Slade's Elucidation - Slade's Elucidation
Our journey out of American society and into the world

Getting Close
Austin, United States
Getting close to take off so I'm starting to get our ducks in a row, starting with this blog.
T-minus 3 weeks...omg 4 realz?!?!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on May 29, 2008 from Austin, United States
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation

The Back Story
Austin, United States
As our departure date approaches, a little back-story is appropriate. About two months ago James and I found ourselves at a crossroads, in our personal lives and our relationship with each other. These are the things that have spured us into taking this trip now.
Our relationship had deteriorated to the point where we felt more like roommates then lovers; this was due to many reasons but primarily by allowing present actions to be guided by past hurt, anger, and worst of all fear. Doing this fostered an air of negativity and resentment which has no place in a loving relationship. We each know our roles in allowing this to become the norm in our relationship, and I think I can safely say we have kicked said mentalities arse. Where we chose to go from here is beautifully wide open.
The other force driving us to sell our house and get the hell outa dodge is the current state of American culture and society; sickeningly narcissistic, deluded, duped, our government routinely making a joke of democracy. Stuck in the Matrix, most Americans bump along content with their apathy so long as they feel safe. They like to think they are safe from physical harm, really they’re safe from ever waking up to the true reality that they have the capacity within them to become god and transcend this worldly bs to something much much better. People who do realize this have power, something those in ruling positions don’t care to share.
Crazy new-age left-wingest tirade over, James and I want to completely detach from this society and wash the sludge out of our brains that’s been put there by this joke of a society. That’s rather hard to do when confronted with it daily, so we’re removing ourselves from it. We hope to visit the small hamlets, ancient places of spiritual significance, and find ourselves along the way.
When we come home, the intent is to carve a niche for ourselves here, separate from but functioning in this society. To wrap ourselves up in the love of each other and the love of our friends and find away to live fulfilling lives that somehow make a difference in what comes next.
To this point, I’m calling this little blog and our trip Slade’s Elucidation.
e-lu-ci-dat: to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain; an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding
~ Amanda
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 5, 2008 from Austin, United States
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation

7 days left
Austin, United States
In 7 days James and I will board an airplane bound for New York and officially start what’s bound to be one of the most momentous events in our lives...and all I can think about is wanting to take a nap and pretend my reality doesn’t include packing up a house.
Many things here are coming to a close; my last day of work was last Friday and was much harder than I thought it would be. If I didn’t see you in person to say goodbye, or if communication seemed to escape me when I did see you, I was just trying not to turn into an emotional basket case ;)
yawn*
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 11, 2008 from Austin, United States
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation

Almost sorta on our way
Houston, United States
Well we’re officially out of Austin. The past week was crazy getting the house packed and sold, all our arrangements squared away, and farewells outa the way. *note to self…don’t plan to pack and sell a house in Texas in June ><*
Friday night we had a going away shindig at Neal and Summer’s which was everything I could of asked for. That evening totally reinforced my belief that love is one of the most important and powerful forces we’ll ever have the pleasure to experience. Seriously…if all our world leaders just spent a night cuddling on a big squishy couch we could totally make this peace thing work.
I’m currently writing from my MIL’s in Houston, and tonight we will be holed up in a hotel by the airport so we won’t have to fight traffic to make our flight to NY in the morning.
Tomorrow we visit COSM, Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors, the gallery/community gathering space created by the artist Alex Grey and his wife. If you aren’t familiar with his work go bonk yourself on the head for missing out on something wonderful for so long and then visit this web page www.cosm.org
Tomorrow I might actually have some pictures to share…OMG!
Love yall!
Amanda
P.S. TY TY TY TY to all our friends, family, and neighbors who helped out the past week...ya'll rawk ;)
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 17, 2008 from Houston, United States

Springboard Houston
Houston, United States
Made our 1st stop here in Houston to drop off my kiddo and see the Slade side of the family. Had yummy food at Hollywood resteraunt and now enjoying the wonderful Marquis Hotel. Giggle this place is awful... just like the review said it would be. 1st room wasn't made up and there were huge dead crushed roaches on the floor... Next room reaked of smoke but we can deal with that!!! Tomorrow.. off to NY!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 17, 2008 from Houston, United States

New York, New York
New York, United States
Our trip to New York was classical travel comedy gold, as everything that could go wrong did. Our flight was delayed by an hour and a half, we were told our baggage was at terminal D, then terminal E (which is outside through the construction area at jfk) , and then back at terminal D. We finally got our bags and boarded the subway, and then exited at the wrong spot twice. All we could do was laugh.
When we got to our hotel, the Hotel Chelsea which has an awesome history of fostering artistic expression, we we’re told our standard room had been upgraded to a suite…SCORE. Up to the tenth floor we went with the assistance of the doorman Pete(?) who was just awesome. But not as awesome as the views of New York City from our room…sorry Pete. We quick dumped our packs, changed, and headed out so we could make the full moon ceremony at COSM. It rained on our way there…and then to make amends Mr Universe treated us with a gorgeous rainbow.
The ceremony wavered from very intense and spiritually engaging to annoying, depending on the speaker. Alex was awesome, the folks from the Biosphere who talked were awesome, and the musicians superb. Mrs. Grey unfortunately fell into the annoying category, something about rattling on asking for charity for the chapel they plan to build during what’s supposed to be a spiritual ceremony that just didn’t sit well with James and I. After the ceremony was over there was a drum and dance event, but we didn’t stay very long for that. I was feeling outa sorts, unconnected, wishing our friends were there with us to make it special so we headed back to the hotel to relax and catch some z’s.
The next day, Thursday, we took our time getting up and then caught the subway down to Ground Zero. When we got there we were greeted with a high fence surrounding the hole, and armed soldiers just hanging out. Someone please clue me in to why we need armed guards protecting a hole that’s already been bombed. We walked around the perimeter and found a few good spots that I could get some photos off from. Visiting Ground Zero was a pretty heavy event, when your that close you can just feel the weight of what happened there settling over you…the lives lost...the lies told. And let me tell you, visiting it in person only increased the desire to grab a big microphone find the nearest government official and start yelling BULLSHIT, but then there are those armed guards standing around the corner…hmm 2+2= ‘ You’re government is in control America, go back to sleep’.
We found a cool art exhibit though while wandering around that lifted my sprits. All these garments were made using renewable resources from the Brazilian Amazon, or recycled materials from Brazil. After this we grabbed some good ole’ NY street grubbed and wandered a bit more around the WTC before heading back to the Hotel and onto JFK to fly out to Ireland.
Pics to come shortly..working out this need for massive storage space and no laptop.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 20, 2008 from New York, United States

DOOOBLIN!!!
Dublin, Ireland
Woot we hit Dublin yesterday morning around 8 AM. I couldn't stop giggling and Amanda thought something was wrong with me. Iono but this place makes me happy. Hell I don't care if I got stuck here forever. That's subject to change but we're really loving it so far. Met some really cool people right off here at our hostel. Cleonie and Alfie are our roomies, another traveling couple. We toured the local part of town for a bit yesterday, had fish and chips, bought some groceries, found the hardware store (to get a room key made) and just enjoyed the local life here in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced done Leary). It's the ferry town south east of Dublin. The hostel is great, really cozy and friendly. People from all over are here and I can actually understand most of them. We sat up late last night talking with a group of them about the world, movies and politics. Now I really felt out of sorts when it came to the movies because most of the big movies here are not anything we ever hear of over in the US. We're like our own little island of isolation... So learning there's lots of really great stuff we're missing out there. Duh I guess... BTW it starts getting dark here around 10 PM. and not totally dark until midnight or so. Got quite cold last night, so had to bundle up a bit. This morning got up and met a few more of the hostel patrons. Had a group breakfast, did the dishes and watched Myth Busters with an Irish speaking announcer. How odd... Amanda and I then took the train into Dublin and went to the Trinity College and saw the Book of "Kell". Really cool seeing such ancient stuff. There was a whole library containing 200,000+ books from 500 AD and newer. Lots of middle ages etc type books. Learned old japanese people in a group can be very rude and forceful. I swear I had a group of ancient japanese women 1/3 my size move me out of the way so they could see an exhibit 1st. I almost went godzilla on them :) . Well after that adventrure we went and had a local sandwich and coffee/tea and then caught the train back to our hostel to do some relaxing and well, get on the internet. So here we are and that's about all I have for now. Til next time!!! We love y'all, take care!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 21, 2008 from Dublin, Ireland

Done with Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
Our last full day in Dublin was spent walking, walking, and then walking some more. Oh, and there was some sightseeing in there too. We went to the older part of town to start and got to see a lot of the old architecture, mostly in the form of churches. We visited the Christ Church of Ireland, and went on a tour of St Audeon Church. The main part of this church (which is still in use today) was constructed in 1190. That makes it 818 years old folks, that's about what twice the age of our country?
We tooled around that area a bit longer and then walked to the Phoenix Park. The park is one of the if not the largest parks within a city proper in Europe. We found this awesome old tree that we played around on for awhile, I gave it a hug and a kiss because it was just that cool. I really wanted to kick my boots off and go for a climb but i didn't figure that would go over to well the the locals.There were some baby ducks in the pond below the tree bitching for mommy, it made me laugh to see her swim back from the other side when they started calling her. We spent some time laying on one of the lawns then went in search of the Military magazine that's also located in the park. On the way to it we were treated with some spectacular views of Irish flora. The magazine was pretty awesome, classical location on top of a hill with a 360 degree view. I made James run up it shouting AARRRRG just for the hell of it, I giggled...a lot. While we were there some clouds started rolling in, crazy dark clouds and then next to them clear sunny blue patches...weather in Ireland is almost as fickle as Austins aparently.
<3
Amanda
(edit) - James on to CORK!!!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 24, 2008 from Dublin, Ireland

On the way to Cork
Cork, Ireland
Today we boarded a train for Cork, stop 2 on our tour of Ireland. The train ride was awesome, got to see a lot of the country side from the comfort of dry cushy seats. It's crazy how many ruins there are here. Just random centuries old walls sticking up out of the pasture land, cemeteries that have the remains of old abbeys crumbling in the midst of them. Makes me sad to see such cool places in such disrepair, but to the Irish most of these sites are the norm...nothing spectacular. Cork looks pretty cool so far but as it's rather late we're saving most of the exploring for another day. We'll be here for three days before heading to Galway. Tomorrow's itinerary includes Blarney Castle, woot. Yall keep track, see if i sound more eloquent in the next blog.
Oh something fun to note, the lap top we acquired is very much a European version. Which means the keyboard is all sorts of funky. It's like playing Russian roulette trying to figure out which weird symbol will give you a comma or @ symbol ^_^.
More pics up too, a not so cool thing about this blog site is I cant post them in the actual blog and as far as I can tell organizing them into sub folders etc isn't possible.
Oh well, I'll try to make the titles as clear as possible and use the city to track which leg of the journey they are from.
<3!
Amanda
(edit) james figured something out.
ARRRRRRGGGG
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 24, 2008 from Cork, Ireland

Blarney Castle and the Cliffs of Moher
Galway, Ireland
On our way to the pub so guna keep this short.
Blarney castle rocked. Somehow they’ve managed to keep it from getting too touristy. We tromped around the castle for a while, kissed the Stone, and went exploring the grounds.
The pictures do it way more justice than I could with words.
Blarney Castle
Tower at Blarney Castle
We’re currently in Galway, and went on a tour yesterday to the Cliffs of Moher and on a walking tour through The Burrens. The walk in the Burrens was on our guide’s family farm, the farm that’s been in his family for 200+ years. The Burrens is geographical part of Ireland that is characterized by large rolling hills made entirely out of limeStone. At first glance it kind of reminded me of enchanted rock back home…on closed inspection though there is a lot of vegetation growing in between cracks in the limeStone, which our guide explained was really fertile due to the calcium carbonate leaking out. Anyway, we got to learn about some of the flowers, history of the immediate area, and got in some good exercise to boot.
When we got to the Cliffs of Moher we we’re greeted by the cheery news that part of it was closed because someone had just jumped off the cliff…committing suicide. Setting that aside we enjoyed the amazing view even if it was a bit obscured due to the mist.
There’s a lot more to say but yeah, food and pubs a calling.
Oh by the way, James and I have been married 4 whole whopping years today. Happy Anniversary baby!
p.s. I'll edit this with pics soon as I get a chance. probably after we head to Scotland tomorrow.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 29, 2008 from Galway, Ireland

