Grand Adventure '14

I've had so many requests to post about my trip....I haven't for basically two reasons.  One, I am lazy.  Two, I feel a little....guilty, almost....that I got to do this.  But since I got another request, here goes!  Prepare yourself for tons of photos.

My mom and I flew into Rome.  My sister was flying from her home in Alaska, so she flew into Zurich and took a train down to Rome to experience the scenery.

So my mom and I had an afternoon to kill in Rome.  We went to the Borghese Gallery and Park.  Oh my heavens.  Not everyone knows this about me, but I'm an art history buff.  This gallery has some incredible art, but the most amazing pieces for me were four of Bernini's sculptures (see here, here, here and here...just know photos do not even come close to doing them justice)...I was almost in tears.  They were stunning, and it was such a big moment for me.  No photos allowed inside, but this is the outside of the villa, and the extensive grounds (which are now a city park).

Those are the city walls of Ancient Rome

We picked up my sister that night at the train station.  We were staying down the street just under a mile, so that worked out well, since her train came in late after the subway had shut down for the night.

Next morning, we ate at the little cafe right by our hotel, then waiting for our pre-arranged driver to pick us up and head for Civitavecchia, the port, about an hour outside of Rome.

My sister by my bunk...I was neither pregnant nor in my 60's, so I got the top bunk

We ate and explored the ship for the rest of the day.

Our first port was Livorno, which is the port about an hour outside Florence.  For our day excursion, we chose the Cinque Terre.  It is a series of five villages built into the cliffs of the coast.  It was amazing....one of my favorite excursions.

Our next port was Cannes, France.  Here, the port can't accommodate cruise ships, so the ship anchored off the port and we took the tender boat into shore.  It was kind of a terrible experience since I get so motion sick...

Once in Cannes, we were scheduled to head to Grasse and visit a perfume factory, then go to St. Paul de Vence, a medieval village which is now full of quaint shops and cafes.  The perfume factory was terrible.  We spent 10 minutes getting a tour of how the perfume was made and then another hour in their gift shop where they tried to sell everyone perfume.  St. Paul de Vence was AWESOME, but we had only 30 minutes there because of how much time we'd spent at the perfume factory, and the fact that the excursion was poorly planned...we spent half of the 4.5 hour excursion on the bus.  Should have made it longer.  But we managed to get some cool photos and stop to grab some macarons.

Yes, I totally dressed up for my day in France...

Up next was Mallorca.  We docked in the major city on the island, Palma, then hopped on a bus headed for the other side of the island.  We toured a pearl factory (Majorica).  Pretty sure the cruise line must get some kind of kick back for taking us to these places!  But I was sucked in this time....I've always wanted a nice pair of pearl studs!

Anyway, then onto the Caves of Hams.  Totally awesome.  My favorite part was when we reached a large pool of water, and they were playing opera and classical and projecting corresponding images and videos on the walls....I almost laughed out loud.

Then we headed into Porto Cristo.  Stopped at an old guard tower dating from the 1500's along the way, pretty cool.  And the views were incredible.

Porto Cristo was a darling town.  I loved it.  We spent some time in the shops, sitting on the beach, and eating a traditional Mallorcan meal: pa'amb oli (delicious).

Next day was Barcelona.  We actually chose to go outside Barcelona, up into the mountains to a monastery.  This was an odd one for me.  When I spent my semester in Romania, we went to some monasteries one weekend, and I was expecting at least a somewhat similar experience.  I wasn't expecting a tourist trap, complete with multiple gift shops, a big festival going on, a children's music boarding school, and rooms that could be rented out!  It was still an interesting experience, and the mountains were stunning.

We had a day at sea the next day.  It was nice to relax after going so much.  The three of us sat on lounge chairs on the deck with our Kindles literally all day.

Early, before it got crowded

Our last port was Naples.  We chose to spend our time going to Pompeii and Sorrento.  Pompeii was pretty cool!  It was kind of a surreal experience, walking around there, crossing streets that were crossed so many centuries ago by people long gone.  I love history, so this was right up my alley.

In Sorrento, we wandered through narrow streets lined with shops and cafes.

Lots of mopeds

Then we headed to a farm up in the hills high above Sorrento.  Had a quick tour (it had started raining) and made it into their little cafe for lunch (right as the deluge started!).

Olive trees

The next day we were back in Civitavecchia.  Another driver picked us up and took us to the monastery we were staying at in Rome.  That was great.  Affordable, central location, simple and spartan but with free wifi and our own bathroom.  11 o'clock curfew, so not for everyone, but perfect for us!

Entrance

Courtyard inside the gates

Door to the guest rooms

View from the steps...Colosseum is just up the street

That afternoon, we had our Vatican tour scheduled.  It was nuts.  SO busy.  We were lucky in that we paid for a skip-the-line tour, so we didn't have to wait long at all.  The Vatican museums are astounding.  I got to see some amazing art, AND we were allowed to take photos....so here are some of my favorites.

