Naples, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and crashing a rental car...

Greetings, our journey has taken us further south to see something that I (Bill) have heard about since I was a child: the ruins left behind by the volcanic destruction of Mt. Vesuvius. What was a great loss of life in 79 AD led to the best place to get a first hand glimpse into how the Romans lived 2000 years ago.

Naples was our home base for checking out Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Mt. Vesuvius. Naples is a 1-3 hr train ride Rome depending on how much you want to pay... I'll let you guess what we did.

For some reason the train station in Naples has these giant snails, seems apropos 

Narrow streets in Naples make for interesting parking

Awesome Castle just up the street from our place in Naples

Some pretty fantastic coffee, and I don't even drink coffee!

Anyway, Naples is pretty much perfect for getting around to see the Vesuvius related sites. There are regular and inexpensive trains that get you to all the sites.

First up was Herculaneum, which was a wealthier community that had many large houses and for the most part was able to evacuate. Its the better preserved site because it was covered under so much more ash, around 60 feet! This additional ash curtailed early excavation attempts and allowed for more modern techniques to be used, yielding better preservation of the sites.

One of the straight roads, with sidewalks, for which the Romans are legendary 

Smaller streets, and higher sidewalks than we're used to... pretty much a product of their mode of transport, narrower streets work with the carriages and mules of the day and then you need higher sidewalks to keep the byproducts of the animals contained. While they claim that the streets were washed out daily one can only imagine how disgusting living in a town like that was. This is just one of many reasons I think we are fortunate to live in the age we do!

Kenzi pointing at the charred wood from 2000 years ago.

There is even charred wood in many places, that is wood from 2000 years ago! You have to walk down several long ramps to enter the site which offers a spectacular overview of what the town looked like.

Gratuitous selfie with the excavated town in the background, the new town behind it, and Mt. Vesuvius in the distance. Our apologies to the departed

Well preserved frescoes from 2000 years ago in Herculaneum

And the plaster cast of a child that didn't make it out of Pompeii

We also checked out Pompeii, the more famous and extensively excavated site. The size is impressive, so much area and volume to dig out.

In order to keep your boots out of the muck they have stepping stones to cross the street, but still allow the wagon wheels to pass through

In both of these towns the vast majority of people took heed to the days of rumblings leading up to the eruption and left. Around 2000 of the 20,000 people of Pompeii perished and around 300 skeletons were found in Herculaneum in what amounted to boathouses that were once right next to the ocean.

What is left of the ones who weren't so lucky at Herculaneum

After seeing the destruction we had to go pay homage to that which wrought the destruction: Mt. Vesuvius. This involves a bus ride up a winding mountain road, then a short hike on loose volcanic gravel. Easy going for such a spectacular view.

Vesuvius's crater, looking into the belly of the beast!

Spectacular view from Vesuvius looking out on the Gulf of Naples

After taking in Vesuvius and it's legacy we rented a car and headed further south to the Sorrento Peninsula, a rugged bit of land jutting out to divide the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno. Driving in Italy is a bit legendary to me, in the past when I've rented cars in Europe they usually let you know you can drive anywhere you want... except for Italy... More on that later... but for now, here is a taste of what driving there looks like:

We scored an excellent AirBnB on a farm overlooking the Mediterranean:

And as if that wasn't amazing enough, the nice lady hosting us picked tomatoes and basil from her garden and our dinner the first night was a caprese salad:

Caprese courtesy of our host

She also threw in three lemons and a bottle of limoncello she made from her own lemons. These people are legit!

The goal in heading south was to go on a hike called the Sentiero degli Dei or the Path of the Gods. Its between two very small towns and was at one time was the means of getting between those town by mule. It offers unbelievable views and pretty easy going. We parked at one end and hiked it both ways.

Walking along the path of the gods

Fun pano shot on the path

So a mere 100 feet from our rental return location I manged to nearly kill a motorcyclist. He was well enough to leave and we were both fine. Backed up in traffic, had to make a left... The motorcyclist passed me on the left and hit me just after I started the turn. He said I didn't signal and then later admitted that I did signal, he probably shouldn't have been passing me as fast as he did. Thankfully he wasn't hurt, the car was a bit damaged and he left shortly after it happened. Hertz appears to force you to accept the collision damage insurance in Italy so I'm not liable for much and then credit card insurance should pick up the rest. A substantial reminder to me that I need to be careful when driving abroad.

Crinkled car, intact bodies, that's what insurance is for

Renaissance in Rome

Following about 1000 years of "darkness", art and architecture were revived again in Italy. Thank goodness for that Renaissance! The action took place from ~1300-1600).              

It feels to me (Kenzi) that as a result of that Renaissance, scale is off in Rome. Buildings appear small and close to you, when in fact, they are huge and distant. For example, do you see the small children in this picture?

