Ancient Rome

     Today is our last day in Italy.  We navigated the metro system to the Coliseum and the old Roman Forum.  The boys loved the Coliseum I didn't think we were ever going to leave.  We eventually did and headed to the enormous forum.  You could easily spend days there looking at everything.  We then stopped for a quick lunch and headed to Circus Maximus where they ran the chariot races.  This was a bit of a disappointment as they let it get overgrown with grass and weeds and it no longer looks like it used to.

 

The Colesium

Victory Arch outside the Colesium

Tomb of Julius Ceasar in the Forum

The boys standing in front of the stadium

James with Rome in the Background

Pompeii and Naples

     Yesterday we took an eleven hour tour from Rome to Naples then to Pompeii.  We were picked up at our hotel at 6:45 the tour bus left at 7:15 and we didn't get back until after 8:30, but it was worth the trip.

     Naples is a port city where we saw some great views of the ocean and Mt.Vesuvius which erupted destroying the city of Pompeii.  We arrived at Naples around 11:00 and there was a ton if traffic and our guide told us it was rush our.  Most of us would have already put in 2-3 hours of work, which I thought was kind of funny.

     After touring Naples we drove to Pompeii and had lunch.  We then toured the ruins of Pompeii.  It was amazing to see how much of the city remained.  We also saw many casting of the people who couldn't get away before the city was covered. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius actually changed the coastline.

The port of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

The boys in the city of Pompeii

James and I in Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

A poor Pompeian who couldn't escape the eruption 

Sacrificial alter

Day 2 in Rome

     Today was our prearranged Vatican tour.  According to our paper work we were to meet at the Vaticus Termini which we assumed was at the Vatican.  Our assumption was wrong and after much asking we jumped in a cab to our meeting point.  We of course missed the tour group but they promised to wait for us back at the Vatican.  We got back into another cab and 30 euros later met our tour.

     Inside we saw the Vatican museum, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica.  Interestingly Pope John Paul the XXIII body is embalmed is the basilica which was interesting to see.   After our tour we walked to St. Angelo's Castle.  James then wanted to see more churches.  So we took our half broken legs and walked once again to St. Ignacio's church.  At this point only my husband could walk.  So we bought metro passed and rode the Metro back to the hotel.

Vatican museum 

St. Peter's basilica

Vatican City outside St Peters Basilica

Castle of St Angelo

Traveling to Rome

     Yesterday we took a train to Rome.  It was a relatively in eventful travel experience.  Our hotel is very unique.  After checking in we rode an old style pulley elevator up to our room.  Come to find out our hotel was built in the 1920s and maintains a lot of it charm with crown molding and arched entryways.

     Once we settled in we grabbed our maps and headed out to the city to explore.  Our first stop was Piazza del Papolo.  From here we walked to the Spanish Steps.  Despite much objection from our group leader aka James we stopped for lunch.  He told us he didn't come here to eat and we said we didn't come to starve.  The majority won that argument and we sat down at a great trattoria.  I had a fantastic pasta dish with mushrooms and truffles.

     It then started to downpour which was a nice break from the sweltering heat of Rome.  We headed to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain and then to Palazzo Montecitorio.  After a short rest we headed to dinner.

James by our elevator 

The Piazzo del Popolo

Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon

Palazzo Montecitorio 

A lighter touring day in Florence

     Today was a relatively lazy day here in Florence.  We started out early, so we could get to the Academia and see Michelangelo's David before the tour groups arrived.  It was quite impressive standing at 17 feet.  The anatomical detail compares to nothing else we have seen so far.

     From the David we travelled through some streets to see the Medici home and Cathedral. Both were of course massive and beautiful.  I did take a couple of forbidden pictures in the home but the curators in the Cathedral were pretty nasty and I didn't want to get thrown out.

     We then carried on to the Piazza d' Michelangelo.  It was a very long walk followed by a hike up a massive hill.  The views however were breathtaking.  I then forced the boys to go shopping.  That was fun too.  I had my first ever glove fitting, which involved powder and a pillow.

     Tomorrow we leave by train for Rome.

 

The courtyard of the Medici Home 

 

Inside the Medici Home

 

The hill we climbed to Pilazzo d' Michelangelo

 

Panoramic view of Florence

 

David Replica

 

Uffizi and Galileo Museums

A Day in Tuscany

     Today we spent the day in Tuscany and visited three different cities.  Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa were all our stops.  It was nice getting out of the busy city for a change and seeing the countryside of Italy.

     Siena was first on the agenda.  Known as one of the first places to introduce banking we stopped at one of the oldest banks.  Another interesting Siena fact is that the city of Siena is divided into 17 districts aka contratas each represented by an animal. Twice a year they run a horse race around the central plaza in which the horses represent each district.  The district winner gets to have bragging rights as well as the right to fly there district flag for one week.  The race was just run and the Goose district were the winners.  This race is serious business among the Siena people.  Preparation for the race involves blessing the horse in the church (yes IN the Church) of that district and the horse is guarded 24/7 against sabotage.

