I was really surprised we've liked Spain (by Spain I really mean just Galica...the rest of Spain we saw looks too much like the ugly parts of west Texas) as much as we did, considering it wasn't even on our original itinerary.

This area of Spain has/had strong Celtic and Roman influences, so there are a lot of undercurrents in the culture the subtly remind us of home. That may sound a bit ostentatious, but one of the most celebrated heritages in the states is the Irish and you need only walk around any downtown area in America to see how much the Romans have influenced us. The folk music is great, they even play the bagpipes here; look and sound a bit different but still very reminiscent of the bagpipes we're familiar with.

Don't worry though guys, we still have too far to go to call anywhere other then Austin home.

Anne and Simon gave us a lot of great ideas and starting points for researching and eventually constructing our own (warning preachy buzzwords to follow) eco-friendly house, and living in a more organic sustainable way. When it comes down to it, we each have different ideas about what's most important, and the environment you live in certainly plays a factor, but there is a lot more we all can be doing to leave a smaller footprint.

Something else that really contributes to the atmosphere of the Area is the Camino, aka Pilgrim Route. Most of you guys know where I stand on organized religion, especially Catholicism, so you may find it odd that I count something like a pilgrim route as a bonus. Really it boils down to the same thing it always does with me, the people. You throw the bureaucratic bullshit and the “establishment” out the window and you get good honest people trying to do right. The positive energy the people walking the pilgrim routes brings to the area is palpable. One of our last days with Anne and Simon we went with them to meet another local former Brit and to see some properties they has an interest in. We meet him outside one of the monasteries on the Camino route and after seeing the properties he invited us to lunch at his place. He's restoring an old farmhouse/barn as well, and it sits literally right on the Camino route. He says he has 100-200 people walking past his door daily. Now I make some concessions to the loveliness of his house to the fact he's also a great painter and has certainly applied an artists touch to the renovation work, but the FEEL of the place is something truly unique. You step in the door...hell just look at his gorgeous geraniums for awhile and you cant help but feel lifted up.

Some cool stuff we found here that I wanted to buy lots of but couldn't due to the fact we're carrying everything we own:

You've all seen and probably know someone who collects blue and white pottery, with Asian or English designs being the most popular. These designs are usually to frilly for me, buuuut they make this stuff here in Galicia that uses traditional Celtic knot work and designs. Trying to find a link or images on the net but not having any luck.

Something else I came across is this clothing company, there were a few pieces in local shop that would be perfect for flipside etc. Unfortunately their website kinda stinks.

www.hunchha.net

Ok I know i'm leaving some stuff out but I still have a Santiago post to write before we catch our flight to Rome.

As usual, still working on the pictures

written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 29, 2008 from Lugo, Spain
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
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Santiago de Compstella is the major destination of the Camino route. The cathedral here is awesome from an architectural and artistic standpoint alone, but more importantly it houses the relics of Saint James.

We spent the afternoon after our arrival wandering around the historic district, grabbed a pretty decent lunch at a pavement cafe, then made our way back to the Cathedral to go poke around inside.

We went up the walkway behind the altar to go pat St James on the back...I have no clue why you do this but I assume this casing held or used to hold some part of him. Or maybe all the gold and semi-precious stones bring you good luck, because we all know that's how you best serve god...gold and jewels. We also went under the altar in the crypt area where i'm sure part of St James resides. All around the main altar are these small side altars and side chapels which I assume are dedicated to other saints or church figures. As many snarky remarks I might make about the opulence of the church you cant deny the artistry that went into the construction and decoration of the Cathedrals.

After a much craved looong hot bath and a rest we went out for dinner and found a charming cafe. Charming because it was nestled in between three buildings and the walkway, and on the other side of the walkway two musicians were set up facing the tables under the arches of another building. There was a violinist and a guitarist playing together which makes for a beautiful harmony imo. I even bought a cd from them, yay for new music on the ipod.

The second day was my birthday and it started out pretty stressful as we had to move to another hotel across the town and ended up walking half the way because we couldn't find a taxi and couldn't really talk to anyone. Upon opening the windows of our hotel room we found below us hanging out on the roof a mama kitty and two cute as hell babies. Being the sap I am for cute fuzzy things I made sure we brought some scraps back (aka half my meal and a lot of James's too) for the kitties. They scarfed down the food and the runt even managed a big chunk of the sausage before her much larger sibling could steal it. Sadly after lunch mama moved her babies, oh well shes just being a good mama.

Aside from watching cats we hung out at the pool a bit, went to store nearby and bought me a dress (weee) and had a nice b-day dinner. My two main requests for the evening were a steaming hot bubble bath and uninterrupted sleep and James delivered on both...thanks babe.

Today were killing time waiting for our flight to Rome this evening. Next post will be from The Eternal City, how cool.