Laocoon and his sons...studied this one, it was incredible in person
(had a lovely time explaining to my kids why I took a photo of a naked statue)

The School of Athens, in the Raphael Rooms

One of many studies Rodin did for The Thinker

By far the highlight was the Sistine Chapel.  Again, a big moment for me.  I will admit to getting a little teary.  No photos allowed in there, which is completely understandable.  Just know it was....wow.
Now some photos of St. Peter's Basilica...the scale of this place was insane.

The next day was our bum around Rome day.  We wandered all around and saw the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, and then ended the day with a tour of Ancient Rome concluding the Colosseum.
On the metro on the way over to the Spanish Steps, we got our own orchestra performance:

It was pretty awesome, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We got to the Spanish Steps....and we thought, "this is it?"  Yeah, that marvelous feat of architecture didn't really excite us.

Onto the Trevi Fountain.  Everyone I talked to recommended seeing it at night....but, we were there during the day...so the day it was.  Very cool.  My kids would have loved it.

Stopped for lunch at a little cafe...I had seafood salad.  They weren't kidding around.

Then the Pantheon.  Super super cool.  (I'm so eloquent, aren't I?)

All through Rome (at least Rome within the ancient city walls) the streets are cobblestone. I kinda loved it.

From there, we walked over to where our tour was starting at Trajan's Column.  Right next to it is a MASSIVE building known as the Wedding Cake.  It was designed in the late 1800's and completed in 1925.  In Rome, of course, that's practically brand-new.  And apparently Romans don't like it much.

Trajan's Column.  It is still standing because (like most of the Ancient Roman buildings that are still around) it was Christianized.  They plopped St. Peter on the top.  Anyway, yet another art history marvel I studied and was beyond thrilled to see in person.  And actually, of added interest to me now...it depicts the Romans conquering the Dacians.  When I studied it, Dacia had no meaning to me.  Now, it does, because Dacia is present day Romania.  Romanians are descended from Dacians and Romans, hence their Latin based language and heritage.

From there, we walked through some of the main ruins of Ancient Rome.  There was some newly excavated ruins that seemed to be right in the middle of the road...our guide told us that they were digging for a third Metro line and ran into them.  She doesn't know what they'll end up doing, because in her words, they will run into ruins everywhere.

And then we reached the Colosseum.  This gave the Borghese Gallery a run for its money as my favorite part of our trip.

Guys, this was kinda awesome.  We paid for an after dark hour, which meant that the Colosseum was empty except for staggered tour groups of around a dozen people each.  It was more than worth the money.
When we walked out into the arena floor, I wasn't even trying to hold back my huge goofy grin.  Another one of those big moments for me.  Not necessarily something I've always dreamed of, like seeing the Bernini statues or the Sistine Chapel, but it was just that incredible.

Aaaaaand here's a video for you...

Only part of the arena floor has been reconstructed, so you can see the crumbling chambers that once held lions etc.

We got to go down below into a small roped off area...

 In the hall, they had a model of the pulley system used to get the animals onto the arena floor.

Then we got to go up on top...WOW!

Our last day in Italy, we had arranged for a tour out in the country, which was a great way to end our trip after the hustle and bustle of Rome.  We headed out to Lake Bracciano to start with.  The whole trip out to the countryside was awesome.  There were hardly any people everywhere we went, and we felt like we got an authentic Italian experience since they weren't catering to tourists (well, other than our driver, who was catering to us!).
First, we toured Castello Odescalchi, a 15th century castle (where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got married, incidentally).  It was very cool...but it was also apparent that the owners just didn't care.  So much more could have been made of it.  No photos allowed inside, but here's some from outside.

From there, we drove around Lake Bracciano.  There are no motorboats allowed in this lake, and it shows.  Gorgeous clear pristine water.  We stopped in the village of Anguillara to dip our toes in.

We headed off for lunch in Ceri, a tiny tiny town on the top of the plateau.  Only one car at a time can go up or down.  People have lived on it since the days of the Etruscans (7th Century), but the town how it looks today goes back to when it was founded in 1236.  I had my favorite meal of the trip there.  Ravioli with sage butter sauce.  Sigh.

Then onto the Etruscan necropolises of Cerveteri.  I was really excited about and interested in this....but after going into one small dank creepy underground tomb, my claustrophobia kicked in big time (deep breaths, deep breaths, don't panic...).  I managed to drag myself into one or two more, then sat on a rock and read my Kindle while my mom and sister explored the rest.

The stone beds where the bodies were laid

Rows of tomb entrances

And that was our last day.  The next morning, a driver picked us up and took us to the airport, and we all headed home.  It was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime trip.  I still can't believe I went.