Herculaneum - overcoming language barriers

On Sunday morning we again headed to the Circumvesuviana train, this time not going quite as far along the line. We hopped off the train at Ercolano, and walked through the town, down the hill to the ruins of Herculaneum. What struck me as we were walking through the town was the sheer number of people just standing around on the streets talking to each other. I'm not sure if it was because it was a Sunday morning and it was after/before church, but there were a lot of people just hanging about!

We arrived at Herculaneum, and you instantly get a feel for how small it is, especially after Pompeii. It is set into a hillside (which of course was put there by the volcano eruption, and now holds the modern town). We walked down the hill to the main entrance, grabbed 2 audio guides and headed into the town.

We headed into the first building, which was the remains of a house. I found a small section of a mosaic floor which was sticking out of the ground. I bent over and took a photo, only to have one of the staff members come up to me and show me another piece protruding from the ground. He then proceeded to show me another piece and uncovered it more with his fingers. Then he let Scott and Lindsay know that he was going to show me something else by saying "photo, photo" and gesturing to them that they should wait. He led me behind a barrier and into a cave-like area which had a lovely example of a mosaic floor, as well as some stucco and the remains of a water pipe "aqua" sticking out of the wall.

For the next hour or so this delightful gentleman gave the three of us a tour of the site, all in Italian. Through my limited knowledge of French, Italian words that sounded like English or I recognised as being related to English (ah the beauty of Latin!!), and lots of sign language and miming, we learnt a great deal about life in Herculaneum. We found out his name was Pascal, and he really made our day. He was very entertaining, patient and kind. He also pointed out all the places for easy access for Lindsay "papa, papa". :-D

Our other find of the day was a ginger cat. As some of you may or may not know, I grew up with a ginger cat, so I have a soft spot for them. He was lovely and really really friendly. So friendly in fact that he followed us around for quite a while, and snuggled right into my neck, purring loudly and then promptly sucked on my shirt. Weird cat!! I miss having an animal to cuddle so it was lovely to have some feline attention. And it brought back a lot of memories to have ginger cat hair stuck to my clothes. :-)


After our "guided tour" and the cat, we left feeling very happy about our day there. We took the train away from Naples towards Sorrento and wandered the streets. Had a look at the view of the Bay of Naples and took some pictures, then headed back up to the town. We did a bit of window shopping, and followed the trend by wandering down the streets, in the middle of the road! I was astounded at just how many people were out and about. Scott and I have decided that we would like to go back to Sorrento, and to Pompeii of course!


Monday was our last day in Naples, so we decided to spend it in the city itself. We took the fernicular railway up to Castel St Elmo for the 360 degree views of the city. We were not disappointed! Naples was a little smoggy though. Then we headed down the hill using a different furnicular railway to just basically walk the streets and head back towards the hotel.

Naples is an interesting city. Not as aesthetically pleasing as other cities I have been in, but pleasant. It was lively with the markets on the street and the hustle and bustle. Clothes hung from every balcony.

We picked up our bags at the hotel and headed to the station. I took the bus to the airport for my flight back to London, while Scott and Lindsay took a train to Rome to continue the adventure.














Herculaneum from above and original metal feature of a house in Herculaneum.

Pizza, Pompeii, and photos galore!

Scott's dad arrived on the 10th of January (last Wednesday). And on Friday afternoon the three of us flew to Naples from Stanstead airport. Our hotel was very centrally located, and we had two adjoining rooms separated by a short hallway and the bathroom. On our first evening there we went for a wander around the hotel in search of dinner. Of course, being in Naples, the choice had to be pizza. We were not disappointed!!

Saturday morning we were up and out of the hotel early (said hello to Mt Vesuvius from the steps of the hotel) and walked to the train station for the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii. I was so excited to be going to see Pompeii, as it has been on my list for a while now. And I was not disappointed. We purchased a guide book and we were off to explore the ruins.

Pompeii was destroyed in 79AD by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, which still looms over the city and is the only active volcano in Europe. The city was buried under ash and pumice for over 1700 years until a local architect accidentally discovered it after tunneling in the area and discovered some inscriptions. And in 2007, I wandered about the city, as the Pompeiians had done, although our views were quite different!!

I had mixed feelings about the place - excitement that I was finally there, sadness at the loss of all the people who disappeared one day, but above all, intrigue about how they lived, what people were thinking when the ash and lava came raining down on them on that fateful day.

The site itself is huge. We were walking practically the whole day, and we still did not see everything there. It was fascinating to discover new things about the people who lived there and the technologies they had. I found out how columns are constructed (bricks first, then the stucco), that many walls were beautifully and brightly painted, and Pompeii used to be situated 500 metres from the coast. After being buried, it was 2 kilometres from the water!

