Ok, so I've been distracted ...

Saturday: what happened Saturday? I got ENGAGED that's what!!!!! I woke up at 3am to catch the train from Milan to Turin, and then from Turin to Paris!!! It was fun BBMing with Justin as he landed in London and traveled through London and under the Channel to Paris! I thought that I was going to FREEZE to death while I was waiting for his silly train to get in to Gare du Nord ... but he FINALLY got there and we changed his money and caught a cab to Le Meridien Montparnasse. If you are ever in Paris and are looking for a hotel STAY HERE. It was AMAZING. The beds were like something from a 1950's sitcom ... but whatever, it was a great hotel with an amazing concierge who were a fabulous resource. We went out to dinner at Montparnasse65, and Justin was acting like he had ants in his pants or something ... so I asked him if he was ok and he said "yeah, I've just got a question for you." "ok, what's up?" "Ummmmm, will you marry me?" "wait, what? seriously??" "yeah" and he pulls out this GORGEOUS ring!!!!! I almost fell out of my chair!!! We then had a fun time calling all the friends and family!! I also discovered that drinking nothing but coffee and wine for 3 weeks will, in fact, dehydrate you and Justin realized that a 7 hour plane ride has much the same effect ... water is your friend. You'll be happy to know that since Saturday I have only had 2 glasses of diet coke ... and roughly 7,000,000,000,000 of water.

Sunday: VALENTINE'S DAY!!! We got up and headed off to Versailles! It was ALOT of fun walking around all the different rooms in the Palace, but it was FREEZING outside, and there was snow on the ground, so we skipped the extended walk through the gardens and Marie-Antoinette's Hamlet. We had lunch at this yummy creperie/galletterie (have I mentioned that I love French food????). We got back to the hotel and decided that there was no more perfect way to spend Valentine's Day (and the Chinese New Year!) than having CHINESE FOOD. There was a great place down the street from our hotel so we went there and then managed to get hold of the last members of the friends and family who we couldn't reach the night before!

Monday: My FIANCE and I spent the vast majority of the day at the Louvre. It's hard for me to say which form of art I prefer: sculpture, painting or architecture. They are all so amazing and so rich in detail and nuance. I love the room 6 in the Italian Painting section (aka Gallerie de La Jaconde, or the Mona Lisa's room!) because of the contrast between the TINY Mona Lisa and the GIANT Wedding at Cana. While I typical love looking at Da Vinci's painting for all their detail and heretical religious commentary, I am actually not a huge fan of the Mona Lisa. I feel like it's not actually his best or most interesting work ... and seeing it is JUST such a hassle (there are THOUSANDS of people who pay for admission to the Louvre JUST to see this painting because it's famous ... and don't really even GLANCE at anything else in the museum). After wandering around the Louvre for HOURS (Italian painting, French, Italian, Roman, Greek and Etruscan sculpture, Egyptian antiquities, Antiquities of the Levant, Ancient Mesopotamia including Hammurabi's Code) we decided that it was time for a mental break and grabbed lunch in one of the cafe's in the Louvre and then I wanted to go SHOPPING! I have been wanting to get a Longchamp bag for 3 years but have always talked myself out of it ... I decided when I was in Israel that i really, REALLY wanted one and decided that I would wait until I was in Paris at their flagship store to have the BEST selection. The boutique is at 404 Rue Saint Honore. I had a MASSIVE blonde moment and started us walking up Rue de Fauberg Saint Honore ... the western extension of the street. It was an AMAZING walk (home to Chanel, the US embassy, the UK embassy, the Palais de Elysee -- the residence of the French President -- Prada, and other fine, FINE stores) ... after walking ALL THE WAY UP THE STREET and not having found it ... I realize that we had walked up the wrong freaking street ... so we hailed a cab to spare our ACHING feet and arrived at 404 Rue Saint Honore. SUCH a good life decision. J and I walked around the entire store and also looked at all the luggage and bags and leather goods before I grabbed my bag. SO HAPPY! By the time we were done we realized that we really didn't have enough time to really SEE Notre Dame or the other sites on Ile de la Cite, so we decided to just head back to the hotel and have an early night (the Louvre is EXHAUSTING!!!). We had a marvelous dinner in the Restuarante Justine (hehehe) which is in the hotel. They had an amazing dessert buffet which we availed ourselves of.

Tuesday: MARDI GRAS!!! After a lazy morning, we headed off to Ile de La Cite. We grabbed lunch in this great little bistrot and crossed the street to visit Sainte-Chappelle. Unfortunately, Sainte-Chappelle was closed due to renovations (foiled again!!!) so we headed over to Notre Dame!! We spent the money for the audio guides which were REALLY informative, but since it wasn't a day to view to the crown of thorns, we decided to skip the treasury. I must say that I LOVE gothic architecture. It's just so interesting and every piece of embellishment is completely different!! We spent quite a while wandering around Notre Dame and decided against climbing the 422 winding stairs to the top of the towers (even if you DO get an up close view of the bells and gargoyles!). We then walked around the cathedral and found several great shops for Justin to do his souvenir shopping at and then headed off to La Conciergerie. I firmly maintain that it is the HEIGHT of irony that the place that you go to in a hotel to get information for things to do and see is called the concierge ... as La Conciergerie (named after the KEEPER of said site) was, in the 17-18th centuries a torture chamber and prison for those sentenced to death. I actually think that the reason that the place attracts female visitors is the fact that among the illustrious people held there before being taken to have their heads lobbed off was Queen Marie-Antoinette. It was actually a pretty informative site and has some GREAT gothic architecture to check out ... After we had had enough of La Conciergerie we headed to Arc de Triumphe and Champs-Elysees!!!! We walked part of the way down Champs-Eylsees, but had pretty much had our fill of designer shops the day before ... and the grumblies in our tumblies informed us that it was time to investigate dinner! We stopped at the CONCIERGE in the hotel and received the suggestion to eat at La Rotunde ... and I'm SO glad we did! The BEST meal I've had in Europe (and therefore in a VERY long time ...)!!! I started with an amazing pumpkin soup and Justin had the Veal Carpaccio. For our main course we each had the roast duck fillet (my mouth is STILL happy!!!) and of COURSE we finished with creme brulee. The wait staff was REALLY nice and helpful and I strongly recommend that ANYONE visiting Paris go to this restaurant (3 courses for two people, including water and service complis, 80 Eur).

