Having trouble loading pics....... So much to show you. Hopefully a better connection in Italy.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Now With pictures!
We left hotel Lodi and headed for Rome Termini at about 10 AM. The hotel let us keep a couple bags there, which was great because we had a pretty heavy load as it was. We got tickets for Naples and had to decide between the two trains listed. Both headed for Naples at the same time and looked the same. It ended up being the wrong train and for some reason we had to pay more money when we were onboard. The conductor said it was the “intercity” train. I’ve had a few bumps and mistakes traveling around Europe but that was a new one. We enjoyed the scenery and played scopa (an Italian card game that has its own deck of cards). The ride took about two hours and at one point we ran along the Mediterranean and a little town build next to it. Very nice. When we got to Naples we were guided to an office that sold ferry tickets right in the train station. We bought a one way ticket to Palermo, Sicily that left at 8:30PM. We had about 6 hours to kill before we had to board the ferry so we decided to head to where it left and walk around there. We had to take a bus to get to the port so we bought bus tickets in the trainstation and headed to the bus stop. Stepping out of the bus stop into Naples was a little shocking because it was the dirtiest looking Italian city I’ve ever seen and very very busy. The buildings just looked like they had a grimy, dirty coating on them and were the box type of architecture you wouldnt think to see in Italy. On the way to the bus stop we bought some bread, cheese, water and frittatas for later. We went the wrong way on the bus, taking it to the end of its run but that was okay because then it turned around and headed the way we wanted to go, plus we got to see more of the city. As we got further and further away from the bus stop Naples started transforming. Although there still was trash on many streets (there is a mafia relater strike) the buildings were no longer cookie cutter boxes and the dirty feel was less pronounced. 
When we got to our stop the transformation was complete. A large castle welcomed us to the water front and Italian style homes and shops were everywhere. The port was full of huge cruise ships and cargo ships. We found where the check in office was and set off exploring. We were dragging around our luggage, which wasn’t pleasant, but we needed to balance out the pizza eating anyway. We walked past the castle and into this neighborhood of tiny alleys where mo-peds zoomed by with barely a beep of warning. There were all kinds of restaurants and shops, including bread and butcher shops. We found a little pizza place and sat down. We figured we couldnt come to the home of pizza and not have any. The pizza was very very good. We ordered a little margherita each and it was a simple but perfect pizza. Cheese, basil and sauce mixed together perfectly. 
Home made cheese, sauce and dough in perfect compliment. After pizza we headed to the port and sat down on a bench for a while, watching the sun set and all the people handle their business. There was a dog laying there that I tossed some bread to but it didnt seem interested. We went into a little cafe and had a couple espressos while we waited. At about 6:30 we headed to the ticket office and turned our reciept into the boarding tickets. Hardly anyone so far on our trip (except for the deskman at hotel Lodi in Rome) spoke english, less and less as we headed south) so I was glad that I practiced with Mario and each day my Italian has been getting better. After the ticket office I stopped and petted the dog and that brought about an instant change. He hopped up and would be our guard dog on the way to the ship, barking at mopeds and strangers never getting more that a few feet from us. The way to the boat was a little confusing, with signs pointing to a bus loading area and stopping there. I played catch with the dog while we figured out which way to go. We tried a dark side street and it turned out to lead right to the loading area. 
Our ship was not a little ferry, like we thought it would be but a huge mediterranean cruise ship called “Snav Lazio”. We had our passports checked and leaving our companion behind, headed aboard. The ship was beautiful. At check in we were informed that we could find our seats on two different decks (we had chosen not to pay for a cabin) and we saw listed on the decks casino, disco, bar, restaurant, movie theater and game room. This was not some little ferry! We settled in a back room with large comfortable chairs around little table. No one else was back there so it was like we had our own, large room. We took turns exploring (as someone had to watch the luggage)
and I saw the luxury or each previously listed area. Because it wasnt the summer high season some areas were not active (the disco, casino and game room) but they had a cheap bar and poppa and I had a corona on the top deck as we left the dock. 
We made a nice dinner with the cheese, tomato, bread and avocado we had bought and although for a little while there were some loud Italians we pretty much had the area to ourselves all night. While dad slept I went up to the top deck and saw the beauty of a nearly full moon shining on the black mediterranean. I was all alone up there and for 360 degrees it was only me and the sea. Warm with a slight wind and beautiful clouds and clear constellations It was a great spot to soak in the fact that few people (especially where I am from) would ever be able to see this.
I woke up at about 5:30 to dad singing to his Ipod and we went to the top deck to see the sunrise and Palermo come into view. We waited to disembark with the other passengers (an Italian soccer team included) our arrival time about 6:45AM. When we got off we saw the ferrari brand trucks unload the cargo and made our way out of the port. I talked to a guard and found out where the ticket offices were to buy berth on a ship to Tunis was. We had a few hours to kill before they opened so we set off to explore Palermo for a while. We found a nice piazza with sculpture and old buildings where I talked to Bill and my sister and had a nice happy birthday song sung to me by them and my nieces. I was 22.... I know pretty old. It was hard to imagine that 4 years ago I was a senior in highschool, not a care in the world only thinking about what I would do on the weekend and what team we would play in basketball that week. 
Feels like 10. Time ebbs and flows and at times feels like its going by in warp speed but mostly it crawls by. Especially when I sit back and think about everything Ive done then It really feels like more that 4 years. I feel like Im really good at living in the moment and dont spend too much time thinking about the past or what could have happened or things I should/could have done. I think that can be a good or bad thing but Im pretty good about learning from my mistakes. Living by the things my parents have imprinted into me - caring about family, trying to be a good, generous person taking care of myself and always taking the highroad I have done pretty well. My biggest regret would probably the way I handled my first few years of college. Anyway back to the trip! Palermo is a beautiful, very old city full of historic buildings and little streets through ancient neighborhoods. We got a map from a hotel and the guy at the desk told me that there were three old markets that were in the most authentic areas. 
