Day Five: Bienvenidos a Hell

June 28, 2008

clip_image001[4]Ahh… the journey from Florence to Venice. I think my one line description in the previous post really captured the first part of that epic journey. But, because I know you like to read as many words as possible (I imagine you might be reading this in the morning as you eat a delicious, and I assure you, cheaper-than-our-breakfast, breakfast) I’ll fill in the day for you

Part One: Leave Florence

clip_image001[8]As I mentioned in the previous post, I had a lot to drink during our last night in Florence. And we were up really late. I think we maybe went to sleep at 4AM. And I was pretty smashed at 4AM. This lead to another “first” for me – namely, the first time I’ve ever woken up either slightly buzzed or with a hangover. I’m not quite sure which it was… since neither have ever happened before. All I know is I woke up at 8:30AM and let me tell you – that shower was a bit of a struggle. But, nonetheless, we all (we = Leslie, me, and the Spanish guys) all had a lovely breakfast together (well, they did… food did not look appealing to me at that point) before saying our goodbyes. I so wish we would have had more time  to hang out because they were all so awesome. But, hopefully, one day in the future they’ll make the trip to San Francisco! Or, we’ll go to  Northern Spain.

clip_image001[6]So after the goodbyes Leslie and I headed for the train station. Now keep in mind, I was not on my A-game. I was friggin exhausted. Leslie was exhausted. I was feeling a bit ill. But at least Leslie was ok. This was fortunate because we almost got lost…again. We went to the station lady to buy our ticket to Venice and we had two options. Either we could take a speedy train to Venice for $108 euro each or the slower longer train we could both go for $47 euro. I was like… $216 euro versus $47 euro… this is a no-brainer. Plus, I was so exhausted and sick feeling I thought it’d be nice to have a few hours to sleep on the train.

That was the first of many many mistakes.

clip_image001[12]The next issue we ran into came when we attempted to actually understand what our ticket said. This is all a bit blurry to me, namely because  the minute we put our luggage down to endure the wait I fell into what was in essence a coma, but the issue was that the train from Florence to Venice didn’t actually leave from our station – it left from this other one that we needed to get to. We only found this out after waiting in this horrible line to talk to the Information guy. The Information guy then printed out this sheet that had three different train departures on it (but they were all in Italian). Now, I asked the guy “So… we have to make three transfers to get to this station we need to be at?” To which he said, “Yes”. At that point I believed him, told Leslie everything was going to be just fine, and to please guard over our stuff so I could lay down and sleep. But Leslie was skeptical.

Finally we saw the train show up that was listed as number one on the list the guy gave us. We got on and Leslie was still confused, “Heather, the train right next to this one is the second train on this list – it’s just leaving ten minutes later”. At first I said, “Oh, well maybe it makes like additional stops or something”. Leslie was not convinced. So I then, with all my Spanish speaking skills and hang-over goodness, reexamined our printout. Then I, too, questioned the plan. I remembered the guy saying that we only needed to go one station down… in Italian/Spanish  sounding-ness at one point. One station down would take something like five minutes. All of these trains were scheduled to take five minutes. “Oh! He just printed us out three trains that will all take us from here to the right station! We just need to pick one!” And we figured this out on.the.train. Thank the gods, though – because it would have sucked soooo bad if we would have gotten to the right train station and then hopped over a line and kept going to gods knows where.

So go us! We’re learning!

So now we can talk about the ride from the right train station to Venice itself. You ready? Hell. Hell was what we experienced. As I told Leslie, if before I was on the fence as to whether I should be good or evil, I am on the fence no more. I have tasted hell. It is not pleasant. It smells of unbathed sweaty travelers and feels like being in a sauna. A sauna you can’t escape. A sauna at something like 100 degrees. My shirt was soaked… except for these lovely dry triangles over the very middle of my boobs, my entire shirt was abso-friggin-lutely drenched (did make for  an interesting fashion statement though – dark gray with light gray triangles and all that). Leslie’s lovely shirt – drenched. At least she had the sense to wear a nice flowing skirt. I was wearing jeans! Jeans for the love of gods! There was this couple in this non-air conditioned hell with us and funny thing… the girl, who was sitting next to me, hadd a fan (like the Asian looking paper ones) and while she was fanning herself I just ever so slowly started to lean on into her… hoping…. praying for just the slightest of breezes. Eventually she fell asleep. This meant the fan was no longer in use. I was SO close to just ever so gently taking it from her hand – as I glared at it out of the corner of my frenzied eyes. I hope you understand – 3 hours of hell.

clip_image001[14]But eventually we made it to Venice… where things did not go better. It was so humid I cannot tell you. I am not meant for humidity. I already hate heat, but dry heat has NOTHING on wet heat. I mean… I always have thought the gods like us… but obviously that’s just not true. No creature of benevolence could ever smite us with the horror that is humidity.

