Rome , Italy
June 4th, 2010
June 4th, 2010
It's been a while since our last post. Perhaps that's because our pace of travel has been a little fast lately...
We took a ferry from Patras, Greece to Bari, Italy on the 30th of May. This time we paid extra to get a cabin and it was worth it! We slept like babies until we landed on the heel of Italy. We took a cab to the airport, picked up an Avis rent-a-car and drove to Sorrento. Sorrento was terrific but we didn't give it too much time as we were headed to Pompei the next day.
POMPEII
Pompeii is a big town! Buried in the violent eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD the town is still being escavated today. As we entered the ruins I saw a bike that was clearly a rental and within a couple of minutes we were all on Mt bikes headed down a gravel road that rings the ancient city. The bikes were a blessing, even though Ben took a major tumble (he survived relatively unscathed) as they allowed us to travel the entire length of the city and back without too much hiking. Pompeii is incredible. The city shows how advanced Roman urban development was even in AD 79. There were numerous houses we'd be happy to to call our own even today.
CASERTA
Not many foreign tourists make it Caserta, a tough city of southern Italy, but its royal palace is famous with Italians for good reason. The huge palace and its asounding grounds are the most luxurious digs we've seen so far. I never thought I'd see anything that rivaled the summer palace in Beijing, but Conserta's palace did it with style. Star Wars fans might remember the palace as it was used as Queen Amadalla's palace.ROME
We rolled into Rome on Italy's independence day. The Tom-Tom GPS didn't know what day it was so it kept telling us to drive into dense crowds of pedestrians in the city center; not fun. Definitely leave your car at the walls of the city and hoof it or take the Metro around this ancient city. As usual, we didn't know where we were going to stay, but thanks to Trip Advisor we found an apartment next to the Spanish Steps in the heart of the city. Jackie had to save us by finding the guy with the keys to the apartment in the teaming masses of Romans and tourists, but once that problem was solved we moved in and are happy in our new apartment called Suites Rome.
More from Rome tomorrow...
Ciao!
--Paul
2 comments:
Well, I can't believe this. How did I find you guys. Oh Yes through Facebook. Browsing NPS people I used to know. It is Helen Horton/Smith/Matthews from the National Park Service. What an amazing adventure! I married Gary Matthews from NPS. We too are big travelers. We went to Antarctica this past January - what a trip. Headed to Northern Norway and cruising the Arctic Circle next year. So much to see so little time. Don't stop - don't ever stop. What an wonderful experience for your kids! Enjoy!!!!
Hi Paul,
Arend & Mark here--the guys you met dropping off your car in Rome. WE still feel the relief of not having to deal with it!
I returned to the US two weeks ago (don't fly Alitalia--that's all I'll say) and Mark came back a week ago after spending some extra time in Pisa and in Zurich, where he visited old friends.
You guys are sure moving through Europe at a clipped pace, but we're a bit envious of your stay at Maison Chouette. The Dutch have a saying "living like a god in France", alluding to the best life any mortal could have. And you know what? It's all true! :-)
Enjoy your time in France!
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