We made our way across the narrow and bendy crossing through the mountains and followed the navigation machine's directions to Pompeii. This ancient civilisation so amazingly preserved following the volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD, was something of a must see on my list. But the morning did not start off the best, with Clutzy Kristie stepping out for a moment. Trying to put my audioguide lanyard over my head, I had too many things in my right hand and attempted to do this job with my right. Only, my right hand was also holding onto my take-away cup of coffee... I'm sure you can all imagine the next scene - scalding hot coffee was tipped onto my shoulder, down my arm and back, all while wearing a white t-shirt! Thankfully my back pack, holey cardigan and arm took the worst of the damage, my arm stinging for several hours afterwards, and my cardigan and backpack stinking of stale coffee for the rest of the day.
Crisis over, we stepped inside the grounds of Pompeii. On its own, one might think it is interesting and somewhat under done in terms of information as you walk around. The audio guide also did not align with any of the maps or numbers so it was a bit of a guessing game. But when we remembered that all of the buildings, remains and artefacts were once upon a time lying under up to 6 metres of ash, the beauty and wonder of the place took over.
For us, we found certain areas more interesting than others. In particular, the old Colosseum stadium was in almost pristine condition, and held a special exhibition inside called "Stolen from Death". This exhibit was housed inside the grounds of the Colosseum but also within its own special display pyramid. As one arrived inside the Colosseum, it was clear that something was not right with the picture, the large wooden pyramid being very out of place with the ancient crumbling surrounds. However the inside of the pyramid was amazing.
We walked around the outside edge of the room in a circle on a raised platform, allowing us to look down into the central pit. In the pit were plaster casts of some of the human bodies found in the rubble of Pompeii. These bodies depicted the last positions held by the people of Pompeii as they suffocated from the noxious gasses, unknowing and unaware of the secret death it brought.
Some of the casts had clearly been able to capture the exact minute features of certain bodies, with some faces showing partial teeth and such, while one in particular, the face had not survived and the cast was of a blank flat space where the face should have been, and the artist had taken care of that, providing some small features of his own. It was spooky, chilling and yet, oddly fascinating to see how the people of Pompeii had died. A unique way to illustrate the discovery process of archaeologists.
Other areas of interest to us were the old bath houses, still fully intact with beautiful mosaic floors, sculpted walls and underfloor water heating systems. We also quite enjoyed the house that was said to be the brothel of Pompeii, with amusing (karma sutra-esque) pictures adorning the walls - said to be how the men chose their pleasure.
Eventually though we had seen our fair share of crumbling columns and decided to start the journey towards Rome. 2 hours later we made it, and this time, had no trouble finding the rental company. Car returned, we found the underground and made our way to our new hotel.
(BTW the trip back was not without a stop for snacks at the big European service stations - and Michael laughed once more when he found Fonzies - the Italian version of Twisties!)
The walk to our hotel included the very weird spotting of a Frankenstein car.... well, it was a pale green car that had clearly had an accident, and the owner had had no other way to fix the car than with zip ties, black ones. It honestly looked like stitches through green skin - just like Frankenstein's monster!
Accommodation located, we waited for the owner to show up and let us in. Meanwhile, mum started her Nun count, with 3 under the belt before the owner even arrived. We hefted our suitcases up 3 flights of stairs but found ourselves in a nice spacious and cool apartment.
It just so happened that our apartment was just down the road from the Colosseum. What a lovely way to finish our day, with dinner down by the Colosseum. We dined at a great little restaurant called Forno al Legena with Einstein as their logo! We each enjoyed a lovely meal topped off with a free garlic pizza bread and a nice little dessert taster.
The meal over, we took a moonlit stroll around the Colosseum (to help walk off our big dinner) and then headed home for a well deserved rest.
The following day was Friday, and seeing as we were flying home on Sunday, we thought Friday was better than Saturday to see Vatican City. As it was, we were 3 of thousands trying to get into both the Vatican museum and St. Peters Basilica. In the end, we were enticed by a man from a tour company and joined a tour group where we could be ushered through the big lines, have the guide in our ears while viewing certain areas of the museum, and also go straight through from the Sistine Chapel to St Peters, rather than walk around the outside and queue up once more.
Our tour guide was rather funny, swearing at odd moments, comparing himself to certain parts of paintings and giving us a great overview of Vatican City. Michael and I have seen this once before, but it was nice to have a few new views, being taken a different route than last time.
Our guide also took a longer time to explain the room full of painted maps of Italy. Painted so long ago, well before we had google maps and such (tee hee), the maps have been assessed and are said to be 92% accurate. Not bad for a painter just going off peoples notes and sketches from travel.
In the end, we were led through to the main event - the Sistine Chapel. For Michael and I, it was nice to see again, but also not nearly as impressive second time around. For us, the appeal was to see mum's face light up as she looked up and all around. She was very excited to finally see this famed room and its ceiling.As quietly as I could (because as always, the guards were shouting into a microphone to be silent - Irony anyone?) I explained to mum the ongoing fascination with the central image of god and Adam reaching to touch, about the hidden organic images within the painting, and the gap between the fingers. Mum was quite astonished.
