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Published: April 16th 2007
Sorry about the short blog, but I have finally gotten to a point in the tour that I can relax and recap the last two weeks. Topping it off is the fact that I found an internet point that has a REAL US keyboard. This maybe the only time on the trip that I can write something and not have to go back for the next 30 minutes fixing what I messed up on!
So letàs talk about Italy! I have seen about 25 towns in 15 days and I was about to fall over by the end of it. Going on tours is not relaxing; 6:30 wake up calls, 2 hours to run around each little town, tour guides and too many gelato stands and not enough time to try them all. You may have noticed a theme of my eatting my way across Italy and Belgium and I am proud to say that I have left no chocolate shop, beer stand, pasta or gelato left unexperienced. This is evident when I try on my pants each morning but I figure it is giving me the energy to do all the walking and climbing stairs. Thatàs my story
and I am sticking too it!! to help fit into the wedding dress I am going to go on lock down once I leave Italy, so I have 4 more days and I will make the best of them while in Lake Como!! Here I come gelato stand!!!
Now during the tour we went down the east coast of Italy then crossed over at Pompeii and Sorrento and headed back up the west coast. The little towns seemed to blur together unless there was something unique there. In Urbino I got a chance to go into the Ducal Palace and during the tour we walked into the a room that I had learned about in school, it was filled with intarsio (inlaid wood, see I do pay attention in class) and was amazing to see in person. It was the first time on the trip I was surprised to see something I had learned about. Unfortunately I didnà t have anytime before coming to Europe to look through my arch history books to plan what I needed to see. I ahd a pretty basic idea of the biggies but not all the little things. After going through the Palace I
headed up the steepest road I have ever been on to a park on the top of the hill. The view was amazing (thanks to Rick Steves or I wouldnà t have known it was there) and the people watching was great. I have decided that Italians do only two things in public parks, make out or dump each other. So tears or kisses!
The next place we went to that I liked was San Marino. We got there when all the shops were closing so we walked around and this place is on top of a huge hill and looks out to the water. There are two (rebuilt) castles and you walk along this ledge to get from one to another. The views were amazing and it really felt like you were on top of the world. I was walking around and was invited to join two couples from our group for dinner so this was the first time I got to really hang out with some one from our group. The two couples travel a lot together and the women had some of the funniest stories together. It reminded me a lot of Amy and I and the
silly things we had done and I am sure we sound the same way when we tell stories. We went to a great dinner and had a postcard view of the castle from the restaurant. Okay you are thinking why donà t you show us some pictures. Well I had to erase that card so they are on my ipod and I canà t get them from the ipod onto the computer!! Sorry all of the Italy tour will have to be sent when I get home. Just close your eyes and imagine a castle and a sunset... there you go.... itàs almost like you were there with me!
The next morning we headed to Pompeii and I was an idiot and left my sunglasses in the bathroom and someone walked off with them. Darn tourists!! So I spent the first hout there looking for sunglasses so I wasnà t squinting the entire tour. Unfortunately, the tour we had of Pompeii didnà t go to where I hoped it would so we didnà t get to see the best parts of the area. The guide said that with tour buses itòs too hard to get there so we had to go to a place
that was easy to walk around. Damn tours!! I was a little disappointed but it was still a good experience.
Next was Sorrento and Capri. I could easily spend a few days (instead of a night and a day) in these two towns. Capri was beautiful and the trip to the blue grotto was amazing. Kelly and Mary are two ladies from Canada that kept me laughing the entire trip. They are so sweet and funny and I was glad that they headed over to the grotto with me. They both arenà t fans of small boats so this experience of taking a small boat to the grotto was entertaining. Once we got there we had to get from our boat into a 6 foot dingy, which they were not excited about. Once in the little boat there is a little hole in the side of a cliff and everyone in the boat has to lay down to get into it. Once inside the cave glows this amazing bright blue color and the guide starts singing and paddling you around the inside. It was stunning and one of my favorite things we did while there. There are two towns on
Capri so we walked around there and then headed back to Sorrento. Katie and Bobby, a couple on their honeymoon, went to dinner with me and we had awesome pizza and went on a little tour of the city (thanks again to Rick Steves Guide). The two of them really made me miss Brett, but I had fun hanging out with them on the trip.
