Rome

Italy!!

            Our first day in Rome was one of relaxation, a nice change of pace.  However the next day it was right back to the grindstone.  This means trying to survive Rome’s metro, which is not bad except it is extremely humid, quite a few people, and hot.  The metro is probably warmer than it is outside, or at least more humid.  So it was the metro to the Coliseum and the nearby Roman Forum with Palatine hill.  All of this was tons of walking in an extremely hot sun and hardly any shade, particularly in the Forum.  We saw so many tourists and I have begun to think of myself as a different kind of tourist, hopefully one that doesn’t stick out as much as these people, but the backpack does not help.  Anyways, the Forum was my favorite.  It has so many old temples and while most do not know what each temple was for, unless you had the audio guide, they were usually labeled with the deity that was worshipped there.  After this very warm morning and part of the afternoon we stopped by the Bocca della Verita or Mouth of Truth, the myth goes that if you were to tell I lie will your hand is in the mouth it will shut on your hand.  Do not know if it is true, definitely did not try it.  That evening was one of steps and fountains.  For we went over to the Spanish Steps to watch more silly tourists, look at the obelisk at the top, and check out the fountain at the bottom.  I had never realized just how much water Rome really has, and it seems like any time there was even a small natural spring, they put up a fountain.  Check out my facebook pictures of all the obelisks and fountains and you will get a small idea. Otherwise it was a night of sitting by the Trevi Fountain (threw in two coins) and eating gelato, then heading over to the Triton and trying some cheap wine.   All in all a great start to Rome.

            The Vatican museum was our next stop.  I got there early and only had to wait 10 minutes in line and right away headed to the Sistine Chapel.  There was hardly any one there and it was still very quiet, a nice time to enjoy all of the beautiful artwork.  However I had to go through everything that I had missed by skipping ahead to the chapel, thus I had to go back, look at everything and then go through the chapel a second time.  This time it was packed and everyone was talking and taking pictures.  Normally this would horrible and guards would be everywhere, but everywhere you looked there was a camera and guards were just watching, not saying a word.  I was extremely happy I had been in there previously.  Later that night I headed to the Pantheon and found more obelisks (three) and some amazing fountains (fountain of the four rivers by Bernini).  Then it was a quick metro stop at the Coliseum to see it at night, this was a bit of a disappointment, and the lighting was not the greatest.  The next day we were back at the Vatican to see St. Peter’s Basilica and Square.  There were no lines and while inside we were the only ones for quite some time, making it extremely quiet and easy to relax and take in the splendor.  Outside was another obelisk and more fountains and then we tried to find some catacombs, did not work out exactly.  But I did get to stop at San Giovanni’s Piazza and see the tallest obelisk, which ended my tour of Rome. 

            The train ride to Naples was extremely hot and uncomfortable, air conditioning did not work.  And then we had to get on a smaller local train to get to San Agnello which is close to Sorrento.  But details of that part of Italy will be coming soon. J

~DH

Florence: The Gelato Capital

Italy!!
Our first stop in Italy was Florence. And as Suzy and I love ice cream we were very excited to try gelato. Thus we learned that Florence is considered Italy's gelato capital :) this is wonderful news for us. We also were informed that some places make their own and after trying some of this, know that it is probably the best I have ever had.

While in Florence we have visited the Uffizi, to see the Birth of Venus and Spring, Accademia to see Michelango's David, the Archeological Museum for the Chimera and the Francois Vase (Chimera ended up being in California), the Bargello Museum which houses Bernini, Donatello, Michelango works. Some of these museums were planned, Uffizi and Accademia and such. Others such as the Bargello was found on accident, in which we went, "hey that looks neat. let's go there," little did we know we would be seeing some amazing things. For one thing I never knew that Donatello did his own David and it is also really interesting. Then there are the churches.

Florence has some very famous churches. The two main ones we saw were the Duomo and Santa Croce. The Duomo we found on our way to the Uffizi, for as we are walking down the streets we see this HUGE green and white building, and once again think, "wow, what is that?" So we stop there, people are standing in line, everyone is taking pictures, and there are signs but none say what it is. Instead we find someone selling postcards, and there it is 'duomo.' TaDa! We found something we were not even looking for! And inside of this amazing building is even more amazing architecture! Dante has a painting of himself there and many famous people helped with its building. The bapista next door has amazing doors on it, but we chose not to go inside. The Santa Croce is also beautiful. Even though you wonder if there are a few different buildings you see that things were slowly added on and everything works together. Inside of this church was many floor plots for various citizens of Florence. Some of the citizens were quite famous, Michelango's tomb is there, as is Galileo's. Otherwise this church is a wealth of knowledge, for as we have learned you take your time and see more when you have an audio guide. Therefore I learned that during the flood of 1966 the waters came high enough they reached the church, and the water level is marked in the church. This level was higher than my when standing in front of the plaque. Also one of the monuments for a famous citizen is the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty.

And now we are on our way to Rome. Hopefully the air conditioning in the hostel works and we find Rome as easy to navigate as we did Florence. ciao!