Last night I got back to Ohio around 8:30pm & the folks picked me up. We went to Waffle House for a late supper and then I returned home to a very pleased-to-see-me Leo. Short amount of time online and then off to bed. Church this morning (dad preaching on “Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?”) and now I’m home and ready to read Harry Potter and chill with my cat. I’ll report more on the trip when I’m more awake. It was a great time and I know at least 17 out of us 18 got back safely. And I’m figuring Tammy (the 18th) got back OK as well.

PS: Happy Birthday antiwesley!

Sitting at an Internet Point in Venice while John & Mary wait outside. Only 8 of us dared to venture the autostrade to come here and 5 of us are off looking at the Doge’s palace.

Not much time to write, so I’ll just say so far, the trip has been brill. The trip to the seaside was a bit of a wash, but yesterday was spent in Foiana della Chiana (where the villa is) and then off to a “cooking class” near Montepulciano. The cooking class was the perhaps the biggest highlight of the trip. I made bruschetta and pici dough and rolled pici for the first time in my life. And I did a half decent job of it, too. The food was brilliant and the house was lovely. And I’d write more, but John just popped in to see how much longer I’d be.

Home soon – my kitty’s been good so far, say the parental units. I miss him and will be happy to see him again, even if it means I’ll miss out on the villa and the swimming pool. 🙂

Well, it looks like judiang has a good update on what’s been going on so far. Having seeng Boticelli’s Birth of Venus and Michelangelo’s David today, I am in art heaven. Both were bigger than I was expecting. And David is simply breathtaking. I find it interesting that the seats around David only afford a view of his rather nice ass. I didn’t mind one bit!

As Judi says, the villa is fabulous. I went swimming last night and again this morning. And I intend to swim more tonight. Tomorrow we’re off to visit wineries. No idea when we’ll next have time to post. What I really need to do is tell y’all about our very memorable dinner last night. I tell you, we laughed for HOURS. We were so sore from laughing when we were done. You’ll probably find it almost as funny as we did. 🙂

Only have 9 minutes left on my EasyInternet ticket, so I’ll type as quickly as this European keyboard will let me.

Judi’s back at the hotel resting her feet (aka snoring) and I decided to find the EasyInternet cafe and read e-mail (did that) and update my journal (doing that). Alas, no time to read my friendslist, so I apologize to eveyrone out there for not keeping caught up! I will do so when I get back, I imagine. (if you have something truly groundbreaking in your journal, comment here about it and I’ll hopefully see it soon!)

Tomorrow, we head off to the villa in Tuscany (near Cortona) and I’ve no idea, once again, what connectivity will be like. So no idea how much I’ll be able to update.

This morning, we went off to look at a bunch of broken down shit. I tell ya, Rome’s gone to hell. The forum looks like a bunch of rocks – and you should see what the collisium looks like! Hell, some bastard called Michealangelo stole all the marbel seats!

Heh – the Forum and Collisium (can’t spell that!) were cool to see – and I made sure to make some commentary on Judi’s video of the ruins.

Anyhoo, running out of time, so I’ll try to write more later.

Dito what says!

I love getting to do that!

Anyhoo, breakfast, followed by bus ride to Vatican City (and no, elsaf, the Pope didn’t sit down next to us…). [BTW, dad, if you are reading this, Gary says “Hi!” And Gary says to me, he doesn’t like me, he loves me!] Scavi was brill (albeit humid), the Basilica was pretty. While Judi sat out the Cupula, several of us took the lift up to the first dome level, then climbed the 320 steps to the tippy top. The view from up there was beautiful and worth the stepping! The climbing down was harder for me, however, due to slight amounts of vertigo. And when I got done, my left knee wouldn’t stop shaking.

Judi, Tammy & I went on a nice (expensive) guided tour of the Vatican Museums. The guy (from Toronto) was funny & informative. We were to get lunch at the American Bar while his partner bought the museum tickets, but I was overheated (see earlier paragraph re: stairs) and could only take a nice bottle of bottled water in. The art inside the Vatican Museums is amazing. The school of Athens by Rafael was magnificent, and entire books are written about the brilliance that is the Sistine Chapel.

