ericnorris.com

A few inside joke photos for some of you:

Eric & Ian try to fit in a Smart Car.

Eric: Linda, Ian & I just had a 'Chessburger' at the Irish Pub. We needed a break from the Italian food.

Eric: Linda, Ian & I went shopping near the Spanish Steps. There are a lot of high-end stores (Prada, etc.). Linda split off from us and went to look in some of the women’s stores. She said that everything was either too expensive or there was a line to get in the store. Ian & I went into a men’s store and they looked at us and laughed and said they could only sell us an overcoat. The woman said ‘You almost like giant to us. We Romans very small people.’ She directed us to a store called XXL. When we went in there, the guy looked at us and said ‘No, no this for big- not for tall’ and made a motion like he was fat. We all gave up at that point and started walking back to the apartment...

Eric: We went inside the Coliseum today, toured the ruins of the Palatine Hill, & the Forum. We had lunch at Luigi’s right off of Vittorio Emanuele (near where we are staying). Our waiters were very nice, but the first one didn’t speak very much English. I was trying to order bread for everyone. The word in Italian is ‘Pane’ (pronounced Pay-Neigh). I didn’t pronounce it correctly and ended up saying something like Peen-Na. Apparently this means something VERY different from bread. It seems that I was trying to order ‘male organs’ for everyone…Our waiter looked very confused and surprised and then cracked up when he figured out that I wanted bread. He explained to me what I had said and I finally figured out what had happened. I apologized and Eve told him in Italian that I was ‘crazy’. When we left, we were exchanging first names. I told them just to call me ‘Eric Pane’. I hope I pronounced it correctly that time…

Eric: We went to the Vatican today and saw the Sistine Chapel. We tried to go to the Coliseum to see the inside, but we just missed it closing. All of the tourist attractions are on Winter Hours now. We found a coffee shop near the apartment that offers free wireless. It is called ‘The Library’ (http://www.thelibrary.it/) and is near Piazza Chiesa Nuova. The owner there is very nice (thank you Dana!). She talked to us for a long time and gave us some free cookies & a fruit muffin. It was a much cheaper deal to order a few coffees and use the free Internet than paying by the minute at the Internet Café. Linda & I had dinner at a famous pizza place called Buffona. They seat you with other people if you have a small party. We ended up at a table with two Italian couples who spoke no English. Without our translator Eve, we had a hard time. We were able to communicate a little bit. I wish I had studied up on Italian a little more before coming.

In case you forgot or didn't see the first post on 12/15/06:

• Ramon/Dad
• Vicki/Mom
• Eve/Sister
• Ian/Brother
• Eric/Brother
• Linda/Sister-in-law (Eric’s
  wife)

Ian: Woke up this morning to the sound of church bells.  I think we are pretty close since they are very loud.  I think it was 10 minutes until 10:00 am when they rang the bells for around 2 minutes straight.  I guess it was the 10 minute warning to get to mass!  Reminded me of the bells at 10 min and 5 min before formations at the Naval Academy.

Eric:  We went to see the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (again) & the Spanish Steps (again).  Despite the fact that it is Xmas Day, quite a few of the restaurants are open.  We had lunch at home.  Mom cooked spaghetti dinner with spinach, bread/olive oil, fresh parmesan, champagne & some kind of strange Italian cake that tasted like my shirt covered in chocolate.

We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner in order to re-enact the last scene from ‘A Christmas Story’.  No one was brave enough to try duck though…

We went to an Irish Pub down the street from the apartment.  The bartender was an American from San Francisco named Mark.  He was here living with his girlfriend.  There were several funny English misspellings on their advertisement board, including:

Chessburger
Merry Christams

They also had a “Cowboy Menu” that included steak and baked potatoes.

Linda:  I have nothing to add.

Ian: Woke up late today and ran some errands. Everyone went to the laundry mat and did laundry since they don’t have dryers here. We have a washer in the apartment, but no way to dry things. We also stocked up on groceries since it seems most things are closing or will be closed for xmas. Went to the internet café again to update the blog and check in with the outside world. We headed to lunch near the apartment and the place had a xmas menu and are open for lunch and dinner xmas day (mostly for the foreign tourists it appears). We picked the tourist special for lunch which was 13 euro (about $17) and had an appetizer of bruschetta, choice of a first entrée of pasta, then choice of a meat for a second entrée, then a dessert. The whole lunch took around 2 hours so we got to experience the Italian slow style lunch. It seemed to take forever.

