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| This past weekend ended up being a relaxing vacation to Southern Italy. My roommate Alyssa and I left early Friday morning to catch a train to Naples. We ended up on a regional train to Rome (thanks to full trains and over-priced tickets to reserve a seat). From Rome we took another regional train to Naples. After waking up early the 7 hours (or so) on trains proved to be a good time for naps. Naples, we quickly caught the circumvesuviana out to Pompeii. It is a special train/metro line that goes from Naples to Sorrento via many small towns in Southern Italy. We began to notice the stark difference between Southern and Northern Italy. Up in Florence you hear/read/learn a lot about the economic differences between north and south but seeing it in person was the only way to truly visualize it.
Alyssa is attached to her travel books, which made traveling so much easier. She already knew what piazze would have buses to other cities and basically what to expect for each city. As we arrived in Pompeii she pointed out that it was a small city and there was not much to do there. Since it was around 5:30 (mind you we left our apartment at 8am), we walked to our hostel to drop our luggage off. The sun also goes down by 6pm here now; so it was dark out. Alyssa and I decided it was best we came together because it is a different environment than northern Italy and a little daunting at night. (We later discovered the prople are much more friendly, hospitable, outgoing, friendly, pick-any-adjective than people up North). Along the way we picked up a new friend. He was short, covered in blackish brown hair and wagged his tail as he ran around us. See Pompeii has a rather larger amount of dogs that roam freely through the streets. Our “guard dog†followed us from the entrance to the ruins, into the city, to our hostel where the desk clerk shoed him away but lo-and-behold upon leaving our room in the hostel he is sitting outside our door waiting for us. The poor creature continued to follow us as we walked around the city looking for internet. He broke our heart by leaving us as we got close to the back entrance of the ruins. I guess he decided it was time to go home. The guide book was right. The city was small with little to do. So after eating the cheapest (and delicious) meals every (3 lamb chops for 5.50 euro… UMMMM) we roamed over to the pay phone to use her calling card she got at the train station. The fun didn’t last long as it was absolutely freezing that evening. It had dropped to somewhere in the lower 40s and upper 30s.
We did make it to the ruins, obviously not Friday night (like the original plan). We woke up at the crack of dawn to get to the ruins at 830am when they opened. Since we didn’t buy an audio guide we were able to go through the ruins quite quickly. Pompeii would probably have been much more informative if we had bought an audio guide or been on a tour but we were pressed for time. Instead, I got a book in Sorrento that has transparencies with archeological drawings of what they think Pompeii looked like to put on top of pictures of the ruins as well as a dvd guide to Pompeii. There were very few plaster people at the actual ruins. But is ok because I still got pictures of the ones inside their plastic coffins. You could even see the teeth and clothing on some of them. It was so cool!!
The Circumvesuviana took us out to Sorrento. Once we got to Sorrento we decided it would be best to stay there. As the ferry to Capri ranges from 7-10 euro, it did not seem wise to go to Capri for a few hours. On top of it, I wanted to do things like explore the caves and boat around the island which work better in much warmer weather. Sorrento was a very cute coastal town. We walked to this restaurant (I forget the name) where stars will eat when they come to town. I was amused because it was this nice restaurant and the prices on the menu were the same as a normal place in Florence. The place was like eating on the inside of a greenhouse. The ceiling was see through and it had a deck and a few terrace-like levels. No wonder all the stars will eat here when they come to town. I got to have a baked pear for dessert-so cool! Sorrento is also one of the places where Limoncello comes from. This is a traditional drink in Italy. We passed many shops, some of which would even let you watch them make it. After wondering about town, we tried to beat the night to the coast. The sun had almost completely set by the time we made it there but it was the first place where we got to see the coast so we did not much care about the fact that it was almost pitch black. It was heavenly! The water is unbelievably blue and clear!!! Literally just like the picture books.