We decided to do a big loop through town and hit all of them. It took a few hours and we missed the ship to Tunis but i
t was worth it. The markets were really cool, filled with much different foods than in Florence markets. All kinds of fish and crustaceans were the biggest difference but with the different climate there was also tons of fresh fruit. (It was hot in Sicily!) We found a bus station that had tickets to another town that had ferrys to Tunis. The bus left every hour and we ate clementines as we waited. The bus w
as nice, beautiful, sunny countryside with cactus and light blue ocean were the highlights. We arrived in Trapani about an hour and a half later. We had no map of Trapani so we just walked from the bus stop until we found the ocean. We saw that Trapani stuck out like a little peninsula. We reasoned that since there was no port on the side we were on that it mu
st be on the other side. It was strange walking through the town because there was not one person in the streets and no stores were open. All that was missing was the tumbleweeds. It was hot and the buildings were all painted white and mostly one floor. They looked very much like the ones in mexico but with an Italian twist. When we made it to the otherside there was some traffic and the port with large ships were in site. We found a ticket office and found that there was no ships until monday. We looked around for hotels for a while until we f
ound an inexpensive one called “Hotel Moderno” The streets were full of stores but still completely empty. It felt like one of those movies where the people’s car breaks down and they end up dying in the weird, deserted town! But it was too beautiful and sunny to be too weird. Although it was odd. The hotel was nicer than its price and we settled in for a nap and showers. We decided to go out for a walk around 7:30 and to our shock the streets were full! I mean full. Not with cars but people. Wall to wall as far as the eye could see people were walking and laughing and hangingout. Mostly young people too. Darker than up north with more piercings but the same dressed up sense of style they filled the streets with energy and laughter. We walked around enjoying the architecture (in the center there were many old churches and nice buildings) before stopping in “the jumping cafe” for a espresso with brandy for a birthday to
ast. We found and amazing pizza place called “calvinos” That was completely full of people that busted out a pizza a minute but still couldnt keep up with demand. While I was waiting I got to talk to my mom for a few minutes and got a happy birthday from her. For about 8 Euro we got a huge sicilian margherita pizza. I cant remember what pizza hut says a sicilian style is but they are definitely wrong. We went home and watched
“American Gangster” on my laptop and enjoyed the pizza. The big difference from other Italian pizzas was that it was heavily seasoned with spices and had more cheese than you usually get in Italy. We fell asleep happy. Good birthday. The next morning we headed to the beach and although I didnt swim i took my shoes off and walked in the water for a while. The sun was shining and the sea mixed light green and b
lue to a beautiful shade. I love the beach. We walked along it for a while picking up rocks and pieces of pottery and tile that had to be hundreds of years old. We walked around for a while but once again during the day it was a ghost town. The grocery wasnt even open! We had a laid back day in the sun before heading out for espresso and gelato. We had an early night and packed up as we were heading to Africa in the morning. We managed to figure out where to buy tickets (one thing about southern Italy is that it is much harder t
o get information to do anything that up north. Nothing is marked and although people are pretty friendly they seem to only give you the minimum of information. It would be even harder without someone who spoke some Italian) We went to the ticket desk and got two seats for the “Gianni” which was scheduled to set off at 10:30. We had to have our passports checked by Italian police and then a cursory look at our luggage by Tunisian officials. Due to some kind of loading problem we didnt leave until about 11:45. We were schedu
led to arrive in Trapani at 9:30. The checkin lady was kind enough to lock our big bags in a room so we didnt have to lug them around and keep an eye on them. The view from the top deck was amazing. Hills of Sicily turned into the peninsula that Trapani was build on. Sun shined on beautiful water. Brittany called and I talked to her for a while before we set off and my phone stopped working once we were out of Italy. Me and poppa sat on top for a while watching the ocean and seeing all these cool little islands, one in particular that was tine but had a church or villa on it. We went down stairs and had a lunch in the restaurant. This ship was a cruise ship again but smaller and older than the one we were in from Naples to Palermo. The portions were huge and we probably could have ordered less but we didnt know. There was the obligato
ry obnoxious passenger, who actually passed out for some reason (alchohol maybe?!?) and had to recieve some kind of shot. He had been begging for food (alchohol?!?) money from everyone shortly before he passed out. After they gave him some food and cigarrettes he seemed fine. About an hour later he was at the bar trying to get a drink but to their credit they cut him off. He also decided that it was his ship and that he could smoke cigarrettes in any room he was in. Of course he was always where ever we were. We played scopa for a while and I must admit dad won his share. We saw a beautiful sunset and after that the moon was out again. Big and bright it shone in rays through the clouds. As we got closer to Tunis we met a guy (Ibraham) who lived in Tunis and worked in Italy. He was really nice and talked to me in Italian, which I translated to dad. He had a friend who spoke english and filled in the gaps. He showed us an island that he said let you know you were close to Tunis. He spoke lovingly of his home and said he hadnt been there in months. He seemed very excited. It was a good sign. You always hear horror stories about going to Africa (one I had heard in Italy was that a mad was walking with his wife in a market and he turned to look at something and she was gone. That was 12 years ago and he hasnt heard from her since) but also we were going to a muslim country and the US isnt exactly held in the highest esteem. I wasnt worried, I think I could go anywhere in the world you just have to be careful and smart, but I hoped that it would be fun. We docked about 2 hours late - 11pm. We went through customs, got our passports stamped (Im proud of my passport- I wish you had it stamped in all the European countries b
ut once you’re in the EU you can go to any country) and headed out. We didnt have a hotel reservation but dad had a list. It was really cool seeing the arabic writing everywhere, its a beautiful script. We went outside and decided to skip a cab and walk. Cabs are for lazy and rich people. We, being neither, were content to walk. Palm trees and whitewashed houses with unique architechture greeted us. Dad took out some Dinars (its about 1$ to 1.25 Dinars. Sad that we are barely above a tiny African nation.) They are large, cool bills. 1000 is equivalent to 1 dinar so there are lots of coins involved. We started walking and asked for directions at a police station, but to our dismay we were told it was impossible to walk to Tunis, we were still going to try but then the policeman said why. It was 20 kilometers away! Tunis used to be run by the French so 
many speak French and I had a European guidebook with me that had some phrases in each language that came in handy. We asked where a hotel was and went in the direction he pointed. We came to a beach that was beautiful and had a large gate as its entrance. We passed the first hotel because it looked really expensive and settled on the next one, which coincidentally was named “Hotel Lodi” just like our hotel in Rome. Fortunately they spoke Italian and we got a room. The room was very nice and since they were pretty empty we got a corner room with a balcony facing the beach. I ran to a corner store (that spoke Italian!) and got some water and snacks. I saw unedited Al-jazeera in the room and for some reason they had “Con-Air” on in english on another channel. We fell asleep watching Nicholas Cage trying to speak in a southern accent, which made the movie a comedy instead of whatever else it was trying to be. We were woken up by the beautiful song of the morning call to prayer. It sounded strong and sad at the same time but was undeniably beautiful. Good thing it was early too because it enabled us to watch a red sunrise over the blue mediterranean sea. We got directions from the front desk to 
the train station. We walked a few blocks through my first Islamic neighborhood, adds for coke in arabic, cigarrette smokers everywhere and buildings with intricate tile. The train ride took about 20 minutes before we arrived in Tunis. Where the train ends there is parallel rows of trees on either sides of a open area for walking, with streets on the outer sides of the trees. I also pictured the people to be black but everyone was arabic looking. We wandered around for a while checking on hotel prices and taking in this new world. When I pictured tunis I saw rows of grass roofed building on the beach but this was a pretty large city with nice French architecture and street design. Little food shops and juice bars were everywhere. There were also men in uniform with machine guns everywhere guarding certain buildings. They were pretty serious about not having their picture taken and one even came over to check my camera to make sure I hadn’t. We found one of the hotels on my dads list (Mas
