I love to travel. The exploration, adventure, & learning that comes from being plopped down in a new location is something I can only describe as one of my passions. The buildings, colors, smells, food, people, geography, flora, landmarks, and just the "feel" of the city beckon me to look up various airfare prices at least once a week so I can pick a new place to explore.
Growing up destinations were mostly domestic and travel was often completed by car. With the family van loaded up we'd trek out for summer camping trips in the National Parks, visit Colorado to see the aspen leaves quiver in the October wind, drive to Disney Land, or head north to Oregon to visit relatives. The travel days were part of the adventure as we would stop in cities along the way. Visit the quirky roadside touristy stops. Pick up fresh produce from the stand on the side of the road. Although the time spent in the car was often frustrating with 3 kids often bickering about something, a) it was always the fault of my brother or sister and b) it's part of the things that (now) make each of those trips special. The trips that required airplanes; Indiana/Ohio trip to visit family and friends, Cancun for Fanta e pan, Florida to catch the cruise ship after time spent at Disney World were not only exciting because of their destination but because of the airplane ride! Of course when back on the ground and loaded into the back seat of a car you either get 3 cranky kids or some of the best radio talk shows the world will never hear coming out of the Fanta bottle...but don't let me digress into family vacation stories.
But, oh airplane rides! They were different. How is that plane rides with your family or friends are always a million times better than a complete stranger? Is it because you're not afraid to spill over into their seat and use that shoulder as a pillow? Is it because you can agree on "time shares" for the window vs aisle seat? Because you're comfortable with passing out if you really are tired? Have someone to chat with when all the movies are lame? Someone decides that it's time to drink and your row single finishes all the red wine on board? Or you know, my personal favorite- playing truth or dare with the entire group your traveling with (all recent 8th grade grads) and get the "this is a reminder for those in economy class, that the service buttons should only be pressed if something is needed" announcement and then bursting into laughter as the other passengers try to settle in for sleep on a 16+ hour flight to Osaka, Japan.
Problem is, I'm becoming not so much a fan of the actual travel part...as in the traveling from your residence to your destination and don't even get me started on the return trip. As I sit here in the Munich airport waiting for my last connection flight of the day you can bet that it's really just these long transatlantic flights I'm talking about. Travel solo has it's perks- better chance of moving seats, not having to worry about someone else's eating schedule, but it gets boring. No Dad, this doesn't mean you should have driven up to SFO to keep me company while I sat there forever. First of all- I'm thankful that my return trip wasn't impacted at all by this week's storm. Second- I'm shocked that we've actually been early on both arrivals today. Third- I really do want to head home and I think that's what kills me. And if that fact isn't enough...I have to work in the morning. Yeah, not one of my more brilliant planning moves.
When traveling by train or car you really don't have the stop and wait torture. If you've stopped it's for the night, fuel, food, or a I-80E road closure (that was a fun road trip day). Well, when you're on a layover you're just there. There in the airport terminal with normally my luck the partial construction These over night flights are particularly the worse for me cause I'm ready for sleep when we are boarding (which is why I napped), then I'm being served food, and just when I think I'm passed out for good... it's time for more food? I'm so confused and definitely not in need of airport food, not even a beer. Why did they serve me breakfast at 4pm local time? How come it was so hot on the plane I couldn't sleep? And why is it so dark? And why am I so grouchy? And tell me again why I agreed to book tickets with a 2.5 hour layover in Munich? The flight is less than 2 hours!
Ironic part? I already know I'll be looking for a new travel destination by the end of the weekend. BUT flights within Europe are so much less painful than this one. And don't let this talk you out from visiting me...it really isn't that bad I'm just super tired, anxious to get to Naples, & beginning to wonder if I can wait another 24 hours to pick-up Signore Nico.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
CA Girl Gone Italian
No doubt about it- I'm leaving California knowing without a doubt that I'm not the same person I was when I made the original trek in May 2011 or even in January of this year. Funny thing about it? While in Italy I didn't see this change was taking place, but throw me back in my "natural habitat" and suddenly it doesn't seem so natural anymore.
And yes, we're talking more than the culture shock.
I'm still trying to figure it all out and although it's driving me crazy...this is one of those things that I'm okay with the outcome so, if I can't put my finger on exactly what has changed I think I'm going to be alright.
And yes, we're talking more than the culture shock.
