Hugh Grant and Bill Clinton

No, I did not meet either of those people although I kind of wish I did. What I did do was visit the neighborhood of Notting Hill which both of those guys have connections to. I picked a great day for it... rain, wind, cold, and cloudy. Oh well. It can't be sunny everyday.

I woke up kind of late, like 10. I just felt like sleeping in so I did. I went online for a few hours and looked up flights for when my mom visits in about three weeks (!). I have class on Tuesday and Wednesday that week but I am going to try and get out of them so that we have a whole week to do whatever we want. I love looking up flights and thinking about all the places we can go and things we can see. The possibilities are endless (well, not totally but it seems like it). Anyway, I got tired of being online so I got up and grabbed my guide book and walked up to Notting Hill.

Notting Hill is a pretty prestigious neighborhood and has been for a while. It's famous for a couple things, the movie and the Carnivale. During my walk, I walked by the bookstore, The Travel Bookstore (picture 1), that the movie Notting Hill was based on. For those that don't know, the movie is about Hugh Grant works in a book store and falls in love with Julia Roberts who is a big movie star. Its a good movie. The only thing Notting Hill is famous for, the Carnivale, is the biggest festival in London each year. It happens in July and was started as a celebration by all the Caribbean immigrants. Now, it's just a big get together that is vaguely like Mardi Gras.

So the main part of my walk was walking along Portobello Road which is a big shopping road. Lots of antique stores and clothing stores and just shopping. It was ok. I am not a huge shopper but especially not when I literally have no money on me (I left it at the flat). Also along the road are a whole bunch of vegetable and fruit stands which are cool (picture 2). There's a pub called The Gold. In 2000, Bill and Chelsea Clinton stopped in here for a drink and snack. I don't know why that is important but that's what it said in my guidebook so I took note of it. I saw some houses in two different areas that reminded me a lot of the houses on the island of Burano. These houses were painted more pastel colors though, bright but not the same (picture 3). They made me think of Easter for some reason (picture 4). I liked them a lot, probably my favorite part of the walk. At the end of Portobello Road, there is an area of cafes and food shops and stuff that is really ethnic. There were Moroccan food stands, Portuguese cafes, French patisseries, Spanish food marts, Greek gyro bars, and a bunch more different kinds of things. I really liked it here as well. I need to come back some day and have lunch. It all smelled so good. From there I walked back to the flats.

I lazed around and watched some tv. Nothing good was on so I read some more of the Odyssey and made dinner. Then it was more poking around the internet: facebooking, reading travel advice, e-mailing, sports blogs, and just wasting time really. Tomorrow, we are all going to Cambridge which should be fun.

Happy Leap Day!

Tours (not the city in France)

I already told you all about my little sleeping adventure yesterday (sleeping from 7:30 to 11:30). Well that completely screwed up my sleeping (duhhh). So I ended up eating dinner at around midnight and then went on skype and talked to my mom, sister, and john until about 4 am. Then I went to bed again and woke up at 9. It was weird. Trust me. I had to shave today which wouldn't be newsworthy but when I shaved I left a goatee. Don't worry I shaved it off. I just wanted to see what it looked like. I kind of want one but I don't have the guts to keep it. We'll see what happens in the future.

So I got ready and walked over the to British Museum. The British Museum was started in 1753. It was the first public gallery ever. It was started by a guy named Sir Hans Sloane. He had over 80,000 things laying around his house so he decided to donate them after he died. Thus we have the British Museum. The museum offers a ton of tours. Some cost money but they offer a bunch of 40 minute tours on specific topics for free. The tours are done by volunteers but they are all very knowledgeable. Obviously, those are the ones I did. I think there are 13 different tours spread out over the day. I tackled four of them today. Ancient Greece, the Enlightenment, Art of the Middle East, and Ancient Rome.

The Ancient Greece tour had the best tour guide. I never caught his name though. There was a pretty cute blond girl on the tour too. She was almost as tall as me. She was from Newcastle and seemed pretty nice. We talked during the breaks a little bit but that was all. On the tour, we saw a water holder (vase like thing) from 580 BC (picture 1 with cute blonde girl in front of it). It was the first Greek vase with the painter's name and the Gods' names that we know of. We also saw a vase with a picture of Achilles killing an amazon woman. We saw two different examples of pottery, black figure and red figure. Black figure is just painting a little bit black and then scrapping it away to make black figures (like on picture 1). Red figure is painting the whole pot black and then scrapping away the black to make red figures (picture 2). There was a big tomb made from a guy on the Turkish peninsula. The big part of the tour though was seeing the Parthenon sculptures which I already saw with my Art History class. The tour guide had a different spin on it though so it wasn't boring at all. I asked the tour guide after where to go in Greece after my program and he said "Athens, Delphi, and Crete". So there you have it.

