Sunday, August 31, 2008

The Coliseum By Night


So after the pasta, nuns and gelato, we decided to walk to the Coliseum. We ended up walking the long way, but it was well worth it! I was happy to see that there weren't crowds of people there. The Coliseum is spectacular at night! It's no wonder that it's one of the seven modern wonders of the world. Once it is within your sights, you are spellbound and unable to refrain from taking hundreds of pictures. I tried various settings on my camera and really fell in love with the sepia tone. I tried my best to narrow down which pictures to choose:






























































































































Since it was so late at night, the coliseum was closed. I walked around the entire thing taking picture after picture...staring at it in wonder. It's weird to think that this building is much older and has been around much longer than the existence of U.S., Canada and Mexico combined. You can't help but realize that North American history is child's play compared to places like Rome.
We stayed at the coliseum for a couple of hours. It was the perfect late summer night to do this. By the time we got back to the hostel, it was well after 1am.
I could hardly believe everything that had happened and what I had seen in Rome and it hadn't even been a full 24 hours yet!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Pasta, Nuns and Gelato


Our hostel had planned a pasta and wine night so people could mingle and meet other travelers from all over the world.
Unfortunately, the pasta and wine were horrible!










As we were trying to eat the un-tasty food, I heard faint singing and looked over. There was a group of nuns sitting on a rooftop singing together. One of them was playing the guitar. I totally wasn't expecting that! You can see them at the center of this picture.


Our unappetizing pasta dinner left us craving for something more...something truly Italian: gelato. There was a place just a little ways down from our hostel that we decided to check out.















Mmmmm...gelato.
I had chocolate, amaretto, tiramisu and rasberry flavors. It was delicious and a fantastic thing to have on a warm summer night!



We sat outside across the street from the Santa Maria Church square and watched the people pass by as the night came.















The architecture in Rome is beautifully lit at night. I love that about Europe in general.






I took a couple pictures with the sepia setting on my camera.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Rome Impressions

I rung the bell to my hostel and the buzzing sound of the opening door soon followed. It was such a welcome relief to get out of the heat! I climbed the stairs and reached the front desk. The front desk guy took one look at me and then left the room. A minute later, he came back with a refrigerated bottle of cold water.
"Oh my gosh! Thank you SO much!" I said.
"You really looked like you need it." He said.
Come to find out, my sisters and friends hadn't arrived from their flight yet and I wasn't able to check in without them.
"You can store your luggage with us and go hang out on the rooftop if you'd like." he suggested.
"Okay." I said.
Had I know that I would've had to climb up 5 flights of stairs to get there, I probably would have given it a second thought. :)
Reaching the rooftop, I decided to take a couple pictures of the view:











One thing I noticed was that most of the other rooftops had these really ugly anntena things on them. You'd think that you'd need only one of these things. The rooftop horizon was littered with them.
"When did Rome become ugly?" I wondered out loud. Of course, I realized that there was so much more to see and this wouldn't be all there was. Still, my first impression of Rome was nothing of what I thought it would be.
Having had enough of the heat, I went back inside. Going back down the stairs, I ran into the Italian owner of the hostel who started speaking to me in endless Italian. The front desk guy came out and told me that he was suggesting I could get a bite to eat at a pizzeria just around the corner. I could get a special discount there since I was staying at the hostel.
"Ok." I said.
The owner patted the front desk guy's shoulder and pushed him towards me and began making hand gestures.
"He says that I should be your companion and show you where it is." The front desk guy said.
"Uhhh...okaaay." I said feeling a little uncertain.

Armed with a map, we left the hostel. (If you look closely towards the center of the map, you can see that our location is circled.)
As we walked, I decided that introductions were in order.
"My name is Shady." The front desk guy said.
The way his name is pronounced, sounds like the word 'shoddy' and I ended up asking him how he spelled it to try and refrain from laughing out loud.
It turns out that Shady is a writer and he's only been working at the hostel for 2 days. He's Egyptian-Italian and I don't remember for the life of me what his complicated last name is.
He taught me a couple Italian words and laughed at my pronunciation.
"Where are some other great places to eat?" I asked.
"You can eat just about anywhere in Rome and --" he started.
" -- get really fat?" I interjected, thinking again about Elizabeth Gilbert and how she said that she gain 25 pounds in the 4 month period that she lived in Rome.
"Ha ha! Well you don't have that problem at all and don't need to worry about it." He said looking me up and down.
I laughed....'cause I didn't know what else to do.
"So where's this pizza place?" I asked...changing the subject.
Shady looked at the map...looked around...and then looked back at the map.
"It should be around here."
We ended up walking full circle and it was then I realized that he had absolutely no idea where we were going.
"It's okay. Why don't we just head back to the hostel?" I suggested.
"I'm actually off work now." Shady said.
"You are? Oh, I'm sorry." I said apologetically. "I had no idea. So you're leaving now?"
"Yes, but I could show you around Rome. We should go dancing and drinking tonight." he said.
"I really need to check to see if my sisters have arrived and I'll be with them tonight." I said, feeling pretty awkward.
Shady shrugged and said, "Okay. I'm sure I'll see you around." And with a smile, he left.
I burst out laughing...my first 2 hours in Rome were anything but boring.
About 20 minutes later, the rest of my party finally arrived. I was elated to see my sisters! It turned out that they had their own travel stories to tell.
Because the front desk was closed for another hour, we decided to find some place nearby to eat since we were all starving! There was a place I noticed on my walk with Shady that was just around the corner.
"Let's check out Marconi Pub." I said.
We sat outside in the shade and exchanged numerous stories after we ordered some food and drink.