Verona

Well, my chill time in Verona has been WONDERFUL. I intentionally chose to stay in a city that is simply cute but without a lot to do so that I could just stay in one place and relax. The past two weeks have definitely taken a lot out of me, so I was grateful for the chance to re-charge my batteries a bit!

On Wednesday I just hopped on a train with my handy dandy Eurail pass and went to the alps for lunch! Walking around Trento was FABULOUS and they had a bunch of discount shops which I perused. I decided to spend a little bit of money to get some leg warmers so that my jeans would be held up and out of the water on the ground AND my ankles and calves would be kept warm in a fashionable way (um EVERYONE here wears leg warmers ... I don't QUITE have the shoes to pull it off, but whatever), a pretty shirt for Valentine's Day, and a coat ... all for LESS THAN 50 EUR!!!! MAJOR SCORE!!! I then walked through a bird park that had a GIANT statue of a duck made of wood!! It was like a Trojan duck!! Where are the Greeks???? After being attacked by pigeons, I decided that it was time to get on the train to Bologna for dinner (it's a 3 hour train ride). I got to Bologna and it was sleeting!!! I wandered around, and almost killed myself sliding into the street on the ice, and found this cute little spaghetteria! I had AMAZING spaghetti bolognese in the place of it's invention!! SOOOO good!!!! Then it was time to catch a train back to sleepy Verona!

On Thursday morning, I met some GREAT girls who were staying in the B&B over breakfast! We decided that we wanted to all do dinner together later in the day, so we met up in the dining room around 7:30 and headed out into the cold Verona evening. Walking around the city with them was a lot of fun!! They're all about my age and teaching English in France, 30 minutes outside of Paris. It was funny, because we all got along really well and just CLICKED, despite the fact that we had only known each other a few hours! I really love it when you just have an instant connection with people! We all had a GREAT night out with EXCELLENT food and wine (which was perfect, because I'm treating it like my "farewell, Italy" dinner as tonight I plan on going to bed SUPER early. It's REALLY tempting to walk around Milan to see all the shops and the beautiful fashionable people ... but I don't think that I really want to torture myself ... PLUS I have to catch a 6am train to Paris tomorrow and I would like to not be COMPLETELY dead when I have to find Justin in Gare du Nord (um, only the largest train station in Europe ... possibly the world ... thank GOODNESS he's a tall man!!). I haven't seen him in 4 months and I am SO beyond words excited to get to spend time with him in Paris and London, two of my favorite cities!! I think that we're going to spend Sunday (i.e Valentine's Day) at Versailles and possibly go to the Eiffel Tower tomorrow night. I'm PETRIFIED of heights, but hopefully it won't be TOO bad at night where all I can really see are the pretty lights. lol We'll see about that ....

Today the plan was to get up at 8, take a shower, clean and pack things up, have breakfast and check out in time to catch an 11am train to Milan. Things have not gone as planned. When the alarm went off at 8 there was NO way that I was getting out of bed, so I reset the alarm for 9. I did, in fact wake up at 9 and went out to the dining room for breakfast and saw my friends from the night before. We exchanged email addresses to find each other on Facebook (ahh social networking ...) and by the time I looked at my watch it was 9:30. Check out is at 10:30 ... whoops. So no time for a shower ... so I through my stuff in the bags and got everything packed up with 15 minutes to spare, went downstairs to find the guy who runs the place ... and he was NO WHERE to be found. Stellar. So now I'm sitting in the dining room with my computer, availing myself of the free wireless internet and water. Unfortunately the milk in the cappuccino machine ran out ... MAJOR bummer. Oh well, looks like I'm going to be sitting around for a while in Verona ... no worries for me! I have my computer, I have internet ... I'm a happy camper!!!

I won't have internet in Milan, but I have my travel journal so I will post an update on Paris and London when I reach Dublin as I think that I will have internet there, at least for the first night!!!

VENICE!!!!!

11.2.2010

Sorry for the long delay! There was no internet in Venice until the last day and I was having so much fun with Ellie and her friends that I didn't take the time to update!!! Here we go day by day!!

Thursday night: The train ride was uneventful and I got to Venice-Mestre around 8pm and hailed a cab to the hotel. The man at the desk was SUPER nice and gave me the keys to the room so I was able to go in and take a shower and relax for the several hours until Ellie and the gang from London arrived. When they got in at 11, we were all starving and so we went to the "restaurant" downstairs. It's actually a lounge bar called Tantra!!! At ANY rate, the food was good (REALLY yummy bruschetta!!!) and then we all passed out in anticipation of a day of Venetian island hopping!!!

