2nd June 2012

Hi all.

To pick up where I last left of last time............

The day after we took a tour of the Amalfi Coast we travelled into see the excavation site of Pompeii and check out Mt Vesuvius. Pompeii was amazing. We joined a small tour of the site which took about 2 hours and showed the most important places in the town. I could have spent hours exploring the rest of it but just as we finished the tour the rain started and it was no spring shower, it just poured down. Of course there is very little undercover on the site so it made seeing anything else all but impossible. I was surprised at just how big it is. This also meant that we couldn't drive up to Mt Vesuvius. A bit disappointing, however you can see it from all of Naples. It would have been fun to get a closer look.
That afternoon after the rain had slowed a bit we went for a drive around Serrento where we had been staying. It is very beautiful and has some quite amazing, very famous hotels.
Now for Emily's favourite adventure so far.......In the evening Em and I took a cooking class at Mami Camilla's, the hotel we were staying at. We learnt how to make Stuffed Zucchini Flowers, Fresh Ravioli with homemade Tomato Sauce, Italian Lamb and Potatoes and Shortbread Fruit and Custard Tarts. Emily got to work mostly on her own without her mother butting in.....which she thoroughly enjoyed and as she was the youngest appeared to be the teachers favourite so she got to do a few extra things. Afterwards we got to sit down in the restaurant and enjoy what we had made. Mark was able to join us for dinner and Em had great pleasure dishing up what she had made for her Dad to try. We were given an apron and a cook book to use and take home with us so Em cant wait to get home and cook up a storm!!!!!!
The next day we checked out and headed for Rome. We stayed out of Rome a bit and took the hotel Shuttle bus into the city. We have seen some interesting and beautiful parts of Italy but there is also alot of it that is very dirty and not terribly appealing, like most countries I guess. I expected Rome to be a bit  like this but was really surprised how clean it was. It was fascinating and I would love to return one day to spend some more time. There are old roman ruins scattered all over the city which I didn't expect. We visited Vatican City and actually got to see the Pope giving an address to the people which was very exciting. It was a very hot day and the address went on for a few hours. How the police and representatives from the church stand for hours in that heat without moving is just incredible.
We visited the Fountain of Trevi and threw in some coins. Throwing one coin means you will one day return to Rome, throwing two means you will marry an Italian..........Emily would only throw ONE!!!!!! The Fountain is really beautiful but there were so many people in the Piazza it was hard to move. It would be nice to visit again when it was not so busy. We had a lovely meal in a little restaurant close by and then headed to the Colosseum. We really enjoyed the Colosseum, like Pompeii, it is just like stepping back in time.
We spent the last couple of hours just wandering through the little back streets and visiting the old Jewish Ghetto. There are so many Piazza's or squares in the city, all of them very beautiful and with ornate statues and fountains. We saw a wedding taking place in the Piazza Veneza..... how she made it up all those steps in her dress and very high healed shoes I will never know.
The next day we spent catching up on some rest. it is quite hot in Rome with temps about 30-33 degrees so we had a swim and just took it easy. As much as we are enjoying our trip (and we are by no means whingeing)it is actually quite hard work!!
The following day we decided to head up into Tuscany. We drove to Sienna and spent the night. We visited a very quaint little walled city and enjoyed a traditional Tuscan dinner complete with Wild Bore (or Mark did anyway).
Today we drove through some beautiful wine country and meandered our way back down to the port city of Civitavecchia as tomorrow we leave for a 7 night cruise of the Eastern Mediterranean and will get to visit Sicily, Greece and Turkey. I'm pretty sure we wont be able to blog till we get back to Italy so look forward to catching up then!!

Artifacts excavated from Pompeii

A steet in Pompeii

A plaster cast of a body burried beneath Volcanic Ash

The ancient Roman Theatre

Another body

Marble columns in Pompeii

Part of the ancient city square

more artifacts

Emily with the cooking teacher

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The process of making Ravioli.....making the dough

putting the dough through the pasta machine

Laying out the pasta

filling the ravioli

cutting out the raviloi

Tuscany...grape vines and olive groves

Tuscany

Tusca

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