Under the Tuscan Sun

Every year over 4th of July weekend, the base here always has a little festival. Its the usual fun & games for kids, softball, BBQs, and fireworks at night. But Susan and I decided we wanted to get away from all of that. We got together with a couple friends of ours, Cheryl and Vi, packed up our car with camping gear and headed south into the most famous region of Italy... Tuscany.

When most people think of Italy, the picture that forms in their mind is probably Tuscany. It is known for its rolling hills, olive trees, vineyards, sunflowers, and medieval towns and castles that has inspired artists and writers for centuries.

It takes us about 4 hours to drive there, and definitley worth the trip.

Susan found a campsite outside the city of Siena. So our plan was to camp there for two nights while we do some exploring of the old villages, and on Sunday we would head into the city of Siena for the climax of the trip - a horse race called the Palio... more on that later.

We arrived at the campsite on Saturday morning around 10am. After we pitched the tent we hopped back in the car and headed west into the Tuscan hills.

We had no real plan of where we were going, but we just thought we'd stop at any little towns that looked cool. Our first stop was in the tiny village called Monteriggioni. It is a medieval town fortified with a wall that still stands today and completely encircles the town. From the road, Monteriggioni looks really cool. It sits on the top of a small hill, the town church tower is the only thing that you can see over the old defensive wall. (Vi has some good pics I still need to get from her). It is a really cool thing to see from the road.

Susan and I standing in Monteriggioni with the hills behind us.

Monteriggioni is tiny, and I do mean TINY. I'm sure the average Wal-Mart store is bigger than this whole town.

But when we were there we were lucky enough to come upon a wedding being held in the town church.

Awww... Aren't they adorable?

The souvenir shop in Monteriggioni. THE ONLY souvenir shop in Monteriggioni.

After an average lunch in one of the 2 restaurants in Monteriggioni, we hit the road again. We followed the map and made a stop at a town called Volterra, another medieval town that is rich with history and set in a beautiful landscape surrounded my the hills.




We went into a little art gallery and made friends with this local artist. Her paintings were awesome, all acryllic or oil landscapes of Tuscany and she painted the frames too so that it looked like the scenes burst out of the frame. Vi and Cheryl made some purchases. Susan and I plan to make a return trip!

These are the ruins of an old Roman ampitheater right in the middle of Volterra.

One thing I wanted to do on this trip was a little hiking. We really didn't ever get much of a chance to do that, but we were able to take a walk outside the city limits of Volterra as we went in search of an old archaeological site not far from the town. (I read about it in a guidebook!)

The site is a necropolis from the Etruscan times. A necropolis is really nothing more than a grave or tomb, usually where important people were buried. The Etruscans were the people who lived in this region before the Romans. Did you get that? Before the Romans, so we're talking about over 2000 years ago! I guess you have to be into history for that to find that interesting, but I think its cool!

It took us about 45 minutes to walk from the outskirts of Volterra to this necropolis. On the way we passed lots of little houses, a beautifully kept cemetery, and ancient ruins built by the Etruscans. And of course the Tuscan countryside as a backdrop to everything made it all nicer.

Susan, Vi, and Cheryl inside the necropolis.

We finally reached a sign that pointed us up some old stone stairs and down a narrow little overgrown trail. The trail split and there were entrances to the tombs in either direction. It sure didn't look like it got many visitors. We arrived at an entrance, a set of old stone steps going down. I have to admit it was a little creepy. Since it was me and three girls, of course I had to go first! I took the first few steps and a out came about 80 flies. They were big, at first I thought they were bees. I pressed on and continued down.

The necropolis was like a small room with chambers that were used for the bodies. There were small electric lights mounted on the walls. Outside it must have been over 90 degrees, but down here it was nice and cool.

Even though I couldn't do any hiking, I was glad we took this little excursion. Its always fun to do a little Indiana Jones stuff!

That was enough of old dead people stuff. We walked back to Volterra and got back in the car. By this time it was close to 4 in the afternoon. We headed for our next stop, San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is a little bigger than Volterra, much bigger than Monteriggioni. We decided this would be a good place to have dinner and spend the evening.