Judi’s feet were killing her, so we headed back to the room where I got extra special bonus friends’ points by getting her (and me) some gelato, rubbing her feet, and getting her a foot bath. Then I went out shopping – and got myself another gelato. 🙂 I bought a kitty cat clock whose tail swings as the pendulum under the clock. Very cute & only €15!

It was nearing suppertime, so I wrote postcards to several folks and stamped them, then woke up sleeping Judi to head down for supper. We ate at another tourist trap (this time by the Pantheon) and I got crepes with ricotta & spinaci. Yummy! The waiter put on a €2 service charge, a 15% tax, and then tried to milk us for more of a tip (when he bitched the whole time about how difficult it was to handle a group of 12 people). He robbed me of €.17 in the bargain, the bastard! 😉

After supper, it was time for more gelato, then back to the hotel to sit in the guest lounge drinking up all the wine everyone bought (I tried 2 drinks of each wine and didn’t like any of ’em. But the pinot grigio was the least nasty one.) Judi drug me out to get more gelato, but all I did was have a sip of her frappe and decide that tomorrow I’d get a chocolate frappe. Then back to the lounge, and eventually to type this up. We have 21 minutes to go on our card! Wish us speedy typing tomorrow night!

We are staying at the Hotel Regno in Rome and it turns out, after spending a good 15 minutes trying to find the EasyInternet Cafe, it has an internet console. So Judi and I both put in €5 to get 2 hours of connection time while in Rome. Hopefully that will be sufficient.

So, how did everything go in the getting together stakes? Well, my own trip was pretty straight forward. After a 5 hour layover in Philly, we got started about 15 minutes late due to a connecting flight issue, but that made us an hour late getting through the queue for take off. So we got to Rome and hour later than scheduled. No matter, I thought, I’ll have less time to wait in baggage claim for everyone.

The flight itself was uneventful, and joyously, the plane was an Airbus A330, so each seat had a TV screen behind it and we could pick our own programming. I watched Hitch and Robots and a History Channel special on ice cream. And with my noise reducing headphones, I could actually understand the dialog!

So I arrived at 9:30am and the main group was to arrive at 10:20am. So not long to wait, right? Well… Firstly, the folks at Alitalia didn’t know what flight 1189 was. They assured me that the Northwest flight would be hovering around claim 8 when they arrived. So I waited & waited and no go. Then finally Northwest flight 66 out of Detroit showed up on the monitors as arriving at 2:02pm. Was that them? Well, I thought, I’ll wait for Tammy to come. Except, which flight was hers? FOr every US flight coming in, I scoured their respective baggage claims for Tammy, and never saw her. As it neared 2pm (I was very hungry by then and extremely tired) I finally saw Tammy. She was shocked to see me, figuring that we’d all headed on to the hotel. But the main group wasn’t there… Still, within half an hour, they showed up.

Due to circumstances which I’ll let judiang go into herself, I was surprised and delighted to see Judi there. I gave her a big hug and we all stood around waiting for bags to come through the chute. And they all came. Except Judi’s!! Bugger!

So, Judi goes to wait in line at the Alitalia help desk, only to eventually be told to go to the airport help desk. I was already waiting in line there and we stood there for another half hour waiting to get through – only to have the lady there say it was something Alitalia has to sort out. Another 15-20 minute wait at Alitalia and the lady there (different from the person Judi first talked to) got Judi’s details, et al. Hopefully she’ll have her luggage tomorrow! (Stupid Northwest!)

After we got done with that jive, we, along with Gary, Marcia and Tammy, took an airport shuttle to the hotel. The fellow driving was very nice and informative. And did a U-turn in front of the hotel to drop us off. The hotel is very nice. Skinny tub/shower unit, but very nicely remodeled place. And there’s a lift! (Only holds 3 people, but it’s glass-fronted.)

