OK. Assisi was nice. Old. Beautiful. Up on a hill. Great place to visit.
Our place to stay was a little strange. Very well appointed - someone obviously spent a lot of place. Nice bed - modern bathroom. Best shower I've had in Italy yet.
However, there are a couple of things it lacked - hospitality and location.
From a hospitality standpoint - there was none. An 18-20 year-old was there to greet us when we arrived. This greeting consisted of "Here's your room" and "Leave the key in the door" and "I need your passport" and "No, there is no air-conditioning." And as for location, well, it's about 4km from Assisi - as the crow flies. It's really about a 25 minute car ride over a paved road then a gravel road from Assisi. It was the 3km on the gravel road that really made us a little nervous - as in "where the heck are we going?".
Needless to say - if the place hadn't already been paid-for, we might have found other accommodation. We definitely made sure our doors were locked...
It was a nice place - just needs some hospitality - that's all. Basically, after you've trekked for 25 minutes up a gravel road, you want to be greeted by someone who realizes what a weird situation it is and seeks to reassure you that everything will be OK, that you're welcome and says things like "Can I help you choose somewhere to eat?"
Anyway - it's around 10:30 PM here, and I'm tired - perhaps we'll post more pictures tomorrow. We had a great day in Siena today and we're staying in a much better B&B tonight in a little town outside of Assisi.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Vatican
I hardly know where to begin with our Vatican tour. We started out our morning by visiting the Pantheon. Although you technically know that everything here is old, it's another thing to actually experience it. The Pantheon is a wonderful place with the most incredible roof that actually has a hole in the top. Rain can come in and the floor is built with a concave center for drainage purposes. It wasn't originally built for Christian worship but became that way. Of course I'd forgotten to take the SD card with me so I have no pictures for the Pantheon. We stopped on the way to the Vatican to get me one. :>)
From there we headed to meet our private tour guide, Laura, for about 4 hours. The walk took us about 25 minutes from where we were to where we were to meet Laura. The line for the Vatican was probably about 2 hours long for people who didn't already have tickets, and let me tell you - it was HOT outside with very little breeze. I don't think I could've stood there for that long myself. Our guide was at the designated location and we walked right in. I was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of people there. Thousands upon thousands visit every day and apparently Monday's are always crowded due to the fact that the Vatican is closed on Sunday's. Here's a photo of one of the most amazing sculptures in my opinion:
Laura was extremely knowledgeable and I won't even being to go into everything we saw and learned. The Sistine Chapel was a favorite of both John and myself - the detail of Michaelangelo is extraordinary and the history behind it even moreso. He did one wall and part of the ceiling when he was 33 years old, and the last wall in his 60's. The story of the second coming is depicted on that wall and would take one years to see and understand everything he did. We weren't allowed to take pictures but John got some great video that wasn't technically allowed either!
St. Peter's Bassilica was wonderful, as well. Apparently St. Peter is actually buried there and they have a shrine above his bones in his honor. It was very moving to be there and everywhere in that city.
We did find out that the Pope was doing a speech the following day so the area was being prepared for that which was pretty cool.
Attaching some pictures and I'm sure John will have more detail that I've forgotten. :>)
OK - John here. I'm not technically an editor to this blog yet, so I'm logged-in as Christie.
Rome was really something else. One thing that I left with was a happiness that at least some of antiquity has been preserved - in the Pantheon and in the Vatican. So much of Rome's grandeur has been lost to time - the dark ages, the people who did not realize what they had in their midst. One thought that occurs is this - what would we be like today had the ingenuity of Rome continued and had not fallen by the wayside after the empire's fall? Seriously - one of our guides in ancient Rome talked about the water system (water flows freely in fountains in Rome), and how his ancestors charted out and channeled only the best sources of water into the city - and those sources are still used today. Pretty crazy - eh? People are still discovering how much the Romans knew of engineering and building.
Anyway - we visited Ancient Rome - the Forum and the Colosseum - first. After that we left with a sense of what we 'might' have seen had they not been pillaged and left to ruin over the years. And the next day we saw the complete opposite - history preserved in the Vatican and the Pantheon (in fact the Vatican is an example of historic "recycling" - a lot of materials from ancient Roman buildings ended up there). Pretty amazing.
