Category: Honeymoon

Today was really fun and relaxing, and a little refreshing change of pace.

Andrea had a Big Mac attack this morning, so we had a quick, late lunch (avoided hamburgers at local cafes as they aren’t really made of beef, per se) and headed north towards the Piazza del Popolo and the Pincio. We’d never been that far north yet, and we had it in our minds to find some parkland, escape from the urban jungle we’d been caught up in for the last week.

The piazza had yet another Egyptian obelisk…we had no idea the Romans brought back quite so many of these. When we saw the first one it was magical and unique…now it’s kinda commonplace. Still cool, though.

The Pincio is basically a very large ledge that offers a panoramic view of the city. We slowly wound our way up through streets and stairs, taking some time to sit in the shade, take some pictures, and people watch. We took some pictures up at the top of the Pincio, some of which we’ll probably try to stitch together later into a big panorama of the city. We bought a bottle of water (probably for way too much money) and headed east into the Villa Borghese.

Villa Borghese is a huge park area north of Rome. After so many days walking through plaster, marble, and cobblestone, it was refreshing to walk through the grass, sit under trees, and play in the water. We found a little lake in the park with an island at its center with columns and statues. There was a stand to rent rowboats, which we thought would be a little fun, romantic experience. So we paid our 6 Euro to take a boat out onto the lake. I (Matt) took the oars and Andrea took the camera and we drifted out onto the lake. I like to think I did a pretty good job with the oars; I didn’t splash them at all, we didn’t run into anything, and we generally moved in predictable, straight lines. 🙂 Andrea got some great pictures of the lake, turtles, and ducks. It was a fun time.

As we were paddling about, another couple made their way onto the lake. A man was laying across the back of the boat, and a woman was working the oars. Then we noticed a small film crew on the shore and we realized they were filming that couple. We have no idea what they were shooting for (and we probably got in the way of a few early shots as we paddled around), but it was neat to see. We were really glad we chose to do it!

We continued through the park, resting our feet our in a large round fountain, which was amazingly refreshing. We walked back to the hotel past the Villa de Medici, and took a short siesta.

After we’d rested, we headed back to the Japanese restaurant we’d visited a few days before, this time determined to sit at the sushi conveyor belt. So that’s exactly what we did. We ate 12 little plates worth of sushi, and tried all kinds of interesting things like octopus, sea urchin, roe…basically whatever came down the line. It was all very fresh and delicious. Being the only ones in the restaurant, we ran through the 12 plates in about 30 minutes, so we felt like little piggy Americans. But we’re OK with that; it was fantastic, and a lot of fun!

It was bedtime so we headed back to our crappy little hotel room to sleep.

We woke up and dressed very modestly. You see, we’re going to the Vatican today, and fortunately Andrea read all about the dress code (no shorts, short skirt, bare shoulders, etc). So we covered our shoulders, put on long pants (yikes, it’s still around 90 degrees Fahrenheit here) and caught a taxi for Basilica San Pietro (St. Peter’s Basilica).

The piazza in front of St. Peter’s is huge, with another tall Egyptian obelisk in the center. That obelisk has stood for many, many years, paying witness to quite a few martyrs who were executed nearby. The sweeping colonnades around the sides (meant to symbolize either the pope’s or Jesus’s outspread, encircling arms, I can’t remember) are lined with 120 statues of Christian martyrs. There was a small makeshift parade going on in the piazza when we arrived, complete with drummers and ancient Roman soldiers, all in period armor carring SPQR banners and marching in time. Now, that sounds pretty cool, but honestly it was cheap looking, shiny plastic armor; in a way it looked like a bunch of the guys that try to get you to take a picture with them for 5 Euros in front of the Colosseum banded together to form a Conga line. 🙂 But we enjoyed it nonetheless, it added a cool importance to the beginning of our visit.

We went through security, picked up two Audioguides, and headed into the basilica. First and foremost, St. Peter’s is massive. There are lines on the floor inside indicating where other massive churches of the world (i.e. Notre Dame, St. Patrick’s, etc) would fit wholly inside it. Michaelangelo’s original Pieta (sculpture of Mary and Jesus) is there, behind bullet-proof glass. There’s a huge winding altar, tremendous statues and domes, the remains of St. Peter, and the remains of several popes are interred in the basilica. The remains of some popes are actually in glass cases at the base of an altar, which is interesting to see. Most of them are surprisingly well preserved. One seemed to have a bronze head and hand…we couldn’t quite figure that out. 

Let’s get this out of the way: when you’re planning your trip to the Vatican, evidently there are free podcasts available from Rick Steves to narrate your visit to St. Peter’s. There are also books that’ll give you oodles of relevant information. We did not enjoy the audioguide that we picked up at St. Peter’s. Each clip would give you a tiny bit of relevant information (i.e. what this is, who did it, when, and why) and then talk at great length like about the religious reminders present in each piece (i.e. Mary seems to be reminding us of our call to serve the Lord, worship Him, for He is the one true Lord….etc). After the fifth time this becomes very redundant, and it turned our visit into a much longer stay. By the end we’d just let the voice ramble on as we moved to the next thing to see.

