Linus enjoys our first pizza in Rome, from the delightful (and pricey) comfort of a sidewalk cafe. 

Mark and I standing in front of the Pantheon. Perfectly proportioned and remarkably stable, the dome is made of pumice at the top to make it light enough to be supported. 

A view from the Forum, where it's very easy to imagine you are now living in ancient Rome, walking among the Senators and even an Emporer or two.

Roma - land of the Giants

Benvenuto to our Italian Adventure! Due to either the wackiness of this program or my ineptitude (maybe both?) the events + photos are a little out of sequence, so here's our actual itinerary: May 4, arrival in Rome, 3 nights; May 7-8, Sienna; May 9-10, Florence and Conigliano; May 11-12, central Venice; May 13-14, Cinque Terre, Vernazza; May 15-16, Milan; May 17 return to Valencia via Ryan Air.

The Brody family wrote me right back when I first asked if we might stay with them. "Any friend of Kapkas is a friend of ours" was the response we got. Kapka was Linus's first co-op school and community, and their daughter Lucy also attended, the year before Linus began. We had heard the Brody's were in Rome through a mutual friend in Seattle, Anne Derome, and voila! Lisa (the mom) told me, "Come any time!" So we planned our long-dreamed-of Italy trip to begin in Roma, staying 3 nights with the Brodys.

Lisa's position as Special Assistant to the US Ambassador provides them with a wonderful apartment in a quiet neighborhood, and this became our refuge from the intensity of Rome. Lucy was immersed in finals for her International baccalaureate program, yet took the time to orient us to the city's metro and bus system. We headed right out to try our Italian (Dov'e il metro?) and get a look at the Spanish Steps. From that metro stop, we found a great sidewalk cafe (carisimo, but worth it for the view of passersby, the accordianist playing "Besame, besame MU-cho!, and the luxury of a comfortable place to sit outside), the Pantheon (incredible!), and the best gelato place in town (thanks, Lucy), De La Palma.

The goal of gelato was unknown to us on our first visit; Lucy clued us in before our second: smoosh as many flavors as can possibly fit on one cone. Gelato is like super ice cream - it has a creamy texture and comes in literally every good flavor you can imagine.

During our 3 days, we saw most of the big sites and many fascinating side streets, and enjoyed every bit of it, even the attempt by a Tabacci employee to rip us off while selling us 6 all-day metro passes ("Cuanto costi?" "36 Euros" "....Cuanto? Aren't they 4 Euros each, like it says here on this ticket?" "Yes, 24 Euros" - with a big smile on his face the whole time). Longest line: The Vatican Museum, but it moved along fast. Longest line we avoided: The Coloseum, thanks to a tip from Rick Steve's Italy guide - bought our tickets at Palatine Hill, and enjoyed a marvelous view from these lush gardens. From here, we could see the Forum and the Land of the Giant Houses, built for Rome's senators and others of the upper crust. Favorite restaurant: the little neighborhood bistro we enjoyed with the Brodys on our last night. Mahalia (their middle school-aged daughter) helped us translate the menu, while Sam (the dad) gave our order to the waiter in Italian. Guess what Linus ate? Not pizza! He'd already had his day's ration.

Grazie mille, Brody family, for a wonderful beginning to our journey.

Surprise! Ah, the lush, medieval atmosphere of Sienna! Here is the incredible view from our window.

Linus reading on the steps of the extremely embellished and lovely Il Duomo - the domed Cathedral of Sienna, made of pink and green marble. 

Mark and Linus eating on a steep hillside in Sienna - don't wiggle in your chair or you could go rolling! 

Traghetto carrying passengers across from one neighborhood to another, while a Vaporetto carries toursits up and down the Grand Canal. 

Sunset over our last evening in this gorgeous, sinking city.  

3 happy travelers in Piazzo de San Marco (St. Mark's Square), with our night train reservations secured. 

Florence (Fiorenze) and Sienna

Sienna was our first stop "on our own", and what a perfect place to set out from. Venice has no cars but lots of boat traffic; Sienna is tranquil and has hardly any traffic at all. I rolled my suitcase over the cobblestone streets until we came to the lovely monastary we were booked in, called Alma Dolmus. What a view! Truly breathtaking, looking out our window for the first time, taking in the green and white striped marble of Il Duomo, Sienna's fabulous cathedral.

