Not an every day sight...

Again in Huntsville... as you drive along the highway, you suddenly see rockets! Very neat. They have a space shuttle, several rockets, an SR-71, and look to be building an Apollo mission museum.

 

 

Terminal Hotel

In Huntsville, there's a hotel. People go there and check in... but NEVER check out!

It's the Terminal Hotel! Read the shocking new novel by Stephen King!

George Forman Grilling... well, something

I saw this display at Linen's and Things and thought it looked a bit odd. I'm not exactly sure what he's grilling... or pointing to. You make up your own mind!

Italy Day 7 - Rome to Florence (28 April 2007)

** HISTORICAL POST** Been sitting in draft for months...
The day started by sleeping in a little. We had breakfast at the lounge overlooking the city. We took the shuttle to the metro station at Piazza Barbarini them took the metro to Roma Termini. We ended up making a reservation on the Eurostar train for €15 each. The ride to Florence was quick and comfortable. Once we arrived, we walked from the station across town to the hotel. When we found it (Hotel Bavaria) we discovered that we had to climb up 2 long flights of stairs to reach the lobby, them another flight to the room. We later counted about 90 steps from the street to the room. After we stopped sweating, we headed back out to see some of Florence. We made our way around the famous duomo and up to the Galeria de Academia where the famous sculpture of David stands in all his glory. The rest of the gallery has some interesting icons and a collection of plaster works used as models for other works of art. We walked back toward the hotel and had dinner at a restaurant near the duomo. The food was okay, but nothing special.

Italy Day 6 - More Rome (27 April 2007)

** HISTORICAL POST** Been sitting in draft for months...
Another day started in the luxury of the Hilton. After a light breakfast, we set out on "mission impossible"... to see the rest of Rome in one day. There was a plan and some amount of will power. We started by having the shuttle drop us at piazza del Popolo. We saw two amazing churches and then headed south. We visited several monuments and went back to Trevi fountain. From there, it was off to the Pantheon. Just south of there is the piazza of Minerva with another amazing church. The next stop on the tour was Piazza Novana where we had lunch. It is not recommended since the quality isn't the best and the prices are higher than other areas. After lunch, we headed to campo de Fiori, a fruit market. While there, we picked up a fake Prada bag for €10. Our tour continued to teatro marcello and then to Campidoglio. We then walked to the church built on the site where St. Peter was imprisoned. The hole in the ground is right next to the roman forum. As we meandered through the forum, we were hit with another brief rain shower. We finished seeing the forum and made a lap around the colosseum. We then walked a half mile to the piazza bocca with the large stone mouth were romans were said to deposit complaints about each other. From there, we took a high speed walk (with a few wrong turns) to the hard rock cafe for dinner. After dinner, we took a very slow walk back down to the shuttle stop. According to the pedometer, we walked 26837 steps. That translates to about 10 miles or more! It's time for a foot massage!! So far on this this, we've walked an estimated 43 miles. Once back at the hotel, we did a load of laundry in the sink. No wonder man invented washing machines! Drying clothes with a hair dryer is also quite the adventure.

Italy Day 5 - Rome (26 April 2007)

** HISTORICAL POST** Been sitting in draft for months...
This day did not begin with a train ride! Instead, we had a relaxing breakfast in the Hilton lounge overlooking the Vatican. After breakfast, we caught the shuttle to town. We had to walk a few blocks (about 8) to the Vatican. When we arrived, the line was around the corner and down the street. Surprisingly, it only took an hour to get in. We spent about 5 hours wandering through the museums and saw the Sistine chapel. All very neat. When we left, it started raining again. We walked around to St Peters square and went into the basilica. Truly amazing! The scale is almost impossible to grasp. As a surprise, we walked some more. We walked to Castle Sant Angelo. On the way, we stopped for a giant gelato. At the castle we saw people selling fake prada bags by the hundreds. We made our way to piazza cavour then across the river to the spanish steps. After a short break to rest our feet, we wandered into a restaurant for some pizza for dinner. As we left, we heard some loud thunder. We walked quickly to the hotel shuttle. Just as we got to the piazza, it started to pour down rain. We hid under an eave until the shuttle arrived. Once back at the hotel, we headed for the lounge for some wine and desserts. Athena tried some Campari soda and decided that it was nasty. After some chocolate, it was time to sleep.

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.