............ MORE VIEWS OF VENICE, where as you can see above , the water level is parallel with the entrances of the homes & buildings, and that's too close for comfort ! And this is at low tide! More in the Venice chapter of my Blog (far down below) about how bad it really gets at high tide! OK, I think I can find a few photos of high tide conditions to put here too, for those who don't want to scroll down that far.

........HIGH TIDE IN VENICE, at Piazza San Marco...
Courtesy of the Internet. These 3 photos of the flooding were not taken by us, and this was obviously summer, but flooding exactly like this occurred just a few days after we left Venice during the end of October and also in November, 2007. It can occur at any time and in any season when there is High Tide; in fact, it occurs very frequently! We were certainly lucky it didn't happen when we were there. I can't help but feel depressed when I see how such a lovely and unique city like Venice is being damaged by its slow but most likely irreversible and unstoppable descent beneath sea level.

.......WALKING THE PLANK ...at the famed St. Mark's Square again.....
The City of Venice does have a solution for those who are stoic enough to brave the wet conditions in this sinking city. It does look like all the pigeons have fled to higher ground, though. And can you imagine how long it must take to see Venice walking these narrow platforms with thousands of tourists??!! These raised platforms are used everywhere there is flooding, from the major piazzas to along the Grand Canal. In dry times they can still be seen stacked in piles, just waiting for the next flood, which is always just around the corner!

........The only pictures in this Journal that we didn't take ourselves, are the few of the flooding in Venice ---because again, Thank Goodness (Or THANK "SAINT MARK"!) we narrowly just missed that in October by about 2 days!! The date on this particular photo is 5-28-07, and again serves to show how severely Venice is affected in all seasons, as it sinks more and more each year.

.......Venice is WONDERFUL in so many ways, but I'd like to start in ROME because that's where our trip began, on October 6, 2007. Naturally, we didn't actually arrive til the next day, October 7 ! Our 2 flights from Chicago to Toronto, and then from there to Rome were on Air Canada and were very long and tedious, but uneventful. And UNEVENTFUL is the way I like 'em because this was the FIRST time we conquered our fear of flying, (developed only over the last 23 years), long enough to fly that far again. So SAFETY was our main concern, and that went beautifully, THANK GOD!! ...Well.....if you don't count the fact that I, exhausted before one flight, tripped over my luggage, then off-balance (still holding onto my heavy bags) staggered zig-zag downhill quite a ways down the boarding ramp, then finally "landed", finishing off this "class act" by slamming my head very hard on the wall getting into the plane! There was a big swollen bump on my head for a week, and my knee didn't fare too well either!! But from my family's hysterical laughter afterwards, I understand that it was all a pretty comical sight! (They all know how "accident prone" I am!! I fall more than once on every trip!)

Also, later on that same flight, someone spilled a whole bottle of red wine on the plane, and wouldn't you know it was ME who stepped in it with only my socks on! But apart from that, and some MAJOR "R.L.S" (Restless Leg Syndrome) which made sleeping on the 10 hour flight impossible - NOTHING BAD to report!! This all just made me wish I had gotten SOME sleep the night before, instead of spending the whole night PACKING!! OH, there was JUST ONE movie shown on board and that movie really sucked too---but that's neither here nor there.

After meeting family and friends at the airport for our happy reunion, we all took 2 taxi cabs (we needed 2 taxis to accommodate all of us) to our rented apartment in Rome. Even though this apartment was a "no frills" experience (described more fully later) it couldn't have been better located, very central to all major tourist attractions, and that was most important to us. In fact, it was just a few blocks from PIAZZA VENEZIA (one of my favorites, pictured ABOVE), where sits, like a noble Roman Emperor, an enormous and magnificent monument to "celebration and victory" and where the "tomb of the unknown soldier" is always faithfully guarded. Many tourists call this beautiful white monument the "Wedding Cake", due to its appearance.

OK, a bit BELOW you will find the "IMPORTANT INFO" that I somehow felt was "necessary" for you to know (but probably isn't!) I'm sorry if any of this is repeated elsewhere, but that is probably OK, because nobody is going to read even 1/10th of this Blog anyway! LOL .... But I'm going to forge on ahead anyway, and hope you will too! :-)

**** INTRODUCTION TO ROME ****

......FROM MAJESTIC BUILDINGS & MONUMENTS LIKE PIAZZA VENEZIA (above) AND HERE AT "IL CAMPIDOGLIO" (where Settimio and I are standing)........ TO THE SACRED VATICAN CITY AND ST. PETER'S SQUARE....

.....WITH LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND GREAT TIMES SPENT TOGETHER WITH LOVED ONES SO FAR AWAY......

......... TO CHARMING & ROMANTIC COURTYARDS AND QUAINT COBBLESTONE STREETS......