on- Doree) that had a good price, dropped our luggage off and started walking around. In the center there was the Medina, which was one of the worlds oldest markets and we were near that when one of the guys that worked at our hotel (Abdul) spotted us and told us he would show us around the market and that he knew a place that had some rugs that were sold only in certain times of the year. He sped us through deep into the market, stopping at one time to show us where he lives. He was very friendly and took us to a large building where he introduced us to his “brother” who was a very old man. The building was full of amazing rugs of all sizes. Some of cashmere and some of camel hair along with other threads. There were pictures of all kinds of different dignitaries and leaders in the shop. He took us to the top of the building to an amazing view. The entire roof was covered in magnificent tiling and mosaics and you could see the whole city. He began explaining different sights. Directly in front of us was the largest mosque in Africa. After that he took us past an old throne room that a king lived in “with his 4 wives” that slept “two on each side”. He then took us to a sitting room where his “brother and two guys began telling us the histor
y or all the rugs. He began talking about how when we buy one it will be shipped to you directly. Thats when I first began realizing what was going on. He began unravelling rug after rug and having us touch each, with dad and I growing more and more uncomfortable. We felt that just to leave would be rude after the kindness we had been shown but we had not intention of buying one. I said we were not going to get one and he kind of shrugged it off and kept pulling down rugs. Feeling like I had at least let him 
know I figured the awkwardness would be gone but he then began quoting prices and asking which ones we liked. When we both said we had no intention of buying any he then began lifting each one up, one by one and asking if we wanted it. Dad and I looked at each other and being as diplomatic as I could I said “We are not going to buy a rug”. He shrugged and said “I make my business it is okay”. We were then allowed to leave. Abdul then sped us back through the market to his “Mothers” shop. He said he just wanted us to meet his mother. Feeling another set up dad and I looked at each other. Outside the door i pulled him aside and said “I dont want to be rude to your mother but we are not going to buy anything” he looked offended and said “Abdul is good man. Just come in, make yourself at home” Feeling better we came in. Inside he introduced us to another “brother” and then pointed to a painting of a woman and said “That is my mother” dad and I groaned to ourselves. Here we go. The shop was a perfume and glassware shop. He sat us down and had us put our bags down and take our coats off and began to show us everything. He actually had some nice glassware. When he got to the perfume he began opening them up one by one and having us smell them. After we smelled them he told us how to use them and that they were “All natural, no chemical”. He then, seeming like it had just come to him asked us which were our favorites. To humor him since they were nothing either of us would use (dad especially) we picked a couple. Seeming excited he said “here, take these!” and put
them in tiny bottles. He then looked at dad and said “One more, for your wife!” Dad and I laughed at that because Jackie is the last person who would want some cheap perfume, being unable to be around that kind of thing. Because explaining it would be impossible dad humored him by picking one, hoping that if we moved along we could get going quicker. He wrapped them up and put them in dads backpack. He then looked at us and said “ok now pay my brother.” I laughed out loud. He wanted 90 Dinar for 3 tiny bottle of crap. We started telling him no and the price kept dropping and his voice kept rising, trying to bully the tourist into a purchase. He got close to dad and i stepped up and he tried to shush me but I looked at him and explained that I had told him that we had no intention of buying anything. His “brother” looked embarrassed but Abdul would not give up. He said “Ok big man 25 dinar” we said “No!” I thought I was going to have to get physical but he finally in a huff took the perfume back and walked us outside. We started walking away and he said “What about me?” I said “what about you?” He told us about all the trouble he had gone to. I said all the trouble you had gone to so you could sell shit. To appease the situation dad gave him 10 dinar (the tour and the chance to be in the palace rooftop that we never would have been able to be on was actually worth at least 10 d
inar) but then he said “more” and that got me pretty mad. I told him to “get out of here” and we left! It was a little hectic for a minute but we were laughing about it 30 minutes later. Those are the stories that make traveling. We would joke that we saw Abdul peeking around at us around the corner or imitate his “Abdul good man”. We had read in the guide books that everybody that offered help or game you directions would expect money in return. Unfortunately this would be way more common than the guidebooks let on. We eventually made it through the maze that was the Medina and once back into some form of civilization went looking for something to eat. While we were looking for a restaurant I had a schwarma (what they call kabobs in florence) and it was excellent. Loaded with olives and different veggies and a distinctly different flavor of meat it felt more like a sandwich than the ones in florence, which are like fas
t food. (although delicious) That night we walked around for a while and tried to get to know our neighborhood. There were tons of coffee and hicsh (hookah in NY) bars (hopefully I’ll get a chance to try one) and little food stands everywhere. I must say the women here are amazing. Even more so than Italy the streets are full of very attractive women. Cleopatras. There is about a 30-70 mix of women in muslim covering with more being without. We settled in at the hotel, deciding that the next day we would find a new hotel because we didnt feel like we could trust our things in the room while we were gone if Abdul had the key to our room. We scouted rooms and found o
ne that was 24 dinars a night for 2 people, breakfast included. So Abdul was a blessing in disguise. Good ol’ Abdul. The next day we had breakfast at our hotel (coffee, pastry) before checking out and taking out luggage to the new hotel, which was about 2 blocks away. We stopped in the internet cafe and communicated with the outside world. We spent the day walking around the city, trying local food and enjoying the “joo” (juice) which is anywhere from 600 to 1,200 dinar. (60c to 1.20.) Shopping for anything from juice to postcards to food you WILL be ripped off if you don’t lock down a price first. Ive gone to the same place for water/ coke light and payed different prices for the same thing everytime. You order without getting a price and they will get you. They will give you the wrong change or sell you something you don’t need. One example is that its 700 for a stamp to us and one place sold us a bunch or 600 stamps and said we had to use two for each stamp. We are learning tho. Im a veteran now! Although they are sneaky and will still get you. If you know the way to do business it would never be a problem. They just see tourists as a
way to a quick buck, feed themselves and their families, or buy some cigarettes but at least they all do it with a smile on their faces. The people are pretty friendly, but I think thats part of the con. Alot of times, especially when I walk alone at night (in the main streets) guys will come up to me and ask me what im doing. If I say I’m going to eat they say they know the best place and that they’ll show me. I don’t think its to rob me or anything its just that they would want me to give them money for showing me. Nothing is free in Tunis. After we had Joo we got some pizza from “pizza the best” which turned out to be just clever marketing because it was not the best pizza. The hotel was nice but simple. Two twin beds and a shower in the corner filled up the room and we had a medium sized balcony overlooking the street. I know Tunis probably sounds rough but it is a beautiful city and once you know how to handle the beggars and con men you can have a great time. The next morning we set off to see the ruins of the once great city of Carthage. Destroyed then re-built by the Romans thousands of years ago I think its the main reason dad wanted to come here. We set off about 9AM by train and got there in about a half hour. Right when we got off the train we walked the two blocks to a beach, through a beautiful suburb lined in palm trees. When we got to the golden beach a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and sent us hiding under a overhanging roof for about 15 minutes. The rain left sun behind and we walked along the beach for a while, finding some really cool rocks.
