Hey everyone! I doubt anyone actually checks this anymore, but when I eventually go someplace else, and I'm using this blog again, it'll be here for your enjoyment! Anyhow, I got Gma's pictures onto my computer finally, so I am capable of uploading them on to here. Maybe they'll add a bit of a visual perspective to the trip! See you!

Auntie Cherille and Grandma at the Vatican

Val crosses a street in Pompeii

At the Trevi Fountain in Rome

Sunburned after the Cinque Terre !

A bunch of girls hanging out in one of the most beautiful cities (Venice! :-) ).

The girls caught in the downpour.

Before the storm on Lake Como

Auntie Cherille and I DURING the storm on Lake Como

Val and the wine distributor

Val and the sight from the cog train in Switzerland - beautiful! Both of them!

Welcome to Luzern!

With some of Val's family

12.8.2006

OK, so, I lied! Of course, I can't finish off this blog without adding pictures! Here's a few - I'll probably add some more in the next couple days!






















Living History Museum in Kiel



















Val, Heather and me on a train


















Ancient Roman Ruins (That's the remains of Caesar's Temple directly behind our heads)



















Looking out over the water from the Palazzo Reale in Pompeii



















Heath and me in front of Culzean Castle, Scotland

11.8.2006 Home Sweet Home! (last Italy blog)

Hello Everyone!

 

We're home! 

 

We left Rome on Tuesday afternoon, flew to Hamburg, Germany, and found our hotel for the night.  We were staying right down by the train station, so there were lots of shops.... and of course, we had Euros we needed to use up, so Heather, Val and I hit H&M one more time!  We got some great clothes on clearance, including jeans for Heath and Val, and a gift for my (older) sister's BD.

 

Wednesday morning, we left Hamburg and flew to London.  We had a layover in London for awhile, and then took off for Seattle.  The flight was uneventful... just LONG!  We were delayed taking off for about half an hour, waiting for a group from Paris to come through customs, but they ended up taking too long, so we took off (with their luggage, because that made it through with no problems!)

 

One interesting little event on our way home: two young men sitting a couple rows in front of us in the emergency exit row started talking with Auntie Cherille while she was trying to stretch her legs a bit (The last 3 hours of the 9 hour flight starts feeling REALLY long!!!).  One of them was just coming home from a 6 month long YWAM trip, including Spain, Morocco, and India, AND he was from Chehalis...  So when we got off the plane, and hugged our welcoming group, and started out for the car, we ended up right beside HIS welcoming group, so we chatted for a couple minutes, realized we knew a lot of the same people, and then we ended up at the same Taco Time for some American food (haha!), and visited a bit more.  (Do I hear the soundtrack of "It's a Small World Afterall" in the background?)  Isn't it crazy how you can travel half way across the world, and still find someone who knows the same people you know on your way home?

 

As some of you may know from the news, there was a huge security crack down in Heathrow, and actually in most major airports across the US as well.  That happened AFTER we had taken off, at least, and may not have really even occurred until after we landed in Seattle.  We had no extra security to go through, so we weren't delayed... Praise the Lord!  From the sounds of it, if we had been a couple hours later leaving, we might STILL be tangled in the security mess in Heathrow!

 

Jet lag recovery is underway, I've got an appointment to see the doctor about my eyes this morning, but they are looking so much better, I might just cancel it.  Valerie went in yesterday morning to get her picture taken and receive her driver's license, and Heather has started counting down the days until HER 16th birthday and when she receives HER license!  We're all enjoying having our own food (tacos, with real, homegrown beef last night... YAY!!!), our own bathrooms (a shower large enough to shave our legs in... YAY!!!), music (both on the radio and our own collections... YAY!!!), and, of course, seeing our family and friends.

 

Thanks for hanging out with us....  Until the next trip!!!

 

Love,

Dani

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7.8.2006 "Now THAT is a ceiling!"

Ciao All!

 

Good evening to everyone!  It's 9PM here, and we have once more made our trek down to "our" little hole-in-the-wall internet access place!  The people at the desk cheerfully call "ciao!" when we come in now...  What can I say?  We make friends all over the place!

 

This morning I was heading out to make a phone call, and a cute little old lady was coming down the sidewalk as I was going up, struggling with the cloth-covered buttons on her dress.  "Signora" she said sweet, and then rattled off in Italian, motioning towards her buttons.  It only took a second for me to surmise that she couldn't quite get the buttons into the button holes to fasten her dress close, and she was asking for my help.  I was honored (do they usually ask tourists to do this?  I don't think so!  I felt like such a "local"!) to help her out.  She was trying to talk to me, and I just kept smiling and saying "I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian!", but after getting her buttons done, and the tie tied on the back of her dress, she was ready for the day.  "Bella" I smiled, and she (quite literally!) beamed back at me "Grazie, Grazie!"  Wow, I love interacting with the PEOPLE over here!

 

But then again... there are times when the PEOPLE get very ANNOYING!  But I'm getting ahead of myself... I catch you all up!

 

Since we'd read that the Vatican Museum was more crowded in the morning, we decided to take is slow this morning, and head out by about 11ish to walk the short distance down to Vatican City from our apartment.  For those of you who don't know (I didn't before I came over here and started reading all the Rick Steve books!) Vatican City is actually a 100 acre country INSIDE Italy.  It is the home of the Pope, the Vatican Museum (including the Sistene Chapel), and St. Peter's Basilica, including the impressive dome my Michelangelo.  Vatican City has its own armored guards, and helipad, apparently, also!

 

When we got down to the Museum, we started groaning when we saw the line as we came up towards the entrance.  It wasn't until we started down the side of the wall, looking for the END of the line, that we realized just how long we were going to have to wait!  I'd estimate that the line finally ended about a 1/4 of a mile from the entrance... and we started taking bets on how long we would be standing in line!  Fortunately, 3/4 of the wait would be in the shade, so at least we weren't melting in direct sunlight!  Amazingly enough, we only stood in line for about an hour before we got in... this place is pretty darn efficient!

 

On a side note, (and it's pretty minor, but it made our day!) we were purchasing our tickets, and had to choose between the line marked "students" or "bigliette" (tickets), since we aren't members of the EU, and we haven't got ANY discounts anywhere else, we didn't figure it was even worth us trying to get a student discount, and only have to go to the END of the ticket line.  So when Heather and I got up to the window, I asked for two tickets.  The gentleman at the window rattled off something, and I said "Yes, two." (giving him my best smile... I've noticed that smiling helps a lot with keeping everyone happy!!!).  "OK, bella one, (handing me the ticket) and bella two.  Grazie! Ciao."  He said, ahdning us our tickets and change.  We replied "Grazie, ciao!" with another big smile, and moved on our way... I shoved the money back into my wallet, and waited for Gma and A. Cherille and Valerie to finish up.  "Wait, how much did that cost us?"  Heather asked, intently studying her tickets "12 Euros."  (She's been annoyed at the cost!).  "Mine only says 8.00 on the back."  I looked at mine, and sure enough, mine did also.  "How much money did he give you back?"  Heather asked, so when I checked, we realized that he'd given us the student discounts!  It wasn't huge, of course, but it is also so cool to me when people go out of their way to be nice to us!  I was like "I LOVE these Italians!"  and, for the most part, it is true!  Rick Steves warns (quite seriously!) about how Italy can be chaotic and frusterating, but I've really enjoyed the atmosphere!  Sure, I mean, things are DIFFERENT here, compared to the US, but that's what makes it so fun and interesting!

 

So, we took off through the Vatican Museum.  The painting were gorgeous... there were a LOT of them!  Everywhere we went, bright colors brought images from the Bible and History to life on the walls and ceiling around us.  The path we walked was a MAZE, but fortunately, it is all laid out in a one-way, easy to follow path, or we'd have been lost for SURE  (For the record, we haven't gotten lost ONCE in Rome... which is simply amazing for us!!!).  We walked through many halls and rooms and galleys, displaying the amazing talents of the artists of the world, including a refreshingly un-crowded display on modern religous art, before finally reaching the much anticipated Sistene Chapel.  How do I describe it?  (I always seems to be having this problem!)  It was very, very colorful, and seeing the skill of Michelangelo was very cool.... however, I was also a little disappointed, simply because the room was absolutely PACKED with people (I mean, we're talking, like, Metro train crowded...  There was no personal bubble space!!!!), and the guards kept saying "Shhh!!!!" really loudly, clapping their hands to get people's attention, and yelling "No Photo!  No Photo!"... I know they were just doing their job, and, of course, they have to be firm and loud to get tourists attention, but it REALLY ruined the moment for me!  After following the crowd (oh so slowly!) in the human river between the little tiny entrance door, and the little tiny exit door, and admiring the ceiling and walls as I went, I was ready to get out of there.  Had there been less people, I probably would have used Gma's binoculars and the pictures we had in our tour book, and take time looking at individual pictures more.  Instead, what I got was an overall (and that view WAS impressed, I assure you!) view of the Chapel... adn then I was ready to go!