See the little kids?
Second row up, second window from the right

After I saw them, I realized how huge those windows were, and therefore how huge that building was. This happened repeatedly during our time in Rome.

We visited the Vatican Museums. Goodness gracious, there's a lot there! Highlights: Nero's massive purple marble (porphyry) tub from Egypt, the hall of maps, Raphael's School of Athens painting (my personal favorite), the Laocoon sculpture, and the Sistine Chapel (they don't allow pictures in there, but wow!).

Nero's marble tub from Egypt

Hall of Maps

School of Athens, by Raphael

Laocoon

Just next to the Vatican Museums is St. Peter's Basilica, designed by Michelangelo and others, and is one of the largest churches in the world. It was started in 1506 and took 120 years to build. This building is another example of how things are so large that they appear closer to you than they really are (this was done on purpose by those smarty pants Renaissance folks). St. Peter's tomb is below the alter, and several popes have been interred there. It's a massive building, really impossible to describe.

St. Peter's Basilica alter with Bernini's baldacchino

St. Peter's Basilica dome

Michaelangelo's Pieta, behind bulletproof glass now, 
due to a crazed person who tried to destroy it in 1972

Also, we saw the Pope!! St. Peter's Square is the gigantic plaza in front of the Basilica, where we saw the Pope speak from his window on Sunday. He speaks to everyone from the 2nd window from the right. The first window on the far right is his bedroom. I said to Bill when we walked up that it seemed kind of small and I was hoping they didn't have him crammed into a little closet. Then, when he appeared at the 2nd window and was so tiny, I realized that the scale of buildings here had confused me once again. We didn't understand a word he said, but it was still cool to see and hear him (in spite of the sweltering heat!).

Pope Francis is the tiny speck just above my head

Panorama of St. Peter's Square

We climbed to the top of the dome of the St. Peter's Basilica, where you have great views of the city and can peek down into Vatican City as well. We think we figured out the building where the previous Pope, Benedict, is hanging out post-retirement. Vatican City seems like a very quaint respite in the middle of a bustling city.

Vatican City from the top of the St. Peter's dome

Just a "little" tile mosaic that was repeated probably twenty times around the St. Peter's dome

We've also seen multiple times the massive monument Alter of the Fatherland, aka National Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II, first king of unified Italy, built in 1925. It also honors the 1st World War soldiers. Apparently, the locals think it's obnoxious in its size, color, and placement, which may be true, but it is indeed magnificent.

The Trevi fountain is from the 1700s.  It is really nice to see at night, especially while eating gelato, and most especially after sweating in the heat all day. The Spanish Steps are currently being restored, so we don't have any fabulous pictures of them.

Trevi Fountain

Thanks to the Romans for all the great Roman ruins still around today and all the artists of the Renaissance for beautiful buildings and art. Rome is rad!

Next up on our itinerary: Naples, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast

Recommended reading if you ever go to Rome, or go back to Rome if you've already been there:
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Mangiare!

Our fine friends in San Diego sent us off with cold hard cash and explicit instructions to promise to have a great meal on them and then document the splendor. Well, a promise made is a debt unpaid, and besides, we're not above bribery.

For those that don't know we're a colossal pain in the food department... Do not have us over for dinner! I'm (Bill) vegetarian, self-imposed and, in my opinion, self indulgent and Kenzi is gluten intolerant, which isn't her choice.

She's intolerant, like can't have the stuff or bad things happen, been DNA tested, and I've been a first hand observer of the reactions she has when she gets gluten. Even with all this, she still very apologetically says to wait staff "I'm gluten free" rather than "I'm gluten intolerant". The difference being that the former sounds like a choice and the latter a genuine health issue. Anyway, I digress.

On to the main event.

So, we really wanted to experience Italian food and that meant finding a place that would serve up the staples of the Italian diet with out the usual helping of gluten. This turned out to be easier than we expected; steering clear of gluten has been getting easier and in our experience, Europe is no exception. Kenzi did the research and we found a great place, Voglio di Pizza, which is inherently Italian, in fact what I though was just a plain cheese pizza, the Margherita, is actually a pizza with the colors of the Italian flag, white cheese, green basil, and red sauce. So now you know.

Cute Fridge in our Rome Airbnb

OK, before we get started, I figured I'd add that this is normally where our food comes from. In order to afford a year of traveling we have dined in or packed out every single meal since we arrived in Rome. This works well for us, neither of us are foodies, we can't tell whether or not the sous chef clarified the butter. However, we still like a good meal and appreciate our friends buying us one. I also wanted to show you how cute our fridge was, looking like it's out of the 50s right?

Our normal place of eating

And here is where we normally eat. Pretty nice, balcony right there, kitchen even has a miniature dishwasher.

