Eating in Italy

To write a blog about Italy without mentioning food would verge on being outright illegal. Food is part of the Italian culture, the fabric that binds everything together. Food is not eaten, it is experienced. The biggest difference that I noticed right away was that dinner starts late and lasts long. We would often show up to a restaurant at 8:30 and open the place, will the Italians joining around 9:30. And a 3 hour meal is not hard to achieve, which leads to some very late nights.

The Italian dinner experience starts with an apertivo course. This usually consists of cured meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Some restaurants bring several plates to share, while others have an apertivo buffet. This course usually also includes a light alcohol to wet the palate. After the apertiveo course, the Italians usually say “now we can eat”, whereas I’m usually already feeling full. The next course is the Primo, which always consists of pasta. I have tried at least 20 varieties of pasta here and have only begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities. Italians take their pasta seriously! The Primo course can also include soup. Next up is the Secondi course, which is the main meat dish. Italians heavily favor pork, but you can often get beef or seafood as well. Some fancy restaurants offer the premium meats of buffalo and horse (cabello). The meat is usually accompanied by a few sides of vegetables and potatoes. After the Secondi, there is an option for dessert. I have seen this range from fresh fruit platters to exotic chocolate confections. Once the food is done and everyone is thoroughly stuffed, the digestivo course is served. This consists of alcohol like limoncello (my favorite) or grappa. The alcohol is supposed to help the digestive process, which from experience does appear to work. As I write this, the Air France crew is starting to serve dinner which is a good thing because this section has made me hungry!

Traveling to Foggia

The adventure started about three weeks before Christina and I left for our vacation to Italy (purely by coincidence). My manager e-mailed me about an opportunity for a 6-month assignment in Italy and I tossed my name into the hat. Within a week, I found out not only that I was on the team, but also that I was supposed to leave on October 11^th (the same day we were supposed to leave on our vacation to Italy). After some negotiation, I arranged to start the assignment on October 26^th, 4 days after returning from our vacation.

So it was that on the morning of October 26^th I found myself back at Seatac waiting for an American Airline flight to whisk me off to JFK, then Rome. The major difference was that this time I was in First Class to New York and Business Class to Rome. And what a difference it was! Having just returned from Rome in coach with Christina, I was pleasantly surprised by the dramatically better service in the front of the plane. The food was wonderful on both flights (huge steaks, salads, and chocolate cake!). The flights were both on-time and uneventful. My only complaint was that the “lie-flat” seats in business class on the 767-200 would not recline to fully flat (I’d say it was about 150 degrees). Still, I was not about to complain about an all-expense paid trip to Europe!

Landing in Rome was strange because we came in on the auxiliary runway which is almost a mile from the main terminal. After taxiing for almost 20 minutes, we stopped in the middle of the tarmac far away from any gate. After a few minutes the doors opened and we all descended to waiting busses. After a short ride to the terminal, we were dropped off a customs.

For anyone who has not traveled through the Rome airport, I will explain how the customs process works. As with most countries, the first stage is the passport check. The difference in Rome is that the check lasts all of 5 seconds and sometime you have to ask to even get a stamp (to prove when you entered the country). There are no questions, no fingerprinting, no customs forms. The next step is to pick up your checked bags and proceed to customs. The difference is that there is a sign pointing towards the declaration area or the exit. If you have nothing to declare, you go straight to the exit and enter the EU officially. Everyone I’ve talked to gets to the stage and feels like they have entered the country illegally (seems like it really shouldn’t be that easy!). After that point, the only time you have to show your passport is when checking into a hotel or using the internet.

Once in Rome, my mission was to meet up with another engineer who was reporting to Foggia the same day. Our plan was to meet at the car rental counter after she landed (scheduled for about 30 minutes after I did). It turned out that her flight was about an hour late, but I was able to catch up on e-mails during the wait. She rented the car (a diesel Mercedes C220) and we hit the road.

The city of Foggia is located about 3 hours SE of Rome, on the East side of the country near the “spur” of the boot. It is about 20 minutes from the Adriatic Coast and an hour and a half from Naples, on the Mediterranean side. The drive from Rome took us across the mountains to the city of Pescara, then down the Adriatic coast. Foggia is located in an agricultural region which can be described as the Wichita of Italy. The land is flat and the city is a cacophony of densely packed one-way streets with no semblance of order and structure. I had loaded the European maps on my GPS before the trip, but even Garmin became thoroughly confused by the traffic patterns.

We eventually made it to our destination: the Cicolella Hotel. This would be my home for 44 nights while I waited for an apartment to be ready. It’s very hard to describe the Chic, as the Cicolella is known to locals (and Boeing residents). Words just can’t do it justice. The website calls it a 4-star hotel, but many would beg to differ. The hotel décor is about 50 years removed from modern, and most of the rooms are decorated to look appropriate in a 70’s-era porn flick. Mine had velvet walls and mirrors above the bed! What it lacked in style it made up for with an incredibly nice staff, central location, and free internet and breakfast. It was only after the first week that I actually looked at Trip Advisor and was amused to read all the negative reviews of the Chic. Had I read them before the trip I may have chosen another hotel, but I’m glad I didn’t.

The hotel was located in downtown Foggia, 2 blocks from the train station and 3 blocks from the central plaza. The city of Foggia is a lot bigger than I expected. It has several large plazas, a huge park, and some wonderful restaurants. We jumped into work the day after arriving in Foggia, but spent the evenings exploring our new home and eating great pizza, pasta, steak, and buffalo mozzarella. I spent the first few weeks settling into work and meeting everyone in the group. Several folks were staying at the Chic as well, so we had great meals out. Which brings me to my next topic…FOOD!

Back to Italy

As I write this, I am sitting in the back of an Air Fance A330-200 somewhere over Greenland on my way back to Seattle for Christmas. I had quite an adventure getting on this flight, but that will be a story for a different time.

For the last two months, I have been on-assignment in Foggia, Italy working with a supplier that builds the horizontal stabilizer for the 787-8 (the horizontal part of the tail). The goal of the on-site team is to help Alenia produce high-quality parts and get ready for a ramp-up in production. While there are many stories to tell about the job so far, none of them will be posted on this blog for obvious reasons.

What I can talk about are the many adventures that I have had in Italy and beyond. My internet access has been spotty outside of work, so I have not had much chance to update this blog. I’ve been keeping notes and pictures from my travels, so I’ll try to document it “officially” now...

Friday, October 22nd

On our last day of the trip we woke up early, checked out of the hotel, and boarded the shuttle bus for the quick trip to the airport terminal. We went through about 4 different passport checkpoints, rode another shuttle bus, and eventually made it to the gate with plenty of time to make the flight. From Rome flew directly to New York and had great views of the Alps again. The flight was long but uneventful, other than a medical emergency and a hard landing. It took a while to get through customs, but we had plenty of time to make our connection to Seattle. When we checked in for the flights, we had picked a window and aisle seat hoping that nobody would take the middle seat and our ploy was successful. We had lots of room to stretch out and sleep on the last leg of our journey. We made it back to Seattle a little after 10:00 in the evening (7:00 am the next day in Rome!). We took a taxi home and collapsed into bed.

