ITALY 2013-DAY 8!

After getting home safely through traffic and fog, everyone was kind of OK with just hanging out at the Villa for the morning. We had all decided that it would be Aquapendente for dinner. This is actually the town closest to the villa, and we even thought we had found a good restaurant to visit.

After finding parking in the center of the town we wandered around another Italian town that seems to have almost stopped in time. We did a bit more shopping and wandering.  There was a leather shop that opened just as we got there after the guy had come back from a café break. There was the café that had Amaretto Coffee drinks. There was a lovey church and cobblestone paved streets, and a fountain that looked like it hadn’t changed since Roman times.

We wandered over to restaurant to see if they were open yet (it was close to 6:00 PM) and were told that it didn’t open until 8:00 PM. We tried to find out if something else was open, but on Italy time most restaurants don’t open for dinner until 7:00 PM. We found a small bakery shop and planned to take a break until the restaurant opened. While waiting, we fell into a conversation with a woman sitting next to us, We asked if she knew any other good restaurants in the city.

She said she owned the best in Aquapendente.

Tristan and I walked with her to check the place out and instantly fell in love.

We ended up having one of the best meal of the trip in a building that used to be a stable and was REALLY old. There was an actual spring from the wall.

The chef was British who had followed his girlfriend to Florence and then stayed in Italy when she decided to go to Toronto. He helped us with the menu and wine selection, and we had a truly amazing final night. Melanie bought some of the wine we had with dinner and we gorged on pasta, meat, and deserts.

Steve and Fiona MAY have gotten into a fight over the desserts...

It was a great final dinner and we had a great time.

However, just to make sure we hadn’t forgotten the lessons of the first part of the trip, we came out to where we had parked to discover that we must have read the parking meters incorrectly, and both cars had parking tickets.

Well, it had to be something.

We had to get up early to make sure that we get our flight, so it is off to bed…for about 4 hours of sleep…and some more very tight connections...

(cue ominous music now)

ITALY 2013-DAY 7!

March 28th-Pompeii

After a night on surprisingly comfortable beds, we awoke to a rainy sky that followed us most of the way south. However, as we neared Pompeii, the skies slowly cleared and the sun came out.

Finding Pompeii the site is pretty easy, and surprisingly, there is STREET PARKING! You don't realize how close you are to the old city until you walk up to one of the gates and it is RIGHT there.

We entered first neat the amphitheater, which is one of the better preserved (or most reconstructed buildings) in the city. It is pretty solid, so I am guessing the latter. The place is no Coliseum, but it certainly was an impressive sight.

Next to the stadium was a working vineyard that they managed to build to almost exactly the way it was in 79 AD, down to the placement of the vines. In the heyday of the town, the vineyard would sell wine to spectators on their way to the games at the amphitheater so they could get roaring drunk and watch massacres...

...so, you know, just like Wrigley Field on a Cub's Game Day.

They are making wine again, though we weren't able to walk through the site.

We moved up and around the outskirts, where the city walls would have been, and then turned into the town proper. It was here that things get freaky and you start to realize how much of a town this was, and how much is still (relatively) well preserved. While some of the roads and sites were closed (as this is a still an active archaeological dig site and some buildings require stabilizing every so often, as well as consistent re-construction and cleaning) there were still plenty to wander around in. 

The first major place that we hit was the Casa di Cecilio Giocondo. It was my first up close look at how wonderfully preserved some of these houses were.

The next major stop was the Terme Stabinae, or the Baths. These are seriously impressive, and kind of gives you the impression of how rich this town was.

The baths also included our first look at perhaps that most startling evidence of how fast the city was destroyed:

It is very unsettling to see the plaster casts of the bodies, so perfectly caught that you can see their expressions. There was a wave of sadness that just sweeps over you as you can't but feel the terror that you see on their faces.

Wandering through the forum brought us too a shed where they store most of the items they have found as they continue the excavation. Amphorae, wagons, tables, statues, and all of it in amazing condition.

