Living in Italy - Part 18: Mobile phones
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In Italy, talking on a mobile phone without an earpiece or microphone is punishable by law.
But I am not sure if the law actually has provisions if you talk on one phone, held in your right hand, while at the same time, you set the Email configuration of an other phone with your left hand.
While you are driving.
Let me correct that: While you are driving a bus full of people. In the middle of Rome.
I mean, after all, God gave men two hands, right? How else would you use the spare time in a traffic jam than calling up a helpdesk to configure the "Backke Barry" (sic) Email settings. Right?
Discovered via Repubblica, tipped by @GeoMmm
Read more in the Living in Italy series
Viva Alitalia - This is why the pope kisses the ground after a flight
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As part of the series The Flying Fun on The Road, here is an interesting event to further relativate the "Science of Flying".
When we landed with an Alitalia Airbus A321 last Sunday, the cabin sound and light installation went completely bezerk for the whole of the 20 minutes we were taxiing to our gate. Both the rhythmic flickering and rapping beat in the speakers made it look and feel like a night at the disco.
I imagined one of the flight attendants coming from the back rapping to the tunes of Cobra Starship:
I have had it with these motherf**king snakes
on this motherf**king plane! (oh-ah)
Times are strange (ho-ho)
We got a free upgrade for
snakes on a plane. (ho-ho)
F**k 'em, I don't care. (ho)
Bought the cheap champagne, (ho)
we're going down in flames, hey. (hey,hey)
Oh, I'm ready for it (ho-ho)
Come on, bring it. (ho-ho)
Oh, I'm ready for it (ho-ho)
Come on, bring it. (ho-ho)
But none did. There was no announcement to apologize -leave alone explain-, and no reaction from the flight attendants other than a chuckle.
I guess the fact we were already on the ground, made things a bit "lighter" for all. I wonder how people would have felt if this were to happen in mid-flight. Would they still joke "Ahhhhlitalia"?
Or is this how a cabin looks like before things really start to go wrong...
Snapped: The Finale from Le Marche
Before this site turns into a photo blog, some random pictures from Le Marche. I challenge you: take a car, drive for 15 minutes in Le Marche, and you will find a treasure.
[i-Le Marche Italy]
We got lost there on purpose: A small town called "Force", which had no decent restaurant but breathtaking views
[i-Le Marche Italy]
We got lost there once. I think this was near Montecchio
[i-Le Marche Italy]
We got lost there on purpose. Near Monti Sibillini National Parc.
[i-Le Marche Italy]We did not get lost here. We looked for it and actually found it: Lago di Fiastra
[i-Le Marche Italy]
Force. As the town did not feature a restaurant, we got lost looking for one in the next town.
[i-Le Marche Italy]
We did not get lost here. We saw a town on a hill, and said "Let's have dinner there". It took us two days to actually find the road to the town: Ripatransone.
It think.
[i-Le Marche Italy]
Along the road to Lake Fiastra. We got lost on the way back, though.
Snapped: A French Bulldog in Italy
Black as the devil, snors like a drunken sailor with a major sinus problem, ugly as the night and is addressed as "Ciao bello!" by most Italian women we cross in the streets.
"H", short for "Hercules", our two year old French Bulldog is generally considered to be "cute". I call him "Mr Ugly", or "Mr Pea". The kids hug him like a baby. Tine tolerates his snorring more than mine. He loves to be around us, cries like a baby when left alone in the house, and proud like a peacock (or something), when he takes a walk with us.
He is just a few inches tall, but has an attitude of a Dobermann, and the macho-ism of a young Italian. He is stubborn like a donkey, can play "pull my toy" for hours, jump on his four legs while turning on his own axis and still be clumpsy as a pup taking its first steps, can run on two legs and knows no fear. He often reminds me more of a cat than of a dog.
In short, "H", is part of our family. And he came with us to Italy.
[i-French Bulldog]
[i-French Bulldog]
[i-French Bulldog]
[i-French Bulldog]
Snapped: Sunset in Marche
An inspiring sunset in Marche
[i-sunset in Marche Italy]
[i-sunset in Marche Italy]
[i-sunset in Marche Italy]
[i-sunset in Marche Italy]
[i-sunset in Marche Italy]
Snapped: Views from Marche
This year, we went for a week to Marche, in the east of central Italy. A Friend recommended Marche as "the undiscovered Tuscany", a stretch of rolling hills between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic coast.