Looking back at the trip, we have tons of memories and even more pictures. It was a whirlwind trip that was a little more hectic than we would have liked, but overall we had a great time. I think our next vacation will involve sitting on a beach somewhere warm and not going anywhere for a full week!

Thursday, October 21st

Today was our last full day in Italy. We spent the morning shopping in Sorrento, picking up souvenirs and lots of Limonchello. We packed our bags and said goodbye to Pepe. He extended an offer to any of our family and friends if you would like to visit Sorrento (20% off if your stay if you book directly with him). He gave us a lift to the train station and we started our trek back to the Rome airport. With all the transportation logistics, we were prepared to take our time and wait if something went wrong (especially since we didn’t have any tickets). Wouldn’t you know that everything went smoothly, even better than we could have hoped!

We arrived at the Sorrento train station about 5 minutes before the next Circumvesuvianna left for Naples. Once in Naples, we purchased tickets (2^nd class this time) on the Eurostar to Rome. The 2^nd class seats weren’t as comfortable or as wide as the 1^st class seats, but it still beat the pants off any of the Amtrak trains back home. The train to Rome left within 10 minutes of when we arrived in Naples. Once in Rome, we again had perfect timing and stepped on the airport express train mere seconds before it departed the station. We arrived at the airport and made our way to the hotel bus stop, where a shuttle arrived within 5 minutes and whisked us off to the Hilton Garden Inn. We had a great room looking out over the busy runways of the Rome Airport, and enjoyed using the first fast internet connection we had seen in two weeks. We ate a leisurely dinner at the hotel, then re-packed our bags and drifted off to sleep.

Wednesday, October 20th

We woke up Wednesday to a beautiful sunny day, so we headed out to the Amalfi Coast. The famous drive stretches between Sorrento and Solerno along the southern coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula. To picture the drive, imagine taking the Big Sur drive along Highway 1 in California. Now take away 1 of the lanes and add tour buses and Italian drivers. Add a few picturesque villages built into the hillside and you have the Amalfi Coast. Our rented Smart Car was essentially an enclosed diesel-powered go-cart, which turned out to be just about perfect for the drive (perfect would have been an Italian sports car!). Our first stop of the day was at a village called Positano. Literally built into the side of a steep hill, the town has only 1 street open to cars and the only way to get around is a labyrinth of stairs. We parked at the top and walked all the way down to the beach, which took about 20 minutes. At the bottom, we took guesses of how many stairs it would be to the top (my guess was 823). After chugging back to the car, we had counted 827 steps. Too bad I’m not the betting type!

The next stop was the town of Amalfi, where we wandered around and took more pictures. From there we drove up the mountainside to a town called Ravello, which is perched on a cliff 1000 feet above the water. We ate at a wonderful restaurant with a breathtaking view of the coastline (Thanks Rick Steves for the recommendation!). After some very gooey gelato, we headed back to the main road and continued toward Solerno. Our next stop was the Greek ruins of Paestum which are about 20 miles South of Solerno. We accidentally got on to the wrong direction of the autostrada, but we eventually figured it out and got to pay the toll twice! We made it down to Paestum and spent about an hour exploring the ruins. To be quite honest, by this point we were pretty tired of walking around ruins. We decided it might be more fun to make up our own stories about the ruins (i.e. the Temple of Zeus was really used to host youth basketball games and community fundraisers).

From Paestum, we headed back to Sorrento on the autostrada. We again got a little turned around and accidentally ended up back at Pompeii. I should mention that our faithful GPS “Gerdy” had given in to the trauma of global air travel and arrived in Italy without a functioning screen. We will miss you Gerdy!

At some point on the drive home, Christina developed a severe migraine and was virtually incapacitated by the time we got home. She went to bed early and I had a dinner of salami and crackers (it was a lot better than it sounds!).

Tuesday, October 19th

Our plans to drive the Amalfi Coast went out the window when Christina woke up with a stomach ache and fever. The weather also did not look good, with wind and rain obscuring our view of the water. We took it as a sign to stay home and have another quiet day. Christina spent the morning resting and I sat down and read a book. By lunchtime, Christina was feeling a little better and the weather started to clear up. We didn’t have enough time to drive the Amalfi Coast, so we set of to Pompeii instead.

The drive to Pompeii made me appreciate the Circumvesuvianna train! I quickly learned some important lessons about driving in Italy: (1) Expect the unexpected, (2) Defensive driving is key, and (3) Stop signs and lane markers are merely suggestions. The best advice I heard from other tourists was to “just drive like to want and the Italians will pass you if they don’t like it”. That was certainly a true statement, especially with the dare-devil moped and motorcycle riders! The drive took us along narrow winding roads and through busy towns. There were several spots of construction and detours, so the drive ended up taking much longer than taking the train. Oh well, it was good practice!

We parked outside Pompeii and walked into the site. Not being a scholar of history, my knowledge of the ruins was limited to “a town buried by a volcano”. What we found was an amazing metropolis of the former Roman city that was in remarkable condition for being nearly 2000 years old. Pompeii was a thriving port city along the Mediterranean before it was completely buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. It wasn’t until the 1700’s that the site was re-discovered and it is still being excavated to this day. This makes it one of the best preserved and complete set of Roman ruins in the world. We spent about 3 hours walking around the site listening to Rick Steves’ podcasts. The highlights included several houses and temples, along with a theater and amphitheater. It was amazing to walk the cobblestone streets and see the treads warn into the rock from chariots thousands of years ago. One of the more gruesome sights was a case full of plaster casts made of the victims of Pompeii. The eruption was so sudden that 2000 residents were killed, most buried under the ash. When the flesh decomposed, it left a void in the shape of their bodies. When the site was excavated, archaeologists poured plaster into these voids and made shockingly accurate molds of several of the victims, frozen in their dying moments.

After walking all around Pompeii, we got back to the car around 4:00. In the interest of time, we decided to skip Herculaneum and Mt. Vesuvius and head back to Sorrento. After another wild Italian driving experience, we made it home safe-and-sound. Christina made a very good chicken noodle soup and we enjoyed a quiet evening.

Monday, October 18th

Today was planned as another day of relaxation. The only planned event was a 4-hour cooking class to create (and eat!) a 4-course Italian meal. After a light breakfast and walk to town, we met up with a driver who took us to the resort where the cooking class was held. During the drive, we chatted with a couple from Toronto who were on a whirlwind honeymoon through Italy and Turkey. It was nice to have conversations in English!

