Tonight was our last night in Viareggio, and what a night it was.
We ate like kings and said our goodbyes.

The meal was prepared by our new friend Ivan, a ship captain, and his "first mate" Muriel. We ate an octopus casserole made with potatoes and greens, seared tuna, and tiramisu con frutti di bosco (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries). It was a wonderful dinner needless to say. As usual, we finished it with a cup of espresso and a walk to the pier. All was well.

And then the sky lit up with flames...

Everyone on the pier began to panic - calling family members and rushing towards their homes. The four of us were running to what looked like an explosion in the center of our city. It seemed to be spreading like a wildfire...

The closer we got to our home, the more clear it became that the fire was not in the center, but at the train station. When we arrived at the hotel, this was confirmed.
People were gathered in the streets covering their mouths and trying to make sense of what happened. Apparently a train carrying 14 carriages including two gas tanks had derailed and collided with another train... hence the explosion. The collision happened just past the passenger platforms - the same platforms we stepped off of just 5 hours earlier upon returning from Lucca.
After a short while, someone had the idea to take our photos to the giornale "newspaper". So we did just that and hurried over to the giornale where we uploaded our pictures to their server.
Now we are all watching the news and listening to reports of people who have been killed (16 so far) and badly burned. It's too soon to tell, but the damage appears to be great.
Alan and Erica, if you're reading this... we might run into a few snags tomorrow on our train ride. I'm not sure how we'll get out of Viareggio yet, but we'll more than likely take a bus to a surrounding city and leave from there. We will keep you posted.

Keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. They will need it.

Much Love,
Brian & Jess

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For the past four weeks, we have only been a short train ride away from what many consider as one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. And we just now got around to going...

The hike took us about 6 hours. Starting in Riomaggiore, we headed north through the "5 Lands", which were Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, & Monterosso. The views were of course, breathtaking, but the highlight for me was eating the wild plums we found off the trail.

The towns were small and picturesque and from what I can tell, all the guidebooks must point to Vernazza, because the Italians were outnumbered by Americans 10:1... It was madness in this town. So much so that we failed to take any pictures. We stopped in from the trail, grabbed a ripe peach and bottle of water then headed on.

If you start in Riomaggiore, you will find that the 2nd half of the hike is significantly more difficult than the first. It's misleading really. Leading up to Corniglia, the paths are flat, well-built, and packed with people... But everything after, is quite the opposite - Narrow trails cut into the mountain, secret paths leading to unknown beaches, wild plum trees, steep descents, and a fraction of the tourists.

So that's that. We went to Cinque Terre.
There will be a new album on Picasa.
We only have 4 days left in Viareggio.

Up Next - Venice --> London --> Spain --> Urbino --> TBD

Much Love,
Brian & Jess

Start of the hike

One of the beaches along the trail

Wild plums off the trail

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I was planning to make a quick post about our hike through Cinque Terre, but Michael Jackson died this morning... and I would be doing the music world a disservice if I failed to mention this tragedy.

Rest in peace Michael. You were, are, and will forever be the King of Pop. The international reaction to your death is overwhelming proof that while your life may have had its ups and downs, you will always be remembered for your successes. And MAN will you be remembered. Your music, your dancing...your style. I don't even care who Diana is or that she was Dirty, but I will always clench my fists, close my eyes, and shake my head when I hear you sing of her name.

Thank you MTV for devoting a full day of programming entirely to his music. As a result, sweeping the floors have never been more fun.

R.I.P.

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Last week, Sara, Brian and I took the train over to Genova to see the acquarium. It was supposed to be the biggest in Italy and our hopes were high but it didn't quite compare to the acquarium in Tampa. We had a good time, saw the fish, some cute seals and dolphins, stingrays, jellyfish and a 3D movie on sharks. Nearby there is also an ancient ship that we got to explore. Kind of made me want to be a pirate. Later in the week Sofia taught me how to make polpette - meatballs! I just hope I remember how when I get back home... Another night we had a big dinner with Sofia, Carlo, Sara, Ivano (a captain on a huge sailboat who's been staying at the hotel), and Murielle (his first mate), Edele (the maid at the hotel), and her daughter, Maria Elena. We've been so happy that we get to eat with this sweet family all the time. The food in the Italian home is so much better than eating out. Carlo is a butcher and so we eat a lot of meat. He was very excited about the pieces of steak he had cut for Brian and Ivano. Sofia also fixed a gnocchi (handmade!) with ragu this week that was delicious. Sara showed us this beautiful park nearby that we've loved to ride our bikes through or find a spot to read. We also took our bikes over to Torre de Lago (about an hour) one day and toured the home of Puccini! It was so cool because it was turned into a museum one year after his death and everything is the same as when he lived there. I loved seeing the piano on which he composed Tosca, Turandot, Boheme, the actual sheets of paper he sketched his notes, his diplomas and awards from all over the world. Brian also liked his hunting boot collection. There are fantastic photos of him in his cars and boats and with other composers and performers of the day. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside to share it with you all, but I can tell you it was wonderful. A few weeks ago we went and got a picture of the beautiful garden outside if you want to look back in the albums.

