Just a quick post before I depart for the weekend!! I cannot really believe my life, this weekend I am going to the place that my bedroom decor has been dedicated too for the past 7 years- PARIS!! I have dreamed of going there for so long it really feels surreal that I will be there in 12 hours! I am going with 2 friends, one of whom is turning 21 on Saturday, so I know it will be a blast! I will be returning in about a month with my parents (so excited) but I am looking forward to seeing the city first and getting a feel for it so I can be an expert tour guide when they come. Overall this week has been good, just getting back into the swing of school and trying to do laundry, catch up on sleep etc. Highlights of the week include hearing the mayor of Differdange speak and going to a reception after with him in the Dean's office, eating at ChiChis (yes, the old Mexican chain that was in Timonium is in Luxembourg- dont judge, I at least got to eat guac), and going out to Das Boot on Wednesday. If I weren't so busy I would recap these fully but perhaps next week I will have the chance! Cant wait to fill you in on Paris when I return!
Love from,
CSS
Thursday, February 25, 2010
End of Italy!
Hi all! I hope I can finish recapping Italy today!! I believe I left out with our Greek restaurant adventure on Wednesday night. Onto the next!
Thursday
With our unexpected Pisa detour taking up our morning on Wednesday, Thursday was our only full day in Florence, so we really wanted to make it count. We woke up bright and early and arrived at the Duomo at exactly 8:30 when it opened. Turns out the guy at the airport was right, Italy does not have time, and we actually had to wait a few minutes to get in. We made it in and immediately began the climb to the top. We have become experts at these climbs- St.Peters, Strasbourg- but let me tell you, this was the hardest yet. It was 414 steps, which I think is less than the other two, but it was quite steep and had few breaks. We did stop at one point right below the Dome and were able to admire the artwork. We have talked a lot about the painting’s portrayal of the Devil- there are a ton of depictions of him on the ceiling- in my witch hunts class, so it was really cool to see something we have seen slides of in person. Eventually though, we made it to the top with legs a bit shaky and hearts beating quite rapidly. It was absolutely beautiful and completely worth the challenge We had a great view of all of Florence and the surrouding Tuscan countryside that was lovely. It reminds me a lot of the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” (not surprisingly) and I just lot the green hills of the landscape with all of the cream and red villas built on the sides. We stayed at the top for awhile and took many pictures before eventually descending. We were glad to have been some of the first people to the top because for awhile we had the whole view to ourselves with only one other guy. By the time we went down it was getting more crowded.
The next stop on our jam packed Florence day was to see Michelangelo’s David, probably the most famous sculpture in the world. Being the diligent planners we are, we had made a reservation to go in at 10 am so we could avoid the potentially huge line. Since it was not tourist season, it wasn’t too bad, but with our reservation we were able to go in pretty quickly. I feel like a lot of pieces of art like this really get built up and put on a pedestal, but then when you actually see them it is kind of a let down ( I have heard this about the Mona Lisa, I will see it this weekend so I will let you know if I have the same experience), but let me tell you, David was not like this at all. He really was amazing. The detail was incredible, every muscle, vein, shadow was perfect and he just looked absolutely lifelike. I read that Michelangelo purposefully put his weapon in an out of view position (in his hand sort of behind his back) in order to emphasize that it was David’s intellect and innocence rather than brute force that truly triumphed over Goliath. I think he really achieved this goal. It was really, really cool to see and we stayed for awhile and admired David from various angels (I feel like I am talking about some good looking boy we were creepily checking out and its awk haha). We also wandered through the other rooms in L’Acadmie, but there wasn’t a ton to see since the whole building was built to house David and he was obviously the main attraction.
After David we grabbed a slice of pizza (I had one with tuna on it and it was so good- I want to make this in the summer) and then we paid our respects to the attraction in Florence that had been calling our name since the previous day’s arrival- the markets! Florence has blocks and blocks of market stalls that are kind of like a higher class Chinatown in NYC (my mom, Dana, and Lisa’s favorite place)! They sell a ton of leather goods and also scarves, soccer jerseys, and various knick knacks. We all picked up some souvenirs that we had been looking for (I got a few gifts for people that I am excited about). I still was looking for my main goal though- the elusive perfect leather jacket. You could buy them on the street in the markets, but I was told by a lot of people that these were usually not real Italian leather (most likely some kind of import) and I wanted to get something that would be nice and hold up for a long time. We went to a few more stores and I found ones I liked, but nothing in my price range that I loved. I was getting ready to give up when I walked by a random store and there it was! Right on the front display. It was a camel color (similar to my brown boots that I have been living in over here) and exactly the style I like- shorter, fitted, with some zipper detailing. We went in and it turned out to be a perfect fit for my wallet and figure! I made the decision to get it relatively quickly for my standards (I can be a tad indecisive when I shop as I am sure my Mom and sisters can attest to) and I am so glad I got it! I love it and have worn it a lot already. I hope you like it in the pictures!
After our shopping spree, we decided we needed to see a bit more of Florence’s culture and we headed to its most famous museum The Uffizi. What began as the Medici’s personal collection has become essentially Italy’s National Gallery housing best collection of art in the country. I had heard a lot about this place from guide books and my museums class. (In my museum class we talk a lot about how places like the Uffizi and The Louvre represent Enlightenment ideas of humanism and individual genius as well as nation building in the 18th and 19th centuries). To be honest, I was slightly underwhelmed by it all. Maybe it was because I expected the displays to be more grand, more ornate and reminiscent of the Medici’s immense wealth, or that I am just not that knowlegable about art history (I need my friend Kthaxt to be here), but I didn’t love the collection. We did see The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and a couple of Divinci’s which was cool, but nothing really blew me away. I think I may have been getting a little museumed out at this point as well. I am glad we went though, it was an important thing to see, just not my favorite part of the trip! Its weird I actually feel bad admitting that I didn’t love this part, its interesting how you are expected to have a certain reaction to museums like this (another part of my museum class) and if you don’t you somehow feel like you are wrong. To each his own I suppose.
Next we headed to something that was one of my favorites- gelato. Two places in Florence had been recommended in all of our guidebooks and by literally everyone we talked to including the creator of our circle map- so we decided we had to at least try one. We went to the once place called Vivoli which was near the museum and my guidebook had called the kind of gelato you will be talking about in 50 years. We all splurged on a ridiculous 6 Euro cup so we could get three flavors- I had meringue, coffee moose, and chocolate hazelnut. It was very very good and you could just taste its authenticity (if that is even possible). I tried to savor my cup, but unfortunately I have inherited the Schmidt ice cream demolish gene, and I ate it right up! It was so good we actually had to leave so we would not be tempted to get more. If you can believe it though, we found even better gelato in Venice- but more on that later!
After the gelato, we decided to visit the Mona Lisa Hotel. Sounds random right? Well actually member that table of funny older people we sat next to in Viarregio at lunch – with the neon pink wings? Well when we told the guy we were going to Florence later in the week he gave us his card and said “I own this hotel- come have a drink if you want.” We looked it up and it was really close to Vivoli so we decided to try it out. Sadly, I had left the card he gave us in my other coat and didn’t have it with me. Turns out the hotel was super nice, and it was a very awk turtle experience. Without the card we didn’t really have any proof of our story and the somewhat snooty staff didn’t really know what to do with us. The owner wasn’t there (so they said) so wee ended up leaving pretty quickly. Oh well, we tried!
We then shopped at the markets a little more on our way back (my friend was on the hunt for a specific purse) and then we went to the hostel for a bit and enjoyed some wine and cheese before dinner. Then we had one of my favorite nights of the trip! One of my friends from UVA, who I do class council and the History Distinguished Majors Program with, was studying abroad in Florence and we were able to meet up for dinner! We went to a place called ZaZas that she had heard was great and our hostel man had recommended. It had a great atmosphere and even greater food, I got a sampling of Tuscan soups – one was red, one green, one like orangey, they were all really think and so delicious especially with fresh bread dipped in- that I devoured. It was so so so great to talk to someone from UVA, I love Miami people, but there are some things they just don’t understand. Jill and I just caught up and talked about UVA gossip but also about our experience studying abroad with a different program (hers is through NYU) and how hard it can be sometimes. After a long dinner, Jill took us to a big bar area and we had a low key drink. Florence has tons of American students- 20,000 a year the most popular study abroad destination- it is crazy! We sometimes felt like we were in an American college town when walking around which we didn’t really love, I feel like it makes Florence less Florentine somehow. But these bars were packed with American students too, we ended up at an Irish Pub that had college tee shirts from the US everywhere. Jill and and I caught up more, but we didn’t stay out too late, she had a field trip the next day and we were exhausted from our jam packed day. Slept well that night!
Friday
The night before we had decided we would take the 12:30 train that day to Venice, but we didn’t have a clear idea of what to do in the morning since we had seen most of the huge tourist attractions in Florence. We debated a bit and ended up deciding to go back to the Pitti Palace to see the Boboli Gardens that were behind them and potentially one of the museums inside the palace. It was a kind of random decision, I went through my guidebook and suggested it, but it turned out to be a really good idea. Even though it was a little rainy, it magically cleared up when we were in the gardens and it was gorgeous. You could walk around a lot and if you hiked up a bit of a hill, you saw tons of great views of the cities. The Medicis most definitely had an excellent gardener. I can imagine strolling through those gardens and having a picnic when it is a little warmer, it would be lovely. We also decided a garden party themed wedding would be perfect there, Jay and Tom, I think you should change locations to from St. Michaels to Florence although I’m not sure how Dad would feel about this…haha
With our admission to the gardens we had access to several museums inside the Pitti Palace but only really time for one. We ended up selecting the costume museum(if you have read this whole thing so far which is quite impressive you should realize me and the girls on the trip particularly the lovely Allie are slightly in love with Italian clothes and shopping) which was SO COOL! We saw some gorgeous dresses, coats, and accessories from as far back as the 18th century and as recent as 2001. It was so neat, they had it arranged by style and showed how certain trends have manifested themselves in various ways through time. My favorite pieces were this really cool cutout black coat and a couple of the draped dresses. We spent about an hour browsing through and then grabbed lunch and some Italian cookies for the train, grabbed our growing luggage from the hostel, and headed to the train station.
Here at the train station was the closest we came to getting robbed on our trip. We were kind of in a rush when we arrived, we had about 10-15 minutes to both buy our tickets and find the train to Venice. The line at the ticket counter was long, so while Kelly and Allie waited there, Margaret and I went to try one of the fast ticket machines which we had not yet used. We were clearly having trouble with it when this sketchy Indian gypsy women came over and started helping us. She just sort of stood in front of us and starting pushing the buttons to show us the way and although what she was doing was right (she was obviously smarter than us) Marg and I were getting uncomfortable, this sounded exactly like robbery schemes we had heard of. When the time to pay came up, she said we couldn’t use a credit card and we needed to insert cash. We had about 6 minutes at this time and the other girls had joined us, so we started frantically inserting random cash into the machine (it was like 40 euro a ticket and we were buying 4 so we had to come up with a lot of cash on the spot). Then, the women started getting pushy (its all a blur) and the transaction somehow got cancelled, we told her we wanted to do it on our own I think. Then the money we had put in started coming out, but we realized we were missing like 50 euro. We freaked out a little and Margaret (with her HUGE backpack that is quite scary actually) started speed walking to get someone to help, until I realized the 50 had just fallen on the floor. We grabbed it, managed to figure out the machine, shoo away the woman (who later became known as “lady thief”) who was now asking for money, grab our tickets and start running to the platform. It was a long train and we had to find our seats (we had so much stuff, we were a sweating, weighed down, hot mess) and eventually we figured it out. We all laughed when we eventually made it and sat down at last (after trying to figure out how to put all our bags in the right places for like 10 minutes and annoying our neighbors), but it was a tense 15 minutes. We were really glad to enjoy the cookies we had bought early and just veg on the train.
VENICE!
2 hours later we had arrive in Venice. When we walked out of the train station and saw the huge canal, Margaret, who had booked the hotel there and was looking at the directions said “it says to take the number 2 bus but I think it must be a boat.” We all laughed and said yes we think so. We bought the tickets for the water taxi and boarded. It was a tight squeeze and once again our baggage weighed us down, but luckily we didn’t sink the boat. At this horrible joke I would like to take a moment to interrupt myself and say this random digression. Most who know me know I am NOT A LIGHT PACKER. I generally bring a stuffed Vera Bradely Duffel on a weekend trip to the beach. Well you would be proud to know I only brought a small North Face backpack and my Longchamp tote on this trip!! That is impressive for a week you must admit. Ok now I did have to put some of my souvenirs in the Duffle my friend Allie bought in Florence (we all shared the extra space) but besides that I managed. All my other friends have pretty big actual backpacking backpacks, so I was proud. Anyway, we got off the bus boat thing and tried to find our hotel, appropriately named Hotel Scandanavia (Don’t worry, I made sure to make the obvious joke that I hoped Vikings would be working there). We got lost a lot and had to ask for directions many times, Venice is a super confusing place! Also as an added twist, it was flooded! They had planks up everywhere so people could walk above the foot of water that was in the streets! It was a crazy surprise, but cool to see. We had to balance on the planks with all our stuff but managed to avoid falling in and eventually reached our hotel which we found to be very nice but sadly lacking in Vikings.
After resting for a little and getting organized, we headed out to see more of Venice. We went to St. Mark’s square, but it was flooded pretty bad and there was not a lot of room on the planks so we didn’t stay very long and made plans to come back and go inside the church in the morning. We just wandered around for a few hours exploring all the sidestreets, canals, and shops. Venice is famous for its Murano glass and there is an abundance of glass goods of all types available to eager tourists, we browsed a ton and saw a lot of really pretty stuff. It was so fun to just get a feel for the city and wander, but then it started raining pretty hard. We ducked a little bar and tried the special Italian drinks- bellinis- that by some fluke we had not yet sampled! They were fizzy and delicious. We sat and recapped in our journals for a little and then walked towards Santa Margarita, the nightlife center of Florence, and looked for a restaurant. We ended up at a place that was probably a tourist trap but nonetheless yummy. We had soup, wine, and pasta to celebrate our last night and it was fun to talk about all our adventures so far and debate our favorite parts of the trip. After dinner we walked to the little nightlife square which really wasn’t huge – Venice is not known for its nightlife- and found a few cute bars. We actually ran into a few girls from MUDEC who were in Venice too and it was nice to catch up with them. Unfortunately, we were still out at 1am when the tide came in, and they did not have the planks up late at night. It was a funny walk home to say the least, and I ended up taking off my shoes to walk through the 6-12 inch high water. I made the now famous comment, “my feet smell like corpses,” and I stand by it today, that water was gross!! Haha it was so fun though.
In the morning, we ate our last hotel breakfast and washed our feet off some more in the bathtub. I sort of took a half bath/half shower which was exciting for me since everyone knows my obsession for baths. After we got ready, we walked to St. Marc’s Square and got to see it sans floods! It was cool to see all of the pigeons and be in such a historic landmark. We went in the church which was absolutely stunning. It was a lot different than other Basilica’s I have visited and featured a lot of mosaics (which my Uncle Tom had told me about) that I really liked. We saw the alter where St. Marc’s remains lay and the Palais d’Or, a huge collection of jewels that sits on top of it. It was pretty amazing.
Next we did something that was no big deal, ok no actually it fulfilled A LIFELONG DREAM!! I went on a gondola in Venice. My family knows how obsessed I became with gondolas on our trip to Las Vegas back in 7th grade, and I have been waiting since my first ride at the Venetian Hotel to do it at the real deal. We went on a really pretty black and gold old fashioned one with a guy named Lucca. He sang a little but said too much singing would bring on the rain! It was really cool to see the city from the view of the canals and we floated down the Grand Canal and saw the Rialto Bridge as well as Marco Polo’s old house! It was fun and I was giddy with excitement the whole time.
The rest of the day we spent shopping (we had to get some glass, I found lovely earrings that our my favorite color-teal) and exploring Venice more. We just tried to walk along as many streets as possible and see as much of the city as we could. We walked along the Rialto Bride towards the end of the day and got some great pics from the top. We also found the best gelato of our lives in a sort of off the beaten path area that we stumbled on. I got a mix of: white chocolate coconut, vanilla cherry almond, and crème chocolate. It was TO DIE FOR. I am not kidding, most original flavors and most creamy texture. It was a great end to the day and to the trip! After hours of exploring, it was time to head back to our hotel and pack up. After a long many hours of traveling later including 2 buses, a boat, a plane, and a taxi, I arrived back at my door in Bettembourg, Luxembourg. I was exhausted and carrying significantly more than I had brought with me. I had lost an umbrella and perhaps gained a pound of two (gelator adds it to you), but it was completely worth it!! I gained so many experiences and had an absolute blast! I am so thankful to everyone who made it possible for me to be here and take such a lovely trip- especially my Mom, Dad, and Nana. You guys are the best!! Ciao!!
Care
Thursday
With our unexpected Pisa detour taking up our morning on Wednesday, Thursday was our only full day in Florence, so we really wanted to make it count. We woke up bright and early and arrived at the Duomo at exactly 8:30 when it opened. Turns out the guy at the airport was right, Italy does not have time, and we actually had to wait a few minutes to get in. We made it in and immediately began the climb to the top. We have become experts at these climbs- St.Peters, Strasbourg- but let me tell you, this was the hardest yet. It was 414 steps, which I think is less than the other two, but it was quite steep and had few breaks. We did stop at one point right below the Dome and were able to admire the artwork. We have talked a lot about the painting’s portrayal of the Devil- there are a ton of depictions of him on the ceiling- in my witch hunts class, so it was really cool to see something we have seen slides of in person. Eventually though, we made it to the top with legs a bit shaky and hearts beating quite rapidly. It was absolutely beautiful and completely worth the challenge We had a great view of all of Florence and the surrouding Tuscan countryside that was lovely. It reminds me a lot of the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” (not surprisingly) and I just lot the green hills of the landscape with all of the cream and red villas built on the sides. We stayed at the top for awhile and took many pictures before eventually descending. We were glad to have been some of the first people to the top because for awhile we had the whole view to ourselves with only one other guy. By the time we went down it was getting more crowded.
The next stop on our jam packed Florence day was to see Michelangelo’s David, probably the most famous sculpture in the world. Being the diligent planners we are, we had made a reservation to go in at 10 am so we could avoid the potentially huge line. Since it was not tourist season, it wasn’t too bad, but with our reservation we were able to go in pretty quickly. I feel like a lot of pieces of art like this really get built up and put on a pedestal, but then when you actually see them it is kind of a let down ( I have heard this about the Mona Lisa, I will see it this weekend so I will let you know if I have the same experience), but let me tell you, David was not like this at all. He really was amazing. The detail was incredible, every muscle, vein, shadow was perfect and he just looked absolutely lifelike. I read that Michelangelo purposefully put his weapon in an out of view position (in his hand sort of behind his back) in order to emphasize that it was David’s intellect and innocence rather than brute force that truly triumphed over Goliath. I think he really achieved this goal. It was really, really cool to see and we stayed for awhile and admired David from various angels (I feel like I am talking about some good looking boy we were creepily checking out and its awk haha). We also wandered through the other rooms in L’Acadmie, but there wasn’t a ton to see since the whole building was built to house David and he was obviously the main attraction.
After David we grabbed a slice of pizza (I had one with tuna on it and it was so good- I want to make this in the summer) and then we paid our respects to the attraction in Florence that had been calling our name since the previous day’s arrival- the markets! Florence has blocks and blocks of market stalls that are kind of like a higher class Chinatown in NYC (my mom, Dana, and Lisa’s favorite place)! They sell a ton of leather goods and also scarves, soccer jerseys, and various knick knacks. We all picked up some souvenirs that we had been looking for (I got a few gifts for people that I am excited about). I still was looking for my main goal though- the elusive perfect leather jacket. You could buy them on the street in the markets, but I was told by a lot of people that these were usually not real Italian leather (most likely some kind of import) and I wanted to get something that would be nice and hold up for a long time. We went to a few more stores and I found ones I liked, but nothing in my price range that I loved. I was getting ready to give up when I walked by a random store and there it was! Right on the front display. It was a camel color (similar to my brown boots that I have been living in over here) and exactly the style I like- shorter, fitted, with some zipper detailing. We went in and it turned out to be a perfect fit for my wallet and figure! I made the decision to get it relatively quickly for my standards (I can be a tad indecisive when I shop as I am sure my Mom and sisters can attest to) and I am so glad I got it! I love it and have worn it a lot already. I hope you like it in the pictures!
After our shopping spree, we decided we needed to see a bit more of Florence’s culture and we headed to its most famous museum The Uffizi. What began as the Medici’s personal collection has become essentially Italy’s National Gallery housing best collection of art in the country. I had heard a lot about this place from guide books and my museums class. (In my museum class we talk a lot about how places like the Uffizi and The Louvre represent Enlightenment ideas of humanism and individual genius as well as nation building in the 18th and 19th centuries). To be honest, I was slightly underwhelmed by it all. Maybe it was because I expected the displays to be more grand, more ornate and reminiscent of the Medici’s immense wealth, or that I am just not that knowlegable about art history (I need my friend Kthaxt to be here), but I didn’t love the collection. We did see The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and a couple of Divinci’s which was cool, but nothing really blew me away. I think I may have been getting a little museumed out at this point as well. I am glad we went though, it was an important thing to see, just not my favorite part of the trip! Its weird I actually feel bad admitting that I didn’t love this part, its interesting how you are expected to have a certain reaction to museums like this (another part of my museum class) and if you don’t you somehow feel like you are wrong. To each his own I suppose.
Next we headed to something that was one of my favorites- gelato. Two places in Florence had been recommended in all of our guidebooks and by literally everyone we talked to including the creator of our circle map- so we decided we had to at least try one. We went to the once place called Vivoli which was near the museum and my guidebook had called the kind of gelato you will be talking about in 50 years. We all splurged on a ridiculous 6 Euro cup so we could get three flavors- I had meringue, coffee moose, and chocolate hazelnut. It was very very good and you could just taste its authenticity (if that is even possible). I tried to savor my cup, but unfortunately I have inherited the Schmidt ice cream demolish gene, and I ate it right up! It was so good we actually had to leave so we would not be tempted to get more. If you can believe it though, we found even better gelato in Venice- but more on that later!
After the gelato, we decided to visit the Mona Lisa Hotel. Sounds random right? Well actually member that table of funny older people we sat next to in Viarregio at lunch – with the neon pink wings? Well when we told the guy we were going to Florence later in the week he gave us his card and said “I own this hotel- come have a drink if you want.” We looked it up and it was really close to Vivoli so we decided to try it out. Sadly, I had left the card he gave us in my other coat and didn’t have it with me. Turns out the hotel was super nice, and it was a very awk turtle experience. Without the card we didn’t really have any proof of our story and the somewhat snooty staff didn’t really know what to do with us. The owner wasn’t there (so they said) so wee ended up leaving pretty quickly. Oh well, we tried!
We then shopped at the markets a little more on our way back (my friend was on the hunt for a specific purse) and then we went to the hostel for a bit and enjoyed some wine and cheese before dinner. Then we had one of my favorite nights of the trip! One of my friends from UVA, who I do class council and the History Distinguished Majors Program with, was studying abroad in Florence and we were able to meet up for dinner! We went to a place called ZaZas that she had heard was great and our hostel man had recommended. It had a great atmosphere and even greater food, I got a sampling of Tuscan soups – one was red, one green, one like orangey, they were all really think and so delicious especially with fresh bread dipped in- that I devoured. It was so so so great to talk to someone from UVA, I love Miami people, but there are some things they just don’t understand. Jill and I just caught up and talked about UVA gossip but also about our experience studying abroad with a different program (hers is through NYU) and how hard it can be sometimes. After a long dinner, Jill took us to a big bar area and we had a low key drink. Florence has tons of American students- 20,000 a year the most popular study abroad destination- it is crazy! We sometimes felt like we were in an American college town when walking around which we didn’t really love, I feel like it makes Florence less Florentine somehow. But these bars were packed with American students too, we ended up at an Irish Pub that had college tee shirts from the US everywhere. Jill and and I caught up more, but we didn’t stay out too late, she had a field trip the next day and we were exhausted from our jam packed day. Slept well that night!
Friday
The night before we had decided we would take the 12:30 train that day to Venice, but we didn’t have a clear idea of what to do in the morning since we had seen most of the huge tourist attractions in Florence. We debated a bit and ended up deciding to go back to the Pitti Palace to see the Boboli Gardens that were behind them and potentially one of the museums inside the palace. It was a kind of random decision, I went through my guidebook and suggested it, but it turned out to be a really good idea. Even though it was a little rainy, it magically cleared up when we were in the gardens and it was gorgeous. You could walk around a lot and if you hiked up a bit of a hill, you saw tons of great views of the cities. The Medicis most definitely had an excellent gardener. I can imagine strolling through those gardens and having a picnic when it is a little warmer, it would be lovely. We also decided a garden party themed wedding would be perfect there, Jay and Tom, I think you should change locations to from St. Michaels to Florence although I’m not sure how Dad would feel about this…haha
With our admission to the gardens we had access to several museums inside the Pitti Palace but only really time for one. We ended up selecting the costume museum(if you have read this whole thing so far which is quite impressive you should realize me and the girls on the trip particularly the lovely Allie are slightly in love with Italian clothes and shopping) which was SO COOL! We saw some gorgeous dresses, coats, and accessories from as far back as the 18th century and as recent as 2001. It was so neat, they had it arranged by style and showed how certain trends have manifested themselves in various ways through time. My favorite pieces were this really cool cutout black coat and a couple of the draped dresses. We spent about an hour browsing through and then grabbed lunch and some Italian cookies for the train, grabbed our growing luggage from the hostel, and headed to the train station.
Here at the train station was the closest we came to getting robbed on our trip. We were kind of in a rush when we arrived, we had about 10-15 minutes to both buy our tickets and find the train to Venice. The line at the ticket counter was long, so while Kelly and Allie waited there, Margaret and I went to try one of the fast ticket machines which we had not yet used. We were clearly having trouble with it when this sketchy Indian gypsy women came over and started helping us. She just sort of stood in front of us and starting pushing the buttons to show us the way and although what she was doing was right (she was obviously smarter than us) Marg and I were getting uncomfortable, this sounded exactly like robbery schemes we had heard of. When the time to pay came up, she said we couldn’t use a credit card and we needed to insert cash. We had about 6 minutes at this time and the other girls had joined us, so we started frantically inserting random cash into the machine (it was like 40 euro a ticket and we were buying 4 so we had to come up with a lot of cash on the spot). Then, the women started getting pushy (its all a blur) and the transaction somehow got cancelled, we told her we wanted to do it on our own I think. Then the money we had put in started coming out, but we realized we were missing like 50 euro. We freaked out a little and Margaret (with her HUGE backpack that is quite scary actually) started speed walking to get someone to help, until I realized the 50 had just fallen on the floor. We grabbed it, managed to figure out the machine, shoo away the woman (who later became known as “lady thief”) who was now asking for money, grab our tickets and start running to the platform. It was a long train and we had to find our seats (we had so much stuff, we were a sweating, weighed down, hot mess) and eventually we figured it out. We all laughed when we eventually made it and sat down at last (after trying to figure out how to put all our bags in the right places for like 10 minutes and annoying our neighbors), but it was a tense 15 minutes. We were really glad to enjoy the cookies we had bought early and just veg on the train.
VENICE!
