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18 JUN 2006

Milwaukee, WI

Hmm. Twice in the same year. This time, a whirlwind tour of Italy. Bologna, Venice, Florence, Rome, and a week speaking English to Italian executives at an English language retreat in Umbria.

They say that there are no accidents. In late 2006, as I was preparing for my trip, I began researching resources to learn Italian in Milwaukee. One I ran across was at meetup.com, and I signed up for alerts. I forgot about it until in May of 2006 when I received a notice that a group was starting. I attended all the meetings, but by the end of the year, our organizer had stopped organizing, and the group kinda fell apart.

In the meantime, however, on a tip from the organizer at our first meeting, I had checked out this website. Always looking for creative ways to get to Europe, I submitted an application to be one of the native English speakers at a retreat in Spain. Heck, Madrid could be a fun place to explore...

Two days ago, I got the following in an e-mail:

"Dear Friends

Here we are with another Pueblo Ingles, this time, it will be in a beautiful country villa in Umbria. Could you ask for more? It has been quite an adventure since our beginnings in July 2001. Now, we are going to try to work the same magic in Italy. Italians are still not convinced of the effectiveness of the program - but we certainly know that we have the right raw materials to do it: YOU and experienced staff to organize and lead the program. It’s an honour to have you back - you were a great asset in your previous Pueblo Ingles experience and we look forward to your stellar appearance in our Italy venue!!

You are SOLIDLY BOOKED for:

NOV. 24 - DEC. 1 (Friday to Friday) – Session 4

There is really nothing I can tell you that you don't already know. Here’s a little refresher on the program info.http://www.vaughanvillage.com/italyprograms.htm Please pay special attention to the information on travel and hotel, which you should start booking soon! Once you have booked, be sure to visit your personal program page which you can access through the ANGLO SIGN IN on the website, or by clicking here: http://www.vaughanvillage.com/webfinal/Signup/ETPLaunch.asp Use this page to: 1. CONFIRM YOUR PARTICIPATION 2. MEET YOUR GROUP and participate in the FORUM. 3. Please also review your PERSONAL DATA – this is especially important if you’d like a name printed on your name badge other than the name you entered in your application form. Finally, we want to remind you that we are now counting on your for the date mentioned above and that we would like to have your confirmation (booked flights) ONE MONTH before the start of the program. Please enter your travel and accommodation details on your personal page – DO NOT SEND IT TO US BY EMAIL. If for whatever reasons you have to cancel, let us know so we can fill up your spot right away – we do not have secret stash of Anglos standing by in Italy, so it’ll be very difficult to find someone to replace you last minute. A few weeks before the start of the program we will be posting communications in your program’s forum, so keep an eye out!

We are looking forward to seeing you again…

Kind regards"

Hmm. No spots in Spain, so they decided to put me in Italy. Darn. After a little bit of headshaking in disbelief, I booked my tickets today. I gave myself a bunch of extra days on the front end to do some location scouting in Venezia, visit the Uffizi in Firenze, explore Roma, and still enjoy Umbria. All I can say at this point is yow.

Yow.

0001.01 17 NOV 2006 1220 Milwaukee Amtrak Station
5th and St. Paul
After lunch at Beans & Barley, Tiffany dropped me off to catch the bus to Chicago.
0001.02 17 NOV 2006 1430 O'Hare Airport, Terminal TBD Arrive O'Hare. Check-in was quick. The automatic kiosk spit out an error code, so I wandered up to the guy at the first class check-in line and asked "Is this a use-another-kiosk error or a you-need-to-see-me-in-person error?" He looked at it, said it was just the generic error, and ushered me to the head of the Super-Duper-Premium-Executive-Platinum check-in line, bypassing all the other chumps. Security wasn't a problem either, and I was at my gate long before I needed to be on the plane.
0001.03 17 NOV 2006 1630 Flight AA 88 (ORD->BRU) Leaving on a jet plane. They say I've got dinner and a continental breakfast. Yum. I'm sure it'll be just like breakfast in Italy.

It wasn't. Dinner was beef burgundy with a glop of mashed potatoes. The salad was remarkably good. Maybe because I've been craving green things all day. The seat messed with my back, but I staved off a migraine with plenty of acetominphen. Sleep? Ha. This had to be one of the most uncomfortable airplane seats I've sat in in my life. And the guy next to me kept making these wierd, periodic moaning noises. Oh, and a kid two rows back found it necessary to start screaming and crying every forty minutes or so. I need to invest in a set of those noise-cancelling headphones. I did watch "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Home for the Holidays" while trying to ignore all of that.

