Bangkok to Rome to Naples

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Bonjourno!
We are currently in Italy, the 5th country on our trip around the world. First let me back up to when we were still in Bangkok though.
The day I wrote my last blog we had a wonderful Japanese dinner with Lily and her boyfriend Bank and then we were kindly escorted to the airport by them directly afterwards. Upon checking in for our flight we were told that it was delayed by 8 hours, till 8 am the following morning. We didn't take the news to hard because we were put up in the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in in my life! It had to be a five star because there were bell boys everywhere in matching outfits, a huge lobby complete with a stream in the middle that had color changing lights, and even a person by the elevator to press the button for us. If that wasn't enough, our room had a bathroom with its own window with blinds into the sleeping area (we kept them shut), a bathtub and a shower, a phone next to the toilet (just in case you need to make that business call while going number 2), and we even had our own bathrobes! Ridiculous!!! I was a little taken a back by all the excess and luxury of the hotel after coming from Cambodia, where it is a luxury to have warm water. Does the hotel really need to have thousands of lights on constantly, consuming electricity 24/7? I would say no, but prisey Westerners may not agree with me 😊 That's all I will rant about that for now.
Alright so after getting 4 hours of sleep we got up the next morning and took an 11 hour plane ride to Rome. They actually played some decent movies on the flight! The Bourne Ultimatum (best action film ever), and The Simpsons Movie (humerous at times). Upon arriving at the Rome international airport we made our way to a train to take us into central Rome. I got all cocky about it to because I had been there 2 times before, so I showed Kam and Paul the ropes.
We took a bus to our hostel and then I meandered the streets for a bit before the frigid air forced me back inside. I like how the shops in the area have the products in the window. It is good advertising because it draws the customer into the shop. I went into a few electronic shops needless to say. The 50 inch plasmas beckoned me 😊 Then I came back and crashed from the extensive amount of traveling and lack of sleep from the whole day.
The following day we hung out at the Pope's crib, taking in the awesome building of St. Peters Basilica. The inside of the structure has to be the largest man made expanse of space I have ever seen in my life. It almost has its own atmosphere. The sunlight shone through the windows creating dramatic lighting effects on the beautifuly carved sculptures lining the walls of the basilica. On the right as soon as we walked in, the Pieta was encased in a bullet proof glassed room because apparently someone threw a hammer at it a few years ago, which prompted the protection of the historic Michaelangelo sculpture. At the opposite end of the enterance a service was underway with a bunch of guys dressed in red who I will assume are cardinals. I really don't know my religious figures at all.
After the basilica we walked around the outside of Vatican City to reach the local museum and see the Sistine Chapel with the famous creation of Adam painted on the ceiling by Michaelangelo. The church has a thing for Michael apparently. The museum had a huge collection of sculptures ranging from Gods to animals. They even had some sculpted baths with battle scenes carved into the sides of them. After Vatican City we walked to a circular fortress where the people of the Vatican would retreat to in case the city was overrun.
We then split up and explored the city at our own paces. I didn't have a map, so I periodically had to ask other tourists where I was when I saw them with a map out. The whole getting lost in Rome was fun for me because I would be walking down streets where I had no idea where I was and then suddenly I would come upon a 17th century church, be awed by how ornately decorated the interior was and then walk further down the street to find some 3rd century BC ruins overrun by cats. Rome might be The coolest city in the world to explore, but I have not been to every city so i'm not sure how accurate that statement is.
The following day we explored the Roman ruins, the Colloseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and some more 17th century churches. It was a historic day. (I am so clever 😊
The ruins haven't really changed much since the last two times I saw them. They are situated in a large rectangular area with thousands of tourists around walking through them and no good photo opportunities! It was very upsetting, but I got over it and centered myself in a church with some freakin awesome Carvaggio paintings. I don't know if I have mentioned this or not yet, but Carvaggio is my fav Renaissance painter. His use of light and shadow is unsurpassed by any of the other greats including the ninja turtles. (Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael.)
