Rome Can't Be Built or Seen in One Day

I love Madrid, don't get me wrong.  The people, the food.  Wait strike that, don't love the food, but I love the history, I love how friendly everyone is, I love how people generally can understand me when I speak Spanish (*cough* Paris *cough*), I love how cheap transportation is, how mild the weather generally is...

But I am in love with Rome.  I sort of feel like I'm cheating on Madrid, but only a short 32 hours in Rome was NOT enough for me.  I can commit to saying that I would love to go back to Rome in an instant, to visit it with my family, to visit it with friends, go retire to Rome.  And I would probably.  The food was excellent, everything was walkable, the tiny little hostel we stayed at was adorable and the staff was super friendly (The Ciak Hostel, no where near anything but the Colosseum).

I went to Rome with Tita, of course.  The first thing we did when we arrived was drop off our bags (at 11 pm at night) to the Hostel where Veronica and Nate had already PTFOd, and pretty much ran to the restaurant down the street that the front desk clerk at the Hostel had suggested, but warned that it would be closing at midnight.  Three blocks and two minutes later, we had arrived at Mama Mia Pizzeria (yes, that is what it was called) and we had sat down to the delight of our waiter, who actually turned out to be the sweetest old egyptian man ever.  We quickly decided what we wanted, as we were starving and true to our words, hadn't eaten anything all day in preparation of this meal.  We split a Neapolitan calzone (cheeeese), I ordered ravioli and Tita ordered spaghetti with ragu.  We split a tiramisu and since the Egyptian man loved us so much, he gave us free lemon gelato and some chocolate.  We happily walked back to our hostel and passed out with our food babies / comas.  Everyone snored happily that night.

We then woke up bright and early (well, 9 am) to a lovely breakfast provided by the hostel (3 day old croissants and toast-it-yourself bread) and proceeded to begin the sight-seeing marathon.

We began at Vatican City, by taking the metro from our Hostel on the west side of the city all the way North East.  Vatican was just as impressive as I thought it would be, even if Tita needed some arm twisting to get there. 

We went in and visited the Vatican museum and got to see the Sistine Chapel, both were filled with some really interesting objects and painted super elaborately.

 

But since we only had one day to see everything we could, we had to keep moving.  From The Holy See, we walked to Castel Sant' Angelo, which was built as a mausoleum for Roman Emperor Hadrian, but later used as a fortress, a castle, a prison and today a museum!

From there, we walked to the above, Piazza Navona.  Famous for being the place of the ancient roman "games" and competitions, and then later open markets.  It also has fountains by Bernini in the center.  There were food and toy vendors all over the place and at the north end, were artists selling their paintings.

This would be the ceiling of the Pantheon.  When it rains, it pours through the roof but drains into the floor and they rope off the area so no one gets wet.  The hole is there because back then, they didn't know if the building would be able to support the roof so in order to make it lighter, they cut this big hole.  The pantheon was originally built as a "temple to all the roman gods" but is now a Roman Catholic Church known as "Santa Maria Rotunda".

We made it to the Trevi fountain, and it was PACKED with people, all throwing coins and taking pictures.  The Piazza it is in isn't big at all, in fact the Trevi Fountain seems to take it all up.  We managed to squeeze to the front and take some pictures but it was, of course, beautiful!

We hiked up to the Spanish Steps, although we are still unclear as to why they are called the Spanish steps, other than the fact that the Spanish embassy to Rome is just down the street.  Tons of people just chilling out here too, but you are NOT allowed to eat here ( I read that later on wikipedia ).  The Church at the top is also really beautiful, but the sight from the top is even better.  As there aren't any huge buildings or towers in Rome, you have to climb to the top of hills to get a view of the city.

In between the Spanish Steps and the Colosseum, we saw the Neptune Fountain, the Roman Republic and Palazzo delle Esposizioni, which was actually hosting a exposition on Teotihuacan, Mexico, and the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.