Eric and I think Dad is trying to do something weird every day while on the trip and he kept up with this behavior by stretching during dinner (see photo). After lunch we walked to the Coliseum and where the old Forum used to be in Rome. Pretty amazing how big it was – not able to get inside since it closed at sunset, but will go back another day. Mom got her picture with the Roman soldiers as well (see photo).

Eric: More on Rome…The apartment we are in is very small.  It has two bedrooms and is about 1000 sq ft.  It will be interesting to see how the next few days go.  Everything is closing down for Xmas.  We may be stuck inside for a while as not many shops will be open over the next few days.  There’s an Irish Pub close by that is supposed to be open for Xmas.  Also, a few of the Italian restaurants have been advertising that they will be open tomorrow.  We went to the local Tabacchi and stocked up on food just in case.  Linda bought three cans of Paprika Pringles (mmmmmm).  I picked DVD’s of a British TV show that I like called Peep Show.  We may watch those tonight since we have a DVD player in the apartment.

Eric: As it turns out, we don't have wireless access in the Rome Apartment.  I'm typing this in an Internet Cafe down the street.  I just want to say Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family.  We spent the day looking at tourist stuff and scouting out places that might be open tomorrow.  I think we're going to try and recreate the last scene from a Christmas Story and eat at the Chinese Restaurant on Xmas day.  I'll let you know in a couple of days...

Ian: Left Florence (Fierenze) today and drove in the rental van to Rome (Roma). Was about 275km from the villa in Tuscany to where we are staying in the apartment in northern Rome – not too far from the Vatican. Eve and Dad left early in the morning and took the train from Florence to Rome (they chose wisely). The express train for around $40 one way to Rome got them there in about 2.5 hrs where as our car ride on the Autostrada (interstate with toll of around $20) took around 5 hours with some stop-and-go gridlock along the way. I think we would have been better to have all taken the train instead of driving even if that was more expensive. Most of the public transportation seems pretty efficient so far. Driving in Rome was pretty crazy as well with all of the scooters and small cars zipping around.

Turning in Rental Van – no response yet?

Went to a piazza (plaza) near the neighborhood where we area staying and Dad bought a couple oversized donuts. While he was ordering donuts he was making fun of the cops since they were standing around the stand. Dad was so caught up in that and what he was saying that he (and all the rest of us) walked off without paying. The cops started yelling “Hello, Hello!!!” and trying to get Dad to come back and pay for the two donuts.

Eric:  Just thought some people might find these shots interesting.  One is of a strange toilet in a restaurant in Pisa.  The other is the W.C. at the train station in Pisa where I had to pay .60 to use the toilet...

 

Ian: Just some thoughts to add to Eric’s today. It was very cold again most parts of the day. Probably in the 40’s. Saw a man walking a dog with a leather coat. Didn’t get a great picture because they had already gone past. I still haven’t gotten over the whole scooter culture here. Took a picture of a woman all decked out in her fur coat, boots with heels, outfit, and hair done with a helmet on and bag under her seat on the scooter. I guess you have to do what you have to do!

Eric: Today we took the bus into Florence and then a train to Pisa. Getting off the train in Pisa, we picked up a new Tiny Tim. His name was Costov (sp?). He was an Indian from Calcutta working in France. He went along with us to make sure he took the correct bus. We took a bus from there to the Leaning Tower. We of course had to do the obligatory “Look- I’m holding up the tower” shot. Linda had to push the tower down in her shot. There were lots of touristy shops and stands. There were lots of men standing around selling either leather belts or fake watches (Rolex, etc.). Mom, Dad & Eve toured the church buildings near the tower while Ian, Linda & me went to look for a museum with some old Roman ships and cargo on exhibit. Most of the shops outside of the immediate area of the tower were closed for Christmas. The museum was closed for renovations.