Meta Beach and Naples (Sorrento Part 3)

Day three took Jay back to
Pompeii and I suffered by staying back and taking the girls to the
beach!  We rode the little public bus for about 20 minutes to a village 3
towns down the coast right to a little pebbly, black sand beach (again
most of the shoreline is made up of steep cliffs and the black sand is
from the volcanic lava).  The water was a little chilly (read COLD!) but
the girls didn't care. They climbed on the rocks and gathered millions
of rocks, tumbled glass and shells to take home (what's that baggage
weight limit??).  The water was a brilliant blue/green and the sunshine felt so good
after our long winter.  We ended the day with a beautiful sunset from
the park overlooking the ocean across the street from our apartment and
of course gelato shared with an American family we happened upon!  It
was fun to share stories.  Everyone we meet reminds us how blessed we
are for this extended opportunity to LIVE in Europe and not just make a
whirlwind tour for a few weeks.  Staying in the apartments when we
travel has really allowed us to mingle with the locals and live like a
local more than what we get when we only stay in one place for a few
days.  We get a chance to use the local buses, go to the market and
become familiar with some of the shopkeepers etc. (like Jhonny of
course! It's kind of nice to feel like someone recognizes you!)  Never
did get too friendly with the fish guy though - girls wouldn't linger long
enough around the baby octopus, whole fish and the lovely smell!!

Day 4 took us into the city of Naples.  About an hour away by a rugged
train trip.  This particular train system leaves little to be desired. 
It is covered with graffiti, ,stops constantly and is quite crowded -
also known for pick pockets.  Fortunately we didn't have any problems
with that.  We were all pretty excited to go the National Archaeological
Museum in Naples which houses many of the treasures found in Pompeii
and Herculaneum.  The museum is filled with frescoes removed from the
walls of the homes, household items (pots, pans, silverware, decorative
vases etc.), floor mosaics, coins, etc.  Much to our dismay, entire
sections of the museum were closed including the "Secret Room" exhibit
(for adults only).  We didn't get to see any of the floor mosaics or
coins but we did see a couple of models of Pompeii which were quite
interesting.  One from the late 1800's and one from the late 1900's. It
is amazing to see how much they have dug up in the last century.  We
found Naples to be crowded and dirty (it has a reputation for that) so
we headed back early to the beautiful coast.  Although the day was
somewhat disappointing it wasn't anything a gelato and Jhonny's Pizza
couldn't fix!  And a little souvenir shopping - always a favorite. 
Dayna has quite a collection of postcards!

Pompeii (Sorrento Part 2)

The girls demonstrating the stepping stones

Dayna serving a Coke at the Taverna

Vesuvius from Pompeii

An interior courtyard with Vesuvius in the background.

Two of the plaster casts from victims

On our second full day we took the local train for 40 minutes to
Pompeii.  It is amazing to see an entire city so well preserved from
2000 years ago.  It really helps you to understand what life was like -
although it was a very wealthy city.  The girls loved wandering the
narrow, cobblestone streets and enjoyed jumping from one side of the
street to the other.  The streets also served as their drainage system
so there were steps in the middle that the carts could roll right over
but that could be used by pedestrians to cross over one side to the next
without getting wet.

Karissa's favorite things were the "stepping stones" and the little "tavernas" everywhere.  In Pompeii, you always ate your lunch "out".  The big pots set into the counter held the food and drinks as Dayna demonstrates above!  Dayna's favorite was the "Beware of Dog" floor mosaic at the entrance to one of the homes.  She waited nearly the entire day to get to see it. 

We also liked the ornate
communal bath houses - huge.  It was THE place to see and be seen (boys
and girls were separate however).  People from our time go to Starbucks,
THEY went to the baths and hung out for a few hours.  The number of
intact frescoes and mosaic floors were astonishing.  They were REALLY
into decorating their homes - pretty nice places all with interior
courtyards for their outdoor living and frescoed walls facing the skinny
little streets.  It was difficult to tell where the houses started and
stopped so you definitely couldn't tell much about the house or its size
until you entered it.  Much different than our modern way of displaying
our wealth!!

With our Vesuvius visit and the recent eruption in Iceland (remember our favorite friends here are Icelandic so we get lots of updates on it!) we have learned more about volcanos than ever! One of the unique things about Pompeii is that the city was buried in ash and debris, not lava.  It literally rained down from the sky and most people that died, died from the toxic gas or suffocation.  They have found empty cavities in the shape of humans as they have dug through the site.  They "backfill" these cavities with plaster and it shows the actual shape and position of the person or animal as it died!  There are many of these casts around the city and it's pretty eery and makes the whole affair much more human.

After our daily gelato at the site we closed the place
down.  Much to our amazement the girls were really engaged and attentive
and enjoyed showing their American friends "Flat Kayla" and "Flat Ryan"
around. ( They are "visiting" us from the second grade at Pullen
Elementary in Rockwall.)

