Now We Are Free...

Two nights ago and yesterday my friend Pepe visited me (he began my European trip with me and is currently studying abroad in Florence). I spent the whole night that he arrived talking with him about our experiences so far and walking around and showing him almost all of the amazing sights of Rome. We walked from my apartment (which is in the heart of downtown), to the Victor Emanuel monument, then to the Capitoline hill which Campidoglio rests on and behind which is an amazing view of the Roman forum, then the Imperial Fori including Trajan's column and Market, followed by the Colosseum and seeing the Circus Maximus and the Trevi Fountain on our way back. He was awestruck when he first laid his eyes on the Forum (as I was when I first saw it) so I made sure to record his face and reaction during that moment =). Seeing the Forum for the first time literally leaves you speechless... especially if you have any sort of sense and admiration for the history that took place there and the beauty it still holds. It was a long and enjoyable night of sightseeing with good conversation, and by talking to him I realized how much we have changed even from each other just by living in two different Italian cities. I hadn't realized it until then, but I was confident to cross busy streets with cars zooming by as all the locals do, and Pepe was still used to the small and calm town of Florence so was much more timid to cross the street. Also, when I was walking on a sidewalk he was walking on the street until I pointed it out to him because even though he had plenty of room to walk on the sidewalk he was used to the small sidewalks of Florence. Italian cities can be extremely different from each other even if there are only an hour away from each other, whereas most American towns tend to be the same. For instance, I could go to the Greek island of Capri, the Rennaisance town of Florence, the bustling and historic city of Rome, or the Medeival town of Seina and have completely different experiences in each town. I've been learning about Seina and its Contrada in my Italian culture class... the Contrada are basically small communities that you are born into that are extremely prideful and competitive amognst each other; the climax of which is the Palio, a horse race between all the differenct Contradas of Seina. I will talk more about the Contrada and Palio after I visit Seina in a few weeks and experience some Contada culture for myself. But going back to how different Pepe and I were just from the month we've spent apart in two Italian cities within 3 hours from each other... I have obviously changed in some American ways as well. From what I've noticed, I am eating in smaller portions, I'm eating much slower and actually am enoying my food to the point where I am often the last one to finish amongst my friends. I was at a restaurant with Pepe last night and noticed an obsese man reaching across the table and eating from the plate of his girlfriend. The couple appeared to be Italian or possibly Spanish but none the less it surprisingly disgusted me even though I remember seeing this before in America and it never had the same effect on me. Also, I see some young Italians trying to be "cool" by wearing baggy N.Y. labeled clothes like some American rappers, and I can't help but think of how silly they look to be wearing clothes that don't fit them. I am much less impatient and am able to enjoy myself even if I am waiting in line for long periods of time. I have become so accustomed to eating pasta, pizza and gelato, and drinking from the abundant Roman fountains that I start to have major cravings when I go without it for a while. And although I always appreciate the beauty of the architecture and sculpture around me I am no longer shocked by its magnificence but have started to expect it. Speaking of which, I went inside the Vatican and climbed to the top of St. Peter's dome (the biggest Christian church in the world) and greatly appreciated the sights but wasn't taken aback by it. Although part of the reason why I wasn't impressed by it was because the marble that was used to make the church was stripped from the Ancient Roman palaces on the Palatine hill (where my heart truly lies). Haha.
But anyways, after sightseeing we woke up the next morning to take a tour of the Roman Colosseum, Palatine hill and Forum. Wow... needless to say this was one of my best days of my life. It was the first time either of us had been inside any of these places so it was an awesome moment for both of us, and I enoyed every second of it. I made a point to listen to all the information that the tour guide was telling me because I'm sure I will come back to these areas many times before I leave. So let me drop some knowledge on you guys... The Colosseum was not actually called the Colosseum but the Flavian Amphitheatre, named after the dynasty of the 2 emperors reigns under which the Colosseum was built. When it was first built there were games for 100 straight days and ove tens of thousands of foreign animals were imported from Africa to be slain. Not only would the Romans import African animals but also seeds of plants and trees so they could grow and place these plants in the Colosseum during the animal fights to create a realistic scenery/backdrop. The vast majority of gladiators were slaves, especially Jews when the Roman Empire conquered the Middle East. Slaves would often earn money from fighting as a gladiator and if they won enough times they could eventually purchase their freedom. Unlike it is portayed in the movie Gladiator, there was no thumbs up or down, but rather a closed fist for "live" and an open hand with fingers pointing the ground for "kill." Also, there were referees next to the gladiators monitoring the fight and when first blood was drawn the referee would stop the fight until it was determined whether or not the gladiator could continue to fight, and if he couldn't then the audience and ultimately the Emperor would decide the gladiators fate. Realistically though, it is unlikely that the Emperor could estimate the number of "kills" and "lives" shown by the audience's hands so he would have likely made his decision from the sound of the crowd. There are 4 special entrances/exits that normal citizens couldn't use, including the entrance where the gladiators would enter the amphitheatre, th entrance of the senators, the entrance of the Emperor, and the exit of death where