Settimana di Compleanni Continues... (part two)

Thursday morning arrived just as early as it always does. It was a little earlier than I might have wanted, but it was Pompeii day!! Appropriately, it was also Rob's birthday. I texted him what we were doing for the day and wished him a happy birthday, then Felix and I headed down for breakfast with the family and confirming the itinerary. Today's plan is to walk up to the train station a few blocks away and take the train to Pompeii, then enjoy the sights and retrace our steps home on time for dinner. Once again, the weather was phenomenal; I highly recommend visiting Southern Italy in October! Clear skies, warmish temps, gorgeous views pretty much everywhere you look... like this lovely view down the main drag:

 We did get a little bit lost on our way there... missed a turn, then found a wrong turn, then found the right turn... but eventually we made it to the station and still had plenty of time to get tickets and do a little socializing. There was a lovely view of the ocean from the platform. There was also built-in entertainment for us in the form of three men cutting down a tree. It was definitely interesting to watch and some of us were absolutely certain that the pieces of the tree were going to rain down on the guys below in a catastrophic mishap of epic headlining proportions. Fortunately, that did not happen but it was still scary watching the pieces fall as they were cut off!

 As our train arrived, my phone rang. I'm not sure why I even thought to bring it with me today, but I did and it was Felix's school wondering where he was. The attendance officer told me she had tried to call yesterday as well which I found odd since I had no missed calls, but phone service here hasn't always been reliable. I told her that if she checked with Felix's teacher she would find that I had sent in a letter explaining his absences this week and that it should have been on file with her for almost a month since we had plenty of advance notice for this trip. I bring this up because I feel it needs telling. I was very well prepared for this trip and tried to make sure everyone around me was as well. I guess we can't win them all. She did wish us well and hoped we'd enjoy Pompeii, so that's a plus! All of this takes place while I'm attempting to get Felix and myself onto our very first train in Europe... and the train is pretty much packed. We wind up standing near the doors and hanging on as best we could. It wasn't exactly a slow train. Felix said the train ride was really cool because he got to stand up the whole time, but it was a little scary how fast it went and he said it scared him out of his mind when we were "stuck in the cave"... in reality, we paused in a tunnel for other train traffic. We were stopped for less than five minutes. The entire trip took much less time than I expected but I should have realized it wouldn't be as long as an American train trip of the same length. The trains here do not slow down at intersections, if you're stupid enough to try and cross once the gates are down, that's on you. We arrived unscathed at the Pompeii station and I promptly took a picture:

This little vacation seemed to me to be all about food: whether we needed it, when we were getting it, when it was available, what kind we were having, et cetera. Upon arriving at the station, it was determined that we should get our tickets into Pompeii and eat before heading in. It was also determined that the majority of us needed a restroom break. So we all went and stood in a pretty long line to use less-than-amazing restrooms that cost 50 cents a person. Good times. Then we wander over looking for food and souvenirs and the ticket office. Felix is with Aunt Ceil and we're looking at different souvenir stands when I get cornered by one of the ladies working the stand. It is at this point that I find my best friend's birthday gift AND get separated from my group. I step out from the little stand and don't see anyone I know. I walk down to the entrance area for the ruins and don't see them. I walk back toward the restaurants thinking that maybe they decided to have a sit-down meal before heading in, but they're not there. Then I walk back towards the train station checking every stand on the way through. No sign of any of them. I'm officially panicked at this point but I know that Felix is with Aunt Ceil, so he's good to go and worst-case scenario I'll have to practice my pathetic Italian skills with the local Caribinieri to find them. I walk back over to the entrance area and there they are, looking for me. Crisis averted! At this point it is decided that we will pick up "to go" food from the little stands while a couple of the guys stand in the ridiculously long line for tickets and tour guide stuff and we'll all eat lunch on the benches just outside the gates. From these benches, we have a pretty cool first view of the city itself:

Well, I think it's cool anyway! We finish up our lunches and accidentally feed one of the stray dogs, then head off into the ruins. Pompeii is a much bigger city than I thought, although I truly don't know why I thought it was small except perhaps for the misguided belief that all ancient cities must have been small because of the lack of motorized transportation during those times. Just because they didn't get around fast doesn't mean they didn't get around... or have large populations in certain places. As we walk in, it is not immediately apparent that it's a decent sized city so my misconception remains firmly intact. We walk past a garden receiving area along a cobbled road with pretty massive gaps in it. It blows my mind that there are women there wearing pretty tall heels and not falling every five seconds. I wind up with an audio tour around my neck and I'm supposed to narrate, but after looking at the maps it is decided that our group is going to split into three smaller groups and tackle different sections of the city. Aunt Ceil, Felix and I are one of those groups and we head off to see what we can see. I do wish I had picked up a map of the city because I want one for every place I visit, but since we're going back I'm not going to cry about it. The down side for blogging purposes is that I don't have actual names for the places I'm trying  to describe. We walk through into what I consider (at the time) to be the main square. It's freaking HUGE with these awesome columns and roads splitting off leading to all other parts of the city. Then we turn into the first place of interest we come across, which according to the audio tour, is a temple to Athena. Felix takes advantage of the broken columns here to pretend to be a sleeping colossus.

After marveling at the level of preservation, we move back out to the main square area and decide to head down the road to the right and see where that leads us. We wander in and out of people's homes trying to imagine what they were like when they were whole and inhabited. They seem so small but we have to realize we're only seeing a portion of what they had and it's hard to visualize what was when what's right in front of you has faded into near-oblivion. Yes, I realize I just said that the ruins are pretty well preserved, but not all of it is in such great condition. If you're wandering around without a tour guide and group just taking it in, it's easy to feel the more spiritual aspects of the place. I believe it is probably the same anywhere that a lot of people die violently: you start thinking about their last moments, what they experienced and you try to imagine yourself in that situation and how you would respond. It's a good place for reflection of self, I think. There had been a light cloud cover when we arrived and it was breezy, making for a lovely day and only a slight concern about rain. As we turned down our second road, the clouds rolled away and out came the sun and slightly warmer temps. It was just enough to take off a top layer and walk around getting some sun on our shoulders. Extra sunshine made it easier to see inside the buildings where we found a little wall art and some mosaics on the floors.