Friday: The weather was MISERABLE!!! All 8 of us decided that we were going to follow the advice of our lovely hotel man and go island hopping so we set off to Murano Island, home of Murano glass!! Watching these guys blow and meld liquid hot glass was AMAZING!! We went into the shops afterwards to look around and I was just BOWLED over by the beauty of everything!! Ellie and I got some figurines in Venetian costume and masks for our tables which we were both in LOVE with!! They had lots of great jewelry and it was REALLY tempting to get some ... but I really didn't want to blow all my money in one place!! After a lovely time walking around Murano (SUCH a cute little island!!!!!!) we headed off to Burano, home of the lace industry!!! I behaved and didn't go lace shopping (though I REALLY REALLY wanted to!!!). The weather was absolutely DREADFUL at this point, so the walking around was a bit protracted ... also two of the girls missed the shuttle to Burano from Murano so we were trying to figure out what to do as phones in the group weren't working! After taking SEVERAL pictures of this adorable island known for it's colorfully painted and lace industry (seriously, ever shop had someone inside MAKING the lace!!), we decided that we were going to go on to Torcello, the last island in the chain, so that we wouldn't miss the stuff there which closes early! Ellie and I made it JUST in time. The church on Torcello is the oldest Church in Venice. Originally home to 20,000 people in the Middle Ages, there are now only 16 residents of Torcello island ... and in the winter when it's cold and rainy ... there is NO ONE THERE!!! Either way, Ellie and I were just completely wowed by the church and it's gold mosaics. Very VERY beautiful, and completely different from Rome! I must say, I like the Churches in Rome! I am much more a fan of the Baroque style with the ornate paintings and sculptures ... and having STARTED in Rome ... the other churches can't impress me!!! I feel so jaded!!! After Torcello, we were all cold, wet and tired and decided that we really wanted to have coffee and go back to the hotel. 6 of the 8 of us were there, and so we all decided that taking the shuttle at 7 instead of 9 was a better idea and called to change it (people were having no trouble calling ITALIAN numbers ... but couldn't figure out how to call each other, but texting worked!!). We texted the two girls who had gotten separated and told them about the change and then ran into them when we were getting off the water taxi (the Venetian version of a bus!) back on Burano (they were trying to head out to Torcello) and told them about the change and the fact that everything on Torcello was now closed! They decided that they wanted to go to Torcello anyways and that they would meet us back at the bus. We hopped on the series of water buses and realized that by the time we got back to the bus, it would be 7 ... and that there was NO WAY that the other two would make it!! We called again to give them more time, and changed the bus to 8pm. When we got back to Piazzalle Roma (the main terminal) we had coffee to try to warm up and Sam and I had an adventure trying to find a bathroom. BTW: if anyone tells you that the Rolling Venice card covers the bathroom costs (1.50 EUR) tell them they are wrong. Because they don't. Finally it was time to go meet the bus ... but the other two girls still weren't there!! They sent us a text message saying to go on without them, that they wouldn't make the shuttle and would take the public transportation back (we found out later that they hadn't been able to change the clock on their cellphones, which kept reverting back to UK time, so they thought they had an hour when they didn't!!!). We made it back to the hotel where we found out that there was no heat and no gas ... which meant no hot water. FAIL. We went down to Tantra again ... but they didn't have heat or gas either ... which meant that the only food they could do were the stupid club sandwiches. DOUBLE FAIL! So we had our cold sandwiches and just hung out and the two girls who stayed in Venice met us there. We made friends with the waiter, despite the massive language barrier (he literally spoke 7 words in English ... and we didn't speak ANY Italian) and then went upstairs to go to bed.

Saturday: The weather was still pretty bad, but NOTHING compared to Friday. We took the No. 1 Water taxi/bus thingy all the way down the Grand Canal to St Mark's Square. After kinda walking around open eyed for a few minutes, we headed into the Basilica. I waited back for Ellie and Molly who had to deposit bags before going into the church, and had a great time walking around with them! We went into Tesoro, which is where all the booty brought back from the sacking of Constantinople is displayed, including some REALLY ancient objects from Egypt (2500 BCE). Also included in the Tesoro is a thorn thought to be from the crown of Christ! After Tesoro we walked over the High Alter of the church to see Pala D'Oro which drips with 2000 precious stones and gold. It was AMAZING. Underneath the alter is the coffin of St Mark!!!!!!! THAT was just amazing. It was great walking through the rest of the Church with Ellie and Molly who were really interested in all the religious symbolism in the art! After leaving the Church we met up with the rest of the group and decided to go get lunch. We found this GREAT place with a fixed price menu (pasta + chicken + side for 13 EUR. DEAL!) and went there. It was a LOT of fun, and it was FABULOUS seeing everyone in Venice in costume and mask! Of course, we were all wearing our masks as well!!! After lunch we headed over to the Gallerie Dell'Academia. Because the girls all had their Univ of London student union cards, we got in for next to nothing!! SCORE! We wandered through the gallery for a while, which had an impressive collection of Venetian art from the 14-18th centuries!! A few people got sick of the art and decided that they wanted to head off to explore for a while and that we would all meet up later on. After the gallery, the rest of us decided that we wanted to explore the area around where we were for a while. We had GREAT gelato and walked along the canals and just chilled. We then made our way back towards St Mark's Square, which is where the kick off show would take place, and split a bottle of wine between the five of us and then headed over to the meeting point. We had a great time wandering around the streets behind San Marco square because there were just so many different kinds of shops and food and people! We got a PRIME spot to watch the show and saw the most RANDOM "show" by several guys from a local factory (I think ... I wasn't entirely sure of what was going on ...). Another girl and I had to go in search of a restroom, so we ditched the SECOND show to go in search. After a few humorous attempts to get back to the rest of the group, we decided that we were better off just heading to the meeting point to wait out the rest of the group. Ellie joined up with us and the three of us went for pizza. BEST DECISION EVER! Ellie had fun because the people at the table next to us were French so Ellie had a BLAST talking to them and the waiter LOVED Belle, MK and I. We then met up with the rest of the group after the show ended and headed back to the hostel.

