- one Marmot rain jacket, ripped
- one “Freedom Flies” hoody
- one Ibex wool long sleeve shirt, in the off chance it gets cold
- one pair sneakers
- one pair Chacos
- two light nylon pants
- three short sleeve button up shirts
- two long sleeve Mtn Hardware Canyon shirts
- two pair shorts, which double as swim trunks
- one packable duffel bag, for assorted purchases
- one silk sleep sheet, for hostels
- one red checked blanket, for picknicking and sleeping in train stations
- one neck pillow, because I’m a pansy
- one tiny headlamp
- three pair light socks, one pair smartwool
- four pair underwear, one of which is a $25 pair from Ex Officio. It’s the most I’ve ever spent on underwear before, but it claims to last one (mythical) man month. I’ll put that to the test the minute Ruth leaves.
- one Lawrence of Arabia sunhat
- one passport holder with two US passports (seriously)
- one deck playing cards, useful as impromptu emergency cryptosystem
- various electronic stuff
– one Canon S3 camera
– one Qstarz GPS datalogger, for geotagging
– chargers and sundry cables for each
- various toilettries
- one packtowel, one tiny face towel
- one medkit
- seven maps (Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Slovenia, Istanbul, Israel)
- two guidebooks
– one generic Let’s Go Eastern Europe from 2002, acquired on the cheap
– one Rick Steves guide to Istanbul, which I actually bought right next to Patrick Smith at my local bookstore

Seems like a lot, yet also very little. I’m trying hard to stick to the rule of “take half as much stuff as you think you need, and twice as much money.” Still more than Ruth is bringing, but she doesn’t have to prepare for the desert heat and cold. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it. I hereby admit defeat in the great Map-Off/Pack-Off to 2008. Ruth, the map of Iraq is yours, even if I will probably go there before you.

Three

Two

Step One

The next day we got a bus to Panzano, and met Janet and Lou to take us to the Villa Bracciano. It’s an incredible 500 year old castle, with a pool, stocked wine cellar and stunning hillside views. This is travel Sable-style, and we made to sure to enjoy it while it lasts. We toured charming hilltop towns, ate hearty meals and drank wine until we could drink no more. Then the next day, we did it all again. My favorite meal was at a restaurant in Panzano called The Butcher’s. He is a friend of Jamie Oliver, and it’s apparently frequented by Jack Nicholson. There is no menu, just wave after wave of meat dishes. I had more wine than normal, and ate myself silly on rare lamb balls. Our last night we dined on our patio under the moon, and finished the evening with drinking games and Hannah Montana style Uno (apparently she’s kind of a big deal). Ali dubbed the trip Sable Crunkfest 2008, and I have to agree. Next year in the Greek Isles!

With teary goodbyes, and firm warning to come home alive, we departed this morning and continued to Lucca and Rome.

The conquering heroes

Our sweet pool

A long night in Firenze

Wine tasting at Cennotoio

Lou can hold her own

Crunkfest 2008

Took a train to Lucca, a walled city recommended by Kali’s roommate Miranda. I concur. It’s significantly less touristed than other major sights, but just as charming. We biked around the walls, bike jousted in a former Roman amphitheater, climbed a clock tower and watched the gears as it rang, and almost rode a sweet carousel. I say almost, because although the tickets we bought directly stated no-reimboursable, they kicked us out when it became clear that we actually wanted to ride, not just take silly pictures. Apparently the ostrich was too delicate for my american ass.

Ruth’s new best friend

Garden tower in Lucca

Finally, german beer

We did a blitz trip of Pisa, stopping just long enough to take staged pictures, and then off to Rome. On the train we sat next to some american students, who managed to tell ‘I was so drunk and’ stories for two solid hours. You’d think that after getting one’s third DUI, one would learn to temper one’s behavior. But not Matt from Michigan State; cheers buddy, you make the rest of us look bad.

Leaning on the tower

Musolini’s square colosseum

Roman Jewish ghetto

Trevi fountain

Monday, saw Mussolini’s vision of the suburb of the future at the EUR on Monday morning. A square colliseum, unwelcoming plazas, all dedicated to the power and the glory of the state over the individual. Lovely guy. Picked Hannah up at the airport smoothly, and went to the Jewish ghetto for dinner. Excellent carcioffi, and a stunning walk through the city back to our hotel.

