What I took with me / travel checklist

Guide book
Phrase book
Reading material
Passport
Foreign currency (luckily, ATM was available in airport in Oaxaca; however this is not always the case. I think it was Japan where we did not go to an ATM before leaving the airport)
Credit card (not needed in Oaxaca)
Photocopy of passport (needed as collateral/ID for audio tour in museum)
Hardcopies of reservations
2 backpacks (1 carryon luggage size, 1 daypack size)
Clothing (as packed, ie excluding what is worn on plane):
- 5 shirts (mixed - 1 long sleeve t-shirt, 2 short sleeve t-shirts, 1 short sleeve button up, 1 long sleeve button up)
- Sweater
- 2 pairs of pants
- 1 pair of shorts
- 5 sets of socks and underwear
- 1 pair of long underwear / pajamas
- 1 pair of flip flops
- Windbreaker (unused in Oaxaca)
- Scarf (unused in Oaxaca)
Umbrella
Camera
Crank flashlight (unused in Oaxaca)
Lantern (unused in Oaxaca)
Alarm clock
Hat
Frisbee, ball, playing cards and/or dice
Water bottle
Sunglasses
Spare batteries
Sewing kit
Laundry soap
Laundry bags
Ziplock bags
Electrical adapter (not needed/packed for Oaxaca)
Bandaids
Advil
Cold medicine (huge!)
Diarrhea medicine
Laxative (not packed, but would be helpful for the first few days of adjusting)
Insect repellent
Contact lens stuff
Antiobiotic ointment
Alcohol sanitizer
Sunscreen
Dramamine
Personal hygiene items (comb, toothbrush, toothpaste [1 oz lasted 2 weeks], floss, shampoo, deodorant, cologne, shaving cream, razor, soap)
Anti-itch cream
Aloe (not packed for Oaxaca)
Earplugs (not used in Oaxaca)
Matches
Towel
Blanket (I actually packed 2 and used only 1)
Clothesline + clothespins (not packed, but would have been helpful)
List of important numbers/addresses
Postcards/photos of home
Paper+pen
Cell phone
Clothes compressor (would have been great)
Inflatable pillow
Luggage locks (unused in Oaxaca)
Earphones + music
GPS adapter (Holux 236 - I forgot it takes a bit of time to get a fix)
Charger for phone

Do you have anything else besides mexican food?

So the food for me has been a highlight. I've been out only 4 times. The rest of the meals have been prepared by my family. On sunday I had tlayudas, quesadillas, and some carne asada at the market. I also had watermelon flavored agua, tejate (chocolate & corn drink), and vanilla and berry helado. That night we had tortillas and what is like a whole rotisserie chicken and some frozen (by accident I was told) jello. And I had a large can of sol which apparently is the beer of the area, but most people I see are usually drinking modelo. On monday, I had a giant breakfast. The breakfasts every morning consist of some of the following: eggs and ham, fresh fruit, yogurt, bread, tortillas, very thin oatmeal (more as a drink), hot
chocolate water, fresh orange juice, salsa, coffee. In the afternoon, I had some more chicken in salsa, while others had hamburgers. The dishes are served with some rice and beans (black beans here in the south). On tuesday, I went to finca del abuelo and had tortilla soup and crepa de flor and quesillo (110 pesos). The tortilla soup broth was quite good and the tortillas were thick. The soup is served with condiments: oaxacan queso (which is like non dried parmesan or essentially a more pressed cottage cheese), chiles, and other stuff. The crepas had yellow flowers in them, which I had also had in the quesadilla at the market on sunday. The crepas themselves were pretty good but they were covered in a boatload of cheese and cream. On wednesday, I had chile rellenos: one pork and one cheese. Holy moly! These were fantastic. Stuffed chiles dipped in batter then fried. Was very tasty served with tortillas and avocados. Then wednesday for new years we had a
small sweet tamale (containing raisins and with a small amount of red candy sauce) and a small chicken tamale and a giant tlayuda. We also had a shot of mezcal/tequila and a ponche, a mulled non alcoholic punch. On thursday, we had entomotadas and moladas (tortillas in sauces) and bunelos for a late breakfast. And for a late lunch I had a fresh trout cooked in a garlic sauce with mushrooms (95 pesos). On friday, I had a ham and cheese torta and super gigante tortas which was decent (40 pesos). On saturday, paula and yuan and I went to the 20 of november market, where there is a row of stalls each with raw steak meat thin sliced laying out and a hot charcoal bbq next to it. You order an amount of meat and onions and peppers and they grill it up and you get some tortillas and you sit in a community area and eat it. It's a crazy scene as each merchant is screaming out to attract customers and the grillman is fanning the grill and smoke is filling the
entire room ( which is not very wide - the walkway between stalls is about big enough for 3 people across ). The food was decent. Like carne asada but thinner. The meal was just an awesome experience tho. No forks, no knives. A paper mat as a plate, yet still it was civilized enough. I also found this cool little café that i've been going to, which has internet. I,'ve stopped in there a couple times and have a beer and check email. On saturday, I had a vanilla helado and a michelada, which is brought out as a cold glass with ice and a ton of chile powder in the bottom and rimmed with more chile powder and a bottle of beer. I guessed the idea is to pour the beer in the glass, which ended up holding about a third at a time. It actually was only ok. Not much beer flavor comes through with the ice and chile, probably water would work almost as well (or juice or tea). Today I went to las danzantes to try the huitlacoche, corn fungus. I wanted to
check this out once I read about it in the travel guide. Las danzantes is a fancy restaurant - wine list, silverware presented with meal, multiple courses. It was pretty dead at 4 o clock when I went. I ordered a salad which had jicama, lettuce, seeds, soaked wheat granules, and fried hibiscus flowers and also the raviolis with huitlacoche (250 pesos). The salad was much needed (there is a lot of milk products down here and I was craving something fresh and light. And I know you're not supposed to eat fresh vegetables here, but this is not some street vendor and i've noticed and as many people also say oaxacans won't eat bad food either so they are very careful with the water and contamination.) even tho I wanted the salad it was a bit of a weird mish mash (weird plating as all the ingredients were separated from each other). The raviolis were ok. The huitlacoche didn't have much taste and once again they were drenched in cheese an cream
sauce. I had a glass of the house wine which tasted watered down and had bits of cork or sediment in it. So the meal wasn't that impressive. After that I went over to chocolate mayordomo. Which i've also been to a few times to watch them grind up the chocolate and to people watch. In past times, I ordered a hot chocolate and a cold chocolate (both unfortunately made with a ton of milk - so I had to leave some behind). Today however I picked up some semi bitter chocolate (500 grams for 40 pesos). The sugar is not really ground and so the chocolate is grainy. Even though, it's semi bitter it's still sweet and tastes very much of the cinnamon they put in. I believe the cacao they use is not fermented and so is not quite the same taste as chocolate at home. I'll have to try the other flavors they have next time.
I've had a couple moles (one from class and I guess the moladas were in a mole). My next thing I want to try is more moles. Also, I walk by this hamburger cart on my way home every night and he's doing great business so i'm going to give it a try too.
Oh also they sell a lot of chapulines here. Chapulines are fried grasshoppers. I'd probably try them but one of the guidebooks said that they have been found to contain high concentrations of lead, so i'll have to suck it up and miss out on that one (darn).

