On the Road Again

Its been nothing but sunny and fair (with a breeze - in the sun, HOT) all week.. Today we check out and need to stand with our bags and wait for a bus... And its pouring rain. Good news is that its kind of like Florida rain, it lasts for 10-20 minutes at a time. But it makes it sticky and gross.

Before we left, Amy had a few more encounters with our friend Alesio. He's taken a liking to her and has taught her how to say that "I'm sending kisses to you" in Italian. He's the only member of the entertainers that knows even a little English, and I think he looks out for us a little. They saw him at the pool - and he said, "Look, Mitch Buchanan..". HUH?? "David Hasselhoff." Ahhh... Baywatch. Italians love David Hasselhoff. :)

Later, we saw him looking in the mirror at his backside (which is really a one way glass to an office) - he said, "Sorry I have to watch my ass. I have sweaty ass.". (And he did, looked like he wet himself) Patti said "TOO MUCH INFORMATION) .. "Sorry, I don't have another word for ass...". We tell him "butt"... He likes it... "Ah ass butt..". Well no, just one or the other. But we didn't tell him. Amy asked for a translation to a song that seems to be their theme song - just like Dirty Dancing has the Kellerman's song... At the beginning of the day and at the beginning of each activity they play this song and there is a big dance to it. Its mixed with "I will survive" and "YMCA", but the rest is Italian and sounds like a tune the Wiggles might sing, catchy but poppy and silly. We've been hearing it many times every single day - and all the kids there know the dance. If they play it at the pool, they'll all get out and do the dance on the edge of the pool. We even made up our own words to it... Patti sings "Someone can drive"... "No one can lie".I say, ."Osama Bin Live"... And they there's a "Heeeey, quanto, quanto" (we made that up to). Amy asked Alesio for a translation, and it basically says "Hey everybody all listen to us, we're not normal - heeeeey, something, something". And that fits with the dance, I'll see if we can upload video at any point. The blog says we can, but I'm not sure of the size limits.

Had a little lunch at the compound - they have plastic covers for the lunch trays which was something we'd never seen before. Its like a regular compartmentalized cafeteria tray, but then they add a plastic liner with the same mold. There was a ton of food - pasta, pizza rolls, green beans, and some strange meat that was like pot roast (or a choice of fish), and a roll of fried spanish rice and cheese. We got a coke (no refills and no ice) you get a choice between either "big or small".

Through the timeshare we're supposed to stay from Saturday to Saturday - so they were a little surprised that we checked out early. I think they're just so shocked that we don't love the place. But there was another English speaking person there (we call him Colonel Sanders because he has shock white hair in the same style). He's from Buffalo NY, and he was also on the timeshare website today, so maybe its not what he expected either.

We took our bags out to the bus stop - and it was right on time today! The bus costs only .80 to get us to the train station compared to 20euro (or 5 euro each). The bus here is more like a taxi, it picks up people anywhere along the route if you hold your hand out, and it will go off route to take you where you want to go. We got on and asked for the tren statione, and the driver takes us directly there, right to the door! What?? Cool and crazy.

There was an energetic young Asian woman from China who helped us at the station (to find the right track). She's a talker. She didn't have any bags, but had been in town since 12, because she met a "nice cute young Italian boy" who took her to the beach and to get something to eat, and then back to his place for "siesta". She said "it is great to be a woman! (and laughed loudly and flung her head backwards) YOU know what I mean!". Ummmm... Well we know what you mean, but not in the way that you're implying. We are not sleeping our way across Europe. The Italians that give us catcalls are all old men.

We were waiting for the 4:48 train... Its now past 5:00. 5:10...okay 20 minutes late, not bad. Everything on Italian time, my friend. No rush. The train fare is only 2.60 Euro - compared to 100 for the shuttle... What a bargain. Wish we would have known about that on the way down.

We get to Bari and we're a little lost. We land at a platform and everyone is flooding down one set of stairs. We follow and find an alarming lack of signage. After a few flights of stairs, up and down through hot and humid hallways with no ventilation, we're moist. But we finally find a place that looks familiar, an exit! Yay!

Jon had told us that there was a place we could drop off our bags - Since it was only about 6 and our train didn't leave till 12, we wanted to store them for a while and explore Bari. We went all over that place and couldn't find anything... Asked at the counter and no English, but Amy thinks he understood me because he pointed in the direction that we would eventually find the place, I just didn't trust it because there was no comprehension.

So Amy and I we went across the piazza and asked at the tourist center while Patti and Dana watched the bags. The lady there spoke English and said it was just in and to the left, its "clearly marked"... So we go in and left - and see a suitcase in a box on one of the signs... (Step one, cut a hole in the box; step two, put your bag in the box...). Clearly marked. Yep. As long as you know what you're looking for - a bag with a square drawn around it.

There is a guy sitting crossed legged outside the door - and he's angry. The door is locked and he needs his bag. The guy finally comes back - and we get in too. Its 8euro each for 2 bags each and we have to pick them up by 11. Okey dokey. We found a cool place to sit and bought some snacks so we could sit longer - and because "Snack is Fun"... Hmmm. Interesting translations.

Walking around Bari found some cute shops and a little Borders type bookstore. All the books were in Italian of course - found "Catcher in the Rye" which they call something else. And I bought some cute ceramic gelato spoons that I thought were small enough to carry, but would remind me of Italy. There was also a huge rack of bookmarks with quotes on them, all in Italian. We bought them based on color and the person quoted (I got Jimmy Durante and Groucho Marx) - we're going to type the quotes into Babelfish later and see what they actually say. :).
We kept walking around, down to the sea - its like a small town with a city feel. The opposite of Kansas City, which we call a big city that feels like a small town... As it got to about 8pm the shops were closing and we started walking back to the train station to find food and a place to sit and kill time. And we found a McDonalds. Guilty. But it was nice to have a McRoyal Deluxe and a grande coca-light. We sat there for like 2 hours, just chatting in the AC and people watching.

Some observations about european McDonalds': They're big, two stories, lots of seating - and they all have one, one stall bathroom. And its nasty. Patti just went up and it was locked, and she heard whimpering and a horrible smell emanated... But the breakfast menu is completely different, they have nice pastries and cappuccinos. And they have fried shrimp, and a seasoned fries (they give you a "shake" bag and paprika and you add your fries and the packet and shake, shake, shake). But the teens hang out here just like at home - its universal. Also, lines don't mean a thing here, you're supposed to just wander up past people - its an art form.

We walked back and retrieved our bags - paid for the toilet because of the nasty McDs toilet... And now we're sitting on a bench at our platform waiting for our train. I was a rebel and didn't wear the wrist band often, but the others are feeling phantom wrist bands.

We're ready for bed... I mean train.. Sleeping on the midnight train to Pisa (sing along Pips)... The midnight train to Pisa... Yah, that midnight train to Pisa...wooo, woooo...

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