SPQR

We arrived in Italy around 9 a.m. On the bus to the hotel I finished reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodie Picoult, which turned out to be a very good book. We went to Naples first, supposedly the birthplace of pizza. We had pasta. We toured around the city and saw a castle, Mt. Vesuvius in the distance, another castle and then we went for lunch. Instead of staying on the nice safe main road for lunch, my group decided, once again against my wishes, to wander down the back alleyways for lunch. We ended up at this little restaurant that refused to serve pizza until eight at night so we had pasta instead. It wasn't very good. I had better pasta later though so don't worry. Then we went and had Italian gelato which is the most delicious thing ever. We ended up having it twice a day everyday that we were in Italy.

After spending the night in Sorento we went to Pompeii the next day. Pompeii was extremely interesting, the city was so advanced. They had sewage pipes in the walls of the city to avoid stinking up the place, advertisments painted on the walls for food and politics and even running water. It was amazing how well preserved the city is, but hey, what else are burning hot clouds of volcanic ash good for? We did get to go see the people who were preserved which was horrifying/intriguing at the same time. They told us how the people died and it must have been awful. The heat of the volcanic ash before it started to fall on them was so high that it burned all the oxygen out of the air so that no one could move and they all were suffocating. While in the process of suffocating the volcanic ash fell on, burned, and encased them. Inside the houses some of the walls are still preserved with their original colors. It was odd to see and old Pompeiian house with pretty red and yellow painted walls and murals as well. After touring all around we went to the actual city center which was enormous and took pictures there. After lunch, we continued on to Mt. Vesuvius itself. It's kind of cold at the top of a volcano. We walked to the top which was sort of hard because it was a rather steep climb, and the top is just a big hole. I was hoping for maybe some lava or something like in Hawaii, but it's just a crater. Some of the rocks inside the crater steam though which was interesting. I took some rocks from the top and we climbed all over the cooled lava. From the top you can see a nearby town which I think is a rather dumb idea considering what happened to Pompeii, but to each his own I guess. After Vesuvius we all climbed back into the bus and drove to the outskirts of Rome to spend the night.

On Sunday we were originally slated to see the Vatican, but instead we toured the city of Rome, because Rotary said so. First we went to the Basilica of St. Giovani Laterno and then the Colosseum. The Colosseum was amazing. It was so big and inside they were able to flood the arena and fight on boats. We walked all around it and it was cool to know that I was walking where Romans had walked. I was literally doing what the Romans do when I was Rome. After lunch we went to the Forum Romanum or the ancient city center. It was gigantic. We walked around for an hour and a half and then got lost trying to find the exit and found Rotarians instead, who showed us the exit. As we were allowed to wander around the Forum Romanum in our own groups only half of us managed to find the right exit while the other half was lost for and extra hour and a half. Due to their geographical incapability we didn't get to see the Pantheon. From the Forum Romanum we continued on to Angel Castle from Angels and Demons. It was rather nice and had a great view of the city from the top. I felt as if I too was on the hunt for the Illuminati. (Not really) Anyways, next we went to the Di Trevi Fountain which I was told by every girl on the trip is in the Lizzy McGuire movie. It was a pretty amazing fountain that had a lot of symbolism. Apparently it tells the story of the Taming of the Waters in which Oceanus gives water to the people and the other statues show it's benefits such as not dying from dehydration and no longer reeking. We ended the day by going to the Spanish Steps which I had never heard of before and don't have a nice view at the top.

The next day we toured the Vatican. You start in the Vatican Museum and from there it leads to St. Peter's sqauare. Except for the Vatican Museum is enormous and it took my group three tries to find the exit to the square. We wandered through the huge halls which are all filled with gorgeous art and ended up in the Sistine Chapel, this is try number one, after looking around, and taking some illegal pictures, we took the left exit that put us back where we had started. After sitting in a little garden for some time we decided to try again. Try number two ends with us taking the same path as the first time but accidentally going into the egyptian art exhibit which put us back in the same place we had started from. Why the Vatican even has an egyptian art exhibit I don't know. Finally we managed to find the Sistine Chapel again and take the right exit, the one that has guards by it, wander down a big empty hallway, interrupt some sort of holy procession, and make it to the square. It's a really big square. We didnt' actually go into St. Peter's Basilica because we spent so much time being lost, but it was still a pretty square. The obelisk there is huge and we got to see where the smoke comes out when a new pope is being selected. Following the Vatican we had free time for four hours and then we left Rome.

On Tuesday we visited Siena in Tuscany and had really great pasta. I also bought some wine there which should hopefully be good. We were only there for about two hours so we didn't do very much other than eat lunch that day. We continued on to our next hotel and then had a very late dinner. Afterwards we finally had Italian Tiaramisu, which is REALLY hard to find there, and it was spectacular.

For our last day in Italy we went to Venice. It was weird seeing a city with no cars at all. We had the whole day to just wander so we spent the day trying to find an affordable gondola ride. Apparently it's usually 100 Euros to ride a gondola split between five people. Since we didn't want to pay 20 Euros each we waited until much later to go. After getting some more gelato I bought gifts for people and a ceramic Venetian mask for myself. Apparently Venice is famous for masks, which I was unaware of. We asked our gondalier why this was and he said that it was because of the black plague when people wore masks with long noses in an attempt to protect themselves. Venetian people decorated theirs the most and became famous for them. Yes, we did eventually find a gondalier who would take us for 10 Euros each and so we took a gondola ride. It was not as amazing as the movies make it seem, although it is very cool. We went around through the back canals and then out onto the main waterway. Earlier we had been sitting eating gelato on the banks of the main waterway and a policeboat came speeding by, causing huge waves to splash us. As we went down the main waterway in our gondola we saw the theater and all the houses that have doors that just open to water. It was very odd to see steps that just keep going down into the water and dissapear too. The water in Venice is apparently really gross and filled with oil, garbage, and human waste; luckily our gondola didn't capsize. After the gondola ride it was time to say goodbye to Venice and Italy and we got back on the bus for the overnight ride back to the Czech Republic.

The whole trip was an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it, except those that made up the first 36 hour bus ride, and I hope that one day I can return to Greece and actually see Athens, and tour around Italy some more. My trip to the Ukraine has been cancelled because the entire town has set out to convince me not to go so I finally gave in and said fine I won't go. Rotary, the Kovariks, my English teachers, and all my friends were telling me not to go so I'm not. Also, as we would be spending the night at the top of a mountain I needed winter clothes, which I no longer have since I sent them home with my mother. So the next trip is to Poland, we'll be touring Krakow and Auschwitz with the future exchangers from the Czech Republic. After that we tour Bratislava, capitol of Slovakia, with Rotary. That's in two weeks so I'll posting again soon.