Pompeii....

(Pic 1) Here is a man crouching and covering his nose to protect himself against the suffocating 20 feet of ash and pumice from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that eventually covered.....Pompeii.

I have always been fascinated by the story of how the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted and the ash buried Pompeii. The city was forgotten until many years later.






Here is a pregnant woman (determined by DNA testing) that was overcome by the ashes while she tried to escape the city. (Pic 2)





This poor man died resting on his arm. (Pic 3)






You can almost sense how this man was suffering as he was buried alive in the ash. (Pic 4)

These were molds made from the spaces left in the ash and pumice by the decomposed organic matter.



While the story of Pompeii is eerily tragic...the city was also quite beautiful.

You can see Mount Vesuvius at the end of this shop lined street in the city. Many of the store owners had homes next door to their shops. (Pic 5)










Here is the inside of some one's home. It is still beautiful today. (Pic 6)














Here is the city's fitness center/gym (palestra). (Pic 7) I wonder if they worked out au natural like the ancient Greeks. Judging from the movie 300 I just saw recently here at the cinema...those Spartans must have had a killer ab routine!!!! (No wonder the mascot at my undergraduate college, Michigan State U. (Spartans), was so buff!





(Pic 8) shows an exposed lead pipe. Testing showed that many of the inhabitants suffered from lead poisoning.





(Pic 9) shows the old theater. The bar work is new as they still hold special events there. The guide made sure he found me in the group to let me know that Frank Sinatra performed here. OK...If he really wanted to impress me he should have said "U2"!






Here is one of the local wine bars in the city (Pic 10)....there were quite a few... not much has changed today....








Speaking of things not changing. This long line (Pic 11) was for visitors waiting to go see the brothel.....again, not much has changed ....I bet there were long lines back then. (smile)

I did take pictures of the erotic paintings on the wall, but out of respect for any young blog readers I may have, I won't post them. I guess it was a sort of an a la carte deal....you pointed to what you wanted. I know you are giggling/blushing right now... but it was actually very interesting!





Here is an old fountain. (Pic 12) The place where right handed people held on was a little more worn than those for lefties. I guess there were southpaws even back then.












(Pic 13) shows the streets with grooves on each side for the wheels of the carriages/carts/chariots.






OK, I don't care what city I'm in...ancient or not...I'm going to find the food. Here is a old bakery. (Pic 14) The slaves or donkeys used to turn the wheels and grind the grain to make the flour. The breads were put in the ovens (some reconstructed bricks now). They found many carbonized loaves of bread still there.







(Pic 15) shows some old graffiti left over from the political election.






(Pic 16) is just a pretty picture.










(Pic 17) shows that sneaky Mount Vesuvius peeking out behind the theater. Our guide assured us that it wouldn't erupt today. (smile)







(Pic 18) shows a mosaic on one of the floors being cleaned or restored.






(Pic 19) is just another pretty picture.

(Pic 20) shows the front of the Basilica. Lawyers sat in the front where the altars are in our current Basilicas.

(Pic 21) is facing the back of the Basilica. You can see how are current Basilicas followed the same layout.

(Pic 22) shows the outside of Ancient Pompeii.

(Pic 23) shows a current resident of the new Pompeii resting in the middle of the street. He barked if any cars even attempted to make him move...they gave up and drove around him. He had to remind them you don't bother an Italian when they are trying to rest!

On our way to Pompeii we drove through the Bay of Naples (Napoli) (Pics 24 & 25)

Here is a fountain in the Bay of Naples created by Bernini's father, Pietro Bernini....not bad. (wink)

Rome Marathon.....Ready..Set..Go!!

Last weekend I participated in the Rome City Marathon!

Here I am stretching before the race. (Pic 1)

Here we are walking towards the start line. Look at the ruins....have you seen a more beautiful marathon??? (Pic 2)

(Pic 3) shows my start time of 9:20am and 43 seconds.

And she's off!

OK...the jig is up! You can tell by (Pic 4) that I'm really not doing the 42K marathon (26 miles). I'm actually doing the 4k Stracittadina Fun Run! As you can see the 6 year old boy running next to me it wasn't extremely rigorous! Ha Ha. There were a few toddlers being pushed in strollers and grand parents too!

(Pic 5) shows the racers in wheelchairs starting first.

(Pic 6) is of the "real" marathoners. The volunteers are holding them back before their start. This first group are the top athletes. Obviously, you don't see me in this group.

You can see someone holding the Italian flag as we are walking through the beautiful streets of Rome. (Pic 7) If you look closely at the back you can see St. Mary Major Basilica.

Here Julius Caesar is watching us walk/jog by. (Pic 8)

(Pic 9) shows the racers jogging under one of the race banners. I must admit... I did more walking than jogging.

Yea! Even though this was only a "Fun Walk" with the hills it was a little difficult at times. We can finally see the finish line...the Colosseo in sight. (Pic 10) I did text my friend Kelly and say, "I'm sprawled out on km 3. I can't get up. Come get me!" Ha Ha.

We made it! The finish line. (Pic 11)

I was a little concerned that as you can see McDonald's was a major sponsor but they pulled it off and gave us tasty cold apple slices and grapes after the race. Although, I would have enjoyed a Big Mac and fries too!

