From London to Italy to Paris - Enjoy the trip!
Wednesday night before leaving for Italy, I went to a blues club in Soho. I had so much fun, I mean the music was great – but watching the people actually playing in the band was excellent. The drummer looked confused the entire time, or completely bored when playing the same rhythm for 15 mins. Then there was the sax man. The sax man always looked a little bit unsure of when he was to play. He’d kind of look over at the lead singer as if he would give him a little nod. He was cute though in a confused way! To the right of him we had the bass player. I thought the bass player was getting a little carried away… What I mean by this is it looked like he was just a little “too into his music” if you know what I mean. His eyes were rolling back in his head and he was really enjoying himself! My friend Sessil says he was “drinking the music” I say he was drinking before he started playing and that’s the result! Now we have the lead singer – what a cute man in a curly haired, energetic kind of way. He was just the happiest thing I have ever seen before. All in all, what a great blues experience!
Italy. Wow, what can I say… I have stories.
I flew from London to Rome and getting off the plane was very scary. (I need to just add I was in the middle of a loud screaming sandwich on the plane ride over. Two loud Italian couples conversing behind me, little toddlers playing romper room in the airplane seats right in front of me and a screaming infant a few more rows ahead…) Anyway -- I met my family in Germany when I got off the plane in a non-English speaking country. This time though, I am completely on my own. So I started to get out my translation book and it occurred to me “Jamie, you aren’t going to understand them in Italian when they give you an answer” So, that was the end of the translation book. I hopped a bus to the Rome Termini (train station). There I was met by a 20-30 something Italian man (who worked for the train terminal) with blue/green eyes and I thought to myself “Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you”. He helped me buy my train ticket (recommended 1st class since I was traveling alone) and sent me on my way. I thought to myself “wow, people were really wrong; the Italian men are really nice and friendly”. Just keep telling yourself that. I waited for about 3 hours in the cold train station for my train. It is about 11:00 pm by this point and I wasn’t supposed to arrive in Riomaggiore until about 4-5 am. I was tired and just wanted to get onto the train so I could sleep. Well, that was a nice theory at least. Here’s how it went down: I see my train pulling up so I get in cue to get on it. I walk past many cabins of people already sleeping or sitting with their feet up. So, I keep walking (remembering that I have a 1st class ticket) thinking there has to be something a little nicer than this. Nope, cute guy ripped me off – looks like all the cabins were the same and I was under the impression that he was getting me the sleeping cabins, not the sitting in a chair half way reclined section. I finally find a cabin that is open and there is a young American man sitting there. I as if I can sit down too and realizing I was American couldn’t say yes quick enough. Happy to talk to someone who spoke English I guess. Then two other Americans sat with us. The man was a teacher in Rome and spoke fluent Italian; the other girl was just visiting him and didn’t speak any Italian. When the train personnel came by to check tickets, I didn’t have mine validated so the guy explained to him that I didn’t know I had to. There are little boxes outside the entrances to the train cabins to put your ticket in and it stamps the time and date on them. Why this needs to be done is beyond me, I already bought the ticket and it had the time and date on it. Anyway, the train attendant was joking and laughing with us, acting as if he wasn’t going to sign the ticket as validation. Finally he signed it after saying to me over and over again ‘no sign ticket for you’. The American student got off the train a few stops later, then the couple got up to start making there way off – they stopped the attendant and told him to look in after me since I was traveling alone and it was my first time in Italy and night trains aren’t so safe. Thanks new friends… thanks. After they got off, the train attendant ‘Gesepie’ came into the cabin and sat down. This is wear he proceeded to tell me “Oh, Belissimo – amore, bacio, bello” I don’t know what belissimo means, but ‘I love you, kiss, and beautiful’ were enough for me to understand. I don’t know if he misunderstood the guy when he said keep an eye on her to mean, lay your hands on her and try to get her to kiss you? Um, don’t know how it translates in Italian but… I’m like, ah – nope, don’t think so there buddy. I kept pulling my hand away from his and pointing to the opposite seats. Me here, Gesepie way over there! No, you don’t understand because you just tried to kiss my hand again, seriously – I was going to deck him. After about 15 mins of this game, he got the hint and left me alone for 45 mins or so. Then he was to get off in Pisa (the end of his route, I don’t know…) and decides to go in for one more try at me I guess. I think I actually smacked him this time, and sternly said “ciao Gesepie”. It’s about 3 am by this time and I’m irritated and exhausted. I lean back and just start to relax when I hear a knock at my cabin door. I’m thinking ‘Oh for goodness sake…’ (I couldn’t have any better premonition) This older (almost elderly) large, Italian man using braces on his arms to walk opens the door and points to the seat. I say ‘sure, go ahead.’ What was I supposed to say, “Ah, no actually, you can’t sit there – my imaginary friends will be back any second, see all off their suitcases…” So, old man sits down. I realize that the cabin lights have gone off by this point, they actually went out a little sooner than that, and the whole section of the train is out. ********* WARNING, do not proceed if you feel you may be offended by anything I say, go directly to the next set of *** - I don’t want anyone to be upset that I have typed this. Ok, so the old man sits down and I realize he smells like old urine and well, just smells bad. I see him over there in the corner of my eye fumbling around with a hanky or something, but chose to ignore it because I didn’t want to think something bad. I think at one point when he first sits down he tells me his name, Francesco. I say, “Layla”. Great, now that introductions are out of the way…. I continue to listen to my ipod and attempt to ignore him. I still see him fumbling around over there and I kept telling myself “Jamie, don’t be cynical, don’t be judgmental… maybe he is just an old guy with a hanky, he’s nervous or going to sneeze or… just stop being such a snob” I notice that he’s really not stopping what ever it is he’s doing. Then the train slows down and I think it’s my stop at La Spezia, so I take off my earphones and that’s when…. It happened. I hear old Italian man moaning and breathing heavy saying “Americano, ohhh, ohhh, Americano…” Then I see that he has his member out of his pants and he’s – well, I don’t need to spell it out for you. The train did slow, but then picked up speed again and kept on going. Not my stop as I thought. I was so angry I looked right at him and said “Are you F#$*ing SERIOUS?? Get out of here, GET OUT NOW!!” He looked at me, and almost started again. Are you kidding me? I kicked my foot towards him and threw my arm out towards him like I wanted to hit him. I never! I was mad and almost in tears and sick to my stomach. Soon after that my stop came and as soon as I got off the train I told an attendant standing outside what happened. Oh, conveniently he didn’t speak English so I had to spell it out for him. He was like, “sorry...” and got on the train. Lovely, bloody lovely. ************ Then this girl comes up to me and says “Oh my gosh are you ok, I saw you talking to the attendant and you looked like you are going to cry”. I explained the situation and she gave me a huge hug and told me she was going the same way as me. Her name was Christina and she’s studying in Seville, Spain. The rest of the night was not much better. We finally got to Riomaggiore and called Karen & Tiff – they came and took us to the hostile they were sleeping in. Only, when we got to our beds – there wasn’t any blankets. I always used to say I’d rather freeze to death then any other way if I had a choice. Boy, is that a stupid thing to say. I thought I was going to freeze this night; I lay there actually shaking. I thought to myself, this was the worst night one could possibly ever have. It’s 6 am by this point and I’m sleep deprived, hungry, and cold, etc… I think I finally fell asleep around 7 but had to get back up at 9. Tiff had taken a shower and gave me her blanket since she wasn’t lying down anymore. I suppose that helped me fall asleep. Christina had left to get the train to Monterosso (the northern most village of Cinque Terre) and we decided to hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola. We then took a train to Vernazza and found a B&B to sleep in for the night. Little old Italian ladies stand outside and look for travelers – then say “room, room?” They just take you up to their flats and show you the rooms. I guess it’s not really a B&B, because we never got a breakfast. So the 4 of us girls trek up to the little old ladies place and decide it’s quaint and cheap and clean. Sold. We put our stuff down and went to get lunch. The pizza in Italy? UGH… words don’t describe. It is amazing. Tiff, Court, Karen & I got some pizza and found some rocks to go and sit out on by the sea. It was such a gorgeous day. ***** WARNING AGAIN ****** (you know the routine) after that, we decided to go hike. Ok, WE didn’t decide to hike, they decided to hike – Jamie didn’t have a say! They had heard there was a naturalist beach in between Vernazza and Corniglia – so off we go. After about 30 mins of hiking, we come to a little tiny sign along a path that looks like it leads right off a cliff that says ‘naturist beach’. We stood there for a few moments contemplating whether or not we wanted to risk our lives to go down there. Well, good thing curly haired, tiny jean short wearing, Italian man came to the rescue making sure we found our way down to the beach. Tiff and Karen were following him more closely than Courtney and me. We lingered back talking about whether there was a tribe down there at the bottom of the cliff that is just waiting for dumb tourists (or just dumb girls) to play into their little signs they put up and were going to use us for sacrifice… Or maybe he was leading us into a trap where he’d sell us off as sex slaves… We’d been out in the sun too long at this point! We finally make our way down the cliff to the beach and there are only 7 people there. The 4 of us, him and another couple on some sharp rocks climbing around. 