Last Night in Venice

We spent our last day in Venice wandering the various streets and back alleys and traversing too many canals to count.  One of the most popular things to do when in Venice, at least for the tourists, is to ride with a gondolier.  Mom turns 76 later this month and for an early birthday present the four kids paid for a gondola ride for her and Pop.  She was very excited and was kind enough to ask us along.  It was a great finish to our time in Venice and a nice way to cap our vacation in Italy.  Ciao!

Mom and Pop's First Selfie

A first for the "techno-savvy" parents -- the selfie.  We're standing on a bridge over the canal in Murano, although you can't really tell where we are.  I guess we'll have to practice more so we can frame the shot better.  :)

Rialto Bridge

A super close up is the best I can do to show
the bridge and not the scaffolding

The Grand Canal traverses through the heart of Venice and there are only four bridges that cross it.  Rialto Bridge is the most famous and most photographed.  Similar to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Rialto Bridge is lined with shops on both sides.  Unfortunately for us, the bridge is undergoing renovation.  We've seen a lot of scaffolding while we've been in Italy.  It's good to know that these sites are being preserved, but it makes for horrible pictures.  Perhaps this is a clever ploy to make us come back so we can see it in all its glory.  We're just grateful to be able to be here and experience it, even if I don't have a very good photo.

Murano & Burano

Murano

Today we visited two outlying islands from Venice -- Murano and Burano.  Murano is known for glass making and has multiple glass factories on the island.  When you hear of Venetian glass, you're hearing about Murano.  Burano is known for lace-making and the panoply of pastel colors that cover its buildings.

Cam Furnace -- Glass Factory

Our first stop was Murano.  We took the vaporetto from the stop nearest our hotel for the 40 minute ride to Murano.  The public transit system in Venice is not buses, but boats.  There are no cars in Venice, only boats that traverse the numerous canals that cross the city.  Vaporettos are the public transit boats.  Being that it is Sunday, we weren't sure what we would get to see, but we found the Cam Furnace open and they gave us our own private glass making demonstration.  If it were a weekday, we could have see normal production taking place, but having a personal demonstration was pretty cool.  The master glass maker made a vase and a horse figurine while we watched.  It was amazing to see the speed at which he worked.  As with most of of Venice being dependent upon tourism, Murano is no different and we were then escorted to the show rooms to see all of the glass on display that we could buy.  While we did make a small purchase for a souvenir, it was incredible to see all of the chandeliers and other large glass items that are made in Murano -- and as was pointed out to us -- they can ship it anywhere in the world.

Burano

Murano was a nice first stop, but after seeing the demonstration and strolling the streets for a while, we were ready to move on to Burano.  Another 30 minute vaporetto ride and we were there.  The first thing that struck you as the boat was pulling in was the rainbow of colors covering the buildings.  Burano seemed to be more lively than Murano, with more outdoor cafes and shops open.  We saw several stores that sold everything lace -- from clothing to curtains to other decorative items.  Some of the patterns were quite intricate and delicate.  After a couple of hours of Burano charm, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta before heading back out.

Our lunch stop -- delicious paninis

Venice & St. Mark's Square

We've arrived in Venice.  Our home for our last three nights is the Hotel Campiello.  The hotel is less than 100 yards from the San Zaccaria stop on the water at the end of the Grand Canal.  We walked right off the boat with our luggage and were in the lobby in about three minutes.

Venice is fairly compact and you can easily walk everywhere you want to go through its maze of alleys and bridges.  The heart of Venice is St. Mark's Square, with the Basilica, Doge's Palace, Correr Museum, and Bell Tower all surrounding the square.  During the day, its one huge mosh pit of people trying to get around.  Fortunately, our hotel is only about a five minute walk to the square so we're right in the heart of Venice but on a quiet back alley away from all the commotion.

Mosaic on the outside of St. Mark's Basilica

We headed out to the square to see the action for ourselves.  First up, we went in and toured St. Mark's Basilica.  This church dates to 1064 and is gilded to the hilt in gold, with colored marble and extensive mosaic murals on the walls and in the floors.  Given the era and location in Italy, there is a significant amount of influence from the Byzantine era.  Given all of the other churches and duomos we've seen since we arrived, the Basilica was smaller than I expected.  The mosaics and gold present throughout were much more extensive and impressive than any of the others we saw.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so unfortunately I have none to share.

