Bringing Up Bobbin

Rome Day 5

On our 5th day in Rome we hired a private driver and guide and took a trip out to Ostia Antiqua to see the ruins of the ancient port town that had once been a flourishing and diverse commercial center.

It's more expensive to do it that way, but you get to see the site on your schedule taking as much time as you want, you don't have to stick to a "scripted" tour, and you get the benefit of the guide's full and rich knowledge of the history of the site. Quite often you'll hear stories and information that is not part of a scripted group tour.

The name Ostia comes from the latin word "Ostium", meaning "mouth" - so named because it was situated at the mouth of the Tiber river. I say "was" because the coastline and landscape has changed considerably in the many centuries that have since passed. At the time when Ostia was a flourishing port town, the coastline was about 4km inland from where it is now and salt marshes extended between the river and a pond that no longer exists.

Our Ostia tour was an amazing experience - like walking through a 2000 year old ghost town. The structures and road ways are fairly well preserved and intact. You can even see wheel ruts in the ancient stones of the road. Even some of the original furnishings - like the large marble slab table in the fish store on which one can imagine the prioprietor displaying the morning's catch - remain in several of the buildings where they were originally excavated.

Some of the most interesting areas we explored:

- The markets / "corporations" behind the theatre
- the fish store
- The flour mill - with the mill stones still in position
- the toilets!
- the Thermopoleum and the "Coffee bars" as our guide referred to them because of the starbucks coffee-bar style eating counters :-) basically ancient restaurants where locals and visitors could pull up to a counter, order food, and catch up on the days gossip.
- the intricately tiled floors of the baths
- The Theatre
- The temples
- The fire fighter barracks (of which unfortunately I cannot find our photos)

It was easy to imagine the busy throng of the 100,000+ citizens going about their lives in the streets of the town day in and day out given how well preserved the buildings all were.

We wandered amid the ruins for hours, as our guide explained the structures, the architecture, the building techniques and methods used to do things like fight fires, heat the steam and bath houses, carry the waste away from under the toilets... etc.

The story of Ostia is an interesting one. I think one of the things I found most interesting about the town was its rich mixture of diverse culture and religions.

Numerous cults and religions were imported from eastern countries via traders, solders and lsaves brought to rome from conquered countries. In the excavation at Ostia thus far, 18 Mithraeums have been found, dating from the II and III century. There is also a fairly large Synagogue built in the middle of the I century AD, by the Jewish community of 2,000 - 3,000 traders and merchants who lived in Ostia. There are traces of an ancient Basilica, St. Cyriacus near the theater and remnants of another Basilica on the Decumanus (main rode through Ostia). There were also temples, statues, and sanctuaries dedicated to the egyptian diety Serapis; to Sabatius and Attis - divinities from Frigia, a region in Asia Minor; Bellona, anient latin goddes of War, and to numerous Roman dieties.

Pictures from our visit to Ostia

This was I think my most favourite day in Italy. It was a gorgeous day - hot like the rest of them, deep blue, cloudless sky, and there were very few tourists exploring the ruins. But the best part was the fact that everything we looked at, touched, and walked on was steeped in the ancient history of at least 20 centuries!

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Rome Day 4

Our 4th day in Rome was somewhat adhoc. We had no real agenda or list of things to see. We decided to just sort of set out in a direction and see where it would take us. You have to do that at least once in a foreign city!

The previous day we had asked our concierge for a good place to shop for art. We wanted to take home something - a painting or sculpture or something - to remind us of our trip. What she ended up directing us to was the antiques district. And while it was not what we had in mind when we had asked, we do both love antiques, and it was a fun and interesting day!

We started off in Piazza Navona. Piazza Navona is about half way between Vatican City and the Palatine, both of which you've learned about if you've read our previous days pages :-)

(Don't you just LOVE mappoint.msn.com?! I type in a place name, like Piazza Navona (actually - I typed in Piazza Narvona, which is incorrect) and it brings me a beautiful map like this.)

Anyway - back to Piazza Navona. Piazza Navona was built by Bernini in the 1600s. It is rather long - more of a rectangle than a square, resembling an ancient "circus" (stadium for races, like Circus Maximus which I've mentioned on previous pages), and that is not by accident. It was built over the remains of Circus Domitianus.

This piazza features 3 beautiful fountains, and is surrounded by many beautiful, old buildings. On the western side of the Piazza is the Church of Sant'Angese in Agone. (pronounced, apparently, as "uhn-YEH-seh").

The piazza comes alive as morning progresses - Italians out for their morning stroll, the newspaper, or a coffee; artists setting up their booths, people gathering by one of the fountains; tourists with maps out, planning their route for the day. It's a fun place to hang out and people-watch.

There are tours available that will take you underneath the Piazza to view the ruins of the circus on which it was built, but we didn't know that at the time, and we were content to just wander... It was actually a really fun experience. We'd be walking down a rambling cobblestone street only to turn a corner and find ourselves in a small piazza with a beautiful fountain, or standing in front of a huge and ancient church, or staring at some monument dating back to the 7th or 8th century. It was like being on an Easter Egg hunt, only finding beautiful roman treasures instead of eggs.

This 4th day in Rome was also The Day of The Bad Dining Experience. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we had a bad dining experience in Rome. Didn't think it was possible did you? Furthermore, it was all my fault. Me. I am the one to blame. Here's the story.

We had been wandering through the streets all morning. It was about noon and I was starting to get hungry. There were cafes on every corner, but I had my heart set on two things. 1) Dining outdoors (better people watching; more fun; great weather), and 2) Pizza. (Real italian pizza). Tim only had one criteria - that it not be one of the cafes that bordered the square because it would be too filled with tourists. I shared my criteria with Tim, and he shared his with me and together we started looking for a cafe that fit our desires. We finally came across a pizzeria as we turned onto another street. It was pizza. It was set back from the square. But alas, had no outdoor dining. "How about this?" said Tim. "It's ok. But I want to sit outside and eat", said I. "There don't appear to be any pizza places with outdoor seating" said Tim. "Let's just eat here". I was about to give in when I spotted another restaurant across the street. "How about over there?" I asked. "Where?" Tim asked. "There" I said, pointing across the street to a little cafe with outdoor seating, and a waitress carrying a pizza over to a table. "They have pizza, and outdoor seating. Let's eat there!" I said enthusiastically. "Are you sure?" asked Tim, puzzled. "Yes! Absolutely. Let's eat there". I was determined to get my outdoor pizza. So Tim gave in, and we wandered over and sat down. Tim kept giving me weird looks the whole time, wondering what was going on in my head.

The waitress came out and handed us menus. "Thanks!" I said. Still enthusiastically. I was about to have pizza. I opened the menu. I remember commenting to Tim unless you didn't mind ending up with seafood on your plate, which I do, so I always diligently translated the menu using the pocket dictionary, before ordering :-). Tim looked at me as if to say "Duh". I thought, "what duh? We're in Italy. Why put English on the menus?" That should have been my first clue. But I ignored it.

I selected my pizza - the Marguerita. Tim decided to order the Caprese salad. We love caprese and ordered it almost every chance we got - big juicy slices of fresh tomatoes and fresh basil leaves, thick, soft slices or chunks of mozzarella di bufala (real mozzarella is made with buffalo milk, not cow's milk), drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum! I didn't order any salad. I figured I'd have some of Tim's :-). We ordered drinks. I didn't get asked if I wanted fizzy or non-fizzy water. I had acquired a taste for the fizzy stuff, since our honeymoon started. I didn't notice until she brought out my bottle of flat water that she had neglected to ask. That should have been my 2nd clue.

My 3rd clue should have been all of the English-first-language speaking tourists surrounding us. I have to admit, I did notice that. But it wasn't until Tim's salad actually arrived that I realized that something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

The waitress brought out Tim's salad, set it in front of him, and walked away. Tim and I stared in horror. The salad... it was in a BOWL... and worse, it had... LETTUCE... in it. Mounds and mounds of shredded lettuce! It might as well have been a regular garden salad! Sure, there were tomatoes (2 chunks), and one slice of mozzarella, but there was also lettuce, and I think some sweet peppers in there too! What WAS this atrocity?! It was about as "caprese" as the stuff they serve in our salad bar at work. At that point, as I was expressing my indignation at seeing lettuce and peppers in caprese salad, I happened to glance over Tim's shoulder and notice the sign pronouncing the name of the cafe.

The Big Apple Cafe

In big bold red diner letters against a stylized backdrop of the New York skyline.

ACK! We were eating in an American diner in the middle of Rome! I pointed this out to Tim. Who gave me a REAL "duh" look this time, and said "Yeah... I thought you knew!"

Thought I knew?! Had I known that was the name of the restaurant, I'd never have suggested we eat there! Why didn't he say anything?

Apparently, he did. He said "are you sure?". Ahem. Yes, well, a little elaboration at the time would have helped. Of course, in his defense, it was a pretty big sign. But I was so enamoured with the idea of Pizza outside, that I hadn't seen the sign (quite literally) and that's where we ended up eating.

The horror didn't end there, however. The waitress returned with my marguerita pizza. I stared glumly at my plate. I had my pizza all right. Big fat rolls of dough that was undercooked (raw in some places), a bunch of haphazardly placed cherry tomatoes that would roll around and fall to the ground whenever I picked up a slice, or attempted to cut into it. Cheese that had the consistency of mozzarella, but that is where the similarity ended. And... no tomato sauce. No sauce!

Sigh.

I picked through my pizza and Tim picked through his salad. We were both disappointed. And every now and then Tim would pause, look at me, fork in the air, and say "How could you not know? How did you miss the sign?". D'oh.

Ah - but we're still not finished.

To top off this wonderful feast, we were accompanied by a couple of wandering accordion players. Yes - they knew where the tourist money was. It was at the Big Apple Cafe. Because the patrons who frequent that place - what do they know? They think that stuff is romantic. They'll love it! It's in all their American movies. And then they'll give us money. Yup - so there we were, eating our caprese salad full of lettuce, and our doughy pizza without sauce, to the romantic strains of Italian accordion music.

As if that wasn't enough, when they finished their ditty, they began soliciting the tables for their "fee". If the food wasn't enough to make Tim grumpy, you should have seen his face when he realized that they were asking for money. Muttering under his breath "I didn't ask them to play. They weren't playing for me. I didn't even think they were any good. If they had been good that would have been another thing. Why should I give them money". Of course, if you know Tim, you know that wasn't a verbatim quote... he said some other things too :-). It was the moment that he finished this private little tirade that they chose to appear at our table, jingling their little purse in Tim's face, nodding and smiling. He was trapped. And with nothing smaller than a 2-Euro coin. Into the bag he tossed it, scowling. They bobbed up and down in thanks, and, still smiling, moved on.

The waitress came back out to check on how we were doing. I asked for the receipt. She looked at our plates - still half full (half empty, I was thinking optimistically. I couldn't figure out how we managed to consume half the meal, given how much we didn't enjoy it). She asked "Everything ok?". "Oh yes, it was fine. Just a lot of food. We're both full", I replied with a smile.

