Monthly Archive: November 2010

26
Nov
2010

‘TIS NEARLY THE SEASON

It’s been snowing for several days. We’ve had the big fat flakes, the tiny polka-dotted blizzard conditions, full-on rain mixed with snow, which is the literal description the Swedes use for sleet. I wasn’t exactly excited by the first snowfall this year because I had to drive in it, twice. People get stupid in cars the first time the snow falls. They slow WAY down, they brake too hard, and some of them still have their summer tires on. I’m coming around slowly to enjoyment…it just seems too early for snow! Karin has been out sledding on the hill at...

23
Nov
2010

PERFECT PISA

I was in Pisa in the early 80s, as part of a choir concert tour. We were a busload of high school juniors and seniors, traveling around Italy for a week, sleeping on the floors of gymnasiums and churches and singing at various military bases. I have lots of fun memories of that trip, augmented by a travel diary and photos but after this week in Italy I realized that most of my memories had frayed and tattered around the edges. Things I thought I remembered had softened, blurred, sometimes been completely skewed by the passing years. We only stopped...

22
Nov
2010

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST

I only have one more day of photos from our Italian adventure to edit and post, but I don’t feel like it right now. I’m feeling a bit disappointed (disappointed!) (does anyone else hear Kevin Kline’s voice yelling that every time they use the word?) (No? Just me?) with myself over having posted so very little this past couple of months. Really, I could do better, couldn’t I? I remember the days when I posted all the freaking time. Yeah, glad that’s over with too, but honestly, a LITTLE more effort would be appreciated. Up duff, Slaughter-Ek, etc. It’s just...

21
Nov
2010

SUNNY CINQUE TERRE

After 3 days of drizzle, downpours and cloud cover, the sun finally broke through and lit up Italy for us. We took the train from Rapallo about an hour south to Cinque Terre. After consulting the guidebook, we decided to skip the northernmost village of the 5 coastal towns that make up Cinque Terre and started at Vernazza, which was touted as the “most quaint”. Our plan was to walk around town, eat lunch and when we were ready to move on, hike the mountain footpath to the next village south. But after alighting from the train and stepping into...

12
Nov
2010

FAIR & FASCINATING FLORENCE

One thing that mesmerized me in Italy was the feat of engineering that is the autostrada (motorway) through the northern Apennines down to Liguria along the west coast of the country. Italy was the first country in the world to begin building motorways. The ones that we used to get from Milan to Genoa to Rapallo and the ones to Florence and Pisa have lovely names: The Motorway of the Flowers and the Blue Motorway. To distract myself from the rather narrow lane widths and the high-speed (130km/h limit for cars) race-car driving style of our fellow motorists I concentrated...

09
Nov
2010

RAINY RAPALLO

Apparently the time to skip Italy, if you want to avoid the tourist jam is July, August & September. What luck for us, then, that we chose to go the first week of November. The weather could have cooperated just a teensy bit more, but we had some sunshine at the end, so we were happy, and after all, rain in Italy on vacation is better than rain at home, right? The place we stayed was an apartment building up the hill in the west coast town of Rapallo. It belongs to the parents of my colleague, Sara, another love...

06
Nov
2010

HOME AGAIN

Italy is beautiful even in the pouring rain. And in the fog, and in drizzle and under cloud cover. We didn’t manage to meet up with Bethany, alas, alas, but we had a great five days of fun exploring in a whirlwind of foccacia, walking, rainclouds and tourist traps. The sun came out the last 2 days and lit things up with a stunning vengeance. O! Bella Italia! My phone died the second day and our travel charger didn’t work at all so we were without phones for most of the week and without internet access for all of it....