Florence

This is my third time writing this entry, as my app has lost it twice already. So, I apologize if it ends up being brief.

My first full day in Florence started out with me doing laundry at a laundromat around the corner from the hostel. I then decided to do a Rick Steves tour called the Renaissance walk. The walk started at the Duomo, which is just as beautiful during the day as it is at night. I also saw the baptistery, which features awesome bronze doors that were made by Ghiberti. I then strolled down Via de'Calzaiuoli, and did some major window shopping. Then I saw the Piazza Della Repubblica, where there stands a triumphal arch celebrating the unification of Italy. From there, I went the the Orsanmichele church. There are lots of famous statues in niches around the exterior of the church, but I really enjoyed the inside. At this church stands an altar to the Madonna Della Grazie, where survivors of the plague would go and give thanks for their good fortune. Pretty cool, huh?

I then saw the palazzo vecchio, which was the government center during the Renaissance. Lots of famous statues stand here, including a replica of David (the original use to stand here, but it was moved after it's arm was broken off by a bench thrown during a riot) and the Rape of the Sabines, which was stunning. I then walked past the Uffuzi gallery and over the Ponte Vecchio. The Ponte Vecchio was alright, but it was mostly just crowded. I did think it was cool that it's the only bridge that was left standing in Florence after WWII.

After the Renaissance walk, I was pretty worn out, so I decided to get some lunch. I wandered around for a while, trying to find someplace not too touristy. I finally picked a spot, ordered a glass of wine, and asked the server to bring me something good. This is what she brought out:

Looks good, no? It was slices of tomato, eggplant and cheese. It tasted like heaven. So so so good.

After lunch, I decided to hike up to Ponte Michelangelo. There are stairs, but it is still very steep, and ended up taking me about 25 minutes to make it all the way up. The view from the lookout was definitely worth it though. I relaxed at the top for a bit, then eventually descended, went back across the river, and back to the hostel. I hung out at the hostel for a while, trying to video chat on skype with my parents, then I showered and got ready for dinner.

I was invited out to dinner by a girl named Nicole who was from Michigan. She had secured a restaurant recommendation from the hostel staff, and we set off. We chatted along the way about her German boyfriend and her occupation, which apparently was chef. I told her that she had to do all the ordering that night, to which she happily agreed.

We ended up having a four course meal. The first course was a plate of meats, cheeses, and pâté. The second was pasta with boar meat, which is apparently a local specialty. We then had steak florentine, which had to have been at least a 30 oz steak (we were splitting everything). Finally, we had almond biscotti which you dipped in dessert wine, and an ice cream dessert that was remarkably similar to those Baci chocolate candies. Finally, they brought out chocolates with the check, one which seemed to be chocolate with cinnamon, the other was very spicy. Everything was delicious, and we spent 50€ each (which included a bottle of Chianti). I returned to the hostel in a food stupor, and went to sleep

Ciao Roma!

Monday morning I woke up and had breakfast with the girls one last time, then packed my things for check out. April and I ran some errands, then had a wonderful lunch at a lovely trattoria down the street from the hostel. I had lasagna and an orange-chocolate mousse. The waiter also brought out some amazing bruschetta, and at the end of the meal, some yummy limoncello shots. It was a wonderful end to my time in Rome.

Getting out of Rome was not so easy. I made the hike to the train station, bought my ticket to Florence, and then could not figure out what platform my train was leaving from. I literally ran from platform to platform, trying to find my train. The information screens said it was leaving from platform 2PE. I found platform 2 and 2 east. But never 2PE. There also didn't seem to be any officials I could ask, or any english speakers. I missed my train, and had to exchange my ticket for the next train, which wasn't for another hour. Needless to say, I was so relieved when I finally made it to my seat on the train.

This was my first 'real' train experience in Europe. I had taken the train from the airport to Rome, but that was more of a shuttle. This train was not at all what I expected, having taken Amtrak several times. This train was classy. This train was the caviar to Amtrak's sardines. Each seat had a molded head rest and an outlet with a little table to plug in your laptop and do work. They also had televisions that displayed where you were on the journey, weather information and news headlines. I fell asleep on the train and woke up about 20 minutes before we arrived in Florence.

Arriving in Florence was just the opposite of leaving Rome. I stepped off the train into the station, and instead of chaotic masses, there were people calmly milling around. I left the train station and followed the directions I had to the hostel, and pretty much went straight there. (fun fact: did you know that in Florence, there are two sets of street numbers, one red and one black? Because I did not, and this led to some confusion.) I was much more pleased with this leg of the journey.

