Please, let me Assisist you, Signore Francesco

Assisi kids, is beautiful. I think this trip may have been one of the best trips we've gone on in Tuscany. I don't know if it was because of the mystical mood of visiting St. Francis, or the mercurial weather, or the general giddiness of us girls, but it was a near perfect day.

We hopped on the train to Assisi (train, if you haven't noticed, is our main form of transportation around Italia); it was a long trip, 2 and 1/2 hours. We arrived at the train station and noticed a definite difference in temp. I am not sure why Florence is generally warmer than the other tuscan towns we visit, but it is. Pollution? Anyway, we froze until the little bus came to take us to the main area of town. This time we did not get lost! Yay!!

Directly upon arrival we headed towards the Basilica of San Francesco. Let me tell you straight up that this was the biggest church I have ever seen. We later found out this is because it was enlarged later in time, but it was quite impressive on first glance. But before we even went inside the basilica, there was an exhibit of pictures from Mother Teresa's mission in India, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth. These pictures set the mood...and tore me up. We headed into the Basilica which actually was pretty normal looking, in fact it was a little unimpressive. It is super old so most of the frescos had been rubbed off. Then we went down to the crypt. This place was magical. They had (semi) recently allowed access to St. Francis's remains, and the sat in the middle of this brick column. All around the column were lanterns, and people had left pictures of (I assume) deceased love ones, mainly children. Everyone became very quiet and contemplative. It was like how I imagine churches were in the medieval times; in addition to the rather pious nature of the crowd and obvious reverence, there were quite a few people with maladies with their families praying for healing. The whole thing left quite the impression.

Afterwards we traipsed over to the "newer" part of the basilica. Another cool thing about San Francesco (well not about him but the site)? There are still SO MANY monks. And not just old dudes, but young guys. As a non-Catholic, I'm not sure why I thought that was awesome, but I did. Anyway, the new part of the church was teeming, teeming, with elderly people on tours. I am not usually afraid of crowds, if anything I get annoyed, but this was terrifying. We girls literally hung on to each other for fear we would be washed away in a sea of three and six legged centurions (canes and walkers for those of you that need a little more coaching). Needless to say we stared from the back and then exited quickly and quietly. No need to disturb that ant hill.

The weather had been kinda shaky earlier in the morning, but the transition from clouds to light made for some really cool pics. Here is an example:

We wandered the adorable town, saw a few more churches. Two of note: the Temple of Minerva and San Rufino Cathedral. The Temple of Minerva is now a (rather gaudy) small Catholic church, but it was a pagan temple. Assisi was founded around 1 AD, but wasn't Christianized until 3 AD. The Temple still looks pretty darn Roman, with giant marble columns. The San Rufino Cathedral is (to my over-saturated eyes) pretty par-for-the-course as far as Cathedrals go visually. What makes it significant is that it was the place where Saint Francis was baptized. I supposed I should give a little run down on St. Francis, as he is the key element that takes Assisi from just another darling Tuscan town to a place for pilgrimage.

Francis of Assisi was born in the early 1180s. His is the classic tale of a pivotal religious figure (though sort-of atypical of a Catholic saint, i.e. he wasn't martyred). He was born to an affluent family, the son of a prosperous cloth merchant. He lived as a typical well-to-do young man, and fought as a soldier. It was actually while he was off fighting that he had his first vision from God, directing him to go back home to Assisi. He began to lose his taste for worldly life, and made a pilgrimage to Rome where he begged with the beggars there (I'm not sure why). It was then that he decided to renounce his trappings of wealth and live simple life with very few possessions. He began preaching around Europe and eventually Egypt and the Middle East, amassing many followers. He was almost always cheerful, able to charm even the Muslim kings (to this day even in the most stringent political regimes, the Franciscan brotherhood is allowed in many Muslim nations). The Pope endorsed his brotherhood, and the Franciscan Order was created (as well as the Order of Poor Ladies, or the Order of St. Claire - the first of the ladies). Towards the end of his life he received the wounds of stigmata, and even though he went through many types of treatment (I guess because he did not realize what they were?) they never healed. He died not long after that, legend has it while singing Psalm 141. He was made a saint two years after he died, in 1228. He is the patron saint of animals and the environment, and one of two patron saints of Italy.

