For Magic Treehouse Readers!

This post is mostly for Alyssa ... and anyone else who reads the Magic Treehouse books. There is a book where Jack and Annie go to Venice during Carnival. Ever since Alyssa found out we were going to Italy, she has been excited for us to see the clock tower, the Lion with the wings and the artist. The artist is no longer living and Carnival isn't going on, but we've seen lots of Carnival masks! And we found the clock tower today and the Lion sculpture with wings. Here are some pics just for you Alyssa!!

This one is taken from the Bell Tower of the church.

Here's the Clock Tower with the Lion toward the top!Here is the church with a flag of Venice flying - the flag shows the winged-lion.
And of course, a gondola. We haven't been in one yet, but we plan to tomorrow night. This is just one of many that has passed us as we've walked around Venice and crossed the many canals.

Thanks Jack and Annie for sharing Venice with Alyssa and me! So glad to be able to show her pictures of the places she reads about and help Alyssa learn a little more about the world we live in!

Venice - Sunday

We're enjoying Venice. It was a good day. We really enjoyed talking with our girls on the phone and knowing they could see us on the video cam on the website of our hotel! Here are a few pictures. Today we just went for a walk to see the city. We saw bridges and bell towers and churches. Here are a few pictures.


The Rialto bridge in Venice.

St Marks bell tower in the background!
This is a view from the BellTower at St Marks.

Our luck holds! Construction is again present on a place we wanted to see - this is the famous bridge everyone goes under on gondola rides.

Memory Game!

1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

And if you're just a "lurker" that I don't know very well, please use this as an excuse to comment and say hello! Thanks Heather for sharing the idea! Hope to hear from lots of you!

What a day!!

Today, we left Forte dei Marmi and took the train through Pisa to Florence (Firenze) where we changed trains and headed to Venice (Venezia). When we arrived in Venice we exited the train station and immediately arrived at the Grand Canal. We purchased tickets to board the waterbus. Literally, a ferry type boat for people and luggage that travels the canal dropping people at each stop. We got on one boarding dock and sat for awhile - nobody else was aboard. A little later a man got on, he looked around and got off. Fortunately for us, he was really helpful. He got off and realized that the bus dock we were waiting on had closed for the day but rather than leave us poor, dumb Americans sitting on the dock, he came back and told us where to go instead. We followed him to the correct place and got on a dock just as a waterbus arrived. We all herded onto a bus and off it went. While we were sitting there a very eccentric gentleman and his wife boarded and sat next to us. We discovered that they spoke English and live in New York - but they are Venezians originally. They told us about a festival that was happening tonight with MASS amounts of fireworks and people.

We decided to experience the parties of Venice and joined the throngs of people headed to the other side of the island. We crossed the long bridge (which must sit on floating platforms because it was moving the entire time we crossed) and walked along the street on the other side. It was a PARTY to say the least. Imagine a river with boats lining the shore and many more in the river. People sat lining the shore (which is actually a road about 15 feet wide). In some areas there were tables and chairs with people having gatherings and meals. In other areas, there was music and mass amounts of people sitting on the ground and/or dancing. Totally insane... You have to imagine, literally 150,000+ people at this gathering. I took this picture of the bridge that crosses the river ... notice the mass amounts of people crossing and this was taken at 8pm ... the fireworks were at 11:30 and the bridge looked like this non-stop until at least 10:30 pm and many people didn't even cross the bridge - just watched from this side of the river.

It all ended with 45 minutes of fireworks that was equivalent to at least FIVE Stadium of Fires. Literally, the sky glowed with fireworks. It is like NOTHING I had ever seen before. There were 5 barges in the river with 3 smaller platforms in between each one all launching fireworks. This picture was taken during the finale which had about this many fireworks going off for a solid 10 minutes! Sorry the masts to these ships weree in the way!
Then the exit process. Imagine taking the largest football stadium you've been in, completely packed with people then multiple it by about 3 (if you are imagining BYU stadium, maybe more if you are imagining a smaller stadium). Now imagine them evacuating the entire stadium through ONE portal and sending you into a tunnel that is about a mile long ... wall to wall people for 30 minutes of walking, barely able to move and imagine 90% of them reaking of cigarette smoke and alcohol! : ) An absolutely crazy experience and evening.

We are already loving our time in Venice!

On a side note, we are really missing our girls now. LOVE YOU GIRLS!! Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday night. Alyssa, sorry we didn't get to talk to you today when we called. Hope you had fun at the bday party! Hope you did your best at the swim meet too! We'll post pictures of Venice tomorrow. We didn't get a chance to take many tonight before the throngs of people started to gather and then it got dark.

Turned out well!

Forte dei Marmi actually turned out ok. We have enjoyed our time here. It has been very relaxing although the other guests at our hotel are still what we would consider to be very uptight and stuffy. They are very formal - almost uncomfortably so... ok, so very much so. But we've just had fun around them. We really enjoyed the bikes we rented and got around town a lot that way. We spent Wed afternoon and again today at the beach (the public part where it feels relaxing and like people are having fun). We spent Thursday going to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower (yep, its still leaning!) and then onto Florence to see Michelangelo's David and the Duomo. Its late tonight so I'm not going to post more pictures (we didn't take a ton here). I just wanted to say we're alive and doing very well, feeling much more relaxed after Rome and ready to head to Venice for the last leg of our trip! Hopefully we'll have internet there again and I can post more pictures and notes. If not, I'll post on Wednesday!! Night!!