THIS IS ITALY, AND THIS IS ROME !! WE'RE FINALLY HERE AGAIN!!
ROME *IS* SENZA DUBBIO (WITHOUT DOUBT) ALL THEY SAY IT IS, INCLUDING

*************** THE ETERNAL CITY !! ****************


**WELCOME TO OUR TRIP TO ITALY** ************OCTOBER 2007 ************



PLEASE NOTE: For those who are NOT "avid readers" (because you're dealing with a VERY AVID WRITER, here!) you may want to skip most of the Journal below, and just look at the pictures instead. But for those who have a passion for reading, there is a LOT to read here!! (TOO MUCH!! Someday when I have time, I will try to eliminate anything I may have said more than once.) Again, the writing & photos below cover our 3 - week trip to ROME, NETTUNO, VENICE, & ANZIO (plus visits with our Italian family), and are divided into "CHAPTERS" OF CITIES visited in that order. My writing depicts MY feelings and viewpoints, (and often those of other family members as well). WE ALL LOVE ITALY, please have no doubt about that, but I didn't write ONLY about Italy's charms and beauty. Any honest account of a person's feelings, a trip, a country or anything else necessitates telling much more --(as much of the good as possible, but also some of the negative aspects). I tried to do this as best I could, in my own way, and ALWAYS sincerely, based solely on our experiences during this trip, and our other trips and visits to many various regions of Italy. My writing was made easier also by the insight into Italy I obtained from living 3 years in Rome in the early 1970's. I thought it would be fun to finally share my feelings, views and knowledge about Italy in this format with others, and it was especially interesting for us to see how Italy and Italians have changed through the decades.

PLEASE NOTE that 100 % of what I have written is WITHOUT embellishments of any kind.. They are my own true experiences and my own opinions, in my own words. They are NOT influenced by or taken from any other source. But again, you should know that I'm very opinionated, so if any of my views are different from anyone else's and anyone is offended by that, I sincerely do apologize. Absolutely no offense is intended ever in writing this Journal. Each post on this Blog has a place to comment, if anyone would like to post a message to me. I welcome and appreciate all comments! The only thing I really REGRET is getting carried away and writing SO DARN MUCH!! ...Again, writing a "BOOK" was NOT my intention when I set off on this writing venture, OR ADVENTURE, as it turned out for me! So, to all of you who have made it even this far, THANKS FOR STOPPING BY !! I APPRECIATE YOUR INTEREST!

UPDATE: I would like to thank our lovely daughter Sonia for supplying the FIRST 50 PHOTOS you just saw above. She majored in photography, video and film-making in college, but nowadays is kept SO busy with her career in another field, and traveling for the company she works for that she doesn't have much time to dabble in that hobby. So I wanted to share with you her 50 photos as well as ours, because even though her camera is not the best, she has gotten some really cool and different shots in Italy, which I think really add the PERFECT finishing touch to really show all the many faces and facets of Italy, as well as Sonia's PASSION for photography ---that apparently runs in the family!!

Unfortunately, Sonia sent those photos to us very late, only AFTER I had already completed my ENTIRE Photo-Journal on Italy, which I knew was already WAY over- loaded as it was. Due to certain website limitations and glitches here, as well as lack of time (I had to finish this for Christmas!) I was unable to insert and incorporate her photos within the appropriate "CHAPTERS" of this Journal, so that's why you see them all at the top. Also, since I had to write & post additional comments to frame the pictures above as well, this makes this Blog even MORE MASSIVE THAN BEFORE (and unfortunately resulted also in some repetition) ......AS YOU WILL SEE by the over 200 photos of Italy and "1,000" facts and opinions I've posted below!!
So for those of you who were hoping this was the end, it's NOT....Sorry!! LOL, the major part of my Blog on Italy is just beginning now!


HOW TO USE THIS BLOG: FIRST, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BLOWING UP SOME OF THE PHOTOS BY CLICKING ON THEM. Clicking on the individual pictures will blow them up tremendously. This is when all the beauty and charms of Italy really come to life, in incredibly vivid detail!! You will see it's like stepping into the scenery, and almost being there yourself!! The small pictures cannot do justice to the way we actually saw everything, but the blown up images do. My husband and I took ALL the photos below with a decent digital camera, so they should be high enough quality even when blown up.

THE BEST WAY to see all the photos & commentary SLOWLY and smoothly without missing any, is to scroll using your computer's UP/DOWN KEYS. In addition, using the scroll bar on the far right of your screen will of course allow you to jump quickly from place to place. Also, I experienced a very annoying "glitch" at times on this website with the controls for "TEXT SIZE", (mostly finally corrected) but if the text size you see appears either too large or too small, you can adjust it in your computer's Tool Bar (under VIEW, or something similar).

There is NO need to click on the individual posts with pink lettering on the side bar (unless you want to see only certain pictures or text) because doing that only displays one to several posts at a time. I apologize to all the computer-savvy readers here, but my husband INSISTED that I post these instructions and suggestions, because HE was totally confused about how to use this site when he first saw it! (But then I've found that there is A LOT about surfing the web that Settimio doesn't know ---only because he doesn't do it very often! :-) Also, some members of his own family have only very recently purchased and used a computer for the very FIRST time, so these helpful hints might be useful to them. UPDATE: Settimio is happy that I created this Journal, and proudly told his whole Italian family on Christmas Day about it!!) Now, I just HOPE they'll "approve" of what I've written about their country ! ! ! Most of them can't read it, but some of the younger ones DO understand English!


AND FINALLY.....DID SOMEONE SAY BLOGGING WAS EASY???
AGAIN, PLEASE try to excuse any repetitions, imperfections or technical glitches you may find in my Blog, because I have already gone back and "tweaked" things many times now, (being as 'anal' as I am !! ) In part also because I have been plagued with many different problems, mostly of a technical nature, in creating this "Monster" but I'll spare you most of the details, because I have a big headache now and don't want to give YOU one too!! However, you should know that there is still one "glitch" I don't know how to resolve. And that is a LONG THICK GRAY BAR that runs horizontally across a post or photo in the "Nettuno" Chapter, partially blocking it ---but luckily affects ONLY ONE POST!

