Our Week In Italy - FLORENCE, POMPEII & PISA

Ahhh...Firenze...and the Ponte Vecchio

Now let me tell you, all around Italy I was told "dont buy any gold til you get to Florence"....And I have to say, the Ponte Vecchio has the most stunning gold I have ever seen...."seen" being the optional word here...I certainly couldn't afford to "buy" any...Holy crap it's dear...the whole bridge is jewellery shops....quite blinding! But nope, didn't buy anything there....still had holidaying to do!! LOL

We took a first class train (80 Euro) from Rome to Florence...very nice, comfy and easy as.  The train systems are a pretty easy way to travel Europe...(except when they change your platform 5 minutes before it leaves and your 3 platforms away!! haha) And into beautiful Florence we were.  We caught a taxi to our hotel, (which was GORGEOUS!!  Shutters at the windows looking out to a lane....so pretty!!) 

So we dropped our gear and started exploring.  Straight to the Ponte Vecchio!

 Now let me tell ya...Florence is the place for LEATHER!! OMFG I was in heaven....Of course I HAD to have a matching handbag, boots and gloves!! 

I could have shopped here forever...GREAT prices!!! We had a lot to do here as we had 3 tours....Pisa, Pompeii and the Accademia D'Arte...I couldn't wait to see Michelangelo's Statue of David!!! But first, onto a train we went for Pisa!  Gotta see that tower right?  Oh yeah! And, many thanks to my lapband for helping have the fitness to do so, I CLIMBED THAT SUCKER'S 300 STEPS TO THE TOP!!! (nearly had an asthma attack but hey....lol)

Now let me tell you...this is no easy trip...The steps are thick, well worn granite....I did runs of 50 and stopped for air....the lactic acid was burning in my thighs and I was well wheezy at the top! BUT I DID IT...another tick on the bucket list for me LOL......My friend Jolanta did it with me and when we got to the first opening before the top, she told me she was stopping there! I said WHAT?? You cant get all this way and not get to the top! She then shared with me her FEAR OF HEIGHTS!! I said "what the fark are you doing up here then?? LOL but to her credit...she continued (hesitantly) and made it to the top...Very proud of her!!! Mind you when I told her to look over and get a pic she was quite graphic in telling me no! Here she is!

 WELL DONE JOLANTA!!!

 Of course we had to do the "push" photo's LOL

What a buzz.....We also went and checked out Pisa a little but we were late getting there so it was starting to close up...so back on the train for Florence we went.
Next day was our tour of Pompeii, so into Naples we went....Naples was nothing special for me...a very grubby littered concrete jungle with lots of scribble all over it....glad we weren't there for long.  The tour took us into Pompeii for an included lunch then off to ruins.....Now this is some crazy shit.....A volcano erupts 79AD and covers the entire place with volcanic ash...wiped out...gone...

The ruins of Pompeii were discovered in the late 1600's. The discovery of this ruined city turned out to be an archaeologist's dream come true.  Pompeii had been a thriving Roman port town in 79 A.D. when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, covering the the entire town and literally freezing it in time. The discovery of this ancient city has given archaeologists a clue to what everyday life was like in the Roman empire. That was because the eruption preserved the buildings. It preserved the art work. It even preserved some of the people (seven of which can be seen in the court yard of the fools). The discovery of Pompeii was like going back in time to the day the eruption occurred because everything was as it was the day Vesuvius erupted.
    Walking the streets is like walking back through time. You walk among the stone buildings. You walk by homes that had huge gardens which stand side by side with little tiny lots where a store stood, or poor person had lived.  It is truly amazing to walk along the streets of this town, releasing that you are walking down a street almost 2000 years old, and it hasn't change a bit. You can walk into the house of ill repute and look at pictures of the services which were offered (see pics next LOL). You can climb to the top of the preserved theatre and look over the ancient ruins. You can walk through the ancient forum and imagine what it was like when it was a bustling market place.  Mind boggling!!


We had an 86yo guide..Franko who was the most awesome tour guide ever...funny little bugger that spoke about 200 different languages and had been doing Pompeii tours for 56 yrs! He was so awesome...a highlight of the tour LOL.


Now, dear readers, you know I live my life (well you should by now) tongue in cheek so to speak, so let me tell you about the houses of "ill repute" for a town of 12000 people, there were 1000 brothels!! Way to many Franko told us....and to find your way to the "red light" area...you were supplied with "penis" markers in the town....

Hahahahaha this cracked me up...and Franky loved showing us them....Now the residents of the town were apparently quite "shy" when it came to "asking" for which "service" they wanted so Fresco paintings were painted on the walls of the brothel for them to point to....such as.....

AND...a little doggy perhaps LOL

There is so much to see and check out here...it is AMAZING! The training fields for the Gladiators....wooooooh still gives me goosebumps....

Of course there is also the human artifacts they found....kinda creepy but worth a look.......

Can you imagine what these people were thinking when the volcano erupted?  Surely they must have been thinking "What have we done to anger the Gods"... poor buggers.....
The inhabitants of Pompeii did not know that Vesuvius was a volcano, as it hadn’t erupted in 1,800 years. There isn’t even a Latin word for volcano! Here it is.....

Well actually you cant see it too well for me...so here's a better one LOL

 Our Guide "Franko"

I went into the markets and got accosted by a peddler lady and ended up buying a volcanic rock bracelet....I couldn't get away from her until I did...So be prepared LOL...they are ruthless!

And the story continues......

Talk to you all in the final chapter! Coming up next :)


Until then...be nice to each other :)


Meeg x