I am in Edinburgh Scotland staying at a fantastic hostel and thoroughly enjoying myself and relaxing.
Scotland is beautiful; cold; windy; but beautiful.
Travel in Europe when the dollar becomes better because the pound is NOT fun.
It does make conversion easier since it's 2 to 1.
I saw Munich/Dachau and Amsterdam...they were great. Nour took us to Keukenhof...it was a photographer's dream.
Today I saw an Ansel Adams photography exhibit that is on loan here in Scotland. It was fantastic.
Soon, it will be Dublin for 2 days and London for 3 nights and then...taking the last train to Clarksville. It's just so exciting.
Ciao!
The blog will be totally updated when I return home!!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
More free travel stories.
Last week, I gave you a rundown of my first couple of days of second free travel. I think I'll continue now.
Day 2 in Turkey. What a day! We got up and ate a fantastic breakfast (French Toast) at the hostel and then went out to the Hagia Sophia. This building was incredibly majestic. It kind of just looms over everything. It was built in 537 AD under the emperor Justinian and began as a church. In the 1400s, when the Turks took over the sultan requested that it be turned into a mosque. He wanted it done very quickly so because of this, care was not taken to make sure the art inside was preserved. Spires were added on and the beautiful Byzantine mosaics inside where also covered, and many were destroyed because of this. In the 1930s, it became a museum and when they were restoring and cleaning inside the church, they found remnants of mosaics all around the building.
This is one of the more in tact mosaics.
We spent at least two hours roaming around the floor and then the upper galleries of the building. It was definitely a sight to see.
After that, the boys went and did the Turkish bath thing and Libby and I wandered around Sultanhamet by ourselves. We went into one rug/ceramics/lamp store and started chatting with the owner about his family and his culture and his religion and all the traditions/rituals/rites associated with it. After about an hour or so, he asked us if Libby and I would like to sit down and have tea with the workers in the store. In Turkey, that is a HUGE deal - being invited to have tea with a Turk is a great sign of loyalty and friendship. So, of course we sat down and enjoyed apple tea served in a tulip shaped glass. What an experience!
We spent the evening journaling in a cafe near our hostel with tea and baklava. We met a couple there that were from Katy, Texas - were Church of Christ and live in the same area that my good friend Tyler Gentry from Harding does. It really is a small, small world.
Wednesday morning we woke up early and headed to the train station for 8:30 am train to Greece. Of course the trains in Turkey and Greece are never on time. And, a city as big as Istanbul the train station was tiny. We got on our train -- just hoping that we would eventually make it to Greece. We notice once we get on that we are 4 of the 5 passengers on the whole train - the rest (we were pretty sure) was cargo. There were more conductors than there were passengers! The 5th passenger was a Japanese guy named Ken - he very quickly became our friend. Nick, Tyler, Libby and I got into our compartment (that turned out to be a couchette) and we folded the beds down and we slept for a good three and a half or four hours. We woke up close to 1 because we knew that's when the train was supposed to get to Uzonkopru - the border town of Turkey - where we would switch trains to get across the border. We had a very narrow window within which to switch. Well, needless to say, the train was supposed to arrive at 1:15 and it was 1:05 and we were still a good 45 or 50 kms away.
When we woke up we heard voices in the compartment next to ours. They were American voices, Not Turkish voices. Lo and behold, the voices were coming from Coulter and Travis. They always appear out of nowhere.
Since we were running late, we figured we needed a plan. In order to make sure that all our trains worked and we would get to Greece by the next morning, we HAD to make that train at the border town so that we could get to Thessaloniki. Well, at the rate we were going we were going to have to RUN to catch the 2:03 train. Nick and Tyler decided that if we had to - we would cross the border on foot. (NOT SMART).
Anyhow, we were getting really close and Nick walked up to the conductor and said "Uzonkopru?" and kind of gave the "what" face and the conductor just chuckled, pointed out the window at something on the ground and yelled "TT!" It was a turtle. It didn't really matter though because we got to the town about 10 minutes later. We had our packs strapped on and we were waiting at the door when the conductor came out of his compartment and said, "Police! SIT!" (at the time, we thought he said Please, sit!) So, we sat, just as he told us to do.
Two very important looking uniformed men got onto the train and looked at us and said, "Why you have your bags on your back? Sit. Give us passports." Of course we couldn't refuse so we apprehensively handed over our passports. And, in some sort of broken English he told us to wait there and that he would go to the post office and copy our passports and he'd be back. "This train will take you to Pythion in Greece. Stay."
So, stay we did. We sat for a few minutes - 15, 20 - and got increasingly nervous because we could no longer see the man. Then, all of a sudden, our car started moving. We jumped up - screaming "PASSPORTS!!!!" And they stopped, reversed and pulled back into the station. At this moment, Ken was not happy either.
Still we sat and we saw an engine and some cargo cars go by. We got up to look around the car and realized that that was OUR engine that passed by. We were just a lone passenger car sitting on the tracks in Uzonkopru Turkey...with the Turkish police in control of our passports. Another 10 minutes go by and then BOOM! There's a very big jolt. Thankfully, it was just our engine reattaching itself. Not even 30 seconds later and the police got back on board and returned our passports, telling us we were good to go.
But no - we were NOT out of the woods yet.
We crossed over this bridge where there were Turkish flags painted on every beam and then all of a sudden they became Greek flags. And, of course we were hanging out and taking pictures of the border...because it was cool!
We stopped in Pythion and of course, we had to do another passport check since we were re-entering the EU. The Greek police got on, asked for our passports (we had just gotten them back!!) and then asked if we had taken pictures on the bridge. When we said yes, he asked to see our cameras and he deleted all of them. Obviously a breach of national security or something.
After another long and drawn our process we got our passports again. And, after many trials and tribulations including but not limited to: Pythion as a ghost town, again the only 7 people for miles, the supposed train station, the schedule posted was handwritten and getting on a bus not sure where it was going to take us but ending up in Alexanderopouli where we finally got a train...we arrived in Thessaloniki.
Here's the train schedule....hehe.
After a sleepless night on an overnight train, we arrived in Athens.
We found a cab and FINALLY made it to Porto Rafti.
We spent the day in town at the Plaka and climbed up to the Acropolis. It was incredible.
This is Libby and I in front of the Parthenon that is unfortunately covered in scaffolding.
We ate gyros and hung out in the city and then headed back to the HUG campus. The next day we slept in and hung out with our friends all day and then went to the Athens mall (I know.) and just visited and goofed off and it was great.
Saturday we took a ferry out to Aegina and rented four wheelers and tooled around the island all day. It was so deserted, but it was amazing. We ate lunch at this restaurant where the owner really catered to our every want and need because we were her only customers and after that we found a huge rock face and slept outside listening to our iPods by the sea for about two hours. So surreal.
The water sure was a pretty color.
We headed back Sunday evening by boat and ended up getting back to HUF around 7 or so Monday night.
And, thus ends second free travel.
It was a huge adventure.
Ciao!
Day 2 in Turkey. What a day! We got up and ate a fantastic breakfast (French Toast) at the hostel and then went out to the Hagia Sophia. This building was incredibly majestic. It kind of just looms over everything. It was built in 537 AD under the emperor Justinian and began as a church. In the 1400s, when the Turks took over the sultan requested that it be turned into a mosque. He wanted it done very quickly so because of this, care was not taken to make sure the art inside was preserved. Spires were added on and the beautiful Byzantine mosaics inside where also covered, and many were destroyed because of this. In the 1930s, it became a museum and when they were restoring and cleaning inside the church, they found remnants of mosaics all around the building.
This is one of the more in tact mosaics.
We spent at least two hours roaming around the floor and then the upper galleries of the building. It was definitely a sight to see.
After that, the boys went and did the Turkish bath thing and Libby and I wandered around Sultanhamet by ourselves. We went into one rug/ceramics/lamp store and started chatting with the owner about his family and his culture and his religion and all the traditions/rituals/rites associated with it. After about an hour or so, he asked us if Libby and I would like to sit down and have tea with the workers in the store. In Turkey, that is a HUGE deal - being invited to have tea with a Turk is a great sign of loyalty and friendship. So, of course we sat down and enjoyed apple tea served in a tulip shaped glass. What an experience!
We spent the evening journaling in a cafe near our hostel with tea and baklava. We met a couple there that were from Katy, Texas - were Church of Christ and live in the same area that my good friend Tyler Gentry from Harding does. It really is a small, small world.
Wednesday morning we woke up early and headed to the train station for 8:30 am train to Greece. Of course the trains in Turkey and Greece are never on time. And, a city as big as Istanbul the train station was tiny. We got on our train -- just hoping that we would eventually make it to Greece. We notice once we get on that we are 4 of the 5 passengers on the whole train - the rest (we were pretty sure) was cargo. There were more conductors than there were passengers! The 5th passenger was a Japanese guy named Ken - he very quickly became our friend. Nick, Tyler, Libby and I got into our compartment (that turned out to be a couchette) and we folded the beds down and we slept for a good three and a half or four hours. We woke up close to 1 because we knew that's when the train was supposed to get to Uzonkopru - the border town of Turkey - where we would switch trains to get across the border. We had a very narrow window within which to switch. Well, needless to say, the train was supposed to arrive at 1:15 and it was 1:05 and we were still a good 45 or 50 kms away.
When we woke up we heard voices in the compartment next to ours. They were American voices, Not Turkish voices. Lo and behold, the voices were coming from Coulter and Travis. They always appear out of nowhere.
Since we were running late, we figured we needed a plan. In order to make sure that all our trains worked and we would get to Greece by the next morning, we HAD to make that train at the border town so that we could get to Thessaloniki. Well, at the rate we were going we were going to have to RUN to catch the 2:03 train. Nick and Tyler decided that if we had to - we would cross the border on foot. (NOT SMART).