0002.01 18 NOV 2006 0735 Brussels, Belgium Woo hoo! I had to switch terminals in Brussels, and with that switch, a complete security check and passport review. I've got an entry visa for Belgium on my passport now. The terminal is lovely and modern, remarkably quiet (though it is early early), and there's a sculpture of a giant flying egg just over my left shoulder. Belgium is not nearly as progressive as I'd hoped. I have to ~pay~ for wifi. :| Oh well, I'd rather spend my money on coffee, so by the time anyone reads this, I'll be out of Belgium.
...:: media ::... pictures Brussels Airport
0002.02 18 NOV 2006 0940 Brussels Airport, Terminal TBD Flight AA 7771 (BRU->BLQ) operated by SN Brussels Airlines. Very tiny plane, very tiny overhead bins. I think Karla's peanut butter cups might have been smashed.
0002.03 18 NOV 2006 1135 Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport
Bologna, Italy
Arrive in Bologna, a tiny tiny airport. Even smaller than Malpensa, and I thought that one was a little bit tiny. This could explain why I went through border patrol in Brussels. That admitted me into the EU because there's nothing at Bologna.
0002.04 18 NOV 2006 1235 Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport
Bologna, Italy
The airport is located about 6km (3.7 miles) from Bologna central railway station, which has connections to all major destinations across Italy and Europe. Access to the railway station is by the Aerobus bus service, which departs from the airport every 15 minutes 0605-2345 daily (journey time: 20 minutes). Bologna's a pretty interesting city from the ground. I'll need to explore it sometime or another.
0002.05 18 NOV 2006 1300 Bologna Centrale railway station
Bologna, Italy
I actually got to the train station early and was able to catch a 1255 train to Venice.
0002.06 18 NOV 2006 1255 Bologna Centrale railway station
Bologna, Italy
Train 2234, Bologna to Venezia. I slept. Man. I am bushed.
0002.07 18 NOV 2006 1450 Venezia S Lucia station Arrive at Venezia, and called the folks at Trinità to let them know I'd arrived early. They gave me directions for getting there and promised to meet me in 20 minutes. Also called T. & M&D to let them know I arrived safely.
0002.08 18 NOV 2006 1530 Cannaregio 1333/C
30121, Venezia, Italy
The walk to Bed & Breakfast Trinità was short and uneventful. The neighborhood in which I'm staying is notably un-touristy. I'm surrounded by laundromats, towel stores, the fruit vendors' pushcarts in the street. Real people stuff as opposed to the crazy Venetian trinkets for sale at San Marco & the Rialto. I chose wisely. I sat on my bags waiting for Jacob to arrive with my key; he arrived right on schedule. I needed a shower, but being as tired as I was, I decided to nap for an hour. After that hour, I rolled over and went back to sleep. Woke up again at 3am, read for a while, then back to sleep. Rain on the tile roof just outside my window was quite soothing.
0003.01 19 NOV 2006 Venezia, Italy Woke at 8a, took a shower, which, despite the lack of water pressure and the inconsistent temperature, was one of the more amazing showers of my life. Breakfast arrived at 8:40, right on schedule. Croissants, a roll, and toast with butter, jam, cheese and espresso. I packed my cameras and set off to explore the city and get some photos. Found a pharmacy right off the bat to pick up some essentials, as well as a grocery store for some acqua frizzante. Wandered around Venice, got lost almost immediately. That's a great feeling. Of course, this place messes with my sense of direction like nothing else. My sense of direction is based on a.) having water to the east and b.) gridded streets, so it's pretty obvious that a bunch of islands intersected by twisty waterways would have an effect. Of course, the joy of the place is that no matter where I end up, it's an adventure. There's always something interesting to see, and if you follow enough alleyways, you'll always end up at either a main canal or major campo from which you can regain your bearings.

The light's a little squirrely. Winter in Venice is like Seattle. Rainy, damp, cloudy. Every once in a while, the su peeks through the clouds, and I took advantage of the few moments that happened to pop off a few shots. For the most part, though, it's overcast and dull. A little duller than I'd like it to be. The light certainly helps with textural things in the frame, but I'll need to goose up the colors and contrast in photoshop. I'm managing to get a handful of relatively marketable shots; something fun and interesting to sell at craft fairs. One notable is that there's still a lot of greenery. The trees have lost most of their leaves, but shrubbery is still green, and windowboxes haven't frosted over yet. Every once in a while, I'll spot a blazing red geranium in a windowbox amid the drab earthtones: moneyshot. Getting some interesting color here and there, but again, lots of photoshop work to get it ready for sale.

Bought a three-day vaporetto pass, and spent time tooling around the city for shots I wanted. Interestingly, many of the shots recreate images from my 2001 trip, though digital this time. It occurred to me that I may be re-living that trip solo in order to rewrite the memories into something more personal to me. Santa Maria Della Salute is under construction, so my shots won't be terribly attactive. That's disppointing. Got shots of La Calcina and Seguso. Found a book on photography as art at the Guggenheim museum shop. Went to ferrovia to get some shots for the film, and pretty much just wandered the canals waiting for decent light.

Returned to the room to dump my photos to my laptop, and lo and behold, there's unencrypted wifi around here somewhere. Squirrely at best, I can at least upload text, hopefully get at e-mails, perhaps surf the web. I doubt I'll have enough bandwidth to upload all my photos, but we'll see. If the links don't work, they will after Firenze, and again after my return. But then, naptime.

Woke after an hour, prepped my camera and took off into the dusk to see what I could see. Headed to Taverna San Trovaso for dinner, only to find that it was closed until 1900. Well, what better way to kill a couple hours than some nighttime photography? Della Salute, San Marco, della Salute from San Marco, the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge...I think I got some good stuff.

Dinner was a slice of heaven. Served by Daniel Craig's twin brother, I ordered the Menu Turistico, and I chose the spaghetti with clams and marinara, followed by a frutti di mare with french fries. Turamisu for dessert, .5L of the vino rosso della casa, 1L of San Pellegrino (which, I must note, was only 92cl...what's up with that?), and a doppio espresso. I walked back to Trinita through the nearly deserted streets of Venice. I love this place.
coming soon!
...:: media ::... pictures Campo e chiesa della Maddelena
San Marco
Salute
Ferrovia
Cannaregio
Venice at night
Cannaregio 2
Venice at night 2
videos

0004.01 20 NOV 2006 Venezia, Italy I was awake early and answered a whole mess of e-mails. They came in overnight, and of course, right now, I've got no connection, so who knows when they'll send. Rained most of the night. It's 0930 right now, it's pouring cats and dogs, I just finihed breakfast, and I'm itching to get out. I may need to go umbrella shopping. For the moment, though, I'm going to continue dorking around with Photoshop and seeing what gems came outta my cameras the past couple days.

