"It is disturbing sight, to encounter these bodies tormented with suffering, anguish and fear, and petrified by suffocation in their appalling postures..." -Marcel Brion*When I was in the 9th grade, I had to take an Earth Science class just like all of the other 9th graders in my school. My teacher was a crazy guy named Mr. Schultz who had a tendency to be very animated when explaining things like earthquakes, tidal waves, tornadoes & volcanoes. One day, when we arrived for class, Mr. Schultz was all dressed up like a Roman soldier. We all laughed because it was weird.Actually, it was pretty fun. I never forgot it. Partly because I have a soft spot for wackiness. And because that was the day I learned about Pompeii. Standing in front of the class in helmet, armor & swordbelt, Mr. Schultz showed us slide after slide of a city forever frozen in time. He explained with excitement how Mount Vesuvius erupted,...
"Rome! By all means, Rome. I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live." - Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday*Rome isn't an enormous city & it's true that the Colosseum & the Forum are probably two of the biggest attractions there. Just by looking at the mobs of tourists in those places, it's easy to believe that there really isn't much else for visitors to see.This, of course, is total bullshit.Since Olivier & I hit these chaotic tourist places on our first day in Rome, we had our second & final day free to explore the city in a bit more detail.We left early in the morning & embarked on a walking tour through the historical center of the city. This started at Largo di Torre Argentina. This archeological site is fenced off, but is inhabited by a large number of stray cats, hanging out & napping on the ruins of the site where Julius Caesar was...
“Every one soon or late comes round by Rome.” -Robert Browning*Our first mission upon arriving in Rome was: find the bed & breakfast. Second: find food. The first was easy enough, though the bed & breakfast wasn't really a bed & breakfast. It had a bed & some snacks, coffee & juice there that were very breakfast-like. To be more accurate, it was a 2-bedroom apartment, right there in the city & with a pretty nice view. Which is okay.As we checked in, the owner informed us that a French couple was staying in the other room & that we'd likely see them during our 3-night stay. Whatever. No big deal.He & Olivier chatted for a moment while I went to the window to check out the view again. Only... I couldn't see a damn thing, aside from an enormous cloud of stinking smoke that had suddenly blocked out the sunlight. I made an announcement about Rome burning because, you...
After spending one week roaming around various corners of Italy, I learned a few things. I learned that eating gnocchi is more enjoyable when you get it from a waiter who greets you with a "buongiorno." I learned that there are pickpockets everywhere & to keep an eye on your shit because they will get you in the métro station, restaurants, tourist attractions, shops, streets & while you're having a shit. Every. Where. (No, I didn't get robbed, it's just that thievery is so bad in some parts of Italy that no one shuts up about it.)I learned that there are no sexy gladiators hanging out at the Colosseum & to stop asking about them. I learned that eating a large chunk of fontina cheese before eating a giant plate of quattro formaggi gnocchi is a bad idea, as is eating snacks of questionable freshness that I find in the glove box. I learned that thanks to learning a bit...
The first problem we had was finding our boat. We found the harbor. We had two tickets to Hydra island, but couldn't find any information on which boat was which and what went where. We found a crusty old sailor who mumbled something at us in Greek and waved us away.We walked a bit farther along the harbor and came across a friendly old guy with white hair, big white eyebrows and skin like rawhide. He offered to help, took a look at our tickets and showed us which boat to take. When he picked up on Olivier's French accent, he switched from English to French."French is better," he said. "It makes more sense, the grammar. Je mange, tu manges, nous mangeons... okay. That's grammar. English has no grammar. The dogs you see here in the streets, even they speak English." We had a laugh and chatted for a few minutes. "The boat will be here soon." He pointed to...
We climbed aboard the bus to Delphi and took a gander at the other passengers. A few elderly couples, a few 40 or 50-somethings. A woman with her nose in a book and one couple with a little boy. All together, there was only about 20 of us in the group."We lucked out," Olivier said. "The bus isn't even half-full and there's only one little kid, who doesn't seem annoying."Me and my husband, we're just not kid people. I watched the little boy, who leaned across the aisle toward his father and said, "Excuse me, Dad, but why are there no buses that fly?"I nodded, satisfied. "Yeah, I think we're good."The door closed. The tour guide introduced herself. It would be a 3-hour trip to Delphi, where we would see the archeological site, then the museum, then lunch.Our guide spent the 3 hours recounting various tales from Greek history; several Greek myths relating to Apollo and to the various sites and...
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