Wishing I was still in Positano

We are in Sorrento now but I wish we were still in Positano. Positano is an awesome place, it is literally built into the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. The town hangs percariously over cliff walls that make you wonder what insane person built these homes/hotels/restaurants and how much money were they paid to do it. There isn't much to do here besides relax on the beach, shop and enjoy the view, so that is what we did. The town smells incredible...there are beautiful flowers and vines growing all over the buildings.

I can't believe I am going to say this but I think I actully might be sick of Italian food. They have no other food here, you will never find an asian restaurant, a spanish restaurant or even a McDonalds here. I hate to admit but I could go for a burger right now. When I get home I am not eating Italian food for months. Gelati on the other hand, I could never get tired of :)

Tomorrow we are going to go to Pompeii, which I am very excited about. I am craving gelati so blog at ya later....

Even you Brutus??

Ok, I am going to start this over again. I wrote this big beginning containing a couple paragraphs of our grand entrance into Rome, but this wonderful Italian keyboard I am working with allowed me to hit some magical keyboard combination that took me to a different web page... And poof! my info was gone.. You would think be a tech geek I would have learned to save often!! Ok, enough of this.. on to some good stuff.. hitting Save now.. :)

So.... We landed in Rome!!! Woohoooo! There just is no way to explain how truly exciting it is to sit for 13 hours on a 747, both of us not being able to sleep at all on airplanes in addition to the captain (or whoever) constantly hitting that "ding" alert button for what seemed like every 5 minutes just before they are about ready to make an announcement.. Funny thing is you would see folks jump out of their headrest when it went off. Kind of humorous, except when you are trying to sleep.. :)

We landed in Rome, obviously overdressed as we were both sweating like crazy with our jeans and sweater.. We got off the plane and after 20 minutes of wandering aimlessly for the taxi driver that should have been holding up a sign with our name on it, we bagged that option and started asking locals how to catch the train.. We then jumped on the train to Termini (the heart of Rome) and were next to our hotel within 30 minutes. What was AWESOME was once we got out of the train station, the colosseum was stairing us straight in the face. What an awesome sight!! This was the very beginning of us looking like the biggest tourists every.. I whipped out that camera and shot that colosseum like no other.. But, we had to find out hotel so we left.. After roaming around just a bit we finally found our hotel.. Hotel Paba is what it is called and it could not be in a better location.. Just minutes away from everything we would want to see. Or at least minutes away from a subway that would take us anywhere..

We got into our hotel room and dropped all of our bags and took a big sigh of relief.. Checking things out here and there. So thankful for air conditioning! One thing we noticed is that the beds in Italian hotels are hard as a rock! And so are the pillows.. So, if you are planning a trip here be sure to do your research on this!!

Ok, so here is all that we saw in Rome during our roughly 4 day stay there:

• Colosseum: This is just awesome! The whole time you cannot help but think about the movie Gladiator. This place is just massive and impresses easily as you get to know more about how it was engineered. We learned that this dude Vespasian was in charge of building it. He was a General in the Roman army. Although it was built about 2k years ago it is still able to give you a good idea of how it was used. We took an audio guided tour throughout the place, learning everything from the different events that took place in here (gladiator fights, slave and prisoner events having to battle different animals including lions, leopards, panthers, and bears). Funny thing was that if the dude fighting in the arena was starting to do well (defeating the animals or whoever or whatever he was fighting) they would open up a trap door in the floor of the colosseum and just let loose dozens of bears.. Kind of humorous once you initially hear that, but then your imagination thinks about this fighter must have been having an accident in his shorts having to run from them. We got tons of pictures too which we will post eventually.








• Forum and Palatine: This was pretty cool to see. This was pretty much where the daily grind would happen for common folk and politicians. There were several temples where commoners would worship. Also we walked into the building where the Roman Senate would meet to discuss laws and issues going on in the city. What is intersting is that this is not where Ceasar was assassinated.. This building was under construction and the Senate was meeting across town temporarily.