Inner Courtyard at the Doge's Palace

After we visited the Basilica, we decided to go ahead and tour the Doge's Palace as it was later in the day and there was no line.  The Doge or duke was the Venetian ruler and the Palace was his home.  Venice was the center of power in the world for four centuries between 1150 and 1550.  In one sense, the Doge was an elected king, chosen by nobles from within their ranks to carry out their laws and decisions.  The Palace was very impressive in how it was laid out and the way the rooms would function to reinforce the sense of power carried out by the Doge -- the same way the Oval Office reinforces the power of the Office of the President.

Because today was a travel day, we didn't know how much sightseeing, if any, we'd get done.  This opens up our schedule quite a bit so we'll be able to soak in a little more Venice.  That shouldn't be a problem.

Arrivaderci Fucecchio

Saying goodbye to our hostess Tiziana

Tuscany has been great, but all good things must come to an end.  Our time in Villa Maura is over and we're off to Venice for the final leg of the trip.  Tiziana has been a great hostess and we loved the slower pace, less crowds, and tranquility of our time in Tuscany.   We're dropping our car off at the Venice Airport, so our route from Fucecchio to Venice takes us past Bologna.  We drove through probably 25 or more tunnels through the mountains with just as many bridges over gorges and rivers to get there.  The Venice that everyone knows and pictures in their minds is an island with lots of canals.  However, the city extends to the mainland and that is where the airport is located.  We'll then take a boat from the airport to our hotel.   That's a first for us.

The Fun is in the Wandering -- not just the Destination

Mona and Vanna with our new memento

One of the fun things about this trip has been the wandering through the side streets and neighborhoods -- finding a neat little store, discovering hidden arches, or seeing a fabulous view.  Such was the case when we stumbled into Vanna Spagnolo's studio in Volterra.  Vanna was alone in her studio working on her next painting when we wandered in and begin looking at her paintings.  We loved how she painted the frame as part of her pictures which gave it a 3-D appearance.  All of her paintings were of the Tuscan countryside and views we've been seeing.  One of the views we frequently saw in our travels we were not expecting  -- fields of sunflowers.  Vineyards and olive groves --yes;  sunflowers -- no.  While she did speak some English, a lot of what she told us was in Italian.  Our Italian is practically non-existent, but we understood one another.  She showed us how the various features of the painting represented wisdom, serenity, security, and tradition.  We probably spent 30 minutes or more in her shop -- just the three of us -- talking about her paintings and deciding which one we'd like to purchase.  We now have a fantastic memento that will remind us of the wonderful time we spent in Tuscany every time we look at it.  This is why we have so much fun wandering.

San Gimignano and Volterra

It's our last day in Tuscany.  We decided to spend part of it visiting two more hill towns towards the southern part of Tuscany -- San Gimignano and Volterra.  San Gimignano is the more accessible of the two and a bit more touristy.  It's closer to Siena and gets more group tour bus traffic.  Volterra is a little larger and seemed more authentic, with more locals and fewer tourists -- at least to our eyes.

Duomo and Medieval Tower
in San Gimignano

Besides its general Tuscan hill town charm, San Gimignano is also known for the 14 medieval towers still standing out of an original 72.  These towers were used to as a refuge and protection from invaders -- families would retreat into the towers and pull up the ladders preventing barbarians from reaching them.  We arrived a little before 10 just as the shops were opening and the Town was beginning to wake up.  We strolled the main drag and every other shop catered to tourists and it was hard to get a feel for how the locals lived.  Not long after the buses began arriving which you could tell by the sudden influx of people.  Visually, San Gimignano is very picturesque and the views of the surrounding countryside are fabulous, but after about an hour or so, we felt like we had seen all we needed to see and decided to move on to Volterra.

Etruscan Arch in Volterra

Volterra is about 30 minutes from San Gimignano.  It was an important Etruscan city its day, pre-dating the Roman empire.  It retains an original Etruscan arch dating to fourth century B.C. that is still used as an entrance through the walls surrounding the town.  Alabaster is prominent in this part of Italy and Volterra has lots of craftsmen and artists.  As we walked its streets, we passed the bank, multiple markets, and other shops that cater to the residents.  I definitely felt more like we were visiting a real, living community as compared to a well-preserved tourist stop.  Volterra was just as picturesque with equally fabulous view of the surrounding countryside.  Unfortunately, the last few days have turned quite hot and hazy so the photos of the countryside don't really do it justice.  I can only imagine what it would look like on a clear day.

Hazy View from San Gimignano

Yes, it's leaning

We finally made it over to Pisa this morning to see its famous bell tower.  Pisa is a university town with lots of students and other sites to see.  However, throngs of tourists come by the busload to Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) to see the Duomo, Baptistry, and the Bell Tower -- the infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa.  I'd like to say we were different and truly explored Pisa and all it has to offer, but we weren't.  We at least toured on our own and were not a part of the thousands of bus tour groups that descended upon the area.

We did tour the Duomo but made no attempt to climb the tower.  Did I mention the throngs of people?  The Tower currently leans at a five degree angle (15 feet off the vertical axis).  When it was built, there was not sufficient foundation for the marshy soil and it began to lean almost from the beginning.  Back in the 1990s, the tower was closed for about a decade as engineers tried to stabilize its lean.  Actually, all of the buildings in the Field of Miracles lean to a certain degree, but because the Bell Tower's lean is so dramatic, everything else seems perfectly straight.

Cooking in Tuscany

We've been enjoying cooking this week instead of eating out.  We've become regulars at the local grocery store -- COOP -- and have (mostly) figured out how you're supposed to do things.  For example, they have disposable plastic gloves that you put on to pick out your produce instead of touching with your bare hands.  Then you take your produce to an electronic scale and print out the price tag using the touch screen provided.  The cashier doesn't do this for you like in the U.S.  You also have to put a coin in the handle of the grocery cart in order to free it from the lock so you can have a cart to use while shopping.  You get the coin back when you put the cart away -- a really smart way to have the customers put carts away instead of leaving them haphazardly in the parking lot.

Mom insisted that we post a picture of our July 4th inspired
meal.  Unfortunately, we had already started eating.

While our meals have been pretty basic, you can't help but be inspired with all of the fresh food that's grown locally.  I've made bruschetta twice (yummy) and we even fired up the grill to have our one American-style meal of hamburgers in honor of Independence Day.  Since we will be in a hotel on July 4th, we had to celebrate a little early.  No fireworks, but we do have beautiful sunsets so it's not a bad tradeoff.

Cinque Terre

Vernazza

Today we headed to the Cinque Terre which is along the northwest coast of Italy overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.  Cinque Terre means five lands, and it's a collection of five small towns that are set amongst the cliffs of what is now a national park.  The five towns in order from south to north are Manorola, Riomaggiore, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare.  The Cinque Terre is basically the southern portion of the Italian Riviera, but with picturesque workaday towns and not the splashy resorts that you find in the other parts of the Italian and French Riviera.

The only way to reach these towns is by train or boat.  While you can drive to near each town's entrance, cars are not allowed in the towns so it's not a very effective way to get there.  Because of the terrain, none of the towns except Monterosso have any sort of beach.  The water is very clear and you do catch locals sunning themselves on the rocks, paddle boarding, and jumping from various small cliffs into the sea.  We drove to La Spezia, about an hour and 15 minutes from the villa and took the 20 minute train ride to Vernazza.

Like Vernazza, Monterosso has stairways
for its side streets too.

Vernazza has one main street that starts at its train station and goes all the way down to the water.  The way the town was built through the years, the other "streets" are actually stairways that go up and down between and behind buildings and the doors open up right off of them.  We climbed to the old fort and tower that has a commanding view of the town.  It was originally used as a defense against pirates and other invaders, but now provides some of the best views of the town.

