TOMBS, TOMBS, TOMBS

     Yesterday was an over all stressful day. I think that it has finally set in for everyone that we are living in a foreign country. Today is Dr. Dubs birthday. We decided to go to the United Color of Bennetton store and buy her something pink to cheer her up. Danilo gathered us all up and told us to get Dr. Dubs to have a meeting with him. We were to set up the sitting room with the pink champagne and the birthday cake made by the Pope's pastry shop in Albano. Danilo said that he would make up some story that we were bad and he wanted to talk to her about it. When she walked in, she was in tears. She said it was one of the best surprises for her. Yesterday just put her over the edge. We danced around for the night to music and had a great time. Tomorrow we are headed to the Catacombs of ancient Rome. It shall be interesting walking around in the catacombs.

     Jenna, Rachel, Ali and I are headed out to Barcelona tonight immediately after we visit the catacombs. All of the catacombs are outside of the old Roman walls. Christians were not allowed to be buried within the walls. One thing that I find interesting is that one woman donated the majority of her family land for the Christian cause of burial. I have to admit that I was not expecting what I was about to experience. Death and cemeteries always carry a certain cord with me. I can just hold it together enough to look like I have it together. When we arrived to the catacombs we walked into a nice brick building. Now, if this is what it is going to be I will be rather surprised. Out of the darkness of descending stairs to the levels below comes our tour guide. I have to say that she was about the weirdest tour guide I have ever met. She introduced herself in this spacey type voice. She kind of reminds me of Professor Tralawney from Harry Potter. She only said one thing to us before be descended down stairs into the necropolis. She stated that we are to never stray from the group. A researcher years ago got lost down there for 3 days before someone found him. That is how vast these tombs are. We all exchanged a look of fright towards each other as we walked down the stairs.

     "Tombs, Tombs, Tombs," our guide exclaims as our eyes adjust to the dimly light darkness. The tombs were dug out into the volcano dirt. The best way to describe what the tombs look like would be a maze of hallways of volcanic dirt. In the walls are the coves that the once whole bodies were laid to rest. The majority of the tombs were opened and the bodies removed. The closed tombs have either a tombstone of sorts over the opening or it is bricked up. Our guide suggested we put our hands in one of the open tombs to feel the cold volcanic ash. She stuck her hand in to show that it was not going to disappear on us. When she pulled her hand out she did something so weird. She smelled her hand. WHY??? I don't have a big problem with death as long as I don't linger too long. Our tour guide was lingering too long. We all started to freak out a bit. She did explain that the rich would be buried in a family room of sorts. In these rooms were paintings off the disciples or of Jesus. Little dishes were carried down to the tomb filled with oil that would light the way.  Towards the end of our tour, our guide took us to one of the most famous rooms. This room was very different than what we have been walking through. This room had vaulted ceilings. On one part was a painting of the last supper about the main tomb. She told us that this tomb was most likely the patriarch of the family. It is hard to put into words how beautiful this room was. How can death be beautiful? As we ascended the steps back to the living, I felt in awe of what I had experienced. I think it is honorable to be able to see where populations past were buried and now are an example to the present.

   Rachel, Jenna, Ali and I had to rush back to the trains station because we were headed out to Barcelona later this evening. We decided to fly out tonight so that we have a full day tomorrow. This will be our first experience flying with RyanAir, the student's discount airline that can either be a dream come true or a nightmare. Now, we have to fly into Girona which is really close to France. Then, we will have to take a 2 hour bus into Barcelona where we will catch the subway to our hostel. This shall be interesting.

Change of Tide

    Have you ever had one of those days when you think that everything will be great but turns for the worse real fast? I have and today is that day. I woke up to the most beautiful skies in Castel Gandolfo so far. I can even see the Mediterranean Sea from my window. Being here, everything seems to speak in a different light. My pictures are loading currently from the weekend trip. I am waiting until we head into Rome for the day. We are headed to Trestevere neighborhood.

