Italy Dec 25, 2007 - Jan 8, 2008
So it's been a while. The last post was last summer. It's not that nothing has been going on. It's that too much has been going on. Hiroe busy with teaching, working, and going to school. Me with business travel to California, finishing our basement, and other projects. Hopefully, I can post some photos from the "lost months" since the last post. In the mean time, here are the photos from our Italy vacation. It was kind of a compromise, but I don't think either Hiroe or I gave anything up with agreeing on this trip. Hiroe wanted to go to Europe. I wanted to go someplace warmer than Minnesota. So we picked the most southern region of Europe. Sicily. But to get there, we flew from Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Rome. From there our vacation began.
We arrived in Rome in the afternoon of December 25th. After finding our hotel and checking in, we decided that, with the exception of December 24, this was prime time to head to Vatican City. So we caught a bus (a very little bus) to take us there. Upon arrival, the sun had just about set and the holiday feeling was everywhere.
Our next mission was to get into St. Peter's Cathedral. There are metal detectors and scanners that you must pass through to enter the cathedral, but that did not take to long, even given the crowds. Here is one of the guards of the cathedral. Not sure of the reason behind the joker uniform...
The cathedral. No pope to be found, though. I kept watching the curtains in the window thinking he might sneak a peek at the waiting crowds. No such luck, though.
Inside the cathedral. The center was kept open to allow the churchgoers to access the front of the church.
Here was one of the many worshipers at the cross. Out of the picture was a line of about 30 people waiting their turn.
We did attend one of the mass services. It loses some of it's effect in that we didn't speak Italian, but being brought up catholic allowed me to know most of what was being said.
Confessionals.
An indoor nativity scene.
And an outdoor nativity scene. These figures were life size (but no, not real).
The next day we decided to visit a museum in Rome, and stopped along the way to take the pictures at a common street intersection.
And here we stumbled upon a Japanese restaurant that we would end up eating at later that night. Decidedly it wasn't very good, spoiled mostly by the rice that they used.
And here was our focus, to see the Rothko exhibit. One of the pieces there was on loan from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. We plan to stop by the Walker soon to let them know that their painting is doing fine.
Outside the museum, on the way out.
After dinner we walked over to Trevi Fountain. Here you toss in a coin that is supposed to bring you good luck by bringing you back to Rome again in the future. It must work, because Hiroe threw in a coin the last time she was in Rome. We each tossed in another coin....
It was very crowded there.
Here is a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts. Hiroe is a big fan. I'm not, so she didn't have to share.
On to the Spanish Steps. I didn't bring my tripod, so it was tough to get a good photo after dark. Here too, there was a crowd.
On the steps.
Just an everyday fountain on a street corner in Romw, like on so many other streets in Rome. It's really a beautiful city.
Enjoying gelata in Rome.
The next day were we left Rome by train, headed for Naples (Napoli). This was a good chance for Hiroe to take some notes on our trip.
Napoli has a reputation for people taking advantage of tourists. Since we don't look, or likely act, like Italians, it puts you on a hightened sense of alterness. I found it easier to just wear sunglasses an ignore those around me.
But despite that issue, we discovered that Naples food is excellent. One of our favorite dishes from the entire trip was a pizza (one each) purchased from a street vendor for 1 euro each. Wow, was that good.
On recommendation from a guide book, we went to Napoli Sotterranea. It's basically at tour of Napoli underground, including an old autitorium they found in the middle of the city along with a network of caves and tunnels that date back to the beginning of the city.
The first part was the old auditorium. They knew where the building used to be located and that much of it was underground. Apparently they then started knocking on people's doors until they noticed a house with an arched ceiling in the living room that was not present in any of the other houses. This is the kitchen of that house.
With the owner's permission, they started to excavate, and found this...
This is the stairway to the basement, looking up from below.
Inside the basement. This was most likely a passageway inside the theater. It allowed patrons to enter the theater. Other passageways were for the performers to get to the stage.
Next we went to a series of tunnels in another part of the city. These tunnels originated as a place to excavate stones for construction of houses and buildings. The stones were pulled to the surface via a series of vertical shafts. This is one of the tunnels. This tunnel system is about 30 meters below ground.
There were plenty of small passageways. A large person would not have been able to follow us through the entire tour.