Some of our favorite sights: Bernini’s altar, the amazing statues, especially the four saints in the original basilica pillars, the huge dome itself, and the doors to the basilica, which are covered with bas relief sculptures. One illustrates the 7 sacraments (although there were 8 panels, we’re still trying to figure that out), another is the Jubilee door, which is only opened every 25 years (next in 2025), and finally “Death’s gate,” a door formerly used for funeral processions, covered with images of Christ and martyrs.

We headed back into the piazza. They were cleaning the fountains today, so they weren’t turned on. We headed WNW out of the Vatican walls in search of food. We found a little cafe with a decent lunch deal (pizza + salad + drink for 10,50 Euros). Andrea had pizza and the worst salad she’s ever had (tasted like it was soaked in salt water), and I had penne alla’arriabata. The waitress actually came back to warn me that it’s hot. It wasn’t hot. 🙂 She should try some Thai food; that’s hot! This was tasty, but totally safe. 🙂 

We headed back and tried to make our way to the Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum), but we learned it was already closing (closes at 4:30 on the weekdays). We tried to catch a cab, but were told that the ride that cost us 8 Euros to get in, would be 18 Euros to get back. I asked why there was a difference, and the cabbie said there was a parade they’d need to go around. A parade sounded cool, so we skipped the cab, headed east of the piazza in the direction he’d indicated, and took a shady seat on the street next to a snack cart. We never saw a parade. 🙂

We did, however, do some great people watching. We saw two nuns driving a small foreign hatchback, not terribly successfully, and parking it 2 feet off the curb at a 30 degree angle, pointing the nose back out into the street, grinding the gears the entire time while two female traffic cops watched, trying in vain to help. We’ve decided that these nuns shouldn’t drive, or at least practice. 🙂 During this scene our new favorite tourist appeared. Decked in a sun hat, bright flowered shirt, shorts, crocs, blank stare, gaping mouth, and point-and-shoot in hand, he shamelessly stood a few feet away from the nuns, taking pictures while they backed up from various angles. Sadly (as we quietly hoped against it), he turned out to be an American. 

We got some strawberry and lemon gelato and continued to sit and watch our corner. Next, a very frazzled older Italian gentleman drove by, talking very emphatically on his cell phone as he drove. He came to a stop in the middle of the street in front of us (for no apparent reason), still very passionate about whatever it was he was saying to the person on the other end of the phone. The two traffic cops approached him and motioned that he can’t use the cell phone and drive, at which point he started arguing with them, and on the phone, and finally hung up the phone. They had him pull of the road to talk it over, forming another 30 degree angle with the curb in front of the nun car, now with the tail pointing into the street, forming a huge V of bad parking. He got out of the car, arguing very loudly, pointing at his car and up the street (man I wish I knew Italian). At this point, our subtle American friend, got up again, and walked in tight circles around the car, taking pictures. All in all, we’re really glad we took a break at that particular corner.

We got a bottle of water and walked back to the hotel (it wasn’t very far). After a short rest, we headed east of the Trevi Fountain to a small restaurant with painted ceilings and walls; it was a fun little place with friendly staff. Andrea noticed they had giant beer mugs there (probably between 750 ml and a full liter), so we ordered one. We got two, so we each had our own! 🙂 Unexpected, but we figured this’d probably be good practice for Germany anyway. Happily we both got through them, with no ill effects. Andrea had lasagna and I had ravioli. We shared a mixed salad to start. It was decent food, a great atmosphere, and we had a great time; we’d go back.

Finally, we headed back to sleep. We used the detergent we brought along to do our laundry in the bathtub since we haven’t found a und a und a laundromat and the laundry fee at Hotel Tritone is per item (i.e. 2 Euro for underwear, 7 Euro for jeans), and hung it in the bathroom to dry.

This morning Matt and I arose once again to a day of moving but unlike other days, today we had only a short distance to travel.  We packed our belongings and headed southwest for our new hotel, the one we would be staying in for the remainder of Rome (five more days).

It was early, around 10:30,  when we arrived. Since it was before noon our room wasn’t yet ready so the hotel held our luggage as we set off for more sightseeing.  The hotel we are now staying in is Hotel Tritone. Right around the corner is the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) created in 1732, a wondrous work of art.  Matt and I both threw a coin over our shoulders into the fountain to ensure that we will return. While Matt was taking pictures I wandered into a shoe store. Now,  this will be a surprise to many but… this is the first time I have done any shopping on our honeymoon! I know that is a bit crazy, but we will do more shopping I promise.  Matt bought me a beautiful pair of shoes! 

