For the last four days I was in Tuscany for the last part of our trip. Although Lucie was not with us (she had to go home early because she is studying abroad in Copenhagen this coming semester), Luke and I still enjoyed ourselves by having a little bit more of a relaxed trip. We had been rushing crazy to see everything we wanted to in Rome and Naples, and Florence was a great place for us to stop and enjoy Italy. It was also my 21st birthday, so that caused a bit of fun as well! I must say that having been around a lot of Italy now, no region is as beautiful to me as Tuscany is. The entire area is the vision of Italy that I think every American caries with them when they come to Italy; and speaking of Americans... there were a lot of them. Not as many as Rome, but there were still a lot.
The only bad thing about Tuscany, and Florence in particular was that because of how touristy it truly is, the people start to speak to you in English before you ever say a word. The people in Rome let you start out to determine if English or Italian is better, and the people in Naples, well lets just say you better know Italian, but in Florence they immediately stamped you as American and started speaking English.
With that being said, Luke and I had an absolute great time in Tuscany. The views were majestic, the food was amazing, and the people were surprisingly nicer than the stereotype of the people of the north.
Our day trip to Sienna was absolutely amazing. The Piazza
Campo is an awesome place to have lunch and people watch. It truly was
the heart of Sienna, and Luke and I took advantage of a front row table
and had lunch for around 3 hours. We climbed the tower that overlooks the city and the view of the city from there made it easy to understand why our man Rick Steves loves it so much! At one point we were actually the only people at the top of the tower, and it was a good thing that we didn't run into anyone on the steps because it was a tight squeeze all the way up... and down.
At the top of the tower alone
You want us to fit through that??
Pasta and a wild boar ragu sauce for lunch!
The lady with the camera tried to take a photo for about 3 minutes until finally giving up... the cap was on the whole time
Lunch at Piazza Il Campo
Sunset looking out over Sienna and the countryside atop the city castel
Today we went to Capri. We tried yesterday, but because of the weather, we were unable to go. However, today the weather was a little bit better out on the water, and allowed us to take the ferry out to the island. When we got there we were told that the blue grotto was closed because of the waves, later we saw why, so we changed plans and decided to go hiking.
This whole time that we have been traveling (Rome, now Naples, and tomorrow Florence) we have been using Rick Steves' tour books. They have actually been really helpful with deciding on what side things to do, where to go when we need to kill a little bit of time, or where is a good place to eat. One of my favorite background stories that Rick Steves has provided us was the history of the island of Capri. The island is famous as the vacation island for Augustus and Tiberius, but what most people don't know is what Rick Steves knows!!:
"Even before becoming emperor, Augustus loved Capri so much that he traded the family-owned Isle of Ischia to the (then-independent) Neapolitans in exchange for making Capri his personal property."
After spending the afternoon hiking along the edge of Capri, I am confident in saying that Augustus was a very smart man! We hiked from the lighthouse on the bottom left corner of the island all the way up to the blue grotto at the top right. The hike was supposed to take 3 hours, and because we stopped, side-hiked, and climbed a bunch of random cliffs along the path it took us... 3 hours. The one thing we recognize about Rick Steves is there are certain things in his books that we think he has never done (this being one of them and sleeping in Naples the other!). As an outdoorsy type of person, I must say that I absolutely love to go on hikes. Since I have been here in Italy I have hiked in Aosta, the Cinque Terre, and the Gran Paradiso. However, today was not only my favorite hike in Italy, but also my favorite hike that I have ever been on. The views were amazing the whole time and we were literally hiking along the edge of the island cliffs all day.
The lighthouse
The Entrance to the Blue Grotto... It was closed today
Luke and I looking out at the beginning of the trail
Luke and the island in the background
One of the many forts along the trail
A part of the trail zig-zagging all the way down
Look mom 1 hand!
Upper right making my way to the top
Luke and I having a moment before descending to ascend the points in the background
Today because of the bad weathers on the sea we were unable to go to Capri, so instead we went to Pompeii. While we were walking around the city and enjoying how well preserved the city was and some of the awesome frescoes, we were having a few very deep discussions about some philosophical situations of right and wrong, and the choices that we would make in certain situations. One hypothetical situation led to another, and we started talking about situations that would qualify as being "the worst day of your life" situations. We were talking about this because often times (whether using it to make a dramatic example or not) Americans tend to be very bad about using this phrase more than it is needed, and definitely more than it is justified. Ironically right as this conversation came about we came across these inside of Pompei;
A human who was instantly petrified from the lava
A genuine "worst day ever" face
It was somewhat fitting. As Luke and I looked at the two human figures that were there, we couldn't help but think about the phrase that we were discussing "this is the worst day of my life" and what truly would qualify to be entered into that category. I find that Americans (maybe people in general, but I know that Americans do) use this phrase very often. HOWEVER, after spending 3 hours at the top of Mount Vesuvius and another 5 inside of the city in Pompeii, I have come to my own conclusion on what would qualify for "the worst day of my life".
What Pompeii looked like as Vesuvius erupted.
THIS WOULD QUALIFY AS THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE, AND IF
NOT I WANT TO HEAR WHAT WOULD!!
