Bella Italia

It's a bit shameful that I am posting this now, as I have been back from Italy for three weeks, but as they say, better late than never :) Full photo album here.

First of all, Italy was nice. Yup, nice. Can't say it was the best vacation I've ever been on, but a good getaway nonetheless. Most of the time, I was in Tuscany. We (5 friends and I) rented a villa out in the countryside (near San Gimignano, in case you actually know your Italian geography). The best word to describe this region is "stunning". Rolling green hills, rows of grapes and olives, cypress trees and really old towns. Here, I'll prove it to you with a pic:




The villa property itself was beautiful too - great views, patio, pool, and even a little lake. Most days started off with a few cappucinos at the restaurant across the street from the villa. And by street, I mean the two lane highway that runs through this area. And I don't mean a few cappucinos between the group of us, I mean a couple of cappucinos each. They're only 1 Euro apiece, so if you are used to American coffee prices, you have to drink at least two or three in order to feel like you spent enough money on coffee.

After coffee, we'd hang out on the villa grounds, either lounging by the pool, reading on the patio, or sometimes even going for a jog on the grounds if we felt particularly motivated. Then we'd move right into lunch, where we'd put out a spread of standard Italian fare (salamis, tomato & basil and stuff like that). Then maybe we'd venture into a nearby town where we would roam around and eat gelato. Finally, we'd stuff our faces with a big restaurant dinner at night. A pic from my favorite restaurant:


This gluttony went on for an entire week, and by the end of it, most of us were so sick of over-eating, that we practically fasted the last few days.

While staying at the villa, we took two day trips worthy of mention: a trip to Florence and a trip to Cinque Terre, five tiny cities built into cliffs along the coast. First Cinque Terre. I did some of the most efficient sight-seeing of my life on the way there. You see, the highway to Cinque Terre goes by Pisa. I had no desire to stop in Pisa just to take some lame photo of someone pretending to hold up the leaning tower, but the rest of the folks in the car felt differently. So I caved. We exited the freeway (yes, I drove in Italy) towards central Pisa and followed the signs towards the leaning tower. Just so you know, in Italy, there are about a hundred signs on every street corner, pointing in a hundred different directions. Signs pointing towards the next town, the highway, and all the various hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions within a 5 mile radius. So following the signs is not always a straightforward task. Anyway, these signs led us straight through the middle of Pisa, where by some amazing stroke of luck, I managed not to run over any of the many pedestrians, bicyclists and vespa drivers that were constantly darting across the street and through traffic. Finally, we approached some city walls, with a "no cars" sign on them. But I could see that the tower was inside those walls, so I ignored the sign and drove inside. There is was, just half a block to the right. I turned into the road that led right up to the tower plaza, and pulled into the very last parking spot, about 10 feet from the "Piazza dei Miracoli", where the leaning tower stands. Kathy was so impressed, she took a picture of my parking spot before she even bothered taking a pic of the stupid tower. Haha!

Then back on the road towards Cinque Terre. I'll skip ahead here and just say that it took us a while to actually get to the first town in the cluster. We accidentally went to far, and muddled around in the hills above the towns for a bit, but we eventually got there. Cinque Terre is a group of five towns that are built right into crazy-steep cliffs, so there is no road between the towns. Just a trail and a really slow train line that goes through tunnels blasted into the cliffs. We hit the trail, which is cut right into the cliffs and is very scenic. I enjoyed this a lot because I actually got some exercise, and because there weren't the throngs of tourists that we were encountering in every other city and town that we visited. It was getting late, so I only made it to the third town before having to turn around. Here's a pic of one of the towns:


The drive home was long and arduous. I don't really want to go into it. I'll just say that we were forced to take a long detour that extended the trip from 2.5 hours to 5.5 hours. We got home after midnight, and I was wiped out from driving the whole way in the horrible traffic. Not the best end to an otherwise nice day, but after a good night's sleep I got over it.

Florence was a fun outing, but mostly just for wandering around and window shopping. I am not into the museums in Florence at all. We went to one when we first got there, but it sucked. So we stuck to wandering the streets. Of course we got gelato. We bought sandwiches and wine at a tiny street shop. We had a humongous dinner. And the drive was only 50 mins door-to-door.

