Since my last update from about 3 weeks ago...oh gosh, I really am awful at this, aren't I?...well, I've gone on Spring Break to Italy, enjoyed some touristy days in Paris, started my internship, and also started worrying about coming home. I only have 7 more weeks in Paris ; how does this happen? How does time go by this fast? All right, all right, enough casting existential questions into cyperspace. Let's actually blog about something.
Spring Break 2009
I spent Spring Break 2007 Road Tripping around New England. Spring Break 2008 was spent in Portland, Oregon. And Spring Break 2009 was by far my grandest adventure thus far...Rome and Venice! Next year...Jupiter. Yeah, Spring Break 2010: Jupiter.
Meredith and I were reunited with our long-lost and oft-missed roommate Meghan on Saturday (March 7). We took a plane from Paris (ghetto Beauvais airport, which I can best compare to a holding pen for cattle) to Rome and met Meghan at our hostel, Funny Palace, which was right near the central train station. The hostel owner, Mabri, was amazingly warm and welcoming and he literally sat down and planned our vacation for us - he even booked us museum reservations. He also gave us a free bottle of wine - more about that later. Much more. We also got free breakfast every day, a capuccino and a fresh pastry from the local pasticceria.
We walked a lot our first day. Actually, we walked a lot during the whole vacation. But don't worry, we ate a lot to compensate. Rome was amazing and sunny and warm, palm trees et al, so of course we had to eat LOTS of gelato to keep us cool. We started out on Day 1 at the hostel and walked all over, stopping at such sights as the Four Fountains, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Typewriter (which is actually the Victor Emmanuel Monument), the Pantheon, and the Piazza Navona. We ate dinner at a small Tabac-type place with an overly friendly waiter who was obsessed with America, especially Indianapolis, and played Johnny Cash songs for us.
Pictures from Day 1:
My favorite "jolly-old" pagan-temple-turned-Catholic-church, the Pantheon.
Roommates reuinted! Taken at the top of the Spanish Steps.
Spanish Steps again.
Two coins in a fountaaaain....each one seeking happiness. Did you know that the Trevi Fountain was not really considered a tourist sight until after the movie "Two Coins in a Fountain" was made?
Pretty park! So green and lovely!
Day 2:
Mabri had made reservations for us at the Borghese Museum, so we headed over there. They were having some kind of special so it only cost €2,50 to get in...which was baller. It was located in the gorgeous Borghese Gardens, which is like a sprawling park with lots of activities and greenery. The museum itself was cool ; it housed some phenomenal Bernini sculptures and some
Renaissance-era paintings, including some by Raphael, Titian, and da Vinci.
We ate a real Italian lunch (by that I mean food that was not cooked in a microwave), saw Santa Maria Maggiore church, and then headed over to the Roman Forum. Lunch took longer than expected, so we decided not to go through the Forum or the Coliseum because it closed rather early and we wouldn't have enough time to appreciate everything. Instead, we walked around the other ruins that don't require a ticket, saw Trajan's Column and the Arch of Constantine, watched couples making out furiously, and sat in a park eating devine gelato and watching the sun set behind the Coliseum.
It was around this time that the infamous pine cone incident occurred. I had the brilliant idea to kick a large pine cone that I saw on the ground and I announced my intentions to the rest of the group. Meredith pretended that she was going to try to beat me to it, so I took off running. In my head, I already foresaw what was going to happen, but for some reason, chose to kick the pinecone anyway. In a moment that can best be compared to Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, I swung my leg out, flew into the air, and landed firmly on my fesses...that's French for ass. Hours of laughter ensued, as did hours of trying to get rid of the gravel that had somehow made it into my pants after I fell.
The night ended with some shopping, a nighttime view of the Trevi Fountain, and dinner at the WEIRDEST restaurant I have ever been to. The whole place was haphazardly decorated with Winnie The Pooh and other kiddie motifs, including a curio cabinet full of stuffed animals and a menu hand-written on pink stationery with pictures of kittens. Despite the kitsch-tasticness, the food was EXQUISITE, homemade, and very, very, very affordable. I had canneloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta and smothered with cheese and what I believe were some kind of truffles? I'm not quite sure because the whole menu was in Italian. Delicious either way.
No pictures from day 2 because I left my camera at the hostel. :(
Day 3
Day 3 was rather jam-packed as a result of our not getting to the forum or Coliseum in time the previous day. We hit up the Forum in the morning, which was absolutely amazing. I had been to Rome before, but we didn't spend a lot of time in the Forum or go up to Palatine Hill, so I'm glad I got a second chance! I also didn't go inside the Coliseum on my first trip to Rome, and that was also rather awesome. I stole an ancient rock from the Forum to replace my rock I stole from Pompeii when I went in 2005 and somehow lost...
Afterwards, we caught a bus and headed to the Vatican. Love me some Vatican. Following Mabri's advice, we went later in the afternoon and barely had to wait in line (lines are super long during the morning). The Vatican museum contains some really amazing artifacts that the Catholic church has stolen...*ahem*, I mean, acquired, over the years. There were mummies, Roman sculptures, Greek art, Italian tapestries...lots of interesting stuff. Plus that silly old painting, what's it called? Oh yeah, the Sistene Chapel ceiling. Breeaaaathtaking.
After the Sistene Chapel, we went over to St. Peter's, the largest church in the world, and then chilled in the Vatican plaza. Meghan and I fell asleep a little bit because it was nice and sunny and we were extremely tired. We motivated ourselves with the promise of more gelato and took off again, but we weren't too keen on doing a lot for the rest of the night because we were exhausted. After dinner and gelato, we went back to the hostel and packed up for Venice.
I have to say, I love Rome. I don't think I'd ever want to live there, but I would go back again and again. It has an amazing vibe to it, something both fresh and exciting as well as ancient and intellectual. It's definitely one of my favorite cities I've ever been to.
Day 4 and 5: Venice
We were taking the train from Rome to Venice, so we walked over to Termini station to get the 8:50 train. This is where the wine comes back in. We got to the station with plenty of time to spare because our hostel was literally 3 minutes away, and it's a damn good thing. I had the cheapo bottle of wine that Mabri had given us in my purse because we hadn't had a chance to drink it yet. But apparently I set my purse down too hard because all of a sudden, there was a crimson liquid leaking out of my bag onto the floor of the train station. I freaked out but we had to act fast because our train was leaving. I salvaged everything I could from my purse, which was legitimately full of wine, shoved the purse in a plastic bag, ran outside and dumped out the wine, came back and stole napkins from a food vendor, attempted to clean up the mess (didn't succeed), then ran to catch the train. Though all of my stuff is slightly stained and reeks of stale merlot, nothing was permenently damaged except my American cell phone, which refuses to turn on. But my French phone works, so all is well!
We arrived in Venice after a lovely 4-hour train ride through scenic Tuscany and Umbria, and were greeted with the BEAUTIFUL sight of jade-green canal water and blue, sunny skies. Venice is extremely colorful and very visually pleasing. We spent much of our time here just walking around and exploring ; there are so many secret nooks and crannies in the city to discover! We honestly didn't see a lot of sights in Venice ; we decided it was better to take our time and enjoy the ambiance and atmosphere. We did go to St. Mark's cathedral, which was gorgeous, and saw the Rialto bridge. Gelato was even cheaper in Venice, so we ate even more.
I think I will end this blog now because it's getting rather epic. But I leave you with the visual delight that is Venice (and I promise to update more in the coming week!):
