Back In Normandy July 8, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Normandy , add a commentIt’s been very difficult to find affordable or even cheap lodging and experiences as the summer progresses. We had a Workaway scheduled in Ireland for the time before we meet with my mother but the couple began hosting a person already, so they canceled on us. We continued looking and emailing other prospective hosts, but with no success. So being optimistic, we looked to the hosts we had in Normandy. But they were full too. However they had friends that need some extra help.
We arrived in Caen, France and received a friendly welcome by our new hosts, Carl and Kris. Their home dates back to the 16th Century and are lovely! There are a couple of cherry trees and a ton of wild cherry trees here that are perfectly ripe and ready to be eaten (needless to say, taking a break here is very nice!).
The work is pretty easy, I have been weeding the grounds with the lady of the house while Chris has been trimming the hedges with Carl.
Tomorrow We’re going to the beach with our hosts since it’s been such nice weather. Exciting!
First Day In London May 18, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : London , 1 comment so farThe Ferry ride to the UK was quite the experience. I figured it would be a flat boat with cars and people intermingling with nothing to do for the long trip across the Channel. I was dead wrong! It was a full- blown cruise ship with four movie theaters, a couple of restaurants, and classes (like cooking and craft classes). There were even cabins people could rent. I was impressed. However, everything costs money, so I suppose, it was more like a moving shopping mall and hotel.
Today is the first official day in London but we arrived yesterday afternoon. We were going to go straight to the hotel and maybe walk around the area near the hotel, but while we were waiting in line to buy a one way Tube ticket, a lady approached us asking,”do you need zones 1 and 2?” and we confirmed. She gave us two day passes that she said she didn’t need. So, happy as a pair of clowns, we thanked her and went around the intercity for the rest of the day.
I am on my own today, for Chris is at his conference for most of the day. I went to Hyde Park and saw the chicks with their mothers (the Swans take great pride in their young and love to show them off). Besides the swans there is also the Egyptian Geese with their young (they looked really lazy and didn’t mind that I was practically hovering over them). The Egyptian geese chicks ran right up to me when I put my hand out which was adorable. I talked to a woman at the park and she said there were Coot chicks (little black fluff balls about the size of a Ping Pong ball) but I didn’t see them. It was quite lovely.
April 20:Week In Pictures April 20, 2010
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Mount Vesuvius April 19, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Naples, Travel Tips , add a commentTo go up Vesuvius, you have to take a bus most of the way up and then hike to the summit. The cheapest way to get the bus is to go to the Ercolano stop where the bus tickets are the cheapest, in addition to the train tickets being fairly cheap. Be wary though because there is a tour that charges extra for a tour guide. It’s a volcano, do you really need a tour guide?
The bus ride up gives you great views over the Bay of Naples in addition to the towns of Pompei and Ercolano. About 4km from the bus stop at the top of the volcano, we stopped at a shop run by a man who has been living and working on Vesuvius for over 40 years, saw the last eruption in 1944 at age 16, and gave us a nice history of the volcano highlighted by pictures out of a book about Vesuvius.
The top of Mount Vesuvius is a National Park that you have to pay 4.50 to 6.50 Euros a person to climb to the top, depending on age and whether or not you are a student.
We paid to exert ourselves and climb to the top and it was worth it. The hike afforded us great views some of the time, odd visions while walking in clouds, and finally, stunning views into the volcano itself.
Along the way, there are several small shops where you can buy nifty figures and souvenirs from the mountain made of shiny volcanic rock and such. There are Roman statues, fairies, and even just plain shiny rocks!
At the top is a shop where you can grab a coffee while admiring the views around and over the mountain and if it’s cloudy when you get to the top, just wait a few minutes, the clouds have a tendency to be only temporary things, passing by and giving you an absolutely stunning view down the volcano.
While taking the climb, Tiff and I got engrossed in looking for shiny rocks of our own so that we wouldn’t have to pay for a rock, shiny or not, deciding that it would be more fun to find our own anyway. What we discovered by the end of our trek up and down the volcano was that there are more shiny rocks at the beginning of the path than at any other point on the climb; however, there were a lot of nifty, shiny, and colorful rocks on the path, just not as many as were at the bottom.