Tuesday, went to Galeria Borghese and marveled at what man can do with marble. Then staggered through the modern art museum, and took a nap in its air conditioned splendor. Ate lunch with a combination of buffalo ham and mozzarella and vending machine treats . Kinder Bueno! Saw crypt near Barberini, where monk bones are arranged decoratively, waiting for the resurection. Then saw Il Incredible Hulk, which Ruth and Hannah loved, and I napped through. Had dinner near our hotel at Tino’s greek restaurant, where they literally did not stop bringing us food until we begged for mercy.

Riding around in the Popemobile

Big Pope

Holy Roman Coronation

OBEY

Wednesday, saw the Pope at the Vatican. We tried to sneak in without tickets, but that would have been an even surer way to hell than Judaism. They eventually let us in when the square didn’t fill after the big guy started talking. Saw the popemobile, but sadly no funny hat. Then to the Vatican museum, where we rushed by the art to get to the Sistine Chapel. Ruth took some verboten photographs, but they were worth the scolding.

Then the ‘Caesar shuffle’, from the Colosseum through the Forum, over the Palatine Hill and to the Pantheon. Got the Augustus’s newly restored house just at closing time, so no frescoes for me. Had lunch near hotel, at Perilli in Prati, which had an excellent antipasto buffet. Ruth and Hannah went shopping, and I returned to the hotel for naptime. Then, dinner at a place renowned for tripe, near Piramide. Very tasty sauce, but not so sure about the texture.

Thursday, took early train to Naples, then another to Pompeii. Well preserved and restored ruins, roads and bollards. Definitely a society of engineers. It was quite hot, and I’m getting sick, but it’s got to be good training for later. Then took the train back to Naples. Walked to the archaeological museum through the most stereotypically Italian neighborhood I’ve seen yet. Old women cussing out impudent young men on Vespa’s, gritty streets still recovering from the trash crisis, and simple but incredibly tasty pizza. The museum is poorly signed, but has an amazing collection of giant statues (the Farnese collection), and the mosaics and jewlery boxes from Pompeii. Also, a ‘secret room’ of erotic depictions, from the Lupanare (brothel). Train back to Rome, and another day successfully completed.

Hannah and the Bridge of Sighs

Exquisite lobster

Venice was lovely, but filled with tourists. Worth it for a gondola ride and an excellent dinner, but not for more than a night. Did the Rick Steves walk from San Marco to the Rialto, stopping at Harry’s American bar, apparently a favorite of Hemingway’s and inventor of the Bellini. Dinner at Osteria alla Botella, where H and I shared an incredible lobster pasta dish. She kept trying to reverse engineer it, and I look forward to her attempts, but I doubt it can ever be fully recreated. A thunderstorm at night heralded a cooler, or at least less humid, tomorrow.

Went to Shabbot services at the sole remaining synagogue, which was wonderful. We were separated by gender, which made me angry, but we both enjoyed the service. They had some different practices, but ended with Adon Olam sung to the same tune I remember. Very cool.

Then to the Peggzy Guggenheim museum, where we saw the fabulous art of all her fabulous lovers. Then back to the train, where we sat next to a Candian-Slovene couple and their multilingual, adopted Thai four year old. Globalization at work, right there.

Looking forward to being away from the tourist mobs, and a little further off the beaten path.

Venice Stereotypes

Hidden spiral staircase

Hannah and I meant to stay in the Hostel Celica, which was once a jail and is now an “art hostel”, but once again I booked it for the wrong night. Stupid off by one errors are why I’m not booking more than a few nights ahead on these freewheeling trips again. We stayed in the institutional but perfectly serviceable Hostel Tabor, which is a university dorm during the academic year.

Slovenian facade

Trogdor!

Ljubljana is a beautiful city, with a great pedestrian zone filled with cafes along the river, and a nice urban planning mixture of historic buildings and new development. We strolled the promenade, perusing the weekly antiques market. Hannah kept wanting to buy old knives, and I beer steins, but we decided neither would travel well. Then we stormed the castle, where we found the inspiration for Trogdor the burninator. Then we got some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had; even though it wasn’t gelato, it fulfilled our church-sweets deal nicely.