(dads smile was ear to ear, he loves rocks) We bought a museum pass that covers all sites (about10) and walked to the first one. The ruins were really cool, and in pretty good shape. The walkways were clear but right off the path the jungle was closing in. We walked around old burial areas and still standing structured for a while. One end shared a wall with a presidential palace and guards with machine guns pointed us in the opposite direction. We then moved to the next side which was the Roman reconstruction. Beautiful mosaics were the floors in some areas and a head
less Roman statue looked over the wall down to the sea. We walked on top of an old Roman wall for a while and one area had hundreds of old tile and pottery broken and forgotten on the ground. If I wasn’t honest I would have some nice souvenires. We next headed out to an old amphitheater where my goofy dad belted out some lines from some old play, arms up to the sky. Suburbs bumped up against all the sites and we walked to a little supermarket (on the way we picked some eucalyptus from the trees on the sidewalk) and got some water and french baguettes. (I also got some sardines for a sandwich) we sat on a little bench in the sun and rested our feet. We walked around for a while before heading to a city by the sea, Sidi Bou Sad w
hich was about 5 stops down on the same train. This little city was full of beautiful blue and white homes, orange and lemon trees and cactus gardens. We walked around for a couple hours, going up to a cliff that overlooked Tunis and the sea. Up on top there was also a Muslim grave yard, which was pretty. In front of the headstones were coffin length tablets on top of the grave with islamic script. We headed back down and took the train back to Tunis. We ate at a little food stand that stuffed something like frybread with hot sauce, potato and egg. I had tuna in mine. Very good. They were something like 30cents each and they also had a few other fried goods. We explored tunis some more, before going to the hotel to relax. For dinner we walked around until we found a place that had stuff dad could eat. It was called Mamma Mia (but it wasn’t an italian restaurant?) and I got a schwarma plate, which is everything you get in a schwarm
a but on a plate, not in a sandwich. Dad had the same but without the meat. We also ordered a pizza (I think because it was 4 dollars for a huge pizza we could eat later and the next day) The plates came with this great bread that had fennel and other herbs on top. On the way home we stopped at our joo bar. We watched movies on my laptop and fell asleep. This morning we headed out early again and went to the Le Bardo museum, which is famous for its mosaic collection and has many relics of Carthage. The tram ride to the museum was very cool because we got to see lots of the town we hadn’t seen yet. Away from the center you could really see the poverty. The museum was surrounded by a tall fence and who would have guessed- guys with machine guns! The museum was really cool. Room after room of incredible and huge mosaics. There were also lots of statues, of Roman craft. We were there for a few hours after which we ate some cheese and bread dad had bought that morning. We sat on a bench in the sun and for desert we had fresh dates and some amazing oranges. On the way back dad wanted to stop at one of the tram stations to take pictures and squeezed through the doors as they closed. I didnt have time to get out but I knew my way back so I went to our internet place then walked around for a while before heading to the hotel to finish my blog. Its too bad Im so behind because I forget so many details but Im having a great time, Tunis is beautiful and very stimulating. Its good to be off the beaten path. Ive only seen one oth
er tourist who speaks english and its great to see different ways of life. Like I said in Italy, laughter and smiles are the same in any language and North African muslims are no different. You could come here with alot of money and stay in expensive hotels and take taxis everwhere and eat inside but you would never really have a feel for Tunis. Hopefully my next blog wont be so long away. Hope everyone is well at home.
When we got to our stop the transformation was complete. A large castle welcomed us to the water front and Italian style homes and shops were everywhere. The port was full of huge cruise ships and cargo ships. We found where the check in office was and set off exploring. We were dragging around our luggage, which wasn’t pleasant, but we needed to balance out the pizza eating anyway. We walked past the castle and into this neighborhood of tiny alleys where mo-peds zoomed by with barely a beep of warning. There were all kinds of restaurants and shops, including bread and butcher shops. We found a little pizza place and sat down. We figured we couldnt come to the home of pizza and not have any. The pizza was very very good. We ordered a little margherita each and it was a simple but perfect pizza. Cheese, basil and sauce mixed together perfectly. 
Home made cheese, sauce and dough in perfect compliment. After pizza we headed to the port and sat down on a bench for a while, watching the sun set and all the people handle their business. There was a dog laying there that I tossed some bread to but it didnt seem interested. We went into a little cafe and had a couple espressos while we waited. At about 6:30 we headed to the ticket office and turned our reciept into the boarding tickets. Hardly anyone so far on our trip (except for the deskman at hotel Lodi in Rome) spoke english, less and less as we headed south) so I was glad that I practiced with Mario and each day my Italian has been getting better. After the ticket office I stopped and petted the dog and that brought about an instant change. He hopped up and would be our guard dog on the way to the ship, barking at mopeds and strangers never getting more that a few feet from us. The way to the boat was a little confusing, with signs pointing to a bus loading area and stopping there. I played catch with the dog while we figured out which way to go. We tried a dark side street and it turned out to lead right to the loading area. 
Our ship was not a little ferry, like we thought it would be but a huge mediterranean cruise ship called “Snav Lazio”. We had our passports checked and leaving our companion behind, headed aboard. The ship was beautiful. At check in we were informed that we could find our seats on two different decks (we had chosen not to pay for a cabin) and we saw listed on the decks casino, disco, bar, restaurant, movie theater and game room. This was not some little ferry! We settled in a back room with large comfortable chairs around little table. No one else was back there so it was like we had our own, large room. We took turns exploring (as someone had to watch the luggage)
and I saw the luxury or each previously listed area. Because it wasnt the summer high season some areas were not active (the disco, casino and game room) but they had a cheap bar and poppa and I had a corona on the top deck as we left the dock. 
We made a nice dinner with the cheese, tomato, bread and avocado we had bought and although for a little while there were some loud Italians we pretty much had the area to ourselves all night. While dad slept I went up to the top deck and saw the beauty of a nearly full moon shining on the black mediterranean. I was all alone up there and for 360 degrees it was only me and the sea. Warm with a slight wind and beautiful clouds and clear constellations It was a great spot to soak in the fact that few people (especially where I am from) would ever be able to see this.
I woke up at about 5:30 to dad singing to his Ipod and we went to the top deck to see the sunrise and Palermo come into view. We waited to disembark with the other passengers (an Italian soccer team included) our arrival time about 6:45AM. When we got off we saw the ferrari brand trucks unload the cargo and made our way out of the port. I talked to a guard and found out where the ticket offices were to buy berth on a ship to Tunis was. We had a few hours to kill before they opened so we set off to explore Palermo for a while. We found a nice piazza with sculpture and old buildings where I talked to Bill and my sister and had a nice happy birthday song sung to me by them and my nieces. I was 22.... I know pretty old. It was hard to imagine that 4 years ago I was a senior in highschool, not a care in the world only thinking about what I would do on the weekend and what team we would play in basketball that week. 
Feels like 10. Time ebbs and flows and at times feels like its going by in warp speed but mostly it crawls by. Especially when I sit back and think about everything Ive done then It really feels like more that 4 years. I feel like Im really good at living in the moment and dont spend too much time thinking about the past or what could have happened or things I should/could have done. I think that can be a good or bad thing but Im pretty good about learning from my mistakes. Living by the things my parents have imprinted into me - caring about family, trying to be a good, generous person taking care of myself and always taking the highroad I have done pretty well. My biggest regret would probably the way I handled my first few years of college. Anyway back to the trip! Palermo is a beautiful, very old city full of historic buildings and little streets through ancient neighborhoods. We got a map from a hotel and the guy at the desk told me that there were three old markets that were in the most authentic areas. 
