THOUGHTS TO COUNT
.............hopefully counted since april 25, 05 ...........
6.28.2005
Duty Calls
...Lets quick sum up that Amalfi trip, cause I'll never do it otherwise....
After the quick dip, there was a private beach found and I got myself closer to the water cave mentioned earlier and actually chanced with my poor swimming and explored its vastness. Fantastic. Then, clouds and sprinkles came and Kelly and I spent 30 mins. talking and drinking a bottle with an ex-mayor of Anzio (near Rome) and his buddies who were along to the coast on the Mayor's yacht for the summer months. He promised us a ride to Sicly if we ever made it back to Amalfi, but he was also rippin' drunk and trying to get kelly to take her shirt off...but I have his cell number and may try my hand at sailing later on...On the beach, we decided taking the bike ride back was not a good idea and that we'd be better to stay the night...so, into the town to find a cheap hotel with now rain coming harder and harder and having no luck until we asked a woman at the flower shop and she left her work to run around the little streets with us in the rain until the 3rd hotel we hit had a room for us (the last room) and we had to take it, though it was 50 euro each for the night..ack...Ok, we've got a place to sleep, but now we need to buy clothes to wear cause all we have are biker grubs and so we did...Showered, dressed and out into the town where we explored and took some pictures and then ate a nice meal in a Trattoria where Kelly got pretty drunk off a half bottle of wine and we just went back to the hotel and slept....
(Photos from L to R: Kelly Drinking at a Fountain, Duomo Cathedral Amalfi)
...Breakfast the next day was included and we took all we could stuff into our bellies and pockets...we also had a nice picture on the roof of the hotel...
(Photo: Kelly and I on the roof of the Hotel)
...Then we took the bikes around amalfi and explored a bit; went up a ways into the mountains and snapped some more photos...
(Photo: Little Waterfall near the Paper Mill Museam)
...then finally decided that we would check out of the hotel and take a bike trip down the coast, back toward Sorrento on the winding cliff roads, checking out little towns on the way. Amalfi was over and we were once again on the bikes, now climbing out from sea-level up to the winding cliff road which EVERYONE told us was too dangerous to bike on...but what they don't tell you is how BEAUTIFUL it is to bike on....the road wasn't too dangerous, you just had to watch out going around curves for busses and such...but the views were BAM!
(Photos from L to R: Positano from the Beach and
two pictures from along the Amalfi coast on the road )
2 hours or so of biking lead us down to the town of Positano where we rolled 'em down to the sea and ate a pizza for sustinance. The beach was small and crowded so we just decided to move on out up the mountain again, this time to our final destination, Vico Ecquense, where we could swim the sea and catch the train afterward. Another 2 hours or so out to Vico and then at the beach for 1.5 where I found a great jumping rock about 200 meters offshore...My swimming is horrible, so horrible I actually failed my first swim class as a little tyke because I couldn't do the Dead Man's Float (I used to hold that it was because I was Neutrally Buoyant and could NOT float, but as I think of it more now, I realize it may just be a test for all the kids to see which ones panic and just aren't used to the water yet...so they fail us for another year's experience); as I've come to realize though, you don't need form unless you're racing and I can cope just fine with Froggin' 'er out 200 meters into the sea....So, I hit the rock, which was about 20 meters tall and pretty frickin' large around...Climbed up out of the water and made it to the top where I looked out onto the sea for a while before vaulting off...I didn't jump from the top, I was a bit too scared, it being my first jump in a while, but now I really want to get back to Vico and hit it again...
Anyway, so after the beach we were onto the train for a few minutes before boppin' off again and down the slow road to our respective homes...I had a great time out there biking and feeling the trip, relaxing, swimming, eating and all that...I have made a vow to do some more of this biker excursions...Next though, I think I may take off to Germany and meet some friends..
