Europe Day 17: Corfu Day Two

Today was the day we were going to spend all day out on the water – on George’s Boat… but not George’s Boat. Another boat he owned driven by someone else. There was another Contiki group in Corfu with us – our partner tour but on the “backpack” level – and they got George’s actual boat. But really – we didn’t care – because today turned out to be an absolutely amazing day on the water regardless.


On the waterfront
We boarded our Not-George’s-Boat at the waterfront a little further… south I think… of Corfu city. It was a pretty nice boat – not glamourous or anything – but definitely as scary as it could have possibly been. Don’t ask me how or why – but I’ve been on a few boats you do NOT want to be in and this was nowhere near that quality. It had a bar and washrooms and lots of room for most of us to actually lie down and sun bathe.

Ana
Ana – our site rep – came on the tour with us and was a ton of fun. She really has dived into the relaxing life of living on a Greek island. She told us how really – some of it isn’t so hot – as she also has to work with the budget tours and at Contiki sites – the reps actually are the ones cooking their food and planning things for them that our hotels take care of – but she admits – the perks on the “other side” more than make up for it.

Jumping into pain
A little ways into the ride, we made our first stop in the middle of the Ionian Sea for “jumping time” where we all just dived into the water. As I watched everyone go for it there was no way I wasn’t going to go too. Silly me apparently – something went wrong. When I jumped off the boat and went barreling into the water – all of a sudden my whole head started burning severely – especially my ear canals. I thought maybe it would go away as the water emptied out of my head, but it just didn’t – and the pain became excruciating. It brought me to tears.

Tissue sponges
I had to get out and onto the boat, but after a few minutes the pain still hadn’t gone away. I went searching for some pain pills hoping it would numb the feeling – but then the captain of the boat sat with us and said it was probably cause the salt water got pushed into my ear canals and was stuck there. He told me to tightly twirl some tissue paper and make “ear sponges” – which really, were just tissue paper Q-tips – and put them in my ear to soak up the salt water. Lo and behold – the minute I did it – the pain went away. The thing is – I just didn’t get it. I’ve gone diving for goodness sakes – so salt water in my ears isn’t new. The captain said it was most likely that the water actually went into my ear canal – whereas usually it doesn’t.

Water Sports
We stopped for another swim spot a little further on and the bar was opened for drinks. After starting up again, we then headed for one of the large beaches on the eastern side of the island where all the water sports would be available for us to try.

Parasailing!
There were a ton of sports to choose from. Everything from a Banana Boat ride to water skiing was available. I, however, had my eye on the skies and convinced H-Rabbit that we should go parasailing! I think she thought that I wouldn’t go through with it – even though I had said I wanted to go parasailing ever since we hadn’t taken the chance in Cuba a few years ago. I promptly plopped my money down, so we were going – no matter what.

Ropes and Pulleys and…
Getting ready took a little doing, as they didn’t have a large selection of gear to wear. However – after we got settled, they led us to the beginning of the dock, placed us in between the ropes, and before the parachute, and gave us our instructions…

Just what?
… and what were those instructions? One line, one smile: Just walk! Can you believe that? All the guy told us was to “just walk”! Ok – he may have ALSO pointed to where we should hold our hands – but even that he said only matter-of-factly while we were still fiddling with the cables, and once we were off it didn’t matter. So – when he gave the call – we did exactly what he said – we just started walking down the dock… and we were off!

The view from up here
It was definitely one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. If you want to feel like a bird – go parasailing! The view was spectacular, and feeling so weightless was just amazing. H-Rabbit gave us a tiny scare when she leaned forward a bit and almost tipped us over, though I think if we hadn’t panicked and just fell into a horizontal position, we wouldn’t have messed anything up. Albeit – up there – so far from the water – it was a bit scary. But it lasted only a second, and everything else was great – even our decent into the water when we were done – so I’m definitely parasailing any chance I get to in the future.

More pebbles…
When we were finished H-Rabbit and I took some time to check out the beach, but it turned out it was another pebble beach instead of a sand one and I wasn’t too impressed. No matter how smooth pebbles get or can be – it simply is NOT a happy beach bed to walk on – with or without shoes.

Lunch
After some water play we all clambered back onto the boat for lunch. They served some awesome food right from the galley. I think I forgot to mention – when we got to the beach for watersports, we actually hooked up with George’s ACTUAL boat and the other Contiki group – and for Lunch our boats were strung together. We had to walk along one to get to the other.

Hilarious George
During lunch – George was selling souvenirs from his boat. The t-shirts were absolutely hilarious and extremely “dirty”. Heather and I thought they were great – but we knew deep down they were throw away items – reminiscent a la frosh gear - and that we just didn’t need them. We did take pictures of people in theirs though.