A little further down the road, I had the opportunity to tour a little more in-depth and see some bedrooms, living areas and such. All of the bedroom floors had mosaic patterned floors which I think must have sucked to lay but the result was quite nice. The view of the volcano from the main living area was pretty decent as well. No matter where we went, Mount Vesuvius was clearly visible and that made me wonder what the people must have thought of living so close to it (or how people who live near volcanos now feel about their odds). I wonder if they had any inkling at all about what was to come or if they just presumed it was safe. I can't remember much of what I learned about them in school, which I'm sure is showing clearly right now! With these thoughts in mind, we wander on to find the home of a very wealthy family. You can tell by size (naturally) and signs... and the columns at the entrance don't hurt! Inside is a wooded park area to the right, the home itself on the left and stairs leading to the theater. More scary stairs. We cautiously navigate the stairs so we can check out the theater. We can hear a girl singing and people applauding and we think that there's a mini show happening as each tour rolls through. We're wrong... some girl (with a fantastic voice) is just singing because the acoustics are awesome. 

We don't stick around because we're starting to worry that we might run out of time to see things and still link up with the rest of the family for the return trip. This is where providence comes in: the only reason we knew the time is because I had my phone with me. Good thing I brought my phone for no apparent reason! We start wandering back toward the entrance, snapping pictures all the way through and when we get there, we still haven't seen any of the bodies. Anyone who knows me knows that I love morbid things. I refuse to leave Pompeii without having seen at least one corpse! So we start asking random English-speaking tourists if they've seen the bodies and where we can find them. A nice Scottish couple helps us find a couple. I'm glad they did because right after we saw them, my camera battery died!

In a corner of one open-air room that was designed to be open-air, were two bodies in glass cases. Yes, I admit to thinking of Snow White and the glass coffin. They were, of course, surrounded by gawkers (I'm not the only morbidly curious person on the planet) and it was difficult to get in and get a picture. I managed to get two pictures of each: one face and one profile. One had hands up in a protective gesture and the other looked to me like he or she may have just fallen and was trying to get back up and run. Although I have that morbid thing going, this still made me sad. I can't imagine burning to death (nor do I want to) and I hope that suffering was minimal, but I doubt it was.

When we left the corpses, we headed a little bit out of our way because we still had a bit of time before we needed to meet up with the family and we came across what struck me as a very American sort of enterprise although I know that it happens all over the world: a snack and gift shop inside the ruined city. Well, someone's gotta pay for maintenance of the place, right? So we go in for a coffee and little break for our feet and we run into the rest of our family doing the same! We compare notes on sights seen and do a little story-telling. Then we head back out into the main area and up to the little gift shops where I got separated from them at first arrival. On our way back to the train station, I stopped in and bought my souvenirs: shot glass for me, drink coasters for my bestie. We get back on the train (just as crowded as before) and return to the hotel. We're all definitely tired and in need of showers before dinner, so that happens, then we have dinner and drinks in the courtyard on one of the most beautiful evenings I've seen so far in Italy. We put exhausted children to bed almost immediately after dinner and returned to the courtyard for more stories and more wine and quite an enjoyable time. I look forward to my next opportunity to explore more of this beautiful place.

Buon Birth Week! (part one)

October is my favorite month. It started out that way because both my birthday and my favorite holiday are in October. It became an even happier month when it just happened to contain my husband's birthday as well. Then when our son was born in the same week that we already shared birthdays, it became absolute that October could not possibly be outdone for best month of the year. Despite Rob's absence for this little scappatella, this year's proves to be one of the best Octobers on record. But let me tell you why... (that one's for you, Ekim!)

October 4th begins our not-so-little adventure. Around 0130, I'm driving Rob to post so he can leave for the rest of the month. A little training goes a long way, right? Felix and I are scheduled to leave the following morning to head down to the general Naples area and spend some time with Aunt Ceil and Uncle Jim while they're in town for Jim's son's wedding. Excellent excuse to take a trip to Naples, in my opinion. I'm back in bed and sleeping by 0245 (after waking Felix up to tell him happy birthday and then posting about it on Facebook because I'm silly like that!) only to get back up at 0615 so I can have Felix up and ready for school on time. As I'm returning from the school run, it first occurs to me that maybe I should make the drive tonight rather than tomorrow, so we can have the full day tomorrow to spend with the family. With this thought in mind, I decide that I should take a nap so that I can make the drive without worrying about fatigue on the autostrada. It's a sound plan, I promise, but my phone and doorbell rang pretty constantly for the next two hours so I figured I'd just straighten up and get errands run and maybe I wouldn't be making the drive that evening after all. About an hour before Felix came home from school I decided that we would definitely go if I could extend our hotel stay for the same nightly rate. I called the hotel and they confirmed that I could, so I started packing.

The drive from house to hotel was supposed to take about 7 hours, so I figured on 8 hours to allow for stops along the way. It actually took exactly 6 hours and 42 minutes, including driving past the hotel in the dark and having to call for directions back. Neither one of us felt the need to stop for restrooms or stretching and when I stopped just outside Rome to get gas, I didn't have to get out of the car because the pumps are full service, so we just kept going. It doesn't hurt that the average speed on the autostrada is 90mph. I do wish that I had thought to have Felix take pictures on the way down before sunset because we passed some lovely scenery and it would be nice to include in the memory books, but I didn't, so I guess I'll just have to go back sometime and get pictures along the way. Felix did have a mild panic attack as we passed Ferrara (less than an hour into the drive) because he thought we were already there and he's heard some pretty scary things about big cities and has a healthy fear of potentially being lost in one. After I helped him calm down, we enjoyed our sightseeing until sunset and then enjoyed all the tunnels through the mountains. I got super excited when I saw the sign announcing that we'd finally entered Toscana... poor Felix had to deal with his mama whooping like a crazy woman! I was a bit disappointed that I was missing the scenery because it was all after dark. The drive was quite basic: go very fast until you arrive at your destination and try not to get run over in the process because you're not going fast enough. Gotta love the autostrada!