Here I am after the race. I finished in 42 minutes. (Pic 12)

Lora and I are pretending to stretch before the big "marathon". I don't think we were fooling anyone! (Pic 13)

We registered the day before at the Palazzo Dei Congressi (Piazza di John F. Kennedy) in the EUR section of Rome. (Pic 14)

Mussolini wanted to create a" modern" city better than Rome. His Orwellian quarter of giant Fascist buildings make up the EUR just a 15 minute bus ride from the center.. Uh, he obviously missed the mark on that goal. I t is now largely used by banks and government ministries. (Pic 15)

The other day I spent a few hours walking around the Trastevere area of Rome. I took a picture of Tiber Island after I crossed the river. (Pic 16). I think it has a church and a hospital still there.

I stopped in the Chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi a Ripa and spent a while admiring Bernini's masterpiece sculpture, Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. The paintings of St. Anne and the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus behind the statue are by Baciccio. (Pic 17)

I then wandered over to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. It is a beautiful church and has a beautiful courtyard. (Pic 18) I love that I can just wonder around these (over 900) churches any time of day because sometimes I'm the only one in them...very peaceful!!!!

This picture of the high altar in Santa Cecilia shows a statue of Santa Cecilia by Stefano Maderno as she was found in her tomb. He was there at the opening of her tomb in 1599 and made a sketching. She was curled up on her side and not on her back as most are.

Venice....

OK... I couldn't leave Italy without visiting Venice. The 3 of us ( Kelly, her friend Elaine and I) hopped on a train and about 5 hours later we were there.

Pic 1 shows Kelly and I enjoying the (obligatory for tourists) gondola ride. The gondolier talked to his gondolier friends in front of us for about 15 minutes before I let him in on a little secret...

I told him I could understand everything he was saying. Oops!...He was just a little embarrassed. He tried to ask me questions to see if I really understood...yep...sure did!

We took a scenic tour down the length of the Grand Canal with a vaporetto (#1)... a large boat used for public transportation.

That was the best ride back to the train station I've ever had! (Pic 2)

Pic 3 shows some tourists feeding the pigeons in St. Mark's Square. Notice I said I took a pic of other tourists playing with pigeons...not ME! Ewww!

Pic 4 shows a beautiful and colorful palazzo on the Grand Canal. I would love to live here. (Except when the water is a little stinky in the summer!)

It is no surprise that they have "special" prices for tourists. But an Italian told me that they also have different prices for Venetians than other Italians. Interesting. The restaurants pretty much cater to the tourists but the locals still like bar hoping to eat cicchetti (like Spanish tapas).

St. Mark's Basilica in St. Mark's Square was just beautiful. It was surprisingly small but peacefully dark inside. (Pic 5)

Pic 6 shows Kelly and Elaine as we first entered St. Mark's Square. You can see the Orologio della Torre. We of course watched the two bronze Moors (known as this because of their dark patina) strike the bell on the hour.

A gruesome legend has it that once the clock was completed the inventors of the complex mechanism had their eyes gouged out to prevent them for ever creating a replica. Yikes!

Pic 7 shows a beautiful church alongside palazzi on the water.

Pic 8 is a part of Palazzo Ducale. It was the official residence of each Venetian ruler (doge).

Pic 9 shows Elaine squinting against the sun while we are about to go under one of the many foot bridges that connect Venice. We were navigating through some of the small canals. The gondolier was pretty good. We would come within an inch of a wall, bridge etc. but never hit. Bravo!

Pic 10 shows a beautiful palazzo. I guess you can tell by now that I loved all the beautiful palazzi.

My Italian teacher laughed when I said Venice was like Disneyland...I just meant that it was magical...and didn't feel like reality. Pic 11 shows our first view of Venice as we stepped out of the train station. Wow! Pic 12 shows tourists soaking up the sun. What a view!

At home in Rome....

My Italian teacher explained to me how to use the Italian coffee pots (Moka) to make coffee (expresso). (Pic 13) I had two in my apartment but didn't know how they worked. She is a bit of a self confessed coffee addict.

I've tried some of the best coffee in Rome and must admit it was kind of tasty but I found I preferred my coffee with a bit of my addiction of choice...Chocolate!!! I found these great chocolate covered coffee beans at one of the cafe's here and picked up some Pocket Coffee. (Pic 14)Chocolate with a center of liquid expresso. Monica thought I tried to put some of the chocolate covered beans in the Moka...but I didn't! Ha Ha!

Speaking of Monica... I finished my Italian lessons for now. Yea! No more grammar...no more homework. (Pic 15)

I still have tons of studying to do but at least can get where I'm going, ask for what I want, order at any restaurant and hold a conversation with a cute Italiano over a cup of coffee...or shall I say...chocolate.

Say hi to Pasquino...the talking statue. (Pic 15) It is a statue off Governo Vecchio in Piazza di Pasquino, right by one of my favorite enotecas, Cul de Sac ...great cheese, meats and pate's.... It was used in history to denounce injustice, criticize the church etc. and today Romans use it to post messages.