Anywho, after all that, we headed up a big hill (yes, of course this has not changed) towards La Rocca Maggiore. This is the name of the big fort at the top of the hill overlooking the town, which has served as the main defense, refuge, and point of contention for the many different ruling parties which have presided over Assisi. I think this was my favorite thing we saw. Does anyone remember the big tunnel playground things from back in the day? Like bigger versions of the ones in McDonalds and such? Well, this castle/fort/whatever was kind-of like an adult version of one of those. It had multiple towers, open courtyards, and one really, really fun "secret" tunnel. Well, fun for me - I practiced my speed walking. Unfortunately, for those more blessed in the height department (Jennie) it was a little hazardous. Poor girl suffered a serious blow to the head and almost broke her sunglasses. That put a bit of a damper on the playing, but all was forgotten when we climbed the largest tower, the polytagonal tower, and were rewarded with beautiful 360 degree views of the area. It made me wish I still had my elph (anyone remember those?) which had three different settings (regular, wide, and wider).

The only down point of our day was lunch, which took place in a seemly quirky and cute cafe...but the pizza probably came from a box and the wait staff imported from Romania or some other Eastern European nation. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just would prefer my Italian food from someone more...Italian. And less crabby pants.

All in all, the day was excellent and I think Assisi may win for my favorite town in Italy I've seen so far. I highly recommend it.

THE Cinque Terre

Hello there lads and lasses - I mean, ciao uomini e donne. Come stai? I hope you all are well!

Today we will be discussing our trip to Cinque Terre! For those of you that are not in the know, Cinque Terre is a group of five villages located on the "Italian Riviera", or in the north western part of the country (please refer to the map below).

They were reputed to be both beautiful and isolated - which means I desperately wanted to go!

To reach the towns, it is necessary to take a two-and-a-half hour train to La Spezia, and then take the little local train to the first town, Riomaggiore. In order to do the whole thing (even though we didn't actually end up doing it all) we got up really early, like 5:30 am early. Ugh. But we did it and made it to the train by 7-ish. The train ride was fairly uneventful except I got sat on by a rather large high school student in bright green pants. Luckily the loud (and obnoxious - I apologize to EVERYONE for my adolescence) kids were only on the train for a half-hour or so. I tried to sleep through all of it.

We arrived in La Spezia without any problems (except for one of my legs being flatter than the other). Then the wait began. Our train was supposed to come an hour after our arrival in La Spezia...but then an hour became an hour-and-a-half, then two hours, then two-and-a-half hours, etc. We finally ended up hoping on a different train than our original choice, but it all worked out fine and we got to Riomaggiore only an hour or so behind schedule.

A train runs between each town, but the girls and I were set on walking it. Now, I bought "50 Hikes In and Around Tuscany" before coming to Italy and the folks who wrote that book classified the hike as "moderate". (A word of warning about this book - it has been almost completely unhelpful. Almost all of the starting locations can only be accessed by a car, which means I can't get to any of them.) Indeed, the first lap between Riomaggiore and Manarolo was exceedingly easy, to the point I was concerned about the phyiscal state of these so called "hiking experts" that wrote the above book. And it was crowded with old people. And it was utterly beautiful.

We walked through the Via dell'Amore, where I took a few romantical pictures of the girls. We admired the locks of love, literal padlocks that couples hook to the nets guarding against rockslides (safe??!!) to symbolize that their love will last forever. It's a thing they do here -- there are a whole bunch in front of the Uffizi in Firenze. After the stroll we arrived at the train station for the second town, Manarolo. (Looking back, we never actually went through the town...oopsie!) We hopped on the train there because the trail was closed between the second and third town due to something...possibly a rock slide? So we got off the train at Corniglia, and that is where things started to get interesting.

In order to get up to the town we had to climb A MILLION BAJILLION stairs. SO MANY. When we finally got to the top we were congratulated by this sign:

We thought that this sign signaled the decline in the difficulty of our trip...it did not. It only marked the beginning. After the stairs we wandered through the quaint, tiny town of Corniglia (according to Jenn's guidebook, the least impressive of the five...snooty snoot snoot). We climbed the winding streets of the town, noting the ivy-covered restaurants and colorful buildings, the terraced vineyards winding up and down the hillsides. When we reached the town, located on a summit, we looked outward and forward to our unknown destination. "Is that the town all the way out there," someone said, pointing to a tiny speck of pink in a mini-mountain. "No, couldn't be, that is way too far away," someone else replied, but this someone was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The book said the hike was set to last an hour-and-a-half. Jenn, the speed walker that she is, thought that they probably had padded the time. Nope, it took exactly an hour-and-a-half because even though we went at a good clip, the first half was STRAIGHT UP, and the second half STRAIGHT DOWN. Over unsteady boulders and slippery stones, logs, and mud holes no less. Again, I questioned the "moderate" rating in my hiking book, but for a completely different reason. I no longer pictured the writers as asthmatic, wrinkly elders wrapped in synthetic fabrics and zinc oxide; but instead evil, evil sadists with walking staffs and pitchforks. That is probably overstating the point but still...it was more challenging than a mere "moderate" would lead me to believe.

