All posts in category Italy, here we come!

Flying with Pets

So, moving to Italy isn’t only a fairytale about delicious food, the perfect cappuccino and beautiful art. There’s the “real” side of what this adventure involves as well. This is a post about one of the less-glamorous aspects….

It seems that getting our cats to Italy is a bigger project than getting us there! We have been working on this off and on for the past couple of months, and in earnest for several days in a row. There seriously aren’t words to convey the exasperation we are both feeling at this point…

Surprisingly, getting the cats “Italy-approved” doesn’t seem to be that big a task (we haven’t done it yet, so I am knocking on wood as I say this, as well as knocking on a table leg [the Italian equivalent]). They need a check-up, to be micro-chipped (they are), basic shots and a veterinary certificate (and a size-appropriate pet kennel). What has become a HUGE project is finding a kosher way to fly them there without killing them. I really can’t go through everything we’ve gone through to try and get the right tickets on a pet-friendly airline – in part because my head will explode if I have to recount the entire ordeal, and in part because I don’t want you to either fall asleep or for YOUR head to explode (depending on your natural tendency). To sum up:

I had to book my ticket separately from Steve because while his school will reimburse his ticket, they will not reimburse mine, and since they’re running about $1700 right now for the summer, I needed to use my American Airlines air miles. What I learned, though, was that American does not let cats on board to Europe (despite being told it was okay, booking the ticket, having to cancel the ticket, and so on) AND you cannot fly with them in cargo (which we didn’t want to do anyway) if the weather IS or IS FORECAST to be 84 degrees or higher (29 celsius) at any point on the trip (which pretty much makes leaving Albuquerque in early August impossible). To make my VERY LONG story short (well, shorter), after 2 days on hold, online, etc., I finally got the right person on the other end (he rocks!) who told me Iberia air DOES let cats on-board AND they are “one world” partners with American, so I can book with miles (which he did for me). Of course, there are a limited number of pets allowed on board, so you have to get them reservations as well (175 euros). So, me and one cat were finally set.

Steve’s ordeal was even longer and more convoluted, and as I write this we have close to $5,000.00 of cancelled airfare on our credit card that supposedly will be credited. To try and sum up – he tried booking on United (he was doing this after I learned American would NOT work, before I discovered Iberia would), who claims (both online and on the phone) to allow pets on board to Europe; Steve booked the ticket and then called to add the cat, they said he couldn’t, he cancelled the ticket. Come to find out – and let me help anyone here who ever hopes to fly to Italy with a pet – Iberia air (with a stop in Madrid) is about the ONLY way to get this done. Seems simple enough once we figured this out (relatively speaking), so Steve calls Iberia, and without rehashing the details, TWICE gets booked (without them explaining) on one of their codeshares with American (who, as you recall, does NOT allow the cat on board). It is only on Iberia aircraft itself that you can have the pets. Anyway, three bookings and an entire day of calls and being on hold later, Steve is now booked on 2 of the same 3 legs to Italy as I, and the other cat is welcome (or so we believe at this point – stay tuned).

PLEASE, if you ever know anyone trying to get to Italy with a pet, send them to this post, cause I hate for other people’s heads to have to explode! Onward and forward…

5 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on May 11, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Italy, here we come!

Tagged airlines, American Airlines, cats, delicious food, fairytale, flying with pets, Iberia, moving pets, perfect cappuccino, pet carrier, pet-friendly airline, United Airlines

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on May 11, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/05/11/flying-with-cats/

The Art of Florence

I actually don’t think I’ve mentioned yet the fact that we are moving to one of THE most beautiful and art-filled cities in the world! Florence is amazing, and I’d like to share just a little taste of it with you (and would love to show you all of this cool stuff in person in the near future)…

It’s actually been difficult writing this post because I know there are so many websites and books on the art of Florence and I don’t intend on becoming an encyclopedia or repeating what you can read elsewhere here. Instead, I am going to point out a few cool things and our experience with them.

