Part 3 (Dec. 24 - Dec. 28)

December 24, 2006

We finally arrived in Napoli at around 10:30 am. We quickly dropped off luggage at left luggage in the station and cleaned up in bathroom. We then took a very crowed train to Pompeii, so crowed that we were forced to stand for the 30 minute ride. We then saw the ruins of Pompeii.
Afterwards we went to a local grocery and bought some essentials then walked over to a local restuarant in Pompeii and ate some delicious Italian cuisine. Here now are some pictures of the city that was once Pompeii.

Mt. Vesuvius



When this is translated


It says this, I swear!


Columns




Uncomfortable walking





Walk ways, alley ways, entrance ways, and every which way you can think of

byzantine mosaic

Ruins



Next time you think you're trapped with no where to go, think of these guys


Did somebody say silent scream?


Totally off topic here I know, but check out this guy's nose, it was much more extraordinary in real life!


Pompeii city center

On the train back to Napoli we had what we all like to call our "Southern Italian Experience". We were all on the train relaxing, talking to each other, etc. when this shady looking character boarded at one of the stops. He kept walking from cart to cart, staring hard at people, including me. It got so bad that everyone from other carts all gathered in the cart that we were sitting in, even the Gypsy family were scared. Finally one of the train operators who was sitting in our cart got up and shouted at the guy, "Cosa c'è?!" (What's your problem?) To which the guy responded in a drunken slur, "Non mi'porta nessuno!!" (I don't care about anyone) Then the train worker, who had to be 50 something, was tough as nails because he gets even closer to the guy and starts to poke him, "Non mi guarda cosi!!" (Don't look at me like that!) then the guy says the same thing again, "Non mi'porta nessuno!!" then the guy pulls out this wine bottle and downs half, beer chugging style.

Juan was Marine ready with his pocket knife in hand, I on the other hand was considering filming it, but decided against it. Eventually the guy just kept slurring some slang Italian, but we were close to the Napoli by then. We quickly got off and gave the guy his space. I looked over at Juan and Melissa and told them very simply, "and that is the reason why I will not come back to the Southern Italia." We picked up our luggage and caught the train to Roma. Once we got to into Roma we checked ourselves into some nearby hotel. The bathroom lights weren't working and there was luke warm water, but Melissa's persistence sought to make things right. So Juan and I went down and woke up the man behind the desk and made him fix it, but not before apologizing many, many times.

December 25, 2006

We woke up early to a beautiful Christmas day in Roma. We went downstairs for breakfast and stuffed our faces full of Nutella pastries. Now, if you don't know what Nutella is already, I suggest that you go out and buy some, don't worry, it goes good with everything. We then proceeded to see the all of the popular Roman sites in one day, minus the Vatican (yes this is possible). We also stopped at my favorite restaurant for lunch. I highly recommend it to anyone who travels to Roma, it's called L'insalata Ricca. The prices are great and the food is even better. At night we travelled through the Piazza San Pietro where we spoke to some Swiss guards and got a rosary by a priest. We walked about to the hotel rather late and we were even lucky enough to be bothered by some American bum in Roma, go figure....seriously, next time I'll just say I don't speak English. The sites:

Piazza del Popolo


A church we saw on our way to the Spanish Steps


Piazza Spagna (Spanish Steps)


To the right of this you see the Column of the Immacolata


A view from the top of the stairs


Fontana di Trevi

Piazza Navona


Panthenon


A pillar we saw on our way to Piazza Venezia


Piazza Venezia


Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (I love this building by the way)


Trajan's Markets


Caesar


Roman Forum


Roma wasn't built in a day you know...



Il Colosseo, orginally known as the Anfiteatro Flavio (Flavian Amphitheatre)


Another view


The Arch of Constantine


Circo Massimo


The Monument to Mazzini


The Cestia Pyramid

(A funerary monument dedicated to the member of the "College of the Septemviri")

Trastevere


La Bocca della Verità (The mouth of truth)


"Is anyone going to seat me, or do I just sit where I want?"