It took awhile for everyone to finish all the water sports that they had signed up for since some people almost signed up for everything. I was content to sun bathe on the boat and have more great food and drinks. Yay for delicious Frappes!

Water, water, water
After everyone finally finished all of their sports, we took off again on the water. I absolutely love being out on the water. The wind, the waves, the water, the sun – it was a perfect day. We took time for a few more swimming spots. One was a nice alcove stop, but we were told to watch out for the bottom, as there were spiky black sea urchins that were poisonous lying around. Michelle and Tash brought out their underwater cameras and took a lot of photos of everyone beneath the water. It’s the Olympus hand-held versions – and I definitely need to get one of those. Will save on ever having to buy those disposable water ones.

Winding down
After that, our boat tour was winding down – but it was a really long day in the sun so I think the timing was perfect. I am definitely going to hold today in my memory forever – so perfect.

Easy evening
Two full days in the sun can definitely be tiring. When we got back to the hotel, we had some time before dinner, so we hung out at the pool and pool bar and had some crazy concoctions made by the very friendly bartender. After feeling like we’d swum off all the saltwater – we headed to dinner where we grabbed lots of buffet food and then settled on making plans just to walk into town – though it did require a lot of convincing, as I was quite tired.

Corfu in the dark
We walked down towards the town along the hotel road and met up with Caitlyn along the way. She had headed down on her own earlier but was heading back because it was a bit scary. However – upon meeting us – she decided to tag along, as she didn’t really get to see anything before heading back originally.

When everyday life is a festival
The city life at that time of night was amazing. Everyone was out – and I mean everyone! Apparently, families in Greece (especially on weekends – i.e. today being Sunday) eat dinner really late, and they all go out into town to these huge outdoor restaurant areas along the water. It was 10pm and people were just starting to eat, tons of kids were running around, and huge families, extended and otherwise gathered in groups and were chatting away. It looked like a festival but we were told this was an everyday thing.

Night Water
We walked all along the waterfront and could see all the forts along the coast lit up. After reaching what seemed like the end of the boardwalk and a road that would lead us to roads more frequented by taxis (to get back), we changed course to head into the centre of town.

Taxi!
Problem: there were no taxis there either! We couldn’t find one anywhere. Finally – I decided to just ask someone in one of the cafes we were passing by – even though it was most likely they wouldn’t speak English – which they didn’t. However, the people were extremely nice and kind of figured out what we needed. They pointed us to an area where they said would be lots of buses and taxis. Thing was – when we got there – there still weren’t any taxis!

Magical Taxi
This would be about the time we started to freak out a little bit in our heads because we knew there was no way we’d be able to walk all the way back – a) because we weren’t really sure of the roads and b) because we were dead tired. Then – just like that – a taxi magically just drove up right in front of us. Crazy! It took only minutes to drive back to the hotel and we are immediately hitting the sack to get ready for the long drive to Athens tomorrow… as soon as I finish this post!

Europe Day 16: Corfu Day One

Gravol puts you out!
While last night’s Gravol helped me get a pretty good sleep, it was still a little unnerving to be woken up by the announcements for the ferry’s first port of call. Definitely way too early for our own stop, and ended up being another stop at a port on the mainland of Greece. We still had to head to the islands.

Sunrise missed
Regardless of what I thought was an early call, it still wasn’t early enough to catch the sunrise, which was too bad – it would have been really awesome to watch it rise in a seaside setting on the boat. From that first port it was only another 30-60 minutes to our actual port in Corfu, so we spent our time packing quickly and lining up to disembark. I got “annoyed” by another attack of Little Miss Self-entitled – but I’ve promised myself not to let her ruin anymore of my trip. I really don’t understand how people can actually grow up being that way, but whatever. (For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, you’ll just have to ask me because she’s not even worth me spending time to explain it here.)

Corfu and Anna!
When we got off of the boat, we met our site rep Anna who was all smiles and cheer. She led us to another coach and driver (not permanent), who wasn’t too pleased with the weight of my bag. I just kind of looked at him with a sorry expression – but seriously man – if little ‘ole me was able to lug that up and down the three flights of stairs on the ferry, I don’t think he should have been complaining about one little throw into the luggage compartment.

Corfu-town
Our port was in the town of Kerkyra (Corfu) but our hotel was just outside in the town of Keloni (which is really more like a suburb of Corfu than a separate town). This area is on a huge hill, and while the coach could make it up to the hotel, the driver couldn’t make it up the additional hill-of-a-driveway that the hotel had, and we had to lug our luggage up there ourselves – definitely not a happy task.

Awesome hotel
Despite the huge hill, the hotel was awesome – like a little resort. We were given breakfast first right away – awesome buffet of food. We then checked in, and had some time to get ready, before we had to go into town. We also were going to have a meeting with Anna.

