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I stumbled across the journal I kept during the Italy trip last year and decided to finally make a copy. Disclaimer: It has more words than pictures. The following is verbatim, for better or worse (I don't think I said anything horribly offensive...), and may not always be the most enthralling material. I talk a lot about "comedy", which refers to a CD of stand-up routines by various comedians that I made for the flight over. In fact the details of the trip over are pretty drawn out, feel free to skip to Day 2. I guess a new journal and 35+ hours of traveling put me in a writing mood. I also appear to eat at McDonald's frequently, but it was really only about three times (still way more than average). I've also put in a note here and there when something wasn't clear. Please enjoy responsibly.
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Italy 2004
March 11th, 2004
(6pm-ish)
We have another 50 minutes to kill in the terminal at Dorval. There is talk of insanity, mainly stemming from Cindy and being denied by Victoria. Pam is a little worried still, having been scared by the security check. And Steve is on his way to becoming statistically unlucky [Ed: I don't remember why that was exactly]. Food prices are outrageous but there's nothing I'd buy anyway.
The bus ride was largely uneventful; there wasn't even a movie. I spent most of the trip listening to Seinfeld, which made the journey pass fairly quickly. We shared the ride with a dozen or two students from Lisgar, who only inconvenienced us by not boarding for half an hour. And Jamie, from Reach, gave Steve some pretty good laughs. Fighting a headache and my nose is still running. Matt and Steve are ass-battling for fun and profit. Pam is being mean although she claims that she always apologizes which supposedly makes everything better. To be fair, if she has a system for dealing with her aggression, it's safe to say that she's the mean one. [Ed: Here Pam and I were debating which of us was the "mean" one]
"For the love..."
6:50pm
Going to be boarding fairly soon (7:30). Daly wants us at our gate (31) in ten minutes. We're currently clogging up gate... 28 because ours had no seats. Now the debate is over moving to our real gate which will result in half an hour of erect but organized boredom. I'd kinda like to read my book or listen to some comedy and thus I'd like to find some sort of semi-permanent lodging/seating. I have a feeling that the seating on the plane is going to be another fiasco (can't think of the right word).
We move...
7:33pm
No sign of the plane yet; I blame the Czechs. It seems people have discovered the cameras they packed and Gate 31 is now fascinating. 'Bout a dozen photographs in the past minute alone. I hunger, but filling up on sugar is unappealing. Looking forward to the airplane food, *shudder*. Plane's coming in soon, there's activity outside. Time to get a picture.
8:49pm
Seatbelt light is off, ground speed is about 716 km/h and we're flying at 5500m. Time to arrival is just under seven hours. Speed is now over 760 km/h, altitude 6700 m ( 22 000ft). Outside air temperature is a chilly -31*C.
Oh yes, my seating fiasco. There was an issue but it wasn't caused by indecisive teens. I thought I heard my last name being called at the gate but the pronunciation over the PA seemed pretty bad. Turns out it was for me and my seat was changed arbitrarily to two rows behind everyone else. The lady told me in cloudy English that it was due to a mix-up in Toronto, which I might point out is not involved in this leg of the journey. The new seat was by a window but after bothering the lady by the aisle, I decided to try and trade. My first attempt was thwarted by a man who had been separated from his wife in a similar fashion to me. He eventually got moved to his wife and I then traded with the woman he displaced. I feel bad about it as the lady seemed tired, stressed and had apparently already moved three times.
Menus and headphones have arrived and I'm thinking the roast beef sounds tastier than the chicken fettuccine. There is also promise of cold cuts later on. Hopefully a movie will start soon, though a safety video is currently playing.
Mmmm... drinks cart just passed. Gonna get me some juice. The lady beside me has also started writing so I think I'm going to go play chess, catch a movie, read or listen to some comedy. Six hours, fifty minutes remaining, I'll be back.
