Lakes, Sea Sides, and the Vadican

Day 44: May 7th, 2014: 

The hills of Rome

 

Today was a relaxing day. We spent it mostly in the prone position. The difference is that unlike our lazy days in Formicola we had beautiful scenery to look at. Our first stop was at an overlook of one of the cities outside of Rome. It is a beautiful bluff that drop off quite quickly and the whole valley is available for your viewing pleasure. It is so green and peaceful, and we enjoyed the hour or so that we spent just relaxing and soaking in the beautiful scenery and weather.

Next we headed off to a caldera. The volcano erupted 5000 years ago and has since filled with water. It periodically releases some sulphur and carbon dioxide gasses. A couple times in the last 15 years the CO₂ has built up in the surrounding areas and killed off some cattle and sheep. 23 cows in 1999 and 8 sheep in 2002. They say that there is a magma chamber building about 6km below the surface so maybe in 100 years it will bow its top. Who knows. We sat on the shore and played Scopa for a few hours and then we were greeted with a little private air show.  Here's the video:

 

After that the plane made another pass and touched down on the water and dumped the load of water it had picked up on the previous landing. It then took off and was never seen again. I guess the training mission was a success.

 

We then headed home for the day to enjoy some more good food and to play Risk again. Jeff won. He was pretty proud of that, other than the fact that his mission was to wipe Amber off the map. I don't know what that says about the relationship or the future. Hopefully all good things. . .

We also learned how to play an Italian (Naples) card game, Scopa! We eneded up buying it!

Day 45: March 8th, 2014: 

The beach!

 

Today was the beach day. When we left on the trip we didn't know if there was going to be any beach time, but we were pleasantly surprised when  we found out that we were in fact going to be headed to the beach. It was about an hour and a half drive from Francessca's house, so about 30 miles on winding Italian roads. We have firmly come to believe that Rome has a law against straight roads with no potholes. After the thrilling and daring car ride we safely parked the car and found ourselves a little spot of sand and stayed there for many hours. Well Carlo, Francessca, and Angela stayed mostly put. Jeff on the other hand had to build a sandcastle, and Amber had to watch. I guess some people never grow up. I think it has become a Shirts Family tradition to build large imposing castles on all the beaches we visit. There could definitely be worse things.

 People even stop to watch here in Italy

  

And of course Jeff had to watch it slowly get destroyed by the incoming tide. The problem was that the tide came in REALLY slowly.

This meant Jeff got impatient and tried to speed up the process by weakening the outer defensive wall. This did cause some minor damage, mostly a turret on the inner wall, but about 4 hours later the castle was nothing more than a little mound as we headed out to get some Gelato and head home.

 

Day 46: March 9th, 2014: 

Vatican!!

 

Today we headed back to Rome to see the Vatican side of things. We first started with the Vatican Museum. Again this little lucky baby proved even more valuable. We were able to skip the hour + line and waltz right on inside without any reservations or tickets from the overpriced tour guides stalking the lines. Inside we saw lots more old marble things and colored chemicals plastered on stretched cotton, but the best part was the colorful chemicals that were put on the ceiling of one of the large rooms. Needless to say the Sistine Chapel was beautiful and inspiring. What was NOT inspiring were the pushy guards who were constantly telling people to move through the crowed room, coming over the loudspeaker to tell everybody to be quite in 5 languages, and yelling at everybody trying to take pictures. That was more comical than inspiring. Why is it that when there are myriad signs telling people to be quite and respectful and to not take pictures, whatever the potentially capitalistic reasons, do people do those things. I will never understand. It is just as easy to be quite for 5 minutes and soak in the masterpiece rather than talk about it and try to take pictures that you will eventually be caught taking and then forced to delete. Ah. Humanity at its finest.

 The Borgia Apartments 

We then headed out to a sandwich shop close by for a delicious bite to eat and then headed over to St. Peter's Square.

It was a amazing to see the two massive colonnades that wrapped around the courtyard and the basilica at the end. We didn't get to go in, but it was beautiful to see. And hey! We get to add another country to our list. We have now visited the world's smallest country! 40 hectares and 800 people with the Pope as the sovereign ruler, all nestled in the middle of Rome. That's what you get when the Pope feels like a prisoner after Rome was conquered many years ago, and finally convinced the Italian government to  make it an independent state with it's own military, the Swiss guard, and mint. I don't know if they minted their own currency before, but now they mint the Euro. Kind of anticlimactic if you ask me. 

The Holy Roman Empire

Day 41: May 4th, 2014

 Drive to Rome

This morning was a relaxing one. We didn't know exactly what time we were going to leave because Franccessca has been sick and nobody knew if she would be up for driving. While we waited we played Jenga some more with Gerrardo and Chinese Checkers with Filomena. It was a perfect last time with them. Around noon Anthony came and picked us up and took us to his house where we had a tour of his house, listened to Carlo play the guitar, and had a delicious meal. We then piled in Francessca's dad's car and headed to Rome!

