Pictures of Sicily

Giardini Naxos, Sicily

We arrived in Sicily yesterday afternoon, flying in from the north over the Tyrrhenian Sea,  Palermo and then east to Catania.  The view of the Aeolian Islands and Mt. Etna was spectacular and the mountain certainly dominates all aspect of the local landscape.  It was even billowing a little bit of smoke.  We are staying about 1/2 hour north of Catania, in Giardini Naxos, a seaside resort near what was the first Greek colony in Sicily, founded in 735 BC .  We visited the museum and archaeological park where excavations have been conducted since the 1950s.  Some of the more important archaeological finds have been the remains of the city walls and houses as well as stones from a temple possibly dedicated to Aphrodite.  The museum has a nice exhibit of Greek pottery and bronze artifacts from the site.  We had lunch at a seaside cafe and then made the long walk back to the hotel, enduring the high humidity of the afternoon despite being so close to the sea. Greg says the two beers he had after were "heaven sent". Tomorrow we are planning to visit Taormina and may even catch-up with Rachel who will be on tour in Sicily with her schoolmates.  Also tomorrow is the Euro 2016 Italy vs. Sweden soccer game, so we'll be back at the hotel in time to watch that on the big screen TV. Watching soccer is certainly more enjoyable when surrounded by Italian soccer fans! Forza Azzurri!!

Telecom Italia and a river runs through it

Although we arrived in Berzo last Friday, it's taken a while to get to this next post because of internet access issues at the house that took four days to resolve.  Needless to say, Telecom Italia is not on my list of favorite utilities.  It seems that the automatic payment from our checking account was interrupted in January, so there were outstanding bills to pay.  The issue arose when I was first told there were only 2 bills to pay.  To do that, we had to go to the tobacco shop where payment could be directly transmitted to Telecom.  After waiting the 24 hour period, still no internet.  After recontacting them, I was told there were 2 more to pay, so I went back to the tobacco shop to make the second payment.  After another 24 hours, still no internet.  A third call revealed another 2 unpaid bills and at that point the kind lady at the tobacco shop and I became fast friends. Finally after 4 days, at least 10 phone calls, and 3 trips to the tobacco shop in Trescore (a neighboring community), internet service was restored.  It would have been a lot easier and far more efficient to have known that there were 6 bills to pay in the beginning, but I guess that's not how Telecom Italia operates.  Every person I spoke with had a different reason for the blocked service as well as a different timeline for restoring it.  I never thought AT&T would look so good!

While all the internet woes were going on, Berzo got hit by a fierce thunderstorm on Sunday night that resulted in hours of rain and heavy hail that lasted for over an hour.  All of the gardens were destroyed, the grape vines pummelled, and several homes were flooded - thankfully, not ours.  The small street in front of the house became a river of mud, hail, and water, and my neighbors underground garage was stacked with over a meter of hail.  They spent the next day wheeling out wheelbarrows of hail and their backyard looked like a mogul run of ice and snow. Elsewhere in town, hillsides slid to cover roads and a retaining wall near a creek not too far my cousin Gigi's house collapsed, almost taking with it several cars.  The Cherio River which sits in the valley below Berzo overbanked, flooding a number of businesses and homes.  Luckily, no one in town was hurt and as my  neighbor Mario said "These things only happen to the living". We learned later that Berzo was one of five towns over which the storm was centered, and many of the old-timers were saying that they had never seen anything like this.  Below is a picture of the river that ran in front of the house.

We're on our way to Sicily, where the weather is sunny and warm.  At home, thunderstorms are projected to continue through the end of the month, and it' already been raining daily since the end of May.  Looking forward to some summer weather!

Finally...Italia

Ciao from Italia!  We arrived last night after the usual long trip, this time totaling 30 hours.  Our flights went well, with no real issues.  We were anticipating a long security line in Los Angeles, but it only took us 30 minutes to get through.  That gave us over a 3 hour wait so we spent some time at a Mexican cafe drinking beer and margaritas and eating chips and guacamole - the perfect start to our vacation! Our long haul flight to Frankfurt went off with a hitch, but we had a bumpy ride into Milano because of thunderstorms and we had to circle around for 20 minutes until they passed.  I was thinking that US politics would be a point of discussion here and it didn't take long to get into a conversation about our Presidential elections with some of the Hertz workers while we were picking up our vehicle.  I think there'll be a lot more to come!  We're leaving Milan in a few hours and driving to Berzo - can't wait to see my cousins and the house.  There's no other way to end this first post other than to say it's so good to be in Bella Italia!!