• Prison that held Peter and Paul: So this was really cool. This is where Peter was taken when he was a prisoner in Rome. We walked into this dark, ugly, prison where you see a sewer like manhole. This is where prisoners would get dropped in and stay. Peter was dropped in here and we got to see where that was. Funny thing is that there are stairs close to this so not sure why they were not used to take the prisoners there but in any case we went down there and it was definitely not the type of place you would want to stay for any length of time. It really gave us a new perspective to see what Peter went through for his Christ!!








• Pantheon: There are several reasons why this was cool. First, Raphael was buried here. This dude was only 37 years old when he died. Seems so strange given how much he did during his lifetime. Also, the first King of Italy (sometime in the 1800s, King Emmanuel) was also buried here. Another thing was the engineering of this place (gonna get nerdy for a minute). This place was very symettrically sound. The dome is exactly a half sphere, you could place a 142 foot in diameter sized ball in there and it would fit perfectly. At the widest point of the dome, the concrete is 23 feet thick as to where at the top it is only 5 feet thick. Also, there is a pattern all around the inside of the dome where large squares of concrete were purposely taken out as to make the dome itself lighter while not compromising the strength of the dome. Also, there was a large hole at the top of the dome that is built into it. So, when it rains, it all comes into the Pantheon.. What was also cool was the sun shining right through the hole in the dome so you could see this cool ray of light in a specific spot inside the building, making a perfect place for a picture.. which we took! you will see later








• Vatican: This was pretty cool, but I feel that it would have been cooler had I more patience and appreciation for art. This place is decorated ALL OVER with different paintings on the interior. Of course, what most people go here for is the Sistine Chapel. It is quite the trek to finally get there, miles of walking inside the Vatican just to finally arrive here (this place is freaking huge!). There is no doubt about it, Michaelangelo is a stud! The Sistine Chapel was an awesome sight and overwhelming really. Looking at a work of art that I know took several years in the making makes me think there is no way in the world I could ever do this. It is awesome to see how much thought went into it too. He basically told the story of man one huge ceiling. What is funny is that when you enter the chapel they say no pictures and no video. There is even guards there making sure people are not violating this. But, EVERYONE is taking pictures and using their flash. As if the guards and signs are note even there!! So, what would you do? What did we do? We busted that camera out and shot that Sistine Chapel!!
  
  
• St. Peters Basilica (church): It really solidifes your personal faith when you see for yourself a place where important people were 2k years ago. It was very interesting to see where Peter was buried, pretty much under one of the most grand and decorated pieces of art. What is also interesting is very close to this is the area where he was crucified, upside down! He wanted to be crucified upside down because he felt he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as Christ. Faithful dude.. We also took the elevator to the very top of this church which oversees all of Rome. What is also interesting is that Michealangelo designed this dome. We took a very long windy set of steps to get to the top of the dome after the elevator brought us up most of the way. What is also interesting is there is no other building in Rome taller than the Vatican. This is the law in Rome. Oh, another thing too.. There are NO shorts allowed in St. Peters church and everyone has to cover their shoulders. However, tons of folks were wearing shorts, so whatever. But, Brecken was stopped by a guard because she was wearing a tank top.. She had to quickly put her sweater on in order to reenter the church. It is actually great to see the respect that still exists for this place.








• Appian Way:

Off to Positano......

Just Landed In Rome...

Can't believe we are already three days past our wedding already! We both just got here in Rome and are dead tired from the long flight. Luckily we didn't get any swine flu, that we know of. And of course, as soon as we get here it's about 7:30AM and we can't quite go to sleep yet since our room isn't ready.. So we walked around the colloseum and a couple other spots just to kill some time before we crash (this is part of our killing time). That and looking at facebook to see if anyone has posted anymore pictures of our wedding.. Come on folks, we know you got them! :) Ok, going to bed now.. At 12:30PM Rome time..