- 880 km/h, 10200m, -54*C and 5856km-ish to go
9:20pm
Back already, although victorious at chess against Geoff. I have also obtained a coke and some crazy "Gold Fischi", which are Goldfish with sesame seeds and herbs. And the movie is unfortunately some nature documentary at the minute. The only people around me are Morgan, Geoff and Steve and consequently I feel pretty isolated [Ed: There were over 20 of us after all. I was in the "corner"]. Even worse, I can see the backs of the heads of the rest of our group. Plane's pretty jolty so far, methinks it's comedy time.
9:34pm
Dinner's coming, although our side is lagging behind. Only another 5410 clicks to Prague. I want some noise-canceling headphones badly [Ed: BJ and I had discussed, perhaps to excess, the benefits of such headphones, which he was looking at purchasing while in Japan at the time]. Methinks they may be worth the $60+, provided I buy them a week ago.
10:27pm
Dinner (beef) was surprisingly very good, except for dessert and the turbulence. Actually finished at 10pm but only just had it taken away now because of the ruddy turbulence. Going over 1000 km/h now and "Drumline" just started. Not too interested so I think I'' listen to more comedy. Turbulence is going to ruin writing and reading anyway. Managed to get two coffees (Geoff's) in though :).
12:13am
"Drumline" was actually quite entertaining, pretty good music too [Ed: Thought you weren't interested?]. The seatbelt sign has been on for about a half hour now, which was also the last time we had any turbulence. Bah, now my eye hurts from watching a TV from a foot and a half away. Hopefully there's a second movie as there's still another chunk of this flight left.
12:27am
Slowed down to a tortoise-like 920 clicks an hour with another2680 of 'em to go. Works out to about 3hrs and change when you factor in a few other things.
1:12am
Second movie is starting... in Czech. Don't think I'll be watching the subtitled "Snowball Festivities". Victoria is honestly insane and probably sleep-deprived. Back to Mr. Clancy methinks [Ed: "Executive Orders" if I recall correctly].
1:42am
There is talk of breakfast.
2:02am
Breakfast finally seems to be rearing its head. We've also been formally introduced to Jessica, Kelly and Katherine from Toronto [Ed: Wait a minute, I'll be they took my seat!]. They'll be on our next flight apparently. The distinct aroma of coffee has drifted lazily to the back of the plane, hopefully bringing our stewardess along with it.
2:47am
Breakfast was light (some cold cuts, etc) and we're now about 45 minutes from landing. Turns out we did pass over Ireland pretty significantly, not too far south of Dublin [Ed: I had thought we would not go that far north]. Couldn't see the Isle of Man though :)
3:13am
Descent time which means ear poppage, electronics-abstinance and captain;s messages. It's cloudy and three degrees in Prague by the way. And I think now's a good time to officially lose my night's sleep and put my watch ahead. That makes it 8:15am now, see you in Prague.
9:17am [Prague time]
I of course meant nine am, as 3 plus 6 is indeed not eight.
March 12th, 2004
12:55pm
It's really been the 12th for a little while now but I thought I should make a clear distinction. We're currently on a smaller business-style plane with a lot of freaking turbulence. They served us lunch pretty much right away although it consisted of some odd cheese and possibly-ham-maybe-just-tomato sandwich and orange cake. Not bad I suppose but I guess I wasn't all that hungry.
Our flight left about 25 minutes late and we're flying Air Italia now (or "Alitalia"). We were indeed greeted by armed guards at the airport but it wasn't quite what I expected. I didn't see any dogs ( though we obviously weren't in customs). The guards themselves weren't packing M16s and scanning the crowd from set posts. Instead it was the occasional Czech soldier decked out in camo gear, sporting a stockless AK-47 wandering the halls and usually chatting to some other official. Oddly casual and yet extraordinarily strict compared to what we're used to.
The fatigue seems to be getting to most people, as does the cold I got over last week. Not a good combination for the start of a rather expensive trip to be sure.
This flight lands in about and hour and then it's only a brief three hour bus ride to our hotel. Almost there... Methinks I might take a catnap myself. I may be over one cold but that's far from invincible, especially against headaches and grumpiness.
