After the northern trip, I had a few days to prep for the southern trip. I went running everyday, including one run in which I got sufficiently lost in Trestevere. If I had a dollar for every car/Vespa honk or "Ciao bella" I got, I wouldn't have to worry about things like student loans or traveling. Italian manners are certainly not like American manners. It's socially acceptable to flat out stare at people, say things like "Ciao bella" to total strangers, push people out of the way, and take 9 years in a shopping line just because the person can. Definitely hard to get used to.
The southern trip (and by "southern trip" I really mean beaches) started Wednesday. Our first stop was Pompeii, which I was really geeking out about. For those of you not familiar with Pompeii, it was a pretty advanced town that was wiped out by Mount Vesuvius in a couple hundred years B.C. Because of the ash, the whole town was preserved until it was rediscovered in the 1800's. It is also known for it's incredibly erotic artwork and moral blunders. It was a port town, so there were a lot of bars and prostitution. That actually makes me really sad.
Freaky side note: although this town was very advanced and smart (they had indoor plumbing!), they couldn't take a hint that the mountain was about to blow. So the people didn't have time to escape and suffocated to death in a pile of ash. When the town was rediscovered, the ash solidified and preserved the holes where their bodies were. The archeologist filled these holes with plaster, and now these shapes of people are displayed around Pompeii. It really moved something within me- that sad, desperate, lonely place that only a salvation can fill. Very strange.
So after being moved and getting ridiculously sunburnt (insert sad face here), we headed onto Paestum. Paestum was a town founded by the Greeks in honor of Poseidon and have the oldest temples in the world outside of Greece. There were three: one to Athena, one to Hera, and one to Poseidon. Rambling Romolo's version of Greek mythology is hilarious, but I think he is kind of biased due to his Italian heritage. The temples were cool, but my favorite parts had nothing to do with the temples. First, Paestum had a pool. It was obviously empty, but in the deep end there was a labyrinth as a challenge for all the swimmers. I want a labyrinth in my pool! Second, there was a German Shepherd named Athena that lived on the land and was obviously taken care of. She was really docile and I absolutely could not resist petting her. She ended up following us around all day, but would only listen to me when I called her. Whenever we would sit or stop for a lecture, she would come straight to me. In conclusion: I want a German Shepherd.
Paestum is also right on the ocean. All the beaches were private, the sand was very fine, but the water was really gross. You name it and it washed up onto the beach. We stayed at The Calypso which is owned by Dr. Probart's "friend Roberto". We expected this guy to be tall, dark, and handsome, and I'm not quite sure why. Turns out he was an inch shorter than me (I'm 5'2"), smoked a pack a day, but he was dark. He's very into natural things, so everything in the hotel was real (plastic need not apply) and all the food they served was organic. I was disappointed because a) the food wasn't that great, and b) there were no vegetables!! Ugh. Boo.
Since this entire place was au naturale, there was no wifi. There was, however, one very slow computer and one ethernet cord. So I compromised and used my computer with the ethernet cord and ordered my plane tickets to Berlin and London! I am SO excited about it!! I'm going to Berlin the second weekend of June to stay with Don and Sarah Jones, two of the people that were instrumental in growing me in Christ and as a person. I'm going to London from June 16-22 and I'm staying with Steven's cousin, Lynnea and her family. Can you say blessings?! Perhaps this is the reason I couldn't go to Cinqueterre, Venice, or Florence...
Another side note: in Paestum we went to a pretty classy place for a "wine tasting". Wine tasting=lots of food and lots of wine. Both the white and red wine were very dry, and the red was 15% alcohol, which is more potent than we are used to. I only had one glass and knew that was enough, but my teacher, Dr. Claudia Probart had SEVEN in one hour!! What?! And she had at least two more for dinner. It's amazing she doesn't dry up like a raisin after all that alcohol.
Now I'm sitting in a bed and breakfast in Sorrento (that has wifi- woohoo!). Hopefully I can sleep tonight because it had been eluding me lately. Tomorrow morning, at 6 a.m., I'm off to Capri with Annie. Capri is a tiny little island (4 miles by 2 miles) off the coast of Italy- about a 20 minute boat ride.
Although I love traveling, I also love and miss Rome. Rome, sweet home...
No comments:
Post a Comment