One of the Seven Wonders of the World - Machu Picchu

Finally, what we have been waiting for all along we finally got to see.. And it was awesome! Of course, we had to wake up way early to get to see it but it was worth it. About a 20 minute bus ride from where were staying in Aguas Calientes took us up to a cold, rainy, foggy, and very eerie old mountain (Machu Picchu). We took about a 2 hour tour, guided by one of the locals, which gave us the history of the Incas that lived here and the discovery of the site. It took the Incas about a 100 years to build MP and only lived there for about 50. They built MP on top of this mountain because in their religion they believed they were closer to the sun god and it also protected from neighboring tribes (that did't think much of their mortality). In approx. 1545 the Incas packed up as much of their gold, idols, and ceramics and fled from the Spanish who were making their way across Peru from Cusco. The Incas destroyed half the trail from Cusco to MP so the Spanish could not find them.....and it worked. MP was not discovered until the early 1900s by a Peruvian guide who decided to benefit from this discovery by selling artifacts to private collectors. He did not tell anyone about MP. 28 years later MP was discovered by an American named Hirim Bingham who led an archeological dig for 3 years.

Walking through the ruins (Brecken, Phong, Tate, and I) we were in awe of the complexity and size of what was created by the Incas. The construction of walls, roofs, the irrigation system, agricultural terraces, and temples were amazing. A couple reasons why the ruins have lasted so long is because they designed them to be earthquake-proof and the built-in irrigation. The guide told us several highly educated engineers have studied the ruins and could not figure out how parts of it were built with the 16th century technology available.

We took tons and tons of pictures, probably too many. After about 6 hours of being baked by the sun (Brecken, Tate, and I all got sunburns) and getting bit by bugs we called it good and left. Instead of taking the bus back down the mountain we decided to hike down to our hotel. After the previous day's hike our legs and calves were taking another round of beatings.

Once we got back to town we were all starving and needed to replace the billion calories burned that day. So, we took a stroll to this pizza joint and all ate 3 "gigantica"-size pizzas (named that by the pizza joint).. We first ordered 1 thinking it would be a huge pizza (American-sized) but it was just a tease.. 2 more pizzas and 2 liters of beer finally hit the spot...

In all, MP was freaking awesome. It made you really want to be a fly on the wall when the Inca's inhabited the place just to see how they lived. The 3 rules lived by the Incas were: 1) do not lie 2) do not steal 3) do not be lazy. It was evident they weren't lazy by the amount of effort went into building this site. Also, they weren't even done building it by the time they left. They were still constructing it and there are still ruins being excavated today. Who knows what else they'll find up there in the coming years..

"Engaged on top of a mountain" - Ron Burgandy

I don't even know how to write this blog...I am still in shock...Russell and I are engaged. We arrived in Aguas Calientes this morning and even though we were both very tired we decided to hike up a mountain that is right next to Machu Picchu called Putucusi. It was a horrendous climb, tougher than anything I have ever done before...at one point we had to climb up ladders that went up a cliff wall. There were several times that I had to stop and if anyone has gone hiking with me they know I don't like to stop (sorry to say I am more about the destination and less the journey). I really didn't even want to go any further but Russell kept pushing me to continue (he obviously had an alterior motive). About 15 minutes to the top we passed two Americans that said to keep going it was going to be worth it, and it was. The view was incredible, you could see all of Machu Picchu...it was incredible. Again I promise to put pictures up when I get a chance. Then Russell tried pointing out some people that were on top of another mountain looking over Machu Picchu. I couldn't see them so he said "follow my finger" and at the end of his finger was a ring. You can guess what happened next: we broke up...we are no longer boyfriend and girlfriend. I guess I will have to get used to calling him my fiance.

Chased by wild dogs!

We are now in Aguas Calientes, which is a little town right outside of Machu Picchu. It has been hard to blog while traveling...I am used to just writing in a journal, which I can do at any time. Anyways...I will try to catch you up on the past couple of days.