I was also pleased because my walk from the station took me right past the duomo, giving me my first taste of Florence culture. The duomo is beautiful, especially at night. Plus, it was far less crowded at this hour.

I checked into my hostel, showered, and settled in for the evening in my second city of the trip.

Market Day

Sunday morning was spent at the market. Poich, Ine, April and I got up and took the bus to Trastevere to check out the flea markets. It turned out to be huge. There were vendors set up on both sides of the street, and it went on for blocks and blocks. (For those of you who are familiar, it was at least three times the size of the Eastern Market in DC.) It was pretty typical flea market fare; lots of purses, cheap clothes, cds and shoes. The girls I was with were in heaven. They all are very fashion conscious and on strict budgets, so they loved digging through the bins of wares. We spent several hours, into the afternoon, browsing the market. I haggled with a merchant and got a good deal on a pair of scarves, and the other girls came away with clothes and a suitcase to transport all their new purchases on their plane.

After the market, we split up and I went to check out the Pantheon. Apparently in my head I had equated the Pantheon with the Parthenon. I knew that the Parthenon was in Greece, but for some reason I still thought they were similar. So, I was a little disappointed with the Pantheon. It was still very cool, especially when you consider that the Ancient Romans were able to erect such a massive dome. But it was incredibly crowded, because it was both free and I was visiting it on a Sunday, when many other attractions are closed. I quickly became irritated with the masses, and fled to Giolitti's for their famed gelato. Which, of course, was also packed. The scene there was arguably more chaotic than that of the Pantheon. I finally figured out, after staring at the crowd for a while, that you first paid at the register, then took your receipt to the counter, shoved your way to the front, and when the guy at the counter glanced your way, quickly blurted out the flavors you desire. This chaos, as well as a very poor understanding of Italian words for the flavors, led to me panicking when I ordered and doing a poor job. Mind you, it was still excellent gelato, but the flavors I got (Rice, Dark Chocolate, and Crema) did not do it for me. Ah well, so it goes. I also got way too much of it, and made a huge mess of myself.

Once I cleaned myself up a bit, I strolled over to Trevi Fountain, which was nice, but also packed. I tossed in my coin, then got out of there, as I was reaching my boiling point with pushy tourists. I strolled down Via Cavour and did some window shopping, then hopped on a bus, hoping it would take me to a stop where I could catch the bus back to the hostel. Instead, it took me to the bank of the Tiber. I decided to get off and walk around, and maybe get some photos of Saint Peter's at sunset. (This is when I began composing my last post. I decided to sit down for a while and write.) I snapped some photos and strolled around, checking out the street vendors and accidentally buying a Prada knockoff. (Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it back down!) That area is really beautiful and calm in the evening.

Eventually, I caught a bus back to Termini and made the hike back to the hostel. When I returned, two Argentinian men who were new to the hostel had made dinner for everyone, some sort of chicken dish and fried potatoes. I happily had two plates of it, and made my arrangements online for Florence.

As soon as I finished, we ran out the door to catch the night train to Ostia, a beach town outside the city. There was a bar there that the girls wanted to go to, and who am I to say no to a night trip to the beach? We took two metro trains out the night train, and then spent another half hour on the train. We met a German couple who were headed that way, and gave us directions to the bar (which turned out to be very bad directions). We got off the train, and began walking. It ended up being a 45 minute walk to the bar, because they had told us to get off at the wrong stop. It was quite an adventure, and I wish I could say that the bar ended up being awesome, but I cannot. The bar was not very crowded, the DJ was terrible, and the bartender was rude to us. We danced a bit, and then it closed half an hour after we had arrived. We caught the night bus back to the hostel, and I slept very, very well that night.

Vatican

I'm sitting on the bank of the Tiber river right now, near the Castel Sant Angelo. I think that if I lived here, I would come here a lot. It's very pretty, but it's also quiet down here. There is almost no one down here. You can still hear the traffic noise up above, but it's distant. I'm waiting for the sun to set a bit more so I can shoot some photos of Saint Peter's Basilica in the sunset.

So, on Saturday I got up just in time to run out the door in an effort to make my reservation at the Vatican. The lines can be 2+ hours to get in, but you can reserve online to skip the line. Some people I had spoken to said that they were very strict about what you could wear inside; shoulders must be covered and skirts and shorts must cover the knees. Well, none of my clothes that I brought fit the bill. So I made a mad dash through the sketchy Asian shops align the streets behind termini to try to find something to make myself more modest. I finally found a pashmina that fit the bill, so I bought it and grabbed a taxi to the vatican.