We were all completely exhausted at the end of the day, but it was certainly worth the sore feet! I had a fantastic day, as did Scott and Lindsay. And I took more that 200 pictures... not bad for one day, huh??

This is me under the Arch of Caligola, on the road leading into the Forum. Apologies for the sideways image!!

Groove marks in the stone roadway, presumably from the carts used by the inhabitants.

One of the many streets in Pompeii. The wooden barriers you can see are for conservation purposes.

The wall of a house with the shadows of the still-standing columns.

A storage area with a plaster cast of a victim.

First Post of the Year!!

Hello World!

It is the first day of 2007. Happy New Year to everyone. We had a quiet evening because I managed to get a cold, but we still had a lovely time. So now is the time to reflect upon 2006 and what we did.

January:

Flew back from Hungary a year ago today after spending a magical Christmas and New Year with my family

Spent a weekend in Sweden and Denmark

February:

Conference in Leicester

Spent Valentine's Day at the top of Tower Bridge

March:

Turned 26

Had our trip to Scotland cancelled as Scott became too ill to travel

Had to move out very quickly from our place in Beckton

Found out I had been hired for my museum

April:

Moved into our own place

Anzac Day service in Hyde Park

May:

Went to Hampton Court Palace

Went to Chatham Dockyard

June:

Went to Sarah and Jake's wedding in Cambridge

Went to York

Went to Portsmouth

July:

Became a Hungarian citizen

Scott's sister Kim came to stay for a week

Went on a Thames sailing barge

August:

Trip to Scotland

September:

Open House London weekend - saw the Rose theatre and Brunel's tunnel

October:

Had our two year anniversary of living in London

Caught up with an old family friend, Aliza

November:

Lord Mayor's Show

Sent off 32 tiny hats for a charitable cause

Weekend in Amsterdam - and flew on a 50 seater plane!!

December:

Scott went to Barcelona for a football game

Went to Bristol and Cardiff

Christmas party in a fine setting (the City of London Guildhall)

Iron Maiden concert

Saw my first football match

Went to a bar made completely of ice!!

So there you have it. Our year in pictures. This is just a brief summary of all the things Scott and I have done over the last 12 months. It has been a fun ride - we have laughed hysterically, cried, but generally had a smashing good time! To everyone reading this I hope you have a fantastic new year and that it brings all that you desire! :-)

Bristol, Cardiff, and a kiss from an Irishman!

Yes indeedy, as the title suggests, I shall elaborate on the four day long weekend Scott and I took to Bristol and Cardiff, and by the end of this post, I shall reveal where I was when I was kissed!

On Friday the 15th December (it seems forever ago now), I began the morning with a visit to the dentist for a filling. Oh the excitement! I do, luckily for me, have a cute looking dentist. I was left with a numb face, right up to my lower eyelid. Weird sensation, and not one I want to repeat in a hurry.

That evening Scott and I took the train to Bristol. We arrived about 10pm, to rain, and walked to our hotel. The next morning we headed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. It was a bit of a disappointment really. Working in a museum, I have an understanding of what makes a good "visitor experience" and what doesn't. What doesn't is not having a cloakroom, drawers that are difficult to move, no staff around to tidy up, and having to hunt around to find the captions for the objects in the cases!! Argh! Really frustrating. We left, and headed (via the city centre and a yummy market with olives and spicy parsnip soup) to the Industrial Museum, only to find that it was closed for renovations until 2009!! So we headed for the ss Great Britain. They have restored the ship a great deal, and we started by walking underneath her. She is sitting in a dry dock, which they have sealed in with a layer of glass and they keep the humidity at 20% to prevent more corrosion of the hull. We also wandered in the upper parts of the ship to see what life would have been like sailing on her. We caught a ferry (tiny one!!) back to the city centre and headed back to the hotel for dinner and to crash.

Sunday saw us head to the station we were leaving from that evening, only to realise that we could not leave our bag anywhere and there was really nothing there at all! So we caught a cab to the Clifton suspension bridge and had a wander around to have a good look at this bridge, which was designed by Brunel, but he did not live to see it completed. We walked the length of it, then stopped on the other side to have a look at the small exhibition about the bridge, bought some souvenirs and headed back (all with our suitcase in tow!). We caught a bus to the station and hopped on the train to Cardiff.

We arrived in Cardiff and found our hotel, which was right opposite the castle and very centrally located. The castle is quite literally in the middle of town! We grabbed some dinner and headed to bed. Next day we headed to the St Fagan's Museum of Welsh Life, out of Cardiff. It was a fantastic museum. The museum consisted of buildings that had been donated to the museum, then moved there and reconstructed for the public to enjoy. It was very well done and reminded me a little of Sovereign Hill in Ballarat (those of you who know it), but more spread out, and the buildings ranged in date from the 1500s to 2000, as well as a reconstructed Celtic Village and timber circle. We had a really fantastic time, enjoying the fresh air and the Welsh hospitality (and some amazing scones!!). We headed back to Cardiff and caught a bus down to Cardiff Bay (a couple of miles from the centre of Cardiff) for dinner. Had a lovely meal, and then Scotty played some blackjack at a casino (and won our entry price to the castle for the next day!).