We decided to do a big loop through town and hit all of them. It took a few hours and we missed the ship to Tunis but i
t was worth it. The markets were really cool, filled with much different foods than in Florence markets. All kinds of fish and crustaceans were the biggest difference but with the different climate there was also tons of fresh fruit. (It was hot in Sicily!) We found a bus station that had tickets to another town that had ferrys to Tunis. The bus left every hour and we ate clementines as we waited. The bus w
as nice, beautiful, sunny countryside with cactus and light blue ocean were the highlights. We arrived in Trapani about an hour and a half later. We had no map of Trapani so we just walked from the bus stop until we found the ocean. We saw that Trapani stuck out like a little peninsula. We reasoned that since there was no port on the side we were on that it mu
st be on the other side. It was strange walking through the town because there was not one person in the streets and no stores were open. All that was missing was the tumbleweeds. It was hot and the buildings were all painted white and mostly one floor. They looked very much like the ones in mexico but with an Italian twist. When we made it to the otherside there was some traffic and the port with large ships were in site. We found a ticket office and found that there was no ships until monday. We looked around for hotels for a while until we f
ound an inexpensive one called “Hotel Moderno” The streets were full of stores but still completely empty. It felt like one of those movies where the people’s car breaks down and they end up dying in the weird, deserted town! But it was too beautiful and sunny to be too weird. Although it was odd. The hotel was nicer than its price and we settled in for a nap and showers. We decided to go out for a walk around 7:30 and to our shock the streets were full! I mean full. Not with cars but people. Wall to wall as far as the eye could see people were walking and laughing and hangingout. Mostly young people too. Darker than up north with more piercings but the same dressed up sense of style they filled the streets with energy and laughter. We walked around enjoying the architecture (in the center there were many old churches and nice buildings) before stopping in “the jumping cafe” for a espresso with brandy for a birthday to
ast. We found and amazing pizza place called “calvinos” That was completely full of people that busted out a pizza a minute but still couldnt keep up with demand. While I was waiting I got to talk to my mom for a few minutes and got a happy birthday from her. For about 8 Euro we got a huge sicilian margherita pizza. I cant remember what pizza hut says a sicilian style is but they are definitely wrong. We went home and watched
“American Gangster” on my laptop and enjoyed the pizza. The big difference from other Italian pizzas was that it was heavily seasoned with spices and had more cheese than you usually get in Italy. We fell asleep happy. Good birthday. The next morning we headed to the beach and although I didnt swim i took my shoes off and walked in the water for a while. The sun was shining and the sea mixed light green and b
lue to a beautiful shade. I love the beach. We walked along it for a while picking up rocks and pieces of pottery and tile that had to be hundreds of years old. We walked around for a while but once again during the day it was a ghost town. The grocery wasnt even open! We had a laid back day in the sun before heading out for espresso and gelato. We had an early night and packed up as we were heading to Africa in the morning. We managed to figure out where to buy tickets (one thing about southern Italy is that it is much harder t
o get information to do anything that up north. Nothing is marked and although people are pretty friendly they seem to only give you the minimum of information. It would be even harder without someone who spoke some Italian) We went to the ticket desk and got two seats for the “Gianni” which was scheduled to set off at 10:30. We had to have our passports checked by Italian police and then a cursory look at our luggage by Tunisian officials. Due to some kind of loading problem we didnt leave until about 11:45. We were schedu
led to arrive in Trapani at 9:30. The checkin lady was kind enough to lock our big bags in a room so we didnt have to lug them around and keep an eye on them. The view from the top deck was amazing. Hills of Sicily turned into the peninsula that Trapani was build on. Sun shined on beautiful water. Brittany called and I talked to her for a while before we set off and my phone stopped working once we were out of Italy. Me and poppa sat on top for a while watching the ocean and seeing all these cool little islands, one in particular that was tine but had a church or villa on it. We went down stairs and had a lunch in the restaurant. This ship was a cruise ship again but smaller and older than the one we were in from Naples to Palermo. The portions were huge and we probably could have ordered less but we didnt know. There was the obligato
ry obnoxious passenger, who actually passed out for some reason (alchohol maybe?!?) and had to recieve some kind of shot. He had been begging for food (alchohol?!?) money from everyone shortly before he passed out. After they gave him some food and cigarrettes he seemed fine. About an hour later he was at the bar trying to get a drink but to their credit they cut him off. He also decided that it was his ship and that he could smoke cigarrettes in any room he was in. Of course he was always where ever we were. We played scopa for a while and I must admit dad won his share. We saw a beautiful sunset and after that the moon was out again. Big and bright it shone in rays through the clouds. As we got closer to Tunis we met a guy (Ibraham) who lived in Tunis and worked in Italy. He was really nice and talked to me in Italian, which I translated to dad. He had a friend who spoke english and filled in the gaps. He showed us an island that he said let you know you were close to Tunis. He spoke lovingly of his home and said he hadnt been there in months. He seemed very excited. It was a good sign. You always hear horror stories about going to Africa (one I had heard in Italy was that a mad was walking with his wife in a market and he turned to look at something and she was gone. That was 12 years ago and he hasnt heard from her since) but also we were going to a muslim country and the US isnt exactly held in the highest esteem. I wasnt worried, I think I could go anywhere in the world you just have to be careful and smart, but I hoped that it would be fun. We docked about 2 hours late - 11pm. We went through customs, got our passports stamped (Im proud of my passport- I wish you had it stamped in all the European countries b
ut once you’re in the EU you can go to any country) and headed out. We didnt have a hotel reservation but dad had a list. It was really cool seeing the arabic writing everywhere, its a beautiful script. We went outside and decided to skip a cab and walk. Cabs are for lazy and rich people. We, being neither, were content to walk. Palm trees and whitewashed houses with unique architechture greeted us. Dad took out some Dinars (its about 1$ to 1.25 Dinars. Sad that we are barely above a tiny African nation.) They are large, cool bills. 1000 is equivalent to 1 dinar so there are lots of coins involved. We started walking and asked for directions at a police station, but to our dismay we were told it was impossible to walk to Tunis, we were still going to try but then the policeman said why. It was 20 kilometers away! Tunis used to be run by the French so 
many speak French and I had a European guidebook with me that had some phrases in each language that came in handy. We asked where a hotel was and went in the direction he pointed. We came to a beach that was beautiful and had a large gate as its entrance. We passed the first hotel because it looked really expensive and settled on the next one, which coincidentally was named “Hotel Lodi” just like our hotel in Rome. Fortunately they spoke Italian and we got a room. The room was very nice and since they were pretty empty we got a corner room with a balcony facing the beach. I ran to a corner store (that spoke Italian!) and got some water and snacks. I saw unedited Al-jazeera in the room and for some reason they had “Con-Air” on in english on another channel. We fell asleep watching Nicholas Cage trying to speak in a southern accent, which made the movie a comedy instead of whatever else it was trying to be. We were woken up by the beautiful song of the morning call to prayer. It sounded strong and sad at the same time but was undeniably beautiful. Good thing it was early too because it enabled us to watch a red sunrise over the blue mediterranean sea. We got directions from the front desk to 
the train station. We walked a few blocks through my first Islamic neighborhood, adds for coke in arabic, cigarrette smokers everywhere and buildings with intricate tile. The train ride took about 20 minutes before we arrived in Tunis. Where the train ends there is parallel rows of trees on either sides of a open area for walking, with streets on the outer sides of the trees. I also pictured the people to be black but everyone was arabic looking. We wandered around for a while checking on hotel prices and taking in this new world. When I pictured tunis I saw rows of grass roofed building on the beach but this was a pretty large city with nice French architecture and street design. Little food shops and juice bars were everywhere. There were also men in uniform with machine guns everywhere guarding certain buildings. They were pretty serious about not having their picture taken and one even came over to check my camera to make sure I hadn’t. We found one of the hotels on my dads list (Mas
