Now, back to business.
For those of you who know me, I travel on two things -- my stomach and photo ops. Not for me, I tend to avoid being in my own shots, but for things that catch my eye. Tuesday in Genoa was pretty good for that. The day started out far, far too early with a spouse that was suffering jet lag. After several hours up, I finally went back to sleep, and he eventually did as well. He woke me up at 8:00 a.m., imitating Simon's cat in "Feed Me," (check it out on YouTube), giving our universal sign for hunger. So I staggered into the toilette, got ready, and went to our breakfast.
Not a typical continental breakfast, but not bad! Sweet pastries, hard rolls, swiss cheese, ham, salami on the cold side; runny cheesy eggs, cut up vienna sausages, and bacon on the hot side; and cold cereals. Not bad for a continental breakfast. So Wayne, his iPhone and I settled down and had a good breakfast before figuring out what to do for the day.
Linus had his blanket, Wayne has his iPhone. =]
The day was gray and rainy, so we held of heading out until around noon, when we headed to Da Genio, a "must eat here" establishment listed in Fodor's, and recommended by the NY Times. The restaurant is in the Piazza Dante, about 3/4 mile down the road from our hotel. It was sort of the way on to the aquarium, so we headed for lunch. The local specialty here is linguini with pesto sauce, so I had that as the first course, Wayne had acorn fusilli noodles with pesto. Second course was stuffed squid. The portions are just small enough that the first and second course were filling without fearing that one wafer thin mint at the end.
After that, to the Aquarium! The Genoa Aquarium is the 2nd largest in Europe, and is designed inside to mimic the feel
of a ship. The exhibits range from Mediterranean to Caribbean to Micronesian, with a few land creatures thrown in for good measure. It was fantastic! Plus we
got nice views of the surrounding city from within the facility.
Then we started back to the hotel, using a Google map on Wayne's iPhone. It gave directions in minutes rather than distances since he chose the walking option, and it was just screwy. Walk to the left for 1 minute, then turn right. Walk for three minutes and then bear right to stay on same road. In the rain, which began again as soon as we began walking home, which probably made me walk more quickly.
I failed in following it in the very first minute, going too far. Wonder what length stride it is calibrated for...certainly not mine!
Back to the hotel we went, going the very long way, making our way around the old city in the general direction of the hotel until we reached the Best Western, and the official taxi stand. Wayne pulled out the iPhone again, and kept looking it over as the rain began to pour harder and harder. We were about to get a taxi, but decided to walk up to the palazzo. Lo and behold, it was the Palazzo de Ferari, which was our target from the beginning. From there, a left turn onto Ave. 25 Settembre, and a walk back to the hotel, where we got ready for the pre-cruise ice-breaker.
Boy, was THAT an event...there was wine (red/white/sparkling), some hors d'oeuvres, and about 65 people, to include our cruise organizer. Looking around, I saw that we reduced the average age of those in the room by 10 years!
Wayne and I got some plates, sparkling wine, and made our way over to the bar where we met a retired couple (the gentleman had just retired a few months ago from Apple and is traveling the US with his wife in an RV with a Mac setup). Nice couple, good conversation, could see sitting with them at the second seating.
We parted ways after a half an hour of chatting, and met another couple who sort of faded into the woodwork as we were approached by a woman at least 1-2 inches taller than I. Her name is Janet, and she runs a non-profit organization that brings music to retirement homes and other remote areas. Great job, great thing to do for people! She and her husband Bill (and their daughter whom we met at the end) are out of Salt Lake City. Janet and Bill were...interesting...to say the least. I think they were more than a little tipsy, and the topic turned from Macs to politics. Both Bill and Janet are rabid Democrats of the fiercest order. And scary! Their daughter had just graduated from Cornell, and has a similar political view to mine. Registered Republican who votes Democratic when the conscience dictates.
Yes, it dictated on this election.
It turned very scary when a short, very heavy set gentleman (?) with a raspy voice came over and started shouting about "that son-of-a-*&^%$," how there were no good Republicans (excuse me, Colin Powell anyone?), and how Bush will have had no visible impact upon the American political spectrum of the future (Supreme Court appointments, anyone??).
AUGH!!! Wayne, take out your iPhone and rescue me!!!!!
Which he did. He swooped in, made his parting remarks, and whisked me away.
Hopefully, the other 2/3 of the MacMania crew will prove a little more well rounded than the last 3 we met. If not, this should prove a very comedic blog.
Ciao!
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