Anyhow, we were getting really close and Nick walked up to the conductor and said "Uzonkopru?" and kind of gave the "what" face and the conductor just chuckled, pointed out the window at something on the ground and yelled "TT!" It was a turtle. It didn't really matter though because we got to the town about 10 minutes later. We had our packs strapped on and we were waiting at the door when the conductor came out of his compartment and said, "Police! SIT!" (at the time, we thought he said Please, sit!) So, we sat, just as he told us to do.
Two very important looking uniformed men got onto the train and looked at us and said, "Why you have your bags on your back? Sit. Give us passports." Of course we couldn't refuse so we apprehensively handed over our passports. And, in some sort of broken English he told us to wait there and that he would go to the post office and copy our passports and he'd be back. "This train will take you to Pythion in Greece. Stay."
So, stay we did. We sat for a few minutes - 15, 20 - and got increasingly nervous because we could no longer see the man. Then, all of a sudden, our car started moving. We jumped up - screaming "PASSPORTS!!!!" And they stopped, reversed and pulled back into the station. At this moment, Ken was not happy either.
Still we sat and we saw an engine and some cargo cars go by. We got up to look around the car and realized that that was OUR engine that passed by. We were just a lone passenger car sitting on the tracks in Uzonkopru Turkey...with the Turkish police in control of our passports. Another 10 minutes go by and then BOOM! There's a very big jolt. Thankfully, it was just our engine reattaching itself. Not even 30 seconds later and the police got back on board and returned our passports, telling us we were good to go.
But no - we were NOT out of the woods yet.
We crossed over this bridge where there were Turkish flags painted on every beam and then all of a sudden they became Greek flags. And, of course we were hanging out and taking pictures of the border...because it was cool!
We stopped in Pythion and of course, we had to do another passport check since we were re-entering the EU. The Greek police got on, asked for our passports (we had just gotten them back!!) and then asked if we had taken pictures on the bridge. When we said yes, he asked to see our cameras and he deleted all of them. Obviously a breach of national security or something.
After another long and drawn our process we got our passports again. And, after many trials and tribulations including but not limited to: Pythion as a ghost town, again the only 7 people for miles, the supposed train station, the schedule posted was handwritten and getting on a bus not sure where it was going to take us but ending up in Alexanderopouli where we finally got a train...we arrived in Thessaloniki.
Here's the train schedule....hehe.
After a sleepless night on an overnight train, we arrived in Athens.
We found a cab and FINALLY made it to Porto Rafti.
We spent the day in town at the Plaka and climbed up to the Acropolis. It was incredible.
This is Libby and I in front of the Parthenon that is unfortunately covered in scaffolding.
We ate gyros and hung out in the city and then headed back to the HUG campus. The next day we slept in and hung out with our friends all day and then went to the Athens mall (I know.) and just visited and goofed off and it was great.
Saturday we took a ferry out to Aegina and rented four wheelers and tooled around the island all day. It was so deserted, but it was amazing. We ate lunch at this restaurant where the owner really catered to our every want and need because we were her only customers and after that we found a huge rock face and slept outside listening to our iPods by the sea for about two hours. So surreal.
The water sure was a pretty color.
We headed back Sunday evening by boat and ended up getting back to HUF around 7 or so Monday night.
And, thus ends second free travel.
It was a huge adventure.
Ciao!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Where did all my time go?
I'm really quite curious.
I returned home late Monday evening from...SECOND free travel. How did that even get here?
It seems like just moments ago that I would eat lunch with Tyler or I would go visit Leigh and Libby every night and we'd make plans for HUF...when really, it was SIX months ago. And, with each passing conversation, the four of us became more and more anxious and more and more excited about everything to come. It was during these times that we would entertain thoughts of places we (at that point) could only dream of seeing.
So many of our conversations revolved around the "what if we went here" question. We discussed many places, but one that we always seemed to return to was Istanbul. I can not explain the reasoning behind it - perhaps it's just the fascination of a culture so different from our own; perhaps it's the idea of going somewhere and doing something that has never been done before; maybe, maybe it was a little of both.
Therefore you can imagine my excitement when we finally pushed "send" to buy our plane ticket to Turkey. Of course, everything does not always go just exactyl as planned. And, thankfully the first kink came before we had even departed.
We had assumed that our 3:20 flight was departing from Rome at 3:20 pm --- but alas! The rest of the world (unfortunately) operates on a 24-hour clock. So - you know what that means, 3:20 really means 3:20 in the morning. Nevertheless, it turned out to be such a blessing in disguise.
We arrive in Istanbul around 6:30 last Monday morning. And, we could not have asked for a better trip to the city. We landed in Gokcen Airport which is on the Asian side of Turkey. Once we finally got our visas and they flipped through our passports about 100 times, we finally made it out of the airport. The moment we stepped on to Turkish ground it was obvious that we were in a world so completely unlike our own and even unlike our temporary home on Via Triozzi. After a long awful bus ride that took us from the Asian side of Turkey, over the Bosphorus and into the European side, we got to the metro.
We were so unsure of what to expect when coming to Turkey. Some told us to try to blend in as much as possible (Nick and I particularly...red and blond...) and others told us that it would be perfectly safe. I think we were definitely at least semi-apprehensive and worried about how we would be treated. Nevertheless, all of that was thrown out the window the moment we bought our first Istanbul metro ticket. The ticket worker gave us a look and then threw out his hands in a very welcoming way and said, "WELCOME! to the metro!" with a huge grin on his face. For me, it was then that I knew I must throw out all pre-conceived notions of the people, culture and city and begin to make my own story.
After we finally unpacked in the hostel and brushed our teeth, we headed out ready to explore. Of course lunch was first on our agenda since we hadn't eaten since we left the villa. We left our hostel - took a turn and walked two blocks and we were at the Blue Mosque in Sultanhamet square!
This is the Blue Mosque.
We were in such a fantastic location! We walked across the square to a place that had an indoor place for us to sit. They were serving pita sandwiches...cheap and very good! As we were enjoying our lunch, we all of a sudden heard some singing in Arabic coming from one of the towers outside the Blue Mosque - it was the call to prayer!! Years ago, the Imam used to climb these minarets (the spires in the photograph) at prayer time so the town would know when to pray. (Nour correct me if I'm wrong!) Now, because of technology they are just loud-speakers attached to them - but the Imam still is the one singing. It was really neat and moving.
We finished our lunches and walked on for a ways to the opposite corner of Sultanhamet so that we could go to Topkapi Palace and museum. Topkapi was the home of the sultan - so this place was ginormous for sure. We wandered around for awhile seeing all the main attractions: an EIGHTY-SIX (that's 8-6) carat diamond, Moses' staff (the real one...hehehe), David's sword, Joseph's turban AND Mohammad's beard. It was relic heaven.
We had plenty of time to kill after Topkapi so we went on over to the Blue Mosque. What a large, yet tranquil and beautiful place it was. Before you even entered you removed your shoes on the porch and put them into a bag. You walked down a covered wood walkway and went in through the side doors. It was unlike any place I had ever been. It was carpet inside with this beautiful oriental design. And, instead of being covered in icons inside, the walls and ceilings were instead plastered with intricate geometric designs.
This is just a shot of one of the ceilings/domes.
There was no unused space. Along the borders, before the roof started to dome there were verses of the Koran written. We watched as a little boy - maybe 7 or 8 - prayed with his father. It's so nice to be exposed to other cultures and religions and histories - broadening your world view and opening your mind only helps you understand those around you even better.
We ate dinner at a restaurant in that area after the mosque and then went back to the hostel to kind of wind down for the day -- so we could pack the next day full of adventures.
I have many more stories, all worth telling - many will be told.
But in installments.
Check back often.
Ciao!
I returned home late Monday evening from...SECOND free travel. How did that even get here?
It seems like just moments ago that I would eat lunch with Tyler or I would go visit Leigh and Libby every night and we'd make plans for HUF...when really, it was SIX months ago. And, with each passing conversation, the four of us became more and more anxious and more and more excited about everything to come. It was during these times that we would entertain thoughts of places we (at that point) could only dream of seeing.
So many of our conversations revolved around the "what if we went here" question. We discussed many places, but one that we always seemed to return to was Istanbul. I can not explain the reasoning behind it - perhaps it's just the fascination of a culture so different from our own; perhaps it's the idea of going somewhere and doing something that has never been done before; maybe, maybe it was a little of both.
Therefore you can imagine my excitement when we finally pushed "send" to buy our plane ticket to Turkey. Of course, everything does not always go just exactyl as planned. And, thankfully the first kink came before we had even departed.
We had assumed that our 3:20 flight was departing from Rome at 3:20 pm --- but alas! The rest of the world (unfortunately) operates on a 24-hour clock. So - you know what that means, 3:20 really means 3:20 in the morning. Nevertheless, it turned out to be such a blessing in disguise.
We arrive in Istanbul around 6:30 last Monday morning. And, we could not have asked for a better trip to the city. We landed in Gokcen Airport which is on the Asian side of Turkey. Once we finally got our visas and they flipped through our passports about 100 times, we finally made it out of the airport. The moment we stepped on to Turkish ground it was obvious that we were in a world so completely unlike our own and even unlike our temporary home on Via Triozzi. After a long awful bus ride that took us from the Asian side of Turkey, over the Bosphorus and into the European side, we got to the metro.
We were so unsure of what to expect when coming to Turkey. Some told us to try to blend in as much as possible (Nick and I particularly...red and blond...) and others told us that it would be perfectly safe. I think we were definitely at least semi-apprehensive and worried about how we would be treated. Nevertheless, all of that was thrown out the window the moment we bought our first Istanbul metro ticket. The ticket worker gave us a look and then threw out his hands in a very welcoming way and said, "WELCOME! to the metro!" with a huge grin on his face. For me, it was then that I knew I must throw out all pre-conceived notions of the people, culture and city and begin to make my own story.
After we finally unpacked in the hostel and brushed our teeth, we headed out ready to explore. Of course lunch was first on our agenda since we hadn't eaten since we left the villa. We left our hostel - took a turn and walked two blocks and we were at the Blue Mosque in Sultanhamet square!
