The Lisa and Scott blog now officially finds us in Rome, but we will hold off for a few moments and get you up to date.

Let’s us talk about Pompeii!

We did not arrive in Pompeii until 10:00pm at night. The hotel was a block from the train station, which is nice when you enter a new city without a map and it is dark out. For those planning to stay in Pompeii, I give my personal shout out for Hotel Diana. The place was a bit small, but the breakfast was great and the staff was friendly. Tell your friends: Hotel Diana in Pompeii.

Now to the ruins! The site is huge, probably at least a mile wide and a mile long. This makes it a tough day when it is an Italian summer, but it was still worth the trip. We rented the audio guides and supplemented them with the Rick Steve’s tour in our book, which helped us find most of the larger sites to check out. Lisa had a great time checking out much of the architectural concepts from 79 a.d. that are still standards today, while really enjoyed the theater that was almost built…and the Mount Vesuvius blew. (It really is quite a site to see an entire city that was once a flourishing city with lots of people! It is amazing how many concepts of building we still use in today’s construction… FACINATING. I can only imagine what it must be like as an archaeologist uncovering history that is preserved.
Some of the walls still had paintings on the wall and the stone mosaics are so detailed and STILL look beautiful. Talk about being built to last, a detail American construction has yet to learn. You also notice that the rich people lived among the poor, one house may take up and entire city block and then the smaller homes are surrounding this home. Lastly, you felt an incredible amount of sorrow when you found the people who suffocated under the ash to their death. One of the bodies looked like they were praying to god up until their last breath.)

It was a long and hot day, but still totally worth the trip. (Very hot day)

That night, we went to eat in the a really nice Trattoria in the center of Pompeii. Our service was excellent and the food was great. Next to us, a couple sits down and as they are checking out the menu, I hear a reference to “Dumb and Dumber” come from one of them. Needless to say, we talked to them for the next hour. Ray and Kate are from Australia and making a trek through Europe, and stopping whenever it seems they can. Ray is a big time surfer, and is desperate to surf Mavericks in the California so hopefully we will hear from them when they make it to California.

Sadly, Lisa and I had to catch a train for Rome at 7:00am the next day, so we became adults and went home early L

Next Day: ROME!!

Our first day in Rome was pretty uneventful from a vacation point of view, but a lot happened. Our hotel had a broken air conditioner, so they bumped us up to a four star a few blocks down. A nice place, but the roof top terrace closes before sunset….but the best a.c. we have had on the trip.

We decided we wanted beer, so we ate at an Irish Pub down the street and realized that the Irish can’t make food in any town, albeit Rome, New York, or San Ramon (Or Denver). The beer was great.

We made a decision the next day to skip public transportation for the rest of the trip and rent scooters in Rome. Yes, yes, everyone says it is crazy to drive in Rome, but it seemed no different than driving in San Francisco. Truth is: it is pretty tough. The whole town is a one way street, which makes it tough for navigation. It took us about 60 minutes to get about 10 minutes to see the Pantheon today. I think it will be a bit easier tomorrow, since we seemed to have driven on every street in central Rome today.

This afternoon we did a tour of the Vatican museum. The tour was only 8 people, so we got a lot more out of this tour than previous ones. The sistine chapel is as incredible as you think it is. Everywhere you look, there was another amazing fresco and story from the bible. You would have to be there for at least 3 or four days just to take in all of it.

It is now dark, and we are running out of wine, so I have to go. Hopefully we can get in another message before we leave, but since our last full day is Saturday, we might opt to scooter a little longer than come home to highlight the day.

Until the next message,

Ching Ching!

Florence (Firenze) Continued...:

Day two on the Vespa's, I have to admit I am getting addicted to these things. Now that we have been on the Vespa for a day we are feeling a little more comfortable, but we still wanted to go out of town in order to get away from the people and traffic.


Today we started with the Duomo climb to the top... four hundred and some odd steps to the top! They were all made out of stone and all shapes and sizes. First we were able to see the interior of the dome much closer, the paintings are incredible once you can see them up close.