Why oaxaca

This is a very good question. I flip-flopped so many times on where I was going to go and if I was going to come here. So far, it seems like a good choice. My homestay family has been very nice to me. Their house is ok. I am sleeping on a twin bed that is small but decent. The bathroom is a little odd. The door is a metal gate (the walls are also fairly thin so it seems your business is pretty public.)
I stopped this message mid draft. I'll pick up with some of the weeks activities. The spanish classes turned out to be a nightmare as they didn't have their regular teacher for the week and they brought in a sub who had no experience teaching spanish to adults. Also there was no set curriculum from the instituto so we spent half the class on monday on one page in our 200+ page book (how to introduce yourself in spanish page which everyone should have known before attending the class) then we spent the other half on simple present tense conjugation of one verb. The next day we spent most of the class on past tense conjuagation of only one verb. It was very frustrating for a lot of students as they just wanted a simple rule to follow for the regular verbs instead of spending hours on one verb only. Fortunately, the cooking class I signed up for and my intercambio exchange student are worthwhile since it's all in spanish and there's some
good practice. By wednesday however half the class had dropped out so I decided I would move on too. I took up the next level class in the afternoon. This class is a world of difference and is providing more of the challenge that I need.
There are some great little shops and amazing temples/churches which rival those found in europe. I've done quite a bit of walking as it's common for people to be walking around and seems to be very safe. I also took a pilates class and the exercise i've been doing has kicked my ass especially since oaxaca is at altitude (~5000 ft).
I visited a couple of chocolate shops which is one of the main reasons I came to oaxaca. Yet I haven't purchased anything other than chocolate drinks which are very tasty. There are a couple of big differences between oaxacan chocolate and american chocolate. Oaxacan chocolate seems too often grind the chocolate bean whole with the husk. It appears to use a lot of sugar. The sugar and ingredients are not as finely ground and the result is gritty chocolate. The chocolate is usually ground with almonds, cinnamon, vanilla, and/or walnuts/pecans. The cacao does not appear to be fermented, so the taste should not have as much fruittiness. The sugar is not initally ground with all the other ingredients it's ground on the second pass. Chocolate mayordomo seems always to be packed. There is only one other chocolate maker nearby which is la soledad. I have to go back today or tomorrow and finally try the chocolate itself.
So overall I would say oaxaca was probably one of the better choices in mexico. There are just the right amount of tourists where they don't appear to be a major nuisance to the locals so you really can get a good flavor of local daily life while still feeling safe among the other visitors.

Esta bien

Right now I'm in Espanol overload! I should probably be out in the city dancing salsa and drinking cervezas, but I just need to rest. Even though, most of today was spent in a very relaxing way. My homestay family invited me to the grandmother's town today. This seemed very generous of them. They drove me down to San Pablo where the family has a farm. What a beautiful town! The grandmother was inside the house making something and the family put on a pot of Oaxacan chocolate con agua (not con leche I think - no problems so far!). This was the real deal! They gave me a big bowl and bread. I wasn't sure how to eat it. At first, I drank and ate. Then the other kids started eating by dunking the bread in and eating just the bread. I ended up drinking most of mine, because it was quite good. After a family friend showed up with his 3 wheel taxi to take the kids, we all headed for the mercado. Here we sat and ate some quesadillas, tortillas with
beans and cheese, and tortillas rolled up with fresh grilled carne (the mercado has several butchers in the back where we were seated at the tortilla merchant. Next to the butchers were charcoal pits that anyone could use to grill. Probably a good idea as the raw meat was unrefrigerated.) Interestingly, when I've been offered agua, it's usually flavored with orange or lime or melon or whatever, it's not just plain. After what I thought was the main comida of the day the father, Alan, and their neice and I strolled around the plaza. In order to fill in the gaps in conversation, he taught me some basic spanish. (Note: so far my homestay family has spoken maybe half a dozen english words and I the same amount of Spanish words). With perfect timing the mother, Paula,'s sister called me over to try Tejate (famous Oaxacan drink made of corn and cacao often stirred in a large plastic tub similar to how cousin eddy's daughter stirred the
koolaid in Vacation). It was actually quite delicious (grainy from the corn meal but the chocolate was evident). Then we went back out to the plaza where we ate spicy jicama and relaxed. There was a wedding going on at one end of the plaza and they lit off fireworks at the end of the ceremony which made more noise than anything else (maybe as a pseudo gunfire). Then the band played and the couple and wedding parade made its way out of the plaza onto the streets presumably off to the casa novia. After a while we went to go watch a soccer game in which Paula's brother was playing. Unlike a lot of soccer, this game was intense and fast paced. After the game, we headed back to the family's house. (The family actually has a house in the suburbs and the apartments in the city center. The apartments are also where they run a kitchen. I'm not sure how it all works yet - will learn more as I go I guess.) At the house Alan and I had an afternoon
cerveza (Sol cerveza - Oaxaca's choice beer). Then while Paula prepared some salsa for the chicken and tortillas for comida, I played nintendo with the children. Their favorite games were mario kart and super smash bros. Comida (lunch) was around 4:30pm, which caught me by surprise because I thought we already had comida. After comida the family and I went to a place where they make black pottery. The pottery was fashioned into the many shapes you see in Mexico: turtles, fish, ducks, and boxes, but the ceramic has a black finish on it which I take it is only made near here. From here we dropped the kids off then Paula and I headed back to the city apartment. So now I'm back here and I realize that while some things are different here like the language, there are certainly many things that cross cultures: the meal as a way to get together and the family as a home. Miss you, mi familia y novia.