The opinions of others
So at this point – I should fill in some back information. Basically, Leona had told us throughout the whole trip, that we should not take the option to rent our own car and drive around the island. She told us about how the roads were a bit dangerous and the drivers were severely crazy. With this continued reminding throughout the trip – pretty much everyone on the bus was ready to NOT rent a car.

However – what should happen at the meeting with Anna? Renting a car and driving around Corfu was exactly what she suggested was the BEST idea out of the bunch before us (rent a car for the day, go into town by coach, visit the city beach by walking).

Not such a hard choice
It at first seemed like a hard choice before us – but in the end we decided that a trip into town wasn’t so exciting as seeing the island for ourselves, and the only chance for us to see the better beaches on the west side of the island would be to take off on our own. In the end, there were actually a lot of us that decided on the car – but because we were long in making our decision – the only people in our car was H-Rabbit, Caitlyn and myself. Chris and Liz decided to opt out, as they weren’t comfortable with the car issue. In the end – for me – it really wasn’t a big deal. I think maybe for Leona it was a bigger deal since they drive on the other side of the road (in Australia) – however, we drive on the same side as Corfu in Toronto, and the roads weren’t any worse that what I’ve driven on in other island locals, so c’est ca.

Ish-time not always a good thing
ISH time definitely affected our leaving time – there was a long period of waiting around for our car to be delivered by the rental company. In the meantime, Anna showed us where to go, and how to get there, on an island map. Eventually, the car people finally arrived – but with a manual car! So we had to wait some more for an automatic, since I was the only one who was going to drive and I can only drive automatic.

Empty means EMPTY
Finally, we got our car. In handing it over, the rental lady told us the tank was on empty, but it would get us to the closest gas station to fill up. Ha! Yeah, right! After we got in and cruised down to the main road down by the breakwater – the car didn’t even make it past the waterfront! It gave out in the middle of an intersection, and with a little maneuvering and quick gearing into neutral, I managed to coast the car into a parking spot right beside a store beside the intersection.

Yay for helpful locals!
Thankfully, the storeowner helped us call the car people and get them to come help us out. He didn’t speak much English, but with random sign language and sad faces, I think he realized what was wrong with us.

Hilarious live comedy
Thankfully - not too much ISH time in came into play this time around. The car rental people came fairly quickly and said over and over again that they were sorry and embarrassed. It was a hilarious comedy of errors watching them trying to get us on our way, by trying to get gas into tank to take us to the gas station. Basically, they had brought the gas in a plastic vegetable or corn oil jug, and they proceeded to make a funnel out of the map they were going to give us of the area to get the gas in, and then tried to funnel the gas into the tank. There was a mother, daughter and it seems maybe grandfather all in the mix chattering away to each other in Greece cause they just couldn’t get it to work. Finally – with the grandfather holding a pen into the gas tank opening to keep it open, the daughter holding the funnel-made-out-of-map, and the mother slowly pouring the gas in – they managed to get about 1/16 of a tank of gas in. As apologies – they said we could have the car for an hour longer than everyone else that had got a car – which was nice considering we had now spent half a day just trying to get out of the city, let alone To anywhere.

Laughing Gas
As we had a good laugh at the real-life comedy we witnessed – we had another good laugh when we finally got to the closest gas station. It was more than a kilometer away, meaning even if we hadn’t stalled right at the bottom of the hill, we would have stalled sometime after, cause we definitely would never have made it all the way to that first station. Greek people are definitely a gas. Get it? Hahaha.

Most amazing ride
On our way to the western isles, we definitely had one of the most amazing rides ever through countryside. Unlike all the dire warnings, driving was a total breeze. With all the same rules as Canada, the roads proved easy, and once you’re out of the city it’s just plain ‘ole small island driving: no one on the roads and awesome twisting turning pathways that make the ride feel more like an off-road rollercoaster.

Breathing in the beauty
Whether the driving was inland or along the coasts, there were a ton of amazing sights and views to behold. I can’t remember the name of the main western beach we made it to (will have to look that up), but we got there safely and spent a couple hours both sun bathing and have an awesome time in the ocean. While there, we met up with the Texans and Jolene as they had hit the same beach. When we were good and burnt, and after buying some beach gear, Jolene decided to join us in our car and we drove to a few other beaches and areas up the west coast of the island. There were some amazing photo ops and vistas. As our time for car return was nearing, we then headed back to the hotel along another route so we could see some other areas of the island.

Glupas!
Spelling of the above may be wrong – but it should be the name of the restaurant we went to tonight after we returned back from the beach. After such a great day, it was awesome to be treated to such a great night too. We started dinner with all of us having a shot of Ouzo at the entrance, and were then led into a large taverna with dancing all and everything. Dinner was absolutely amazing with tons and tons of courses. After we finished eating, we were then treated to an array of traditional Greek dancing and singing, which of course included many a broken plate as well as lighting the entire dance floor on fire! Everyone knows Greeks know how to party! After that – it was thankfully straight to bed as the day had been hugely filled and tomorrow we’re on the water all day long. It’s going to be one of the best days ever – I can feel it – and I don’t want to miss it.