It turned out that there were 11 people in the cooking class from all over the world, including Canada, Australia, England, and Finland. The chef did not speak much English, so there was a translator to explain all the steps.

The first course was an appetizer of fried Neapolitan pizza. We mixed all the ingredients to make the dough, and then made individual pizzas that were topped with tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, and basil after the dough was fried in peanut oil. The dough was incredibly good, though I would have preferred more exotic toppings.

The next course was Capri style ravioli stuffed with a 3-cheese blend of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan. After kneading the dough, we had fun adding the filling, folding the top over, and cutting out the ravioli shape. We could tell which raviolis we had made based on the obscure shape and size of each piece!

The main course was called “Crazy Water Fish Fillets”. It consisted of a local white fish, baked with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, salt, garlic, onion, parsley, celery, and oregano. The “crazy water” name comes from the fact that it is supposed to be pan-fried in olive oil, which causes the water to pop and crackle when the fish is added. However, for our demonstration there were so many people that we had to bake it in an oven instead. It was incredibly tasty though, even to me as a person who does not typically like any kind of seafood.

The final course was an authentic Tiramisu, complete with whipped eggs, dark rum, and coffee-soaked lady fingers. By the time we got to the dessert, all of us were already stuffed from all the other great food we had eaten. I made it only a few bites into the Tiramisu before I threw in the towel. It was fun to see how to make it though. We left the cooking class with copies of all the recipes so that we could try them all out at home. I know that we’ll try the fried pizza for sure!

After lunch, we stumbled back to the house for a long siesta. After we woke up, we headed into town to grab some groceries for a light dinner and headed over to Europecar to rent a car. It took over a week, but I have finally built up the courage to drive with the wild Italians! Our plan is to drive the Amalfi Coast tomorrow, so we rented a Smart Car for the adventure. It is a funny little diesel car with a pseudo-automatic transmission, but it should be the perfect way to explore the coast without worrying too much about fitting into parking spaces!

Sunday, October 17th

After a crazy day of exploring on Saturday, we were both ready to completely relax on Sunday. We slept in until about 9:30 and had a lazy breakfast on the patio. Our biggest excursion was a trip into town to buy laundry soap and toilet paper. After that, I finally had a chance to sit down and post some of the content to this blog. The internet connection is too slow to upload any pictures, but I’m glad to be at least posting text of our adventures. After tiring of the dawdling wireless signal, we sat in the sun and read our books until our stomachs started to rumble. Pepe had impeccable timing as he brought us roasted chestnuts and pastries that we enjoyed while taking in the view.

Lunch today was a very special treat. We went to a restaurant called Il Buco, the only Michelin-rated restaurant in Sorrento. In what can only be described as a “food experience “, we enjoyed an amazing array of Italian spenders for over two hours. Christina had ravioli stuffed with octopus, followed by lamb ribs. I had a potato stuffed with cheese and bacon, followed by a steak with apple glaze. To top it off, I got a half-bottle of local red wine. By the time we left the restaurant, we both felt like we could barely walk back up to the villa (despite our wallets being significantly lighter!).

After an afternoon siesta, we spent more time reading before heading back into town for gelato and phone calls home. After figuring out where to buy phone cards and how they work in the payphones, it was great to connect to family back home.

Saturday, October 16th

Today, we got lost in Naples. Not lost in the classic romantic sense, but truly lost in a strange, dark, graffiti-strewn metropolis.

The day started out with a simple plan: see the island of Capri and then head over to the National Museum in Naples before returning to Sorrento. We are a quick breakfast at the villa and then walked down the narrow streets to Marina Piccolo (“Small marina” in Italian, but it’s actually much larger than Marina Grande). We purchased tickets for the 8:45 jet boat to Capri and were on our way less than 10 minutes later. The island is located about 5 km off the Sorrentine Peninsula and has been a favorite vacation spot for celebrities and Roman emperors alike. The main attractions are Capri town, the Blue Grotto, and the I Faraglioni rock formation.

Despite riding in a modern catamaran jet boat, the ride over was far from smooth. We had great views of the rugged coastline during the 25-minute crossing, but the boat went through many undulations in all directions. After arriving on Capri, it took a while for the feeling of rolling seas to subside before we were ready to explore.

Our main mode of transportation on the island was the public bus. All the guidebooks we read said not to purchase a daily pass and opt for single-use tickets instead because it would take 6 trips to equal the price of a day pass. Unknowingly, we made that our target. The first leg was supposed to take us to the town of Anacapri, where we could connect to a bus to the Blue Grotto. We purchased the bus tickets (#1) and saw there was no line, so we chose to wait on a nice little beach. While we were enjoying the sun, a mob of tourists decided to line up for the same bus. We weren’t worried until we saw the bus show up, which may have been slightly smaller than a Chevy Suburban. After watching nearly 20 people pile into tiny bus, it became clear that we were not going to make it. Plan B was to take the funicular up to the town of Capri, then transfer to another (more frequent) bus to Anacapri. So we rode the train up to Capri, which is an Italian version of Beverly Hills. From there, we purchased more bus tickets (#2) and headed to Anacapri. As we rode up the steep and narrow winding roads, we quickly discovered the reason for the midget busses: anything larger wouldn’t fit on the roads! The drive took us up a series of switchbacks until we were about 500 feet above the water along a steep precipice. We arrived at Anacapri and purchased the bus tickets (#3) to the Blue Grotto. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived to an empty parking lot above the Grotto. As we descended the stairs, we remembered the guidebooks warning that on days with rough water, the boats didn’t operate to take folks into the grotto. Sure enough, today was one of those days. Instead of riding the boats into the grotto, we took pictures of the stairs leading to the grotto and purchased postcards to see what we were missing. With another set of bus tickets (#4), we headed back to Anacapri.

After a quick lunch of take-out calzones and pizza, we walked over to the Monte Solaro chairlift, which whisked us to the highest point on the Island (1,932 ft). We were rewarded with panoramic views of Capri, Sorrento, and the Bay of Naples. After taking plenty of pictures, we opted to hike back to Anacapri rather than take the chairlift. It offered a great chance to stretch our legs and see some great scenery along the way. Back in Anacapri, we set off in search of gelato. One thing we have discovered about Italy is that gelato stands are as numerous as Starbucks shops in Seattle; there seems to be one on every corner. Which is why we were surprised to walk about 10 minutes down the main commercial street of Anacapri and not find a single shop. It wasn’t until we walked back to the chairlift that we discovered a shop right across the street from where we had started! Once we were refreshed with gelato, we purchased our bus tickets (#5) with the intent of going straight to the marina. No luck. 10 minutes after the bus was supposed to arrive, we gave up and rode back to Capri. From there, we purchased tickets (#6) and rode the funicular back to the Marina.

Main lessons from Capri: (1) It would have been cheaper and easier to purchase an all-day bus pass, (2) Always check to see if the Blue Grotto boats are running before you get to the parking lot, and (3) Look around before walking in search of gelato (odds are there’s a shop right in front of you!).