This is the Blue Mosque.
We were in such a fantastic location! We walked across the square to a place that had an indoor place for us to sit. They were serving pita sandwiches...cheap and very good! As we were enjoying our lunch, we all of a sudden heard some singing in Arabic coming from one of the towers outside the Blue Mosque - it was the call to prayer!! Years ago, the Imam used to climb these minarets (the spires in the photograph) at prayer time so the town would know when to pray. (Nour correct me if I'm wrong!) Now, because of technology they are just loud-speakers attached to them - but the Imam still is the one singing. It was really neat and moving.
We finished our lunches and walked on for a ways to the opposite corner of Sultanhamet so that we could go to Topkapi Palace and museum. Topkapi was the home of the sultan - so this place was ginormous for sure. We wandered around for awhile seeing all the main attractions: an EIGHTY-SIX (that's 8-6) carat diamond, Moses' staff (the real one...hehehe), David's sword, Joseph's turban AND Mohammad's beard. It was relic heaven.
We had plenty of time to kill after Topkapi so we went on over to the Blue Mosque. What a large, yet tranquil and beautiful place it was. Before you even entered you removed your shoes on the porch and put them into a bag. You walked down a covered wood walkway and went in through the side doors. It was unlike any place I had ever been. It was carpet inside with this beautiful oriental design. And, instead of being covered in icons inside, the walls and ceilings were instead plastered with intricate geometric designs.
This is just a shot of one of the ceilings/domes.
There was no unused space. Along the borders, before the roof started to dome there were verses of the Koran written. We watched as a little boy - maybe 7 or 8 - prayed with his father. It's so nice to be exposed to other cultures and religions and histories - broadening your world view and opening your mind only helps you understand those around you even better.
We ate dinner at a restaurant in that area after the mosque and then went back to the hostel to kind of wind down for the day -- so we could pack the next day full of adventures.
I have many more stories, all worth telling - many will be told.
But in installments.
Check back often.
Ciao!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
la vita e bella.
Life is beautiful.
But, blogging is not easy.
It was so easy early on in the semester...
but now, it has become quite complicated.
I don't really have much time to sit down and breathe.
I'm going to make a list of things I must write about.
Pisa/Cinque Terre
Mom and Kelly (Yes, Kelly you will get your moment of fame)
School
Visitors
Florence stuff
Verdi's Requiem
Dr. Hopper
Photography scavenger hunt (tomorrow)
Upcoming free travel plans.
Thanks, I promise. As soon as I get a moment to breathe.
Happy Good Friday.
Ciao!
But, blogging is not easy.
It was so easy early on in the semester...
but now, it has become quite complicated.
I don't really have much time to sit down and breathe.
I'm going to make a list of things I must write about.
Pisa/Cinque Terre
Mom and Kelly (Yes, Kelly you will get your moment of fame)
School
Visitors
Florence stuff
Verdi's Requiem
Dr. Hopper
Photography scavenger hunt (tomorrow)
Upcoming free travel plans.
Thanks, I promise. As soon as I get a moment to breathe.
Happy Good Friday.
Ciao!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Free Travel #2.
The next day we got up and headed out to the Arc De Triomphe. It must be a rule in Paris that it will rain/drizzle for the first few hours of the day and then it will magically clear up. We climbed to the top of the Arc and FROZE!! It was quite windy! But, it was such an awesome view!
On top of the Arc.
We could see everywhere. The Grand Arch, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Couer, the Champs-Elysses, and the Louvre! We came down and wandered down the Champs-Elysses looking in all the windows and actually going in to some stores.
Nour and I stopped at a Swatch store where she bought a watch and Leigh and Libby went on to do their own thing for the afternoon. Nour and I were so happy that the weather had cleared so we took the Metro and headed up to MontMarte to see Moulin Rouge. Neat building, but definitely not much to see. We bought the obligatory postcard at the gift shop and then got nutella crepes and headed up to the top of the hill.
Once at the top, we could finally see Sacre Coer! It really is such a beautiful church. Nour pointed out that it almost has a 'mosque' style to it. It's white and has 5 or 6 domes with a lot of detail. We took the funicular up to the top, walked up some stairs and there we were standing at the entrance...completely amazed by the grandeur.
We turned around and once again we had a great view of the city. Finding the highest point in the cities we visit has become one of our most favorite things. You can see how the city is laid out, where the landmarks are, and get an overall feel for the architecture and the colors. We turned back towards the church and entered...for free! This church is kept as a place of 'perpetual prayer' and they don't charge you to get in. It was really one of the most beautiful places I have ever been into. There was just the right amount of stained glass! The color was amazing. Nour and I walked all the way around the aisles of the church on both sides and finally ended up seated in the pews. We couldn't help but just stare at the apse of the church and the mosaic that was done inside of it. It was so detailed and so perfect --- covered in gold and lapis l'azzura. Of course, you can't take photos in there – so, if you want to see it, you'll have to google it. But, we sat there for a good 10 or 15 minutes with our mouths hanging open.
The church.
We walked back down the hill, caught the metro and went back to the hotel to get Nour's stuff together so she could head back to Amsterdam. She left and I laid down to take a nap and not too long after L & L came in. We got out and went to Hard Rock of Paris. And, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had a fantastic waiter (who was fascinated by my being from Tennessee – he said he loved Jack Daniels...no lie!) and listened to good music and got American food.
As we were heading back to the hotel, L & L wanted to tell me what we were going to do the next day and they were so excited about telling me! (Sidenote: We were only going to stay in Paris 2 days, 2 nights...but we loved it so we decided to stay Wednesday night as well!)
They had been very intent on finding the Palais Garnier...which is one of the main opera houses in Paris. It is also the opera house that the book Phantom of the Opera was based on. There are stairs that look like the masquerade stairs...a chandelier that supposedly fell and killed someone and even water channels underneath the building!! They found the house and were told it was 4.50 to tour and see the inside of the auditorium but that they'd have to come back another day because there was a rehearsal in progress.
They deliberated for a few moments and the man at the ticket booth told them it would be only 7 euros a piece to buy opera tickets. So....they did! And surprised me.
Of course, for 7 euros, what can you expect?! Our tickets said “sans visibilite” on them – which they most definitely were...if you were sitting. We stood for the hour that we stayed :]
But, it was so worth it. We got to see the building and wander around inside before the show started...we got to see the inside of the auditorium...we got to see the chandelier and the Charles Shagall painting on the ceiling (which was Gorgeous). After about an hour or so we decided to leave. The opera (The Rake's Progress) was in English but it was just getting more ridiculous every minute...so we left when they brought out a man in a wolf head, a life sized plastic horse and a midget in a silver-sequined suit.
The chandelier.
I think we went and got cappucinoes and hot chocolate after that – but, I honestly can't really remember. We got our stuff packed and we were ready to get up at 6 to get to the train station by 7 the next morning so that we could go to Zurich and meet Tyler Jones, one of our fellow HUFers.
Oh, I forgot - we went to Versailles on Wednesday morning! It was SO cold outside in the garden. But, we're glad that we went. The grand apartments...the hall of mirrors...there was a huge collection of silver there as well!!
The gate into Versailles.
The Hall of Mirrors.
All's well. We make it to the station a little after seven...and we're in the line....the international ticket line...when, lo and behold we get up to the counter and we are informed that the 8:24 train to Zurich is full. And, that every subsequent train to Zurich for the DAY is full.
So, where on this Eurail map could we go? -Libby.
There were tons of people behind us in line, so we said – okay, we can handle this. Let's get breakfast, take out the time table and the map and figure out just where we can go. So, that we did. We sat at the cafe in the train station and kept pitching out ideas. “Heidelberg?” “London?” “Reims?” “Frankfurt?” “Bern?” “Innsbruck?” etc. Then, Leigh comes up with this crazy idea and says, “What if we get to Berlin and we see the wall and head back home on a night train...?!” Of course Libby and I were willing to go along with it – especially since we didn't have any real plans.
Leigh worked her magic, opened up the Thomas Cook Book and found a whole slew of trains that would take us to Berlin by ten. We'd have to wait for the 6 am train the next morning to get to Munich, but we knew we could occupy ourselves for six hours.
WRITE THESE TRAIN TIMES AND NUMBERS DOWN!!! -Leigh
We get to the ticket counter and the guy acts like the first train (to Frankfurt) was full and so Leigh looked at him and simply said, “Just give us a train ticket...a ticket to SOMEWHERE.” It was then that he looked back at his screen and realized that we could ride that train.
When we got to Frankfurt we were supposed to take a connected train (we arrived at 3:56) at 5:13 to get to Berlin. Nevertheless, we wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. So, once again we rushed to the ticket counter. And, by this time it's about 4 – the man at the counter said, “Oh, you can take the next train to Berlin – it leaves at 4:13.” We looked at eachother and had huge grins on our faces – so much for food, that could wait – we were going to be on a train that would arrive a lot earlier to Berlin...a train that would arrive at 8:20. That meant...
We could get a cab to drive around the city for 30 or 45 minutes – we could come back, grab a bite to eat and be on an OVERNIGHT TRAIN to Munich at 10:14 pm. Which would put us home in Florence at 5:30...instead of 11:45.
HALLELUJAH! This was working out perfectly. Getting to Berlin was a breeze – well, somewhat. Their seat reservation system was a little complicated, but once we figured it out we had it down. The German trains are so nice a spacious! We arrived in Berlin, rushed to the ticket counter (you see the recurring theme here I hope) and, once again – we were so blessed! There were 3 couchettes on the train to Munich for 2 hours later. Sigh. We were doing well.
We ran downstairs and tried to catch a cab. The first guy rolled down his window and Leigh said “Hello, we'd like ---” and he waved his hand at her and drove away. He did NOT like the English.
So, the next driver pulled up, got out took our bags and put them in the back and then asked us where we wanted to go.
