I'm moving to Italy!

So I wrote this a week ago, but the internet at the Institute has been down for the last week...pretend its last Monday or so :)

What a week!! Rome was fantastic, warm, and beautiful. We (Allison, Erin, Carlin, Jenn, and I) left Leuven on Saturday and arrived in Rome in time for dinner. Unfortunately, Allison’s wallet was stolen shortly upon arrival at the train station. So after filing a police report and canceling everything, we headed in from the airport. Our hotel, Hotel Welrome, was adorable and as much as we could ask for at the price. The owners were incredibly helpful and very knowledgeable about Rome. By that time, it was getting late, so we grabbed a cheap and delicious dinner next door and headed to bed. We were getting up early the next morning to go to the Vatican Museums.

On the last Sunday of the month, the Vatican Museums are open half a day for free….soooo when we got there at 8am (an hour before the opening) the line was already down the street, around the corner, down another street, around another corner, down another street, around a corner, annnnd down one more street. Needless to say, it was pointless to wait in line because it would have been closed by the time we got to the door. So we went into St. Peter’s Square and watched part of the mass that was going on. After that we went wandering through Rome. We first walked toward St. Angelo’s Castle which was huge, then across the river and to Piazza Navona where we had lunch at Tre Scalini with amaaaazing tartufo for dessert. After lunch we headed to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. We walked up the Palatine Hill which had all sorts of interesting ruins and a beautiful garden. Then we took a guided tour of the Coliseum, which is huge! (It reminded me of the old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.) It’s crazy to think how many people died there…and mostly for sport. After that we came home to get ready for dinner and went to a place near Piazza del Popolo. From there we went to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night and get gelato. By the end of all that and looooots of walking, it was time to call it a night.

On Monday we headed to the Vatican Museums again, and this time the line was much shorter. We waited about an hour after the opening to get in. We wandered through the museums looking at the Gallery of Maps, the Gallery of Tapestries, Raphael’s Stanze (including “the School of Athens”), and finally to the Sistine Chapel. The artwork is absolutely amazing, but it doesn’t really feel like a sacred place anymore with all the tourists wandering through the whole thing. After the museums we lunched, took a quick detour to the American Embassy (a copy of Allison’s passport was in her wallet), went back to the Trevi to take pictures in the daylight, and headed back to the hotel. We had dinner next door again because we had another early morning for our bus tour.

So Tuesday morning, the bus company came to get us at 630am, and then we headed out to Naples. We got a quick tour of Naples by bus and then went to Pompeii. The ruins are amazing. When Mt. Vesuvius erupted the ash preserved the entire city practically perfectly. The houses are still standing with fountains, frescos, mosaics, and pillars. And the city was huge! I’m glad we had a guide or I probably would have been so lost in there. We also got to see the plaster casts they made when they found hollow spots in the ash. Sometimes these spots turned out to be where humans and animals had been trapped and killed. The resulting casts are sad, but interesting. After Pompeii, the five of us got into a mini-bus to take us to Sorrento for the night. What a ride. The roads are barely wide enough for two cars, and they twist and turn while hugging the coast line. I thought we were about to die every time we rounded another bend. But we got there safe and sound, and our hotel was amazing. We had a TV (with English channels, gasp!), a balcony with an amazing view, and tons of space. Dinner that night was a really good four course meal at the hotel dining room. Afterwards, Carlin and I ventured down into town for a few drinks. The people watching was fantastic and so were the wide array of olives, nuts, and cookies that came with our drinks.

The next morning we were picked up bright and early yet again to go to the harbor and catch the ferry to Capri. The boat ride was only about 20 minutes, but it was beautiful. I forget how much I miss the water until I’m near it again. Once on the island, we found out that we would be able to see the Blue Grotto. To do so, we got into small motor boats that towed 2 row boats. Once we got to the entrance we had to transfer to the rowboats and lay in the bottom of them. Why? Because the entrance to the Grotto is only about 3 ½ feet high and that’s the only way to fit. Our guide skillfully rowed us through the entrance into the pitch black. But as he spun the boat around you could see the neon blue water. They say it looks like that because there are larger openings under the entrance that let in sunlight which reflects off the white limestone bottom and then the water refracts out all the red light. The effect is eerie but soooo cool. I’m glad the weather allowed us to do that! After we got back to shore, our guide Marco took us on a walking tour of the town of Capri and showed us the gardens on the island. It is absolutely beautiful there. I can see why it is the stars’ playground. The sun is bright, the water blue, and the island beautiful. After that we drove up another crazy road to Anacapri at the top of the island. There, we had lunch and did some shopping. From there we drove back down to the harbor, rode back to Sorrento, got our bags, headed back to Pompeii, and then back to Rome. Talk about an action adventure packed two days!!

Thursday we were able to sleep in a bit (relatively). In the morning it was raining, so we took a bus to the Pantheon, but they closed it for worship service right as we got there. We wandered around the area to kill some time and went to another church that has a Michelangelo sculpture. From there we took a bus to the Burghese Gallery to see the best art museum I’ve ever been to. The collection houses many of Bernini’s most famous sculptures including Apollo and Daphne (my favorite). I could have spent hours in there, but they only let you stay for two. After that, I booked it over to Saint Peter’s Basilica because that was the last thing I had to do. Amazing. The place is soooo huge. There really are no words. After that, it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and our pub crawl which was awesome. We had great food, a jerk waiter, and then hit the bars. Such a good end to a good trip.

Friday it was back to Leuven and time for LOTS of sleeping!!