Puccini!

Hello from Lucca! It has been a fascinating, spontaneous trip thus far. We arrived in the afternoon, changed clothes and went immediately into the city to scavenge for food. We are very glad that we did, because on our way we happened upon the home where the famous composer, Giacomo Puccini, grew up! Outside the square, which now has a statue of his likeness, there was a five-string orchestra with two opera singers, performing some songs from his operas! What a lovely, accidental concert!

It lasted about an hour, and Ankur fell in love. It was his first exposure to opera, and he was so excited (as was I) that we went and got tickets to a Mozart/Puccini concert for tonight.

It did not disappoint. We had FANTASTIC seats -- front row, right in front of the piano so we could see his fingers, and maybe five feet from the singers (I think we got spit on). The seats also came with our own personal Puccini tour guide. As it happened, the man sitting next to us was an opera singer himself. He has been all over the world singing, including DC, NY, Philly, Austria, etc. He was quite excited to see two young people there for the opera, and to have a chance to practice his English. Before the concert began, he took us behind the scenes and introduced us to the performers of the evening, Soprano Chiara Panacci (very good), Baritone Mattia Campetti (a mere 23 years old, and a star), and Massimo Morelli on the piano. Then the concert began, and we were blown away. It was a number of highlights from Mozart and Puccini operas, including The Marriage of Figaro, La Boheme, Don Giovanni, and Madame Butterfly (all in Italian, of course, with no subtitles). One of our favorites was actually the intermezzo from Manon Lescaut, but we loved the singing, too. We left singing "Cinque ... Dieci...!" We had such a fantastic time that we are very much considering returning for another performance tomorrow. We wished that Savta was here with us!

In other news, we wandered into a gelateria on the way to the concert, which is owned by an expatriate from the UK. He was quite friendly, and it was a joy to talk to him until he informed us that the US financial markets had dropped 800 points yesterday. We gasped. Then we reconsidered buying gelato. But hey, we will worry about that when we get back.

We initially had planned to be here for two nights, but our room is so lovely and we are so excited about the opera around here that we decided to extend our stay another night. That gives us only one night in Venice, but we have been there before so it's fine. Tomorrow we will walk the ramparts and seek out some more beautiful music.

That's all for now. We miss you all!

Assisi pictures

Assisi was one of our favorite places. Here are a few pictures to show why:

First is the view from our hotel at sunset. I know, breathtaking. I feel like I have used that word a lot on this blog, but there is really no other way to describe a lot of these views.

Next is the basilica of San Francesco, where numerous world religious leaders met in a forum on world peace, and which houses numerous beautiful works of art as well as the tomb of St. Francis.

Finally, the view of Assisi from Rocca Maggiore, the castle at the top of the hill.

Assisi and beyond

Hello from Assisi! Sorry it has been so long since our last real post. We have been tired. Yup, tired. Yesterday we calculated walking (half uphill) about 9 miles (conservative estimate). Assisi is set on a "hill" called Mt. Subasio. The old city is about a quarter of the way up the mountain, with the newer parts in the valley below. There are olive trees everywhere, and numerous churches dedicated to its hometown heroes, St. Francis and St. Clare, peppered between the old city and the new city. Assisi is capped off by two castles dating back at least a thousand years.

Over the previous two days, we covered pretty much the entirety of Assisi proper, visiting an ancient Roman castle, an ancient Roman forum, numerous churches with amazing frescoes from the Giotto period, numerous historical Franciscan sites, and a lot of simply beautiful medieval streets. We also discovered the joys of antipasto. We are now in love with bruschetta of all kinds, as well as paté. (Yes, believe it or not, it is Melanie who is writing this.)

