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| Peppermint Stick Ice Cream topped with chocolate shell? It’s divine! |
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| Juniper Latte? It definitely tastes like drinking coffee with Pine Sol for creamer. *gag* |
I’m convinced that Starbucks head honchos sat around their brainstorming table and took a bet on how many brainwashed Starbucks clients would buy a latte flavored with juniper and sage…and I am one of the idiots that did. *sigh* Seriously – don’t buy it. It tastes AWFUL. You’ve been warned.
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| Vivid mid-week rainbow at the office… |
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| My sweet little pup in his favorite spot – curled up by the fire! |
The first week of December was a movie weekend for me – seriously. After work on Friday night, my friend Danielle and I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody (my second time) for a girl’s night. We had fried dill pickles, peppermint milkshakes and I specifically asked for the Killer Queen cocktail and what do you know…they were able to make it for me, even though it wasn’t on the menu! Whether it be alcoholic beverages or deep life questions – you never know what you’ll find out if you just ask!
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| Freddie being fabulous…and my fabulous Killer Queen cocktail. |
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| Saturday afternoon naps under the Christmas tree… |
Saturday afternoon I went to see The Grinch – and I went on my own, which is something that has never really bothered me. Once a movie starts, you don’t usually talk to the people you’re with anyway…so I’ve never seen the big deal. However, the woman I was seated next to loudly exclaimed “you’re here to see the movie ALONE – you’re sitting in that seat BY YOURSELF?!?” Talk about making a person want to crawl in a hole! In spite of her rudeness, the movie was an absolute delight and I enjoyed sipping my Earl Gray with Lavender and watching the antics of the Grinch – I’d highly recommend it, especially if you have kiddos!
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| Tongues out for rude people, ha-ha! |
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| “Better” Beer & Canary Creams for watching Fantastic Beasts! |
Sunday afternoon my Mom and I went to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and we decided to get some canary creams and better beers from the themed menu! The canary creams were lemon sugar cookies and they were divine…but the better beers (no doubt inspired by Butter Beer) were only okay – it was apple cider, brown sugar and cream – but it was cold instead of hot and so it was a little odd. My Mom thought it was a lot odd and didn’t touch hers after the first sip…but I finished mine! The movie was delightful and was a perfect round-up to my weekend of movies!
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| Sparkling trees & a dusting of snow… |
It snowed just a wee bit the middle of last week – nothing really stuck at the office but once I came home, there was a gentle dusting covering everything that stuck around overnight and left everything looking crystalline in the morning light. We attended my church’s Bethlehem Experience live nativity on Thursday night and I didn’t snap any pictures but I did pet two donkey and was very tempted to steal a teeny pink and black speckled piglet, ha-ha! We set out after I got off work on Friday for Charlottesville to spend a little time over the weekend…
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| The ceiling of the Yurt – do y’all know what a yurt is? |
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| This seems perfectly idyllic! |
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| Such an epic sign! |
We stayed in a yurt that had canvas walls and a roof but was heated and had a tile shower, kitchen and everything you’d find in a modern home – it was pretty cool – and it was really cool when we woke up on Saturday morning due to the drop in temperature through the night! Eek! We had breakfast at nearby Krecek Kakes, a little bakery we’d found on a previous visit to the area and then made our way to the Charlottesville Walking Mall to peruse the shops and eventually have delicious lunch at a little cafe called Revolutionary Soup! Once our stomachs were filled, we made our way up the mountain to Monticello for a Behind the Scenes Tour – which was quite neat!
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| Monticello – Home of Thomas Jefferson. |
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| I can’t resist a good photo bomb opportunity! |
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| Cheese! |
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| Can you see the ice on the fish pond? It was COLD! |
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| Mulberry Row @ Monticello |
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| Peeking around the door of the tower… watch post… I’m not sure what it was… |
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| Selfie in the dome of Monticello! |
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| Jefferson’s granddaughters created a hideaway off the dome of the house… |
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| The dome of Monticello reminded me of…the Pantheon in Rome! |
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| Just chilling with TJ! |
The tour lasted a full two hours and covered all three floors of the house – the staircases were seriously tiny and winding, but I couldn’t take pictures of those! We were able to snap photos while we were in the dome of the house and our guide even opened some doors to show us the spot where Jefferson’s granddaughters had made a spot to hide out and play, which was neat. I’m not sure how I feel about ol TJ though… based on what our guide told us, he seemed to be only okay at a lot of things but thought quite a lot of himself. Who knows though, right? History – still something of a mystery.
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| Pimento Cheese Fritters * Grilled Chicken with Macaroni & Cheese & Root Vegetable Gratin! |
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| The twinkling lights of Gordonsville, VA! |
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| So big & twinkly! *sigh* |
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| Don’t you just love all the Christmas sparkle? |
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| Seriously committed to that holiday twinkle! |
We had a delicious dinner at a find on Yelp – a place called Maya that was southern cuisine and absolutely delicious! I split some Pimento Cheese Fritters topped with Pepper Jam with my Momma and then for my meal I had Grilled Chicken with homemade ham gravy, macaroni and cheese and a yummy root vegetable gratin made up of carrots, sweet potatoes and Yukon potatoes! We perused a nearby Barnes and Noble and checked out some Christmas lights before heading back to the yurt on Saturday evening.
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| The Watoto Children’s Choir! |
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| Dancing & singing & praising Jesus! |
The Watoto Children’s Choir is based in Uganda and they provide schooling for children, teach women to run small businesses so to be self sustaining and rescue abandoned children and give them a chance at a prosperous life, living their dreams. The choir was such a joy to listen to and the whole experience just filled my heart with warmth. We made our way to Olive Garden to have lunch and then headed home, to be joyfully greeted by my sweet pup!
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| Just taking a Sunday afternoon nap in the chair… |
I passed the rest of Sunday afternoon cleaning up my room, rearranging my furniture, wrapping some Christmas gifts, watching the season one finale of Mr. Robot, loving on my puppy dog and just generally enjoying the afternoon and evening. My Mom and I watched the most recent episode of Outlander and then I happily crawled into my bed to read, peruse the internet a bit and get some sleep.
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| The new layout… |
So – that’s what I’ve been up to for the past few weeks! I can’t believe there are only fourteen days until Christmas, can you? I’ve got to finish up my shopping this weekend, get everything wrapped and then sit back and enjoy the rest of the season!
