Gardini di Naxon and Aci Castello, Sicilia

Continuing my trip in Calabria and Sicilia...

Hotels in Italy have limited check in hours, so in the evening we had to leave lovely Taormina and head to our next city: Giardini di Naxon, the next town over. This was 6/11 now. Once we found our hotel, we found dinner at Pianta Pizza, a delicious pizzeria on the main street through town. We spent the next morning at the beach here. It was very different from Taormina, even though it was only five minutes away. Taormina was breathtaking and full of international tourists. Giardini di Naxon was full of locals.

(Beach of Gardini di Naxon)

In the afternoon we stopped by the city of Aci Castello. We just walked around and checked out the castle built in 1076 by the Normans. There was also a wedding going on here. The town is right on a cliff's edge offering views back to the rest of the gorgeous coast of Sicily.

(Castel of the city of Aci Castello)

All the pictures from Calabria and Sicilia:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110609CalabriaSicilia#

Messina and Taormina, Sicilia

The ferry from Calabria started us in Messina where we walked around a little. It is by far the biggest city we visited the entire vacation. We ate aranchini and pidoni at La Foccacheria. Also picked up some Cannoli. Cannoli are Sicillian deserts (they are actually not that common in the rest of Italy) and these were the best I've ever had. The most notable thing there was a glockenspiel-style clock featuring a chicken.

(Chicken glockenspiel of Messina)

That night (June 10th) we stayed in Taormina, my favorite place from this trip. I wish we had spent more time here. That first night, we walked up to the old center, which was up on a hill. It was already kinda late, but the city was pretty happening. It was full of high-end stores and well-dressed travelers. We got a feel for the place then grabbed a bench in a piazza between the Duomo (Chiesa di San Giuseppe in Piazza IX Aprile) and the cliff edge of the town looking down at the sea. That's where we ate our cannoli from Messina.

The next morning we started off with the beach. It's not fair that such a beautiful city should also have such a beautiful beach. The beach we went to was “Isola Bella” or Beautiful Island. It was an “island” attached to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. There was an old fort that is no longer used on the island build by the Normans. There were steps carved into the stone and a man-made cave that was used as a boat-dock. Just a perfect background while taking in the Mediterranean sun. We set up our towels on the strip of land connecting the island to the mainland with our feet in the water, there were no waves so you could do that. The water was clear like a swimming pool, all the way through you could see to the bottom.

(Isola Bella of Taormina)

When we were done taking the sun, we hiked from the beach, up to the road, up to the town center, up to the monastery. It was a long steep hike, but along the way were lots of flowers and increasingly beautiful views of the sea below. When we finally reached the monastery at the top there was a wedding going on, so we didn't hang around long. We worked our way back to the town, where another wedding was going on in the church there, and took in the day-time atmosphere of the city. We saw gardens, tombs, shops, and everything the city had to offer.

(Park in Taormina)

Photos from this day are in my Calabria and Sicilia Album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110609CalabriaSicilia

Calabria

I left Newark, NJ June 7, arrived in Rome the morning of June 8th. That night we left by car for vacation in Calabria and Sicily.

Originally our vacation was not going to start until after the 10th, but scheduling vacation and shifts seems to be a technology that has not yet arrived to Italy. Daniele's vacation ended up being scheduled to start before I even got back to Italy, never mind the few days I wanted to adjust back to the time-zone. So the same day I flew in we took a little nap in the evening and set off around 1 AM driving south for Calabria.

We arrived in the morning at our first stop, Rose. A very small town in Calabria, easy to reach from the highway or city of Cosenza. There is nothing of interest there and I would not have wanted to visit except this is where my great-grand parents were born. The town is kind of sparse and spread out. The center had the obligatory church, post office, and city hall. The church was a new church built next to the remains of the old. These remains were not much to look at and where the only “old” (in a Roman/Italian way) thing around to see. There were prayer posters and street signs bearing my family names. There were not too many people out and about at 9/10 AM.

