30^th March

This morning we were up early to avoid the crowds at the Basilica built for St Francis of Assisi. This place is surrounded by a medieval village. Pretty cool..

The actual Basilica is in original state and has not been restored in any manner or form.  Unlike the Sistine Chapel no expense was spared in the paintings in the Chapel.  The blues in the St Francis Basilica are much deeper and brighter than the Sistine Chapel.  Michelangelo had quoted a price and he kept the price down by watering the paint colours down.   Also this was a fresco not a mural.  A mural is painted on a dry surface and stays on top whereas a fresco is applied to wet plaster and penetrates the plaster.

Also St Francis would not have approved of the lavishness of the Basilica rather he was a very simple man who reformed the church.  A story was told of WWII when the Germans were rounding up the Jews the parish members hid the Jews the crypt of St Francis under the church floor.  One of the parishioners was a printer and he forged papers for 300 Jews and saved them.   Also the town administrator, a Nazi doctor was a devout catholic and he prayed every day at the church. He knew about the plan and kept quiet.  In the court yard of the church there is striped marble.  This was a present from the Jews of Israel for saving their people in WWII.  Moral is good people will always do good things and bad people will always do bad things.

Also St Valentine came from this area.  The Romans would march through the valleys and collect any unmarried young men to join their army.  St Valentine thought about this and solved the problem of the Romans taking all their young men by having a mass marriage.  Hence the men couldn’t be taken away and hence St Valentines Day.

Entrance to Basilica of St Francis of Assisi

 

Entrance Courtyard with striped marble floor

View from hill to town of Assisi

 

 

Then off to Venice, where we had a tour around the Grand Canal in a very groovy timber boat and then we were serenaded by singers while we cruised around in Gondolas. Very magical…

Two things.. yes we did go under the Rialto Bridge.  We found out the next day about the terrorists who were planning to blow it up. I can also say that the septics in some of the villas that empty into the canals need work.

That’s what I call a taxi

Traffic jam in central Venice

In Venice even the fish market has style

Spot the terrorist Rialto Bridge

Taxi parking rank  no Ubers in sight

You can see the white knuckles of Lou and I was balast up the front

Ciao

 

The 28^th we went to the IsIe of Capri or as the Italians say CAAAAAAAAAAAAPRIIIIIIIIIIII. I think I got that right. Pretty cool place with a great trip over in a ferry.  On the island we went to a home of a Swedish doctor Exel Munke.  This place was built before the road was built and is a pretty incredicvle location. Property over on the island is about $1.5M for 100sm.  Pretty cheap really.  Luckily we arrived at the beginning of the season as there were only about 3000 people a day visit whereas in the peak time it is about 25,000 a day.

 

 

In the avo we visited a timber inlay company that is in its 5^th generation of manufacture. Sadly for the bank account Lou was in a buying mood. It is hard to appreciate the work involved in developing this product.

In the evening we made pasta and had a four course meal.  The Italians love to eat. I have discovered Lemoncello.  Give me you lemons and I will make some.  LOL.

On the 29^th we got on a bus to the Amafi coast. Looks like a great fishing spot and the locations of the houses are incredible.  In this area as with a lot of areas you can’t get a building permit for a new build.  However you can rebuild to the same foot print of the original home or barn, so nothing is pulled down because once it is pulled down you can’t rebuild.  Looks like our place actually.

We had to change to a smaller bus to get to Almafi. As we drive now there is a drop of about 500m of the edge of the road and the road is not wide.  We past a big bus earlier and we had to back up and pull over and they had to pull their mirrors in to pass. The road is also very winding and with a continuous middle line, but hey we are in Italy and God protects the chosen ones.  They pass anywhere, hills corners you name it and they believe it is okay to pass other vehicles.  Just like Vietnam really only more mountains and smaller roads.

Last night we had a great meal at a fabulous restaurant, Le Del Terme Colosseo.  The surprise was that they had hired three opera singers to sing for us.  The restaurant was in an underground cavern which was the sleeping quarters/baths for the gladiators.  There were no gladiators however Lou dragged me onto the dance floor after lots of food and wine and I danced like a gladiator.  Great food great wine, average dancing gives a great night.  One of the ladies on our table claim to fame was that she was the White Rabbit at Disney Land in Florida.  She doesn’t look like the White Rabbit now, she retired.

