Trani, Italy - Day Two & Three - addendum

This is the fast pizza guy for those who missed the video on Facebook. See if you can catch me somewhere on the video as well. Gaby shot this video with her small Fuji camera.

Trani, Italy - Day Two & Three

We are just starting to get caught up on sleep. Our first real time in Trani we spent walking around. It was amazing - first stop, the nearby beach ("spiaggia"). The water was a bit murky, but mostly pleasant. The Italians had dropped tons of small roundish stones to create the beach front. I wasn't used to walking on the stones, it was a bit of a struggle. But sitting on the beach and watching Sarah, Catalina, Gaby and Eileen go into the sea (note I did not use the word "ocean" because it is not the ocean), was a pleasure. Sue and I sat on the edge and talked. I dipped my feet in the water, which was slightly cool and refreshing. There was a slight surf, as this is really the Adriatic Sea. After about an hour we headed up to have an afternoon coffee. Rick joined us at an outdoor cafe. Then we walked to a park, populated with turtles, fish, lots of unusual shrubs and other flora. Here you would find groups of older Italians strolling together or sitting on benches. Children were playing ball or on the park swings and such. It was beautiful. Sorry we don't have pictures. We hadn't taken photos since we didn't want to bring the camera to the beach.


Later we strolled to fetch some pizza for dinner. 

Again we went for a walk in the city of Trani. The roads are cobblestone, and of course there's marble everywhere, including sidewalks and roadway edges. It can be a bit slippery if slightly wet (and even if not wet). Gaby took pictures of the street sites. We had capucco (cappucino) at yet another favored outdoor cafe along with some croissants. This particular outdoor cafe is within a town square/park where again, the Italians group together and stroll or hang out on benches. It's adorable to see them together like that. A group of five or six men, all dark, dressed neatly, walking closely together in the same direction and speaking with their pronounced inflections, it's just so charming. It is likely these men went to grade school together, and that they'd never really leave Trani is not unusual. It is the same for the women, though I mostly saw them sitting on benches, very tightly together on the bench, sometimes with an elderly child or one forlornly-looking man among them. 

I'm cloudy on the timing of this, since jet lag is still affecting me but at some point we went to the grocery store across from the Ewings' apartment. I decided to photograph the packaging of some of the products, when about six photos in, the very tall, angry-faced and ominous looking-store manager asked me something in Italian and looked like he wanted me to hand him my pink camera. Eileen came to my rescue, asking him what was going on in Italian to which he replied, "it's okay" or something like that.

Friggi Bene.

Umm...rabbit.

I think this is edible.

We strolled down the street to a small art supply store and purchased some acrylics, a large canvas and other art stuff. We plan on making a group collage. Then walked near the edge of the older section of town, where we got pizzas. While in the pizza shop, it begin to rain. It was then the Italians ran in every which direction, covering their heads and some actually screamed. Sue told me, "Italians don't like things falling from the sky." Indeed! It ruins their lovely shoes and dress clothes. 

Rick Ewing being followed by a gaggle of short girls/women.

Ummm...these are mannequins. I like their faces.

Sue Ewing, a duck and Sarah McKay making a funny face.

Street scene in Trani where there's lots of bikes, people walking and tiny cars.

A cool alley in Trani.

The Pizza Guy in Trani moving fast.

After the rain, there was a beautiful rainbow and also a gorgeous orange sky.  We worked on our group collage.

Our Group Collage

Trani, Italy - Day One

We've been in Italy for one day. I haven't been able to write due to incoherency. Sleep deprivation made me weird(er).

July 28, 2011 - We left Hartford, Connecticut early evening of June 28th on a tiny prop plane. I think Sarah was a little unnerved by the small plane. I read a little and drew a little on the plane while Catalina and Gaby chatted with each other. Catalina took photos of the small plane itself. She was amazed with it. It brought us to Montreal successfully, though quite late.

Getting through customs and making our connection was going to be iffy..so I flagged down a gentleman driving one of those go-carts for disabled folks and he drove us to customs. Thank goodness, it was a LONG walk. Really long. The gentleman had a lovely French accent and was wonderfully accommodating and nice. Customs Agent took a long look at Gaby's passport. She looks significantly more grown-up nowadays, while her passport was taken a few years ago. Not sure what would've happened if she wasn't able to get through customs.

On the connecting flight, I sat next to an Italian woman who had finished up a cinematography project in NYC. She was put out at having to travel economy class, and sad about leaving New York, but her visa had run out. She made me feel awkward several times as I had finished up a sentence, but she continued to stare at me for several seconds directly in the eyes without acknowledging what I had just said. "What you do?" she asked me. "Graphic design," I replied. No response of any kind, just quiet staring. I adjusted in my seat. It occurred to me to pretend I had something wrong with me just so she'd stop staring.

July 29, 2011 - I slept for a couple hours on the plane. I peeked out at Spain, France and the Mediterranean and then Italy as we flew over. I couldn't believe what I saw, it just didn't seem real. The sea was brilliant blue, not like going to the islands, but a nice cerulean blue, that made me think it was clean and healthy. Flying over Europe the landscape was a patchwork of farms. I saw clusters of towns, but it seemed that there was mostly agricultural lands - which surprised me. Already I saw the beauty.

Sue Ewing met us at the airport. A trooper, that Sue. She had stayed overnight in Rome, and met us outside baggage claim where we piled our bags and bodies in her BMW wagon. It was nice to see a friendly familiar face first thing. We drove through the amazing Italian landscape, from just north of Rome toward the Adriatic Sea to a town called Trani. We stopped at a couple of Autogrills on the Autostrata. First we needed something to drink then later we got some pizza, baguettes with mozzarella (sandwich) and esprino fredos - I LOVE ESPINO FREDOS - Coffee-creamy-cold (kinda like ice cream) served in small cups. Very yummy. The drive to Trani was 4 hours. A long drive, but all throughout we saw small farms, lots of agricultural areas, old abandoned stone buildings, lots of windmills and finally beautiful hills and mountains. We passed Mount Vesuvius.

Sue and Rick's apartment is gorgeous. Trani is gorgeous. It's a "spiagia" (beach) city with lots of high-end shops and old buildings. We walked a few minutes to the beach and stayed a bit. Then off to have a coffee. Again, more espino fredos. Later we had small thin pizzas (diablo, vegetable, 4 cheese, margherita). The Ewings have two cats, I've only really seen their Maine Coon cat named Shanoah. Below are photos of the Ewings' balcony, looking towards the beach; Shanoah the Maine Coon cat, and an amazing sunset outside yet another balcony outside the kitchen.