All of the towns are connected with hiking trails and the total distance between all five is about 7km.  Because it is a national park, you do pay a small fee to hike the trails.  Mona and I hiked a short distance from Vernazza towards Monterosso in order to photograph the town.  As you can see from the picture, it's quite colorful with a breathtaking view.  The locals farm the hillsides surrounding their towns a they have for centuries, growing grapes for wine and also olives.  The Cinque Terre is part of a region of Italy called Liguria, and this region is the home to two of my favorites -- pesto and focaccia bread.  We sampled both while we were here -- more than once.

Monterosso's beach

After spending our morning in Vernazza, we caught the train up to Monterosso al Mare.  Monterosso is the largest and most resort-y of the Cinque Terre towns.  The railroad sort of divides the original historic town center with its narrow streets from the newer section that features the beach and more modern accommodations.  We wandered the historic section for a while and stuck our feet in the water to say we had been in the Mediterranean.

More and more folks are discovering the Cinque Terre and it's getting a lot more tourists than it used to.  Because of the summer weather and the water, lots of folks were wandering around in swimsuits, giving it more of a beach vibe than a historic town vibe.  It was a lot warmer today than was forecast and because shade was harder to come by, we decided not to visit a third town.  We knew we couldn't visit them all anyway, so we chose the two most visited.  One thing we'll be sure to do if we make it back is bring our hiking boots.  I'd like to hike the entire route as we'll be rewarded with many breathtaking views.

Siena

Duomo

After a packed day in Florence, we took a turn south and drove to the medieval city of Siena.  Siena sits atop three hills and some might consider it the ultimate hill town.  Siena was always a long time rival to Florence and was a major banking and trading center back in the 1200s and 1300s.  However, Florence conquered Siena back in the 1550s and Siena never recovered.  Its population remains

around 60,000 -- the same as it was centuries earlier.

Siena is a city of 17 contrade (districts), that survive to this day.  Each contrada has its own organization, its own colors and flag depicting a different animal.  As we walked through the narrow streets, you could tell you were leaving one district and entering another by the fact that the flags changed.  Even the street lights on the sides of buildings are painted in each contrada's color.  There's a friendly (fierce?) rivalry between contrade that culminates every July 2 and August 16 with the Palio -- a horse race through the main square, that crowns a champion contrada for the year.  They squeeze 60,000 people into the main square for a horse race that lasts about a minute or so.  Rather than come with all that frenzy, we visited two days before and saw all of the hype that is a precursor to the actual event.  This isn't some gimmick for tourists, but rather a tradition that has continued for centuries.

Il Campo

The two most visited sites in Siena are Il Campo, the main square, and the Duomo.  Il Campo is the heart of the city, a terraced square that gently cascades down to the bottom much like an amphitheater.  Locals will come and perch themselves hear for hours to visit and stretch out as if they were at the beach.  For the Palio, they actually bring in dirt and pack it around the perimeter for the horses to race on.  The towering facade of Il Campo is not the Duomo as you would find in other cities, but the City Hall, proudly flying all 17 contrade flags.

The Duomo is a 13th century Gothic cathedral that features black and white striped marble columns and a six story bell tower.  The floors are inlaid marble that show various scenes from the Bible.  These weren't mosaics as we had seen in other places, but pieces of inlaid marble and etchings in the marble to create the beautiful scenes we were seeing.

One of 17 Contrada flags

It's matching streetlight

Probably the best part of Siena was just the overall vibe.  You could meander for hours up and down the narrow lanes wondering what awaits around each corner.  Although we weren't seeing the actual race, we got a feel for the Palio as all of the locals were decked out in the contrada colors, singing their songs, and creating a very festive atmosphere.  Although we'd love to come back, it's the furthest place from the villa so we probably won't be able to.  If we do make it back to Italy, it will be on our list of places to visit again.  It should be on your list too.

The Best View of Florence

Without a doubt, the best view of Florence is on the other side of the Arno River on a hill overlooking the center city from Piazzale Michelangelo.  The Duomo (cathedral) dominates the skyline with it's impressive dome designed by Brunelleschi in the 1400s.  Michelangelo was a Florentine and this dome was his inspiration for the dome on St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.  However, because of the many other buildings and narrow streets, you can't really capture a great or complete picture of the Duomo without heading uphill.  So we hiked about 15 minutes -- much of it quite steep -- from the Ponte Vecchio -- Florence's famous bridge -- to see the Duomo and Florence in all her glory.  We were certainly rewarded for our efforts.

