4-29 08
As usual, behind in any writing….. last weekend on Sunday, April 20th we enjoyed a beautiful outing to the Amalfi coast. We had wanted to visit before the summer season begins, when the driving will become more impossible. We started in Vietri sul Mare, which I think was about an hour drive away, than made our way back to Amalfi. The views are spectacular and the road is predictably narrow and filled with hairpin turns. Being from the mountains, I’m rather accustomed to switchbacks and lots of turns, but this was definitely an adventure in driving. Bill treated me and did the honors, so that I could enjoy the view. The majority of the road is simply narrow, with mirrors place to help see oncoming traffic around the turn. But at times it truly is about 1 ½ lanes wide and when a large tourist bus tries to swing around the corner, it’s a problem! There were only a few times that we rolled down the windows to pull in each of the sideview mirrors to not scrape the rocks on my side or risk having it knocked off on the drivers side.
We were unable to find parking in Amalfi, and headed inland to Ravello, which is equally beautiful with more wonderful views. First we treated the girls to gelato and than enjoyed a walk through the old central part of town. In addition to the spectacular views, I also enjoyed looking at some of the beautiful pottery. Inow remember why I was somewhat tortured during my trip to Sicily 7 years ago- so much beautiful pottery, most of it is very expensive, and my lack of decisiveness makes it very challenging. There was a pattern that was quite different than I have seen before- a very elaborate blue and white (of course). When I enquired about the price, I was appalled to find that each bowl was 60 euro, which, with the dollar as horrendous as it is, makes it almost $100/bowl. I need new pasta bowls, but we’d never be able to eat from something at that price, even if I ever could justify buying it. At the factory store, there were also a set of plates that were seconds that I liked, which were a “very good price”, only 22 euro apiece. Yikes, that’s still $35-40 apiece. I know that fine china is often that much or probably more, but since I don’t own any fine china…. Its hard to imagine paying that much and not being terrified to use it! Sigh…. Maybe a truly good bargain will be found during our stay here, or maybe the dollar will eventually improve. Meanwhile, it’s fun to window shop. I seem to recall a few shopping trips in Japan spending a long time making decisions while my friends whipped through their purchases…… We drove home via an inland route and returned in time for a quick meal of pasta and popped the kids into bed. A fun day for all, although Bill and I enjoyed it more than the girls.
Meanwhile, I continue to make slow progress in the house. The basement is getting closer to being accessible for play with guests as well as the girls by themselves. It’s fun to have a true playroom. If I could put a hook up for a swing, it would also make a great therapy room if I were ever to see any clients privately. I realized that my idea of a playroom truly is more of a great therapy room. I’ve finally make it through most of the piles of misc. “stuff” that have sitting around the living room and I’ve just started to tackle our third floor to help create a guest bedroom/ craft room and all the rest of our extra clothes, and “stuff”. I finally found the various pieces of our little vacuum (desperately needed at this point), just found our napkins, placemats and tablecloths, but I still haven’t’ found many things, including Alyssa’s piano books and more importantly, still can’t find my checks. Piano, piano…. My friends know that I’m happy to “entertain” even when the house is in a normal state of chaos, but its much harder to be willing to invite acquaintances over, particularly from other cultures who seem to highly value extreme cleanliness, when the place is still a wreck.
Last week Alyssa was invited to a birthday party that was held at the bowling alley at the NATO base by an Italian classmate, Giovanni. Rather chaotic, as is predictable…. Lots of young kids who’ve never seen a bowling alley before, everyone going out of turn, running down the alley to retrieve the ball before it gets to the pins, balls going backwards…. I think Alyssa was in tears only 3 times. Of course it didn’t help that it was at the end of a long school day. But after supper with shicken nuggets and a yummy chocolate cake, all the memories are good. For me it was nice to meet a few other parents. Giovanni’s parents, Rosa and Giuseppe, invited us over for a playdate on this past Sunday. I was rather nervous, but it actually went fairly well. They drove to our house and took us to their home. The kids seemed to have an ok time playing, and we laughed at each of our attempts to communicate in the other’s language, with some of the skills of a 2-3 y/o! It makes me realize how much kids’ language skills bloom during those first years. They have traveled quite a bit in the States and are each about the same age as Bill and I. It’s funny to try to make friends when communication is pretty limited.
