Highlights from Italy

It's Tuesday, January 17. Jake and Sally just left for the more than 24 hour trip back to freezing Maine. (I think the high for the day is 0 there)
John and I are waiting for our flight to Kuwait and then Mumbai, to begin our second leg of the adventure.
I'm feeling a little nervous about this part of the journey. Italy was like a vacation, but I suspect that India will be quite different. Truth is, I want it to be different. Vacation is fine for a few weeks, but pretty soon, eating in restaurants and seeing the sights gets stale. Sort of like some of the Italian pastries I ate along the way.
I think Jake and Sally were ready to go home. They both have interesting activities awaiting them and one can only spend so much time with a parent.
We had some wonderful experiences in Italy. I haven't been writing as frequently as I expected to, but that is due to the fact that, at the end of the day, I was usually so full of pasta and Italian wine that sleep was more enticing than writing.

Here are a few highlights of the rest of the Italy experience.
Rant: I'm not going to apologize to anyone about my love for food. I've been teased by the whole family (particularly John) for my fascination with food. I love it. I don't just love to eat it, I also love to learn about it. I love to learn about how it's made. I love to see the magic of its transformation from grapes to sweet vinegar, from milk to delicious cheese, from flour to soft flaky croissant or hard crusty bread. Yep, I love it all. I was the one that found the great restaurants and enjoyed the reviews and researched the background. It is a rich food history that has made me the way I am and if it is by butter I must die, then so be it!

Rave: What is it about Italians and rap music. We went to this lovely little ristorante for dinner one night. It was quaint. Little checkered table cloths. Friendly little fake flower bouquets. A cute older couple having dinner together and chatting about what I assumed was how delicious the food was, since it was!!! I ordered the sepia prepared the venitian way in its own ink.
As we enjoyed this lovely environment, we got to listen to "you my bitch" music. It was more bizarre to me than offensive.. I just thought it was hilarious for the waiter to be taking our order over the sound of bitch, ho, fuck and other musical interludes.

Rant: Timing is everything. I missed amazing opportunities because I discovered them a day late or a day early. I really wanted to see some commedia dell arte mask work in Italy. I researched pretty aggressively and found no listings of live performances. Commedia is this form of theater that I've only been able to read about and very seldom do I see it performed. And never in its homeland, Italy!
So why, on the morning that we are leaving Venice, does John discover an authentic mask exhibit and performance of Commedia dell arte? I tend to think it's because the travel gods are punishing me for my transgressions. Or, maybe I just need to travel more. I am grateful to have been able to at least see the mask exhibit before we left. Bottom line is, check early, don't rely solely on the Internet, ask questions a lot and accept that I can't see it all.

Rhapsody: Children and traveling light. Ahhh. We are on our way to warm sunny most likely smelly Mumbai today and John and I have managed to slim our baggage down to three carry-on bags. It is luxurious. Our wonderful, so-grateful-for-the-trip-to-Italy children have agreed to carry our other bags and COATS back to Maine. I offer my deepest gratitude to them and especially to Sally who has agreed to wash all my dirty clothes.

But seriously. I'm most grateful to have had this incredible opportunity to spend so much time with Sally and Jake. Watching them joke and banter was my absolute favorite part of this trip. There is something about travel that changes the way we are together in a sweet way. So, I felt completely justified waving to them over and over and over again as we parted ways this morning. Even if it looked like I was sending a couple of five year olds off to kindergarten.