Pompeii

I remember the very first time I fell in love with history. We were watching a television special on, you guessed it, Pompeii. I remember trying to understand how a volcano could destroy an entire thriving community. I remember most of all though, the bodies casts there were made out of the "leftovers" (for lack of a better word) of the citizens buried in ash and volcanic material. I was hooked on history from that point on!


The trip, which of course, was a multi language tour, ugh, was nothing exciting. Another long and uncomfortable bus ride! We did stop in Naples, which is only minutes from Pompeii, and were able to explore for a tiny bit (and I'm not exaggerating on the time scale). Of course, they (the tour company) made us stop at some jewelry store to "use the facilities," if you will, but really they tried to sell us things the entire time.

Anyway, we made it to Pompeii after what seemed like the longest drive EVER! We stopped for lunch, which was quite the experience. Nathan and I sat next to these two ladies from California and a young girl from Arizona (maybe. Or maybe it was the other way around?). Anyway, they told us what was on the menu, veal or salad for the vegitarians. So, we are all thinking, except for Nathan, SICK! We all go with the salad. Well, they bring us out the most pathetic little salads I have ever seen in my life while Nathan has this amazing plate set in front of him. We all got a good laugh about it!

We finished up and headed over to Pompeii. I literally had butterflies in my stomach because I was so excited! Pompeii did not disappoint; it was everything I had dreamed of and more! The sad thing, we were only allotted TWO HOURS to visit this ancient city. I swear, I will never go on a tour again if it can be avoided.

On a side note, I think this was the ride where THE MOST OBNOXIOUS Russian couple sat behind us. For one, the girl's shorts were literally up her hiney. I didn't even know it was humanly possible to wear shorts that little! Her and her creepy boyfriend laughed and giggled and madeout and flirted the ENTIRE time. I'm pretty sure all of us wanted to throw them out the bus door! It's really sad that I can't remember for sure if this was the tour they were on. At the time, I thought I would never ever forget them! Actually, on the way back from the tour, the tour guide put Mr. Bean on the tvs. That guy laughed his brains out! I've never seem a grown man laugh so hard over something so ridiculous! He was so crazy, I would find myself laughing!

Anyway, if you ever get the chance to visit Naples, take the time to see Pompeii; the feeling there is so surreal. It's hard to believe that a place so beautiful was the home of such a tragic event!

Rome had some AMAZING citrus! If you know me, you know I live for citrus! I would bath in it if I could!

Happy 1st Birthday, Q-dawg!

I'm still in denial that this darling baby boy of mine is 1! Where did the time go? I just can't get enough of his chubby little thighs, his perfect nose, and his bow-legged flinstone walk! He's recently picked up the obnoxious habit of screaming at the top of his lungs, which is definitely something I CAN get enough of! In our house of craziness, sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes to make yourself heard. Here are some pictures from our own little 1st birthday photo shoot.

July 23 Day...I can't remember!

It's 6am and Nathan and I are getting ready for ANOTHER tour! The look on Nathan's face says it all! "I'm going to kill you!" So far our tour experiences had not panned out so well. Sitting in a tour bus for hours on end, with a guide that repeats everything in 3 languages, and hanging out with some Europeans that smoke like chimneys and make us pull over every ten minutes for a ciggy, it wasn't exactly our idea of fun! 

So today's tour was the Classical and Imperial Rome. I was super super excited for this one because it was the day we were going to see the Coliseum! Eek! We made it to the meeting point, by bus, of course. And met our guy. He was one cool dude; no really! That was the first great thing about this tour. Second, it was in only one language! Double yay! Finally, we were walking through Rome. No more being stuck on a cramped bus with a crazy driver for hours on end. It really ended up being a GREAT tour, although they did make us stop once at some stupid Vatican jewelry place to try and sell us a bunch of junk!

Well, we began our tour making our way over to Trevi Fountain! It was a little rainy outside, so on the way, we stopped and bought a pretty freaking awesome umbrella, which lasted up until a month or two ago when my little minions got a hold of it! 

 Throw a coin of your shoulder and make a wish!

After Trevi Fountain, we made our way over to the Parthenon. It was so amazing. If I remember correctly, it is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, church/structure in Rome. I don't know. It's also the burial of Rafael and other famous artists. 

 The column on the left was and for Marcus Aurelius. The carvings on the side represent his victories in battle. On the right is an old Egyptian obelisk. Once again, if I remember correctly, Rome has more of Egypt's obelisks than Egypt!

The Parthenon!

So there was this guy on our tour. Poor dude seriously had a cigarette in his hand the ENTIRE time, and this was like a 10 hour long tour. I've never seen anything like it! It was almost funny seeing him pulling out his cigarettes. Nathan and I would look at each other and ask, "Is that ANOTHER one!"

Piazza Navona, hence the sign! I'm 97% sure this is where we saw a lady, with ripped clothes and half spray painted in red, peeing on the side of a building. No lie. She had a big hole in her pants so she didn't even have to take them down. She just leaned up against the wall and let loose! Ah, Europe!

Gelatohhhhh!!!

We also made a stop at St. Peters, and I did take a bunch of pictures again, but since I have already covered that in a previous post, I'll skip it this time!

Before we hit the Colosseum, we had a nice little lunch break during the tour and met up again to do the next half!

This time around we hopped on a bus. The bus took us up to Saint Peter's in Chains, an old cathedral, or maybe it was a basilica?,  that supposedly holds the chains Peter was bound in at one point in his life. It's a sacred relic that many devout Christians pilgrimage to.

This is a statue of Moses sculpted by Michelangelo. Michelangelo liked to put his "signature" on all of his creations. If you pull up a larger picture, you can see the artists profile carved into Moses's beard! Fun fact of the day!

From St. Peter's we walked down to the Colosseum! One perk of booking a tour is that we did not have to wait in line to get in, and those lines are HUGE!


There she be!

This is a view from the colosseum!

 




I'm not actually 100% sure what and where this building came from!

 

And to end our tour...the most beautiful view ever a top capitol hill!