To get to Almalfi we had to take a bus around the coast. Oh darn! The bus was a two hour or more ride in which the left side was straight up rocky cliffs, and on the right, it was straight now house on terraced rocky steps to the rocky crystal water below. I tried my hardest to capture the beauty on our bus ride. On the bus ride, Alyssa met a little old man all decked out in his business suit who gives private tours to various English elite (Hollywood stars and other wealthy clients). When we arrived in Almalfi he took us to a café, bought us a pastry and cappuccino (since he had a 10 minute wait for his next bus) and introduced us to the mayor who happened to walk in with us. He was also helpful by telling us that to get back to Florence we had to go to the train station in Salerno. Thus, we stayed in Almalfi long enough to take some pictures. We got back on the coastal bus and too the hour and a half ride to Salerno. We got dropped off by the docks. It was like looking out Uncle Freddie’s window onto Lake Ponchatrain, only we were ground level and not on the eleventh floor with a telescope. We walked around the piers in Salerno taking pictures too.
The train back to Rome was quite an adventure. We ended up sitting on our luggage because the seats were all filled in a crowded walk way filled with 40 or more other people. We were packed in like sardines. It was absolutely ridiculous. Thankfully we got seats on the way to Florence.
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At the request of Mom, I thought I would talk more about school. Since we just finished midterms we have not done much lately. In photography I am working on print solarization (WEBSITE), medium format camera, portraits, toners (soon to happen) and many other fun and exciting things. In my Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Bernini class we have moved onto Caravaggio. Right now I am starting on the 3 art history papers I have due the week of or the week before finals and my final projects for photography classes. Needless to say, I have my hand full but I keep reminding myself the amount of work I have to do here is like the amount of homework I had in elementary school compared to Baylor’s workload that kills hundreds of thousands of students every semester.
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| Fall Break
The break conensided with the start of the International Market in
Piazza Santa Croce. It was amazing. There were stands from all over
Europe: Austria, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, France,
and i think i am fogetting a few. Most of the food ame from Germany and
Austria. It was fun to have all of europe a block away.
My friend Courtney and one of her theatre friends came in from
London. We had a blast exploring Florence-riding carosels included. I
went to the Ufizzi for the first time. It was an amazing museum but i
think next time i am making a reservation so that I do not have to wait
in line for 2 hours.
Sunday evening is when all the fun started. I go home to get my
backpack and discover I have forgotten my keys. No worries, 30 minutes
later I find out my landlady's daughter has a spare set of keys and she
lives "in my neighborhood." I get my backpack, head to the train
station and hop onto my train headed to amsterdam via munich. Amsterdam
was a lovely city. I stayed in the Jordaan area a few blocks from the
Anne Frank Huis. I went to the Anne Frank Huis Museum and took a boat
tour of the city. The Museum was pretty cool. They had an actual museum
set up as well as having the warehouse and two story annex open so
visitors could walk through it all. Next door was a cafe that had
bagels. I forgot about bagels. Needless to say, my lunch was a bagel
with cream cheese. Fantastic! The boat tour was not quite as
informative as i would have liked but it was a way to pass the time. I
couldnt do the walking tour on account of the pouring rain and my lack
of an umbrella. Every canal in Amsterdam really does look liek a
picture book. It is quite funny. I bought a really cool jacket. It is
red linen on the outside and lined with fleece on the inside so i stay
nice and warm. It was designed by the guy who ran the store and
handmade in Napal.
From Amsterdam I ventured on to Bruges, Belgium. I must say this
is my favorite city in all of Europe so far. I was crushed I could not
stay there longer. I had so muc fun just walking around, seeing
Michelangelo's Bruges Madonna at a church there, going to the Chocolate
Museum. Oh yes, they had an entire museum dedicated to the history of
chocolate with free demonstrations and samplings. I met a girl named
Courtney in the hostel. She just graduated from a University in
Australia and was taking some time to see the world before finishing
her pyschology studies. I also discovered the wonderful invention of
fixed menus. For instance, I had soup, steak and chips (french fries)
for €10, and the night before I ate some meat looking product, salad,
flemimsh stew with a crepe for €12. The concept is amazing. While i
did forget to get some Belgium waffles to eat, i most definately
sampled plenty of belgium chocolate.