There was a lot of laughter. I snapped this picture and it's one of my favorites.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Romeward Bound

I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. It's a brilliant, pristine color of sapphire blue.....at least that's how it seems from an airplane window. I smiled a goofball smile to myself as I said quietly, "There's the Mediterranean Sea."
Was I really on my way to Rome? It's a great feeling when I can answer myself truthfully and actually like the answer. :)
Two of my sisters, my aunt, and two other friends were vacationing in Italy and I was on my way to Rome to meet up with them for a couple of days. The flight was only an hour and a half and I smiled another goofball smile as I got the Italian date stamp in my passport. As soon as I got outside, the sun obnoxiously greeted me and let the heat immediately swallow me whole. Even the shade offered little relief.
After waiting around for a half hour, my shuttle bus finally arrived. Luggage was loaded and people began boarding. It would be about a 40 minute ride 'til we reached the city. As the ride began, I started thinking about the book I had read a while back Eat, Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, who had spent 4 months of her life living in Rome. She had me regaled with ideallyc stories of the city, the italian people, the food and all the sites.
As the bus made its way through the first hints of Rome, I looked out the window and was shocked. This was Rome? Where were all the pretty buildings and gelato shops that Elizabeth Gilbert talked about? The streets were lined with dilapidated buildings and streams of grafitti that seemed to go on forever. Garbage was strewn everywhere and no street corner looked inviting. I realized then that even Rome has a ghetto area. Talk about a rude awakening in pre-conceived notions!
Evenutally, the bus pulled into the train station and after grabbing my luggage, I was soon on my way...except, I didn't know exactly where I was going. Apparently, the hostel I would be staying at was only about 10 blocks away. The train station was filled with wall to wall people. I looked at the directions my sister had emailed me and found the referenced McDonald's to be right in front of me. Having a better idea of my bearings, I started walking. The street curbs were lined with taxis.
"Taxi! Taxi!" some of the cab drivers were shouting.
"Taxi, miss?" One of the drivers said approaching me.
"My hostel isn't too far away from here. I think I'm ok. " I said showing him the address.
"I give you ride!" He said enthusiastically. "Only $15 Euros ($22 US)."
"What?! $15 Euros for only 10 blocks?" I said incredulously. "No thanks. I'll stick with walking."
I couldn't help but wonder as I walked away, what's the point of even having a running meter in a taxi cab if you're not going to use it properly?
Crossing the street, I noticed an italian man coming my way and he was staring at me openly and unabashedly.
"Ciao, bella!" He said with a great big smile.
I couldn't help but laugh. I've heard stories about Italian men and their forwardness. Looks like there's a little truth to that.

When it's almost 100 degrees and you have to walk 10 blocks...it feels like a really long time.








I saw what I considered to be the first nice looking piece of architecture since I had arrived. It was Santa Maria's church. I knew the hostel was close. Thank God! I was parched and beginning to overheat.
When I reached the narrow door of the hostel, I noticed the sign on the door that said "The front desk is closed from 2pm-4pm. If you ring the bell during this time, you will be fined $10 Euros." Scrambling through my purse, I looked for my cell phone to find out what time it was.
It was 1:58pm.
"No way." I sighed with relief. For once, my timing wasn't so bad!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Motorcycle Tour - Day 4 - Sail Away


The next morning, I woke up late to another beautiful day. Lake Geneva was gorgeous in the morning light. After a pretty laid back morning, we packed up all our stuff and headed to one of the little harbors. Our hosts from the evening before were kind enough to invite us to go sailing at noon.



This picture was taken just as we were getting ready to sail away.
Yes, my legs are really that white.

























The view from the water.








Putting the sail up.

One thing I was unprepared for was that I got a little motion sickness. Once the lake settled though and the waves weren't so choppy, I was able to enjoy it a lot more.







