The Canterbury Tales

Well, do I have some tales for you all. It was a great week on getting caught up on some stuff, but now I am back in the swing of things. The Saturday I got back from break, I developed this terrible cold that I am still getting over, but it could have been worse.

On Tuesday, we had the option of going and seeing the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It is one of the leading orchestras in Britain, and they were absolutely fantastic! It would have been so much better if I hadn't been suppressing a cough and my running nose all night, but it still was beautiful. I really got a kick out of the people not playing...percussion section was not used too often, and they leaned back in their chairs, arms folded over chests, and looked so bored out of their minds. Also, the pianist that played for a bit was amazing, and his hair flop was even better! He got so into the song, and his hair was just the right length to keep flipping as he played. So funny. I was so relaxed the entire time we were at the concert, and I loved every second of it!

After class on Thursday I headed to the Imperial War Museum. This was a required assignment for class, and I'm very glad it was. I went by myself to really take it all in. I didn't go into a lot of the exhibits because many of them are meant for younger children, but I did see the Trench Experience. The museum built a trench similar to what it would have been like during WWI. It actually smelled in the tiny, dark space as well. It was very creepy, and I can't imagine what it really would have been like sunken to the knees in mud with even horrible smells and pests. "Going over the top" was definitely a phrase that meant it was likely you weren't coming back. It would have been more realistic if there hadn't been little kids screaming behind me, but what can you do?

Next, I went into the Crimes Against Humanity exhibit which was more than a little gruesome. I sat and watched the video for over a half hour wondering how the world got it so wrong. We promised "never again" after the Holocaust, and then the world just stands by and watches other terrifying genocides take place. It just doesn't seem right. It was disturbing but in an eye opening kind of way. In almost all of the exhibits, the United States is scarcely mentioned which is actually refreshing. It seems like we are so influential that other countries don't talk about anything else...it's nice to know that they have their own history without America interfering. And, it was so interesting to see it from a European point of view. They were the ones actually experiencing the World Wars. Yes, we were involved, but it wasn't on our soil, so it effected Europe much more greatly.

The final exhibit that I visited was definitely the most emotional: The Holocaust. Mark had warned us that this could be emotional and that it might take awhile to get through. I wasn't as emotional as I thought I would be, but it still was shocking. They had a scale model of Auschwitz on display...it took up most of the room, and then I looked down, and it was only about an eighth of the entire complex on display. I knew Auschwitz was massive, but I still had trouble believing that something that large was built, just to kill humans. It makes you lose faith in humankind. The pictures and stories of those who were killed or lived through that terrible time are heart wrenching, but necessary to understand the experience. Then you get the stories like Oscar Schindler's, and I realized that there is good in the world. I know I'm being such a nerd, but it reminded me of that Harry Potter quote, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." It was an amazing experience, and it made me think of how the world could flourish if we only learned from our mistakes. Faith and hope in humankind, and that we will do the right thing, is a difficult thing to ask for, but if given, the world would be a better place.

Okay, down from my depressing soapbox. Now, onto Canterbury. We all went on a bus (much better than the one from Liverpool) on a day trip to Canterbury. The cathedral in the town is the seat of the Anglican church in the UK. The history of the church goes way back, but it started attracting pilgrims, like in Geoffrey Chaucer's tales, after Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral in 1170. The stain glass was amazing, most of it dating back to the 11th century. Our guide, Nan, was so much fun. She was a cute little lady, and she did justice to the Cathedral's history.

We didn't do a lot of exploring in the town during our free time because it is basically a tourist trap. It was cute, but it wasn't all that exciting. So, we went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Rachel's 21st birthday! They had some excellent food and cheap drinks, so we all splurged a little. I had my first, and last, Long Island Iced Tea. It was not very good, in my opinion. But, it was still a great time, and Rachel had a lot of fun with her flashing buttons and birthday sash! That night we took her out to a club called TigerTiger which was a ton of fun, and we didn't have to pay a cover! They played almost all American music (can't get away from it!), but Rachel had an awesome 21st birthday, and I'm so glad that we helped her make it so special!

