Pictures Up

I finally loaded a bunch of pictures into My Picasa. I tried to limit the number I put up to about 30 a day. I think in total we had more then a gig of photo's so, it's been cut down quite a bit, but it still gives a really nice scope of the trip.

The Last Day

Sunday 6/28/09

Today was lovely. We started late, so we had brunch instead of breakfast which we picked up at the corner store. We ate on the bus on the way to the Dublin Zoo. The Dublin Zoo was a lot more fun then I anticipated, and we ended up spending most of the day there. By the time we got back to our hotel it was already 5pm. We considered a quick nap since both of us were tired, but I ended up reading for a bit, and then taking a nice long hot shower to ease some of the tension in my back. I really miss my bed. It’s all nice and soft, it supports my back, and very importantly it doesn’t sag in the middle. Sigh, I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow night to get a good night sleep. Later tonight the plan is to grab a slice of pizza for dinner, and then to pack so we’re ready for the early start in the morning. We have to catch a bus to the airport at 7am, so we’ll be waking up considerably earlier then we have been all vacation. I have to say that this vacation has really been better then I imagined it would be. After 3 weeks of travel I thought I would be exhausted beyond reason, and would need time to recover once I got home. Like a vacation from my vacation. I still feel like I will need time to adjust when I get home, but I’m more concerned about the new things at home like starting my new job, and less concerned about recovering from our trip. I’ve been quite happy with our decision to bring our lap top along on the trip, it has enabled me to journal, and keep track of our wonderful, and sometimes strange experiences. I look forward to being able to re-read this journal at some point. To all those who have been following our assorted adventures, I hope you have enjoyed the narrative. I’ll see you soon, back in the states. Good night, and God bless.

Dublin

Saturday 6/27/09

Sleeping in has to be one of my favorite things. I love waking up without hearing an alarm clock. Morgan and I have started staying up a bit later, and getting up a bit later in preparation for Monday when we’re going to have to switch our body clocks back to east coast time. Today we spent most of the day walking around down town. We stopped first at Trinity College, where Morgan was very excited to see the Book of Kells. Then we went on a tour of Dublin Castle, and Christ Cathedral. Our walk through the city was interrupted by the Dublin Pride parade, which is apparently an annual event in June. Not exactly what I had envisioned for our day in Dublin, but none the less it was memorable. Plenty of drag queens, and lots of people dressed like the village people… such a strange parade to stumble across. In the evening we attempted the pub scene again, but were somewhat disappointed by the smoky atmosphere and the sky high prices, Dublin really is an expensive city. So instead of the pub we hit the grocery store again, since we don’t have a kitchen here it was sandwiches and yogurt for us. We did a little reading, and once again it’s time for bed. Tomorrow we’re going to try to get out of the city a little and head over to Phoenix Park, maybe take in the zoo. Hopefully the weather holds out for us. It would be nice to have a nice last day in Europe.

