Settimana Uno in l'Italia

We have been to two class sessions and are feeling overwhelmed. Last Sunday we knew no Italian, now we are in the midst of complex verb conjugations and trying to remember simple vocabulary. The worst part for me is the pronunciation – CH is K and CE, CI, SE, SI are CH. That’s just the beginning. We are having fun trying to speak with passion, but it’s difficult when you aren’t sure of what you are saying.

Saturday we moved apartments. Because we came in the middle of the week, we were given temporary housing (which we didn’t know was temporary) until they found us another room. The first flat was five minutes from the school and shared with six other students. 7 girls, 1 guy, 1 bathroom - but everyone was very courteous so there was never a problem. There were also 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a dining room. The owner didn’t speak much English and we, of course, only know very simple Italian phrases so she had one of the other girls translate. The rules were – no smoking and no guests. Within 10 minutes of the landlady’s departure the apartment was filled with cigarette smoke – 20 minutes later, a group of guests arrived. Our flatmates spoke German and French and were there learning advanced Italian.

Our new place is much further from the school, but much nicer. We are with a single Italian woman who is a professional harpist. She speaks Italian, German, and English. Our room is quite spacious and VERY Italian – we even have a chandelier. We have kitchen privileges and there is a living room to enjoy as well. It is right next to a supermarket, several cheese and bread shops, and there is a street market several days a week in the mornings – usually veggies and misc. flea market stuff. Tonight we cooked our first meal – pasta with spicy pesto, wine, cheese, and grapes. It was wonderful to be able to cook, but very strange to do it in someone else’s kitchen so we didn’t do anything elaborate.

The weather here has been unusually cold. It snowed for the two days we were in Fabriano and has been cold and threatening rain for the past few days here in Florence. I did not pack for the weather so I have been wearing my only two long sleeve shirts for days now. Our new flatmate has graciously loaned me the use of a coat as I couldn’t find an appropriate one when shopping yesterday. We will have to do laundry soon, but as it is raining we will wait. No one here has clothes dryers – they have washing machines in the kitchen or on the balcony and everybody hangs their clothes to dry on lines outside the balconies. On sunny days there are clothes around every terrace and balcony in the city.

Yesterday we spent all day walking through the city and stopping to study. We found beautiful little piazzas in every neighborhood surrounded by ancient buildings that were alive and thriving. Every part of every space in this city is being used. Most of the coffee bars are tiny little shops with a counter where you stand to drink your coffee/liquor and chat with your neighbors. A coffee (espresso) is usually about €.80. We stopped at several of these coffee bars along the way, the price increasing dramatically as we got closer to the tourist areas. In the majority of the places that had a few tables it was the same price to sit or stand, but not all. Unfortunately, in the last place we tried, close to the Ponte Vecchio, we paid €16 for 4 coffees and a small pastry – more than double what we paid for lunch!

Lunch was at a small coffee shop that sold Panini, far away from the tourist area, where the kind shopkeeper showed us exactly where we were on our map and made certain we understood before we could leave. We had been looking for a place to eat for about 30 minutes, worried that we would be forced to go towards the tourist areas as most regular businesses close from about 2:30 – 5:00. Fortunately, it wasn’t as late as we thought and we enjoyed panini with mozzarella, pomodori, and some sort of cured meat that I think was mortadella bologna.

We managed to wind our way around to the Academia where we stopped briefly to look at the statues outside before deciding to come back on a weekday afternoon when it would be much less crowded. We wove our way through streets lined with ancient churches, shops dedicated to the top Italian designers, and tiny places offering antiques mixed with tourist junk. We stopped at an English bookstore to purchase an additional book on Italian and a better map. John found himself on Purgatory street!

The streets were filled with tourists from all over Europe. Italians in furs come to shop at the designer stores, and locals hanging out watching the chaos. At one point we heard drums and trumpets and peeked around the corner to see a procession coming down the street with Renaissance era costumed flag bearers, drummers, trumpeters, and knights. Next the “noble families” appeared dressed in their finest, and finally, the on-lookers who decided to join in the parade. It was touristy, but fun anyway.

