9/13/16,
“One More Year”Pisa, Italy
Today, this
Tuesday, I turned twenty-nine in Tuscany.
Growing up, I spent various birthdays in New York at sporting
events, zoos, and museums. The past
three birthdays I have spent at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, Hwange National
Park in Zimbabwe, and, today, Florence’s finest art galleries before making my
way to this iconic tower. While I have
certainly stepped up my game in terms of birthday celebrations, those memories
from my childhood still hold a special place.
I will not say that I remember all 29 of my birthday celebrations, but
the earliest memory I have is from my 5th Birthday. I certainly don’t remember all of the 24
celebrations that followed, but I remember enough, and the ones that I do, I
remember them well. There is one more
year left in this Travelogue. A year
from today, I will formally be closing out this blog in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The day before, Hawaii Volcanoes National
Park will allow me to simultaneously complete the last three of my travel
goals. Five years, seventeen goals. That is the URL of this blog. The five years will come to a close one year
from today, and, hopefully, the seventeen goals as well. The Colosseum a few days ago allowed me to
finish the fifth of my seventeen goals, and I am, on average, 80% done with the
other twelve. That is a good number,
since there is now one year left in my five year mission.
I will reflect in much more detail later
tonight and tomorrow about where the past 29 years have brought and what the
next year (and beyond will entail), but suffice it to say that my life has
taken a very different turn than I thought it would when I was celebrating
those birthdays at sporting events, zoos, and museums. This Travelogue is de facto evidence of that,
that the kid who would shirk from doing the writing portion of any group
project now has written a Travelogue that is 895,941 words. That the person who never left the country on
his own until he was 25 has now been to 66 countries, most of them on his own,
is further testament to the different path my life has taken.
That aside, I am very happy with my life right
now, and the dateline above demonstrates that.
I am in Pisa, the birthplace of Fibonacci and Galileo, the home of one
of the world’s most iconic buildings, and a key city of the Italian
Renaissance. I spent most of the day in
Florence, the very heart of the Italian Renaissance, and I will be going back
to Rome for dinner. Life is pretty good
right now, and the next year promises to be just as good.
Okay, so how did my birthday play out? Well, as the other days thus far on this
trip, it was quite stressful. I woke up
at 6 AM, as planned, but knew that I would be way too tired to properly enjoy
the day on 3 REM cycles. I figured that
I could still keep to my schedule if I grabbed an extra REM cycle and got to
Florence by 10 AM. I figured wrong. Very wrong.
I had wanted to be at the cigar store in Rome before it closed at 7 PM. I do not believe that I will finish this
entry here in Pisa before 7 PM.
I got a
cappuccino to go from my usual spot, and I walked to the train station, my
wounds being sufficiently healed for the walk.
When I got there, I easily bought my ticket from the machine, a
reasonable enough price for a first class ticket. I got on the train, and the drink cart soon
came. I asked for prosecco and coffee,
not that they went together, but I wanted to celebrate, and I also needed the
caffeine.
We were soon in Florence, and
I immediately walked to the Uffizi Gallery.
That was when I saw a site that broke my heart and made it clear that my
plan was broken. Even if I had left the
hotel at 6 AM, the plan likely would have failed. The lines were incredibly long and poorly
managed. I learned that, for an inflated
price, I could pay for a group tour, which was starting soon, and then ditch
the group as soon as we got inside. That
was what I did. Even the group had
trouble getting in, and, by the time I was in the gallery, it had been an hour
since I arrived at the outside of the building.
I had figured I’d only need ten minutes inside.
I only wanted to see two paintings,
Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” and Da Vinci’s “Annunciation”. Well, lo and behold, there was a line to get
into the Botticelli room. I had my Grand
Canyon moment, but I spent more time taking pictures and posting to social
media than actually looking at the painting.
It is definitely one of my ten favorite paintings in the world.
I then saw the Da Vinci and rushed out of the
gallery. It was looking like a maybe,
that it was barely possible to reclaim my original schedule, assuming
everything went right. I lit up a
Toscano and walked to the Accademia Gallery, home of the most famous sculpture
in the world, Michelangelo’s David. All
I cared about was seeing that statue.
I
got to the Gallery, thinking the line would be shorter than at the larger and
more famous Uffizi Gallery. I thought
wrong. There was no way I would be able
to make my plan. Once again, I was
offered a tour, but the tour wouldn’t start until 1 PM. It was worth it for the expedited entry, but
there was no way I could be in the museum at 1 PM and be back in Rome by 7
PM. I grabbed a San Pellegrino and some
chips and finished my Toscano before 1 PM.
As soon as we entered the museum, I ditched the group and headed
straight to the David. It was impressive. I took my pictures, posted them to social
media, and left, stopping at the gift shop to get replicas on the way out. Meanwhile, birthday greetings were starting
to pour in from my friends on Facebook, some much more thought out than others. I got more replicas and more Toscanos from
the Tabacchi outside and then walked to the plaza that would have a taxi
stand.