Duomo

Panorama of Florence

Firenze -- Accademia and Uffizi

Many of the names we use for cities in Italy (Rome, Naples, Venice, etc.) are anglicized versions of the actual Italian names.  Florence is the English name we give to Firenze.  It's very important to know the Italian name of the city so you can make sure you're finding the correct train station, following the right highway sign, or plugging the correct place into the GPS.

Florence has many wonderful sites to visit, priceless art, and an easy walkability.  Many people we've talked with about Italy have commented they preferred Florence to Rome.  Two of the many must-dos when in Florence are to visit the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's David and to see the best collection of Italian art at the Uffizi Gallery.  Both of these galleries are extremely popular, and if you don't get your tickets and reserved time in advance, you will spend hours waiting in line.  Before we left the States, we decided to visit both the same day -- Accademia in the morning and Uffizi in the afternoon.  Florence is difficult to drive in because there is a restricted driving zone for cars in the city center, so we drove about half an hour from the villa to the town of Empoli where we parked and took the train into Florence.

David by Michelangelo

Getting our tickets in advance paid huge dividends.  Both galleries only let in a few people at a time to control the crowds within the building.  Not having a reserved time slot means waiting a long time to get in.  Our strategy paid off big time as the line at the Accademia was already down the street and around the building.  We exchanged our voucher for the actual ticket and were inside within 10 minutes.  There are a lot of great statuary and paintings here, but let's face it, we came to see David.  At about 14 feet tall, David stands alone under a small rotunda, posing in the classical style for everyone to admire.  This is Michelangelo's masterpiece and it does not disappoint.  For me, the other best part of the Accademia was the musical instrument museum that's off to the side in another part of the building when you first enter the gallery.  We saw violins and cellos by the master Stradivarius and other early instruments from the 1600s and 1700s.

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Our afternoon visit to the Uffizi was much the same as the Accademia.  We exchanged our vouchers and were inside within 10 minutes.  The line for those waiting to buy tickets was long and moving very s--l--o--w--l--y.  The Uffizi started out as the personal collection of the Medici family who controlled Florence for centuries and were great patrons of famous artists including Michelangelo.  The building itself was originally constructed to consolidate administrative offices of Florence, but the art gradually took over and the gallery officially opened to the public in 1765.   It houses both statuary and paintings by the Italian masters, including masterworks by Botticelli, Caravaggio, and Titian.  We took the elevator up to the 2nd floor and walked the length of the gallery and down again to the first floor, seeing most all of the rooms.  

Admittedly, we're not art experts, and after a while we hit our wall and want to do something else than walk through another museum.  However, you can't come to Florence and not experience this.  It was well worth our time and an enjoyable way to start and end our day.

Villa Maura

View of the front of the villa

There's a great episode of Seinfeld where Elaine's boyfriend has rented a villa in Tuscany for vacation and tells Jerry he got the last one.  Jerry's response was along the lines of "You mean there are no more villas in all of Tuscany" so of course, he stews about this the rest of the episode with George and Kramer.  In the end, he finds his villa in Tuscany and it's across the street from Elaine's.

View from the terrace below

We've had great luck with renting apartments where we stay for a week (Paris, Amsterdam) and we rented a house in Colorado for a week for a family reunion.  It's much like renting a house at the beach.  You can use a realty service, or now with the internet, find one on your own through a site such as Homeaway or VRBO.  The great thing about an apartment or house rental is that we have a kitchen to cook meals, laundry facilities, and more room to spread out than just having a hotel room.  Plus you can split the cost with others and end up with a much better deal than individually renting hotel rooms.

View of our pool from the front balcony

We knew we wanted to stay in Tuscany for the week so we researched multiple sites on line.  There are lots of places to rent throughout Tuscany and we stumbled across Villa Maura outside the town of Fucecchio.  Fucecchio is between Florence and Lucca, and so far is proving to be a great location.  We're less than an hour from both Pisa and Florence so we can visit both while we're here.  Our house is owned by a lovely lady named Tiziana who we communicated with via email to set everything up.  She welcomed us with bottles of wine, brought a huge binder with maps and other information on the area, and made sure we knew how to get to the grocery store.