At about five o’clock we found a pizzeria we wanted to try, but it wasn’t open until six so we wandered around a bit and found another coffee bar to study in until it was time to eat. I am sure the other patrons thought we were a bit odd with the sentences we were repeating to each other trying to get the verb tenses right – “ Io sono una studentessa d’italiano. Tu sei un vero amico. Eduardo e’ molto simpatico.” I hope some of it sunk in!

The dinner was well worth the wait. We had a bottle of house red wine and a simple soup of barley with a few legumes and split peas, followed by a spicy salame pizza for John, and one with proscutto cotto, olives, and artichoke for me. During the meal, the German couple beside us turned to John and asked, in Italian, if he would take their picture. It was a good moment. The pizza in this part of Italy is paper thin and cooked very fast in wood burning brick ovens. The pizza maker at this particular establishment was an expert. He could grab a piece of dough and with a few quick turns and a toss it was ready for toppings.

This morning I woke up to many, many church bells tolling and looked out the window to see little old ladies shaking rugs and dust cloths out their windows. There is not much open on Sunday, but we walked to the nearest open supermarket and bought supplies. Whenever you go to a foreign country, you need to spend a lot of time at the supermarket. Many of the things we saw were versions of things we knew, but some things were so foreign we had no idea what they were. I can’t wait to find out!

Noi non capiamo l'italiano (We don't understand Italian). Yet.

io sono
tu sei
lui é
noi siamo
voi siete
loro sono

Blech. Ever try learning a foreign language? Oh, the endless verb congugations.

Robin and I had originally planned to try to get into a language school in the next few weeks and we found a great deal at a school in Florence. However when I contacted the school we found out that the beginner class had started on Monday. I happened to mention that we were actually free later this week and the school administrator excitedly told us to come on up and we could get a few private lessons to catch up with the class. So Robin finished up her gig and we hopped a train to Florence.

So here we are less than a week after we found out we were even going to Italy. We are living in a shared flat with several other students (whoah, we're living in Italy!) and have attended our first day of Italian lessons. What a crazy world.

We've paid for 4 weeks of classes but may stay longer depending on how things look in a month.

Ciao From Italy!

We arrived in Fabriano after a very long trip. I took a car, 4 planes, a bus, two trains and a taxi to get here. Robin's itinerary was as bad with only 3 planes but longer layovers.

Italy is really beautiful. I didn't even realize we were surrounded by mountains until the sun rose the next day. Does this look like Italy or what!





All of the photos in this post are taken from our hotel room window. As a side note to myself I really need to learn to hold the camera straight or at least spend more time in Photoshop.

We walked around a bit Sunday night and the weather was very pleasant. I took in the town Monday while Robin worked to pay our fare. Unfortunately Monday evening the weather took a turn for the worse.





The weather here is very dynamic. All morning and into the afternoon it alternated from sunny and almost warm to raining to hail to sunshine to snow and back again. The rain was great as it gave me a chance to duck into cafes for .80 Euro espressos.

The prices here are a lot better than I had feared. The only bad expense is lodging. I had a really great pizza-thing for lunch for 1.5 Euro and the bottled water cost .50 Euro. Espresso is .80 Euro and cross-country train rides are 40-60 Euros.

The food so far has been pretty simple but very delicious. Our hotel includes breakfast and it's not like those lousy continental breakfasts you usually get in the states. There was a spread of several different kinds of ham and cured meats, 4-5 different cheeses, a pile of fresh pastries, fresh fruits and cereals, and of course espresso!

I even got mistaken for a local today (that's always a good sign) when a driver stopped to ask for directions. I was able to proudly use the one phrase I've learned - Non capisco l'Italiano (I don't understand Italian). He laughed, waved and drove off. Actually, everyone here is very friendly. Since Italy is so overwhelmed by tourists most of the time I was surprised by that. People smile and say ciao or buon giorno as they walk by and complement our feeble attempts at Italian.