2 of the 7 are naked. We look around at this amazing view, the water is aqua blue, the rocks are black and the waves crashing on them are perfectly white and crisp. Uh-oh, someone is in their underwear! It’s not us girls… We kind of laugh about it because we are American and things like this don’t happen in America. So we sit on the rocks and look out at the surf and then: 3 of the 7 are naked. At this point I’ve had all I can take of men, Italian or not. But we start laughing hysterically at this because, really, it’s funny. The sun was beating down on us and it was really hot, so we decided that we’d take our jeans and tops off and wade around in the water. It’s practically bathing suit material anyway. Too much of an audience for us to partake in the ‘naturalist’ beach part. I go into the water and ‘watch out Jamie there’s a…..’ yep, Jamie gets smashed into the rocks and gets saltwater into her eyes. And the water, yeah, freezing. Tiff went in too, but not as far as I did and only to get her hair wet. I actually thought for a moment I might have gone blind. Try that sometime, make yourself a glass of saltwater and douse it in your eyes – its good stuff. Anyway, the 4 of us lay out for about an hour and decided to make our hike back up the cliff. Buh-bye curly haired naked man! ********** We walked around a bit more and then came back to the rooms to get ready for dinner. We went to a little place on the sea and had really good seafood, company & conversation! I think the 4 of us realized just how important it is to get together with friends, relax, laugh and well, just be women. After the dinner, wine & dessert we were all unanimous in deciding to hit the sack. The good thing about Cinque Terre is that it’s not a ‘going out, clubby’ place. You eat and relax. It’s called a HOLIDAY. After a well-rested night, we do some more sites seeing and move on to the next village to find a room. Tiff & Court are leaving and it’s going to be just Karen & me for the night. -------------- side note: since this entry has been so long, I have decided to condense it just a little bit. I’ve saved up to this point in Microsoft Word and have just reverted back to it right now, it will be much quicker reading from here till the end, promise ------------- Karen & I took the day easy and walked around Monterosso before heading back to Manarola for the night. We ate at a seaside restaurant and had, again, the most amazing meal. Steamed mussels in a white wine sauce for appetizers (in Italy, the appetizer is called the ‘antipasto’) and black linguini with a red, creamy sauce filled with shrimp. Since we both ordered the same dish, they brought it out on one main plate and gave each of us a smaller plate. Kind of different. We managed to eat the entire meal though, no problems there. The sun was setting over the coast as well, you can see some of the pictures down below. Breathtakingly priceless. That night, our room was so bloody cold that we both were freezing. I went over to the heater and attempted to turn it on, only turned some sort of wrong knob and water started spraying out at me! Oops. Never did get warmer in the room that night. The next day we went to Pisa to see the leaning tower. Wow. That is all that is there in Pisa. That and 100’s of terrorist organizations selling fake designer bags to people who don’t want to buy the real thing and enjoy cheap knock offs. Tower, fake bags, another view of tower, fake sunglasses, rear view of tower, man selling coconuts… Great time. I think I was there a total of 15 mins and stuck at the train station for 3 hours waiting for my train to Rome. Uh-oh, we know how the first trip went. Actually the 2nd time around it was fine, I got to Rome about 8pm and checked into my hostel. The owner of the hostel was very nice and showed me around Rome to a few places. The next day I ventured out on my own and paid €13 for a ‘hop on, hop off’ tour bus ride through Rome. What a waste, I think the point is to ride completely around, then hop off at points you want to see. Noo, not the Jamie way – the Jamie way is to get really excited at the coliseum and spend all of your time there instead, not seeing the rest of the sites and wasting the money you just paid to ride the ‘site seeing tour bus’. Again the question so many ask – when will you learn? Answer? Probably at this point, never. The old ruins were really amazing to look at and I went inside this huge palace (which was free to get into and had a museum) to look around. The artist Edward Munch had an exhibition of his paintings there. Think of ‘The Scream’. I started to walk through the gallery and a few guys stopped me and said something. I was done being hassled at this point and smiled and kept on going. I figured it was easier to just ignore them then to humor