Traffic along the Grand Canal
Saturday, April 25, 2009
THURSDAY IN VENICE
We started off the day by going to the produce markets by the Rialto Bridge. I love going to markets everything is so fresh, and we got a chance to see some local Venetians buying their groceries. I bought some fruits and tomatoes. Along with produce there was also several fish markets showcasing all different kinds of fish. I saw the ink fish that I had eaten the night before for dinner.
The produce market opens around 6 in the morning and the other stands selling anything from Venetian glass and t-shirts open later in the morning. We got to the market around nine, so by the time we were done buying our fruits other vendors were beginning to open. I decided that this would be souvenir day. I bought my first Venetian glass souvenir, a wine bottle stopper. Then I bought some specialty pasta and a belt for Tim. We returned to the hotel after the market to put our goods down and made our lunches for the day with our fresh ingredients.
We decided the rest of the day would be dedicated to island hopping since there are about six different smaller islands around Venice. We took the Vaparetti to Murano, which is an island famous for its glass artwork. Everywhere you look in Venice you can see this type of Murano glass. There is store after store filled with jewelry, glasses, platters, chandeliers, and tons of other glass objects. Our tour book told us that to prevent fires in the glass making factories on Venice they moved all the factories to Murano. We got a tour of a factory, and we watched one of the artists make a horse sculpture and a vase. After our watching the artist, of course they take you to the show room where you can purchase all the glass you want. This glass was super expensive there were glasses that were 60 euros each! Obviously we did not buy anything from this store. We continued our wandering around the island stopping in several glass shops. This is where I went a little crazy. By the time we were ready to eat lunch I had bought seven necklaces!
We ate lunch in a little park and then walked to St. Maria’s Church. This church had the most beautiful mosaic marble floor I had ever seen. The floors were covered in every color of marble.
We got on the Vaparatti and headed to Ledo after the church. Ledo is a skinny little island, about a mile and half long and a half mile wide. Even though this Island was so tiny, there were cars and roads. It was shocking to see cars because Venice does not have any roads. Ledo is the little beach town of Venice. Unfortunately as soon as we got off the Vaparetti the sun disappeared and was replaced by a hazy misty yuckiness. We walked the half-mile down to the beach side. There was not too much of a view, but we passed the time picking up seashells for Jeanie. I got quite good at deconking the baby conk shells that had washed up on shore. The little conks just came out with tiny tug or two. Nobody else could get the conks out, so I felt quite privileged with my skill. Jeanie and I collected a good grocery-size bag full of shells before we headed back to the other side of the Island to get the Vap back to Venice.
Once we were back in Venice, I continued buying more glass stuff. I bought four more glass wine bottle stoppers, so if you are reading this you might be the luck recipient of one of these Venetian treasures. We did not really get hungry until around nine that night, but unfortunately by the time we got our act together most of the restaurants were closing. Andrea, Jeanie, and I ordered a pizza for 13 euros, which was awesome price for a dinner for three in Venice. While Andrea was waiting for the pizza with Karen, Jeanie and I decided we had to have gelato. We went in search of an open gelataria and found one and brought back gelato for everyone. I had this delicious pistachio cherry flavor. We bought some really shitty, cheap wine and brought the pizza back to our hotel to have our little feast. The pizza was amazing and spicy! It was strange tasting something spicy since nothing in Spain has any spice to it.
The produce market opens around 6 in the morning and the other stands selling anything from Venetian glass and t-shirts open later in the morning. We got to the market around nine, so by the time we were done buying our fruits other vendors were beginning to open. I decided that this would be souvenir day. I bought my first Venetian glass souvenir, a wine bottle stopper. Then I bought some specialty pasta and a belt for Tim. We returned to the hotel after the market to put our goods down and made our lunches for the day with our fresh ingredients.
We decided the rest of the day would be dedicated to island hopping since there are about six different smaller islands around Venice. We took the Vaparetti to Murano, which is an island famous for its glass artwork. Everywhere you look in Venice you can see this type of Murano glass. There is store after store filled with jewelry, glasses, platters, chandeliers, and tons of other glass objects. Our tour book told us that to prevent fires in the glass making factories on Venice they moved all the factories to Murano. We got a tour of a factory, and we watched one of the artists make a horse sculpture and a vase. After our watching the artist, of course they take you to the show room where you can purchase all the glass you want. This glass was super expensive there were glasses that were 60 euros each! Obviously we did not buy anything from this store. We continued our wandering around the island stopping in several glass shops. This is where I went a little crazy. By the time we were ready to eat lunch I had bought seven necklaces!
We ate lunch in a little park and then walked to St. Maria’s Church. This church had the most beautiful mosaic marble floor I had ever seen. The floors were covered in every color of marble.
We got on the Vaparatti and headed to Ledo after the church. Ledo is a skinny little island, about a mile and half long and a half mile wide. Even though this Island was so tiny, there were cars and roads. It was shocking to see cars because Venice does not have any roads. Ledo is the little beach town of Venice. Unfortunately as soon as we got off the Vaparetti the sun disappeared and was replaced by a hazy misty yuckiness. We walked the half-mile down to the beach side. There was not too much of a view, but we passed the time picking up seashells for Jeanie. I got quite good at deconking the baby conk shells that had washed up on shore. The little conks just came out with tiny tug or two. Nobody else could get the conks out, so I felt quite privileged with my skill. Jeanie and I collected a good grocery-size bag full of shells before we headed back to the other side of the Island to get the Vap back to Venice.
Once we were back in Venice, I continued buying more glass stuff. I bought four more glass wine bottle stoppers, so if you are reading this you might be the luck recipient of one of these Venetian treasures. We did not really get hungry until around nine that night, but unfortunately by the time we got our act together most of the restaurants were closing. Andrea, Jeanie, and I ordered a pizza for 13 euros, which was awesome price for a dinner for three in Venice. While Andrea was waiting for the pizza with Karen, Jeanie and I decided we had to have gelato. We went in search of an open gelataria and found one and brought back gelato for everyone. I had this delicious pistachio cherry flavor. We bought some really shitty, cheap wine and brought the pizza back to our hotel to have our little feast. The pizza was amazing and spicy! It was strange tasting something spicy since nothing in Spain has any spice to it.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday in Venice
We started the next day bright and early with a 9:30 am tickets for the Academia Museum. This museum houses some of the most famous Italian painters such as Bellini and Tintoretto. We found a Rick Steven tour book of Venice in our hotel, which turned out to be god send because it gave a detailed tour of the museum explaining the paintings understandable.