Then we had a few hundred more steps and it was worth it because the view's from the top are incredible. Yes, the climb is actually worth it.

After the Duomo, we jumped back on the scooters and off into the country we went. We drove up to a town named Fielsole. The Romans settled for a point in time because it was cooler than in the valley where Florence is located. We traveled on past the town and drove up through the hills. It was like mountain biking without all the energy and you could go much faster and could cover a lot of ground.

We were on a one car width road and some country roads and it reminded me of Napa Valley, without all the tourists. Lots of vinyards and olive tree's etc. and huge old homes. It was the highlight of our trip to be riding in the wind up in the hills of Tuscany.... ;)

Today was a sad moment in time because we had to return the Vespa's (scooters). We has our picture taken with the owner of the company who was such a cool guy. I want to buy a scooter now... so much fun, very convenient and better on the environment!!!
After we turned in the scooters, we were at a moment of "what should we do now". Our options... go shopping or take a day trip somewhere.... We decided to take a trip to Pisa to visit the "leaning tower of Pisa". Sigh... It was just ok.

The tower and the church was incredible, but they charge to see each part and gave you a time when you could see it which was hours later... Scott and I decided it was a ploy to keep tourists in town longer as we discovered this was the only attraction had to offer.
We walked around and took pictures of the incredible architecture and stopped to have a snack. The food AND the wine was horrible, I guess we will not have to go back to Pisa in our lifetime. Florence is still the highlight of our trip and we look forward to visiting again!!!

So tomorrow is our last day in Florence, and then it is off to Pompeii. The hotel has internet access there, too, so we should be pretty good about keeping up on the blog.

Buona Sera!

Florence…

What can I say? From the point of leaving the train, Florence has been nothing but incredible for us. It captures you from the get go with its small cobble-stone streets and buildings that were probably built before Columbus even thought of commanding a fleet.

For starters, our hotel is in the North West corner of the city. It seems to be a bit less congested in our area than central Florence. The hotel is the best placed we have stayed yet on our trip. We are on the top floor with a great view of the duomo, which sticks out of the skyline like the Transamerican building.

The room has lots of space and free internet access, which is why we are catching up on our postings!

It is an interesting city, because it seems to be caught between its past and the present day. Streets that were designed for carts or maybe a horse now are filled with small European cars and scooters. You see a sculpture of Neptune on one street corner and then almost get taken down by a Vespa on another. Street merchants are everywhere. If you want leather, this the place to be. Hopefully we can find some coats that fit, because you cannot find deals like this in the US.

The food is incredible! I have never had such great pastas! I ordered simple a breast of chicken the other night, and I have to say without hyperbole that I have ne

ver tasted a piece of chicken as delicious as that one. (Lisa and I go back tonight, hopefully!)

Our first full day in Florence was the day of tours. We had paid tour in the morning and in the afternoon. The morning tour was walk through the town which finshed off at the Academia museum featuring Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. We could not take pics so I have nothing to show, but I do have to say that any picture or and video of David does not do it the justice as you stand before the 17 foot statue. It is breathless to think a man chisled such a likeness of man from a piece of stone. (Mamaaaa miaaaa, yes David is AMAZING... along with the other sculptures leading up to the David. On th

e morning tour we also looked at many medieval buildings which are now shopping stores on the ground level and apartments above. We also saw the Duomo... I am looking for the words..... uhhhhh GINORMOUS, Breathtaking beauty. I must admit I enjoyed the exterior more than the interior, although

the interior of the dome is quite ornate. They began cleaning the marble exterior 16 years ago and have only completed the front facade and one side. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT, talk about job security!!! You can really see the color of the marble on the cleaned portions. Apparently the pollution is corroding the marble away and turning it into chaulk. Here is another plug for a reason to change our destructive ways... if we don't we will destroy the beauty of the statues and buildings of our history! The city has power plugs all over the city for people with electric cars and scooters to plug into for FREE! This sounds like a great incentive to get people to buy altertanative fueled cars. )

