Walking with the Venetians

Lindsay and I arrived in Vencie, Italy on the evening of Monday, 27 February 2006. Super excited to be in Venice, we were even more taken back by our first steps out of the train station and onto the carless streets. Our first mission was to find our hotel which proved to be a little tricky (even with directions). After finding it and eating some very good pizza and pasta and a nearby Pizzeria, we turned in for the night.






















Because I have a difficult time sleeping in, I was first to get up the next morning. After showering and such, I left to go get Lindsay and I some breakfast. When I stepped outside of #38, I was welcomed by the brisk morning and the warm sun. I found us some pastries and some orange juice and after a short breakfast, we were on our way to explore the hidden beauty of a city built on water. This picture was taken from our window.




















First on our agenda was St. Marco's Square and the Basicalla. There have been 3 chuches that have been built on this site, the present chuch having been restored in 1907. The ceiling inside the chruch is made entirely of gold tiles. INCREDIBLE. All Gold with stories told in color.


























After the Bascilica, we decided to take the Venice Public Transist System, a Vaporetto, to another area of the island. After a lunch of Frozen Canneloni, we made to the shopping area where we bought masks. It was Carnevale, after all, and if everyone else is wearing one, then why shouldn't we.















The full day that we spent in Venice was the last day of Carnavale Season. If you remember from my posting about Carnvial in Germany, Italians were the first to celebrate Carnival. Believe it or not, I am about 95% sure that "Carnivale" originated in Venice with their wild masqurade/costume festivals. All day, there were folks dressed in outrageous and very detailed costumes. I could have taken pictures every one I passed. After awhile, I had to tell myself enough. Here are some of the crazy costumes that we saw.






















After eating lunch and shopping our way through the peopled filled streets we made our way back to St. Marcos square to summit the Clock Tower. Low and Behold, once on top we had the best seats in the house for the Costume Parade taking place in the middle of the square.
















Also, the view from the top was absolutely gorgeous.






















Our day ended with a meal that consisted of pizza and wine and then a few drinks at a local bar near our hotel. It was a wonderful short excursion to Venice and it is too bad that we did not get to spend a day or two more there. I'm sure that the other islands in the area would have been as wonderful as the main island. I'm just super lucky that I was able to share the experience with Lindsay. I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner.

#3 - The Spitting Robber

And we're off to explore the ways of Venice!

Before I came to Torino, Lindsay asked me if I would be interested in travelling with her on a short trip. Of course I said yes, but that I had to be back by around noon on March 1 to start work for the Parlaympic Games. Lindsay had decided that she wanted to go to Venice. Another media person at the Olympic Games had gone to Venice for one day and really enjoyed it, so Lindsay decided that she wanted to check it out.

So, we went. The date: Monday, 27 February.

After a few logistics in cancelling hotels and finding a place to store our luggage (and after a taxi ride to 3 different locations with a driver who didn't speak any English), we made our way to the Train Station. We had missed our first choice non-stop train at 1:30 that afternoon. So, we took a train that went through Milan, instead. We arrived in Milan and had about 10 minutes to get from the end of platform #5 to platform #3. Having heard that the Italian trains sometime leave a bit early, we decided it was in our best interest (so we thought) to start jogging so as to now miss the train. Realize about half way there that we had plenty of time, we continued to jog for no apparent reason but that it was fun to pretend that we were late for the train.

We hopped on the train with at least 5 minutes to spare and found an empty cabin. We shut the door once we got in and shut the curtains hoping to keep the cabin to ourselves. We had just gotten finished taking a timed picture of ourselves when the cabin door slid open and this girl came in said something in Italian and held out a sign. She was begging for money. I immediately grabbed my purse, and told the girl that we didn't have any money to give her. (Usually, people go away). However, she wasn't taking no for an answer. After I said no at least twice, she began to prepare a wad of spit in her mouth and then her eyes rolled back and she made the sign of the cross (like she was cursing us). It was a little weird. Lindsay started to do the slow motion thing and she took a really long time to find her wallet (after me telling her not to get it out). She did, however, find a quarter in her back pack which she gave to the girl who then threw it back to her. I said again to the girl that we didn't have any money. She prepared another wad of spit in her mouth and was ready to pour it on one or both of us. So, I prepared wad of spit in my mouth ready to fire back if needed. Both Lindsay and I didn't need this so, I opened the curtains, and told the girl forcefully to get out. I opened the door and raised my voice and she stepped out of our cabin and I just yelled at her in the hallway of the train to get out of our cabin and to leave us alone. Several other passengers peaked their heads ouf of the cabin to see what the commotion was. Lindsay and I then sat in our Cabin with the adrenaline running hoping that she wansn't going to come back. Lindsay also guarded the door as to not let anyone in. However, that is when we met Paolo and Piero.