Today we hiked to near the top of Mt. Subasio to Eremo Carceri, a beautiful and peaceful retreat in the woods on the top of a mountain. The views and the peace were both breathtaking, particularly after so many days with so many tourists. The >2.5 mile hike up was also breathtaking--in the sense that it stole all of our breath. It was STEEP! We climbed more than 2000 feet in the process. Add that to our treks from the previous days, and we are two tired tourists! We were even too tired to walk the few feet up the hill to get a gelato on our way back to the hotel. =) But we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and we will miss the place. It is a very special place, and we encourage you to visit some day.

Tomorrow we are off to Lucca, another small Tuscan town. Sorry we weren't able to take any of your suggestions for this leg of the trip, but train schedules did not permit it. We did follow the advice of some locals though, and we have high hopes for the place. We will spend two nights there, and will hopefully let you know how it is.

Now we are off to guzzle some aqua frizzante. (We disagree with paying for water, but we are quite happy that the fizzy water costs the same as regular water, so we can be fancy every meal!) Hope all is well with you! Keep us in the loop!

PS. Happy late birthday to Marko!

Breaking News!

We are pleased to inform you all that...

Ankur's dad has had his dissertation approved!

Congratulations! We are so happy and proud of him.

Assisi

Hi all!

We are safely in Assisi, and loving it. It's a beautiful small well kept medieval town with lots of history. Will post more later. Hope that the economic news isn't getting you all too down back home. If it is, feel free to join us over here. Also, does anyone know if the debates are taking place? If so, please feel free to post a summary for us out of the loopers!

Gastronomia

Italian food is my favorite food in the world. Which is why it is shocking to me that I am starting to crave something other than pizza, pasta and gelato! We have been eating our way through Italy in force. Every morning we have the typical Italian breakfast of cappucino (or tea, in our case) and a hard roll or chocolate croissant, standing at the bar (it costs more to sit down here). For lunch we get pizza at our favorite pizza place (they have even started throwing in free upgrades as we are their best customers) and either eat it at the bar or sitting on the steps outside. For dinner we have some sort of pasta. And of course there is a gelato or two thrown in throughout the day. We are particularly fond of Fragola (strawberry) and Stracciatella (chocolate chip).

As you can see, however, while definitely tasty, our diet has been rather devoid of vegetables, fruits, and fiber. We went in search of fruits the other day, and paid 7 euros (11 dollars approximately) for three bananas, one peach, and one apple.

Believe it or not, we even sought out the one McDonalds in Siena two nights ago in order to get some healthy food. Who would have thought--McDonalds = health food?! But they have protein and salads, both of which are sorely lacking in Italy proper. While we were there scarfing down our familiar food, we ran into our new American friend, Richie, who was also procuring health food for his lovely wife and daughter!

Last night we had more adventures in food. We met two real Italian girls who are staying at our bed and breakfast (minus breakfast). Their enthusiasm and friendliness more than made up for their broken English, and our uselessness in Italian, and we quickly bonded. They invited us out to dinner with them to a trattoria, where with their help we experienced more traditional Tuscan food. For the appetizer we had carciofi and something, which turned out to be artichokes in oil and some form of meat. For the main course, Ankur had some form of chicken, pollo arrosto. We still aren't clear about what "arrosto" means. Perhaps "in need of arrest," as it was pretty bad. I had spaghetti ala ragu--spaghetti with meat sauce. For dessert, they ordered us cantucci vin santo (pardon my spelling). We should have recognized the last part from our experience in Tuscany, but we did not. Turns out it was six rock hard biscuits to be dipped in vin santo sweet wine. We tried our best, but I ended up walking out of the restaurant with a pocket full of biscuits so as not to offend our hosts. It was definitely a unique experience, and we were happy to learn all about life for real people in Italy.

As an aside, some other things we learned from Frederica and Georgia, our Italian friends: they are not at all fond of their current government, but they are quite excited about Obama! They know a lot about the US, including about Fannie, Freddie, etc (although they were under the impression, reasonably, that the government was nationalizing all of the banks since Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America sounds like the national bank). We learned about their university system (5 years usually, with opportunities for further study), that they enjoy reading Nietzsche and Marx, that they are vehemently atheist despite living in a Catholic country, that they live in a medieval town and it is no big deal, and how to say good luck in Italian (in bocco al lupo, which much be followed by creppi lupo or it becomes bad luck).

