Rome 1st Weekend: The Vatican and Laziness

The Vatican, and the dome of St. Peter's.

Bernini's Wings

     We took off around 10 to go meet a preist someone knew so he could hopefully give us a more in-depth tour of the Vatican and the surrounding area. He’d been living in Rome for about a year, so he’d had some time to learn about the different things to see. When we got to the Vatican there was a crowd and the Pope was outside giving a special blessing for Pentecost. So we all decided to go see the Basilica of St John Lateran. The popes lived there before the Vatican was built, and the Holy Steps are nearby, and there’s also a statue of St. Francis across from it. There were many reliefs done that depicted stories from the Bible. It was interesting hearing the stories that went along with them. After viewing that Basilica we returned to the Vatican. 

St Francis of Assisi

An old wall.

Basilica of St. John Lateran

A saint who was skinned alive.

The obelisk in the center of the Vatican's Piazza.
St Peter would have looked upon this as he was killed.

     At the Vatican, we were able to skip the lines thanks to the Priest’s special pass. That was really nice. We walked around and saw the beautiful sculptures, artwork, and several Pope’s bodies. We were given tickets to mass with the Pope at 9:00 in the morning; they were going to open the gates at 8:00, so everyone wanted to get there at 7:00, meaning we’d leave at 6:00AM. I decided to pass on this opportunity. Then we decided to go our separate ways. When I got back I took some allergy medicine and passed out around 8:00PM, and slept till about 10:00AM.

A cute little dragon!

Part of the ceiling inside the Vatican.

     All day today I’ve been knocked out on allergy medicine. I’ve been either sleeping or watching movies, I was going to go shopping but then I remembered everything would probably be closed since it was Sunday. So, I continued to watch movies, and generally to relax. I chatted with my roommates a bit, so that I could get to know them better. And I’ve been writing here for about an hour. Anyway classes start tomorrow, so that will be fun, or at least interesting.

Rome: Day 2 of Orientation.

     So, for the second day most of our orientation revolved around teaching us how to get around the city, something we’d already kinda figured out. And they taught us how to buy groceries; it’s very similar to buying groceries at a normal grocery store in the US. They showed us where the nearest grocery store, farmacia (pharmacy) and Chinese store (where you can find literally everything) were. It was useful in that it saved me from having to do a google search.. They also informed us about how we needed to take our classes seriously, and how special we were to be studying abroad, “Only 2% of students actually study abroad.” We went home for lunch and I made pasta. We had to work to figure out how to light the stove, but I only burned myself once, and with determination and perseverance we got it done. And the pasta was delicious.

Fontana di Trevi... again...

     After lunch, they took us on a walking tour of downtown Rome. We saw the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps (again), and the Fontana di Trevi (for the third time in three days). We also stopped by a gelato shop and Piazza Navona. They also showed us a bookshop where we could go to buy books for class.

Part of our group and the Italian guys we met.

      The tour ended at the Spanish Steps, so we all sat there for a while and ended up talking to some Italian guys who were all about our age, and I got to play interpreter. I loved it. It wasn’t anything too complicated, but when their English failed them I helped and when the girls wanted to say something the guys didn’t understand I translated it for them. The guys were surprised I spoke Italian, and said “You are from Italy!” with a very strong Italian accent. Italian guys like to flirt or "play the national sport of Italy." It's flattering but you can't take it too seriously. The other girls also seemed to think I spoke well, but I’m sure I butchered many things, and my professor would probably be disappointed, but it was really fun. I think I could do something like that as a job, so I guess so far this study abroad thing is really helping me out.
     After kind of making plans to hang out with the guys the next night, we got on the Metro and made our way back to our apartment. Finding our way back so far has been relatively easy. We’ve taken three methods of transportation so far, buses, Metro, and walking, I like being able to navigate the super easy Metro system they have here it’s only 2 lines, and they intersect at “Termini” or the terminal, and directly above it is the bus terminal (same name) where you can switch between many of the buses. The public transportation here is great! Well, by great I mean relatively convenient. The buses are often few and far between, but you’ll get where you’re going eventually.
     We ate at another chain restaurant that was also very good. And we made plans to go to the Vatican the next day around 11:00. So we got to sleep in a little bit, until this point we’d had things we needed to do between 8 and 10 in the morning.

Rome: 1st Day of Orientation

I woke up at 8AM, bright and early, opened my shutters to be able to hear the activity outside. Rome, at least in my neighborhood, is very loud... Always. Maybe not between the hours of 3 and 6, but all other times you can hear people talking, singing, yelling (often in English), driving, honking, braking, catching buses, and doing all other sorts of things. I had orientation from 9:30 until about 4. We learned about pickpockets, and all sorts of other crimes, got a tour of campus (only 2 floors of an old villa), ate lunch, and had a crash course in Italian. I finally knew what it felt like to know all the answers like they were the most obvious things in the world. I had to bite my tongue not to say the answers as they popped into my head. It was interesting what they thought were useful words and phrases to know while in Italy. And they had a handy translation paper called a "Map of Italian."

