SJEDS Travels to Italy

Caio friends!

I was so excited to finally reach the city of Pompeii.  Pompeii is located near Naples and was just a short drive from Sorento.  I was so excited to see Pompeii because of the amazing story of Mt. Vesuvius.

The city of Pompeii and it’s neighboring city of Herculaneum were burried under at least 60 feet of volcanic rock and dust when the volcano of Mt. Vesuvius erupted in August of 79 A.D.  That’s almost 2,000 years ago!  It is estimated that between 12,000 and 20,000 people lived in the city of Pompeii at the time of the devestating eruption of 79 A.D.  Everything in the city was hardened, frozen in time.

The people of Pompeii did not recognize the warning signs that began a few weeks before the eruption so some of the people did not evacuate the city.  Those that stayed in the city carried on with their everyday lives.  When the volcano erupted and the volcanic rock and dust unexpectedly  filled the city bread was left baking in the bakery ovens, dishes were left on the table from lunch, frescos were found on the walls of the homes.  Everything and everybody that remained in Pompeii was buried and hardened into rock.

The city was left under the rock and dust until 1748 when it was found by accident by somebody who was digging.  Excavations were then started to dig up the city and some amazing things were found.  One thing that was discovered was that Pompeii was a city that is very similliar to our own cities today.  The families lived in homes, people kept dogs as pets or guard dogs, there was a market place where the people of Pompeii bought their bread, fruits and vegatables, and the people of Pompeii exchanged money in a money exchange or bank type of building.  Small restaurants, shops and a hotel were also discovered in the ancient remains of Pompeii.  The homes, markets and shops were arranged along streets that are paved with large rocks where you can still see the tracks from the horse drawn carriges.  The streets were laid out using a grid system, fifth and sixth graders, does this remind you of another ancient civilization you have studied?  The people of Pompeii enjoyed theater type shows and gladiator matches in the amphitheatre and two theaters that were found.  Another amazing thing that was found during the excavation of Pompeii was an aqueduct system that piped water into the city for the people to use in the public bath houses, some private homes, some businesses, city water fountains and decorative pools.

The excavation site of Pompeii is very large.  I was there for a couple of hours and was only able to walk a few of the city’s streets, there are many more streets to explore.  A large part of the city is still burried under the rock and dust.  In fact I saw some men with shovels and a small Bobcat removing the dirt and rock from another building.  Maybe when I return to Pompeii someday I will see some newly excavated buildings!

Caio caio for now!
Love, Jose

Flickr photo gallery

Dear fellow travelers,

I am a very tired bear!  I have just spent the day visiting the Island of Capri and the town of Positano.  I will start with the Island of Capri.  We got up very early in the morning and rushed through breakfast in order to catch the first ferry from Sorrento to Capri, it left the dock at 7:30.  If you have ever ridden on the ferry out at Mayport, this was similar, just bigger.  We found a place to sit and relaxed.  It was about a 45 minute ride over to the island.  The ferry put in at the port of Capri.  The first order of business was to get the tickets and ride the funicular up  to the town of Capri.  The funicular is a little train that takes you up the cliff.  Without it you would have to  walk 777 steps to reach the town!  My legs are very short and that is a lot of steps!!

Capri use to be connected to the main land.  It is an island about 5 kilometers off the coast and it is very exclusive!  There are stores like you would expect to see on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills!  Needless to say, this bear didn’t do any shopping!

We wandered around and found a little garden and then a winding path down the side of the cliff, almost to the beach.  We all decided that a walk would be good so we made our way down the path, stopping to take pictures  long the way.  The walk down was very nice; the walk back up was a little more difficult!

We took the 1:30 ferry back to the town of Sorrento and after a short break boarded the little busses that took us along the Amalfi coast, down to the town of Positano.  This is a little town whose life depends on tourists.  In the 1960’s the cruise ships that went around the world use to pull into Naples.  Many people wanted to visit Positano and the industry grew from that.  It is a cute little town that tumbles down the hill.  They grow lemons in the area and manufacture many different items.  They also make ceramics and clothes.

After a lovely afternoon wandering around the town it was time to go back to the hotel for dinner and bed.  Tomorrow we are visiting Pompeii and I want to be very rested for this very important day!

Love, Jose

Dear fellow travelers,

After I finished sight seeing with all my new friends, it was time to finish throwing my coins.  As you may remember I was suppose to toss 8 American coins in the River Arno to pay for the model Lisa’s services ( Lisa was da Vinci’s model for the Mona Lisa).  We walked down to the river from the historic district and Ms. Blumstein helped me with the coins.  I tossed the 8 quarters (how many dollars is that??) into the river and  . . .

. . . nothing happened!  Oh well!  I have completed my mission, I hope that Lisa is happy now and will smile! I have completed all 3 of my missions and am headed back to Roma for my flight home.  No . . . actually I think I will continue to hang out with this tour group for a couple of days.  They are going to the Isle of Capri and Pompeii and I would love to see both placed.  Maybe I will see something else really cool and write again!