The afternoon was a tour of the Uffizi museum. It was a pretty informative, but waaaaaay too long. We did see some great works of art, but after 2 hours of standing in a room that is over 80 degrees, you tend to lose your attention. (Whilst we were in the museum we were studying a couple paitings by Leonardo da Vinci and like a swarm of bee's the room is taken over by a bunch of suit's with an coiling wire up to their ear's. You guessed it, the secret service, but for whom? A bunch of languages were enchanged and our tour group was rushed out of the room, so much for enjoying those paitings. It turns out the president of Austria was visiting a beaurocrat in Florence and they were visiting the sites together. This and one other incident is about all we have had in the way of running into someone famous)

Today, we got a little risky and rented scooters, and WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! (Although Scott and I have very limited experience with a scooter, both of us almost wrecked just leaving the rental store. They will give these things to anyone.... SCARY) We picked up a map and took off south through the Tuscany region. It reminds you of Napa or Calistoga, but the houses are all older than our country. We drove down to a small town called Greve in the Chianti region and had a late lunch.

On the way back, we stopped at Pizzale Michelango, which is a plateau on top of a southern hill facing Florence. The place is perfect for taking picures…like this one!

Anyway, Lisa and I are off to dinner. Until the next time, Ciao, baby!

(If you could not tell by now, Lisa writes in red..)

VENICE:

Well, I don't know what they put in the I.V., but I felt like a new woman after about 20 minutes of the I.V. My stomach had been in a constant state of cramp, and let me tell you that is the most painfull thing I have ever felt. I honestly thought I caught the plague and was on my death bed! Fortunately Scott and I were able to stop by the church built when the plague has passed on and Thank her for our good health. It is a strange experience being in a foreign country's hospital where they are looking at you and poking here and there and then &*^*&;^%^%$#% &$$%##$%^&*, or that was about what I understood of what they were saying. Makes you wonder if you are going to live or not!


So after being in Venice for 3 days I finally get to take my first steps as a tourist.... fantastico!! What beautiful views and water all around. I had heard Venice could be stinky in the summer months... and my opinion, FALSE. Yes, you might walk around a corner and get a funky whiff, but that is no different than any city I have ever visited. Everything is so ancient, the buildings so grand. I stand in the doorway and feel like a dwarf! Every building has a story to tell and the amount of statue's and decoration on the buildings is breathtaking, it is more a work of art than a building. It is hard to comprehend the amount of time these buildings have been functioning and they are STILL IN USE.

Everything is under renovation in Venice. You see crain's and scaffolding everywhere. It seems the government of Italy has deemed the city important enough to preserve and protect, so they are spending lots of money!!!

My favorite moments on the island were the gondola ride with Scott at night. It was so peaceful to be on the canal's at night. You get an entirely different perspective of the city and it is very romantic. Prrrrrr Me Amore... It was as if Scott and I were the only two people on the island... well and the gondoleer. My other favorite moment was on the Island of Murano. I always thought Murano was a famous glass worker and was curious how he did so much work... It turns out the glass just comes from the island. I was in awe looking every direction. We were able to see a glass worker do his magic in a 1000 degree hot room (I may be exagerating, but it was HOT). I have no idea how these artist's stand the heat, they must LOVE their work. My favorite works were those with a Picasso touch, there were many. And the chandeliers... they were so beautiful, I wanted to buy one, but it would look funny over our wooden square table in the Townhouse. ;) maybe next time.

The island of Murano is just as beautiful as the rest of Venice, it is just at a much slower pace and more peaceful. I really enjoyed the quiet, in fact, this could have been my "heaven on earth". I am not so sure Scott would agree, if I took him into one more glass store I think he was going to strangle me! ;) It is our intention to return to Venice one day, although we have said this about every stop thus far. Hopefully next time our health will be better so that we can explore all its potential.

(Scott Again):
As for the World Cup, it was pretty crazy that in every store and every restaurant, the game was either turned on or being listened to by radio. We were eating when Italy scored there first goal, and we knew it because a cheer came from every direction and every boat honked its horn.