Upon exiting the autostrada at Napoli (and paying 47 euro!!) it finally dawned on me that I was going to drive through one of the scariest-to-drive-in places in Italy at 1am and since Felix was sleeping, I didn't even have someone to get pics of all the cool and scary things we'd be passing. I am sooooooooooo grateful that I decided to go when I did. Naples in the dead of night between Tuesday and Wednesday is not tremendously difficult to navigate if you have a smaller vehicle, know to watch for motorcycles and don't mind lots of sign language or giant trash piles... or very narrow roads. Luckily, I'm ok with all of the above, so we made it just fine. We did pass a trash pile that was high enough to climb onto my balcony from. That was a little disconcerting, but otherwise all went well and we found our hotel after passing by it only once! Ceil and Jim were still up waiting for us which was a happy surprise - especially because that meant extra hands for carrying bags and child into the hotel (ok, I made Felix walk, but still!). Going to our room was just like going to our apartment: same number of stairs and first door on the right. We got everything settled into our adorable little accommodations and finally passed out somewhere between 2 and 3am. In the morning, we noticed the naked cherubs...

I set my alarm to wake me up at 8, but I woke up a few minutes before the alarm... I hate when that happens because I always feel cheated, but since I'm in no rush to go anywhere I just lay there for another 15 minutes staring at the ceiling. Felix is still snoring pretty loudly, so I let him sleep while I got up and ready for breakfast. Fortunately, he still doesn't take too long to get ready in the mornings so we were down to breakfast and planning our day in no time. On today's agenda (after deciding what was for dinner at breakfast) is the Island of Capri... we'll take a short walk to the ferry, then a quick ferry ride to the island, then explore, then reverse the steps to return on time for cocktails before (and after) dinner. Quick wardrobe change and we're off to see the sights. The short walk really was a short walk (only just over one mile), but there were a lot of stairs involved and the traffic patterns can be frightening if you haven't figured them out yet, so it was an adventure. The street our hotel is on is actually more like an alley with exactly enough room for a small car to drive through (Rob's little Corolla is too big) but not at the same time that people are walking on it. At the end of the alley, we turn onto one of the main roads in Sorrento (Corso Italia) and walk along sidewalks exactly wide enough for one average-Italian-sized individual. Needless to say, most Americans would be half on and half off! Our next turn comes just past the line of palm trees that makes me think of every California-based movie I've ever seen and we head down a winding flight of stairs. I should have counted them because I'm sure it's a nice round number, but it came in several waves so we could at least be excited about having one section complete at each landing... especially on the way back up! We walk down a lovely cobblestone street to the ferry station? port? I don't know what to call it... but we got our tickets to Isola di Capri and loaded up onto the ferry. Felix decides on this little journey that he wants his own boat when he grows up and that sailing will be the life for him! I don't blame him... it's a beautiful day and although the air is dusty, we still have an amazing view. The water is that beautiful aquamarine color that you pretty much only see in movies and on postcards, which makes the colorful buildings along the Marina Grande that much more beautiful.

Capri is a small island, so everything is jammed together as tight as possible. As soon as you get off the pier, you're facing these adorable multilevel buildings with shops and restaurants on the street levels and people's homes on the upper levels. As in all the other "tourist traps" I've visited here, there are vendors selling maps and souvenirs as soon as we enter the city. I go a little further in and find a much better deal on a map (with a little info book and recipes included!) and my customary shot glass souvenir. Felix picked out a shark tooth necklace for himself... he says it looks like a demon fang. We decide to stop for lunch and make our plans for the remainder of the day. We sit on some steps leading down to the shore and have sandwiches. We are amused by a sign warning us not to go in the water. Some of us want to go to the Blue Grotto and some of us want to explore inland a bit more. We decide to sight see a little bit more in the immediate vicinity, then split off and meet back after exploring for awhile. While walking off lunch, we came across a lovely little shop selling everything lemon: lemon gelato, lemonade, limoncello, lemon candies... even little lemon soaps. The whole family tries the gelato, which is excellent (of course!) and makes us all pucker a little. Down the street from the lemon store, we notice a large arch over the road and wonder if it's a bridge for a walking path or a road that can be driven... then we see the funicolare (cable car) pass over the arch. COOL! We definitely want to ride that! Half the family splits off to go check out the Grotta Azzurra, which is apparently one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island. Since I'd like to go back at some point, I think I'll have to check it out... I'm told you have to lay down in the boat to get through the cave entrance, but once you're in it's big and a very nice place to swim. The concept makes me think of the movie "The Beach" and I wonder what the likelihood of sharks is. The rest of us go to find the ticket booth for the funicolare and do a little more shopping for trinkets to send home. As it turns out, the funicolare is just the less athletic way to make it to the city center: there are several stairway paths leading there as well and next time I go there I plan to take them because they're guaranteed to provide better photo ops than the crowded cable car does! Despite that, the view on the way up was pretty awesome. Felix was excited to be able to stand in a moving mode of transportation (he grabs every opportunity to do so!) and as a result was able to enjoy the sights on the way up as well. At the top, we step onto the terraced platform and look out over the city and harbor. I would be jealous of the inhabitants' view, but I know they sacrifice much for it. Island existence, even this close to the mainland, is costly when it comes to importing goods.

