Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Tomorrow morning I'm headed to Germany for the week for work. I'll be back on Saturday. I will have my laptop with me but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update the blog...

Milan Pictures Posted

The wife and I went to Milano a couple days ago on our anniversary. Click the link below to see pics...

Milano Photos

WTF?

Isn't anyone going to wish us a happy anniversary?!


October 26, 2002



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I Hate Everybody

The past week or so has been pretty tough for me. I've really learned how much people really do suck. I've always operated under the thinking that I usually try to see the good in people until they give me a reason not to. However, a couple people have taught me lately that that's no way to go through life. Nay, trusting people is apparently not smart, even when they supposed to be your friends.

So from now on, I hate everyone until they give me a reason not to.

The X Man is a genius.

As I've mentioned in past posts, I'm often floored by how fast the X Man picks things up. Almost everyday he surprises me with something new that makes me say "When the heck did you learn that?!". Not to mention that he spends quite a bit of time upstairs and the neighbors are constantly telling me how impressed they are with his intelligence.

So last night before bed, the wife had the X Man on her lap and was showing him alphabet flashcards. On each card was a letter and a picture of something that began with that letter. I was watching out of the corner of my eye and was astounded to see that he knew almost every single one. Even the words he couldn't pronounce (Like 'Xylophone' for X), he still got pretty close on. In fact, some of the words he even recited in Italian as well as English.

My little guy is a bilingual genius. We're gonna be rich.

I'm Wired

I'm finally wired at the house, went online last night for the first time. Never will I be without a sports score again...

BTW, our new phone line is also working. If anyone needs our new phone number, email me and if I deem you worthy, I'll give it to you.

Florence Pics Posted

We took a trip to Florence a few weeks ago and I finally got the pictures posted. Click the link below for the Florence page, and near the bottom you'll see the link for "More Florence Photos":

Florence

You are all a bunch of perverts.

I'm always interested to see how people are finding my blog. Statcounter will list what they call "referring links", which basically tells me if someone came to my site from another link.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed a growing trend. I've suddenly started receiving over a dozen hits a day from people who did a google image search for one of two things:

"dancing girls"
"s**shop"

As some of you may recall, I went to Amsterdam this past spring to hang out with some friends. When I did my Amsterdam recap , I posted a picture of some girls dancing on a bar as well as a picture of one of the aforementioned shops.

Now normally I'd be happy for any traffic that my humble little blog receives. But I'm not sure how I feel about getting hundreds of visits each week from people looking for pictures of dancing girls and such. It kind of creeps me out.

A new decanter and a big disappointment.

So Saturday night was one of the biggest college football games of the century. My beloved Notre Dame took on the hated USC Trojans. Nobody gave ND a chance to win but I had faith. We wetn shopping during the day and I bought myself a new decanter. Before the game I put it to good use by decanting a bottle of 1998 Bordeaux Superieur and letting it breath for about two hours:




The game came on at 9:30pm here so I wasa bit juiced up by the time it started:


USC scored first and things were looking bleak:


However, the Irish pulled even, then took the lead. They were outplaying the defending champion and undefeated Trojans well into the 4th quarter. An upset looked imminent. I could not control my emotions and even started feeling a bit cocky because I had told everyone from the beginning of the year that Notre Dame was going to do it:



Then disaster struck. Notre Dame had USC pinned deep in their own territory on 4th-and-freaking-nine. All they had to do was stop them and the upset of the century would have been a reality. But instead, Matt Leinart completes a 61 yard pass - on 4th and 9! - and USC scored the winning touchdown with a mere 3 seconds left in the game. I have not felt so disappointed since the ball went through Buckner's legs in '86. I was devastated:

The X Man is Kalbo

So I get home from work last night to find out that Virginia cut off all the X Man's hair. But I have to admit, it looks very cute:

(Click on image to view full size)








Rik

Kids really do learn fast.

There are fewer things in this world that I hate more than mosquitoes. I have an almost supernatural hatred of them. Being woken up in the middle of the night by a mosquito buzzing in my ear is surely one of Dante's levels of Hell. I am constantly getting on the wife about leaving the bedroom door closed because that's about the only way to keep them out of the room. But she leaves many other doors open during the day so there always mosquitoes in out house.

