Italy - Day 4, Part 2

 Ah, leaving Rome. Finally. I shouldn't say that but let's be honest, Rome didn't do as much for me as I hoped it would. Maybe my expectations were too high, maybe my head was just clogged with too much cigarette smoke, maybe I just wanted a real shower. No matter the reason, I am glad to be leaving Rome behind and moving on to the next city. I didn't do much research on Florence so I'm not sure what it's going to be like. We're going in blind on this one. Fingers crossed.

We left the Vatican around 12. I was hungry. Luckily, we had snacks. We munched away on almonds and walnuts as our theme song played over the bus's speakers. Hopefully we won't actually be walking 500 miles today.

Did I mention it was raining? Yeah. Thank goodness today (Monday) is a driving day. After a couple of hours, we stopped for lunch. At a gas station. No really, that's what it was. But you know, in Italy, the gas stations off the "interstate" are quite different than the gas stations back home. Actually all the gas stations are different. (Side note: in Rome, the stations were basically free standing pumps just off the road in the middle of the sidewalk.) At about $8 per gallon of gas (they actually measure it in liters), not a whole lot of people used cars as their primary means of transportation. This fancy gas station was actually about three stories tall with a real, genuine restaurant inside. Since Matt and I aren't real fancy people, we opted for the little food court on the second floor. We ate delicious pizza - very much American style pizza, fries, and fried olives. Say what? Yep, fried olives. Not as good as it sounds but we figured that we should give it a shot.


Then we got back on the road to head to Florence. I stared out the window (while sharing my ipod headphones with Matt and listening to Harry Potter) at this:

It's okay to be jealous. I understand. I got to see it. But hey, I'm sharing it with you!

 For several hours. Eventually, we made it to Florence. About 5:00 or so. It was pouring down rain. Pouring. The bus  wasn't allowed to pull straight up to the hotel so we had to unload several blocks away. Have I mentioned that Italy's sidewalks are made of cobblestone? And that I carried a suitcase on rollers? It's true. I'm not great at math, but cobblestone + rollers = fail.

And then I saw our hotel. And decided that Florence wouldn't be so bad after all.

 

Like Rome, we were lodging right in the middle of the city. But unlike Rome, this place was tucked a little back from the main street and looked charming. I mean look at it. Charming.  I couldn't wait to see the inside. Also like Rome, Florence is built on top of itself so we were on the second floor of the hotel. Not a big deal since we only had carry-on sized bags. Here was our room: 

 

Also like Rome, Florence only has twin-sized mattresses. What you see there is pair of twins pushed together. Unlike Rome, there was a queen-sized blanket over the top. I'll call it a coverlet. There, that sounds cozy. In reality, it was threadbare and scratchy. But that's okay.  There was also a third twin bed in the room. This room was clearly meant for at least three people. We felt like we had hit the jackpot! Especially compared to the size of the room we had in Rome. Guess what happened then!

We walked into TWO bathrooms! What?! I know. But it gets better - shower curtains and doors!!!! 



 This one was "mine." It had a toilet, a sink, and a tub with shower doors!!! I loved it. There was also a small window in the shower. Sometimes I opened it while I showered. I'm such a trollop.

 This one was Matt's. It had a toilet, a bidet, a sink, and a standing shower with a curtain! We were in Heaven.














 But no air conditioner. Turns out that threadbare coverlet was actually nice, especially with a sheet in between my skin and it.

After freshening up, we checked the rain and saw that it had stopped. We had to be back for supper with the group in a couple of hours so we decided to walk around a bit. The rain had cooled and cleared the streets so it was quite enjoyable. Once place we stopped in was the courtyard of the House of Medici. Let's talk about the Medicis. The Medicis were a large family that were kind of like the 12th century version of the mafia. Think money, power, and gold chains. Okay, maybe not exactly, but they were incredibly rich and so got a whole lot of power. The Uffizi, which we will go to later, is basically the Medici's personal art gallery. They lost it, along with the rest of their fortune, in the 18th century when the Coreleones stole their princess. I'm totally making that part up, but the Medicis aren't what they used to be in Italy.

The Medici courtyard. Look at the columns and ceiling! 

 After strolling for awhile, we met up with the group for a real spaghetti dinner. It was delicious. Then we had tiramisu for dessert and Limoncello shots for after dinner drinks. Fun was had by all.