Yeah, it's a pretty good country so far.

Want to go to Italy?

I hadn't heard any news from my boss about doing contract work and had pretty much decided it wasn't going to happen. Then yesterday as we were headed to a picnic with John's sister, brother, brother-in-law, and the four kids, my boss called.

"Do you want to go to Italy on Saturday?" she said. Like anyone would say no.

I have to be in Fabriano, Ancona, Italy to teach a class on Monday morning. We spent the majority of the day today trying to figure out how to get there. Turns out we have to each take three planes, two trains, and at least two taxis. Actually, John has to take four planes (ticket bought with air miles).

We are now in San Isabel, CO with John's parents. Tomorrow we are driving to Texas and will eventually arrive at my parent's house in Lampasas (730 miles away). On Saturday John leaves from Killeen airport at 6AM and I leave at 10AM. We will meet up in Milan at the train station some time on Sunday and eventually get to Fabriano - I hope.

Wish us luck - please.

Blue Grass, Horses, and Bourbon

“When people think of Kentucky, they think of three things:” said Freddy, “blue grass, horses, and bourbon.” Freddy is the best tour guide we have ever seen. We met him at Buffalo Trace Distillery just outside of Frankfort, Kentucky.

We were driving west on HWY 64, disappointed that we couldn’t see blue grass, or a horse race (wrong season), and not willing to pay $60 to visit a horse farm. We were resigned to seeing the sights of Kentucky from the car windows. Then we saw the sign – Buffalo Trace Distillery, Exit 48. We got off the highway and wound our way back the way we had come, following the signs and just about giving up after 20 miles, and then we saw the gates. We were immediately glad we had decided to visit.

We are not whiskey drinkers and we had never heard of Buffalo Trace, so we were very surprised when we pulled into the expansive, well maintained grounds of the oldest distillery in the United States. While waiting for the next free tour to start we wandered around the gallery of photos and artifacts that told the history of the distillery and then went out to explore the grounds. Buffalo Trace has 114 buildings on 119 acres, including the oldest building still standing in Franklin County.

Freddy started our tour in the gallery, showing us a long list of distilleries and their history. At one time, there were 250 in Kentucky alone! There has been a working distillery on the property since 1787, and it is one of only four distilleries in the United States that was granted a special permit during Prohibition to produce bourbon for medicinal purposes. Apparently, during Prohibition, you could get a prescription for medicinal alcohol allowing you to purchase one pint per week. By the end of Prohibition, doctors had written over 7 million such per prescriptions.

There is a reason that Kentucky is known for blue grass, horses, and bourbon – it’s the limestone spring water. The minerals imparted to the water by the limestone give the blue grass its color, strengthen the naturally delicate bones of the thoroughbreds, and give the bourbon its unique taste.

All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Freddy taught us the ABC’s of bourbon.
A: contains no Artificial colors or flavors
B: aged only in charred white-oak Barrels
C: contains at least 51% Corn.

Buffalo Trace produces about 15 brands of bourbon, one vodka, and a new blended whiskey. Here are some of their products: Buffalo Trace Bourbon, George T. Stagg, Eagle Rare, W.L. Weller, Old Charter, Van Winkle, Rock Hill Farms, Blanton’s, Ancient Age, etc… The type and ratio of the grains used in the mash as well as where it is aged and for how long, have a profound affect on the products.

We went into the oldest warehouse on the property and learned about the importance of temperature and placement of the barrels. The top shelf bourbons are aged in the middle floors of the building, while the lower-end ones are aged on the top floors – it makes a difference!

The high end and single barrel bourbons are hand bottled and packed. First they are cold filtered to take out the fatty acids that make alcohol cloudy. The bourbon is poured from the barrel into a stainless steel vat and then progressively chilled and filtered until it is perfect. Then it is siphoned into bottles, sealed, labeled, polished, and boxed by hand.