on- Doree) that had a good price, dropped our luggage off and started walking around. In the center there was the Medina, which was one of the worlds oldest markets and we were near that when one of the guys that worked at our hotel (Abdul) spotted us and told us he would show us around the market and that he knew a place that had some rugs that were sold only in certain times of the year. He sped us through deep into the market, stopping at one time to show us where he lives. He was very friendly and took us to a large building where he introduced us to his “brother” who was a very old man. The building was full of amazing rugs of all sizes. Some of cashmere and some of camel hair along with other threads. There were pictures of all kinds of different dignitaries and leaders in the shop. He took us to the top of the building to an amazing view. The entire roof was covered in magnificent tiling and mosaics and you could see the whole city. He began explaining different sights. Directly in front of us was the largest mosque in Africa. After that he took us past an old throne room that a king lived in “with his 4 wives” that slept “two on each side”. He then took us to a sitting room where his “brother and two guys began telling us the histor
y or all the rugs. He began talking about how when we buy one it will be shipped to you directly. Thats when I first began realizing what was going on. He began unravelling rug after rug and having us touch each, with dad and I growing more and more uncomfortable. We felt that just to leave would be rude after the kindness we had been shown but we had not intention of buying one. I said we were not going to get one and he kind of shrugged it off and kept pulling down rugs. Feeling like I had at least let him 
know I figured the awkwardness would be gone but he then began quoting prices and asking which ones we liked. When we both said we had no intention of buying any he then began lifting each one up, one by one and asking if we wanted it. Dad and I looked at each other and being as diplomatic as I could I said “We are not going to buy a rug”. He shrugged and said “I make my business it is okay”. We were then allowed to leave. Abdul then sped us back through the market to his “Mothers” shop. He said he just wanted us to meet his mother. Feeling another set up dad and I looked at each other. Outside the door i pulled him aside and said “I dont want to be rude to your mother but we are not going to buy anything” he looked offended and said “Abdul is good man. Just come in, make yourself at home” Feeling better we came in. Inside he introduced us to another “brother” and then pointed to a painting of a woman and said “That is my mother” dad and I groaned to ourselves. Here we go. The shop was a perfume and glassware shop. He sat us down and had us put our bags down and take our coats off and began to show us everything. He actually had some nice glassware. When he got to the perfume he began opening them up one by one and having us smell them. After we smelled them he told us how to use them and that they were “All natural, no chemical”. He then, seeming like it had just come to him asked us which were our favorites. To humor him since they were nothing either of us would use (dad especially) we picked a couple. Seeming excited he said “here, take these!” and put
them in tiny bottles. He then looked at dad and said “One more, for your wife!” Dad and I laughed at that because Jackie is the last person who would want some cheap perfume, being unable to be around that kind of thing. Because explaining it would be impossible dad humored him by picking one, hoping that if we moved along we could get going quicker. He wrapped them up and put them in dads backpack. He then looked at us and said “ok now pay my brother.” I laughed out loud. He wanted 90 Dinar for 3 tiny bottle of crap. We started telling him no and the price kept dropping and his voice kept rising, trying to bully the tourist into a purchase. He got close to dad and i stepped up and he tried to shush me but I looked at him and explained that I had told him that we had no intention of buying anything. His “brother” looked embarrassed but Abdul would not give up. He said “Ok big man 25 dinar” we said “No!” I thought I was going to have to get physical but he finally in a huff took the perfume back and walked us outside. We started walking away and he said “What about me?” I said “what about you?” He told us about all the trouble he had gone to. I said all the trouble you had gone to so you could sell shit. To appease the situation dad gave him 10 dinar (the tour and the chance to be in the palace rooftop that we never would have been able to be on was actually worth at least 10 d
inar) but then he said “more” and that got me pretty mad. I told him to “get out of here” and we left! It was a little hectic for a minute but we were laughing about it 30 minutes later. Those are the stories that make traveling. We would joke that we saw Abdul peeking around at us around the corner or imitate his “Abdul good man”. We had read in the guide books that everybody that offered help or game you directions would expect money in return. Unfortunately this would be way more common than the guidebooks let on. We eventually made it through the maze that was the Medina and once back into some form of civilization went looking for something to eat. While we were looking for a restaurant I had a schwarma (what they call kabobs in florence) and it was excellent. Loaded with olives and different veggies and a distinctly different flavor of meat it felt more like a sandwich than the ones in florence, which are like fas
t food. (although delicious) That night we walked around for a while and tried to get to know our neighborhood. There were tons of coffee and hicsh (hookah in NY) bars (hopefully I’ll get a chance to try one) and little food stands everywhere. I must say the women here are amazing. Even more so than Italy the streets are full of very attractive women. Cleopatras. There is about a 30-70 mix of women in muslim covering with more being without. We settled in at the hotel, deciding that the next day we would find a new hotel because we didnt feel like we could trust our things in the room while we were gone if Abdul had the key to our room. We scouted rooms and found o
ne that was 24 dinars a night for 2 people, breakfast included. So Abdul was a blessing in disguise. Good ol’ Abdul. The next day we had breakfast at our hotel (coffee, pastry) before checking out and taking out luggage to the new hotel, which was about 2 blocks away. We stopped in the internet cafe and communicated with the outside world. We spent the day walking around the city, trying local food and enjoying the “joo” (juice) which is anywhere from 600 to 1,200 dinar. (60c to 1.20.) Shopping for anything from juice to postcards to food you WILL be ripped off if you don’t lock down a price first. Ive gone to the same place for water/ coke light and payed different prices for the same thing everytime. You order without getting a price and they will get you. They will give you the wrong change or sell you something you don’t need. One example is that its 700 for a stamp to us and one place sold us a bunch or 600 stamps and said we had to use two for each stamp. We are learning tho. Im a veteran now! Although they are sneaky and will still get you. If you know the way to do business it would never be a problem. They just see tourists as a
way to a quick buck, feed themselves and their families, or buy some cigarettes but at least they all do it with a smile on their faces. The people are pretty friendly, but I think thats part of the con. Alot of times, especially when I walk alone at night (in the main streets) guys will come up to me and ask me what im doing. If I say I’m going to eat they say they know the best place and that they’ll show me. I don’t think its to rob me or anything its just that they would want me to give them money for showing me. Nothing is free in Tunis. After we had Joo we got some pizza from “pizza the best” which turned out to be just clever marketing because it was not the best pizza. The hotel was nice but simple. Two twin beds and a shower in the corner filled up the room and we had a medium sized balcony overlooking the street. I know Tunis probably sounds rough but it is a beautiful city and once you know how to handle the beggars and con men you can have a great time. The next morning we set off to see the ruins of the once great city of Carthage. Destroyed then re-built by the Romans thousands of years ago I think its the main reason dad wanted to come here. We set off about 9AM by train and got there in about a half hour. Right when we got off the train we walked the two blocks to a beach, through a beautiful suburb lined in palm trees. When we got to the golden beach a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and sent us hiding under a overhanging roof for about 15 minutes. The rain left sun behind and we walked along the beach for a while, finding some really cool rocks.