Limocello...a lemon vodka of sorts, but way better than you can imagine


Il Vaticano


Castel Sant'Angelo


A close up of one of the angels on the Ponte Sant'Angelo


Piazza St. Pietro with life size nativity scene


Piazza della Republica

(Thanks to Jessica for the photoshop help)

See? I told you it was possible to see all of Roma in one day.

December 26, 2006

Today was Vatican day, and apparently everyone had the same idea. First stop was the Vatican Museum. A note to all student travels, do yourself a favor and DO NOT BUY AN STA CARD. To all of you who have, well, you just wasted 25 USD because you could have easily used your University issued student ID card to get student pricing. So if you're student traveling to Europe dump the STA and bring along your student ID, just make sure you don't lose the damn thing. We walked the Vatican looking at the art, but of course, being young American tourist, all we really wanted to see was the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel). Last time I was here there wasn't that many tourist, which made taking photos really quite difficult (but I still managed to take some despite being kicked out twice), but this time around, well I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Musei Vaticani

Creepy statue with eyes

Constantine mother's tomb


Anyone care for a communal bath? or a big bowl of cereal perhaps?


Make sure you look up at the ceilings or else you'll miss some nice artwork

Gallery of Maps


A painting that Juan seemed to recognize but I don't know its name


Sistine Chapel




The Last Judgement


Here is the ceiling in closer detail:

The Separation of Light and Darkness


The Separation of Land and Water (above) and The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth (below)


The Creation of Adam


The Creation of Eve


The Temptation and Expulsion


The Sacrifice of Noah


The Great Flood

The last one is "The Drunkenness of Noah", but I didn't get that one on my camera. If you like to see it, just follow this link. Afterward we exited the Museum which is pretty cool because of the way it was designed (pictured left). We then visited the Basilica di San Pietro which is just the church located within the Vatican. This church was so enormous that we all lost each other within it. First Melissa and I lost Juan, then, when I went looking for Juan, I lost Melissa. We all eventually found each other and climbed to the top of the Cupola, which is the dome part of the church. We again took the stairs and saved some money. Juan and I ran up the stairs with the occasional smash into people. Once at the top we were able to enjoy the breathtaking panorama that is Roma during sunset.

As we were leaving Juan and I noticed that the pillars were not that high up, so Juan climbed up on it and I took this great picture. We then heard some leaving in Italian and noticed a worker who cursed us and made us leave, in fact he made sure we left because he had an eagle eye on us until we made our descend. As Juan said it, this is either a very high point in my life or a very low point.....Getting kicked out of the Vatican, never been? I didn't really care because I knew it would make for great story telling for years to come.

Basilica di San Pietro


Swiss Guards


Entrance View


Papal High Altar


Cathedra Petri, Altar of the Chair of St. Peter


Statue of St. Peter Enthroned


The Pietà sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti


Climbing to the top of the Dome (not an optical illusion)


Roman Sunset

Later that night as we walked back to our hotel we noticed that the church that has the Ecstasy of St. Theresa was nearby, and being Dan Brown Da Vinci code readers/lovers we just had to see it. The sculpture was designed and competed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Roma.

Located right outside la Santa Maria della Vittoria, a statue of what appears to be Neptune?

The Ecstasy of St Theresa

We then checked out of our hotel and boarded a train for Firenze (Florence) and found a great Hotel near train station with hot water.

Careful with the elevators in Italia, it's a tight squeeze.

December 27, 2006

We unfortunately woke up very late, 10am I think, so we were unable to see Siena but we still had enough time to see Pisa, so we quickly got dressed and went there. Now, let me tell you something about Pisa...theres nothing to see except the tower. We spent nothing more than 20-30 minutes there and left. Yes, you can go up the Tower, but need to book that in advance just in case you were wondering.

