Or so it was called during my private 2 hour car tour of Paris. Generously I was invited for this ride around Paris by the family that I am staying with. As I am sure you know, Paris is a beautiful city. It was wonderful to see at night. First we drove around some of the smaller streets taking in the views. However, I must say the most beautiful parts of my tour were the very touristy parts. It was beautiful to drive down Champ-Elysees which was lined by a seemingly endless row of well lit trees. At the end I stared down to the iconic Arc d' Triumph. Then we made our way to the even more iconic and more touristy Eiffel Tower. It deserves all the popularity that it gets. At night it is completely lit up in a bright blue color. We were able to park the car and view the tower from an excellent elevated spot. Then I gladly took some super cliche pictures, which I must say came out quite well. It was a great tour and I learned a lot about the city... or at least I had the potential too...
The car ride was split between listening to some classic American oldies music and my hosts explaining my surroundings. Many times they would make a genuine effort to speak to me in English. Sometimes I understood; other times... we played our version of the $100,000 pyramid game show. It went something like this; they would say the word in French and Spanish, if I still did not understand, they would say other English words to lead me to the word they were trying to say.... For example they said the words "government" "house" "president of a city" .... did you figure it out? The answer was the Mayor's house. This was quite the accidental amusing game to play. Other times they would simply speak the names of places to me in French. Sometimes I somewhat understood, sometimes I just made a terrible attempt at repeating what they said, and yet others shamefully I just smiled and nodded.
Rainy days in Paris: I have also had a little time to walk around Paris during the last two days. But the weather and their limited amount of time made these trips short but sweet. Now that I have a vague idea of the layout of Paris and a decent understanding of the Metro system, I will begin to venture off myself. Maybe a day at the Louvre tomorrow...
Otherwise my spirits are very high and I have begun to think about what I am going to do for the Holiday season and beyond... but only some vague ideas. Of course I don't want to commit to anything yet!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Pizza on Thanksgiving
I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and ate lots and lots of food! Personally I celebrated Thanksgiving with some delicious Italian food. I am sad to be leaving my new wonderful friends in Geneva, but I am very excited to be moving on to Paris in a couple of hours!
I have been very fortunate to save a lot of money on this trip by so far having friends and a free place to stay. However, I have had to pay much more money in other ways. For the average person who does a backpacking trip around Europe, the Eurail pass is the way to go. For a relatively good price you can get unlimited train travel around Europe for a month. This is by far the most popular thing to do, and I have found myself to be the only backpacker I have met to be without this pass.
I did not purchase this pass for one reason. I am traveling very slow and without a plan. Next Thursday will be exactly one month since I have left the United States. I will have only made it through several countries at this point (Italy, Switzerland, France, and a brief layover in Ireland). Whereas other people I have met have been to many countries in the month and are going home. For example: Spain, England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and perhaps more. For these people the rail pass makes a lot of sense as you get to see many places for relatively little cost. For me, I see less places for more cost. Its exactly how I want it. I would rather spend 2 weeks experiencing Paris, than two weeks rushing through 5 countries. I don't want to experience the "If its Tuesday we must be in Belgium" phenomenon.
I get even more especially hurt on prices because I have no plan of action. I am going to try to at least plan maybe a week ahead, as I found out the hard way that prices for trains and planes can double in a few short days. Still though, I like not having a plan. I like being open for any opportunity that may arise. I like the idea of wandering with a purpose.
I have been very fortunate to save a lot of money on this trip by so far having friends and a free place to stay. However, I have had to pay much more money in other ways. For the average person who does a backpacking trip around Europe, the Eurail pass is the way to go. For a relatively good price you can get unlimited train travel around Europe for a month. This is by far the most popular thing to do, and I have found myself to be the only backpacker I have met to be without this pass.
I did not purchase this pass for one reason. I am traveling very slow and without a plan. Next Thursday will be exactly one month since I have left the United States. I will have only made it through several countries at this point (Italy, Switzerland, France, and a brief layover in Ireland). Whereas other people I have met have been to many countries in the month and are going home. For example: Spain, England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and perhaps more. For these people the rail pass makes a lot of sense as you get to see many places for relatively little cost. For me, I see less places for more cost. Its exactly how I want it. I would rather spend 2 weeks experiencing Paris, than two weeks rushing through 5 countries. I don't want to experience the "If its Tuesday we must be in Belgium" phenomenon.
I get even more especially hurt on prices because I have no plan of action. I am going to try to at least plan maybe a week ahead, as I found out the hard way that prices for trains and planes can double in a few short days. Still though, I like not having a plan. I like being open for any opportunity that may arise. I like the idea of wandering with a purpose.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Switzerland
My time in the land of chocolate and pocket knives is coming to an end. Tomorrow (Friday) I will be leaving on a train to Paris.
I want to apologize from the start of this post. I think it is my most babbling type of post that I will have... hopefully at least. So this post being different the rest of my posts, goes along with the part of my trip being much different than the rest of my trip.
As I said in the last post, I have been spending most of my time in Switzerland being relatively lazy. I have mostly enjoyed my time around the apartment and eating Algerian food. However, I did make one trip. Before I left for this trip, my dad said "If you go to Switzerland, you must go to Lake Luzern". So, I promised him I would go.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly about the trip to the lake.