them. Oh, they’re following me now. Great. Oh, they’re following me because I didn’t have a ticket to get into the exhibition? Oops, my mistake! I couldn’t believe I was such a moron. Ha ha Jamie, yeah, they are following you because you are so hot that they can’t leave you alone! Listen, by this point I had such a bad taste in my mouth of Italian men that I couldn’t bare to be bothered. Anyway, after that, I went strolling through more of the ruins and realized that my camera battery was almost ready to die. Lovely. In Rome, Italy with no camera. Then, I slip and fall down on some loose pea gravel that was covering the cobblestone. Again, lovely. What’s that, you think you broke your tailbone? People came running in all directions saying things in Italian to me. Of course, they were either trying to help or making fun of me. My guess is the latter half. I immediately got up off the ground as to try and gain a little dignity and tried to go on my way. Yep, definitely did something to the tailbone. I walked around some more and then met 2 really great people from Texas. I heard the accent and thought, oh thank you, someone to talk to. Introduce Frank & Jeff. Frank is the dad, Jeff is the son and they had traveled throughout Italy for 2 weeks prior. Hi guys (if you are reading this). Here is also a word to the wise, did you know that ‘real’ cowboy boots aren’t supposed to put gaping holes in your heals? I think I was taken for a ride with those boots. Anyway, for the rest of the afternoon, the three of us ventured through the coliseum and to the pantheon. I will post those pics when I get them developed. That night I took it easy. Partly due to the bruised tailbone and blisters from my sandals and partly because I was just tired. The next morning I got up early and went to get money from the cash machine and “your account is out of credit…” Um, wait, let me read that again. “Your account is out of credit…” LOVELY. I went to about 3 more machines and they each said the same thing. I know we all are thinking that I over drafted my account, which I can understand the train of thought here, but for once I knew that there was indeed money in it. Come to find out, some charges had been posted to my account that I didn’t make and they had put a freeze on it. So here I am, in Rome (Tuesday) and I have no money. I ended up going to see St. Peters Basilica but couldn’t see the Sistine chapel because the cardinals were in there choosing the new Pope. Which I feel I should add that I was in Rome at the time they chose Pope Benedict! How exciting is that? I saw the smoke rise at noon, but it was still black. Unfortunately, I was in the airport when they announced the new Pope, but still in Rome. I also went to see catacombs of 1000’s of monk bones. I have a few post cards, but you weren’t aloud to take photos (with my really cool disposable camera that I had to purchase since my camera battery went kaput). I also saw the Trevi fountain, which was a gift to Rome from someone and is one of the largest fountains there. It was really something to see. I was very annoyed though by this point since I had no money and I was starving. I went back to the hostel and decided to just grab my stuff and go to the airport early. When I got onto the shuttle bus (thank heavens I had purchased my return ticket prior to this) I sat down to a nice man from Bristol, England. He kind of looked at me (me, sitting there a frazzled mess with tears welling up in my eyes) and took the time to ask if I was ok. You know me, I told him. His name was Rich and his wife and daughter were sitting diagonal from us. They were such kind people. I sat with them at the airport as well while we waited for our planes. I can’t say much for Rome itself, but I sure did meet some fascinating people along the way. I did finally make it home that night, tired, stressed and glad to be home in London. I’m sure there were other tidbits I have forgotten to mention along the way, but I ended up becoming very sick after returning from the trip. I had two golf ball sized lumps in the glands of my throat and a 102 temp for about 3 days. I went to the emergency room but they didn’t do anything for me. Told me to go to the chemist (pharmacist to everyone else in America) and get some over the counter paracetemol. Kind of like a ibuprofen I imagine. It didn’t help really. In fact, I am still feeling a little under the weather. I was supposed to travel to Paris this weekend, but don’t really feel like going. At first, I said I was going to cancel, but changed my flight instead so that now I’m (ready for this, your going to love it!) I’m flying into Paris at 8am Sunday morning and flying back out at 6am Monday morning! No need to pay for a hostel, I will go to the airport after I am finished site seeing for the day. I already booked the site seeing bus (I figured I would try it again) and I told my friends my plans. I will get there; do Paris alone, meet with them for dinner and then go right back to the airport. I don’t even need to pack! BRILLIANT! Let you know how this one goes, I’m sure there will be some sort of a production throughout the day. This way, I won’t be tempted to mull around and go shopping and spend more money that I am slowly running out of. Get in and get out!
