Strikes! Protests! Flooding! Oh my!

I should be careful what I write. Bored, Andy? Not enough going on? Here's some action: Austerity protests! Strikes! No buses! Roads closed! Traffic at a standstill!

Washington Post article on strikes, with video and slideshow.

New York Times article on strikes.


Still not enough? No problem! Have some thunderstorms! Nonstop rain! Flooding! The Tevere River rising about 10 meters in 24 hours!

CBS video on Rome flooding.

Star article on Rome flooding.



No locusts, but we have an infestation that's pretty darn close: Starlings! Every evening for the past 3 weeks, the blackbirds swarm by the tens of thousands to the Tevere. Yes, the birds look gorgeous as they fly through the air. Flocks resemble schools of fish as they cut instantaneous 90-degree turns. But we've had to walk through so much bird poop. We've both been air-bombed on multiple occasions. And the smell! Ghastly.

Anyway, it's funny how quickly things happen around here. A few days ago we were enjoying a relaxing retreat in Tuscany. Different environment today.

Imaginary conversation with my university president

The president of my business school gave a speech today. Didn't bother talking about business. Here is a totally made-up conversation between us:

Me: Buongiorno, sir! Nice to meet you. How are you?

Him: Pain ...    love ...    hatred ... these are all mere feelings that reflect upon the outer world that which is occurring within yourself. Only when you conquer your inner being can you begin to understand your world as you perceive it. You cannot love, you cannot experience pain or loss, until you begin to know your inner self.

Me: I see. Um. Thanks for that. I'm going to use the bathroom.

Him: The outer world is merely a projection of your inner world. The bathroom, therefore, becomes real only when you and you alone believe it is.

Me: Gotcha. Arrivederla.

Him: Clearly you do not understand what I am saying.

Drama lovers

Friday night: improv
Saturday night: Rome International Film Festival
Sunday night: John Cabot production of "The Great Gatsby"

I guess we like theater these days. Caitlin is currently putting on a flapper girl outfit. I have a swanky new vest and leather tie. We look good.

business man andy

This photo isn't staged. Yes, he's reading The Economist.

Bio-box soup!

We signed up to receive a box of fresh, locally grown fruit and veggies once a month or so (Thanks, Maria!). When our first box came, some of the veggies spoiled in a number of days. So we decided to cook soup the minute we get our box. And guess was yesterday was? Bio-box soup day! Yum.

Off to buy tickets for the Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma. A dopo.

Here we are

Gonna try to post more often. Not much else to do these days. Actually, I take that back. There are innumerable things to do, though they mostly involve chores like finding the health office or the store that sells trash bags. But I suppose even I feel a tiny thrill when completing "boring" tasks like these. For the most part, Caitlin and I have already accomplished The Big Stuff — finding an apartment, exploring the city, meeting new friends. And while those accomplishments are important and exciting, perhaps it is the day-to-day chores that more exemplify what it means to start a new life. Of course, acquiring antihistamines at the farmacia doesn't exactly make for great blogging. Well, too bad! Suffer, dear readers!

Bought a couple of classic novels while on our agriturismo trip: Jack London's "The Call of the Wild" and Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Guess which was published first? (Answer at the end.) I can't believe I'd never read "The Call of the Wild" before. 'Dat Buck! Of course, it made me miss Ruby more than ever. And "Heart of Darkness" — yikes. I remember trying to read it in high school — and hating every page. But now maybe I'm more ready for it. Similar themes in the books: the rush to collect valuable resources (ivory in Africa, gold in the Yukon); the effect of wild/untamed nature on outsiders; a return to primordial order. I won't bore you with a comparative essay, but I will tell you that I've been thinking more and more about the outdoors recently. Mostly about the Grand Canyon or the West Coast Trail. I'm still adjusting to city life, I suppose, and one of the hardest things is not being able to escape the city. It's almost a claustrophobia. Almost everywhere I've lived, I could walk out the front door and be in the woods in 5 minutes. Here, there's no such luxury. But I have found some outlets: Villa Pamphili is a huge park 15 minutes from our apartment. And we're only a cheap train ride away from hills, rivers, mountain bike trails, lakes, coasts, even mountains. Plus, with our vines, flowers, cacti and venus fly trap, it's getting more jungle-like in our apartment. Maybe that will tide me over.

We made it back from Tuscany last night. Hitched a ride with our host's father from Agriturismo Bonello to Buonconvento, where we realized we still had our hand-embroidered room key! Had to tell the cafe server: "We have a key to an agriturismo and we're leaving it with you to give to a man." In Italian. Not easy. But it all worked out. Spent Sunday in Siena — fun! Overcast, but not rainy enough to dampen our visit. Afterwards, we caught the overcrowded express train back to Roma.

(Answer: "Heart of Darkness" in 1899, "The Call of the Wild" in 1903.)

Agriturismo Bonello

Lunching at Bagno Vignoni

We are loving our first agriturismo experience. Thursday was Italian Labor Day, so we booked it out of soggy Rome to the Tuscan countryside. It's our third of four days here at Agriturismo Bonello, a delightful hilltop farmhouse 5km west of Pienza. The accommodations are excellent, the views gorgeous, the weather a tad cold but still enjoyable, the staff quite friendly. But the best factor by far is the food! Oh, those Italian dinners: 10 courses, 3 hours. It calls to mind the days before Internet, before even television, when the company you kept was your evening's entertainment. The trick, of course, is to start slow on the bruschette and zuppa so you have plenty of room when those secondi piatti come around. So far I, of course, have failed miserably at pacing myself, finishing both of my dinners nearly too stuffed to waddle home. We even tried grappa! Though it was a bit too stiff for our liking.

Getting here was an adventure. Seems like every time we travel, we arrive at the train station with the customary "what now?!" looks on our faces. Most of the time a short taxi or bus ride gets us to our destination. But on Thursday we arrived after sundown at the Chiusi station with 60km between us and our destination. And, naturally, the buses don't run on Italian Labor Day. One expensive cab ride later, we arrived just in time for our first amazing agri-supper.

Bah. 

Friday was a lovely, relaxing day. We took out mountain bikes and rode 8km down to Bagno Vignoni, an even smaller village and one of Tuscany's best-kept secrets (Shiver: I felt like Rick Steves when I wrote that last sentence.) The town is built on a hot spring, and the water runs from the main square into hotel pools, through canals and over manmade waterfalls. It's extraordinary. We had a wonderful lunch there (lasagna, ribolita, wurstel), found a quaint bookstore, and bought swimming caps so we could play in the hotel pool. Fun fun fun.

It's a tad colder today. We're about to walk to Pienza for lunch. Don't worry, we brought a frisbee. Back to Rome tomorrow, after a quick stopover in Siena. Then it's back to the grind. But until then, we'll be taking it easy.

P.S. We've been following the election closely. But we're both thankful that we don't have to put up with the U.S. media. It's such a different perspective seeing things through a European lens.