So we got off the train. We then turned right. Good dear Leslie had the directions to our hostel. Direction one “Cross the bridge”. We get out of the train station…drenched… look up. No bridge. We then figure there’s another exit on the other side so we go over there. No bridge. What.the.hell. So I then ask some guy where Roma Square is and he tells me to take a bus. At this point I’m not going to debate whether something is within walking distance or not. We  took a bus. Now, from the directions the Plaza was supposed to be a five minute walk. The bus ride was l5-20 minutes. Throughout it Leslie and I would burst out laughing hysterically. It was ridiculous. The directions were ridiculous.

Turns out the directions were actually from the station that the super speedy train drops you off at. We ended up taking the “locals” train (hence it being a lot cheaper).

clip_image001[16]So finally the bus dropped us off at Roma Square. In a giant area of busses. We were then to find his one bus and take it to the hostel. Now, to begin with, Roma Square is right where Venice (the Venice you think of when you think “Venice”) begins. You sort of cross a bridge and now you’re in picturesque Venice land. I didn’t see any streets going from the train station into Venice. I only saw them going out, back to the area from which we came. So when we finally got on the right bus and started heading back to the mainland, I was not surprised. Concerned, sure! But surprised, no no no. I knew something was weird. Turns out our hostel is about 10-15 minutes out from Venice-Venice (by bus). It’s in a very quiet suburban-esque area where lots of grannies (grannies = old people) live. We did not care. We were so hot and sweaty and disgusting.

Finally we checked in and got our room. Funny bit here – Venice was/is the only hostel stop on this trip where Leslie and I are in a private room (where it’s just the two of us). When the hostel lady showed us the room it looked like there was just one bed. Awesome. Turns out there were two beds just  right up on each other. Not that either of us had a problem sleeping together, but when you already are sitting on a train thinking to yourself “If things don’t get better in the next ten minutes I’m going to say ‘frak it’ and get naked” the idea of your body touching another body just isn’t so appealing.

At that point we took a nap and then headed down (by bus) to check out this Venice business. Venice is really spectacularly one-of-a-kind looking and romantic. If you’ve ever seen “The 10th Kingdom” (solid TV movie thing by the way) it’s sort of like Kissing town. So we strolled around, losing ourselves in the narrow gorgeous labyrinth of streets and alleys until we finally came around some main square area. Here we saw loads of people gathered around big screen TVs watching fútbol (soccer). I thought that was pretty nifty. Everyone coming together for a single sport.

clip_image001[18]Leslie and I, not being soccer people, settled on a restaurant that was not playing the game. Here we met a big flirt… our waiter. I’m telling you – Italians LOVE blonds. I don’t quite know why but they do. So he started talking to us and then declared to his friend that I was his “new girlfriend”. He then took my arm and escorted us to our table. At another point he gave me this little dinky charm thing so I’d remember that his heart flies for me (which he said in Italian… but I understood because I’m telling you, it’s a lot like Spanish). Leslie and I did have some delicious pasta there, though. She got gonococci, which I’ve never actually liked before, but it was totally delicious.

After all that we headed back to the hostel and fell dead asleep.

So that was our trip into Venice! While it was totally brutal I’m happy it happened in some sick twisted way… because it means a funny story to share with all of you!

For all the photos from our day in hell, click here.

Posted by Heather | Filed Under Europe Trip Summer 2008, travel | 1 Comment 

Day Four (and part of Five): Fabulous Fantasy-Filled Florence!

June 26, 2008

IMG_0303 So I sort of need to alter, or at least add a caveat to, my commitment to this blog. In the beginning, I promised to write every single night (or morning) before going to bed. And I’m still going to try and do this. However! If it’s my night to get totally and utterly smashed, the blogging is going to have to wait until I regain consciousness. You understand.

But now that that’s cleared up I’ll let you know what’s going on! As I type, Leslie and I are sitting in a 110 degree humid oven sauna from HELL!!! on a train on our way to Venice. And while we are sad to say “ciao” and “adios” to Florence and our new Spanish friends, our lives as traveling gypsies beckon us onward… but in the interim (the time of actual travel being the interim) I’ll let you know how yesterday went.  