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: This isn't a glitch, but because the blogging format here is that all posts get uploaded automatically from bottom to top, I've had to think, recall and write everything in REVERSE ORDER of how it really happened, starting at the bottom of the blog, (where I needed to put the END of the trip) AND GO UP FROM THERE. Trust me, composing and posting everything BACKWARDS in perfect chronological order this way is NOT EASY! Especially since I didn't do a lot of pre-post planning; I just wrote as I went along, but I finally got everything in the proper order I think. As for all the other technical problems I experienced, (not mentioned), I guess I should have read the "Tech Manual" again, but not to worry, I DID eventually correct 99% of the these irregularities, (again, it's the "anal" thing!)
In spite of all the headaches, this Photo Journal has been a "labor of love" for me ---Some days I even had fun writing it!! ;-) I value, appreciate and thank those who provided this online "Blogger" website, which on the whole is fantastic! So I hope that you'll find some interest and a little enjoyment on MY Blog, somewhere in the midst of all the confusion! : -)

............From Left to Right, in 1st Dinner Photo: MAURIZIO (son of Irene), IRENE, (Settimio's sister in red blouse), ME, (JOANN), SARA (our niece), ROMANA (Settimio's other sister), and SONIA (our daughter). Claudio got cut off on this one.



...........From Left to Right, in 2nd Dinner Photo:
ROMANA , SILVIA (our niece, Sonia's cousin), SONIA, (our daughter), CLAUDIO, (our son-in-law), ANTONIO (Romana's hubby), SETTIMIO, (my husband) and SARA again.
Actually, most of Settimio's family doesn't call him by his birth name - they call him "MIMMO", (a kind of nickname) as I once did.

My apologies to all who already know all this, for my stating the obvious, but some people reading my Blog don't know everyone .

.... So now that I've introduced you to OUR ITALIAN FAMILY, (or at least the ones appearing in this Blog), I need to point out that there are 2 more of Settimio's wonderful sisters (Sandra and Gabriella) to whom we also paid a visit during this October 2007 trip, but Sonia took those pictures with her camera and now 6 weeks later, still hasn't sent them to us!) We had a fabulous Italian dinner at Sandra, Gabriella and Irene's separate apartments in Rome, but the 2 photos above were taken at Antonio & Romana's house in Nettuno (an hour away). I described all these delicious dinners in my Blog, shortly before the VENICE PICTURES begin.

P.S: Romana is a FANTASTIC COOK, always busy, and a No-Nonsense Italian Mamma!! Antonio works SO hard to put food on the table, (they own 2 grocery stores!) and Sara & Silvia are such sweethearts, and pretty girls too!! Irene and Maurizio also have hearts of pure gold and are very loving. We LOVED seeing everyone again, ..... but MORE about all of them later!

SOME PERSONAL BACKGROUND INFO: This is the first time Settimio and I have been back in Italy in 23 years, since 1984. Fear of flying, work considerations for both of us and other factors made long trips to Italy difficult for us, so we have been back only 3 times since our marriage in Rome in 1973. Our daughter Sonia has now been to Italy 3 times too, (twice with us), and at different ages, 6, 17, and now 29. In my early 20's I lived in Rome for 3 years (where I met my husband), and where I did various jobs like English teaching & tutoring -- (for various people, including a family of Missionaries and a pilot for Alitalia Airlines), fashion modeling for a clothing store, and child care for several families (both live-in and live-out). I sure could write "ANOTHER BOOK" ON THOSE YEARS (but I won't!) on all the interesting people in Italy I have known and all my Italian adventures! LOL . But I digress.....

We have always kept closely in touch by letter and telephone with Settimio's family, but far too many years have passed since we last saw them. However, all their kids have come to visit us many times thru the years, (mostly as teenagers) and we've enjoyed showing them around Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida. The most recent visit was from Romana's daughter, MANUELA and her boyfriend MARIO, just last year. They are pictured many times in my Blog, but way down below, in the 2006 FLORIDA TRIP PHOTOS, when they flew to Orlando to vacation with the 4 of us. We all had a GREAT TIME, needless to say!

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE, which I've always loved. It is SO BEAUTIFUL, especially in song, and I've always listened to A LOT of Italian music and Italian singers !! (I'm particularly "into" Tenors - as you may notice elsewhere in this Blog! : -)) I even brought along CDs of my favorite Tenors, like MARIO LANZA, VITTORIO GRIGOLO, MICHAEL AMANTE, and a few others. Mario Lanza of course, everyone my age and older remembered and loved! The others they were unfamiliar with. A lot of our Italian family in Italy didn't seem to be into classical singers or opera at all, though. Maybe great singers are just TOO commonplace in Italy!!

Anyway, I was very pleased to hear so many nice compliments given to me about MY Italian during this trip, even after all these years. Especially since the extensive and complex GRAMMAR of this lovely language is a real KILLER!! So I was VERY happy that I hadn't forgotten too much of the Italian I knew and spoke so fluently when I lived in Rome. This is probably because I had kept it up a bit through the years and we have Italian friends. Plus, it sure helps being married to and living with a native Italian for 35 years who won't LET me forget his language!! His knowledge of English was virtually ZERO for several years after we met. Thru our married years Settimio has continued to talk to me in Italian very often, and all throughout my first 5 years with him, I spoke to him in ITALIAN ONLY, until I finally put my foot down and said, "You've GOT to learn English!" Not surprising, since we were living in the USA then.

