Silliness in Italy

I laugh more with my sister Tricia, than perhaps anyone else on the planet, except for my husband Jon. We developed several running jokes during our trip and our silliness helped relieve some of the stress and difficulty of travel. Here is some of that.

Some of the silliness began in Venice. Tricia is not too fond of birds and this bird feeding thing was a big stretch for her. However, she overcame her reluctance to make like a statue.
I enjoyed feeding the birds and so she dubbed me the "bird whisperer" a reference to the Dog Whisperer show on the Nation Geographic channel. I love that show and wish I'd know about it when we had our dog. The host of the show is a dog behaviorist and what he does with dogs is almost magical.

We found ourselves funny everywhere we went. We took the main boat up and down the canal in Venice at sunset and watched the play of light on the water and buildings and as it got darker we began to entertain ourselves, I am sure to the detriment of our fellow passengers. We laughed until cried. I kept trying to stop, but we are just hysterically funny with each other. Americans are considered loud in Europe and we are - we are usually laughing and having fun on our vacations. Imagine that!



In Rome we went to see Nero's golden palace. What is left of it that is which is just huge rooms underground. The emporer who succeeded him had it filled in with dirt and a public bath or something built on top of it. So all that is left is the basic brick structure. It wasnt worth the time or money to go see it, but we didnt know.

We had to wear hard hats for the tour, so we had to have a bit of fun with that.










I am a seasoned traveler by now and a somewhat light sleeper, so I know how to get a good night's sleep in sometimes less than desirable situations.
Tricia couldn't resist getting this photo of me, having pulled the mattress off the saggy springs onto the floor with my ear plugs and eye mask on.









I have hot feet, so my toes are exposed for ventilation.












One day in Rome it rained, but it was warm, so I wore my rain jacket a bit like a cape to keep dry, but not overheat. As I as going down this hill, it flapped about me and Tricia teased me about taking off, so I did my impersonation of a superhero in flight.












Tricia, again making like a statue before a fountain of greenery where a spring flows out.

She enjoyed my photos of her so much I became the Photo Whisperer.

Then I had to get us where we needed to go - more or less successfully, so I earned the title, the Map Whisperer.


It wasnt long until she simply referred to me as the OmniWhisper and a running joke was born.








We quickly noticed that most of the stores were something-ateria











We even saw one that was a plasticateria. Wonder what they sold.













We phtographed all these signs within a few minutes of walking around town.












So naturally we started another running joke.


Soon we were adding -ateria to words in our sentences as we talked to each other and somehow found this hysterically funny.







We got lost on the metro trying to find Herculaneum. We were stuck at this station for a while waiting for a train going in the opposite direction.



Naturally we had to entertain ourselves.






We decided this was no laughing matter and we should do our best to be upset about it. I demonstrated pouting, which you can clearly see, Tricia had not mastered.










So I used the time well by giving her pouting lessons.

She almost got the hang of it. It is the disadvantage of a misspent happy childhood that she had not discovered this important tool before now.








Well, we gave it our best shot, but we just couldnt hold on to our poutiness.

We just crack each other up!










So we gave up pouting and opted for catching a few rays.

Tricia liked my "Alfalfa" bangs and my metro map as a sun reflector.









We did make it to Herculaneum and I took advantage of the lovely bath to freshen up a bit.











Tricia stumbled on the high curb in Herculaneum and took a bit of a tumble. She was unharmed, but she did exclaim, "Jimminy Cricket!" as she fell. So naturally the event became a Jimminy Cricketeria . So we decided to recreate the event for posterity.








We'd heard much about the barking and sometimes aggressive dogs in Pompeii, but while we were there the dogs, which were plentiful, were completely silent and docile. I took complete credit as the Omniwhisper (apparently my superpowers were at work) and here I demonstrate the Shhhh technique of the original Dog Whisperer.

See how well it works.




Here is the Map Whisperer trying to live up to her reputation in Pompeii where they have a map with road names on it, but very few road signs on the actual roads.

So we were often lost-ateria.