During the war the tunnels were used as a place for residents to escape the bombing. Thousands of people lived down here. There were some remote areas that were closed off for the rich families to live in - away from the masses.
Next we went to an underground lagoon. It was pretty cool!
When we were done, we returned to the safety of our hotel room. Interestingly enough, in the dirties city is where we had the best hotel room. We didn't want to leave the room.
The next day we went to the Pompeii museum in Napoli. This is one courtyard at the museum that was under construction.
Inside the museum.
There was one area of the museum that we reserved for the more, well, private works of art. In Italy, the male organ, in the form of an art piece, is meant to convey fertility. There are signs of this all over Pompeii.
Very fertile gentlemen.
There was a lot of pottery and cookware excavated from Pompeii.
Hiroe enjoyed the fact that you could cook 29 eggs at one time in Pompeii.
Someone with a lot of tie on their hands constructed a scale model of Pompeii. With amazing detail.
And more cookware.
The eyes were a bit unnerving.
A nice spot for a break.
After we visited the museum we went out in Napoli to see the street life. This street contained block after block of street vendors.
Though the streets were very crowded in may spots, people didn't seen to mind the occasional scooter pushing it way through the crowd.
Note the scooter in the picture below...
Most of the street shops sold little decorative items like the ones below. These were motorized so the little bakers are putting the pizzas into and out of the oven.
This was one of the many fantastic pizza places we found. Napoli easily had the best pizza in all of Italy...
Once we returned to the hotel, Hiroe decided to wash our clothes the old fashioned way.
Italian chips.
The next day we headed to Pompeii. There were many spots that were documented in a guide book. Hiroe read from the guide book while I took the pictures.
While touring Pompeii, one really gets the feeling of a festive, colorful city. This is one of the many courtyards.
I think this is a clock. Note the pin in the center of the top portion of the column. The location of the shadow likely conveyed the time.
This was inside one of the bathhouses. I think it was a community event in the middle of the afternoon to get together and clean up a bit.
This was the elaborate ceilings inside one of the bathhouses.
Two brothers lived in this house. This is the entryway. Note the, ahem, "organ" in the picture on the right side of the entryway. Again, a sign of fertility.
It was a bit crowded in places.
Hiroe liked this caution sign.
This was one of the smaller theaters in the city.
The stage.
Me taking a picture of a dog...
The dog...
No idea what these things are.
This was one of the better preserved houses. The colors were quite bold.
Inside another part of the same house.
Another rich person's house.
This was inside the largest theater in the city.
I took lots of pictures of this tunnel, but in the end didn't like any of them.
This was one of the more disturbing parts of the city. Aisles and aisles of artifacts from the city along with castings of the residents killed in the eruption. As their buried bodies decayed, a cavity was left behind. Once the city was excavated, the archaeologists would find the holes and fill them with plaster. Once the plaster was removed they would get a representation of the human that was once there...
The end of the day in Pompeii.
That evening we departed for Sicily via the ship in the background. The ship departed at about 8 PM and arrived in Palermo, Sicily at about 6:30 AM.
Our cabin on the ship.
The restaurant on board.
This is the back side of the ship, upon arrival in Sicily. Since we arrived early, we had some time to wander the streets of Palermo.
This was inside one of the many museums in the city.
This was the operahouse. In the evening it was very festive, decorated with lights. The patrons were all dressed up in suits and dresses.
One of the many horse drawn carriages for hire.
That evening we went to see a pupi (puppet) show. This one was a family run show that was started by the father of the owner. They make all of their own puppets and do the whole show with maybe three people. There was a lot of sword fights and subsequent swordfight effects. Decapitations. Even slicing some of the puppets in half, vertically. Kinda wierd...
The backside of the puppet show.
This was in the city of Agrigento, on New Years eve.
After having dinner in the city, we returned to our B&B where they had a party. This is the owner of the B&B.
The group that was staying at the B&B on New Years. A spanish family, a japanese couple, and us.
Behind the B&B they were raising goats with really curly antlers.
This is the white sand beach in Agrigento. Well, it's not white here, be it is further down.
Next we went to the Valley of the Temples. Another ruin in Italy...
This was in a secret garden in the Valley of the Temples. The caretaker was nice enough to let us in there despite the fact that it was closed.