One regret is that we never taught Italian to Sonia, but that seemed an impossible task with all the other demands of parenthood and life. Besides, I was always too busy teaching my husband ENGLISH!! Sonia, now married 6 years, studied Spanish & Portuguese in high school and college, and her husband, Claudio is from BRAZIL, so he speaks Portuguese as well as English very well. However, it would have been GREAT if Sonia had been able to speak Italian with everyone in Italy, as her Italian aunts often remind us. But she and Claudio at least understood quite a bit, because of their knowledge of Spanish, ...the 2 languages have many similarities! As for Settimio....he now speaks English SO well for so many years, that HE gets stuck occasionally trying to recall an ITALIAN word! Sometimes I've even proudly been able to tell him what it is! hahahahaha

.........We couldn't believe when we rented the apartment in Rome that it would be sitting right on top of a "gold mine" --- some ancient Roman ruins!! These were within a block from our apartment! But naturally, the greater part of the Eternal City IS ancient, so that shouldn't have surprised us so much. After all, we got an apartment right in the historic center to make it easier to see everything. (And it took me nearly 2 months of searching online to FIND just the right apartment in Rome and Venice too!) So we set out to explore these less famous ancient ruins right in "our backyard", and here I am to take you on a guided tour, along with Settimio and our old friend MARCO, who was SO happy to see us again. (BELOW) . He took off considerable time from his job to spend many days with us, and we'll always be very grateful to him for that, as well as everything else he and his wife, Giacinta did for us.

NOW A FEW WORDS ABOUT OUR APARTMENT: It had 3 big rooms ( one double bedroom plus a sofa bed in living room) and a small bathroom. The worst part about it was that there were NO windows at all, and the shower stall was SO small that if you dropped the soap or shampoo, you literally could not bend over to pick it up! The BEST thing about the apt. (in a truly ancient building) was it's excellent central location and its decor, arched ceilings lined with original looking ancient bricks and oriental carpets. It also had a kitchen corner with refrigerator and microwave, which came in handy for breakfast sometimes. Oh, and the very best thing of all was the price: $150 per day, which is a real 'steal' in Central Rome!! Of course, it took me over one month of constant internet searching to finally find one like this, as most were already booked up 4 months in advance. But if anyone could find a good deal in Rome or anywhere, it would be ME ! Finding ways to save money has always been one of my many passionate hobbies!! This is something you all ought to know, to understand why I talk about prices so much in this 'Journal' about Italy. Getting an apartment rather than a hotel in Rome and Venice was the best solution for the 4 of us, and more economical.







.........The 2 cats sleeping on the red car above, so near the ruins, may be OLD, but they're not ancient ---- at least I don't think so!) I was always on the look-out for Roman cats, who are famous for sleeping on cars, in the ruins and everywhere else. On our second day here I petted one who came up to us, because he seemed so friendly, until I discovered that he had a "dark side"! LOL I guess without food for him, I was still the enemy! I think after this I'll stick to petting my own gentle and precious Persian cats!!

.........AND NOW FOR THE SERIOUS, MAJOR, BIG TIME ANCIENT RUINS!! THESE NEXT pictures we snapped are the well known, FAMOUS ruins which comprise the ROMAN FORUM, and just at the end of the Roman Forum, is the Colosseum. I spent many a day in my younger years here picking up wild stray kittens BORN & raised in the Forum, and getting BADLY scratched in the process!! TALK ABOUT VICIOUS!! I think the OLD cats that lounge around on cars in the city are the gentle ones!! (Well, for the most part!)

.........Claudio was proud to get his picture taken below with the handsome police officers, ("Carabinieri" in Italian) - because he has long DREAMED of being a policeman. He has even taken the official exam once, as passing it is a prerequisite for acceptance and training for the Police Dept. in Orlando, FL. We're all still hoping he'll reapply to take the exam again, when he has more time to pursue this ambition.
OH, that GOLD STATUE below on the street leading to the Colosseum is really a LIVE person inside, a "human statue" who is asking for money, but at least doing it in an original way, unlike the much more common beggars in Italy and elsewhere so often encountered.

.......3 VIEWS OF THE COLOSSEUM - (in Italian, "Colosseo") and it is AMAZING. We didn't go inside it this time (we did other times) but we managed to get a REAL closeup view of the side of it with the third photo below. It was, of course, much more impressive in it's "hey day" because it was completely covered in MARBLE, which later was stripped off it (stolen, as it were.) Naturally, I don't like it's history of brutal "entertainment" enjoyed thousands of years ago by the ancient Romans, (throwing people to the lions and such). But when has ANY civilization thru the ages ever been completely civilized?? Even in our most modern times of today, even in my own country the USA, we can find many examples of barbarism by individuals against their fellow man, (and especially against women and children).

