Italy, Day 4, Pompeii

Okay, many have told me that the pics are too small, so I'll post them as "big" this time. ;)

Day 4 started early b/c we were driving down from Rome to Pompeii. We were on the road by 7am for the 2.5 hour drive. We drove right through the heart of Naples or Napoli. From a distance the city is beautiful being on the coast of Italy and halfway b/w 2 volcanoes, but the city is old and horribly dirty. It has had a long history of problems with trash pickup and corruption. We didn't see trash pileups as bad as in the article, but we did see HUGE piles of trash...and that was from the bus. I can't even imagine the places you can't see easily. But look at this pic from a distance...gorgeous!



But we were headed to Pompeii, the ancient Italian city that was completely covered with ash from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD. It's so famous b/c the people of Vesuvius were "frozen" in time. Pompeii was "found" in the 1700's and excavations were begun. But it wasn't until circa 1860 that plaster casts were made to recreate the decomposed bodies. Over the years many (majority?) of artifacts from Pompeii have been doled out to museums. This is a computer-generated pic on Wikipedia that "shows" what the eruption might have looked like:



Both D and Ch had read about Pompeii, so were looking forward to it. I was, too, especially about taking a lot of pics. Well, here's a little tidbit for you, buy the 7E batteries from the vendors before you go in. LOL At first I thought I am NOT paying 7euros for 4 batteries...that's about $11. Well, a few pics in, my batteries died. *sigh* So, here's what I got. LOL

First views before actually entering:



First view inside



Amphitheater







Steets of Pompeii



See those big stones in the middle of the road? They were used for people to walk across the street...especially in the case of water in the roads. The chariots' wheels were able to fit around the stones and this was actually a 2 way street.



And that's where my camera died. LOL But I found some images on flickr.com:





Here's a link for a fountain...they all had different "faces" so that they could be used when giving directions.

Our tour guide was an older gentleman named Roberto. Sooo fun! He brought us to the Pompeiian brothel. He said if any of the kids had any questions they should ask their parents. He also mentioned the pics of "things" that went on in the brothel, including "70-1." LMAO I also added the "sign" that are around town that pointed to the brothel. :) Charlie said it was an arrow. ;)




We then headed to the Pompeii Forum where I got a few more pics b/c my camera had rested and re-charged.



That's Mt Vesuvius right behind Cory's head. :)





I thought there were going to be areas, at least one room, that were going show how life was the day that Vesuvius erupted, but our tour didn't include that. Boo. But there were at least 3 open rooms w/ a wall of cage-like bars w/ remains...a few plaster (or resin) casts and hundreds of jars, bowls, pottery and such.



What was very interesting is that Pompeii used to be a city on the coast/beach. Now the coast is far away, um, I could look that up to find the distance, but I'm not. ;) But Charlie found quite a few seashells as we walked around. Neat, huh?

So, overall, Pompeii was interesting. Not exactly up to my expectations (it is one of the top destinations listed by Smithsonian Magazine), I was a bit disappointed b/c our tour didn't include some of what I wanted. I did find pics on flickr. But Pompeii is huge. Only 3/5 of the town has even been excavated. So, maybe we can go back one day and have a longer and more inclusive tour. I do recommend it, though. ;)

The rest of the day was still along the Coast to Sorrento. That will have to be done tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Taking a break...

...from the Italy trip. :)

My friend Princess April has a friend Sanna who makes wonderfully cute handbags. April swears she gets compliments whenever she carries her Sanna-created handbag. :)

Sanna is having a contest on her site to win a handbag. And who doesn't want to win something cute???

So, go to Sanna's site and follow the instructions. There are a minimum of 25 participants needed, so GO!! Although I do hope I'll win. ;)

Tour of Rome, Day 3.5

Still Christmas Day. ;)

We left the Vatican and headed toward the Coliseum. We passed by Tiber Island while on the bus. Sorry, no pic, but you can see it if you visit the site. ;) We also made a stop to take a picture of Circus Maximus. We didn't actually go to it and I don't remember what I was thinking about, but I didn't even get off of the bus for this picture. LOL




We next stopped for our walking tour. Our first stop was the Colosseum. My first impression was that it wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. My next thought was that there were a lot of vendors for Christmas Day. LOL Guys with little stands selling mini-colosseums and books, etc as well as guys walking around selling scarves and little glass blocks w/ an etched colosseum on them. There were also lots of knock-off bags being sold. ;) The vendors were very pushy. I looked at some of the scarves that one guy was selling. After I told him that I wasn't interested, he had gone down from 15E to 5, it took another 10 minutes to shake him. He followed us and finally ditched us when someone else showed interest. LOL

Picture of vendor that flickr won't let me take.



We were bummed that we couldn't go into the Colosseum b/c it was closed for Christmas Day, but we walked around it and took pics. It actually only took us about 15 min to walk all the way around the Colosseum and that was with a bathroom break...so not that big, really, although it could accommodate 80,000 people.







Right next to the Colosseum is the Triumphal Arch of Constantine, which " was erected to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312. Dedicated in 315."



We then began to move away from the Colosseum toward The Forum Romanum or Roman Forum. "It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed." Also, it "considered to be the center of the Republic and Empire." Our tour guide compared it to having the Vatican, Washingon DC and Wall Street in one area.