Once dinner was over, most of the rest of the group went bar hopping while Matt and I kept strolling. The next day (May 1) was Italy's version of Labor Day so everything would be closed. To celebrate not having to work for a day, the city held their annual Notte Bianca (White Night). The shops were open late, the restaurants stayed open, there were street performances scheduled for every hour until dawn. People were everywhere and it was mostly Italians. Not a lot of tourists, but pure Florencians. I couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement. We got to hear a children's choir, see some great costumes, and watched some flamenco dancers pretend to start dancing about thirty times. It was pretty neat. Around 11, we went back to our hotel and tried to get some shut eye.

Did I mention that our hotel was in the middle of the city? Did I say that there was no air conditioner? Middle of the city means that we were smack dab in the middle of the White Night celebrations. No a/c means that we opened our windows. In short, we might as well have been back at Jackson Square on New Year's Eve. It was loud. We drifted in and out of sleep. I woke up about five and was about four seconds away from finding my nearest AK47 and blowing away the tap dancer outside our window. Seriously, I would have done it had I been able to find such an instrument of immediate destruction.

Next up: Day 5, Part 1! - we leave Florence for a side trip and wine tasting!

Sweet Summertime

I live in Louisiana. It gets hot here in the summer. In fact, it's hot here most of the year. Say, from April to November. Sometimes even into December. I'm cold-natured so I generally don't mind the heat. Even now, when weather.com says that it's 102 degrees outside, I'm alright. No, I'm not outside so that may have something to do with it, but I do love summer. Let me tell you why.

 - Snow cones.

- Really, really cold water.

- The little rays of happiness that touch my skin and improve my mood.

- No worries about speeding through school zones.

- Fireworks

- Summer is wedding season and I love weddings.

- Salads

- Strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon!!

- Longer days.

- Crepe myrtles in Shreve

- Fewer days to wear pantyhose to work...

- Flip flops, without judgment.


I could go on, but I hear the oven timer going off on the cookies in the oven. A big ol' glass of milk is calling my name.

Italy: Day 4, Part 1 - The Vatican

Okay, so everyone knows that Vatican City is a sovereign  city-state inside Rome, Italy. What everyone doesn't know is that only about 800 people live in Vatican City and that six days out of the week, 800 MILLION people go to the City. It's true. Just like how Al Gore invented the Internet.  Proof:

1.3 million people trying to fit on about 100 acres.

 Our last day in Rome consisted of leaving Rome. I can't say I was sad to see it go, but I was incredibly excited about seeing the Vatican and continuing our Italian adventures.  On our way out of town, we stopped in Vatican City. We got there before it opened, had special passes, and were some of the first people inside, but the City was still swamped with people. I've discovered this is a common theme in Rome. I hoped that the rest of Italy wasn't the same.

Outside the city, I think. Sue me if I'm wrong.

 First, we toured the Vatican Museums. For about a million pictures, see Facebook. For now, see what I liked the best: The ceiling. Every single inch of the Vatican Museums were covered in art. Every inch. The picture below with the scene and a red backdrop? That is a relief carved into/out of (?) the ceiling.

Go on, be impressed. I certainly am.

Next up, this a picture of me and Matt. Nothing else. Wait, maybe there is something there. You know, something everywhere. This particular room was called the Room of Maps or something. That may be completely wrong, but it was full of maps. Each room we went in had a theme - tapestries, sculptures, maps, etc. And then, of course, the ceilings were covered. 

 After a long hallway full of the rooms, we went to the Sistine Chapel.

 This is pretty much the only picture I could take. Photography wasn't allowed, nor were knees, shoulders, or talking. There were actually professional shushers in the chapel. The ceiling and the front wall, both painted by Michelangelo, are the reason people go to the chapel. With the thousands of people all jammed in to see the chapel, people can't possibly hope to have any kind of spiritual relief or connection by being there.

Matt did sneak some pictures, but they aren't of fantastic quality so I won't put them up. Google Image it instead.

When we left the chapel, we went to St. Peter's Basilica. Talk about huge. St. Peter's interior is the largest interior of any Christian church. Anywhere. Ever. St. Peter's is so named because the actual St. Peter, you know, PETER, is buried underneath the basilica. Because of this, several popes have also chosen to be buried there. Think back to Angels & Demons. The anti-matter was "hiding" down with the buried popes and St. Peter.