Ciao, Ciao, P ¶ 11:28 1 comments
After the quick dip, there was a private beach found and I got myself closer to the water cave mentioned earlier and actually chanced with my poor swimming and explored its vastness. Fantastic. Then, clouds and sprinkles came and Kelly and I spent 30 mins. talking and drinking a bottle with an ex-mayor of Anzio (near Rome) and his buddies who were along to the coast on the Mayor's yacht for the summer months. He promised us a ride to Sicly if we ever made it back to Amalfi, but he was also rippin' drunk and trying to get kelly to take her shirt off...but I have his cell number and may try my hand at sailing later on...On the beach, we decided taking the bike ride back was not a good idea and that we'd be better to stay the night...so, into the town to find a cheap hotel with now rain coming harder and harder and having no luck until we asked a woman at the flower shop and she left her work to run around the little streets with us in the rain until the 3rd hotel we hit had a room for us (the last room) and we had to take it, though it was 50 euro each for the night..ack...Ok, we've got a place to sleep, but now we need to buy clothes to wear cause all we have are biker grubs and so we did...Showered, dressed and out into the town where we explored and took some pictures and then ate a nice meal in a Trattoria where Kelly got pretty drunk off a half bottle of wine and we just went back to the hotel and slept....
 |  |
(Photos from L to R: Kelly Drinking at a Fountain, Duomo Cathedral Amalfi)
...Breakfast the next day was included and we took all we could stuff into our bellies and pockets...we also had a nice picture on the roof of the hotel...
 |
(Photo: Kelly and I on the roof of the Hotel)
...Then we took the bikes around amalfi and explored a bit; went up a ways into the mountains and snapped some more photos...
 |
(Photo: Little Waterfall near the Paper Mill Museam)
...then finally decided that we would check out of the hotel and take a bike trip down the coast, back toward Sorrento on the winding cliff roads, checking out little towns on the way. Amalfi was over and we were once again on the bikes, now climbing out from sea-level up to the winding cliff road which EVERYONE told us was too dangerous to bike on...but what they don't tell you is how BEAUTIFUL it is to bike on....the road wasn't too dangerous, you just had to watch out going around curves for busses and such...but the views were BAM!
 |  |  |
(Photos from L to R: Positano from the Beach and
two pictures from along the Amalfi coast on the road )
2 hours or so of biking lead us down to the town of Positano where we rolled 'em down to the sea and ate a pizza for sustinance. The beach was small and crowded so we just decided to move on out up the mountain again, this time to our final destination, Vico Ecquense, where we could swim the sea and catch the train afterward. Another 2 hours or so out to Vico and then at the beach for 1.5 where I found a great jumping rock about 200 meters offshore...My swimming is horrible, so horrible I actually failed my first swim class as a little tyke because I couldn't do the Dead Man's Float (I used to hold that it was because I was Neutrally Buoyant and could NOT float, but as I think of it more now, I realize it may just be a test for all the kids to see which ones panic and just aren't used to the water yet...so they fail us for another year's experience); as I've come to realize though, you don't need form unless you're racing and I can cope just fine with Froggin' 'er out 200 meters into the sea....So, I hit the rock, which was about 20 meters tall and pretty frickin' large around...Climbed up out of the water and made it to the top where I looked out onto the sea for a while before vaulting off...I didn't jump from the top, I was a bit too scared, it being my first jump in a while, but now I really want to get back to Vico and hit it again...
Anyway, so after the beach we were onto the train for a few minutes before boppin' off again and down the slow road to our respective homes...I had a great time out there biking and feeling the trip, relaxing, swimming, eating and all that...I have made a vow to do some more of this biker excursions...Next though, I think I may take off to Germany and meet some friends..
Ciao, Ciao, P ¶ 11:28 1 comments
6.27.2005
Blah
Did you ever just want to shout and twist and jump and wear funny hats and drink mai-tais when you should really be drinking mescal from the root and be wearing a poncho instead of a 1970's short, short bathing suit; not at the beach but in your kitchen in the middle of the winter with the most preposterous david bowie strange music playing about trolls and dandolien wine and the fragrant taste of everything all at once, a sound, a taste a swoon and then just sleep....
Backwards and upside-down with your head on the ground and your feet in the clouds twinkling toes in the rippling cool of changing photographs....I want to do it all and I want to do it now, now, NOW!! From one place to another lets go, go, go together...friends lets go and daydream in a field together...!.... ¶ 10:04 2 comments
Backwards and upside-down with your head on the ground and your feet in the clouds twinkling toes in the rippling cool of changing photographs....I want to do it all and I want to do it now, now, NOW!! From one place to another lets go, go, go together...friends lets go and daydream in a field together...!.... ¶ 10:04 2 comments
6.24.2005
Celebrate this Day!
