Ultimo Giorno...

I cannot believe my time in Italy has already come to an end.
It's a little unreal. I had such an amazing experience and can't even imagine going back and living in America right now.

My last day in Florence was the greatest way to end a trip.

A little back story, my Italian class was a six credit course, so we had it every monday thru thursday. As you can probably imagine, being with the same 9 people everyday brings a class close. I used (cant believe I'm using past tense) to love going to class because I got to see those wonderful people.

So the last day some of us met up to get lunch and what not. We went to Pizzaiuolo, this famous and talked about pizza place because it serves napoli pizza. It was absolutely delicious, but very filling.
[margherita pizza- probably one of the things I'm going to miss the most]
Then Grace and I headed off on our date with David, while the others went a did a little shopping. Yes I know, terrible that we still hadn't seen him til then. He was so much more than I expected. He literally took my breath away.

After, we met back up with the others and went to a Sicilian gelateria and had granitas- probably one of the best things I've ever had! It's kinda like a slushie, but so not at the same time. But it's basically crushed ice with fruit inside. Then they also put a scoop of gelato on top- YUM. I had a lemon granita with strawberry gelato.

At that point I left them to start packing as it was already 6 and I was leaving the next morning. But we met up at 10 that night to go to the gelato festival!! I swear italians have the best ideas.
Before heading over, we took a ride on the carousel that sits in the Piazza della Repubblica. It's right next to our school and we pass it all the time, so we thought it was a necessity to ride.
Then the gelato festival. What you did was buy a gelato card that was good for 5 tastes of gelato (really, a huge cup of it) and one gelato cocktail, along with a bag and cookies and balloon, but no one cares about that stuff. I split a card with Victoria and we had the greatest time trying all these gelatos!Charles lucked out because if we couldn't finish our cups, we gave it to him, so he didn't even buy a card. Then it started raining, but hey it was our last night so we didn't care.
We headed over to get our gelato cocktails (right??). First we had a gelato mojito. Oh my gosh so good!!

We stayed at the festival for a few hours, then I headed home because I had to finish up packing. But it literally was the best day. That is what I'm going to miss about Florence- the simpicity of life. My cooking teacher told us a saying one day, "Americans live to work, and Italians work to live". That could not be more true. Italians put value more on their relationships rather than work. Everyone enjoys one anothers company over a long lunch/dinner or a cup of coffee. I learned that there are three things that should be taken into account when drinking coffee: caldo, comodo, compagnia. Basically the coffee, whichever you get. The place you drink it. And the company you keep while you drink. Coffee in Italy can be both a quick pick me up, or a social drink. Coffee and food are so important to Italians not only because it is delicious (which in Italy, you can't go wrong), but because it is the time that they get to catch up with one another and share the moment with the ones they love. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I will cherish.

Sorry that was a little rambly. I don't really know where my train of thought is going.
I don't think my brain is yet realizing that being in Milan at the moment isn't just another weekend trip;it's my last stop before heading home....

Spring Break- Eurotrip

Oh helleeew!

So two weeks ago spring break ended, and what a week it was!
There are just too many details and stories, so I am just going to tell ya the basics and will limit myself to one picture per city.

1: Amsterdam
Friday, March 22nd, I arrived in Amsterdam and met my friend Rachel from back home. After getting on the wrong train and going to wrong direction for about half and hour, we arrived in the center of the city and made our way to our hostel. It was in the perfect location! Right in the middle, on the edge of the Red Light District, and near all the historic stuff. Amsterdam was a really fun city to see, but it was so cold!! brrr…. We spent the night and walked around the city most of Saturday along the canals and crooked buildings. And of course we ate french fries! Oh baby so good.

2: Brugge

So we arrived in Brussels Saturday night, and Sunday went to Brugge! It's a city north of Brussels. Initially we wanted to go to Luxembourg, but we underestimated the distance, and it was cheaper to get to Brugge, but I have no regrets! It was such a cool city! It was very medieval still, and smaller than Brussels. But it was still freezing! Oh and it snowed that night before, so that helped the chill factor. We walked around Brugge for most of the day, and ended up finding this delicious cookie shop, among all the other chocolate and cookie shops. Sadly though, we did not have time to go to the only french fry museum in the world...

