In Italy Mr. & Mrs.Galtex Found A Possible Parking Lot Turned Into Turin's Piazza Castello

Fort Worth globetrotters, Mr. and Mrs. Galtex, are currently in Italy, today in the Mediterranean port city of Genoa, a few days ago in Turin, also known as Torino.

While in Turin, Mr. Galtex used Facebook to ask me the trick question you read above the picture.

I had to ponder Mr. Gatlex's trick question a few minutes and then answered with...

Fort Worth has changed a lot since you kids have been out of town, but I am almost certain Fort Worth's teeny little plaza has not grown to big city size, so I'm gonna guess the above is Turin's Piazza....

Fort Worth calls its teeny little  plaza Sundance Square Plaza. Apparently Turin calls its big city plaza Turin Piazza Castello. Does Castello mean square in Italian? Making the name of the Turin plaza, Turin Plaza Square?

Or did the Turinians have the common sense to realize redundantly naming their plaza Turin Plaza Square was a bit ridiculous?

Or maybe Turin  confused its multitude of tourists, for decades, by referring to the Turin downtown as Turin Plaza, where there was no plaza, but plenty of parking lots, which many of the Turin tourists assumed must be the Turin Plaza. And then did Turin decide to turn one of their big parking lots into an actual plaza and then name it Turin Plaza Square?

I suspect that is not how Turin's plaza came to be.

The Italian reports from Mr.and Mrs. Galtex have been causing me some serious Italian food cravings.

One of which is a craving for Pecorino Spaghetti. I have acquired all the ingredients for this version of spaghetti, except for the Pecorino.

Mr. Galtex has let me know it is difficult to replicate the made in Italy version. Mr. Galtex has tried to do so, on some of those rare occasions when he and the Mrs. are stateside, and failed.

However, I have the advantage of having never enjoyed the real thing, so I'll likely be happy with however mine turns out.

And really, how can you go wrong with noodles, butter, pepper and really sharp cheese?

Dodging The Sunday Rain In Wal-Mart While Visiting Venice Italy

The weather outside has been frightful, but inside my neighborhood Super Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, the weather was just delightful.

Sam's and Wal-Mart were my walking location on this drippy first Sunday of December. Sam's Club was particularly challenging walking, dodging the multiple orange cones and buckets catching water leaking from the roof.

The last few days I have been in Italy, specifically in Venice, virtually, with the always traveling Fort Worthers known as the Galtex's.

I have no clue what the grammatically, punctuationally proper way is to add an 's' to Galtex. It just occurred to me, maybe it is Galtexes? That does not look right.

I've been enjoying Glimpses of Venice, courtesy of the Galtex's.

I have never been to the Venice in Italy. I have been to the Venetian in Las Vegas. I'm sure they are very similar.

In a couple dozen years, when the fast-paced Trinity River Vision Boondoggle finally completes its long promised canals, maybe a little bit of Venice will seem to be in Fort Worth. Won't that be something?

The picture of the Canals of Venice, in the picture, I swiped from the Facebook page of Gail Galtex this morning.

Mrs. Galtex is very cute. I wonder if this causes a problem due to those notorious Italian flirters flirting with her? They are likely discouraged by Mr. Galtex.

Speaking of flirting. We flirted with a thunderstorm here around 8 this morning. I saw one flash and heard one thunderclap.

Gar The Texan Is Drinking Wine In Milan Italy At McDonald's

Gar the Texan travels the world looking for unique McDonald's. I limit my search for unique McDonald's to North America. The world is just too big for me.

Gar the Texan is currently in Milan, Italy. Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world. I think Gar may be in Milan to show off his latest fashion line, in addition to looking for unique McDonald's. Or it might be something else. Gar the Texan is like some sort of secret agent. You really never know what he's doing.

Maybe he's on the search for a new wife again. I read somewhere he'd lost his spark with one of his wives. I think it's the current one that's gone spark-free, but I'm not sure. It is hard to remember these things.