Hiroe admiring a pistachio tree in the garden.
The Valley of the Temples...
After returning from the Valley of the Tempels we checked out of the B&B and headed for Ragusa.
The puppy at the B&B.
Stopping along the way to smell the flowers. I've heard that something you need to do.
Later in the day we passed through Ragusa. We seemed to hit it during siesta time, though. There was no one there. The siesta time is from about 1 until 4 is most all of the towns we visited. Glad we weren't hungry.
Our rental car. A Fiat Panda.
In Ragusa.
Upon finding nothing to do and no historic places that were open, we continued on our way. Ragusa on the way out...
This in is Siracusa. Another ruin...
If we had known more about "where to stay" in Siracusa, we would ahve stayed here. There is an island that is a bit touristy, but consists of old hotels, great restaurants, and plenty to see and do.
The sailboat below had a Maryland registration. To me, that sounded like a fabulous vacation... sailing to Sicily.
The token old guy feeding pigeons picture.
The Siracusa city center. Where we should have stayed. That is Hiroe in front of the tree.
More gelata.
After leaving Siracusa we drove to Taormina. This is the view from our hotel.
And the main street in Taormina.
An old amphitheater in Taormina on the mountain top.
As we were driving around in Taormina, we came upon this car. This is the same model of car as my first car. Except mine was yellow. It was a pretty fun car.
This was in Catania, our last stop in Sicily. The boat we returned to the mainland on is in the background on the right.
One of the Catania city centers.
The view from our hotel.
And back on the ferry again.
This was taken as we passed between Sicily and the Italian mainland. This is the mainland. They are really actually quite close together. That doesn't mean that I'd choose to swim across, but you could if you really had to.
The passageway is small enough that we needed some guidance. This little boat pulled alongside us and a guy jumped from that boat to our boat. Once we were through the channel, the boat came back and the guy jumped back from our boat to the little boat.
And back in Rome, we were able to see the roman sights.
And the coliseum. Magnificent. And sobering at the same time once you remember all of the killing that happened here.
This is the passageways and cells under teh coliseum floor where the fighters and animals were held.
More of Rome.
This was taken at one of the old prisons in town. This document lists some of the inhabitants and how they met their fate. Note capitation, starvation, strangulation...
And finally, we found our happy place. After two weeks of pizza, bread, and pasta, we found a place that serves a good burger. Good enough that we went two days in a row!
Alas, here is where our trip came to an end. One night at the airport hotel, then a flight back...
We arrived in Rome in the afternoon of December 25th. After finding our hotel and checking in, we decided that, with the exception of December 24, this was prime time to head to Vatican City. So we caught a bus (a very little bus) to take us there. Upon arrival, the sun had just about set and the holiday feeling was everywhere.
Our next mission was to get into St. Peter's Cathedral. There are metal detectors and scanners that you must pass through to enter the cathedral, but that did not take to long, even given the crowds. Here is one of the guards of the cathedral. Not sure of the reason behind the joker uniform...
The cathedral. No pope to be found, though. I kept watching the curtains in the window thinking he might sneak a peek at the waiting crowds. No such luck, though.
Inside the cathedral. The center was kept open to allow the churchgoers to access the front of the church.
Here was one of the many worshipers at the cross. Out of the picture was a line of about 30 people waiting their turn.
We did attend one of the mass services. It loses some of it's effect in that we didn't speak Italian, but being brought up catholic allowed me to know most of what was being said.
Confessionals.
An indoor nativity scene.
And an outdoor nativity scene. These figures were life size (but no, not real).
The next day we decided to visit a museum in Rome, and stopped along the way to take the pictures at a common street intersection.
And here we stumbled upon a Japanese restaurant that we would end up eating at later that night. Decidedly it wasn't very good, spoiled mostly by the rice that they used.
And here was our focus, to see the Rothko exhibit. One of the pieces there was on loan from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. We plan to stop by the Walker soon to let them know that their painting is doing fine.
Outside the museum, on the way out.
After dinner we walked over to Trevi Fountain. Here you toss in a coin that is supposed to bring you good luck by bringing you back to Rome again in the future. It must work, because Hiroe threw in a coin the last time she was in Rome. We each tossed in another coin....
It was very crowded there.
Here is a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts. Hiroe is a big fan. I'm not, so she didn't have to share.