So yesterday was quite the day for us! We woke up at a reasonable hour, dressed, and went out to the cafeteria area of our hostel. To our amazement (see picture to the right) we discovered that we got a free breakfast – and a good one at that! In Rome we got a free “continental breakfast” but that amounted to stale bread and some cornflakes. In Florence, though, free breakfast included a buffet of different things (i.e. cake-ish breakfast bread [my favorite], penne pasta [Leslie’s favorite], oranges, pears, etc.) and (!) you got to pick a meal off this menu thing and they’d make it for you. Leslie got toast, eggs, sausage, and bacon and I got yummy muesli. After getting over our breakfast-shock, we headed for our first art stop of the day: The Accademia, home of the famous David (and, to be honest, pretty much nothing else). 

IMG_0305 Here’s a tip for future Florence travelers: reserve your tickets to the Accademia and Uffizi ahead of time. We did and, while it costs a few euro extra, it saves you a ton of time waiting in these super long lines. And, when it’s a zillion degrees out, that’s worth paying for!

So, yes, Michelangelo’s David. To be honest, I wasn’t that excited about seeing him. I’ve never really been into sculpture – it just doesn’t do it for me the way painting does. Paintings are bright, alive – they can be the colors and shapes of your most vivid dreams.Sculptures are single colored (like marble) and just… I don’t know… ugh. However, that all changed yesterday. When you enter the tiny museum you don’t know where this David guy is going to be (mainly this is because Italians just don’t believe in giving you a map or marking things…like super famous museums… but anyways…). So you sort of don’t get a chance to mentally prepare yourself for it. You just turn a corner and then at the very end you see him towering above everything. He’s huge!!! For some reason Leslie and I both imagined David to be (maybe) twice the size of a person but we were so so so wrong. David overwhelms you with its sheer masculinity – its power. I don’t even know what to type here. It’s incredible. Leslie and I circled around him so many times… and then we’d just sit and stare at him. The detail – the veins in his hand, the fact that the right muscles are flexing as he stands there with all his contrapposto sexy glory. And his gaze. His gaze is incredible. He just seems like a god. I found myself thinking that Michelangelo must have been a very confident and very egotistical man. You just couldn’t conceive of such a thing otherwise. I love to paint and draw but really only woman. I’ve just never found myself thinking of the male body as something aesthetic. But let me tell you, staring at David opened my eyes the just how perfect a male subject can be. You aren’t supposed to IMG_0314take pictures of him, but I had to sneak a few. For hours afterwards we were still talking about it. Incredible! Magnificent! The best thing art we saw all day.

After we could tear ourselves away from David, we had a few hours to kill before our reservation at the Uffizi was up. Leslie was craving minestrone soup (who craves minestrone soup?!) so we got an early lunch. I got some caprese (I love caprese – and the cheese over here is seriously delicious). I only mention lunch because we had such good conversation during it. I think seeing David must have got us thinking about guys because we ended up discussing them and all their glorious horror over lunch. I told Leslie some of the, let’s say, “learning experiences” I’ve had… and let me tell you, those stories are funny (note: not funny when they were actually being lived but pretty much hilarious afterwards). So that was fun!

Then we decided to just explore. We walked down and crossed the river and found ourselves on the cutest jewelry street ever. Each store was just filled with gobs and gobs of gold and jewels and everything. It was fun to look in the windows and see all of it. We then ventured down further and ran into a bunch of really cute shops and a zillion of these little Pinocchio marionettes. We didn’t really understand what the deal was with those so Leslie asked a shop owner and we found out that Pinocchio actually originates in Florence. How neat is that?! 

IMG_0325After a bit we headed back to the Uffizi and got to see loads of awesome art and a bunch of the paintings I’ve studied. I had a good time telling Leslie the tidbits about them I remembered. The Botticelli “Birth of Venus” and Artemisia’s “Judith” (did you know Judith is a self-portrait?) are a few of my favorites… and they did not disappoint. Actually, as a side note, I heard that the Artemisia’s piece is the only piece in the entire museum that was done by  a woman. I think that sucks. There are a lot of reasons why we don’t really have any women masterpieces but at least one comes from the fact that they weren’t allowed to view nude models, so they had a very difficult time studying art.

Oh, and in keeping with tradition, we sat down for a minute between rooms full of art and I fell asleep. Like mouth open head bent all weird fell asleep right there. We’re talking drool. Leslie started laughing at me (she isn’t very nice) :)

After we’d viewed every piece in there, we decided to go back to the hostel where I could take a shower and we could take a mini-nap before going out for some more exploring and dinner. It’s SO hot and humid here in the day that it makes a lot more sense to sleep it away and hang out at night.

