Naples to Venice

Our stay in Naples was topped off beautifully with a private tour of the archealogical museum. We saw some incredible mosaics, jewellery, medical tools, blown glass, statues and other things all excavated from Pompei - even a muffin tin!















The next leg of the journey was by air. The drive to the airport was reasonably stress-free, and it didn't take too long to get through security, despite recent events. It was odd having to use stairs to get onto the plane, but seems to be common in Italy. Our airline, Meridiana, was pretty budget!

It was a real thrill to catch the first glimpse of old Venice from the air, and a few minutes later the plane landed - to applause, oddly, as the weather was perfectly nice.

A slow one-and-a-half hour boat-ride, and we arrived in the city of canals.

The short distance to our hotel took some time, as there were so many amazing shop windows to look into! 

After settling in, we did more window-shopping and tried to decide where to have dinner. The decision was made easier when we came across a restaurant that was offering a 50% discount "happy hour" between 5:00 and 6:30. So we ate pasta and pizza and then went to experience St Mark's Square. No doubt it looks pretty good all the time, but at night at Christmas, it was stunning.

Venice. Wow!

Pompeii and Vesuvius

The day dawned sunny and still, but the volcano was wreathed in cloud. The traffic was better, but we still got lost!

We arrived at he gates of old Pompeii at about 10am, were ushered into a restaurant carpark and were offered all-day parking for 10 euros, but free if we ate lunch there. At the ticket office the children were let in free on proving that we were from New Zealand!

The Temple of Venus

Our guide book had some good information about the ruins, but Natasha had plenty as well, as she studied it in some detail earlier in the year.

We only managed to see a small  fraction of the site, but there's so much, and I think we got to most of the highlights, including the "beware of the dog" mosaic...

...and the brothel...

At the end of our tour, Vesuvius was still cloudy on top...

...but after a relaxing lunch of spaghetti we decided to drive up anyway. Half-way up we picked up a Swiss tourist, and sure enough, the carpark near the summit was like pea-soup. A bit further down however, we found some magnificent views of the Bay of Naples.

Back to the hotel mid-afternoon, and then well over an hour spent finding a park and working out how to get a ticket that will last until midnight when the parking becomes free! Somehow, in the process, we ended up buying an all-day bus-ticket!

After a slice of pretty disgusting pizza for dinner, we searched in vain for gelati.

Venice tomorrow!

Saturday 26 December - Internet at last!

We have just arrived in Napoli and at last have an Internet connection again.

We've spent the last three days in Brindisi where Peter's dad and stepmother, Doug and Theresa, live.

We arrived there on Wednesday after a pleasant train journey from Rome. Wednesday was Theresa's birthday and we went over to the central city on a ferry and had dinner together in a restaurant. Before dinner we explored part of the old part of town and visited an 11th century church which the knights all went to before they left for the Crusades (sailing from Brindisi). In Brindisi we stayed in the apartment of the director of Doug and Theresa's school as Peter's sister Kate was visiting from the Caymans and there weren't enough beds at Doug and Theresa's. Wednesday was memorable for Peter in that it was the first time he had ever driven out of New Zealand and certainly the first time driving on the right. It was a gentle introduction with a short drive from the train station to our apartment.

On Thursday the driving got serious, as we visited two small towns near Brindisi: Ostuni and Alberobello. Ostuni is very pretty with lots of narrow little streets like the one above. Alberobello, however, is unique. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its amazing stone houses known as trulli. There are thousands of them and Lonely Planet describes them as "curious circular stone-built houses, their roofs tapering up to a stubby and endearing point."

In the evening we had Christmas dinner (on Christmas Eve) at Doug and Theresa's place - a lovely meal with a chicken casserole and a delicious potato dish.
On Christmas morning we headed back to Doug and Theresa's for breakfast and gift opening. They had provided Christmas stockings for the children and lots of generous presents for all of us. It was lovely to be with them and Kate for Christmas.

After a lunch of filled rolls we headed back on the road, this time for Lecce where we admired a huge crib scene in a Roman amphitheatre.

Today we drove to Naples where we really discovered the meaning of the word stress. Before we arrived we opened Lonely Planet to the page that says "driving in Naples is not recommended."  If only we had read that sooner! Our GPS, Coco, chose Naples to say that it couldn't find satellites. Our car stopped for no apparent reason three times in the middle of what Lonely Planet calls "anarchic traffic." Coco sent us down two dead end streets. It was dark and pouring with rain and for a while we feared that we would never find our hotel.