......SO IT'S STILL A JUNGLE OUT THERE! EXCEPT NOWADAYS the only "victims" of the Colosseum and other heavy tourist spots in Rome are the unlucky travelers who fall victim to the thieving GYPSIES, and we heard that this is one of their favorite hunting grounds. We were all a little worried, because Sonia usually carried a big purse with a long strap, though for safety's sake, she carried it always in front of her, at least. Motorcyclists also often grab purse straps from the street while buzzing by, knocking pedestrians over in the process. This happened to 2 of Settimio's sisters, friends and many others. We heard & read all the usual warnings before embarking on this trip, including the helpful (?) hint that it's impossible nowadays to tell WHO the thieves are, because even the Gypsies don "normal" clothes today to better fit in with the crowd and not draw attention to themselves. NOT SO in the past.... In fact, Sonia said that when she visited the Colosseum in 1995 that she saw many Gypsies who were NOT disguised at all and were swarming all over the place in their odd, very distinctive clothes. Even Sonia's best friend, ( LAURA on the same trip with Sonia), got robbed by them, that very day! But Sonia, remarking on her observations this year, said that if the Gypsies were still there, they sure blended in well !

..........Of course no visit to Rome would ever be complete without seeing the TREVI FOUNTAIN and tossing that fabled coin over your shoulder, praying that someday you may return! And since it's probably THE MOST photographed fountain of all in Rome, we also took close to 10 photos of it, but I guess these 3 will suffice for you to realize how beautiful it is. There was the usual mob of tourists milling around, so we were lucky to get such good shots. BTW, the other fountain after the Trevi below is pretty grand too, and was always one of my favorites at PIAZZA DELLA REPUBLICA.

.............ST. PETER'S SQUARE - We took plenty of photos here, - so here's some more! I mean, you didn't think you'd see JUST ONE of such an important and sacred tourist site, did you?? I like this picture of Sonia (on the left) and her cousin Sara because they look SO happy, and they were! Cousins meeting again after almost 13 years! And I think they're both lovely girls too. These pictures show both sides of the Piazza and the impressive marble columns, with the Basilica in the middle where 5 of us were gathered for another group photo. The long line of people hoping to enter the Basilica was wrapped around the perimeters of the Piazza.

.
..........The Pope was nowhere to be seen on this day (it wasn't a Sunday). We only got one fountain in this picture, but there are really TWO identical fountains in St. Peter's Square. And now for a few pictures of the INTERIOR of the Basilica. The pictures are a little dark, so we only took a few which don't come even close to capturing the true immensity and beauty inside,...not to mention the obstacles posed by hundreds of tourists inside at every given moment, which got in the way of our camera action! However, in the picture above of the Piazza and fountain, you can also see how difficult it was to EVEN GET INSIDE, because as I said, OUTSIDE there was a very long and dense line of people waiting, which literally wrapped around the entire Square! Things were never that bad at St. Peter's when I lived there! (So..Romana, being the usual "Efficiency Expert", insisted that WE take a "little shortcut"! lol, Once inside the church, there was much more order, as they only let a certain number of people inside at once.

.......Sonia and Claudio with a clear view of the CASTEL SANT'ANGELO (a Roman castle I don't remember ever being inside but I believe Sonia took a guided tour of it on her 1995 trip). It's right in the Center of Rome, very close to St. Peter's. (And as always, whenever there is a tourist attraction present, you can be sure that the souvenir sellers are not far away!) The next photo is another view of the castle in the distance, from one of the many magnificent bridges over the Tiber River, which have stood for many centuries.



........We walked over 8 hours a day in Rome, nearly every day, so we were glad that the Castle was just maybe 6 blocks from St. Peters. No matter what, WALKING SURE BEATS DRIVING IN ROME, ANY DAY!!

.......NOW, ARE YOU READY FOR MY ROME TRAFFIC REPORT?? I can't leave THAT out, since Rome is infamous for it's crazy traffic. Again, there is no doubt that as crowded as the tiny sidewalks are on most streets, DRIVING in Rome is far, far worse than walking, and always has been. TAKING CITY BUSES (as over-crowded as they are too ----thus, the Metro subway system being the better choice) is also preferable over driving a car in Rome. It is SO bad now that driving in certain areas and streets of the city, believe it or not, is even AGAINST THE LAW NOW, (UNLESS you can prove you live in that area)!! The Italians complain bitterly about this, (including Marco & Antonio) and I don't blame them.

On THIS trip, we noticed even MORE cars, (if that's possible!) but oddly enough, many of the cars have definitely gotten BIGGER this year (while the streets are as narrow as ever!) This has made the problems worse. Many of the cars are now the same size Americans drive, though we also saw a lot of "miniature" cars, much smaller than our compact cars. Settimio's car in Italy when I lived there was a blue Fiat 500, and probably the smallest car in THOSE days. Even in that car I felt like I was in a tin can, with my knees pressed up against the dashboard. Thank God we never had an accident in that car!

MOTORCYCLES this year buzzed all over more than ever before, NOT SURPRISINGLY since they can squeeze in places that no car can go. I noticed also a huge increase in designated areas for parking them. Certain areas on regular streets looked like parking lots for motorcycle dealerships! Sonia was always taking pictures of this. These noisy motorcycles and scooters were bombarding us every time we tried to cross the streets, but somehow managed to stop on a dime before hitting us. ONLY because we DID cross on the designated white lines for avoiding getting run over. Italians still drive crazy to me, but who wouldn't, in that horrendous traffic?? Even the buses don't move during rush hour or whatever other "event" is being blamed for their slowness ---like the big political demonstrations one day we saw that delayed our arrival somewhere by 2 hours.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, something amazing and good seems to have happened too with the traffic. Where did all the car horn honking go?? It used to be SO bad, but this year we all noticed how much it had diminished. Can't figure out why! There is also a "good scoop" I can give you regarding the "Pooper Scooper" laws. IF they ever existed, THEY are finally being respected!! The only place we stepped in dog dung was in VENICE, NOT ROME during this trip! Dog poop left laying everywhere was a big pet peeve of mine (and my mother's!) on our 1980's trip and in the '70's, when the sidewalks were totally out of control. So it was a real pleasure to walk around this time and not have to worry about smelling bad all day. Thank God for small miracles, eh??