The thing about Switzerland is that it is beautiful, but expensive. I had figured out that my day trip to Luzern would cost me much more than I hope to spend on any other single day during my trip. In fact, I don't even plan to spend half of what I spent to see Luzern. Hence, price would qualify as the ugly. The weather would qualify as the bad. When I was buying my tickets the lady said to me "I'm not going to lie to you, today is probably not a good day to see the lake and the mountain, tomorrow or later in the week would probably be much better". I didn't care, I was going anyway. Here's why: I try to have very little expectations when I go somewhere. I find that when a person has very high expectations, they tend to be let down. This is probably due to the person building something up so much in their head, that their expectations could never be met. Additionally I don't have expectations, because I want to make each thing I do, unique to myself. It is great to get a recommendation about a place, but I don't want to experience a place as a guide book or even a friend says I should. I want to experience it in my own way. I want to have my own reactions to something. I don't want to love something because everyone says I should love it, and I don't want to hate something because everyone says I should hate it. I wish to only form my own opinions and then discuss with other people.
This leads to the good. The whole day overall was great and I will walk you through it as best and simply as I can. First the 3-4 hour train ride to the lake. A train ride anywhere in Switzerland is worth the price in itself, magnificent views are everywhere. I arrived to the lake and took an hour long boat cruise on the lake. The lake itself is beautiful and it is surrounded by small picturesque towns. Additionally the "bad" weather made a fog surrounding the lake, which gave me the feeling of entering the unknown. Along the way I met some very friendly Koreans, who I would spend the rest of my day with. When we arrived at the lakeside town called Vitznau, we hopped aboard what is supposedly the oldest rack railway in the world. At first we had some decent views as when ascended on this railway, but the farther we got up, the cloudier it got. It eventually reached the point where I could not even see 10 feet in front of the train. Again, the feeling of entering the unknown. We eventually reached the top of the mountain called Rigi Kulm. Even though the weather was "terrible" we decided to go exploring around. We really had no idea where we were walking as you could barely see a thing. Somehow the Koreans and I eventually reached the absolute top of the mountain. At this point it was different than being in a fog, it was like staring into pure whiteness. Whichever way I looked, it was pure white, not fog, but white like paper. It felt like I was truly in an unknown area. I had absolutely no depth perception, I thought things were much farther away then they were. I would only find this out because the weather eventually cleared up after lunch. I have never experienced anything like it. It was like pure peace, no sound, no color, just nothingness. After lunch when the weather cleared we got to see the great views of the lake and surrounding area and had a very fun snowball fight... yea that's right, how many of you can say you had a snowball fight on top of a Swiss mountain with a group of Koreans :P. We eventually made our way down the mountain by use of a gondola, which also gave us beautiful views. Then another boat ride across the lake and I was back on the train to Geneva. So in the end, I spent a lot, but I did get roundtrip train, roundtrip boat, another train, and a gondola ride.
Even though the lake was out of the way and expensive, I have absolutely no regrets about going. It was a great time and I met great people. I got to see the Swiss mountains and experience the Swiss cold weather. Even if I had an absolutely terrible time, I would still have no regrets. Each experience is unique and you live and you learn.
In other news... I bought myself a pair of gloves at the biweekly market in Geneva. I also bought myself a new book to read. I am a very fast reader so I bought myself a big book so I wouldn't finish it as fast as the last one... The title of this almost 700 page book, "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781-1997" by Piers Brendon. It should keep me occupied for a little bit.
I want to apologize from the start of this post. I think it is my most babbling type of post that I will have... hopefully at least. So this post being different the rest of my posts, goes along with the part of my trip being much different than the rest of my trip.
As I said in the last post, I have been spending most of my time in Switzerland being relatively lazy. I have mostly enjoyed my time around the apartment and eating Algerian food. However, I did make one trip. Before I left for this trip, my dad said "If you go to Switzerland, you must go to Lake Luzern". So, I promised him I would go.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly about the trip to the lake.
The thing about Switzerland is that it is beautiful, but expensive. I had figured out that my day trip to Luzern would cost me much more than I hope to spend on any other single day during my trip. In fact, I don't even plan to spend half of what I spent to see Luzern. Hence, price would qualify as the ugly. The weather would qualify as the bad. When I was buying my tickets the lady said to me "I'm not going to lie to you, today is probably not a good day to see the lake and the mountain, tomorrow or later in the week would probably be much better". I didn't care, I was going anyway. Here's why: I try to have very little expectations when I go somewhere. I find that when a person has very high expectations, they tend to be let down. This is probably due to the person building something up so much in their head, that their expectations could never be met. Additionally I don't have expectations, because I want to make each thing I do, unique to myself. It is great to get a recommendation about a place, but I don't want to experience a place as a guide book or even a friend says I should. I want to experience it in my own way. I want to have my own reactions to something. I don't want to love something because everyone says I should love it, and I don't want to hate something because everyone says I should hate it. I wish to only form my own opinions and then discuss with other people.
This leads to the good. The whole day overall was great and I will walk you through it as best and simply as I can. First the 3-4 hour train ride to the lake. A train ride anywhere in Switzerland is worth the price in itself, magnificent views are everywhere. I arrived to the lake and took an hour long boat cruise on the lake. The lake itself is beautiful and it is surrounded by small picturesque towns. Additionally the "bad" weather made a fog surrounding the lake, which gave me the feeling of entering the unknown. Along the way I met some very friendly Koreans, who I would spend the rest of my day with. When we arrived at the lakeside town called Vitznau, we hopped aboard what is supposedly the oldest rack railway in the world. At first we had some decent views as when ascended on this railway, but the farther we got up, the cloudier it got. It eventually reached the point where I could not even see 10 feet in front of the train. Again, the feeling of entering the unknown. We eventually reached the top of the mountain called Rigi Kulm. Even though the weather was "terrible" we decided to go exploring around. We really had no idea where we were walking as you could barely see a thing. Somehow the Koreans and I eventually reached the absolute top of the mountain. At this point it was different than being in a fog, it was like staring into pure whiteness. Whichever way I looked, it was pure white, not fog, but white like paper. It felt like I was truly in an unknown area. I had absolutely no depth perception, I thought things were much farther away then they were. I would only find this out because the weather eventually cleared up after lunch. I have never experienced anything like it. It was like pure peace, no sound, no color, just nothingness. After lunch when the weather cleared we got to see the great views of the lake and surrounding area and had a very fun snowball fight... yea that's right, how many of you can say you had a snowball fight on top of a Swiss mountain with a group of Koreans :P. We eventually made our way down the mountain by use of a gondola, which also gave us beautiful views. Then another boat ride across the lake and I was back on the train to Geneva. So in the end, I spent a lot, but I did get roundtrip train, roundtrip boat, another train, and a gondola ride.