 

After the Chapel, you've about reached teh end of the Vatican Museum, so we skimmed through the rest (OK, OK, we actually skimmed through a lot of it getting TO the Chapel, we just skimmed faster!  In all honesty, we've seen SO much, and there is SO MUCH to see, that we were all feeling a little art-overwhelmed, I think!  Not to mention, simply being tourist travel weary...), and exited right beside where we'd entered.  We wandered back along the line (much shorter now at that time!) to get to the entrance into the piazza of the Vatican City.  Steping through the arched entryway, you don't hardly see the piazza because huge columns (2 deep) interfere with your view.  But when you step through those columns, you find yourself in a VAST circle Piazza, boardered with these massive columns, and framing the grand entrance to the chapel, with an oblesk (sp?) commanding your attention at the very center of the piazza.  Everything was light colored, gleaming in the sun, from the columns, to the stone on the ground...  Anyhow, it was cool, very, very cool!!!

 

We had to wait in line, again, to get into St Peters, but the line moved fairly quickly, and we got inside relatively quickly.  Since we'd been sure to dress appropriately, we skipped right through the "modesty checkpoint," and got into the actual builidng.  Walking into it is like walking into.... (words failing me!) a different world, I guess.  Everything is SO BIG!  I felt like an ant... only maybe smaller...  Bacteria or something!  The square footage of the base of the columns is probably bigger than the area of my bedroom!  And there are LOTS of columns!  St. Peters can hold 95,000 people... 95, 000!  Just IMAGINE that number of people in one place!  The colossuem the other day only held 50,000, and it was HUGE!!!!  The art work was beautiful on the inside (all the pictures in the dome are actually mosaics, not paintings) and the statues were (also!) huge, but the most spectacular thing was simply the massive size of the whole building (building... I think of buildings as houses... this was like a super structure!!!)  I was quite impressed, if you haven't picked up on that already!

 

So, we saw the place on the floor where Charlemangne was coronated, we saw the place where Peter was killed (on a cross.... upside down, for those of you who slept through religious History!), which is also the place he is buried.  We saw Michelangelo's piéta (we actually had to come BACK for that, because I didn't want to miss it!), and we admired the oh-so-large dome  (4 feet narrower than the one at the Pantheon, but quite a bit taller).  Then, we got down to the fun part... climbing the dome!  (Gma and Auntie Cherille decided to do their own thing at this point!)  We stood in line (again!!! always lines!), waiting to pay our 4 Euros to get up to the top  (again, cheaper than we had anticipated!  I love finding things less expensive than planned!).  This is where the part about being annoyed with people comes in...  For the most part, we have found Italians to be a bit more expressive towards us younger gals than Americans... it is totally not uncommon for people to whistle, stare, honk their horns, or call out to us as we walk around.  At first, it was little weird, we thought it might not be very safe!  But now that we've been around it (and read Rick Steve's.... he suggests taking it in stride... for the most part, he says it is harmless.  If you're feeling endangered, he advises being firm, adn sticking to public places... common sense stuff which we'd already planned on doing Mom, no worries!), for the most part, it is just annoying.  I mean, we've kinda accepted it as part of the experience of being here, but it still is enough to keep us going "honestly!  It isn't like we're the only females around here!!!" (Side note:  However, I want to make it clear that for every guy who has been slightly less than proper in their conduct, there is at LEAST one person who balances that...  Today coming back from the market, a man saw us coming, and stepped off the street into the trash filled gutter, so we didn't have to... we thanked him!  And there was the guy at the ticket place at the Vatican Museum who gave us the discount... and the older man who helped us get to that Palazzo Reale in Rome, and countless others who have offered advise from where to go to get to our hotel, how to use the ticket machines at the metro, where to go on train tracks, and where to get the best pizza around... :-) )  Anyhow, in line, we found the rudest person yet!  Seriously, this guy creeped us out.  He started out being a couple people behind us in line, but he was in a hurry to get to the dome, so he started pushing through the crowd very subtley...  Valerie got the worst of it, when he WOULD NOT stop moving forward until he was pushing up against her.  This kept happening for about 10 minutes (it had started with Heather, but she'd managed to slide away.  I kept trying to get an elbow between him and Valerie when we stopped, but it didn't work too well!).  She'd move forward with the line, and then he'd be RIGHT THERE behind her.  And it wasn't just the body contact, although that was disturbing, no, he had to check each of us out, up and down... Grrr!  I know, I know, I shouldn't really expect any differently, but it is downright annoying!  Finally, Valerie turned around and said (WAY sweeter than I would have!) "Do you want by?  Here, go ahead!" just to get him away from her.  Then, we watched for the next half an hour while he did it to every other young woman in the crowd near us...  By then we were just plain disgusted!  And glad that he'd left us alone, but a little upset that we hadn't stood our ground and "just happened" to step on his foot HARD or something!

 

OK, enough about my ranting and raving over the un-gentlemanly dude in the line!  But, before I move on, I do want to heartily thank all of you gentlemen readers, and all the men in my life who are polite, honorable, and just plain decent enough to show a little respect for us ladies as PEOPLE, not just bodies!  You've shown me how REAL gentlemen act, and therefore helped me set my standards high!  You are awesome!!!!

 

We opted for the cheaper way of getting to the top of the... climbing... the whole way!  (The other option was to ride the elevator to the base of the dome.)  After about 200 steps, we got to the roof, and the base of the dome.  We actually walked around on the inside of the dome, looking down into the basillica.... THAT was cool!  Birds eye view!!!  From there it was another 320 steps (getting steadily narrower and smaller!) to climb up to top of the dome.  It was very, very crowded, with little room to move around, but it was DEFINITELY worth the sweat and teh crowds!  The view was SO amazing!  We didn't get to spend nearly enough time at the top, since or feet were killing us by then, and we knew we had the whole hike down, and the crowds were pretty bad, but looking out over the city of Rome was definitely one of those "Wow, I'm in Rome!" once-in-a-lifetime moments!

 

The climb down was uneventful... Heather and Valerie found it easier to take off their flip flops and proceed barefoot going down the sloped, ramp-type steps.  I'd worn my shoes with more tread, but they were giving me some nasty blisters, since practically all I've worn this tip are my flip-flops, so I was ready to get off my feet!  We did take time to go below St Peters, to see all the tombs of the Popes... Including Pope John Paul II's burial spot.  I was glad we'd taken the time to do that...  For having so much power, I think that John Paul did a pretty darn good job of using his position for the good of MANY people, not just himself.  His simple, basic, plain, flat tombstone perfectly fit my image of a humble servant.

 

We had to run back into the basillica to see the pièta (Long ways away, smaller than I expected), before heading back to our apartment.

 

We relaxed some, I even slept (How, I'm not sure... I already had an early morning nap this AM...  I'm just tired, though!  So tired, in fact, that I'm actually looking FORWARD to the plane rides... I won't have anything to do but sleep!), before coming down here to get online.

 

Now we need to try to finish up our food, pack, and get ready to leave Bella Italia.  Sad panda!  I'm ready to get home, but I don't know if I want to leave yet, either.  There is so much more I'd like to see, and simply to soak up more the culture...  But, I'm sure I'll come back someday, so I am just thankful that my first trip over here has been (overall!) so enjoyable!

 

Heather and I might try to sneak away tomorrow morning and head over to Trevi fountain and throw in a coin over our shoulders and make a wish.  According to tradition, the person who does that will return to Rome.  We also want to do a little more shopping for souvenirs!!!  Then we fly up to Hamburg tomorrow afternoon.  We'll be spending the night in Hamburg, before flying to Heathrow Wednesday morning, and then on to Seattle.  We'll be arriving in Seattle at about 4 or 5 PM, I think.

 

Thank you all for being so supportive of, and excited about our trip!  It has been a blast for me to share it with you from my perspective...  Of course, if any of YOU go on a similar trip, I'd love to follow along on your travels by blog... so invite me!!!!

 

Love you all, and ciao for now!

Dani

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Lazy Sunday.....

Hi All!

 

First, Jamie and Catherine, yes, you were right!  We love Roma!  Actually, it hasn't been hot at all... so far!  Well, it was a little warm yesterday, but today it rained on us for a good hour.  All the vendors were trying to sell us umbrellas, and I walked past them laughing!  I mean, WHY would I want and/or need an umbrella!?!?!  a) I'm from WASHINGTON, and b) as much as I usually dislike rain, it felt wonderful today!  Say a big "Ciao!" to Aunt Nan for me!  Yes, Jamie, I did see the cats, and yes, your Rome book has come in handy!  I'm going to go back up to our apartment after I finish on the internet here, and pour over it some more... it is SO cool!  Oh, and we're staying right by the Vatican Metro stop, so we'll be sure to grab some pizza...  thanks for the tip!