We made it to Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Well this is just saying Amanda and I made it to Edinburgh last night. Hopefully at some point in the trip I'll have internet access with my laptop and we can really get this site up to par. in saying that I only have 5 minutes left on this coin operated computer before I gotta log. So I just wan t recap a little something odd I noticed about Ireland. They either HATE traffic cones or just prefer to keep them under water. No lie, at every bridge, water crossing, stream, waterway, tidal flow etc... there were traffic cones in the water. I wish I would have taken pictures for proof but you'll just have to trust me on it... Iono I thought it was strange and had to share that. More to come later ^_^
Really miss you guys and gals and wish you could come taste Europe with us for a few. Cause it'd be just so awesome we might esplode all over these people.
Love y'all!!!
James n Amanda
written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 30, 2008 from Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Randomness from the road.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Feeling lazy about editing photos and writing, so you get a quick update and some weird stuff floating around in my head.
We’re in Scotland hanging out in Edinburgh; we leave Sunday for Belgium and probably Spain after that.
Randomness:
Scotland is way prettier then Ireland, which I didn’t expect since you seem to hear about Ireland more.
I’m a whore for Gothic architecture …cathedrals, castles, especially cemeteries.
I’ve learned to fall asleep to music again, hostels can be annoyingly noisy. Even more so when they’re in renovated churches like the one we’re staying in now. The bunks are in rooms built into the main chapel with no ceilings, just walls.
Stained glass windows depicting soldiers kneeling before saints make me want to stab my eye with something sharp and yell something about the church being full of idiots who don’t get god.
Consumerism makes James grouchy.
Hindu monks on street corners in Scotland inviting you to a gathering in the basement of St Johns (a large cathedral just below the castle) really make you appreciate the irony of life.
We live in a really really small world. Twice now we’ve bumped into people we’ve meet at previous hostels, one group in a different city, and the other in a different country…and this guy is even staying in the same hostel as us again.
Homeless guys with cute dogs make me wish I had a pallet of Alpo.
Seeing cute cats makes me tear up like a pansy ass. I miss my kitties :(
Pack more then 5 pairs of underwear when you take a long trip, you don’t want to do laundry that often.
Love ya’ll!
Bathroom Philosophy
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 3, 2008 from Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Edinburgh!
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Has been fantabulous! The first day or two we just wandered around the part of town our hostel is in. There is a river that cuts through the city and runs right past our hostel, and alongside this river is a walking/biking trail called the Leith Walk...apparently this walk and the gardens along it have been around for a few hundred years now. While walking we got to meet a few of the locals ^_^ ,
and stopped by a neighbourhood pub for some refreshments.
On a side note...pubs here are dangerous for me. They have hard cider...lots of hard cider. Our order at one of the pubs the other night: Two ciders, an order of curly fries, Belgium waffles complete with chocolate and ice cream, and toffee cake. I bet they thought we we're crazy...but damn that was good.
We did the tourist thing a bit too, and went to see Edinburgh Castle. The location of the castle is more impressive to me then the actual buildings, I cant imagine the stone masons working on those cliffs. The castle had some pretty cool stuff to see, I know James's favourite was the firing of the gun.
Firing of the one o'clock gun
Kaboom
Last night we did one of the cheesy “Terror Tours” that took us around old town Edinburgh and into some vaults under the city. One of the vaults the tour group owns was rented out to a wiccan coven...I wanted to go in they're vault and play with all the pretty stuff but it was blocked off :( . One of the other ones we went into was a 'level 3' paranormal zone so we had to turn off all our electronics etc so the spirit in there wouldnt 'feed' off of them, Mhmmm. Interesting enough though my camera battery crapped out on me today on the way to the internet cafe...coincidence?
Tomorrow we head to Belgium for a few days, to pick up a ring James had commissioned awhile back and meet the girl who made it. After that we're heading to Spain where we've lined up another farm stay. It's an organic farm and the owners are also trying to restore some old buildings on thier property.
Side notes:
Thanks for the comments guys! I love to read little messages from you, makes me feel not so far away :P
To look at pictures that have been recently updated or from a particular leg of the Journey, click on photos option and then scroll to the bottom of the page and in the second section of tags click on the city name :)
Love yall!
~ Amanda
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 5, 2008 from Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Belgium.... Brussels and down to Liege!!!
Liege, Belgium
James here....
Ok current status of things. We have internet, it's wireless, but I can only use it in the lobby. Soooo as usual I or Amanda will do a much better update later. However I gotta share how things have gone since this morning. We had to get up at the butt crack of dawn. 3:20 AM which wasn't a big deal since there was so much party time happening at the hostel sleep wasn't really happening for me anyways. We get our gear and start walking to the bus stop and realize we don't have any of our travel info, boarding passes and instructions on how to get to Liege, Belgium. We forgot them at the internet cafe yesterday and have no way to get that info at this time of the morning. Luckily we at least remembered what airline we were on and that crisis was overted. BTW none of these things are being taken as a real issue, we're just grinning and going on with it. :) So, flights go well enough we make it to Brussels and find out that english is in no way shape or form a standard language here. I can't understand anyone and most everything is written in something other than english. No worries we'll get through it. So made it to baggage claim... and waited and waited and then it stopped turning and no bags. Yeah to our bags as of this moment are MIA. They don't know where they are and if all goes well we should have them back in 2-3 up to 5 days. Funny cause we'll be in Spain in 3 days... So unsure what we're going to do about this just yet but no worries. We have our ATM card and can get some spare cloths. The airlines gave us both an overnight toiletries bag so we can wash our butts. Included in said kits are XX large tshirts. Not so bad for me, but it's like a tent for Amanda to wear. So we used them as towels instead!!! Ok next plan is to get to Liege from Brussels... which is a challenge and if not for my friend Steph who I am going to meet tomorrow, we'd be lost in Belgium somewhere. This is due to the fact the train splits apart on the way to Liege. And being as we can't read or speak the language here, we wouldn't have known that part and clearly not been in the right train car for it. This was a challenge though since we had left those printouts back at the cafe in Scotland. Luckily there was an internet cafe at the airport to print new ones.
So ok we finally make it to the Hostel after a VERY high speed cab ride. Again no one speaks the english so that was fun... Hostel, room... which is just the 2 of us. YAH alone time at last. We get brave, go find local food and yeah I can't read anything of it. But luckily the guy there spoke some english and helped us order a great meal. Get back to that on a later blog. After going back and napping a bit we must find ATM for some money. After a short adventure we find the local ATM wont take our card and can't find another one anywhere near by. So broke, foreign and unab le to understand most ppl we used our last bits of change to enjoy a really strong irish coffee in the town centre and laughed about our wonderful day. Eat your hearts out!!!!
Love you all!!!
James
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 6, 2008 from Liege, Belgium

Belgium
Brussels, Belgium
Baggage has been found! It will hopefully arrive at our hotel tonight, so yeah minor crisis averted.
Yesterday we spent walking around Liege, Belgium with the bestest tour guide evar. The whole reason we went to Liege was to pick up a ring Steph had made for James. He saw it online and sent her an e-mail asking about it...a few months and few thousand miles later he has a new ring and we have a new friend.
The coolest part about walking around with Steph yesterday was the conversation, talking about world politics, the history of the region, religion, you name it we covered it.
Though, i have to admit, I think there's a little sadist hiding inside her because she suggested we go up these stairs...and then we did.
I kid, we went up those stairs for this view :)
So James and I have been taking note of the graffiti we encountered on this trip and so far our analysis is this....
Ireland blows, Scotland had none to speak of, and Belgium takes the gold.
In Ireland the graffiti was just single line name scribbles, no talent whatsoever. Here, its just stunning. I have a love hate relationship with graffiti too, it makes me sick when people deface beautiful or historically significant buildings. Ugly blank city walls on the other hand..spray away.
So this counts more as a mural...but seems like a fitting testament to the caliber of street art here.
Art in general seems huge here. Walking in Liege and even today here in Brussels its just gallery after gallery, and world class stuff too. Everything from modern to ancient art is on display here. And oooh man the ancient art....Steph suggested we go into this 'antique' store. I think that word has a whole different connotation here then it does back home. If i had a i million dollars I'd still be walking out of there with a lot less then i wanted to.
Egyptian idols, fertility statues from god knows where, classic red and black roman vases, swords from the roman legion, old oil lamps, and masks to name of a minute part of this guys collection. I'd have brought some masks home for ya Neal but yeah I'm missing that aristocratic heir to some foreign throne in my family tree.
So next up for us is Spain. This wasn't a planned thing but we were blowing through money way to fast in Europe and honestly we don't feel like we were getting what we wanted outa of this trip hopping around tourist areas so much. It's time to dig in a bit and really get to experience a different culture. And start collecting recipes...I haven't done nearly enough of that yet on this trip but i think i need to compile a little cookbook when we get home of foods from around the world shrug
YAAAAAAY our luggage just found us....damn i have to lug that heavy pack around again.
Ok been babbling long enough...next update will be from Spain!!
Keep up the comments...we check for them often and giggle over them all missing you less with every word /cheeseoff
Love and hugs and kisses and all that fun stuff!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 8, 2008 from Brussels, Belgium

And Spain...
Barcelona, Spain
James = Meh what a day yesterday was. It has been the most trying day so far. Things did not go very well at all. It was pretty much issue after issue and each time you make a mistake it costs you. And was it expensive... Essentially getting confused with the transportation system from the hotel to the bus terminal cost us 2 tickets since we went out an exit trying to get to our next train. So had to buy tickets again for the 2nd part of the journey. The people working there did not really want to help us since we didn´t speak spanish. No problem, new tickets and on the right train. Get to the bus station and buy our tickets there... a little more expensive than I thought they should be but no matter. $115 euro and we have 7 hours to kill. So we went off to the beach. yup got to hang out on the wonderful exoctic beaches of Barcelona and dip into the water a bit. Was awesome. A much needed reprive from the previous stressful events. We found a nice cafe on the way back to the station and had the best Lime Sherbet gelato ever! So reading our bus ticket it says bus 21 and so we grab our gear and go sit at #21 with an hour to spare... hmm 30 minutes til the bus is supposed to leave an no bus. No biggie I had read it have previous stops til it gets to us. Ok it was suppose to be leaving at 9 PM and it´s now 9:05 and no bus. 9:15.... Ok time to find out WTF. So after a bit of time I receive an upset Amanda telling me we have missed our bus and we will not get a refund and there´s no bus until tomorrow evening. :| ummm wtf so now I go in and with the help of a nice translater standing by we find out that it was bus 21 not platform 21, we weere supposed to come inside and find out what terminal bus 21 was going to be at... Silly us. So now I get to buy bus tickets again, no refund on the other, no discount at all. Full price again and we have to wait 22 hours. Angry James... So the hostels are all full we´re tired, stressed and a bit angry... more at myself than anything. In short finally break down and decide we´ll just get a hotel... So we hike to near the closest one my GPS shows and it has a room... at $115 euro. I am disliking the number $115 right now. That´s 3 times today I spent $115. So we get on this little freaking elevator and go up to our room and we´re greated with a nice wooden door.
Barcelona Hotel
then we enter and there´s 4 doors to choose from:
SOooooo we choose door number 2 and upon opening it there´s a small room with a single bed. WTF how are we supposed to fit on that comfortably.... le sigh....
But wait. I open door number 3 and we have a queen bed and man is it sweet.
oooooh la la.. then we move to door number 4 and get a treat:
not Amanda... yes she´s a treat but she wasn´t behind the door... and
a foot washer!!! woohooo what a strange thing to have in the bathroom, but it was sure nice washing in it... JK. well things are nice now, we´re happy. But on yeah door number 1.
what could possibly be in there?
ray of light from above. holy moly!!! there´s more.
and another door beyond that
A kitchen woohoo! And there´s a porch
Man we were smiling like a pair of fools who found ZEN
Happy People
Heh it was spendy but it was great. Had amazing AC and I slept like a rock. We´ll add more later, just had to explain why I was so pissed on Myspace... Ta ta
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 10, 2008 from Barcelona, Spain

Lugo Spain, doing a farm stay. More later.
Lugo, Spain
Just an update so everyone knows we're alive and well. We're in Lugo Spain now doing a farm stay. We'll update a bit later once we get internet worked out here. Wanted to say hi to everyone and we have lots to tell.
Big love to everyone,
James
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 12, 2008 from Lugo, Spain

Spain update and some more randomness from my head
Lugo, Spain
We've been in Lugo for a few days now and things are going great. My everything is sore and a bit sunburned..but good ;)
We've been working on an organic farm owned by Anne and Simon who are an English couple who farmed in Ireland for years. The house were staying in is supposedly 500 years old and was apparently in shambles when they bought it; they have been renovating it while trying to get their garden established. It's still a bit rough around the edges but I can tell its going to be lovely when they get it finished...so much character.
Our main task while were here is going to be getting the maize field weeded, which for a couple of out of shape Americans is pretty tough work. None the less i can feel the long unused muscles starting to harden and its getting easier.
What I'm enjoying the most here though is the conversation with Anne and Simon who are both wells of information. They have lived an organic and eco-friendly lifestyle for years so have experience growing their own food, using alternate energy, building their own homes and much more. All stuff James and I wanted to pick up on while were travelling.
We're here for another week and a half to two weeks I think, and then we start making our way to our stay in Italy with a few pit stops on the way.
A few random things to note...
Spanish Red Wine is amazing, much much better then any red I've had in the states.
An ipod is essential to gardening, a playlist including Tool-Govinda-Marlin Manson- Typo Negative-Rob Zombie- and all five Anjuna Beats compilations is definitely a bonus.
While working yesterday the song Right In Two off Tool's 10,000 days album came on and it stuck a different note with me then it previously had. A lot of issues we've all talked about facing America in the next few years are by no means isolated to America. If anything our travels have shown us that the same things we've been seeing and talking about into the wee hours of the morning with heads full of glitter are prevalent throughout the world.
“Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys,
Where there's one you're bound to divide it.
Right in two.
Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
And this is what they choose...”
When things are cut in two where will you be?
Sorry if that's a bit cryptic for some of you ; )
On a side note though I found a book in a hostel in Edinburgh that I've been reading and am quite enjoying, Pronoia. I highly recommend it to anyone tired of feeling like the world is out to get you, and rather would like to be a master of Rowdy Blisfullness.
Peace yall,
Ps Belgium pics updated and spain pics to come later today
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 15, 2008 from Lugo, Spain

Tis but a flesh wound
Lugo, Spain
Well I was planning to write up a blog all about Lugo; tell you guys about its celtic origins and cool roman history...but that will have to wait a bit now.
Because instead I get to tell you all about my trip to the Spanish ER, how exciting!!
James and I were working on unburying some brush piles and trimming the field grasses so when harvest comes Anne and Simon can actually get to their fruit trees and maize. He had the weed trimmer, which has three metal blades that look somewhat similar to a boat propeller. We'll here this thing...
Brush trimmer... AKA hand chopper
I was working along the other side of the fence around the maize clearing some of the larger brush piles once they were trimmed. He hatched a diabolical plan to disembowel me and...just kidding...turned to toss some grasses out if the way. When he did the trimmer shifted and the blades came up catching me on the side of my left hand. I looked down at my hand to see fleshy bits and blood before coming to the conclusion if I didn't want to add vomit to the mix I shouldn't look, and made James do the looking. My glove was still on obstructing his view and there was a lot of blood so he was freaking out figuring he'd managed to lop off a few fingers or something. He shouted to Simon and we got in the car to go find medical help.
Now I've said before we're staying in Lugo, but were really a good 30 min drive outside Lugo. Think Liberty Hill or Leander to Austin but with a lot less people. We tried first in the small village closest to their house but being siesta time there was no one around. Next we stopped in Corgo which is another village on the way to Lugo thats big enough to have a 24 hr emergency clinic, which luckily stays open during siesta. Not so luckily the doctor wasn't in. The nurse on staff was awesome though and cleaned the wound off, which was a boat load of fun. I recommend having your shredded flesh scrubbed to everyone. She looked at it and thought it was best we go to the hospital in Lugo rather then waiting for the Doctor the come back. She wrapped my hand up and away we went. James bless his heart was trying to distract me from the pain this whole time by being his cute silly self (and trying not to eat himself alive for trying to turn my hand into ground meat), but I deal with pain differently though. Not by not thinking of it but by well meditating I guess...just control my breath and concentrate on nothing.
By the time we got to Lugo I was in better shape as the nurse in Corgo had apparently washed my hand with something that had a bit of topical pain reliever in it. We checked into the ER and the next hour was probably the most hassle free efficient medical service i've ever had. There was a few wait periods, to be checked out by the nurses initially, for the x-rays, and then to get stitched up but never did I wait more then 10 min. Heh getting stitches was interesting this being my first experience with them. I'm not sure there is any sensation quite like having thread pulled through your flesh.
Anyhow, there was definitely a method to the apparent madness of the ER. Now mind you during this whole process I didn't understand a damn thing anyone said to me. Simon was a great help in translating, but not being a native of Spain still has some trouble with the language. I think he totally passed his Spanish field test during this whole ordeal though hehe.
When I was stitched up one of the nurses brought some prescriptions in and gave Simon a sheet with some directions for me and sent us on our merry way. Never did they make me sign or pay anything, just took my travellers insurance info when first booking us and that was that. I didn't even have any Id on me, having left the house as fast as we did.
We stopped in the village by Anne and Simon's to get my prescriptions filled, and I was really confused when she told us the price of everything. 480...four hundred and eighty, forty eight and 0 change? No, 4.80....four euros and 80 cents. Pardon my language moms, but you've got to be fucking kidding me. An antibiotic and two pain relievers for 4 euros and 80 cents, and this was just the standard price. They didn't even ask for insurance information at the pharmacy. Now the meds I got were pretty basic, your standard stuff, but still without insurance I would have been paying at least a hundred dollars for that in the states. This just totally reaffirmed my suspicions that the medical lobby in America is disgustingly powerful and the drug makers are raping the American public to line their pockets.
Spain anyone? I hear there's a few 2000 year old villas in the area for sale for 2k, though I imagine they might need a little work ;p
wave*
My hand all wrapped up after the brush trimmer incident
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 22, 2008 from Lugo, Spain

The Wound
For the morbily curious, here it is! (Dont click on the photo if you dont want to see it in detail)
Two more days with Anne and Simon, then we head to Santiago de Compostela for two days. Then were onto Rome for a week and our next farm stay in Tuscany.
We'll have to do a Lugo post mortum to give you all the details of our stay here that got left out due to the hand chopper incident.