After the girls from California left, things have been nice and quiet at the hotel. Hopefully it stays that way... We've posted some pictures of the week; Brian wanted to make sure he got proof that I cooked something. If only you could have tasted it...

Miss you all,

Jessica and Brian

3D glasses

The park where we go for bike rides - pineta

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I always knew this post was coming. It was only a matter of time. Being stranieri, or foreigners... but most notably young-American foreigners, we run the risk of guilt by association. Association with people who care very little about the reputation they leave behind them. A reputation of trashing hotel rooms, public drunkenness, demanding too much, and in general just being way too loud.

Please don't get the wrong impression, I'm not bashing our country. I love our country. I'm just tired of people giving it a bad name. So begins the fiasco at 5 in the morning.

It was 5 in the morning when our phone rang, which by the way is never a good thing. Apart from being sound asleep, our bodies were sluggish with the obscene amount of meat we ate the night before. Struggling with the heartburn and nightblindness, I picked up the phone to hear Carlo's angry and impatient voice repeating the same phrase over and over again. "Le ragazze in due cento sette hanno portato due ragazzi nella camera. Se loro non escono in cinque minuti, telefonerò la polizia." When I pieced together what he was saying I went down to meet him at the door of room 207 where he was yelling in Italian at four ubriaca American girls who could only understand one word he was saying... i'm sure you can guess which word that was.

I restlessly started translating, which was that the guys who came in with them had to leave in 5 minutes or he was calling the police. Also, their music was way too loud, it was five in the morning, and people were trying to sleep. Their response was that there were no guys in the room and they could turn the music down. When I told this to Carlo, he pointed under the bed where we could clearly see the bottom of two feet - to which they said it was one of the 4 girls who had paid for the room and not to worry, because she was naked and darted under the bed in embarrassment when Carlo knocked on the door. This however, did not calm him down. He insisted that there were still two guys hiding in this beer-bottle-littered and smelly room. I asked them several times if there was anyone hiding and their answers didn't change. Carlo then said he was calling the police and it was at that moment when the girl who was causing the most trouble said to me "OK, well maybe there are two guys somewhere... uhh... I could go look for them... they might be in the bathroom." I then said, "So, you're telling me there are two guys here?" "Yes."

After I translated this to Carlo, he sorta lost it. He barged into the room and for a second I thought he was going to slap the girl who had been lying to us for the past 5 minutes. Thankfully, he didn't and proceeded into the bathroom where he found two Italian guys with beer bottles in their hands. He told them to leave immediately and that he was calling the police. Meanwhile, that same girl must have thought she was about to be slapped too, because she became hysterical...Crying and yelling that he couldn't put his hands on her and she didn't pay for this kind of hotel. (which by the way is 35 euros per person, 5 minute walk to the beach, and includes breakfast).

I was stunned.

Eventually, things settled down. The police came, smoothed things over with Carlo, and left us all to go back to bed. I returned to room 207, if anything, to apologize for the way Carlo handled the situation, and say goodnight to the frantic girls.

But it wasn't their fault...They didn't know that nearly the same thing happened last weekend with a group of Americans. Or that Carlo was fed up with the way they were treating his hotel. They were just having a good time. It's what we do when we travel... Get obsessively drunk, invite random people up to our hotel room, take off our clothes, and turn on the music.... Yep.

Unfortunately, it's these people who ruin things for the rest of us.

Maybe next weekend there will be a group of people from TN. This way, Carlo will believe me when I say that not everyone in America is from southern California.

Thanks for keeping up.

Needless to say, I won't be posting a photo album for this one.

Pace Fuori.

Brain and Jess

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The US is playing Italy right now in a game for the Confederations Cup and we're up 1-0. What? I'm a little afraid these people are going to slash the tires of my bike...

E' finito...

Okay, well they beat us 3-1 so my bike is safe. It's pretty funny to hear them call the USA "oozah". I'm proud of us anyway...

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This week has continued to be enjoyable; good meals, good fun with the family, lots of lessons in English and Italian, and some translating. Sunday night we went with Sofia and Sara to see Terminator which was quite entertaining, but, as Brian pointed out, "Io ritorno", the translation for "I'll be back", falls a bit flat. The action was good; Sofia and I accidently screamed out loud a few times which was extremely amusing to Sara and Brian. After the movie, we walked down the Passegiata, picked up some delicious pizza and cecina and after that we walked over to the Cremeria Emma and had crepes with lemon and sugar, my new favorite. Tuesday, Brian and I took the 20 minute train ride over to Pisa and saw the leaning tower. Sofia said that it's had some plastic surgery and doesn't lean as much now as it used to. We were glad to see it nonetheless but chose not to pay the 15 Euro to walk to the top. We've also been to the beach a few times. I mean, now's the time to do it, right?

The weekend is here and the hotel is full. Tonight we're all going to some type of festival with an outdoor concert and maybe even a parade...and we'll probably eat something mouthwateringly delicious.

I've uploaded some pics of the week on Picasa...

Thanks for keeping up with us,

Jessica and Brian

A time-lapse clip of us hanging around the hotel with Sofia and Sara.

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