So I realize that I must be the worst blogger in the face of the earth. As the hassle and chaos of school starts to take over my schedule, blogging quickly took the backseat. School has been harder than I was expecting and on top of everything else I have had roommate issues that have reached some new levels of crazy. As far as traveling, I have been many places since the last time I wrote. I will try to break it down as short but descriptive as I can. As my girl would say I am giving it to you “straight no chaser”.
Btw, I am going to for now on start trying to give each city I go to one word that describes it. If you have read Eat Pray Love you will know what I am talking about. I feel that it is a good way for you to understand the attitude and atmosphere of the places I have been. Rome’s word is obviously SEX. Rome is just a sexy city. The buildings are sexy, the people’s attitudes are sexy, all the men think about it sex.
Padua, Verona, Venice
This was the first school lead trip I had taken. I went with my girl slash roommate Crystal (aka Barbie). We took a bus to our hotel which was in Padua, a small city that was just West of Venice and Verona. It was a cute town but not much to explore. When we got off the bus we were automatically rushed into a tour of the city. We got done and had a two hour break until dinner. Me and Barbie decided our time would best be spent shopping since there wasn’t much to do. This lead to the purchase of an AMAZING pair of boots that I fell in love with, great day. Later that night we had dinner at a local restaurant with a three course meal. The first course was pasta that had a light colored sauce with chicken and turkey in it. It was delicious. Next we had pork with cute buttered potatoes that are shaped like triangles. Tiramisu was of course for desert… and I of course didn’t eat it.
The next day we took a train to Venice. While I loved Venice, beautiful city, the weather was the worst you could ask for. Right off the bus we were put on a tour of the city. At first it didn’t seem that bad but the more time we spent outside the colder it seemed. Two hours later we still had another tour scheduled. By that my feet were so cold they had gone painfully numb, it seemed the only thing I could concentrate on was how cold I was. I found myself ducking into nearby shops just to warm up. It was a couple weeks until carnival (what we consider Mardi Gras in the states) and masks were everywhere. The masks for the majority of the stores were handmade in Venice and they were amazing. Lunch and free time lead to exploring which lead to getting lost. With only 20 minutes to make it back and a route that was supposedly 30 we put our power walking to the test. Barbie found that she had to run ahead to get a head start to keep up with me. We did make it on time and headed back to Padua. Venice’s word is Murky. The following day we checked out of our hotel and took our bus to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet lived. We did tours that showed us where they were believed to have lived and outside Juliet’s house there was a statue of her, which it is believed that if you touch her breast you will have good luck with love. I didn’t touch her dirty boob, I don’t want her help. I didn’t care too much for Verona. I have two theories for this: One, it was right before Valentine’s Day so everyone felt the need to decorate in red… good way to get my distaste and two, because the whole city was like a gooey post card. Just wasn’t a city for me. The word for Verona is Love.
Barcelona
The next trip that we took was for Barcelona, Spain for my birthday. Me and my roommates left on Thursday night and got in close to 2am. Our hostel was outside of the center of the city but it was only 3 minutes from the Metro, so it made our commute very simple. On Friday we woke up early and went down to look around. Two of my roommates have an addiction to shopping so we spend the day in and out of the stores. That night after we ate dinner, we went back to drop off our bags and get ready. When we were going upstairs to change we hear American music being blasted, two boys were pre-gaming. One who lived there permanently worked for HP and was from Germany. The other was visiting him and was from Austria. We started conversation and they found out shortly that my birthday was Saturday. When the clock struck 12 we all cheered with a bottle of champagne that they opened for the occasion. As a group we then decided that we would go to the disco (club) together.
The next day we got a later start than we wanted or expected to. Never the less we headed out to see some of the sites that Spain had to offer. We finished off the afternoon by going to a fancy dinner in honor of my birthday. We all ordered paella, a traditional Spanish dish with sea food and rice. We then followed dinner by buying some sangria, also something Spain is known for. The servers were adorable when they came over trying to sing happy birthday to me in English, they also brought me a crème Brule on the house. That night we headed out to the popular street that was suppose to contain all the clubs and bars. We found a couple places to entertain us with, one of which my two roommates met two French men who no joke, were in love with sex. They were funny to say the least. I definitely would love to go back to Spain, the atmosphere was very different. It was a beach town and felt very relaxed but you could tell that the people still knew how to get down. I feel that cities such as Madrid would also provide a different cultural feel that could be greatly appreciated. I loved how they performed in the streets and everyone seemed friendly. My roommate said Spain made her feel at home, it was definitely more Americanized than Rome is. Barcelona’s word is jocund.
Naples, Capri, Sorrento
We began this trip on a rough start. Running late when we arrived at the train station Termini we could not find our train listed anywhere. With 10 till departure we begin to ask some polizia, where they informed us that there are TWO train stations and we were not in the correct one. We spent about an hour traveling back and forth trying to find where and what we could do with our tickets. Finally we got on a 1037 train heading to Naples. Upon arriving we decided that we were starving and wanted to see out the Pizzeria de Michele which was the same one in Eat Pray Love in addition the one that Julia Roberts ate at for the movies. Her picture was in fact on the wall. We got there early enough to beat the crowds, and the workers were wonderful. After pizza we decided to get some gelato from the place that was also mentioned in the book. After completing that we decided to head to the porto to depart for Capri. Naples isn’t much to look at sadly; the mafia has designated it as the “trash” disposal city. The whole town is covered in trash and is covered in graffiti. Naples word is Trash.
