Blogs from Brindisi, Apulia, Italy, Europe - page 4

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Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 30th 2007

I meant to post this earlier but forgot that I wrote it and didn't add it to the entries. Geezerdom is hard on a fella's memory! This is from two weekends ago. No photos on this one. I originally thought about titling this “When Bloggers Meet, Hilarity Ensues.” Beh, Friday night we went out to dinner with Jeff (inPuglia.Blogspot.com) to a restaurant that neither of us has eaten at. We dined at the ristorante Marco Aurelio and concluded that it was about 20-25 euro per person more than it actually was worth. It reminded me of a previous dining experience at a place called La Corniche. We did like the interior, but again it was another one of those brightly lit and the music doesn’t match the décor kind of places. I’m not saying that the ... read more

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 18th 2007

So, if you think you know Italian and expect to be able to communicate or even understand the Brindisini (citizens of Brindisi), you might have a rude awakening. That's because most Brindisini speak Italian as a second language. The first language, what they speak at home, with their friends, and even at work in some cases, is the very local dialect, Brindisino. A dialect is not just an accent or a different pronunciation than Italian, it's a completely different language with different origins and a set of grammar rules unto itself. Heading to a neighboring city like Mesagne or Lecce will bring you to a completely different dialect. So learning Brindisino will really only help you understand the people of Brindisi. And so it goes for every single city in Italy. To straighten a few things ... read more

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 17th 2007

I mentioned in my last post that we might head to a local festival that involved burning a bonfire. And so we did. Last night we headed with Vincenzo and Sara in tow to Novoli for the feast of St Anthony. I’m not sure which St. Anthony it might be, but this one might have been canonized for pyrotechnics. The bonfire is reputed to be the tallest in Italy (20 mt / 60feet) and so we thought this would be fun to watch. Jeff (inPuglia.blogspot.com) told me that a crowd of 50,000 was expected to gather for this festival. Jeff would have gone with us as well except that he had a hot date with an Italian girl. (I am expecting that I will receive a full account of the evening.) So anyway, we left around ... read more
Fireworks
Finish Big
Closer is Better

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 15th 2007

We had our first full weekend of actual socializing! Whew! What a relief! We have really been missing our social life with our friends. Culturally, it is difficult to integrate oneself into the social fabric of Italian life. One reason is that Italians are very much family centered. We also don’t work with many Italians and that further reduces our chances to get to know more people. Friday night we went out to dinner with a fellow ex-pat American. I ran across the website jeffinpuglia.blogspot.com during one of my internet surf sessions. Jeff lives in Brindisi and is an aerospace engineer. He has been in Italy for the last three years. Do go visit his site. I particularly like that he has provided links to information about Italy. There is a link that provides itineraries on ... read more
For a good meal
Pour!
Excellent Pizza

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 7th 2007

Beth: What’s for lunch today? Me: Ummm…how about driving to the tip of the peninsula and see what we can have for lunch there? So we took off on yet another daytrip. Since this was a bit longer drive and we didn’t get out of bed until 9:30AM, we took a main strada to the town of Leuca. This is located on the very tip of the Salentine Peninsula. If you look on a map, you will see it at the very tip of the heel. It doesn’t get much further south than this point. We made it there in an about an hour and a half. It was the usual experience on the strada - the normal high-speed, stress filled state of constant alertness, always looking ahead, behind, and to the sides. Once we arrived ... read more
Lighthouse
Old Watchtower
Deepwater fishing

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 5th 2007

The Christmas break routine has been largely one of staying up late and sleeping in late. On some days we woke up with yen for a daytrip to go lunch somewhere different. We decided to combine that with a little sightseeing. We haven’t looked around the heel too much, so we went exploring. We headed south along the east coast of the Salentine Peninsula, this is the heel of Italy. We drove out of Brindisi and then took a left hand turn onto the first available road that would take us along the coast. We headed as far as Otranto on one of our expeditions. The drive wasn’t particularly beautiful or noteworthy. The little towns along the coast were largely ghost towns although I am quite sure that they are lively rocking towns during the summer. ... read more
"Old Boys"
Old castle
City wall

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi January 1st 2007

Well we rang in the New Year last night, or should I say in the wee hours of the morning. I think that I can accurately describe how the locals (Brindisinos) celebrate this holiday. To begin with, the official holiday season begins on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and runs through January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. I won’t go into the specifics of the religious significance, suffice it to say that if you are Catholic you probably know what they are about and if you aren’t….well, it’s a religious holiday. And in Italy most of the official holidays are centered around religious days of observance. Although Santa Claus and the rest of that commercial aspect of Christmas has made inroads into Italian culture (and other parts of the globe), Babbo Natale ... read more
Party just starting

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi December 27th 2006

Auguri...Buon Natale! I hope that your Christmas was full of cheer and joy. My title to the post is a nod to the Italian classic film of the same title. This film stars Alberto Sordi and is about an Italian from Rome that wants to go to America. The movie is hilarious. I highly recommend it although I don't know about availability in the states. We just got back from our Christmas excursion to Rome last night and so I figured I'd better get this post off while my impressions are still fresh in my mind. My first major impression is that wandering around Rome is much more comfortable in the winter than in the summer. My second strongest impression was that there appeared to be more McDonalds outlets in Rome. As you know, I am ... read more
St Peter's in the background
Piazza Santa Maria
Fountains Galore

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi December 16th 2006

Today is our first day of the Christmas break. We won't be headed to Rome until the 22nd, so we will be doing some day trips. Today has been one of the first opportunities to go do some more exploring around Brindisi. When we first arrived, most of our sightseeing was utilitarian; that is, we were just trying to acclimate ourselves. Since then we have been travelling elsewhere instead of our backyard. So today, Beth spent the day in bed trying to catch up with her prodigious capacity for sleep and I headed out to explore the byways of neighborhoods that are unfamiliar. It was a beautiful day and typical for a Saturday afternoon - that is, virtually deserted. Here are some photos of today and early unposted photos. I intend to capture more of our ... read more
Aldo
Little space - lots of veggies
Wharf road

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi November 25th 2006

Yep...another birthday notched on the belt of aging. Thank God that at least I'm not letting out notches. How many? Five decades plus three; that doesn't sound quite as harsh :-) Bonus: It is also our anniversary! We had planned to go to Bari but decided instead to go and visit Alberobello. This literally means beautiful trees which is kind of misleading as there isn't a forest close by or a plethora of trees. Well perhaps centuries ago when it was first settled there was a significant forest. Nevertheless, the day was spectacular. It was sunny with temps about 65. This town and area is most famous for the style of houses that people built there. The style is called "trullo" or plural "trulli." It is truly (pun intended) interesting. I half expected the lollipop guild ... read more
Trulli town
Birthday Boy
War memorial




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