3: Brussels

When we got back to Brussels that same day, we walked around seeing the sights because we still hadn't done that. The thing you learn about European cities and maps is that the map makes it look so much bigger than it actually is. Everything is really actually close together and easy to get to. I loved Brussels and was so glad we walked around there. And their Belgium waffles…oi! I know why they are so famous now. [at this point my camera died which is stupid because it was charged all the way and I really didn't take as many pictures as I could've so it should've lasted longer but anyway the rest of the week I had to use my iTouch which worked but some pictures came out all pixley, so I'm sorry for that]

3: Marseille

Getting of the plane in Marseille was one of the greatest moments of break. We came from cold, snowy Belgium to warm, sunny Marseille- it was fantastic! Marseille is in the south of France, but is technically not considered part of the riviera, but it is still beautiful! We got to our hostel (again, great location) and had the whole day to walk around the city seeing the sights. It really reminded me of Barcelona, because it definitely has a city feel to it, but because it's on the coast, it's very chill and lax at the same time. Rachel and I walked around and saw palaces and fortresses and climbed a huge hill to a church where we could see an amazing panorama of Marseille. We planned on getting up early the next day because we wanted to take a ferry to an island off the coast that has a castle on it the inspired the story the Count of Monte Cristo, but our traveling caught up with us and we slept in a little to late. 

4: Nice

We hopped on a train to get to my favorite city of the break, Nice. I think the reason I liked it so much was because it reminded me of Florence. The city was pretty small, and the buildings were old and colorful, oh and the sea was right outside the window! It was gorgeous!! We walked around the city seeing all the beautiful things, and even got locked in a park. It was hilarious! 

5: Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monte Carlo- the land of the rich and risky! After the first night in Nice, we hopped on the 1 euro bus to Monte Carlo. It was beautiful! A little underwhelming though if I'm honest. You always see how beautiful it is in the movies, and it is, but the casino is just one building there. ya know? It was cool to see and the amount of expensive cars and shops there was a little ridiculous, but I preferred Nice. But fun fact, (or maybe not so fun) Monaco used to be a lot bigger than it is, but France took over 98% of it, and today's Monaco is all thats left. It's kinda sad. boo France!

6: Florence

After the Riviera, we made our way to Florence, stopping in Genoa and Pisa on the way, but that's just cause we had to. Ah it was good to be back in Florence!! It really is an amazing city. You need to come. But really. That's the only way to experience it.

That's pretty much it! It was such a great and tiring experience, and I can't really believe we did so much- but it was so worth it and so fun!!

The Tastes of Tuscany

So I think it's about time I told you a little about the scrumptious food over here in lil' Italy.
Let me just start off by saying, I have not yet eaten anything I didn't like. Everything here is delicious!!

Let's start with drinks:

Cioccolata Calda

The first day Francesca and I arrive in Florence, we walked around the city, and after getting cold from the rain, stopped in a cafe by Ponte Vecchio for a pick me up. We got cioccolata calda, which is hot chocolate. But let me tell you, Italian hot chocolate is nothing like American hot chocolate. American hot chocolate is not even close to being in the same league!! This hot chocolate is rich and thick and creamy and warms your whole body. None of that watered down American nonsense. This drink is definitely going to be one that I will miss when I leave Italy.

A couple weeks later, when I went to Venice and met up with my two friends Rachel and Julia from back home, we stopped in a cafe and got cioccolata calda. I wouldn't let them leave Italy without trying it first. They also thought it was amazing- if they didn't I would've slapped them!

Cappuccino 

You haven't had an Italian coffee until you've had a cappuccino. I mean, what else is there! Now the rule for cappuccinos: you drink it in the morning, but NEVER any later in the day. Want a coffee after lunch? Drink an espresso. People will look at you like you're crazy if you order a cappuccino in the afternoon or at night. It's just one of those social faux paus. 

Espresso

Now I don't have any pictures of any of the espressos that I've had to drink, but you know what it looks like. You get about a shot of it and can add sugar if you want. This is very common to drink here.  Yeah yeah I know- you know that, it's Italy. c'mon daiva. Whatever. It is. This you can drink at lunch time or breakfast or at night! Pretty much all the time. When I was staying with Anna in Milan, we had a shot of espresso in the morning, and we added a little milk to it. Then at lunch, we would just have a shot. When you go to a bar for an espresso, the most common way to drink it is standing up at the bar, pastry optional. It's my regular drink now in the mornings, sometimes with milk, sometimes without. 

The way you make an espresso is the most interesting, and at first scary, part. You take this machine that has three parts: a bottom, a filter, and the top. 1. Pour cold water into the bottom part unit lit reaches the little vent on the side. 2. Put the filter in the bottom part. This filter looks like a funnel, so the funnel part goes into the water. 3. Add coffee grounds until you have a mound above the edge. 4. Screw the top on. The top part will hold the finished espresso. 5. Put on the stove and wait. 