For now.  Love, Jose

Dear fellow travelers,

When I arrived in Florence someone made the comment that you have arrived in the outdoor museum.  I have to agree with that.  Everywhere you go there are sculptures and beautiful church facades.  The Renaissance began in Florence in the 15th century.

I can hear you asking me what was the renaissance??  It was a time period when the arts and culture changed.  The late 15th century was marked by an increasing sense of realism in many religious works and the technical mastery of such renowned artists as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphel. I will quite writing and just show you all the beautiful things I was able to take picture of while I was in Florence!

Love, Jose

Dear fellow travelers,

Today was an amazing day!  Have you ever heard of the David?  How about Michelangelo?  Well I got to see the sculpture David by Michelangelo and it was amazing! When we got into Florence in the morning we went directly to the Galleria dell’ Accademia.  Just like when we visited the Vatican we went in the special entrance just for tour groups with reservations.  We learned the history of the Accademia which began, not as a museum, but as a school. It was the first school established in Europe specifically to teach the techniques of drawing, painting and sculpture.  An art collection began so the students would have works to study and copy.

David is one of Michelangelo’s most famous sculptures.  Michelangelo sculpted the biblical hero David differently than anyone else had ever presented him.  He choose to sculpt David in a postion right before the battle, looking thoughtful and getting ready.  Other sculptors have presented him as a hero after Goliath was killed.

Doing things differently was what Michelangelo was all about.  All the sculptors of his day made a plaster model of the finished work and then used a tool, similar to a compass, to transfer measurements to the marble block. Michelangelo always said that he could see the figure inside the block of marble and it was his job to free it.

I am going to enjoy a pizza for lunch and then back to taking more photos around Florence.

Love, Jose

Ciao My Friends,

I have been trying all of the local foods here in Italy and have discovered that there are at least 72 different types of pasta and about 16 different types of spaghetti noodles.  I couldn’t believe it, at home I have only seen the thin angel hair spaghetti and the regular spaghetti size noodle. I found out that each region in Italy has it’s own type of spaghetti noodle and the local people like to buy the noodles fresh from a local pasta market, instead of the hard noodles that are sold in a grocery store.  I also discovered that each region in Italy has its own sauce to go with the spaghetti.  For example, Balognese sauce is from the Bologna region of Italy and Pesto sauce is from Genova.  Another interesting fact I found out about spaghetti is that spaghetti did not originate in Italy. Marco Polo introduced the idea of pasta to Italy after returning from a trip to China. Ciao for now, I am going to find more pasta to taste!

Love, Jose

Dear fellow travelers,

My journey has taken me to the little town of Pisa in the Tuscan region of Italy.  We only had an hour or so to look around so I headed in the same direction as the rest of the crowd.  I found this strange building that was tall and narrow, but something was really not quite right about it.  I tried to push it back into place and when that didn’t work, Ms. Blumstein gave it a try.  I am afraid to report that neither of us was successful and the building is still leaning. 

We later asked our tour guide and she told us that this was the famous leaning tower of Pisa!  It made so much more sense then.  It is located on the Campo dei Miracoli next to the Duomo and Baptistry.  The leaning tower is a bell tower.  It was begun in 1173 and was built on sandy silt.  It had already begun to tilt by the time they finished the 3rd tier in 1274.  The entire structure was completed in 1350 and was 4 feet, 6 inches from vertical.  At its worst it leaned 17 feet 6 inches from vertical.  In 1990 restoration work was started on the tower because it was no longer safe for people to climb.  The bells were removed to reduce the weight at the top and cables were cinched around the 3rd level and secured several hundred meters away.  38 cubic meters of soil were removed from under the raised end to stabilize the tower.  It was reopened to the public.  In 2008 70 cubic meters more of soil was removed and engineers declared that the tower had stopped moving for the first time in its existence.

There is some controversy as to the claim that Pisa is the world’s most lop-sided building.  Two German churches have challenged Pisa, the 15th century square Leaning Tower of Suurhusen and the nearby 14th century bell tower in the town Bad Frankenhausen.

Ms. Blumstein would like to know if anyone can figure out the angle that the tower is leaning at??

It is time to load the bus and head to our hotel in Montecatini Terme where we will be staying for the next couple of nights.

Sweet Dreams!  Love, Jose

Hello to all my fellow travelers!

After the glass blowing demonstration I spent an hour or so in St. Mark’s square.  I walked through the Basilica of St. Mark and looked at the wonderful mosaics.  The entire ceiling and much of the wall space is filled with mosaic tiles.  They are so small that it is difficult to tell that the images are not painted.

Venice is all about the water.  The city is made up of over 180 little islands connected with bridges.  There are no cars in Venice, only boats.  The Grand Canal that runs down the middle of the city and has all the palatial old homes is only 16 feet deep and only small boats are allowed.  The lagoon is 45 feet deep and can hold a cruise ship!
Flooding is a problem in Venice.  When the tide is high and the moon is full and the wind is just right you can see water begin to bubble up between the stones in St. Mark’s square.  The picture that you see of what looks like construction equipment is actually the tables that are set up when Venice floods so people can walk on them!