Ciao for now!

Piazza del Campo

Here are two pictures from Siena.
This one's of us on the Piazza del Campo. Eating gelato, sun-bathing, and people-watching are favorite pastimes of ours while here!

This one of the city hall in Siena, which is on one side of the square.

Picture Catch-up & Tuscany

Here are a few pictures from the past few days.


This one is from Vernazza - one of the five little villages in the Cinque Terre region. As you may be able to tell, it's built on a cliff on one end and has a harbor on the other. Population, if you're wondering, is 500! One of the little villages, Corniglia, is completely on a cliff so no boats can stop by.

As promised, here's a picture of the prawns! Mmmmm, it was SOOOO good... (for Rachel)!



Yesterday, we took a day trip to the surrounding area of Chianti, famous for its Chianti Classico red wine. We had it at our wedding. Our tour consisted of visiting two tiny towns - Radda in Chianti and Vertine (pop. 30, but built in the 12 century, but still in perfect shape and very well maintained.) We also visited one of the largest wineries in Tuscany - Castello D'Albola. They have 9 wineries here, and one in... you won't believe it... Charlottesville, VA! We got to see the wine-making process in depth, and then taste the fruit of the vine, including a rare and unique wine to Tuscany called Vin Santo. I also had Grappa, which is made from the left overs. It is extremely strong - 45 - 65% alcohol. Above is a picture of the rolling lush green hills of Tuscany.

Ciao Siena!

Yesterday, we arrived in Siena... finally! As many of you may know, we loved Siena the first time we were here and could not wait to return. Well, we're here now and it's just as lovely as we remembered it.

We met a couple and their cute daughter from Seattle in Vernazza. It turned out that they were on our train to Siena, so it was great to travel with companions and play with a 20-month old. It also gave us hope that trips like this can be done with children. We spent the evening entertaining her in the main square--Piazza del Campo. Unfortunately, it's a little chillier than we had expected, but such is the Italian way of life.

Piazza del Campo is a delightful square (not really shaped like one, though) in the middle of Siena. It's all brick and surrounded by the city hall on one end, and shops and restaurants on the other sides. Twice a year, there's a very popular horse race that takes place there called the 'Palio.' We have not experienced the Palio as it is akin to sheer chaos. The rest of the year the square is filled with students (there's a university here), couples, children, and people in general who are having a great time sun-bathing, reading, or simply enjoying the views. We intend to join the masses relaxing on the square over the next several days.

Sorry for the lack of pictures for now, but they will come soon!

C'est la vie... Ciao!

Day 2 in Vernazza

We have fallen into the pace of Vernazza. Today was a lovely, lazy day. It was rainy in the morning, so we slept in. We are now in a cozy loft apartment, which has a fantastic balcony that overlooks the sea and the village. We spent some time up on top of the world just gazing out. Then we had lunch at a restaurant called Gianni Franzi. For all of you considering travelling to Vernazza, this is the best meal we have had in any of our travels in Europe. I had penne con scampi, which came out quite authentic--the "prawns" still had their full bodies attached. I will post a picture later.

We then walked our laps through the village (it takes about 10 minutes from the water to the end of the town, so we can do many laps), and we met a number of interesting people. We ran into some folks we met in Gimmelwald, and marvelled at the little world of Rick Steves travelers. We also talked with a chiropractor from Canada and an Indian/caucasian couple from Seattle, with their beautiful daughter in tow. We also had our obligatory pizza and gelato to top off the day. If we come back 25 pounds heavier, you know why.

We have enjoyed our stay in Cinque Terre, and we are looking forward to beautiful Siena tomorrow! Ciao for now.