And of course...

These are two of the saddest figures I saw while we are there. The figures speak for themselves.

After a quick bite, we moved on to some lighter fair at the Casa del Fauno, perhaps one the most famous houses in Pompeii, notable for its courtyard namesake...

Winding our way back to the Forum, we stopped in the Macellum, where there was both incredible beauty and incredible horror...

We stopped into the Basilica, where Fiona demanded worship...

Next it was over to the Temple of Apollo, from which we could see the clouds had cleared away from Vesuvius, leaving it looking deceptively calm in the background...

Next up, it seemed only appropriate that we go visit the home of the world's oldest profession, that just happened to have some of the best preserved imagery in the whole of the city.

Yup.

Next, for my actor friends, I have these questions: How would you like this as your entry?

And this as your lobby?

And this as your stage?

It was a huge thrill to be standing SO close to the birth of theatre. They have actually made major steps in restoring the larger of the two theatres since Steve was here in 2007, and have brought it inching closer to what it might have looked like 2000 years ago. The acoustics are pretty damn near perfect, and I got chills as I got to do something that I have been wanting to do since this trip was finalized: do Shakespeare on a Roman stage.

It. Was. Awesome.

The citizens had the luxury of also having a smaller, "black box' theatre:

By this point it was getting closer to closing time, so we tried to see into as many houses as possible, walking into the "fast food" places with their grills empty and mills waiting for more grain, and the wall still showing the what must have been painstakingly made artwork that the citizens of this town must have enjoyed...

Unfortunately, the Villa that Steve REALLY wanted us to see was closed for restoration, but our feet were killing us and so we made our way out of the silent city and started to head toward Naples for diner.

Let me just say this: all of the horrors of the early part of this journey, from the delayed flights to the missed connections to the lost luggage to the closed roads...PALED in comparison the HORROR that was trying to get around the City of Naples. I give you all this warning now: I don't care how good you have heard the food is, or how pretty the castle...

DO NOT GO TO NAPLES! IT ISN'T WORTH YOUR LIFE!

After 20 minutes of just trying to get downtown, we texted the other car with what was basically a "Fly, you fools" message, and then spent the next thirty minutes dealing with Psychotic Suicidal Sociopaths as we tried to get out of the city. 

I swear I saw my life flash in front of my eyes at least twice.

I have never been so grateful to be on windy mountain roads in my life. Even those SMOTHERED in fog as ours were trying to get home that night. 

We made it back safely and went through two bottles of wine and then fell in to bed, looking forward to a chill final day.

ITALY 2013-DAY 6!

March 27, 2013-ROME

So, after what may be our first “real” night of sleep (i.e.-to bed at a decent hour and up at a decent hour) we got ready to head on out to Rome. We did get a late start due to slept-thru alarms and food-splitting and caretakers arriving, but then it was off to ROME!

The drive was actually not that bad, and driving through Italy is never boring. We made it into the city and found parking near our hotel. After they let us check in early (our rooms were suddenly cleaned and available after the offered to hold our bags so we could walk around and we presented them with six pieces of luggage), we popped open maps and starting making our way toward old Rome.

You know how Wrigley Field is kind of just plopped in the middle of the city? Take that, multiply it by 10, and you will have the Coliseum.

You are just walking down a street, you look up, and there it is. There is no way to describe how IMMENSE this place really is. Even after time and earthquakes and marauding builders who stripped the marble and some of the stone away (which, we learned, is why so few buildings in Rome are intact: medieval builders stole many of the stones to make other buildings), it is still one impressive structure. The line to get in was rather long, so we decided to just walk around, and that was enough.

Next, it was up the street to the entrance to the Forum and Palatine Hill. Again, (to nerd quote) “much of once was, is now lost”, but for something that was a cow field until (relatively) recently, it is still pretty impressive. They have tried to clear away and excavate and put stones back in place so that you have some idea of what it looked like back in the heyday of the Republic and Imperial (?) period. 