As we walked the streets of San Gimignano Vi made friends with another local artist. He even hooked her up with some good deals on his work. People seemed to be so much friendlier down here. Maybe it was the small town atmosphere. But then again if you got to live among this scenery, I think it would be pretty easy to be happy all the time!

I sat at a sidewalk cafe and had a beer while the girls shopped for more art...

We wrapped up our Saturday night with a nice dinner at cool little pizzeria. We got a little lost on the way back to the campsite, but we made it. I slept like a log, hope I didn't snore too much!

SIENA

Sunday was the big day. The main reason we came on the trip. Every year Siena holds their big medieval festival. The highlight of the festival is a one-minute long fiasco of a horserace called the Palio. You may have heard of it since it is relativley famous as far as Italian medieval festivals go.

Siena is divided into 17 districts or "contrade". Each contrada has its representative animal and colors. Some are named after cool, scary animals like the ram, the wolf, and the dragon. But the funny thing is that some of them are named after things like the caterpillar, the seashell, the snail, and the goose.
As you walk through old Siena you see the flags of the contrade everywhere. As you move from one district to another and if you pay close attention, you will notice subtle symbolic reminders of which one you're in. The lamps on the buildings are sometimes in the shape of the animal. There are little stone designs on walls, and maybe a fountain with a statue of their animal too.

This is in the rhinoceros district. They are getting ready for the parade and the race.

Here is where the race happens. In the central town plaza. Not on a race track, right in the middle of the town! Granted it is bigger than the average town plaza, but still. They put together a makeshift path for the horses, bleachers, which cost close to $200 per seat encircle the track and a huge midsection is left in the middle. Its free to get in there so that's where we headed. Some people said you need to be in there four hours ahead of time, but it turned out that you can get in almost right before the parade starts.

Here I am donning the colors of the Elephant district. (its actually called the Tower district, but their flag has an elephant on it)


Susan picked the dragon district!

Here is the parade. All the districts brought out their horse escorted by guys dressed in medieval costumes. They were throwing their flags into the air, you've probably seen pictures of that before.

This is the band that played during the parade. They only knew one song, and they played it over and over...
This is what the plaza looked like right before the race.
Here is the parade finishing up.

So hours and hours of waiting and watching all the pagentry all led up to the big race. Finally all the horses were in place and the chaos began. The race is three laps around the track. As the horses came around the first sharp turn, three or four horses lost their footing and crashed into a padded wall. The jockeys flew off their horses. Dust is flying everywhere. The rest of the horses race past the crash site and continue on the path. The jockey-less horses keep running.

We heard that the horse wins the race, not the jockey, so they let the horses go on even if their jockey's fall off.

The horse from the Eagle district was in the lead the whole second lap. They came around the same sharp turn again, but this time, no crash. The Eagle horse had a good lead and it looked like his jockey got too comfortable. Because at the very last moment, the Panther horse made his move and tried to pass the Eagle horse. The two jockeys were hitting each other and the other horse with their sticks!

It was down to the wire, and at the last second the Panther horse won! The celebration started. Fans raced towards the wining horse, they were yelling and shouting praise for their horse. They were pulling the jockey off in a dozen directions, it looked like they were gonna rip him apart.

The Eagle fans were crying.

The whole thing was over in no more than 90 seconds.

Now that the craziness was over, we walked around the city and enjoyed the celebrations. Every contrada has a feast. The Panther contrada was so crowded we couldn't even walk down the street. Yes, the streets of Siena were one big party that night. It was really something to see.

We hit a few local bars and watched a live band play. We ended the night by walking to a few cafes and gelato stands and watched the replay of the race over and over again. Then it was back to the campsite for our last night in the tent.

The next day was Monday and as soon as we woke up we packed up our tent and jumped back in the car. We drove about one hour to the east to a little lake called Trasimeno. We got a hotel in great little town on the shores of the lake called Passignano.

Passignano is another old little village with a medieval castle on a hill. There were some nice restaurants and bars right on the lake.

We spent all day Monday relaxing on the lake. We rented a canoe and paddled around the lake, we laid in the sun on the sandy beach. A quiet dinner and a good nights sleep in a comfy bed was exactly what we needed to end the trip.