 

Today ended up being a lazy Sunday... come to think of it, a week ago, when we were in Florence, we had a lazy day.  I feel a little... well, Lazy! when I think about everything there is to see, but I've managed to catch some kind of head cold, or, at any rate, get some kind of infection type thing in my eyes (they look horrible!  They're all swollen and red and bloodshot.... Needless to say, rain or no rain, I wore my sunglasses a lot today!), so even though we were all up by 8ish, nobody wanted to do anything right away - among the younger generation, at least - so the three of us ended up heading back to bed for a nap between about 10 and noon, while Gma and Auntie Cherille amused themselves... I think they read, and worked on Soduku puzzles, and found a "super" market (nothing like our Safeways, but about as good as it gets around here!).  When I emerged from my room at noon, my eyes were a little better, and Val and Heather were up for some more touring after lunch.  Since we're getting down to the last days, and know that we still have the Vatican to pay for tomorrow, along with a hotel in Germany, we decided that free (ie: fountains, piazzas, and churches!) were a good plan for today, so we wondered around the Spanish Staircase, Trevi Fountain, Venezia Piazza (which includes Michelangelo's grand staircase up to Capitol Hill) and the downtown district of Rome... full of shops and sales and gelato and people!  We went into countless churches... ok, well not COUNTLESS, but a good 7 or 8, I think.  Each was unique, but the same type thing, if I can be honest!  However, I never cease to be awed by the splendor and massive size of the buildings as we walk in.... and, since Heather and I have become Catholic for the duration of this trip, it's kinda fun to cross yourself with the holy water as we go in.   And I do apologize if that offends anyone!!!!  Oh, one church we went to, at the top of Capitol Hill, was a massive staircase climb up some steep, marble (read: slippery when wet!) stairs.  It was empty, as expected, because of the rain and the climb to get there, but well worth it.  In another church we stopped in, someone had JUST started playing the organ, and it was simply BEAUTIFUL!  I was so glad that Auntie Cherille had wanted to sit down and had spotted the church. 

 

We happened to be finishing our 4 hour walk at Capitol Hill, about 45 minutes after teh rain started, so we had the place almost to ourselves as we walked through the Forum... it was pretty neat!  Without the heat and the people, it seemed even more ancient than before!

 

Tomorrow is our Vatican City day.  We're hoping to get an early start (well, 9ish when things open!), then maybe siesta after a couple hours of touring, and possibly hop over to see the Trevi fountain after dark, before we pack up Monday night and Tuesday morning.

 

Gma and Auntie Cherille made a delicious Chicken Alfredo (sp?) tonight for dinner, and my rice pudding (for the record, we don't have any recipe books over here in English, so all of the food we're making is completely by instinct... and it's a blast!) last night went over well.  So, we're still eating like Kings.... In fact, I'm not sure if we'll get all the left overs finished up before we need to leave Tuesday, but we'll try.  I need to get home and go running though.... 24 days, eating lots of gelato and pizza and pasta CAN'T be good for me!

 

Love you all!  I'll write more tomorrow, probably!

Dani

 

 

 

 

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5.8.2006 For my students: Ancient Rome

Hello to my wonderful Shakespeare students, and the rest of my faithful blog readers!!!

 

Today was our Ancient Rome day.  We figured out how to ride around on the Metro (only two lines.... MUCH easier than the London Tube from my recollection!)  We changed lines at the Termini train station, and got to the Colosseum without any difficulty.  When you walk out of the Metro station into the sunlight, and see the towering heights of the ROman Colosseum across the street from you, you have a definite and distinct "Wow, I'm in Rome!!!!" moment!  Or... at least i did!

 

Since we'd read our handy dandy Rick Steve's book, we skipped right by the hour long wait in line to enter the Colossuem, and walked up a short ways to Palentine Hill.  We bought our tickets to the Colosseum (combo with the Palentine Hill Palace), and then walked back to the Colosseum, slid right through the crowd, and got in within 5 or so minutes!  It was hot, crowded, and very very neat!  I know that a lot of what we have seen has been ancient, or at least very old stuff - even some the paintings and sculptures that we've looked at that men I studied in Art HIstory worked on for years - but somehow the Colosseum was different for me.  I didn't hardly even have to close my eyes to hear the roar of the blood-thirsty crowd of Romans, the power of Caesar,  the fear, the sweat, the blood.... and ALL the people who died in that place, Christians, pagans, even animals.  The Colosseum is - in a strange way! - a reflection of the Roman Empire.

 

The floor of the Colosseum is missing, so you can see right down into the underground maze of halls and arched doorways.  It was easy to invision how it would have looked in ancient times, thanks to "Gladiator!"  The Colosseum, when it had its 4th level on top, sat about 50,000 people.  The top tier is missing now, and the seats are no long visible, but even so, it is a very large structure!  In ancient days, when the people began to get tired of seeing people die from animal attacks, and people kill each other by sword or other various ways of death, they actually flooded the floor, and staged ship battles....  One interesting thing, I thought, was that the more bloody the fights in the Colosseum got, the more bloody they HAD to make the fights, in order to keep the people interested...  Does that sound similar to American culture, ro is that just me!  Hollywood's origins......  2,000 years old!

 

After our self-guided tour of the Colosseum, we wandered up the Via Sacra to the ancient Roman Forum.  There we saw:  

 

Arco di Tito (Arch of Titus:  Large arch that people passed under to enter the Forum, built to commemorate the ROman victory over the province of Judea in AD 70, built by Jewish slaves);  

 

Constantine/Maxentius Basilica (huge arch ways that ran over the top of the Via Sacra, now (only) about 80 feet tall, would have been another 55 on top of that, with a roof over the top, forming a hall, which was a mere football field in length!); 

 

The Temple of Julius Casear (yes, oh yes, this is THAT location, dear students!  Julius Caesar's body was burned (Shakespeare didn't cover that, to my memory!) and in this forum (or square, the heart of Ancient ROme) was where that event happened... Later a temple was built here, and he was declared a god... after that, ALL the rulers of Rome claimed to be gods.  There were fresh flowers on the grave site - I got a picture!)  I thought it was pretty darn cool that Julius Caesar would have walked right through this forum on the day of his murder, in fact, this is where the one guy warned him to beware the Ides of March!

 

A beautiful Temple for the Emporer Antonius and his wife, Faustina (gorgeous Corinthian columns, great big staircase, and a roof and walls still intact!); 

 

The Basiclica Aemilia (Roman hall of justice, housed the offices for ALL the lawyers.... and yes, Rome was a "legally" minded as we are now, so they had to put all the lawyers somewhere!  Interestingly enough, the floorplan of this building was used as the basic floorplan for all the Cathedrals to follow, because it was so large and practical... of course, I've heard the Cathedrals were built to imitate the shape of the cross, but whatever!  Maybe both!); 

 

Emporer Caligula's Palace (on top of Palentine Hill, actually overflowed down the hill into the corner of the forum); 

 

Temple of Vesta, and the home of the Vestal Virgins (Vesta was the goddess of the home and hearth, this temple was the most sacred place for Rome, since it sat here, in the middle of the valley that was considered the "common ground" for all the 7 original hill tribes.  This temple had a flame inside that the Vestal Virgins were required to keep going at all times.  These priestesses were chosen before at 10, from noble Roman families, and took a vow of Chastity that would last 30 years.  If they finished their term faithfully, they were given a huge dowry, a statue made for them, adn were free to marry.  If they didn't keep their vow, they were publically humiliated, and buried alive with a lamp and a loaf of bread.  The home of the Vestal Virgins was also located in this forum, and it was used (both in floorplan and idea!) as the model for medieval convents and monestaries.)

 

The Curia (ie: The Senate House):  Actually, this is a 1930's reconstruction, over the original marble floor.  During the Roman Republic, 300 Senators would crowd into this one room building and argue....  Hmmm, sounds familiar! :-)  This was NOT the place that Julius Caesar was killed, however, since the Senate was temporarily meeting across town when he died...

 

The Rostrum:  A corner near the Senate that was called "the speakers corner".  Ancient orators gathered here on a platform, and tried to gather a crowd or argue against the Senate... or, in the case of Mark Antony and Julius Caesar, offer laurel leaf crowns symbolizing kingship.

 

The Temple of Saturn:  oldest building in the forum, built about 500 BC.  Ironically, right next to it was the Column of Phocas, which was a gift to Rome from the Byzantine Empire in 600 AD, which happens to be the newest great monument in the forum, and was really just a gift from one powerful Empire to the previous powerful Empire, since by then Rome was seriously on the decline.

 

Standing at the base of the valley, looking at Capitol Hill (the place were Romulus and Remus were nursed by the wolf, and started building their city), it was seriously mind blowing to think of ALL the people that have walked through this location.  From the ancient tribesmen, who hunted and gathered food, and farmed, to the great men of the Roman republic, and later Empire... I mean, THIS is where the Emporers walked (well, probably rode carriages or something!) on a regular basis!  Did Paul walk through here?  What other Christians touched these stones going about their daily business?  Where any of the people killed in the Colosseum men and women that had once traveled freely over this center for the Roman Empire?  I wish I could take a day trip back through history, and spend some time in this forum on eventful days of the past...  but my imagination has to be enough for now!  Maybe when I get to heaven I can ask to see a movie or something.... :-)

 

We also went into a little church (well, it wasn't all THAT little, but it wasn't nearly as big as some of the Cathedrals we've seen!) called San Pietro in Vincoli (ie: St. Peter-in-chains Church).  The chains that (supposedly!) held Peter are housed in this building.  More impressive, though, is the statue of Moses that Michelangelo sculpted over a period of 30 years, off an on.  Moses is seated, looking off to his left.  His arm (buff from all those commandment tablet packing he's been doing, I presume) were so incredibly lifelike... it was amazing!  How anyone can take a hunk of marble and make it look so read is beyond my understanding!