A portion of our view of the Fucecchio countryside

Tuscany is very much a rural region with lots of vineyards and olive groves.  The scenery is very pastoral and relaxing, but a car is a must because there isn't much in the way of public transportation except in the larger cities and towns.  It's great hearing the birds and the crowing roosters in the mornings.  After the hustle and bustle of Rome, this will be a great place to unwind, relax, and enjoy a slower pace of Italian life.  I think it's time for a nap.

My Name is Lucca

We are now settled into our home in Tuscany for the next week and are making side trips to towns across the region.  First up is the walled city of Lucca.  Apparently, Lucca is the tissue and toilet paper capital of Europe, but it's certainly nothing to sneeze at (insert groan here).  The more impressive aspect is that it still has a perfectly intact wall approximately 2.5 miles in length that surrounds the old city center.  It was spared from bombing during both world wars.  Today, you can jog or ride your bike under a canopy of shade trees that line the wall.

Seeing a portion of the city wall and the park
that lines the top of it

We visited on Saturday morning when Via dei Bacchettoni is closed and vendors set up in the street for their weekly market.  Although predominantly clothing stalls, there were a few food vendors and a couple of fruit stands interspersed the length of the street.  We strolled with the locals and perused the items for sale, occasionally getting to butcher their language with our poor Italian speaking.

Piazza dell'Anfiteatro

Their really aren't any must-sees in Lucca -- no Colosseum, no Statue of David, etc.  As a result, there aren't big crowds as it's probably not on most lists of places to visit.   That's a shame because this is the kind of place where you can really experience Italian life more like a local than most of the places we've been so far.  Besides seeing the fully intact city wall which is really functioning like an elevated linear city park, the neatest feature of Lucca is the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.  This "square" is actually circular on the site of an Roman-era amphitheater.  It is completely surrounded by buildings and you enter though one of four small arched tunnels.  Once inside, the piazza is lined with shops and outdoor cafes.  It definitely has the feel of the local outdoor gathering spot.  Lucca is only about 30 minutes from where we are staying, so I suspect we will be returning before we leave Tuscany.

Montepulciano

It's a little over 3 hours drive from Rome to our home in Tuscany for the next week, and since we couldn't check in until after 4pm, we had time to stop along the way.  We decided to stop in Montepulciano, a hilltop town overlooking the Chianti region in southern Tuscany.  Yes that Chianti, a region known for its wine making.  Fortunately, the town wasn't crowded and we were able to leisurely stroll through the various narrow lanes, enjoying the stone buildings and fantastic views of the countryside.

Montepulciano is known for its Vino Nobile red wine, and we visited the Cantina Contucci to sample some of it.  The Contucci family has been making wine for over 1000 years -- 41 generations of the same family.  The coolest part of our visit was being able to visit the Contucci wine cellar and seeing the huge barrels of wine aging.  A lot of the tags on the labels indicated this particular batch of wine wouldn't be bottled until 2016.  

Because this is a hill town, the topography gets quite steep as you essentially travel switchback roads or up and down strategically placed staircases.  The wine cellar is cut into the hill beneath the building and you can tell its been used for hundreds of years.

Three of the four of us sampled the Vino Nobile (I'll let you guess who didn't) and all gave it two thumbs up.  There was a nice article in Wine Enthusiast from a few years ago that rated the wine very highly and noted it sold for $30 per bottle.  Here we can pick it up for less than $15.  Sounds like we may be stocking up for the week.

View of the Tuscan countryside from
the top of Montepulciano.

Goodbye Rome, Hello Tuscany

After spending five wonderful nights in Rome, it's time to say arrivederci.  We have had a fantastic time -- the Hotel Raffaello has been a wonderful base to explore Rome.  We could walk to the train station and to the Colosseum.  The weather has been fantastic -- sunny and not too hot with cool nights and mornings.  We walked (a LOT), explored, ate great food, and just enjoyed life in the city.  But now we're looking forward to a change of pace in Tuscany.