Boboli Gardens – when we were in Italy the very first time we went to these gardens (which cover about 11 acres). They are AMAZING! Not only are the flora part of the gardens beautiful, but all around you are really old statues, fountains and sculptures. To learn more/see some photos: http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/boboli_garden.html. We were having such a good time walking around the gardens that we seriously discussed blowing off our reservation to L’Accademia (the museum where Michelangelo’s “David” is) (side note – it is ALWAYS a good idea to buy tickets and make reservations online for all museums in Italy, lest you waste a couple of hours standing in line). We probably would have, if it weren’t for the two guys from San Fransisco we met on our train ride to Florence (thanks, guys, whoever you are!). They went on and on AND on about how amazing the David is – how no photos can do it justice, how it’s something you MUST experience, etc. After a review like that we figured we’d better go (at the time we were thinking it might be our only opportunity – who knew!). So, we left the beautiful gardens, and went to L’Accademia to see:

Michelangelo’s David – the 2 guys from San Fransisco did NOT exaggerate – this is seriously one of the most impressive pieces of art EVER! Before we went to Italy I was not much of a museum person, but this experience truly changed that. Every tiny muscle fiber on David is sculpted to life – and as legend has it, from a piece of marble that all other sculptors of the day (including DaVinci) found to be sub-par. If you come to visit (or are in Florence), promise me you will go see this – you will be awestruck! They don’t let you photograph inside, but here is a link to photos/more info: http://www.tickitaly.com/galleries/accademia.php

Ponte Vecchio – this is the oldest surviving bridge in Florence (circa 1345), and it is gorgeous! The other bridges were all bombed to bits during World War II by Hitler’s troops. Depending on the source, story has it that Hitler purposely let the Ponte Vecchio alone as it was so beautiful (as surreal as it seems, Hitler was an art aficionado). We had our picture taken in front of it, and we purchased a small water-color from the gentleman below (I still can’t wrap my brain around the fact that we are basically moving to the piece of art that’s been hanging on our living room wall!):

The Uffizi, starring Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” – The Uffizi is an incredible museum with countless works of art by famous artists. The piece that spoke to me the loudest (and forced me to continue to return and stare), was Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus.” This painting, from approximately 1486, is a masterpiece of the Renaissance and marks a divergence from the usual Italian art subject – Catholic religious images. As with “David,” a photo cannot do this piece of work justice – both in beauty as well as size (unlike the Mona Lisa, which is tiny, this is huge) – you will just have to come see it for yourself!

And now the coolest part (for us)…. I got us a family membership card to the museums of Florence which lets us in to all of the places described here, plus tons more, for the year without having to wait in line – we just walk up to the members’ entrance! You can read more about the “Friends of the Uffizi” here: http://www.amicidegliuffizi.it/become_a_member.aspx. I can’t wait to put that card to good use!

Moving Sale

It’s amazing how much “stuff” we collect in a lifetime…

We have lived in our house here in New Mexico for over 17 years (wow!). Before I left for Bologna I went through all of our closets, starting the long process of sorting – this goes to Goodwill, this a gift to a friend, this other goes on Craig’s list (hesitantly – I get lots of weird/scam e-mails from Craig’s list)… I was astonished at what was hiding in the nether-regions of our closets – things I had not seen in 17+ years and things I swear I had never seen before in my life (how does that happen?!). Surprisingly, it was actually quite fun! It was both a nostalgic walk down memory lane and, at the same time, a freeing semi-Buddhist ceremony of letting go. More amazing than how much stuff we have is how little of it we really need.