I found a taxi before long, and I
was shocked to see a very attractive female driver, which was definitely a
first. I wanted to visit the Medici
Villa in Fiseole, about 6 klicks outside the city, but I knew it to be closed
to the public, and I was unsure of the exact location. I had an address, but I didn’t know if it was
right. I asked her if she would take me
there, wait for me, and then drive me back.
All I had in Euros was one large banknote, and I knew it would need to
last the rest of the day for everything I couldn’t put on a card, since the ATM
issue still hadn’t resolved itself. This
was going to be the only significant cash expense of the day.
We got to the address, and, it turned out to
be right. There was a closed gate, a
nameplate that said “MEDICI”, and a WHS Plaque.
She was confused. I told her I
just wanted to take pictures and that she should wait for me. Did I mean that we needed to wait while
someone let us in? No, she should wait
while I took pictures of the gated villa.
She needed assurance I wouldn’t walk away. Hmm, I needed assurance she would leave
without me. What could I give her that
would assure her of my return but would be an okay thing to risk? I offered her my driver’s license, which was
expiring today, anyway. She
accepted.
I walked up and down along the
wall. Clearly the inscription photo was
taken from inside the gates, but this was close enough. I lit up a Romeo y Julieta and took some
ceremonial pictures. I posted them to
social media and got back in the car, letting the cigar go out from the wind as
I hung it out the window.
I told her to
take me to the main cathedral, where I knew the inscription photo for the City
of Florence to have been taken. When we
got there, the fare had left me with just enough change so that I could get a
replica of the cathedral and, later, one of the Tower of Pisa, but everything
else would have to be on my card. I
found a restaurant in view of the cathedral and ordered a Florentine pasta dish
and a glass of Chianti. My plan was to
take my ceremonial picture after lunch and then write an entry starting at my
birth minute. Well, sure enough, rain
put pay to those plans. My cigar was
almost done, so I figured I would use it for my ceremonial picture at the
cathedral, right at my birth moment, then go straight to Tuscany.
It was starting to drizzle, so I abandoned
the rest of my wine and, right at my birth minute, started to take my
ceremonial pictures at the cathedral.
However, at that minute, my oldest friend called me, the timing not
being a coincidence. I told him I’d call
him back, since I needed to take the pictures before the rain picked up. I took my ceremonial pictures, posted them to
social media, got my replica and a keychain with cash, ditched the cigar, and
then called him back as I walked to the train station.
The rain had stopped by the time I got there,
and I took a train to Pisa, arriving there around 5 PM. It would be a 20-minute walk to the Tower,
and I knew it to close at 6 PM, whatever that meant. I didn’t expect the plaza to close before
dark, and I expected the gift shops to be open late, too. I was right on both accounts. I had no interest in entering the tower
itself, anyway.
I got my souvenirs,
thankfully on card, leaving me cash for gelato tonight, and then lit up an Hoyo
de Monterrey, the same approximate cylindrical ratio as the Tower, and went
back to the other side where the inscription photo was taken. The plaza was filled with people pretending
to hold up the tower, and I decided not to do it. Instead, I just took my usual ceremonial
picture at the spot of the inscription photo.
I then sat down in the plaza, in view of the Tower, where I proceed to
write this entry, which I will now close so that I can make my way back to Rome
for my birthday dinner.
Rome, Italy
It saddens
me to have written those words for the last time in this Travelogue. I will return to the Eternal City, of that
I’m sure, but it will not be under the auspices of this Travelogue. Whatever adventures I have for my 30s, they
will be covered under some new format, not this document, which will end a year
from today. As I mentioned in my
previous entry, five years, seventeen goals.
When both have come to a close, so, too, will this document.
I have written some pretty remarkable
datelines in this Travelogue from Tehran, Iran to Orne Harbor, Antarctic to
Havana, Cuba to Athens, Greece, and now I am glad to have added Rome, Italy to
that mix. It is an impressive dateline
that is matched by this equally impressive city, and I will be sad to leave
them behind tomorrow when it is time to say goodbye, but that will be theme of
tomorrow’s entry, a full reflection of my time in Italy, the summer of travel,
and the past 29 years in general. Today
is about looking forward, to the next 12 months that will close out this
Travelogue.
I will start with the
smaller parts that are forthcoming, weekend trips to North Carolina and
Oklahoma to see some National Memorials, two trips to Mexico to close out that
country, including a nine-day adventure in Baja, three more trips to Canada to
say “Canada Complete”, and, of course, my annual trips to Maine and Florida,
along with a trip with my mother to Texas next month. Then there are the more adventurous trips,
such as three trips to the Caribbean, including a four-day trip to Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands and four days in Hispaniola. Those are the trips I will need to properly
close out all of the West Indies for that matter. That describes the trips that are relatively
close to the North American mainland.
In
addition, there are four extended trips, three of nine days each plus the
eighteen-day trip that will close out this Travelogue. The nine-day trips are my Thanksgiving trip
this year, which I am only referring to as “Because It’s There: The Experience”,
my New Year’s trip to Australia, which will mark my last continent, my last
Olympic Stadiums, and the last of the Natural Wonders of the World, and my
adventure to Iceland and Greenland, which will allow me to say that I have
visited every country in North America.