The next tour I went on was about the Enlightenment and it took place in the King's Library. So called because originally, the room held all the stuff that King George II gave the country when he died. Now, it is an exhibit about the enlightenment period (17th and 18th century). The enlightenment was a time where people were discovering and challenging what people previously thought about the world, past and present. There was a lot of learning going on. There are a few different areas to the room. One area was natural history. Not what you think though. Like there was a tea set shaped like corn because corn was only discovered (in Europe) in the 1600's.There were bowls shaped like shells and paper collages of exotic flowers. They used to name fossils after Bible stories like some snail fossils were called "the devil's toenails" (middle of picture 3). Haha. There was an ax from 400,000 BC that was discovered under an Inn in London. During the enlightenment, people would go on "Grand Tours" and steal stuff from the sights and bring them back. That's where a lot of the stuff came from. There was also a ton of stuff from Captain Cook's voyages. My favorite piece was a club from Vancouver (picture 4). It was a club made by the Indians there probably used to kill fish or something but it has sea otters teeth on it and glass from Venice. That's how much the world shrunk, that an Indian tribe in Vancouver had Venetian glass. Sweet.

I had lunch out on the steps but soon after moved in because of all the people smoking out there. The next tour was Art of the Middle East. There was a qur'an from Spain or North Africa written in the 11th century. The calligraphy looked cool. The main art forms we saw were ceramics, metal work and calligraphy. We saw a ton of ceramics. There were plates and dishes from the 8th century. My favorite pieces of the tour was the glassware from 1150 which was gilded and then enameled, which is very tricky to do apparently (picture 5). They looked nice in the light. Another example of ceramics was a whole bunch of different tiles with different colors and textures. They would cover entire buildings with tiles. In India, they made a turtle out of a single piece of Jade. It was really big and super life like which is amazing because Jade is a really hard material (they had to use diamond tipped tools). We also saw examples of metalwork like some plates and a vase that had 20 or 30 tiny parakeets hammered out of it (picture 6). That must have taken a long time.

My last tour was Ancient Rome. It was shortest one but still had some good stuff. There was a head of the first Roman emperor, Augustus (picture 7). It was from Egypt. After Augustus took over, he sent out bigger than life statues of himself across the world to announce that people were now in the EMPIRE and he was EMPEROR. Some people who disagreed took off his head and buried it in front of their temple so that every time they entered their temple, they stepped on his head. Good thing they did that because now it is preserved. There was the Portland Vase (picture 8) which was from 5-25 AD. It took a lot of work by a bunch of people. They had to make the vase out of black material and then cover it and fire it again with the white. Then they had to scrape away the white. It was broken in 1900 but pieced back together. There was some armor made out of crocodile skin taken from a tribe in Africa that worshiped crocodiles. We also saw some silver dining plates and tea sets from 260 AD. When the Germanic tribes came and raided towns, people would bury their silver in the ground. Now we have it.

After all those tours, I was kind of wiped out so I walked back to the flat and worked on that last blog entry. Then I ate dinner and sat around and pretty soon here I am going to go to bed. That's all for my day I guess. I really liked the Museum and learned a lot today. Hopefully, I can go back soon for some other tours.

Bye!

All the World's a Stage

So originally I was going to do my last Italy post tonight after I went to that TV show taping or whatever. Turns out I did not do either of those. The person I was going to the TV show taping with never came and got me and I ended up sleeping from 7:30 to 11:30. Haha, oops. I was really tired all day.

This morning I woke up at 7 and got ready to walk to the Globe Theatre (picture 1) which is about 4 miles away. Vanessa and I walked there. The morning light was really pretty. We walked by Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tate Modern. Now that's a list of London attractions! It was fun to walk and it felt good. Our tour and presentation at the Globe was our class for the day. That is really cool. Our tour guide is an actor at the Globe and he was really good. I thought he was energetic and funny and kept us involved. I was never bored. He talked about how the theatres in London started and what life was like as an actor in Shakespeare's time. Like I said, very informative and fun. We did a scene from Romeo and Juliet. I was the friar. He was showing us how all the directions and cues were in the words of the play. No stage directions necessary really. It was the scene were Romeo is going crazy after he kills Tybalt and nurse comes to visit the Friar and Romeo. It brought me back to ninth grade where me, Matt, Andrew, and Nick did a scene from R & J.

After that, we went into the theatre itself which was really cool. Smaller than I thought it would be. Also the stage was more elaborate than I thought it was going to be (picture 2). More art and carving than I imagined. Our tour guide explained the thatched roof and about the history of the Globe (picture 3). It was interesting to me that an American visiting London and looking for the Globe was the one who ended up getting it rebuilt 11 years ago. We walked behind the stage doors and then walked out on the stage and it was a really cool feeling stepping out and imagining all those people (max capacity 1,700) looking back at you. That's the difference between the Globe and other theatres. At the Globe, the actors and really see the audience and all of their faces. Scary. I really enjoyed the tour.

After that I walked to Trafalgar Square and ate lunch on the steps in front of the National Gallery. Amazing view down the street to Big Ben (picture 4). Plus it was partly sunny which was really nice. After lunch, I walked around the West End killing time until The Pirates of Penzance started. I never come to West End so it cool to explore Chinatown and the theatre district and Soho. Lots of places to eat and very commercialized. I saw 4 different McDonald's.

