When in Rome, go outside of Rome too

The great thing about Italy is that there are so many places to visit, many within just an hour or two of anywhere you could possibly be eating, errr...standing. And when in Rome, you should see as much as you can. Speaking of which, I can't believe I didn't use that line in my Rome post. (Veronica Corningstone: "Oh well, when in Rome..." Ron Burgundy: "Yes, please go on?" VC: "Uh, do as the Romans do? It's an old expression" RB: "Oh, I've never heard of it").

Spending 6 days in the area gave me the opportunity to see some other cities, so I decided to head out to Pompeii for a day, and also spend a day visiting Patrizia, in her home town near Assisi.

I booked the tour to Pompeii on Viator, as usual . I am a big fan of it. We left at 7am (door to door service), for the 15 hour trip. When I got on the bus the first thing the tour guide asked me was "Japanese?" I said "yes, but I'm Ameri....." then another lady rushed over saying "No, no, he's not!" Hey lady, yes, actually I am! Turns out they were looking for the last member for their Japanese tour and of course I looked the part (but without the camera around my neck). The important part of that story is that there was a Japanese tour on my bus...and I don't speak enough Japanese to make that enjoyable (unless they spoke about food or counted to 10 the whole time, I wouldn't know what was going on). So I was already confused. She told me to get on the bus anyway, after which I hear Spanish all around me (and Japanese). I know I studied both languages in school, but I'm not really interested in a tour around Italy in any language other than English. I move towards the back of the bus, and that's when I hear them: the obnoxious Americans. Every tour/city around the world has them. Now I know I'm in the right place. Turns out there are 3 spoken languages on this bus...we have 2 guides, one who does all the English and Spanish (and speaks to the driver in Italian), and one Japanese. The Japanese lady didn't speak good English, but she still tried to talk to me, even though I clearly didn't speak Japanese to her. She would say something (and I didn't know which language), stop, nod for a second, there'd be crickets, and then I'd nod, take a drink of water waiting for her to say something else (or for her to walk away), and that was that. At least she was nice.

Goal #1: Get to Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius

On the tour I met another solo traveller, Jenny from Canada. It was nice to have someone to chat with on the bus (since we spent a few hours on it). She was on her way to visit her family in China after studying in France for the semester. Since we always sat together and walked around together (and let's face it, because we were both Asian), everyone thought we were a couple. She had to leave Pompeii early to catch her flight to China, so when the nosy Americans on the bus started asking questions like "Where's your girlfriend? Why aren't you guys going back together? Are you guys in a fight?", it was just easier to say "she had to go to China" rather than correct them. One of the loud, nosy guys told me about the sign company he owns back in the US, and how he hires kids to go around destroying the signs around the city so his customers have to buy new ones. Uhh, maybe you shouldn't be telling me that.

Along the way to Pompeii we stopped in Naples, took a few pictures, then got back on the bus. Apparently there are parts of Naples are pretty (the coast/water), but that mostly there isn't much going on, and in some areas it's really dirty. So I guess what we did was enough (except I didn't get to eat pizza). But it was enough to make me wonder again why we rename cities in our native languages...it's not like "Napoli" is difficult to say. Or "Roma". So why do we change them to Naples and Rome?

Off the coast of Naples

When we finally got to Pompeii, I realized why it's one of those places you must visit before you die. It's FASCINATING that this city was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago in the blink of an eye. And yet the structure of the city is so well preserved...the streets, the buildings, everything. I had always heard about Pompeii as a kid, and always heard about the dangerous Mount Vesuvius, so it was a great experience to get to see them.

The streets and structures are still very intact. You can really feel what it was like to live there...crosswalks, homes, restaurants, theater, markets, bathhouses, villas, even a brothel. The city was very cozy and felt of community. It would be neat to see a city built like this in modern day. They probably have them in Canada or something.

The streets of Pompeii

The streets have little pieces of something to illuminate them under the moonlight

Raised crosswalks so you could cross without stepping down into puddles (with space in between the rocks for horses to pass by)

The guide imformed us that this building is not original

The city wasn't excavated until 1,700 years after the eruption, so the bodies and everything were how they were left. How eerie is it to see the bodies in these shapes? This is real! I still can't quite understand how they died so quickly...the mountain is only a few kilometers away, so the ash/gas/etc must have come at them in an instant.