.........Next I will talk about COMMERCE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES in Italy but first, enjoy this view from the TOP of the famous SPANISH STEPS, of the street and piazza below. You can see the same view from on top of the Pincio hill, where there is an enormous and beautiful park we visited. If you click on the photo to blow it up, you can see more clearly just how crowded the streets are with tourists. You can even see PEOPLE inside the windows of the pink building!

.....Here is one view of the TIBER RIVER which runs through Rome, dividing it in half. I'm disappointed that my other photo of it (a totally different and better view) got somehow deleted after I uploaded it (par for the course, here!) :-( ---Later we crossed the river to Trastevere again, which is just one of several residential areas of Rome where I lived in the 1970's. I remember passing and crossing the Tiber River many times on foot and by bus, on my way to the various jobs I held there for 3 years. I may have mentioned elsewhere that those jobs included teaching English to various students young and old, (including a family of missionaries and a pilot for Alitalia Airlines), fashion modeling for a clothing store, and child care, both live-in and live-out. Most of these jobs paid very little, like $1.00 to $2.00 per hour. After all, it was the early 1970's!

...COMMERCE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES




........PRODUCE MARKETS are plentiful in Rome and all Italian cities, and we found the QUALITY to be excellent and always very colorful. However, you can't always buy the QUANTITY you want. One example: I wanted to buy a small bunch of big red juicy "Globe" grapes (my favorite) to snack on while we walked, (Blood sugar running low!) but the seller wouldn't separate/break the huge bunches he had, which were enormous, way too much for me. Not too accommodating. .......but customer accommodation is not a feature of many of these outdoor markets (MORE about that later!) There was no one else selling this variety of grapes there, but later at another market, I did find what I was looking for.

.......SUPERMARKETS: Usually at the BIG SUPERMARKETS in Italy it is much easier to get what you want and how you want it, so we checked those out too quite a few times, and we all found them much more to our liking. (Didn't think to get pictures of them though!) That's because they were too much like our own modern supermarkets, but it was a nice feeling at times to feel so much "at home". The supermarkets in Italy were one of the BEST examples I saw of modern convenience and practicality in a country that often is lacking in this area. I was really impressed with the system they have of having the customer weigh produce themselves AND apply the correct price sticker, after it came out of a little machine in the produce department. I've never seen this in any American supermarket, though I suppose it may exist somewhere - it's a BIG country!

....LABELS & STICKER SHOCK!....Italy employs the same system we do of electronic product scanning at the largest stores. One interesting difference I found was that most Italian packaged food products have the WEIGHT listed on the BACK of the product, while the weight in our country is stated on the FRONT of the package. In addition, the nutritional information of some food products in Italy was not divulged on the label, though for most of them it was. These are small details, but I've always been a very detail-oriented person - as you can probably tell!! But the biggest "detail" I noticed was how very similar the stores & supermarkets are in both our countries, only the language, products and prices change....with a BIG emphasis on "PRICES", because we noticed that everything in general cost considerably more in Italy. Clothing, shoes, boots, home appliances, (to name a few) prices were out of this world!

Sonia checked out all the shops for a pair of leather boots in the style she preferred, and the least expensive of those she could find were well over $200 - and UP. My husband pointed out something he spotted too - a popular brand-name food mixer which costs approx. $200 HERE in the USA, was advertised (same mixer, same brand) in Italy for $1,200 - 6 times more!!! We purchased very little this trip to bring home, because even Italian 'liquore' (which Settimio appreciates) like Sambuca wasn't worth buying, especially with the dollar to euro exchange ratio. When it came to Italian prices, we were NOT 'happy campers!'

..........COMPUTERS & SATELLITE TELEVISION: Two other modern conveniences Italy shares with the USA, of course, are their COMPUTERS & SATELLITE TV, with an impressive 200 channels enjoyed by some! ( I'm happy with one-tenth those channels, and don't need all that *nudity* we saw on late night television either via Satellite ). I always knew that Europe in general has far fewer restrictions on showing full frontal nudity on regular programming, and Italy is no exception. Everyone has a T.V. set there, of course, but we learned that many fewer Italians own computers compared to the USA. Many of our own relatives in Italy of OUR generation don't own computers, and a few others just purchased them very recently for the first time. I'm always "shocked" when I hear someone doesn't own or even want one, but that's because nowadays so many of us ARE either dependent on or addicted to computers.

Also, computers and virtually ALL electronic devices and machines cost a great deal MORE in Italy, than in America, especially imported products. Luckily at Romana's house in Nettuno, BOTH communication services were installed, though, always being on the go, we sure didn't have much time to surf the web or watch Satellite TV. But the T.V. set was usually on during meal times and I was finally able to get some news about those horrible wild fires that ravaged California during that time and destroyed so much!!.....very bad, sad news indeed!

