Apr 2007

A few things about Italy.
-Pedestrians have no rights
-the favorite phrases of people here "dime" (tell me) and "va bene" (okay).
-I had a Sicilian ask me if I was from Italy while I was staying in Rome...that was the biggest compliment Ive had so far. My accent is getting good. too bad im leaving now.

So when I got to Cinque Terre, I had no place to stay. I ended up setting up a shelter next to a rock wall in a vineyard. As soon as I set up, I had no real camping gear just a bed sheet, some dogs began barking and I quickly ran back down the hill to another vineyard and set up once again. Everything seemed fine until I began to hear a rustling in the bushes next to me and it made the sounds of a ferret. I decided Id try to take a Tylenol PM and sleep it off. An hour later, I was still unable to sleep and the temp dropped consistently. I decided to find a spot back in the town. After finding a relatively sheltered porch, I attempted to sleep to the sound of cars speedin up and down the street below me and drunk Australian tourists. A couple hours of half drugged sleep and numb legs, I decided to make for the coastal trail at 4:30am. I strolled past cats staring at me, the vagrant, to the tune of an eerie silence in the dark alleyways. After,I walked up to the ominously dark coastal path of the Via d'Amore...an enchanting hike for most couples during the daylight, but an eering darkness covered path with 200ft of cliff dropping off into the breaking waters below. I figured this was a good place to brush my teeth.
There are 5 towns in Cinque Terre spread out over several miles of terrain. I reached town 4 by 9am. Exhausted, I looked for a room. Then I ran into Dylan and Amy, my friends from the Athens train to Korinth!

They were the couple travelling for 9 months all over the world. They sold their condo after they got married and decided to travel off the profits, pretty cool.

Cinque Terre was amazing. Beautiful harbor, trails and people. I left the next afternoon for Genova.

(Bronze horses from Constantine's Hippodrome stolen from Constantinople by the Venetians in the 4th Crusade (1204 AD)

I was officially homeless last night. After running through Venice for the day, I tried to get across Italy before nightfall. When I arrived in RioMaggiore, the first town in Cinque Terre, it was 9pm and all the rooms were sold out...
Ill tell you what happens in a little while. Im off to Genoa soon where I hope to have more time to write down the details. I am alive though...

here are some pics to keep you entertained...

the pigeons were out in force at st Marks

as was the flag of St Marks...

view from the hostel across the Grand Canal (I like my tripod)

this guy really loved the pigeons...

classical concerts going on around me, amazing venice, but i could only take a day of it...

I am now in Ravenna. In 402, the Emperor Honorius moved the capital of the western Roman empire from Rome to Ravenna. At the time, Ravenna was strategically better because it was farther north, situated on the Adriatic sea in good trade routes, surrounded by marshes for defense and all around just better than Rome.

The barbarian kings took over the Western Roman Empire during that time...see Peter Heathers book "the Fall of the Roman Empire" to explain the causes. The barbarian kings ruled the Western Empire from here in Ravenna. In the 500s, Emperor Justinian came from Constantinople and retook Ravenna and most of Italy back in the name of the Roman Empire. Confused yet? Well, all this to say that, there are the best preserved Byzantine mosaics in the world in this city...next time Ill upload a few of the shots. The churches and their mosaics are simply some of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen.

Ravenna reminds me of where i went to school, UCDavis. Everyone rides their bikes around and they let tourists rent a bike for free! I have my sporty yellow bike and I am riding around in style. I met a great French couple today, Joelle and Eric and they bought me a cappucino and we talked Bush, politics and life. They asked a lot of questions about Americans and they say that French media does not think Americans to be very smart. I was trying to help out the team a bit.

Ciao for now! Check out some of these pics...

Me at St Peters Basilica, Rome

I was fortunate to get a nice shot (I did not flash, even though everyone was using their flash...)

