Happy New Year!!

Kim and I survived. And we even get diplomas! The experience was amazing. In fact, everything so far has been. We dog sledded this morning and did a New Year’s procession to the local town church where we were treated to trumpet, singing, and chimes music.

The ice bed was actually much better than expected. Going to bed was easy. At some point in the night, I needed … umm … use the facilities, but simply held it back. It got a bit cold by morning too, even with the promise of a constant -5C at all times. Morning brought a friendly hello and some warm Lingenberry juice, followed by a RUN to the changing rooms. It was COLD, -15C outside.

The dog sledding was the BEST. We were on the sled for about an hour, with a mid-point coffee break and story-telling by the drivers. The dogs were so cute, and excited again by the time it was time to go again.

Here’s some pictures. More will pictures to upload soon. More now in the full album here.

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We’ve successfully made it to Sweden, and at 10am this morning we head north! Yesterday went well. We arrived to Stockholm around 3pm, with the sun just setting behind a veil of clouds and spitting rain. Despite the dreary weather, the city itself was alive and vibrant and beautiful. Immediately upon arrival, we got an upgrade at the hotel, and the room is amazing. The theme is colored lighting, to make up for the lack of light provided by nature. And as the pictures will show, it’s beautiful. Kim and I took a stroll along the waterway and over into Old Town. I got my magnets, as required. The hotel arranged for a wonderful dinner, and even pointed the way to some gay night clubs. We got to bed around 3am after a night of dancing.

Next up, the key event. The Ice Hotel.

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3523 *Tonight is my last night in Rome. And last night in Italy. I’ve probably walked 100 miles, and trained it at least 500. My legs are a little worse for the wear, but at least I’m not putting on pounds from the pasta and the gelato. Oh my the gelato! I’ve had enough pizza now, and broken down to hit the McDonald’s a couple times for some comfort food.

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3527 *Rome by far has been the most interesting. I celebrated Christmas with the Pope, in 60 languages. I sat and had lunch in the shadow of the Pantheon. I watched cats play among ancient ruins. I’ve even done laundry and had Indian food in this, the Eternal City. It has been a fantastic trip, so far. And there’s more to come!

Sights on the list:

• Colosseo
• Pantheon
• Basilica of St. Pietro, Vatican City
• Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
• Musei , Vatican City
• Castel Sant’ Angelo
• Piazza del Popolo
• Villa Medici
• Circo Massimo
• Piazza della Repubblica
• Piazza Navona
• Monumento a Vittoria Emanuele II
• Area Sacra
• Fontana di Trevi
• Trinita del Monti

…and too many other piazza’s and other buildings to list. The only key absence is the Forum and Palatine Hills. Those will have to wait for the return trip.

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* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3563 *Our hotel in Florence was the Westin Excelsior, with one of the more gorgeous rooms I’ve ever seen. Apparently as a marketing ploy, Westin names their beds as “Heavenly”. Well, from pure asthetics, yes. Comfort, no. Regardless, this was amazing.

More photos have been added in the photo album.
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Here you see me watering down my lungo to my liking at one of my first pizzeria stops in Milan. I’ve actually managed to keep the pizza-eating down to only a few times.

So far I’ve uploaded NYC, Milan, Como/Bellagio, and Florence – at least from my camera. I have pictures of Rome to come, and all the pictures taken by Kim, once we figure out how to get them off her camera. She left the cable at home in Milan, unfortunately.

Authored at December 22, 2007, 4:15pm local time

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3367 *After seeing the Da Vinci, I changed itineraries and decided to head to Como, about an hour north of Milan, under Kim’s recommendation. It’s a smaller town at the southern tip of a two-pronged lake up in the mountains. The pictures show the beauty.

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3382 *Como is also the home of Alessandro Volta, the creator of the battery, among other inventions. As such, they have a museum in his honor, which was quite interesting, at least to me with my engineering background.

After the museum, I took a ferry up to Bellagio about half-way up the lake. The town was mostly closed up, but I enjoyed my first Italian espresso and wandered on foot through cobblestone alleys and stairways, to find some breathtaking panoramas. Click on the little thumbnail here to see what I mean.

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Originally authored at December 22, 2007, 4:15pm local time, updated on December 26, 2007, 10:24pm local time

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3460 *One of the strange things I’ve noticed, exclusive (I hope) to Christmastime in Italy is the hanging Santa. I’m not sure why, but every few houses, there is a Santa hanging from the gutter, or on a ladder, or simply on the wall. He’s facing away from the viewer, so all you see is his back and dangling legs. For whatever reason, it’s the decoration of choice, and frankly, it’s ugly, and much akin to the blow up lawn ornaments of suburban America. Sadly, I have not seen the last of them.

Authored at December 22, 2007, 4:15pm local time

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3352 *After a night out with Kim’s coworkers for “happy hour” at Noon (which by the way is more about free food than discounted drinks…enough food to substitute for dinner, as well) near the Cardorna station, the next order of business was an 8:15am appointment to see Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Waking at 7am after a night of drinking and still dealing with the jetlag somewhat is not particularly fun. Regardless, I made my appointment and enjoyed my five minutes of historical viewing. It was actually pretty impressive, and I was impressed with the master of perspective. As a bonus, they had on display works from Warhol’s Last Supper collection.

Those who have been here will recognize the building here at the Santa Maria delle Grazie church housing The Last Supper.

Authored at December 22, 2007, 4:15pm local time

* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 3394 *As I write, I’m on an old train with Kim, heading from Bologna to Florence (Firenze). Today has been a bit of a hectic day. After sleeping in, we attempted to get tickets for the trip from Milan to Florence only to find that the system was sold out. Instead, we ended up with tickets with three necessary changes, and more than that, it left in one hour. So, we stuffed all our stuff into suitcases in a hurry, hopped a taxi to the station, then made our first train to a small town named Fidenza, switched off to Bologna, where we leisurely stopped for lunch awaiting our train to Florence. At five minutes to departure, we then realized we were on the wrong platform and had to run down to the “far, far, far” platform (said in Italian of course, by a nearby attendant). Panting and frazzled, we made it with a couple minutes to spare.

The picture is Kim in our train car on the last leg to Firenze from Bologna.