Flying the friendly skies

When we left off, our intrepid travellee was stuck in sfo airport awaiting news about united's 777 fleet status. During that time I had grabbed and devoured a big 9 oz bag of trail mix (note: must gain willpower back - in meantime, buy smaller bags). Well, it turns out the faa wasn't going to bend and let united defer their maintenance check (it was a check of the fire retardant tanks used in the cargo section, according to united it was a failsafe not necessary for atlantic flights). So, they herded us to the domestic lobby so that they could service 2 planes' worth of people. It took over 2 hours to get through the line in front of me (with at least another half hour's worth behind me). They gave me a ticket on another flight the next day, one which had a connection in denver, and a hotel accomodations at the best western el rancho inn in millbrae, and meal vouchers for the next day. Oh and a toiletry kit, because they weren't giving back the bags. One thing about being in a line with a bunch of old brits is that they seem to have little grasp of personal space when they have their knickerbockers in a bunch. The gentleman, a term I use loosely when applied to this fellow, behind me kept bumping into me as the line moved forward. Where's the fire?! In any case, I hopped on the hotel shuttle and arrived at el rancho inn around 12:30 am. 'the rancho' is a standard 2/3 star joint. Similar to one we stayed in in morro bay. I had breakfast at the café there. A scramble with potatoes - it was ok. Then I grabbed some snacks at the local safeway (granola and powdered drink mix) and also some more dramamine at the walgreens. There is another motion sickness drug called bonine which I will have to try sometime. I got on the shuttle to the airport at 10:30, went thru security, and wondered what I should do for the next 4 hours. Well, one option was wander around looking at books and food and another was to go talk some more to united. Luckily with some good sense, I chose the latter, because they put me on a direct flight leaving at 1 and gave me a voucher good towards my next flight with united (and possibly my last - I plan to do a little airline research when I get back). <break in time: I had been writing this on the plane, now we're back to now> the plane ride over had its good and its bad moments. The aircraft was an older 747, with seats in a 3-4-3 configuration and a projector for the inflight movies (becoming jane, alvin and the chipmunks, and the golden compass - none which I watched). I was seated in the middle seat on the right (starboard?) side of the plane. To my left on the aisle was a college graduate going to backpack around europe, yet he had a nasty cold and to my right was an older cranky friendly (you know the type - extroverted but always pessimistic) expat brit. Some lessons learned from the experience: pack earplugs and a sleep mask, and sometimes its better to choose sleep over food (especially food found on an airplane). The earplugs would have helped because the brit wouldn't let up about how she couldn't sleep on planes. There was a good moment when the plane flew right along the thames and we got a nice view of the london skyline. The plane touched down and we went thru customs and made it to baggage claim. Unfortunately due to the fiasco the night before my luggage didn't make it on the same flight. So I put in a request to have the bag delivered to the hotel in london. I stopped at the atm in terminal 3 just outside of customs, grabbed my heathrow express ticket, and got on the train. The train ride is pretty quick into london. Then its a few hops from paddington to king's cross (however it was quite costly - the tube ticket was 4 pounds). At king's cross I got on the cambridge express on platform 9a, just passed harry potter's platform 9 3/4. The train to cambridge was fast and smooth. There was a taxi stop there, but I decided to do as the locals and walk. Canbridge is a college town. After arriving at the hotel, getting settled in, setting an alarm for 20 minutes and proceeding to sleep for 5 hours, I got out and walked around. There isn't much to cambridge. The colleges are not really open to the public and its fairly quiet (school's not in session now). I wandered around and saw the river where students were picnicking on its banks (it was still a little bit light out at 7:15). I saw the king's college chapel and found a borders bookstore (i need to get a book for the trip home since I finished my book on the way here). I found a book on best pubs and it listed one on gwyder street and another on mawson, but those were on the other side of town so I didn't go. After walking around (maybe a mile and a half), I came back to the hotel and watched some telly, the apprentice british version was on. I ate some leftovers from the business dinner jadine went to. Today we plan to stay a little longer in cambridge (probably take a punt out on the river) and then head back down to london.

I left my heart in san francisco (as well as hope of getting out of here)

United airlines has been forced to ground all of their 777s due to a maintenance issue. Guess which kind of plane I was going to fly on? :) oh well, at least the terminal is pretty nice...

Breakfast in the city

We got up, and with sorrow checked-out of our suite. We left the bags at the bell stand and walked back to the visitor's center to get a train pass. At the visitor's center, we got a tip on a great breakfast spot, Tempo. Tempo's located on the northern end of downtown on State st. The place was packed with people (an obvious local favorite). We got a monte cristo sandwich and some pancakes which were both great. The orange juice is fresh squeezed and fantastic.
After Tempo, we walked over to the Hancock building and took the fastest elevator in the US to the observatory on the 94th floor. The view of Chicago is quite stunning from up there.
After the observatory, we decided we'd go to the Museum of Contemporary Art and then take a train to Eli's Cheesecake Factory. The museum had a art of rock n' roll exhibit which was decent yet slightly obscure to me (late 60s, early 70s bands mostly). The highlight was the store which had some very cool stuff (wind-up sushi, LED xmas trees, vinyl albums pressed into bowls and cut into coasters). I got a little caught up in it and we didn't get out of there until almost 3:30. We knew the Cheesecake factory was closing at 5, so we decided we'd just head back to the hotel and ask for a closer place to get Eli's. On the way back, we stopped in a couple stores. Jadine bought a pair of shoes she liked.
We grabbed the bags from the Omni and headed down a couple blocks to our next hotel, the InterContinental. Along the way we stopped in at a busy popcorn store and picked up 2 bags (macademia caramel and cashew caramel -- the plan was to bring one home, but neither bag was sealed, so now we're stuck with chowing down on this stuff all week).
We checked in and got an OK room, decent size and LCD panel tv. The conference is here so that's the main reason we're here.
We met up with a coworker who is also attending the conference and headed out to dinner at the Capital Grille (rated #1 steakhouse in Chicago on citysearch). I had the Delmonico (ribeye) and Jadine had the surf & turf (filet and crab legs). The food was OK, nothing really special, and overpriced, but the service was good (Dan Aykroyd).
After dinner we headed to Rush st (recommended by our waiter) and found a pub there. We had a drink there before calling it a night and headed back to our hotel (one mile taxi ride $6).

Thank you, Mr. Shatner!