gladiators were carried through after dying. The Emperor had his own special balcony close the the ground floor and had a net placed in front of it in case any wild animals tried to jump up and attack him. The Roman fans had wooden or terracotta tickets with their section number on it and the Roman numerals of each of the 76 sections are still carved above its corresponding arch on the outer layer/ring of the Colosseum. Men would sit on the lower sections closest to the fights with teh Emperor of senators having their own separate and specials places to sit, while slaves and women were forced to sit at the top of the Colosseum where there wasn't marble seats but rather wood scaffolding. Speaking of which, when looking at the Colosseum's walls you can see some large and small holes. The large damaged-looking holes on the white travertine stone (such as that found on the entire exterior facade of the colosseum) are from large metal "staples" that were used to hold the blocks in place, the large square holes in the brick were constructed on purpose in order to hold the wooden scaffolding during contstruction, and the small damaged-looking holes are from torn out brackets that once held up the marble slabs that covered the brick and all of its holes. In fact, the Romans were the first to use veneers (or surface covers) on their buildings. They wanted to copy the wonderous marble architecture of the Greeks, but did it in a much cheaper, faster, and grander scale than the Greeks by constructing their buildings out of brick and then covering them with a marble veneer.
After the Colosseum we took another tour (with a different guide) of the Palatine hill. This was a perfect opportunity to see how the Romans constructed their buildings because the marble had been completely stripped from the Emperors' palaces in order to construct St. Peter's, leaving only the brick with its holes showing. This tour was especially delightful for me because the girl was extremely knowledgeable and personable, and she was talking about one of my greatest passions, the founding of Rome and its history on the Palatine. It was apparent to her that I already knew a lot about the Roman Empire from answering most of the questions she was asking our group so we started talking about how she got her job and I mentioned that I could see myself doing the same thing. Being a tour guide of any Ancient Roman site would be a dream temporary-job for me... Although if I were to really ever pursue that path I would probably be an archaeologist since it is much more professional, academic and established. If I could make up and have any job in the world it would be to learn about the history and uncover and discover the ruins of Ancient Rome (or any other ancient civilazation for that matter), then create new cities in the Ancient Roman/classical style, with some buildings the height of skyscrapers, in an environmentally-sustainable way. A sort of Roman-Indiana Jones-Green Architect... I can dream on... =).
I saw the HUGE ruins of the Flavian palace that took up over a square mile in surface area and was almost completely indoors and covered with marble. From what they uncovered of it so far it was 6 floors high with most of the floors underground. It had its own circus (horse racing arena and gym) attached to it, and it was completely covered in expensive marble. Most Roman buildings were made from the local white or gray marble or the travertine stone (gathered from the stone quarry which I passed on my way to Tivoli... and it's still in use today)! Marbles with much more vibrant colors were therefore much more sought after and expensive. The most rare and expensive marble is of a deep purple color, and it was located only in a small part of Egypt. However, if you want to find that kind of marble now your best bet is Rome because the quarries are now empty and the Roman Empire imported the vast majority of the marble when they ruled over Egypt. The largest solid piece of that kind of marble is a couple of square meters and it was once part of Emperor Nero's bathtub... it is worth approximately $250 million euros (no lie!) and is now housed in the Vatican museum.
I also saw the House of August (where he and his wife Livia lived... although only a small portion of it is remaining) which contains the oldest known frescoes in the world and the site became open to the general public only a few months ago. (I couldn't stop taking pictures and video of this place... if you have any knowledge of Augustus you know that he basically created the greatness of Rome (although Julius Caesar paved a helpful beginning path) so I wanted to document every square inch of the ancient palace in which he lived). And the Palatine hill provides the best view of the Forum, so I spent a significant amount of time taking in the view there. A funny fact is that the Temple of Vestal Virgins and their bathing pools were located right beneath the edge of the Palatine hill, and there's a viewing platform right on the edge of the hill so the Emperors could easily watch the sacred women while they bathed.
We finished off the day with a tour of the forum from a guide who is basically a walking encyplodia on the Roman Empire. There is a massive amount of sights to see and learn about in the Forum so we barely scratched the surface, but some things I learned and re-learned are that Caesar was deified by the Roman people after he died and a temple to him was built in the middle of the Roman Forum (imagine if we had a temple to George Washington or George Bush). In fact it eventually became common practice for every Emperor to be deified after death, even though almost everyone in Rome (even including the Emperor himself) didn't belief that it was actually true. One of the Emperors (Vespasian I believe) was known for his sense of humor and jokingly said the following last words on his deathbed: "Be still, for I am about to become a God!". There is simply too much to else to write about the Forum that I will have to cover it in another blog later.
After the long day of tours Pepe and I had a nice 2-course dinner for a reasonable price at a restaurant which looked like it used to be a wine cellar, located by the Trevi Fountain. I had spaghetti for Primi and chicken with potatoes for Secondi, washed down with a carafe of some house/table wine. It was a scrumptious ending to an amazing day... one that will likely stay in my memories for the rest of my life. =)

Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Column, and the Victorio Emannuel Monument

The Arch of Constantine on my left, with the Via Sacra (Sacred Road) passing under the Arch of Titus on my right.

Il Colosseo (formerly the Flavian Amphitheatre). The platform is what the ground level upon which the gladiators fought once looked like. Below is where the gladiators waited and ate meals before their fights, weapons were sharpened, and animals were stored in cages and lifted up through shafts... all invisible to the public eye). The main entrance ahead is where the emperor entered, above which was where his viewing platform used to be. The marble seats remaining tot he left of the entrance is where senators would sit.

Me giving the "kill" hand gesture (thumb and fingers spread out and pointing down).

Il Foro Romana (Roman Forum) with the Arch of Titus and Colosseo on my right and Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine on my left.

What it looks like without myself in the way. These views are taken from the Palatine hill.

Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine on the right with the Temple of Romulus (an emperor's son, not the famous found of Rome) onthe left. Its bronze doors are still functional with the original key, all 2000 years old!

Ruins of the Temple of Vestal Virgins on the bottom left. It was circular and open roofed, and the 3 Vestal Virgins had to keep the fire in the center lit 24/7, otherwise they would be punished to death!

Temple of Vestal Virgins in bottom center, with temple of Divine Caesar just above it and between the large group of people (the monument that Augustus built for Caesar when he was deified, located in the spot where he was cremated), above which (the tall brick building) is the Curia (senate house) where the senators would meet.

Temple of Vestal Virgins in the center with their living quarters below. They would bath in the pool of water (obviously the emperor at the time would have a nice view of it as well). The statues surrounding the pool area were of the famous/best Vestal Virgins that preceded them.

Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine. (That's small thing at the bottom of the picture isn't a bug on your screen... but me! The basilica is HUGE! In fact this is only about 2/3 of its original height. You can see the beginnings of the main/central vault at the top of the picture).

Domus of Augustus (the first Emperor of Rome)! It's located at the top of the Palatine hill and was recently opened up to vistors a few years ago.

