Italy Day 4 - Naples to Rome (25 April 2007)

** HISTORICAL POST** Been sitting in draft for months...
Another day, another train. We checked out of the hotel and made a vow never to return to Naples. We negotiated our train ride and finally got on. We sat with a woman from Seattle who was traveling Europe for two months. We arrived into Rome and made our way to the metro. A short ride to the Cipro stop and then a taxi got us to the Hilton, paradise compared to Naples. The room was at least three times bigger! We also had access to the executive lounge filled with goodies all day long! After a beverage, we set out to see Rome. The shuttle took up from the hotel to piazza Barberini. We made our way to the colosseum through numerous old buildings, ruins, and archeological sites. The line into the colosseum was very short and only took a few minutes to get tickets. We spent about an hour "documenting" the site. As we were leaving, it started to rain. We walked toward the Palatine and bought an umbrella. It rained the entire hour we were in the Palatine. We exited to the forum and walked to Trevi fountain. We grabbed some pizza, that was not good, and walked to the shuttle for the hotel. Once back, we headed for the lounge for some tasty snacks and desserts. We ended the day in a sugar coma.

Italy - Just funny

Italy may be a romantic country, but apparently there are still people who like to dress like idiots. This picture was taken as we walked down the street of Florence.

Italy Day 3 - Sorrento and Capri (24 April 2007)

Another day started with breakfast at the hotel and a walk to the train station. Again we boarded the train towards Sorrento. This time we rode to the end. We spent several hours walking around the city checking out shops, churches, and the amazing views. After a great lunch at Sant Antonino's, we browsed one of the oldest stores in Sorrento. After more walking and a gelato, we caught the ferry to Capri. We rode the funiculare up the hill to the town center (last time I had to climb up it myself.) We walked a very winding route to the south side of the island where we got some great views of the sea and cliffs. We took a more direct route back. On the way, we found the nicest hotel on the island... Best western! No kidding, it was really nice! Next to the hotel were all the expensive, big name stores you'd expect to find on Rodeo drive. A short walk brought us back to the main square for a coffee with ice cream. We rode the funiculare back down the hill and caught the ferry back to Naples. On the way, we both took a much needed nap. Once back in beautiful Naples, we hiked over to one of my favorite restaurants, Antonio y Antonio. The food was good, however the service was a bit slow. So, a 5 for food, but 3 for service. After dinner, we walked the streets so Athena could soak in the sights, sounds, and smells of Naples. She got to see a guy urinating on a building, a Naples hooker, a castle, then had her tour topped off with a ride in a Naples taxi. "No problemo, es Napoli!" We finally made it back to the hotel around midnight. What a long day!
The first picture is of gelato in Sorrento. The second is of the cliffs over the water as we were taking the ferry from Sorrento to Capri.

The following images are from Capri. The first shows a store front with Lemoncello (famous in Capri). The second is from a park overlooking a grotto on the north side of the island.

Italy Day 2 - Pompeii (23 Apr 2007)

The morning started a little slow as we tried to adjust to the new timezone. Italy is at GMT+1 (6 hours ahead of the East Coast of the USA). We had breakfast at the hotel, which included croissants and strong Italian coffee. We walked to the train station once again and got on the train toward Sorrento. In the station we met a couple of newly graduated medical students from Texas. It took about 40 minutes to get to Pompeii. Once there, we used our passes to get our tickets. Normal price is €10. They recommend at least 3 hours, however, we spent 7 and still didn't see everything. We had to stop since we'd both lost all feeling in our feet. The pain was well worth it though. The ruins are amazing and they continue to find more all the time. A lot of the buildings are in very good condition. They still have many of the mosaics and paintings intact. There are tons of intact pottery everywhere. In several locations, they have plaster casts of people that were found among the ashes. After all day hike through Pompeii, we took the train back to Naples. We had dinner at a great pizza place 3 blocks from our hotel. We shared a margarita pizza that was about as big as the table. Afterwards, we walked up the street and got a piece of tiramisu. Pizza was a 5 tiramisu was a 3. We walked back to the hotel through the trash filled streets of Naples. After such a long day, it was easy to fall to sleep!

The pictures below are of some of the remains of people in Pompeii. They actually found the remains as a hollow area in the ash. They would fill the volume with plaster and then remove the ash to give them a mold of the body that was once there. The second picture shows one of the most well preserved houses in the area. The mosaics and paintings are in near perfect condition.

Italy Day 1 - Arrival into Naples (22 Apr 07)

NOTE: Sorry for the LONG delay... This is the first post documenting our travels through Italy. The entire trip took about 14 days from start to finish. I kept a daily log that I will post here with pictures over the next week or so. Enjoy!