The day was absolutely fantastic on Saturday, so I went out to Covent Garden for some lunch, and then headed to Hyde Park. I loved it there! I found a tree and wrote in my journal for awhile and people watched. I walked back to the house from the park because it was so nice! I am loving this weather...hopefully it lasts! We decided to have a girls night in, but we never really got around to it because we just planned our journey home by boat since we are never getting out of Europe because of Volcano Edfjahdfiahwk....that's another of my names for it (some of them are probably not appropriate for the blog). We decided we are sailing home like the pilgrims...expect us in a few months sailing into New York! :)

Today was another good day, although it wasn't as productive as I would have liked on the homework front. Rachel, Michelle, Caitlin, and I went to the Chelsea Royal Hospital and went to the church service there because that is where Margaret Thatcher attends church (former Prime Minister whom we saw there). The choir was amazing; they were such good singers...the hymns were gorgeous. And, the hospital was incredible! Only veterans live and are treated at the hospital. They were all wearing their uniforms with their medals. I think Rachel said that there are only three women that served in WWII as nurses in the hospital. I saw one in uniform at the service. All of them were so friendly and said good morning to us. The gardens are spectacular there as well. The people who live there are living amazingly well. The area of Chelsea was so nice, and it is kind of expensive (would I expect any less from my namesake?). It seemed so quiet even though it was only a stone's throw from Victoria Station.

The rest of the day was supposed to be devoted to working on my papers...it didn't turn out that well. I'm still not started, but I did work on a presentation, so that's something! This procrastination is going to bite me in the end. But, I did update my blog, again. Definitely a plus for the day! Tour of the Globe Theatre and Enron tomorrow. Update some more exciting stuff soon!

Rome Day 6: Gerard Butler as a gladiator? Yes, please!

Okay, so the updating twice in a day didn't work out, but now I am up to my final post for Italy! Thursday was our last full day in Rome, and we had to make the best of it. Once again, we got up early and visited the Spanish Steps. Amazingly enough, at eight in the morning there is no one there! We had the steps to ourselves which was fantastic. We climbed the twelve flights to the top, and the view was fantastic. But, since there are only so many different angles of pictures you can get of the Spanish Steps, we headed to the Colosseum to get in line for tickets.

When we got there, it was just opening so we were able to get tickets right away. The Colosseum looks absolutely massive on the outside, but on the inside it was a lot smaller than I expected, not that it was tiny by any means. It was amazing to see the expanse of the place, and imagine that it was larger at its height! It really was fantastic...a lot of the old columns are on the ground and words are carved into the sides of stones. There were original staircases (that we didn't use, of course), and they built a little bit of a wooden floor over the ruins that were under the original wooden floor. I'm assuming that they did this so tourists could see how the floor might have looked. Early in the morning with the bright sun was a great time to go see it, and we beat the crowds...even better! Outside of the Colosseum and Roman Forum were all of these men dressed as gladiators, and they try to rip you off by charging 10 euros after you've taken a picture of them. I was a little disappointed in their stature...they didn't look like gladiators. Then Jess and I pondered about the possibility of Gerard Butler being a gladiator...we thought he would look much better in the outfit! :)

Since our tickets also included the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, we went there next. Funnily enough, we found AJ and Caitlin there! We walked around with them for a few hours. There are barely any ruins left in the Forum(I suppose that's why they are called ruins), but you can imagine how large the area was. The Arch of Titus was great and climbing on some of the ruins was fun...not sure if it was allowed, but I did it anyway. It was extremely crowded in the Forum with all of the tour groups, so we went up to Palantine Hill. You could wander around that area for hours and not see the same thing twice. It was an upper class area of Rome, and you could tell by the scale and grandeur of the buildings. I loved Palantine...I wish we could have stayed longer, but some of the others were getting a little restless with my wanderings.

We said goodbye to Caitlin, and went to the Piazza del Popolo. We sat on the lions at the fountain, tried to avoid the men "giving" away roses, and watched people drive Segways which I wanted to do so badly! We ate lunch at a nice little restaurant in which I had a mushroom pasta, and it was delicious!

After walking down to the Piazza Novana again, we headed back to the hostel and got snacks for our plane ride home. We packed and headed to the Trevi Fountain for gelato. We had gelato every day we were there! You know what they say, "A gelato a day keeps the doctor away!" We saw some more people from Vandon at Trevi! It was a fantastic day, and a great way to say goodbye to Roma, Italia!