Some of the oldest frescoes in the world... located in the Domus of Augustus.

Villa d'Este and Capitoline Museum

This Tuesday I had no class so I decided to take a half-day trip to the hill-side town of Tivoli to the East of Rome, about an hour away by bus. I came to see the famous Villa D'Este and its amazing fountains which I learned about in my architectural history class. It had some of the most amazing fountains I have ever seen as far as scuptural decorations go (although the Trevi Fountain in Rome is magnificent as well). My favourite was the fountain of 100 heads which was a line of 100 sculpted animal heads with water flowing out of their mouths... all about 130 meters long and spanning most of the width of the garden. I was also really impressed with the 2 other fountains on opposite ends of the 100 headed fountain. One was the fountain of Rome with a statue of a God laying on his side (perhaps Apollo), and the symbol of Rome (Romulus and Remus suckling a she-wolf). I'm not sure what the other was but I especially liked the arcaded passageay running underneath it, the large marble statue, and the marble tables and benches located in the area. I definitely have a taste for marble statues, and I am starting to learn much about them in my art and archaeology classes.
For my archaeology class today, my class visited the Capitoline Museum (located on the Capitoline Hill in Campidoglio). This is by far my favourite class... I basically get to walk around a museum or archaeology site for 3 hours while my teacher (an archaeologist) explains the who-what-when-where-why-how of every important piece in the museum. Since I am obsessed with Ancient Rome I wrote all the important aspects down, so I'll share some of what I learned...

First some basic history. Rome was founded around 753 B.C. The famous myth goes as follows: Romulus and Remus (twin descendents of Aneas from Troy) were put into a basket and cast into a river (just like Moses from the Bible) by a rival in fear that they would grow to challenge his rule. They were found by a she-wolf who nurtured them until they were discovered by a shephard who raised them. They took revenge on their rival and started to build the walls of their new cities. However a feud broke out between the two so Romulus ended up killing Remus, hence why the city was named Rome. The twins suckling the she-wolf is the symbol of Rome, and I see it almost everywhere I go in the city (on garbage cans, etc.). However, this didn't become the symbol of Rome until around the 15th century. Before the Romans, Villanovans (early Etruscans) and Etruscans lived on the Palatine Hill where Rome was to later be founded. The symbol of the Etruscans was the wolf, and the Etruscans were forced to assimilate once the Romans conquered them. The Etruscans made a bronze statue of a she-wolf which was preserved, and in the 15th century the twins were cast and added to the statue and shown suckling on the wolf's teets, hence-forth becoming the symbol of Rome.
Some more history. When Rome was first founded it was ruled by kings, until the people revolted against an unpopular king (Tarquin) and formed a Republic in 509 BC. During the Republican period Rome was ruled by two consuls who performed the original duties of the king, and were responsible to the people via the senate. Julius Caesar killed his rival consul (Pompey) and was therefore assasinated, but his nephew and adopted son Octavian (Augustus) killed his main rival Mark Antony and all the senators who were involved in Caesars assassination, leaving him with virtually no enemies and an empire all to control for himself. The Empire officially began in 27 BC when Augusts was given the titled "the revered one" and several important honors by the senate. The Empire fluorished until around the 3rd century AD when Constantine changed the official language of the Empire from Paganism to Christianity and moved the headquarters to Constantinople (present day Instanbul).
I saw mainly marble statues in the Capitolie Museum, and learned how the Roman emperors would use statues (and other pieces of art) as propaganda to meet their political desires. Julius Caesar in particular was a master at propaganda and all the succeeding emperors emulated his techniques. Togas were originally worn by Greeks and the Roman Emperors wore togas over their armor to depict philosophy (or wisdom) with military strength. Statues of emperors often depicted them in imposing stances displaying confidence. When the Romans conquered a people they would often erect statues honoring the bravery of their opponents to help them assimilate. And after major victories emperors would erect tiumphal arches or columns with reliefs depicting the story of the battle, so the citizens would constantly be aware of and appreciate the emperor's achievements. The most obvious way to tell the difference between a Roman statue and Greek statue is that Roman statues often have tree trunks shown by the legs of a statue for either support or just the fact that the Romans wanted to show a difference between their work and the Greek's. I also learned today that Doric columns represent male, Ionic female, and Corinthian nature. Laws were written/carved on stone tablets and placed outide the Curia (senate house) for all the public to see. I also saw the statue of Mars which was placed in the Temple of Mars the Avenger in the Forum of Augusts (commissioned under Augustus). Augustus did this to depict himself as the avenger for killing all the senators who were involved with Caesar's assassination. Augustus (and all the later Roman emperors) took the name of Pontifex Maximus (or High Priest) which was the highest religious position in Rome. When ultimate power was eventually transferred over to the popes, they took on the title and have kept it to this day. On one of Augustus' statues he is shown with longer hair than a normal Roman soldier to show likeness to the greatness of Alexander the great (who was also young with long hair). And Marcus Aurelius was known as the peace-keeper so he is often shown with a peaceful hand gesture (middle and ring fingers bent inward with thumb curled. As you can see virtually every roman piece of art had a purpose (usually to serve as propaganda for politcial needs). I learned a lot more about how to tell the differences between differenct sculptures, although this was the most interesting information. I will write more later. Ciao!