After the shoes, we walked a bit more and then grabbed a bite at a panini shop. The sandwiches were good and the atmosphere, unique.  The music ranged from all types of hip hop to a sudden loud rendition of Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do. We enjoyed our time there, but it was time to leave and get our room so we headed back to the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel is small but very nice. The rooms are small….monotone….dingy…..old! It’s not a dirty room so we feel fine to stay here the rest of our trip but it did really shock us (especially for what people are expected to pay). We have decided that we will try to limit our time in the room to siestas and night.  The great thing about the hotel is its location. We are centrally located so it should be easy to walk to most of the areas of Rome. 

We decided that since the room was drab we would head out for a walk. Rick Steves (or as some like to call him “The Rickers”) has walking tours in his books and today we decided to do the “Walk across Rome: Campo dei’Fiori to the Spanish Steps. But we were already in the middle of that walk (and we’d already been to the Spanish Steps), so we worked backwards. Along the way we saw the Pantheon, which is truly impressive. We also stopped into the San Luigi dei Francesi (Saint Luigi of France) church, which contains original paintings of St. Matthew by Caravaggio. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. We took a picture or two.

We continued West to the Piazza Navona, which is covered with painters selling their artwork. We’ve decided next time we come (in 2 years) we’ll bring some home with us.  Some of the work was really fantastic. There are more Bernini fountains in the piazza, which are beautiful of course.

We headed South from there to the Campo de’ Fiori (Field of Flowers). This is an open market area that sells fruit and flowers, but we arrived later in the day so there were just a few flower stands running. But we were mainly there to see two things: the statue of Giordano Bruno (burned on the spot by the Vatican as a heretic in 1600) and the Theater of Pompey. This theater was being leased by the Roman Senate (since the actual Senate building had recently caught fire), and therefore was the site of Julius Caesar’s demise. We’re not quite sure which wall was part of the original theater (which covered several blocks) because they’ve built apartments all over it. We had a fun conversation about how Rome has so much history built on top of other history, and therefore so many buildings built on top of other buildings.

We had some more gelato! Andrea had caramel cream (nummy) and Matt had Wildberries (good, but too many seeds). It was again very refreshing on a hot day.

We wound our way back to the hotel, took a quick break, and then worked northwards again looking for dinner. We stopped at Ristorante Le Grotte and sat outside. We shared a Peroni, Andrea ordered the veal scallopini and Matt had Buscatini (can’t remember the word), thinking that’d be new and different, but it turns out it’s just fat spaghetti. Our dinner was pretty good, and Andrea was very excited to see they had Creme Brulee. We split one. It was very sweet, and had a very thick top crust. It had much less vanilla flavor, too. But it was pretty good. 

We finished up and went to sit on the Spanish Steps for a bit. Some enterprising young men wandered the crowd, trying to resell beer they picked up at the supermarket. Another guy put roses into Andrea’s hand after she refused (“no no they’re free”), then turned and asked Matt for money. We gave him the roses back. 🙂

Andrea and I woke up around 10 AM today. Whoa, that’s late for us this trip. We also drank an entire bottle of excellent wine the night before…but that couldn’t be related…

We made our way down to the Piazza Venezia, taking pictures of the cathedrals and monuments. From there we headed north to a little cafe to grab a quick lunch. We had 2 cokes, Andrea ordered lasagna (got spaghetti) and I got penne. The pasta tasted like every cafeteria pasta you’ve ever known. This sumptuous feast ended up costing us about 25 Euros (!?!). Needless to say, we won’t be going back there.

We made our way back to the Foro Romano (Roman forum). We wandered around taking pictures of everthing: the Monte Capitolino, the Piazza Campidoglio, and of course the ancient Roman ruins themselves. It was another really hot day, so we stopped for strawberry gelato and a roadside stand. It was absolutely perfect, and eating it we could swear shaved off about 5 degrees immediately. We had the Camelbak again, and constantly filled it with water. Andrea and I bought tickets that gave us access to actually walk in the forum, as well as the Colosseum. We wandered about taking pictures and video, loosely trying to identify what it is we were looking at. We took it upon ourselves to eavesdrop on nearby tour groups, which is how we learned where the House of the Vestal Virgins was, home to the guardians of the sacred flame, which they were entrusted to keep burning at all times. We also learned they were exceedingly good at their job, as this building burned down more often than any other.

It was truly incredible to walk amongst the ruins at the heart of the Roman Empire, and we took a boatload of pictures. We saw the Arch of Septimius Severus and covered the Palatine Hill, which was the location of ancient Roman Palaces, as the AAA Italy travel book puts it “Once covered with palaces, today the ruins of the Palatine lie among oleanders and cypresses, an evocative reminder of the transience of glory.” Well put. 

Quick travel tip: the line for the combination Forum/Colosseum ticket at the forum was very short, 5 people max. The line at the Colosseum was very long, probably about a 45 minute wait. Andrea and I were really glad we picked up our tickets at the Forum; we got to skip that line and head straight to the entrance.

