Geo: 40.7492, 14.5007Bird says we should offer a word of warning-there are 26 pictures of Pompeii. Should there be an abnormality with your brain making you not nuts about Roman history, you may want to skip this blog. Of course, we know all of you are normal, thus being as nuts about Roman history as HP.Today we hopped a train to Pompeii. Thirty minutes later we were induced to take a two hour tour, which was good according to Bird. After the tour we struck out on our own for an additional couple of hours. As you know, Pompeii was buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD thus preserving for us a complete Roman city. Actually, there were two, Herculaneum suffered an identical fate, but Bird could only tolerate one.This was another long day with much ... read more

Geo: 41.9636, 12.7983Today's adventure occurred in Tivoli. We hopped in the car, taking our lives in our hands with Rome's drivers, and went to see Hadrian's Villa. As we expected, this has been the worse for wear after 2,000 years, but the immense size remains. This is not one villa, but has multiple baths (the Romans sure loved them), banquet and reception areas, even two libraries, a hospital, among many other things. The amount of building at least equals Diocletian's retirement home in Split.This is mostly ruins, sort of like what would happen to our buildings without maintenance for a couple of thousand years. Actually, ours would look far worse.Okay, this is our last day in Rome. We leave tomorrow for a brief stop in Naples before landing on the Amalfi Coast for four days. Actually ... read more

Geo: 41.7308, 12.2808After repairing the washer (you don't want to know) we made a late exit from our apartment, rode the train for a half hour and arrived in Ostia Antica. This was Rome's port. All of her supplies and food arriving by sea went through here. And during the Imperial period, Italy did not grow enough food to feed herself, so imports were a major concern.We were surprised how far the port was from Rome. Like we mentioned a half hour train ride. Everything arriving here must then be transported by animal drawn carts to a city of one million people. Poor oxen.Save for the marble, which folks during the middle ages stripped from the buildings, the city has come to us in quite good shape. The reason is that not long after Rome fell ... read more

Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823What a difference a day makes. Simply beautiful today. Began without a cloud, while a few drifted in late in the day. Temps perhaps in the low seventies and low humidity. We spent over five hours walking about the Forum and Palatine Hill. Legs sore but well worth it.The Forum is very impressive, but you have to remember this is two thousand years ago. Some deterioration occurs in that time. We may suggest what would your house look like without a roof for over a thousand years. So don't be critical of it not being pristine.Tomorrow we enter the Colosseo (Coliseum), the Pantheon (Temple to all gods), and take a walking tour of Roma. But tonight, its all Falcons.... read more

Geo: 43.7161, 10.3966Did we tell you we were stopping by Pisa today? Christy IV only made one small error. Pretty good for her, so we drove in and out rather easily. Bird is now complaining that there has been no mention of her new best friend, the wine guy. Three doors down from our apt in La Spezia there was a "loose wine" shop where people could bring any sort of empty bottle and fill her up and rather good prices. Yes, of course, we have a picture.By the way we are now in Rome. Will be here for the next seven days. We'll keep ... read more