Then comes the final trip, eighteen days in the South Pacific: Hawaii,
Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. That trip will truly be something special,
and it will complete the last six of my goals in one trip. I can think of no better place than Honolulu
to spend my 30th Birthday. It
is a trip that has been part and parcel of my five-year mission. The words that I write from Hawaii will be
the result of five years of hard work.
The Iceland and Greenland trip is the one that promises to be the most
fun. No tight agendas, just spending an
overnight stay in each of four different places. How many people can say they’ve been to
Nuuk? How many tourists have ever taken
their picture in front of the Greenland Parliament building? Now that I have visited Rome, Greenland and
Australia remain very firmly at the top of my travel list. Australia also promises to be a great trip, starting
in Melbourne on Christmas, seeing a cricket match at the iconic Melbourne
Cricket Grounds, the home of the Games of the XVI Olympiad, snorkeling the
Great Barrier Reef, and being to complete three more goals in total that trip, then
ringing in 2017 in Sydney before stopping in San Francisco on my way back. I cannot go into much detail about my
Thanksgiving trip, but I am going with my friend Raymond, and I know we will
have a great time together.
Even the
little trips, such as the Alamo and the Virgin Islands will be fun. In all, I have very exciting final year left
for this Travelogue, and I hope my reader enjoys it as much as I do. I would love to write more, but I need to
wake up in five hours to go to the airport, and I have not even packed yet, so
I will have to save more thorough reflections for tomorrow when the time comes
to say goodbye. Wow, I completely forgot
about my beer, I was so wrapped up in recounting these plans.
Okay, so after I closed in Pisa, I headed to
the train station, realizing it was too late to make the 7:11 PM train, which I
would soon learn that it was the last express train back to Rome that would
have allowed me to make dinner.
Fuck. When I got to the train
station, it was 7:15 PM, and I had learned that the train was delayed by 7:16
PM. I scrambled to buy a ticket for the
next train of the same service so that I could race and try to use it on the
7:11 PM train. I was too late. The train had left. Crap.
I missed that departure by about two minutes. I could have easily made up those two minutes
at various points during my time in Pisa.
That was really annoying. I would
not be getting to have my birthday dinner at Rome’s oldest restaurant, not that
I was relishing the idea of a 10:30 PM dinner anyway. The next express train was at 8:51 PM, which
meant I would need to get dinner there in Pisa.
I found a nice Tuscan restaurant that was by the train station, and
old-school Italian joint. I wasn’t
particularly hungry, and the bread was good.
I got some sparkling water to start.
I chose for my dish Florentine steak (bistecca alla fiorentina), which
meant Florence, but it was actually just a general Tuscan specialty. Perfect.
There was no wine list. It just
said “vino” on the menu. The price was
cheap enough. He asked if I wanted red
or white. That was my only option. He brought me half a liter (four glasses) of
red. I didn’t think I could finish
it. I wondered if I would manage half of
it. The wine and bread were quite good
together, and the steak (and fries) soon came out. It was just standard Italian steak, but the
fact that I was actually eating Tuscan steak in Tuscany was what made it so
special.
When I was writing from Africa
last year, I estimated that my dinner this year in Italy for my birthday would
be about 10-20 times what my meal in Zambia cost. It was actually only twice as much. I still can’t get over how cheap the food is
here. I am very glad I followed the
advice I was given and didn’t go to the Michelin restaurant. After dinner, I broke in half a special
edition Toscano and walked to the train station, finishing it outside.
The two-hour train ride back to Rome was
entirely unadventurous, and I tried unsuccessfully to take a nap. The only thing that was slightly adventurous
was that I realized that I had miscalculated my pick-up for tomorrow and had
requested that the car pick me up at 4:40 AM, five hours before my flight,
instead of 5:40 AM, four hours before my flight. I wanted to be at the airport three hours
ahead of time, and that extra hour of sleep would make all the difference in
the world. I was able to change the
time, and we were soon at Rome Termini.
As
were walking through the terminal to the street, someone in front of my lit up
a cigarette. When in Rome, do as the
Romans do. I lit up the other half of my
Toscana and walked with it to the first gelato place I found, using up the last
of my Euros. As I was walking to my
hotel with my gelato, my parents called, and we chatted a bit. I soon realized I was lost, and my phone was
almost dead, so I excused myself and reoriented. I was back on track and, a few minutes later,
back at my hotel, almost 16 hours after I left.
I was quite relieved to be home.
I quickly settled in and charged my phone.
For tonight’s pipe, I chose a Castello
Fiammiata Collecton pipe, the best that they make. It is mostly regular straight shape, and the
grain is good but not as good as the others I have smoked this trip. However, Castello is considered the most prestigious
of the Italian pipes, so the price point reflects that even if it isn’t as
aesthetically pleasing as the previous pipes I have smoked. I also am much more partial to the Ardor
pipes, due to their unique designs. I
sat down in my usual spot, enjoying this view for the last time to my dismay,
wrote Rome, Italy for the last time, lit up my Castello, and proceeded to write
this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish, pack, and hopefully,
get two full REM cycles before I have to wake up for my flight tomorrow.
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