By the time we arrived in Vernazza, we were pooped. Which was perfect really, because Vernazza was the ideal place to unwind. We basically fell down the street leading into the town, and landed at the steps of a darling shopping area. We looked in a few stores, seriously contemplated buying a few items, and took in the glorious day. By the time we made our way down to the Marina, we were hongry. We grabbed pizza, and jeebus, I don't know if it is because I hadn't eaten since 6 am that morning, but it was delicious. I picked a pesto pizza, which has officially converted me to the cult of pesto (I was on the fence before). And after that I had the unicorn of ice creams - cinnamon gelatto, which previously I'd heard rumor of but never actually seen. It was worth the wait.

We took our food down to the inlet area, and laid out on the rocks. The wind dried our sweat and the sun warmed our tight muscles and this is what we had to look at!

Not bad.

I'm sorry to say kids that we never made it to the fifth town. We really did contemplate hiking over to Monterosso...but for some crazy reason, laying in the sun seemed more appealing. Jenn's guidebook told us the hike over would be even steeper than the one we had just climbed, and also assured us we had seen the best town anyway. We didn't need to hear anything more than that.

Until next time kiddos -- which will be Assisi! Are you excited?!? xxx

The Pisa and Lucca Experience

Hello my darlings! I am finally (sort-of) catching up to "real time"! Which only means that I will need to start doing more exciting things so I have something to blog about! Who knew that this blog would serve as an impetus for italian/european adventures! Or that I'd need it?! (I don't).

But -- Pisa and Lucca! We decided to do both in one day mainly because no one wanted to spend a whole day in Pisa. It is requisite that all travelers to Italy see the leaning tower, but other than that Pisa is kinda a hole. I'm sorry but it is what it is! And Lucca is a little baby town, but a hidden Tuscan gem. So as Joey would say, "put your hands together..."(but instead your hands hold Pisa and Lucca, not jam and...you know).

Also this trip was special because it was the first trip that all five friends (Caroline, Jenn, Jess, Kate, and ME) went on together! We (C, J, and C) got up early and walked over the bridge to collect the cousins, and then headed towards the train station. Luckily Pisa is only an hour away by train, and Lucca is about halfway between Pisa and Florence on the way back. Another plus? Tickets to Pisa from Florence hover somewhere around 6 euro. Sweet!

We all got on the train...and then promptly passed out. When we awoke an hour later,we scooted off the train, grabbed a cappuccino, and headed towards the tower. As I said earlier (in less flattering terms), Pisa is not the cutest place. Not because the architecture is ugly, or the city is sprawling or anything, it's more the whole place just looks run down. Graffiti everywhere, vagrants on corners selling cheap crap, creepy people...I'm probably making it sounds worse than it is. Really, the biggest deterrent from visiting Pisa? It's boring. That is until you get to the tower, and accompanying cathedral and baptistery. Set out on a green field outside the city center, the whole thing is certainly picturesque. The architecture of the tower et al. is gorgeous. My sister commented that she thought the Pisa Duomo is one of the most beautiful she's ever seen, and I am inclined to agree. Here is a pic so you can decide yourself:

We saw the tower, some of us did the (un)necessary "holding the tower up" picture, and then headed towards the Cathedral. It is possible to go inside the tower itself, but apparently its pretty expensive and not necessarily worth it (like many other things you climb: the Space Needle, Statue of Liberty, St. Louis Arch, etc). The cathedral was spacious, beautiful...a nice church essentially. I really wanted to go in the baptistery because the building was just so pretty, but if I've learned anything in Italy it is that baptistery's are often much more glamorous from the outside from the inside. So, we just admired it from afar and then we were done with Pisa! Off to Lucca!