VILLA D'ESTE

View from central rear loggia of the Villa d'Este

Fontana della Rometta (Fountain of the Little Rome) with the city of Tivoli in distance.

More of the Fontana della Rometta.

Le Cento Fontane (The 100 fountains)

Fontana dell'Ovato (The Oval Fountain)

Stone bench and table near the Fontana dell'Ovato


Fontana dell'Organo (The Water Organ Fountain, from which music is played every few hours)

Beautiful vine-covered mosaic walkway.

CAPITOLINE MUSEUM

Colossal Statue of Constantine. Emperor Constantine is known for popularizing and legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. This man is essentially the reason why Christianity is a major religion today. His eyes are unrealistic, marking the departure from realistic towards representative/symbolic art of the Christian era. His left hand is pointing upwards towards God, symbolizing his Christian faith. Most of the statue (the non-naked parts) was made of bronze, and only his head and limbs were made of marble.

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. This is the oldest bronze equestrian statue of a Roman emperor surviving, due to the fact that it was originally mistaken to be a statue of Constantine, and the Catholic Church wanted to melt down non-Christian bronze statues. It was originally placed outside of the museum in the Campidoglio square, but it was placed in here to protect it from pollution and humidity, and a copy is now placed outside where it originally stood.

Statue of Emperor Commodus (The evil emperor in the movie "Gladiator," and the son of Marcus Aurelius). In real life he was a bit crazy because wanted to be like Hercules and emulated him by wearing a lion's hide, carrying a club and carrying a few apples (to signify the 3 feats of Hercules). The bearded and long-haired started with emperor Hadrian who loved everything Greek and wanted to copy the look of Greek Philosophers to set himsel apart from previous emperors and be known as the "philosopher."

Drawing of what the Capitoline Hill looked like during the period of the Etruscan kings. The large temple is the Temple of Jupiter. The remains of parts of its foundation can be seen inside the Capitoline Museum.

Remains of a young Etruscan girl found on the Capitoline hill. Etruscans would bury their young in large ceramic pots with smaller ceramic pots with food inside for them to have during the afterlife. This grave dates from around the Bronze Age.

Il Spinaro (statue of a boy pulling a splinter out of his foot).

La Lupa (The She-Wolf). The she-wolf itself dates from Etruscan times. The twins (Romulus and Remus) were added during the Renaissance (around 1500), during which this statue became the new symbol of Rome. This symbol as well as S.P.Q.R. can be found branded all over Rome on trash cans, sewer gratings, etc.

Statue of the Dying Gaul. This statue depicts a Gaul defeated after battle and contemplating suicide. The Roman emperor who commissioned it used it for political purposes to show the emperor's power for defeating the Gauls but also to give them honor at the same time for their bravery, thus helping the Gauls to assimilate into the Roman Empire. It is a Roman copy of a Greek statue depicting a dying Celt.

