Eurotrip: Rome

Rome was a love\hate thing for me. We started off on the wrong foot. We got in late and were really tired. It took a little while to find our hostel and when we did find it, it was not ok. I mean, it was a bed for one night but that was about it. We did run into three kids from Miami who were studying abroad in Spain and they were cool, but that was perhaps the only redeeming factor about the place.
Our second day there, we tried to find another hostel but our internet was sketchy. So we got dressed (it was really warm for us, so we were wearing very little in comparsion to everyone else and got a lot of attention) and walked around trying to find decently priced internet. Finally succeeded and actually ended up with a Couchsurfer, which was awesome. After we figured that out, we went to the Colleseum, Palatine Hill (I live there!), and the Roman Forum. It was so cool! I loved the Colleseum. It was like a dream for me. The Romans did amazing, albeit bloody things, and especially did cool things in the theatre world. The Collesuem was (is) a work of art and I would love to go inside the center and explore it. I had so much fun there. It was awesome. Except for the stupid guys who got us to pay them 10 Euro for taking our picture with them. They had dressed up in traditional soldier garb and conned us. I suppose it happens, but it wasn't fun either way. I learned. We hopped on a tour of the Colleseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. It was quite helpful and really funny. We had great tour guides. I now have all sorts of useless facts floating around in my head. The Roman Forum was also amazing. I stood not five feet away from where Julius Ceasar was allegedly cremated. Cool...We did a lot of wandering around after that, saw more cool old things, and eventually ended up at the Trevia Fountain. Unfortunately, there was a lot of people there so the first picture didn't turn out so well. We wandered back to the hostel to pick our stuff up and meet our Couchsurfer, Andrea. He was really cool, despite the fact that I called him earlier that morning and woke him up. Oops. :) He lived outside the city so he drove us out there. We made dinner, hung out, watched the Olympics, and went to bed.

The next morning we packed and leisurely went back to the city. Andrea couldn't host us another night but he did make our Rome experience much better because up til that point, our impression wasn't the best. That day we had planned on going to the Vatican and St. Peters Basilica but sadly only made it through the Vatican. I was underwhelmed, to be honest. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't that. The museums were geat and the art collections were cool (the guy selling us the tickets even told us that we were "18" so we got a reduced entrance price) but I wanted to see secret catacombs, the Pope, the Popemobile, the old men of the Clergy and conspiracy. Maybe I read too much Dan Brown.

Anyway, by the time we got out of the Vatican it was too late to go the St. Peters. We walked to the Pantheon. Such a ridiculous building. How on earth does the roof of that thing stand up? I really don't get that. I felt like it was gonna collapse on me at any minute. Or that it was floating. Also, the floor of the Pantheon was stunning! Marble of all different shades and colors and patterns. The art and altars in there were cool too. I even signed the book in there. :) My name is permanently in the Pantheon.
We eventually decided that we should eat cuz we were delirious and exhausted so we somewhere found the energy to go find food. The restaurant we ate at had decent food but what really made the experience was the rain. (We were sitting outside.) All the waiters ran outside with umbrellas for the customers. It was quite the dining experience. We ended up back at our hostel and changed to go out with some CouchSurfers that couldn't host us but wanted to go out. The five of us (Jana and I and three of them) went and got a drink and then they showed us this little hole-in-the-wall club where we danced for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun! Jana made the mistake of wearing a really low-cut shirt and the Italians are just unabashed about staring. One of the guys that was with us started dancing with me and it was fun, cuz he actually dances unlike the Germans, but I had to explain that I wasn't interested and was just dancing. He then told me I was beautiful. Can't blame him for trying right? Anyway, we got back to our hostel around 3:00 and had to get up at 6:00 to pack and catch a plane to Athens. I was not very happy about that but shit happens. All in all, my first impression of Rome was that it was dirty and busy and I wasn't very impressed. Then we hung out with Andrea and saw the Colleseum and the Roman Forum and went out with the Couchsurfers and it turned out to be much better. I actually ended up liking Rome, it just wasn't instant like Florence or Venice.

Europtrip: Piazza della Signorio, Florence

Some of the statues in Piazza della Signorio. They needed their own
post. I found names for some of them.




