Lucca is and was the ying to Pisa's yang. The village is CUTE kids. Its quiet too...and strangely full of Britains. There were also an obscene amount of churches - if the word "obscene" can ever be applied to churches. But whatever, the streets were wide(ish) and tree lined (mostly) and best of all, they had a WALL! Now ever since the ridiculously wonderful wall walk my family went on around Dubrovnik (GO!! DO IT NOW!!!), I have had a love for all things wall. Lucca was no exception, in fact it was exceptional (bahaha). Minus, of course, the couples making-out every couple yards. And I am not exaggerating -- literally every couple yards. It was like some smoosh-smoosh regulator had gone and marked where each little kissy-face couple should go. But make-out mountain aside, we sat up on the wall and relaxed and threatened to push each other off -- all that good stuff. It was a good day!

Cheerio! xxx

Roma - Part Four (End Scene)

Let's dive in directly, shall we?

After the whole Vatican experience, I was wiped. I met up with Jennifurball, and we had a glorious salad for lunch. Italian food is good, as is expected, but kind of lacking in the vegetable department. At least cheaper Italian is anyway. Afterward, we were kind-of at a loss for what to do. We looked through J's guidebook and I hit upon the Protestant Cemetery.

I understand this would not be a draw for many folks, but there was a certain someone buried in the cemetery that I have had and will always have a crush on. As a warning, this next bit is going to get a bit word-nerdy. I have a rather embarrassing declaration to make: I LOVE the romantic poets. For those that are not English folk, this is akin to an art person declaring they love Monet or Renoir. In other words, "duh, they are decidedly unoffensive - who doesn't like them" and/or "wow, you are super unoriginal and kinda...lame". Whatever, it is what it is. So, now that you know my slightly shameful secret, you will appreciate how excited I was when I remembered a certain Mr. John Keats had died in Rome. Here is a little history of John Keats (from our good friend Wiki):

Was born on Halloween (oooo!!) 1795 in England. He was the last born of the Romantics, and the first to die. Though he enrolled in medical school and apparently did quite well, he was determined to be a poet. His was first published at the age of 19; and was an author by 20. He befriended the Romantic set, and wrote some more poetry - basically all of it panned by the critics. He contracted tuberculosis from his brother, and was told to relocate to a warmer climate. He died in Rome in Feb 1821 at the age of 25.

The Protestant Cemetery also houses the grave of Mr. Percy Bysshe Shelley, the big kahuna of the Romantics. Also lots of other important people - anyone who died in Rome that wasn't Catholic. They put all those crazy followers of Luther way outside the city center where they would not pollute the holy catholic community. Jennie was not super into the idea of going to this cemetery, she isn't a fan of cemeteries in general, but even she admitted that this place had an air to it after we arrived. The entrance is marked by a giant pyramid which was built in 30 BC as a tomb, and then later incorporated into the Cemetery walls. The cemetery itself is decorated in a Mediterranean fashion, with palm and Cyprus trees everywhere. It was all very peaceful -- that is until they started playing some obnoxious classical music in order to drive us out. Unfortunately we didn't arrive at the graveyard until 4 and it closed at 5. So, we raced around trying to see everything we wanted and then scooted out.

Highlights (in pictures):

After the Cemetery, we headed back to our B&B to get ready for dinner. The cousin of a friend of Jennie's was very kindly taking us out to dinner! Her name is Fabiana and she is darling; she is from a village outside Naples and took us to her friend's pizzaria. Now, as everyone knows, the best pizza in Italy comes from Naples, so we were excited! And I can say now that both the food and company were delicious. The restaurant is called PepeNero, if anyone is ever in Rome and wants good pizza!!

The next day we stayed just long enough to do a good turn for an elderly lady staying in our B&B, (well Jennie really did it, I just accompanied) and then picked up Caroline! Our third roomie, finally arrived! We are now complete!

And thus the trip to the south was over, as is this post. Arrivederci!

Roma - Part Tre (the Vatican)

Hiya Friends!

So, where did we leave things?! Oh yes, right before I took my tour of the Vatican! Well, Jenn and I rose early, took in some nutrients, and headed towards the Nike store in front of the Vatican area. (Yes, this is for real where we were told to meet). Jennie accompanied me through the subway, for which I am grateful because even though there are only two lines, finding the station and the train in the correct direction is tricky. Having already done the whole Vatican thing and with her "museum allergy", Jenn had chosen not to accompany me through the tour. However she did want to see the Pope's Wednesday blessing, so we headed over to the predetermined tour meet-up.

