25 February- 6 March
Dear friends and family,
I am terribly sorry I have not updated my blog in a while, but I promise to make up for it now. Last week I was on vacation in Italy and then Paris for the weekend. We had plenty of adventures and misadventures. Let us begin:
Day 1 (2/25/11): Trip to Roma
After our final French class with Madame de Pous we gathered our things and headed off to the Gare de Nantes (train station of Nantes). While on our two hour trip to Paris, Sam and I were sitting next to two French engineering students. We chatted with them the whole and they were very nice. Once we arrived in Paris, we had to take the metro to Palais de Congrès to catch a train to the airport. Now, when buying our tickets, Ryanair failed to mention that the Airport Beauvais was 1.5 hours outside of Paris. Anyways, we took the bus to the airport and waited around for our flight. None of us knew what to expect from Ryanair but we landed in Ciampino (Rome Airport). Once we landed the played a little song and everyone clapped, it was funny but a little unnerving. We then took a bus to the center of Rome, and we got off at the main train/bus station Termini. By this time it was almost midnight, everything was closed, no one spoke english, and we had no idea how to find our hostel. We ended up taking a cab to the hostel and later found out it was a 5 min walk. Anyways, after checking in we realized we were located in the Chinatown of Rome and ate at a little Chinese restaurant in Rome; yes, that's right, my first Italian meal was Chinese food. We then went back to our hostel and went to bed.
Day 2 (2/26/11): First Day in Rome!
We woke up at 8:30 am because the hostel was noisy with people coming in and out. We ate our free breakfast of toast and tea before heading out on the town. Our first stop was Basilica Papale Di Santa Maria Maggiore; a really pretty church. Right next door there was a church store; it sold priest robes and religious accessories, it was really interesting to see where priests do their shopping.
We then walked to the Colosseum; it was one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen. The fact that people could design and engineer a structure that immense and complex thousands of years ago is baffling. We wanted to go inside but the line was way too long so we decided to walk around the outside. These fake gladiator men came up to us and took pictures with us then tried to charge each person 10 euros. We refused and gave them like 2 each but we knew we had be scammed. While at the Colosseum, this club promotor named Jeff gave us flyers and told us about a club crawl that started at 10:30 that cost 10 Euro for free VIP entry into two of Rome's big night clubs.
After voyaging to the Colosseum, we walked around to try to find a little park Dmitri had been to when he was in Rome a few years ago. We did not find THE park but we did find A park. Even though it was chilly out there was sun and we saw plenty of Italians out running and working out. In this park there were little apparatuses (apparatae?) for people to work out on. We then found a little restaurant and had our first real Italian meal: Pizza! We are all starving and each ate our own plate-sized pizza, mine was cheese, sauce, and prosciutto ...delicious. We then met up with our friend sam who was staying with a friend from home who is studying in Rome for the semester. He took us to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele ii, a monument/ museum that was constructed in the early 1900's to celebrate the unification of Italy and its first king Vittorio Emanuele. It had amazing statues and views; apparently the Romans are not too fond of it for some reason.
After that we went to the Trevi fountain, Pantheon, and Spanish Steps. The Trevi fountain was pretty cool but there were a lot of people, I threw a coin in for good luck. The Pantheon was not as impressive as I thought it would be considering its one of the oldest buildings in existence (built around 31 BC). The inside was cool though, the oculus (big sky light in the middle of the Pantheon) was originally the only source of light in the building. The Spanish Steps were pretty but there were a ton of people so it was hard to really appreciate them.
 |
| Trevi Fountain |
 |
| Oculus of the Pantheon |
 |
| View From Spanish Steps |
After all of our site seeing, we headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for our big night on the town. We met Sam and his friend at this restaurant called Magnolias. The food was delicious and not too expensive. I had spaghetti bolognese and to drink a Hurricane. After dinner, we bought some wine and headed to the Colosseum to see if the club crawl was legit. We met a couple from Norway, June and Heine, who were looking to go out but did not know of any good bars or clubs in Rome and we invited them to come along with us. We got to the metro stop and the Colosseum and there were about 30 or 40 other people so we decided to stay and try out the club crawl. It ended up being an amazing time and we danced the night away to mostly American music. However, I have never had my butt grabbed by so many people in my life, the Italians in the club had practically no concept of personal space. At 4 am we took a cab back to the hostel and went to sleep.
Day 3 (2/27/11): Nothing Special
We woke up Sunday afternoon at around 2 pm because we were all exhausted from the night before, it was overcast and cloudy so we did not really go site seeing. We met up with Sam and his friend again and watch a soccer game at Magnolias. We then went back to our hostel where Harkiran and I cooked dinner for the boys and ourselves: spaghetti with tomato sauce, very simple, very cheap. We found out that breaking the spaghetti in half to fit in the pot it a sin in Italy, thankfully it was two girls from Nigeria and China who told us this so we did not offend anyone. The boys went out to bar and Harkiran and I stayed in and went to sleep.
Day 4 (2/28/11): Roman Forum
We woke up Monday, around mid-morning and saw that it was sunny and not too cold. Dmitri, Doug, Harkiran, and I decided to pay the 8 euros to check out the Roman Forum, the ancient city center of Rome. It was really cool and really huge! There were plenty of ruins as well as gardens. Some of it is up on a hill and we got to see magnificent views of Rome.
 |
| Roman Forum |
 |
| View from the Forum |
 |
| More Forum |
Day 5 (4/1/11): Ciao Roma, Buongiorno Firenze!
