Italy... some thoughts

Rome - Vespas on steroids litter the streets as do drivers who see rules or stop signs as mere suggestions.  I was lucky to come home alive after coming in close proximity to several angry bumpers. The driving is a reflection of the nature of the Italian. Pure and simple - they don't like us. They have opened up their beautiful city to the world and now regret the offering. Sitting down to dinner was almost a threat as opposed to a respite. I was friendly to a fault to ensure that a gift of pissed-off-saliva wasn't hurled into my pasta bowl.

Not pretty. The graciousness of servitude is a thing of my past. (sorry... I sounded a bit Paula Dean just then). However, I was saddened but fortunate to be able to have compared this experience to another of mine almost fifty years before.

The Vatican was a joke. The tour was a despicable cattle herd with no air conditioning or place to rest. By the end of it, I couldn't have imagined how fifty years had bastardized this place into a money-making touristy souvenir shop only to be trumped by a mooring of a sub-standard cruise ship on the Carribean. Sad. The Vatican will be closed in a few years... this is more than just opinion since the world of tourists has taken over... its once reverant atmosphere has turned into a freak show with everything short of deep-fried Twinkies. As I said, I was honored to be a visitor many decades before the latest carnival. A visit from the pope doing Gangum style with a Nicki Manaj backup girl-group would have fit the bill.

Cinque Terre - there is nothing like this group of charming villages. Unfortunately, we did the Cinque Terre hike, not realizing that we were screwed until we saw a Finnish tour-group with poles, water-filled waist-packs for ULTRA-hydration, and massive hiking boots. I thought to myself as I stood there in my flat Keds with no water bottle... i.am.thoroughly.fucked.

It was a one-thousand step, four hour trek-from-hell through the terraces of the five (cinque) cities. There was no attire-warning to Americans  -  fortunately... the Finnish group did get the hiking memo.

Lucky them.

Back tomorrow with more about Florence, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast...

(I must go ice my ankle.)