I think that our one neighbor- Klaudia, (9y/o) may be my best opportunity to keep making a little progress in Italian. As I try to help she and Alyssa out in playing together, I at least have to communicate somehow. Alyssa is teaching her to play Quirkle, a great new game we got for X-mas, and she’s teaching Alyssa to jump rope. I was VERYpleased last week to have the opportunity to join 3 other ladies for a tennis lesson (the first I had played in about 7years) was very pleased to find that I could still hit a tennis ball. It felt SO good to get out and play. I think I enjoyed that more than anything else I’ve done since arriving here in Italy. The simple pleasures….. I’m hoping to make tennis a part of my life again. Much like yoga and meditation, it’s great to focus the mind and let go of everything else!
OH! EXCITING NEWS FLASH!! On our street, the trash site down the block that I can walk to, has new trash dumpsters- seven altogether, and one of the sites further down the street for dumping things from the car now has 3-4 bins. Of course where we most often dump the trash from our car still has no bins, but it’s exciting to see any bins at all!
The other exciting news on the homefront is Bill was finally able to get all the parts/pieces needed for both our gas grill to work, and also for our new reverse osmosis water filter. It’s great to no longer need to buy bottled water and lug it home, as well as significantly decrease the amount of trash that we make. There are some towns around that recycle, but very few here in the Campagna area, and certainly not ours! I’m not as avid a recycler as my parents, but its painful to see nothing recycled here. Certainly not good stewardship of Mother Earth for our children.
Tuesday May 6th, 2008
Still unpacking boxes…. But a friend came over this weekend to help give some ideas on arranging our things here, and we got the first thing hung on a wall; we put the beautiful ocean quilt my sister-in-law made for us over the piano. Most people recommend that everything be put on the walls using plastic anchors and screws, so it def. requires more thought and effort to get things up.
This weekend Bill once again was the motivator to get us out of the house. We drove up the coast about an hour to Gaeta. The water was beautiful. We bypassed the main beach road and parking and went further up the hill, eventually finding a small beach that was a short walk down the hillside- being a little nosy is definitely required to find the pathways past the hotels, etc. to find your way. It was a great beach, with rocks that made a sheltered enclosure and natural barrier for the kids so we really didn’t have to worry about them. They loved it and it was nice to relax. The 2-2 1/2 hour drive home with the rest of the beach traffic wasn’t quite as nice, but …. What can you do? We’ve been told that the water there is safe to swim/play in as compared to here in the Naples area where no one monitors it and there’s way too much “stuff” (including the sewage plant that’s not too far away) dumped in for it to be safe.