We finished our tour with a tasting. The most surprising thing was that bourbon chilled in the freezer tastes so much better than at room temperature. We also tasted the difference between rye and wheat bourbon and had a sip of their premium vodka, Rain. To finish off the tasting we got a bourbon ball and root beer, both excellent.

If you are ever in Frankfort, you need to visit. Ask for Freddy, and tell him you are interested in the “hard-hat” tour as well – a more extensive version than we had including the actual fermenting floor, etc.

“Bungs up. Bourbon down.”

Just Another Three State Day

Tuesday we went to Ohio – just because it was there. We were driving through West Virginia (see the power plant photo) and decided it would be a shame to skip Ohio since it was so close - so we drove over the river and then drove back. That made it a 3 state day since we ended up in Kentucky that night.

Yes, those are John’s feet framing the bridge over the Ohio River.

On our way back to the highway, we stopped at a jerky shop and sampled a few of the 15 or so varieties they had to offer. We ended up with Cajun, Beer & Pepper, Black Pepper, and something else that I can’t remember, but it’s pretty good. The owner of the shop was dressed in a “We are Marshall” sweatshirt and he had the original newspaper spread about the Marshall University football team’s plane crash laminated and hanging by the register. It turns out we were in Huntington, WV – home of Marshall University.

We were told that if we were going to be staying in town that night we needed to head over to the high school to watch the basketball game – it was going to be a good one as they have the number one high school basketball player in the nation and Huntington High is ranked third overall. “O.J. Mayo,” the jerky man said, “remember that name because you’ll be hearing it again.” I’m sorry to say we had to move on, as we were planning to be in Lexington by nightfall – it was probably a great game.

Teddy's Roti Shop

While in Washington D.C. we discovered a great little restaurant called Teddy’s Roti Shop. The owners are from Trinidad /Tobago and the food they serve is West Indian done Caribbean Style. We love Indian food, but weren’t sure exactly what we were going to get. They had dhalpourie (thin roti) and something called “bus up shut” – which, according to the menu and website, translates to “bust-up shirt” and describes the way the filled pastry looks. John asked the owner how big a dhalpourie roti was. She shrugged and said there was definitely enough for a meal. We ordered one with potato and one with chicken. We also got two of their homemade drinks – one passion fruit and one ginger/mango.

While we waited for the food, the owner talked to us about Trinidad. She said that about 40% of the population is of Indian descent (hence the Indian style cuisine). The majority of the rest of the population is descended from African, Chinese and Portuguese people. The owners of the sugar cane plantations imported slaves and indentured servants from all of these countries to work their land in the nineteenth century, giving the country one of the most unique and rich mixes of tradition and culture in the world. She said that Trinidad is a lot of fun, especially during carnival, and that Tobago is one of the most peaceful places on earth. Yet another destination to add to our list!

When our food came out we were a bit surprised, one roti was enough to feed three people! They are huge, very thin pancake-like flatbrads (like naan) stuffed with ground chick peas, a mixture of peppers and spices, and whatever other filling you request. They were absolutely fantastic. If you are ever in D.C. – you have to go eat there!

D.C. Day

We arrived in Washington D.C. Thursday afternoon and found a Motel 6 - right across the street from Walter Reed. Yup, the day we show up the hospital's commander is fired, and then the next day the Secretary of the Army resigned. I have listened to numerous NPR stories about lack of sufficient care for soldiers once they get home. Those stories, along with the state department's impossibly low casualty estimates for U.S. forces, Iraqi forces, and Iraqi civilians made me question why people weren't more concerned. Then I watched Bob Woodruf's report the other night and kept wondering if all of our soldiers were getting the same kind of great treatment they gave him - he actually answered that himself in the second half of the show where he did some investigative work and found out what kind of care soldiers were lacking.