We landed in Lima at about 5:00 AM so we were very tired and couldn't check into our room until 10:00. We took a walk along the boardwalk and the beach...it was very foggy out so you couldn't see much of the surrounding hills and the ocean. We walked through a park that reminded me a lot of Gaudi's Guell Park in Barcelona...it was a park decorated with broken tiles on it's one long bench. In the middle was a statue of lovers in a very lewd embrass having a very passionate kiss. I will try to post pictures once I am home so you can see what I am writing about.

Later that day we met up with my cousin Tait and his friend Phong...we had a very late lunch (which was actually at a normal time for Peruvians) and walked around the city. There really is not a whole lot to see in Lima...Russell and I walked through the main Cathedral which had the body of Francisco Pizzaro (the conquistador that conquered Peru). Through a tour guide we got to learn about all of the atrocities that Pizzaro committed towards the indigenious people of Peru...sounded a little like what happened with the Native Americans.

Lima is a city of 1 million people and it smells like it. They do not regulate their emissions so there is so much exhaust that you rarely get a sunny day. I realize that America is the number one consumer in the world when it comes to fuel, but at least we are trying to do something about the pollution and the environment. It is really sad to think of this beautiful place slowly dying because of cars. Okay, off the soap box.

After Lima we flew to Cusco, which was an adventure in itself. Our flight was cancelled and we weren't told, so we arrived at the Airport with no way to get to Cusco and we had train tickets for the next day to Calientas, so we had to fly out that day. After an hour of stressing out and trying to explain to a non-english speaking customer service rep that we wanted our money back so we could fly on another airline, we were able to get on LAN just 45 minutes after our original flight. One good thing...I found this great candy called Britt that is dark chocolate covered passion fruit...I am bringing some home for you all.

Once we got into Cusco we met up with Tait and Phong again, they had been in Cusco for about 5 hours and were having a blast exploring the town. We decided to go have Alpaca steaks for dinner, which I am sure a lot of you are saying "no don't eat the cute cuddly Alpaca," but damn they were good. We were told none of them had a name or a mother, so you need not worry.

After a very delicious dinner we headed up to this treehouse that was in the woods on a hill (Tait and Phong found it earlier). It was padlocked closed so we had to climb the tree (fun for me). We played Oh Hell for a while and then started to hear some rustling in the bushes down below, then some snarling and barking. A pack of wild dogs had caught our scent or maybe heard us all yelling at Tait because he was screwing us over in the card game. Anyways, we all got really quiet and they seemed to leave. We played on for about another half hour and then I had to break up the fun because I don't have an apparatus that can relieve myself when my bladder is full. We all climbed down very gracefully and grabbed a couple of sticks just in case someone decided to come back to play. After walking as quietly as we could through the brush Phong saw something moving and started yelling at a huge german shephard to "get back" while throwing rocks at it. The dog was as mad as Lucy is when she sees a squirrel. He bared its teeth but decided to go get back-up. We decided to run and scale a freakin 20 foot wall to safety (all while trying to avoid the cops that kept driving by). Just another exciting Donelson family adventure (Tait always knows how to find some action:).

10 hours and counting...

Would have been 11 hours and counting if it weren't for the most ridiculous account creating process ever to have been invented. All well, got an account now and so the trip begins here.. Just hours away from waking up at the crazy hour 4:30am! But, as much as I would love to get some sleep there's still plenty of packing to do. Procrastinator? Not me, but someone else whose name I won't mention in this blog quite yet... We're trying to get together all the last minute things one would need when going to Peru. Small stuff, you know.. like passport, money, that sort of stuff. Of course, we still have another 24 hours at least until we actually make it into Peru because of all the flying.. First to Miami, with a sweet five hour layover. Then we'll head right into Lima. I think both of us are going to be so restless by the time we get there we'll want to sprint up and down the runway a few times chasing some of the planes.. Ok, enough blabbing.. be back soon..