And again, still working on photos

written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 30, 2008 from Santiago de Compostela, Spain
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
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Our arrival was pretty good. Came in late, around midnight, and caught a bus to the main part of the city. It was too late to really get a bus to our final destination so we decided to explore the city and walk that general direction. We had pizza and coffee and a couple local places on the way. Stop eat, stop drink, stop and look around. We ended up passing some reallllly old section of wall they built the modern buildings around. Neat, lots of old buildings, churches and misc structures along our route. We finally came to a picturesque place to rest a bit that was the Spanish Steps. So here we are late at night in Rome on the Spanish Steps some guy comes by selling cold bear (which I bought) and made out a bit with Amanda. ^_^ Don't get to that in Rome on the Steps very often. We saw some local antics while we hung out there, people playing around, a heated convo between two drivers and another couple realllly making out. After a time we got our gear back on and treked to the bus stop we had to get too and from there we rode the rest of the way to our campground. The buses were free and not too hard to figure out, everyone was helpful/friendly enough. We arrived at the township to wait wait for our shuttle and some guy just pulled up and asked us if we needed a ride to the campgrounds. I guess we just looked like we belonged there cause he just guessed it. He dropped us off at the gate and continued on his way. So cool. Checked into the campgrounds, got our plastic room and crashed out. Will continue this later. Just saying we're here!!!

Big hugs,
James n Amanda

written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 1, 2008 from Rome, Italy
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
tagged Rome
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We got into Rome around midnight and decided to spend the night in the city rather then pay for a night in the hostel. We caught a bus from the airport to the city centre, as it was so late most of the public transportation had shut down so we opted for wandering through the city for a couple km to the nearest train stop that would take us to our hostel in the morning. During our wandering we happened to come upon this rather picturesque spot that turned out to be the spanish steps.

Us at the Spanish steps

Trinita del Monti, Spanish Steps

“day one”

The Camping hostel... well I'll hit the bad first. No A/C, our room was a plastic building duplex, if we moved it moved and the wall was paper er plastic thin. It was very expensive there for just about everything. We arrived really early, things had gone fairly decent, we were just really tired and hot. So the no A/C bit was a huge negative, so a cool shower to rinse us off and cool us down and we crashed out for as long as we could til the day got too warm to sleep. Thus we went off for food at the local cafe and found everything very over priced. Can of sprite: 3 Euro or around $4.50 for a CAN. You get the idea. Anyways the mosquitos were quit bad and they were totally eating Amanda. They were even in our room so not much reprieve and the citronella candle we bought didn't really have any citronella in it and well wasn't much use. Ok lets go more positive. The room was private enough, warm shower, decent beds, most of the lights worked and the pool was really nice there. We ate dinner there (ouchie the price) and got some sleep because the next morning we were getting up early and checking the hell outta of there!!! Booyah on the road again.

Well the trip back into Rome city proper was sooo much smoother on the return trip. Got easily back to town and to our next hostel, checked in and our gear unloaded and it wasn't even 11 AM yet. We got our bearings and walked to the Colosseum. Saw a lot of very interesting ruins along the way. Like the Domus Aurea.

Domus Aurea

Ruins

Colosseo

Colosseo

Arco Di Tito

We continued our journey up to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanule II and then over to Campidoglio. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what these places really are but the first one is HUGE with all white stone and then there blue angels on chariots on various points of the building. The latter was like a palace courtyard, I think it was all museums now. We just walked through looking really. Then we decided to head over to the Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

Fontana di Trevi

BTW Gelato = the win. We've eaten a ton of it and I love the lemon by far. Doesn't help they have it at every corner either. We decided to head back to the hostel for some free dinner. Which wasn't bad by any means. Salad, pasta, cheap wine decent enough I reckon. Showered up, and then we went back out to see Trevi fountain at night.

Fontana di Trevi aka Trevi Fountain

Ok picture time:

Statue in St Peters Basilica

St Peters Tomb

Statue in Vatican Museum

Egyptian statue

James in front of the giant pine cone and peacocks

Laocoon and His Sons

Ceiling in the map room

Down with art up with religious dogma

Heaven vs Hell, Sistine Chapel

The following days we went to stay along the coast at an awesome resort in our own little bungalow and enjoyed the beach.

James at the Beach by Rome

A flutteryby came over to say hello

The Beach

Barbara needed to stop in a bakery on the way home so we pulled up to the village of Pienza and she told us to take a quick walk while she grabbed what she needed, and visit the local cathedral.

The next day we spent acquainting ourselves with Ugo and Barbara, the two cats and two dogs, and what we would be doing while here.

I'll do a detailed blog about their property, Trove, sometime soon but for now here are a few highlights.

The view from my favorite siesta spot, in front of the Mariotti residence

Plumbing here consits of a main tap and a well. The first night was a bit humorus until we got the system worked out. Screw baths, shower under the tuscan stars instead.

Ugo needed to make a quick visit to a friend one night and invited us along and then unexpectedly asked if we'd like to be dropped off at a garden created by a professional landscaper who lives in the area. He didn't tell us anything about the place before hand aside from its ying-yang nature, so we felt like we were walking into the twilight zone walking into this place.

This makes my soul happy

This guy must have a thing for Satyrs, they are tucked away everywhere you look in the garden.