Nighttime in Florence is truly beautiful. Everything seems to mellow down - people are just out in the streets and musicians come out to perform. IMG_0320 There was this one guy singing and playing guitar on that bridge we’d crossed earlier in the day and, I shit you not, Leslie’s eyes started filling up with tears. She’s such a softie for the vulnerable-male-singing thing. It was so sweet. Good thing, I hear, that Anthony is a good singer!! And, Leslie assures me, this guy didn’t have anything on Anthony. :)

After we’d had our fill of music, we ventured onwards. We decided to try to go further down the river and cross back over at the next bridge down– and then make our way back to the hostel from there. And that, in theory, sounds all well and good. But it has come to our attention time and time again that we seriously lack a sense of direction. Seriously. So there we were trying to find out way back and friggin who knows where the hell we were. We had no map and while I was convinced I knew where we were going that, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned out not to so much be the case. Watch the videos to find out what we came upon. It was pretty much hilarious (well, for me… Leslie didn’t seem to be laughing quite as much at that point).

Once we got back to the hostel (which ended up taking about two hours instead of, oh, thirty minutes) we were ready to buy a bottle of 5 euro wine, sit out on the patio area, drink, “flip” (“flip” = make videos), and blog. Some of those things worked out. Some… not so much.

Like I’ve elsewhere explained, I have pretty much no tolerance to alcohol. So after two glasses of wine I was sufficiently gone. Not smashed, but what I IMG_0375 like to call “super-friendly buzzed”. So there we were trying to flip but the lighting wasn’t working (it was already dark out and there weren’t enough lights) so we had to go out to the street and sit under a lamp post to do it. Once we were finished with all that, we decided to get another bottle of wine. I, with my infinite wine knowledge, asked Leslie if I was supposed to take off that foil thing on the top of the cork before trying to stick the twisty thing in it. This guy that was standing there buying a beer of his own looked at me and laughed. And I, being super-friendly, decided to start talking with him. The three of us then went back to the patio area. Once there we saw that there weren’t any free tables. But super-friendly me saw that we could totally squeeze three chairs next to a group of guys that were hanging out. And so we did. I then proceeded to drink a lot more wine and become a lot more smashed.

The guys, it turns out, were all from Spain – up in the North very close to Portugal. This, I knew, meant they spoke Spanish! And I speak Spanish! And, when drunk, I really want to speak Spanish! So the lot of us all talked and talked – learning about each other and what life is like in these different places, etc. It was really awesome. We then all agreed that we needed more wine. However, it turned out we were being too IMG_0354 loud, so the hostel people said (very nicely) that we had to go elsewhere. No problem, I thought! We’ll get the wine and head to the streets! Drinking publicly is legal in Italy and Leslie and I had yet to take advantage. So Spanish guys got the wine and we all headed for the door. At this point they were teaching me more Spanish (since I told them they could only talk to me in Spanish this became necessary).

I knew I was in trouble when I found out a few of them were in essence computer science/computer/techie geeks. Seriously… I have a radar. I asked them if they watched Battlestar Galactica and one of them actually does! But they all watch Stargate, House, and Family Guy. Oh I guess I should tell you a little bit about each of them:

Nacho: When Nacho told us his name he said, “It’s like a chip” … at which point Leslie said, “Oh! Chip” … at which point we called him “chip” for the rest of the evening (and this morning). Chip designs websites and does some graphic design stuff it sounds like. He’s super nice and fun.

IMG_0380 Jacob: Is actual name sounds more like “Jacque-O-bow”. He’s totally adorable and super chatty. Jacob was doing a lot of translating for me. Every time they’d all talk to each other, he’d make sure and tell me what they were saying afterwards. I *think* Jacob is a student getting his graduate degree in some computer-y thing. *sigh*

Juan: Also known as “John” was the one who, when I first asked him what he does, said “Nothing”. He currently doesn’t work and he doesn’t go to school. He travels and has fun. Not a bad life! Juan is the one who watches BSG (BSG = Battlestar Galatica). He was probably the quietest of the bunch (which isn’t hard to do, considering how loud we were!!) He also took pictures of my shenanigans (pictures I don’t actually remember being taken… though I was shown them this morning). At one point last night when we went back to the hostel I looked up and saw them on my website!! I had no idea how they got there – but they told me I told them allllll about my website and this blog. I hope they read this. I love you guys!!!

IMG_0396David: Pronounced more like “Da-V-eeth”. And oohh, “Da-V-eeth”. *sigh* – my Spanish novio por una noche (boyfriend for a night) hehe. So cute and so so so nice and, I assure you,  “gentleman-y”. We talked a lot and he would say things to me in Spanish over and over until I’d get it. I think David is a computer-y student, too (again, I knew I was in trouble!). Juan got a picture of us last night that’s so cute – he’s PROMISED to email it to me. In the meantime I attempted to take a photo of his photo. It didn’t turn out that well, but just in case he forgets!