2 hours later we had arrive in Venice. When we walked out of the train station and saw the huge canal, Margaret, who had booked the hotel there and was looking at the directions said “it says to take the number 2 bus but I think it must be a boat.” We all laughed and said yes we think so. We bought the tickets for the water taxi and boarded. It was a tight squeeze and once again our baggage weighed us down, but luckily we didn’t sink the boat. At this horrible joke I would like to take a moment to interrupt myself and say this random digression. Most who know me know I am NOT A LIGHT PACKER. I generally bring a stuffed Vera Bradely Duffel on a weekend trip to the beach. Well you would be proud to know I only brought a small North Face backpack and my Longchamp tote on this trip!! That is impressive for a week you must admit. Ok now I did have to put some of my souvenirs in the Duffle my friend Allie bought in Florence (we all shared the extra space) but besides that I managed. All my other friends have pretty big actual backpacking backpacks, so I was proud. Anyway, we got off the bus boat thing and tried to find our hotel, appropriately named Hotel Scandanavia (Don’t worry, I made sure to make the obvious joke that I hoped Vikings would be working there). We got lost a lot and had to ask for directions many times, Venice is a super confusing place! Also as an added twist, it was flooded! They had planks up everywhere so people could walk above the foot of water that was in the streets! It was a crazy surprise, but cool to see. We had to balance on the planks with all our stuff but managed to avoid falling in and eventually reached our hotel which we found to be very nice but sadly lacking in Vikings.
After resting for a little and getting organized, we headed out to see more of Venice. We went to St. Mark’s square, but it was flooded pretty bad and there was not a lot of room on the planks so we didn’t stay very long and made plans to come back and go inside the church in the morning. We just wandered around for a few hours exploring all the sidestreets, canals, and shops. Venice is famous for its Murano glass and there is an abundance of glass goods of all types available to eager tourists, we browsed a ton and saw a lot of really pretty stuff. It was so fun to just get a feel for the city and wander, but then it started raining pretty hard. We ducked a little bar and tried the special Italian drinks- bellinis- that by some fluke we had not yet sampled! They were fizzy and delicious. We sat and recapped in our journals for a little and then walked towards Santa Margarita, the nightlife center of Florence, and looked for a restaurant. We ended up at a place that was probably a tourist trap but nonetheless yummy. We had soup, wine, and pasta to celebrate our last night and it was fun to talk about all our adventures so far and debate our favorite parts of the trip. After dinner we walked to the little nightlife square which really wasn’t huge – Venice is not known for its nightlife- and found a few cute bars. We actually ran into a few girls from MUDEC who were in Venice too and it was nice to catch up with them. Unfortunately, we were still out at 1am when the tide came in, and they did not have the planks up late at night. It was a funny walk home to say the least, and I ended up taking off my shoes to walk through the 6-12 inch high water. I made the now famous comment, “my feet smell like corpses,” and I stand by it today, that water was gross!! Haha it was so fun though.
In the morning, we ate our last hotel breakfast and washed our feet off some more in the bathtub. I sort of took a half bath/half shower which was exciting for me since everyone knows my obsession for baths. After we got ready, we walked to St. Marc’s Square and got to see it sans floods! It was cool to see all of the pigeons and be in such a historic landmark. We went in the church which was absolutely stunning. It was a lot different than other Basilica’s I have visited and featured a lot of mosaics (which my Uncle Tom had told me about) that I really liked. We saw the alter where St. Marc’s remains lay and the Palais d’Or, a huge collection of jewels that sits on top of it. It was pretty amazing.
Next we did something that was no big deal, ok no actually it fulfilled A LIFELONG DREAM!! I went on a gondola in Venice. My family knows how obsessed I became with gondolas on our trip to Las Vegas back in 7th grade, and I have been waiting since my first ride at the Venetian Hotel to do it at the real deal. We went on a really pretty black and gold old fashioned one with a guy named Lucca. He sang a little but said too much singing would bring on the rain! It was really cool to see the city from the view of the canals and we floated down the Grand Canal and saw the Rialto Bridge as well as Marco Polo’s old house! It was fun and I was giddy with excitement the whole time.
The rest of the day we spent shopping (we had to get some glass, I found lovely earrings that our my favorite color-teal) and exploring Venice more. We just tried to walk along as many streets as possible and see as much of the city as we could. We walked along the Rialto Bride towards the end of the day and got some great pics from the top. We also found the best gelato of our lives in a sort of off the beaten path area that we stumbled on. I got a mix of: white chocolate coconut, vanilla cherry almond, and crème chocolate. It was TO DIE FOR. I am not kidding, most original flavors and most creamy texture. It was a great end to the day and to the trip! After hours of exploring, it was time to head back to our hotel and pack up. After a long many hours of traveling later including 2 buses, a boat, a plane, and a taxi, I arrived back at my door in Bettembourg, Luxembourg. I was exhausted and carrying significantly more than I had brought with me. I had lost an umbrella and perhaps gained a pound of two (gelator adds it to you), but it was completely worth it!! I gained so many experiences and had an absolute blast! I am so thankful to everyone who made it possible for me to be here and take such a lovely trip- especially my Mom, Dad, and Nana. You guys are the best!! Ciao!!
Care
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
ITALIA PART TWO!
Hi everyone! So despite having a midterm tomorrow (dont worry its French and pretty easy), I am going to take a study break to keep writing the blog. I know if I don't do it soon, I never will, and I really want to keep up! I am glad you all like reading this blog and I am so happy to share with you, but a big part of it is for me- to reflect and to remember months from now when I am home. I know I will be really thankful if I come home with a full record of these crazy months. But I digress...
TUESDAY
We slept in a bit the next morning and woke up feeling considerably better rested. Our backs were still a little sore from our long treck, but our faces were shining as a result of our carrot face mask we had used the night before! We went down to the adorable dining room and had a delicious complimentary breakfast- they had an apple turnover pastry that was to die for (I know my mom would of liked it)! We then headed out to the streets of Viarregio where carnival festivities were already beginning. We had pretty much walked the entire town the night before but we quickly found it was both more appealing and easier to navigate in the light. We basically spent the morning walking along the main drag, Viarregio is just like any other beach town really, with a main street lining the ocean, except it happens to be in gorgeous Tuscany which makes it extra special! We browsed the shops and various tents and vendors that were going up, mostly selling masks and other carnival goodies. We walked down to the beach, stuck our toes in the water, and took some pictures. We also saw what we think was a rehearsal of a performance (we later found out in the afternoon they do a run through of the parade that is taped for tv- maybe what we saw was part of this). It was quite odd and included some crazy gymnastics and a devil-like man on stilts. My friend Allie and I are both in the witch hunts class which has focused a lot on Christian notions of the Devil, so we got a lot of laughs out of the strange figure. We then grabbed lunch in a nice cafe that had huge portions for great prices. I got a calzone about the size of my head that was delicious, the cheese in it was so fresh. At lunch we met a crazy table of adults-- the men were all wearing wigs- including a crazy neon pink one-- one of whom invited us to have a drink later in the week at the hotel he owned in Florence (more on this later, it turned out to be pretty awk).
We walked around more in the afternoon and just basically got excited for the parade that was to come. We went back to the hotel to enjoy some wine (that I had bought and was asked for documentation to show I was 16- seriously Italy?!) and change outfits before heading back out to the parade. We bought masks as soon as we entered- I got a pink and gold one that matched my frilly skirt- and just joined the party. It was honestly one of the most fun nights of my life! We had set a few goals- including dancing in the streets and riding on a float- and I am proud to say we achieved both! We were able to get on the Michael Jackson Float (notice his perpetual existence in our lives) for a few minutes after meeting a strange man in a furry red devil suit who had major connections. Later on we saw this same odd character and he had changed into a blue leotard and angel wings- people get really into Carnival I suppose...
Haha but overall just a great night! After the parade we grabbed some cheeseburgers at an Italian type fast food place and headed across the bridge to the real party. There was live music and little bar huts set up everywhere and people were just raging. We danced in the streets for a good few hours. Needless to say, when we made it home that night we were pretty exhausted, but had tons of fun memories including the crazy angel/devil man, other crazy characters like Johnny Depp and Daisy Duke, and the mean Americans from Florence. I heart carnival.
Wednesday
Pre-carnival raging we had agreed to get up early the next morning and visit Pisa before going to Florence. On our way to Viarregio we noticed that Pisa was one stop away (it was kind of a "guys look left" moment") and we knew we couldn't pass up the chance to see the Leaning Tower. But in the morning, I'm not going to lie, it was a little rough. Post breakfast I did a little "meditation" (my new code word for power nap), while everyone else got ready since I am super fast haha, and we managed to get out in time for the 10:15 train to Pisa. We were still dragging a little though when we got off the train and went in the tourist office to ask how far away the tower was, we almost actually groaned when the chipper lady told us it was a 30 minute. But after a diet coke revival, we sucked it up and made our way. The walk actually turned out to be great and just what we needed, the weather gorgeous and the sites really pretty. Lots of cute shops and a few pretty churches lined the cobblestone streets. Eventually, we made it to the tower! All I can say is- its not a hoax- it is leaning. We took the traditional tourist pictures- it took our hazy brains awhile to figure out how to correctly pose but eventually the UVa education prevailed and we figure it out- and took it all in before heading back to the train station and on to our next destination: FLORENCE!!
I was really excited to visit Florence and knew I wanted to get my leather jacket there, but I also wasn't sure what to expect! Overall, I thought it was lovely and a great time. It was a little dirtier than Rome I thought, and I can imagine it gets quite crowded in the summer. I think all the places we visited would have been a lot different in throngs of tourists in sweltering heat, and I was really glad we went during the off season. But anyway, the train ride to Florence was pretty short, but we took the opportunity to "meditate" and catch up on rest. We found our hostel, which again turned out to be really cute. We really had good luck everywhere we stayed, they were all super nice and the staff very helpful. After checking in, the owner made us our own "circle map" and recommended some restaurants.
We headed out after getting settled in and walked to the main square. We saw the Duomo, which was absolutely beautiful! We were too late to climb it though so made plans to come back early in the morning. We walked across the famous bridge- Ponte Vecchio- just as dusk was falling, and it was beautiful. We looked in the jewelery shops lining the bridge and wished we were dating 80 year old millionares who could buy us the goods inside (in retrospect this is a strange joke, we were still slightly tired/delirious from the night before I guess). Across the bridge, we saw the huge Pitti Palace and browsed in a few shops- at this point I began getting ideas for the ideal leather jacket but didn't find just the one! After some more walking around- we did so much walking on this trip it was wild, our feet were literally destroyed!- we headed back towards our hotel. All the girls I was with and I have a weird obsession with hummus and we have been really missing it- we cannot find it anywhere in Luxembourg and are in withdraw. When we saw a greek restaurant right next door to our hostel, we really couldnt say no. Imagine our sadness however, when they said hummus isn't technically Greek so they didn't serve it! In the end though, the food was delicious and exactly what we were craving. We got a plate of sauces and pita, and it was all so good (we asked for no fish egg sauce and thought we didn't get any until after when we demolished the whole plate our waiter asked which was our favorite and my friend said the orange one- he laughed and said it was the fish sauce and we needed to be more daring). I split some plates with my friend Allie- grapeleaves stuffed with rice and baked feta and eggplant- plus got Greek yogurt with dried fruit and nuts for dessert! It was so good! After dinner, we headed to the hostel and just crashed. We had big plans for the next day and really wanted to rest up.
Ok so I need to study now, but I hope to finish the whole recap tomorrow!
Love you!
Care
TUESDAY
We slept in a bit the next morning and woke up feeling considerably better rested. Our backs were still a little sore from our long treck, but our faces were shining as a result of our carrot face mask we had used the night before! We went down to the adorable dining room and had a delicious complimentary breakfast- they had an apple turnover pastry that was to die for (I know my mom would of liked it)! We then headed out to the streets of Viarregio where carnival festivities were already beginning. We had pretty much walked the entire town the night before but we quickly found it was both more appealing and easier to navigate in the light. We basically spent the morning walking along the main drag, Viarregio is just like any other beach town really, with a main street lining the ocean, except it happens to be in gorgeous Tuscany which makes it extra special! We browsed the shops and various tents and vendors that were going up, mostly selling masks and other carnival goodies. We walked down to the beach, stuck our toes in the water, and took some pictures. We also saw what we think was a rehearsal of a performance (we later found out in the afternoon they do a run through of the parade that is taped for tv- maybe what we saw was part of this). It was quite odd and included some crazy gymnastics and a devil-like man on stilts. My friend Allie and I are both in the witch hunts class which has focused a lot on Christian notions of the Devil, so we got a lot of laughs out of the strange figure. We then grabbed lunch in a nice cafe that had huge portions for great prices. I got a calzone about the size of my head that was delicious, the cheese in it was so fresh. At lunch we met a crazy table of adults-- the men were all wearing wigs- including a crazy neon pink one-- one of whom invited us to have a drink later in the week at the hotel he owned in Florence (more on this later, it turned out to be pretty awk).
We walked around more in the afternoon and just basically got excited for the parade that was to come. We went back to the hotel to enjoy some wine (that I had bought and was asked for documentation to show I was 16- seriously Italy?!) and change outfits before heading back out to the parade. We bought masks as soon as we entered- I got a pink and gold one that matched my frilly skirt- and just joined the party. It was honestly one of the most fun nights of my life! We had set a few goals- including dancing in the streets and riding on a float- and I am proud to say we achieved both! We were able to get on the Michael Jackson Float (notice his perpetual existence in our lives) for a few minutes after meeting a strange man in a furry red devil suit who had major connections. Later on we saw this same odd character and he had changed into a blue leotard and angel wings- people get really into Carnival I suppose...
Haha but overall just a great night! After the parade we grabbed some cheeseburgers at an Italian type fast food place and headed across the bridge to the real party. There was live music and little bar huts set up everywhere and people were just raging. We danced in the streets for a good few hours. Needless to say, when we made it home that night we were pretty exhausted, but had tons of fun memories including the crazy angel/devil man, other crazy characters like Johnny Depp and Daisy Duke, and the mean Americans from Florence. I heart carnival.
Wednesday
Pre-carnival raging we had agreed to get up early the next morning and visit Pisa before going to Florence. On our way to Viarregio we noticed that Pisa was one stop away (it was kind of a "guys look left" moment") and we knew we couldn't pass up the chance to see the Leaning Tower. But in the morning, I'm not going to lie, it was a little rough. Post breakfast I did a little "meditation" (my new code word for power nap), while everyone else got ready since I am super fast haha, and we managed to get out in time for the 10:15 train to Pisa. We were still dragging a little though when we got off the train and went in the tourist office to ask how far away the tower was, we almost actually groaned when the chipper lady told us it was a 30 minute. But after a diet coke revival, we sucked it up and made our way. The walk actually turned out to be great and just what we needed, the weather gorgeous and the sites really pretty. Lots of cute shops and a few pretty churches lined the cobblestone streets. Eventually, we made it to the tower! All I can say is- its not a hoax- it is leaning. We took the traditional tourist pictures- it took our hazy brains awhile to figure out how to correctly pose but eventually the UVa education prevailed and we figure it out- and took it all in before heading back to the train station and on to our next destination: FLORENCE!!
I was really excited to visit Florence and knew I wanted to get my leather jacket there, but I also wasn't sure what to expect! Overall, I thought it was lovely and a great time. It was a little dirtier than Rome I thought, and I can imagine it gets quite crowded in the summer. I think all the places we visited would have been a lot different in throngs of tourists in sweltering heat, and I was really glad we went during the off season. But anyway, the train ride to Florence was pretty short, but we took the opportunity to "meditate" and catch up on rest. We found our hostel, which again turned out to be really cute. We really had good luck everywhere we stayed, they were all super nice and the staff very helpful. After checking in, the owner made us our own "circle map" and recommended some restaurants.
We headed out after getting settled in and walked to the main square. We saw the Duomo, which was absolutely beautiful! We were too late to climb it though so made plans to come back early in the morning. We walked across the famous bridge- Ponte Vecchio- just as dusk was falling, and it was beautiful. We looked in the jewelery shops lining the bridge and wished we were dating 80 year old millionares who could buy us the goods inside (in retrospect this is a strange joke, we were still slightly tired/delirious from the night before I guess). Across the bridge, we saw the huge Pitti Palace and browsed in a few shops- at this point I began getting ideas for the ideal leather jacket but didn't find just the one! After some more walking around- we did so much walking on this trip it was wild, our feet were literally destroyed!- we headed back towards our hotel. All the girls I was with and I have a weird obsession with hummus and we have been really missing it- we cannot find it anywhere in Luxembourg and are in withdraw. When we saw a greek restaurant right next door to our hostel, we really couldnt say no. Imagine our sadness however, when they said hummus isn't technically Greek so they didn't serve it! In the end though, the food was delicious and exactly what we were craving. We got a plate of sauces and pita, and it was all so good (we asked for no fish egg sauce and thought we didn't get any until after when we demolished the whole plate our waiter asked which was our favorite and my friend said the orange one- he laughed and said it was the fish sauce and we needed to be more daring). I split some plates with my friend Allie- grapeleaves stuffed with rice and baked feta and eggplant- plus got Greek yogurt with dried fruit and nuts for dessert! It was so good! After dinner, we headed to the hostel and just crashed. We had big plans for the next day and really wanted to rest up.
Ok so I need to study now, but I hope to finish the whole recap tomorrow!
Love you!
Care
Italy Part 1!!
Bonjourno all!! I have made it home safely from the land of Italy. I had a fantastic trip, quite possibly the best week of my life! I can’t believe how much I was able to see and do in one week. And, I completed a ton of my goals- I think all- from the list I made before hand. I didn’t get pickpocketed- hooray, ate gelato at least once a day-yum, saw amazing art and Roman ruins, bonded with my 3 travelmates (I just made this word up and I like it), and found the perfect leather jacket- check fbook for pics soon! My travelmates and I would recap in our journals everyday, so I have a record of all we did, and I am going to turn it into blog form all week. I think I will divide up my adventures by city, so here goes the first one…
ROMA
Friday
We flew out of Frankfurt Hahn airport on Friday night on Ryan Air. We were all a little nervous to experience the infamous budget airline for the first time, but the 2 hour bus ride to the airport, intense security line, strict baggage checkpoint, and mad rush to board and get a seat all went smoothly (I did get intensely patted down after I beeped at the buzzer line- was a tad awk) and I liked RyanAir. It reminded me a bit of Southwest airlines in the US, which I like a lot, only difference is RyanAir tries to sell you lotto tickets and beauty products on board while SouthWest has not resorted to this yet. In line for the flight we actually met a women and her children from Blacksburg, VA. It was so cool to talk to a fellow Virginian before we departed even though she was a Tech Fan. Its so crazy the people you met in the most unexpected places!
Anyway, after landing safely in the small airport outside Rome, we first attempted to claim our luggage from the carousel. Unfortunately, we hit a glitch at this point when their was a massive pile up on the conveyor belt as one suitcase got stuck on the up ramp and everything else behind it was trapped. We were slightly rushing because, being the organized, anal Americans that we are, we had booked a bus for shortly after our arrival to get us to the main train station and we didn’t want to miss it. We were worrying because we could literally see our luggage on the conveyor belt, but it couldn’t move past the blocked piece. Everyone was sort of waiting around, looking for a hero to save the day. In the end, a fit Italian stallion stepped up to the plate, jumped on the carousel, down the ramp, and removed the stubborn piece. Applause broke out and it looked like he might have taken a bow and enjoyed his moment of eternal glory, until the siren sounded and he realized the conveyor was about to move. He quickly ran back to his position and avoided a massive fall. Our luggage was saved and we quickly retrieved it, wished our hero graci, and headed out to the Rome air, which to our delight, was warm!!
In the end, our rushing and worrying was proved futile, it turns out in “Italy there is no time,” (a man ahead of us in line actually told us this and laughed), and our bus came far later than the scheduled time. We waited for about a half hour, then finally boarded our bus and headed to the train station, which took about 40 minutes. From the train station, we then had to find our hostel, which was named rather ominously, “Hotel Beautiful 2.” Despite having a very sketchy exterior that consisted of an unmarked dirty, fenced staircase, and a small buzzer with the hotel’s name listed in very small font on one of the numbers, we were pleasantly surprised when we were let in and led upstairs. The owner of the hostel was a nice, Indian man and he was waiting up to let us in. He showed us our room, which was very spacious and nice, and then pulled out a map of Rome and proceeded to circle an enormous walking path that we should take the next day. The trend of “circle maps” continued in all of our cities, and they became our most valuable possession (besides of course our passports and cute souvenirs!). The owner recommended that we see the Vatican the next morning, so we quickly unloaded and went to bed in anticipation of an early morning!
Saturday
In the AM, we rose early, showered and ate a quick breakfast that was delivered to our room, took a Metro to the stop our man had circled (public transportation in Rome was really simple and convenient- only 2 metro lines to navigate!), waited in a pretty quick line through security (the line is apparently far worse in summer during peak tourist season) and suddenly found ourselves in probably the most famous religious center in the world. Standing in St. Peter’s Square, we were all giddy with excitement and overwhelmed by how much history surrounded us. We went in the Basilica first. Being here about 2 months, I have visited a decent number of Cathedrals and Churches, but this I can accurately describe as THE MOTHERSHIP. It was beautiful, gorgeous, stunning. I am really not exaggerating, everywhere you looked was breathtaking architecture, art, statues, and alters. I was emotional just taking it all in, to me it is very moving knowing how many people’s lives have been touched, changed, and inspired by religion, and here I was standing in the center of it. We walked around for quite some time, taking it in and trying to take pictures that would capture the beauty (of course, no picture can). After, we decided to take the challenge and climb to the top. You could pay 2 Euros more to take an elevator that would reduce the climb by 200 steps, but being both the physically fit and economically wise travelers that we were, we opted for the more aerobic and cheap route. It was quite a hike to the top- over 500 steps- but they were broken up into different segments with some stopping points, so it wasn’t too bad. The view from the top was incredible! You could see all of the Vatican and surrounding Rome. We were so giddy this first morning not only from the amazing things we were seeing, but also the incredible weather. Luxembourg is not exactly sunny and warm, and in Rome on this morning we awoke to sunny skis and temperatures in the 50s! We took off our coats and soaked it all in. It was lovely to see the view from St. Peter’s with such blue skies!
After our descent, we decided to treat ourselves to a little gelato as a reward for our morning workout. It was the beginning of a love affair that lasted all week, I am not ashamed to say that I ate the delicious gelato at least once a day since then! It is just so creamy and yummy and I love how you mix the flavors on one cone! I hope my Dad gets to eat Italian gelato at some point, and that he tries some flavors other than his standard chocolate, I think he would love it! Gelato in hand, we wandered over to the Vatican Museum. I didn’t realize what an incredible collection of art the Catholic Church owns! It was astounding really, but obviously makes sense since the Church was a huge patron of the arts for such a long time. We could have spent three days in the museum browsing, but we decided to visit the most central wing that started with Egyptian Art and then proceed to Ancient Rome and finally the Renaissance masters. We saw so much neat stuff, I can’t even recap it all. Eventually though, all the signs began pointing to the Sistine Chapel, and anticipation began to build. It kind of reminded me of those signs as you drive to Florida that keep advertising “South of the Border,” that strange Mexican inspired theme park that turns out to be a dump. We were all getting excited and the crowd was getting larger as we approached what is probably the most famous ceiling in the world. On the way, we saw Raphael’s School of Athens, which was awesome, it was neat to try to figure out who was who in the myriad of famous faces. Then, it was onto the Sistine, which turned out to be all it is built up to be! All I have to say is, Michelangelo was a genius, and a very flexible and creative one at that! Its so crazy to think he did that all craning his neck back so high in the air! Impressive to say the least! It was all so detailed. My friend Kelly, who is an art major, pointed out the most important portions including the Creation of Man and the Last Judgment. It was so interesting to me the story that the entire thing tells. Although pictures are strictly forbidden, literally everyone in the room was snapping photos right and left, so I followed the crowd and did the same. I got a few nice shots but tried not to go crazy, I was in a holy place so I had to obey the rules to some degree!
After about 40 minutes of craning our necks, we headed out into the beautiful day. We had a nice lunch and then set out to follow the circle map’s main markers. We saw the Castel Saint Angelo, and then walked along the Tiber River, which was beautiful. We then strayed a little from the circle map’s guidance and turned down a street that was too cute to pass up. We wound around some windy, really quaint streets lined with antique and specialty shops. Then we went to the two squares circled on our map, Campo de’Fiori and Piazza Navona. At this point, it was getting to be dusk and the sun was going down and the lights began to light up both squares. One had a street performance going on to celebrate carnival. Both squares were lovely, and just gave you a happy feeling to be in. They were exactly Italy as I had imagined it, bustling, full of life, people, food, fashion. (Ah I know I am so cheesy but this is how I felt!)
From there, we headed towards the Trevi Fountain, and stumbled on…the Pantheon! You know you are in an amazing city when you just stumble upon incredible ruins and temples on your way around town. The Pantheon was huge and the sphere dome amazing, to this day engineers cannot figure out how they were able to construct it so perfectly. We then found Trevi Fountain, which was beautiful lit up at night, and possibly my favorite site of the trip. I threw in a penny over my shoulder and made a wish, which should ensure that I one day will return to Rome and the Trevi (I really hope this comes true and possibly I am there with someone I love, a running joke on our trip was that Rome was incredibly “ROMEANTIC”)!
From the Trevi, we made a brief detour in a cute clothing store and headed home. We bought wine at a little shop- it was very high class 3 euro bottles- and sadly my friend was carded to show she was 16- a low blow. We then got ready at the hotel and ended up having girl talk and wine for quite sometime. We ended up going out too late to be seated at a restaurant and grabbed sandwiches from a place open late. I was scolded for putting ketchup on a wood plate (I have no idea why), but the sandwich was great. At this point, I was able to get in touch with Kyle, the birthday boy, and I was thrilled to be able to hear his voice and say Happy 21st in person! We then went to an Irish Pub (random I know) and met some strange characters, including very serious Catholic Studies students from Minnesota, and Italians with the most Italian names possible- Mario, Franco, and Giovanni. We grabbed a gelato on the way home- I got a biscuit flavor that was to die for- and then headed back to Hotel Beautiful. What a day!
Sunday
We had our sights set on Rome’s other big site- the Coliseum- on Sunday. We set out walking after breakfast and showers, and got a bit lost. We were looking at our map at an intersection and looking super touristy when my astute friend Margaret said, “Uh guys, look left.” There it was- right before us- the huge, extremely famous landmark. We laughed, quickly shoved our maps away, and headed towards it. We were slightly surprised to see a HUGE line to get in, and we reluctantly joined the crowd, hoping we wouldn’t have to wait several hours, but it looked like it. After a few minutes and discussion to make sure the offer wasn’t a scam or sketchy, we decided to join an English tour group. It only cost 5 Euros more than regular admission cost and you skipped the lines and received a guided tour of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. It turned out to be an excellent decision. Our tour of the Coliseum was really cool, and our guide quite hilarious. He seemed to like us young American girls, and took any chance to joke about our homeland (he told us Chicago means Shit Over There- I think a stab at Barrack, and also called us the modern day Virgil Virgins- not unlike the ones who had to guard the eternal flame in the Roman Forum Temple). Despite these jabs, which were all lighthearted, he was informative, and we learned a lot. Did you know that about 1,000 a year died in the “entertainment” that took place in the Coliseum for over 400 years, so close to half a million in total lost their lives their! Also, the word arena means sand in Latin, and comes from the fact that the Coliseum floor was made of sand.
After walking around the Coliseum and seeing it from different viewpoints, we headed to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum where a very nice Canadian lady gave us a great tour. She told us the history of Rome, which was started by the brothers Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she wolf on Palatine Hill (again a J.K. Rowling reference for you devoted HP fans). The hill became a center of Rome, and the Roman Forum became the market center of this area, where people went to do their banking, shopping, and run other errands. It was absolutely gorgeous. We were so thrilled to see all the greenery and lush gardens. We took a ton of pictures and our tour took us to a ton of great viewpoints. We wandered around even more after it was over, and went down into the Roman Forum which we had previously overlooked. I loved, once again, the feeling of being in the middle of so much history! Can you believe we think things in the US are old when they are from a couple of hundred of years ago?! This is thousands and thousands of years! So neat.
We then grabbed a very Italian lunch of pizza and salad and wandered the area around the Coliseum. We saw a random Michael Jackson (he was a theme of our trip and will appear again), imitator (my friend Kelly dead panned asked me- didn’t he die last year? and I thought she was serious and laughed a lot- another trip catchphrase), who drew a huge crowd but was actually horrendous- I swear he had no personality or style! We didn’t linger too long, and moved on to other sites including the “Wedding Cake” monument, a building built in the Classic Roman style but in the 20th century and disliked/made fun of by many native Romans apparently but that we thought was pretty cool. We also saw the Column of Trehan, which Kelly informed us was a big deal. Then we walked along the river again and this time went onto a little island. The view was great, and it was here that I discovered the sepia and black and white settings on my camera that would be clutch for the rest of the trip. We then stumbled into the Jewish quarter, which was very untouristy, and just incredibly interesting, it felt very authentic. We winded back to Campo Di Fiori again for gelato, and then got a little lost, but in the end found a bus back to the train station with our hostel right next door.
That night, we went on a date for Valentine’s Day (even though 2 of us were missing our boyfriends, we got dressed up and treated ourselves to a fun girls evening) at a restaurant called Aroma. It was a tiny little place with really delicious Italian food, I had salad and gnocchi- the gnocchi was to die for. We sat very close to an older couple and the outgoing Kelly struck up a conversation with them. They were from Sydney, Australia, and were just beginning a 5 week vacation in Europe. We hit it off with them because they had hosted study abroad students in their home for 25 years and were actually visiting a lot of their former residents across Europe! They were so nice and it was kind of like chatting with parents again, which we all agreed we missed. They even gave us their name and email address and promised if we ever made it to Australia, we would have a place to stay! After dinner, we headed to Campio de Fiori and a bar that all the guidebooks recommended called Sloppy Sams. We met some strange American army soldiers on leave, one of them was very excited about a very creepy duck stuffed animal whose neck did a weird dance move that he bought his niece (don’t worry Temps I didn’t buy Gabby this disturbing toy.) When I told him it was nice because “everyone knows Rome is famous for its ducks” this became another trip catchphrase, and we decided it was time to head out. We were exhausted, and all fell into bed as soon as we got home.
Monday
Since we had seen most of the big sites in Rome at this point, Monday was our more relaxed day to leisurely wander, and of course, do what girls do best in a big, fabulous city- SHOP! We first headed to the Spanish Steps, climbed them, and took pictures from the top! We learned that the poet Keats actually spent the last three years of his life in the building directly to the right on the steps and there is a museum there in his honor now. The area around the steps was great, and had a ton of lovely shopping chances. One road is lined with the highest end designers and their gorgeous window displays- it reminds me of 5th Avenue in NYC (my friend Allie loves fashion and she was in heaven). We could only window shop here, but eventually found some places more in our price range, and took advantage! I won’t bore you with the details, but we found some cute stuff! We had lunch midday at a sandwich shop, and I had my favorite Panini of the trip, it had egg, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, on delicious rosemary bread with olive oil. We spent more time in the afternoon browsing and just exploring areas we had yet to discover. It was nice to just take in the city and not feel rushed or pressed to go visit a specific site. We were all really glad we had allocated three full days to Rome! We grabbed dinner at a market, and then took the 6 o’clock train to our next destination, the Tuscan beach town of Viarregio. I had the brilliant idea to pick up some extra food as well as a face-mask and nail polish at Sephora, so when we arrived tired at our HOTEL (we would be staying in a real life 3 star hotel in Viarregio, not a hostel), we could have a relaxing girls night. We got the goods, easily found our train, and were on our way. We had a ton of room, and were able to eat, read, and sleep on the 3 hour trip.
We hit a problem when we arrived. We got directions to our hotel from two nice older men on our trip who were natives of Viarregio. Unfortunately, after walking 20 minutes in the direction they pointed, we realized it must be wrong. We were all wearing our heavy backpacks and carrying all of our packages from the day, which was quite a lot. We got directions several more times, but were quite lost. In the end, we walked about 1.5 hours and were delirious with back pain but also because we were laughing at ourselves so much. The journey was miserable, but highly comical as well and we made a lot of jokes. We pretty much saw the whole town of Viarregio as an added bonus! (turns out we were looking for the road Via Puccini, not the Piazza Puccini, which is where the first two men had directed us). When we finally arrived at our hotel though, we were thrilled! It was adorable- think pink walls, old fashioned jewel toned decorations and antique lifts- and our room was huge- it was actually two rooms connected! We were even more thrilled to have the goods for a girls night, and immediately devoured the snacks we had brought and just vegged out. We put on our face masks and chatted and soaked up our surroundings! Then we headed to bed so we could rest up for Tuesday’s carnival festivities!
ROMA
Friday
We flew out of Frankfurt Hahn airport on Friday night on Ryan Air. We were all a little nervous to experience the infamous budget airline for the first time, but the 2 hour bus ride to the airport, intense security line, strict baggage checkpoint, and mad rush to board and get a seat all went smoothly (I did get intensely patted down after I beeped at the buzzer line- was a tad awk) and I liked RyanAir. It reminded me a bit of Southwest airlines in the US, which I like a lot, only difference is RyanAir tries to sell you lotto tickets and beauty products on board while SouthWest has not resorted to this yet. In line for the flight we actually met a women and her children from Blacksburg, VA. It was so cool to talk to a fellow Virginian before we departed even though she was a Tech Fan. Its so crazy the people you met in the most unexpected places!
Anyway, after landing safely in the small airport outside Rome, we first attempted to claim our luggage from the carousel. Unfortunately, we hit a glitch at this point when their was a massive pile up on the conveyor belt as one suitcase got stuck on the up ramp and everything else behind it was trapped. We were slightly rushing because, being the organized, anal Americans that we are, we had booked a bus for shortly after our arrival to get us to the main train station and we didn’t want to miss it. We were worrying because we could literally see our luggage on the conveyor belt, but it couldn’t move past the blocked piece. Everyone was sort of waiting around, looking for a hero to save the day. In the end, a fit Italian stallion stepped up to the plate, jumped on the carousel, down the ramp, and removed the stubborn piece. Applause broke out and it looked like he might have taken a bow and enjoyed his moment of eternal glory, until the siren sounded and he realized the conveyor was about to move. He quickly ran back to his position and avoided a massive fall. Our luggage was saved and we quickly retrieved it, wished our hero graci, and headed out to the Rome air, which to our delight, was warm!!
In the end, our rushing and worrying was proved futile, it turns out in “Italy there is no time,” (a man ahead of us in line actually told us this and laughed), and our bus came far later than the scheduled time. We waited for about a half hour, then finally boarded our bus and headed to the train station, which took about 40 minutes. From the train station, we then had to find our hostel, which was named rather ominously, “Hotel Beautiful 2.” Despite having a very sketchy exterior that consisted of an unmarked dirty, fenced staircase, and a small buzzer with the hotel’s name listed in very small font on one of the numbers, we were pleasantly surprised when we were let in and led upstairs. The owner of the hostel was a nice, Indian man and he was waiting up to let us in. He showed us our room, which was very spacious and nice, and then pulled out a map of Rome and proceeded to circle an enormous walking path that we should take the next day. The trend of “circle maps” continued in all of our cities, and they became our most valuable possession (besides of course our passports and cute souvenirs!). The owner recommended that we see the Vatican the next morning, so we quickly unloaded and went to bed in anticipation of an early morning!
Saturday
In the AM, we rose early, showered and ate a quick breakfast that was delivered to our room, took a Metro to the stop our man had circled (public transportation in Rome was really simple and convenient- only 2 metro lines to navigate!), waited in a pretty quick line through security (the line is apparently far worse in summer during peak tourist season) and suddenly found ourselves in probably the most famous religious center in the world. Standing in St. Peter’s Square, we were all giddy with excitement and overwhelmed by how much history surrounded us. We went in the Basilica first. Being here about 2 months, I have visited a decent number of Cathedrals and Churches, but this I can accurately describe as THE MOTHERSHIP. It was beautiful, gorgeous, stunning. I am really not exaggerating, everywhere you looked was breathtaking architecture, art, statues, and alters. I was emotional just taking it all in, to me it is very moving knowing how many people’s lives have been touched, changed, and inspired by religion, and here I was standing in the center of it. We walked around for quite some time, taking it in and trying to take pictures that would capture the beauty (of course, no picture can). After, we decided to take the challenge and climb to the top. You could pay 2 Euros more to take an elevator that would reduce the climb by 200 steps, but being both the physically fit and economically wise travelers that we were, we opted for the more aerobic and cheap route. It was quite a hike to the top- over 500 steps- but they were broken up into different segments with some stopping points, so it wasn’t too bad. The view from the top was incredible! You could see all of the Vatican and surrounding Rome. We were so giddy this first morning not only from the amazing things we were seeing, but also the incredible weather. Luxembourg is not exactly sunny and warm, and in Rome on this morning we awoke to sunny skis and temperatures in the 50s! We took off our coats and soaked it all in. It was lovely to see the view from St. Peter’s with such blue skies!
After our descent, we decided to treat ourselves to a little gelato as a reward for our morning workout. It was the beginning of a love affair that lasted all week, I am not ashamed to say that I ate the delicious gelato at least once a day since then! It is just so creamy and yummy and I love how you mix the flavors on one cone! I hope my Dad gets to eat Italian gelato at some point, and that he tries some flavors other than his standard chocolate, I think he would love it! Gelato in hand, we wandered over to the Vatican Museum. I didn’t realize what an incredible collection of art the Catholic Church owns! It was astounding really, but obviously makes sense since the Church was a huge patron of the arts for such a long time. We could have spent three days in the museum browsing, but we decided to visit the most central wing that started with Egyptian Art and then proceed to Ancient Rome and finally the Renaissance masters. We saw so much neat stuff, I can’t even recap it all. Eventually though, all the signs began pointing to the Sistine Chapel, and anticipation began to build. It kind of reminded me of those signs as you drive to Florida that keep advertising “South of the Border,” that strange Mexican inspired theme park that turns out to be a dump. We were all getting excited and the crowd was getting larger as we approached what is probably the most famous ceiling in the world. On the way, we saw Raphael’s School of Athens, which was awesome, it was neat to try to figure out who was who in the myriad of famous faces. Then, it was onto the Sistine, which turned out to be all it is built up to be! All I have to say is, Michelangelo was a genius, and a very flexible and creative one at that! Its so crazy to think he did that all craning his neck back so high in the air! Impressive to say the least! It was all so detailed. My friend Kelly, who is an art major, pointed out the most important portions including the Creation of Man and the Last Judgment. It was so interesting to me the story that the entire thing tells. Although pictures are strictly forbidden, literally everyone in the room was snapping photos right and left, so I followed the crowd and did the same. I got a few nice shots but tried not to go crazy, I was in a holy place so I had to obey the rules to some degree!
After about 40 minutes of craning our necks, we headed out into the beautiful day. We had a nice lunch and then set out to follow the circle map’s main markers. We saw the Castel Saint Angelo, and then walked along the Tiber River, which was beautiful. We then strayed a little from the circle map’s guidance and turned down a street that was too cute to pass up. We wound around some windy, really quaint streets lined with antique and specialty shops. Then we went to the two squares circled on our map, Campo de’Fiori and Piazza Navona. At this point, it was getting to be dusk and the sun was going down and the lights began to light up both squares. One had a street performance going on to celebrate carnival. Both squares were lovely, and just gave you a happy feeling to be in. They were exactly Italy as I had imagined it, bustling, full of life, people, food, fashion. (Ah I know I am so cheesy but this is how I felt!)
From there, we headed towards the Trevi Fountain, and stumbled on…the Pantheon! You know you are in an amazing city when you just stumble upon incredible ruins and temples on your way around town. The Pantheon was huge and the sphere dome amazing, to this day engineers cannot figure out how they were able to construct it so perfectly. We then found Trevi Fountain, which was beautiful lit up at night, and possibly my favorite site of the trip. I threw in a penny over my shoulder and made a wish, which should ensure that I one day will return to Rome and the Trevi (I really hope this comes true and possibly I am there with someone I love, a running joke on our trip was that Rome was incredibly “ROMEANTIC”)!
From the Trevi, we made a brief detour in a cute clothing store and headed home. We bought wine at a little shop- it was very high class 3 euro bottles- and sadly my friend was carded to show she was 16- a low blow. We then got ready at the hotel and ended up having girl talk and wine for quite sometime. We ended up going out too late to be seated at a restaurant and grabbed sandwiches from a place open late. I was scolded for putting ketchup on a wood plate (I have no idea why), but the sandwich was great. At this point, I was able to get in touch with Kyle, the birthday boy, and I was thrilled to be able to hear his voice and say Happy 21st in person! We then went to an Irish Pub (random I know) and met some strange characters, including very serious Catholic Studies students from Minnesota, and Italians with the most Italian names possible- Mario, Franco, and Giovanni. We grabbed a gelato on the way home- I got a biscuit flavor that was to die for- and then headed back to Hotel Beautiful. What a day!
Sunday
We had our sights set on Rome’s other big site- the Coliseum- on Sunday. We set out walking after breakfast and showers, and got a bit lost. We were looking at our map at an intersection and looking super touristy when my astute friend Margaret said, “Uh guys, look left.” There it was- right before us- the huge, extremely famous landmark. We laughed, quickly shoved our maps away, and headed towards it. We were slightly surprised to see a HUGE line to get in, and we reluctantly joined the crowd, hoping we wouldn’t have to wait several hours, but it looked like it. After a few minutes and discussion to make sure the offer wasn’t a scam or sketchy, we decided to join an English tour group. It only cost 5 Euros more than regular admission cost and you skipped the lines and received a guided tour of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. It turned out to be an excellent decision. Our tour of the Coliseum was really cool, and our guide quite hilarious. He seemed to like us young American girls, and took any chance to joke about our homeland (he told us Chicago means Shit Over There- I think a stab at Barrack, and also called us the modern day Virgil Virgins- not unlike the ones who had to guard the eternal flame in the Roman Forum Temple). Despite these jabs, which were all lighthearted, he was informative, and we learned a lot. Did you know that about 1,000 a year died in the “entertainment” that took place in the Coliseum for over 400 years, so close to half a million in total lost their lives their! Also, the word arena means sand in Latin, and comes from the fact that the Coliseum floor was made of sand.
After walking around the Coliseum and seeing it from different viewpoints, we headed to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum where a very nice Canadian lady gave us a great tour. She told us the history of Rome, which was started by the brothers Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she wolf on Palatine Hill (again a J.K. Rowling reference for you devoted HP fans). The hill became a center of Rome, and the Roman Forum became the market center of this area, where people went to do their banking, shopping, and run other errands. It was absolutely gorgeous. We were so thrilled to see all the greenery and lush gardens. We took a ton of pictures and our tour took us to a ton of great viewpoints. We wandered around even more after it was over, and went down into the Roman Forum which we had previously overlooked. I loved, once again, the feeling of being in the middle of so much history! Can you believe we think things in the US are old when they are from a couple of hundred of years ago?! This is thousands and thousands of years! So neat.
We then grabbed a very Italian lunch of pizza and salad and wandered the area around the Coliseum. We saw a random Michael Jackson (he was a theme of our trip and will appear again), imitator (my friend Kelly dead panned asked me- didn’t he die last year? and I thought she was serious and laughed a lot- another trip catchphrase), who drew a huge crowd but was actually horrendous- I swear he had no personality or style! We didn’t linger too long, and moved on to other sites including the “Wedding Cake” monument, a building built in the Classic Roman style but in the 20th century and disliked/made fun of by many native Romans apparently but that we thought was pretty cool. We also saw the Column of Trehan, which Kelly informed us was a big deal. Then we walked along the river again and this time went onto a little island. The view was great, and it was here that I discovered the sepia and black and white settings on my camera that would be clutch for the rest of the trip. We then stumbled into the Jewish quarter, which was very untouristy, and just incredibly interesting, it felt very authentic. We winded back to Campo Di Fiori again for gelato, and then got a little lost, but in the end found a bus back to the train station with our hostel right next door.
That night, we went on a date for Valentine’s Day (even though 2 of us were missing our boyfriends, we got dressed up and treated ourselves to a fun girls evening) at a restaurant called Aroma. It was a tiny little place with really delicious Italian food, I had salad and gnocchi- the gnocchi was to die for. We sat very close to an older couple and the outgoing Kelly struck up a conversation with them. They were from Sydney, Australia, and were just beginning a 5 week vacation in Europe. We hit it off with them because they had hosted study abroad students in their home for 25 years and were actually visiting a lot of their former residents across Europe! They were so nice and it was kind of like chatting with parents again, which we all agreed we missed. They even gave us their name and email address and promised if we ever made it to Australia, we would have a place to stay! After dinner, we headed to Campio de Fiori and a bar that all the guidebooks recommended called Sloppy Sams. We met some strange American army soldiers on leave, one of them was very excited about a very creepy duck stuffed animal whose neck did a weird dance move that he bought his niece (don’t worry Temps I didn’t buy Gabby this disturbing toy.) When I told him it was nice because “everyone knows Rome is famous for its ducks” this became another trip catchphrase, and we decided it was time to head out. We were exhausted, and all fell into bed as soon as we got home.
Monday
Since we had seen most of the big sites in Rome at this point, Monday was our more relaxed day to leisurely wander, and of course, do what girls do best in a big, fabulous city- SHOP! We first headed to the Spanish Steps, climbed them, and took pictures from the top! We learned that the poet Keats actually spent the last three years of his life in the building directly to the right on the steps and there is a museum there in his honor now. The area around the steps was great, and had a ton of lovely shopping chances. One road is lined with the highest end designers and their gorgeous window displays- it reminds me of 5th Avenue in NYC (my friend Allie loves fashion and she was in heaven). We could only window shop here, but eventually found some places more in our price range, and took advantage! I won’t bore you with the details, but we found some cute stuff! We had lunch midday at a sandwich shop, and I had my favorite Panini of the trip, it had egg, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, on delicious rosemary bread with olive oil. We spent more time in the afternoon browsing and just exploring areas we had yet to discover. It was nice to just take in the city and not feel rushed or pressed to go visit a specific site. We were all really glad we had allocated three full days to Rome! We grabbed dinner at a market, and then took the 6 o’clock train to our next destination, the Tuscan beach town of Viarregio. I had the brilliant idea to pick up some extra food as well as a face-mask and nail polish at Sephora, so when we arrived tired at our HOTEL (we would be staying in a real life 3 star hotel in Viarregio, not a hostel), we could have a relaxing girls night. We got the goods, easily found our train, and were on our way. We had a ton of room, and were able to eat, read, and sleep on the 3 hour trip.
We hit a problem when we arrived. We got directions to our hotel from two nice older men on our trip who were natives of Viarregio. Unfortunately, after walking 20 minutes in the direction they pointed, we realized it must be wrong. We were all wearing our heavy backpacks and carrying all of our packages from the day, which was quite a lot. We got directions several more times, but were quite lost. In the end, we walked about 1.5 hours and were delirious with back pain but also because we were laughing at ourselves so much. The journey was miserable, but highly comical as well and we made a lot of jokes. We pretty much saw the whole town of Viarregio as an added bonus! (turns out we were looking for the road Via Puccini, not the Piazza Puccini, which is where the first two men had directed us). When we finally arrived at our hotel though, we were thrilled! It was adorable- think pink walls, old fashioned jewel toned decorations and antique lifts- and our room was huge- it was actually two rooms connected! We were even more thrilled to have the goods for a girls night, and immediately devoured the snacks we had brought and just vegged out. We put on our face masks and chatted and soaked up our surroundings! Then we headed to bed so we could rest up for Tuesday’s carnival festivities!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thoughts Before I say Ciao Bella!
Hi guys! I just finished my Hitler midterm (woohoo!) and I think it went well. Then I went to the pizza place for lunch where the guy told us to spend Carnivale in Viarregio and since we decided to take his advice, we thought we would tell him. He was busy, but excited to hear about our plans. I am so excited to go to Italy, ahh I cant wait! Leather, gelato, pasta, and slightly warmer weather sound amazing right now. We leave in about an hour and take a bus to Frankfurt Hahn airport then fly to Rome. Will be arriving at about 9:45 Rome time. I just wanted to write down a few things from this week before I forgot. I will have my comp over the trip, so hopefully I can keep in touch a little and maybe blog because I know I will be doing so much and want to recount it. But here goes...
1. Week Recaps- This week was busy and a little stressful with work, but still fun. On Monday, I watched the Pianist for my Hitler class, it was so sad but so good, I really recommend it. Wednesday we celebrated Mongolian New Year- its a hoax, I've been in Mongolia this whole time just pretending its Luxembourg. Actually, I'm kidding, we have a Mongolian exchange student here and she put it together. We had a dinner that was delicious (i helped make the dumplings during the day) and learned a little about Mongolia. We are entering the Year of the Tiger if you were wondering. I went running in Differdange twice this week, and that was really nice, I feel like I am finally getting to know the town and my way around. Another highlight of the week was eating the oatmeal packets my mom sent me, and skyping and gchatting with everyone a lot! Loved catching up with you all!
2. Being the "UVa girl." I have wanted to write about this for awhile, but have not had time yet. So basically, there are about 120 students here and only 3 don't go to Miami, and you guessed it, I am one of them. Part of me wishes there were more students from other schools or that one of my friends had come with me and we could experience this together. But I also feel like being so on my own has been really good for me. In the beginning, I really had no choice, it was such a "sink or swim" feeling. I was forced to be friendly, outgoing, and willing to meet new people, or I literally would of been stuck with no friends. I am normally prone to worrying and stressing about the small stuff (I think its a Loock gene) but for some reason I was pretty calm. I got more homesick a little later and still do sometimes, but I am proud of how fearless I managed to be in the beginning and am continuing to be! Its also interesting to not only adjust to the Lux culture, but the Miami culture that has been transplanted here as well. I think Miami is a lot like UVa, but it has some differences as well. Overall, I like the people and think its a decent school, but of course nothing can compare to the Hoos :)
3. Goals for Italy:
-see the David and Vatican City
-Buy a sweet leather jacket in Florence
-Celebrate carnivale with locals!
-Do something spontaneous and unexpected
-Enjoy all the food (cannot wait for this time)
-Get closer with the girls I am going with
-Order wine if it is cheaper than water
-Visit lots of museums
-Explore the cities by walking and running as much as possible
-Be safe and careful (make my parents proud and good decisions as dad would say)
-Dance to Italian music at a disco
-Meet up with my friend Jill in Florence
4. Lastly, I want to embarrass my favorite boyfriend and wish Kyle a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He is turning the big 21 Saturday and I wish I could be there. Have fun and be safe key!
Ok, love you all!
Care
1. Week Recaps- This week was busy and a little stressful with work, but still fun. On Monday, I watched the Pianist for my Hitler class, it was so sad but so good, I really recommend it. Wednesday we celebrated Mongolian New Year- its a hoax, I've been in Mongolia this whole time just pretending its Luxembourg. Actually, I'm kidding, we have a Mongolian exchange student here and she put it together. We had a dinner that was delicious (i helped make the dumplings during the day) and learned a little about Mongolia. We are entering the Year of the Tiger if you were wondering. I went running in Differdange twice this week, and that was really nice, I feel like I am finally getting to know the town and my way around. Another highlight of the week was eating the oatmeal packets my mom sent me, and skyping and gchatting with everyone a lot! Loved catching up with you all!
2. Being the "UVa girl." I have wanted to write about this for awhile, but have not had time yet. So basically, there are about 120 students here and only 3 don't go to Miami, and you guessed it, I am one of them. Part of me wishes there were more students from other schools or that one of my friends had come with me and we could experience this together. But I also feel like being so on my own has been really good for me. In the beginning, I really had no choice, it was such a "sink or swim" feeling. I was forced to be friendly, outgoing, and willing to meet new people, or I literally would of been stuck with no friends. I am normally prone to worrying and stressing about the small stuff (I think its a Loock gene) but for some reason I was pretty calm. I got more homesick a little later and still do sometimes, but I am proud of how fearless I managed to be in the beginning and am continuing to be! Its also interesting to not only adjust to the Lux culture, but the Miami culture that has been transplanted here as well. I think Miami is a lot like UVa, but it has some differences as well. Overall, I like the people and think its a decent school, but of course nothing can compare to the Hoos :)
3. Goals for Italy:
-see the David and Vatican City
-Buy a sweet leather jacket in Florence
-Celebrate carnivale with locals!
-Do something spontaneous and unexpected
-Enjoy all the food (cannot wait for this time)
-Get closer with the girls I am going with
-Order wine if it is cheaper than water
-Visit lots of museums
-Explore the cities by walking and running as much as possible
-Be safe and careful (make my parents proud and good decisions as dad would say)
-Dance to Italian music at a disco
-Meet up with my friend Jill in Florence
4. Lastly, I want to embarrass my favorite boyfriend and wish Kyle a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He is turning the big 21 Saturday and I wish I could be there. Have fun and be safe key!
Ok, love you all!
Care
Monday, February 8, 2010
I am officially a witch now!
Hi guys!! I am at an internet cafe right now, got home from my witch hunts field study tour about an hour an a half ago! Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and very informative. I really had no idea what to expect and a lot of people in my class were not very excited. Other classes were going to more glamorous, well known places like Amsterdam and Florence, so I can see why they were hesitant. My witch hunts professor is great though (I attended his office hours a few weeks ago and talk to him for him awhile, he was so helpful and interesting), and I love anything related to history, so I knew it would be a good time. I have so much to write about, so just a warning to those who compare my posts to certain political figure's speeches, this is going to be a looong one! But I don't want to forget anything, so here goes. I think I will try to do day by day posts to keep it organized....
Tuesday- Ok, so I didnt leave until Wednesday, but I have to tell this random story that happened to me. I went to a sketchy gym in Differdange, where the chateau is located (Diff is sadly known as the Bronx of Luxembourg and this gym really brought the comparison to life for me). I got my first time for free, and did the elliptical for half an hour, which felt great. As I was leaving though, the only other girl in the place (all the other exercisers were intense European meat heads which almost sounds like an oxymoron, but trust me they exist), asked me if I went to UVA because of the Virginia sweatshirt I was wearing. I told her I currently went there, and she exclaimed she was an alumni who had graduated in May 2008. We both were very excited to meet a fellow Wahoo, and asked the other what in the world they were doing in Luxembourg! Turns out she is getting her masters and doing an internship here, but she was moving to Belgium the very next day. Such a crazy coincidence that we met, I think Thomas Jefferson decided to look down on the tiny town of Differdange, Luxembourg that day and create a cavalier bonding moment.
Wednesday
We departed on Wednesday afternoon. My class in the morning was cancelled so I was able to sleep in a bit and recover from my previous night at Das Boot (which had been quite fun, both my roommates came and we hung out). I packed up my cute suitcase that my parents had given me, picked up my bagged lunch at the Chateau, and boarded our Mercedes- Benz bus (I am not kidding about this).
Our first stop was Trier, Germany. We had about a two and a half hour bus ride to get there. My grandmother, Nana, and my Aunt Di, had told me great things about Trier, so I was really looking forward to seeing it! Trier is one of the oldest towns in Germany, and was built by the Romans long ago. What is now Germany (it was not unified at the time) had the most violent and numerous witch hunts in all of Europe, and the village of Trier had several particularly harsh hunts that wiped out entire villages. Upon arrival, we met a German historian who gave a brief lecture on the Trier hunts. Some people did not like his straightforward, somewhat brash style, but I thought he was neat. He told us about a very influential demenologist, Peter Binsfeld, whose writings were instrumental in spreading popular stereotypes of witches across the region. Although his theories were quite cruel- he advocated the use of child witnesses and extreme torture during investigations- he had an interesting life and rose from a poor peasant family to become a well educated bishop and town leader. We also learned about Frederich Spee, a brave church leader whose book, Cautio Criminalis, was one of the first to call for an end to the hunts and state they were a fanatical, irrational craze that was resulting in the death of hundreds of innocent people. The historian explained the demographics of the accused, and told us that despite differences in age, gender, and class, all accused witches were troublesome members of society who had somehow violated rules of conduct and were considered the “evil” people of their time. This is a similar perspective to my professor’s own theory behinds the hunts, and seems to fit with what we have been studying. After the lecture, the German historian showed us the old town hall and jail which has been converted to a Protestant Church, as well as the Catholic Cathedral where Shpee is graving. Both buildings were very beautiful and I took many pictures. Then we walked along the main road and square in Trier, and all of us agreed we wish we could have stayed longer. It was adorable, and tons of cute shops and restaurants beckoned us to come in, but our professor (and the great assistant Fanny) called us and we had to head back to the bus. I hope to return to Trier soon so I can experience it (and its supposedly great, cheap shopping) in a less rushed environment.
We next headed to Nancy, France. We arrived around 8 and immediately went to a nice dinner at an Italian style restaurant. Since our trip saved money by going to somewhat nearby places, we were lucky enough to have almost all of our meals included, which was great! It was a lot of fun to eat at neat restaurants with people in my class, that night I sat at a really interesting table with my teacher and several students and had great conversation. After dinner, a group of us went looking for nightlife, and easily found a fun pub and later discotheque where we did some dancing! The club was right on the town square, which was gorgeous all lit up at night! We all had fun together, and the first day had really set the tone for an exciting, magic-filled trip (sorry I couldn’t resist the pun). Ok, I am exhausted and need to do some reading, so I am going to stop here, but I am going to try to write about the rest of the trip tomorrow sometime while at the Chateau.
Thursday
We woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel in Nancy. Then we headed to a museum that my professor declared, “had almost absolutely nothing to do with the witch
hunts” but would nonetheless be interesting. It focused on the l’ecole du Nancy (or the School of Nancy) an art movement from 1889-1909 that centered in Nancy and created the art noveau style. We had a guided tour of the museum from a very chic French woman who clearly loved the work of the school’s founded Emile Galee. He worked in three mediums: ceramics, furniture, and glass. We saw several rooms decorated in his and other Nancy school artists’ works. Although it was informative, I did not absolutely love the artwork, I actually found it kind of tacky. It was very ornate and sometimes just over the top (the ceramic sparkly cat pushed me over the edge) and sort of reminded me of 60s and 70s Elvis, hippie style. Overall though, it was cool to see and a nice little break from witch hunting. (A random note- they mentioned that Gaudi, an artist whose work is all over Barcelona, was also involved in the same movement….I wonder if we get the word gaudy from his name? It seems like maybe. Jay, the Barcelona expert, can hopefully enlighten us)!
After the museum, we had free time for lunch. Fanny, the administrative assistant who went with us and helped my professor with all the details, pointed us to a street lined with restaurants that were known to have the best food in Nancy. Me and my friend who I had been rooming with and who is going to Italy with me, ducked in a little place with two boys from our trip. The four of us had a great 3 course French meal for 12 euros. It was delicious- I got a salad and cheese tartleete, fish with steamed spinach and rice, and a chocolate banana dessert- and it was all amazing, probably the best meal I have had since being here. After lunch, we went to the Nancy archives to meet another witch hunts expert and see some primary source documents. The librarian in charge of the place mentioned briefly to my teacher that the library had an original document signed by Charlemagne and he asked if we could see it, not expecting us to be able to, but she said “sure!” and immediately went to get it. It was really cool to see such an old document (it dated from before 800) signed by someone so famous in European history. One random sidenote, with all the historians we were able to see very old primary source documents, and it was amazing how little protection surrounded them. Almost nothing, except the Charlemagne thing, was in glass, and we were able to touch it with our bare hands. I guess they just aren’t as paranoid/secure as US museums that have intense protection on their treasures! We even got to take flash pictures of everything, so check facebook for that.
The historian who talked to us at the Nancy archives was very nice and helpful. She took a lot of time to answer a ton of questions and despite most of us being in food comas, managed to keep our attention. The witch hunts in Lorraine were relatively mild compared to places like Trier, but still occurred. She read us several cases from the original archives that provided us with intense details about the accused and their trials, it was pretty sad to hear about the lives and deaths of some of the victims.
After the archives, we had some free time, and almost all of the girl’s took the chance to do some French shopping. There are big sales in this part of Europe in January and early February, and they were still going on, which was quite exciting. Allie (my friend who is going to Italy with me) and I browsed a lot and right before we had to meet went in one last store, where I found adorable black leather heels that were 70% off. Most who shop with me know I am usually indecisivie, but you would be proud to know I made a very quick decision to buy these great shoes. Exciting!
Our last stop in Nancy was a walking tour with one of the guides from the Art Noveau museum. She took us around the main square (that we had seen the night before) and the Old Town, and told us about the history of Nancy, and the broader region in France, Lorraine, where we were. It is quite interesting, Lorraine was a grand Duchy (sort of like Luxembourg) that didn’t become a part of France until 1766. A Polish King and the father in law of Louis XV, Duke Stanislaw, ended up in Lorraine by default (basically he was washed up and his son and law needed a place for him), and was the last independent ruler of the Duchy before it became French. Installed in 1737 and relatively old at the time, the deal was that when Stanislaw died, Lorrained would become French (Louis XV thought he was being clever and his father in law would die quickly) but in the end he lived to be 89- very old for those days and rule independently for almost 30 years. I guesss father-in laws always do know best so watch out Tom and Co…
After the walking tour, we boarded the buses and headed into Germany. On the way, we watched a very non-historical but nonetheless entertaining movie, The Witches of Eastwick, which starred Michelle Phieffer, Cher, and Susan Sarandon as witches and Jack Nicholson as the Devil, and was overall just extremely strange. We arrived that night in Speyer around 10:15 and were all pretty exhausted. Allie and I shared a room with two new girls (we had previously been staying with Allie’s roommate Cady) and it was nice to get to know some different people. We didn’t chat for too long though, and all conked out pretty early…
Friday
We woke up in Speyer and since we had not had a legit dinner the day before (we had stopped at McDonalds- ick), we had a lunch organized for 11:30. Before and after, we had some free time to explore the town. Despite having almost no expectations, my friends and I were pleasantly surprised and loved the city! It was pretty small, but the main street was beautiful and just the epitome of a quaint, friendly German town. Everyone in the stores we encountered was so nice and I felt in touch with my German roots. We walked around, did some shopping (I got a few great deals for souvenirs for friends and family), and had lunch with our group in a very authentic German restaurant. The food was great, I had two appetizers- one a plate of roasted peppers, the other a baguette toasted with a delicious cheese spread. It really hit the spot and was fun to sit with a bunch of people from the trip and get to know them a little better.
That afternoon, we experienced the main reason we came to Speyer, a museum exhibit devoted exclusively to the witch hunts. Unfortunately, all the headings were in German, so my six years plus of French, were essentially worthless. But luckily, our teacher, professor Thurston, reads and speaks German and offered to stay with anyone who really wanted to know what everything said. Most rushed ahead to get back to the shops of Speyer, but me and about 5 others stayed with our professor. He was super helpful and it was really neat to hear his interpretation and translation of the exhibit. We saw a ton of neat artifacts that- including bezoars and mandrakes (JK Rowling was not making this up people!!) really tied in with our class and the museum did a neat job of displaying them. The objects of torture were at times hard to stomach, but I felt they did a good job of showing the seriousness of the hunts and did not try to glamourize the pain and death too much (unlike the next museum which did do this). One thing that stood out was a display of how much wood it takes to burn a person alive, and let me tell you it’s a lot. It showed how expensive it could be to try and kill a witch, and therefore how seriously it was taken, people didn’t just burn anyone at the stake on a whim. Maybe I am being too intense or critical, but the museum’s class I am in has really taught me to pay attention to things like lighting, music, arrangement, and placement in museums, and I found it made me much more attentive, aware, and interested going through the museum. After the visit, we had more time to shop before boarding the bus and heading to our last stop- Rothenbug, Germany. We arrived and checked into our hotel- which was very nice and a huge step up from the hostels where most of us spend our weekends- where we would be for two nights. We had a little time, so I changed into my one my dressier outfit that I had brought and got to wear my new high heels, and also checked my email and talked on gchat to a few friends. We had a decent dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then I went out to bars with some of the group. Nightlife was a little sparse in Rothenburg (when one girl asked a local for bars/clubs in the area, she said “ a place for young people in Rothenburg?!” and laughed), but we found a very nice place that had a huge upstairs which we sort of took over. We enjoyed German beers and came in contact with more locals, who were all really nice. Germans are definitely very friendly and excited to meet new people (now I know why the Schmidt family is so fun….)
Saturday
Our last real day of the trip was spent in Rothenburg. In the morning, I went for a jog with my roommates (we managed to work out 2 of the 4 mornings and were pretty proud of ourselves), and we got to see the town in the early morning fog which was nice. Just a little background, Rothenburg is a city in Bavaria, somewhat close to Munich. It was an imperial city, and therefore independent, for much of its history. The old center was a walled city, and most of the wall still exists, I actually walked on it later that day. Witch hunts occurred in the villages surrounding Rothenburg, but not as much in the city. The authorities were quite restrained, and only 3 persons were actually executed in the area. A local council of 12 men presided over witch trials. The division of power in this system between so many gave them a sense of responsibility and prevented one crazy witch hunter from causing an irrational frenzy. This town council was directly responsible only to the Emperor, and they wanted to prevent him from getting overly involved in their affairs. They tried to avoid cases that may be appealed to him and basically just didn’t want to give him any reason to trespass on their sovereignty. They were very cautious as a result (this is in stark contrast to Trier, where specific witch hunts committees of legally untrained, uneducated citizens were given a great deal of power to accuse fellow villagers and had little or no control from above), and all the 3 who were executed as witches were convicted of other, quite serious crimes including poisoning and infanticide. It turned out witchcraft was sort of tacked on as an additional charge, not as the primary one.
The historian who told us all of this was a women from England, who flew in for the occasion! She was an expert and had essentially read and analyzed all the legal records from the region for a 200 year period. She was great and showed us the old legal books she worked with. She also gave us a tour where we walked through the path an accused witch would take through town. We started in a jail cell, then moved to the torture chamber, then headed to the town hall where we would have stood trial and likely repeated our confession that had been obtained under intense pressure and pain during torture. The torture chamber and jail cell were really scary, and made you realize how harsh and out of hands these hunts could be! After this tour and more questions and answer, we broke for lunch, I went to another great German place with a group of girls. Then we went to a Medieval Crime Museum, which to be honest, was not my favorite. Lunch was not sitting well, and the main focus of the museum was instruments of torture, which just added to my stomach discomfort. I felt like the museum was far less organized than the one in Speyer, and going more for the gross-out effect rather than being informative. There were some interesting objects, but I made my visit relatively brief. My friends and I did some browsing in the stores to make ourselves feel better and tried one of the local pastry specialities (a snowball, but very unlike the ones I pawned at Snoasis for many years) which was delicious. Allie and I were tired, and traveling with such a large group with many interesting, loud characters, was getting to us a bit, so we decided to walk around alone for awhile (sadly the stores all closed super early- like 3 pm, so we couldn’t do much shopping). We had a really nice talk about sometimes getting homesick, and walked on the town’s fortifying wall which was pretty neat and gave us great views of the city. We stopped in a restaurant and tried a German pretzel and had some tea, and it really helped me feel better. We then went back to the hotel where I was able to call my Mom, email Kyle, and take a bath, which all provided a further cure for my funky, exhausted mood. Feeling much better, we headed down to dinner in the hotel restaurant again. After dinner, me and about 6 other girls stayed in the hotel bar and split some wine and just chatted. It was nice to just unwind and reflect on our trip a bit. We headed to bed around midnight and the next day left Rothenburg after breakfast. On the bus ride, we watched The Crucible, a far more serious movie about the hunts in Salem, Mass, which was more depressing and less bizarre then the other movie, but really good. We got home around 4, and I hit up an internet café and was able to Skype and catch up with everyone. I have a ton to do this week, but look for another post about more reflections if you can stand it. Sorry this is so long, feel free to skim, I am just trying to keep doing this so I don’t forget anything. I think I will be glad to have such detailed accounts when I go home, otherwise I know everything will just be a blur!! Love you all and hope the white death that has overtaken my home city and school has not killed you yet…
CSS
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Cathedrals, Shopping, and Beauty and the Beast!
Hey guys! I can't really believe my life right now. I went to Strasbourg, France this weekend, and tomorrow I leave for 3 German towns and 1 French City to learn about the medieval witch hunts. Then I have a week of classes and I head to Italy! I feel so lucky to be able to do all of this, and I am so excited to learn about the witch hunts in the places they actually happened and see Italy!! But before I depart to become a witch, attend sabbath, eat babies, and brew potions (this is actually what witches were accused of), I wanted to give you an update on Strasbourg!
My friends and I choose to go to the city because it was relatively close (we haven't activated our eurorail train passes yet so we didnt want to go somewhere too far without those), and we had heard it was really pretty. Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France, right on the Rhine by the German border. The entire region has passed back and forth between France and Germany throughout history, and became permanently French after the second world war. It has retained a lot of its German culture though, and sort of like Luxembourg, is a fascinating mix of both! France has tried to make Strasbourg an important part of the state since it became permanently French, and several European Union buildings including the Court of Justice and the European Parliament, are located there. There is also a large university, and a very famous Catholic Cathedral.
We had tickets to get on a 16:00 train (get used to the military time over here) on Friday afternoon, so we had a few hours to hang out after classes ended. My two friends (Kelly and Margaret) decided to take advantage of the train station's location and explore Lux City more. I have been going there about once a week and am really trying to learn my way around. The other day, Kelly and I had stumbled on a delicious looking store with a chocolate fountain in the window and didn't have time to go in, so we went back Friday afternoon. The place was adorable and specialized in hot chocolate made in a special way. Basically you would choose a wooden spoon that on the end had a huge chunk of toppings and flavoring. Then you put it in the steaming milk they brought you and as the chocolate melted, delicious hot chocolate was made! I choose a hazelnut nougat spoon, and it was so delicious! I also tried one of their homemade desserts- an apple tart that I know my mom would love- and it was great! We enjoyed the atmosphere of the shop for a bit and then headed to the train. The ride was supposed to take a little over 2 hours, but because of a 30 minute delay due to snow, it was about 3 hours. It really wasn't bad though and the train was comfortable!