After spending 7 days at the villa in Tuscany, I decided to make my way down to Sicily with Dave and Nicole while Kathy and Shantal headed to Rome. Although I wasn't there to experience it firsthand, they had a pretty rough day. Their rental car broke down on the freeway and they had to wait several hours for a tow truck. When the truck finally arrived, they had to sit in the car while it was hoisted up onto the flatbed truck, and then remained in the car, on the truck, while the truck drove down the highway. I feel like maybe that is illegal in the US. When they arrived in Rome, they had numerous other difficulties getting a cab from the tow yard and getting into their hotel room. Let's just say they had a very long day, and that Italy does not seem to believe in customer service. I think they had a pretty good time after that though.

Back to me, Dave and Nicole touring around Tuscany. The first night, we shared a big bunk room at a youth hostel with an older couple that we named the "fartsy twins" for their nocturnal gasiousness. The second night we headed down to Rome to catch a night train to Sicily. We met up with Kathy and Shantal for dinner. I ate what I will later refer to as a "dubious Salumi platter", consisting of various types of cured meats. We caught the night train to Silicy. Of course the air conditioning didn't work, so we spent a long night alternating between window closed (roasting alive), and window open (loud train track noise and billowing wind). The cool thing is that the train actually gets onto a big ferry to go across the channel between the Italian mainland and Sicily. The next morning, as we approached Catania (our stop), I did not feel so good. At first I thought it was just the lack of sleep, but I quickly realized that I was going to puke. I made a run for it, but could not get to the bathroom. Luckily there was a washroom (sink only) in the hallway of the train, so I ran in there and puked in the sink. Bad news is that train sinks are small and have tiny drains. The puke would not drain. Totally gross, but I was feeling so horrible that I couldn't really deal with trying to solve that problem. I stumbled back to my train cabin. We got off the train at our stop, and I was still feeling nauseous. Also, I was shaking and sweating, and felt really weak. I was trying to pull my suitcase and carry my bags, but was going really slow. Nicole and I sat in a cafe in the train station while Dave went to get a rental car. During this time, I puked twice in a garbage can, and then once in the sink of a very nasty bathroom. There was no way I was getting anywhere near that toilet. In fact, the smell of the bathroom triggered another round of puking. Finally we got a car and headed to our hotel. I was trying to keep keep things under control in the backseat, but halfway there, another wave of nausea come over me. There was no time or place to pull over, so I rolled down the window and puked out onto the highway while we were going full speed. Not only did I splatter vomit all over the side of the car, but the cars behind us had to swerve to avoid being rained on as well. I felt too shitty to care though. I puked in the bushes when we arrived at the hotel, and after we got our room, I puked in the bathroom there too. Then I passed out in bed. Later, my body became even more efficient in cleansing itself (I'll spare you the details). At this point, I was completely empty on the inside, and totally wiped out. So I basically slept until the next morning.

When I woke up, I still felt weak, but I managed to eat a tiny bit of peach granita - so good - and a bit of bread. This helped a lot, and I started to feel like myself again. I had this peach granita several times while in Sicily. It's basically pureed peaches, sugar, and ice. It is frozen and has the consisency of a grainy sorbet. It's awesome, and perfect for the warm By this time, I felt well enough to even go for a swim in the sea, which also helped me feel better. There is pretty much nothing that I enjoy more than swimming in the ocean.


My recovery was complete. I still didn't really eat anything until the next day though. So that makes two days of fasting, which I have never done before. The next day, we went to the local produce market, and I bought tomatoes, basil and mozzerella, and feasted on that for lunch. Sadly, the next day, I had to return to Rome to catch my flight home. I was done with Italian trains, so I coughed up some extra money for a plane ticket from Sicily to Rome. Best decision ever. Met up with Shantal in the Rome airport and began the very long trip home.

the last straw

Ok, I know it's lame to post pictures of your pet on your blog, but this is more like a cry for help. Behold Nikki and her new t-shirt:



In case you can't clearly make out the words, it says "I love my two moms". Not OK! It's bad enough that the dog has t-shirts, but this just begs our friends to tease us even more about being "life partners". Just because we bought a house together and have a dog... Geez.

Joshua Tree

Last weekend, my brother and I went to Joshua Tree National Park for some camping, hiking, and good ol' fashioned sibling bonding. We set off on Wednesday night after work and headed down the 5 as far as we could go before we got tired. We ended up at a hotel right at the foot of the grapevine, which sucked because the hotel there knows that it's late and you don't want to haul ass over the grapevine for another hour to get to the next town, so they feel free to charge $75 for a nasty little room that smells like smoke.

