August Trip to New Mexico - 2010 - day 4

Tuesday - I've started walking again in the morning. Left the motel and went down Menaul all the way to University St. and back which is a pretty good walk...surprised at the light traffic in the morning.

Decided to go pay a visit to the City of Rio Rancho's public works and building regulation departments just to see what they were like and what they had to tell me. The building dept. gets a D+ or maybe a C- if I cut them some slack. They have several set answers to questions..."that's not our department", "I'm just getting to that", "it's in the packet of information". The packet is the same stuff on the web page. First impressions are important and they didn't do very well. On the other hand, the Public Works department was very helpful with questions and putting me in touch with Eddie who will let me know about the water availability. I'd give them a B+. I expected to talk to some engineer types who would not be able to communicate but was surprised.

I spent the rest of the day in Bernalillo. I had lunch at Abuelita's and had some authentic New Mexican food -- a Navajo Taco which is a sopapilla laid flat and then covered with refried beans, shredded beef, lettuce, tomatoes and green chile sauce (sauce on the side). This was like a Tostada Compuesta if you know what that is.

Today is the Feast of San Lorenzo, the patron saint of Bernalillo so they have a 3-day fiesta that started Monday afternoon. They had already carried the Saint from the church earlier in the day and took him to the festival area where the observance was presided over by a Mayordomo - head of the family that "owned" the saint for the past year. Each year the saint is passed over to another family who take responsibility for it and also host the Fiesta. They provide food and take care of details for the fiesta and the Matachines dance.

The fiesta dance grounds were sort of behind the grocery store. My waitress at Abuelita's filled me in on how to get there. I was able to follow local people carrying lawn chairs once I got close to the place. It was pretty full and kind of a tight squeeze. I was a little concerned with the guys carrying the whips but they were dancers and that was one of the things they used in the dance.

Luckily I got an ear full from one of the concession guys who explained all about San Lorenzo. Once it got started I was struck by the religious atmosphere that it all took on. I asked if it was OK to take pictures and they said 'yes' but there were not many cameras so I only took a few.

They have been doing this dance in Bernalillo since 1693. I tells a story of Christianity coming to the Aztecs and how Montezuma struggled before finally accepting Christianity. There are some key figures...Montezuma, Malinche (aka Marina), Aztec warriors, the devil/evil one, and protectors who guard against the devil (guys with the whip). The dance went on in the hot sun for almost two hours. One of the final parts of the dance involves the town's people joining in with the dancers to reaffirm their commitment to San Lorenzo and the church. Then, after a break, they took the statues of San Lorenzo and paraded through the streets around town. He goes back to the sanctuary church tomorrow after being handed over to the new Mayordomo family. This was really fascinating to watch. I have heard about this dance -- mostly in Mexico or South America -- but never have seen it.

I was hot after several hours in the sun (not as hot as the dancers) so I tried to cool off. I went back up to my lot and re-confirmed some of the information I talked about at the city hall. The manhole cover I saw that I thought was sewer or water was Qwest's underground wire access. I suspect that I'm going to need a well after all...even though I can see a huge water tank about 1000 feet away.

I cooled off in the Santa Ana Star Casino for about an hour -- spent $20 but had a good time. It was getting dark when I got started back to my motel and, of course, I managed to get lost.

Watson is sick and Jill took him to the animal hospital. He has lost about 5 lbs from his high od 22 lbs and is too weak to go eat. He will stay with the vet until I get home. They ran some blood tests but everything was normal. He has a fever so maybe an infection of some kind. Poor guy.

August Trip to New Mexico - 2010 - day 3

Monday - Not much to report. Got up very early -- partly due to the time change but I wanted that free breakfast. I got the breakfast sandwich (apparently "sangwish" in Albuquerque talk) Most of the people at the Pow Wow were from the motel.

It was a cool morning and no rain clouds. Not much traffic. This is pretty much of an uphill climb except for heading into Santa Rosa and crossing the Pecos River. The roadside scenery is nice but there was one area that was nearly covered with billboards advertising a tourist trap shop...the Flying C Ranch. I drank too much coffee so I had to stop anyway -- what a rip off place. I had previously stopped at Cline's Corners on another trip and it is an authentic tourist trap from long ago which gives it a little character -- you can still buy wax teeth and rubber tomahawks -- but this place had no redeeming value except the bathrooms. Cline's Corners, a little farther west, is looking pretty run down.