Even though the lake was out of the way and expensive, I have absolutely no regrets about going. It was a great time and I met great people. I got to see the Swiss mountains and experience the Swiss cold weather. Even if I had an absolutely terrible time, I would still have no regrets. Each experience is unique and you live and you learn.
In other news... I bought myself a pair of gloves at the biweekly market in Geneva. I also bought myself a new book to read. I am a very fast reader so I bought myself a big book so I wouldn't finish it as fast as the last one... The title of this almost 700 page book, "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781-1997" by Piers Brendon. It should keep me occupied for a little bit.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Roma and Beyond...
On Friday morning my San Martino D'Agri adventure came to an end. I can still only think about when I will get the chance to return.
We were picked up by another Zia and a cousin of Carm's. We spent Friday at their house, where we treated like a king and queen. I was not allowed to pay for anything, not even my bus ticket back to Rome! I tried to argue, but it was to no avail. Of course, there was also lots more mangia... The town in which they live is located right near the beach, where Italy splits into two. So it was very far South. It was a great time, and we left their house with a bit more than we came with. Literally, I am now the proud owner of a high end Italian sweat shirt, although I digress to what it actually says.
Rome was wonderful, we stayed with yet another Zia and cousin of Carm's. Again we were treated excellently and continued our gluttony. They were truly kind and caring people. As you can see by the pictures, we visited a good amount of Rome. I saw big papa (the pope) at the Vatican, although because of this, The Sistine chapel was closed. The Vatican was imposing and beautiful. The pope is like a king, and that is his palace. A bit ironic, but I digress yet again. We also made stops at The Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain (where I accidently threw my coin straight up and missed the fountain entirely), and of course the infamous Colosseum. Everything was awe inspiring and I very much enjoyed my short time in the city. So much so, that I was not even really bothered by how touristy it was.
After our adventure to the south we returned to what felt like home at this point, Florence. We came back with literally double the amount of bags we went with. A little bit of extra clothes, but they were mostly stuffed with foods collected in all three towns we stayed in. I guess they all thought we would get very hungry on the train ride back. I spent my last few days in Italy strolling around the city and taking things nice and slow. Thursday night we had a bit of a going away wine party for me. And by wine party I mean Carm, her two roommates, and myself sat around and drank a lot of wine (even cheap Italian wine was quite good). It turned out to be quite the bonding moment for all of us, and I enjoyed it much more than I would have enjoyed any huge celebration.
Now I am in Geneva, Switzerland. I am staying with a wonderful Algerian couple who now live in Geneva. I have tasted delicious Algerian foods, had intriguing political, religious, and plain funny conversations, and have enjoyed watching the snow fall outside. In fact I must say that I have enjoyed staying in and around the apartment area and spending time with my wonderful hosts more than exploring the city of Geneva (except for the amazingly delicious Lebanese Kebab place).
To be honest, I am not able to truly describe how great all of my hosts have been so far. Every single one of them has gone way above and beyond what is normally expected of a host. At every place, I have been treated like they are honored to have me as a guest. I'm really nothing special, it is just their mindset. The only way to really understand how wonderful and interesting each and every one of them has been, is to actually talk and interact with each one of them. Just know that I already feel like a changed person and have enjoyed my trip very much so because of the things I have been able to see, but mainly and most importantly because of the people that I have been fortunate enough to have interacted with. To think, I have only just begun...
We were picked up by another Zia and a cousin of Carm's. We spent Friday at their house, where we treated like a king and queen. I was not allowed to pay for anything, not even my bus ticket back to Rome! I tried to argue, but it was to no avail. Of course, there was also lots more mangia... The town in which they live is located right near the beach, where Italy splits into two. So it was very far South. It was a great time, and we left their house with a bit more than we came with. Literally, I am now the proud owner of a high end Italian sweat shirt, although I digress to what it actually says.
Rome was wonderful, we stayed with yet another Zia and cousin of Carm's. Again we were treated excellently and continued our gluttony. They were truly kind and caring people. As you can see by the pictures, we visited a good amount of Rome. I saw big papa (the pope) at the Vatican, although because of this, The Sistine chapel was closed. The Vatican was imposing and beautiful. The pope is like a king, and that is his palace. A bit ironic, but I digress yet again. We also made stops at The Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain (where I accidently threw my coin straight up and missed the fountain entirely), and of course the infamous Colosseum. Everything was awe inspiring and I very much enjoyed my short time in the city. So much so, that I was not even really bothered by how touristy it was.
After our adventure to the south we returned to what felt like home at this point, Florence. We came back with literally double the amount of bags we went with. A little bit of extra clothes, but they were mostly stuffed with foods collected in all three towns we stayed in. I guess they all thought we would get very hungry on the train ride back. I spent my last few days in Italy strolling around the city and taking things nice and slow. Thursday night we had a bit of a going away wine party for me. And by wine party I mean Carm, her two roommates, and myself sat around and drank a lot of wine (even cheap Italian wine was quite good). It turned out to be quite the bonding moment for all of us, and I enjoyed it much more than I would have enjoyed any huge celebration.