Pirates of Penzance (picture 5) is an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan (two English dudes) and was written in the Victorian era. An operetta is like a cross between a musical and an opera. There are some lines that are not really a song but are sung. There is just plain dialogue. Plus there are songs. I was incredibly tired during the play.. Plus we were in the last room on the floor so part of our view was obstructed by the balcony (the top half of the stage was gone). I wasn't that interested in the play. Gilbert and Sullivan poked fun at something different in every operetta they wrote. This one poked fun at the army and the police (some keystone cops action). Parts were funny but other parts were sung in an opera voice and I just couldn't understand what they were saying. Especially the lead woman singer. Ugh. It was a matinee and there were A TON of older people there. I was still glad we got to go just to get a flavor of what theatre was like 130 years ago and to see what an operetta was.

For those counting, that was 3 theatre experiences (The Vertical Hour, Pirates of Penzance, and the Globe) in less than 24 hours. Crazy. After the play, I walked back to the flats. I dinked around on the computer reading sports stuff then went into my room and decided to "rest my eyes" for a couple minutes. As I said, that turned into 4 hours of sleeping. Oh well. I felt I needed it so I don't mind. Then I came down and am writing this. I don't have any plans for tomorrow as of yet. We'll see what I end up doing. I was thinking British Museum but who knows. Have a wonderful day!

Cheers!

Me in the City

Well hi there! Today was a pretty interesting day for me. Lots of stuff going on. It started out this morning when I got up an hour earlier than normal so that I could study a little for the test/quiz we had in Islam vs. the West. He told what there was going to be 4 questions and we were to write 300 words each. Pretty easy. I got the test and the questions were exactly what I thought they would be so I was prepared. The test only took an hour. I came back and had lunch of fruit cocktail and noodles with butter and salt. I dinked around on the computer and then went to Art History.

We met at the Victoria and Albert Museum. We spent the class talking about the 1800s. We watched a short movie on the Great Exhibition, a big get together for all the countries to show their stuff off in Hyde Park in 1851. This was one of the first times in history where it was a public gallery so that everyone could see the art. Before, art was reserved for those who could buy it. We looked at a ceramic staircase which was really cool. There was an area for people to try on Victorian clothes which two people did, Mo and Tschida (picture 1). Very funny.

We got back from the museum and I did that Rome entry below. Only one more day left!! Yay! Next up was the play The Vertical Hour at a theater in Sloane Square (picture 2). I thought the play was ok. I don't know. It was about a woman and her boyfriend's father having a discussion (that lasted about 2 hours). Honestly, that's what about 85% of the play was. Interestingly enough, Kim Catrell from Sex in the City was there. After the play, I asked her to take a picture with me but she said she only signs stuff which she did for me. So cool!

Busy day tomorrow. Globe Theatre in the morning. Pirates of Penzance in the afternoon. Some TV show taping in the evening. The fun never stops!!

Adios!

Back to School, Back to School

Well I didn't write an update of what I did yesterday because I didn't do anything. I went to church which was really nice. As I have said before, and the Pope agreed (haha), going back to Our Lady of Victories Church is kind of like going home here. It was weird to be gone for a week. After church, I went on the computer and promptly sat there for most of the rest of the day. I put a whole crap load of pictures on Facebook. If you don't have Facebook, try and find someone who does because I can only put 8-10 pictures on my blog per day but I put 60 per day on Facebook. Plus I took the pictures so they have to be good :-) I had tortellini for dinner and started reading The Odyssey.

Today we all had to go to back to school which was weird. In Sociology in the City, we watched From Hell which is a movie from 2001 about Jack the Ripper. It was pleasant way to spend a class period. Haha, so easy. The movie was good though and it was interesting comparing what they did in the movie to what happened in real life. In Senior Sem, we talked about all the stuff we have coming up this week:

Tuesday - The Vertical Hour, a play at 7:30 pm
Wednesday - Globe Theater Tour at 10 am; Pirates of Penzance at 2:30 pm
Saturday - Cambridge Visit with Evensong at King's College

That's a lot of stuff. We talked about Anglican Music more and about the plays we are going to see. After class, I went to the library and got a new card. I picked up a bunch of new books that I am excited about. I also stopped at a store and bought some new ear phones because my old ones broke. Then I came back and worked on my blog more. That's about it. Kind of boring but its nice feeling like I am getting stuff accomplished and almost caught up with the blog. I had some pre-made lasagna and a bread stick thing for dinner. The lasagna was no where near as good as my mom's and made me a little sad. I miss everyone back home and I hope you all are enjoying the stories of my trip!

*Waves goodbye*

Catching Up

Well, I know I already did that post before about me returning back to London but I wanted to make sure I just discussed a little bit about what I did today. Mostly it was spent in front of a computer catching up but I also did some catching up not in front of a computer.

I got back to my flat at around 3:00 am last night. Before I even unpacked, I went online and read some of the sports articles I had missed while I was away. Kind of pathetic but I really missed reading them and I hated feeling out of the loop. I went to bed at around 4. I woke up close to 10 and lazed around a little. Vanessa is really awesome and got some money out of the bank to loan me until my debit card comes. I eventually got ready.