Since he's been in Milan, Gar the Texan has befriended several of the locals and they have been taking him to various wine distributing locations where some excessive imbibing has gone on, at least judging from some of the semi-incoherent blogging I've been reading coming out of Italy.

During one of his wine empowered Milan wanderings, Gar the Texan found his way into some sort of mall that is designed to look like a cathedral. Or maybe it was an old cathedral, turned into a mall. The mall is cross or T-shaped, with faux marble floors and high ceilings, hence the cathedral-like reference.

Gar wrote something about an old lady living in an abode above the cathedral mall, who likely still lives there because Italians don't know about the democratic capitalist concept of using eminent domain to take people's property. In his wine infused stupor Gar used imminent instead of eminent to attach to domain.

So, Gar the Texan was wandering around in this mall, looking for more wine, when he came to the center of the cross, or the cross of the T. On one corner there was a Prada store, the opposite corner, a Louis Vuitton store, another corner another upscale store. And in the 4th corner there was the latest addition to Gar the Texan's collection of the World's Most Unique McDonald's.

I do not know if Gar the Texan found the wine he was seeking in the Milan McDonald's. Or if he got a Big Mac. Or what. He leaves out a lot of details.

Italian Police Investigate Gar the Texan

I went for my usual crack of dawn swim and then while sitting here eating breakfast I saw that Gar the Texan had freshly blogged.

When Gar the Texan was in Italy a few weeks ago he told some amusing tales of drunken misadventures and troubling train rides.

Gar the Texan had to go back to Italy a few days ago. He is now safely back in Texas where he disturbed the Memorial Day peace and quiet.

While he was in Italy, this time, Gar the Texan came under police surveillance. Why, I do not know. Suspected of being a terrorist? He no longer has an odd hairstyle that could get police attention. He used to be a mullet head, which could probably land you in jail in fashion conscious Italy.

By his own admission that boy would likely not be married, at this point in time, had he not listened to my suggestion that he lose the mullet. Has Gar the Texan thanked me for this? I don't remember for sure...

Gar the Texan's Italian Adventures & Amtrak

Gar the Texan has been blogging amusingly about his recent nightmarish trip to Italy. The latest installment tells the chilling details of a 5 hour train ride from Lamezia to Rome.

A blogging previous to the train ride told the chilling details of the 30 hour ordeal of getting to Italy, including lost luggage, plane problems and Italians rioting.

Another blogging tells the chilling details of a night of going from one bar to another, drinking way too many adult beverages, to the point memory loss set in, with Gar the Texan waking up in the morning to find a strange note pinned to his forehead.

Reading Gar the Texan's details of his train ride to Rome reminded me of my one and only train trip. Taking Amtrak from Tacoma to Portland. I think it was sometime in the late 1980s or early 90s. The tracks were in terrible shape, causing the train to rock back and forth like a boat in rough water.

By the time I got to Portland I had a splitting headache that stayed with me the entire trip. Departing two days later, the Portland train station was pure anarchy. It was every man for himself to try and find an empty seat. The train was way bigger than the one we'd taken south. Going from car to car to car to car looking for a seat had me nauseous before we started to move.

By the time we made it back to Tacoma I was feeling sick. I was barely back in my car when I had to pull over to throw up. I'd never ever been seasick, having been many a time on boats in very rough water. But Amtrak made me seasick.

Since my train ride to Portland the tracks have been improved, along with a new high speed Talgo train.

The Amtrak website almost make me want to hit the rails again, with how they describe what they now call the Amtrak Cascades...

"From Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia, the Amtrak Cascades offers an unparalleled experience of the great Pacific Northwest. Through Seattle and Portland, past Mount St. Helens and across the Columbia River Gorge, you'll witness some of our continent's most distinctive cities and most spectacular natural attractions.

Onboard these sleek, European-style trains, you'll enjoy wide, reclining seats, laptop outlets and bike racks. Relax in the Bistro Car, which features fresh, regional cuisine, wine, microbrews, and the coffees Seattle made famous."