Thursday, December 25, 2008
Rome wanderings and Pompeii in a day
December 23rd, 2008
This is Elliott again. Today was another sunny brisk day in Roma. Our first stop was at cathedral called St. Peter in Chains. The cathedral is believed to contain the exact chains that bound Peter when the angel came and freed him from prison. Within the cathedral, was a statue of Moses that was done by Michelangelo. This sight was great since it was right next to the metro stop. We then hopped back on the Subway and went to the Roman Baths of Caracalla. These baths were gigantic from what we envisioned! The Romans were big into hydro therapy and used the baths as a social gathering place. After experiencing the Roman baths, we walked down to where the Circus Maximus once held 375,000 screaming fans. Its massive oval shape is kind of like ancient NASCAR. There is no longer a building there but using your imagination you can picture the grandness of the structure built during Imperial Rome. From the Circus Maximus, we headed toward a beautiful white building many people call the wedding cake (the Italian monument of the unknown soldiers). I have never been to the U.S tomb of the unknown soldiers, but I’m sure this one put ours to shame. From there we walked down Cavour street, then took the subway back to our hotel. For dinner we found a restaurant right next to our hotel that makes homemade ravioli. It was our first official sit-down restaurant. It was pretty good, but we were disappointed with the chicken cacciatore.
December 24th, 2008 Day VI
Just so you know this is Elliott. Its Christmas Eve and Molly and I took a tour to Naples and Pompeii. We woke up around 6:00 am since we had to be in the lobby of our hotel by 6:45. This was a big deal since I have been letting Molly sleep in since she is not feeling well. We fortunately made it down stairs in time and was told by our concierge that the bus is not going to pick us up; we have to taxi to the agency. Of course the agency paid for the taxi, so it wasn’t all that bad. Our bus left around 7:30am and had both Spanish and English speakers. So the tour guide would tell us everything in English then in Spanish. I didn’t mind since I got to hear everything twice. The drive down to Naples is about 2 ½ hours. Our first stop was at the Naples Dock. We walked from the dock to the city center where we passed the largest working opera house in all of Europe, the house that the kings of Naples use to live in and the center city plaza that was constructed after the same manner of the city plaza in Moscow. Naples was pretty dirty and we were not too impressed.
We then headed back to the bus and drove to Pompeii, which is on the other side of Mount Vesuvius in relation to Naples. Once we got there, they took us on a tour of a cameo and shell shop. Cameos are portraits made out of shell. I didn’t know what they were, but if you saw one you would be like, “O ya, my grandma has one of those.” After the tour on how the shells are carved, we were fed dumplings, pasta, pork and salad. We meet some interesting couples from Canada and Houston. Everyone on the tour was very nice except for this old guy from Spain who smoked these smelly cigars. The weather was sunny and brisk, which made the walk around Pompeii very enjoyable. Pompeii is very well preserved, having intact mosaics and murals. You can still see the rivets in the stones from the carts in the streets. We saw the courthouse, market, baths/sauna, money changing, rooms where people kept their personal effects to be watched by slaves, the head governors house, and Molly’s favorite the brothel. The governor’s house was enormous, complete with garden, slaves quarters and four dining rooms for each season. The brothel was interesting with many sexual explicit frescos so the foreigners could point at what they wanted. Even the roads had a phallic symbol etched into them directing the way to brothel. They have actually found bodies preserved by the ash in the position that they were buried. They have them on display (they are the pics of the grey looking corpses). Pompeii is a must for everyone interested in how ancient civilizations lived.
When we reached to hotel, we were nervous that we weren’t going to find a place to eat since Christmas Eve is a holiday spent eating with the family. Fortunately our concierge made some phone calls and found a place nearby for us to dine. The food was OK. Molly will tell you that the pizza is awesome here but everything else is mediocre so far (except for the gelato!!!).
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas from Rome! This is Molly again, Elliott has been helping me keep up on our blogging journal since I’ve been so sleepy from being sick. I’m still sick, but I’ve been trucking through it, determined to have a great time! We got up around 9:00 and ate our free breakfast. Then we came back to the room and slept some more. I don’t mean to be so sleepy, but we figured it didn’t matter because it is Christmas, and Rome is literally a ghost town today. So, there’s not much to report on because pretty much everything is shut down, even the Metro. We decided that one day in Venice is not going to cut it, so we had our concierge book us a hotel room for tomorrow night in Venice. I’m glad we have a concierge because he got us a nice hotel room for 68 Euro, including breakfast! We were impressed seeing as how hotels in Venice are incredibly expensive. Then we made our way to the Termini train station and bought roundtrip train tickets to Venice. These were also on sale, so we saved some more money, which always makes me happy. Luckily, we found a McDonald’s near Termini so we grabbed some food since EVERYTHING else is closed. I was thinking we were going to have to fast on Christmas, but good ol’ Mickey D’s came through for us. It was getting dark, and all of our books and tour guides have said to avoid the Termini area at night b/c it is a bad neighborhood, so we booked it out of there and came back to the hotel. Now we are reading up on Venice and preparing for Molly’s most anticipated part of the trip! Merry Christmas!