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| Just a shepherd taking his sheep home @ the end of the day…as you do… |
The errands at the base took up most of the afternoon and then we drove toward the appointed meeting spot we’d set up for our final AirBnB location – we followed the host to her apartment, which had the most incredible views of the Mediterranean…SO incredible… but the area was also SO deserted that it seemed almost like something out of an apocalyptic scenario. Eek! Please hear me when I say the apartment itself was beautiful and lovely, comfy beds and impeccable views – but everything around it looked like it hadn’t seen human contact in years and years… It was a little eerie.
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| Mount Etna glimpsed across the ocean from our balcony. |
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| My toes at the edge of the Mediterranean… |
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| The Mediterranean Ocean & Mount Etna. |
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| Views of the ocean… |
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| Taking it all in… |
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| Striking a pose alongside the Mediterranean… |
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| Cheese! |
I don’t have many pictures from our Friday night – it didn’t quite play out the way we’d hoped. We found a restaurant online in the nearby town of Ragusa and made our way to the town with the intent of having a nice dinner. After walking up and down the street the restaurant was supposed to be on, we asked a local gentleman and he pointed us in the direction of the restaurant. We’d walked by it twice but only this time noticed that it had a sign that it would be closed on the 23rd. *sigh* Everywhere else was closed or closing…so we ended up getting microwave pizzas from a grocery store! You have to look back and laugh now – but we weren’t on that Friday night.
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| A chapel in downtown Ragusa. |
Lindsey has explored the island of Sicily from one end to another and found tons of absolutely gorgeous little spots – but we only had Saturday and so we decided that we’d explore the towns of Taormina and Ortigia, and so we set out. After some road detours, we arrived at the parking garage, parked the car and then proceeded to climb the set of stairs leading up the hillside to the little town of Taormina.
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| Foliage on the walk up the stairs.. |
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| The view from the parking garage – my sister said “oh – it will get better”. |
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| I call this one – parking lot through the flowers… |
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| A violet blooming along the side of the staircase… |
Once we arrived in the midst of the little town, we made our way to a small cafe and settled ourselves into a table to have a late breakfast. I had the most delicious coffee; the best of the entire trip, sitting at this little cafe – it was Caffe Freddo, which is cold coffee with cream – and it was divine! Along with my wonderful croissant and more divine freshly squeezed orange juice, it was a perfect breakfast! Once we’d finished, we set out to explore the town and some of the shops.
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| Caffe Freddo with a croissant! |
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| I’ll never have orange juice this good again… *sigh* |
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| A more idyllic street scene I’ve never seen… |
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| Gorgeous ceramics were everywhere – I purchased an ornament & wee scooter. |
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| The emblem of Sicily – the head of the gorgon atop the triskelion. Yea…I have no clue. |
Lindsey led us along the street and up to her main destination – a Greco-Roman amphitheater that provided sweeping 360 degree views of the town of Taormina, the Mediterranean below and the island of Sicily stretching into the distance. It would be an understatement to say the view was breathtaking – the pictures don’t do it justice, but I’ll share them nonetheless, ha-ha!
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| The view before entering the amphitheater & climbing all it’s steps… |
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| Gorgeous – isn’t it? |
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| The Mediterranean Ocean! |
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| The back wall of the theater – and Mount Etna in the distance. |
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| The Greco Roman Amphitheater of Taormina! |
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| Arches perfectly framing Mount Etna. |
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| I’ve said it before…I’ll say it again – you can’t take her anywhere! |
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| Mount Etna – still an active volcano; it’s erupted while my little sister has been in Sicily. |
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| The beautiful little city – in bloom! |
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| Orange trees everywhere! |
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| Vespas were everywhere… |
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| Perfectly idyllic little streets…that cars squeeze down at high speeds! |
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| The view from the entrance to the Botanical Gardens. |
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| Seriously – how cute are these streets? |
We made our way to a restaurant Lindsey had frequented in previous visits for our lunch and I had tomato soup (delicious) and one final Margharita Pizza before we made our way back through town, picked up some pastries at a shop and headed down the stairs and back to our car.
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| Pizza Margharita |
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| Look at all the wonderful goodies! |
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| The pastry shop – yum! |
Our final stop of the day was in the town of Ortigia – a small island connected via channel and bridges to the larger town of Syracusa. The town is known for it’s shopping and tourism and in mythology is where the goddess Leto stopped to give birth to Artemis. The mathematician Archimedes hails from Ortigia as well… and here I was thinking Archimedes was just Merlin’s wee owl sidekick in The Sword in the Stone!
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| Temple ruins in the town of Ortigia. |
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| “Happy Holidays” in Italian! |
I’m completely kidding about Archimedes – I know he was a real person, ha-ha! There was a piazza in Ortigia that may be one of the prettiest places we’d been the whole trip – the Cathedral of Saint Lucia took up a large portion of the piazza and is built on the foundations of the original Temple of Athena, which dates back to the 5th century BC. We had some desserts at a cafe in the Piazza before taking a quick tour of the church – which was filled with religious emblems and relics of Saint Lucia.
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| The Cathedral of Syracusa.. |
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| Do I look over it here? Ha-ha! |
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| Smile! I’d had coffee when I took this picture, ha-ha! |
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| One of the alcoves of the Cathedral of Syracuse. |
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| The vaulted & arched ceilings of the cathedral. |
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| The altar & dome of the cathedral. |
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| The columns on the left & right of the gate are original to the Temple of Athena (from 5th century BC) |
We meandered our way back through the streets of Ortigia, stopping for my Mom to get a clementine fruit Popsicle along the way and to snap a few pictures here and there, before returning to our apartment for the evening!
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| Delicious fruit pops – so tasty! |
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| A fountain in Ortigia. |
We packed up our things that evening and all tried to get a good night’s sleep and on Sunday morning we set out for the last few hours of our time in Italy. We had breakfast at The London Cafe in the wee town of Misterbianco (which I sadly have no pictures of…) before Lindsey dropped us off at the airport in Catania to catch our flight to Frankfurt. I can’t say the experience of checking in and getting on the flight in Catania was anything less than completely nerve-wracking and our flight from Frankfurt to DC clocked in at almost 9 hours and with far more turbulence than I liked – but we made it home safe and sound on Sunday night around 10 PM.
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| Morning views of the Mediterranean… |
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| A final selfie in Italy! |
The trip to Italy was a once in a lifetime trip and sometimes I still can’t believe that I spent a week riding along the canals of Venice, walking the streets of ancient Rome and Pompeii and exploring the island of Sicily. I will treasure the memories we made for the rest of my life and I’ll look back on the pictures and these posts with love!
