Ryan & Brooke Europe 2008: 1 city down, 9 more to go.

Sorry for the brief or late posts, we have either been away from the hotel or dead tired. This few here are mainly to at least document what we did that day. In the post below are 3 days worth of notes and pictures.

4.22.08

We got up early to catch a train to Florence. A portion of the train ride was through parts of Tuscany. It looks like something out of a movie!

It rained all day here in Florence so we just got checked into hotel, got our bearings, had lunch then dinner. Hotel is....interesting. It's kinda like an old person's house. It smells funny and has random decorations throughout with no running theme or idea. The staff is super nice though and it seems clean.

Tomorrow we are going to the Uffizi Gallery, 'Accademia' Gallery

4.21.08

Pompeii Ruins in the city of Pompeii was the destination of the day. It was our first train ride in Europe. The metro in Rome doesn't really count because it only has 2 lines and only has like 10 stops. The trains however are much more complex, it's more like an airport terminal. We have Euro Rail passes, but for some trains you have to make reservations ahead of time for, some you don't. You have to make sure to have certain things signed, validated, stamped; and other things you leave blank.

We successfully made it to the Pompeii ruins via local metro, to train station, to connect with another train in Naples, train to Pompeii, then cab ride to ruins.

I was expecting a small area of ruins but the place is enormous. We spent around 4 hours exploring it and there was still quite a bit more to see. A self paced audio tour was available that was pretty good.

Here again I couldn't believe the close contact people have with the ruins. There were mosaics and frescos inside some of these houses that we touched and looked at up close.

Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, burying the town in 20 ft of pumice and ash. All of the serious excavations were done in 1748, revealing an entire city stopped in time.

We went inside homes, businesses, forums, a theatre, and bath houses. We also saw several casts of people that were dying. I will post those pictures soon.

The city was once painted with very bright colors, and decorated with marble. Also, there are quite a few counter tops and kitchens that have impressive marble inlays that are perfectly in tact. These countertops look amazing even up to today's standards.

The city of Pompeii was astonishingly advanced and growing rapidly. It makes me wonder if it would be as big or bigger than Rome is today if it wasn't for the volcanic eruption. They both are said to have started around the same time.

Our train was on time leaving Pompeii but late leaving Naples and then on top of that they had to stop the train to have someone escorted off by the police. I don't know for what reason. The trains are really nice though. Long day.

4.20.08

Brooke and I took a tour with the same guide as yesterday but for the Colosseum, the ruins of Roman Forum, and ruins of Palatine Hill today.

In it's day the Colosseum could seat 55,000 people (some say as many as 80,000) and was commissioned by the Emperor in AD 72. They held Gladiator fights (normally male prisoners from areas Rome conquered), animal fights, and executions. There was no charge to get into the arena for the citizens either. What a deal huh? At the inaugural games in AD 80, over 9,000 wild animals were killed.
We happened to see a bunch of guys dressed up like Roman Soldiers and Gladiators marching around the Colosseum to drums. Rome's birthday is on 4/21 and claim Rome dates back 2700 years or so.

Palatine Hill was once the residence of emperors (including Augustus!) and aristocrats. Archaeological evidence claims people were settled there back in the 8th & 9th century BC.

The Roman Forum started as a chaotic places but was later turned into business centers and law courts in the 2nd century BC.

I could not believe that we basically had free range around these sights. At one point I was listening to our guide while sitting on an ancient column. Back in the States this would all be blocked off behind ropes and glass. I believe there is a different level of respect for the Arts and History here, as there should be.

We also took a side excursion as a time filler until lunch. There is old church that you can't get into but has a huge marble/stone face with a big keyhole in it that you can look through to see a road lined with cypress trees and St. Peter's basilica in the middle. It sounded kinda neat and it was walking distance away. HUGE mistake. We got lost and ended up walking for hours. We did make it there and by that time the excitement had more than worn off. Our legs and feet were throbbing and we couldn't find a place to eat. Lunch finally came around 4, we gathered enough energy to make it back to the metro which was realistically about 1.5 miles away, and went home for a nap.