So yes, my night with the most fantastic and cute group of Spanish guys ever. I’m totally in love. Oh and a real thanks to Leslie… Leslie was basically my mother last night. And at one point she told them so. :)

But overall Leslie and I agree that these were the best parts of our time with them

1. Apparently at one point I tried to explain to them that I was a geek – and that’s why I was soooo smashed on soooo little wine. They didn’t understand at first what “geek” meant, but once it got cleared up they all said “Oh!! We’re geeks, too!” Like I said, I was in love :)

2. Having the chance to brush up on our Spanish speaking skills… which we haven’t utilized since high school. As they assured us, we weren’t half bad!

IMG_0378 So that’s it for this post. It’s a shame our traveling gypsy ways are such that I can’t be tied down to one beautiful Spanish guy, but tis’ the lifestyle we’ve chosen. David, I know you’ll move on. It’ll be rough, but you’ll make it. :) hehe

Adios! We love Florence!!!!

And for all the pictures from this day, click here

[*Note*: I’m trying to post this from Venice and the wireless is total crap. There are five videos for today but only 2 have uploaded. You can check out these for now and when I figure out what to do about this madness, I’ll add the others.]

Posted by Heather | Filed Under Europe Trip Summer 2008, travel | 5 Comments 

Day Three: our lives… not so bad

June 24, 2008

IMG_0181Let’s start this post with the two most commonly used phrase by Leslie and me this evening:

1. “This seriously can’t be real”

2. “Our lives… not so bad”

Since our last post Leslie and I have (thankfully) slept, bathed, taken a train to Florence, and had the most relaxing and gorgeous evening out… ever.

First let me wrap things up with Rome: After I (finally) posted our last entry it was, I believe, 8AM. We pulled an all-nighter down in the bar with hostel-John and, for a long while, that guy I mentioned before (the one I started talking to who is traveling alone – his name (it turns out) is also John but I know him as “Lithuania” [mainly because he’s pure Lithuanian… and IMG_0184that’s pretty nifty]). He was in a lot of pain (he [literally] broke his neck about seven months ago and somehow that injury has caused the nerve that runs from his butt to his toes to shoot pain sometimes. So I was sitting up and trying to be nice and sweet because 1) being in pain sucks and 2) being in pain while being alone in a foreign country has got to suck even more. So he showed me lots of pictures of his travels and I tried to pay attention while also desperately trying to blog (hence the grammatical and spelling errors… please forgive!)). So eventually I finally posted and then Leslie and I were  supposed to sleep for two hours and see the Colosseum. That didn’t end up happening – Video One will IMG_0203explain.

So instead we just got on the train from Rome to Florence. At this point, having had something like five and a half hours of sleep, I was ready to spend the next three hours taking lots of pictures out my train window. I also spent about one minute taking some super flattering shots of Leslie sleeping (she loves me).  I also fell asleep for about an hour in there. The train, we’ve decided, is the way to travel in Italy.

Except for this one thing!! So be forewarned before you travel!! Apparently when you buy your ticket you aren’t buying your ticket for a specific train ride. So, to be clear, we went to the train station lady and said we wanted a ticket from Rome to Florence. She then told us the price and the time of the next departure. However!! We didn’t need to take that train – our ticket was good for any train ride in like the next month or something. What you’re *supposed* to do is stick your ticket in these (seriously tiny and non-obvious) yellow ticket-validating things before you get on the train you get on! So there we were on the train chit-chatting IMG_0221when the train conductor dude came through and asked to see our tickets. I was holding them and so I got them out with a skip in my step and handed them on over. The guy then looked at me and said “You speak English, right?” and then….

Me: “Yes”

Train Guy: “You’re not from Europe – you’re from America”

Me: “Yep”

IMG_0220TG: “You’re supposed to get this ticket validated before you get on”

Me: “Oh… but we got this ticket for this ride. See… the lady wrote the time of this train right on it for me”

TG: [insert big explanation]

Me: “Oh…”

TG: “Usually that’s a 50 Euro fine”

IMG_0208Me [and Leslie… in her eyes as she gazed at me]: “!?!?!?!?!???!?!??!?!?!!?”

Me (in my sweetest tone): Oh no, I’m so sorry but we didn’t know. See how she wrote it on there – it didn’t even occur to me. I really thought I was buying this ticket for this train specifically.

TG (looks me up and down… not in that way… more like an adult-looking-over-a-kid-who-just-got-in-trouble way): “Alright, 5 Euro this time.”

Me: “Sold!”

IMG_0241We then gave him the cash and thanked our lucky stars we weren’t out 100 EURO!!!!!!! So, REMEMBER THIS: Validate that ticket in the ugly yellow little box by the train!

After that little scare we arrived in Florence. And oh my goodness let me tell you- it’s gorgeous. And so very very different from Rome.

Whereas Rome has this hot crowded (so many cars and scooters weaving around… I can’t believe we weren’t friggin hit!) young 80’s-ish vibe going on, Florence is slower, more open, cleaner, romantic, and has this pulse of Cirque du Soleil artsy-ness going on. And, whereas the colors of Rome are warm oranges and cement, I declare the colors of Florence to be darker blue-grays with shocks of color – like yellows, greens, and reds. There are hardly any cars or scooters (though more bicycles…which makes the city even more awesome) but there are a lot more people (especially families and people who obviously have cash to IMG_0265burn) strolling around. But, I think the coolest part is that while walking down these gorgeous streets you just stumble upon the most grandiose pieces of architecture. We were just roaming and we stumbled upon this massive church (I mean seriously MASSIVE) – and right next to it were the Gates of Paradise – which I learned about in art history class!! And, with further random roaming we, I’m not kidding here, stumbled upon the Loggia dei Lanzi – where we saw (just randomly mind you!) one of the sculptures I was most fascinated by when taking lots of art history classes at UCLA - “The Rape of the Sabine Woman”. To be honest, when I first spotted it I was convinced it was just a replica. I mean, the thing was just sitting outside – people were just walking past it as if nothing was there! It was just one of dozens of statutes out there. How could it be the sculpture?! But, it really was!!

Leslie made a keen observation during our stroll that I want to repeat:  Whereas in Dublin it would feel wrong to have these huge buildings, in Italy, it fits. And she’s so right. While these buildings and all this art are on a massive scale, for some reason it doesn’t alienate you. You feel like they belong where they are and they welcome you in. You turn a cobble-stone-y corner and are see this huge castle (basically) but, instead of feeling overwhelmed, you IMG_0266feel it inviting you over- these things create a space for people to gather and mingle. It’s awesome.

[*note*: This holds for all big buildings in Italy save for Vatican City, which I found (especially St.Peter’s church) to be overwhelming such that you felt a bit uncomfortable standing on its steps. But I guess that makes sense… anyways!]

Eventually Leslie and I settled on a restaurant, got two pasta dishes to split and a bottle of wine and watched the stars come up at the Loggia dei Lanzi. At the end of our dinner fireworks could be heard in the distance. Our IMG_0287waiter let us know what was going on so we paid and ran towards the scene. We made it for probably the last 15 minutes of a spectacularly picturesque fireworks show over the silhouette of tree covered hills - with a river and    bridge (and a zillion people) in our foreground. It was pretty much perfection. I tried so hard to get a good picture, but I think I failed.

On our way back we stumbled upon the coolest artsy store where I wanted to buy everything- especially the paintings and Moreno glass jewelry (I love colorful funky romantic stuff). For now we held off – in Venice we plan to go to Moreno anyway.

After that we got the most delicious gelato, made some videos, stumbled upon some cool stuff on the way back to our hostel (see videos) and called it a night (well… she did… I’m committed to posting every day so help me!)

It was just a very relaxing wonderful day.

IMG_0293… and I bet now you can see why our most commonly said phrases were what they were.

Tomorrow will be a day full of art (which I am SO looking forward to) and hopefully more delicious gelato, wine, and exploring.

Ciao!

Oh and for all our pictures from this entry (with pithy commentary added for no additional charge!), go here



Video One: Recap of Rome

IMG_0298 


Video Two: Florence


Random Florence Goodness

Posted by Heather | Filed Under Europe Trip Summer 2008, travel | 5 Comments 

That Second Dublin Video…

June 23, 2008

So here’s that second Dublin video. Enjoy!

Posted by Heather | Filed Under Europe Trip Summer 2008, travel | Leave a Comment 

Day Two: Our Full Day in Rome (aka: sleep is overrated)

June 23, 2008

IMG_0071 Hello and welcome to what I consider our day two post! Today was our first (and only) full day in Rome. And let me tell you right now – it was like two completely different days that somehow got merged together into one endless experience. (To start with… I’m writing this at 5AM technically the next day… and I haven’t slept yet.)

