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Rome to Naples

Saturday, December 30th, 2006

OK, I’ll pick up where Dan left off with Midnight Mass. Yes, St. Peter’s Basilica IS huge, beautiful and very impressive, but the mass left me feeling a bit cold — both literally and figuratively. We were able to get seats, but we were fairly close to the back and one of the back doors was left open during the mass, so there was a cold draft coming into the basilica. Of course, most of the mass was in Italian, with a couple readings in English and some readings and petitions in other languages: German, Spanish, French, Arabic, etc. And, the music was performed by an all-male chorus, accompanied by organ, mostly in a traditional chant style. Plus, the congregation sang only one traditional Christmas carol — Adeste Fidelis — and we were only supposed to join the choir on the “O Come let us adore him” part. Truly, the music was beautiful, and the gospel reading was sung by a male cantor who had a GORGEOUS voice! It was just very different from the Christmas mass that I am accustomed to and I missed THAT mass. Overall, it was a great experience to attend midnight mass at St. Peter’s and I’m glad we had the opportunity to do it.

On our way walking back to the hostel from the basilica, we called my parents’ place, where the rest of my family were celebrating Christmas Eve. They put us on speaker phone and sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” for us. It was great to talk to them and hear all of their voices!

Once we got back to the hostel, we slept for a few hours, got up for the free hostel breakfast and, then, went back to sleep for a few more hours. In the afternoon, we went to a grocery store in the main train station and picked up our “Christmas dinner” that we ate at the hostel — a small, roasted chicken, a salad, breaded and deep-fried olives (we’re in Italy, afterall), milk, wine and cream-filled croissants for dessert. It sure wasn’t anything like Christmas dinner at home, but it tasted good, and it was kind of fun.

We looked and looked — along with a young woman named Emily from Wisconsin who was also staying at our hostel — for an English-language movie to see both Christmas evening and the following evening. Our search, unfortunately, led us only to theaters that were no longer open or movies that were dubbed in Italian — oh, well. We had fun walking around and seeing more of Rome at night with our new-found friend from our neighboring state. “HI” to Emily, who is probably back in Austria, where she is currently teaching.

After running around to four different Rome post offices on Wednesday morning trying — unsuccessfully — to track down a card that my sister, Brenda, sent to us via “Poste Restante” (that’s a whole other story), we got on a train destined for Naples and arrived at about 1:30 pm. The energy of Naples is unlike any I’ve seen in any other city! We walked down a very crowded street loaded with sidewalk markets and many, many people to our hostel — about 30 minutes or so. The streets are packed with cars, buses and motor scooters; red lights are somewhat optional for scooters and pedestrians generally don’t have the right-of-way. But, if you need to cross somewhere, you just need to assert yourself, walk with purpose and you’ll be OK. In the evenings, Neapolitans enjoy “strolling” through this seemingly chaotic mess. Somehow, it all seems to work!

That evening we walked to and visited a couple churches — the Cathedral and another one (I don’t remember the name) where nuns from — presumably — a local convent were participating in their daily, evening prayer service, including the rosary. We sat in on it for awhile and, then, made our way slowly back to the hostel, where we had a pasta, bread and wine supper compliments of the hostel — good and fun!

Thursday, we visited Pompei, the city that was buried by the volcano, Mt. Vesuvius, in 79 AD. More on Pompei and Vesuvius later.

Friday we decided not to go anywhere or see any sites; we took care of some errands and just walked around Naples a bit. We’ll be here for 12 nights while we wait to activate our two-month Eurail pass (so it lasts until the first part of March). So, we have plenty of time to see Naples and the surrounding area.

And, today we took a bus and hiked to the crater of Vesuvius, which hasn’t “blown” since 1944. We saw steam rising from several areas of the crater, but there was no bubbling lava or anything like that. In fact, we watched a group of three climbers descend down into the crater. The sky was a bit hazy, but we still had good views of Naples, the sea and the surrounding area. It was fun!

OK, more later.

Tim

Rome

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006

Where do I begin?  Trevi Fountain?  Pantheon? Colosseum? St. Peter’s Basilica or Square, the Forum, Palatine Hill, Capital Hill, Monument of Vittorio Emanuele 2nd, Arch of Constantine, Spanish Steps, Area Sacra, National Museum of Rome, Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, Egyptian Obelisks, Columns, Palaces, Castles, Fountains, tons of other buildings and ruins, all of these and more I could describe but I just don’t have the time.

Highlights is where I will have to start.  The “big ones” where the Colosseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill and Midnight Mass at St Peter’s Basilica. We went to all of these on the same day!