This is Elliott again. Today was another sunny brisk day in Roma. Our first stop was at cathedral called St. Peter in Chains. The cathedral is believed to contain the exact chains that bound Peter when the angel came and freed him from prison. Within the cathedral, was a statue of Moses that was done by Michelangelo. This sight was great since it was right next to the metro stop. We then hopped back on the Subway and went to the Roman Baths of Caracalla. These baths were gigantic from what we envisioned! The Romans were big into hydro therapy and used the baths as a social gathering place. After experiencing the Roman baths, we walked down to where the Circus Maximus once held 375,000 screaming fans. Its massive oval shape is kind of like ancient NASCAR. There is no longer a building there but using your imagination you can picture the grandness of the structure built during Imperial Rome. From the Circus Maximus, we headed toward a beautiful white building many people call the wedding cake (the Italian monument of the unknown soldiers). I have never been to the U.S tomb of the unknown soldiers, but I’m sure this one put ours to shame. From there we walked down Cavour street, then took the subway back to our hotel. For dinner we found a restaurant right next to our hotel that makes homemade ravioli. It was our first official sit-down restaurant. It was pretty good, but we were disappointed with the chicken cacciatore.
December 24th, 2008 Day VI
Just so you know this is Elliott. Its Christmas Eve and Molly and I took a tour to Naples and Pompeii. We woke up around 6:00 am since we had to be in the lobby of our hotel by 6:45. This was a big deal since I have been letting Molly sleep in since she is not feeling well. We fortunately made it down stairs in time and was told by our concierge that the bus is not going to pick us up; we have to taxi to the agency. Of course the agency paid for the taxi, so it wasn’t all that bad. Our bus left around 7:30am and had both Spanish and English speakers. So the tour guide would tell us everything in English then in Spanish. I didn’t mind since I got to hear everything twice. The drive down to Naples is about 2 ½ hours. Our first stop was at the Naples Dock. We walked from the dock to the city center where we passed the largest working opera house in all of Europe, the house that the kings of Naples use to live in and the center city plaza that was constructed after the same manner of the city plaza in Moscow. Naples was pretty dirty and we were not too impressed.
We then headed back to the bus and drove to Pompeii, which is on the other side of Mount Vesuvius in relation to Naples. Once we got there, they took us on a tour of a cameo and shell shop. Cameos are portraits made out of shell. I didn’t know what they were, but if you saw one you would be like, “O ya, my grandma has one of those.” After the tour on how the shells are carved, we were fed dumplings, pasta, pork and salad. We meet some interesting couples from Canada and Houston. Everyone on the tour was very nice except for this old guy from Spain who smoked these smelly cigars. The weather was sunny and brisk, which made the walk around Pompeii very enjoyable. Pompeii is very well preserved, having intact mosaics and murals. You can still see the rivets in the stones from the carts in the streets. We saw the courthouse, market, baths/sauna, money changing, rooms where people kept their personal effects to be watched by slaves, the head governors house, and Molly’s favorite the brothel. The governor’s house was enormous, complete with garden, slaves quarters and four dining rooms for each season. The brothel was interesting with many sexual explicit frescos so the foreigners could point at what they wanted. Even the roads had a phallic symbol etched into them directing the way to brothel. They have actually found bodies preserved by the ash in the position that they were buried. They have them on display (they are the pics of the grey looking corpses). Pompeii is a must for everyone interested in how ancient civilizations lived.
When we reached to hotel, we were nervous that we weren’t going to find a place to eat since Christmas Eve is a holiday spent eating with the family. Fortunately our concierge made some phone calls and found a place nearby for us to dine. The food was OK. Molly will tell you that the pizza is awesome here but everything else is mediocre so far (except for the gelato!!!).
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas from Rome! This is Molly again, Elliott has been helping me keep up on our blogging journal since I’ve been so sleepy from being sick. I’m still sick, but I’ve been trucking through it, determined to have a great time! We got up around 9:00 and ate our free breakfast. Then we came back to the room and slept some more. I don’t mean to be so sleepy, but we figured it didn’t matter because it is Christmas, and Rome is literally a ghost town today. So, there’s not much to report on because pretty much everything is shut down, even the Metro. We decided that one day in Venice is not going to cut it, so we had our concierge book us a hotel room for tomorrow night in Venice. I’m glad we have a concierge because he got us a nice hotel room for 68 Euro, including breakfast! We were impressed seeing as how hotels in Venice are incredibly expensive. Then we made our way to the Termini train station and bought roundtrip train tickets to Venice. These were also on sale, so we saved some more money, which always makes me happy. Luckily, we found a McDonald’s near Termini so we grabbed some food since EVERYTHING else is closed. I was thinking we were going to have to fast on Christmas, but good ol’ Mickey D’s came through for us. It was getting dark, and all of our books and tour guides have said to avoid the Termini area at night b/c it is a bad neighborhood, so we booked it out of there and came back to the hotel. Now we are reading up on Venice and preparing for Molly’s most anticipated part of the trip! Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 22, 2008
...do as the Romans do...and eat Gelato!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Just so you know this is Elliott, Molly is sleeping since we have been up on our feet for what seems like an eternity. The pain in my feet makes me feel bad for the god Atlas. Today was an incredible day spent at one of the most religious sites in the world, The Vatican. We didn’t get to meet his holiness but we were able to walk his corridors. Yesterday from the tour we were on, we met a fun tour guide named Hannah the Aussie. Molly and I took a liking to her and we found out that she was giving a tour today at 10:00 a.m. for the Vatican museum. We jumped at the chance to have her has our guide again. We ate breakfast and left to the subway system which quickly got us to the destination. On the metro there are panhandlers asking for money all the time, but on our way to the Vatican there was an old man in a suit playing the fiddle; he played Jingle Bells. It reminded me of the Pixar cartoon where the kid played the violin for money. Leaving the metro, we met our tour guide and we began our journey through the Vatican.