The road keeps going up gradually until you hit Moriarty and then it is pretty much all downhill to Albuquerque...maybe 30 miles of steady drop in elevation.

I got to the motel way too early to check in so ended up going north to Bernalillo and visiting my building lot and then eating at Wendys. The lot is fine...I was afraid that it had burned in some brush fires last year but they must not have gotten close.

I drifted through Bernalillo and then down through the Sandia reservation and finally went over to Corrales and stopped at the Flying Star (think Panera Bread Co.) and got some coffee and sat outside and enjoyed the day. There are some interesting shops close by. I've noticed a lot of bugs flying around....flies and mosquitoes seem to be out in force. They were very pesky while I was looking at the lot and then later at the Flying Star. I stopped and got some repellent.

Bernalillo is having it's fiesta but not much was happening today when I was there. I'll check it out tomorrow. I got checked in after 2 PM and chilled out for a while. Went and picked up a few groceries. The motel seems pretty much the same.

August trip to New Mexico - 2010 - Day 2

Sunday - Left Oklahoma City around 8 AM and headed west on I-40. There seems to be a lot of road work going on -- maybe due to the stimulus money? I took a side trip to follow Route 66 for a few miles and then went off looking for the wind farms near Weatherford OK. I'm fascinated by the huge wind turbines. My GPS lady was yelling at me trying to get me to go back to I-40...she is such a nag.

I also stopped at a roadside Cherokee Trading Post -- a tourist trap but a pretty high class one. They sell lots of Indian jewelry and pots, rugs, etc. and most of it looks pretty good -- not like it came from China. They advertised that they had live buffalo but he was busy elsewhere so I got a picture of the fiberglass one and a huge Indian.

I crossed into Texas and stopped to see the 2nd biggest cross in the western hemisphere at Groom TX....not much else happening there (except for the leaning water tower). I think the biggest cross is in Greenland or Illinois or somewhere.

Went on and saw the VW version of Cadillac Ranch in Conway, TX, just off the interstate. It is pretty run down...VWs don't hold up to the elements like Caddies. It doesn't get many visits....no tour busses.

In Amarillo I tried to stop at the quarter horse museum but it was closed...again. Always closed on Sunday. Instead I grabbed lunch at a McCafe and used the McToilet. I also made my obligatory stop at Cadillac Ranch. Each time I stop I seem to have a different favorite one. A bus load of German tourists were there and I met a family that drove up from Lubbock just to see it...(better than the Alamo?)

New Mexico now has a tall welcoming gate spanning the highway as you enter the state....must be more stimulus money. It looks nice and is a welcome sight as you leave Texas.

Tucumcari is where I'm staying at the Blue Swallow Motel - built in 1939 back when Route 66 was the biggest deal in the area (it still is, apparently). My room is nice and the couple that run the place are very nice. This is almost a ghost town...no industry and it only serves the local ranchers and tourists. Most of the old motels are closed or torn down. The few that are left seem to be barely hanging on but the Blue Swallow is the exception -- they have a full house. There are painted murals on some exterior walls and in the garages. My garage has a scene from Easy Rider and, as fate would have it, my next door neighbors are two guys from Denmark who are crossing the country on rented motorcycles.

Went to the Pow Wow Restaurant for supper and had a huge beer (Shiner Bock) and a stuffed sopaipilla covered with cheese and green chile sauce (stuffed with beef and refried beans) --- ahhh New Mexico.

Interesting...I get a free breakfast at the Pow Wow paid by my motel owner if I get up and check out by 7 AM. He explained that it is taking him and his wife longer to clean the rooms and if people leave early he can get an early start. He and his wife were very nice and were not trying to get rid of people...really. But that makes the experience more like 1950 vacations when you had to get up in your jammies before dawn and hit the road.

August trip to New Mexico - 2010 - Day 1

Saturday: How many times have I gone this way?