How it works is when the water boils, it pushes up through the coffee grounds, then up into the top container. It's kinda antigravity cool. 

Wine

What's Italy without wine? Italians drink wine all the time! For lunch, apperitivo, dinner, late at night… it's definitely a big part of the lifestyle. And here in Florence is there perfect place to drink it because most of the wine is produced in the Tuscany region, like the famous (and delicious) Chianti. Ooolala!                                                                                                                This picture of wine, however, is from Rome. My friend took me out to a restaurant and the dessert wine was called "sexy wine", and baby, sexy it was. It tasted like strawberries and smelled delicious!!

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Ok, now on to food!!

Pasta

I mean what's the first thought you have when you think of Italy? Pasta. Now the secret to why Italians can eat so much pasta without gaining a whole bunch weight is in the way it's cooked: you need a big pot of water, and once it boils, put an italian pinch of salt in, then the pasta. Now you don't want to cook the pasta until it's soft like we do in america. This pasta is cooked al dente, so it still has some texture and strength to it. Why this is better is when you cook the pasta in a big pot, the water extracts all the starch from the noodles. If you keep the noodles in there longer than al dente, they reabsorb the starch. Thus, fatty noodles. Interesting huh?

I'll keep these short:

- In Rome, at a small cafe for a late lunch, I had spaghetti alla bolognese, which is a meat sauce. Oh baby it's good. 

-Same meal, one of my roommates had the traditional spaghetti alla carbonara, which is an egg sauce with panchetta, and italian bacon type thing. 

- This is penne with a zucchini cream sauce- it was very interesting to see, and it was so good!

- This was a pasta we had when we went to Padua for the weekend. We stopped at a small farm outside the city where everything they grow is organic, and everything they serve for meals is grown on the farm. This pasta was another ragu sauce, which is the same meat sauce. So good!

- The same weekend we went to Padua, we spend the day in Venice, and what else do you eat in a city in the Mediterranean? Sea food of course! We stopped at a restaurant and has the most delicious sea food! I had spaghetti with clams, mussels, and prawns. 

Pizza

Now, the second thing you think of when you think of Italy… go! If it wasn't pizza, you've got problems. Mamma mia this pizza is delicious!! The thing I think I like the best about it, is it's all so simple. There are only one or two toppings on it including cheese. I had this one pizza one night called a diavolina that did not have sauce, and just had parmesan cheese and spicy sausage. It was probably one of the best pizzas I've ever had!! 

The pizza here is pretty thin. I wouldn't say it's as thin a new york style pizza, but it's not as thick as regular, blackjack pizza. It's thin and light, and flaky almost. In other words, it's delicious!!

Here are some picaruskies:

Going through my pictures, I've noticed that I do not have a lot of pictures of pizza… so I will try in the future. But it's probably better that I'm eating it instead of taking pictures, right?

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Now the cooking class that I am taking is called "Trends in Italian Cuisine", so I thought when signing up for it I would be taking a class in which I learned about the food of Italy, but also how it's changing and how to adapt it. But instead, the first day, our teacher said that this was not a beginner's cooking class, and we would be learning how to decorate the food using the ingredients we use within the dish. What?! So exciting! So that's what we've been doing, and it has been an absolutely amazing experience! Mama, Tete, thank you so much for letting me take this class!

Week 1:

The way the class is set up, is the first hour is lecture about some part of the history of Italian food and/or the preparation and where it comes from. It's very interesting. I have learned so many fascinating things about italian food that I never would have even thought to be true! Like, did you know that Caterina de'Medici was actually the one who invented crepes? Yup. She was a great cook and when she married the prince of France, she took all her recipes with her, and they became popular over there. Whudda thunk?

Then the next hour and a half is spent cooking! After we cook all the food, our teacher decorates one or two plates for each dish we make. And she is spectacular!

Anyway, so week one was probably one of my favorites. We first made panna cotta with a strawberry sauce and a blackberry sauce. Decorations courtesy of Milva.

ooolala!

Then the next thing we made (well we actually make everything at the same time, then decorate it all towards the end), was this delicious creation of heaven. We took  turkey, pounded it out til it was thin, then put cheese and artichokes (that we already cooked up) inside, rolled it up, and wrapped prosciutto around it. Then, after cooking some spinach, we put that in the bottom of a baking dish, then put the turkey rolls on top, poured a little cream over the tops of all of them, and baked them for 15 minutes. Goodness- I cannot describe to you just how absolutely delicious this was!!