Tuesday we headed to Cardiff Castle and did a tour. The decoration of the palace rooms was something else - incredibly ornate and often inspired by poets, religion and other languages. After the castle we headed to have a look at the "winter wonderland" they had created, which was and ice skating rink etc, then had a looky in the shops! We did a stadium tour of the Milennium Stadium (which bizarrely had a fairground in it). The tour was very interesting, not about rugby really, much to my delight! We still had a couple of hours to kill before our train so we headed to the movies (our train was at 8.15pm and not much was open anymore). Then we hopped on the train (first class, baby) and headed back to London, arriving in at Paddington about 10.30pm.

Wednesday I worked for about an hour and a half, then it was off to the Christmas party for my work. It was in the Guildhall again this year. I had a lovely lunch with my colleagues, then it was off to the pub for some more fun, and I was home by 7pm (and I got paid for the day!).

Thursday and Friday were normal days, then Friday night was the Iron Maiden concert. Yes, I know what you are thinking... I don't even like Iron Maiden. Yes, it's true, and probably still is even after seeing them. BUT, I enjoyed the concert experience, they are great entertainers. About halfway through the concert the band was told they had to stop playing, as there had been a powercut, and by power cut I mean that the power cord leading into the building (Earl's Court Arena) caught on fire. This meant that the electricians had to frantically put the fire out (first things first, right?) and then rig up a new cable so the show could go on. Meanwhile, without sound, the only way the band could communicate with the audience was through sign language and a megaphone (which was almost useless). Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer, managed to get the audience to sing Christmas carols, do Mexican waves around the arena and back again and play volleyball with a soccerball. I was very impressed with him, and with the crowd - all very well behaved and good natured about it. I am now the proud owner of an Iron Maiden t-shirt, which Scott bought for me. Never thought you would hear that, did you? ;-) Oh, and the kiss? The guy next to Scott was getting very excited, so much so that he grabbed the railings that we were leaning on and shaking them violently. I asked him not to, so he leaned over, gave me the finger, to which I replied "Charming!". He then shook my hand and put his arms around me and Scott and gave me not one but two kisses on my head. Gotta love drunk Irishmen at rock concerts, right? :-D

Christmas Eve was uneventful - last minute shopping for food and each other, and we went to the video shop and borrowed 6 cheesy movies for Christmas day. I rang home and my cousins that evening to wish everyone a Happy Xmas. It had been ages since I spoke to my cousins. I miss them, and I really should ring them (and other people) more often.

Christmas Day was quiet for us. We opened pressies and had porridge for breakfast. Watched our first movie, then started to prepare lunch. We had curried parsnip soup, roast lamb and roast vegies and homemade mint sauce and a lovely crumble for dessert with brandied whipped cream. Lunch, by the time we ate, was really dinner though!

And today... Scott rang his sister Kim for her Birthday and then we headed to the football (soccer to you Aussies!!). I was a football virgin until today, so it was quite an experience for me. I likened the rules to hockey, as that is what I understand from when I played at school, oh so many years ago now. The view we had was ok, but it was hard to get a perspective of the whole pitch as we were behind the goal at one end and quite low down. But, it was an interesting experience, and one I have to, apparently, repeat on January 6. Hmmmmm.......

Hello

I am sitting at home at the moment, waiting for an electician to come and fix our light. I am sure all that is wrong with it is the fuse in the fitting. Fuses here are something that everyone can change, but not us! At home, as many of you know, fuses are the electrician's department. Normal people don't change them. That is not the case here. I played the "girl card" when I rang the real estate people, so I could get them to come and fix it, and so I didn' have to try it myself and electricute myself and Scott!! I also want to be here when the electrician is here, so I can see what he does.

We had a lovely weekend. Really, for me it was a 6 day weekend, as I had Friday off work, we left for Bristol on Friday night, came back on Tuesday night, then I had my work Christmas party on Wednesday! And I have a 4 day weekend this weekend.... What a life!

But the latest news is..................... I am going to see Iron Maiden with Scott tonight. Should be interesting to say the least!! I don't really like their music, well, I can tolerate it. But Scott bought two tickets, and he really likes them, so we are going! I am going to wear my "Museum chicks are hot" t-shirt, as it is my only black t-shirt. I am going straight from work tonight (if the electrician turns up and I actually get to work!). Scott is really looking forward to the concert, as he has liked the band for quite a while, and they started in east London, which is where we live!

