Day 8--Slovenia Castle/Cave Trip--Part 1

Sunday morning we woke up and Evan fixed us a mean breakfast of something tasty (it's been 2 months since our trip and I'm just now blogging about it--I just don't remember!) We knew we were going to go to Slovenia, but we had 2 choices: go to a castle in/near the capital of Slovenia (that could possibly be closed on Sunday), or do a cave/castle tour in Postonja. I was all about the castles...it was the cave part that freaked me out! For those of you who don't know...I'm slightly claustrophobic (think elevators, crowds, airplanes--I get over it, but it's just the anxiety before that kills me!) Anyway...I bucked up because the other 3 really wanted to do the cave/castle and I didn't want the chickening out to be on my shoulders! I'm so glad I did because we had a great time!

First, we went to the castle in Postojna. This castle was amazing! It was literally built into a cave for protection from enemies. It had 5 flights of stairs, was really cold and wet (didn't help that we went on a rainy day), and was so beautiful! See the hole in the cave??? Look for it later in the blog for a reference point!

Sign for landmarks--"gama" is the cave and "grad" is the cave
Here we are at the beginning of our tour.

Steep stairs--all rock/concrete, slippery, and VERY steep---legs hurt the next day!

This is the jousting arena. It's sideways...oh well!

This is where the prisoners were hung. There was a balcony above this that was partly blocked by rock where people watched the prisoners from--freaky!

View from high up in the cave--you could see for miles! This was the "zoomed in"version of the hole in the cave. The picture under it shows how high up we were on the many flights of stairs and where the hole is located.

Part 2--the cave...next blog!

Chip---and Queso!

Introducing the newest member of our family.....Queso! Let's explain his name first. Chip got his name because he has a white "C" shape on his chest--easy. Queso got his because, well, let's face it: we're Jeff and Steph and we just do things a little differently! We'd always talked about Chip and Salsa or Chip and Dip if we had 2 dogs, but once we got a boy dog Salsa seemed girly and Dip--well, it just isn't right! So...we went with the next obvious.....Queso!

We've talked for almost a year about getting Chip a playmate, but we couldn't ever decide if we wanted to switch breeds, get a boy/girl, get a smaller dog b/c of our yard size, etc. Lots kept us putting it off. Well, yesterday we were out running around and saw this guy selling labradoodles, which we know nothing about. We figured for fun we'd check back with him if he was there when we were on his way home, which he was. We looked at the puppy (AKA--Queso now), who was the only one left and got the man's phone # b/c we wanted to go home and decide since this was a whim. Got home, did a little research on labradoodles, and decided it was a go!

Picked Queso up, got his papers, got to PetCo at closing time for puppy food and a tiny cage, and we were off! We weren't planning on splurging for a smaller cage, but when he had an accident on the way to PetCo b/c he was scared, we figured it would be a smart choice for all of us!

He's slowly learning the Dickens way. The guy told us he gets up regularly at 5:30ish to potty. Well, we're proud to say he made it until 6:15 this morning! Sidenote: we also got Chip out of this "early morning on the weekend" habit by making him wait a few more minutes each day, and we're so glad we did! It made for easier sleeping for mom and dad! Queso also got Chip's old bark collar. Nothing like hand-me-downs, right?? :) Let's just say he's a quick learner. He'd forgotten by this morning, but when he barked once, that's all it took too. Some may think this is a bad choice, but we learned with Chip that when you have neighbors, you have to take them into consideration too, and we broke him of his "bark when mom and dad are away" habit early on and hope to do the same with Queso.

Chip is okay with Queso so far. He LOVES playing with smaller dogs, so we'll see what happens as Queso grows. Right now they both sniff each other a lot and paw at each other to get the other one to play. Since we brought Queso home at about 9:30pm last night, we're getting our first day done today. We'll keep you posted!

Day 7--Sacile/Pordenone

We were so exhausted that this morning we slept until the late hour of about 9/10am! Courtney showed me all the stuff she had so far for "the boys", which was fun for both of us, and we basically did a lot of nothing all morning. She realized though that she'd better show us around a little bit because reposo (Italian naptime after lunch!) would start around 12:30 or 1:00 and if we wanted to see the town, we had to get out of the house! We toured their town, Sacile, and were able to walk to everything, which was great! (By the time we left, we knew our way to 2 different gelato places!)

Here we are in the center of town where the river runs. The white things hanging down are for kayakers to go through as an obstacle course type event when the river gets higher. Sister pic and Steph/Jeff pic!

