TravelStream™ news feed for member bruinz on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bruinz en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:00:37 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bruinz/4/1253555977/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bruinz/4/1253555977/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bruinz/4/1253555977/tpod.html Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:00:37 -0400 Children Video Placehoder

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Clarkston, Michigan, United States

For you non-Facebookers, here are some photos and videos from the summer.
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Clarkston, Michigan, United States

Videos from birthdays, prom, graduations, recitals. Enjoy!
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Detroit, Michigan, United States

Well after being awake for nearly 24 hours we are home and enjoying stories of our travels with the family. Our path will show a direct flight to Detroit, in reality we connected through Paris again (and thankfully our luggage followed us home this time).

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to read and comment on our blog.

See you next time!

Bill & Teresa
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Nice, Provence, France

After Bill's last presentation at the conference it was time to explore Nice. We had run out of steam and decided to save the idea of going to the Provence region for another adventure. The day was clear, blue skies and 50F ... knowing we wouldn't be seeing that kind of weather at home on a regular basis for a while, the seaside town was the call for the day.

Ambitious on foot, we covered a lot of ground. We stopped for a bit of lunch and took our prefunctory "Daily Facts" photo after salads and skillet tossed ravioli maison (the mushrooms are fabulous in the region) with a nice Provence wine. The Mardi Gras festivities were gearing up to crown the king that evening at the Place Massena. The waterfront was a real treat, nice smooth breezes. We made our way down the boardwalk and cut in a mile or so to the Russian Orthodox church, which was established by Czar Nicholas II in the early 20th century and where many Russian expatriates worshipped after the Soviet revolution. We walked back through the gardens and into Place Messena through wonderful neighborhoods (condo prices have dropped, entry-level properties are down to E150k now ...)

With a 430AM wake-up call (1130PM ET on Thursday night) we decided to keep it low-key in the night. We were very happy to enjoy our return to Nice and hope to be back again next year.
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Nice, Provence, France

We awoke to clear skies in Nice, a nice change from Rome and a chilly transit in Paris. Our room at the Novotel c/o the conference is very nice with full hotel amenities includine a warm and cold breakfast (with as much cafe au lait as you can take). It is a mere 300m away from the Acropolis convention center and site of the conference.

While Bill presented and networked, Teresa made the most of the day by reacquainting herself with this lovely Mediterranean town along the Cote d' Azur. Mardi Gras will come one day early this year and to our surprise the once peaceful and tranquil Place Messina has been transformed into some uber-technopop grandstand site. C-R-A-Z-Y! Before the tune up of the sound system later that night (captured on our day video journal) Teresa was able to enjoy a nice bagel and salmon in the park area among the fountains.

For night we returned to the main center and ate a nice northern Italian meal in the old part of Nice. We haven't decided what we will do Friday afternoon. A day trip to L'Arc sounds like fun but 4 hours on the train the day before our early flight home may push that idea off to another visit. In the meantime the king will be crowned on Friday. Will we stay for the insanity, or run away to the wine region?

Tomorrow: Last day in Nice
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Paris, Île-de-France, France

Hi Folks,

We are only passing through Paris after a rainy day at the market and goodbyes in Rome. I guess our luggage would like to stay longer, it did not make our connection flight to Nice. Maybe the bags stayed for wine and cheese!

Tomorrow: Nice and the conference.
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Rome, Lazio, Italy

After finally sleeping through the jet-lag we woke late in the morning, had breakfast and relocated to the third floor of the Casa d' Fiori (work on the second floor sent drifts of ancient beam particles into our sink, we figured the third floor was a better plan). After a brief introduction to Cousin Jennifer (Matt's first cousin who runs the UofW Rome campus) we set our course for the Colliseum.

Rome is segmented into districts with much of ancient Rome in one area towards the south part of the city, outside of what is now the city "central" (e.g. high rent district) where we are staying. We walked along the Via Emmanuel to the Piazza Venizzia, and the majestic Monumento a Vittoria which celebrates the unification of Italy in the late 1800s. We continued down Fori Imperial and saw Colosseo -- the largest man-made structure in the world still standing next to the Pyramid at Giza.