South of Naples in Sorrento...everyone uses scooters here

a statue in Sorrento

I met Antonio feeding pigeons in Sorrento

A courtyard suriving from 70 AD! in Herculaneum

not a bad spot to spend the afternoon, i took a bus from Sorrento (crowded place) to a small little harbor called Nerano

you can see why some of the emperors used to come here...

frescoe of Alexander the Great found in Pompeii dating back to 70AD

Samuel from Ghana, the guy I met in the Naples McDonalds...

Buon giorno from L'Italia!

I just saw 5 lightning strikes in Rome this evening!! A train strike is happening in Italy that almost prevented me from coming to Rome.
I forgot to mention in my last blog that I met a great guy in Ancona named Simone...he was here on business from Milan (clinical research). I was asking him about something and we ended up hanging out the rest of the night and going to a hole in the wall Italian restaurant. He taught me a bunch of Italian words, helped me to interact with the waitress and ordered a great bottle of red wine on his company card! We talked women, politics and life. Vive L'Italia!

At some point Im going to have to slow down just a bit. I am about 3 days ahead of schedule, but my feet are starting to hurt a lot from all of the walking. Rome is my favorite city so far - it is so beautiful and so amazing, and I finally can get around without a map. I took a tour of the Circus Maximus, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Forum, Pantheon, St Peters and the Vatican Museum. I feel like I can walk around here safely and confidently...Im starting to get the hang of this travelling thing...I find the Italians a lot friendlier than the Greeks. I dont get cold stares or looks like Im invisble.

I cant stay here much longer because the hostel I stayed at the first night blew a hole in my budget the size of the iceberg in the Titanic. This ship aint sinking though! After 3 hours of wandering around Rome from 6pm to 9pm, talking to several Italians and covering a third of the city, I found the hostel I was looking for. It didnt help that it started raining when I was walking around. Iàm really starting to realize how dependent we are upon other people for information and hospitality, and it puts a different perspective on tourists I see back in the Bay Area.

I have met a lot of friends here, I ate with Samuel from Ghana in the Naples McDonalds (yes I broke down and finally had McDonalds!) It costs six Euro for a Bic Mac meal which is about $9 American = Big Whack.
I met a couple from Seattle, Bill and Janice who bought me pizza in Naples, Matt and Sue from Pennsylvannia who I met at Trevi Fountain here in Rome, Tim and Kelly from South Carolina, I met John and Shelly from Boston today and helped them find their way to the Metro, talked to Sean from Ventura, Mike and Jill from Toronto and many others.

The world is truly becoming globalized. There is an ethnically Chinese Australian named Eugene working in my hostel, musicians from the Andes are playing on the main street in Rome to the tune of Gladiator music, Indians and Pakistanis selling street wares from umbrellas to dancing mickey and minnie trinkets, Brasilians, Mexicans, French, Swedish, Japanese, theyre all here... Almost everyone speaks English...and almost everyone dislikes America.

In a way, its all quite overwhelming...so much going on, so much to see, so much to do. I sat on the Spanish Steps for a long time last night just people watching resting my sore feet.

When I left off from Assisi, I was headed down to Napoli, to the land of Mt Vesuvius, Pompei and Herculeneum. My base for two days was in Sorrento, the retreat of many Roman emperors and senators starting with Caesar Augustus.
I saw the ruins of Herculanum, left from the eruption of Vesuvius in 70AD and saw the frescoes and sculptures saved from Vesuvius in the Naples National Museum.

Im having my laundry professionally done today for the first time after sink washing for a while. Washing your laundry in the sink only takes about 50% of the smell and grime out of your clothes.

Im starting to miss home at points now. I realize how important community is, and how being alone can remind you of your great need before God and others. I am learning a lot about the world, the problems we face and Im trying to figure out more solutions. Robert (my Polish friend I met in Assisi) told me he thinks industry is one of the biggest threats to the world in our time. But he said "we have hope because we have God" and showed me his cross.