Cats in Civita and not-so-exciting Orvieto

We picked up a rental car around 8 am in Rome and happily left the hustle and bustle of the big city. We started driving north and stopped in the incredibly beautiful town carved into a hill called Civita di Bagnoreggio. What a gem.  It is so isolated, we walked across a foot bridge 10 minutes just to get to the gate. Some of the artifacts dated back to the Etruscans. We enjoyed the old buildings and counted all the cats hanging out...

Yes, I really took this picture...my favorite of the trip.

We then ventured further north toward Orieto. Beautiful duomo, cool well at St. Patrick's, and yummy wild boar and fresh sliced prosciutto for lunch. Other than that, we were done with sightseeing and with Orvieto.  Time to get on and get to our final destination.
Unfortunately, we had to drive two more hours to our farmhouse in Siena. It got dark in the last hour, and we missed a couple of turns, even using GPS on both the phone and in the car. Eventually we arrived, and were greeted with a glass of wine from their vineyard and some homemade dried fruit. Jackson petted the orange cat and we all relaxed for 30 minutes before dinner. Pat and I enjoyed Agriturismo Marciano last year, and it did not disappoint this year with Chris and Jackson! The dinner and the company were outstanding. By 10:00, we were ready for bed. Bellisimo.

Gritty Naples and Pompeii

I warned Jackson the first two days of this trip would be particularly tiring because of the time difference, number of sites, and length of time we would spend sightseeing. Also, city life is exhausting. After the first couple of days, I knew the trip would slow down, as we planned to rent a car and slowly meander through the countryside.
So today went as promised. We packed it in. After a full day exploring Rome yesterday, we left the hotel before 7 a.m. today to make the Frecciarosa (fast) train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale. We had an Italian breakfast at a "bar" with a couple of cappucinos and some pastries.  Normally a three hour car ride, the train from Rome to Naples was supposed to get us there in 1 hour and 5 minutes.

The wrong one

The right one

I told the boys I was weary of planning all the details of the trip, then navigating pretty much everywhere and everything over the past three days. It's not like they need me to lead them around;  I suppose this is silly and bossy teacher behavior bleeding into my personal life. So today, I tried desperately to keep my mouth shut and allowed them to follow the rough plan I wrote down and navigate for me. They were doing pretty well getting us on the fast train, following the train tables and directional signs, waving off a couple of half-assed pickpockets, and noting the circumvensia local train stops list, which was posted inside the train car that resembled the New York City subway pre-Rudy Giuliani days. Gritty.
So Jackson noticed the Pompeii stop was next. We confidently disembarked off the full train along with another family of three. No one else exited. This station was clean and new. I turned around to see the full train pulling away. Something seemed very wrong.

A brand new stop was added before Pompeii, but the sign was not changed inside the train. So we waited with the family of three from Virginia inside the station. Next train to bring us to Pompeii? 25 minutes later. Poor Jackson and Chris! Ugh. Unproductive time LOL

Of course, when we got to Pompeii itself, the entire site was quite incredible. Artifacts were frozen in time...79 C.E., to be exact. This is when Mount Vesuvius blew its top and choked the town with a layer of ash. Excavators poured plaster into spaces left behind when this ash killed all living things. The casts show visitors the position adults, babies, and animals were in the moment they died. Many buildings were partly preserved, including the forum, basilica, lunch counters, and what one would call both middle class homes and mansions.

Of course the highlight was the brothel, where sailors could point to the menu depicting exactly what they wanted for the evening and would be led to stone beds in separate rooms. I also liked the mosaic tile floors! Many of these were removed for preservation and placed in the Naples Archeological Museum. Yes, we got to spend a couple of hours there, too. Many of the best artifacts from both Herculaneum and Pompeii were brought to this museum.
We got Jackson to try original Naples pizza (an entire pie folded up...thin and delish). After eating we surprised him with a cab ride out to Fontanelle Cemetery. To make room for new "visitors" and also for practical reasons after a plague wiped out half the town's population, the skulls and bones were stacked neatly inside an underground cave. My vote for creepiest site ever visited in my life.

As we tucked ourselves in at 10:30, we agreed today was an outstanding day. But we are looking forward to slowing down a bit tomorrow. Tuscany and Umbria here we come!