May 22, 2008
My birthday is quickly approaching, wish I has friends to celebrate with here, or that the commissary had had the raspberries I had wanted for the cake I was making. Now it’s back to the cookbooks… Today had a good story of the Neopolitans though. On base after my class, I met a lovely French woman. She and her husband were moving back to France next week, and she offered to pass on several ofher maps, hotel info, etc. as well as the names and 3’s of some of the Frech who would stll be here next year. I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak and listen to French for a change, and also was shown some spectacular views of the coast from the area they live in. Unfortunately, I did not have the GPS unit along for our impromptu visit, and was a little fearful of making it home. I did pretty well at first, seeing occasional signs that lead me to believe I was on the right track at least as the road meandered and was anything but easy to follow. Than I hit a construction area. I saw an on ramp to something, but it wasn’t labeled at all, so I did not want it. ( getting on/off a hiway is often complicated as the ramps to go in different directions can be FAR apart, and how to get back on after exiting is often tricky!). But eventually, I decided there was a good chance I was lost, it was now 5:30, the girls were tired and hungry, so I stopped to see if I could find someone to ask directions. The one store I saw was closed, but a car started to pull out. I honked, rolled down the window and hollered and waved, and an older gentleman stopped. I got out to ask directions ( my best pidgeon Italian) and yes, indeed I did need to turn around. As I tried to clarify the directions, he said to just follow him. So, back we went, through all the construction again, and than he pulled over. He got out- ignored all the honking cars- told me that here was where I needed to make yet another U-turn and take an on ramp to the hi-way (the one I had looked at earlier, but had no idea where it went!). I wondered how in the world I’d get turned around with all the traffic. Simple- he just stood in the road, stopped traffic in both directions so I could pull a U-turn, and go! : ) There are times the Italians drive me crazy, but sometimes you just have to love them! It’s much harder to picture someone helping to that degree in America, let alone the drivers around tolerating it.
As I read an update from my friend living in ChengDu China and the help they are trying to provide to earthquake victims, I am reminded of how inconsequential my difficulties with establishing our lives here in Italy are. We are blessed- even if parts of my life still feel like a struggle.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Spring break in Germany
5-22-08 I keep trying to work on the photo end of things, and than something happens and it gets messed up, an hour or so later I"m tired and frustrated and than I don't get back to it. So once again, I'll at least put writing in, an dhopefully get back and add pictures sometime. Sigh.... a great computer person I"m not- yet!
Tuesday, April 14, 2008
On Sunday evening we returned from a week spent in Germany on vacation. We left early Saturday A.M. and drove a little oer 10 hours to reach the American military resort, Eidleweiss, in Garmisch, Germany. It was a beautiful drive and the views of the Austrian alps just past Brenner Pass were spectacular! The mountains obviously have similarities to the Rockies, but seem much higher, more stark, and more dramatic, They are also contrasted by wide valleys with small towns, broad green fields already planted with a winter grass waiting to be plowed under, …..
After checking in we stopped at the gift/tour shop to get our bearings for the next day’s outing. Alyssa was outside the shop looking at postcards and didn’t realize where we had gone. Before I knew it, there was an overhead announcement for Mr. or Mrs. Solomon to report to the front desk. Alyssa was in tears and had gone outside the front of the hotel looking for us where luckily a kind woman helped her and brought her back in. Luckily through her sobs she was able to tell her name. A good lesson for all of us how much more vigilant we need to be, and how our lessons of “What to do if…..” have not sunk in yet. Alls well that ends well…. We enjoyed a good dinner there at the hotel, eating a good old fashioned steak for each of us. Although we’re obviously enjoying the Italian food we’ve had in restaurants, to eat more than just the “primi piatto” or first course, of noodles, gets very expensive quite quickly, and overall, there is a distinct lack of variety in the food available in Naples. If it’s not Italian, it’s basically not available there, that we’ve found. So, for Bill and I, who have decided that good food is “all about the sauce”, we’ve missed having other possibilities. Anyway, I digress…. Although it’s only been a short stay in Italy so far, it felt good to truly relax and enjoy an American atmosphere, feel pampered, and just have things be EASY. The girls woke early so we took advantage of being the only ones to enjoy the swimming pool, and than the enormous outdoor hottub. The girls were delighted to be in their swimsuits, cavorting about in a huge “bathtub” with a heavy snow tumbling from the sky. We had been able to get a reservation for only the one night on short notice, so our journey continued, that day, with the next stop being the famous fairytale castle of King Ludvig- Neuschwanstein. We thought the girl’s first trip to Germany should include one of the best castles for a “wowie- kazowie” experience. I think overall Bill and I might have been more impressed, but the girls did like it. Luckily the weather cooperated with only intermittent rain, broken up with periods of clear blue sky for some beautiful photos of the castle on the hill. I think that they most liked the elaborate mosaic tile floors, seeing the King’s fancy bed, and of course the big swan statues. Rachel talked us into a souvenir stuffed animal of a swan, so she could “remember the castle”. We found out that the swan was the symbol of that area- duh…. NeuSCHWANstein…. I think the round fried donut things were also a huge hit for the day.