    OKay, I knew today was going to be weird. I ended up taking a ten minute shower and took nearly an our to get ready. Most mornings it is the other way around. This was the first day that I did not feel welcomed in Rome. Every time I tried, I seemed to mess something up or get blamed for something else. When we were on the bus, we struck up a conversation with an older lady headed to one of the hospitals to visit family. Danilo took advantage of having an Italian lesson.
    The first church was okay. It was designed in the Byzantine style. The church is well known for the St. Anthony statue. Adorers from around the world write letters to St. Anthony asking for help. Well, since today was about to get worse, I asked for Serenity to accept the day and move on. After our visit at the church we went over to Blue Ice to have gelato. I didn't want any and everyone kept baggering me to get some. Dr. Dubs came over to talk to me and asked what was wrong. I just burst out crying. This was the first time that I did not want to be in Rome. Everything just seemed overwhelming. In the end, I needed a good cry.
    The group ended up splitting up in two: one group went to the Jewish Ghetto and my group went to go buy Dr. Dubs birthday present. Her birthday is coming soon. We headed to the Louis Vitton store since it is her favorite to buy her a small gift. We ended up running into the Colorado couple that we met on the boat to Capri. It was so random. We ended up exchanging emails in hopes that we could see pictures of the shared moment together on the boat. We took a look around and didn't find anything. This day just needs to end.
     Looking back on this day I think that it is important to remember. I think up until this point my head was in the clouds walking around Rome. This brought me back to life or else reality. I needed to have a day like this to remember that one must pay attention every single moment. Catastrophe can happen when least expected. The day did continue to get worse for me......accidental accusing of stealing, turning my back on one of the most holy Madonna statues in Rome, tripping over a valuable set-up, etc......like I said it got worse. Everyone needs a day like this to remind themselves that they are human.

Sorrento to Capri::Capri to Sorrento

      We hurried down to the docks to buy or round trip ticket to Capri. It cost around 27 euros. It covered to and from. The trip across took 20 minutes. The rest of the group backed out because they felt that it cost too much money for only 2 hours on the island. We got back late from Pompeii so that is why our time was cut short. Still, none the less I do not regret the short trip. I think it was one of the best moments being abroad. It was the first time that we were able to break away from the "Walsh site visits" and experience something on our own. Ali, Brittany, Jenna and I hopped on the boat and walked up to the top deck. We were getting odd looks from all of the locals down below in the enclosed area. It is early March time and still quite cold in southern Italy. Especially cold crossing a good piece of water. We didn't care. We wanted to see everything. Jenna was so afraid that she was going to get sea sick crossing over to the island. The waters were choppy. A few waves were collapsing on the top deck that we were enjoying our view. We met this Colorado couple spending two months abroad in Italy for vacation. They started asking us questions about why we decided to visit Capri, about our university and such. A big no no.....we kept a lot of our information quiet. One never knows when they will meet a creeper.

      I had to call home to my parents and tell them where I was headed. I didn't even pay attention to the time difference. It could have been the wee hours of the morning. Yet, my parents answered the phone with a lovely tone. When I told them I was on a boat to Capri my mother told me that my grandparents went there when they went back to Italy. My grandfather was born in Italy and my grandmother born in the states. When they went months before he died in 1974, it was the first time he had been back since he was born. I felt so honored to have the chance to travel the same path they were able to travel. The water was so beautiful.
      The homes of Capri were speckled over the side of the island like an ancient God had to sneeze and they fell into place. Each house screamed a bright color that could be seen just off the coast. When we got off the boat we wondered all the way to the top. It was odd to look back across the water and imagen viewing our classmates mad that they missed this view. After a bit of wondering around we headed back down to the bay to have an espresso and wonder around a bit before we headed back to the boat. Our tickets to Sorrento came in a pair. The Sorrento to Capri tickets were taken when to headed to Capri and the second half we taken when we headed back. When we went to get back on the boat, I was stopped because apparently my ticket was incorrect. I had the Sorrento to Capri ticket. I never looked at the ticket when the ticket guy gave it back to me heading to the island. He stopped me and told me that I could not get on the boat because of the wrong ticket. I told him frantically that it was a mistake. I wasn't given the proper ticket back heading over. He was addimit  about making me stay on the island. I panicked and called Danilo telling him that I was about to be stuck on the Island of Capri for the night. The first boat back was not until 6am the following morning. We are suppose to leave and head back to Rome tomorrow. I wouldn't be able to get back home. He told me that there wasn't much he could do for me. I started panicking again and then Jenna, ALi and Brittany came off the boat and started to help me. Finally, the ticket guy caved in and let me on the boat. I think that if I were a more experienced traveler this event would not have phased me. Since this is the first time for me being abroad I was overwhelmed by shear panic.
      We headed up to the top deck again and were joined by our Colorado buddies. We told them what happened to me. They were astounded that the ticket guy was so rude. Never less, I don't regret going. It was an amazing 2 hours on the Island of Capri.