I left Bruges and traveled to Paris via Brussels. Paris was
challenging. The hotel was hard to find because it ended up being on
the outside of the city center and my taxi driver was less than
friendly. Then the hotel had lost my reservation but luckily i have
brought the "booking confirmed" sheet with me. As a result I did not
do much sight seeing that evening. The next morning I woke up a little
under-the -weather. I did get to see many of the sights and had a blast
going through the Museè d'Orsay. It is by far one of my favorite
museums!! I saw the gardens of Versailles. On my way to the Saint
Chappelle I walked straight past it. Of course I had no clue I did this
until I ended up at Notre Dame. Thus, I missed getting to see the Saint
Chappelle by 15 minutes. I chose not to go see the Louvre because I
wanted more time to go through it. I would love to go bac to Paris
sometime. It was a very beautiful city along the river and there are
many things I would like to see.
My final destination was Vienna. I took an overnight train from
Paris to Munich the to Salzburg and finally onto Vienna. I became very
friendly with the train services this trip. My hostel in Vienna was the
best hostel I stayed at all week. My only problem was the water was
warm and not hot, and you needed to take a metro to get into the city
quickly. I think the only thing i could have done better in VIenna was
to purchase a Vienna card so that I could have saved a bunch more
money. As it is, I saw a performance of The Sound of Music at the
Volksoper, a performance of the Vienna Boys Choir, a tour of the
Spanish Riding School, went to the House of Music and Mozart's House,
saw the Schonbrun palace complex, walk around the many parks, and took
a city tour via the streetcars (which a transit pass it jus tmadde
perfect sense). The Sound of Music had been translated into German. The
projected a rough translation up onto a screen above the stage. My
original seat was not that great but i ended up getting to sit dead
center of the second balcony so i was happy. Some of the songs from teh
English version were missing (or done in a different order), others
were completely rewritten and then some songs were added. The actors
did a phenomial job though. It was so wonderful to get to go see a
production on stage!! The Spanish Riding School was quite a complex. We
got to walk through most of the school on a guided tour that ended in
teh stables. The Vienna Boys Choir preformed a mass by Mozart on
Sunday. It was interesting to see a mass performed as an actual mass on
a Sunday. I was accompanied by a guy named Chris from Bedford, England.
He was making his way to Budapest before heading home to england after
spending a year or so teaching english in Japan. We met because like
many other people in the hostel, we did not realize the clocks had
changed time and woke up at 630 thinking it was 730. The House of Music
was simply amazing. One floor was dedicated to composers, another to
the vienna philharmonic, one to the way the brain processes sound and
yet another to the science behind sound and how music is made. It was
perfect for anyone age 3-100. The Mozart House was a bit disappointing
as it was most all on audio guide. Each room had a few pictures or a
piece of furnitureand then a 15-30 minute audio lecture. I quickly grew
bored with the audio guide and just walked through the house. I was
glad the streetcars went through so much of the city. It saved my legs
(which were quite worn out by this point) much walknig. Plus the day
ended in a hail storm. I made it back to the hostel right before it
started and ate dinner with a girl from Canada and a lady from
Manchester area of England. The Canadian was taking some time off
between her internship and when she started full time with an oil
company. The English lady had just finished her second masters degree
and was on a breif vacation. I found most people I met were eithe ron a
school vacation (liek me) or simply traveling for months on end as a
break between school and work (or work and work).
I met many fascinating people on my trip and got to see many
fascinating places. I had a blast. I learned things like-Paris cannot
be done in one day and Europe is more expensive than Italy. I got so
used to living out of a backpack!! I am glad to be back home in
Florence though. This weekend, my roomate Alyssa and I will venture off
to Pompei, Almalfi, Sorrento and Capri.
All Saints Day is a national holiday in Italy (meaning no
school) so we went out for Halloween. It was fun to get all dressed up
with friends and hang out.
I promise I am working on uploading new pictures but the cmputer
takes FOREVER to load them onto the website and I do not often have
time to sit there for hours waiting. There are some new ones posted now
but they are not from the trip. | | |
| ****16-10-06****
Well now, let’s see here, where did I last leave off? As you
might have guessed due to the lack of updates, I have not been
traveling much in the past few weeks. However, I have managed to read
three books in the past week. For all those curious minds out there I
will end your agony. I was reading A Room With A View, The Secret Life
of Bees, and Nine Stories.
