tim.schalk

NCAA Basketball Champions

2010-04-07T13:01:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils, winner of the NCAA men's basketball championship. The Duke-Butler title game was one of the best games I've ever watched. Both teams played very well; not many stupid mistakes by either team, few turnovers, and terrific defense. The game was close the entire time - there were a couple times Duke looked like it might pull away, but then Butler would drop in a couple baskets to keep it close. And the finish was fantastic.

I'm a big Duke basketball fan, but even I was a little disappointed that Butler didn't pull it off. It would've been amazing to see a mid-major win it all - especially if Haywood's half-court shot at the buzzer would've gone in.

And congrats to the women from Connecticut, winning the women's title with their 78th straight win. I don't care what sport you're in - a winning streak that long is simply incredible.

Boy Air Traffic Controller Controversy

2010-03-03T09:52:00.002-05:00

Am I the only one who thinks people are making a mountain out of a molehill with this whole Boy Directs Air Traffic Control story? Yes, the guy was wrong for letting his son communicate with the pilots, but isn't relieving the guy - and his supervisor - of their jobs a bit extreme? It's not like the kid was talking gibberish here; he was simply repeating what his father probably told him to say. If the guy would've brought his wife in and she would've said those same words, it would be no big deal. But since it's a kid, it's now a national controversy?

Like I said, I don't think it's right; the guy shouldn't have let his kid do that. But did the pilots care? No. Did the other controllers care? No. Does the media care? Obviously. Does anyone else really think they are less safe because of this? I certainly don't, and I can't imagine anyone making an argument in opposition to that.

NBC "Fights" Olympic Piracy

2010-02-16T08:57:00.003-05:00

This article is from last week, but it's so ridiculous that it needs to be brought up again. NBC, in it's mind-numbing attempt to fight piracy, has purposely limited the amount of live streaming Olympic videos. The reason?

"One of the things we learned in Beijing is that people really go to the Web for highlights," said Perkins Miller, svp, digital media at NBC.

That's all well and good, except it's not true. NBC then goes on to admit that they are actively policing the web in order to stop anyone from streaming these events. So apparently people do want to do this. Instead of providing people a legal method to do so, they're not giving any live streaming (save for hockey and curling) and then telling everyone else that they can't do it either. Talk about providing value to your customers. Mike Masnick of Techdirt (one of my favorite blogs) sums it up:

Again, you solve the problem of people going elsewhere by giving them what they want, not purposely deciding not to give them what they want and then getting upset when they go find it elsewhere.

Why do the folks at NBC not understand this? Is it really a difficult concept? So instead of letting more people watch events online (which would likely get them interested in watching on television as well), they're trying to stop it. Unbelievable. At least, it is until you remember who NBC's general counsel is - Rick Cotton:

"Our aim is to make access to pirated material inconvenient, low quality and hard to find," said Rick Cotton, NBC's evp and general counsel. In terms of Web piracy, "you are never going to go to zero. But there has been a sea change in terms of recognition of the problem."

In other words, instead of providing value (high quality, easy-to-find content), they're making it more difficult and lower quality, forcing people to look elsewhere. And then sending the lawyers in to try to stop people from going elsewhere.

Sources:
MediaWeek - NBCU Fights Olympic Piracy
Techdirt - NBC Continues To Do The Exact Wrong Thing When It Comes To The Olympics Online

Favorite Films of 2009

2010-02-01T21:48:00.002-05:00

UPDATED: I thought I'd throw together a list of my favorite movies that were released in 2009. A lot of people do this, so I figured I'd share mine as well. These may not be what I thought were the "best" movies, but only my favorites; feel free to disagree.

Honorable mentions: Up, Taken, District 9, Coraline, Adventureland, Drag Me To Hell

6. Avatar
It's hard not to form an opinion about a movie before it comes out; I told myself that there was too much hype surrounding this and it wasn't going to be that good. However, Avatar did manage to impress me. It definitely wasn't great - too many stereotypical characters and the plot was amazingly familiar (can you say Dances With Wolves?) - but it still managed to captivate my attention and keep me interested. Plus, the use of 3-D was very good; definitely worth the extra price for seeing it in that format.

5. Sunshine Cleaning
This was a well-made film that was funny and yet heartfelt. It's hard to really pin down why I liked it so much, but it's one of those movies that just grabs you and makes you care about what happens to the characters.

4. Up In The Air
George Clooney absolutely nails his performance (as does the rest of the cast) in this amazing film. A great script, great direction, and great acting really puts this movie ahead of a lot of other favorites.

3. (500) Days of Summer
An absolutely charming film, this is an original spin on the classic boy-meets-girl movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are outstanding as the boy and girl, and the script is sweet, touching, funny, and emotional. This is a great film - if this was a "Best Of" list, this and Up In The Air would be vying for the top spot.

2. The Hangover
Simply the funniest movie I've seen in the past couple of years, much less this one. The actors were superb, and the story and jokes were funny and entertaining. I'm looking forward to watching it again.

1. Star Trek
When I first heard that J.J. Abrams was taking Star Trek and casting new actors to play younger versions of the original characters, I was very skeptical. I figured it was going to all action-oriented and become just another unnecessary retread. I was way wrong. Abrams did kick up the action, but still managed to retain much of the Star Trek essence. The actors he chose for the roles were all great - Chis Pine as Kirk was exceptional. Plus, he managed to use time travel - which is very difficult to make work in a movie - in a way that didn't seem contrived or stupid.
I rewatched it last week and am actually looking forward to seeing it again; there aren't too many movies that I can say that with, so that's why this is my favorite movie of the year.

Of course, this list would almost feel incomplete if I didn't pick a few bombs; movies that I would tell anyone to avoid at all costs:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Utter trash. Between the horrible script, terrible acting (the robots seemed more real than most of the humans), and stereotypical characters, this was easily the worst film of the year. The Blu-ray is a good demo disc for your home theater; that is, if you can stand watching more than five minutes of this garbage.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Everything - the plot, the characters, and the action - felt way too crammed and brought this movie down. I like the Wolverine character, but I felt like this movie tried too hard and it just became a mess.

Crank 2: High Voltage
What was the reason for this sequel? The first Crank felt fresh and fun; this one felt like a complete retread of the first. Nothing original, and nothing to make it worth watching.

Home Theater Updates

2010-01-27T11:14:00.002-05:00

I've made a few updates to the Home Theater section; I updated the network diagram to reflect that I've added another HDHomeRun TV tuner and a 5-port network switch (which I'm hoping will help manage my ever-increasing network traffic a little better).

Home Theater

Thoughts on The Golden Globes

2010-01-18T10:59:00.003-05:00

I didn't watch the Golden Globes last night; I wanted to, but I kind of forgot they were on. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't because I likely would have been very annoyed. Granted, everyone knows the Globes are mostly a joke - they're more or less a form of entertainment, not a true reflection on the best in film over the year. Looking at this year's list of winners though, it looks like the Globes turned into the People's Choice awards.

The biggest problem I have is Avatar winning Best Drama. Are you kidding me? I liked Avatar and think it's a good film, but there's no way it's a best movie of any year. Up In The Air was immensely better, and it's very likely that The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds are better films too, at least based on the reviews I've read thus far (still waiting to see them myself). I just really don't understand how you can award a movie with such a basic plot and stereotypical characters (I mean, c'mon, the whole plot was pretty much the story of the Native Americans). Besides the technology, there's nothing extraordinary about Avatar besides the insane amount of money it's made (which I'm assuming is the real reason it won last night).

I don't have as big of a problem with Best Director - I think the direction in Avatar was pretty good - but I think the Foreign Press just gave it to him because he's Jim Cameron.

