The weekend in Sorrento is wet, but still fun. We are eating great food, doing some shopping, and just enjoying each others' company. We have become close, Danilo, Mike, the students, and I.

A few of us went to dinner on Friday. The whole group went out together on Saturday.

 

Not only was the town decorated but so was our hotel. See below.

 

Friday November 30th we depart campus for Sorrento. This trip requires a lot of trains and time in train stations. We leave campus at 7:15 to catch the 7:40 train from Viletta to Roma Termini. Once in Rome we have to find our platform for the fast train to Naples. The fast train to Naples is delayed. Of course. The train ride to Naples is one hour 10 minutes and we achieve speeds of 300km/hr. Normally once we reach Naples we have to take another train to Sorrento. However, this particular train is not running due to some workers' strike.

Danilo is able find a regional train that will take is fairly close to Sorrento. From there he is able to arrange for three vans to pick us up and transfer us to our hotel. We arrive approximately two and a half hours later than planned. And of course it has rained continuously throughout. We are tired and hungry, so we head to the restaurant to eat saltinboccas (sp). This is a sandwich made with pizza dough with different items between the pizza layers. Sort of like a calzone but much thinner.

Saturday we head to Pompeii to have a guided tour of the excavations. I greatly enjoyed the last time I was here. The weather this time is not cooperating. the excavation is flooding and we are getting soaked even with rain coats and umbrellas. Thankfully I remembered to wear the boots I brought for Venice. I think we had higher water in Pompeii than we had in Venice.

Sorrento is fully decorated for the Christmas holiday.

Wednesday the 28th of November was a free day. Which always means cleaning and laundry day for me. Also generally use this day as an opportunity to walk up to Castel Gandolfo for a porchetta. Unfortunately it is pouring down rain. Mixed with frequent lightening and thunder. And significant wind. I will have to forego the porchetta till another day.

Thursday November 29th was the day we set aside for the students to interview Italians about their views on their health care system. Generally we hold these interviews at an outdoor market in Rome near Termini station. San Lorenzo market is generally populated by Italians rather than tourists.

Due to the weather, still raining, lightening, and thunder, we have to try plan B. We decide to head to Esquilino market, also near Termini, but an indoor market.

The students always enjoy the opportunity to practice their Italian. Danilo and I enjoy the opportunity to explore the market and eat. The market includes clothes as well as a food market. The food market always includes a fish market area. Great fun.

The students are each required to interview 10 Italians. They were finished way ahead of time. next time we will shoot for 20 interviews.

Tuesday, November 27th we had a tour of the excavation under St. Peter's Basilica and a student led tour of the basilica itself. The scavi tour under St. Peters is fascinating. Pope Pious the 12th (?) I think, ordered the excavation under the church to attempt to find the tomb of St. Peter during the 1940's. According to the historical documents, St. Peter was martyred on the area now known as the Vatican Hill. And all the previous churches were supposedly built with the alter directly above his tomb. However, until the 1940's we lacked the expertise to excavate under St. Peters. Only 10 people at a time are allowed into the excavation and the tour lasts an hour. So only 100 people a day are able to arrange this experience.

The waiting list is long. For Danilo Mori to arrange for 16 students plus myself to do this tour is simply amazing. Not sure exactly how he works his magic. I just really appreciate that he does.

The tour takes us directly under the alter of St. Peter's Basilica where the excavations revealed a sealed wall said to contain the remains of a large man dating to the 1st century. The tour guide mentioned that no bones of the feet were found which matches the legend that St. Peter was crucified upside down and his body removed from the cross by chopping off his feet.

While thousands of pilgrims visit the basilica everyday, only a few have this opportunity. Both the students and I appreciate being part of the select few.

After the scavi tour, we had a student led tour of the basilica itself. The students gave us a great tour with very detailed information of what we were seeing. I really liked it. Shout out to Katie Moore and Brandon Shannon.

On Monday, November 26th, Alex's birthday, Amy had to fly back to Canton. It was sad to see her leave. The last time I taught in Rome, Amy came over at the end of the semester and we traveled together and returned home together. This was different. Now I was putting her in a taxi for the airport to fly back by herself and I still had another three weeks until I could return home. I didn't much like this arrangement.

But it was the best timing for her work schedule and based on our schedule in Rome. With Thanksgiving holiday, she was able to spend more time here without using vacation days. And while she was here we got to visit Florence with the group and then travel to Tuscany just the two of us. In addition we were able to spend her birthday and our anniversary together. It was perfect timing. But I still didn't like saying goodbye again.

