All Aboard for Ustica!

Ciao ragazzi.  I hope that the weekend treated you well!

Yesterday (Sunday) finished up with a redemptive pizza at Drikky's, a great spot right in one of the main piazzas in Mazara.  It is also next to a 17th century church, which (below) Francesco and I checked out while waiting for our food.

My pie was topped with scamorza (smoked mozzarella), olives and salame.  Very solid indeed!

After dinner, we walked around for a bit; the city center looked great at night, all lit up, and teeming with people.  However, it was an early night for us (in bed by 1:00 am) as we had a 6:30 am Monday wake up call.

In the morning, we were heading to Palermo to take a ferry over to the island of Ustica, to spend a few days exploring and relaxing.

Here is a photo of Ricci and Giorgio, looking pretty chipper for the early morning bus ride.  Below that is a pic most of the group before boarding the ferry.

Right now, we are about half way to the island, and I received some good news from Brussels Airlines.  My bag was found and will arrive from Rome (!?) to Palermo this afternoon at 3:15, and will (allegedly) be delivered to Fran's parents' house in Mazara.  

And so, let's hope that when I get back from Ustica, my bag will be there waiting and I can change out of these underwear!  Maybe I'll throw them away...or by this point they may get up and walk away on their own.

Okay, ciao for now from these seasoned travelers, making the expert call of resting up for epic times in Ustica.  As for me,

I've had my second espresso of the morning, so probably no sleep in the foreseeable future :).

Una Lasagna, La Spiaggia and S.U.P.

I woke up, or better said, was woken, by Claudia knocking on the door of my apartment at 1:00 pm.  A quick splash of water on the face, and we were on our way to Francesco's parents' house for lunch.

Sunday pranzo in Italy is a big family occasion, and Fran's mom really made a fantastic feast.  Above, he can be seen showing off the masterpiece before we dug in.  Below is a solo shot of the star of the show.

This was my portion.  Okay, I didn't  refuse seconds.  It was beyond delicious, with homemade pasta, homemade tomato sauce and eggplant.  Really, out of this world.

The lasagna was just the first course, followed by cotoletta a la milanese, or, veal milanese, served with potatoes cooked in olive oil.

I know that the meal sounds really heavy, and I even had a beer with it.  Wine or Pepsi were the other options.  Anyway, somehow it was not heavy at all.  When polled independently on this seemingly paradoxical feat, Fran and Claudia each commented that Americans like to use garlic and onions in their lasagna, which is why it is heavy.  I'm sure there is more to it than that, but, man was it good.

After that, it was off to the beach for an afternoon of sunshine and relaxation.

Here's a shot of the guys that Fran took with his new toy, a GoPro that Claudia gave him as a birthday present.

Today, instead of beach volleyball, Fran thought it would be fun to go paddle boarding, or SUP as they call it (I'm guessing it's some variation of stand up paddle).  

Careful to avoid the multiple medusa (jellyfish), I quickly got the hang of SUP.  It's all in the core.  But, not so fast.  Once a few waves came in, I was falling all over the place, but managed to avoid getting stung.  An hour out there proved to be a decent workout.

After that, it was off to a nearby beach cafe for a sunset aperitivo.  Aperol?   Check.  Prosecco?  Check?  Soda water?  Check.  All stocked for my Aperol spritz, a refreshing cocktail I have often enjoyed in Italy.

Fran's friend Andrea and his really nice lab, Ducca, stopped by to chat with us as we enjoyed our aperitivi including a frittata with gamberi (shrimp).

Okay ragazzi, it's almost 10:00 pm, and time to head out to dinner.  Yeah, maybe a bit early, but for sure we won't eat until 11:00 pm.  Ciao for now.  Tomorrow, let's hope for a good update on the luggage!

Day 1 in the Books!

Ciao ragazzi!

Well, one full day of paradise is in the books.  They still haven't found my luggage, but United "thinks" it is in Brussels, so I will try to get ahold of Brussels Airlines tomorrow.  Wasn't having much luck getting anyone to answer the phone in Europe on a Sunday.

Last night, we headed out to dinner at a pizza place about 15 minutes from Mazara.  Here's a pic of Fran and Claudia all decked out for the evening.

There were about fifteen of us at dinner, and Fran took this selfie of the table before we started the meal, and a smaller shot of just a few of the guys - him, me, Pietro and Nicola.

For dinner, most of us had pizza, a few people ordered "cozze," (mussels).  I opted for the house specialty pizza, with mushrooms, eggplant, pancetta, tomato and mozzarella.  It doesn't often happen in Italy, but this pizza was a miss - at least by Italian standards.  It was undercooked and a bit chewy, but still really decent.  At least I thought so.  Everyone else was pretty livid at the (poor) quality of the food and service.  Here is a picture of the offending entree.