Ah ha. It's stopped raining.

Took the vaporetto to the north end of the city, the Madonna d'Orto stop. Wandered around the neighborhood looking for suitable locations for Domenico in the script. Found a great spot on the Fond. Miseracordia, and took lots of pictures. Having done that, I proceeded to shoot a bunch of 'walking to the site' and 'taking the vaporetto to the site' footage to incorporate into the opening sequence pre-viz. Finally finished with that about 1300, and went for lunch. An amazing penne with asparagus, seppi con polenta, 500cl of vino rosso della casa and water. In true Italian fashion, I didn't get out of there until about 1530, and went back to Trinita for a nap.

Refreshed, I decided to head out to dinner, but wasn't terribly hungry. I wandered around the streets north of the Rialto, and finally stopped at a wine bar. Had two glasses, then headed back to Trinita, picking up a slice of pizza con funghi e prosciutto along the way. Bedtime. I've been walking lots. Being here re-affirms my preference for dark, architectural features in faces and I think I've got a thing for boots. Hmm.
coming soon!
...:: media ::... pictures Location Scout in Cannaregio
The Grand Canal 1
Salute
The Grand Canal 2
videos

0005.01 21 NOV 2006 1032 Venezia S Lucia station Breakfast, packing, and off to the station to catch train 9467, Venezia to Firenze. I was early, and waited around for a bit, but I did manage to get some decent shots that I'd been missing and hoping to get. The ride was uneventful.
0005.02 21 NOV 2006 1323 Firenze S M N Arrived at Firenze S M N to a downpour, but the weather's warm and it's not a bad thing. Called Karla to let her know I'm waitin' for a bus.
0005.03 21 NOV 2006 1330 Firenze S M N Arrived at Karla's after a short bus ride. We went shopping; she's arranged a dinner, inviting a bunch of multimedia and video people for a potluck. I'm making dal. She's in the kitchen whipping up vegetarian lasagna. This is going to be fun.

A great group of people; great conversations, and I'm managing to recognize a lot more Italian words. Interestingly, the language is no longer sounding like gibberish, but I can recognize individual words, even though I may not understand the meanings of those words. I understand about a fifth of what I'm hearing, and am picking up the rest from context. My dal was a hit, the wine flowed freely, and I ended up sharing movie titles with Susan, a friend of Karla's who's also on Couchsurfing. In bed at 3am. Or thereabouts.
...:: media ::... pictures Ferrovia
Dinner

0006.01 22 NOV 2006 1030 Firenze, Italy Woke up at about 8a, showered and took the bus into town with Karla. She's teaching, I had an appointment with the Uffizi. The pieces that stood out:
Madonna con Bambini e due angeli Filippo Lippi c1460-1465  
Annunciazione Alesso Baldovinetti c1457  
Portrait of a Young Man with a Medal
Ritratto di giovanne can medaglia
Boticelli 1475-1476 Yummy lookin' guy. Interesting also to note that an actual medal is actually inset into the painting.
Spring
La Primavera
Boticelli c1477-1478 Chloe/Flora is the best detail of this painting. Something quite earthy and erotic about it.
Madonna of the Pomegranate
Madonna della melegrana
Boticelli c1487 Interesting blend of Boticelli's mythic symbolism with traditional religious iconography.
..: Interesting side note: the Pomegranate, according to the interpretive material, is a traditional symbol for passion. Interesting indeed.
Calumny of Apelles
La Calumnia
Boticelli c1494-1495 The density of symbolism is incredible.
The Birth of Venus
La nascita di Venere
Boticelli c1484 This frequently simulated image was breathtaking to see in person. For real. Actually hanging there.
Perseo libera Andromeda Piero di Cosimo   An amazing dragon image, and the entire painting has an interesting soft-focus sheen to it.
Ritratto di Evangelista Scappi Francesco Francia   Another yummy boy.
Open Book
Libro Aperto
Scuola Tedesca, Sec. XVI? INV. 1890, N6191 A very modern-looking image of, well, an open book.
S. Giorgio Lukas Cranach INV. 1890, N1056 The details and imagery were quite amazing. As a side note, it's interesting that there were two separate paintings of Luther by Cranach.
Adorazione dei pastori Giorgio Vasari INV. 1890, N9449 Wow. The lighting in this paining was amazing. The frame is lit by an unearthly glow emanating from the Christ child.
Fucina di Vulcano Giorgio Vasari INV. 1890, N1558 Again, some amazing lighting, and the details and symbolism were amazing.
Natura Morta Abraham Mignon   Still life with some of the most photorealistic glass reflections I've seen.

The entire first floor of the Uffizi was taken over by a special exhibit, "The Mind of Leonardo," no doubt inspired by Da Vinci code fever (which I'm not going to get into). While I've always known that Leonardo was a brilliant genius, I have an entirely new appreciation for him and his innovations thanks to an extremely wel done interpretive display that included actual folio pages from his notebooks (and honestly, seeing actual, not reproduced pages written by Leonardo is a near religious experience), videos, and models of his experiments and devices that the crowd was allowed to actually operate.