(New church next to old church's ruins in Rose, Calabria)

(Chiappetta was my great-grandmother's name, it's everywhere in Rose)

We went to the city hall, which had a shocking amount of people working in it but no one who wanted to acknowledge us. Eventually a man named De Marco brought us in to where they had a cabinet full or giant hand written books. Each book for a year or range of years, with entries for each person born in the town. A note is added on the side when they marry or die. We went through dozens of these books looking for my relatives. We found my Great Grandfather, Lorenzo, easily, but I knew about him. I wanted to find someone still living, even if more distantly related. We found Lorenzo's younger brother Michelle who had returned to Italy (having not taken well to the US). He had died in 1975 in the neighboring town of Contrada Pizzillara. These were easy to find because I knew the year they were born.

(View of outskirts of Rose, Calabria. That group of houses in the center is Contrada Pizzillara, where my great-grandfather was born )

I wanted to find their younger sister Chiara, who I thought may have a daughter my parent's age. Unfortunately I did not know the year she was born, just that she was younger. We are talking about 100 years ago, facts get lost, for example half of my family insists Michelle was the oldest. De Marco was patent enough to look through lots of year's worth of books in search of Chiara. It took especially long because she was born June 3, 1910 in Carbondale, VA, but filed at the end of the 1925 book when her father, Francesco, returned to Rose to add her to the record. In 1925 their first son, Lorenzo was born 27 years earlier; I was getting rather pessimistic by the time we reached these books that my ancestors would have children so far apart. It has a whole story about her (written in Italian) including that her god parents were Tomaso Nicastero and Vittoria Catti. We then looked for Chiara's daughter, but she was not to be found. Most likely they moved to a neighboring town so the birth record was not recorded in Rose or we are really, really off on her age. I may try Contrada Pizzillara.

(The tombs of Rose were like a city within the city)

We were only in Rose for maybe two hours. After the town hall we walked around the tombs looking for relatives, and there were plenty, but that is only entertaining for so long. I thought I would want days there, but Daniele was right to make it a short stop. There just wasn't anything else to do. Our next stop was Tropea, on the coast.

(Beach of Tropea)

Tropea was my favorite place we stopped at in Calabria. The beach was beautiful and the old center was, too. If my ancestors had been from here, they may not have immigrated to the United States. Our hotel had a really nice view of the center, which is on a cliff. We stayed here the night of the 9th.

(View of Tropea center from our Hotel)

The next day we went to Capo Vatocano, a beach near Tropea, and stayed there a little while until it started to rain. Then headed to Scilla. Scilla was a decent sized town with *no one* there. It was nice there but hard to find a place to eat. Lastly we took the ferry from San Giovanni to Messina, where my adventures in Calabria ended and Sicilia began.

(Capo Vaticano )

(Some sheep crossing)

(Fort in Scilla)

(Beach in Scilla)

(Saying goodbye to Calabria from the ferry to Sicilia)

All the pictures of Calabria and Sicilia are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110609CalabriaSicilia

Home for May

I made a trip home to New Jersey from May 4th through June 7th. It was motivated mostly by my cousin Corrine asking me to be in her wedding on May 7th. Luckily May is one of those months full of family parties, so I got to see lots of people while I was back.

Corrine and Anthony's wedding was beautiful. Corrine's daughter, from her first marriage, Celina was just precious as a flower girl. Anthony is first generation Italian, so the food (and especially the dessert) was amazing!

My cousin Mike and Bonnie baptized their second daughter Keira. My Uncle Bill was in from Alaska and able to do the ceremony.

My cousin Brian graduated from Boston University with a collection of degrees and honors and is off to a really sweet job at Duke now. He is going to bike down there.

I had a fun New York day with my godmother. She is a Tony judge, so we hit up both “Sister Act” and “How to Succeed in Business with out Really Trying” on a Wednesday. They were both really good. I thought Daniel Radcliffe was great in “How to Succeed in Business”. We also hit up this Gelateria in midtown near the park, Grom. They ship their good stuff in daily from Italy! Daniele's mother had seen a special on them and told me to check them out while I was home.

My parents and I also opened up my Uncle Bill's LBI house. We stayed a few days but the weather was not very good so we headed back home. My friend Fabienne stopped by, so did my Aunt Linda and Connie.

Now it is back to Italy for the summer. I wish I had made it up to Boston, but there was so much going on in NJ I never found the time. Ciao USA!

