Italy - a side trip from our journey to Mexico

Viva La Italia

Lots has happened since the last time we updated. We went on a cruise with Marion's family to Europe. It was a blast! We started off in Barcelona, Spain, and cruised over to Messina, Sicily.

Playing basketball on the top deck of the ship
overlooking the Messina harbour

Messina is a quiet little town on the island of Sicily (which is at the toe of Italy), and was destroyed almost entirely in 1908 due to a large earthquake and tsunami. We had a ton of fun finding a post office and tram tickets, using our zero knowledge of Italian! But it was here that we learned one of our first words - "francobollo" which means "stamp". Useful, eh?

A calendar on the side of a Cathedral in Messina.

Cheers to Italy and cheap wine ($2.50US for this one!)!!

After a long hunt in Messina for tram tickets, we purchased a bunch, and then never used them. So as we were heading back to the ship, we gave them to this man with the flag. We not only almost gained a cloth map of Sicily, but we felt great cause we managed to stir up a lively conversation among 8 other men selling cloth maps.

Des, the awesome Sicilian man, Marion & Kris

View of Messina from the harbour.


We then headed up the coast to Naples, which was one of our absolute favourite cities. Narrow streets, and very friendly people. Again, the mission to find a post office, along with the search for an internet cafe (note: they're called "internet points" here), helped us further our mastery of the Italian language. You may be wondering why we kept finding post offices. Blame it on Des. Or on his girlfriend, who wanted postcards from every cruise port! :) But we had fun.

In case none of the postcards made it, here's proof he was there!

The streets of Naples.

In Naples, we went on a trip to Pompei, which is the ancient city they discovered where all the people were killed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 97BC. Many of the buildings were almost all intact, and the people they found were frozen in the position they were in when they died. It's really neat to feel what a glamorous and awesome place it must have been, and imagine what life must have been like. Outside, there were tons of lemons, which is what Pompei is also known for! And very good, but sour, lemonades.

In Pompeii, at Apollo's temple (note the dog)

The courtyard of the ~9000 square foot home in Pompeii.

An oven in Pompeii - they even found a piece of petrified bread!

A cast of a Pompeiian.

I think the giant lemons were my Grandma's favourite part of Pompeii!

Our next stop was in Rome, (or Roma, which is what the Italians call it) which we saw in 8 hours. We'd recommend almost a week to see it properly.

Efficiency: Gas stations along the highway.

We basically walked past all the big sites - including the Colosseum, but it was awesome nonetheless. We did take some time to see the Pantheon - there's a hole in the roof that lets the rain come in, with 22 drainage holes on the floor to let the water out. We'd love to be there when it rains!

Kris & Marion in front of the Pantheon.

The "hole" inside the Pantheon.

It was really neat seeing how they've preserved old columns and ruins, and incorporated them into new apartment buildings.

An old Roman building, with "additions" (now an apartment!)

Old Roman columns in downtown Roma.

Beautiful scaffolding is put up while work is being done!

We also went into St. Peter's Basilica, which is the famous Catholic church just outside the Vatican. It was amazing to see Michaelangelo's work.

St. Peter's Square

A bird flying over St. Peter's Basilica.

We never got to go into Vatican City, cause it was a three-hour long line-up. Next time though, we'll try to go in to see Michaelangelo's "Pull-My-Finger" painting on the Sistine Chapel!

Our last stop in Italy was in Florence and Pisa. The leaning tower was worth a brief stop, but you have to book ahead to go up the tower cause they only let a certain number of people enter. Pisa, however, is also home to a prestigious university, with Nobel prize winners and other intelligent folk.

The famous tower.

Florence was a beautiful city. Home to leather goods, apparently. Lots of expensive brands, but I think if you spent enough time there, you'd get pretty good deals. We ate at the "Yellow Bar", where there was fresh pasta, and cheap but very good Chianti wine (which comes from this region of Tuscany). Florence also has a beautiful church in the centre, one of the most marvelous structures I've seen. You'd have to see it to understand.

The awesome church in Florence.

Our final stop on the cruise was in Villefranche, near Nice, in France. A quaint little town, full of rich people, including Tina Turner. Nothing much to do though, except to go to the beach.

It was a fun, fun time, and our little blog about the trip can't do it much justice.

A Toast to Italy - with a "cafe" at the outdoor coffee bars.