On our boat trip we went past a big structure somewhat like an oil rig. Its real purpose is to control big sea gates. These are raised by the ‘rig’ when water levels raise and/or when heavy rain falls. Although Trump denies it, Global Warming is a real issue for Venice. Add to that, Venice is actually sinking, and finally add to that winter storms, and you have (pardon the pun) the perfect storm. The cost for Venice is over three hundred million Euros - and counting. That is over half a billion in New Zealand terms.
Day two we hired an almost brand new Fiat Bambino 500. What a beautiful little car too. We took it to Reggio Emelia on day three. The rest of day two was spent sorting out stuff, a long walk, some research and a visit to a shopping centre. The biggest surprise was dogs. They are everywhere - on buses, boats, streets and markets - including in shopping malls. In the Apple Store there were three dogs - a huge Doberman and two medium size dogs. In the mall itself we came across at least a dozen more - many making friends, others making their territory clear and doing their best to stay upright on highly polished tile floors. It is hard to imagine seeing this in Sylvia Park for instance.
The drive to Rome via Reggio Emelia and Florence was pretty awesome. Most of the way we sat at 130 to 140 kph - the speed a lot of the traffic was doing. The highways are great - up to four lanes, and with very clear rules. The inside one or two lanes are for slow traffic and trucks. The outside lane is for passing. As a general rule, even if you are doing 140kph, you do not stay in the outside lane. It was almost funny to see an Audi pass a slow car at 140kph, pull into the right lane briefly and then pull out to pass the next vehicle and so on. Often there was barely enough time to move to the right before having to go left and get round the next slow vehicle. The rule, almost universally obeyed, seemed to be pass one vehicle at a time.
Reggio Emelia was so inspiring and so confirming of Annette Pram's vision for our early learners.
Florence was very cool. We drove through the very oldest parts, over cobbled streets with sheer stone walls stories high, that we literally a couple of centimetres wider than our Bambino on either side. It was so much fun and a bit of a challenge to make a turn from one street to another without any scrapes. Florence was also very beautiful and so rich in history. All too soon we had to set off for Rome in order to return the rental car in time. Some background on that point. When I booked the car I thought it would be easiest to return it to Rome airport as they should be open 24 hours. When doing so on my phone I got a bit confused. I assumed having typed in Rome Airport there would be one choice. There were several, so I thought Rome must have several airports (it actually has two). So I picked what I thought was the closet to our camp site - Rome Central. That is not an airport, it is a branch of Europcar in the very centre of Rome. I had selected 8pm but had not counted on a nine kilometre trip through the centre of Rome taking 45 minutes. In the end, after travelling through an absolute maze of one way streets, avoiding drivers who care nothing for lanes, queues or road rules of any sort, I found the office and then the drop-off that was somewhere else - ten minutes after 8pm. So disappointed. The cleaner guy said if I leave the car there it would cost an extra 80 Euros as the office was closed, but if I took it to another building they would be open and I could leave it for free. He had little English and I had less Italian but I somehow worked out where it was. After another maze of seemingly endless one way streets - I basically constructed a Koru pattern with the car - we found the place and drove to the top floor. It too was closed. And there were no parking spaces left. At the end of a day that began at 5am for the second day in a row, it was not a good feeling. Fortunately another company sharing the top floor was open and took our keys and let us double park. Just in time because a guy came up after us in the same situation and had nowhere to park. He became very loud and very angry very quickly - so we left equally quickly.
The following morning we joined a Bus-About Tour of southern Italy. We were 45 in total - mainly Aussies, but with a teacher from Tirimoana who is best friends with Melissa Hutton and who had just resigned his job before going on tour.
The following may - probably won’t - be of interest, but that hasn’t stopped me before as Jacq will attest.
We first visited Pompeii: The locals were celebrating the feast of Vulcan two days before hand. This was in 79 AD. In just 6 hours 3,0000 were dead from the toxic gas and ash from Vesuvius. The ash covered Pompeii 12 to 15 metres deep. It ensured perfect preservation of the bodies and much of the city. The gas clouds killed the people first - at 350 degrees Celsius, there was no surviving it. One third of the city is still under ash. Just recently they unearthed a headless body - the head had been taken off by a volcanic boulder. The history of Pompeii and this event was recorded by Pliny the Elder - a famous Roman writer, historian and thinker (though some of his theories were so far off the mark as to be very humorous). The bodies decayed inside the ash, so they pumped plaster into the cavity then chipped off the ash and so had plaster models of the people as they were when the volcano erupted. Vesuvius is the most dangerous volcano in the world and could erupt any time - the last time was in 1944. A big eruption is expected soon. 90,0000 live in area today, if It erupted many in the red zone would perish.
Gladiators fought here in amphitheatre - they were slaves and prisoners of war. 17 gladiator slaves and one body of a rich lady were all found in same small room.
The streets of Pompeii were sloped to send water and poop to exits below. Big crossing stones were placed across poop streets so you could walk across and avoid the poop (this was the guide’s word so I have stayed with it). East West streets slope to the main North South Street - all to ensure passage of the poop to where it needs to go. A large lava rock at entrance to street meant it was a one way street. There were 92 takeaway sites found in Pompeii - the original McDonald’s.
Aqueducts were built in 100BC - they fed lead pipes, which of course led eventually to lead poisoning and was a factor in the downfall of the Roman Empire. They also built water tanks to reduce and control the water pressure that otherwise broke the pipes. There were five saunas in Pompeii - boiling water for hot baths generated stream that was sent to the sauna room. Steam rises so grooved ceilings were built in the saunas to avoid drips. Condensated water ran along the grooves was collected and reboiled.
There were many merchants here from many nations - it was a melting pot so people learned to used hand signals to communicate. This has carried over to today where Italians communicate with their hands when talking to each other.
The Romans developed lego building blocks to ensure columns were interconnected and stayed strong. They also set white stone moonlight reflectors into the street to guide people at night.
Naples has always been a rebellious area. There was a National seat belt law enacted so Neapolitans printed T shirts with black bands across them to fool police and thus rebel against the law.
Sophia Loren was working in a Naples restaurant when American GI soldiers discovered her. She was sent to USA on the promise of a five movie deal and she went on from there to become world famous.
The Mafia are big in Naples. The Camorra group launder money in restaurants etc from their protection racquet. Also from Cock fighting Human trafficking Gambling Amalfi is run by the Mafia especially bus coach parking - we saw a few of them - our guide had a code name for them - cupcakes. You can't guide in some areas due to the Mafia protection situation.
Several times we saw four cops in a tiny police patrol car. I wondered how they made arrests but was told that it’s no problem as they don't make arrests -they just take bribes for infractions. All cops in the area are apparently on the Mafia patrol Businesses pay cops, taxes, rent and the Mafia. Government tax is 28%, so getting a bargain in Italy is next to impossible.
Other facts in passing: We drove through 46 tunnels between Florence and Rome - most of them seemed new. Naples has two way tunnels - the rest are all one way.
Sorrento and Capri Tiberius' Leap on Capri is a spot where the Emperor threw off partners who displeased him. A Villa on a cliff top sold for 74 million - the purchaser has a Baby Food company in the USA Gwyneth Paltrow, Kourtney Kardashian and Leonardo de Caprio were all in Capri and Positano when we were there. They have big domed humps of sand on house roofs for insulation. The streets are incredibly narrow so they have a driving rule - number plates ending in odd numbers use the roads on alternate days to cars with number plates ending in even numbers. The average price of hotel room 350 Euros a night in Positano, however Hotel San Pietro costs 650 Euros a night There is a big cemetery on the side of a hill in Positano - it is now home to the inventor of the crossword puzzle - you can find him two down and four across.
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