Haven't seen (500) Days of Summer yet, but I love the win for The Hangover over the other films in the category.

Most of the other winners were fairly respectable, I guess, but it really did feel like a People's Choice winner's list. Hopefully the Oscar's actually ignore this (they usually do) and actually give their awards to deserving films.

Favorite Songs of 2009

2010-01-04T12:16:00.004-05:00

Another year-end list, but I thought I'd share my favorite songs from the year as well.

Two - The Antlers

1901 & Lisztomania - Phoenix

The Fixer - Pearl Jam

Hell - Tegan and Sara

Fables - The Dodos

Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys

Percussion Gun - White Rabbits

(If You Are Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer

The Fear - Lily Allen

Handclap. - Kinch

The White Panda Mixtape

2009-12-29T11:31:00.002-05:00

The first official mixtape is out from The White Panda. If you haven't heard of them, they create mashups of popular songs - generally a pop song beat overlaid with rap lyrics. I'm not a big rap fan by any means, but these mashups are fun. They've put out a bunch of individual tracks before, but this is the first hour-long mix. Check it out at their official site.

My favorite is definitely the first track, the T.I./Passion Pit mix called What You Know About Little Secrets, but there's a lot more to like too.

If you like that, you might want to check out the Super Mash Bros. too. They tend to mash more songs together in each track and it's not quite as hip-hop based. They've got two full albums out - well worth a download.

Alma

2009-12-22T08:26:00.003-05:00

http://almashortfilm.com/

Here's a beautiful short film, free to watch for a limited time during the Christmas season. It's not exactly a feel-good tale, but definitely a good little film.

More taxpayer money goes to a useless cause...

2009-12-16T11:13:00.003-05:00

Congress Gives $30 Million to Fight 'Piracy'

This was the result of a 'piracy summit' convened by our Vice President Joe Biden. He, along with many other major figures in government (including the Attorney General and director of the FBI) met with many of the major players in the entertainment industry (including Jeffrey Zucker and Rick Cotton - see the full list here). Of course, there were no representatives from the technology industry or consumer groups - people that actually represent what consumers want and use.

To the government, this is obviously chump change. Still, isn't it amazing how much the Obama administration keeps giving to big industry? This may be the worst one though - at least the banks were kind of struggling for a bit (although they aren't now) - the music and movie industries are having one of their strongest years and are constantly growing. And yet our federal representatives give them $30 million in taxpayer money to help them prop up an old and out-of-date business model?

Phoenix on The Take-Away Shows

2009-12-07T09:43:00.002-05:00

Phoenix is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands; I've really gotten into a lot of their stuff from their latest album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - especially "1901" and "Lisztomania".

Today, I came across a cool series of small performances (called Take-Away Shows) that the band did in downtown Paris for director Vincent Moon. They played "1901" in the middle of a crowd of tourists in front of the Eiffel Tower and "Lisztomania" on top of a tourist bus. Very cool and it sounded really good. I'm an even bigger fan after watching these.

You can see the videos of the performances here.

Why Is This News?

2009-12-04T09:19:00.002-05:00

Is there anyone out there (outside of Washington) that cares about these so-called White House party crashers? Why is this getting so much media attention? I heard a congressman on the Today show this morning say the entire thing was about ensuring the safety of the president. Was he really so much more unsafe there than he ever is? Think about it - these people weren't on the guest list, but they still went through a metal detector and were likely fully checked for weapons, so why did they pose any more danger to the president than when he makes an appearance anywhere else?

I'll tell you one thing - I'm so glad our elected officials are putting in lots of their time "investigating" this incident rather than working on a budget or health care plan. Aren't you?

Passing Parameters in AJAX MVC Events

2009-11-18T10:40:00.003-05:00

I was trying to pass in a parameter to an Ajax OnSuccess event within ASP.NET MVC. Since the event only takes in method names and not method class, that's a problem.

I found a few potential solutions to this floating around, but this one worked for me:

OnSuccess = "function() {myFunction(this);}"

Where myFunction() is:


function myFunction(col) {
    $('#divMyAjaxElement').fadeIn('normal');
    col.parentNode.style.background = '#444444';
}

My purpose was to change the cell background of a Ajax.ActionLink when it was clicked.

Lucky Soul's new single

2009-11-12T10:11:00.003-05:00

Here's a fun little pop song - White Russian Doll by Lucky Soul. You can stream it free here. I'm not usually a big pop music fan, but I'm liking this group. Check out their other single, Whoa Billy!.

Converting DataReader to Generic Collection

2009-11-10T12:31:00.011-05:00

I'm a big fan of using Collections in .NET; I find them cleaner and easier to use than datasets and datatables. There are multiple examples on converting a datatables into a generic collection (a good one here), but I couldn't find many examples of converting the results of a DataReader into one. I did find one excellent sample: AzamSharp has a great post on this here. While that definitely works, the only thing I didn't like was having to define the list of fields every time. It may be a little more flexible, but it seemed to defeat the purpose.

Borrowing largely from his example, I came up with this:


public static void ConvertTo<T>(SqlDataReader sqlDr, IList<T> list, Type type)
{
    while (sqlDr.Read())
    {
        T item = (T)Activator.CreateInstance(type);

        // Get all the properties of the type
        PropertyInfo[] properties = ((Type)item.GetType()).GetProperties();

        for (int j = 0; j < sqlDr.FieldCount; j++)
        {
            if (sqlDr.GetName(j) == properties[j].Name)
            {
                properties[j].SetValue(item, sqlDr[j], null);
            }
        }
        list.Add(item);
    }
}

Much simpler, although I have no idea if his way is more efficient or not. To use, just use the following code against your custom class:


public class UserProfile
{
    public int UserId { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
}

public List<UserProfile> FillUserProfileList()
{
    SqlCommand sqlCmd;
    List<UserProfile> upList = new List<UserProfile>();

    try
    {
        sqlCmd = (SqlCommand)db.GetSqlStringCommand("SELECT UserId, FirstName, LastName FROM MyUserTable WHERE UserId = 1");
        SqlDataReader sqlDr = (SqlDataReader)db.ExecuteReader(sqlCmd);
        Helpers.CollectionHelper.ConvertTo(sqlDr, upList, typeof(UserProfile));
    }
    catch
    {
    }
    return upList;
}

Italy

2009-10-08T23:00:00.009-04:00

On September 24, 2009, my wife and I took a two-week trip to Italy. We planned the entire trip ourselves and used public transportation the entire time. We booked our hotels ahead of time and arranged for three private tours our first days in Rome. Besides that, we basically just made use of guidebooks and maps to get us through. And it worked out beautifully.

I've written up a brief summary of each day of our trip (at least what I can remember). And yes, there's a lot of pictures. To those planning a trip to Italy in the future, I've tried to include some recommendations along the way. Enjoy!

Italy - Day 1: Rome

2009-10-08T22:59:00.001-04:00

Arrival

Our trip to Italy obviously began with the flight; we flew directly from Detroit Metro to Rome Fiumicino. The flight took about 9 hours and we arrived in Rome around 12:30pm on Thursday. Actually, I should say we arrived in Italy - Rome's airport is about 40 miles west of the city center. To get to Rome, we took the Leonardo Express, a train that runs directly from the airport to Rome's Termini station. Cost was a little steep at 11 euro per person, but the only cheaper option was a inner-city train/subway combination, which didn't sound appealing with hauling around luggage.

