Italy- The 2015 Vacation

When you embark on a vacation that is inundated with aggressive schedules of sight seeing, time has the funny knack of becoming far more dense. The launch of our journey from Logan airport seems almost as distant in my mind as the trip we took last year to the Pacific Northwest. I have a vague recollection of the Saturday we left, the rushing to do last minute errands, and the long convoluted notes I wrote shortly before leaving to my parents who came to our house while we were gone. I recall the taxi arriving to shuttle us on our way just as I had realized that I made the tactical error of forgetting to dry some blankets in the washer. I hurried to set up the folding drying racks in the spare room as Kate was shouting to me from the door that the cab was here.

Once our journey began, and Kate and I sat silently in the taxi as it brought us to the airport. I remember wondering whether or not the driver thought we were weird because we were not more talkative. I asked Kate about her day, as she had just returned home from a work shift prior to leaving. We didn't say much, I suppose it wasn't necessary to appear normal when we most clearly are not. I think that we were so busy with all of the little nothings and big somethings that comprise our lives that we didn't have the proper time to properly digest that we were heading to Italy. We were numb, perhaps a little ill prepared, but excited, anxious, and looking forward for a brief escape from the ritualistic routines.

The driver insisted that we were not going to be in the international terminal because we were flying delta (actually Alitalia operated by Delta). We allowed ourselves a generous amount of arrival time, and therefore it was easy to choose not argue with him. I was confident that we did need to be in the international terminal. I fly a decent amount and I've never flown international from any other Logan terminal than Terminal E. Regardless I gave the driver the benefit of the doubt because it is after all his job to know. I was correct. Thankfully the driver hung around and offered us a short drive to the correct terminal. Once in Terminal E, we eventually made our way through security and had a marvelous meal at Burger King, the first of the vacation I joked (see picture above). The picture was an opportunity for me to test out the new "point and shoot" camera I bought for the trip, since the one I've had since 2004 finally bit the dust.

The flight was unfortunately on an "outdated" plane. No seat back monitors, and the food wasn't very good either. Regardless of these shortcomings, it was a comfortable flight and I was able to nap a little bit. The pictures are from the Alitalia travel magazine. I enjoy a good weird cartoon, and the ad for the wine, I thought it was just really stupid, even by bad advertising standards. Bored on a plane, this is what happens.

In Italy our airport experience was "unique" to say the least. It was our introduction to what would be systemic Italian disorder. At customs there was a huge bottleneck, we probably were delayed at least a half hour with no progress and finally a couple guards just waved all of the American and Canadians through customs with nothing more than a quick glance at our passports. Completely ridiculous, and frankly I was worried about the return since we didn't get "stamped" as usual.

We had a half hour train ride into Rome Termini, the main transit hub. The neighborhood around the train station could at times be rough around the edges, and at other times showcased a beautiful melting pot of cultures, architecture, and side walk markets and cafes. Some might not be particularly keen on this area, and maybe I would agree that it isn't for a "family," but for us it worked out perfect. We would stay here for a couple of days, and would return to a different B&B in the same neighborhood before heading home.

Our Bed & Breakfast "Buonarroti Guest House" was quickly located. Buonarroti Guest House is situated in a discrete apartment building on a side street. We were on the 7th floor and a tiny elevator with brass doors brought us from a dated wood paneled lobby to the entry way to the B&B.

Our room (see photos below) really was equipped just as nicely as a regular hotel room. The downside to this location is you have to schedule your arrival ahead of time. Paying up front may also be wise because your checkout time may not necessarily coincide with the hours that the "desk" is staffed, which was the case for us.

Modern fixtures made good use of a small space in the bathroom. The room had a beautiful parquet/herring bone style floor, which I'm guessing existed in apartments prior to conversion into the B&B. There were doors that opened out to a small balcony. Our weather was nice enough to open them in the evening before heading to bed. Since they faced a courtyard/ alley, noise was not a concern.

Coming soon- the touring begins! We wanted to prioritize the most important Roman attraction, so after freshening up it was the Colosseum that we would head to!

Holy Crap I'm writing about Day 7 of my Northwest Trip.... Finally!

So, next week Kate and I are off on our 2015 jaunt, and we are headed to Italy, which ultimately should mean a totally new travel blog provided things go well. That said, since I am pretty piss poor at writing these things in any sort of timely manner, I had better finish up LAST YEAR's travel blog. Right... and it is still in my mind in vivid detail so I'm sure this will be super accurate.

 Mt. St. Helen's. This was a last minute decision to go here and it pretty much came about because we felt like we had seen most of the major attractions in Seattle during the first leg of our trip. We didn't regret coming here, it was fantastic. It is crazy to think that the eruption in 1980 is now 35 years behind us. I remember getting an issue of National Geographic "World" magazine as a kid and being pretty fascinated reading about it and looking at the devastation. It was very interesting to see how much plant life has grown, but also to see how certain plants seem to prefer the volcanic ash. The visitor's center was very nice, it had a theater that was built probably around 10-15 years ago, but oddly enough the CGI that was part of the documentary already seemed dated. That is the trouble with new technology, really cool one day, possibly kind of lame the next.

