I'm Back: Italy

Hello Everyone! Good to be back in Barcelona.

And I thought it was hard to write about Oktoberfest. That was only only a couple days but Fall Break was over a week. I think I'll tackle it this way. First, I'll talk about each place I went, then I'll have a summary. Tomorrow will be overflow [Post Change: Tomorrow will be Athens], answer questions, etc. Oh, and we shared cameras, so some pictures of me are on the other people's cameras.

Pisa

I realize I can't write everything, so I'll highlight stuff. I can hear your sighs of relief.

Anyway, so Pisa, Italy is home of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. We flew there basically because it was cheaper to do that and then train to Florence. Plus, we got to see another town. Ah, and the weather was suppose to get progressively worse during our Italy trip (Pisa-Florence-Rome) however, it was nice for most of it, although there was rain in Rome one night. We were delayed initially for rain in Pisa and actually had our flight canceled. I guess it was uncanceled an hour or so later and we got there. It drizzled off and on for the couple hours we were there.

All I can say is, dang, that sucker leans. Here's a photo (ah heck, here's a couple). You really can't capture its lean in a photo. It's just ridiculous looking. Also worth noting, postcards suck in Pisa. They are just awful. They are pixelly and just poor quality all around. Also, a weird thing, a few postcards have the same photo because there are a couple people in them that are the exact same. However, ones a "night" picture and the other has a couple extra people. It's the strangest thing.

I guess it, along with the other old buildings (although not as much as the tower), leans because of the soil


Florence

We hopped on a train and went to Florence. It was a nice train. Here's a picture of me and my book bag. I packed light. 5 pairs of boxers, 6 pairs of socks, 1 pair of paints, 3 shirts, sleepwear, and others things (camera, etc). Hey, I got through it, haha. Anyway, we got to Florence and it was drizzling out. We found our way to our hostel and checked in. We put down a 5€ deposit for the keys (standard practice) and set up shop in our room. It was only a 4 bed room, and at the time we were there, there wasn't a fourth person. We put our stuff away and asked for a good spot to eat. The hostel lady recommended a restaurant and we walked there. It was good. I got a pizza for my first Italian meal. It was a nice size and pretty tasty.

For our first morning in Florence, we walked around and then got in a 2 hour long line to get inside the Uffizi Museum. It's a massive museum with thousands of works of art. A lot of it I would describe as mediocre, but it made you notice and appreciate the better, more famous works of art. As we waited in line, we took turns leaving the line and taking pictures
I thought it was funny. Many statues around the Uffizi. Like this one.
Here's a photo I snuck (is that a real word?) of the inside of the museum. One of the main halls. If you look above the windows, you can see the portraits that run all down the hallway.Next we walked around the river and saw the Old Bridge (only bridge that survived WWII).
We then saw the Leather School and a big leather area. It was fun walking around the flea market type areas of Florence. We then got another Italian dinner. I got gnocchi, which was pretty tasty. When we got back to our hostel, we were happy to see that we were alone for this night. Ah, I seem to have forgotten to tell you the story of the weird, random girl in our room the other night. We were asleep when she came in for bed. I think she came in around 2am. Very odd and loud. At one point, during the night, she jumped/fell out of her top bunk bed. I asked her if she was all right, but she just laid there in a crumpled up ball on the floor. She then got up, stood for a minute or two, and then left I think. I went back to sleep so I don't recall all of it. However, a little while later, I heard her say from on top of her bunk something like, "I thought I was going to die. I jumped out of bed. *something* was falling on me." Then a while later she said something like, "Sorry guys." It was weird. Anyway, she was gone the next night.

For our last day in Florence, we went and saw David. Now, I first have to say this. I heard nothing but how big and magnificent this sculpture is. I was so afraid that it was going to be over hyped. On top of that, everywhere in Italy, and of course in Florence, you see David's wang. It's on postcards. It's on boxers. Aprons. You name it, there's a picture or crude representation of it on it. In Rome, one of the girls in our room bought a David Wang Apron, and the British guy in our room said, "I can't believe someone actually bought that." She was apparently offended by our comments. I was offended by her tackiness.

Anyway, so, I finally saw David and Michaelangelo is a genius. It lived up to all the hype. It was also probably good that we saw some of the lesser sculptures in the Uffizi beforehand (don't get the wrong impression; there are amazing pieces of artwork in that museum. There's just so much and with that comes....well, yeah). It's really an awesome piece of art all around. Here are 2 photos I managed to take of David. To be honest, it wasn't that hard to sneak them.
After David, we went and saw the Duomo. Nice, big church. Could say more, but I'd like to go to bed sometime tonight.

