http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Alfred-R/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Alfred R en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:49:04 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:49:04 +0000 So my family left from Venice today while I continued on to my last adventure of my journey Bologna. Situated between Venezia and Roma I had to make a pit stop in this medieval city known for their great food. To name a few good foods making this region known for the best food in Italy and possibly the world Bologna Prosciutto Parmesan Cheese Tortellini and Balsamic Vinegar. Irsquoll get http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Emilia-Romagna/Bologna/blog-404899.html So this last week has been my finals week. Irsquom very angry that my last week here in Rome will be one full of stress rather than last minute enjoyment. I do at least have ten days without classes to enjoy Italy and to show my family around which Irsquom very much looking forward to. To scrounge some last minute enjoyment Laura and I went around Rome to see some last minute sights in bet http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-404898.html So it was our last week finished 4 finals and had a day off before our last final. Jordan Curtis Laura and I decided now was our chance to do the Spanish Steps Pub Crawl. For you old folks that donrsquot know what a pub crawl is you will know if you fit into this category or not a pub crawl is when you join a group of people and you go bar hopping throughout the night. In this case aro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-404896.html So it has been a while since my last bloghellip cut me a breakhellip I have been on vacation with la mia familia. Anyway my last big trip of my Italy adventure was to a region to the south called Campania. Saving this trip for when it got warmer we were all excited. We left Saturday morning bright and early and after a bus metro and 2 hr train we arrived in Napoli. If you are not famili http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/blog-404885.html So Irsquom sitting on a train packed in a cabin it's 1 am I got a presentation to make in 9 hrs and wersquore stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm. Sounds terrible huh Aside from my present accommodations and lack of sleep it has been an awesome trip. Let me start by saying that itrsquos Laurarsquos and mine first trip abroad alone which has been a long time in the making.So abou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/blog-396722.html So I know it has been a while but I have been bogged down with work since I have returned to Rome. Itrsquos a shame that sometimes I associate Rome with work. Regardless I had an excellent spring break minus a few snags which are expected in long trips with budget traveling. So let me start this blog which from the week I had should be of epic proportions. Brace yourselfAthens Leaving http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/blog-393890.html Wow what an experience. So I went to my first Italian Soccer game at it was amazing. We showed up just as the game was starting and as we walked up to the stadium it started to look like a warzone. There was papers everywhere and empty canisters that held shots of espresso with armeretta. We got into the game easily and were able to find our seats amongst the crazy Italian crowd. We got the more http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-390086.html 14 Stations of the CrossOn Friday night 9 pm Laura Jordan and I walked down to the Colosseo to see the Pope do the 14 Stations of the Cross from the Ancient Temple of Rome and Venus. There were supposedly 20000 people there and from the looks of it I believe it. We fought our way through the crowd to a spot where we could at least make out the Pope's face and settled in for a ceremony that s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Vatican-City/Vatican-City/blog-389915.html A simple post about a field study for my Archeology class to the Colosseo and Arch of Constantine. For those of you living in a cave the Colosseo is an ancient amphitheater used to used Gladiatorial games and the Arch of Constantine is an triumphant arch dedicated to Emperor Constantine. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-389354.html So today Laura and I had two exams to study for but we decided to take a break and discover the park that's down the road from our apartments. This park is massive filled with Villas gardens fountains hills and beautifully diverse vegetation. This park was once a private garden to a wealthy family living in Rome back during the Renaissance. Italian gardens are awesome. They aren't simply b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-389353.html Hmmm... What to say about Venice.... I LOVE IT. The excitement of seeing Venice again since my previous visit two years ago was far from a disappointment. The reason I love this town so much isn't the churches isn't the sites isn't the weather but simple their way of life. Everything is so simplistic and relaxing. No cars or mopeds to run you over just the soothing sounds of running water http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-388531.html First big Wednesday trip and it was a blast...I don't have classes on Wednesdays so we left Tuesday night for Siena. Since we booked the bus over 2 weeks in advance we only had to pay 5 dollars for transportation. Talk about a budget traveler So we arrived in Florence 11 pm Tuesday night walk around see the famous Piazza del Campo grab a piece of Nutella Piazza don't worry just nutella no o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-385293.html Yes I have survived my first earthquake. Thanks for asking I could tell you were all concerned SarcasmSo I'm sure much have you have heard or at least those of you who don't live in a cave that there has been a series of earthquakes 60 miles NE of Rome. Unfortunately this earthquake registering at a 6.3 L'Aquilia and 5.0 in Rome has caused much destruction to the ancient city and has left ma http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-388529.html So this Saturday Laura and I had a field trip to an Abbey and Castle that dealt with Dominican Monks and St. Thomas of Aquenis. We left and the morning and headed south the Monte Cassino. Its located half way between Rome and Naples in the hills. The Abbey itself is located on top of a mountain on a cliff side. They abbey was neat and actually saw where the monks and civilians camped out during http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Monte-Cassino/blog-388528.html Its been a while since my last entry so enjoy this long post. So this past weekend I went on a IES funded field trip to a place called Cinque Terre and the medieval town Lucca. We hooped a train 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon noon and arrived in the town of La Spezia just east of Cinque Terre around 830. We settled into our nice hotel room and went out to dinner. The dinners the IES pr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-385019.html This past weekend I visited now one of my favorite destinations Praha. Laura Jordan Bianca and I left Rome Friday afternoon and after a small flight delay we were on our way to a destination that hasn't always been available to the world for a long time. Praha has not also been a place the world could see due to its past communist nature. Now Praha is a beautiful city untouched my the outs http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-382758.html Today IES offered us a free field trip to a small town just outside of Rome. I was glad to accept this trip and have read much about it in my Italy travel book which acts as a bible on my night stand and can always be found within a few feet of my person at any given time.We departed for Tivoli first and our first stop was the Ancient Villa Andrianna at the bottom of the hill Tivoli is located on http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Tivoli/blog-381178.html Yep you got it field trip Fridays.... If you haven't realized the trend by now I usually have field trips for a lot of my classes on either Thursday or Friday. This is because I have every class on Monday for an hour where I learn in a classroom and two hours on either Thursday or Friday depending on the class where we usually walk around different parts of the city. I have three classes that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-381175.html Before heading back to Rome from an exciting weekend we decided to take an hour train to a little town known as Pisa. Again like my first trip to Pisa two years earlier it was raining. Leaving the train station we hiked from one extreme side of the city where the train station was to the other extreme where Pisa and all the sights were. We walked 20 mins to reach the other side to give you an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-379315.html This weekend is the first weekend that I am leaving leaving the Rome area without the aid of the IES program. Laura Jordan and I took a high speed train to Florence. We departed the Roma Termini station which is one of the biggest trainbus stations in Europe. The mix of the absolute sheer size and language barrier made it one hell of an experience. After figuring out the system 30 minu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-378148.html