Our guide was excellent as she gave us a little history on how the Vatican came to be, the succession of popes and the history of the artists (Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael and many more). FYI if you spent a minute on every piece of art in the public viewing area, National Geographic calculated that you would spend 8 ½ weeks there!!! So I won’t go into too much detail, but I’ll hit the main cool points. But I must say you always hear people talk about how words and pictures cannot describe the incredibleness of this museum, THEY ARE RIGHT! There were busts of ancient roman gods, death monuments for children (if your child died, you made a statue for them), lifelike statues of animals and muses. We saw a bath made out of Egyptian marble (at a price of 200 Euro per square inch – or more, I can’t remember exactly; something crazy though). The thing was a mini pool! There were tapestries of the life of Christ down one corridor which included a few disturbing ones of Herod throwing a ball for all the fist born sons so he could slay them. Another corridor had Ancient Maps of Italy which were really impressive since they had no photography or aerial views, yet they (two brothers) did an amazing job figuring out how the country looked, with just a compass and two donkeys. We then came to the Raphael rooms. The walls depicted the birth of Christianity and Peter the apostle being rescued from prison, plus the famous Academy. There was a modern art exhibit with some Dali’s which made me happy before you entered the Sistine Chapel.
Upon entering the Sistine chapel, the first thing you notice is that it is bigger than what you would expect. This really is the Cou de Gra (my attempt at French, sorry) of your tour. The walls and ceiling are beyond breathtaking. You are not allowed to take pics in the chapel but since I converted I figure the pope can’t punish me anymore so we did anyway! j/k. The head officer was away on holiday and his replacement could care less if you were taking pics. So we did w/out flash of course to preserve the fresco. After leaving the Sistine chapel, we entered St. Peter’s Square. This is the huge courtyard that leads up to the largest Catholic Church in the world. You were allowed to enter the church and to describe all the detail that went into every nook and cranny would take at least a day. However, when you enter the chapel on the right hand side is the only signed statue by Michelangelo called “The Pietra” which is the one of Mary holding Christ when he was taken down from the cross. This statue was really the only main one of Christ, which made Molly upset. She thinks that if a religion is based on Christ, there should be homage to Him and not to all of the Catholic saints. The statues of the saints were huge and beautiful, but there were hardly any of Christ, which surprised Molly. We walked around the chapel for awhile and our feet were a little tender so we took a break and thought of what we wanted to do next.
Our choices were to go under the chapel and see the tombs of the popes, walk to the top of the dome (cupola) or leave the basilica and eat. So we decided that we are only in Rome once, so we need to walk up to the top of the cupola. There was a sign at the base saying “old people be warned the walk up is very difficult.” They offered an elevator up about half way for 7 euro or you could just walk the whole thing for 5 euro. Molly and I decided to just pay the 5 euro each and walk up to the top. At first the steps are very tiny and long and spiraling up. Then the stairs became a ramp for awhile. We got to what we thought was the top, but was only the inside dome of the chapel. (See pics) I was like that was stinky, for 5 euro we thought we were going to go outside. However! We saw another sign that allowed you to go up higher. The walking staircase is only large enough for one person to go up and is at a slant to your right so you’re leaning as you walk up the stair case. Then you walk up some more metal stairs and then this really tight spiral staircase which made me so dizzy I had to brace myself and throw up a couple Hail Mary’s so I wouldn’t tumble down. We finally reached the top! There is a law in Rome that doesn’t allow you to build anything higher than the dome of the St. Peter’s Bascilica, so we were at the highest point in the city. We took some pictures and enjoyed the 10 euro hike to this spot. The only thing was we had to go back down that tight spiral staircase which made Molly and I dizzy. When we approached the last part where they had long (in length) tiny (in height) steps they were slanted downward. Molly was funny to watch as she picked up speed walking these steps because they force you to come down fast. After the Cupola, we had to walk around half the Vatican to retrieve our backpack from the entrance in the back. That was the worst part of the day because it was so freaking far to get our backpack and they were closing the museum, so we had to hurry but we wanted to hang out in St. Peter’s Square. We ended up walking back to the square to take pics and take in the whole grandeur of it. Outside the Vatican, were many little tents set up where people were selling things. Not like souvenirs but actual useful fun things. It was about 5 and we didn’t eat lunch and were hungry so Molly and I shared a Crepe to hold us over. After that little snack, she was recharged and ready to shop! She had fun looking at all the little handmade items. One little tent sold necklaces and beads. When I pointed to these huge individual beads, Molly was so excited she shouted out “OH WOW!!” Unfortunately these beads where not meant for watches or bracelets. They were center piece beads for necklaces so the holes were at a 2 o’clock and 10 o’clock position. Bummer for you girls, I know. Molly did end up buying a cute little Italian nativity set and got discount since she was so cute. We then headed down Ottovanio Street (which was a happening place) to the metro. We are like metro experts now. Well not really, but I like to think so. On our walk home, we stopped and got some pizza and gelato. The Vatican was an all day trip and well worth it. We finally made it to our hotel room and are so happy to take off our shoes and wish we had a bath to soak our feet.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Well, I’m sick. (this is Molly again). It stinks to be sick on your dream vacation. So we slept in, ate our free breakfast, and I came back to the room and slept some more. When I’m sick, I just like to sleep. We finally got going around 1:00. We went to the Spanish Steps, which apparently is the place to be. I was disappointed in how smoky it was. Everyone and their mother smokes here, especially at the Spanish Steps. All around the Spanish Steps is shopping, from designers like Gucci, Armani, Fendi, Versace, etc. to random little shops. We found Andrew’s Ties, which Dee Golightly had recommended and we found some cool ties for Elliott. On the top of the Steps, we found a nice artist who spoke broken English and we bought 3 of his watercolors, one of the Spanish Steps, one of the Colosseum, and one of Roman Forum. I think they are pretty – they are in Sepia tone and are of medium size. Then, we found a Furla purse store, and I couldn’t help myself. I bought a nice Furla purse tax free. I love it.
