Photos from Italy, etc.

Ciao Everyone! I have been back in Santa Barbara now for one month and I am just settling back into life -- housesitting, applying for jobs and enjoying the beach. I have also working on writing projects ... deadlines are beginning of July! In a few weeks I will be visiting my mom and her husband Danny in Wyoming, my brother R.J. and Daniella in Austin Texas and my friends in Colorado.

I have also been busy with spa events. Before I left for Italy, I wrote an article for Your Wedding Day Magazine and just last week was the release of the new issue, so I went to the release party at Sevilla. And last week, I was invited to an event in Santa Monica at Shutters on the Beach to promote Terme di Saturnia, which is located in Tuscany. So I got to see Laura Mennilli, the PR director for the Terme who I met while I was in Tuscany! Since I was in LA, I also had dinner with my good friend Sandra Qatami who I have not seen since I left for Italy.
And this week I am invited to the Spa Soiree at the Four Seasons Westlake Village (go to http://www.spadefined.com/ blog for more information!)

So...finally...I have photos! In fact, I have over 600 photos and this is why I could not load them on Blogger! Thank you to Ricky who put together this slideshow; it can be viewed at: Tuscany Slide show

**Be patient though, it is a BIG file and will take a few minutes to load! The slide show contains only about 200 photos I think and is about 10 minutes long. Enjoy!

Thank you Friends & Family!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who read my blog and sent a comment or email. Getting your notes of hello and support was heartwarming...and funny based on your thoughts regarding various stories! I hope you enjoyed my stories about my adventures in Italy. It goes without saying that this journey/trip/adventure has been an experience of a lifetime.

This morning at 5:27, I realize already so many things I learned about life, myself, others, language, communication, Italy... but I know that I will continue to learn and grow from my time in Italy. I hope, if you so desire, that each of you can take your own adventure somewhere to stretch your mind, step out of your comfort zone and enjoy life and the characters in it.

Ciao!
Meleeeeeeesa:)

The Stories I will tell when I am Old & Gray...

Well, it is 3:00 am on May 17th and I am wide awake typing what will probably be my last blog entry and thinking about Siena and thinking about all that I have to do now that I am back.

Siena to Rome (boo-hooed once), Rome to London (boo-hooed again)and London to LA (bawled)...well, I am back in the US! My travels were okay despite my puffy eyes and extremly puffy ankles (ugh!!!). It certainly was much more complicated coming back into the country than leaving; I was in lines for customs for about 2 hours (because of the chocolate I brought back). One of the customs officials jokingly said, "That's too many bags for chocolate; you have Italian shoes in there, I just know you do!" And I got a good laugh after he asked why I didn't get married while I was there. Then he raised one eye-brow and asked, "So do you like Italian men or American men better?" I just shook my head and laughed.

Ricky picked me up from the airport (Thank you!) And presented me with my favorite cinnamon bears and a HUGE hug... and a trip to In and Out!!! It was delicious and there were no gypsy hamburglars in sight, so I ate in peace.

So...I have about 65 pages of blog entries (all of which have cuss words, talk of God and biblical scripture... all in one blog!) and about 400 photos! I look forward to showing you my photos and sharing my stories with you if you want to hear them even after reading about them (I am told that I am a good story teller, so....:) I just know that I am going to be "one of those" moms and/or grandmas that will tell the same stories over and over for years to come. "Here she goes, telling the story about the gypsy who stold her hamburger in Florence again." Or, "Oh no, she's telling the embarassing story about Stefano, the massage therapist in Positano again." Funny...maybe by the time I am 70 years old, the story will be so exaggerated enough to the point that I actually chased the gypsy and beat her over the head only to get my hamburger back or that I had a wild love affair with Stefano the massage therapist.

Last Day in Tuscany

Tuesday: May 15th: After three months in Italy, it is my last day and trying to fit everything into my suitcases is just one of my challenges before I leave.

Of course I want to go home to Santa Barbara, one of my favorite places in the world and see my friends and enjoy many things that I have missed (food, movies, beach, my car, English...just to name a few), but...

I am very sad to leave Tuscany and Siena in particular. I truly felt settled in and really appreciate and got used to the lifestyle. I wouldn't refer to my time in Italy as a vacation either; I didn't want to be a tourist and didn't feel that way most of the time. Time away ("vacation") for me is about actually living an experience rather than just visiting if that makes any sense.

I had a daily routine and my favorite spots to eat, sit in the sun, grocery shop, go for coffee and I made great friends and contacts, people I saw everyday. I had activities and projects that made me feel like I was working and productive and not just touring the next museum.

Not to mention the countryside; it is beautiful right now and is getting more and more lush. The red poppies are popping up now in the green fields and it is so beautiful and vibrant.

For my last day in Siena I first indulged in a triple scoop (instead of my usual double) of gelato at my favorite place. I got crema, chocolate fondente (extra dark) and Fantanocciola (I honestly don't know what flavor this is, but it was delicious). I sat at a great spot which Julia showed me, a stone wall with a view of Siena, to eat my gelato quickly before it melted. Then I went to Piazza del Campo and people-watched for about an hour. Sitting in the Piazza, in the sun, and watching children chase pigeons, lovers make-out and Italians speak to one another with lots of animation and hand gestures is sooooo entertaining!

I said my good-byes at Saena Iulia, the school where I studied Italian and made many good friends with the other students and the teachers themselves. I seriously felt a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, telling each person good-bye, before I left in my "hot air balloon" back to "Kansas." Besides just language, I definitely feel that Mauro, Sabrina and Giorgia taught me many things that they may not even realize now. So...is there no place like home? I am glad to go back to real life in wonderful SB, but I wouldn't hesitate to click my heels and return to Siena, a place that I also feel at home.

