TravelStream™ news feed for member gracie1205 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gracie1205 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:52:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1221026340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1221026340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1221026340/tpod.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:52:35 -0400 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore..." - Italy, Aug. 2008

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Rome, Italy

upon realizing that our hotel provided a free breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel, the obvious decision was to skip paying for espresso and filling up on rolls, salami, cheese, and all the espresso you can drink...after all, with another day of walking through rome, filling up was definetely needed (especially since SOMEONE gets kinda cranky if they don't eat... :) )...

first stop of the day: THE COLOSSEUM! i was way excited, mostly because this is one of the major landmarks people know of when they think of italy/rome...joe and i decided to skip the long-ass line and join a tourguide to go through the colosseum and since i can't really remember that much of what the guy said here's what wikipedia says...

"The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

The Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstration of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilised a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, lions, panthers, leopards, tigers, alligators, crocodiles and ostriches.

Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days."

actually, come to think of it, here's what i can remember the tour guide telling us:

1. when the colosseum was built, entrance to see the gladiator shows (like in the movie gladiator!) was free! however, people were supposed to sit according to their class with the higher class on the lower levels and women from the lowest class on the top.

2. prisoners never fought each other in the colosseum; only gladiators did it (which apparently was wrongly dipicted in some of the older movies)

3. the basement has two levels, with an elevator-type contraption to bring up scenery or wild animals into the center of the colosseum

4. holes in the colosseum were made when people in roman times tried to steal...lead (i think?)...

5. an earthquake caused a huge chunk of the colosseum to fall and that's what the colosseum looks the way it does today!

anyway, after we wandered around the colosseum, taking pictures and such, we headed over to see some of the roman ruins on the opposite side and then before heading to our last stop of the day stopped at this little pizza place and had some AWESOME pizza!

last stop of the day: BOCCA DELLA VERITA! (the mouth of truth)...once again, according to wikipedia:

"La Bocca della Verità ("the Mouth of Truth") is a renowned image, carved from Pavonazzetto marble, of a man-like face; it is located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, Italy. The sculpture is thought to be part of an ancient Roman fountain, or perhaps a manhole cover, portraying one of several possible pagan gods.

The most famous characteristic of the Mouth, however, is its role as a lie detector. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. The piece was placed in the portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the 17th century.

The Mouth of Truth is most well known from its appearance in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. The film uses the Mouth of Truth as a storytelling device since both Hepburn's and Peck's characters are not initially truthful with each other."

we got there late in the day, it was hot, crowds of tourists...but we got our picture! (and luckily kept our hands!)...it was kind of anti-climatic, but still, we got to do it! woohoo! (and thankfully got a cute picture...apparently, there is one line, and basically in order to get your picture you have to pass your camera to the people who happen to be standing behind you and ask them to take your picture and then you have to move on...if you hate your picture, i guess you just get back in line and try again!)

dinner at this wine & grill place with super yummy food & amazing tiramisu...and then a somewhat sleepless night due to knocking, a towel, and someone who hears NOTHING when he's sleeping...(ASAT#5)...all in all, another awesome day in rome...and how fun to see the actual places of things seen in movies!...

too bad we had to leave rome...although next stop: naples and then onto ischia!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1220939580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1220939580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1220939580/tpod.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:56:42 -0400 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore..." - Italy, Aug. 2008

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Rome, Italy

actually, i doubt we really did anything true romans DO, but we definetely did what tourists in rome do!...

luckily with my ongoing jetlag and joe's ability to wake up early, we were out of the hotel at a fairly early hour, stopping for a quick breakfast of espresso and a cannolo (my first real one in Italy!) Yum!) near the trevi fountain and then off to find the "open-top" bus to get some audio-tourguide action and an education ride to the vatican...easier than taking public transportation and one price works for a 2-day pass!

st. peter's basilica was pretty darn impressive...luckily since it wasn't sunday the lines weren't too awful and we were able to get in without any problems (to get into the basilica women & men can't be showing too much leg or bare shoulders...luckily i left my leather mini-skirt and matching midrift tanktop at home...haha...)...

saw the famous Pieta and walked around the rest of the basilica...i think my favorite part of the basilica were the domes...according to joe (and wikipedia!) "Around the inside of the dome is written, in letters 2 metres (6.5 ft) high: TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM. TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM ("...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven....")"...which basically means each letter at the top of the dome are taller than joe...