I told our "captain" that he looks like Sean Connery. What do you think? Apparently, he's been told this before.
He was kind enough to bring a picnic lunch along. We had some tomatoes, bread, cheese, salami, nuts and wine. It was a great sailor's snack. :)







On the other side of Lake Geneva is the country of France. Here's a nice view of France.
We were out on the water for a couple hours. Most of the time, I sat in the shade of the sail.
However, when we docked the boat....
"You're burnin' up, Wellard."
I actually felt fine, but started slathering lotion all over anyways. As time went on, slowly I started to feel the burn. It turned out I wasn't the only one.
After thanking our host and saying goodbye, we loaded everything up on our bikes and changed into our biker leathers.
Here's a tip about wearing black leather from head to toe: Never wear it when you just got sunburnt....unless your a masochist and you enjoy pain.
We had about a 2.5 hour ride ahead of us and it felt very loooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggggg. Around dinner time, we stopped to have some pizza in one of the lakeside towns. When you're wearing a biker outfit, it garners a certain amount of attention from people and they stop to look at you. Normally, you feel pretty bad ass, but I was grimacing with every move my sunburnt arms and legs made. It was nice to take a break from the bike, though. The pizza was a welcomed distraction.
The evening became cooler and it was somewhat of a consolation.
I was able to distract myself long enough to take a couple of videos:




We reached home around 11pm and I spent the next day in bed recovering from my sunburn. I burnt my arms, shoulders and back pretty bad, so I couldn't really lay on my back....I burnt my thighs really bad, so I couldn't really lay on my stomach. It would've been funnier if it wasn't me! Sailing was still worth it, though.
Overall, the trip was fantastic and I had fun being a bad ass biker chick for 4 days.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Motorcycle Tour - Day 3 - Sun, Curves and Wine


I awoke in Brunnig the next morning and discovered how beautiful the town looked during the day.







The sun was out and it was the perfect day for a motorcycle ride. After a simple breakfast, we were on our way.






When you ride a motorcycle, you're automatically inducted into a club. This is the club that all motorcyclists are apart of. When you pass one another, you get to do a cool little wave that only club members can do. I had so much fun with it and tried to wave to every motorcyclist we passed.
Riding through tunnels is a blast:



One of the great things about traveling through the Alps are the nice windy roads. I love this video:








After a beautiful day's ride, we arrived in Montreux mid-afternoon and pitched our tents right at the edge of Lake Geneva.
One thing I was not prepared for were all the topless women laying around...this is a common thing in Europe.
"Hey Andrea, are you going to wear your bikini?" Martin (our other traveling companion) asked.
"No." I said. "I don't have one."
"You could just go topless." He suggested.
"Um, no."
"I promise I won't look."
"Heh. Nice try...but hell no!" I exclaimed.
Martin's got such a sense of humor. What a funny guy.

In the heat of the day, a swim (with a top on) was a great idea, though. It was cool and refreshing. The 3 of us then swam to what we dubbed as "Bird Sh*t Island". Yes, folks...even in grand Lake Geneva, seagulls are still making a mess!




After our pleasant swim, we got ready for dinner.
Bryan has relatives near Montreux who own a vineyard. They were kind enough to invite us over. There is a section where the mountains are covered with vineyards and as you make your way down the road, you pass through these little vineyard towns that are tight-knit with bakeries and quaint little shops. You feel like you're in a labyrinth of sorts as you follow the maze of the extremely narrow roads. I wish we would've had more time to explore.






The view was incredible and these pictures don't do it justice for a second. This particular vineyard produces wine that is imported only within Switzerland. 90% of it produces white wine and 10% produces red. Just a little over 55,000 bottles of wine are made here each year.





Our hosts prepared a fantastic meal outside for us. They grilled some meat too! I was a very happy camper...having meat 2 days in a row! We were spoiled rotten.
I started asking questions about the vineyard and what kind of red wines they made.
"A red wine very similar to Beaujolais." they said.
"I love Beaujolais wine!" I said....and I asked my partner to tell me how to tell them in german that I would like to please try a glass. I spoke in some very broken german. Everyone burst out laughing. At first I thought it was because of how poorly I spoke, but the laughter lingered and prompted me to say, "What did I just tell you?"
After the chuckling subsided, I discovered that I was tricked into saying that I wanted a bottle of the red wine all for myself.
Eventually, I did get to have a glass of that red wine. It was very smooth. The food, drink and laughter continued throughout the evening. Even when it began to rain, we took the party inside and had some dessert along with tea and coffee. Before we knew it, it was time to go.
As we left, we once again meandered our way through the labyrinth of the vineyard towns:

Friday, August 15, 2008

Motorcylce Tour - Day 2 - Into the Alps


Anticipation was high as we headed towards the Swiss Alps. I had driven through there last fall, but when you're riding a motorcycle, it all becomes new again. Once the Alps enveloped us and we began our ascent, the sun began to disappear and the clouds soon rolled in. The temperature dropped and then I felt a drop of rain...and then another one...and then another one. Having lived in Portland for the past 10 years, rain is hardly a threatening thing.
I shook my fist at the sky and shouted fearlessly, "I laugh in the face of rain!"
Shortly thereafter, the sky replied with a series of thunder and lightning demonstrations and an increase in rainfall. We ended up having to pull over and seek shelter because it was too dangerous to continue. Ooh, the irony. Apparently, mother nature didn't like my arrogance.