From there we headed to meet our private tour guide, Laura, for about 4 hours. The walk took us about 25 minutes from where we were to where we were to meet Laura. The line for the Vatican was probably about 2 hours long for people who didn't already have tickets, and let me tell you - it was HOT outside with very little breeze. I don't think I could've stood there for that long myself. Our guide was at the designated location and we walked right in. I was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of people there. Thousands upon thousands visit every day and apparently Monday's are always crowded due to the fact that the Vatican is closed on Sunday's. Here's a photo of one of the most amazing sculptures in my opinion:
Laura was extremely knowledgeable and I won't even being to go into everything we saw and learned. The Sistine Chapel was a favorite of both John and myself - the detail of Michaelangelo is extraordinary and the history behind it even moreso. He did one wall and part of the ceiling when he was 33 years old, and the last wall in his 60's. The story of the second coming is depicted on that wall and would take one years to see and understand everything he did. We weren't allowed to take pictures but John got some great video that wasn't technically allowed either!
St. Peter's Bassilica was wonderful, as well. Apparently St. Peter is actually buried there and they have a shrine above his bones in his honor. It was very moving to be there and everywhere in that city.
We did find out that the Pope was doing a speech the following day so the area was being prepared for that which was pretty cool.
Attaching some pictures and I'm sure John will have more detail that I've forgotten. :>)
OK - John here. I'm not technically an editor to this blog yet, so I'm logged-in as Christie.
Rome was really something else. One thing that I left with was a happiness that at least some of antiquity has been preserved - in the Pantheon and in the Vatican. So much of Rome's grandeur has been lost to time - the dark ages, the people who did not realize what they had in their midst. One thought that occurs is this - what would we be like today had the ingenuity of Rome continued and had not fallen by the wayside after the empire's fall? Seriously - one of our guides in ancient Rome talked about the water system (water flows freely in fountains in Rome), and how his ancestors charted out and channeled only the best sources of water into the city - and those sources are still used today. Pretty crazy - eh? People are still discovering how much the Romans knew of engineering and building.
Anyway - we visited Ancient Rome - the Forum and the Colosseum - first. After that we left with a sense of what we 'might' have seen had they not been pillaged and left to ruin over the years. And the next day we saw the complete opposite - history preserved in the Vatican and the Pantheon (in fact the Vatican is an example of historic "recycling" - a lot of materials from ancient Roman buildings ended up there). Pretty amazing.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Roma!!
We're here! We arrived in Rome around 9:30 a.m. this morning (Sunday) and the plane was packed. The Ambien saved my life - I got around 7 hours of sleep so I have felt pretty good all day. We got our luggage, and grabbed a bus for the hotel. Knowing that we probably couldn't check in til this afternoon, we decided to drop our stuff off before heading out. Lucky for us the Hotel Lancelot was ready for us so we were able to drop everything, change, and head out.Each floor of our hotel has a wonderful little balcony area that overlooks the city. I'm sitting on the balcony as I'm typing and when I look to my left I can see the Colosseum! Our hotel is in a wonderful location and so we can walk to everything considered Ancient Rome. The city is packed - everything is on top of everything else. Drivers make you think of NYC - insane and fast. The only difference is the cars are smaller. Everywhere you look you see steeples which warms my heart!
After a quick lunch we headed to the Colosseum for a few hours. John had purchased some ancient Rome museum type tickets that allow us to any of the sites. We hooked up with a guided tour through the Colosseum and it was fascinating. I"ll attach a couple of pictures. What's very interesting is that last year a concert was held on a "stage" in the Colosseum and Adreas Boccelli was the guest. Tickets cost 1000 Euro per person! But what an amazing place with incredible history. All through the Colosseum there are artifacts from the Gladiator era with helmets, uniforms, weapons, etc.
Our tour also included the Forum which is a short walk from the Colosseum and is where the Senate seat of Ancient Rome's government. It's absolutely stunning and the detail in everything astounds me. It's considered the "Beverly Hills" of Ancient Rome.