Dublin

Friday 6/26/09

Today has been a very long day. It started early at the B&B, we had a last breakfast in the roof top garden, grabbed our things and headed for the airport. We had to take the subway to the main station, and then catch a bus to get out to the airport. Similar to last time, Ryan air didn’t fly out of Rome’s main airport, they flew out of a ‘smaller’ airport outside of the Rome city limits. Unlike in Glasgow where the smaller airport was about the size of Albany International, in Rome the ‘smaller’ airport was closer to the size of LaGuardia. So we got there and were relieved to see a sign for Ryan air up in one of the many check in lines. We hopped in line, and checked the screens to see that our flight was still planning on leaving on time. We figured out that it was leaving out of gate 22, so we knew where to go after checking in. Things were good. Then we got to the front of the check in line after waiting about half an hour. The woman at the desk told us that we were in the wrong line. It would seem that we had misinterpreted the Italian writing on the display screen, the flight wasn’t leaving out of gate 22, we needed to check in at desk 22. Great, so we run over to gate 22 and there is another huge line. So now I’m getting really worried, because we have less then an hour till our flight is suppose to leave, and Ryan air states clearly on their website that if you don’t check your baggage at least 40 minutes before the flight departs they won’t guarantee that it will make it through with you to your destination. So we waited, and waited, and at 20 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave we finally checked in. The woman at the desk was unconcerned however, and seemed to think there would be no problem with the baggage. We got through security, and got to our real gate (#4) and were ready to leave. Our departure time came and went as we waited in line, finally they let us board. Twenty minutes past our departure time they finally closed the plane… and then we sat there. For another hour, we sat there captive on the runway, until the plane finally left. Then it was another 3 hour flight to Dublin. Sigh, despite all the potential issues, we made it to Dublin in one piece, and our baggage managed to make it with us.
The first thing that registered in my mind when I stepped out of the airport was that I miss Italy already. It was cold, and overcast here, and it was starting to sprinkle. We caught a lime green double decker bus from the airport to a stop near our hotel, and checked in no problem. Our room is a little odd. I thought we were getting a standard double room, with either a double bed, or two singles. Turns out that we got both a double bed and two singles, so our room is a little more crowded then it needed to be, but is otherwise comfortable. Once again here it seems that “wifi in every room”, translates to “pay us an unreasonable amount of money and you can use the wifi in your room”. Fortunately there are a few internet café’s nearby that charge very little to use the internet, so we will most likely try to post from there tomorrow. We went for a walk after getting into the hotel, just to get a feel for the city… it started to rain. We tried to go to a pub for dinner, but they didn’t serve food, only beer. Morgan got his first Guinness in Ireland, and I tried a bit, still tastes horrible even when it’s Irish. We had planned to stay for some entertainment, but the smoky atmosphere drove us out. We went back to the hotel, picking up sandwiches on the way. I’m really quite tired, so I’m gonna call it an early night. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Last day in Italy

Thursday 6/25/09

Today was once again relaxed. Morgan and I seem to be getting tired more easily these days, and I feel like it’s related to how long we’ve been away from our normal routine. It’s not that the things we’re seeing are any less spectacular, it just seems like it’s harder to soak up the volume of information that we’re seeing. We slept in this morning, after staying up later then we should have getting through the ‘good part’ of our respective books. We had a leisurely breakfast out on the roof, and then went out exploring. We saw the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum today. Our three stops took most of the day, they were packed full of tourists, and the heat of the day seemed to zap our energy. We both got a little sun burnt as well. We came back to the B&B a little early wanting a reprise of last night’s dinner in the rooftop garden. We got another bottle of local red wine (which is quite literally cheaper then water around here) a seafood medley and some pasta… we weren’t disappointed. We had a fantastic relaxed evening. Now we just have to pack, get ready for bed, and wake up early ready to say goodbye to Italy.

Rome/Vatican

Wednesday 6/24/09

Today was packet full. We started our day with breakfast in the roof top garden. It was fantastic… the garden I mean, the breakfast was toast and coffee. Our first stop of the day was the Vatican. Somehow things were very different then I remembered them from 10+ years ago when I had seen them before. Everything was much more crowded, and security seemed even more lax, which seems strange post 9/11. I remember having to go though customs to enter Vatican City, I even have the stamp in my passport to prove it, but this time we just walked in, no security, no checkpoint. We had to go through a metal detector for St. Peters, but that was the worst of it. We saw the Vatican museum first, going fairly quickly through the exhibits, so we only spent 3 hours there, including our time at the Sistine chapel. The Sistine chapel was packet to bursting. People standing shoulder to shoulder with barely room to breath. I felt bad, because this was Morgan’s first time seeing it, and it’s not as spectacular if you can’t sit back and just look at it for a while. Next we went to the Basilica, after waiting in line for 45 minutes we were allowed to enter. It was impressive, but somehow after our recent time in Florence it just wasn’t as impressive as I had remembered it. Morgan was impressed, but again a little overwhelmed by the crowds. People in large groups get a little overpowering, but odor isn’t everything. Next we walked to St. Angelo’s castle but didn’t go in because the entry fee was a little ridiculous and we’d had our fill of castles. We spent the rest of our afternoon wondering through Rome visiting the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We finished the day by stopping at a grocery store and getting pasta and a frozen seafood mix to put over it. We also picket up a couple bottles of wine. Believe it or not, it seems Italy has made a convert out of me in the wine department. I have decided that I really like red wine. So tonight we spent the evening sitting in the roof top garden, enjoying wine, a little sun, a lovely dinner and some much needed time unwinding. Morgan and I have both been delighted to find that school has not completely stamped our desire for leisure reading. Both of us have been spending evenings devouring books the way we did when we were kids… it has been really wonderful, just like I’m on vacation.