Cinque Terre

Hello from Vernazza, the "jewel" of Cinque Terre, according to our buddy Rick Steves. We had a bit of a culture shock on our way from Switzerland to here. We traded the chocolate for gelato, the German for the Italian, and the cold for the hot, which were all good changes. But we also traded the precision for the lackadaisical, the brilliant engineering for the haphazard towns in hills, the pristine for the dirty, the swiss franc for the euro, the real flowers for the tissue paper flowers, and did we mention the clean for the dirty?

After we got over the culture shock, we have started to enjoy ourselves. It helps that we moved from a room in an old Italian lady's home (a mixup in bookings) to a decent place today. She was sweet, but I don't think she had cleaned in a few centuries.

We did the hike through the five towns today--Vernazza to Monterosso (the hardest), then the train back to Vernazza (our home base). We moved, then continued the hike to Corneglia, then Montarola, and finally Riomaggiore. It was excellent exercise, and lovely seaside views. Each town is teeny tiny, but has lots of character. These homes were built in the 13th century and some even before that, so it's quite different from anything we have seen before.

We hope that all is well with you. Thanks for your wonderful comments--they keep us connected to you! Please keep them coming--we are having a great time, but we very much miss you all at home.

We will post pictures in the next few days.

As Wall Street crashes, Gimmelwald shines

The weather has been improving steadily. We had a dual plan today depending on the weather. As it turned out, we managed to accomplish both goals, thanks largely due to the sunny blue skies.

After cooking a most traditionally English breakfast, we set off for Lauterbrunnen. We took the gondola down to Stechelberg and then walked about 3 miles on mostly flat ground to Lauterbrunnen alongside a river. Once again, the views were spectacular as we marvelled at amazing waterfalls crashing down from hundreds of feet above. Of course, the valley views were breathtaking and there are really no words to describe the scenery except to encourage you to visit at some point.

As the day continued, the skies got even clearer. We thus decided to visit Schilthorn, which is one of the highest peaks and tourist attractions in the area. Previously, we went up it's cousin, Jungfraujoch, which is slightly higher, but had terrible weather and saw nothing but clouds. Today, after much deliberation, we decided to try it again. And, as you see below, it was well worth it. There's a revolving restaurant at the top where we had a decent meal with heavenly views.

I must clarify that when we go up these peaks, it's either by cable car (Schilthorn) or train. The fact that the Swiss can engineer infrastructure in these conditions, considering the altitude, topography, and weather, is simply mind-boggling and amazing in and of itself.

Shock and Awe

156-year old Lehman Brothers gone? Merrill Lynch gone? This is why they say don't check the news on your vacation! Needless to say, I am shocked - mainly because it happened during the same weekend - but not completely surprised.

At this rate we may really have to consider becoming farmers here. Keep us updated on the state of affairs in the homeland!

--A

PS: The 'awe' is from the surroundings here.

Switzerland tidbits

A few random thoughts about Switzerland:

--Nationalism. The Swiss seem to have much more national pride than many other Europeans. The Swiss flag is displayed everywhere. They refuse to join the EU, and they have maintained their own currency, electrical plugs, and ability to make things run exactly on time. However, I find it odd that they do not speak their own language throughout the country. Switzerland is divided into French-speaking and German-speaking territories, with some other dialects thrown in.

--Very nice people. Things here often work on the honor system. For example, in our guesthouse, you use the internet and pay by marking talley marks on a piece of paper, with no monitoring. You can purchase food from the little store by leaving money on the counter.

--Very clean. Everything, even buildings from the 16th century, appear brand new. There is no litter. They are also very particular about their toilets--each have some sort of witty sign asking you to sit down. E.g., our hostel in Interlaken had one that said "Stand up for your rights, but sit down to piddle."

--Very resource-conscious. The lights are often automatic, and there are water conservation systems. We are supposed to shower for no more than 3 minutes.

--Ingenious engineering. Trains and cable cars can take you up the tallest and steepest mountains in a jiffy. The construction on the sheerest cliffs is simply amazing.