Peter maintained a cool head and we did get here in the end. The hotel is comfortable and the Internet is free. So life, on balance, is good.

Tomorrow we brave the roads again to drive to Pompeii.

2nd full day in Rome

We had decided not to attempt the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel yesterday, and that was just as well, because that was all we could fit in today. The Roman Forum was going to be part of today's activities, but we just ran out of time, unfortunately.

When we got to the Vatican it was was quite a hike to the museum entrance, and a long wait in the queue. It was raining too, and we finally succumbed to the  umbrella sellers.  Yesterday at the Colosseum when it first started to rain, these umbrella sellers just appeared from nowhere.  When I asked  how much, he first wanted 5 euros, then 4 then 3. Today, when we were trapped in the long queue, this one started at 10, and we knocked him down to 5!

First, the picture gallery,  a chronological series of rooms with paintings from 14th to 18th centuries.  Raphael (right), Giotto and da Vinci were highlights.

Then to the Egyptian Museum, a corridor of marble busts and statues, the Octagonal Courtyard and the Map Gallery, to name a few! Some of the ceilings here are simply stunning...

Next were the stunning papal apartments, large rooms covered from floor to ceiling with Raphael's artwork.

We were surprised to then find ourselves in a series of rooms filled with modern religious art, including pieces by Dali, Chagal, van Gogh, Braques and Klee.

Finally, the moment we were waiting for, and the incredible Sistine Chapel. The fact that it was jam-packed with tourists, and had guards telling us at regular intervals to be quiet and not to take photos detracted from the atmosphere somewhat, but it was still a wonderful experience. 

After all that, we were desperate to sit down for a decent period of time, so we had a lunch in the cafeteria on-site, despite knowing the rule that the closer you are to a tourist attraction, the more revolting the food will be!

Back on the sloowww green bus, then a quick metro ride to our neighbourhood for pizza and gelato.

Earlyish start in the morning to catch the train to Brindisi. Five and a half hours of no walking. Hooray!

Monday 21 December

Our body clocks are still horribly confused. Today Jamie woke up at 3am and the rest of us round about 5am. This afternoon, Natasha, Jamie and Janet all fell asleep as soon as we got home from our day out exploring. Only Peter maintains any self-discipline and is trying to keep regular hours. Jamie and Natasha were awoken with difficulty for dinner and fell straight back to sleep again. Janet and Peter are going to stay awake for a while now, to write in our blog and grapple with our Italian course book.

The most fun thing for Janet is trying to speak Italian as much as possible. It is so deeply satisfying to say something and be understood, and then even understand the response.

With our early start today, we were off to catch the first open-topped bus of the day to head to the Colosseum. It was pretty cold up on top of the bus and eventually we were driven downstairs.
At the Colosseum we joined a tour with a really good guide. We all really enjoyed it and are now fully aware of the more than 100 errors in the film Gladiator (not that we've seen it!)

By the time we came out of the Colosseum it was raining and so we decided not to tackle the Roman Forum. We caught the open-topped bus again and headed to Saint Peter's basilica. We had lunch and then lined up to go through the security screening process to be allowed into Saint Peter's. The highlight of Saint Peter's is Michaelangelo's Pieta. In other respects, it's all a bit overblown really. Give us a Giotto any day.

The forecast for tomorrow is for some more rain but hopefully we'll be able to ignore it and do lots more exploring. We are having so much fun. The kids are a great age to take everything in and they are both agape much of the time.

A domani

Janet

We're in Rome

It was exhausting, but we're safe in Rome now. The journey was pretty uneventful, except that two of us threw up on the plane :[

We're staying in a very nice little apartment...

with lots of cool shops nearby (but nothing resembling a supermarket). Most of the streets are shared by cars and pedestrians.

We had lunch at a sidewalk cafe (pizza, cabonara, lasagne)and then went to"The Time Elevator Experience", a multimedia history of Rome. Jamie's lack of sleep caught up with him and he immediately fell asleep!

A quick stop at the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps soon saw us back at the apartment and into bed.

Lots of new experiences for us today. More to come tomorrow...

Last day of summer for a while...

Why we're going to spend the next six weeks in winter, I don't know. I suppose it will be worth it! Still, the best weather doesn't usually arrive in Wellington until school goes back in February, does it?

One Week to Go

This time next week, we’ll be on our way! If you want to see exactly where we’ll be going, have a look at the clever video on Jamie’s blog.