Evan had to work all morning since he had an inspection coming up at the base, so when he got home, we headed out to Pordenone, a larger town about 15-20 minutes away from Sacile. It was pretty dead when we got there since it was still "reposo", but it was amazing how quickly people literally came out of the woodwork in order to go back to work! We went to a coffee bar, then a real bar, and had a great time!

Church in Pordenone

Cappucini anyone? Why yes--we'll take 3!

Here are the Epsteins--don't worry....only 3 of us had the prosecco!

Ahhh...the beginning of our wine/prosecco evening! The Epsteins know how to welcome us!

Day 6--Travel from Sperlonga to Venice

Haven't told you why we had to travel around like crazy people have I??? Well, when we bought our tickets, it was November and we were just thrilled to get such a good deal that we didn't plan anything at the time--just knew we were going to see Court and Evan while we were there, so we chose Venice as our flying destination. Only when we started our real planning in late January, did we realize we'd screwed up and needed to fly into Rome/Naples and out of Venice. This was going to cost almost $800 total and we spent less than that on the trains getting to/from Venice & Rome. Anyway...another live and learn situation. Jeff and I are just not huge planners and you have to be when you plan a trip like this. We'll do better next time!

This was a travel day for us. We were ready to see Courtney & Evan and have a little more English spoken to/around us! We left Sperlonga and returned the rental car. Only when we were in our taxi to the train station did I realize I didn't have our train ticket for our trip from Rome to Venice. We called our hotel and Elio checked and found that it had fallen in the "bucket"--trash can! The only thing I can think is that it was sitting on a pile on the luggage rack the night before and it just fell in. I was so mad for 3 reasons:

1. I ALWAYS checked that we had passports, tickets, money, etc. before we left---EXCEPT today!
2. We now had no ticket and after researching our train insurance, found out we had to file a police report within 24 hours and within 30 days of getting back to America we had to send in bunches of paperwork. AND....we had to buy a new ticket and hope to be reimbursed after following all of their directions!
3. If we did end up filing a police report and buying a new ticket (which we did), it meant we no longer had time to go into the Colosseum, which was our plan since we had 3 hours in Rome before we had to hop on the train and leave.

Needless to say....I owe Jeff a trip back!

Got to Venice, hopped another train to Sacile--(Sa-Chee-Lay), where Court and Evan live. They treated us to a great dinner at their favorite restaurant and then we began to plan our time together......

Day 5--Pompeii

Wow! That pretty much sums up our visit to Pompeii! Really, we were crazy to get all the way down here during this trip, but it was one spot we agreed we both really wanted to see while we were in Italy, so we made it work! It took almost 3 hours of driving to get down to Pompeii, about 2.5 to see it, and another 2.5 to drive back, so it was a long day. We'd loved to have stayed longer at the site of Pompeii, but we didn't feel like braving the Autostrada at night, so we cut it short--smart move!

We got directions from Elio--our hotel owner--and he even gave Jeff an Italian GPS program for his phone! (Have I said how awesome our hotel/owner was to us?? He helped us with EVERYTHING!) So we had Jeff's phone GPS as well as this program to help us out. We still got off on the wrong area, made a u-turn in a lovely (hint of sarcasm here) area of Naples, and kept on going. We saw literally ONE sign that told us we were going/getting to Pompeii--and that was the sign at the exit! Luckily I'd been scanning and we'd seen ONE for Vesuvius National Park, so at least we knew we were going in the right direction! By the time we got to Pompeii, we were just happy to be there and paid for parking--very unlike us! However, we parked at a restaurant about 1/4 mile from the entrance, so who can complain?

Entering the archeological site of Pompeii, this is what you see. This is part of the wall of the ancient city. Once we made a few turns and actually got into the city, we were awestruck! It is truly amazing (Yes, I know I've over-used that word in these posts) the technology that they used back then. And when I say back then, I mean in A.D. These "stones" are actually useful for many reasons. They often flooded the streets of Pompeii to clean them and when that happened, you could use these stones as a crosswalk to the other side of the street (they were not at EVERY street corner--just select ones). If there were 3 stones, you knew it was a 2 lane street; if there was just 1, it was a one-way street. They were spaced so that the wheels of their carts could straddle the stones. There were still MANY areas being worked on as we walked around Pompeii. Excavations began in the 1700s after the city was discovered in the 1600s. We even saw a group of archeologists sitting around having an afternoon snack (they didn't look too happy that we wanted to take a picture, so we didn't!) It is daunting to see how big this city was for that time and realize the work that it has taken to get it un-earthed to where it is today. Truly amazing!

They have uncovered many frescoes and most are in this condition. Some better, some worse...

Stadium and inside the stadium

"Road" in Pompeii
Door--sorry it's sideways (Thought I turned it) Notice the hook type things on it.