So first we’ll go over what I consider part one of today. This was the touristy part. Like I believe I’ve explained before, Leslie was responsible (more or less) for planning our Italian excursions. So as a side note – this whole Leslie-being-responsible-for-Italy-stuff-and-me-responsible-for-Eastern-Europe has really highlighted that we are, in fact, different people. I sometimes hold this strange belief that people are really all the same and just pretend to be different. But actually…no. We are not the same. Leslie has basically been coordinating and planning her portion of the trip for quite some time. In fact, IMG_0080 she and Rick Steve (the guy who writes travel books) are pretty much in an intimate relationship at this point. (Sorry, Anthony). So Rick Steve told Leslie in his book that she should try and see (in one day mind you): the Vatican Museum (where the Sistine Chapel and lots of Raphael stuff is held), St. Peter’s Chapel (which, I’ve decided, is one of the eeriest places ever… though it has the Pieta… which is pretty much amazing to me), The Pantheon, The Colosseum, The Forum, and Capital Hill. In one frakin’ day. And, since dear old Rick said it, it was law for Leslie. And, since this is Italy, what Leslie says is law for me!

IMG_0070 The only thing I said was that I thought it’d be fun to walk to Vatican city – because it looked like less than 5 miles away from our hostel and I thought it’d be a better way for us to get a taste of Rome that would be off the super-tourist track. She, after some serious hesitation, agreed.

Well I’ve learned a personal lesson. I’m really meant to be with a map-reader. Like someone who looks at a map and is like “Oh, this makes sense”. I say this because that sort of person, I’ve come to realize, is not me. I look at a map rarely (at best) and then I’m really trying to get a feel for if I’m supposed to go “up” “down” IMG_0160“left” or “right” generally.  And to be fair to myself, this typically is (more or less) effective in a grid like city. Rome, however, is no grid.

So our, what I thought would be less than 5 mile walk, ended up taking about two hours and, upon talking with this guy I met later in the day, probably was something like 7 or 8 miles. And it was friggin hot, man. It was hot.

I of course am a huge fan of walking. When I want to get to know a city, I walk it. Five miles, Ten miles, Twenty miles – I’ll do IMG_0158it! Let’s go. As long as we can take stops for food and beverage – I can go from sunrise to sunset. I love love love walking.

So… I don’t think Leslie really has this sort of relationship with walking. I can say this with confidence because, as the video one mentions, she started to  hobble. hahaha. About half way through our walking I swear to the gods – I looked over and she was hunched over, legs wide, and that girl was friggin hobbling. And I, apparently too tired for the sensitivity chip to be active, started laughing aloud in the middle of this quiet area in St. Peter’s.

IMG_0154Ok… back to the story.

So we walked the distance to Vatican city and had some cool memories made along the way. It’s only by doing this sort of walking that you really get a chance to randomly go down these  tiny little alleyway side streets that are just stunningly gorgeous. I’m talking warm brick covered in plants with little old people sneaking a peak down at you from their balconies (Leslie found these old people to be pretty much the coolest part of Rome). Another cool thing is you find these little stores that are totally run by these super old tiny Italian couples. And, as I’m sure you’re guessing, we entered one such store. This tiny Italian woman greeted us. And, Leslie being the first one in, said something like “hola”. I think this excited the old woman as we then attempted to have the rest of the conversation in Spanish bastardized Italian.   She then gave me this huge bubble water (which I love) for super IMG_0130cheap. Rock on! I knew those “Spanish skills” would serve me some day!

So anyways, eventually we made it. Then we got in the long line and entered St. Peter’s. We got the audio tour thing, too. Our first stop was the tomb area underground. Of course, when I entered I didn’t know it was the tomb area… and it took a few of those coffin things before I got the picture. The picture of course became super clear when I saw a bunch of people praying at one of them. And this is what really made the Vatican thing crazy. For me, I was sort of viewing the whole thing as historical – like viewing our past. But, when people are walking around as nuns and priests and regular looking people are praying at the tombs of old Popes I start to get it… this isn’t the past, this is like right now!

So we walked around more but, I have to confess, I was totally exhausted. IMG_0104Having gotten a whopping two hours of sleep the night before, I wasn’t on my A-game where long walking tours were concerned. But, somehow, we kept going. It wasn’t until Leslie was hobbling and I feel asleep while Leslie was eating her pizza that we conceded the inevitable… we were going to have to let dear old Rick down and not complete his meth-fueled trip through Rome. Oh well. I really don’t find it necessary to see and do everything – I sort of like the idea of walking around, meeting some locals, having some fun, and seeing one or two cool things and spending a lot of time at them.