Once there, I breezed right through the crowds and walked right in. The Vatican museum was lovely. Its collection went back to Ancient Egypt, which I love, went through Ancient Rome and through the Renaissance, up to contemporary art. Which, if you think about it, is pretty bad actually, considering the fact that the Vatican used to just be the papal house, and these priceless works of art were amassed solely for the popes amusement. And now they make people pay 12€ just to see it all. Seems pretty scummy if you ask me. I saw the Sistine Chapel, and it was breathtaking. It was made much better by having a guidebook to add context. For instance, the guidebook pointed out the fact that Michelangelo painted one of his biggest critics into the hell scene on the wall with the last judgement. I thought that was pretty funny.

After seeing the Sistine Chapel, I went and toured Saint Peter's Basilica. That was just awe inspiring. It is just so HUGE. The whole thing, including the nave, which Michelangelo didn't want built and was added after his death, is the length of 7 football fields. And the dome? Seven stories high. Seven. Unbelievable. I toured the church for a bit, then did the climb of the dome. For this, you take an elevator half way, and then climb 320 steps inside the dome to the top. Apparently, this is a lot. The climb is inside the dome, so the stairs are curved inside its face. As the stairs climb and the dome gets narrower, the ceiling starts to lean further and further in. Towards the end of this section I felt pretty claustrophobic. Then, you climb endless spiral stairs to get to the top, which of course don't have railings. I hate spiral staircases; they're just too tight. When I finally made it to the top, the view was very nice, but not worth that climb.

I stayed up there for a good half an hour, just because I dreaded the descent. And rightly so. It was terrible. I was terrified the entire time that I was going to trip, have nothing to grab on to, and just fall forever. I had to sing songs in my head to distract myself from my panic. Obviously, I made it back down just fine. But I would not recommend this sight to other travelers.

By the time I made it out of St. Peter's, it was 3:45, which was long past when most restaurants stopped serving lunch. I decided to have a picinic in a nearby park instead of dining at a terrible tourist trap place. I perused a nearby market, and end up with a ball of mozzerrella, prosciutto, a loaf of bread, coconut yogurt, peach flavored water, and a chocolate candy bar for 6€. It was a feast. I dined in the park next to Castel Sant'Angelo, and watched this little kid do laps around the park on a Segway. I then returned to the hostel and get cleaned up.

Once I was presentable, I went out to the common room and joined in a round of drinking games. Everyone who was in at the hostel joined in, which was pretty cool because our group included Koreans, Germans, a guy from the Ukraine, Argentinians, British, and Chinese. We would play a game for a while, then someone would teach everyone another game. At one point we were playing a game where you went around a circle saying numbers aloud, and we changed it so that everyone had to say their number in their own language. Fun, but very challenging to keep up with where we were.

We played drinking games for such a long time that we missed the train to the bar we wanted to go to. We ended up going to a bar up the street. It looked very sketchy, but the rest of the group thought it was fine so I joined them. It ended up being a really fun evening. We played never have I ever and drank cheap red wine. The owner even gave us a bottle on the house. Afterwards, we stopped and got kebabs. I had never had it before, but it was amazing. Delicious food inside a yummy tortilla! Like mexican, but better.

Colosseum

The past few days have been a jam packed blur. I still cant believe I'm actually here. After the last post I wrote, April and I took a night stroll to the colosseum. It was amazing all lit up. Well, amazing in general too, since this was the first time I had seen it.

Yesterday morning I got up nice and early, enjoyed the free hostel breakfast, then set out for the colosseum again. I went and bought a Roma pass, which costs 23€ and gets you free admission to two sites, discounts at a whole slew of others, and three days free use of the transit system. Plus, you don't have to stand in line at the sites. It's a pretty sweet deal.

So I picked that up, and jumped right in to the colosseum, which was awesome. Instead of paying for a tour, I downloaded a walking tour podcast, which was pretty good. Did you know that the colosseum held 50,000 spectators, and yet they could empty the place in 15 minutes? How very efficient.

After that, I toured palatine hill and the roman forum, since they're considered one site with the colosseum. The forum was really cool. I used the walking tour podcast again, which was good except it was sometimes difficult to tell which set of ruins I was supposed to be looking at.

Afterwards, I wandered around for a while trying to find a restaurant that my guidebook recommend. I finally decided it didn't exist, and picked a place on the street. It turned out to be quite good, and I had spaghetti carbonara and a glass of white wine (which I ordered in Italian!)