........HEATING, AIR CONDITIONING, ELECTRICITY, TELEPHONE, GASOLINE: As an Italian mobster or Wise-Guy would say, "Forget about it!!" LOL Not that they're cheap commodities in America either....but for example, even though Italy uses a different electric power system (220 volts, instead of 110 volts we use) and their type of electricity costs LESS than ours, for some reason their electric & heating bills are SO astronomical that many or most Italians don't heat their electric water tanks continuously. They only turn them on when needed, and when that hot water runs out --- well you're out of luck until the water tank heats the water up again, IF you turn it on again. When I lived in Italy way back when, and rented a room by the month, I had to pay extra every single day for taking a shower, and the hot water would barely last thru the shower before turning cold. It's the same system today in many homes and apartments in Italy, and I was surprised that things hadn't changed in this regard.

...NOW WE'RE BOTH PUZZLED....One thing my husband has always been perplexed about is WHY, in such a modern country as America, its big city streets are lined with ugly electric and telephone poles and lines. In Italy the lines are UNDERGROUND in the cities - thus invisible. I told him I don't know the reason but I assume the lines are exposed in the USA for ease of reaching them for repair, and because it's a lot of work to bury them. But then he further pointed out that IT'S BECAUSE THEIR ABOVE GROUND that they so often NEED REPAIR! (Due to bad weather or accidents involving them, for example). And he just may well be right -- this time! : -)

When it comes to AIR CONDITIONING, most homes in Italy today STILL don't have it (except the rich). It would be very expensive to run. In business establishments, like shops, air conditioning is also much less common than in America, and in the 1970's didn't exist at all. Even far fewer CARS in Italy have air-conditioning, compared to the U.S, where virtually ALL cars have it. (Though lots of Italian drivers DO have modern navigational systems installed in their cars.) Most Italians drive manual transmission cars, not automatics. Thus, automatic transmissions are harder to obtain (more scarce) in rental vehicles, and cost considerably more to rent. They are too greatly in demand by Americans....WE should know because we rented one and got out of the deal just in the nick of time, when we found out how much gasoline cost to drive it!! That's when we decided to take the TRAIN to Venice & back instead, which all things considered, was a much better deal!! (We took a fast train, the EURO STAR, which got us from Rome to Venice in 6 hours.) Gasoline prices in Italy in October 2007 were about 1.38 Euros per liter, or between $7 and $8 PER GALLON. And if things don't start improving with OUR energy crisis pretty soon, OUR fuel costs might end up there too!!

As for TELEPHONE SERVICE----well that has always been very costly in Italy, where long distance charges applied (per minute) even WITHIN THE SAME CITY (At least 3 decades ago in Rome when I lived there, so you can bet I didn't linger on the phone!). That may have changed now or rather, become irrelevant with the advent of CELL PHONES, and cell phones, just like all over the world, are EVERYWHERE in Italy. We noticed that everyone had one, even the most shabbily dressed foreign vendors selling flowers and umbrellas to tourists.

............FOOD, PIZZA, & RESTAURANT COMPARISONS BETWEEN OUR 2 COUNTRIES ....
Marco and his wife, Giacinta, took Settimio and I to a great little restaurant in Trastevere, where the pizza was very good! But one big difference we've seen is that NO Italian pizza is piled high with stuff like our American pizzas often are. Likewise, the portion sizes of entree dishes are much smaller in Italian restaurants in Italy, as are the "side dishes" too. Another difference: In America, more often than not, the menu lists COMPLETE meals (i.e., Entre`, salad & side dish), ALL included as one dinner under one price. Not so in Italy; Almost always each food item must be ordered separately, ala carte, and are priced separately. The concept of smaller portions is a good thing (something most Americans can benefit from!).

....WATCH THOSE CALORIES IN ITALY! ...We were amazed that MOST people in Italy were not considerably overweight, and truly most of the YOUNG men & women were slender and in good shape! (and of course fashionably dressed!)----which always surprises me because ITALIANS DO EAT, and put a 'ton' of oil on their dishes, and consume a LOT of fried, battered foods. When I lived in Italy in my early 20's, EVEN the pizzas were DRENCHED in oil !! So much so, that I often asked for a separate plate to POUR some of it off ! I also ALWAYS cut the fat off all my meat at the table, (still do of course) against the loud protestations of an Italian family member (now deceased) who considered doing that a waste of "good" food! YES, believe it or not!! So I tried to eat a healthy diet even in my young days in Italy, but it's SO hard to avoid oil in Italy, it's everywhere! Nowadays the pizza makers, at least, seem to have lightened up on the oil. So, I ordered mushroom pizza a few times, which is usually served in Italy as individual pizzas in restaurants, and by the slice at snack bars. I almost never eat pizza in the U.S. anymore, but in Italy it is very popular and everywhere in many different varieties, so we wanted to try a few different kinds!