Long Overdue All About Lugo,and our Stay with Anne and Simon
I'll start this by saying that Lugo, and particularly the province of Galicia which Lugo is in, has been the first place to seriously tempt us into calling it home. It has a similar magic to Ireland, all the beauty of the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies foothills, an affable populace, and almost most importantly a low cost of living.
I was really surprised we've liked Spain (by Spain I really mean just Galica...the rest of Spain we saw looks too much like the ugly parts of west Texas) as much as we did, considering it wasn't even on our original itinerary.
This area of Spain has/had strong Celtic and Roman influences, so there are a lot of undercurrents in the culture the subtly remind us of home. That may sound a bit ostentatious, but one of the most celebrated heritages in the states is the Irish and you need only walk around any downtown area in America to see how much the Romans have influenced us. The folk music is great, they even play the bagpipes here; look and sound a bit different but still very reminiscent of the bagpipes we're familiar with.
Don't worry though guys, we still have too far to go to call anywhere other then Austin home.
Anne and Simon gave us a lot of great ideas and starting points for researching and eventually constructing our own (warning preachy buzzwords to follow) eco-friendly house, and living in a more organic sustainable way. When it comes down to it, we each have different ideas about what's most important, and the environment you live in certainly plays a factor, but there is a lot more we all can be doing to leave a smaller footprint.
Something else that really contributes to the atmosphere of the Area is the Camino, aka Pilgrim Route. Most of you guys know where I stand on organized religion, especially Catholicism, so you may find it odd that I count something like a pilgrim route as a bonus. Really it boils down to the same thing it always does with me, the people. You throw the bureaucratic bullshit and the “establishment” out the window and you get good honest people trying to do right. The positive energy the people walking the pilgrim routes brings to the area is palpable. One of our last days with Anne and Simon we went with them to meet another local former Brit and to see some properties they has an interest in. We meet him outside one of the monasteries on the Camino route and after seeing the properties he invited us to lunch at his place. He's restoring an old farmhouse/barn as well, and it sits literally right on the Camino route. He says he has 100-200 people walking past his door daily. Now I make some concessions to the loveliness of his house to the fact he's also a great painter and has certainly applied an artists touch to the renovation work, but the FEEL of the place is something truly unique. You step in the door...hell just look at his gorgeous geraniums for awhile and you cant help but feel lifted up.
Some cool stuff we found here that I wanted to buy lots of but couldn't due to the fact we're carrying everything we own:
You've all seen and probably know someone who collects blue and white pottery, with Asian or English designs being the most popular. These designs are usually to frilly for me, buuuut they make this stuff here in Galicia that uses traditional Celtic knot work and designs. Trying to find a link or images on the net but not having any luck.
Something else I came across is this clothing company, there were a few pieces in local shop that would be perfect for flipside etc. Unfortunately their website kinda stinks.
www.hunchha.net
Ok I know i'm leaving some stuff out but I still have a Santiago post to write before we catch our flight to Rome.
As usual, still working on the pictures

Santiago de Compstella
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
We stayed in Santiago for two nights after leaving the farmstay, to see the sights and celebrate my 23rd birthday. Gawd...i'm getting old ;)
Santiago de Compstella is the major destination of the Camino route. The cathedral here is awesome from an architectural and artistic standpoint alone, but more importantly it houses the relics of Saint James.
We spent the afternoon after our arrival wandering around the historic district, grabbed a pretty decent lunch at a pavement cafe, then made our way back to the Cathedral to go poke around inside.
We went up the walkway behind the altar to go pat St James on the back...I have no clue why you do this but I assume this casing held or used to hold some part of him. Or maybe all the gold and semi-precious stones bring you good luck, because we all know that's how you best serve god...gold and jewels. We also went under the altar in the crypt area where i'm sure part of St James resides. All around the main altar are these small side altars and side chapels which I assume are dedicated to other saints or church figures. As many snarky remarks I might make about the opulence of the church you cant deny the artistry that went into the construction and decoration of the Cathedrals.
After a much craved looong hot bath and a rest we went out for dinner and found a charming cafe. Charming because it was nestled in between three buildings and the walkway, and on the other side of the walkway two musicians were set up facing the tables under the arches of another building. There was a violinist and a guitarist playing together which makes for a beautiful harmony imo. I even bought a cd from them, yay for new music on the ipod.
The second day was my birthday and it started out pretty stressful as we had to move to another hotel across the town and ended up walking half the way because we couldn't find a taxi and couldn't really talk to anyone. Upon opening the windows of our hotel room we found below us hanging out on the roof a mama kitty and two cute as hell babies. Being the sap I am for cute fuzzy things I made sure we brought some scraps back (aka half my meal and a lot of James's too) for the kitties. They scarfed down the food and the runt even managed a big chunk of the sausage before her much larger sibling could steal it. Sadly after lunch mama moved her babies, oh well shes just being a good mama.
Aside from watching cats we hung out at the pool a bit, went to store nearby and bought me a dress (weee) and had a nice b-day dinner. My two main requests for the evening were a steaming hot bubble bath and uninterrupted sleep and James delivered on both...thanks babe.
Today were killing time waiting for our flight to Rome this evening. Next post will be from The Eternal City, how cool.
And again, still working on photos
written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 30, 2008 from Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Rome, Gladiators and heat
Rome, Italy
We're in Rome now and been checking out the sites. Taking pictures, eating the eats and checking out the gladiators standing around the Colosseum waiting to take a picture with ya.
Our arrival was pretty good. Came in late, around midnight, and caught a bus to the main part of the city. It was too late to really get a bus to our final destination so we decided to explore the city and walk that general direction. We had pizza and coffee and a couple local places on the way. Stop eat, stop drink, stop and look around. We ended up passing some reallllly old section of wall they built the modern buildings around. Neat, lots of old buildings, churches and misc structures along our route. We finally came to a picturesque place to rest a bit that was the Spanish Steps. So here we are late at night in Rome on the Spanish Steps some guy comes by selling cold bear (which I bought) and made out a bit with Amanda. ^_^ Don't get to that in Rome on the Steps very often. We saw some local antics while we hung out there, people playing around, a heated convo between two drivers and another couple realllly making out. After a time we got our gear back on and treked to the bus stop we had to get too and from there we rode the rest of the way to our campground. The buses were free and not too hard to figure out, everyone was helpful/friendly enough. We arrived at the township to wait wait for our shuttle and some guy just pulled up and asked us if we needed a ride to the campgrounds. I guess we just looked like we belonged there cause he just guessed it. He dropped us off at the gate and continued on his way. So cool. Checked into the campgrounds, got our plastic room and crashed out. Will continue this later. Just saying we're here!!!
Big hugs,
James n Amanda
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 1, 2008 from Rome, Italy

Our first real day in Rome
Rome, Italy
The Eternal City
We got into Rome around midnight and decided to spend the night in the city rather then pay for a night in the hostel. We caught a bus from the airport to the city centre, as it was so late most of the public transportation had shut down so we opted for wandering through the city for a couple km to the nearest train stop that would take us to our hostel in the morning. During our wandering we happened to come upon this rather picturesque spot that turned out to be the spanish steps.
Us at the Spanish steps
Trinita del Monti, Spanish Steps
As we had walked about a mile at this point and it was hot as hell and humid to boot we decided to chill on the steps for awhile before continuing our hike. While we were there a guy wandered by selling ice cold beers....score!
“day one”
The Camping hostel... well I'll hit the bad first. No A/C, our room was a plastic building duplex, if we moved it moved and the wall was paper er plastic thin. It was very expensive there for just about everything. We arrived really early, things had gone fairly decent, we were just really tired and hot. So the no A/C bit was a huge negative, so a cool shower to rinse us off and cool us down and we crashed out for as long as we could til the day got too warm to sleep. Thus we went off for food at the local cafe and found everything very over priced. Can of sprite: 3 Euro or around $4.50 for a CAN. You get the idea. Anyways the mosquitos were quit bad and they were totally eating Amanda. They were even in our room so not much reprieve and the citronella candle we bought didn't really have any citronella in it and well wasn't much use. Ok lets go more positive. The room was private enough, warm shower, decent beds, most of the lights worked and the pool was really nice there. We ate dinner there (ouchie the price) and got some sleep because the next morning we were getting up early and checking the hell outta of there!!! Booyah on the road again.
Well the trip back into Rome city proper was sooo much smoother on the return trip. Got easily back to town and to our next hostel, checked in and our gear unloaded and it wasn't even 11 AM yet. We got our bearings and walked to the Colosseum. Saw a lot of very interesting ruins along the way. Like the Domus Aurea.
Domus Aurea
Ruins
Colosseo
Finally arriving at the famous gladiator battle grounds it was worth the trip. The history is so amazing here. The games lasted around 100 – 117 days during which time 5000 animals and I believe it was 9000 gladiators fought and died there during each of these games. That's a ton of combat and to think how many years that went on. Lots of blood has spilled here and so much history. It's really a shame that it's in the condition its in due to plundering over its lifespan. However it's good to know most of it's precious materials were moved right down the road to help build stuff at the Vatican. Insert angry face here... James dislikes the Vatican but we'll get back to that later. We didn't go inside the Colosseum, it was really busy and we just felt like wandering the streets. Walked by this area Arco di Tito
Arco Di Tito
These are the older city ruins. Amazing how much they built, just mind boggling to me. They're still currently excavating this area as well.
We continued our journey up to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanule II and then over to Campidoglio. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what these places really are but the first one is HUGE with all white stone and then there blue angels on chariots on various points of the building. The latter was like a palace courtyard, I think it was all museums now. We just walked through looking really. Then we decided to head over to the Trevi Fountain.
Trevi Fountain
Fontana di Trevi
Incredible artwork with the stone. People were there tossing coins over the shoulders into the fountain by the hundreds. They even have police that sit there all day just watching the fountain and keeping people from getting in it. Lotsa coins in there.
BTW Gelato = the win. We've eaten a ton of it and I love the lemon by far. Doesn't help they have it at every corner either. We decided to head back to the hostel for some free dinner. Which wasn't bad by any means. Salad, pasta, cheap wine decent enough I reckon. Showered up, and then we went back out to see Trevi fountain at night.
Fontana di Trevi aka Trevi Fountain
Amanda had foreign guys throwing roses at her while at the fountain. Well, it was more like guys selling roses and they try to shove them in your hand so you then feel obligated to buy them. Didn't work on Amanda though, also didn't help they hit her booboo hand with the rose. Poor guy... It was just as busy if not busier at night there at the fountain. Even had a guy walking around selling camera stands. They walk around and sell anything here. No lie on that. Rave lights, camera stands, roses, beer, hats, towels, clothes, coconuts, jewellery, umbrellas, small children and miscellaneous other stuff. Most of them aren't Italians either. The children part was a lie far as I know. Well after enough of that we had some of the more expensive coffee in town at 5 Euro for cup, it was ok, no way worth 5 Euro. Figured we'd done enough and went back to the hostel in preparation for our next day at the Vatican. Will post that later... I wore a kilt ^_^
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 2, 2008 from Rome, Italy

Kilt's that irritate the Vatican security
Rome, Italy
James at St Peter's Basilica
For mom, Me in my skirt. El Commando
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 3, 2008 from Rome, Italy

Thine Vatican
Ok this is going to be abit short but I'll insert pictures for you. Vatican. Girls, no showing anything above the knees, no bare shoulders, they must be fully covered, no mid riff and I'm sure you get the idea. Guys, no shorts no wife beaters etc... Never mind all the naked statues everywhere or toga's or guys in what looks like a short dress or kilt. I don't get the need to dress a certain way just to go see god related ideals. So, I wore my kilt :) I made it through the proper dress check point but was grabbed later for it. Asked me what it was, and after I told them it was a kilt they asked if I was Scotish. Now what would you say to that? Of course I'm Scotish I just talk like a Texan. So they waved me on through. The only other "issue" I had was at the security checkpoint. After waiting in a fairly long line we get up to it and the only item not allowed showing on the sign was a swiss army knife. What's the one thing I have in my pocket? My new, very nice, somewhat costly swiss army knife. Well it was a test of humankind, I placed my knife on the guard rail that was used for herding everyone into the place in hopes it would be there when I got back out. I look down and apparently, I'm not the only pock knife weilding person here as there was another laying there as well. Yes, my knife was still there when we got back. Guess the Vatican brings out the good in some people. And here I thought Flipside was the only safe place. Flipside.. look it up, It's outside of Austin Texas.
Ok picture time:
Statue in St Peters Basilica
St Peters Tomb
Statue in Vatican Museum
Egyptian statue
James in front of the giant pine cone and peacocks
Laocoon and His Sons
Ceiling in the map room
Down with art up with religious dogma
Heaven vs Hell, Sistine Chapel
Feel free browse the rest of our pictures to see everything. It was a decent experience, tons of history, Sistine chapel was cool but long, Pope says to tell everyone back home Hi, and it was a nice day.
The following days we went to stay along the coast at an awesome resort in our own little bungalow and enjoyed the beach.
James at the Beach by Rome
A flutteryby came over to say hello
The Beach
Whew what a great time. Ok off to Tuscany!!!