after the basilica we decided to head over to the vatican museum so that i could see the sistine chapel and know what the room smelled like...but before doing so, we decided to get some ice cream...which is another story and since it involves joe and i having a little mini-tiff, i'll leave it at that and continue on with the day...to sum it up, joe got ice cream on his pants, i got mad at joe for getting mad, and then i get smacked in the face by a postcard blowing in a gust of wind and all is well...(ASAT#3)

the vatican musum is HUGE...and it's basically a VERY long maze of ancient things such as carpets, tapestries, marble sculptures, paintings, engravings, etc leading up to the sistine chapel (seriously, like an hour+ walk...almost kinda like waiting in line for a disneyland ride but with more culture and authentic old stuff)...

while i was hoping that it was going to be this spiritual surreal experience it was really more just crowded and kinda loud, with securitiy telling everyone to "SHHHHH" every 5 seconds and people trying to sneak in pics of the ceiling...despite all that, it was pretty awesome to see the sistine chapel and to really think about how incredible a feat it was!

for dinner we had...wait for it, wait for it...JAPANESE FOOD...i know, i know, you're in italy, what are you doing eating JAPANESE food? but seriously, it was a good idea at the time and a great idea in retrospect (to be understood in a later entry) and it was actually really good too!

following dinner i really wanted to see the spanish steps and the pantheon, and joe wanted to see villa medici so we started our walking night-tour to check out the above-stated locations...

started at the spanish steps -- crowded with people just chilling, drinking wine -- went up the steps, found the villa medici (only to find it's owned by the french...) and then headed back down the steps...not even sure why the steps are famous...but i know it's one of those things "you're supposed to see in rome"!

we window-shopped at all the high-end stores (since they were closed) such as -- gucci, jimmy choo (ASAT#4), dolce & gabana -- they were all located on the street directly in front of the spanish steps and made our way over to the pantheon...

got some slushes and just sat on the steps of the fountain in the rome night while some guy played old american song covers and some very drunk, slightly large woman danced by herself...the kind of dance where you hope she's drunk and happy 'cause otherwise it was almost a little sad...

so the first REAL night in rome ends where it started...right back at the trevi fountain...and i think it looks way more fabulous at night!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1220685840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1220685840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1220685840/tpod.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:35:16 -0400 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore..." - Italy, Aug. 2008

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

an afternoon start from catania to italy...joe managed to get off work around 2ish (Another Story, Another Time #1...) and we were off! things were running pretty smoothly, good tunes in the car, awesome weather, and i got to see more of the pretty side of sicily, all the ocean/beach views as we made our way up to messina to catch the ferry over to the southern tip of italy...i'd never been on a ferry where i drove up on a car, so that in itself was kinda fun...and despite my trepidation towards water (those who know me know why!) i do love ferries and boats and such...

off the ferry, and onwards driving for another 8+ hours...a couple of pit stops to get gas & food...and around 1am we finally pull into "Rome"...of course at this point it's pretty dark, poor joe is exhausted (at this point he's been up since 5:30am and i didn't get in my jetlag nap), and neither of us (namely me!) have really any idea where our hotel is...

fortunately, after driving a block into industry-area + prostitutes, we get ourselves on the right track towards the center of rome...amazingly, after a stop to ask for directions, and a pause for joe to get out of the car to run around the trevi fountain to ask for directions we manage to find the hotel...which was only 400 meters (not sure what that means in yards, but it was damn close!) from the TREVI FOUNTAIN!!!

minus the late check-in hour and another minor hiccup with check-in (note: always travel with a passport...ASAT#2), all was well, we'd made it, we were safe, we were checked-in, and most importantly, we were in rome!!! our 10 day vacation was well underway...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1218033000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1218033000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1218033000/tpod.html Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:29:47 -0400 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore..." - Italy, Aug. 2008

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Catania, Italy

So, woke up BRIGHT and early (5am to be exact) which is a clear indication that I am definitely still adjusting to jetlag...it's nice that Joe kinda wakes up really early 'cause he made espresso and we had it while the sun rose and freshly-baked pastries all with the amazing view from his kitchen balcony! Unfortunately, he had to leave for work at 6am and so after many many hours of Ugly Betty, 3 hour naps, a shower, and an attempt to read, Joe came back from work and we headed to downtown Catania for dinner.

Sicily has not been quite the image of "Italy" that I had expected. I suppose my only real exposure to Europe has been Paris and Sicily is definitely not anything like Paris. It really resembles a more rural/uban Taiwan than an European city. Lots of roundabouts in the city and you can definitely get a sense of the lack of economic resources in most of the city, even though this is supposed to be the 2nd largest city on the island.