The next morning we woke up and caught our train to Rome. Florence was a nice city. Very artsy. It's super easy to walk around and overall very clean. The streets are not as pedestrian friendly as in Barcelona.

Rome

The Eternal City. This is a cool city. So much history. Also a little sketchy. More than Barcelona. One of the metro lines has graffiti all over, even on the windows of the trains. In fact, the one girl I was with had her purse cut open with a knife and her wallet taken. She didn't notice until we got to our hostel. We have no idea how/when it happened. Later that same day, back on the metro, we saw a lady with a leather purse with a slice in it. Sheesh. So it's cool, but watch your money.

Anyway, we checked in (this time an 8 person room) and set out to see some sites. We started with the Colosseum. It's pretty darn big and impressive.

We then went on to Palatine Hill, one of the main hills in Rome. This is where a she-wolf was said to have found and fed Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Just a bunch of old, ancient ruins. They are just strewn throughout. It'd make a good spot to picnic.

We walked around some more and saw some other sites. The Pantheon was cool. An old building, now a Catholic church, that has a crazy cool/big dome. I guess Scholars still scratch there heads and wonder how the dome with a hole at the top was built during Christ's life-time. Everyone wants to be there when it rains. However, according to my friend studying abroad in Rome (whom I met up with later that night. That was fun), the rain doesn't come straight down, but swirls around, barely reaching the floor.

Trevi Fountain

Vatican at night
During our second day in Rome, we saw the Vatican. Pretty much everything about this area/"country" is big. The museum has tons of works of art. I will only post 2 pictures, School of Athens and the Sistine Chapel (the latter required some serious sneakiness. They weren't kidding when they said "no photos." Saw one lady get kicked out).

School of Athens is by Raphael and famous for its use of perspective. It is pretty amazing and really comes alive as you stand in front of it. It seems like you could walk up to Plato and Socrates (the 2 men in the center). Other famous philosophers and people are in this painting, too.

The Sistine Chapel was done by Michaelangelo and is amazing. He covered the whole ceiling with stories from the Bible, including the creation stories and Noah. Worth noting: I did a presentation on this in my freshman Honors 12 class, a class about this time period that honor students have to take. Also worth noting, Michelle did her group presentation on the School of Athens. Interesting...
The Vatican itself is big. A big church. Many statues of Mary (gotta have those) Jesus, popes, apostles, etc. My favorite was Michaelangelo's Pietá (also one of my favorite works of art that I saw). It was attacked several years ago by a ax wielding Frenchman. It's now behind bulletproof glass (obviously, the Frenchman couldn't get a lot of damage done. Figures. That's a good thing, though).
Pietás are depictions of Mary holding the dead body of Jesus.

There was also a prayer only room (no photos) that I went into. I do have to admit, it was "cool" saying a prayer in the Vatican.

And most of my pictures didn't turn out too well (and that'd just be too many) but I felt this one was interesting.

I was evesdropping on a tour group and heard the guy explain that the far right lady is standing on a globe. Her foot is right over England. Apparently this has something to do with the excommunication with the king when he converted England to Protestantism (or something like that).

Here's a picture of a plaque with all the popes on it. Hmm... Didn't realize Peter was a pope.
Later that day, we also had the best gelato (Italian ice cream) at Old Bridge. Mmm...mmm.

In summary, Rome was a cool city that I'd like to go back to. I threw a coin with my right hand over my left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, and if you do this, you will come back (I did something similar in Florence and in Barcelona). I wouldn't mind returning to Rome. I feel like there's so much left to do (and redo). I hope the fact that it was a Canadian dime I found doesn't take away from it.

This is getting long and I'm getting tired. I think I'll let you know about Athens tomorrow. Terribly sorry. I hope this was manageable/entertaining. However, I guess this is my journal, so I suppose I shouldn't worry too much about entertaining others. But what's the point of writing something if people won't find it interesting?

Summary of Italy
The food was good. People smoked less (2 years ago there was some kind of ban put in place. I liked it).

Ah, but lines and organization are not the Italians' strength. The Roman airport is a good example. Our plane was delayed 2 hours due to not enough runway personal or something. The line for security was borderline insanity. You file in, as you would in Disneyland, and then the line just opens up. There are just clumps of people at the metal detector areas. Took forever. Just no organization. You'd really have to see it to grasp it. Or else have someone who writes better explain it.

Ah, and in Rome, you can cross the streets whenever. It's kind of strange, especially coming from Barcelona.

And we have a Doctor from Ecuador staying for 2 weeks here. It was only him and I for dinner and later we watched some basketball together.

Okay. Have a great Sunday/Saturday. I'm getting ready for bed.