To the Salt Palace (Feb 2)

Happy Groundhogs Day!!

Okay, so the Salt Palace is not really a palace. It is what Saltzburg means in German. We got on an early morning train from Vienna to Saltzburg and shared a compartment with 3 guys (Austrian and German). They were all wearing suits, seemed very well educated, and worked for a company called CARBON Climate Protection. Cool cause to work for! These guys were one of the highlights of the trip for us! We had great conversation, and they were not bashful in telling us what they thought about everything from cars, to politics, to Ukranian women, to history and travel and general US/Europe situations like the Iraq War and the European Union. The main talker of the group said he has one book that he would like George W. to read about how great civilizations/empires fall: they spread their borders too far and neglect matters at home!! He even told us his predictions for the future of Europe, the U.S. and China.

We arrived in Salzburg and our travel companions continued on to Munich. We immediately liked Salzburg. It was a breathtaking city to walk through, and after lunch we made our way to "Bob's Special Tours" for our Sound of Music Tour!

We saw the back of the house that is used as the VonTrap family home in the movie.


We saw the avenue where the kids are climbing/hanging from trees.


We saw the gazeebo where the scene occurred that my family refers to as "the horse trot scene", and the 16 going on 17 song is sung.


We saw the mountain that the family escapes over into Switzerland (but it is really Germany on the other side of the mountain. NOT where you want to go when being chased by Nazis!)


And, Andrews favorite, we saw the international headquarters of Red Bull. It's built on a lake that the founder dug so that he could build his building in a lake.


It was really nice that they took us out into the lake district. The water here is still so clean you can drink from it safely! Many of the lakes are around 300 feet deep and lie between mountains! Beautiful! Anyone considering retirement should consider this area of Austria! Everyone speaks English and it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth! Our little digital camera could not capture the splendor.


We ended the day by buying some Mozarttafel (Mozart Chocolates) and heading to the train station. Tonight we sleep on our way to Paris.

Our Favorites: Vienna

1: Everything closes at 6pm! Supermarkets, jewelry, clothing stores, souvenir stands, everything! The streets are dark!

2: Most people speak English, and speak it well! The don't stumble over vocabulary OR grammer! More than I can say for us here in the U.S.

3: WARM APFELSTRUDEL!!!

4: we've learned great history here! Wow Austria!

Which Palace Today? (Feb 1)

February already? Only 13 days of Europe left!

Our first stop today was Schonbrunn Palace, the only European palace to rival Versailles. It used to be the summer residence of the Hapsburgs....located conveniently 4 miles from their winter home in the city center. We took the Grand Tour and saw 40 rooms. That sounds like a lot, but there are over 1400 rooms in this Palace!!! During WWII only 1 bomb fell on it, and it was a dud. The ceiling has since been repaired and all is well.

We saw there the "Secular and Religious Treasury" that included (Jen is dripping with disbelief and sarcasm and she writes this) a piece of the cross of Christ with a nail hole in it, the nail that pierced Christ's right hand(see photo), a bowl that caught Christ's blood (see photo), and the ever important unicorn horn. Okay, it was neat to learn more about Catholicism and the process a relic goes through to become "Pope certified".
I just had already had enough with relics on this trip. History is neat, relics are not.

For lunch we went to a place recommended to us by-you guessed it-Rick Steves! It was "Restaurant zum Scherer". Andrew got Hieferschwanzl (boiled beef) and Jen got Hungarian Saftgulasch (Gulash) and a pretzel. Cultural, but expensive for lunch. It also seems that indoors in Austria is a smokier place to be than indoors in Italy was.

We planned to go to the Opera House (Photo) for a tour, but then discovered along with some other baffled tourists that it was closed today! There go our plans! Being the flexible tourist we are, we decided to go see the "New Palace" that was never lived in because the empire was defeated before the buildings completion. They had quite a collection of musical instruments and armor. Not really our thing, but fun to see as a back up plan. We went to Demel, a high class sweets shop/bakery in Austria, to sample some Sacher torte. It is dry chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam in in covered in a hard chocolate coating. Not our thing, but a good cultural experience.

Finally from about 6:30 to 9pm we went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum that the Hapsburgs built as a museum for their art in 1888! It was huge, and "no expense was spared" according to the audioguide. Wow. Our favorite part? The audioguide had a button to push that would remember all your favorite art, and at the end they would print out a small book with the art and the discription/history. Nice! We did it, and now have a great collection of art we were not allowed to take pictures of! :)

Arrival in Wien (Jan 31)

The conductor woke us about an hour before arrival in Vienna. We were served tea and hard rolls with butter for BREAKFAST, in caps because it meant we were no longer in Italy. A general rule is that the farther north you go in Europe, the bigger the breakfast gets! We arrived at Westbahnhof and walked about 10 blocks to our room. We stayed with a lady who rents out rooms in her home, Budai Ildiko. She spoke English, and our room was spacious, clean, and she gave us a key so we could come and go as we pleased. Highly recommend her!

We walked 10-15 min to get downtown, visited the tourist info office and bought tickets for tonight's concert, and took a tram around "The Ring". It used to be a wall until 1860 when Emperor Franz Joseph had it knocked down and turned into a 190ft wide road! The tram took us by a whirlwind of sights, all built after 1860. We saw neo-renaissance, neo-gothic, neo-baroque. All kinds of neo's! (See photo neo-gothic city hall by night.) We also saw the Opera House and the Sacher Cafe, home of the famous Austrian Sacher Torte!

We walked down Karntner Strasse, a pedestrian only major shopping street where 12th century crusaiders walked toward the Holy Land. That lead us to St. Stephan's Cathedral, the National Church of Austria in the center of Vienna. The pulpit is on of the most intricate carvings we've ever seen.

As we walked through the old city center, we came upon the Hofburg Palace, the winter home of the Hapsburg rulers. The Hapsburg's were in power right up until WWI. We toured the Imperial Apartments and the Sisi Museum. Sisi was the nickname for Empress Elizabeth, who has been compared to Princess Diana. From ordinary to extrodinary, full of trajedy along the way. She is worth looking up!

We finished the night with a concert at the Kursalon, where Johann Strauss conducted his orchestra & waltzes. It turns out the concert was primarily for tourists, and there was more English than German being spoken, but it was still a great cultural experience as well as a history lesson! Some music was familiar and some was new, and we went to bed that night with new melodies dancing through our thoughts.

Our Favorites: Venice

1. Majorly uneven ground and sidewalks! Our theory is that it is because Venice is sinking, and it is doing so unevenly! Watch your step!

2. Pigeons. The city has added bird birth control to the bird feed it sells to tourists in order to control the population. We think they may want to increase the potency a tad!


3. To navigate, there are signs to many locations. There really aren't street signs because there really aren't really that many streets.

4. Expensive! 1 Euro is about $1.30. One cup of tea was E3, which is about $3.90! To keep our luggage at the baggage check for 11 hours was E15! To use the internet, E8/hr!! I'm glad we didn't pay to stay here overnight! :)

Venezia: Venice (Jan 30)

We awoke after our first night train and got oriented to the Venice train station. We checked our big bags at the luggage check for the day. Expensive, but convenient. We walked outside, were shocked by the cold weather that day, and bought a ticket for the #1 Vaporetto. A Vaporetto is a bus-boat, much like a long pontoon boat that seats many passengers. Instead of sitting in an enclosed space in the back, we chose to sit in the front seats, with the wind in our faces to get the best possible view of the Grand Canal! Our first impressions of Venice: COLD & EXPENSIVE!

