departure, jet lag haze, & bergamo

Flying is so much easier now with the e-ticket system. After printing out my ticket at home, all I had to do was input the e-reservation number and a person came by to ticket my bag. I did much better this year with packing - my check in weighed 28 or 29 pounds, my carry on weighed 20 pounds and my small backpack weighed 9 pounds. I think this is the lightest I have ever traveled! All went smoothly in departing from Honolulu. The flight was on time. I sat next to a friendly guy who now lives in Ireland. Interestingly, he also is not a fan of flying. As I took my ativan before the plane took off, he took his zantax (think that is what it is called). I was able to sleep at least half of the flight.

I spent 5 hours wandering most of Newark, mainly because my connecting flight gate was listed on the board as a gate located at the other end of the airport but once I got there, I found out that they changed gates and my flight now was departing from a gate one gate away from the original gate I arrived at and so I walked all the way back through the airport back to the point where I started. Unfortunately I was not as lucky on this flight as I sat next to the crabbiest guy who said not one word and was not happy at all whenever I had to get up to go to the bathroom.

The flight was over booked and so a bargaining session began as Continental begged 3 people to give up their seats and take the same flight tomorrow with hotel accommodations and $500.00 coupon for a future flight. This went on for a while and with no takers the price slowly went up. I would have considered it if they were offering a first class ride the next day but I didn’t feel it was worth it for all the extra hassle. The final price was $900.00. Because of needing to “kick” 3 people off the plane and then because of some "baggage problem", we sat on the plane for an hour before departing.

I arrived in Italy 23 hours after departing from Honolulu. It was about 8:30 am Wed. morning (8:30 pm Tues night Hawaii time) when I arrived. There was no line at the passport control spot, the baggage came out pretty quickly and the bus was ready to go when I went outside. I took a bus to the train station in Milan and then a train to Bergamo. From the train station in Bergamo, I took a bus to the funicular and then the funicular to Bergamo Altà (the historical part of the city which is above the modern part of the city.

This was my second time in Bergamo. Last year I spent the morning in Bergamo while Katia went to a conference for work. I had such a nice time that I decided to return this year to have a little more time to explore.

I was pretty jet lagged when I arrived, so after about an hour of wandering the town, I took a long long nap. I woke up 5 hours later, just in time for dinner.

(2 pictures taken in Piazza Vecchia - 2 different ends of the piazza)

(Bergamo sweets)

The second picture is a picture of the famous Bergamo polenta cakes or "polenta e osei". I wasn't sure if I would like them but they were delicious!!

The following day, I spent some time wandering the town and then I took the funicular down to the lower city. After walking for a while, I found a great street with tons of stores.

(the lower town)

I only took a couple of pictures of the lower town as I was too busy looking in the shops.  After grabbing a bite to eat, everything shut down for the afternoon, so I headed back up to my hotel. I took another long long nap and woke up again just in time for dinner.

On the way back to my hotel after dinner, I noticed that the Duomo was lit up. I went to take a few pictures and saw that the church was open. There were only a few people inside and I thought it was quite strange that the church was open so late at night (it was about 9:30 or so).

After taking a few pictures, I started heading back to my hotel and noticed a policeman blocking traffic at an intersection. I looked up the side street and saw a procession heading towards the intersection. It was a procession of priest, nuns, townspeople, and at the end, the more important priests dressed in red and one older man with an important hat.

After they all walked by, everyone watching followed. I also followed and watched as they all proceeded to enter the church. The entire time, everyone was singing the most beautiful songs.

(blurry with no tripod but captures the moment)

Inside the church, there must have been at least 1000 people. It was the festival of celebration of the church, which I believe happens once a year. It was very interesting to watch and also very moving. There were a few prayers and more singing and then it was over.

I went back to my hotel and caught the end of the Sweden Paraguay game (World Cup or Monidiali di Calcio). It was pretty exciting as Sweden got a goal to win 1-0 right at the end of the match and I don’t think they were expected to win. It was a pretty dramatic goal.

My hotel was convenient, clean, and comfortable for my 2 night stay except for the loud noise that went on outside my hotel both nights until about 3 am. My room was decorated with photos of Hawaii!!

Bergamo is a lovely little town and a perfect way to spend the first couple of days in Italy.