The Spanish Steps and the church at the top.

View from the top.

Church called "Trinita dei Monti"

Domes visible. St. Peter's is in the back.

Sitting on the Spanish Steps

After they were through with this, my new roommates and I went sight seeing to the Spanish Steps, and to the Fontana di Trevi. (So that would be Fontana di Trevi two times in two days.) The Spanish Steps were beautiful at sunset, and the Fontana di Trevi is gorgeous at night. We then hopped on a bus back to our apartment, and stopped at a chain resturant called L'Insalata Ricca. The pizza there was delicious, and it wasn't too far from our apartment. We went back and crashed, everyone was tired.

Rome, Day 2! (Move in day!)

So, this day was super stressful, possibly because I knew I would be on my own after it was through. And at least partially due to my lack of preparation. My dad and I went sightseeing after breakfast at 10:00, and were supposed to return to the Hotel, then go check in at my new apartment in Rome. We decided to visit the Fontana di Trevi because it was kinda close to the hotel, or the closest thing we could find to a famous place near our hotel. Then we ended up staying there for too long, and had to walk to the terminal and then were an hour late for my check in. Although when we got there it was not really a problem.
My apt has a kitchen with an oven, a stove, a fridge/freezer, a clothes washer, a sink and they provided us with a couple staples (pasta, nutella and the like).
After I'd moved all of my stuff in we went for lunch and sightseeing again to visit the Colesseo and the Foro Romano. We then came back and started a load of laundry and then went to eat dinner at the Hotel Delle Muse. After dinner I spent my first night in my new apartment. Windows open to let in the cool air, and the noise of a drunk girl's singing.

My apartment!

Rome, Day One!

So, I've chosen to skip the last few days in Germany and therefore catch up with my blog much more quickly. 

My dad and I arrived in Rome on the 22nd. and immediately following our leaving baggage claim, we were accosted by a taxi driver who offered to drive us to our hotel for 95€ (about $150). My dad had already checked and knew the correct price was closer to 50€. So he told the guy no. The driver said "Wait, maybe for 60€?" And my dad told him what the price should be. The driver at first refused, then said, "Well ok, this guy drives a shuttle, maybe he take you." And so we went. It had been raining off and on all day so the roads were wet and there was heavy traffic. The driver was exactly what I had expected from an Italian shuttle bus driver, he was arrogant in an easygoing manner. And drove like a madman. Then again, so did everyone else. It was interesting to note the difference between German drivers, who usually respect the traffic laws assuming that they keep everyone safe, and Italian drivers, who ignore most of the laws and use their horns and their hands to convey entire discussions. I thoroughly enjoyed our drive to the hotel, but was glad we arrived there in one piece. It was a bit hard to get a sense of direction with all the lane-switching and such, but we were able to see a few Roman landmarks, like the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, and part of Rome's old city wall, thanks to our very proud taxi driver / tour guide.

The sign reads, No Smoking, and it's next to an ashtray...

Upon arrival at the hotel, Dad and I decided it was time to eat, but since the restaurant in the hotel would be closed until 7 (3 hours away) we needed to venture out into the slippery streets of Rome. We found a map of several bus routes and bought a ticket from a graffiti covered newsstand, the first time I needed to use my Italian, "per una ora" "due biglietti." I was very happy that I knew at least some Italian and that it was already paying off. We stepped back out into the street, and went to go catch the bus. Once on the bus, I realized I had no idea where any places to eat were. We rode for a few blocks until we finally saw a Pizzeria. It looked good, and I thought, "Well, how badly can you screw up pizza in Rome?" I ordered Pizza Margherita, and Dad got a ham and cheese filled pizza. Both were delicious and only 5-ish Euros.

After the pizza we went to go walk around a bit and ended up getting a bit farther away from the bus route than we'd planned (little did I know this would become a sort of a theme for our trips together here). The sidewalks in Rome are often lined with flowers that were dripping with the mist that continued throughout our walk. We made our way back, after viewing a police station and several apartments, by going to the Terminal, and finding a bus that went basically the same route we started on, but in the opposite direction. (the 360 bus) We arrived back at the hotel and decided that was enough sightseeing for one day, even though we'd seen nothing that we really knew was famous.

Amsterdam

Look at all the bikers.

Over 2000 bikes are parked here... How do you find yours again?

Train Station in Amsterdam.

Clock tower nicknamed "Crazy Jack" because
it couldn't keep time.

