Stories from a week ago

Alright, so I am lazy and I don't always post things "on time". In my defense I am in Italy and nothing is ever really on time.

Over the weekend I went to Viareggio. It is a beach on the west coast of Italy. It was great as the weather seemed to have a protective bubble around our area. All around us you could see the gloomy dark rain clouds and even hear some thunder, but in the small city the sun was out and the beach was perfect.

They have an interesting arrangement at the beach. It is technically a public beach and therefore anyone can walk on and off as they please. What gets you is when you sit down, as every 15 yards is a small cabana area that rents out places to sit or lay down on the beach. For a small price they will rent you an umbrella and chairs. For 15 euro John and I had a small "beach cabin" (read that as changing room) and a couple chairs we could call our own. It was great to relax and sit in the rays of the smiling sun. Although if anyone makes it to Viareggio I would recommend walking a short distance north to Vermiglia where the beach and the private cabana areas were nicer.

After I got back on Sunday I went to the Duomo Museum and it was great. After being told at several museums that I could not take pictures I stopped bringing my camera and it was a mistake. Not only could I take pictures but the museum had wonderful displays of many great artist. I particularly was drawn to a Donatello sculpture that seemed to cry out to you as you walked by. The Michelangelo and Ghiberti stuff was great too.

Since then Scott and I have been trying to find bargain wines to bring home for "special occasions", I am not sure what that means yet but am looking forward to drinking the wine. I was also introduced to this great Greek restaurant. Linda, from student life here at Gonzaga in Florence, and I eat lunch there the other day. We trying fried chickpeas and I had a delicious kebob with tzaziki sauce. She made me feel like my short little trip to Florence was highly inadequate compared to her Sweden, France, England, US, Australia and now Italy world tour that she has amassed over the past 9 years. Anyway I had a lot of fun and it is people like Linda that have made my trip into something I will never forget.

I will post pictures of all these events when i get my camera synched to the computer.

Bad day

Well yesterday was officially the worst day of my trip. I have not really had a bad day until yesterday. It started out fine and as the day progressed it seemed to get worse. I have some other posts to put up but this one seemed like a good one to write in order to vent a little bit.

I should be in Frankfurt right now hanging out with Alex and buying jerseys to wear to the National team game tonight. Instead I am sitting in Gonzaga in Florence, which is a nice place but is not what I had in mind for today. Now yesterday is mostly one blur of anger, but it started out as a nice day as I said good-bye to friends I have made and set out to Pisa airport. I had the inside track on a bus that was leaving from Florence SMN and heading straight for the airport arriving an hour and half after it left. It is important to note that my flight left at 4:40 and I was planning on arriving at 3:00. That was before the bus decided not to run at 1:30 and by the time I figured that out I was running to catch the train which left at 1:40. I just made it to the train before it was scheduled to leave. Catching my breath as I settled into my seat I had flashes of being on the wrong train. Fortunatly, I was able to confirm, with my broken Italian words, that the passengers around me were also headed to Pisa Centrale. Sitting in the happy glow of my accomplishment I realized that the train wasn't moving. After 30 minutes of sitting there I finally heard the doors close signalling the departure of our 1:40 train at 2:08.

Feeling confident I could still make it on time, knowing the train took just over 1 hour to get to Centrale and that it was a short hope to the aiport I settled down once again. Jolted from my calm resting place once again to the sound of brakes on the track, I became deeply worried. At we slowed to a stop my mind started racing wondering if I would make it. From the title of the post you know what happened. We sat there for another 25-30 minutes making me late to catch the airport train in Centrale and putting me at the airport a little after 4.

I ran to the counter in hopes that I could get on, but all my begging and even a 30 minute flight delay couldn't save the day. They would not allow me to board. After talking to every airline I realized that it would either cost too much (600 euro) or cost a better price (200 euro) and put me into Frankfurt with only a day to spend time there. The businessman in me took over and the cost benefit analysis said to go back to Florence. Defeated I am in Florence already thinking of ways I will travel to the "motherland" for an Alex extravaganza and a futbol game.