Our second stop for the day was Naples. To avoid the same sea-sickness from the morning, we bought tickets on the ferry. We spent about 20 minutes extra time to cross the bay compared to the jet boat, but we saved our stomachs and sanity. Arriving in Naples, we were amazed to see some of the huge car ferries that make the Washington State ferries look like small skiboats. Some of the ferries looked as large as the mega cruise ships!

Once we exited the marina complex, we found ourselves wandering very dark and graffiti-strewn streets. It didn’t help that a storm was rolling in, so the dark grey clouds matched the color and mood of the city. This was the first time during the whole trip that I found myself consciously clutching my cell phone and money belt out of certainty that we would fall victim to the famous Italian pick-pockets. Although we had a detailed map of the city, on several occasions we found ourselves on streets that were not on the map or plazas with no street names at all. After walking a zig-zag pattern through the cacophony of city blocks, we finally got our bearings and headed for the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (National Archeological Museum). Once we were about 10 blocks away, the heavens opened up like a Tucson monsoon and turned the streets into flowing rivers. The rain was so hard that even the folks with rain jackets or umbrellas (ourselves included) huddled under the porticos of small shops and waited out the squall. After about 5 minutes, the rain let up and we made it to the museum.

The highlight of the museum is a collection of artifacts and frescoes recovered from Pompeii. After the ruins were discovered, everything of value was swept up and whisked off to museums, with a large portion of the artifacts ending up in Naples. We were amazed to see the intricately made silver dishes and colored glass bottles. The museum itself is impressive, occupying a huge palace that dates to 1585. The main gallery is one of the largest rooms in all of Europe. Another highlight of the museum is the Gabinetto Secreto, or the Secret Cabinet. This room was supposed to contain all the “X-rated” finds from Pomeii. Unfortunately, the room would remain a secret to us because it was closed for restoration during our visit.

By the time we had finished browsing the collections at the museum, we had long missed the last ferry back to Sorrento. That meant we had to find our way to the main train station and ride the circumvesuviana train again. The journey to the train station proved to be more arduous than the trek to the museum. Although we avoided any downpours this time, we found ourselves dodging rowdy crowds of Italians out for a night on the town. We again became disoriented sever times and were on the verge of being overwhelmed before we finally made it to the train station. Eventually we gave up on making it back to Sorrento in time for dinner and stopped for a quick meal of panini and pizza (there always seems to be pizza when you need it!).

Eventually we did make it to the train station and we caught the circumvesuviana back to Sorrento. As we rode the rickety rails back home, we had time to reflect on our whirlwind 13-hour adventure. We decided that either Capri or Naples would have been a good goal for the day, but trying to cover both in the same day was a little too much. By the time we made it back to the villa, we were both looking forward to a couple days to finally relax and unwind.

Friday, October 15th

After a night of heavy rain and thunderstorms, we again woke up to a damp town but clearing skies. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed down to explore Sorrento. The town was founded more than 2000 years ago, so the roads are narrow and the architecture is quite old. The city is perched on the side of a cliff, with stairs down to a marina and a small beach. We wandered down to the water and back to the main drag of town. There are several narrow streets lined with shops selling the staples of Sorrento, which seem to be limoncella, inlayed wood, and ceramic items. We held off purchasing anything until we had more time to explore. We headed back to the marina and had a wonderful lunch looking out at the boats.

After lunch we trekked back to the villa for an afternoon siesta (fully embracing that part of Italian culture!). Once we woke up, we headed back to town to get food for dinner. Christina made another wonderful dinner, this time consisting of lemon chicken and artichokes. I can certainly get used to eating like an Italian!

Now I’m sitting here typing up the text for the blog; hopefully I’ll have a chance to upload everything soon. Tomorrow we are heading to Capri for a day of exploring and hiking. More to come shortly.

Thursday, October 14th

We woke up Thursday and had another British breakfast at the hotel. We then headed to a local market so Christina could get a taste of the local produce and start planning the meals for Sorrento. She was not disappointed by the selection, though we ended up only buying a pomegranate since we did not want to carry much with us on the train.

Our next stop was the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, which is a huge building in the center of the city that was built to celebrate the first king of Italy. It is quite a gaudy building, and has all kinds of derogatory nicknames like the wedding cake and the typewriter. The best part is that there is an observation deck at the top of the building that provides panoramic views of the city. We took lots of pictures and then headed back to the hotel to pack.

The first leg of the trip to Sorrento was on the Eruostar Italia train. We splurged for 1st class tickets, which afforded us wide seats and free champagne. The trip from Rome to Naples covered the same distance as Seattle to Portland, but the 220 mph bullet train got us there in just over an hour. I kept thinking of how nice it would be to have such a system in the US. Can you image getting from Seattle to Portland in an hour?! Once in Naples, we transferred to the Circumvesuviana line to Sorrento. If the Eurostar was a Hilton, the Circumvesuviana would be the back alley of a Motel 6. It was quite a shock to go from the 1st class accommodations to what was essentially a beat-up graffiti-painted subway train from the mid-90’s. The 1-hour ride from Naples to Sorrento seemed to last forever, at least until we were able to find seats and a shred of comfort. The only alternative was to pay outrageous fees for a taxi or bus, or wait for a ferry to cross the Bay of Naples. We eventually made it to Sorrento, which is an absolutely beautiful town on the Mediterranean, nestled on a peninsula between Mount Vesuvious and the island of Capri.

Our next challenge was to get to the villa that we had rented for the week. Our plan was to take a taxi, but the driver wanted to charge 20 Euros for the 3 km drive, a price that seemed absurd even for a tourist area. It turns out that the taxis here are not regulated, so the drivers are able to gouge the tourist as much as they want. We ended up taking the public bus, which took significantly longer but only cost us 5 Euros. We arrived outside the Hilton Grand Palace and met the owner of the villa, Senior Pepe. He drove us up the hill to Casa Donna Titina. Located right next to Pepe’s house, the villa has 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, and breathtaking views of the Bay of Naples. We hardly had time to unload our bags before Pepe invited us over to his house for Limoncella. Pepe’s English is certainly better than our Italian, but we still found it difficult to carry on a conversation for very long. We enjoyed the view and I sampled the home-made limoncella which is a delicacy of Sorrento. I would describe it as lemon flavored NyQuil, but that doesn’t capture the fact that it is actually quite good. We are planning to ship a few bottled back to the US so we can share it with friends and family.

The villa was advertised as having an internet connection, and it turned out that the connection was from Pepe’s house and the only place that we could pick it up was at a table in the driveway. I was able to get a connection and spent a little time reading through e-mail and making sure that I wasn’t missing any logistics from work related to my move to Italy.