We paid the check and left. Yup. It was all my fault.

Finally Tim started to see the humour and irony in the whole experience. I wasn't there yet. But that didn't keep him from poking fun, and practicing his spin of the story he would tell all our friends when we got back home about how I led him to his worst Italian meal ever, in the heart of Rome.

I told him that he could make fun of me all he wanted to, but NOT until we found a very authentic Italian gelateria, in which I could drown my sorrow and embarrassment. He consented. We quickly found a gelateria (by this time we had walked nearly back to the Spanish steps), bought me an ice cream cone, which I happily consumed as we sat on the steps watching the crowds of people go by. OK. Gelato takes away all the pain and makes the world a happy place. Mmmm.

So that was our Bad Dining Experience. I promised to write about it on the web site, and to take full blame, and to let Tim review it before I published it to be sure I captured the whole abysmal experience accurately.

So one moment, while I call for Tim.

Well, aside from the dining experience the rest of the day was spent pleasantly window shopping and browsing antique stores. Many stores had workshops attached, that were open, so you could see the woodworkers at their craft, restoring old furniture and art frames, etc. We passed a movie shoot (Italian). And many more monuments and fountains and little secret piazzas tucked away where you least expect it, and beautiful buildings and narrow streets, and people on their vespas touring the marketplace. All in all, a wonderful day. Enjoy the pictures! :-).

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Rome Day 3

Our third day in Rome. It was another late breakfast around 10am, and then out to explore the city. Our agenda for the day was the Coliseum, the Forums, and the Paletine. It was a Day of Ruins :-)

At this point, it is appropriate to talk a little bit about the topography and layout and founding of Rome.

According to one version of the legend, Ancient Rome was founded around 753 B.C. by twin brothers Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars (God of War) and Rhea Silvia (also known as "Ilia"), who was one of the vestal virgins, and daughter of Numitor, Deposed king of Alba Longa.

The same version says that Numitor had been deposed by his brother Amulius. Numitor wanted to secure his eventual return to the throne, so he made his daughter, Rhea Silvia, into a priestess so that she would bear no successors to challenge his claim. Much to his chagrin, however, she gave birth to twins Romulus and Remus. When the twins were born, Numitor ordered them placed in a basket and thrown into the Tiber River where they were intended to drown. Instead of drowning, however, they were rescued by a she-wolf on the slope of the Palatine Hill who cared for them as if they were her own.

Some time later, they were later discovered by a shepherd, who with his wife, raised them to manhood. Once grown, the brothers deposed Amulius and placed Numitor, their grandfather, back on the throne.

After all this the brothers decided to build a city. They selected the hill from which they had been rescued as the founding spot. From what I have read of Romulus and Remus, they seemed a very quarrelsome pair, who delighted in pushing one another's buttons. Romulus built a wall around the newly founded city to protect it. Remus, wanting to show his brother how woefully inadequate the wall was at keeping unwanted people out, leapt over the wall and was promptly killed at the hands of his brother (if not by his brother, certainly at his orders). Romulus, therefore, became sole ruler of the city, and it is after him that the city supposedly got its name.

Ancient Rome actually encompassed 7 hills: Quirinal, Virninal, Esquiline, Capitoline, Palatine, Aventine, and Caelian. To the west of the chain of hills lies the Tiber River. Most of these hills are still very much in evidence today. Fairly extensive excavations cover the sites today, and are open to tourists.

Our Day of Ruins covered only a small portion of this area, beginning at the Coliseum and ending at the far end of the Palatine Hill.

The Coliseum lies in the center of three of the seven hills. Palatine Hill is to the west, Capitoline Hill is to the northwest, and Esquiline Hill is to the northeast.

Construction of the Coliseum was started under the reign of Roman Emperor Vespasian (AD 69 - 79) and was completed by his younger son, Emperor Domitan, in AD 81. Its original name was the Flavian Amphitheater. Fires and earthquakes were frequent in ancient Rome, and the Coliseum was not impervious to them. Many modifications, repairs, and renovations were performed up through the 6th century. Post 6th century, the coliseum suffered through more earthquakes and much neglect. Over the course of the succeeding centuries the coliseum became a "quarry" - robbed of most of its marble facing, decorations, and metal supports which were used in the construction of monuments and other buildings. Who knows how many of the old buildings and monuments still standing and very much in use today, are built from materials "stolen" from the coliseum? The metal may also have been put to use in weaponry through the course of any number of battles and wars. Despite this neglect, abuse, and "recycling" of materials more than 1/3 of the original structure still stands today. And even in its dilapidated state, it is a magnificent and powerful structure, invoking colourful images of ancient times - gladiators and fierce beasts and slaves and crowds of people there to watch the fantastic spectacles that would always end in both glory and death.

When Tim visited the Coliseum 10 years ago, it was wide open to the wandering public. No fences or blockades or turnstiles or ticket booths. One was free to come and go on the first level and the level below. A ticket was needed to get up to the upper levels, but other than that, you could walk anywhere, on any surface, without waiting in line, without barriers.

In 1995 a major restoration effort was undertaken. The outer walls and foundations were reinforced to prevent further crumbling and deterioration. You can tell which parts have been restored by the different layering technique used for the bricks - which is intentional, so that tourists can tell the real authentic ancient original portions of the coliseum from the reinforcements that were made.

Today when you go to the Coliseum, if it's high tourist season (as it was when we went) you'll be waiting in line for at least 45 minutes to purchase a ticket and enter through the turnstile. Today all except for the main arched entranceway is blocked off with tall, seemingly impenetrable, steel grates. It is no longer possible to wander through the lower levels, and on the first level, you are restricted to one of the two inner circular paths. You can no longer wander out into the middle grounds of the coliseum. However all of this, I think is for the good of the Coliseum and will go a long ways to protecting this precious souvenir of ancient times, so that it can be enjoyed by countless future generations. So while the line was a bit annoying, the rest was very enjoyable, although I know Tim was a bit disappointed at first at how much it had changed, and I can certainly understand that as well.

One thing hadn't changed much in the 10 years that Tim had last visited. And that was the cats. Rome is famous for its feral cat population. And the Coliseum is home to many. We saw numerous kitties during our exploration of the ancient amphitheater. In places that no human could venture for lack of space or just the precariousness of their hideouts, kitties were climbing and frolicking and chasing and stalking. Word of caution from one cat lover to another. It's common sense, but so easy to forget. Don't touch the cats. They are feral. They are no longer domesticated. But they are an awful lot of fun to watch!

Rome, in fact, passed some laws protecting these cats by classifying their territories as habitats, making it illegal to evict (ie remove, displace, relocate) them. It's not clear how that has helped the feral cat population. In searching around the internet for more information on the "Roman Cat Laws" I came across an excellent article describing the cat scene in Rome exactly as we had observed.

As we were waiting in line to by our tickets, we noticed a colourful banner on every other column of the outer ring. On the banner was the word "Nike". It seems logical, right? That an ancient forum that played host to countless displays of athleticism and heroism would be sponsored by a major athletic-wear company? Maybe that's where they were getting the funds for all the restoration taking place, right? Let me reassure you - Ancient Rome has not sold out to the evil corporate empires. "Nike" as it turns out, is the ancient Greek goddess of Victory. The banners were advertising a special exhibit on the upper level, celebrating "Victory" and the tradition of athletic competitions that played a significant role in ancient Greek and Roman cultures.

The exhibit was interesting, educational, and contained many artifacts from the coliseum itself . There were many statues and decorations and slabs of marble that once adorned the walls and seats. The most interesting of these had ancient roman graffiti etched into them, as the translations mounted next to the displays would reveal. The name of a patron's favourite gladiator, a cartoon depicting a slave's demise at the hand of a warrior, a ferocious beast in its final death throes, or the ancient roman equivalant of "I was here" scratched into the stone. It was amusing to stand there and stare at the graffiti and imagine the environment as it must have been when it was being written - What was the author wearing? What was happening around him? (It was likely a him, although I suppose it could have been a her :-)). What were the sounds, the colours, the actions? What was the occasion? Was it the equivalent of a "guys night out"? Was he laughing, and talking with his buddies, cheering and high-five-ing them when something good happened; booing and swearing when something bad happened, drinking the ancient roman equivalent of a beer, eating the ancient roman equivalent of a hot dog, waving the ancient roman equivalent of a foam finger, watching the ancient roman equivalent of football players battling it out on the field, scratching out his picture in the soft marble during the ancient roman equivalent of half-time?

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There were numerous ancient statues of athletes - from chariot drivers, to runners, to discus throwers. Some were Greek, but most were Roman copies of Greek originals. The Roman copies were ancient in their own right, most dating back to the first century A.D, and were replicas of even older Greek originals that dated back to 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. The ancient Romans were enamored with Greek arts and culture. They were, in fact, fascinated by most foreign cultures. Imitation is, they say, the sincerest form of flattery, and the ancient Romans were master flatters with their reproductions of ancient Greek statues, and adoption of ancient Greek customs and practices - such as athletic games and competition.

In all, we spent about 3 or 4 hours at the Coliseum, finally surfacing from our waking and walking dreams of ancient Roman games and competition, to locate ourselves some lunch, and then continue our Day of Ruins by crossing the street and entering the Roman Forum.

The Forum was, in its day, the center of economic, civic, and religious life in Rome. But all that remains now are ruins of the numerous public buildings, temples, and ceremonial arches. When we were there, we watched with some interest some of the excavations that were underway - the painstaking process of dusting and scraping and sifting through pails of dirt.

An aside: For those of you who know me well, you know that my dream education, were I ever to decide to go back to school, would be to study full time the subjects of Ancient and Medieval History, Linguistics, Religion, Archaeology and Astronomy, after which I would be fully qualified to realize my life-long ambition to grow up to be Indiana Jones... In Space. I'd keep my legal name, of course. I've become quite attached to it (even having just changed the last part within the last few weeks) but I would only use it only for school reunions and such. My friends would call me Indi. :-)

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So you can imagine that throughout our entire visit to Rome my imagination was running wild with the people, events, culture, that was happening in the exact places I was walking, standing, sleeping, eating, breathing, over 2000 years ago. Ok - so technically, there were things happening over 2000 years ago everywhere that I've ever walked, stood, slept, ate, and breathed. The difference being that most of my walking, standing, sleeping, eating, breathing has taken place here in North America (with brief interruptions to Europe and one visit to Australia). And 2000 years ago in North America, in the spots I have inhabited, there was a whole lot of wilderness going on, but not much else. Well now, let me double check that. Ok. So I've never been to Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York where apparently they have discovered "mounds" that were constructed between 1700 BC and 200 AD. And in Texas they have flint quarries that had been mined for more than 10,000 years. Ok. So in an attempt to demonstrate how much more exciting from a historical perspective it is to be walking the streets of Rome than it is to be walking the streets of North America, I'm actually finding North America is no slouch in the way of ancient action. However isolated it was from the affairs of the rest of the world 2000 years ago, it seems, nonetheless, that history did in fact occur everywhere including North America.

