Wednesday, August 10, 2005
5 August 2005 ITALY
Bon Giorno
ROME Arrived safe and sound. Shared a cabin with a nice young couple from Naples. I probably spoilt their little love nest, a planned cosy evening overnight on the train turned into a threesome. They were actually very nice and even let me have the bottom bunk, probably thought the old girl wouldn t make it up the ladder.
I slept in and thought I missed my stop in Rome but luckily the train was running 1 hour late and Rome was 2 more stops away.
The motel was great, this time i had my very own balcony, even though it looked onto a very busy street, it was nice to be able to sleep with the doors open because i was on the 6th floor and remember it is very hot over here. 3 nights here was good, so much to see and do. Firstly the tour I am on is made up of 51 people. One other Australian couple from Melbourne, very nice (he is like Paul Hogan and she is like Meryl Streep) and the rest are poms, also very nice, they make me laugh.
I have teamed up with Jean. An ESOL teacher (English for speakers of another language) for any non TAFE people reading this. She is like Joanna Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous, so we have a ball together and laugh heaps. eg We never d0 what we are supposed to do with the tour. And the tour guide Rosella is young and really lovely and lively, our driver is Antonello and Vincenzo, we haven t quite worked out yet what his job is, he just comes along for the ride I think.
VATICAN CITY very interesting tour with a local guide, Maria Therese, believe it or not. I loved the Sistine Chapel and very impressed with Michelangelo s Cameo paintings, hard to believe they are not 3 dimensional.
A BIT OF TRIVIA
They say the Chef in the Vatican had to learn how to cook Snitzel and sauerkraut now.
Michelangelo didn t like painting and was horrified when asked by the Pope to paint the whole ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Arena means sand.
Romantica and the whole Rome and romance thing came from antique roman.
End of trivia.
Next was THE COLOSSEUM and many ancient ruins. We wandered around all day in the heat and to get an idea of how hot it was, one of the poms, not very old, fainted while standing under the tree in the shade. We don t go anywhere without water in our bags.
We also did a ROME BY NIGHT TOUR which was a beautiful way to see the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. I threw in my 2 coins and made my wish. She told us the 3rd coin was only if you wanted a divorce.
The next day was free so Jean and I caught a local bus into the city and walked all day. The Pantheon and the Basilica and a palace, the war memorial and wandered along the banks of the Tiger River back into the main Piazza. Caught the wrong bus back but we finally got there.
Tivoli Gardens in the evening in the town called Tivoli outside of Rome in the mountains. The gardens have over 100 different kinds of water fountains. Another palace backyard. This was followed by our 2nd fun evening out together with the whole group of 51. The dinners include really nice 4 course dinners and as much wine as you can drink. Each place we went to also had there own entertainment. Nice Italian music. One night they sounded just like the 3 tenors and sang their arias. We sang along all night and all the way home on the bus eg "Arriverderci Roma". The poms like us, love to have a good night out. By the way, our waiter was just like something out of a Faulty Towers, John Clease movie, his name was Pietro and Jean and I just cracked up laughing everytime we looked at him.
We drove to Pompei and climbed up to Mt Vesuvius to the top of the volcano. Last time it erupted was in 1944 and a minor quake happened in 1980. There is still smoke coming out of it just on one side. Very interesting to stand up there at the rim. Boy were we all dirty when we got home at night. My hair was stiff. We did a tour of Pompei with a local guide who knew all the details which made it very interesting to hear of what went on in that city 2,000 years ago and to think we are actually walking through their streets. Boy did the Romans know how to build!
We drove to Naples Boat Harbour and got on a hydrofoil, a 45 minute crossing to CAPRI. Talk about going from one extreme to another. We were filthy and arrived in the plushest motel I think I have ever stayed in. My own courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean. Just in time for a quick shower and down to the restaurant for wine and dinner again. What a life. But I have to tell you, that day was exhausting. I didn t even leave the motel the folllowing day. Just lazed by the pool under a sail and was served lunch and drinks on my sundeck. Now I know how the jet set live. It was lovely to experience it for 2 nights anyway. Waking up in paradise was wonderful and I actually felt sad again having to leave so soon. One more night would have been great. So we hopped onto another hydrofoil, only 20 mins this time and headed for Sorrento.
3 nights now in Sorrento before I head for Sicily. At 10.30 am we did the well known Amalfi Coast drive through POSITANO and onto to the town of AMALFI. We saw Sophia Lorens mansion down near the water just before arriving at Amalfi. What a place this Tyrannean Sea and Amalfi Coastline is, just magic views. But you know what has also been really exciting, watching the driving on these roads. The buses reverse and pull over to let each other pass and the motorbikes ducking in between. Hairy and really amazing. So again many wonderful experiences these last few days and I am sure many more ahead. I wandered into the Piazza on my own tonight to locate this Internet Cafe. The streets are full of people all just roaming around. A very lively atmosphere. Tomorrow I have a much needed free day to roam around this beautiful town and perhaps visit the local beach near the boat harbour and on Friday I go on a Blue Cruise for the day. It sails down to Positano and around the island of Capri etc.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR THE 12th ADAM, have a great weekend!
love you all, Gisela
ROME Arrived safe and sound. Shared a cabin with a nice young couple from Naples. I probably spoilt their little love nest, a planned cosy evening overnight on the train turned into a threesome. They were actually very nice and even let me have the bottom bunk, probably thought the old girl wouldn t make it up the ladder.