Now that I am back I have picked up where I left off, but with an altered perspective as now I know that it is a HUGE pain to ship stuff to Italy and that our apartment has just about everything we need (and then some) (AND that this is an expensive enterprise, so the more we $ell, the better). So now I weed things down even more – the cookware, the chotchkies, the clothes (hey, it’s a good excuse to get rid of all the clothes I secretly hate but feel obliged to keep wearing!). Some things present a dilemma – specifically gifts. I remember who gave this to me/Steve/us and for what occasion – how can we possibly part with it? Luckily, we can keep some of these sentimental objects here in the attic or the closet I claimed (we are keeping our house here). We are shipping some of the sentimental things, as well as some clothes and other things that help a place feel “homey.” (Steve gets a very small reimbursement for shipping, so we might as well use it).

So, this is really a post about letting go – a metaphorical/psychological “moving sale.” However, to go along with the metaphysical, we will be having two actual moving sales – one now (for things we can manage without), one later for things we can’t (still have to sleep and drive till we leave!). We’re having out first sale on Saturday, May 5 (Happy Cinco De Mayo!) – if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi! (And by all means, if you know anyone looking for furniture, kitchen stuff, a pool table, small art, etc. – pass the message on – THANKS)! A sample:

3 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on April 30, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Italy, here we come!

Tagged Buddhist, chotchkies, Craig's list, house cleaning, letting go, moving sale, sentimental objects, shipping to Italy, stuff

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on April 30, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/04/30/moving-sale/

Photo Albums and other Forbidden Mail

Answer: Shoes, playing cards and photo albums

Question: What are just a few of the things you CANNOT mail to Italy!?

I would like to avoid any additional complications (and costs) with customs than I already learned to expect from my earlier box-mailing incident. As I was informed by a very wealthy passenger on my flight to here (who has a couple of homes in Italy), it is very difficult to get your stuff into Italy (I confess, I used my air miles to fly business class). At the time I didn’t pay too much attention, because she was talking about the kind of “stuff” we really needn’t worry about – jewelery, expensive art, and other rich people things. But after I had such trouble with my little box filled with books and green chile, I realized I needed to pay attention. I have been carefully going through the list of things you are not allowed to send into Italy. It is truly mind-boggling. And while you may (as we did) laugh out loud, this is not a joke….

This is a (partial) list from the United States Post Office’s website:

Albums of any kind (of photographs, postcards, postage stamps, etc.).
Articles of platinum or gold; jewelry; and other valuable articles unless sent as insured Priority Mail International parcels.
Artificial flowers and fruits and accessories for them.
Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.
Clocks and supplies for clocks.
Compound medicaments and medicines.
Coral mounted in any way.
Footwear of any kind.
Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind.
Hair and articles made of hair.
Leather goods.
Nutmeg, vanilla; sea salt, rock salt; saffron.
Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).
Playing cards of any kind.
Ribbons for typewriters.
Saccharin or products containing saccharin.
Toys not made wholly of wood.

SERIOUSLY!!!!! As you can see, this technically means we can’t bring our photo albums (clearly restricted), our South Park characters (“toys” not made entirely of wood), our jackets (leather), our iHome (clock)… and our hair?!?!? What I did learn from the woman on my flight is that you can bring many of these things as personal items (think spare ibuprofen and my running shoes) in your luggage (she was right, they don’t check luggage), just don’t mail them. While this list seems downright comical, there is (sort-of) an explanation… Some of these things are just restricted products (saccharin? [I can’t confirm this]), others are taxed (playing cards), and the majority are things that are or were traditionally manufactured in Italy and they basically use these restrictions to protect their economic interests in these manufactured goods (if you know more about these restrictions, PLEASE post a comment!). From what I have learned, if you send over your own, personal, used items (pair of shoes), and clearly label every form, box, etc. as “effetti personali” (personal effects), you may be okay. Then again, there are entire websites lamenting the loss of items (both restricted and not) somewhere in the Italian postal system… (They make this whole process look so much easier on “House Hunters International”). Will let you know what we roll the dice and send, then what does or does not make it after we arrive!

5 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on April 23, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Culture Shock, Italy, here we come!