After a great visit, (which included a 30-40 min walk up the mountain, a 60-90 min wait for our tour gp, and than our short tour), we headed out for my friend Brenda’s home. Brenda is a DODS teacher, currently the librarian, and lives in a small town outside of Heidlburg. I really loved all the green fields and meandering roads (thankful for the GPS unit doing our navigation for us), and Bill and I were both amazed at the HUGE windmills used for power. I have never seen windmills approaching anything this size- HUGE! As a whole, Germany is quite “green” in the environmental sense, and it was great to see quite a number of solar panels in use, as well as appreciate the great job of recycling that is required by everyone. They recycle so much that many of the incinerators don’t have the critical mass needed in order to burn. (They happily let Italy sell them their trash…) With the exception of one big traffic jam, or stau (rhymes with cow) as they call it, it was also a welcome relief to drive in Germany. The autostrada in Italy is relatively sane, but compared to Naples driving, it was so easy and predictable to be on the autobahn. Ample space for merging on the on ramps, more consistent speeds and even though many cars are traveling faster (80-95 mph was the norm), it was still much easier and less stressful. We finally arrived at Brenda’s and enjoyed a late dinner at 10:00 pm! The girls were needless to say rather tired.
The weather was not the best most of the rest of the week. It rained most of the time, with a few breaks here and there, providing a few times to get out and about. It alternated between bitter cold, just chilly, and finally on our last day- some clear sunshine and a warm day. On Monday we forced the girls out of the house to visit a nearby church (amidst tears of protests of being cold and tired). The next stop at a local brewery was a much bigger hit since we enjoyed some pastries while Bill tried the local beer. The spaetzle with sauce was not a hit however. Next on the list was a big transportation museum. I kept thinking how much each of the Grandfathers would have enjoyed the place. There were tons of old cars, a wide variety of airplanes of all sizes,(old war planes and commercial jets) a bunch of old VW vans that I liked as they reminded me of all our family trips growing up (I never knew the VW van essentially has never changed!), different BIG machines, a Russian submarine, and also a large number of mechanized musical instruments. Once again, Bill and I laughed at the enthusiasm the girls showed for the sparkly jewel collection and the ho-hums over big machinery that would have made their cousins (boys!) ecstatic. I think the highlight for all was using up our tokens for the automatic music players/pianos, organs, violins, etc… and having a few enthusiastic dances together, since no one else was there just before closing.
Tuesday there was a bit of sunshine as we all went to Heidelberg together to walk the downtown pedestrian area, sample a number of gummi candies, purchase even more, and finally tour a portion of the town’s castle. We actually managed a quick picnic outside. The girls were duly impressed at the enormous wine barrel inside, but all three girls clearly enjoyed chasing the pigeons outside more than visiting anything inside. Later in the trip we offered to go visit another castle and Alyssa’s response was “No, two castles is plenty to see!” Tuesday night Bill was quite pleased to attend a concert in Karlsruhe of a jazz guitarist- Alan Holdsworth, whom he’d had the pleasure of seeing twice before- with eight yrs in between each concert!
On Wednesday A.M., Bill headed out on his own, driving to Baumberg which is some 250 km away, to tour the old city and delve into yes, can you guess, more beer. : ) Baumberg is famous for their “smoke beer”. We enjoyed a few lazy rainy days at the house, letting the girls just play together to their hearts content. Alyssa and Rachel quickly rolled Camryn into their elaborate pretend games, and as can be expected, all would go well, and than disintegrate into cries of “She won’t let me… but SHE did….. “ Alyssa would intermittently play or lose herself in the large stack of books that Brenda had brought home from school. I think she finished 4-5 books of the Boxcar children series, plus a number of other Pony Pal books, etc. She truly has become an A-1 bookworm!
