Posts Tagged ‘travel’

Here’s my first year end wrap up.  Hopefully, you’ll find it thrilling.

Travel
Even though we didn’t do any international traveling (technically, Puerto Rico doesn’t count as international) in 2009 , we still managed to have a few good vacations.  Our summer trip to San Francisco was fantastic.  I ate lots of great food (mmm cioppino!!), toured Alcatraz at night (spooky) and even drove across another famous bridge.  In case you’re keeping track, that brings my “Famous Bridges I’ve Driven Across” list to 2: the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Meaning, I was the driver not just a passenger.

We also spent a few days in Pennsylvania visiting my dad and stepmom.  That’s always a good trip (even if we do end up bringing a carload of “stuff” home.)  This year, in drastic preventative measures, we brought my brother along, therefore limiting how much stuff we could bring home (sorry Dad!).  In case you think I’m joking, this is what we brought home summer 2008.

I could have opened a discount electronics superstore  and a laser disc rental center in my living room. Thankfully, most it went home with the Canadians, and the rest of the electronics were set up in the cats’  room so they could watch their cat movies in peace.  At least that’s what I’m hoping they are doing down there.  I don’t ask.  They don’t tell.

We’re ending our year in sunny Puerto Rico visiting Jose’s parents.  It’s always a relaxing vacation full of napping and eating, more napping, reading, more eating, tv watching.  Ahh.  I will have some picture to post when we get home, but this trip has really been a lot of chilling and not much doing.  For which, I’m very thankful.

Books
Well, let me start off by saying that back in March I thought it would be sooo easy to reach my yearly goal of reading 150 books.  Even now, it doesn’t sound so crazy until I looked at my actual book log (check list at top of page) and found out I only read 46 new books this year.  There must be at least 5 books I never recorded, maybe 10? Only 46 books?  How is that possible?  I reread 11 books this year, but those don’t count on my list.  So I’m amending my 2010 reading goal to 100 books.  Obviously 150 was a stretch.  I need to do a better job of keeping track. I don’t always write down what I’m reading to the kids at school but this year I’m keeping a daily journal of activities, funny things kids say and little anecdotes.  That will help me in keeping my book log more accurate.  46? Only??

Moving on, I’d like to discuss my favorite books of the year. There were not a lot of horrible books on  my list this year, except maybe The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I really, really disliked that book.  Thought it was poorly written, didn’t make much sense and would not be the book I would choose to introduce kids to the the Holocaust.  There are others I think that are better written (for elementary students)  like The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo, which is a short, beautiful book.

For older students and adults, Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is the book I’d recommend. It’s one of my two favorite books this year.  I can’t even begin to explain this book except that it’s the story of a young German girl who steals books to learn how to read, during WWII. Oh, yeah and it’s narrated by Death.  Hopefully, that’s enough of a hook to get you to read it.  I gave this book to many people this year and so far, every single one of them has loved this book.  There’s something about the words, they are so poetic and luminous, the book is just breathtaking, powerful and deeply deeply satisfying.  Please read.

My other favorite book of the year is another one that I either gave away as a gift or cajoled people to read.  Seriously, at school I left this book on teachers’ desks, in mailboxes and on chairs with a note that said “Stop everything and read this book”.  Can you believe that everyone did?  The book is Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. It’s the story of  Kek,  a Sudanese boy who is brought to Minnesota by a refugee rescue organization. He’s around 10 or 11 and in 5th grade.  He’s learning English and American customs while dealing with memories of what he lived through in his village.  Family members were killed in front of him and his mother is missing.  He moves in with an aunt and cousin who are also still trying to acclimate.

This book moved me more than anything I’ve read in a long time.  It’s told in short verse, so every single word was chosen specifically for that stanza, page, chapter.  This is nothing short of a perfect book.  A mastery of the writing craft.  This is a book you’re going read and want to share with everyone you know.  Ok, that’s just me, but you’ll probably want to share it when you’re done.    This was a state book award nominee, and I’m not proud of this, it was one of the last books on the list that I read. It has a cover that’s not very appealing.  I know that’s the kiss of death coming from a librarian, but it’s true.  My students walk away from books with better looking covers.  This is a book that has to be sold to a child, and it’s even better if you can read it with them. This story of an immigrant, refugee even, will bring up questions and hopefully feed into many many discussions.  Oh, the cover….now after falling in love with this story I have a fondness for it, but I personally saw a lot students pick it up (at my request and their own discovery) and put it right back down.  Please read it and let me know what you think.

My last recommendation is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I just finished it tonight and it was spectacular.  Just as I was finishing it, I found out that it won USA Today’s Book of the Year honors. It’s a first novel (always amazes me) about Southern women circa 1962/63. It’s the story of a young, white woman who is breaking societal roles and developing an interest in the civil rights movement.  She befriends two brave maids and together these women write an anonymous tell-all about the relationships between black maids and their white women bosses. It’s a 450+ page book that I read in 3 days. I couldn’t put it down.  I can’t wait to discuss it with my book club and share it with other people.