For the past two years, I have celebrated in Quebec on this day, 'La Fete Nationale', St. Jean Baptiste Day. Every year around this time I tell myself that I'm moving to Quebec, marrying a french girl and her culture, and celebrating 'la belle vie'; winter hockey games, summer festivals with folk music in the park...
Thanks to google, I've found out exactly what the origins of this feast are...
The date originally was the pagan celebration of the summer solstice. King Clovis of France christianized the event by making it a religious celebration of the birth of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is known as the Precursor of Christ, rebirth, and the light to the world, which explains the link to the solstice. Bonfires were lit to symbolize the light of the World
So, at sundown, lets together raise the Fleur de lys, light a fire, and celebrate the night away with eachother... ¶ 06:51 3 comments
For the past two years, I have celebrated in Quebec on this day, 'La Fete Nationale', St. Jean Baptiste Day. Every year around this time I tell myself that I'm moving to Quebec, marrying a french girl and her culture, and celebrating 'la belle vie'; winter hockey games, summer festivals with folk music in the park...
Thanks to google, I've found out exactly what the origins of this feast are...
The date originally was the pagan celebration of the summer solstice. King Clovis of France christianized the event by making it a religious celebration of the birth of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is known as the Precursor of Christ, rebirth, and the light to the world, which explains the link to the solstice. Bonfires were lit to symbolize the light of the World
So, at sundown, lets together raise the Fleur de lys, light a fire, and celebrate the night away with eachother... ¶ 06:51 3 comments
6.22.2005
Titles can be overemphasized
Hi Gang! I want to write about all my adventures to the Amalfi Coast, to go along with these pictures that I have, but I just can't do it all in one shot...!...these words now don't flow from my fingers...So I can do something in the mean (median, or middle..not angry or disconsolate) time...I can post the first of my pictures and provide a small background and story. I'll leave this post as an open-ended, part one, of a as-of-now UN - NUMBERED many...
--> Straight to the Background -->
Last friday at work, Kelly and I decided to go on a road trip with our bikes to the sea. We planned to take the train saturday morning to Sarno, and then from there bike out over the mountains and towards the Amalfi coast...Neither of us had ever been on this trek before, but we assumed it would take about 2-3 hours to get to the sea. We planned to take a swim and rest for a few hours before heading on back, either by way of the coast towards Sorrento or Salerno, or just right on through the way we first came. This all certainly sounded nice, so the plans were settled.
Kelly works Saturdays so I met her at 11 AM in the office. I brought my backpack with me cause I needed to carry along some gatorade and towel, food, swim shorts, etc....Kelly argued that this was not a necessity and that I would regret bringing it along 'cause of the extra weight, and although it was a hot humid day in the sun with the pack on, I did not feel at all like it was un-necessary and was in the end glad I had brought it along....so we were off, me looking like a pre-amateur (debutante?) on my old, ragged, rusty mountain bike, mean-while (still in the consolate manner), Kelly looks like a real professional cyclist, (which in fact she almost was at a time in Scotland), all gear'ed up with the fancy biker outfit and road-bike to match...ooh!, I wish I had taken a picture of ourselves.....
...so the blah begins with the train tickets bought and locomotive subsequently caught, all the way to the termini of Sarno; out again into the sweltering heat of mid-day (I first broke a sweat brushing my teeth in the morning) and along our way getting lost a few times for an hour or so until the we treked over the foot of the mountain in the certainty of the mean-time....
And now the monumental began with the burn of my anaerobic quads lactating pain and oozing booze (for I have time and again taken to drinking and this, my first big leg-streaching exercise in a while shot the remaining toxins out of my skin faster than they were absorbed in); Kelly made swift progress up the mountain while I trailed behind....I quickled learned to not look at the scenery while ascending. The combination of little oxygen, immenent dehydration, the heat of the road, the car fumes and the sweeping panoramic all caused an early break to my day when I had to get off the bike and walk it up the hill for a few hundred meters cause I felt dizzy and light-headed....thankfully that was the first and last time I felt like that....