Chicago.. The windy city. When I learned that there were tickets available to go to Chicago for business, I flipped. Although, it was probably more for because it was my first real trip on the company dime rather than to go to Chicago. Chicago didn't have a huge draw for me. It's up there with Green Bay and Charleston -- there's maybe one or two things I know about the city but it still seems like the city is not close to anything. I know, I know -- Elliott Ness squared off with Al Capone here.. the basis of Eight Men Out and Field of Dreams films came from the 1919 White Sox scandal that rocked the baseball world.. Ferris Bueller had his day off here.. Still Chicago was just a town in the Midwest on a map in school.. Wrong! Chicago is happening.. A metropolis with character.
We arrived here after a 3 1/2 hour flight on Southwest (plane was empty with plenty of space to stretch out -- score!). After a half hour cab ride, "Welcome to the Omni, sir" says the doorman as he opens our cab door. Excellent! Thank you, Mr Shatner for keeping that little website priceline still going. Priceline got us a fabulous suite at the Omni Chicago for less than half the "Net Savvy" rate quoted on their website. And in fact, it's regular rate is higher than some hotels with half the amenities. The Omni is in a fantastic location, right in the middle of the Magnificent Mile, and is a giant room.
After settling into our suite, we got the 411 at the local Visitor's Center (3 blocks up the magnificent mile at the WaterWorks building). We got loads of great information here from the helpful assistant. She hooked us up with the public transportation map and let us in on the days when the museums have free admission.
From here we set out for a late lunch/early dinner at Portillo's. Portillo's is ranked 6th in Chicago for Chicago dogs on CitySearch (it's also the closest to us). Portillo's is not a hot dog stand. It's rather large resembling Fuddruckers which kinda turned me off, but the dog brought me back. It was a fantastic chicago style dog with relish, tomatoes, peppers, and pickle. The Maxwell St Polish was tasty as well with mustard and grilled onions. I got a large Sam Adams here for $3 also. The whole meal was less than $15 for the 2 of us. I love America! (well, let's say I love not being somewhere else where the dollar translates to 2 cents).
After the good eats, we walked over to Navy Pier (a longer haul than the map showed). At Navy Pier we watched Marcoux Corner, a acappella group, who were pretty decent, got some Chicago style popcorn (Caramel + Cheese), saw a stained glass exhibit, and rode the 150 ft ferris wheel (umm where's the parachute? first ferris wheel ride -- I nearly broke the side bar from gripping onto it so tight.. However after hitting the top of the wheel, I loosened up).
We waited at the bus stop for the free trolley back to Michigan Ave, but it was full and didn't stop. So we trucked it back to the hotel.
Now my feet hurt, but I'm ready for more.

Good to be back

Well, the trip is over. It was fun but it really makes you appreciate the good things we have here at home like driving rules (dmv may not be so bad after all) and sand on the beach. One nice thing we found in Rome was the airport. There is a train which takes 30 minutes from the city to the airport and once in the airport from the train to our gate took 20 minutes! It may have been a light travel day, but it was super quick. Coming through JFK took us 40 minutes through customs because they flagged me for search. Ridiculous security theater.
Anyway, the trip was good and we wouldn't have changed it.

Catholic cash machine

We woke up a little later today and had a nice breakfast with cappucino in the hotel. We relaxed a little after breakfast as our Vatican reservations were for noon. We hopped on the metro at Termini and it made it to the Vatican stop in about 5 minutes and then we had maybe a 10 minute walk from there to the Vatican entrance. There was no one in the guided tour line; however, when we got to the group meetup point, there were over 30 of us. The tour turned out to be pretty good, cutting through some of the more uninteresting stuff and getting to the meat of the collection like the Raphael room and the Sistine Chapel both very awesome. The chapel was packed with people. We found out there were 10,000 visitors to the vatican museum that day (and that it was a light day). At an average of 10e per person that's like 100,000e per day. The popes are pretty smart to realize capitalizing on collectibles is a good way to keep the gears turning. After the Sistine Chapel, we went into St Peter's church which was massive. After touring the church, we went out to the square and saw where the pope will have his audience tomorrow. It was about 3 and we hadn't had lunch. So, we set out and grabbed the 40 bus to Campo de Fiori. We found a cool little bar that served up dozens of different sandwiches. The sandwiches (Jadine had a turkey and I had smoked ham) and beer were good, but it started raining while we were eating and the temp dropped. Jadine ordered a cup of hot chocolate and that's what they served - melted milk chocolate very thick and quite good. We caught a break in the rain and found a shop that could sell Jadine a scarf. Then, we resumed our walk over to Piazza Nuvola where the 4 rivers fountain was unfortunately closed. From here we kept walking through the sights (pantheon, stolen egyptian obilisk, column commemorating Augustus) until we came to a mall. Jadine was feeling shopping withdrawal and we stopped into Zara where Jadine bought a couple sweaters. After shopping, we made our way to the Trevi fountain. The fountain was fantastic - like something you'd see in Vegas but this was the real deal. We tossed our coins into the fountain. We went onto the Spanish Steps and to the subway this time a little earlier (just before 9). We made it to our hotel stop and had dinner near the hotel at a restaurant with terrible service and ok food (we ordered basil dishes and only got at most a leaf). Maybe not the best note to end on but maybe that was the Trevi fountain's way of ensuring that we come back and find better spots in Rome.