But Leslie really wanted to see at least the Pantheon. So we called a cab (my idea to walk there didn’t go over as well as I’d hoped) and went. And it’s a good thing we did! Because after making our videos, eating some gelato, and sending about five minutes inside of it [“Leslie, what happened in the  Pantheon that makes it so great?” “Dude…who knows” "Ah, I see… well IMG_0167good thing we came, then"] we went outside and happened to meet this really great guy! We were standing on the side and this guy, named Chad, started talking to us. He’s an architect from Portland, Oregon, spending some time in Europe on his own. So after explaining to me where we actually were in the city and making lots of recommendations on things for us to do and eat, I was about to head out. But then he said, "You know, I could just walk over there with you?!" This of course was a totally awesome idea and so the three of us headed out from the  Pantheon to this super cute square area where we sat down and got some drinks.

IMG_0170As a side note: this was totally a part of my European fantasy! I told Leslie my goal was for us to eat dinner/have drinks with a new person every day! And look at us go! So I got a sangria and we talked for quite a long time. And then, as luck would have it, Ross, one of the guys who worked at our hostel, spotted us and ran over to join us. So there were the four of us: Leslie, me, Ross, and Chad, having drinks outside on some gorgeous square at sunset in Rome. Seriously - I was so into it!

We then decided to get dinner at some place Ross knew of and had a great time there as well. We decided not to get dessert there but instead get drinks at another awesome area. When we got there, we ran into even more  of Ross’ friends (from Germany) and they joined us, too!

So there we all were, out having a serious Roman experience. It was low key IMG_0175and great.

But then… Chad had to leave (he was staying at a covenant and his curfew was 11PM) and more and more of Ross’ friends showed up. Leslie decided it was high time for her to get a bit smashed so I took it upon myself to be Heather the designated I’ll-make-sure-we-get-back-to-the-hostel- Whitney. [and, I have to admit, the idea of getting totally smashed and partying with a bunch of  people I don’t know isn’t really my thing. I tried so hard to get into it, but I’m more a get-a-small-group-together and eat and talk… but oh well, I’m trying!!!]

IMG_0168So anyways, we were all out and then Ross and the two German girls (out of a group of like ten) decided they wanted to go to San Lorenzo to some more bars. Leslie decided we should go, too. I of course, in my unavoidable geekness, was pretty much ready to call it a night, go back to the hostel, blog, and maybe have a few more shots with my new hostel friend. But I was trying! Trying to do the adventurous thing.

But, long story short, things got messed up and we ended up not going [ssshhhh: yay!!!!]. Instead, I being starved, told Leslie we had to venture out for food. So we went to this place like two IMG_0171seconds from out hostel. And oh my goodness this was where I had my first real Italian guy situation!

So this dude was sort of our waiter. Basically, I walked in and said, "Oh I want Tiramisu!" and then a few minutes later this guy comes out and says, "My name is Tiramisu".

So I, trying to be more, you know, not geeky, decided to not run away. At one point he brought out actual Tiramisu and we decided it’d be funny to get a picture of me, this guy, and me eating Tiramisu. But, in order to take a photo you have to get your camera out. And that’s when we realized Leslie lost her camera. So after there was lots of crying about that Italian-guy was like "Oh we’ll take a picture with my cell phone". But of  course Leslie was totally spaced out at this point so he was just talking to me. So he put his camera up and I gave my classic "Heather mouth open looking super excited face" and then he looked at me and was like "It’s not a real picture if I don’t kiss you in it… let me kiss you"

So I said to myself, "what the hell. You’re in Rome Heather Whitney. Here’s a beautiful Italian dude and he’s asking to kiss you. Sure it’s totally not like me at all in a million trillion years. But whatever!"

So I agreed. He kissed me. And I was so proud of myself! Having this totally crazy Italian experience!

After that of course he said we had to wait ten minutes so he could get off work and we could go get drinks. But… it was already 3AM and I’m like "There are so not bars open at 3AM". So, after telling Leslie she could never ever leave me alone, we decided to pay our bill and run for it (run the whopping block). I was like: that was my threshold for craziness. And I’m quite happy with that. Crazy beautiful Italian guy experience: complete. :)

After that (and since then) Leslie and I have been at the hostel drinking with our new best friend - our hostel dude, John. And I’ve been trying to write this post all night (it’s now 6AM!!!) but he keeps making drinks… and they’re making fun of me for being a sober geek. And so, like the mature gypsy I am, I’ve attempted to drink a few :)

So that’s it for now. Enjoy the videos. And I’ll write again tomorrow (or shit, today)

We are leaving for Florence!

Goodbye Rome, you were fantastic!! Your weather was evil, but your citizens are friendly and great!!!!

… I’ve now been told I have to take a shower and go to the Colosseum. On, literally, no sleep.

May the gods have mercy :)

Oh and for all our photos from today, go here

<3

Leslie and I recap

Lessons Learned Thus Far

Posted by Heather | Filed Under Europe Trip Summer 2008, travel | 1 Comment 

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