I'd definitely recommend the Express, and I'd strongly recommend getting your tickets from the yellow self-serve kiosks in the station. They're easy to use and you can pay by cash or credit card (depending on the machine). Plus, if you go through one of the information stands there, you'll likely be charged a 1 euro "booking fee" per ticket.

Hotel Aenea

Aenea is a little hotel on Via Urbana, about a 10 minute walk from Termini. It's down a fairly quiet street, but located well within walking distance of most of the major attractions. It's also more of an apartment-style setting rather than a hotel; in fact, there are apartments on the other floors of the building (the hotel is on the third).

We were quite happy with this place. Check in was easy - staff spoke English very well and were very helpful. Our room contained a fridge, coffee maker, and air. They also provide two croissants for each person in the morning and fill a basket every day with snacks. We stayed 3 nights and paid 140 euro per night, which is decent for Rome. We highly recommend Aenea.

Historical Center

I figured that we didn't want to be overwhelmed with the city, so we decided to go with a private tour guide for three half-day tours of Rome's major sights. I found Rich online; he's a Pittsburgh native now living in Rome. His English is great, and it's obvious he knows a lot about the city. His tours were very informative and useful, and he allowed you to go at your own pace. If you're looking for touring options, stay away from the big groups - you'll see them all over, usually with a headset on so they can hear their guide. For just a little more money, you'll have a much better time with Rich.

Our first day was a 3 1/2 hour tour of Rome's historical center. After we settled into our hotel, we met Rich at a little cafe to start the tour. After being 10 minutes late (we quickly learned Rome's streets can be difficult to follow), we started.

Some of the highlights:

Torre Argentina and the Cat Sanctuary

An archeological dig of four ancient Roman temples started our tour. The Largo di Torre Argentina is the area that holds these four temples (called Temples A, B, C, & D) and also the remains of Theatre of Pompey, which is where Julius Caesar was believed to have been killed. The area is now home to many cats; there's a cat sanctuary next to it. We saw a lot of them wandering the ruins, and we also stopped into the sanctuary and pet a couple of them.

Piazza Navona

Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi fountain highlights this square, and it's quite amazing. After seeing a few ruins to start the tour, this was definitely breathtaking. We only spent a little bit of time here before heading out to the Pantheon, stopping by a few churches to get a taste of the art, sculptures, and medieval history of Rome along the way.

Pantheon

The dome of the Pantheon is well-worth seeing. There's always a crowd, but walking inside and looking up at the dome is awesome. There's really not a whole lot else to see - a few paintings and some tombs (it is technically a temple to the gods, after all) - but Rich explained a lot of the history, so that helped add to the awe.

Trevi Fountain

After grabbing some gelato (our first of many), we came to the famous Trevi Fountain. It was crowded full of people, but it was obvious why: it's beautiful. This was probably one of our favorite sites in Rome - it's especially great at night when it's all lit up. It's not very peaceful, but it's nice to sit on the steps and people-watch.

Spanish Steps

We ended our tour here, at the famous Spanish Steps. Frankly, we were kind of less than impressed. The Steps are nice, but there's not really a lot to see - just a fountain and steps. Nice views at the very top, however, next to the Trinita dei Monti church.

After leaving Rich, we walked around the Piazza di Spagna area a bit, then headed back to our hotel. We grabbed some pizza, then got some much-needed sleep.

To see all of our Rome pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 2: Rome

2009-10-08T22:58:00.002-04:00

Beauty of the Vatican

Our second day in Rome was primarily focused on the Vatican. We had a tour set up with Rich at 1:00pm, so we did have the morning to walk around and explore a bit. We decided to stroll into the Piazza Venezia area first.

The National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (or The Big White Building as Heather liked to call it) was the first stop. A lot of stairs leads to a small museum up top, which wasn't really that interesting. The bigger attraction was the view and the building itself.

Once leaving the Monument, we made a stop into Santa Maria in Aracoeli. It's a very beautiful church; fairly plain on the outside, but gorgeous on the inside (as you can see below). It was set up for a wedding, and we saw the guests arriving as we were there.

After having our fill of the Piazza Venezia area, we started our walk to the Vatican. We walked along the Tiber River for a while, then jumped onto Via Giulia (one of the recommended walks in one of our guide books). There wasn't a whole lot to see here, although it was somewhat pretty and peaceful.

We crossed the Ponte Vittorio and decided to check out Castel Sant'Angelo, a former stronghold built to protect Vatican City. To our pleasant surprise, the tickets were free for the weekend. It was worth the time; the "museum" parts were fairly interesting, the view on top was very good, and just walking around the castle was fun.

We grabbed a gelato at a place called Old Bridge (cheap, very good gelato close to the Vatican Museums) then sat down for lunch at Ristaurante Paolo because that was where we were to meet our tour guide. It's a classic tourist trap restaurant; someone outside waving people in, pricey, and not-sure-if-it's-really-from-scratch food. Decent, but not recommended. We expected our guide to be there (since a lot of other tour groups also meet there) but Heather ended up spotting her across the street, so we were actually a few minutes late again, even though we were in the right spot. Oh well.

The good part was that another couple was also touring with us, which brought our cost down a bit. Our guide wasn't Rich, but an associate of his. She was alright, but we had a better time with Rich. Our tour started in the Vatican Museums - I won't go into any details - if you're going to Rome, you'll be going here - but here's a few pictures:

A few of the rooms are boring, but quite a few are pretty remarkable. At the end, you finally get to the Sistine Chapel. The chapel is just incredible to take in; it's really amazing to think of how Michelangelo did it.

After leaving the museums we moved into St. Peter's Basilica. The grandness of the building is awesome, but I found it to be almost too big; it felt less intimate than a lot of other places. I guess it just didn't have the effect on me that I was expecting.

St. Peter's Square, however, is something to see. It's easy to imagine thousands of people crowding this square to see a glimpse of the Pope.

My recommendation - don't take a guided tour of the Vatican. You'll miss out on some information by doing so, but I think it'd be better to walk at your own pace and soak everything up. Take a good guide book and you'll be fine.

After leaving Vatican City, we took a walk to Piazza del Popolo, a Roman square which is near the northern gate of the Aurelian Walls. There happened to be a concert going on in the square - some sort of MTV-sponsored free summer concert - but we didn't recognize any of the bands, so we didn't stick around too long.

We stopped by a cafe and grabbed a panini and coffee. After that, we walked by the Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps (each very cool to see at night) before heading back to the hotel.

To see all of our Rome pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 3: Rome

2009-10-08T22:57:00.013-04:00

The Grandeur of Ancient Rome

Our third day in Rome was all about ancient Rome. Rich's tour started at 9:00am and took us to Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Colosseum.

Palatine Hill is home to some amazing excavations of homes, palaces, and stadiums. There's so much history here; it's awesome to walk around and see remains of buildings that are well over 2000 years old.

The ticket for Palatine Hill also covers the Colosseum; we had the good fortune to go on a day when everything was free. We're still not really sure why - some sort of celebration, I guess - but that was definitely a bonus.

On the way to the Colosseum, we got a chance to take a look at a couple of the best-known Roman arches. The Arch of Titus:

And the Arch of Constantine:

After that, it was time to hit the Colosseum, arguably Italy's most recognizable attraction. And it doesn't disappoint. You get a real sense of how huge it is immediately when you walk in; it's like going into a football stadium, but then you realize that it's almost 2000 years old - that makes it a bit more impressive.

The Roman Forum was next up on our tour. The Forum was the heart and center of the city in ancient times. Now it mostly consists of a lot of ruins, although there some good stuff here, including the supposed site where Julius Caesar's body was burned and where Marc Antony gave his famous speech. Interesting stuff.