Pictures from Corrine and Anthony's Wedding:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110507CorrineAndAnthonySWedding#

Pictures from NY fun day with Aunt Linda, Keira's Baptism, and Brian's Cake
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110603KeiraBaptismAndNJ

International cell phone forwarding

While traveling internationally I make calls back to the US. Even more important I want to receive calls made to my US number. It is a little complicated, so for my own memory and anyone else who may be interested, here is how I do it. Or if someone knows a better way-- even better!

In the US I have a dataplan with Verizon. It happens that I have a Android Droid 2 on a family plan. That is my normal setup for when I am in the US.

When I leave the US for an extended period, I get a SIM card for the county I'm staying in most of the time. I stick that in a Nexux One. Being in the two-phone club makes me feel cool and them both being Android based keeps all my contacts and everything important all synced together.

I also deactivate my Verizon dataplan. With Verizon, you have to port your number to a non-smartphone to have a plan without data. In other words, numbers on smartphones must have a dataplan, and numbers on dumbphones cannot ever have dataplans. So to deactivate my dataplan, right after I leave the US, my mom enters the following on an old Motorola Razr. This ports my number to the Razr and deactivates my dataplan. It's the same as if the Razr was a new phone I was activating.

Activate a phone on Verizon:

Turn off the old phone

Turn on the new phone and enter the following

* 228 [SEND]

(Call connects)

Select option 1

Enter my phone number

Enter account password/PIN

(Phone programs itself)

If there is a problem, will be connected to customer service.

If there is a big problem, Verizon customer service is 1-800-933-0204

I also want my calls forwarded to a place where I can get them. What I do is forward my Verizon calls to a Skype number. I have purchased a Skype Incoming number which I guess works out to be $6/month. That is a phone number I own from Skype where I can receive calls.

Verizon will forward calls to a US number for free, mostly. It just uses one 'minute' for each call forwarded and SMS can not be forwarded. All the SMS from the time away will be piled up on the dumbphone. I forward my Verizon phone number to my US Skype number (interesting, this is the number people see on their caller IDs when I call them). This can also be done from the phone.

*Note, activating a new phone / dataplan can not be done while call forwarding is active. So change phones first, then set up forwarding.

Activating Call Forwarding on Verizon:

Dial *72 [Number want to forward to AKA Skype number] [SEND]

(Want for beeps)

Done.

Interesting pitfall I found out first time through this. When my phone is off, it goes straight to voicemail. When it goes straight to voicemail, it does not “ring” which seems to be a critical part of the call-forwarding-process. So the dedicated dumbphone has to be left plugged-in and turned-on in the US. I don't think it ever actually “rings” but it needs to be on or calls will just be sent to your US phone voicemail.

Now I have all my calls going to Skype. I have a US Subscription that covers all my US originated forwarded calls and any US calls I make for $6/mo.

Once my calls are in Skype I pretty good control over them. I can answer them in the Skype application (either on my computer or my phone) for free (no more than the monthly fees I already mentioned). Or I can have them forwarded on to my local cell phone number for the Skype rate in that country. In Italy, Skype charges $0.30/min to call cell phones. It is free to receive calls on cell phones in most of Europe, so there is no double paying.

I don't always keep the Skype application running on my phone because it drains the battery. I always load it up to make a call to the US. If I don't have it running, I will still get my calls, just at that 30 cents per minute more.

Setting up call forwarding in Skype:

From the Skype application

In the Tools menu, open the Options dialog

Under the Calls section on the left menu, find Call Forwarding

All the options to configure are there.

This gets me set up to receive calls sent to my US number right from my local cell phone and a fixed monthly rate. Now, fixing it all for when I want to come home.

I mentioned before, a new phone can not be activated when call forwarding is active. So before I arrive home, my mom enters the following code into the dumbphone that is currently hosting my US number.

Deactivating Call Forwarding on Verizon:

Dial * 73 [SEND]

(Wait for beeps)

(There will be a message on the screen)

Done.