Bill returned on Thursday nite and we were also joined by Anne, another friend from my Japan days, but now in Germany also. Now Bill was truly outnumbered- 6 “girls” to 1, but he held his own quite well with lively conversation after the girls were all in bed. Other expeditions included a lovely park in Manheim that combines a few “zoo” animals with numerous playgrounds, lovely gardens, and a small botanical garden, and overall lots of space. With the exception of Camryn’s unfortunate tumble from a small bridge into the pond below, it was a great day, ending with the girls sleeping hard in our laps while riding the tram back to base. According to the girls, the true highlight of our entire trip was the final day on Saturday with a trip to the zoo in Heidelberg. It was a small zoo, and different from many US zoos in that at times you could get quite close to some of the animals. It also incorporated a few playground areas, which is truly a brilliant idea. Rachel was beaming most of the day, with constant requests of “Daddy, take a picture of …. for my album. “. I guess we have a lot of animal photos to print up! I think we have multiple photos of every animal there!
Sunday it was time to return to sunny Italy, arriving home some 1400 km and 14 hours later, we made it home. The views through Austria particularly were so beautiful, but northern Italy as well. Our travel angels were definitely with us, as during a construction zone we hit one of the “quickly speed up, than everything instantly ground back to a halt again.” I got stopped in time to not hit the car in front of me, watched in my rearview mirror and warned everyone we were about to get hit! Miracles occurred and the car must have stopped an inch or two before hitting us. Thank goodness were not in Naples for that one! Whew…… A reststop in the Rome area proved to be highly amusing. It was very crowded, and seemed so ITALIAN- an amazing amount of gold tennis shoes, high heels, sparkles and “bling” everywhere you looked on people’s outfits, and the parking lot was a total mess.
A great getaway was enjoyed by all. And even with the cold weather and rain, I saw enough beautiful bulbs blooming to feel like it was spring. Besides getting to stay and catch up with a great friend, it was also so nice to be staying in a home and not a hotel. Once again we were reminded that at least for our kids- it’s hard to do sightseeing and be a tourist on a full time basis. They quickly tire and are overwhelmed, prefer to just play somewhere, and the pigeons and lizards are usually much more interesting than any castle or church! If any have helpful hints you’ve used when traveling with younger children- I welcome suggestions!
Tuesday, April 14, 2008
On Sunday evening we returned from a week spent in Germany on vacation. We left early Saturday A.M. and drove a little oer 10 hours to reach the American military resort, Eidleweiss, in Garmisch, Germany. It was a beautiful drive and the views of the Austrian alps just past Brenner Pass were spectacular! The mountains obviously have similarities to the Rockies, but seem much higher, more stark, and more dramatic, They are also contrasted by wide valleys with small towns, broad green fields already planted with a winter grass waiting to be plowed under, …..
