Our Great Italian Adventure

It was the type of vacation that makes you need a vacation when you return. Up early each day, board the tour bus by 8am, gone all day, board the bus again around 5pm, back to the hotel to eat and drink like pigs. The tours each day mostly consisted of churches, churches and more churches. By the end of the week, I could care less if I ever saw another church in my life. Baroque, Renaissance, blah, blah, blah. Popes, Emperors, painters, sculptors, blah, blah, blah. As a sufferer of self diagnosed adult ADD, it was just too much information.

Some highlights:

• The Vatican and all that it includes; Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica
• Trevi Fountain where I made a wish. It's sort of in an alley, very bizarre.
• The Colosseum (that we actually only saw from the outside, long story, but after waiting in line for some time, the man at the gate told us to come back tomorrow. Bastard!)
• Tuscany and all the quaint little towns we visited including Cortona (one of my favorites) which is the setting for "Under the Tuscan Sun." A book neither of us has read and a movie neither of us has seen.
• The winery visit in Montepulciano (say that ten times really fast after drinking wine!) and all the tasty wine. Nothing like a good wine buzz in the middle of the afternoon!
• The David in Florence. Unbelievable. He's huge. Rick was quick to point out that David's second toe is considerably longer than his big toe. Justin will be happy to know that too.
• Bologna, a quaint little town with it's open air produce and fish markets. Why can't we get produce like that in the States? Those Dagos really know how to grow shit.
• Venice, even though it rained like hell that day and we never got to take our gondola ride. But Venice is my favorite. It smells like my mother's kitchen. Mmmmmmmm.
• The Murano glass factory, even though I couldn't afford anything there.
• Padua, home of St. Anthony. Inside St. Anthony's church they actually had is tongue on display. Gross! And Padua University where Galileo studied. When someone graduates from Padua University, their friends and family dress them in whatever silly outfit they choose, parade them through the town, singing all the way, while the graduate carries a bottle of alcoholic beverages that they must drink from every few minutes. People hoot and holler as they pass by and bystanders can do almost anything to the graduate, including but not limited to kissing the grad and smearing whipped cream on them. CRAZY SHIT. But they sure have a good time celebrating. When viewing the pictures, see if you can guess which photo is of the graduate. It shouldn't be to difficult.
• Our last night cocktail party with all the great new friends we made. There were John and Big Debs (who weighs all of 4 lbs.) from Kentucky. John used to be a judge. Perhaps they discovered how much wine he drinks and this is why he no longer is a judge. Then there was Pete and Susan from Detroit. Pete is a true Irishman and quite the gentleman while Susan is a troublemaker. I say that with only love in my heart. Finally, Bill and Mustang Sally from Iowa. Thank god for Sally who was our menu interpreter and Bill who turned Rick onto Shout wipes. A brilliant invention for men with big bellies! And, I turned them all onto Lupini beans. Only my family and Italian friends will know what those are.

To view all the fabulous pictures of all the churches, click here.

Ciao from Rome

What a crazy place! When we arrived yesterday we hopped in a taxi from the airport to our hotel. We both immediately commented on the crazy people who ride scooters/Mopeds as a means of transportation. The taxi driver told us that it was the best way to see Rome AND avoid the constant traffic. Rick and I both agreed that there would be no scooter rentals for us, for we want to come home via jet plane rather than pine box. Within minutes doesn't a scooter run into our taxi and, BAM!, the scooter rider is on the ground! Fortunately he was OK, but our taxi was pretty wrecked. Nice way to begin our Roman adventure. So far we have visited the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and Vatican City. All very cool, but the Sistine Chapel and Michaelangelo's work is absolutely mind boggling and breathtaking!

We are hoping to still make it to the Colliseum before heading north to Florence tomorrow. Very rainy today so that is putting a damper (pun intended) on today's plans.
However, we did drive by the Colliseum so that may have to do. Could be a good excuse to return to Rome someday.
The wine is oh so tasty and CHEAP! I have had fresh mozzarella with every meal so I couldn't be happier. The hotel I booked for us in Rome is fabulous; we have a corner suite with two terraces!

CIAO!

And We're Off!

The big Italy trip is finally here. First stop Rome. Bob and Shirl are holding down the fort here in the HG. Tune back in after the 21st and there will be lots of pictures and stories.

I will miss my dog. ;(

My Pottery Obsession

I bought this gorgeous platter in Colorado with the intention of hanging it on the wall in my upstairs hallway. I cannot possibly be the first person ever who wants to hang something like this on the wall. After searching high and low on the web for a way to hang this, I have come up with nothing. There is not a search term I haven't tried. The platter is about 20" in diameter, about 3" deep and quite heavy. I found plate hangers for smaller lightweight items but nothing that would do for this. This is just the kind of shit that sets me off. What the fuck? There is nothing on the web to hang this thing? I don't believe it.

Years ago when I was having some glass shelving installed in our master bathroom, I wanted some sort of bracket that wasn't ugly and didn't stand out too much. The installer told me they didn't have anything like that. I simply replied, "I cannot be so original that I am the first asshole to want such a thing." Remarkably he found a solution that pleased me. Not an easy task, I know. But I also cannot be the only one to want to hang something like this on the wall.

I think I will just look for two separate brackets to affix to the wall and go from there. Unless Jeanne the Web Queen someone has a better idea. I am open to suggestions.

FYI: If you are searching for marijuana smoking paraphernalia, just add the word "bowl" to your search terms!

Good Times

Another fun-filled weekend. Our good friends and neighbors, Cy and Karla (aka K-Ho) invited us to their Michigan house for the weekend. We spent the day Saturday drinking fishing along the St. Joseph River. We all caught fish. Cy caught the most but Rick came in with a pretty nice walleye that we had for snack that night. Nothing better than fresh caught fish. We enjoyed a nice bonfire Saturday night. I'm not sure Rick enjoyed it as much as we did. It wasn't the usual "burn down the woods" type fire he is used to. Sunday rolled around and it was time to drive home and listen to that God awful Bears game on the radio. Thankfully, we didn't have to actually watch it. Makes us not too upset that we will miss a game while in Italy.

The Cubs are in the playoffs. Cross your fingers.

The Illini are 4-0. Pretty remarkable seeing as their record for the last two years was 4-19. Rick will be at the game against Wisconsin this weekend with Lauren (Dad's weekend at U. of I.) I will have the weekend to myself. Just me and the Oz Man.

And finally, get well wishes to my Dad who came home from the hospital yesterday after a bout with pneumonia. He seems to be much better.