In the morning, a few of us headed to mass at the Cathedral of Sorrento. This Cathedral is famous for the hanging cross suspended over the main alter. There was a cute little choir that sang the hymns for the mass. It was such a lovely experience other than the massive amount of incense. After Mass, Jenna and Rachel joined me shopping for shoes. I found a lovely pair that were originally 100 euros and bought them for 40 euros. When I told the lady that I wear a 42 in shoes she nearly died. She looked down at my feet. hahah Yes, I have big feet join the club! When we got back to the hotel I showed Danilo what I bought and he said that the high heels are made in his hometown. Today also is Women's Day. The boys bought us mimosa flowers. The day is in remembrance of a clothing factory fire in New York City. 150 women lost their lives. I find it intriguing that a fire and loss of life in NY is celebrated around the world like this.

The Pompeii Sandwich

Mount Vesuvius 

I woke up earlier than everyone else and decided to head down to breakfast. I saw the two NYU girls and decided to chat with them until my group joined me for the morning.

Pompeii Bathrooms

I was excited to see Pompeii today because unlike the Baths of Caracalla, you can walk in and out of the buildings. One can really get a sense of what ancient life was like. After breakfast we met our "Alec Baldwin" look-a-like tour guide. Such good looking man. He took us through the highlights of the cite. He did mention that to this day, much of the cite is still being discovered. The reason why much of the area was not flattened by the volcano is because the architecture saved the buildings. The vaulted ceiling held the wait of the ash and did not collapse upon itself. Thank God for Roman engineering. Mr. Alec Baldwin stated that around 3,000 citizens were killed. Many more could have died. However, many people left during the hours between the explosion and the gas that emanated from the volcano.
    One of the oddest places we walked past were the public toilets. Just picture a board running across the prongs that stick out here. Picture a couple people sitting down to have the chat while they do their business. Now that isn't that weird. What I thought was weird was that there was a communal sponge to wipe your butt. Ewww. That is how diseases are spread. The funny thing is that the saying wipe with your left and shake with your right also came from Pompeii.
      Another crazy thing about Pompeii is the "red light district" or the translation of the Wolves Quarter in Italian. The whores were taxed like any other person. The picture to the side here shows the sex position that the whore specialized in. When the men would come into the house, the lady would stand below the position that she was good at. The men would glance up at the photo. If he liked that position then he would offer a price and they would get to work. One of the strangest positions is called the Pompeii sandwich. I won't get into details but holy crap....I don't know what to think about these ancients.

     Many of these human plaster cast were creepy to view. A hollow spot was discovered and someone decided to fill it with plaster to see what came of the spot. Many of these cast contain the human bones and remains of the person who died. The one here is a woman who is pregnant. She is wearing the "pregnancy" belt just below her breast area to hide her pregnancy. The majority of the casts and artifacts from Pompeii are on exhibit in the museum in Naples. We did not get to visit the museum but I have been told it is a must for anyone who is visiting the area.
     After our tour of Pompeii we headed over to a maker of Limoncello. Limoncello is a digestivo drank after meals to help digest the food. Limoncello is made from an 80 proof or higher alcohol flavoured with lemon peels. This mix can sit for around a month so that the lemon peels can infuse the alcohol properly. Then, a whole lot of sugar is added. We tested three different flavours: chocolate, cream and regular. Many of us bought bottles to bring back with us to America. I ended up having a sandwich and me and a few of the girls headed back because we wanted to travel over to the island of Capri.