The restaurant is mainly outdoors and had a large dance floor.  When we finished dinner, at about 1:00 am, there were probably fifty people in their sixties and older, dancing the night away.  I couldn't help but be reminded of the movie Cocoon when seeing these jovial folks just soaking up life.  Very inspiring.  Hard to see below, but you get the idea.

After dinner, we headed to a disco nearby, where 15 euro gained us entry and bottle service with a couple bottles of San Francisco's own Sky Vodka!  I felt right at home, especially after Pietro had the DJ give a shout out to the club for our amico visiting from the United States.

If you thought the night was done after dinner, you would be incorrect.  After the club closed at 4:00 am, it was on to this place called Goralein "colazione" (breakfast) of "cornetti" (croissants).

We certainly weren't the only ones going for breakfast, as there were at least fifty or sixty people who also came directly from the club to this local spot for a bite. We hung out for a bit longer, and, by 6:00 am, no sleep 36 hours after leaving San Francisco, my first day in Sicilia was a great one, and in the books!

Domo, Arrivato!

So, I arrived in Palermo after around 18 hours of travel, but unfortunately, my luggage wasn't so lucky.  It may be in Brussels, and it may be on a vacation in some other part of the world, but for sure where it is not, is here with me in Mazara.

After filling out all of the forms, along with hundreds of other people whose luggage had been misplaced (evidently this is a huge problem that has happened to a lot of people), I made my way to Mazara, about an hour from the airport.

I dozed a little on the ride over, as I had only slept for maybe 30 minutes during all of the flights.  Finally, at around 5:00 pm, I did make it to Francesco's parents' house.

He handed me a swimsuit, a t-shirt and a pair of flip flops, which is pretty much all I will need for the week anyway, and we made a mad dash to the beach to soak up the remaining few hours of sunlight in what was a beautiful day in Sicily.

I had to charge my phone, so I couldn't get any pictures, but, at the beach, after taking a refreshing dip in the ocean, careful to avoid the mini sized "medusa" (jellyfish), I said hi to many of the people I met last year.

Then, a quick espresso, in a plastic cup that was just sublime, and also geared me up for our beach volleyball match.  We lost, but had fun and I think I was less bad than Francesco thought I was going to be.  I was just a bit rusty.

Now, I am waiting for Fran, his sister and Claudia to pick me up.  The plan is to head to grab a bite for dinner around 10 pm, go check out a reggae-ish band, then, since it is Saturday night after all, head to a disco.  And to think, my white belt is sitting in the bottom of my luggage in some location unknown to me.  I can almost hear it beckoning.  But, instead, underwear reversed, and no socks, I am otherwise wearing my airplane attire of a button down and jeans.  Let's hope that luggage gets here soon, as we are headed to the island of Ustica early Monday morning.  The way things are looking, I may be doing some shopping here in Mazara.  Well, nothing is open on Sunday, so scratch that.  More likely is that I will be wearing a bathing suit and flip flops during the day, and some variation of this outfit at night for the foreseeable future.

Okay ragazzi, I think I hear that Vespa revving outside, which can only mean one thing.  Time to head out for the evening.  Ciao for now!

Ciao for now Tokyo...

It was our last morning in Tokyo, and we had breakfast at the top floor of our hotel, overlooking the Shinkuku district.  A pretty spectacular view on a crystal clear autumn day.  The weather was actually really pleasant during the whole trip, so we were lucky.  I had to try out this panarama function on my camera, though you will see that I haven't quite yet mastered it.

After breakfast, we checked out a new building that housed a very cool artisan coffee shop (shown above), not dissimilar to Blue Bottle or Four Barrel.  I could definitely see gourmet coffee becoming the next big thing in Japan.  Starbucks already dominates, but I think that even more refined and trendier spots like this one will find a nice and sizable niche among Japanese consumers.

For lunch, Steven and I found a really cool French cafe at the top of the hill in Shibuya.  You can find some incredible deals for cafe lunches in Japan; high quality food at a low price point.  Our entire meal, including salad, entree, dessert and coffee was only 1,100円, about $11.

After lunch, it was back to the hotel to grab our bags and hop on the Narita Express to the airport.  I am actually writing these last few sentences from the train, as we make the hour trip to the airport.  Steven is speed reading his way through a novel, and I will wait for the airplane to dig back into mine.  

Eleven hours to Tokyo and nine or so to get back home to the US.  Japan can seem a world apart, and in some ways it is.  Still, a lot is familiar to me here and it will always hold a special place in my こころ (cocoro), heart/soul.  

I am not sure when I will be back in Japan again, but I am glad that I was able to make this trip. There were some old memories relived and definitely some new ones made.  

Japan is like an old friend, who, even after not seeing for some time, is just the same in all of the ways that count.  

Here's one last cool shot, (surprisingly) not of food, but of the entrance to a little hidden alley of small bars and restaurants that seat four or five people each.  Those places looked like they had been standing for hundreds of years, and though we didn't make it into any of them on this trip, I am sure they will be there next time.

Thanks for coming on this trip with me, ragazzi, and until the next one...un abbraccio forte :).