I'm still trying to figure it all out and although it's driving me crazy...this is one of those things that I'm okay with the outcome so, if I can't put my finger on exactly what has changed I think I'm going to be alright.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
I Am A Warrior
When I first discovered that I could run and finally admitted to myself that it was sort of fun...I started to do searches for local races. I'd do searches for 10Ks or shorter, but really would only check out the 5Ks. It was at this time I discovered the world of mud runs and the Warrior Dash. More than a tad intimidated by the 13 obstacles including jumping fire pits, scaling walls, mud pits, and balance beams I opted to register for the Big Sur Half Marathon instead but promised myself that I'd be running this Warrior Dash hopefully within the next year. (I realize the logic makes no sense on this one but knowing how I operates does this surprise any of you?)
I trained and got through that half but was hurting bad afterwards so I took a long recovery period. During this time I registered for the local mud run because I figured I should probably train for something like the Warrior Dash. Well, before training started I spent that fateful New Years in Tahoe and we know how that turned out...
Fast forward 3 years into my running relationship...through the ACL injury, through the move to Italy, to a day I was sitting at my computer thinking hey, I wonder what races are taking place while I'm at home and did a search. The original plan was to run the Pumpkin 10K in Half Moon Bay the day after I arrived. You know, all jet lagged and yes, registering any available family members for it as well. But, as so often the case with me I was debating back and forth and I didn't know which race to schedule my return flight round. Turns out this procrastination is just what I needed because the next morning I had an email announcing that the Northern California Warrior Dash event was taking place not only not too far from the house BUT while I was home! My poor office; I think everyone knew how excited I was about this discovery.
After being unsuccessful on getting my brother to also register I decided that I had to jump on this chance and shell out the big time bucks with my late registration. Did I do any special training? No. I was still training for the Lisbon half- so I was good with running and mud? Doesn't require much additional skill. All those obstacles? Not nearly as intimidating now that I'm a little more comfortable with my running ability.
Race day came around and I threw on my normal "mud gear" and as we headed out to the event the panic started. Katie, you've ran 8 miles over 3 days in the past 2 weeks. Mud means slippery stuff, Stanley may have something to say about that. You have t-rex arms and I'm pretty sure you'll have to be climbing walls. Of course this was all in my head because I pretty much go radio silent before a race. Walking into the event area was insane- muddy people, people in costumes, people in various states of being dressed, beer, lots of beer, music blasting, flames in the air, and English. Lots of English.
Before too long my wave was off and running. And running we did for the first mile or so along a dusty path. As people complained about the dust I laughed thinking that maybe my running in Naples was helping me prep for this air quality as I starting passing people.
First mud pit was a riot. You could tell some began to rethink registering. Making my way up and through the pools in my path I was thankful for my late start so lots of foot holds had already been made. With a water station strategically placed there, so many people stopped to wash their hands and wring out clothing. Um really? We're just getting started people. No, I didn't stop and jogged on past the people complaining about heavy feet.
A serious hill and a tunnel later I came to the first wall. Eek. Thank goodness for foot holds and my legs. That's all I've got to say. Here's the course map. I figure that's way easier to show you and plus it shows you what I knew about this race when I was registering.
Hands down my favorite were the cargo nets. People are silly trying to go up the middle of them. Why work so hard with a wobbly ladder when you can use the rope near the edge? Oh well, thanks for keeping those parts mostly clear for me. The balance beams were great too- until I had to wait for someone to dismount.
The barbed wire one was rather entertaining too- mainly because I'd see bits of tutu tulle snagged on the barbed wire. (Good thing there won't be any along the Paris course when I plan on debuting my race tutu!)
Although I may have recorded my slowest 5K time ever it was a blast and I actually finished it faster than I thought I would. And when I saw that I finished 963 out of 7482 I realized that I really miss events in the United States. Granted this really is more of a fun event and not a "true race", but it was a nice break from the really competitive racing in Italy, although you know I was still racing with people along this course that didn't know we were racing.
I trained and got through that half but was hurting bad afterwards so I took a long recovery period. During this time I registered for the local mud run because I figured I should probably train for something like the Warrior Dash. Well, before training started I spent that fateful New Years in Tahoe and we know how that turned out...
