On Thursday I was Boxing Day shopping in the Core when I ran into a friend, C (who I suspect might not be super-enthused about being named on a blog). Anyway, C is known to be a talented and industrious knitter. Upon running into her, I immediately commented on her beautiful scarf.
"C, did you knit that!? I love it! It's beautiful."
To which she replied, "Do you want it?"
"What? Oh no, that's okay."
"No, seriously. I like it, but I don't love it. So if you love it you can have it.
"I can't take your scarf from you in the mall!"
"Sure you can!"
And she unwound it from her neck and gave it to me.
Heh heh heh, and I DO love it.
And if there's any question about whether I'll be toasty warm for the rest of the winter, I can assure you, I will not be. Because I also upped my scarf collection one more this Christmas from my mom, with this beauty!
What I really need now, is one of these scarf organizers... Because my collection is getting out of control.
As I sorted through our photos, I found a few favourites that didn't make it into my previous blog posts. I thought I would share those photos here, along with a few observations and insights that surprised me during our two weeks in Italy. Photos and text will not necessarily be related.
A snail hiding out in Pompeii.
Italians smoke. A lot. At first it seemed like an unfounded observation, but I've done a bit of Googling on statistics, and apparently in 2011, a survey stated that 17% of Canadians smoked. In Italy, 32% of the male population smokes, and 19% of the female population smokes. I felt like I was constantly walking through clouds of smoke! Didn't they get the memo? Smoking is bad for you!
A cat basking in the sun in Vernazza (Cinque Terre).
Stray or semi-stray cats and dogs were a common sight when we were travelling. We spotted dozens of cats lounging in the sun when we visited Cinque Terre, and saw multiple stray dogs begging for food of visitors in Pompeii. There were even signs within Pompeii warning visitors not to interact with the strays. It made me a bit sad-- especially when it was raining and they were slinking around soaken wet.
Sun setting over the Vatican.
Our rental Volvo.
Many people warned us that Italians are aggressive drivers, and they were correct. However, while North Americans (in general) tend to rely on the rules of the road to keep them safe, Italians seem to rely more on defensive driving. Italian drivers don't follow the rules of the road as stringently, but they are infinitely more aware of what is going on around them. For the most part, Italians seemed to be more courteous and even more forgiving on the road than we are used to.
Mosaic of Poseidon.
I remember being impressed by the intensely and lavishly decorated ancient buildings when we visited in China last year-- and Italy was no different. The paintings, carvings, mosaics and sculptures that define ancient Rome and Italy are truly awe-inspiring.
A collapsed arch in Ostia Antica.
The ingenuity and industriousness of ancient Rome is equally impressive. The structures that they created thousands of years ago are still standing today-- albeit, not totally intact...
Thank you for following, everyone! That's a wrap on Italy.
For the past three years, I've had the opportunity to work with a team of top-notch individuals. Those individuals are people who I have learned with, grown with, and had fun with. I can't say it was all rainbows and unicorns-- we had our ups and downs, and frustrations. But the relationships and rapport our team built was truly exceptional, and probably unmatched in our company. Last month, through no choice of our own (i.e. layoffs and staff re-deployment), we found our team rather abruptly disbanded. We said good-bye to a lot of good people, both on and off our team.
Our team had one last (unofficial) event today-- a great way to call it wrap.
To my team: Thanks for a great run. I'm better off having worked with you.
But let's face it, you can't get rid of me. I'll be seeing you around!
For the past three Christmases, I have diligently packed 2-3 shoeboxes to send along with Samaritan's Purse's Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoebox campaign. I love the idea of a child in a developing country opening up a shoebox that I have packed, and enjoying all of the contents-- school supplies, toys, candy and hygiene products.
Amy, Jill and I volunteering for OCC.
This was the first year that I've managed to score a volunteering slot in the shoebox distribution and processing center. Amy, Jill and I spent an afternoon inspecting, packing and taping boxes that will be sent to children in Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Shoebox processing facility.
OCC runs a tight ship, and the volunteer sessions run like a well-oiled machine. We arrived at 12:30 and received a quick orientation. Then we were split into teams, and started inspecting shoeboxes right away. The point of inspection is to remove anything that might be considered contraband, frightening to children (images with guns or weapons), can't pass through customs (seashells, rocks, feathers) or might melt, leak or freeze during transportation (liquid glue, bubbles, lip balm, shampoo, tooth paste, etc.) OCC encourages volunteers to keep shoeboxes as close to as what the donors originally packed. That is, we only remove items that can cause problems. Otherwise, the gift boxes stay completely intact.