Anna's Home

View from the roof of Anthony and Filomena's Home

The drive was uneventful until we reached Rome. It was there that we encountered 6km of traffic from an accident. We didn't want to wait in that so we got off before the slowdown happened and tried to take a side road parallel to the freeway. The problem was that this road was also blocked because of a car accident. So we made a u-turn and tried to find another way. This detour took us through the hill around Rome and it was beautiful, if not 45 minutes longer. Oh well, it was fun to see the surrounding area!

We eventually made it to Francessca's house where we were greeted with this awesome sign:

They want us to feel welcome. Francessca's parents are really nice, and welcoming. They are having us sleep in their bed and they are sleeping on the hide-a-bed in the living room. It is very comfortable, but we feel bad a little bit. We have come to learn that the Italian people are very welcoming and giving, especially with their food.

Day 42: May 5th, 2014

 Exploring the Villas outside of Rome

Francessca's family lives in one of the villages up in the hills surrounding Rome. It is beautiful to look down on the valley below every time we go out. You can technically see to the sea, but most of the time it is obscured by some form of smog. The location of these villages has its perks and drawbacks. The drawback: The winding, impossible to navigate, tiny roads the connect everything. We are glad that the locals are driving because Jeff would get lost in a heartbeat. The amazing perks: The Villas on the hills. These were built by the Princes of Rome some time ago ( there weren't any signs for Jeff to read to find out), but most likely in the 18th or 19th centuries. The perks are the beautiful gardens that came along with them,  naturally. Nowadays the gardens are public parks. They offer lots of trees and shady places to sit. The only problem is that the culturally insensitive youths in the area have taken it upon themselves to vandalize the area in their boredom. There is graffiti on the ground and walls and one of the fountains had the top broken off a few years ago and now us just a really nice hole in the ground collecting garbage and growing some weeds. The state of disrepair that the outlying area sights are in is sad. Hopefully some day there will be some money put forward to clean up the other beautiful sights of Italy.

beautiful cities covering hill tops

After that we picked up Francessca's sister Angela to take her to a tattoo place to get an appointment for the new tats she wants. It was funny because she didn't want to tell her parents because she knows they won't approve, but she is 26 so she can do what she wants. The veil of secrecy was comical. After the tattoo parlor we searched around for some henna so that Amber and Francessca could do some fake tattoos, but we quickly learned that it is not available in Italy. Bummer.

So after that we naturally went to get gelato. It was good as ususal.

We then went home and had a good dinner with the family and then turned in for the night. Surprising Italian find: Gilmore Girls. Amber loves the show and we have been watching them for a while, and to our surprise it is over here as well. It is dubbed in Italian and has a different name, but is here. It was fun to watch a little slice of American sitcom in Italy.

Day 43: May 6th, 2014

Roma!!

Today we headed to Rome! We rode the train and subway, their stations have nothing on Napoli, and ended up right outside  the Spanish Steps. Amber was particularly excited because of Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday and the scene on the Spanish Steps. 

We took lots of pictures and then walked down probably the most expensive road in Rome. It is not expensive because it is paved with gold or any such nonsense. It is lined with expensive stores, such as: Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and the like. Needless to say we just walked on by.

Some other fun things along the way:

Our next stop was the Pantheon. It is amazing. The fact that 1800 years ago they built this massive dome with no scaffolding is beyond impressive. It is downright inspirational. I don't know exactly what it is inspiring me to do, but it is going to be amazing! It is still the largest unsupported dome made of stone in the world. Google it. It is amazing.

We then headed to the Trevi Fountains. These are marvelous fountains which we sat and stared at as we ate our lunch. It is just amazing the waterworks that are all over Europe. The people a couple hundred years ago really like their fountains, that is a fact.

 It is tradition to throw a coin in and make a wish!!! I made a perfect one :)

Next we hit up Venice Square or Piazza Venezia. This is where the large and imposing Altare della Patria, Alter of the Fatherland. It is a monument dedicated to the king that unified Italy. It is very large, white and imposing. It was started in the early 1900's and finished in 1925. It is a military monument with the tomb of the unknown soldier being housed there as well. We went inside and looked at the military museum and then headed down the street to the Collosuem.

Strong warrior man!

This was awesome! It was amazing to see that this massive arena was built over 2000 years ago and that it is still, mostly, standing.  We thought that the view from the upper deck was the best because we were able to see the scale of the thing. What was a wee bit unsettling, especially for Amber was the shows that were put on in this venue. The execution by wild hungry animals and the brutal Gladiator fights weren't her favorite part of the exhibit.

30 weeks!

The best part of the exhibit for some unsuspecting couple was the time Jeff split his shorts doing  a jumping picture. There were multiple attempts, and the last one proved fatal for the inseam and surrounding fabric. I guess he must have eaten too much food in Formicola.

Next, Amber did some safe acrobatics of her own outside the Colloseum. She managed to pull off a few hand stands, much to the amazement of the Asian tourists in the area. Their amazement was better than the previous couples surprise.

We then headed back to Francessca's house to relax for the evening because all the acrobatics had worn us out.