Now... for some reason my blog will not allow me to put any more pics up on this post, which is OK since by the time we go to the Colosseum, it was getting very dark (even though it was only 6 pm) and my camera doesn't really work well outdoors at night.  This is where the most tragic thing happened to me...we found out that the Colosseum was closed at 3 pm.  I'm sure we would have known, had we looked at our iPod World Travel Guide App before we began that morning.

3pm was when we were at the Spanish steps.  I didn't feel too guilty, since we did in fact get to see the Colosseum, albeit from the outside.  I think my feelings can be most easily described through an analogy to one of my favorite television shows.  Do you remember in America's Next Top Model?  When the girls go on Go-Sees and they make interviews around the city, but have to be back in time or else they are disqualified?  And there is always one girl that is disqualified, even though she did an amazing job on her interviews?  Yeah, I know how that girl feels.  We sat outside, looking up at this massive building, knowing there were ancient ruins to be seen within, but due to the low lighting and no doubt the high chance of us falling and hurting ourselves or the ruins should we enter, we knew there was nothing more to be done.  We had seen what we could.

Rome wasn't built in one day, and it would be an injustice to try and see it all in one.

We decided to go for a full Italian dinner and drown our sorrows in red wine, which was super cheap anddd tasty.  Mmm Lasagna.

Its Only Ten AM and I've Already Had an Ephiphany

I've been thinking a lot about my time here in Spain.  I've seen loads of sights in Madrid and have, I assume, done all the touristy things there are to do here.  Between my two classes where I don't know any AU kids, I regularly converse in Spanish with a couple of girls I have gotten to know this past semester and in my Sistemas de Informacion de Marketing class, my group has recently completed a very impressive Market Research Survey and handed it in (although to be honest, my participation was generally research and idea based, evidently my written Spanish isn't a strong as I thought it was).

So what has me worried is that I only have about a month left, two weekends in which I won't even be in Madrid.  This coming weekend I'll be visiting BK in Rome with my good friend Tita.  I've been excited about this trip since I booked it back in September and I can't wait to just...EAT.  DD had come and visited me in Madrid and one of the main topics we discussed was how good the food was in Italy.  In fact, thinking about going to Italy and eating just made me facebook stalk a couple friends' pictures, since they recently returned from Rome.  I never had any doubt, but just so everyone knows, Spanish food isn't all that good.  Sure there's paella (although I still like my dad's paella way more) croquettas (good but heavy on carbs) and jamón in general, but I think some of my favorite meals here have been when it WASN'T Spanish cooking, but rather some other ethnic influence.  Let's be serious, gazpacho is pretty gross.

I knew I always wanted to stay a year here in Spain, but this has me considering it even more since it seems the semester has gone by so fast.  I can't, of course, since I would never graduate early from AU like I've planned on doing since I was a senior in high school.  I might not even graduate on time if I stayed, due to the fact that I'm not allowed to take Accounting or Finance classes here in Spain and all the classes I currently take only have a 50% chance of ACTUALLY transferring back to AU.  Third reason being that although Universidad Pontificia Comillas tuition is really only about 5000 euros or so, I am still paying full AU tuition, the additional money AU is of course, pocketing and building another useless piece of architecture that will no doubt fall down during the next snow storm.  No wonder they encourage students to go abroad.

I was talking with Águeda (yep, crazy name) and she was telling me that grad school is so ridiculously cheap here in Madrid, compared to the United States, where all education is expensive, AU significantly so.  So cheap, in fact, that a year might cost about 5000 euros, which is about $7,000.  And that's at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, which is one of the top schools in Madrid.

Magerit - Matrice - Madrid

No, this is not a cheesy album title but rather what I encountered today.  Surprisingly but willingly, I woke up this beautiful but chilly Sunday morning at 8am to meet Ruthie at Plaza Mayor to go on a walking tour of old Madrid.  For three euros, we followed the very quick "Fred" throughout the streets that me and mis amigos have been known to wander / get lost, and pass the very buildings that hold hundreds of years of history.  My bad.

On this tour, I learned more about Spanish history than in my actual Spanish (Contemporary) History class.  The development of the name "Madrid", the walls that once stood that are now indicated by different colored stones of the street, some ancient ruins that I always assumed were actually metro stations (awkward), and the creation of my favorite cathedral, Catedral de Almudena.

