When in Rome...drink lots of water!

Man is it hot in this city...

I arrived in the Eternal city yesterday about 5:30 pm after spending the morning touring the ruins at Pompeii.

I have to say, when you travel in Italy(even more than in Spain), have a cavalier attitude about transportation connections. Sometimes buses just decide not to show up this hour, etc. It took me, and a large group of other tourists, forever to get down the side of the mountain in Sorrento to the train station.

**The night before(July 16th) I was on a full bus at around 11:00 pm. It was supposed to be leaving at 11pm but the bus driver hung out on the sidewalk talking to his friend and smoking for another 20 minutes. Attempts to say something-not by me- were met with blank looks**

.Pompeii was a sight I had looked foward to for a long time. I expected something very different than what I saw. For one thing it is not very well organized. At every intersection there is a traffic jam of confused tourists trying to figure out the cryptic map they give out. I had my Rick Steves guide book, which was a little better. Unfortunately his guide was set up as a tour. About halfway through, at what he called "the best preserved house", I hit a snag. The house he mentioned was closed. Directions kind of went sour from there. Second thing is(and I know this is a bit morbid) there are not very many victims. I only saw three. I expected the carbon molds of people who were caught in the ash from Vesuvius. Apparently most of these are in a museum in Naples

To be fair part of the problem was that it was unbearably hot out. That certainly colors your view of things. I did eventually(with a rowdy group of intrepid Brits) find the brothel. What this says about our priorities I don't know. It was small but interesting. The little bed stalls looked so small that you would have to be a yoga master to get in them. Above the doors there were "colorful" (ie graphic) depictions of available options. All the tourists(including yours truly) snapped away at these.

After this visit I sat in a shady little cafe, which some enterprising owner had named "Little paradise" and ate two lemon ices. Lemon ices can be a religious experience under the right circumstances I can tell you.

I settled into my hostel in Rome later that day. The room is cheap, and reflects that price, but I slept okay last night. The airconditioner only has one speed- HIGH. It's either 45 degrees in there or 95. So I bundled up the blanket.

The toilet, located across the hall, decides when it wants to flush. Maybe yes. Okay now I don't feel like it. It's pretty clean though.

The next day(really today- Wednesday the 18th) I got up at 5:30 am to take care of my ablutions and make it to the line at the Vatican museum early. I arrived at around 7 am, after being sidetracked by a beautiful early morning light flooding the collonades at St. Peters. There were already about 30 people in line. I soon began to chat with my fellow waiters. I met Javier(fm Spain) and Edmund(fm Peru) and got to practice my Spanish again. I also met a whole family(parents and four boys with BLOND hair) from Holland. Everyone shared breakfast food and chatted. Attempts to slyly move into the front part of the line by late-comers were rebuffed vigourously.

The Vatican museum was crowded in some points, but I went to the main art gallery I wanted to see, first. I had it almost all to myself- just me and Carravagio or me and Fra Filipe- Wow! And you could take non- flash pictures! Uncle Phil I LOVE my little 50mm 1.8 fast lens...
This picture is a close-up of a Caravaggio painting showing Christ being lowered from the cross-see the incredible play of light and shadow- and the bright white in contrast with the red. The brightness of the white was achieved using a poisinous resin!

Eventually , after some interesting sculptures and funeral sarcophagi, I decided to skip all the way to the end and the Sistine Chapel. It was still packed when I got there but I managed to find a seat along the outside edge and using a detailed guide book I had purchased at the beginning I went through everything, frame by frame. It was the most incredible frescoe work I have ever seen. The whole ceiling and Last Judgement wall had recently been completely cleaned(apparently they were so covered in soot from candles and oils that you could barely see things). The colors that Michaelangelo used were so vivid. The figures along the edges three dimensional. I stayed for at least an hour until the ache in my neck overcame the urge to stare in awe at the ceiling.

After that I went to see Saint Peters Basilica- the largest Christian church in the world. On the floor as you come in there are markers showing, in order of size stretching out toward the altar at the other end, where other huge cathedrals would fit inside St. Peters. I saw Toledo and Seville and the Basilica in Washington DC.

The light inside the church is beautiful and accentuates the marble statuary and the gold along the ceiling. I saw the famous Pietà by Michaelangelo. I stood under the dome pondering the miracle of the architecture. Here is a picture of me at St. Peters.


On my way out I saw one of the Swiss guard heading off to his post with a briefcase. I'm not sure if the snapshot turned out though I did get to see the changing of the guard on my way out.

Tommorrow I head out for Turkey! It will be interesting. I'm not sure about the internet cafès there but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So far, with a few blunders, I have managed to get by.

I miss you all. It sure will be nice to get back to the people who love me...and my angry cat.

PS to Petes people- Katie the people in Italy talk just as forcefully as you and Pete- though of course Italians aren't quite as beautiful as you guys are. Start making the iced tea soon- I've only got a few more days to go.