Tuesday we woke up and drove back home. Oh yeah, it was the 4th of July, wasn't it? I hadn't thought about it once.

Our Crazy Cat

I thought I'd take some time to share the story of our furriest family member, our cat, Samadhi. I've always been more of a dog person, but I don't mind cats. And considering that we live in a second floor apartment and we have no fenced-in yard, a dog isn't the best fit.

Last winter, one of my friends was getting ready to leave Italy and separate from the Air Force. He had a cat that he needed to get rid of. I figured that we could use a nice house pet, so I took the cat.

He told me that he hadn't had the cat very long, he got her from a friend but he didn't know how the cat had been treated before he got her. He said she was really afraid of people, and ususally spent all day in hiding. But once in awhile she'd come out and be friendly.

My friend never really had a name for her. So we named her 'Samadhi'. It is a Sanskrit word that means to establish or make whole. It is also a term that means a higher state of conciousness in Buddhist and Hindu religions as well as in yoga. And I think its a cool name for a cat!

At first, Samadhi was naturally afraid of her new surroundings. But after a few weeks of hiding under a futon, she got comfortable with Susan and I. She started to come out and play with us all the time. She'd chase little things all over the floor. She started sleeping in our room at the foot of our bed. But she was still deathly afraid of strangers. Whenever we had visitors she would run and hide under a bed somewhere.

We took her to the vet, got her checked out and her shots updated and all that. The vet said she was a healthy cat. They couldn't tell us how old she was but she seemed pretty young because she was pretty active and always running around the house. For the first 6-9 months we had her, she was an indoor cat She was petrified to go near our front door. Lots of strange noises out there!

When autumn came around we noticed that she liked to go out on our balcony and watch the birds in the trees. She would even walk along the balcony railing and scare the crap out of Susan and I becuase a few times it looked like she almost fell.

NIGHTSTALKER
One night, at around 4 in the morning I woke up to some weird noise. It sounded like our cat was chewing on something. I got up and looked through my half-open eyes at Samadhi sitting there eating what looked like a large, dead, black, birdlike animal. I turned on the light, and due to my drowsy state, I still had trouble making out what it was. I decided (probably against better judgement) to pick the thing up for a closer examination.

My first thought was, "Wow". It was a bat. A half eaten bat. The head was half eaten. One wing was gone. I could barely tell what it was. It must have been flying around one of our windows we leave open when the weather is nice. Poor creature...

Samadhi sat there with her bright blue eyes staring at me, begging for it back.

Considering that it was 4 in the morning and I had to get up for work in a couple hours, I really didn't feel like dealing with this situation. Again, against better judgement, I tossed the mangled bat back on the floor and said "enjoy your meal". Samadhi lunged for it and continued her early breakfast. I went back to sleep.

The next morning, it looked like nothing ever happened. There was no mess whatsoever. Gotta love that about cats. The only eveidence of the fiasco was a little broken piece of batwing. It was the part that looks kinda like an arm that the wing attaches to. I picked it up and threw it in the garbage. When we got home from work that day, that same little arm was back on the floor. The garbage can had been knocked over. The trash had been spread all over the room in our cat's attempt to reclaim her only remaining trophy of her prized kill.

SUNDAY MORNING CRAZINESS
A few days after the bat incedent, Samadhi brought another episode of excitement into our apartment. This time it was a Sunday morning. We slept late, late for us is like 9am.

I was lying half awake in bed and heard some racket in the living room. I got out of bed to go check it out and in comes Samadhi strutting into our room with a little bird in her mouth. The bird was still alive and fluttering its wings trying to escape. Apparently Samadhi had no intention of killing the bird, I guess she just wanted to play with it and show off her catch.

But this time I decided to side with the bird and try to take our kitty's prize away. I picked up the cat to take her out to the balcony, but the bird fell out of her mouth and onto the ground. So I put the cat down to get the bird. But the cat was quicker than I was and she snatches up the bird again. DOH! I grab the cat again and head towards the door, the bird still fluttering in Samadhi's jaws. I''m almost to the open door and the bird breaks free and flies out back into the tree. Samadhi is back on the balcony railing just staring at that bird who got away.