Whenever I see a mosquito in the house, I will hunt it down with reckless abandon. I cannot rest easy until I know that it is dead and thus will not be biting me in the future. So zealous am I in my hatred of these pesky insects and such is my immense joy at killing one in the house, that after doing so, I usually exclaim "Take that bitch! Yah!".

"Mosquito" was actually one of the first words that the X Man learned how to say, although he pronounces it "gee-to". He always looks so cute when he says "Gee-to!" and slaps himself on the arm. So imagine my surprise the other day when he clapped his hands together and yelled "Gee-to! Bish!".

Guess I have to watch what I say around the house from now on...

Back in Business

OK, things are getting back to normal now. I'm still not sure what was causing my technical issues, but they seem to have worked themselves out whatever they were.

Here's an update - after more than 5 years in my place, I've finally decided to get a phone. I've always avoided Telecom Italia like the plague because so many people have problems with them (unreliable service, hidden fees, etc). But I recently discovered that my little town now has ADSL availability and I've been wanting to go online at the house so I decided to take the plunge. My phone line should be activated any day now and then I should be online within a week or so hopefully. I've invested in a new Toshiba Satellite laptop and a wireless router so I don't have to deal with cables and such. The X Man would mess with the cables for sure. Wireless is the way to go - imagine not even having to crawl out of bed to check the sports scores; genius!

So anyway, the guy was supposed to go to the house yesterday to hook up the phone but - big surprise! - never showed up. Hopefully I'll be online there soon which will make it easier to update the blog.


Rik

Good News

It looks like my technical issues may have only been temporary. The blog should hopefully be back online with updates next week so stay tuned.

Until then, here's a picture of me and nice glass of Brunello di Montalcino to hold you over:

Hiatus, Part II

I'm afraid the blog is going t obe on hiatus again until I can get all my technical issues straightened out. Until then, keep your ear to the ground and keep rrrreaching for the stars...

I Hate Technology.

For some strange reason, I am not currently able to upload files to my website, so I can't post pictures of the weeeknd trips to Verona and Florence. As soon as I can get the problem straightened out, I'll post the link here...

Venice Highlights

So the other night, we went to Venice to meet up with my friend Steve Lester from back home. He was in Europe to attend Oktoberfest with some friends from work and they made a 2 day detour south of the Alps to see Venice. The wife took her friend Christina, who is also visiting, to Venice in the morning via the train and I met everyone there after work. I hadn't seen Steve in a couple years, so it was really good to see him again.

Steve and I at the Piazza San Marco (click photo to see full size)


I showed everyone around Venice for a little while, then Virginia and Christina left to go do some shopping while I took the guys to the Devil's Forest Pub for a couple pints. After that, I brought them to my new favorite little wine bar to sample a few wines before dinner. For dinner, we followed the recommendation of a good friend named Theresa who lives in Venice and tried the Alle Madonna, near the Rialto Bridge. The food was really good, the waiters were friendly and full of personality, and best of all, the prices were actually cheap for Venice. Everybody was able to sample a variety of good Italian food, from meat and pasta to seafood and vegetables. I established an excellent rapport with the waiter with my broken Italian and must have done a good job because he actually gave us a few dishes on the house. We even splurged for a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino, which I had the waiter decant and let breathe for about 45 minutes. It was the smoothest and tastiest wine I've ever had. After dinner, Steve surprises me by saying the guys got a little gift as a thank you for showing them around - then pulls out a bottle of 1997 Brunello di Montalcino. My eyes actually got misty at the sight of such a prized wine. Here's a picture from dinner (click on photo to see full size):

From L-R: Mike, Patrick, Dan, Scott, Steve, Me

During dinner, Steve kept asking the wife if I could stay and hang out with them in Venice the rest of the night. Eventually the asking turned to begging and we decided that the wife and Christina would take the train home and I would be free to show the guys some of Venice's nightlife. We started at the Fiddler's Elbow where we ran into some girls that the guys had met that morning in the laundromat. There were two Canadians, Natalie and Michelle and two Swedish girls, Andrea and Lovissa. We just sat and chatted with them over pints of Kilkenny Cream Ale for a couple hours, at one point even breaking into some Canadian/Irish folk songs, then the pub was closing so we went to my old reliable - The Bacaro Jazz. They know me in there by now and everyone smiled when I walked through the door. It was awesome. They also informed me that Mary was in the hospital sick (hope you're feeling better Mary!), so we weren't able to visit with her but we did have some cold Hoegaarden straight off the tap and some late night snacks (I had the linguine with pesto). Finally they informed us that they were closing so we got up to leave, but they would not let me leave without giving us all a free round or two of shots. I was even surprised to hear one of the waiters calling me by my name - I felt like Norm on "Cheers".
Anyway, we walked back to the hotel through the totally empty Venice streets, enjoyed one last beer in the lobby (from a vending machine no less), then headed for bed. I hadn't planned on staying overnight so I had no other clothes or anything. Just got up, threw on the clothes I wore there, slapped some deodorant, and headed to work on a couple hours sleep.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting too old for this.

