A week in Italy

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Wow, I feel like I've been gone a lot longer than 9 days! I have so many stories and memories that I can't possible write it all down!
Friday Feb 20th: Brittany, the girl I travelled with, and I took an overnight train to Venice. This consisted of us fitting into a compartment of the train half the size of a small dorm room with four other people. We got stuck with the top bunks, which left us about 1.5 ft to the ceiling, 2 ft wide, and we had to sleep with our bags too because the other people were taking up the luggage storage. Lets just say I didn't get the best nights sleep.

Sat Feb 21: We arrived in Venice and dropped our stuff off at our hostel. Walking through Venice it seemed like vacation with the aqua water in the canals and the sun was actually shining (unlike in Lux). We basically followed the crowds of people through the alleys and over the bridges. First we came to a market square with an authenic Venician market that had fresh fish, fruits and veggies, venician glass jewlrey (they are known for their glass), and lots of vintage things. There was confetti all over from the kids celebrating carnival. We enjoyed out first gelato in Italy, which was definitely homemade and delicious! We continued to follow the sea of people and the streets became more touristy. Many people were dressed up or had masks on, so we got our faces painted so we fit it. We made it to St. Marks square which was utter chaos! It was so packed we could barely walk (everyone was there celebrating Carnival). There were lots of older couples dressed in very extravagent costumes and everyone was taking pictures with them. That night we went back to the smaller sqaure we were at earlier that day and there was a live band playing Italian regae music. The square was full people our age were singing along and celebrating.

Sun Feb 22: We got up pretty early the next morning to go to CInque Terre, the five towns on the coast. These towns were unreal. They were built into the mountain side and look right over the blue water. There are vineyards, orange and lemon groves, and olive trees everywhere. We stayed with an 11 person dorm style hostel, but met really cool people. We met three people from Australia that were really cool, and a couple from the US who were just out of college. We spent the next two evenings talking with the people in our hostel, so it was fun to hear their stories. This night, though, we wanted some Italian food, and since it was Sunday nothing was open, so we went to a cafe. We got some pasta, but realized that it was microwaved basically a frozem dinner. This was really disappointing and surprising at the same time.

Mon Feb 23: We hiked from the town we stayed in, Riomaggorie, to the last town, Monterosso. Part of the path was closed because of mud slides that hadn't been repaired, so we walked on a harder/longer path to get around this. For this reason and the fact that the signs were horrible and we got lost twice, part of the hike from one town to the next took 2 hours. We were so frustrated at the lack of signs, but other than that the day was awesome. The view was amazing, because basically we hiked along the side of the mountain overlooking the ocean. Sometimes we were hiking through the vineyeards or groves. It was surreal. The hiking itself was tough sometimes. After every town we'd have to walk up tons of stairs to get back up into the mountain, and then we'd have to decend into each town (and going down stairs I found to be even harder b/c you have to try not to fall on the rocks). The last two towns in the hike were my favorite. They had more to do...more restaurants and shops than the others. It would be great to come in the summer, but way too hot for the hike. We were so tired after that we went back to the hostel and relaxed the rest of the night. We also took advantage of the kitchen and made our own pasta since the night before had been such a disappointment.

Tues Feb 24: We took a train from Cinque Terre to Florence, but we stopped in Pisa on the way. We stopped to see the leaning tower, so it was a short stop. The tower was really pretty and Im not sure how its still standing at the angle. In Florence after we dropped our stuff off at the hostel we walked around at an outside market that was streets and street long. They're known for leather products, but there was also a ton of ties and "cashmiere" scarves. We also saw the Santa Maria Cathedral and the Dome of it that was designed by Brunelleschi. Even though it was Marti Gras, we didnt really see a ton of people celebrating, so we stayed in for the night. Earlier in the evening we did see little kids dressed up throwing confetti everywhere, so that was cute.

Wed. Feb 25: We went straight to the Uffizi, the art gallery that has paintings from Carvaggio, Botticelli, Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Durer. Many pieces I recognized from taking art history last year, but one really famous one was the Birth of Venus. We finished the Uffizi much faster than we thought, so we were also able to go to Academia where Michaelangelo's David is. I thought it'd be a little bigger than life size, but oh no! Its 17 feet tall according to wikipedia, and it was really impressive. I can't imagine how he sculpted a staue of that size without the technology and tools we have today! After this museum we wandered the streets for a while and found an indoor food market. It had delicious cheese and sausage samples I took advantage of. After having some great ravioli, we met up for our wine tasting tour. We took a bus to the country and got a tour of a castel that was once owned by the Pazzi and Medici families! The people that live there now operate the vineyards. We learned about the wine making process and about extra virgin olive oil (which is made there too). The "extra" means the acidity is under .08% and "virgin" means untouched (not first pressed), so there are no additives. We tasted three wines (two red and one white). The reds were both Chianti, which is the known wine from this region. We met three women from Texas who were so nice that they bought us each a bottle of the wine and a jar of jam as souvenirs! I was nice to get treated for once. They also suggested a restaurant that we went to that night. We met two more really friendly women from the US there who we chatted with all throughout dinner. We had more good Italian food that night, so we were pleased with our selection.