We took a gondola ride after the museum, which was slightly over priced but we were realizing that everything in Venice was overpriced. Our gondolier told us about some of the most famous buildings as he paddled us through the Grand Canal and along the smaller canals. He showed us the house where Marco Polo use to live. While he paddled through the canals he hummed a tune to himself. It would have been quite romantic if Tim was there, but it was just us girls on the gondola
We stopped to try Italian pastries after the gondola ride. I tried one that was covered in peanuts and dipped in chocolate. It was amazing of course. Andrea's pastry was even better though. She got a green pastry was covered with pistachio nuts and chocolate pieces. It was incredible. We walked to St. Mark’s square again to eat our packed lunches by the sea. I switched it up and had a tuna fish sandwich instead of peanut butter. After lunch everyone was enjoying the sun so much nobody wanted to leave, so we all took a little siesta by the sea.
After our nap we decided we should get up and walk around. We walked all the way to the other side of the Island, which actually is not that far because we learned through our randoming wandering you can’t really get lost in Venice. If you try and get lost, you usually just end up back at St. Mark’s Square. This was perfect for our group, because we prefered to wander than be glued to map looking for streets. There are not streets signs in Venice so maps were just directional guidelines if anything. Along our walk we past an old man on a rowing machine. It looked like he was trying to simulate rowing on the water because the machine was facing the water.
We ended up back at St. Mark’s square, surprise surprise and took a Vap to a San Giogino Church which was a famous, picturesque church that we spotted across the Grand Canal from St. Mark’s Square. After the San Giogino we went back to the St. Mark’s Square and visited the museum in St. Mark’s Basilica. The Basilica was really beautiful because everything in the basilica was mosaic. The walls were covered with mosaic frescos and the floors were intricate marble designs. I have never seen so many different colors of marble in my life. The museum showcased a bunch of religious artifacts and information about the how all the mosaics were created. The museum also had a look out with a view of St. Mark’s Square.
After the museum we rode the Vaparetti along the Grand Canal. We rode the Vap all the way from the bottom of the Grand Canal to the top getting a full tour of the famous water way. Our Rick Steve’s tour book came in quite handy by giving us a play by play of all the important palaces along the Canal. It amazed me how old some of these buildings were, even though Venice is slowly sinking these building still stand regally against the crowded water ways.
We stopped back at the hotel after the Grand Canal tour to grab warmer clothes because it was started to get misty and chilly. Our search for reasonably priced restaurant was not turning up any options that met our table cloth and ambient lighting requirement we had created in Rome. I remember a restaurant that we had walked in morning, but we had done about million things, so I really had to jog my memory until I remembered that the restaurant was by the Academia Museum. My memory served me correct and we instantly decided on this restaurant after looking at the prices. We learned that a pasta dish under 10 euros was a good deal in Venice. I decided to try something different at dinner and ordered a Venetian fish speciality. I can’t remember the Italian name but the dish had cuttle fish and squid. The cuttle fish has ink so the fish and squid was served in the black sauce made from the ink. I told the waiter I was not afraid and once I got past the black sauce I really enjoyed by dish. I got the adventuresome award for the day with my order.
We took a gondola ride after the museum, which was slightly over priced but we were realizing that everything in Venice was overpriced. Our gondolier told us about some of the most famous buildings as he paddled us through the Grand Canal and along the smaller canals. He showed us the house where Marco Polo use to live. While he paddled through the canals he hummed a tune to himself. It would have been quite romantic if Tim was there, but it was just us girls on the gondola
We stopped to try Italian pastries after the gondola ride. I tried one that was covered in peanuts and dipped in chocolate. It was amazing of course. Andrea's pastry was even better though. She got a green pastry was covered with pistachio nuts and chocolate pieces. It was incredible. We walked to St. Mark’s square again to eat our packed lunches by the sea. I switched it up and had a tuna fish sandwich instead of peanut butter. After lunch everyone was enjoying the sun so much nobody wanted to leave, so we all took a little siesta by the sea.
After our nap we decided we should get up and walk around. We walked all the way to the other side of the Island, which actually is not that far because we learned through our randoming wandering you can’t really get lost in Venice. If you try and get lost, you usually just end up back at St. Mark’s Square. This was perfect for our group, because we prefered to wander than be glued to map looking for streets. There are not streets signs in Venice so maps were just directional guidelines if anything. Along our walk we past an old man on a rowing machine. It looked like he was trying to simulate rowing on the water because the machine was facing the water.
We ended up back at St. Mark’s square, surprise surprise and took a Vap to a San Giogino Church which was a famous, picturesque church that we spotted across the Grand Canal from St. Mark’s Square. After the San Giogino we went back to the St. Mark’s Square and visited the museum in St. Mark’s Basilica. The Basilica was really beautiful because everything in the basilica was mosaic. The walls were covered with mosaic frescos and the floors were intricate marble designs. I have never seen so many different colors of marble in my life. The museum showcased a bunch of religious artifacts and information about the how all the mosaics were created. The museum also had a look out with a view of St. Mark’s Square.
After the museum we rode the Vaparetti along the Grand Canal. We rode the Vap all the way from the bottom of the Grand Canal to the top getting a full tour of the famous water way. Our Rick Steve’s tour book came in quite handy by giving us a play by play of all the important palaces along the Canal. It amazed me how old some of these buildings were, even though Venice is slowly sinking these building still stand regally against the crowded water ways.
We stopped back at the hotel after the Grand Canal tour to grab warmer clothes because it was started to get misty and chilly. Our search for reasonably priced restaurant was not turning up any options that met our table cloth and ambient lighting requirement we had created in Rome. I remember a restaurant that we had walked in morning, but we had done about million things, so I really had to jog my memory until I remembered that the restaurant was by the Academia Museum. My memory served me correct and we instantly decided on this restaurant after looking at the prices. We learned that a pasta dish under 10 euros was a good deal in Venice. I decided to try something different at dinner and ordered a Venetian fish speciality. I can’t remember the Italian name but the dish had cuttle fish and squid. The cuttle fish has ink so the fish and squid was served in the black sauce made from the ink. I told the waiter I was not afraid and once I got past the black sauce I really enjoyed by dish. I got the adventuresome award for the day with my order.
Venice
The next morning we were off to Venice. The train ride was around four hours, which was plenty of time to recover from the night before. We pulled into the train station around midday. Because Venice is completely surrounded by water, they only way to get around on the island is by boat. Instead of having a bus system or cars, Venice has kind of like a public boat transportation system called the Vaparetti. The Vaparetti or as we liked to call it for the short the Vap, would take you all around the Island. Just like a metro or a bus line, it has stops where the boats would dock to let people off and on. In order to ride the Vaparetti you have to buy a ticket that you swipe before you can get on the boat, just like the metro. We all bought three day tickets so we could use throughout of tour of Venice.