Well, I hope you have all enjoyed this blog because it is the longest one I think I’ve written. Just for some quick facts: 4163 words, 6 pages in word. Think about this – my papers are 1500 sometimes at the most and I can’t seem to write a single one of them…
Hope everyone is well!
By the way, my sister is having a girl!!
Italy. Wow, what can I say… I have stories.
I flew from London to Rome and getting off the plane was very scary. (I need to just add I was in the middle of a loud screaming sandwich on the plane ride over. Two loud Italian couples conversing behind me, little toddlers playing romper room in the airplane seats right in front of me and a screaming infant a few more rows ahead…) Anyway -- I met my family in Germany when I got off the plane in a non-English speaking country. This time though, I am completely on my own. So I started to get out my translation book and it occurred to me “Jamie, you aren’t going to understand them in Italian when they give you an answer” So, that was the end of the translation book. I hopped a bus to the Rome Termini (train station). There I was met by a 20-30 something Italian man (who worked for the train terminal) with blue/green eyes and I thought to myself “Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you”. He helped me buy my train ticket (recommended 1st class since I was traveling alone) and sent me on my way. I thought to myself “wow, people were really wrong; the Italian men are really nice and friendly”. Just keep telling yourself that. I waited for about 3 hours in the cold train station for my train. It is about 11:00 pm by this point and I wasn’t supposed to arrive in Riomaggiore until about 4-5 am. I was tired and just wanted to get onto the train so I could sleep. Well, that was a nice theory at least. Here’s how it went down: I see my train pulling up so I get in cue to get on it. I walk past many cabins of people already sleeping or sitting with their feet up. So, I keep walking (remembering that I have a 1st class ticket) thinking there has to be something a little nicer than this. Nope, cute guy ripped me off – looks like all the cabins were the same and I was under the impression that he was getting me the sleeping cabins, not the sitting in a chair half way reclined section. I finally find a cabin that is open and there is a young American man sitting there. I as if I can sit down too and realizing I was American couldn’t say yes quick enough. Happy to talk to someone who spoke English I guess. Then two other Americans sat with us. The man was a teacher in Rome and spoke fluent Italian; the other girl was just visiting him and didn’t speak any Italian. When the train personnel came by to check tickets, I didn’t have mine validated so the guy explained to him that I didn’t know I had to. There are little boxes outside the entrances to the train cabins to put your ticket in and it stamps the time and date on them. Why this needs to be done is beyond me, I already bought the ticket and it had the time and date on it. Anyway, the train attendant was joking and laughing with us, acting as if he wasn’t going to sign the ticket as validation. Finally he signed it after saying to me over and over again ‘no sign ticket for you’. The American student got off the train a few stops later, then the couple got up to start making there way off – they stopped the attendant and told him to look in after me since I was traveling alone and it was my first time in Italy and night trains aren’t so safe. Thanks new friends… thanks. After they got off, the train attendant ‘Gesepie’ came into the cabin and sat down. This is wear he proceeded to tell me “Oh, Belissimo – amore, bacio, bello” I don’t know what belissimo means, but ‘I love you, kiss, and beautiful’ were enough for me to understand. I don’t know if he misunderstood the guy when he said keep an eye on her to mean, lay your hands on her and try to get her to kiss you? Um, don’t know how it translates in Italian but… I’m like, ah – nope, don’t think so there buddy. I kept pulling my hand away from his and pointing to the opposite seats. Me here, Gesepie way over there! No, you don’t understand because you just tried to kiss my hand again, seriously – I was going to deck him. After about 15 mins of this game, he got the hint and left me alone for 45 mins or so. Then he was to get off in Pisa (the end of his route, I don’t know…) and decides to go in for one more try at me I guess. I think I actually smacked him this time, and sternly said “ciao Gesepie”. It’s about 3 am by this time and I’m irritated and exhausted. I lean back and just start to relax when I hear a knock at my cabin door. I’m thinking ‘Oh for goodness sake…’ (I couldn’t have any better premonition) This older (almost elderly) large, Italian man using braces on his arms to walk opens the door and points to the seat. I say ‘sure, go ahead.’ What was I supposed to say, “Ah, no actually, you can’t sit there – my imaginary friends will be back any second, see all off their suitcases…” So, old man sits down. I realize that the cabin lights have gone off by this point, they actually went out a little sooner than that, and the whole section of the train is out. ********* WARNING, do not proceed if you feel you may be offended by anything I say, go directly to the next set of *** - I don’t want anyone to be upset that I have typed this. Ok, so the old man sits down and I realize he smells like old urine and well, just smells bad. I see him over there in the corner of my eye fumbling around with a hanky or something, but chose to ignore it because I didn’t want to think something bad. I think at one point when he first sits down he tells me his name, Francesco. I say, “Layla”. Great, now that introductions are out of the way…. I continue to listen to my ipod and attempt to ignore him. I still see him fumbling around over there and I kept telling myself “Jamie, don’t be cynical, don’t be judgmental… maybe he is just an old guy with a hanky, he’s nervous or going to sneeze or… just stop being such a snob” I notice that he’s really not stopping what ever it is he’s doing. Then the train slows down and I think it’s my stop at La Spezia, so I take off my earphones and that’s when…. It happened. I hear old Italian man moaning and breathing heavy saying “Americano, ohhh, ohhh, Americano…” Then I see that he has his member out of his pants and he’s – well, I don’t need to spell it out for you. The train did slow, but then picked up speed again and kept on going. Not my stop as I thought. I was so angry I looked right at him and said “Are you F#$*ing SERIOUS?? Get out of here, GET OUT NOW!!” He looked at me, and almost started again. Are you kidding me? I kicked my foot towards him and threw my arm out towards him like I wanted to hit him. I never! I was mad and almost in tears and sick to my stomach. Soon after that my stop came and as soon as I got off the train I told an attendant standing outside what happened. Oh, conveniently he didn’t speak English so I had to spell it out for him. He was like, “sorry...” and got on the train. Lovely, bloody lovely. ************ Then this girl comes up to me and says “Oh my gosh are you ok, I saw you talking to the attendant and you looked like you are going to cry”. I explained the situation and she gave me a huge hug and told me she was going the same way as me. Her name was Christina and she’s studying in Seville, Spain. The rest of the night was not much better. We finally got to Riomaggiore and called Karen & Tiff – they came and took us to the hostile they were sleeping in. Only, when we got to our beds – there wasn’t any blankets. I always used to say I’d rather freeze to death then any other way if I had a choice. Boy, is that a stupid thing to say. I thought I was going to freeze this night; I lay there actually shaking. I thought to myself, this was the worst night one could possibly ever have. It’s 6 am by this point and I’m sleep deprived, hungry, and cold, etc… I think I finally fell asleep around 7 but had to get back up at 9. Tiff had taken a shower and gave me her blanket since she wasn’t lying down anymore. I suppose that helped me fall asleep. Christina had left to get the train to Monterosso (the northern most village of Cinque Terre) and we decided to hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola. We then took a train to Vernazza and found a B&B to sleep in for the night. Little old Italian ladies stand outside and look for travelers – then say “room, room?” They just take you up to their flats and show you the rooms. I guess it’s not really a B&B, because we never got a breakfast. So the 4 of us girls trek up to the little old ladies place and decide it’s quaint and cheap and clean. Sold. We put our stuff down and went to get lunch. The pizza in Italy? UGH… words don’t describe. It is amazing. Tiff, Court, Karen & I got some pizza and found some rocks to go and sit out on by the sea. It was such a gorgeous day. ***** WARNING AGAIN ****** (you know the routine) after that, we decided to go hike. Ok, WE didn’t decide to hike, they decided to hike – Jamie didn’t have a say! They had heard there was a naturalist beach in between Vernazza and Corniglia – so off we go. After about 30 mins of hiking, we come to a little tiny sign along a path that looks like it leads right off a cliff that says ‘naturist beach’. We stood there for a few moments contemplating whether or not we wanted to risk our lives to go down there. Well, good thing curly haired, tiny jean short wearing, Italian man came to the rescue making sure we found our way down to the beach. Tiff and Karen were following him more closely than Courtney and me. We lingered back talking about whether there was a tribe down there at the bottom of the cliff that is just waiting for dumb tourists (or just dumb girls) to play into their little signs they put up and were going to use us for sacrifice… Or maybe he was leading us into a trap where he’d sell us off as sex slaves… We’d been out in the sun too long at this point! We finally make our way down the cliff to the beach and there are only 7 people there. The 4 of us, him and another couple on some sharp rocks climbing around. 