Now, for my travel horror story. Jess and I had a flight out at 7 AM which meant being at the airport at 5 AM (Abbey had a later flight). According to a man at the hostel, there were no trains or buses running to the airport that early in the morning because it is really far out. The only option we had was to get a taxi (50 euros). So, Jess and I had them call a taxi for 4:15 AM. We get up at about 3 AM because we thought we would have a difficult time getting up and moving. Surprisingly, we were both pretty awake even though we had about 4 hours of sleep. We were ready to go by 3:35. We played UNO in the lounge waiting for the taxi. At 3:45, the taxi shows up early. So, we get in and the man speeds (really, really, really speeds) towards the airport, and I was afraid for my life in the cab. We get there by 4:15 AM. We get checked in and through security before 5 AM.

So, we arrived too early and were waiting at the gate. There was no one there, but we made the best of it. 6:45 AM rolled around, and we hadn't boarded. They got on the intercom and told everyone that our flight was delayed an hour because of engine problems. They needed to switch planes. I wasn't all that worried because we had a four hour layover in Paris. An hour later, we boarded and headed to Paris. When we landed there, our flight wasn't on the departures board yet. So Jess and I waited by the board for a half hour for our flight to show up. We were starving and just wanted some fast food, but we had to wait for our gate so we could go through security again.

Finally, our terminal popped up on the board, we got through security, and we looked for food. To our amazement, there is no food in the terminal! There was a "food court" which really wasn't a food court that consisted of really, really expensive foods. We end up buying cookies and soda for lunch (I had already eaten Nutella and Pringles for breakfast). I was tired of junk food and just wanted a meal, but Paris thwarted us. We got to the gate, boarded on time, and pulled out from the terminal. But, the pilots tried to start the engine...and guess what? It doesn't work! They pulled back into the terminal and have us sit tight for a bit while technicians take a look. They decide that it is too risky to fly in that plane, so we all get off and wait for a new one.

After a total of 2 1/2 hours of delays, we get a bus to the new plane. Thankfully, we take off and land safely in London. But, both planes were Air France, Paris was really ticking me off with the food situation, and I was running on little sleep and had been up for almost 12 hours by that point...I seriously thought I was going to strangle a French person. Don't worry...no French have been harmed!

Overall, the trip was amazing. I couldn't have picked a better place to visit. I miss Italy so much, and I would absolutely love to go back. Minus a few bumps in the road which made for some interesting travel stories, the trip couldn't have been better. I can't wait to visit Scotland and Spain (if I make it there, thanks to volcano-what's-its-name). Well, this has taken me entirely too long for which I apologize profusely! I hope to get another blog up soon to describe my week back in London. Cheers all!

Goodbye Italia!

Rome Day 5: Coca-Cola...The International Language

Well, the next day of exploring was considerably better than the day before. The first thing I did when I woke up in the morning was check to see if my camera was working. Miraculously, it worked! That would have made my day, but the amazing things I got to see in the afternoon topped my working camera by far.

We made it to our Vatican City Museums tour on time and skipped the lines thanks to booking it early and with a tour company. The museums were so extensive...our tour guide was very good and had some great information to share (much better than the previous day). There were fresco-style paintings in almost every room with hundreds of statues, paintings, and tapestries. The highlight, obviously, was the Sistine Chapel. The moment we crossed the threshold into the room, I was in awe. The colors are so vibrant (thanks to a cleaning in the 90s), and everything is so detailed. It absolutely baffles me how Michelangelo could have stood on a scaffold, looking up at the ceiling with paint dripping in his eyes for four years. Michelangelo didn't even like painting! And yes, I took pictures even though you are not supposed to. Oh well. I could have sat there for hours taking it all in. Unfortunately, we didn't have that kind of time.

It was a Wednesday when we visited and the weather was nice which meant that the Pope was having his Papal Audience in St. Peter's Square. We couldn't get into the square or Basilica until 1:30 (it goes without saying that the Pope reserves the right to use any space in the Vatican at any time he chooses). We wandered around the museums some more, but went back to the square when it was open. We went inside St. Peter's Basilica, famous in Catholic tradition for having St. Peter buried beneath the alter. It is the largest Christian Church in the world; it can seat about 60,000 people. It was so gorgeous. There were so many statues and frescoes including the famous La Pieta. The sculpture has always been one of my favorites since I had studied Michelangelo in high school. We walked around for a bit, and prayed in a side room, but other things were calling us.