Luckily, the Venicians party until about 2:00am and then keep it down. I did see some shops were closed the next day with a sign saying, "Partied too hard after the game. See you tomorrow." You gotta love the Italian way of pleasure before business!

Next Stop, Florence. But Until then, here is a candid pic of Lisa and I in San Marco Square.
Ciao!

Bonjour Deaux!

Although we are currently not in Paris I will write about the end of Paris. The Blog was stalled by a few things (which I will go into later), but for now. I will talk about Paris.

If you go to Paris, a good tip from my parents and a good way to get your bearings in the city is to ride the Les Carres Rouges (The Red Cars). The red buses have open air 2nd floor tops and they ride all around the famous spots and landmarks of Paris. Lisa and I started our second day on the buses and trotted all over Paris.


We did some shopping in their downtown district a bit and walked all over. This time of year crowds are plentiful and weather is served up hot. Luckily there are vendors and small cafes that served wine, beer, and water so you can relax.

The next day Lisa and I hit the Louvre, which is no museum that you have ever seen before. The place is huge!!! We bought some audio guides, but there is so many works of art in that place and only every 20th object had an audio message. Still, we saw what most people come to the Louvre to see....and I do not mean Tom Hanks bowing over the inverted pyramid (I was looking for him!):


I found out that Mona Lisa means "My Dear Lisa," so that has been her nickname for the rest of the trip.

So, yes, we were in Paris when France beat Portugal to go to the finals in the world cup. We were staying in a hotel close to the Eiffel Tower, which is not too close to downtown. The mayhem you might have saw on the streets was over the river from us, but we did toast with our waitress to France's victory.

We almost thought we got away from the crazy Parisians and the world cup frenzy, but we were wrong. All night they drove by honking and yelling some crazy France talk. About 4:30am, with no sleep, and knowing we needed to check out the next day to go to our next destination, Lisa and I decided to join them. We popped open a bottle of wine, squeezed out on the balcony, and listened to the cars and vespas drive by. We were serenaded for the next 60 minutes by some kids playing guitar and singing Bob Marley songs. We finally got to bed around dawn.

Then...like an abc miniseries or a VH1 "Behind the Music".....disaster struck.

The next day we wake up around 10:00 am and the first thing Lisa says to me is:

"I think I have the flu."

The poor girl was in bed all day until we left for the train station around 5:00. Paris's underground subway went directly the train station, which made it an easy route for us. The part Paris did not tell us and we got to find out on our own was the last three subway stations were closed, so we had to hop on a bus to get to the train station.

(Lisa's notes: noooo, no no no, Scott is too nice. The subway system is very nice if it is just you and a tiny little purse and you don't mind shoving your way on to the train. I had a woman turn around backwards and shove her ASS in first and lets just say I had someone's armpit in my face while trying to pick up my luggage at the same time.)

Now I want you to imagine this for a second: Lisa, who had had chills, stomach cramps, could not hold down food all day, packed up her clothes, got on a crowded subway system for about 30 minutes (standing up the whole time and holding her luggage), got onto a crowded, smelly bus for another 30 minutes, and walked about another mile to the train station. She did this all without complaining or wanting to turn back. (Back off guys! She is with me!)

(Lisa's notes: Well, my only hope is that we never evolve to be able to read minds, cuz I was cussing God and everyone out... I was about to start asking for my mommy, I was in so much pain; the bus ride... was the worst.)


VENICE

We took the overnighter and arrived in the Venice the next day. Lisa tossed and turned all night, stomach cramps and chills the whole time. When we got to Venice, we took a 45 minute boat ride to our hotel which was luckily about 20 steps from the vaporetto(Venice Ferry).

