Pompei and Amalfi and Capri

 After Rome, 9 of us travelled to Pompei to visit the ruins that were found after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The city was pretty incredible. All of it was preserved by the ash of the volcano eruption and it is shocking to see how intact most of the structures are. The roads were amazing for an ancient city. It was also kind of eerie to be in a city that we was lost for so long and then found. 

 The houses were very close to each other and were sprinkled with shops in between. They even found one that manufactured soap. How they knew that, I have no idea. 

 My friend Emily and I

 This was a body that they found that was preserved from the volcanic ash. The whole city was taken by surprise and even the animals we instantly suffocated and covered. 

A fresco that was completely intact. 

 The forum. I was suddenly felt the urge to channel Jim Fisher and became the group tour guide. While I didn't know much about Pompei, I did learn from the king of "bullshit" the talent of knowing everything and proceeded to tell everyone about the meaning of the lasting structures. It was a fun joke since we were all pretty tired of walking around. If you can see from the photo, I have my arm out-streched just like my old man did when he was explaining things. I can only imagine what it would have been like to travel with him. :)

 After Pompei, we took a tram to Sorrento and then a 2 hour bus to Amalfi. The bus was CRAZY. I am pretty sure I almost fell of the cliff at least 5 times. The city is built into the hill and surrounded by the most breathtaking slopes. This was the view from our window. It couldn't get much better than this!

Amalfi at sunset

Most of us sitting on the pier. About to go to dinner!

Amanda and I at dinner the first night in Amalfi. We were right on the water and got to watch the sun set. I got fresh smoked salmon; it was incredible!

One of my roommates, Christine, and I sitting in front of the steps of the church in Amalfi. This church is so beautiful. It had colors unlike any other church I have seen in Italy. These types of churches were all along the coast as we drove in and you can definitely tell that they have a tropical feel to them. The church faces a piazza that was full of local people selling coral from the Mediterranean, turquoise from the mountains, limoncello from lemons grown locally in Amalfi, and tons of fresh seafood. The smells and crowds of people was so fun! I actually saw a "night before the wedding thing" in the piazza that night where the groom had some local musicians serenade his fiance who was on the balcony and the whole family was there to sing to her. It was so cute. 

The girls sitting in front of the church!

The ferry that we took on the way to Capri, with Todd and William. 

This is Positano; it is the town that is further West than Amalfi. I didn't actually get to the see the inside of the city because we just stopped here on the ferry but it looked beautiful just like Amalfi. I really hope to come back here at some point!

Some islands on the way to Capri.

This is Capri, but I was most shocked by the water. You could basically see all the way through it.

The girls on the beach. We packed a picnic lunch with prosciutto and cheese and beer. It was so good and the scenery was pretty nice too!

After the beach we stopped and got the worst and probably the most expensive strawberry daiquiri I have ever had. I think it is safe to say that Italian should stick to wine. Capri had the most amazing shopping. I was pretty grateful that I didn't bring enough cash to buy anything because that could have been disastrous!

Another island on the way back from Capri.

This was our last night in Amalfi. We went to an incredible restaurant that looked out onto the water. I had pesto gnocchi with shrimp and local wine and olives. This place was even better because everything that they served was either grown or caught locally. The waiter liked us so much that he brought us local limoncello after dinner. It was probably the best meal that I have had in Italy. We watched the sun set and the city twinkle on the water. 

The last sunset in Amalfi. This place was more than I could have ever dreamed of and I hope to come back. As I have been traveling through Italy, it only makes me think about how grateful and appreciative I am for all of the people that have brought me to this point in my life. I have such wonderful family and friends that I so wish could be here to travel with me and I hope that one day we will all be able to come back to this place together. And even more, I think about my dad and how I carry with him everywhere, taking with me his words of wisdom and a little bullshit. It has been here that I know that life couldn't get any better.