Sunday: Aptly named because there was SUNSHINE!!! After a frightening attempt to see the "Angel Flight" We ducked into a Chinese restaurant to escape the crowds (literally a CRUSHING crowd) and wait for people to disperse a bit. We had lunch (nummmmm) and then went back to San Marco to try to find the three girls that got separate off from us. Having found them, we decided that those of us who hadn't ridden a gondola yet and really wanted to were going to do that so we headed to a nice spot to catch a gondola and had an AMAZING ride. Please go check out the pictures on Facebook! They are really amazing!! After the gondola ride we went to the Church of Santa Maria Salute. It was GORGEOUS on the inside, and for 1 EUR you can go back into the Sacristy and see the Titian ceiling paintings and several other famous works! It was stunning (but no, not as stunning as churches in Rome :P). We then all wanted to head over to Rialto to see the bridge and possibly grab dinner. Rialto brdige is GORGEOUS and is covered in jewelry shops!! Both Ellie and I struggled with the temptation to get cameo jewelry (Ellie REALLY wants a ring and I have been wanting to get a cameo necklace on a ribbon for a while ...) but we decided that spending more money was just not a good option and we passed (le sigh). We met up with the rest of the group and then split up based on who wanted to go back and who wanted to stay downtown. I DEFINITELY wanted to go back to the hotel. My feet and back were KILLING me from 10 days of non-stop on your feet touring. I was ready for a break. I purchased some internet at the hotel and had a great time hanging out with Katherine and MK uploading and tagging pictures on Facebook (and talking to the desk dude who had some SERIOUSLY strange taste in music ... ) and packing before absolutely passing out in bed.

Monday: BEACH DAY!! 6 of us headed off to Lido Island to see the beach on the Adriatic sea. This was probably my favorite day in Venice because it was just completely relaxed! We played on the sand for a while (and took LOTS of really fun pictures) before walking around in search of some good (but cheap) lunch. We found a great place (unfortunately they had a bunch of hidden costs so it wasn't AS cheap as it seemed ...) and had some great pizza and pasta. We kept walking around, taking pictures and a few of the girls wanted souvenirs. When we headed back to Venice, Katherine, MK and Sam wanted to go to San Marco square and Ellie, Molly and I wanted to walk around the garden area between San Marco and the end of the Island ... so we hopped off and the other three girls kept going on the water taxi. Ellie, Molly and I found the most BIZZARE place I've ever seen. We were walking around this garden which had HAPPY FACES on the trees ... and there were these painting hanging down ... and a GIANT group of kids emerges from behind them! I really wanted to find out what was behind the magic curtains ... and it was like stepping through the looking glass! It was this all white building with a bunch of different rooms!! In the rooms there were kids doing really random art projects ... and it was like Ellie, Molly and I were invisible wandering around observing. SERIOUSLY strange!!!! After exiting this other world, we just kept walking around. It was SO much fun, and really cute to see this other part of Venice! After posing as statues, we met up with the other three girls and headed back to the hostel to wait for the shuttles to the train station and airport!! Next stop: VERONA!!!!

Feb 4 - Farewell, Florence!

4.2.2010

Clothes were DEFINITELY not dry when I woke up. I managed to expedite the process a bit by putting my jeans on the heating unit in the room ... but when I finally checked out of the room they were still quite wet ... and COLD!!! I made my way over to the Medici Chapels which were, true to my luck, under renovation, but still REALLY impressive. I have come to the conclusion that reliquaries are REALLY FREAKING CREEPY. Why on EARTH would you take the bones of a Saint and put it in a pretty jar and venerate it??? IT'S A LEG BONE!!!!!!!!!!! Or a thumb ... EW! Seriously, that just grosses me out. It's interesting from a theological point of view because it really show the Pagan influence on the early Church. Nowadays?? It's just plain gross!!!

Following that I wandered down to the Ponte Vecchio which is just gorgeous!! It's from the 13th century and is the ONLY bridge in Florence that wasn't blown up by the Nazi's in WWII. It USED to be home to butchers, but the Medici rulers didn't like the smell, so the butchers were ousted and jewelers were instituted. To this day, the bridge houses several gold and jewelry shops ... WAY too expensive for my budget, but REALLY nice to look at!!

I then headed to Palazzo Vecchio and walked around for a while. I really, REALLY love Florence. It's just such a great place!! Though I must say that I feel a bit like I'm in fairy tale land!!!! Everywhere I turn there are priceless works of art! There is sculpture EVERYWHERE!!! Street corners have cubby holes where paintings and sculptures are placed all OVER the city!!! The hostel I'm staying at is right around the corner from Casa Buonoroti!! Down the street in one direction is Santa Croce, in the other is Uffizi and Duomo! You can't BEAT this location!!! I kinda wish there had been a bit more insolation in the walls so that the noise from the street outside didn't sounds like it was in my bedroom, but still, nice location!

In a few hours it's off to Venice!!!!!!!! I'm really excited to see Belle and spend some time exploring with her!!!

Feb 3 - Tour of Tuscany

Tour Day!!! I went on a 10 hour driving tour of Tuscany. Ok, it wasn't actually 10 hours in the bus ... it was more like 1 hour on the bus, 1.5 hours in Siena, 40 minutes on the bus, 1 hour at lunch (OMGSOGOOOOOOOOD), 10 minutes on the bus, 1 hour a San Gimignano, 1.5 hours on the bus, 1 hour at Pisa, 1.5 hours on the bus .... and back in Florence.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't all that great, so the views weren't AS spectacular as they usually are (which is incredible, because they were pretty amazing anyways!). Siena was cold but beautiful. We had a great tour guide (her name was Donnatella!!!!) who showed us around this little hilltop town that peeked in the Medieval period and was then forgotten for a long time ... so the architecture was never really changed which means that all the streets are SUPER tiny and picturesque. It's also an AMAZINGLY wealthy city because in the 13 century a bank was established there that is still in existence today! Siena is actually a COMMUNE so 67% of the banks proceeds go BACK to the town! You wouldn't know how wealthy the city is from looking at it ... but when a resident opens the door to their house you are completely taken aback!!! There are also all these really fun local rivalries as the city is divided into 17 districts who are constantly competing against each other (most famously in Il Palio over the summer!!). There are hidden stables in the back alleys so that the horses can be protected during Il Palio in July and August. The Cathedral is just fascinating with it's combination of architectural and artistic styles! There is CLEAR gothic influence from France, Moorish influence from the South, Renaissance influence from Florence and Rome ... all in one building! the frescoes in the "library' of the cathedral are just STUNNING. The room was SUPPOSED to be a library, so it was decorated with BEAUTIFUL frescoes ... and then the books never arrived! So they closed up the room ... which perfectly preserved the frescoes!! See my pictures on Facebook to get a sense of just how amazing these are (they've NEVER been restored or retouched ... ) The floor is also fabulous! When you look at it you'd think that it had been painted ... but closer observation shows you that it's different types of marble! It's really splendid!

From Siena we made our way over to the working winery and farm where we had lunch and a wine tasting. Seriously, the best meal I've had since getting to Italy!! They made everything but the cheese on the farm, including the wine (of which we had four types ... so that would be 4+ glasses of wine ...). It was really interesting getting to spend time with all the people on the tour, all of whom had REALLY interesting stories! I think that my favorite thing about traveling is all the cool people you meet!! Even if you don't form lasting friendships, it's still really interesting to meet people from all walks and places of life! I was tempted to get some wine to send home, but realized that 1. I had NO room in my luggage and 2. it was way to expensive to ship home and 3. they have a vendor in NYC and a website from which you can buy the wine! SCORE!!!

After lunch (and the wine), cruelly, we went to San Gimignano, which is one of the most famous hilltop villages in Italy because of it's towers!! Typically, the local nobility would build buildings and churches and patron works of art to show off their wealth in powers. In San Gimignano they built towers --- HUGE towers!!! The towers are so striking that San Gimignano is called the Middle Manhattan of the MIddle Ages and that's definitely what it looks like from the distance! The town was kinda closed up this time of year, but that didn't take away from the amazing views that were to be off of just about every turn. We had some GREAT gelatto (the world champion ice cream shot is actually IN the town, but it was closed until March. However, there was an ice cream shop open NEXT to it and I think that if you can be NEXT to the best ice cream shop in the world and stay in business then I think that you MUST be pretty good yourself!!!). Then we realized that it was a 10 minute walk back to the bus which was leaving in 5 minutes ... so those of us who had started walking around as a group (a couple from India who live in London currently for work, a girl from Estonia here on vacation, a mother and daughter from Israel, and a girl from Australia) literally RACED down the hill. We weren't the last ones on the bus which was a good thing!!

We had a looooong drive through Chianti country which was just lovely!! It was a bit hard to stay awake with the gently rolling countryside, the warm coziness of the bus, the exhaustion from the day ... but I managed to stay awake and took as many pictures as possible from the window of the bus. Most of them turned out REALLY well (though some of them are adversely affected by the movement of the bus!!). Then we arrived in Pisa and I have to say that it was really freaking cool! I have NO idea how that tower stays standing!!!! After taking the compulsory tourist shots, I was pretty ready to call it a day ... I napped a bit on the bus ride back to Florence and was DEFINITELY ready for bed when I got back to my hostel ... but I was responsible and did some laundry in the sink. HOPEFULLY the clothes will be drive when I wake up in the morning!!!!!!!

Feb 2 - Florence

7:14pm

OMG I am in LOVE with Florence. Unfortunately STILL no wireless internet ... so that's a bummer. I literally walked the ENTIRE FREAKING CITY today ... I took notes everywhere I went so let me go through those so I don't leave any part of this AMAZING city out ...

So, I get to the train station and manage to get off the train seconds before it starts to pull out to head to Bologna (yes, I am fully aware that my travels today could very easily have come from an "I Love Lucy" plot line. Silence. I hop into a cab and have a very lovely ride around the Santa Croce area before being unceremonily dumped out on a street corner with all my belonging and told that the hostel is "thata waya" Stellar. So I'm dragging my luggage (super cute Vera Bradley rolling duffle with a handle that sticks ...) over the medieval cobblestone streets.

After some confusion, I arrived at the Hostel, dropped my stuff and headed out to see the city! First up was the Basilica Santa Croce (which is almost right behind my hostel!). So many famous people are burried there (Galileo, Michaelangelo, Machiavelli), and the church is simply magnificent. The cloisters are very serene and peaceful, but I think that I might actually like the ones at New College, Oxford better!!! After walking around the museum in the old refractory for a while (which had SEVERAL old frescoes AND all the art from the Church that was no longer used (so some of the oldest stuff!!!).

After Santa Croce, I was STARVING so I grabbed lunch at a little cafe. Nothing special. I realized that it was 12:50 ... and the Bargello Museum closes at 1:50 .. so I raced over to see it (only a few blocks) and got in. SUCH amazing sculpures!!! It was REALLY cool seeing the early Michaengelo works and some over GREAT Renaissance sculpture (Adam and Eve, for one, was AMAZING).

Continuing by foot through the city, I stopped at Duomo. Which, actually, wasn't that impressive from the inside! They had the area under the dome blocked off, so you couldn't really get the full effect. I paid the EXORBITANT sum of money for the privilege of climbing 417 stair to the top of the dome and the view was SPLENDID. Unfortunately ... the battery in my camera chose THAT MOMENT to die ... so no pictures. I just walked around the top for about 20 minutes taking in the absolutely amazing view ... and then climbed down. I walked back to the hostel to change the battery in my camera and left the other to charge and headed BACK to Duomo to check out the Baptistry. I decided that I did NOT want to pay another 6 EUR to climb ANOTHER 100+ stairs in the bell tower, so I just observed it from the outside! I walked around the baptistry several times checking out the different doors (replicas of the originals which are in the museum for the church -- another 6 EUR ... which I passed on!). These bronze doors were truly beautiful! I can imagine them them taking 27 years to complete!!!

