the dollhouse

Napoli and Roma

So we did a whole heap of stuff in Italy (apart from shopping). I list cities in chronological order. I write stuff we did under city. I'm pretty sure you're all smart enough to have gotten that without the explanation.

Naples
This part of the trip was all about Pompeii and Herculaneum. We went to both and also went to the National Archaelogical Museum. They were all pretty good and roman ruin-y.

We got the audioguide at Ercolano and got a tour guide at Pompeii. Good choice for both. Herculaneum is smaller so good fun to explore more on your own. Pompeii is so massive it would take forever to go and see everything on the audio-guide and there would have been lots of repetition with Herculaneum. There was no tour guide at Herculaneum.

We were both pleased we went to this museum before others as while it has got heaps of cool stuff, it is really badly organised and presented. We did go into the infamous room of erotica found in the roman ruins. That is mentioned in every guidebook. I don't know that it's really worth making that big a deal about. It is a good reminder that nothing is new ;)

One thing I found funny/weird is not just that I was walking along roads that Romans had travelled 2000 years ago, but also that I was walking along roads that tourists had been walking along for hundreds of years too!

Other important thing about Naples is that it is the home of the Pizza and OMG they have some *really* good pizza. When pizza with nothing but tomato sauce/paste, a few slices of mozzarella and a few basil leaves tasts *so* good, you know anything will. Omnomnomnom

Rome
When in Rome, do as the tourists and visit amazing famous stuffs. Vatican city was cool. Lots and Lots of ART. The Cistine chapel is the obvious major draw card (I wonder whether the numbers dropped when they were restoring it) but we were also super impressed by the Raphael Rooms. There was also a pretty good Egyptian exhibit and lots of marble statues etc. I was amused by the statuery as so many of the male nudes had ivy leaves put over their... delicates. It was very well organised and the audio guide was really good. It takes a while to go through all the rooms, but there is always something to look at. Sometimes this can be overwhelming (there are rooms where there is art on every surface) and you feel relieved when you get to walk through a plain modern corridor.

Next to the Vatican and yet somehow still sort of in it, is St Peter's Basilica. It is one of the most amazing churches ever. Lots of amazing marble. One neat thing is that there is no stained glass in St Peter's. When I heard that I was all "But the stained glass of the holy spirit as a dove!" and the guide was all, "That isn't stained glass, that is really thin coloured alabaster". ZOMG! We later went up to the top of the dome of St Peter's. This caused me some vertigo, but seeing the inside of the dome and then the view of Rome and the Vatican was amazing.

Another bonus of visiting the Vatican, the Swiss Guards. How funny are their outfits??

I also had a day of rest in Rome. It was a Sunday. I mooched about. Beau went off too what I like to term, a "Pope Mass". He thought he'd be 2 hours max. The mass alone went over 2 and a half hours and I expect him to blog about it, because it sounds like an "experience".

Another day we did a tour of the Collosseum, Palentine Hill and the Roman Forum. We tried to find Domus Aureus but were both a bit tired and hungry so didn't bother actually finding the entrance. Not sure it was open that day anyway. We decided to walk home that day via a couple of other important churches. One was St Peter in Chains, the other... I forget. It was between the Collosseum and Termini.

We also managed a day trip out to see Villa D'Este (many, many fountains) and Hadrian's Villa, which was more ruins (and a mini-museum), but it a really nice setting with some trees and fish ponds. It was a pretty long day, but generally pleasant.

Our last day in Rome we just walked and wandered. Saw the Trevi fountain, chucked some coins in took photos etc. Had some *really* good gelato. All the gelato is good in Italy, but there is some really excellent stuff too. Also saw the Triton fountain, Spanish Steps, Castel Sant Angelo and of course, the Pantheon. At this stage you start to get so overwhelmed you get underwhelmed by everything, nevertheless, the Pantheon is a major highlight for me. They had some good engineers back in the day.

After a day of walking we caught the train to Florence. I'll blog that later. Doing this much has already tuckered me out (not to mention the overnight bus from Budapest to Prague and the walking tour we did today too)!

Point of Fashion: It's warm inside
Current Obsession: Will Beau wake up on his own?

Posted by giffy at October 30, 2008 07:35 AM | TrackBack