Merry Christmas!!

From Frankfurt:

Sparklers at the start of a Loewen Frankfurt hockey game

Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt

And from Vancouver:

Our Christmas tree 😊

And one very cute kitty!

Day out in Mainz

I had a lovely day out today. I met up with Regina in Mainz and we went for coffee and then for a walk around the city. It was a bit chilly, so we started with hot drinks and cake - always a good way to start! Regina had heard something about a choir performance in the cathedral, so we went there next. We looked around in the cathedral first. It is very big, but also dark and a touch gloomy. Beautiful with all the candles lit.

It turns out that the choir didn't seem to exist. There was a special service for the last Sunday of the years circle (haha not really sure what this is in English, in German it is der letzter Sonntag im Jahrekreis), and someone was singing ... we couldn't see her, just hear her over the sound system. She wasn't even very good, so we left.

Regina went to university in Mainz, so she gave me a nice tour of the city. We walked through the Altstadt, and through the centre of the town.

We stopped in St. Stephen's church to see the stained glass windows. They have three stained glass windows (above) by Marc Chagan, and the rest of the church is done in a similar style to compliment the front three. They are all very blue, and it makes the inside of the church practically glow. The last time I saw some Chagan windows was in the Fraumünster in Zürich, with mum last Easter. 

Our walk around the city also took us past the Roman theatre. Even after seeing a bunch in October, it was exciting to see one so close to where I live. It has been recontructed and is used for modern productions. Currently it is back under construction or some archaeological work. 

We finished our tour of the city along the river, seeing where the Rhine and the Main meet. It was threatening to rain, but luckily did no more than spit. Regina kindly drove me to the train station and I headed home. 

Now I have to get some rest, and get ready for 14 interviews tomorrow with parents. I tried to get into the mind set, and actually check my email ... but I can't seem to get onto my work email. Will have to talk to our IT guy at work tomorrow, which means I probably won't have email for at least a month!

Life in Frankfurt

Life has been, and will continue to be, very busy. I said to a friend today that it must be so we truly appreciate the Christmas holidays. At least it is a mix of fun and work. Both this weekend and next, we have fundraisers for softball, however I can't go to either because I already have social plans! Tomorrow I am heading out to Mainz to meet a friend for a small choir concert in the cathedral.

School is busy too, especially this coming week because we have parent teacher interviews. Plus getting towards Christmas we have lots of special events. Concerts, book fairs, crafts. I have been having lots of fun teaching lately, so I am not complaining. I am looking forward to the holidays though!!

On top of school I also have softball practices and German lessons. I go to German twice a week, and love it! The classes are all in German and are all about speaking. It is exactly what I need, though sometimes it's tough! It is nice to see that I pretty much understand everything said. 

Last week walking back from German lessons this is what I saw:

Symbols of Frankfurt?

Rome!!!

The eternal city ... without Teresa's photos. She took too many - so we might be missing a few angles of the Colosseum, but I am sure you will survive without. 

I took the train from Naples to Rome. I arrived at Roma Termini and walked out into the middle of a protest. Well, to be more specific I walked out into the middle of the police there because of the protest. I could see the people marching with banners, but really got to see the riot shields. I wasn't brave enough to get out my camera, though I did take some bad photos with my cell phone. 

Police waiting

I made it to the hotel and waited around for Teresa. She finally made it there too and we set out to explore Rome for the first night. And find some food. 

First view of the Trevi Fountain. It was a bit of a favourite, and we returned a bunch of times.

Teresa throwing a coin into the fountain. Did we do it right? She threw in three, I only threw in one.

The next morning we were signed up for a walking tour and ended up being the only ones on it! It was great, the guy knew so much history about Rome! He had grown up in the city as well, so had stories to share from his own life. On the way to the tour we found some surprises:

Santa Susanna!! Unfortunately closed. But when open it has English services, and also has an English language lending library run by the British Council.

Santa Susanna

And another picture ... of Largo Santa Susanna - it's all even spelled right!!

Then we had some time so decided to go into the church across the street because it was open. This was what we walked into, which made me really excited. This is Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, something I studied in art history class in university.  So we found Susanna and Teresa :)

On the walking tour - a wall from Hadrian's Temple that survived by becoming a wall in various more modern buildings

Inside the Jesuit church. This was suppose to be a real dome, but the previous next door neighbour (a monastery) didn't want a real dome as it would block their sunlight. So instead they painted one. It looks great as you walk in ... but really odd as you walk out (imagine the photo upside down).

The Pope!

The tour ended right by the Vatican, and the guide told us to go straight there after as it was Sunday and the pope does a mass for the crowd every Sunday at 11 am. What we didn't know was that it would be from a random window of a random building over looking St. Peter's square. There was a large screen as well, and of course he had a microphone. 