This is some of what we saw (and, of course, proof that we were there!) as we looked out over the island. Directly in front of us as we stood there was the clock tower at the cittá centro. I haven't seen any ugly clock towers yet and this one was no exception. It's clearly well maintained and the face is made of ceramic tiles painted in brilliant yellow and blue. On one side is another reason I want to visit with Rob: a memorial to soldiers from both of the World Wars. I'm sure we can find a museum or some other historical artifacts there and I'd love to dig deeper into the history here. After attempting to read the sign (not as successfully as I'd like) and otherwise soaking up the view, we decide to wander on and check out what else the island has to offer. So, did I mention it's a small island and everything is jammed together really tight? Yeah, well, that's a bit of an understatement. The good news is that being on this island offered me an opportunity to get pics of what it was like driving in Naples since I wasn't able to take pictures on the way through. The roads in Naples were just as packed and almost as tight. Believe it or not, there are actually bus lines running here. In my opinion, having buses here is ludicrous but I suppose they are useful for the weak and the elderly. When the buses pass you, however, you have to flatten yourself against the walls to avoid being run over. Luckily, (or wisely on the shop owners' part) the shops' windows are beautifully decorated and provide an excellent distraction from the near-death-by-bus experiences. We found more lovely souvenirs and an adorable ceramic map in the ground in front of a restaurant while exploring through death-avoidance!

While avoiding the bus on the right, I quite literally ran into the sign on the left. I'm glad it worked out that I went left to avoid the bus since this is one of the coolest storefront signs I've ever seen. Not much further down the road, we realized we were not only running out of time but energy as well and it was time to turn back so we wouldn't miss the last ferry off the island. It would seem that just about everyone else on the island had the same idea we did because the funicolare was standing room only when we got to it and Felix and I almost got separated on the way down just trying to get into a car. Then, while waiting for the ferry, we noticed that the entire island seemed to be moving en masse toward the docks. Once we got onto the ferry, that theory was pretty much confirmed by the sardine-like conditions. Felix found this extremely frustrating because he was stuck with me as close as possible to the railing, but not close enough to see the water well or get the relief from the breeze. His complaints were understandable, but annoying because he wasn't the only one stuck breathing in the spectacular aroma brewed up by the combination of otherwise gorgeous 80 degree weather and multinational tourists whose personal hygiene habits are not necessarily all on the same level, to put it politely. Upon our arrival at the mainland, we remembered all those stairs we walked down on our way out in the morning. The idea of walking back up them is less than appealing at this stage of the game, especially after doing so much hilly walking all day. On the very bright side, Italy has proven to be very good for us from the very first day forward: lots of walking makes for improved health (and in my case, better posture) all around! Needless to say, we survived these stairs...

Then we retraced our steps back to the lovely hotel Pergola where we commenced to wash the day away with not just showers (in super-tiny stalls, of course!) but with the first shots of grappa I've ever had and a bottle of wine... or two. No worries - the boy was fed and put to bed first!!

Tomorrow: POMPEII!!

Let's go play chess!

I had no idea how close Marostica was to Nove until I was finally ready to go to Marostica and looked it up. As it turns out, both cities can be explored in the same day easily and I think I might do that a few times with visitors because they're both great attractions.

I first learned of Marostica by way of a "local attractions" map. From this map, I learned that I'm closer to some seriously cool places than I thought I was. Naturally, Venice and Verona, but I didn't realize Asiago was so close and that's a pretty big thrill for me because it's win-win for the family: wine & cheese for me, battlefields for the boys! There's a fun little story that goes with Marostica about a chess game played with living pieces, which is the major reason it is a tourist attraction. Here is the map... and the story of the game:

In 1454, the Lord of Marostica's castle was Taddeo Parisio. Lord Parisio had a daughter named Lionora who just happened to be so beautiful that two noblemen fell in love with her. The noblemen, Rinaldo D'Angarano and Vieri da Vallonara, challenged each other to a duel to win Lionora's hand. Lord Parisio, however, was not happy with the idea of losing either nobleman in such a battle, nor did he want to become enemies with either of them. For these reasons, he decided they should play a game of chess to determine which suitor won Lionora's hand. The loser of the game wouldn't really lose either, because the consolation prize was Lionora's sister Oldrada. The game was to be played in the square in front of the lower castle using the townspeople as chess pieces. On game day, the townspeople showed up for the feast dressed in either black or white, depending on which team they were assigned to, and Lionora watched anxiously as the game was played out. Turns out, Lionora was secretly in love with one of the noblemen, so she spread the word that if her beloved were the winner of the game, she would place a lighted candle in her window so that everyone could share her joy. The game began, with each suitor directing the human players until finally, Vieri da Vallonara won. Following the game, there was much celebrating and merriment all around and that night, a candle burned in Lionora's window.

Obviously, the story itself makes you want to visit the same way Romeo and Juliet makes you want to visit Verona. It's a fun story and easy to imagine. I also learned that on even-numbered years, the chess game is reenacted in September and I have every intention of attending a reenactment in September 2012. Since Felix is such a big fan of chess, I told him about a city nearby that has a giant chessboard for human players. He, of course, thought of Harry Potter and Wizard Chess immediately and thought it was super cool. Excellent! I have a way in! I keep thinking it will be no big deal to go and check it out, but it turns out to be a little more difficult for me to schedule the trip than I thought. August is vacation month in Italy (and most of Europe, I just found out) so a lot of places are closed or have shorter hours. This, along with my school schedule, prevents me from going when I originally planned. Finally, though, I was just DONE with being stuck in the house staring at this silly little computer (it shuts itself off periodically, just for giggles, and I find that beyond frustrating) so I looked at Felix at about noon on a Saturday and said "let's go to Marostica". Happily, he was amenable, so off we went.