You know that image of the man in the circle and the square? They had a video that deconstructed the drawing, demonstrating a.) the proportions of the various body parts to the whole, and b.) the golden mean represented in the proportions of the circle to the square. It's interesting that he was using math to quantify the human form, and it seems to work. He was prescent of fractals, and his work in fluid mechanics is stunning given its historical context.

There was a huge exhibit deconstructing "The Last Supper". Again, one of these paintings that I've seen a billion times, but I've got a whole new appreciation for it. For those of you without an art history background, the painting represents the moment just after Jesus said, "One of you will betray me." I've always known that, but didn't really get the implications until now. The painting depicts everyone's reactions to that statement, each reaction is different based on the traditional personality makeup of the particular disciples, and I now realize the Leonardo is te penultimate visual storyteller; mise en scene in a painting.

"If the figures do not express the concept in their minds with their limbs, then those figures are half dead."

from the exhibiton catalogue: Even the expression of feelings and emotions is considered by Leonardo to be a kind of motion, which triggers the action of the muscles, the contractions of the lips and eyes, the formation of wrinkles, and more generally, the gestures of communication. He paints expressions from life and investigates the anotomical and physignomic bases of character traits and emotional reactions. The Last Supper represents the supreme synthesis of this complex research.

Leonardo also had a series of explorations on the qualities of light, many of which are taken for granted in the age of mechanical reproduction.

Someone recently asked who I admired as much as she admired Bobby Kennedy. Leonardo's definitely near the top of that list now.

Damn regulations. So I'm researching what it takes to bring wine back to the US. Houston, we have a problem. A most lovely catch-22 of political red tape. First, there's new import regulations, and any wine (or olive oil or vinegar) being shipped is subject to import rules. If I ship wine to the US, I need to use a customs broker. Alternately I could go to a Mailboxes, etc. and pay €189 (that's close to €16 a bottle) to cover all the shipping and customs fees. So, OK, that's not terribly economical, so a better bet is to carry as much home as I can in my carryon. Except for that little 'liquids and gels' restriction. Hrm.

Dinner was leftovers with Karla & Guido, and plenty of wine since I need to DRINK IT ALL BEFORE I LEAVE THE COUNTRY. Well, not all of it, but all the I bought.
...:: media ::... pictures Firenze

0007.01 23 NOV 2006 1453 Firenze S M N I spent the morning drinking coffee with Karla, updating my blog, and uploading the last of the photos to the web, before taking the bus to the station to catch train 9437, Firenze to Roma. I did notice that my back's not messing with my anymore. Not at all. Not a twinge of anything. Maybe all this walking-to-excess is doing a good thing.
...:: media ::... pictures Karla's back yard
0007.02 23 NOV 2006 1630 Roma Termini And the train ride was uneventful. Aside, of course, from the growing bitterness about the inadequacy of America's public transport and/or rail system. But that's a rant for another time.
0007.03 23 NOV 2006 1730 Ricasoli Guesthouse, Via Ricasoli 16,
3rd floor, apt. 7 (buzz apt. 6 Ragusa)
It took me a little bit of time wandering around the neighborhood trying to find the my Roma accomodations (CONTACT: Bin Chen ((39) 0644700876 (39) 3474025995) bin.chen@virgilio.it), but found it eventually. I got checked in and gathered my things to head off the meeting point for the welcome reception. The meeting point is only 4 blocks from my hotel, a happy coincidence.
0007.04 23 NOV 2006 1900 Hotel Nord Nuova
Via Giovanni Amendola, 3 00185 Roma
We met in the lobby for the Citta Ingles welcome Reception. I met Lynn, with whom I'd been e-mailing, David from Scotland, Larry from Canada, and Ozzi. I had a coffee while I waited. Pablo and Brian from Villa Inglese showed up, then Cheryl, Alvaro and Laura. Alvaro bought drinks, I had red wine then a few more Anglos...the other Lynn, Christina and Maggie...I forget all the new names and faces. Once the group was assembled, we took a bus ride to the restaurant where dinner was being held. I am the youngest Anglo in the group by far, most are retirees or near-retirees, from a wide variety of backgrounds. Dinner was OK. Not the best I've had in Italy, but certainly not the worst. The penne primi piatti with a tomato cream sauce was the best of the courses, and the tiramisu was, well, tiramisu. Nothin' wrong with that!

At the end of dinner, Pablo sat down next to me and we talked for a bit. Then he tells me he's starting to come down with a cold. Good thing I brought zinc lozenges with me. I'm going to OD on those starting tonight.

0008.01 24 NOV 2006 1030 Hotel Nord Nuova
Via Giovanni Amendola, 3 00185 Roma
I started the day with The Citta Ingles Bus departed on time, driving through Rome to the freeway.
...:: media ::... pictures the drive to Umbria
videos the trip to umbria
0008.02 24 NOV 2006   Cite di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle
We arrived about 3.5 hours later. We are in the middle of nowhere. The place is on top of a hill, and the road was narrow enough that we needed to walk the last bit of from the bus because it was too narrow for the bus to drop us at the door. We had lunch, a never-ending buffet of meats, cheese, soup, bread and tiny panini. We got checked in to our rooms. I'm sharing with Declan, a business student from Ireland. Love his accent. Free time until 1800, I napped, I'm coming down with a cold. At 1800 we met for a brief orientation and introductions. The Citta Ingles people are great. Brian, our Master of Ceremonies, originally from Denver, is a blast, and Pablo, the Program Director is great. We got our orientation about what to expect from the week as well as the daily schedule. We're broken down into five groups, each group containing a mix of anglos (native English speakers) and non-anglos. The day breaks down like this:

0815 Wake up call to our rooms
0900-1000 Breakfast. Meat, cheese, brioches, jam, Nutella, yogurt, juice, and coffee, coffee, coffee.
1000-1050
1100-1150
1200-1250
1300-1350
There are a number of things that happen after breakfast. One-on-one sessions - an anglo is assigned to a non-anglo and we sit and talk for an hour. Topics aren't set (though we do have some suggestions if needed) and the intent is to get the non-anglos familiar with typical conversational speech patterns. There's also an idiom and phrasal verb that we neeed to go over (go over being an excellent example of a phrasal verb that non-native speakers just can't grasp easily). Telephone sessions - essentially the same as the one-on-ones, but without the luxury of being able to see lips and read facial expressions, since we call each other in our rooms. Conference calls - which are the same as a telephone session, but with multiple anglos and non-anglos talking via conference call, simulating a real-world business situation. Presentations - each non-anglos is assigned two presentations. One is business related, and the other is open to any topic. These are presented throughout the week, with a handful of anglos assigned as audience members. Free time - self-explanatory, no?
1400-whenever Lunch. And lots of it.
1700-1750 Group activity to inspire teambuilding. And, of course, English communication as a team.
1800-1850
1900-1950
Even more of what we did in the morning sessions, though the group assigned to provide entertainment during the variety hour gets a two hour block to prep for that improvisational task.
2000-2050 Variety hour, in the chapel (featuring a 15th century fresco from the Signorelli school), consists of short presentations from anglos, and skits prepared by one or two groups of anglos and non-anglos. A good way to cap off the day, let off some steam and relax before dinner.
2100-whenever Dinner. Oh. My. God. The food is incredible.
The place is amazing. So many photo opportunities, I don't quite know where to start. Maybe tomorrow morning when I'm feeling better.
0009 25 NOV 2006   Cite di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle

0815 I feel like crap.
0900-1000 Maybe coffee will help. It can't hurt. Breakfast. Meat, cheese, brioches, jam, Nutella, yogurt, juice, and coffee, coffee, coffee. Stefano supplies much caffeine. I down a Frenadol, a miracle cold/flu drug from Spain that David gave me. It helps a little. Everyone's more than happy to help me with their own advice for colds, including the doctors and drug reps there to be immersed in English. At the very least, I'll be well taken care of.
1000-1050 My first one-to-one was with Jose Ramon, who owns an IT company in Madrid. We spoke about his company, and how his father raised 'black pork' or jabalí, which we finally surmised was wild boar. Iberic pork. "Black legs" pork. We also discussed the phrases "to back up" and "raining cats and dogs", the latter of twhihc has an equivalent, similar phrase in Spanish.
1100-1150 I met with Nicoletta, a pulmonary specialist from Roma. Our assigned phrases were "look up" and "crack the whip", and we had a good talk, despite my feeling half dead and not being able to breathe well.
1200-1250 A break. Zinc. Naptime.
1300-1350 Patrizia C., a drug rep from Milano, and I met. She works with Simone and Mario, and likes movies almost as much as I do. "figure out" and "twist my arm" are the phrases we reviewed during our session.
1400-whenever Lunch. And lots of it. I ate quickly and excused myself to go to bed. I love siesta.
1700-1750 Still groggy from siesta, I had copious espresso molto lungo before heading off to our group activities. I think this was the one where, as a group, we needed to invent a completely new product, and present it and its marketing plan to the group.
1800-1850 More free time. I think they're letting me ease into this since it's my first program.
1900-1950 Met with Patrizia F., a gynecologist from Roma. She came here with her friend Nicoletta. Our required topics of conversation were the phrases "write down" and "second thoughts". We also talked about my travels and experiences in Italy over the years. I had an interesting revelation: perhaps one of the reasons that I can effectively describe funky english phrases (like "write down") is that my sense of humor is tied up in subtleties and double meanings so prevalent in words. Being as acutely aware of that as I am, I'm in a unique position to understand a.) how ludicrous the actual words are compared to the meaning, and b.) able to explain it. That's neat.
2000-2050 Variety hour, in the chapel (featuring a 15th century fresco from the Signorelli school), consists of short presentations from anglos, and skits prepared by one or two groups of anglos and non-anglos. A good way to cap off the day, let off some steam and realx before dinner.
2100-whenever Dinner. Oh. My. God. The food is incredible.
...:: media ::... pictures Borgo di Celle and Villa Inglese
0010 26 NOV 2006   Citte di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle
Citta Ingles
0815 I still feel like crap, but am getting better.
0900-1000 Breakfast. Meat, cheese, brioches, jam, Nutella, yogurt, juice, and coffee, coffee, coffee. Extra coffee to keep me awake and coherent during my session.
1000-1050 Met with Laura and discussed her presentation on a walk down the hill. Laura works for Pueblo Ingles, and for her first presentation, about work, was going to be discussing how her first job at Siemens helped prepare her for what she's doing now. I shared with her my secret for successful presentations: Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you told 'em. The walk back up kinda sucked, 'cause I can barely breathe. Blech. More zinc for me.
1100-1150 Free time. Yippee. Coffee's got me too hyped for sleep, though. Hrm. Time to take some pictures, I guess.
1200-1250 Having met Jose Ramon yesterday, it was interesting to meet Juan Carlos, his business partner, today. They definitely complement each other well personality-wise, and have found a great formula for working together. "get over" and "big deal" were the requistie phrases.
1300-1350 I met with Carlo, and we had an amazing discussion about physics and science, and I had the opportunity to teach him about grazing occultations. I'm not sure if we got to "get through" and "piece of cake", but I think we did. Carlo's a fascinating guy.
1400-whenever Lunch. And lots of it. Then siesta. Man. I need more sleep, more often.
1700-1750 Tonight's group activity is lost in a cold med haze.
1800-1850 Ricardo works at Avis in Roma (I'll need to get a rental car hookup for my day in Rome) and we discussed "get in/get on" and "keep an eye on". He seems like a beginner at English, but he's trying hard.
1900-1950 Montse and I met; we discussed her presentation about her job, doing quality control for the Spanish subsidiary of Good Humor.
2000-2050 Variety hour, in the chapel (featuring a 15th century fresco from the Signorelli school), consists of short presentations from anglos, and skits prepared by one or two groups of anglos and non-anglos. A good way to cap off the day, let off some steam and realx before dinner.
2100-whenever Dinner. Oh. My. God. The food is incredible. But off to bed. I'm ready for this cold to be over with.
0011 27 NOV 2006   Citte di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle
Citta Ingles
0815 I feel like crap, and not as crappy as yesterday.
0900-1000 Breakfast. Meat, cheese, brioches, jam, Nutella, yogurt, juice, and coffee, coffee, coffee. Stefano, the waiter is always cheerful and ready to bring coffee and cappucino.
1000-1050 Today I get to watch presentations from Patrizia C., Nicoletta, Jose Ramon, and Mario about an aspect of their jobs.
1100-1150 MarieCarmen and I meet, our words are "call off" and "throw in the towel".
1200-1250 Mario and I have our one-on-one, where we talk about get rid of" and "call it a day". In addition, we work through his presentation on how to be a sexy man, and he teaches me a choice Italian phrase: "Esser Bello non ti da diritto di far male." which translates roughly to "In order to be a beautiful man, never give a woman a reason to suffer."
1300-1350 What did I do? Man. The week's blurring.
1400-whenever Lunch. And lots of it.
1700-1750 OK, I have no idea what was in the lunch, or maybe it was the fact that I decided to have some wine with lunch, cold meds be damned, but I slept like a rock during siesta and felt incredibly human by the time I woke. Yippee.
1800-1850 Simone and I met. We discussed his presentation about how his life changed once he had a baby. The more I talk to him, the more I realize what a deiciously subtle sense of humor he has. I like Simone a lot.
1900-1950 Jose Ramon and I met and I can't remember what we talked about. But I do recall something about photography.
2000-2050 Variety hour, fun as usual.
2100-whenever Dinner. Oh. My. God. The food is incredible. And after dinner, a special treat...a dance on the patio. I stayed up late taking pictures.
0012 28 NOV 2006   Perugia, Umbria Citta Ingles