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| Welcome to the Roman Forum! |
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| The Temple of Antoninus & Faustina |
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| What remains of the Temple of Castor & Pollux |
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| The sunlight filters across the Roman Forum. |
The Roman Forum would have once been the central hub of the ancient city of Rome and the remains of the buildings in the Forum would have been important to day to day life in the city. Triumphal processions, public speeches, elections, criminal trials and public executions would all have taken place within the Forum. It was the heart of ancient Rome and many of the most important and oldest structures of the ancient city of Rome can be found in the Forum.
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| There isn’t much left of the Shrine of Venus Cloacina. |
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| The Arch of Septimus Severus. |
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| Collapsed columns & ancient etchings… |
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| All smiles in the center of Ancient Rome! |
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| The Basilica Julia; the covered area marks the spot where he is thought to be buried. |
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| The tomb of Julius Caesar (so they think). |
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| Ruins abound – & I just ate it all up. |
The site of the Forum was once a marshy lake area that was drained by the Tarquins (fifth king of Rome, so these were likely his followers) via the Cloaca Maxima (the sewer system). The final paving of the roadways was done in travertine and is still visible today; this paving dates back to the rule of Augustus, who was in power from 27 BC to 14 AD. It’s only a little bit crazy to think that the paving stones that you’re walking on have been in place for thousands of years… right? Is that just me?
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| This may be… the Column of Phocas – not certain on that. |
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| Just taking in the Roman Forum! |
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| The remains of the Temple of Saturn behind me. |
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| Making my way around the Arch of Septimus Severus. |
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| The Temple of Saturn. |
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| Temple of Vespasian & Titus. |
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| I believe this may be the remains of the Temple of Concord – but I am not 100% certain. |
The beginning of the excavations of the Forum began in 1803 but the official excavations did not begin until 1898 with the aim to restore fragmented pieces, uncover the lowest layer of habitation within the Forum and identify already uncovered structures. The excavations continued through 1925, halting on briefly for World War I – and they continue today, with pottery and emblems of daily life being found near the outer wall that indicate the area was in use as early as the 8th century BC – a full century before the establishment of the ancient city of Rome.
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| Smirking with the Temple of Saturn. |
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| The Temple of Saturn. |
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| The Arch of Septimus Severus. |
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| A fallen column & the Temple of Saturn in the background. |
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| An Arch framing the Forum, extending into the distance. |
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| The ancient Romans did love their arches! |
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| The Forum of Caesar. |
The Seven Hills of Rome form the geographical heart of the city of Rome and Palatine Hill is the center most of the seven; forming the epicenter of Rome – especially in ancient times. Tradition tells us that the city of Rome was founded atop Palatine Hill by Romulus and Remus in April of 753 BC. The word “palace” stems from the word Palatine and it was on Palatine Hill that the leader of ancient Rome found their homes.
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| Retaining walls built around Palatine Hill… |
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| Remains of the retaining walls/portions of the Forum alongside the Hill. |
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| Looking upward to the top of Palatine Hill. |
We ended up making a rather circuitous path all the way around the base of Palatine Hill – which was fine. The afternoon was really lovely and it allowed us the chance to see the retaining walls and the ruins of the palaces built on the Hill. The palaces once belonged to Augutus, Tiberius and Domitian but I cannot tell you which ruins belonged to which palace…sorry about that.
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| Remains of retaining walls & palaces – scaffolding for work being done. |
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| All forms of ruin are utterly fascinating to me… |
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| I don’t know what this is – I liked the umbrella pine, ha-ha! |
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| The arched retaining walls around Palatine Hill. |
My sister and I goof off a lot…and because of this, we were pretty quickly left behind by my parents. Likely because we spend our time doing things like taking the pictures below, ha-ha!
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| Are you excited to be walking around Palatine Hill? |
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| Holding this arch up all on my own… hehehe |
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| Ruins & such – I just really like ruins y’all. |
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| Some blooms in the midst of the ruins. |
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| Ruins of a portion of what was likely a palace built on Palatine Hill. |
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| Cheese! |
I suppose you can see that I wasn’t kidding when I said we made a fairly circuitous route around the base of Palatine Hill in our quest to gain entry to the upper levels. I’m not kidding when I tell you that by the time we arrived at the portion of the walk way that allowed us to climb the steps to the top of Palatine Hill, we’d almost made a complete circle around the base of the hill. Thankfully it was a gorgeous afternoon and the walk was filled with plenty to see – which is why there are so many pictures, ha-ha!
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| Another portion of what was likely a palace on Palatine Hill. |
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| Ancient construction is a marvel… |
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| There is no way to deny it – the Romans love a good arch. |
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| Case in point – arches upon arches! |
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| Essentially a perfectly shaped umbrella pine – I love them. |
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| The remains of the Palace of Domitian. |
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| Palace of Domitian Selfie! |
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| Nymphaeum & cisterns – where water was supplied to the Flavian Palace. |
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| Palace ruins… |
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| Palace ruins & some perfect umbrella pines in the background. |
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| Fountains were everywhere – because the aqueducts brought water – because the ancient Romans were legit. |
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| Tilework – still on point, thousands of years later. |
Palatine Hill has numerous structures atop it – and one of them is not ancient, it’s a large viewing platform that allows you to see the entirety of the Roman Forum laid out below you. You better believe that I stood on that platform and snapped all sorts of pictures…
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| The Roman Forum – the large building in the center is the Basilica Maxentius. |
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| The Farnese Gardens atop Palatine Hill. |
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| Just sampling the waters atop Palatine Hill… |
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| The Colosseum & the Arch of Titus at one end of the Roman Forum. |
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| The Basilica of Maxentius |
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| Just a quick selfie with the Roman Forum, taken from atop Palatine Hill. |
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| All the ruins from the ancient city of Rome! |
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| It’s gorgeous, right? Is that just me? |
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| The Roman Forum & the city of Rome in the background. |
We made our way down the step on the side of Palatine Hill and re-entered the Forum; our parents decided they’d rather have a seat near the Arch of Titus than keep wandering with us and so my sister and I decided to make a quick run to catch a couple other sights before the Forum closed – which happens at sundown, and in November in Italy – that’s at like 4:45!
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| The Flavian Palace |
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| The Arch of Titus |
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| The Basilica of Maxentius |
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| Foliage growing in the midst of the ancient ruins. |
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| Frescoes in the Temple of Romulus. |
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| The Temple of Romulus. |
One of the areas of the Roman Forum that was really interesting was the House of the Vestal Virgin. Vestal Virgins were chosen from families’ of prominence when they were between the ages of 6-10 and served for 30 years… they were afforded luxuries that were normally reserved for the wealthiest families and were seated with the Emperor when visiting the Colosseum. However, if you broke your vows you were buried alive… so I mean – there’s that. They were allowed to marry once their 30 years of service were completed, but many did not because it was considered unlucky.