My new favorite city...ROME

Rome has definitely been my most favorite city in Italy. I was convinced that nothing could compare to the quaint and beautiful city of CF because of the hospitality and connection with the citizens but Rome was more than I could have imagined. I loved every moment. The city was packed with people but it was exciting rather than annoying. We left CF early Tuesday morning of last week, leaving behind cold weather and rain. It was not too fun walking to the train station in the rain but we were all so excited to get to Rome that none of us really cared. Once we arrived in Rome, we dropped our bags and immediately started our trip around the city. Day one we covered Ancient Rome and started at the Colosseum. We took the subway to the station and came up the stairs and right in front of us was the Colosseum. It was surreal. It almost felt like it wasn't real and surprisingly it didn't seem that big either. Since we have studied it so many times in our history classes, being architecture students, we expected the scale to be overwhelming. It had a human scale that was pretty incredible but then once inside we noticed that the mass of the elements revealed the magnitude of its construction. 

 One of the entrances. Much of the original structure along the third tier is gone. We also learned that at one time the whole building would have been covered in marble and on the interior there were even traces of some of the original marble on the steps. Smilja informed us that most of the marble has been either removed and reused in other buildings or even stolen over time. 

 The view to the lower part of the Colosseum where the animals and gladiators were kept. 

 Arch of Constantine

 We continued on to the Forum Romanum. This was only 1/3 of the basilica used for trading that once existed in the Forum, it is called Basilica Maxentius and the scale was OVERWHELMING! I don't know if you can tell from the picture but I am that little ant standing under the arch. This place was enormous. I think it was one of my favorite places in Rome just to think how they accomplished something so incredible. 

 Hadrian's Arch which was once a part of his Forum. I basically just liked the sky in this photo.

 My roommates and I at the Campidoglio designed by Michelangelo. This is the place where mythically Romulus and Remus founded Rome. He designed this square to reorient Rome from Ancient Rome toward modern rome with the ancient Forum right behind it. 

 Looking back toward the Forum. The Forum was a place in which commerce, government, and society met. The ancient day shopping mall was even here. Now it is a bunch of pieces left behind but it is still a pretty amazing sight. 

 The police headquarters of Rome is a pretty funny arrangement of buildings that basically force you to look up at the sky. One of them has a total depth of close to 10' or so. It was nuts. 

 This a blurry photo but this may be the best thing I have ever had. It is frozen espresso called granita sandwiched between home-made pana montata (whipped cream). For lack of a better expression, HOLY SHIT. It was amazing. I just had to show everyone. If anyone comes to Rome with me in our future, we are coming back here. 

 That coffee shop was right in front of the Pantheon which was truly shocking. My picture even looks fake. I couldn't capture the beauty of this place but it  was amazing. 

 After we sat in the Pantheon for a while with basically with mouths wide open, a couple of my friends and I decided to go to a small cafe in the Piazza Rotonda (where the Pantheon is). We had a glass of wine and sketched and watercolored. It was an architecture student's bliss. Seriously, I don't think I should be calling this school. 

 My sketches and my glass of Chianti Classico. Yum. Right after this we went to a wonderful 'family dinner', thats what we call it when all 12 of us are together, at a place called Maccheroni. It was pretty much a hole in the wall, but some of the best Italian food that I have ever had. 

On the second day, we covered Baroque Rome and followed the 14 or so obelisks around the city. Basically we walked from one end to the other. We went to a lot of churches and viewed the city from a pilgrimage point of view. This is a couple of us standing on the bridge across the Tiber.

 Spanish Steps. So many people. That is all I have to say.

 After lunch a couple of us when to St. Peter's square and to see the Basilica. There are no words. This place was stunning. I am doing my research paper on Bernini's urban design of this square and its relationship between a religious context as well as an urban context. Seeing it in front of me basically took my words away from me. This place is indescribable. 

 Inside of St. Peter's. I started crying. I think that explains enough.

 After St. Peter's a couple of us continued on to Castel Sant'Angelo which was once a monument to Hadrian as well as his tomb. It later became basically the weekend house of the popes. It is also a protection safe haven for popes in case of emergency. There is a direct connection from St. Peters to the Castel with a raised wall as well as underground tunnels. It was a pretty awesome building but the most beautiful part was the roof in which you can see the whole city of Rome. I loved this spot. This picture doesn't do it justice, as none of them really do. It was fun to sit up here and sketch. The colors of the city and the compactness are really visible from up here. 