Pepe offered to drive us to the grocery store to pick up some food, so we obliged and piled into his tiny car. It turns out that it’s a good thing he has such a small car, because the streets in Sorrento aren’t much wider than a motor scooter with a wide load. After a wild drive through the canyon-like streets, we arrived at the grocery store and picked up enough for dinner and breakfast. Pepe drove us back to the villa and Christina made a wonderful dinner of noodles with tomato sauce and beef. We read our books and faded off to sleep.

Wednesday, October 13th

We woke up on Wednesday to find a very damp city. A big rainstorm had passed during the night, but the skies looked like they were starting to clear. We ate breakfast at the hotel in a 4th story room that overlooked to Colosseum. The hotel we were staying at caters primarily to British travelers, so the breakfast was British continental. There were tasty chocolate pastries, scrambled eggs, funny little cocktail wieners, plates of cheese and deli meats, and American cereals. The most amusing part was that we were eating breakfast in Rome overlooking the Colosseum, and the music in the background was Rhianna and Ke$ha.

The plan for the day was a 4-hour walking tour followed by a trip to the Vatican Museum and St. Peters Basilica. We met our tour group on the other side of the Colosseum. We had arranged it through a company called Context, which specializes in small group tours by highly educated guides. There were three couples on the tour, and it turned out that two were from Seattle and one was from Portland. I guess it’s the time of the year to escape the Pacific Northwest! Our tour guide was a French woman with a Masters degree in Art History who had lived in San Francisco for 3 years before moving to Rome. She provided a great narrative as we wandered through the historical sites.

Our first stop was the Colosseum. We walked around the outside and she described the ingenious system that the Romans used to build a retractable awning that could protect the crowd of 50,000 people from the harsh summer rays. We entered the site and got some great views of the inside of the arena. One of the most interesting lessons was that the name “Colosseum” comes from the fact that the building was constructed next to a huge statue of the emperor Nero, which was later defaced and re-faced as the god Colossus. The building was referred to as “next to Colossus”, which later morphed into Colosseum. The name stuck and now we call all sorts of stadiums “Coliseums”, while the name really has nothing to do with sports or circular arenas. The type of building was called an Amphitheatre.

We next headed to the Roman Forum, a collection of ruins that was the heart of Ancient Rome. It was amazing to see all the different levels of the buildings. As the civilization grew, new buildings were constructed on the ruins of old ones and the whole city grew vertically. By the 5th century AD, the city level was almost 20 feet taller than it had begun. Now that may of the sites have been excavated down to the original levels, you see a lot of doors and entryways that are suspended 20 feet in the air. It’s like digging a house down to its basement and looking up from the hole.

The last stop on the tour was Palentine Hill, where the Roman civilization was started by Romulus in about 750 B.C. The hill was the site of giant compounds for the emperors and senators, and the houses on Palentine eventually were called palaces. The hill provided great view of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. One of the highlights was the palace of emperor Domitian which was nearly a quarter mile long on each side. It also had a great view of Circus Maximus, where the Roman chariot races were observed by more than 200,000 people many years ago. This concluded our walking tour, and we bid goodbye to our friends from the Northwest.

After a brief stop at the hotel, we boarded the Metro and headed to Vatican City. We ate a quick pizza lunch and entered the Vatican Museum. I had no idea that the Vatican had such a vast assortment of art, statues, and tapestries that made the National Museum look like an amateur collection. It was amazing to see some of the Egyptian artifacts that were stolen by various Popes throughout the century. There were also almost endless hallways with extravagant artwork on the walls and ceiling. The highlight of the museum is the Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo’s famous artwork depicting the entirety of Christian history. We sat and listened to pod casts describing the paintings and the incredible amount of work that it took to create them. I didn’t realize that the paint could only be applied to wet plaster, so Michelangelo had to have the walls plastered each day and just enough area that he could finish painting in a day. If there were any mistakes, the area would have to be re-plastered. I can’t imagine doing that for nearly four years!

From the chapel, we walked out to St. Peter’s Square and took pictures of St. Peter’s Basilica. By that time we were getting pretty tired, so we decided to skip the tour of St. Peter’s and head back to the hotel.

Dinner on Wednesday was our first chance to sit down and experience a true Italian meal. We ate at Urbana 47, a restaurant that specializes in creating dishes from locally available food. I had a wonderful chicken dish, and Christina had lamb and potatoes that was to-die-for. Although we only had a two-course meal, we still took about two hours to savor the food. We got back to the hotel around 11:00 and were asleep before we hit the pillow.

Tuesday, October 12th

We woke up Tuesday over the Swiss Alps, having crossed over England and France while we were sleeping. The views out the window were breathtaking and helped us break out of the sleep-deprived fog. We flew down the Italian coast and straight into the Rome Fiumicino Airport. I always enjoy flying into international airports for all the plane-spotting opportunities (yes, I’m a nerd!). We got off the plane and experienced hands-down the easiest customs process that I have ever seen. Our passports couldn’t have been out of our hands for more than 3 seconds. It was long enough to get a stamp, but hardly enough time to read our name or make any attempt to record our entry into the country. We purchased our Roma Passes, which would get us into the main attractions and provided a pass for the transit system. Since we were only traveling with carry-on bags, we proceeded directly to the airport train station and took the train into downtown Rome.

We arrived at the downtown Termini and transferred to the Metro train. Two stops later, we got off at the Colosseo station and found ourselves staring at the Roman Colosseum. We snapped a couple pictures and then headed to our hotel (Capo d’Africa) located about 5 blocks from the Colosseum. We checked into the hotel and took a chance to shower and refresh from the long journey. Then it was off to explore Rome.

Our first stop was a café for lunch. We certainly were struggling with Italian, so we resorted to pointing at the items we wanted and using charades to determine the price. I ended up with a toasted panini and Christina had a spaghetti bowl. As we ate lunch, we watched an amazing scene of busy Italians eating and chatting during their breaks from the work day. We were amused by how many businessmen we saw in fancy suits eating huge gelato sundaes!

After lunch, we went to the National Museum where they have many artifacts from the Roman civilizations. We took pictures of many statues, tablets, and paintings. What caught my eye was a complete set of armor and weapons from a Lanuvium warrior dated from 475 BC. It was just staggering to think that we were looking at items made almost 2500 years ago! After about an hour in the museum, my energy levels started to plummet as those sleepless hours on the plane were racing to catch up with me. We headed back to the hotel and completely crashed.

What was supposed to be a 2-hour siesta turned into a 4-hour coma after I subconsciously decided to ignore my alarm clock. I have dim memories of turning the alarm off, but I can’t remember having any motivation to get up at the time. By the time we woke up, it was a little past 7:00 PM. With our energy levels refreshed, we continued our walking tour of the city. We wandered past the Colosseum, Campo de' Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Dinner was pizza to-go. The Italians definitely know how to make pizza! Best of all, they have to-go pizza that is folded to create a pizza sandwich that is portable and tastes great.