Satyr's, yes thats intentianly plural

Enscribed everywhere are passages, particular words and phrases. Stuff to turn the wheels...I like this guys style

not probable, not impossible, not for case, not unavoidable

Love yall!

written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 9, 2008 from Petroio, Italy
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
tagged Tuscany, BoscoDellaRagnia, Trove and Petroio
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Being so old, the house obviously wasn't originally equipped with pluming or electricity. They've added electricity via cabels and extension cords, and have a line to the city water which is available through the 2 taps in the house; the one upstairs by the kitchen sink and the one downstairs by our room. That's it for running water in the house,our in room plumbing is a pitcher and washbasin.

We've already shown you the shower but I'm sure your just dying to see the toilet...

The restroom

Saw-dust toilet

You do your business in the bucket seat or hole if you prefer, then sprinkle saw dust when your done.

Most Americans would be rather intimidated by this and I cant claim exemption from that, however its really not bad. If it meant having a house like this I'd happily live with a saw-dust toilet the rest of my life :P

Trove

Aside from Ugo and Barbara, the house has four other official residents. Billy and Mary Moon the two lovable pups, and the two cats which have names that never get used so I don't know them. They're lovingly referred to as the Damn Ginger Cat and Fluffy.

Mary Moon is neurotically afraid of new people. However, Ugo and Barbara had to leave for a few days soon after we arrived and we were the only source of food and cuddles. Needless to say, she warmed up to us pretty fast. Billy and Ginger are the two most inclined to seek out human companionship and it didn't take long before Ginger was sleeping between James and I on the bed, and Billy had moved his afternoon siesta spot from the workshop area under the house to the cool tiles of the floor in our room. Fluffy spends all day doing god knows what, though we have a sneaky suspicion she might be responsible for this rare breed of tail-less lizards in and around Trove. They look a lot like their more plentiful cousins...only well tail-less.

Lizard at Trove

Come dusk though you'll see her trotting up the lane. At first shes wary of you, but as soon as shes feels your hands on her, shes in your lap nudging every appendage you have for cuddles and drooling on you. Seriously, the cat has drooling problem. But shhhhh, I never told you that...don't want her to be self conscious or anything ;)

Trove has a decent amount of land, boasting its own vineyard and olive groves in addition to several fields for crops and the houses veggi garden.

Trove's Vinyard

Veggie garden

Rosemary at Trove

Pears at Trove

More Plums

The other day after attending a lunch hosted by the local women (This local festivity brought to you by the communist era in Italy), we were treated with the first actual thunderstorm we've experienced since leaving home. I've missed texas storms, the lightning and thunder.

Storm clouds over Trove

For more pictures go to our pictures section, scroll to the bottom and click on the tags Tuscany or Trove. The city tags arnt working at the moment so clicking on the city wouldnt work so well :P

The next day we headed to Sienna to go to THE Palio, which i'll tell you all about soon :)

written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 17, 2008 from Petroio, Italy
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
tagged Italy, Tuscany and Trove
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If like me, you have no clue what this is, its just one of the biggest yearly horse races in Italy. An unbelievable amount of tradition and pomp go into making this race such a spectacle. It starts from the moment your born if your family belongs to one of the contradas. And preparations for race day start weeks before, culminating in all day festivities on the day of the Palio.

Piazza del Campo pre-Palio

We left the house around 8am to head to Sienna so we could secure parking and see all the race preparations. Barbara took us all around Sienna showing us where all the major landmarks and contradas were so we could watch the groups getting ready for the race. Before the race the contradas get their parade horse and members all decked out in medieval costumes...im assuming its the same traditional garb their contradas actually wore in the middle ages.

Oca contrade's procession hourse being dressed

Drago Contrade procession to the church

Drago Contrade procession to the church

Drago Contrade blesing before The Palio

Drago's horse being led into the church yard for blessing

Drago's race horse being blessed

Then all the contradas join together in the streets, drummers playing, flags being tossed and all the members crowding behind their group.

This is not something done for tourists,this isnt still put on merely for the sake of amusement and history. The Siennese live and breath for the palio, spend untold hours and resources outfitting their group and hosting banquets and events throughout the year. That said, they reeaaaaalllllly get into it, and once things start getting under way it gets crazy in the square. Wayyyy more people then is probably safe squeeze into the square before its sealed off for the parade and finally the race horses to enter.

The Campo prior to race start

Oh and the prize for winning....

The 2008 Palio

That and bragging rights. Each contrada has a museum to house all the Palios its won. Heres a link i found to a site which has an archive of all the palio flags back to the 1600's, each desgined by a diffrent local artist.
http://www.ilpalio.org/drappelloni.htm

Peace yall ;)

written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 22, 2008 from Siena, Italy
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
tagged Siena, Italy, Tuscany and ThePalio
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We were without the comp for a few days while we took a short trip to Firenze, and well, when you could enjoy this view from the comfort of the hammock or sit inside on a computer what would you do?

The view from my favorite siesta spot, in front of the Mariotti residence

<3!

written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 30, 2008 from Petroio, Italy
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
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