Naaaah.

Venice

So we went to Venice last night to visit one of my best friends from home who was there visiting with 5 of his colleagues. One thing led to another and yada yada yada, I'm wearing the same clothes to work that I wore yesterday.

Details to follow...

Weekend Highlights

As you know, the wife's friend Christina from Hong Kong is visiting us for a week or so. I have the resposibility of making sure she sees as much of Italy as possible during her stay, so Saturday we took her to Bassano del Grappa (click on photo to view full size):


And then to Marostica, which is a medieval town that still has the original walls surrounding it:


On Sunday, we had planned to do Venice but it rained all day so in a genius move, I decided to make the 3 hour drive up to Innsbruck, Austria. Christina absolutely loved it. In fact, I think she enjoyed the drive through the Alps as much as seeing the city.




The highlight of Innsbruck was finding a little schnapps shop that was offering free schnapps tasting. They must have had about 50 different kinds of schnapps:


All in all, a pretty good weekend. The wife is taking Christina to Venice today. I'll be joining them after work as one of my best friends from back home is also coming to Venice today with some friends. You know me, I never get tired of Venice...

I'm Bitter.

I was so excited going into this past weekend. It was to be a huge weekend for me sportswise. Notre Dame was playing their first game at home after a huge upset of Michigan last week that propelled them to a number 10 ranking in the nation. The Patriots were playing the Carolina Panthers, a team they should have beaten easily. The Red Sox, who are involved in a heated pennant race with the hated Yankees, were at home for three games against the A's. And of course, AC Milan was playing Sampdoria.

Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened.

Notre Dame lost in overtime to Michigan St. and are now down to 16th. The Patriots lost to Carolina 27-17. The Red Sox got creamed by the A's, 12-3. I drove to work this morning feeling very bitter. And so it should have been no surprise when I stopped for a cafe on the way to work, checked the Gazetto dello Sport and saw that Milan was upset by Sampdoria 2-1. My weekend failure was complete.

So anyway, I'm very bitter today. I'll post the weekend highlights tomorrow when my bitterness over this disastrous weekend subsides a bit.

Weekend Preview

A friend of ours named Christina is coming to visit us for the next week or so. She was the wife's former employer and good friend in Hong Kong and is in Europe visiting her sister in Amsterdam. She's always wanted to see Itay, so we invited her down and she arrives tonight in Verona. So this weekend will be spent showing her around a bit. Venice for sure, perhaps Verona or Bolgna. Or maybe even San Marino.

Pictures on Monday...


Rik

Rik Through the Ages

Here's my senior picture from high school (1989):



And my yearbook quote:

Rik Through the Ages

Here's me in my Little League uniform. I think I was in 5th grade:

Drama on the River!

Yesterday my Italian friend Fausto and I hit the Brenta River up in the mountains north of Bassano. Our chosen spot was below a little dam in a little hamlet called Collicello. We parked the cars, suited up, and got to it. I had some immediate success, nailing a gorgeous 13 inch brown trout on a little nymph. Eventually Fausto moved downstream; "Richard, you stay here, is good place...I go down" (Most Italians can't seem to say "Rik", so they call me Richard). A couple hours later I continued downstream as well. The river is very shallow in many spots so I crossed to the other side and worked my way down towards Fausto. I found a nice hole and worked it for about an hour or so before giving up. Fausto, seeing me, stopped and started walking towards me. He showed me the beautiful little hybrid he had caught and we compared notes for a few minutes before deciding to head back towards the dam as it was getting late and we'd had enough.


La diga - the dam - as it normally looks.