Tuesday morning Harkiran and I packed our things, said our goodbyes and thank you's, and began our journey to Florence. We took a 1h45 min train to the main train station of Santa Maria Novella. We then walked and found the hostel we were staying at for the night. No one was there. I called the guy and he told me the woman who was usual there did not show up for work and we could leave our stuff inside and he would be there around 8 pm. This was a little unnerving so I called my friend Carly from Marblehead who is studying in Florence and she said we could keep our stuff at her apartment. We climbed the floor flights of stairs with our stuff and just relaxed for a little. Carly cooked us dinner and then we checked into our hostel and headed back to Carly's, wine in hand. After playing a view games of president, we headed out to their friends apartment with Carly's roommates Jeanine and Nikki. After going to a few bars and getting croissants at a secret bakery, Harkiran and I headed back to our hostel.
Day 6 (4/2/11): Firenze!
The next morning Harkiran and I grabbed breakfast at a little cafe, then dropped our stuff back off at Carly's for the day. We then began walking around and started at the big church: the Duomo! Carly's apartment is located right next to the Duomo, you can see it from her apartment window. We first walked around the Duomo and then went inside.
 |
| Duomo |
 |
| Amazing Duomo |
We then crossed the Arno river on the Ponte Vecchio which is a little bridge with little buildings protruding off of it that sell really expensive jewelry. We then walked back towards the Duomo and found the market where they sell a bunch of leather goods as well as scarves, clothes, jewlery, and other touristy things. Harkiran bought a present for her sister and I just window shopped. A little later we were hungry so we found a cute little restaurant and ate meat lasagna for lunch, it was delicious. After that we decided to hit up a museum, the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio which used to be a palace that housed all the important Fiorentini (Florentians). The museum was really impressive and had lots of paintings of Roman mythology on the ceilings. We then went into the "For the Love of God Exhibit" we go to the door and a guard checks our tickets, then two other guards come get us and lead us, just me and Harkiran, into this small pitch black room where you can literally only see this bejeweled skull and nothing else. I started to get really nervous because I could not see anything and heard people moving around. After about 5 minutes which felt like 5 hours, the guard let us out. We thought we were going to kill us and steal our organs; it was not a fun experience.
 |
| Jewelery Bridge |
We then went back to Carly's to freshen up and relax a little. After showering I noticed I had red bumps on my arm, hand, and back; so began the hysteria. I convinced myself I had scabbies (a skin mite that lives in your skin and lays eggs. You can get it from hostels some times) for about two hours. Carly gave me some benadryl and they started to go away so I relaxed and accepted I did not have scabbies. Harkiran and I then met up with my family friend Blaire who is studying to be a singer and is do a program in Florence for the semester. we had a delicious dinner before dropping Harkiran off at the train station. I returned to Carly's house and we had some wine and went to an Irish bar.
Day 7 (4/3/11): Walking time
After waking up and going to the market to pick up some fresh produce and meat for dinner, we ate lunch at this amazing deli that Carly called "the secret sandwich shop". I had a panini consisting of mozzarella, salami, and prosciutto..amazing. We then walked all the way across the river and up about 1000 stairs to Piazza Michelangelo. There was the most amazing view of Florence and the surrounding mountains and countryside. We then walked around Florence a little more before returning home to nap, cook dinner, and prepare for my final evening in Firenze. After eating a delicious dinner of pasta with zuchini, onions, and balsamic vinegar we drank some wine and headed to the Thursday night hot spot where they had free face painting for carnivale so I had my face painted like the milkyway...Carly taught me how to say star which is stella so thats all I said to the lady.
 |
| Florence from Piazza Michelangelo |
Day 8 (4/4/11) to Day 10(4/6/11) : Off to Paris!
I woke up Friday morning well aware of the long journey ahead of me. I took 1h45 minute train from Florence to Rome, then a 1 hour bus from Rome to the airport, then a 1h40 min plane ride to Paris Beauvais, and then finally a 1h45 minute bus ride to the center of Paris. I was sitting next to a Slovakian girl on the bus to Paris and we chatted for a while. Once in Paris I agreed to help them find the metro station and ended up leading a group of like 15 Slovakians to the metro. I then found my friend and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up ate a croissant and met up with my friend Hilary for lunch. I then walked around and saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs d'Elysees, and the Arc de Triomphe. My red bumps had gotten worse so I was kind of distracted by that. As soon as I got home I showed my host dad and he reassured me that my red bumps on my arms did not look like scabbies. To be safe though I put this scabbie cream stuff all over my body and am washing my clothes with an anti-insectiside.
Today (4/7/11): Scabbies Free!
To be safe I went to the dermatologist today and he confirmed that I am scabbies free! He thinks it was bed bugs from my hostel in Italy and all I have to do is wash my clothes and use cortisone cream. A big thank you to all my old and new friends who hosted me (Carly you're my girl!) I had a wonderful vacation! Here are some more pictures from my vacation I will update again soon so stay tuned. Until a tout!
KSG
No comments:
Post a Comment