2 of the 7 are naked. We look around at this amazing view, the water is aqua blue, the rocks are black and the waves crashing on them are perfectly white and crisp. Uh-oh, someone is in their underwear! It’s not us girls… We kind of laugh about it because we are American and things like this don’t happen in America. So we sit on the rocks and look out at the surf and then: 3 of the 7 are naked. At this point I’ve had all I can take of men, Italian or not. But we start laughing hysterically at this because, really, it’s funny. The sun was beating down on us and it was really hot, so we decided that we’d take our jeans and tops off and wade around in the water. It’s practically bathing suit material anyway. Too much of an audience for us to partake in the ‘naturalist’ beach part. I go into the water and ‘watch out Jamie there’s a…..’ yep, Jamie gets smashed into the rocks and gets saltwater into her eyes. And the water, yeah, freezing. Tiff went in too, but not as far as I did and only to get her hair wet. I actually thought for a moment I might have gone blind. Try that sometime, make yourself a glass of saltwater and douse it in your eyes – its good stuff. Anyway, the 4 of us lay out for about an hour and decided to make our hike back up the cliff. Buh-bye curly haired naked man! ********** We walked around a bit more and then came back to the rooms to get ready for dinner. We went to a little place on the sea and had really good seafood, company & conversation! I think the 4 of us realized just how important it is to get together with friends, relax, laugh and well, just be women. After the dinner, wine & dessert we were all unanimous in deciding to hit the sack. The good thing about Cinque Terre is that it’s not a ‘going out, clubby’ place. You eat and relax. It’s called a HOLIDAY. After a well-rested night, we do some more sites seeing and move on to the next village to find a room. Tiff & Court are leaving and it’s going to be just Karen & me for the night. -------------- side note: since this entry has been so long, I have decided to condense it just a little bit. I’ve saved up to this point in Microsoft Word and have just reverted back to it right now, it will be much quicker reading from here till the end, promise ------------- Karen & I took the day easy and walked around Monterosso before heading back to Manarola for the night. We ate at a seaside restaurant and had, again, the most amazing meal. Steamed mussels in a white wine sauce for appetizers (in Italy, the appetizer is called the ‘antipasto’) and black linguini with a red, creamy sauce filled with shrimp. Since we both ordered the same dish, they brought it out on one main plate and gave each of us a smaller plate. Kind of different. We managed to eat the entire meal though, no problems there. The sun was setting over the coast as well, you can see some of the pictures down below. Breathtakingly priceless. That night, our room was so bloody cold that we both were freezing. I went over to the heater and attempted to turn it on, only turned some sort of wrong knob and water started spraying out at me! Oops. Never did get warmer in the room that night. The next day we went to Pisa to see the leaning tower. Wow. That is all that is there in Pisa. That and 100’s of terrorist organizations selling fake designer bags to people who don’t want to buy the real thing and enjoy cheap knock offs. Tower, fake bags, another view of tower, fake sunglasses, rear view of tower, man selling coconuts… Great time. I think I was there a total of 15 mins and stuck at the train station for 3 hours waiting for my train to Rome. Uh-oh, we know how the first trip went. Actually the 2nd time around it was fine, I got to Rome about 8pm and checked into my hostel. The owner of the hostel was very nice and showed me around Rome to a few places. The next day I ventured out on my own and paid €13 for a ‘hop on, hop off’ tour bus ride through Rome. What a waste, I think the point is to ride completely around, then hop off at points you want to see. Noo, not the Jamie way – the Jamie way is to get really excited at the coliseum and spend all of your time there instead, not seeing the rest of the sites and wasting the money you just paid to ride the ‘site seeing tour bus’. Again the question so many ask – when will you learn? Answer? Probably at this point, never. The old ruins were really amazing to look at and I went inside this huge palace (which was free to get into and had a museum) to look around. The artist Edward Munch had an exhibition of his paintings there. Think of ‘The Scream’. I started to walk through the gallery and a few guys stopped me and said something. I was done being hassled at this point and smiled and kept on going. I figured it was easier to just ignore them then to humor them. Oh, they’re following me now. Great. Oh, they’re following me because I didn’t have a ticket to get into the exhibition? Oops, my mistake! I couldn’t believe I was such a moron. Ha ha Jamie, yeah, they are following you because you are so hot that they can’t leave you alone! Listen, by this point I had such a bad taste in my mouth of Italian men that I couldn’t bare to be bothered. Anyway, after that, I went strolling through more of the ruins and realized that my camera battery was almost ready to die. Lovely. In