A Special Request

This is off-topic for our blog, but for a good cause--our friend's niece.

Alexis is nine years old and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was eight. She was in remission for nine months, but has recently relapsed and the cancer is attacking her bone marrow. She's looking at aggressive chemotherapy and probably a bone marrow transplant as well.

Her family would like for her to receive postcards and trinkets from as many different places around the world as possible, to let her know that people worldwide are thinking of her. They are starting a map where they will add pins for each different country and state that Alexis receives a card from.

We have noticed that our readers are spread out across the globe, and we'd like to ask you to help Alexis fill in her map and let her know that she is far from alone while she struggles to overcome leukemia. As you all can see, our son is very near Alexis' age--it is hard to imagine a child Landon's age having to fight to survive against cancer. Please join us in showing Alexis our support and love.

You can send your postcards to:

Team Alexis
P.O. Box 2811
LaCrosse, WI 54602
USA

Thank you to all of our readers across the world who continue to follow our adventures!

Rome Series, Post 1: il Colosseo

In October, we took a vacation to mainland Italy and toured Rome and Florence. We took an astounding 1,129 photos in total, and have yet to fully go through and organize them. Needless to say, there was a lot to see and do, and a ton of history to be learned and re-learned in context. For easier reading and to prevent enormous posts, we've decided to post each major location separately.

And so we begin with The Colosseum, or il Colosseo.

Credits for this photo go solely to Billy, he's very proud of it!

The Colosseum, or the Flavian Amphitheatre, was the largest amphitheatre in the Roman world and remains the largest in the world today. Construction began in 70 AD and was completed in 80 AD, though modifications were made over the next two decades. The Colosseum is a World Heritage Site, and one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

We headed straight for the Colosseum as soon as we had dropped our backpacks in our hotel and grabbed a late lunch in the Piazza Republica. A quick cab ride took us straight to the end of the line for admission into the Colosseum.

Now this is the most important tip we have for tourists visiting Rome and other high-traffic sites: Pay for those skip-the-line tickets!!! Yes, it is significantly more expensive. Yes, you'll need to have the euro on hand in cash for most places. But it is well worth the added expense to just walk right up to the Colosseum or whatever site you happen to be visiting, instead of standing in line for, literally, hours. (Especially with small children!)

Our timing for getting inside the Colosseum couldn't have been more perfect. As we walked up to where people were milling about waiting to go inside, a young tour representative approached us and offered tickets for the last skip-the-line tour of the day which was beginning in ten minutes. Our total price for these tickets was 60 euro for the four of us, plus they threw in a free guided tour of the Palatine Hill with a tour guide in training.

You might think you have a good idea of the size of the Colosseum, until you actually see it and walk inside. It is built on a truly colossal (ha, ha) scale. In the above picture, you can see holes in the arches where bronze clamps were taken over the centuries. For a long period in the Middle Ages, after the Colosseum was partially destroyed by earthquake, many materials were removed to build other structures in the city. It was during this time that the interior stone and marble facade were stripped away.

Today, only the bricks that lay underneath the original stone and marble can be seen in the interior of the

Colosseum. Marble and wooden benches used to ring the sides of the interior, and it's estimated that the Colosseum could seat between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators. Some seats featured convenient holes in the center so that spectators wouldn't have to get up and miss any part of the events...

The interior walls of the Colosseum were constructed of brick and concrete, overlaid with stone and marble. This is how many of the walls appear today. It's hard to imagine how it must have looked when the whole structure shone in brilliant white marble.

The Colosseum is so enormous that it's very hard to get a shot of the entire arena and seating areas with a regular camera. The platform at right center was built to show where the actual floor of the arena would have been. The tunnels and rooms underneath were added after the Colosseum's completion, between 81-96 AD.

Gladiatorial fights were held for hundreds of years into the 5th century, and animal hunting continued into the 6th century. After the last animal hunt, a small church was built inside the Colosseum and the arena became a cemetery. The rooms and tunnels beneath the arena were rented out as housing and workshops until the 1200s, when the Colosseum was fortified as a castle. Eventually, beginning in the 16th century, the papacy of Rome began calling for preservation of the Colosseum.

The facade of the Colosseum is very weathered and damaged by numerous earthquakes and at least one great fire. The original pristine marble has also darkened from the pollution of modern-day Rome.

 Many original decorative structures in various states of ruin remain inside the Colosseum, including this inscription, "LOSEC." Who knows what it could have been meant to read?

More photos taken in and around the Colosseum can be seen on our Flickr photostream.

Calascibetta and Enna

Calascibetta and Enna are two medieval cities that sit opposite each other on their own respective mountaintops.

We had originally set out to visit Enna, which we knew to be the geographic center of the island of Sicily. A wrong turn led us up the "wrong" mountain, and we found Calascibetta instead--which happened to be a stroke of luck!

Calascibetta is a quaint medieval town featuring a Byzantine district and a necropolis. We parked the car in a piazza with a large fountain, and walked around nearly the entire city. Parking and walking was a necessity for us--the streets were too narrow to accommodate our American sedan past a certain point!

Here is the church in the piazza where we parked.

One seriously narrow medieval street: 

We found these cool grottos just a street over from the piazza. In the stone, there are enormous fossilized sea shells!

Looking back down the street across from the grottos.

Oh, so there's Enna! The neighboring city atop the neighboring mountain.

The view from the highest point in Calascibetta. Mt. Etna is small in the background.

Fun fact: That lake is Pergusa, which is rumored to be the site where Proserpine was taken into the underworld by Pluto!

Living on the edge...

Another shot of the view, just because it was breathtaking.