Now in theory, the moment my plane touches down I can reactivate my smartphone with the same code used to change phones just after my departure and it will reactivate my dataplan. Every Verizon person I talked with always promised it would. Except the last person I talked to, when I said it never has, he admitted it probably never would. So I call them up from a land line when I get home and get things working again. Still trying to fill in this missing piece to get my phone working right from the tarmac.

Skype will still be forwarding to the international number. No rush to reset that, since I only use this number for this setup. But I change it to forward to my US number when I think of it, just in case someone has saved the number when they saw it in their caller ID and tries to reach me using it.

In summary, I deactivate my dataplan and forward my US number to Skype and then to my local cell when overseas. I don't pay for my dataplan when I'm gone, but I pay for credit on my local cell, Skype Subscription and Number. This makes it possible for me to pick up my phone and call home and for anyone to call up my regular old US number and I can answer the call in Italy on my Italian cell phone without either of us paying more for the call than if I was still in the US. I just don't get text messages until I come back to the US. Also if someone is brave enough to leave a voicemail with my Italian cell phone carrier, I am often unable to retrieve it-- but hey its 2011, why are you leaving me a voicemail?

It is a little complicated and not super cheep, but it is important to me to be able to get my calls as someone who is self employed and traveling long-term. I'll be heading back overseas again soon, so any suggestions for improvements are welcome!

Arrivaderci Roma

I am heading back to New Jersey after 2+ months in Rome. It's just for a short visit (I hope) and then I'll be back here. It will be nice to see everyone back home, but I'll miss it here. I wanted to go through a few of the things that I did but never made it into blog posts but I want to remember.

Typically I upload a blog post together with a photo album. So it's not a coincidence that these are all things that went into my “Rome and Monterotondo” album. I'll just walk through the whole album.

2/27/2011 We went to Villa Ada. This is another park in Rome. The palace is now used as the Egyptian embassy. This was our first first little outing.

3/3/2011 Daniele makes me some sacchettini or “little sacs” along with the rest of a complete Italian dinner, featuring homemade fresh sauce. I picked them out at the store. They are so cute!

3/6/2011 Carnevale in Monterotundo. This one does have a post.
http://blog.kait.us/2011/03/carnevale-di-monterotondo.html

3/26/2011 Parco della Cervelletta. This park is near Daniele's parents' house. It has a castle.

3/29/2011 Walking around the center taking pictures, mostly of Tiberina Island.

4/3/2011 We planted our tomatoes. There are more random pictures of them in this album as they grow.
UPDATE: As well as in the Rome album from when I came back for the summer.

4/4/2011 Walk along Via Venito, one of Rome's more hip streets and the setting for La Dolce Vita (recommended iconic Italian film). Followed by a walk through Villa Borghese.

4/14/2011 Daniele brought me to the important churches in Rome that I still had not seen: San Giovanni Cathedral and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

4/17/2011 An Amici di Roma Event. This also has it's own post:
http://blog.kait.us/2011/04/amici-di-roma-day-palazzo-quirinale-and.html

4/20/2011 Walk in park and in Spaninsh Steps. Spanish Steps were decorated with flowers for Rome's anniversary, April 21st.

4/21/2011 There are lots of whores at night on Via Salaria (the road that takes us home). I have tried lots of times to get pictures, but it is really hard in the dark with us moving in the car. Luckily there are so many. I get lots of tries.

4/24/2011 I spent Easter with Daniele's family. We went to the beach town of Torvajanica and met some other friends. Then ate the biggest meal ever, of all time. Fun Italian Easter facts: There is no Easter Bunny, but they understand if you compare to La Befana, a witch who gives candy on the eve of the Epiphany - January 5th. They don't have chocolate bunnies, they have chocolate eggs. The traditional treat is a giant chocolate egg with a prize inside (illegal in US). Story: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/11/surprise-woman-has-illegal-chocolate-egg-confiscated-at-u-s-border/

4/27/2011 Another walk through the center. We hit up the Colosseum, Rose Gardens and a few other spots.

