People, Places: Raison d’être

Experience Life

See you in Paris!

“See you in Paris” is one of my favorite phrases, and it’s what my friend said to me when she was in Boston a few weeks ago.  She now lives in London, so we only see each other once or twice a year.  Another friend has since decided to join us for the weekend, so I couldn’t be happier.

I’m beginning to lose track of how many times I’ve traveled across the pond for Thanksgiving.  It’s become a tradition. Certainly one I can live with.

I leave on Friday, and I’m in rapid execution of to-do list mode.  Work days leading up to vacation always seem to be more hectic than usual.  Tasks pop up during the week that throw off carefully planned time management. In the end, it all gets done.

I originally thought I’d practice French an hour a day leading up to the trip to retrain my ear.  That never happened, and there is no time now.  I thought about bringing my CD Walkman, so I can listen on the plane and during layovers.  Yes, I wrote CD Walkman.  My recently purchased iPhone is the only modern device I own.  My love of travel requires cuts in other areas. Don’t worry, I’m not going to bring it.

I will be sitting on a plane Friday night on route to Paris, and you can be sure I will have a smile from ear to ear. Well, at least until the person in front of me reclines their seat into my knees.

I made the same trip last year, and I was recently thinking about the guy that sat next to me on that trip. Whatever happened to him?  I flew Air France on an Airbus 340.  This plane has two seats, aisle, four in the middle aisle two seats.  However, my row, way back in the plane turned to three seats in the middle, and we were staggered between the seats in front of us instead of directly behind.

As a result of the set up, I had to lean to the left or right to view the personal TV screen on the back of the seat in front of me, and I had to straddle my feet around the base of that seat.  To keep things in perspective, I just reminded myself it was a direct flight, and I was on my way to Paris. No biggie.

I was in one aisle seat, there was a man in the middle seat next to me, but the aisle seat to his right was empty.  As the plan filled up, I commented that I thought we’d luck out with the empty seat.  Clearly, I expected him to move over into that empty aisle seat.  Who likes the middle seat?  Door closed, and he remained in the middle seat. Wow.  Just my luck.  It could have been a Seinfeld episode.  “Move over!” “What’s wrong with you?”  I could imagine Elaine saying.

I largely ignored him and watched movies, but during dinner service we talked a bit.  This is where it gets interesting.  The 50 or 60-something year old man was from the Cape.  He was on his way to Switzerland to meet his girlfriend.  I asked what she was doing there.  It turns out they met online and had been “skype-dating” up to that point. Really? Who does that?  Of course this piques my interest.  So, I commented, “so this will be the first time you meet in person? Your first date?”  Yep! Although, he hadn’t thought of it as the first date.

I asked if he had traveled internationally before.  He asked if Mexico and Hawaii counted, and he wasn’t joking.  I explained that off the mainland doesn’t count as International, but he gets credit for Mexico.  Now, I was thinking of Jay Leno interviewing people on the street.

Anyway, he had to get his passport last minute, booked that trip, and he already had booked tickets for her to visit the US during Christmas. Ambitious I thought. That was a turning point.  I found myself giving him travel advice. Explaining he should expect significant charges if he didn’t upgrade his cell phone calling plan before he left. I advised that he should text instead.  It’s cheaper. A middle class guy well beyond a mid-life crisis. What was he thinking? This was an expensive adventure for him.

I asked if his kids knew where he was going and why.  He said his son did.  Good, let him worry I thought.  I slowly realized that his guy probably didn’t move seats because he was an inexperienced traveler.  I suppose he thought he had to remain in his assigned seat. Also, he was nervous.

I hope it turned out well for him.  I’m hoping for an empty seat next to me this trip, but it not, I might get another interesting story to tell.

November 16, 2011 Posted by | Europe, Paris, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

2011 Road Trip in Italy: Top 10 Memories

When you return from vacation, friends and family are eager to hear all about it. Inevitably they ask, “What did you like/enjoy the most?”

It’s nearly impossible to answer that question even if you are given specific criteria such as best meal or favorite day.  I spent two weeks driving around Tuscany, Umbria and Abruzzo with one of my best friends. Each day was unique and memorable.

Ok, I know you want to know too. The best meal was dinner my first night in Roma. This is partially because it was the beginning of our Italian adventure, partially the quaint location- an outside table on a quiet dead end street – and partially the food and wine. We had so much to look forward to, and we knew it. We would ultimately eat better food, drink better wine and have more scenic views with other meals, but that dinner was delicious and special.

Our Itinerary:

  • Rome
  • Florence (via San Gimignano)
  • Montalcino (via Montepulciano, Pienza etc.)
  • Orvieto
  • Perugia (via Todi & Gubbio)
  • Spoleto (via Assisi & Spello)
  • Sulmona (via Pacentro & Pescoconstanzo)
  • Rome

My Top 10 Memories of Italy in no particular order (although a bit chronological):

1)    Finally seeing David! This was my fourth brief trip to Florence. While I have seen quite a bit, I have never been able to get inside the Galleria dell’Accademia to see David.  Oh, I’ve seen the replica outside of Palazzo Vecchio, but not once the original. Previously, my timing was off due to strikes and museum hours. This time we made reservations in advance. David was not to be missed again. David truly is a masterpiece. Carved out of a slab of marble?!?  How? Who posed? Oh my!  The replica is excellent, but you have a better sense of size and scope inside the museum. 