So we continued the climb for the next hour or so, and by the end of it all I was pretty tired. My mantra for the entire day had been 'For every mountain I climb there's a mountain I come down', and sure enough it turned truer than I could have ever envisioned with a sense of hands-free, coasting joy and sometimes further enthralled with the screming, white-knuckled exuberance of rolling at 30 KMpH on a bike I just know isn't a precision machine (sorry Mom); all feelings which sweep up the pain and nearly the distance of the past 2 hours in only 15 minutes or so, the last part culminating in a ride down the winding face of those mountains on the coast, glimpsing at cars on hairpin turns while concentrating on the spectacular sight of the mediterrainian's unknown shore beyond the horizon and its nearer wave splashed beaches of gold and grey....And then, WHACK!, I'm right there in town with all those tourists and honeymooners, glad to be close to the sea-breeze but still with memory alive of the recent mountain gust and surely shaking from the adrenaline pumping through my veins....
Now it was time to swim, so we headed out to the end of the pier and I hesitated for a minute or two while I changed into my swim trunks and found a path down to the water on the concrete pilons that make up the out-cropping....Kelly had to find a
place to change into her costume so off she went to do just that and I hesitated again a minute or so, planning my dive into the sea so I wouldn't get cracked or crunched in any way...finally, I akwardly dove into the water and floated around for a while, trying to make up my mind which view was better: the open water or the high cliffs....I noticed a huge 'sea-cave' in the cliff not too far off which I vowed to go check out...I leisurly practiced my swim strokes -the doggie paddle, the back
stroke and my modified breast stroke which I'm told is called the frog- and then out again onto the rocks where I rested and took these photos of Amalfi for myself and for you:....
Sorry, for now its almost lunch and I'm quite hungry....We'll have to pick up from here the next time;... P. ¶ 05:42 3 comments
--> Straight to the Background -->
Last friday at work, Kelly and I decided to go on a road trip with our bikes to the sea. We planned to take the train saturday morning to Sarno, and then from there bike out over the mountains and towards the Amalfi coast...Neither of us had ever been on this trek before, but we assumed it would take about 2-3 hours to get to the sea. We planned to take a swim and rest for a few hours before heading on back, either by way of the coast towards Sorrento or Salerno, or just right on through the way we first came. This all certainly sounded nice, so the plans were settled.
Kelly works Saturdays so I met her at 11 AM in the office. I brought my backpack with me cause I needed to carry along some gatorade and towel, food, swim shorts, etc....Kelly argued that this was not a necessity and that I would regret bringing it along 'cause of the extra weight, and although it was a hot humid day in the sun with the pack on, I did not feel at all like it was un-necessary and was in the end glad I had brought it along....so we were off, me looking like a pre-amateur (debutante?) on my old, ragged, rusty mountain bike, mean-while (still in the consolate manner), Kelly looks like a real professional cyclist, (which in fact she almost was at a time in Scotland), all gear'ed up with the fancy biker outfit and road-bike to match...ooh!, I wish I had taken a picture of ourselves.....
...so the blah begins with the train tickets bought and locomotive subsequently caught, all the way to the termini of Sarno; out again into the sweltering heat of mid-day (I first broke a sweat brushing my teeth in the morning) and along our way getting lost a few times for an hour or so until the we treked over the foot of the mountain in the certainty of the mean-time....
And now the monumental began with the burn of my anaerobic quads lactating pain and oozing booze (for I have time and again taken to drinking and this, my first big leg-streaching exercise in a while shot the remaining toxins out of my skin faster than they were absorbed in); Kelly made swift progress up the mountain while I trailed behind....I quickled learned to not look at the scenery while ascending. The combination of little oxygen, immenent dehydration, the heat of the road, the car fumes and the sweeping panoramic all caused an early break to my day when I had to get off the bike and walk it up the hill for a few hundred meters cause I felt dizzy and light-headed....thankfully that was the first and last time I felt like that....
So we continued the climb for the next hour or so, and by the end of it all I was pretty tired. My mantra for the entire day had been 'For every mountain I climb there's a mountain I come down', and sure enough it turned truer than I could have ever envisioned with a sense of hands-free, coasting joy and sometimes further enthralled with the screming, white-knuckled exuberance of rolling at 30 KMpH on a bike I just know isn't a precision machine (sorry Mom); all feelings which sweep up the pain and nearly the distance of the past 2 hours in only 15 minutes or so, the last part culminating in a ride down the winding face of those mountains on the coast, glimpsing at cars on hairpin turns while concentrating on the spectacular sight of the mediterrainian's unknown shore beyond the horizon and its nearer wave splashed beaches of gold and grey....And then, WHACK!, I'm right there in town with all those tourists and honeymooners, glad to be close to the sea-breeze but still with memory alive of the recent mountain gust and surely shaking from the adrenaline pumping through my veins....
