The Euro has dropped again versus the dollar and airfare to Italy has also dropped, so let's add a few more words to our Italian vocabulary that might come in handy in case you decide to take advantage and book a trip to Italy. Are you listening to the http://www.learnitalianpod.com/ podcast? It's FREE on iTunes and only $14.95 per month to become a Premium Member.
Grande Big (GRAN-day)
Piccolo Small (PEE-co-lo)
Caldo Hot (CALL-do)
Freddo Cold (FRAY-do)
Buono Good (Used to describe food) (BWOH-no) NOTE: If you are describing how food tastes, you use Buono or Buona; if you are describing someone's looks, you use Bello or Bella which means beautiful or handsome.
Cattivo Bad (Cat-TEE-vo) NOTE: If you are describing how food tastes, you use Cattivo or Cattiva; if you are describing someone's looks, you use Brutto or Brutta which means ugly.
Here are some interesting snippets of travel news I've recently come across on the web...
THIS ONE DOESN'T SURPRISE ME:
Given that 66% of Americans are overweight...USATODAY.com writes, "Airbus pitches wide seats as U.S. fliers get bigger" Airbus is pitching several U.S. airlines on the idea of an A320 jet with
aisle seats that are three inches wider than the plane's other seats. Bloomberg news explains: "Adding two inches to one-third of the seats in an A320 would hand U.S. airlines
a marketing tool that they could target at the obese population, which has
swelled to more than one-third of U.S. adults"
Size does matter at the world's biggest penis museum: The Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik houses the world's largest collection of penises and penile parts. The
museum acquired its first human penis in July 2011.
Here is an article from UK's Telegraph from 2008; a recent USAToday article is here and you can watch this Youtube video about the museum.
GIANT BULL HEAD DRAWS DRIVE TO SOUTH DAKOTA SCULPTURE PARK:
Cartoonlike buzzards wielding a knife and fork, anvils and oversized mallets might seem like an odd way to welcome tourists, but Porter Sculpture Park is no typical roadside attraction.
The
vultures representing reincarnated politicians are just a few of the
more than 40 quirky creations originating in the mind of Wayne Porter, who uses his blacksmith know-how and appreciation of history to turn twisted concepts into metallic works of art. The
park's signature piece is a 60-foot-tall Egyptian-style bull's head
that stares down Interstate 90 motorists as they head out to South
Dakota's Black Hills. Porter
spent three years creating the 25-ton monstrosity out of railroad tie
plates, dubbing it the "World's Largest Bull's Head" on a nearby
billboard.
REMOTE BANGOR MAINE AIRPORT IS HOME OF UNRULY PASSENGERS:
From Yahoo.com: Given the size of the place, the name "Bangor International Airport" might seem a little grandiose. But the airport actually gets an outsize share of international visitors. Of course, many of them are accidental tourists who would rather not be here at all. Because
the airport is on the far northeastern edge of the U.S., incoming
trans-Atlantic flights confronted with terrorist threats or unruly
passengers are often diverted to Bangor, population 33,000.
It's the last major U.S. airport for jets headed east across the
Atlantic and the first for incoming flights, and though it has only a
single runway, it is more than 11,000 feet long, long enough for the
space shuttle.
The diverted flights represent a
tiny part of activity at the Bangor International Airport, which is home
to a Maine Air National Guard wing and serves as a busy refuelling hub
for military aircraft carrying personnel and cargo to and from Europe
and the Middle East.
Since
2004, the airport has handled 21 cases in which aircraft had to land for
security reasons, compared with 388 for fuel, 139 for bad weather, 50
for medical emergencies and 49 for maintenance problems, Caruso said.
You can read the entire article here. Now for some serious interesting news:
From Mexico to the Caribbean, AirTran has nonstop service to a variety of
exotic international destinations like Aruba, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The
Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Fly nonstop on AirTran between the following cities:
Domestic U.S.