But let's get back to Rome.

Although the forum ruins are vast, in reality only a small portion of the site has been excavated. Much still lies buried underneath the hill, and the modern day streets and buildings. The forums are fascinating, and many structures are surprisingly in tact. As with the Coliseum, you must stay on the paths and most of the excavated ruins are now "protected" by low-slung rope "barriers" that line the path. Everyone is respectful of the ropes though. Some partially excavated ruins are covered by corrugated tin "roofs" to protect them from the rain, wind, and sun as they are being examined.

Even in their ruined state, the Forums are impressive. Some of the buildings still standing are just massive - the Romans built on a grand scale! Of course, it wasn't built in a day :-) One of my favourite sites in the Forum, though, was the Temple of Julius Caesar, which was built by Caesar's nephew Octavianin 42 B.C (2 years after the infamous assassination) on the spot where his body was burned. When we visited, there were fresh flowers on the site. Two thousand and forty five years later, people are still putting flowers on the site where his body was burned. Do you think in the year 4003 people will be putting flowers on my grave? Not likely. But then again, I'm also not likely to become "Dictator for Life" of an empire as vast as powerful as was Rome during the time of his reign. Whatever. :-)

After scouring the Forums for a couple of hours, traipsing through ruins (at least those that the paths would lead us through), we were ready to move on to the Palatine.

Recall that the Palatine was one of the seven hills on which Rome was built. In fact was the hill where legend has Romulus and Remus discovered by their she-wolf. As such, the Palatine was the location choice for the residences of most of the Roman emperors of the period, and this is reflected in the ruins - fountains, mosaics, gardens, and palaces.

At the base of the Palatine is the infamous Circus Maximus, where the chariot races took place. In its time it held 150,000 spectators. Elliptical in shape, all you see currently is a large, open plain. The basin of Circus Maximus still lies buried.

As the afternoon was drawing to a close, we rounded up our tour at the edge of the Palatine and headed back via the street to the Coliseum. It was here that we discovered how the Cats of Rome survived. It wasn't on pure hunting skill alone, we found. As we approached the Coliseum we saw an elderly woman layered in clothing crouching next to one of the steel grated archways. She was pouring water from a water bottle into one of the plastic basins that we had noticed earlier tucked underneath the grates and behind the stones. After cleaning the basin she filled it with new food, as the kitties watched with great interest. She never imposed herself on the cats - she did her thing while they watched and waited, and then they did their thing while she watched and waited. And as the entire scene unfolded before us, we watched and waited. And took pictures. The money for the food that the cat lady provides, we learned as we watched, came from donations from passers-by dropping euros into the cat lady's cup, which she had set by her supplies with a sign that I imagine explained the purpose to which the money would be put. And many people donated as they walked past. Some taking great interest in her activities, stopping to watch and even chat, and others dropping the money in without much of a notice. Finally, when all the food and water was gone, the basins cleaned and put back under the grate, the kitties and the cat lady went their separate ways. Until the next day. And so on.

We finally moved on and hailed ourselves a taxi and headed back to the hotel where we cleaned ourselves up, and headed out to dinner to an absolutely wonderful restaurant (they were ALL wonderful :-) at the recommendation of our concierge, who also arranged the reservations.

After spending an entire day absorbing absorbing 2000+ years of roman history through the soles of our feet, and consuming a sumptuous dinner al fresco in the heart of Rome, there are few ways to end such a grand day that aren't just going to end up feeling very anti-climatic. (ok, true... we WERE on our honeymoon. It wasn't going to be THAT hard to find a way to end our day on the appropriate note!). However I just HAD to indulge myself in one more roman pleasure. Well... I don't know how roman it really is, but it seemed appropriate to me. a heaping bowl of italian gelato, in a steamy hot bubble bath. Mmm mmm mmm. :-)

And... here are the pictures from Day 3. Enjoy!

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Rome Day 2

Our first full day in Rome. No longer having to adhere to a set agenda and schedule, we indulged ourselves a bit and slept in until around 9:30... heaven! Had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, and then planned our day.

We decided that this would be our Vatican City day. Tim had told me you pretty much need a whole day to tour Vatican City. We decided to walk, given the weather and the fact that we didn't need to be anywhere at a certain time. We headed down the hill and cut through Villa Borghese, down to the Spanish Steps, and then wandered over to Vatican City. While it was a beautiful day, it was also HOT! And while I'm a fan of the hot weather, Tim is not. Plus, he's a guy. So by the time we had made it about half way to the city walls, he was pretty hot and very bothered :-). This was the day that we learned that if we were going to travel any distance in Rome, and wanted to arrive in fairly civilized condition, we should plan on taking a taxi :-)

If I haven't already mentioned, Tim had been to Rome before (about 10 years ago). I had not. I'd seen it on TV of course - the infamous overhead shot of the magnificent circular Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square). But it was about 100 times more impressive in person.

St. Peter's Basilica is ENORMOUS. It's huge! As we sat near the entrance of the square staring at the impressive architecture surrounding us, drinking our icy bottled water, I was struck with a bit of disbelief - I've seen this place in pictures, on TV, in movies, but I couldn't believe that I was actually here!

The day we arrived in Rome, the Pope had just returned from a 4-day trip to Slovakia. They were setting up the square for his Weekly General Audience that was planned for the next day (9/17). There was a huge stage in front of the basilica, and a large portion of the square was blocked off where they were setting up the seats. I guess this is something he does every Wednesday. Had we known that there was going to be a General Audience the next day, we might have gone back. Although it would have been quite chaotic I'm sure. We could tell that they were setting up for something big, but we had assumed it was for a Sunday mass on the 21st. It wasn't until I started writing this web page, and started researching the pope's schedule for the week we were there, that I learned that what they must have been preparing for was the general audience on the 17th. On the 21st, he was apparently in his summer retreat in Castelgandolfo, Italy :-).

If you're truly interested in learning more about the Vatican, you can browse through the Official Vatican Web Site. Yes - the Vatican has a web site. They also have their own Internet Domain. ".va" :-). In case you were totally unaware, they also have a television broadcasting station and a radio station.

At any rate, here was our agenda for the day:

- Walk to Vatican City
- Sit in the square, admire the surroundings, and people watch for a while
- Wander through the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel
- Talk the stairs up to the Cupola in St. Peter's Basilica and take in the breathtaking view of Rome
- Take a cab back to the hotel to shower and change and enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony
- Take a stroll over to the Trevi Fountain, throw in our coins to ensure our return to Rome, and enjoy a nice dinner.
- End the day back at the hotel bar sipping our complimentary cocktails

And that's exactly what we did! It was perfect. Here are just a few of my favourite pictures from the day.

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Rome Day 1

9/15/03 - the start of our Roman Holiday :-)

We checked out of our hotel in Milan around 8. Got to the train station around 9. Our train was scheduled to leave at 10.

The train station in Milan is impressive. It was designed by Ulisse Stacchini in 1912, who combined the popular Art Deco style of the time with the grandeur of ancient Roman architecture. Check out this brief description and history of the building. Bottom line is it is quite a grand train station.

We arrived at the station and I had to go to the ticket booth to ask where we go next to catch the train. Good thing I did - as it turns out, the final destination for our train was not Rome, as I had thought, but Naples. In Italy, all the trains are listed on the schedule according to their final destination. So in order for us to figure out what track our train was arriving at, we would have had to know that it's final destination was Naples. The ticket agent at the counter informed me we were looking for the train destined for Napoli. Sure enough we found it on the arrival/departure board listed as "Napoli". Glad I had asked.

Train arrived on the designated track, which we found without a problem. We had purchased our train reservations as well as our tickets online. Did I already go over how the whole ticket/reservation thing works? Ah yes - in Planning our Honeymoon. If you didn't read that yet, check it out - it explains why you need to buy a reservation as well as a ticket :-).

Our car was #4, so it was closer to the far end of the train than the near end, so we had a bit of a hike. Both Tim and I were really nervous about the whole boarding aspect. Both of us having taken trains in Europe previously, we knew that they didn't wait around - they left when they said they would and you typically had about 10 minutes total to find your track, walk to your car, and board with your luggage.

There was no reason to panic though. it was about a half hour before it departed. I guess if I had bothered to look at my watch I would have figured out we'd have more time :-) The luggage was the hardest part. Neither Tim nor I are very light packers. Tim will tell you himself he "packs like a girl" :-) Well hey - we were going to Italy for 12 days, and we needed to be prepared for dressy as well as casual outings. I took 4 pairs of shoes :-) Anyway - the luggage was pretty heavy, but we managed to lug it onto the train and drop it into the luggage bin at the front of the car.

The car was really comfortable. I guess that's not always the case, even when you book 1st class reservations and tickets... we were told by several folks (all Italian) that it depends on the railway and your destination. Our train was Eurostar Italia. The car looked and smelled new, and had nice big comfy seats that reclined, tables that folded away, etc.

We didn't have window seats, but the windows were big enough that we had a perfect view of the countryside throughout our trip, without having to lean over our neighbours. The train made two stops - the first in Bologna and the second in Firenze (Florence) and then it was straight to Roma. The entire trip was 4.5 hours. We were both glad we took the train though - it was well worth the extra time (vs flying) because we saw so much beautiful Italian countryside. The time flew - it didn't feel like 4.5 hours until we got close to Rome. The last half hour as we approached Rome consisted of tunnel after tunnel after tunnel... it was actually making us both a little sick because every time we went through a tunnel the pressure would change and our ears would constantly pop - it was actually painful in the long tunnels. Still though - it was a very enjoyable and comfortable way to get to Rome. We were happy though, to be able to get our luggage and step out under the beautiful blue Roman sky to hail a taxi!

We were able to locate the taxi line fairly quickly, and before long were sitting in a cab being driven to our hotel. In the taxi ride to the hotel, Tim managed to impress our cab driver AND me by informing him that we were in Rome on our Luna di Miele - literally translated, that's "Honey Moon" and is in fact the term in Italy for honeymoon. Unbeknownst to me, while we were on the train to Rome, Tim had been flitting through our pocket Italian dictionary looking this up. I really was impressed.

I had heard about these Roman taxi drivers... I mean, in movies, and on that TV commercial for Kodak Film - you know the one (you do if you have cable, anyway) - with the two girls who get into a cab in rome and get a whirlwind tour of the city, whizzing through Rome, pointing and shouting out as he drove past the colosseum and other famous landmarks as the girls snapped pictures. The pictures by the girl who didn't use kodak film came out blurry wheras the pictures of the one who did use kodak film turned out picture-perfect. Well - our taxi driver did not disappoint! That was our exact experience (minus the picture snapping. We had too many bags in the back seat with us). Our driver chattered on in a mix of Italian and English, gesturing wildly when he didn't know the right english word (sometimes with both hands!). And if we thought the drivers in Milan were mad, we didn't even know what to call the drivers in Rome. It was road chaos like I have never seen it (except for my trip in highschool for spring break to the Dominican Republic. Those drivers were way scary too) and we were right in the middle of it, and I'm sure creating our fair share of it as well.