Our plan was to buy gelato and eat it on the Spanish Steps, but the shop we tried wanted to charge us 15 Euros (about $22.50) for 2 scoops of ice cream! We said No Thanks and handed the cone back and walked out the door. We took the metro back to the Colloseum and got gelato by our hotel for 3 Euros. We borrowed the computer at the main desk to send a quick e-mail update, then headed off to sleep

Monday, October 11th

Note: our internet connection here is too slow to support pictures, so I will be adding those after we return.

We woke up Monday and finished some last minute packing, ate a quick breakfast, and headed to the airport after saying goodbye to the puppies. Evelyn had driven up from Portland to pick up the dogs and she was able to get us to the airport as well (BIG THANKS!!!). We we’re flying American Airlines for two reasons: cheapest price and frequent flier miles (on Alaska Air). From Seattle, we headed to Chicago on one of American’s newest 737-800’s (Built in Nov. 2009). The flight was uneventful and we landed in Chicago a few minutes early. On the ground, we experienced what I call “gate serendipity”. Expecting a long walk through O’Hare airport, we were pleasantly surprised to find our connection was from gate K10 to gate K13 (all of about 200 feet!). You can’t ask for much better in one of the busiest airports in the world. We had enough time to sit down and eat a nice dinner before the next flight.

From Chicago, we had a direct flight to Rome on a 767-300 that was almost as old as Christina and me. The seats seemed smaller than the 737 and we found it nearly impossible to sleep. The only benefit was that the 2-3-2 seating allowed us an aisle and a window seat without anyone between us. The food was pretty standard airline food, but at least it was included! Despite the Italians chatting throughout the night, we did eventually manage to drift off to sleep for about two hours.

Off to Italy!

It’s time to start up the travel blog again; this time we’re headed to Italy! We’ll spend 2 nights in Rome, followed by a week in the Mediterranean town of Sorrento. This trip has been planned for quite some time, long before I knew that I’d be moving to Italy for 6 months shortly after our return.

Olympics - Day 4

On our last day in Vancouver, we had no Olympic events scheduled and our train to Seattle did not depart until almost 8:00 pm. That meant one thing: sightseeing! We slept late and leisurely packed up all our stuff before checking out of the hotel. We were again thankful that we could fit all our stuff in backpacks, with the addition of a shopping bag or two for souvenirs. We boarded the bus for the last time and headed off to the Sky Train. This time, we took the train all the way to the end of the line, at the Waterfront station. Evelyn treated us to brunch in the Lookout, which was having a Sunday Brunch in their revolving restaurant. This was our third time up in the tower, but the views were still equally impressive.

We boarded the Seabus and rode it across the bay to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. From there, we boarded a bus towards Grouse Mountain. Our destination was the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which spans 450 feet and 230 feet above the Capilano River. It was another beautiful day in Vancouver, so we were glad to be outside enjoying the scenery. The bridge itsself is an impressive feat of engineering, with large and reduntant steel cables to hold everything up. Despite all the reinforcement, it is definitely still a suspension bridge which means it sways in the wind and oscillates as people walk. It is definitely not an adventure for those who don't like heights! On the other side of the bridge is a nature park with boardwalks and smaller suspension bridges through the treetops. We spent a while exploring the area and then headed back towards Vancouver.

Back at Lonsdale Quay, Christina found more fresh fruit and I got another beaver tail treat. We rode the Seabus back over to Vancouver just as the big US vs. Canada hockey game was starting. We wound through the downtown area and made our way back to the train station. We had planned on shopping for Olympic souvenirs at the "Official Olympic Store", but the line was outrageously long and we're sure all the items were over-priced. We decided to complete any shopping online once we got back home. Christina guarded our stuff at the train station and Evelyn and I went out in search of food. As we walked around the waterfront, we found some large screens that were set up and broadcasting the big hockey game. We were standing right outside the arena when the US scored a goal to tie it all up. We had to head back to the train station before the game was over, but luckily it was showing at the McDonald's. We were surrounded by US fans when they won the game, so we had a big celebration in the station (this was the qualifying game, not the gold-medal match).

The train ride back was an adventure on it's own as we ended up sitting next to a man who was heavily intoxicated and very excited about the US win in hockey. He was very obnoxious and could be seen running around the train draped in a US flag on numerous occasions. When not celebrating the game, he was having a dramatic fight with his girlfriend via cell phone. We were all surprised that he didn't end up getting kicked off the train...he surely would have been kicked off an airplane! Evelyn and I ended up heading back to the dining car while Christina tried to sleep. We made it back to Seattle right around midnight and back to our house by about 1:00 after picking up the car. We both took Monday off to sleep in and recover!

All-in-all, the weekend was an incredible adventure. It was everything we had hoped for and more! Yes, the tickets and hotel were ridiculously over-priced. Yes, there were lines and crowds wherever you turned. But the incredible thing was that none of that mattered. The energy up there was absolutely captivating. It was exciting to just be a small part of the excitement. As my friend put it: IT'S THE FRICKIN' OLYMPICS!!! Enough said.

Olympics - Day 3

The third day up there was the first chance that we were able to sleep in late. After a leisurely morning and terrific breakfast at the hotel, we packed a backpack and headed into town. The bus and train were as busy as they had been the previous night, so we could tell that the transit system was being used well. When we got downtown, we transferred to a bus that would take us to the Vancouver Aquarium. What we didn't realize at the time was that the bus route took us through some of the most crowded areas of downtown. What would have taken us about 4 minutes on the train ended up taking almost 30! We finally did make it out to the aquarium, just in time for the dolphin show! You'll notice that the dolphins weren't your typical Sea-World variety bottlenose dolphin. Rather, these we Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. Yes, we're glad that the scientists were so creative in their naming conventions! The show was short but entertaining, and we spent the rest of the morning wandering around the exhibits and watching a beluga whale show (no aerial tricks at that one!).

After the aquarium, we headed back downtown for more Olympic adventures. In a hurry to find dinner, we ended up at the food court of a huge downtown mall. We certainly weren't the only ones with that idea, but we did manage to get our food and eat in a reasonable amount of time.

The first event of the evening was the Victory Ceremony at BC Place. This was the nightly celebration and medal ceremony for some particular events. The neat part was that it was in the BC Place stadium, where they held the opening and closing ceremonies. It was neat to see the inside after having watched the opening ceremonies! The tickets that we had purchased the previous day turned out to be right on the floor with clear views of the stage. We watched various cultural and dance performances before the medals ceremonies began. Medals were presented for about 4 different events, including Men's Skeleton and Ski Jumping. The Skeleton was fun to watch because an eccentric Canadian won the gold medal, which threw the crown into wild applause and a group-singing of the national anthem. It turned out that all the athletes were up at a similar medal ceremony in Whistler, so all we got to see was a live feed from up North. That didn't quell the excitement of the crowd one bit though. After the medal ceremonies, there was a concert by a rock group called Stereophinics. Apparently they are quite popular in England, as there were hundreds of flag-waiving fans lining the stage. After a few blaring songs, we decided that we had had enough and headed out to our next event.