We made our way south towards the Colosseo (Colosseum), which dates all the way back to AD 72, and at one point held around 55,000 people. Later in its history, part of it was recycled for building material elsewhere in Rome, hence the broken, incomplete look we’re all so familiar with. I’ve got to be honest; we got to the Colosseum, took some pictures, walked around, and we were ready to go. It’s a big, oval coliseum.  There are interesting stories if you get the audio tour, I’m sure, but we felt like we’re generally familiar with the structure, we’d seen it, so we were ready to head out. Plus, we’d been walking for an eternity, and we needed to find a new hotel for the next day (Hotel Oceania had only limited availability).

We came back to the room and took a short siesta to rest our weary feet. We showered and headed to a Japanese restaurant just up Via Firenze. We were insanely curious about what to expect from Japanese food in Italy. It was a sushi bar with a conveyor belt, which we were excited about, although we didn’t use this trip (we want to in the very near future). We ordered a California roll and a sushi platter that included octopus, squid, yellowtail, prawns, and salmon. Everything was fantastic, although the squid is a bit rubbery. I made a mess of the soy sauce on the white tablecloth, and Andrea only made a couple drops (“look, I made a mess too” she’d say in between bouts of laughing at me). 🙂 We finished up with green tea ice cream and lemon sorbet, both of which were fantastic. 

We got back to the hotel and used their computer to book 5 nights at another hotel in Rome, then headed off to sleep. We’re both really happy with the decision to take a bunch of time in Rome; it’s very comfortable here, and there’s a bunch to see. The only uncomfortable part is it’s been REALLY hot; in addition to the usual morning routine we’ve been showering and changing at least once a day. We’ve walked a ton; Andrea’s repeatedly wished we had a scale to see how much weight we must have lost and/or a pedometer to revel in how many miles we’ve walked. And before anyone gets concerned, we drink water from the Camelbak all day long, so we’re very well hydrated. 🙂

I think tomorrow we’ll get more gelato…

We woke up looking forward to another day of travelling on the train. Oh wait, we woke up bummed out we’d have another day of travelling on the train. We packed up, missed breakfast, and wheeled our bags over to the train station. I (Matt) was able to pick up train tickets at the self-service terminal that were leaving in just 10 minutes, which was excellent, since we wouldn’t have to wait around.

Walking to the platform, we saw the train was already there. We noticed there was only 2 minutes left till the scheduled departure, so we started hurrying. An enterprising individual at the station noticed this, and helped us run our bags down to the “appropriate” car, then turned and waited for money. He didn’t like the 3 Euros I had on hand, so I gave him 5. He didn’t give me back the 3, but I figured without his help, we wouldn’t have made the train, and would have had to buy new tickets. 

I was wrong. The train didn’t leave for another 10 minutes. Looking back, I should have known this. The asterisk to the left of the train hadn’t shown up blinking yet, so there was time. Oops, we’re still learning. Then, we noticed we were not only in the wrong seats, we were 6 cars away from the appropriate one. We thought, if he looked at our tickets and stuck us here anyway, maybe it’s OK. Again, we were wrong.

So here we are, in the wrong seats, wrong car, our gigantic bags blocking the narrow hall, and we’re not sure what to do. So we stayed put. We were fine…for about half the trip. Then a quick succession of unfortunate events transpired. First, an old Italian couple got on the train, and we were in their seats. So we got up and moved to the hallway. We didn’t really want to drag those huge bags through 6 cars, so we just stayed nearby. Next, the conductor showed up and said we were in the wrong place, but didn’t really seem to care, so we stayed there. He also didn’t speak much English, so we didn’t know what to do anyway. Then the food cart showed up and couldn’t get around the big bags. So I dragged them out of the way so he could get through. This happened twice, and I got a little speech in Italian both times, but I couldn’t tell you what it was about. Then the little girl from the compartment we had started in kept coming out in the hallway, picking her nose and staring at us. To stay the least, we had both had it with children. And the train. I was really stressed out, and Andrea says she regressed blissfully into the puffy clouds in her head. Every time somebody stuck their head out of their compartment and looked at me or the bags in the hall and shook their head, I felt just a little bit more self-conscious and anxious. By the time we got near Roma Termini, I was definitely ready to get off the train.

As we approached the terminal, the train stopped. It stopped short of the terminal, and Andrea and I noticed there was this whistle repeatedly blowing, that may indicate a problem. Further, that whistle seemed to be coming from really close by. Two train attendants and the conductor appeared, looking around with stern faces. I am incredibly happy to report we did nothing wrong. Evidently a guy tripped an emergency switch when he was getting his bag down from a compartment nearby. So somebody got more head shakes and disapproval than us, and we left the train a little more comfortable.

Hotel Oceania is about 500 meters (as the crow flies) from the station, so we walked our bags. Rome was extremely hot and muggy, and it took us a little longer to reach the hotel because we didn’t know the streets. Actually, first it took us a couple blocks to figure out how the streets were marked (marble signs up on the building corners, not on street posts). We finally arrived at the hotel, overheated and tired. Hotel Oceania is on the third floor. We found a small old elevator and took it up separately, since it wouldn’t hold us and the bags. The room is small, charming, and excellent. After we checked in, we wanted to get some food. We’d felt like lost tourists all day long, so we decided to go for something familiar; there was a McDonald’s down the street and for once, it was open. 🙂

After we ate we took a short walk just to look around (and in the process walked past several interesting monuments, including Barbarini fountain), we headed back to the hotel for a short siesta. Afterwards we took the SLR and wandered northeast, in the general direction of the Spanish steps.