I finished circling and paid to go into the baptistry, which was a complete surprise!! The ENTIRE ceiling was covered with gold mosaics. The different panels of the ceiling all told a story!!! You'll have to check out the pictures on Facebook to see what I mean, but it was very, VERY cool. I sat in there for a while just staring up at the ceiling and then took some pictures, including one of the Baptismal font (where Dante was baptized!!!!). And went my merry way.

I managed to find the Galleria Della'Academia and went to see The David. Simply STUNNING. Michaelangleo was truly amazing! At first glance, the statue just seems pretty ... and when you look closer you can see that Michaelangelo put SO much detail in ... including the veins in his arms and hands (there are other anatomical details as well ... but I'm just going to leave it with the arms and hands). I found myself flexing my own arms just to see my OWN veins pop a bit!!! I just wanted to sit and bask in the glory of this work of art for a while ... and the guards went CRAZY when they saw my phone!! They thought that I was trying to take pictures, when I was ACTUALLY messaging Cristen!!! They were so rude about the entire thing that I decided to take a picture just to spite them (I was perfectly willing to follow the rules until they were hateful. Hmph). Got a GREAT one with my Blackberry and went through the rest of the museum. Not going to lie, the rest of the museum is rather lame. There are some interesting tapestries and wood panels ... but nothing compared to David. It WAS interesting, however, to see so much art from the the 12-14th centuries all at once (no, David is NOT from this time period, the REST of the art was) because you really got hit with the fact that they ALL DID THE SAME THING!!! There were slight differences in setting or hair color (the Virgin Mary as a blonde was a favorite of mine!!) and SO much of the artwork venerate MARY and Jesus is a completely secondary figure!!!

While on the subject of art, it really is fascinating to me to see the MANY MANY representations of God in Renaissance Art. Michaelangelo in the Sistine Chapel DEFINITELY gets the award for the most uses of the Divine Image ... and it's strange because that's not at ALL how I picture God! I don't think that I DO picture God ... I realize that we are made in His image ... but I see much more as the pillar of fire and smoke of the Hebrew Scriptures. The idea of him looking like an old man with a long beard is bizarre to me. ESPECIALLY coming out of Israel because in Judaism depicting God in an image is FORBIDDEN.

After leaving the Gallery, I stopped for a VERY early dinner (whatever, I was hungry and tired) and found this little spaghetteria. SO GOOD!! A bit pricy, but it was worth it for the homemade pasta, focaccia and tiramisu. And the through in a complimentary glass of lemoncello nommmmmmmmmmmm.

I made the decision that spending 75 eur for a bus tour of Tuscany was DEFINITELY in order for the next day. I was feeling the need to see some scenery and get out of the museums for a while (I was starting to say "oh, another Michaelangleo, yawn" which is completely unacceptable.) And with visions of a day on a nice bus driving through Tuscany in my head ... I went to bed.

Italy - The Epic Catch up

(I've been keeping notes and updating a text file every night)

29.1.10

12:18pm local time in Rome.

Well, I made it!!! There was a while in London when I really didn't think that I was going to make the train to Paris (which would have meant missing the connection Rome. MAJOR problem!!) But, I made it! And even managed to drop off stuff at Ellie's flat! I'm SOOO thankful to her for agreeing to hold the bag for me!

The hostel in Rome is nice! I have no idea how many other people are here, but I have a room to myself. It was kinda awkward when I checked in and they asked when the other person was getting here. uhhhh it's just me, mister. Oh well, we thought it was a couple! No worries ...

Whatever, my door locks. AND I feel human again because I got to take a shower! I really have no idea WHAT to do first! I know that the last admission to the Vatican Museum has already passed, so I'm think that I will wake up tomorrow morning and do the Vatican (or Monday). I need to make a reservation for the Borghese Museum. So, I think that I'm going to do the NON reservation required stuff now! I think that I will wander over towards the Colloseum and have lunch! What do Romans eat for lunch? Well, I'm gonna go find out!!!

Arrivederci!!

5:52pm

What a day! The weather was GROSS but that's ok. It's why there aren't many tourists this time of year!! I stumbled onto some great tour groups at just the PERFECT time to get a tour of the Amphitheater Flavium, or as it's commonly known, The Colosseum. Included in THAT tour was a tour of the Palantine and Roman forum. The tour guide for that portion ALSO does a tour of the Vatican museums on Saturday morning. Same price as I WOULD have paid online at the Vatican but this guy I KNOW is funny. Major score. It's SO weird standing in front of the Arch of Titus and having people be proud of it ... you definitely get a very different feeling when you're coming from Jerusalem. So much of classical Rome was paid for by the sacking of Jerusalem (the Roman Forum, the Coliseum) ... it's hard for me to separate in my mind what they destroyed from what they built. I also took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city to get an idea of the place. Rome is HUGE but most of the major sites are all packed in together near the center of the city. Completely within walking distance!! I'm going to stick close to the hotel (there is a chinese restaurant RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET -- and no, I'm NOT going there) tonight. Dinner is late here so I'm going to do some planning for my other three days here so I have an idea of where I want to go! Now what about dinner ... I'm in freaking ITALY! Pasta please!!!! And yes, I will try the local cheese. :D BRING IT ON!

8:35pm

Well, the weather here in the "Eternal City" is perfectly dreadful! I feel that an investment in an umbrella might be a necessity!! Had dinner at a perfectly lovely little cafe. I'll be honest, it's mainly a bakery that also serves food. The bakery/cafe portion was MUCH better than the restaurant portion. Must do better next time (though, I thought I was going to DIE when I had the cannolo (aka canolli) and the cafe latte. OMGSOGOOOOOD!!

I think that I'm going to make a bit of an early night of it so that I can really get a lot done tomorrow! For sure going on the tour of the Vatican and Museums at 10:15, but I think that I might want to see a few sites before that and CERTAINLY a bunch afterwards! I'm only in Rome for 3.5 days, so I really want to see it ALL!