Marte (Mars, the Roman god of war)

Hermes

Marcus Aurelius

Venere Capitoline (Venus of the Capitoline). This statues is important due to the fact that it was the first Roman statue that displayed female nudity. Before it was made, it was never considered proper in Roman art for women to be shown naked. One reason why the artist got away with it is because the godess, Venus, is shown at the instant when she comes out of the bath and is surprised so is trying to cover herself up. It is a Roman copy of a Greek original which no longer exists.

Statue of Mars (the Roman god of war). The god from which the Marrs family descends. =)

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, located in the center of Campidoglio. This is the copy. The original (shown a few pictures above) is located inside the Capitoline Museum.

When in Rome...

I have been in Rome for 3 weeks so far and am absolutely loving it. Last night I got back from my Pompeii/Capri excursion and had the time of my life. Rome and Italy are absolutely beautiful. I am truly lucky to be living only a 20 minute walk away from the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Everywhere I walk in Rome I come across 2000 year old treasures. I am taking an Italian language course, Italian culture course, Renaissance and Baroque art course, and Roman archaeology where my class meets on site at many different ruins! Everything that I eat here tastes amazingly good for some reason... even the plain pasta that I make myself... it must be the quality of the ingredients. Pizzerias and gelaterias are on almost every street and every block, and man are they delicious! It would be hard to stay thin in Rome if it weren't for the smaller portions and all the walking that I'm doing. I've noticed that Nutella (a chocolate spread) is very common in Italy and France (they have Nutella flavored gelato and it is the most popular spread on crepes). Some of my highlights so far in Rome: My first night in Rome I was walking home and discovered the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain on accident (the fountain is only a 3 min. walk from my apartment), I saw a caravan of police and limos near the Victorio Emannuel monument one night and later realized that it was Dick Cheney, I've bought some nice pointy Italian shoes and am starting to dress more Italian, I have spent a whole day walking around the Circus Maximus and Palatine Hill area (although I have yeat to go inside the Forum), I got a haircut for only 6 euro from an Italian barber who didn't speak a word of english and he trimmed my hair with one of those old-fashioned razor blades, and last night was the Roman celebration of the "white night" and the streets were crowded with people wearing white. I have found living in small spaces quite comfortable, do many small loads of laundry in my small washing machine, hang up my laundry to dry, cook using a gas stove which I light with a handheld lighter, take time in restaurants to enjoy my meals and no longer feel rushed to eat quickly or get my bill, and am living in an unplugged world where I don't watch tv or listen to music and have a very limited internet access. I've gone into bathrooms where the flush for the toilet and/or sink is on the ground (so you can just step on it instead of getting your hands dirty... although automatic is a nice solution in the States too). I eat many carbs all day (it's hard to avoid when the main italian diet is pizza and past). Italians have pastries for breakfast with a small shot of espresso at the table/bar while standing up. Italian women are beautiful... mainly because of their skin complexion and they know how to dress. I haven't seen much of the ass-grabbing from Italian men but they are very agressive with talking to and hitting on women, and I have seen them try to kiss women. Italians on the subway and on the go don't give you eye contact but when meeting them in groups when going out at night is fine and pleasant. Romans are very proud of the beauty of their city and I find no problem complimenting them on how lucky they are to live in Rome. The driving in Rome doesn't seem that crazy to me (I don't see them breaking traffic laws like they do in Mexico). As long as I look both ways I do fine, and cars are often polite and happily stop for me to cross. I find the many fountains located around the city to be very convenient. I am getting to know my way around more and more each day. I am trying to meet more locals and hope to make some Italian friends soon so I can hang out with them and experience their culture to a higher degree. My main goals right now are to experience Italian culture more by meeting and mixing with locals and becoming their freinds, and to absorb and document as much of the ancient Roman sites as possible.

Pompeii and Capri (my Heaven on Earth)!