I went last week to mass at this Cathedral (yessss everyone can be shocked), and this week after our tour with Fred (yesss be even more shocked), and although it starts off super warm in the cathedral, it gradually descends to freezing, but the mass is pretty and the inside of the Cathedral is gorgeous.  It's a really contemporary cathedral, with cubist stained glass and the most colorful decor I've encountered of Spanish Cathedrals.  Granted it was finished about ten years ago, so that may be why, but its still my fav and recommend everyone to go, as the lack of post-life Jesus paintings are at a minimum.

A Story From My Day

So I was walking to school this morning.  I head up my street, turn right and turn left to get to my bus stop.  As I'm walking up my street, I see the bus coming down the street, and a girl, full out RUNNING, to get to where the bus stops in time, before the bus passes and she misses it.  I can already tell she's going to miss it since the bus is almost near me and she's still up at the corner.

Out of NOWHERE, this little old lady with her cane basically darts into the street and stops the bus by holding her CANE and her BODY in front of it!  The bus driver stops (he wasn't ABOUT to hit her, but had he not stopped when he did, he probably would have) and starts angrily shouting at the old lady.  The old lady sweetly responds that "There's a young girl trying to get on your bus."

Two seconds later, the girl gets to the bus, climbs on, and the old lady continues on her way.  But before she does, she winks at me.  I did not make this story up.

UK (Can't put London because I was barely in London)

I put this as a different blog post, because although I left for London the day after I got back from Paris, it was an entirely different trip and much easier and shorter to write them separately.  I went to visit one of my sorority sisters who is studying at in London for the semester.  I got there super late on Tuesday night, because when I'd booked my flight, I was under the impression that I had class early in the morning on Tuesday, which wasn't the case because Spain decided to have another national holiday.  Either way, I flew in Stansted at about 6 pm, even though Ryan Air had decided to switch gates 4 times and delay the flight by an hour or so.  From Stansted, I took a shuttle service called "EasyBus" which offers REALLY cheap rides into London from the airport that is virtually in the middle of no where and would've cost me about 100 pounds to get into the city.

After catching up with Emily, we went to bed, Emily in her bed, and me in my makeshift bed, which was basically couch cushions on the floor, but surprisingly very comfortable and warm.  Probably even better than Emily's bed.  We got up super early and headed towards where we thought our tour bus would pick us up.  I got to see King's Cross Station (although not platform 9 3/4 because we were in a rush and passing it).  Unfortunately the bus was late picking us up and after we called several times, the woman told us to take a taxi to Queen Victoria bus station where they would reimburse us.  It was really nice actually, because we got into a taxi with the NICEST cab driver I have ever met.  Not only did he have the most adorable English accent ever, he pointed out all the cool things we passed and when we drove past Buckingham Palace, he let us in on the fact that you know the Queen is in there when her family's coat of arms flag is raised, which it was! 

Our first stop on our tour was Windsor, which is where Windsor Castle is and its owned by the Windsor family, not the actual crown.  It was soooo cute in that little town, and also where I fell in LOVE with tea.  I'm not sure what it is but before this, I hated tea and its probably because I was only forced to drink it when sick and my mom doesn't have a very good tea selection.  Anyway, since Windsor Castle cost about 20 pounds to go in (almost 30 dollars!!!) we decided to skip it and walk around the outside of the Castle as well as go look around the little town.  While everyone else on our tour was listening to their audio guide, we were eating tea and scones at this place called the Drury House, where King Charles the II used to rendezvous with his mistress.  This sweet little old British man was running the place and the tea was so so so good.  I had three entire cups and two scones and it was luckily warm because he gave us the nice table near the fireplace.  Here I am looking ridiculously pleased with where I am.

From Windsor, we visited Stonehenge.  We were given this audio guide for Stonehenge but it was literally the most useless thing I've ever listened to because every ten seconds it would say "Now look at the left stone facing north!" and I'd be like..."where on EARTH is north?!".  It was also noon and I couldn't even use the sun to direct me in the right direction (because I'm crafty and of Mayan/Incan descent, I know how to use the solar directions, woop) but either way it was really cool to see.  There were also just a TON of sheep hanging around outside of Stonehenge.  However, they realize what an electric fence is and knew to not come over even when I called for them.