I will let Lisa get into how nice Venice is, but before I do, I will explain to you what the first 3 days in Venice were like:

• Day 1:Lisa still is very sick and nothing has changed. The chills subside for a bit with ibruprofen, but nothing ever lasts.
• Day 2: She is still the same and has not held down anything for 3 days now. We thought maybe all the travel was the problem, so staying in one place might do the thing. We were wrong.
  We called a doctor in the morning. Unlike the US, they still make house calls in Venice! He diagnosed her with a bad bacteria from food in Paris, gave her antibiotics and some immodium and was on his way.
  (The doctor scared me, he screamed at me... "You drinka TEA.... and eeSTOP! ehhhh Nothing else. If you go to the hospital... they give you TEA. No coke, no wine, no beera. Just TEA... AND eeSTOP!)
• Day 3:
  Well...the doctor was a nice enough guy, but he missed something because Lisa, even with drugs has still not changed.
  (Lisa's notes: Scott keeps talking about what Lisa did, he was amazing and helped me through one of the most painful parts of my life and was there every step of the way. I broke down a couple of times from being in pain for so long and also because I was in a beautiful place and neither of us could enjoy it. He was so understanding and was the most caring individual I could have asked for... If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have made it. If I didn't know it before, I know it now... I have the most incredible man for a boyfriend and I will appreciate him every day...Thank you HONEY)
  
  So let me tell you what Lisa did again:
  With no food for at least 3 days, she walked across the island to Venice to the hospital so we could get her checked in. After finally having some nice old man help us, we found the urgent care and checked her in.
  Her prognosis: A stomach bacteria and total dehydration.
  

Before:


And after about 1.5 liters of IV:

Bonjour!
Sorry we have not written until now, but the one thing you realize about a blog on vacation is that you already have so much to do that writing your journal is the last thing on your mind. (You do it when you can fall upon a unsecured local wireless access point while you are doing laundry!!)

Anyways, this us at the first place we ate in Europe. It was a long trek, so let me get into that a bit

Scott's quick Air travel rant:
I think if it was possible to get to Europe by shoving needles in your eyes, it might be less painful than one of the airlines. We booked six months in advance to secured bulk head an exit seats the entire way in order to find out that the airline decided to condense a few flights down and stick us big folk in regular seating. Needless to say I did some dental work onthe person in from of me for about 12 hours. The trip did go much faster because I brought a bunch of movies on my laptop and we watched movies the entire time. I wanted to read during the second leg, but since the light did not work, we watched more movies.

Anyways, we get to our hotel and, bon!, what a find this place was. Kudos to Kirk Austin for the recommendation! From our balcony, you look to the left and you can see this:
And....if you look to the right:

Needless to say we did a quick happy dance. :)

Our first night out we experienced what they call the "proudness" of the French at the a little restaurant on a side street. Since neither of spoke any real French and they were sure not going to speak English to us, it was a bit exhausting to get through the meal. The meal was saved by a polite old man sitting next to us, Jele', that started up conversation with us in English. A nice guy, and he got nice as we shared our wine with him. We finished up the rest of the night talking to him and was glad to get our one bad dining experience our of the way.

After that experience, every restaurant experience has been great. We try to speak French and they seem to like us trying because they mostly seem to either start speaking in English or they help us get through it!

So for the next few days we have been seeing the sights. On the first night, we walked underneath the Eiffel Tower and watched it as it lights up every hour for about 10 minutes. You see pictures of it, but words really cannot describe its immense beauty. The youth of the area seem to congregate on the lawns every night in front of it.

For the rest of the time we are either walking for taking the red tour bus around town.

Well, it seems like my clothes will be done in a few minutes, so I will leave you with a picture of Lisa and I on the Pont Alexandre III bridge in paris:

So begins the blog for the 2006 Tour of Europe for Lisa and Scott!

We are now 4 days from leaving on our Trip, which should be a fun filled adventure through Paris and various parts of Italy.

Here is the trip in bullets:

• July 2nd - Arrive in Paris, France
  
• July 6th - Overnight train ride
• July 7th - Arrive in Venice, Italy
• July 12th - Arrive in Florence
• July 17th - Arrive in Pompeii
• July 19th - Arrive in Rome
• July 23rd - Fly our tails back to the US

Next time we speak...we will be speaking French (or, at least, trying to speak it...)