Fast forward 3 years into my running relationship...through the ACL injury, through the move to Italy, to a day I was sitting at my computer thinking hey, I wonder what races are taking place while I'm at home and did a search. The original plan was to run the Pumpkin 10K in Half Moon Bay the day after I arrived. You know, all jet lagged and yes, registering any available family members for it as well. But, as so often the case with me I was debating back and forth and I didn't know which race to schedule my return flight round. Turns out this procrastination is just what I needed because the next morning I had an email announcing that the Northern California Warrior Dash event was taking place not only not too far from the house BUT while I was home! My poor office; I think everyone knew how excited I was about this discovery.
After being unsuccessful on getting my brother to also register I decided that I had to jump on this chance and shell out the big time bucks with my late registration. Did I do any special training? No. I was still training for the Lisbon half- so I was good with running and mud? Doesn't require much additional skill. All those obstacles? Not nearly as intimidating now that I'm a little more comfortable with my running ability.
Race day came around and I threw on my normal "mud gear" and as we headed out to the event the panic started. Katie, you've ran 8 miles over 3 days in the past 2 weeks. Mud means slippery stuff, Stanley may have something to say about that. You have t-rex arms and I'm pretty sure you'll have to be climbing walls. Of course this was all in my head because I pretty much go radio silent before a race. Walking into the event area was insane- muddy people, people in costumes, people in various states of being dressed, beer, lots of beer, music blasting, flames in the air, and English. Lots of English.
Before too long my wave was off and running. And running we did for the first mile or so along a dusty path. As people complained about the dust I laughed thinking that maybe my running in Naples was helping me prep for this air quality as I starting passing people.
First mud pit was a riot. You could tell some began to rethink registering. Making my way up and through the pools in my path I was thankful for my late start so lots of foot holds had already been made. With a water station strategically placed there, so many people stopped to wash their hands and wring out clothing. Um really? We're just getting started people. No, I didn't stop and jogged on past the people complaining about heavy feet.
A serious hill and a tunnel later I came to the first wall. Eek. Thank goodness for foot holds and my legs. That's all I've got to say. Here's the course map. I figure that's way easier to show you and plus it shows you what I knew about this race when I was registering.
Hands down my favorite were the cargo nets. People are silly trying to go up the middle of them. Why work so hard with a wobbly ladder when you can use the rope near the edge? Oh well, thanks for keeping those parts mostly clear for me. The balance beams were great too- until I had to wait for someone to dismount.
The barbed wire one was rather entertaining too- mainly because I'd see bits of tutu tulle snagged on the barbed wire. (Good thing there won't be any along the Paris course when I plan on debuting my race tutu!)
Although I may have recorded my slowest 5K time ever it was a blast and I actually finished it faster than I thought I would. And when I saw that I finished 963 out of 7482 I realized that I really miss events in the United States. Granted this really is more of a fun event and not a "true race", but it was a nice break from the really competitive racing in Italy, although you know I was still racing with people along this course that didn't know we were racing.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
It's Go Time
No, not time for me to "go" back to Italy.
Not time for me to tear up as I see my daddy walk my beautiful sister down the aisle.
Shoot, it's not even time for mia sorella to get in her dress and say "I do."
So where are we going?
Deep into the land of wedding mayhem of course! The family has all their wedding day wardrobes back in our possession. The bride (finally) has shoes that I love and will add to my collection. More extended family arrives tomorrow to kick off the wedding festivities: bridal shower, bachelorette, rehearsal dinner, reception set up, makeup, pictures, ceremony, PARTY TIME, clean up, after party...
Yep. I need some sleep. Once all my purchases from tonight are put away in their appropriate stacks.
Not time for me to tear up as I see my daddy walk my beautiful sister down the aisle.
Shoot, it's not even time for mia sorella to get in her dress and say "I do."
So where are we going?
Deep into the land of wedding mayhem of course! The family has all their wedding day wardrobes back in our possession. The bride (finally) has shoes that I love and will add to my collection. More extended family arrives tomorrow to kick off the wedding festivities: bridal shower, bachelorette, rehearsal dinner, reception set up, makeup, pictures, ceremony, PARTY TIME, clean up, after party...
Yep. I need some sleep. Once all my purchases from tonight are put away in their appropriate stacks.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Mama Mia, I'm Not in Naples Am I?
It keeps on happening.
I think I'm settled in and then *BANG* out of nowhere something hits me.
It's like the place I've called my home for um 26.5 years is a completely foreign land to me and in this land there are strange and mysterious things.
I think I'm settled in and then *BANG* out of nowhere something hits me.