I just had what was probably the most amazing weekend of my life! We just had our first group excursion, which was to Pompeii and the Island of Capri! Almost everyone in my CEA group (about 30 of us) loaded up on a bus Friday morning and headed to Pompeii (which is just south of Naples). As I said before, the hillsides of Italy are very reminiscent of California's golden hills, except it was especially nice on this trip because I passed by several ruins of houses and farms that could have even dated back to ancient Roman times. When we reached Naples I was excited because I got my first glimpse of Mt. Vesuvius (it covered Pompeii with ash for 15 straight days and is the only active volcano left in Europe). Our bus stopped right outside the entrance to the archaeological site of Pompeii, so we ate pizza at a nearby restaurant and waited for our appointment with a tour guide. Man oh man, was I in Heaven on this tour... If there's anything I could do for the rest of my life it's walking through the ruins of an ancient Roman city! I spent so much time taking pictures that I often fell behind the tour group and didn't catch most of what our tour guide was saying... it didn't matter much though because I already knew a lot of it =). My first sight of Pompeii was the outside wall of the city which was where our tour began. Inside I first saw a forum with a cloister of columns still having traces of their Pompeiian red paint (as the lower half of practically all of them were once painted 2000 years ago)! Then we saw a Greek-stlye theatre (using the terrain of a hill), and a smaller Roman-style theatre (using only arches for support instead of a hill). The Greek style theatres like the one I saw have wonderful acoustics, and the Roman theatre still had amazing marble flooring intact. There were large stepping stones to get across the stone roads without getting your feet dirty, between which deep grooves were carved from the wheels of carts passing by. Streets were lined with shops and marble street signs were placed in the exterior walls of buildings, just like European cities today. I saw the domus (house) of an ancient Roman politician, and I could still see his name graffitied on the facade so everyone could know where he lived, and a stone bench was still located outside his door where people would wait every morning to be assigned jobs. Inside in the entrance hall there was an opening in the ceiling above a collection pond in the floor so water could be easily accessed. There were numerous frescoes on the walls and mosaic floors, an open-roof garden in the back, and a small dining room (Romans would lay on their sides while eating, no sit in a chair). All around the city there are penises carved into the stone roads and walls because it was considered a sign of fertility and would point to the direction where the brothels were located. In fact, the "Red Light District" was started in Pompeii (the perimeters of windows and doors of brothels were painted Pompeiian red, and there were about 2o or 30 brothels in Pompeii). Inside there were frescoes depicting different sex positions above each door so visitors who didn't know Latin could still know and get what they were asking for. I saw the city forum (which was amazing since it had two-story colonnades and a temple), a Roman bath, and a building where clothes were washed and dyed (they washed their clothes with urine so they would invite people to come in and add to their supply... and camel urine was considered especially desirable so it was imported whenever possible). I also drank out of a 2,000 year old fountain (although I think the brass piping may have been new/replaced). And I saw some ash-covered bodies with a few bones showing (they were somewhat short back then), and even saw the body of a dog cast into his last moment of struggle. My time in Pompeii flew by, so I plan on coming back in the future and spending at least a whole day there. While I was walking around I thought of how Mom and Dad used to read me the story of Pompeii as a child... and now here I was wandering the streets of Pompeii and imagining myself living the life of an ancient Roman. I also saw a bride and groom having their picture taken in the city... not a bad idea. =)
We left Pompeii and headed to our beautiful hotel in Sorrento, located along a cliff that we could walk down to reach the beach. The hotel was also located right next to the harbor where we would take our boat ride to Capri the next morning. Sorrento is one of many cities located along the Amalfi coast, which is famous for its stunnning views of cliffs dropping down into the ocean. I went swimming that evening and walked around the town... periodically heading towards the coastline to take a breathtaking cliff-side glimpse down onto to the ocean and surrounding terrain. A lot of girls I was with said they wanted to get married here. I had an excellent 3-course dinner and luxurious breafast buffet the next morning. The hotel really impressed me... now I know where all the money that I paid to CEA goes towards. =)
After breakfast we got on our ferry and took the hour-long ride to Capri. The weather was a bit drizzly but it dried up and the sun came out later on in the day which was awesome. When our boat docked we got out and bought tickets to get to the different parts of the island (there's the greeting area at the bottom, the actual/main city of Capri in the center which you have to take a cable-car up to, Ana-Capri which is farther up to the east and reached by bus, and finally the very top of the island which is reached from Ana-Capri via chair lift)! I took the cable car up to Capri and experienced what can only be described as... simply... PARADISE! The view from Capri is absolutely breathtaking. Blue water, amazing high views, birds flying below you, amazing food and ambiance, small roads with few and small cars, Greek-Roman style buildings, and every corner you turn is a new example of the essence of beauty. I had an amazing gelato-sunday with a few girls and then we hiked along the west side of the island so we could reach the Arco-Naturale (a magnificent natural rock arch providing a commanding view of the ocean below). What I saw on my trip over there were the most beautiful sites I have ever seen in my life. I found a spot where I will either propose to someone, get married, or have my honeymoon (and all the girls I was with immediatley decided that they wanted to get married in Capri as well). I wanted to see the arch because I saw a youtube video of it before I left for Italy and it captivated me, but pictures just don't do it justice. As one of the girls told her friends, "You haven't lived if you haven't seen Capri." After the arch we walked back to the center of town. We walked by a tourist information center that I saw earlier and realized that if I had asked for directions to the arch we wouldn't have taken the amazing sight-seeing hike we had just gone on because the trail from the arch back into town was much shorter and didn't go along the ocean (this is one case where I am glad I took some of Rick Steve's "find your own backdoor" advice of getting lost on purpose). We took a bus up to Ana Capri (the ride provided some more amazing views of course) and walked around. We tried looking for the chair lift but decided that we wouldn't have enough time and it wouldn't be worth the extra money. We ran into some of our friends from our group who had been walking around Ana Capri for most the day. I decided that I liked Capri a little more than Ana Capri because it had less road traffic and a much more close, personal and peaceful feel to it. We took the bus back down to Capri and soaked up the beauty on some steps before heading back down to the bottom to catch the ferry back to Naples. While I was up there I envisioned myself going back into time when there were no modern buildings or ferries, and wooden ships would sail to the island so Roman emperors like Trajan could come here to escape and enjoy life in their villas. Capri is also famous for its blue grotto, which luminates the cave in a clear fluorescent blue color. I promised myself that I will come back sometime soon before I leave Italy to experience the chair lift and grotto, and live in paradise once more. =)