Week 2:

Oh boy baby this week, we made a Chocolate Soufflé with a melted inside….

…. and a pumpkin risotto and spinach risotto….

These risottos….probably one of the most amazing things I've ever eaten!!! And it's so simple to make too! They always serve it in such fancy restaurants, but it's really not that hard to make. It takes a while, but I think I have made it… 4 times in my apartment since making it in class. So simple! And so rich and creamy and warm and smooth and delicious….

Week 3:

This week was pasta week. We learned about the differences between dry and fresh pasta, and used both in our dishes. One dish was a pasta with a sauce made of sun dried tomatoes, spinach, pepper, and goat cheese:

mmmm-mmmm it was delicious!

Then we made some spinach pasta, which we then added to a soup. Oh it was so good!

Week 4:

This week was all about the Italian apperitivo. This is usually taken around 7:30 in the evening and consists of little appetizer-size foods with drinks. So we made three things. The first was a leek stuffed foccaccia:

The next was a soft cracker-cookie like thing with a slice of sautéed apple and mortadella, an Italian sausage:

and third was a chicken and leek mixture wrapped inside of puff pastry. It had a little asian flair to it:

mmm delectable!

I haven't uploaded my pictures yet from this past week, but we made ravioli and a cream dessert! You have no idea how happy I am to be in this class!!

Well there's a little taste (hee hee) of what the food is like here in Italy. Absolutely magnificent. That is all I can really say about it.  You just really need to come try it….

To Dana...

My dear friend Dana from Colorado asked me if I even go to class here since I've been writing all these things about traveling, so I decided to tell you all that yes, I do go to class thank you.
 *Attention*- there will not be many pictures so I'm sorry if it's not entertaining

First off, let me lay out my schedule for the week:
Monday: Psychology 9-11:30
               Marketing 12-2:20
               Italian 4:30- 5:45
               Macroeconomics 6-7:15

Tuesday: Italian 4:30- 5:45

Wednesday: Trends in Italian Cuisine 9- 11:30
                     Italian 4:30- 5:45
                     Macroeconomics 6- 7:15

Thursday: Italian 4:30- 5:45

So it's a busy week! Monday is definitely a struggle, but it's nice to get the hardest day out of the way quickly.

My favorite class is probably my cooking class. I know, big surprise there, but it's fantastic! For the first hour we have a lecture on some part of the history of Italian food, which is always very interesting. [I'll regale you with those facts when I write my food post :D, they're very interesting]. Then our teacher quickly tells us everything we need to do to make the dishes for that day. After that we set off to work! It's been so fun being able to cook all these fantastic foods, but also to learn about it! Now a big part of the class our teacher told us the first day, is to be able to decorate the food using the ingredients within. So she will decorate one or two plates to show us how it's done, then we can either follow suit, or just eat. It's so fun!

I also really like my marketing class (which is good since that is now my major)! It's basically just lecture the whole time (with a break thank goodness), but every class has some of activity involved. Sometimes its reading  case study from our book and talking about the different marketing aspects of it, or doing a group activity like coming up with a new brand of shampoo. I really like it because we kinda get to play the role of marketers and plan something up and analyze a company. Also throughout the semester we have been working in groups on starting our own company. Every once in a while our teacher will give us an assignment we have to complete to add to the overall bunch of things we need to do for the company. It's been fun!! And every monday a few students at a time have to give a presentation about an article our teacher gives us the week before. I went this week with a kid from my class (we worked together).

My Italian class is really fun too- it's a 6 credit course of Intermediate Italian 1 and 2, that's why we have it every day. There are only 9 of us, so it's a really fun class. We only speak Italian, which is nice because it makes us practice, and I feel like I'm understanding it so much better! Even though I've already taken intermediate 1, it's nice to have a review and our teacher also explains it really well, so I think I understand it a lot more. Yay italy!

My psychology and macroeconomics classes are….eh. It's hard to concentrate in them just because the teachers both (wow I just realized how similar they are) ramble on and get off topic very often. It's hard to stay focused. But I must be doing something right because I got an A- on my first economics test! woot woot!!

So those are my classes! for each one that is one day a week we get to miss 2 before our grade starts going down, and for my italian class I can miss 3. The school is actually very strict about attendance and everything. But I'm proud to say I have not missed one class!