I called Alyssa Samways back from the old days of Park Center. She had facebooked me and told me that she was going to be in London today. She is on study abroad in Leeds which is north of here, sort of near Liverpool but further inland. Anyway, I called her and me and her two friends met up at Harrod's. They got something to eat near there and we sat and talked about England. Alyssa had done a three week program last summer in Italy so we also talked about that a lot. I felt kind of bad because her two friends couldn't really contribute to that part of the discussion but nothing I could do. It was so much fun to see someone from back in MN here. I don't think I told her that which is kind of too bad and I wish I had. We were sitting in the coffee shop with Harrod's in the window and it just blew my mind that we were sitting there. 5 years ago, we sat next to each other in 10th grade health class. Now we were eating in London. Crazy how life turns out sometimes.

After saying goodbye, I went to the grocery store and bought a ton of groceries. I planned on buying enough to last for 8 days. There was a bunch of stuff on sale and most of it was frozen or was good in the fridge for a while so I think it should be fine. It felt so good to be back in London. I know that that is weird considering how out of place I felt when I first got here and how out of place I still feel sometimes but one cannot overestimate the worth of having a place where you are at least mildly comfortable. Its nice. Most of the rest of the day was spent on the computer organizing photos and doing those two posts below. I can't believe I have another 7 to go. Wow.

I also spent part of my day talking to the other people from my program about their trips. Another part of the "catching up" theme. Apparently some people were in Barcelona and someone came and stole someone's purse. The group got a little roughed up but ended up taking one of the guys to the police. Very scary. I am really glad that everyone is ok.

The last part of the catching up angle I have not done is hear back from people who read the blog. Any updates from people are welcome. Um, so I guess that's it. I hope everyone has/had a good Saturday and I will be back tomorrow I am sure with a bunch more posts so check back often. Till then...

Arrivederci!

Returns

Ok everyone. I'm back!! Yay! It's crazy how much I enjoy being back here in London. It's not that I didn't enjoy myself in Italy (except one incident, more on that in a second), it's just that it's nice having a place where you know where most everything is and have a routine. I had zero routine while we were traveling. Anyway, as some of you may know, some not, I had my wallet stolen on a train from Cinque Terre to Rome. We took an overnight train and there were a tone of shady characters around and I had thought that I should stay awake but I was so tired, I couldn't (my fault). When I woke up my wallet was gone from where I had stashed it in my backpack (my fault, again). Luckily though, not one other thing was stolen. I had the card reported stolen and nothing was taken out of my account (yet) and my passport was still there and my all my other stuff, so in the long run, I got off WAYYYYYYYY easy. I just thought I would tell everyone this happened before I rehash everything else that happened over the 9 days I was gone.

Throughout today and this coming week I will get up posts about each day of the trip. They are pretty time consuming to do (write it, upload pictures, proofread, etc.) so it might be a few days before they are all up. They will be all up eventually though.

For those people who love pictures, I took about 600+ pictures from the trip which I think I will try to put some of them on facebook or flickr. I will still put my favorite ones on each post but there are so many pictures that I feel kind of dumb just having like 7 or 8 per day when there were some days (like at Cinque Terre) where I took 100 pictures. I'll keep you all updates on this.

I did update my list of books I've read here with the ones I read over the trip. We had quite a bit of down time at night sitting in hotels or hostels and riding trains during the day so I did a bunch of reading. I will do a post about those books when I am done.

Anyway, I am back safe and sound. I hope everyone had a good week and if anything exciting happened with anyone else, let me know.

Rome Doesn't Suck After All

Well, this was our last day of Spring Break which was a little sad but also kind of good. It's hard not always knowing exactly where you are staying the next night or whatever. Plus, traveling is incredibly stressful (worth the stress but still). Anyway, we were staying at a hostel called David's Flats on Thursday night. The sleep was ok. I was exhausted to I slept well. I woke up at 7:30 or 8ish. I took a shower. It wasn't all that pleasant. There was hot water and it was a shower which was better than not taking one but the drain didn't really work which was just kind of disgusting. Plus the floor had puddles on it from other people and the rug in there was soaking wet which felt funny walking on. But I showered and felt much better in the end. We packed up and left our bags there for the day. We got some coupon things from the hostel for a free breakfast at some place. We went there and the breakfast was orange juice and a croissant (typical Italian breakfast really). I thought it was delicious but Vanessa was not happy about it. I think she wanted fruit or yogurt or something. So I ate her croissant and then we found a cafe where she bought some yogurt.