Tuscany, and a little place by the name or Trove
Petroio, Italy
We've been a bit behind on blogs, and have actually been in Tuscany since Tuesday. Our hosts, Ugo and Barbara picked us up from the train station in Orvieto and we drove through the countryside taking the long route back to their house. You know how in movies Tuscany is always portrayed as only consisting of rolling hills covered in vineyards, olive groves, and sunflowers; occasionally interrupted by the Etruscan hill town and towering Cyprus? Yeah...they don't exaggerate. This place is unrealisticly beautiful.
Barbara needed to stop in a bakery on the way home so we pulled up to the village of Pienza and she told us to take a quick walk while she grabbed what she needed, and visit the local cathedral.
The next day we spent acquainting ourselves with Ugo and Barbara, the two cats and two dogs, and what we would be doing while here.
I'll do a detailed blog about their property, Trove, sometime soon but for now here are a few highlights.
The view from my favorite siesta spot, in front of the Mariotti residence
Plumbing here consits of a main tap and a well. The first night was a bit humorus until we got the system worked out. Screw baths, shower under the tuscan stars instead.
Ugo needed to make a quick visit to a friend one night and invited us along and then unexpectedly asked if we'd like to be dropped off at a garden created by a professional landscaper who lives in the area. He didn't tell us anything about the place before hand aside from its ying-yang nature, so we felt like we were walking into the twilight zone walking into this place.
This makes my soul happy
This guy must have a thing for Satyrs, they are tucked away everywhere you look in the garden.
Satyr's, yes thats intentianly plural
Enscribed everywhere are passages, particular words and phrases. Stuff to turn the wheels...I like this guys style
not probable, not impossible, not for case, not unavoidable
Love yall!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 9, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

All about Trove
Petroio, Italy
Trove (Tro-vay) is a 600 or so year old Tuscan farm owned by Ugo and Barbara Mariotti. It sits between the towns of Castelmuzio
and Petroio in the Trequanda district of Tuscany, Italy. They've owned the place for 35 years, though for a long while their time was split between Italy and Australia.
Being so old, the house obviously wasn't originally equipped with pluming or electricity. They've added electricity via cabels and extension cords, and have a line to the city water which is available through the 2 taps in the house; the one upstairs by the kitchen sink and the one downstairs by our room. That's it for running water in the house,our in room plumbing is a pitcher and washbasin.
We've already shown you the shower but I'm sure your just dying to see the toilet...
The restroom
Saw-dust toilet
You do your business in the bucket seat or hole if you prefer, then sprinkle saw dust when your done.
Most Americans would be rather intimidated by this and I cant claim exemption from that, however its really not bad. If it meant having a house like this I'd happily live with a saw-dust toilet the rest of my life :P
Trove
Aside from Ugo and Barbara, the house has four other official residents. Billy and Mary Moon the two lovable pups, and the two cats which have names that never get used so I don't know them. They're lovingly referred to as the Damn Ginger Cat and Fluffy.
Mary Moon is neurotically afraid of new people. However, Ugo and Barbara had to leave for a few days soon after we arrived and we were the only source of food and cuddles. Needless to say, she warmed up to us pretty fast. Billy and Ginger are the two most inclined to seek out human companionship and it didn't take long before Ginger was sleeping between James and I on the bed, and Billy had moved his afternoon siesta spot from the workshop area under the house to the cool tiles of the floor in our room. Fluffy spends all day doing god knows what, though we have a sneaky suspicion she might be responsible for this rare breed of tail-less lizards in and around Trove. They look a lot like their more plentiful cousins...only well tail-less.
Lizard at Trove
Come dusk though you'll see her trotting up the lane. At first shes wary of you, but as soon as shes feels your hands on her, shes in your lap nudging every appendage you have for cuddles and drooling on you. Seriously, the cat has drooling problem. But shhhhh, I never told you that...don't want her to be self conscious or anything ;)
Trove has a decent amount of land, boasting its own vineyard and olive groves in addition to several fields for crops and the houses veggi garden.
Trove's Vinyard
Veggie garden
Rosemary at Trove
And prums, lots and lots of prums. Yes, I said prums, NOT plums. It's best you don't ask.
Pears at Trove
More Plums
The other day after attending a lunch hosted by the local women (This local festivity brought to you by the communist era in Italy), we were treated with the first actual thunderstorm we've experienced since leaving home. I've missed texas storms, the lightning and thunder.
Storm clouds over Trove
For more pictures go to our pictures section, scroll to the bottom and click on the tags Tuscany or Trove. The city tags arnt working at the moment so clicking on the city wouldnt work so well :P
The next day we headed to Sienna to go to THE Palio, which i'll tell you all about soon :)
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 17, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

The Palio
Siena, Italy
If like me, you have no clue what this is, its just one of the biggest yearly horse races in Italy. An unbelievable amount of tradition and pomp go into making this race such a spectacle. It starts from the moment your born if your family belongs to one of the contradas. And preparations for race day start weeks before, culminating in all day festivities on the day of the Palio.
Piazza del Campo pre-Palio
We left the house around 8am to head to Sienna so we could secure parking and see all the race preparations. Barbara took us all around Sienna showing us where all the major landmarks and contradas were so we could watch the groups getting ready for the race. Before the race the contradas get their parade horse and members all decked out in medieval costumes...im assuming its the same traditional garb their contradas actually wore in the middle ages.
Oca contrade's procession hourse being dressed
Afterwards they parade to the contradas home chapel to have their jockey and race horse blessed.
Drago Contrade procession to the church
Drago Contrade blesing before The Palio
Drago's horse being led into the church yard for blessing
Drago's race horse being blessed
Then all the contradas join together in the streets, drummers playing, flags being tossed and all the members crowding behind their group.
This is not something done for tourists,this isnt still put on merely for the sake of amusement and history. The Siennese live and breath for the palio, spend untold hours and resources outfitting their group and hosting banquets and events throughout the year. That said, they reeaaaaalllllly get into it, and once things start getting under way it gets crazy in the square. Wayyyy more people then is probably safe squeeze into the square before its sealed off for the parade and finally the race horses to enter.
The Campo prior to race start
After the horses get lined up, which is no small feat since they use a rope starting line and no barricades, and several false starts, the race is under way. The course is pretty treacherous for a horse and several usually stumble or fall, the one James was routing for lost its jockey on the first loop. Someone wins but you usually cant tell who because you cant really see the track through all the people, so you head to the closest bar to watch the replay on TV. The winning contrada parades around town getting piss drunk all night and everyone else being tired as hell goes home.
Oh and the prize for winning....
The 2008 Palio
That and bragging rights. Each contrada has a museum to house all the Palios its won. Heres a link i found to a site which has an archive of all the palio flags back to the 1600's, each desgined by a diffrent local artist.
http://www.ilpalio.org/drappelloni.htm
Peace yall ;)
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 22, 2008 from Siena, Italy

Sorry!
Petroio, Italy
Ive been really bad about blogs and getting my pics edited and posted. We've had an awesome past 2 weeks and soon as i get some spare time to work at the computer i'll tell yall all about it.
We were without the comp for a few days while we took a short trip to Firenze, and well, when you could enjoy this view from the comfort of the hammock or sit inside on a computer what would you do?
The view from my favorite siesta spot, in front of the Mariotti residence
<3!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on August 30, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

Fun Times at Trove
The past few weeks have passed by in a blaze of , well blazes for one. Barbara decided that the Calabroni (aka big fucking hornets that are creepily smart) had lived in the big stump by the house for too long and set the whole thing ablaze. It smoldered throughout the day, and come evening it was still going. To attempt and get water into the centre of the stump the guys tried standing it up and it proceeded to roll down the hill taking out several small trees and landing just a few feet away from the field of dried grass. For obvious reasons this wasn't a good home for the giant flaming log. Never fear, Barbara has a big tractor :P Everyone pitched in to get it back up the hill and onto the gravel drive in a position where it could be properly hosed before we all turned in for the night.
James trying to calm the flams inside the stump
James and Ugo playing with the flaming stump
James unearthed a nest of baby lizards in the process of hatching too, arnt they cuties?
Baby lizards hatching
A day or two later there was a wine tasting in Montepulciano of local wines. Local wines here means the rather famous Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Rosso di Montepulciano., yummm.
Wine tasting in Montepulciano
Ugo and Barbera chatting ing during the wine tasting
We met two friends of theirs in Montepulciano, Leslie (who is their colleague as well) and Karla (who also does tours back home in Czechoslovakia), and had a lovely evening sipping good wine. On the way home we saw this little cutie hanging out by the road...
Little fox we saw on the way home from a wine tasting in Montepulciano
That weekend Leslie and Karla came to stay at Trove and Saturday Ugo took us on a little sightseeing day trip. One of our first stops of the day was at the monastery where some of the movie The English Patient was filmed. It boasted some wonderful frescos and views of the surrounding countryside.
Frescos in Sant'Anna in Camprena Monastery
View of the Tuscan Countryside
After leaving we drove through the countryside for a bit, just enjoying the stunning senary.
Freshly mowed wheat fields
Close up of wheat fields in Tuscany, loved the lines
Grapes ripening in Tuscany
Ugo suggested we go to the little village of Lucignano d'Asso, so we could take a walk through it. Honestly I think he just wanted an excuse to visit the little grocery/deli that was there. He orded us a bottle of wine and we thought some light nibbles of cheese and what have you. We got a bit more then we anticipated but out of courtesy to the hostess couldn't do anything but eat the juicy fresh cantaloup, tantalizing slices of local dried meats, and cheeses. The meats we superb, I think Beth might have cried tears of joy had she seen those plates coming out ;)
Leslie enjoying the lunch we were suprised with in Lucignano d'asso
Eventually we ended up at the hot springs on the side of Mont Amiata. We swam in a modern swimming pool which has several sections of varying size and temperatures, all fed by thermal waters heated by the volcanic activity of Mont Amiata.
Hot springs bath on MontAmiata
Ancient baths constructed for the hot springs
Have I ever mentioned how much I love bathing in really hot water? Like hot to the point it chases James out of the shower. I could really do with a hotspring in my backyard...would certainly lower our electricity and water bills :P Of course I would also need a backyard again to have a hot spring in it.
We also visited one of my new favorite places again, the garden Bosco dela Ragnaia. This time it was a whole diffrent experiance having Ugo there to play the guide and tell is the meanining of all the words inscribed around the place. I swear this guy reads Conversations With God, and must have a lusty obsesion with good philosiphy.
Leslie and Ugo enjoying the garden
This sign points to a stone with a circle carved in it, you trace the cirlcle three times then sit on the nearby bench to let what ever your own oracle tells you float to the surface of your mind
Sculpture of Pan and a rabbit, Pan looks remarkably like the gardens creator
We were luck enough to meet the creator, and he is the most unassuming guy youd ever meet. There he was just working away on a flower bed in his beat up denim and floppy wide brim hat, humility and warmth eminating from every gesture. He stopped his work long enough to have a quick chat and then politly excused himself and got back to it, he is obviously not a big socializer but still makes you feel welcome.
It's finally cooling off a bit and we've enjoyed several dinners outdoors in one of the courtyards. Nice breeze, good vino, good company...
Ugo and Karla enjoying a drink after a hard day of touring Tuscany
I think I might have mentioned this before, but just in case....
Sunset from Montepulciano
View from a cafe in Montepulciano
I DONT EVER WANT TO LEAVE!
Love you all!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on September 4, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

For Patrick and my other Morbid friends
A month and a half after the weed trimmer fiasco this is what im left with.
The Scar
Remember it used to look like this.
The Wound
The scar healed up fine, not to tight or anything. Under the skin things seem to still be sorting themselves out. I get wierd stabby and tingly pains and dont have the same strength or range of motion. All things taken into consideration though I think it's doing quite well.
I never got around to writing up a Florence blog and I doubt i will so go look at the pictures, and all thats worth knowing is that the two best things about florence had nothing to do with florence.
1st best thing was the awesome sushi place we found. Hot sake and raw fish, nothing has tasted so good in a long long time.
Best part of Florence - Susheeeee
2nd best was my new sandles which i somehow didnt get uploaded. They're braided cord woven into a cool strappy pattern, and they can get wet. Flipside footware ftw!
Hmmm florence is less then two hours away, and the train ticket was less then 7 euros. Is it extravagent to travel across italy for good sushi? Cuse now im craving it again :(
written by  Slade's Elucidation on September 8, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

Cellar Slave
Many of you have been wondering what the hell I've been up too here in the wilds of Tuscany. Vino baby, god I love this stuff, rather surprisingly so considering my original antipathy for everything related to wine.
I've been cleaning out the Mariotties cellar, bottling previous vintages, all in preparation for this years harvest which is just around the corner.
It starts by cleaning out the bottles, anything can effect the taste of wine, and the smallest speck of god knows what can turn a whole demijohn of loveliness into vinegar before you could shout Baccus!
My project, clean vino bottles
I washed all the bottles, and stripped the labels off of many using industrial soda (recycle people!), before drying and crating them to be filled.
Next up you grab a big demijohn from the cellar floor and put it up an the stand. Then you un cork it and suck the oil off the top to see what you have underneath. You top off the wine with oil for preservation reasons. Providing the vino has survived the ageing process your then ready to bottle.
Demejion and bottles to be filled
Next you fill up various sizes of your sparkling bottles and then move them over to the 'corker'. Pop a cork in, slap a label on them and then stick them on the shelves.
Corker
In the end you wind up with something looking a lot like this.
Freshly bottled Vino from the Amalfi Coast
Things here at Trove are, well, rural. They do not sell any wine commercially, the vines and cellar merely support the Mariottie's yearly Vino needs. Yes. Tuscan families DO need their own vineyard and cellar to provide the years wine... God, can I have a villa in Tuscany, pleaaaaase?!?!?!?!
Don't worry, they dont have to hang out in the dark cellar for very long. The 2007 red is my particular favourite. In the states Id never touch reds, here id plug it into an IV if only my veins had taste buds.
Disclaimer for the Moms reading this:
Nope I'm not an alcoholic. In Italy, it is very shameful to be drunk. A mentality I quite agree with, I hate bring drunk and haven't been in a very very long time. Wine, is just....life... here.
Two weeks and counting until the harvest!! I plan to blog the whole process here at Trove so stay tuned ;)
Peace ya'll,
written by  Slade's Elucidation on September 17, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