And there on the corner was Fe, looking bubbly and energetic per usual. We had gotten there about a half-hour early and consequently it was suggested that we go find a place to get a cappuccino and chill -- which is exactly what we did. We ended up waiting for around 45 mins to an hour because the metro was nutso and had caused quite a few folks to be late, but finally we were off (no crazy British families appeared - score!). We picked up our ultra stealth earphones (the holy Romans do not like you to be all loud in the Pope's house), received our free tickets for the Pope's blessing, and headed towards the walls of Vatican City. Actually getting into St. Peter's Square was kind-of a cluster eff because there is only one entrance. Well, there are two but the one we went through was built...sometime recently to accommodate larger crowds; it still took about 15 mins though. When we finally busted through (just me with the group at this point, Jenn had moved on), we walked out on to the near vacant piazza. Which allowed us to get bomb spots near the "road" the Pope would ride by later in the day. We could have sat in the seats, but Fe advocated standing near the partition that blocked off path for the popemobile in order to get a better view. While waiting for the Pope to appear, I passed the time trying to take pictures of the Swiss Gaurd in their original uniforms -- here is one now:

The story behind the Swiss Guard is that the Pope commissioned the Swiss Guard in the 15th century, due to their reputation for being highly disciplined and loyal.

And then finally the Pope came out in his little vehicle and the blessing began! Here is a short video I took of the procession:




Honestly, I was expecting crazy cheering crowds and Italian mothers weeping and Nuns praying on hands and knees...but it was decidedly less exciting. Though there was a commotion when the Pope first appeared, after that audience participation was lackluster. We listened for about 20 minutes, and then left to tour the Vatican museums while everyone was still at the blessing (it goes on for hours).

Let me tell you, the Museums at the Vatican are HUGE. I was in the museum for around 5 hours and I only saw the main portion, the "Classical Antiquities" -- I did not even touch the Egyptian collection, or the library. But the part I saw was enough (my feet rrreeaaalllyyy hurt by the end). If I haven't said it before, I will say it again - my guide was the BEST. She was so informative and positive and perfect. And the things I learned....I want this blog to be informative but I am afraid most of you would fall asleep if I prattled on about everything I was told at the Vatican museums. So I will give you a few highlights (with pics):

- Frescos are mad hard to make. They involve plaster, cartoons (ancient roman word for sketch), pigments and a hella lot of patience. Before being commissioned to create the roof of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo (translated into Spanish as Miguel Angel) (this made me laugh) (I like parentheses) (is this distracting?) (anyway...) had never done one before. In fact, he turned the project down and wasn't going to do it, until the Pope threatened him with excommunication!







- This is the most anatomically correct sculpture ever made.








- The ancient Romans were crazy genius. This purple marble is the most rare marble eva (there is actually none naturally occurring in the world currently), and is so hard it takes modern scientists hours to make a 3 cm long cut in it using diamond tipped saws. How the h-e-double hockey sticks did they carve this?!?







- Classical sculptures had EYES. Creepy no?














- Miguel Angel was a sexist, temperamental crabby pants. But still....so talented, so dreamy. Sigh.






The above sculpture is actually from St. Peter's Basilica. It was one of the first things Michelangelo ever did, and the only work he ever signed. And he only signed it because there had been a rumor floating around that someone else had sculpted the work - so he sneaked into the basilica and wrote his name on Mary's sash! Michelangelo's female sculptures usually lack...femininity (Michelangelo really like the menfolk), but this Mary is beautiful. I think it might be my favorite thing I've seen by his hand.

After the museum, we were spit out into the Sistine Chapel. Reviews of the chapel fall into two camps: 1) OMG, IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL and 2) omg, it is so overrated. I think I fell in between (per usual). I am very very glad I saw it, if nothing else but to pay tribute to a once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece. Was I impressed? Definitely. Was I moved? Not particularly. I actually liked the fresco Michelangelo did on the wall better than the ceiling. It was more dynamic.
One interesting tidbit - you are not allowed to do take any pictures of the ceiling. I thought that this was due to the effect of thousands upon thousands of camera flashes on the pigmentation. I was wrong. Apparently, a television company funded the restoration of the ceiling back in the 80s/90s, and offered to do so as long as they were given full rights to any and all images taken of the chapel. So, there you go.