Europe Day 15: Pompeii

Bittersweet Farewells
Our start today was finally at a normal time, but it was bittersweet relief as we said our additional goodbyes to those who were leaving the tour. We promised to all keep in touch with Facebook and exchange pictures as soon as we were all home. Many of them were still continuing their travels on their own though so don’t be too sad for them!

Long road to Pompeii
It took a fairly long time to get to Pompeii. I don’t think I was expecting that one. However, there were nice views of Mount Vesuvius along the way – so that was nice.

What is this thing called M.....?
Apparently – Pompeii is “run” by two separate "Mafia" families and all the tour groups that run through there have to book with one or the other family. Hence – upon arrival, we were informed that we HAD to eat and shop within the restaurant and tourist area dedicated to our group, as well as go into the site with the tour guide provided to us. It basically didn’t matter all that much, except that a superbly crap-tacular lunch cost us twice as much as a good one – so H-Rabbit and I only bought one meal and shared it so we didn’t spend any more than we would have at a decent place. You think at those prices the food would at least be decent, but apparently learning to cook isn’t high on the “families’” priorities.

Despite the melodrama
Regardless of the crazy mafia ties, our trip to Pompeii was indeed exciting. While our supplied tour guide seemed to be bored with his job, and talked in an indifferent monotone voice, he did lead us on an awesome walk through the ruins of the city. The area is absolutely massive, with only about 25% of it currently uncovered. The rest is still lying deep beneath the overgrown earth. From the parts that have been uncovered, it was amazing to see the innovations of such an old society fairly intact.


Death casts
The highlight, for quite a few people on tour, was the plaster casts of the citizens that had been trapped amongst the falling ashes of the volcano. Basically – their bodies had been trapped in the debris, and cavities formed where their bodies had disintegrated. When researchers came across these “cavities” – before breaking through them – they filled them with plaster and could display in pretty good detail the position and actions of the being that had been trapped. One on display was that of a mother and child, another of a dog, and another of a man praying.

Off again
Our tour wasn’t as long as some of us would have liked – and it would be neat to get to go back and spend a much longer time in Pompeii for sure. After gathering again after our super-expensive Mafia lunch, we then continued on our way to Brindisi and the Italian coast to catch our 9:30pm ferry to Greece!

So much driving!!
This is definitely the LONGEST driving day ever so far (however I am told our drive to Athens is going to be ten times worse). It’s just that we’ve spent so much time on the bus today; I can’t quite take it anymore.

We’ve finally made it to Brindisi!
Well – we made it to the coast. It was sad, but we had to say goodbye to Joop our driver, as we weren’t going to be having a particular bus to ourselves anymore for the rest of the trip. Gnomie said goodbye to Joop too and we have picture proof!

Big ferry
Our ferry trip to Greece was going to be a long one, and we had a fairly big ship to board. As we were making our way up the escalator on the boat to the cabin levels, it broke down, and I had to lug up my 60lb bag on my own – so not recommended after a long day on a bus and when your arms feel like jellyfish.

Tight squeeze cabin
While H-Rabbit and I got our own cabin, with four beds, everything was still a pretty tight squeeze. It was so tight – that the entire bathroom was contained within the shower stall! However – it really isn’t that bad – I feel worse for the people we saw out in the lounges who didn’t have a room at all, but just as much luggage as we did. Val & Theo (a couple on the trip from Sydney) got an unwelcome surprise in their room. Two people had broken in and had tried to convince them that they were supposed to share (re: the four beds)! Val got it sorted out damn quick and those people got kicked out ASAP!

Ish Time
After settling in, we joined a bunch of the group and Leona on the top deck where there was a little disco area, and we also took a small tour of the rest of the boat where we found multiple bars, a cafeteria, and a casino. Leona also more aptly explained the concept of Ish Time and how it was definitely in play here. Our ferry didn’t leave until almost an hour later (10:30pm) than it was supposed to.

Full Moon on the Water
We stayed up quite awhile and chatted, put away a few nightcaps, and enjoyed the company of our tour mates. Over the water, a dazzling white midnight moon rose from the horizon line and the view was mesmerizing.

Lo and behold the seasickness
When the ship finally took sale – I realized that I probably was being affected by the seasickness I had felt the last time I was on a big boat like the ferry. It’s funny – I can take a catamaran, a rowboat and anything midsize that flops around like a crazy bobble-head – but the slight motion of the bigger ships always seems to make me crazy. In the end, I took some Gravol and fell fast asleep.