So by this point we had been on the tour for a week. The early wake up calls, running arund like crazy at each stop was getting to me. I knew Rome and Florence were coming up and I was begging my legs to not give out on me! Well, Rome almost killed me. We had 2 days to see everything. Considering this was the stop that had the most sights that I HAD to see I knew I was going to have a heck of a itme getting everything in. The first night we got in and Katie and Bobby went into town (our hotel was a bus ride and a metro ride away from the city, about a hour away) with me. Again we did the Steves tour at night and got
to see a lot that was on my list but by the time we got to the Spanish Steps (the end of the our) it was 11:30 and the metro was closed. We asked a cop where the bus stop was that would take us ack to the hotel and he said it was about a half hour walk and the buses stopped at 12. Off we go because a cab ride was going to be a lot. We got to the bus area (a square with buses all over the place) and asked another cop. Her response was.... can you run? Luckily we got to the bus but it was the wrong one so we were dropped off a half hour walk from the hotel. A little after 1 AM we got to the hotel and we had to be up at 7 to go to the Vatican.
The Vatican= I got to see THE Pope. We chatted a bit, he was telling me that he falls asleep during some of the masses.... okay just kidding, but I did get to see him. Our tour group got to go into the Vatican museum early (part of the perks
of being in a group) and being Good Friday there was a 3 hour line to get into the museum. We rushed around, but got to spend 30 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. One of the guys in our group had binoculars so I got an upclose view of the amazing paintings. Wow... it was amazing and I wish we had more time but I will just have to come back!! We left the museum and walked to St. Peteràs and got to laugh at all the people still walting to get in to the museum, okay I didnà t laugh but I was very glad to not be in that line. The group got to the front of St. Peteròs to find out that it was closed because the Pope was doing a mass. There were two big jumbotrons out front so you could see and hear him. So we started watching and all the sudden they started letting people into the church. There was a mad rush for the line and we were lucky to get in before the line got really bad. 10 minutes later I am watching the Pope give a mass in St. Peteràs Basilica. AMAZING!! I was soooo crouded and this guy from my group that was a bit of a pain (30 people in the group and only one was a brat, not bad) he was in front of me and all the sudden I smelled the foulest smell. The brat had farted!!! I think he was trying to clear the space around him and that was one way to do it. I am not sure but I think farting in St. Peteràs while the Pope is doing the Good Friday mass might get you a first class ticket to hell. You werenà t there, it smelled that bad. I held my breath and stuck it out and was able to watch the mass for awhile. What a great experience!! I didnà t get to see much of the interior since it was so crouded but it was an amazing place.
Onto the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Itàs one thing to see pictures of there places, another to take classes on them, but seeing them with your own eyes is amazing. One of the places we went was the Marmintine, sp?, prison where Peter and Paul were held before they were crucified upside down, it was at that time that I got the feeling of what a brutal place this had been. It was so dark in the prison and luckly Addie, the sweetest lady from our group, was with me because I was almost not able to go in. I am a little afraid of the dark if you didnà t know. Yes, there are 29 year olds who are afraid of the dark!!! This place was just so small and so errie that is made going into this little room with only a hole in the ceiling that prisoners were lowered into a freaky experience. The other one that got me was the house that girls of age 10 from noble families were made to live in and not have sex until they were 40, then they would be given a lot of money and a statue. If they had sex they were dragged around the town and then put in a box and buried alive. The guide told us most didnà t make it to 40!!
The rest of the day was filled with churches, museums, blah, blah, blah, and a ton of walking... and gelato! The secod night we went to Tivoli to go to the water gardens and all I could think was that my mom and ganny would love this place!! The flowers smelled heavenly and the fountains were all run on natural slope, no pumps!! It was amazing and we only had 2 hours there but I could have stayed a whole day!