Now I am in Geneva, Switzerland. I am staying with a wonderful Algerian couple who now live in Geneva. I have tasted delicious Algerian foods, had intriguing political, religious, and plain funny conversations, and have enjoyed watching the snow fall outside. In fact I must say that I have enjoyed staying in and around the apartment area and spending time with my wonderful hosts more than exploring the city of Geneva (except for the amazingly delicious Lebanese Kebab place).
To be honest, I am not able to truly describe how great all of my hosts have been so far. Every single one of them has gone way above and beyond what is normally expected of a host. At every place, I have been treated like they are honored to have me as a guest. I'm really nothing special, it is just their mindset. The only way to really understand how wonderful and interesting each and every one of them has been, is to actually talk and interact with each one of them. Just know that I already feel like a changed person and have enjoyed my trip very much so because of the things I have been able to see, but mainly and most importantly because of the people that I have been fortunate enough to have interacted with. To think, I have only just begun...
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Greetings from Geneva
Just a quick update.
I have left Italy and arrived safely in Geneva, Swityerland. I will discuss the rest of Italy and Geneva in another post.
The main reason for this message is for pictures! For those of you who do not have facebook, you can click this link to see a slideshow of my pictures so far
http://s405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/travelingstu/?albumview=slideshow
I hope all is well back home, take care!!
I have left Italy and arrived safely in Geneva, Swityerland. I will discuss the rest of Italy and Geneva in another post.
The main reason for this message is for pictures! For those of you who do not have facebook, you can click this link to see a slideshow of my pictures so far
http://s405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/travelingstu/?albumview=slideshow
I hope all is well back home, take care!!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Part 2: San Martino D' Agri.. The Hole
This post continues on from my last post...
We woke up the next day (Friday) decently early with stuffed bellies. I could not think of any more food at this point. Especially since I had something else on my mind. It was time to go exploring...
Besides the aura of visiting a small town in Italy and eating delicious food, there was another reason in which I was captivated by this town. The story behind it, and especially what lies beneath it. Supposedly the town has been around since the Middle Ages and perhaps earlier. It is believed that the house that we were staying in has been in Carmelina's family one way or another since the 700's. The town was at one point much larger and part of a castle complex. This has all been told to me second hand, and therefore I do not know how true any of the details really are. However, by all accounts, and from what I saw with my own eyes.. they seem quite believable. Carmelina's house was supposedly part of the main unit of houses in the castle. There are several hidden compartments throughout the house, but the most intriguing to me is the tunnel that lies beneath it.
I grabbed my flashlight threw on my clothes and was ready to go. We first went down the staircase to the first level of the basement. We used a brass key that looked like it was straight out of the middle ages to open the big solid metal door. This level seemed to be have been used for storage. I grabbed and large stick and made my way down to the next level. After clearing out some spider webs with my handy stick, I used another key to unlock the very fragile looking wooden door that blocked my path. This level seemed to be used for wine making. There were plenty of empty bottles of wine strewn about, as well as some unused bottles also lying around. There were big wooden barrels and other items that I imagine were used in the winemaking process. This seemed quite interesting and I could have spent a good while looking through all of the various items on this floor. However, this still wasn't why I was here.
I scan with my eyes across ground. Nothing sticks out, everything looks dusty and old, but somewhat normal. I move around some things and still no luck. Then I move a large wooden bench that is covered in a tarp of sorts. Underneath I spot it. Here is where I found the loose pieces of wood I was looking for. I move the wood out of the way and gaze down into the dark hole. I grab my flashlight and shine about and see that it goes about 10 feet down. At this point Carm interjects. "Stu you are not going down there!" of which I'm sure you can imagine what my reply was.
Back when I was on Long Island, before I left for my trip, I had talked to Carmelina's dad about my plans to visit the town. What I thought would be a couple of minutes of a quick conversation, turned into a lengthy talk. He described to me the details of the town and some of the secrets. Most importantly for this story, he told me about the hole. He told of how the hole was actually part of a tunnel. He said that they believed it was used as some kind of escape path for the royalty in the town. He also believed that they used to hang people and then bury there bodies in there. He justified this by sharing the details that he had found some human bones down there. He did not know where the tunnel led, as it has been completely blocked off by dirt. However, he believed it may have led to the original church in the town, but really not much was known about it.
So I looked up at Carm and then shifted my eyes over to the very large and old metal ladder that was on the other side of the room. I grabbed the ladder and with some slightly difficult manoeuvring, I managed to get it down the hole. I slowly descended with my small flashlight in hand. At the bottom I felt a rush come over me. Not because I was seeing anything special or unexpected, but rather I became fully intrigued by the mystery of this tunnel. About 15 feet into this tunnel the wall of dirt blocked the path. I found myself immediately drawn to it and was clawing away it. The dirt was very very loose and could easily be removed. I wanted to find something, anything. But alas it was useless at this point. We had to leave the town as our ride was here to pick us up. The wall of dirt was much too big, and who knows how deep, for me to accomplish anything. I slowly climbed up the ladder and thought to myself, that I would return, and do more to find out the mystery behind this hole.
I would later learn from another family member while I was in Rome, that nobody was quite sure when the tunnel was filled in with dirt. This family member said as far back as she knew, her grandfather, had never even entered the tunnel. She informed me that he was born in the late 1800's. Therefore, the tunnel has not been explored for at least over 100 years, but perhaps many hundreds. Noone is quite sure. Maybe there are treasures in that tunnel that have been hidden for hundreds of years. Maybe there are bones of those who perished inside, or perhaps it was simply used as a burial ground. Maybe even there is nothing in that tunnel, but a ton of dirt. Maybe if it is dug out, it will lead nowhere, but at least then I will know.
