Sardegna

This past Spring my friend Angela said she wanted to take a "real" holiday this August and spend a significant amount of time in Italy. Without hesitation my reaction was "done and done".  A couple reasons ... first, Angela is Italian and if anyone knows how to do it, she does. Secondly, upon moving here in July two years ago I quickly learned that several mainland European countries literally shut down in August ... the entire month ... like turn the AC off, lock the doors, close the office holiday  ... for a month.

Startling indeed ... totally brilliant!  To be honest even my 10 day jaunt was met with a bit of a raised eyebrow from the southern European folk, like "haven't you learned YET how to holiday?". Guilt-free holidaying is superb.  And the inbox was delightfully easy to manage since everyone else was doing the same.

So, we decided on Sardegna (Sardinia in American).  That's the big island the boot kicks into the Mediterranean :-). It was to be a girls trip ... big house, people can come and go as they please.  Most of the time we were five or six, a couple nights we were seven, but despite flying in from different ends of the world we certainly had the single, successful woman thing in common.

Judging by the 400 photos I took, the majority of this trip was about turquoise waters, sun-tanning, good food and wine, and {not in photos} girl talk.  Precisely what was needed.

Kara and I hit three locations on the island.  First night we went down to Cala Ganone to see the East Coast, and woke up to meet Amy to take a boat ride along the coast to visit the beautiful Cala Luna beach complete with steers sipping out of the pond between us and the lovely canteen.

Then, up north to Porto Cervo to meet up with the clan in our three bedroom house (complete with stunning blue pool ... and its own kids!! .. yes, that is sarcasm).  Seriously though, the house was beautiful.  Patio, grill, locally made rugs, quiet, and on most nights pleasantly breezy.  Seven nights.

When I mentioned to my aforementioned co-workers about going to Porto Cervo they snidely commented about me being over-paid, as the area is known as being the port for the most exquisite yachts around the world ... like Monaco or Nice.  Google images of this location bring up move stars and the like.  Meh.  Ok, yes, there were some big boats someone more interested in that arena may drool at, but that really was the least of my interest.

We had a couple cars, so we drove around from beach to beach to beach.  The area is quite secluded, so it was necessary to do the research to find the best places to go.  Most beaches are on small, cliff-side roads with the only indication of their presence being a group of cars parked along the way.

The highlight of the trip for me was chartering a sail boat to take us out amongst the smaller islands offshore.  There you could truly experience the undisturbed waters, glowing brilliantly, so clear our crew was literally inspired to conduct a full synchronized swimming routine while chiming the words to "So, Call Me Maybe".

For the last two nights we headed straight West to Alghero.  I larger, historic port town with winding cobblestone streets lined with coral jewellers and gelato shops.  We stayed at a small hotel, from which we wandered to find delicious restaurants perched on the city wall overlooking the most amazing sunsets of the trip. Known for its lobster and red wines, we partook in the local luxuries.

There were so many memorable moments, like the stressful manipulation of the car onto the ferry to cross to the Maggalena island, Amy's wind-surfing adventure, grilling amazing seabass at the house, swimming challenging distances to see schools of fish circle a distant boulder, fur coats for thousands of dollars at a street market, the ladies plunging off a 20ft cliff into the sea, crispy local white Vermentino wines, clubbing it on a beach at sunset, lobster, fresh fish, salami, Pecorino, bread, cookies, nutella ...

I could go on and on.  Laughing, hugs, new friends, best tan ever ... {so freaking happy right now}.

<< Slide show of course >&gt;

The Olympics ... here ... in London!

I have been considering my Olympics posts now for quite some time.  In part my delay is a result of wanting them to appropriately capture the vibe of it all and conversely because I simply have been spending my spare time catching up on all the events on bbc.co.uk instead !

My Olympic buzz has been a slow burn.  I am not traditionally a huge sports fan on the regular, but I have always been into the Olympics, especially women's gymnastics.  It started to flicker when the torch relay passed within blocks of my flat, sprinted into a crescendo when I was surprisingly offered last minute tickets to watch the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony, and may have hit pinnacle as I sat in box seats at the women's gymnastics team finals. (woot!)

The city is buzzing!  Most Londoners are either gone or not leaving the house, so as you cruise the streets or ride the tubes you most often are surrounded by excited visitors, Olympic volunteers in full costume, and if you're lucky a genuine athlete wearing their medal!  Its actually quite pleasing.

Many of the countries are hosting "houses" where they welcome visitors to express their local culture, food, and drink, so the city is donning flags from all around the world.  Regents Street is decked out with all the International banners on display ... the Olympic rings adorn Tower Bridge ... there is an overall sense of excitement and comradery among the people from all around the world.

Not sure if you have noticed, but at the events everyone cheers for everyone!   The sport of it all is truly prevailing, and I couldn't be more proud of the people of the world right now.  We are the woooorld, we are the peeeeople, we are the ones who make a brighter day ....  sorry, I digress.

I mentioned it a bit, but a few key events have donned my experience so far:

Olympic torch relay ... criss-crossed England, then the city of London for days, passing within blocks of my flat.  It was simple and under-stated, but accomplished what is was supposed to ... spreading the Olympic spirit throughout the land.  Not sure who our chick was, but she was cute. (Those last few statements are a kind of metaphor for Britain in general.)

Actual torch holding myself ... my company is the official data sponsor of the Olympics.  Thus, we had two torch holders and in the end a torch in our office for a couple hours for posing.  Heavy, but not ... and a somewhat disappointing revelation that there are indeed thousands of Olympics torches each year.  Hm.

Women's Gymnastics Team Finals ... the motherload.  I did indeed buy these tickets outright as the one souvenir event I must attend.  We arrived in style on the new "airline" cable car across the river.  The seats were outstanding, and well, the USA whooped behind to secure gold in case you haven't seen it already.  Homemade T-shirts!  USA! USA! USA!

Beach Volleyball in front of Buckhingham Palace ... seriously.  A surprise gift from a friend - front row tickets to both a men's and women's event.  And to boot, it was actually Brazilian Women ... and they had DJs and dancers! Fun! Fun! Fun!

Since then I have been keeping up online, especially with gymnastics, diving, swimming, and track in between, taking advantage of wondering town when the opportunity arises.  So hard to believe the closing ceremony is already this weekend.  I did manage to get a hold of some free tickets to the park nearby that will be airing the ceremony on big screens (although temptingly the tickets are on sale for £1500 each on the london2012 website ... NOT!!)

It has been unreal so far ... literally unreal.  As I was watching the opening ceremony on TV, I thought, "what is that?" and indeed out the window saw the fighter jets fly overhead coming straight from the stadium spritzing their red, white, and blue smoke.  

And later that evening, basking in the aura of what I had just witnessed, again, a "what is that?" and it was indeed the fireworks going off over the Olympic Park in the distance.  I live within walking distance of the arena.

I am sure that the surreality of it all will catch up with me in the future, but for now, I am going to keep cruising the streets looking for Phelps and Gaby, keeping an eye in the sky for Beckham's helicopter buzzing him to the next sport, and praying Pink Floyd closes the ceremony!!!  Woo hooo!!!  USA! USA! USA!