Along with anti-matter, St. Peter's is also the home of Michelangelo's Pieta. Seen here:

Pieta. (pronounced: Pea-ate-ah) I know. I'm all kinds of fancy. 

 The Pieta is actually a sculpture of Mary holding Jesus' body. That's right, the Pieta has nothing to do with Peter. Or Peeta. It's Rue. I mean, true. The word "pieta" is said to mean compassion, piety, mercy, and sorrow.  I can see why old Mike gave his sculpture that name.

Little bit o' trivia. Currently, this sculpture is behind bulletproof glass. Why? Because a crazy geologist took his little rock hammer and went after the sculpture because since he (the geologist) was Jesus, there certainly couldn't be a sculpture of him from the 1400's. I mean, clearly, that doesn't make sense.  The geologist is now wearing a cozy white jacket with 12 of his closest apostles. I mean, therapists.

Seriously though. I wish I could see the Pieta up close. To see where Michelangelo signed his name. To see how it really looks like a pyramid. To see the expression on Jesus' face. I think the only way that will ever happen is if I become the Pope.  Let me go ahead and put that on my goal list for 2012.

Also in St. Peter's Basilica is a statue of, you guess it, St. Peter.

I thought I had a picture, but I can't find it. St. Peter's right foot no longer has toes as the millions of people who have rubbed his foot also rubbed the toes clean off. Some people kiss his toes. I did not. We all know how I feel about feet. Ick.

Next up, the dome. Ha, see what I did there? Up and dome? Domes are up. Ha.

St. Peter's dome is the highest dome in the world. We Christians have to show off. The architects that created this dome studied the dome on the Pantheon before building this one. This one is bigger, but the Pantheon's is still impressive. Michelangelo played a part in designing St. Peter's dome, along with about a dozen other artists.  Here's a picture of the inside. We weren't able to get directly under the dome because of the humanity, but you get the idea.

The dome.

 To give you an idea of the size of the dome, the picture below is of the writing just below the largest point of the dome - at the base. See those letters? Each letter is five feet tall. Huge.  The words are the verse saying that Peter was the rock on which the church would be built.

I do NOT have an obsession with feet. I know this post makes it seem like I do, but I don't. I just wanted to get a close up of this piece of art to show that it was made of tiles. It looks like a painting from six feet away, but it's actually a mosaic. It seems that I didn't get a picture of the whole thing but it probably has something to do with Jesus. Those may be his feet.

And now let's talk about how mature Matt and I are. I mean, we took this picture so we could secretly get a picture of the Swiss Guard. Poor thing. Wearing pantaloons. 

And then we left. So long Vatican City and so long Rome.

Next up: lunch at a gas station and FLORENCE. I promise, Day 4 only has two parts.

Italy: Day 3, Part 3

 I know. You've been dying to find out about that little picture at the bottom of the last post. Good news! I've got an explanation. And a much larger picture.

The Cimitero dei Cappuccini or the Cemetery of the Capuchins is not underground nor is there dirt or a single headstone. Instead, the cemetery is a crypt beneath the church of Santa Maria della Conzione dei Cappuccini (also known as the Church of the Immaculate Conception). The bones of about 4,000 deceased Capuchin monks are divided into six room in a visual reminder of what we all become when we reach the end of our time on Earth.

The bones of the crypts were taken from the bodies after they had been buried for about thirty years and allowed to decompose. Once the thirty years had passed, the bodies were exhumed and newly deceased friars would take their places.

 The bones were then placed in intricate designs by bone type. The picture below is from the Crypt of the Skulls. There is also the Crypt of the Resurrection (of Lazarus), the Mass Chapel, the Crypt of the Pelvises, the Crypt of the Leg Bones and Thigh Bones, and the Crypt of the Three Skeletons.

Pictures aren't allowed, so we bought a postcard and then took a picture of it. You can, however, do a quick google search and see all the rooms.  You really can't tell from the picture, but the monks were only about 4 to 5 feet tall back then. I thought they were children at first and then Matt told me that they were old men based on the bone structure.

I admit, walking through the crypts gave me the creeps, but I couldn't look away. I wish I knew the actual process they used to design the crypts. Morbid, I know.

