Pompeii

So today was two days after Easter, but since classes got messed up this week anyway, my professors had decided to cancel class for today as well. Since myself and some of my friends didn't have class, we decided over the weekend that we would go to see the ancient city of Pompeii today. Pompeii is one of the most amazing places I have been to so far. The city itself is about a 3 hour train ride south of Rome through the beautiful countryside of Naples and Campania. On the ride the train passes amazing mountains and volcanoes while following the Gulf of Naples. The even better part is that this week is "Cultural Week" in Italy, so all historical and cultural places are free.
For those that are reading this that don't understand why Pompeii is so important, here's a little history lesson. Pompeii is an ancient roman city, nestled right next to beautiful mountains on the Gulf of Naples. The city, however, is also right next to the Mount Vesuvius Volcano. In the year 79 A.D. on August 24th, the volcano erupted for two days straight. The eruption killed all the residents of the city, while completely burying all evidence that a city even existed. For nearly 1700 years the city was a lost mystery, until in 1748 the city was accidentally discovered. Excavations have been going on since that point, and still continue today.
When we arrived at Pompeii, we were all a little surprised at what we saw. After visiting quite a few places in Italy and being familiar with architecture, we have been used to seeing very few high and intact buildings, let alone full roads, original drainage systems, and preserved bodies (thanks to the volcanic ash). The city is massive. In about four hours we saw most of it, and that was moving fast. Many frescoes survived for so many years, as well as tools that they had used, their full stadium/theatre, palaces, factories, and houses. As you walk down the street you are often times walking on original pavings, and since the buildings were so well preserved, you are often able to go into the buildings. There are mosaics on the floors and the walls, as well as courtyards with fountains that show us how brilliant the people of the time were. The part that I found to be the most amazing was the people that had been preserved thanks to the volcanic ash in the exact position that they were in when they had died. Although the volcano had harmed the city before, it had never done serious damage, and rarely caused this type of destruction and death. the first Pompeii was actually built around 800 B.C., but is believed to have been harmed many times by various eruptions. What was different about this eruption besides the fact that it lasted for two days is the fact that there were actually three waves of eruptions. Many of the people had believed that they were ok since they had survived the first and second eruption of the three, but the third one was much more destructive. Bodies are frozen in positions as if they had been shielding themselves, some as if they had been hurt, and some as if they were praying as they died.
Walking down the streets of Pompeii actually brings you back to the time of 79 A.D. The city is brought to life, and it makes you seriously think about the history of everything in this world, that this city was around when Christ was around, and 2,000 years before any of us were even born. Today, Mount Vesuvius is still a very active volcano, with it's last eruption taking place in 1944. It is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the dense population of 3,000,000 residents in the immediate blast radius of the volcano, the highest density of any volcano blast area. Although we didn't get a chance to climb to the top of the volcano, I definitely plan to go back someday. Pompeii was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen in my life, and pictures cannot do it any justice.
I hope everyone had a great easter back at home. We had fun here, although Rome experienced downpours and hail. Time is still flying by faster than ever, but I'm enjoying every second of it. I hope everything is well back in the states, and keep in touch over my last 4-5 weeks here.

~Mike

Venice

This week was nice, but kind of weird since it was Holy Week, and Rome seems to be swamped with people. So to get away, on Thursday morning I went to Venice for a couple of days. Venice is a little over a 4-hour train ride from Rome via the Eurostar trains, which are very nice and very high speed trains. I left Rome at 6:50 in the morning, arriving in Venice at about 11:10. Thursday was beautiful, and was really the perfect day to just walk around the city and explore. I first went to my hotel, which was very nice, situated about 5 minutes away from San Marco, which made getting places very easy. I went to San Marco and explored the square and the shops, as well as the Basilica. The basilica is beautiful, and although it's smaller inside than one would imagine, the decoration of gold everywhere makes it stunning. I explored a little more in that area, and ended up going to grab some lunch. I caught one of the waterbuses right after lunch, and took it up to the Academia bridge. The Academia area was beautiful, and since it was not nearly as crowded, I spent some time up on top of the bridge overlooking the Grand Canal and thinking about how amazing Venice really is. What surprised me while I was up there was really something that I had never thought about, and that was that since the city has no roads for cars, everything has to be on boats. Now I know this seems obvious, but it's very weird (for me at least) to see an ambulance, polizia, DHL, and Telecom Italia boat instead of cars or trucks, but it's just the way it is there. I walked around a little more, and eventually found myself at the Rialto Bridge. The bridge reminded me a lot of the Ponte Veccio in Florence since it had so many little shops on it and in the surrounding area. The only difference was that rather than having leather goods and gold, this one was covered with things made out of Murano Glass. The bridge and the surrounding Rialto Market was a lot of fun to walk around, and reminded me a lot of the open air markets here in Rome. I walked around a little more and found myself back at my Hotel. I found a nice place to go to dinner, although found that what everyone says about the food in Venice was true, and that the food is nothing like real Italian food. It very much caters to the enormous amount of tourists that the city gets. After dinner I was pretty tired from a long day, and went back to my Hotel to relax for the rest of the night.
On Friday morning I got out early to explore before going back to Rome. I went back to San Marco to go to the top of the bell tower which is the tallest point in the city. The views from the top are spectacular, but unfortunately you can't see all of the little canals that weave through the city from the angle that the tower is at. I walked through the city to see everything one last time, and ended up spending some extra time at the Rialto Market since the food looked amazing this time around. As I was walking back the city was putting up raised pieces of wood on all of the sidewalks and buildings since the city (just like the rest of Italy) was expected to get rain from Friday afternoon until the following Wednesday, meaning that the city would be flooding. The raised pieces of wood act as makeshift sidewalks and walkways during the flooding, which seems like it would cause problems, but the people in Venice are very used to this, as it happens regularly. I took the 1 o'clock train back to a very rainy Rome Friday afternoon, and got back in Rome around 5 o'clock since we got delayed due to a stalled train in front of us.
Tomorrow is Easter, and myself and another friend of mine are making dinner for about 9 of us. She's making the meat and dessert, while I'm making some stuffed artichokes and soup. We're all looking forward to a relaxing weekend, since we don't have class on Monday either. I hope everyone is doing well back in the states, and continue to keep in touch. Buona Pasqua!

~Mike

Florence

While my parents were here, we went to Florence for a couple days. Florence is a little under a 2 hour train ride from Rome, so it really wasn't bad at all to get to. We arrived in Florence on Thursday, March 6th in the afternoon. We had an awesome hotel about 2 blocks from the Duomo, and it was a nice change from the hostels I've been staying in here. We walked around a bit for the first day, but it was raining and windy, essentially raining sideways, so we decided to avoid the weather for a bit. On Friday morning we had a private guided tour by a guide named Elvio, who my dad had heard about through a friend of his. Elvio was an amazing tour guide. He lead us through all of Florence on a walking tour of buildings, museums, and the city, which you can tell he really loves. He first explained ot us where we were staying and the history being the piazza in front of our hotel. We stayed very close to the Academia, so we walked there first to see Michelangelo's "David", which was an amazing thing to get to see. I had never realized that it was 17 feet tall, and had such spectacular detail work. it really is hard to believe. from there, we went to the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio, which are both awesome. The Duomo is massive, and is amazing to see. There is nothing in the world like the Ponte Vecchio either, and it's just such a cool bridge to be on with all the little shops and history that it has. Elvio took us to a nice place where he works on weekends for lunch, and then we walked over to the Basilica of Santa Croce, which was amazing. In the Basilica is where Michelangelo is buried, and it is filled with tombs throughout the floor, which is absolutely fascinating. We then walked over to our last stop, which was the Uffizi, which houses many works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other famous artists. It was an amazing museum to see, and the works that are there are beautiful. That night we found a nice restaurant to eat at, and called it a night early so we could see everything we wanted to still see the next day. On Saturday we woke up early and climbed to the top of the Cupola on the Duomo, which gave us an amazing view of the city. Florence is surrounded by hills on three sides, and from the top of the Cupola, you can really see what makes Florence so beautiful. We did a lot of shopping since Florence is known for it's amazing leather and gold, and all of us found something leather to get. The leather is perfect, and really makes you realize how bad the stuff is we have back at home. We had a great meal at night, after stumbling upon an open air market full of leather and cashmere, all of high quality for low prices. On Sunday we returned back to Rome, which even for my parents became like coming home. It was a great place to visit, and the history is just as amazing as Rome's. On Thursday I'm going to Venice overnight, so I'll make sure to let everyone know how it is. I hope all is well back at home, and I'll update everyone again soon.

~Mike

Sicily

Sicily has to be hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in my life. From the second the plane lands next to a beautiful mountain, you know that it will be an amazing place. My parents and I arrived in Palermo, Sicily on Sunday, March 2, which was a beautiful day. We rented a car, and began our trek to where we were supposed to be staying. We got a little lost on the way, which was the best part of the drive. The rolling hills and the small towns are not to be believed. It's really as if this part of the country never even moved forward in time at all and is still how it was when our ancestors left it. The day got a little interesting, however, when we arrived at the place we were supposed to stay. The beautiful pictures of the place had been very deceiving, and it lacked heat and any real accommodations. We decided not to even stay there, and left to explore the island. We saw nothing but beautiful grassland that went on for miles, crystal clear blue oceans, gorgeous beaches, and very small towns. We explored the area pretty much all day, and as it got late we started to look for a hotel. As we were looking, we decided that they would really like to spend more time in Rome, and that we got to see a lot of Sicily for the time of the year (it's really more a beach vacation). We went back to the airport, and they got us on a flight back to Rome, allowing us to have just a taste of Sicily, but giving my parents much more time in Rome, which was great. It is definitely a place everyone has to see at some point during their life. Hope all is well back at home.

~Mike

The Parents Visit Italy

So it's been about three weeks since the last time I was able to have enough time to sit down and blog about my semester...that's because 2 1/2 weeks ago, my parents flew to Rome to visit. While they were here, we visited everything there is to visit in Rome, as well as Sicily and Florence, both of which I will post about soon. Let me first tell everyone about my parents' visit.
On Friday, Feb 29 my parents landed in Rome. They got settled in their hotel room right down the street from my residence, and we decided to explore. I took them to the Pantheon, the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain before we decided to go and grab a bite to eat and call it an early night since they were jet lagged. On Saturday morning, we first went to the open air market down the street from my residence, which my parents really enjoyed. We then went to the Colosseum. It's always nice to see the look on people's faces when they see some of these buildings for the first time. From there, we walked around the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forum, which are both right next to each other. They seemed to enjoy the little history lesson I was able to give about everything. That evening I took them to Trastevere, which is a section of Rome what is full of old streets, small restaurants, and an excellent group of people. We had a very good dinner there, and came back early to sleep since we were leaving for Sicily the next morning. I will talk about Sicily in a separate post...feel free to read it above.
The day after we got back from Sicily, we all walked around all day. We went to the Spanish Steps and did some shopping, and also walked to the Barberini section of town and did some shopping there as well. That evening we ate at Dino e Toni, which was a restaurant that had been recommended to me. The restaurant was amazing. it had no menu, and the food was whatever was fresh that day. The place was very deceiving, and run by a few guys who clearly know how to make some of the best food in Italy, which is really saying a lot. On Tuesday we had to go to the Vatican to pick up tickets for the Papal Audience that happens on Wednesday from a Priest I had met here who works in the Vatican. Before that, however, we finally went into St. Peter's Basilica. Both of my parents could not believe the size of it, nor the beauty that is held all within one building. We then saw the tombs of the popes, and climbed to the top of the dome, or the Cupola. The climb wasn't too bad, and it was worth every step once you saw the views of Rome. The views are really not to be believed, and cannot be compared to anything else like it in the world. After climbing back down, it was time to pick up the tickets, and Father Grous welcomed my parents into his office that overlooks St. Peter's Square, which is a magnificent view. We relaxed for much of the day after that, and found a nice place to eat at night. Wednesday was the Papal Audience. The Papal Audience is held every Wednesday for thousands of people who go to the Vatican to be blessed by the Pope, and to listen to the message that he has to give that week. Because Father Grous was able to get us such good tickets, we were only 13 rows back from the front, which was an amazing experience being that close to Pope Benedict. People have a tendency to go a little crazy at this event, but that only makes it even more fun. We spent the afternoon walking around the city, and doing a little more shopping since the Italian stores are so great. Thursday morning we left for Florence, which again, you may feel free to read about above in a separate post.
Sunday we came back from Florence and relaxed for a bit, before going out to find some dinner. Monday was the start of classes again for me, but my parents went to Venice. They fell in love with the city, and said it is truly impossible to believe how beautiful it is. When they got back on Wednesday evening, we walked around a bit and went out to dinner before calling it a night. Thursday was our catch-up day. We saw everything that they had not been able to see yet, and also returned to the Trevi Fountain. Thanks to the help of Father Grous, we also managed to get tickets for the three of us to go see the excavations of the original basilica under St. Peter's, which only about 150 people get to see per day. The original basilica was discovered by accident in 1939 when construction work was being done on the modern one. When ti was found, the excavations were originally ordered to be in secret by the Pope, since it was during the time of WWII, and he did not want the Nazis to find out about it. The search all began because the Pope wanted to know if he could find St. Peter's Tomb, which is supposed to be directly under the altar. Stepping into the excavations is like going back in time to 127 A.D. You are walking down streets and going into buildings that are 2,000 years old, learning history and seeing things that most people will never get to see. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. The tomb was discovered, but it was found to be empty. They realized soon why, and found out that at one point they were afraid of people trying to harm the bones, so they had been placed in a wall next to the tomb. Once they were found, they were analyzed and determined to be the bones of St. Peter. The bones were put back where they were found for respect purposes, but this time in a special container that would prevent them from being harmed. It is really a fascinating thing to see, and is truly a humbling experience to stand next to the bones of St. Peter. Thursday night we had a great last dinner, and relaxed for the night, since they had to pack for the following morning. On Friday morning we took one last stroll around, and drove back to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye, but I only have less than 6 weeks left here as I write this, so it won't be long until I see them. I hope that everything is going well back in the states, and keep in touch,

~ Mike