The fields on the hills were less spacious than in Tuscany, but no less appealing: condensed fields of olive trees, vineyards, wheat and sunflowers dotted for as far as the eye can see.
Here are some views taken from the house we stayed in.
[i-Our garden in Marche]
Our garden by sunrise
[i-Gran Sasso silhouette]
At sunrise, you can see the silhouette of Gran Sasso, the master of the central Apennines
[i-Apennines in Marche]
There is some magic in seeing the last stretches of the Apennines fading out into rolling hills
[i-Apennines in Marche]
The same view with the olive trees right next to our house
[i-A view from Marche]
A view to the South of our house
[i-View from Marche with bougainvillea]
A view to the next farmhouse, with bougainvillea from our garden
[i-The next village in Marche]
The next village from between the trees
[i-The next neighbour's fields in Marche]
The neighbour's vineyards and olive trees, a typical sight in Marche
[i-houses on the hilltops in Marche]
In many places in the world, people build houses in the valleys, where they are more protected. In Marche, houses and villages are built on top of the hills
[i-fields in Marche]
A typical view of Marche: small fields, one next to the other.
[i-The neighbour's fields in Marche]
Olive trees, vine yards, olive trees, vine yards, olive trees,...
Snapped: Sunflowers in Le Marche
Last year, I published a series of sunflower shots from Tuscany. Here is a followup from Le Marche, on the Italian east coast.
[i-sunflowers in Le Marche]
[i-sunflowers in Le Marche]
[i-sunflowers in Le Marche]
[i-sunflowers in Le Marche]
Snapped: Sunset near Perugia
Impressions from a sunset near Perugia, Center Italy.
[i-sunset near Perugia]
[i-sunset near Perugia]
[i-sunset near Perugia]
[i-sunset near Perugia]
[i-sunset near Perugia]
Snapped: Orbetello
Many people come to Rome, and stay in the city. They miss quite a few stunning sights in the area, though.
About two hours drive from the center for Rome, you'll find the peninsula of Orbetello, which I featured in some posts before. Orbetello gives an amazing view towards the mainland, and the islands of Elba and Giglio.
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Snapped: Lunch on the beach
It is sizzling hot here in Italy. The best place to get a refreshing breeze is... on the beach.
We love to just drive off, and see where we end up. This time, we got lost somewhere a 100 miles north of Rome, on the coast. We found a small stabilimento in what must have been the southern part of Tuscany.
"Stabilimenti" are the Italian version of "beach resorts". Some are just wooden shacks on the beach, nothing more than a bar which rent out beach chairs and parasols. Others are more luxurious settings with a swimming pool, renting surf boards or canoes... but always much lower key than in many other countries. And there are thousands of them.
All in the Italian tradition: if they offer food, you will not find hotdogs or hamburgers, but fresh sea food, salads, fruit.
Some pictures from lunch from a stabilimento we ended up in:
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The setting...
[i-Lunch%20in%20Tuscany]
A view from our spot.
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The breeze.
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The view from within the stabilimento offers different frames as if in a movie set.
[i-Lana%20in%20Tuscany]
Lana, 15 now...
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And Hannah, turning 13!...
Snapped: Dinner in Fiumicino
It is that time of the year: evenings on the beach!
There is a small shack on the beach in Fiumicino, near Rome. Nothing more than a wooden structure, few square meters of covered space, and a deck. But Stefano serves one of the best dinners around.
A typical Italian setting: low key, limited choices, but fresh. And in a idyllic setting, facing west, over the Mediterranean.
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Dinner on the deck
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A view of the sea through the restaurant.
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A significant sign.
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Sunset as we had aperitivo...
Snapped: Sunset near Rome
[i-Sunset near Rome]
Last year, I started a series of posts on The Road, which I called The Snapped Series, "Mobile phone shots from the hip". They evolved from pictures taken with my crappy Nokia mobile phone to shots taken with the iPhone I got for my birthday.
I was amazed of the iPhone picture quality and got hooked on taking shots as I went along "on the road of life".
One thing lead to another, and the phrase "Shot from the Hip" let to the birth of a separate website, where I posted these pictures, soundbytes, short videos. All taken randomly, and posted via Email from my phone. For the nerds amongst you, I explained in this post how to do that.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I will resume posting a selection of these shots here on The Road. I will start with this one, as there is a sweet story connected to it:
A little girl and her dad watched a sunset.Read the full post...
After the sun went down, the girl asked:
"Daddy, can you do that again?"