Oops, No Amalfi Post. Off to Mexico!

So our post for Amalfi never made it. We returned home and got caught up in the life we call work. In short, Amalfi was amazing. Stay away from Amalfi town and Positano, and try some hidden gems like Atrani. If you're looking to spend some money, the Palasso Sasso hotel has a great restaurant called Rosselinis (2 Michelin stars). Equally, there's some great eats to be had at much more affordable venues, although perhaps with less perfect views. Try finding a room with a great terrace and ordering some pizza and grabbing some local wine. No mistakes here. And for an authentic experience, try the coastal drive at dawn or dusk (photo above). I may or may not be driving on the wrong side of the road.

Now that we've been grounded for 3 months and the snow has finally landed in Southern Ontario, we're heading to Mexico. While I'm not an 'all-inclusive' type of traveler, there's something about the staff in speedos running the pool aerobics class that just doesn't work for me, I've decided to give it a chance .. for my beloved. We're heading to Secrets Maroma Beach on the Mayan Riviera and spending a night at the Meridien in Cancun before returning home.

Off to Amalfi!

Skipped a few Rome post but whatever. We're leaving for the Amalfi Coast (Ravello) today. This is probably the end of the blog-era for us until we do a final update when we return to Canada on Friday. Cheers.

Rome by Night

After a long day touring the Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's square we headed over check-in to hotel #2. After check-in we hit up a nearby pizzeria for some quick grub then over to Trevi fountain. Even around midnight the fountain is packed with tourists and even a wedding party. I couldn't imagine being in this city during prime tourist season. With gelato in hand we observed the throngs of people, seemingly from all backgrounds, snap photos and throw coins into the fountain.

Note: you can click on the photos above for a larger version.

Day 2 has us doing the "Caesar Shuffle" according to Rick Steves. Sounds like another long day, especially when all sights are much more dramatic at night and therefore require double duty.

Musei Vaticani | Basilica di San Pietro | Piazza San Pietro

Today we're tackling the motherload. The vatican museum, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's square. St. Peter's Basilica is the "homebase" of Catholicism and St. Peter's square is where the Pope gives his weekly blessings.

The vatican museum holds treasures from every era and is by no means solely a religious museum. The Egyptian sections were fascinating, if not a bit interesting how/why the church would acquire such pieces. Nothing can compare to the grand frescoes adorning the walls and ceilings, the massive tapestries and of course the grand finale, the Sistine Chapel -- which isn't part of the museums but you need to go through the museums to reach the Sistine Chapel. Each room is equally as impressive as the treasures it holds. The frescoed ceiling is said to be more than an entire football field worth of painting, almost all completed by Michelangelo himself. This is where the conclave occurs (when they need to select a new pope). Tip: book your tickets online in advance, around 1pm, which provides lots of time and less crowds. Also use the free Rick Steve's podcast.

The basilica holds more than 60,000 standing visitors and it's grandeur can only be appreciated by walking it's vast corridors. You don't need to have any religious affiliation to appreciate the scale and monumental task of building such a structure. We wandered about listening to the Rick Steve's audio guide on our iPods (great money saver and probably less boring) and even sat in on a mass in Italiano. This church differs greatly from the gothic style we saw in Paris/Barcelona and the extensive use of marble, of every colour, and goldleaf is amazing. Quick tip on avoiding the queues for St. Peter's. There's no entrance fee but a long security line. We visited the museum at 1pm on Friday then went to the basilica after. The lines were half what they were when we passed by at noon going to the museum. Later in the day is definitely best, unless it's a special occasion at the basilica.

St. Peter's square is massive in size and impossible to capture on 'film', at least from the ground. Most people have seen this square, at least in Tom Hanks recent film, and to see it filled with pilgrims would be quite the sight. Luckily it wasn't and our lines at the sights within Vatican city were reasonable.

We made it, Rome.

