Friday, September 26, 2014

Twenty Things I Know After Our First Year of Retiring in Italy




As our one year anniversary of retiring in Italy (October 1) rapidly approaches, I was thinking about what I have learned in the past year.  Following is my top 20 in no particular order:

1. Unless it is so warm that Seattleites would be complaining about a heat wave, Italians think it is cold and wear warm jackets, scarfs, hats and gloves.

2.  A corollary to number 1:  Unless it is at least 90 degrees, Italians will ask you to shut the window on the train or bus because

3.  Italians believe that sitting in a breeze will give you a cold.
The Italians are in the warm coats and scarfs, Tom and I were wearing t-shirts!


4.    If you go out with wet hair, a nonna will scold you and tell you that you will catch a cold.

5.    Unless you are at a street market (and maybe not even then) NEVER pick up the merchandise while shopping.  Let the attendant do that for you.

6.    Never rely on an Italian website for information about bus/train schedules, opening hours, etc. because the websites are often out of date.  Example:  showing up in Torino for the 4:30 bus listed on the online schedule to be told "solemente nel'estate" (only in summer).  

7.    Grey's Anatomy is on Italian TV every night, and is actually more interesting dubbed in Italian.

8.    Italians do not wait in line.  Channel your inner Italian to elbow your way onto crowded buses, elevators, etc.  If you stand aside politely, you will never get on board.  When entering a store, bank, office--look for a machine dispensing numbers which have become very common as a solution for the anti-queuing mentality.
No lines, no numbers= chaos getting into the giostra di Saracino
9.    Italians have a different concept of personal space. In the U.S. we like a large personal space zone and don't want that invaded, but Italians are more up close and personal.   It isn't rude for an Italian to  bump someone on the sidewalk or in a store--they don't consider incidental contact a problem the way Americans do.  They walk straight at you on the sidewalk and it feels like they will mow you down,  but they will go around you if you don't move out of the way.

10.    "Italia's Got Talent" does not in any way establish the veracity of the title.  And made in Italy TV is actually worse than US tv--who would have thought it possible?

11.  Italians have opinions about U.S. government and foreign policy which they are very willing to share, and many will warm up to you if you mention how much you disliked Bush.  They know far more about the US than the average american knows about Italy.  They like Obama so you don't have to pretend to be from Canada anymore.

12.    Italians have two ways of talking:  loud and louder. Even at 2 am conversations are held full volume on the street.  And there is lots of singing.

13.    Pizza and pasta at a hole in the wall in Italy is better than the same dishes at an expensive restaurant in the US.


14.  Italians are loyal to their portion of their home town first (their contrada or quartiere) then to their town, then their area.  They generally think that their birthplace is the piu bello (most beautiful) and you should always agree whether you do or not.  The answer to "Do you like Tuscany or Umbria better" depends on whether the questioner is from Tuscany or Umbria, not on which you personally prefer.

15.  Thankfully, Starbucks will never make any inroads here.  The 1.10 euro espresso (price government regulated) at the bars all over Italy is better than Star$$s' high priced choices.

16.  The combination of US banking regulations and Italian laws make it virtually impossible for a US citizen without dual citizenship to open a bank account, but the Charles Schwab bank card allows you to withdraw enough cash without any transaction or ATM fees.

17.  Beer with pizza, wine with everything else!  But Italians generally drink only 1 glass of wine at dinner--at most 2--not the whole bottle in one sitting.




18.  When they accept you,  they will do anything and everything for you and it is great!














19.  There is always a sagra  or a festa some-where! And there will be food and wine!



And, finally,

20.  Call it a siesta and naps are not just for kids!

Can't wait to see what we learn in the next year (maybe how to fix the spacing on the blog).   I bet it will involve food and wine.

Ciao i miei amici.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Insider's view of the Fortezza and a visit to Cortona



Our friend and locatore, Mario, figures largely in this account of the past week.  Mario works for the city and invited us along to a private tour of the fortezza, which is under renovation,with the head archaeologist.  This could also be defined as Tom's Paradiso.  Of course when renovating something in Italy, one finds ancient Roman ruins underneath and the Fortezza was no exception--they uncovered a Roman villa with mosaic floors that they did not previously know existed.  

excavation at the Foretzza above, Fortezza below



After a tough day at the archaeological site Tom wanted a hamburger.  We were worried we had lived in Italy so long we had forgotten how to make a burger, but luckily there was a recipe on the package of  hamburger buns.  Imagine our chagrin to learn we have been making the classic burger WRONG all these years by leaving off the cucumber!


On Saturday we headed to Cortona courtesy of Mario who picked us up and acted as our tour guide for the trip.  Cortona is the  beautiful hill town made famous in "Under the Tuscan Sun."   It is an old Etruscan town later taken over by the Romans and eventually a Ghibellinian city state.  Parts of the old Etruscan wall remain but most of the structures date from the medieval period.  There are 4 Etruscan tombs in the area around Cortona which unfortunately were not open on Saturday.

Apartments built on top of the etruscan wall

Visit to the Archaeological  museum




/Tom and Mario at the museum

While wandering around town we saw a little procession celebrating blood donation.




A drum player after Kelly's heart
We also visited the Duomo and a piazza with a panoramic view of the chiana valley.

at the duomo




Left:  this couple  spent 20 minutes taking selfies on the wall while Tom and Mario spent an equal amount of time taking panoramic shots.




valley view with Lake Trasimeno in the distance


The last stop was at a capucin monastery built in the traditional tuscan fashion at a site chosen by St. Francis of Assisi (whose tunic, pillow and bible are on display at the church of St. Francis in Cortona).



sunset from the monastery


To cap off a great day we headed to dinner with Mario and his family, Loretta and their two daughters Julia and Laura and our friends Giuseppe, Marissa and Pepe.