In this pic, D and Ch are facing the Colosseum and the Forum is in the back.






We continued walking and saw some other ancient sites. We then passed by where Michelangelo died. Although, I haven't found any record of this online....just what our tour guide told us. Anyway, Michelangelo was much loved by the people of Rome, however he was from Florence and wanted to be buried there. Supposedly, he was buried for a few months in Rome, but then some Florentines smuggled his body out of Rome, so he could be buried in his hometown.



Next was Trevi Fountain, "largest — standing 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide — and most ambitious of the Baroque fountains of Rome." "The fountain at the juncture of three roads..." It was here that we saw some of the illegal bag sellers haul ass! They must have gotten a tip that the cops were coming b/c they had ALL of their handbags picked up in LESS than 5 seconds, I swear I am not exaggerating, and were running down the street. Since David and I were waiting for C and Ch to come back from the bathroom we witnessed it all. Including the cops that came along a few minutes later. LOL



Here's D and Ch throwing their coin into the fountain. "A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome." I hope if they go back to Rome they have a job and can pay their own way. ;)



Can't visit Rome and not have gelato!! I am not a fan of ice cream, but I can promise you that gelato is better! Ch had vanilla, D had coffee and I had chocolate. I bought it for C b/c I don't ever order ice cream and if I would it would be lemon, but even I liked this chocolate. :)



We then continued walking to the Pantheon, "is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign." This was David's #1 pick for the trip. Again, we had A LOT of vendors walking around selling knock-off handbags and toys for the kids. They were quite insistent, but one was agressive, I had to get a little forceful w/ him.







AFter that we saw a couple of other sites, including Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Most interesting is that Catherine of Siena is buried here, except for her head. "St Catherine died of a stroke in Rome, the spring of 1380, at the age of thirty-three. The people of Siena wished to have her body. A story is told of a miracle whereby they were partially successful: Knowing that they could not smuggle her whole body out of Rome, they decided to take only her head which they placed in a bag. When stopped by the Roman guards, they prayed to St Catherine to help them, confident that she would rather have her body (or at least part thereof) in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it appeared no longer to hold her head but to be full of rose petals. Once they got back to Siena they reopened the bag and her head was visible once more. Due to this story, St Catherine is often seen holding a rose. The incorruptible head and thumb were entombed in the Basilica of San Domenico, where they remain."



After that we headed to dinner. However I won't put a link to the restaurant b/c we were not impressed at all. Their spinach ravioli was good, but other than that? Eh.

Enjoy! Pompeii and Sorrento tomorrow! :)

Day 3, Vatican "It's the Vatican...

"It's the Vatican, not the Vatican't"---Cory, Dec 2008

Day 3--Merry Christmas! :)

I am very glad I'm putting all this together b/c some of the days are starting to run together. ;) We started the day w/ our buffet...lots of croissants. Yum! We then headed to the Vatican for Mass and the Papal Blessing. I really thought there were going to be so many people and lines to get in for Mass. But St Peter's Square was relatively quiet.

Nativity in St Peter's Square





We then went through the detectors to go into the Basilica. Just going into the Basilica was so surreal...the actual Michelangelo's Pieta. How to even comprehend that? I'm going to post most of the Vatican/Basilica pics later b/c we did go on the official tour.



Swiss Guard at the Basilica



First view upon walking in the Basilica

Next picture is approximately where I spent most of Mass, standing, except there were no benches or chairs like in that picture (which is another borrowed one from flickr.com)...the story: David was having gastro problems and he and Cory headed to the bathroom right before we were let in to go and sit down for Mass. Charlie and I saved seats for them, but they never showed up. I was worried and kept looking for them. Finally, after the Gospel, Charlie and I left to go and look for David and Cory. I was worried that David was really sick. So, we ened up standing here for the rest of Mass when we couldn't find them. Didn't even go to Communion. When Mass was over, guess who comes walking out? Of course, David and Cory. And THEY went to Communion. *rolling my eyes*



Altar...we were actually closer during Mass, um, before we left. LOL



Nativity in the Basilica





I did sneak some video in. Eek. ;)



After Mass we walked right outside and ended up almost under the window where Pope Benedict was going to give his Papal Blessing. No matter what the pics look like (LOL) we were actually very close. If you look at the next picture (which was actually taken 2 days later during our tour), you'll see the window w/ the burgundy curtains where Pope Benedict came out. We were actually on the ground to the left of that window, about 10-15 ft behind that statue.



The next video is of when the Pope came out. It was like being at a concert!



Receiving the official Christmas blessing, Urbi et Orbi, or "to the City of Rome and to the World". If you'd like to read what he said, please visit :The Vatican's Website. I can't really explain what being there meant...it wasn't so much a religious experience as a community one. On my list for the whole trip in Italy, being there for the Papal Blessing ranks #1. For Cory, also. He also picked going to Mass.





After leaving Vatican Square we grabbed some lunch. We had
paninis. The grilled bread is really good. We also had espressos, which came out of Milan. The tour guide stressed how smooth and wonderful they were. Um, well...to us it was shot of very stiff and dark coffee. Personally, I like a big ol' cup of coffee that I can savor over a good 15 min or more. LOL






Can you believe all this happened b/w breakfast and lunch? I'll have to blog about the rest of the day tomorrow.

Enjoy!