Finally the dinner out big event: we kicked it off with bruschetta, bread slices with tomatoes, basil and a few other spices on top. Normally not an option for Kenzi but this restaurant takes good care of us, so here it is:

Bruschetta, bread, tomatoes and spices.

Bruschetta bread is usually toasted and piled high with tomato pieces. This makes for awkward eating but we managed, perhaps that managing was made easier by:

Monte Chianti!

The wine was great! They actually put the year on the bottle, and it's not the current year! You know it's got to be good! All kidding aside, it was the house wine and it was great.

Next up, primo or first course, traditionally a pasta and also a recommendation from a friend, Cacio e Pepe:

Near as I can tell this is spaghetti with pepper and cheese, and lots of creamy sauce. Again, this wouldn't normally be an option for Kenzi. Really yummy!

Pizza! With tons of toppings

Secondo, or second course, we went off the reservation a bit and got a pizza, a really stacked pizza, the Capricciosa Pizza, which included green olives, artichokes, mushrooms, and the coup'd gras, an egg! I'd seen the egg in France before, they call it the "royal" and usually they don't break the yolk so you get a bit of a messy yolk but in this case it appears as if they lightly scramble it before baking so it was pretty much cooked egg on top of the pizza and it was really yummy. Traditionally this pizza comes with prosciutto and sausage as well but as I mentioned, I'm a self indulgent vegetarian and so no meat on this pizza. For whatever reason the GF pizza in Italy, even the frozen pizza at the supermarket, is far superior to what we have in the US.

Ok, for now a little wine break. Lets talk about how the Italians ruled the known world 2000 years ago and how their attitude now appears to be that life is too short for dealing with such trivial things like managing the masses, instead they'll concentrate on all the good things in life: love, food, sexy cars, good lifestyle, gelato, and evidently cheese cake:

Finally, cheesecake

The final course of our wonderful dinner, gluten free cheesecake! Fantastic. Not too heavy or sweet, and probably more of a Greek invention than Italian but whatever, we're not in the business of taking sides, just taking the best from wherever and putting it together.

Even with splitting everything we got we were totally full when we rolled home happy and well fed. Thanks Heather, Tyler, Lindsay, Matt, Lisa, Jake, Beth, Justin, Kristi and Wyatt!

And the best news is that we have enough left over to get dine out again. My what great friends we have!

Buon appetito!

Tripping Over Ruins

Seriously, it feels like Rome has ancient ruins on every corner (and because of the cobbled streets, I (Kenzi) have done my share of tripping). What a marvelous place, full of incredibly rich history. For this blog post, we'll stick to Ancient Rome and save the Renaissance for our next post. The Roman Empire lasted about 1000 years, from ~500 BC to ~500 AD. This included about 500 years of growth, 200 years of peak, and 300 years of decline. 

It feels very comfortable here, perhaps because I was here 12 years ago, or maybe because the way to a lady traveler's heart is through her tummy, hello gelato! My favorite flavor so far is Nocciola (hazelnut) and Bill's is Stracciatella (chocolate chip).

Delish gelato, but you have to eat it fast before it melts!

We are still adjusting to the luxury of traveling for such a long period. So far, it has meant that we can afford to chill out in our air conditioned AirBnB during the hottest parts of the day, without feeling guilty about missing things. We've also been able to visit sites multiple times if we want to, and Google questions of interest to get a deeper understanding of the history. For example:

• When was the sack of Rome? There were several, most recently 1527.
• Why is Peter always depicted with keys? Because Jesus told him "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven..."
• What was so special about the Vestal Virgins? They were highly regarded ladies who took a vow of chastity and were responsible for keeping the sacred fire going in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum.

It's a whole new way to travel, and Bill is concerned that after this year, travel will never be the same for us. Ha!

We started our trip with a visit to the Pantheon, an amazing ancient building from 126 AD, that was converted to a Catholic Church in the 7th century. Definitely one of my favorite churches. The oculus at the top keeps it well-lit and the circular shape makes it feel as though everyone in attendance is equal.

Pantheon makes you feel small

The oculus allows for great light inside the Pantheon

Keeping with the theme of circular shaped buildings, we visited the Castel Sant' Angelo, which was originally built as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian around 135 AD, but was later used as a fortress and prison by the popes.

I personally cannot get enough of the Roman sculptures. I'll try not to bore you with tons of pics, but here's a sampling. I get painting, but sculpture is a whole new level. Michelangelo said, "Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it." What?? That sounds impossible! I have such admiration for these sculptors. Don't you just get a feel for what the ancient Romans looked like, or perhaps wanted to look like?

Roman faces from sculptures at the Capitoline Museum

We had a bit of a failed venture to see the Appian Way, the oldest and largest Roman Road. Parts of it still exist. The Romans built excellent roads, and in its day, the Appian way was very smooth. We were told it would be closed to cars on Sunday, so we could walk along it and see some of the ancient Christian tombs along the way. 

