Italy

Jared and I went to Italy for ten days with our friends, Rebecca and Dan Snow. I am part embarrassed and part delighted to say that we did not go into a single museum or gallery or see any sights (except for things we passed while walking around) while we were there. Probably due to several factors: I went to Italy with Megan and she made me see everything last time, our friends had also been before, the lines were long, there was some great shopping to be done, we had a car, and maybe we are just not all that culturally curious. We saw a lot off the beaten path (except Florence and Rome) and did a lot of hanging out, chatting, gelato-eating, swimming, etc. Unfortunately, not a whole lot pf good-picture taking. Nevertheless, below is a picture dump:

The Amalfi Coast: Sorrento and Capri










This was our hotel room and one of the many "unhappy hipster" photos that Danny took.

























We rented a boat in Capri and found this awesome little cove to swim in. It was one of the highlights of the trip.







Rome

(note: I am embarrassed I don't have more pictures of Italian "stuff", but that wasn't really the point of the trip. Most of us had seen all of the stuff before and we just spent the time hanging out and shopping (Ok, maybe I did more shopping and they did more hanging out, but you get the point).





Dinner on the church steps:






The morning view from our room:


Ben Hur track:






Trevi Fountain:


Spanish Steps:


Shopping:








Vatican:






Car trip:



Florence:



At the leather market:


Danny was taking runway shots while they were waiting for me to haggle on a leather jacket with an Iranian guy.
















Ponte Vechio:



I bought a totally awesome new wedding ring on the bridge. I don't have a picture, but you'll see me wearing it next time you see me in person.

















Around Tuscany:














(picture taken by a member of a group of German bikers)



Jared and Danny spent most of the trip admiring motorcycles.




Best dinner ever at a random restaurant in a small town.





On the way to a cool beach:



Our manly men making shelter at the beach:








Driving around, we would just look up and see towns just built up on hills like this.

Umbria: Perugia and Assissi





Too bad I didn't take pictures of this town without us in them. Sorry. I was just really excited about my leather jacket and wanted to make sure I got some pictures in it. I was sweating the whole night.





Church of St. Francis of Assissi:







Eating on the road:



La Aquila

This is a town that we visited briefly because our friend served his mission here and there was a tragic earthquake in 2009 that devastated the town. It was like a ghost town and there were support beams on all the structures.



This church used to be where the Pope stayed for many years.



















People just abandoned their homes and a lot of doors were cracked open and you could see inside.



Matera

This town is on the instep of Italy. There is a whole city where people lived in caves and have been living in caves since the prehistoric era. We paid money to stay in a cave (just for one night--I thought it was over-rated to pay money to stay in a cave when there are hotels for a lot less money and you don't wake up in the morning feeling wet--caves are very humid)









This was the city's sewer for ages:






This is the modern town square:





We never ate a bad meal in Italy.



The whole town was out all night long--kids and all. It was really cool seeing families just strolling together.

The Sassi (the caves) at night:







The people used terra cotta drain pipes:


This was the donkey parking:


They used donkey bones to hold up the pipes:




The history of the Sossi is really interesting if you are interested. This is the oldest city in the western hemisphere that has been consistently lived in. This is where Mel Gibson filmed the Passion of the Christ. Basically, people were living in caves until the 1960s in terrible conditions (over 50% infant mortality, co-habitating with farm animals, etc) until the Italian government, embarrassed by these conditions kicked everyone out and forced them to live in new modern homes, which they provided. Apparently, according to our tour guide, at first the people were really angry and kept coming back to the Sassi, but after several years and getting accustomed to modern conveniences became embarrassed about their previous conditions and many of them never come back....and now tourists pay a ton of money to sleep in caves.



This was one of the largest of the cave houses. The animals slept in the lower portion and their steaming poop kept the family warm (no joke). The baby slept in the top drawer because there were rats on the floor at all times.







This is the couple whose (small) wedding we crashed:


So our friends knew them and we weren't going to go, but then they said that there were two people that dropped out so we took their place. The food was amazing. The dancing almost reached Persian party levels. The most awkward part of the evening was when the bride came up to me and said "Hi, we haven't met." I thanked her for "inviting us...err, letting us come to her wedding."



Back in Rome to see some sites:


Pieta and the Vatican