We went outside to the square which had chairs set up because of the Papal Audience earlier in the morning, so the pictures aren't the greatest. But, the day was bright and sunny like the day before, so that was amazing. I got to actually see the square and experience how massive it really is. I knew there were thousands of people in the square on Easter, but I didn't think the area could hold that many people. It is still difficult to believe that so many people could fit in the space, but it is larger than I thought it was originally. Oh, and I finally got to the some Swiss Guard in the their outfits! In the words of Emily, "I love me some Swiss Guard!" ;) The Vatican was the number one place I wanted to visit, and I could have spent all day there...I wish I had! I have decided that I will go back someday. I don't know when, but I know I have to!

We got a late lunch at a pizzeria...I had prosciutto, mushroom, and mozzarella pizza with a good ol' Coke. The waitress didn't speak a lot of English, but they always know what I mean when I say, "Coke, please!" It was so good. Italian at its best. From there, we walked to Castel Sant' Angelo to see it during the day. Although it was great at night and tourist free, I was glad I got to see it in the sunlight. Again, if we had had time, I would have gone in, but time was something we were short of. Then, we walked to the Pantheon. It was under construction on the front, so pictures were impossible, but the inside is an amazing architectural feat. It was built in 126 AD as a temple to the Roman gods. Today, it is a Catholic Church dedicated to St. Mary. We had our daily gelato outside the Pantheon (just for you, Emily!) and enjoyed the sun. From there we saw the Column of Marcus Arelius, and we walked to the Spanish Steps. It was extremely crowded, so we didn't stick around long. We did learn that the fountain by the Spanish Steps was safe to drink from, and apparently it has the sweetest water in all of Rome. I'm not sure if that's true, but it was cold and very refreshing!

Sorry if these updates are coming at a snail's pace, but I have been sick and at my internship, so I am trying to get caught up quickly so I can actually update about things going on this week! Hopefully I will get another one up today...we will see how that works out.

Rome Day 4: Vesuvius is Alive!

Well, day four while traveling was definitely the worst for me. The day started out with an early tour, and since we had woken up so early, nothing was open to get a pastry, and if it was, it was really expensive. So, I tried to get something out of a vending machine in the metro stop. The machines ate my money, and the pastry that I wanted got stuck in the machine...twice! Not a good start to the day.

We got on the bus for our trip to Naples and Pompeii. We stayed in Naples for a very short time. We got out of the bus for about 15 minutes to take some pictures. That was really disappointing because the tour said Naples, so you would think we would stick around for more than an hour on the bus. Of what I saw of Naples, it was very pretty. Some of the buildings are still dilapidated from bombings during WWII, but some of it was very decadent. The seaside was absolutely gorgeous though! The weather that day was fantastic. The sun was shining, and the water looked so blue. I wish we had spent more time exploring Naples, but we had to move onto Pompeii. Our guide talked a lot about the eruption of Vesuvius on the way to the site, and he kept saying that Vesuvius is "alive" instead of "active" which I found quite entertaining.

We went to lunch from there in New Pompeii...the city is right next to the ancient city, so to keep them separated, the city was named "New" Pompeii even though it has been around for a few hundred years. We ate lunch in a little restaurant that served us bread, spaghetti, potatoes, peas, pork, and cheesecake! They really liked to feed us well on the tours! They gave some of us seconds, and I was so full...I thought my day was looking up, but when I went to fill my water bottle, I soaked my camera in water. It wouldn't take any pictures at Pompeii! I was so angry the entire time that I didn't really get to enjoy Pompeii like I thought I would. On top of that, our guide talked too much, walked too slow, and stopped way too often. We didn't get to see a lot of the stuff that I really wanted to see while in Pompeii.