Leaving Atami and Yakiniku in Tokyo

I woke up around 6:00 am on Monday in Atami, and went for an early morning bath in the rotenburo.  It was really quiet and peaceful that early in the morning.

The grounds of the property were really pretty, and I brought my camera along to snap a few photos.

After a dip, it was back up to the room, where we were served a traditional Japanese breakfast, which started with 梅干し (umeboshi) a really sour pickled plum, and some green tea, followed by grilled fish and an assortment of other small dishes.

Following breakfast, we had time for another quick dip in the onsen, which is really hot and relaxing...a bit hotter than 100 degrees, so you can't stay in for that long at a time.

Then, it was off to the station, but not before a few more quick photo opportunities.

On our way to Atami station, which was about 1.5 miles from the hotel, Steven and I noticed a 手作り豆腐の店 (tezukuri tofu no mise) a shop selling homemade tofu products, including fresh soy milk.  

We had a refreshing glass of soy milk, way different (a lot beanier) than you would find in the store and pretty good.

Then, it was back to Tokyo, to check in to the hotel for our last night in Japan.  For our last meal (in Japan, not ever), we decided to visit an old haunt called トラジ (Toraji), which is a really popular 焼き肉 (yakiniku) or Korean BBQ place that has almost 50 locations throughout Japan.  

After some kimchi appetizers and a salad, we got right into the meat...beef and pork, all small pieces of tender cuts of skirt steak, tongue, belly and fillet.  That little foil container with boiling liquid is garlic....mmmmm!!

The yakiniku was delicious, and, in traditional form, we finished it off with a bowl of ピビン冷麺 (pibin reimen), cold spicy Korean style noodles, that are a bit sweet, a bit spicy and refreshing after the meat.

After dinner, we headed back to Shibuya and strolled around the old stomping grounds for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel.  Both of is were pretty beat after a long day, and a fun-filled five days in Tokyo.  By midnight, we were sound asleep on our last night in Japan.

熱海 (Atami) not Atari

Sunday morning began with breakfast at the hotel, then check out, as Steven and I were headed to 熱海 (Atami), a town that is about an hour from Tokyo by bullet train.

Before boarding the 新幹線 (Shinkansen) or bullet train, we left our bags at the hotel we would be staying at for our last night in Shibuya.  We grabbed our backpacks for the overnight trip, and walked around Shibuya, one of the busiest areas in Tokyo, with lots of young people, restaurants, cafés, bars and shops.  There are quite a few burger places popping up in Tokyo, including this Shibuya outpost which may or may not be named after me.

But, burgers were not on our agenda for Sunday lunch.  Ramen was.  ラーメン (ramen), originally a Chinese word for noodle soup, is very popular in Japan, and there are all different kinds of broth and noodles.  Steven was kind enough to let me select a Hokkaido style miso-ramen place which seemed to look like a safe bet from the outside.

This twenty seat place called 味源 (Aji gen), ended up serving some delicious miso-ramen, shown below with an 味付け玉 (aji tsuke tamago) seasoned egg, メンマ (menma), もやし (moyashi) bean sprouts, チャシュ (chashu) pork and コン (con) corn.

The ramen was delicious, and after finishing up, Steven and I trolled around the basement of the Tokyu department store to check out all of the different stalls that had a variety of items on display.

Then, it was off to Shinagawa station to board the Shinkansen to Atami.  Here's a photo of Steven on the bullet train, who clearly was a bit tired of the paparazzi by this point in the day.

We arrived in Atami around late afternoon and took a short taxi ride to our 旅館 (ryokan), or traditional Japanese hotel with a 露天ぶろ (rotenburo) outdoor hot bath with real onsen (hot spring) water.

We were shown to our tatami mat room, and then it was time to slip on our ゆかた (yukata) robe and have a bath befoe dinner, but not before some tea service in our room.  

I didn't bring my camera to the baths, so you will just have to use your imagination.  The rotenburo was great - very hot and very relaxing.

Afterward, it was back up to the room to relax a bit before dinner.  At about 7:30, our meal began, a ten or eleven course 懐石料理 (kaiseki ryori) traditional Japanese meal with many different kinds of fish, meats and vegetables. Ours included a special 和牛 (wagyu) Japanese beef course, where we grilled our own meat on top of a salt block.

Each item and each course was in tune with the season and delicately balanced, as was the cold sake we enjoyed with the meal.  We finished with a small fruit plate and some ほうじ茶 (Houjicha), or roasted green tea.  Green tea known as 煎茶 (sencha) is green (or a bit yellow) in color because it is steamed and minimally processed.  Lightly roasted green tea like Houjicha is brown in color, smoky in taste and lighter in caffeine, which is probably one of the reasons it is served at night after a meal.

After dinner, the plan was to head back down to the rotenburo for another soak in the tub.  I called an audible and was asleep by 10:00 pm, while Steven goed it solo for a nighttime bath.