30.1.2010

10:21pm

I went on a tour of the Vatican today which was expensive, but definitely worth it!! The museums there are just incredible. There are literally entire hallways that are just crammed with statues and busts and all other things that you can't WALK down because they are so full! The tapestry's are beautiful and there are simply not enough words in the English language to describe the Sistine Chapel. STUNNING is about as close as I can get. Also awe-inspiring is St Peter's Basilica. I wasn't ready for how BIG it was!! I knew that it was large, but it completely took my breath away. I don't have a lot of pictures because it's hard to get good photos of the paintings and tapestry's because no flash is allowed ... and photography is forbidden in the Sistine Chapel because some Japanese company paid $180 million to have the place cleaned in 1981 in exchange for exclusive photographic rights. Jerks.

I took an open bus tour around the city after that to see some more of the sights and figure out where the heck everything is!! The ticket was good for 24 hours so I was REALLY upset when I lost it! Oh well, looks like I'm just using my feet tomorrow ...

I decided that I was going to explore for dinner and ended up wandering down some random side streets on the advice of a street vendor. Probably not the safest thing I've ever done ... but the food was definitely good. I had some yummy pasta (house special). The price was still a bit high ... I think that I'm going to have to rework the budget a bit ... Rome is MUCH more expensive that I thought :( Hopefully I can save in other places ...

31.1.2010

9:27pm

Ok, today was INTENSE. I started off at 7:15 by heading to St Paul's Within the Walls which is the Episcopalian Church here in Rome. It was ALSO the first non-Catholic church built!! REALLY pretty service and the Church was GORGEOUS. Then I hopped on the metro (which, by the way, EPIC FAIL Rome on your metro system. EPIC FAIL) and went out to Piazza Popolo. There was a crazy man swimming in the fountain (which is completely normal here????) and took a bunch of pictures. I then went into Santa Maria in Montesanto which was really pretty. I headed off down Via Del Corso towards the center of the town and veered left to check out the Spanish Steps. I must say ... I was a bit underwhelmed! To be fair, they ARE doing some renovation work which detracts from the esthetics, but still ... not all that impressive I'm sorry to say!!! What WAS impressive was Via Del Condotti ... imagine every major designer in the world ... thinking of them all? Yeah, I walked through every. single. one. of their stores in a span of about 25 minutes. *drool*

When I got back to Via Del Corso it was POURING and I decided to duck my head into a Church to stay dry. BEST DECISION EVER. It was the Basilica del SS. Ambrogio e Carlo and it was MAGNIFICENT. It's not on the maps but it should be! HOLY COW!!! The back was kinda creepy with the relic of San Carlo's heart (EW! Why would you KEEP that??????????)

I stopped for lunch (PIZZA!!!) at a cafe near the Basilica. Roman pizza is SO GOOD! It's basically on a cracker which makes it MUCH healthier than the American version. If you don't like thin-crust, however, you're not likely to be a fan. Fortunately, i LOVE thin crust.

I worked by way down to the Fountain Di Trevi (um WOW) but completely forgot to throw a coin in!!! So I think that I'm going to have to swing back by tomorrow ... anyhoo, hung out at the fountain and had a gelato (NOMMMMMMM) before making my way over to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is awesome. It's so pagan from the outside ... and then when you go in ... it's a CHURCH! That's just weird. I paid my respects to Rafael and took a bunch of pictures and decided to rest my feet sitting against a 2000 year old pillar. Once getting back on my feet (POOR FEET!!!) I headed off to the Piazza Navonna. Um, WOW. No Cardinals in the fountain for me to rescue (in fact, the fountain is currently drained and being renovated!!!!) but I still managed to get some good pictures. I popped into the Church of Saint Agnes in Agony and it was simply breathtaking. I don't think that anything can prepare you for the beauty of the churches here! A lot of the churches in Jerusalem are kinda scary (ok, um, a LOT scary) but here they are just BEAUTIFUL (even when depicting people people tortured and killed ...).

Moving on from Piazza Navonna ... I went on a stroll along the Tiber to watch the sun set over the Castel San'Angelo. Had a total nerd-fest from Angel's and Demons and took LOTS of pictures of the building and the bridge. I went to warm up in a cafe near Saint Peter's Square and had the most expensive coffee and pastry of my entire life. Seriously. RIP OFF!!!!! I decided to follow Paul's (Benedictine Monk friend who actually LIVES in Rome ...) advice and head over to Trastevere (neighborhood in Rome) for dinner. Best decision EVER. I had the best pizza and pasta of my LIFE and only paid 11.50. SCORE!!!

The neighborhood of Trastevere is super cute! It's really young and artsy and just really pretty to stroll through! I spent some time wandering around because it was just really nice and stumbled upon Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is one of the first churches ever build in Rome (in fact, many think it was the first Church where Christians were allowed to worship openly!). I poked my head in for a few minutes and it was pretty cool! It reminded me MUCH more of a Greek/Byzantine Church, though! It was during my wanderings after leaving the Church that I found Trattoria Carlo Menta. Seriously, if you're in Rome, GO THERE. REALLY good and REALLY cheap!!!!!!

I was quick to realize when leaving dinner that I was on the exact OPPOSITE end of the city from the hostel, that it was after 9pm and that I was entirely alone ... I got started walking and the Trastevere area was completely fine ... but I started not feeling so safe when I got back across the river so I decided to just eat the cost and take a cab. It wasn't actually that bad a price (9.50 Euro) so I think that it was a good decision. My feet were certainly happy!!!!

Plan for tomorrow? The theater near the Coliseum to watch Bernie Frischer's movie, tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain (because this is DEFINITELY a city I want to come back to!), the Jewish Ghetto, Santa Maria Maggiore, and Santa Mara Vittorio. Then on Tuesday it's off to Florence!!!!!!!