Rome is wonderfully ridiculous. When you turn any given corner, you can find yourself looking at a building from the 16th century, or a fountain that’s even older.  We decided we can’t walk anywhere without a camera. We made our way to the Scalinata di Trinita dei Monti (Spanish steps), off the Piazza di Spagna. The steps were covered with people, which evidently they always are (except, helpfully from 2-6 AM according to one book).

We wandered a few blocks away and stopped into a restaurant named “Sicilia…ndo.” We had a bottle of Planeta Santa Cecilia 2005 (red) which was excellent. Andrea had short, dense, spiral pasta with peanuts, saffron, and a very light white sauce. I had pasta with Mazzara shrimp and Porchino tomatoes, stuffed with fish (turned out to be ravioli form, lucky me). 🙂 Everything was fantastic; it may very be the best ravioli I’ve ever had. And it was definitely the nicest dinner we’ve had so far, giving us time to sit together and enjoy being in such a beautiful, timeless city.

Matt and I were both surprised today by the amount of time we spent in Pompeii…

We awoke a bit later today; around 9:30. Once again we attended breakfast upstairs in our hotel, and then set out for another fantastic day.  Matt had done some research and found out where to get tickets for the train to Pompeii so we set out around eleven for the train station.  We bought a package deal for 17 Euros each to go roundtrip to Pompeii via the Circumvesuviana rail, along with entrance passes to the ruins. We were aboard the train by 11:16 and arrived in Pompeii just before noon. 

On our way to the entrance to the historic city, we bought a book complete with updated routes and maps to help guide our trip. As we approached the entrance we found that they rented Audio-guides for 10 Euros; since we already had our book we opted not to get the audio. 

The city originated during the 8th Century BC but didn’t  get its modern name until 89BC.  Pompeii was buried under about six meters of volcanic ash and sand around 79AD.  Over 20,000 people died by being crushed by collapsing roofs or gas inhalation. Pompeii was a lost city until the 17th century when it was accidentally found.  Excavation began on the city around 1748. 

Matt and I were extremely happy that we visited the National Archaeological Museum of Naples before we visited Pompeii.  We were able to connect pieces of art that we had seen in the museum with their original homes.  They have some replicas in place in the ruins, but they just don’t do the original pieces justice. It also helped us with the history of Pompeii.

The day was very hot; we’d guess it topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately we chose to bring Matt’s Camelbak today, so we filled it up at the drinkable water taps (acqua potabile) that are scattered about the ruins, and we drank steadily from it. Unfortunately some other kids in their late teens/early twenties did not. While I (Andrea) was in the bathroom, Matt was outside where one of these kids first tripped over the high curb and fell on his knees on the rocky street. I heard a loud thudding sound as I was making my way back out of the building that housed the bathrooms, but that wasn’t that kid hitting the street with his knees. That was the same kid hitting the sidewalk with the back of his head as he passed out, apparently from dehydration. This would be tragic, except that they had a bunch of water with them, which evidently they just weren’t drinking. Not only that, but according to Matt the three other friends just sat around while their friend wavered and passed out. There’s a happy ending to this story, though, as we passed them later in the day and they were all present (and seemingly coherent). But I’ve heard that you’re invincible until you turn 25, anyway.

We walked a tremendous distance, and covered a good chunk of the ancient site. We were both a bit surprised as to just how large the city was; seeing as it was obliterated in the blink of an eye, we were under the impression that it was a small town, almost a village, but this was really a sprawling ancient metropolis. 

When we finally exited the ruins (somewhere between 4 and 5 PM), we had a late lunch at an outdoor cafe in Domus Pompeiana. Matt had Lasagne al Forno and I had a pizza with ham, salami, and mushrooms. Both were excellent. We also got two soft drinks, and twice a bee came along and climbed into my Pepsi. The first time the waiter was kind enough to replace it; the second time there wasn’t  any Pepsi left in it anyway. 🙂

Today Matt and I walked our butts off, and for those who know me well I have a rather larger posterior, so we walked a lot.  It was an amazing day!

The room that we have has amazing black out windows so neither one of us knew that it was past eight when we awoke.  As we slowly got ready for the day, Matt and I mapped out a plan for the day; the National Archaeological Museum of Naples was high on my list.  We started out at the  fantastic continental breakfast at the UNA Hotel and then started walking towards the museum. 

