losing track of days

telaviv, israel.

so i got an email from the vatican that i have tickets to attend a wednesday mass. i have to pick them up tuesday night. i probably have to pick them up early wednesday morning as i fly in tuesday night.

for my entire time in israel i thought i was flying out monday night. so now i have a spare day in telaviv. -- i should have gone to haifa or stayed in jerusalem last night, ah well... i should just go enjoy the beach instead.

disneyworld of the middle east

jerusalem, israel.

k-livealittle described two days in jerusalem as disneyworld in the middle east. all these sites to check off the list. everything has different schedules. lines for a good number of things.

since k-livealittle left, with the guidebook -- i've been going back all day to space mountain... err, via delorosa. the path which jesus took on good friday. its overwhelming to imagine that i would have to be tehre for a month and a half in 2011. believers from every corner of the world paying homage to the route.

over the last two days, people along each of the stations have started to recognize me. that makes it somewhat easier. i'll probably have to spend a week there on a non easter scenario

off to telaviv.

anat and asaf

jerusalem, israel.

funny who you get to keep in touch with after done traveling. two nights ago got to go to a wedding in telaviv of a person whom i met in guatemala. my first jewish wedding -- though i had seen the process happen demoed during random klez for kids and eggroll for eggcream events.

to the dead sea and masada today. two more days w/ k-livealittle and then i'm on my own again.

wet wet wet

roma, italy.

easter sunday at the vatican was wet wet wet. i finally had to break out my emergency poncho that i had in my camera bag for the last four years. still water seeped in everywhere. but it is amazing to see the believers stand in line for communion in the downpour.

so this ends another holy week. i havent showered or slept in days. but i has been wonderful, though maybe i should have stayed in the the warmer drier sicily for another day and caught easter in palermo or something.

now i have to spend my efforts doing research on greek orthodox easter.

ok i might hit up an evening easter mass at a small church before the night is over.

survived

trapani, italy.

survived... 24 hour procession. i am tired. but i'm getting ready to fly to rome for easter sunday. and then to telaviv on tuesday.

not the most visually interesting. but perhaps the most rewarding and intimate of good friday processions i've been to so far.

two processions down.

trapani, italy.

two processions down, about 5 to go. then fly to rome for easter sunday. i'm already tired and my body is aching, hopefully i get a flow going and everything will get easier.

but, the mission this morning -- hair cut.

wonder

I remember a house like a lot of houses,
a yard like a lot of yards,
on a street like a lot of other streets.
I remember how hard it was growing up
among people and places I loved.
Most of all,
I remember how hard it was to leave.
And the thing is,
after all these years
I still look back in wonder.

getting somewhat nostalgic on the way up this hill. i was trying to figure out the reason why i travel. i probably is because of the hyper awareness that i feel and the chance that i can actually remember a moment of time.

a month before i left i got to reading a slew of wonder years scripts and the a week ago a met a teacher at 131 while i was there (ms mund? /sic/ anyone have her). it got me thinking, i really dont have too many particular moments i remember back from junior high.

sure i played alot of nintendo, and uno, and monopoly... a whole lot of monopoly. remember going to chatam on saturdays and then to donnell on sundays. the grand street train was messed up. i remember all my teachers, the layout of the school and each of the classrooms. but those are all habitual, no particular moments.

i am hoping the culmnation of my travel experiences dont meld together like that. the fact is that everything before junior year in uni sorta gets clumbed together with the exceptions of one or two actual moments.

since, at least, i have a tip top meomory. though most of what i remember is in relationship to travel. remember crisply more than half the days ive been on the road (minus hostel names, a handful of meals, and long bus trips -- those really feel the same).

coupled with moments at home that i remember, weddings, the odd bbq, waking up and thinking what did i do, good days and bad days. ive done pretty well with life.

this of course only means one thing. i need someone to talk to because my mind wanders too much.

freaking euro

i was just informed by email about this. euro is at 1.55.
errr...

rainy days and tuesdays

ummm... wow. came up here because i thought it would be more magical to have clouds enveloping this medevil city, erice.

got a late start because it was raining super heavily in trapani. but i manage to just make the bus. when i arrived it was like out of a movie. desaturated cobbled streets and stone buildings. mist covered everything, i couldnt see five meters in front of me.

and it was pouring on and off. the pants were perfect. i grabbed the older jackets when i left, i feared for its waterproofness but it actually held up. my feet were vulnerable, i think some water got in threw the seams of the lace holes.

it was magical. despite being inside a cloud i managed to take little more than roll.

but then 20 minutes ago the clouds lifted. and the sunshine weaved its way into the old city. wow.

so i headed to the overlooking castle to have a peek. very nice.

my visibility went from 5 meters all the way beyond trapani. it seemed like i could walk there, even though it was 20km away.

cinema paradiso

most peple are introducted to the ruggged agricultural landscape of sicily form the godfather movies. my first lookin into the expanse was from an '80s italian movie, cinema paradiso. its really a movie lovers movie about growing up, chasing dreams, first love, leaving and coming back.

it takes place in 50s and 80s sicily. giancaldi, though i cant seem to find any reference to it on google earth except as a suburb of palermo.

looking into the sunwashed stucco around the small towns i can't help but to hum the theme while im on walking around. its from morricone, with other favs like the good the bad and the ugly, the mission, once upon a time in the west.

so on my last long leg in sicily, from argigento to trapani i threw it on the mp3 player just to imagine better how the towns would have looked.

noto

in noto right now, spent the last two days here just bumming around slowly. roman ruins, gelato and sicilain stuff like this and that life is so slow i even got to handwash some laundry.

tomorrow i make a long long bus or train ride to agregento spend a day in the valley of temples. then head to trapani where i will be for the next two weeks or so.

colder than i expected, though i did sneak a look a new york weather. doing much better than there.

east coast to west coast

ok, ive spent the last two days on the east side of sicily, in catania. it is pretty interesting. but now i have to decide how to get to the west. i can either hug the northern coast, the southern coast or go straight through.

and you get to decide which direction

you have until i wake up tomorrow morning.

call me what you want

346 370 6832

do your own research to figure out the country code ok its +39 ...