(dads smile was ear to ear, he loves rocks) We bought a museum pass that covers all sites (about10) and walked to the first one. The ruins were really cool, and in pretty good shape. The walkways were clear but right off the path the jungle was closing in. We walked around old burial areas and still standing structured for a while. One end shared a wall with a presidential palace and guards with machine guns pointed us in the opposite direction. We then moved to the next side which was the Roman reconstruction. Beautiful mosaics were the floors in some areas and a head
less Roman statue looked over the wall down to the sea. We walked on top of an old Roman wall for a while and one area had hundreds of old tile and pottery broken and forgotten on the ground. If I wasn’t honest I would have some nice souvenires. We next headed out to an old amphitheater where my goofy dad belted out some lines from some old play, arms up to the sky. Suburbs bumped up against all the sites and we walked to a little supermarket (on the way we picked some eucalyptus from the trees on the sidewalk) and got some water and french baguettes. (I also got some sardines for a sandwich) we sat on a little bench in the sun and rested our feet. We walked around for a while before heading to a city by the sea, Sidi Bou Sad w
hich was about 5 stops down on the same train. This little city was full of beautiful blue and white homes, orange and lemon trees and cactus gardens. We walked around for a couple hours, going up to a cliff that overlooked Tunis and the sea. Up on top there was also a Muslim grave yard, which was pretty. In front of the headstones were coffin length tablets on top of the grave with islamic script. We headed back down and took the train back to Tunis. We ate at a little food stand that stuffed something like frybread with hot sauce, potato and egg. I had tuna in mine. Very good. They were something like 30cents each and they also had a few other fried goods. We explored tunis some more, before going to the hotel to relax. For dinner we walked around until we found a place that had stuff dad could eat. It was called Mamma Mia (but it wasn’t an italian restaurant?) and I got a schwarma plate, which is everything you get in a schwarm
a but on a plate, not in a sandwich. Dad had the same but without the meat. We also ordered a pizza (I think because it was 4 dollars for a huge pizza we could eat later and the next day) The plates came with this great bread that had fennel and other herbs on top. On the way home we stopped at our joo bar. We watched movies on my laptop and fell asleep. This morning we headed out early again and went to the Le Bardo museum, which is famous for its mosaic collection and has many relics of Carthage. The tram ride to the museum was very cool because we got to see lots of the town we hadn’t seen yet. Away from the center you could really see the poverty. The museum was surrounded by a tall fence and who would have guessed- guys with machine guns! The museum was really cool. Room after room of incredible and huge mosaics. There were also lots of statues, of Roman craft. We were there for a few hours after which we ate some cheese and bread dad had bought that morning. We sat on a bench in the sun and for desert we had fresh dates and some amazing oranges. On the way back dad wanted to stop at one of the tram stations to take pictures and squeezed through the doors as they closed. I didnt have time to get out but I knew my way back so I went to our internet place then walked around for a while before heading to the hotel to finish my blog. Its too bad Im so behind because I forget so many details but Im having a great time, Tunis is beautiful and very stimulating. Its good to be off the beaten path. Ive only seen one oth
er tourist who speaks english and its great to see different ways of life. Like I said in Italy, laughter and smiles are the same in any language and North African muslims are no different. You could come here with alot of money and stay in expensive hotels and take taxis everwhere and eat inside but you would never really have a feel for Tunis. Hopefully my next blog wont be so long away. Hope everyone is well at home.Tuesday, January 22, 2008
In Tunis
So we made it in last night from trapani sicily to tunis tunisia. Safe and ready to explore.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Back on the road...
So Sunday at 7:25 I flew out of Ney York City. I had a great time getting to know the city, Mario's family and I got to see Kobe play! I got to hang out with 2 of my good friends from Alaska and saw sides of NY that most visitors dont get to see. NY really is an amazing city, with the most European feel of any US city I have ever been to. The thing for me that stands out about European architecture (besides the age) is how the builders always seem to put in the extra detail and every house and building doesnt look the same, NY also had a diversity of design and detail that reminded me of Europe. Europe doesnt have anything like the height and size of NY buildings, which make you feel like you are entering some strange world when you come in over the bridges. I loved how (especially in Manhattan and Queens) how you walk for 5 or 10 minutes and you are in a completely different cultural section. NY would be my second choice, after anywhere in Europe, to spend the rest of my youth. Marios family gave me an experience I will never forget, from Mario showing me around to his Mother making me feel at home, to His aunt giving me a taste of her Queens famous tiramisu, his grandma making me laugh with her mischievious sense of humor and his little tough guy brother Gianni with his mohawk. I love traveling and flying is a part I dont mind too much, although I always think about what kind of person I will be siting next too. My least favorite isnt the obese guy or the baby or any of the other annoying possibilities but the sick people. Having some stranger coughing next to you for 8 hours is no fun, especially when you are stuck in a big can. Its like a guarantee you will be blowing your nose and taking medicine in a couple days. Everyone always gives the sick person dirty looks, even more than the lady with the crying baby. I was lucky this time tho, I sat next to a pretty normal guy and because the flight wasnt very full i got to go sit by myself - in a middle row no less so I got to stretch out. I dont sleep on planes so I read a book Ian and Christen got me called "the omnivores dilemma" which is very good and about the food industry in America. I re
commend it so you know its good. The flight was very quick - about 6 1/2 hours which actually turned out not to be in my benefit. We got in at about 8AM Germany time and my flight to Rome wasnt until 8PM. So I had about 12 hours to kill. I had to take a bus to a smaller airport so I got my baggage and tried to find the bus stop. There was a USO station that let me use their internet and gave me directions. It was good to be back in Europe, it seemed more familiar to me that NY had. I got on the bus, which was 10 Euros and slept about 20 minutes out of tthe hour and a half ride. I got to the Frankfurt - Hann airport around 11:30 and walked around for a while. I was pretty tired and a little disoriented from the time change but still had about 8 hours before I borded. I found a little corner out of the way and put my bags all around me and watched Evil Dean 1. Pretty stupid movie but funny stupid so it was ok. I had a bunch of movies downloaded onto my hard drive, along with some seasons of tv shows like Lost, Californication (good), nip-tuck, Entourage and a few others. I started getting really tired so I slept on the floor for a while which was very uncomfortable but I had to sleep. I got up and went to check in and discovered that I had to pay 40 Euro for my luggage, which was over weight by a 5 kilos. Ryanair is a discount airline so they allow you only so much weight. That sucked because Im poor but what can I do, I need my things. The plane we boarded by walking onto the tarmac (something almost every european flight does) and up into one of two staircases into the plane. It was a choose your own seat flight and wasnt full so I had plenty of space. The flight to Rome was quick, about 1 1/2 hours and I could see the Colosseum lights when we were descending. Good ol Rome. When I got off the plane and went inside I was happy to see the new AK traveler so-star, my poppa, Gary Walklin. We hadnt really set up concrete plans so I wasnt sure if he was going to be there. It was very surreal to be in Italy with my poppa. Im so used to strangers and people Ive o
nly known a few months that It was good to be with someone that I grew up with. We got my bags and headed for the bus that would take us to our hotel. I used my rusty Italian, which felt good. We made it to the hotel, which was a discount one but very nice and welcoming and perfect for travelers. Hotel Lodi was the name. It was very close to the main Metro lines and had free wireless, both of which earned it points. It was also right next to a large chain of the aquaduct, which was in great shape. The next morning we went downstairs and had cafe and 
croissants with honey. We walked in the wrong direction for a while before I got my bearings. I was excited to show him what I knew about Rome because I had had such a great time when I went. We took a tram up to the central station (called Rome Termini) and started walking from there. Termini is a huge transportation hub with bus lines, the subway, trains and taxis all there, plus the top level is a large mall. We were planning on looping south through the city to the ancient Rome area that contains the Colosseum, Arc of Constantine, Roman Forum, Palatine and others. We both got Roma passes that were good for t