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| The entrance to the House of the Vestal Virgin. |
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| The House of the Vestal Virgin. |
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| Statues lining the courtyard of the House of the Vestal Virgin. |
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| The statues are meant to represent the Vestal Virgin. |
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| The walkway along the courtyard of the House of the Vestal Virgin. |
Once we finished making our way through the Roman Forum – we had intentions to go back and re-enter the Colosseum since our earlier experiences was a little wetter than we’d hoped for – but remember when I said the Roman Forum closed at dusk? Well the Colosseum stopped letting people in at 4:30 and we arrived on the scene at about 4:32… so that was a no go! We snapped a few more pictures from the exterior and made our way back toward our apartment – with a stop for gelato on the way, of course!
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| The mighty Colosseum! |
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| The Arch of Constantine! |
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| A view of the outer & inner walls of the Colosseum. |
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| Each of these arches would have once supported a statue. |
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| Absolutely amazing – right? |
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| Look at all the beautiful gelato… |
The apartment we stayed in was on the fourth floor and it also had a rooftop terrace that had gorgeous views of the skyline of Rome and the Colosseum in the distance. We took our gelato up to the roof and had it while the sun set in the city – it was really nice! It was Thanksgiving Day and it didn’t necessarily feel like it but I know I was very thankful to be sitting in the middle of Rome, having seen all the wonderful sights that I’d seen!
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| Gorgeous views from the rooftop terrace… |
We packed up our suitcases because we had a 6 AM pick-up time on Friday morning for the airport (ew) and then we walked right down the street to a restaurant on the corner for our dinner. We ended up sitting outside and while it was a little brisk sitting street side, their were heaters and when it was all said and done, the meal was great and the food was delicious. It was a lovely way to close out our time in Rome.
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| A little cheese for your pasta? |
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| The most delicious cheese & spinach ravioli! |
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| Can you tell that my Dad has a mouthful of food? |
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| My Mom may have a mouth of food too, ha-ha! |
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| Sampling the house wine – straight from the bottle. |
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| Divine Margharita pizza… yum! |
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| Tiramisu to close out the day. |
Rome was absolutely the most amazing experience – and I feel like we only scratched the surface of what the city had to offer. I was completely enthralled by everything we saw that was ancient in nature and seeing the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were highlights of our trip to Italy.
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| The old entrance to the Museum of the Vatican. |
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| The heraldry of the Pope. |
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| The original staircase entrance – it’s actually two staircases wound around each other.. |
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| One staircase took guests up while the other took guests down… |
The first portion of our tour was through locations throughout the Museum of the Vatican – since our tour guide was knowledgeable, she led us through certain areas at certain times and we were able to see rooms like the Map Gallery, the Hall of Statues and more almost completely empty. Apparently that’s almost unheard of. Of course, as with my other posts – I took quite a few pictures and I’ll just let the captions tell a bit more about them.
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| Caskets made of a rare crimson marble… |
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| Believed to hold the remains of the wife & daughter of Emperor Constantine. |
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| Egyptian style artwork – created in Rome; it was a style of the period. |
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| A closer look at one of the statues. |
The Museum of the Vatican has an Egyptian collection that I would have loved to sneak a peek at – but out tour didn’t cover that portion of the museum. I guess that’s a reason to go back, right? Something tells me that with all the rooms we saw, there was still plenty that we didn’t get around to – that place is huge!
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| The bust is believed to be that of Julius Caesar. |
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| Believed to be Cleopatra – the ancient Romans hated her; called her “the Egyptian bitch”… |
Each of the lengthy hallways was filled with frescoes…statues…artwork of all kinds and gifts given to the Popes throughout the years. I have never in all my life seen so many statues, frescoes and all around elaborate pieces of…stuff. It boggles the mind a little bit to see one person bestowed all these things – but then, I’m not Catholic and so the whole office of Pope and the fanfare and pageantry that goes along with it is still something of a puzzlement to me.
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| The Hall of Statues… |
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| One of the many frescoes on the ceiling… |
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| This is a fertility goddess – she’s draped in bull testicles. Not a look I’d go for… |
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| Statues going on for days… |
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| The emblem/heraldry of the Pope is at the top of this intricate floor work… |
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| Do you see the eyes on these statues? Yikes! No thank you! |
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| This is Dionysus – note the grapes around her head… |
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| Frescoes..frescoes…as far as the eye can see.. |
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| The floor tiles here are made of Lapis Lazuli – very rare. |
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| A closer look at the heraldry of the Pope… |
I wish I had something clever to say in the midst of all this – but honestly, it was just room after room of elaborate artwork and gifts. It was…something else… I will say that I remain impressed at how well versed our guide was in the ebb and flow of each of the areas of the museum – it allowed us the chance to see many of the rooms with very few other people. She told us that during the summer, it’s often so crowded that it’s difficult to move – and that just sounds like a nightmare to me.
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| The ceilings are flat – an example of trompe l’oiel at work. |
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| One of the many tapestries in the Tapestry Hall. |
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| Tapestries going on forever… |
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| Lining both sides of the hall… |
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| The ceilings of the Map Gallery – which contained detailed maps of each |
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| Family photo in the Map Gallery! |
We were literally the only people in the Map Gallery – which is apparently absolutely unheard of – and our wonderful guide took the time to take each group of people’s photos in the center of the gallery…and then she asked for a picture of herself, because she claimed that she’d never seen it so empty. November is considered the off season in Italy – so points for that in so far as crowds go!
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| Smile y’all! |
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| Look at those ceilings! *gasp* |
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| A map of Italy as whole – near the end of the hall. |
After touring the Statue Hall, the Hall of Tapestries, and the Map Gallery, it was time for the all important visit to the Sistine Chapel – once the personal chapel of the Pope himself, it’s now open for visitors and is where the Conclave of Cardinals meet to elect a new Pope. You’re not supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel but listen…if you lay your phone on your lap at just the right angle and turn the camera around, you can get a couple snaps. I know – I know…that’s probably a special sin or something but nonetheless – I did it.