Europe Day 14: Rome

Sleep is overrated?
Today we had a really early morning start – I wanted to die. I missed breakfast trying to clear my camera cards – I don’t remember why, but I forgot to clear them last night.

Rome ahead!
We got a bus lift to the train station to take the train into the city. The rail ride wasn’t too long but we had to switch lines twice – this was a little confusing since the Metro lines in Rome skirt around the city, rather than running through it. This is because of all the ruins that exist in Rome, and how 95% of them are all 50% below the current level of the ground. We got off at Colosseum station (which unbelievably is RIGHT across the street from the actual Colosseum – it looms in your view as you exit the station) to make our way to the entrance of the Forum for our two-hour walking tour of both (the Forum and the Colosseum).

Roman Guide
Our historical guide was quite good and quite funny, and told us a lot about the city’s history – though I fully admit I’ll need to look through the pictures to recall it all. I’m definitely a pictorial memory person – plus – I was certainly paying more attention to my photographs, and only my secondary multitask ear was keeping track of her.


The Colosseum
We made our way though the Forum, which she explained as being the centre of the original city, where citizens gathered and conducted business and affairs, and we learned some interesting facts about the centre of Roman civilization. From the Forum, we then went to see the Colosseum. Our guide referred to it as the Roman Amphitheatre – as most of the outer layer of the Colosseum was demolished (only one side remains) and what you can actually see is what the Romans called the Amphitheatre area. That ring of walls is still mainly intact.

So many facts
Our guide was filled with lots of facts to share with us about how the Colosseum worked, where the word arena came from, and how the Colosseum was used for both water games and dry games due to the access to the Aqueduct. She actually spent quite a lot of time explaining tons of details to us which was a nice change since many times we have been visiting sites without really knowing too much about what we've been seeing, and not really having anywhere to turn to for finding out. One of my "Millionaire Wishes" is that one day I'll get to travel with an actual personal guide to historical sites, because the emotion of the history really comes through when you know the actual stories behind "what's left behind" instead of the random guesses of people who don't really know.

Running free in Rome
Our tour ended in the Colosseum and from there we were free to do other things. Because we only had the day in the city, and had been told about long lines and crazy wait times, we decided to head right away to Vatican city. After hopping the Metro and getting off at the right station, we decided to grab some lunch first. We went to the “suggested” pizza place – but it really wasn’t all that “hot”. However – we were hungry – and couldn’t bother to find anything else – so we sat and ate.

Line-up
From lunch, we then went to find the “line-up” for the Vatican that we were told about – but there wasn’t one! Apparently the Pope was in Australia, and regardless of it being a summer day in the height of travel season, there simply really wasn’t anyone in line to enter Vatican City from the museum entrance. We got right in, right away (sans the mini-wait time when Heather had to re-line-up to get her student discount since they only give the discount from one ticket window… wtf’s with that?).


Vatican City Museum
They’re pretty good about cameras in the museum so we took lots of pictures – especially in all the areas with statues and sculptured art. When we moved into fresco areas – we weren’t allowed to use our flash, but still allowed pictures. I’m not sure how the pictures in these areas came out – they always look in focus on the camera but not necessarily so on a computer when there’s no flash allowed and the shutter speed is so slow – so we’ll have to see how they come out later.

Sistine Chapel
We then got to the part that I had been waiting for forever – the Sistine Chapel. It was so absolutely beautiful and magnificent – I was awestruck. I could have stayed in that room all day. I know people think I’m crazy for the emotion that takes over me for movies, touching stories, seeing history in the flesh, etc. – but I don’t care – I find it much more crazy and depressing to think of the poor people who AREN’T moved by it. How sad their life must be to not be able to expand their minds in order to feel and envelope in appreciation what that room has to offer, or anything that has a story to tell.

While I would have been absolutely content to not go anywhere else in the city, I was also with a bunch of people, and there were other things to see, so we made our way to the secret exit that Leona told us about. Instead of leaving through the museum exits and having to –re-enter the area to get into St. Peter’s Basilica (which had an enormous line-up), our secret exit led us through a small stairway and side door that dropped us right in front of the entrance to St. Peter’s!

Tombs
Before entering the church, we decided to enter the small line-up that would take us down into the tomb area of the Basilica, where all the Popes are buried. All of them have tombs with sculptures of themselves in a lay-down position on top of the “boxes”. The only tomb unlike this was for Pope John Paul II. There wasn’t any reason for it laid out, so we’re either figuring he asked for such a tomb – or perhaps that’s the way the tomb for the last deceased Pope always looks. It was separate in a brightly lit room, flat and made of white marble. There were many people gathered in front, paying their respects and praying. At the end of the tomb walk, you get to see St. Peter’s tomb that is housed under the Basilica altar.