The Colosseum was first.  We bypassed the large line waiting to get tickets to get in because we had the “Roma Pass”.  We got this at the train station and it was worth it to pass all those people and just go right in.  Some things about the Colosseum that impressed me were…

1. The Colosseum gladitorial floor where the gladiators fought all those years ago.  The floor itself was once wood and has long since eroded with time.  Underneath this wood floor are many hallways and at least 2 floors.  All of these were easily seen.  Just imagine tigers, lions, elephants, gladiators all going through these passages before being unleashed against each other “on stage”, live, for the masses like an ancient thriller, action movie of the past.

2.  The walls of the Colosseum were once over 5 floors high.  Their size of “floor” isn’t like ours.  They were about 20 feet high verses our 8 or 9 or 10 feet.  It was big.  Many of the stairs were eroded a long time ago and you just see traces of them today.  

3.  The actual floor of the Colosseum (the gladiator floor) is about the size of a Hockey rink.  It was not the size of the Football, super size, field in the “Gladiator” movie.  The people in the stands were much closer to the “action” on the field. 

Okay, on to the Forum and Palatine Hill.  Walking under the Tito Arch, you are confronted with Ancient buildings, ruins, pillars, big stones, bumpy roads, temples, and much more.  You can’t take it all in.  The Augustine Basilican ruins are to the right.  HUGE!  The Temple of Saturns steps and columns, The House of the Vestal Virgins with a small pool and a round temple with columns still standing, an ancient roman square, and much more buildings for senators, lawyers, priests, and all the rest of the important people of the time.  Looming over all of this is Palatine Hill.  Caligula’s palace-a.k.a. the palace of Tiberius, is just one of the many palaces on this hill which seem all hooked together with above ground walks and below ground halls, shrines, fountains and what all.  I began to wonder if there was actually a hill here before the Palaces where here or if the hill was nothing but a palace….and the Hill was BIG.  This is, without doubt, the biggest castle ruins I have ever seen!  After all, Palatine Hill was the origin of the word “palace” anyway.  And I can see the reason behind it being the origìn. 

We took a nap after all this so we would be ready and awake for our “pilgrammage” to midnight mass at St Peter’s.  We waited in line to get in from about 7 pm to about 10:30 pm.  We had great talks with the people waiting around us.  We needed a ticket to get in, which we had to get secured in advance in October.  The ticket didn’t cost anything, there is just limited seating in St Peter’s…only 9000 people can get in.  It was huge and awesome just as everyone says it is.  We saw the Pope as he said mass.  We sat way in back and he was just a small, tiny figure in the distance of this huge building.  Even their huge organ sounded somewhat quiet because the sound couldn’t fill the space.  We wonder if they somehow “toned down” the sound but it didn’t seem like it since it was Christmas, one of the biggest Holidays of the year.  Why would they “hold back”?

We eventually got home about 3:30 in the morning.

What a day!

Write more later,

Dan

 

Contents of Package: Hat

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006
"Roses are red, Violets are blue. You guys are in Europe, And now the hat is there, too!" With this little poem, Dan and I are now -- again -- the proud, temporary owners of a fuzzy, white and green, tassle ... [Continue reading this entry]

Siena to Rome

Friday, December 22nd, 2006
We spent the last three nights in Siena, and had a fun and relaxing time.  Well, it was relaxing AFTER we found the guest house we booked with.  Yes, it took us a while to find this place, too.  We ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lost in Venice

Thursday, December 21st, 2006
We had decided to walk to our hotel in Venice once we arrived at the train station.  It is dark outside but well lit.  Putting our hands in our pockets to avoid any hassles with pick-pockets, we set off.  The ... [Continue reading this entry]

More Salzburg

Thursday, December 21st, 2006
After the Sound of Music tour, we were dropped off at -- and walked through -- the Mirabell Gardens, which were also used for filming the Sound of Music.  Then, we crossed the Salzach River and walked through the atmospheric, old ... [Continue reading this entry]

Salzburg

Saturday, December 16th, 2006
We left Rothenburg Friday morning and arrived in Salzburg in the afternoon.  Friday evening we walked across the river to the Old Town, where we walked through yet more Christmas markets and drank more glühwein and ate Nürnburger sausages and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Rothenburg

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Hello all!
We are currently in Rothenburg, Germany!
I have got to do a description of the place!
Imagine old German buildings, some as old as the 1300's - or maybe older, about 5 stories tall, lined with lights, facing ... [Continue reading this entry]

Not Enough Time in Munich

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
Yes, we didn't plan this visit very well, and ended up missing a visit to Dachau, due it being closed on Mondays, the only full day we had in Munich.  Nevertheless, we made the best of the time we had ... [Continue reading this entry]

Badgastein

Saturday, December 9th, 2006
Whew! We just hiked up to the middlepoint of a mountain today...in the rain, which turned into heavy snowfall. Badgastein, Austria is in the Austrian Alps. We arrived yesterday and walked the town a bit. Today started with no snow ... [Continue reading this entry]