After everyone had time to decompress in their rooms, we gathered downstairs and then headed off to see the Pantheon. Then, while at Piazza del Navona, we ate at some of the tourist traps restaurants. Judi & I ate with Amy & Kathie at the Quattro Fiumi (4 Rivers) Cafe. I had rissoto with cream & prawns – very tasty. On our way to Trevi Fountain we stopped for Gelato and I had really decadent cioccoloto (chocolate) gelato. Mmmmmm! I tasted Jo’s caramel ice cream and it was wonderful too. Then we stopped at the fountain to throw coins in, get our photo taken by a charlatan, and watch all the people around it. Finally, we stopped at the Spanish Steps, which were neat to see at night, but might be even better in the daytime. (Only two of our party were hearty enough to climb the steps. I’m saving myself for tomorrow at St. Paul’s.)

It was on our way back from the Spanish Steps that Judi and I attempted to find the EasyInternet Cafe, but I took a wrong turning near the end of the journey and we decided to head back to the hotel instead of risk the place being closed (it was nearly 11pm). I got the bright idea about the Hotel’s internet access once we returned, and here I am now, typing this up.

Judi’s turn next!

Well, today’s the day! After almost 2 years in the preparation, I’m flying off to Italy today for 3 days in Rome and a week in Tuscany. It was in October of ’03 that our BW3 group started talking about renting a villa in Tuscany together, and we’ve had many meetings since then to figure on where and when and whom and all that. There will be 18 of us in the party. I invited judiang to be my roomie (we tried to see if elsaf could come as well, but it just didn’t work out for her – alas!) Most of the others are either current co-workers or former co-workers (and spouses, some of whom fit the current co-workers description as well). The only two who were unable to attend any of the meetings were Judi (the whole living in another state thing was a bit of a hindrance) and Kathie (who’s part of the non-co-workers contingent). Still, some of the folks going on the trip (Steve & Beth and Gary & Marcia) have met Judi, so it shouldn’t be all that bad for her.

Due to buying tickets later than I should, I’m flying in on a different flight than most of the folks. The only other one on a different flight is Tammy, who got a freebie flight and could only pick the dates. Judi, meanwhile, will meet up with the rest of the contingent in Detroit. I’ve given her photos of two of the guys and passed her photo around at the last meeting. Who knows, maybe John has made a “JUDI” sign to hold up for her. 🙂 I hope they do meet up, I think she’ll have fun chatting with these strange people we’re going to be spending 10+ days with.

I’m flying US Air (“If you’ve got time to spare, why not fly US Air?”) today, and theoretically should arrive about 2 hours before the main party. Let’s hope they’ve got their act together and this is, indeed, the case. (They’re the airline who left me stranded at Gatwick for a night and then Philly for another night on a Spring Break one year.) Tammy’s flight gets in about half an hour after the main group is supposed to arrive.

The goal is to head out from the airport in Rome to Rome proper to the Hotel Regno, where we’re staying. We’ll play around in Rome and Vatican City for a couple of days, then Saturday morning, 5 of our brave men will foolishly rent 5 cars and drive (in Rome!!!!!) to the hotel to pick the rest of us up. Then we’ll drive off to the villa which is near a small village near Cortona. It’s the Villa Francesco, which has a swimming pool!

While at the villa, we intend to do several day trips to places around the villa. A day in Florence, a day at the seaside, a day in Venice, etc. And hopefully some quality time by the pool (or rather, for me, in the pool). My goal is to swim every morning and every evening. We’ll see if I can manage that goal. Supposed to be sunny and in the high 80s (°F) throughout the trip. Sweet. 🙂 (OK, so high 80s is a bit warm for me, but I should be OK. It’s actually cooler than it’s been here the past week or so!)

We’ve no idea what sort of ‘net connection we’ll have while there. There might be internet cafes where we can report back in, but if not, you’ll just have to wait for my magnum opus when I return. You poor things! 😉

Anyhoo, be good to each other while we’re gone! Have fun, cuz we certainly intend to!

I’ve been in an unusually good mood for the last day or so. Little things have just been working out nicely for me. In particular, last night I finally got my Roku Soundbridge and my new PC to talk to each other successfully using Windows Media Connect. (It was all file permissions problems.)