Rick Steves in half a day

The plan today was to take a boat ride to Naples and a taxi to the station; however the wind had kicked up and suspended boat travel. So, we had to quickly get ready to catch the 9:30 bus. The buses in Italy are a mess - everyone scrambles to whatever bus pulls in and checks with the driver which way it is headed. We found our bus which apparently everyone else in Amalfi wanted because it was packed and we had to stand. The road out of Amalfi is too narrow in parts for 2 buses to get by so there were several times when our bus got jammed and the bus uphill would have to pull back. After a 2 hour winding bus ride (dramamine and fresh air from open windows helped) we made it to the Circumvesuviana station. We caught the 12:07 train and got to Naples around 1:15. We found our 1:48 train to Rome and hopped on board. We found out the train's snack car doesn't open until the train starts moving (some enterprising individuals took advantage of this fact and sold snacks baseball park style through the train aisles). We grabbed a mediocre ham and cheese sandwich and a eggplant panino and some pringles for lunch on the train. We arrived in Rome around 3:15 and walked to the hotel (about 10 minutes from the train station). We checked in, freshened up, and headed out for Rick Steves forum walk. We first walked to the Colosseum. It was so impressive in person Jadine suggested we go inside. To get inside it's 11e per person, but it's pretty cool to stroll through it and imagine its glory days and the centuries of vandalism and decay afterwards. After the colosseum, we strolled through the roman forum and saw Julius Caesar's funeral pyre spot and the ruins of ancient rome. It was just about 7 (when they actually close the forum) when we hopped on the metro for Rick Steves spanish steps walk. The metro is convenient, but the ticket system is a little odd - there are machines available to purchase the tickets but they are slow or broken or don't accept the currency you have. The tabacchi shops are where to go really - they sell all the metro tickets. In any case, we made it up to the Piazza del Poppolo where they had a band playing and some circus performers. It seemed like a nice place but full of tourists and where there's tourist in Rome, there are thieves. So, we continued the walk seeing all the shops along the Corso until we reached the Spanish Steps. The steps were less impressive in person than on the big screen and a lot more crowded, but still a very nice spot to hang out and enjoy the night. We went to the nearby Rick Steves recommended Ristornate il Gabriello. It was a little hard to find as it is below street level but it was a good find as the food was excellent. We had a very tasty bruschetta, Jadine had spaghetti with clams followed by mussels, and I had pasta with prawns followed by a steak and lettuce salad. By the time we finished, it was a little after 9:30 and we were tired from the day so we headed to the nearby metro station which as luck would have it was closed (Rome's metro stinks like that). Luckily there's a cab stop nearby and the ride back to the hotel was only a couple extra euros than taking the metro. Tomorrow sees us at the Vatican.

Blue grotto mandolino

We got up early today so as to catch the first boat to Capri. We grabbed the prepackaged food from the hotel breakfast and headed for the pier. I decided to take a dramamine this morning and pack one for the return so as not to repeat yesterday's motion sickness fun. And it was a good thing I took it, because the sea was angry today, my friend, like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli. We took the jet boat (LMP company) which got us to Capri in an hour (around 9:45). At the dock, we found the 30 ft boat that would take us to the grotto. About 15 or so people were on the boat as it made its way from the marina to the grotto. Once there all the little rowboats started rowing over to us, but the capitan and the head grotto guy stopped them from taking people from our boat (I guess to wait for the other boat to unload first). After about 10 minutes, we hopped in one of the dinghies along with another couple and the boatsman rowed (standing) us over to the cashier where we payed the entrance fee. Then we were rowed to the entrance just big enough for the dinghy and maybe only 3 feet high from sea level. there is a chain here where after timing at the trough of a swell the boatsman pulls us into the grotto. Once insdie the sight is amazing. The bluest blue I've seen. All the dinghies are hanging out inside and some of the capitans are singing, it's all a little bit nutty like a disneyland ride. When we made our way back the sea had picked up and the entrance was being covered by swells quite frequently. After waiting in line for a few minutes, our boat slipped back out and we got back on the return boat. This was my mistake. Rick Steves says the best plan is to skip the return boat and go direct to Anacapri on land from the little dock at the grotto. I missed reading that and we went back to the marina. It was lunchtime now and thinking that probably the worst restaurants would be on the marina, I started walking in the direction the signs pointed to the city center. Mistake #2. The walk from the marina to Capri is a long uphill walk. They didn't build a cable car here for nothing. After a lot of stairs we reached a little Trattoria that didn't look open because the staff were all sitting at a table eating, but they welcomed us in. This turned our fortune as the food was excellent (caprese salad with fresh mozarella and a wood fired pizza marinara). The seating was excellent, in a patio area with a fantastic view of the bay of Naples. One of the other customers, who came in after us and was sitting a couple tables over, turned out to be a mandolin player. One of the chefs had been sitting out in the patio as well and goaded the old mandolin player into playing a couple Italian folk songs. It was pretty cool stuff. After lunch, we made it to Capri Town and walked around some of the shops. Jadine found a coral/turquoise shop that had some nice but expensive jewelry. We took a bus over to Anacapri to try to ride the chairlift, but it started raining and they shut it down. Jadine found another jewelry shop selling turquoise, but it was not as good quality so we skipped it. We hopped on the next bus to Capri Town which was packed. As it was getting late, we took the funicular down to the marina and got our tickets for the "jet" to Amalfi. The port was a mess with people most of who were heading to Sorrento. One interesting thing is we ran into the same people on the way back as on the way to Capri. These guys were really on top of things calling just before reaching port to get picked up to go out again. Back in Amalfi, we decided to go back to the same restaurant we went to the first night. This time we ordered primi piattis instead of the secondis we had the first night. Jadine got a tasty seafood risotto, I had some pasta with eggplant which I've forgotton how it tasted, but the highlight for me was the desserts and wine. We got parmesan with pear and honey and the local speciality, lemon cake. The cheese was good with the honey and the cake was moist and tasty. We had an Orvieto wine (a whole bottle so the rest of the night was a bit of a blur for me). Tomorrow sees us leaving this quiet little town heading to the largest city in Italy.

Little town slow down

We got up a little later today and made it down to the hotel breakfast around 9:30. It was fairly crowded with tourists from all countries (the little Amalfi town is all tourism and so far the people here have been fluent in english and willing to speak it - a much different approach to foreigners than their big city urban compatriates). Turned out the food was pretty lousy - milk, yogurt, meats were left out not chilled, there was a bug in the cereal - not good. After eating the prepackaged stuff we decided to head down to the "beach." The hotel has a section of the harbor for themselves in which they put a dock covered it in artificial turf and set up chairs and umbrellas. We sat down there and watched the people swimming in the water next to the docked motorboats (water was still kind of clear). Around 1, we headed out for lunch. We sat down at the first sandwich shop which turned out to be a (my) bad idea. I ordered a salami and artichoke sandwich and Jadine got a caprese sandwich (edible but not so great). We left the shop heading for the hotel, but first stopping at an internet point so that we could book the train tickets to Rome. Luckily, on the way back to the hotel, we ran into a pastry shop (Andrea Pansa's) to make up for the lousy lunch. We grabbed a delicious lemon cake and ate it on the pier. We decided to relax and head over to one of the public beaches a little later. While relaxing in the hotel room, we read about the nearby town Atrani in Rick Steves guide. We decided to go there. Following the Rick Steves instructions, we traversed the sidwalk until it ended and went up some stairs; however, it wasn't just some stairs -- it was a lot of stairs. Turned out to be a bit of a hike, but there were some great views. Amazingly, we ran into some older folks who seemed to have no troubles with the stairs (my guess some kind of Darwinian thing - all the people who hated the stairs moved away). We reached Atrani and it was just as described a nice town with a beach and no tourists - actually eeriely so. With only locals around and no one in the water, it seemed a little wrong for us to go in. In any case we stuck our feet in. The water was warm. We were getting a little hungry so we headed back to Amalfi this time along the road like everyone else (the Rick Steves way is nice but a little impractical). We first went to the supermarket and picked up some water, milk, and a snack. Then we found a nice restaurant next door. We ended up getting one of the best meals here (in the Piazza dei Dogi). We had eggplant parmesan, artichoke and mushroom salad, and spaghetti alla bolognese. At the end of our meal, we found out the waitress was going to Japan on a work exchange program as they were hosting some one from Osaka right now. We told her about our trip and met the lady from Japan. Amazingly, the people at the restaurant speak english so well (from a town that has maybe 10000 residents)! This small town with its major tourist pulse still has quite a bit of charm. Tomorrow we're off to Capri.

