The female gaze

Day eight: Art, art and more art

Today we visited the Uffizi, a museum with so much art it physically hurts your brain to try to take it all in. I saw "Birth of Venus" and thought I would be sucked in by the Gods right there. We only were able to get through 1/4 of the place before our feet tired and we admitted it deserved multiple days (which we don't have). We strolled through the leather market and bought a few things. No jackets though. After my purchase in Rome I don't think it is authorized.

Jason shot lots of photos (see photos) while I sat and listened to music (Download florence_bells.WMA) in the Piazza della Signoria staring at David (the copy) among other things. "Rape of the Sabine woman" tells such an intense story. Jay was taken with "Hercules slaying the Centaur." (I can't promise these are the exact names of the statues)

Tomorrow is our last day here. I haven't decided what we are going to do but I am sure it will require another stop at the ATM and lots of walking. And pizza.

Day Seven (part two): Did I say Rome was chic?

The second I stepped off the platform in Florence I knew my pink Uggs were not going to cut it--so two seasons ago. Everyone, and I mean everyone, looks like they belong in a high glossy.

I took this photo of an ad in the train station. Even the kids are hip.

In a place so beautiful in its old world charm it would seem strange the Louis Vuitton is the standard. But is a very strange way it fits. It's all just so lovely. I just don't know how to compete.

Day Seven (morning): Leaving on a fast train

I was sad to depart with our lavish Roman hotel this morning but excited to be going someplace new. We took the fast train to Florence from Rome. This thing really hauls booty. It took about an hour and a half to get there. The landscape quickly changed from ancient ruins and sculpted naked people to grafittied, rundown apartments to landscapes you see on olive oil bottles. Jason says he wants to live in a villa on the countryside. I keep thinking the teletubbies are going to pop out of the hills at any moment.

See photos

Day six: Bad pizza, good jacket and Vatican

Today I purchased a very bad pizza. Jason tried to tell me the "snack bar" looked fishy. I told him that all snack bars were good, not to worry and keep walking because I needed a Light Coke with no ice and something to eat. Halfway through my margherita pizza I noticed the fuzz he pointedly told me was mold on my tomatoes. It was really, really gross. I went to the counter and told barista boy about the problem with his romas. He said he was sorry and we left without having to pay. Ten minutes later at another snack bar I was downing a cappuccino and subsequently killing the poor taste still in my mouth.

I bought the wool & cashmere jacket I had been eyeing for two days. It is as lovely as they come and the nice Italian tailor told me it fit like a glove. It really does. Tomorrow I am looking for boots. This has to be the best city in the world for shopping. You can't walk a quarter mile without starring into a window front and making your way inside "just to look." Ha. Nothing but art and shopping in this town.

Oh, we also made it to the Vatican today. I think when I was a kid and imagined heaven St. Peter's Basilica was what I was envisioning. Jason said that the only way he could describe all of the art was like being in a dream. It's truly unbelievable how much talent, money and time were spent creating such splendor. It is glorious.

More Vactican pics click here.

Day five: Ashes to ashes

Today started a little early for our jet-lagged bodies but we powered through like Gladiators.

Although self-proclaimed anti-tour people we were signed up for the 14-hour Pompeii extravaganza by way of Grey Line per my mother's best friend and our travel agent. The wake-up call came at 5:45 a.m. and the driver was in my hotel lobby at 6:30. Let me first say it was worth it. And let me next say that you cannot get coffee at this hour in Rome. It's just not done. All the good Italians are still sleeping off the vino. Thank God the tour guide had the sense to pull the bus over on the motorway for a "snack bar" break of cafe' and sandwiches. Approximately three hours later I was glaring at Mt. Vesuvius awe-struck and half listening to the guide/half imagining what I would have done 2000 years ago when the explosion happened. Apparently there were 24 hours-ish to evacuate the city once the volcano began erupting. Little did they know their glorious and advanced way of life was soon to be permanently halted. Nothing in the world can make you feel the temporariness of life like the ruins of old, ornate ways of life. I was having Katrina PTSD and weeping a lot.