It's like the place I've called my home for um 26.5 years is a completely foreign land to me and in this land there are strange and mysterious things.
- Laundry machines here fit more than 2 outfits at a time. And...get this, can wash and dry all those clothes in just about an hour.
- Loud beeping trucks come by once a week to collect garbage and recycling we've collected in city provided cans. (Okay, so in MdP we have mini trucks coming by daily, but I just never see them, let alone hear them since I'm already at work.)
- Should food scraps find their way in the sink at a flip of a switch they are pulverized and washed down the drain. (Good thing my family composts the large stuff so that still feels "normal.")
- Browsing all the other options in the store I get overwhelmed...especially when I see the price! Neeks' 5 pack of mice are a whole dollar more at Walmart! Speaking of shopping, it's so nice not to have to do the "so that's how many dollars" computation in my brain before deciding on an item.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
We Meet Again Jetlagg
The last 48 hours have been....well, I'm not sure how to describe them especially right now when all my jet lagged body wants to do is sleep, but for some reason I can't manage to stay asleep for more than 5 minutes. And 5 minutes isn't even a cat nap. So you know, if this post doesn't make any sense it's because I'm walking around in a dream cloud.
Yesterday was spent re-adjusting to a lot of things as we drove up to San Jose to pick up my sister and my soon to be brother in law. Everything just seemed so different and not just due to all the road construction and business changes along the 101 corridor. Cars went the speed limit. Those that didn't go the limit were pulled over by the CHP and ticketed. Cars stayed in their lanes, even when we were at a standstill. Cars were freaking HUGE.
Target seemed to have more options than I remember and then I went into shock when I realized that just because I didn't see what I wanted on their shelves, there were other stores I could find it in.
Sitting in a French/Vietnamese restaurant for lunch with my family I squealed with joy when cilantro was served on my shrimp crispy crepe. CILANTRO! My taste buds joined in the celebration as they tasted something other than tomatoes, basil, or olive oil.
My brother being the awesome brother he is, even took the exit allowing me to have my first milkshake in I can't even tell you how long from In-N-Out. Actually, it was probably on 31DEC11 now that think about it...all I know is the vanilla shake was amazing and guilt free since as I consumed it my bridesmaid dress was at the tailors being taken in.
Running along the hills this morning, on a trail, felt like I was back in nature. The cold morning air felt fabulous and caused me to run too fast the first mile- oops. On the way back, other runners and dog walkers all passed, each responding to my "good morning" without a "what in the world is she doing" look on their face. I didn't have to worry about cars. I didn't have to avoid trash piles. I just was on the look out for wildlife- bunnies, hawks, birds.
Am I happy to be home? Yes! Is it clear that life in Italy isn't the same as it is here? Um, yes. Do I prefer one to the other? I don't think so. And if you Italian folks are concerned that I'm not going to return...my cat is in Italy so you better believe I'll be back.
Yesterday was spent re-adjusting to a lot of things as we drove up to San Jose to pick up my sister and my soon to be brother in law. Everything just seemed so different and not just due to all the road construction and business changes along the 101 corridor. Cars went the speed limit. Those that didn't go the limit were pulled over by the CHP and ticketed. Cars stayed in their lanes, even when we were at a standstill. Cars were freaking HUGE.
Target seemed to have more options than I remember and then I went into shock when I realized that just because I didn't see what I wanted on their shelves, there were other stores I could find it in.
Sitting in a French/Vietnamese restaurant for lunch with my family I squealed with joy when cilantro was served on my shrimp crispy crepe. CILANTRO! My taste buds joined in the celebration as they tasted something other than tomatoes, basil, or olive oil.
My brother being the awesome brother he is, even took the exit allowing me to have my first milkshake in I can't even tell you how long from In-N-Out. Actually, it was probably on 31DEC11 now that think about it...all I know is the vanilla shake was amazing and guilt free since as I consumed it my bridesmaid dress was at the tailors being taken in.
Running along the hills this morning, on a trail, felt like I was back in nature. The cold morning air felt fabulous and caused me to run too fast the first mile- oops. On the way back, other runners and dog walkers all passed, each responding to my "good morning" without a "what in the world is she doing" look on their face. I didn't have to worry about cars. I didn't have to avoid trash piles. I just was on the look out for wildlife- bunnies, hawks, birds.