As our driver zoomed around the cars that weren't moving fast enough for his liking, and squeaked between vehicles at a standstill at a light creating his own lane, and swerved around scooters only to have to swerve again to avoid hitting a cyclist, he pointed out the sights and gave us a bit of history between angry shakes of his fist to the imbecile in front of us who decided to wait for the light to turn green before moving.

We motored past the Modern Art museum, numerous churches and catherdrals and monuments and arches and remnants of the city wall, and passed through the Villa Borghese (more on that below) at what I was sure must have been record speeds for that particular section of road, arriving safely at our destination - the Lord Byron Hotel.

The Lord Byron Hotel is a 5 star hotel, and it was our little indulgence on the trip (one of the many, I guess, to be honest :-). This was, after all, our honeymoon! The hotel was amazing. The residential area in which it is situated appears to be an older and fairly affluent neighbourhood. Many embassies and ambassador residences were located nearby. The hotel is just up the street from the Villa Borghese. To look on a map, it is just north of it. The Villa Borghese is an expansive park, that contains a zoo, a beautiful lake, a dog park, many walking and running trails, and of course, paths that are lined with flowers and shrubs and statues and monuments, as is common in all of Rome :-). It goes from our Hotel all the way down to the Spanish Steps, and was the primary route we took to walk into Rome to shop and see the sights each day. It's a gorgeous park. More on that later.

We checked into our hotel and were taken up to our room on the 3rd floor. There are 5 floors in the hotel, plus the restaurant floor below the lobby. There are 28 guest rooms. It's a small and intimate hotel, yet definitely world class and worthy of its 5 star status. I imagine it is also frequented by visitors to the embassies that, as I mentioned, are located in the neighbourhood.

Our room. Our room was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY cool! Very unique. I have to figure out how to describe it. The room is probably a bit larger than regular, by European standards. It held a queen-size bed (not a King like in Crivi's Hotel in Milan), a desk, a set of drawers, a mini-bar and two closets. There was a large window, and also a large glass door that opened up onto a large balcony shared with 2 other rooms, that overlooked the front entrance to the hotel (which was quite a pretty view). But that's not all. The wall against which the bed was situated was mirrored from top to bottom, left to right, in its entirety, giving the illusion of a much larger space (I know what you're thinking. We're on our honeymoon, staying in a hotel with mirrored walls. I assure you it was very tasteful. And before you ask, NO - there were no mirrors on the ceiling). The closets were mounted on this mirrored wall. They didn't touch the floor. This was to provide space for the two bedside tables that were placed on either side of the bed. Opening the closet you looked way up and wondered how in the world you were going to reach the rod and hangers to hang your clothes. Until you discovered a pole that dropped down from the rod in the middle of the closet and figured out that if you pulled on it, it would actually pull the rod and hangers down until they were extended out of the closet and parallel with the floor, and at the perfect height for you to proceed with your unpacking and hanging. Then when you were done you just pushed the rod in and it raised everything back up and into the closet. Very clever use of space. If you still can't quite picture it, watch this little video:

The bathroom was large, and covered floor to ceiling in marble. It was beautiful. And I was delighted to find a large deep soaking tub, and complimentary bubble bath, waiting for me :-). I love my bubble baths!

The balcony as I mentioned was large. On it was a small round cast iron patio table, and 3 cushioned cast iron chairs. Oh - and a potted lime tree. Bearing limes. How often do you stay in a hotel with a lime tree bearing ripened limes on your balcony? Downstairs by the entrance were small orange trees bearing ripe oranges. Too cool.

Snooping around to discover what other treasures lay hidden in this room, I found two luxurious terry cloth robes bearing the Lord Byron Hotel emblem, and two pairs of soft terry slippers with the same LBH crest on those. Yay! No - we didn't steal them. We left them there.

Of course I had to try them on :-)

We quickly unpacked and washed up a bit, and set out to explore a bit of the city before dinner.

We decided to head down the hill and explore the Villa Borghese. We were delighted to discover the man-made lake at the top of the trail, which surrounded a small roman structure.

There were lots of people in the park. Many on blankets in the grass picnicking (or, having finished picnicking, indulging in a little... ahem... dessert), on park benches, strolling along the statue-lined paths enjoying a quiet and romantic afternoon.

At this point I do have to stop and talk a bit more about this park, or rather the people we observed in it. We strolled through this park daily - morning, noon, afternoon, night. And it didn't matter what time of day it was as we were walking through, invariably, on almost every park bench, on the grass, or standing up against a monument, we found couples making out. Not kissing. MAKING OUT. I kid you not. And sometimes they were really loud! Not moany kind of load, but smacking kind of loud. You know - the open mouth kissing sound? Shudder. I mean - it's kinda romantic and all - and very much in line with the italian (and in particular roman) stereotype with which I was familiar. But still a little odd. And it wasn't just the "young 'uns" either. Couples in the teens, couples in their 30's, couples in the 50's... couples in their 70's. It left an impression and I thought worthy of mention. It was all part of the Rome experience :-)

Anyway, we wandered through the park exploring, and eventually made our way to The Spanish Steps, or, translated in Italian, "Scalla di Spagna". It is interesting to note that the locals do not refer to them as The Spanish Steps. Before you say "duh", let me tell you they also do not not refer to them as "Scalla di Spagna". They call them by their real name - "Scalinata della Trinita dei Monte". Trinita dei Monte is the name of the church that is situated at the top of the steps. And it is not a Spanish church. It was founded by the French in 1495.

The steps themselves were built to unite two streets - Via del Babuino (one of the 3 main arteries that radiate into the city from the Piazza del Popolo (no - that is not the Pope's square :-) Popolo means "people")), and Via Felice. Since it's inception it has been a meeting place for locals and tourists alike (although probably more tourists than Romans). What do you do at the Spanish Steps? Why, you sit on them. You sit on the steps and watch the people and the city, eat an ice cream cone, read a book, or just hang out and talk. And we did all of that. Not all at once, mind you. We made several trips to the Spanish Steps. Mornings, afternoons, evenings. It didn't matter what time we came though, it was always lively and colourful and filled with people. A pretty cool place!

At the bottom of the spanish steps is the start of the main shopping district of Rome. We wandered through a couple of the streets - observing similar stores and people as were in Milan's fashion district. Although there were much more people.

In our wanderings we explored a few cathedrals. I have to say, the cathedrals and churches in the city were almost unrecognizable from the street front in many cases. Buildings and shops had grown up around them over the years, and unless you read the writing above the door or the plaque on the wall next to it, you wouldn't know until you had seen a few, that it was a church because all you could see was the front, which went up so high it was not possible to view the cupola or spire that probably existed at the top.

The churches and cathedrals were beautiful. Adorned with old, and often ancient, works of art - paintings, tapestries, and mosaics, gilded ceilings with depictions of angels and saints and heavens painted on them, marble columns and floors... they are definitely worth seeing. You won't see them all though. There are far too many.

  

After exploring the shopping area, a few churches, and the steps, we decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel, grab a nap, shower up and then go for dinner. I neglected to mention upon checking into the hotel we were given a voucher for 2 full-course meals in their 5-star restaurant. So we had already decided we would celebrate our arrival in Rome with a nice dinner in our hotel.

When we got back to our room we were pleasantly surprised to find a chilled bottle of champagne on the table with two glasses, and a note wishing us a pleasant stay. I remembered then that on our Itinerary our travel agent (Sarah at Elizabeth Holmes Travel) had put in a request for a room with balcony for "honeymoon". I'm pretty sure that was the reason for the champagne as well. What a nice way of recognizing the specialness of our vacation!

We decided to get a bit dressed up (Tim had brought 2 jackets and I a number of dresses in anticipation of getting to dress up a bit while on our honeymoon, but we didn't need them in Milan) and indulge in a little champagne before going down to the restaurant.

The meal was wonderful - all 4 courses (now that we were no longer eating 4 course lunches as well, we were finding the 4 course dinners much more manageable :-)). And by the time we had finished we were ready to turn in for the night, get a good night's sleep, and start fresh in the morning, ready to explore Rome in earnest.

Here are pictures from our first day in Rome.

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Milan Day 3

9/14/2003 - It's Race Day!!! The day we had waited for was finally here!
Race day started out similar to the other 2 days - woke up early, shower, dressed, and headed down to the lobby to meet the group and get on the bus. Georgio was our driver for this 3rd day. I think he had had plenty of rest the night before, and he was there an hour early this time just to make sure that he didn't miss us :-)

As you can imagine, the traffic SUCKED. But we had left plenty of time to get to the track. Even so, once we got into Monza itself, traffic slowed to a virtual halt. It took us about an hour to move about 10 feet. I'm not exaggerating. At this point we noticed people abandoning their buses in droves. A couple of folks from our group opted to walk as well and insisted on being let off. We were only about a 15 minute walk from the entrance but we didn't know that at the time. It was hard to see with so much traffic. About a half hour later, Steve decided to go see what the hold up was. He found the entrance and had us get off the bus. As we were walking I noticed that not only had passengers abandoned their buses, but a number of buses also had no drivers. That might explain why things slowed down a bit :-)

We got through the entrance and still had about a half hour walk to the stands. The excitement was in the air - you could feel it. And the entire grounds, no matter where you looked, was a sea of red - everyone decked out in the Ferrari colours (myself and Tim included, of course!)

We got to our stand about 11:30am. About 2 and a half hours after we had left our hotel. The driver's parade had started at 11:15am however.

The Driver's Parade is something to see and experience at most of the tracks. In Montreal for example, they brought in antique austin healeys for the drivers to be driven in. Similarly at other circuits special cars are brought in to take the drivers around the circuit, there's music, flags, and of course the infamous "pit babes" - the 6-foot tall, slim, model-type girls in short skirts, high heels, and spandex tops carrying the flags. Seriously! You'll see pictures of the Monza pit babes below. In Monza however for the drivers parade they pile all the drivers onto the back of a flatbed truck and drive the truck around the circuit. It's not quite as big a deal. So we missed out on the driver's parade but we were ok with that.

We wandered around a little bit and then headed into the restaurant for lunch. Lunch on Race day was similar to Lunch the previous day. Except there was most definitely an added sense of urgency. They began serving on the stroke of noon, and the Formula1 Grid presentation was scheduled to start at 12:45. The Grid presentation is pretty cool to see - it's when all the cars come out of the pits, do their reconnaissance lap, and then go to their starting grid spot in the formation. All the team members for each car swarm around checking the car, getting everything ready, etc (see Grand Prix Day 2 for more details). The Grid presentation is scheduled to be over by 1:15 and then the race starts at 1:30.

So the waiters had a daunting task ahead of them - feed all of these people a 4 course meal (plus champagne before and coffee afterward) before 12:45. They were a little stressed. More than once I caught the head waiter glancing at his watch, staring around the room in panic, and barking orders to his waiterlings. Service, food, and wine was it's usual high level of excellence though. Nothing suffered from the accelerated pace, and all of us patrons just wanted to get through the meal quickly and get to our seats anyway so we didn't miss anything!