I will make it back someday and those crazy Italian trains will rue the day they tried to keep me out of Germany.

Scattered Pic...tures in the corner of my mind

Alright I will throw down some pictures to satisfy your eyes, and this way you won't have to read too much of my nonsense. Enjoy...
This is Ponte Vecchio. It is said to have the best selection and price on gold. I am still unsure about price, but the selection is definitely better than a local mall jeweler.
Thought I would throw in a little button collection at the Pitti Palace for the Mom. They actually had a whole room full of the history of buttons.
This one is to show you I am still alive. I am standing in front of Boboli Gardens. They are pretty liberal with the term garden over here. This one belonged to the Medici family and is litterally acres, but in America the green stuff behind me would be called crab-grass and the lawn guy would be fired.

I don't have a lot of new pictures. I have been going to tons of museums, but most of them don't allow any pictures. I tried to smuggle a few of the good stuff but they didn't turn out. So that is what I get for breaking the law. One of the more interesting things that I saw was in the Medici Chapel (they owned everything at one point). During the inquisition they kept Michealangelo safe and the room he stowed away in still has his sketches on the wall. It was pretty cool.

Clarification

Given my recent experience with the cookie's taste does not make me an expert on the ingredients. I know some recipes have orange peel in them and those I am told are imitations. I do not know exactly what wafer is or bicarbonate. If people can't find them let me know and I will try to send or bring some back; yes, it is that important.

Thanks for all your questions and I hope the recipe treats you well. Talk to you soon.

The ultimate showdown

The gauntlet is being laid before you, continue if you dare. Since that fateful day I first took a bite of the best cookie on Earth in the great town of Siena (birthplace of the Ricciarelli) I have searched long and hard for the recipe. It has taken me almost two weeks, 13 bookstores, 4 kitchen gadget shops and plenty of bakeries and I have finally found it. I will provide it below so long as you agree to participate in the ultimate cookie showdown, when I return to the states.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with a cookie showdown I will explain the rules. Many people bake the same cookie, and others types if they feel the necessity, and bring them to a location. At that location there will be a cookie expert with specific knowledge about the chosen showdown cookie. From there a tasting will commence and winners shall be chosen. Easy enough now for the recipe.

300 g of peeled almonds
10g of bitter almonds
200g of sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
1 cialda (wafer)
Powdered sugar

Mix the previously ground almonds with the stiffly-beaten egg whites and the sugar. Form a ball and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of one day to a maximum of 4 days. When it is time to bake the biscuits, work the ball of dough once more and add the bicarbonate and the powdered sugar. Make smaller balls of dough and put them on a baking sheet on which the wafer was placed previously. With one finger, press the small balls of dough lightly in the direction of the length. Place in the oven at 150-180 degrees F for 10 minutes, controlling frequently so that the biscuits do not take on too much color. They will remain very soft. While they are still hot, give them the form of the "ricciarelli" (oval), and dust them in powdered sugar. They will harden somewhat as they cool.

Now, because of my familiarity I will take the daunting task of tasting all your cookies. You may want to experiment before I get back to perfect your craft that is within the rules. Good luck and I will talk to you soon.

A little bit of catch-up

Since I have been a bit of a slacker I will just group a couple stories into this post. There seems to be a pattern here. Anyway, I had a great time in Cinque Terre. It is about a 3 hour train ride, but that is only because you have to stop at approximately 389 different cities along the way. Although it took unecessarily long, it was fascinating to see the countryside through a train window.

One example are the large mountains just outside of Pisa. The whole side of the mountain looks as though it has been blown off. It looked like Mt. St. Helens but instead of the top it blew out the side. I came to find out that this was where marble comes from and after using the same place for thousands of years it is a little worn down. I tried to get a picture, but none of them turned out to be able to see what I am talking about. When I go back to Pisa I will try to get something better to look at.