St. Peter’s Basilica
From the tomb walk, the exit actually leads you directly up a set of stairs that have you coming up from the belly of the Basilica into the centre of the church. Inside – the Basilica is absolutely beautiful and exquisite. There’s so much detail in the artwork – and evolution certainly hasn’t stepped inside this Basilica at any time. Perhaps the upkeep of historic artwork is the only time such a concept is a good thing. After getting our fill of the church, we then walked out into the Square to get a look at the whole picture.

Easy day in Rome
After finishing with the Vatican – we then had the rest of our day in Rome to really just relax and hang out. We went shopping and H-Rabbit bought lots, getting her shopping kicks out. We walked along the Tevere (Tiber) River and saw Hadrian’s Mausoleum (Castel Sant Angelo), and came upon a local market area walking towards the north of the city.

From there we then revisited the Trevi Fountain for me since I loved the site so much. After, we just wandered around and had a great pasta dinner in a small restaurant. Afterwards, we made our way home on the multiple trains in time to catch the coach ride back to our hotel.

Saying goodbye
Once at the hotel, we took some time to get rested and showered. We then joined the group in the hotel patio to say goodbye to part of our tour group. In the beginning – our Road to Athens group was combined with the Road to Rome group and this was their last day, and tomorrow morning we would be heading off to Greece without them. Leaving us was Natasha and Belinda, Tatiana, Mic and Ali, as well as a few others, for a total of 15 in all. Joop also joined us for a few glasses, as after he drops us off in Brindisi for the ferry to Greece – he too would be leaving us.

Europe Day 13: Getting into Rome

Short drive ahead
We got to have a pretty late (for our trip standards) start for once! It’s only three hours to Rome from Florence apparently so we didn’t have to rush. Once on our way – there wasn’t anything much to note on the drive – probably more so because we’re so tired now on bus days that we’ve even stopped looking out the window so much.

Rome in the evening
We got into Rome fairly quickly and decided to sightsee in the city before checking into our hotel, so as to get as much time in the city as possible. Leona led us on a small walking tour, and we started in Piazza Navona, which is a central square with three sculpture, tower and fountains in the middle. We got time to catch a snack, “trick” our way into a café bathroom and then gather again before we headed off.


Pantheon
From the square, we then went to see the Pantheon, which was quite magnificent; the domed ceiling, opening for light, the beautiful sculptures, frescos on the wall, and mosaics on the ground. We also got to see Raphaelo’s tomb, which is inside. There's actually nothing tangible in the middle of the Pantheon. The space is wide open and only lends to the expansive beauty of the artwork inside. It was an unexpected favourite, but I'll definitely list this site as one to see in Rome.

Trevi Fountain
From the Pantheon, we then headed to another site that was on my must-see list. We worked though the streets and alleys to the Trevi Fountain. This visit was definitely one of my absolute favourites on the trip. The detail, largeness and beauty of the fountain were magnificent to me. H-Rabbit and I made our lucky tosses – twice to make sure we would be back one day as well as get our extra wish – we’ll now have to see what the future brings.

Spanish Steps
After the fountain, we made our way to the Spanish steps – which really – Leona couldn’t tell us much about so I’ll have to look that up as well. I’m realizing now that there is SO much I’m going to have to look up, but it might be nice – getting to live through my trip twice as I go through the pictures and find out more about the places we visited.

We didn’t really spend too much time there as it was a bit chaotic and I really wasn’t up to walking up all of those steps – especially since all there was to do was come right back down again. So, at that point we were released from the group for some free time before our dinner in the city.

The Cave of Skulls
We ran off with Chris and Liz to find the church of the capuchin monks who had created a unique and eerie tomb of their fellow brothers… with their own bones! It took us awhile to find it, as Leona’s instructions weren’t exactly on the mark – but after utilizing Liz’s Italian skills, we managed to work our way to the right location. It was a sombre and electric experience, mingling my own feelings of fear about death and the comprehension of the Catholic beliefs that these monks followed and believed in, where once the soul has departed, the body is but a physical material that is left behind. I know some will disagree, saying that true Catholic belief has nothing to do with "desecrating" these bodies for art - but I don't really believe it was desecration. I'll have to do much more research to understand it better.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures, and while I did manage to sneak one – H-Rabbit asked if I could please erase it, as it made her a bit freaked out. After having been to see it in real life and understanding the reality of the bones and lives that existed in order to create it, I agreed with her in the end so I erased the picture. However, Chris bought a postcard, which I photographed so you guys could get some idea of the how each tomb was decorated and why it was so wild and crazy to see. The postcard also nicely explained why things were the way they were in each room, which was cool.

I loved best the quote that was contained in the last tomb: “What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you will be.”

Off to dinner
Because we hadn’t found the church right away, we only just had time to get back for dinner at the meeting place. We met in a fairly nondescript piazza that a lot of people passed over twice before realizing it was the one we needed. We had also lost Doug again as well – so we took a group “Where’s Doug?” picture on the steps if the piazza.