It's also home to another arch, the Arch of Septimius Severus:

With our tour with Rich ended, we walked around the Piazza Venetia area for a while but then decided to head back to the hotel for a little rest.

Later that day, we decided to head back to Palatine Hill (it was free after all - and we felt like we wanted to spend some more time there). Along the way there, we stopped by a few churches.

The beautiful Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore:

San Pietro in Vincoli, home of Michelangelo's Moses:

We went back into Palatine Hill, taking a few more pictures along the way.

After we had our fill, we made the long walk through the Circo Massimo to the Trastevere area and then on to Campo de' Fiori. It was there that we found a bar that had a free appetizer spread, so we had a couple of drinks there before dinner.

Our first true sit-down Italian restaurant dinner was this night. We were looking for a restaurant in one of our guide books, but didn't find it, so we chose a place on our walk back. After overcoming a little language trouble (our waiter was annoyed with me quite quickly), we had a decent meal, including Heather's favorite spaghetti carbonara.

But we weren't done yet - after dinner we went to the Colosseum and got some pretty good night pictures. A nice end to a long day.

To see all of our Rome pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 4: Sorrento

2009-10-08T22:56:00.005-04:00

Arrival
We caught a morning Trenitalia regional train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale. From Naples, we changed trains (and lines) to a Circumventia train to Sorrento. The Circumventia station is located below the main level in Napoli Centrale; there are plenty of signs pointing you in the right direction.

Relais Francesca
This is a bed and breakfast outside of the city of Sorrento, in a town called Piano di Sorrento (east of Sorrento). While staying in Sorrento might have been a little more convenient, we were quite happy with this. The hotel itself is close to the train station in Piano (Sorrento is a 5-minute, 1.10 euro ride away) and also close to the town square.

The room we stayed in was quite nice; it overlooked the rear of the hotel, complete with lemon trees and a roof filled with stray cats.

The room was spacious and included a fridge. Staff were helpful and most spoke English fairly well. Breakfast was decent; a buffet of breads, croissants, meats, and cheeses. All for 59 euro a night - a terrific price for this place.

Relax and Enjoy the View

After getting some lunch in at a restaurant in town, we made the bold decision to walk from our hotel into downtown Sorrento after being told it was only a couple kilometers away. Not a great idea. We walked along the main, traffic-heavy street, and it seemed a heck of a lot longer than 2 kilometers. We learned quickly to take the train (no matter how inconvenient).

Once there, we didn't go to any actual "sites" in Sorrento (and, frankly, there are very few anyway). What we did get to see were a number of fantastic views of the coast; the city is built on a cliff, so there are a heck of a lot of places to get great views of the Bay of Naples.

There is also a neat shopping district here; Via San Cesareo is a pedestrian-only street filled with shops and limoncello stores. It was fun just to walk through and look at everything. That's pretty much how we spent our evening, catching the views when we could and doing some window shopping.

For dinner, we came back to Piano di Sorrento and ate at the same restaurant that we did for lunch. To our surprise, the town was having some sort of festival - there was a big stage set up and we got to listen to some fantastic Italian music.

To see all of our Sorrento pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 5: Pompeii

2009-10-08T22:55:00.007-04:00

Getting There

We visited Pompeii as a day trip from Sorrento. We jumped on the east-bound Circumventia train out of Piano di Sorrento (which was next to our hotel) and took the 25-minute ride to the Pompeii-Scavi stop. The ruins are easy to get to from there; take a right out of the station and it'll be on your left after a short walk.

Remains of a City

Pompeii was a Roman city that was destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It was rediscovered in 1748 and has been constantly excavated ever since then. It's a popular tourist destination in Italy, and it's definitely easy to see why. We greatly enjoyed it, and highly recommend taking a day trip here if you're staying anywhere close to it (even a trip from Rome would be feasible).

Any description of Pompeii is going to be pretty boring; it's basically a series of ruined buildings and structures (some very well preserved) that gives a glimpse into what ancient Roman life was like. It's just amazing to see; the following pictures are pretty, but they can't do justice to what it's like when you're there.

It's big too; we spent a good 5-6 hours here and we still didn't walk everywhere (although we hit quite of bit of it). Obviously there's a lot of walking and it does get hot there (not a lot of shade); bring a water bottle - there's plenty of fountains to fill up at (although some taste better than others).

There are plenty of tour guides at the entrance willing to show you around for a price or you can buy an audio guide, but we just picked up a free map and guide book at the tourist office near the ticket booths. It's quite informative and works very nicely. Plus, with so many tours going around, we were able to listen in sometimes anyway.

Highlights include the Anfiteatro (a mini Colosseum - first pic below), the Teatro Grande (large amphitheater - second pic), and the Temples of Venus and Apollo.

After finishing up with Pompeii, we took the train back to our hotel. We went to dinner at our restaurant in Piano (again) and actually had enough energy to walk around the little festival that was going on.

To see all of our Pompeii pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 6: Amalfi & Positano

2009-10-08T22:54:00.007-04:00

Arrival

We hit the town of Amalfi as a day trip from Sorrento, taking a SITA bus from the station in Sorrento right into Amalfi. The bus ride took about 1 1/2 hours along a beautiful (but narrow and curvy) road along the Amalfi Coast. The buses are pretty comfortable...if you get a seat; we had to stand on the way home. Considering the primary options are either to ride the SITA bus or rent a car, the bus is perfectly fine. The drive would be beautiful, but let's just say the road isn't exactly driver-friendly.

We went to Amalfi first, then hit Positano on the way back to Sorrento. You could really do it either way, although we were pleased with how it worked out for us. If you want to swim, I'd recommend doing Positano when it's warmest; the beach there seemed a bit nicer than Amalfi's.

Coastal Ride

There aren't a lot of actual attractions in Amalfi - besides the town itself, of course. The town is situated into the side of the hill; the further you go into the town, the more uphill you go. It's a tourist destination - a lot of little touristy shops and restaurants along the single road going through the heart of the town. But nothing, other than the Duomo, really stood out to us.

The big attraction is the Duomo; you'll see it as soon as you take your first steps into town. It's an impressive building, definitely worth seeing if you make the trip into Amalfi. A joint admission ticket gets you into the nearby cloister and museum, and we found it fairly interesting - nothing spectacular, but worth the small fee.

The coolest thing we did, though, was take a walk eastward into the town of Atrani (a solid 30 minute walk, and fairly rigorous at times). We walked along the coast to get there, but then found a route back that took us up along the side of the mountain, passing by numerous apartments and houses. We got some terrific views and it was a neat way to see how the locals live. Plus, Atrani is quite a bit quieter and does have a less-crowded public beach (although we didn't take advantage of it).

I think we left Amalfi around 4:00 and like I said, the bus was packed. I'm sure most people had the same idea we did. We were the final two people on; Heather got to stand next to the driver and Tim got to stand right next to the door. Not a bad view, but it got kind of rough. We were debating on whether or not to get off at Positano , but by that point we were anxious to get off the bus, so we did. And were definitely glad we did.

Positano is a cliff-side town much like Amalfi with the difference being you walk down to get to the town, not up. Like Amalfi, there wasn't really many sights to see here; in fact, besides a church (where a wedding was taking place), we just walked the streets. We got down to the beach and and just relaxed for a while.

Maybe it was the time of day or the fact that it was less crowded, but Positano felt much more intimate than Amalfi. I highly recommend both places, but take in Positano if you can do only one.

We grabbed a bite and then jumped on the bus (after a long wait) back to Sorrento. It was still packed; we had to stand up yet, but at least we weren't right in front. We took one more stroll through Sorrento after getting back there to buy some limoncello, then back to our hotel.