After walking around St. Mark’s square and seeing the famous clock tower it was time for our gondola ride.  The gondola is the traditional means of transportation on Venice’s streets of water.  Now a day’s only tourists enjoy the ride since it is very expensive.  I have been looking forward to this part of our trip for a long time!  We rode 6 to a boat and we were taken around the canals for about 30 minutes.  Ms. Blumstein and Mrs. Balek were busy taking pictures and you can all see what I was doing!  Just hanging around with the wind in my fur!  This was my favorite part of the city.

Right before we were to disembark, I was reminded that I needed to toss 8 coins into the canal so I could get the clothes so the girls could go to the opera.  I used the same technique that I learned at the Trevi Fountain and tossed the coins with my right paw over my left shoulder.  I was really surprised when nothing happened.  What a disappointment!

We got to the dock and got out of the gondola and began to walk back to catch our boat to the hotel when someone shoved a note into my paw.  It said, “You have a prenotazione in room uno.”

What could this possibly mean??  Was the person who wanted to meet me nice or one of those bad people from around the Trevi Fountain??  Ms. Blumstein and Ms. Balek said they would go with me and it would be okay so off we went.
I was so surprised to see Pinocchio and Gepetto in a cute little cottage!  Did you know they were from Italy??  They said they heard of my wish to obtain clothes for the opera and said it was not possible.  Instead they invited me to spend the night when them!  What a once in a life time chance for a bear!  I just had to make sure I didn’t do one thing.  Do you think you could guess what that is??

I hope you enjoy the pictures from the guest room at Pinocchio and Gepetto’s cottage.  I had a wonderful nights rest and was fresh for the next day!  Love, Jose

Dear all my fellow travelers,

After our relaxing afternoon and evening in Assisi we were on to Venice.  We spent 5 hours traveling at about 100 kilometers per hour to reach Venice.  Can you figure out how far away it was??  The first thing we did upon arrival was to see a glass blowing demonstration.  One of the things Venice if famous for is the Murano glass.  We watched the craftsman take a very hot blob out of the furnace and fashion it into a pitcher with handles.  We were horrified when the demonstration was finished and he stuck the piece back into the furnace and melted it down again.

This bear has decided that he does not want to do this for a living when he grows up.  You apprentice when you are about 15 years old and learn for about 15 to 16 years.  Not to mention it is VERY hot near the furnace and that is not good for my fur!  This is a dying art because like me, not many young men want to make a living this way.

Back out to the tour group.  I will write more later!  Love, Jose

Hello to all my fellow travelers!

I wanted to keep telling you about my travels here in Italy.  After my wonderful birthday party and the visit to the Trevi fountain it was time to leave Rome.  Rome was interesting with all its ruins and wonderful places to eat, but it was also very busy and we all needed a change.  We boarded our bus and headed toward Assisi.
Assisi is in the Umbria region of Italy, up in the Apennines.  These are nicknamed the backbone of Italy.  When we arrived in Assisi we parked the bus at the bottom of the hill and walked the rest of the way.  I was so glad that they had porters to carry my luggage.  My suitcase is beary heavy!  After checking into the hotel we walked around and got a bite to eat.  We had a slice of pizza for lunch.  There are many gift shops around the little town of 25,000.

So I know what you are thinking, why did you go to Assisi?  We came here like millions of other people over the years to visit the crypt and church of St. Francis of Assisi.  St. Francis was not from Assisi and when he lived, his name was not Francis!  He was the son of a wealthy Jewish man and a French woman.  After being terribly injured while serving in the army, Francis promised God he would dedicate his life to service.  That is just what Francis did.  You may know him as the person we commemorate with the blessing of the animals.

Before Francis died he told his fellow monks that he didn’t want to be buried in his city.  Jesus was not buried in his city and Francis didn’t believe he should be either.  His brothers asked him where he wanted to be buried and he said in Assisi, on the hill where they punish the criminals.  So that is exactly what his brother monks did.
2 years after his death the church was begun.  There are actually 2 churches and a monastery now.  The lower church is the crypt of Francis and the upper church is where mass is held.  This church dates back to 1228 which is 250 years before Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel!  It was decorated by the foremost artist of the day, among them Cimabue, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and most famous Giotto.  The church is decorated with frescoes which is where the paint is added to plaster on the wall.  They are incredible!  Again, no pictures were allowed.
This area of Italy has a lot of earthquakes and the Basilica di San Francesco has been damaged of the years.  The decision has been made to leave things the way they are rather than restore them.

So far, Assisi has been Ms. Blumstein and Mrs. Balek’s favorite place.  We will see if that opinion holds true tomorrow as we board the bus hand head to Venice.

Until then. Love, Jose