To get to Marostica while avoiding the autostrada, you pretty much have to go through Nove. This is excellent, because it's how I learned that Marostica and Nove are literally 5 minutes from one another. I remember being awed by the drive to Nove because the scenery was just beautiful, but when I turned the corner coming up to Marostica and had the full view of the upper castle directly in front of me, I actually had to slow down (I was already well under the speed limit) because it was absolutely breathtaking. If there had been a place for me to pull over, I would have because that's a picture I really wish I had. Maybe when I get a bit better on the bike, I'll ride up there so I can get that awesome shot. As we drive through the small town, it quickly becomes apparent that most of it is closed down. There is very little traffic of any kind and as we pass the lower castle, I see that the gates are closed. Oh well. I follow street signs up a mountain to the bird museum and the upper castle. The bird museum is closed (big shock there) but the restaurant in the upper castle is open. Driving up the mountain terrified Felix because he was able to see out the windows what I could not: a pretty steep drop only a few feet from the road. I couldn't see it because I was watching the road so closely... it was hairpin turns all the way up and the road was rarely wide enough to be legitimately considered appropriate for two-way traffic. At the top of the mountain, however, I did have the misfortune of being able to see over the edge because I drove all the way up to the restaurant where (according to the signs) there was parking available. Well, ok, there is parking there, but it's not really for big cars and even though Rob's car is not that big, it's definitely bigger than what I am comfortable trying to drive into that parking area.

This beautiful archway is the driveway up to the restaurant parking lot. The door next to it is for pedestrians. There was not even a remote chance that I was going to try to drive through that because I had no guarantee that I would be able to turn around once I was in! So I drove a little bit past it and made a 12 point turn (ok, maybe not 12, but definitely not 3!) to reverse direction and headed back to the parking lot for the bird museum. That parking lot was empty - of course - so we parked and walked back up to the top. Having no intentions of even looking at the restaurant (I want attractions, not food!) Felix and I head up to the end, hoping to find something fun or at least a sign letting us know when things will be open again. At the highest point we could find, I snapped a picture...

Here also, we found the beginning (or end) of a hiking trail. Felix got very excited and decided we should follow it to see where it went. I'm glad he's starting to feel more adventurous and is willing to explore a bit. Caution is great, but it can be debilitating if you let it run your life. Now for the major downside: I was not dressed appropriately for hiking. I had on a decently cute outfit that I would have been fine hiking a paved trail like this in, but I was also wearing these adorable wedges that are just not a good idea to walk trails in. I braved it for a bit because Felix was so enthusiastic and I really didn't want to crush that in any way. The trail, fortunately, also had some stone walls for me to brace myself on the way down. It was basically a looooooooonng stairway up and down the mountain, but there were no rails, just a bit of wall for preventing landslides. I don't believe we made it even halfway down when I decided that there was just no way it was safe to keep going in those shoes. Fortunately, it was just over 100 degrees out, so Felix was hot enough it was easy to persuade him to head back up to the car. He did insist on stopping at the water fountain for a bit though. By the time he was done getting a drink, he was completely soaked. Good thing Rob's car already smells funny!

I am fortunate that my son likes to take pictures with me right now and that he humors me when I want to get pictures of him in certain spots. I asked him to stand on the wooden bridge that I drove over to get up to the restaurant area so that I would have a reference for the size of the actual entrance (which was smaller than this is). He's an awfully helpful kid! On our way back down, he finally started commenting about how hot it was and how he couldn't wait to get home to the ice cold air conditioning and all sorts of nonsense like that, but then he said we definitely had to come back because we never found the chessboard and that's the whole reason we went there. Plus, Dad would really like the hiking trails. HA!

So I promise that we'll come back as soon as Rob gets back from Germany and we can all go. It turns out to only be about a two week wait. Rob had a long weekend and we had great weather, so off we went back through Nove (Rob's first time seeing it, but we didn't stop) and into Marostica again. This time there was plenty of traffic and all kinds of activity around, so we knew it would be a good trip. We parked at the lower castle and headed into the square. The first thing I noticed was that it looked a lot like Verona. The entrance was a similar archway and of course the castles were built alike. I think that very possibly all of the walled cities resemble each other in that respect. I guess I'll find out as I visit more of them. We looked around at everything, trying to get a bearing on where we were and where we needed to go to find the chessboard. There was a nice looking bank on the opposite end of the square from the lower castle and a lovely view of the upper castle behind the bank. People were eating at restaurants on either side of the square. We admired a statue of a lion with wings (the Veneto lion) and wandered on down a road to the right of the bank. At the end of that road was a lovely basilica (whose name I don't know) and we investigated. There were no signs saying not to take pictures inside, but I didn't feel comfortable doing it so the only picture from inside that I have is the one Rob took of the fresco. The artwork inside was beautiful. It was, of course, a very calm place and Felix said he wanted to go back because it made him feel peaceful. I like that he wants to return to a church... and that he was so composed and respectful inside. 

When we leave the basilica, we head back down the same street and into the square. We figure that the lower castle is the best place to learn where we can find the chessboard. Upon walking back into the square, we suddenly feel somewhat idiotic: we walked right across the chessboard twice without seeing it. It was not as big as I expected, but definitely the perfect size for human players. Felix naturally gets very excited and insists on playing even though there are people all over the place taking pictures. I'm laughing at myself for not seeing it, especially with all the people taking pictures. Felix and Rob play three games of human chess while I take pictures of them and their surroundings. Felix wins all three games.

During our earlier wanderings, we noticed a monument underneath the clock tower. I did not pay as close attention to it as Rob did, but when we came back I took a closer look at it and Rob explained it to me and I am very grateful that he did because this is exactly why I wanted to come to Italy: I want to see as much history as possible in person. He posted a similar picture on facebook and I am going to use his explanation because it's perfect and much better than I would have put it: 

Caduti Per La Patria

Memorial for Killed in Action for the Country

To the viewer's left are casualties that died in the service of Axis Italy, the ones in the middle were those who died in the first world war and the ones remaining were casualties that fell while fighting to liberate Italy with the Allies.