 

The Metro on the way home was PACKED!  We didn't have any railings to hold on to, so we jammed in, I clutched my bag close to me, and stayed upright simply because so many people were around, I COULDN'T fall down!  To my knowledge, none of our stuff got ripped off, thank goodness!

 

Heather and Val made dinner tonight.  They did a fantastic job!  It sounds like they had all kinds of adventures in the various stores they went to... again, the people here are REALLY friendly!  One of the cute old grocers that we went to the other day made them sandwiches.  He was the one helping us compile our spaghetti dinner last night, and he must have thought that the meat they wanted was for a sandwich... so he made them for them!  So we had sandwiches, mashed potatoes, grilled onions, green salad, and we left Gma manning some rice so we can make rice pudding for a late night snack tonight and breakfast tomorrow....  Yum!

 

Don't know what the plan is for tomorrow!  We are going to the Vatican on Monday, I know, but I'm sure I'll have something to update you all on!

 

Only Sunday and Monday left in Rome, then we fly to Hamburg on Tuesday, and fly home n Wednesday!  It's hard to believe our trip is coming to an end so soon.... but at the same time, it feels like FOREVER since we've listened to American music, used a telephone that wasn't on a street corner, etc...  All the pleasant comforts of home!

 

Have a wonderful day, all of you!  For my students, I wish SO MUCH that you ALL could have been here today with me!  It really made Julius Caesar come to life!

 

Love you all!

Dani

 

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4.8.2006 Bella Roma

Hi all!

 

We arrived in Rome today!  It is a beautiful city, what we saw of it between the train station and our apartment, at least.  Lots of tall, old buildings, in neutral colors (a sharp contrast with all the bright and pastel buildings we've been seeing most places), and palm trees (I LOVE palm trees!) and cobblestone streets.

 

From the top of our day.... I got up, made some phone calls, packed up, had breakfast, and then we left Sorrento by 10AM.  Navigated the Circumvesuviana train with ease (what can I say?  Riding it 3 times makes us old pros!  In fact, one of our favorite past times these days is people watching and pointing out all the brand new tourists in town... they look so lost!!!!  We  purposefully fail to remember that we were in their shoes all of  2 or 3 days ago!!!), sitting comfortably on top of our luggage, we got to the Naples trains station and had to wait for our train (we had to be out of our B and B by 10, so we had some time to kill).

 

Gma and A. Cherille realized not long after we got to Naples that our train number on the reservations didn't match up with our destination (Roma Termini), so they went to investigate why....  Meanwhile, us three girls are sitting with this pile of luggage, getting MANY stares our direction!  Heather was leaning against a wall,  with her suitcase as a backrest.  Val was beside on her right, with her suitcase on HER right.  I was sitting on top of my suitcase on the right of Val's suitcase, with Gma and A. Cherille's suitcases to my right, with a couple small bags on the other side of them.  This creepy guy came up to the right of THOSE bags, pulls out a cigarette, and starts smoking them, all the while watching us intently.  Heather whispers under her breath "Watch him close, he's already walked by SLOWLY 4 times"  (She'd been sitting with her sunglasses on, looking like she was asleep - clever girl! -  I was updating my travel journal, but I was paying more attention to what was happening around me than the guy thought...).  So, he stands there, and then moves a little to his left (towards the bags).  I could tell that he was watching us, so I casually lift my gaze up towards him, figuring he'll shift it away (you know how it is awkward to lock gaze with a stranger?)  Well..... he didn't!  So here I am, trying to look intimidating and aware of wha tis happening, ready to let this guy know that I'm on to him.  I know what he's doing, and he needs to leave us and our luggage alone... but I find myself locked into a staring duel!  Talk about something to freak you out, and he was BIG!!!!!  So then I'm like, "Oh shoot, now what do I do?  This guy isn't going to leave just because I'm aware of him!"  So, I looked his direction (after breaking his gaze) for 20 minutes until Gma came back, because by then he'd squatted down next to our far suitcase, and was just waiting for me to look away for half a second.

 

Then, Gma and A. Cherille came back, adn they're trying to tell me about the train, and I'm (casually!) kicking Gma's foot with my toe, and trying to subtly nod towards the suitcases, all without looking away from the general direction of this guy!  Finally, something must have registered with Gma, because she leaned down to say something about the train, and I answered "I don't really care at the moment, Gma, but PLEASE get your body between that guy and our suitcases!" so she did, and sure enough, within 20 seconds, he'd picked up his suitcase (surprisingly light for such a big suitcase!  Not to mention that the wrong end was up) and left.  After that, we decided that one of the adults should stay with the luggage in Naples!

 

But, we weren't there much longer, because it turned out that our reservations had been for the wrong train, so we decided to simply hop on the soonest train to Roma.... sounds simple enough, right?  We figured since our reservations weren't worth anything anyhow, going to Roma, and it'd only cost us 25 Euros for all 5 of us anyhow, we'd just take our chances without reservations, and not have to pay any more money!   So, we did, and we were sitting in an empty second class, but then the conductor came through... and notified us that we were on a business express train, and you HAD to have reservations!  And, since the train made no stops between Naples and Rome, we had to fork up 108 Euros in cash for all 5 of us.... Talk about frusterating!  Here we were, trying to save money and time, and it cost us 4 times MORE to ride that stupid train than the one we'd THOUGHT we'd ride, AND, we still didn't get a refund for the original reservations we'd made!  But, I guess you have to cut your losses and live and learn!

 

We got to Roma Termini (early, and we had arranged to meet the landlord at our apartment at 4PM, so we had two hours to kill) parked our baggage on a wall, and took turns wandering around.  The station is HUGE, with lots of cool shops, and we were on a mission to find jeans.... They have a really cute style of jeans around here, and I wanted a pair before I went home.  We found a shop that had them, and they fit PERFECTLY, so despite the fact that they cost WAY too much, I bought them.... I know, I know, it had turned out to be an expensive day for me!  But if we keep buying market food, and making our own dinners, I should be able to swing it OK!  :-)

 

Speaking of making dinner, our apartment is super cute.  It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and an itty-bitty TINY kitchen (seriously, room for ONE person, tops!) and a very small living/dining room combo.  After a siesta, Gma, Cherille and I took off to find a market.  We walked into an older gentleman's place, and and he didn't speak much English, but he must have figured out that we were making spaghetti (go figure: "OK, we need pasta, tomato sauce, parmasan, olive oil...."), so he was being as helpful as possible.  Since they didn't appear to have anthing that resembled hamburger, I bought some italian sausage/salami stuff.  After making another stop at a produce store, we were equipt for our dinner!  It smelled WONDERFUL, and tasted even better!  Yay for kitchens!

 

Now we're using the little internet stop down below our apartment (same building).  Heather is on my right, and Val on my left, and Heather is currently receiving emails from the guy on HER right!  NOT becasue she wants too!  He must ahve read her email on the computer screen, and Instant Messaged her, and then when she didn't respond, emailed her.... I think it is about time for me to pull out my "Intimidating and protective older sister" face, adn tell this guy to buzz off.... I find it slightly less than humorous!!!

 

I have NO idea what we're doing tomorrow, so I'll update you all after we do what whatever we're going to do!

 

Love you all!

Dani

 

 

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3.8.2006: "Ootoh-bus numheroh arh due."

Hey all!

 

I finally got wise and put the date in the subject line... I'll try to remember to do that from here on out, and that way, if something gets messed up on the blog site (which I think it has already!) you'll know what order to read them in!

 

Today was our Naples/Sorrento day.  We headed out on the Circumvensia (sp?) train this morning.  Rick Steves says it is a "den of pick pockets, commuters, and tourists", but he still recommends it anyhow, and we didn't have any problems.  Actually, it reminds me a lot of the London tube, so if you can handle that, I think you'd be fine on this!  Our local station (the Piano stop) has a couple gentlemen that speak some English, and when we go in to get our train tickets, both days they have enjoyed talking with us a little.... Today they were obsessed with going to Jamaica.... "Have you been to Jamaica?  Do you want to go?"  (I told them no, the implication was WITH them!  I wasn't about to tease them and say "Sure" in case they started buying tickets or something!!!!  Of course, when they realized the company was my problem, they said "all of us... eight, no?  You: one, two, three, four, five, and us, six, seven, eight.  We all go."  I still told them no....  Not until next year at least!!! :-) )  I sitll can't quite believe how friendly people are!  I mean, not that I expected differently, but they really are quite willing to help, even in "Mafia ridden" southern Italy!