With our tickets in hand we got on our first Vaparetti and took it to the stop for our hotel. I distinctly remember this first ride because I was amazed at the palaces along the Grand Canal that look like they are just floating in the water. There were bridges everywhere, linking together streets over little canals. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.
Our hotel was decorated in a Venetian style with glass chandeliers and soft pastels and florals. I shared the double room with Andrea, which was a fine room but nothing compared to the triple room that Karen, Jeanie and Victoria were in. The triple had two giant rooms with a queen size bed in one room and two twins in the other with a table and chairs. The bathroom was also quite spacious too. The only complaint I have about the hotel was that every time Andrea or I took a shower in our tiny bathroom, we would flood everything because the lip on the shower would overflow. We made a joke about how just like we flooded the bathroom, Venice also flooded when there was a high tide too. The shower situation was made up by the fact that the hotel had free wi-fi, which seems to make everything better. So far Italy is more technologically advanced than Spain!
After putting our stuff down in the hotel we set out for the center of Venice, St. Mark’s Square. We walked around the square for awhile going into St. Mark’s Basilica, checking out Doge’s Palace, window shopping and just enjoying the Venetian sites. We walked all around the main square and then past the extreme touristy section to a quite street. We found a grocery store on this street and stocked up for the week. As we were walking around we kept our eyes pealed for a decently priced restaurant. Venice is beautiful and unique, but tourist are definitely scammed because everything on the Island is incredible expensive especially restaurants. We settled on a pizzaria called Chin Chin. The name reminded us of the waiter that kept bring us lemoncello shots saying Ching Ching. We all ordered pizzas. I thoroughly enjoyed my eggplant pizza and nothing was fried on it thankgod!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to put our food down. We went back out afterwards to walk around at night. We walked to the Rialto Bridge, which is the most famous bridge in Venice. Then we wandered back toward St. Mark’s Square to check out the happenings at night. On the square there were string ensembles playing music for the people dining at the outdoor cafes. We quickly learned, after glancing at the menu that these outdoor cafes’s on the Square were extremely overpriced. A coffee alone was around 8 euros. I don’t think any coffee is worth 12 dollars! We also learned that string ensembles and orchestra concerts were very popular tourist attractions because Venice was home to several famous composers such as Vivaldi.
With our tickets in hand we got on our first Vaparetti and took it to the stop for our hotel. I distinctly remember this first ride because I was amazed at the palaces along the Grand Canal that look like they are just floating in the water. There were bridges everywhere, linking together streets over little canals. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.
Our hotel was decorated in a Venetian style with glass chandeliers and soft pastels and florals. I shared the double room with Andrea, which was a fine room but nothing compared to the triple room that Karen, Jeanie and Victoria were in. The triple had two giant rooms with a queen size bed in one room and two twins in the other with a table and chairs. The bathroom was also quite spacious too. The only complaint I have about the hotel was that every time Andrea or I took a shower in our tiny bathroom, we would flood everything because the lip on the shower would overflow. We made a joke about how just like we flooded the bathroom, Venice also flooded when there was a high tide too. The shower situation was made up by the fact that the hotel had free wi-fi, which seems to make everything better. So far Italy is more technologically advanced than Spain!
After putting our stuff down in the hotel we set out for the center of Venice, St. Mark’s Square. We walked around the square for awhile going into St. Mark’s Basilica, checking out Doge’s Palace, window shopping and just enjoying the Venetian sites. We walked all around the main square and then past the extreme touristy section to a quite street. We found a grocery store on this street and stocked up for the week. As we were walking around we kept our eyes pealed for a decently priced restaurant. Venice is beautiful and unique, but tourist are definitely scammed because everything on the Island is incredible expensive especially restaurants. We settled on a pizzaria called Chin Chin. The name reminded us of the waiter that kept bring us lemoncello shots saying Ching Ching. We all ordered pizzas. I thoroughly enjoyed my eggplant pizza and nothing was fried on it thankgod!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to put our food down. We went back out afterwards to walk around at night. We walked to the Rialto Bridge, which is the most famous bridge in Venice. Then we wandered back toward St. Mark’s Square to check out the happenings at night. On the square there were string ensembles playing music for the people dining at the outdoor cafes. We quickly learned, after glancing at the menu that these outdoor cafes’s on the Square were extremely overpriced. A coffee alone was around 8 euros. I don’t think any coffee is worth 12 dollars! We also learned that string ensembles and orchestra concerts were very popular tourist attractions because Venice was home to several famous composers such as Vivaldi.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday in Roma
The following morning relieved that we were not harmed from the earthquake we headed for the center of the city. We walked to the big white building and walked around the building going up the steps to see the view of the city. We walked down through the rest of the and across the Tiber River to an area called Trastavere. This area as our tour book stated was suppose to be the hip place in Rome with bars and restaurants for the younger generation. I really like this area and it was filled with restaurants and cafes. We all decided this is where would have dinner later. We walked through Trastavere to visit a famous church called Chelsea Santa Maria, which was beautiful and had a wonderful little piazza with a fountain.
After visiting the church we made our way through Trastavere to a big park. We walked all through the park, which was set up on a hill over looking the city. We stopped a monastery along the way and eat a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches at a picturesque look out.
We had tickets for the Vatican Museum at 4 pm so we started to make our way through the park in the direction of the Vatican City. After talking a round about way and walking through a parking garage we walked right into St. Peters Square. My first impression was a little overwhelming. It was enormous, surrounded by giant columns and statues and in the center the St. Peters Cathedral towered over everything. We had our way into the line through the massive crowds before we realized that the Vatican Museum was on the other side of Vatican City. We turned around and got to walk around the giant wall the surrounds the holy city. The Vatican Museum was quite impressive filled with room after room of famous statues, frescos, paintings, and carvings. It really showed how much power Catholic Church had in claiming ownership over famous artworks. My favorite room was called the Hall of Maps. It was essentially a long Hall filled with fresco of maps of Italia. The ceiling was covered in ornate golden paintings and frescos. With all the gleaming artwork and golden light it almost felt like I was walking into a light metaphorically speaking.
The Vatican Museum is so big that you cannot possibly see everything there is to offer without dying of exhaustion. We stuck to the key rooms of importance and slowly made our way through the museum toward the most famous chapel in the world. The Sistine Chapel, with the ceiling fresco painted by Michelangelo in the 1600’s. The chapel was crowded with hundreds of tourists all gazing up and the incredible work of art on the ceiling. The room was kept silent by the security guards who kept shushing the crowd to preserve the holiness of the chapel. It’s hard to believe I actually saw this masterpiece in real life. It was almost like dream, but I really did see this larger than life portrayal of God giving life to human kind.