We started off with breakfast, as usual, but then boarded a bus for a field trip to Perugia for the morning. Got plenty of photos of that. Bought some Perugina chocolate, drank lots of coffee, and explored the city with the Italians and Spaniards. We returned for another never-ending buffet lunch, a short siesta (during which I just hung out chatting with Kath about the nature of life) and then on to the evening sessions. Patrizia F. was my one-on-one, and she asked for my input on her presentation about marriage and the idea of a marriage sabbatical. Having just spent time talking with Kath about my theories of relationships and marriage, it was quite the coincidence...but then I've come to expect things like that to happen. Simone and Jose Ramon were also on my schedule for the afternoon. I helped Simone with his presentation, and Jose Ramon and I trekked down the hill and back. Not nearly as crazy as earlier in the week, 'cause I can actually breathe today.
...:: media ::... pictures Perugia

0013 29 NOV 2006   Citte di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle
Citta Ingles
0700ish I woke on my own. Can't sleep. Good sign. Showered, and went out to take some pictures before breakfast. I think I got some great shots.
0900-1000 Breakfast. Meat, cheese, brioches, jam, Nutella, yogurt, juice, and coffee, coffee, coffee. Stefano, the waiter is always cheerful and ready to bring coffee and cappucino.
1000-1050 Met with Jara. We decided to wander around and get some photos of the area, and discuss the terms "Hand In/Hand Out" and "Top Dog".
1100-1150 Juan Carlos and I had a one-to-one. The phrases of the hour were "Hang on/Hung up" and "Make my blood boil". The latter has a very similar idiom in Spanish.
1200-1250 Montse and I met, and I helped with her presentation. When we started the week, she could barely choke out her introduction, and it's amazing to see her confidence in her ability to communicate blossom as the week progresses. I think that she's the best example that I've seen of the strides people can make in the language as their confidence increases.
1300-1350 Our first two-to-two. I'd already corralled MarieCarmen, Lynn A. and Jara to get together, look at photos and talk about creativity. Then Brian said that there were specific assignments for the two-to-twos...but I told him what I had in mind, and he switched out a couple people so that we could do that. I thought it was one of the best sessions I had, and I really learned a lot about how others deal with creativity and ideas. I wish it could have lasted longer than an hour.
1400-whenever Lunch. And lots of it.
1700-1750 Group activity to inspire teambuilding.
1800-2050 Group 5 (of which I'm a part) was charged with the task of creating the variety hour for the night. It was set up like a quiz show in the final round. Simone was leading, Montse and Lynn A. could catch up if they answered correctly, I was the host, Maria was ringing the bell for correct answers.