Ahh, Rome, so many good times. Arrivederci (Literally, “until we see each other again”)

Italian Labor Day

(Man with tri-color beard for Italian Labor Day)

Today was a very hectic and crowded day in Rome. May 1st is the Italian equivalent of Labor Day. Every year the three biggest unions in Italy hold a free outdoor concert in the center of Rome. Also in honor of this holiday, all of the museums owned by the City of Rome (opposed to those owned by the State of Italy) are only one euro today and tomorrow. To top it all off, the Vatican chose to hold the Beatification (first step in becoming a saint) of the late Pope John Paul II this same day. Most Italians thought I was crazy for wanting to be anywhere near the center (think someone from NJ's reaction to the idea of going to NYC for NYE), but how could I miss all of this?

I went to the Museo di Roma - Palazzo Braschi with Daniele earlier in the morning. I liked it. It told a good story of the different periods of Rome, opposed to focusing on only one. Also it was not just room after room of “Madonna with Child” like so many Italian museums.

We avoided going too close to the Vatican and the Beatification of the late Pope John Paul II. I feel like they could have planned better and chosen a better day, but I'm sure the day has spiritual significance for this sacred ceremony that I am not aware. Most Italians I know chose not to attend and only commented on what a nuisance it was going to be having so many people coming to Rome. It may have been a cool thing to say I was there for, but I'm not that interested in Vatican affairs, so I skipped this to go to the one euro museums and free concert instead.

Daniele headed off to work and I spent the day at this outdoor concert. All of Italy's biggest artists come to this. The lesser known or newer artists play in the day; the big names play at night. Italians pack into Piazza di Porta San Giovanni and all the space around it. Men from Africa and Bangladesh push through the crowds offering to sell beer, water, or umbrellas for the sun.

I saw almost the whole concert, I was there from about 1:30 PM until it ended at 1:30 AM. In hindsight I should have probably gone to another museum or something else instead of spending so much time there. I left for a little while when I got uncomfortable sitting on the ground. Daniele and I met back up at 10 PM, when he got out of work and we had dinner. When we came back enough people had left that we were able to go right up front. Woo!

The bands and the music were almost all Italian pop. In general each artist came on, performed maybe three numbers, then there was a ridiculously long pause where someone would talk before the next artist. I didn't really listen, but I presume it was pro-union propaganda. I know very few of the artists, but I listen to enough radio that I recognized a fair amount of the songs, which was fun.

The crowd was largely composed of what I will refer to as European hippies. That is hippies in the modern sense of the word: slightly dirty, typically young people, with dread locks, who may or may not be fighting for a cause. And if you think the American version of these people are dirty, imagine for a moment their European counterparts (you don't have to imagine, I took pictures). Many of these people had shirts promoting some political message. All of them and most of the “regular” people at the concert were wearing “Stop Nuclear” stickers.

(There were dirtier groups, but I try not to get too close to anyone that might have something contagious while I'm traveling.)

As a back story, as few years ago Italy voted to not allow the development of nuclear power plants and today there are none in the country. As such, they have to buy much of their energy from abroad. A great deal of that comes from France, who has plenty of nuclear power plants, a fair amount of which are right on the Italian boarder. So the risk is still there, but they pay more and to France at that. For to this reason there is a bill now to allow nuclear plants in Italy. However many oppose it and want to keep it out of Italy. End side note.

I always considered Europe ahead of the US in terms of environmental awareness. But I was shocked... SHOCKED at what I saw at this concert. These same people who were wearing “Stop Nuclear” stickers, where tossing the “Stop Nuclear” fliers on the ground; along with other political and environmental fliers and newspapers. All the beer and water that everyone was drinking, the bottles were left right were they were, at most they ended up at a curb. What angered me the most was hundreds of “RAI Radio 2” balloons were handed out to the crowd on only strings. They all quickly ended up in the sky, and soon they will all be in the ocean. Moments after the concert ended the area was filled with machinery and workers who would stay up all night cleaning the mess. They actually used plows to pile the beer and water bottles, effective, except when the tires go over the missed bottles and shoot broken glass to the side. I was taking some pictures after the last act, but literally had to run, yes run, from flying broken glass as the plows started the cleaning. I think every worker in Rome was out sweeping and hosing for miles around-- I have never seen such a mess.

(These people must really, really care about the environment to hand out all those fliers)

Umm, guys, I think you forgot your trash...

Run for your lives!

All the pictures from the day:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110501LaborDay#