After arriving in the Cinque Terre the landscape changes, as you can see from previous pictures. It was fun to walk around on all the paths throughout the region and take in the views. One afternoon I was eating in a cafe on the water and after realizing I spoke english a wonderful lady struck up a conversation. She ended up being an author and will be sending me her book when printing get done in the Fall. She had many grandchildren approaching my age and I think she was surprised by the entertainment. It was fun and just one of the strange, enjoyable encounters I have had.

On our way back to Florence we got stuck in a tiny rail station for a couple hours. We still don't know what happened exactly, but rumor was there was a firre in the engine cabin of a train and it forced all the other trains to stop and wait until the tracks were cleared. By the time we got home we were pretty tired, but felt the Jazz Club calling. Yes, in case you are wondering I am a member of the only Jazz Club in Florence. I have the member card to prove it. The duo that night ended up being fantastic and we were glad we ignored sleep and went for a listen. You can check them out at www.emiblues.com. If you go to the site make sure to check out the mp3 section and specifically the duo stuff.

So I have met a writer, discoverd ablues band and yet I save one of the best for last. Every Monday and Tuesday the local theater plays movies in their original english. I decided it was time to watch a little Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull mostly because it was unbearably hot and it is one of the only places with air conditioning. While waiting for the movie to play sitting with my ice cold Heineken in the air conditioning I met...wait for it...a voice over guy. Yep he had all the tricks and I am sure you have seen many of his infomercials on a late night channel surf. He was an odd fellow, but very entertaining as you can imagine. I am getting so much more from this trip than I could have imagined. It is a great experience and hope that each of you get to do something similar someday.

You have missed out on so much

I am afraid to say it is my own fault, but you really have missed out on amazing sights. Since my last post I have been to a Palace and the Cinque Terre. Both were incredible wonders of Italy. The Cinque Terre is classically Italian and I think it is becoming more common in movies. It is located in the top curve of the boot and is actually 5 towns (hence cinque terre, now you too know Italian). Each of them is populated by 2,000 Italians and seems like 2,000 tourists effectively double the size of the town during the summers. All of the towns are connected through a well-kept path and to walk between the furthest two towns would take about 5 hours. The cities are some how built on top of the sea and it makes for gorgeous pictures.
While Scott went scuba diving (I couldn't because certification was necessary this early in the season as they didn't run out novice diving tours just yet.) Although Scott saw great things under water I had the close encounter with dangerous sea creatures...
We had a great time, but I have lots of stories to share and not enough time right now. I will post again later tonight or at the very least tomorrow.

Project

I thought I would write today about the "real" reason why I came to Italy. To receive my one International Marketing credit I am attempting to establish a museum tour of Native American arts, crafts and textiles in Italy. Gonzaga has a long history of providing support to Native American's through education and the Jesuit tradition.

Around 1847 a group of approximately 150 Jesuits were exiled from Italy and ended up in the Northwest working with Native Americans. During the same period a Belgian Jesuit by the name of Peter John De Smet was traveling the same area learning from as well as ministering to Native Americans. Through all their travels the Jesuits collected many pieces of wonderful artwork and textiles. Many of De Smet's items are in a museum in Missouri next to his former base camp, but in 1887 when Gonzaga was founded as a ministering tool to the white settlers in the Northwest several pieces of art, craft and textiles were stored with Jesuits working there. Over time the collection has been added to by many donors and has become extensive in artistic media, originating tribe and collection history.

Our goal is to empower the Native American people by expanding awareness of their culture in an effort to conserve and grow their heritage. With global awareness and an extensive network opportunities for trade and new markets should expand for Native products. We still have a lot of work to do, but things are falling our way right now. Just yesterday someone pointed us toward a grant that I am evaluating and it is looking promising.