I got on the road fairly early for a change and was past the Lake traffic before it was too busy. Stopped in a Waffle House in Springfield for an early lunch and then headed on to Oklahoma. The weather was nice and cool enough that I didn't need the car AC until I got to Tulsa. Highway 65 is re-done as a divided highway all the way to Springfield now so that made it easier. Unfortunately the interstate and turnpike are messed up in Tulsa and a good part of the way to Oklahoma City....cars were backed up for miles in the eastbound lanes. They are working on a Saturday so they are trying to get it finished but still have a lot to do. Westbound wasn't nearly as bad. I might try to come home a different way...maybe through Wichita.

I got into Oklahoma City a little before 4 PM and checked in at the motel. It is an EconoLodge that I've stayed at before - cheap and nothing special. It was pretty hot and steamy so I needed to cool off for a while.

Went to Bricktown for supper and found the Tap Werks pub on Sheridan Ave. It has over 100 beers on tap and about the same variety in bottles. I had a couple Fuller's Pride pale ales that were on special for $3.00 a pint and a very good Reuben sandwich. There was live music scheduled there for tonight and also at a number of other places close by.

No baseball game so the ballpark was quiet. I walked around a little and listened to a band playing outdoors at one of the bars but it was too hot to stay very long. They have a little river walk but the water seems to make things that much more humid. They also have a Banjo Museum.

Headed back to the motel and watched part of a John Wayne movie marathon.

Return to Italy 2010 -- A Wedding in Bra & More.

This is sort of a pre-post to the trip blog. I didn't take my laptop so I wasn't able to post as I went along (like I usually do) so I'm putting together a lengthy narrative in three parts to cover the trip. We flew to Milan and spent a day there before going to Bra in Piedmont (Cuneo) for several days for the wedding. Afterward, we went to Perugia in Umbria and then back north to Venice and finally back to Milan (Somma Lombardo) as we were getting ready to come home. I have about 500 pictures so I only posted a few and I'll put a few more at the photo section below the blog narratives.

Italy Trip - 2010

ITALY -- 2010

We have been looking forward to this trip to Italy for over a year. Oksana and Damiano announced that they would be getting married in Bra, Damiano's home town, and Oksana asked Jill to be the Maid of Honor so we were excited. We and a few of Oksana's American friends would be sort of her 'family' since she had no other relatives making the trip from Ukraine. The American family was made up of me and Jill, Donna Haley from Columbia, Tom and Karia (Basta) Hansen from Phoenix, and Carmen and Jenny Chicone from Mo. University (Carmen was Oksana's advisor).

The three of us, me, Jill and Donna, made arrangements to meet at the airport in St. Louis and fly to Atlanta and meet Tom and Karia for the (Delta) flight to Milan on June 9th. Our flight connections were fine and we all met in Atlanta -- the flight to Milan was overnight and very long but otherwise uneventful. Sleeping on the plane was nearly impossible so we were pretty exhausted when we arrived but it was mid morning and no time to rest. Donna, Tom and Karia were going directly to Bra while Jill and I planned to spend a day in Milan and do a little sightseeing before going to Bra. They took a bus to Torino and then a train to Bra.

MILANO
We took a shuttle to the Milan Stazione Centrale, the larger railway station dating from the days of Mussolini, and then managed to find the metro and a kind lady who showed how to purchase tickets. For some reason, you have to go through a turnstile to get to the metro. That is OK if you are just going by yourself but we had two huge rolling suitcases and a hefty duffel bag as well as a camera bag and Jill's shoulder bag. Of course the luggage got hung up in the turnstile and we were too tired to figure out a better way to handle it so eventually it became a process of kicking the suitcase in front on the floor in front of you as you negotiated the turnstile and tried to keep the other stuff from getting hung up. Luckily it was not busy when we were trying to get this done. Once through the turnstile you have to descend to the platform and hope you are on the right one -- we were! We had to ride just a short distance to the Muscova metro station where we popped out of the ground and stood on the sidewalk looking for Corso Garibaldi. Once again, a kind lady provided directions as we were about to wander off the wrong way...I'm not afraid to ask directions -- that's almost the only Italian I know. So we got started in the right direction to the hotel and walked about two blocks and found it -- the Hotel Ritter.