Not 2 seconds later, ANOTHER bird flies into the house through the open balcony door! What the hell is going on this morning??? Samadhi bounds off the balcony and proceeds to chase this bird around our living room while Susan and I just stood there helplessly watching and laughing at the craziness. After about 3 laps around our living room, the bird flew back out the door and the cat had to watch her prey get away again.

HOW TO TRAIN A CAT
I don't really know much about cats. So I usually assume they're pretty much like dogs.

After all these animals that our cat had been chasing around, I started wondering if she might like to go outside. So I figured the first step would be to get her used to being outside. So one day I picked her up and walked down our apartment's stairwell to the little courtyard outside our building. She was squirming trying to get away, she was still scared to be outside of our apartment.

But when I got her down there and set her on the ground, she just froze and stood there looking around. She looked at me like, "what the hell am I supposed to do out here?"

I could tell she was scared so I took her back inside.

The next day I did the same thing again. This time she was a little more willing to explore her surroundings. She walked around for few minutes before she looked like she'd had enough. The next time I took her down, I set her down on the steps in the stairwell and made her follow me down part way. When she got outside, I started walking around and she followed me everywhere I went. So I grabbed a book and sat down on the outside stairs in our courtyard and let her play in the grass. She was really starting to like her new surroundings. We stayed out there for almost 2 hours before I got tired and brought her back in.

After only a few days of taking her outside, Samadhi seemed like she was ready to be on her own. I started jingling my keys right before I took her out in the hopes that she would start associating the sound with going outside - kinda like a dog. I had no idea if it would work.

Samadhi got used to the stairwell and she walked down the stairs on her own now. And when she got outside, she leaped right out and into the grass of the courtyard. I decided it was time to leave her on her own for a bit, so while she was busy exploring some shrubbery, I went back inside. I came to check on her after an hour or so and she was still in the same area just having a great time playing in the dirt and grass. I left her again for another hour, and then an hour after that. When she was finally ready to come back in she was so tired she went to her little blanket and fell asleep for the rest of the evening.

After that point, Samadhi was an outdoor kitty. We would leave her out there for hours and when we'd go to check on her she'd come bounding out of some bush and follow us up the stairs. Her normal schedule was to be outside for 3-4 hours in the evening and then back inside for the night.

During the last winter, she would only stay outside for a few hours at a time. But when spring rolled around and the weather got nicer, Samadhi couldn't get enough of the outdoors. Anytime she heard the keys jingle she would run to the front door and wait for us to open it. Now that summer is here she stays outside all day and sometimes all night. She'll come in to eat, drink, and maybe for an occasional nap or for some attention from Susan and I.

And since she's been going outside, there have been no more bat or bird incidents!

RISK MANAGEMENT
Ok, sorry to bore you with all that. But I had to give you some background information so I could get to the real story.

So now that Samadhi is pretty much an outdoor cat, we found ourselves with another problem.

We travel. We are gone almost every weekend.

I know cats can fend for themselves, but we really don't like leaving her outside for more than a day. Especially now with the summer heat.

So when we went to France for a weekend we left her in the apartment with plenty of food and water. We leave a couple windows open and also the balcony door is cracked open so she can get to her litter box.

When we got back on Sunday night, she was nowhere in the house. We went looking for her outside, and out she came, running towards us from some shrubs.

How did she get out? We live on the second floor?

We are assuming she jumped out a window or leaped onto a tree branch and climbed down. I was afraid she might have been hurt, but she wasn't hurt at all. She was totally fine. It looked like she'd eaten plenty of her food. So she probably waited awhile before she decided to try to escape the empty aprtment.

The next weekend we went camping for 4th of July weekend. As we were walking out to take our stuff down to the car, Samadhi was trying to sneak out the front door. We had to grab her and put her in a bedroom. As we were getting in the car, we heard her sad meowing from the open window. She was sitting in the window watching us leave and meowing as if to ask us to please let her out! Poor kitty. We were gone almost four full days.