Tagged House Hunters International, Italian post, leather, mailing to Italy, playing cards, prohobited items, saccharin, shipping to Italy, USPS

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on April 23, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/04/23/a-shoes-playing-cards-and-photo-albums-q-what-are-things-you-cannot-mail-to-italy/

Our New Home!

I have been writing Part II of my “assimilation” series, but am still sorting out my thoughts. So…

Here it is, the moment you’ve been waiting for… Some information about and pictures of our new Italian home (and perhaps your guest bedroom/bath…?).

Okay, now remember I have already told you this place is a bit old-fashioned looking (and that “furnished” in Italy is an understatement). Just picture this with a few less of the owner’s chotchkies and with some of my photos and our art collected from our travels (and of course a well-placed Muppet or South Park figure for good measure).

Aside from the 4 flights of stairs (which we see as the replacement of our current gym memberships), it really is pretty sweet. It is very light and bright, and the funky layout makes it hip. The owner agreed to install some ac units (a rare commodity in Italy), so we got everything we were hoping for. You can’t tell from these few photos, but there is a weird office space with a loft – not quite sure what we’re going to do with it other than store the owner’s stuff, but if kids ever come to visit they will think it is THE coolest secret hide-out/”tree” house. The guest bedroom (also not pictured) is the top of the building (we have 2 stories – top floor and attic/roof), so it’s got a pitched ceiling with beams (picture every other old European place you’ve seen on “House Hunters International”). The window in that room looks out onto the bottom of the roof deck; the roof deck has 360 degree views – this is my Italian dream place for morning cappuccinos and evening glasses of wine. The big bathroom pictured is on the floor with the guest bedroom (lucky guests); the other is on the main floor.

You may notice that there is an entire wall of bookshelves – with books! I am guessing these will still be there when we arrive and am curious to see what our new library looks like – reminds me of the scene I love from Beauty and the Beast. Finally, the kitchen is nice and well-equipped – just waiting for my Italian culinary skills (or more likely, trying to simulate New Mexican and other hard-to-find cuisines).

For those of you familiar with Florence (or on mapquest), the apartment is in the Piazza Beccaria neighborhood – 2.5km’s from Steve’s school, and just a few blocks away from the most authentic food market in Florence – Sant’ Ambrogio (some info about it here: http://experience-tuscany.thriftytuscany.com/saint-ambrogio-market-in-florence/3346, see short clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbwS8EVN7xM)

If the photos don’t do it justice (and they don’t), you will just need to come see for yourself!

13 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on April 16, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Italy, here we come!

Tagged apartment, Florence, House Hunters International, house hunting, Piazza Becarria, Sant' Amborgio market

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on April 16, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/04/16/our-new-home/

Back…even further!

When I started this blog (yesterday), I had no idea I would wake up with “followers” who were folks I didn’t already know! So, I feel compelled to go back a bit further and explain how we got to where this blog picks up – moving from NM to Italy…

It started in 2002 when we came up with a 5-year plan to save for 5 years, then quit everything and see the world. In 2008 we did just that – and ya know what – the world is COOL! Especially Europe! We loved our time here and have been trying to find a way back ever since.

I’ll skip the not-very-interesting handful of years in between and get us to my birthday this past January. That was the day Steve was in London interviewing at the Counsel of International Schools job fair. As you may know, he is currently a SPED Administrator, but was interviewing for teaching positions all over Europe. He had several job offers and much interest, but as soon as the offer from the International School of Florence came through, all others fell aside – as Italy was our true goal! Nice birthday present, yes? We both love Italy (and not JUST for the food) and it will get us within a Ryan air flight or train ride to the rest of Europe – pretty darn cool!!!

In any case, here we are -with me as the “scouting party” – coming early as I had the time to learn some Italian and find a place to live (and learn a hundred little unexpected lessons in the process).

I share a couple of photos from that 2008 trip – the most wonderful chocolatier in the world – Dumon in Brugge; us in our new country, and a photo from our new city….Thanks for reading!