We took the Vaporetto from the train station at one end of the Grand Canal to St. Mark's Square at the other end. On the way we got a view of the old Jewish Ghetto! In 1516 it was where all the Jews of the city lived, and they worked at the foundry. In Venetian, "geto" means foundry. This is where we get our work "ghetto" today. We also saw the Turkish Fondaco, the oldest house in Venice, and the Casino. In the 1700's, "Venice was Europe's Vegas" according to Rick Steves. "Casino" means little house, and this was the worlds first in 1638. Not part of any organized tour but also worth mentioning, we saw a UPS boat, an ambulance boat, and a boat with 5 new windows and 2 men that were going to install them!


We got tea to warm up, and went to the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the Duke of Venice, which we learned was it's own country/empire for much of history because of it's rich trade routes with places like Turkey. Inside the palace we saw the largest oil painting in the world by Tintoretto: Jesus and Mary surrounded by 500 saints! There was a lot of art of a lion with large wings. This is the symbol of St. Mark, whose bones now rest here after being stolen out of Egypt. The Venetians actually seem proud of this! The armory here was excellent with over 2000 pieces! We saw things like horse and child armor, fuse burning rifles, swards that also fired bullets, 1.5m long 2 hand champion swards, a chastity belt, and the predecessor to the machine gun!

At lunch we sat by an old man that liked to talk (and may have been emboldened by a moderate amount of alcohol). He got 3 tables of us all engaged in conversation: us, a Japanese girl, and his friend from England. It was enjoyable to chit chat, and at the end he bought a round of Grappoling drinks for us (like a Limoncello smoothie). By the time we all left, the waiters were all standing by the door in their coats waiting for us to leave so they could close until dinner!

After lunch we went to St. Mark's Basilica. It had a strong Byzantium influence, so it was unique among the ones we had seen. The entire walls and ceiling were mosaic gold...breathtaking! Scenes in the mosaics told the story of Jesus' life and death...and life. From creation, through Noah, through the birth and death of Jesus. Pretty amazing!


We spent the rest of our time walking through the sinking city, enjoying our last gelato on the way to the train station. We wondered if there was any land on this "island", but even if there is no grass, it was very beautiful. Our last Italian interaction was with the police when they approached us waiting for our train and ran our passports. Once we were cleared, we boarded the train for Austria and heard German being spoken by the conductor. This was our second night train in as many nights.

A Couple of Rough Nights (Jan 29)

We had both been exhausted from the hike the day before, and were sleeping in a room in which we could see our breath, AND were both not feeling totally healthy. So, we didn't sleep too well.

We woke up and had some time to spend in Riomaggiore. We walked all through the town, and down to the water for the last time. Another beautiful day!

Then we cought the train to La Spezia and found a laundromat! This was the first time our clothes had seen a drier since the US! Our undies fit again!! It's amazing how differently clothes fit after being line dried!! We found a corner store and bought some snacks for the night train we were about to take...Focaccia bread, fresh raisins still on the vine (huge! See photo), bananas & apples, yogurt, and fruit cookies. Yum!

We could not take a night train from the Cinque Terre area to Venice because the distance was not long enough. So, instead we went to Savona, which is the opposite direction (west) of Venice. There we waited for 3 hours until midnight to get on our night train. Savona was deserted! There were literally no other people there. It was really cold, and we wandered a while before we found a waiting room where we had to turn on the heat. There were only dirty squatty potties, which is really hard for a gal to do when she's wearing jeans, a long scarf, a long wool coat, and a money belt! But we settled in for the wait. We boarded the train at midnight, found our room, caused a small commotion getting into our top bunks, then finally fell asleep. We arrived in Venice at 7:30 the next morning.

One of Italy's best secrets... (Jan 28)

We boarded our train at 6:30am and arrived in the Cinque Terre at about 10am. It is a series of 5 small towns that thrived here shielded from the rest of Italy by the mountains. It has remained mostly the same for hundreds of years! We stayed in town #1, Riomaggiore, and LOVED it there. There is one main "street" that sees only pedestrians and emergency vehicles. The rest of the town is navigated by a series of "secret" stairways and passageways. Andrew and I couldn't even walk side by side they were so small!