hree days and allowed you on any form of transportation and gained entry into many of the museums and landmarks. When I had came to Rome with the school we walked through the city alot but it was always walking TO somewhere, we were just walking to walk. It was fun walking around with my dad because he is an engineer so he had a different perspective than I did (he loves the aquaduct that is near our hotel) and he enjoyed all the architecture. We walked through some beautiful gardens and down through part of the financial district. We had a quick lunch at a middle eastern cafe that was pretty good. The Roman kabob has nothing on Firenzes tho. After that we went on pretty much a straight line to the Colosseum which is always impressive. When I had gone before we just looked at it but my Dad and I went inside. You really get a feel for the size when you go in and it really is in good shape. We walked up to the top level and looked down on the area where the action used to be. Alot of the stadium had been gutted for building materials but you could still imagine what used to happen here and couldnt help but think about how many people had died there. You could see the lower chambers where the animals and gladiators were kept until they were raised up by pulleys and also where the seats used to be. It was great to see inside and it is ver
y comparable in size to the stadiums of today. After the colosseum we walked by the Arc of Constantine and up through to the Palatine, which was where the massive imperial palace was, from which Rome ruled over a large part of the world. Again we got to see tons of stuff that I hadnt seen previously (a theme that would continue through the rest of Rome). We walked up roads and side streets that were full of gardens and churches. We used our Roma passes to go into the Palatine ruins and I was surprised by how massive they were. We walked by where the Emperors throne used to be (it was raised 2 meters when it was there) and to the courtyard where they had games and races for all th
e rich and important people. We then continued down into the Roman Forum which is pretty broken up but still impressive. There are some very old churches and impressive arcs scattered through the ruins. It was hard to imagine what things used to be like and to even imagine how old they were. Over 2000 years old and still standing. Do we make anything today thats going to be there in 2000 years? Besides plastic? My dad saw somethings that he remembered from his elementary school books, which i thought was cool. I dont even remember much from my highschool books, let alone elementary school. We took some steps out of t
he bowl like depression that held the forum and moved onto the street. From walking in a field of ruins, using your imagination to put yourself back in time to walking across a busy Roman street, trying to avoid cars, is
a jarring transition. We walked along a tree filled park that had metal statues of ceasars to the front of the large white palace that had the chariots on top. It started raining kind of hard so we stopped into a cafe so I could buy my dad his first Italian beer. Birra Moretti is the kind I usually get and they are about a euro each for about 30 ounces. Its very good beer and we sat under a patio outside for a little while before putting the last into a plastic cup and heading out. A ye
ar ago I never would have imagined that I would be walking through Rome drinking beer with my dad. I took him up Via Corso to the Pantheon, which he really liked and showed him the tomb of Raphael that is inside. After that we headed to Piazza Navona which is an open courtyard that holds three famous fountains. We stopped for some pizza before heading over to the trevi fountains. The trevi fountains are beautiful and lighted up very nicely in the dark. Although we had been walking for a long time already we headed up to the modern capitol building and around to the spanish steps to look over the city. I thought there would be a great view at night but its acually much better at night. Rome has few buildings over 4 stories so there wasnt much to look out on. We headed down the steps and took the subway home. The next day we woke up at about 7:30. I talked to Brittany a lil bit on Skype (Meadow Bill, Mom, you need to pick up the slack and Ia you need a microphone) then we headed to the Vatican. The subway stopped about a block away from the massive
Vatican walls and it was only a couple blocks to the entrance. Going throught the museum I thought I had seen everything but it turn out the tour guide skipped alot of rooms he didnt think were that important. We went through an ancient Middle Eastern and Egyptian section (i saw my first mummy) and two long hall ways that were filed with hundreds of statues. It was great going through again at my own pace, as there is so much inside that I could go 10 more times and it wouldnt be enough. The Sistine chapel didnt hit me as hard as it did the first time and I was able to appreciate it a little more for what it really was instead of just looking around in awe. Still very powerful and amazingly beautiful I could spend hours inside. We got a bite to eat in the Vatican cafe before heading over To the massive St.Peters. This was also good to see again and there were areas that had been closed off that were now open. We were exhausted from walking (the Vatican takes about 5 or 6 hours to walk through). And headed home with a Birra Moretti and canoli's. We turned on a movie but we both fell asleep in about 2 minutes. I woke up really early and dad got up about 7 and we got ready to head out. We set off in a defferent direction than normal and it turned out to be a good thing because we found a great little market with fresh fruit and veggies. We bought some clementines and had coffee and fresh, hot creme filled pastry. I also got him a bomboloni (italian doughnuts filled with creme) and those are so goo. My dad has a book about walking tours in old neighborhoods in Rome so we set off to do one. We took the subway to a stop near the Tiber river and after a little while of searching we found the starting point. The book gives street by street descriptions of all the important buildings (there were alot) and historical happenings on the streets. We started near the Caesar Augustus mosoleum and headed into this ancient Roman neighborhood. Suddenly after a few drops it started pouring rain. Really pouring. It was really warm and not windy so it wasnt bad and was actually a nice vibe to explore ancient Rome. The rain in a way drowned out the city noise and made it easier to get into the exploration of the neighborhood. These buildings were not ruins. They were inhabited residences and businesses that happened to be hundreds or in some cases a thousand years old. Very beautiful and powerful houses we walked through street after street seeing beautiful churches, doors, windows and all kinds of things. It finally stopped raining 
and we stopped into a grocery for some lunch supplies. We got some fresh cheese, bread, prociutto for me, mixed olives, a bottle of wine and some mustard. We walked down to the river and sat on the bench and made paninos and drank the bottle of wine. Like true Alaskans we peed under the bridge. Next we finished up the walking tour and came out looking at
a large castle that sat against the Tiber river. Castle San Angelo it was called and the bridge that led to it was rowed with statues. We used our Roma passes to get in and started exploring the ancient castle. It had rooms that were complete covered in paintings and filled with old weaponry, armor, crowns and other historical objects.
The best part was the top, which offered a 180 degree view down on Rome. An amazing view. To the right was St.Peters and the vatican. A little to the left of the middle was a diagonal row of the Pantheon, the palace with the chariots and the Colosseum. The sun was coming out and turned rome golden. It was now very warm and sitting on the marble seats looking over Rome was very relaxing. After enjoying the view for a while we walked across a bridge to the other side of the river to see the Spanish steps in daylight.On the way we stopped at the Piazza di Popolo, or Plaza of the Pope. This had two large, twin churches and many fountains with an obelisk in the middle of the plaza. We then continued on towards the Spanish steps, only stopping for espresso, gelato and water. At the top of the steps was a beautiful view of a sunset over Rome. Reds oranges and blues mixed beautifully and we looked over the city for a while. We then headed home on the subway, stopping to pick up different cuts of pizza some Peroni 
(a different kind of Italian beer) and clementines. We found a park next to out hotel and had dinner and talked for a while. Once again when we got to the room we immediately fell asleep. And this morning I wrote the blog! Today we are heading out of Rome, South to Napoli by train then onto a Ferry to Catania, Sicily and then by bus or train to Palermo,
Sicily and then if everything works out a ferry to Tunisia, North Africa. Yes Africa. Hopefully by my birthday I will be sitting on a nude beach drinking something cold! If we make it to Africa I think we are planning on staying there for about a week before heading up to Florence. I dont know how much internet they will have in Tunisia but I have the journal Bill and Meadow game me so Ill keep everything fresh and take notes. A special thanks to Brittany for the Birthday money, which I am going to use to buy a bike in Florence.
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