PS - this is the ONLY situation that in my opinion qualifies for the reaction in this next video.
I mainly put that video in because it is one of my favorites on Youtube and I happened to come across it today, plus it works, so UNLESS you about to die from molten hot lava then there is no more crying like this ;-).
When Luke, Lucie, and I where at the top of Mount Vesuvius today, I kept telling them that if this thing was going to blow while we were up there then our best bet was to actually jump into the heart of the volcano and at least there we could really experience it. There would be no way to out run it, but rather, just enough time to embrace it. Here are a couple photos from the top of the mountain looking at the crater, looking out over the sea and Pompeii, and also of the three of us just checking it out.
Luke and I at the top of Mount Vesuvius.
The crater I was headed for if things started to rumble!
The three of us... and no, we aren't in Kansas anymore.
Me looking out over the sea by Pompeii
Awesome reflection of Capri in Lucie's sunglasses
The time we spent inside the city itself was one of my favorite things that I have done since I have been here in Italy. Being able to walk down the roads that were used 2500 years ago, see frescoes that were still intact and containing amazing details was absolutely awesome. Having now been to Rome, Agrigento, Paestum, and many museums that all contain ancient Greek and Roman civilizations and artifacts, I must say that this was my single favorite. The sheer size of the city of Pompeii was incredible, as well as the details that were still visible; because it was buried by the lava it was not ransacked by invaders later on in history, but rather preserved perfectly. It really felt like you were walking through the civilization of the ancient Greeks and Romans (two of my favorite ancient civilizations). As Rick Steves would say "as you enter the city limits trade in your t-shirt and shorts for a toga!". Here are some other photos of the city of Pompeii, and the three of us having some fun as well!!;
Roman Forum
Forum Columns
Luke hiding / preparing from the volcano eruption
Theater
Super awesome fresco
Hiding from the volcano behind this pillar
Thank you Rick Steves!!!
One of my favorite frescoes of the day
I think that I appreciated the visit today more because of all of the studying of Pompeii that I did during my time in Mrs. Davidson's Latin classes in high school. I always enjoyed talking to her about Italy, the places she had been, the things she had seen, and most of all, the experiences she had had. The one that I was looking forward to experiencing myself was her description of Pompeii the first time you go! It was something like this;
After having seen it now, I can confirm this emotion. I felt like I walked around most of the day with my mouth like this. I have seen temples and visited ancient Roman and Greek ruins, but there has been nothing that I have seen that seems so close to reality as Pompeii. Out of all of the things I have done one this trip so far with Luke and Lucie I am confident in saying that it is my favorite so far, and is definitely up there for my experiences here in Europe.
Tomorrow we are going to try our luck one more time with Capri and hope that the weather allows us to go and visit, however if not we will head down the Amalfi Coast for the day, and then we are on our way to Florence for my birthday!
The last couple of days we have spent almost all of our time in some of the greatest museums in the world. We went to the Vatican Museum and the Capitoline Museum in Rome, as well as the Archeological Museum in Naples, and the Museum in Paestum. We have seen lots of torsos (without heads), heads (without torsos), and LOTS of pots! LOTS OF POTS!!
I am not complaining about this, on the contrary; I really enjoy it, but today while in the Archeological Museum and the Museum in Paestum, Luke and I stopped to think about how many ancient artifacts we have seen in the last couple of days. The truth is that it is a large number. At the end of these two weeks I am going to make a blog post with all of the famous art pieces that I have been able to see (I would like to contain it into one post; so that the people who enjoy this as much as I do can see it all, but also for the people who don't... well it won't clutter my blog!) Some of this includes the Dying Gaul, Doryphoros, Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice, Alexander Mosaic, the Tomb of the Diver, the Sistine Chapel, and many more.
Although the normal reaction when coming abroad as a young American might be to go out and get absolutely drunk almost every night (we may have done this for New Years... check out that story here), but rather have gotten up early almost every day and seen some really cool things. It has been awesome traveling with Luke and Lucie, especially since Luke shares my passion for the ancient civilizations. It is somewhat nice to be able to replace some of those friends that I made in my first 4 months here with long time friends that I am comfortable with.
I have enjoyed going to all of these museums, but the truth is that eventually every bust starts to look like the last, every torso missing the arms, legs, and head, start to resemble one another, and DEFINITELY every pot starts to look like the other.
Some of our Museum photos of Torsos, Heads, and Pots;
One of the many heads
A torso of a soldier
Luke and a pot he did a paper on
Belvedere Torso
Luke at Christmas
Me hating Christmas
Rooms and rooms of heads
Luke and I playing dice with Achilles and Ajax
Tomorrow we are going to take a break from the museums and
archeological adventures, and go to the island of Capri. I think Lucie
is secretly very excited for this; her level of excitement for marble
statues has been inversely related to the number of museums we have
visited. More and more they are all starting to look the same (even to
Luke and I).
However Saturday we are going to be back
at it one more time before heading up to Florence for my birthday and
make a last trip to Pompei! I am personally very excited for this one
because of the things I learned in Mrs. Davidson's Latin class about.