That afternoon we took the Dolce de Vita stroll, a path the connects the 5 towns. We started out wearing coats and scarves and Jen ended up in a tanktop! It turned out to be a great day and a harder hike than anticipated. I think our photos say it all here...

Terraced Vineyards:


Manarola on the cliff:


The Mediterranean:


View of Riomaggiore from our balcony:



Our only downer of this place was the room we stayed in. It looked huge and nicer than we expected... it was actually a 2 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and bathroom. The temperature at night was... well, we could see our breath. Only one heater in the whole place worked, and it didn't work well. Our toilet leaked. Freezing, in many layers, and exhausted, we snuggled into a twin bed together to stay warm. We were in bed with lights out by 8pm!

Florence (Jan 27)

Florence is a big city (400,000), but it feels like a small town. It's a lovely day trip from Siena. The train ride from Siena to Firenze (Florence) is beautiful...more of the Tuscan hillside. Have you ever seen the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun"? It looks just like that, and I found myself having an inner dialogs just like the main character.

This was a day of walking and museums. Some of the streets still had Christmas decorations up, and that was fun to see. The first museum was the Museo del Bargello. It was a nice layout and easy to follow. There were descriptions of the art in English, so you definitely do NOT need to purchase the guidebook here. Also, you only need about 1.5 hours to see everything. There was a Michaelangelo room and a Donatello room. The bronze statue by Donatello was from around 1450, and was the first male nude statue in over 1000 years! That must have caused some commotion!

The next stop was the Galleria Dell'Accademia. This one is famous for Michaelangelo's David, which we estimated was about 5 meters tall! That's 2.5 Andrews!! He's known for a part which is disproportionately small, but he, as a whole, is huge!! :) Michaelangelo worked on this piece of marble that 2 other artists had started on and rejected! There were other things here worth seeing, so this is a must see when in Florence!

Then we followed Rick Steve's "Renaissance Ramble" which took us past the famous Firenze Duomo (photo) ended near the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchil (Bridge-see photo). The bridge was pedestrian only and had shops lining both sides. It was like an outdoor mall, with mostly jewelry shops! Hope that bridge never collapses or it will be quite expensive!





Outside the Uffizi are statues of some of the famous Florentines. Among them were Donatello, Leonardo DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Dante, Macciavelli, Amerigo Vespucci, and Galileo.

Our final stop was the Uffizi. It was home to more work by Caravaggio, which is dark and sometimes troubling. This museum also had a great layout and is worth about 1.5 hours. Then, back to Siena for the night.

Our Favorites: Siena

1: Siena has 0.50 cent hot drink machines all over the place so if you need some quick hot cocoa or coffee, it's there! It's slightly larger than a dixie cup, and you adjust the level of sweetness from 1 to 5!

2: In Rome & Naples, NO ONE wanted to make change for you, which was a huge hastle. If you buy something for 8 Euros and pay with a 10, they give you a dirty look and ask if you have 8 (and there is a 2 Euro coin...how easy can it get??). Siena is a refreshingly easy place to make purchases.

3: There is as much English spoken as Italian, even in the off season.

4: Every single store has one word in the window... SALDI! So we've learned the word for sale!

5: Crowds of people are out walking at 7pm, but the streets are totally deserted by 9!

Sleepy in Siena (Jan 26)

We awoke in our Siena hotel room with the alarm at 6:30am. We were both exhausted, so although we had planned a day trip to Florence today, we decided to wake up when we were good and ready and spend today in Siena and tomorrow in Florence. It turns out that we weren't ready until 9am. We slept for 12 hours!!! Jen was still sick, so to allow her to rest Andrew had given her his pillow so she could breathe, and he used her HUGE scarf as a pillow. It's the first time we slept through the night in over a week.

After our showers, we strolled the streets of Siena looking for breakfast and creating a new plan for the day. There are only a few streets in Siena that are wide enough for cars. There are only narrow stone streets with buildings sticking out of them, no sidewalks, no pavement. It felt like we were in a movie. Here is a photo of the huge square, Piaza Il Campo.