We woke up the next day (Friday) decently early with stuffed bellies. I could not think of any more food at this point. Especially since I had something else on my mind. It was time to go exploring...
Besides the aura of visiting a small town in Italy and eating delicious food, there was another reason in which I was captivated by this town. The story behind it, and especially what lies beneath it. Supposedly the town has been around since the Middle Ages and perhaps earlier. It is believed that the house that we were staying in has been in Carmelina's family one way or another since the 700's. The town was at one point much larger and part of a castle complex. This has all been told to me second hand, and therefore I do not know how true any of the details really are. However, by all accounts, and from what I saw with my own eyes.. they seem quite believable. Carmelina's house was supposedly part of the main unit of houses in the castle. There are several hidden compartments throughout the house, but the most intriguing to me is the tunnel that lies beneath it.
I grabbed my flashlight threw on my clothes and was ready to go. We first went down the staircase to the first level of the basement. We used a brass key that looked like it was straight out of the middle ages to open the big solid metal door. This level seemed to be have been used for storage. I grabbed and large stick and made my way down to the next level. After clearing out some spider webs with my handy stick, I used another key to unlock the very fragile looking wooden door that blocked my path. This level seemed to be used for wine making. There were plenty of empty bottles of wine strewn about, as well as some unused bottles also lying around. There were big wooden barrels and other items that I imagine were used in the winemaking process. This seemed quite interesting and I could have spent a good while looking through all of the various items on this floor. However, this still wasn't why I was here.
I scan with my eyes across ground. Nothing sticks out, everything looks dusty and old, but somewhat normal. I move around some things and still no luck. Then I move a large wooden bench that is covered in a tarp of sorts. Underneath I spot it. Here is where I found the loose pieces of wood I was looking for. I move the wood out of the way and gaze down into the dark hole. I grab my flashlight and shine about and see that it goes about 10 feet down. At this point Carm interjects. "Stu you are not going down there!" of which I'm sure you can imagine what my reply was.
Back when I was on Long Island, before I left for my trip, I had talked to Carmelina's dad about my plans to visit the town. What I thought would be a couple of minutes of a quick conversation, turned into a lengthy talk. He described to me the details of the town and some of the secrets. Most importantly for this story, he told me about the hole. He told of how the hole was actually part of a tunnel. He said that they believed it was used as some kind of escape path for the royalty in the town. He also believed that they used to hang people and then bury there bodies in there. He justified this by sharing the details that he had found some human bones down there. He did not know where the tunnel led, as it has been completely blocked off by dirt. However, he believed it may have led to the original church in the town, but really not much was known about it.
So I looked up at Carm and then shifted my eyes over to the very large and old metal ladder that was on the other side of the room. I grabbed the ladder and with some slightly difficult manoeuvring, I managed to get it down the hole. I slowly descended with my small flashlight in hand. At the bottom I felt a rush come over me. Not because I was seeing anything special or unexpected, but rather I became fully intrigued by the mystery of this tunnel. About 15 feet into this tunnel the wall of dirt blocked the path. I found myself immediately drawn to it and was clawing away it. The dirt was very very loose and could easily be removed. I wanted to find something, anything. But alas it was useless at this point. We had to leave the town as our ride was here to pick us up. The wall of dirt was much too big, and who knows how deep, for me to accomplish anything. I slowly climbed up the ladder and thought to myself, that I would return, and do more to find out the mystery behind this hole.
I would later learn from another family member while I was in Rome, that nobody was quite sure when the tunnel was filled in with dirt. This family member said as far back as she knew, her grandfather, had never even entered the tunnel. She informed me that he was born in the late 1800's. Therefore, the tunnel has not been explored for at least over 100 years, but perhaps many hundreds. Noone is quite sure. Maybe there are treasures in that tunnel that have been hidden for hundreds of years. Maybe there are bones of those who perished inside, or perhaps it was simply used as a burial ground. Maybe even there is nothing in that tunnel, but a ton of dirt. Maybe if it is dug out, it will lead nowhere, but at least then I will know.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
San Martino D' Agri
O.K... Several people have mentioned to me that the title of my last post was spelled wrong. I had Carmelina spell out Mangia to me and yet I still spelled it wrong (Manjia). I think all of the Mangia Mangia Mangia clouded my brain.
Carm and I left last Wednesday morning. We left 7 AM to be exact. 1 cab, 1 minibus, 1 car, and several rest stops later we ended up in San Martino D' Agri at around 6:45 PM. All we wanted to do was put our bags down and eat some delicious food that was waiting for us. We didn't get to eat until around 8:30 PM.
The thing about San Martino is that it is a small town that sits atop a mountain. While hypothetically you could walk across most of the town in a few short minutes, realistically that's probably not going to happen... To highlight this point I will walk you through step by step of my first few hours in the town. One of Carmelina's Zia's (aunt) picked us up from the place the bus dropped us off (it was literally just the parking lot of a small restaurant in the closest town). About 20 minutes later we are at her daughter's house in town. After some chit chat (luckily in English, as they once lived in Bellmore) we make a whole one house over to have a quick chat with the neighbours (Italian). Then we make it yet one more house over and say hello to Carmelina's grandpa (Italian). After spending some time there we manage to get down the street to the only bar/cafe/convenience store/ card room in town. This happened to be run by her Zia's son. We stopped in to chat and say hello to him (English, also from Bellmore). We would have dinner with his family the following night. Then we made it a few houses down to a relative of Carmelina's where we stopped to say hello and get the key to her house (Italian). Finally we headed towards her house. But wait, we had to stop and say hello to another Zia of hers. This is where we would be eating dinner... but we could not pass without stopping in to say hello (Italian). Then we actually finally took the walk to her house. We had the neighbours help us set up a few things and get a fire going to warm the house up (Italian).