One crazy day in Rome

Did I mention the taxi drivers? Actually, all the drivers. Crazier and more aggressive than those in New York. Red lights and traffic circle protocol mean nothing. And the vespas? A scooter can go into tighter spaces than the cabs. Oh boy....keep your eyes closed if you're riding shotgun!
To save time, we took a taxi from our hotel to the entrance of the Coliseum. We got there at 8:15, bright and early. The crowds were already starting to trickle in. We wore our jackets but it wasn't unbearably cold.

I didn't realize that there were so many stray cats hanging around Italy. We even saw one who looked like Vader in the structure itself. Here, kitty kitty...

We really enjoyed the Rick Steves audio tour of the Colosseum.  The stories about the animals and people waiting in the underground tunnels and passageways were particularly fascinating.
 I love being an early bird and avoiding the crowds, when possible. As we left the structure, there were hundreds of additonal people hanging around and some were waiting in line to get in. I was still surprised at the amount of tourists, despite the fact that this is November and it's supposed to be off season.
Heading over to the Roman Forum next door, we enjoyed exploring the ruins of the government buildings in the center of the ancient city. The palace of the vestal virgins was a bit disturbing, since those who did not remain chaste were given a loaf of bread and a lantern and buried alive. Eeek...I don't know if I would have lasted until age 40, when the woman's term of honorable service ended.

Jackson offered some coins at the site where Julius Caesar's body was burned. In frugal fashion, and to be perfectly honest, he found a couple of coins at his feet at the site, picked them up, and then threw them in. That's my boy.

We found a great panini stop at 200 Gradi, close to the Vatican Museums. We had skip the line tickets, showed up an hour early, weaved through the massive crowd waiting in line, and got right in.

The Vatican Museums house some of the most famous works in the world, including the School of Athens and the Sistene Chapel. One could easily spend a day here. Luckily, the museum group exit spilled out into St. Peter's cathedral. Although La Pieta and a few other famous works were curtained off, we were able to explore much of the huge complex in an afternoon.

As the sun was setting, we did something that I've always wanted to do...climb the cupola of St Peter's and look out on to Vatican Square. Walking around the complex was gorgeous at night, although we were getting cranky again due to lack of food and restaurants not opening till 7 p.m. But we found a delicious place recommended by a shop owner and enjoyed a true Italian meal with all the courses before heading back to the hotel. One of the bad things about being an early bird is that you also are ready to go to bed by 8 or 9 p.m. Which we did.

Taming the Ugly American

Jackson first traveled to Italy as an infant back in 2004. Chris and I wanted to ski Europe, so we joined a group trip to Courmayour, Chamonix, and Zermat. But once I got here, I chickened out and refused to leave the baby with a nanny. Today was the first time he's been out of the country and actually remembers it! We had a bad night's sleep on the plane. Swiss Airlines was marginally more comfortable than Alitalia, and someone's crying (screaming) baby woke everyone each hour.  Despite this annoyance, the views were outstanding once the sunlight illuminated the landscape.

We were excited once we landed, but crankiness set in and we started complaining about the crazy traffic, crowds, and walking...lots of it. I chalked it up to lack of sleep and knew the next day would improve dramatically once we got a good night of rest! On a normal day, the boy isn't one to complain and act ugly. But this was no normal day. 

Leonardo Express train from the airport to town.

The Pantheon, or temple to all gods...prettier at night...

We had dinner at Miscellanea, and enjoyed a few standard Italian menu items like pasta carbonara with egg, pepper and bacon, bruschetta, baked chicken in tomato sauce, and grilled veggies. Delicious. At this point, the ugly American in us was calming down and we didn't hear any more negative comments. To his credit, Jackson is always willing to eat anything and certainly gives a good attempt at learning the language--not the epitome of the Ugly American. So I tried to lighten up on him when he initially refused to throw a coin over his shoulder at the Trevi Fountain. Eventually he did, and we headed back to Hotel Regno for the night. We needed to save energy for tomorrow. We are doing our own walking tour (with Rick Steves audio) of the Colosseum, Forum, and St. Peter's with the Vatican museums on Saturday. Despite it all, the day still averaged out to a 90% "A." And hey...we're in Italy!