10-May 2008

*Warning - Might take a while to read. Make sure you've recently used the bathroom, and aren't expecting company soon. Check the laundry; make sure it doesn't need attention. Everything good...?

Well, I've been putting off writing the blog for our trip to Italy for 2 (now 3)weeks - but finally I'm sitting down to catalogue one of man's greatest triumphs of international tourism. Only Alexander the Great could claim to have a more fulfilling journey to another country. Granted he was there to massacre and conquer, and we wanted photos...but in the end, it's pretty much the same...

So we had an elaborate plan to visit quite a few places and happily stuck to most of the itinerary for the ten days that we were there. We rented ("hired" in Brit-speak) a car for the trip to keep things flexible if things changed. We also wanted to enjoy the luxury of sharing the road with the fringe-insane Italians on the downtown streets of Florence and Rome. We learned the reputation is there for a good reason.

We spent the first two days in Florence. Once we got through the ordeal of finding the hotel and parking, we went straight to enjoying a nice meal and some gelato. The gelato is AWESOME. I'm not a big ice cream nut, but you could seriously eat gelato in Italy with every meal and never tire of it. Oh..the food was good too. So good. The first morning we woke up early to get to the Accademia di Bella Arti to see Michelangelo's David. Leah and I were a bit nervous about waiting in line. We were told by the staff at the hotel that we were no match for the Japanese tourists when it came to getting in line early and that we'd probably be in line for a few hours waiting. Screw them! 2nd people in line! We thought we might be in the wrong place. Small alleyway with only one other group waiting...but, sure enough, that was it. A killer blow to the Japanese. The David was magnificint (and enormous). I can't explain except to say that it is internationally famous and recognized as a masterpiece for a very good reason. We left and moved on to some of the other city highlights. The Piazza San Giovanni to Michelangelo's Square, then to the Arno River on the south side. We heard American accents pretty much everywhere we went - a good indication that we stuck to the touristy parts of the city. The river was beautiful. It's been the computer background for 2 weeks now.

The next morning we set off to Cinque Terre (Five Lands). It's a short string of five Mediterranean coastal towns noted for a great cultural atmosphere and some amazing views if your up to walking between them. We stayed in one of the towns, called Manarola. Although part of the coastline walkway was closed due to wet conditions, we got to see all but one of the towns. (We reconciled this loss by badmouthing said town to one another for a few hours, which made us feel better) Of the four we saw, I liked Manarola the best. It felt very culturally pure, undisturbed by tourism, and had a beautiful coastline - owning one end of the Via dell Amorre (Road of Love) - a 10-15 minute coastline walking route to the neighboring town of Riomaggiore. We took the walk and noticed and interesting Italian custom. The two 'lovers' write their names on a padlock and then lock it to a railing. Then they take the key and throw it into the ocean. The symbolism is pretty apparent. Locked in the bond of love for life. (unless they want to swim the key out of the ocean...) Our time here was great. Very relaxing, very peaceful, and an incredible and unforgettable meal overlooking the sea at sunset.

In the morning we left for Rome, but not before heading off on a detour through the wine country of Tuscany. We went to the Chianti region in search of some famous vineyard, but our GPS (in the first of a long list of offences) led us to a housing complex with a goat farm. We assumed this was wrong. No grapes. No open fields. Just goats. The signs were all there that the GPS had let us down...that bastard Richard (GPS voice reinstated even after unforgivable errors in Spain)... On our way out we did find a vineyard/restaurant and had lunch. The wine was sensational. Being in Chianti, we had the Chianti. They make it seem like no big deal that they're surrounded by incredible wines. I should point out that Tuscany is home to most beautiful inland scenery I've ever seen in my life. The trees, the hills, the fields, and the flowers all come together in perfect harmony. Someone knew what they were doing. The land is manicured in such a way that the natural elements still seem natural, and nothing looked forced or overly pedantic. Just amazing...