On Monday with the students we took them up into the dome of St. Peters. I should say we pointed to them where to go. I am not crazy about heights. Maybe next time I will make it to the top. They greatly enjoyed the experience. I am glad we were able to arrange this for them.

After the dome visit we took them to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. The guards in the Sistine Chapel always yell at people who attempt to take pictures. No pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel. I am pretty positive all my students snuck a picture or two of the ceiling. I am equally impressed that they all accomplished this without once being yelled at by the guards. The guards will too busy yelling at other people to be quiet. And I mean yelling..."silenzio". It always seems so ironic to me, but they see no irony in it. Not sure if Italians understand irony?

Danilo is starting to understand sarcasm and irony, but this is only because he spends most of his time with Americans.

This is the view from the lower level of the dome.

The pictures of the dome from the lower level.

Sunday, November 25th was suppose to be an uneventful train ride back to Rome and then back to campus. But for some reason train riding is never uneventful with my wife. I already mentioned the train was 2 and a half hours delayed on Friday. however, I failed to mention the train incident on Thursday on the way back to campus from Rome.

When Amy arrived on Thursday the 15th we bought her a weekly metro pass. This allowed her to ride the local trains, metro, and buses in Rome. We also bought extra train tickets for Friday and Sunday so she could ride the train to Termini for our trip. And return to campus from Termini on Sunday. Well our math skills are apparently no good because her weekly pass actually ran out on Wednesday. So on Thursday during our return trip to campus the conductor checked our tickets. They don't check all the time. But this evening they did.

He told us that her pass expired on Wednesday because that was the seventh day. So Amy pulls out one of her daily passes we planned to use on Friday and Saturday. And announces that she does have a ticket for the train. This was good and bad. It was good because we did not incur a 50 euro fine for riding the train without a ticket. It was bad because all tickets must be validated *date and time stamped". Since her ticket was not yet validated, remember we planned to use it the next day. He charged us 5 euros for not validating our ticket. Which was still better than 50 euro fine for no ticket.

So on Sunday we caught a train from Assisi to Foligno where we had to change trains to travel to Rome. There was a large group of very active and loud students on the train with us from Assisi to Foligno. Once we changed trains we tried to stay away from this loud group and climbed into a different car from theirs. It is about two hours from Foligno to Rome. After about an hour the conductor came by to check our tickets. He said something in Italian I didn't understand. I asked him to repeat, and he said in English that we owed 18 euros. I didn't understand why because we remembered to validate our tickets. And he pointed to the door and said we were sitting in first class with a second class ticket. We never realized that in our attempt to ditch the loud students, we ended up in first class.

I apologized for the mix up and told him we would move to second class. He said we were welcome to move but we still owed him 12 euros instead. When I asked why he patiently explained that we had already been sitting in first class for over half the trip and we had to pay for that mistake. I told him we would just pay the 18 euros and stay where were. He was satisfied with this.

On Saturday November 24th I was awakened in the hotel in Montepulciano by the sunrise coming into our hotel room. See below.

You can still see all the fog below us. The other hill top towns in the region look like islands in the sea of fog. After a great breakfast in the hotel, Amy and I explored the city. Which in Montepulciano means exploring the wine tasting rooms. There are over 100 wineries in Montepulciano. And of course, my wife cannot just taste the wine without buying a bottle from the winery. Thank goodness we did not stay past 1P, and we only had time for six wineries.

The city of Montepulciano was very peaceful and scenic. Besides the wineries, I wouldn't mind spending more time there just "chillin out" as Danilo would say. Below are some random pictures taken in the city.

The next picture was taken at the entrance to the city from below looking back at the city.

The next picture is of the main church in the Grande Piazza in Montepulciano. They never finished the outside of it. I think they intended to make it pretty at some point, and maybe still do plan to do so. Some things just take longer to complete in Italy.

At 1p we left Montepulciano for Assisi. We hired a driver so we could stop when we wanted and enjoy the scenery. However, we were unprepared for the fog. It was still very intense. From the moment we left Montepulciano, one couldn't see the side of the road, let alone any scenery.

In fact Assisi was encased in fog. We tried to enjoy the city as much as the fog allowed. But it was sad because Assisi can be so picturesque. We did climb up to Rocco Majori. We did visit the basilica of St. Francis. We went inside every church we could find because we couldn't see anything outside but a few feet in front of us. I don't think i have ever been in fog that was this intense. I felt really bad for Amy because I have seen Assisi in the sunlight but her view was not good.

We had a great time nonetheless. And left to return to Rome on the train on Sunday.