We left Rome to drive 300 miles to the next stop. 1 Tylenol PM later I was drooling on my pillow and begging the tour director to leave me on the bus, I wanted to sleep through the little town. In a fog I walked around but I couldnà t even tell you the name of the pleace we stopped. We got into Florence late and the 4 girls from NYU that were on our tour were going into town to meet up with a friends that was studying in Florence. i went along with them and we got a tour of the sights and then she took us to the great restaurant. The girls were a lot of fun and around 12 we grabbed a cab back to the hotel. Now letàs talk about Florence cabbies! When 4 girls ffrom NY city are scared of a cab ride there is a problem. The driver must have been confused which peddle was the brake because we was accelerating through the corners! 20 mintutes I finally looked up from my lap and white knukled I walked to my room. I think we was getting a kick out of our screams!
The next day I had reservations to see the Uffuzi and Accademia and the group had a group reservation for the Uffizi. We got on the bus to head into Florence and our tour director told us that there was a strike at the Uffizi so they were canceling the tour. I didnà t know if I would get in but I headed over to the museum and was able to get in after waiting in a bit of a line. On the door they had a sign that they might have a meeting so that was why the museum might be closed. Strike...meeting... whatever. Now I am not a huge fan of art, a lot of it is lost on me, but this was different. I have seen losts of pictures of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Pontormo, Vasari art but seeing the real thing is different. One of my favorites was an unfinished work by Michelangelo, you could see the process of his painting and it was stunning.
Onto my visit of a tall nude statue, you might know him as David. The best part of the statue was that there are four statues that Michelangelo had never finished for the Popeòs tomb before you get to the statue of David. When you see these (they look like people trying to escape from marble) and then see a completed work it makes all the difference in the world. At this point I was so excited that I had gotten the chance to see both museums (without waiting in the long lines thanks to reservations)!
I headed over to the Florence cathedral to climb the dome. 500 stairs and I thought with everyone that this is working off all the pasta I had been eatting. Honestly, I felt like an 80 year old woman clibing these stairs, Rome and Florence had kicked my butt and this was the final strat that was going to do me in! I made it and what a view! By the time I got down I had missed the dinner with the tour so I headed to the place I had gone with the NYU girls and stuffed myself until I was fat and happy... and a little drunk! It was the best meal I had so far, but the problem was that it was getting dark and I wanted to get back to the hotel before it was too dark outside. Not a problem but I had a 1/2 liter of wine in my system... sunglasses on and my Italian face (no smiling or you get hit on) in place I walked as straight as I could to the bus station. Have I mentioned that I donà t speak Italian, because this is when I gets interesting. I find my bus and the hotel gave me a map to my stop but the map doesnà t list ALL the stops so I donà t know when to pull the little string to tell the bus driver it is my stop. The bus is packed and the bus driver is not paying attention to my beggin g to let me know when my stop is. I ask a person and everyone around me starts talking to me in Italian. AHHH... parle inglese? No... so we all resort to hand motions to figure out how to get the dumb and drunk American back to the hotel. I get off the bus and donà t see the hotel but I do see two of the girls from my tour group and run happily to them! Success, I am back at the hotel!
The reat of the tour was a bit of a blur after that. All the little towns started to look alike and my legs hhurt so much that all I wanted to do at each stop was find a place to relax. 15 days on tour was A LOT! So I am happy to know be in Lake Como and be able to unwind before doing it all again. I got here yesterday around 4 and took the bus to my hotel. It was about a hour from Como and what a great place, just donà t drive here! I saw two accidents (one with my own eyes) in that hour and I am sure they happen all the time. The roads are so small and the buses just honk as tehy turn blind corners so if you are on the other side you better hope you are over far enough of youa re going to get hit. I was glad to be in the bg bus and not one of the smart cars that were hugging the edge trying to let the bus by. The bus hit a cars side mirror and just kept on driving! NICE! So donà t drive here and get as small of a car as you can if you do!! I am staying in Bellagio until the 19th and here are lots of hikes and activities to do, I think I am going to relax and take in the sights. My next stop is Zurich and then I start my Switzerland tour. Anyone want to join me?
Miss you and love you, Stacey
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Marti
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