1:14pm
20 minutes until landing and it's 15*C in Rome. Sweet deal. Oh and that nap happening - yet. Perhaps on our groundbus [Ed: As opposed to airbus].
4:19pm
Through the airport, through customs ("We're Canadian!") and onto our bus [Ed: Our group of 25 skipped all of Rome's customs by saying that we came from Canada. I don't believe we even showed them evidence]. Methinks there's still another two hours til we reach our hotel and I shouldn't sleep for another five anyway. Everyone (almost) else has crashed since about ten minutes into the ride when the Italian landscape proved less interesting than sleep. Got my Caramilk bar for energy now. Can't wait to shower, change, eat and sleep. Perhaps some comedic stylings can pass the time.
4:32pm
Yep, back already. Thought I'd sum up a few things that have only been mentioned in passing. For one thing, it actually is a balmy 15*C (ish) and there are palm trees. The movement of the bus has prevented me from taking any real pictures of the scenery.
Almost everyone is sleeping, which is peaceful but I personally think it a bad idea. Well to be fair, they can only get about three or four hours in, so the sleep cycle shouldn't get too out of whack.
The Beatles still refuse to vacate my head. They do, on occasion, allow AC/DC to be heard instead but they never actually leave.
Seems I'm in the sleepy half of the bus. Time to go socialize perhaps.
March 13th, 2004
10:46pm
Just one entry today as I forgot to take this notebook with me. I also neglected to take my swimsuit as I didn't even think I'd need it outside the hotel.
The first stop was Pompeii or "Pompei" as it is called in Italian. It was some fairly awesome ruins with some impressive fresco and plaster molds. The tour guide was a nice lady but I forgot to take her picture inconspicuously. She looked like this: [Tiny doodle], except nicer and she wore a winter coat. Some of what "they" "knew" about the site was kind of suspicious but it was still fascinating. I took pretty much an entire roll of film despite being reasonably reserved. I only have four rolls left but I haven't seen any more for less than 5 euros apiece.
We then had our first taste of Italian cuisine in the real world. We had already met an old-lady-gypsy at Pompeii and then we found another tourist warning to be true. Everywhere charges cover for sitting and they all want you to. We eventually settled on this little place and tried their take on the cheeseburger [Ed: Didn't you say Italian cuisine?]. It was a crusty roll with a split patty and mozzarella cheese, very tasty. Set me back 6 euros [~$10] but I'm on vacation :)
In order to get to Capri for the afternoon, we needed to purchase hydrofoil tickets. Our travel agent, however, had "planned and arranged" this by giving money to Mr. Daly who in turn bought boat tickets by mistake [Ed: Not by mistake, actually a recovery move as the hydrofoil was unavailable]. It was no hydrofoil but it did the trick.
We also left Lisa sleeping on the bus. Oops. We got her before the driver got too far though.
Capri wasn't actually all that interesting at first. The Palace of Tiberius seemed to be closed and we couldn't go on the Blue Grotto boat tours (initially; we discovered a new way later but no longer cared). We therefore decided to rent scooters. After finding one store abandoned, gotten turned away at a second ("Under repair. One month") and simply not finding a third despite heavy signage and directions [we gave up]. After a hefty trek to central Capri we stumbled into a funeral procession (almost). [Ed: At this point, Steve climbed a pole and stole a lemon from one of the many lemon trees. It would eventually be named Lemmy] Then we got some gelato (caffé flavoured, delicious). I also nabbed me a phone card and some postcards, which I then used to call my mom and check in [Ed: Used the phone card, not the postcards]. Our bus driver was a bit miffed when we got back an hour late too (all of us since we caught the later bus home).
