I showed up in Rome at two in the afternoon, and the hostel wouldn't take a credit card. For such a popular, well known place I was a bit surprised. I had a hell of a time getting cash, too, because a purchase I had made in Florence had put a hold on my account for a substantial sum. It was nearly the second time I was stuck in Italy without access to cash. But, an hour later, I was checked in and ready. I was tired from the previous night out in Florence, so I decided to rest that afternoon and meet people at the hostel.
The place was full of Americans. Which is okay, I had a good afternoon. I just didn't really come to Europe to meet more Americans. Later that night, I and a guy I had met decided to go check out the city at dark. Good choice. Rome is so much more beautiful at night. I got some great shots of myself doing a crappy thriller pose in front of all the famous places!
I woke up early the next morning – before everyone else – and took off by myself. I didn't feel like waiting for everybody else to get up. Rome was too big for two days and three nights already. My first stop was the Colosseum. The line was massive, so I bought a ticket at Palatine Hill and wandered around the Roman Forum for a while before heading down to the amphitheater. Though the Colosseum wasn't as huge as I expected, it was still impressive. The interior was incredibly designed, especially for something that was thousands of years old. The rest of the day was pretty chill. I wandered the Eastern half of the city until nearly eight, did some laundry, took a nap, and woke up again later to go hang out in the Yellow Bar with a Frenchman.
The second day was reserved for Vatican City. I took one of the two metro lines (really, only two metro lines for all of Rome?) over to the square and immediately jumped in line for entry to St. Peter's Basilica. The line must have been two hundred yards long, but I was up to the door in six minutes. I timed it. I was fairly churched out from spending the previous day going through every basilica I passed, but nothing could prepare me for the awe inspired by St. Peter's. It WAS (and still is) the most beautiful church I've seen. And that's saying something. I've seen a stupidly huge number of churches recently. After the basilica, I took a walk through the tombs of the popes. Seeing the place where John Paul II was laid was a fairly intense experience. I always get a chill when I stand in front of the resting place of great people.
Next: the Vatican Museum. I was fairly museumed out, too, and all I really wanted to see was the Sistine Chapel. I wandered through the museum admiring the building when I finally came to the chapel. I need a bigger vocabulary for all the things I've seen, because awesome doesn't work for that little chapel. I sat for half an hour admiring the paintings on the ceiling. And, yes, I took a photo. Even though I wasn't supposed to! After the Vatican, I hit up all the rest of the famous things in West Rome, which is mostly just the Pantheon, the only complete structure from the Roman times still standing. How they could create such a structure back in those days in beyond me.
The night ended with meeting a great girl from New York (who I MUST visit!). We walked to the train station for tickets, spend the night at the bar and crashed in the room around 2. The next morning I spent teaching her how to shop at the supermarket (LOL!) and we walked to the train station together. It was a good, slow paced ending to a rushed two days in Rome.
Now that you're finally (generally) up to date, I'd like to apologize for being so slow. I was going a hundred miles an hour in Barcelona and just picked up speed as I got into Italy. I have time to jot down things in my own personal journal, but that's about it a lot of the time. I think what I'm going to try to do is take mom's advice and update little bits at a time. I can't make any promises, but I know how you all like to "live vicariously through my experinces" (and I love that!) so I'm going to try to keep you all satisfied. It's also nice for me to actually have some sort of story written down. Wish me good luck!
Almost caught up!
When I actually arrived to my hostel in Cinque Terra, it was two o'clock and nobody was there. So I was locked out for half an hour. Luckily, three Spaniards arrived shortly after me and waited with me. We went out and hiked for an hour and a half that night, nearly got fined 200 euros for not getting our one euro fifty train tickets stamped correctly, and watched the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.
The following day was spend with a Californian (who had FiveFingers!) and a girl from Indiana. We did the hike all the way along the coast between the five cities. It was gorgeous and great to be in the outdoors after so much time in the city. I also ran into the two guys that had told me to hump the train to Geneva. Small world!
The second full day in Cinque Terra I spent trying to find a mountain bike (with no success), kayaking half a mile out into the sea to check out the entire coastal view (exhausting and worth every bit of it) and laying on the beach. Finally, a relaxing day.
I stopped in Pisa on my way to Firenze (Italian for Florence). There really is nothing in Pisa but the leaning tower, the duomo and the baptistry, but it was worth a 2 hour day trip. The leaning tower is very cool to actually see in person. And watching all the tourists take photos was hilarious, especially when the cops came ad shooed them off the grass.
And finally, Firenze. I only spent two days (three nights) in Firenze, but it is my favorite city so far. I'm not sure I can pinpoint why, though. There was so much to do. The city was clean and beautiful. Slow paced. The people within the city were wonderfully friendly. I just really, really enjoyed it.
The first night I was there, I didn't do much other than hang out at the hostel. The people there were very fun, and I was tired from a day of travel. When I arrived at the hostel, the host sat down with me and drew out a complete walking map complete with stops, so I spent the first day following the map and it made for good start to Florence. I ate dinner at the hostel and introduced myself to two Africans, one from Zimbabwe and one from South Africa, who I ended up going out with that night. We started the night with a power hour and finished with a 1.75 liter bottle of wine. There are some blank spots and I'm not sure how I got home, but it was a blast.
Day two was spent searching for a wallet for dad, seeing David (which was awe inspiring) and another little church that wasn't on the map. Funny enough, it was my second favorite church that I've seen, only to the cathedral in Toledo. I didn't drink that night because I had a train to catch in the morning, but the Africans and I went out again with a few others and had a ball again. My time in Firenze was just wonderful.