Actual body of a victim, frozen the way he died

Anyway, this trip was really interesting, and I definitely recommend it to anyone going in the area. A friend at the hostel did the trip on his own (taking the train without the guided tour) and he liked it a lot (and it was much cheaper). I just don't know if you'd learn all that I learned and if you'd see everything there was to see.

It's especially important to find the brothel. It was one stone bed (I assume they had blankets and pillows, otherwise, it wouldn't feel so good!) and paintings along the wall of different menu items you can...uhhh..."order". I guess people just pointed at the picture they wanted, and that's how they "got it".

I haven't been to a modern brothel, but hopefully they're a little more comfortable than this

One of the "menu items" in the Pompeii brothel ("smack" included)

On Christmas day Patrizia (Italian friend from Warsaw who was part of my St. Pete trip) invited me to have Christmas lunch with her family. She insisted that her family loves having guests, even those that don't speak any language that they speak. So I was the perfect guest for them. Last year I spent Christmas with Irina's family in Riga (Irina translated everything) and this year it would be the same. So I guess it's becoming tradition to have Christmas conversation through a translator (and the language of food/alcohol).

Before lunch, Patrizia took me to the town of Assisi. I'm sure you have heard of Assisi, of St. Francis fame. St Francis of Assisi is another name I've remembered since grade school, but I never really thought about where it was, or who he was. Assisi was established in the early 1300s (yes, before I was in grade school), and like many other towns in the region, is nestled on top of a hill, overlooking the land below. This made sense back in those days, so they could protect their city from intruders. There is a big fortress, small and windy ("wine-dee", i.e. curvy, not "win-dee" i.e. breezy) cobblestone streets, and many people attending the several impressive churches. We got to go into some of the churches, but since they were having Christmas services, we didn't see everything. The view from the fortress on top is a great one of all the villages below.

Patrizia lives in Ponte St Giovanni, which is a "village" near Perugia. If the name Perugia sounds familiar it's because it's the city where Amanda Knox was studying when her room mate was killed, and she spent 4 years in prison for the suspected murder (but was later released). It seems that people from all over the world know about this, because when I told people in the hostel, they were like "oh yea, that's where Amanda Knox was". That's not exactly the reputation you'd want. So of course, when we visited Perugia, we had to walk by her house just to see it.

Jumping in front of the fortress in Assisi

St. Franny's crib in Assisi

View into the valley

I haven't had a homemade Italian meal and lunch at Patrizia's was everything I dreamed it would be. It started with parma ham and bruschetta. I learned that every Italian family has a ham leg in their house (which they store at room temperature, and it lasts a few months), and the Fagiani's store their's in the computer room next to the printer. Also, bruschetta is pronounced "broo-sket-tuh", not "broo-shet-uh". Duh. First we rubbed garlic on the toasted bread, a little olive oil and salt, then either a tomato basil mixture, an olive mixture, cheese, or like me, all of the above. This was followed by tortellini soup (I had 2 servings), then salad, and lots of meat...roasted chicken, turkey and lamb, and potatoes. This was of course accompanied by wine and prosecco, followed by a few different types of dessert, including the traditional Italian Christmas cake. By the time the lunch was over, I could not sit up straight. It was a great success.

Tortellini soup (I was too busy to take pictures of anything else)

Patrizia's family was extremely nice and accommodating. Her mom was very sweet and smiley, dad had a subtle humor that kept me on my toes, and her sister was very nice and chatty (in Italian). And of course, they all kept piling food and drink into me.

Her dad has recently become a clay artist. There are many statues and portraits in the house of art he has done. I asked him so many questions through my interpreter that I think he was happy when we left. At one point (after about 10 questions on how he makes them) he asked Patrizia "is he done?" or something like that. I don't blame him! Anyway, it's all very impressive, considering this is only a hobby he picked up after retirement. For Christmas, the girls started a website for him with all of his artwork. You can check it out here. It's really great!

The Fagiani family

Also the Fagiani family

Some of dad's fine work

Ham leg in the printer room



And that concludes my latest trip to Italy. Of course it won't be my last. But it was a great holiday and a great time to visit. See you soon in Berlin!