From Forte dei Marmi (near Pisa) - Edited!!

Monday, we traveled by train from Rome to Pisa and then on to this little town on the beach in the Tuscany region. The town is called Forte dei Marmi. Its a very quaint little beach town. But it has some ODD things about it. We arrived last night and were escorted to our room. The hotel is a very nice hotel, but as we walked around the grounds, we felt like we had checked into a rehab of some kind. People sit on small groups of wicker chairs and play cards or visit and look almost trapped or bored. That was odd. Then, we hit the thing that made us really nervous. We walked to the beach which is 300 meters away. As we arrived, EVERYONE was leaving (it was about 7pm). A storm was blowing in, so we blamed it on that. We continued though. When we arrived on the beach it was LINED, in endless rows and perfectly organized with little changing houses - all the same look, style but they'd be in groups of one color (10-15 of blue, then 10-15 of green, and another 6 blue or red etc). The boardwalks down to the water were like white vinyl - and very nice. Then we noticed the perfect rows of chairs and umbrellas. They were grouped in similar ways. Two lounge chairs, under an umbrella with one "bed" all exactly the same and in rows. Another row might be pavilions with retractable fabric ceilings, with 4 chairs, 2 beds and a small table - again all exactly the same, in perfectly spaced rows. As we walked down the beach, we realized the ENTIRE beach was that way. The lifeguards were moving the rows closest to the water up, cleaning off things (hosing down sandy chairs, stacking and organizing, and even sweeping the boardwalks). My favorite was they were LITERALLY raking their area of the beach front ... between umbrellas/chairs they raked it all semi-smooth (not getting rid of all footprints but any holes, or high traffic areas). As we left the beach, I stepped under a shower head to rinse my feet and got told I couldn't use it! We found out the beach is all private. Each section is owned and maintained by a company who rents these pavilions/umbrellas etc. And get this 45-50 Euro for just two chairs, one bed and an umbrella. If you don't know what that equates to, imagine spending $90 for a SPOT on the beach! Its crazy. And when the day is over, the beach closes, just like store. Steve calls it OC beach - obsessive compulsive! Honestly, you can't even IMAGINE how bizarre it is. We walked on it today and were amazed at the mass amounts who actually do this ... but I guess you do what you know.

So, after we experience this OC beach, we head to dinner at our hotel. We have "part board" which means we get breakfast and either lunch or dinner. So last night we chose dinner. We go into the dining room and everyone is dressed to the 9's. Not formal, but very dressy and ritzy. Me, jean shorts and a t-shirt with flip flops, Steve, khaki shorts and an Aeropastle t-shirt with his sandals. Feeling a little out of place at this point. We felt like we had truly been sent to another time or planet. It reminded me of being assimiliated into the borg. Steve compared it to the people in the movie Wall-E ... just oblivious to what the rest of the world is like. Its a very upscale area evidently with lots f RICH people coming here who live the RICH, PAMPERED lifestyle. The few teenagers here look bored beyond belief - like they live life that bored though. The younger kids are often with nannys.

It was so disturbing we honestly looked into canceling the rest of our time here and flying over to Barcelona for a few days so we could enjoy the beach. But our hotel doesn't allow cancellations or changes to your trip within 20 days of your travel without charging your full price. Steve wanted to cry and it literally made him sick to his stomach that we were stuck here. He couldn't even sleep. This is supposed to be our nice relaxing part of the trip and he was feeling like we were trapped in some stuffy, miserable place.

Today, is going much better. We ate lunch in the dining room and it was much more casual. We also found the public beach, a stretch of beach about 200 yards long compared to about 10 miles of private beaches. The beach front isn't as nice either - very steep compared to a gradual slope in the private beaches. We plan to buy some cheap towels and head to the public beach to relax on Wed. We just can't pay $80-90 to hang out on the beach!! Can you imagine Santa Monica or Wilmington going PRIVATE? There would be a serious uproar. Go figure.

We also rented bikes for our stay and rode all over town. They have normal life outside our hotel, so we're staying. : ) We didn't have the cameras with us last night or today while we were out so I don't have any pictures yet, but we'll definitely take some before we leave so check back. Headed out now for dinner in town at one of the restaurants in their shopping district. It should be nice!

Added Note:
We went back to the private beach to take pictures (as you see above). We also took this one of me ... sitting on their "private" chairs. I even laid on one of the beds and OH NO, walked in part of their raked sand leaving 2 footprints!! : )

More from Rome!!

Yet another day of lots of walking, hot, humid weather and a little rain today!

Sunday - Paletino hill - the hill of all the palaces of the old emperors, Circo Massimo (chariot race stadium - think Ben Hur), and a great view of the city from up on the hill above the Forum. We also saw the Pantheon although it was closed for mass so we didn't get to go in.