Hotel Ritter is OK for one night but it has seen better days...I hope. Its major positive attribute is its location...within walking distance to the things we wanted to see. Our room was sufficient - two twin beds and a bathroom. The bathroom was a challenge at first but we managed to get it figured out. The desk clerks were helpful every time we needed any directions or information. You must surrender your passport every time you check in at an Italian hotel and they must do some sort of report to local police and then you get the passport back next time you go out. You also often have to surrender your key at the desk when you go out and most hotels had a safe in the room for valuables. We both took showers and freshened up a little and then headed out looking for the Duomo with a map and directions from the desk clerk. The area we were in was the "Bohemian" section of Milan and it looked very much like the set of the movie Evita -- many old apartment buildings, old churches, shops and offices. The streets were fairly narrow and had antique trolley cars running on tracks and connected to overhead wires. Old street lights were suspended over the street on wires.

After about a 20 minute walk down Corso Garibaldi we found the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel, an enclosed shopping mall from the late 1800s and one of Milan's high fashion spots (think Prada). It has a glass roof over the pedestrian area between the shops and restaurants and the place seems to be a draw for all sorts of people, some shoppers, some walking dogs and some sleepy tourists. Since we couldn't afford anything Prada offered we just looked around and then headed out into the main piazza and the Duomo. The piazza was large and full of people enjoying the day or watching others and being watched -- or posing in their Prada outfits, perhaps. At one end is the huge gothic church made of white stone and decorated with statues and intricate stone filigree.

The Duomo is one of the largest churches in the world and it certainly has an imposing presence -- it too seems to be posing in its finery on the piazza. For all of its whiteness and airy filigree on the outside it is dark and cavernous on the inside. The word "awesome" is an appropriate description in this case. It is huge and surely there could be several church services going on at the same time and one would not be interrupted or distracted by another one. We explored the church but chose not to climb up to the rooftop observation area that looks out over the piazza. It is clearly a living church with several daily masses and active devotional chapels and confessional areas. What you can see of the pipe organ looks puny in comparison to the space. The Gothic arches in the nave soar almost 150 feet above the floor. We just sat for a while and took it in because it was so amazing ...and because we were tired.

We left the Duomo and took a shortcut through the galleria and came out in a smaller piazza facing the La Scala opera house where many of Italy's opera giants performed. A large statue of Leonardo Da Vinci presides over the piazza which was a little calmer and relaxed compared to the larger piazza by the Duomo. While La Scala was an imposing building, I was a little underwhelmed after seeing the Duomo and the Galleria. We were really too tired to appreciate much of anything at this point and did not try to get in but just stayed in the piazza. We were getting hungry so we went back into the Galleria and found a restaurant that wasn't too pricey and sat in the 'indoor-outdoor' cafe under the glass roof enjoying my beer and pizza and Jill's lasagna. Our first meal in Italy was pretty good. We found our way back to the hotel and collapsed....we were both in bed by 5 PM.

We slept soundly for about 10 hours but then woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. It was barely 6 AM when we went out on the street and headed off toward Santa Maria de la Grazia, the church that houses Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". We were the only ones out on the street and even the bakeries were not open yet and trash collectors were just starting to pick up the huge piles of trash. I think that watching a city wake-up in the morning is really an interesting thing. As we walked we started to see more people out and a few trolleys and buses going through the streets. Cars were still less frequent but delivery trucks started to be more common. Newspaper stands were starting to arrange the paper bundles to display the various morning editions...print journalism is still alive and well (I guess) in Italy. We were hearing the morning church bells ring as we walked along -- something that I really like that we don't have much here at home.

Of course, we arrived at the church (Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie) much too early and didn't expect to actually get in to see the painting...tour groups have it booked up well in advance. The church is a World Heritage Site and dates from the 1480s and very impressive in its own right even without the painting. The small piazza in front of the church is a construction site but we couldn't tell what they were doing. The famous painting is in a different building adjacent to the church -- not in the actual church -- and there was a sign that said the church did not actually own the painting. We found a gate and went in and discovered a very pretty and peaceful courtyard garden as part of the church.