We walked to the Train Station to get our rental car for the next week -- pulling our suitcases along the way and avoiding traffic and throngs of people.  Although the rental car desk was located in the train station, we still had to walk another few blocks down the street to the garage where the car was parked.  Our car for the week is a Renault Megane and we quickly focused on its most important feature -- the GPS.  After spending a few days in Rome, we know why people recommend that you don't drive there.  Stop signs seem to be a suggestion and it would appear that scooters and motorcycles always have the right of way.  As the GPS voice is male, we've nicknamed him Roberto.  He's gotten us off to a good start -- no wrong turns and quickly out of the city and on the autostrade towards Tuscany.  I think Roberto and I will be great friends this next week.

Pantheon

The Pantheon was built as a Roman temple to all (pan) gods (theos).  Although originally built by Marcus Agrippa, whose name is inscribed across the front, the current structure was completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian around AD 120.  This building has survived the centuries and appears today much as it did when it was built.  One of its most astounding features is the mathematical precision in which it was built.  Thomas Jefferson was so inspired by this building, he spent many hours here and used it as the basis for his design of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia.  The dome of the Pantheon served as the inspiration of the dome of the Duomo in Florence, which inspired Michelangelo's dome of St. Peter's Basilica.

Unlike the Colosseum and Roman Forum which sit prominently within the center of Rome, the Pantheon is tucked away off of the main streets and fronts a small piazza.  Depending upon the direction from which you enter the square, you just turn the corner and "bam!"there it is.  We visited during our last night in Rome, and the piazza was a hotbed of activity.  After walking through the Pantheon, we walked over to Piazza Navone, another lively square where local artists sell their work and street performers try to earn a euro or two.   It was a nice way to finish our last night in Rome -- experiencing its history as well as its liveliness.

Slice of Napoli

While Pompeii was the main focus of our day on Wednesday, we had to change trains in Naples -- Napoli in Italian -- so on the way back, we decided to stop for a few hours to get a flair for the city.  The Train Station is not really close to the things we wanted to see, so we rode the subway to the Spanish Quarter area of the City.  The Naples subway was sleek and new and probably the nicest one we've ridden -- at least the section we rode.  We saw Castel Nuovo (pictured here) which dates back to 1282 and has an imposing view over the harbor.  We walked the narrow streets of the Spanish Quarter, where the vibrancy of Naples is so apparent.   The lanes are narrow -- too narrow for cars, so motorbikes are the norm.  We saw families sitting at their dining room tables as we walked by the open windows, and looking up, we saw people hanging their laundry out to dry.  You had small businesses such as produce stands and small restaurants interspersed with all of the homes and apartment buildings.  We truly saw a slice of Napoli life.

Walking one of the narrow streets of the Spanish Quarter

Napoli is also the birthplace of pizza, so we couldn't leave without sampling the local fare.  We found a busy sidewalk cafe on one of the squares and each ordered a pizza -- the classic Margherita.  Here the pizzas are small and ordered individually, and they are not pre-sliced.  You eat them with a knife and fork.  It was deliziosa! Molto bene!  Fortunately, we could walk off some of the carbs as we made our way back to the subway to catch the train back to Rome.

Pompeii's Brothels

Pompeii had at least 30 brothels.  Because it was a trading post in its heyday, merchants, sailors, and other travelers passed through on a regular basis.  Because not everyone spoke the same language, the brothels had pictures painted on the walls illustrating the various services.  You could simply point at what you wanted and adjourn to your private room for your services.

So it's not just restaurants where a picture menu comes in handy.

Pompeii

After two full days of immersion in all things Roma, we paused and took a day trip to Napoli (Naples) and Pompeii.  We took the high-speed Frecciarosa train from Rome to Naples which took about an hour, and then switched to the local Circumvesuviana for the rest of the journey.  As far as train travel goes, this is night and day.  The Frecciarosa is sleek and modern and we hit top speeds of almost 300km/hr or about 180mph.  It has comfy seats and wifi availability.  On the other hand, the Circumvesuviana had older train cars plastered with graffiti on the outside and more resembles a subway car.  In fact, there was lots of standing as the cars were very crowded with locals who use it for everyday travel as well as the influx of tourists doing the same thing we were.