Our first stop was a church called St. Peter's-in-Chains. The Church was constructed to hold the chains that were used on St. Peter when he was held captive before he was killed. The chains are now located inside the altar with a glass case so you can see them (picture 1). Pretty crazy looking at the chains that held St. Peter 2000 years ago. Also in the church is a famous statue by Michelangelo called Moses (middle of picture 2). He worked on it off and on for about 20 years. He was commissioned to make a big tomb for Pope Julius II and it was going to go in the middle of the new St. Peter's Basilica. He died and the money ran out and no one really wanted to do anything about it so all that's left is the statue of Moses and two other unfinished statues by Michelangelo. I really liked the statue and thought it showed Moses as being kind of powerful and autroatative, I guess like I imagine him to be.

area, they sometimes flooded the area and had mock sea battles. They would also have ceremonies and processions there. They had animal hunts andThe reason this church was our first stop was because it was open early and because it was on the way to the Colosseum, our real destination. The Colosseum was called the Flavian Amphitheater back in the day because the two emperors it was built under had the family name of Flavius. The name Colosseum was started because th emperor Nero in front of it. The main purpose of the Colosseum, as most people know, was for gladiatorial competitions but it was used for other things as well. Before the underground passages on the main executions in it as well. Even nowadays, on Good Friday, the Pope leads a procession to it. It has been destroyed quite a bit by stone robbers and earthquakes but considering it was built in 72 AD, there is still alot left. I was really impressed. The outside of the stadium has the three types of ancient columns.ere used to be a colossal statue of the It could hold a maximum of 50,000 people. There were different seats for each class of people (the richer you are, the closer you are, just like in today's stadiums). The underground passages were built so that the organizers of the events could move animals and people around below, leaving the person abovve clueless as to where they will come from (like when the tigers come out in Gladiator). Very ingenious.

So Vanessa and I walked around the outside of it a little bit to get to the entrance (picture 3). It costs about 10 euros to enter. Totally worth it. We walked around the ground floor. The morning light casted a very nice look over the whole thing (picture 4 with underground passages on the bottom left, there is no floor now). There weren't that many people there when we first entered. We moved up to the upper level and walked around some more (me from the top level picture 5). There is an elevator inside which I thought looked very out of place (which it is). It was really cool reading in my book about the Colosseum and then looking at it. I tried hard to imagine it with 50,000 people all cheering the death of someone down below. Kind of hard to do. As we were walking around, these fake gladiator guys were getting into an argument below us (picture 6). There was a stage thing in front of the Colosseum and one guy was standing on it (apparently waiting for people to want to get their picture with him). Another guy came up and starting arguing with this guy and eventually was literally pushing him. The guy wouldn't budge really but eventually did leave. It seemed to me that the guy who came up had "called it" and this other guy just went up. Anyway, a weird situation involving guys in fake Roman costumes.

When you buy a ticket for the Colosseum, you also get access to the Palatine Hill which is above the Forum. We left the Colosseum (picture 7) and walked over to it. It's where the Emperors had their palaces. Mostly just ruins or not even really ruins, some rocks and stuff (picture 8). The whole thing is basically a garden which was really pleasant to walk around. It was also hard to know exactly what you are looking at because throughout the years, emperors built on top of other buildings and torn down other buildings so there's just a jumble of walls and gardens and ruins. We just sat in the sun for a while because it felt so good. Then we walked around and saw one of the private stadiums for the Emperor. We also saw where there used to be a huge fountain. We walked to a place that overlooked the Circus Maximus. The Circus Maximus was a giant track where they would have horse races and foot races. It could hold about 50,000 people as well. It is completely gone now though, all that remains is a worn down circle in a hole that outlines where the track used to be. People can walk on it and stuff.

While we were overlooking the Circus Maximus, a guy was talking to a group of students our age about it and just about the whole area in general. He had a REALLY good voice. Vanessa and I stood there and listened to him talk for a long time. He was really eloquent and smart and, as I said, his voice was so good. I was sad when they all left. We walked around some more and saw where they think they found Romulus's, the guy who founded Rome, house. I find that kind of dubious but what do I know. We continued walking around and got our picture taken by some people from Boston (picture 9 with Colosseum in the background and Forum to the left). They were nice. We had to walk back out through the Forum and it was much better in the sunlight. In the clouds, it seemed really old and depressing. The sunlight made it much more alive and it made the colors of the rocks stand out more.

We headed over to the Tiber River and crossed it at the Island of St. Bartholomew. In Angels and Demons, this is the island where Robert Langdon washes up after falling from the sky. Legend has it that the island has special healing powers. A hostpital is located on the island because of that. There is also the church of St. Bartholomew. I went inside and it was nice. Smaller type church but the columns were really cool. Vanessa wanted to go some place for lunch but it was a 30 minute walk away. We walked it anyway. It turns out that that place was only open for dinner but there was a pizza place across the way that we went to. The pizza was delicious and ridiculously cheap. We walked through the neighborhood of Trestaverde. Not much to say about it.

Our destination was a were on. There were more viewpiazza up on a hill that overlooks Rome, just like the Piazza Michelangelo in Florence. We walked along a tree lined road up and up and up. We passed by a church with a little Oratorio in the middle of it which I thought was cool. While I explored it, Vanessa laid out on the grass across the street (picture 10). We walked on and up to the square. The views were ok but nothing like the ones in Florence (picture 11). Because of the height requirements (lower than St. Peter's) everything is about the same height and it was hard to see the important buildings. The road kept going along the top of the hill wes along the way. Vanessa saw a house on the other side of the hill that she said she wanted to live in. It was surrounded by trees and looked very Italian. The road eventually went down and ended at St. Peter's Basilica. We went back there for the daily mass that happens at 5 pm everyday (if you ever go to Rome and are even remotely interested, GO!!!!).