Neapolitan Pizza... where it was invented (Delizioso, eh Christina? =) )

Inside one of Pompeii's forums

Picture of the forum shown in the video (note the bride and groom geting their photo taken in the back!)

Another picture of the forum.

Greek-style theatre (notice the terrain upon which the seats were built)

Standing on one of the stepping stones. Notice the grooves in the stone road below my hands from numerous wheels of carts passing between the stepping stones!

Domus (house) of a politician. His graffiti name is still shown behind the glass on the right, below which is the bench where people would sit and wait for their daily jobs.

The impluvium (sunken pool in the atrium) of a Roman dormus, used to collect rain water. The water had a natural cooling effect and could be used to water gardens, etc.

A frescoes above one of the doors inside a brothel, used to let the customer know what he wanted even if he couldn't speak Latin.

One of many penises carved on walls and roads in Pompeii, used to direct you towards a brothel. The "Red Light District" originated in Pompeii.


Almost all of my CEA group in front of the main forum of Pompeii, with Mt. Vesuvius in the distance. This is once case where a tragedy has turned into a treasure.

A 2000 year old man... you can still see the frightened and painful expression on his face.

A dog, trapped in an encasement of ash in his last desperate gesture.

The wall of Pompeii


The view from my hotel room in Sorrento

View from the balcony shown in the bottom right corner of the above picture. The Amalfi coast of Italy is known for its stunning vertical cliff-coastline.

Video of the same view from the picture above.

Walking to our ferry.

The view while waiting for our ferry.

View looking back from the trolley which took us up to the town of Capri.