We speculated how long it might take to walk from our pensione to Il Duomo or Il Campo, the main square, because it looked as if it were quite far, across a canyon of narrow streets and houses with ceramic-tiled roofs. In fact, it was a short walk along her winding streets, and although Seinna is truly a labyrinth, I had the feeling of being a small child running up and down hills, not so steep as they were mysterious, unchanged since the time of the Renaissance. We spent 2 blissful nights here, and even with the locals partying in the streets below our window (some Saint's day?), we slept very well. Sienna casts a spell of contentment over her visitors.

On our way to Venice, we spent a few hours exploring Fiorenze, or Florence. Checking our bags in the train station, we toured the street market, ate some (guess?) pizza, visited the Science museum (featuring some intriguing inventions collected by the Medici family), and followed the course of the river, before returning to the station. A block before it, we ran into a waitress we know from Valencia! She was in a big fat hurry, so this surreal incident came and went before we knew what had happened. Small, small world, really. Our train was very late leaving, so we got to know the station cafeteria a little too well. Here's an interesting distinction - train stations in Europe make you pay for the rest rooms and the water, but they sure make excellent coffee.

Venice - bellisima!

The train rolls into estazione Santa Lucia, we walk through the typically gloomy reception area, out the doors, and there it is - Venice, the most beautiful city we can imagine, complete with romantic gondolas and mythical waterways, appearing like a color-saturated mirage.

I felt as if we were entering the real Land of Oz for art lovers. Crowds of clueless tourists blocked the passage over the Rialto Bridge (in Venice, etiquette requires those who wish to stare out at the Grand Canal stand pressed to the side, out of the way of those who wish to get somewhere, because bridges and boats are the ONLY way to cross from one island to the next). We made our way through the booths of bright trinkets and striped Gondolier shirts to our hotel, Albergo Guerrato.

As we climbed the stairs, I was happy to notice the smell of the local fish market evaporating. Like nearly every building in Venezia, the reception and breakfast room are located on the second floor; the first is only used as a landing, due to the ever-present threat of flooding. We were met by gregarious Piero, one of the two handsome Italians running the place. Mama mia, Italy is so full of handsome people, especially men, it can be hard to concentrate on where you are going! We asked him if we had been wise to buy the 72 hour pass for the Vaporettos, the service boats that function the same way city buses work in other places. Piero shook his head, telling us real Venetians don't ride, they walk everywhere. He gave us each a map, along with a few handy tips on navigating the city, with its labyrinth of narrow streets and minor canals.

There is so much to tell about Venice! We got our bearings by the second day, and I wished aloud, "If only we could stay one more day!" Little did we know...
Sr. Rick advises visitors to "enjoy Venice early and late", when most tourists have returned to cheaper hotels on the mainland, and the Venetians are out and about. So Mark and I went for an early stroll, buying some fresh foods at the open air market around the corner from our hotel. We watched the Traghetto ferrying locals across the canal, and vowed to do this ourselves later in the day (Traghettos are like less fancy gondolas, carrying people across canals at certain stations for only 50 Euro cents); riders usually stand, which can be exciting when a speed boat zips by!

Burned out on religious art and extravagant cathedrals, we opted for the Peggy Guggenheim gallery. Her restored palazzo opens right onto the Grand Canal, and is filled with robust examples of twentieth century art. (If you ever go, check out the charming bronze sculpture of the happy man on the horse). On this sunny, perfect day, we took our time, enjoying coffee at a stand on the far end of the Grand Canal, at a kiosk where we were surrounded by locals and art students. A cup of coffee at a table with a nice view can cost you 5 euros in Venice - that's about $6.50 in U.S. dollars; Venezia is easy on the eyes, hard on the money belt.

Speaking of money, we were careful to protect ourselves from thieves in Italy, but were unprepared for Venice, where this same scam occurred whenever we weren't paying attention: we'd go to a cafe, bakery or pizza parlor, order our items, then realize later we'd been overcharged by a couple euros! Most tourists who can't speak Italian are probably happy to have gotten what they asked for, and don't notice this petty robbery, but I found it discouraging. I learned to ask for a receipt for each purchase.

While riding a Vaporetto back to Riato bridge, an American couple next to us noticed our Rick Steve's guide, and shared that they were enjoying it, too. That's how we found out about the TRAIN STRIKE! Italy is known for it's routine strikes, and this one would begin that night at 9. We would miss our train to the Cinque Terre! These folks kindly offered to share their rental car with us, although they were only going as far as Pisa. We agreed to meet them that evening in San Marco square, and update them on our situation.