I slept in and thought I missed my stop in Rome but luckily the train was running 1 hour late and Rome was 2 more stops away.
The motel was great, this time i had my very own balcony, even though it looked onto a very busy street, it was nice to be able to sleep with the doors open because i was on the 6th floor and remember it is very hot over here. 3 nights here was good, so much to see and do. Firstly the tour I am on is made up of 51 people. One other Australian couple from Melbourne, very nice (he is like Paul Hogan and she is like Meryl Streep) and the rest are poms, also very nice, they make me laugh.
I have teamed up with Jean. An ESOL teacher (English for speakers of another language) for any non TAFE people reading this. She is like Joanna Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous, so we have a ball together and laugh heaps. eg We never d0 what we are supposed to do with the tour. And the tour guide Rosella is young and really lovely and lively, our driver is Antonello and Vincenzo, we haven t quite worked out yet what his job is, he just comes along for the ride I think.
VATICAN CITY very interesting tour with a local guide, Maria Therese, believe it or not. I loved the Sistine Chapel and very impressed with Michelangelo s Cameo paintings, hard to believe they are not 3 dimensional.
A BIT OF TRIVIA
They say the Chef in the Vatican had to learn how to cook Snitzel and sauerkraut now.
Michelangelo didn t like painting and was horrified when asked by the Pope to paint the whole ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Arena means sand.
Romantica and the whole Rome and romance thing came from antique roman.
End of trivia.
Next was THE COLOSSEUM and many ancient ruins. We wandered around all day in the heat and to get an idea of how hot it was, one of the poms, not very old, fainted while standing under the tree in the shade. We don t go anywhere without water in our bags.
We also did a ROME BY NIGHT TOUR which was a beautiful way to see the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. I threw in my 2 coins and made my wish. She told us the 3rd coin was only if you wanted a divorce.
The next day was free so Jean and I caught a local bus into the city and walked all day. The Pantheon and the Basilica and a palace, the war memorial and wandered along the banks of the Tiger River back into the main Piazza. Caught the wrong bus back but we finally got there.
Tivoli Gardens in the evening in the town called Tivoli outside of Rome in the mountains. The gardens have over 100 different kinds of water fountains. Another palace backyard. This was followed by our 2nd fun evening out together with the whole group of 51. The dinners include really nice 4 course dinners and as much wine as you can drink. Each place we went to also had there own entertainment. Nice Italian music. One night they sounded just like the 3 tenors and sang their arias. We sang along all night and all the way home on the bus eg "Arriverderci Roma". The poms like us, love to have a good night out. By the way, our waiter was just like something out of a Faulty Towers, John Clease movie, his name was Pietro and Jean and I just cracked up laughing everytime we looked at him.
We drove to Pompei and climbed up to Mt Vesuvius to the top of the volcano. Last time it erupted was in 1944 and a minor quake happened in 1980. There is still smoke coming out of it just on one side. Very interesting to stand up there at the rim. Boy were we all dirty when we got home at night. My hair was stiff. We did a tour of Pompei with a local guide who knew all the details which made it very interesting to hear of what went on in that city 2,000 years ago and to think we are actually walking through their streets. Boy did the Romans know how to build!
We drove to Naples Boat Harbour and got on a hydrofoil, a 45 minute crossing to CAPRI. Talk about going from one extreme to another. We were filthy and arrived in the plushest motel I think I have ever stayed in. My own courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean. Just in time for a quick shower and down to the restaurant for wine and dinner again. What a life. But I have to tell you, that day was exhausting. I didn t even leave the motel the folllowing day. Just lazed by the pool under a sail and was served lunch and drinks on my sundeck. Now I know how the jet set live. It was lovely to experience it for 2 nights anyway. Waking up in paradise was wonderful and I actually felt sad again having to leave so soon. One more night would have been great. So we hopped onto another hydrofoil, only 20 mins this time and headed for Sorrento.
3 nights now in Sorrento before I head for Sicily. At 10.30 am we did the well known Amalfi Coast drive through POSITANO and onto to the town of AMALFI. We saw Sophia Lorens mansion down near the water just before arriving at Amalfi. What a place this Tyrannean Sea and Amalfi Coastline is, just magic views. But you know what has also been really exciting, watching the driving on these roads. The buses reverse and pull over to let each other pass and the motorbikes ducking in between. Hairy and really amazing. So again many wonderful experiences these last few days and I am sure many more ahead. I wandered into the Piazza on my own tonight to locate this Internet Cafe. The streets are full of people all just roaming around. A very lively atmosphere. Tomorrow I have a much needed free day to roam around this beautiful town and perhaps visit the local beach near the boat harbour and on Friday I go on a Blue Cruise for the day. It sails down to Positano and around the island of Capri etc.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR THE 12th ADAM, have a great weekend!
love you all, Gisela
# posted by Gisela @ 11:07 AM 