Click for Jay's photos of the ruins.

Jason snapped lots of photos and shot video while I envisioned what it would have been like chasing bare-footed children while baking bread or sewing or, well, that's probably all. I slept most of the 3 hours back to Rome.

Day four: We have arrived

After arriving at our hotel located in the heart of all things uber-cool, ancient and otherwise Roman we immediately dropped our bags and hit the streets. I swear I have canvassed the entire city though the map says we have lots more to do. Five more cappuccinos (literally) tomorrow and I will be ready to take Pompeii. Wake up call is set for 5:45 a.m. and the guys working the main desk at the hotel tonight think New Orleans people are just as fun as Italians. (We had a little wine w/ dinner).

Oh, and these little cars are my new favorite thing. Ciao.

Day three: Ain't lookin' pretty

It would be bad enough in New Orleans wearing the same underwear for the second-ish day but strolling the streets of New York with no makeup, really stinky armpits and clothes that scream Old Navy is about the lowest I have ever been. When I finally arrived back at Kennedy today (5 hours early b/c there was NO WAY I was missing this flight for the third time) I realized that not only was I traveling with a load of fashionable people from Manhattan I was also traveling to one of the most fashion-aware countries in the world. I am sure "shopping is fun again" is not something that resonates with the Armani set.

With my luggage still in Delta purgatory I sat at the gate for about 45 minutes watching very attractive people with very expensive accessories take seats around me. At the very least I needed some Oil of Olay cream to de-crustify my scaly morning eyes and some chapstick for my alligator-dry lips. Then I had the most brilliant idea. I spotted the Duty Free shopping area with Lancome, Chanel, Vera Wang and all other things lovely spilling from its doors. Surely I could causally walk in and pretend to be interested long enough to score a sample from the makeup nazis. Even better when I discovered the counters were unattended and I could sample as much as I liked. There were a few ladies walking around eyeing me over as I repeatedly pumped and dipped and brushed from the sample tubes to my fingers to my face. After 20 minutes I was looking good. 

Special to Air Gods: Please let me catch this plane to Rome today. I have Chanel makeup on.

Day Two: When not in Rome, again

The first day not actually leaving the states was almost predictable based on my life thus far. But day two and I am at a domestic hotel because Delta delays caused me to miss my international connection yet again. Not funny. This time I end up in New York overnight. My tickets are reissued and if all goes well Jason and I leave out of JFK for Rome at 5:35 p.m. tomorrow (Friday). Meanwhile we have booked a hotel in Manhattan (on our own dime no thanks to Delta) for the night and are going out to try to find me some socks.

I am wearing Birkenstocks and have no luggage to speak of until I actually land in Italy.

I hear it is supposed to snow tomorrow in the NYC and I have on sandals and Jason's windbreaker. Could I be anymore wrong?

Day one: The travel day that wasn't

Well, I am supposed to be sleeping on a plane across the Atlantic Ocean right now but I am in a hotel room in Kenner, La. Hardly the European-styled amenities I was hoping for. Seems a day has been snipped off my trip by my 3-minute tardiness to MSY. Delta ticketing agent didn't think that arriving at her counter at 1:04 p.m. for a 1:40 takeoff was enough time. We were booted off our plane and only after I started weeping on her counter did she seek approval from a manager to reissue tickets for the next day to send us Americans off to the Old Country w/o an approximate $2000 ticket charge per passenger!

So why am I at a hotel in burbs of my fair city, and my fair home 15 miles away? Because we didn't want to tell the kids goodbye twice.

Tomorrow will really be travel day number one.

Roman holiday

My husband and I are off to Italy for 9 days sans kids. Aunt Tracy is my in-house sitter and I am out the door with a smile on my face and enough euros in my pocket to buy her something in return.

While gone I will attempt to do a travelouge complete w/ video blogs via youtube and photos. We'll see how well I keep up.