo) at Stiera Sport & Vacanza Villaggio. We went to a hot spring 20 km from the France border, a market, and white water rafting. This was probably the most relaxing time of our trip and Paolo was so much fun. Stiera Sport & Vacanza Villaggio is a great place! They have archery, kayaking, white water rafting, biking. It's a great get away from everything! The scenery is unbelievable and breathtaking. I thought I died and went to heaven there!
Next we were off to Venice. Again, another incredible city. We spent the day there, mostly at Piazza San Marco. Yes, every where you go is by boat. You can get around the city on foot via bridges but it's a lot easier via water buses. We stayed on the island of Lido which is close to Venice but cheaper. The beach was right across the street and the seashells on the beach were all intact! You could actually find a whole seashell unlike when you go to Cali or Hawaii.
Finally, we headed back to Rome on Friday so we could spend our last day in Rome for last minute shopping. When we got back to Rome, we went to our local ristorante and had some chicken. The waiters took us out dancing that night and it was definitely a night I plan to never forget! On Sat. we did our last minute shopping and went to Piazza Novona where I bought some drawings. I need to get them framed and put up in my house. I can't wait!!!
Finally on Sunday, Sept. 28th we were back on our way home. 8 hr 44 min flight from Rome to JFK. At JFK I was tired and exhausted and we had a hamburger (LOVE AMERICAN FOOD). We sat on the tarmac for 2 hours before we could take off... not the greatest thing to do when you are exhausted and just want to get home. We then had another 4-1/2 hour flight. We made it home safe and within a couple of days I was caught up on my sleep.
I can't wait to go back and explore southern Italy... hopefully meet some family as well. First though, need to finish my master's and learn some Italian.
Ciao~

Home

Rome: Brigid, Me, Patty at Saint Angelo's castle:
Rome: at the Roman Forums:
Michaelangelo: The David {Florence}:
Genoa/Ligurian Sea:
Playing soccer on the beach:

Gaiola {The Italian Alps}:
Me in Cuneo:
Venice:
Lido:

Another shot of Venice:
Dancing in Rome with Gabriel:
Leaving Italy :(


So I am home safe... What an amazing two weeks.

Itinary:
Rome: 15, 16, 17, 18
Florence: 19
Genoa/Nervi: 20, 21
Cuneo/Gaiola: 22, 23, 24
Venice/Lido: 25, 26
Rome: 27
JFK airport/home: 28

847 photos to upload and sort through so no worries, I'll have more up soon!

Italy

Yep... I'll be there- tomorrowish!

See ya in 2 weeks!!!

Ciao