That's really all I have to say without rambling and giving pointless information about things you won't care about. I have midterms this upcoming week which I have to say I'm kind of nervous about, but I have the whole weekend to study, so I think I'll be ok.
Nevertheless, wish me luck!

The City of Escalators

continuing on from my last post…

Kelsey and I woke up at 7:30 on Saturday morning, but of course, we didn't actually get up until 8. We grabbed breakfast at the hostel, then were on the metro heading to our first stop at 9.

chink chink chink…errrr. -Sagrada Familia- 

Our first stop was right outside of the famous cathedral, La Sagrada Familia. Now there were two different reactions to this building when we walked up to the outside. The asian girls in front of us started screaming excitedly like girls do, while Kelsey and I just said "what". This thing was amazing! I've seen pictures of it before, sure, but man. The detail is ridiculous.  

We didn't go inside because it cost more than we wanted to pay. In fact, everything in Barcelona was more expensive than I thought it would be surprisingly. But no big deal- the outside is the big part. Antoni Gaudi took over the design and building of it in 1883, but died before he could see it completed.  The entire building actually wasn't finished until the mid-1980s. And when we were there, it looked as if they were still building on the sides. It was beautiful

Across the street was a little lake and garden area where we sat for a little, then walked down the street to something we saw on the map, but didn't know what it was. The Plaza del Toros Monumental. 

It was a gorgeous building, with mosaics on the sides. There were a lot of stars of David, so we thought it might be a temple, but when we got to the front, we realized that this was where the bull fights happened! It makes sense because of the shape of the building, but we do not understand the stars. Nevertheless- so cool!

From there we took the metro a couple stops over to see the famous Gaudi houses.

…errrr. - Paseo de Gracia -

We got off at our stop and started walking down the main street until we came to the first house, Casa Amatller and Casa Batllò.

This is Casa Batllò - so cool! The design is so strange, yet so intriguing. There is mosaic all over the face of it, and the roof is supposed to resemble the back of a dragon. But, like before, it was too expensive to get in, so we were happy just gawking at the outside. 

We walked down a little more until we came to Casa Milà, or La Pedrera, as it's better known. 

It was built in 1905, and was meant to have sculptures on the top dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but it was never completed. The design of the building are meant to make it look like waves going back and forth. Pretty coolio. 

We walked around the street some more and saw a few more Gaudi buildings, then we hopped on the metro to get to Park Güell. 

…chink chink errerrr. - Vallcarca -

From 1910 to 1914, aristocrat Eusebi Güell commissioned Antoni Gaudì to build a garden for the bourgeoisie on one of his estates. It's amazing! There are a few houses at the entrance, then staircases and mosaics and fountains and winding paths and green. So much green. Here are some pictures!

the entrance

mosaic covered fountain up the stairs

Hundred-Column Hall

ceiling of the Hundred-Colum Hall

cool plaza and benches on top of the hundred-column hall - funny story about the benches. When Gaudì was designing them, he had a naked man sit and make a mold in order to get the perfect form. hee hee...

the Washerwoman's arcade- I'm not really sure how he made this, but it looks just like rocks piled up and twisted. It's like its dug into the walls because on the top are paths to the top of the hill. However he made it, it was stunning!

This is a panorama from the top of the hill:

You could see from one end of the city to the sea!

After we spent a good hour and a half at the park, we got on the metro again and went to Cituadella Park.

…chink chunk choonk…errr -Cituadella Villa-Olympica-

Now going to this park was sort of a last minute decision, but BOY were we glad we went!!

This was probably my favorite thing we saw while we were in Barcelona. Inside the park was an open area next to a gorgeous waterfall called Plaça de la Cascada. This fountain was built in 1881 by Josep Fontserè and Antoni Gaudì. It is a copy of the fountain by the same name in the Longchamps palace in Marseilles, France. Whatever it copies, it is stunning!

The water was the perfect kind of blue-green, and the gold of the statues stood out even more because of the fantastic weather. This picture definitely doesn't do it justice.

Also within the park there is a zoo, more gardens, a greenhouse, geology museum, zoology museum, lake, the Catalan Parliament, and the old Governor's Palace. It is a very big park.

From there we walked down a long road towards the Arc de Triomf. The roads were lined with palm trees and it was just perfect. That's the thing I really enjoyed about Barcelona - even though it was a big city, it still had that "beach town" feel to it. Everything was really relaxed and open. The streets were really wide and the atmosphere was just so casual. And the great weather helped too!