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| The roof of the Sistine Chapel – God creating Adam is right of center… |
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| The back wall of the Sistine Chapel – Jesus divided people between Heaven & Hell. |
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| The ceiling/vault of the Sistine Chapel. |
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| The side panels of the Sistine Chapel – Moses parting the Red Sea is on the far left… |
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| The vault/ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. |
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| Sistine Chapel selfie! |
The Sistine Chapel was; of course, painted by Michelangelo and contrary to popular belief/lore, whatever it is that you would call it – he did not paint the ceilings lying on his back on the scaffolding. The Vatican has a letter that he wrote describing to a friend the way he stood to paint the ceiling for days on end… something tells me that he had a serious backache when all is said and done.
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| Entering the personal gifts collection of the Vatican Museum… |
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| Religious emblems gifted to the Pope… |
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| More of those delightful frescoes on the ceiling… |
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| City symbols – made from gold sandwiched between thin pieces of glass. |
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| A very elaborate globe… |
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| I was just always in awe of the walls…ceilings…etc… |
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| An elaborate chest… |
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| A mural showing the installation of the obelisk in the courtyard of the Vatican. |
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| Pieces of the moon – gifted to the Pope from Richard Nixon. |
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| A statue of the shepherd and his sheep… |
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| A gorgeous piece of art depicting the Virgin Mary & baby Jesus. |
We emerged from the Museum of the Vatican about two hours after we’d entered – the sun was casting a beautiful light across the back portion of the courtyard of Saint Peter’s Basilica and we were able to view the courtyard from a balcony overlooking the grounds. The cool air also felt wonderful to me – the warmth of the museum had begun to make me feel a bit lightheaded…whoosh!
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| Saint Peter’s Basilica in the morning sunshine. |
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| Saint Peter’s selfie! |
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| A statue in the courtyard of the viewing area. |
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| A pine cone – a symbol of enlightenment. |
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| A gift from an artist of the United States. |
After touring the courtyard, we went back into the Museum (the place is gigantic y’all…enormous) to view the Raphael Rooms; obviously painted by… Raphael! We also saw the apartments inhabited by the Borgias while they were in power and the Royal Staircase that the Conclave of Cardinals take when electing a new Pope. Once we returned inside, it became apparent how well our guide knew the Vatican Museum because it was now so crowded that rooms we’d walked through, completely alone besides the 12 or so people in our group, were now so crowded that we had to form a single file line to snake our way through… sheesh!
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| Painted walls…and ceilings… in the Raphael Rooms… |
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| So much detail… |
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| Gorgeous frescoes on the ceiling… |
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| The entrance to the secret archives is through the door at the bottom left… |
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| A picture depicting philosophers…done by Raphael… |
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| Gorgeous painting – done by Raphael, of course! |
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| A final ceiling fresco layout – done by Raphael. |
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| The ceilings of the apartments that were lived in by the Borgias… |
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| I took a lot of ceiling pictures – I am just now realizing. |
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| The fireplace of the apartment of the Borgia Family. |
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| The Royal Staircase…leading to the Sistine Chapel. |
I honestly was just so mind-boggled by all the “stuff” that we saw – and certainly, it was all gorgeous and expensive and flashy – but I guess it just seemed a bit…excessive? Now a place I would love to see at Vatican City? The Secret Archives! Our tour guide told us she had been lucky enough to take a brief tour of the Secret Archives and had seen the original letter that Henry the 8th wrote to the Pope requesting a divorce from Katherine of Aragon..so he could marry Anne Boleyn, of course! Forget gilded pictures and flights of fancy – that’s the stuff I want to see!
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| The Christmas tree was being installed out in the courtyard. |
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| The balcony where the Pope makes all of his addresses… |
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| Another version of the Pope’s Coat of Arms/Heraldry… |
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| One of the doors leading into Saint Peter’s Basilica! |
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| The door is considered a historical document because it shows Peter being crucified upside down… |
Once we’d toured all the hallways filled with frescoes, artwork, gifts, maps, relics and religious emblems and made our way back through the Sistine Chapel (no sneaky pictures this time – it was so crowded that you could barely move…) – we made our way outside and I happily gulped fresh air again! Our guide had to get a certificate or something along those lines to allow her to talk while we were in Saint Peter’s Basilica and once she had that in hand, we went through the doors and into the largest church in the world.
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| You’d never in a million years be able to capture all the grandeur… |
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| Marking how Saint Paul’s in London “measures up” – it’s a bit smaller than Saint Peter’s |
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| La Pieta – carved by Michelangelo |
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| Remarkable – huh? |
Pieta is now housed behind a sheet of glass because a deranged person came into the church and used a hammer and chisel to knock of a portion of the sculpture. They were able to fix the statue with almost no sign that it had ever been damaged – but you sir are the reason we cannot have nice things!
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| Looking upward into the dome… |
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| Little winged cherub everywhere… |
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| Every view is pretty dramatic! |
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| The archway marking the center of the church. |
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| This canopy is marking the spot where Saint Peter is buried. |
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| A grate in the floor looking down into the lower levels of the church. |
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| Just breathtaking! |
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| The main altar of the church – you could not go closer… |
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| Elaborate carvings on the altar… |
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| The dome and the roof of the canopy! |
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| Statues & frescoes & gilded everything – as far as the eye can see! |
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| Looking back toward the entryway – and all the people. |
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| The Pope’s Coat of Arms – everywhere! |
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| Special sunlight filtering through the church. |
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| All those angels & cherubs! |
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| Cherub cheeks selfie! |
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| All the decorations – too many to ever capture on film! |
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| Emblem on the floor as you exit… |
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| Carvings on the ceiling outside the entrance to Saint Peter’s |
After we finished viewing the Basilica, our tour guide parted ways with us and we were allowed to look around at our leisure. My younger sister decided to pay the additional ten Euro and make the climb to the top of the Dome, so we sat on some marble benches in the shade while she made the climb. She was nice enough to share some of her pictures with me and I’ve shared them below – the views were pretty spectacular.
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| One of the Swiss Guards – the Pope’s personal body guards. |
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| The Swiss Guard on duty. |
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| Saint Peter’s Basilica! |
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| The Papal Apartments are located in the building on the far left – top floor. |
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| The tree being placed in the center of the courtyard! |
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| Saint Peter’s Basilica & Courtyard |
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| The original city gates of Rome – awesome! |
The bus took us about 1.5 hours out and then we made a quick stop at a roadside pit stop sort of area… it had a diner, bathrooms and a shop to purchase snacks and souvenirs. It was really interesting! The final hour or so took us on to the city of Naples, where we picked up our tour guide for Pompeii and made a quick circle through the city to see some of the sights.