NOTE: Doug was one of our group members who always managed to wander off by himself. It had become a tour staple to ask, “Where’s Doug?” no matter where we met because 9 times out of 10 he hadn’t made the meeting time. Good thing he was great at taking care of himself – props to him for never missing the bus even if he did miss out on a few side excursions.

Roman dinner
We then went for a buffet dinner that was really quite good – sans the water bottles that were refilled with local water throughout the night and were not bottled water at all. However, no one got sick, so we were good. From dinner, we then headed to our hotel – but somehow we managed to get lost along the way, and it took much longer than we thought.

Home!
When we finally got there we were so happy though, since for the first time ever on the trip – we were booked at a 4-star hotel! We had a pretty amazing stay for the night – fell right to sleep in prep for the huge day we had ahead in Rome.

Side Story!
At rest stop earlier in the day, our friends Belinda and Natasha actually met musician Shaggy. His peeps and him invited the girls to their show that night in Rome. The girls went and said they had an amazing time. Leona said it’d be one of those Contiki stories that she’ll tell for ages. So random!

Europe Day 12: Florence!

A relaxing and fun day
Our day in Florence was a nice easy one like Venice was – not too much that we needed to see, so it let us wander around freely.

Santa Croce
We began really early and started our day at the Piazza Santa Croce. There we saw the church where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried. Leona told us of a sport that they play in the middle of the piazza, where they cover the entire area in sand. I can’t remember what sport it is, but I think I remember it’s supposed to be pretty “violent” and was even halted for a few years because of how hurt people were getting.

Leather demonstration
From the piazza, Leona then took us to a leather demonstration where we were taught how to tell real leather from fake leather and what to look for whenever we were approached by leather sales-people or trying to pick up a leather good. They also showed us how they make the traditional Florentine boxes, the first one originally made for a princess. It’s an odd-covered shaped box, but made fully out of leather with no nails, hinges or appendages – simply fully formed leather. That was pretty much the only thing that interested me in the demonstration – the “buying” we were led into afterwards was… well… you know.

Piazza della Signoria
From the demonstration, we then walked further into the city to Piazza della Signoria where the Medici Palace is and all the statues that they commissioned during their “reign” in the city. From here we were left with a little free time to explore for ourselves before our guided tour began. H-Rabbit and I made our way to the post office to send off our postcards. We also walked a little way to a small market square with a lot of local artisans.

Luck, return, and a little something-something
It was in this market that we also had our first sighting of the Bronze Boar. We listened in on another group’s tour and we learned that if you place a coin in the Boar’s mouth, then you’ll have good luck, a second coin will ensure that you will one day return to Firenze (Florence) and a rub on his noggin’ would ensure yourself a… good sex life!

Guided Tour of Florence
After doing what we willed with the Boar (haha!) we wandered around in the area until we met our guided walking tour guide at the statue of the Medici family leader on a horse in the middle of the Piazza della Signoria. From there, our tour guide talked to us about the statues in the piazza – the David replica, the Palace, the Neptune statue, the Rape of the Sabine Women, etc. The collection is actually quite spectacular and the care given to the restoration and upkeep of the area is marvelous.


Palazzo degli Uffizi
From the Piazza della Signoria, we then walked towards the right side of the Medici Palace towards the Palazzo degli Uffizi where the Uffizi Gallery is located. The gallery is one of the most famous in the world and holds works by Botticelli, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Raphael and Rembrandt, as well as some of Leonardo da Vinci’s works. In the enclosed but open walkway beside the Uffizi, we can see the vast collection of statues that were made of all the Renaissance masters, many of whom all lived in Florence for a time. We couldn’t actually go into the Uffizi, as apparently tours are booked over 3-months in advance, and it would take three to four hours to get in without a reservation. I was more excited about seeing David, that if I was going to wait anywhere – I wanted to wait there instead.

Ponte Vecchio
When walking out of the Uffizi area, you find yourself immediately on the Arno River, where we then walked to the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) – beautiful bridge from the medieval period. For me, this was another site that I consider one of the most intriguing, as its make-up and development is extremely fascinating. Originally the bridge was just the site of a mass market of all sorts of things, but appeared smelly, and dirty, etc.

At some point, the Medici family built a second Palace across the river from their original one, and to join the two built a second level walkway along the bridge over the assortment of small stalls and mini-buildings that the market sellers had erected directly on the bridge. However, walking along this pathway – the Medici family was disgusted by the awful view of the dirty market, and then directed that the only vendors that may occupy the bridge were the jewelers of the city, so that as the family passed, they would see all the “beauty” that the city had to offer, and only have to look at beautiful things.