Assisi

Tuesday 6/23/09

Today we journeyed towards Assisi. Things started out ok, we managed to get breakfast, and get on the train. We found Assisi just as the travel sites described, down to the last detail, we knew where to buy bus tickets, and where to store out luggage for the day, but we couldn’t for see the snags that we would encounter over the course of the day. The snags really started in Florence, we meant to stop at an ATM so we would have cash on hand for our trip to Assisi, as well as cash for our B&B once we got to Rome. Unfortunately we didn’t remember to stop before we got to the train station so we figured we would just use the ATM at the Assisi station… no such machine. So then we thought we’d see a bank on our way to the castle Rocco Maggiore, but there wasn’t one. So we figured we’d get our tickets with credit card, and stop later at an ATM… the castle only takes cash… hmm.. now we’re stuck. So Morgan runs back down the hill in search of an ATM, and I sit down to wait for him, only he came back a different way then we’d originally gone, so my well picked location to see him when he was coming back up the hill resulted in him not being able to find me when he got back, and then worrying that I got lost or hurt or injured. Once we found each other again there were a few sparks of frustration. Once that calmed down we toured the castle. It was amazing, just as I remembered it. The only thing I didn’t remember was exactly the worn down stone stairs can be after 1000 years of use. In my spectacularly clumsy way I managed to slip going down the stairs of a particularly steep and narrow passage. I did manage to stop myself from tumbling down the stairs an potentially breaking my neck, however I stopped myself by throwing out my arms, into the rough stone walls. I now have several lovely abrasions on both forearms, the one on my left forearm is a good 6 inches long, and 2.5 inches wide… great… (nearly 12 hours after the fact and they are still stinging). Unfortunately my arms were not the only thing to get damaged in the fall, my watch took a hit too, shattering the face. So after our fun at the castle we had a great time exploring the rest of Assisi. We saw the Basilica and the tomb of St. Francis. We also visited a little chapel (inside a large basilica) where St. Francis died. After that we went to the train station to board out 5:45 pm train to Rome. A couple trains came and went, we were there early, so it wasn’t concerning. Then 5:45pm came… no train. There was an announcement over the paging system… in very garbled Italian we heard something about Rome, and late. So we figured our train was late, no problem. So it was completely normal when at 6pm our train pulled into the station, we got on, and off we went. Thirty minutes into the ride the conductor comes by asks to see our tickets, I happily whip out our EuroRail Pass. He looks at it, looks at us, and asks for our reservation. Reservation? The 5:45pm train to Rome didn’t require a reservation. He says yes that’s true, but we’re not on the 5:45 train, we’re on the 6:20 train. How is that possible??? The train left the station at 6pm? Do trains leave early for no reason here in Italy?? And What happened to the 5:45 train?? We were sitting in the station at 5:45 and there was no train!! So we go back and forth for a few minutes. His English is good, but not great, and my Italian is poor at best. Finally it hits me… I look at my watch, which we’ve been using to tell time with all along… it seems that after our minor snag at the castle, my watch has managed to loose half an hour of time. I try to explain to the conductor what happened, I even showed him my watch, and my war wounds. He was unsympathetic, and basically told us to get off his train, or pay 30 euro for an ‘on the spot’ reservation. We opted to get off the train and catch the next non- reservation train coming through, which would be at the station in 30 minutes. So we got off, and we waited, and guess what, that train ended up being delayed. So finally... finally we got into Rome at almost 10:30pm and were able to find the B&B, apologize for being late, and scavenge some dinner. Exhausted it’s now time for bed.