Appassionato

Padre Pio tucked among the rocks in the Bay of Naples

    I have to say that Naples, for me, is where the true understanding of what Italian appasionato or passion can be found. Naples is every crayon in the box. It is every chocolate ate swirling around in a crazy flavour. Naples is not just about the crime or the birth place of pizza. Naples is about the passion for life that Italians seems to have been bread with and live their lives for. We were prepared to not wear anything of value. We were warned to keep a close eye on our cameras. I think this warning is what turns everyone off from Naples. Just warning everyone, we did have a close call of a Rolex watch attempted to be stolen and a few butts grasped while on the bus but we all survived. Looking past this, Naples is an amazing city.
   From the train station we headed to the subway to get off at the Mellegina stop. We are going to walk along the bay in the rich area of Naples. Wow, to be rich and live along this bay would be lovely. Most of the buildings are now grande hotels. A century ago, these buildings were grande mansions. I am amazed by this bay because this is the bay that docks all of the huge cruise ships. This is also the bay that millions of Italians left Italy for America. This is the Bay that my great-grandparents left from to head to America with their 12 children to achieve the American dream. We rounded the bay and I had to stand on one of the rocks to view the same view that my great-grandparents had. As we continued on, we came across these gentlemen selling the catch of the day: octopus, squid and small fish. One of the guys started playing with the octopus enticing one of us to buy it for our lunch. Sorry guys, we are having pizza.

 

Castle Nuovo

    Danilo stopped us to talk to us about the locks of Naples. The youth of Naples are so passionate about their love. When they want to express their love, they come down to the bay and write their names on a lock. They lock it up on one of the fences lining the bay. On the lock the names of the two lovers is written. Then the key is thrown into the bay. This is passionate love.

Piazza Plebiscito

    Danilo, stopped us again to talk about about Castle Nuovo. This once was the castle that housed the King of Naples and Palermo. There is also an old story that there was a golden egg thought to have been housed in the castle. The castle is placed perfectly in the bay surrounded by three sides of water. It is almost impenetrable. We continued around the bay until we reached Piazza Del Plebiscito. It is named after the plebiscite that brought Naples into the unified Kingdom of Italy. It is one of the largest piazzas in Naples. There is so much international history in this piazza. We just kept walking because we needed to head to lunch.
     To the right of this piazza and up about a block is an amazing hole in the wall family run restaurant that serves some of the most amazing Italian dishes I have ever tired. This little old man was waiting outside of the door for any sight of Danilo and us. He was a cute little thing. He quickly sat us down at our table inside and started laying everything imaginable in front of us to eat. There were so many variations of bruschetta and many different antipastas. I chose to order the mazzerella di buffala pizza or buffalo's milk mazzerella pizza. This was my first time trying the buffalo's milk mazzerella and I have to say it was amazing. Honestly, it was a food coma. We had to walk in order to get the food to digest. Danilo said that for the afternoon we would walk through old Naples. This is where we had to pay special attention to our personal belongings. Many people are robbed on the streets of old Naples.

Procepia (nativity scenes)