 

I sat by the cutest, sweetest, old grandpa type man on the way into Naples.  He didn't speak a lick of English, and my Italian is limited to "si", "Grazie", and "ciao."  But, he noticed that I was reading (what else?) Rick Steves, so he was looking over my shoulder at the map of Naples that I as intensely studying... See, our all day train passes on the Circumvensia (£5,50) also got us free transportation on the bus system.  Gma had been planning to hire a taxi to get us to the Palazzo Reale (our only destination in Naples), but I was trying to find a cheaper way, and the bus seemed to be the answer.

 

The old man and I hand gestured and nodded and pointed to the book and at each other most of the way into Naples, and by the time we got off, I was fairly comfident that if we took the first Naples stop (Garabaldi Plaza/Central Train Station), we needed to get on bus number 2, and if we took the second stop (Circumvensia stop) we needed to find bus number 1.  Well, the man was getting off at stop number two, so we just waited to get off with him, and then he walked us to the bus stop and told us to look for "numhero une."  With another warning to hold our baggage close to us, a kiss on the cheek (from me to him, no he wasn't some kind of creep!!!), and many "grazie"s on our part, we were on our own.

 

Bus number 1 came around the bend, we hopped on, and watched for our stop.... but our stop never came!  Auntie Cherille was lighthearted and optimistic ("we get to see Naples this way!"), Gma was watchful ("Keep those bags in front of you!") and Heath and Val were tired of standing.... and I was second guessing my understanding fo the man, the spelling of the Plaza we needed to get off at, and trying not to pass out from the BO of the guy next to me holding the railing above my head in the very hot, very crowded bus!!!!  (Actually, for the record, we've been very blessed to not have to smell hardly anythign other than our own dirty clothes!)

 

We finally got off at what I thought was teh central station, hoping to find the other bus that would take us down to the Palazzo, but then we realized it wasn't the central station, so we had to wait for the next bus that was coming, adn get on it.  After we got to the central station and asked an attendant who spoke English (don't forget:  "Hey, does anyone here speak any English?"... very handy phrase!), we were able to hop on the right bus (R2, I'd missed the "R" part of that from my seat companion... and for the record, we discovered later - once we'd got our bearings - that Number 1 did take us to the right place, we were just in the Plaza on the OTHER side of the Palazzo Reale....  Which was actually closer to the front door!) and get there with relatively few problems.  In fact, the only really interesting thing that happened to us was that (once again!) we were on a very crowded bus, and Heather had some guy slide right up to her and attempt to pick her pocket... Only problem (for him!) was that she didn't HAVE a pocket in her skirt!  Heather was slightly uncomfortable with some weird guy's hand on her.... hip, so Auntie Cherille had to put her arm around Heather and between Heath and the guy.  My personal opinion is that a Miss Congeniality move, like the palm of the hand to his nose, or even just a good hard slap and lots of noise would have done the job.... But would I have had the guts to do that?  Of couse not!  She handled it well, though, getting Auntie Cherille to save the day!

 

OK, Palazzo Reale (ie: Royal Palace) was home for Italian, French, Spanish, and Dutch (I think!) "royalty"... or rules of the area, starting in the 16 or 17 hundreds.  The interior was used for part of the filming for the Palace at Theed on Naboo in Star Wars Episode I, II, and III (for any of you fellow Star Wars buffs!), which is what originally caught my eye about it.  When we walked in, the first thing we saw in the palace was the Grand Staircase (used in the movies) that was SOOOOO much more than we expected!  It was massively huge, making us feel like dwarfs, and the white marble was splended and impressive with the bright daylight coming in from all the huge windows.  The ceiling was very tall, and the white on white ornate carvings added to the light, airy, and spacious feel.  I think we spent 20 minutes JUSt on and around teh stairs, admiring them!  The rest of the Palazzo was cool too... The rooms were richly decorated with painting and some furnishings.  All fo them started to look the same though... lots of white, red, adn gold!  One of my personal favorites was the royal theatre that had a stage and still allows dramas to play in it, I think.  (Random note:  Ths place had free, fairly clean toilets, if anyone comes, be sure and use them.... almost everywhere else we have been you have to pay to use the toilets!)

 

After our self guided tour (the place was virtually empty, adn we were allowed to wander at our own pace through the maze of rooms that were carefully roped off so it was all one-way.  The staff that sat around just read books or dozed off in chairs, so even though I don't think pictures were exactly allowed, we managed to sneek a few in.... with the flash off, of course, so we didn't ruin any artwork!!!) we made our way to a pizzeria for a delicious, cheap slice of pizza JUST as siesta time was hitting.  During the time it took us to walk the length of about a block (so, 5 or 7 minutes, I think), the street went from a bustling shop-lined street to almost empty.... it was CRAZY how quickly it transformed!), everything closed up, so we went to a huge, circular plaza between the Palazzo Reale and some other important building (didn't go in, don't know what it was, but we sat on the steps and it had a big dome!) and ate our pizza.  Naples - according to Rick Steves - has no real parks or city-owned grass, so parenting and raising healthy, active kids can be challening, apparently.  We, however, go to see a Dad with his three kids out on bikes and a little tiny motorcycle on the cobblestoned plaza.... I guess you just have to employ creative outdoor activities!

 

While we ate our pizza, we watched a bride and groom and their two attendants get photgraphed in the square.  It was pretty breezy, and the bride had a HUGE gold colored dress on, so not only was it fun to watch the photographer try to be heard over the sound of the motorcycle with the 5 or 6 year old doing circles around them, but also to watch them avoid pigeon droppings, AND keep the skirt under control... not to mention the hair and actually being able to walk in the 4 inch high stilletto heels...  Actually, that brigs me to a couple things we've noticed over here:  a)  a ton of the women wear high heels all the time!  It is all I can do to not trip walking around on uneven cobblestones, I can't imagine doing it in little tiny heels!  b) everyone is super skinny!!!!!  I  don't like feeling fat all the time, in fact, so that is one more thing I'm looking forward too about being home... I'll be average again!  and c) we think (deductive reasoning here) the reason that everyone is so skinny is because they all smoke all the time!  It isn't even that they walk all THAT much, because everyone has mopeds!  And they have pizza and good stuff like that, but I think they just smoke, and drink coffee and wine, and eat on rare occassions!!!!  I don't know for sure, of course, so don't quote me on that, but that's what we've observed!

 

We made it back to Sorrento with no problems (the right bus, train, etc), and the three young people in the group were ready for a siesta - didn't actually sleep, but did get to call Dad!!!  Gma and Cherille headed to downtown Sorrento to shop (and enjoyed themselves, it seems!)

 

After our home cooked dinner last night (I bought food and made dinner - a double pleasure for me, since I SOOOOO miss cooking and being in a kitchen, along with American style food.... not that what we've been eating has been bad, but having a salad, with fresh greens, topped with chicken (yay, MEAT!!!), tomatos, and Italian Parmesan cheese, and olive oil and lemon juice... Mmmmm!), we had left over greens for a salad dinner tonight.  So after our siesta and a three hour long walk through Sorrento and "tour" of all the clothing sales we could find (having the £ to $ conversion rate isn't too fun with a weak $!), without much "success", we came back to eat up left over lettuce and melon for dinner.... Gma and A. Cherille bought dinner out, but our £4 a person meal last night lasted two nights!  Yay for cheap!

 

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Rome.  We have an apartment lined up, but who knows what we'll find by way of internet, so I'll update you when I can.

 

Blessings!

Love,

Dani

Wine, Naked Men, and Holy Water.......

Hey all our faithful and totally awesome fans!

 

Here is a view of our trip from two girls other than Dani!  Oh, and we are under the age for 16!

 

We don't know where to start!!!  Ummm..... so far Art Museums have been the favorite part of the trip... NOT!  We went to two different Art Museums yesterday, and lets just say that they only held our interest for a short amount of time.  I guess that we are just too young to appreciate the beautiful artwork!!  Naked people in every picture is not really what we want to see.  We saw the statue of David though.  That wasn't really all that cool.  We just got to look at how gigantic he is and we took pictures of him, but we got in trouble.  What's new.  :) 

 

Valerie's feet hurt!  Heather's do too actually!  We have walked thousands of miles... it seems like!  And all we do is get lost!  In Venice we got lost about 200 times in 24 hours!  When we come home we will be excellent map readers!  Dani's the one that gets us lost and then we have to find our way around because she gets frustrated.  Then when we don't get everyone back right away we have almost 70 year olds mumbling about how lost we are and how we never get them back to where they want to go!!!  But above all that, we are having a good time!  We share lots of laughs!!

 

We had some really sweet wine for Val's birthday.  It was quite good compared to the other wines we have tried.  Wait, we have only tried two others!!!  Haha, but they were SO gross!!  We have ate lots of cheese and lots of bread.  Cheap you know!  We are craving Taco Bell!!  We could go to McDonald's and pay 10 euros for a meal, but we don't have 10 euros!!! 