We made our way to the Duomo, the cathedral in Siena. It was impressive outside, but even more so inside. There was a marble Michelangelo statue of Paul, a Donatello bronze statue of St. John the Baptist, Bernini's St. Gerome, and the Piccolomini Library (see photo) which tells the life of Pope Pius II who was from Siena. The floor of the Duomo is marble with scenes from the bible, the most impressive of which was "The Slaughter of the Innocents" when King Herod had the male Hebrew babies murdered.

When we left, it was raining again, so we found an internet cafe then went back to our room to plan more of our travels. At dinner we were seated with an Australian woman who was living in Italy for a year after her divorce. We are guessing she was in her 50's, and she had some great stories to tell. She was not loud or trying to show off, and only told us about things when we asked questions. Her next stop after Siena was to work on farms/vineyards. You work, and your room and board are free. She had also volunteered to record data for a dolphin research project for a while! Great dinner conversation.

A trip to Southern Tuscany (Jan 25)

We awoke at 6am to get our train to Siena, so we gave Andrew's mom, Beth, a call. She had been doing some research to see what could be keeping Jen this sick for this long. The answer appeared to be whooping cough. We needed antibiotics, but in Italy you don't need a prescription for them. This should be easy...

We got to our first train passing several pharmacies...all of which were closed until later in the morning. At our first transfer station, Orte, we learned that our train was going to be 50 min late! We hopped on another train but still didn't make it to Chiusi in time to catch the third train. We had 90 min to wait for the bus that would take us to Siena. The good news... there was a pharmacy down the street.

We awoke at 6am to get our train to
The pharmacist was trying to explain to us that if we saw a tourist doctor and had a prescription the Z-pack (strong antibiotics) would be free. Since we didn't want to take time to do that, we had to pay for them. We almost laughed out loud when she told us it would be 17 Euros each (1.3 Dollars to the Euro). In the States, you can't find that price, maybe even with insurance!! So we both started the Z-pack, much to Jen's relief.

After lunch it was starting to rain, but we got on the bus and had beautiful landscape to watch on our way to Siena. We stayed at the third hotel we stopped in at when the price was right. We ate dinner at a place recommended by Rick Steve's travel guide, visited an internet cafe to pay monthly bills, and were in bed by 9pm. Jen was at her lowest in terms of health tonight...if it gets worse that puking in St. Peter's Square. Praise the Lord for antibiotics!

Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to see the Pope! (Jan 24)

Andrew got us tickets to see Pope Benedict XVI!! He gave his Wednesday morning weekly address, and when he entered the auditorium at the Vatican it was more like being at a NFL football game or a rock concert! People were standing on their chairs screaming, random group cheers erupted, and there was even a pep band in the crowd...from Germany I'm guessing by their garb! The Pope spoke mostly in Italian, so I have no idea what he said, but he greeted at the beginning and blessed at the end in Italian, French, Spanish, English, German and Russian/Polish (we weren't sure). That was an experience!


We got delicious pizza for lunch (I love this country!), then went to the Vatican Museum. We were unaware of the shortened winter hours until we entered the museum, so instead of 3+ hours, we had only 1 hour. We need to go back and see it again, but we caught some of the highlights and the grand finale.... the Sistine Chapel. it took Michangelo 4 years to complete. Everyone always refers to it, but I didn't know what to expect. It is the entire ceiling of the chapel, and it is a series of small paintings...like a collage. Wow. Our necks were sore after that!



Finally we met for a free English tour of the Vatican and St. Peter's Square. We learned a lot about architecture and Catholic history, but it was a rainy day and Jen was still pretty sick. We called it a day after Jen coughed so hard she threw up in St. Peter's square!

The moral of the story... when you see the Pope, be sure to wait around for the Papal Blessing!!!

Museums of Rome (Jan 23)

Today we visited 3 museums in Rome, including what turned out to be our favorite of the whole trip! That's a lot of art to take in all in one day!