Standing in the Forum area of Pompeii with
Mount Vesuvius behind us

We arranged for a tour with a company called Mondo Guide.  This was a group we found out about in the Rick Steves guide book.  We enjoy using his books as we plan our trips and this was another winning tip.  We met up with other travelers who found out about it the same way we did and were in a group of about 15 people -- including 3 fellow W&M folks -- another W&M couple Class of '83 and their daughter who will be a senior in the fall.

Pompeii is an archaeological treasure.  It was a thriving Roman trading city of about 20,000 or so people in a very middle class setting.  It ceased to exist in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted an buried it in about 25 feet of extremely hot volcanic ash.  The Pompeiians had no time to react and were literally buried alive.  However, because it was hot ash and not lava that buried the town, it was extremely well preserved as was discovered over a thousand years later.  Pompeii was all but forgotten from history until rediscovered in the 1700s.

Mona walking on the crosswalk.  Since there were no sewers,
the streets would be flooded to help wash everything away.
This is how you would walk across, with room for chariots
to pass between.

Our tour guide Carmine walked us through the site for our two hour tour, showing us the highlights and giving us quite the history lesson about Pompeii.  Pompeii had everything -- houses, bakeries, restaurants, hotels, spas, etc.  We saw the gladiator ring and the slave quarters where they were kept.  We walked across the stage of the theater which still has its original marble in place.  We saw the brick oven of a restaurant and the marble counter top where the food was served -- all original and all preserved by the tomb of ash for over 1,500 years.  You can see original mosaic floors still in place as well as frescoes on the walls.  We even walked in the spa and knew which side was men's and which was women's by the decorations still present.

Inside one of the homes with original frescoes and
a fountain lined with sea shells

One of the questions I asked Carmine was what happened with all of the excavated ash?  It has been recycled and is combined with concrete to form the foundations of houses and buildings in the region.  There are still large sections of Pompeii still to be excavated in the future.  For now, Pompeii lives on as a testament to Roman ingenuity from two millennia ago as well as the foundation of much newer cities. 

The Swiss Guard

The Swiss Guard have pledged allegiance to the Pope since the 1500's and stand guard over Vatican City to this Day.  A good history of the Swiss Guard can be found here from the Vatican website.  One of the most striking things about them is the uniform they wear -- an icon of the Vatican although maybe not the religious kind.

Bernini, Caravaggio, and the Borghese Gallery

After our jam packed morning of touring the Vatican and St. Peter's Cathedral, we took a brief break before heading to the Borghese Gallery.  We walked to Termini train station to catch Bus 910 which dropped us off next to the Borghese Gardens, a large park that once was the home and property of the Borghese family.  Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1576-1633) built the villa specifically to house his impressive personal art collection so he could enjoy entertaining the VIPs of his day.   While there is a lot of impressive art and the building itself is a treasure to walk through, the main draw is for two artists -- Bernini and Caravaggio.

Gian L. Bernini was one of Italy's foremost sculptors.  Several of his major works are displayed here.  The realism is striking and it is amazing to see how he can transform marble into such life-like representations.  His David (1624) shows David in action getting ready to sling his rock at Goliath, not merely posing.  I look forward to seeing Michelangelo's David when we visit Florence later in our trip.  Caravaggio is the nickname of Michelangelo Merisi and he is known for his realism in painting as well as his strong contrast between light and dark.  The Borghese Gallery has the single best collection of Caravaggio paintings displayed in one place.

You definitely should plan ahead to visit the Borghese Gallery.  We used our Roma pass which allows us into two attractions for free, but even so, you must still make a reservation for a specific date and time which I did by calling ahead from home before we left for our trip.  Every two hours beginning at 9am, 360 people are admitted for two hours.  You must leave at the end of your time so the next group can come in.  We made our reservations for 5pm and were in the last group of the day. I noticed a sign on the door when we entered that said no tickets were available until 3 days later, so it does pay to plan ahead.  This isn't a particularly large museum, so two hours worked out just fine.