It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and honestly, I agree. But having only a little power apparently means you can’t run three external hard drives and your dryer at the same time without blowing a breaker. Personally, when an external hard drive can be considered a “major” appliance in power consumption terms…there just may be a problem. Ever since moving here this is probably my biggest gripe (which isn’t too bad really), the way that power is distributed is based on what they give you and not what you’re willing to pay for. There is a cap (which can be raised, but ours is as high as it goes I think) on how much you can draw at one time. So when you pass said limit, POW!, everything goes out…as in, the entire apartment. Now, that wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t mean that I had to go down to the street level to open a panel and turn everything back on (and don’t forget to unplug whatever made you cross the line before you go down there…cause it’s a long walk of stupid-shame if you do). Suffice to say that doing things like washing clothes, drying clothes, doing dishes, and having anything else “big” on is a lesson in time management and scheduling. Getting into why this is how they do things involves too much in terms of politics and economics so I’ll pass on that, but I can tell you that I’m not looking forward to figuring out what appliances I can run at the same time as my air conditioner when summer comes (cause it gets hot here). However, that being said I do have electricity, and for that I’m eternally grateful. You don’t want to see a geek in the later stages of tech withdrawal…it’s ugly.
New Years in Sylt, Germany: Sick, Tired, and Celebrating
Following the Christmas celebration we were invited to join Kai and GG in Sylt, Germany to celebrate New Years. New Year’s on an island in Northern Germany? Who could say no to that!?
It’s Christmas in March…(or maybe it’s just late)
Ok, so technically it was in December, but I’m just now getting around to chronicling it…cause I like to stay on top of things and be current you know.
Three cheers for the Carabinieri (or “How I got a police escort to McDonalds in Bari”)
Ok, so I’ll be the first one to admit that over the past couple of years I’ve tried my best to shy away from fast food if I can avoid it.
They Won’t Believe It’s Not Butter
One of the things that has plagued me upon my return to Italy is a vain search for “regular” peanut butter around where we live (ok, maybe a bit dramatic, but you’ve got to admit that “plagued” is a word that we should use more often). Amy and I brought with us a couple of jars of JIF Peanut Butter (I’m not going to reveal if it’s creamy or chunky, those fights get as heated as Mac or PC) and every time we give in to the “easy snack” temptation that it is, every scoop from the jar is a reminder that it will not last forever. Oh, and good luck finding it somewhere else.
The Lost Month
So it’s now February and I’ve yet to post anything about our Christmas and New Years experience. To be perfectly honest we were sick when we got back and essentially did nothing for about a week, but that doesn’t cover the rest of the month. I have no excuse but I will try and be a little more speedy about it (though to be fair, that TV series I started when I was sick wasn’t going to watch itself). Granted it also kinda depends on us doing something interesting, which we haven’t done a lot of the last few weeks unless you count eating out every now and again. In any case, as soon as I can gather the pictures and write something about our time in Germany I’ll put them up (it was a lot of fun except for the whole “sick” part). Thanks for hanging in there with us!
Innsbruck, Austria – Final Day, or “Even poor planning husbands can win the anniversary lottery”
Our last day in Innsbruck, funny enough, took us to places where we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside so I don’t have many personal photos to share on this one. However, I was able to find some online that I can share so that you can see a little of what we saw (and as a side note all copyright and credit goes to the people that made them and you’ll know mine by the fact that my ugly mug is in them)
Innsbruck, Austria – Day Two, or (Pictures of Innsbruck from Varied Heights)
(Editor’s Note: Because this trip and our Christmas trip were so close together I didn’t get a chance to finish the posts before we left so these are coming out a little late, sorry about that)
Our second day in Innsbruck was essentially a slow climb to see Innsbruck at different heights, and it was completely worth it. Read More »
Innsbruck, Austria – Day One, or “As a matter of fact, I think I could look good in Lederhosen”
Ok, so it may be a stretch to say that I would look good in lederhosen which is confirmed by my wife not even letting me try it (spoilsport, get back to me after a few months of exercise. Cause right now it might look like how Jim Carey did in the Grinch who Stole Christmas…. Fabulous!). Lederhosen or not, we got to spend a few days in Innsbruck and hit most of the major sites in and around the city. The first place we went of course was our hotel. Just a street over from the train station the Hotel Sailer is tucked into some other older buildings (and no, that first picture isn’t mine…cause mine sucked).