As soon as we started back, I noticed something didn't look right. The rocks that I had walked on by the edge of the river were now completely underwater and the tall grass on the river bank was halfway submerged as well. It took me a second to figure out what was happening - the dam was slowly being opened and the river was slowly rising. We looked for a place to cross, but in about 15 minutes, the river had risen at least a foot and all the places that were usually up to our knees were now up to our waists. And with a river moving that fast, there is absolutely no way you can cross in waist deep water. You would be swept away for sure. The full scope of the situation was suddenly clear to us; we were trapped on the far side of the river, separated from our cars and being slowly but surely pinned up against the wall of trees and brush behind us. What was worse, our cars were parked on the little dirt road near the base of the dam. If the river rose high enough, our cars would be submerged.


Fausto

Fear set in. Panic struck. We frantically moved as fast as we could in the slowly rising water. We were moving so fast that we faced the added danger of injury, as the rocks kept rolling under our feet and we kept tripping over underwater weeds. I was moving as fast as I could, but Fausto kept yelling at me to wait for him. Fausto appears to be in good shape, but he's 50 and a chain smoker, a fact that escaped my frantic mind. At one point, he fell and banged his arm, nearly being swept away by the raging river. I helped him up and continued on, but within seconds, he was yelling at me again - "Richard! Richard! You wait me! Richard! Stop!". I turned to make sure he was ok and he said "Richard...my heart...you wait." Now, the only thing that could have made that situation worse would be for me to have to carry someone who was having a heart attack through the forest so I stopped. The river had pushed us into the trees and was at our knees now so we had no choice but to fight our way through the thick brush onto dry land. We literally had to crawl on our hands and knees and got plenty of scrapes and cuts. Eventually we hit a clearing which turned into a little path and we walked towards the dam, hoping that somewhere above it the river would be crossable. The water was steadily rising but hadn't gotten to the road yet. Suddenly we saw two others guys walking and by the grace of God, one of them was a friend of Fausto. He explained our situation and they told him they'd give us a ride to our cars, no problem. We both sucked down about two cigarettes to calm our shaky nerves.


The view from the base of the dam. By the time we got back to our cars, the river was at the edge of the road.

We were saved. By the time we got to the cars, the river was at the edge of the road, a mere ten feet or so from where we were parked. We had learned a harsh lesson but we had survived.

I don't think we'll be fishing Collicello again.

Meet Denise and Judi

As you may know, we have some very good friends who live in Venice. Denise and Maurizio are two of them. In a bizarre coincidence, Denise's mother Judi came to visit her for a couple of weeks. Why is that bizarre you ask? Well, she arrived the very same day my wife left and she left the very same day my wife returned. Not only that, but they had the exact same flight, going opposite directions (Venice-Philadelphia-Boston). So anyway, we were able to meet up with them in the airport the other day and visit for a bit before Judi had to get on her plane. Here are a couple pics..

Denise is the tall drink of water on the left, Judi is the young fox on the right and Virginia and the X Man are in the middle:

Judi, Denise and some other guy:

Judi and Denise are originally from the Boston area so we get on very well as you can imagine. Denise and Maurizio have a business called Venice Rentals that specializes in short and long term rentals in Venice (See their website HERE), and we usually get together with them for a cafe or a pint at the Devil's Forest Pub when we're in Venice.

Anyway, it was great meeting you Judi - make sure you let usknow next time you're in town so we can all do dinner!

Rik

How I Spent My Last Night of Parole

The wife and kid got in this morning, picked 'em up at Venice and they're at home right now. The X Man never even made it into the apartment - Giampietro and Agnese met us in the driveway and carted him off.

So anyway, here's how I spent my last night as a free man:

Dinner upstairs with Giampietro and Agnese:


Followed by some damn fine Cabernet while we watched Italy destroy Bielorussia 4-1:




The neighbors are so thrilled to have the X Man back...


Rik

Weekend Wrapup

The weekend was very uneventful. Laundry Saturday morning, Soccer matches at Bar da Sylvia in the afternoon (England beat Wales, 1-0), Soccer match upstairs at Giampietro's Saturday night (Italy tied Scotland 1-1).

Sunday morning was spent up on the Brenta River in the mountains (caught 11 small brown trout), Sunday afternoon spent re-watching season 1 of "The Office" (British version), Sunday evening watching my beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish destroy Pitt in Charlie Weis' first game as head coach.