After the Museum we headed back around the city wall to St. Peters Square. Along the way we stopped for gelato. Andrea got scammed by choosing a chocolate dipping cone that ended up costing her 6 euros, which is the equivalent of a ten-dollar ice cream in the U.S. She was not happy and was almost to frustrated to eat her gelato. I only paid 2 euro for my cone, which was a real slap in the face for Andrea. Once we finished our Gelato we went into St. Peters Cathedral. As if I was not impressive enough St. Peters completely blew me away. The church was massive, absolutely enormous. It was filled with every color of marble in the world, which of course the Catholic Church took from the ancient roman ruins after the empire fell. There were massive marble statues of all the saints. The alter at the front of the church could have been an entire church in it self. I felt like a tiny little ant as I walked through St. Peters.
We left Vatican City completely in awe, marveling at the power the Catholic Church had during its rein. We headed back to Trastavere to search for a restaurant for dinner. We found an awesome restaurant with a menu of day for only 10 euros. Menu of day usually includes an appetizer, a main course, and a drink or dessert. Once again Jeanie helped us out again. She got a free Mojito, but she did not stop there. She asked the bar tender if she could make us all shooters, so she went behind the bar and mixed us up her speciality. We spent the rest of the night at this bar with Jeanie continuing to get us free drinks. Karen got wasted and by the end of the night we were carrying her back to the hotel. What a great night. Thank you once again Jeanie!
After visiting the church we made our way through Trastavere to a big park. We walked all through the park, which was set up on a hill over looking the city. We stopped a monastery along the way and eat a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches at a picturesque look out.
We had tickets for the Vatican Museum at 4 pm so we started to make our way through the park in the direction of the Vatican City. After talking a round about way and walking through a parking garage we walked right into St. Peters Square. My first impression was a little overwhelming. It was enormous, surrounded by giant columns and statues and in the center the St. Peters Cathedral towered over everything. We had our way into the line through the massive crowds before we realized that the Vatican Museum was on the other side of Vatican City. We turned around and got to walk around the giant wall the surrounds the holy city. The Vatican Museum was quite impressive filled with room after room of famous statues, frescos, paintings, and carvings. It really showed how much power Catholic Church had in claiming ownership over famous artworks. My favorite room was called the Hall of Maps. It was essentially a long Hall filled with fresco of maps of Italia. The ceiling was covered in ornate golden paintings and frescos. With all the gleaming artwork and golden light it almost felt like I was walking into a light metaphorically speaking.
The Vatican Museum is so big that you cannot possibly see everything there is to offer without dying of exhaustion. We stuck to the key rooms of importance and slowly made our way through the museum toward the most famous chapel in the world. The Sistine Chapel, with the ceiling fresco painted by Michelangelo in the 1600’s. The chapel was crowded with hundreds of tourists all gazing up and the incredible work of art on the ceiling. The room was kept silent by the security guards who kept shushing the crowd to preserve the holiness of the chapel. It’s hard to believe I actually saw this masterpiece in real life. It was almost like dream, but I really did see this larger than life portrayal of God giving life to human kind.
After the Museum we headed back around the city wall to St. Peters Square. Along the way we stopped for gelato. Andrea got scammed by choosing a chocolate dipping cone that ended up costing her 6 euros, which is the equivalent of a ten-dollar ice cream in the U.S. She was not happy and was almost to frustrated to eat her gelato. I only paid 2 euro for my cone, which was a real slap in the face for Andrea. Once we finished our Gelato we went into St. Peters Cathedral. As if I was not impressive enough St. Peters completely blew me away. The church was massive, absolutely enormous. It was filled with every color of marble in the world, which of course the Catholic Church took from the ancient roman ruins after the empire fell. There were massive marble statues of all the saints. The alter at the front of the church could have been an entire church in it self. I felt like a tiny little ant as I walked through St. Peters.
We left Vatican City completely in awe, marveling at the power the Catholic Church had during its rein. We headed back to Trastavere to search for a restaurant for dinner. We found an awesome restaurant with a menu of day for only 10 euros. Menu of day usually includes an appetizer, a main course, and a drink or dessert. Once again Jeanie helped us out again. She got a free Mojito, but she did not stop there. She asked the bar tender if she could make us all shooters, so she went behind the bar and mixed us up her speciality. We spent the rest of the night at this bar with Jeanie continuing to get us free drinks. Karen got wasted and by the end of the night we were carrying her back to the hotel. What a great night. Thank you once again Jeanie!
Sunday in Roma
Luckily, I did not feel hung over in the morning. We left the hotel and headed for the famous Piazza Navona. This Piazza has a famous Church, three giant fountains, and it is lined with outdoors café’s, bistros and street artist selling paintings. We spent a good amount of time in the Piazza enjoying the wonderful weather and people watching. Afterward we did a little church hoping, visiting some of the most famous churches in Rome. On in particular I took note of was Chelsea San Luigi del Francesi because it had famous painting by Cavaggio inside.
Our church hopping lead us into the old Jewish ghetto. It is not a ghetto now, but during the ancient Roman Empire this was the old Jewish community. We decided to stop and get lunch here. Everywhere else seemed to have the same idea because we walked around to about four different restaurants asking if they had a table for five. Final we settled on a restaurant that said we could have a table if we waited, so wait we did. I wanted to try some typical Roman Jewish food, but of course all the items on menu were over priced because of tourist trap mentality. I ordered a pasta pesto dish, which was delicious of course.
With our stomachs full we headed our to the ancient Roman Teatro which was we could see from our restaurant. The teatro looked like a smaller version of the Coliseum. We could not enter the teatro, but you could walk around the teatro. It amazes me how the modern buildings and shops surround all of these ancient Roman ruins. The ruins don’t look out of place at all. The city just sprung up around them leaving them intact. That was one thing I really like about Rome. Among all the fancy piazza and touristy areas there would an ancient roman column or statue.
We wandered our way down to the Tiber River after walking around the teatro. Along the Tiber we took saw several houseboats and peoples cars parked along the river. We also people fishing the river. I am not sure what kind of fish they were catching if any; because the river did not look that clean to me. We decided to take advantage of our 23 euro Roma pass and visit another museum before our pass expired. We headed off toward the Capitaline Museum. This museum houses some of the most famous marble statues from ancient Roman and the Renaissance. It has several galleries filled with famous Italian paintings from Michelangelo, Cavvagio, Bortelli, Da Vinci, and several others. The most famous statue at this museum is off Marcus Aurealius riding a horse. It is one of the last bronze statues from ancient times in existence today.