After the chess games and my short photo frenzy were over, we wandered back to the car and headed up the mountain to show Rob the upper castle. Boy were we in for a treat! The restaurant at the top was hosting a wedding dinner, so the parking lot was packed. Luckily, we got one of the two last spots. We walked up the hill to the restaurant area and found that the other two "parking areas" were full to capacity as well and people were having to actually back down the mountain (super scary!!) because it was impossible to turn around. The wedding did not deter us - Rob particularly - from investigating, so we looked around for a way up the wall so we could get some of those spectacular views. Rob led us in and up a steep set of stairs and we finally got those views. We stood at the top for quite awhile just taking it in. Felix was terrified of falling... he had every right to be: the walkway was enough that one person could squeeze past another person, but if you were both moving it had to be single file. The railing was not something I would attempt to lean on, even if I were a feather. But the views were well worth the climb and we made it a point to enjoy them. Felix and I both tried to talk Rob into walking the path with us, but he was definitely opposed to it. I decided that I will definitely bring Felix back one weekend so we can hike the entire trail since we both want to, but it's absolutely fair that Rob doesn't.

I'm glad that this adventure was two separate trips... I saw much more and was able to appreciate all of it with relatively little stress. That's what I think sightseeing should be like and I plan to make future trips more like these were.

Monte Berico

Rob and I have been talking about taking on Monte Berico pretty much since we got here. It's a tourist attraction, of course, but the guys also use it for PT sometimes and Rob is very interested in seeing how well I can handle the mountain. We keep talking about going one weekend, assuming we'll need the entire day to get to the top and back (I'm not exactly in stellar shape!) and the big question is what to do with Felix. Today, however, Rob was released from work early and the weather is still perfect, so we decided to go with Felix. This should be especially good for us since Felix decided to start doing Insanity with me a few days ago. I'm ridiculously sore from the workouts (Felix not so much!) and Rob wants us to take the stairs.


The drive is short, it's about 5 kilometers from the apartment, and we get there right around 1300. Rob's slightly irritated that it was so easy to get to the top of the mountain in the car (I just drove where Garmin told me to) because he's only ever gone up the mountain on foot and it's a lot longer when you're running! I found a parking space at about the halfway point and we all headed to the bottom to see if we could find the stairs Rob wanted to take. When we got there, Felix and I waited on the street corner while Rob went in search of the stairs. I'm not sure yet how happy I am about it, but for now I think I'm glad he couldn't find them.

We start the walk trying to explain to Felix what he'll see on the way up. Sadly, Rob and I are not familiar enough to really explain it but it was clear that he needed to be calm and respectful and he was. Apparently, on this pathway are the stations of the cross and on certain holy days people will make the trek (some on their knees) in reverence and repentance and all other things generally holy. I personally do not know the stations of the cross (or even if that should be capitalized) but the murals are beautiful and certainly evoke religious sentiments. Even more sadly, there is some pretty disgusting graffiti on some of the walls here. I understand that there are some people here who don't want us here and they are absolutely welcome to feel that way: it's their country and their lives and I wouldn't want anyone to tell me how to feel, so I won't even pretend that it's my place to tell them HOWEVER it is absolutely inappropriate to defile this place (which is Italian!!) in an effort to make the Americans here feel less welcome. Hold a rally or something, don't destroy ancient relics! Enough of that... I took around 100 pictures here: everywhere I looked there was something beautiful to see.

The trip up was slow, not because it was a steep climb but because there was a lot to look at... and trying to read Italian can be a challenge, even if you do have a decent grasp of other Latin-based languages! I was impressed by both boys' patience... neither one of them tends to have much of it in situations like this, but they were very patient with my incessant picture-taking and general slowness. We did run into one of Rob's friends on the way up... some guys just live to PT, I guess! More power to him... I don't see myself ever running a trail like that, although it was a nice walk and now that I know where it is, I think I might like to go find those stairs... or explore the path we found at the top!

There is, of course, the cathedral at the top of the mountain and a nice viewing platform with a decent sized parking area. Before the cathedral itself, there is a cute little statue of a pregnant woman with two small children and the statement "Grazie Mamma per la Vita" which is such a sweet statement (Thank you, mom, for life). Behind the statue is a slight uphill grade with a spectacular view. I'm going to have a very hard time trying to weed out which pictures to scrapbook when the time comes! There are also public restrooms built into the side of the mountain, which amuses me. Around the corner from the restrooms is a nice little restaurant where we decided to have lunch. Felix and Rob both had the pizze della inglese, which I don't understand at all... how is pizza with slices of roast beef, baby tomatoes and "fresh cheese" English pizza? Perhaps someone can enlighten me. I don't remember the name of my pizza (fumata or something similar) but it had rosemary and oregano on it and it was delish! On a side note, something that I absolutely love about Italy in general is the lack of rushing around (besides when driving, of course!) because something I pretty much hated in the States was feeling like I could never just take my time and enjoy whatever it was that I was doing, like having a meal with my family. At this little restaurant, as with every other place I've been so far, there was no rush. We took our time eating and having a decent conversation before deciding for ourselves that it was time to go, rather than being "encouraged" to leave.

Finally, we find ourselves heading back down the mountain, past the lovely vistas and in pretty good spirits. This was definitely a more family-friendly adventure than I expected and for that, I am definitely grateful.

Verona the beautiful

Thursday begins again, a tiny bit later than originally anticipated. Then, Navigon sends us to the wrong train station... it was a lovely side trip though! It was on this little detour that I got to see Vicenza for the first time and decided it was just lovely enough I'd need to investigate further. We make it to the Vicenza train station and the girls get their tickets to Florence, then we head on to Verona. The trip to Verona is much less eventful than the trip to Venice and we arrive pretty quickly with almost no trouble finding the parking garage we found online the night before.