Cinque Terre
Riomaggiore, Italy
Before leaving Austin we went to the Art City Austin show and one of the exhibitors had a picture on display of an unbelievably picturesque village clinging to the coast of Italy, well we decided we we're going to go there right on the spot, and this week we did.
We had been working hard on the farm for several weeks and our hosts thinking it was high time we had a break lovingly kicked us out for a few days. Four train connections later we we're in La Spezia and caught a bus from there to the hamlet of Biassa. Biassa is perched on opposite side of the hills from Cinque Terre and many of the National Parks hiking trails start in or pass through Biassa.
The port of La Spezia
The village we stayed in while visiting Cinque Terre, Biassa
The first day there we wanted to take it kinda easy and get our bearings, so we opted for a short hike just over the hill to to first town in Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore.
The start of our 1 1/2 hour hike that ended up being 5 hours
Five hours and 15-20km later we decided the trail map would have been a good idea, but had a good time none the less. We passed a few bars a long the trail and grabbed some fruit and bread in a small village along the way, so we didnt fret about not being where we wanted to be and enjoyed the amazing views.
Riomaggiore
Midafternoon we finally arrived in Riomaggiore and had what was probably the crappiest meal we've had while travelling, but the gelato made up for it. We wandered down to the water and found a sunny rock to lay on and just baked for awhile in the warm sun while our feet dangled in the cool waters.
Relaxing on a rock in the harbor of Riomaggiore after a long long hike
James in the harbor of Riomaggiore
Amanda in the harbor of Riomaggiore
Being thoroughly exhausted we didn't do much the rest of that day and went back to Biassa for an excellent dinner at the only proper restaurant in the town. Butter and sage became my new favourite pasta sauce that night. Ohm, nom, nom, nom.
Day two we took the bus. We also bought a day pass for the ferries that run to each of the towns, and went to the second town in Cinque Terra for breakfast. It would have been awesome but they were outa waffles, much suck. After breakfast we opted for more hiking, sane choice...nahhhh, and hiked along the cost from Manarola to Corniglia.
Amanda in Manarola
James in Manarola
The trail literally clings to the cliffs and every step of the way your a banister away from the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean, which happen to be a long way down.
Shore of the Mediterranean along the trail from Manarola to Corniglia
On the other side of the trail you could see the odd house or rows and rows of vines. Nope, there are no roads of any sort going to these peoples houses. Only the occasional small rail car. The must have legs of iron...
When we got to Corniglia we were faced with the fun prospect of climbing 382 stairs, just to reach the town. Who knows how many were in the town its self. There was a nice suprise waiting for us though when we got to the top, it came in the form of stuffed mussels and pesto spaghetti,mmmmm. We sat at a table up against the railing dividing the restaurant from the hill we had just climbed. Olive trees acted as the ceiling and wide open views of the Mediterranean provided the walls.
We strolled through the town after lunch, just enjoying the sites.
Siesta time on the roofs of Corniglia
Eventually we caught the train to the next town, Vernazza, to catch the ferry from there to the last town in Cinque Terre, Monterosso. After a failed hunt for lemon gelato we caught the last ferry back to the first town, which stopped in each of the towns with a harbor along Cinque Terre. We got to enjoy the views of each town from the sea and I was able to snap some nice shots of each town.
Our trip to Cinque Terre could be described as a visual assault of the natural persuasion, the 400 or so photos I've had to sort through the past few days is testament to the beauty of this place.
Tomorrow we start the harvest!!!!!!
Love you all!
P.S. We got your postcard today Savannah!! We'll try to call you soon, Hugs and Kissies :)
written by  Slade's Elucidation on September 30, 2008 from Riomaggiore, Italy

Vendemmia Time!
Vendemmia, Italian for grape harvest.
The vines are starting to turn hues of orange and red, and the grapes are juicy sweet. It's harvest time.
Sleepy grape vines
Two days before the harvest was to start we pulled out all the bins, baskets, tubs, and tubes and gave then a good rinsing. Grapes don't like dirt, or soap, so everything gets a good rinse as you put it away after the previous years harvest and again right before this years to insure things are as clean as possible.
Washing the buckets
The morning of the Vendemmia we had one last thing that needed rinsing, having decided to harvest a day earlier on account of the weather turning. The final thing to wash was the de-stimmer. The name says it all, this machine removes the grapes from the stalks smushing them a bit in the process and them shoots them into the tube you hopefully have aimed into the holding vats. Having quite a force behind it, if the tubes off for cleaning and you don't have a catch bucket over the hole you can shoot dried grape bits leftover from last years harvest quite a way into your nice freshly swept cellar. Blasting anyone in the way. Not that I'd know from experience or anything.... Sorry Paul.
Washing the de-stimmer before harvest
James playing with machines...he does that a lot
Around noon we headed down to the vineyards to get started. Barbara and Ugo knew this years would be a small harvest thanks to the very dry spring and summer, what they hadn't really counted on was the local deer eating at least half of the grapes they did have this year. Normally they move the dog kennel down to the vineyard so Billy and Mary Moon can chase deer to their hearts content and protect the grapes. Alas that didn't happen this year and as a result there are some very very well fed deer in the area. I think the local poachers owe the Mariottie's a couple venison steaks and such for feeding the damn things.
Regardless of the small yield there were still grapes that needed picking and the whole gang pitched in. Ugo and Barbara of course, James and I, as well as Martine and Paul; another couple here helping who also hail from the land of Oz. Even the animals came to help.
Ugo and Paul harvesting grapes
Barbara harvesting grapes
Fluffy supervising the harvest
Normally the white and red grapes would be harvested separately for white and red vintages but due to the small quantity this year Ugo and Barbara decided to combine them to make and old school Chianti wine.
Grapes Grapes and more Grapes
Disclaimer, I really have no clue what I'm talking about here. Apparently, before “Winemakers” moved into the area Chianti was made by combining the red,Sangiovese,and white grapes, Malvasia. Doing this would still make a red wine, not a rose or blush, as its the skins of the red grapes that make a red wine red. These days Chianti is primarily just made with the Sangiovese grape.
Back to the harvest, after collecting grapes for a few hours it was time for a picnic lunch in the vineyard and a short rest before collecting the last of the grapes.
Barbara and Billy going halves on the penuts
After all the grapes were picked the buckets were taken up to the cellar, where we ran them through the de-stimmer and the juice was pumped into the big holding vat where it eventually becomes wine.
Ugo and James dumping grapes
James feeding grapes into the de-stimmer
Juicy bits going into the holding vat
There is of course more to that process of grape juice to wine but that's another blog.
Cheers mates ;)
ps To see all the harvest photos click the photos link then scroll to the bottom of the page and find the Vendemmia tag.
I think I have an obsession with this cat
written by  Slade's Elucidation on October 7, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

Day Trippin
Radicofani, Italy
View across the valley from Trove
After staring at this mountain for the past two and a half months, when James and I got permission to take the car out for a day trip to Mont Amiata we went. Before heading up Mont Amiata though James wanted to go investigate a near by fortress. He has a little boys fanaticism when it comes towers, gun turrets, and such.
Yarrrr!
Radicofani in the distance
Radicofani
From the road the place looks pretty damn impressive. Can you imagine being the invading army? Having marched hundreds of miles you get here and realize not only do you have to fight these guys you have to run up that hill to do it while they're firing unfriendly implements of war at you. “Naw I'll pass on this one Sarg....”
We found or own hostile force on the way up, but he fled at the sight of our mighty siege weapon aka the 4wd suzuki.
A snake crossing the road on our way up to Radicofani
Being the end of the tourist season the place was practically deserted and we sat on a bench and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the middle of an ancient fortress overlooking all of Tuscany. And we found shrooms, yes those kind of shrooms. No, we didnt eat them.
Candid shot of me looking at mushrooms
After lunch we went and explored the fortress proper and climbed up the big tower which has been turned into a museum of sorts. Heres something I bet you didnt know about Tuscany, there are a LOT of ants here. Not the mean demon spawn ants we have back home mind you, just the happy eat everything in sight sort. Anyhow, its matting season for the ants. So all the winged ones have taken to the air, at the same time, and there are millions of them. Apparently the party invite said the dance was on top of of the tower, because the entire way up we passed the dead and dying ants twitching on the stairs. I naïvely figured they must of flown up from the door below but was relieved of that notion as soon as we stepped out on top of the tower. A mass of flying and dying ants filled the air and covered every horizontal surface of the ramparts. Yum...
Having had our fill of flying insects going places they shouldn't we decided to head down and make our way up Mont Amiata.
The drive up to the top was in my opinion almost the best part of the trip. The bosco were breathtaking. A veritable fairyland.
Fall foliage on the slopes of Mont Amiata
Don't these forests make you want to go mushrooming or pretend your a gnome? Just me? Fairy Perhaps?
At every bend I was waiting for the gnome to climb out from under his mushroom and take my into a barrow to meet the King and Queen of the Sidhe. Ok not really, I didn't eat those mushrooms remember. But still that place was magical.
Sun sparkaling through the trees in Tuscany
Most of you i'm a bit of a nature nut, but perhaps not to the extent I really am. I don't need religion, philosophical self help books, Conversations With God even; no Tolle, no string theory, or pagan rituals. I need trees, trees to climb in, big grey rocks to climb over, moss to run my hands through, tempestuous wind blowing through my hair, I need sunshine, and thunderstorms, and babling brooks.
James in the forest atop Mont Amiata
Me in the stunning forest atop Mont Amiata
Mont Amita had it all, yes I climbed trees and yes I hugged the mossy rock. Cant help it, it was too cuddly. Save me? I might turn into the crazy lady in the woods who talks to the animals and has a pet name for every tree. There are ski lodges for rent on Amiata, perhaps I could just play the crazy lady in the woods for a few weeks outa the year :P
It was a good day, a little known part of Tuscany that might have been my favourite.
Fuzzy Rocks!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on October 18, 2008 from Radicofani, Italy

Ciao Trove!
I almost succeded in not crying today, almost. It was the damn animals that did me in. Barbara is strong enough for two chicks so I didnt get teary when she said bye this morning before heading into town. Its when I went down to the out-door courtyard to give Fluffy a goodbye cuddle and Billy came over to join me that I got a wee bit misty eyed. Fluffy was purring in my lap and Billy was doing his wierd but adoreable dog moan as a scratched his butt. Cute huh :P
I even kept it together when Ugo dropped us off at the station.
Damn animals....
Trove
See ya later Trove, it's been a blast.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on October 21, 2008 from Petroio, Italy

Egypt!
Cairo, Egypt
We arrived in Cairo after a ten hour overnight layover in the Athens airport feeling drained and a bit wary at the thought of what we were about to get ourselves into. The first day we spent sleeping off the jet lag while puttering around the hotel and local neighbourhood.
A bit about the area were staying in; it's the Muslim neighbourhood of downtown Cairo. I am probably the only female over ten without my hair covered I've seen in this area of town. Grocery stores? Hah. English speaking shop-keepers? Hah. People who don't gawk at long blonde hair? Hah. The girls all seem to giggle when they see James's ponytail too, it's cute when they do it though. They guys are kinda creepy about it. That said though, after staying here a few days I've grown pretty comfortable with the locals. Everyone has been very kind to us, and a few have even greeted us on the streets in English.
Our first day of sightseeing we went to the Egypt Museum, the repository of Egypt's artefacts, open for a hundred and fifty or so years. The building is huge and packed with pottery, statues, sarcophagus, and papyrus manuscripts. The galleries with King Tutankhamun's treasures and the jewellery were my favourites.
James outside the Egypt Museum
Outside the Egypt Museum
The coolest part of this day though came later in the evening. The terrace of our hotel was booked for an engagement party that evening and the music started blaring before the sun went down. And when I say blaring, I mean making stuff in our room several floors from the roof rattle sorta blaring. Have I mentioned yet how much I'm digging the local music? I've always got the TV in our room turned to a music channel :). When the celebrants arrived they did en mass, the women doing that cool allllalalalalala thing in super high voices that for some reason western women seem incapable of copying. The party had been in full swing for awhile when the hotel's owner invited us to go up to the terrace and watch the festivities with another employee of the hotel who we'd chatted with a few times. The roof was packed and I felt pretty awkward being up there, but we found some seats out of the way and watched the dancing, which was a total treat. The guys were on the floor and danced soooo expressively, using their full bodies and rather sensuous movements in a way I'm more accustomed to seeing women dance. A gentleman, a relation of the couple I think, even came over and offered James and I some sodas. It was a once and a life time chance to get a glimpse at the Arabic culture. One thing I can say for sure, these people know how to party.
The next morning we were up early as we had booked a tour to go see the pyramids!! Our driver for the day collected us from the hotel and we headed out to Dahshur to see the first pyramid of the day, The Red Pyramid of Sneferu.
James and I in front of the The Red Pyramid
This is one of the few pyramids you can go into without making special arrangements so we hastily climbed our way to the entrance to be meet by a hysteria inducingly small tunnel which led into the inner chambers.
James climbing into the The Red Pyramid
Climbing into The Red Pyramid
Thighs burning, we made it down into the first chamber where we could look up at the interior structure of the pyramid.
Inside the The Red Pyramid
View of the Step Pyramid from afar
Next up we headed to Saqqarah to see the famous step Pyramid of Djoser. Unfortunately, you cant go inside Djoser, but there were some tombs in the Djoser complex that we were able to go into. Photography isnt allowed in the tombs but me being me snapped a few anyhow.
Inside the tomb of Mereruka
Me inside the tomb of Mereruka
James outside the tomb of Mereruka
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs inside Teti's Pyramid
At one point a worker invited us to take some photos on the sly and then took us into another tomb beside the first we went into and allowed me to snap a couple good shots in their while telling us a bit about the reliefs.
James and I Inside the tomb
This would have been awesome if he didn't expect an exorbitant basheesh in return.
On our way from Saqqara to Giza our driver stopped at one of the many hand-woven carpet schools and we were given a demonstration of the three kinds of woven carpets the students learn to make before being taken to the sale room/gallery upstairs.
Giving carpet making a try at the carpet school outside Giza
James at the carpet school outside Giza
Here James and I came to the realization that were weak in the face of gorgeous material objects and not the best bargainers. We came away with a good-sized rug woven of all natural un dyed wool with a rather modern linear design. Sure we don't have a house, but we have a damn fine Egyptian hand woven rug to put in one. :P
Continuing on our way we came to our final destination for the day, the Giza plateau, home of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid.
Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu, and wives/childrens in front
By this point in the day our moods had taken a down turn due to the constant barrage of people expecting money. We tried to set this aside though and booked our camel ride around the pyramids.
Camel Jockey
The pyramid complex is quite large and to attempt to get all the vantage points I wanted for photographical reasons on foot would have been exhaustive. On our way out of the stables my mood started taking even more of a down turn when I saw the state of some of the animals kept in the stables not authorized by the government as ours way. Horses with saddle sores and way to many bones sticking out. The animals were in no condition to be worked but all had saddles on their backs. Making our way along the trail to the pyramids we came across the most unsettling part of the trip. In the not so far distance were the well picked over but still fleshy skeletal remains of a horse. I looked away and tried to shove it out of my mind so I could enjoy the pyramids but at this point both James and I were feeling morally filthy.
By being tourists here we were inadvertently encouraging a system where men relied on underhand and dishonest practices to weasel money out of ignorant tourists and animals were apparently underfed and overworked for the amusement of tourists and financial benefit of their owners.
We continued on our tour of the pyramids, but at this point neither of our hearts were really in it. I wanted more than anything to leave Cairo after our visit to Giza and get to India stat.
James and I in front of Khafre and Khufu's pyramids
Being silly at the Pyramids
Riding camels in front of the Giza Pyramids
Gazing up at Khafre's Pyramid
Chilling on the Pyramid of Khafre
On our way back to the hotel though we ate a nice lunch with our guide and then he stopped at a papyrus gallery so we could see how papyrus was made and look at the paintings. A really nice guy gave us a demonstration of how papyrus was made, which by the way is really easy and we plan to try it when we get home, and then explained some of the stories behind the historical and religious painting reproductions they had. We viewed the gallery for awhile and in the end selected a few for ourselves and as gifts. I wish I could take pictures of them to show you how cool they are but the paintings are all in a tube being mailed to the states as we speak. They, like the rug, will look splendid in that house we don't have hehe.
As we were checking out we got into a conversation with our salesman and the other clerks about American politics and how distorted the media's representation of Muslims and their quality of life really is. Sure Egypt isn't Iraq, but their ways of life aren't to dissimilar, though totally foreign to an American. That was one of the more rewarding moments of the day.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on October 26, 2008 from Cairo, Egypt