Now it was time to swim, so we headed out to the end of the pier and I hesitated for a minute or two while I changed into my swim trunks and found a path down to the water on the concrete pilons that make up the out-cropping....Kelly had to find a
place to change into her costume so off she went to do just that and I hesitated again a minute or so, planning my dive into the sea so I wouldn't get cracked or crunched in any way...finally, I akwardly dove into the water and floated around for a while, trying to make up my mind which view was better: the open water or the high cliffs....I noticed a huge 'sea-cave' in the cliff not too far off which I vowed to go check out...I leisurly practiced my swim strokes -the doggie paddle, the back
stroke and my modified breast stroke which I'm told is called the frog- and then out again onto the rocks where I rested and took these photos of Amalfi for myself and for you:....
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Sorry, for now its almost lunch and I'm quite hungry....We'll have to pick up from here the next time;... P. ¶ 05:42 3 comments
6.17.2005
New York, New York
Just thinking about NY, after I have recieved some pictures from the homestead...There are so many things that I miss about that place, things which always seem accentuated when I'm away...right now my image of life in NY is glossy. The blemishes that have sickened my view in the past have now faded, and all ugliness loses its reprehensibility. It was those damned cute deer and my parents hard at work that maybe done it to me...!....I know though, that my mind always selectively forgets the undesireable aspects of life in any place but that at present -maybe to serve for nostalgia's sake- and that these are bound to surface again when the 'mundane' takes hold in my world...But let this message serve as a reminder that nothing but perception is wrong with NY...
HORSHOE FALLS: COHOES, NY - MAY 3, 2005
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09:33
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6.15.2005
Photos - Random/Recent
Here are some photos from the past while in Italy. I have uploaded and posted some pics from Genoa, -the first four are Genoa, which is a shame because I have only one of Nice (my batteries died, and I was enjoying myself too much to really be bothered with picture taking)- also some from other random voyages around the Napoli region. To the brief description:
The first picture is of a striped building I really liked from Genoa, which bordered the Piazza Duomo. You can see a bit of the big church on the left, but unfortunately no pictures...really nice church though, 'dun 'up in the Baroque style. Second would be columns of the second floor of the Genoa Museam from inside the courtyard. There are a lot of exhibits of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings from WWII, and more references to the Japanese experience of WWII around the city. This is a connection I have yet to investigate, but intend to. Third picture is of me sitting atop a Lion that guards the entrance to Duomo...I felt like a big man. Fourth of Genoa is just a landscape shot of some old building in the main downtown plaza. These buildings are still amazing to me, but if you are from Europe, I guess this picture would just be boring.
Now the fifth one is of the beach in Nice. If you're desperate and are into voyeurism, take a look at the full version of this pic and maybe you can find some topless gal....It took about 5 minutes on the beach to acclimatise myself to the topless bathing effect; you out there in the cyber world, having not visited, may find it more intriguing...
Now we get to the older pics. The mountainous valley is just that. I have pledged to climb and camp out on this mountain (Mile High!), but it defeated me with a thunderstorm the first time...The building in the water, I don't know exactly what it is or why its there, but I found it interesting and so the picture...The spraypaint mural is tremendous, the boss says, 'Time to get to work' (in my mind). The palmtree walkway was near the water castle, and the last picture is from inside a different water castle in downtown Napoli, Castel Dell'Ovo (I had posted a picture of this castle from the outside a few weeks before, and now that I think of it, this photo is probally a repeat....:(...
So, thats the briefs..!.. ¶ 09:29 5 comments
The first picture is of a striped building I really liked from Genoa, which bordered the Piazza Duomo. You can see a bit of the big church on the left, but unfortunately no pictures...really nice church though, 'dun 'up in the Baroque style. Second would be columns of the second floor of the Genoa Museam from inside the courtyard. There are a lot of exhibits of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings from WWII, and more references to the Japanese experience of WWII around the city. This is a connection I have yet to investigate, but intend to. Third picture is of me sitting atop a Lion that guards the entrance to Duomo...I felt like a big man. Fourth of Genoa is just a landscape shot of some old building in the main downtown plaza. These buildings are still amazing to me, but if you are from Europe, I guess this picture would just be boring.