To see all of our Amalfi pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.
To see all of our Positano pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 7: Venice

2009-10-08T22:53:00.013-04:00

Arrival
Rather than going by train, we took an EasyJet flight from Naples to Venice. It was cheaper and quicker than the train. The only downside was getting to Naples from Sorrento since our flight was at 10:15am. The Circumventia train runs early enough, but it does not go all the way to the airport, so getting there would still be difficult.

Fortunately, SITA runs a bus service from Sorrento directly to the Naples airport. The bus runs every 2 hours and it's an hour and a half ride, so we had to take a 6am bus - no breakfast at the hotel for us. It worked out nicely though; there was a bus stop in Piano, so we were hauling our luggage there when the bus went by on the way to Sorrento. The driver actually stopped and asked where we were going; he then picked us up and took us in. Didn't save us any time, but it saved us from waiting at the bus stop for 20 minutes. That was very nice.

As for the flight itself, it was delayed by about 1/2 hour, so we arrived in Venice's Marco Polo airport around noon. From the airport, you still have a good 45 minutes before you can actually get to Venice though. There are a few options - either a bus/taxi ride to the station on Venice's mainland (then vaporetto from there) or a direct Alilaguna water bus. We chose the Alilaguna line; it's 13 euro per person, but definitely a nice, easy way to get into Venice. And it stopped at San Zacharia, which was very near our hotel.

Hotel Campiello
Hotels in Venice are very expensive; rarely will you be able to find any decent hotel under 150 euro per night. We found Hotel Campiello online and booked a non-refundable room (which was considerably cheaper than normal) and it was still 160 euro per night. But we were very pleased with this place and highly recommend it to anyone.

A word of advice - print directions. I failed to (the one time I didn't), and even though the hotel ended up being just a short walk from the vaporetto stop, we walked for a while trying to find it - and it's very easy to get confused walking around Venice. Heather finally found it in one of our guidebooks and found the way; the hotel proved to be very convenient once we did.

It's located down a fairly quiet side street just off of the main canal-facing street by the San Zaccaria stop. It's extremely close to Piazza San Marco and in good proximity to the Rialto area too. The location is excellent. There's a good buffet breakfast and the staff were nice. We highly recommend Campiello.

Nothing Like It

Love it or hate it, there is nothing like Venice in the world. Just wandering the streets is an adventure; you are very likely to get lost at some point, and that's not always a bad thing. It can be frustrating, but it's usually fun and you're likely to come across something you haven't seen before.

For our first day, though, we stuck mostly to the main attractions. After getting settled in our hotel, we grabbed a bite to eat at a little bar close by, then headed to St. Mark's Square.

We got some pictures, then decided to buy the San Marco Museum Plus Pass - it's a 13 euro ticket that covers the Doge's Palace, Correr Museum, and one other Venetian museum (we chose Murano's Glass Museum). We bought the tickets at Correr (no lines there) and walked around that museum first. It was somewhat interesting - lots of Venetian history - but not necessarily a must-see (although Doge's Palace is, so since you have to buy a combo ticket, you might as well take a peek inside).

We walked around St. Mark's Square for a bit, then noticed that the line to St. Mark's Basilica was quite short, so we walked right into there. It's free to get in, but we later found that the lines get extremely long - we happened to pick a time late in the afternoon when we were able to practically walk right in. It's definitely a beautiful church, well-worth a visit while you're here.

Afterwards, we walked to the famous Rialto Bridge, the oldest of the four bridges that span the Grand Canal, and took a few pictures.

At this point, we didn't really want to plan anything out for the rest of the day, so we just walked. We went through Campo dei Frari, up and over the Ponte dell'Accademia (another one of the four bridges) all the way to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (the church that lies at the mouth of the Grand Canal).

We ended our day with dinner at Trattoria Pizzeria Nono Risorto, a nice restaurant/pizzeria a little north of Rialto. It took us a while to find it, but it's a neat place - we actually came back here for lunch the next day.

To see all of our Venice pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 8: Venice

2009-10-08T22:52:00.008-04:00

Republic of Venice

The morning of our second day in Venice was spent at Doge's Palace, the former residence of the doge. The doge was the chief magistrate and leader of Venice for over a thousand years (up until Napoleon conquered the region). This palace was his home and political center of the republic.

We thought the palace was fascinating. Some of the rooms were simply gorgeous, and it's actually quite interesting to see how the government worked under the doges. The palace is also famous for the Bridge of Sighs, an enclosed bridge that connected the palace's interrogation rooms to the prisons. The tiny window in the bridge was said to give prisoners their last view of Venice before their imprisonment. Unfortunately, the bridge itself was under repair while we were there, so the pictures aren't that great. However, here's the view from the actual window:

We consider the palace a must-see while you are in Venice.

Strolling through the Streets

The rest of our morning/early afternoon was again without a specific plan; we simply wandered around the city. We started in the San Marco region (by Harry's Bar) and made our way back to the Rialto area (home of a famous fish market, which at the time we got there, was clearing up - although a few fruit and vegetable vendors were still open):

We passed a number of churches and other attractions along the way; one the highlights was the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, a unique spiral staircase near Campo Marin - it can be climbed but was closed when we walked by.

A late lunch was next - pizza at Trattoria Pizzeria Nono Risorto (where we had dinner last night). We then made our way north to the Santa Lucia train station, then southeast into the Cannaregio area and finally to the Chiesa di San Zacharia:

To see all of our Venice pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 9: Venice

2009-10-08T22:51:00.012-04:00

Our final full day in Venice was planned around a trip to Murano, one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon. We planned it this way in order to take advantage of the 24-hour water taxi pass (expensive - 18 euro per person - but better than buying individual ride tickets, which I believe were generally 6 euro). We bought the tickets so we could take the taxi to the train station the next day. And it was a good thing we did - the only time we got checked for tickets the entire 24-hour span was right before our train station stop, so it was good to still have a valid ticket.

Anyway, we didn't buy the tickets and head to Murano until 11am because of this, so we spent the first few hours of the day walking in the Arsenale areas of Venice. The Arsenale area is home of the naval shipyard - you can't see a whole lot (at least where we were at) but the Porta Magna, the Arsenal's main gate, is quite cool.

The area is one of the residential areas of Venice; it's definitely away from the tourist crowds. It was very cool to see a little more of the residential part of the island. We walked into a few churches and walked through a daily food market; it's definitely just one of those things that are fun and interesting to observe.

There is also a large park in this region - the Biennale Gardens. It's a beautiful spot and worthy of a walk-through (probably more than we gave it).

At this point, we jumped in a boat to Murano. We got on near San Zacharia; it's about a 20 minute ride from there. Murano is famous for its glass factories - most of the well-known "Venetian glass" originates from the factories on this tiny island. We visited the glass museum (one of the options on the San Marco Plus Museum Pass); it was okay, but not really that interesting. The better idea is to visit one of the numerous glass blowing demonstrations put on by one of the factories; we saw one at what I think was one of the bigger factories on the island. It was a short demo, but it was neat to see; it took about 5 minutes for the guy to heat glass...
...and mold it into this:

After leaving Murano, we took the vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore, another one of Venice's islands. The main attraction here is the church - it contains some beautiful paintings and the attached bell tower can be climbed for a couple euros. It gives you some fantastic views of Venice and is much cheaper and easier than trying to climb the tower in Piazza San Marco. We got a lot of fantastic pictures from this viewpoint; here are a couple:

Once we were done here, we jumped back in the water taxi for a ride up to Santa Lucia and then down the Grand Canal. It's one of those things that you have to do; a gondola ride is probably nice, but you'll get the same view in the much cheaper vaporetto. The architecture of some of the buildings is just amazing.

Our night ended with a drink at L' Olandese Volante, an English-style pub in Campo San Lio, and an adventurous walk to find a restaurant for dinner. We ended up walking all the way up to the Jewish Ghetto, finally settling on a place in a quiet square in that area. We finished the evening back at Piazza San Marco and listened to the music from the dueling bands in the square.

To see all of our Venice pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 10: Florence

2009-10-08T22:50:00.011-04:00

Arrival

It was another train ride for us to get to Florence. This time, we took one of the nicer, faster, and more expensive Eurostar lines. Those trains are a bit more comfortable than the regional and intercity ones, but not necessarily worth it unless you're in a crunch for time. In our case, the Eurostar worked best for our schedule and we wanted to give one a try anyway.

Florence's Santa Maria Novella station is a little west of the main attractions; our hotel happened to be about 5 blocks directly south of the station, so it was a nice, short walk to there.

Hotel Pagnini

The short walk to the station is the main draw of Hotel Pagnini. It is, however, a good 15 minute walk to the main draws of the city. So it's a decent location, but not great. For 78 euro a night though, it's a good bargain; a decent breakfast was included, staff were nice, and they allowed us to store our luggage between stays (we stayed on Sunday and Tuesday, with a stay in San Gimignano in between). Overall not a bad choice, but you might be able to get something a little more east for a similar price.

Michelangelo is My Favorite Ninja Turtle

Florence is by and large a city of art - the main tourist attractions are the museums (the Accademia and Uffizi Gallery) and you'll easily find a sculpture or some sort of art piece in the heart of the city. I was wondering beforehand how much I'd like Florence and while it wasn't my favorite Italian city, it does have its charms.

After leaving the hotel, we followed the River Arno to the Uffizi, stopping to get a few pictures of the famous Ponte Vecchino (Old Bridge). If you haven't heard of it, it's a bridge lined with expensive jewelry shops.

We, however, didn't cross the bridge until later - we headed right for the heart of the tourist part of the city. One of the big attractions is the Uffizi Gallery, home to such some famous works of art like Botticelli's Birth of Venus and La Primavera. We didn't go into the gallery; paintings don't necessarily fascinate us and we didn't feel like it was worth the money. However, the nearby square, Piazza della Signoria, is busy and interesting. Copies of sculptures adorn the square (including one of Michelangelo's David) and it's dominated by the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence.

The main structure of the city, however, is the cathedral: the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It's (in)famous for it's huge dome and facade, which some people think is too extravagant. We liked it - we both thought it was impressive.

We went inside the duomo - which was also impressive - and then walked around the area for a while. Florence is actually fairly easy to cover quickly - the main attractions are in close proximity to each other. After hitting a few churches and sights, we decided to head to the Accademia, home of the original David by Michelangelo. When we got there, we realized that we didn't have enough euro to get in (it's 10 per person); we proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes trying to find a working ATM. We finally did, and headed back to the museum.

The Accademia is basically Michelangelo's gallery; David is the main - and frankly, only - attraction. There's some other unfinished works by him along with other sculptures and paintings by other artists, but unless you're an art student, David is the only truly interesting item. But it is definitely amazing, so you be the judge if the cost is worth it; we're still undecided on that one. Pictures aren't allowed inside - Heather sneaked one in, but it turned out kinda blurry. Here's one of the copy in Piazza della Signoria:

Florence was home to our favorite restaurant in Italy - Trattoria la Burrasca. It's small - 10 tables or so - but the food was fantastic and the waiter was extremely good; he was nice, funny, and entertaining. It was so good we went back again for our other night in Florence.
To see all of our Florence pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 11: Pisa & San Gimignano

2009-10-08T22:49:00.010-04:00

Arrival (Pisa)

Pisa is a short train ride from Florence; it's ideal as a 1/2-day trip from there. Pisa's train station is a distance from the Leaning Tower, however; we didn't have any problem with the 20-minute walk, but there are plenty of buses and taxis that shuttle people between the places. Most of the walk is pedestrian-only, so it's really not too bad to hike it. You do get to cross the Arno River, getting some good views of that part of the city.

Field of Miracles

Everyone knows what the star attraction is here: the Leaning Tower. It really is amazing to see in person how much it really does lean.

As you can see, there was some scaffolding halfway up the tower. That hurt the view a little bit, but it's still impressive. The tower sits in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square, or Field, of Miracles) along with the Duomo, the Baptistry and the Camposanto Monumentale.

Heather wanted to be the classic tourist and take pictures of us "holding" the tower up - she got a few decent ones of me, but I wasn't very good at getting her. You can see my attempts in the album.

We didn't climb the tower (too expensive) or go into any of the sights; nothing really sounded very interesting, especially for the price. So we got our fill of the piazza and headed back.

Arrival (San Gimignano)

We left Pisa with San Gimignano as our destination. This ended up being our biggest frustration with train transportation our entire trip. We went from Pisa to a town called Empoli, and from there we changed for Poggibonsi. But due to some sort of problem, we ended up sitting at the Empoli station for well over an hour (with a whole group of teenagers heading home from school) waiting for a train. And once we got on a train, it didn't leave for a long time. Very frustrating.

From Poggibonsi, we took a TRAIN bus (confusing, huh?) to San Gimignano. The buses leave every hour, and we got to the train station just minutes after one had left. So we grabbed a bite to eat at the station, then waited for the next bus. So not a good travel day, but luckily our experience in San Gimignano made up for it.

La Casa di Giovanna

La Casa di Giovanna is a small and inexpensive bed & breakfast right off of the main street in San Gimignano. The owner, an older Italian woman, doesn't speak much English but is very nice and very accommodating. Our room was right off the dining area overlooking the main street; it was really a good view and fun to watch the people from your vantage above. Breakfast was simple but good; you really got the feel you were staying at someone's house and not a hotel.

As you'll see below, we absolutely loved San Gimignano and would highly recommend that you stay the night to get a unique feel for the town. And La Casa di Giovanna is the perfect place to do it.

The City of Towers

After our travel experiences during the day, we were just happy to get to San Gimignano. It turned out, though, to be our favorite place in Italy. The small city is intimate and beautiful; much quieter and personal than Rome or Florence.

The city is known mainly for its medieval architecture and the numerous towers that were built during that period (15 remain today, only a few intact). It's a walled city built on top of a hill overlooking the Tuscany region. The views from just outside the city were gorgeous, but we climbed one of the city's towers and got some even more stunning pictures.

We arrived in the city around 4pm. That gave us enough time to see a good portion of the city (which is really the main attraction here). We found our B&B (after walking by it a few times), checked in, then just started walking. We found Piazza Duomo shortly and decided to climb the tower first while it was still light. A combination ticket gets you into the city museum (kinda interesting, very brief) and entrance to the tower. It's a long climb to the top, but definitely worth it.

After that, we just walked around the town. Everything was so much more relaxed than anywhere else we've been; it was fantastic to stroll along the streets (which, by the way, are generally car-free; vehicles are allowed, but have to have a good reason for being there). We found a little park area with a half-ruined tower that offered another good view; we sat at the top for a while admiring the city.

We didn't go into the Duomo (entrance fee) but did walk into Sant'Agostino, a simple church with a pretty garden; Austin Friars now live there.

We ended our night by eating at a restaurant near the church; that was where I had wild boar. San Gimignano is also known for its Vernaccia wine - a white wine in the primarily red Tuscan region - so we tried some of that. It was very good; we ended up buying some later and brought a bottle home.