The restaurant was at the football academy.  We started off
with delicious brushetta
Cin cin.  Giusseppe, Marissa, Loretta, Julia, Laura, Mario, Nancy

The beautiful Meucci sisters


When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
that's amore....

Marissa slips a treat to Pepe

and Giuseppe models Tom's new hat!

And after all that, we caught the second half of the Husky-Illinois game on tune-in radio--a great victory.  Buona notte!




Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Back from 3 weeks in Ireland (my other favorite country starting with I)




We went to Ireland for three weeks in August to escape the heat and tourists of Tuscany in August and it was a highly effective strategy--the average temperature was about 14 C  (57F) during the days, with frequent rain.  The weather is incredibly volatile, sunny, then rain, then sunny, then foggy--makes Seattle seem like southern California in comparison.  We felt right at home in the rain and cool temperatures, and with the green everywhere (many, many Irish jokes about 50 shades of green).  Rhododendrons and hardy fuchsias grow wild along the roads, along with thousands of crocosmia, making driving through the countryside on the tiny little roads a beautiful if terrifying experience.  Of course we visited all the expected places (Dublin castle, Dingle Peninsula, Donegal, giant's causeway), and some less expected places as well.  Tom mastered driving on the left and the incessant roundabouts, I did not master being calm when turning blind corners on narrow lanes and seeing a giant truck coming straight at us.  We adapted to beer with lunch instead of wine (traveling does involve some sacrifices) and even kept up with our italian because there were many, many Italian tourists, especially in the south.  They had some trouble coping with the temperatures--Italians wear down jackets, wool caps and scarfs when it is 70 degrees out, so you can imagine how bundled up they were for Ireland.  At our B&B near Donegal town, it was 7 Italians and us, which was entertaining, especially as one of the young Italian men was ridiculously good looking.

I was going to use 21 pictures to show our 21 days in Ireland but couldn't winnow down the 800 plus pictures that severely.  Following are some highlights, not necessarily in the order in which we encountered them.

Of course we visited Trinity College, Kelly's 'alma mater'

There was an interesting exhibition of sand sculpture outside Dublin castle

Nothing says Ireland like drinks and traditional music at a pub in Temple Bar


sunset on the river liffey

Kilmainham jail where the British held Irish political prisoners--not used since Ireland achieved independence, but a symbol to the Irish of their brutal treatment at the hands of the British.  Below, inside a cell at the jail.


Next was a drive through the Wicklow mountains to Cashel, where we visited the Rock of Cashel, which was the seat of the Munster kings for centuries, but was eventually given to the Catholic church.  Myth has it that the rock was originally 20 miles away but was magically transported to its current location when St. Patrick banished Satan from Ireland.



Onward to Cobh (pronounced cove), the last port of call for the Titanic and home to the Titanic museum.  En route (as is true everywhere in Ireland) we saw many sheep and cows.


Also many green fields and rolling hills:


We visited nearby Kinsale which involved taking a tiny car ferry across the Shannon River, and went on a guided tour of the town which involved more talk about the Titanic and the Lusitania.

Cathedral in Cobh.  There are baskets of flowers everywhere in Ireland.




We didn't drive the whole Ring of Kerry road which is now very developed compared to 40 years ago when I rode my bike there, but we did tour a stately home and garden on the Ring of Kerry road.

Muckross house and garden 

Wine is expensive and bad in Ireland, so we were forced to drink beer. Instead of expresso and biscotti, we had tea and pastry for our merenda.


We spent several days each in the Dingle peninsula and Donegal, both beautiful and wild areas of Ireland with many ancient ferry rings (3000 year old stone circles) and ruins.




Portnabrone tomb
fuschia lined walkway to the ancient  beehive church--wild fuschias everywhere

and fantastic water views everywhere

As in Italy, there are shrines in unexpected places
A day trip to Inishmore, one of the Aran islands was particularly interesting.  Dun Aengus is an ancient fort built on top of a cliff overhanging the water and well worth the hike up to the top.


fort charles near Kinsale

the burren--an area of Ireland with a strange, rocky landscape


Too many castles to enumerate...


Donegal castle


And many dramatic cliffs, from the famous cliffs of moher to the less famous but more spectacular slieve league, the highest cliffs in Europe.
cliffs of moher


slieve league in Donegal


Tom loved the antiquities and of course can never pass a museum, which is why we saw a 40,000 year old bear skeleton which had nothing to do with Ireland except that a rich Irish guy bought it and made a museum.


also at the 'museum'


We watched sheep dogs herding sheep, went to Derry and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, and finished the trip with a visit to Newgrange and Knouth, 5000 year old passage tombs which the guide quickly pointed out are 1000 years older than Stonehenge.  Following is a miscellany of pictures of these and other events.





The murals above are 2 of 12 murals by the bogside artists which commemorate the struggle for Irish independence in the late 60s and 70s.  The entering free derry sign memorializes the sign put up by Catholics in Bogside in 1968, based on a similar sign posted in West Berlin after the wall was built.



The crew entertaining us on the way back from a boat ride in Donegal Bay

At one B&B Patsy demonstrated his award winning sheepdogs herding sheep

3000 year old fairy circle 



Tom at Giant's Causeway

Tom's first selfie (at giant's causeway)


giant's causeway


several of the 40 passageway tombs at knowth

And where else would we have a drink but Kelly's bar? Slainte!