Posts and Videos

I am pulling my hair out with the video editing software. It seems to have ruined my whole computer, as it regularly crashes now. The blue screen of death is now a hated enemy. I am working to include a slide show of pictures instead, but it isn't the same. Hopefully I will be able to fix it.

To top that the internet didn't display text boxes yesterday, so I did not even get a chance to type on the blog. To make up for this lapse in blogging I will attempt two different topics.

First, traffic on the streets of Florence. Most of us are used to walking down the street or even through a crosswalk and feeling relatively safe while doing so. That concept has not traversed across the Atlantic. I am not sure what it is about drivers over here. Most Italians seem to be laid back and go through their day with a laissez-faire attitude, but the minute they control a vehicle they become Mario Andretti during his prime (only not as skilled). All the cars are small and most of the vehicles you see on the road are mopeds. I think this adds to the idea that if they do hit someone it will not hurt as bad as a suburban would? At least that is the only thing I can think of, because the street are so skinny they clip a lot of people with side mirrors. It must be common as no one ever stops to check to see if they have injured an innocent walker. I am getting used to using my ears to "see" around corners and behind me for when I might need to dodge out of the way. It is almost like a game now.

Riding in the vehicle is a different story. A story that is not for the faint of heart or the backseat drivers of the world. I have had the opportunity to take 3 exciting rides on taxis in the area. It is like a Disney ride only the chance of jumping a track is much more of a reality as the whole thing is operated by a human who may or may not be on a cell phone. Let us leave this topic by saying I have literally come within a half an inch of getting in 5 or more fender benders in each of my rides.

The next topic for this makeup blog is the budget situation. I have been making many of my own meals with the help of the local grocery store (which at best guess is maybe 2000 square feet). In doing so I have been able to eat pretty cheap and most trips I have taken have not been over 12€ round trip. All of this is to say my budget is holding to this point. The knick-knacks are more expensive than I thought, but I don't think that is the end of the world. I only know a couple things that I NEED to bring home and one of them is a cookie. I might get to that in a different blog.

One last note to answer a question from a loyal blog fan, Megan writes " Who are Scott and Ellen". That is a good question Megan, thank you for asking. Scott Bozman is the man in charge of my directed study and teaching Intro to Marketing for the summer in Florence. Ellen is another teacher here at Gonzaga in Florence. She teaches philosophy. Well that will wrap it up for today. Thanks for all your comments. Talk to you soon.

Happy Birthday

Mom, I hope you have a great birthday and get to do something relaxing today. I will try to call you later, which will need to serve as my present to you until I get back. Love your son.

Something new

Alright here is a new link to feast on. http://www.flickr.com/photos/26669195@N05/
It is my Flickr page, which stores photos. The majority of pictures that i have taken are there, well maybe 65%. Anyway there could be some hidden gems if you wish to take a look.

I went to lunch at La Spada today with Scott and Ellen. We all took the advice of Peggy Sue and ordered a dish not on the menu called the Bruno Special. Upon doing so the waiter immediately asked if we were from Gonzaga University. We were a little frightened at this point, but continued confidently on Peggy Sue's advice since it was given to me and not Scott.

The food arrived 30 minutes later as 3 plates of pasta. One was something with eggplant, one had shrimp and the third I still am not sure what it was. All of them were delicious. (Thanks, Peggy Sue) After helping ourselves to seconds our waiter came by and asked if we were done. As we patted our belly's with a delight that only comes from being full and satisfied we nodded and waited for our check. Two minutes later the waiter showed up with a heaping plate of meat and potatoes (Chicken, Pork, and Beef). Surprised and already full we dug into the plate worried that more might be on its way. We each struggled to eat our portion, but barely made it through half the plate. Luckily for us it was the last platter, although the food was so good we would have continued to gorge ourselves with whatever they brought to us.

A wonderful day of eating, thanks again Peggy Sue.