After shopping (which took pretty much all day), we went to the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous fountains in Rome. It is huge and really amazing. Pictures don’t do it justice, you really have to see it to see how big and gorgeous it is. We ate some gelato and walked around the shops around there, but most of them were closing, so we decided to come back because I found a Murano glass store that I wanted to shop in. By this time, everything was closing and it was getting cold, so we made our way back to hotel and fell asleep.
Monday, December 22, 2008
I’m still sick. This morning I felt really crappy so we skipped our free breakfast and slept until 11:30. I hate to sleep away our vacation, but when you’re sick, sometimes sleep takes over. I’m feeling a bit better tonight, so hopefully I’ll continue to get better. Once we finally got out of the hotel, we got pizza at this place by our hotel that is delicious and super cheap…3.50 Euro for the both of us to eat. We made our way back to the Trevi Fountain and did more shopping. I found my Murano Glass store again, and bought a vase with 2 glass flowers to go in it. I also bought a few Murano glass bracelets with cool beads so I can later make different watch bands.
After shopping around the Trevi Fountain, we decided to do a walk that is in one of our Rome books. It took us to different churches, which all kind of blended together for me. It also took us to the Pantheon, which is one of the best preserved buildings in Rome. It once was a temple for the Pagan gods, but was later turned into a Christian church. It was very cool to see such an old building with its original columns and ceiling. The artist Raphael was buried there too, and there was an awesome tomb of a king inside it. We did the audioguide tour there, which went into more detail than I really could care for, but Elliott enjoyed it. After the Pantheon, our walk took us to some more churches and then to the Piazza Navona which was really fun. It has three cool Fountains: The Fontana dei Fuimi (Four Rivers fountains) by Bernini, the Fontana del Moro (of tritons, dragons, and dolphins), and the Fontana del Nuttuno (Neptune with nymphs). The Piazza also had carnival-like games and random shops. We bought a popular treat there that when I saw it, I said, “That looks like one big ass donut.” Elliott thought I was so funny when I said it, so we had to try one and will forever remember it as such.
Our walk was then very hard to follow and so we stayed to the lit streets and realized where we were thanks to the Fendi store’s Christmas belt buckle (its Christmas lights formed a big belt with a buckle at the entrance of the store). We found our way back to the Spanish Steps and they were having a free Christmas concert, so we found a seat on the steps and listened to the rest of it. It was nice. We decided to eat at McDonald’s because we are pizza’d out and the other restaurants around there are very expensive. It was getting late, so we made our way back to our hotel and are about to go to sleep.
Just so you know this is Elliott, Molly is sleeping since we have been up on our feet for what seems like an eternity. The pain in my feet makes me feel bad for the god Atlas. Today was an incredible day spent at one of the most religious sites in the world, The Vatican. We didn’t get to meet his holiness but we were able to walk his corridors. Yesterday from the tour we were on, we met a fun tour guide named Hannah the Aussie. Molly and I took a liking to her and we found out that she was giving a tour today at 10:00 a.m. for the Vatican museum. We jumped at the chance to have her has our guide again. We ate breakfast and left to the subway system which quickly got us to the destination. On the metro there are panhandlers asking for money all the time, but on our way to the Vatican there was an old man in a suit playing the fiddle; he played Jingle Bells. It reminded me of the Pixar cartoon where the kid played the violin for money. Leaving the metro, we met our tour guide and we began our journey through the Vatican.
Our guide was excellent as she gave us a little history on how the Vatican came to be, the succession of popes and the history of the artists (Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael and many more). FYI if you spent a minute on every piece of art in the public viewing area, National Geographic calculated that you would spend 8 ½ weeks there!!! So I won’t go into too much detail, but I’ll hit the main cool points. But I must say you always hear people talk about how words and pictures cannot describe the incredibleness of this museum, THEY ARE RIGHT! There were busts of ancient roman gods, death monuments for children (if your child died, you made a statue for them), lifelike statues of animals and muses. We saw a bath made out of Egyptian marble (at a price of 200 Euro per square inch – or more, I can’t remember exactly; something crazy though). The thing was a mini pool! There were tapestries of the life of Christ down one corridor which included a few disturbing ones of Herod throwing a ball for all the fist born sons so he could slay them. Another corridor had Ancient Maps of Italy which were really impressive since they had no photography or aerial views, yet they (two brothers) did an amazing job figuring out how the country looked, with just a compass and two donkeys. We then came to the Raphael rooms. The walls depicted the birth of Christianity and Peter the apostle being rescued from prison, plus the famous Academy. There was a modern art exhibit with some Dali’s which made me happy before you entered the Sistine Chapel.