We spent about two hours exploring the museum, which was enormous and even had an underground astrology exhibit. Nobody could decide what we were going to do next, so we took a little break on the steps of the Capitaline to ponder the next we wanted to visit. Our little stop turned into an hour and half of people watching, where Andrea stared down the hot security guard at the door until finally we came over to her and said hi. I told she needed to go back and talk to him and ask him a good place to visit. She agreed but we wanted to use the bathrooms first, so we went back into the museum but when we came back we were gone. Andrea’s dreams of falling in love with this sexy Italian were crushed.
Exhausted from 12 hours of walking around Rome, we headed back to the hotel and grabbed some pizza at the nearby pizzeria. With aching feet we all went to bed fairly early. Around 3:30 in the morning Andrea shot straight up in bed. She leaned over to me asked me if I could feel the shaking. Everything in our room was shaking: the beds, the lights, the windows, and the furniture. We had no idea what was going on, I had a fleeting thought that maybe we had one of those beds that you put the quarters in and it makes the bed shake. Andrea’s first thought was that since our hotel was so close to the train station maybe a really big train had just pulled in. We concluded that this was not a train after a minute or so, and then we realized that this was an earthquake, un teremonto. The next morning we woke to news about the teremonto, 6 point something on the rictor scale, that happened in Abruzzo, Italy about 200 kilometers away. We were luckily it was 200 kilometers away because 300 people died in Abruzzo in the earthquake and a hospital was destroyed.
Our church hopping lead us into the old Jewish ghetto. It is not a ghetto now, but during the ancient Roman Empire this was the old Jewish community. We decided to stop and get lunch here. Everywhere else seemed to have the same idea because we walked around to about four different restaurants asking if they had a table for five. Final we settled on a restaurant that said we could have a table if we waited, so wait we did. I wanted to try some typical Roman Jewish food, but of course all the items on menu were over priced because of tourist trap mentality. I ordered a pasta pesto dish, which was delicious of course.
With our stomachs full we headed our to the ancient Roman Teatro which was we could see from our restaurant. The teatro looked like a smaller version of the Coliseum. We could not enter the teatro, but you could walk around the teatro. It amazes me how the modern buildings and shops surround all of these ancient Roman ruins. The ruins don’t look out of place at all. The city just sprung up around them leaving them intact. That was one thing I really like about Rome. Among all the fancy piazza and touristy areas there would an ancient roman column or statue.
We wandered our way down to the Tiber River after walking around the teatro. Along the Tiber we took saw several houseboats and peoples cars parked along the river. We also people fishing the river. I am not sure what kind of fish they were catching if any; because the river did not look that clean to me. We decided to take advantage of our 23 euro Roma pass and visit another museum before our pass expired. We headed off toward the Capitaline Museum. This museum houses some of the most famous marble statues from ancient Roman and the Renaissance. It has several galleries filled with famous Italian paintings from Michelangelo, Cavvagio, Bortelli, Da Vinci, and several others. The most famous statue at this museum is off Marcus Aurealius riding a horse. It is one of the last bronze statues from ancient times in existence today.
We spent about two hours exploring the museum, which was enormous and even had an underground astrology exhibit. Nobody could decide what we were going to do next, so we took a little break on the steps of the Capitaline to ponder the next we wanted to visit. Our little stop turned into an hour and half of people watching, where Andrea stared down the hot security guard at the door until finally we came over to her and said hi. I told she needed to go back and talk to him and ask him a good place to visit. She agreed but we wanted to use the bathrooms first, so we went back into the museum but when we came back we were gone. Andrea’s dreams of falling in love with this sexy Italian were crushed.
Exhausted from 12 hours of walking around Rome, we headed back to the hotel and grabbed some pizza at the nearby pizzeria. With aching feet we all went to bed fairly early. Around 3:30 in the morning Andrea shot straight up in bed. She leaned over to me asked me if I could feel the shaking. Everything in our room was shaking: the beds, the lights, the windows, and the furniture. We had no idea what was going on, I had a fleeting thought that maybe we had one of those beds that you put the quarters in and it makes the bed shake. Andrea’s first thought was that since our hotel was so close to the train station maybe a really big train had just pulled in. We concluded that this was not a train after a minute or so, and then we realized that this was an earthquake, un teremonto. The next morning we woke to news about the teremonto, 6 point something on the rictor scale, that happened in Abruzzo, Italy about 200 kilometers away. We were luckily it was 200 kilometers away because 300 people died in Abruzzo in the earthquake and a hospital was destroyed.
FIRST DAY IN ROME
We started our first full day in Rome by buying our Roma Pass. This pass allowed to into two museums/monuments for free and gave us discounts on other museums. I can’t decide if it was worth paying 23 euros for the pass, but it did come with free transportation. With Roma Passes in hand we took the metro down the Coliseum. We ended up paying another 10 euro for a guided tour through the Coliseum, but I definitely think this was worth because I hate just looking at things and not knowing what I am looking at. The tour guide told us all about the history of the Coliseum and the types of games changed depending on the emperor at the time. We learned that the Flavarian dynasty was the Roman rulers who built the main structure and over the years other emperors added on, like putting in a basement for underground storage of the wild animals. We also learned that working in the Coliseum was just as dangerous as being a gladiator especially the workers that had to bring the lions out of their cage. We had some free time after our tour to explore the Coliseum and visit the museum. The museum showed the history of the Flavian dynasty and how the Coliseum was constructed. Its hard believe looking at all the Roman ruins through out the city that 2000 years ago everything was covered in gleaming white marble.
After the Coliseum tour we had another tour lined up. The next tour was on Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill is one of the seven hills that made up ancient Rome. This particular hill is especially famous because it was home to all the royals and their extravagant palaces. Our guide was the funny British man with horrible teeth. He took through a crowded demonstration of angry Italians who were protesting the economy and then he lend us up on to Palatine Hill. Here he described the palaces that use to over look the city. He talked about all the different types and colors of marble the palaces were constructed out of. Then he told us how the Catholic Church had taken all the valuable marble away from the ancient Roman city and used it to built St. Peters Square and their church. He was not very subtle about his dislike for the Catholic Church and their plundering of the ancient city in the name of god. Our guide took us a spot on Palatine Hill that overlooked the ancient Roman Forum. The Forum housed all the great Senate buildings, the Basilica, ancient temples, arches, and the oldest Catholic Church in the world with the original doors still intact! This might have been my favorite part because it was spectacular to look down on these ancient ruins and envision what Roman life would have been like in the bustling metropolis.