Pisa

Once we got back we headed straight to Il Duomo di Firenze. A lesson in Italian for you...Duomo means Dome in Italian, but it is used as a generic term for a cathedral church. Il Duomo di Firenze is in fact called the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. We walked inside but unfortunately didn't climb to the top. When we got out we grabbed some delicious gelato from a store nearby. Don't make the same mistake I did, Nutella gelato does not taste like nutella!!! Just get a regular chocolate one...trust me, you will not be disappointed. We then walked over to the Piazza della Signoria where the Palazzo Vecchio is located. The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Firenze. The Uffizi Gallery is located just around the corner, think of it as the Louvre of Firenze. It is a must see for those of you who visit Firenze. We unfortunately did not have time to go in, (no worries, I went in the first time I visited Firenze) instead I rushed my travel compatriots to Il Ponte Vecchio because it's another must see if you go to Firenze. Lined with many expensive jewels it's every woman's best friend.

Firenze

Il Duomo

Campanile tower (partly designed by Giotto)

The façade of the Basilica

Inside the Basilica

Interesting tile work on the floor

OPA!

Piazza della Signora

Palazzo Vecchio

The Rape of the Sabine Women (Loggia dei Lanzi, Firenze)

Ponte Vecchio

Crossing the Ponte Vecchio

Very interesting kitchen art

Walking back through the streets of Firenze, with all of the Christmas decorations still up, the town alive with people, I realized that I did not give Firenze enough credit last time I visited. Firenze is in fact a beautiful city and would love to see it again sometime. We then made our way to L'Accademia which is a very tiny museum whose sole purpose is to display the real statue of David... unless you're a real art buff of course. This statue was originally located in front of the Palazzo Vecchio but to protect it from damage, the sculpture was moved in 1873 to the Accademia Gallery in Florence and a current replica was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in 1910. This statue needs to be seen to be believed. "The grace of this figure and serenity of its pose have never been surpassed ... To be sure, anyone who has seen Michelangelo's David has no need to see anything else by any other sculptor, living or dead," - Giorgio Vasari.

Michelangelo's David


The hand, which is so expressive

This is how Michelangelo described his masterpiece, "A civic hero, he was a warning...whoever governed Florence should govern justly and defend it bravely. Eyes watchful...the neck of a bull...hands of a killer...the body, a reservoir of energy. He stands poised to strike."

Another view

Consequently you cannot take pictures of the sculpture...I'm not really sure why though

We then hurried to our hotel, grabbed our bags and walked to the closest pizza place that we could find. It just so happened that this was probably our best score of the entire trip. We came in around 6:30pm or so and apparently our waitress was leaving, but before she did she took our order. She brought us our cheese platter, pizze (Italian for pizzas) and wine. When we finished I felt like eating another pizza so we asked our 'new' waitress for one. When we got our bill, she only charged us for the wine, and two pizze....JACKPOT! After our delicious pizza exprience we boarded our overnight train to Bern, Switzerland. The Treniitalia notte carts (night carts) are super cool. Staying in them for the night is something out of a James Bond flick. As you can see, Juan was having a great time. The best part of the ride is that you even get coffee and a croissant in the morning.

December 28, 2006

We arrived in Bern around 8:30am or so where Juan's friend Julien met us. He took us to his apartment where we were all very grateful for his kindness and hospitality. We showered, unpacked, relaxed and talked over coffee about our adventures so far. Around mid-day Julien took us on a short tour if Bern. Although Melissa and I had already visited Bern a few days before, Julian was able to show us things we hadn't seen.

Bern


Views from the other side of the river


The River Aar


The Münster


Inside the chruch


The Organ


The tree

The old Zytglogge clock tower (again)


Down the street


How cold? Ice cold

After a hot chocolate by the Aar river in some trendy bar (that wasn't that trendy), we went back to Julian's where we were greeted by Julian's wife, Monika, who was also very sweet and hospitable. Julian then told us that we were in for a traditional Swiss dish called Raclette. A rather strange yet delicious meal where a half cheese wheel is partially melted and the melted portion is scrapped off onto your plate where it is accompanied by boiled potatoes, pickled onions and well, pickles. Again, strange but delicious, trust me.