We told him that we primarily just wanted to drive around this side of town and that we wanted to see the Berlin wall. He said, “I've got the perfect place to take you.” He took us to a huge section of the wall and proceeded to tell us about what life was like when he was young and living here before the wall fell. And he told us about the changes that occurred when it was brought down. How the East felt towards the West and vice versa. It was a short experience, but a moving one and a memorable one.
Needless to say, we made it back to Florence...walked quickly in hopes that bus 16 would be at the stop...and there it was...with 6 girls from our group there. It was a great reunion – they were happy to see us and we them.
We were sad about having to walk up the hill with our packs. But, Sandro (he is the villa do-everything-man) was driving by – saw the 9 of us and stopped and pointed to our bags and had us take them off to put in his car. He doesn't speak much English, but I think he understood how grateful we were the way we hugged him and kept saying, “Grazie mille!” in the most southern way.
And, thus ended my first real European adventure.
On top of the Arc.
We could see everywhere. The Grand Arch, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Couer, the Champs-Elysses, and the Louvre! We came down and wandered down the Champs-Elysses looking in all the windows and actually going in to some stores.
Nour and I stopped at a Swatch store where she bought a watch and Leigh and Libby went on to do their own thing for the afternoon. Nour and I were so happy that the weather had cleared so we took the Metro and headed up to MontMarte to see Moulin Rouge. Neat building, but definitely not much to see. We bought the obligatory postcard at the gift shop and then got nutella crepes and headed up to the top of the hill.
Once at the top, we could finally see Sacre Coer! It really is such a beautiful church. Nour pointed out that it almost has a 'mosque' style to it. It's white and has 5 or 6 domes with a lot of detail. We took the funicular up to the top, walked up some stairs and there we were standing at the entrance...completely amazed by the grandeur.
We turned around and once again we had a great view of the city. Finding the highest point in the cities we visit has become one of our most favorite things. You can see how the city is laid out, where the landmarks are, and get an overall feel for the architecture and the colors. We turned back towards the church and entered...for free! This church is kept as a place of 'perpetual prayer' and they don't charge you to get in. It was really one of the most beautiful places I have ever been into. There was just the right amount of stained glass! The color was amazing. Nour and I walked all the way around the aisles of the church on both sides and finally ended up seated in the pews. We couldn't help but just stare at the apse of the church and the mosaic that was done inside of it. It was so detailed and so perfect --- covered in gold and lapis l'azzura. Of course, you can't take photos in there – so, if you want to see it, you'll have to google it. But, we sat there for a good 10 or 15 minutes with our mouths hanging open.
The church.
We walked back down the hill, caught the metro and went back to the hotel to get Nour's stuff together so she could head back to Amsterdam. She left and I laid down to take a nap and not too long after L & L came in. We got out and went to Hard Rock of Paris. And, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had a fantastic waiter (who was fascinated by my being from Tennessee – he said he loved Jack Daniels...no lie!) and listened to good music and got American food.
As we were heading back to the hotel, L & L wanted to tell me what we were going to do the next day and they were so excited about telling me! (Sidenote: We were only going to stay in Paris 2 days, 2 nights...but we loved it so we decided to stay Wednesday night as well!)
They had been very intent on finding the Palais Garnier...which is one of the main opera houses in Paris. It is also the opera house that the book Phantom of the Opera was based on. There are stairs that look like the masquerade stairs...a chandelier that supposedly fell and killed someone and even water channels underneath the building!! They found the house and were told it was 4.50 to tour and see the inside of the auditorium but that they'd have to come back another day because there was a rehearsal in progress.
They deliberated for a few moments and the man at the ticket booth told them it would be only 7 euros a piece to buy opera tickets. So....they did! And surprised me.
Of course, for 7 euros, what can you expect?! Our tickets said “sans visibilite” on them – which they most definitely were...if you were sitting. We stood for the hour that we stayed :]
But, it was so worth it. We got to see the building and wander around inside before the show started...we got to see the inside of the auditorium...we got to see the chandelier and the Charles Shagall painting on the ceiling (which was Gorgeous). After about an hour or so we decided to leave. The opera (The Rake's Progress) was in English but it was just getting more ridiculous every minute...so we left when they brought out a man in a wolf head, a life sized plastic horse and a midget in a silver-sequined suit.
The chandelier.
I think we went and got cappucinoes and hot chocolate after that – but, I honestly can't really remember. We got our stuff packed and we were ready to get up at 6 to get to the train station by 7 the next morning so that we could go to Zurich and meet Tyler Jones, one of our fellow HUFers.
Oh, I forgot - we went to Versailles on Wednesday morning! It was SO cold outside in the garden. But, we're glad that we went. The grand apartments...the hall of mirrors...there was a huge collection of silver there as well!!
The gate into Versailles.
The Hall of Mirrors.
All's well. We make it to the station a little after seven...and we're in the line....the international ticket line...when, lo and behold we get up to the counter and we are informed that the 8:24 train to Zurich is full. And, that every subsequent train to Zurich for the DAY is full.
So, where on this Eurail map could we go? -Libby.
There were tons of people behind us in line, so we said – okay, we can handle this. Let's get breakfast, take out the time table and the map and figure out just where we can go. So, that we did. We sat at the cafe in the train station and kept pitching out ideas. “Heidelberg?” “London?” “Reims?” “Frankfurt?” “Bern?” “Innsbruck?” etc. Then, Leigh comes up with this crazy idea and says, “What if we get to Berlin and we see the wall and head back home on a night train...?!” Of course Libby and I were willing to go along with it – especially since we didn't have any real plans.
Leigh worked her magic, opened up the Thomas Cook Book and found a whole slew of trains that would take us to Berlin by ten. We'd have to wait for the 6 am train the next morning to get to Munich, but we knew we could occupy ourselves for six hours.
WRITE THESE TRAIN TIMES AND NUMBERS DOWN!!! -Leigh
We get to the ticket counter and the guy acts like the first train (to Frankfurt) was full and so Leigh looked at him and simply said, “Just give us a train ticket...a ticket to SOMEWHERE.” It was then that he looked back at his screen and realized that we could ride that train.
When we got to Frankfurt we were supposed to take a connected train (we arrived at 3:56) at 5:13 to get to Berlin. Nevertheless, we wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. So, once again we rushed to the ticket counter. And, by this time it's about 4 – the man at the counter said, “Oh, you can take the next train to Berlin – it leaves at 4:13.” We looked at eachother and had huge grins on our faces – so much for food, that could wait – we were going to be on a train that would arrive a lot earlier to Berlin...a train that would arrive at 8:20. That meant...
We could get a cab to drive around the city for 30 or 45 minutes – we could come back, grab a bite to eat and be on an OVERNIGHT TRAIN to Munich at 10:14 pm. Which would put us home in Florence at 5:30...instead of 11:45.
HALLELUJAH! This was working out perfectly. Getting to Berlin was a breeze – well, somewhat. Their seat reservation system was a little complicated, but once we figured it out we had it down. The German trains are so nice a spacious! We arrived in Berlin, rushed to the ticket counter (you see the recurring theme here I hope) and, once again – we were so blessed! There were 3 couchettes on the train to Munich for 2 hours later. Sigh. We were doing well.
We ran downstairs and tried to catch a cab. The first guy rolled down his window and Leigh said “Hello, we'd like ---” and he waved his hand at her and drove away. He did NOT like the English.
So, the next driver pulled up, got out took our bags and put them in the back and then asked us where we wanted to go.
We told him that we primarily just wanted to drive around this side of town and that we wanted to see the Berlin wall. He said, “I've got the perfect place to take you.” He took us to a huge section of the wall and proceeded to tell us about what life was like when he was young and living here before the wall fell. And he told us about the changes that occurred when it was brought down. How the East felt towards the West and vice versa. It was a short experience, but a moving one and a memorable one.
Needless to say, we made it back to Florence...walked quickly in hopes that bus 16 would be at the stop...and there it was...with 6 girls from our group there. It was a great reunion – they were happy to see us and we them.
We were sad about having to walk up the hill with our packs. But, Sandro (he is the villa do-everything-man) was driving by – saw the 9 of us and stopped and pointed to our bags and had us take them off to put in his car. He doesn't speak much English, but I think he understood how grateful we were the way we hugged him and kept saying, “Grazie mille!” in the most southern way.
And, thus ended my first real European adventure.
Friday, March 14, 2008
First Free Travel #1.
It's been a while. It's been a long, long while.
It all began Friday, February the 29th.
Everyone took off for free travel after lunch and Leigh, Tyler and I were left in the villa alone with just Mona Lee and Dr. Garner and Riccardo. Libby's mom was still here, so we were going to take a train back to Rome with her the next afternoon and catch a flight to Barcelona.
So, the villa was ours for the taking for the next 18 – 20 hours or so. Leigh and I were dying to make chocolate chip cookies or brownies or some American dessert. So Riccardo asked the ladies after lunch if we could use the kitchen that night and they just seemed more than happy to let us do so. The three of us went to the Coop and bought ingredients (according to Riccardo's mom) and headed back to the villa. We ended up eating dinner at Gallo's with the Garner's and Nick who was not leaving til 11:30 pm. When we got back to the villa we took over the kitchen and the baking began!
We had lots of fun trying to figure out how to light a humongous gas stove...how to keep the brownies from burning...finding pans...etc. They did turn out quite awesome.
Saturday Leigh, Libby and I took a train (with Libby's mom) into Rome where we parted ways and the 3 of us headed out to the smaller Rome airport to catch our flight to Barcelona.
We were only a little skeptical of RyanAir not losing our bags – so, when we landed in Barcelona and saw our bags come off the plane we did a little dance. So far so good. We made it to town and after being defeated by the automated ticket machines for the metro we decided a taxi might be best. Always a great idea.