When we got back on Tuesday afternoon, she was outside again. Again not injured. And again her food was eaten so she must have stayed in for a couple days before she jumped out.

I started wondering what goes through a cat's mind when they're deciding if they want to jump out of a window?

I figure she stays inside and sulks for a day or two. Then eventually thinks, "screw this, I'm so outta here!"

I wonder if she thinks we're not coming back. Or maybe she expects us back in a day or two. Maybe two days is her max. After that she just can't resist the excitment of the grass, trees, bushes, dirt, birds, and bugs of the great outdoors.

In any case, she must be using some form of risk management. Her mind must go through some sort of risk assemsment. Does she weigh the risk of jumping out a window? At what point does the benefit of jumping outweigh the risk of possibly getting hurt?

I can't help but wonder.

But I think Susan and I have been good first time cat owners. We took in this cat that was afraid of everything. And now she's brave enough to stay outside day and night and even jump out windows to do it!

Like I said, I've never really been a cat person. But Samadhi has brought lots of joy into our house. She's made us laugh countless times and she's always happy to see us when we get home from work or a vacation.

If anyone knows anything about cats, we're still learning - so we're all ears to any tips.

And can anyone out there tell me what kind of cat she is? She's looks sort of like a Persian I think. We've been told maybe she's a Himalayan. Any other ideas?

The French Riviera

About three weeks ago, Susan and I hopped on a bus and rode about 5 hours across the Italian/French border and into the city of Nice, France.

This was an overnight bus ride and we had several friends on the bus with us. We rolled into Nice (pronounced Neece, in case you didn't know!) around 0600 on Saturday. Most everyone else stayed on the bus to go take a tour of some perfume factory, but Susan and I were all about hitting the beach. So we jumped off the bus near the airport, and started walking down the street towards the center of town.

We didn't know how far it was, but we didn't really care. I think we ended up walking a good 2 miles along the beach.

The street along the beach was lined with lost of nice houses and apartment buildings.

This is where we spent most of that Saturday. It was 0900 when we got to this point and the day was already pretty warm. We decided to splurge and pay the 14 Euro for each chair.

14 Euro is about USD $18-20. Normally I'd say no way I'm paying that much for a beach chair. But I have to say they were worth every cent! These are the most comfortable beach chairs in the world!

I think I fell asleep within 20 minutes of laying down. I woke up about an hour later to notice that I was already starting to burn. And it wasn't even 1100 yet!

Saturday night we spent checking out the nightlife of Nice. I have to say it is a pretty cool place. Lots of diversity in food. Lots of little bars and cafes. A huge casino in the middle of town. And of course, the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Not a bad place to spend a Saturday.

Susan and I managed to eat sushi, Mexican food, Lebanese food, and then finally met up with our friends at a Thai place.

After dinner we walked found our way into a cool bar that had a live band playing. After several beers and a few shots, all I can say is that I think they were pretty good!

This is a view from a high point on the outskirts of Nice. This pic was taken on our way out of Nice on our way to Monte Carlo.

And here is another great shot ot a little town between Nice and Monte Carlo.

And this is Monte Carlo. One of the newer parts of town.

Here is the main harbor in the city of Monte Carlo. These were some of the most impressive yachts I'd ever seen. One yacht even had a helicopter sitting on it. I think everybody was driving a Benz. Where do these people get their money?

I don't even remember where this was.

Monte Carlo and Monaco were filled with these really nice houses. Lush gardens and vegetation everywhere.

And here is the ritzy area right in front of the casino in Monte Carlo. A few of our friends went in to gamble and one of them actually came out with an additional 250 Euro.

We spent the afternoon in Monaco, watched the overrated and unimpressive changing of the guard in front of the residence of the royal family. And had lunch at a cool little restaurant in the old part of town.

After lunch we walked around a bit more, then we got back on the bus that afternoon. We were back home in Sacile by 10pm Sunday night.

What a beautiful place the French Riviera is. I guess you can say you've made it in life if you can ever manage to live there!

How Things Work in the US Air Force

Just in case you thought your hard-earned tax dollars are being efficiently spent, here's a little picture that will illustrate the reality: