Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “The Atlas Expedition Italy”
CHAPTER 37 Well, it should come as no surprise that I have come up short in my attempt to catch up on this blog prior to leaving on our next adventure- at least if you have any incline of our current state of affairs, or my previous track record of falling far short of my goals in this particular department. …
CHAPTER 36 Our next stop on our tour of Italy was a quick one, though memorable. Leaving south from Agnone, we headed for the steep scree slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. Its eruption in 79 AD was nothing to forget, but its next eruption will be particularly remarkable, for my late grandfather at least- for I spread some of his ashes …
CHAPTER 35 We don’t have anything against touristy sites, aside from perhaps all the tourists, but we do appreciate stumbling upon underappreciated places. Sometimes its due to sheer luck, sometimes from word of mouth, but in this case, I am going to chalk it up to genealogy. It turns out that one branch of Kacey’s family tree can trace it’s …
CHAPTER 34 We drank in Tuscany like a nice bottle of wine, and just as nice bottles always do, our time there ran out far too soon. No matter though, we were all looking forward to our next destination, the small village of Agnone, far to the south, nestled in the complex peaks and valleys of the central Apennines. But …
CHAPTER 33 Aside from the noted architecture, however beguilingly slanted it may be, Pisa holds a special place in my heart because of a fortuitous encounter with the city I had, nearly two decades ago… It was the summer after our freshman year in college, and we were five naïve, but confident, wide eyed Colorado boys exploring Europe with overloaded …
CHAPTER 32 You could easily write a book about the virtues of Florence, but since we only spent an afternoon there, I will leave that to a person who has enjoyed more time in this amazing city than us. As it is, we spent our time there ogling at the formidable architecture of Il Duomo, climbing the 414 steps up …
CHAPTER 31 We used Siena as our home base for exploring Tuscany. One rather overcast day we headed out into the rolling hills of vineyards to see what we could find. The answer: A pretty good little winery, the Tenuta di Lilliano; the small hilltop village and fortress of Monteriggioni; and the unforgettable city of towers, San Gimignano. *Note: Photos …
CHAPTER 30 They say all roads lead to Rome, but that means all roads lead away from Rome as well- and we wanted to see where they went. As is our modus operandi, we rented a small car, played a bit of luggage tetris, and hit the autostrada headed north. Our destination was Tuscany, Sienna to be specific, but we …
CHAPTER 29 Following our party with the Pope, we spent the rest of the day strolling through the ruins of the Roman Forum, and exploring the tunnels of the Coliseum. Say what you will about the Romans, but they sure knew how to lay a brick or two! *Note: Photos with a “VS” suffix are credited to Val and Steve …
CHAPTER 28 As if we hadn’t had our fill of the Vatican yet, we had one more little thing to take care of there- just a little meeting with the man in charge, the Pope. Steve, being a devout Catholic, had preemptively arranged for tickets to see the Vicar of Christ in action, which we had to pick up the …
CHAPTER 27 The Vatican is a lot to take in, certainly more than can be done comfortably in a single day- thus we found ourselves there a second day in a row, this time to tour the Vatican Museum. Hall after hall of ancient statues and art ultimately lead to the coup de grâce, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. I guess it’s …
CHAPTER 26 Day two in Rome saw us wandering around the echoing halls of St. Peter’s- even with a thousand people in there it still feels empty. On top of the architecture and all the history, I love the Vatican because it is its own little country- for some reason that idea just intrigues me. *Note: Photos with a “VS” …
CHAPTER 25 Rome has to be at the top, or at least near the top of everyone’s bucketlist. There’s just no place like it. And even if you have seen it all before, which Kacey and I both had, separately, it still strikes you as implausibly impressive, as if you are seeing it fresh for the first time. Despite a …