After we reached the Arc, we stopped in a bakery and got water and pastries (YUM), then took the metro to get on the gondola (?) to get to Montjuïc Mountain.

…chinkalink…err  -Paral-lel-

Now looking at the map of this mountain, there is so much to see its ridiculous. But we decided to at least see the castle before getting dinner. Instead of paying to take the gondola, we decided to just walk up, and I'm so glad we did because it wasn't even that far away! It was just very steep…

So we got to Montjuïc Castle, and I understand why, when reading about the history, it had be conquered so many times by different people. You could see everything from the top! It was right on the water, and overlooked the entire city! Even more so than the top of Park Güell! It was awesome- looking out, you couldn't tell what was water and what was sky.

Later, after we enjoyed a dinner of tapas and sangria, we took the metro to the other side of Montjuïc Mountain to see the Magic Fountain. ooo….

To get there, you have to walk down a long street lined with a long pool of water that shoots up the water every few feet. Then at the end, up the stairs is the Magic Fountain, and behind that, up some more stairs, you are at the bottom of the Palau Nacional de Montjuïc - the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. The museum has a huge fountain running down the front of it, and looks more like a place than an actual museum. I'm tellin' ya, people centuries ago did not think small.

Anyway, the fountain runs from 7 to 9 and every, say, 10 minutes has a new show. Music plays and the fountain changes colors and shoots water everywhere! It really is a sight. Here's a picture from in front of the museum. It's not the greatest quality because I had to take it with my iTouch because my camera died:

ooooo…….ahhhhh……

So we wanted to go to the top of the stairs to get to the top of the fountain of the museum, and what did we find waiting for us? An escalator. This is why I have dubbed this city the City of Escalators. They were everywhere! Earlier when we went to Park Güell, we had to climb up this ridiculously steep hill and halfway through, we could either take the stairs or an escalator! Outside, just randomly in the street. It was hilarious! Thus, the city of escalators….

After we saw the fountains, we went back to Las Ramblas and got a drink, then back to the hostel to get some sleep. The next morning we got up early, threw some clothes on, and went down to the beach to see the sunrise:

It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.

Barcelona

So last weekend my roommate, Kelsey, and I went to *snap snap* Barcelona!

We got off to a rocky start when we flew in on Friday. We took the aerobus into the city center, and because we were tired and it was raining, we wanted to just take a taxi to our hostel. It was outside of the city, and more specifically in Badalona rather than Barcelona. So we get into the taxi and show him the address, and he starts driving like he knows exactly where to go. He drops us off, we pay, and then we're like….ok….
Where is it?
we walked up and down the street, then up and down the cross street.
Um…
We finally go into a cafe and ask them where it is, and they say oh you have to be in Badalona- you're still in Barcelona!
….
Crap.
The taxi driver tricked us and took us to some random place on the road that was similar to the road we had to be on [Alfonso XII rather than Alfonso XIII].

So after we had our cliche "American" experience, we finally find our way to the hostel. It was really nice because it was a block from the metro which made it really easy to get to the city. I've never really had to travel by train in order to get around a city, but, if i do say so myself, by the end of the weekend I was a pro at it!

So the first night, after we checked into our hostel, went into the city and walked down Las Ramblas- one of the main streets in the city center that is lined with shops and restaurants. It's one of the big tourist attractions in Barcelona. We found a restaurant on the street and because of the day we had, didn't really care that it was there and might not be totally "authentic". We ordered a paella menu which included a salad, paella, and dessert for 12 euro, then we also ordered a pitcher of sangria. It was so good!! I got the mixed paella, which had chicken, mussels, shrimp, oyster, calimari, and probably some other seafood as well. It was absolutely delicious!

After a very very good dinner, we walked down the rest of the street until we reached the water- it was such a sight! We saw the Monument to Columbus and the port next to it. He's at the top pointing towards America.

It really did feel like a beach town even though its such a big city. The atmosphere was just so relaxed and warm. It was so nice. Then after that, we walked back up the street and got a drink on the street to people watch and talk. It was such a good way to turn around the trip.

We decided that night to wake up really early, grab some breakfast at the hostel (it was free! well, included), then go around the city to see as much as we could. Because it was such a long day, I am going to have to make another post about it. So that is coming tomorrow! Brace yourself!

La Citta Eterna

Buongiorno!

So this post might be mostly pictures just because there are no words for some of the things we saw in Rome this last weekend. Just lettin' ya know now.