Monday morning, went to Bassano dal Grappa in the morning, then spent the rest of the day up in the mountains on the Brenta again.

It was an uneventful weekend, I took no pictures, and I'm too tired to write much more than that. The wife and kid come home on Thursday so I still have the daunting task of cleaning the house ahead of me.

Anyone know a good maid?


Rik

Weekend Preview

I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but I've got a three day weekend and I have absolutely no plans. What's happening to me? The wife and kid are away until next week, I've got three days off from work, and I'm not going anywhere. In fact, I'm actually planning on doing laundry tomorrow morning. I'm not kidding. Either I'm getting old or I'm coming down with something.

Actually, I do have minor plans. Some friends and I were planning on going to a nearby vinyard to try some wine but those plans fell through (I think I need some new friends). So I'm planning on spending most of the weekend up on the Brenta River with my fly rod. And of course, tomorrow night is World Cup qualifying night for Europe, so I'll either be at Bar da Sylvia watching it, or upstairs with Giampietro. I'm leaning towards going upstairs and watching it with Giampietro because I recently acquired a bottle of 2002 Rosso di Montalcino and I'm planning on sharing it with him.

If I get too bored, I'm sure I'll end up in Venice again. Of course, with the wife and kid away, I'm liable to end up anywhere. So don't be surprised if you check in Tuesday and see pictures of me drinking vodka in the Ukraine...


Rik

Italy Has Bad Beer

If you know me, you know how much I love good beer. Therefore it's hard to be in Italy sometimes because there is simply not a good Italian beer in existence. The most famous Italian beer is Peroni and it is disgusting. The other night I was picking up a pizza at Antonio's and out of the goodness of his heart, he gave me a free can of Peroni to take home with me. To turn it down would have been rude, so I took it home and threw it in the fridge. Last night I decided to drink it and sure enough, it was plain nasty. In fact, I'm adding it to the Beer Hall of Shame as soon as I finish this post. In case you need a visual of how bad Peroni is, here you go:







Rik

How to Make an Italian Espresso at Home

I know that buying the espresso machines is a hip thing to do in the US, but you don't need to spend 50, 60 bucks for a good espresso. The only place you see those machines in Italy is in a cafe, bar, or restaurant. At home, the Italians use what is called a "Mokka". They come in all different sizes, from a one cup on up. I have a two cup Mokka that cost about 10 bucks (it was a gift) and it makes some damn good coffee:



So how does it work? It's very easy. It's comprised of three parts and unscrews in the middle:



You put the water in the bottom part (on the right), put the middle piece (the screen) inside the bottom piece and fill it with as much coffee as you want. I like it strong so I usually use less water and more coffee:



After that, screw the top part back on and place it on the stove on very low heat. As the water gradually heats up, it flows upward through the middle part that holds the coffee and then through the metal tube that connects it with the top part:



You'll know it's done when you hear the air start hissing a bit, letting you know that all the water has gone up through. It's important to cook it on low heat as cooking it too high and fast will make the coffee taste burnt.

Another thing I've learned from my Italian friends is that the more you use it, the better the coffee will taste. For example, last weekend I went upstairs for a coffee and my neighbors were explaining that it wouldn't taste quite as good because they'd been away on vacation for a few weeks and it hadn't been used. In fact, the Italians will tell you that the more coffee-stained the Mokka, the better the coffee will taste when you use it.

Lastly, if you ever buy a Mokka in the Us, remember that you need to use either espresso or very, very finely ground coffee. None of that "Maxwell House" crap...

Rik

Weekend Highlights - Venice

Well, there really were no highlights this weekend. That's not to say that the weekend sucked, just that it was a bit uneventful. I got to Venice Friday afternoon, dropped my stuff at the Bovolo apartment, and then met Theresa, Denise, and Denise's mom Judy for a cafe and to catch up since we hadn't seen each other in a while. After that, I went to the Devil's Forest to get a pint of Kilkenny Cream Ale. For some reason, the KCA tasted off. In fact, it tasted nothing like a KCA. So I went to the Fiddler's Elbow and ordered another pint there. Same thing. So I switched to the old standby - Guinness. The Fiddler's Elbow was not happening for me so after a couple more pints I headed to the Bacaro Jazz where I knew Mary would not disappoint me. Sure enough, the rest of the night was enjoyable and not without it's comical and strange moments. The funniest moment came when I started chit-chatting with an Irish guy who had come in with his girlfriend. He was at the bar ordering and we started talking about Ireland, then about soccer. After about 5 minutes, his girlfriend slams her hand down on the table, gets up, and walks out the door in a huff. Me, the Irish guy, and Mary all kind of looked at each other. After a tense moment or two, the Irish guy goes after her and they proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes arguing in the streets. After they came in, I didn't say a word to either of them so as not to risk another episode. When the girl went into the bathroom, the Irish guy came plopped down next to me at the bar and told us that his girlfriend was Croatian and very jealous of anyone else taking his time when he was with her.