The main event of the night was a hockey game between Germany and Belarus. Why Germany vs. Belarus, you may ask? The answer is simple: we had to purchase our tickets in a lottery system way back in November of 2008, long before any of the match-ups were ever decided. Also, tickets for any of the US games were starting at around $1000 each by the time we got up there (the tickets for the gold medal game were going for up to $4000 a pop!). At our game, the arena was still full of cheering and chanting fans, though we guessed that most of them were Canadian and US folks who were taking on an adopted patriotism. We decided to join them, with Christina cheering for Germany and me cheering for Belarus. This was my first ever hockey game, and I was not disappointed. Germany scored the first goal, but Belarus came back and scored three in a row to make it 3-1. With the cowbell getting plenty of use, Germany came back and score 2 goals in the second period to tie it at 3-3 heading into the 3rd. It turned out that I picked the right side to cheer for, as Belarus ended up scoring two goals in the 3rd to win it 5-3. I must say that I'm a big fan of the adopted team concept. I was thrilled that my team had won, but at the same time nobody seemed disappointed that the other team lost. That aspect of sport seems to be missing from most US sports! Overall, it was a great experience. As we watched the big US-Canada games in the following week, we were able to see where we were sitting for our own hockey adventure. It was a truly memorable evening.

After the hockey game let out just before midnight, we hurried off to the train with what seemed to be the entire population of Vancouver in tow. Surprisingly, we were able to get home in good time and we were all fast asleep by 1:00.

Olympics - Day 2

Friday morning found us waking up early, packing our stuff into a single backpack, and taking a taxi to the Olympic Bus Network station East of downtown Vancouver. We boarded the charter bus and headed up to Whistler for a day of watching Ski Jumping! The bus followed the famous Sea-to-Sky highway, which hugs the Sunshine Coast before turning vertical and heading for the snowy slopes of Whistler. The sun rose over another beautiful morning as we enjoyed the beautiful scenic drive. We had been told to expect up to a 3-hour journey with traffic, but the morning proved to be quiet and we arrived at the Whistler Olympic Park about an hour and a half later. Nestled in the beautiful Callaghan Valley, the park is about 5 miles from Whistler Village and was the host of the ski jumping and cross-country skiing events. Before heading into the ski jumping complex, we stopped by the ticket booth on a whim and were able to purchase tickets for the Saturday night victory ceremony in Whistler. The security was similar to an airport, where we had to pass through a metal detector while our bags were x-ray scanned. Luckily we didn't have to take off our coats or shoes, as the air temperature was a crisp 4 degrees Celsius. The only casualty of security was the metal fork that Christina had brought to eat her salad (the salad was allowed due to her food allergies). Once we made it through security, we followed the wooded pathway for about a half a mile to the ski jumping stadium.

The event on Friday was the Large Hill Qualifying round. They started the day with 63 skiers and narrowed that down to 50 with a single scored jump. They all got a practice jump, so we saw plenty of airborne skiers! This was the large hill, so the skiers started almost out of eyesight and plummeted down a steep ramp, departing the snow at approximately 95 km/hr (60 mph). The best jumpers flew for a distance of 140 meters (that's 460 feet!!!). It was amazing to just watch the first jumper, let alone the next 62. Our tickets were standing-room-only, but we were able to find a place to stand right by the finishing area with a clear view of the hill. We purchased official Olympics cowbells and quickly got into the spirit of wildly cheering for each athlete. There were only a couple Americans in the competition, so we found ourselves cheering for jumpers from quite a collection of other countries. The winner of the qualifying round (who would go on to win the gold medal the following day) was an amazing Swiss jumper named Simon Ammann. He made the competition look like amateurs by out-jumping the second place qualifier by nearly 6 meters! It was a beautiful day in the mountains and we had a fantastic time cheering and ringing the cowbells. One of the most incredible things about the event was the size of the skis. Coming from a slolom and GS background, my skis have always been in the range of 170 cm. The skis used in ski jumping are easily twice that long and much wider. The size actually allows the jumpers to generate lift as they sail through the air, extending their jump even more. I took some video of the jumpers, but the TV coverage provides much better views and explanations of the sport!

After watching ski jumping for a couple hours, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the bus for the drive back to Vancouver. The rule of the Olympic Bus Network was that we had to be back on a bus within 2 hours of the event ending, so we didn't have any time to go into Whistler and explore. I settled into my seat and promptly fell asleep for most of the drive. I woke up just as we arrived at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Located across the water from downtown Vancouver, the Quay reminded me a lot of the Seattle Waterfront. There was a market there that had wonderful fresh fruit and treats called beaver tails (think elephant ear, but smaller). We enjoyed some relaxing shopping and then boarded the SeaBus ferry to cross over to Vancouver. The nice thing about the Olympics was that our ticket got us onto all public transit for free on the day of the event.

Arriving in downtown Vancouver, I quickly found a place I wanted to check out: The Lookout. It was a 360-degree observation deck located on the 60th story of one of the downtown buildings. The perch offered breathtaking views of the city, water, mountains, and Olympic crowds below. Even better was the free wi-fi offered up there so we could check in with the world :-).

From the Lookout, we headed over to the Olympic Cauldron. There had been a lot of controversy over the cauldron placement, because it was placed at the ground level and surrounded by a prison-like chain-link fence. By the time we got there, the organizers had at least lowered the chain-link and cut a hole so that we could take clear pictures. It was quite a beautiful sight to see the Olympic flame and we made sure to take lots of pictures (with the free Canadian flags that we were given a short time before).


After seeing the cauldron, we headed back up to the Lookout (the tickets were good all day) to watch the sun set over the city. We got some great shots and took in the views from all angles. After dark, we walked across town and ate at a waterfront restaurant with a pirate theme. We had some wonderful seafood and pizza before wandering back to the light rail. We rode home after 15 hours of exhausting fun and quickly fell asleep.

Vancouver Olympics!!! - Day 1

We just got back from an amazing trip to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC! We spent 3 nights/4 days up there and got to experience some great Olympic moments. Here are the highlights...

