The Global Guy

The Tuscan region is fantastic. I’d heard that one of the things that you had to do was to take a bike ride around the area, so I hooked up with a local biking company. I was the only backpacker, which was kind of interesting. Two of the people on the trip were from the DC area, and it turns out that one of them will be in Warrenton for Christmas at the same time that I’ll be there.

Anyway, we spent the day cycling around the hills, checking out olive groves and vineyards. We stopped for a while in the town of Fiesole and then had lunch at a local vineyard. The scenery was so beautiful, and the green is a nice contrast to the dusty dryness of Africa.

After the bike ride, I was feeling pretty energetic so I topped off the day by climbing the 463 steps to the top of the main cathedral in Florence. Tomorrow I’m planning on getting an early train to Pisa and then on to Lucca.

Getting here took longer than I thought it would…I missed the train by about 3 minutes, and had to wait for the next one. That one ended up being about an hour late, so I finally arrived in Florence about 3.5 hours later than I had expected. Luckily I found a GREAT hostel, and had time to go out and see Michaelangelo’s David. I had honestly thought about skipping this, but I am so glad I didn’t. I had no idea of the actual size of this sculpture. Every picture I have seen doesn’t do anything to show the scale of the statue. I figured that it would be about life size, or maybe a little larger….WRONG! This thing is about 3 times life size, and up on a pedestal that adds another 10 feet or so to its size. They’ve just started a restoration project to clean it, but they’re doing it in full view. That’s the way art should be saved!

One of my favorite things to do in this town is to wander around after the sun goes down. In the narrow winding streets, you really get the feeling that this is a true medieval town, and that you could be 600 years in the past. Of course even that can get old after a while, so I headed across the river to see some of the shops and outdoor art. After a while I found a building that looked amazingly familiar…it turns out that it was the setting for a scene in "Hannibal" where Hannibal Lechter kills an Italian cop by hanging him out of a window. Kinda cool!

I had forgotten how expensive Europe is! Luckily, I am only spending a few days here…I can’t believe I’ll be home in 9 more days.

After a long flight from Cape Town via London I arrived in Rome around 4ish. It took a while to find a room and it was getting dark by the time I got settled in. The hostel is right next to a subway station, and when I looked at the map it was obvious that I had to head to the Coliseum stop for dinner. The first sight of the Coliseum was breathtaking! I walked around it for an half hour or so just taking in the sense of antiquity. Right across from the building I found an outdoor restaurant with a perfect view of the whole area. I had a blast eating an amazing dinner, drinking cheap wine and just watching the tourists wander around.

I’ve spent the next day exploring the city proper. It was the perfect day to see everything except for Vatican City. Mother Theresa was being beatified which meant that the 300,000 tourists were all crowded into St. Peter’s square instead of the usual scenic spots. That evening I went on a night walking tour..it started raining half way through, but it was still a lot of fun. We ended up seeing a few sights that I hadn’t gotten around to yet like the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon.

The following day it was raining in Rome so I figured I head out of town to check out Pompeii. I think the rain decided to follow me because it was pouring when the train arrived! It was lousy for photography, but the rain really added to the atmosphere. Between the rain and the ceremony in Rome the previous day there were hardly any tourists. Wandering around the deserted streets, seeing the ruined homes, bath houses, and theaters was surreal. One day I’ll have to come back and spend some more time exploring here and around the whole region of Vesuvius

Finally the next day I wandered over to Vatican City and spent the day wandering around the museums and chapels. Photography isn’t really allowed, but most people have seen reproductions of the artworks anyway. You know, with all the money that the Vatican has tied up in art over there, it makes me wonder why the hell I had to give away part of my allowance every week as a kid to the local parish!