One of the many bridges we passed under on the boat tour.

St. George? standing on a dragon's head.

Houses in Amsterdam

Queen Elizabeth Cruise Ship

Pretty building we saw from the boat tour.

Big wooden shoe you can sit in.

We took an impromptu trip to Amsterdam, it was fun seeing another country. Although Amsterdam was very much like I had expected it to be. There were several bachelorette parties and a couple of other groups that just looked strange. It was very crowded and there were bikers everywhere.

Coal Mine, Gasometer, and Steel Factory. Also, Fear of Heights.

Windmill on the way to Essen

      So yesterday (16th) we went to a Coal mine, and then to a Mongolian BBQ in Essen, Germany. It was about a 2.5 hour drive from Bad Homburg to Essen. The coal mine was pretty cool.

Inside the mine

Look what you can do with coal... Make C3PO? Apparently...

Putting burning hot oil on top of my head is #1 on my list of fun ideas.

      At the coal mine there was lots of nice exhibits, and some that were a little confusing. It's very inconvenient having a tour guide that doesn't speak English. There was a platform where you could stand at the top and it was very cold and rainy.. Not the best weather to be really high up in the air.

     After that we walked around for a bit in Essen, and went to a Mongolian BBQ place near our hotel. There you could try Zebra, Beef, Elk, Ostrich, Mussels, Shrimp, Pork, Chicken, Salmon, Tilapia, Kangaroo, and Squid meats. The Zebra was excellent, the Elk was a little tough and I didn't really want to try any of the others.

View from the Gasometer

      Today we traveled with Stefan's sister, Anna, and her boyfriend, Marcus to the Gasometer in Oberhausen. It's a big place where they used to store gas for the steel factory. Anyway, they had an exhibit called "Magic Places" it was pretty cool. And you could ride an elevator to the top and look out at the surrounding cities. I'm not really a big fan of heights so I've about had it at this point.. there's only so much you can see from on top of a 10 story platform. And it really makes me freak out a little bit. (My camera died there so no more pictures.)

     We then went to a steel factory in Bochum and had some really good french pizza there for lunch. We walked around and watched some kids climbing the old walls. It was really cool how they had re-purposed their old factory to a really nice park. Then we toured the Krupp's house, the people who owned the steel mill and much of Bochum. It was insanely nice, more like a palace than a house. The plan for tomorrow includes mostly shopping. Yay!

Cologne, Germany (Day 3)

So, today we traveled to Cologne, Germany. It is very pretty there, but unfortunately the weather was not. We went to visit the "dom" (biggest catholic church in the city). 

This church was really beautiful, and incredibly big! There was a tower that you could climb and a treasury you could look at, but my dad and I decided we could skip that. After touring the inside of the cathedral, we went to go buy some pastries at a nearby bakery, then went to the lego shop and walked around a couple of other shops while we were waiting for a bus tour of the city. We went on a tour of the city and found out that there are a ton of churches there, who's surprised? After that we walked to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. and that was pretty cool, very interactive. Then we bought a ton of chocolate, and walked back to the car. So yep, another day of touring German cities. I didn't take many pictures on my camera so there's not really enough for me to post them.

We're travelling to Essen, Germany and kinda doing our own thing there for a couple days which should be interesting... So we'll see how that goes.

Frankfurt Day 2

View from the top of a hill, the first day here.

Tower near a park in Bad Homburg (the suburb where we're staying).

A Tower. Don't ask me where, I already forgot. 

Riesling Grape Fields.

Castle-ish building at a vineyard.

Statue at the same vineyard. Telling the story about Icewine's origins.

Another view of the vineyard and the Rhine river.

At the vineyard.

So, we drove around many castles today. There are 12 located along the River Rhine, and it's really pretty. German architecture is interesting because it has a strong "theme" you can tell roman buildings and other buildings that have outside influences.We also toured one castle, that was pretty fun. And I got to eat schnitzel and french fries twice, so that's pretty awesome. (Hint, I love fried food). Anyway it's been a pretty successful day. I also got to upload pictures today, so Yay... (And I'm having problems formatting so that's why they're above the post.. I'll work it out eventually.)

Frankfurt, Germany

     So my Dad and I flew in to Frankfurt, Germany at 6:30 AM this morning (12 hours ago). I pulled an all-nighter before the flight so I could finish packing & unpacking & packing again, and another one on the plane because I couldn't fall asleep. And then we walked around Frankfurt all day today. It's been fun, but both of us are really tired. We went to a tower on the tallest mountain in the county and ate dinner there, we saw a castle walked around an old village that had been re-done to show what they would have been like at the time. We also visited a park and a small shopping center. Anyway, I'm really tired, and therefore somewhat uninspired. So, I will probably be going to bed ASAP after dinner.