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| The mountains along the roadway… |
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| Gorgeous mountains ringed in clouds! |
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| The Bay of Naples! |
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| The gorgeous bay…sparkling in the sunshine… |
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| Mountains rising in the distance… |
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| A castle in the midst of downtown Naples! |
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| A statue of the King of Naples in the middle of the city. |
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| The castle once more… |
We made a sort of circular tour of the city of Naples before making our way to a cameo factory.. the artisans at this factory (which was really very small) create beautiful pieces of jewelry and art work from shells that they obtain from Madagascar and Zanzibar (among other places…). We were able to watch an artisan work on a piece of art before viewing the items in the show room and wouldn’t you know, when we all joined back up with one another… my Mom had purchased a necklace, my sister had purchased earrings and I had purchased a ring…and they were all in the exact same style! Crazy!
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| Mount Vesuvius…ringed with clouds. |
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| Great minds think alike – right? |
Wednesday the 21st also happened to be my younger sister’s 28th birthday and our final stop before we made our way to the ancient city of Pompeii was to have lunch at the Mount Vesuvius Cafe. The menu was set out in advance and you had your pick for a starter, first course and second course, with a lemon cream cake for dessert. When it came time for dessert, the waiters served Lindsey her piece of cake with a candle and sang “Happy Birthday” to her in Italian! Certainly a birthday to remember!
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| Singing to the birthday girl! |
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| Surprise! |
After our lunch was finished, we made our way just a quick block away to the entrance of the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii and at this point… I was beyond hyped. I have always been completely fascinated by the city of Pompeii, the story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the way the city was so perfectly preserved. I have long dreamed of one day visiting the ruins of Pompeii and to be standing outside the ancient walls… it was a definite moment for me. And when we entered the city and were immediately in the gladiatorial training grounds, with Mount Vesuvius rising above the city in the background – I may have had to blink back tears.
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| The city walls of ancient Pompeii… |
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| The gladiatorial training grounds – and Mount Vesuvius in the background. |
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| I don’t know if I could have smiled any wider…ha-ha! |
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| Columns extending along the sidewalk… |
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| The walls of buildings & alley ways leading to the main street. |
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| The doors lead to gladiatorial chambers along the training grounds. |
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| An amphitheater – seats rising upward! |
We viewed the gladiatorial training grounds and then around the corner, made our way into an amphitheater where our guide explained how a central point of the floor would have been where performers stood would allow their voices to project to the highest seats of the theater. Once we left the amphitheater, we turned to the right and there we were: standing on a sidewalk along one of the main streets, stepping stones making their way across the streets with building rising up on either side and Mount Vesuvius looming in the distance as a constant reminder of what happened to the ruined city you are standing in.
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| The streets of Pompeii! |
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| Stepping stones in place for crossing the street without stepping in refuse… |
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| Alleyways with artwork & color still present & preserved for all these years. |
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| A sidewalk leading off the main streets… |
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| Flowers & grass growing through the rubble of all the buildings.. |
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| The Pompeii-n version of fast food…ha-ha! So say the archaeologists! |
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| Arched entry ways… |
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| Peering through an entry way into one of the “shops”… |
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| Standing on the streets of ancient Pompeii! |
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| Cheese! We are in the middle of history! |
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| A Pompeii-n bakery – the wood fire oven in the back corner & grinding wheel in the center. |
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| Another Pompeii-n fast food location! |
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the Autumn of 79 AD covered the city in approximately 82 feet of ash, as it rained down on the city for at least six hours following the initial eruption. This ash, combined with the flow of extremely hot air; called a pyroclastic flow, caused the city to be almost perfectly preserved as it was on the day of the eruption. The temperature of the pyroclastic flows was about 480 degrees – and exposure to those temperatures caused instant death for the people of Pompeii, even those sheltered within buildings.
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| The entrance to a house on the right – the following pictures are from this house. |
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| Colors painted on the walls – still intact to this day. |
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| A table in the entry way of the home… |
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| Mosaic tile floors – still perfectly placed. |
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| Mosaic flooring & a fresco in the distance. |
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| A portrait in the fresco style on the wall of the house. |
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| Hello – check out this near perfect fresco on the wall of the house! |
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| I’m trying not to have a freak out…ha-ha! |
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| Look. At. This. Mosaic. |
The tour we took catered to both English and Spanish speaking individuals and so once our group exited the house, our guide took the Spanish speaking group into the house. While we waited, I wandered across the street and into another house that was honestly even more impressive than the first. I perused the house at my leisure and only raced out of the house when I realized that my speaker was getting more and more faint…a sure sign I was being left behind… and also because my younger sister came into the doorway and motioned for me to “COME ON!” Hahahaha!
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| Looking down the side street… |
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| Arches and entry ways… |
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| Something in the corner of the home’s foyer.. I’m not sure… |
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| Elaborate color schemes on the walls of the house. |
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| The large garden in the back, surrounded by rooms. |
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| Colorful frescoes on the walls of the house. |
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| Colorful frescoes & human remains in a case. I have no idea… |
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| Man’s best friend, depicted on the wall of the homes of Pompeii. |
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| Colorful frescoes all along the walls.. |
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| A gorgeous garden in the center of the home. |
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| This looks like an altar of some sort – but I can’t be sure. Lots of blue here… |
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| More gorgeous mosaic tile work & colors on the wall. |
I raced my way back along the sidewalk to catch up with our group…and our tour guide with her bright coral flag. We made our way along the street to where a fountain was located at the corner of an intersection and she explained that the tower to the side of the fountain was to control the levels of the water flowing from the aqueducts and into the fountain…which, color me impressed. We also made our way to one of the spas located within the city and within the spa was the first of the plaster cast bodies that we’d see. When excavations were done, bodies were discovered with voids around them and it was discovered that by injecting plaster into the empty space, casts of the victims could be made to capture their last moments. It’s… unsettling, fascinating, mind-boggling…
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| Making the way down the streets of Pompeii… |
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| Columns in a courtyard… |
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| A fountain/well and the tower that controlled the water pressure. |
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| The ruins of shop fronts along the streets of Pompeii. |
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| The courtyard of the spa – one of five located in Pompeii. |
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| Art work & designs on the wall of the spa. |
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| A plaster cast of a fully grown male – found at the spa. |
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| Covering his nose & mouth, likely trying to escape the toxic gases from the eruption. |
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| The ceiling of the spa – so decorative! |
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| Just putting my coat in the “lockers” at the spa… mind = blown. |
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| The baths – with warm stones to heat the water. |
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| Roman baths in the spa. |
While there were five spas in the ancient city of Pompeii…there were twenty-seven brothels! You read that right…twenty-seven! We had a guy on our tour that must have asked every few minutes “are we going to the brothel now?”… I mean – we get it dude, you’re here to see the brothel(s). Well halfway through our tour, it was time to visit one of the brothels. The women who worked in the brothels of Pompeii were called she-wolves and so the brothels were known as the “house of the she-wolf”… and once you went in, there were “menus” drawn on the walls. I’m not kidding. It was wild.