--Beauty. Of course the nature is fantastic. But the cute little wooden houses, with flowers in all the window boxes and colorful shutters, gardens with flowers, vegetables and garden gnomes, and painted fire hydrants really make the towns charming as well.

Gimmelwald

We have truly discovered why people say "If heaven isn´t all it is cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald." After spending the morning hibernating, we emerged from our lovely little log cabin attic room and saw a peek of sunshine. We scampered up the mountain with the goats to Mürren, a town slightly further up the mountain. It was a magnificent hike, and we were able to marvel at the beautiful views of the mountains above and the valley far below. We passed goats, waterfalls, streams, and a few farmers making hay (literally). This is truly Switzerland at its finest.

It is quite cold here -- 5-7° C. We were not quite prepared for that, but we have followed the Wilson tradition of purchasing useful souvenirs--umbrellas, ponchos, long underwear, a hat with a swiss flag, and socks with a swiss flag. Now we are able to enjoy the walks.

We have also decided that this is the perfect vacation for those with adventurous hearts but not so adventurous bodies (if you come a bit earlier in the summer). There is an incredibly well developed cable car system that can take zou up the mountains. And the "trails" between the towns, although certainly low-traffic and rustic, are actually paved--no need for hiking sticks and no risk of mud or slipping here. And the views and the air throughout are breathtaking (also literally).

As there are no restaurants in Gimmelwald, we made the hike up to Mürren to purchase provisions. We had a lovely lunch of bread (sort of like challa but not egg-based), swiss cheese, and chocolate, with hot tea to wash it down, while watching the clouds roll over the mountains. Truly wonderful! We are enjoying the swiss pace of life. Slow and simple. We are also keeping an eye out for real estate and are pondering possible career changes...

We are now in Gimmelwald, a tiny village above the Lauterbrunnen valley in Switzerland, population less than 200. In order to get here, we took a train from Interlaken, we took the postal bus up to Schlechelberg (or something like that), and then a cable car up to Gimmelwald. It was so foggy that we could not even see where the cable car was going. We are literally inside a cloud right now. It is pretty neat, even if not the views we had hoped for. It is supposed to clear out tomorrow, so hopefully we will have some spectacular pictures to share with you then.

We have also met some interesting people at our hostel during our travels. Many Australians, and some Koreans, Japanese, British and Canadians. Some have been travelling for 6 months on round the world tickets. Amazing. Almost everyone speaks great English which is nice, though it has made us somewhat lazy travellers.

It is very difficult to type here because the z and y are switched and I do not know where the apostrophe is on the German kezboard. I apologiye for the shorter posts as a result. But here are a few pictures from the last couple of days.

Rain, rain... go away!

...Come back after we're gone!

It been raining, raining, and raining some more here. And we thought we escaped Ike! How about yIKEs! Other than the wet nuisance, it's been absolutely wonderful to wander about the mountainside Swiss villages. You know those postcards with cute little wooden/log homes with colorful shutters, flowers on the window sill, situated in a lush and rolling green pasture with a giantantic mountain in the background? Yeah - it really exists!

We'll write more later!

Geneva/Interlaken

Edit= pictures that go along with this post (I will figure out how to properly place them next time)

Last night we arrived in Geneva, Switzerland. What a beautiful city! It's situated on a huge lake, and it is largely very modern and international. Women are dressed to the nines, and the men aren't too shabby either. We had a great time walking around.

We also met our fellow compatriot, Oz, in Geneva. It was great to hook up with a fellow American and talk politics walking through the streets of Geneva. I think Oz was pretty excited to speak English, period--he's been travelling in Switzerland on his own for a while, and he hadn't run into many English speakers. It's great for us to have a friend to share these beautiful places with!