And, on top of all of that, it took us five hours to get back to Rome because of traffic. When we got back to the hostel, I wrapped my camera in socks (it was too late at night to get rice), and stuffed it in my boots, hoping some of the water would be soaked up. Oh, and my sunglasses broke. It was a long day to say the least. Even though I was angry, I still thought Pompeii was amazing. How could I not? I had been fascinated by the city for so long, and I was amazed! So much detail is left on the buildings. I wish I could have spent more time there or "lost" my tour guide; he was extremely frustrating. Italians are too slow for me (except in their driving). The language seems slow, they walk slowly, and take a lot of leisure time. Sometimes it's nice, but other times it's annoying...depends on my mood! :)

We got back really late because of all the traffic, and went straight to bed. It was an exhausting day, but after hitting a low point, it only got better from there!

Rome Day 3: Breakfast, lunch, dinner...pasta!

Again, the day started early. We left the hostel around seven to go to our respective tours. I went to Assisi and Orvieto while Abbey and Jess went to the small island of Capri. I'm so glad that I went on this tour by myself because it was a good way to relax without having to worry about anyone else. This trip was peaceful, and I really enjoyed going out to some countryside towns.

The tour stopped in Orvieto first which is about 400 meters in elevation. At that early in the morning, it was tourist free, so I explored all of the little side streets. The view was gorgeous, even through the rain. It was so green even in early April...I wonder what it would be like in May! The streets were narrow and made of cobblestones. I just enjoyed the calming atmosphere. It felt like a true Italian town...like what you would see in a movie. I even saw a woman shaking out sheets through a window with little green shutters! The cathedral in the town was built by the Etruscans in the 12th or 13th century. The volcanic rock was beautiful, and the frescoes inside the building are originals, mostly faded or gone with age. I loved the small town feel, and it would be an amazing place to live!

Next, we drove 45 minutes into the country for lunch. I was expecting something cheap, but what we got was far from it. I'm not sure of everything I ate, but we started with some samples. Three pieces of bread with something spread on them. The only one I knew was extra virgin olive oil, but the others were good as well. We also had a sample of a wine grown right on site! We then went to enjoy our meal which started with a piece of lasagna. Traditional Italian with lots of mozzarella. The next course consisted of some type of meat, of what I'm not sure, onions (I think), and little wedge potatoes. Again, it was all delicious. We moved onto dessert which was a kind of marshmellow cheesecake with chocolate sauce smeared all over the top! What was great about the whole meal was the conversations with the other tourists. Two people from Mexico (one of which didn't speak English and sat right next to me...I got to practice my Spanish a bit), two from Hong Kong, and four from England. All of them were quite a bit older than me, but they were a lot of fun! Even better was the music while we ate...American pop music! Just a little unexpected in a small Italian place.

From there we drove to our final destination, Assisi. It is about 600 meters in elevation, and almost the entire town is made of beautiful pink and white stones. This place was much busier than Orvieto. It was so crowded! We went to the church were the 12th century cross that spoke to St. Francis resides. Whether it spoke aloud or to his heart, we do not know, but the crucifix inspired him to build the Franciscan Order of the Church. It is in the Church of St. Clare whose body lies in the crypt below the church. We explored the medieval and Roman buildings at least one dating back to the first century. We went to the Basilica of St. Francis whose body is in the crypt. The church is covered in amazing paintings...ceiling and walls. No pictures allowed, but fantastic art and architecture!

We had time to look around, so I found a place over looking the hills and bought some gelato. Very relaxing, and I loved every second. I slept most of the way back to Rome, but when I woke up, the sun was shining brightly over the rolling green hills. Spectacular views! The houses were rustic reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks, so when the sun sets, the houses look breathtaking against the green grass. There was a rainbow at one point, and all I could think was, how lucky am I?!?

It took entirely too long to get back to Rome. We battled traffic for over two hours! But, I was glad I wasn't driving because there seems to be no speed limit (or no one cares); even in tiny Orvieto cars sped around corners too quickly. And I thought London was bad! I'm learning that Europeans could possibly wear out the horns of their cars before anything else gives out! Slightly frightening experience, but I made it back in one piece!

Today's blog title comes from my tour guide...he made a joke that the Italians make so much pasta that they have to feed it to the tourists because "breakfast, lunch, dinner...pasta!" Apparently, that's all the Italians eat! Ciao for now (ha ha...it rhymes)!

Rome Day 2: Viva Papa!