This section of the Appian Way had sidewalks, but most of it didn't. It also had walls on either side. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't closed, so we spent some time dodging cars and then decided we should save our lives and probably get some gelato instead. Notably, we didn't die, unlike about 6,000 slaves who were crucified along the road in 71 BC when Spartacus's slave rebellion failed.

**Note: Many old Roman stories end in gore. Which is a perfect segway to the Coliseum...

We toured the Coliseum in the evening. The tickets cost far too much, but touring in the cooler hours was lovely. We were able to see below the floor of the Coliseum, where up to 2000 slaves were hard at work during the games, corralling the exotic animals, and working the elevators to raise them up to the ground floor. The Canadians have built an elevator similar to what was used during the Gladiator games, and it was quite the contraption. It took 8 men to operate and there were up to 100 elevators in use at a time. The Coliseum has a wide and varied history, and most of the reason parts of it are in shambles is that it was picked over for building materials, which weakened it structurally for later earthquakes.

Coliseum at sunset

Inside

Us at the Coliseum

Under the floor

Finally, we've been able to see the Roman Forum several times. Most of the ruins are several meters below today's ground level. The city has just been built up over time. The Roman Forum is where all the action happened. Temples, law courts, shopping squares, victory arches, and there are ruins of it all here. If we weren't already impressed with the Romans' ability to create lasting, huge structures, we were after seeing this.

I still don't fully understand why the Roman Empire fell, but sadly, when it did, this part of the world was plunged into the dark ages. Our next post will focus on stuff we've learned and seen from the Renaissance, when people came out of their dark slumber.

**Special thanks to Google maps for keeping us from getting lost all the time, and to Wikipedia for helping us understand what we're seeing. Seriously, how did people travel before these?

Different Kinds of Adventures

The Judges will soon be hitting the road again! Here’s what we’ve been up to for the last two months.

My trachea resection surgery in Boston on May 3^rd went smoothly. My surgeon removed three rings of cartilage (about one inch of my trachea). Tracheas are stretchy, so it will eventually stretch out to its full length again.

People, hospitals are no joke! My eight day stay at Massachusetts General Hospital was probably the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever done. That could be due to the no talking, no eating or drinking, no showering, very little sleep, being connected to countless monitors, being stuck with needles often (heparin shots hurt like the dickens!), and a very sore neck because my chin was stitched to my chest so that I wouldn’t extend my head back. I also managed to catch a lovely hospital infection complete with fever, aches, nausea, and other gory details. Nonetheless, I survived!

Left Side: Feeling good on pain meds a few hours after surgery

Right Side: Showing off the neck scar a month after surgery

Bill was a fantastic companion, entertaining me with countless games of Hangman since I couldn’t talk. My mom also came to Boston for about five days. It was so nice to have them both there to keep me company and tell me stories to distract me. They also pushed my IV pole around as we walked miles of laps around my floor.

Me and mom in the hospital.

We got back to Murrieta, CA on May 13, and our first month here was incredibly relaxing while recovering from surgery. I slept, listened to podcasts, went for walks, napped, watched TV, read, etc. I was able to whisper for a few weeks, and now have my voice back, although it’s a bit lower than normal. I prefer to think of it as "sultry". Bill kept himself busy by working on his flight instructor ticket so that he can teach people how to fly. It involves studying to pass several tests, creating lesson plans, and going for a check ride with an FAA examiner.

Testing out my new trachea on an overnight backpacking hike. Success!

Things changed from recuperation to family time a couple weeks ago. Here’s the back story: For the past four months, we’ve known that something was amiss with my sister’s pregnancy. My nephew, Blake, had a genetic condition called Trisomy 18. My sister Jadyn and her husband Ryan, knew they probably wouldn’t have much time with Blake, so they took Blake on special adventures and treasured every moment of the pregnancy. Due to some expected complications, Jadyn was induced on June 16, and Blake was born on the morning of June 17. He lived an incredibly precious hour, and I will forever be grateful that I got to be in the room for his birth, his whole life, and his gentle passing. We’ve spent the last two weeks with family, celebrating his life by hosting a memorial celebration party for 75 friends and family, and getting Blake settled at his new home in the local cemetery. It has been two weeks of such high highs and low lows, and I am so pleased that we were able to be present for all of it. An incredible gift.

Ryan, Jadyn, and Blake about two weeks before Blake was born. 

Kenzi and Bill at Blake's grave celebrating the 4th

Now, we’re looking forward to the next step in our year of adventure. We leave for Rome on July 6. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but Bill is ½ Italian. However, he’s never been to Italy. I’m looking forward to introducing him to the Pope and daily gelato deliciousness. Stay tuned as we get back on the road again.