Italy Part Two

Naples was quite interesting since we were there during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. There were bonfires on the beach in our town of Castellamarre and a parade that woke us up in the early hours of the morning. We went to Pompeii to walk through the ruins and saw several of the bodies that had been preserved by the lava. We also saw the Colosseum where Pink Floyd had done some recording. Downtown Naples was packed full of people and there were Madonnas everywhere. There were stores selling Christmas decorations and we went into a few churches that were decorated with gold and silver. The Amalfi Coast had amazing views but the bus ride was perilous. At the end of the ride we arrived in Salerno where we saw many different kinds of Christmas light displays.

We met the Shepherds in Rome and had a great time with them. We visited the Colosseum, the Forum, St Peter's, the Mouth of Truth, and Trevi Fountain together. It was great to just be with other people for a change and I had fun playing with Ryanne and Colby. One morning Mom, Dad, and the Shepherds went to an audience with the Pope while I stayed and babysat Ryanne and Colby. We even had a "Christmas Dinner" with them (two small chickens and some potatoes) and got each other a few small gifts (they had to fit in the suitcases). I will never forget Rome and it will be even more special because we got to spend it with our friends.

Exploring Northern Italy

MAMMA MIA!!! What a great time I had in northern Italy. I went to the Tower of Pisa and tried to help the people keep it upright but that didn't work. We may have made it worse! Whoopsie!

After staring at the tower and mimicking all the other tourists who were trying to push it back up, we went to Lucca where we jumped on bicycles and went for a ride around the walls of the old city. Since that wasn't enough, we drove through the streets on the bumpy cobblestones. I found out that there was to be a Comic-Con there and we just missed it.

Our next stop was the Cinque Terre and I had a great time exploring the five different villages. I enjoyed climbing up to different viewpoints as well as swimming in the ocean by our Levanto apartment.

We took the windy road to Bellagio on Lake Como and there we explored the town like we did five years ago. We found out that our host Fausto was a glassblower and that he created ornaments that he sold to Winners in Canada and TJMaxx in the United States. There were several other towns around the lake that we visited by ferry. Fausto also showed us where he packaged the ornaments and showed them to the buyers. He even gave us one so we will have to be careful getting it home!

We felt like we were in Switzerland when we traveled to Tyrol. There was nobody there who spoke Italian. They all spoke a German dialect that we could not understand. We spent the days driving high in the mountains and taking lots of pictures. We saw a few deer run across the road and an amazing lake that was half drained. We drove so high that we were surprised to see ski lifts all the way up there.

Our last stop in Italy was Venice and I had a wonderful time walking the streets and across the canals. St. Mark's cathedral was amazing on the inside because there were gold tiles covering the entire ceiling and the walls had mosaics on them. It was incredible to see all the ornaments and decorations on Murano and all the beautiful lace and brightly coloured buildings on Burano. The only problem was that it rained most of the time while we were in Venice. In the end I still enjoyed our time in Venice but I'd like to come back when it's not raining.