4 Comments

by Newmexicotoitaly on April 8, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Italy, here we come!

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on April 8, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/04/08/back-even-further/

Back to the Beginning

As Vizzini directed in “Princess Bride,” I shall go back to the beginning…

As most of you know, I came to Italy the beginning of March with two main tasks at hand – learn some Italian and find us a new home in Florence. For the first two weeks I did not know which way was up, and both of those tasks looked insurmountable. Everyday was a test to see if I would stay or take the first plane back. But just when things looked bleak, someone or something would come to my rescue.

For the first two weeks in Bologna I was sleeping on the dirty floor of an American woman who shall remain nameless. I could write for a day just about that experience, but will suffice with a photo of my quarters, below. In sum, I learned many valuable lessons (I usually don’t fly by the seat of my pants for good reasons, you get what you pay for, never pay in full upfront, being a Buddhist about stuff is hard work, everything happens for a reason, yada yada). During the first week I was actively searching for new accomodations and secured (sprung for) a solo apartment 2 minutes’ walk from the school starting after the second week.

Also during this time I kept hitting walls – I had sent some personal items and books priority mail several weeks before my arrival…when I got to school on Monday the box had still not arrived. About a week later, the owner of the school told me my box was being held by customs and I had to fill out forms (this is the first time a nice young man from Texas A&M came to my aid – to fill out customs forms in Italian and say the right things). After submitting the forms, my box arrived later that week, though I had to pay a [tax? fee? bribe?] for the Italian post to release my box. I was feeling rather sorry for myself, but soon realized what a great learning experience this was – we were looking at sending boxes and boxes of stuff when we move – now I know the system, how to fill out the forms, budget for the fee (still don’t understand what that was for), and that we don’t need most of the stuff I planned to send.

The nice young man from Texas A&M (who has lived in Italy for 8 months with his wife and speaks near perfect Italian) came to my aid yet again when my new little laptop got a horrific virus (all that convorting with unknown Italian sites). I was trying to Skype with Steve one night in the kitchen of the horrible first apartment (it was the only place the internet worked, so I could only skpe when the woman was not home, which wasn’t often), and all of a sudden a gazillion virus warning boxes started popping up – needless to say, this was not the first nor last time I would find myself in tears (Skype has pretty much been my lifeline and connection to Steve throughout this process). The next day at school the Aggie took my computer home, wiped the hard-drive and re–installed everything – sooooooo nice and sooooo lucky for me. I was happy at that point that one of the things in my box was a jar of green chile – a fitting, if inadequate gift for my twice-saviour.

I could tell many more stories of funny errors I made and how in the end it all worked out. The many people I met at the school (Madrelingua)- both students and teachers – really made all the difference – people took me under their wing, took me to dinner, gave me advice, etc. It truly made a world of difference. Suffice to say almost 5 weeks later I am feeling much differently and am totally ready for this adventure. I can now “speak” Italian – I can actually sorta talk in 5 different verb tenses and have enough words that if I don’t have the right one I can describe what I mean. I have an Italian cell phone, and Steve and I got our “codice fiscales” (like SS#’s). And…finally, after 3 trips to Florence and learning to navigate the complicated real estate system (you have to pay an agent to find you an apartment!), we have finally secured our new home! It is in an old building in an authentic(i.e. not swarming with tourists) part of town, and other than the 4 flights of stairs, pretty cool. It has a very old/Italian style to it – figure it will be funky/cool with some of our own things, and the best part is the roof terrace and Jacuzzi tub on the attic floor (also the guest bedroom). Apartments in Italy come furnished – I mean everything from actual furniture to plates and pots and pans to pictures on the walls – so you actually don’t need anything, but it’s nice to make a place a little like home.

I am sure I have forgotten some interesting tidbits, so will add as they come back to me. Will definitely be writing more on the food (i.e. gelato and cheese) in days to come. Thanks for reading!!!

NOT our new home: