Roma: Da Una Parte

After a nice night of sleep in the bed and breakfast, it was time to wake up and visit some of Rome's more iconic sights. Today's goal: the Colosseum and Palatine Hill.

Getting to the Colosseum was fairly easy and, after a nice lunch of spaghetti carbonara, we walked to the Colosseum. The lines weren't bad at all and we were quickly inside. A temporary exhibit giving the history of the Roman Colosseum, particularly that regarding the Emperor who commissioned it, Vespasian, was the first thing we toured.

From 3 Rome

After learning about how expensive it was, how everyone gambled, and about how Mussolini ruined any chances for a unified historic district in Rome, we were able to walk outside and around the inside of the Colosseum. The weather was a little bit dreary, with misty rain dominating most of the day, but it didn't diminish the experience at all.

From 3 Rome

As part of the ticket deal for the Colosseum, you also get access to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Good deal! After marveling at the Roman ingenuity that is the Colosseum, we walked a little west and were soon on Palatine Hill. As I walked up the old, brick stairs, I couldn't help but imagine Roman Senators in their togas walking up those same steps or the sound of Legionnaires running down the stairs, attempting to make a last stand against the Germanic hordes. Hundreds of years of history were passing beneath my feet with every step.

The ruins on the hill were very well preserved, and excavation projects are ongoing. Piles of artifacts and marble are scattered around the site, and every once in awhile a university student would walk out to remove or replace something from them.

From 3 Rome

Scenes of the Classical era were interrupted by an alien structure: Mussolini's villa. Egotism at its best, Mussolini constructed a home for himself upon the site which the Roman empire was ruled from.

From 3 Rome

The thorough combing of the hill complete, it was time for the Roman forum. It, too, is nicely preserved, though I can't help but think they could've done better. If I have time and remember to do it, I'm going to try to do a little bit of research into the conservation attempts at the site. Any other info would be appreciated. Anyways. Lots of interesting things were there, but my favorite were the remains of the Roman Senate. Nothing is left standing but a row of columns and the foundation, but it still has a monolithic presence. Lasting from 753BC - 476AD, the Roman Senate has the distinction of being the longest serving representative institution.

From 3 Rome

From 3 Rome

When leaving the forum, the Italian government buildings are right in front of you, so a quick look at the Italian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was in order.

From 3 Rome

After yet another pleasant dinner, it's time for bed once again. Tomorrow's goal is Vatican City and The Pantheon - I'm excited.

Ruins and the Arrival in Rome

While trying to write this post, I've realized there isn't much I can do other than summarize how we traveled to Pompeii, provide some captions for the pictures I took, and then tell you that I made it safely to Rome. So, that's just what I'll do.

We checked out of our nice little Bed and Breakfast around 8:30AM, then left out belonging there to be picked up that afternoon, after our return from Pompeii. After a breakfast of plastic wrapped croissants and espresso, we once again boarded the Cirumvesuviano, this time getting off at the stop called Pompeii.

It was a little pricey to get in, somewhere around 20-30€, but definitely worth it. The archaeological site is huge and, even though most of it is roped of for excavation and minor restoration projects, one would be hard pressed to visit the entire site in a day. To compensate, I put on my running shoes and some good socks and walked my feet into the ground. I'll let the pictures do the talking from here. To view more, go here. You can also get to my other albums from the trip there as well.

From 2 Pompeii

From 2 Pompeii

From 2 Pompeii

From 2 Pompeii

Again, for more photos go to the aforementioned link.

After returning to Naples we walked around for a little bit, and then took our train to Rome. When staying in a bed and breakfast, be sure you nail down the address of the bed and breakfast itself...not that of the owners. They were very nice, though, and their son (an astronomy student) showed us to our big, spacious room for the night. We then walked around and found some quick food, and sleep time is to follow.

Tomorrow's objectives: The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill.

"Limoncello? Ho, ho, my boy!"

Unfortunately, other than the pizza and nice bed and breakfast, there really wasn't much to do or see in Naples. It is crippled by crime and corruption, and a rather dirty place.

But. It is a great launching point for other adventures around the area. Our first adventure? The Amalfi Coast.

A quick train ride via the Circumvesuviano will deposit you in Sorrento, a place of excellent pasta, huge lemons, and all sorts of lemon products - including the infamous limoncello. This is a trip I highly recommend, and if I could do it again I would just skip staying in Naples and pay the extra Euro cent to stay somewhere on the Amalfi Coast. Before I go any further, the Amalfi Coast is a region in Southern Italy comprised of five towns, two of which we visited (Sorrento and Positano).

Since we didn't have much of a plan for Sorrento other than going and having a wonderful time, there were plenty of opportunities to wander and take some nice pictures. Here are a few:

From 1 Amalfi Coast

From 1 Amalfi Coast

From 1 Amalfi Coast

During our wandering, we enjoyed lunch at a nice little pasta place tucked in the wall of one of the many narrow streets. Nearby was another road that was home to all the limoncellerias. Limoncello is a thick liquor made from lemon zest, and it is...well, incredibly zesty. We all sampled a little bit of it (not too much, because it really didn't taste all that great) and along the way bumped into a group of old, British tourists. They found the idea of a street filled with people offering you free alcohol heavenly, and took full advantage. As we walked away, one of them explained "be careful or you'll have jelly legs like me!" as he struggled to stay standing. Noted.