We got to the square at 3:15 however. We sat and read for a while on the steps of the column things but I got bored so I walked around and took some more fountain/sun pictures which was really fun (picture 12). Finally, it was time to go in. We walked around but there didn't seem to be a place to go and Vanessa said that maybe we should just leave. Um, no. I walked over to a guy and asked if we could go in for the mass and he said sure. So we went in. The Mass was held on the other side of Bernini's canopy and the High Altar. The backdrop was Bernini's Starburst stained glass window and some other guy's really cool altar (picture 13). I think the presiding guy was a cardinal. He had a cane shaped like a shepherd's and the inside of his hat had red (picture 14). I don't know though. The mass was half in Italian and half in Latin. There was a program (thank God) so I knew what I was going on. Same format as always. I loved the mass. It was so cool and the setting of it was just other worldly. I couldn't believe I was there. Plus when the choir sang, it echoed a lot and sounded so good. The Mass lasted over an hour so we were a little behind schedule. After the mass ended, I stopped and took one last pic of St. Peter's, it ended up being my last picture of the trip. We walked pretty fast back to the hostel.

On the way, Vanessa bought some apples and pears and that's what we had for dinner as we walked (healthy, I know). We were in a hurry and not that hungry. We got our bags from the hostel and hopped on the Metro. There were 13 stops between where we got on and where we had to get off. It was only like 4 or 5 miles. So dumb. We got off the Metro and got on a bus that was headed for the airport. We got there in plenty of time. Vanessa's bag was too heavy (reminiscent of my leaving for London experience). She got it fixed up and we got through and on the plane. The plane ride was un-interesting. When the plane touched down, we had to ride a coach bus from the airport to Victoria Station. Then ride a night bus back to Hyde Park. Then walk to our flats. It was so much switching buses and planes and places that I was totally confused when I got back.

This was definitely one of my favorite days. I was glad that we didn't like leave Rome on Thursday or something. I had a bad impression after my wallet fiasco and the clouds. It was much better on a new day and sunshine. The mass at St. Peter's was soooo cool. The whole trip was jsut a whirlwind tour and I was wish I could have had more time there but I think I did a good job of seeing what I wanted in the time I had. It was also nice to have a little bit of a primer for what I am going to be doing after the program is done. That is going to be a lot of work (setting up hostels and such) but it is going to be so much fun.

Ciao Italy!

When in Rome...

So as started from the last entry, I fell right asleep on the train. I woke up like 5 minutes before we arrived in Rome and hurriedly got my stuff and woke Vanessa up. We got off the train and I looked at my backpack... All the zippers were open. I didn't remember doing that so I looked in the one where I kept my passport, cell phone number, wall... Oh crap. My wallet was NOT there. I immediately knew what happened. I did run back on the train and check all around the room we were in but it was no where to be found. I looked in my backpack all around and it wasn't there either. I had only had about 3 or 4 hours of sleep so I was freaking out. Vanessa calmed me a little and we found the train we needed to get to the train station we needed by our hostel. I kept looking through my bag but I knew it was a lost cause. I had read about stuff being stolen on overnight trains and all those guys getting on the train were just creepy and scary.

We got to the right train station and walked to our hostel. It was kind of a long walk and was still kind of dark out (it was like 6 am). I felt really unsafe. It was a residual effect from feeling violated by someone coming into our room thing on the train and I didn't like it. Plus I was just super tired and stressed out. So we got to our hostel, the Roma Inn. Turns out they had overbooked. The guy at the desk had to call like 5 hostels near by to get some beds for us. The guy said that it happens all the time, how dumb. This just fried my nerves more. I went to try and find a calling card while he was finding us beds. I got one and tried to call my bank but the 1-800 number wouldn't work and I kept trying and it wasn't working and the phone only spoke to me in Italian and it was just a bad situation. I never even thought of calling my mom or dad to have THEM call the bank at this point. I was so tired and beaten down that I didn't know what to do. I went back to the Roma Inn and had some free breakfast. It was good. The guy finally found us beds at this hostel called David's Flats which were 5 minutes away.

We got to David's Flats and got our beds. The ladies there were not super friendly about the situation that wasn't our fault so it was annoying. We got ready to go out for the day and left. Our first stop was the Roman Forum (pictures 1 and 2). This is the big area of ruins in Rome. The Forum was the political, spiritual, and social center of the city for something like 500 years. There used to be a TON of temples and buildings and palaces all around. Now its just kind of depressing looking columns and blocks of marble. A lot of the buildings in the Forum were torn down or taken apart to use in other buildings. It was cloudy and I was still depressed so the Forum was not very much fun for me. It all just seemed like a waste, all the tearing down and splendor gone. We walked through the whole thing and then up to Capital Hill which is at the end of the Forum. There is a museum on top of the hill and was where the seat of government of Rome has been for 2500 years. Michelangelo designed the square that is now on top of the hill. He also designed the steps leading up to it from road (picture 3).

