Tanya's Travelogue Pt. 1

Buon giorno! I am writing from Italy (where I don't actgually have my The Boys Are Back in Town files, so those behind the scenes blog extras I meant to post will be up once I'm back in the states.) Thought I'd share a little of wht the trip has been like so far. but you'll have to bear with me as I type on this teensy, torturous laptop keyboard insted of my wonderful ergonmic number at home!

We took over a nine-hour flight on Saturday, at which time I found myself scratching my head over the movies they choose to show. (The firwst one was Eight Below, with the dogs stranded in the Antartic.) As I sat in my seat sobbing, I asked myself, "What the heck's wrong with a good comedy?" If we strangers have to be belted in like sardines in each oter's personal space for longer than the average work day, shouldn't we at least be in good moods? I noticed tht one of the other movies "showing this month" was one fraught with international tension. And i took a flight years ago where they were showing Apollo 13. Now, granted, that was about a space shuttle, not a plane, but is a movie about mechanical difficulties REALLY what people want to see at five-thousand feet?

I sat next to a boisterous family of six who needed two rows in order to sit together. Well, the four kids were boisterous--frankly, the two parents looked as if they needed a nap and I don[t blame them one bit! Those kids constantly reminded me of my own throughout the flight. At one point, the child sitting closest to me realized he could get Radio Disney on his headset and when one of his favorite songs came on, he yelled over it to his brother--on the opposite end of the row behind--"HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL! PUT YOUR HEADPHONES ON, THEY'RE PLAYING HIG SCHOOL MUSICAL!" The mother tried to explain that he shouldn't yell like that but the kid couldn't hear her because by then his brother was yelling back over his own headphones, "WHAT NUMBER? I CAN'T FIND IT!"

Frankly, I found the four kids to be rather endearing and greatly preferred their company to the airline food.

We landed at the Milan airport nine a.m. (local time) on Saturday. I hadn't been able to sleep at all in the plane and thought for sure I would fall asleep in the shuttle to the hotel (on Lake Cuomo, north of Milan). But after the first curve, I was alert and gripping the seat--the driver made tracks like we were on the German Autobahn! In the hotel (which is lovely) I crashed hard. I literally fell onto an old fashoined couch and slept for five hours, not even making it as far as the bed.

Once J and I regained conciousness, we walked around the lake. It's truly breathtaking here! Flowers are blooming everywhere, and I was surprised at the proliferation of honeysuckle and magnolia trees--made me think of Georgia. But the sunny weather in the high sixties is waaaaay nicer than what we're experiecning back home right now.

The only person with a worse aptitude for foreign languages than me is my husband (our kids are so doomed in that regard!). Literally, J can barely order spaghetti and he nearly gave me a standing ovation at the train station today when I managed to say, "due a Milano" and buy 2 tickets. But we must not look nearly as inept and out of place as we were feeling because we were stopped five different times by people needing help. One couple needed directions (after our hiking, I actually knew where they should go! And it at least seemed like I was able to communicate the directions successfully. If they're wandering Cuomo, I suppose that's on my conacience.) A jogger needed the time and finally pointed to J's watch when it became obvious that we had a language barrier. Ironically, there was only one person we were unable to assist--and she spoke English.

Okay, well I have sore hands and plans to visit and art exhibit. So, more domani. (That would be tomorrow...I think *g*)