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| Walking along a smaller side street – only one stepping stone, see? |
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| The walls of a house with a window… |
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| Perhaps another fast food spot on the way to the brothel? |
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| One of the 27 brothels located in the ancient city of Pompeii. |
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| A menu for your selection(s)… |
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| The god Priapus – he’s a fertility god… |
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| More options on the menu…ha-ha! |
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| Another fountain/well located along the streets of Pompeii. |
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| Lead pipes used to carry water through the city – sure lead isn’t great, but still – the advancement! |
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| Another oven for cooking perhaps? |
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| The gorgeous streets of Pompeii! |
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| A literal street sign – I bet you’ll never guess what it’s pointing toward… |
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| All smiles in the city of Pompeii! |
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| Fountains everywhere – and all intricately designed. |
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| Still so freaking excited to be in Pompeii! |
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| Can you believe how perfect this tile mosaic still is?!? |
The final portion of our tour led us into the center of the city, the forum of Pompeii – a wide open central space with columns flanking the sides, leading up to a central focal point where a temple once stood and behind it…almost dead center, Mount Vesuvius. It was an amazing sight to see! Along the left side of the forum was a storage area filled with all sorts of artifacts that have been unearthed during the excavations of the city, as well as some other plaster casts of bodies found in the city.
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| The forum of Pompeii! |
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| Columns in the Pompeii Forum |
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| The sun beginning to set over the forum of Pompeii. |
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| The central focus point of the forum of Pompeii. |
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| The forum as viewed from the center – mountains all around. |
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| Walkways along the forum of Pompeii. |
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| Arches and columns throughout the forum. |
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| A plaster cast – this man likely died in his sleep. |
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| Pottery & other artifacts |
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| A dog – still wearing his collar; he likely died because he was chained & could not run away. |
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| A body huddling down, likely to avoid the ash & gas… |
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| A child – so sad y’all. |
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| Statues & art work found in the homes. |
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| How green is that grass? The soil is very fertile due to volcanic ash! |
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| An alley way extending to more artifact storage. |
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| The artifacts (these aren’t nearly all of them) go on for days… |
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| Walking toward the exit of the forum of Pompeii. |
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| A quick selfie in the forum of Pompeii – Mount Vesuvius is in the background. |
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| Smile! You’re in the center of Pompeii! |
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| Do you see the rainbow in the sky? |
The final stop before we made our way out of the city was at the Temple to Apollo and Diana – the god of the sun and the goddess of the moon. The temple was situated to the side of the forum of Pompeii and had a large altar where numerous animal sacrifices were completed…eek! We made our way past the temple and around to the edge of the city walls, overlooking the modern day city of Pompei – it’s spelled with just one “i” as opposed to the two in the ancient city’s spelling.
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| The altar of the Temple of Apollo & Diana. |
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| Pretty large altar…huh? |
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| The sun setting over the ancient city of Pompeii. |
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| One last look at the city streets. |
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| The modern city of Pompei in the distance – the statue is not authentic to the city. |
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| Taking some final pictures in Pompeii! |
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| You can’t take this one anywhere… ha-ha! |
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| Walls & doorways of ancient homes & shops… |
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| The city walls… |
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| A final picture with Pompeii! |
The final portion of the afternoon was the twenty minute break that we had before boarding the bus for the ride back to Rome. We made sure to get some gelato – our second serving while we were in Italy – and we also took the recommendation to try the fresh squeezed orange juice. While I can’t say that the food I ate in Italy ruined me for all brands of Italian food… the orange juice I drank in Pompeii/Pompei has ruined me for orange juice. It was quite literally squeezed when you ordered it and was the most fresh, delightful and wonderful orange juice I have ever eaten!
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| Gelato is the bomb y’all! |
We boarded the bus and as we made our way out of Pompei, the rain started to fall. I snapped a final picture of the Bay of Naples as we made our way out of the city and then it was onward to the rest stop where; unfortunately, the smell of cigarette smoke intensified the headache I was getting to epic proportions… *sigh* By the time we returned to Rome, my head was hurting so badly that we returned to the apartment and I spent the rest of the evening lying on the bed trying to get my headache under control.
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| The Bay of Naples at sunset. |
Regardless of the headache that tinged the end of the day – our trip to Pompeii was absolutely my favorite portion of the trip and is something I will always remember. I would return to Pompeii tomorrow because while we saw so much of the ancient city, I’d love the chance to be let loose in the city for the entire day on my own… although Lord knows how many pictures you’d have to put up with if that happened, ha-ha!
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| The Colosseum in the morning light… |
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| One of the fountains in Piazza Navona. |
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| Piazza Navona – and a rainbow peeking through the clouds! |
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| The Fountain of the Four Rivers! |
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| The Fountain of the Four Rivers! |
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| An obelisk in the center of the Fountain of the Four Rivers! |
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| The Fountain of the Four Rivers! |
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| A church in Piazza Navona! |
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| A third fountain in the Piazza Navona! |
My little sister (who has been to Rome before) was an excellent navigator and lead us through the streets and alley ways of Rome, from one sight to another without the slightest hesitation as to where we were going! She led us along skinny roadways and through alleys from Piazza Navona and after just a few short blocks, we rounded the corner and beheld in front of us: the Pantheon!
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| The Pantheon of Rome. |
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| The Pantheon |
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| The dome of the Pantheon – open to the elements. |
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| Anyone else wonder how they built this? I was in awe…. |
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| Selfie with the dome of the Pantheon! |
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| Smile! You’re in the Pantheon in Rome! |
Fun tidbit of information: in the above picture, I’m standing on a drain of sorts…if you can see the slight discoloration of the floor under my feet. The dome of the Pantheon is open to the elements and it had rained some the night before. They keep the area directly under the center of the dome roped off, but the building was designed with drains in the floor to funnel the water off the floor and down through the building. Ingenious – right?
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| The altar and the dome of the Pantheon. |
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| The Corinthian columns and the roof work of the Pantheon. |
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| The Pantheon of Rome. |
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| Cheese! Pantheon selfie! |
We wound our way through the streets and shortly we came upon – Trevi Fountain – the name, which means the convergence of three roads and is believe to mark the terminal spot of one of the aqueducts that brought water to Rome. The fountain presents the discovery of a pure water source in the city of Rome and the fountain is made from travertine that was quarried from Tivoli. Legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain, it will guarantee your return to Rome.