Anyway, the rest of the night was spent chatting with just about every person who walked through the door, since 95% of them were Americans. I also met an Italian guy who lived upstairs and who was originally from the Piedmont region, which touched off a lengthy discussion about wine. In short, I'd have to say that Bacaro Jazz is becoming the place in Venice to go for a fun night of meeting people from all over. And of course if you ever go, be sure to bring an extra bra.

Anyway, I spent Saturday at the Devil's Forest again watching the Tottenham-Chelsea match (sorry Wayne). It poured almost all weekend so I got pretty wet. This also prevented me from walking around the city as I always do when I'm in Venice. But, as usual, I managed to pick up a few new tidbits about the city I love so well. Among them:

* Venice is becoming more and more Chinese. Seems like everytime I go, I notice one or two more bars and cafes run by Chinese people.

* The African guys selling knockoff bags are no more. Apparently the city decided to get serious with the problem and impose a 10,000 euro fine on anyone caught buying counterfeit bags. It's working too, I didn't see a single person selling any. Refreshing.

* I found a new favorite little out of the way wine bar to go to for some cicchetti and to sample a glass or two of wine. Wanna know where? Then you'll have to come visit. I refuse to publicize it. Rick Steves be damned.

* While known to me for its draught beer, the Devil's Forest is actually a decent lunch option. I had a plate of penne pasta with calamari, shrimp and mushroom for about 8 euro - cheaper than most restaurants and absolutely delicious.


I only took a handful of pictures since it was raining all weekend. I put them on my Venice picture page HERE. They're on the last row of color photos.


Rik

Venice, Here I Come...

As you know, the wife and kid are in the US for the next couple weeks. And while I'll never be able to match the run I had during my last parole, there was no way I was going to just sit on my couch and watch TV for two weeks when all of Europe is outside my door.


While trying to decide whether to go somewhere this weekend or to just spend it relaxing on the river, my decision was suddenly made very easy. My friend in Venice emailed me and informed me that they had an open apartment this weekend that was free to use if I wanted to. And so, after work tomorrow, I shall be jumping in Old Triple 7 and heading for La Serrenissima, Bella Venezia. As of this moment there are no pub crawl plans since it's just me. If Wayne and Nikki are available, they may join me of course. About the only thing I know I'll be doing for sure is watching some football (soccer) in the Fiddler's Elbow. And I definitely foresee a kebab or two in my future...

Rik

A Trip to the Airport, a Good Deed.

This morning I brought the wife and kid to the Venice Airport. While we were waiting in line to check their bags, there was a young girl of maybe 21 standing at the customer service window off to the side with a 2-3 year old boy who was screaming bloody murder. She was obviously an American spouse from the base and seemed to be dealing with some kind of problem and the screaming child was just exasperating her even further. You could tell that everyone in line felt for the poor girl. I looked down at the X Man and thought to myself "I'm glad you're not like that".

So I get the wife and kid checked in, get them through the gate, say my goodbyes and head to the ATM to get some money for parking and a panini. The ATM near the Brek cafe would not take my card. I knew there was another ATM but it was downstairs and allllll the way at the end of the terminal. I debated forgoing the panini for a minute and just leaving but my love of Italian sandwiches got the best of me and I headed to the other ATM. When I got there, I saw the poor girl from the check in line with the little boy standing there with an airline employee. She was obviously having some kind of problem and was getting frantic because the ATM would not take her card. She called someone on her cell phone as the airline employee kept telling her he was sorry, there was nothing he could do. As I completed my ATM transaction, I overheard her talking on the phone getting more frantic and desperate by the second. Before long she was openly weeping. Apparently her husband had deployed the day before and was in Kuwait. She and the baby were supposed to fly home to her family but nobody told her she would need 160 euros (about $200) to pick up her ticket at the airport and she only had about 100 bucks with her. So she couldn't get on the plane and she had no way to get back to Vicenza.