Q: What colors do the italian and spanish flag share?
A: Red

Q: What is the name of the Scala Opera House in Milan?
A: La Scala

Q: What are the most popular tapas in Spain?
A: Peanut Butter and Jelly

Q: How many steps are there in the spanish steps?
A: 28

Q: Who first said "Don't worry, be happy."
A: Don Quixote

Q:Who designed the Trevi Fountain?
A: Donatello Versace

Q:What is Flamenco?
A: A large pink bird

Q:What were Christopher Columbus' first words upon discovering the New World?
A: Wow

Q:Name Christopher Columbus' great grandfather.
A: Christoper Columbus Senior

Q:Who was Marconi?
A: The man who first packaged pasta and cheese

Q:What is the color of the matador's cape in a bullfight?
A: Paisley

Then, with Simone judged to have the highest score by the unseen, offstage judges, he had four final questions to answer for the €100 million prize.
Q: In USA Today, on February 3, 1986, on page 8, column three, what is the second word?
A: A

Q:How many shells were there on the beach at Sanibel Island on 25 October, 1948?
To which Simone responded, "At what time?" and I responded "Just after high tide."
A: 3

Q:Name the four people sitting in seats 60, 84, 213, and 520 during the Italy/Brazil soccer match in 1965.
A: Giovanni DiCardi, Clemente Rossi, Sister Maria from Naples, Paolo Bianchi

Q:If two cats run around the inside perimeter of the coliseum, one at 4 miles and hour, and one with three kittens, which one would arrive first?
A: The black one.

Q:Finally, Quale e il tuo nome? or Como te amas?
A: Of course, Simone, having spent the entire week speaking English, didn't understand the question...which translates to "What's you name?"...and didn't win.

2100-whenever Dinner. Oh. My. God. The food is incredible. After dinner, an impromptu gathering in the bar, Brian and his guitar included.
...:: media ::... pictures Borgo di Celle
My one-on-one with Jara
Guitar in the Bar
0014 30 NOV 2006   Citte di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle
Citta Ingles
0700ish I woke on my own. Can't sleep. Good sign. Showered, and went out to take some pictures before breakfast. I think I got some great shots.
0900-1000 Breakfast. Meat, cheese, brioches, jam, Nutella, yogurt, juice, and coffee, coffee, coffee. Stefano, the waiter is always cheerful and ready to bring coffee and cappucino.
1000-1050
1100-1150 Patrizia C. and I met, and we pretty much discussed movies for a lot of the hour. It's refreshing to actually meet people who've heard of the Italian films I've seen.
1200-1350 Two to twos for the afternoon sessions. We played two truths and a lie.
1300-1350
1400-whenever Lunch. And lots of it.
1700-1750 Group activity to inspire teambuilding.
1800-2050 More two to twos. I remember being down by the pool playing an improvised bingo game that Kath devised. Fairly interesting, and I'm starting to be done talking for the week. Talked out. Good thing the week's almost over.
2100-whenever Dinner. Oh. My. God. The food is incredible. I shot a bunch of crazy video clips over dinner; I felt a need to capture some of the personalities with whom I've been interacting.
...:: media ::... pictures Scenes from Umbria
Villagio Inglese (including the dance)
videos
0015.01 01 DEC 2006   Citte di Celle, Umbria
Relais Antico Borgo di Celle
Citta Ingles
Breakfast, closing ceremonites, tearful goodbyes and the bus back to Rome. It's been a great week. I've made some new friends, had some great experiences, and despitebeing sick for a lot of it, it's been life-changingly wonderful.
...:: media ::... pictures Checking out & the bus to Roma
sounds
videos
0015.02 01 DEC 2006 1630 Hotel Nord Nuova
Via Giovanni Amendola, 3 00185 Roma
The Citta Inglese dropoff was a little sad. We said goodbye to those members of the troupe who were parting ways, and made plans to meet for dinner at 1930 for those of us staying on.
0015.03 01 DEC 2006 1700 Ricasoli Guesthouse, Via Ricasoli 16
3rd floor, apt. 7 (buzz apt. 6 Ragusa)
I walked to my place, and got checked in and as packed as I wanted. Opened the last bottle of wine, and had a glass or two. Too amped up to nap, so I decided to go shopping. All of the walking has created some rather uncomfortable holes in my jeans, so I need a new pair of pants. Luckily, every store know to mankind is in the train station, so that's my first stop before I head off to meet people for dinner. Upim is a Kohl's-esque department store, and once I deciphered sizes, I managed to find a great pair of pants. Bought 'em, changed in the bathroom, ditched my raggedy jeans, and headed off to wander the streets of Roma en route to dinner.
0015.04 01 DEC 2006 1930 Trevi Fountain You remember the film Three Coins in the Fountain from 1954? Neither do I. I saw it on AMC at sometime in my sordid past, but don't really remember it all that well. The stragglers were meeting there before we headed off to dinner, I got there early, shot a bunch of stuff, watched someone get proposed to in front of the fountain, and by then, the group had assembled. In speaking with Marie, a friend of Maureen's, I learned the myth of the three coins. Supposedly, the first is to return to Roma, the second to get married and the third to get divorced. It took nearly forever to get to dinner because there was debate about how many coins to throw into the fountain. I finally had to interrupt the discussion (I was famished) and explain the logic: If you throw two, you know you're going to return to Roma (from coin 1) so if you need to throw a third, you know you'll be coming back anyway to do so.
We headed to Piazza Nuova, a scary place that reminded me of every carnival midway in the states, and we ended up at a restaurant that was a little too touristy for me. Food was OK, but not my favorite of the trip. After that, walked back to the hotel and slept.
0016 02 DEC 2006 TBD Roma Began the day by picking up my rental car from Termini Station. Then walking back to the Ricasoli Guesthouse (or close, at least) to pick up the rental car from the parking structure a mere block away. Had a list of architectural highlights from Sylvia, and got most of them plotted out.