Our first stop was the National Museum of Rome, and our goal was to see the highlights and be out in one hour! We were looking at the sarcophagus (coffin) of an 8 year old girl mummy and ONE of us leaned in to get a closer look! All of a sudden there were alarms and security (but not as big of a deal as what you are picturing right now)! Turns out there is a piece of red tape on the floor that ONE of us crossed! The security was very relaxed, like this sort of thing happens all the time!! If I were guarding an ancient mummy, I'd do more than put red tape on the ground!

One of our favorite pieces here was called "The Boxer". It is an original 2,000 year old bronze statue of a man with his hands wrapped (like a boxer) sitting on a stone looking over his shoulder. The artist used slightly different metals to give lips, wounds, even nipples a slightly red color. There was incredible detail, and again, you could walk right up to it without rope or glass in your way.

Next was our favorite museum of the trip: The Borghese Gallary. It used to be the home of Cardinal Borghese, and art collector. They only allow 360 visitors 4 times a day, so you need to plan and get tickets ahead, but it is very worth it! Also, excellent audioguides-worth the 5 euros! We saw a scandalous nude statue of Napolean's sister Princess Pauline, Bernini's David (which we liked even more than the more famous Michaelangelo's David later in the trip), and Carvaggio's David (a painting of David holding Goliath's head in which Goliath was a self portrait. This was his confession of murder when he asked the Pope for pardon). Anything by Bernini is AMAZING!



After lunch we went to Palatine Hill where all the Roman Emperors built their palaces. It was amazing to walk among the ruins and try to imagine what life was once like! We was the Circus Maximus which was used for chariot races and could once seat 300,000!!! The largest stadium today seats a mere 120,000! On our way home, we got dinner from Osvaldo, our favorite Roman pizza man. He and Andrew are starting to bond...in English and Italian.

Our Favorites: Rome

1) Rome seems to be the most trusting city in the world! No one ever checked our tickets on the bus or Metro, we simply walked on and walked off. Also, at Palatine Hill we got our free tickets (with the handy Roma Pass) and went into the gate, and kept going, and going, and going... No one ever checked to see if we even had tickets! We could have just walked in, if we were slightly less honest people. :)

2) Osvaldo. He owns the pizza place just down the street from where we stay, and he makes some good stuff! Our current favorite is a sandwich on ciabatta bread, with just tomato, fresh mozzarella, and leafy greens. I'm sure there's some olive oil too. He's gotten used to seeing us, and Andrew has some conversations with him...in Italian! (My husband is a genius.)

3) This city is easy to navigate. There are several buses and only 2 metro lines, and they all stop at the Colosseum. At each bus stop, there are signs with the numbers of the buses that stop there. It also lists all the stops that bus has made and will make, so if you know your stop, it's very easy to find a bus! We like this city!

Rome: Colosseum & Forum (Jan22)

We used our Eurail Pass for the first time to get the train from Naples to Rome. We stayed at Casa Della Palma, a bed & breakfast owned by Alessandro who turned out to be key in helping us understand how to navigate the city. We bought 2 Roma Passes, which were a great deal! 20 Euros each, and it covers all public transportation on train and bus for 3 days, free entrance to the first 2 attractions and the rest are half price!


The Colosseum was very much like walking into a modern day sports arena! It could seat 50,000 people, and we got to see the view from the emperors box! Part of the floor was removed so we could see the rooms and tunnels that the gladiators walked before entering the arena.


We walked up the hill to the Forum where we followed Rick Steve's suggested self-guided walk. We saw the Arch of Titus which took 50,000 Jewish slaves to build, the Basilica of Constantine, Temple of Julius Caesar (where his body was burned after his assassination) and the Temple of Saturn built in 500 B.C.

Next we followed Rick's "Dolce de Vita Stroll" down the Via Del Corso full of super expensive stores and Romans out for their evening stroll. This road has been here since ancient Roman times. It seems that everything that is Rome is built on top of everything that was Rome. We finished the evening with Michangelo's Grand Staircase, and finally the Pantheon with the best preserved interior in Rome.