Paolo and Piero were two very confident and not shy guys. Lindsay said she let them in our cabin (which was not reserved seating) because they looked nice. And they were. Paolo was from Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet. Piero was from Vicenza. We had a great time visiting with them and telling them our story of the Spitting Robber. They helped us with our Italian...and we helped them with their English. They were going to school in Milan studying Opthamology.

After a few hour train ride, we finally made it to Venice. Check out Posting #4 for details of the Excursion.

#2 - Torino - Olympic Games

It's now 10am on Feburary 26. I've slept for maybe 6 hours, but I always seem to wake up early when I want to sleep in. So, I got up, showered and then laid back in bed for a few more hours hoping to catch some decent sleep. No Such Luck.

After Linday's phone having woken her up (because it rang every 5 minutes), she got up too. I decided that I would go and get us some Pizza and she would get ready and we would make our way to downtown Torino to meet up with some others to walk around the city a bit.

I went to this little Pizzeria around the corner from the hotel. I ordered a pizza that looked like it had everything on it. And it did.
















Who puts an Egg, Sunny-Side up on a pizza?!?!?!

We made our way to Torino..walked the streets, ate some Gillato (ice cream) which was very, very yummy.




















If one is going to be in the town that the Olympics are being held in, then one should go to at least one event, right? That was my philosophy. Through a round-about way, I was able to get tickets for my very good friend from Colorado Springs, Terri, and I for the Closing Ceremonies. It was so amazing. Seeing the Flame and being in the Stadium was Awesome. We had great seats too, which made it that much better. It's such a neat feeling to see so many countries, cultures, languages and backgrounds come together, in my opinion, for a common purpose of using sport as a means to promote peace among people. It was quite the gathering and hopefully some of you were able to watch it on Television.

















It was a wonderful way to end my first Olympic exerperience. Who knows, maybe there will be more Olympics in my future!

Next up...Venice, Italy. You don't want to miss posting #3.

#1 - Torino - Olympic Games

Hello from Torino!

I've been in Italy now for one full week, and I can't believe the the experience I am having. I wish I would have had access to internet and a computer earlier, but this is the first chance I am getting to sit down and write about what I have been up to.

I've been trying to think of the best way in which to organize my past and future days in Torino for the Games. I've decided that I'm going to do it in parts. That will be the easiest.

I arrived in Torino on Saturday, 25 February 2006 at 11pm. The airport was dead, but I managed to buy myself a phone card (because pay phones in Europe don't let you use your own card) and call my friend Lindsay. For those of you who don't know, I lived with Lindsay in Colorado and I was staying with her during my few days in Torino before I had to start work for the Paralympic Games. Anyways, I got ahold of Lindsay and she told me where to go. Unfortunately, I was not able to go and drop off my luggage first, so it had to go with me to the Sports Illustrated (SI) Party at the Budweiser House.


I got a Taxi and we arrived 45 minutes later at the house. It was so crowded outside, that I wasn't sure I was in the right place. But after looking at the building in which the party was in, I was sure. The Budewieser House was in this giant glass Pyramid which looks like the Pyramid outside of the Louvre in Paris. Very Cool. The SI Party was a ticket only party and each athlete was given a ticket for themselves and one guest. Lindsay managed to get in and then she found an athlete who didn't use their guest ticket to let me in with them. The Funny thing is that I didn't know where I was going, so Lindsay told me that when I arrived (we arranged an approxmiate time), that the athlete would be outside to help me in. The tricky thing about the SI party is once you left the house, you couldn't get back in. So, Lindsay and the athlete made buddies with the American Bouncers who let them out of the party to come and find me. THEY FOUND ME....told me that I had to pretend to be this athlete's wife because that is the story that they told the Bouncers...we carried my luggage to the front of this really long line and they let us in. I checked my luggage into the Coat Check (which I don't think the Italian Girls were very happy about) and then we were on our way.