Dayna with Flat Kayla

April 4th - Pompeii and the Sorrento Peninsula

The view of the Bay of Naples on our way to Sorrento

Karissa was the first to spot Vesuvius from the air

Okay, so I'm miserable at keeping this thing up to date!!  Confirmed.  We got back about two weeks ago from a 10 day trip back to Italy.  We have tried to cram all of our big and "south" trips into the late winter/early spring to catch some warmer weather.  We succeeded on our previous two trips to Italy and Greece and managed to catch another wonderful wave of weather - no rain whatsoever and warm, beautiful days.

Our little street where we "lived" and the apartment interiorI have to admit that this trip was probably the most beautiful scenery we have seen along with Switzerland.  We flew into Naples on Easter Sunday (after hunting Easter eggs of course) and took a special tour type bus to Sorrento - about an hour and 15 minutes around the bay.  Naples is the most densely populated city in western Europe so we couldn't get out of there fast enough (real Mafia town).  All we saw out the bus windows were somewhat dilapidated high-rise apartment buildings with balconies laden with drying laundry!!  It was pretty depressing.  Everyone we had talked with said that Sorrento was the place to stay.  Now we understand!  It is still quaint but definitely "cleaned up" for the tourists.  It's a mecca for the Brits and there were lots of them there as the British kids were on school holiday that week as well.  Our kids enjoyed getting to converse with other English speaking kids for a change!

Sorrento itself sits right on the coast and most of the shoreline along the peninsula consists of cliffs that plunge into the sea.  We arrived with our entourage of suitcases on wheels and had a 10 minute walk over cobblestone streets to our apartment.  What we didn't realize is that we arrived right in the middle of the "passeggiata" - the distinctively Italian nightly stroll.  EVERY Italian in Sorrento was walking or shall I say meandering down the street.  It is a ritual where you go out before your late dinner and see and be seen.  Not exactly easy maneuvering for our group of 9 (4 people and 5 suitcases!) who didn't know for sure where we were going!  Anyway, our two bedroom apartment was right in the middle of town and turned out to be huge.  It even had it's own balcony for drying our own laundry (P.S.  Make sure you know the people below you quite well if you happen to drop undergarments onto their balcony, oops ;) ).  The nightly stroll amazed us because when we went out again later it was even crazier and people were just walking right down the street with their strollers etc.  Forget the cars and scooters.  It was truly a cultural awakening!

The intact mosaics were incredible.Frescoed walls still standing after 2000 years

 It feels like a real city, streets and allOn our first full day we took the train to Herculaneum.  A city that was right on the ocean at the time of Vesuvius' eruption in 79 A.D.  Unlike, Pompeii, it didn't get demolished, it was just buried by about 95 feet of hot mud and ash!!  Many historians think it is much better preserved than Pompeii as the houses are so intact that there are second stories still remaining.  It's pretty weird though because they built a new city right on top of the buried city.  So, the excavation is significantly smaller because there is modern city built all around it and they can't get to the rest of the archaeological site!  It's just like a 100 foot deep pit in the middle of this urban sprawl.  Along with "Scavi di Ercolano" we went to the MAV Museum an interactive museum about the ancient site.  The girls loved it - it was all high tech and they got to "dust off" frescoes and mosaic floors, "wade through an ancient pool",  walk through computerized recreations of some of the buildings.  It really made it a lot of fun for them.

Upon our return to Sorrento that night we happened upon
Jhonny's Pizza (yes, that's how it's spelled).  Jhonny gave us quite a
show with his dough and wood burning oven.  He's won a number of awards for his frisbee like
moves (rolling it down his outstretched arms etc.) and also won our business for 4 nights during our stay (anything
to get Karissa to eat dinner - excuse me, I think the proper word would be
"inhale" in this particular case!).  It was a lot of fun and quite appropriate since that area of Italy is supposed to be the birthplace of the pizza.  Thin and crispy!

 Jhonny, throwing our dough!

Greece in March

Well, I am only a month behind - still haven't finished my posts on Rome but decided to go with Greece while it's fresh on my mind.  Originally Jay was going to go on his own to do some work at Corinth but the more I thought about it the more I couldn't stand not joining him.   So, we took the girls out of school and headed there by Swiss Airlines on the 12th.  (Dayna captured some pretty cool views of the Alps from the air.)  The trip  ended up being voted one of our favorite trips so far (our trip to Switzerland is still ranked #1).  We stayed the first 3 nights in an apartment at the Greek Bible Institute, a school run by a DTS grad in a suburb of Athens.  They gave us the royal welcome and we got to live like a local - riding the bus into Athens, going to the market etc.  The girls enjoyed interfacing with the students there from all over the world and also made a new kid friend - Erastos - the son of one of the professors.  He coached them on the finer points of soccer there on the school grounds.  Dayna also participated in a ladies quilting group at the school with some of the local Greek women.  She ate up the attention afforded a little blonde girl in a country with all dark hair!!