I have uploaded the photos I took in Bristol and Cardiff (so many pictures!!!) onto our computer, and I will put a selection on here when I can. I have also signed up for a Flickr account, so I hope to get more pictures up there as well.

It has been a while since I last posted, so it's about time right?

We are headed to Bristol and Cardiff this weekend. I have to go to the dentist on Friday morning to get a small filling done (oh joy, but I have a cute dentist so that alleviates some of the stress!!!), then we catch the train that evening. We were to go on a steam train ride on Saturday, but unfortunately that has been cancelled. We will do some sightseeing instead.

I have a "tough" few weeks ahead of me. I have a 5 day weekend, then my Christmas party (I work for an hour then go), work 2 days, have a 4 day weekend, work 5 days, then have 3 days off. :-D I am looking forward to Christmas this year. It will be just Scotty and I this year. We are staying in London. We have decided that the hiring of cheesy movies is a must, as is doing two 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Not sure what I shall cook, but I will make something festive.

Amsterdam

We arrived at about 10pm local time, took the train to Central station and found our hotel. The hotel was made up of three canal homes (not actually on the canal, but same Amsterdam architecture). We were in the very top, in the roof!!

On Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then went wandering to the Reijksmuseum. We had bought I-Amsterdam cards for the three days we were there, which gave us entry into many museums (as unlike London the big museums are NOT free) and access to public transport, and a canal cruise. Bargain! We took the tram to the Reijksmuseum. Only the masterpieces on were show, as they are doing major renovations to the building. Amazing stuff there though. I thought I may see "Girl with a Pearl Earring" but I didn't see it. I read the book the film was based on (never saw the film though). Then we walked to the Heineken Experience!! A bit touristy, but we learnt how beer is made, why their logo is such (they chose smiling letter e's!) and got free beer tokens. I gave my tokens away to some nice people sitting at the table with us, as I don't drink beer. It was fun to "be a beer bottle", which was basically a ride that took you through the bottling of the beer, with all the necessary and approriate bumps etc. From there we headed to the Museum van Loon, which is a canal home owned by a wealthy family. The home and the items in it are well preserved, and they had modern art pieces slotted in as well, which didn't stand out too much. From there we walked back to near our hotel, and found some dinner. We had Indonesian food, which was super cheap and really tasty.

Our hotel was a street or two away from the Red Light District. This may sound bad, but in fact it was a great location, as it was central. The red light district is interesting, there are throngs of toursist going through it, and of course prostitution etc is legal there. I became desensitised to the many red windows and the sex shops very quickly - it's amazing how quickly one becomes used to it. They just became part of the scenery.

Sunday morning we headed to the Maritime Museum. There were heaps of people there, all dressed up. We had no idea what was going on. We found out that it was a Christmas celebration (as the date for that is 5th December), and that Sinterklaas http://www.thehollandring.com/sinterklaas.shtml came from Spain. As for all the kiddies dressed up, they looked like this:

From the Maritime Museum we caught a bus to Central Station and then hopped on a canal cruise. It lasted about an hour, and it was a lvoely way to see Amsterdam. It gave a new perspective on the city - a perspective that a great many people have had over the years.

On Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and stowed our bag in their luggage room. We headed to the Jewish Historical Museum where they had an exhibition on Rembrandt and his connection to the Jews. Apparently Rembrandt (which I always thought was his surname, but it is his first name) lived on the very edge of the Jewish quarter. For this reason, he was a regular in the local shops etc. It has often been said that the local Jewish community were used as models for his paintings and sketches, although up to now nothing has been proven. Only one painting in conclusively of a Jewish man, and where did it end up? It was taken by Hitler for his art collection - ironic huh? After the museum, we checked out a local flea market, then a photographic exhibition on the street, then it was back to the hotel to pick up our suitcase and off to the airport. We arrived incredibly early and spent time wandering, spending the last of our euros and had some dinner. The flight back was uneventful. I was hoping we would fly over my work, but we didn't. :-( Slight hiccup with customs, but all sorted. Lesson learnt.

Favourite part of the trip: being treated to very musical church bells every half an hour. It really made the city that much more romantic.

Amsterdam - The Pictures

You have been warned! I saw this sign outside a pub.
Looking for a career change? Hire out a window in the redl light district!
View of the Margere Bruge, or the "Skinny Bridge"
And close up
So much Heineken! This was taken at the Heineken Experience.
Tulips, flowers, galore.
Dam Square (the main square in Amsterdam)
Ship model in the Reijksmuseum
Tiny Fokker F50 we flew on to Amsterdam. 50 passengers only!
Rembrandt painting in the Reiksmuseum. This is the one attacked by some loony in the 1970s with a knife. You can still see the slash marks just slightly above the dogs head, bottom right near the drum.