We pulled over near a little mountain restaurant/pub. There was a big storage area in the back where we unloaded our bags and stayed there to wait out the storm. We were joined by an Italian bicyclist named Frederico who was from Venice. He was on vacation and was riding his bicycle up the mountain pass and through the Alps. (Can we say crazy?!) The owner soon came out and joined us as well. He was a 91 year old man who had lived there for nearly 50 years. He had my comrades engrossed with his stories about his life and experiences.
I didn't understand what he was saying, but I was entertained anyways by how much of a character he was.
He noticed that I didn't speak the language and asked if I knew any German at all. I told him a little.
He said to the guys, "Does she know German well enough to know the phrase 'It's time to go to bed?'"
Laughter ensued and I asked for the translation. Apparently, even in the Alps, you can find a dirty old man. I should've been insulted and said something to him, but he was kind enough to give us a place out of the rain and I was just too entertained by him.
Because his hearing wasn't that great, he talked really loudly. I ended up taking a short video:





Giving him my camera, we asked him if he'd take a picture of us and this is how it turned out.









After about a half hour and many thunder/lightning performances, the sky simmered down a little and we decided it was safe enough to continue. We bid the old man farewell, but not before we pulled out some whiskey to toast one another. :)




As we geared up to leave, I quickly ran across the street to take a video of the incredible view:



The further up we went, the more the fog rolled in and the temperature dropped. Thank goodness for the leather I was wearing. It really keeps you warm. But after a while, the cold began to seep in. We had heard that there was a really great restaurant at the top of one of the mountains and it was about that time to eat anyhow. As soon as we saw it, we parked the bikes and went on in.


It was exactly what was needed! There was a roaring fire going and I didn't realize how cold I was until I stood right in front of it. We sat down to order and to my delightful surprise, they had steak available for a very reasonable price! I ordered it and watched as they cooked it over the fire. It's probably the best steak I've had in Switzerland to date. My mouth waters just thinking about it. :)
A little while later, the waitress told us that road we had just come up was completely closed down. There was a sudden avalanche and no one could get through. Talk about timing! Also, the storm had grown increasingly worse...it was raining pretty hard and the fog was in full throttle. We ended up staying at that restaurant for a long time just waiting, eating, drinking hot chocolate, warming up and playing a bunch of card games. It was nice to relax.
Later on in the evening, the weather cleared and it was decided that we would continue on to Brunnig.


As we began our descent, the view became spectacular. There were glaciers slowly melting into rivers and waterfalls at nearly every winding corner. Not another soul was around.
We pulled over so I could take this picture. It was so quiet and beautiful.


After another couple hours, I started to get stiff and numb from being on the bike. Thinking again about that documentary "Long Way Round" where they rode around the world on motorcycles gave me a new admiration for Ewan McGregor and Charley Mooring. I don't know how they could ride their bikes for 10-12 hours day after day after day.
Finally...around 9pm, we reached Brunnig and the festivities were in complete motion.


There were fireworks happening.
We headed to a big circus sized tent where there were friends, skits, concerts, food and drink.
The celebration went into the wee hours of the morning, but around 1am I was completely wiped out and ready for some shut eye. I had no trouble getting to sleep by then.

Motorcycle Tour - Day 2 - Along The Way

The 2nd day of our trip had us leaving in the late morning. We headed east with Brunnig scheduled as our last stop for the day. The sun played hide and seek during the ride. When you're wearing black leather and you stop for a break....being out in the sun can really begin to fry you!





Here's a self taken photo while in transit. As you can see, I'm enjoying myself. :)






Switzerland is a fantastic place to do a motorcycle trip during the summer. The scenery is absolutely beautiful.









Here is a short video of the ride and view...sorry for the loud noise and shaky camera recording:











To give ourselves a break and stretch our legs, we stopped in a town called Brunnen which is right along Lake Lucerne. It's been said that Switzerland was first founded here.
August 1st is Switzerland's national holiday....the equivalent of what July 4th would be. Practically all the businesses are closed and the streets are filled with celebrations, good food, beer and pure merriment.




















Lake Lucerne