We finished up promptly at 12:45 and raced up to our seats (along with everyone else :-)). Not a moment too soon, for the pit babes were out - two per grid position - flags waving, in their tight red miniskirts, tops, and heels. Even I was impressed :-). A marching band was brought out to play what I can only assume was the Italian National Anthem. We were all standing, and the Italians in the stands were singing so I'm pretty sure that's what it was :-). IT was quite impressive. They marched in formation while playing, making all kinds of patterns on the track. Pretty cool, and they sounded great! Huge cheers erupted when they finished.

Around each car there was a beehive of activity. Swarms of red around the ferraris, buzzing blue activity around the BMWs, yellow clad technicians scurrying around the jordan cars, green around jaguar, etc. Racks of tires out on the track along with fuel pumps and tools and computers on wheels. Tuning and measuring and tracking and tweaking and debating ensued for about 15 minutes. Then, a mad rush to the gate at the side to get off the track (there are very strict rules governing when the team technical staff must get off the track and I believe your car is penalized if you fail to adhere to these rules). At this point the Pit Babes march out in single file with the nation flag of the driver or car they were representing, starting from the end of the grid and working their way up to the front of the grid. Quite a formal ceremony it was, the pit babe exit from the track, which seemed at odds with their outfits and the obvious purpose they served but impressive nonetheless!

Flags courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries used with permission

Then the formation lap begins. The formation lap consists of all cars starting their engines, and when given the ok they take off at a measured pace and, staying in formation (no passing allowed unless under very very specific circumstances) they complete a lap around the track. At the end of the lap they drive back into their grid positions, engines running, and then the countdown to start begins.

If you haven't figured out by now given my vivid descriptions of the grid and what is happening in it as we watch, our seats were right at the start/finish line. In fact, to be more precise, our seats lined up directly with the pole position. The only people who had a better seat than us were the dignitaries to our left whose highly decorated viewing platform lined up directly with the checkered start/finish line itself. We couldn't have asked for better seats!

Next, the countdown winds down, the lights at the starting line go out and the race begins! And so does the real excitement!

Two cars didn't make it out of the grid at the start. One had to be rolled out of the way and back into the pits. The other eventually got going but ended up coming into the pits after his first lap.

It was taking about 1 minute and 22 seconds on average to complete a lap at Monza for this race. That's not the track record - I can't remember what it is.. I think it's around 1 minute, 20 seconds. They measure everything to the 1/1000 of a second - eg 1:20:124. Everything is very precise. No lap records were set at this Grand Prix, but a new F1 speed record for the track was set by Michael Schumacher - driving faster than 368 kmh on the pit straight! (Sorry... forgot myself for a moment. Or perhaps I should say, remembered myself for a moment :-) 368 kmh translates into over 228 mph :-))

It was actually a pretty close race for most of it. I won't give you the play-by-play. There are numerous web sites that document what happened and have great stories and photos, not the least of which is the Official Monza Web Site. Check it out if you are interested! I will say that for the first hour (race was over in about an hour and a half). it was pretty neck-and-neck between Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Juan Pablo Montoya (BMW). By the time there were just 10-15 laps left to go, however, Michael had a strong lead and unless something happened to his car or he made a mistake, he was the sure winner. And in fact that is what happened. Michael came in first, Montoya second, and Rubins Barachello, also Ferrari, came in 3rd.

Well you can imagine the pandemonium that erupted with Ferrari on the 1st and 3rd pedestals on the winner's podium!

Monza is one of the few places left where they open the track to the public after the race and you're actually allowed to walk on it. Montreal is another track and we actually did that. In fact I'm not sure if any place other than Monza and Montreal do it anymore. Both Tim and I knew this in advance and we had already asked Steve if it would be ok to have them wait for us while we walked the track after the race.

At about the same point that Michael established a clear lead, about 10-12 laps to go, the crowd started building in front of one of the gates that would be opened up onto the track. It was about 4 lines deep the first time Tim looked, and then a minute or two later, it had grown to about 12 lines deep, people shoulder to shoulder, the front line pressing up against the police barrier and the police straining to hold them back.

It was at this point that Tim and I looked at each other and decided that we were too chicken to try and face that crowd. We decided instead to sit back and watch. And I'm kinda glad we did because I've never seen anything like what happened next.

As soon as the race ended and the last car pulled into the pits, the police stood back, the gates were opened, and the crowd flooded the scene. It was like watching a huge tidal wave of red water breaking over the track - hordes and hordes of red-clad fans and flags of every nation, flowed out onto the track and started moving towards the elevated podium. People here and there would stop at the start/finish to kneel down and kiss it, momentarily interrupting the flow, which now looked like a fast flowing river about to crest its banks.

I believe the total attendance was 210,000. That's almost twice what we saw in Montreal. I don't think I've ever been in a crowd of 210,000 people. And I swear that at least half of them were on the track at this point.

As the drivers made their way out onto the podeum, the crowd erupted into cheers. I've never heard anything so loud. It was, as Tim says, pretty electric!

The awards ceremony proceeded, as did the obligatory champagne spraying, and at this point we made our way down to the restaurant to meet up with the rest of our group, grab a drink, and wait until the crowd had petered out enough for us to sanely make our way back to the bus.

What an experience!

I chose not to post many pictures here - just a few photos that will give you a bit of a flavour for how the day went. Tim has many more race day photos on his site if you want to check them out.

After the crowds thinned out at the track we made our way back to the bus. We had to find it - remember we left the bus in Monza outside the gates so we didn't know where it was going to park. According to Georgio it took about an hour and a half after we left to make it into the gate and to the bus parking lot! Glad we walked!

We eventually found the bus, and thanks to Georgio, who had the air conditioning at full blast, it was already nice and cool. I'm not sure if I mentioned yet, but the entire time that we were in Italy the temperature never dipped below 85 (most days it was around 90); never was there a cloud in the sky, nor was there ever a breeze. It was pretty hot, and it was also somewhat humid. And in a crowd of 210,000 people there's not a lot of opportunity to cool down.

Once we had everyone assembled we got on the bus and headed back to Milan. By now most of the buses had already left. It really wasn't terribly bad getting back into Milan. I think probably about an hour or so. Waiting out the worst of it in the restaurant definitely helped!

Tonight was our final night in Milan. Steve and Angie had made reservations at a family-run restaurant called L'Assassino which translated, is "The Murderer". I told you our restaurant names were going to be odd :-)

The food was absolutely fantastic - you're probably tired of hearing that by now. I can't emphasize enough how fantastic it was. We already miss it. So much, in fact, we've made reservations at our favourite Italian restaurant (Il Capretto D'oro - The Golden Goat), a mere week upon returning to Seattle. It's a wonderful restaurant and the closest we can get to Italy without climbing on another plane! But, as has become habit on this web site, I digress :-)

The food was wonderful, the wine was wonderful, the atmosphere was perfect, and the company was excellent! Tim and I really enjoyed the whole group. Everyone was so friendly, and very interesting, and we all got along well and had a lot of fun together. Not always the case when you throw 14 complete strangers from all across the continental US (and a couple from the UK for good measure) together for 4 days of intense (and scheduled) activity. But we couldn't have hooked up with a better group of people. I hope we keep in touch, and see them all again on future trips!

By now you know the dinner drill - wine, antipasti, wine, pasta, wine, meat or fish, wine, dessert, coffee. Same here. But I do have to make mention of the anti pasti course specifically. Rather than select from a menu, our waiter (I believe at the request of Steve) wheeled out this 2-decker cart full of the most amazing dishes, and he proceeded to select at random several samplings from multiple dishes for each of us as our anti pasti. All I had to tell the waiter was "no seafood" and I was presented with a plate that by itself could have been a complete meal. There were little meatballs, and steamed vegetables and salads (even a potato salad that was really great!) and tomatoes and mozzerella (the real stuff - from bufala - ahem - buffalo :-)) and a whole bunch of stuff. It was pretty impressive.

The ambience was perfect for our last night in Milan. It was filled with italian families and absolutely no tourists. Lots of jovial Italian chatter and laughter and even a singing of Happy Birthday in Italian, as we ate our meal. Here are a few pictures of our last supper in Milan

I was sad the Grand Prix was over (it went by so quickly) but Tim and I were also ready to move onto Rome, and Phase II of our Honeymoon - where it would just be the two of us :-)

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Milan Day 2

Grand Prix Day 2 is the qualifying session. Remember I told you (unless you didn't read the Day 1 entry yet ;-))The fastest qualifying time on day 1 gets to go last on day 2. The slowest qualifying time on day 1 goes first on day 2. Going last is considered an advantage because the track has better grip and traction due to all the other cars that have already gone and left their rubber on the road. So - the faster you are on day 1, the later you get to go out on day 2.
The goal of day 2 is to determine who gets "pole position" for the race on Sunday, and in general in what order the cars line up in the grid on race day.

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The Grid & Starting Formation on Race Day The starting grid is in a staggered 1 x 1 formation and the rows on the grid are separated by 16 metres. 30 minutes before the time of the start of the race, the cars leave the pits to cover a reconnaissance lap. At the end of this lap they will stop on the grid in starting order with their engines stopped. At the one minute signal, the engines are started and all team personnel must leave the grid by the time the 15 second signal is given. When the green lights at the start line are illuminated the cars begin their formation lap with the pole position driver leading. Formation within the formation lap is kept tight and no passing is permitted (unless it is to reestablish the original starting order). When the cars come back to the grid at the end of the formation lap they will stop on their respective grid positions, keeping their engines running. Once all the cars have come to a halt the 5 second light will appear, followed by the 4, 3, 2, and 1 second lights. At any time after the 1 second light appears, the race will be started by extinguishing all red lights. Those are just the basics. The rules are actually quite a bit more complex. If you're interested, check out the Official 2003 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations. There are 26 more pages of rules :-).

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However Day 2 was also our "Pitwalk" day. As part of the F1Tours Gold package, we received Pitwalk passes for Saturday at 7:30am. Yes - I said 7:30am. And, if you've read my previous days web pages, you know that means getting up at around 5:00am, to be ready to leave no later than 6:00am so that we can get through the Milan traffic and arrive in time to attend the Pitwalk at 7:30am. We had to ask for a wakeup call :-)

Despite Steve's supreme organization and planning, Georgio failed to show up at 6:00am on Saturday morning. Getting 3 hours of sleep a night, and having a "main squeeze" can do that to you :-) But we weren't worried. Steve called for two cabs, and we made it to the track in record time (record time compared to our previous record from day one. However we could probably have walked to Monza and arrived in record time in that comparison :-)). It all went very smoothly.