Upon entering the Sistine chapel, the first thing you notice is that it is bigger than what you would expect. This really is the Cou de Gra (my attempt at French, sorry) of your tour. The walls and ceiling are beyond breathtaking. You are not allowed to take pics in the chapel but since I converted I figure the pope can’t punish me anymore so we did anyway! j/k. The head officer was away on holiday and his replacement could care less if you were taking pics. So we did w/out flash of course to preserve the fresco. After leaving the Sistine chapel, we entered St. Peter’s Square. This is the huge courtyard that leads up to the largest Catholic Church in the world. You were allowed to enter the church and to describe all the detail that went into every nook and cranny would take at least a day. However, when you enter the chapel on the right hand side is the only signed statue by Michelangelo called “The Pietra” which is the one of Mary holding Christ when he was taken down from the cross. This statue was really the only main one of Christ, which made Molly upset. She thinks that if a religion is based on Christ, there should be homage to Him and not to all of the Catholic saints. The statues of the saints were huge and beautiful, but there were hardly any of Christ, which surprised Molly. We walked around the chapel for awhile and our feet were a little tender so we took a break and thought of what we wanted to do next.
Our choices were to go under the chapel and see the tombs of the popes, walk to the top of the dome (cupola) or leave the basilica and eat. So we decided that we are only in Rome once, so we need to walk up to the top of the cupola. There was a sign at the base saying “old people be warned the walk up is very difficult.” They offered an elevator up about half way for 7 euro or you could just walk the whole thing for 5 euro. Molly and I decided to just pay the 5 euro each and walk up to the top. At first the steps are very tiny and long and spiraling up. Then the stairs became a ramp for awhile. We got to what we thought was the top, but was only the inside dome of the chapel. (See pics) I was like that was stinky, for 5 euro we thought we were going to go outside. However! We saw another sign that allowed you to go up higher. The walking staircase is only large enough for one person to go up and is at a slant to your right so you’re leaning as you walk up the stair case. Then you walk up some more metal stairs and then this really tight spiral staircase which made me so dizzy I had to brace myself and throw up a couple Hail Mary’s so I wouldn’t tumble down. We finally reached the top! There is a law in Rome that doesn’t allow you to build anything higher than the dome of the St. Peter’s Bascilica, so we were at the highest point in the city. We took some pictures and enjoyed the 10 euro hike to this spot. The only thing was we had to go back down that tight spiral staircase which made Molly and I dizzy. When we approached the last part where they had long (in length) tiny (in height) steps they were slanted downward. Molly was funny to watch as she picked up speed walking these steps because they force you to come down fast. After the Cupola, we had to walk around half the Vatican to retrieve our backpack from the entrance in the back. That was the worst part of the day because it was so freaking far to get our backpack and they were closing the museum, so we had to hurry but we wanted to hang out in St. Peter’s Square. We ended up walking back to the square to take pics and take in the whole grandeur of it. Outside the Vatican, were many little tents set up where people were selling things. Not like souvenirs but actual useful fun things. It was about 5 and we didn’t eat lunch and were hungry so Molly and I shared a Crepe to hold us over. After that little snack, she was recharged and ready to shop! She had fun looking at all the little handmade items. One little tent sold necklaces and beads. When I pointed to these huge individual beads, Molly was so excited she shouted out “OH WOW!!” Unfortunately these beads where not meant for watches or bracelets. They were center piece beads for necklaces so the holes were at a 2 o’clock and 10 o’clock position. Bummer for you girls, I know. Molly did end up buying a cute little Italian nativity set and got discount since she was so cute. We then headed down Ottovanio Street (which was a happening place) to the metro. We are like metro experts now. Well not really, but I like to think so. On our walk home, we stopped and got some pizza and gelato. The Vatican was an all day trip and well worth it. We finally made it to our hotel room and are so happy to take off our shoes and wish we had a bath to soak our feet.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Well, I’m sick. (this is Molly again). It stinks to be sick on your dream vacation. So we slept in, ate our free breakfast, and I came back to the room and slept some more. When I’m sick, I just like to sleep. We finally got going around 1:00. We went to the Spanish Steps, which apparently is the place to be. I was disappointed in how smoky it was. Everyone and their mother smokes here, especially at the Spanish Steps. All around the Spanish Steps is shopping, from designers like Gucci, Armani, Fendi, Versace, etc. to random little shops. We found Andrew’s Ties, which Dee Golightly had recommended and we found some cool ties for Elliott. On the top of the Steps, we found a nice artist who spoke broken English and we bought 3 of his watercolors, one of the Spanish Steps, one of the Colosseum, and one of Roman Forum. I think they are pretty – they are in Sepia tone and are of medium size. Then, we found a Furla purse store, and I couldn’t help myself. I bought a nice Furla purse tax free. I love it.