So we arrived in Roma after a pleasant drive through Tuscany, specifically Montepulciano. The weather has been great with nothing but sun and mid to high 20s. We're doing a bit of a in/out in Rome as we're checking into the Crowne Plaza for the first night, since it's near the Vatican and has free parking, then moving over to the St. Regis for a handful of other nights. Leaving our car at the Crowne Plaza will save us over 100 € in parking and the fees charged to non-residents who drive downtown. Anyway, driving in Rome has seemed not unlike Paris, a bit more unorganized which is sometimes is of benefit. The general rule is, don't hit the person in front of you. Therefore you don't need to worry about who's behind you, cut over when needed, do so quickly and the person behind you *should* stop. It's working so far. Squeezing through any open space is highly recommended. After getting settled we headed to Osteria dell'Angelo which offers traditional Roman dishes. Finding parking was like the other big cities -- if there's a space without a car in it, then it's a parking spot. The resto offers a fixed menu which included toasted bread with the best olive oil we've had, chorizo (or similar), something that looked like humus but wasn't and a bean variety. Then you get a choice of 4 pasta dishes, I chose gnocchi and Julie spaghetti. Probably the best pastas to date. For the main meal I had oxtail and Julie opted for what we understood as rolled beef with cheese and bacon inside. Sounded like a heart-stopper so she went for it. We've been eating at less touristy spots (or no tourists) for the majority of the trip and have seen our fair share of waiters who speak only a few words of English, we're keeping it authentic. Food was great and topped off with some cookies, sweet red wine -- which actually was good. We hiked over to the Vatican city and hungout with the few other dozen people checking out St. Peter's square. You can't enter the square at night, but St. Peter's Basilica and the other buildings are all lit up. Off to bed and an early morning will put us at breakfast with the Pope.

Fiorentina 2 - 0 Sampdoria

Our good friend Bruno, who has the Serie A schedule memorized, put us on notice of a match that would occur while we're in Florence. Perfect. So while we're leaving dinner and could hear the sirens from the polizia rolling down the street we thought nothing of it, until we noticed the bus loads of away supporters following them. Football factories here we come.

After having to show our passports to even get into the area surrounding the stadium we knew we were in for the real deal. It took us a few attempts to find our proper entrance to the stadium as the staffs English was limited to pointing, which including 2 stewards pointing to each others gate. A friendly match-goer set us straight. Absolutely everyone was in their seats. There's no messing about. Our section was full of middle aged men, a few women, and lots of cigars. No one talked except to yell at the referee or players. It's entirely about the game. We didn't see anyone drinking beer in the stands and the only thing being sold in the stands was none other than gelato. At half we decided to wander the stadium and the biggest line was at the espresso and gelato stands. As Julie exited the washroom we noticed that the entire concession area had emptied. People did not linger and certainly did not miss a minute of the match. The Sampdoria fans had their own section bordered by a completely empty section on each side and a staff member sitting in each row of the empty sections to ensure no one got near one another. Throughout the match the away fans were signifanctly louder, at least from our vantage point, except when an 'incorrect' call was made -- then the home team let their unified voice be heard. After the match, a 2-0 victory for the home team, the away fans stayed for at least 20 mins after the match, chanting and waving their dozen flags. As we were likely the last souls to leave the stadium, we weren't in a rush as we didn't know how to get home, the away fans were still doing their chants, even as we walked down the road away from the stadium. There's a video posted on the right.

All in all a great experience and a dramatic contrast to the social event that Toronto sporting events are. I'm sure there was some colourful commentary throughout the match, of which we could only understand; 'Madonna' 'Dio' and 'Momma Mia'. These fans truly bled Viola.

Cinque Terre and Pisa

Yesterday we packed our agenda with visiting Cinque Terre and stopping in to Pisa to eye the tower for two seconds (at Julie's request). Cinque Terre is a set of 5 villages clinging to cliffs or on the water that are only accessible by foot paths or train. In actuality there are roads that lead to each now, but some are only available to residents. We arrived in Monterosso after a crazy route provided by our GPS (video soon). Sometimes the fastest route isn't the most logical, as the GPS doesn't consider if the road is 7' wide or 3' wide. Monterosso is on the water and felt like a resort town with a packed beach and tonnes of shops. Many Canadians, Americans and Germans in these villages. Making the hike to the next village, Vernazza meant hiking narrow paths (see photo -- this was the widest at some sections) clinging to the cliffs among vineyards and rows of olive groves all with stunning views of the ocean. The elavation changes were deadly and the 30+ C weather didn't help. The views were similiar to the Cabot trail in Eastern Canada although the view of the pastel villages was like nothing we've ever seen. Vernazza in a hidden cover was the most beautiful of the villages, in our opinion. Continuing on to Corniglia, a village set atop cliffs, with barely any tourist or shops we decided that after about 3.5 hours of hiking up over a kilometer of elevation change that we would take the 7 min train ride back to Monterosso and drive off to Pisa. Our 1 hour stay in Pisa included dinner and about 12 seconds of looking at a tower that, from some angles, looked liked it was leaning (it obviously was). Not sure how this ever became a tourist destination.