Not all tracks offer the opportunity to walk the pits. I think there are only a few left who do this. I know that the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis does pit walks. But from what I can tell they're a mob scene. Ours wasn't like that. If you want to do the pitwalk you buy a reservation for a specific day and time. And the number of people on the pitwalk is quite manageable. There was no mob scene. (well - there was a mini mob scene around the ferrari pit when they were revving their engines, but still nothing on the order of Indianapolis

Check out the mob scene in the pitwalk at Inianapolis. Ours was nothing like this - we got some GREAT pictures!

I think for our pitwalk we were also able to get a lot closer to the cars. And having Steve with us was a total bonus. He's been doing this gig for 20 years now, and has made a lot of connections with driver and staff of various teams. So he was able to get us behind the ropes of one team to get our picture taken next to an actual car! Way cool :-) The entire experience was very cool. Again - below are just a few pictures. Tim has many many (many many) more at

The Gold package also includes a seated breakfast and lunch in the restaurant below our seats. So let me explain how this works. Breakfast is breakfast - nothing really major here - pastries and croissants, coffee of course, juice, etc. The normal continental type of spread. But Lunch. Sigh. Lunch. Here's how lunch went for both Day 2 and Day 3 of the Grand Prix.

You start with a glass of champagne. This is quickly accompanied by a selection of Anti Pasti (basically the appetizer course). Typically this included a selection of cheeses, meats (proscuitto most typically, often served with melon) and breads. Sometimes it was a salad of some sort (caprese, or other).

You munch and you eat, and you sip your champagne, you talk, you laugh, you sip more champagne (because if you finish your glass before the anti pasti course is over, they will refill you, of course).

Finally the 2nd course begins. This is the pasta course. You are served not one but TWO selections of pasta. Each of which, if you were eating normally, would probably serve on its own as an entire meal. Lucky for me, often times one of the two pasta selections was a seafood dish. Blech. (unless you like seafood. Which I do not). But if any of the wait staff realized that I declined the seafood portion of my pasta course, they would come by and scoop extra helpings of the non-seafood pasta selection onto my plate. But who's complaining? It was great. Sigh :-).

Oh - I need to also mention that with the serving of the pasta course, the flow of champagne ends, the champagne glasses are taken away, and the flow of white wine begins.

It is here I must digress from the menu description because I need to offer a helpful tip to all you other north americans who have difficulty, when faced with a formal table set with 3 glasses, which glass is used for what beverage. The champagne glass is easy - you shouldn't ever have a problem picking that one out. It's the tall skinny flute. What you gotta watch out for is the wine vs the water glass. Both are shaped like your typical wine glass (and it is also interesting to note the same glass is used for both red and white wine in many establishments). One is slightly larger than the other. So here's how it works. For all you people out there who would reason that the larger glass must be the wine glass because you'd rather drink wine than water - YOU'D BE WRONG. The larger glass is the water glass. The smaller glass is the wine glass. Let me tell you how this relates to our story.

There are 4 of us - all of us are americans (I've lived in the US enough that I've granted myself unofficial dual-citizen status) - who have purchased the gold package. We go in to have lunch (which is served between the practice session and the qualifying session), locate our reserved table, and sit down. We drink our champagne, enjoy our anti pasti, and as the bottle of white wine and the bottle of water are placed simultanously on our table, we realize we're faced with a rather large and daunting decision. Which glass does the water go in, and which glass does the wine go in? None of us know for sure. We glance around at the other tables, but no one near us has been seated yet and the rest haven't poured their beverages either. Maybe they have the same question? Doubtful. They're all Italian. Well - being rather thirsty we decide that we'll all choose the same size glass for our water and that way if we're wrong, we'll all be wrong (there is comfort in numbers. Especially in a foreign country when you're about to commit a potential dining faux pas.). So we conduct a vote, and the large glass wins as the glass for wine, and the smaller one for water.

Right after we poured both the wine and the water, I glanced over at the table next to us and learned that we had, in fact, chosen wrong. However at this point in time we chose to blame the wait staff since in all reality they should have poured our beverages for us :-) At any rate, the wine and water didn't taste any different for being in the wrong glasses, and we figured being wrong was somewhat expected of us given that we're from the US, so we sat back, relaxed, ate our pasta and drank our wine figuring no one would notice anyway.

Now - the wait staff had in fact noticed. I am betting they were probably secretly quite appalled at what we had done. We were probably the butt of many wine/glass jokes in the kitchen. But they were very professional and kept their thoughts to themselves and continued to serve us as they would everyone else. And while they did so, they formulated a plan. A grand scheme to subtley get this table of uncouth americans to switch their wine and water around without even noticing.

Oh, they were good. They were very very good. I was extremely impressed with the subtle and masterful way in which they carried out this plan. None of the other tables noticed, and I for one was quite grateful to have been brought back into the land of civilized formal dining etiquette. Here's how they did it.

I was their first "conversion". At the point at which during our pasta course I had drained the last drops of wine from my glass, I moved on to my on my water. While I was sipping my water from what was supposed to have been my wine glass, a waiter stealthily moved in and poured water into my wine glass. NOTE - the wait staff was not pouring anyone's water. Water was something you poured yourself. He also knew I had water. It was phase 1 of their plot. I finished the water that was in my wine glass, and as soon as I did so the waiter returned and filled the glass with wine. Presto! I had been converted. I was now operating within the normal parameters of dining etiquette. The plan was a success. We all noticed, but no one else had. The same exercise was repeated for Tim, Judith, and Bob (our companions) as they finished their beverages. Now we knew, and now we could relax. We had been corrected :-)

OK - back to the menu description. Anti pasti and white wine was followed quite leisurely by the meat course and red wine (dining is a very leisurely experience. More on that later in the web site). The meat course consisted of one, sometimes two, selections of either a beef or a fish. I of course would decline the fish, and being wise now to their tactics, would also quickly cover my plate before they could slide a 2nd beef selection onto it (to make up for the lack of fish). I had to. It was the only way I was going to survive the entire trip without having to purchase a whole new wardrobe!

Meat and wine proceeded at the same leisurely pace. When it was all over the table was cleared, and we were offered dessert. Dessert was often a concoction of gelato and berries, or it was some kind of cake. Whatever it was, it was always heavenly. Sigh.

Finally, with dessert all done, coffee was served. Espresso of course.

So at this point on Day 2 of the grand prix, after getting up at 5am, walking the pits for an hour, and consuming 4 courses of absolutely delectable food and wine, I was ready for a hard earned nap. That was not to be - because we had to get back up to our seats in time for the start of the qualifying sessions!

The qualifying sessions are sometimes even more exciting than the race. This is where lap records are made as the drivers compete for the most coveted starting position on the grid - pole position. I think there's also a lot of strategy and some psyschology involved as well. You want to do as well as you need to in order to get pole position but you don't want to give all your secrets and tactics away. However you also want to show the other drivers what you're capable of and intimidate them a bit; make them think twice about tomorrow regardless of what their starting position is. Cause you're a threat and a force to be reckoned with. I dunno :-).

There is definitely a lot of strategy involved though. There are a lot of rules governing the qualifying sessions. For example:

- the driver who drives in the qualifying session is the driver who must drive in the race
- the car that is driven in the qualifying session is the car that must be driven in the race
- the car must be equipped with the same tires and the same amount of fuel for the qualifying session that it will be for the start of the race

That last one is a very interesting one. I believe it is also new for the 2003 season, and it has really helped step up the competitiveness of the races. If you think about it, it makes sense. The lighter your car is, the faster it goes. The less fuel in your car the lighter it is. Therefore, for qualifying session, only put as much fuel in the car as you need in order to complete the session, and your car will be as light as it can be, which will help you go faster. Tires also play a very important role. Your selection of tires is based largely on the current track conditions. If the track is really hot and dry, the tires you choose for your car will be different than if the track is cool and/or damp or wet from a recent rainfall. But if you are required to start the race in the same tires that you qualified in, then you need to put a bit more strategy behind your tire selection for the qualifying session. You need to factor in the anticipated track conditions for the next day.

There is also your whole pit strategy. It is not possible to complete an entire race without a pitstop. Even if everything is working on your car, you're going to need to refuel at least once, and you're probably going to need to replace your tires at least once. But if you plan a one-stop strategy (ie one pitstop for refueling and possible tire change) that means you're starting your car with a lot more fuel than someone who is planning a two-stop strategy. That may (not necessarily but may) give the other an advantage in the beginning while your car is heavier with more fuel and consequently moving more slowly. But then they are likely to stop for their first refuel before you, and by then you'll have burned some and made your car lighter, and theirs will be more full... Typically teams will plan for either 1 or 2 stops. I've only ever seen more than 2 stops when there has been something wrong with the car between refuelings.

There are all sorts of other parameters that go into deciding the pitstop strategy, the tires, the fuel levels, the qualifying speeds, etc. They have all kinds of really smart people and a lot of data and computers whose jobs it is to figure all this stuff out.

Anyway - in the end, they were quite exciting, and it was not necessarily a given that Michael Schumacher would take pole position (which, actually, he did :-)). And we had a fantastic time!

Yes - we do have pictures from Grand Prix day 2. I actually only included a small selection of the photos we took during the pitwalk and one taken at lunch. If you wanna see them all - more pitwalk photos and all of the qualifying session photos - check out Tim's pictures of:

- Grand Prix Day 2 - Pitwalk
- Grand Prix Day 2 - Qualifying Sessions

The ride home from Monza was uneventful. I should tell you though, that we learned that the bus finally showed up at the hotel at 8am, and was told to meet us at the track in the parking area, which it did, and which we successfully found. Georgio wasn't our driver though. I can't remember our new driver's name. He was very competent and we got back to the hotel very quickly. And he was pretty fun too!

We decided that afternoon to check out the infamous fashion district. I had done a little research and knew the street we wanted to hit was Via Monte Napoleone. We walked back up to the Piazza Duomo and followed the map to the street we were looking for.

I'm sorry we don't have any pictures of our actual window shopping experience. I think we were both a in a bit of a people-watching stupor to be able to remember to pull out the camera and take pictures.

We had definitely found the "hot spot" of Milan for fashion, as evidenced by the names in gold letters that appeared above the boutique stores, and by the large amount of glitz we observed on the tourist shoppers. Yup - this was it.

We ventured into one store. I can't remember if it was Prada or Escada or Dolce & Gabbana (say that fast over and over .It has a a nice rhythm to it :-). They all looked the same to me after a while.

I have never been in a store before in which I didn't know how to shop. Really. I walked into this place and I had no idea what to do. I was out of my shopping league.

The floor was divided into "nooks". Each nook had beautifully hung clothes around the perimeter. I swear every hanger of clothing was separated by the next by exactly 3.5 centimeters.

Each nook had an attendant. A woman or man impeccably dressed, hair and makeup perfectly done, and he or she was poised and ready.

Ready for what, I wasn't sure. I couldn't speak the language, although I'm quite sure they could speak English. But I didn't know what they were there for. I was afraid to touch the clothes myself because I suspected that was their job, but if I didn't ruffle through the rack, how would I know what I liked?