Back at the hotel it was time for dinner. Last night was spaghetti, mixed meat grill (turkey, lamb, etc) and some pretty brandy-potent Tiramisu. Tonight's dinner was rigatoni, swordfish (!), and some odd cream-flakey cake, all of which was very nice. Steve bought us a second bottle of water (money-grabbers...) and I picked up the tip, having skipped out on both breakfast and dinner [tips] before. Breakfast was ok, but it was really just a better buffet-continental, no Sunset Lounge style pancakes, etc.
Dinner ended at about nine and with curfew set at eleven, we had two hours to see Sorrento for the first and last time (for me). Eight of us eventually settled at "Insolito" wherein we sat and had a fine ol' time for a reasonable price. Strong coffee though [Ed: That's because yours had whiskey in it].
We also saw these pilots in full-uniform with ceremonial (presentation) daggers and briefcases. We though they were weird Italian cops at first.
Steve, Craig, Lindsay, Morgan, Becky and Jocelyn (maybe more) ended up at some which the old owner made "supercool" for them by turning down the lights and pumping the music. Apparently the aforementioned pilots then showed up and were delighted by the group. Jocelyn is also capable of drinking them under the table and Becky received a thong from one of them. Odd stuff.
Zactoria went out on their own and the former half now wants to sleep. Phones are ringing erratically by and around us. we have a six-hour bus ride in store tomorrow so I think it's time for sleep.
March 14th, 2004
10:38am
'Bout two hours closer to Arezzo now and people are pranking Camden at the moment. Steve's getting pretty antsy over losing his pilfered lemon. Might make an appearance at dinner if the joke isn't overdone before then (which it probably will be) [Ed: I have his lemon]. We keep getting passed by motorcycles and stupid family stationwagons. Pam's promised not to worry for the whole day. Mr. Daly seems to have gotten wise to the pilot antics, with good humour. We're stopping off at Ostia Antica for an hour and a half or so. Hopefully lunch will be good. I'm kinda tired but there's no chance of sleeping on this bus at the moment.
2:42pm
Just left Ostia Antica which was very nice but shortlived (one hour). Pictures, only a few, will probably tell the story better. We bought a pizza at a highway stop and it still kicked the ass of nearly every pizza I've ever eaten. Train of thought derailed, pen dying, heading to Arezzo.
10:42pm
We got to Arezzo about two hours late and our tour was consequently shortned to about an hour. It also came during mass so we had to rush through our churches. Downtown Arezzo looks great but our "palace" is about 2km away [Ed: The "Etrusco Palace" hotel]. As it stands, there's not much around here and nothing is open on a Sunday night.
There was some confusion with the reservations and the two groups of three had a double-bed and a fold-out couch. After a little bargaining, Daly fixed the room situation adn somehow acquired a bus to escort us downtown and back tomorrow night. Etrusco ain't bad after all.
Dinner was also great, despite a lack of choice. Our first course was essentially cold cuts, salad and cheese, but the arrangement was delicious [Ed: Not to mention it was wild boar]. Next came some decent ravioli followed by fries and a pork chop. Top it off with some lemon cake and I now have high hopes for breakfast, which is at 7am.
The lemon caper continues, though the plot has thickened considerably. [Ed: I believe I still have the lemon at this point]
March 16th, 2004
Yep, I missed a day so I'm recapping now. This pen is pissing me off though and I have left the others in the hotel. Yesterday was Perugia and Assisi as well as Arezzo at night. I'll explain later.
March 18th, 2004
Better start with Perugia and Assisi, which were actually quite similar. Both were smallish towns with a lot of very nice churches [Ed: Also known as "Italy"]. Actually, outside of some gelato and wandering, the day wasn't all that noteworthy. A lot of the history and most of the churches are blurring together now.
At night we walked about two and a half kilometers into Arezzo at which point I realized I had left all my money at the hotel. As a result, a few of us took a stroll through the park, which was nicely lit and quite pleasant. We met this couple with an absolutely gigantic dog which reminded me of a fuzzy St. Bernard. He was called Theo and was extremely friendly [Ed: Anybody have a picture of Theo?]. We heard some ominous chanting coming from a dimly lit stone corridor at one edge of the park. The full wrought iron gate was unlocked and slightly ajar but as we were all rather fond of the amount of blood we currently possessed, we decided to leave.