More pictures

Michelangelo called this door the gates to paradise, they actually lead to the baptistery.
Here is the dome as close as I can get without climbing it, which I will do some other day, but on this day my calves said no to the hundreds of stairs in the tiny hallway.
This is just your average piazza in Florence. One or two fountains, 400 year old buildings, and maybe a statue for good measure. This is 2 blocks from the dome near an old orphanage.
I don't actually know what this is for or if it even has a story, but I like the picture.

This is a SMALL sample of the very amateur photos that I have taken. All of these were taken in the Florence Cathedral area. I will throw this next one in just to prove to you I was there...
Me in the Baptistery.

That took me long enough

Sorry about the delay. I have been getting locked out of the school. Open hours are all relative here, but soon the students will be here and the code will work to get in. I am trying to say this delay should not happen again, although I will think of another excuse if it does.

Here are a couple pictures of the apartment and the piazza across the street. The floors in a building start at zero and you press the 3 in the elevator to get to my floor, but if you take the stairs it is actually on the 6th floor of the building. I have stopped asking why things are. I just accept them as strange and move on. As you can tell the first picture is pasted together so you can see the whole living room.

Just another day in Firenze

I have seen many strange things in my short time here. I would consider myself a fairly quick study, but there are a couple things that still surprise me. For instance...

Every morning I take a shower. Good, right? Well in the 4 showers that I have had I am still unable to figure out where to put the hot and cold water knobs to get a shower that I can stand in. When Jerry Seinfeld wrote his bit about 1/16 of an inch being 1000° he was in America not Italy, because 1000° is more like 1/32 of a centimeter. When I say 1000° I am not kidding! There is no cut-off to how hot you can get the water. There is a good chance that you could actually boil water straight from the tap. So, I have literally started examining the way I turn on the water. I think someday soon I will get it. In fact, today was a big break through. I found that although it takes several knob turns to get the cold water to start coming out you can turn it back down extremely close to off and plenty of cold water still comes out.

The streets are another mystery. I am pretty sure that the government thought about ways to get rid of some of the tourist and decided that naming blocks would be a good way to turn people away from wondering around. Streets here are much different than back in the states. They are similar to the confusing one block streets in the middle of Richland, but all over. You can be winding down a street and in a matter of 3 blocks the name of the street will change 4 times. I am pretty sure that this is the work of an evil genius.

Speaking of evil genius all the transportation here is similar to the game Grand Theft Auto only without the shooting. The streets are tiny and vehicles have no speed limit or even a reason to stay on one side of the road. You have to be on your toes at all times to be ready to dodge out of the way of a motor-scooter that is willing to run you over to get to the cafe on the corner to sit down and enjoy a relaxing afternoon.

All of these are things that I have learned to cope with and some I might even conquer. But one thing I will not get used to or even be able to forget is the experience I had yesterday. Scott and I went to the telephone/internet store to make a couple phone calls. Unfortunately, non of my people picked up the phone (yes I am talking about you family). In fact, I blame this experience on all the people who didn't answer the phone. Because of this I left my small phone booth to pay and wait outside. After I paid my bill I began to look around the tiny store leaving to wait outside. I glanced into the computer lab area to see the setup and noticed a little elderly lady on the computer. She must have been about 65 and I was impressed she was using a web cam to talk to what I assumed was a loved one. As I was leaving the area I got a little more than I bargained for when her friend on the other end of the web cam stood up to proudly show off his goods. Although the experience taught me a valuable lesson, never be nosy in an internet cafe, the experience will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.

After attempting to drink the image from my memory I did end up taking a ton of pictures of the Duomo area and the baptistery. I will sort through them tonight and put some up tomorrow. I will also be going to Fiesole today and will put those up tomorrow as well.

First try...

Alright, this is not what I was expecting to load on here first, but something is better than nothing. The software is really finicky and I cannot do much without it freezing and erasing my work every minute or two. Needless to say this is the best I can do for now.