Our guide gathered us and led us out a set of doors that even Michael and I had not used previously. These doors led us to a staircase that took us directly to the entrance for the St Peters Basilica. It was quick, painless, out of the sun and also meant no second security check or queue. We said goodbye to our guide and entered the Basilica. Mum was once again stunned. However we did not stick around to see much more of the inside. Having done it once before, we had a new goal. We left mum to wander at her own pace, to take her own photos.
We went back outside and around to a small entrance on the right where we paid a small fee (as opposed to the larger fee for the lift) to walk the stairs all the way to the top of the Cupola. It was a great trip for both our legs and our eyes. The view from inside the cupola was amazing, looking down upon the tiny ants wandering around the Basilica, but we only stayed there a few minutes. From there on we commenced the accent to the very top.
This staircase was narrow and slanting, and very hot. The tiny pockets of fresh air flowing through the tiny windows were no where near enough as we stood on an angle. Eventually we made it up to the top and out into the fresh air. The view that befell us was amazing. Being able to see over the top of Vatican square from this top angle was worth the shaking legs.
Michael and I were also shocked to note something on the dome roof below us - candle holders. One could only guess that, once upon a time, candles had adorned these holders and were lit of an evening. But how they were lit was what we questioned! Had someone been lowered on a rope? Did they have some sort of unique Roman fire lighting device that worked on domed roofs?
Either way, we took in the views, admired the detailed architecture and eventually made our way back down to the roof top level, where we could take a quick bathroom break. Michael found it particularly amusing that one could pee on top of St Peters Basilica.
At the bottom of the stair case once more, we left the Basilica and made our way across Vatican square to find mum. She was resting her very sore feet so we decided it was time to make our way to a late lunch before heading home to the apartment for a rest. But not before a few photos in front of the Basilica!
Lunch ended up being a lovely affair, as we sat outside under a canopy with water spray being showered over us every 30 seconds or so. We each chose a meal that was really calling to us, with different end results. Mum ordered gnochi, which she said was nice but the meat in it was a tad too salty. Michael ordered a pizza which was good but too big. I ordered a platter, which had some of my all time favourite Italian snacks on it including mozzarella and parma, bruchetta, stuffed crumbed mushrooms and olives, and even a zucchini flower stuffed with goats cheese and anchovies then deep fried. It was amazing. I think my eyes near bulged out of my head when the plate arrived!
On the way to the train station, I fell in love with a handbag in a shop window. It was in the shape of a dog, and came is a large variety of colours. Michael just rolled his eyes and took photos of me, while mum proceeded to buy a pale green puppy bag for me.
Once back in the apartment, we each had a bit of time to ourselves and mum had a rest for both her eyes and feet. Michael and I wandered down to the supermarket and bought some food for our dinner - another antipasti platter. I mean, why not when you have the fresh ingredients so openly available to you?!?
Saturday came and we decided to make our last day count, with plenty of things on the list of still to do. First stop was right down the road, at the Colosseum. Mum was desperate to see this at last (inside). We arranged for mum to have an audio guide so that she could hear some of the more important information about the place. And then we pretty much wandered in and out of the areas of the Colosseum for about an hour.
From here, we wandered over to the Forums, again a place that Michael and I had previously visited. However the last time we came, we only entered at the forums so that we could skip the massive ticket queue at the Colosseum, thus we only fleetingly walked through in a direct line. This time we wandered in and around the ruins, and right up to the top of the hill where we could see over the entire Forum area and to the Colosseum. It was a rather lovely sight.
We walked out around the outside of the Forums and headed back in towards central Rome, stopping on the round about in front of the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. This sheer size of this monument once again had mum in awe. But it was nice for us to take pictures from the round about as the last time we had tried, there was an enormous Christmas tree taking up the walkway through the round about.
Next stop was naturally lunch, as we had been walking around for several hours by this time, in the overly warm sun. We each chose a nice meal, but I got payback for being so happy about my lunch the day before, with my pasta being a little too aldente. Mum's dish was great and Michael's although small, was incredibly delicious - a saltimboca of sorts...
The afternoon was saved for doing a handful of things once again (for the last time). This included another visit to the wood shop, so mum and I could sit with Pinocchio and so we could buy a few more little gifts (lots of babies being born in Brisbane at the moment!). We also took one more trip to the gelati shop so that we could each try a few more flavours....
That evening marked our final night, so we thought it would be nice to share one final meal together. We wandered around near the Colosseum to find just the right place and settled for a restaurant that was packed with Italians, and looked very homely.
My spaghetti dish was full of juicy scampi, mum had tasty ravioli and Michael had a spicy spaghetti dish.
And of course, the night was not complete without a final Italian dessert. Mum and I both devoured a plate of Tiramisu while Michael chose a dessert that was like a layered parfait of custard and nutella! Of course he was in heaven!
The next day was quite a non-event, with us leaving the apartment at 11 and making our way direct to the airport. Our holiday was sadly over. But it was not over for mum, for her it was only a return to Munich. Two days later she was off to Austria to visit family.
