KernelTrap - Italy

Sicily

Jeremy — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:25:00 +0000

I ended my trip through Italy with a visit to Sicily. Originally I'd hoped to get off the beaten trail a bit, but with limited time I ended up being more pragmatic. From the moment I departed Milan, the trip already promised to be exciting as Marco and I were met at the airport by police in full riot gear. As we passed through their ranks, they were strapping on their helmets and lifting their shields. Only later after arriving in Sicily did I discover what all the excitement was, George Bush was visiting Rome for the G8 summit and huge masses of people were all trying to congregate there to protest his presence. Had I known, I may have postponed the next leg of my journey from Rome to Sicily and taken part in the protest myself.

As the train approached Sicily, I was quite curious as to how we'd get from the mainland to the island. I was impressed when I didn't have to get off the train, but instead they simply drove the whole thing onto a large ferry. I arrived in Messina after 13 hours, quite ready to stretch my legs. The following day I took a hydrofoil out to Lipari in the Aeloian Islands. From there I headed to the touristy fishing village, Cefalù. And finally I ended up in Palerma, from where I flew back to London.

Roncegno, Venice

Jeremy — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 09:37:59 +0000

I took an overnight train from Rome to Venice, managing a decent night's sleep on the small top bunk, though waking a little at each stop. Early in the morning with a knock on the door the conductor let me know we were arriving in Venice (or so I hoped, with my limited Italian), and I switched to another train headed for Borgo Valsugana. The train followed a beautiful valley through the Alps, to the home of an old friend I'd not seen in 16 years.

Ivan Facchini was a foreign exchange student who lived in Haines for a year, my Junior year in high school. We became very good friends then, though have done poorly staying in touch over the years. He has since gotten married and had two wonderful children, all of whom I met for the first time when visiting his home town of Roncegno. He pointed out that when we first met I was 16, and so now 16 years later another lifetime had passed, and yet it felt like only a few days had gone by as we quickly fell back into our friendship.

Rome

Jeremy — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:02:44 +0000

I arrived in Rome via train, then wandered the streets near the central station until I found an affordable hotel that had rooms available. I felt a little overwhelmed as I read about all the things to do, but once I got my bearings it proved to be an impressive city. I started in ancient Rome, wandering the Forum, exploring Palatine Hill, and visiting the Colosseum. Another day I walked to the Vatican City and visited their amazing museums. The rest of the time I spent wandering around somewhat randomly, seeing what I could find.

May seems to be a good month to visit Rome, as for the most part the crowds weren't too bad. This wasn't true for the Vatican museums where I was quickly overwhelmed by the seemingly endless masses of people. By the time I'd worked my way through the lengthy halls of paintings and entered the Sistine Chapel, though quite impressed I was equally interested in just getting back outside and away from the crowds.