Walkin' in the Sunshine (Jan 21)

Today was one long walk to see beautiful Naples. We left our hotel and walked toward the Mediterranean through throngs of people! It was a Sunday morning, but it reminded me of every movie I've ever seen in NYC...people all over, going every direction! There were people selling things set out on blankets further crowding the already overcrowded sidewalks! We walked passed many interesting buildings, one of which was the Certosa Di San Martino, a castle perched high up on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean.



We saw Castel Dell' Ovo, a castle in the water that was started in the 9th century. And right next door, we stumbled upon an outdoor ice skating rink where families and kids were laughing and screaming with joy! We found a place for pizza and limoncello for lunch. Just a helpful note: Limoncello is VERY strong, so don't have it for lunch unless you usually drink strong alcohol for lunch!

We walked back on the Via Chiaia, where most of the shops were closed on Sunday. There were still people wandering, and it was a great place to sit and watch the Italians and daydream what their lives must be like. This street is a must if you ever visit Naples! We headed back to the hotel to prepare for Rome.

Pompeii & Herculaneum (Jan 20)

We awoke early and want to the train station to catch the Circumvesuviana commuter train to Herculaneum. Herculaneum is smaller than Pompeii, but it is more well preserved with some buildings intact and some art still on the walls. We were able to walk into the buildings and explore without many ropes or gates restricting us. It was VERY cool.

Then on to Pompeii! During excavation, they injected plaster into spaces in the ground where they thought humans had been. The result? You can see plaster figures of people, still with the expressions on their faces that were there when they died. Interesting. We saw the ancient amphitheatre, the forum, and of course Vesuvius herself! The city was home to 20,000 and you need about 5 hours to explore it well. We were really hustling to see the highlights!

Back on the Circumvesuviana, we made it to Sorrento with 10 minutes to connect to a SITA bus to see the Amalfi Coast before sunset! This was the one drawback to off season travel: short days! The Mediterranean far below the cliffs of the coast was an amazing sight to see! Then, back to Naples for the night.

Naples, Italy (Jan19)

We had different plans for the day, but this was the first of many days that we moved & changed once in Europe. We slept in for our health and were showered and to breakfast before it was over at 11:00. This was the view from our hotel room. We went to the train station and bought a phone card. We tried about 4 different times to get it to work until and old man hobbled over to us, said nothing, grabbed the card from Andrew's hand, snapped the corner off, and put in back into the machine. He picked up the receiver, handed it to Andrew and hobbled away! It was hilarious! We stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then proceeded with our call!! (I love Italy!)

We walked the main streets of Naples and found a great place for lunch. It turned out to be the best pizza of the whole trip!! Then on to the National Archaeological Museum which houses remains from Pompeii & Herculaneum that were covered in lava and ash in the 79AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We went into the "Secret Room" and saw the largest collection of penis art we could have ever imagined! We also saw the largest Hall in Europe with a sun dial built into the floor and a small hole in the wall to let the sunbeams in onto the floor. One of our favorites was the Farnese Bull, which you should check out. It has a cool story!

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (Jan 18)

We packed up all our belongings for this 5 week trip, which was a 20lb backpack each, and headed off to the train station to catch a 7:05 express train to Kyiv. After the train, we took a Marshruka (bus) to the airport where we spent our last 84 Grieves on an 85 Grieve lunch! Oops!

After our plane was delayed 3 times for a total of 50 min, we flew to Milan, Italy. We were delighted with the immigration lack of customs...we never thought we'd make our connecting flight on time!! We arrived in Naples and found a bus to the train station around 11pm. We did not have a place to stay, but we knew we wanted to be near the train station! We went into one hotel, and the price was a bit high so the woman at the desk called around for us and found a better price. Then, the bellhop put on his coat and walked us to the new hotel!!! (Ironically, the hotel was called...see photo!) Now that is service! Jen was still sick, but already she liked Italy!!