Two weekends ago, I was a bit too worn out to travel. You have
two choices on any given weekend—either run away to some city and pay
for relaxation or stay at home and relax for free. I mean there comes
a time when a person just needs to sit down and embrace the fact that
everyone has left town from the weekend. I wish I could say amazing
things happened that weekend. But truth be told, all I did was watch
the new movie version of Pride & Prejudice and read A Room With A
View. Oh wait, on Sunday I walked around the city for about two hours
“working on my photo project.” In reality, I was simply enjoying the
nice weather and my good friend Mr. ipod.
This past weekend was a bit more exciting. For starters,
midterms started yesterday (yay fun); thus, my Friday and Sunday
afternoons were spent in the darkroom. Alas, I was unable to go to
Cinque Terre. Despite the bleak description of my weekend, you hastily
forget I have not mentioned Saturday yet. Could it be, did I actually
manage to get away for some fun? Oh yes! Our school took a trip to a
place called Castello Verrazazano in Chianti. I went to my first
vinegard since arriving in Italy. It was gorgeous!! I would sit here
and describe it in the most detailed language but I do still have
midterms. The California students said it looked like Napa Valley.
After a tour of the grounds they feed us the most amazing food and gave
us a brief wine tasting. It was rather interesting to see what all goes
into making the different types of wine.
Amist studying for midterms, I am also starting to plan for my
break. I will have several days t travel about Europe. I CAN’T WAIT!! I
promise these emails will become more entertaining during that week.
Afterall, I will be seeing all of Europe for the very first time.
Academically speaking, my professor for my Monday photography
class seemed to like the photos I presented for my midterm yesterday.
Too bad that class isn’t for a grade. I still have my real photography
midterm, the Italian one and the midterm for my three art history
classes to muddle through. One thing that is nice to think about, if I
was at Baylor, I would have had many more stressful weeks. As it is,
midterms just mean a little less then 8 hours a sleep a night and
almost no pressure. In fact, some of my teachers forgot they were this
week. Needless to say, I am enjoying the school over here very much. | | |
| For the past week my to do list has read, “update blog.†I figured it is about time I take the time to sit down and type something up so everyone realizes I am still alive. I will try to keep it short but it has been close to two weeks.
**Lago Trasimeno, Perugia and Assisi**
Oh my goodness was this weekend hectic fun. Jessica and I woke up EARLY on Friday morning and left for Perugia. On the way there we discover there is actually a train stop in the little town outside of Perugia on the lake where our hostel is. Little known fact, reginal trains do not stop in ever little town every time they go through them. Torricella would be a town that is frequently skipped. After riding the train all the way into Perugia we decided that it would be beneficial to go to the hostel and check in so we could drop our luggage off. I mean who wants to carry their bags all over a chocolate factory. Unbeknownst to us, there was a bus from the train station to the bus station. After a long tiresome hike up to the bus station at the top of the hill that is Perugia on little sleep and empty stomachs, we made a noonish bus to Torricella. We checked in and headed across the street to scarf down food at the only restaurant still open at 2pm. A trip to the Chocolate Factory quickly rewarded the frustrations of the morning. The man who rand the hostel drove us to the neighboring small town so that we could catch a train in order to get to the factory in time.
We excitedly jump off the bus at the Perugina stop and are faced with a giant Nestle sign. At this point I burst out laughing, “The chocolate factory everyone raves about is a Nestle factory. We came all the way out here for a Nestle factory.†We soon figured out that Perugina was partnered with nestle in some way and that in fact the factory really was the Perugina Chocolate Factory and Museum. We had out tour, got some free chocolate and bought a little more. To wrap up the day, Jesica and I ventured back up to the top of the hill to the city center. We ate a late lunch/early dinner in order to make it back to the train station before the last train left for the evening.
Our hostel was amazing though. We stayed at this place called La Casa sul Lago. Our 10 person room ended up only having us in it. It was a win loose situation. While it was peaceful and quiet, we didn’t get to meet new people which is part of the reason for staying in a hostel. It was on the lake!!!! I got to see a lake and boats. Sweetness!