It was so great to see Lindsay as well as the other American folks that were at the Party. I actually saw quite a few of peple I knew. I did manage to be able to wear a Bronze Medal from a US Curler. It's real...I even tried biting it.

After going in and out of the VIP room all night looking for Brad Pitt and George Clooney, itt was getting late and Lindsay and I decided that it was time to head home. It was pushing 4:30am. Some agents of an athlete came up to Lindsay and asked us if we wanted to go to another party with them and the athlete. So, we said Okay. These two Agent guys, carried my luggage for me as we made our way down to the Po Riverfront where there are lots of bars and disco clubs. It was rather amusing watching these guys pull my luggage while Lindsay and I skipped along behind them. After awhile, we figured out that these two Agents lost their athlete and were trying to find him. Figuring out that the luggage was slowing them down, we parted ways, Lindsay and I caught a cab and made our way back to her hotel for a long winters nap!

Day/Night 1 Complete. What could top partying with World-Class athletes at a Sports Illustrated Party...check out Posting #2 to find out!

ALAAF

Anyone who is not a fool at Carnival is foolish for the rest of the year.

That's right. It's Carnival time. Much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, except with it's own special German customs and traditions.

What exactly is carnvial, you may ask? I look at it as a celebration of life. Way back when (hundreds of years ago), Catholic followers in Italy started a tradition of holding a wild costume festival the day before the first day of lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during lent, they called their festival "carnevale" which means "to put away the meat." As the years passed, the festivals became very popular and spread to other parts of the world and with it came new Carnival customs and traditions. (This was the history I dug up on the festival. I think, in Germany, some view Carnival as a time to celebrate the days getting longer...as the nights are very long in Germany from November through March).

Until yesterday, I haven't celebrated Carnival at all. The Carnival season (the 5th season) actually started on November 11 at 11:11. The nubmer 11 plays a very speical role during carnvial season. All conventions must start at 11 past the hour. When celebrating, you celebrate in mulitples of 11 instead of the standard 10. I have no idea why "11" is such a magic number. Maybe there was supposed to be 11 Commandments instead of 10. "Ye Shall be a Fool"

In the Rhine Region (where I live), partying for carnival starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday and ends on the following Tuesday (a.k.a. Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday). The motto for this years Carnival is "Bonn Kisses the World." The Rhine Region, especially in Cologne (north of Bonn), is very well-known in Germany for it's Carnival Celebrations. The word ALAAF was yelled out often throughout the night. I think it means "Above All" and is usually joined with the word Cologne. I guess folks are saying Cologne is the best - above all the rest!

Weiberfastnacht (women’s carnival night) is the Thursday before Rosenmontag (the 42nd day before Easter), and it is tradition that women are allowed to cut off the tie of any man within reach, and to kiss any man they want to. This day also signals the beginning of the five days of Carnival with nearly 50 small parades leading up to Monday's Rose Parade. In Bonn, Rose Monday is a Public Holiday - Yeah No Work.

So, I didn't see a single Parade...I didn't cut off a single tie...I didn't kiss any random men...and I didn't start the festivities at 11:11am. I did however, dress up as all grown-ups do on Carnival Thursday. The Work crew began the celebration at Lunch time as our office shut down a little early that day to partake in the festivities.

As you can see from the picture above, Carnival is like Haloween for adults and instead of Trick-O-Treating for Candy, most folks head to a bar or to a tent for some good old fashioned German Carnvial Songs of the Cologne Region as well as for a tasty beverage or two or three or....

A few of my favorite photos from the day..we started the celebration at 12noon and I went home at 9pm. It was like Oktoberfest all over again!