On to the Spanish Steps. I didn't bring my tripod, so it was tough to get a good photo after dark. Here too, there was a crowd.
On the steps.
Just an everyday fountain on a street corner in Romw, like on so many other streets in Rome. It's really a beautiful city.
Enjoying gelata in Rome.
The next day were we left Rome by train, headed for Naples (Napoli). This was a good chance for Hiroe to take some notes on our trip.
Napoli has a reputation for people taking advantage of tourists. Since we don't look, or likely act, like Italians, it puts you on a hightened sense of alterness. I found it easier to just wear sunglasses an ignore those around me.
But despite that issue, we discovered that Naples food is excellent. One of our favorite dishes from the entire trip was a pizza (one each) purchased from a street vendor for 1 euro each. Wow, was that good.
On recommendation from a guide book, we went to Napoli Sotterranea. It's basically at tour of Napoli underground, including an old autitorium they found in the middle of the city along with a network of caves and tunnels that date back to the beginning of the city.
The first part was the old auditorium. They knew where the building used to be located and that much of it was underground. Apparently they then started knocking on people's doors until they noticed a house with an arched ceiling in the living room that was not present in any of the other houses. This is the kitchen of that house.
With the owner's permission, they started to excavate, and found this...
This is the stairway to the basement, looking up from below.
Inside the basement. This was most likely a passageway inside the theater. It allowed patrons to enter the theater. Other passageways were for the performers to get to the stage.
Next we went to a series of tunnels in another part of the city. These tunnels originated as a place to excavate stones for construction of houses and buildings. The stones were pulled to the surface via a series of vertical shafts. This is one of the tunnels. This tunnel system is about 30 meters below ground.
There were plenty of small passageways. A large person would not have been able to follow us through the entire tour.
During the war the tunnels were used as a place for residents to escape the bombing. Thousands of people lived down here. There were some remote areas that were closed off for the rich families to live in - away from the masses.
Next we went to an underground lagoon. It was pretty cool!
When we were done, we returned to the safety of our hotel room. Interestingly enough, in the dirties city is where we had the best hotel room. We didn't want to leave the room.
The next day we went to the Pompeii museum in Napoli. This is one courtyard at the museum that was under construction.
Inside the museum.
There was one area of the museum that we reserved for the more, well, private works of art. In Italy, the male organ, in the form of an art piece, is meant to convey fertility. There are signs of this all over Pompeii.
Very fertile gentlemen.
There was a lot of pottery and cookware excavated from Pompeii.
Hiroe enjoyed the fact that you could cook 29 eggs at one time in Pompeii.
Someone with a lot of tie on their hands constructed a scale model of Pompeii. With amazing detail.
And more cookware.
The eyes were a bit unnerving.
A nice spot for a break.
After we visited the museum we went out in Napoli to see the street life. This street contained block after block of street vendors.
Though the streets were very crowded in may spots, people didn't seen to mind the occasional scooter pushing it way through the crowd.
Note the scooter in the picture below...
Most of the street shops sold little decorative items like the ones below. These were motorized so the little bakers are putting the pizzas into and out of the oven.
This was one of the many fantastic pizza places we found. Napoli easily had the best pizza in all of Italy...
Once we returned to the hotel, Hiroe decided to wash our clothes the old fashioned way.
Italian chips.
The next day we headed to Pompeii. There were many spots that were documented in a guide book. Hiroe read from the guide book while I took the pictures.
While touring Pompeii, one really gets the feeling of a festive, colorful city. This is one of the many courtyards.
I think this is a clock. Note the pin in the center of the top portion of the column. The location of the shadow likely conveyed the time.
This was inside one of the bathhouses. I think it was a community event in the middle of the afternoon to get together and clean up a bit.
This was the elaborate ceilings inside one of the bathhouses.
Two brothers lived in this house. This is the entryway. Note the, ahem, "organ" in the picture on the right side of the entryway. Again, a sign of fertility.
It was a bit crowded in places.
Hiroe liked this caution sign.
This was one of the smaller theaters in the city.
The stage.
Me taking a picture of a dog...
The dog...
No idea what these things are.
This was one of the better preserved houses. The colors were quite bold.
Inside another part of the same house.
Another rich person's house.
This was inside the largest theater in the city.