Tomorrow (Monday) we leave for a small town near Pisa.

Steve in front of St Peter's Basilica. The window in the center of the columns is the balcony the Pope comes out on to give his speeches to the people at St Marks Square.

Swiss Guards outside St Peter's. This is the only place we saw them - guarding a tunnel for cars into the Vatican City. The one was fairly formal, the one in the middle of the road was more casual, even letting a small boy come near him for a picture. He would NOT let a teenager come into the fenced area though.

This is Steve at Castel Sant' Angelo - the castle. This is where the hassassin in Angels and Demons "lives". Its now being used for concerts and other things - reviving it!

Steve shows you the little Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. : ) Ok, so not so little. HUGE in fact. If you look really closely you can see the ants that are actually people walking on the balcony below the horse statue. It was massive. It has the tomb on one of the lower levels and the rest is a history museum.

This is on Friday, our ancient Rome day. This is one of the first pictures we took while on our Roman Forum tour. COOL STUFF!! Definitetly our favorite day so far. We had a small tour group - 7 of us plus the guide and it was very informative. Steve really ate it all up. The guide called him Steven Speilberg because he filmed everything on our digital video camera - and repeated most of what she taught us. : ) Anyone want to see Rome, Steve has it all so come on over after we get home.



The ancient Rome tour continues to the Coliseum. Here is Steve outside the Coliseum.



Here we are inside the Coliseum. It was really cool. Did you know there used to be a breed of small elephants? Among other animals, that is one that is now extinct because of the way they were imported and killed in the Coliseum. Hundreds of animals and gladiators died here for sport. Crazy. But it is an AMAZING place. So huge and so organized.

This is me with Naples behind me. We didn't really do much in Naples, just drove through, heard some things about it and got to stop for these photo shots. Beautiful view!

This is Steve and I in ancient Pompei. It was destroyed by earthquake in 62 AD and then in 79 AD Mt Vesuvius erupted and buried the city in ashes, soot and small lava rocks. The sulfur in the air killed 1/3 of the population, the rest fled in time. Behind the trees we are in front of is Mt Vesuvius. It loomed over 6000 ft in the air prior to 79 and now is only about 3800 ft.

Here is Mt Vesuvius in the background of the vineyards that now grow where they once did in the ancient city of Pompei. You can also see some of the ruins at the end of the vineyard. They know vineyards grew in these places because of the hollow places the roots from the vines left in the rock when it hardened around them and they disintegrated over time. They can even tell what kinds of trees there were and replanted them in similar spots (they use plaster of paris to cast the actual locations and items - pretty cool). Many of the people who did not flee locked themselves inside their basements or homes and were found there covering their mouths or huddled up in a ball. The sulfur takes about 15 minutes to kill a person. The town was in the process of being rebuilt after the earthquake so many buildings were not complete, but we saw cool frescas and lots of structures. The ampitheaters were also very impressive. Pompei was a very rich city - it had about 18,000 inhabitants but its ampitheater could seat 20,000 - they were planning ahead.

Again, Steve has it all on video, so if you want to see more, keep watching our blog and then come over for a video session after we get back! I think he has about 3 hours of video so far! : )

More pics coming soon!

Hello from Rome!

Yep, I'm in Rome, Italy! Steve and I are here and loving it. Its really amazing. Very hot though! I'll try to catch up another day or after I get home, but for now here are a few pictures and a brief overview!
Tuesday - we flew ALL DAY!
Wednesday - Rome time, we arrived about 11am, checked in and hit the town! We saw a the Spanish Steps, a few piazas, churches, fountains and even one of the churches from Angels and Demons.
Thursday - Angels and Demons day! We sought out all the churches from Dan Brown's book Angels and Demonds including a trip to The Vatican! We went to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica and the Square.

Friday - slept in! Oops. I had a nasty headache and was just finally getting over my jet lag so we had a slow beginning, but so far my favorite day. We went to see some more churches and fountains (there are a lot of them here with amazing artwork inside!) and then to ancient Rome sites. We saw the Roman Forum and the Coliseum as part of a tour! AWESOME!!

Saturday - today - we spent the day seeing some sites in Naples and then Pompei. Really cool too!

Me, in front of Trevi Fountain. COOL FOUNTAIN! And people just hang out here. There are tons of them here all day. This is the fountain that if you throw a coin in is supposed to guarantee you come back again one day. Here's, hoping!!

This is Steve filling a water bottle out of a fountain - yes, its drinkable when it is coming out. it is the same water that they use in their houses. Its very cold too. This is at teh bottom of the Spanish Steps.

Ok, so this is a fun way to get water too! This is outside the Church of Santa Maria (forgot the rest of the name ) - "earth" in Angels and Demons. : ) Right below one of the many Egyptian obelisks in Rome.

This is Steve in the Vatican City - just before we went into the museums. He really was happier than this picture looks.

Just to prove we are on the trip together! : ) Self-portrait on the steps in the Vatican Museum!

More to come another day!! Keep watching!