Leaving the church we headed back toward the hotel and got to the Castello Sforzesco, a medieval castle fortress in the heart of Milan that now houses a number of municipal museums and is surrounded by a large park. It was built in the 1400s as part of the old city wall system that protected the city but now is a stand-alone structure complete with moats and drawbridges, bastions and huge towers. The castle is divided internally into several sections with some residential and military structures. There are a number of feral cats that live in the fortress and people leave trays of food for them. There was also a display of replica Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors which seemed a little out of place.

After our morning ramble we got back to Hotel Ritter in time for breakfast. I really needed a cup of coffee but the automated espresso machine was acting up. I managed to get one small cup of 'caffe' before it went belly up. The bar man was being accosted by other guests wanting espresso and he was about to go berserk trying to operate the manual espresso machine fast enough to satisfy the guests. That's when I decided to switch to hot tea and he had plenty of hot water. That was also our first encounter (on this trip) with blood orange juice that we really liked.....that and the chocolate-filled cornettos.

After breakfast we packed up and checked out of the hotel and headed back to the central station -- again fighting with the satanic metro turnstiles. We had a later train ticket but it was good for any trip to Bra so we took an earlier train.

Bra and the trains

BRA - IN PIEDMONT

From Milan we took a regional train west to Turin (Torino) and then changed trains and headed south. We changed trains again in Carmagnola and arrived at the Bra station around 2:30. At Bra we pulled out our trusty Google map and started walking toward the hotel. This is the town where Damiano and Oksana are getting married and they gave us the impression that this was a 'village' -- instead, it is fairly big (maybe about the size of Fulton) and very pretty. They don't have a metro but they do have little city busses. Bra is somewhat famous as the place where the "Slow Food Movement" got started and there is a culinary university in town and the Slow Food institute is just outside of town. Once we got our bearings, we dragged our luggage through town and found our hotel, the Nuovo Hotel Giardini on Piazza Settembre XX. The hotel is family operated and they did everything to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable. This is where we met up with our fellow American travelers so the five of us sort of took over the place...but with the willing participation of Sergio and Cico, the two brothers who own the hotel along with their sister. Jill and I moved into our room and got settled and then took a walk out into the town. We met up with Tom and Karia on the street (called Corso Garibaldi, of course) and found Donna a little later. I needed gelato so Jill and I wandered around town until we found a gelato place. English is not spoken as widely in Bra as in the other larger cities but we did OK...I was able to get gelato, an important test of my language skills.

After a little rest in the room we met Donna. Tom and Karia and headed out for supper. The restaurant was nice but our waitress did not understand English so we had some problems making our order. We asked if there was a single antipasto selection that all five of us could share...meaning a single selection. We asked in as many ways as we could and she seemed like she understood. We made our main course selections and got some wine. Then the food started coming...we got five antipasto plates...apparently at the waitress or chef's selection -- she must have thought that we wanted her to choose five dishes for us. We already had fresh bread and bread sticks. We got something that resembled a ham salad, followed by slices of beef with green pesto, followed by anchovies, followed by ham with a cream topping, followed by a potato salad. We were well fed but now our main course was coming out. Jill and I had gnocchi with pesto sauce. We all shared a second bottle of wine and finished off with a sample of grappa. All of the food was good and not as expensive as we feared, considering we got five antipastos when we wanted only one. I think it came to about 30€ per person....expensive but not way out of line considering we had two bottles of wine and a grappa.

This was going to be the "Girls Night Out" with Donna, Karia and Jill spending some time with Oksana. Our dinner took longer than planned so they had a night "In" and did girl things and worked on their nails. Tom, Damiano and I tried to sit quietly and be polite but eventually we decided to take Damiano downstairs to the bar area and let the girls do their thing. Cico was behind the bar talking with a local patron so we had him pour us two grappas (Damiano chose not to have any) and we spent the rest of the evening just talking about various important topics and enjoying the grappa. Eventually, at midnight, Cico announced that he was closing down and going home to bed so we went back upstairs and rejoined the merriment. We had a good evening and eventually we all headed back to our rooms and Damiano and Oksana headed back home.