Me in My Costume. I'm not exactly sure what I was, but it was like a dork fairy. I even had fairy dust (paper holes that my hole puncher produces)






















The Charlie's Angels Cowgirls (Ruby, Steffi and Verena)

















My Boss, Andy (the Soccer Fan) and I















Ben the German Sailor and Helene the Bumble Bee















Inside of Bar Sachel

















Mark my White Trash Upstairs Neighbor and Ulrike the Pirate

















Verena my cowgirl upstairs neighbor (lives with White Trash Mark) and me, the Dork Fairy

















Karin the Frog Princess and Clare the IPC Cheerleader















My first Carnival was wonderful....too much fun. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a Thursday afternoon/evening.

I'm off to Torino tomorrow and I am very excited.
Tune in next time for stories from Italy.

Ciao, Betsy =)

Destination: Budapest, Hungary

I haven't had enough travelling yet, so I thought that I would take another trip. Again, eastward to the country of Hungary. Destination: Budapest.














Budapest is a beautiful city that lies on the banks of the Danube River. I had been to Budapest once before, but it was definitely a different trip this time around. I travelled with my friend Clare. To those of you who read my blog, Clare was my companion in my Oktoberfest adventure. We arrived at the airport on Friday evening, 3 Febraury 2006. It was a nice night outside, but a little cold. I had prepared for this trip (as I do most trips), by printing out directions from the airport to the hostel, things to see and do as well as helpful little phrases such as please and thank you. Of course, those papers were also my bookmark on the plane and they got left in the seat pocket. Go figure, so we found the tourist desk and I asked, "How do we get to one of the main metro stations that begins with the letter "D?" Yes, that is all I could remember of how to get to the hostel (that and the name). The lady was nice and pointed us in the right dirction of the airport bus that could could takes us to the metro station.

We got off on the Metro Station that began with the letter "D". Luckily I had looked at the map to see where the hostel was compared to the metro station and one of the city bridges. Clare, who was feeling luck that day, found the hostel and we were there within 3 minutes. We stayed at the Mellow Mood Hostel. Nothing fancy, nothing shabby. It offered a bed in a room with 6 other very random folks with an itchy blanket, private lockers and a hot shower. You don't need much more than that.
















After we put our stuff down, we decided to talk a walk. Clare had never been to Budapest before, so when we first saw Castle Hill from across the river all lit up in lights, it was very exciting. It really is a very beautiful sight - even though my pictures looks as though I was in an earthquake while taking it.

Budapest was originally two separate cities. Buda was the Royal Residence while Pest became the capital. The first bridge to connect the two cities was the Chain Bridge that was built in 1849. In 1873, the cities were unified as one and became the capital of Hungary. The bridge was destroyed, along with the rest of the city, during World War II.

After our evening walk, and in dire need of warming up, we ducked into a little restaurant in hopes of finding some authentic Hungarian cuisine. At the airport, we picked up a map and guide book (because I forgot mine on the plane). Inside, it listed some National Dishes. Luckily, the menu at the restaurant had everything on the guide book list. We each ordered Goulash Soup (thick soup with Potatoes, paprika, and beef), Chciken in Paprika Sauce served with potatoes, and for dessert apple and cherry strudel. Our meal also came with what we thought was a shot of a fruit liqueur. However, the smell of it made me gag. But, I felt obligated to taste it because, well, if this is what they do in Hungary....then I will also do it. Big mistake. Even after I swallowed the shot, it was still burning in my stomach. Thank God we did the shot while we had food left to get the nasty taste out of my mouth. I can still feel the burning sensation just writing about it.

After dinner, we made our way back to the Hostel and got a drink at the Hostel Bar. After a few hours, we called it a night and hit the sack to gear up for a long Saturday.

The fun thing about staying in a hostel is that you never know what time folks are going to walk into the room to go to sleep. It was quite amusing when two guys came back into the room after being out all night and Clare and I were soon to be getting up to take showers to start our day.

First, Clare and I headed to the market. Somewhere along our journey, we had read to check it out. It was a huge building (as you can see by the picture) and inside were permanent structures that were used for selling meat, fruit, vegetables, etc. There were also places selling clothing, shoes, toys, souveniers and food.






















Speaking of food, we were hungry. So, we got some Strudel and a Langos with Cream and Cheese. It was like a giant fried pancake with a sour cream type substance on it sprinkled with shredded mozerella chees. It was actually pretty good.
