There are times in your life when you are put in certain situations. How you react to them is up to you - you can choose not to get involved and go on with your life or you can step up to the plate.. At that moment, it was clear to me what I had to do. When she hung up the phone I asked her what the problem was. She frantically explained it to me and I told her not to worry, I would pay the 160 euros for her. The airline employee was going on about how sorry he was but there was nothing he could do and I just told him to tell me what he needed, I would take care of it. He took us up to the counter, I gave the guy my credit card, he charged the 160 euros and the poor girl and her baby made the plane with little time to spare. She of course insisted on getting my name and address so she could pay me back. I told her not to worry but she continued to insist so I gave it to her. I may or may not ever hear from her again, but it doesn't matter. To be able to help a deployed soldier's wife and baby get home is worth the 160 euros it cost me.

God bless our troops...and their families.

Rik

I'm Back Baby

The hiatus is over. Regular posting should commence this week. Virginia and the X Man leave tomorrow morning for two weeks at my mom's so I shall once again be solo. I'm still stuggling with how to spend my parole however. Not sure I'll do any major trips this time. Might do a weekend in Venice or Rome again. Might even do a trip to the mountains or somewhere in Germany. Or I might just stay local and hit the river in either Bassano dal Grappa or Valstagna. One dark horse destination is Salzburg, Austria. Either way be sure to check in for updates and a full report...


Rik

HIATUS

The blog will be on temporary hiatus for the next week or two due to time constraints...
Rik

Limoncello Anyone?

This is limoncello. For those who have never heard of it, limoncello is an Italian liquor made out of lemons and vodka that is usually drunk after a meal as a digestive. In fact, it's rare to go to a ristorante and not see people drink a limoncello after their meal.

True to their nature, every region in Italy claims to be the home of the best or most authentic limoncello. For my money, the best is found down in the Cinque Terra. Many Italians also make their own limoncello as it's an easy process. We always keep a bottle in the house and I enjoy a shot every now and then. Especially on a hot day - limoncello should be kept in the freezer and served ice cold.

Here's a pretty good site for more info, including recipes if you'd like to make your own:

Limoncello


Rik

Virginia and The X Man in Black and White

Why I love Italy, Reason #356

This is Bresaola. Bresaola is an Italian specialty of thinly sliced, cured meat (beef). It is usually served topped with shaved grana padano or parmeggiano cheese, rucola, and olive oil. The meat is so thin and delicious that it almost melts in your mouth. It's usually served as an antipasto (appetizer). Bresaola has become my favorite Italian dish.


Click here to read the Wikipedia description of bresaola


Rik

What I'm listening to right now...

In the past day or two I've added two CDs to my collection that, while certainly eclectic, are both fantastic. The first is M.I.A.'s CD called "Arular". M.I.A. is a rather offbeat artist from the UK who is originally from Sri Lanka. Her music is hard to describe but it's sort of a mix of dance grooves, hip hop beats, samples and catchy rhymes and hooks. The best song is "Bucky Dun Gun". It really sticks in your head.

The second CD is Loretta Lynn's critically acclaimed "Van Lear Rose". what makes this CD different is that it was produced by Jack White of the White Stripes. I like the White Stripes' music and this CD comes across as kind of a honky-tonk-meets-White Stripes sort of sound. If you listen closely, the lyrics and some of the sounds will remind you of Johnny Cash. I think my favorite track so far is "Portland, Oregon", which Loretta Lynn and White team up for a duet. I wouldn't recommend either of these CDs to everyone as neither one would probably appeal to a real broad audience. So if you don't like them, don't say you weren't warned...


Rik

Nevermind...

Remember a couple posts back when I said that Italy sucks in August? I think I've changed my mind. For the past week or so, my daily commute - which is routinely the worst part of my day - has been much, much smoother. Normally the drive home from work in the evening is like an obstacle course. It is a journey frought with peril and danger. Every single night I manage to avoid at least one accident. In fact, eventually I'm going to dedicate an entire week to nothing but the previous night's drive home.

However, it's so much better now that nobody is on the road. I'm absolutely loving this. Then again, perhaps this repreive from the normal gridlock is making me complacent. I hope I'm not jinxing myself...


Rik