Italy Bound (Destinazione: Italia)

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Trip Start Jun 27, 2008 Trip End Jul 06, 2008 Next
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  Houston, Texas, United States
Friday, June 27, 2008

HOUSTON

    It's like déjà vu that I'm once again bound for Europe. Looking back at last September, like a calendar page torn off just yesterday, I was waking up to the cool, crisp morning air and ready to go biking through the autumnal landscape of Croatia. And a week later, I was walking around on the sparkling marble steps of the Acropolis in Athens. Yes, autumn 2007. Those days of clear, blue skies tinged with a light touch of mute earth tones. A time bordering on the end of all seasons when daylight and shadows, in the midday sun, already seemed to slant towards evening. The subdued colors of September were growing softer -- a little of coral-crimson splashed on the vineyards, a little of pale gold wreathing on the trees.     

    Summer 2008. Now I find myself here again at the terminal of George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Just last month, I was five gates down, waiting to board a flight to Costa Rica, and two months earlier, on the other side of the airport getting ready for embarcation to Australia. But now, I'm in an area where multiple flights are preparing to take off concurrently for Europe. First stop: Paris via Air France #33 connecting to Naples.

    I have recognized from early on that traveling is the best way of learning. But more importantly, learning how to travel with the smallest luggage is important. The famous French author Antoine de St. Exupéry (1900-1944) once wrote, "He who would travel happily must travel light." For this short trip, I'm going to try to minimize my packing to only one small carry-on, in which my suit and dress shoes will have to cohabitate with my active sports wear. But as part of being a "modern" tourist, half of my carry-on bag is occupied by adapters and power supplies. There's my ultraportable computer, pocket GPS, iPod Touch, digital camera, smartphone...Simply put, I will have three different devices that can connect wirelessly to the internet simultaneously as well as to a set of hovering satellites. Getting lost will be a little harder to do than before.

RIUNIONE ITALIANA (Italian Reunion)

    A wedding and reunion with special friends await me as I'll land in Italy tomorrow. This will, in fact, be my fifth wedding invitation in 2 years. Having attended weddings in Italy, Spain, India, Galveston, and the US Virgin Islands, I will now complete the circuit back to Italy. My friends, Drs. Fabiana and Marco, both consultants in cardiology in Naples, are going to leave the physiological matters of the heart aside and pursue the sentimental allure of that thoracic organ. I first met Fabiana while she was training in cardiovascular research at the Texas Medical Center almost three years ago. Marco was also doing cardiology research at the University of Virginia at the same time, and he had come to Houston for a visit. I saw them again and my other friends in Naples two years ago. They all took me on a whirlwind tour of the great bars, pubs, seaside restaurants, and pizzerias that were unmentioned in guidebooks. Those places secretly remained privileged knowledge among locals. And what fun we had hanging out until the early morning hours. Returning to Naples this time as a  more "modern" tourist, I will be attentive to these hang-outs, ready to mark and save them on my pocket GPS for future discretionary use.

NAPOLI: PURISSIMO ITALIANO (Naples: Quintessential Italian)

    While Milan captures the style and elegance of Italy and Venice embodies the nation's romantic ambience and even while Rome and Florence exemplify the graceful history of art and culture, Naples, to me, is a very exciting, palpable city possessing the quintessential, charming characteristics of "Italia:" the motorists screaming with their hands in heavy traffic, the loud children playing on the streets, the flapping laundry hanging between buildings, the delightful gelato ice cream on hot summer days, the waiters carrying colorful pizzas over their shoulders, the stylish fashion stores, the delicious sfogliatella (crispy, scallop shell-shaped pastry filled with sweet ricotta cheese) and rich espresso at Gran Caffè Gambrinus. Furthermore, I can hardly wait to practice my Italian again. Although I do not profess fluency in it, since that would imply knowing all the slang expressions and sophisticated nuances of the language, I still feel extremely comfortable being able to express myself with little effort in italiano.
  
     "Mesdames et messieurs..." glares the voice from the overhead speaker. Boarding call for Air France. Evading the hit-and-miss summer thunderstorms in Houston, I hope to be greeted tomorrow by the azure Mediterranean Sea glistening under the Italian sun. L'avventura continua...And so the adventure continues....

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