Italy

I never thought I'd say it, but I'm pizza-ed out. Actually, I can't wait to get home and eat lots of chicken and beef and veggies. I have bruises all over my body from minor bumps and stuff, which I am attributing to the lack of protein over the summer! But if that is all I complain about after all this time, I think the trip was pretty successful.

My first stop in Italy was Venice. I only spent one day there, which is probably all you can spend there unless you are rich. I wasn't overly impressed with St Mark's Square, but loved walking along the time streets out of the typical tourist tracks. I couldn't afford a gondola ride, but I did take the vaporetto (public boat) several times along the Grand Canal.

From Venice I took 4 (yes 4) trains to get to the other side of Italy to Cinque Terre (5 small villages on the Italian Riviera). While Cinque Terre was beautiful and relaxing, I think maybe the reason everyone goes so ga-ga over it is because it is so different from all the cities you typically are spending time in while traveling through Europe. My first day I hiked the 7.5 miles between the villages. It was hot but thankfully the beach awaited me at the end. My next two days I spent on the beach, alternating between swimming, sleeping and reading (I finished Gone With the Wind - reading about half of it while there). I ate well too - lots of pasta, including a pesto lasagna that an old coworker raved about.

From CT, I traveled to Florence with a quick pit stop in Pisa. The Leaning Tower, was well, leaning. The 15 Euro pricetag and the 2 hour wait stopped me from going up. Florence was beautiful as everyone promised. My favorite things there were Michelangelo's David - I know little about art and am honestly art-ed out and I still totally appreciated it, and the Duomo Church. It was huge and absolutely beautiful. I also went to mass there. I didn't understand a word of it, besides Amen, but could follow along with the service.

I made a one night quick stop in Siena. It was nice, but I was hoping for less crowds and more fresh air. I did see St. Catherine's - the patron Saint of Italy -relics (aka her skull). That was... interesting.

Now I am in Rome and feeling completely incompetent as an engineer. It is amazing what they created almost 2000 years ago and how little we've come since then. I toured the Colosseum and then the Vatican and St Peter's Basilica. I did what I think is the best part of my whole trip yesterday, I toured the excavations under the basilica, which where done in the 1940's to prove that St Peter's grave is located directly under the papal alter and Michelangelo's dome. It was amazing to see ruins from 1900 years ago and where they found the grave exactly where they expected it to be. Today I visited the Forum and the Pantheon (again being humbled by the engineering) and then visiting ruins similar to Pompeii, just a few miles outside of Rome tomorrow.

I'm having a hard time believing that my 7 weeks here is almost over. It certainly doesn't seem as if I have been living out of a backpack and with the same 5 shirts for that long! I am ready to come back though and start school. And the timing of my drive back to Seattle works out with my dad's need to be in Seattle for work so I have a driving partner!