That taxi took us straight to our fantastic hostel (Mambo Tango Youth Hostel...I would recommend it!) We got set up in the room and cleaned up a bit and got out to eat dinner. In Barcelona, people do not start eating until about 10 pm at night a lot of times! It was crazy. We ate and then took a walk around the 5 or 6 blocks closest to our hostel and even on down to the pier. Seemed pretty lively, almost a little too lively at times.
Sunday morning we woke up and went down to the pier again and sat outside the aquarium waiting for Kati, Coulter, Sara and Nick whom we had made plans with before the villa. We all went into the aquarium together – supposedly the largest in Europe – and learned not to believe (once again) everything you read on the internet. Shortly thereafter we roamed around some more (story of our lives) and then ate lunch.
Nick got this grand idea to order something as an appetizer that he had NO clue what it was. Actually, I think he thought it was calimari – which would've been fine. It would've been fried. But...no. He actually ordered small octopi. Small marinated practically alive octopi. It was really gross looking. We finished the oh-so-appealing lunch and walked to La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia was designed by Antonio Gaudi and construction began in 1882. To this day, it is stilll being built. Projected date of completion is 2025 or 2030!! But, the church is very famous and very beautiful in an almost dark way. It looks like a drip sand castle or like it's made of melting wax! It was very neat. Gaudi's creations gave us our word and definition of “gaudy”. Following the church we made our way up to the top of the city to Park Guell – also a place that he designed.
In the park you can find a fantastic panoramic view of the city from above :] This is where the longest park bench in the world is located! Gaudi designed a whole pavilion area and the caretaker's house and animals and staircases --- and had them made all out of mosaics of broken ceramics. Therefore, the whole area is very colorful and picturesque.
The group around the mosaic lizard.
I forgot to throw this in – that morning, we woke up super early and found the train station in hopes that we could buy tickets for Sunday night for an overnight train to Paris. We were very blessed and got tickets. Now, back to the story.
We found the Starbucks in Barcelona and felt like we were walking into America. We parted ways with the other group when we left there and we headed out to our train. We slept very little, but made it to Paris the next morning. We got off of our train thinking that the hotel was not going to be that far away – so we would just walk. And, honestly, it wasn't that far away.
But, we got outside and it was raining and we took a route that went WAY out of the way to get there. Needless to say, an hour and a half after our train pulled into the station we were walking up to to our hotel doors. Nour met us soon thereafter and the 4 of us set out for the Louvre.
We broke up into pairs and decided to meet back in the afternoon so we could visit Notre Dame together. Nour and I spent a couple of hours in the Louvre. I think we could've spent 2 or 3 days there actually! But, it was set up so well and very worth it to visit. I saw all of the things that I wanted to see. Plus, in the great hall of paintings outside the room that the Mona Lisa is in I got to see tons of Italian painters – ones I have been studying while here in Florence. I really felt as though I appreciated the art work because I knew the artists and I knew the time periods – and I for one of the first times in my life enjoyed looking at all the gothic and Renaissance art. After the Louvre, Nour and I found a place to eat and we ended up getting Nutella Crepes at the end :] What a great creation!!!!
Nour and I at the Louvre.
We met up with L & L at Notre Dame – we went in at a great time because the sun was hitting the stained glass on one side of the building just right – it was very brilliant.
Such a neat church – I almost thought that the back of the church was more beautiful than the front. We spent a while in the gardens and then found Saint-Chappelle on the map and headed there.
Saint-Chappelle is a gemstone (literally almost) that is sort of 'off the beaten path' in Paris. It's almost completely hidden by the palace of Justice. However, you pay a small fee to enter and you go up some stairs and once you get to the top you are in a room with 3 walls of stained glass – WALLS. It was so overwhelming and so beautiful!! The sun was sinking even lower then so it made the colors very vibrant. I would recommend going there for anyone who heads to Paris. I will definitely go back if I return to Paris.
Part of one of the walls in Saint-Chappelle.
This play-by-play is getting a little exhausting...but I know I'll want to have it when I'm years past some day...so, ONWARD.
We ended up heading back to the hotel and cleaning up and eating a nice dinner in the Bastille area. We were going to go up the Eiffel Tower, all 4 of us together, but L & L decided they didn't want to do it in the mist. Nevertheless, Nour was only going to be there for that one night so she and I headed out there. We got to the top. Were told that the elevator was closed for us to come down and it really wasn't and then we made it back to the hotel a little after midnight.
More later.
Ciao!
It all began Friday, February the 29th.
Everyone took off for free travel after lunch and Leigh, Tyler and I were left in the villa alone with just Mona Lee and Dr. Garner and Riccardo. Libby's mom was still here, so we were going to take a train back to Rome with her the next afternoon and catch a flight to Barcelona.
So, the villa was ours for the taking for the next 18 – 20 hours or so. Leigh and I were dying to make chocolate chip cookies or brownies or some American dessert. So Riccardo asked the ladies after lunch if we could use the kitchen that night and they just seemed more than happy to let us do so. The three of us went to the Coop and bought ingredients (according to Riccardo's mom) and headed back to the villa. We ended up eating dinner at Gallo's with the Garner's and Nick who was not leaving til 11:30 pm. When we got back to the villa we took over the kitchen and the baking began!
We had lots of fun trying to figure out how to light a humongous gas stove...how to keep the brownies from burning...finding pans...etc. They did turn out quite awesome.
Saturday Leigh, Libby and I took a train (with Libby's mom) into Rome where we parted ways and the 3 of us headed out to the smaller Rome airport to catch our flight to Barcelona.
We were only a little skeptical of RyanAir not losing our bags – so, when we landed in Barcelona and saw our bags come off the plane we did a little dance. So far so good. We made it to town and after being defeated by the automated ticket machines for the metro we decided a taxi might be best. Always a great idea.
That taxi took us straight to our fantastic hostel (Mambo Tango Youth Hostel...I would recommend it!) We got set up in the room and cleaned up a bit and got out to eat dinner. In Barcelona, people do not start eating until about 10 pm at night a lot of times! It was crazy. We ate and then took a walk around the 5 or 6 blocks closest to our hostel and even on down to the pier. Seemed pretty lively, almost a little too lively at times.
Sunday morning we woke up and went down to the pier again and sat outside the aquarium waiting for Kati, Coulter, Sara and Nick whom we had made plans with before the villa. We all went into the aquarium together – supposedly the largest in Europe – and learned not to believe (once again) everything you read on the internet. Shortly thereafter we roamed around some more (story of our lives) and then ate lunch.
Nick got this grand idea to order something as an appetizer that he had NO clue what it was. Actually, I think he thought it was calimari – which would've been fine. It would've been fried. But...no. He actually ordered small octopi. Small marinated practically alive octopi. It was really gross looking. We finished the oh-so-appealing lunch and walked to La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia was designed by Antonio Gaudi and construction began in 1882. To this day, it is stilll being built. Projected date of completion is 2025 or 2030!! But, the church is very famous and very beautiful in an almost dark way. It looks like a drip sand castle or like it's made of melting wax! It was very neat. Gaudi's creations gave us our word and definition of “gaudy”. Following the church we made our way up to the top of the city to Park Guell – also a place that he designed.
In the park you can find a fantastic panoramic view of the city from above :] This is where the longest park bench in the world is located! Gaudi designed a whole pavilion area and the caretaker's house and animals and staircases --- and had them made all out of mosaics of broken ceramics. Therefore, the whole area is very colorful and picturesque.
The group around the mosaic lizard.
I forgot to throw this in – that morning, we woke up super early and found the train station in hopes that we could buy tickets for Sunday night for an overnight train to Paris. We were very blessed and got tickets. Now, back to the story.
We found the Starbucks in Barcelona and felt like we were walking into America. We parted ways with the other group when we left there and we headed out to our train. We slept very little, but made it to Paris the next morning. We got off of our train thinking that the hotel was not going to be that far away – so we would just walk. And, honestly, it wasn't that far away.
But, we got outside and it was raining and we took a route that went WAY out of the way to get there. Needless to say, an hour and a half after our train pulled into the station we were walking up to to our hotel doors. Nour met us soon thereafter and the 4 of us set out for the Louvre.
We broke up into pairs and decided to meet back in the afternoon so we could visit Notre Dame together. Nour and I spent a couple of hours in the Louvre. I think we could've spent 2 or 3 days there actually! But, it was set up so well and very worth it to visit. I saw all of the things that I wanted to see. Plus, in the great hall of paintings outside the room that the Mona Lisa is in I got to see tons of Italian painters – ones I have been studying while here in Florence. I really felt as though I appreciated the art work because I knew the artists and I knew the time periods – and I for one of the first times in my life enjoyed looking at all the gothic and Renaissance art. After the Louvre, Nour and I found a place to eat and we ended up getting Nutella Crepes at the end :] What a great creation!!!!
Nour and I at the Louvre.
We met up with L & L at Notre Dame – we went in at a great time because the sun was hitting the stained glass on one side of the building just right – it was very brilliant.
Such a neat church – I almost thought that the back of the church was more beautiful than the front. We spent a while in the gardens and then found Saint-Chappelle on the map and headed there.
Saint-Chappelle is a gemstone (literally almost) that is sort of 'off the beaten path' in Paris. It's almost completely hidden by the palace of Justice. However, you pay a small fee to enter and you go up some stairs and once you get to the top you are in a room with 3 walls of stained glass – WALLS. It was so overwhelming and so beautiful!! The sun was sinking even lower then so it made the colors very vibrant. I would recommend going there for anyone who heads to Paris. I will definitely go back if I return to Paris.
Part of one of the walls in Saint-Chappelle.
This play-by-play is getting a little exhausting...but I know I'll want to have it when I'm years past some day...so, ONWARD.
We ended up heading back to the hotel and cleaning up and eating a nice dinner in the Bastille area. We were going to go up the Eiffel Tower, all 4 of us together, but L & L decided they didn't want to do it in the mist. Nevertheless, Nour was only going to be there for that one night so she and I headed out there. We got to the top. Were told that the elevator was closed for us to come down and it really wasn't and then we made it back to the hotel a little after midnight.