A Farm in Tuscany

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Podere Spereta, a farm in Tuscany near Montalcino, which is about 30 minutes from Siena. The farm is not at all a tourist attraction and luckily I know someone who knows someone to allow me into this personal/family farm in the hills:) It was incredible it get such a true insight into Tuscan farming. The family raises pigs, sheep and goats. They also have wheat, olive trees and a vineyard. It is one of the few farms left that does not use machinery to make the cheese. I actually got to watch what seemed to be the "head woman of the farm", a plump woman with rosie round cheeks, make and shape the cheese. The pungent smell of the cheese in the small room where the magic happens, was so incredibly strong that I almost fainted (no, really.)

As I walked around the farm, I watched the pigs snort and roll around in the mud; the piglets were so tiny, about the size of a 10 pound baby. There was also a goat who had gotten it's head and horns stuck in a bale of hay; it was so hilarious (I kept my laughter to myself as I watched) watching two lovely, plump, women (head of the farm and her daughter) try to move the hay, speak hastily in Italian about the situation and then try to pull this goat out of the hay. There I stand, wanting so bad to laugh and take video, but I resisted and just watched. Finally the animal was set free. I walked/hiked around through the farm, noticing the vineyard, large round hay bails, tractors, about 5 dogs and watching where I walked only to avoid stepping in sheep poop.

My only challenge for the day was trying to figure out a word or words to describe the beauty and tranquility of the green Tuscan hills. Green Velvet? A blanket of Green? Oil Painting? ... cliche and already over-used....hmmm...photos in calendars don't do it justice and neither will my photos. My only suggestion is that you get on a plane and come to Italy and see it for yourself!:) I had to leave the farm, but what I really wanted to do was sit at the top of the hill, look out, and write down all of the words that came to mind to describe the hills.

Contiki Guided Tour through Italy

I am still catching up on my blog…where was I…oh, so…I had taken Julia and Nicole to Rome airport and said good-bye to them. Now, I had two more lovely days in my wonderful little country apartment in Tocchi and then I had to get back to Rome myself to start the 2 week guided tour with Contiki.

Let me explain a little something first…I booked my 2-week tour about one week after I arrived in Siena. At the time, 2 weeks in a bus, with other tourists seemed like a good idea. But, my thoughts on that changed in the past two months and I desperately tried to change the tour from 2 weeks to one week…and also to save the money that was quickly dwindling. Well, I couldn’t change or get a refund, so…

Overall, the Contiki tour was a good way to maximize traveling time and see a lot of places. In two weeks, I visited: Rome, Pompei (Naples), Sorrento, Capri, Florence, Chianti Region, Pisa, Verona, Milan, and Venice. Whew! Every morning a 7 am wake up call. And overall, the food and choice of restaurants (organized through Contiki) were not good. The hotels were okay and got better. Besides getting a glimpse of so many places and monuments, I would say the highlights of the trip were: having time to study my Italian on the bus (from Venice to Rome was 6 hours), the hilarious scenarios that played out that made me feel better about the terrible food and of course the people I met on the tour. Marco, the tour manager was awesome. So that’s a snapshot of my thoughts on Contiki. Read on for more details of funny stories…

Contiki: Roma: Advice from the Bartender

I arrived in Rome via bus from Siena. I was not a happy camper; I didn’t want to leave comfortable, quiet Siena and be stuck on a bus and various hotels for 2 weeks. I vented in choppy Italian to the bartender at the Rome hotel; he was a delight and had a few words of advice…basically, “make the most of it.”

There were 42 people on the tour; mostly Americans from: Florida, D.C., California, Arizona, Maryland, and Kansas. Also, many Canadians, Aussies, a new Zealander, a Japanese woman and a couple from Singapore. Contiki “specializes” in hosting tours from 20-35 year olds and most people assume this means the tour will be mainly singles. However, half of the group was married, newlyweds or just engaged. Occupations include: Travel Agent, milkman, chef, forensic biologist, accountant, doctor, acupuncturist, pilot, pharmaceutical sales, engineer, teacher, etc, etc

Cossette, my roommate…28 years old, Cuban from Florida…I like her and we had some good laughs and stories. The funniest thing that we realized after about 2 days into the trip was that every single person on the tour had some sort of “issue” they were working out and even more, many of us didn’t want to be on the tour but it was too late for us to cancel. This became funny to us and Cossette and I thought Contiki should use a new marketing slogan: Contiki – We’re here for you. Marco, our tour manager, also seemed to be a great therapist for many of us. So…anyway, Cossette…she was feeling a bit homesick because she was missing a new boyfriend…one that she met AFTER she booked the tour with contiki. This was the case with two other girls on the tour….okay, ya…this tour had gotten off to a “good” start.

So the first night of dinner in Rome…did I mention the food was not good?…anyway, after taking Italian for 5 weeks, I was delighted and tickled at dinner time with Contiki we learned how to say “Buon Appetito”… okay, everybody together now…B-U-O-N A-P-P-E-T-I-T-O. After that, I snuck to the bar and ordered a grappa.

Well, I thought this trip would be a great time to catch up on my blog, so I brought my laptop…but the hotel in Rome did not have internet access. Hmmm…well…talked to a nice, good looking fella at the front desk – Marcello – he let me use the computer at the front desk and he served me a little espresso “for such a beautiful woman.”…okay, well that makes me feel better about the no internet connection.