Pretty nice parking garage, huh? If I had known this fountain was here, I would have brought spare clothes for Felix and let him cool off after walking all day. Good to know for next time! Off to enjoy the sights and sounds and smells of Verona. The sights are immediately present... walking out of the parking garage, the city is like all the other places I've seen here so far: a mixture of old and new with tons of color thrown in for good measure. Then you walk through a little archway and see what looks like a castle wall and you know you're in a place you'll love forever. It's beautiful. Of course, the weather cooperated so the positive demeanor of the people around us helped with the general happiness of being there, but it really is just a beautiful place to be. Almost immediately we are facing the Arena, which gets Felix all excited. We backtrack a bit looking for maps and find little one-page layouts in a hotel lobby. Excellent future scrapbooking material! We head back across toward the Arena and find an Egyptian display in the square. I go to take pictures and we find ourselves posing with Antony and Cleopatra in front of the Sphinx... es.

Then we attempt to determine our game plan for the city. Naturally, we want to do the whole Romeo and Juliet thing. There's also the Arena, which we know is a must for the munchkin and a basilica or two. Today turns out to be the separation day. We wind up several times missing people from the crew because of wandering while looking at things and not keeping a clear line of sight on one another. Fortunately, three of the five of us are familiar with their surroundings. Felix and I just had to be sure to stay in contact with one of the other three at all times! Our first priority, being that we got a late start, was food. We walked past many excellent (and expensive!) shopping opportunities, some interesting people who were pretending to be anything other than themselves and some of the most beautifully kept balconies I've ever seen. We stopped in a little market area where I picked up my souvenir shot glass and a sandwich for Felix. Around this time we got separated in the crowd and I started searching for people I knew. Fortunately, we all wound up in the same little sandwich shop and had lunch there (well, Felix had gelato...) then we headed on to Juliet's house.

If you don't know what you're looking for and it happens to be crowded, you will walk right past it. There is an arched entryway with a small sign above it announcing it as the house belonging to the Capulets from whom the famous Juliet came. It kinda looks a little trashy because of the graffiti on the walls. Not everyone who walks through it writes their name on it, but it is safe to say that a large percentage of them do! Then you walk into a small courtyard where the statue of Juliet is and people are lined up to take a picture with their hands on her heart. It's very calm and orderly and naturally, it's pretty. There are locks everywhere: on the gate behind the statue, on bars poking out from walls, even on a bridge we cross later in the day. Apparently, the idea is to lock your love in place and throw away the key. Knowing the value of a good lock, I cannot bring myself to do this little symbolic gesture and I make jokes about leaving a combination lock and coming back for it later. Above us is the balcony. Yes, it's smaller than one would expect (even being forewarned) but it's still nice to see it and take pictures, of course! Then there is the actual home to tour... so we do. It's a pretty big house. I certainly wouldn't mind having the square footage, but I think the stairs would quite literally kill me. There is art on display everywhere and they have stations set up to leave letters for Juliet (emails also!) so Felix sends her an email in addition to the letter he left in the basket behind the statue. The views of the city are progressively more breathtaking with each level climbed. I really like the architecture here, but that's probably just because I'm a sucker for old stuff... it kinda makes me feel like a part of history. From the highest level in the house, we have an excellent view of the castle I want to come back and visit. The landscaping is pretty cool (looks like that Walmart picture I have!) and appeals to me greatly. We spent more time than I expected inside, but when we left I knew I could have stayed there much longer. Across the courtyard are (of course!) gift shops... Felix wanted a couple items, so we got a castle and a snow globe. Then we went up to see the "Letters to Juliet" room. It's inside a little sports store and Felix was freaked out by the mannequins' eyes. We left our marks in a book for visitors, then moved on to see a couple basilicas... ok, I saw one and had to sit outside one because I didn't have appropriate sleeves. Whoops. Next time, for sure!! I took entirely too many pictures on this trip and I'm keeping all of them because I feel creativity pouring out of me here. This will be no mere photo album or even a traditional scrapbook. I only hope I can do this place justice!!

Everything seems to run together here and I think it's because of all the walking. Once you leave the car behind, you're just moving from place to place in a smoothly transitioning sort of way... it's not like getting in the car and driving to this place and taking pictures and getting back into the car and driving to the next place... doing it that way has definite breaks in the pattern so you can easily differentiate between points of interest. Walking the city means walking the city. You start at the parking garage and you end at the parking garage, but everything in between just kinda flows... from information desk to open square to admiring the Arena to walking the road full of shops to the little marketplace to the cafe to Juliet's house to the one little church to one massive church to one slightly less massive church then - oh yea! - we wound up on a bridge with excellent views of the castle (next visit I'll make sure to get the name right so I can blog it properly!) and more locks to make jokes about. 

We return to the square in front of the Arena and arrange our meeting point because the girls are not interested in the Arena again, but Felix will probably lose his ever-loving mind if I don't take him into it. We are not disappointed. It's big, and broken. Hahaha!! It's set up for a performance, I think. There are fake fruit trees in the main entryway and the stage has what looks like a hedge labyrinth with giant roses. When we walk in there are two tours happening: a German one on our left and a French one on our right. It's an interesting language mix to listen to and I was excited to understand a little from each side. Felix and I wander on our own through the one long hallway. Felix likes to run up and down the stairs leading into the theater and pretends to be participating in some kind of ancient Roman battle. He's also happy to realize that he can reach the ceiling on his way in... guess he's growing up after all! After exploring the Arena (where my camera dies), we meet up at the statue and head back home. I am quite happy to have visited Verona the Beautiful and can't wait to come back!

My First Scappatella Veneziana!

The Navigon is very polite. It says "please" a lot... like "please turn soon" when you miss your turn. So, I guess it's just polite to me because I seem to really enjoy driving in circles.