After checking in we stopped at the gift/tour shop to get our bearings for the next day’s outing. Alyssa was outside the shop looking at postcards and didn’t realize where we had gone. Before I knew it, there was an overhead announcement for Mr. or Mrs. Solomon to report to the front desk. Alyssa was in tears and had gone outside the front of the hotel looking for us where luckily a kind woman helped her and brought her back in. Luckily through her sobs she was able to tell her name. A good lesson for all of us how much more vigilant we need to be, and how our lessons of “What to do if…..” have not sunk in yet. Alls well that ends well…. We enjoyed a good dinner there at the hotel, eating a good old fashioned steak for each of us. Although we’re obviously enjoying the Italian food we’ve had in restaurants, to eat more than just the “primi piatto” or first course, of noodles, gets very expensive quite quickly, and overall, there is a distinct lack of variety in the food available in Naples. If it’s not Italian, it’s basically not available there, that we’ve found. So, for Bill and I, who have decided that good food is “all about the sauce”, we’ve missed having other possibilities. Anyway, I digress…. Although it’s only been a short stay in Italy so far, it felt good to truly relax and enjoy an American atmosphere, feel pampered, and just have things be EASY. The girls woke early so we took advantage of being the only ones to enjoy the swimming pool, and than the enormous outdoor hottub. The girls were delighted to be in their swimsuits, cavorting about in a huge “bathtub” with a heavy snow tumbling from the sky. We had been able to get a reservation for only the one night on short notice, so our journey continued, that day, with the next stop being the famous fairytale castle of King Ludvig- Neuschwanstein. We thought the girl’s first trip to Germany should include one of the best castles for a “wowie- kazowie” experience. I think overall Bill and I might have been more impressed, but the girls did like it. Luckily the weather cooperated with only intermittent rain, broken up with periods of clear blue sky for some beautiful photos of the castle on the hill. I think that they most liked the elaborate mosaic tile floors, seeing the King’s fancy bed, and of course the big swan statues. Rachel talked us into a souvenir stuffed animal of a swan, so she could “remember the castle”. We found out that the swan was the symbol of that area- duh…. NeuSCHWANstein…. I think the round fried donut things were also a huge hit for the day.
After a great visit, (which included a 30-40 min walk up the mountain, a 60-90 min wait for our tour gp, and than our short tour), we headed out for my friend Brenda’s home. Brenda is a DODS teacher, currently the librarian, and lives in a small town outside of Heidlburg. I really loved all the green fields and meandering roads (thankful for the GPS unit doing our navigation for us), and Bill and I were both amazed at the HUGE windmills used for power. I have never seen windmills approaching anything this size- HUGE! As a whole, Germany is quite “green” in the environmental sense, and it was great to see quite a number of solar panels in use, as well as appreciate the great job of recycling that is required by everyone. They recycle so much that many of the incinerators don’t have the critical mass needed in order to burn. (They happily let Italy sell them their trash…) With the exception of one big traffic jam, or stau (rhymes with cow) as they call it, it was also a welcome relief to drive in Germany. The autostrada in Italy is relatively sane, but compared to Naples driving, it was so easy and predictable to be on the autobahn. Ample space for merging on the on ramps, more consistent speeds and even though many cars are traveling faster (80-95 mph was the norm), it was still much easier and less stressful. We finally arrived at Brenda’s and enjoyed a late dinner at 10:00 pm! The girls were needless to say rather tired.
The weather was not the best most of the rest of the week. It rained most of the time, with a few breaks here and there, providing a few times to get out and about. It alternated between bitter cold, just chilly, and finally on our last day- some clear sunshine and a warm day. On Monday we forced the girls out of the house to visit a nearby church (amidst tears of protests of being cold and tired). The next stop at a local brewery was a much bigger hit since we enjoyed some pastries while Bill tried the local beer. The spaetzle with sauce was not a hit however. Next on the list was a big transportation museum. I kept thinking how much each of the Grandfathers would have enjoyed the place. There were tons of old cars, a wide variety of airplanes of all sizes,(old war planes and commercial jets) a bunch of old VW vans that I liked as they reminded me of all our family trips growing up (I never knew the VW van essentially has never changed!), different BIG machines, a Russian submarine, and also a large number of mechanized musical instruments. Once again, Bill and I laughed at the enthusiasm the girls showed for the sparkly jewel collection and the ho-hums over big machinery that would have made their cousins (boys!) ecstatic. I think the highlight for all was using up our tokens for the automatic music players/pianos, organs, violins, etc… and having a few enthusiastic dances together, since no one else was there just before closing.