That was Monday. On Tuesday we went to Florence or "Firenze". I can understand what all the fuss is about. The Cathedral and Basilica were both insanely impressive, especially with the 100' (150' ?) wide and 300' tall dome, all 10 000 sq. ft fully painted. The Uffizi museum was fairly big and it was great to see da Vince, Rembrandt, Durer, Michaelangelo and others for real. I didn't recognize as much as I'd hoped but the volume and quality was simply overwhelming. The statues outside were also cool and I have some nice photos to boot. Daly had to buy our way in personally though (I'll have more on our dastardly travel agent later). The rest of Florence was tragically disappointing, as Matt, Steve and I got extremely lost in places such as Feces Alley. I'd say I saw more of Florence than anyone though. We were also rewarded with some Very Good gelato, which was pretty good. Dinner was delicious but they toned down the quantities for our North American appetites. Unfortunately I had recently adapted to the European standard and was consequently left hungry. Ended up getting a McBacon Crispy from a nearby McDonald's. It would seem that Euorpeans believe in neither ketchup nor mustard. Instead they opt for this foul secretion dubbed "secret sauce" which The Simpsons described best as mayonnaise left in the sun.
This brings us to yesterday, which was probably the best day I've spent in Italy, perhaps anywhere. However I'm feeling kind of sick from bus-writing at this point so I'll do St. Patrick's Day justice later on.
March 21st, 2004
10:17am (Rome Time)
Yes, I realize I left this for about four days but I was either busy or tired. We are now somewhere between Rome and Prague, cruising nearly an hour behind schedule. Ironically, 'now' will come later.
Off the top of my head, I'd say we went to Lucca and Pisa on Wednesday. Now I know why I should have written in this more often: I can't really remember what we did. I do know that we hit up Lucca first and it was a beautiful place. Lots of walls and churches, like everywhere else, but it was also serene and uncongested. The guide was a little late so we played some pickup ultimate in the large-ish field. There wasn't much in Lucca that wasn't elsewhere but the peace and quiet was well worth it.
After Lucca we hit up Pisa for some slanted fun. We passed by the Fauxkley (Fake-Oakley's or Foakley's) for what would turn out the be the last time. I was then fortunate enough to find a new "Chinnoto" flavour of Fanta. It looked pretty tasty until Zac remembered he had seen "Chinnoto" on the 'Brio' cans back home. To my horror I tasted it and discovered that he was not only right but I now had a litre and a half of wrong. After sharing the foul water with everyone, I downed half of it while on a shuttle to the tower while everyone chanted "Chug!". We got to go up the tower ('bout tweleve of us) for a measley €15 each. It was well worth it though at the view and the tower were just spectacular [Ed: And why else would you go to Pisa?].
It was then time to go to Florence for our oft-delayed club night. We waited outside the bus for about half an hour until Mr. Daly delivered the bad news. Our driver, Francesco [Fran-chess-co] (whom I haven't talked much about but was freaking brilliant), couldn't find anywhere open after calling around. As soon as we have accepted that, Francesco came to the door and mentioned Mr. Daly back inside. turns out he got the hotel chef to ask his friend to open a club just for us. A half hour later, we were at Transylvania Live, a rather gothic club which played about 75% of the techno of my CD (awesome!). I actually danced (a lot) and we had a great time despite the presence of the teachers and some odd clientele. Matt struck up some conversation with a group that was learning English and apparently one of them (female) wanted to bite his tongue. We also all formed impromptu dates for the evening, which were of course unimportant but humourous nonetheless. Camden did not take Cindy, Steve took Pam and I took Lindsay. Other notable events include Becky's dance ability, which rocked and Natalie's dance ability, which was good as well. The two had a dance-off, which was the noteworthy event. As long as we're sort of on the subject, Geoff didn't get Becky but it would seem the Craig-Lindsay Accord has been ratified [Ed: I cannot believe I wrote that. Actually I can, and that's tragic]
Thursday followed Wednesday, as it has a tendency to do, and we used this opportunity to visit Siena and San Gimignano. Siena was a very nice place with 17 rivaling districts , each represented by an animal. Our guide was an elephant and told us all the deplorable traits of the enemy ducks (geese really). We nearly got scooters, again, but it was once again closed at lunch. I got myself an elephant flag/bandana as it was much more aesthetically pleasing than the dragon [Ed: Which was bright green and hot pick I believe]. Steve bought a duck flag and became my arch-nemesis.