After shopping (which took pretty much all day), we went to the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous fountains in Rome. It is huge and really amazing. Pictures don’t do it justice, you really have to see it to see how big and gorgeous it is. We ate some gelato and walked around the shops around there, but most of them were closing, so we decided to come back because I found a Murano glass store that I wanted to shop in. By this time, everything was closing and it was getting cold, so we made our way back to hotel and fell asleep.
Monday, December 22, 2008
I’m still sick. This morning I felt really crappy so we skipped our free breakfast and slept until 11:30. I hate to sleep away our vacation, but when you’re sick, sometimes sleep takes over. I’m feeling a bit better tonight, so hopefully I’ll continue to get better. Once we finally got out of the hotel, we got pizza at this place by our hotel that is delicious and super cheap…3.50 Euro for the both of us to eat. We made our way back to the Trevi Fountain and did more shopping. I found my Murano Glass store again, and bought a vase with 2 glass flowers to go in it. I also bought a few Murano glass bracelets with cool beads so I can later make different watch bands.
After shopping around the Trevi Fountain, we decided to do a walk that is in one of our Rome books. It took us to different churches, which all kind of blended together for me. It also took us to the Pantheon, which is one of the best preserved buildings in Rome. It once was a temple for the Pagan gods, but was later turned into a Christian church. It was very cool to see such an old building with its original columns and ceiling. The artist Raphael was buried there too, and there was an awesome tomb of a king inside it. We did the audioguide tour there, which went into more detail than I really could care for, but Elliott enjoyed it. After the Pantheon, our walk took us to some more churches and then to the Piazza Navona which was really fun. It has three cool Fountains: The Fontana dei Fuimi (Four Rivers fountains) by Bernini, the Fontana del Moro (of tritons, dragons, and dolphins), and the Fontana del Nuttuno (Neptune with nymphs). The Piazza also had carnival-like games and random shops. We bought a popular treat there that when I saw it, I said, “That looks like one big ass donut.” Elliott thought I was so funny when I said it, so we had to try one and will forever remember it as such.
Our walk was then very hard to follow and so we stayed to the lit streets and realized where we were thanks to the Fendi store’s Christmas belt buckle (its Christmas lights formed a big belt with a buckle at the entrance of the store). We found our way back to the Spanish Steps and they were having a free Christmas concert, so we found a seat on the steps and listened to the rest of it. It was nice. We decided to eat at McDonald’s because we are pizza’d out and the other restaurants around there are very expensive. It was getting late, so we made our way back to our hotel and are about to go to sleep.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Rome if you want to....
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
We went to the Miami International Airport around 1:00 p.m. We’ve been to other “international” airports, like Las Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, but man, Miami really IS an international airport. We felt like we walked into another country as soon as we got to the airport! We were the only ones speaking English. We had a scare because our flight confirmation said that we were flying Delta, so we tried to check in with Delta. However, apparently Delta is owned by Alitalia and we were actually flying on Alitalia. So then we went to Alitalia’s check in and everything was in order. The guy that checked us in was nice and gave me a window seat and Elliott an isle seat and then blocked out the middle, so we had a whole row.
The flight was 9 ½ hours long, and we were fed dinner and breakfast. The dinner was pretty bad, in my opinion. Plus, they were very chincy with the drinks, so I was dying of thirst. Next time, I’ll take my own drinks. Elliott slept most of the flight. I finished a book and then tried to sleep, but I can’t sleep on flights very well. I was able to sleep for a couple hours once I had Elliott sit at the window and then I leaned on him and spread out on the row. Once we landed, it was already 8:00 a.m. on Thursday.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Once we landed, we got our luggage (thank you for direct flights!) Then we went to get a taxi. We had read in books and on signs in the airport that we need to a get a taxi with a meter. So this guy comes up and in broken English tells us that he has a meter and that he’ll take us. He was in a suit and looked nice enough so we decided to follow him. Once we got in the car, though, there was no meter. So Elliott opens the car door while he’s backing out and yells “No! We’re getting out!” The dude flat out lied about the meter, so we got out. Then others tried to hustle us to their taxi’s but we found the official airport taxi line and that’s where we found a legitimate taxi. He didn’t speak much English at all, but we were able to tell him where our hotel was b/c Elliott had printed off directions beforehand. Wow, what a taxi ride! Traffic in Rome is HORRIBLE! It’s scary, people just drive all over and there are streets coming and going in all directions. We were so glad we weren’t driving. Plus, it was fun to look around. There are cool things to see all around.
Once we got to our hotel, we tried to check in, but they wouldn’t let us do so for like 5 more hours. Luckily, they had a luggage closet, so we dropped off our bags and started touring. We were so stinking tired, and really just wanted to sleep, but it was nice to get us going and try to switch our clocks. We decided to walk to Villa Borghese, which is basically like this massive park that has a few museums, a zoo, and equestrian center. We went to the Galleria Museum and saw a lot of art and statues that included works of Michelangelo, Bernini, and Caravaggio. Our favorite was a statute of Apollo and Daphne, where Daphne turns into a tree. It was beautiful and we wished we could take pictures, but we had to turn in our bags and cameras before entering. I also found a huge foot that had a flip-flop on it. I can’t even imagine how big the whole statue would have been, b/c only the foot was there and it was really big. I loved that it had a flip flop on it and again, wished I had my camera. After the museum, we walked around the park and found a nice romantic lake to sig by for a bit. By this time, we were so tired, we were dizzy. We still had time before check in, so we found a restaurant called Il Pomordorino, which I think means “little tomato.” I had margherita pizza and Elliott had a brushetta that had mozzarella, tomatoes, and green stuff. Both were delicious and we were happy that our waiter spoke pretty good English. We then, of course, had to try some gelato, so we ordered something that we really didn’t know what it meant, other than “crema” and another word I recognized to mean strawberry. It was strawberry gelato, cream gelato, fresh strawberries, whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and some sweet cracker things. It did not disappoint!
