This is just a quick clip I took inside. I wanted to capture the beauty of St. Peters but the low light was causing my camera to take super dark pictures. Luckily the video came out pretty good so click on the link to take a look.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Roma and the Vatican
For our second day in Italy we traveled to a little known city called quaintly in Italian "Roma" . Ok ok everyone knows about Rome. The home of the Roman Empire, the city Paul called home, The Colliseum, the Forum, The Pantheon, The Pizza! Hey I'm hungry give me a break ;)
I will start off by telling you that Ryan was a miracle. This trip was around 9 hours long and he was a true champion. Thanks buddy!
We took about 8 million pictures in Rome. Most of them of the colliseum, you see it as you drive around and it really sums up all of Rome up for me. So much history here and it really feels like you are standing in the shadow of an ancient civilization. With that said, I'm going to get right into the good stuff.
We had a crazy italian tourguide with a stick that she waved at us when she wanted our attention. It was covered with a red scarf and if you saw it bobbing in the distance you knew you better hurry up or get left behind! (She meant business, she almost left one lady behind because she got lost).
We saw some cool stuff while driving around that I don't remember the name of.
We saw some ruins of the ancient city. Everytime they dig here they come up with something new. They don't have any type of subway because everytime they start in one part of the city they run into something ancient and have to try digging elsewhere.
Here is a monument depicting the Rise of the Roman Empire. If you look on the left you can see a tiny white speck that is Rome. If you look on the far right you can see almost all of the world at that time was under Roman control.
And finally we caught a peek of the Colliseum! The first side you see is the one that they don't show on TV. It was damaged by an earthquake and the marble has fallen off the outside and it has began to fall apart.
The other side of the building is much more magnificent.
And a great family photo opportunity!
After the colliseum the tour bus stopped and let us all out at a cute little Italian restaurant.
We were suprised by a large piece of lasagna and tasty fresh bread with delicious butter. We drank some wine and just as we were ready to pull our stuffed-selves out of our chairs they brought out a second course. Veal cutlets and fresh green beans. The lasagna it turns out was just an appetizer! We stuffed as much of that down as we could and then they brought out a salad with crisp lettuce and a delicious homemade dressing. At this point we knew that Tiramisu must be coming and we weren't disappointed. I tried this delicious coffee dessert two or three times in Europe and was pleased to discover that it isn't as heavily "boozed" as most of the tiramisu I've had in the states.
Sleepily we loaded back on the bus and headed towards Vatican City. We really didn't know what to expect. We aren't Catholic and mostly thought we'd just be seeing another neat church.
Here is a picture of the line outside to see St. Peter's Basilica
Of course it started to rain as we were in the middle of that line.
Above is a picture of the Vatican Guards at work. Their outfits were originally designed by Michelangelo and they still wear the exact same uniform today.
I was not expecting to have any religious experiences inside St. Peters. I knew I'd be impressed but we were overwhelmed. This is the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Notre Dame in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London don't even begin to compare. As we were standing there looking at a sculpture that Michelangelo made when he was 24, his first masterpiece and you look around knowing that the bones of Peter the most beloved disciple are buried right below you it's hard not to get a little choked up.
My pictures of this amazing place did not turn out. I did make a small video which doesn't look too bad so I will post it as it's own blog. I was very impressed and even for a brief second considered converting.
All in all Rome and the Vatican were amazing. We loved every minute and definitely recommend it as a vacation spot.
Naples and Pompeii
Good Morning Italy! Our first day in Italy we arrived bright and early in Naples or Napoli as the Italians call it. We had visited Naples Florida which was very nice so we were hoping for the best.
Naples is a fortified port with a big wall and tower to help defend it from attack. That was about the only thing cool about it. The port in Naples was one of the dirtiest, nastiest, seediest places I have seen in Europe. Trash every where. People trying to scam you on stolen goods. The traffic is crazy and you literally just have to run out into the middle of a busy street and pray they stop in order to cross the road.
Luckily we were here to see the active volcano Mt. Vesuvius and the long dead city of Pompeii. The volcano is a crazy thing to think about. It is still active. It is the only volcano to have erupted in the last 100 years and it has a history of very explosive eruptions. There are 3,000,000 people living in the immediate area of this thing. If you think Pompeii was the last we will hear about this area I would think again.
Pompeii did not disappoint. I had read about this place since I was in elementary school and was extremely excited to see it. This city was a bustling community around the time of Christ. They were known far and wide for their wines and goods. They were a rich community with ports all over the world. One day in AD 79 the entire city was covered with 26 feet of ash and that was the end of Pompeii.
In 1748 this city was accidentally rediscovered and the digging began. What they found was a city that was in great shape under the ash. The colorful frescoes and painted walls are still there. The architecture is really beautiful and the streets look like you could still use them today.
One of the craziest things we learned was that people who were suffocated and buried by this volcanic ash left behind a perfect impression of their last seconds on earth. The ash hardened around their bodies and as they decomposed they left a perfect mold of themselves. When the archeologists stumbled on these cavities in the earth they had the bright idea to pour plaster of paris inside of them. What they got was perfect plaster people. They literally have these just sitting around in a little caged in area.
We saw this poor fellow, a pregnant woman, and a dog on a chain. It was a bit sad. There were also lots of examples of the pots and cookwares they used during the period.
Here is an example of a store in Pompeii. The roof was added (all roofs collapsed under the weight of the ash). The outside of the store is painted and very cool.