Now the fifth one is of the beach in Nice. If you're desperate and are into voyeurism, take a look at the full version of this pic and maybe you can find some topless gal....It took about 5 minutes on the beach to acclimatise myself to the topless bathing effect; you out there in the cyber world, having not visited, may find it more intriguing...
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Now we get to the older pics. The mountainous valley is just that. I have pledged to climb and camp out on this mountain (Mile High!), but it defeated me with a thunderstorm the first time...The building in the water, I don't know exactly what it is or why its there, but I found it interesting and so the picture...The spraypaint mural is tremendous, the boss says, 'Time to get to work' (in my mind). The palmtree walkway was near the water castle, and the last picture is from inside a different water castle in downtown Napoli, Castel Dell'Ovo (I had posted a picture of this castle from the outside a few weeks before, and now that I think of it, this photo is probally a repeat....:(...
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So, thats the briefs..!.. ¶ 09:29 5 comments
6.14.2005
Des Nouvelles
Quickly:
We got a black and white TV at our house now (free gift!) that we can watch some cable shows on. Also getting connected again with the news (italian stuff only) and some soccer games.
Yesterday was saint Antonio's day. With every second person in our neighborhood being named some version of Antonio (Antonella, Antionetta, Antonello, etc...) there were a lot of 'Big Festas' happening. We woke up to 5 am bombing --Manal said 'What is that???', I drowsily muttered 'We're being bombed', and tried again to sleep--, (Saint Antonio must have loved the fireworks), and ate home cooked sweets and meats after work and throught the nite.
I finally have shaved my playoff beard, a relic from the Timbits victory in Mid April. My face feels refreshed.
Manal and I both now own bicycles (see pics below). Mine is a mean, black, road-hog..., Manal's is a cute old fashioned bike with a basket, a bell and some florescent pink highlights...
Manal and I went to a club and saw some horrifying music...live DJ that only the children 5 and under were dancing to...yes, children in a club...We drank 10percent beer called 'Delerium' that had a pink elephant on the glass (a glass which Manal made me steal) and then we both rode home on my bike...it was very difficult, dangerous and hysterical at the same time..
Manal went to Pompeii on sunday and was amazed at how big it was, and how little shade the ruins permitted her (she is trying to 'lose' her tan). I tried to find the sea to take a swim; a 30 km adventure on my bike. I ended up happening onto the back entrance of the Pompeii ruins, and got kicked out by a security guard.
Phew! ¶ 08:36 1 comments
Quickly:
We got a black and white TV at our house now (free gift!) that we can watch some cable shows on. Also getting connected again with the news (italian stuff only) and some soccer games.
Yesterday was saint Antonio's day. With every second person in our neighborhood being named some version of Antonio (Antonella, Antionetta, Antonello, etc...) there were a lot of 'Big Festas' happening. We woke up to 5 am bombing --Manal said 'What is that???', I drowsily muttered 'We're being bombed', and tried again to sleep--, (Saint Antonio must have loved the fireworks), and ate home cooked sweets and meats after work and throught the nite.
I finally have shaved my playoff beard, a relic from the Timbits victory in Mid April. My face feels refreshed.
Manal and I both now own bicycles (see pics below). Mine is a mean, black, road-hog..., Manal's is a cute old fashioned bike with a basket, a bell and some florescent pink highlights...
 |  |
Manal and I went to a club and saw some horrifying music...live DJ that only the children 5 and under were dancing to...yes, children in a club...We drank 10percent beer called 'Delerium' that had a pink elephant on the glass (a glass which Manal made me steal) and then we both rode home on my bike...it was very difficult, dangerous and hysterical at the same time..
Manal went to Pompeii on sunday and was amazed at how big it was, and how little shade the ruins permitted her (she is trying to 'lose' her tan). I tried to find the sea to take a swim; a 30 km adventure on my bike. I ended up happening onto the back entrance of the Pompeii ruins, and got kicked out by a security guard.
Phew! ¶ 08:36 1 comments
6.10.2005
New Blog
P-diddy, aka Pawel, aka Paul Tarnowski has come up big with a most telling tale of Poland and the surrounding areas....his words are delightfully angst filled at times and completely a hysterical laugh....Paul knows as well as I do how much time can be spent on a computer at work, producing nothing but good words for friends....so as Paul writes on, check out his blog, Poland 2005, in the sidebar....
