See Me Now

Here's my post written while en route home: ---------------------------------------------------------- After 24 hours in Lecce post cycling, we caught a flight from the Brindisi airport back to Rome and holed up in a Hilton Hotel just off the grounds of the airport. Upon return to the airport on Tuesday morning, Wendy and I said goodbye and headed to our separate terminals. In short order, I discovered that British Airways cancelled my two flights (Rome to London, London to Seattle) although they cheerily informed me that my Seattle to home flight was still ok (gee thanks). After standing in a long line to get re-routed (two agents to serve an entire flight's worth of people), I was relieved that my new itinerary was not so bad:   Rome - Frankfurt - San Francisco - home. However, it has turned into a 24 hour trip so I'll be pretty wasted when I finally get back. I'm writing this while at the SF airport, drinking a beer and watching the Giants, so things could b...

I know I've already raved about the food but I can't help but do it again. This has been the best food experience I've ever had. I can't imagine how an Italian can come to the U.S. and not be deeply disappointed in the food. Our meals typically include antipasto featuring fish, grains, vegetables (yes, I'm eating vegetables!), legumes and cheese. Everything is freshly prepared and accented with herbs and olive oil. We can then choose from first and second courses that involve pasta (of course), squid, octopus, eggplant, or many types of fish. Mozzarella and ricotta are served at every meal (including breakfast) and they are so much melt-in-your-mouth better than what we get in the U.S.  Only occasionally have I seen chicken or beef on the menu, although I'm told that tonight's dinner may involve meat. Even taking just a spoonful of each offering results in a full plate so despite our (minor) efforts at restraint, we are leaving the table each time a litt...

They aren't kidding when they call it "Backroads."  Our routes have taken us through groves of olives and almonds, fields where they are growing chard, artichokes, and other leafy greens, small towns and gravel roads. On the good side, we've seen a lot of how 'the real people live,' often in charming old homes set on agricultural acreage. On the bad side, the routes are very complicated. We are constantly turning or veering at Y's or negotiating traffic circles -- it's rare that we get to ride on the same street for even 3-5km.  We are given pages and pages of instructions each morning so in addition to watching for potholes and traffic and each other, we are trying to read our route instructions. On top of that, most of the roads are unnamed and/or unmarked so the instructions will say something like "Easy turn to miss - turn right at the unmarked 3 way intersection, green house on your right.  If you reach a stop sign ...

Ok, I know I am way behind on blog posts and it's not because of the wine intake, although the wine intake has been substantial. It's because we are having so much fun.  Blog posting has fallen in priority behind bike riding, incredible meals, wine tasting, and food demos. We met up with our cycling group at the Bari Centrale train station on Tuesday am. They  drove us by van to our starting point where we first had lunch (a scrumptious buffet of healthy selections: grain salads, seafood salads, caprese, eggplant and more) at a gorgeous beach side restaurant. We also received a run down of logistics and an overview of the bikes. After lunch, it was finally time to suit up and go on our first ride. This first one was rather short --- just 17 miles to get ourselves oriented and, I'm sure, for the ride leaders to check us all out.  We ended up at Corta Altavilla in Conversano where we checked into charmingly restored rooms in a hotel right across from a beautiful church,...

We are on the train to Bari right now, so it's time I caught you up. It would be hard to find a street in Rome that we did not walk on sometime during the past few days. Wendy is wearing one of those activity monitoring watches - a vivo I think - and we clocked in at over 15 miles on Saturday, and around 10 miles on Sunday. Consequently, we felt fully justified about our gelato intake. Wendy has been experimenting with different flavors but I'm all about the cioccolato, the only decision being 'con panna' or not. Here we are talking about real cream scooped from a freshly whipped batch (not squirted from a can) so actually, it's no decision at all. Si! Con panna! Rome is beyond amazing in many ways and at any given moment you are walking past something extraordinary. However, it is crowded with tourists and traffic and covered in graffiti. It's easy to miss things as you maneuver past other tourists, consult your map and dodge scooters and taxis (hint: they ...

Readers of this blog  (see post from Sept. 15, 2009) may remember the walking sticks, now common in the U.S. but then, something I hadn't yet seen. Today I bring you another type of stick: the selfie stick. Although I am not a fan of selfies, I have to concede that this ingenious little device solves the problems of a) the photographer's extended arm in the foreground of the picture and b) a close-up of nostrils and pores. As I'm sure you've deduced by now, the selfie stick is a telescoping wand with a claw at one end in which you can secure your cell phone. You hold it up, aim it at yourself and snap your selfie via a timer app or a bluetooth remote. The stick folds down to around 9 inches so you can easily tuck it into your backpack or travel purse. We first saw one of these things in use by a young couple at the Vatican, and we laughed at what we assumed must be a misguided sky mall purchase. It turns out that the laugh is on us because they are popular items. We...

Faithful readers know that I've had a lot of food angst on past trips. Traveling to Europe -- especially Italy -- is much about the food, but as a solo traveler, it's hard to have exceptional food experiences on your own. Last year, when I traveled to Ireland with a tour, I finally had folks to eat with, but all of our meals were had at hotels or pre-selected restaurants. They were of decent quality, but limited in range and devoid of creativity. It was rather like attending a conference every night where the choice was chicken, salmon or pasta, Ireland style, which is to say, not great. So, I've been rather excited about having a travel buddy to share meals with. Tonight, after consulting trip-advisor and yelp, we walked to Al Forno Della Soffitta on via Piave, a short jaunt from our hotel. The reviews we read said it was frequented by locals, and this seemed to be the case. When we pushed open the heavy glass door, the restaurant was well populated, but even so, we were...

I know that flying an airplane is accomplished via your basic physics, but to me it is as miraculous and mysterious as such modern day conveniences as wifi, bluetooth and microwave ovens. Ok, microwave ovens are old school by now, but I still remember the days when we stuck a potato in there and nuked it within a matter of minutes as a parlor trick. Anyway, my point is, I take these things for granted, and they pretty much work on demand even though I am clueless about the underlying magic. Thus, I can't imagine how the airplane itself remains aloft despite all manner of interference -- storm clouds, other airplanes, meteors -- while the devices within perform on a par with a phone made of soup cans connected with a string. I'm thinking specifically of the touch screen entertainment system installed on the airplane seat-back. It is a tease. It promises all sorts of diversions: movies, games, GPS tracking, even shopping. But, if the screen responds to anything, it is cer...

I’m pretty excited about enjoying excellent food while in Italy so I recently asked my friend, who once lived in Rome for several months, for some restaurant recommendations. He sent me several and while googling them to scope out locations, I stumbled upon this inviting description, written by the proprietors of La Montecarlo. The entire thing is hilarious, but I have excerpted it below and bolded my very favorite parts. You can bet that La Montecarlo is on our ‘go-to’ list! --------------------------------------------- Welcome to the reign of pizza: "La Montecarlo". Few minutes will be enough for you to understand in what an extraordinary place you are. You entered in a true cross-section of Rome, where to taste is allowed, to enjoy is a duty. The magic of pizza, its sweet smell, its aroma, its unique taste will pervade your body. Don’t be shy: “if you want a pizza, then tell it!” Don’t never frighten for the line. If you think you’ll have to wait for ho...