On Tuesday evening, I prepared well so that Felix and I could be up bright and early around 0545. I figured since it takes about 45 minutes to get to Venice from here if you know the way, then I should probably leave around 0620 if I plan to be there by about 0730, which is roughly when we expected the train with CJ, Kamryn and Mariah to arrive. I think I've mentioned before that if something is supposed to arrive at a certain time in Italy to give it some room to be late, because it will. This was no exception! I woke up to my phone alarm and when I silenced it (because I was READY to be awake!!) I noticed that I had two texts. Both were from CJ... the first one said their train was running about 30 minutes late, so I shouldn't rush to get to them and the second one said their train was actually running about 90 minutes late, so I should definitely not rush to get to them. Their train wound up running a full two hours late, which was good for me because when I saw the texts, I set my alarm for one more hour... I should never do that because I always wake up poorly from it. I got Felix ready, got myself ready, got on facebook to announce my departure (how do people live without facebook?!) made a promise to take tons of pictures and headed out. First stop: gas station... I had half a tank, but it never hurts to start a trip with a full tank. Venti litri later, we're on the road back to our apartment because how am I gonna take pictures without a camera??? Good thing the autostrada entrance is close by! So we finally get going and I'm grateful that I made a trial run on the autostrada yesterday (I'd never been on it before) because I had been a little worried about how the ticketing worked and didn't want to be completely confused by more than one thing at a time. The ticket machines are very polite when asking for your money and telling you goodbye. I think that's a good thing because it makes me less fearful of driving on their roads in the future! As we enjoyed the scenery, the Navigon got lost. Naturally. We were on the A4 and Navigon told me to stay on the A4, so I did... suddenly, according to this wonderfully polite little box, we were no longer on a road of any kind. Fortunately, I pay attention to road signs as well and realized that what Navigon meant to tell me was that I should follow the part of the A4 that combined with the A57 towards Venice, rather than following the A4 all by its lonesome. No big, I pay a toll, get off the A4, get back on the A4 in the opposite direction and follow it in the right direction this time. Navigon thanks me. This is right about the point - only maybe 10 minutes from our destination - that we hit a dead standstill. I think it had to have been related to the construction because I never saw a disabled vehicle or any kind of accident. Felix learned how to text at that point, letting CJ know we were actually on our way, but stuck in traffic. Finally, we arrived and CJ told me there was a parking garage across from the bus station where they were waiting for me, so that's where I went. The first picture I took in Venice was from the 10th floor of the parking garage, which is where I parked.

After getting a little vertigo looking down the stairwell, Felix and I met up with the girls at street level and brought them back to the car to stow their luggage. Then we were off to tour the city. All of the streets are either cobbled or water, so there are a ton of adorable shops just over this bridge or just under that bridge or lining that cute little avenue... some of the "roads" were so skinny that foot traffic in both directions was questionable. The whole place was beautiful, of course, and I know I'm lucky to have made my first visit on a sunny day because that helps the atmosphere tremendously. Also, we were touring with the pros! First purchase of the day was a city map... in Italian, English, French and German. This is particularly fun for me because the little labels in my house are in all of those languages, plus Spanish. Fun fact, strictly. Oddly enough, there's not much to see in Venice... just EVERYTHING!! I followed my tour guides dutifully, snapping pictures of everything that caught my eye: the Santa Lucia train station, every adorable little bridge, the cute shops (and their bizarre mannequins), the ancient-looking walls and roads, the gondolas, the guy playing the accordion, the signs, the balconies, the soccer ball on the roof... yeah, everything. We stopped for food and espresso about 45 minutes in... naturally, it was delish! Felix enjoyed his hot dog immensely.

After lunch, we walked on to see more of what should be seen when visiting Venice: the Grand Canal, which is kinda hard to miss... Ponte de Rialto is where I bought my souvenir, which amusingly is a shot glass that says Ponte dei Sospiri... Piazza San Marco of course! who goes to Venice without taking pics of seaweed and lions and seagulls on the heads of naked statues?! NO ONE! The city is small, but since it's all foot traffic - ok, and boats - it takes time to traverse. I enjoyed a lot about it except that it was so crowded. Again, blame the weather: it was a gorgeous day! I think I'd like to go back when it's rainy and a little cooler and maybe either see more, or see it slower. It was fun, for sure... especially falling on the steps two seconds after CJ warned me they were slippery. Finding hidden treasures, like the eyes on another set of steps... spending time with family who I will see more of now that I live an ocean away from them than I did when I lived two states away. Felix had a little gelato and I had a mint and lemon slushy... both were yummy. The fish market was definitely an amusing experience: everything super fresh... some so fresh they were still moving.

My all-time favorite place there was the place that sold whole animals... I find that very attractive: waste not, want not!!

After traversing the city as much as we could in one day with a 9 year old boy, we headed back to the parking garage to get back to Vicenza. Another lovely experience: we didn't realize we had to pay for the parking at an office inside the garage before exiting, so we drove up to the exit and got rejected... then CJ went to pay the parking and holy crap! remind me not to park there again - it's 24 euros a day, whether you're there for 15 minutes or 24 hours. Lesson learned the hard way... back on the A4 (no trouble finding our way back at least!) and headed into Vicenza. The boy is not good at traveling yet, but I will fix that for sure while we're here! The girls were good sports about it though - thanks Kam and Mariah!!! We get back to the apartment and immediately start laundry... today, I'm especially glad I have the laundry room rather than a washer and dryer in my apartment. We took up all three washers getting their travels washed out of their clothes and it was quick, rather than tedious. While waiting for washers to finish, we looked over the menu from the pizza place around the corner and picked out what we wanted. Once the laundry was in the dryers, Felix got on his bike and CJ and I walked to the pizza place to pick up fresh pizzas and a bottle of vino... there was only one option, but it was good! It was especially nice to watch them make our pizzas fresh in the brick oven in front of us while Felix tooled around on the bike in the parking lot. It's about three blocks from my place to the pizza place, which is perfect for dripping deliciousness down my shirt... I didn't make a mess of the pizzas though! Happily, we all ate pizza and salad, had a little wine and diet Dr. Pepper and then it was off to bed because Verona is on the agenda for tomorrow (and train tickets to Florence). A great day I look forward to repeating in a different city each visit!!