Buy it on Paperback, June 2005. $9.95US, $15.95CN. ¶ 02:41 1 comments
Buy it on Paperback, June 2005. $9.95US, $15.95CN. ¶ 02:41 1 comments
And the bombs bursting in Air....
Fireworks are prolific here. I'm guessing they are cheap, or little Vincenzo down the street wouldn't have had the aerial bombardment suffered upon us for his 3rd birthday....A sad side effect of selling cheap fireworks, other than a culture of sloth footed childeren, is the proliference itself, and the 'experienced' amateurs who are tasked with setting up the enormous displays....take for instance the big Virgin Mary festival we witnessed the other nite....after listening to an hours worth of the yawn inducing musical prose of Antonello Venditi (Manal chimes in with "He's the Italian Version of Tom Jones"), we are subjected to the most hazardous looking fireworks display in my experience.....
...for anyone who has ever witnessed the spectacle of the International Fireworks Competition in Montreal, you would know fully of the beauty of such large displays...At park Jean-Drapeau, the firework displays are set up, and certainly, a perimeter is set up around the park, keeping onlookers at a safe distance, as determined by some expert.
....In Nola, there are apparently no experts. There are no limits to how close you may come...only your own common sense stands as a virtual barrier between you and immolation....So, the other night, let come close as we've ever been to a fireworks show, we took most of our liberties in approaching at an unsafe distance.....when the fire started falling from the sky, I began to think that maybe we were a little too near...sure the 'works looked more magnificent then ever...they were blowing up right over head, and the perspective effect provided was great...like the firey branches of a willow sweeping down on you from above....but then there was a stray bomb that ventured to shoot itself right towards us spectators, and you wouldn't have beleived my joy when it did finally ignite in a shower of silver streaks right beside my vantage point, not 10m away!.....I was in the show!....we were laughing while running for our lives...!...we feared God, and still waited against all better judgement to see the Finale (which indeed was grand)....
...come to see the fireworks here, they make you part of the show. Its fun. And dangerous...but if you don't get blown up by it, you may be happier then you've ever remembered after watching such a spectacle.. ¶ 02:21 4 comments
...for anyone who has ever witnessed the spectacle of the International Fireworks Competition in Montreal, you would know fully of the beauty of such large displays...At park Jean-Drapeau, the firework displays are set up, and certainly, a perimeter is set up around the park, keeping onlookers at a safe distance, as determined by some expert.
....In Nola, there are apparently no experts. There are no limits to how close you may come...only your own common sense stands as a virtual barrier between you and immolation....So, the other night, let come close as we've ever been to a fireworks show, we took most of our liberties in approaching at an unsafe distance.....when the fire started falling from the sky, I began to think that maybe we were a little too near...sure the 'works looked more magnificent then ever...they were blowing up right over head, and the perspective effect provided was great...like the firey branches of a willow sweeping down on you from above....but then there was a stray bomb that ventured to shoot itself right towards us spectators, and you wouldn't have beleived my joy when it did finally ignite in a shower of silver streaks right beside my vantage point, not 10m away!.....I was in the show!....we were laughing while running for our lives...!...we feared God, and still waited against all better judgement to see the Finale (which indeed was grand)....
...come to see the fireworks here, they make you part of the show. Its fun. And dangerous...but if you don't get blown up by it, you may be happier then you've ever remembered after watching such a spectacle.. ¶ 02:21 4 comments
6.07.2005
Was it S. Wonder or L. Richie?.....
who said 'I just called to say I Love You'....? Does any one else have a day or a time that they decide they're going to use for the sole purpose of catching up with friends and others who they love and appreciate?? Is this an affect of my supreme procrastination only? Do you sometimes call to say 'I Love You'?
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07:50
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6.04.2005
Vacation Holiday
We had a suprise four day weekend this week (Thursday was Italy's national holiday, and on Friday, our employer decided to make the bridge to the weekend for the four day vacation for all), so after taking off Thursday morning and heading to Genoa, we hopped a train yesterday to the French Riviera and are now in Nice. The beach was all day yesterday and will be again all day today....we're staying in a small hostel that is adequately priced (with breakfast included) and just lounging around and enjoying things....we stay over again tonight, and then catch a late train tomorrow nite back to Naples (13hrs!) and straight to work monday morning!!....Ciao for now, ...
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02:22
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