Vacation's End: Skiing with the Family in Cortina D'Ampezzo

After the wet and rainy Venice, the family headed north to the Dolomites, an Italian mountain chain that is part of the Alps.  Specifically, we spent the last days of the trip skiing (snowboarding for me) in Cortina D'Ampezzo, a 3-hour train ride and 1-hour bus ride north of Venice.



My Mom and Dad with beautiful Dolomite peaks behind them.





My brother as we descended down the slopes through the clouds.


Sunny skiing can be found above the clouds.


Family picture shot!  I had a blast traveling with them around Italy.  As I type this, they are flying back to the U.S., Cody to Los Angeles and my parents back to Wisconsin.  Last night I said my goodbyes at the Venezia Mestre train station and caught a night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, arriving at around 2 a.m.  My first gig of the tour is tonight in Ljubljana, and many more gigs and adventures to follow for the next few weeks as I make my way around Europe.  Stay tuned...

Venice Is Sinking... For Rizzle

On New Year's Day the family and I left Florence to spend the next two nights in Venice.  We had caught word that there was some flooding in the city, which left us a little bit worried, until we learned that Venice floods about 100 times a year, which helped... a bit.  They call the floods "acqua alta", which means "high water" in Italian.  They are caused by a combination of high barometric pressure and strong winds from the south which literally push the ocean up into the city.  The Mediterranean has little to no tide, so this doesn't affect it at all, but rising sea levels and the fact that Venice is slowly sinking certainly doesn't help.  I have decided that for purposes of posting on Venice this trip, the floods are the story, so that is what I have posted pictures and commentary of.  If you want to see some pictures of Venice on a nicer day, check out my post from last April on my last time in Venice.



When we arrived during the night the waters were down, so we were able to walk to our hotel and stay high and dry.  In the morning, the alley outside of our hotel was beginning to flood and we were lucky that the hotel supplied us with rain boots.  Pictured above are my parents and brother, about to embark on a wet Venetian adventure.


The city of Venice sets up boardwalks on main streets, though boots are still recommended.


Myself standing in a watery St. Mark's Square.


Boardwalks in front of St. Mark's and the Ducal Palace.  Yes, I took this picture while standing in the water.  I quite liked sloshing around in the encroaching Adriatic.


My brother, Cody, standing at the point of entry for water into St. Mark's Square.  Though the water also seeps up through grates in the middle of the city, you can see how high the sea water is here.

Rome Is Too Massive For Just One Post

The Pantheon.  Work began over 2,000 years ago under the reign of Augustus, and it is still in use today.  This is the only ancient Roman building that has been in continuous use since its creation.  There is also a really neat strip club inside.


Stumbled into this church at night while walking around drinking beer with my brother, Cody.  Can't remember the name of it right now, but it was designed by Michaelangelo and looks really awesome at night.  Michaelangelo totally rocked Italy.


The Protestant Cemetery, one of my all-time favorite locations in Rome.  A serene, calm location amidst a city of chaos.  Some famous English poets are buried here: John Keats and Percy Shelley.


A new sight for me, the family took a walk down the Appian Way, ancient Rome's main drag out of town, and found these ruins.  Apparently its an old Roman circus, though I could not satisfy my craving for cotton candy anywhere.


The Coliseum.  A shitload of people died here.  Its still pretty damn cool, though.  And apparently they were setting up a stage for the New Year's celebrations.

Grazie, Roma

Happy New Year's from Florence, Italy!  I am traveling with my family in Italy for the holidays before embarking on a tour of much of the rest of Europe.  

I studied abroad in Rome when I was in college, and have been trying to get my parents to go ever since.  Well, lucky me, they finally decided to go and bring me as a guide.  Oh yea, and my semi-cool brother is along too.  Just kidding, he's pretty dang sweet.  We like to party with crazy Brits/Brazilians/Canadians from our hostel and drink Peroni together, brother bonding time.  Anyways, here are some pictures from the Rome:



My Dad, standing in front of some ancient Roman ruins in the center of Rome, with the Vittoriano in the background.  The Vittoriano is a giant nationalist monument completed in the 1920's.  Most people think its ugly, I think its badass.  Screw you, naysayers.


Man, wouldn't you love to ride a tricycle down this shit?  Staircase in the Vatican Museum.


The Vatican on a rainy day.  It always rains over the Pope's evil empire.  Karma.


Piazza Navona, complete with a carnival.


Looking out across Rome at dusk from above the Piazza del Popolo, with a Christmas tree in the foreground.  You can see the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica in the background, nothing else is allowed to be built taller in Rome.

Visiting Family and the Berkshires

This is my cousin Alex, he lives in Walpole, NH with his wife and son. Jeremiah and I stopped in to visit him for lunch on our way south to Massachusetts. Here he is pictured in front of his lovely white house.

Alex, his wife Heather, and son Mario, and myself (on the right, of course).

The Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA. We played there on a Sunday night to a great listening crowd. Its a really cool place, apparently an old speakeasy turned into a lodge and restaurant. Becket is located in the misty Berkshires of western Massachusetts, and is a hidden prize of an establishment out in the woods.

The pond out in front of the Dream Away.

Explaining metaphysics to the audience.