A Roman apartment building

After a long walk that afternoon (we calculated maybe 20 km!), we found one of the sites I had on my to see list, courtesy of Mary Beard. This is the remains of a Roman apartment building. It would have been maybe 4 or 5 stories high, with stores on the ground floor. The ground floor is well below the modern street level. It has survived partly because it was turned into a church (see the little awning?) at some point. 

Another view of the Roman apartment block with the very modern looking Vittorio Emmanuele II monument behind. I like the contrast of age, colour, and presence.

The School of Athens

Next day - Vatican museums and St. Peter's. This was another surprise that I did not know was in Rome. Though having learned just how much stuff the Vatican has, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. This is a fresco by Raphael (part of a few rooms done by him). Another piece I studied in art history, it is the School of Athens. In the middle are Plato and Aristotle. There are other known Greek philosophers in the photo, plus Raphael used some of his contemporaries as models. For example, the man with dark hair sitting and thinking in the front is supposedly modelled on Michelangelo. 

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Something new that I learned this trip was that the bronze used by Bernini to make the canopy (called baldacchino) came from the roof of the Pantheon. Apparently up until the beginning of the renaissance many of the Roman buildings and most of the Forum was completely preserved. A couple hundred years of renaissance and it became what we have now. It is an interesting thought that the renaissance was fuelled by the Roman monuments (or more specifically their raw materials). 

The pantheon at night, for Auntie Jane

In the cat forum :) This is an archaeological area, open to view from the street level above, that also serves as a cat sanctuary. I remember it from our trip to Rome in 2003, 10 years ago. This is cat number one, the three-legged cat.

Cat number 2, with no tail. I thought this one was cute, wish I could have taken it home :)

Campo de' Fiore

We spent Tuesday morning at the Campo de' Fiore and its market. This was the closest it came to the piles of open spices that I remember from 10 years ago. They still had the flowers and the random special vegetable cutter (eg. ones that make twirls out of carrots), but it also had way more tourist pasta and spice mixes. 

The hotel where we stayed in 2003

Walking through Trastevere area of Rome. This is Santa Maria in Trastevere.

Me overlooking the Tiber

And finally in the Colosseum!! One of my only photos. Teresa took one of EVERY angle of the place, so I didn't think I needed to take them too. She took some nice photos of us, so I will post a few as soon she gets them to me.

We took a tour of the Colosseum, Paletine and Forum. The two tour guides told us so much information, then left us to explore the forum. It was neat to walk through, but after Pompeii and Herculaneum it didn't impress me as much as the first time I was there.

Another treasure I had to hunt for after having watched Mary Beard. This is a game board carved into the steps of a Forum building. We don't know how it is played, but they can be seen at other Roman buildings as well. I saw another one at the Baths of Caracalla. 

Teresa left early Wednesday morning, and I headed off to Ostia. It took only about 45 minutes to get there on the metro. I was there not long after opening, about 8:45. It was still a bit misty and with being one of the few early visitors, it gave the first part of my visit a real mystical feel. 

Walls and stairs to nowhere

Exploring the rabbit warrens of the burial area outside the Roman walls of Ostia. Most of the archaeological area that is the museum is open for exploration. Every so often you come across something blocked off, or a mosaic covered up for preservation. But mostly you can explore through alley ways, doorways, up stairs, etc. This area was especially neat as you could duck down various pathways to see where you ended up. 

Looking down the main road of Ostia

The theatre of Ostia. It is still used for concerts I believe.

Still going! I was in Ostia for over 6 hours, and was completely exhausted by the end, in a good way.

And the famed public washroom! Another Mary Beard site :) Sadly, it is closed off and you can't go and try out the Roman communal toilets.

Taking the metro back to Rome. Most of the trains I took were rather old and clunkity.

Via Appia Antica

My last day in Rome I took the metro and a bus out to the Appian Way (Via Appia Antica). I knew that it was long, but was still hoping to make it as far as the tombs that I have seen on various TV shows (yes, on Mary Beard). However, as a road outside of ancient Rome leading to other cities, it was too long. I did see some roadside tombs, but none too spectacular. The highlight of the trip was walking along the straight paved Roman road. I can't imagine what it would have been like with chariots, carts and legions of the Roman army moving along it. I can see why the army had right of way and you had to get off the road when they came, it's not too wide.