Amsterdam photos

Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam on Monday and have really been enjoying sightseeing and discovering this beautiful city, known as the "Venice of the North".  Our hotel is right near the Amsterdam Centraal Station, a gorgeous train station that connects all parts of the city by bus, tram, or train.  Having arrived late afternoon, our first day here was shortened, so we set out for the Anne Frank House (Huis), which is along one of the city's numerous canals.  As you may remember from reading her diary,  Anne and her family and another family lived in a secret annex behind her father's former warehouse for about 2  years before they were discovered by the Germans and sent to concentration camps, from which they never returned (except her Dad - Otto). The warehouse is now a museum dedicated that poignantly tells Anne's story in her own words.  We climbed the steep stairs into the secret annex, passing through the same hidden bookcase opening that led to the annex from the warehouse, and walked through the rooms that Anne and her family lived in for those two dark years.  What a powerful and humbling experience, and one that cries out to all who experience it to never, ever forget the horror of what the Jewish people lived during WWII.  Much of the museum interpretation, however, focused on Anne's hopes for the post-war period, of the dreams of a young teenage girl.  We saw her bedroom, which was lined with photos of Hollywood stars, cut from magazines that those who helped the family provided. Anne dreamed of being a journalist and, in her own way and even after her senseless death (from typhus in the concentration camp), she has achieved that through the publication of her diary. 

After the Anne Frank house, we walked along the adjoining canal, visiting several shops and small museums.  One was the Tulip museum where we saw gorgeous tulips in a huge variety of colors.  Next, we continued to the Cheese museum, where we sampled some local gouda cheese in at least 20 flavors.  I bought a wasabi gouda and Rachel bought one with lavendar and blueberries.  I know they both sound strange, but boy are they good!  Downstairs, the museum had a cheese-making exhibit and a photo area where you could dress-up like a cheese farmer (see the picture - and no laughing!).  We had a quiet dinner at a small nearby restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.

Yesterday, we began our day at the Van Gogh Museum, where Rachel got to see her favorite painting (the sunflowers) and I got to see one of mine (the irises).  The museum  has the largest Van Gogh collection in the world (over 200 of his paintings and sketches), including some by his contemporaries, like  Paul Gaughin.  The museum does a great job interpreting the works and incorporating aspects of his life into the audio tour, which gave us a well-rounded perspective not only about the paintings but about Van Gogh himself.  After lunch, we visited the flower market, which is located on a street bordering the Singel canal that is lined with shops that sell tulips bulbs and many other gorgeous cut flowers.  Almost every color of tulip immaginable is here - even black. They even sell tulip bulbs that have a customs cleared stamp on the packet if you want to take them out of the country.  After that, we continued on to the Waterlooplein Flea Market, a big outdoor bazaar that sells second hand clothing and general bric-a-brac.  It is considered the oldest and most interesting market of Amsterdam.  We bought a few souvenirs and enjoyed a warm cup of tea in a local coffee shop.  Greg had the largest cappuccino I ever saw - at least three rolled into one cup.

Before calling it a day, we took an evening canal cruise around the harbor and major inlet canals.  Amsterdam has over 100 km of canals, with the three main ones having been built (hand-dug) in the 17th century. Along side the canals are thousands of buildings, including the picturesque canal houses you've all seen in the picture-postcards of Amsterdam.  The canals were built in a concentric circle and it is around these waterways that the boats tour.  We traveled three canals: the Singel canal, which once encircled the medieval city of Amsterdam and served as a moat around the city; the Patrician's canal which was the first of several buit in the city center; and the Prince's canal, the longest and named after the Prince of Orange.  The canal houses along the Prince's canal were built during the Dutch Golden Age, a period when Dutch trade, science, military, and art wer the most acclaimed worldwide. The canals are simply beautiful and the houses even more so, giving this city a truly romantic setting day or night.  Rightfully so, the canals are a new addition to UNESCO's World Heritage list.

We woke up today (Wednesday) to rain, so our events were spent indoors.  This morning we visited the Royal Palace, which was built as a city hall during the Dutch Golden Age.  It was once the home of Napolean Louis Bonaparte, followed by Prince William VI, finally becoming the property of the Kingdom of Netherlands in 1936.  The palace is still used by the monarchy for entertaining and official state functions.  After the palace, Rachel and Sierra visited a chocolate shop this afternoon and bought packages of truffles - yummy is all I can say.  Tonight we are heading out to walk the "Red Light District", so stay tuned for news about that colorful area!

House pictures

Pictures of the house, finally! Kitchen, sala, Lidia's bedroom, upstairs bathroom,  and outdoor shots.