We had a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches on Palatine Hill and then we headed down to walk around the Roman Forum. We explored the ancient ruins for a while but decided to head for some cover as a thunderstorm began to roll into the city. Luckily the storm did not hit, but there were some pretty nice cracks of thunder. We headed away from the ancient ruins area back toward the modern part of the city. Here we walked to the Pantheon, which was an ancient Roman temple that Julius Caesar built that has been since converted into a Catholic church. A mass was in full swing when we arrived, so we did not get to go inside the church but we decided we would come back the next day. We left the Pantheon and headed for the Trevi Fountain. I am not sure the history behind the Trevi fountain, but the statues and the waterfalls were quite impressive. We did the typical tourist tradition of throwing a coin over your shoulder into the fountain and making a wish.
We slowly wandered back to the hotel. Karen and Victoria were getting hungry, so they decided to stop for dinner. Andrea, Jeanie and I continued wandering through the city. We were still on a Spanish eating schedule, so we did not want dinner until a least nine. We walked back to the Spanish Steps area to get another view of the city at night. Then we walked through a couple tourists’ shops. We stopped and got some gelato along the way. I tried the Nutella flavor. It was amazing of course. I was shocked to the see the insane amount of nutella products everywhere. There was Nutella flavored gelato, crepes filled with Nutella, waffles and Nutella and there were giant containers of Nutella bigger than the size of my head in all the Gelaterias. I took a picture of giant Nutellas jars to show Sarah our wonderful discovery.
We made our way back to the hotel looking for a place a to eat along the way. I spotted a restaurant that had just the right combination of ambiance and inexpensive prices, so we decided to stop for dinner. Andrea, Jeanie and I all split a liter of wine with our dinner. I tried the gnocchi. It was so rich I though my stomach was about to burst. Jeanie turned on her Asian charm, and got us another free liter of wine from the waiter that was hitting on her. The waiter did not stop with one liter of wine. He asked us what kind of desert we wanted and then we brought us all Lemoncello shots. We toasted our lemoncello shots with the waiter and all said Ching Ching. I am guessing this a typically Italian thing to say when you take a shot, but the phrase Ching Ching stuck with us throughout the rest of our tour of Italy. The waiter did not lie though everything he brought was free. It’s a good thing Italians love Asians. Jeanie got us quite a few free things throughout of travels through Italy. Thank you Jeanie for being Asian!
We all left the restaurant a little tipsy and skipped back to the hotel. Along the way we asked some polizia for a picture in the train station. They did not seem to mind our public drunkenness seeing as how there was a man lying on the floor drunkenly yelling incoherently to his friend. When we got back to our hotel I was not feeling too good. I could not tell if it was the all the wine and lemoncello or the all the pasta. Either way I got a little sick and had to see my dinner for a second time. I went to bed feeling a lot better.
After the Coliseum tour we had another tour lined up. The next tour was on Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill is one of the seven hills that made up ancient Rome. This particular hill is especially famous because it was home to all the royals and their extravagant palaces. Our guide was the funny British man with horrible teeth. He took through a crowded demonstration of angry Italians who were protesting the economy and then he lend us up on to Palatine Hill. Here he described the palaces that use to over look the city. He talked about all the different types and colors of marble the palaces were constructed out of. Then he told us how the Catholic Church had taken all the valuable marble away from the ancient Roman city and used it to built St. Peters Square and their church. He was not very subtle about his dislike for the Catholic Church and their plundering of the ancient city in the name of god. Our guide took us a spot on Palatine Hill that overlooked the ancient Roman Forum. The Forum housed all the great Senate buildings, the Basilica, ancient temples, arches, and the oldest Catholic Church in the world with the original doors still intact! This might have been my favorite part because it was spectacular to look down on these ancient ruins and envision what Roman life would have been like in the bustling metropolis.
We had a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches on Palatine Hill and then we headed down to walk around the Roman Forum. We explored the ancient ruins for a while but decided to head for some cover as a thunderstorm began to roll into the city. Luckily the storm did not hit, but there were some pretty nice cracks of thunder. We headed away from the ancient ruins area back toward the modern part of the city. Here we walked to the Pantheon, which was an ancient Roman temple that Julius Caesar built that has been since converted into a Catholic church. A mass was in full swing when we arrived, so we did not get to go inside the church but we decided we would come back the next day. We left the Pantheon and headed for the Trevi Fountain. I am not sure the history behind the Trevi fountain, but the statues and the waterfalls were quite impressive. We did the typical tourist tradition of throwing a coin over your shoulder into the fountain and making a wish.
We slowly wandered back to the hotel. Karen and Victoria were getting hungry, so they decided to stop for dinner. Andrea, Jeanie and I continued wandering through the city. We were still on a Spanish eating schedule, so we did not want dinner until a least nine. We walked back to the Spanish Steps area to get another view of the city at night. Then we walked through a couple tourists’ shops. We stopped and got some gelato along the way. I tried the Nutella flavor. It was amazing of course. I was shocked to the see the insane amount of nutella products everywhere. There was Nutella flavored gelato, crepes filled with Nutella, waffles and Nutella and there were giant containers of Nutella bigger than the size of my head in all the Gelaterias. I took a picture of giant Nutellas jars to show Sarah our wonderful discovery.
We made our way back to the hotel looking for a place a to eat along the way. I spotted a restaurant that had just the right combination of ambiance and inexpensive prices, so we decided to stop for dinner. Andrea, Jeanie and I all split a liter of wine with our dinner. I tried the gnocchi. It was so rich I though my stomach was about to burst. Jeanie turned on her Asian charm, and got us another free liter of wine from the waiter that was hitting on her. The waiter did not stop with one liter of wine. He asked us what kind of desert we wanted and then we brought us all Lemoncello shots. We toasted our lemoncello shots with the waiter and all said Ching Ching. I am guessing this a typically Italian thing to say when you take a shot, but the phrase Ching Ching stuck with us throughout the rest of our tour of Italy. The waiter did not lie though everything he brought was free. It’s a good thing Italians love Asians. Jeanie got us quite a few free things throughout of travels through Italy. Thank you Jeanie for being Asian!
We all left the restaurant a little tipsy and skipped back to the hotel. Along the way we asked some polizia for a picture in the train station. They did not seem to mind our public drunkenness seeing as how there was a man lying on the floor drunkenly yelling incoherently to his friend. When we got back to our hotel I was not feeling too good. I could not tell if it was the all the wine and lemoncello or the all the pasta. Either way I got a little sick and had to see my dinner for a second time. I went to bed feeling a lot better.