There is a huge difference from the grande boulevards of the bay area compared to Old Naples. The streets are closer and the buildings are taller. I think the idea of "craming" the most people into a smaller area can be understood here. This is where many of the dreamers leaving Italy to go to America stayed. This is also one of the poorest area in Naples. However, I find it one of the most interesting areas I have walked through. I think that the very passion of the Italian people lives in every square inch of this place. The best way for me to describe my experience here is that it is like walking into a fiery pit swirling around with every emotion possible. Many of the shops display rare trades that are only found in Naples. Paper flowers are made in one shop. In another shop statues are made of every Saint around the world. I tired my luck in this shop. I have been trying to find a statue of Saint Laurence or San Lorenzo. His is the patron saint of cooks. He was char grilled to death. Before he died he yelled out "turned me over I am done on this side." Many Italian kitchens have this statue displayed on a shelf overseeing the Sunday Pranzo with extended family and friends. My luck ran out because the shop only makes this statue on request. I don't have time to wait for a statue to be made. Darn!!! One of the more interesting stores was one that makes manger scenes. In Naples these scenes are called procepia. Every home will have one displayed year round. The restaurant that we had pizza in even had one on display. I would have loved to buy one and bring it back for my parents but most were too large. Jesus' birth was displayed in many settings even in an Eskimo village.
   We toured two of the most famous churches in Naples: the Jesuit Church of Jesus Nuovo and Santa Chiara. In one of the small chapels of the Jesuit Church holds Ex-votos in forms of different body parts asking for grace or thanks. They are hung in a chapel in dedication towards a doctor in the early 1900's that had the knack for curing his patients of all aliments. We took a bathroom break. We were all going to meet in this side hallway just so we were all together. I was the last one to return from the bathroom. Apparently everyone from my group had been removed from the area. What I was told by the group is that there was an exercisim happening. A Priest had removed them. Natalie was rather freaked out by the whole thing. As creepy as it was....I felt like I had missed something big.
   We had to catch the bus back to the train station to catch the train into Sorrento. On the bus back, apparently Matt had someone trying to steal something out of his pocket. We were packed so tight on the bus that he couldn't tell whether it was one of us bumping him or someone really was trying to steal something out of his pocket. The swirling concern of having something stolen echoed around the bus. We were finally able to get off at the bus station and catch the Circumvesuvian train into Sorrento. We are staying that the Ulyssess Deluxe Hostel. http://www.ulissedeluxe.com/sorrento-inexpensive-accommodation.html  When Danilo said it was a hostel we all thought oh crap it is going to be trashy. Were we ever in a surprise. While on the train, I stood with Rocco and we started chatting with these two American girls who are students at NYU. They are studying in Florence for the year and headed down to Sorrento for the weekend. They just so happened to be staying at the same place we are staying.

On the Train Heading to Naples.

All roads or at least train lines lead to Italy. Not really, but it does lead to my very first ride on a fast train. I was talking to Danilo earlier this week about how in America trains are not the biggest mode of travel. The only time I have been on a train was to travel on a scenic route through Amish country or through Gettysburg Civil War Battle field. The trains I rode on then were the old cold/steam engines from pre-world war 2 era. I have never been on a modern train nor a fast train. The fast train is supposed to travel at around 200 miles per hour. I started to have these wild images in my head that the train would travel so fast that I would not be able to decipher what I was viewing out the window.

This weekend we are headed to Naples, Sorrento, Pompeii and Capri. This is our first weekend that we as a group will be traveling together. As a student of the Rome Experience, we are to travel together as a group for three separate weekends to specific destinations. This weekend happens to be one of those weekends. We woke up this morning at 5:30am to get ready and head into Rome to catch the train. Jenna blew the electricity because she was trying to straighten her hair.

Rocco is sitting across from me while on the train. This French couple is sitting next to us. Rocco and I decided to strike up a conversation about Mona Lisa just to see if they spoke English. Within the randomness of the conversation, we both found out that the lady actually works at the Louvre and handles the Mona Lisa daily. She told us that Mona is painted on about an inch think piece of wood. The painting is on the small side. Much smaller than one would think. The couple even taught Rocco and I a few words in French. They asked us what we were doing heading to Naples. We told them that we are American students  studying in Rome and are headed to Naples for a trip with the class. We have been warned to not divulge too much information about ourselves because one can never trust people too much.

Epic Tours of Palentine Hill with Bobo.