Anyway, the next day was much better because we drove through LA and headed into the desert. This reminded me that I should really get the AC in my car fixed. I wish I had thought of that before this trip because the last hour or two got pretty wicked hot in my car. We were cruising down the freeway old-school style, with the windows rolled down, and everything blowing around inside the car, and we were still sweating like crazy. We made it into the park early enough to claim a pretty rockin' campsite though. Check it out. We positioned the tent so that it was protected from the morning sun by huge boulders on the eastern side of the campsite. This kept our tent in the shade until almost 9am, so we were able to sleep in much longer than the losers who picked campsites without giant boulders to the east. Can I just say that I totally know my shit when it comes to nature?!




That same day, we went on a short hike in the late afternoon. We got a late start because we had to go back into town to buy groceries and water. And also, we hit up the Subway for foot-longs. Mighty tasty. Since I had forgotten my Joshua Tree guidebook at home, we picked a random hike that showed up on the map that was posted at our campground. We didn't know the name of the hike, or anything about it for that matter, but we figured it was getting late, and beggars can't be choosers. So we set off, not really knowing where we were going or what we would see. When we came to a fork in the trail, I let my brother pick which way to go. Of course he picked the crazy uphill route, so I was cursing him. That is, until we came to the top of a ridge where there was the most amazing clearing. It was a flat, open space in between two mountains, kind of like a shelf sticking out over a huge valley below. There was an actual tree in the middle of this clearing, which is cool because there are barely any trees in the whole park. Also, there was an open mine shaft that went almost straight down into the ground for about 100 feet. From the looks of it, some miners attempted to find gold there, but all they found was limestone, so they abandoned the hole and moved on. Keep in mind, there was no fence or anything around this deep hole in the ground, and it was about 6 feet in diameter. We had definitely wandered off of the main trail at this point, but not very far, so we were impressed that the mine shaft was just left open like that. After enjoying the view from the clearing for a bit, we were just about to head back over some boulders to the trail, when I noticed this strange cluster of rocks that looked like a good protected spot. When I looked closer, I realized that there were two steps leading up to these boulders. I moved in closer to look behind the bushes, and saw that this natural boulder formation had been made into a house - probably by the same miners who dug the shaft! The gaps between the boulders had been filled in with rocks and mortar and there was a doorway supported by wooden beams. Again, there was no sign to indicate the presence of this old house, nor was ther a fence around it to keep people like us out. So we wandered inside the house and found that there were all kinds of old, rusted metal cups and tools, a fireplace built out of rocks and mortar, as well as a window and some shelves. Everything was really well preserved, so I guess that not a lot of hikers found this place. It was so cool because it felt like we were the first to discover this little mining outpost, and it felt like we were transported back in time to the gold rush.

The next day we hiked out to a fan palm oasis called "Lost Palms Oasis". It's about 4 miles each way through the rolling hills and sandy washes of the Colorado desert portion of the park. (Joshua Tree NP is interesting because two different deserts - the Mohave and the Colorado - converge within the park boundaries. The western portion of the park is part of the Mohave desert, which lies mostly around 4000 ft above sea level and is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. The Mohave desert is also the only place where Joshua Trees grow. The eastern portion of the park is a swath of the Colorado desert, which is mostly around 2000 ft above sea level and is one of the most arid deserts in the western hemisphere.) So the Lost Palms Oasis is in the non-Joshua-tree part of the park. But that's ok because there are lots of other weird plants to check out along the trail, like the ocotillo trees, and the cholla cacti.








The oasis itself is actually in a canyon below the trail, and you have to scramble down a set of switchbacks and crumbly rocks to get there. It's nice and cool amongst the trees, and there is a stream of water that runs through the canyon. I can only imagine how awesome this place must have been for the people that previously lived in the area, before the advent of air conditioning and running water (which by the way, the park does not have). I, of course, forgot my hiking boots at home, so I had to hike in my Chaco sandals the whole weekend. Luckily, these are some mighty rugged sandals. Unluckily, the sunscreen that I put on the tops of my feet crapped out on me and I got sunburned in nice Chaco-shaped formations. After that hike, we took the long way back to our campsite: we exited the park at the southern end and made our way into Palm Desert, which for the record is a totally lame town. But they do have a DQ, and that is exactly what we were looking for. Two enormous choco-caramel sundaes later, we headed back into the park for the night.