Red Hot Horse

Ljubljana

At night we scouted around for a fast food restaurant that serves horse burger. However, the map we had was both precise and inaccurate, which made us do several laps of a garden park. We gave up and went to Jose Pena’s (Slovenia’s first Mexican restaurant!), but it didn’t satisfy my need for horse. Then, as we were wandering drunkenly home, we found it: Red Hot Horse! I strolled in and asked for a double horse, prosim. The guy asked “mustard or mayonaise”, but I thought he was speaking Slovene, so I responded that I wanted all the toppings. He rolled his eyes at me, but served me nonetheless. A horseburger franchise must be used to dealing with drunkards at all hours of the night. It actually tasted like a gristly hamburger, and I only ended up eating half of it, but now no one can tell me that I haven’t eaten horse (or pigeon, or rabbit, or boar, or sea urchin, or God knows what else I will eat on this trip).

Off to Zagreb tomorrow for the day and an overnight bus to Dubrovnik.

Bled hrad

H and the cute lake church

Triglav at sunset

—
Edit: found an internet cafe on, get this, Nikolai Tesla street in Zagreb.

Tesla ulica in Zagreb

The former front line

Cemetery from 1993 massacre

Mostar was one of the cities most damaged architecturally by the war, and while the Old Bridge has been rebuilt, and the tourist area is thriving, the old front line is still clearly visible. We bought an engraved 50 cal shell. Feels a bit like war tourism, but the old man who made it seemed happy enough to take our money.

Mostar old bridge

Sat and watched divers plunge from the Old Bridge 60 feet to the frigid water below, proving their machismo and garnering tips from passersby. They are real showmen, and stand on the edge for a long time until they have enough to jump. I tossed in my Bosnian change, but apparently they prefer foreign currency. Still took it, though.

Koski Mehmed-Pasa Mosque

As we are rather churched out, it has been interesting watching the appearance of mosques. We also went to a Turkish house, which was nicely appointed, but probably only a shadow of things to come.

Sarajevsko pivo

Still taking pictures of particularly quenching mugs of beer. So Ruth, this Sarajevsko’s for you.

After walking around looking for burek (the typical Balkan meat filled pastry), we stumbled upon a performance by a local student band. It seemed to be part of some summer program, run by the “Brass Brothers”, a group of old guys from Sweden and Norway. They did a stirring rendition of Blueberry Hill, and some Bosnian classics, which we didn’t recognize, but everyone else did. On the way home we passed all sorts of hotties going out to ze clubs, but we had an early train to catch, so I’ll have to wait to get my dance on.

Punk rendition of Blueberry Hill

Sleepy Mostar train station

Got an early train from Mostar, through incredible mountain valleys, along the ice blue Nerevata River. Didn’t see any men plowing fields with oxen, as Jani did on her trip here in the 70′s, but we did see some Monet style haystacks.

Latin Bridge

Sarajevo is bustling on this Saturday morning, and we strolled along the cobbled Ferhadija with seemingly the entire town. Hannah got a B&H soccer jersey, and I pondered getting one of the mounted machine guns at the “War Museum”, which was really just a souvenir shop in disguise. I did actually get the FAMA Guide to Sarajevo from the 1992 seige, but it’s clearly a recent reprint. Still, an interesting cultural artifact. We also walked across the bridge on which Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, sparking WWI. The guidebook says that their footprints used to be encased in the pavement, but were removed in the 90′s, as Princip was deemend a terrorist, and a Bosnian at that.

Chess on Trg Oslobodenja

Hannah sat and watched two men play chess in a park, surrounded by a gaggle of old men providing commentary. She made a friend, and they traded chess tips, although they did not share a common language. She was actually the only woman in sight, a fact that seemed to cause some of the old guys alarm, but when I showed up and took pictures everyone was happy.

Waiting around now to catch an overnight bus to Pristina, Kosovo. Our guidebook says that it wasn’t safe to update as of the last printing (2006), but we checked out more recent guides in a bookstore, and they seem to think it’s fine. Besides, who wouldn’t want to go see a UN protectorate? I love those blue helmets…

The multicultural man holds the world together