We ate dinner at her Zia's house that night, and there is where I truly learned the meaning of Mangia Mangia Mangia. Here is a note to anyone who may travel to a small town in Italy. 2 bowls of pasta and some bread are just an appetizer for the main course. Actually I'm not quite sure what the main course was because different types of meats and other foods just kept coming and coming. I pride myself on being able to always finish the food on my plate and not to be outdone by anyone else at the table. I met my match. Her Zia can out eat me any day anytime.
So here I am desperately trying to keep up with the onslaught of food. At this point I am praying that it will stop. It is so delicious that I can't say no. Yet it is never ending. Like the old saying goes though... be careful what you wish for..... the phone rings, the food is stopped.
A pipe burst in the house. Water is apparently leaking through the floors. We rush back to the house where her neighbours have already begun fixing the problem. We have to put the fire out, meaning no heat, and we have no running water. That night we slept under about 8 blankets each and a couple of electric heaters. We had to flush the toilets with buckets of water, but I was happy to get a short reprieve from Mangia Mangia Mangia.
I won't bore you with more details of the next day, but I will say that the dinner I had was nothing compared to the amount of food I would consume over the following day. We had the freshest food; everything was homemade, from the pasta to the wine. Some was caught in the woods, from the meat to the chestnuts. Literally from when I woke up to when I went to sleep I was in a constant state of eating. The only time I would get a reprieve was when we would walk somewhere else to go eat more.
For any of you with a facebook account, I have posted all of my pictures from the trip so far on there. If you look below each picture you will usually see a short description of the picture. There are currently two photo albums of pictures on there. For everyone else I will try to find a good site to put my pictures up on in the next day or two.
I will try to post a blog about the rest of my trip tonight or tomorrow. On friday morning I leave Florence :-( but I am going up to Geneva, Switzerland :-). I hope all is well back wherever you are!! Thank you for all of the comments and all of the emails that I have been receiving! I always love hearing from everyone and it keeps me motivated to keep this blog up to date.
Carm and I left last Wednesday morning. We left 7 AM to be exact. 1 cab, 1 minibus, 1 car, and several rest stops later we ended up in San Martino D' Agri at around 6:45 PM. All we wanted to do was put our bags down and eat some delicious food that was waiting for us. We didn't get to eat until around 8:30 PM.
The thing about San Martino is that it is a small town that sits atop a mountain. While hypothetically you could walk across most of the town in a few short minutes, realistically that's probably not going to happen... To highlight this point I will walk you through step by step of my first few hours in the town. One of Carmelina's Zia's (aunt) picked us up from the place the bus dropped us off (it was literally just the parking lot of a small restaurant in the closest town). About 20 minutes later we are at her daughter's house in town. After some chit chat (luckily in English, as they once lived in Bellmore) we make a whole one house over to have a quick chat with the neighbours (Italian). Then we make it yet one more house over and say hello to Carmelina's grandpa (Italian). After spending some time there we manage to get down the street to the only bar/cafe/convenience store/ card room in town. This happened to be run by her Zia's son. We stopped in to chat and say hello to him (English, also from Bellmore). We would have dinner with his family the following night. Then we made it a few houses down to a relative of Carmelina's where we stopped to say hello and get the key to her house (Italian). Finally we headed towards her house. But wait, we had to stop and say hello to another Zia of hers. This is where we would be eating dinner... but we could not pass without stopping in to say hello (Italian). Then we actually finally took the walk to her house. We had the neighbours help us set up a few things and get a fire going to warm the house up (Italian).
We ate dinner at her Zia's house that night, and there is where I truly learned the meaning of Mangia Mangia Mangia. Here is a note to anyone who may travel to a small town in Italy. 2 bowls of pasta and some bread are just an appetizer for the main course. Actually I'm not quite sure what the main course was because different types of meats and other foods just kept coming and coming. I pride myself on being able to always finish the food on my plate and not to be outdone by anyone else at the table. I met my match. Her Zia can out eat me any day anytime.
So here I am desperately trying to keep up with the onslaught of food. At this point I am praying that it will stop. It is so delicious that I can't say no. Yet it is never ending. Like the old saying goes though... be careful what you wish for..... the phone rings, the food is stopped.
A pipe burst in the house. Water is apparently leaking through the floors. We rush back to the house where her neighbours have already begun fixing the problem. We have to put the fire out, meaning no heat, and we have no running water. That night we slept under about 8 blankets each and a couple of electric heaters. We had to flush the toilets with buckets of water, but I was happy to get a short reprieve from Mangia Mangia Mangia.
I won't bore you with more details of the next day, but I will say that the dinner I had was nothing compared to the amount of food I would consume over the following day. We had the freshest food; everything was homemade, from the pasta to the wine. Some was caught in the woods, from the meat to the chestnuts. Literally from when I woke up to when I went to sleep I was in a constant state of eating. The only time I would get a reprieve was when we would walk somewhere else to go eat more.
For any of you with a facebook account, I have posted all of my pictures from the trip so far on there. If you look below each picture you will usually see a short description of the picture. There are currently two photo albums of pictures on there. For everyone else I will try to find a good site to put my pictures up on in the next day or two.