I took lots of pictures of this tunnel, but in the end didn't like any of them.
This was one of the more disturbing parts of the city. Aisles and aisles of artifacts from the city along with castings of the residents killed in the eruption. As their buried bodies decayed, a cavity was left behind. Once the city was excavated, the archaeologists would find the holes and fill them with plaster. Once the plaster was removed they would get a representation of the human that was once there...
The end of the day in Pompeii.
That evening we departed for Sicily via the ship in the background. The ship departed at about 8 PM and arrived in Palermo, Sicily at about 6:30 AM.
Our cabin on the ship.
The restaurant on board.
This is the back side of the ship, upon arrival in Sicily. Since we arrived early, we had some time to wander the streets of Palermo.
This was inside one of the many museums in the city.
This was the operahouse. In the evening it was very festive, decorated with lights. The patrons were all dressed up in suits and dresses.
One of the many horse drawn carriages for hire.
That evening we went to see a pupi (puppet) show. This one was a family run show that was started by the father of the owner. They make all of their own puppets and do the whole show with maybe three people. There was a lot of sword fights and subsequent swordfight effects. Decapitations. Even slicing some of the puppets in half, vertically. Kinda wierd...
The backside of the puppet show.
This was in the city of Agrigento, on New Years eve.
After having dinner in the city, we returned to our B&B where they had a party. This is the owner of the B&B.
The group that was staying at the B&B on New Years. A spanish family, a japanese couple, and us.
Behind the B&B they were raising goats with really curly antlers.
This is the white sand beach in Agrigento. Well, it's not white here, be it is further down.
Next we went to the Valley of the Temples. Another ruin in Italy...
This was in a secret garden in the Valley of the Temples. The caretaker was nice enough to let us in there despite the fact that it was closed.
Hiroe admiring a pistachio tree in the garden.
The Valley of the Temples...
After returning from the Valley of the Tempels we checked out of the B&B and headed for Ragusa.
The puppy at the B&B.
Stopping along the way to smell the flowers. I've heard that something you need to do.
Later in the day we passed through Ragusa. We seemed to hit it during siesta time, though. There was no one there. The siesta time is from about 1 until 4 is most all of the towns we visited. Glad we weren't hungry.
Our rental car. A Fiat Panda.
In Ragusa.
Upon finding nothing to do and no historic places that were open, we continued on our way. Ragusa on the way out...
This in is Siracusa. Another ruin...
If we had known more about "where to stay" in Siracusa, we would ahve stayed here. There is an island that is a bit touristy, but consists of old hotels, great restaurants, and plenty to see and do.
The sailboat below had a Maryland registration. To me, that sounded like a fabulous vacation... sailing to Sicily.
The token old guy feeding pigeons picture.
The Siracusa city center. Where we should have stayed. That is Hiroe in front of the tree.
More gelata.
After leaving Siracusa we drove to Taormina. This is the view from our hotel.
And the main street in Taormina.
An old amphitheater in Taormina on the mountain top.
As we were driving around in Taormina, we came upon this car. This is the same model of car as my first car. Except mine was yellow. It was a pretty fun car.
This was in Catania, our last stop in Sicily. The boat we returned to the mainland on is in the background on the right.
One of the Catania city centers.
The view from our hotel.
And back on the ferry again.
This was taken as we passed between Sicily and the Italian mainland. This is the mainland. They are really actually quite close together. That doesn't mean that I'd choose to swim across, but you could if you really had to.
The passageway is small enough that we needed some guidance. This little boat pulled alongside us and a guy jumped from that boat to our boat. Once we were through the channel, the boat came back and the guy jumped back from our boat to the little boat.
And back in Rome, we were able to see the roman sights.
And the coliseum. Magnificent. And sobering at the same time once you remember all of the killing that happened here.
This is the passageways and cells under teh coliseum floor where the fighters and animals were held.
More of Rome.
This was taken at one of the old prisons in town. This document lists some of the inhabitants and how they met their fate. Note capitation, starvation, strangulation...
And finally, we found our happy place. After two weeks of pizza, bread, and pasta, we found a place that serves a good burger. Good enough that we went two days in a row!
Alas, here is where our trip came to an end. One night at the airport hotel, then a flight back...
posted by john and hiroe at 11:07 PM
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