After relaxing in the church I walked to the Pantheon where I was awed by the perfection of the dome again. When looking at the structure from the front it looks like a regular square temple that was common for the time it was built. But upon entering the building, the visitor realizes that they had been fooled by what they expected to be another square structure, but in fact there is a great cavernous dome area inside. The architect who designed the building conceived of it as being an illusion to people visiting from other countries before they walk in, because of the awe factor it creates when in the presense of the Romans. These guys were pretty freakin smart for their time.
On my way to the Trevi Fountain I saw a guy doing spray paint art on the street. Well first I saw about 30 people standing around someone on the street, then I saw what they were looking at. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, but I did take a whole video of it. Then there was the Trevi Fountain in all of its glory, with a bazzillion people standing around eating gelato, but I still managed to get some pics of the fountain without the peeps.
The following day we took a two hour train to Naples, through beautiful rolling hills with wine vinyards and passing a large mountain range to our East. We arrived in Naples and made our way by bus to our hostel. We found out that everything costs in Italy, some churches, museums, and even the elevator up to our hostel. Italy is a black hole for my bank account!
After we settled in, we got some delicious pizza served to us with a knife and fork to eat with and then headed to some catacombs to for a tour. Our tour guide had to explain everything twice, in Italian and English for everyone on the tour. And wow was I mesmerised by her Italian speak. I tried to find the word for marry me in the Italian phrase book, but surprisingly they don't have it in Fast Talk Italian. What's the deal?
The catacombs were somewhat interesting to walk through. We traveled through a series of interconnecting passage ways that had been dug out sometime in late BC and had been used for plays and to draw water for the people of the city. One of the coolest things was a house we walked in which had a trap door underneath the bed which we opened and walked down into to explore the passage ways below. It was like we were in Indiana Jones!
That night we got more pizza, (luckily I like pizza a lot), and headed off to bed.
The following day we took a train out to Pompei, which is just 30 min south of Naples. Before we got to the train station though, we had to take a bus where we found out that the fee for not having a bus ticket is 32 euros. Ouch! Today was going to be expensive.
We caught the train to Pompei, which is a city that was left in ruins by Mt. Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 AD killing the 200,000 Roman inhabitants. I learned that the mountain has erupted on average about every 45 years since then and the last eruption was in 1944, so they are due for another at anytime. Luckily the day we were there the mountain remained dormant.
We got audio headsets that provided us history of the place, but I found it to be a bit overwhelming listening to the audio guide, taking pictures, and video, so I scratched the audio so I can bring you the pictures you are seeing now 😊
I perused the abandoned streets of the ancient city, walking along cobblestone sidewalks, through the 35 acres of houses, baths and a coloseum even. I would have liked to have spent a full day there and really sat and listened to the history of each area, but I was freezing in the 50 degree weather, so I had to keep moving to keep my blood circulating or else I could have just frozen on one spot.
After the ruins we took a train back to Naples and figured out how to get down to Sicily the following day. We decided that we would take an overnight train the following night so that we wouldn't have to pay for a hostel. This didn't matter much though because upon booking our ticket for the train this morning we found we had to pay an extra 30 euros on top of already having a eurorail pass that we had purchased before we left, to get a cabin with a bed. (My bank account continues to be drained 😞
Today was pretty relaxed as we walked through the streets of Naples before our train. Stopping in some churches, one with a Carvaggio painting (sweet), and a few others that we were only able to see from the outside. And now we are finishing posting our blogs and getting ready to catch our train in a few hours.
That is all for now.

Daniel

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Comments

[Dave Martino]

ITALY!
Oh man, this brings back such memories! Rome, the coliseum, Vatican City, Pompei, and Naples! WOW-EEE! Careful in Naples, it's a bit of a scary city, at least from my experience. Wish I was there! Have fun.