MY FIRST GELATO
I was glad when the plane finally landed in Rome. I was ready to get as far away from Ryanair and start my Italian adventure. We bused it to the center the train station and found out hotel, which was nearby. After checking in and putting our stuff down, we set off in search of food. Everyone wanted to go a grocery store and make peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, but I was not about to eat peanut butter as my first meal in Italy. I wanted Gelato. I spotted a Gelateria, which was not hard to find because there is about 10 Gelaterias on every block. I bought my first Gelato and enjoyed every lick of my delicious frozen tiramisu flavor. Victoria decided to indulge with me and then we went and bought groceries for the week and at a supermercati (Italian word for Supermarket).
After our groceries had been stored back in our rooms and our peanut butter sandwiches consumed, we headed for the center Rome. We walked all the way down town passing some pretty impressive buildings that looked like they had been standing since the dawn of time. We walked through the old Roman forum as the sun was setting. Then we walked to the Coliseum for a night view of the ancient arena. It was beyond impressive. I have seen plenty of pictures of the Coliseum, but nothing compares to being there in person and seeing it. We walked all the way around the circular building taking pictures. It was getting pretty late so we decided we would head back for the hotel and find some little Italiano bistro to grab dinner along the way.
We passed several restaurants, but thanks to our restaurant guru Andrea, who has the ability determine a good restaurant like a six sense, we found a perfect like café with wonderful ambiance. It’s all about the ambiance after all. We never ate at any restaurant that had florescent lighting and no table clothes. The restaurant turned out to be very good everyone ordered well. I had cannelloni and brusscetta and a few bites of a tiramisu we all shared. The restaurant was slightly deserted. We ended up being the only people eating dinner there. Our server invited some of his friends over, and they seemed to be having a food tasting while we were eating dinner. They were trying a variety of scrumptious dishes like calamari, lobster, and pesto. I wished we could have joined the tasting party, but our tummies were satisfied with our dinners.
We headed back to the hotel after dinner. Of course being our first night and everything, we got a little lost, but eventually after walking by several homeless people sleeping on mattresses underneath overpasses we found our way to the train station and our hotel.
After our groceries had been stored back in our rooms and our peanut butter sandwiches consumed, we headed for the center Rome. We walked all the way down town passing some pretty impressive buildings that looked like they had been standing since the dawn of time. We walked through the old Roman forum as the sun was setting. Then we walked to the Coliseum for a night view of the ancient arena. It was beyond impressive. I have seen plenty of pictures of the Coliseum, but nothing compares to being there in person and seeing it. We walked all the way around the circular building taking pictures. It was getting pretty late so we decided we would head back for the hotel and find some little Italiano bistro to grab dinner along the way.
We passed several restaurants, but thanks to our restaurant guru Andrea, who has the ability determine a good restaurant like a six sense, we found a perfect like café with wonderful ambiance. It’s all about the ambiance after all. We never ate at any restaurant that had florescent lighting and no table clothes. The restaurant turned out to be very good everyone ordered well. I had cannelloni and brusscetta and a few bites of a tiramisu we all shared. The restaurant was slightly deserted. We ended up being the only people eating dinner there. Our server invited some of his friends over, and they seemed to be having a food tasting while we were eating dinner. They were trying a variety of scrumptious dishes like calamari, lobster, and pesto. I wished we could have joined the tasting party, but our tummies were satisfied with our dinners.
We headed back to the hotel after dinner. Of course being our first night and everything, we got a little lost, but eventually after walking by several homeless people sleeping on mattresses underneath overpasses we found our way to the train station and our hotel.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
FML RYANAIR
We left the hostel the next morning with a couple extra JMU people that were headed off in different destinations for vacation. Some were catching flights to the Canary Islands and others were going to Morocco. Our flight to Italy was at 9:45 am, so I wanted to get to the airport with plenty of time because Ryanair is not know for their prompt service or understanding. After metroing it to the airport, we arrived in plenty of time to wait in the massive Ryanair line and go through security.
Ryanair has this awesome policy where if you are not checking a bag you are only allowed one carry bag and it can only weigh 10 kilos. Well we managed to get around this rule by dumping stuff out of bags behind the counter and then putting them on the scale.
If you can’t tell by now, I really hate Ryanair. When I bought my tickets for Italy it accidentally bought two tickets under the same name. Any logical company would question why I had bought two tickets under the same name, but not Ryanair. Of course Ryanair does not refund tickets unless a family member dies, so there was no possible way for me to get my money back. Angela offered to buy the ticket from me, but of course there is a name change fee of 100 euros, which was almost as much as the ticket cost. Trying to change the name and pay with a different credit card was also quite a fiasco. Finally I figured out how to maneuver the purposefully confusing Ryanair website and change the name on the ticket, but it was far from easier. I really think Ryanair just tries to the confuse their customers to the point where they can just get their credit card information and book them on random flights. I would not be surprised if Ryanair charged me for a flight to Dubai.
Once we were settled on the plane, which was also challenging because you don’t have seat assignments on Ryanair. It is just a free for all. Everyone pushes to get a seat and an overhead bin for their carry on. We all managed to find seats and bins, just as the plane was beginning to taxi to the take off strip. The flight attendants on Ryanair are equally horrible. The don’t really enforce any plane safety rules. They let all the passengers roam up and down the isles. I am pretty sure I could do cartwheels down the Isles and nobody would say anything to me. I managed to get into a little fight with one of the attendants because she would not let me us the bathroom. She kept telling me we were landing soon, but I am pretty sure she had no idea were we were even flying to because she had been sitting on her ass the entire flight gossiping with the other attendant. I told the lady I was going to use the bathroom and she could not stop me.
Ryanair has this awesome policy where if you are not checking a bag you are only allowed one carry bag and it can only weigh 10 kilos. Well we managed to get around this rule by dumping stuff out of bags behind the counter and then putting them on the scale.
If you can’t tell by now, I really hate Ryanair. When I bought my tickets for Italy it accidentally bought two tickets under the same name. Any logical company would question why I had bought two tickets under the same name, but not Ryanair. Of course Ryanair does not refund tickets unless a family member dies, so there was no possible way for me to get my money back. Angela offered to buy the ticket from me, but of course there is a name change fee of 100 euros, which was almost as much as the ticket cost. Trying to change the name and pay with a different credit card was also quite a fiasco. Finally I figured out how to maneuver the purposefully confusing Ryanair website and change the name on the ticket, but it was far from easier. I really think Ryanair just tries to the confuse their customers to the point where they can just get their credit card information and book them on random flights. I would not be surprised if Ryanair charged me for a flight to Dubai.
