It has come to my attention (from the constant bitching and mumbling) that people want me to update my blog after a deadstop in Italy. I was just happy to know that you guys care..... and actually read the blog! So here you go - a quick update of the last stage of my trip last summer, and a headsup of my current trip.
I am writing from a fan-cooled cafe on a rivers' edge in Ayuttaya, Thailand. Its the old royal capital of Thailand, filled with ruins and temples. I am killing a few days waiting for my friend Aileen to get here for our one month tour of Cambodia and Vietnam, followed by me going solo in Laos and Thailand. I have 8 weeks in Southeast Asia -I found that the 19 weeks I was gone last year was WAYYYYY too long - and I love my dog too much to do that again. Here is as summary of the end of my trip last year - stay tuned for blogs from Southeast Asia in the next few days.
I had intented to spend a whole month in Italy - and did enjoy the northern cities - but I hit the wall as I was approaching Rome. None of my rendezvous's worked out and I was tired of travelling alone - and tired of travelling in Italy, where I wasn't meeting local folks like I had in Eastern Europe since they were too busy taking care of the loud Americans. So, when my friend Sharon sent an email saying she was in Grenoble getting her EU citizenship papers and did I want to meet up, I jumped! I do want to go back to Italy to see Rome and the south - but I need to travel with someone so we can enjoy the amazing food and wine together. Any takers?? I think that at the same time I hit the wall on travelling, I also hit the wall on blogging - for the same reasons. I needed to drain all the experiences and memories in my head before I could move on. Which I did by lying on the couch for 4 months at home when I wasn't boring the living hell out of people with my stories and pictures.
I left you in Florence. From there , I moved to Siena to explore Tuscany some more. An amazing landscape - those pictures of hilltop towns surrounded by grapes and cypress are spot on. Here is a picture from inside the cathedral in Siena. I was surprised that you could take pictures inside the church - that is rare. You can see the bands of white and black marble. The floors were covered with stone pictures and images - most were covered to protect them but some were on display. It was a beautiful church.Walking back to my hotel one night, I found the street crowded with old men. No women -just old white Italian men solving the world's problems. Caught these gents in action.
I did a day trip to a nearby hilltop town, San Gigmiano (spelling is so wrong). Its famous for its towers - there used to be 50 or so in the Renaissance times -used to outdo other families in the town (let's be honest, only the men would care how tall their towers were) and to hide in during periodic peasant revolts. There are about a dozen now. I got off the main tourist beat and hid out at a cafe on the edge of town that had 49 different kinds of bruschetta -I was in heaven!!! I was quite the bruschetta slut after my time in Tuscany. A little slice of heaven is shown in this pic - a tomato,pepper and egglant bruschetta, jug of wine and water and writing postcards on a hot afternoon.
Back in Siena. Remember your 64 pack Crayolas? Burnt Siena was indeed named for the town of Siena in Italy. Its predominately reddish/orange brick buildings. Here is a shot from on top the cathedral looking out to the countryside over the roofline. I love this shot because these distinctive towers are way up high and not visible from the street - so somebody built them out of architectural love, I think.
From Siena, I went for 2 nights in Orvieto, Umbria. Its right next door to Tuscany and about an hour north of Rome. What made this town unique from other hilltowns is that the hill itself was soft stone that was full of tunnels. These were used for things like olive oil pressing (good cool temp) and hiding out during WWII bombing raids. Here is a shot underground that shows a dovecote - where birds lived as a source of food. Had a nice time in Orvieto - met a lady from southern California that was finishing a month-long course in Italian - and ended up going to dinner with her and her whole language class.
Next stop - France !! I bailed from Orvieto in search of my friend Sharon in Grenoble . I wanted to leave Italy desparately - but Italy didn't want me to leave. I took a train to Milan hoping to get a train to Grenoble but it was full. Spent the night in Turin and caught the same train the next morning - only to have the train have mechanical problems. After a few hours of hanging around the train platform taking pictures of really big wrenches, we were finally put on buses to France. I felt like Al Pacino in Godfather III - everytime I tried to leave Italy, it pulled me back in.
When I finally arrived at the Grenoble train station, this lovely stranger greeted me with a copy of the movie "Solarus" and a question - "Did I know where George Clooney was?" - to which I replied, "Here he is!" and whipped out my flat friend George. This is Sharon's friend Severine -who was a terrifically fun host for the next week. Sharon and I hung out with her friends and bonded over rose and lingerie and and George (see below). In the interest of keeping my G rating, I won't include the picture of George watching the butt shot of himself in the movie Solarus - priceless !!