And then, to lighten things up, we went to Zara. I'd say it's like the Banana Republic of Italy (maybe Europe, I wouldn't know). Cute, cute stuff that I would have bought had I Kate Middleton's money.

We then headed back towards our hotel. I mean, it was about six o'clock and Rome was shutting down. And we were exhausted. I mean, think about everything we had already done that day. Serious walking.

We stopped in the basilica that I mentioned before - San Maria delgi Angeli. We saw the outside on our first day in Rome, but couldn't go in. Finally, we got to see the inside. It was absolutely stunning. The marble was green, white, gold, and black. You can see it in the picture. It was absolutely beautiful. I could feel the cold marble floors through the soles of my shoes and on my tired and blistered feet. It was a new, good kind of pain.

Matt and I were two of about twenty other people in the basilica. We felt like we were the only ones there. This church was my favorite simply because it actually felt like a holy place. Though The Vatican was bigger, San Maria delgi Angeli was more of a church to me. If I ever go back to Rome, I'm going back to this place.

We then went back to our hotel and promptly fell asleep. For too long. We woke up, sunburnt and starving about 8:30 p.m. We asked the front desk for a restaurant recommendation. The suggested a nearby place called Babbo's. We ordered the house white, shared some bruschetta with tomatoes and then spaghetti with meat sauce and gnocci with shrimp. Both tasted fresh and real. By that point, I'd say it was our best meal.  We then walked around for awhile and called it a day. We were ready to say goodnight to the crowded streets, rude Italians and tourists, crazy Vespa drivers, and constant cigarette smoke.

Preview to Day 4: The Vatican, lunch on the side of the road, and beautiful Florence.

Italy: Day 3, Part 2



        It's about 3:00 in Roman time and after lunch and seeing ol' Trajan we decided that a sweet treat was in order. You know what I'm talking about. Gelato. Our guide told us that the best gelato in Rome was hidden away, but worth it. After lots of walking and looking and meeting up with some other people from our group that we convinced to get gelato, we finally found the place. The gelateria, whatever it is called, was packed. I mean, wall to wall. I decided to let Matt handle everything and I just stood out of the way trying not to trampled. He paid for our treats then elbowed his way to the counter. For me, he got caramel and chocolate. He got champagne and lemon. My caramel was fabulous - as was his champagne. As I write this, three days and lots of gelato later, the caramel from that little Roman place has been the best so far (and now that I'm back with even more gelato tastings, it was the best of the trip). Hands down.

        After the gelato, we went back to the Trevi Fountain. The sunlight made it easier to see all the details on the fountain. It also made it harder to close to the water's edge. Supposedly, throwing a coin in the fountain will facing away from it and throwing with your right hand over your left will ensure that the tosser comes back to Rome. We also heard that throwing a coin in would give you good luck, as well as a spouse. I'm not sure that I want to go back to Rome and I know that I already have great luck because I am married to my spouse, but hey, when in Rome....

The left side of the fountain.

The 34.52 million other people wanting to toss in their coins.

     After seeing the fountain again, we wanted to visit Pantheon. This time, in the daylight.



Walking into the Pantheon. Hordes and hordes of people.



Right up into the oculus

The single drain for when it rains. Some people say that rain doesn't fall into the Pantheon even with a hole in the roof. Those people lie.

One little side of the Pantheon. It was hard to find an area without people. I'm telling you, that church was full to bursting. This temple/church/ancient relic has been in continuous use since it was built. Before Christ. I know. It's old.

          After the Pantheon, we trekked to the Spanish Steps to see them again in the daylight. You can really see the flowers (and the people) better in the daylight. (Scroll down to see my night pictures. Quite a difference.).

No self-portrait this time!!

   We had hoped that we didn't have to climb those incredibly steeps to go to our next destination, but we did. After climbing down for part of the way up and walking for a bit. It was hard (looks can be deceiving), but at least the flowers made it pretty!

     After the Spanish Steps, we got lost. I know, you aren't surprised. But it didn't take us long to find our way, just about an extra mile of walking. We were both pretty tired by that point but really wanted to see the crypts of the monks so we trudged on...

And that's all for Part 2! But here's a sneak peak for Part 3! 

Yep, it's little on purpose. I'll make it super big for Part 3.