Rome, Italy with no camera. Then, I slip and fall down on some loose pea gravel that was covering the cobblestone. Again, lovely. What’s that, you think you broke your tailbone? People came running in all directions saying things in Italian to me. Of course, they were either trying to help or making fun of me. My guess is the latter half. I immediately got up off the ground as to try and gain a little dignity and tried to go on my way. Yep, definitely did something to the tailbone. I walked around some more and then met 2 really great people from Texas. I heard the accent and thought, oh thank you, someone to talk to. Introduce Frank & Jeff. Frank is the dad, Jeff is the son and they had traveled throughout Italy for 2 weeks prior. Hi guys (if you are reading this). Here is also a word to the wise, did you know that ‘real’ cowboy boots aren’t supposed to put gaping holes in your heals? I think I was taken for a ride with those boots. Anyway, for the rest of the afternoon, the three of us ventured through the coliseum and to the pantheon. I will post those pics when I get them developed. That night I took it easy. Partly due to the bruised tailbone and blisters from my sandals and partly because I was just tired. The next morning I got up early and went to get money from the cash machine and “your account is out of credit…” Um, wait, let me read that again. “Your account is out of credit…” LOVELY. I went to about 3 more machines and they each said the same thing. I know we all are thinking that I over drafted my account, which I can understand the train of thought here, but for once I knew that there was indeed money in it. Come to find out, some charges had been posted to my account that I didn’t make and they had put a freeze on it. So here I am, in Rome (Tuesday) and I have no money. I ended up going to see St. Peters Basilica but couldn’t see the Sistine chapel because the cardinals were in there choosing the new Pope. Which I feel I should add that I was in Rome at the time they chose Pope Benedict! How exciting is that? I saw the smoke rise at noon, but it was still black. Unfortunately, I was in the airport when they announced the new Pope, but still in Rome. I also went to see catacombs of 1000’s of monk bones. I have a few post cards, but you weren’t aloud to take photos (with my really cool disposable camera that I had to purchase since my camera battery went kaput). I also saw the Trevi fountain, which was a gift to Rome from someone and is one of the largest fountains there. It was really something to see. I was very annoyed though by this point since I had no money and I was starving. I went back to the hostel and decided to just grab my stuff and go to the airport early. When I got onto the shuttle bus (thank heavens I had purchased my return ticket prior to this) I sat down to a nice man from Bristol, England. He kind of looked at me (me, sitting there a frazzled mess with tears welling up in my eyes) and took the time to ask if I was ok. You know me, I told him. His name was Rich and his wife and daughter were sitting diagonal from us. They were such kind people. I sat with them at the airport as well while we waited for our planes. I can’t say much for Rome itself, but I sure did meet some fascinating people along the way. I did finally make it home that night, tired, stressed and glad to be home in London. I’m sure there were other tidbits I have forgotten to mention along the way, but I ended up becoming very sick after returning from the trip. I had two golf ball sized lumps in the glands of my throat and a 102 temp for about 3 days. I went to the emergency room but they didn’t do anything for me. Told me to go to the chemist (pharmacist to everyone else in America) and get some over the counter paracetemol. Kind of like a ibuprofen I imagine. It didn’t help really. In fact, I am still feeling a little under the weather. I was supposed to travel to Paris this weekend, but don’t really feel like going. At first, I said I was going to cancel, but changed my flight instead so that now I’m (ready for this, your going to love it!) I’m flying into Paris at 8am Sunday morning and flying back out at 6am Monday morning! No need to pay for a hostel, I will go to the airport after I am finished site seeing for the day. I already booked the site seeing bus (I figured I would try it again) and I told my friends my plans. I will get there; do Paris alone, meet with them for dinner and then go right back to the airport. I don’t even need to pack! BRILLIANT! Let you know how this one goes, I’m sure there will be some sort of a production throughout the day. This way, I won’t be tempted to mull around and go shopping and spend more money that I am slowly running out of. Get in and get out!
Well, I hope you have all enjoyed this blog because it is the longest one I think I’ve written. Just for some quick facts: 4163 words, 6 pages in word. Think about this – my papers are 1500 sometimes at the most and I can’t seem to write a single one of them…
Hope everyone is well!
By the way, my sister is having a girl!!
posted by Jamie at 4/26/2005 11:01:00 AM
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