To see all of our San Gimignano pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 12: Siena & Florence

2009-10-08T22:48:00.024-04:00

Arrival (Siena)

After a nice breakfast, we left San Gimignano and took a TRAIN bus directly to Siena. Very nice, and the bus drops you off fairly close to the heart of Siena (Piazza Antonio Gramsci) - I believe the train station is quite a ways away, so taking a bus is considered the best option in and out of Siena.

The Palio

Siena is a beautiful Tuscan city about an hour south of Florence. It's likely most famous for its Palio horse race that takes place twice a year; it's an intense (and sometimes violent) competition that takes place in the town square, Piazza del Campo. The seventeen Contrade (city neighborhoods) compete for bragging rights via this race. You may have seen a glimpse of it in the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace; the first scene after the opening credits take place here. While we weren't there during a race, it's obvious that it's a big part of the city.

Il Campo is a unique place - it's a shell-shaped square defined by the huge Torre del Mangia:

You can climb the tower, but I'm not sure it's worth it; we found a good viewpoint in another place for cheaper (if you're hitting the cathedral too) - more on that later. The square is also the home to the Fonte Gaia, or Fountain of Joy:

Moving on from the square, Siena's biggest attraction is its Duomo. It's very impressive - definitely one of the more interesting churches that we looked at in Italy.

The stripped facade is also integrated on the inside, making it very unique. There are also plenty of important works of art here; the Carrara marble pulpit:

The stained-glass window of the Last Supper:

The 56-panel mosiac floor representing scenes from the Old Testament:

A statue of St. John the Baptist by Donatello:

The hexagonal dome of the cathedral is also quite impressive. Overall, if you're going to be in Siena, make sure you get here.

To get in, there is a combination ticket for 10 euro that gets you in the Duomo, Baptistery, Crypt, and the Museo dell'Opera. Frankly, the Duomo itself is almost worth the cost, but the museum also has something worth seeing.

We hit the Baptistery and Crypt next. The Baptistery is small but impressive, containing a beautiful font with sculptures by Donatello (among others).

The Crypt is okay, but nothing amazing. If you're short on time, skip it. But don't skip the Museo dell'Opera. The museum itself is okay; there are some good pieces (some stuff that used to be in the Duomo but are now in the museum - including the original Last Supper window). The real draw for us, however, was the Facciatone, a climbable panoramic terrace that gives a fantastic view of the city:

While the Torre del Mangia might give you a good view, the view from here is great, it's less of a climb, and it's part of the Duomo combination ticket. Those factors make it a great experience for the price.

We grabbed some pizza from a fast food-ish place in Il Campo, then walked up to the Basilica of San Domenico. This gothic church is popular for being the home of St. Catherine's head and thumb (she's the saint who received stigmata). That doesn't make it a must-see site by any means, but it does contain a few other notable works and is worth a stop.

After the basilica, we made our way up to La Lizza, a public garden near the fortress of Santa Barbara. There are some good views along the way, and the garden is pretty and peaceful, seemingly far away from the touristy areas (even though it's also very near the bus station). We walked through the park on our way to the catch the bus back to Florence.

Arrival (Florence)

We left Siena by bus in mid-afternoon; it's about an hour ride back into Florence. One note: while I'm sure you can get bus tickets other places, the seemingly official ticket office is underground, close to where the bus stop is (in Piazza Antonio Gramsci).

Another View of Florence

We didn't really have any plans for the rest of the day in Florence. We knew we didn't want to do any more museums and we didn't have the urge to see anything more in the duomo area. After checking out our map, we decided to head to Piazzale Michelangelo, which, unknown to us at the time, is a famous square among tourists for its beautiful panoramic views of the city.

We took a rather uncommon route to the square (since we didn't know what the normal route was): we walked up a long pedestrian staircase (Google calls it Via di San Salvatore al Monte) that takes you directly to San Miniato. We didn't visit the church, but it's apparently a decent stop, especially if you're at Piazzale Michelangelo. It was a long walk, but you do get some nice views and it's a decidedly non-touristy way to get there.

The square is easily recognized by another copy of Michelangelo's David, but the draw is definitely the view. We got there around 18:00 or so, which was absolutely perfect since the sun was setting at that time. It made for some remarkable pictures.

Once we were done there, we headed back to the hotel and then on to dinner, once again at Trattoria la Burrasca (highly recommend!). It was a great way to end our day and our time in Florence.

To see all of our Siena pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.
To see all of our Florence pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Italy - Day 13: Rome

2009-10-08T22:47:00.006-04:00

Arrival

We took off from Florence fairly early - I think it was around 9 or 10 - and took a train back to Rome. We opted for the cheaper regional train; it was around an hour longer than the Eurostar, but half the price.

Hotel Andreina

We decided to stay close to Termini, which made sense since it was only for one night and it saved us from hauling luggage around more than we had to. Hotel Andreina is a couple blocks away from Termini in a building that shares space with other hotels; Andreina is on the 4th floor, but it has rooms on the 3rd. In our case, we had to go through the 4th floor lobby, then down a private elevator to the 3rd floor to get to our room. To leave the hotel, we had to take the elevator back up to 4th and leave that way. It's an extremely annoying process, and would've driven us nuts had it been more than one day.

The room itself was fine; it was quite large (ours had a double and an extra twin bed) and it was quiet enough for the location. No breakfast (although it's an option, for an extra charge) but overall it was decent enough for the 100 euro fee. The entry/exit was so inconvenient though that the only way I'd recommend it is if you doing a 1-night stay with connections at Termini.

One More Look

With one more day in Rome, we wanted to revisit a couple places, namely Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. First, however, I convinced Heather to walk down to the Laterano area - I knew there was a large church there that we hadn't seen yet. We were a bit skeptical on the way there - the area directly south of Termini isn't exactly high-class - but once we got there it proved pretty amazing.

The Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano was our destination, and it's definitely something to see. It's the official seat of the Pope (not St. Peter's, which is what I assumed), so it's very important in the Catholic Church. Interestingly enough, the basilica is considered property of the Pope even though it is territorially within Rome.

The inside of the basilica is massive and beautiful. The main draws for us were the statues of the twelve apostles (set in niches in the middle of the church) and the seat of the Pope (at the front). Even after seeing a lot of churches on our travels we were still impressed with this one - make sure you don't miss it, even though it's outside of the main tourist area of Rome.

We headed northeast after that, our destination being Piazza Navona. We passed by the Baths of Caracalla and thought about going in, but decided against it since it was already late in the afternoon by then. We walked by the Colosseum and the Forum, then headed back into the Pantheon one more time before arriving at Piazza Navona. After getting a few pictures and being satisfied with getting a chance to see these amazing places one more time, we stopped by the same bar in Campo de' Fiori as before for drinks and appetizers.

Our night ended with trying to find something to eat. The restaurants around the Termini area aren't impressive, at least to us. We walked around for a while before deciding on the fanciest of places: McDonald's. It's funny to think that our last dinner in Italy was there, but it was interesting to notice the differences between a McDonald's there and here in the States. And they have a killer cappuccino shake flavor there; it'd be great if that made it's way over here.

Heading Home

And so ends our Italian vacation. We did grab a bite to eat for breakfast at a little pizzeria near the train station before taking the Leonardo Express back to the airport, but otherwise that was it. We didn't have any problems with our flight back, so everything went pretty smoothly.

To see all of our Rome pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.

2000-01-01T14:17:00.003-05:00

Travel

We've done a great deal of international traveling in recent years. We enjoy seeing new places and finding out how different cultures work. We also take lots of pictures; you'll find links to those along with details of our trips below.