Italy through a glass window

We got up extra early today so as not to miss our train. We had breakfast, checked out, and took a cab ride to the station. The internet reservation for the train tickets worked out well. You get a number through email and when you get to the station you enter the number in the self service machine and you're ticket is printed. Our train got in a little late so we had to wait some time in the station. Our seats on the train, 74 & 75, were diagonal from each other (the train is set up with four seats around a table). The lady next to me asked me in pretty good english would I like to change seats with her so that I could sit across from Jadine, which was nice of her. Afterwards, Jadine asked if the trains in Italy usually run late, but now she couldn't understand and kept looking at us puzzled. The guy across from her now launches into some joke about Americans and they have a laugh. I gave them the stink eye -- we'll see who has the last laugh. The guy on the train proceeds to hit on the girl asking her what her favorite number is and what her favorite fruit is -- wow is this where romance originated? At some point, she becomes disinterested, though. She leaves the train at Rome and he has no way to contact her -- too bad. Anyway, the scenery from the train is nice and we make it to Naples about 12:15. We pick up the Circumvesuviana tickets and head out onto the streets of Naples with luggage in tow. There is a TI booth in the station where we picked up a map but it didn't have the street with the Rick Steves recommended pizzeria. The streets of Naples during the day near the train station are like the sketchy areas of new york -- full of con artists and people selling ripoffs. The Rick Steves pizzeria was not looking close and we stopped at a pizzeria where the waiter was standing outside. Jadine ordered a Margherita and I ordered a Diavola (salami and crushed red pepper). The pizzas were good and the service was not so great. Some old lady sitting next to us was crooning some song while sucking down a pack of cigarettes (seems everyone smokes in Italy). We paid and went back to the train station. After a half an hour wait, our train pulled in. We hopped on board the graffiti riddled train (the grafitti actually worked to our advantage as it provided shade for the hot sun). After about an hour on the local train, we made it to Sorrento. The Sorrento bus stop proved challenging as there were several buses and no clear indication which was the one we (our any of the other travelers) wanted. Finally, under constant pressure from the disgruntled customers, the bus driver caved and put up his sign -- bus to Amalfi leaves at 4:30. We picked up our tickets from the snack shop along with an overpriced (3e) Powerade and waited. The bus got going on time and started along a very scenic, yet extremely winding road (hairpins similar to those we rode near Nikko on the way back from Kegon Falls). After an hour of it, I couldn't take much more and had a "What About Bob?" on the bus moment (false alarm). We made it (I still a little green) to Amalfi at 6 and our hotel was a short 5 minute walk away. We checked in and then, after my brain caught back up that the ground was no longer moving out from under me, we headed out for dinner. We took a look at several menus along the sea sidewalk and decided on one serving a spinach salad which appealed to Jadine. The place turned out really well. We had the spinach salad, a baked fish, and a house special fish cooked in a light tomato sauce. The house fish is prepared in a way which we also saw done at the Naples restaurant where it is cooked whole and then filleted tableside. After dinner, we did a little exploring and got some limone sorbetto and amaretto gelato at a little shop on the main drag. We returned to the hotel weary from the day's travels.

Giardini

We started early today with breakfast in the hotel, which included a cappucino and hot chocolate. It's been a week now and we were ready to do some laundry. We found a laundromat near the hotel and loaded up the washer and went next door to an internet café. We ordered the train tickets for tomorrow's trip to Naples online. Then while the laundry was drying, we walked around Florence. We were in the leather district and went to a leather school nearby. Everything seemed of not the best quality and was rather expensive. All the store salespeople spoke English well, probably because the area was frequented by many American tour groups. We grabbed the laundry hot from the dryer put it in the backpack and dropped it off at the hotel. We had lunch near the hotel at a restaurant called La Grotta Guelfa. Jadine ordered the pasta carbonara which was speghetti in a heavy butter sauce with pancetta. I had Le Pappardelle which was fresh pasta sheets in oil with tomatoes. We also ordered a half bottle of rose which was quite a bit better than the by the glass wines we have had. After lunch we crossed the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio and saw the little gold and silver shops that lined both sides of the bridge. We made our way to the Pitti Palace and bought tickets to the Boboli and Bardini gardens. The Boboli gardens were massive. There were some good views of Florence from atop the gardens. The Bardini gardens was a rather confusing walk from the Boboli gardens but we found it. The Bardini gardens were nicer and less crowded but harder to walk around as they were steeper. After the gardens our legs were pretty tired and we headed back to the hotel. We stopped at a gelato place and got a small cup of stracciatella and frutti di bosca which was very tasty. We got back to the hotel about 6:30 and got ready for dinner -- this time we would try the Rick Steves recommend Osteria di Porcellina. After getting ready and on the way down to the lobby, we met a guy from Arizona here with his wife. He let us know that a taxi to the train station is a good way to go when we leave tomorrow. The restaurant had decent food and not so great service. The waiter got our order wrong. We ordered salmon carpaccio but got beef, which was OK because the beef carpaccio tasted pretty good. We also got a steak in peppercorn sauce which also was pretty good. Overall we were not that impressed, the lunch spot was better. The final note on florence is that it has some old world charm mixed with new world commerce but with a little bit of a touristy feel.