We spent our first full day in Athens at the Acropolis.  It wasn't crowded at all and the weather was pleasant and partly sunny.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch overlooking the city - a crowded and dense panorama.  We are so spoiled with space in the U.S.!!  A hike up to the top of the neighboring hill - Filopappos Hill provided some great views of the Parthenon.   We found Athens much nicer than when we were there in 1988.  A lot of improvements took place for the Olympics in 2004 including the nicest subway stations we have seen-complete with ancient artifacts displays.  Other than the stray dogs EVERYWHERE (which were there in '88 as well!) we felt safer walking all over the city.  They have really made the area around the Acropolis and Agora very friendly with outdoor cafes, pedestrian only streets and even a playground!  It's amazing that the Athenian kids grow up playing in the shadows of such famous
monuments!!

Our second day of touring Athens included a trip to the National Archaeological Museum which was chock full of some incredible artifacts.  It was pretty amazing and overwhelming.  It really is an incredible museum and you could spend days there.  After that and lunch at McDonalds (Jay gets his American style coffee and the girls get their burgers) we went to the newly opened Acropolis Museum which holds many of the original items from the Parthenon.  Architecturally the building is amazing and is designed with incredible views of the Parthenon.  (You can see the modern museum in the background of the picture above with Dayna) The top floor is a re-creation of the Parthenon using many of the original pieces that have been recovered.  It was pretty interesting and sad to see how many pieces are missing to the British Museum!  Unfortunately they don't allow photography in the Museum so we can't bore you with any pictures!



We ended the day with the all important souvenir shopping (hey, they have to have some payback for putting up with touring ruins and antiquities!) and ice cream (NOT to be compared with Italian gelato!).  Jay was yearning for American coffee after he endured a cup of Greek coffee with its 1/2" thick layer of grounds at the bottom.  Although it was a quick tour through Athens we were ready for some open space - the allure of the city had worn off...on to Corinth.

Rome in February

The girls started "Fasching Break" on Feb. 13 but Jay was taking a German class so we didn't get to leave for Rome until Thursday the 18th.  We flew out of Stuttgart for an hour and a half plane ride on German Wings - kind of like the Southwest Airlines of Germany.  It was actually cheaper than taking the train and much faster!!  We stayed for six nights in an apartment right on Piazza Barberini (see above for a view from our balcony) in the heart of the ancient city.  It was a bit of a challenge contending with the noise at night but the convenience and fun of being in the heart of things was worth it!  Rome does not sleep!

The ride in from the airport with Mr. Enzo (a great old Italian employed by the lady who owns the apartment) was exactly as I remember - Romans drive like they talk - lots of movement!!  At first I thought that maybe there was a law saying that you had to straddle the white line!!  They are crazy drivers and it took us forever to get to the apartment - it has become an extremely congested city and everyone loves to use their horn!!  We couldn't believe that we only saw one accident while we were there.  There are cars and scooters everywhere.  Parking is a nightmare and the Smart cars even squeeze by parallel parking in a new way!!



That first night we got settled, got some groceries at a little market and took off down the street a few blocks to the famous Trevi Fountain.  It became a nearly nightly ritual as you'll see from future posts!  The night was nearly 60 degrees and every person in Rome was out on the streets - they come alive at night!!  They stroll!

On our first day, we got up and walked a few blocks down a different street to the Spanish Steps. (In the picture you can see the obelisk down the street from our balcony) It is another famous place to sit and watch the crowds, we enjoyed the same and were especially pleased when the sun came out.  We did a little window shopping on the Via Condotti (the most exclusive shopping street in Rome) and enjoyed the guys selling roasted chestnuts along the street.  We had some lunch and then boarded the bus to Piazza Venezia.

Piazza Venezia sits at the base of the "wedding cake" monument to Vittorio Emmanuel - the first President of Italy.  He had it erected much to the chagrin of most Romans and it's considered the sore thumb of Rome because it is so big and opulent in contrast to the fabulous ruins around it.  We climbed its step to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and got some good views.  Around the corner we climbed the steps up to the top of the Capitoline Hill - considered to be the center of the Ancient Roman world and where we get our word "capitol" as in Washington D.C.  The piazza was designed by Michelangelo and was beautiful with it's patterned paving and great statues.  From the top of the hill we got a great look into the ancient Forum including the Arch of Septimius Severus from A.D. 203 and the Sacred Way.

From there we walked down the street toward the Colosseum from A.D. 80 built by Emperor Vespasian.  We rented the audio phones and headed right in.  It was a great time to be there as the lines were very short and the weather was really pleasant.  The girls enjoyed climbing around the great structure and we even saw some real live gladiators!!  Its pretty amazing to think that it's so old.  The reason it's half there is because it was plundered of its marble, bricks and statues to build other buildings after all of the games were outlawed (first the gladiators and then the wild animals fights were finally banned in 523 A.D.).  We headed home on the Metro which took us right to Piazza Barberini - when in Rome do as the Romans!