One thing to remember before deciding to climb Vesuvius is to bring a jacket even if it feels nice and warm at sea level; it can be several degrees cooler at the top and is often very windy, there are even signs posted around the entrance to the Park.
While looking into the volcano, we noticed that apparently there are steam vents in the sides of the volcano because there would be steam constantly moving up from the walls of the volcano and joining the clouds, even when there weren’t any clouds anywhere near the volcano!
Vesuvius is definitely something you can’t miss on a trip through southern Italy!
Herculaneum April 18, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Naples , add a commentWe woke up to cloudy skies and a drizzle that lasted all day. But we wouldn’t let a little rain stop us, so we went to 
Herculaneum today. Apparently the free heritage week ends on the 25th of April, so we can go to all of these places for free (we plan on leaving on the 21st).
Herculaneum is very similar to Pompei, except it’s smaller and much more preserved. So much so that we were very surprised to see that some of the rooms still had the original ceilings with Fresco still on it! Some places had the original wooden door frames. There were two and three story buildings mostly intact. Most of t
he buildings were once homes that had eight rooms and they were very spacious (perhaps very high-end homes). It was definitely something to see and a bit better to do in the rain instead of Pompei, since Pompei doesn’t have much shelter.
There is still excavations being done under the city that is there today, since there is still some of Herculaneum that has not been tampered with yet. We got to go into a little of the tunneling that has been done so far. There was a neat sculpture inside the tunnel and not much else that was of interest.
We hope to be going to the Archeological museum in Napoli tomorrow to see all of the things (and people) they have discovered in the ruins. It may be closed since most of Italy is on Mondays. We shall see.
Biking Around Florence April 15, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Florence , 1 comment so farSorry about not posting yesterday we were so tired from the four hour bike ride around Florence and a million stairs that w
e went to the hostel and fell asleep. The bikes were cheap, only 1.50 Euro an hour or 4.00 Euro for five hours. We had a blast going around town, it was definitely less exhausting to go by bicycle than by foot. It was so fun that neither of us realized that our behinds were bruised from the constant bumps in the uneven stone pavement!
We went to the Michelangelo Piazza which is located at the top of a hill (meaning be prepared for a lot of steps) and has a great view of the city. At the top there is a replica of David in copper ( I suppose you could say he’s green with envy) and a man playing Queen on an electric guitar (he was playing it like a Dulcimer). And of course, perhaps the most amazing view of Florence!
Today we sat on a train for six hours or so to get to Napoli (Naples) and Found some cheap-eats via the front desk attendant who “knows a guy”. Very nice and very Italian. He also told us that we can take the city bus for a Euro to Pompeii or Herculaneum (Mt. Vesuvius is about six miles away from Napoli). I’m excited! I love ancient paraphernalia and impressive geographical features!
P.S. The BBC has posted that all flights in northern Europe and parts of Western Europe are canceled due to a volcanic explosion in Iceland. This should not effect our trip considering how far south we are currently, but we may get some lovely sunsets. I’ll take pictures if we do!
April 13: Week In Pictures April 13, 2010
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Best Of Tuscany Tour April 12, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Florence, Italy , add a commentThe tour started at 8:30 this morning when we boarded the bus and headed to Siena. A native of Siena, our guide, took us through the city; giving us insight into how the inhabitants live both now and in the past. It was very interesting! The city is divided into 17 neighborhoods that compete against each other twice a year in a horse race in the main square (Campo). The only rule is that a rider cannot mess with an opponent’s reigns, so there is a lot of foul play among the different neighborhoods. The winning neighborhood celebrates by drinking, obviously, and putting pacifiers in their mouths to symbolize that a new champion is born (and to put shame in the loosers).