1.2.2010

7:17pm

LAST DAY IN ROME!!! I decided to sleep in a little bit because when the alarm went off there was no way that I was getting out of bed!! I headed over the Coliseum to check out the Virtual Museum. It was freaking AWESOME! A bit cheesy in places, but a great way to experience ancient Rome!! After the 3D movie and tour thingy I subjected myself to abject humiliation, donned a toga and had photos of myself taken. No, I did not pay money for this privilege. This will fall under the category of NEVER TRAVEL ALONE. Things like THIS happen and you have no way out. I was kinda trapped in the gift shop because I was the ONLY PERSON THERE and every time I would weave over towards the door the guy would find SOMETHING ELSE TO SHOW ME. I took advantage of the few seconds he was distracted getting himself some water and bolted! After eating the LAMEST LUNCH EVER in from of the Coliseum I headed to Basilica San Pietro in Vincolli (aka St Peter in Chains). I got there at 12:45 ... and they close from 12:30-3pm. Bummer. ESPECIALLY since it is a MASSIVE hike (ok, massive for Rome ... not Jerusalem ... we're not talking Mount of Olives here) to get up there. So I decided that since Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore does NOT close during the day and was relatively close, that I would head there. This meant climbing DOWN the Celio Hill and UP the Esquiline Hill.

Santa Maria Maggiore is gorgeous. It was the first Church ever dedicated to the Virgin Mary and every Pope since the 5th Century CE has added to the church. The bell tower and the mosaics (which have been relocated within the Church) are from the 5th century and many MANY chapels and domes have been added, all of which venerate the Virgin Mary. It's really pretty!! Unfortunately there isn't a lot of light inside AND 1/3 of the church is under renovation (are we noticing a theme in Rome for me???) so there aren't a LOT of pictures. Another reason to return to Rome!

Following Maria Maggiore I hopped a cab over to the Great Synagogue. No pictures are allowed inside, but it really is a gorgeous GORGEOUS house of worship. I then walked along the main street into the Jewish Ghetto. This location of centuries of oppression has become a vibrant expression of Jewish art and life! Lots of great restaurants (KOSHER!) and artisan shops line the street! I passed on the felafel and shwarama (and the really nice restaurants that were like 40EUR for a meal ...), but had a great time poking my head into the different shops.

I walked from the Jewish Ghetto over to Largo di Torre Argentina (or Area Sacra) which, on March 15, 43 BCE, Gaius Julius Ceasar was murdered. "Et tu, Brute??"

I then walked alllllllllll the way back to San Peitro in Vincoli and it was WORTH IT! Seeing the chains of St Peter was really cool, but absolutely AMAZING was the statue of Moses by Michaelangelo. What's truly amazing is the fact that the whole thing was supposed to be a tomb for Pope Julius II, but it was never finished and Pope Julius was burried in St Peter's Basilica (Michaelangelo got a wee bit distracted with ... what's the name of that church again??? Oh yeah! The Sistine Chapel!). Finished or not, Moses is absolutely stunning. The statue looks COMPLETELY different depending on where you stand! From one angle, he looks like he's hunched over, from another he is sitting tall and imposing! Really cool to walk around like an idiot and see him in all his positions!

FINALLY I was in the area covered by the blasted Roman Metro system so I took the train over to Piazza della Republica and walked over to Basilica Santa Maria della Vittoria. Any Dan Brown fans out there? Then you should know ALL about this church!! What about you art lovers? Then you will no doubt be familiar with the "Ecstasy of St Theresa." Yeah, it's HERE. All credit and respect to Michaelangelo, it's Bernini who wins my heart for Renaissance sculpture ... and The Ecstasy of St Theresa is my favorite. Other than the beauty of this sculpture, the rest of the church is REALLY creepy. You have have several grim reaper and skeleton statues, and then, to cap it off, you have the "Corpus S. Victor A. R. V. M" at first glance this just seems like a pretty painted monument ... and then you look closer. Please go look at my pictures on Facebook. I cannot explain this one ... just go look!!

After Maria della Vittoria I went over to Maria delgi Angeli. ORIGINALLY this was part of Diocletion's baths which Michaelangelo turned into a church! The church was redone in the 1800s and so most of Michaelangelo's work was taken out (BOOOOO). This church DEFINITELY gets the random award. One of the Popes decided that he wanted to have a meridian line run through the church ... and so there is! There are also several memorials to Galileo Galilei, a pendulum, and some odd modern metal sculpture. This is definitely a church to go back to when it's daylight, so it's on the list of places to return to when I'm in Rome the next time in my life ...

Rome Superlatives:

Best Meal: Trattoria Carlo Menta

Favorite work of art: "The Ecstasy of St Theresa" by Bernini

Biggest Surprise: Basilica di SS Ambrogio e Carlo

Favorite Neighborhood: Trastevere

Biggest rip off: Latte and cannolo off of St Peter's Square.

Most expensive: tour of Vatican Museum

Best Price: Trattoria Carlo Menta

Worst Meal: lunch at Coliseum

2.2.2010

On the train to Florence

Well, the train station certainly was an adventure! I managed to get on A train to Florence. The reservation for 1st class was the same price as the 2nd class reservation ... so DUH I got a first class reservation. At first I thought that it was trick question! I even managed to get on the correct train, which was impressive! APPARENTLY the train is ACTUALLY going to Torino ... and Florence is one of the stops. Whatever. I'm on the train. Now ... if only the train would stop going through tunnels so that I could SEE!!! Oh ... and APPARENTLY, there are two train stations in Florence ... and I'm going to OTHER one. Whoops. Oh well, I can figure out how to get around Florence when I'm there. Useful discovery: when you are hopelessly lost and don't speak the language it's much more effective to adopt a British accent. People are more helpful and roll their eyes less. So, unless I'm going to have to show my passport? I'm posing as a Brit!!!

Meanwhile, back on the train ... SHEEP! And REALLY pretty scenery. I'm shutting down the computer so that I can properly observe the scenery!!! Sorry folks, no pictures. This one's just from memory!!!!