Am I happy to be home? Yes! Is it clear that life in Italy isn't the same as it is here? Um, yes. Do I prefer one to the other? I don't think so. And if you Italian folks are concerned that I'm not going to return...my cat is in Italy so you better believe I'll be back.
Friday, October 12, 2012
My Adventure...HOME!
Thursday Night (in Italy)
2000: Nico was dropped off at "spa" where he was feeling rather brave all things considered. No growling, no meowing, no hissing...even with a little boy calling him "she" and really wanting my not so much a lap kitty to be a lap kitty. When the boy learned that I was going home to visit and he'd have my cat until Halloween, I was told "okay, go."
Giants won! And my internet was reliable enough to feed me the entire game via GameDay. Woohoo!
Packed. If you want to call it that.
Short nap.
Friday Morning (in Italy)
0300: Alarm went off. Expected Nico to tell me to get up. He didn't.
0400: departure from house because without Neeks there, it's just a really large boring place to be.
0500: Naples Airport- with lots of folks. Stuck on bus outside of plane due to system failure. Sweltering heat. AC turned on while it's raining outside.
Sprinted through MUC airport after bus with heat on dropped us off.
Quadripled screened by security as they are making their last call.
Made it to flight and the attendants accuse of me of having too big a smile of my face. "Hey, I'm going back to the states- what's not to smile about?"
FOREVER LONG FLIGHT. Lots of movies to watch. Lots, especially when you don't feel like sleeping more than 45 minutes.
Spotted a mini green lady in the water welcoming me to the USA.
Newark custom's guy told me the Giants got lucky; I told him we'd take it and oh, by the way? Grand slams aren't just luck as my stamped passport was returned to me.
Found gate.
Got in line.
Turns out it was the wrong flight...really there was no room for me on that one to get to SF a tad earlier?!
Friday Night & Early Saturday Morning (in Italy)
Slept from NJ to CA with the exception of hourly wake ups which I dealt with by eating a few Junior Mints before seeing what I could out the window. BTW. Huge body of water out there maybe one of the Great Lakes?
Landed in SF! Late. Because really, why would any of my flights be on time?
Found gate. Plane wasn't there. Listening the grumblings of folks around me they had all been "awaiting aircraft" for a while and also dealing with delays. Checking the board (again, for the 5th time) I saw the gate changed.
Found new gate.
Sat at gate. And sat a bit longer watching people rush up asking if the Monterey flight was boarding yet. Nope. No plane.
Plane finally shows up. Thank goodness it showed up before any fog!
Landed in Monterey and found my parents. Okay, they found me first, but I'd been up for really the past 30+ hours.
Got home.
And now I'm awake.
Why? Oh you know, it's my morning...in Italy.
2000: Nico was dropped off at "spa" where he was feeling rather brave all things considered. No growling, no meowing, no hissing...even with a little boy calling him "she" and really wanting my not so much a lap kitty to be a lap kitty. When the boy learned that I was going home to visit and he'd have my cat until Halloween, I was told "okay, go."
Giants won! And my internet was reliable enough to feed me the entire game via GameDay. Woohoo!
Packed. If you want to call it that.
Short nap.
Friday Morning (in Italy)
0300: Alarm went off. Expected Nico to tell me to get up. He didn't.
0400: departure from house because without Neeks there, it's just a really large boring place to be.
0500: Naples Airport- with lots of folks. Stuck on bus outside of plane due to system failure. Sweltering heat. AC turned on while it's raining outside.
Sprinted through MUC airport after bus with heat on dropped us off.
Quadripled screened by security as they are making their last call.
Made it to flight and the attendants accuse of me of having too big a smile of my face. "Hey, I'm going back to the states- what's not to smile about?"
FOREVER LONG FLIGHT. Lots of movies to watch. Lots, especially when you don't feel like sleeping more than 45 minutes.
Spotted a mini green lady in the water welcoming me to the USA.
Newark custom's guy told me the Giants got lucky; I told him we'd take it and oh, by the way? Grand slams aren't just luck as my stamped passport was returned to me.
Found gate.
Got in line.
Turns out it was the wrong flight...really there was no room for me on that one to get to SF a tad earlier?!
Friday Night & Early Saturday Morning (in Italy)
Slept from NJ to CA with the exception of hourly wake ups which I dealt with by eating a few Junior Mints before seeing what I could out the window. BTW. Huge body of water out there maybe one of the Great Lakes?