The Cairo experience - Yin side
Cairo, Egypt
Ok, I need to Yin Amanda's Yang of Cairo. Not that I don't totally
understand it, as we get a lot of attention and women are treated a
bit different here. The culture is far from our own and it can take a lot out
of you. That being said... I am having an awesome time here. After holing
up for a few days in the hotel after our pyramid run the energy
returned.
James and I riding camels in front of the Pyramid of Khafre
Getting our Visa's for India has been a test in patience over
that which you cannot control. Sunday (which is like Monday for us) I was
too tired and worn out to go try for our Visa's, decided to go on Monday
instead. So Monday we realised we hadn't gotten our passport size photo's
done so had to get them before we could go to the Indian consulate
office. So to town we go. The owner of the hotel personally drove us into
downtown Cairo and was a really nice gesture. Dropped us off in front of
a Kodak photo center and bid us farewell. The process of getting the
pictures was painless and cheap and we got 8 copies each. Little more
than we needed but hey you never know. It was probably around 10am and
the consulate closed by 11. We figured we wouldn't make it so blew doing
that off til Tuesday. *FYI the Indian consulate office is right around
the corner from the photo shop. who knew? :| Ok so Tuesday we head down
to the Indian consulate office and low and behold... Indian holiday and
they're closed. sigh... Oh well wont let that get us down, we can just
come back tomorrow. Which went quite well, found out we had to wait til
Sunday for the paperwork to go through and to come back then. Amanda is
ready to GTFO of Cairo at this point. I must point out she gets lots of
attention and together well it's almost 2 fold. Wears on us a bit, but
personally I get used to it in doses. So.. I'll skip the boring stuff.
It's now Sunday, Visa's should be done today and all will be golden.
Hurray.
I've been making lots of friends here, everyone is so friendly its hard
not to.
I can't understand everyone but it doesn't really matter. I find
using sounds, hand gestures and a smile works real well. The women who
work here in the hotel tend to talk or hand communicate with me a lot.
It's quite fun "talking" with them.
One in particular, Doaa, whose name I can never say right is pronounced something like Dew Eye but stress the eye with a hint of A. Yeah I can't do it either.
The amazing miss Doaa
Anyway she speaks a fair amount of English and is always trying to learn more. We use Google's language translator a lot to get our points across. Now she's Muslim, 20,
single and I'm not. Being as I like to flirt... lol things get
interesting. She's an amazing person and Amanda wants to put her in her
pocket and bring her home with us. In the hotel she's very open and able
to be more social with me, in public however she an Amanda hang on to
each other as we walk about and well... I hang by myself. Here the guys
hang together and hold hands and the women stick to themselves and do the
same. It is what is I reckon. No matter we have a great time. Doaa thinks
very highly of Amanda and mirrors her actions. It's very cute.
The girls out to eat
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar
She has taken us to all the places we would have never found on our own and
personally has made the last few days here perfect for me. From eating at
local restaurants up narrow stairs I wouldn't think of going up to eating
street cooked corn and riding the music party boats on the Nile.
Amanda and James at the local resteraunt
Mmm roast corn
Had some of the bestest chocolate shakes ever while enjoying a licorice shisha.
Doaa and the awesome chocolate shake
Amanda absolutely giddy over her shake and shisha
James hitting the shisha
Also toured the local park that allows you to see most of Cairo and has
really nice cafe's to relax in.
Went to the Khan El Kalili Bazaar which is the largest and I think oldest in the world, showed us how a real Egyptian handles the vendors and just has a good time with herself and us.
Being good consumer tourists at Khan el Khalili
I do wish she could be free of her religious boundaries but I respect
them and acknowledge as much as I can. She's pretty lax about them which
is good. We're really going to miss her, I feel she will be a great
addition to the circle of friends.
I must mention then entire hotel staff here at the Arabian Nights. They
go out of their way, are totally caring and very generous people. I feel
more like a friend than some tourist and that means a lot to me. My
journey to Egypt now feels accomplished and I have learned a lot from
them. BTW... These people being scary and bad is total horseshit. These
have been some of the friendliest people ever. They openly welcome us at
every turn and no where else have I ever experienced that to that magnitude. Far as
negatives.. its like any other tourist trap, in those spots it's about
money and how they're going to get it from you and that's anywhere on the
planet. Knowing that and knowing how to say no will save you a lot of
problems. I'll miss this place.
One last note. Riding around here in a taxi or any form of vehicle is
INSANE! I love it, I laugh and laugh and laugh while riding around. The
lanes on the road don't mean anything. There are no traffic cops, they
don't even drive with lights on at night. They use their horns like
they're going out of style and they're headlights are used to get ur
attention. They drive fast and sometimes against on coming traffic. Yet I
haven't seen an accident and I've been riding a lot. Tons of fun!!!
Addendum: Scored a few Shisha pipes that look awesome, Have gone wandering through a large section of the Khan bazaar and the scope of the place is mind boggling. The city has so much history it would take a very extensive amount of time to see it all. I hope I can come back someday to continue seeing it. We're off to Pondicherry India's Auroville and it will probably be a bit before we do another major blog update. Will do our best though.
<3<3<3
written by  Slade's Elucidation on November 4, 2008 from Cairo, Egypt

Greece, the place we may never see...
Athens, Greece
Well... 10 hour layover and a 1200 Euro fine later we have entered and left Greece. We found out our visa was over by 2 weeks when passing through customs here and thus fined 1200 Euro's which we must pay the next time we come to Greece. Yeah doubt we'll make it back here. On to Cairo.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on October 22, 2008 from Athens, Greece

India - Sadhana Forest
Pondicherry, India
Just a spot holder telling everyone we're in the forest here by Auroville. Will fill in details later. We love y'all!!!
written by  Slade's Elucidation on November 5, 2008 from Pondicherry, India

Home sweet home- for now
Pondicherry, India
We've been in India for two weeks now and Im just now getting around to writing a blog, guess Im not in any hurry since we are going to be here for so long. Then there's that limited electricity thing. Sadhana Forest uses only solar power, so our Internet and computer time can be pretty limited. If you don't hear a whole lot out of us during our stay here just know were not dying of the plague or kidnapped, though we might have been run off the road by one of these things...
Were still adjusting to life here but the past two weeks have been a blast. Weve planted a bunch of trees with the aid of several local school groups, gone to the beach, attended a yoga session, run amuk through Auroville, gone shopping in pondicherry, and risked our lives daily driving two-wheeled vehicles in India. Great Fun!
Im totally getting a moped when we get home, those things rock. And if I can drive one and not kill myself in India I should be OK in Austin.
A bit about our home away from home...
Sadhana is a totally vegan (No animal at all, no processed foods, no refined sugars) community run by a super dedicated couple who have committed their lives and life savings to saving Indias teeny tiny bit of remaining tropical dry evergreen forest. There are 25 or so volunteers here, from more countries then I care to think of at the moment, and that number will swell dramatically in the next few months as we head into the busy season.
We sleep under a mosquito net in a huge hut made of pine, bamboo, and woven palm leaves, fall asleep to jackals, and wake up to Christine strumming the guitar and cooing goodmorning-goodmorning at 5:45. If you put Giligans Island, Swiss Family Robinson, Camp Anawana, and PETA all into a centrifuge, you'd end up with something like the essence of Sadhana.
I need to go help cook dinner so this is all for now, but sometime in the near future I hope to have more written.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on November 18, 2008 from Pondicherry, India

Who needs turkey when you have Cyclones?
Pondicherry, India
To see all the Sadhana and India pictures click on the photos link and scroll to the tags at the bottom of the page.
Sadhana Sunsets
Wow, what an interesting couple of weeks it has been since I last wrote a blog. Let me first say, No we are not in the part of the country where the attacks have been happening. We are however in the part of the country that has been buffeted by a cyclone, but more on that later.
Over the past few weeks we had been trying to settle into life at Sadhana Forest and making new friends. The volunteers at Sadhana are a special breed of people, really the best of our species. Im sure we will see some again after weve left Sadhana, and are possibly going to travel India a bit in the company some really cool people weve meet there.
A couple more school groups have come to the forest and watching the kids enthusiasm for replanting their native forests, and life at Sadhana in general, is rather exciting. It's good to know that at least this part of India's youth will have a deeper respect for their natural environment.
I've learned to drive a moped, on dirt jungle roads and the chaotic main roads of India, which only gets more interesting when its been raining balls. Im pretty confident I'll be able to drive a moped around Austin now ; )
I think I can safely say James and I will never be vegan. Its amazing how clearly your body lets you know its not getting the nutrients and vitamins its used too. Even after eating a big lunch at Sadhana we'd find ourselvs still wanting to eat. Not hungry mind you, just craving more, our bodies way of trying to get what it was missing.
Thanks to those cravings though we've found a couple really nice places to eat around Auroville and nearby Pondicherry. The terrace above the Solar Kitchen has killer cappuccinos and lattes, not to mention the chocolate banana crêpes. Out on the main road, between Auroville proper and Sadhana Forest is a hole in the wall local place that serves some really tasty stuff on banana leaves. I think one of the things they serve are dosas(?) but i really have no clue what we ate there :P I have found a replacement for garlic bread, and I must find a good Indian restaurant when we get home to fufil my naan cravings.
The first week or two of our stay was desperately dry, the monsoon being a month late. Baby trees were dying and the volunteers had to work that much harder to keep them watered and get then in the ground as quick as possible. The past week however, weve had the blessing or curse of a cyclone settling in over the area. A cyclone here is a bit like a tropical depression in the states but it lasts a lot longer. The first day or two of the cyclone we just had a lot of rain, which we happily watched filling up all the rain water catchment areas around Sadhana. We started to get a little concerned when one of the bunds in camp started spilling over into the next, the last one before the bathrooms, little did we know what the storm still had in store for us. The next morning the wind started, and by this time the ground was so saturated that the trees started toppiling like dominos. While in the kitchen making breakfeast we saw the first one starting to go and within five or ten minutes another ten or so trees around the compound had also fallen over or broken.
Attempting to cook breakfeast during the cyclone
Poofy scoping out the damage with James
James and Arya saving the bunds
The intense wind and rain kept up all day, blowing in all the windows around our beds. Everything by this time was damp and starting to smell. Our beds felt horrid and between the wet sheets and the hut swaying all night I got no sleep the next evening. The following morning due to the cyclone and some other issues that I wont go into on a public blog, we made the call to leave.
Cristoff, Jess, James, Myself, and Anna and her kids all left that morning and came into Auroville to stay at the Aspiration guest house. We haven't regretted our decision yet and thankfully were able to dry out our stuff quite a bit yesterday. Only a few items have been lots to the mildew now. Today is the second day since we left Sadhana and the cyclone has finally worn its self out and save for a few light showers seems to be over. There are trees down everywhere, and power is still out but the storm is over and everwhere you look locals are clearing the trees and working to restore power. This blog is being posted courtesy of the generator outside the Internet point :P
written by  Slade's Elucidation on November 29, 2008 from Pondicherry, India

Fun in Auroville
After leaving Sadhana Forest we took a few days to settle into our new digs at the Aspiration community guest house.
The view from our room at Aspiration
The huts are a pretty cool design. Two 'bedrooms' connected by a hall, off of which is the bathroom. The huts are squat though inside there is plenty of room to stand and the hall is half sunken in the ground, very well suited to cyclones :P.
Home sweet home take two
Its a wonderful arrangement for friends travelling together. Even the local dogs love the huts.
Theres...something....amongst the shoes
Tuesday we went for the introductory tour and short meditation inside the Matramindir, and all I can say is wow. Setting aside for the moment the whole premise behind the Matramindir, spiritual attunement and furthering human evolution through the development of our consciousness, I have to drool over the sheer architectural genius of this thing. I'm not so in love with the outside of the building, but the inside makes me want to spurn all the rules and screw the peace of the other meditators by taking in my obnoxiously large camera and snapping photos of every graceful spiral and pristine white marble curve in this place.
Since I can't, I'll try to make do with words.
To enter the Matramindir you first walk past the Banyan Tree and through the Gardens of Unity to approach the Mat by passing in between two of the 'petals' (which are also separate meditation chambers each with a theme and fitting colour) to descend a stone walkway to the base of the Mat. Directly under the Mat, which is suspended on the sides by four concrete 'feet', you see the lotus pond; a series of white marble scoops or medallions that descend inward becoming smaller and smaller until they end at a crystal globe directly under the Mat. The water flowing over the marbel scoops provides a musical backdrop to your approach. To actually enter the Mat you have to ascend a staircase leading into the spheres bottom. Once entered there is a circular hall running around in the inside of the base where you sit on white marble benches on white marble floors to put on your white socks. Around the inside of the hall, is a glass floor so you can peer directly into the lotus pond beneath. Once you have your booties on you pass through a door on the interior of the hall, immediately to your left is a small sculpture and to your right is a circular stair leading up, made of guess what....white marble. Ascending the stairs, the room opens up dramatically. The walls are covered with triangular panels which emit a faint golden red glow. The walls are quartered by four golden tiled bands running the vertical length of the room. In the centre of the room are two stairways spiralling down around eachother (the stair you just walked up being one), mirrored by two floating ramps, spiralling along the outer perimeter of the chamber up into the meditation chamber which is in the highest point of the Matrimindir. The ramps are carpeted with plush white carpet and are fairly steep, making the climb to the upper chamber a slight physical exertion. At the top of the ramps is a foyer of sorts leading into the meditation chamber. Thankfully, there are pictures of the inner chamber :P Go google matramindir and look for the big crystal globe.
We've been to the Mat a few times now, and one of the petal rooms, and not being in the practice of meditating regularly its been an interesting experience for sure.
Aside from going to the Mat, we've been mainly tooling about Auroville and visiting nearby Pondicherry.
The Botanical Gardens at Auroville
Crusing Auroville
We certainly have to get our fill of the place, because we're leaving Tuesday!!!
Tuesday we will be heading to Chennai to board a short flight to Pune India in the company of Jess and Cristoph.
From Pune it's anyones guess :D
written by  Slade's Elucidation on December 6, 2008 from Pondicherry, India