Mt. St. Helen's had one place to eat, a tiny hamburger/hot dog truck just outside of the Visitor's Center. I want to say that there was a weird rule that we had to carry our trash out of the park too (no trash cans). I needed my sunglasses.

When we left the National park headed back to Seattle for our last evening of the trip I was pretty tired. A good sort of tired, vacation fatigue I suppose. I probably had a severe caffeine deficit. We stopped at a McDonald's for lack of a better option and I had a nice chocolate shake to tide me over. One of the local boys flirted with Kate, and I think gave her a free ice cream. Score.

Once in Seattle we had to first head to our hotel which was situated near the airport. While 40 minutes outside of town by the light-rail, it honestly wasn't that bad. The hotel we stayed in was pretty dated, but comfortable regardless. Actually there was a sort of pleasing quality to the dated hotel furnishings, bringing about that comfortable sense of nostalgia that seems appropriate for the last date of an American vacation.

We had been wishy washy on the agenda for the night, but ultimately and wisely we took the ferry to Bainbridge, an island/town in Puget Sound. The boat ride over was beautiful, it seemed like our trip was ending in the more overcast weather Seattle is famous for, and somehow it seemed fitting.

 It was pretty slow in Bainbridge. I think we may had missed the dinner rush and we ended up just settling on a kind of classic Americanized Mexican restaurant called Casa Rojas. The staff was very nice, I had a large Dos Equis, which of course would put me over the top and make me sleep well after being so exhausted.

Interestingly, I actually spent time searching for the name of the restaurant and here's a picture of Kate standing next to their sidewalk sign (eye roll). 

 The pictures really don't do it justice, but it was a great night and a perfect way to end our 2014 trip. The trip back to Seattle on the ferry, with the wind blowing strong, the boat, bouncing of Puget Sound, and tourists huddled against each other looking out at the lit up city, it was a perfect moment that I'll always remember fondly.

Day 6: 4th of July

I've had the pleasure of experiencing the 4th of July in many places across the United States. From my home town of Lewiston/Auburn Maine, to Laramie Wyoming, to the more grand locations such as Washington D.C. and of course Boston, each place brings its own character and memories. Kate and I planned our Northwest trip for the 4th of July week because it best accommodated our busy schedules, also Kate would only need to use 4 vacation days. The difficult part in our planning was deciding which city to see the 4th in, Seattle or Portland. Seattle had excellent views but it seemed like our guts were telling us to choose the quainter Portland. Retrospectively Portland OR was definitely very memorable, boasting a bohemian atmosphere that was more like a rock concert than a tribute to the birth of the United States. But then, perhaps the haze of cannabis settling over the banks of the Willamette River is after all far more fitting of a tribute than the increasingly restrictive, less-than-free country we've become since the Square and New Deals brought about at the turn of the last century.

Before the finish with the fireworks we embarked on a day of exploration taking in the feel of Portland with our guide Jason Potts. We hit both on the "beaten path" as well as some more remote sites along our way, giving us the inside scoop on the overlooked city of Portland which has only been recently discovered by Americans through the satire piece "Portlandia."

 We suspect the public transit is decent as far as "American" public transit goes, however Kate and I did have some issues catching the bus to meet Jason on the other side of town. We just missed one bus, largely because we passed one stop closer to our hotel, and then we had a long wait due to the "holiday schedule." The day was beautiful however, and the people were friendly, and after a half hour of waiting we were afforded our first views of the Willamette, one of the two large rivers that divide Portland, OR.

 Elephants Delicatessen was the coffee shop/store that Jason suggested. I say coffee shop, but in reality it is a beautiful deli in a fantastic leafy and seemingly cosmopolitan, albeit laid back neighborhood off of Burnside St. in Northwest Portland.

 I had a fantastic muffin- which I honestly can't recall what it was, all I know is that it was an eccentric "flavor," but very tasty regardless. The coffee was excellent. Jason had been waiting for a while due to our transportation hiccups, however he didn't seem phased, and I understand why. I wouldn't have a problem killing time in a place like this.

 These photos are from the Portland International Rose Test Garden. It was a beautiful day here, but war out. I felt a little bad because I'm sure Jason had seen these sites far too many times, but he was a great sport to be our guide, and we appreciated the company. While we frolicked in in the roses taking far too many pictures, Jason plopped down in a natural amphitheater where a female bag piper was performing. Yes, female bag-piper, in a kilt, who also was an Asian American, and yes, that certainly added to the cool factor I must admit. Weirdness. It can be good right?

 Ridiculous. Really. I'm pretending to be a bleeding heart here too, I thought I'd fit in better in Portland if I wore my "green streets," t-shirt. Not a flattering picture.

 This is in the adjacent Japanese Garden which thankfully I think Jason was a little less familiar with. It was nice, not really authentic, but very beautiful and perhaps closer to a Japanese garden than you might get elsewhere here in the U.S. The koi ponds are always enjoyable to stare at for a while.

 The gardens are up on a hill on the edge of the city, and you can see down on some of the few high rises below, beyond that you can see the mountains in the distance. I'm going to conclude this post due to the sheer amount of pictures. This probably marks the half-way point of our 4th of July, but probably 75% of all of the photos we took that day. Flowers are pretty.