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| Trevi Fountain! |
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| Breathtaking! |
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| Also fascinating – it literally fronts the facade of a building… |
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| Tossing the coin… |
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| It must be thrown with the right hand…over the left shoulder… |
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| Tossing those coins… |
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| My sister is looking at my Mom’s camera – not mine, ha-ha! |
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| Cheese! |
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| Can’t believe I’m standing here! |
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| A side view of the fountain! |
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| A woman definitely got the whistle blown at her for trying to hop on this… |
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| Glorious – no? |
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| I can’t believe I’m here! |
Our final stop as we raced around the city was the Spanish Steps – a staircase comprised of 174 steps that are located on the Piazza de Spagna. My younger sister and I elected to climb the steps while our parents waited below and as we arrived at the top of the steps, the clouds rolled in and small raindrops began to fall…
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| The Spanish Steps! |
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| Selfie with the Spanish Steps! |
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| Halfway to the top of the Spanish Steps! |
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| Taking in the view from the mid-way point on the climb… |
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| Cheese! We made it to the top! |
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| The view from the top – you could see the dome of Saint Peter’s.. but I don’t see it in this picture. |
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| Stopping for a snap halfway down the stairs… |
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| Smile! |
We managed to hop into a cab as fat raindrops began to fall and we made our way over to the Colosseum, where we found a restaurant to have lunch before our tour at 2:00. The rain began to come down in earnest and we watched people racing around with their umbrellas while the people already touring the Colosseum watched from under the cover of the epic structure.
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| The Colosseum from our lunch spot! |
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| Parma Ham Pizza – I did not know there would be this much ham! |
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| Afternoon cup of coffee? Yes please! |
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| Just a background lunch view of the Colosseum! |
We had a tour scheduled for 2:00 that was to include the Colosseum, with entry onto the floor where the gladiators would have been, followed by a tour of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. The rain came down on and off as we waited for our guide, checked in and made our way over to the entrance of the Colosseum – but by the time we’d entered, the flood had backed off and it was simply cloudy.
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| Singing in the rain…in Rome…in front of the Colosseum. |
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| The Colosseum as we approached… |
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| You can still see the numbers above the entrance – each “gate” had a number… |
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| The numbered gates allowed the structure to fill to capacity in 10-15 minutes. |
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| The outer wall that still remains – the rest having collapsed during earthquakes. |
The walls of the Colosseum that are visible today are what were once the inner walls and the outer walls were held together with iron clamps – no mortar was used.The arches in the interior walls would have framed a statue and 240 mast corbels were positioned along the top to support a retractable awning that covered 2/3 of the stadium. Tickets for events were numbered pottery shards that led spectators to their seats via vomitoria – which means “to quickly expel” in Latin and inspired a lovely word in the English language. Any guesses what that word is?
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| The gladiatorial entrance… |
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| Notches in the wall marking where iron clamps once held the structure together – they were stolen… |
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| Iron gates leading to lower levels of the Colosseum. |
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| A panoramic of the Colosseum from inside… |
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| Peering into the lower levels of the Colosseum… |
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| My face does not even remotely convey my delight at being in the center of the Colosseum! |
The floor of the Colosseum was wooden planks covered with sand and underneath was a vast labyrinth of passageways and cages that made up the hypogeum – which literally means “underground”. The cages held gladiators, animals and those condemned to die in battle and these people and animals, as well as props and set pieces could be moved from the underground to the floor of the Colosseum via eighty vertical shafts. The gladiators barracks were connected to the hypogeum via tunnels, while separate tunnels allowed the emperor and vestal virgins to enter to Colosseum without having to pass through the crowds.
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| The hypogeum – a maze of cages, gates, trap doors and more… |
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| Cheese! |
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| So freaking exciting to be standing on the floor of the Colosseum! |
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| White seats with names inscribed on them – likely for elite members of Roman society. |
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| Tiered seating rising upward… |
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| Excavations are currently ongoing in the hypogeum… |
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| A cross – remembrance of the Christians sacrificed in the Colosseum. |
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| An art piece recovered by excavations… |
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| Steps leading to higher seating levels – blocked off with a gate… |
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| Panoramic! |
We spent about twenty minutes on the guided portion of the tour and we were then released to explore on our own – and after a short bathroom break we climbed the stairs to the second level to look around. We also perused the gift shop and when we came out, the rain had returned with a vengeance! It was absolutely pouring and people were huddled all along the interior walkways (the vomitoria…as it were…) trying to stick it out until the rain stopped. We joined them and hoped for the best, even though we only had about 15 minutes until we were supposed to meet our tour group at the Arch of Constantine to make our way to the Roman Forum.
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| The Temple of Venus as seen from the Colosseum. |
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| The Arch of Constantine – to the left. |
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| So. Much. Rain. |
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| Hands on the history! |
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| The Colosseum in the rain… |
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| Up to the upper most level… |
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| The flooding Colosseum & a column on the ground… |
We layered our clothes and jackets with ponchos and set out in the rain to meet up with our tour group… only to discover that they’d apparently not waited around a single minute past our appointed meeting time. We trudge on toward the entrance to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill in hopes of catching them – but there was no such luck. Granted, by this time it was absolutely pouring, our umbrellas were almost useless and it had begun to thunder and lightning in earnest. We decided to throw in the towel and walk the short walk back to our AirBnB and wait out the rain… and thank goodness it was only a short walk, because in the 5-7 minutes it took us to walk back, we all ended up completely soaked from the waist down. *sigh*
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| A rain soaked snapshot of some ruins on the wet walk back to the apartment… |
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| The Colosseum in the rain… |
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| The courtyard of our apartment… |
We holed up in the apartment from about 3:00 until the rain finally tapered off around 7:00 and then we headed out to find a taxi to take us to a restaurant that one of Lindsey’s friends had recommended. It was in a back alleyway, up a flight of stairs and was designed to be very “old world Italian” – our cab driver told us that native Italians probably wouldn’t eat there but it was still a good spot.
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| Tiramisu for dessert! |
It was nothing a little dessert couldn’t help and our waiter was kind enough to not charge us for the pizza – although I suppose it was a silly American mistake that we made. Granted, I still remain confused as to why they had a pizza farther down the menu with a completely different name that had sardines as the topping…but the listing for my pizza made no mention of the stinky little fish… Oh well.
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| The stairs into the city… |
Nat Your Average Story 