We walked to the Pantheon next (picture 4) and along the way I was still worrying out loud to Vanessa about my debit card and she finally told me to call my mom which I did. She canceled my card for me which made me feel a lot better. We walked around and got lunch (paninis). The Pantheon was built by the Romans and is now a church. Alyssa told me that when she went to Rome she went to a Catholic mass inside it. Weird. Anyway, Raphael's tomb is in here. The most famous part of the Pantheon is the dome (picture 5). It 5 inches wider than the dome on St. Peter's Basilica (that dome is a lot taller though). It has a hole in the middle of it that lets rain and sunshine in. Overall the building is a masterpiece of the Roman's engineering abilities. So much so that when Brunelleschi was doing research for the Duomo in Florence, he came to the Pantheon and studied the dome. He even made a hole in it to see how the Romans did it.

Next up was Piazza Navona, an oval-shaped square (yup, that's what I said) with a couple of fountains in it. For those who have read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, this is where the Fountain of the Rivers is located. The Fountain was under construction and completely blocked off however. There was a fountain of Neptune right by it though (picture 6). Very cool. We walked from there to Ponte Sant'Angelo (picture 7). Its an old bridge that leads to Castel Sant'Angelo (the place where the Hassassin in Angels and Demons works out of). The bridge and castle were built by Hadrian for his mausoleum (he was actually never buried there). Bernini redid the bridge in the 1600's by adding 10 statues of angels holding the 10 symbols of the passion of Christ (cup, cross, etc.). It's all very cool looking. We walked by the Castel and on to Vatican City.

St. Peter's Basilica is amazing. The square in front of it was designed by (who else?) Bernini. It has two halves of an oval split down the middle. Each oval half is a terrace with four rows of columns. In total, there are over 400 columns I think. When you stand in the middle of the square, it looks like there is only 1 row of columns because the 4 rows match up so well. Inside the oval is two super cool fountains and a giant obelisk from Egypt that has no hieroglyphics on it. From one side of the oval is the road and on the other side is the steps up to St. Peter's (picture 8 has the oval shaped terrace with columns on the right and St. Peter's behind the fountain).

it but wanted a Greek cross plan. When he died, St. Peter's was built on this spot because it was on this spot that St. Peter was crucified upside down (what a terrible way to die... ugh). St. Peter was then buried inside the hill that used to be here. A church was constructed by Constantine in 280. That church was taken down around 1500 and a new one was constructed. Michelangelo designedhe new designer made it into a Latin cross to accommodate more people. It can now hold over 50,000 worshipers. The church is the biggest church in the world. It has the tallest dome in the world as well. All the buildings in Rome have been required to be shorter than it which explains why Rome doesn't have any kind of a modern skyline. Inside the church is the sculpture by Michelangelo of the Pieta. That being a sculpture of Mary holding the dead body of Jesus. It is a spectacular statue.

We had to go through metal detectors to get inside and then leave our bags. The inside of the church is aweinspiring. I could have spent an entire day walking around inside looking at all the statues and paintings (hopefully someday I can, I really want to). There are probably over 200 statues inside it, most likely more. Each one is just so well done and so life like. Along the top of the outside of the church is Jesus, John the baptist and 11 apostles. St. Peter's statue is inside and you can go up and rub his foot for good luck which I had to do after my wallet incident (picture 9). The main focus of the church is at the center where an incredibly ornate 70 foot canopy by Bernini covers the main altar (picture 10). The altar is placed directly above where St. Peter's body is located. There are candles around the stairs down and altar lit at all times. In the back of the church is the more functional altar (still just amazingly ornate and extravagant and beautiful) with a stained glass window above it. The window was done by (him again!) Bernini. It is called the Starburst. There is a dove in the middle with rays of sun coming out of it. All the art in the church is either a mosaic or a statue, no paintings. We walked around some more and finally had to leave.

We walked back to the hostel which took about an hour (it was probably 3 miles or more). On the way, we stopped and at a Chinese restaurant. I had chicken with green peppers and onion and garlic sauce and fried rice. It was just so good. I loved it. It made me miss my friends at SJU a lot though. We went to a Chinese restaurant every other Sunday last semester. We rested at the hostel for a little bit and then headed out to see the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. The Founatin (picture 11) was really cool but I had forgotten my change back at the hostel so I couldn't toss a coin in (you're supposed to turn your back to the fountain and toss it for good luck). There were a ton of guys walking around trying to sell flowers. They wouldn't leave us alone. I kept saying no and walking away but then another would come up. Stupid. I bought some gelato from a place right by the fountain, banana and caramel. AMAZING!!!!!The Spanish Steps were next (picture 12). It was dark by them and the top monument was under construction which kind of ruined the mood. I was still glad we went there though. I wanted to see them. In the summer during the day, a ton of people just hang out here.

We walked back to our hostel and both of us went straight to bed. After all the stress and depression of the day plus all the walking plus getting only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I was a little sleepy.