Thurs Feb 26: We arrived in Rome in the afternoon. We went to the Colloseum first. It was really awesome to see in person. Its crazy to know that its the size of a stadium. Right next to it was a park area with lots of ruins in it. We walked around there for a while. I actually thought this part was cooler because it was isolated and seemed as if they ruins had been left as they were. For example, along the path ways there was marble once in a while. I overheard a tour guide say that this marble was original to the palace that was here. In this park area there was also a stadium like area that had chariot races (another fun fact I learned by eaves dropping!). We were having great luck with the crowds not being too big, so the Collosuem didn't take very long. We then walked to the Spanish Steps. It seemed like this was the area to hang out at. There were so many people just sitting around and lots of teens lounging around. We returned to the hostel for free pasta that night and met two guys both named Matt. They're both older, like late twenties. One is from Canada and is studying, but hes taking a break to travel Europe. THe other is from Germany, and actually studied for a year at Clemson. He was in Rome working/studying to get his Phd in math. We talked with them for a while, and then we all decided to go out. We found a small Irish pub and hung out there for a little while. It was interesting to hear what they think of US politics, Obama, and other issues. I have to say, though, I'm sick of talking about politics. I'd rather talk about other cultural differences, but I still liked hearing their opinions.

Fri Feb 27: We got up and saw the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon in the morning. There was no one at either site, so it took faster than we thought. We grabbed lunch before heading into the Vatican because we were told the best time to go would be at lunch time. We only waited about 15 min to get through security, but It didn't seem like the crowd was too bad at any time. I can't even imagine going in the summer when everyone else goes! Seeing St. Peters with the columned walls around it was unreal. I didn't feel like I was actually at the Vatican. It was such a gorgous day outside, so they whole thing was awesome. We saw St. Peters first, and it was huge! We saw the popes' graves under the cathedral. I didn't know they were buried there, but most of their graves have metal or stone castings of them on top of their caskets. Next we went to the Vatican museums, which includes the Sistine Chapel. On the way, and the whole day really, we saw so many nuns. This isn't something I expected, but obivously it wasn't surprising. It was weird, though, seeing nuns just walking down the street with everyone else. The Vatican museum was full of art, both modern and old, and artifacts from the church and other random things (like there was an Egyptian part of the museum). Honestly it was hard to pay attention to the art leading up to the chapel because I was so excited to see the chapel itself. THe art on the chapel's wall was colorful and it seemed very well preserved. Some of the famous pieces that were there were The School of Athens by Raphael, and the Sistine's ceiling by Michaelangleo. I also learned about these in art history, so it was so awesome to be there and see them for myself. They're so much more impressive being their in person. I didn't want to leave the chapel because I couldn't stop staring at the ceiling. We returned to St. Peters because we realized the climb to the top of the dome was back there. Part of the way up to the top we were able to walk around the inside of the dome into the basilica. What we couldn't see from the bottom is that the dome is decorated with mosiac tiles. We were so high the people looked like ants. At the veyr top of the 500 some steps we could see all of Rome. The rest of the evening we hung out at the hostel with the two Matts. We got some olives and bread sticks at the store and snacked on those while talking about politics again...

Sat. Feb 28: We accomplished all of the major historical site that we wanted to see in Rome must faster than we thought we would, so Sat. we spent relaxing and walking around the city. In the morning we went to a cafe and got this drink they call hot chocolate but is thick and creamy. It tasted like hot chocolate pudding. We saw this everywhere in Italy, so we wanted to see what it was. They have tons of flavors and white chocolate ones too. We wandered into smaller streets that had vintage shops and less tourist. We ate at a restaurant which was by far the best. I had pesto linguini that was by far the best I've ever had, so we were definitely pleased with our selection. In my opinion Rome definitely has the best Italian food from the places I went. After lunch we walked along the river to an area that is less touristy called Treveste (I think). It had more unique shops and cute streets and restaurants. We walked through a food market there that had more cheese and sausage, but also goot mushroom pastes (a popular thing here) and olive oils. We then walked up some stairs to a great view of Rome. We relaxed in the grass for a little while and enjoyed the 60some degree weather. After walking back to our hostel we were tired from walked the past two days, so we stayed in and got all packed up for the next morning.

Sun March 1: Today was stressful trying to get back to Lux. We couldn't find the right bus that was supposed to take us the airport, but we found it with like 2 min. to spare. Luckily the flight went smoothly, but the kids and crazy Italians were so loud and I've never been on a more cramped plane. Everyone clapped when we landed, and apparently this is common for ryanair flights making fun of the quality of the airline. Another luck thing was that we got on a bus back to Lux an hour ealier that our reservation was. Its really nice to be back again, but I do miss Italy. I just need a break from the stress of traveling, but I dread school tomorrow! I can't believe its already March, but hopefully itll start to warm up. It was low 50s here today, so I was glad that I didn't have to come back to the freezing cold.

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Photos

Riomaggorie
the town we stayed in in Cinque Terre

with Mario
a man who has worked at the Castel since the 1950s