More later.
Ciao!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
i made it back to the villa.
Somehow.
Barcelona, Paris, Versailles, Berlin.
7 days.
I have tons of stories and pictures.
I am in the hotel room in Florence with Mom and Kelly right now.
It's nice.
Big update soon.
Look for it!
Ciao!
Barcelona, Paris, Versailles, Berlin.
7 days.
I have tons of stories and pictures.
I am in the hotel room in Florence with Mom and Kelly right now.
It's nice.
Big update soon.
Look for it!
Ciao!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
past few days.
We spend the day at the Galleria degli Uffizi on Wednesday (Gallery of the Offices). It was pretty fantastic. The Uffizi were the offices of the Medici family...boy did they run Florence and Italy in general!!
The gallery is divided up in chronological order starting with art from the Middle Ages and ending with Raphael and the culmination of the Renaissance.
I got to see paintings by Giotto, Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli (THE BIRTH OF VENUS IS AWESOME), Michelangelo (the only painting he ever did is in the Uffizi; he did tons of frescoes, but only one painting), Raphael and Caravaggio. I've seen a lot of art since I've been here and I've gotten tired of it, but I really didn't get tired of it that day. It was nice to see the highlights and I really feel as though I'm appreciating the art more. Much better than Art Appreciation at HU.
Dr. Garner's son Ben got here today - Mona Lee stood at the window at 12 pm today with her binoculars watching for him to come in. He got here a little before 2 and she absolutely lit up. (I also received a great hug from Mrs. Brenda through him!) We all went out to Gallo's tonight (the people that were left, them, me, tyler, Leigh, Riccardo and Nick). Gallo's still has the best pizza hands down.
After dinner we rode back to the villa and we made brownies...we bought ingredients at the grocery store this afternoon and Riccardo got his mom's brownie recipe and we all baked and they were SO good. Leigh and I also made trail mix and Ritz crackers with peanut butter (we opened it today!)...I think we ate more of the crackers and peanut butter than actually got saved.
We are leaving for Rome in the morning and then flying to Barcelona.
Over the next week we'll be in Spain, France and Switzerland. I'm pretty excited. The weather is supposed to be at least semi-okay everywhere. My bag is packed and I have tons of room. I'm really learning how to stuff things into every crevice.
PS: Mom, those vacuum seal bags were the best thing I brought to Huf.
Until next time - hope I get to all my destinations at the right times! AHH.
CIAO!
The gallery is divided up in chronological order starting with art from the Middle Ages and ending with Raphael and the culmination of the Renaissance.
I got to see paintings by Giotto, Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli (THE BIRTH OF VENUS IS AWESOME), Michelangelo (the only painting he ever did is in the Uffizi; he did tons of frescoes, but only one painting), Raphael and Caravaggio. I've seen a lot of art since I've been here and I've gotten tired of it, but I really didn't get tired of it that day. It was nice to see the highlights and I really feel as though I'm appreciating the art more. Much better than Art Appreciation at HU.
Dr. Garner's son Ben got here today - Mona Lee stood at the window at 12 pm today with her binoculars watching for him to come in. He got here a little before 2 and she absolutely lit up. (I also received a great hug from Mrs. Brenda through him!) We all went out to Gallo's tonight (the people that were left, them, me, tyler, Leigh, Riccardo and Nick). Gallo's still has the best pizza hands down.
After dinner we rode back to the villa and we made brownies...we bought ingredients at the grocery store this afternoon and Riccardo got his mom's brownie recipe and we all baked and they were SO good. Leigh and I also made trail mix and Ritz crackers with peanut butter (we opened it today!)...I think we ate more of the crackers and peanut butter than actually got saved.
We are leaving for Rome in the morning and then flying to Barcelona.
Over the next week we'll be in Spain, France and Switzerland. I'm pretty excited. The weather is supposed to be at least semi-okay everywhere. My bag is packed and I have tons of room. I'm really learning how to stuff things into every crevice.
PS: Mom, those vacuum seal bags were the best thing I brought to Huf.
Until next time - hope I get to all my destinations at the right times! AHH.
CIAO!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Southern Tour - part 3.
Where did I leave off?
Oh yes, the Greek Temples at Agrigento.
That was such a long day.
We ate lunch at like 11 that morning (which is really early for Italy) and then didn't eat dinner til after 8!! We were famished.
Our dinner was a lot of fun though - and it was roasted chicken breast...I had just said earlier in the day how much I would love to have that for dinner! After dinner we decided to spy on this guy and this girl that have started dating; so we tailed them for about 30 minutes...and then couldn't find them. Amy, Libby, Tyler, Nick, Riccardo and I ended up wondering through the olive groves and ended up back at one of the temples...apparently we weren't supposed to be there and the guard made us leave. Whatever!
I think I'm on Friday. I know that everyone really enjoys my play-by-play.
We took a bus to Monreale and went to some church that had a lot of Byzantine artwork inside -- mosaics with lots of gold on the ceiling. We climbed to the top (which wasn't very tall) and ate our lunch overlooking the town of Monreale; it was pretty gloomy. This guy stood up there for a while as we ate our lunch and didn't say much but just seemed to be observing us. This will come into play later.
We left Monreale and traveled to Palermo...home of the Godfather! We visited the Cappucin Church (google it, it's creepy) and saw the Teatro Massimo (a very expensive theater; 3rd Godfather is filmed partly on these steps. Palermo was nothing too special. We got on a boat at the port around 8 pm. It was a big boat! It had 8 or 9 decks. I had never been on such a boat.
It was not as cool as a cruise liner or anything - but it was definitely cush for one night on the sea. We ate a huge dinner and then sat in the bar (Italian cafe) til about 11 just visiting and listening to Mona and Riccardo tell funny stories about using the wrong phrases/words in their second language. Slept real NICE and docked in Naples around 6 am. I slept much better on the boat than I did on that stinkin' train! The rocking of the water rocked me to sleep.
Regardless of how well we slept on the boat we were still tired. So, when it came time for our 2 hour bus tour of Naples --- I think pretty much every one slept. We got off the bus and went into the Naples Nazionale Arcaheological Museum - and it was FREEZING. I don't know why these museums think that they can't have heat. The floors are marble, the walls are marble, the ceilings are marble, the old stuff is marble - heat will not hurt it!!!
We saw a ton of things. But, the highlights were the bronzes that were uncovered in a villa in Herculaneum (destroyed by Vesuvius) and all the mosaics recovered from homes and businesses in Pompei. I understand now why Dr. Warren did not take us there when we came to Italy my senior year; there was some pretty graphic stuff going on in Pompei. We went down to the ground level and saw a ton of ginormous sculptures from monoliths. I like sculptures. I think they are quite impressive.
We went onward to Pompei. I really can't describe this to you. It was huge - really a very big city and at least 1/3 of it (it may be 2/3s I can't remember) lies covered still. Walls, roads and mosaics were still in tact and in many buildings there were still frescoes on the walls. Vesuvius really did preserve the town well.
Pictures?
This was the most beautiful thing in Pompei; It was so well preserved. This is a fresco in one of the most affluent villas in Pompei.
Captured in the last moments.
We took a train to Sorrento from Pompei and headed to our hotel. It was a creepy hotel. It was built into the side of the hill. You walked in on the top floor and had to walk DOWN to get to your room. The lights flickered a lot when they came on...it was just creepy. We ate dinner at a pizzeria and the food was AWESOME. The atmosphere? Well, it was creepy too. That whole night was creepy. No more details. Basically we needed the ghostbusters though!!
We had gelato at this world famous place called PrimaVera. The owner of the gelateria has made dessert for the Pope before! In the square of Sorrento he had made a chocolate Ferrari! And, there was a brand new Ferrari on display. It was very nice. Brett said, "That is the sexiest thing I have ever seen" in reference to that car. It was humorous.
Sunday...(this trip is SO LONG!!!) We took a ferry to Capri where we got on a boat and took a boat tour together around the island for about 2 hours (we all got a little pink in the face). While on the boat tour we got in little row boats and went into the Blue Grotto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Grotto) where the Roman Emperors (specifically Tiberius) used to swim when they were at their villas on Capri. The boat ride was really wonderful...and Robbie, who is wonderful, ended up paying for all of us. He's a nice guy.
Roaming around Capri was nice and relaxing. Really February isn't a great time to go to these resort towns because nothing is really open. But, we also went to Villa San Michele which was owned by Axel Munthe (a Swede) and he lived there until 1949 and now it has been turned into a museum because he collected so many historical artifacts and preserved them in his house so well.
We took the ferry back to Sorrento and walked back to the hotel after we went and saw the HUGE Ferrari exhibit in the square that night. Not only was there at least 1 brand new one - there were 7 or 8 cars that were less than 5 years old and one that was a Ferrari Classic. It was pretty neat.
We ate dinner in the restaurant in the hotel and members of the church in Naples came and ate with us as well. We had a nice devotional afterwards. I love how every time we worship with the Italians we sing in Italian and in English..and I love singing "Ti amo con l'amour di Gesu" (I love you with the love of the Lord) because we know that one and it's nice to sing in their language too. One of the Neapolitan guys did a magic show for us afterwards. It really made me miss Mr. Geoffrey and all his AWESOME magic tricks!
Got up early the next morning; packed our bags and locked them up in a room and took a bus to Positano. I'm not sure why. It was a pretty boring place. We sat at a bar for probably 2 hours. I did get some awesome hot chocolate. I realized, that if you order cioccolato con panna you get it with whipped cream --- so it's not quite as bitter as just cioccolato caldo (hot chocolate).
Trained home and...well, here I am.
We didn't have class til 2 this afternoon - which allowed everyone to sleep in and recover. Semi.
I'm still pretty tired.
