Here and There Blog

After a week of Italy, intense sightseeing and walking/stairs, I was ready to see friends and have salad and beer! But we were so happy to be eating and drinking Belgium Brown, that we forgot to moblog in the restaurant. So here's LJ with the Belgium Brown. Being the geeks that we are, our day's entertainment was Stargate.

Home! Yesterday was the day of speeding pilots. It was raining so hard in Rome that the plane had a 90 minute delay at the gate and 20 more minutes on the runway. We only landed 20 minutes late in DC for all that. Then the DC - San Diego flight arrived 35 minutes early - whoo hoo! Today is about remembering where I am, buying food, and celebrating being back in warm (compared to Rome) and sunny Carlsbad!

Bye OB, Mrs OB, and Homer! Have a good flight!

We are on the train from Florence to Rome. This is the final part of the trip. It was a good Thanksgiving in Italy.

Big protest today

Leaving the warm hotel for cold sighting.

Pisa city wall

View from the top.

The two days in Rome has gone by fast and tomorrow we leave for Florence with maybe a side trip of Pisa. We have no formal plan for Pisa except to somehow get there, see the Tower, and return to Florence. My cell phone is fully charged once again so stay tuned and find out which city we made it to first!

Lorie at the top (or almost) level of the Basilica. After wandering about downstairs for almost a full hour we decided to do the 300 stairs up the really narrow staircase. The view was awesome and the Basilica was more impressive with this view!

Homer also at the top level of the Basilica - these mosiacs are all around the top level and look pretty cool.

I admit this looks better in person but I was taking the photo through a one square inch opening in the chain. The colors of the paintings are so vibrant with the natural sunlight coming in.

Inside the Basilica.

Rome is colder and rainier than I expected and today I have 5 layers of shirts, sweaters, and jackets. Sadly for me, my version of cold is 48 degrees and I am a goner. Today is Vatican City day and art so we will be inside.

Rocks, ruins, beer, wine, food, rain. A good day in Rome

You expect beer and wine shops but here was the water shop - Mecca for Homer!

Yes, OB is blurry as he pretends to throw his camera in the Trevi Fountain. The fountain was much larger and better looking than what I remember from movies or TV.

This is taken from inside the Colisseum. We got there right after opening and had the place to ourselves for almost 20 minutes. It never did get crowded and we were able to take our time and explore the place in detail.

So far this later afternoon blue sky is the only clear and sunny day of the trip. Rain has been with us off and on for the last couple of days.

In Rome and hanging out at the airport. The rest of the family has a 4 hr delay

5:00 am. The flights are on-time and no airport delays exist at this moment. Rome awaits!

The last two weeks not in hotels has been nice but it's time to hit the travel path again. This time, Rome and Florence. I'm mostly packed. What I forget, I can buy. I hope to not be cold. I also hope moblog works so I can upload photos from my phone.

Almost there! I know I was just in the region but I'm ready to go back. Rome and Florence await!

It took 8 days to get back into the routine but I seem to have my office groove down. Too bad I leave again on Saturday but who needs a groove all the time anyway? The upcoming trip is family Thanksgiving in Rome. We've only had it planned for a year and now it's arrived in an almost unexpected and rushed manner. I was organized until news of a cold front had moved in and now I have to rethink my packing job. I feel lazy so I'll probably end up being cold and hoping it warms up. With that quick entry for the day, I'll switch back over to work mode.

If it's been a while since you've seen Casino Royale , you might want to watch it before seeing Quantum of Solace . The current James Bond movie picks up where the last one ended, making it more of a second half of the first movie. I'd already forgotten the minor players from the first movie but they were back and for me, it was hard to make the connections as to why something was going on. Ignoring all that, the movie was good, not great, but good Bond. Bond and M were exactly how they should be and between them provided the understated humor that was needed in the movie. The Bond girls were there and I didn't have any issues with them as some reviews have. The bad guy was right for the movie and one of the better Bond bad guys in a while. Quantum of Solace is a bit uneven and for such a short movie, some scenes dragged on and I found myself passing time in the theater while waiting for the next good part. The opera scene was amazing and unique and far better than som...