By the time I wandered into St. Peter's Basilica I was in a state of extreme over-stimulation. The immensity and sheer gaudiness of the basilica did not help matters. Frankly, I do not remember much beyond gold, marble, and the press of humanity. The sculpture discussed above was a high point, but otherwise I wandered around the cavernous space in a daze; it was completely beyond my ability to take in any more illustriousness. I was sponge who could take on no more water; after doing justice to the Holy See and his holy seat, I was very happy to go and sit in piazza and wait for Jenn.

I hope you enjoyed this installation of "Courtney sees lots of stuff and tries to word vomit it all over the page". Next time we will explore the protestant cemetery! More exciting than it sounds...???

xxOx

Rome: Part Duex, er Due

Hi hi, I'm back! Did you miss me? I hope not because its been less than 24 hours and the last thing I need is a bunch of clingy hangers-on. Oh wait, did I say last thing? I'm sorry, I meant first thing - I momentarily forgot its my life ambition to have groupies.

Anywho, I last left you before we met the wonderous Fe, who saved our trip to Rome! Or something way less dramatic...she was just a really good tour guide. But a good tour guide can make all the difference, don't you think?

So Jennie and I marched outside the Colosseum and were immediately greeted by a thin, blonde, incredibly bouncy middle-aged British woman (Fe!). She led us up the stairs to Palentine hill, where the Roman nobles had lived. She showed us where Nero's infamously grandiose palace had once stood, along with various other palatial ruins. The hill afforded an awesome view of Rome and the Circus Maximus. Guess who also decided to build his palace up there?!? Good ole Mussolini. Just in case anyone wasn't catching on to his whole "we were the greatest once and will be again" campaign.

Making our way to the Roman Forum, we walked through citrus and olive groves. A group of really weird folks on our tour (more on them later) tried the olives and spit them out immediately. They were apparently "not ripe yet" (or soaked in brine...duh). Fe told us an interesting tidbit - apparently citrus is a natural mosquito repellent. So besides being attractive and nummy, ancient Romans planted citrus groves to deter pests. (This information had me applying orange peel to my skin for days.) Of course, thanks to the Americans and DDT, mosquitoes have been almost eradicated in Rome.

The Forum itself is crazy. I mean, based on looks alone without a guide its not that impressive. But once its explained, the Forum is amazing. Buildings around 1500 years old still stand, despite being buried for hundreds of years. That's right - buried. Before excavation, the Forum was a cow field, occasionally broken up by the upper halves of buildings and monuments. Remains of temples from the earliest days of Rome mix with medieval churches, while plots of land indicated as granaries and markets vie for space with the skeletons of giant palaces. The Forum was the center of Roman life for centuries; consequently it's mind boggling to think that the Italian archeologists had no clue what they were unearthing in the late 19th and 2oth centuries.


Throughout the tour, Jenn and I had both noticed a very strange family touring around with us. At first it was not readily apparent they were a family, instead it looked like 3 couples traveling together. But as time went on, we came to realize that it was a set of parents with two adult children, one boy and a girl, and their significant others. The didn't seem weird in the beginning, just overly physically affectionate. Then we began to notice the kids and parents sharing cigarettes (hand-rolled at that, though that is pretty popular over here in general) and later a couple of giant beers. But the kicker was when we watched them take large swigs out of what appeared to be large juice boxes. Closer inspection revealed, however, that it was actually wine from a box. These people had been drinking and smoking and canoodling for 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon on a tour. To top it off, the Dad used my head to steady his camera for a picture. I know I'm short but seriously??!! You should at least ask someone before using their head as a tripod.

Luckily, after the Roman Forum, the tour was over. Weird British families aside, it had been very informative and fun. Fe thanked us for our attention and then told us that she would be giving a tour of the Vatican the next morning. Well, I jumped on the opportunity -- we already knew she was great, and Jenn had previously let me know she was not really interested in doing the whole Vatican thing and I was reluctant to go alone...here was the perfect solution! Excited about my future Vatican adventures, Jenn and I bid Fe adieu and headed out to complete Jenn's ambitious Roma checklist.

Next stop on the Rome train?! The Pantheon. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I seriously think it was my favorite thing we saw. I hadn't known much about it previously, but inside I was enchanted. It was so BIG, and SPARKLY, and...ROUND. AND the oculus...I don't know why it made such an impression, but it did. I could have stayed there forever looking at that giant marble eye, but there was more to see so we left, albeit grudgingly.