Shoeboxes waiting to be processed.
Last year, OCC collected nine million boxes world wide-- nearly 650,000 of those were Canadian donations. This year OCC Canada is aiming to collect 700,000 shoe boxes from generous Canadians. As of our volunteering day-- December 6, they had processed 144,462 boxes in the Calgary facility. During our two-hour volunteer shift, we helped process 5400 boxes.
This was a really great way to spend my afternoon. I will definitely do it again in the future!
Shoe boxes collection is now finished in communities, but you can drop off shoeboxes to the processing warehouse on 20 Hopewell Way, NW. Or if you don't have time to pack a shoebox yourself, you can always pack a shoebox online.
When we booked our trip to Italy, we knew that November was the rainiest month of the year. Despite this, we had surprisingly good weather. But if I ever hoped that we'd visited in a warmer month-- it was when we reached Sorrento.
Sorrento is a beautiful town. Buildings are perched on the coast along cliffs, there are sweeping views of Naples and Mount Vesuvius across the bay, and there are long stretches of beach. We treated ourselves to a top-notch hotel during our stay in honour of our third wedding anniversary this past September. But because it was off-season, the steps down to the beach were closed, the pool was closed and a constant drizzle had settled over the area. One could imagine how easy it would be to enjoy Sorrento in the summer with blue skies and sun.
One of the appeals of Sorrento is its proximity to Pompeii. Pompeii is an ancient Roman town that was buried and mostly destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. At the time of eruption, there were approximately 20,000 people living in the town.
A main road in Pompeii.
I for one had no idea Pompeii was so huge! We wandered street after street after street. Although the eruption caused a huge amount of destruction in the city, the lava flow also acted to preserve many of the buildings and Roman artifacts.
Artifacts recovered from Pompeii excavation.
The Roman equivalent of a modern day fast food joint.
A giant ampthitheatre in Pompeii.
One of the things we saw in Pompeii that was pretty amazing (you know, aside from all the ruins) were trees. In particular, the bark on these trees-- they were like a work of art in and of themselves. It looked like it had been painted on with oil or acrylics.
Pretty Italian tree bark.
When the weather was clear, we had a perfect view of Mount Vesuvius. Personally, I think Mount Vesuvius is kind of wimpy looking. Mount St. Helen's is way cooler! But at one point, there was a little bit of snow at the summit of Mount Vesuvius!
A little bit of snow on Mount Vesuvius.
On our second day in Sorrento, we drove along the Amalfi Coast. In many ways, it reminded me of the road to Hana on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It was narrow (although not as narrow as the road to Hana), ocean side and winding. Part of the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, was filmed in the town of Positano along the Almafi Coast. We enjoyed some unexpected sunshine, and perused some ceramic work in local galleries.
Tom and I on the Almafi Coast.
In the afternoon we left the Almafi Coast behind and headed inland to visit the the ancient Paestrum Greek temple ruins. The weather was pretty erratic at this point, and we could hear thunder all around us-- plus, we barely made it in before the final entrance time, so we only had 45 minutes to look around. The city was founded somewhere around 600-BC. The temples were very well preserved, but the city remains were barely recognizable-- especially after spending the previous day in Pompeii.
Greek ruins at Paestrum.
The next morning we packed up our suitcases, crammed them into our car, and headed back towards Rome. We had an early flight to catch the next day (6:10am, bleh), so we planned to spend the night in an airport hotel. On our way back into the city, we stopped at the Roman ruins of Ostia Antica. This turned out to be one of the most interesting ruins we visited. Unlike Pompeii and Paestrum, there was limited restriction of where we could walk within the ruins, so we could go inside houses, up stairs and in between buildings.
There were several school groups visiting at the same time, so we had to wind our way around giant hoards of children. Unfortunately we also timed our visit poorly, and arrived near the last entry time. We only saw about half of the city (apparently there was a port corresponding with the ancient path of the river) before a lady with a whistle started herding us out to the main gates.
Roman ruins, Ostia Antica.
And that was it! The next morning we caught our flight to Frankfurt, and then continued on to home. We've recovered from our jet lag, and are getting back into our normal routine-- just in time for Christmas! I have one more post featuring some random photos that didn't make it into my previous posts, and then we'll call it a wrap on Italy.
All right my readers, please make sure you are comfortably seated and have some time on your hands-- because this one's going to be a long one.
Rome.
My expectations of Rome were pretty high. Preliminary reading indicated that there would be a ton of sights for us to see-- and indeed, there were.
We started our first morning in Rome by testing out the Metro system. We hopped on at the station a few minutes walk from our hotel, made a quick transfer onto a secondary line, and emerged at the Colosseum about 15 minutes later.