Jill and I overslept and missed breakfast the next day (Saturday) but Cico and Sergio made coffee and provided a couple pastries left over from breakfast. Our first task was to go to walk up to the train station and buy our tickets for the trip to Perugia on Monday. Tom went along because he was trying to find a rail rout from Lake Maggiore to Frankfort in Germany through Switzerland. He and Karia are flying home from Germany after visiting friends there. He didn't have any luck with the station attendant but we got our tickets bought without a problem. Apparently crossing through Switzerland and into Germany is a problem unless you go through Milan, which was out of the way for them. We next went and found the Avis car rental office and Tom confirmed his car rental reservation...he and Karia are going to visit local wineries and take a trip to the Italian Riviera for a day or two before heading to Lake Maggiore. We headed back toward the hotel but stopped at a travel agency and Tom inquired again about the train rout to Frankfort. Again it seemed he was going to have to backtrack to Milan. The agent knew Damiano getting married and she went to school with him....she knew him as "the math genius" which is a pretty good description, it seems. We told her that he was marrying another math genius.

We headed back to the hotel and Jill and I had lunch with Donna at a sidewalk cafe. Again we had good food and a nice bottle of local wine. Donna was going to go to Perugia with us and then go to Milan for a couple days but she couldn't get the Milan stage worked out and we couldn't recommend the Hotel Ritter for more than one night. After lunch we walked around town a while before heading back to the hotel. At 5 PM we all got together to meet Damiano and Oksana for gelato and to meet Carmen and Jenny who just got into town and were staying at another hotel. We were not sure where we were going to meet up but we finally got together and had a very enjoyable time visiting and eating some great gelato concoctions.

Jill headed back to the hotel and I had dinner with Tom and Karia at the same sidewalk café where I had lunch earlier. We had a couple half-bottles of wine and some good food…I had a veal dish and had some caffe afterward. We paid the bill and our host brought out some grappa for us to enjoy – at no charge. Karia kept the bottle as a souvenir. After dinner we headed back to the hotel. Jill and I were watching TV and Donna called and wanted to talk about her changing travel plans. We headed back out to the sidewalk café – 3rd time for me – and ordered a couple beers. Donna had Damiano research some options for her visit to Milan but she wasn’t happy with any of it and wasn’t going to be able to see the Last Supper because it was booked until September. That was her main reason for going to Milan. She decided to stay in Perugia a few days after Jill and I went back north to Venice. We talked about what options she had and the possibility of her visiting Assisi for a day and maybe Siena. We talked for a while but it looked like the restaurant was closing so we headed back to the hotel.

THE WEDDING

Sunday was the wedding day. We made it to breakfast this time so Sergio and Cico didn't have to do anything special for us. They are very helpful and speak enough English and we speak enough Italian that we did OK - more or less. The wedding was at 11 AM but we wanted to get there early for pictures and to see the church. This is a famous church site - the Santuario della Madonna dei Fiori - built in 1626 is on the site of an apparition of the Virgin Mary in December of 1336 that resulted flowers blooming (Hawthorn) in the dead of winter, continuing almost every December since.

Donna was already gone by 8 AM to help Oksana. The rest of the Americans were ready on time and our hotel got us a taxi to the church (and paid for it). The church is impressive and very ornate. A string quartet was playing classical music in the sanctuary as we arrived and the bride and groom and the groom's family arrived as the other guests were beginning to appear. We met Tito and Rosanna, Damiano's parents. Damiano and Oksana were dressed in traditional Ukrainian wedding clothes and were all smiles. Everyone else wore regular clothes. Jill, serving as the Maid of Honor, was wearing her pretty green dress and there were two groomsmen in regular suits and Damiano's sister, Federica, wore a pretty pastel dress as the bride's maid. The wedding began with Damiano escorting his mom into the church. Oksana was escorted by Carmen, her old math advisor from Mizzou. The hour-long ceremony was conducted in Italian but there were some parts in English and in Ukrainian. It was a mass so we could sort of follow along. Oksana sang a song that she composed for the occasion that was very nice. The couple were showered with rice by family and friends as they left the church.