Walking in Florence
From the bridge we walked a bit more through the city and the guide pointed out older buildings and squares that were the last remnants of the original city structures. We then ended our walk at the Duomo (church) – Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore – where we were shown the church, dome and tower. These buildings are all covered, faced and made with green, pink and white marble. From afar, it actually looks like the building is painted, but it isn’t – the vibrant colours are actually the natural colours of the stone.

Lunch!
After our guided tour ended, our little group went for lunch. We ended up having huge plates of bruchettas (each!), huge pizzas (each!) and left the restaurant totally stuffed!

The Academia
From lunch we then went to the Academia to see David! When we approached the building, we were encountered with the line-up, which was pretty huge. Chris and Liz decided to leave, as the wait was going to be a minimum of 1.5 hours (with rumours of it actually being 3), however David was my last main goal in Florence so I definitely wanted to stay. While in line we met some nice people from the States – a mother and daughter – who were just as excited to see David as we were.

Gelato!
While it seemed like a much longer time, in the end it really did only take 1.5 hours. To abate the wait, we managed to grab some awesome gelato while waiting in line from Carape Café. It was a welcome “cooler” from the heat beating down on us in line.

Around the Corner
The Academia is actually a fairly small gallery, and unlike the Louvre where you go walking for miles to get to the “good stuff”, the David is literally “around the corner” from the first door and hallway near the entrance of the gallery.

David!
Seeing David was everything that I thought it would be. The statue is absolutely astounding. The detail in the veins, muscle ripples, carved out eyes and more just floors you when you think of what it required for such a feat to lay before you. I sat for a really long time and just looked at it for a while. I think you could spend the whole day wondering over it and still have new things to discover about it. At our first glimpse – we stuck to the rules and didn’t take any direct photos (though Tatiana and I snuck in what we could) – however – when I went off to see some of the other sculptured busts – H-Rabbit and Tatiana caught a lucky break.

They had somehow met one of the gallery’s guides/cleaners and he had begun to show them HIS pictures of the David. Basically in the shots he’s right beside David’s head and kissing it and wiping it off and making some hilarious poses. The girls were laughing because they didn’t understand a word he was saying, and some other guides came over and were laughing hysterically too. Obviously – neither side really understood each other with them not speaking English and Tatiana and H-Rabbit not speaking Italian, however with hand motions and laughter we realized that they were giving us permission to take pictures (even though it was against the rules) since obviously in the after hours they had been taking some crazy funny photos of their own! Ours obviously weren’t going to be anywhere near as embarrassing or disrespectful, so why not take a few.

So – H-Rabbit and Tatiana took pictures of the real David – our own pictures!! It’s really cool and we have to remember to send originals to each other. This is definitely a story to remember from our trip. We left the gallery elated, happy to see the one thing we had been looking forward to all day – and it made up largely for missing the Gondola ride in Venice.

Checking the Replica and Souvenir hunting
After the gallery, our first stop was to head back to the Piazza della Signoria because our guide had told us the statue in the piazza was an exact replica – size and detail and everything – but it just seemed so much smaller. We had to re-check! Seeing it again – it is believable that they are the same – but with the original being so white and housed inside a domed room amongst lower ceiling rooms and hallways – it certainly seems to be much larger.

From the piazza we then wandered back to the market with the bronze boar – tipped back our coins and picked up a few souvenirs. After that – we had just enough time to walk back to Santa Croce to meet with the group on the stairs of the church to head back to the hotel.

All of Florence at our feet
Dinner tonight was going to be at an old monastery. Before heading there, our driver took us first to the Piazza de Michelangelo, which overlooks the entire city of Florence. Here we all got out to take our group Contiki photo. We then got on the bus again – however we got a little “lost”.

Tuscan Dinner
Finally – after a few rounds of Florence in the dark (which was actually quite a beautiful ride) we arrived at the monastery. We started the night with an aperitif in the patio area and then were led into the formal dining room. Dinner was amazing, with three huge courses and dessert. During dinner, music was played and we were treated with a few songs by a local opera singer. Some of our group ended their night with the drop of Grappa (Not me however – blech – 80% proof alcohol = burning tasteless water that I don’t particularly need to taste).


Space Nightclub
From dinner we were then taken to Space Nightclub in the city – well – at least they TRIED to drive us there. Roads were blocked all over the place so in the end we had to get out along the Arno and then walk in for about 15-20 minutes in our very dressy gear. Thankfully – no heels broke along the cobblestone walkways. In the end – the night was pretty good – but not thoroughly amazing. The club is really nicely laid out and has a lot of different areas but was a basic club overall. Between seeing much better places back home and now being 30 – I believe that the “club” scene as envisioned by Space isn’t my scene anymore. It was fun for a while – but after a few hours it was time to go home. (Besides – our little Karaoke stint was ruined by one of the other Contiki reps so we weren’t so revving to be there anymore near the end). We headed out at about 1:30am and have hit the sack for another driving day tomorrow.