My mom called today; My Uncle Pat died. He's technically my great-uncle, but for the past couple of years I've stayed with them a bunch of times when I've gone to Memphis to visit Jonathan and we always visited them when I was a kid. But, I've really formed a relationship with them the past couple of years. He got really sick right before I left (he had colon/lung cancer the past 4 years) and I went to visit him in the hospital when I was visiting before HUF. I like to think that he knew I was there when I did visit him - but, I'm so glad that I did get to see him that one last time. My heart hurts a lot because I feel so far away from home - and I can't be there to give my Aunt Dorothy a hug or my grandmother either --- I just can't be there. If I was at Harding I could be there right this minute to take care of my Aunt. But, I know that my cousins are there and that everything is okay, but it still really makes me homesick.
Sigh. Those were 3 epic posts. But, I think I'm caught up.
Ciao!!
Oh yes, the Greek Temples at Agrigento.
That was such a long day.
We ate lunch at like 11 that morning (which is really early for Italy) and then didn't eat dinner til after 8!! We were famished.
Our dinner was a lot of fun though - and it was roasted chicken breast...I had just said earlier in the day how much I would love to have that for dinner! After dinner we decided to spy on this guy and this girl that have started dating; so we tailed them for about 30 minutes...and then couldn't find them. Amy, Libby, Tyler, Nick, Riccardo and I ended up wondering through the olive groves and ended up back at one of the temples...apparently we weren't supposed to be there and the guard made us leave. Whatever!
I think I'm on Friday. I know that everyone really enjoys my play-by-play.
We took a bus to Monreale and went to some church that had a lot of Byzantine artwork inside -- mosaics with lots of gold on the ceiling. We climbed to the top (which wasn't very tall) and ate our lunch overlooking the town of Monreale; it was pretty gloomy. This guy stood up there for a while as we ate our lunch and didn't say much but just seemed to be observing us. This will come into play later.
We left Monreale and traveled to Palermo...home of the Godfather! We visited the Cappucin Church (google it, it's creepy) and saw the Teatro Massimo (a very expensive theater; 3rd Godfather is filmed partly on these steps. Palermo was nothing too special. We got on a boat at the port around 8 pm. It was a big boat! It had 8 or 9 decks. I had never been on such a boat.
It was not as cool as a cruise liner or anything - but it was definitely cush for one night on the sea. We ate a huge dinner and then sat in the bar (Italian cafe) til about 11 just visiting and listening to Mona and Riccardo tell funny stories about using the wrong phrases/words in their second language. Slept real NICE and docked in Naples around 6 am. I slept much better on the boat than I did on that stinkin' train! The rocking of the water rocked me to sleep.
Regardless of how well we slept on the boat we were still tired. So, when it came time for our 2 hour bus tour of Naples --- I think pretty much every one slept. We got off the bus and went into the Naples Nazionale Arcaheological Museum - and it was FREEZING. I don't know why these museums think that they can't have heat. The floors are marble, the walls are marble, the ceilings are marble, the old stuff is marble - heat will not hurt it!!!
We saw a ton of things. But, the highlights were the bronzes that were uncovered in a villa in Herculaneum (destroyed by Vesuvius) and all the mosaics recovered from homes and businesses in Pompei. I understand now why Dr. Warren did not take us there when we came to Italy my senior year; there was some pretty graphic stuff going on in Pompei. We went down to the ground level and saw a ton of ginormous sculptures from monoliths. I like sculptures. I think they are quite impressive.
We went onward to Pompei. I really can't describe this to you. It was huge - really a very big city and at least 1/3 of it (it may be 2/3s I can't remember) lies covered still. Walls, roads and mosaics were still in tact and in many buildings there were still frescoes on the walls. Vesuvius really did preserve the town well.
Pictures?
This was the most beautiful thing in Pompei; It was so well preserved. This is a fresco in one of the most affluent villas in Pompei.
Captured in the last moments.
We took a train to Sorrento from Pompei and headed to our hotel. It was a creepy hotel. It was built into the side of the hill. You walked in on the top floor and had to walk DOWN to get to your room. The lights flickered a lot when they came on...it was just creepy. We ate dinner at a pizzeria and the food was AWESOME. The atmosphere? Well, it was creepy too. That whole night was creepy. No more details. Basically we needed the ghostbusters though!!
We had gelato at this world famous place called PrimaVera. The owner of the gelateria has made dessert for the Pope before! In the square of Sorrento he had made a chocolate Ferrari! And, there was a brand new Ferrari on display. It was very nice. Brett said, "That is the sexiest thing I have ever seen" in reference to that car. It was humorous.
Sunday...(this trip is SO LONG!!!) We took a ferry to Capri where we got on a boat and took a boat tour together around the island for about 2 hours (we all got a little pink in the face). While on the boat tour we got in little row boats and went into the Blue Grotto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Grotto) where the Roman Emperors (specifically Tiberius) used to swim when they were at their villas on Capri. The boat ride was really wonderful...and Robbie, who is wonderful, ended up paying for all of us. He's a nice guy.
Roaming around Capri was nice and relaxing. Really February isn't a great time to go to these resort towns because nothing is really open. But, we also went to Villa San Michele which was owned by Axel Munthe (a Swede) and he lived there until 1949 and now it has been turned into a museum because he collected so many historical artifacts and preserved them in his house so well.
We took the ferry back to Sorrento and walked back to the hotel after we went and saw the HUGE Ferrari exhibit in the square that night. Not only was there at least 1 brand new one - there were 7 or 8 cars that were less than 5 years old and one that was a Ferrari Classic. It was pretty neat.
We ate dinner in the restaurant in the hotel and members of the church in Naples came and ate with us as well. We had a nice devotional afterwards. I love how every time we worship with the Italians we sing in Italian and in English..and I love singing "Ti amo con l'amour di Gesu" (I love you with the love of the Lord) because we know that one and it's nice to sing in their language too. One of the Neapolitan guys did a magic show for us afterwards. It really made me miss Mr. Geoffrey and all his AWESOME magic tricks!
Got up early the next morning; packed our bags and locked them up in a room and took a bus to Positano. I'm not sure why. It was a pretty boring place. We sat at a bar for probably 2 hours. I did get some awesome hot chocolate. I realized, that if you order cioccolato con panna you get it with whipped cream --- so it's not quite as bitter as just cioccolato caldo (hot chocolate).
Trained home and...well, here I am.
We didn't have class til 2 this afternoon - which allowed everyone to sleep in and recover. Semi.
I'm still pretty tired.
My mom called today; My Uncle Pat died. He's technically my great-uncle, but for the past couple of years I've stayed with them a bunch of times when I've gone to Memphis to visit Jonathan and we always visited them when I was a kid. But, I've really formed a relationship with them the past couple of years. He got really sick right before I left (he had colon/lung cancer the past 4 years) and I went to visit him in the hospital when I was visiting before HUF. I like to think that he knew I was there when I did visit him - but, I'm so glad that I did get to see him that one last time. My heart hurts a lot because I feel so far away from home - and I can't be there to give my Aunt Dorothy a hug or my grandmother either --- I just can't be there. If I was at Harding I could be there right this minute to take care of my Aunt. But, I know that my cousins are there and that everything is okay, but it still really makes me homesick.
Sigh. Those were 3 epic posts. But, I think I'm caught up.
Ciao!!
Southern Tour - part 2.
It was so nice to be able to go on this trip - it was such a nice mix of planned activities and free time to let the group relax.
When I last left off, I had conquered a castle.
Wednesday morning we woke up and we had a free day. I slept until about 8:45 and I was going to get up and take a shower --- however, I woke up and found out that there was no water. The workers had turned it off without warning so that they could fix the heat. So, I went down to the restaurant and ate breakfast with everyone else who was in shambles because we couldn't get water! Finally, around 10 the water came back on and I took a nice long HOT shower because it had been so cold while I was sleeping.
I went down to the store right next door to the hotel and bought a sandwich and some water and went and sat on the terrace of the hotel with Amy, Nick and Tyler. Coulter came out and had his swim suit on and pointed to a cliff and told us he was going to go jump off of it.
We decided to go down to the beach so we could get a better view. Well, we chose the perfect moment to go down to the water! When we got down there a bunch of people from our group were in a boat and yelling for us to jump in! So, we paid 5 Euros each for an AWESOME boat tour of the grottoes and the coast of the town we were on. And, what made it even better was the music selection (it was probably like, Now 8 or something -- Genie in a Bottle, Britney Spears, Boyz 2 Men -- it was awesome). We were dancing and laughing and had a fantastic time!!
We had a photo shoot on the boat because JT looked like a Polo or Nautica model. It was pretty humorous.
After that we watched Ellie jump off the cliff that Coulter jumped off of - she was so brave! That night we went to one of the most depressing places ever; Catania. It was so dark and dreary. All the buildings were made out of lava rock so they were gray and dingy looking...but they supposedly were not really dirty.
We ate with the church members there and then had a devotional. After that, they did some traditional Sicilian dances for us. It was a blast!
These are some of the dancers and their pretty skirts.
Thursday morning we got up pretty early and left for Agrigento.
We stopped at some ancient villa on the way there. I liked it so much that I couldn't take pictures I was just so moved (not).
Agrigento is on the southern coast of Sicily. It was controlled by the Greeks and the Romans at different times. But, there are several pretty SWEET Greek temples left in ruins there. Such as this one.
Okay I must leave again for a bazillion hours of class.
More to come.
Ciao!
When I last left off, I had conquered a castle.
Wednesday morning we woke up and we had a free day. I slept until about 8:45 and I was going to get up and take a shower --- however, I woke up and found out that there was no water. The workers had turned it off without warning so that they could fix the heat. So, I went down to the restaurant and ate breakfast with everyone else who was in shambles because we couldn't get water! Finally, around 10 the water came back on and I took a nice long HOT shower because it had been so cold while I was sleeping.
I went down to the store right next door to the hotel and bought a sandwich and some water and went and sat on the terrace of the hotel with Amy, Nick and Tyler. Coulter came out and had his swim suit on and pointed to a cliff and told us he was going to go jump off of it.