We left Florence at 7 on Friday morning, and arrived in Rome a few hours later. Right away we were whisked away on tours of the city. Of course we didn't see everything that first day because the city is massive, but we did see a lot. And our tour guide Giacomo, or Jack as he told us to call him, was the greatest!!


First, we made our way to the Spanish Steps:




These steps are called the Spanish Steps because the Spanish ambassador used to live at the top of them. At the very top is a church, and at the base (not pictured) is a fountain.

It was really cool to see. There were a lot of steps.








Next we made our way over to the Trevi Fountain:

So this fountain is fed by aqueducts which are underground- this is how it is all over the city.  Who knew?!

I'm assuming most people, like me, think that the god at the top of the fountain is Poseidon, but ah ha! it is not. It is Oceanus, god of fresh water. On either side, I'm not sure if you can tell, are two horses- one wild, representing the wild water and currents, and one calm, representing the calm waters.




This fountain is very big, but honestly, it was a little anticlimactic- I think just because you hear so much about it. It was still beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I think I was just expecting to be blown away by it, and I wasn't.

No biggie though, I still threw a coin in!

But, bad thing is, I forgot to make a wish!! Ahh! That's ok though. I silently made one in my head a couple hours later. So the myth with that is, if you throw it with your right hand over your left shoulder, you can make a wish. Or you can face the fountain and toss a coin in, which means you will return to Rome someday. All these coins are gathered at the end of the day and donated to charities around the city, which is pretty cool. 

Next we walked through this building, called the Galleria (I think?), which had beautiful stained glass ceilings, out to another piazza. On one side was a governmental building where the officials stay. In the middle was a very elaborately carved column. This is what it looks like up close:

 Really cool. Now I have to be honest, I completely forgot what this column is and why it was built. I know, terrible. But it's still cool!

After that we walked over a block or two to the Pantheon:

The funny thing about everything in Italy is all these famous monuments and buildings are just kinda there mixed in with everyday life. Like surrounding the piazza in front of the Pantheon are restaurants, always full of people. It's just so unbelievable that Italians are just so used to it that its just another building to them.

The inside of the Pantheon was really cool too. The floors are all sloped downwards towards the doors (the original doors, probably 1/2 a foot thick- and these doors had to be carved to fit the cutout perfectly, and it does! go romans), so that the rain that comes from the eye leaves the building.

Now the eye was built in because otherwise the weight of the dome would have overpowered it and collapsed inward. The grooves within the dome also helped with that.








After the Pantheon, we made our way over to the Piazza Navona:

This is a really big piazza with three fountains. The one in the middle (that you can kind of see) represents each of the four seasons. The other two on either end of the piazza are, I'm pretty sure, both of Poseidon.

What our tour guide told us was that in Roman times, water would just pour from the aqueducts into the square, so in the summer days, the Romans would just walk along in the water to cool down. Then they build the fountains so it would stop.



Next we slowly walked to our hotel, and this is what we saw on the way:

This area is where Roman buildings used to stand. A lot of the buildings today are built on the foundations from the Romans.

Anyway, this is where they believe is about the area where Caesar was killed. dun dun duun….

This is pretty cool- you can kinda see in this picture that the orangish building is curved. That is because it is built on the foundations of an old amphitheater that used to stand!










So we got to our hotel, checked in, and then my roommates and I went to get some food because we were starving! We walked around a little and found this little cafe. It was so nice, we got to sit outside and people watch. The food was also amazing! I had Spaghetti alla Bolognese (meat sauce), Allie had Spaghetti alla Carbonara (bacohn), Grace had Penne with a zucchini cream (yum), and Kelsey had Pasta with tomatoes. It was delicious!

The next day, we met up with Jack again to visit the Castello d'Angelo and Basilica di San Pietro.

The Castello d'Angelo was very cool. Now lemme see if I remember all this. At first it was built to be a tomb for Emperor Hadrian (I wanna say). Then centuries later, it was converted into a palace/fortress. I don't remember the order, but anyway, the most important part of it is that it has a tunnel leading from it to the Vatican. This was so that the Pope could run to the Castello if there was an invasion. This Castello housed tons of soldiers, and pretty nice rooms for the Pope. [I think it was a papal residence too. Yes- it was. Sorry this is so messed up]

This is the view from the, let's say, 2nd "floor" of the Castello. You can see the Basilica in the distance, and from the bottom right corner you can see the tunnel (I guess it's more of an aqueduct-looking thing) that goes to the Vatican. That is what the Pope would use to escape in case of invasion. I thought it was so cool that it was still perfectly intact.