The next stop was a Chianti wine farm that is situated on top of a tall hill in the country. The view was amazing! Rows and rows of Olive trees, Grape vines, and Saffron covered the valley. Also, we could see our next stop, San Gimignano, from there. At the farm we ate lunch of traditional pasta
Ragu, salad, sheep cheese, and bread with Olive oil. About 95% of what we ate came from the farm we were on. We even met the Chianina cows!
So then we got back on the bus and headed for stop number three. San Gimignano is also situated on a hill top and is famous for it’s towers and it is also home of “the best Gelato”. There were once around 70 towers, but now ther
e are a lot less. It was a strange sight to see since the towers look like modern-day sky scrapers. San Gimignano is very small, so it was easy to navigate (20 minutes or less from one side to the other) and the city still has it’s old city walls in tact so it’s not easy to accidentally leave the city. We got there and immediately went to the Gelato shop. There were strange flavors (such as Saffron with cinnamon), interesting flavors , and tasty sounding flavors all ready to be eaten. We tried the Passion Fruit, Mango, and Strawberry.
The next stop was Pisa. We were a wee bit peckish by then, so we grabbed Mc.Donald’s and had a little picnic in front of the Duomo (Nothing says 
Americans in Italy better than a McRoyal at a large tourist destination). The guide said that the marble facade of the buildings came from many different places and we saw that because random bricks that had Celtic knots or Latin written on them, and the pieces were all different colors.
P.S. Our “cat rental” came in through the window yesterday after about two hours of meowing it’s head off on the neighbor’s roof. It was shocking and hilarious.
First Day In Florence April 10, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Florence , add a commentSo today was basically a in transit day for us. We took a train from Venice to Florence and then walked for a long time because we got lost trying to find our hostel. Another new lesson we learned is Google maps does not tell you that there are
two different street numbers; black and red. In fact it directed us to two completely different places; neither were our hostel.
After we got there and were checked in, the hostel owner sat down with us and wrote all over a map showing us where we should go and what is great to see(there is a lot). It was like getting a grand tour of the city on a map!After, we were very exhausted and headed to the room to relax and do some research on the places we’d like to go in Italy (we are now booked at a $34 a night hotel in Napoli for next stop).
After dinner we headed to the Piazza de Repubb
lica (where my mom and I stayed before) to see the Charlie Chaplain street act. We got there extra early, and got some Gelato, found a good spot, and watched the illegal purse sellers and the cops play the cat and mouse game.
He has been preforming for 26 years in the same street right outside of the Piazza, every night around 9:45, 7 days a week. His show is very comical and we had a great time watching him play with the crowd. Unfortunately this was a bad night for him; the crowd was uncooperative and seemed to have hardly any sense of humor. It was still funny and we talked to him after ward and he apologized because everyone left in the middle of the show, including the people who were participating in the show itself. We’ll try again later this week.
Fantastic Day In Venice April 9, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Venice , add a commentWe purchased the 12 hour mobile pass today and it turned out quite well. The pass covers all forms of public transportation(so regular buses too!). We took the water bus to the Murano and Lido islands. The water bus was also useful as a cheap boat ride after sun set. It was very nice and a lot cheaper than a water taxi.
It was exciting, we got to see how they make Murano glass. All of the glass is blown on this island only because of the risk of fire, so there are quite a few factories to visit. There is a lot of shopping on the island too, and it is a good idea to shop there if you are in the market for a large piece of murano glass for a reasonable price. We looked in the shops and saw many items that showed off their maker’s talent.
Lido Island allows road vehicles, unlike Venice or Murano. We decided to walk to the free beach on the opposite side of the island (
we forgot our bathing suites in the hotel). We walked up the beach and looked at the shells (very high shell to sand ratio) for a good hour or two before using a short cut back to the road. When we got the road, we realized that we were walking on a military base (pretty vacant one at that).
Later, we watched the bag sellers scatter and set up shop with the passing of the police (buying a counterfeit product is a felony/up to 10,000 euro fine in Italy, so I only imagine what the punishment is for selling them). 
We did some shopping today (mostly looking around), played with the masks, and bought ourselves a mask each. Haggling is the way to go when shopping around Venice; we got one down to 15 and settled.