We spent one night in Geneva, and today we took the train to Interlaken (the city between the lakes). It's a breathtakingly beautiful area, with the surprisingly blue lakes, the river, and the Swiss Alps rising dramatically all around us. All of the (very old and well preserved) houses have flower boxes in the windows, and the delicate little tea houses provide a welcome haven from the rather cold weather.

Ankur speaks decent French, so we were able to order food and get directions in Geneva, but Interlaken, where we are now, is a somewhat different story. Interlaken is in the Germanic part of the country, and we are relying quite a bit on the Rick Steves survival phrases and hand gestures!

Internet is about to run out, but will post later! With love, M&A

London

Hi all! I apologize for the delay in posting. We've been on a whirlwind trip so far. We left DC at 8pm and arrived in London Wednesday morning at 10am -- but of course, it was only a seven hour trip. So we were a bit exhausted! But we were welcomed with unbelievable hospitality by Harishada and Kirtikaki and Richa and Angel (the rabbit). They had scrumptious food on the table, a warm bed, and wonderful conversation. We got to see Richa's new school uniform, and we got to experience London living. We also went visiting many family members. It was wonderful to get to see (and often, in my case, meet) them. Richa and Kirtikaki also had recently returned from India, with wonderful gifts for everyone (they are sooo thoughtful!). We also got to hear all about the wedding plans for Kayur and Claire, which are in full swing. It should be a great time.

We mostly visited with family on this leg of the London trip, but we did take a few hours to tour London in style. Rameshada graciously loaned us a company car and driver, and we drove around like very special and posh people. We got to see Buckingham Palace (we even saw the changing of the guard! That was awesome), the Parliament and Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Regent's Park and gardens, Trafalgar Square, and numerous other sites. London is a great city--a unique mix of the ancient and the modern. The people are quite well-dressed and sophisticated. You hear numerous languages spoken all over. However, the streets are incredibly narow and windy, the buildings are small, detailed and unique, and the people have a sense of history that Americans have to admire. We mentioned that our new apartment building in DC was very old--built in 1905. Then Claire, the soon-to-be other mzungu in the family, informed us that she used to have piano lessons in a house that was built in the sixteenth century!

(Also, for those who were wondering, we flew from London to Geneva, so we were not affected by the chunnel fire. But thanks for your concern!)

We hope that all is well with you. Thanks for all of your comments and emails!

This one's for Henry

Found one

We found a place to live while we're in DC. It's not the cute row-house we had in mind, but it's the next best thing--and in a neighborhood of cute rowhouses. Above is the outside entrance -- an old building completely refurbished on a "tree" lined street. I use "tree" in quotes because I am still of the opinion that trees should not be segregated by blocks of concrete. But it is lovely nevertheless. See below.

Not an auspicious start

Anyone have a cute place to rent in DC? We're having trouble finding one ourselves... Might have to commute from Oklahoma or St. Louis.

Suggestion Box

Thus far, we have taken the "come what may" approach to our European adventure. In that spirit, we have a basic itinerary, with lodging reservations in (almost) every location, but we do not have a single entry on our list of things to do once we get there, other than "explore ___." (If you know us well, you know which one of us was NOT very involved in trip-planning.) This approach has its definite perks--we get the thrill of discovery, the flexibility to deal with sleep and weather, and the freedom to change our minds. However, we would hate to spend a month in some of the most beautiful and historic places on earth and miss the highlights. Therefore, we're taking last-minute suggestions from all you veteran travelers of things to do while we're there.

Our basic itinerary:

Sept. 8-11: London, England
Sept. 12-13: Interlaken, Switzerland
Sept. 14-15: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
Sept. 16: Completely open - Somewhere nearby in Switzerland or Italy
Sept. 17-20: Cinque Terra, Italy
Sept. 21-24: Siena, Italy
Sept. 25-28: Assisi, Italy
Sept. 29-30: Completely open - Somewhere near Assisi or Venice
Oct. 1-3: Venice, Italy
Oct. 4-8: London, England

We'd greatly appreciate any suggestions in the comments!