We returned totally soaked from the heat (not as hot as AL but still warm) and grabbed some dinner. I find it quite interesting/humorous that waiters/waitresses automatically speak to us in English without us every saying a word! I guess it's pretty obvious we're Americans......John's already "hitting the hay" and strangely enough, I'm awake! Something's definitely wrong. :>)Tomorrow we have the Vatican tour which includes the Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's at 1:00. I can hardly wait! For those of you who know me well, there's a gym across the street that's open 24/7 for 10 Euro a day.....we'll be going there tomorrow before breakfast. BTW gelato here is AMAZING.....
More later.......
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Packing.....
Wow, the things you don't realize that you need to do before a trip......I've started packing but feel totally ADD because I keep running from one room to the other packing my backpack for the flight, my "anti-theft purse", my suitcase, etc. To me the hardest part of packing is for the actual flight. I always get cold on long flights so I have to pack enough clothes for layering, and then have shorts and such in my pack for when we arrive and it's 80 some-odd degrees out. I have Clif bars, crackers, and fruit to take with me - John doesn't think we can take food but I always do.....anyone know???? I guess I'll find out.
John's home and already loading up the new GPS with maps from Europe! And playing with the new video camera.......I've already made him a list of things to do tomorrow since he's taking off. I'm sure he's loving that. :>)
CANNOT wait! Tomorrow is Friday and then we'll fly out around noon on Saturday. Have a decently long layover in Chicago and then fly straight to Rome. We arrive Sunday morning around 9:30 a.m. in Rome and will have the rest of the day to kick around.....and stay awake. We'll see how that goes. Lots of coffee!
John's home and already loading up the new GPS with maps from Europe! And playing with the new video camera.......I've already made him a list of things to do tomorrow since he's taking off. I'm sure he's loving that. :>)
CANNOT wait! Tomorrow is Friday and then we'll fly out around noon on Saturday. Have a decently long layover in Chicago and then fly straight to Rome. We arrive Sunday morning around 9:30 a.m. in Rome and will have the rest of the day to kick around.....and stay awake. We'll see how that goes. Lots of coffee!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Getting ready......crazy week!
Okay, so I've never set up a blog before but since John's in Orlando til Thursday and will have PLENTY to do when he returns, I figured I'd give it a shot.
Just to fill you in, John and I are headed to Italy this coming Saturday, June 26 - Saturday, July 17, 2010. Generally John & I take a 'big' trip every other year and then, during the years we don't, we stay in the continental U.S. Our last big trip was New Zealand and that's going to be hard to top, but I'm ready!
We both debated as to where to go and part of this trip was, in all honesty, planned around le Tour de France. We wanted to catch a stage live and one with Lance Armstrong in it before he retired.....again. :>) We're avid fans and watch every single year, so we had first decided to go to France. But after a lot of thinking and discussion about the fact that I'd really always wanted to go to Italy, we decided to combine them. Most of our trip will be spent in Italy with a couple of days in France to catch a mountain stage of le Tour.
We've been so heavily involved in our most recent opera - The Ballad of Baby Doe - that this trip kinda snuck up on us. That being said, I've totally immersed myself in the planning.......
Our itinerary is as follows:
Rome
Assisi
Siena
Florence
Venice (cooking class)
Verona
Lake Como
Cinque Terre
France
Geneva, Switzerland
London
Home.......
Just to fill you in, John and I are headed to Italy this coming Saturday, June 26 - Saturday, July 17, 2010. Generally John & I take a 'big' trip every other year and then, during the years we don't, we stay in the continental U.S. Our last big trip was New Zealand and that's going to be hard to top, but I'm ready!
We both debated as to where to go and part of this trip was, in all honesty, planned around le Tour de France. We wanted to catch a stage live and one with Lance Armstrong in it before he retired.....again. :>) We're avid fans and watch every single year, so we had first decided to go to France. But after a lot of thinking and discussion about the fact that I'd really always wanted to go to Italy, we decided to combine them. Most of our trip will be spent in Italy with a couple of days in France to catch a mountain stage of le Tour.
We've been so heavily involved in our most recent opera - The Ballad of Baby Doe - that this trip kinda snuck up on us. That being said, I've totally immersed myself in the planning.......
Our itinerary is as follows:
Rome
Assisi
Siena
Florence
Venice (cooking class)
Verona
Lake Como
Cinque Terre
France
Geneva, Switzerland
London
Home.......
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