And even if I did figure out what I liked, there was only one of each garment on the rack. What if it wasn't my size? Where were they keeping the rest? And where were the change rooms?

Oh, the despair. The only thing that saved me was the knowledge that I couldn't possibly afford anything in the store anyway, so what did it matter.

I mustered up the best "I have money and I know what I'm doing and I could buy anything in this store if I wanted to" look on my face and I proceeded to "browse". Browse without touching, that is. I must have looked really odd.

The one time I did venture over to a rack, sliding a couple of hangers over to take a closer look at an item, Tim informed me later, the attendant immediately rushed over when I had walked away to respace the hangers. I asked if she had a ruler with her. Tim didn't understand. I bet she did.

Tim looked at shoes and belts. There were nooks with men's clothing and accessories. He found a pair of shoes he really liked, but they were $900 Euros. Do you know, my wedding dress cost $900. I'd be damned if Tim was going to own a pair of shoes that cost more than my wedding dress! Actually, Tim is extremely fiscally responsible. He took one look at the price (It couldn't have been THAT high end a shop come to think of it; all the items had price tags on them) he descretely put it down and walked away. Tim wasn't afraid to touch anything. That's one of the things that I admire about him. I tried to take his lead :-)

In the end it was a rather entertaining shopping experience. We were mocked in some stores (discretely, of course, but nothing gets past Tim!) because of the department store bag I was carrying around with me containing the department store sweater I had purchased on the way to the high fashion district. What was I thinking? I could have purchased the sweater on the way BACK from the high fashion district! ;-)

I did eventually find a store that was more my speed. Max Mara. I'm now a fan. I have no idea if it is Italian or not. Who cares. It was a little more user friendly.

There were of course all the usual non-italian designers in the area as well - Chanel, etc. And of course the jewellers.

There was also a lot of designer accessory stores. Like the designer baby stroller store. Again - I wish I had a picture. These things were quite outlandish! We actually did see a woman later pushing a designer carriage down the sidewalk, Gucci shopping bag over her arm. Wacky! Gotta love it :-)

The best part of the afternoon though, came on the walk back to the hotel. As we were passing through the piazza on the other side of that arched shopping mall we heard two very large, argumentative, voices. WE turned around and experienced our very first truly Italian Moment.

It was about 5pm in the afternoon and surrounding the fountain in the middle of the piazza were several groups of older italian gentlemen. Some were feeding the pigeons, some were holding a newspaper as if to read it, but all were engaged in extremely lively debate involving wild arm gesturing, and loud and passionate voices.

You could tell that no matter what day you came to this piazza, the scene would be the same - this was most definitely a daily ritual. Get a paper, go to the park, sit by the fountain, feed the pigeons, and discuss and debate with whomever happened to be there.

Two gentlemen in particular caught our attention. One standing with arms crossed and an expression as if to say "Impossible. Prove it. I don't believe you. You don't know what you're talking about". The other leaning inward, gesturing wildly, impassionately making his argument to his listener. We moved to the edge of the square, sat down, and watched. In a few minutes they reversed roles. And back and forth they went. Behind them were similar scenes of men in groups of 2 or 3 or 4, some shouting, some standing. Arms flailing. Voices climbing and combining into a mad italian crescendo. Pigeons fluttering to get out of the way as the arm gestures intensified. And the rest of the world walking by as if nothing was going on. Tim managed to get a few pictures to capture the moment. We should have made an AVI so you could have heard the sound too :-) Ah well!

The other thing that I wanted to capture was the prolific use of Motor Scooters as the primary mode of transportation. They were everywhere. And it was clear why. Traffic was awful no matter what time of day, but on one of these things you could maneuver your way through the worst of it or, if there wasn't enough room to squeeze by, you could ride your scooter up onto the sidewalk and escape the worst of the traffic that way. Apparently pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way even on the sidewalks. Trust me :-) The other advantage the scooter gives you is it can slip through the smallest of alleyways and streets that even the little "smart cars" won't fit through. AND they're much easier to park on the sidewalk, and drive the wrong way down one-way streets (doesn't create nearly as much havoc).

Here are our sight-seeing pictures from Day 2 in Milan, after we returned from Qualifying Sessions.

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Milan Day 1

The Grand Prix is a 3-day event. Day 1, Friday, consists of an optional test session, a free practice session, and the first qualifying session.

The optional test session takes place in the morning. This is an opportunity for the teams to run tests on the track, gather measurements, metrics, try things out, etc. Not many teams opt to do this - most have done their testing earlier in the season. But a few do make use of the time.

The free practice session is just that. It is an hour during which the teams can run practice laps around the track.

The purpose of the first qualifying session is to determine the order in which the cars go out for the 2nd qualifying session on Day 2 (on Day 2, the cars go out 1 at a time to qualify. therefore it is necessary to determine the order in which they will go out).
Each car gets 2 runs on day 1. The faster of his 2 times is his qualifying time for day 1.

The fastest qualifying time on day 1 gets to go last on day 2. The slowest qualifying time on day 1 goes first on day 2. Going last is considered an advantage because the track has better grip and traction due to all the other cars that have already gone and left their rubber on the road. So - the faster you are on day 1, the later you get to go out on day 2.

And I knew all of that without looking it up (or asking Tim) ;-). See what he's done to me?

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Grand Prix Information For more info on Formula1 Grand Prix stuff in general, check out the following sites

- FIA - International Automobile Federation
- Formula1.com
- F1-Live.com
- GrandPrix.com

For more info on the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, check out the official web site of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza!

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Anyway - a number of us (not all of us - some folks went sight-seeing and shopping instead, saving their race energy for the big day :-)) attended the Day 1 sessions which went from 11:00am - 3:00pm with a break in the middle for lunch. Angie and Steve had rented a larger van with a driver to come pick us and take us out to the track and back. The track is not actually in Milan - it is in Monza. Monza is a very pretty town that is about 30 minutes away from Milan assuming there is no traffic. When there is traffic, which there always is in Milan, it can take up to an hour and a half! It also depends on how familiar the driver is with the route :-) Our driver's name was Georgio. Georgio didn't speak very much English, and he had never been to Monza before. He was also driving on about 3 hours sleep. I guess he has a second job at night in a bar or a restaurant or club or something. He also, as we learned later on, has "a girl". We taught him that in America we call that a "main squeeze" :-) The drive to Monza was quite an adventure - but a lot of fun! He was a pretty easy-going guy with a great sense of humour :-) And, in the end, we got there before the practice began at 11, and we got to see most of Monza, and some of the surrounding area to boot!

Here are a few of my pictures from Day 1 of the Grand Prix in Monza.

Tim took a whole bunch more great photos of the cars.

The Day 1 qualifying sessions finished at 3:00pm. It took us a little while to get back to Milan (but not as long as it took us to get out there - Georgio had an opportunity to take a nap while he was waiting for us, and Steve showed him a faster route, and proactively navigated). Angie and Steve had made reservations at a great restaurant for dinner later in the evening. (more on that below) so we had a bit of time to kill and we decided to take the opportunity to go and visit the main attraction in Milan (besides the fashion district, of course) and that is The "Duomo". Duomo is Italian for Cathedral. (If you want to verify that, see for yourself!). In Milan, however, when people say "Il Duomo", they mean only one cathedral. The cathedral.

The Duomo is in the center of Milan - quite literally. Milan's roads are laid out in spokes and concentric circles. The spokes all lead to the piazza (square) that contains the Duomo, and the concentric circles run around it. It's not quite as straightforward as that though - there are a lot of little roads, and alley ways, and weird bumps and turns and wigglies and other little concentrations of roads that branch out. But that's the general concept.

We're told by our concierge that the Duomo is about a 15-20 minute walk from the hotel, so we decide to give it a try. Very straightforward directions - go out of the hotel, turn left, follow the road until the bend, and then stay with the trolley tracks until you hit the center. Easy easy easy. We followed the instructions (stopping to take a few pictures of random statues and fountains and churches here and there, and to look in store windows on the way) and sure enough, found ourselves in the Piazza Duomo.

The Duomo is magnificent! It took more than 500 years to build (started in 1387, and finished in 1887) and is just an absolutely amazing architectural and artistic feat. And it's HUGE. Of course, as I was later to learn, it is dwarfed by St. Peter's Basilica but on it's own it is absolutely monstrous.

Across from the Piazza is an enormous arch that serves as the entrance to a shopping "mall". That too is quite impressive. If you pass all the way through the mall you find yourself on the edge of the infamous and exclusive shopping area of Milan A few blocks away is the main drag - Via Monte Napoleone. This is where all the top names in fashion and design have their stores. We saved that for another day. Suffice it to say we did a lot of window shopping in Milan, and no actual purchasing :-)

We had a great time wandering through the cathedral - the pillars reminded me of huge forests of giant trees - and enjoyed ourselves people watching in the Piazza, and checking out the mall. We left what we thought was plenty of time for the 20 minute walk back to the hotel, so that we could shower and change for dinner.

Now - remember I told you about how the streets of Milan are laid out - spokes and concentric circles with the Piazza Duomo at the center. Many of those "spoke" streets come very close together at the center, and it is very easy to pick the wrong one. And, since the spokes radiate outwards, if you stray too far down the wrong one before you realize it is the wrong one, you have quite a hike across the wheel to get back on the right spoke. So by now you've figured out that is precisely what happened to us :-) We were a little panicked but thanks to Tim's trusty sense of direction and navigation skills we eventually got back on track. And saw some interesting buildings in the process :-)

We got back to the hotel in time for a quick wash and change, and then we headed out to dinner. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant - about a 10 minute walk. The restaurant was called "Al Penny". Which translates to "To the Penny". Tony was our waiter at "Al Penny". Tony was very cool, and a lot of fun - it was a great evening! "Al Penny" is a bit of an odd name for an Italian restaurant. So I had to ask. "Tony," I said, "Why is this restaurant called 'The Penny'"? It clearly was referring to a real penny - the restaurant logo was on the window and one the wine bottles and it was clearly a penny. Tony didn't know but he told us he'd ask the proprietor and come back. And he did. With a strange story. I'm not sure I have it right because my Italian is limited to pasta dishes and coffee drinks, and Tony's english, although much better than my Italian, was still a challenge. I believe the story is this: Many years ago the proprietor went to America. I don't remember why - I think just for a visit. And on that trip he met a woman. The woman was apparently quite beautiful or at the very least, quite memorable. And either the woman's name was Penny, or she gave him some change and as she counted it out she said something to the effect of "to the penny". The proprietor returned to Italy but never forgot the woman. And when he opened his restaurant he decided to name it "Al Penny" as a reminder of her.

In either case, a good story. I should have known it would have involved a woman somehow :-) And very well told by Tony - he was very patient with me, and I think enjoyed hearing the story himself and relaying it back to us and was quite amused that I had even asked! I just wish I had listened better, or clarified at the time. But he was doing so well I didn't want to interrupt him!