San Gimignano was graced with our presence for all of about an hour, including tour. We missed the torture museum and I'm not sure I even bother to photographically record the fact I went at all. They did have some awesome military souvenirs (flails, crossbows, etc [Ed: Real ones]) which I now regret passing by [Ed: They had small, non-useful versions that I wanted]. Thankfully... plane landing.
11:36pm
Plane landed, another plane taken off.
To continue, thankfully we got some World famous gelato, which indeed deserves its recgonition. It was like God Himself had iced mangoes and was serving it for only three euros. The night life consisted of... an early night I believe. Tuesday involved McDonald's I think. No, Monday. Tuesday must have been the park night. Anyway, Thursday was an early night wherein Daly gave us time to "go to the minimart" and get back to the hotel, a.k.a. opportunity to buy some liquid bread.
2:06pm
Friday was Romeday. The scheduled five-ish hour bus ride was a mere three hours and we were contemplating switching the historic tour for the religious one. Then we found out that the Vatican was closed. The historic tour included such sites (and sights) as the Coliseum, the Roman Forum and some other cool ruins including Caesar's grave.
Our hotel was strategically located downtown, close to the metro and not far from the Coliseum. Unfortunately, our first impression was pretty bad. We were early (travel agent's mistake) and our rooms weren't ready. Thus we left our luggage essentially in the backyard ( outside). We also got McDonald's for lunch and dinner, which is amazing if you're hungry enough. We ordered from the western menu, receiving a Big Tasty. Not only did it actually look like its picture but it had also been cooked on a grill, not just heated.
Yesterday, which is also known as Saturday provided you say this on a Sunday, was basically the Vatican. First off, no Pope. I'm disappointed. His museum is very nice though. Saw the Laccoon Group up close and in the... marble, but didn't get a picture :(. Food time, be back soon.
3:37pm
So yes, the Vatican was cool, although it looked very much like an airport upon entry: all modern with TV screens and metal detectors. There were a lot of nice statues, tapestries and maps too. St. Peter's basilica (cathedral? [which means 'seat of the bishop') was very big. Largest in the world I'm told. One second, Cindy wants to interrupt:
Dear Ben2,
You are so dead inside. :(
Love always,
C.
[Ed: With friends like these...] Aight, so anyways, I finally got to see my Pieta. Well I suppose it's Mike's really, but I felt some personal attachment simply because I was the only one who knew or cared about it. The Sistine Chapel was amazing and I hadn't even though much about it beforehand. The ceiling was impressive but the story of it left a bigger impression. Even better was the wall behind the altar, which Mike also painted. I liked it so much that I now own a 15 euro cloth poster of it. Should have bought some Vatican golf balls too, my dad would have loved them. By about 1 o'clock that day we were presented with nine hours of free time. Zac, Steve, Pam and I ate some legit pizza at a reasonable restaurant before checking out the Pantheon. I was running out of film at this point so my pictures where limited to about one per landmark. We also hit Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps before heading back. Pam and I went shopping for a bit then wandered to the Coliseum where a massive anti-Iraq-war protest was going on. We crossed their parade and took the metro back to the hotel (cool). Basically just getting things down now, few details. There are still topics such as Geoff's hair, Lemmy, the Coliseum guy, Mario, riot police and much more. Details to come. [End of journal]
Well that was fun.