Tuesday there was a bit of sunshine as we all went to Heidelberg together to walk the downtown pedestrian area, sample a number of gummi candies, purchase even more, and finally tour a portion of the town’s castle. We actually managed a quick picnic outside. The girls were duly impressed at the enormous wine barrel inside, but all three girls clearly enjoyed chasing the pigeons outside more than visiting anything inside. Later in the trip we offered to go visit another castle and Alyssa’s response was “No, two castles is plenty to see!” Tuesday night Bill was quite pleased to attend a concert in Karlsruhe of a jazz guitarist- Alan Holdsworth, whom he’d had the pleasure of seeing twice before- with eight yrs in between each concert!
On Wednesday A.M., Bill headed out on his own, driving to Baumberg which is some 250 km away, to tour the old city and delve into yes, can you guess, more beer. : ) Baumberg is famous for their “smoke beer”. We enjoyed a few lazy rainy days at the house, letting the girls just play together to their hearts content. Alyssa and Rachel quickly rolled Camryn into their elaborate pretend games, and as can be expected, all would go well, and than disintegrate into cries of “She won’t let me… but SHE did….. “ Alyssa would intermittently play or lose herself in the large stack of books that Brenda had brought home from school. I think she finished 4-5 books of the Boxcar children series, plus a number of other Pony Pal books, etc. She truly has become an A-1 bookworm!
Bill returned on Thursday nite and we were also joined by Anne, another friend from my Japan days, but now in Germany also. Now Bill was truly outnumbered- 6 “girls” to 1, but he held his own quite well with lively conversation after the girls were all in bed. Other expeditions included a lovely park in Manheim that combines a few “zoo” animals with numerous playgrounds, lovely gardens, and a small botanical garden, and overall lots of space. With the exception of Camryn’s unfortunate tumble from a small bridge into the pond below, it was a great day, ending with the girls sleeping hard in our laps while riding the tram back to base. According to the girls, the true highlight of our entire trip was the final day on Saturday with a trip to the zoo in Heidelberg. It was a small zoo, and different from many US zoos in that at times you could get quite close to some of the animals. It also incorporated a few playground areas, which is truly a brilliant idea. Rachel was beaming most of the day, with constant requests of “Daddy, take a picture of …. for my album. “. I guess we have a lot of animal photos to print up! I think we have multiple photos of every animal there!
Sunday it was time to return to sunny Italy, arriving home some 1400 km and 14 hours later, we made it home. The views through Austria particularly were so beautiful, but northern Italy as well. Our travel angels were definitely with us, as during a construction zone we hit one of the “quickly speed up, than everything instantly ground back to a halt again.” I got stopped in time to not hit the car in front of me, watched in my rearview mirror and warned everyone we were about to get hit! Miracles occurred and the car must have stopped an inch or two before hitting us. Thank goodness were not in Naples for that one! Whew…… A reststop in the Rome area proved to be highly amusing. It was very crowded, and seemed so ITALIAN- an amazing amount of gold tennis shoes, high heels, sparkles and “bling” everywhere you looked on people’s outfits, and the parking lot was a total mess.