Florence's art scene

Today, we got up early, had breakfast in the hotel, and returned the car. Whew! (I guess one of the good things about the car, which I forgot until now, was that we were able to listen to Italian radio. Stations did play quite a bit of music in English with a very popular song called "Relax, Take It Easy"). When we got directions to the rental dropoff from our hotel, they told us to stop by and give the license plate number to them. Apparently, Florence has sections where the roads are restricted from heavy traffic and if you are not going to some place you can get a fine. That just adds all the more reason to ditch the car. We walked from the rental place to the Uffizi Gallery along the Arno River and passed the Ponte Vecchio. We were a little early (we had reservations which helped us get out of a long line). So, we took a few photos and read up a little on the gallery. Inside the gallery, we had to go through metal detectors and check our bag (baggage check had a sign that said it was forbidden to leave cameras, phone cameras, money, or identification documents, which was an odd sign because that's what our bag had mostly in it). After climbing two tall stories of stairs, we saw many statues and busts of famous people like old roman emperors. We saw lots of early and mid renaissance paintings including the famous Boticelli birth of venus. After the gallery, we had lunch at a nice self serve sandwich shop. We decided to get a little rest before visiting the Academia and started walking back to the hotel. Along the way Jadine wanted to stop at the local department store called Coin (it's like Macys). When we got back to the hotel, Jadine took a nap and I went downstairs to the lounge where they have wi-fi and connected to the internet. At about 3:20, we headed for the Academia. After going through another metal detector, we entered the gallery. We saw some more art, but the reason everyone comes here is to see Michelangelo's David which was worth seeing in person. After the gallery, we headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We thought we'd try a Rick Steves recommendation. However, we could not find either one and ended up at a nice restaurant called Trattoria Corrazze. We ordered roast beef, a florentine style t-bone, a glass of brunello, and a panna cotta with caramel and pistachio for dessert. The brunello was not so good (my theory is because we're tourists and we're buying by the glass so we get the not so fresh stuff), but the food was excellent. That was it for the day. It was a little refreshing not to have so much on the schedule.

Little town overload

We started out with breakfast in the hotel. Breakfast was good but there could have been some more fresh fruit. That seems to be common in italy -- there isn't much fruits or vegetables available on the menus. After breakfast we got the car and headed to Siena. Our first stop was Piazzale Michelangelo with its stunning view of Florence. Then, as we were driving, we decided that it would be best to go to a winery before going to Siena. We read in the Rick Steves book about a town, San Gimignano, which is on the way to Siena and has a couple wineries. We made it to San Gimignano, which is this amazing old castle on a hill. Rick Steves didn't give the easiest directions for parking. We missed the lot which happened to be the first one by the main gate (p1). We parked and entered the castle. The castle has been turned into a shopping arcade full of little shops. A tourist trap for sure but I guess it's nice that they are making use of the old castle. We had a pizza (one with verdura, zucchini and eggplant, and the other with olives and mushrooms) lunch here. Jadine found a purse she liked. On the way back down from San Gimignano we stopped at a local family run winery, Sovestro. We tasted a few wines and picked up a bottle of the red. We headed back the way we came except we made a wrong turn and got on a local road to Siena instead of the freeway. The road was slow and winding and went through a lot of little towns, but by this time we were tired of seeing little towns and wanted to make it to Siena before the sights closed. We finally made it to Siena at 5:00. We made it to the duomo and saw some amazing stained glass and tiled floors. Afterwards we went to the campo and had a salad dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the car but stopped at a prodotti tipici shop which Rick Steves recommended to do and bought an Italian chewy sweet bread that is similar to fruitcake (mm fruitcake :o ugh). Driving back to Florence we missed the highway exit again because the sign is labelled differently. The Italian road signs only say the direction to a city and major highway, but do not say the name of the street. We caught on to the signage and hopped on the freeway. We stopped at the Piazzale Michelangelo again to get a view of Florence at night. We made it back to the hotel after one failed attempt at driving through the city. Advice for florence: do not rent a car. It's a big pain. However the trips out to the tuscan countryside were fantastic.

Where are we

We woke up early, had breakfast in the hotel, and went out for a stroll. Today was the day that a street market was being held near our hotel. Vendors were selling household items like table cloths and kitchen utensils, clothes, and bags, and belts. Jadine bought a skirt and a couple of belts before we went back to our hotel and checked out. Our first stop on our journey to Florence was the port city, La Spezia. We arrived in La Spezia around 12:30 to find that not much of the bay could be seen (hidden by walls surrounding cranes and other industrial warehousing). We found a parking spot in front of a deli-like place and headed out looking for a nice lunch spot. After at least a mile of walking and not finding anything that looked good, we had returned to the deli place in front of our car which was obviously a local favorite as people were coming and going frequently. We ordered lasagna, pepperoni (roasted peppers), and something called Arancini di Riso. This Arancini di Riso was the best thing I've tasted on the trip so far. I found out from talking (more like piecing together words as she spoke Italian) to the cook at this deli that the Arancini is Sicilian and she is from Sicily. Ooh, I think I know where our next travel destination will be. :) After lunch, we hopped back on the autostrada and drove to the exit as google had said. However, after driving several kilometers it was obvious that we had taken the wrong exit. All was not lost as the road we were on had signs pointing us the right direction. We got to pisa just after 3. We found a free parking spot near the main piazza. I couldn't make out the signage well so I figured to be safe we better only stay half an hour which turned out to be a little rushed. The tower is impressive and worth seeing. It's very crowded in the piazza as everyone is snapping pictures. Even though it is possible to go up the tower, they only let in 30 people at a time and the next available time was 5:20. Also the cost was 15euro per person. After getting our own pictures and hitting the restroom, we got back on the road heading for Pontederra, home to the makers of the best chocolate in the world, Amedei. We got off the SGC (strada) at the Pontederra exit and got lost. We made it to the city center and asked someone on the street how to get to the factory. She knew the chocolate and told us the way. We made it to the factory just before 5 to find the place closed to the public. Bummer. We went back to town and asked a café store worker where you could buy the chocolate however one of the customers helped us. After a very long conversation and involving other café drinkers we found out the chocolate seller was where we were originally -- in the town center. It was getting late, around 6 by the time we got to Corso Matteotti in the town center. At this point we had invested too much time to turn back. We found the chocolates in a little shop selling candy and coffee. The owner of the shop (I think his name is Fabrizzio) was really cool. His buddies from neighboring shops came over to see what the commotion was and to help us out with buying our chocolate. After half an hour we had our chocolates and a recommendation for a nice restaurant from our new shop owner friends. We had pasta arriabata (a linguine like pasta with tomatoes and spices) and a pizza boscaiola (which had ham and mushrooms) and a mixed fish grill (which we got portare via -- to go). By now it was about 8:30 and we still had an hour drive to go. After a long tour around the city center of Pontederra and a wrong turn down a one way street and a nice stranger saving us from getting a ticket, we made it back onto the SGC. About 7 km outside Florence, traffic came to a halt. Apparently there was an accident and the ambulance had blocked the road. People were getting out of their cars and even backing up to take the previous exit. We stayed there for about 45 minutes before the police came and got traffic moving again. Once we were in florence we got lost, completely. Florence is a maze of one way streets and dead ends. After about an hour, we finally found the roads that google had given us. We finally checked in around 11:30. The hotel is really nice. It's been a long day and tomorrow is our final day of driving.

