Old and New

What a busy week I have had!

I acted as a tourist, went to extremely old places, and met new friends!

FYI: There will be a LOT of pictures in this post. 

Enjoy!

So I explored a lot this past week and that took me to some of the major tourist sites!

Pantheon

Tomb of Raphael, the Renaissance painter, not ninja turtle.

I also visited the Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona, but I can't seem to find those pictures

 Some random church, didn't catch the name

 San Giovanni di Laterano

Some random church I walked by, I didn't catch the name

Santa Maria Maggiore

I always walk out to the next tram stop just so that I can pass the cat sanctuary.

I discovered stairs that led to where they feed all of the cats and you can adopt one for real or just sponsor a cat! 

It was so magical!

I had a couple days of work as well!

I love the way the food is laid out on the counter for the students!

We also made something I hadn't made before, sour cherry and ricotta pie.

It was delicious!

This statue is out front of the train station and I just finally figured out who it was!

Saint Pope John Paul II!!!

I headed to Naples Friday morning.

Armed with a fresh squeezed orange juice, I was prepared for my 2.5 hour ride!

The train rides are always so beautiful!

After arriving in Naples, I took a 45 minutes train to Pompeii.

So there won't be much explanation here because honestly, I had no idea what I was looking at most of the time!

They were out of English maps so I could only look and admire.

If I could redo it, I would've spent the extra money to get a tour so that I could really understand everything there!

I did overhear an English guide saying that this was a fountain into a bath for a very rich person!

I took a picture of these because they kinda looked like they could be toilets....

 Now this was one thing I could identify! 

An old amphitheater, it was so awesome!

These lizards were everywhere! 

This is one of my favorite pictures for a few reasons.

1. It shows the old streets of Pompeii.

2. It shows how massively crowded it was.

3. You can see Mount Vesuvius in the background!

There were so so many dogs randomly chillin amongst the old rocks! 

All in all, it was a pretty cool experience.

I can't say that I would voluntarily go back, but I'm glad I got to experience the history of Pompeii!

Next I headed back to Naples.

One of the first shops I walked into looked like a pet shop!

Well actually it was a combination pet/gun/weapon shop! How convenient!

You can buy puppies and a handgun in one place.

Naples is known for their little figurines! 

From nativity sets to famous football players, they make anything and anyone you can think of!

So I was getting pretty hungry and was looking for a good pizza place, because I was in Naples so of course.

Well I stopped at one that had a huge line and looked up to see a picture of Bill Clinton eating pizza here!

So I had to eat here.

This whole pizza was 1 euro!! I could not believe how cheap it was!

I also stopped in the Doll Hospital because it looked creepy.

And it was.

The churches in Naples looked so boring on the outside, but the minute you walked in, it took your breath away!

So this is the Castel Nuovo in Naples. 

Isn't it beautiful?!

Because of all of the construction, I couldn't find a way to get over there, so I admired from a distance.

 Here's a better picture I found on the internet.

I also had to find pictures of the Museum of Cappella Sansevero because I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside.

This is the sculpture of the Veiled Christ. 

It was so lifelike and awe inspiring!

These were the Anatomical Machines from 1763-1764.

They are the skeletons of a man and pregnant woman with the artery and vein systems perfectly intact.

They still don't know how they managed to preserve them so well!

I ended up walking 13.5 miles that day, thanks to my awesome fitbit.

I was extremely exhausted, but on the bus home from the train station, I met two girls. 

Jacqui is from Iowa and Hilah is from Israel.

They both play professional basketball in Israel.

They invited me to dinner with them and I couldn't pass it up!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from dinner because my phone was dead.

We hung out the next night and had traditional aperetivo!

On Sunday we met up in the Jewish Ghetto and I made them try various traditional foods!

The Jewish style artichoke, suppli, and a zucchini flower stuffed with mozzarella and anchiove.

We were walking by a pastry shop when this caught our eye.

I'm not sure what it was, but it had pine nuts and raisins in it.

I wasn't a huge fan, but I'm still trying to figure out what it was!

 The Jewish Ghetto is right next to the cat sanctuary so we had to go!

We then walked by the under construction Trevi Fountain :(

And then I said my goodbyes and headed to mass at a new church.

This one has two English masses on Sunday and is mostly comprised of a Filipino crowd.

It was a great week and I am so glad I made new friends and saw old cities!

Ciao!