Goodbye Auroville, hello Pune
Pune, India
We leave in a few hours for Pune, no clue if we'll have internet in our rooms there so if ya dont hear from us for a few days thats whats up.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on December 8, 2008 from Pune, India

Back in the ...
Houston, United States
USA!!!
Yep, you read that right. After a thrilling 35 straight hours of traveling from Pune India we're back in the states.
Surprise :D
We're at James's mums place in Houston and will be here through the holidays and Savannahs b-day. We'll be heading back to Austin after January 3, probably the following weekend. Who knows though we may get the bug to drive up for a day or two sometime in the next week or so just to come smother everyone in hugs.
But for now, that's all folks. It is only by some miracle or force of nature I'm incapable of comprehending that I’m actually able to formulate coherent sentences at the moment. Or at least I think I am…
A cookie to whoever figures out first how James and I just had the gobsmackingly fun experience of a 35 hour day.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on December 16, 2008 from Houston, United States

Deli nope... Delhi
New Delhi, India
Bouncing from Pune to New Delhi... Why on earth are we here? Well in about 5 hours we'll be off to our next mystery location...
^_^
written by  Slade's Elucidation on December 15, 2008 from New Delhi, India

The Tale of The Lost Laptop
Katy, United States
It was your average day in the crowded metropolis of Pune, India. Incessant honking reverberated off the concrete buildings as mopeds and rickshaws sped around releasing a haze of smog. Four weary travelers decided to venture forth from their hotel after recovering from the Chennai-Pune red-eye. Food was the objective.
A rickshaw was whistled up and the four climbed in and headed off for the shopping district known as MG road. MG roads by the way are like MLK roads in the states. Every towns got one. After wandering over hell and back again, the restraint of choice was located and food ordered. The four travelers then proceeded to stuff their pie holes with all sorts of tasty curries and a plethora of buttery bread type thingies that seem to make up the south-indian diet.
After their tummies’ cravings were satiated our four intrepid travelers headed back to their hotel via another rickshaw. Little did they know what evil this unassuming three wheeled conveyance had in store for them.
Upon arrival at their destination, all clambered out of the rickshaw and started rummaging in various pockets and bags to pay the man. Not one of the travelers noticed the lonely backpack still resting on the back seat. Someone did though. The rickshaw driver. After hastily grabbing his pay, the driver sped off into the chaos of Pune tires squealing. Not really, rickshaws have nowhere near the HP to make tires squeal, but if they did his would have.
Not long after the bearer of the back pack exclaimed, “Where’s my bag? OH FUCK”, and then dashed off into the haze in search of the villainous rickshaw driver. Despite the valiant attempts of the two men of the party the bag, and its precious contents, were not to be recovered. The travelers were devastated, her in particular. Six months of travel photography lost, 3500 files gone, all her hopes and dreams of poster size prints of aqua marine Mediterranean waters, the topaz sea spray of Galway Bay, the golden fields of freshly mowed Tuscan wheat…gone.
All she can do now is console herself (aka smear salt in the achy hole in her heart) by looking at the photos on which her dreams rested in a CRAPY REDUCED QUALITY AND SHRUNKEN version edited solely for internet use.
RIP my lovelies.
Fountain by World Trade Center
Military Magazine in Phoenix Park
Druids Cave in the Rock Close @ Blarney Castle
Swans and seven signets
Cliffs in Galway Bay
Momma and baby duck on Leith Walk
Leith Walk locals
Firing of the one o'clock gun
Celtic Cross gravestone in Dean Cemetary
She wakes
Meow senora meow
Pretty Geraniums
Roof kitties
Fontana di Trevi
Nice walk
This makes my soul happy
not probable, not impossible, not for case, not unavoidable
The view from my favorite siesta spot, in front of the Mariotti residence
Trove
The 2008 Palio
Frescos in Sant'Anna in Camprena Monastery
Freshly mowed wheat fields
Hot springs bath on MontAmiata
Fluffy butt, think shed fit in my suitcase?
Cinque Terre
Views of the Mediterranean
Riomaggiore
A walkway down to the water in Riomaggiore
Autumns come to the vinyard
I think I have an obsession with this cat
Fall foliage on the slopes of Mont Amiata
Sun sparkaling through the trees in Tuscany
Inside the tomb of Mereruka
Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu, and wives/childrens in front
Cairenes enjoying the park with the Citadel in the background
Sadhana Sunsets
The Botanical Gardens at Auroville
/tear
written by  Slade's Elucidation on December 20, 2008 from Katy, United States

Home home!
In case anyone hadn’t noticed yet or the length of our stay here in lovely Austin was unclear, we’re home home. Like back in Austin finding a house and getting jobs. We won’t be running off to another far away land now that the holidays have come to an end…though it is inevitable we will again at some point.
Currently we’re staying with Ed at his apartment, sleeping in Ben’s former room, grats to Ben on shacking up with the lady btw ;) Providing the planets are where they need to be we will be getting a large place with Heather, Richard and Ed. I’m very much looking forward to living with people whom I enjoy being around so much. After living as we did while traveling I can’t imagine going back to a home with just the two of us, it would seem so isolated.
We’ve been back in Austin for 10 days and so far our return has been everything I could of hoped for. Our friends welcomed us home with both arms flung wide open, and I was relieved to see that we seemed to pick up right where we left off. Things haven’t skipped a beat and yet didn’t pause a beat either while we were gone.
Everywhere I look I see the people I love doing wonderful things with their lives, pursuing their art and taking it to the next level, pursuing new avenues of self expression, and pushing themselves to a higher mental plane by consciously engaging their reality. I couldn’t be happier for my friends.
I’ve caught the hoping infection from the ladies, and smile upon my bruised hips as a sign of progression. This is definitely what I was needing to undo all those huge dinners at Trove.
Many people have been interested to know how we’re adjusting to the reality of life in America, and to that I simple reply…HELL NO!  What I expect out of life now has changed drastically. I refuse to drain myself physically and mentally like I have done previously trying to pursue degrees and a career. I think everyone needs the time to pursue hobbies and activities that encourage personal growth and the expansion of our consciousness, which is near impossible if you live your life in the rat race that American consumer society has become.
To help us along in this journey we’re heading to the Dhamma Siri Vipassana Meditation Center on the 28th to participate in a 10 meditation course. This is an intensive meditation course, we wont see each other the whole time and you are silent with the exception of limited dialogue between students and teachers. If this doesn’t teach me how to make all the chatter going on in my head quiet down I’m a lost cause: P
After we return it’s time to jump head first into creating the lives we want to live now.
Perhaps I’ll write up some reflections on the trip and post em up, but for now just this update on where we’re at and what we’re doing.
A special thanks to all the wonderful people we meet while traveling. Our hosts, our fellow volunteers, and the other travelers we ran into along the way. You restored my faith in the human race and that we have the strength and compassion needed to help humanity along to the next stage.
I’ll probably still update and use this blog, because after all once a traveler always a traveler. It’s just a matter of how long until the next trip!!!
Love!
P.S Soon as I can get them transfered from James's new laptop to my computer there will be pictures and blogs from all the "welcome home" events.
written by  Slade's Elucidation on January 13, 2009 from Austin, United States

Room

View from our Room

Dress made from organic cotton

Dress made from plant fibers

Fashion Art Exhibit

Grass mats @ art exhibit

Building in New York

Pigeons chilling on the church lawn

Statues on Church

Old Grave Stone

Bedroom at the Chelsea

Rainbow outside COSM

Mrs. Grey

Speaker from the BioSphere

Lobby art @ The Chelsea

Wall Decor in NYC Subway

Fountain by World Trade Center

Ground Zero

WTC

Dress @ WTC Exhibit

Art Exhibit @ WTC

Ground Zero construction

Mosoleum

Church in new York by Ground zero

Grave Stones in NY

Street in Dun Laoghaire

Church Bell Tower

Irish Buble Bees

Dart Track w/weeds

Dublin weeds

Heading to the Book of Kells

Bank of Ireland

Dublin Harbor

Seal in Dublin Harbor

Most expensive Coors Evaaar

Do you have any Grey Poupon?

Seals in Dublin Harbor

Quay in Dublin

Statue in Dublin

Bridge over a Quay in Dublin

Jame's dinner at a traditional Irish restraunt

Yummmmmmy

Statue of James Joyce

Internet Cafe

Painting on side wall of Internet Cafe...cant get away from WOW

Cool Building on Abbey Street, think its a Scots Guild now

Cool house in Dublin

Bridge from one part of Christ Church to another

Christ Church

Old Monk Quarters at Christ Church

Royal Chaple at Dublin Castle

St Audoen's from outside the wall

St Audoen's

James by Dublins old City wall

Tomb inside St Audoen's

Memorial to a rich family killed in a Gunpowder exposion inside St Audoen's main chapel

St Audoen's ruins

Guiness TANKER TRUCK

Phoenix Park Gates

Phoenix Park

Cottage in Phoenix Park

Birds walking on the lawn in Phoenix Park

War Memorial in Phoenix Park

It's talking to me

Me laughing at baby ducks squaking for mom.

Big tree in Phoenix Park

Me playing with a big tree

If you sleep on the lawn in a park, and Amanda is giddy, you get little flowers in the ear.

View od Dublin and countryside from Phoenix Park

James by THE Tree

Military Magazine in Phoenix Park from afar

Field path in Phoenix Park

ARRRRRRGGGG

Military Magazine in Phoenix Park

Juxtapositions in the Sky

A Quay in Dublin, by Phoenix Park

Local Raven @ Blarney Castle

Blarney Castle

Stream on the Blarney Grounds

Tower at Blarney Castle

James crawling in the tunnels under Blarney Castle

Yaaaarrrrrr

Me kissing the Blarney Stone

James kissing the Blarney Stone

Awesome big tree on the Blarney Grounds

Tall Fern inthe Fern Garden, Blarney Grounds

Big Shrooms on the Blarney Grounds

Blarney Manor House

James at Blarney Manor House

More cool tree's in the Rock Close @ Blarney Castle

Druids Cave in the Rock Close @ Blarney Castle

Witches Kitchen in the Rock Close @ Blarney Castle

Awesome tree in the Rock Close @ Blarney Castle

James on the Tree Stump Chair

What happens when James has my camera....

Climbing trees, and Mom thought I'd grow out of that ;)

Chilling on the Harp Tree

Lillys @ Blarney Castle

Me walking up to Blarney Castle

Looking out of Blarney Castle

Fern Garden in the Rock Close, Blarney Castle

Cliffs in Galway Bay

Holy Tree in the Rock Close, Blarney Castle

Irish Road Signs

Bathroom Philosophy

The Burren

James and I in The Burren

Abbey Ruins in The Burren

Faery Tree

Me by castle ruins

We were greeted @ Moher with the news someone had just jumped off the cliffs comiting suicide.

Cliffs of Moher

James @ Cliffs of Moher

Body Recovery at the Cliffs of Moher

Swans and seven signets

Belford Hostel

St. Mary's Cathedral

Stained glass windows in our hostle

Bridge over Leith Walk

Momma and baby duck on Leith Walk

Reflections off river on Leith Walk

Leith Walk locals

Me playing with the kitty in the window

Bridge over stream and Leith Walk

Statue above mineral well on Leith Walk

Our hostle (The big pointy thing)

James being cute at the pub

Edinburgh Castle

Scott Monument

Cute neighboorhood by Edinburgh Castle

Statue by castle gates

Coat of Arms at Edinburgh Castle

View from Edinburgh Castle

James @ Edinburgh Castle

One O'clock Gun

Firing of the one o'clock gun

Bug wierdness seen at Edinburgh Castle

Gravestone in Dean Cemetary

Celtic Cross gravestone in Dean Cemetary

Barcelona Hotel

Happy People

Graffiti in Belgium

Fountain in Liege

James at a cafe in Liege

View of Liege

Steph and I enjoying the view of Liege

Stained glass at a Cathedral in Liege

Park in Brussels

Cathedral in Brussels

Beer... what a wonderful thing on a hot day

That's Queso in Spain

Mmm Mmm so tasty and so is the gelato

Oh yeah tasty Lime sherbert gelato

Art is big here

James at the beach in Barcelona

Local parakeets

Nekkid guy in Barcelona

Silly goose

Part of the view

James's gaggle of geese and Amanda

The kitties bed

The weeds in the corn, like children of the cork but worse.

The maize and the house

Local Luncheon

Arc de Triumf

Big art up close

a hotel

The beach

Comfy art bench

James at the beach

Parakeets

The Park

Awesome statue

Drums

The park

The gaggle

My hand all wrapped up after the brush trimmer incident

Brush trimmer... AKA hand chopper

Back of the house

Birdies

Anne and Simon at work

Charlotte, who only has one eye

Mama and baby chicks

Kitties chilling at the table

Grouchy but cute old dog

Out for a walk in Lugo

Me by a park in Lugo

James and I by the wall in Lugo

Another of the big tree

Flowers outside the front door

Big tree with a hole through it

Somethings dinner

Flowers

View from the 'backyard'

James and the dogs

Street market in Lugo

Cathedral in Lugo

Some dead guys...