Assisi is my favorite town in the world. I thought it would be just a run down town with nothing but the Church of St. Francis there. It ended up being this beautiful perfectly preserved medieval hill town. It was so peaceful and tranquil there. The town was gorgeous and the church was an amazing peace of art! We stayed there for hours! The nuns and monks in the town were also quite friendly and personable. I wish I could right some elaborate novel about the town but it is indescribable. It is a postcard perfect town. Unlike so many places here, the entire town looks exactly like the tour books and pictures. We only got to see about half of it though because we spent too much time at the church of St. Francis (aka Chiesa di San Francesco) and we had to catch a train back to Florence. I am definitely going to try to make another trip there! I love Assisi!!!
**ROME**
I went to Rome the weekend after my birthday to meet up with my friend Erin who was on vacation. We walked around the ruins and ate several meals around the Pantheon. It was a blast!! I got to meet some of her friends from UC Davis. I seriously ate some of the most amazing meals while I was there though. Our last night, we went to this amazing restaurant on the opposite side of the city from where we were staying. I say amazing because well it was. I ordered a steak there. Yes, that’s right, I ORDERED a steak for myself. I momentarily forgot that in Italy you do not get to pick how “well done†your steak is, it is cooked according to the recipe for that particular steak. For the Bistecca Fiorentina, as with many other types of steaks, this means the steaks are essentially rare. Oh yes, I definitely ate a rare ¾ inch steak for dinner. Ok, so maybe it was closer to med rare in reality but lets face it I ate my first med-well done steak back in may after the gentle coaxing of Jaclyn and Candace. I can honestly say it was one of the most amazing things I have ever eaten before. Maybe it was because I hadn’t had red meat in months. Maybe it was because I was in Rome. I like to think it was because it was simply the world’s best steak. It was so delicious and wonderful I wanted to cry. (And Erin you can now rest satisfied that I wrote an entire paragraph about the steak in my blog.)
I will try to be better about keeping everyone up to date about Florence. Classes have really picked up. I am realllllly enjoying my photography class. I am learning so much it is crazy. My art history teachers are also phenomenal, even if one of them makes us read 100+ pages a week. I am just thankful I am not at Baylor and reading that much per class per week. The trains prove to be a great place to do my reading homework.
Have a great week!! Ciao!!
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Sorry it has been so long since the last update! As I pointed out to Dad on the phone, the cause is a combination of the fact that since school has picked up I have less time to piddle on the internet and nothing too exciting had happened recently.
Nutella a.k.a. the best creation ever!!
My roomate Jessica and I are newly professed Nutella addicts. I bought a jar of it the other day and we started to put it on crackers, then pringles, then bread, and then we progressed to putting it on nectarines. Surprisingly, we have yet to find a bad combination yet. Nutella is seriously amazing!!
On Friday I went to the Palazzo Vecchio with Jessica and a girl named Nichole. It was one of the most amazing places I have ever been in. I would go off about the history of the place but I will refrain. I am sure it is all over teh internet and I am running out of time before class starts back up. I will most definately post pictures of it though!!!
I must say my birthday was more than I had expected. It was different celebrating with people I had known barely 3 weeks instead of people I had been friends with a few years. We had a blast thought. There is this little restaurant on the other side of the Arno that I absolutely love. It is seriously some of the best food I have had here. I mean who thinks to put walnuts in pasta-they do!! Plus, how many restaurants will rearrange the tables to fit a birthday party and then sing Happy Birthday in 3 languages. Yes, that’s right. They sang me happy birthday in English, Italian and Spanish because one of our waiters was from Spain. Afterwards we walked a few more blocks to a place called Hemingways to have a slice of American Chocolate Cake because what birthday is complete without cake. It was a bunch of fun. Finally, who gets to celebrate a birthday for almost a week. I do!! I will leave today to go down to Rome to hang out with my friend Erin for the weekend.
Last weekend I did make a day trip out to Pisa and Lucca. Lucca is a beautiful city!!! The city wall was converted into a walkway. After you finish biking or walking the wall you can always take a break in the quaint town. I wish I could have spent more time there but due to the rain and my invisible umbrella I decided to venture onto Pisa. Pisa on the other hand, well lets just say the leaning tower is about all that is there.
**pictures will come as soon as I have enough time to load them onto the internet**
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