 Inside we saw prisons and old cannons, and even an area where they would line people up against a way to shoot them. As we went up the winding stairs, we saw the Pope's rooms, which were marvelously decorated. Inside was even the Pope's treasure room. Yes. A treasure room. The case for the gold was build inside of the room so that it could be built too big to fit through the door.

The view from the top was absolutely amazing. You could see all of Rome. Here is a picture under the angel (which was put there in memory of some miracle that occurred during a battle):

This angel isn't the original- the original is in a courtyard on the 2nd floor. It had to be taken down because it was in bad shape from all the weather and age.

Goodness that was painful.
My apologies. Really.

Next we walked over to Vatican City! Ooolala

Now this was absolutely amazing as well. 

Fun facts:

- This square can hold 500,000 people.

- The measurement from the top of the cupola to the bottom of the dome is the same as from the bottom of the dome to the ground. It doesn't seem like it, but it is.

- The statues on the Basilica and the walls surrounding the square are 45 feet tall.

- There are two bells, one on the upper left and the other on the upper right. The one on the left (looking straight at it) keeps local time. The one on the right keeps the time in Jerusalem.

We had to wait in line to get into the Basilica di San Pietro, and as we walked to the end, it seemed as if it would take an hour to get through the line! Surprisingly, it only took about 15 minutes. As we were in line, Jack was telling us the most important thing to notice when we go in is not the size, but the dimensions. Lemme explain….

I said before that the measurements from the top to bottom of the dome are the same as top to bottom of the church. Well, inside the church, you can kind of see in this picture, are letters around the top, just above the arches. You can faintly see some in the middle of this picture, inside the base of the dome. They are the words that Jesus said to Peter. Each letter is 6 feet tall. Yeah. Six feet tall.
The builders used 3 tons of solid gold to decorate everything.

I mean this church was literally breathtaking.

Here are just some pictures so you can see:

I mean this place…it's absolutely amazing!

We also saw Michaelangelo's Pieta:

This blew my mind. First off I didn't even know this was located inside the Basilica, and also, this is Michaelangelo's Pieta. What? Amazing. It is absolutely stunning.









We also saw John Paul II's tomb.

There are no words.

After the Basilica, we went to the Vatican Museum. This was insanely cool. There was just so much to see. It definitely blew Florence's Uffizi out of the water. Our main objective here was to see the Sistine Chapel before it closed, so we just walked through what seemed like the entire museum in order to see it. We did see some cool things along the way like the hall of maps, and fantastic frescoes and paintings. The chapel itself was not what I expected. It wasn't bad or anything, it was just different. The paintings were amazing, and being able to see the famous part where the fingers almost touch was so cool. It was amazing to be able to actually see and feel the Renaissance atmosphere in there. It was just amazing.

On our way back to our hotel, we ran into one of my friends from Creighton, Lauren, who came to Florence a couple weeks ago. It was really lucky that we ran into her because I had forgotten my phone back in Florence, so meeting up with her was going to be difficult. But it all worked out!

We spend the rest of the day just walking around, window shopping, and seeing the sights. That night we went to dinner at a restaurant that was in the shadow of the Pantheon- it was even more amazing at night.

yay!

At dinner, accompanying dessert they gave us this wine called Sexy Wine. It was SO good- it was a strawberry wine that was sweet and light and just perfect!

The next day was our last day, and before we left for Florence, we visited the Colosseum. 

This was probably my favorite sight to see in Rome. It was so much more than I expected. I was literally speechless during our tour. 

Did you know that the Colosseum only took 10 years to build? 

Did you know that they used no mortar between the stones? 

Did you know that before building it they excavated 60 feet into the ground? 

Did you know that every inch of the building was covered in marble? 

Did you know that the Romans were the first to invent canopies which they had spread over the top of the entire Colosseum and could either push forward or pull off depending on the weather?

As Jack explained different parts of the building, we were all just in awe. 

Now my camera died after that picture above, so these pictures are due credit to my roommate Allie. Please enjoy the breathtaking Colosseum, because there are no words to describe just how fantastic it is:

I mean can you just imagine that during the Roman times? Everything is covered in white marble. The floors are maneuvered to move so that animals and gladiators could join the fighting. If it's a hot day, a canopy would just be pulled to cover you.

I just cannot imagine it, but I'm sure it was amazing. And I wish I could have been there to see it!


So that was my weekend. It really was a fantastic and breathtaking weekend.
Bacio