Sorry about the old material. If this works I will have more to load very soon! I went to the Piazzale Michelangelo last night. It is a touristy spot on the hillside with an amazing view of the city. You really get some perspective on how big the Duomo is. The Italians started building the cathedral in 1419 and finished with the final placing of the dome 150 years later. No cranes, heavy machinery, or technology just old fashioned hard work and leverage. To have it be standing hundreds of years later is impressive. Oh yeah thanks to Mr. Johnson and Curious George for the musical arrangement.

No pictures just yet...

I have been working on the video and pictures, but it is still a work in progress. Mostly because I am still learning the software. Also I am still unsure how to get my laptop on the Internet. I will get some help with that later today and that could be the key to posting some pics at the very least.

Does anyone know a good video editing software? I have Roxio and it is more of a finishing tool than something that will let you cut down some video to a manageable size. If you know of one that I can download (translation: get for free) that would be ideal, but I would settle for spending a little bit on it. You will all thank me for it. Trust me you don't want to see everything I shot, there is some boring stuff in there.

I don't know if you realized but I've found the apostrophe ' pretty neat huh?

Here is a little something for your viewing pleasure. The marker below shows the corner that I am currently living on. I am on one of the top floors and have a good view of the Piazza across the street. I can even see the top of the Duomo, which is beautiful up close and from afar. You can see it to the left of the marker about 5 blocks, it is easy to recognize because it it gigantic and looks like a dome. Pretty clever, huh? I am about 5 blocks from the school and everything seems to be within walking distance, but that might be because taking the bus or other transportation seems like putting your life in the hands of strangers. (Please let me know if the link isn't working.)

View Larger Map

TA-DA

I made it! It took me roughly a billion hours, but I made it. As many of you know I left on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. I got to my apartment in Firenze (that is Florence for you crazy Americans) at roughly 10:30 p.m. the next day. Which is about 1:30 in the afternoon your time. It was exhausting!

I am working on a video montage and will have it up tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes me to figure out how to hook up my laptop to the Internet.

Here is one cool thing before I log off and go see some more of the town. è ù à ò é § ° ç All the characters I just typed are on the keyboard. Neat huh? It is a little confusing when looking for punctuation, but I am getting it. It only took me 20 minutes to find the @ symbol, I still have not found the apostrophe. I do feel like I am getting close. Here^s hoping...oh close how about this key ì, dang it. I will find it and when I do this blog will be filled with conjunctions.

Preparing for a big weekend

I have three days until commencement and four until my plane leaves for Italy. Scrambling around to prepare for both, I am thankful for my family's time and effort. I wouldn't have completed preparation for either had I been left to my own devise.

For those of you who don't know I am traveling to Europe for an International Marketing class. A class that will move me closer to finishing my M.B.A. in Marketing, which I will already be celebrating this coming Saturday. Back to the trip...I will be spending most of my time in Florence, Italy. It will serve as my HQ for my travel in Italy. After a couple weeks exploring the Tuscan country side I will be headed to Switzerland and Germany. I will have the opportunity to wander around for a couple more weeks until I return to the States in June.

In my preparation I have been surprised by the amount of stuff you need to get going. There is always the obvious things like passports and luggage, but the little things really add up. I have purchased travel books, first aid kits, portable alarm clocks and waterproof bags, among other things. All the little requirements and the lavish luxuries (toilet seat covers) have added up to well over $250. That price doesn't even include the clothes I felt like I should buy (for whatever reason) and the new luggage I got. Which I am not counting because it will be used for a long time and many other trips so the fuzzy accounting makes me feel better about the purchase. Get off my back I'm traveling.

Needless to say I am very excited and confident about my budget moving forward. I will keep you updated about that and hopefully be putting up short videos to let you travel with me. Or at least see some of the stuff I am doing. And for my friend's who don't have much time, or don't want to read my dribble, I will post pictures with captions that will allow you to follow along. Make sure to post comments so I can keep up with the bustling Northwest.