We took a ferry to Capri, when we pulled up I was struck by the beauty. It is hard to explain what it is like to be there, but it was probably one of the prettiest places I have ever been. We took a bus to the top of the cliffs and headed on an adventure to find our hostel. The owner met us halfway down the road to show us exactly what house it was. The view of the hostel was amazing. You could see the whole city. That afternoon we went walking around in Anticapri. The island basically consists of two “villages”: Anticapri and Capri. After we saw what there was to see in Anticapri we stopped for dinner, where I tried Meloncello for the first time. Now Lemoncello is very common in Italy. It is a shot that is made from lemons sugar and vodka. It is usually very sour but delicious, most people sip on it. Meloncello was even better, the perfect combination of alcohol and sweet melon juice. This was a Capri made drink. The next day we first went to do the chair lift that took you to the highest point on the island. While it was cold outside, the beauty of the scenery made that irrelevant. After we made our way down to Capri where we stumbled upon a trail that takes you down to the rocky edge of the water. A 300 meter climb back up seemed like torture but it was worth it. We left for Sorrento that afternoon. Capri’s word is bellissima.
Finally we spent the last night in Sorrento, an Amalfi coast city. While there wasn’t much to see touristic wise, it was a pretty city to spend time in. I don’t have many stories for Sorrento for we spent the majority of the time wandering around looking at shops and the sites such as the well in which was consider the most fertile place for ferns. The well was several meters below normal level and was covered in green. It was interesting to say the least. Sorrento’s word is Charming.
Siena
Siena is a small city in Tuscany. This was a day trip that we took through the school. We met in Piazza Trilussa at 6am. From there we took a bus and headed north. Upon arriving, we began our tour of the city. The guide was very interesting and easy to tune into. She explained that Siena was home of the oldest bank in the world. She proceeded to tell us that the entire city pretty much revolved around the bank. They have a saying “you either work at the bank, you use to work at the bank, or are waiting until you get to work at the bank”. This famous bank was located right next to this very strange building that had random heads… yeah there was no significance to the heads? Why would someone do that! It is just creepy if you ask me. We visited one of “the most beautiful churches” according to the guide. The inside was covered in black and white marble and the floor had designs and pictures embedded into the floor. In had a second portion to it that was supposed to be finished to make it in the shape of a cross from above. The buildings that were supposed to become the walls were not strong enough to withstand the weight of the roof so they left it undone. Finally we ended our tour at Piazza del Campo, their famous Piazza in the center of the city. It was not a normal piazza because it wasn’t in fact square. Instead it was shaped like a sea shell. The flat part of the “shell” was where the tower that held about 500 stairs to get you to the top to the highest point. I wouldn’t mind going back to Siena, it word is an Italian word of tranquillo. Florence
Florence was another day trip to the Tuscany area. This was again a school lead trip that I signed up for. Cities such as Florence and Siena seem so small in comparison to Roma. We began our tour with a basilica that is famous for it contained several tombs. We then continued on to see the sites of the city including the piazza with all the statues of the Mythical gods and heroes. When we got our free time we decided to check out the open air markets that were selling genuine leather made locally. Upon looking at the different carts we ran into two different characters. One was selling purses right outside the restaurant we had lunch at. He started up conversation telling one of my friends he wanted to marry her and other shenanigans. Then he proceeds to ask me to take my glasses off so he could see my eyes (I had my aviators on). He then asked his friend “what do you think” as he stood next to me his friend is like “like your sister” haha he did not think this was an acceptable answer. “I am trying to get with her and you tell me she looks like my sister!” haha they were crazy. So then we start heading down the road a bit and we run into a stand selling wine and pasta. In this selection of items there was a label with “sexy pasta” on it and a bag full of…. Well you can see from the picture, only in Europe. Then the guy who was at the shop begins talking to us and again asks me if he can see my eyes. I ask him why and he says that “the eyes make the whole thing come together, that I could have Chinese eyes under there and it would change the appearance of me”. I took my glasses off and told me how beautiful my eyes are. Then as we were talking he shares that he is helping out a friend and that this booth wasn’t his. He owned a leather purse and jacket booth down the way. I laughed and said I think I know your friends. The greatest part was that he did in fact work with the original guy at that same booth. Great friends think a like I suppose! In addition I do want to mention that there is a bore that they say if you put a coin in his mouth and rub his nose you will have good luck and one day return to Florence. I am hoping that is true, good luck is always a good thing. Florence words are “sexy pasta”. Bringing it back home
Ok I am wrapping it up I am back in Rome until next week when I begin my adventure for spring break. I am planning on going to Istanbul, Sofia, Budapest, Prague, and a day trip to Munich. I am super excited. I spend a lot of my free time wondering around Roma hoping to stumble upon something I haven’t seen before. I have also ventured off to the bar district call Testaccio along with some pub crawls at the local bars close to my residencies. I am sure I have had funny stories in these encounters but none that come to mind. I guess that is what happens when you don’t write them down right away. Until next time… hopefully it won’t take me another two months….. Ciao bella! 