Naples, as in Crete, is difficult to navigate; their street signs are almost non-existent so Matt and I walked north a few  blocks further out of our way, but finally made it to the Museum.  The Museum is more impressive than words can say…the pictures below hopefully will do it some justice. If you ever find yourself close to Naples it would be a shame if you missed this exhibit. There were more marble and bronze statues, mosaics, Vesuvian paintings, coins, gems, and other fantastic pieces; much of which came from excavation sites in Pompeii. Also, there was a huge reproduction of the remains of Pompeii, made between 1861 and 1864 of plywood, cork, plaster, and paper.  It isn’t the entire site, since more has been excavated since 1864, but the level of detail is amazing. The artist created tiny watercolors on the miniature walls, representing the artwork as it was found in Pompeii (some of which has been lost since, making this the only copy). Very cool!

Matt and I walked the massive museum for hours. When we finally left it was past lunch time and I was definitely hungry and once again we tried to find a McDonalds. After walking for  a ways we finally found one; it was closed. We have an uncanny ability to find international McDonalds that are closed for renovation.  We ventured down a street on our way to Castel Nuovo  (New Castle)and ran upon a little street cafe.  Matt had spaghetti with tuna and spicy sauce, I ate linguini with mussels and artichokes, both were great. After being on our feet for five hours it felt good to sit and enjoy the serenity around us.

After lunch we took pictures of Castel Nuovo. At this point the area was becoming cleaner more touristy, so we felt a bit braver and brought out the SLR camera for pictures. I (Matt now) am incredibly grateful that Andrea gave me this Nikon D40 for my birthday; it takes amazing pictures. Castel Nuovo is comprised of massive towers (look like chess rooks, see below) and was built in 1282, enlarged in the 15th century, and today houses the Naples city council. 

We continued down Via San Carlo towards Palazzo Reale, a huge estate built in 1602. The Teatro San Carlo, Italy’s largest opera house, is also nearby, just off the Piazza del Plebiscito, which is huge. We continued down Via Santa Lucia to Castel dell’Ovo (Egg Castle), Naples’ oldest castle, built between the 9th and 16th centuries. The name is either derived from the egg-like shape of the castle, or the story that it was built on top of an egg. The story was, if the egg broke, Naples would fall.

At this point we’d been walking for an eternity, and we were ready to get off our feet. Also, we wanted to know what it felt like to be in a car in Naples, so we caught a taxi down by Castel dell’Ovo and cabbed it back to Piazza Garibaldi (our hotel). You see, driving in Naples is a free for all, a complete charlie-foxtrot. Cars go every which way, and if a scooter isn’t satisfied with traffic conditions, they use the sidewalk. On top of that, people on foot cross where they want, when they want. On top of all that, everything moves very quickly. It’s like an obscenely large, high-stakes game of Frogger.  Andrea does a little prayer every time. The drive did not disappoint; it was winding, confusing; the thrill we hoped for. 

We ordered room service (turkey sandwich today, to split since we’re still pretty full from our late lunch), typed up our adventures, and read for a bit. We also watched more CNN, so we’re very up to date on U.S. politics and tropical storms.

We got up on the bright to catch a cab to the Heraklion airport. The porter helped us with our bags around 8:15 and by 8:30 we were checked out and on our way. The Heraklion airport is a very busy and confusing place, especially if you’re flying a small airline like Olympic. Once we’d located the appropriate check-in desk, we were vaguely sent to take our baggage to the scanner. We went to the first scanner we found, which was unmanned. Happily, we weren’t the only travelers with this confusion, as two other folks were standing in the same place, and were equally confused. Andrea made her way back to the counter to figure out where we should go, finding an irate woman from the UK chewing out the lady at the desk over the same confusion. Fortunately Andrea was able to overhear where we needed to go. Likewise our flight wasn’t on the board, so we had to ask which gate it would leave from (6, naturally…all Olympic flights leave from 6. Silly us).

We took the puddle jumper from Crete to Athens and dashed across the airport to the Alitalia desk; we needed to check-in again for this second leg of our flight. Andrea and I were separated by 8 rows, each with a middle seat. Bummer. Andrea met some very nice Athenian women on the plane, and talked with them a good portion of the flight. I (Matt) met a sleepy guy and a sleepy woman, and they slept through a good portion of the flight. I’m not so good at sleeping on planes, so I watched the video, which included Looney Tunes and a cool series of animated shorts called “Animaliens.” These were neat videos of stylized, animal-like creatures, each telling a brief 15-30 second story. They gave us a sandwich composed of three pieces of crust-free bread, with two thin layers of salmon spread. Andrea didn’t dig it, but I ate the whole thing. I was very hungry.

We landed in Rome, recovered our luggage (made it this time), and dragged ourselves across the airport to the train station. We bought tickets from the airport to Roma Termini (the train station in the heart of Rome) and then second class tickets from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale (Naples) on a high speed (alta velocita) train. This is where my Visa card barfed. When I called the states later to get it reactivated, I got disconnected. OK, when I called the second time to get it reactivated, the lady would tell me that the fraud department carefully monitors transactions, and since I hadn’t told them I’d be travelling, they promptly declined my card. This is totally true, and I forgot to call; but I didn’t bother asking why they hadn’t picked up on a week’s worth of charges from Greece. 🙂

The public train from the airport to Rome was extremely crowded, and extremely hot. We would later learn that the air conditioner had just broken. We didn’t get any seats, so we stood with the luggage. This is when I used my cell phone (which was now picking up international carriers) to straighten out the Visa card, and when a very nervous man kept a close eye on Andrea and me, since we were standing somewhere near his luggage. 