Sharon had arranged for an overnight hike into the Alps. We hiked up to a refuge that was in accessible by car - you get dinner, breakfast and a dorm bed for the night. It was terrific. First pic is of Sharon and her friend Jerzy - he had bought a honking piece of local cheese so we were enjoying it with peach beer on the deck of the refuge. Eventually pairs of hikers started straggling in - they were part of a larger party that was hiking the Mount Blanc route over 6 days. We hung out with them all night. Here is Sharon flirting in French with them. We played French Monopoly that night. It was a travel version so everything was miniaturized - we ended up getting out our headlamps so our 40-something eyes could read the teeny tiny cards.
After a girly-girl week in France and a quick rest at Karin's in London, I met up with my Scottish friends from Peru (met on the Inca trail -love being able to say that!) Aileen and Kirsten. Stayed with Aileen in her haunted house (used to be a monestary and bar and she hears noises and has seen shadows - which she recreated with hysterics and a napkin for Kirsten and I - no pictures though!).
This gent was on the trail in the west Highlands -Aileen and I spent a few moist but gorgeous days hiking. Black slug - never seen that before.
Here is a shot of the Western Highlands from our trail - full of waterfalls and heather and beautiful red and purple stone. This valley was used for several films so that gave me the excuse to watch Rob Roy and Braveheart again - any excuse to see men in skirts. Speaking of which - Aileen invited me to a wedding - here I am being shy with the groom and some other gents in kilts.
The last leg in Europe was two weeks in Ireland with Karin and her dog Kai. We took the ferry so that Karin could drive her own car. It was a beautiful GREEN two weeks in Dublin and counties Cork and Kerry. Kerry was the best - we rented a cottage on the water, cooked for ourselves (which I really missed after 3 months of travell)ing, and did puzzles after a day of local sightseeing. My fave thing in Ireland was taking a boat out to the remote Skellig islands. One island is a huge bird sanctuary and the other housed an abandoned monestary. The monks lived there from the 6th to the 11th century in morterless beehive stone huts with 2 feet thick walls - cold!!! Here is a shot of their settlement looking back towards the land.
But enough about Europe already!!!! Let's talk about NEW YORK CITY! I've been to New York before but this trip was the best ever and a terrific way to re-enter the US after 4 months in Europe. My friend Clif offered up his apartment in Brooklyn - 11th floor with a view of southern Manhattan. I met up with high school friends Carin, Deb and Jean for a mini reunion. Did some touristy things and some non touristy things - like ride a duck after dinner on the upper west side with Carin. The duck(a kids ride that you pop a quarter into) was so overloaded its started bucking - so hard that we feared for our lives (or at least feared breaking an ankle if we attempted getting off) so we rode it out. Our stomachs hurt from laughing. A guy seated at the restaurant next door offered another 50 cents to ride again since we were so entertaining. It was fun. Here our group in the great field in Central Park.
I was in town for the 6th anniversary of 9/11. We had gone to the WTC site a few days before. On the anniversary itself, they have two huge blue beams of light to represent the twin towers. I took this shot from Clif's balcony - it was amazing.
There were many firsts and life dreams fulfilled on this trip and one was to see David Letterman - yippeeeee!!! I saw the taping on 9/11 itself and expected Dave to have firemen read the top ten but it turns out he never even mentioned it. Interesting to see it taped - during the 3 minute breaks that commercials are later edited into, the band keeps playing and Dave is swarmed at his desk by his producer, writers.... and they change or add stuff on the fly. Before the show, he came out for some Q&A and found out that a newly married couple from Oklahoma City was in the audience. He changed the Top Ten Surprises Heard at the General Petraus hearings (that day , before the House committee about Iraq) to include a plea to not allow people from Oklahoma to honeymoon in New York City. I was walking down 53rd before the show - its the street where they do stunts on the show -and out of a door popped stage manager and occasional street interviewer, Biff Henderson. He let me take a picture with George after we chatted, and he said "what has that guy got that I don't have - get him back out, I am going to take a picture giving him the finger" - so here it is.
My final stop before home was heading to Denver to see my sister and family and to pick up my Dad for a week trip to the big national parks. We drove 3000 miles in 8 days, went to Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Teddy Roosevelt, Custer State Park in South Dakota, Devils Tower and the four presidents, Rushmore. Dad turned 84 on the trip and picked up his 50th state. He is just pea green with envy that I will be lapping him on countries by the time I hit Laos. Here we are at Glacier in a pretty little box canyon, and Dad sitting next to a cool pool ringed by rainbow colors in Yellowstone. The lower shots are of me at Roosevelt park, which include banded colored formations like the Badlands, and a snow shot in September in Eastern Glacier.
My dad came back with me after Christmas and retiled my kitchen - no more 50 year old tan and rust tiles! Here is the finished product - George approves. Also -a fun parting shot - we were driving north on Highway 1 and I noticed a large animal to the side on a hill. At first I thought it was a mountain lion - turns out it was a HUGE bobcat. He is faraway but if you compare him to the fencepost in the foreground, I am guessing he was about 70 pounds.
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