The next few hours were a blur of sights: the Trevi Fountain (yes I did throw a coin in), the "Wedding Cake", Piazza Popolo, countless designer stores. By the time we were done, it was very dark outside and our feet were very, very sore. We decided to call it quits, feeling quite proud of ourselves. As a reward we treated ourselves to a Chinese dinner. Sounds strange but hey, four weeks of any food, even good food, can get really monotonous. We also, inadvertently, were staying in the Asian section of town. When in Rome, do as the Chinese...??

Next up - Courtney meets the Pope! I am totes serious...if by "meets" you mean "watches on a street with thousands of other people". Whatever, same difference.

Buona Sera!

Roma, Part I

Hey kids - so AGAIN I've been slacking in the blog department.. I am so sorry lovers. Today is a down-time day, so I will (fingers crossed!) use it to catch up!! I may post multiple blogs in one day - please ignore. I could write everything in one post, but I think it is more "edible" in bite-size portions.

Ooootay! so, day 3 of our trip - Rome day! We arose, ate one last delightful breakfast, and skedaddled. We hopped back on the Circumvesuviana, rode it to its zenith in Naples, then hopped on our locomotive to Roma. Upon arrival, we started our search for our bed and breakfast. After winding through various sketchy parts of town, making Jenn grit her teeth, we arrived at our destination...only to discover we were about 5 minutes from our starting-point at the station. Damn you google maps.

Now, on the way to Rome, Jenn had been sketching an itinerary of sorts. According to her calculations, we would need our full two days to see everything deemed necessary. Well friends, I tell you now, we did almost all of it (minus the Vatican) in one day. Not even one whole day, like half a day. Item one on the list - see the Colosseum. So off we went. We grabbed some (delicious) pizza and ate it on a low wall outside the huge monolith. It looks just like it does in pictures, just as imposing and overwhelming. (Sidenote - I think it is even cooler at night. Please see the pictures below and make your own decision)
















The important thing was the giant building in front of us of course, but I bring up the pizza for 3 reasons: 1) people told me that Roman pizza is crap, but I found it very yummy, 2) it confirmed that Florentine pizza is, in fact, crap, and 3) zucchini is a really good ingredient on pizza and an Italian word we "incorporated" into American English. But back to the Colosseum; we headed towards the entry way, and were almost immediately accosted by a million tour companies. We initially brushed off most of the offers, but somehow allowed ourselves to be talked into one. I can't remember why we stopped for this particular group, but I think someone may have complimented me on my sunglasses (a sure way to this girl's heart). In any case, it proved to be one of the best decisions we made on or trip.

Though at first it didn't seem that way. We joined a human cattle train/our tour group and streamed into the Roman ruin. Our guide was a peculiar fellow, dressed in a linen suit with tennis shoes and dirty jacket cuffs. He had a potbelly and a very unusual accent, which we later decided was an Italian/Australian mix. I think I fixated on his appearance and/or accent because it was more interesting than what he was saying...he wasn't the best tour guide I've ever had. He was particularly obsessed with the ancient Roman physique, using multiple adjectives to describe the extreme beefiness of the gladiator. Otherwise I didn't learn much, besides that Romans invented/perfected cement and probably wouldn't have been able to make half the wonders they did without it. But luckily I'd seen enough Hollywood movies featuring the Colosseum to get the general gist of the layout and purpose for the building without further instruction.

After the guide was done dispelling his few wisdoms, he turned us loose to roam for an hour before the next part of our tour. Jennie and I circled the arena, pretending that the squalid hordes of touristas below us were squalid hordes of Roman spectators (not much of a stretch really), before heading to the gladiator exhibit. The exhibit outlined the various types of gladiators and the people who were conscripted/enslaved/volunteered for such a dangerous career choice (the proportions of the three groups changed over time depending on the status conferred with the position). It also included full costume recreations...which basically means they had me at "embossed metal shield complete with gilded stallions". An hour was not enough time to see it all, but we had no choice but to move on. So we left to explore Palentine Hill and meet our new guide, Fe, the best tour guide EVER. But, I think I have exceeded your short Gen Y attention span at this point, so I will introduce you to Fe tomorrow. You will love her, I promise.

As a parting multimedia experience, please take a gander at this mushroom lasagna we made for dinner:



Lovelove!