Christina's mom drove up from Portland to join us for this long-awaited adventure. We woke up bright-and-early on Thursday and headed downtown to catch our Amtrak train to Vancouver. The original intent was to avoid delays crossing the boarder by car, but we discovered that the train is a very relaxing a pleasant way to travel. As we left Seattle, we passed over many bridges and hugged the coastline of Puget Sound. We snaked our way North and eventually cut through the Sgagit Valley, home of the annual Tulip Festival. No tulips this time of year, but there were some great views of the farmland and coastline. The train was very comfortable and Evelyn and I spent most of the time in the dining car while Christina took a nap. The train certainly wasn't the fastest way to get to Vancouver (it took about 4 hours compared to the 2.5 driving), but it was a scenic ride and we were in no particular hurry to get to our final destination. As we passed the Peace Arch boarder crossing on I-5, we noted that there wasn't a single car waiting in line to make the crossing. So much for the much-hyped 3-hour boarder crossing! We arrived in downtown Vancouver and whisked through customs relatively quickly. The train station is located on the south end of downtown Vancouver, so we were able to walk out the front door into the Olympic excitement. We had packed lightly so we could wander around town without worrying about checking into our hotel in the suburbs until later that day. It helped that the weather was absolutely breathtaking, with sunny skies that would last the entire trip. At times, we could be spotted walking the streets of Vancouver in T-shirts. In February!

From the train station, we headed along the waterfront and found our first Olympic festivities. Lining the whole waterfront is a series of tents and exhibits featuring the past and future Olympic sites, including Beijing, Sochi, and London. There were all sorts of ellaborate displays and signs that said it all: Vancouver 2010. Walking further into downtown, the thing that struck me were the number of Canadians proudly displaying their colors through elaborate hats, scarves, jackets, and flags. It was a phenomenon that was described as "contagious patriotism". You couldn't help but smile at all the people enjoying their moment of national pride. Two of the major streets in downtown were closed to vehicle traffic, which opened them up to a plethora of street performers, artists, and Olympic displays. At any given time, there were approximately 100,000 people on the streets, so the combined energy was incredible! Our first true Olympic moment came while we were in a grocery store stocking up on supplies for the weekend. Like most stores in the city, there were multiple flat-screen TV's broadcasting the Olympics and at that particular time it was the finals of womens' 1000m speed skating. The Canadian woman ended up winning the gold medal by 0.02 seconds. It was the second gold medal for Canada in the games, and the whole store erupted in applause. Again, the sense of national pride was amazing.

After stocking up downtown, we boarded a light rail train and headed out to the suburb of Surrey where we had booked a room. Being the Olympics, the rate was over three times the normal going-rate at the Ramada, but it was still much more reasonable than anything closer to downtown. The lodging situation during these games had caused quite the controversy because the IOC had booked nearly all the hotel rooms in the city for VIPs and expensive travel packages. Staying an hour outside the city had its drawbacks, but the public transit system was very efficient and always available (albeit packed solid during peak times). One interesting thing about the rail system is that all the trains are operated remotely, so there are no operators on-board. This allows for some unique views from the primo seat in the house. From the light rail, we took a bus about 15 minutes out to the hotel. The great part about the room was that it had two separate 40-inch LCD TV's so that we could watch, of all things, the Olympics! We spent Friday night watching the hockey game between Switzerland and Canada when the Canadians barely squeaked by with a win by a single goal in the shoot-out. We went to bed early to get ready for our Friday adventures.

Isla Mujeres Pictures

I finally had a chance to upload some pictures from the trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/David.Hahs/IslaMujeresChristmas2009

Enjoy :-)

P.S.

Pictures are coming soon. Just haven't had time to upload and sort them all yet!

Saturday (Back to Reality)

Everything was well-choreographed Saturday morning. We all woke up, had a quick breakfast, finished packing our clothes, took the trash out, and had everything ready to go right as the two taxis arrived to take us away from paradise. We loaded everything into the cars and bid a fond farewell to the Casa de los Ninos. We drove off on our last tour of Isla Mujeres and arrived at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to make the next sailing. As we loaded the boat, you could tell that it was a mass-exodus of tourists heading back to their real lives. Kristen and I say up on the outside roof deck to get one last view of the Isla as we headed back to the mainland.

Once at the ferry terminal in Puerto Jarez, we met up with our shuttle drive and were whisked away to the airport. As we passed all the Cancun mega-resorts, we were so thankful that we had spent the week out on Isla Mujeres rather on the mainland.

The airport was a complete zoo when we arrived. Brian and Kristen headed to the American check-in and the rest of us went to Continental. We got our boarding passes, but the scene was too chaotic to even ask for exit rows or aisle seats. We were just glad to have a ticket! After the Christmas Day bombing attempt, we were expecting very stringent security. The line was long, but it moved fairly quickly and we were surprised that we didn't even need to take off our shoes for the scanner. That says something about how we have gotten used to the stringent security when we are asked NOT to take off our shoes. The security agent mentioned that this was the 2nd busiest day at the airport (the busiest was tomorrow). Once through security and a maze of duty-free shops, we found out our flight was delayed about 30 minutes. We did some last-minute shopping, grabbed some lunch, and were ready to board. This was where the extra security occurred. As we boarded the 737-800, every passenger had their carry-ons checked (every pocked of every bag) in addition to a full-body pat-down. Since they only had two screeners, the boarding process for the 173 of us took almost an hour. By the time we took off, we were about an hour late. Luckily, we had a scheduled 3-hour layover in Houston so we weren't concerned. When we left, Brian and Kristen's flight was supposed to be an hour late. As we flew out, we got some great view of Isla Mujeres and had our last chance to say goodbye.

Landing in Houston, we followed the maze of hallways and corridors to the US Customs area. The line was deceptively long because it involved so many switch-backs, but it kept moving at a pretty good pace. We had to declare that we were carrying food with us (mostly Christina's food that we had brought from the US). The agent asked why we would bring food on vacation and Christina explained her food allergies. To that, the agent responded "That's a good reason, welcome home." After customs, we picked up our bags and dropped them off at the re-check spot. Thinking we were through the gauntlet, I wasn't concerned about my half-full water bottle. Unfortunately, as we went back upstairs to the main terminal, we discovered there was another security checkpoint to endure and I had to give up my water bottle (which cost about $6 in the rip-off Cancun airport). All told, it took us about 45 minutes from the time we got off the plane to the time we were in the main terminal. Several people on the flight from Cancun were faced with 30-minute layovers, which I'm sure they didn't make. We found our gate to Portland, grabbed some dinner, and settled in for the last leg of our journey.

The 757-200 was the oldest plane of our trip, manufactured in approximately 1995. The flight was smooth but long, but we played card games and watched the movie to pass the time. We were greeted in Portland by 40-degree temperatures but luckily no rain. There was a bit of panic when the car keys could not be located, but they were eventually found and we boarded the shuttle back to the car. We found the car, packed up our baggage, and made it back to Evelyn's around 10:00 (Midnight in Cancun).

As I look back at the trip, I can certainly say that I had a great time. Isla Mujeres was a wonderful place and we had a great time spending the week with everyone else. Would I go back? My answer is Yes, but there are many other places I'd like to go first. Christina and I are planning to finally see some of Europe with a trip to Italy in the fall. Then we'll have to start thinking about our next family vacation. Costa Rica? Hawaii? Only time will tell...