Once we were settled on the plane, which was also challenging because you don’t have seat assignments on Ryanair. It is just a free for all. Everyone pushes to get a seat and an overhead bin for their carry on. We all managed to find seats and bins, just as the plane was beginning to taxi to the take off strip. The flight attendants on Ryanair are equally horrible. The don’t really enforce any plane safety rules. They let all the passengers roam up and down the isles. I am pretty sure I could do cartwheels down the Isles and nobody would say anything to me. I managed to get into a little fight with one of the attendants because she would not let me us the bathroom. She kept telling me we were landing soon, but I am pretty sure she had no idea were we were even flying to because she had been sitting on her ass the entire flight gossiping with the other attendant. I told the lady I was going to use the bathroom and she could not stop me.
Spring Break Begins
After putting it off and putting it off I am finally getting to my spring break blog. We did so did so much and went so many places that this might seem a little disorganized, but bare with me I promise this will be another exciting adventure for all my avid readers.
First off Italy is amazing! I love this country. The people, the food, the incredible views, the history, and of course the shopping. I could go on and on about how wonderful Italy is, but I will start with the beginning of trip.
Andrea, Jeanie, Victoria, Karen, and I left Thursday after lunch for Madrid, where we would be spending the night and getting a flight the next morning to Italy. This was April 2nd, yes I know I am about three weeks slow in getting this done. We stayed at quite possible the coolest hostel ever called Cats Hostel. It was decorated like La Alhambra with tiling and archways. There was four floors that all opened up to courtyard, meeting area in the center on the first floor. There was even a two bars and computers in the basement. The bathrooms were clean and the beds were not horrible, a little sinkage but not bad. We had a six-person room so there was some random guy that came in after we were all asleep. We never got to meet him, but I don’t think he appreciated us waking up at 5:30 the next morning so we could make it to airport on time.
First off Italy is amazing! I love this country. The people, the food, the incredible views, the history, and of course the shopping. I could go on and on about how wonderful Italy is, but I will start with the beginning of trip.
Andrea, Jeanie, Victoria, Karen, and I left Thursday after lunch for Madrid, where we would be spending the night and getting a flight the next morning to Italy. This was April 2nd, yes I know I am about three weeks slow in getting this done. We stayed at quite possible the coolest hostel ever called Cats Hostel. It was decorated like La Alhambra with tiling and archways. There was four floors that all opened up to courtyard, meeting area in the center on the first floor. There was even a two bars and computers in the basement. The bathrooms were clean and the beds were not horrible, a little sinkage but not bad. We had a six-person room so there was some random guy that came in after we were all asleep. We never got to meet him, but I don’t think he appreciated us waking up at 5:30 the next morning so we could make it to airport on time.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Vacaciones
I am leaving for spring break on Thursday. We are taking the bus to Madrid and then catching our flight to Rome on Friday morning! I am so pumped. We are spending three days in Rome, three days in Venice and three days in Florence. I can't to try the food. No spanish food for 10 whole days!! I am also really excited about the bike tour we are taking in Florence. We will be biking through Chianti which is the Tuscan wine country. On the tour we stop at a winery, eat at an little restaurant and then tour a town. I am also really excited to see the Vatican and all the famous Roman churches. Italy is going to be fantastico!
Last Day with my Parents
On my last night with my parents, I took them to an Italian restaurant. The food was absolutely wonderful! My mom out ordered all of us by a landslide. Her pasta dish was ravioli stuffed with truffles in a gorgonzola and walnut sauce. It was devine. We also ordered a salad that was mixed greens with goat cheese, pine nuts and olives. I was so happy to be eating something other than ice burg lettuce. My mom was a little sad that the goat cheese was fried, but everything is fried in Spain so it was not really a super surprise for me.
After our wonderful dinner I went back to the hotel with my parents. We hung out in the room for while. I was trying not to think about saying goodbye to them tomorrow, but I knew it was coming.
The following morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. We were the only ones at breakfast, so we had the entire buffet to ourselves. After breakfast I showed my parents the Huerto de Calixta y Melibea. A huerto is an enclosed garden. This garden was named after a famous Spanish legend, Calixta y Melibea. The huerto was pretty with all the flowers beginning to bloom and we could see the river and the city stretched out before us. We left the huerto and headed back to the hotel to get our stuff and check out. I had class at 11 so my parents walked me to class to say goodbye. Saying goodbye was so hard. All I really wanted to do was go home with them. Instead I was stuck in Spain for another month.
Overall I think my parents really enjoyed Spain. The trip to Andalusia was amazing, and I am so glad they got to go into Alhambra after all the confusion we had dealing with reservations and tickets. I am also really happy that they got to see my life in Spain. My mom really liked my Madre. She agreed that our room is the size of a matchbox, and our Madre cooks way too much food for us but she thought we were very well taken care off. My parents loved Salamanca too and thought it was just the right size city for studying abroad. It was wonderful seeing my parents, but saying goodbye just made me want to go home even more. As much as I have loved being in Spain (and some days I really hated being here), it has made me realize that there is no place like home and being with your family. Only one month left. Only 10 more days of classes, ten days in Italy, one week for exams, and then I am outa here!!
After our wonderful dinner I went back to the hotel with my parents. We hung out in the room for while. I was trying not to think about saying goodbye to them tomorrow, but I knew it was coming.
The following morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. We were the only ones at breakfast, so we had the entire buffet to ourselves. After breakfast I showed my parents the Huerto de Calixta y Melibea. A huerto is an enclosed garden. This garden was named after a famous Spanish legend, Calixta y Melibea. The huerto was pretty with all the flowers beginning to bloom and we could see the river and the city stretched out before us. We left the huerto and headed back to the hotel to get our stuff and check out. I had class at 11 so my parents walked me to class to say goodbye. Saying goodbye was so hard. All I really wanted to do was go home with them. Instead I was stuck in Spain for another month.
Overall I think my parents really enjoyed Spain. The trip to Andalusia was amazing, and I am so glad they got to go into Alhambra after all the confusion we had dealing with reservations and tickets. I am also really happy that they got to see my life in Spain. My mom really liked my Madre. She agreed that our room is the size of a matchbox, and our Madre cooks way too much food for us but she thought we were very well taken care off. My parents loved Salamanca too and thought it was just the right size city for studying abroad. It was wonderful seeing my parents, but saying goodbye just made me want to go home even more. As much as I have loved being in Spain (and some days I really hated being here), it has made me realize that there is no place like home and being with your family. Only one month left. Only 10 more days of classes, ten days in Italy, one week for exams, and then I am outa here!!
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