We got off the train and checked the departure sheet for Napoli Centrale Stazione. The electronic status board showed our train had been delayed, with no departure platform. We took a seat near the status board, a really unusual seat, as it was lined with 1.5″ diameter short steel poles, cut at an angle such that they formed a bunch of mini-spikes where the butt part of the seat should be. There weren’t sharp, just awkward and uncomfortable. The train was about 30 minutes late, and finally arrived at platform 10. We got on board and took some seats; shortly afterwards, we realized they were not OUR seats. We noticed other people debating and checking tickets, and that’s when we realized there was subtly assigned seating on our ticket. We quietly moved to the right seats, in the right coach. Once again, we weren’t seated together. About an hour and half later we arrived in Naples. The hotel we got (UNA Hotel Napoli) was across Piazza Garibaldi, about 200 meters from the station. We dragged our luggage there and had arrived at last, exhausted and hungry. The room is very nice, and features a bidet, which neither one of us knows how to use. 🙂

We wandered out onto the piazza to find a place to eat. We chose a little Cantina (Cantina Dei Mille), and sat out on a small table on the sidewalk. We shared a Peroni (Italian beer), gnocchi, linguine with seafood, fried prawns and calamari, and meat ravioli. Everything was fantastic. We struck up a conversation with the couple next to us, Gunnel and Börje Freudenthal from Sweden. They were very charming and engaging people, with 3 sons and 9 grandchildren, all of which live within 70 km of  Varberg, Sweden. We had a great discussion about how dirty Naples is (they don’t plan on returning), American politics, large trees in California, merchant marines, and how Americans all go to church, have too many bathrooms, and all own swimming pools. We’ve been invited to visit them in Sweden, and we do firmly intend to write.

Finally we went back to the room and hit the sack. It’d been an extremely long, interesting day.

Today was an awesome day, top to bottom. We got up a little later than usual (sometime around 9 AM) ate some cereal and did some writing for the webpage. Then we agreed we’d head into Hersonissos again for some lunch. We chose a place called Aohna (we think. It looks like that. See menu photo below). It was staffed by a really friendly guy that chatted with us a bit about Cretan weather, compared it to the states, and provided wonderful recommendations for lunch. Andrea had a wrapped pita gyros and I had lamb Kleftiko, and both were very good, probably the best food we’ve had. We took our time with lunch, enjoying the view of the sea, people watching, and occasionally chatting with the maitre’d. After we finished our main course, he recommended  kataifi with ice cream, so we went for it. He’d mentioned the ice cream would balance the sweetness of the kataifi, which it did, beautifully. Kataifi is basically this bunch of super thin strands of sweet nectar of the Gods, wrapped around crushed walnuts. It resembles shredded wheat in the shape of a croissant. It was really good, and we really appreciated his kindness and attention. He brought us a plate of fresh fruit, and two more shots of Raki, our favorite. This time we drank them all the way down; it’s been a good day.

At this point we were extremely full. We were sure we’d never eat again. Positive. 

We did some more window shopping and headed back to the internet cafe we’d originally used to email home. I (Matt) checked the Cubs results. I’d seen the 7 game winning streak (that was awesome), now I caught the 4 game losing streak (that was NOT awesome). We also took this opportunity to look at some websites we’d seen selling new construction on Crete (’cause we were curious). It really isn’t as expensive as we’d thought; you can get a pretty sweet villa on Crete for 100k-300k Euros. So we bought 2. One for us, and one for Toby man (he’s stinky).

While we were waiting for the bus back up to the resort, we got pulled into a conversation with two couples from the UK, also a first for this trip. They were engaging people, and we listened to a really poor story about Olympic Airlines timeshares in Greece. Needless to say, we will not be using Olympic for lodging in Greece (stick to the flights, we were told).

When we got back to Village Heights, we played mini golf. We tied, and each got a few holes-in-one. Andrea is a Tiger Woods-like mini golfer. We arranged for a cab to the airport in the morning, did our laundry, and watched what was left of X-Men. Returning the DVD to the front desk, a man driving up that way offered me (Matt) a lift on his golf cart (by Lamborghini, by the way. That’s no joke). He was a very friendly guy, and heartily congratulated me on our recent wedding. This was another first for this trip. It’s been a good day.

Andrea’s freckles are out in full force; they’re very cute.

We caught the bus to Hersonissos again in the morning. This time we bought two round-trip tickets on the city bus for Heraklion, the biggest city on Crete (as far as we know), and the one right by the airport. The bus ride was a very hot and crowded 40 minutes. On the way into the city we passed a McDonald’s, a strangely familiar sight given everything else we’d seen. By the time we got off the bus we were both very hungry, and we were wondering how different (or the same) that McDonald’s menu might be, so we wound our way to it. I say wound our way because there are quite a few elevation changes (and very tall, steep walls) in Heraklion. We did find the McDonald’s, and evidently it’s still being built. So I couldn’t tell you how different (or the same) their menu might be.