Parmigiano Reggiano

We got up early today around 6am. We went for a stroll through Parma at sunrise. It is a very nice town with lots of little parks. We had breakfast at the hotel which consisted of toast, croissant, several kinds of ham, and yogurt. After breakfast, we met our parmesan and prosciutto tour guide, Caterina, in the lobby. She was cool, about our age, and had just moved back to Italy after spending several years in England. She let us in on the secret that a normal Italian breakfast only consists of coffee and maybe toast. We got in the car and headed for the caseificio, or cheese maker, Montecoppe. Our guide's directions were slow as if it were her first time driving there. When we got there, the cheese factory was doing some construction, so it was very noisy. She took us to see the cows, holsteins, which are fed only grass from the region and have some kind of pedigree from the region - everything must come from the region to be called Parmiggiano Reggiano. We then went into the cheese making area where there were 5 vats of milk. They started to lift the cheese from the bottom at around 9am - it looked like a normal daily routine for these guys. There was an apprentice there who could not manage to bring the first cheese up and Jadine was about to take his picture but the other guy made some comment about not taking his picture because he was embarrassed. In any case, we got a couple of pictures of that process. Then, we went over to the salting room and saw the last week's cheeses. Next door, we had a tasting in the factory's store. The cheese was excellent - powdery, a little sharp, and not dry. We picked up a souvenir here, a parmesan wheel knife and drove over to the storeroom. The storeroom was massive containing cheeses from several producers. Our guide found somebody at the storeroom who could show us how to tell if the cheese had turned bad. It involved taking a metal hammer and giving it a good tap all the way around and listening for any hollow sounds. He demonstrated on both a good one and a bad one and the difference was noticeable. He let us have a try on the bad one and I gave it a couple of light taps and then he said forte - hit it harder. Can do! It sounded like a drum. Next we headed to Langhirano where the prosciuttio di parma is made. We went by the castle where some movie with michelle pfeifer was made and decided to visit it later. The prosciutto factory, Conti, sits on this hill overlooking the valley. It was beautiful country. Inside the factory we saw the whole process as they had just received some pork legs. The process is pretty much: salt the leg, hang it up, add some paste to make it dry out consistently and let it sit for a long time (18 months) in the proper temp & humidity. The factory must have held thousands of legs. It was beautiful and making me hungry. Fortunately, the tour ended here and we headed back to town. Our guide gave us some recommendations for restaurants, one was closed in august for vacation and the other was sit-down which we decided we'd try later. So we had lunch at a nice sandwich shop, called mangia and bevi. I had a ham, cheese (mozarella), and tomato panino and Jadine had a mixed salad with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, carrots, and olives. The salad comes with no dressing except for olive oil and balsamic vinegar which you add. The sandwich and salad were tasty. After lunch, we had passed a dessert place (cakes and some gelato) and stopped in. We got some little cakes, lemon and pistachio, and a fruit cup with yogurt served in a martini glass. Everything was tasty. We decided to grab the car after lunch but found out the valet wasn't available until 5:30. So we took a walk around the ducal garden. We found out from our cheese tour guide that the area was once under the authority of Maria Luigia, Napoleon's wife and the recent mayor had taken to cleaning up the town and it showed. There were quite a few people in the park relaxing in the hot 35 C degree weather. We made it back to the hotel at 5:30 and drove out to Langhirano again to visit the castle, which closed at 7. We got in a good tour of the castle's rooms and frescoes before heading back. On the way back we stopped at the supermarket, Conad, which I like to do every place I go because I like to see what people get for everyday things. They had all the deli meats, all cow and pig parts, whole fishes, and lots of fruits. We bought some water and went back to the hotel. On the way back, lightning began to appear high in the sky. Back in the hotel, the thunderstorm kicked into full gear giving a spectacular show. Luckily, it was a short show and we were able to get out for dinner. We had dinner at the Tribunale. We ordered prosciutto and cantalope (melone), gnocchi in cheesy sauce with eggplant (melanzale), anolini filled with parmesan in broth, and a steak filet cooked extra rare with potatoes. It was too much food - we're still getting the hang of ordering. We went back to the hotel still reeling from the days activities.

Star to guide me by (or 3 to triangulate my position)

We started early today, 6:30 am, looking for a wifi hotspot and an ATM. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel and checked out. We took a hot miserable, yet short (25 minute), vaporetto ride to the island's major auto hub and picked up our car - a Ford 4 dr hatchback, no gps (gps available only at the airport the clerk said). We followed hertz's directions off the island and then began to follow some printed google directions to Modena. The drive over the bridge was easy, but afterwards we hit a fork in the road and things got confusing. Let's just say we took many impromptu side trips off the main itinerary to give some more flavor of real Italian life (next time get a gps!) The maps were pretty much useless. In any case, we made it to Modena. We found a swap meet there and strolled around and bought some apples - mele in Italian. After the swap meet we got a gelato and a slice of not so good pizza. Walking back to the car, we found another restaurant which was serving salad. We stopped in, but they were out of salad and instead we got another pizza, which this time was good. We hopped back in the car and made our way to Maranello, home of the ferrari. We visited the museum there which was kind of interesting but maybe not worth the admission price. After a taking a few pictures, we left Maranello and drove to Parma. The hotel is located right in the city center, requiring us to drive through a pedestrian
only area. While driving through this area we saw our first polizia car and I thought that was it i'm getting my first international traffic ticket. But no worries the cops drove the other way. We parked the car in the hotel and checked into a nice room. Exhausted, we fell asleep at 6. Now I'm awake and typing this at 3. Hopefully I'll get a little more sleep before our prosciutto and parmesan tours tomorrow.