Cities
International
Destinations
Atlanta
Aruba, Cancun, Nassau, Montego Bay, Punta
Cana, San Juan
Austin
Cancun3
Baltimore/Washington, D.C. (BWI)
Aruba, Bermuda, Cancun, Nassau, Montego
Bay, San Juan
Chicago Midway (MDW)5
Cancun*
Ft. Lauderdale
San Juan1
Denver
Cancun
Milwaukee
Cancun
Orange County4
Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, Mexico
City
Orlando
Aruba, Montego Bay, San Juan
San Antonio2
Cancun, Mexico City
Tampa Bay
San Juan
International flights are operated by AirTran and are not available for
purchase from Southwest Airlines. Checked bags will not be transferred between
any Southwest Airlines flight and AirTran flight.
*Subject to foreign Government approval
1Ft. Lauderdale – San Juan service will start on
05/24/2012. 2San Antonio – Cancun & Mexico City will start on
05/24/2012. 3Austin – Cancun service will start on
05/25/2012. 4Orange County – Cabo San Lucas & Mexico City will
start on 06/03/2012. 5Chicago Midway-Cancun service will start on
06/03/2012.
MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO CELL PHONE TALK:
A new survey from flight comparison site Skyscanner has revealed that 86% of
people do not want mobile phone use to be permitted on planes, as it’s "annoying
to have to listen to other people’s conversations". From travelindustrywire.com: The overwhelming result comes just after Virgin Atlantic announced it would
be the first British airline to allow mobile phone calls during flights, on its
London to New York route. The calls will cost £1 a minute and sending a text
will be 20 pence, significantly more than when on Terra firma, meaning that
business users are likely to be the primary market for the new facility, at
least to begin with. Even though many people welcome improvements in general Internet connectivity
allowing them to jump online in more and more places around the world, there
appears to be a markedly different attitude when it comes to mobile phone
conversations in confined spaces. If mobile use was available onboard, 48% said they would send texts, 35% said
they would surf the web, 10% would send email, whilst only 6% would actually
make and take calls. Furthermore only 1% of those polled said they would pay more to fly with an
airline that offered mobile calls.
Speaking of cell phones...
TOP 11 TRAVEL APPS:
However, for those of you who can't live without your smart phone, this article lists out the 11 top travel apps.
Stranded at the airport? Download the HotelTonight app to book a room only for that night; the TripItapp allows you to consolidate all your electronic travel confirmations into one place; Yelp is a Yellow Pages directory for your phone; want to know the latest currency conversion rates? Download the XE Currency app; the Tripadvisor app needs no explanation (NOTE: Tripadvisor is the first place I go for hotel reviews.) To see the other recommended apps read the article here.
LOVE EUROPE'S HIGH SPEED TRAINS?
Introducing Italy's newest high speed train service: Italo. (NOTE: I'll be checking this out for next year's Italy trip!)
It currently operates two daily round trips over Italy's
high-speed core Milan-Bologna-Florence-Rome-Naples train line. You can read the www.chicagotribune.com/travel article here.
HAPPY 75TH BIRTHDAY GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE:
75 years ago today the Golden Gate Bridge opened. Since it opened in 1937, more than 2 billion vehicles have crossed the
1.7-mile-long bridge named after the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance of water
to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.
This CBS Sunday Morning episode shows some original footage of bridge workers hundreds of feet in the air; back then they didn't wear any safety harnesses. The chief engineer designed the use of movable safety netting beneath the construction site which
saved the lives of many otherwise unprotected steelworkers. Of eleven
men killed from falls during construction, ten were killed (when the
bridge was near completion) when the net failed under the stress of a
scaffold that had fallen. However 19 men were saved by the net; they created a group called Half Way to Hell Group.
Look out for the suicide phones. At either end
of the Golden Gate Bridge you will see emergency phones with signage
letting people know that they have options other than to end their
lives. Although this is a bit morbid, it is an important part of the
history of the Golden Gate Bridge because each year there are people who
commit suicide by jumping off of the bridge. There is even a
documentary, called The Bridge, about this issue. It’s a highly
controversial topic because some people in the city want to erect nets
to prevent this from happening and others don’t want the bridge to have
these nets.
Italy is on a far horizon now, but I am still listening to Max and Jane through my http://www.learnitalianpod.com/ podcast. So let's add a few more words to our Italian vocabulary that might come in handy on your trip to Italy:
I recently visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri which has over 83,000 square feet and 41,500,000 pieces of mosaic decoration in it. Visiting this church reminded me of a hidden gem of a church that I visited during my trip to Rome a couple of years ago.