Landed in SF! Late. Because really, why would any of my flights be on time?
Found gate. Plane wasn't there. Listening the grumblings of folks around me they had all been "awaiting aircraft" for a while and also dealing with delays. Checking the board (again, for the 5th time) I saw the gate changed.
Found new gate.
Sat at gate. And sat a bit longer watching people rush up asking if the Monterey flight was boarding yet. Nope. No plane.
Plane finally shows up. Thank goodness it showed up before any fog!
Landed in Monterey and found my parents. Okay, they found me first, but I'd been up for really the past 30+ hours.
Got home.
And now I'm awake.
Why? Oh you know, it's my morning...in Italy.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
48 Hours & Counting...
As I sit here blogging with yet another repair guy here at the house I can't help but think I should be working on something a little more productive.
But I wrote all my girls yesterday.
My house is relatively clean as the result of having my landlord in town and being given 30 minutes warning before Monday's repair crew showed up and a mere 15 for yesterday's visit.
The washing machine is running its first load of laundry in about 6 months. They claimed it's fixed, but I'm still a skeptic or just really forgetful on how long each load takes.
I mean, there is the challenge of packing for my 2+ weeks home but I think my current plan is brilliant- pack only the essentials (running shoes, ipod, makeup, an outfit or two) and then just go shopping when I get there. And with that little of packing to do, I'll just take a nap after work on Thursday and then stay up since I have to leave my house by 0400 to get to the airport in time.
Brilliant.
Alright, shortest repair guy visit all week. Time to go spend time with my Nico kitty before he goes to his boarding school tomorrow evening to have his second lesson in "family living + dog" while I'm gone.
But I wrote all my girls yesterday.
My house is relatively clean as the result of having my landlord in town and being given 30 minutes warning before Monday's repair crew showed up and a mere 15 for yesterday's visit.
The washing machine is running its first load of laundry in about 6 months. They claimed it's fixed, but I'm still a skeptic or just really forgetful on how long each load takes.
I mean, there is the challenge of packing for my 2+ weeks home but I think my current plan is brilliant- pack only the essentials (running shoes, ipod, makeup, an outfit or two) and then just go shopping when I get there. And with that little of packing to do, I'll just take a nap after work on Thursday and then stay up since I have to leave my house by 0400 to get to the airport in time.
Brilliant.
Alright, shortest repair guy visit all week. Time to go spend time with my Nico kitty before he goes to his boarding school tomorrow evening to have his second lesson in "family living + dog" while I'm gone.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Safari in Italy
Once we arrived and the hissing/growling (just from Neeks) settled down, Jess and I took off to ZooSafari over in Fasano. ZooSafari has a rather large section of land that you take your own car through to see animals. We're not talking the wild animal park near Roseburg, Oregon either. This one has you driving through an enclosed area with lots of full grown lions (mostly old males that are rather mangy and ill looking), crazy active tigers, bears, zebras, a million hoofed animals (goats, sheep, deer, horses, bulls, etc) and giraffes. You can't forget their herd of giraffes that didn't get to roam free, but could stick their heads in your car windows.
But let's talk cats. Big cats.
While driving through the lion pen we ignored the sign to roll up our windows. The guy operating the fence didn't seem to care and truth be told these looked like grumpy geriatric lions as they laid flopped on the ground growling and grumbling to each other. There were a ton of "simbas" male lions, a few females, and closed off a bunch of lion cubs were playing with their mom, protected from the only 2 young and healthy looking lions in the pen. Seriously, all the kitties appeared to have some sort of eye issue or lumps, to the point we were asking each other if we thought this is where rescued lions came.
Feeling a little sorry for these lions, especially after comparing those to the ones I saw in Kenya, we waited for the gate to close behind us and the next one to open, and we were on to the tigers (after a short detour through emus). As we drove into the tiger pen we saw one coming from the water pool. It looked so much healthier than the lions and content shaking the water from its coat. On the next part of the circle we realized that we were in there with about 8 full grown tigers, 2 other cars, and a park employee in his white jeep. There were tiger babies too and even at the size of a medium dogs they were adorable attacking mom, while 2 other tigers hung out just on the other side of the fence. I'd say it was about this time that we spotted one tiger moving from the upper part of the pen to the pool and another one, opposite side of the road looking like it wanted to play. As we laughed at this huge beast acting the same way our kitties do and snapped some pictures, a tiger came sprinting from behind the car, cutting in front of our stopped car while the tiger who wanted to play on the passenger side of the car got ready to evade it. Talk about panic. These were full grown tigers! AND OUR WINDOWS WERE MOSTLY ROLLED DOWN. The white jeep took no time to speed down to the part of the small loop we were on and most of the tigers ran back up to their pen. What did we do? Made sure those windows were rolled all the way up and made our way to the bears. Seriously. I think it was scarier than when the bull elephant was getting angry while I was in Kenya, in the open land cruiser. I mean I've seen what a bear can do to a car...2 or 3 tigers? Eek.