After the Appian Way I made my way back to the Baths of Carcalla. I then had just enough time to go to St. John in Latern, the cathedral of Rome. It was a pretty spectacular church. I took the tram to complete my public transit trip, and then the train out to the airport. It was an amazing trip, I still can't believe all the things I got to see. Finally I can cross off the item that has been on the top of my travel list since before I moved to Europe :)

In the shadow of Vesuvius

Over my October holiday (which ended yesterday) I spent a week in Italy. The first three nights were spend in Sant'Agnello, which is just outside of Sorrento. I spent an evening in Sorrento the first day (Wednesday), then two days exploring the sights of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius. Pompeii has been top on my list of places to visit since I got here, and it was amazing! I took a bus tour of Vesuvius and Pompeii on Thursday and then Friday I went to Herculaneum and back to Pompeii on my own. Friday I had an early afternoon train to Rome, so spent the morning in Naples.

Here are just a few of the 300 photos I took, to give you an idea of the things I got to see.

This was on my first walk from Sant'Agnello along the coast to Sorrento. I had already seen three German tour buses and one French. None Italian at this point...

Watching the sun set right on the coast in Sorrento

I then walked down the little path to the harbour, but was hurried back by the quickly darkening sky as the path goes through a small, and very dark, cave along the way. 

Day 2 - tour of Vesuvius. This was taken almost right by the crater, looking down towards Naples.

The circular crater of Vesuvius

It is now plugged, after the eruption in 1944. It is currently dormant, but this actually makes it more dangerous. There are a few places you can still see steam coming out of the rock, but it isn't visible from below because of the plug (the bottom of this crater). 

POMPEII!!!!!!!

One of my favourite parts of walking around the city: the cobble streets. In this picture you can see all three cool things: (1) The grooves left from the passage of many chariots (2) The very high curbs to keep pedestrians out of the muck in the street, and (3) You can just make out three bigger stepping stones farther along the road. These were so pedestrians could cross the street without stepping down into the muck. What confuses me is how did the chariots make it over/around them?

The market, only thing for sale today - a stray dog?

A millstone

One of the few buildings with anything still inside was the mill. They put the grain in the top, attached a donkey to turn it and the flour would have fallen down onto the ring counter below. There were many bakeries, still with two, three, or four of these in the room. The other sign of a bakery is the oven, looking like a modern pizza oven. 

A new friend on my walk back to the hostel. This one-eyed cat was very sure it needed attention and petting. It followed me along about a 20 m stretch of fencing. I, of course, did stop to pet it :)

A food bar in Herculaneum

The next morning I took myself on the Circumvesuviana train to Herculaneum (modern Ercolano, which was actually named something else until they discovered the ancient Herculaneum). Because the average ancient Roman would have eaten most meals out, there were many many little food bars. These, along with bakeries, were the only buildings that still have anything in them at Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia. They all have very similar counters, and sometimes also a back area where people could sit to eat. The counters have built in ceramic jars to keep the food to serve. These things are huge, they are the same height as the counter and very round. In some you can also see where they could heat up the food. I really liked the different counters, and how they were decorated. 

Courtyard of a Herculaneum house

This was one of my favourite houses, because of how much has survived. This is the ground floor of an apartment block, attached to the houses next to it on the block. You enter the main door and come into the atrium, with an impluvium: a little pool in the middle to collect the rain water from the centre hole in the roof. Opposite the main entrance is the tablinium (where our word table comes from). It is the receiving room for guests. This picture is behind that, in the private area of the house. The centre is a garden, surrounded by a peristyle. The rooms around were sitting rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, etc. In this house you could really imagine what it would have looked like and felt like. Some rooms are fully intact - walls, roof, floor mosaic, and even some frescoes. 

Women's change room

As nice as the house was, this is my favourite building in Herculaneum - the women's baths! Much better preserved than the men's baths, but smaller. They consist of three rooms, this being the change room, then the tepidarium and finally the caldarium. No frigidarium like on the men's side. 

Here is the caldarium with the pool at the end. This is one of the few buildings that still has a roof.

And the amazing wooden sliding doors!!! As seem on Mary Beard's Meet the Romans.

Me ... back in Pompeii on my own

The Villa of Mysteries - dining room. I would love to dine in a room with frescoes like that.

In the shadow of Vesuvius

Statue of a Fawn

This little statue gave its name to the House of the Fawn. This house also has an amazing mosaic of a full battle, with horses and warriors. I saw the originals, of the statue and mosaic, in the archaeology museum in Naples. 

Another food bar. This time with a nice fresco on the wall.

The large theatre in Pompeii

The sun beginning to set. I don't know what happened to this picture when I uploaded it, it looks a lot nicer on my computer.

Leaving Pompeii as the sun set

Next morning, back on the Circumvesuviana. This time all the way round to Naples.

One nice street in Naples

That afternoon I took the train to Rome, where I met my friend Teresa. More Roman ruins, lots of good food, lots of walking, five days and another 450 photos later I headed back to Frankfurt. When I have got Teresa's photos (because 450 isn't enough) I will post about those adventures.