First stop was to visit the Appian Way. Millenia old, it was originally built as a quick and easy way to get the military between Roma and Napoli. Same idea as our interstate system. Portions of the road are still intact, about a foot wider than a car (or at least my car, and lined with the remnants of old structures. Unfortunately, there was a 'curb' of rocks about a foot high on either side fo the road, and many other sightseers driving behind me, so I wasn't able to pull over to snap any photos. Maria had said that when she was living in Roma 20 years ago, the prostitues used to hang out along the Appian way, crowded around fires, flagging down potential clients as they drove by. Saw a few of them along the way, and I think they may have been the same ones that were there when Maria lived in Roma. There's something surreal about 70-year old hookers. That would've been a photo opp or three.

After that, to the E.U.R., and Mussolini's Forum. To get there from the Appian Way took a lot longer than anticipated; there was a HUGE tax demonstration and march in Roma, and there were lines of busses on the freeway exiting at the E.U.R. Parking was non-existent with the marchers preparing to, well, march, so I contented myself to circling the area and marvelling at Mussolini's Forum from the street as I drove past. Getting OUT of the area was equally difficult because of bus traffic as well.

No one had ever heard of "Il Girasole" nor the street it was on, so I didn't get to that. And Sylvia's favorite church? Couldn't find it on any of my maps. And trying to get back to the hotel, with the routes I knew blocked off for the march, took a lot longer than I'd anticipated, so I ran out of time before I got to see everything. But heck, it's Roma, and I was driving around amid the history.

Lynn, Maureen and I met at the Trevi fountain again for dinner, we were the only three left in the city. Well, from the group at least. We found an interesting place to eat, it was a Peroni beer hall. A cross between Oktoberfest and Italy. The menu included traditional Italian fare as well as brats 'n' kraut. Quite the culture shock.

After dinner, we walked through Roma, seeing the Coloseum, the Forum, and many other just plain old things. We said our goodbyes, and then, to bed. Travelling to Bologna tomorrow.

0017.01 03 DEC 2006 1452. Wait. Make that 1030. Roma Termini So I'm up early, can't sleep. Went to the station to finish up the rental car paperwork. That took up all of five minutes. No lockers in whcih to leave luggage, and I'm not going to drag my crap around Roma for five hours...so I got me a ticket for the 1030 train to Bologna. I deal with getting a refund for the unused ticket when I get back to the states. Train 9472, Roma to Bologna crossed quite the interesting bit of countyside. Through most of the trip, copious fog, with brief breaks of sun here and there. Between Firenze and Bologna, there were many limestone rock faces with tiny villages nestled in between. Definitely someplace I'd like to explore in the future. Note to self.
0017.02 03 DEC 2006 1736 Bologna Centrale Stranded in Bologna, after my personal version of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Because I'm leaving so early in the morning, I decided to stay at the Airport Sheraton in Bologna. They have a complimentary shuttle, but it only leaves from the train station at 8am, noon and 8pm. So from the train station, I took the Aerobus (see above) back to the airport, from which the Sheraton has a shuttle every half hour. I was checked in and logged on to check e-mail before three. Then I found out that my credit card was declined. Despite calling them a week before I left and despite there being a NOTATION ON MY ACCOUNT (which they confirmed) THAT I WAS GOING TO BE IN EUROPE, they put a hold on my account due to 'unusual activity originating overseas' and I had to deal with that. Waded through lots and lots of e-mail, responded to critical stuff that needed a response, and then went to dinner. For hotel food, it was pretty good, but then, I am in Italy. I'm going to miss the food and wine. Off to bed. 4am wakeup call for a 4:45am taxi.
0018.01 04 DEC 2006 0645 Bologna AA Flight 7770 (operated by Brussels Airlines). Man. Why do I do this to myself? The early afternoon return to O'Hare was certainly attractive, but that means I need to be to the Airport at dark freakin' thirty. Oy. Luckily, there was coffee available, since I had to leave the hotel prior to the complimentary breakfast.
0018.02 04 DEC 2006 1050 Brussels AA Flight 89 was only one third full if I'm lucky. As I write this, I've got an entire three-seat row to myself, I've had my laptop plugged in under the seat, and have been editing photos the entire way over. Managed to watch two films as well. "Talledega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby" and "Elf". Julie will be glad to head that. I still hate Will Ferrell. But like a moth to a flame, I can't look away from the screen. Good thing I can multitask. First meal was lasagna. Having just come from Italy, it was pretty much a joke. Second was pizza. Ditto. But I have plenty of leg room, plenty of room to spread out my work, and it's a relatively comfortable (as far as flights can be) flight. The first officer is David Bowie. Chuckles from all over the plane when they announced that. Touching down in Brussels this morning wreaked havoc with my sinuses; I hope I don't have issues with the landing in Chicago. I've got about an hour and fifteen minutes in the air; it'll be good to be home.
0018.03 04 DEC 2006 1305 Chicago O'Hare arrive O'hare
0018.04 04 DEC 2006 1330 on the road Crashing in the car on the way way home. Luckily, someone else is driving.