Wednesday, July 20 Pisa, Italia
Yesterday, we arrived in Pisa. Met two young people on the train. Tatiana was the gal’s name and the young man’s name, I don’t recall, but he was a computer engineer. I must be getting jaded. When I was younger, it would have been the man’s name that I would remember and not the girl’s. All four of us had an enjoyable conversation. Tatiana and I agreed that the train ride is a ride of terror, as she put it. She said that the trains in Italy have the tendency to go slow and many times the lights go out in the tunnels.
We arrived in Pisa, on the late train and finding a hotel at that time of day was going to be a big hassle. We carried our backpacks for one block before seeing a hotel in the distance. We approached the Torre Hotel; the man behind the front desk told us that he had rooms at different prices. He listed the prices and described the rooms. He said, “100 Euros for a room with a bathroom or 72 Euros for a room with a bathroom on the floor.” Immediately, I suggested finding another hotel. “How gross to have a toilet on the floor!” I imaged having to straddle over a hole in the floor. I didn’t interpret “on the floor” the same way the hotel clerk had meant it and the way Matli understood it.
No wonder Matli had looked puzzled. Matli walked to another hotel about a block away, while I stood outside the hotel watching over our backpacks. The other hotel had no vacancies for the night. Matli asked me to reconsider the first hotel and I complained right away, “I am not staying in a hotel where I have to shit in a hole in the floor.” Matli laughed when he realized that I did not understand that the bathroom was on the same floor as the rooms and not a hole in the floor. He laughed and thought that Western Europe was not like some places in Equator or Peru where some toilets are holes in the ground. On one trip to Peru, he had experienced a train ride up to Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, where the bathroom was an outhouse with a hole in the ground. Someone had placed two large metal foot paddles from a truck to use as foot markers while using the hole in the ground. Now that was a hole in the ground!
Matli and I were laughing as we communicated to the clerk at the Hotel Torre that we would take the room with the bathroom on the same floor. In my shame I tried to explain in Spanish “ Lo siento” And “No capeach?” in Italian for not understanding the meaning of “on the floor”.
Either the clerk did not share the same humor or he must of felt insulted by the inference of the toilet being on the floor.
Thursday, July 21
After a good nights sleep I woke up to the sounds of the city. I love Italy! It is so refreshing here. Matli speaks Spanish and my Spanish is so so. Spanish and Italian are similar in many ways. We did not have a difficult time here at all. Not like in France. Oh by the way, when we were on the train yesterday Matli told me in front of Tatiana and the computer engineer that they had straightened out the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I somewhat believed him, asking him, “How is that possible?” Everyone had a good laugh..
Italy is fun. The people here are laid back than in any place in Europe. Before we headed for the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we had pizza for lunch. We ate it at an outside café. As always, Matli got up and went to a newspaper stand while I stayed back eating my pizza. When I finished my drink, I got up to join Matli at the newsstand when I heard hooting and hollering from a group of men seating around two tables. As I passed them, they were hooting while looking at my ass and going crazy! “ LA OOH LA!” one said. I looked over to see who was making all this commotion.He laughed and I did too! Matli knew what had caused this commotion without turning around. Yes! That! Made me feel good to think that this 52-year-old woman still has what it takes to take what they got.
We went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Like most tourists, Matli posed holding up the Tower. El Torre, as they called in Italian, is a site to behold for lack of better words. In fact that entire square where the Torre is located is accompanied with other buildings and a vast courtyard with lush green lawns. It is very refreshing to be there.
Many of the people, including us, would stretch-out alongside the building on the lawns in the shade. Alongside the buildings are booths with vendors selling their wares. There are many things to buy: T-shirts, caps, glass, statues, ashtrays, and etc. It is a good feeling not having the need to buy souvenirs; beside I don’t need more stuff to dust. Matli is always buying for my son, his son’s and me. He thinks nothing of spending big bucks on us, but when it comes to himself, he just won’t do it. Well, he finally broke down and treated himself to a new shirt and a tie. Both pumpkin colors. One of his favorite colors. I bought blouses. I saw a gal who was working as a sales clerk, she had the most beautiful eyes and I told her so. I wanted to take her photo, but she refused because she was working and she could get fired (which was bullshit) if she posed for a picture or two. What looked great on her was the way she put on makeup, like an East Indian princess: Black eyeliner outlined her eyes; her cat eyes. We are enjoying Italy.
Friday, July 22
Yesterday, we met my American sculptor friend Marton Varo (Actually, Marton was born in Romania and came to America on a Fulbright scholarship years ago. I met Marton through a gallery were we both exhibited our art) in Carera, the marble capital of the world. A 15-minute ride by train, took 3 hours by bus. We transferred buses 3 times. When Matli asked a bus driver for directions, the older Italian women on the bus came to his defense and told the bus driver to “Be kind to him. He is a tourist.” In fact the older Italian women loved Matli and were quick to defend him as well as helping him out. I remember in Pisa, I asked a gal working at a deli where there might be a fruit stand. She was telling me of one that had reasonable prices, when an older Italian woman butted in to question why the young girl behind the deli counter was helping me at all! “Let her buy where the tourists buy!” they exclaimed. This would never happen to Matli, That old broad would have assisted the young sales girl in helping him or better yet, she would have insisted upon taking Matli there.
Seeing Marton at his studio made me feel like an artist making history. Don’t ask me to explain, just accept these words. We had lunch, which he organized at a very popular place where many artists from around the world meet and eat. It was a great experience being there. Good company, wine and delicious pasta and fish. I would have eaten a lot more, but I was too hot. After lunch, Marton needed to get back to his work. He was working against a deadline. Tonight we will meet again. Meanwhile, Matli and I stayed at his studio and met the “maestro” and the other artists working on projects. We visited with them as we sat around a table drinking cappuccinos. Later, Matli and I explored the marble quarry around the hillsides of Carera. We walked and walked up to the marble quarries. We came upon a hillside of sculptures; a little village with stone figures created by an old man. He was painting green on some pieces and invited me to help him. That was fun.
evening we met Marton back at the Arco Arte Studio for dinner. Before dinner, Marton took us on a quick tour of the mountains. He drove like a mad man through those dusty narrow roads and dark one-way tunnels. He pointed to marble mountainsides that had been dramatically shaved off. He tired to drive up steep incline but the tires just spun without moving at all. He drove so fast and erratically that I was too afraid to enjoy the view. We stopped at several places and Matli got out of the car and took pictures. Towards the end of our rollercoaster tour of the marble quarries in Carera, he drove through the tower of Carera. He pointed at the colony of adobe houses that he wished to live in someday.