....MORE ABOUT FOOD! - At THIS restaurant with Marco, I got 1/4 chicken with a side dish of potatoes, instead of pizza, just because I finally found chicken on a menu! (More elsewhere about why it was hard to find). VEAL is extremely popular in Italy and served many different ways. We also ate veal, even though Sonia and I had some reservations about enjoying the taste of "baby cows". I often wanted to order vegetables in restaurants, but the choices were limited, and what veggies they had were either loaded with oil OR battered and fried - naturally! Marco and Settimio liked the fried/battered artichokes specialty one restaurant served near our apartment. Antipasto items are also always present on Italian dinner tables, and include many items that Americans put in salads,... whereas most salads in Italy contain lettuce and little or nothing else. (Nobody could make a WHOLE MEAL out of an Italian salad, the way we Americans often do!) I absolutely know that upon seeing everything many Americans put all mixed together in their salads, most Italians would say, "CHE SCHIFO!!" (That means, "How Disgusting!!") It was really at the snack bars for American & other tourists that I saw the most "substantial" salads. They appeared to know what we like!! The various sandwiches were quite good there and warmed up or toasted when requested. There is a photo of them at the top of this Blog, before my introduction --- and also piles of sandwiches pictured in the Venice section.

...WINE & DRINKING: Another big difference of course is that WINE is nearly always a fixture on every Italian dinner table, (not nearly as much in America) but you already knew that!! Teenagers are normally allowed to drink wine at home with dinner too. Perhaps because of this, they don't consider wine or alcohol SO special or forbidden (like American under-age teenagers often do) so as a consequence tend to have less problems over alcohol than our 'youngsters'. Just my opinion. IN THE PHOTO BELOW, you can see the pizza man busily making the pizza crust. (Sorry it's so blurry - in fact all the photos taken in this restaurant came out strange -- blurry and yellow - I don't know why!) I'm also sorry to go on & on so much about food and restaurants in Italy, especially since I also talked about this at length at the end of the NETTUNO "CHAPTER" of this Blog - but that was primarily to rave about the wonderful dinners that Settimio's sisters made for our benefit! HONESTLY, I didn't come to Italy to eat! ;-) Wink, Wink


.........MARCO & GIACINTA....Below are some views of the street life in Trastevere, with Marco and Giacinta and me. Also a bakery we stopped in where Marco bought some sweets for his equally sweet wife! They have been married about 10 years, (Giacinta is Marco's second wife) and we could tell how happy they are together, always kissing, hugging and holding hands. They have much in common as a couple too and we enjoyed our visit with them SO much! They also invited us to dinner at their house where Giacinta cooked a wonderful and very healthy meal, including fresh fruit from her parents' orchard & vineyard. Their apartment was super nice, with an especially beautiful and spacious kitchen. Marco showed us the various collections he has and we all enjoyed a most enjoyable time together. Settimio and Marco have been good friends since their school days, and this is the first time they've seen each other since our last visit in 1984. Although when we sent Sonia to Italy in 1995 to visit her Italian relatives and see Venice and Rome, Marco was kind enough to spend a couple days with Sonia and her friend Laura too, showing them around! Again, what a nice guy!!



...........WHAT KIND OF TENOR ARE YOU??....I forgot to mention something that really belonged BELOW where I spoke of a different restaurant in Trastevere (with Italian/Spanish cuisine) where Irene invited 11 family members to be her guest. There was a large painted mural of a country scene behind our table. There was also a very portly middle-aged Spanish singer there who hung around 'forever' at our table, singing to us, and telling what "he thought" were funny stories and jokes. Of course, I always politely watched him attentively, often smiling and showing appreciation. But I'm afraid I may have offended him (without meaning to!) because when he asked for song requests, I said, "Can you sing "GRANADA"?? But then when he hesitated, I quickly added as an afterthought, "Oh, never mind, that might be too difficult for you, because you're NOT A TENOR!" [I did mention previously in this Blog that I'm a HUGE fan of Tenors! ] This Spanish singer didn't have a good voice to begin with, and certainly was NO tenor, but I quickly realized that was the WRONG thing to say! He did look a bit offended, and Romana hid her face in her hands, in mock "embarrassment", but really just to hide her laughter, I saw. Hmmm, sometimes I can be too "blunt" for my own good (or someone else's)!

..........MORE RESTAURANT WOES!....We all had fun enjoying everyone's company, but the really bad surprise came when Irene got the bill and (we were told later) it was 550 euros, ....that's close to $900 for 11 people!!! (Must have been because of all that "great" singing!!) Afterwards, everyone agreed that the food also left MUCH to be desired and wasn't what anyone expected. I heard mentioned that even the attitude of our waiter was a little "off". I said nothing negative to Irene of course, but inside I felt SOOO bad for Irene whose intentions were pure gold, but she simply chose the wrong place to dine as an alternative, after her first choice was unavailable (which would have been "Meo Patacca" (sp?). She knew nothing about this other Spanish/Italian restaurant, (whose name I forget). I'm sorry to even mention this here, but it bothered ALL OF US, really, SO MUCH that she was taken advantage of AGAIN, (SEE MY LAST "CHAPTER" ON "ANZIO") like this by another VERY over-priced restaurant. I guess a clue was the fact that we were just about the ONLY people there!! Thank God we didn't eat at many restaurants on our trip, but instead had much better food and enjoyment dining at Settimio's 4 sisters' homes, as well as Marco's home!! And besides, that's what it's all about for us - the love and good times shared together with family and friends, and what better place than at home!! Nobody needs to spend a fortune to do this. WE WERE ALL SHOCKED at how much the prices had gone up in Italian restaurants since our last trip. I was told though that the ones out in the COUNTRYSIDE, even nowadays, often have far better food and prices!