I will try to post a blog about the rest of my trip tonight or tomorrow. On friday morning I leave Florence :-( but I am going up to Geneva, Switzerland :-). I hope all is well back wherever you are!! Thank you for all of the comments and all of the emails that I have been receiving! I always love hearing from everyone and it keeps me motivated to keep this blog up to date.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Manjia Manjia Manjia
The title literally translates to Eat Eat Eat. This was by far the most used word for these past six days. This would usually be followed by me saying sto bene (I'm good) and/or sono pieno (I'm full). These seemingly pointless phrases were then usually followed by more food being placed on my plate.
So here I am, back in Firenze (Florence). It already almost feels like a second home to me. Well actually with the treatment I got, everywhere I went these past six days could feel like a second home. I feel as though if I truly wish to describe these days I will just babble on and on and probably bore all 10 of you that read this blog. I will do my best to make clear and concise statements. Although I must admit I will probably be leaving a lot out. Over the next couple of days I will make 2-3 posts about the details of the trip.
For now I will just share this - Italian mothers are like Jewish mothers, they want you to eat... a lot! More than you can handle... the difference is where a Jewish Mother may give you a small backpack of food for a five minute walk around the block, the Italian mothers I dealt with, would not let you leave without suitcase full. There are no if, and's, or but's. You accept the fact and enjoy every bite of the most delicious, fresh, homemade food that your taste buds will ever get the chance to experience.
Carmelina and I left for the south early Wednesday morning. It is now Monday night. We have calculated that we spent well over 24 daylight hours on buses, taxis, trains, subways, and cars during the past six days. We are a bit exhausted, a bit fatter, and very happy.
So here I am, back in Firenze (Florence). It already almost feels like a second home to me. Well actually with the treatment I got, everywhere I went these past six days could feel like a second home. I feel as though if I truly wish to describe these days I will just babble on and on and probably bore all 10 of you that read this blog. I will do my best to make clear and concise statements. Although I must admit I will probably be leaving a lot out. Over the next couple of days I will make 2-3 posts about the details of the trip.
For now I will just share this - Italian mothers are like Jewish mothers, they want you to eat... a lot! More than you can handle... the difference is where a Jewish Mother may give you a small backpack of food for a five minute walk around the block, the Italian mothers I dealt with, would not let you leave without suitcase full. There are no if, and's, or but's. You accept the fact and enjoy every bite of the most delicious, fresh, homemade food that your taste buds will ever get the chance to experience.
Carmelina and I left for the south early Wednesday morning. It is now Monday night. We have calculated that we spent well over 24 daylight hours on buses, taxis, trains, subways, and cars during the past six days. We are a bit exhausted, a bit fatter, and very happy.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Southern Adventure
Tomorrow morning Carmelina and myself leave for the small town of San Martino D'Agri. Click Here for some pictures of the town. Carmelina's parents come from this town and she still has lots of family there. It is very very small and decently remote considering we are in Italy. It has actually been a bit of a hassle trying to figure out how to actually get there! We will end up taking a long long bus ride. I am looking forward to seeing Italy on the road! There are many exciting and wonderful things I have heard about this town, but I will not share them now. Rather I will tell what I have learned and experienced when I get back.
Use Google Maps to locate this town.
As you can see, it is in Southern Italy. We will spend a few days down there, and then we will head back up on Saturday. We will then stop in Rome for a couple of days to see that beautiful city that I have learned so much about. In Rome we will be staying with another of Carmelina's relatives!
I am very very excited for all of this. I have been looking forward to this portion of my trip for a long time! Florence, Venice, and the other cities are beautiful.. but I am very excited to see a different side of Italy..
I will most likely be without Internet for the next few days, but I promise to respond to any and all emails when I get back on Monday!
Use Google Maps to locate this town.
As you can see, it is in Southern Italy. We will spend a few days down there, and then we will head back up on Saturday. We will then stop in Rome for a couple of days to see that beautiful city that I have learned so much about. In Rome we will be staying with another of Carmelina's relatives!
I am very very excited for all of this. I have been looking forward to this portion of my trip for a long time! Florence, Venice, and the other cities are beautiful.. but I am very excited to see a different side of Italy..
I will most likely be without Internet for the next few days, but I promise to respond to any and all emails when I get back on Monday!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Money Issues in Europe
Using these four money saving travel ideas, I can travel around Europe for an average of under $100 a week. I am on my own schedule, and I hope to have a much more real and fulfilling experience than any costly Grand European Tour could offer.
When I tell people about my trip that I am taking, I almost always get an immediate reaction. One of the most common reactions deals with money issues. Usually I hear one of the following; "How are you going to pay for this", "Your so lucky your parents are doing this for you", or when I mention I have a one way ticket, "How long are you planning to stay there, Europe is so very expensive".
Well there is some truth and some falsehoods to those quotes. Yes, Europe is probably one of the most, if not the most, expensive places to travel in our present day world. Yes, I am very lucky to have the parents that I have, but they are paying little to nothing in the actual costs of my trips. I have absolutely no idea how long my trip will be, your guess is about as good as mine. Most importantly, I am going to pay for this trip with money I have saved, but especially by travelling smart and cheap.
As I am sure you all know, when travelling it is very easy to spend your money very quickly. Before you know it, you have spent way more money than you budgeted. When I travel usually the opposite happens.
Here's How:
The Actual Travel Part of Travelling; I find the cheap ways to get from place to place. For example I found that if I wanted to fly directly to Florence, Italy from New York, it could cost anywhere from $500-$800. However, if I flew from NY to Dublin, Ireland it would cost $221 (which I was able to get for free, due to credit card points). Europe has a plethora of super discounted airlines, and one could easily get to Florence from Dublin for under $100. So therefore before my trip started I have already saved myself a minimum of $200, with little hassle. This goes on for the rest of my trip. I look to see which is the cheapest or most efficient way for me to travel; planes, trains, or automobiles.