Yesterday, I returned the video card and the power supply that I bought earlier in the month but later decided I didn’t need. Got cash back for the PS and the video card was placed back into my bank account. Sweet.

We’re pretty much ready for the Italy trip (which we leave for on the 19th) and I’m getting excited about that. Yesterday I sent off to judiang a packet of paperwork that we’d been collecting at our Italy meetings. This is going to be a fun trip! (So far, the weather is looking good – warm, but good!)

This morning, I was playing a little bit of City of Heroes when someone sent me a message wanting to know if I wanted to join in their power leveling team. Sure! Though I warned that I was cursed at being power leveled. (Power leveling is basically letting someone else do all the work and you getting XP – it’s a quick way to get to a higher level.) I’m now close to being level 42 (a key level on my way to level 50). Woot!

Now I’m sitting at mom & dad’s cabin at the Lake and drinking a grasshopper mist while I type this up. The weather is perfect and there’s a steady breeze into the 3-season room. We’re going to have grilled steaks & strawberry shortcake for supper. Life is GOOD! 🙂

When I first heard that folks were doing a movie on the old 60’s sitcom Bewitched, my first thought was “Woohoo! Maybe they’ll finally release the series on DVD!” And, as some of you might know, this is indeed what happened. When DeepDiscountDVD was having their latest 20% off sale (evil bastards!) the season 1 DVD set of Bewitched was one of my many purchases (indeed, the only TV series, for once). I popped disc one into my bedroom DVD player the other night so that Leo and I could watch some quality TV together (we like doing that) and watched the first two episodes.

The next day, I examined the paperwork which was in the DVD set more carefully and noticed they’d included a free ticket to see the Bewitched movie! So the Bewitched movie rewards me by getting the TV series released on DVD, and the DVD set rewards me with a free screening of Bewitched! How nice!

Yesterday, I decided that 3 hours was enough work for me, so after dad and I went out for Chinese Buffet, I went on to Piqua to the Cinemark at the Mall instead of heading back to work like poor (retired) dad did. I used my freebie ticket (woohoo! Saved $3.75!) and got in during the trailers. (Wow – Rent is coming to the movies? Neat trailer.) The movie was my kind of simple fun. I laughed, I cried, I had a good time. The lady doing Aunt Clara was perfect. And even Uncle Arthur was well done. Shirley MacClaine as Endora was inspired casting, as was Michael Cain as the Maurice-style character. I liked Will Ferrell better than either Darren (Darren was never my favorite character in the show – I wonder if he is even in the top 5?). But the most amazing casting coup was Nicole Kidman as the Samantha character! Wow! She even does a nose twitch! 🙂

What I liked best about the movie was that it treated the original series with respect. In particular, Elizabeth Montgomery was treated like the goddess she was. 🙂 There were a few scenes that I thought should have been in the film but weren’t; however, I enjoyed myself (and figure some of ’em will probably be on the DVD when it comes out – if they were ever filmed).

If you’re not a big fan of the original Bewitched series, I really don’t know what you’d think of the movie. If you did love the show as I did, this was a nice heartfelt tribute to a great sitcom!

Perhaps the worst time for me to shop are the times when I really don’t have a set shopping agenda. Today was one of those times. Merely going into Walmart for some milk and cream, I ended up finding some pajamas and a robe for my Italy trip. Oh, and some shirts. And a Gameboy Advance SP. And some anti-noise headphones (reasonably priced, I thought). But the real shocker of the outing was when I bought a skirt! Me???? A skirt?

People who know me best know just what a shocker this is. I am not a dress or skirt person. Jeans, shorts, slacks if I have to. That’s it. But for the Italy trip, I’ll need to be dressy from time to time, and this is a skirt that’s light, wrinkled already, and purple. I got 2 tops (also purple) to go with it, so that gives me two dressy outfits. With my Chacos on, no one ever need know that I’m not a dressy kind of gal. Of course, for most of the trip, I’ll be the typical American Tourist. 🙂

So anyhoo, my $2 milk turned out to cost me a hell of a lot more money. But I got lots of cool things in the process! (And even a skirt!!!)

PS – a very happy birthday to our own drake57!