Thanks to CVS MinuteClinic I now am vaccinated against the flu and was able to get a tetanus booster shot! The best thing about a walk in clinic is you avoid the long lines for announced flu shots and no 3 week wait to see a doctor. I was done in less than 15 minutes. I'm almost back on track with normal life after being home for a week. I feel somewhat back in the swing of things. If life is really back to normal then it's Quantam of Solace for me this weekend!

I finally looked at all my retirement accounts today. While not totally decimated, the 30% + drop in some of them made the 22% drop in others seem not so bad even though it is. The worst hit was Vanguard and the second worst was my work account with Merrill Lynch. I left Vanguard alone for now and reallocated ML and then decided to contribute another 2% per check to try and buy low and save high for that elusive future retirement. I'm glad I'm not retiring today because it wouldn't happen.

Lunch in Mdina. The photo looks like of bland but the mashed potatoes on the right were some of the best I've ever tasted. The chicken is covered in artichoke and mushroom gravy and was pretty good. The harbor near Valletta. On the bus! It started raining after this photo so we retreated downstairs. Mondo with the walled city in the background.

Me in the rocks Mondo in the rocks Cow Key in the rocks

Yes, I realize that I have a lot of photos of rocks. But, this was the coolest sight on Gozo and pretty impressive to think of all the work that went into building the temple and to try and pretend what life was like 5000 years ago on this island. The site was pretty crowded with tour groups even though these photos look as if no one was here. The temple once had a roof but the structure no longer exists. Below - part of the system that either allowed for washing up before entering or for blood-letting of the goat sacrifices.

From Aboutmalta.com: "The megalithic temples of the Maltese Islands are justly claimed to be the most impressive monuments of European prehistory. They are remarkable not only because of their originality, complexity and striking massive proportions, but even more so because of the considerable technical skill required in their construction. These temples are complex structures extended and embellished over a long period of time and were until recently dated to the 3rd millennium B.C. " http://www.aboutmalta.com/gozo/ggantija.html In other words, a bunch of big, cool rocks that are part of one of the oldest surviving temples in the world. The "Ggantija Temples at Xaghra, Gozo, excavated in 1827 by Col. Otto Bayer, are the most imposing and best preserved of the megalithic structures erected during the Copper Age (c. 3,600-2,500 B.C.) (Aboutmalta.com).

After a long day of sightseeing, walking the ruins, and navigating the local bus, I finally tried the local beer. It's a lager and I don't like lagers but this was the worst. It tasted about the same as Schlitz or Pabst Blue Ribbon. The full flavor of the can came through and one sip was one too many! Finding a gas station is easy. The pumps are on the side of the road and you pull over, refuel and you're done. Cow Key went everywhere. Mondo had a mission for her work to photograph the Cow Key. Here, Cow Key enjoys watching us eat at the Blue Grotto area as we were denied seeing the Blue Grotto due to rough seas.

Water doesn't get much clearer next to the shore than this! Mondo and friend. The Gozo Citadel.

Why are all Los Angeles area Sheraton properties gross? Seriously, I'm in downtown LA at the Sheraton on Hope St. The place is close to $200 a night and what is the first thing I've done? Kill a cockroach in the room. I can't even leave since I'm stuck here for an event. To recap my four last LA area Sheraton stays: Fullerton Four Points Sheraton: Gross dead, large cockroach left unswept for all day in hallway. Culver City Four Points Sheraton: Clerk checked in another guest under my name and credit card, then assigned my the same room where I walked into the guest's room since the door wasn't safety locked. LAX Four Points: Raw sewage out the sink faucet due to pipe break. Today - Los Angeles Sheraton: Live cockroach (but now dead) in room. The question is really why do the LA Sheraton properties suck and how do the overseas ones manage to get it right? update: 6:25 pm. after calling the front desk, housekeeping came up and inspected my squashed roach and took ...

Above is the old church in the city of Mosta. The clock on the left has the wrong time to confuse the devil while the clock on the right has the correct time so locals will show up on time. It's an old tradition and new churches are built with only one clock and others are starting to take down the devil clock. The walled city of Valletta. Tarxian. Originally the site of a temple built around 3100- 2500 BC. Most of the originals are in a museum. The Blue Window on the island of Gozo.

Back in the US now but also back at work. Pictures will be uploaded slowly this week. Malta was awesome!