 

We look forward to swimming!  We have waded in the Baltic Sea and saw lots of rear ends!  We swam in Lake Luzern were once again, we saw more than we wanted!!  And we put our toes in Lake Como but supposedly (side note:  No comment on spelling errors!!!) you get very sick from the sewer infested water!  So we chose not to swim!!  We stuck our feet in even grossier water.  Venice!!  But we really aren't all that concerned about it!  Dani told us that we can go swimming in the Chinkoterra (HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT??).  But we will see if we actually get to!

 

Nutella is our new favorite food!  We ate a whole jar in about 2 hours one day.  We think that they should sell it in the states.  Why don't they?  Meat at the open air markets was, um, interesting.  As in GROSS!  Valerie looked like she was going to puke.  And the fish section got to Heather.  But we liked the sweaty bananas!!!  NOT!!!  And the ferminted watermelon was very undelightful.  Tasted similar to the wine actually!  So in the end, the watermelon hit the trash can outside of our hotel.  Dani didn't even try it.  Debbie, you need to talk to your second daughter about trying different foods!!

 

After the wine, we felt the need to confess so we walked a long way to the local church in Luzerne and dipped our hands in the holy water!  Not really, but we had to come up with an interesting story!  We did go visit the church, but it looked exactly like the other churches that we have been to with Grandma and Auntie Cherille. 

 

In Venice, we met some New Yorkers who were lost just like us!!  They were on their way to the hostel (where we would have saved lots of money staying at!!) but seemed to have a hard time finding it!  We crossed paths with them about 10 times in 2 hours... neither of us getting to the location of choice!  We are not exactly sure if they made it to their hostel before the rain hit, or if they had to sleep in an alley in Venice.  Fortunately for us, we found our hotel, close to the time when we were suppose to be back! 

 

On the way out of Venice with our stupid roller backpacks, we followed a random lady that was also pulling a suitcase.  Her's didn't look quite as stupid though.  But as it ended up, she was heading for the bus station, NOT the train station.  So we had to find our way, once again!  Of course, Dani told us to ask her where she was going, but we didn't want to look like dumb Americans so we chose the adventure of folowing a random lady!  It was fun!!  You should all come to Venice to follow people!

 

Yesterday Grandma and A. Cherille blessed us with money to go buy new suitcases.  Heather's backpack handle broke due to traveling over a few too many bridges in Venice, and Val's kept on rolling over in streets with cars coming from both directions!!  So pretty much, they weren't cutting it!!  Speaking of cutting it, we kinda, cut our hair.... Kinda.  Okay, we chopped it off.  Lets just say, that the ponytails that we used to have, are history!!!!  The guy that cut Heather's was really nice and did a good job, but the lady that cut Val's was a little iffy.  She couldn't speak English, so Valerie's definition of what she wanted, um, WOW!  Didn't exactly come close!  But Val has a sense of humor and adventure, and we left the shop with pasted on smiles!  On the upside of things, Valerie's hair is longer than Heather's!!!

 

In Como we ate dinner at a Pizzeria, where we had a flirty waiter.  He said that he was Turkish... which explains EVERYTHING!!  Um, he wanted our leftover pizza and offered himself for dessert, which of course we turned down and went for the Teramusu!!  But we ended up getting a picture with him and his email address because he wanted a copy of the picture. 

 

Random thought:  All of you who thought that Dani's last blog was funny, it was because Heather was sitting next to her and helped her with some humor!  Debbie, we are sorry about your late night waking thoughts about Megan leaving.  But think of it this way, you still have 4 kids at home!!  Oh, and Jamie and Catherine wouldn't mind a call, I'm sure! 

 

How many postcards would you guess we have written?  I'm  guessing.... too many to count!!  We haven't mailed half of them, because they cost more than a euro to send, and we don't have money because we spend it all on postcards and hotels!!  Oh, and we are teenagers that don't have real jobs!! 

 

We miss a few things... they include.  WASHING MACHINES!!  Hand washing clothes is not really that fun.  Valerie has a hard time rinsing them out, and Heather's skirts bleed on white shirts!  Oh, and our room smells like Felz Naptha really bad!  MOM'S FREE FOOD!  Bread, cheese and fruit oh, and Crystal Light personal packaged ice tea, sum up our diet!  We think that Taco soup and Lasagna sound really good!  CARS THAT WE CAN DRIVE WITH A/C!!  Now that Valerie is 16 she is looking forward to getting home to her "Red Sports Car"!  And Heather is just excited to get home because that will mean that she is a few days closer to her 16th.  FREE INTERNET ACCESS!!  Now we understand that our parents pay for internet but we miss being able to get on whenever and not having to pay a euro right then!  With the internet, we miss regular keyboards.  These things are messed up!  ENGLISH!!  Nobody is understandable.  Even those that do speak english, we say "WHAT??" and "Say that again please"  Millions of times.  We miss our home. 

 

Okay, I think that is about it!  We hope that you have enjoyed the blog from younger teenagers and thank you for reading it all.  When we get home we will post pictures up here and yeah, all that stuff!  Have a great weekend!!!

 

CHOW!!!  (Yes we know that is not how you spell it over here but we speak ENGLISH so you just have to deal with our cool way of spelling it!!!)

 

Valerie and Heather

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Naples, Sorrento, and missing blogs....

Hi Everyone!

 

Still missing the blog that Heather and Val tried to send... I'll attempt to forward it on again after I finish this blog.

 

One week to go!  We can hardly believe that we only have 7 days left until we fly home.  How time has flown (and drug....).  We are having a good time, be we also miss some important things... like meat, and different clothes, and non fels naptha smelling laundry, and Mom's food  (ie: free! for us, at least....), our beds, and the smiling faces of friends and family!

 

But, our adventures continue, and we try to take advantage of each and every one.... like getting off the train in Naples.  Naples, as some of you may know, is about 1/3 unemployed, so the rate of theft if very6 high.  BUT, I'm getting ahead of myself!

 

The Cinque Terra was gorgeous!  We didn't get out there from La Spezia until about noon, so when we started our hike, it was hot.... and got hotter!  Gma and Auntie Cherille hiked the first two villages (fairly well paved, beautiful scenery, enjoyable), and then took their time on the train and exploring the villages.  The three yonger (crazy!) group hiked until the 4th village.  In 100 or so degree weather, between noon and 2 in the afternoon, all we could really think about was getting into the Adriatic sea (and "buns of steel"... our one motivation, from Valerie, to keep going.... we wanted to look GOOD in those swimsuits, afterall!   You wouldn't BELIEVE how many stairs we climbed!)  The water was salty, warm, and clear blue... it reminded me a lot of Hawaii, but in Hawaii we didn't see QUITE as much skin as we saw there.  But hey, we're getting used to it, so what's the big deal??? ("quick, avert your eyes, there is some.... hmmm, never mind, at nine o'clock!")

 

The gelato we had in village number 5 was DELICIOUS; and very refreshing after our hike.... and cheap!  Four good sized scoops for only 2.10.  We spent a couple hours in a little park, working on our sun tans (burns!!!), and taking naps.  (Val and Heather played on the monkey bars)  We bought our dinner at a market (nutella - our new FAVORITE European food! - bread sticks, bananas, cold cereal, and water.... ie: our regular type dinners, any wonder why we miss meat?), and then met up with Gma and A. Cherille for the train ride back to La Spezia. 

 

Yesterday morning we hopped another train to Rome, then Naples, and finally to Sorrento.  Little to really relate - we had to RUN to catch one of the trains, well, not catch it, but get on in our car before the train moved out.  We learned a while ago that all five of us getting on at one of the train, and hauling our suitcases the entire length INSIDE the train after it got going doesn't work too well....  Not well at all, in fact!  Speaking of suitcases, Heather's handle broke, so she and Val managed to upgrade in Florence (both in quality AND size!!!  For anyone who's keep track (ie: ME!), I am now the remaining "light packers"....  Which means I help a lot of people lift their bags up onto the top of the racks in the trains.  Of course, as A. Cherille just pointed out (alla 4 of them are watching me type!), I am packing three bags.... But in my defense, I can manage to carry all THREE of mine AND someone elses over the bridges in Venice!  OK.... back to the narration!)

 

We got to our little apartment place in Sorrento last night, after another LONG wandering journey through the town.  Oh, and as Heather just reminded me, I have to relay some of the adventure GETTING to Sorrento from Naples......   It all began when we got OFF the train in Naples.  We had MANY people asking if they could "help" us with our luggage.... yeah, right!  help us get RID of it, you mean!  (we turned them all down, fyi).  We managed to find our way to the little train that goes to Sorrento from Naples, but we'd all been reading or hearing (from our favorite Rick Steves!) how this little loop train is where things manage to dissappear most frequently, so we were keeping a sharp eye out... Including watching how one man kept walking by us again and again at the train track while we were waiting.  So then the train stops, and we all jump on (it only stops for about 30 seconds... and if you've never tried to get 4 80 lbs bags on a train and one little 15 lbs bag, along with 5 people, well, you haven't experienced the challenges that we have in 30 seconds!!!!  fyi, heather says I over exaggerate.... I have NO idea what she's talking about!), and try to find seats...  The three younger members of teh group take off to the left, and the two mature take off to the right.  We managed to knock down, crush, and otherwise completely bother the people that were on our way to our self-appointed seats, and in all other ways completely embarrass ourselves, but hey, the good thing is, we'll never see these people again (we hope!).  We try to sit on our little plastic seats, with our bags (huge and small respectively) ON OUR LAPS until an Italian lady starts yelling/chattering at us to put them under our seats.  Well, we had to think about that.... afterall, what if this is how people rip off stupid American tourists!  But after almost loosing our suitcases off our laps and into our neighbors laps, we decided for the health and beneift of all on the train, we better follow orders and get them under our seats.