We didn’t realize that the hotel elevator was on the outside of the building so it was a nice surprise to see the beautiful mountains rise into view from behind the buildings. We had a room on the very top floor where the roof is curved and had a pretty good view of a chuck of the city. Because of when we arrived in Innsbruck and had never been there we took a little bit of time to get our bearings and found some lunch at a Thai food place ( it is of course not the same as what you’d get at an American Thai place, thus, no Pad Thai… good food, but I was disappointed). Our only planned entertainment for the day was dinner and a show at the “Tyrolean Evenings in Innsbruck” so we took a few hours in the afternoon to get a little more sleep missing from the train ride. “Tyrolean Evenings” was within walking distance of our hotel so we figured we’d leave an hour or so early and head that direction just in case we got lost (for “just in case” read “when“). Our cell phone plans aren’t setup to inexpensively go between countries here in Europe so they’re not quite as useful getting you around an unfamiliar city when not in the country. No problem, we have our handy dandy city map, can I borrow that for a second sweetheart…What do you mean you thought I had it? More than once in our marriage Amy and I have gone somewhere (like a store lets say), wandered around aimlessly for 5 to 10 minutes and then realized we were each “following” the other to nowhere in particular. We’re college educated folks (on the other hand I try and look at it as proof of a deep trust in one another, which will likely be quite comforting when we accidentally walk off a cliff together or something). In this particular case we did have a vague idea of what direction to head but had gotten way off course and by utilizing an rather basic map on our reservation for the evening along with landmarks and the compass on our cell phone (as well as our extensive training via “Man vs Wild” episodes) we managed to find the place and only be a few minutes late. It’s funny what differences you notice when you go between two nations so close together. In particular we were treated with what we would consider a “normal” dinner schedule that isn’t the same in Italy. It was 7-ish when we ate and the courses flowed like what we are traditionally used to (soup, salad, main course, dessert). While we were both hungry, after getting lost in the freezing weather the best thing on the menu was the hot soup. It’s easier to enjoy food when you can feel your face.
This attraction is a kind of old traditional folk songs and music with some laughs mixed in (very much like the Hatfield and McCoy’s dinner theater in Gatlinburg, just without a plotline). Singing, dancing, and even yodeling took place, which apparently when done by someone who knows how to do it doesn’t sound that bad at all. Interestingly enough the guys did most of the dancing, leg/foot/and thigh slapping and general moving around while the ladies just twirled in one spot (Amy’s observation and translation “the guys were on display instead of the girls,” my observation, “This may have been where the Ricola commercials came from,” cause I’m just that deep a guy). At the end they actually sang a song from each of the countries of those in attendance (though not their national anthems). For American’s they played the first part of Yankee Doodle and then it turned into another somewhat obscure song of which I sadly didn’t know the words (I was tempted to go and tell them for the next group to play the first few chords of “Sweet Home Alabama” to get the American’s going). After going through all of the songs it kind of left everyone there in a good mood (especially a couple of large groups of Italians and Australians ) and there were hand shakes and friendly smiles all around as we left. Well done Gundolf Family, well done. Finding our way back home was a little easier, but of course, much colder (below freezing by that point). We topped off our evening with a hot coffee at the hotel. Day one, other than getting lost before dinner, was a good start to our anniversary vacation.
Planes, Trains, and A….no wait, it’s just a Train.
Now that I’m back in Italy Amy and I finally got the chance to go on a little mini-vacation outside of Italy. Europe, being a little more compact than the U.S, gives the opportunity of taking a four day weekend and enjoying a completely different country while still being back home in time to go back to work on Monday…well, one of us anyway. In this particular case we had a good excuse. Dec 20th, 2013 is Amy and my 10th wedding anniversary ( I know, I know, I look so dashingly young, could it really be 10 years?). Originally we had intended to re-visit where we spent our honeymoon but being on a different continent we decided that wasn’t going to work on our schedule. Instead, we (and by we I mean she) picked out Innsbruck, Austria (wife/editor’s note: this was actually “if Venice didn’t work out”, Options are nice :). Not that I didn’t want to go mind you, I essentially was told to look for a way to get there and a place to stay…oh, and maybe some stuff to do while we’re there. Of course, that’s fair enough, given the amount of time I have on my hands. Innsbruck, Austria it is. If you don’t know where that is, Innsbruck is a beautiful and old city located in the Tyrolean region of Austria not far from the border with Italy. It’s nestled in a valley in the Austrian, Alps. Picturesque doesn’t quite do it justice.