After lunch, we went to the hotel and finally checked in. Elliott said I could take a nap, but only for a little while because we needed to get used to Italy time. So we slept for four hours (much needed), and when we woke up, I still wanted to sleep! So we stayed in the hotel, and ate the leftovers from lunch. We planned out our next day and got online to post on the blog and do my fantasy football (since I’m in the championship game!!). The internet only works in the lobby and there are no plugs in the lobby, so I couldn’t post much on the blog b/c our laptop was dying. After that, it was about midnight and we went to sleep.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Elliott set the alarm for 7:30, but he turned it off and we slept until about 8:30. Our hotel is under renovations (we are in a brand new room that reminds me of a room made from Ikea stuff; very posh and minimalist), so we couldn’t have slept even if we wanted to. It took me a while to fall asleep, so I was still really tired. I don’t do well with time changes. We get breakfast for free (rather, included) at our hotel, so we ate a big meal since we were starving and food is kind of hard to come by since all the restaurants close at weird times. After breakfast, I finished my hair, and then we were off to the Colosseum! We decided to try out the metro subway system since it is quite a ways from our hotel. The auto ticket machine charged us double for some reason, but it dropped us off literally at the Colosseum. Best 4 euro ever spent (except for gelato). Once we got off the Metro, a young guy approached us, and I ignored him but Elliott actually listened. Good thing, because he was selling us a great tour of both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. You pay them, and they take you right past all the lines and give you an English tour/history of the Colosseum. Then we had like 1hr 15 minutes of free time inside the Colosseum, which was awesome. They had an exhibit with some cool statues too. The Colosseum is impressive and hard to describe. I liked all the arches.
After our free time, we met up with a different guide from the same company and she took us through Palentine Hill/Roman Forum. She was from Australia and really knew her history, plus she was really funny. The Palentine Hill is where the emperors built their palaces. They are in ruins now, but you can see how massive of a structure it was. The Roman Forum had the house of the Vestal Virgins, the Senate house, churches, and Via Sacra which is where the soldiers would march in with their spoils of war and where big arches were built to celebrate their victory. These two tours and our free time spent exploring the area took about the whole day. After we were kicked out since it closes, we went to Via Cavour and ate at a cute little café. The waiter saw us looking around, and in broken English says “please, please, come in.” I couldn’t resist. We ate some dinner (well, actually lunch, but at dinner time). I had a caprese sandwhich and Elliott had some penne pasta. The food was just okay, but it was cheap and the service was good. We’re always happy when people speak English. After dinner, we had to have another gelato, so we got cherry gelato on a cone and shared it. It was super sweet and quite tasty. Then we continued down Via Cavour and found a grocery store. We bought some Diet Coke (or CocaCola Light, as they call it), real chocolate, Pringles, soap, and tissue. The grocery store was funny…not at all like America’s. It is not very big and it STINKS, and everything is in Italian. Go figure. Haha. Afterwards, it was getting quite cold and dark, so we decided to head home. We took the Metro again and walked back to our hotel. Now we are resting, planning our day tomorrow, and are probably going to turn in early since we are still tired from our first 48 hour stint of no sleeping! Tomorrow we are going to hit the Vatican with the same tour company (pretty cheap and really informative).
We went to the Miami International Airport around 1:00 p.m. We’ve been to other “international” airports, like Las Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, but man, Miami really IS an international airport. We felt like we walked into another country as soon as we got to the airport! We were the only ones speaking English. We had a scare because our flight confirmation said that we were flying Delta, so we tried to check in with Delta. However, apparently Delta is owned by Alitalia and we were actually flying on Alitalia. So then we went to Alitalia’s check in and everything was in order. The guy that checked us in was nice and gave me a window seat and Elliott an isle seat and then blocked out the middle, so we had a whole row.
The flight was 9 ½ hours long, and we were fed dinner and breakfast. The dinner was pretty bad, in my opinion. Plus, they were very chincy with the drinks, so I was dying of thirst. Next time, I’ll take my own drinks. Elliott slept most of the flight. I finished a book and then tried to sleep, but I can’t sleep on flights very well. I was able to sleep for a couple hours once I had Elliott sit at the window and then I leaned on him and spread out on the row. Once we landed, it was already 8:00 a.m. on Thursday.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Once we landed, we got our luggage (thank you for direct flights!) Then we went to get a taxi. We had read in books and on signs in the airport that we need to a get a taxi with a meter. So this guy comes up and in broken English tells us that he has a meter and that he’ll take us. He was in a suit and looked nice enough so we decided to follow him. Once we got in the car, though, there was no meter. So Elliott opens the car door while he’s backing out and yells “No! We’re getting out!” The dude flat out lied about the meter, so we got out. Then others tried to hustle us to their taxi’s but we found the official airport taxi line and that’s where we found a legitimate taxi. He didn’t speak much English at all, but we were able to tell him where our hotel was b/c Elliott had printed off directions beforehand. Wow, what a taxi ride! Traffic in Rome is HORRIBLE! It’s scary, people just drive all over and there are streets coming and going in all directions. We were so glad we weren’t driving. Plus, it was fun to look around. There are cool things to see all around.