In Oxford, we got a walking tour by our burly tour guide, and saw a lot of the colleges around Oxford, although I have to say, the most interesting part about the tour was when he showed us the inspiration for Harry Potter's scar.  Evidently, one day, JK Rowling was walking around Oxford and noticed on the ground of where all the University students graduate, was the architects' symbol, a lightning bolt like shape.  For dramatic effect, our tour guide had been standing on it, and when he said this, he leapt off of it and everyone went "oooooooo!!!" and rushed forward to take pictures.  It was realllll cool.

After our tour finished, we had some time to look around Oxford, although honestly, there isn't much to do except study.  Luckily we found this really cool bar called the Eagle and the Child where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to hang out, drink and write.  Emily and I really only drank and took pictures while a man sat across from us reading and writing for us.  It was so interesting to think that we were in the same place they used to work and to imagine them as college students like ourselves.  From the bar, we quickly ran to grab our bus, because our guide had told us at the beginning that if you weren't back at the correct time, they would leave without you!  WHICH HAPPENED!  Not to us though...there were these three Asian girls that were on the tour and at 6:45 when we were supposed to meet, only one of them was there.  We waited an extra ten minutes but we LEFT them behind when they didn't show up.  The Brits don't kid around.

We headed back to London and after cleaning up after our very long day, we headed out to the Golden Hind, which is a really famous place in London to get fish and chips.  I haven't had fried fish like that in SO long but I can honestly say they were better than Buffalo fish fries and I LOVE buffalo fish fries.  Mmm...  I would have gotten a pic of me eating fish and chips but I was so hungry / distracted by my friend Luke's HILARIOUS story of how he was refused entry into Belgium and forced to go to London in the mean time due to an expired visa.  I failed to even take my camera out of my bag.  Instead we headed to a local bar with Emily and I had Pear Cider which was delicious and way better than beer.

Pluvieux (Rainy) Paris

I was lucky enough to be able to go to both Paris and London this past week.  Paris was rainy and cold but me, BK, and DD proceeded to hit up all the neat touristy things you can do there.  We were ALSO lucky enough that the Louvre is free every first Sunday of the month, and we just HAPPENED to be there for that.  It did mean waking up early and getting in line, but luckily it wasn't raining while we were waiting outside, unlike for those unlucky hundreds that showed up after 9 am.  We saw all the really impressive paintings, although the Mona Lisa was a little underwhelming.  (Although there were at least a hundred people the second time we passed her, the first time, we managed to wiggle our way to the front fairly easily)

What was overwhelming, was the Louvre itself.  I know they say its impossible to see everything in there in one day, but we did try.  We were there a total of four hours, and equipped with the free map they provided us, which highlighted all the really famous paintings and sculptures.  We got to see the Code of Hammurabi, that I learned about in 6th grade, the Colossal Statue of Ramesses II, the Venus de Milo, Pysche and Cupid by Canova (although I didn't realize what it was until after we'd left the room and they vehemently refused to let me go back and take another look) and basically a tons more.  We must have passed "The Winged Victory" about a million times in order to pass between rooms.  Eventually we dreaded the sight of her headless self. 

Attached to the northern portion of the Louvre, is the Napoleon apartments, where Napoleon III (not the original Napoleon) literally just moved in and made the Louvre part of the palace.  My favorite story of Napoleon Bonaparte goes along with the painting "the Consecration of Emperor Napoleon I".  See, the story has it that the Pope had come to Paris to crown Napoleon, but at the last minute, Napoleon goes "The only man on earth fit to crown me Emperor (Note: Not even King, he demanded to be Emperor), is myself" and he grabs the crown from the Pope and places it on his own head.  Sassy and ballsy Napoleon.