Ryan did great in Pompeii, we let him run around on the street and he loved it. He's quite the adventurer.
Naples is a fortified port with a big wall and tower to help defend it from attack. That was about the only thing cool about it. The port in Naples was one of the dirtiest, nastiest, seediest places I have seen in Europe. Trash every where. People trying to scam you on stolen goods. The traffic is crazy and you literally just have to run out into the middle of a busy street and pray they stop in order to cross the road.
Luckily we were here to see the active volcano Mt. Vesuvius and the long dead city of Pompeii. The volcano is a crazy thing to think about. It is still active. It is the only volcano to have erupted in the last 100 years and it has a history of very explosive eruptions. There are 3,000,000 people living in the immediate area of this thing. If you think Pompeii was the last we will hear about this area I would think again.
Pompeii did not disappoint. I had read about this place since I was in elementary school and was extremely excited to see it. This city was a bustling community around the time of Christ. They were known far and wide for their wines and goods. They were a rich community with ports all over the world. One day in AD 79 the entire city was covered with 26 feet of ash and that was the end of Pompeii.
In 1748 this city was accidentally rediscovered and the digging began. What they found was a city that was in great shape under the ash. The colorful frescoes and painted walls are still there. The architecture is really beautiful and the streets look like you could still use them today.
One of the craziest things we learned was that people who were suffocated and buried by this volcanic ash left behind a perfect impression of their last seconds on earth. The ash hardened around their bodies and as they decomposed they left a perfect mold of themselves. When the archeologists stumbled on these cavities in the earth they had the bright idea to pour plaster of paris inside of them. What they got was perfect plaster people. They literally have these just sitting around in a little caged in area.
We saw this poor fellow, a pregnant woman, and a dog on a chain. It was a bit sad. There were also lots of examples of the pots and cookwares they used during the period.
Here is an example of a store in Pompeii. The roof was added (all roofs collapsed under the weight of the ash). The outside of the store is painted and very cool.
Ryan did great in Pompeii, we let him run around on the street and he loved it. He's quite the adventurer.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Malta
Our first destination was the island nation of Malta. I woke up early and was suprised to see we were pulling into port. I rushed out to the balcony to snap some pictures in the early morning light.
And finally we stopped at one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We blew the camera up here and still couldn't get a shot that completely captured the panoramic, mind-blowing beauty of "The Blue Grotto"
This neat southern european island is situated right off the coast of Sicily. One of it's historical claim to fames is that it's where Paul (from the new testament) shipwrecked about 2000 years ago.
We were a bit luckier than Paul and we made it into port without any troubles.
We decided to do the shorter bus tour which was fairly uneventful. We learned all about the dusty yellow stones that every building in town is made of.
We learned how they imported and made their own dirt in order to garden this completely rockfilled land. They also showed us how they divided up the different gardens with stone walls to keep this precious soil from eroding away.
As always, Ryan was extremely interested.
We made a few stops along the way where we saw some interesting buildings and scenic views.
And finally we stopped at one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We blew the camera up here and still couldn't get a shot that completely captured the panoramic, mind-blowing beauty of "The Blue Grotto"
I caught this last picture from our balcony. It's hard to see at this small size but it's a cross with the sunset behind it. I found out after we passed it, and I could see it from the side, that it was some sort of antennae and not a cross at all. It was like God gave me a little something special that morning.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Finally "The Cruise"
Hi! Sorry this is taking so long to get up. We had an amazing time on our 7 day cruise of the mediterranean. We saw a bit of Barcelona, the island of Malta, 3 stops in Italy (Pompeii, Rome, Pisa) and a day tour to the beautiful south of France (Nice and Eze).
We woke up early early on Sunday morning and finished the last minute packing of our apartment since we were not only going on a cruise but moving back home. I drug our super heavy luggage, bags, carseats, strollers, babies, bricks, anvils, and kitchen sinks down to the first floor and we waiting in the cold darkness for our cab that never showed up. Jessi finally worked some secret phone mojo and managed to find our lost taxi a few miles away in the wrong area of town. There had been a mixup on the address and he hadn't received our cell phone number. We were a bit scared we were going to miss our flight, cruise, and possibly have to enroll Ryan in Oxford instead of Harvard.
We woke up early early on Sunday morning and finished the last minute packing of our apartment since we were not only going on a cruise but moving back home. I drug our super heavy luggage, bags, carseats, strollers, babies, bricks, anvils, and kitchen sinks down to the first floor and we waiting in the cold darkness for our cab that never showed up. Jessi finally worked some secret phone mojo and managed to find our lost taxi a few miles away in the wrong area of town. There had been a mixup on the address and he hadn't received our cell phone number. We were a bit scared we were going to miss our flight, cruise, and possibly have to enroll Ryan in Oxford instead of Harvard.
Our flight was uneventful and we were excited about the days events. Once we landed in Barcelona we found the Norweigan Cruise Line attendants who took care of all of our luggage and placed us on a bus heading towards our ship.
Once we got on board we went to our room to figure out how our luggage, which was to be delivered later that evening, was all going to fit into our little cabin. Amazingly the room was really big! And it had a Balcony and a full sized bathtub (very nice for bathing Ryan). The bed was actually bigger than the one in our apartment so it was a luxury too.
After that we gorged ourselves on the buffet for 6 more days and finally came home. The End
Hehe just kidding. More to come!
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