Back at the hotel, the other handsome owner, Roberto, reassured us that the strike would only last 24 hours, and the line at the train station ticket booth would probably not be too long. He was right on both counts. Linus came up with the idea of taking a night train, so we wouldn't loose our first day in Vernazza; fortunately, we were able to get the last 3 seats on the train. So I got my wish, an extra day in Venice. We met with the American couple and thanked them for their offer, then wandered through the streets, finding a recommended restaurant. We enjoyed the best pizza in Venezia at a candle-lit table on a quiet piazza, with the night settling in around us and the music of an accordianist playing "Besame, besame mu-cho!" To cap it off, Mark and I danced to the music of the dueling orchestras in Piazza San Marco, free entertainment as long as you don't sit at a table. Linus was a good sport, distancing himself from us while observing the other travelers and reading his omnipresent book.

Day 3: morning walk + our first Traghetto rides, the free speedboat ride across the turquoise lagoon to the Murano glass factory, ducked out after the interesting hot glass demonstration to peruse the small shops selling (much) cheaper items, picnic in the little public park (left-over pizza from the night before), and a Vaporetto ride back to the mainland; bought beautiful pastries (got overcharged), enjoyed a simple dinner in the working neighborhood of Santa Elena, strolled back along the other side of Venice for one last dance in San Marco square, before changing clothes and heading off to the train station.

The night train deserves its own description, because every noctural voyage seems to evoke some memorable experiences. Suffice to say we all ended up crowded into a compartment meant for 6 but holding 7 of us, as they had oversold the train (I gave up my seat in another compartment to a mother with a tiny baby - she had no assigned seat!). Our gracious companions were two young American couples, and we passed the hours in lively conversation. The Conductor came by and sold us a bottle of cold red wine for 12 euros ("Very good! Very good! " he said; it was probably a 2 euro bottle, but we enjoyed it very much!). Tony and Carmen, Ryan and Shannon, grazie mille for a memorable night. We exchanged e-mail addresses before saying goodbye that morning.

Angelo and Teresa enjoy sunshine and the splendid countryside of Conigliano from their terraza.

Alessandra and her 3 moto riders, Cecilia, Teresa and Francesco.

Luscious goodies from the local Pasticheria plus heavenly FRA-go-les! 

Venezia con famiglia

Half an hour from Venice live the charming, hardworking Servas family of Alessandra and Angelo, and their 3 children Teresa, Cecilia and Francesco. Our train arrived late, past their bed time, but Alessandra picked us up at the Conigliano train station and drove us to their home on a hill overlooking the small town. Our comfortable, simple room was filled with 8 bunks, and we were invited to join their family for every meal. They share their lives with another family and several priests; the building and grounds are owned by the Catholic church.

Qui bella, la vista, la comida, y especialmente il pasticherie! Alessandra made excellent food for everybody - fresh baked bread and pizza, bolognaise and pasta... for our contribution, Mark made a spanish tortilla (a special kind of potatoe omlette), and we bought a special desert. You have to see an Italian pasticheria to believe how artful pastry can be. What a wonderful interchange, with the counter woman describing each cake in great detail, in Italiano, while we grinned and replied in Spanish; we didn't understand every word, but that didn't dim our enthusiasm at all. Finally we chose a gorgeous Tiramisu. As much as the children appreciated the cake, I think they prefered the strawberries we brought - "Fragoles!" they sighed, as if they were going to eat juicy bits of heaven.

We kissed them all goodbye as they set out for their work / school day, cleaned up after ourselves, and decended the hill to the train station, headed for that Italian jewel of a city, Venice.

Candy colors and golden light shining on the friendly harbor of Vernazza. 

Spot the Linus diving for candy amidst some of the more aggressive residents. 

Bravo, Cinque Terre!

Vernazza sits beside her 4 sister cities in the Cinque Terre, and for us, seemed the sweetest. It has a natural harbor, a small main street with everything a traveler needs, and a population of friendly natives who genuinly seem happy to have tourists around - I think we must provide entertainment for the old ladies who sit on the bench at the top of town, watching the world parade by.