Since day two of Rome was on Easter Sunday, Happy Belated Easter everyone! And was mine the best Easter ever? I think so! We got up at 5:30AM to get ready for Easter Mass in Vatican City. We reached the square just before seven as the sun was rising. Compared to the rest of the line that formed, we were at the "front." We stood in line for over an hour being pushed and shoved by anxious people. The weather was chilly with a bitter wind, but we braved the cold to see the Pope!

When the time finally came to get into the historic St. Peter's Square, a stampede broke out to get through security. I told Jess and Abbey I was going to run ahead to get decent seats. As soon as I got through security, I made a break for it. I was sprinting down the aisles with a backpack trying to get an aisle seat. I got the first section of seats about 15-20 rows from the front of the stairs. I took out Abbey's bright yellow umbrella, stood on the seat, and waved it in the air so they could find me.

Mass didn't start until 10:15AM, but we had seat at about 8:20. About 15 minutes in, it started to rain...everyone's umbrellas popped up, and we realized that we wouldn't see anything if it continued to rain! It rained on and off for awhile, but once Pope Benedict finally came out, it didn't stop pouring rain the entire time! I did get to see him, but it was difficult to see him or the huge televisions because of umbrellas!

And, yes, I could have complained...I was cold, tired, and wet from the rain, but I was at Easter Mass with the Pope in the Vatican (notice me not complaining as I block the wind with my umbrella)! As a Catholic, it was so meaningful. Even though I understood only one reading in English, I felt so connected to my religion, more than I ever had before. I just sat and listened to the languages, and realized how many Catholics there are around the world. We were all united in that moment, and I felt like I was a part of something bigger than just myself.

Because we were in the first section, we were able to receive Communion, but most didn't considering there were tens of thousands of people in the square, most standing. This was the only time it stopped raining, I seriously think it was a sign from God, because if all of us had tried to take Communion with an umbrella in hand, it would have been a nightmare! As soon as Communion was finished, it started raining again. One of the best moments was when the Pope gave his "Urbi et Orbi" which means "to the city and to the world" in Latin. He moved to the central balcony in St. Peter's Basilica for the speech which summarizes humanity's failings and hopes for the future. I was unsure of what he said because he was not speaking in English, but it sounded hopeful!

Eventually, he started speaking in many different languages, I didn't understand what he was saying because I missed the English version, but every time a new language was spoken, that group of people who spoke it would yell. There had to have been at least 80 languages! People were chanting, "Viva Papa!" and "Benedictus!" as they waved their country's flag. It really was a moving moment for me.

Easter Mass has been the highlight of my journey in Europe, and I don't think anything will top it. It was worth every bone-chilling second, and I would do it again in a heartbeat in weather ten times as worse.

The chaos after mass was a bit ridiculous. It took us over an hour and a half to get back to the hostel when it should have taken less than a half hour. Eventually, because the metro station was so crowded, the police opened up the exits to allow people on the platform without even paying...that's how chaotic it was. At one point, the gate that the cop opened was right next to me, so I was pushed against the metal bar and couldn't move. It was very painful as it was digging into my stomach, and when I finally pushed myself out, I accidentally cut off another woman who then proceeded to yell at me in Italian. I apologized even though all I wanted to do was yell back at her in English! It was very frustrating that people could be so inconsiderate towards others. And on Easter Sunday after mass!

We got back to the hostel, took showers, warmed up, and took naps until about six. We got up to go get something to eat, but basically all of Rome is Catholic so nothing was open. We went to the Trevi Fountain since it was kind of close and very touristy which meant restaurants would be open. We got to see the fountain at night, and had pizza and gelato. My pizza had massive chunks of mozzarella, whole tomatoes, and basil! It was very Italian, and I enjoyed it immensely! I had Nutella gelato (the three things I lived on while in Italy: Nutella, Coca-Cola, and Pringles...no joke). It was an amazing, yet tiring day!

I don't have many good pictures from mass (I have a few horrible videos that wouldn't upload), except for a lovely blurry picture of the Pope from far away! Enjoy!

Oh, you can't tell that's the Pope?!? Well, let me reassure you (as I was there), it is!

Rome Day 1: "Roman" Around

Hello Readers! I am finally back from spring break in Rome, and do I have some stories to share. I am going to update by day because a blog post for the whole week would be astronomically long, and you wouldn't want to read it.