So...onward to Rome. Now I had just finished watching season 1 of HBO's Rome, played Rome: Total War for a month, and was in the middle of reading a book about Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. To say that I was in a good frame of mind to visit the city would have been a sizeable understatement. We found the hotel, parked nearby and headed up to the room. We had only budgeted one day to see the sites in both Rome and the Vatican, so we were planning to get an early start. Now is a good time to mention a few more things about our rented car. We had asked for a small economy, but gotten the 'free upgrade' to a SUV-ish thing. I hated it from the beginning. Too big. Only 1 windshield wiper worked. The windows only worked some of the time...etc..etc.. So when we woke up early to move it and found that someone had broken the side window to rummage around for plunder, it was about the most non-exciting thing to lay eyes on. Nothing stolen save a sleeve of shortbread cookies. We moved the car and covered the window with a plastic bag. We went back to check on the car in the afternoon just in time to see a man walk past with a dog. The dog stopped to pee all over the back tire. A very poetic scene to lighten the situation for Leah and I.

We walked through the Roman Forum to Vatican City in the morning to see St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Both were awesome. St Peter's took our breath away with its sheer size and architecture. The Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum had the same effect with Michelangelo and Raphael's artwork on the walls and ceiling of almost every room. I almost got numb to seeing all the priceless works of art. Next we walked to the Coliseum.

Holding my hands on the concrete railing of the upper deck...looking down on the remains of the arena's interior...my mind swept me back 2000 years to imagine what it would have been like to see this place in its prime. It was a very cool experience for us both. We finished up a wonderful day with dinner in the Piazza outside the Pantheon - a 2000+ year old structure built by the Romans before Christ(ianity) for worshipping the Pagan gods. I sacrificed a chicken to the gods to keep us safe for the rest of the journey.

In the morning we left for what was supposed to be a relaxing two days at a hotel in the Italian countryside. The hotel was in the middle of the Frosinone region, and about 45 minutes from anything that could be called a city. Although patience paid off, and we eventually found the place we were looking for, (without the help of the GPS - strike 2) when we got there, the place was barred up and vacant. Interesting. We had lunch and went back only to find the same thing. More interesting. Anyway, we left. I later took it up with the booking company and apparently the guy that runs it was away or something and forgot we were coming.

So what to do now? We thought about going to stay in Sperlonga to see the castle of Tiberius - about an hours drive down a precariously narrow barely paved road along the edge of a cliff. Then we thought about placing explosives all over this hotel and sending a message. Then we thought about going to Sorrento early and making it 5 nights there. Because we didn't want to kill ourselves and our TNT supply was running low, we chose the last option. It was a little long there (as we expected), but Sorrento had enough to make things interesting.

There were orange trees clustered all around the hotel grounds. I've never eaten so many oranges in such a short space of time. They were delicious. Leah had an "intervention" with me when she found me huddled behind some dumpsters with 20 or so oranges eating them and giggling to myself. We both spent some time outside reading for the first few days. Leah took some walks through the city. We caught a sunset here and there. It was incredibly peaceful. When the weather was cooperating, we decided to take a day trip to the island of Capri for the day. My first time there, Leah's second. Unfortunately, our ferry 'made berth' (parading my sea-faring lingo...) on the uninteresting side of the island. We hadn't planned enough time to get across to the other side and see the real beauty of the island, but we did get a few hours on the beach. Blue, blue water. The water was a little turbulent, so no tours through the grottos, and Leah was a little sad that I didn't get to see how clear the water can be. A beautiful island though. Even the ferry ride was nice. Mt. Vesuvius dominating the view to the left, the Sorrentine coast to the right and Capri behind us.

Strike 3 occured on the ride to Naples airport. Richard would have been thrown out of the car at 60mph if he was a real person. Italy's road system is partly to blame, but we finally got there. We paid for the window (omitted from the additional insurance coverage we purchased) and headed back. What a great trip though. Great food, great sites, and amazing experience. We'll be back for more later.

Til next time.

A little Vesuvio...

On the wall in Florence. I added the '01.

Coastline looking on Rio Maggiore in Cinque Terre.