Our Lovely Tour Guide

   It has been raining the past couple of days and many of our visits have been canceled due to the rain. We were to walk the main two miles along the Roman Aqueducts but that was canceled as well. Yesterday, we had a tour of Palentine Hill. This is the great hill and home of the ancient rulers of Rome. I have to say that this was the first time that a tour was disappointing. Our poor tour guide barely spoke English. Plus, she barely knew anything about the site. She showed pictures from a book that any tourist could buy based on Palentine Hill. One of the main reasons why we were touring Palentine Hill was to see the home of Augustus Caesar. We have seemed to be receiving disappointment after disappointment this week. The home was closed. We were just able to peak over some guard rails to glance at the proposed home of the founders of Rome: Romulus and Remus.
   We were introduced to Bobo the wooden monkey during our visit to Palentine Hill. While waiting in line to enter the site, Matt start bartering with the Africans selling all the cheap crap . He managed to work his Italian barter skills to get this wooden monkey that was originally 20 euros down to 7 euros. This wooden monkey became our mascot. It sort of became a "where's Bobo" game and who could take pictures of him in the oddest place. We are an optimistic group. We turned a horrible tour into an exciting photo opt.

      It was a grande place to walk around in. I remember glancing up at the hill while we were walking around in the Roman Forum. I was so intrigued by the grande arches of the Palace. In the ancient days, these arches held the windows that the inhabitants of the hill could glance through down onto the main street of ancient Rome. I am impressed with the fact that this site is probably the most intact site in all of ancient Rome. Well, at least the most intact of all the places I have seen so far.

Matt with Bobo on his shoulder

   



.........Okay, Italian class is so stressful. Well, for me it is. I find it so difficult because I have studied Spanish for 10 years and I am a fluent speaker/ translator. Spanish is so close to Italian. I have such a hard time turning off the Spanish switch in my head and leaving on the Italian switch. The other problem is that I translate my Italian into Spanish. I translate my Spanish into English. Danilo is our Italian professor. He always makes the comment "Emma, this isn't Spanish class. This is Italian class." Danilo, I am trying so hard. You know I am because I am the first one to speak up while out in public. On this day, we had a two hour lesson of Italian while on campus. Then, we went out into Rome. When we came back we had an additional two hour lesson for Italian up in Castel Gandolfo at Cafe Baruffa, Andrea's Bar. Ugh, I just had enough time to digest the Italian from this morning and the practice while in the city. Give me a moment to breath.
      Actually, the two additional hours at the cafe were un-expectantly pleasant. Sitting beside us was a group of ladies chatting away. Danilo decided to have us talk with them. One of the ladies, Assunta, whom owns the restaurant that we will have our farewell dinner at ( http://www.sorcapanna.it/) became so interested in us. These ladies reminded me of my Grandmother Frances and her sisters talking with each other at the table. This was my high for the day. It is my high for the day because these ladies were so nice to us and really wanted to help us with our Italian. This moment took some of the stress off of me. Language is suppose to be enjoyable not stressful. At the end of our lesson we had to tell them a little paragraph about each of us. They listened so tentatively. The ladies then got up to say good bye to us. One of the ladies stopped to finish her chocolate. The rest of the ladies turned around to this friend and told her in Italian that if she continued to eat so much chocolate it would go to her ass. I laughed and they turned to me and asked if I understood it. I admitted yes. This was the first time that I felt like I was truly understanding Italian.
      We headed back down the crazy steep hill to campus. We were going to watch the movie The Gladiator. We were about 3/4 the way through the movie when the fire alarm went off. Oh, no. I don't want to loose my things. We were all rushed out of the building. Danilo and Brother Mario were running around to see what tripped the alarm. While we were standing outside a storm started to blow up. It was so windy. We were looking for the smoke to start billowing out of the building. We stood there for 40 minutes when we decided to come back inside because it was cold outside. Many of us were in our casual lounge clothes and didn't have a jacket on. Finally, Danilo and Brother Mario found that someone blew a switch in their room. The power conversion isn't working out too well for us here. All of our electronics keep blowing the breakers and alarms.
        Okay, this is becoming ridiculous. I seem to be tripping over any and every cobblestone possible. Today, while heading up the hill to town to have our additional Italian class, a cobble stone jumped out of no where. I happened to trip over it and fly clean into the street with my Italian book in hand. I was almost ran over by a few of the crazy drivers coming around the corner. They were so mad that I didn't get up fast enough. Danilo was driving the car up to town. He came out of the driveway and saw that I was limping up the hill. Ali stopped the car and asked if I could get in. Everyone started to laugh because by now, my tripping everywhere seems to be funny.