An advantage to the Amalfi coast is that everything is relatively close by. For 5€ you can purchase a round trip bus ticket that will take you to the other towns, so we decided to go to Positano. The bus rise itself was harrowing: the bus driver whipped the tour bus around sharp curbs overlooking very steep cliffs on narrow roads, and I'm pretty sure he was well over the speed limit the entire time.

From 1 Amalfi Coast

From 1 Amalfi Coast

However, when we leveled out from our last major curb, the view that awaited us was well worth it.

From 1 Amalfi Coast

Positano is a little more off the beaten path, which means instead of an abundance of British travelers, you have American students and Navy personnel (from the nearby base). It is perched on the side of a hill and, accordingly, instead of sidewalks there are staircases. The staircases go up and down, side to side, and sometimes around things in no logical order. Clearly, the whimsical and laid back nature of the people who live there influenced their architecture. Positano is known more for its seafood, which I enjoyed for dinner, and its beautiful beach. The experience of walking through its winding roads and peaking in the little boutiques was well worth it. If you've got the time, I've heard taking the boat to Capri is worth it, and its already on my list of things to do when I come back someday. And yeah, you better believe I'm going to.

From 1 Amalfi Coast

From 1 Amalfi Coast

After another harrowing bus ride back to Sorrento and an hour long train ride back into Naples, it was time to call it a night. Operation Amalfi Coast: Successful.

Next Mission: Pompeii

A Napoli Night

Tonight marks the first night of our Fall break, and I am spending it with two friends, Cheri and Eli, in Italy. Well, at least until next Wednesday when I fly to London to meet up with Marshall and Matt. Pretty exciting.

Tonight we're in Naples and, since Naples is not exactly the most refined place, I did not take out my camera to take any pictures and will instead be doing so tomorrow during the day when Moroccan people in purple track suits are not offering to show me shortcuts around the city (didn't accept, no worries). We ate at the perfect Italian pizzeria tonight, Pizzeria Da Michele, which served up classic Napolitano pizzas. There were only two options: margherita and marinera. I elected for the marinera, which was a wonderfully simple pizza made from freshly pureed tomatoes, garlic, and oregano. That's it. And it was perfect.

Street view:

View Larger Map


Later on in our meal we were joined by a man named Francesco since we had an open, fourth seat. He works in the biometrics industry in Torino and was in Naples on a business trip. Very nice guy. He gave us a few travel tips, such as stay in after 10PM if you can help it and don't display any jewelry or expensive things at all. I figured as much already, but it reinforced my camera and cell phone's shared desire of staying in my pockets.

Now we're back in our room at the B&B Firenze 32 (no picture or good website that I can find, other than the booking website - B&Bs are very different overseas, though, and are quite a deal for such a nice room!), and we're looking forward to both breakfast in our rooms and a day in Sorrento and possibly Amalfi tomorrow. I'm super excited, because the Amalfi coast has been on the top of my "Must-go-before-I-die" travel list for quite some time, and my my friend Matt (not the one I'm meeting in London) hooked me up with some good travel tips.

Well, we may watch a movie before we all bed down. It's about 9PM right now, and I'm totally okay with an early bedtime. Our train this morning from Geneva left at 5:45AM, and we got here at around 4:30PM. I had a lot of trouble sleeping on the train because it was both really exciting and because the seats do not recline. I listened to music and read the whole time instead.

I don't normally give travel advice unsolicited, but I totally recommend asking the owner of places you stay, such as this bed and breakfast, for advice on places to go and restaurants to eat at. The pizzeria we ate at was not in any travel guides, but I can confidently say it was one of the best, if not the best, pizzas I have ever eaten in my entire life.

It's past my Napolitano bedtime - buonanotte!

Classes and the Establishment of Groove

This will, unfortunately, be a picture-free update, because I'm feeling inspired to write one from a café in the Old Town of Geneva. It's a beautiful day here in Switzerland: it's been raining off and on, and now it's a little breezy with some sun. Nice day.

I'm sitting in here, actually:


View Larger Map

(Cool Internet trick of the day)

It's a pretty good place to write a paper, with the exception of the loud Rihanna music playing over the speakers (which I will not be linking here. Sorry).

I will now, for sure, be interning at the World Health Organization and am waiting for my department and work schedule. I'm pretty excited about it, but also intimidated. I don't really know that much about public health, and it's supposed to be a bit of an intense work environment. The pros to this are obvious, such as it being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it will also be a great experience. Granted, it isn't quite what I wanted to do originally (work permit issues) but I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Plus, since I didn't sign up for an internship initially, I can't be super picky.

There isn't much else to report here. I've now been to all my classes twice and enjoy them all, particularly French. The professor is a delightful guy, Gerard Piquet, and a native Swiss. Class consists of us talking about day-to-day things, such as politics and sports, with him stopping to correct my dismally broken French in the process. He also gives me his opinion of Swiss political happenings and about international politics, which is incredibly interesting. I like that class a lot.

This weekend we (a group of friends I met on the trip and myself) may take a ferry to Lausanne and stay a night in a hostel there. Bigger trip plans are being made, with places such as Rome, Paris, Prague, and Amsterdam being the main targets. I'll keep this posted on future and past travels, and will try and put up the pictures I have sitting on the computer soon.

The music just shifted to some cheerful French folk music so, on this note, I will go write my paper for my human rights class and enjoy the environment. Again, if you'd like to be in touch, email me at anwilkins AT davidson.edu.

Santé!