Our first day here was lovely and surreal, having spent the night before traveling. Older residents pointed to Linus, slumped over in the grocery store and the internet cafe while we waited for Rosa Vitale to prepare our rooms; I simply replied, "Night Train", in English, and they nodded knowingly. Rosa's apartment provided us with a gas stove to cook up the breakfast we had been longing for - scrambled eggs! Along with locally produced sausages and fresh bread, we had a feast! And we saved lots of money eating in our "own place"; Venice had sucked up our travel budget, and anyway, we were tired of restaurants at this point.

In between rain showers, Rosa's family celebrated the baptism of her very young neice; we heard the commotion three stories below, and Linus went running down the stairs to make sure he got his share of the candy showers. In accordance with tradition, the host family tosses great handfuls of candy down to any and all spectators. When the crowd yells for more, they comply! Without even trying, I scooped up pockets full of goodies, while Linus competed with the agressive and wiley old folks in the center of the crowd.

Golden light filtered through the clouds that evening to give us a glowing finale to our day. Mark and I wished we could have more time to stay and paint the colorful town, but we were able to take some bright photos using Jan's digital camera.

Sunshine greeted us the next morning, perfect for our hike from the far end of the Cinque Terre, along the trail which connects the 5 towns and offers fabulous views of the sea. We rode the milk train down the line to Riomaggiore (Mark dubbed it "Rigamarol-ay" because he couldn't remember it's real name), where we started hiking along with a surprising crush of other tourists (many were Italians, enjoying a Sunday outing with their families). After a 30 minute hike, we arrived in Manarola, taking coffee in the bar overlooking its harbor; thanks to Senior Rick, we had learned to save money by enjoying our drinks standing at the bar, instead of occupying a sidewalk table when we didn't feel the desire to lounge. A lovely 45 minute hike brought us into Corniglia, and whom do you think we met there, in front of the local pizza take-out? Shannon and Ryan, from the night train! They had found a room in Monterroso al Mare, the largest and most touristic and of the 5 towns. It is a small world, no piensas?

A quick train back to Vernazza to pick up our stuff from Rosa, milk train to Monterroso, coffee in the train station, then hopping on board our last train, heading to Milano.

Linus decorating this sumptuous shopping center, La Galleria. 

Italian coffee, a consumable work of art! 

Arrivedirce, Italia! Hasta la vista.

Milano! We stayed with the wonderful family of Mariangela Brunello and Sergio Garazini. Their grown son Magid met us just outside the train station when we arrived and escorted us by metro and above-ground tram to his parents apartment. Strangely, the air was filled with cotton fluff from cottonwood trees , so much so it looked like a warm-weather snowstorm. Once there, we were greeted by their lively daughter Shirin. Then Mariagela and Sergio arrived home, having attended a Servas meeting in a nearby town. A few minutes later, Sergio had cooked up 5 plates of spaghetti and we dug in con mucho gusto - Bravo! By this point in our trip, we had become adept at speaking "SpaTalianIngleze" - a mishmash of Spanish, Italian, and English when all else failed.

I have to confess, at this point we were burned out tourists, having seen enough magnificent monuments and gilded religious art to satiate our artist souls... so our one free, overcast day in Milan was spent: 1) eating pizza in the Autogrill (a very attractive food court beside the grand Cathedral - it is owned by Brelle, the company Magid told us that now owns Starbucks! But believe me when I say Starbucks coffee cannot compare with the artful and heavenly espresso served up everywhere in Italy)... 2) wandering around the dark castillo, one of the only sites open on this Monday, and 3) watching the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" in V.O. (version original) in the most elegant movie theater we had ever seen - the theater was much better than the movie.

On our way back to make dinner for the family, we popped into a grocery store spotted along the Tram line. Here we held up the line of patient Italians while trying to convey to the checkout woman what we meant by "Chicken broth"; the word in Italian doesn't sound like "caldo" or "chicken broth", so after much effort on everyone's part, I finally found dried bouillon cubes on a back shelf. Once "home" again, Mark cooked up some great Chicken Provincal, followed by marvelous conversation about the state of the world, alternative energy, and the nature of human beings. A few years ago, Maryangela and Sergio spent a month living with Servas families in India. She is the only person we know who made the effort to learn Esperanto, the international language from which comes the word "Servas" (it means Service). We enjoyed a very memorable meal, especially for all the laughter. Communication is so much more than words.

As we kissed Maryangela and Sergio goodbye the next morning, I felt we were leaving family. Grazie mille! Ciao, Italy, I hope we'll see you again soon!
Un beso, Margot