I will keep you all updated on my travels, and once back in Torino I will do my best to update my photos, and catch up my blog!
New Years Eve was by far the craziest night I have ever had
since being here in Italy. It really a compilation of a lot of really funny separate
stories that come together to make an EPIC night!
For starters we bought a couple bottles of wine and some
beer at the train station supermarket, got back to the hostel, and the hostel
had bought us a bottle of wine to help us celebrate the new year (BAD IDEA).
We got ready and drank in the hostel and then
set out for what was an absolutely crazy night. To just preface this, we all
set out together, and all returned separately (Mrs. Hoogland if you are reading
this it is not our fault, but rather the Italian boy that Lucie met). We had plans to meet up with Lucie’s aunt and uncle at the Spanish
Steps, but we found out later that the place to be was the concert at the
Colosseum. We were walking towards the steps when we noticed everyone was walking
the other way. Luke made the ultimate decision that would forever change the
night; to turn around and go with the crowd. We made it to the outskirts of the
concert and it was about 1130.
Once we got there, we met a couple Serbian women that would
end up being Luke and I’s New Year’s kisses. We found out later that they were
29, and once they found out that we were 20… well that ultimately ended our
time with them. At one point Lucie felt compelled to complement them on their
makeup (she continues to tell us that it looked really nice).
To follow it up, we met a few Italian men that fell in love
with Lucie! The conversation went like this;
Lucie: How old are you?
Italian Guy: 20
Lucie: No you’re not, how old are you really? ... 18?
Italian Guy: yes 18
Luke: No you’re not!! You’re 20!!!
The New Year came with a crazy celebration here in Rome,
there were people everywhere, fireworks, people lighting fire crackers,
and everyone yelling. It was one of the largest collections of people I have
ever been a part of.
This was where we were for New Years. It was this crowded for a 15 block by 7 block stretch.
The night was going well, but we now had our first problem. After Lucie’s New Years moment with one of the
Italians, the three of them turned into leaches. So Luke’s idea of a solution
was to push Lucie and act like the angry boyfriend of Lucie… the only problem
of this idea is that the Italians didn’t speak English, so they didn’t
understand what Luke was doing. Rather Lucie just got mad at Luke (he failed to
tell here his plan either) and this started the eventual demise of the three of
us. After this we got separated. Luke saw a couple of girls dancing in the
streets and wanted to go over there… so we did!
A short time after this our paths completely separated. I
ended up walking around for another 3-4 hours, but nothing exciting. The night
before we were at the Trevi Fountain and a random lady told us that she was
there last year and 3 guys jumped in the fountain, so of course I wanted to go
check it out. Of course nothing exciting happened, and I wondered home to the
hostel at 4am.
I really wanted to see someone jump in, but rather I just saw a lot of couples kissing and plenty of cops and glass bottles everywhere. Side note: The gypsy population at the fountain is drastically higher New Year's Eve as well!!
Lucie on the other hand wasn’t so lucky! She got separated from
us when Luke “her fake boyfriend” decided to get angry with her, and her
night took a huge turn for the worse. It turns out that a Polish couple found
her, saw that she was distressed and decided to try and act out a scene in
Taken with her… or at least that is what she thought!!
I would like to think that Luke and I would have been able to do something like this and track Lucie down, but the truth is it probably would have been more like this.
Luke and I just keep talking about how the phone call to her parents would have gone... Thankfully she is still here, and no one had to call anyone... well sort of!!
She later told us that they asked her if she had been drinking (of course she had), and then if she
had done any marijuana or cocaine (of course she hadn't). After walking hand in hand with them for about 20 minutes her mind really turned into Taken, and decided to ditch them. However at that point she was completely lost in Rome. Two
hours and two maps later she finally made it to the train station. Once she
made it back to the hostel her night was just starting.
Although she was
worried about us worrying about her, we were out having fun in Rome on New Year’s
Eve. However she decided to take my phone (which I had purposefully left in the
room) and call every single person in my phonebook until they picked up. She claims that she wanted us to know that she was ok and alive, but I must say that at 3:30 in the morning my professor and boss at my internship are not as interested in this as she is. Turns out that she called everyone until they picked up (sometimes that meant 4 or 5 phone calls). My credit on my phone was just under 20 euros before we went out that night... It was 8.36 the next morning. On a side note, my professor called me the next day to make sure that everyone was still alive and out of jail... thanks Lucie!
Luke on the other hand hung around the concert for a couple more hours. When he reached the hostel at 5am I was waiting for him on the steps on the stairwell (I may have been asleep and convinced that we had lost the keys, but that is irrelevant, rather I was waiting for my best friend to return). He was so excited to tell us all that he had gotten four different girls numbers!! The next day when I asked him how he communicated with them all, he simply told me "I used the phrase ciao bella more last night than an average Italian does in their lifetime."
Today we saw the last bit of Rome, and have officially arrived in Napoli. I know that I have not exactly kept up with my blog as much as I should have, but the truth is we have been really busy; 5 days, 50+ miles, and 1600 photos later, we are done with Rome.
Regardless, our evening in Rome was absolutely epic and one that I will never forget.