 

Well, that was a challenge..... not for me, exactly, cuz mine slid right under there (light packing, again..... ) but Heather almost gave up... until the lady started yelling agin (complete with hand motions this time!), so she redoubled her efforts and manged to SQUEEZE it in (ie: push and shove!).  While everyone was watching Heather humiliate herself, Val managed to slip into the FAR seat, so when it came time for her to slide hers under the seat, she handed it off to Heather, so Heather could sweat and grunt and complete her self-humiliation.  I, of course, tried to just look cool, calm, and collected with a "who the heck ARE these crazy people" look on my face.... and my dignity in tact (I don't really think it worked....)  Oh, before I continue, Gma says to comment that she simply kept her bag between her knees (why, oh why didn't I inherit her brains!?) and A. Cherille did the same until the two rather infatuated people next to her got off, and then she set it on her seat.  Sounds like their car was a lot less interesting than ours!

 

When we got off the train (fortunately by then almost everyone who was ON the train when we got on had left, adn the people that were on where most kind, and helped Heather then REMOVE her bag from under the seat), we had to find our way to our B and B.... After a long walk down and up some hills, we finally figured out a very important phrase.... Anyone who seeks to travel in Italy should definitely learn this phrase -  it goes something like "Hey, does anyone around here speak any English???" really LOUD.  It works like a dream every time!  We used it twice, and got directions both to our B and B, adn then later to a very cheap, very filling, very un-meat-ish dinner (but who's complaining?  it's only been 14 days!)

 

Our B and B is really more of an apartment...  We ahve two rooms, and there is only one other room in the place, adn the lady who lives here (??? we THINK she lives here!) inhabits it.  We also have a kitchen (which I am TOTALLY excited about!  I can't WAIT to cook some dinner for us.... and use a kitchen with all the pans and other things!  I've SO missed using big knives!!! Try gnawing cheese off of a kilogram of cheese sitting on a hotel bed with a towel as your tablecloth.... splitting it between teh three of us, of course!) and two bathrooms, and other stuff that places like this have (I'm running out of discriptive words!)

 

Today we're headed off to Pompeii, I think, and perhaps the Palazzo Reale  (Royal Palace.... for Star Wars fans, that is where Queen Amidala's palace scenes were filmed... and yes, I did have a part in planning our trip to this place so I could see the palace... pathetic, I know!) if we have time.  Heather and Val are voting for the beach tomorrow, the water is looking pretty nice in our present humid, hot state.

 

I think that brings you all up to date for now...  Happy Birthday Gpa!  And Rob!  And Chase!  And CJ! 

 

Love you all from the 4 brave travel companions and myself!

Clothing.... continued

Greetings all!

 

Well, you certainly got another side of the picture from my dear roommates, did you not?  When I'm not tempted to used Auntie Cherille's duct tape on their mouths, I really enjoy being with them!!!  Actually, no worries, we're having a great time together.  It was a little stressful there for a couple days, but I try to give them their space, and they give me mine, and when we're together, we have fun!

 

So, you heard about dipping our feet in the Venician canal.  And our food.  Let's see, I'll try to fill in the details.  We left Venice, and I was sad... but the train ride was wonderful (we were back in first class!), so I was feeling better by the time we got to Florence.  After sitting in AC comfort for a couple hours, and free snacks (complimentary), I had a slightly better outlook than after just hauling our suitcases through the maze of Venice alleys.  Leonardo's House is very nice, we've enjoyed being here.  Florence is a compact little city, meaning all the main historic sights are within a 20 minute walk of each other.... and our "home" (funny how quickly that word comes to mean "where I am sleeping tonight") is very centrally located.  The train station was a little bit shady - Florence is the least safe of all the places we have been, in my opinion, but it has started to grow on me in the short time I've been here. 

 

After getting a good night's sleep - and a shower and washing a whole bunch of clothes in the sink - I was ready to hit the art museums.  We did the Uffizzi (sp?) in the morning.  I enjoyed seeing The Birth of Venus by Boticelli, and the statue about the guy with his two sons being attacked by the sea serpent (don't recall who sculpted it, sorry!), and the paintings were great.... but by the time we finished there, my feet hurt, and I was kinda sick of art!  Heath, Val, and I  took a siesta, and then met Grandma and A. Cherille for the Accademia.  We saw David  by Michaelangelo, but other than that, my personal opinion was that it was over priced for all the art that was similar to the Uffizzi (lots and lots of plump naked women - I didn't feel so bad about eating pizza and gelato!).

 

Speaking of gelato, I tried this terrific type on our way home from the Accademia... Pear and Chocolate!  It was AMAZING!  sweet and light and refreshing.  Gelato is the WAY TO SURVIVE around here, I think!  In fact, it was what I had for lunch today...  (smile!  I know!!! Me, Miss "I'll have a salad, please"...)  We also hit an indoor covered market (like the one in Malaga, Dad and Meg) that was very cool.  Val was looking a little pale when she realized the strange lumps of things hanging from the ceilings were chunks of animals, and Heather hurried through the fish part, but I enjoyed it!  Even the weird smells.... it was so different than what we do at home.  Having competing sellers trying to get your attention to buy THEIR meat was unique!

 

Today was our day to relax... After 14 days of traveling for Heather and me, we were in need of a "lets not plan anything" day.  Grandma and Auntie Cherille were ready to relax as well, since we HAVE been walking them an awful lot!  I couldn't sleep AT ALL, ANY more after about 9:30 this morning, so Gma and A. Cherille and I wrote postcards, washed clothes, and finally walked over to the touristy part of town and saw a bunch of shops.  We contemplated going into a Palace and gardens, but I bowed out when I realized it was going to cost me 8 Euros, and when I bowed out, they were ready to bow out also!  So we bought gelato for lunch (or course!), and then I left them looking at jewelry to wander around a bit.  I had left a note for Val and Heather to meet me back at our home about 2PM, so I checked back in then.  It sounded like they had slept in until about noon (much to the amazement of the young man who is working at the front desk - Leonardo's nephew, I think!  He commented to me "How can they sleep when they are in Europe?  They only have one day left to see my bella Florinze!") and then enjoyed being on the internet for very very cheap.

 

They finally went to find pizza, and I found a phone booth to make some phone calls.  The first booth I picked was about 200 feet from a band warming up to play in a plaza, so I promised to call back within a couple minutes, and found another booth.  Unfortunately, this one was about 100 feet away from a bell tower, so when it changed to 5PM, I could not hear a THING because the bell were so loud!  Mom enjoyed hearing them at 5:30 when I talked to her, though!  (ie: 8:30 AM your time)  Of course, no sooner had a said "I love you, I'm going to go find some dinner" to my Dad and hung up, than the 2 teenagers standing on the other side of the phone booth offered to buy me dinner.  Of COURSE I refused!!! I know better than that!!! I was polite about it, but firm, and they didn't give me any problems.   And just to be on the safe side, I followed a family with a couple kids on a rambling route back towards our house, in very public areas.

 

I met up with Heath and Val again, and even though they'd gotten pizza, I was ready for my own food, so we went to find some (what we found was delicious!).  Then we decided that we needed to step out and experience a little bit of life.....  We were sitting in a plaza, listening to all the different people performing in the various corners of the square (battle of the bands, anyone?), and we decided that we should see if we could earn money by performing on a corner.... so..... I grabbed my cup of fruit, dumped out the juice, and wandered until I found an empty corner.  I wrote a message on my paper bag "Singing for my breakfast Euros.  Grazie!" and started belting out my favorite hymns.  Heath and Val spent the whole time "supporting" me by laughing behind a group of people.  I did earn 1 Euro, but Val was so embarressed by me, I don't think it was worth it!  But it was sure funny to hear about all the reactions they heard while I was singing.  The lady who gave me a Euro walked by Heather and saw her laughing and said.  "Why you laughing?  That girl, she have problems!"  (OK, OK, I do feel kinda bad... Like I took advantage of their generosity... but I WILL use it for breakfast tomorrow!).  And another gal walked by on her cell phone and said, "Oh, my gosh.... There is this girl, on the street corner, singing opera or something... Oh, my gosh!"  So, that provided at least SOME amusement for us!