Paris itself was wonderful.  I fell in love with beignets, which is basically the best version of a chocolate filled doughnut you could ever hope to have.  BK and I, on our first night in Paris, were wandering around the Red District near Moulin Rouge when we came across this little pastry shop, where of course, she bought a Baguette and I my Beignet.  I didn't eat it until the following morning, as we shared the Baguette, but the second I ate it, I knew food would never be the same for me.  That good.  I'm trying to imagine how could it would have been had I eaten it fresh.

And of course we saw the Eiffel Tower almost every single day.  We've seen it at night, during the day, in the rain, from afar, from up close, but never actually from the top of it...Like the Winged Victory, by the end of our trip I actually was getting sick of seeing its odd colored structure from every part of the city.  Although it is really cool that you can see it from almost anywhere.  If we leaned out our room's window at the Hostel, we could see it in the distance.  I'm going to be annoyingly proud of this picture below.

BK and DD left early Monday morning, but mine and Tita's flight wasn't until 3:00 from Paris-Beauvais.  Since I wasn't actually any where near Tita, and we'd planned to meet at the bus station to get to Paris-Beauvais, I set out early from the hostel in search of a place to buy stamps and about five beignets to hold me over until I got back to the churros of Madrid.

Now here's where I will remind everyone that I do not speak a word of French.  Nothing.  Other than what I previously mentioned, and since I was incapable (no matter how much I repeated BK with her pronunciation) of saying water, I really had nothing to go on, except my exceptional miming skills and the simple term "Je vousdrais" (again, "I would like").  I managed to find a post office, because luckily it is called a "Poste" something and it had a letter on it.  I wandered it, holding my three postcards I wanted to send to my family and stood patiently in line.  Finally I reached the postal clerk and indicated with my phrase and the space where you are to apply stamps to my postcard that I would like stamps, and although he spoke in French, I actually understood the term "Would you like me to accompany you to the machine and show you how?" where I promptly responded with Oui!  Now if my family doesn't get my postcards, its because it was my fault and I put them in the mailbox outside the post office, where I was told to.  One, the one I didn't put them in, I thought said something like...within France, and the other was International.

Let me know if you get them!

GG

p.s. oh and I found beignets afterward.  Must learn how to make them.

Heading to Paris

So from the 5th through the 8th I will be in Paris, accompanied on another scary RyanAir flight by my good friend Tita, only to meet up with one of my sorority sisters, BK, as we will call her from now on.  For the past two hours I've been looking up directions to and around Paris from the airport we are flying in from (Paris-Beauvais).  The metro map is a little intimidating, especially coming from the five lines of DC and the fact that I generally avoid the Madrid metro (I get lost.  Anyone will tell you.)  Plus I'm more of a "I enjoy taking the bus and being able to see the air, not hobos" type of girl.

I then return on the 8th and leave for London to visit EE, another sorority sister, in London.  Not as intimidated by the London trip as I can speak the language.  For now my french phrases are...

Je sais - "I know" (Although I doubt I'll use this much)
Oui - "Yes"
Non - "No."
S'il vous plait / Merci - "Please/ Thank you" (Thank you Madeline Adventures)
Par les vous Anglais/Espagnole - "Do you speak English/Spanish?"
Je voudrais - "I would like...." (I intend to point to whatever and get what I get.)
Biere - Beer!

Luckily, in the age of technology, I previously downloaded an APP for my iPod touch entitled "Travel Guide" that also has some helpful french phrases as well as maps and reviews.  I'll try to be as low-key American as possible other than that.

So when I'm back in a week, I'll update you on everything.  In the meantime, here's another wonderful pic of Puyol.  I hear my mom's co-workers are big fans. hahahaha ;)

Halloween in Madrid

So I'll bless you all with a short post.  I was a guido (sort of) and a cowboy (sort of).  The biggest difference between Spain Halloween and USA is...

1. No one carves pumpkins here. But we did anyway.

2. People actually dress up in scary costumes.  On the way out, everyone was dressed as a zombie or a murder victim.  There was less skanky outfits then in the states, for sure.

3. The day after Halloween, November 1st, is All Saints Day, and everyone has off to commemorate the deceased.  Similar to Dia de Los Muertos in Latin America.