2010 - Greece & Belgium

We decided to get one more European trip in this year, so in October we head to Greece for eight days before moving on to Belgium for five days. Plans are to hit Athens and the Peloponnese, then the island of Crete in Greece. Belgium will consist of mainly Bruges and Brussels.

2010 - Ireland & Spain

In March 2010 we made our way to Ireland for a week, which included being in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day. After leaving Dublin, we took a short flight over to Spain for seven days, seeing Madrid, Segovia, and Barcelona.

2009 - Italy

In September 2009 we embarked on a 2-week journey to Italy. We flew in and out of Rome and hit Sorrento, Pompeii, Amalfi, Postiano, Venice, Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano, and Siena along the way. We planned the entire trip ourselves and travelled by public transportation (and by foot) the entire time.

2008 - New Zealand

In February 2008 we travelled to the south island of New Zealand. We had a couple of friends living in a town called Cromwell. They were extremely generous to us, showing us around and letting us borrow their car and camping equipment. New Zealand is absolutely gorgeous and it was great spending time with friends and seeing the beautiful country.

2006 - England, France, & Germany

Heather, in her last year of pharmacy school, jumped on a study abroad opportunity in Bath, England. She spent a month there and took a few side trips to places in England and Berlin, Germany. I flew over her last week there and we visited London and Paris, France. This was our first taste of international travel (besides Mexico and Canada) and really got us interested in seeing other parts of the world.

Home Theater

2000-01-01T10:42:00.012-05:00

I've loved going to the movies ever since I can remember. The town where I grew up had a one-screen theater with terrible sound, so it was always a treat to go to a nice cinema and take in a great movie. While I can't stand going back to my hometown's theater, I still love hitting up my local cinema for a flick. But when I had the chance to build my very own home theater in my house's unfinished basement, I jumped at the chance.

As I was building, the internet was the greatest resource I had for ideas and direction. I wasn't as detailed in my construction progress as I wanted to be, but I do have a Photo Gallery with all of my photos from the start of construction to the finishing touches. There are pictures from the complete basement construction project, including the home gym. Someday I'll attempt to organize them a little better, but feel free to take a look at everything.

Equipment List

As this is my first home theater, and since I was attempting to keep costs under control, I kept things really simple. Therefore, you won't find any extra amplifiers, bass shakers, or any other audiophile extras. I had a fairly small room to work with - around 12x16 - so I didn't feel that a lot of the extras were needed anyway.

Component	Model	Vendor
Receiver	Sony STR-DG910	Amazon.com
Projector	Sanyo PLV-Z5	ProjectorPeople.com
Screen	self-built (details)
HD-DVD/DVD Player	Toshiba HD-A3	Amazon.com
Gaming System	Playstation 3	Circuit City
Gaming/MC Extender	Xbox 360	Amazon.com
Front Speakers	Paradigm Cinema 110 L/R	Avio [info]
Center Speaker	Paradigm Cinema 110 C	Avio [info]
Surround Speakers	Paradigm Cinema ADP	Avio [info]
Rear Speakers	Paradigm Cinema 90	Avio [info]
Subwoofer	Paradigm CT v.3	Avio [info]
Speaker Wire	14 AWG UL2 In-Wall Speaker Wire (~250 ft)	Firefold.com
Lighting Control	Lutron Maestro IR	Westside Wholesale
Wall Sconces	?	Lowes

Component

Model

Vendor

Receiver

Sony STR-DG910

Amazon.com

Projector

Sanyo PLV-Z5

ProjectorPeople.com

Screen

self-built (details)

HD-DVD/DVD Player

Toshiba HD-A3

Amazon.com

Gaming System

Playstation 3

Circuit City

Gaming/MC Extender

Xbox 360

Amazon.com

Front Speakers

Paradigm Cinema 110 L/R

Avio [info]

Center Speaker

Paradigm Cinema 110 C

Avio [info]

Surround Speakers

Paradigm Cinema ADP

Avio [info]

Rear Speakers

Paradigm Cinema 90

Avio [info]

Subwoofer

Paradigm CT v.3

Avio [info]

Speaker Wire

14 AWG UL2 In-Wall Speaker Wire (~250 ft)

Firefold.com

Lighting Control

Lutron Maestro IR

Westside Wholesale

Wall Sconces

Lowes

Overall, I've been very pleased with this. It's nothing high-end, but the speakers fit the room nicely, the PS3 is an excellent Blu-ray player, and the remote-controlled wall sconces are a nice touch. The next upgrade will likely be the projector (bumping up to 1080p), but I've been very happy with the Sanyo, so it probably won't be until the current lamp dies.

Another note: the PS3 is my main gaming machine; the 360 is used primarily as a Media Center Extender. I use an self-built HTPC to distribute music, videos, and recorded tv throughout the house; details are below.

Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC)

I became a big fan of Microsoft's Media Center software when it was introduced as Windows XP Media Center 2005. Since then, I've been building my whole-house audio/video solution around it. The main function is as a DVR - I couldn't see paying a monthly fee to Tivo, so the "free" part really appealed to me. And since I like building computers, this is a great fit.

My current setup is this: an HTPC in the living room, an Xbox 360 extender in the theater, an Xbox 360 in the gym, and a Linksys extender in the master bedroom. Recorded TV is stored on the HTPC and all other media is stored on a Windows Home Server.

Component	Part/Model
Case	Antec Fusion 430
Processor	AMD X2 3600+ AM2
Motherboard	Foxconn A7GM-S AM2/AM2+
Power Supply	430 Watt ATX12V v2.0 (included w/case)
Memory	Corsair XMS2 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800
Video Card	onboard Raedon 7600
Audio Output	onboard HDMI
Optical Drive	Lite-On iHOS104-08 Blu-ray
Hard Drive	Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA
TV Tuners	Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600
	SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual Tuner (external)
	SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual Tuner (external)
Case Fans	Antec 120mm Case Fan (x2)
Operating System	Windows 7 Home Premium

Component

Part/Model

Case

Antec Fusion 430

Processor

AMD X2 3600+ AM2

Motherboard

Foxconn A7GM-S AM2/AM2+

Power Supply

430 Watt ATX12V v2.0 (included w/case)

Memory

Corsair XMS2 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800

Video Card

onboard Raedon 7600

Audio Output

onboard HDMI

Optical Drive

Lite-On iHOS104-08 Blu-ray

Hard Drive

Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA

TV Tuners

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600

SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual Tuner (external)

Case Fans

Antec 120mm Case Fan (x2)

Operating System

Windows 7 Home Premium

Three of the four tuners in the HDHomeRuns handle over-the-air ATSC content, while the other tuner and the HVR 1600 handle QAM cable. I really love the HDHomeRuns - they sit nicely tucked away in my basement next to my networking gear and work extremely well.

tim.schalk

NCAA Basketball Champions

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Favorite Films of 2009

Home Theater Updates

Thoughts on The Golden Globes

Favorite Songs of 2009

The White Panda Mixtape

Alma

More taxpayer money goes to a useless cause...

Phoenix on The Take-Away Shows

Why Is This News?

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Italy

Italy - Day 1: Rome

Italy - Day 2: Rome

Italy - Day 3: Rome

Italy - Day 4: Sorrento

Italy - Day 5: Pompeii

Italy - Day 6: Amalfi & Positano

Italy - Day 7: Venice

Italy - Day 8: Venice

Italy - Day 9: Venice

Italy - Day 10: Florence

Italy - Day 11: Pisa & San Gimignano

Italy - Day 12: Siena & Florence

Italy - Day 13: Rome

Home Theater

Equipment List

Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC)

Equipment Diagram