The next day would be our last full day in J-Tree, so we decided to do two hikes. A short one in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. The morning hike was through the "Wonderland of Rocks" to some formations known as the "AstroDomes", where we were hoping to watch some climbers tackle some of the tallest climbs in the park. Of course, no one was there. What a bunch of wussies. We scrambled around on the rocks a bit, and then headed back. The second hike that day was a six mile loop over a rocky mountain, through a rock maze, and then out a sandy wash. It took us literally 45 minutes to find the freakin' trailhead here because the directions in the hiking book that we bought bore no resemblance to the actual area. It was probably 4:30pm when we finally got on the trail. We hiked over some cool rocky hills, and then finally over a killer hill where we could see the entire 29 Palms valley and then some. At the bottom of this mountain, we lost the trail again, and had to retrace our steps until we were sure that we had found the right wash to follow. All the washes look like trails, so it's really easy to get tricked into wandering the wrong way for a long time. Finally we made it to the rock maze, which was kind of like the maze in the move Labyrinth with David Bowie. My brother and I watched that movie like a million times when we were little, so it was a special bonding moment for us. We couldn't really linger very long though because the weather had shifted and a mean wind had kicked up. The sun was still up, but it was getting low in the sky. We still had 3 miles to go, and we were on the shadow side of the mountain, with this raging wind that was so cold that our arms started going numb. The rest of the trail was pretty non-eventful so we started to pick up the pace so we could get back to the car. I swear, at one point I was jogging (in my sandals) to try and warm up. But it was no use. We took another wrong turn and had to backtrack again. This trail would have been really awesome if it had the occasional signpost to point the way. We finally made it back to the car just as the sun was about to set. We ran the heater for 5 minutes before either of us could move our fingers enough to grip the steering wheel, and even after that, it took another half hour before I regained normal movement in my hands. But we had made it back before it got dark, so we were happy. That night was really cold, and the wind whipped around the tent and kept waking us up, but all in all it was a good end to a good weekend in the desert, and we managed to have nice weather until the very end.

Meatfest!

If you live in SF, you know that Joe (of Joe's Cable Car) "grinds his own fresh chuck daily" to make his delicious burgers. Well, not to be outdone by Joe, Dave felt that he too needed to grind his own chuck. Although I got stuck with french-fry-duty, I did get in some nice pics of the grinding action. Here you can see the humble beginnings:


And here you can see the final result - a huge pile of hamburger meat:


It looks kinda like brains, but it tasted pretty good after we grilled it up. I can't really say the same for the fries - they were just plain nasty.

Velvet Cantina Rocks

I thought that I would never need to look further than El Farolito for my Mexican food needs, when lo and behold, Velvet Cantina moved into town. Seriously, they have the best chicken enchiladas in the whole world. I want to make out with these enchiladas, and I am pretty picky about who I make out with. These are definitely not your traditional enchiladas - not drowning in red or green sauce, no cheese melted on top. But they are super flavorful, which surprised me the first time, because I usually find chicken enchiladas to be pretty blah.

Here's a hot pic for you. It doesn't look like much, but OMG is it deeeelicious. And the green squiggle is cilantro sauce, which is soooooo good.



Oh, and did I mention the margaritas? Forget the Corona, these are "mas fina". The folks there would never even think about putting some crappy, plastic-bottle tequila in your marg, and the mix must be fresh-sqeezed or something. They go down so smooth that I have had a few too many on both of my visits so far. And let me tell you, I am super funny when I've had too many margs (at least I think so). Last time I was there, the waiter not only tolerated my bad humor, but he also brought us an extra pitcher on the house. How awesome is that? Here is another sexy pic:


And whoa! Look at me go! Getting funnier by the sip....


All I can say is that this place rocks, so you should totally go. And let me know so that I can come with you.

Blowfish - 70 bucks in 5 minutes

The only downside to visiting your friend's new loft in media gulch is that it is impossible to get a cab outta there. So I had the (genius) idea that Blowfish would either have cabs waiting, or call one for us. Of course there was a long line of couples waiting for cabs, so we popped inside to pass the time. First of all, how did we rack up a $70 bill in 5 minutes? Second of all, I have proof that Dave drinks fruity drinks:

GMAT, you are my bitch

I took the GMAT yesterday (yes, I am a tool). I thought I was totally gonna blow it, because I studied maybe a total of 5 days for it, and only went to about half of my prep classes. Plus, I really suck at the math.

But au contraire, mon frere! I scored in the 94th percentile. That's right, suckas! This girl is officially done with the GMAT, and I never have to take it again, which is the most awesome part of doing allright on the test.

Plus, now I can actually start to have a life again. Unless I actually get in to business school, in which case I will not have a life for several more years.