2)    Returning to Montalcino, a town I fell in love with years ago. Small, historic and known for Brunello wine. It’s as beautiful as ever. My favorite night was sitting outside on a stone ledge overlooking the rolling hillsides full of olive and cypress trees illuminated by the moon shining brightly over an historic fort. Inside the fort there was a live jazz band playing and the sound was fabulous. In the morning, there was a weekly street market. I enjoyed watching the locals shop and catch up on local gossip. They were strangers and yet looked familiar. They reminded me of the old school elderly I grew up with. A generation that will be greatly missed.

3)    Sunflower fields. Absolutely beautiful. There is nothing quite like driving along winding roads with endless fields of yellow sunflowers. I don’t think I’ve ever stood in a field of sun flowers previously. We were surprised by how dry the ground was. The dirt had deep cracks (similar to what you see in droughts), and we thought we might fall through to China bugs-bunny style or a snake might attack us at any time. Fortunately, neither happened.

4)    Lunch time. Always a treat. I’m not just talking about the cheese with Truffles, bruschetta  or homemade soups. Although, that would be reason enough. We always managed to find a breathtaking view during lunch. San Gimignano, a small, walled medieval hill town in Tuscany, tops my list of favorite places. We stumbled upon a restaurant down a small pathway that opened up to a view of Tuscany’s landscape that words can never accurately describe. The café was very simple, but the view was priceless and the kind you remember forever. I recall thinking, “wow, who are we?” We recognized how fortunate we were to be there. BTW, the Italians do not mess around with meal time. 1-4 is lunch time. Everything closes and people disappear. Except tourists of course.

Sunflowers in Umbria

5)    Religious pilgrimage.  I can’t image visiting Italy and not exploring churches. Even if you aren’t Catholic or religious, you have to recognize that many of the best artists and workers of the day built these magnificent structures. The frescos, the marble, the intricate details. I visited the graves of St Francis of Assisi, St Claire, St. Isaac and St Peter- all by chance. I think I fulfilled Sunday obligations for quite some time including a back log of no shows.

6)    Climbing 360+ steps. Most of the towns we visited were on a hillside, so we probably climbed 1000 steps on a daily basis. If there was something to climb i.e. forts, church towers for a view or historical purpose, we climbed to the top. One town that stands out is Todi. The center of most medieval towns are closed expect for local traffic, so you usually park in a lot outside of the city walls and walk in.  On this occasion, we parked at the bottom of a hill.  It was a quiet Sunday morning, and there were few people around at the time, so we weren’t even sure we were entering at the right place. Nonetheless, we climbed more than 360+ steps to see that we could find.  It was a beautiful town, and I would have climbed 5000 steps to see it. 

7)    Keys to the castle.  My father’s family is from a small town in Abruzzo called Pacentro.  I went there to see the home where my grandfather lived.  A local named Angela met me in the morning to show me around her town.  We were introduced by the host at my hotel in Sulmona. Long story short, she happened to know where my grandfather used to live, and she spoke English. The people in Abruzzo are very friendly and go out of their way to make you feel like you are a member of their family not a tourist There is a castle in Pacentro.  I asked if we could go inside (assuming it was open to tourists). Angela paused, looked at me thoughtfully and said, “I can get the keys to the castle.”  She asked around, and then we went to the home of an elderly man. The next thing I know, I am walking inside the 15th century castle that was not open to tourists at the time. This is what I love about visiting small towns. 

8)    Church bells. I loved hearing the sound of church bells in every town. Usually you could hear several bells ringing at once. There is something calming about sound that marks time- both historic and contemporary.

9)    Opera singer in Pantheon. On our last night of vacation, we sat at a café in the piazza in front of the Pantheon. It was a lively Saturday night. You hear people talking, laughing, musicians singing etc. Around 9 p.m. a man started to sing Italian Opera. We had seen him milling around our table earlier, but never imaged he was an opera singer! It was the perfect ending to a vacation I’ll remember always.

10) Piazza del Popolo. Every town had a Piazza del Popolo, and we remarked early in the trip that we must learn about the Popolos because, “they must be important.” It took a few towns before we learned Popolo means people!  Yes, of course the people are very important!  Along the way, people past and present made our trip most memorable. The family we spent hours with in a restaurant on a rainy day in Spoleto, Luciano, who remembered meeting me in Montalcino 4 years earlier, the Angelini family in Spello that introduced us to local wines, the local joulsting team and supporters in Sulmona, Angela in Pacentro, Martino “Supersonico” who introduced us to 2000 years of history inside San Pietro in Perugia, and of course the artists and architects that influenced Italy’s culture.

Keep in mind, when the time of day is marked by church bells, exercise involves climbing towers of historic sites dating BC, lunch includes wine with a variety of pecorino cheese and a view that could have been painted, it is easy to love Italy’s culture, landscape and people.

August 9, 2011 Posted by | Europe, Italy | , | Leave a comment