People buried alive by the ash from the volcano.
I decided that this is where I'd cook Jeff breakfast if we lived in Pompeii back then (and if I cooked breakfast!!)

Day 4/5/6--Our Home...Sperlonga!

(Again...no clue what's happened, but I can't move the pics like normal, so they're all backwards too--enjoy!)

After seeing the Sistene Chapel, it was time to go to our next destination: Sperlonga. Since Jeff wanted to rent a car, this was easier said than done, but we're glad we did it. After a short train ride to Latina, a taxi to Hertz to rent the car, and getting new directions--we were off!

Jeff found Sperlonga by researching on GoogleEarth the area that we'd be in for our trip. This is also how we found our spot to stay in Colorado this summer, so it's a great tool for us! He finds the location, I research places to stay, and Voila! Sperlonga is about an hour south of Rome and almost 2 hours north of Naples. Our plan was to go see Pompeii, but we didn't want to stay in a large city again. Sperlonga is not the Amalfi Coast, but is just above it. I've heard that area is gorgeous and cannot wait to see it one day, but Sperlonga is beautiful in itself. We got to Sperlonga near 5:30pm Wednesday night (and again close to the same time coming back from Pompeii on Thursday), so we didn't get to "see" this lovely village and really tour it---guess we'll go back!

We stayed at the Hotel Corallo and were the only ones in the 16 bedroom hotel! In fact, on our travel day to Pompeii the owner actually gave us the key to the hotel and told us to treat it like it was our house! We left the computer plugged in downstairs, cell phones charging, etc--hey! He told us to! It was breath-taking from the moment we walked in and we couldn't have picked a more beautiful "honeymoon" spot (didn't take our honeymoon last year, so this was our splurge--and it wasn't that much of a splurge!) We highly recommend this sleepy tourist town--especially in the summer when it's busier. The entire area is amazing!

This was our "scenic picture spot/tunnel view" that also happened to turn into our dinner spot later that night! By this time in our trip, we hadn't had a lot of meat and in this spot was a converted RV that sold hamburgers, hot dogs, porketta (sp?), etc--yippee! Nothing like a little meat, chips, and wine in plastic cups to help you wind down your day! Not to mention....the view was pretty spectactular!

View driving to Pompeii along the coast.
Sperlonga--view at the Marina from our hotel area

Kisses! (But also check out the view behind us!)

Ahhhh.....honeymoon spot! View from our balcony--best room in the hotel! (Should be...we were the only ones there!)

Blurry pic, but here is Sperlonga--the hilltop view!
Here we are renting our car. We figured this is what we'd look like after trying to drive in Italy--and we were almost right!

Day 4--Rome--The Vatican Museum/Sistene Chapel

Our main goal today was to see the Sistene Chapel. It would have helped to do a little research to find out that the Sistene Chapel is not a free-standing monument; no, it's actually inside the Vatican Museum. We braved the subway from our hotel since we'd already realized our hop-on/hop-off bus was not the speediest mode of travel. Following the few signs was easy enough, but we asked and asked and asked and everyone kept pointing us to the museum. So we FINALLY decided to trust them, go in, and as we pay the nice man finally explains that yes...it is part of the museum! Oh well--live and learn! We didn't waste but about 5 minutes, but you'd think with all the research I did for our trip that I would have looked that one up!

I didn't get to see the Sistene Chapel in 2001 when I went to Rome because that happened to be the one day it was closed--Day of Ascencion or something...don't remember. I was thrilled to get to do this with Jeff, and we both agree it was one of the highlights of Rome! We had great weather with bright blue skies that offset everything outside beautifully! It is so amazing what the artists/sculptors/painters could do back then when everything in the museum was created. You're not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistene Chapel, so these others are a few interesting ones (sorry for them being sideways...thought I changed them and am currently mad with the blog so it's not happening!):

(Side note: I've now tried to fix the pics again and I can't move them, so the order of the pics is now backwards---UGH!!! Oh well!)

The Pope! Apparently Wednesday is the day he gives mass outside--see him under the white tent on the stairs---I do!!!

Wooden model of Vatican City

Us in the outside gardens--in the middle of the museum--beautiful day!

Lockers??? Seriously, they look like them and a few were being restored, so we were nosy (shocker!) and peeked in....they definitely looked like antique lockers to us!

Restoration work currently being done. Again, not a great picture (my camera kept changing itself to different settings and I'd realize it about 5 pictures in).

Painting of the Pope's blessing (I think).

In this certain hallway all the ceiling pictures are named.

Not a great picture, but interesting to see that some places have "screens" across cracks and are in need of repair.

The beginning of our "beautiful ceiling" pictures--what they did is amazing!