I read lots of other fun books this year including the Sookie Stackhouse books (True Blood on HBO) and of course the latest installments in the Sisters Grimm and Percy Jackson and the Olympians series’.  Both of those sets should be on your list (at least the first of each one)  The Lightning Thief (first Percy Jackson book) movie is coming out in Feb, but you should read the book first, especially if you are a Greek mythology fan.

If you’ve read any of my recommended titles, please leave a comment below with your thoughts and if you’d recommend them to any of your reader friends.

Food
My favorite new recipe of the year came from Jose’s friend, Judy. It’s Tuscan stovetop meatloaf.  I’ve blogged about meatloaf more times this year than I care to admit, so check my recipe log at the top of this page if you want the details.  Other things I mastered this year include fudge (all varieties…I made eight different kinds around Christmas) and I roasted a whole turkey for the first time ever for Thanksgiving this year.  I also made homemade cranberry sauce. Next year I tackle stuffing. My mom makes the best ever, so it will be a hard act to replicate.

Celtics
2009 was the year I went to TWO Celtics games. Both of them were in Chicago. One was Game 4 of the first playoff round.  Celtics lost, but it was a 3 overtime game and it was exciting!   We had awesome seats, and manged to pay ticket price for them AND get them within minutes after it was determined Boston and Chicago were going to play each other.  Our seats were 9 rows behind the Celtics bench.  We also attended a game just a few weeks ago and were able to take a lot of pictures of pregame practice and shoot around. That post is coming soon, promise.  Here’s hoping that the Celtics stay healthy in 2010.  I’d love to see them go as far as possible this season.  One day, we’ll make it to Boston to see a game.  Here’s hoping that’s in 2010.

Happy reading, happy eating, happy basketballing, happy traveling!  Happy 2010!

Yesterday I was explaining how very little of anything is labeled in Rome. The monuments and giant obelisks in the middle of piazzas have nothing indicating what they are or why they are there. Occasionally, something will be written in Italian, but even asking for that is pushing it.

Today we ventured way back to the times of Julius Caesar and Augustus and a lot of other people I can’t recall the names of. I have to give credit to two people for getting me (and Jose indirectly) interested in this whole ancient Roman experience. My brother, Jason and a fellow teacher from school, Katie, both mentioned the HBO series “Rome” to me at almost the same time. I believe it was the time between seasons 1 and 2 when all the fans were dying for new episodes. They were both raving about how incredible the show was, the actors were all amazing, and the effects and details (costuming and props —not historical details) were just perfect. If I am not mistaken, my reply to both of them was, “no, haven’t seen that one, but have you seen Dexter, the show about the forensic blood analyst that’s a serial killer, but he only kills bad people?” Anyway, a few months later, we ended up catching the second to last episode of Rome’s second (and final) season. We were hooked. Immediately! Within weeks we had seen all the episodes and were just so impressed with the show. Warning: The show is amazing, but it’s also not PG. It’s extremely graphic in every aspect: sex, violence, language, but as a whole it works perfectly.

They filmed here in Rome and it supposedly cost almost $300 million to film both seasons. As with many cable shows, it ended before it’s time, but they couldn’t afford to continue filming. If anyone caught another great show, Journeyman, from last fall, the main character is played by one of the main characters in Rome. The actor’s name is Kevin McKidd. The other main character from Rome is supposed to have a show on network tv soon too. His name is Ray Stevenson. Here’s some info on the series Rome from wiki.

Wow that took a while, the whole point of that story was to set the stage for the day we had today. We toured the Colosseum, and the ancient Roman Forum. It was hot today. I even got a sunburn! which I was not expecting!

We left the B&B around 10am and got to the Colosseum quickly. It was quite a sight to pull up on the road next to this huge mammoth structure. It was incredible! I kept saying Wow over and over like an idiot, as the taxi driver rolled his eyes.

Our plan was to buy tickets at Palatine Hill instead of the Colosseum because the lines would be shorter. So we walked there and the line was much shorter but Jose suggested that I scout the doorway to see if we could get in another way. As I was scusi-ing my way through loads of people, I see a man holding about twenty-five tickets in his hand pretty much throwing them to the large group he was with. He was giddy with excitment saying “I guess they’re free today! They must be giving them away.” Then, I swear this is true, he hee-hawed. Yes, like a donkey. So I quickly waved Jose over and we got in line and within seconds we were at the ticket booth. The man at the counter handed us two tickets and said “Free today”. BONUS! This included our fees for the Forum, Palatine Hill and the Colosseum! So we turned around and headed for the Colosseum. Look, here’s a roman soldier on his cellphone!

We get there and there is a huge line all the way around the Colosseum. We were pretty sure this was the line for people who did not have tickets (and didn’t yet know they were free) so we walked around until we found the actual entrance you go in when you HAVE your tickets, which was packed. There was some confusion over how the guided tour and individual lines divided so there were irate people being asked to leave the line they had been standing in for who knows how long because it was for groups. So they started hooting and hollering in a lot of different languages waving the tickets they already had. What do we do? Of course, jump right in just as security moved them through to avoid an angry mob-like situation Within three minutes of arriving at the Colosseum we were inside and had bypassed about 1000 people in line. I know, one day karma is going to catch up…or is this karma’s way of apologizing for the Uffizi Gallery incident?

We took an elevator up to the second level of the Colosseum and walked around. This was very enlightening to see. In the pictures below you can see the original floor on the left picture. In the right one, the flooring was removed to show the tunnels and passages below.

There are as many as thirty lifts down here that corresponded to areas on the fighting floor where animals or other gladiators or slaves could be popped up behind a gladiator. This is a pretty elaborate system. While we were looking at everything, we saw a descendant of one of those wild animals used as killing machines, trotting along the top edge of a tunnel stopping every now and then to bask in the sun. I was so scared, I was unable to focus the camera on the scary kitty cat errr wild beast.

The Colosseum looks completely different from the inside, and I prefer the look of the outside. Here are some other views.

After the Colosseum, we walked to the opening of the Roman Forum area. Here is where the remains of the ancient roman life exist today. This was very, very cool. I’ve never walked on ruins before. Here you can rest on columns, sit on boulders, lean on buildings that were important to history. There were so many things to look at, it was very overwhelming. When we get home, I’ll post the link to the photo album where all the photos will be stored, because it’s impossible to post as many as I’d like to this blog.

As I mentioned earlier, Italy does not like to give information about its monuments or things of interest. Here’s a place, over 2000 years old and we’re allowed to climb all over it, but we can’t ever know why that piece of rock is historically prominent??? craziness!

We experienced quite a bit of frustration trying to decipher the maps we had (Rick Steves book and the one we got at the entrance). The map scales were different and it seemed like things were angled in other directions. There were many moments of “Where they heck are we???” and “What is that thing??” from us and from the people around us. Frustration and confusion are wordless emotions. Plus the shaking of fingers and pointing at maps and then in circles around also indicate there could possibly be a map problem.

Here are some places we thought were important enough to photograph. This is the location where Julius Caesar was burned after his assassination. Behind the wall is the actual spot, marked by flowers.

(Doesn’t Jose look very pensive and reflective??)

Here is (we think) the Curia, where the Senate met (contrary to belief, Caesar was not assassinated in this building, they were meeting in another building across the street — how’s that for trivia???)

These ruins are just beautiful. This used to be the forum, the open area in the center of town. These rocks have been here for over 2000 years. amazing!

We spent about two and a half hours just wandering around looking at old buildings and rubble and imagining what it used to look like. I think if I lived here, I would never get sick of this.

We finally moved our way out of the forum to another staircase which lead to another level of buildings. Jose wanted to see the Marmatine Prison where St. Peter and St. Paul were held prisoner.

I will be completely honest in saying that this place was sad and not pleasant. You walk into the main entrance and this is the hole in the ground where prisoners were lowered into the dungeon. There’s a short, very creepy, staircase down into the cold, damp dungeon.

Here there is a small room, very disgusting smelling. Supposedly, this is the actual column where St. Peter was chained during his imprisonment. You could touch it if you wanted, but I didn’t.

I did not like the mood in here at all…go figure it’s basically a torture chamber. I was very happy when Jose had finished his photos and we could leave. Sad place. On the wall upstairs was a list of some of the prisoners and how they died. Again, sad.

After that lovely fun family adventure, we were pretty much done for the afternoon. Here is another funny sign to lighten the mood.

We did not go back to Palatine Hill or make it to Capital Hill, but I am very happy with what we accomplished today. Plus, we have to leave somethings for our next trip to Rome!

We came back to the B&B for a quick lunch and then a nap. We stopped at Osteria Mario, which was very close to our place. Jose had ricotta and spinach ravioli with a sage butter sauce and parmiggiano reggiano cheese. This was exquisite!

I had my one of my favorite dishes, veal saltimbocca all romano! It was also very delish.

We also had bruschetta with very tasty tomatoes.

After the nap, I worked on the blog for about two hours prepping photos and writing. Then it was time for dinner! We went back to Maccheroni and sat outside this time. We had another Caprese salad, oh so good! The tomatoes are delicious here and the mozzarella (no worries…not from Naples!) was sublime.

I had canniloni (sp?) filled with meat and covered with a tomato/creamy cheese sauce. DELISH!

Jose had fettuccine alla bolognese. It was also very good.

We finally got to try their tiramisu and it was excellent.

Then as if we hadn’t eaten enough food, we took a walk around the neighborhood and ended up at a famous gelataria called Giolotti and had a cone of chocolate and caramel and fresh whipped cream. OH SOOO GOOD!

That’s a wrap for tonite. We are leaving extremely early tomorrow for Pompeii (via Naples) and should be back in time to pack, buy some last minute gifts and eat dinner! and gelato! Oh there’s a time change tomorrow/tonight (Saturday/Sunday) so it’s REALLY late!