A view of the Colosseum.
The Colosseum, aka, the Flavian Amphitheatre is an impressive structure. Construction began in 70 AD (completed in 80 AD), resulting in the largest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire. Considering the size and time it was built, it is one of the greatest feats of Roman architecture and engineering.
The Colosseum could hold between 50,000 - 80,000 spectators, and it is said that via a vomitorium (i.e. a passage situated below the tiers of seating), the large crowds could exit the structure within 15 minutes. The latin word vomitorium can be simplified to, "to spew forth," giving us our present day word, vomit.
Gladiatorial fights ended sometime around 435 AD, and in the 6th century a church was built in the center of the arena. In 1349 AD, the Colosseum was greatly damaged by a large earthquake, causing the south side to collapse. A religious ordered inhabited the building from mid-14th century until the early 19th century. Since then, the structure has been restored and repaired, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in Rome today.
Tom and I outside the Colosseum.
Our next stop (literally across the street) was the Roman Forum. At one time, this would have been the center of the city of Rome-- home to government buildings, religious temples and a bustling marketplace. It is known that Julius Caesar was murdered in the Roman Forum in 44 AD. In the 8th century, much of the forum was torn down and dismantled, and in the 13th century it became mostly buried as a dumping ground. Archaeological interest and excavation began in 1803, but full excavation occurred in the early 20th century.
A view of the Roman Forum.
Later that night, we Tom and I were startled awake by one of the loudest claps of thunder we have ever heard. It rained intermittently through the night. That morning, we headed to the Vatican, and foolishly brought no rain jackets or umbrellas with us. We joined the line to enter St. Peter's Basilica, and the skies opened up in a torrential downpour. Tom and I were COMPLETELY soaked.
Tom standing in the rain.
So instead of standing in line in the open, we headed to the Vatican Museum. Our guide book states that the Vatican Museum contains 4 miles (6.2km) of displays and artifacts-- ending in the Sistine Chapel. I don't think we made it through all of the displays, but we spent nearly 3.5 hours wandering room to room. I think we were both underwhelmed by the Sistine Chapel (it seems like sacrilege to say that-- but it's true!), but we certainly enjoyed other aspects of the museum.
An intricate hallway ceiling in the Vatican Museum.
At this point, the sun was actually shining, so we got back in line for St. Peter's Basilica. As luck would have it, an older couple from the Comox area in BC were ahead of us. So we chatted with our fellow-Canadian, and the 50 minutes we spent in line passed in no time at all.
The ceiling of St. Peter's Basilica.
I think it's safe to say that when it comes to the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica, all that glitters is gold. I have never seen a more opulent building in my life.
After admiring the general splendor of the Basilica, we purchased tickets to hike up the 551 steps to the top of St. Peter's dome. From there, we took in views of the city.
The dome on St. Peter's Basilica.
And as the sun set, we headed back to our hotel, taking in one last backward glance at the Vatican. And what a backward glance it was! This is one of my favourite photos from our trip.
The Vatican - my favourite photo from our trip.
For our final day in Rome, we planned a route through the city so we could take in some of the remaining major sites. First we visited the Trevi Fountain, which was crawling with hundreds of tourists.
The Trevi Fountain.
Next we moved on to Pantheon. The Pantheon was a building commissioned as a temple consecrated to all gods. The spherical dome was the first of its kind, built of cement around 30 BC.
The Pantheon.
The open-topped dome of the Pantheon.
Our last stop of the day was at Castel Sant'Angelo, an Italian castle that has served as a prison, a hideout, and now a museum. Our walk to the castle was along the Tiber River, which had risen significantly since our first day in town. When we had arrived in Rome three days before, there was a pedestrian walkway along the banks of the river. As you can see in the picture below, the walkway and the trees that lined it were submerged in water.
The Tiber River, rising.
From the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo, we watched the somewhat unnerving sight of flocks of starlings flying around the treetops. Starlings are only in Rome during the fall and winter months. There are thousands upon thousands of them in the sky at one time. They have in fact proven to be somewhat dangerous, when a flock was sucked into the engine of a Boeing 737-800, injuring 2 crew and 8 passengers when it crash-landed in 2008. Not sure how a flock of birds could be unnerving? Just watch.
From Rome, we picked up a rental car at the airport, and made our way to our last destination for our trip. Sorrento. Stay tuned!
But before you go, please enjoy the B-52's song, "Roam," which has been replaying in my head every since we left Rome. "Roam if you want to-- roam around the world."
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