A great getaway was enjoyed by all. And even with the cold weather and rain, I saw enough beautiful bulbs blooming to feel like it was spring. Besides getting to stay and catch up with a great friend, it was also so nice to be staying in a home and not a hotel. Once again we were reminded that at least for our kids- it’s hard to do sightseeing and be a tourist on a full time basis. They quickly tire and are overwhelmed, prefer to just play somewhere, and the pigeons and lizards are usually much more interesting than any castle or church! If any have helpful hints you’ve used when traveling with younger children- I welcome suggestions!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Driving in Italy
Weds, April 2, 2008
Random thoughts on driving: Driving here is rather “interesting” to say the least. Bill had someone tell him that cars are much like water and if you think of it “flowing” wherever it can,” vs being something predictable, you’re much better off. Stoplights and stop signs are rather optional, as is staying in a lane, (any lane), what is designed as two lanes can easily become 4-5 lanes at a stoplight if people actually stop, getting in a turn lane is optional, as is turning right from the far left lane, beware of motorcycles going between everyone, beware of cars cutting in from all sides, try not to be distracted by the site of someone’s baby or toddler sitting up on the dash, beware of the killer potholes (I haven’t been on roads this bad since traveling in Kenya), watch out for many local roads to flood during rainstorms, and finally, beware of highly variable speeds driven by everyone. The actual speed limit on the highways is relatively low, sometimes ridiculously slow. As a result, most everyone speeds (except the tiny Fiats that drive 20 mph below the speed limit) , and then there are those that come from behind at warp speed to hug your bumper until you move over, and than of course the few that fly past and you wonder what in creation it was that was launched that fast. It’s the variability that seems to be the killer- or add to it pavement made with a portion of marble that’s slicker than snot when wet… The intersection near our house on our commute to work/school is a busy 4 way intersection with a light, but it's only turned on once in a while. The funny thing is traffic usually flows better when the stoplight is not on… a little unnerving, but it comes with the territory. The direction with the most traffic has the right of way until someone else gets their nose out far enough that the other cars have to stop. Than at least 2-3 cars will go through and it starts all over again! Bill’s had a minor fender bender on the hiway and I’m hoping to continue accident free, but they tend to say there are only 2 kinds of drivers in Naples- those who have had an accident, and those who haven’t had one yet! My folks sent us a book called “La Bella Figura” that is quite amusing in its accurate description of life in Italy. Bill is currently reading it and my turn is next. I still miss my Odyssey, particularly when someone who lives on base drives their's. But, for mileage and greater ability to park- I have to say the Prius -hybrid- is probably the better choice. Oh, and we pay about $4/gallon for gas a rationed amount of gas each month. The actual price is about $8/gallon. So, we still have it pretty good in the States!
Random thoughts on driving: Driving here is rather “interesting” to say the least. Bill had someone tell him that cars are much like water and if you think of it “flowing” wherever it can,” vs being something predictable, you’re much better off. Stoplights and stop signs are rather optional, as is staying in a lane, (any lane), what is designed as two lanes can easily become 4-5 lanes at a stoplight if people actually stop, getting in a turn lane is optional, as is turning right from the far left lane, beware of motorcycles going between everyone, beware of cars cutting in from all sides, try not to be distracted by the site of someone’s baby or toddler sitting up on the dash, beware of the killer potholes (I haven’t been on roads this bad since traveling in Kenya), watch out for many local roads to flood during rainstorms, and finally, beware of highly variable speeds driven by everyone. The actual speed limit on the highways is relatively low, sometimes ridiculously slow. As a result, most everyone speeds (except the tiny Fiats that drive 20 mph below the speed limit) , and then there are those that come from behind at warp speed to hug your bumper until you move over, and than of course the few that fly past and you wonder what in creation it was that was launched that fast. It’s the variability that seems to be the killer- or add to it pavement made with a portion of marble that’s slicker than snot when wet… The intersection near our house on our commute to work/school is a busy 4 way intersection with a light, but it's only turned on once in a while. The funny thing is traffic usually flows better when the stoplight is not on… a little unnerving, but it comes with the territory. The direction with the most traffic has the right of way until someone else gets their nose out far enough that the other cars have to stop. Than at least 2-3 cars will go through and it starts all over again! Bill’s had a minor fender bender on the hiway and I’m hoping to continue accident free, but they tend to say there are only 2 kinds of drivers in Naples- those who have had an accident, and those who haven’t had one yet! My folks sent us a book called “La Bella Figura” that is quite amusing in its accurate description of life in Italy. Bill is currently reading it and my turn is next. I still miss my Odyssey, particularly when someone who lives on base drives their's. But, for mileage and greater ability to park- I have to say the Prius -hybrid- is probably the better choice. Oh, and we pay about $4/gallon for gas a rationed amount of gas each month. The actual price is about $8/gallon. So, we still have it pretty good in the States!
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