After that adventure, not much else in the ZooSafari part is worth mentioning...although I did make friends with the ugliest camel ever. Our next stop was to walk into the actual park to see the rest of the animals- like LEMURS!
First stop, just walking around and seeing some primates. And then the lemurs! They were settling in for an afternoon nap. There were lots of signs on their cage too- but I was only sure about the don't touch the animals one. But since this is Italy and people bring food in to feed the animals...you can guess how that went. There was also a sign that said something about the animals have access. To what? Still not sure. I guess it's time to Google Translate that picture.
Second stop, il trenino per il villaggo delle scimmie (the monkey train). Now, way back last June when attending my Hail one of my coworker's had told me about this place. Apart from the trulli houses they said I had to visit ZooSafari because the monkey train was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure I was told to take food to feed the monkeys too, but that slipped my mind until I saw the sign for this train. Wanting to know exactly how this measured up to the image in my head we utilized our ticket and climbed aboard the caged train and were promptly locked in.
The train rolled forward as since we were facing backwards, the first thing I saw was a man holding a gun. Interesting. Then it started. Monkey screeches. Kids crying. Banging on the roof. Hundreds, I kid you not, of baboons flocked to the train climbing up the wire and standing at the end of the metal pipes in hopes that food would be dropped out. The poor primates staring up at us had me searching the floor for any crumbs that may have been missed and a few pieces of stale bread were passed off to the expectant hands on the other side of the wire. When they realized all the food was gone, the baboons started to walk away, waiting for the next train to hopefully bring a better buffet. As the train rolled out I didn't know what to think other than Only in Italy. Seriously. Could you imagine something like that in the states? More sad for the monkeys than traumatized (although I may need therapy) we were unlocked from the train and walked away still dazed at what had just happened. The little kid was still screaming and crying, just in case you were wondering.
The train dropped us off by the brown bears, polar bears, hippos, rhinos, and lake. The lake had 3 islands, one occupied by lemurs and the tenants of the other 2 were MIA. In walking around the green algae filled "lake" 3 pinnipeds- 2 spotted seals and a huge sea lion made their trek from the center to the shore. We did our best to figure out what was living on the 2nd and 3rd island...we knew it could climb since a rope attached the two. Finally the occupants decided to move- more monkeys! They looked content, but then we started guessing what would happen should one of the sea lions get a little too close to their water front property. Seriously. A bag of coffee to anyone who can tell me where monkeys and seals live in harmony. Then we also go to thinking that salt water really shouldn't have a film of green algae growing on it. Then we go to thinking...it was time to get moving because this was getting too depressing.
Back into the Metrozoo, we rolled back into familiar territory- land of the scimmie. It was our luck that a train was just rolling in so I was able to relive the terror from a bird's eye view that I was already trying to forget. Of course with a view of the entire pen, we spotted a monkey drinking from the water spout, a baby monkey riding the back of its mom while chomping an apple core, and lots of other monkeys just chilling out ignoring the train all together on the remnants of a kids playground- complete with metal slide (ready to burn anyone stupid enough to touch it in the late afternoon sun). We waved to the man with the gun since it seemed like the appropriate thing to do and then were back to the station.
So yeah, lemurs were the highlight of my day. They even made the tortoises (all different kinds, including the kind(s) I want look boring. I mean, what's cooler sounding "my pet lemur...." or "my pet tortoise?" Speaking of pets, if you ever go to this place...skip the birds! I think we get more of a selection of birds at the local pet store. Then again, I did leave feeling like I had just left the pet store after seeing so many types of canaries and finches.
Alright, so before I start sounding like a zoo snob, which you know I sort of am. (Didn't we already establish this with the aquarium post?) I'm going to sign off and go figure out where it's legal to have a lemur as a pet. They are so stinkin' cute!!!!
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