Traveling from where we are in Italy (because we’re in the heel of the boot) by and large means flying to Rome and then flying somewhere else. However, flying into Innsbruck in particular is a little expensive, and we learned that the train ride in from Verona, Italy is spectacular. I want to be perfectly clear here, while I may have time on my hands I apparently lack the gene that drives people to be travel agents. Trying too coordinate flights with train schedules made my eyes cross. The solution? Lets go by train the whole way. I was skeptical at first really. A short train ride to another city in Italy would be one thing, a 12ish hour train ride to Austria is something else entirely (especially being the first time we try it). The stop and go nature of it that gives me pause, imagining 12 hours of riding in stop and go traffic, but at least in this case I don’t have to get a pat down and body scan so there is an upside (not to mention getting to keep your shoes on…).
There is in fact a train station in Grottaglie, but they don’t sell tickets there anymore so we decided to start our trip in Bari (this, coincidentally, is where the nearest IKEA is located. I think Amy had an ulterior motive here). We did a little recon the weekend before (and the weekend before that at IKEA, sensing a pattern here?) so we could figure out where to park the car, how to get around the train station, and where a Burger King was (that was an accident, but it was pretty tasty). So when we got there a few hours early (there was a truckers strike going on so we left really early and they were in fact blocking traffic in Bari) we spend some time at the mall (….this is no longer a pattern, it’s diabolical) and then found our way into the city to park…and we were still an hour and a half early. So as all good Italians do we sat down in the cafe and ordered something with espresso in it. As it turns out while we sat and waited for our train we struck up a conversation with an older gentleman who knew “a little” English (“a little” can often be translated to “I can probably talk about just about everything but don’t know slang”). He was incredibly nice and asked us if we could look up the “football” (come’on man, I hail from SEC territory, you’re talking about soccer) scores for him. He was also headed in the same direction on the same train and said he would help us get started since this was our first trip. (he also said his grand kids would get a kick out of hearing he sat and talked with us…goofy Americans :) He did get us on the right train smoothly, sadly it dawned on us that he never asked for our names and we didn’t ask his. I do, however, have his picture for posterity. Thank you sir:
In order to make this trip seem shorter we started with a sleeper car for the first leg of the trip. This in fact turned out better than the first time I used one. Back in college when Amy and I spent a couple of weeks in Russia we took one between Moscow and St Petersburg and decided to open the window for some air (this was another “we” translates to “she” moment)…which then got stuck open. You could have hung meat in that little cabin, brrr ( I did eventually manage to get it closed, but our portion of the heat that trip was gone for good). On this trip it got more chilly the further north we went but it didn’t feel like Siberia in there. Even more fortunate was the fact that you couldn’t open the window unless it was an emergency, so Amy wasn’t allowed to touch the window unless we derailed…good plan. The flip side to this was that even though it was a late night and made few stops it was only a 6-ish hour ride which meant only a few hours sleep. It is, however, better than driving the whole way.
The non-sleeping car portion of the trip started in Bologna (I can hear you singing it already, sadly it’s not how they pronounce it here. You’d think the original owners would get it right, sheesh). This portion of the trip involved waiting for the train in 20-some-odd degree weather we weren’t quite prepared for in order for the train to “open” but other than that it went fine. The train from Verona though, was as good as advertised. As you move north things start to change. The most notable is the architecture, you are still in Italy but things start to look more “Bavarian”(think less Godfather and more Sound of Music). Along with that you start to notice the snow capped mountains. It truly is a beautiful thing to watch go by through the window. Passing out of Italy and into Austria it only gets more beautiful, with the last few miles outside of Innsbruck making the whole trip worth the half day it takes to get there.
Next up, Innsbruck.