After the market, we made our way across one of the many city bridges to the Cave Church and the Citadel. The cave church was literally inside of a cave. The Cave Church was founded by a group of Pauline Monks in 1924. In 1951, on Easter Monday, the Hungarian secret police arrested the entire order, some condemned to prision, one to death. In 1989 the church was reopened.

The Entrance to the Church
















Inside the chapel















The Cave Church was in the side of the hill that led us up to the Citadel, a fortress (per se) that was built by the Royal Family in 1851 to keep an eye on the rebelling Hungarians after defeating the revolution. We didn't go inside of the fortress, but they had fun toys to play with outside. Such as:

Giant Weapons
















The Liberation Monument stands next to the Citdel. It was erected after the Soviets liberated Hungary from the Nazi's in WWII. Too bad Hungary then went under Communist rule.





















View of Budapest from outside the Citadel (I wish it wasn't so cloudy this day)





















We then made our way over to the Castle Hill Disrict. The large building was the residence of the Hungarian kings for centuries. Today, it houses the National Library, National Gallery, and Budapest Historical Museum. Another place of interest on Castle Hill is the Fisherman's Bastion. It never served a military purpose, but was named after the guild that guarded that part of the fort in the middle ages.
















It was still cold outside, but we still had a lot to do that day. We began to make our way down "Castle Hill" towards town. We decided to take a little tour through the Parliment Building. It was a very pretty building, completely symmetrical.


















The Crown Jewels are kept within the Parliment















Where the Parliment sessions take place






















After needing to give our feet a break, we headed back to the hostel to clean up, take a quick nap and get ready for the eveing ahead. We ate at the restaurant called Fatâl. It was very yummy. Fatâl is the Hungarian word for Wooden Plate. The portions were huge. It was very funny to watch people get their food, not knowing what to expect and receive this big wooden plate filled with food. To finish off the evening, Clare and I made our way to a reccommended bar, "The Old Man's Pub". It was fun...very crowded.


The next morning, 5 February 2006, we headed off down the Andrássy Avenue, which was built to connect downtown to the City Park. It is kind of a take off of the Champs Elysées in Paris. Alonge the Avenue lies the House of Terror Museum. This museum was very interesting and moving. It is too bad that none of the videos were in English. The Building that houses the museum was home to the Hungarian Nazis during WWII and then to the Communist Terror Organizations. It was designed to commemorate the victims of the violence that took place, but also as a reminder of "the dreadful acts of terrorist dictatorships." Hungary was stuck between a rock and a hard place. First the Nazis and then Communism. I believe I read that the last Russian soldiers didn't leave Hungary until the mid 1990's. It's hard to comprehend having to live in fear as the citizens did. It's not a wonder why Budapest's economy and cultural life is still growing. There were times during our visit that Clare and I felt like we were still in the 1960's.

Last stop on our tour was Hero's Square and the City Park. Hero's Square was built for the 1,000 anniversary of the Hungarian Conquest. The monument in the middle is the Millennial Monument which has the Archangel Gabriel sitting on top. The statues surrounding the monument are the 7 tribe leaders of the conquering Hungarians. The two half circle each contain 7 heros of Hungarian history.

The entire weekend, Clare and I had pondered going to one of the thermal spring bathhouses. Neither of us brought swimming suits with us, but we really wanted to go. We asked for some assistance at our Hostel who called the Szechenyi Bath near Hero's square to see if they rented out Swimming Suits - and they did. Yes, I thought it to be completely gross, but we both brought an extra pair of under garments to wear underneath. The "bath" was so great. It was like being in a giant hot tub that wasn't really hot. And it was really cold outside and snowing. I was kind of surprised my hair didn't freeze.

Other pictures for entertainment

This is a dog
















This is me in Jail (not really, but it looked like I was. I felt bad that I had took this picture after I went through the Terro Museum)




















Without a TV, I was able to watch the Opening Ceremonies at a co-workers house who had a small house warming party. Its fun to watch all of the athletes so excited to be at the Premium World Sporting Event. I'm super excited to make my way down there at the end of the month.
My best to everyone. Keep in touch. I love getting the emails.
Go USA,
~Betsy