Down a narrow street just behind Santa Maria Maggiore is the church of Santa Prassede. This 9th century basilica is decorated with some of the most beautiful mosaics found in Rome. The Byzantine-style mosaics here date from 822 A.D.
Santa Prassede was founded by Pope Paschal I in the early 9th century to replace the decaying 5th century church and to house the neglected remains of saints that he had removed from the abandoned catacombs. He also included a funerary chapel for his mother Theodora.
The most impressive feature of the church by far is its mosaics which cover the entire apse,
triumphal arch
and the entire interior of the Capella di San Zeno. The small Capella di San Zeno, off the right aisle, was built as a mausoleum for Pope Paschal I's mother Theodora.
The mosaics over the entrance to the Capella di San Zeno
consist of a double row of mosaic busts with the Virgin Mary and Child, St. Prassede and St. Pudenziana in the inner row and Christ and the Apostles in the outer row. At the corners are four saints. Over the door on the inside of the chapel shows half-length figures of Pope Paschal's mother Theodora (with a square nimbus showing that she was alive when it was made), St. Prassede, St. Pudenziana, and Agnes.
The mosaic is labeled Theodora Episcopa (Theodora the Bishop), a piece of interesting evidence in the argument in favor of female Catholic priests. The Church insists that the Episcopa means just that she was the mother of the Pope, but that could easily have been said more clearly in other ways. Thedora Episcopa means Theodora the Bishop. Above is the Lamb of God on the mount with four stags drinking from the four Rivers of Paradise.
The gold ceiling shows a bust of Christ supported by four winged angels in white.
The mosaics in the Capella di San Zeno are the most significant example of Byzantine artistic culture still visible in Rome.
BASIC INFORMATION:
Santa Prassede is open 07:30-12:00 and 16:00-18:30.
The church entrance is located on Via di Santa Prassede, about a block behind Santa Maria Maggiore.
The main entrance is down Via di Santa Prassede and to the right on Via San Martino ai Monti (but it's not always open).
The entrance to the church is free, but have €1 coins handy to light up Capella di San Zeno. Otherwise it's difficult to see the mosaics.
NOTE: I apologize for the less than quality photos in this post. At the time, my camera was not the best and I was still learning how to photograph in dimly lit places. But I felt it necessary to use my own photos rather than "borrow" someone else's.
One of the great churches in Rome is San Giovanni in Laterano.
This is Rome’s first Christian basilica. This is Rome’s cathedral. It is here that the pope officiates in his capacity as bishop of Rome. As the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, it contains the papal throne (Cathedra Romana), and ranks above all other churches in the Roman Catholic Church, even above the Basilica San Pietro.
When you visit this church, don't miss the Cloisters. The Cloisters, all that remains of the Benedictine monastery, was built in the 1220s and 1230s. Each of the four sides of the cloister is made up of five sections which are divided into five section of small arches. The arches rest on pairs of small columns of different shapes and designs: some plain, solid marble, some twisted spirals.
Many of the columns are decorated with beautiful 13th century Cosmatesque mosaics.
The word cosmatesque is derived from the Cosmati, one of the leading families of marble craftsmen in Rome who created such geometrical decorations in the 12th and 13th centuries. Cosmati work is different than other mosaic work in that it is a glass mosaics used in combination with marble.
Above the arches runs a mosaic band with inlaid marble...
Walk around the covered passageway. You'll see a beautiful example of 13th century fresco of the Virgin Mary...
Other artifacts seen come from archeological excavations in the area surrounding the Basilica and Cloisters, some dating from the Roman ages. The Cloisters also contain pieces taken from the basilica itself, placed out here by Francesco Borromini during his renovation of the church in the mid-17th century. Among the artifacts are a fragment of a small twisted Cosmatesque column perhaps from the Altar of Mary Magdalene, testifying to the age-long history of San Giovanni in Laterano.
A 13th century Cosmatesque panel...
NOTE: There is a €2.00 charge to enter the Cloisters, but it's worth it.
MOST IMPORTANT NOTE: There are FREE public restrooms in the Cloisters!