Chapel at the entrance to the necropolis. It has a beautiful mosaic tile floor (see second photo below) and even boasts its own relic--a lumbar vertebra, from the looks of it. The relic belongs to Sant Simone da Calascibetta, a Napoli-born Franciscan monk. You can read more about Sant Simone here.

This is the entrance to the necropolis. Note the skull and crossbones symbols; they are found at the gates of all of the cemeteries we've seen here in Sicily.

After our surprise tour of Calascibetta, we had a few more hours until the sun went down. So, we got back on the road and headed up the opposite mountain into the city of Enna.

Enna is the highest province in Sicily, and boasts a military castle built by the ancient Sicani people. The Sicani are believed to be the oldest inhabitants of Sicily with a recorded name. The castle was later rebuilt by Frederick II of Aragon. It is possible to go inside the castle; however, we were unable to do so due to a wedding that was taking place there. Still, there is a striking natural rock formation just past the castle, on the edge of the cliff, that we were able to climb up and take advantage of the panoramic view at sunset.

We also stood at a monument that we think marks the actual geographic center of the island. We aren't sure, because an elderly man was explaining it to us, and sometimes the Sicilian dialect can be hard to understand in the older population. More recent generations are taught standard Italian in school, but many elderly Sicilians speak a unique dialect that can sound quite different.

Here we are at what we assume is the geographic center of Sicily. (If anyone can confirm this, please do comment!)

Football stadium at the top of the world (or at least the top of the visible surrounding area).

View of Enna looking toward the castle, from the top of a defense tower in the southern part of the city.

Gelato in a brioche, with biscotti and a wafer. This Enna gelateria does it right!

The (mostly) natural rock formation at the edge of the cliff. Parts of this may be remnants of the original Sicani structure...don't quote us on that, it's only speculation!

Here are several photos of the Aragonese castle:

 

Obligatory "Lion King" moment. Don't worry, he only appears to be over the railing! Billy is really several feet back.

Sunset..

The boys hanging out on the rocks!

We really enjoyed visiting both Calascibetta and Enna. We would like to go back to Enna one day when the castle is open to visitors.


More photos from this trip can be found in our Flickr photo sets.

Billy's Birthday Celebration at Borgo Antico

 For Billy's 26th birthday, we decided to invite a small group of close friends to try an agriturismo in Mineo. Several people had recommended it, and this was our first time going there.

The agriturismo is called Borgo Antico, and it is located close to the city of Mineo. It's practically right outside of the Mineo former government housing complex, right off the SP417. (Note: Due to recent unrest among refugees living in the former government housing, it can be dangerous to drive along this stretch of the 417.)

When you are driving to Borgo Antico, it will seem that you have taken a wrong turn! The road is narrow and unmarked, aside from a small sign advertising the agriturismo. However, as soon as you pull inside the gate, you'll be surrounded by absolutely beautiful landscaping and terraces.

The view from the restaurant's patio is amazing.

Of course, the interior of Borgo Antico was also well-decorated. It was rustic and somehow cozy, despite the large amount of space inside.

Our table was by an enormous cabinet filled with antique dishes and tableware. Obviously, Billy was thrilled with the antiques!

The food was delicious and plentiful. The price for this meal was about five euro more than other agriturismos we've visited. They served us several antipasto dishes, three pasta dishes, a meat course, dessert and fruit, and of course endless bread and wine. We tried a pumpkin pasta dish (this was in September, after all) for the first time. Very yummy fall flavors!

Overall, it was a nice relaxed celebration with plenty of food, wine, and good friends. What better way to spend a birthday in Sicily!

Infiorata - Festival of Flowers

For our first family outing since Billy's return from Germany, we drove down to the city of Noto in the southeast corner of the island. The Infiorata takes place every last week of May in Noto. Infiorata is a "festival of flowers" featuring beautiful images that artists create from flowers, based on actual paintings they have previously done. The artists work from Friday to dawn on Saturday, and people line up to view the images on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning. On Monday evening, all of the flower art is destroyed by children running down the street!

We made it to Noto in the afternoon, and immediately obtained an enormous helicopter balloon and toy machine gun.

The toys at festivals are overpriced, but it was worth the money to see how happy the boys were with their new things!

The streets of centro Noto are lined with impressive palaces, like this one below:

We do not know which palaces belong to which families, but we enjoyed the spectacular architecture! We also visited the cathedral, which had gorgeous murals on the ceiling inside.

We had a delicious light lunch at the Ristorante il Giglio, located right in the Piazza Municipio. We ordered a salciccio piccante pizza, which has large, thinly sliced spicy sausage, and of course a Margherita pizza, which is simply cheese and tomato sauce. It was simple and delicious, and the restaurant makes a refreshing Bellini cocktail as well!

The restaurant is beside a large terrace, where the boys were able to run around and play. As you can see, it was very sunny and bright that day!

After lunch, we watched traditional fencing techniques being demonstrated.

Again, our photos were really washed out by the intense sun of southern Sicily. Sorry! Here is a shot of the street, showing how crowded and popular the festival is, along with some of the stunning baroque architecture found all through Noto.

Finally, here is a photo of the street of flowers. The line was too long for us to stand in with both the boys and a still-healing Billy, but I was able to climb up the bell tower of the cathedral for an aerial view of the flowers. There are many Japanese influences in the artwork.

 

The detail the artists were able to create using flowers is amazing, and the colors were very vivid in person. Here is another photo of the flower artwork taken by Andrea Salerno, found on the official page of the Infiorata.

 

More information on the Infiorata can be found on the Links page of our blog. Noto is a little over an hour from Catania, straight down the A-19 autostrada.