Hi all!
So Rome Day 2 was also wonderful,
although it was substantially more wet!
I got up very early and headed to the Coliseum.
From there I went to the Palatine Hill,
but it started torrential raining.
Mind you, this was in the place where everything is ruins (so no roofs)
and its on top of a hill (so you get the full brunt of the storm).
Basically everyone ran into little
bushes and took cover while it poured for a good five minutes.
Five minutes doesn’t seem like much,
but when you’re crouching in a bush it’s pretty substantial.
Needless to say, I was very happy I
didn’t waste the time straightening my hair this morning.
Interesting that they had a Christian cross in the Coliseum where so much death occurred for entertainment
The Roman Forum
the Roman Forum at night from the Capitoline Museums
Eventually
this little man came walking around with ponchos and umbrellas for sale (of
course I had an umbrella-- but it was located in the bottom of my
suitcase). So I bought one of them
for five Euros and made a plan of action to just walk quickly and come back to
the Roman Forum when it stopped raining, although that never actually
happened.
I
made a quick run to the Vatican at noon and got to see the Pope/receive his
blessing.
This was the most overwhelming
experience ever: you’re in Saint Peter’s Square with thousands of other
Catholics from all over the world, all there to just catch a glimpse of the
closest person to God that you can get.
He came out onto his balcony and everyone just started cheering and
singing and chanting and waving flags.
It was amazing having people from literally all over
the world being united in this one experience.
He spoke to us in Latin (surprisingly enough I actually
understood a good amount) and then addressed each language group and blessed
us. Absolutely amazing experience.
THE POPE!!!
I basically spent the rest of the
day at Il Vittorino (the Italian equivalent of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier)
and the Capitoline Museums.
I have
never spent so much time in my life looking at artwork, but it was absolutely
amazing to me, because I was literally seeing the real life statues and
paintings of things I had only seen pictures of in my Latin class.
The statue of the story of Romulus and Remus being raised by the she-wolf, classic artwork in the Capitoline museums. Notice the mosaic floor with the 3D labyrinth.
My Dessert of tiramisu- actually like Mommom's better!
I’ve determined the Italian men’s
favorite saying to be Ciao Bella! Or basically hello/goodbye beautiful! It’s the funniest thing for me, because
I’m used to the guys in Denmark being so shy and reserved until you finally
meet them, while in Italy all the men immediately try to start conversation. They’re always so interested in
American culture, just like the friends I made in Naples. It’s funny how you see random people
wearing things with American flags on them, but so much of their fascination
comes from the Jersey Shore!
And
now two days in Venice!
My train got in at 6:30 in the
morning, and the city was definitely still sleeping.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out that there are
absolutely no cars on the Venetian islands, and transportation is restricted to
walking and taking a boat/gondola.
I eventually made it to my hotel and left my luggage, but check in
wasn’t until 12:30, so I decided to find a place to grab some breakfast and
plan out my day.
It was in this
cute little café right next to one of the three main waterbus stops.
After a little while, I was exposed to
some crazy Venetian culture:
Here
I am, sitting at my little table in the corner drinking my tea, and suddenly
all these people get off the taxi and pour into the café, standing at the
counter, and every single one of them ordered an espresso.
Not only did not a single person sit
down, but they also drank the espresso like a shot and continued on .
I experienced this over and over and
was absolutely amazed that their coffee is for the sole purpose of waking them
up, while my coffee is such a relaxed start to the day.
Our version of the mailtruck
Anyway,
once I finally planned out my day, I left behind these caffeine-crazed people
and went to explore.
Let me lay it
out for you: Venice is comprised of hundreds of tiny islands, connected by all
these little bridges (and some big ones that span the Grand Canal).
Some streets are just wide enough for
one person to fit through, and they have no pattern or order to how they are
laid out.
Obviously, this is a
recipe for me to get lost.
I
didn’t do too badly, however, and was able to make it through most of my day on
track.
It's a little flooded...
Raised Pathways for the tourists without rain boots
The Bridge of Sighs
In the afternoon it started to
rain, (ironic because I already had rain boots to combat the flooded streets)
so I decided I would go to the Venetianisland of Murano, a quick waterbus ride away.
I wanted to go to this island because
it hand-makes Venetian glass of all shapes, sizes, and colors.
My first experience was watching glass
sculpting and glass blowing, after which I went to the Venice glass
museum.
On my way off the island,
I found this cute little glass shop, and after going inside and making friends
with the man who was sculpting glass right at a desk for visitors to see, he
agreed to sculpt what I wanted for me, in front of me!
So obviously I had to get some things
as souvenirs for people, and convenient Christmas presents!
I went back into the city and had some
wonderful gnocchis and then went to sleep early because I was so tired from my
overnight train trip.
Glass Sculpting
Tuesday consisted of me deciding to
not plan out my route too carefully and just wander, exploring as I went
along.
This was actually such a
great idea, because it allowed me to not stress about getting from one place to
the other, but actually just appreciate what was around me, and find some neat
shops and food places.
A Venetian sunset
My area of town by night
And by day...
Saint Mark's Basilica by night
A Venetian market!
Random canal down a random side street.. pretty common!
Tuesday
night into Wednesday morning, I took a (Very long) bus ride from Venice to
Prague where I finally checked in and met my friends so don’t worry guys, no
longer traveling alone!
Interesting/weird facts about
Venice and Italy in general: they
don’t like toilet seats – I have yet to go into a bathroom (both public and in
hotels/hostels) where there were actual toilet seats to sit down on. Venice is actually going to be the next
Atlantis: this city is going under, fast.
When I went to the peninsula of the main island, I literally had to buy
a pair of rainboots that were barely high enough. The Venetians adapt by assembling and disassembling raised
(at least two feet) sidewalks as the tide comes in and out. There’s basically a huge cathedral in
every square you go, and always one concentrated part of town that you can find
a Jewish ghetto. Asians are
EVERYWHERE, but they’re very friendly and offer to take pictures for you when
they see you traveling alone. If
you’re wandering the streets of any Italian city between 3-5 in the afternoon,
don’t expect to go into any stores- they all shut down for a late lunch/coffee
break/nap. Seriously, ALL of
them!
As an afterthought and word to the
wise, Venice is by far the absolute MOST EXPENSIVE city I have ever traveled
in: a small glass of white wine is thirteen euro, bottled water (they don’t do
tap water) is four euro, a simple pasta dish is at least fifteen euro, and
pizza is another ten euro, unless you take it from some random shop to go, then
it can be about four euro.
Additionally, if you want to sit down at a restaurant or café to eat,
they all have a cover charge, and already include in a service charge ranging
from twelve to twenty percent.
Basically, you end up having to choose between starving and going
broke. Fun choice.