After returning home and taking a nap, I ate the free pasta dinner that the hostel serves on the weekends. The pasta was mediocre but the company was good. April and I rounded up some girls ( the two Argentinian girls, Poich and Inez, and a girl from LA named Catherine) and headed out for the evening. On the recommendation of the ladies who work at the hostel, we decided to head for Campo di Fiore. The ladies were getting off work as we were leaving, so they rode the bus with us and showed us where to get off. They also informed us that it wasn't necessary to buy tickets this time of night, as nobody comes around to check them. There seems to be inspectors that randomly get on and spot check everyones tickets. So, we made our way to Campo di Fiore, picked a bar, and got to it. We chatted with some Americans who live here and work as tour guides, and had a drink with them. We shared a bottle of prosecco and people watched.
We decided to check out Trastevere next, but couldn't find the bars, and ended up stopping for pizza instead. Let me tell you, that was the best pizza I've ever had. It was just cheese pizza, but it was so freaking good. We spent the rest of the evening wandering around trying to find something to do. We never did, but it was a lot of fun just wandering the streets of Rome. We stopped one more time, this time for paninis (them) and crepes (me).

We took the bus home, but the driver told us to get off at the Piazza Venizia, which is quite far from the hostel, so we walked. The walk from the bus was lovely. I like Rome during the day, but I am in love with Rome at night. All the buildings and fountains just look breathtakingly beautiful under moonlight. It made my heart ache to see it.

Arrival

I made it safely to Rome and my hostel today. It has already been quite an adventure, and it's only the first day. The flight to Rome was okay... The flight itself wasn't too bad, but there was very little leg room, which made it difficult to sleep. I probably got about 4 hours of sleep in all. From the airport, I made my way onto the Leonardo express, which is the train that runs to Termini, the train station in Rome. The train ride was quite pleasant. I saw some of the countryside and took a nap. It was during the train ride that it actually started to hit me that I was in Italy.

After the train ride, things got a bit bumpy. My hostel is only a 10-15 minute walk from the train station, but I got very turned around coming out of the station. It took me about 45 minutes to find it, which made me sweaty, tired and frustrated. I was so relieved when I finally made it and was able to plop down on a bed. I was thrilled that it was super easy to connect to their wifi, so I was able to call home using skype.

Just after I hung up the phone, a girl walked up to me and asked if I had any suggestions on where to get something to eat. I said no but that I'd love to join her. Her name was April, and she's from Arizona. We took a suggestion of a pizza place from one of the staff members, but ended up not being able to find the one she suggested. We ate at a different pizza place that wasn't anything special. We decided to wander around for a while, and stopped in at the first gelateria that we saw. Oh my god, it was so good. We both got three scoops on a cone. I chose crem caramel, something called riso and nutella, which I decided was like frozen rice pudding with a nutella swirl, and cioccolato à coco, which turned out to be chocolate and coconut. I was in heaven.

We burned off all the food by taking what ended up being a 2 hour stroll through the neighborhood nearby. We stopped in at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. It was so beautiful. I loved the ornate ceilings. I wish I had brought my camera. I didn't bring it because I thought we were just going out for a quick bite. I guess I learned my lesson on that one.

We may go out tonight. If I can manage it... I'm pretty tired.

Underway

The day that I was fairly convinced would never arrive is finally here. I am Europe bound, by way of Toronto. I have a 3 hour layover here, then I take an overnight flight to Rome, getting in around noon local time.

This whole trip is rather loose. I have very little actually planned. I didn't even start packing until about 8:30 last night, and even then it was in between dinner and going out to see friends. My life has been very full lately, and I think that prevented me from meticulously planning every aspect of the trip like my nature would require. But I'm hoping this is a good thing... I hope it makes me looser and more flexible. More open to possibility. I have an idea of how this trip will go in my head, but I know I'm going to have to push myself to achieve that ideal.

My flight here was mostly uneventful. I was given a seat in 'economy plus' which meant extra leg room. Pretty sweet, although I wish it had been for my flight to Rome instead, since I only got to enjoy it for an hour. On a bit nerdier note, I'm excited about all the stuff my iPhone can do. I'm updating this blog with a pretty sweet app, and I made a skype to skype call for free! Thank goodness for unsecured wifi!

Oh by the way, I changed some settings around. Now anyone can post comments, not just people with accounts. Also, I decided to set the time to Rome, instead of eastern standard. We'll see which way is less confusing.