The Temple of Saturn alone is enough to inspire envy...

...and it is rather cool to see where Julius Caesar was cremated (though not stabbed; despite what Shakespeare would have us believe it did not happen on the floor of the Senate) and then worshipped in a TEMPLE built by his nephew and heir (seriously, the scale of the thing puts Daley Plaza to shame).

Some of the areas are closed as they are shoring them up and doing further excavations (so much of the new city was built on top of the new city so it can get a bit tricky).  The Palatine Hill is the same way, as they are slowly peeling away layers to reveal the houses of the rich and royal Romans that decided they wanted to live above the mob. The drawings that can still be seen on the walls of the House of Augustus are beautiful.

The view from the top of the Palatine was breathtaking, and in the distance was the Basilica of St. Peter. I waved to the new Pope.

Coming down from the Palatine Hill we walked back around the ruins and up past the Monument to Victor Emmanuelle. The thing looks like a giant wedding cake and might just be the size of the Daley Center. It is there to honor that one man, but considering it is honoring the man who united the entire country (and also holds their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), I guess it might be worth it.

The next stop was a little more…interesting to find as the map from the hotel had buildings drawn on it, but everything was “facing front” as opposed to being oriented as they actually were.  That meant we got slightly turned around, and the fact that the street we needed to be on was under construction didn’t help.

Eventually, we found the Plaza de Gesu and the lead church of the Society of Jesus: The Jesuits! (GO LOYOLA!)

I will admit, though I am not a Catholic, ever since the new Pope was announced and I found out he was a Jesuit (a first), I started researching about the order more. This was the group that gave me the education that I am VERY proud of, and I was excited to see their “base” in Rome.

The church is VERY impressive. If we weren’t going to St. Peter’s, this was a lovely stand-in. It was incredible to see the original Madonna della Strada. 

The ceiling of the building is perhaps one of the best parts: instead of a painting outlined by the gold-gilt work of scrolls and cherubs, the painting flows out past that onto the ceiling as if the picture was exploding from its confines and borders. They have a huge mirror set up so you can actually look at the ceiling without craning your neck.

I went to check out what was next door while some of the others found a bathroom, and discovered that it was the apartments for the local Jesuit priests, but it also included the rooms where St. Ignatius spent the last few years of his life. I wish I hadn’t been so rushed, but I did get to see his rooms and some of his books and paper work, including the Papal Bull that authorized the order.

On to the Pantheon, one of the few (if not the ONLY) ancient structures that still stands. The dome looms above you and makes for an impressive structure that shows you what people could do back then.

At the Plazza Nuovo, we saw the Fountain of the Four Rivers and all the stands of STUFF. I stuffed my face with pasta with lobster and then snagged three gorgeous scarves for practically nothing. As we were exiting the plaza, we spotted a toy store with a huge, many-headed, moving dragon in the window that drew all of us inside (yes, we are all nerds).

It was there that  I found two more masks (I had already snagged a copper one at the Coliseum): a green and silver feathered one, and a black filigree with crystals that became my Birthday Gift from Steve. YAY!

We moved toward the river and past the Mausoleum of Augustus, long since looted of the golden urns that once held the ashes of many an Emperor, but still huge and imposing in the night. The Plazza de Popolo was quiet for a Roman plaza, but had a huge obelisk from the 13^th Century BC in the center.

Winding our way up, up, and up, we reached the Medici Palace (closed), but the Spanish Steps are always open, and provide one heck of a view. 

Going down is exciting in more ways than one, and not something I would like to try in the rain.

We found a gelato shop that did more pieces of art than just scoops of gelato.

So, there is NOTHING like the Trevi Fountain. Caesar’s Palace can try, but the actual thing is amazing, and it is particularly lovely at night when it is lit up. 

At this point, we had seen what we needed to see and our feet were about to rebel against us, so we trudged back to the hotel and collapsed into our very nice beds, to dream of volcanoes and ancient disasters…