Room; I imagine that for most people, this equates to the most expensive part of travelling. This can totally wiped out or at least reduced with some basic changes. Room is going to cost me little to nothing. I am very lucky, because I know people in Florence, Geneva, and Paris. However, my situation would have been very similar had I not known these people. First off there is the obvious of staying in a hostel. They can be very nice and actually fun places to stay. Additionally they are much cheaper than your average hotel, as long as you don't mind sharing a room with multiple people. However, even sharing a room with 15 other strangers can prove to be quite costly in major cities. But, there are even cheaper and maybe even better options. Such as, Couchsurfing.com. A well run system of where people offer up a spare couch in their house or apartment for free. Peer reviews are left, and you are left with a great free option for sleeping. Many times the hosts will, cook food for their guests, will show their guests around town, offer some advice or act as a friend for a lonely traveller, or will simply offer a safe and free place to spend a few nights. I have tried it, and have talked to many people who have also tried it, and I have heard nothing but the best of reviews about it. I highly suggest anyone who is travelling to check it out! If for whatever reason, couchsurfing isn't your thing, then try to stay just outside of major cities. You will find that hotels/hostels will usually be much cheaper, and there is almost always cheap and efficient transportation into the nearest city.
Food; Personally I love to eat, I love to eat a lot. Without being smart about this, I could easily spend most of my money on food. However, as you may have guessed this will not be happening. I highly suggest you don't save money by skipping meals or not eating, that’s just plain stupid. Rather go for the cheaper eats. For example, don't eat at the fancy restaurants, especially the ones that are right next to some exhibit. Rather go to the local street vendor to grab a bite to eat. You will almost always find the vendor's food to be much much cheaper, and many times even better tasting and more authentic than some fancy place. Also, depending on where you are staying, considering buying food at a local supermarket and making your own meals. Of course there is also drinking alcoholic beverages. There is nothing wrong with wanting to grab a drink every once in awhile, but keep it that. If all you want to do is get drunk, save yourself the time and money and stay home. Drinking could easily become the most expensive part of travelling, with the high prices of alcohol. Getting trashed in some bar in London, will not be much different than getting trashed in some bar back home.
Exhibits; There is much money to be saved here! Only pick the exhibits that you truly want to see for a specific reason. Always look to see if there is a similar experience to be had for much less of the cost. For example I even already made this mistake. I paid 10 Euros to go see the statue of David in the Academia. It was beautiful, it was amazing, I was in awe over it, but I did not need to spend 10 Euros to see it. I could have seen it for FREE! Well almost. In a couple of the local parks in Florence, they have exact replicas of the statue for free for your viewing pleasure. In fact it’s almost better to see it here, because, well, the statue was originally supposed to be outside in a park, not in some museum. Plus in the park you will not have some security guard yelling at you in Italian about taking pictures of a statue! Additionally, you may think your getting the best experience to learn about and see a city in some Museum, or listening to some tour guide tell you about the city... but in fact I truly believe the best way to see and learn about a city is to get up and walk around. Its free, its real, and each person will have their own unique experiences.
End Notes:
I know that these tips will not apply to everyone. I am young and very very flexible in how I travel, but some of these tips could still be used to save plenty of your money!
Sometimes it’s not always worth it to go the cheapest way. For example, it’s not worth spending extra hours travelling or staying in some really dumpy place just to save a few bucks. It’s always important to be smart when travelling. There are plenty of places to find reviews about hostels/hotels/couchsurfing.
Lastly, sometimes when travelling its worth it to treat yourself a little. Spend a night in a hotel or go out to a nice dinner. Make sure you don't get burnt out, but don't splurge too often!
Please feel free to ask questions you may have or make any comments, and I will do my best to reply.
Friday, November 7, 2008
CHEERS
That seemed to be the word to use during my short time in Dublin. Due to some flight delays and other minor problems I only ended up with a few hours for the city. A beautiful city at that. I definitely would have loved to spend more time wondering and getting lost amongst the old buildings and listening to the enjoyable Irish accents.
After some more flight delays and busing problems and such, I eventually made my way to Venice. Again due to some small issues I didn't actually get to see much of venice. However, I certainly got a taste of Venice. Beautiful, and very similiar to how I imagined it to be. It was also quite touristy. Venice was worth seeing, but I am much more excited for other parts of Italy. Particularly when I go down south to the small towns!
Now I have arrived safely in Florence. I was without much sleep or food for the first two days... but now I'm good to go. Ready to explore. I have an excellent host, Carmelina, and her roomates. I am very excited.
I will try to figure out how to post pictures when I get the chance. For now I must go, explore, Italian style.
Things will slow down. I hopefully will not be rushed anymore on my trip. I will able to slowly enjoy myself. Truly take in a city. I'd rather see less, but experience more.
"The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home - and the slow, nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries."
-Rolf Potts, Vagabonding
After some more flight delays and busing problems and such, I eventually made my way to Venice. Again due to some small issues I didn't actually get to see much of venice. However, I certainly got a taste of Venice. Beautiful, and very similiar to how I imagined it to be. It was also quite touristy. Venice was worth seeing, but I am much more excited for other parts of Italy. Particularly when I go down south to the small towns!
Now I have arrived safely in Florence. I was without much sleep or food for the first two days... but now I'm good to go. Ready to explore. I have an excellent host, Carmelina, and her roomates. I am very excited.
I will try to figure out how to post pictures when I get the chance. For now I must go, explore, Italian style.
Things will slow down. I hopefully will not be rushed anymore on my trip. I will able to slowly enjoy myself. Truly take in a city. I'd rather see less, but experience more.
"The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home - and the slow, nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries."
-Rolf Potts, Vagabonding
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