 

Now we're packing up to leave Florence tomorrow early.  We'll take the train to La Spezia, leave our luggage there, and go on to the Cinque Terra.  I'm hoping to do the whole 7 mile hike between them (one end of the 5 small villages to the other, then take the train back), but we'll see if anyone else is feeling that ambitious AND we see how safe it is before I go off on my own.  One great thing about being here in the summer heat and tourist season is that there are a lot of people around, so everywhere you go is pretty public and safe for the most part.  And, from what I've heard, the Cinque Terra is fairly safe as well.

 

That's about it for now, I think!  Good night all!

 

Love,

Dani

 

 

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Please, put some clothes on!!!!

Hi Everyone!

 

I am sitting in a dark little corner of our hotel (Leonardo's House) in Florence writing this blog.  Miracle of miracles (or maybe just God's blessing???) it is only costing us one Euro to be on the internet up to one hour.... So Heather has had her turn, Val has had hers, and now it is mine.  The house we're in has 4 rooms, I think, and is also the home of Leonardo, the guy who runs the place.  Gma and A. Cherille have their own room with a private bath, whilst Heath and Val and I use one of the two down the hall.... Hardly what I call roughing it!

 

We left beautiful Venice yesterday.  I LOVED Venice!  I was very sad to leave it, especially after only one day.  However, the heat was nice to get away from, even if Florence isn't much better.  Venice is a little touristy, but because of that, it is very clean and safe - and no, the canals don't stink at all... I don't know where that idea comes from, but it wasn't true for us.

 

We visited San Marco's basilica, the place were St. Mark's bones reside.  It was free, and we got to by-pass the huge long line slowly melting in the piazza under the sun, because we read Rick Steve's book and checked our bags at a little nearby place (also for free) and got tags that let us be ushered right in.  But shhhh, don't spread that secret.... I'd rather just use it and not have to wait in line for it!  Selfish, I know, but oh so practical!!!

 

The inside fo the basilica is very ornate.  Think lots and lots of gold.  Venice seems to be a clash of several different types of architectural style.  The Eastern domes are combined with the gothic church look, to make a unique - and rich - form of art.  The dome was very big on the inside, and the gold pretty, but other than that, I have to admit it didn't do much for me. 

 

Uh-oh, the office is closing, and they need to shut off the computer.  I'll leave for now, but i promise I'll update the rest later!

 

Love you!

Dani

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Ciao!

Hello all!

 

Russ, I think we're experiencing heat like y'all have down in Florida... whew!  Has it ever been warm... and muggy.... with no air moving... at all!  Well, sort of....

 

We arrived in Como on tje 25th.  we made it up to our little hotel WAY up above the city of Como by hiring a taxi.  The road rivaled Hawaii and any other interesting, windy, hairpin turn, single lane (but supposed to be double!) roads you can think of.  It was one of those faith building experiences.... faith in God and in your driver!

 

We wandered around looking for a restaurant other than the one in our hotel for Valerie's Birthday dinner (she turned 16!!!!), but everything was closed, so we ended up back at our rather fancy dining room.  I had buffalo milk mozarella cheese and tomatoes for dinner, Heath and Val and Gradnma had traditional pasta food, that Heather says was REALLY good (my and A. Cherille's cheese and tomatoes were good too, different, but good).  Then we had dessert and had our waiter put candles on Val's gelato and strawberries.  They brought it out and we started singing, and then a large table of older gentlemen staerting singing with us, and the people out on the veranda too, and everyone cheered and clapped at the end of the song when she blew ut the candles.  and then our waiter brought a bottle of sweet dessert wine to our table and said "vone of ze gentlemen at zat big table is a fan of yourz, and he makes zis wine, no?  he is produzer, and he vants you to have it for a birthdaty gift, you vant?"  We graciously accepted, so they brought out wine glasses and filled them up, and we all toasted Val.  The wine was DELICIOUS!  Not "wine-ish" at all, really.  But then we realized that in order to be polite we needed to drink the whole bottle...... so we did!  Before we went upstarirs fro bed (perfectly steadily, I assure you!) we had the men pose for pictures with us.  Needless to say, I think it is a birthday Val will remember!

 

On the 26th we took a boat up Lake Como to a little village called Varenna.  The scenery along Lake Como blew me away (once again!  I've been taking in a lot of beatiful scenery on this trip!).  There were picturesque little villages, with brightly painted buildings rising up from the lake edge, and grand villas with private docks spaced between the villas.  Whne we got to the village, we had about 2 hours before our 2 and a half hour ride home, so I took off and wndered up those little step-streets alley things, and Heather and Val found some cement near the water to work on their tans.  Grandma and Cherille wondered around shopping in the little shops.  I wanted to get up to a monestary, but I couldn''t find the way up.  I ended up at a dead end step-road, up in the stickers dripping with sweat because it was SO muggy and I'd just climbed 400 feet almost straight up!  I had to find some gelato after that, and ended up taking a break in the little tiny village church were people were decorating for a wedding.  It was beautiful too!

 

We met up at the docks as it started to cool down and the wind picked up.  The rain began before we'd even got to our first stop.  Heath and Val had gone upstairs, so Gma, Cherille and I decided to head back to teh meager protection that was still outside (se we could see).  The rain REALLY started coming down then, but we were OK with it until it was windy AND rainy, and we were getting soaked from the sides.  I don't know how long it was - maybe 20 minutes - but it got progressively colder, and windier, and wetter.  The lightning and thunder was going good, and everyone had eventually given up and moved downstairs (to the VERY hot inside area), but Val, Heath adn I thought we'd stick it out.... and then the hail came!  Those things were seriously the size of marbles!  And because we'd spent our whole 2 and a half our boat ride TO Varenna sitting up front getting fried, the hail hitting our burned shoulders was VERY painful!  When we realized that we were all huddled together, screaming "This REALLY hurts!  Ow!!!  Oh, that one was HUGE!  Yikes, it just went down my shirt!!!!  I'M SOOOOOO WET!!!!!!  Heather, you're squishing me!!!!  Guys, I'M on top!!! This isn't fair!!!" we decided that maybe we should go downstairs.  So, we made it to teh little landing inside, and everyone just started grinning at us.  Seriously, we were absolutely drenched.  Both Heather and I were wearing white shirts, too, which made us look all the more like soaked, stupid, stubborn, American rats!!!!  We got chilly in a hurry on the landing, so we went further inside to the tables and chairs, where it was muggy and warm.  A bunch of older Italian ladies laughed at us, and one of them finally said "you need bikini to be that wet!"  We agreed.....  The lightening continued,  and the thunder crashed, and the waves bounced our little boat around, but we made it back on schedule, and found some dinner near the boat docks.  We made quite a sight, but it was tasty, and our Turkish-Italian waiter flirted with Val and HEather the whole time anyhow.  (Smile!)

 

Today we got to Venice.  What (another!) an amazing city!  It is JUST like the pictures and stories.  Canals, cobblestone alleys, people, and beautiful buildings.  The bridges alone are enough to take a whole role of film on!  It was an adventure getting to our hotel.  Despite what anyone says, I really CAN (sort of) read a map!  But Venice is hard to find your way around in!!!! And, I will definitely be the first to admit, heather is MUCH better at reading maps and finding her way around in Venice than I am.... but I COULD do it if I had to!  But I have her, so I don't need to all the time!  Besides, we have a good arrangement worked out... I take off, get us lost (fairly close to the hotel) and then she gets us un-lost and to the hotel, and everyone is happy!  Hot, but happy!

 

We had to find the internet cafe, another adventure, after stopping in to say hello to a Barber friend of Rick Steves.  He was so cute on the video that we saw, that we just HAD to say hi!  He was vary gracious, treated us warmly, and we left feeling like we were friends.  We even got to see him in action!

 

I better hop off so Heather can use the computer.  The days of free internet access are over (Another perk about staying with you, Jamie and Catherine!!!), so sorry for the typos... I'm not taking the time to correct all of them!

 

Love you all!  Take care... more to come!

 

Hugs,

Dani (and Heather at my side)

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Almost Away!

Hey Heather,

Whew, we are almost ready to ship out! Our bags are (mostly) packed, and in about 26 hours we'll leave the house..... :-) I'm so looking forward to this trip with you! It'll be a blast! (You are absofreakinlutely hilarious, FYI!!!)

Our first stop is Scotland. We'll visit Jamie and Catherine, and get to meet Sarah and Claire, hopefully. Jamie has a full and informative and exciting itinerary planned. I can't wait to show you some of the most beautiful country in the world! I hope we go through Callandar so I can point out the apartment Grandma and Michal and I stayed at when we went. And maybe we'll get to climb the Wallace monument. The view from the top is amazing! It is a lot of stairs - about three times higher than the column in Astoria, but it's so worth it!

OK, I'm keeping this short because a) it is a test to see if it works to email these blogs, and b) I need to go get done everything that I have to get done today!

Love you!
Dani

Welcome!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my Blog! I'll be using this as the main form of communication when Grandma Sonel, Auntie Cherille, Valerie, Heather and I go on our three week long Europe trip!!!! We've decided to try it this way so that you don't get annoying emails all the time :-)

Anyhow, enjoy! I'll be as faithful as possible with posting on it and letting you know what is happening.

Blessings!
- Dani