 

Today we went to the Vatican again. The museums we saw were incredible. The Sistene Chapel is indescribable. To see the ceiling of the chapel is to believe that it is curved however it is flat. Michelangelo took four years to paint the ceiling and five years to paint one wall.  It was worth it.  They must have heard we were coming so they had it cleaned.(20 years ago).

We then went to St Peters.  It took a hundred years to build.  People who know me know that I have something to say about most things, however, I can’t begin to describe this place…. Google it and come and see it. Just one fact, they had a problem with the painting fading, so they had them redone in very small mosaics. I couldn’t tell that they were mosaics.  Speechless!!!!

This avo we went to Pompeii. 60 AD had an earthquake and they rebuilt and 17 years later it erupted.  We saw a map in the Map Room in the Vatican that was made in the 1800s and it did not have Pompeii marked on it because it hadn’t been excavated until after that. I also found out where standard rail gauge come from.  It was the standard width of a Roman cart.  We saw it in the sewerage drains that ran throughout the town.  The carts would drive in these drains and worn tracks in the stone.

We also went to a Brothel in Pompeii.  I have included pictures of the stone beds and the original sexual options on the walls.  Firstly the beds haven’t improved in 2000 years and I can’t comment on the other side of things.  My first visit to a brothel and they didn’t take Visa. As a curiosity, check out the arrow pointing to the brothel.

We have arrived at our motel. Faulty Towers.  Sibal met us at the front with a free drink, which I declined.  The head waiter is the spitting image of Robert De Niro.  Apart from that the location is above Sorrento with a view to the Bay of Naples.  Not Bad!!

Cho

Today we went and saw the Pope.  On the way we got a great picture of the Vactican, although some idiot put a bloody great add for Hondas in  front of it.  Mind you Honda must have paid a lot for the opportunity.

The Pope gave us a wave, I think and blessed us.  Funny, 20,000 people had the same experience. I got picture of him at maximum zoom, just..  All jokes part it was amazing to be in St Peters Square on a Sunday to be blessed and to be a part of this experience and I am not a catholic.

We then went to the Circus Maximus where they killed Christians and had great chariot races. We saw the Planino where the emperors lived and hence the word Palace and then to the Coliseum. This was amazing…there is only the inner circle of building left standing as the outer four have been removed or destroyed. It is huge,  having five layers of seating high and three layers under ground.  The floor of the Coliseum was timber, covered in sand to absorb the blood and in the floor they had elevators to pop the gladiators and wild animals up into the arena.  There were three stories under ground where they kept the wild animals and gladiators. In one season they killed 4000 wild animals.  They don’t record how many gladiators died in the same time.  We are in awe of this place!!!!!

Interesting facts from the Coliseum;  no Christians were killed there and the word fornication came from the Coliseum.  After the Coliseum was closed prostitutes would hang around there and take men into the fornas or archways for sex.

Great day!!

I forgot to include a picture of a 3000 year old beauty case for the girls out there.  I don’t think it was Clarins or the other one Lou spent a King’s Ransom on in Abu Dhabi but it must have been good.

We also had a quick twilight trip around Roma last night and saw lots of police and the old Pope’s digs (St Angels Castle) and we saw a monument to Federation. It is made of Travartine Marble.  Me thinks Tenterfield has got a lot to live up too!!

Addio..  Oh by the way I can now talk Italian…. thanks, coffee and bruschetta tomorrow the UN

Well the EU leaders came to town over night and we were kept out of the main part of Roma. So Lou & I went to Villa Borghese and especially Museum of Borghese.  First hint for travelling in Roma, book three weeks ahead. So we set out on foot to find other Museums that wasn’t as popular as  our first choice. We spent all day in one park and can I say Italians love there parks.  They don’t mow them because it would it would kill the dandelions and daisies.   Can I also say that Italians of all ages express their love out wouldly and there were many older couples walking hand in hand and other things I can’t talk about.

In our travels we found a wonderful suggestion for Lake Annand.  You will see the picture below.  Also when we finally found a Museum that was open and wasn’t booked out.

I found a 3000 year old example of a fondue!!! also I found early examples of early camping equipment I have seen in BCF.  This was in a house of an early Pope.  We went there because the present Pope rejected our invite for a cuppa.

Tomorrow we are going to be blessed in the Vatican.  I hope I survive!!!!!