     From Siena we went to the town of San Gimignano.  The town still maintains many of their medieval structures.  In addition they are known for their wine and farms.  We had lunch at a local farm/vineyard and had 4 different types of wine, a white, two reds, and a dessert wine.  The food and wine was both very good.

     Our final stop was Pisa, where we saw the famous leaning tower.  It was pretty cool sitting next to the leaning tower of Pisa and having a gelato.  After a very long day we arrived back at Florence at 8:30.  We had dinner and pretty soon I'm going to bed.

The stable the horses are kept under lock and key before the race in Siena

Where the horse race is run

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Wine Barrels

Grapes

James feeding the cows

Our group in San Gimignano

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Florence by foot

     It's our second day in Florence and I am in museum overload.  There is so much to see here.  Today we tackled 3 museums, Pitti Palace, and the Duomo.
     Our adventure began at the Bargello Museum, which houses sculptures and art work from many famous artists including Michelangelo.  My favorite piece was a small sculpture of the crucifixtion of Christ by Michelangelo.  The detail can't even be described.  From here we headed to the Uffizi Museum where we again saw many paintings and sculptures.  Artists included here were Danti and Botticellis.  Everyone liked Botticellis' Birth of Venus.
     From the Uffizi we headed to Galileo's museum.  This was my favorite museum by far.  Despite some grumbling by one of our younger touries we headed in.  They had several of Galileo's inventions including the telescope.  I was so amazed at the knowledge that this man had.  He was truly ahead of his time.  Inside we even saw his middle and index finger.  They also had his tooth.  Upon careful inspection it appeared to be a lower bicuspid.
     We then crossed Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) and walked to the Pitti Palace.  We did a quick tour of the artwork displayed there and then toured the palace rooms.  I loved the throne room, unfortunately it was roped off and we couldn't try it out.  We proceeded to the Bobili Garden and saw some great views of Florence.
     Finally it was time for a Pizza and a local cocktail made with Grapa, Prosseco and sparkling water.  We are now just resting up until dinner.

Inside the Duomo

 

Sculpture of Mercury inside the Bargello

 

Galileo's Finger

The Pitti Palace

The Boboli Gardens

Day 3 Traveling to Florence

So we finally made here to Florence without much trouble.  Once we arrived at the train station out guide was going to take us to the hotel.  We passed a man holding a sign for James Guiterab and no one else had a sign close to any of our names.  So I approached the man who apparently spoke no English and asked if he was picking people up to go to the Laurus.  After much pointing and miming along with my limited Rosetta Stone Italian we were on our way.
     Florence is a very busy city with very narrow streets.  We took a quick tour around to get our bearings for tomorrow's tour.  Looking forward to seeing everything here.  Now I must go and get ready for dinner.

Our Second Day in Venice

     The four of us had a wonderful morning/afternoon touring the city.  After breakfast we went to St. Mark's Basillica.  The detail inside was amazing.  Pictures were not allowed to be taken however which  was upsetting because I would have loved for everyone to see how ornate and beautiful it really was.  Several relics are housed within the Basillica.  We actually saw the bones of many different Saints.  From there we went to the Correr Museum and the Doge's Palace.  It was amazing to see how they lived back then.  There were paintings on every wall and ceiling of just about every room.  The boys favorite part of the palace was the prison area. 

     After lunch Mother and I headed out to do some shopping while the boys went on a walking tour of the canal.  We had a great time, but I had to stop myself or there wouldn't have been any room left in my suitcase and we have 4 more cities to see.  Christmas shopping for me has apparently started.  I can't wait to give these gifts, I think they're going to be a hit.

     We're all just resting in our rooms now before dinner.

Out shopping

 

 

An alcove outside the Basillica

The Doge's Palace courtyard

Detailed view of the Palace from the Courtyard

 

 

Day 1 of our Italian Vacation

So the plane ride to Amsterdam was pretty uneventful other then James and I freaking a woman out when we started talking about taking our eyes out.  We were actually discussing our contacts, but we call them our eyes.  I just had visions of us sitting there on the plane with vacant sockets where our eyes should be.  We only had an hour to make our connection to Venice.  Needless to say I had to dash into a sprint through the Airport and tell them we were there they were literally closing the gate as we had arrived. 

Venice is beautiful.  We toured around St. Mark's square this afternoon and had some pizza.  Prosciuto and Funghi (that's ham and mushrooms for those not well versed in the Italian language).  My husband likes to be the tour guide, unfortunately his sense of direction is bad and we wondered around quite a bit.  I did force a break for some gelato though. I saw some great shops I'm planning on going back to for shopping.

Now we are back in the hotel relaxing before dinner.