We wound our way back into the heart of the city, finding the statue of Venizelos, which told us we were right by El Eftherias Square. There were many cafes in the square, and we picked one right on the edge so we could eat and do some people watching. I (Matt) had the Spaghetti Bolognese and Andrea had a club sandwich. We weren’t feeling too food-venturous today, although everything you get is never exactly what you expect. The Spaghetti Bolognese, as an example, was more buttered noodles with some meat on them. We were struck by just how much graffiti there was in the city. I mean, every concrete surface was tagged, and not in terribly interesting, creative, or colorful ways.  It really lent to the impression of a city that wasn’t quite comfortable being a big city yet, a city that converted a chunk of roads to pedestrians only because they were just too narrow and too crowded to handle the population growth.

After lunch we walked over to the Archeological Museum. The main building has been under renovation since late 2006, so we went to the smaller, temporary exhibit. They’ve got a cool collection of early Minoan artifacts, from early stone tools and ladles to Greek marble statues and frescoes. One piece of note is the intricately crafted gold bee pendant. It’s incredible to see the amount of fine detail this civilization was able to achieve, especially given that we’re talking about 1000 BC. Another was an ancient figurine of the (from the display) “Snake Goddess. The goddess, or priestess, is depicted with exposed breasts and wearing a rich garment. Her bared breasts suggest her capacity as a fertility goddess. The snakes and the feline on her head are an allusion to her dominion over nature. [From] Knossos. New-Palace period (1600 BC).” Haha, Carol we found an ACTUAL fertility goddess, and it’s not a pig. 😉 We also saw a bunch of touchdown statues, clearly to celebrate a touchdown. I don’t even know what they really represent…I think we can all agree that’s the universal sign for touchdown. Interestingly, these would predate “Touchdown Jesus” by  almost 3000 years. Food for thought. We made our way through the exhibit and back out onto the streets of Heraklion.

We did a little window shopping and made our way to the Morozini fountain. It’s a cool looking old fountain. I can’t imagine what else to write about it, other than there were many pictures by it. Nearby we saw the Basilica of St. Mark and town hall, cool looking old stone buildings surrounded by what Andrea coined “dead” dogs. There were dogs all over, and I (Matt) contend that they were sleeping, but Andrea’s convinced one (laying down, surrounded by hot dog pieces) was dead.  Because of this, town hall was renamed “The Hall of Dead Dogs.” 😦 That’s just sad; I still prefer town hall. Hi Toby, we love you!

We wandered the streets, heading towards the Cathedral of Ayios Menas. At one point we wound into what we would name “Party City,” which was this long collection of indoor/outdoor clubs absolutely packed with young Greeks. It was about 1 PM on a Tuesday, and these places were absolutely packed, and everybody was there to see and be seen. We were not. We were in the wrong place. I overheard some laughs and an “Americanos” comment, and it was the most uncomfortable I’ve felt, I admit. We were very happy to get out of Party City, and back to doing our super touristy things.

After leaving Party City, we finally made our way to the beautiful 19th century Cathedral. We sat there and enjoyed the area for a few minutes when we realized that there was a smaller church to the left of the Cathedral. This church was a wooden Medieval church; I (Andrea) preferred this church to the large ornate church.  

On the way back north we swung by the Venetian arsenali, an ancient fortress on the water’s edge. It’s old, it’s made of stone, and it’s massive. It’s also awkward to get a decent picture of. See my (Matt) crappy pictures as proof positive. Unfortunately this area also had some open dumpsters, so a bouquet of rot and trash permeated everything. Time to move on.

It was getting late and Matt and I were both getting tired. We walked back to the bus station and caught the number two bus back to Hersonissos (this bus luckily had air conditioning) and then caught the Village Heights bus back to the apartment.  Having the sun beat down on us as we walked around Heraklion was  exhausting and resting in our room sounded great to both of us. We picked up a movie (X-Men 3: The Last Stand) from the club desk and finally arrived back in our room. 

After a few hours of resting in our room we decided to go to Asian night at the buffet. Coming to Greece we knew that everything would be an adventure; this was most true about the food. Matt: The spring rolls and sweet and sour pork were pretty good;  everything else was blech, bland and wrong.  I (Andrea) also enjoyed the spring rolls and sweet and sour pork but I also liked seafood salad, and the vegetable rice.  Matt got a bowl of ice cream for us to share. None of the types were labeled so he picked us the neon yellow, bright red, and brown ones. The yellow, we thought would be lemon, ended up tasting like banana Laffy Taffy. The red was a very sweet strawberry, and the  brown was chocolate.  

Dinner was done and we both were concerned with how the food would settle in our stomachs; luckily we were just fine.  Back in our room we watched our movie and finally headed to bed around 10:30PM. It was a really busy day, and we were exhausted.