MEMORIES. Ostello del Chianti (Tavarnelle Val de Pesa)

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The Ostello del Chianti serves as the Hostel International in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, the heart of the Chianti region. It's from where the world gets chianti wine. Chianti wine is typically the bottle we think of when imagining scenes in Italy: the bottle cased in straw and, when finished, serves as a candelabra!

I took a bus from Firenze (Florence) and it was not easy to discern which stop was mine. I approached the hostel from the back minus any useful signs. Thankfully the Sun had not yet set. Rounding a corner I came to the front entrance and met the receptionist. She was an extremely nice, helpful lady. 

Since it was not the high season, space was aplenty. For the first night or so I was in a dorm room with an old man who coughed HORRIBLY throughout the night (a cigarette smoker); when he was quiet a mosquito delighted in torturing my ear. The receptionist then moved me into an empty room and I slept peacefully!

The hostel is surrounded by countryside. Tranquil walks are a surplus. Along with linen and blankets, breakfast is included and, for anyone who has ever travelled in Italy, the rooms are equipped with plug-in mosquito repellents!  I didn't encounter any mosquitoes in Europe until I went to Italy (September).


It has wi-fi Internet access, a restaurant, a big commons room, hot showers (I love any place that has hot water & Internet!) and is wheelchair accessible. The customer service was molto bene and the facilities were super clean.

I don't really care for Florence but if ever I travel to central Italy again it will definitely be that I visit Chianti and lodge at Ostello del Chianti.

50028 Tavernelle Val di Pesa
Via Roma 137 ("via" means street)
+39 055.8050.265
ostello@ostellodelchianti.it
website

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JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

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Sept 16

   Went to view the David statue yesterday at the Academie. It was truly impressive standing before and beneath the David. It's a thing of marvel. His height, the pose, the muscle is all immensely awesome; and while looking at is so freely I half expected the museum to permit groups of private audiences; but, no, museum-goers could gape or sketch for as long as opening hours permitted. 

   Went to Pisa to see the most famous tower in the world. The inclimate weather...tried to deter me but I'd already bought the train ticket yesterday (5.70€) and six euros is no small nothing.

   Gray clouds gave way to rain by the time we reached Pisa...the city could invest in some street signs but I found it. It was surreal seeing the odd edifice for the first time. It's actually leaning! completely discordant to everything else...upon seeing it I made my way back to the train station. (Am surprised by how well I avoided getting lost down any of the winding streets.)

----

   Starting to feel am spinning my wheels. Will return to Germany and Berlin for the remaining days of the trip...will be able to save and maintain money for the trip back [to America].

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I felt no earthquake (Vallarta)

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No, no earthquake rumbled my little slice of paradise here in Pto Vallarta. Only Mexican tourists from Guadalajara and loud Banda music with bands in awful, clownish uniforms!

On Saturday night, though, I was called "Nigger!" by a truckload of (drunk) Mexicans. I gather they were drunk because getting smashed is the only apparent goal for every national who flocks here for Semana Santa (Holy Week); that and getting laid, I suppose.  At any rate, no translation was necessary. They shouted it in English.


Pto Vallarta: still free of earthquakes but not racism.

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MEMORIES. Michelangelo & Mapplethorpe (Florence)

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I saw one of the most recognizable wonders of the word: Michelangelo's David. Entrance to the museum cost 10€ and a line was already formed by the time I got there. But the line moved along at a nice pace and I

believe I was inside in under half an hour. There are many other things to see in the Galleria dell'Accademia but I, like most people in line, was really only there for viewing the David. For one thing, the statue is ENORMOUS. It is giant-sized and utterly amazing. The feet, the legs, hands, stomach, head, and,owing to the proportion of the masterpiece, even the tiny penis is big . Note: no fig leaf was in place. It is easy to see why this art piece stunned audiences then and now (probably due to the absence of a fig leaf). 

The David is majestic yet he is presented simply: a young man (with a healthy build, but nothing near 'muscular') with a steady gaze and slingshot over his shoulder. Granted, the piece wouldn't be as unforgettable if David were clothed but nothing grandiose is put forth by his lack of clothing.


During my visit a photography exhibit of American Robert Mapplethorpe was in house, La Perfezione nella Forma (Perfection without Form). Am familiar with Mapplethorpe and know most of his works more than border on the pornographic; this was the first exhibit of his pieces I had seen (outside of books). It was only the four photographs circling the base of the David that arrested my attention.


Whereas Michelangelo's David is white (marble), Mapplethorpe's subject is a black man. While there was nothing similar in the poses the compare and contrast of the two subjects was unavoidable. I thought that was a nice touch.