The Ramparts...aka big wall around the city

Birdies nesting in the wall

Trees in a park in Lugo

Happy James

Old building near the ramparts

Grafitti

Grafitti Kitty

Performer at a local folk music festival

Sophie

She wakes

Sophie asleep on the lep top

The Turkeys

The Goats

Crazy deaf cute old cat

The Wound

Me standing by the window is Art's house

Anne, Art, and I enjoying the view of his house on the Camino route

View from the top of a hill near Anne and Simons

Monastary on the Camino route

Meow senora meow

James and I in Spain

Pretty Geraniums

View of Art's house

Art's stream

View of the Galician countryside

Roof kitties

Sleepy time...

St Peters Basilica

Amanda in front of St Peters Basilica

Statue in St Peters Basilica

Santa..oh wait a Pope

God Beam

Amanda in St Peters Basilica

James in St Peters Basilica

St Peters Tomb

Statue in Vatican Museum

Hieroglyphics

Tomb for Constantines arm

Anks

Egyptian statue

And me

James in front of the giant pine cone and peacocks

Laocoon and His Sons

Ceiling in the map room

View from the Map Room, Vatican

Painting in the Raphael Rooms, Vatican Museum

Down with art up with religious dogma

Ilicit photo of the Sistine Chapel

Posh house in the Vatican Gardens

Vatican Gardens

Circo Massimo ruins

Circo Massimo aka Circus Maximus

Palatino

Us at the Spanish steps

Amanda by the Colosseo

Busted taking the money shot, Colosseo

Arco Di Tito

Trevi Fountain

Statues with hieroglyphs, Vatican Museums Egyptian Section

Mummy, Vatican Museums Egyptian Section

Boob lady, Vatican Museums Egyptian Section

Filthy fountain at the vatican

Heaven vs Hell, Sistine Chapel

Circo Massimo, Palatino in background

Amanda Circo Massimo

The Beach

A flutteryby came over to say hello

James at the Beach by Rome

Plums! These are EVERWHERE around here.

Side street in a village by the Mariottis house

Local Cathedral

Me in Pienza Italy

First view of the Bosco Della Ragnia, a garden in the area

Bosco Della Ragnia

Nice walk

Stone Philosphy

Me in the garden

This makes my soul happy

Satyr's, yes thats intentianly plural

Physis: nature as the source of growth or change

Nom Nom Nom

Little budda we found in the garden

James worshiping the Nom God, Nom Nom Nom

View from nom god

not probable, not impossible, not for case, not unavoidable

Raaaawwwr

Hummmmmm, me being silly

The moon rising

Tiles in the garden

The Shower

James playing with fire

Castiglione d' orcia in the distance

Kitten nomming on bones

Kitties hanging out in San Quirico d'Orcia

Kitty asleep in San Quirico d'Orcia

San Quirico d'Orcia from afar

Tuscan countryside

Kitty parade

Castiglione d' orcia in the distance from Bagno Vignoni

Old treatment baths at the hotsprings

Nom nom nom Mmmm grass

River otter we spoted grazing alongside a road driving one day

Standing sentinel

Rainbows over Trove

Billy my love...

Billy, one of the sweetest dogs to ever live. He has cute grunts too.

Radicofani in the distance

Radicofani

A snake crossing the road on our way up to Radicofani

The tower!

Gun ports at Radicofani

Walking through the woods to the entrance at Radicofani

Entrance to the fortress

Yarrrr!

The tower from the other side

Old ring for tying up horses in the fortress walls

Candid shot of me looking at mushrooms

View from atop Radicofani

Fall foliage on the slopes of Mont Amiata

Don't these forests make you want to go mushrooming or pretend your a gnome? Just me? Fairy Perhaps?

Sun sparkaling through the trees in Tuscany

James at Mont Amiata

Me at Mont Amiata

James in the forest atop Mont Amiata

Me in the stunning forest atop Mont Amiata

Hot Air Ballon over Trove

Giant shrooms, like the ones you see gnomes hiding under

Fuzzy Rocks!

James outside the Egypt Museum

Outside the Egypt Museum

Statue of an Egyptian General

The nile

James and I standing on a bridge over the nile

View of the Step Pyramid from afar

James climbing into the The Red Pyramid

Climbing into The Red Pyramid

Hallway in The Red Pyramid

Inside the The Red Pyramid

Side view of The Red Pyramid

James and I in front of the The Red Pyramid

Inside the tomb of Mereruka

Decor inside the tomb of Mereruka

Me inside the tomb of Mereruka

James outside the tomb of Mereruka

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs inside Teti's Pyramid

Murals of fisherman in the tomb

Milking the cows

Whooo Whooo

Recieving tribute

James and I Inside the tomb

James at Djoser Pyramid

Djoser Pyramid

The oasis outside the Djoser Pyramid Complex

Giving carpet making a try at the carpet school outside Giza

James at the carpet school outside Giza

Camel Jockey

James riding a camel at the Pyramids

James and I in front of Khafre and Khufu's pyramids

Being silly at the Pyramids

Pyramids at Giza

Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu, and wives/childrens in front

James and I at Giza

Riding camels in front of the Giza Pyramids

Gazing up at Khafre's Pyramid

James and I on the Pyramid of Khafre

Upshot of Khafre's pyramid

Chilling on the Pyramid of Khafre

James and I riding camels in front of the Pyramid of Khafre

Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Sphinx

James at the Great Sphinx

Mosque down the street from our hotel

Views of cairo

Cairo traffic

Views of Cairo

A mosque across the City of the Dead

James on the terrace of our hotel in cairo

Mosque in Cairo

The terrace tent at our hotel

Puff Puff pass

James enjoying the shisha

Coughing from the shisha

The main street by our hotel

Views of the wall from Al-Azhar park

Life in Cairo

Views of Ciro

Dyed wool drying in Cairo

Cool fountain we saw at the park...I want one to roll around in :D

Mosques in the distance

Amanda at Al-Azhar park in Cairo

Digging for dinner at Al-Azhar park

Birdy got the grub

Birdy taking a bath

Enjoying Morrocan tea at Al-Azhar

Enjoying a lovely lunch at Al-Azhar

Cool bird we saw at Al-Azhar park

Sun blocked out by haze...sand? pollution?

James at Al-Azhar park

Cairenes enjoying the park with the Citadel in the background

Arabian Nights lobby and computer center :)

Being good consumer tourists at Khan el Khalili

Amanda smoking the shisha

Amanda and James at the local resteraunt

James hitting the shisha

Amanda absolutely giddy over her shake and shisha

Doaa enjoyinh her shake

The Khan el Khalili Bazaar

The girls out to eat

Doaa and the awesome chocolate shake

The amazing miss Doaa

Mmm roast corn

Party Boats on the Nile

Party Boat on the Nile

James and Doaa

Run shami run

Shami asleep on james's bed

view from the terrace at Solar Kitchen

Forest shrine

Birds at the Solar Kitchen Terrace

We are not the only inhabitants of the room

Our 'room'

The view from our room at Sadhana Forest

Oohh Ooh ahaha

Catching a ride to Pondi

Places James doesnt need to be....

Best Cock....

Rajan enjoying a splash in the mud pool with the kids

Sadhana Sunsets

Front gate at Sadhana

Our 'room' during the cyclone

the main hut, floor extension in progress

Attempting to cook breakfeast during the cyclone

Topled trees

Poofy scoping out the damage with James

James and Arya saving the bunds

The view from our room at Aspiration

Home sweet home take two

Anna and her two boys Zach and Jordan

James and Cristoph

"poke poke"

The terrace above the Solar Kitchen

Coffee and Internet, ahhhhhhh

The terrace

Cristoph and his bike

Crusing Auroville

In a skirt and on a bike, what more could I ask for?

Baaaa

Mooo

The Botanical Gardens at Auroville

Sri Aurobindo statue

Theres...something....amongst the shoes

The giant golden golfball on a hazy morning

View across the valley from Trove

A neighboors drive, lines with Cyprus

View of Castelmuzio

A neighbors vinyard

The neighbors olive grove

View across the cvalley from Trove

Hard to tell here but she has huge paws, better for noming

Fluffy butt licking her lips...I think she saw a lizard

Billy and Mary Lou chilling

Billy and Mary Lou

Rain clouds over Castelmuzio

Rain clouds pass over "our poarch"

James watching the storm blow in

Here comes the rain

Storm clouds over Trove

Plowed fields outside Siena

Palazzo Salimbeni, oldest bank in continual operation

Piazza del Campo pre-Palio

The Duomo

Marching to the Duomo

The 2008 Palio

Oca contrade's procession hourse being dressed

Drago Contrade procession to the church

Drago Contrade blesing before The Palio

Drago's horse being led into the church yard for blessing

Drago's race horse being blessed

More or the Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse at Trove

The night of the Palio we were treated to a Lunar Eclipse

Torre Contrade Fountain

Holy Cow!

Torre del Mangia

The Campo in Sienna right before the race started

Ginger Cat

The restroom

Saw-dust toilet

Sleepy James

Veggie garden

Lizard at Trove

Rosemary at Trove

More rosemary

Pears at Trove

More Plums

Prums at Trove

James trying to calm the flams inside the stump

James and Ugo playing with the flaming stump

Baby lizards hatching

Lizard Eggs James rescued

Clean bottles soon to be filled

My project, clean vino bottles

View from a cafe in Montepulciano

Sunset from Montepulciano

Wine tasting in Montepulciano

Ugo and Barbera chatting ing during the wine tasting

Little fox we saw on the way home from a wine tasting in Montepulciano

Walkway in BoscoDellaRagnia

Leslie and Ugo enjoying the garden

James and Karla walking in the garden

Pan

Etruscan god of the forest

Leslie and Karla listening to Ugo talk about the garden

I dont know why i love this fountain so much, but there it is, i love it

Cool fungus thingy growing on the rocks by a fountain

This sign points to a stone with a circle carved in it, you trace the cirlcle three times then sit on the nearby bench to let what ever your own oracle tells you float to the surface of your mind

Sculpture of Pan and a rabbit, Pan looks remarkably like the gardens creator

View of the garden

Sculpture in the garden

Fields of Trove

Ugo and Karla enjoying a drink after a hard day of touring Tuscany

Sant'Anna in Camprena Monastery

No clue what this is but James saw it through a tiny door while walking to lunch

View of the Tuscan Countryside

Frescos in Sant'Anna in Camprena Monastery

Freshly mowed wheat fields

Close up of wheat fields in Tuscany, loved the lines

Bacchus would be pleased

Grapes ripening in Tuscany

Ugo, James, Karla and Leslie in Lucignano d'asso

Raaaawr

Kitties my the restraunt tabels

Leslie enjoying the lunch we were suprised with in Lucignano d'asso

Hot springs bath on MontAmiata

Ancient baths constructed for the hot springs

knocker of a different nature

Menacing knockers

Local Graffiti

And SAKE!

mmm yes quite civilized

Best part of Florence - Susheeeee

David's butt

Amanda in Florence... at the park... with the 3 legged lamps...

Holding the lamp in place for the picture, tried to run away.

Chilling in the Campo in Siena

Facade of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The Gates of Paradise, Baptistery of St. John

Door of the Duomo

The Arno River

James on the Arno river in Florence

Amanda on the Arno river in Florence

Frescos in Santa Croce

Santa Croce

Tomb in Santa Croce

James in front of Dantes tomb

Tomb of Dante

Tomb of Michelangelo

Tomb of Galileo

Painting in Santa Croce

Close up of painting in Santa Croce

Demon boobs, Close up of painting in Santa Croce

Rooftop Firenze aka Florence

The Scar

Freshly bottled Vino from the Amalfi Coast

Trove sits behind the trees right above this field

He's looking for his hooko amongst the fennel

Its a kitten!!

Petroio way in the distance over freshly plowed fields

He was mine for a night

Ginger haz bucket

Theres something wrong with this picture

I dont think its supposed to work like this...

James hooking the water tank back up

Damage done

Mary Moon nawing on a deers leg

Demejion and bottles to be filled

Corker

Wine rack in Trove's cellar

Helicopter refilling after dousing the forest fire

Helicopter dousing the forest fire

Fluffy butt, think shed fit in my suitcase?

Jae mes and I at the end of a walk through through the Tuscany coutryside

Cellar Envy, Gattavecchi Cantina, Mmmmmmm

Mist settling in at Monticiano

San Antimo Monastery

Rain clouds over Tuscany.

Rain clouds over Tuscany. View from Chusi

Full moon at dusk, at Trove

Riomaggiore

James in the harbor of Riomaggiore

Amanda in the harbor of Riomaggiore

Relaxing on a rock in the harbor of Riomaggiore after a long long hike

A walkway down to the water in Riomaggiore

James enjoying the views along the trail

Monterosso

View of Monterosso from inside the ???

James in the WWII ??? in Monterosso

The harbor in Manarola

Birds hanging out in the harbor in Manarola

James in Manarola

Amanda in Manarola

James walking down to the shore in Cinque Terre

Shore of the Mediterranean along the trail from Manarola to Corniglia

Rocks of the shore of the Mediterranean

Kitty we saw while walking from Manarola to Corniglia

Views of Cinque Terre

Sea cave leading into the city of Manarola

Siesta time on the roofs of Corniglia

Vernazza

The boat landing in Vernazza

View of Monterosso from the Mediterranean

View of Monterosso from the warf

View of Vernazza from the Mediterranean

Fisherman and his assistant in the harbor of Vernazza

View of Vernazza harbor from the Mediterranean

View of Corniglia from the Mediterranean

View of Manarola from the Mediterranean

Reflections of stone and waves

View of Riomaggiore from the Mediterranean

The ferry we rode on when going from village to village in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, or the five lands, a collection of villages by the sea.

The hike down into Riomaggiore from the hilltops

Vinyards we hiked past on our way to Riomaggiore

A typical front walk for those who live in Cinque Terre

" So what if i ate all those biscuts myself, now lemme sleep"

Relaxing in the harbor of Riomaggiore

Enjoying a stroll through Corniglia after ab awesome lunch

Washing the buckets

The cellar

Autumn sunsets at Trove

James playing with machines...he does that a lot

Paul James and Barbara trying to pull the grate out

Holding tubs for the Vino

Washing the de-stimmer before harvest

Loading the buckets on the tractor to take them to the vinyard

Harvest time, even the dogs help

Ugo and Paul harvesting grapes

Barbara harvesting grapes

Autumns come to the vinyard

Sleepy grape vines

Barbara and Billy going halves on the penuts

I think I have an obsession with this cat

Mary Moon and Fluffy having a moment

Gota stay sharp

Grapes Grapes and more Grapes

Fluffy supervising the harvest

Ugo and James dumping grapes

OMG it's Vino!

Juicy bits going into the holding vat

James feeding grapes into the de-stimmer