The Colliseum, which housed for centuries mostly beast hunts (of course our pop culture likes to believe it was all gladiator fighting -- and there was indeed a lot of that -- but mostly beasts like bears and lions raised in the Emperor's private beast farms), has been partially restored and restructured to prevent further erosion from the elements. Much of the structure was looted and repurposed for use in the Vatican and other religious structures, very little of the original opulent marble still exists in its original location.

Seating in the Colliseum was by social class with the Senatus Populus que Roma (SPQR -- which still stands for the local abbreviation for Rome) getting the prime seats along with the Emperor, and lesser class seats moving upwards until the "common people" in the third uppermost row. (Our audioguide made a big point of the "common people" in its description.) The views of Palantine hill and the Forum from the Colliseum were very good, and we set our course along the Via Sacra (Sacred Way) and continued into the ancient ruins.

Coming from North America where everything is measured in centuries or decades, you develop a sense of humility on the ancient walkways of Rome where stones and pillars are littered about dating back centuries or millenia. Each 20 feet is an ancient component of Rome older than all of the United States - including the early Spanish and French settlements. It's a bit mind-boggling. After getting back on course we made our way back up to the Via Campidoglio where we apparently missed His Holiness the Dalai Lama by minutes at a huge political reception and free Tibet rally. (Bill felt like he was back at UCLA anyway, particularly when the tamborines and the chanting began). We continued back along Via Emmanuel and cut some streets with our new confidence back to Campo d' Fiori. Dinner in the Campo d' Fiori was pizza with amazingly hot red peppers (think jalapeno hot but flavor of uber red peppers -- whoa!) The Chianti is very reasonably priced (good chianti for under E20 in the restaraunt and E10 in the stores) and we have enjoyed sampling regions and labels we have not tried before.

Tomorrow may be a day trip or may be the Vatican. We don't know, we are on vacation... !!
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Rome, Lazio, Italy

Today we abridged our plans to make a day trip due to the rain and our extended sleeping post-jet lage pattern (vacation...) and decided to stay local. We met up with Jennifer -- cousin of Uncle Matt -- who runs the UW (that's "U-dub" for you non PNW folks) Rome campus or UWRC. Jenn has been in Rome for years and took us on a stroll of several of her walks and favorite places through the Ghetto and across the River Tibur into the Trastevere district.

The Trastevere district is noted for being the oldest preserved district in the city according to our Frommers guide and we were not disappointed. Jennifer led us to the Plaza Santa Maria where we stopped for coffee and a light lunch. The Cathedral Santa Maria was open for prayers and light construction and we ventured inside. The cathedral, the oldest dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was erected on this place after according to legend oil sprung from the site in 38BC proclaiming the arrival of Christ. In the 4th century the church was originally erected and updated in the 13th century. The frescos were quite traditional Roman, with the fountain in the center of the plaza considered "quite baroque" by architectural standards. Inside the remains of several bishops and other religious figures dating back to the 10th century may be found.

We returned to the Ghetto in the evening for our last dinner in Rome at Da Gigettto recommended highly for the fried artichoke (the whole thing, you eat the leaves like potato chips). Deliciosa!

Tomorrow: Shopping in the morning and our transfer to Nice!
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Rome, Lazio, Italy

No problems upon arrival in Rome. We met our driver and were off to the capital of Italy. What surprised us was the amount of undeveloped area between the airport and the city. Our hotel is at the very well located Campo di Fiori, where a local market is held each weekday. Today we did a walking tour from our Frommers guide down to the Tibur river (quite swollen from the rains) and then over to Tibur Island. The bridge across to the island was made in 62BC -- BC!! -- so much of Rome still used today is from ancient days.

We wandered through the Ghetto where centuries ago Jewish residents were gated in during the evening hours and now five Talmud schools exist. We also visited the cat hostel at the Piazza Torre Argentina, where over 250 cats are homed and cared for in a charity effort in the middle of Rome.

We had a fabulous meal at the Campo di Fiori. Our room is good but we will move tomorrow because of the off season work that occurs in the weekdays.

On Monday: The Colliseum.
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New York City, New York, United States

Hi All,

A little slow getting these posted as there is no internet connection at our hotel in Rome. Saturday was an easy flight, barely 100 people on the airplane. A spectacular view of NYC upon approach at JFK. A light dinner and then on our way to Rome!

Next: Sunday and Rome!
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