The Rape of the Sabine Women













Hercules and Cacus

Eurotrip: Florence

Florence. I totally could have spent more time here. So freakin cool! As I said, we got up early (6:30) to catch a waterbus to the train station to catch our train to Florence. It had been cold and rainy in Venice and when we got into Florence, it was warm and sunny. Felt so good! We got in around 13:00 and met up with our CouchSurfer, Lorenzo, and went back to his apartment. It was so cute! Jana and I slept on this little pull-out couch that was not meant for two people. It was worked out though. We met his roommate, Luigi, and I laughed at how italian their names were. We walked across the River Arno and explored that area of town, even though it was late and none of the touristy things were open. We just kind of peeked in at things. We drank wine on the steps of Piazza Pitti, walked all the way up to Chiesa di San Miniato al Mante, a church at the top of the Florence. And it is a long walk to the top of Florence. Good exercise I suppose, although my feet were really mad at me. We looked over the city at Piazzale Michelangelo, where a bronze copy of the David is. The view and the David are amazing! Both things were so cool. The view was one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long time. We ate dinner near the Ponte Vecchio, the only original bridge to survive the bombings of WWII. The food was again amazing and Jana fell in love with the three Italian boys who sat next to us. That actually happened alot on our trip. After dinner, we went to iL Latina, the restuarant where our CouchSurfers worked, and got a free dessert (this orange schapps and biscotti) and hit on by all the workers there. The restaurant had these hams hanging from the ceiling and people would buy them and cook them...or eat them....I really had no idea what was going there. It was odd. Luigi walked us home and we went to bed exhausted, as usual.The next day we got off to later start. We first walked to the Dom, which is such a cool church! So pretty. It was raining outside, which was less than fun and made taking pictures a little hard, but still amazing. We then walked to the church San Lorenzo and by the Medici residence, where we found this really odd little toilet exhibition. I was intrigued and confused. After that, we hit the Academia, where the real David is housed. Such an amazing experience! It was...mind blowing, how stunning this thing was. Michaelangelo was a god. Or one of the world's best geniuses. Or both. I also happened to get a picture of it, which was not allowed. The guards suspected me but I didn't get caught so it's all good. So ridiculously cool.


Our last day in Florence was really sad. :( We really only saw a tiny fraction of the city and I would love to see more. We walked to Piazza della Signorio, where all sorts of cool originals statues are. The David used to be there but then it got struck by lightning in 1532 (I think that's the exact date) and was damaged so they moved it inside, restored it, and put a copy. The amount of crazy cool statues there kind of blew my mind. We walked over Ponte Vecchio again and got our stuff from Lorenzo and Luigi, got lunch with them, said goodbye, and went on to Rome. :)

Eurotrip: Venice (and some Mainz)

Hey guys. I have been really bad about updating you, which is bad for me now cuz I have two weeks of awesomeness to blog and it's a lot of information. Here goes.

So Jana and I did a two week tour of Europe. Well, a small part of Europe. We went through Venice, Florence, Rome, and Athens. It was amazing! I'll try to keep the blog posts succint but we'll see how successful I am at that. So, Venice.
Getting to Venice was kind of an adventure. Because Munich is no fun to fly in and out of, we went up to Mainz to fly out of Frankfurt Hahn. We knew it was Carneval season, we just didn't know Mainz enjoyed Carneval so much. We also didn't count on Rosenmontag. I'll get to that. So we get in on Sunday, crash with our CouchSurfer, and decide to walk around a little bit cuz it was still early. We ended up walking into this massive celebration, complete with the weirdest costumes, a live band, and lots of carneval rides and lights. It was sensory overload. I had no idea what to do with it. So cool to see. The live band was really good too. We retired early cuz everything was winding down and it was a Sunday night.
The next day we get up, pack, head out to figure out how to print tickets and catch the bus to the Airport. Turns out it's Rosenmontag. Rosenmontag is the Monday before Ash Wednesday and basically the most important day of Carneval. So the entire city of Mainz was shut down and there were people everywhere! It was a madhouse. After several hours of trying to find a printer (successful) and trying to figure out how\when\where\if the airport bus came (also eventually successful), we end up at the Airport and fly to Venice.
Venice. Absolutely beautiful. We get in, find our hostel (near the Rialto Bridge), drop our stuff off, and go to dinner at this restaurant called Pane e Vino (bread and wine). The food was really good and the waiter fell in love with me. Well, my hair. He kept running his hand over whenever he would walk by. It was amusing. We then found this little street party in one of the squares and danced for a bit. It was a lot of fun.The next day, Fat Tuesday, we got up early and went to San Marco Square. We saw the Basilica and the Doge's Palace. The Basilica is stunning! So beautiful. The entire inside, all the murals, are made of tiny pieces of tile. So so meticulous. The sketches and models for it also blew my mind. Just a really cool place in general. We bought some sandwiches and ate lunch in San Marco Square and walked through the Doge's Palace, which now houses four museuems. Really cool, extensive collections. That more or less took up our day and we cooked dinner that night, basic pasta (which we were embarrassed about it Italy, cuz you know, it's Italy and their food puts my cooking skills to shame). We went out later with Alex, the owner of the hostel, who was a mask decorater and artist and who fell in love with Jana. We went to San Marghareto, where there was a massive street party. Again, lots of fun. We got dressed up for Carneval even though it was kind of cold outside. We danced for awhile then went back and crashed. Carneval in Venice is ridiculous. So much fun and ridiculousness.
On Wednesday, we were supposed to meet up with someone from CouchSurfing who would show up around but that didn't work out so we walked to the Jewish Ghetto ourselves and wandered around for a bit. We again ate amazing food (the seafood is great in Venice!) and the Jana proceeded to get us lost. That meant that we walked ALL over Venice. ALL OVER. It's a great place to get lost in because everything is beautiful and all the canals are fascinating. It's really unlike any other city in the world. However, that much walking hurts. I was so happy to get back to the hotel room. We found a little restuarant to eat at, where apparently Jana discovered how good Lasagna could be. Then we went on the hunt for internet. We ended up stealing internet in a back alley near the morning fish markets. It was quite amusing. We go back to the hostel and hang out with Alex for a bit. We painted glue masks and he showed us some of his designs. We had to get up mad early the next day to go to Florence so we went to sleep early-ish and were very sad to leave Venice. It was a beautiful place.