After the rice throwing, photographs and congratulations we all headed out to a local winery for the reception (Palazzo Rossa). The musicians were there as well so we started off with classical music. Later we got into more modern music and a little dancing. The main thing about an Italian wedding seems to be the food. It started outside on the lawn with wine and punch with canopies and small puff pastry "specialità", fruit, anchovies and sausages in pastry along with fried frog legs. Once we got inside we found our table along with more wine and more food started to appear on the buffet table. As best as I can remember we had between five and seven courses. Pork rolls, salmon, various antipastos, roasted peppers stuffed with cream cheese came next. Then we had beef and fish with risotto with various accompaniments. Dessert wine came out next followed by gelato and fruit. Then we got a sweet cream pie in a puff phyllo pastry crust (like baklava). Finally a coffee bar was set up with espresso and various digestivos, grappas and other special wines and brandies. My memory is blurred and my description doesn't begin to do this food marathon justice -- we ate for most of the afternoon and some guests bailed out early meaning there was more for us. Oksana and Damiano danced several dances and a few of the Americans also performed along with Federica. The wedding was great and the reception was very enjoyable and we met some wonderful and gracious people.

Tito drove us back to the hotel and gave us all a hug and a cheerful goodbye -- he is a very reserved man so I take that as a sign that we were very much liked and he was happy to have us as guests at the wedding. Our communication was limited but we were able to express our appreciation as well. I really like Damiano's parents and now I'm friends with Rosanna on Facebook (!). It was raining slightly when we got back to the hotel but we all needed to get out and walk off some of the food we had eaten. After changing clothes we got our umbrellas and rain jackets and went out for a walk. This was our last night in Bra and we settled up our bill with Sergio and Cico and asked about an early breakfast -- our train left Bra at about 7:30 in the morning on Monday.

THE TRAINS

As usual they had everything under control. Breakfast was ready when we needed it and Sergio gave us a ride to the train station. Our train was on time, as usual, and we started off on our trip to Perugia. This is a trip of about 350 miles if you go by highway. By train it is longer because we had to first take a regional train to Torino where we caught the EuroStar that headed south to Florence through Milan and Bologna. The stretch from Bologna to Florence was mostly underground -- Italian engineers love tunnels and we went under the Apenine mountain range. In Florence we took another regional train toward Perugia. The ticket indicated that we needed to change trains at Terentola station south of Cortona (which is a common train change). Jill was watching the countryside and when we got close she told us to get off the train, which we did. Then, standing on the platform she realized that we were not at the right station so in a panic she shouted to get back on the train, which we did. We were one station too early. We hauled all of our heavy suitcases off the train and then turned around and - with super human strength - hauled them all back on the train in a matter of a few seconds. Our stop came up next so we climbed off the train only to realize after it left that the ticket was wrong and the train was going to go directly to Perugia and we should have stayed on. There had been a schedule change the day between when we bought the ticket and when we made the trip. So, now we needed to take another train into Perugia and we found out it would be leaving in about an hour. This was the Umbrian regional train and it was very new and quite stylish for a little train -- more like a longish commuter trolley than a train. We discovered that the train was sitting at the station and originating there so we went and got on. The conductor seemed a little confused by our ticket but Jill explained what happened and he was OK with it.

We rode on twelve trains of just about every shape and size during our trip through Italy. Italian trains are fast, cheap and on time. They are sometimes crowded but usually there is space for you and your luggage by your seat. Sometimes there are designated luggage spaces other than the overhead racks. Some trains have first and second class but we always opted for the cheaper second class and seats are reserved on EuroStar trains but you get a seat choice when you buy your ticket. The boxy-looking regional trains get up to about 90 mph between cities. The streamlined EuroStar trains go well over 100 mph -- I think ours was going about 140 mph and they can get up to 180+ mph. The EuroStar trains go so fast that the turns are banked. The passenger trains in Italy do not compete with freight trains for routes and I think I only saw one freight train during our stay.

There are plenty of options for going from one place to another -- we usually had about 5 or 6 possible trains to select from when making connections and buying tickets. Tickets are purchased from a ticket agent who might speak English or from an automated ticket machine that searches out all available options and then presents you with the various route selections -- in English. Tickets are good for a long time -- ours would be good until September -- but you must date-stamp the ticket before you get on the train at a little yellow validation box or you will be subject to a hefty fine. Although we didn't have a problem, occasionally the train workers will go on strike which will last for about a day but that can mess up your schedule if you are not flexible. Apparently there is some sort of connection problems if you are trying to take a train to another country. The connections do not seem to be very convenient and you may need to go through a major hub.