We parked near this bridge near the water and had to pay this guy 2 Euros as "protection" so that he wouldn't bash/break into the car. Apparently, that's what you do here. Another one of those things that I don't think a regular tourist would've known to do!

We walked around the main square, saw the "Elephant," a really pretty church, the university buildings, and the Duffy-Simpsons Bar (haha).

Had dinner at this cute outdoor place...and had another caprese salad and this pasta with garlic and pepperchini oil...which is totally not the same as what pepperochinis are in the States! It was definitely good and had a certain never-ending aspect to it because no matter how much I ate the plate still was about the same amount, if not more! Still working on my theory that I don't get sick/drunk off European wine...day 2 of that test...so far so good! Which is definitely a good thing since I really don't want to be sick at all during the trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1217988120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1217988120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1217988120/tpod.html Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:21:23 -0400 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore..." - Italy, Aug. 2008

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Catania, Sicily, Italy

So, I made it to the main Italy transit terminal by following most of the other people. I thought that having my contacts in would make maneuvering the unfamiliar airport a little easier, but apparently my eyes were tired or something or else all my eye prescriptions are off because everything was blurry; hence, contacts out and glasses back in.

After wandering the terminal a bit, but really tired beyond belief I ended up standing in a line for 30 minutes that I thought was for getting my 3rd flight's boarding pass, but finally I decided it was stupid to stand in a line for no reason and went over to the passport check and walked right through. So thank god I hadn't kept waiting in that line!

The Rome airport is INSANITY! I have never been to quite as confusing an airport. I'm not sure if it was the unfamiliarity with it, the lack of language ability, or the fact that I was just tired as hell, but it was kind of awful.

Anyway, found the right terminal, got my boarding pass, and procceded to wait the next 3 hours, even though all I wanted to do was shower and lie down!!! Thankfully, I had a book to read which managed to pass most of the 3 hour wait...not sure what I would've done otherwise! How I wished for my cell phone to have worked!

Got on the right flight (which could've been problematic had Joe not warned me that gate changes are constant in the Domestic terminals!) and the minute I got on the plane (which was actually really nice!!!) I was asleep; which was kind of a shame since I think the views of the island were probably really nice!

Landed, got my bag (was totally scared it was going to get lost in the THREE flight & transfers trip!), and Joe was there to pick me up (complete with a "welcome plant" and better yet, a sandwhich and coke...which was really good and definitely needed considering I think a huge part of my tiredness was the fact that I was actually really hungry!)

After a shower and a mini-nap, I was like a brand new person...IN SICILY WITH JOE!!! Crazy!!!...we headed out for dinner...caprese salad, blue cheese-spinach-cream gnocchi, and pollo diabolo...YUM! Then before heading back to the apartment, in attempts to watch the sunset from Joe's balcony, we got my very first Italian gelato...fragola and baccio (not sure what that was, but it was damn good!)...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1217845860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1217845860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gracie1205/1/1217845860/tpod.html Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:19:25 -0400 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore..." - Italy, Aug. 2008

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San Francisco, California, United States

The 4th started out really really early with a 4:30 pick-up...got to the airport and on to the first flight with relatively issues. Really wanted to stay up and try and cut out the jet lag from the get go, but I pretty much lasted about 30 minutes into the flight before I fell asleep, waking up maybe 90 minutes before landing in Philly.

The 3 hour stopover in Philly was relatively easy as well since I got to gab on the phone with Hannah for the entire time. That's definitely the downside of international layovers; no cell phone reception to call people and chat!

So, the real tiring part about traveling started with the leg from Philly to Rome. It started out promising with a non-full flight and an empty seat next to mine. Unfortunately, it was short lived. Some big-ass Sicilian/Italian mom wearing LEGGINGS decided to smush herself next to me so her obese son (who looked like a fat-version of Ralphie from A Christmas Story) and so in an attempt to get some room I moved towards the back, relinquishing my window seat (and potentially could've-been-mine empty seat!).

Unfortunately, the three empty seats that I re-located to had armrests that wouldn't raise (because it was a 3-row-er in the back) and so I couldn't stretch out like I was hoping to. Also, for some reason two Italians decided to play cards while I was trying to sleep for like 2 HOURS! WTF! At any rate, after watching two movies without sound (too cheap to spring for the $5 headset), attempting to sleep, and listening to the rest of Last Lecture, I arrived in Rome (2am East Coast time or 11p CA time) pretty much exhausted, cranky, and a little nervous since I'd never been to the Rome airport and still had to make my connecting flight with my 5 hour layover in Rome.
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