Part of the story I read on-line about Walter Reed detailed the fact that soldiers and their families were put up in vermin infested apartments across from Walter Reed - I should have paid more attention to this part since our Motel 6 was literally right across the street. 15 minutes after turning out the light Thursday night we heard a rustling sound. "What are you doing?" John asked me. "Nothing," I said, "I think something is in our snack bag!" He turned on the lights and went over to the table to investigate, but found nothing. Off went the lights again.

Five minutes later the noise was back. On went the lights and John went to investigate again (I stayed in the bed). He moved things around on the table and then picked up the plastic bag containing some dates and protein bars - and a mouse jumped out at him. "Oh!" he said, and dropped the bag back on the table. To my embarrassment, I actually let loose one of those little girly squeals because as the mouse left the bag it headed toward me and disappeared behind the nightstand right beside me. John built an ingenious little mouse trap that would make the mouse fall into the deep trash can when it came to get the bait (a piece of protein bar). He then promptly went to sleep. I, on the other hand, lay there in the dark listening. I finally heard the mouse go up onto the table again, but I guess he had wanted the dates, not the protein bars, because he didn't take the bait. As soon as I finally got to sleep the phone started ringing (no one there) and a fire truck pulled up out front. Since the fire alarm on our floor didn't go off and no one seemed to be leaving we went back to sleep.

We got up at 6:30, got dressed in our best and got on the bus and then the train into Union Station. We arrived at Senator Maria Cantwell's office and from there one of her staff members took us, along with 4 others, on a tour of the capitol.

We got to ride on the underground tramway between the senate office buildings and the capitol , definitely a nice feature due to the often inclement weather.

We came into the capitol building from the basement and immediately into the ornately painted "Brumidi Corridor".

Brumidi painted murals reflecting great events and people in American history as well as beautiful nature scenes.

As part of the design, he purposefully left open spaces for future events to be memorialized. After all, Brumidi started paining the capitol in 1856 when the nation was still very young - he wanted to make sure there was room to record the events to come.

One such panel that is now complete memorializes the moon landing, and another, the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.

Brumidi was also responsible for the paining of The Apotheosis of Washington in the center of the Capitol Rotunda and the frieze surrounding it.

Although the frieze looks like carved marble, it is actually painted. Brumidi originally designed it and painted about a third of it before falling and supposedly hanging on to a ledge for about 2 hours until he was rescued. As he was in his late 70s at the time, I am dubious of this legend, but it's possible. In any case, after an incident where he fell he decided he was done painting. Four different artists worked at various times to complete the frieze in the same style as Brumidi and it was finally finished in 1953.

After viewing the rotunda, we entered the original chamber in which Congress met, now a room full of beautiful statues donated by different states or commissioned by Congress. They were all sculpted in very different styles, colors, and materials, but all memorialized important people or events.

One of my favorite rooms was the original chamber of the Supreme Court. Although the lights inside are electric, they imitate the original lamps that would have been used. There was a low twilight glow to the room that today would not be considered light enough to read by. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why everyone was so meticulous in their handwriting - before electric lighting if it wasn't clear there was no way anyone would be able to see it well enough to read it. :)

After the tour we were given tickets to go into the Senate gallery. Luckily, the Senate was in session and we were able to observe for about an hour as various Senators came in and out. At one point there were about four Senators in the room along with all of the pages, officers, and the acting President of the Senate. Senator Thune was speaking about why he thought that HB1, constructed to address some of the issues brought forth by the 911 commission, was flawed. There he was speaking about nuclear proliferation, homeland security, and his concerns over the bill and NO ONE was paying any attention. Yes, I know that all of the real work in the Senate is done in committee, but it was pretty weird to be sitting there listening to a Senator propose amendments to national security and have no one paying any attention to him.

We went into the House gallery, but as it was a Friday, the House was not in session. Overall, it was a great experience and well worth the trip!