We arrived around 7 in Strasbourg, and found our hostel without our problem. We had read in the guide book that our hostel was so nice members of the European Parliament often stayed there, and I think it was true. The crowd staying there was quite diverse, we saw older people, families, and young people like us. It was very bright and clean and our private room had a bathroom and shower. After putting our stuff down and freshening up, we headed towards the city center. We just followed the Cathedral to get there and as we got closer, we could see the top of it less and less. Just as I thought we were lost, I turned a corner and saw the entire Cathedral before me! It was gorgeous, and the pictures I took really don't do it justice. It is amazing to me how ornate the architecture was, how beautiful the stained glass was, and just the enormous size of the entire structure! I cant believe people built it without modern technology! After standing in awe for a few minutes, we walked on a tried to find a restaurant in Petite France, the cutest part of the old town, for dinner. It was dark and we had to wander for awhile (ok, we were lost) before we found one, but eventually we did! We ate at a place with typical Alsacain cuisine, and to honor my German roots, I got sauerkraut. Although I liked the sauerkraut (it reminded me of thanksgiving) I wasn't a huge fan of the accompanying meats. There was sausage and some fatty pork and beef, and not being a huge carnivore to begin with, they weren't my favorite. But it was an experience, and I was glad I tried something local! After dinner, we met up with another group of MUDEC students who were in Strasbourg at a bar ironically called the Raven! It was fun to hang out with them and experience my first ever French bar.
The next day we were busy, but not completely overwhelmed. That was one of the nice parts about Strasbourg, we did not feel pressured to see a ton of uber-famous sites, so we could kind of just wander around and take in the city. We went to the Cathedral and saw a presentation about the medieval astronomical clock that is housed there and still sounds every day at astronomical midday, which is 12:30. The 12 apostles come out of the clock at this time and rotate around a spinning contraption. We watched a short movie about the clock's construction and significance, and then saw the actual 12:30 ringing. Honestly, it was freezing during the movie and the movie slightly cheesy, so it wasn't our favorite part of the day. But it was neat to see the 12:30 ringing! After that, we ate a delicious lunch of crepes, and then explored the city on foot. We walked around all day, and did a great deal of shopping- France has its best sales of the year at this time and we took full advantage! We mostly went in clothing stores, but also some cute home decor, candy, and tourist shops. We saw Petite France during the day, it was gorgeous. We took some pictures by sunset that turned out really well. The whole town of Strasbourg honestly reminded me of Belle's little village in Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite movies ever. All the tiny houses, beige with brown trim, and the brightly colored ones as well, created such an enchanting effect! Later in the afternoon, we made our way back to the Cathedral and climbed the 334 winding stairs to the top. Our legs were a little shaky, but the views were incredible and definitely worth the hike! It was great to see the city from a bird's eye view, and we realized how big it was!
Later that evening, we got dinner and drinks on a fun, lively street called Rue de Freres (road of brothers). We found a bright, cheery little place full of young people called Flam's, that specialized in another local specialty, tarte flambees. They are sort of like pizzas, but with a really thin crust that is almost like a cracker. You can get them in any topping and we each choose a different one- mine had all kinds of veggies- to share. We were also happy to get salads after our less than healthy eats the past few days. The food was great, and despite a drink ordering mishap (we thought we were ordering a wine cocktail but actually got straight shots of liquor in tests tubes- oops!) we had a nice time. We went to a very modern, swanky bar after for a drink, and just had a relaxing evening of girl talk. My one friend didn't feel well much of the day or night, and that was a little hard. She was trying to have fun, but I could tell she was starting to get sick, so I felt bad. Altogether though, she felt ok, and we still managed to have fun!
On Sunday, we woke up early and went to the Cathedral for mass. Although I could sort of understand the French the priests were speaking, not being Catholic made it difficult to follow (I wasn't exactly sure what we were doing), but it was a really beautiful and interesting service. Their was a choir that performed a series of chanting call and response portions, and the acoustics of the Cathedral made their voices echo across the congregation. The service was crowded, and it seemed like a mix of both french tourists from other areas and regular members. I want to go a Catholic mass in the states when I get home so I can compare the two! After mass, we had grand plans to go to a chocolate museum and factory we had found a brochure for at the tourist office. However, it just wasn't in our destiny to make it there. We first tried to buy tram tickets to go the stop indicated on the brochure. I'm not sure if it was a result of human or technological error, but none of our credit/debit cards would work in the machine (I think we tried six). It only took coins, and we had all just spent ours buying postcards. In the end, we got change from two nice Americans and bought the tickets. We thought it would be a few minute tram ride away and we would be there, but when we got off the train in Baggersee, an outskirt of Strasbourg, we found ourselves in a strange little industrial complex area, with a car dealership, a walmart type place, and a bunch of office buildings. We ventured in a restaurant to ask directions, and the frenchmen had never heard of our museum but vaguely suggested we take the tram in the direction we had just come from. Then we realized we had to take a bus from the tram stop (we thought it said you could take bus or tram but really it was bus and tram), that wouldn't come for 30 minutes. It was cold, a little snowy, and we didn't have much time, so we just decided to proclaim it our first travel fail and head back. We ate some delicious chocolate cookies instead while we waited (that store I was obsessed with in Brussels is apparently a french chain so I was able to get the best chocolate cookie ever again) and headed back. Before taking the 5 o'clock train back to Lux, we got tea in a really cute little shop with a rustic, old time atmosphere. We walked around a bit more, caught our train, and were home by 8:30 pm. Altogether, it was a very nice weekend! Strasbourg wasn't the most glamorous or fast paced city, but it was a really interesting mix of a lot of things, not to mention charming and beautiful!
Tomorrow, I leave for my witch hunts travel tour! We are going to Trier, Shiere, and Rottenberg, Germany, as well as Nancy, France. We will be meeting and going on tours with expert witch hunt historians ( I suspect they are actually wizards who are friends with HP) and having free time to explore the towns! I am excited! I don't think I will have my computer, but expect a full post recap when I return. Also check out facebook, I am putting up photos from Skiing and Strasbourg soon!
Hope you guys are doing well! Love you all!
C
My friends and I choose to go to the city because it was relatively close (we haven't activated our eurorail train passes yet so we didnt want to go somewhere too far without those), and we had heard it was really pretty. Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France, right on the Rhine by the German border. The entire region has passed back and forth between France and Germany throughout history, and became permanently French after the second world war. It has retained a lot of its German culture though, and sort of like Luxembourg, is a fascinating mix of both! France has tried to make Strasbourg an important part of the state since it became permanently French, and several European Union buildings including the Court of Justice and the European Parliament, are located there. There is also a large university, and a very famous Catholic Cathedral.
We had tickets to get on a 16:00 train (get used to the military time over here) on Friday afternoon, so we had a few hours to hang out after classes ended. My two friends (Kelly and Margaret) decided to take advantage of the train station's location and explore Lux City more. I have been going there about once a week and am really trying to learn my way around. The other day, Kelly and I had stumbled on a delicious looking store with a chocolate fountain in the window and didn't have time to go in, so we went back Friday afternoon. The place was adorable and specialized in hot chocolate made in a special way. Basically you would choose a wooden spoon that on the end had a huge chunk of toppings and flavoring. Then you put it in the steaming milk they brought you and as the chocolate melted, delicious hot chocolate was made! I choose a hazelnut nougat spoon, and it was so delicious! I also tried one of their homemade desserts- an apple tart that I know my mom would love- and it was great! We enjoyed the atmosphere of the shop for a bit and then headed to the train. The ride was supposed to take a little over 2 hours, but because of a 30 minute delay due to snow, it was about 3 hours. It really wasn't bad though and the train was comfortable!
We arrived around 7 in Strasbourg, and found our hostel without our problem. We had read in the guide book that our hostel was so nice members of the European Parliament often stayed there, and I think it was true. The crowd staying there was quite diverse, we saw older people, families, and young people like us. It was very bright and clean and our private room had a bathroom and shower. After putting our stuff down and freshening up, we headed towards the city center. We just followed the Cathedral to get there and as we got closer, we could see the top of it less and less. Just as I thought we were lost, I turned a corner and saw the entire Cathedral before me! It was gorgeous, and the pictures I took really don't do it justice. It is amazing to me how ornate the architecture was, how beautiful the stained glass was, and just the enormous size of the entire structure! I cant believe people built it without modern technology! After standing in awe for a few minutes, we walked on a tried to find a restaurant in Petite France, the cutest part of the old town, for dinner. It was dark and we had to wander for awhile (ok, we were lost) before we found one, but eventually we did! We ate at a place with typical Alsacain cuisine, and to honor my German roots, I got sauerkraut. Although I liked the sauerkraut (it reminded me of thanksgiving) I wasn't a huge fan of the accompanying meats. There was sausage and some fatty pork and beef, and not being a huge carnivore to begin with, they weren't my favorite. But it was an experience, and I was glad I tried something local! After dinner, we met up with another group of MUDEC students who were in Strasbourg at a bar ironically called the Raven! It was fun to hang out with them and experience my first ever French bar.
The next day we were busy, but not completely overwhelmed. That was one of the nice parts about Strasbourg, we did not feel pressured to see a ton of uber-famous sites, so we could kind of just wander around and take in the city. We went to the Cathedral and saw a presentation about the medieval astronomical clock that is housed there and still sounds every day at astronomical midday, which is 12:30. The 12 apostles come out of the clock at this time and rotate around a spinning contraption. We watched a short movie about the clock's construction and significance, and then saw the actual 12:30 ringing. Honestly, it was freezing during the movie and the movie slightly cheesy, so it wasn't our favorite part of the day. But it was neat to see the 12:30 ringing! After that, we ate a delicious lunch of crepes, and then explored the city on foot. We walked around all day, and did a great deal of shopping- France has its best sales of the year at this time and we took full advantage! We mostly went in clothing stores, but also some cute home decor, candy, and tourist shops. We saw Petite France during the day, it was gorgeous. We took some pictures by sunset that turned out really well. The whole town of Strasbourg honestly reminded me of Belle's little village in Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite movies ever. All the tiny houses, beige with brown trim, and the brightly colored ones as well, created such an enchanting effect! Later in the afternoon, we made our way back to the Cathedral and climbed the 334 winding stairs to the top. Our legs were a little shaky, but the views were incredible and definitely worth the hike! It was great to see the city from a bird's eye view, and we realized how big it was!
Later that evening, we got dinner and drinks on a fun, lively street called Rue de Freres (road of brothers). We found a bright, cheery little place full of young people called Flam's, that specialized in another local specialty, tarte flambees. They are sort of like pizzas, but with a really thin crust that is almost like a cracker. You can get them in any topping and we each choose a different one- mine had all kinds of veggies- to share. We were also happy to get salads after our less than healthy eats the past few days. The food was great, and despite a drink ordering mishap (we thought we were ordering a wine cocktail but actually got straight shots of liquor in tests tubes- oops!) we had a nice time. We went to a very modern, swanky bar after for a drink, and just had a relaxing evening of girl talk. My one friend didn't feel well much of the day or night, and that was a little hard. She was trying to have fun, but I could tell she was starting to get sick, so I felt bad. Altogether though, she felt ok, and we still managed to have fun!
On Sunday, we woke up early and went to the Cathedral for mass. Although I could sort of understand the French the priests were speaking, not being Catholic made it difficult to follow (I wasn't exactly sure what we were doing), but it was a really beautiful and interesting service. Their was a choir that performed a series of chanting call and response portions, and the acoustics of the Cathedral made their voices echo across the congregation. The service was crowded, and it seemed like a mix of both french tourists from other areas and regular members. I want to go a Catholic mass in the states when I get home so I can compare the two! After mass, we had grand plans to go to a chocolate museum and factory we had found a brochure for at the tourist office. However, it just wasn't in our destiny to make it there. We first tried to buy tram tickets to go the stop indicated on the brochure. I'm not sure if it was a result of human or technological error, but none of our credit/debit cards would work in the machine (I think we tried six). It only took coins, and we had all just spent ours buying postcards. In the end, we got change from two nice Americans and bought the tickets. We thought it would be a few minute tram ride away and we would be there, but when we got off the train in Baggersee, an outskirt of Strasbourg, we found ourselves in a strange little industrial complex area, with a car dealership, a walmart type place, and a bunch of office buildings. We ventured in a restaurant to ask directions, and the frenchmen had never heard of our museum but vaguely suggested we take the tram in the direction we had just come from. Then we realized we had to take a bus from the tram stop (we thought it said you could take bus or tram but really it was bus and tram), that wouldn't come for 30 minutes. It was cold, a little snowy, and we didn't have much time, so we just decided to proclaim it our first travel fail and head back. We ate some delicious chocolate cookies instead while we waited (that store I was obsessed with in Brussels is apparently a french chain so I was able to get the best chocolate cookie ever again) and headed back. Before taking the 5 o'clock train back to Lux, we got tea in a really cute little shop with a rustic, old time atmosphere. We walked around a bit more, caught our train, and were home by 8:30 pm. Altogether, it was a very nice weekend! Strasbourg wasn't the most glamorous or fast paced city, but it was a really interesting mix of a lot of things, not to mention charming and beautiful!
Tomorrow, I leave for my witch hunts travel tour! We are going to Trier, Shiere, and Rottenberg, Germany, as well as Nancy, France. We will be meeting and going on tours with expert witch hunt historians ( I suspect they are actually wizards who are friends with HP) and having free time to explore the towns! I am excited! I don't think I will have my computer, but expect a full post recap when I return. Also check out facebook, I am putting up photos from Skiing and Strasbourg soon!
Hope you guys are doing well! Love you all!
C
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)