Cheesy Pisa

When Vanessa and I were discussing the possibility of going to the Cinque Terre, I had really wanted to stop in Pisa because it was right on the way. Well, we didn't stop and there wasn't much in Cinque Terre that I wanted to do (too cold to swim or whatever) so I decided to go to take a train to Pisa on my own. I just really wanted to see the town and the Leaning Tower so I did it.

(I learned this after I got back) Vanessa woke up kind of late and walked on trail back to the spot where we ate lunch. She sat there and read for a while then headed back. She only got back about an hour before I did.

I, on the other hand, took a train at 8 am. I saw the guy from the University of Florida on the train. He didn't see me and I didn't feel like making a point of saying hi so I didn't. Maybe I should have. Too late now. I must say, getting on the train and being alone for the first time in 5 or 6 days was weird. I was really used to always having Vanessa there to say something to or whatever and she wasn't. Sometimes I would turn to one of my sidees or look behind me for her. I know its kind of weird but oh well. So I got off the train in Pisa. The Leaning Tower is on the complete other side of the town from the train station. I walked through the town and over the river. The river was really calm and the reflections of the houses was really cool (picture 1). Its interesting how every city we have visited in Italy has a different type of architecture. There are some similarities but the buildings in Pisa didn't really look like any other buildings I had seen yet. They were all yellows and browns and oranges.

The Leaning Tower is so cool. I was so glad I went. Its crazy how much more the Tower looks like it leans in person. The pictures just don't do it justice. The Leaning Tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of a cathedral. The cathedral was built first and then the baptistery and finally the Leaning Tower (picture 2). The square that they are all located in is called the Square of Miracles because of how beautiful the three buildings are together. The Leaning Tower is circular (unlike the Campanile in Florence) because the architect liked the circular shape and arches of the asps of the cathedral. The cathedral also started a kind of fashion trend of cathedrals in the area. All the churches in this area of Italy use green and white marble (the one in Monterosso does, for example) because the Pisa cathedral did. Instead of going into the cathedral or the baptistery, I decided to climb the Tower. It was kind of expensive but I figured I might as well do it while I was here. So I did. It was so cool. It was very disorienting climbing the stairs up to the top. Sometimes I felt like I was going down but still up and sometimes I felt like I was going up steeper than I should have. It seemed like a carnival ride almost. The stairs were also very warn down by people walking so they were slippery which added to the difficulty (picture 3).

I made it to the top and had some people take my picture for me. I liked it up on top. The views were cool with the town and the hills (I can't really call them mountains) surrounding the town. Just very pretty. I went back down and asked two girls to take my picture for me with the Tower behind me (picture 4). We got to talking and I shared my thoughts on Venice and Florence with them (they were going there next). It was nice. They were from the South. I walked around the rest of the town but it was kind of blur. I walked pretty fast and none of the piazza's or palazza's were particularly interesting. I kind of wish I would have tried to make more of an effort to have more of it memorable but I just didn't really care. Nothing compared with the Leaning Tower. I did see a lot of students around my age walking around talking and holding books. Pisa is a big University town.

It was only about 1 pm when I felt like I was done with Pisa so I caught a train to a town near Pisa called Lucca. Lucca is known for its basically completely intact medieval wall. The wall surrounds the city. First, I walked to the main Lucca church. This church was done in a similar fashion to the Pisa cathedral. I liked it a lot. I had a panini in a square for lunch. Delicious as always. Just the perfect amount of meat, cheese, and bread. I walked by another cool church. From there I climbed to the top of a pallaza's tower (picture 5). Another 250 or so steps. I think I have climbed a lot of steps on this trip... The top of the tower had some big trees which made it look kind of weird from the ground but were pleasant once you got to the top. Similar views as from the top of the Leaning Tower except the hills (Aupine Alps to be exact) were closer. Plus it was sweet seeing the ring of the wall around the city and all the red topped roofs stretching out before you. It all looked very Italian.

I climbed back down the tower and walked over to a square that wasn't a square. It's a Piazza that is in the shape of an amphitheater (picture 6 is of that but its not very good). There used to be a Roman amphitheater here but it was taken down and the buildings were built in the same shape. Cool feeling in the middle of it. I meandered my way around the medieval wall back to the train station. The top of the wall is now a park (picture 7). There were people running and stuff. The battlements are all picnic areas. I thought it was a cool use of the walls. There is also a moat (barely a couple feet across but still water) that added to the medieval wall feel. I took the train back to our apartment.

At the apartment (living room type area with kitchen behind me picture 8), I hung around and rehashed my day with Vanessa. Then I made dinner (noodles; what else?) and read some more. We stayed in the apartment until around 10 and then went to the train station to catch a train to La Spezia where we were going to take an overnight train to Rome. We got to the Monterosso train station and thought that we had missed the last train for a couple minutes. We were freaking out a little. But one appeared luckily. When we got to La Spezia, we got our tickets. We were about an hour early so we had to sit and wait. While we were waiting some super creepy, scary looking guys were walking around. Honestly, I felt really uncomfortable and a little freaked out at the situation. We powered through and got on the train. We got on the train and both of us pretty much immediately fell asleep... (story to be finished on the next post, keep some suspense).