So, this first post is a combination of Friday and Saturday since Abbey, Jess, and I got into Rome at about nine or ten at night on Friday. We took a flight from London to Paris and then Paris to Rome. Once at Fiumicino airport, we had to take the Leonardo da Vinci Express train to the city. It was an hour trip, but we arrived at Termini Station, the hub of transportation in Rome. There are only two metro lines because every time the city starts trying to build a new line, a ruin is found! The two lines only cross once at Termini, so it is very busy. After making it to Bologna (the metro stop our hostel is close to), we tried to find the hostel. It took us a good half hour, and it was literally a block from us the entire time! The hostel was cramped, but at least they gave us clean sheets, a hot shower, and free internet! We settled in for our week long trip.

On Saturday morning, we got up early (we woke up before 7:15 the entire trip) and headed to the Office for US Visitors to the Vatican to get tickets for Easter Mass. We got them as we were the third in line and at least 200 or 300 tickets left! Excited that we accomplished our task, we visited the Trevi Fountain because it was right around the corner. There were not a lot of people there yet since it was just 9AM, so we took some great pictures! Next, we took a walk to Sant' Andrea al Quirinale Church. It is the smallest church designed by Bernini and made of pink and white marble. It was beautiful, and the first of many churches we would visit.

Throwing a coin in the fountain and making a wish!

While heading to another church, we got lost...the streets were a little confusing. Eventually, we ended up back on the right track and went to Santa Maria della Vittoria where the sculpture of The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is located in the Cornaro Chapel. The first of many famous sculptures we would see...Again, we got lost, but ended up seeing some fantastic gardens in the process (who knew Rome had palm trees?!?). We saw so many monuments and fountains that I couldn't even begin to describe them all or remember their names.

From there we explored ancient Rome. We got on the metro to the Circus Maximus...I was not at all impressed. It was neat to see, but nowadays, it's just an indent in the ground where the stadium used to be. It's just a massive green space that people can hang out in. Nothing remains other than the long oval shape in the ground. We saw some ruins by the Circus Maximus, so we decided to explore. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out what they were on the map or where exactly we were. So, we walked around the entire ruins site, but couldn't find a way in even though we saw people down at the bottom of the hill at the sites. Without knowing it, we were walking around the old Roman Forum and Palantine Hill! We got some good pictures and found out the entrance was by the Arch of Constantine near the Colosseum.

Instead of going straight there, we walked around some more and saw the Column of Trajan and Trajan's Markets which was really cool for me because I had studied the column in art class. I know these names probably mean nothing, but we saw a monument called Vittorio Emanuelle II and the Via dei Fori Imperali (I had never heard of them). Following a walk in my Rome day-by-day book my thoughtful mother sent me, we saw the Teatro di Marcello which inspired the design for the Colosseum. We backed tracked and went up the western side of Capotoline Hill. It was tourist free with beautiful gardens and nice and shady (it was actually warm that day).

After seeing all of that, we finally made our way to the Colosseum. There were so many people there, and the queue was way too long for us to wait in, but don't worry, we went back another day which you will read about later! The Colosseum was massive, hence the name. Although, it is hard to believe that it used to be larger than it is now! We saw the Arch of Constantine (another one I studied in art class), got some gelato, and ate it in the grass by the Colosseum. It was very warm by this point, so we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night.


We booked a dinner cruise along the Tiber River. We met the boat by the Castel Sant' Angelo (if you have seen Angels and Demons, this is the last church in the movie). It was amazing at night, the bridge was great as well as the church, and we went back later in the week. At 9PM, we got on the boat for a great meal. The Italians are big believers in multiple course meals to which we didn't complain! We had some antipasti (appetizers, I had no idea what they were, but it was good), two courses, and dessert! I can't begin to spell or pronounce anything we ate, but it was delicious! It included something like a ham and cheese pasty, bean and noodle soup, potatoes and meatballs, and lemon cake! We got back to the hostel at about midnight.

It was a great start to the trip, and it only got better from there. Oh, and the titles of each blog are something someone said or something I thought while walking around. This happens to be something I thought about. We were roamin' around, and I thought that in my head for some reason. And then I thought it was funny that we were in Rome, and we were "Roman" around! I thought it was quite funny! Well, update as soon as I can with the next day. Ciao!