Galleria dell'Accademia
Florence, Italy
website

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Help Angel Wings help Haiti

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If you think I have adventures, then you don't know my old teammate and friend Carl Drew. He's loco about Life (and probably just a little plain loco, too). He likes climbing cold mountains and visiting dangerous parts of the world in bad weather. And now he has a partner in all of this craziness---his wife!

Last week Carl & Heather flew to Haiti to assist Angel Wings International. Of their own accord they went on a 7-day round-trip BUT have made the personal commitment to stay there until the two of them raise $5000 for the charity. Willing to be stuck in Haiti?! Told you they were loco!

Since arriving on March 31st the couple has raised more than half (all right!); but they still have less than halfway to go to completion.
Here's part of  today's email and snapshots from Carl: 

   "Over the past 3 days we have helped to treat over 100 patients.  Much of our time is spent worked alongside the medical staff as assistants and helping Angel Wings prepare for continual rotations of medical staff and support....Many of the NGO’s and Governmental agencies have begun to pull out of the country, and in the wake of the devastation remains cities of people who have no access to even the most basic of medical care."

Mr&Mrs Drew love helping out but they really don't want to be left stranded there. If interested in aiding their mission click Carl's fundraising site.

And to follow the development of Angel Wings International

http://angelwingsblog.wordpress.com/

Hope this helps, buddy!

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JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

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13:25 

Sept 14

   [Milan] is a fancy, pricey city with a normalcy of the most elegantly dressed men I have ever seen. From young to old the men dressed for the very occassion [sic] of having stepped outside...And though basics are expensive--8€ drinks, 20€ covers, 30€ hostel dorms--shopping is surprisingly not....I would not pass up 10€ Italian leather shoes! Even if it meant discarding several clothes and stuff from my bag I was buying the dress shoes. Tried Campari soda. It's gross. 

   Now am en route to Florence. 

   13:20

   on time arrival to Verona.

   13:52

   on time departure

   17:25

   arrive to Bologna--finally; only for connection to Florence in an hour. 

   20:00

   found a hostel thanks to its strangely pinpoint walking direction; they mentioned almost every helpful mark minus the vagabond on the curb.

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JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

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This is about my arrival to Italy. But first, throughout the diary entries and most of my original posts from Germany you may notice I reference "catching rides" or waiting for someone to confirm a ride. That's because of a German website called mitfahrgelegenheit.de that essentially functions as an electronic hitch-hiking site. People going to a destination advertise or look for other travellers heading the same way in order to cut costs be it gas money or to split the fare of a group train ticket. And I suppose there is the added benefit of having company on a long trip. It is a wonderful travelling tool.


Most of the people I met via mitfahrgelegenheit.de either spoke English or had a working knowledge of it and, man, that was oh so helpful.

I hitchhiked a ride from Innsbruck, Austria to Bolzano, Italy which I stupidly mistook to mean Bologna in Italian. Bolzano and Bologna are two very different cities with many, many miles between them. I was quite disappointed to see that I had wasted my time and money on the ride. In Bolzano I was rather glad to find no vacancies---though I can't help but wonder why any hostel would be full there----and boarded a night train outta there!


Initial plans were to travel to Florence but the overnight train ticket to Milan was far cheaper and faster so I bought it. Incidentally, the train had a long layover in Bologna....

Sept 9

   Caught a ride to Bolzano, which I mistook was non-English for Bologna, at nine. The one youth hostel was sold out so I continued on to the train station and mulled over my late night options; next departures were at 01:09 so I had roughly three hours to settle on a direction: Bologna, Florence, Milan or Venice? As the direct train to Florence was full--and a four-thirty arrival in Bologna, impractical--I chose Milan. Just like that my travels changed. Freedom is mobility. 

   02:37

   Verona. Long wait until connection to Milan. The employees' responses to my mild confusion is not helpful. Cinque meses, they reply but I know that cannot be right ("five months") so I get anxious, thinking I've only five minutes to catch the connection. And the track? Cinque meses, they reply...Trusting my comprehension of the train schedule I schlump to Track 7 and apprehensively board the deserted train for some shut-eye. An African woman  is just as uncertain (and damn if I can tell if she is speaking French, African dialect, Italian or English) but I do my best to nod and shake my head simpatico.

    04:00

    train dork awakes me to inform that 2d class is in the next car. Should I have been offended? Was just glad to be on the right train...Second Class is not a whole lot different than First Class. In fact, I sat where I sat because I thought it was 2d class.

   07:35 

   arrival to Milan. Milano!...Takes me a full goddamn hour to locate Tram 5 for the hostel--which turned out to be a hotel. 

    12:30

     shower and nap [Hotel San Tamoso]

    19:15

    bought a local SIM card. Had to produce identification. Stupid, bogus security crap.

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