We took a bunch of pictures from Piazza Duomo, from inside the mall (it has a name - I wish I could remember it) and from inside the cathedral itself. Oh - and a couple of those interesting buildings we saw when we were lost (ahem... detoured). And there are a couple in there of "Al Penny" and Tony too. And then a few shots of us straggling back up to our hotel room, tummies full of absolutely yummy Italian food and great wine, ready for bed :-)

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Arrival in Milan

We arrived in Milan at 4:50pm. Angie and Steve were already waiting for us at the Airport along with another group member who had arrived a bit earlier.

We got our first taste of Italian drivers on the way to the hotel. We were not disappointed! Steve and Angie had rented a van for the duration of the trip so that they could shuttle us back and forth to the airport. Angie drove while Steve navigated. It was the middle of rush hour, and traffic was worse than I've ever seen it in Seattle! Traffic signals, signs, crosswalks, and those lines in the road that form lanes are purely a suggestion in Italy. It was quite an adventure!

Our hotel was on the corner of a one-way street, and by the time we were approaching we were all pretty exhausted and ready to get out of the van and into our rooms, so we did what any good local Italian would do, and turned the wrong way onto the one way street and promptly drove the van up onto the sidewalk and parked it. Wish we had taken a picture - the entire proceeding was quite amusing :-)

A few pictures of our arrival in Milan

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Departure for Italy

Our honeymoon began on Wednesday 9/10/2003. It actually began on 9/9 - Tim took the day off work, and I took a half day to prepare, pack, etc. Truth be told, I actually started packing the Sunday before (I was a little excited) and Tim went into his usual "travel mode" the evening of 9/8. Despite, or perhaps because of, his 15 years of constant traveling, airports, and suitcase-living, Tim goes into his "travel-mode" about 24-36 hours before any trip that will last more than 1 day. He needs at least one full day to prepare and pack and sort and file and zip and organize. Me - I just need the night before and morning of. His stress level kicks up a couple of notches around the same time too, and doesn't really settle down until we're settled into our seats of whatever mode of transportation we are taking. I know this, and yet I still manage to push a few buttons every time we travel. But as we were wandering the airport waiting for our flight, Tim did take the time to point out several other couples doing the same, the husband of which would be talking in low sharp whispers and the wife strolling along just rolling her eyes or responding back with a "don't snap at ME... it's not MY fault the flight attendant's computer wasn't working"... and each time Tim saw such a couple he'd say "See? You're not the only wife whose husband is snapping at her for no reason!" :-).

We flew British Airways because they had a direct flight from Seattle to London, and because they are generally a comfortable airline with good service. Our plane was scheduled to depart Seattle at 6:40pm and arrive in Heathrow at noon local time on 9/11. We were then to catch a connecting flight at 1:45pm which would arrive in Milan at 4:50pm.

Tim arranged to have a car pick us up at home and take us to the airport, which was very comfy. We arrived at the airport a little more than the required 2 hours prior to departure. It being a Wednesday afternoon there really weren't any lines and the airport wasn't terribly busy which was nice.

The start of our trip was no less perfect than the rest of the honeymoon would turn out to be. The attendant that was checking us in heard us whispering about our honeymoon to each other while we were waiting and took the liberty of upgrading us to business class! Not a bad way to start :-) We were pretty giddy after that, and on the entire flight over to London (the champagne they served us during takeoff probably helped too ;-)).

We took a few photos at the airport and on the plane. They're a little goofy. We tried hard to amuse ourselves while we waited to embark on our honeymoon adventure :-)

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Planning our Honeymoon

We started planning our trip long before we were engaged, oddly enough. Of course, it didn't start out as our honeymoon :-) It started out as our summer vacation.

For the past two years Tim and I have gone to Montreal to watch the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Tim has always been a Formula 1 fan, and he got me hooked too, after we started dating. My Christmas present to him that first year (Christmas of 2000) was a little envelope containing airline tickets, hotel confirmation, and 2 tickets to all 3 days of the Canadian Grand Prix in June 2001. He was beside himself :-). After that first trip, Tim and I decided that we would do a different formula 1 Grand Prix each year! If you want to do it right, you need to start planning the year before - as soon as the new schedule is announced. So in the fall of 2001 as we were planning our 2002 Grand Prix adventure, we decided to go back to Montreal because a) we really loved it the first time, and b) the events of 9/11/01 left us feeling a little uneasy about leaving the continent.

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Check these out:

Pictures from our 2001 Canadian Grand Prix trip
Pictures from our 2002 Canadian Grand Prix trip

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In fall of 2002 however, as we were deciding what to do for our Grand Prix trip in 2003, we decided to go for it and plan our very first trip to Europe. We chose Italy as our first Grand Prix "abroad" because, well, we're Ferrari fans, and we couldn't think of a more exciting and electric place to be than in Monza to watch Ferrari win (although the 2003 competition is much much closer and much more exciting to watch. It's no longer a "given" that Ferrari's going to take it!).

So... we did a little research. If you've read any other part of our web site you know that this consists of searching on the Internet

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The Search Wars We have a little religious "search" war going on in our household. Tim is an avid Google fan and I am a diehard MSN Search user. I have to admit my alliance to MSN Search has more to do with a) my job, b) my sense of personal responsibility to use the product of the company who pays my salary, and c) I like the results format WAY better. Although I've found for some searches Google to be more effective at finding relevant stuff, their presentation of their results leaves much to be desired. But I digress... only a little though :-).

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Via MSN Search I found a number of companies online that offer organized Grand Prix trips - they take care of arranging hotel accomodations, event tickets, transportation to/from airport/hotel/event, etc. Some of them are pretty good deals. And it really is the way to go. Even booking a year in advance, it's virtually impossible to get rooms in decent hotels. Event tickets and airfare generally isn't a problem - it's the accommodations that are the hardest to arrange. Probably because a lot of the rooms are bought up by these event coordinators! If you pick the right company though, you really get your money's worth and then some, and you save yourself a whole lot of angst besides. So - after browsing a few of these web sites, we ended up choosing Tours F1 (The Grand Prix Club). And I will tell you right now. We'll be doing the rest of our Grand Prix vacations with them as well - we're now customers for life :-).

At the time that we had found Steve and Angie at Tours F1, the Italian Grand Prix in Monza had not even taken place yet, and the 2003 schedule wasn't published. So all of their pricing info, etc. was for Sept 2002. I contacted them by email and asked when the soonest was that we could book with them for 2003. They were extremely accommodating and we were able to put down a deposit to secure a spot for 2003, even though the schedules had not yet been announced. Although all of their packages offered had great seats and views of the track, we decided to go for their "Gold" package because it included pit passes (a chance to see the cars up close, and possibly maybe even a driver or two if they're up that early ;-)).

It wasn't until after we were engaged, in December 2002, that we decided to turn the trip into our honeymoon, and extend it to include a trip to Rome. I've always been interested in ancient and medieval history, and Rome is a place that I've always wanted to see. Tim's been there before, about 10 years ago, and has always wanted to go back. It was a perfect choice!

We decided to locate a travel agent who could book our flights into Milan, and out of Rome, arrange for our Train tickets from Milan to Rome, book our accommodations in Rome, and coordinate all of our arrival timing, etc with the Tours F1 folks. Tim & I watch a lot of the Travel Channel on weekend mornings (it's a nice little way to start a weekend - fantasizing about a trip to some exotic or historic place) and we came across our agent via Rick Steves' travel show. After seeing one of his shows on Europe, we went to the Rick Steves web site, contacted the Rick Steves' people asking for a travel agency recommendation, and were referred to Elizabeth Holmes Travel. Excellent recommendation! Our agent, Sarah, was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, professional, and booked us a beautiful room in the most wonderful hotel in Rome (complete with a complimentary bottle of Champagne because she notified the hotel it was our honeymoon :-)). She also booked our flights, provided us with train schedules and a link to the web site where we could order tickets/reservations ourselves online, and communicated our arrival schedule to Steve and Angie at Tours F1. If you're looking for a travel agent, we highly recommend Elizabeth Holmes Travel.

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Note on Flights British Airways offers a direct flight from Seattle to London which is great. Since there are no direct flights from Seattle to Milan, this was the next best thing. They also have a "World Traveller Plus" seating offering which is very good. If you don't want to shell out the big bucks for Business class or the even bigger bucks for First class, but you're not relishing the thought of spending 9 hours crammed like sardines in the "World Traveller" (their nice name for "Economy") class, then this is for you. It's a bit more expensive than economy, but not NEARLY as pricey as business (an upgrade from Plus to Business would have cost about $2000 per person). The seats are wider and more padded, and you get more leg room. Even if you decide to go sardine-style, British Airways, at least in my opinion and with my limited knowledge of other airlines, is still the way to go. Personal TVs at each seat, good service. We got complimentary wine with dinner in the plus section but I think they also did that for the regular section as well. We were fortunate enough to have been upgraded to business class for free on the way over, and that was very very very nice!

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By end of February 2003, we had almost everything taken care of. Deposit was paid to Tours F1 for our hotel and event tickets in Milan; Flights were confirmed and paid for to Milan and from Rome; Hotel confirmed in Rome. I am paranoid by nature though, and this being our honeymoon, wanted everything to go perfectly. So I was sending email about every 2-4 weeks to Angie and Steve to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything; that we were still confirmed; notified them of my change of address & phone number; making sure they had our flight info, and just general questions as I could come up with them. They were EXTREMELY patient with me and always responded almost immediately to my barrage of emails :-) I think I finally settled down once I saw the last payment go through on my credit card ;-).

Because the Train schedules in Europe change from month to month/ season to season, it didn't make sense for us to try and book our train reservations and tickets in February. I think we did that in June or July. Sarah sent us a link to the RailEurope web site so we could book our own reservations and tickets.

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Reservations vs Tickets on Trains in Europe On some trains in Europe, it is strongly recommended (if not required in some specific cases) that you purchase reservations in addition to, and separate from, your tickets. Your tickets will get you onto a specific train at a scheduled time, but don't guarantee you a seat. The reservation will guarantee you a seat for the train for which you have a ticket. To purchase a ticket without a reservation can be risky during peak travel seasons - it's kinda first come/first serve. If on the other hand, you purchase a reservation but not a ticket, then although you have assigned seats, you aren't permitted on the train without the ticket. You can travel with a ticket but no reservation but it can be risky. You can't travel with a reservation and no ticket. And in the end, it's just better to make a reservation AND a ticket! The RailEurope web sitedoes an ok job of explaining this, as does the Italian Tourism web site which is where we did some additional research to plan our trip details.

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The RailEurope web site was helpful and informative but didn't actually let us book our tickets (ran into some technical difficulties). So I called them, and booked over the phone. Within a week or so, we received our reservations and our tickets in the mail. We'd definitely use them again (probably just use their web site for research and call them to actually order tickets/reservations though).

So - by end of June we were sittin' pretty - had all of our honeymoon details taken care of. There was this little matter of the wedding to pay attention to (but that was actually pretty much under control as well :-)). Just needed to find a way to get through the next 2 months of normal life (ie - work)... that was tough :-)

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