And that brings me to today. I woke up this morning, missed the 6:45 and 7:15 trains, then caught the 9:15 to Rome. I'm currently sitting in front of my hostel, The Yellow, chatting with a bunch of other hostelers and deciding upon how I'm going to traverse Rome.
Catch me on Skype so I can fill you in on everything that I didn't include. Ciao!
Milano was actually a very boring city. There wasn't much to do except go to the Duomo and the shopping district. Thankfully, I had a Californian girl I met the night I arrived that wandered with me. She helped me shop around for a purse for my mother and accompanied me to the Duomo, a very beautiful building that clashes with the rest of Milan. While we were shopping, we found a crowd of people waiting (what is it with me and finding crowds?) for the AC Milan futbol team to arrive at their official Milan store. They were releasing their new jersey design! We didn't get to see the team, but it was a fun experience and I got a photo with the team bus.
The next day I left for Venice and made a day stop in Verona, famous for the house of Capulet of Shakespeare's tale “Romeo and Juliet.” I wished I had actually stayed a night in Verona, it was a very beautiful city and had some neat things to see. There just weren't any hostels. As I was searching for the Roman amphitheater that was supposed to be there (which was very small)n meet an English family and spent the day trading stories with them about life in the US and England. I absolutely love when I get to do that!
I arrived in Venice that evening just in time for dinner. The hostel I was in was great because they served a dinner, which meant the entire hostel was there at half past seven to sit and chat in the common room. We (ten of us or so) played some drinking games after and went to wander about the city. I enjoyed my first night in Venice so much that I decided to stay another night. It went pretty well the same, just with a new set of people! There were to guys in particular, a Dutchman, Wouter, and a German, Eric, I hung out with for most of the day and night. that I'm going to try very hard to make a stop back in Venice on my way up to Prague.
I had decided that I couldn't come to and skip the famous Italian auto factories, so I proceeded to Bologna for a night and Modena for three. My hostel in Bologna was actually outside the city, and I was nearly stranded the next morning. I didn't have change for a bus ticket, so I just stole a ride. Travel kind of forces you to do these things. Approached the train station to find ANOTHER crowd (WTF!) celebrating some anniversary of Bologna. I watched that and wandered the city for a while before taking my train to Modena.
Remember, Modena was supposed to be a chill period. I ended up being just as active there as I was previously, just without the nightlife. Oh, I also had a bit of a mental breakdown due some events I found about back home, but I'm okay. It made for some interesting alone time, though. I got up the first day and went to visit Galleria Ferrari (the Ferrari factory) in nearby Maranello, was out all day and explored Modena city center that night. The second day I took a bus to the Lamborghini Gallery. While I was there, I ran into two amazing people from DC who ended up taking me with them to a Pagani factory tour, a traditional balsamic vinegar distillery tour and pretty much paid for my afternoon. Kyle and Olivia made that day one of the best of my trip. I hope I meet more people as awesome as them. When I get back home, I'm going to send them cash for a night out on me. I had a fantastic day and want to return them the favor.
After Modena, took a train to Cinque Terra national park.
Hi. I know I've been sucking at updating my blog lately. I'm sorry. I've been in Italy for a while now and there is so much to see and do that I barely have time to sit down and write. Even when I was in Modena – a city which was supposed to be a three night resting period – I was constantly busy. Wake up at eight, spend the day out and about til eight or nine and come back. It ended up being 3 days of just not going out at night, which didn't really help. But it was still really, really cool.
So I'm going to start with Barcelona and hit up the main points of what I've been doing for the last couple weeks. It might take a couple entries, I try to keep them no longer than a page.
Barcelona is well known for being a party city and I didn't waste a night I was there. I arrived in the city at nearly eleven, took a half hour nap, then walked across the street with a couple of guys from DC to La Ramblas – main street and the center of the nightlife. We started off playing pool with some Germans at an Irish pub and took off at two when the bar closed. The only things that were still open were the “discos” (that's a dance club) that charged absurd amounts of money to enter. It worked out alright though, one of the German guys covered everybody's entry fee. It was a good time and I was even offered a trip to the bathroom by a very, very creepy, raccoon-eyed cross dresser.
I spent my first day wandering around the city and ran into a guy from Honduras that I had spent two hours in line with at the train station. The second night we went out to watch the magic fountain show, a huge water and light show held every weekend in the summer, but had no luck as it was canceled for the day. Later that night we went to a jam session in a bar a ways off La Ramblas. It was amazing to see the musical talent of the crowd in action.
The last day I was in Barcelona was pretty damn good as well. I got up early to go explore the beach and Park Guell, a park designed entirely by a famous Spanish architect called Gaudi. I hiked an hour and a half (at a very slow pace) up to the top of a hill beyond the park for a beautiful overlook of the city and the surrounding country. Well worth it. When I got back to the hostel, I met a seventeen year old kid from Lawrence. How awesome is that? Another Kansan! We discovered that the fountain show had been canceled due to the opening of the European Athletic Championships that night. There was a special, extra huge fountain show to be held at ten and the other Kansan, two Aussie guys and I went (along with 30,000 others) to watch the opening ceremony and show.
I had planned to sleep at the train station that night because my train was going to leave at eight the following morning. Unfortunately, the station closed at midnight and I received at tap on the head at ten til from the man telling me to leave. I wandered around for an hour before finally accepting help from a pink-shirted man on a street corner (this is a BIG rule to break as a backpacker, I probably should've been stabbed or mugged) who happened to be French street artist who worked on La Ramblas. He walked me around the city to find a place to stay and the night was good.
The next morning, I met the Aussie guys on at the train station and we ended up humping a train to Geneva,, some advice given to us by two Americans we met for ten minutes or so on the train. I made it to Milano that night.