Once we got to our hotel, we tried to check in, but they wouldn’t let us do so for like 5 more hours. Luckily, they had a luggage closet, so we dropped off our bags and started touring. We were so stinking tired, and really just wanted to sleep, but it was nice to get us going and try to switch our clocks. We decided to walk to Villa Borghese, which is basically like this massive park that has a few museums, a zoo, and equestrian center. We went to the Galleria Museum and saw a lot of art and statues that included works of Michelangelo, Bernini, and Caravaggio. Our favorite was a statute of Apollo and Daphne, where Daphne turns into a tree. It was beautiful and we wished we could take pictures, but we had to turn in our bags and cameras before entering. I also found a huge foot that had a flip-flop on it. I can’t even imagine how big the whole statue would have been, b/c only the foot was there and it was really big. I loved that it had a flip flop on it and again, wished I had my camera. After the museum, we walked around the park and found a nice romantic lake to sig by for a bit. By this time, we were so tired, we were dizzy. We still had time before check in, so we found a restaurant called Il Pomordorino, which I think means “little tomato.” I had margherita pizza and Elliott had a brushetta that had mozzarella, tomatoes, and green stuff. Both were delicious and we were happy that our waiter spoke pretty good English. We then, of course, had to try some gelato, so we ordered something that we really didn’t know what it meant, other than “crema” and another word I recognized to mean strawberry. It was strawberry gelato, cream gelato, fresh strawberries, whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and some sweet cracker things. It did not disappoint!
After lunch, we went to the hotel and finally checked in. Elliott said I could take a nap, but only for a little while because we needed to get used to Italy time. So we slept for four hours (much needed), and when we woke up, I still wanted to sleep! So we stayed in the hotel, and ate the leftovers from lunch. We planned out our next day and got online to post on the blog and do my fantasy football (since I’m in the championship game!!). The internet only works in the lobby and there are no plugs in the lobby, so I couldn’t post much on the blog b/c our laptop was dying. After that, it was about midnight and we went to sleep.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Elliott set the alarm for 7:30, but he turned it off and we slept until about 8:30. Our hotel is under renovations (we are in a brand new room that reminds me of a room made from Ikea stuff; very posh and minimalist), so we couldn’t have slept even if we wanted to. It took me a while to fall asleep, so I was still really tired. I don’t do well with time changes. We get breakfast for free (rather, included) at our hotel, so we ate a big meal since we were starving and food is kind of hard to come by since all the restaurants close at weird times. After breakfast, I finished my hair, and then we were off to the Colosseum! We decided to try out the metro subway system since it is quite a ways from our hotel. The auto ticket machine charged us double for some reason, but it dropped us off literally at the Colosseum. Best 4 euro ever spent (except for gelato). Once we got off the Metro, a young guy approached us, and I ignored him but Elliott actually listened. Good thing, because he was selling us a great tour of both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. You pay them, and they take you right past all the lines and give you an English tour/history of the Colosseum. Then we had like 1hr 15 minutes of free time inside the Colosseum, which was awesome. They had an exhibit with some cool statues too. The Colosseum is impressive and hard to describe. I liked all the arches.
After our free time, we met up with a different guide from the same company and she took us through Palentine Hill/Roman Forum. She was from Australia and really knew her history, plus she was really funny. The Palentine Hill is where the emperors built their palaces. They are in ruins now, but you can see how massive of a structure it was. The Roman Forum had the house of the Vestal Virgins, the Senate house, churches, and Via Sacra which is where the soldiers would march in with their spoils of war and where big arches were built to celebrate their victory. These two tours and our free time spent exploring the area took about the whole day. After we were kicked out since it closes, we went to Via Cavour and ate at a cute little café. The waiter saw us looking around, and in broken English says “please, please, come in.” I couldn’t resist. We ate some dinner (well, actually lunch, but at dinner time). I had a caprese sandwhich and Elliott had some penne pasta. The food was just okay, but it was cheap and the service was good. We’re always happy when people speak English. After dinner, we had to have another gelato, so we got cherry gelato on a cone and shared it. It was super sweet and quite tasty. Then we continued down Via Cavour and found a grocery store. We bought some Diet Coke (or CocaCola Light, as they call it), real chocolate, Pringles, soap, and tissue. The grocery store was funny…not at all like America’s. It is not very big and it STINKS, and everything is in Italian. Go figure. Haha. Afterwards, it was getting quite cold and dark, so we decided to head home. We took the Metro again and walked back to our hotel. Now we are resting, planning our day tomorrow, and are probably going to turn in early since we are still tired from our first 48 hour stint of no sleeping! Tomorrow we are going to hit the Vatican with the same tour company (pretty cheap and really informative).
Thursday, December 18, 2008
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