The day before our flight, we stayed in Denver. This saved us the drive up on the day of our flight and allowed us to park at the hotel at no charge for our stay (a good savings). Our flight departed from Denver around 11:00a. We flew to Washington DC (actually Dulles Airport in Virginia). We had a few hours to wander the airport where we ate some lunch. We got on another plane around 6:30p for the 8 1/2 hour flight to Rome. On our flight, we met a gentleman from Italy that was traveling with his 5 year old son. When dinner was served, I got the pasta while Athena had the chicken. The Italians both had chicken. Athena and the boy both learned that the chicken was spicy. The father asked a flight attendant if they could have a different meal. I think he was told they would have to wait (they spoke Italian). After a while, they still had not been given a replacement... he then asked if he could have a bottle of water for his son. The flight attendant told him they could not give him the bottle. He then asked for several glasses of water so that his son could eat his meal. The flight attendant responded, "Well, aren't you a piece of work." VERY rude! Eventually the head flight attendant came over to speak to him. I told her what I had seen and heard and explained how that was NOT the way to treat customers. She tried to defend the other's actions because apparently the father had said something to another flight attendant. I told her that he was EXTREMELY polite in his interaction about the water and that the rude response was completely unjustified. Anyway, needless to say, the treatment by United was not very friendly. If we can help it, we will avoid them in the future. Unfortunately, this time, they were the best option for flights.

After a nap and several hours of reading, watching movies, etc, we arrived in Rome. At the airport, we got tickets for our trip to Naples. We first got on the train from the airport to Roma Termini (the main station in Rome). In the station we ate a light lunch of sandwiches and coke light. From there, it was a 2 hour ride to Naples. We joined the locals in napping on the ride down. Once in good old Napoli, we bought a multi day travel kit. It included a 3 day travel pass and access to 2 historic sites. We walked over to our hotel and got checked in to our shoe box of a room. We quickly discovered that our bathroom was missing a key feature, a toilet seat! For anyone traveling to Italy, make sure to reserve a room with a bathroom... And pack a spare toilet seat :) After dropping our bags off, we set out for the national archaeological museum. After a short walk back to the train station, we jumped on the metro. The museum is one stop away from Piazza Garibaldi at Cavour and then a 2 block walk up the street. Admission is normally €9. The bookstore sells a useful book for Naples for €3. The museum has a lot of artifacts from Pompeii including the "secret room" that has a collection of ancient porn. It also has numerous statues and mosaics. After several hours, we managed to see most of the displays. We took the metro back to Garibaldi, then walked back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We ate dinner at the hotel, which was reasonable (3 out of 5 stars). After dinner, we both crashed.

Both of these images are from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The museum has a lot of artifacts from Pompeii.

Floor from Pompeii

Large mosaic from Pompeii

Bug's Hobbies

Bug was always playful. His idea of fun was chasing treats around the room or attacking your hand. He would grab on with his front claws, then use his back ones to take a sample of the flesh from your forearm. He enjoyed his post with the fake mouse attached (see picture). He eventually got strong enough to rip the mouse off... we didn't buy him another toy like that. Bug's other favorite hobby was hiding. No matter how small or how big he was, he would always find the good hiding places in our house. You can barely see him hiding inside the computer desk. He would actually climb in from behind by using the printer as a starting point... he would then lay down inside the desk and just peak out so he could keep an eye on everything.

What's in a name?

Initially, our new kitten was without a name. We got him shortly after a lunar eclipse, so we thought that might be a good name. It just didn't fit though. We thought long and hard, but couldn't come up with anything. He was so small and energetic, so I felt we should call him "Little

S#!t" (or L.S. for short). Athena did not approve. Eventually as his energy grew, I started referring to him as the Little Bug. He would run around and bounce around like a bug, so we decided it was a fitting name, so we started calling him Bug. We told the vet it could be short for Bugsy, but he was just Bug to everyone. As you can see, he was a very little kitty with big ears. He eventually grew into his ears.

When Bug was little...

We got Bug one night outside of the Giant Food Store in Falls Church, VA. The store is right across the street from the Skyline mall. We came out after shopping and there was an Hispanic man with a box of kittens. He said he was looking for good homes for them. Athena picked up the grey one, then the black one, then the grey one. She then decided that she would like to have the one that had the little tuxedo on him (although at the time, we weren't sure if it was a he or a she). I went back into Giant and bought some kitten food, but they didn't have litter boxes. I drove us home while Athena held the little kitten in her lap. He seemed happy enough. We got our new kitty home and gave him some food. Athena, ever mindful of germs, felt that it would be a good idea to give him a bath. If any of you have ever tried to wash a cat, you'll know that they aren't exactly fond of such things. Our kitten took it all in stride though. We washed him and fed him and he seemed happy. We prepared some newspaper for him to use and quickly learned that only dogs fall for that trick. The next day we were able to get him a litter box which made him very happy. He practically filled it up.

Bug is gone...

As some of you have heard, we lost a dear family member last week. Bug (our black and white cat) passed away sometime on Thursday. Unfortunately, Athena and I were in Italy. Russ found Bug on Friday morning and called us and took him to the vet. The vet tells us that she believes Bug suffered from a urinary tract blockage probably caused by crystals or a stone (common in cats over 5 years old). The build-up of toxins would cause a severe imbalence and eventually a heart attack. This could happen in 24-48 hours and is difficult to diagnose and treat.

Over the next few days, I will try to post some images of Bug.

As you can imagine, this came as quite a shock for us since Bug has been very healthy. He was 10 years old and was amazingly strong. His unique personality will be missed.

R2-D2 in Colorado Springs

As many of you may have heard, the US Postal Service is teaming with Lucas to exploit the masses out of money as the 30th anniversary of Star Wars approaches. They will be releasing a set of Star Wars stamps in May. To build the hype, they have wrapped 400 mail boxes in R2-D2 style. The pictures below are of the mailbox in Colorado Springs. It is located on Tejon near the corner of Bijou (just south of The Famous).