We decided to go down to the beach so we could get a better view. Well, we chose the perfect moment to go down to the water! When we got down there a bunch of people from our group were in a boat and yelling for us to jump in! So, we paid 5 Euros each for an AWESOME boat tour of the grottoes and the coast of the town we were on. And, what made it even better was the music selection (it was probably like, Now 8 or something -- Genie in a Bottle, Britney Spears, Boyz 2 Men -- it was awesome). We were dancing and laughing and had a fantastic time!!
We had a photo shoot on the boat because JT looked like a Polo or Nautica model. It was pretty humorous.
After that we watched Ellie jump off the cliff that Coulter jumped off of - she was so brave! That night we went to one of the most depressing places ever; Catania. It was so dark and dreary. All the buildings were made out of lava rock so they were gray and dingy looking...but they supposedly were not really dirty.
We ate with the church members there and then had a devotional. After that, they did some traditional Sicilian dances for us. It was a blast!
These are some of the dancers and their pretty skirts.
Thursday morning we got up pretty early and left for Agrigento.
We stopped at some ancient villa on the way there. I liked it so much that I couldn't take pictures I was just so moved (not).
Agrigento is on the southern coast of Sicily. It was controlled by the Greeks and the Romans at different times. But, there are several pretty SWEET Greek temples left in ruins there. Such as this one.
Okay I must leave again for a bazillion hours of class.
More to come.
Ciao!
Southern Italy Tour - part 1.
What a trip! I'm not sure where to even begin my story - but I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning.
Another epic-ly long post is about to happen. But don't worry, this was an epic trip so it is definitely warranted.
Our trip began last Monday (the 18th) around 9 pm when our train pulled out of one of the smaller stations here in Florence. It was our first experience with a "couchette" (koo-chet) -- aka an overnight train car with 6 people to a tiny compartment. Let me just say - it was a little (a lot) creepy. Nevertheless, our entire group was in one car (for the most part) and most everyone had just our people in their compartments. I was lucky enough to be in a room with 5 other girls. So, I took dramamine - we shut and double locked the door and attempted to sleep on this long train ride to Reggio Calabria.
Sleeping was overrated; I tried not to think about how fast the train was going and how since I was on the middle bunk I would fly out if we stopped to quickly...but, we arrived in Calabria safely the next morning...around 6 am. If I had only known the long day that was about to happen!
We got onto a bus and rode into town and stopped at a bar for cappucinos (or hot chocolate) and pastries -- this seems to be the first thing we do...anywhere really. We dawdled around waiting for the Archaeological museum to open. Finally it did and well, let's just say I don't remember much about it except the notes I took during class. We did see the Riace bronzes though -- they are 2 of 4 or 5 bronzes still in tact in the world. They are free-standing (also amazing). They were cool I suppose.
We left the museum, got on a bus, the bus got on a ferry and we took a ferry across the Straits of Messina to Taormina, Sicily. We checked into our Really nice hotel only to find out that there was no heat (a pipe busted and they failed to let Robbie know) in any of the rooms. All the rooms were tile -- so, needless to say I slept in 2 pairs of socks, stretchy pants, three shirts, my fleece jacket and my scarf that night. Thankfully it was semi-fixed the next day.
We met up and took bus up the 'mountain' where the town was actually located (our hotel was about 2 flights of stairs above the shoreline, so to get 'up' to the town would've been a long walk!). And, we visited an ancient Greco-Roman theater. Mona-Lee wanted to take a picture of our entire group sitting in the amphitheater; so we all walked up and scrunched together so she could snap the picture. While we were up there, Robbie yelled "Mona-Lee, sing something! Let's hear the acoustics!!" Now, Mona-Lee is a piano teacher and she majored in vocal (I think) in college and she does have a beautiful voice. She got embarrassed but once we started chanting her name she began to sing. Funny, but right before she started to sing a group of Italians had walked in and sat on the opposite side of the theater. They started cheering when she finished and yelling "Encore!!" - unfortunately, she blushed even more and refused to sing another note.
We were given free time that evening to eat together and explore the town. So, Amy, Coulter, Tyler, Nick, Riccardo and I saw this old castle situated on the highest point of this mountain (it was called a mountain, I promise!) and decided that would be the perfect place to watch the sunset. So, we made the trek up the hill -- hundreds of stairs...I promise! And finally made it to a flat point where we could see every little town and the Mediterranean and Mt. Etna. We could see the castle up above, but we realized it was locked so we pretty much gave up and decided to watch the sunset from there. However...all of a sudden we heard someone yell at us and we turned around and! There was Brett, standing ON TOP of the castle and waving his arms. He, JT, Nathan and Travis had hiked up from that point and climbed the walls and got in. As they were moving to the gate (we had hiked up this far by then) they realized that they had actually broken in because there was a huge lock on the gate. But, that didn't stop us.
We climbed the wall (yes, I climbed an old rock castle wall) and got to the top of the castle and the 10 of us watched the sun set. It was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen.
I will leave you with a few pictures because I must go eat breakfast and begin a project; however, there is much more to tell - so check back often!
This is the sun setting behind a smoking Mount Etna (still active volcano!)
Sometime today I'll figure out how to rotate this. After we conquered the castle.
Ciao!
Another epic-ly long post is about to happen. But don't worry, this was an epic trip so it is definitely warranted.
Our trip began last Monday (the 18th) around 9 pm when our train pulled out of one of the smaller stations here in Florence. It was our first experience with a "couchette" (koo-chet) -- aka an overnight train car with 6 people to a tiny compartment. Let me just say - it was a little (a lot) creepy. Nevertheless, our entire group was in one car (for the most part) and most everyone had just our people in their compartments. I was lucky enough to be in a room with 5 other girls. So, I took dramamine - we shut and double locked the door and attempted to sleep on this long train ride to Reggio Calabria.
Sleeping was overrated; I tried not to think about how fast the train was going and how since I was on the middle bunk I would fly out if we stopped to quickly...but, we arrived in Calabria safely the next morning...around 6 am. If I had only known the long day that was about to happen!
We got onto a bus and rode into town and stopped at a bar for cappucinos (or hot chocolate) and pastries -- this seems to be the first thing we do...anywhere really. We dawdled around waiting for the Archaeological museum to open. Finally it did and well, let's just say I don't remember much about it except the notes I took during class. We did see the Riace bronzes though -- they are 2 of 4 or 5 bronzes still in tact in the world. They are free-standing (also amazing). They were cool I suppose.
We left the museum, got on a bus, the bus got on a ferry and we took a ferry across the Straits of Messina to Taormina, Sicily. We checked into our Really nice hotel only to find out that there was no heat (a pipe busted and they failed to let Robbie know) in any of the rooms. All the rooms were tile -- so, needless to say I slept in 2 pairs of socks, stretchy pants, three shirts, my fleece jacket and my scarf that night. Thankfully it was semi-fixed the next day.
We met up and took bus up the 'mountain' where the town was actually located (our hotel was about 2 flights of stairs above the shoreline, so to get 'up' to the town would've been a long walk!). And, we visited an ancient Greco-Roman theater. Mona-Lee wanted to take a picture of our entire group sitting in the amphitheater; so we all walked up and scrunched together so she could snap the picture. While we were up there, Robbie yelled "Mona-Lee, sing something! Let's hear the acoustics!!" Now, Mona-Lee is a piano teacher and she majored in vocal (I think) in college and she does have a beautiful voice. She got embarrassed but once we started chanting her name she began to sing. Funny, but right before she started to sing a group of Italians had walked in and sat on the opposite side of the theater. They started cheering when she finished and yelling "Encore!!" - unfortunately, she blushed even more and refused to sing another note.
We were given free time that evening to eat together and explore the town. So, Amy, Coulter, Tyler, Nick, Riccardo and I saw this old castle situated on the highest point of this mountain (it was called a mountain, I promise!) and decided that would be the perfect place to watch the sunset. So, we made the trek up the hill -- hundreds of stairs...I promise! And finally made it to a flat point where we could see every little town and the Mediterranean and Mt. Etna. We could see the castle up above, but we realized it was locked so we pretty much gave up and decided to watch the sunset from there. However...all of a sudden we heard someone yell at us and we turned around and! There was Brett, standing ON TOP of the castle and waving his arms. He, JT, Nathan and Travis had hiked up from that point and climbed the walls and got in. As they were moving to the gate (we had hiked up this far by then) they realized that they had actually broken in because there was a huge lock on the gate. But, that didn't stop us.
We climbed the wall (yes, I climbed an old rock castle wall) and got to the top of the castle and the 10 of us watched the sun set. It was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen.
I will leave you with a few pictures because I must go eat breakfast and begin a project; however, there is much more to tell - so check back often!
This is the sun setting behind a smoking Mount Etna (still active volcano!)
Sometime today I'll figure out how to rotate this. After we conquered the castle.
Ciao!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
canoli anyone?
I am in Sicily - I have been here since the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
Tuesday evening I watched the sunset from a high point in Taormina - but, the sun went down behind mount Etna...so it was definitely beautiful.
I took a boat on Wednesday with a group of friends around the coves there and we went into the caves along the shore....we were in the Mediterranean.
We are in Agrigento today - which used to be a Greek colony so there are lots of Greek temples.
Tomorrow we go to Palermo.
Then take a bus to Napoli (Naples) then onward to Sorrento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast.
I don't know when I'll have internet again...but I'll be back in the villa Monday evening for sure :]
Ciao!
Tuesday evening I watched the sunset from a high point in Taormina - but, the sun went down behind mount Etna...so it was definitely beautiful.
I took a boat on Wednesday with a group of friends around the coves there and we went into the caves along the shore....we were in the Mediterranean.
We are in Agrigento today - which used to be a Greek colony so there are lots of Greek temples.
Tomorrow we go to Palermo.
Then take a bus to Napoli (Naples) then onward to Sorrento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast.
I don't know when I'll have internet again...but I'll be back in the villa Monday evening for sure :]
Ciao!
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