On the third day, we looked at Modern Rome. We started with the fascist architecture of Mussolini in the EUR. This building is calling inspiration from the Colosseum in the most stripped down form possible and I liked it a lot. The simplicity of it really makes it. This complex of buildings was build in a 'world's fair' type situation in 1942 to celebrate 20 years of Fascism but the fair never really happened because of the WW2. The buildings still stand and are used for other things but the complex is pretty interesting because it looks as though it doesn't even belong to Rome. 

We then went to Zaha Hadid's modern art museum which was maybe one of the only modern style buildings in Rome and it basically stuck out like a soar thumb. It was pretty cool inside though.

Finally after lots and LOTS of walking my friends and I decided to hang out in the Piazza di Fiori to eat pizza and drink beer, two things that I do really well. We people watched and laughed. It was a blast. This is at the Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona, my favorite fountain in Rome. Of course holding a bottle of Valpolicella wine. 

I can't say enough about this city. I would spend the rest of my life here if I could. The life of the city was so contagious. I am not sure life could get any better...

Maybe until I visited Amalfi....

San Gimignano and Wine Harvest

 So it has been a while since I last posted but here are a few things that happened last week! We went to San Gimignano on Wednesday as a class and it was a great city. It was about a 2 hour bus ride through the heart of Tuscany where the fields are covered with agricultural products. Lots and lots of wine! The city is know for having a lot of towers that were built during the medieval times. At one point there were 70 total towers which would have made this city the ancient NYC. Now there are about 14 towers which were visible throughout the city!

 My friends and I at the center of the town which was a large piazza surrounded by shops (the best gelato in Italy so far...my profile picture on facebook is from there) and restaurants. 

 This was an image of the piazza in front of the main church of the city. 

 This church had incredible frescos that covered the church showing the stages of Jesus' life.

 We climbed to the top of the main bell tower. There were definitely a lot of stairs and once we got to the top we had to basically climb under a small opening to get on top of the tower.

 View of the city from the top of the tower!

 Other view of the city with the countryside in the background. 

 Door inside of the tower. Had to include a door!

 So the rest we spent the rest of the afternoon in San Gimignano sketching and watercoloring and then we came back and had class on Thursday. On Friday a couple of my friends and I got to go on a grape harvest. We woke up super early Friday morning and then were picked up and taken to the vineyard at about 7:30. We spent the whole morning until noon picking grapes for this wonderful Italian family. In the morning it was super nice and cool. It was such an awesome experience to picking grapes in Tuscany but I am not going to lie after 4 hours, I was pretty ready to quit and start drinking the wine. haha. We were taken to lunch which was good, kind of not what we were expecting but we were provided with plenty of wine and beer. After a 2 hour lunch we were taken back to pick for 3 more hours. The afternoon was much better and much more enjoyable! We picked merlot grapes in the morning and then shiraz grapes in the afternoon. The shiraz grapes were much larger and didn't require half of the bending down. As you can probably tell I am not a big fan of manual labor. But this was definitely worth it!

 Me with the grapes in the morning!

 Merlot grapes...they were delicious!

 A couple of us a the vineyard

 Amanda and I probably filled at least 10 of these buckets on Friday. There were 27 students there that day and at the end of the day they told us that we picked a little more than 13,000 lbs of grapes! It was crazy.

 End of the day, we were worn out! They took us back to the winery cellar where the fermentation takes place and had amazing appetizers and wine for us. They also gave us each 2 bottles of "thank you" wine for all of the work that we did. I am saving one to drink with all of you when I get home!

The shiraz grape rows! We had an awesome day and it was well worth the labor. What an awesome experience!

On Saturday we just hung out in CF and relaxed. This morning I went to mass at the church across from our school and it was beautiful. I could really feel my dad with me and it was such a great feeling to remember that I was in Italy. Life couldn't get better!

Off to Rome on Tuesday and then the Amalfi coast on Friday. :)