Spring Break in Italy

Brace yourselves-this post is going to be a long one. I need to cover my 2 week spring break in Italy! On this adventure, I was joined by  Kristley and Christelle who are friends of mine from Boston Latin. On this journey I actually kept a very detailed journal to help me as I write this blog. If you want more detail on any part of this trip I can show the journal when I get back, because if I included every detail in the journal, this post would never end.


Naples
Kristely and I flew into Naples on Thursday, April 7. It was already dark when we get there, so all we did was grab some pizza at a restaurant at Gino's, which is famous for their pizza. Actually, Naples in general is famous for the pizza, since it is said that's where pizza was born. The founder of Gino's had 21 children, and therefore there are 21 types of pizza you can order, each named after one of the kids. My favorite, and the most common, is Margharita. It's basically plain cheese pizza. When I saw that the pizza was 3 euro, I said sure, I'll get a slice for 3euro. Instead what came out was a pizza so large that it was overflowing from the plate. And this was the best pizza I've had in my life. This was the ultimate thin crust pizza. Indeed, the crust in the center was more like a crepe than pizza crust. 


After the first of many wonderful culinary experiences on this trip, we headed back to the hostel. Let me say a few words about this hostel. You were basically staying in this guy's house named Giovanni. It was like having a parent around. He forbade us to go outside with purses, lectured us, and then made lunch one day, and made us feel guilty for not coming back to the hostel to eat it. a) you didn't tell anyone you were making lunch and b) Excuse me for sightseeing all day! Ugh if you want to hear more about Giovanni, I've got some stories. But that's for another time. Needless to say, that night I got the worst night of sleep I've had since I got to Europe thanks to an OLD overweight German woman sleeping in the bunk beneath me, and snoring LOUDLY. C'mon, you're like 60 years old. This is a YOUTH hostel!


So on our first full day in Naples, we actually didn't spend much of it in Naples! We met a traveller in the hostel, Donal, who came along with us that day. Our first stop: climbing Mt. Vesuvius! We had to buy bus tickets to get us from the train station to (close to) the top, and these buses were actually tiny little vans that sped up the roads of the volcano, causing some people to get carsick. I loved it!

Mt. Vesuvius

Climbing up the super steep sides of the volcano ended up being totally worth it. There were the most beautiful views of Naples, Capri, and Pompeii. And I get to say that I conquered Mt. Vesuvius! Our next stop was Herculaneum, an ancient Roman village that was extremely well preserved (more so than Pompeii) from the blast of the volcanic eruption. I thought this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. It felt like I had traveled back in time. After seeing these ruins, we spontaneously decided to hop on the train to Sorrento. It was about 25 stops away, and it took about an hour and a half to get there. But it was worth the long train ride! First of all, I had one of the best gelatos I had on the trip here. The flavor was coffee mousse. We only spent about an hour in Sorrento, admiring the views and walking through the shop-filled streets, but it was so much more beautiful and cleaner than Naples that it was like being in a different world. I'd like to go back there some day. I think it would be the best place for a honeymoon of all the places in Italy I visited. It was so good I had to get gelato twice while I was there!

Ruins at Herculaneum

Sorrento

Cliffs of Sorrento

Sun setting on our way back to Naples

When we got back to Naples, we absolutely had to top off this great day with great pizza, so it was back to Gino's. To mix things up, I tried the Marinara. Basically instead of mozzerlla there's oregano. Not bad, but not as good as Margherita. 


The following day we dedicated to seeing Naples. A typical scene in Naples is a family of 4 riding on a moped, or seeing a responsible parent holding onto a small infant (no helmet) with one hand while driving the thing. Also, there is trash everywhere. But despite this, there were a lot of great things to see and do in Naples. We went into a mausoleum, the Archaeological Museum, and then to the Duomo: a famous basilica in Naples. They actually didn't allow me to go in wearing a tank top, so I had to put on my jacket. I wondered if they just didn't let people in in the summertime. Then we did one of the coolest things I did on the trip: Napoli Sutteraneo. It's an underground tour of an ancient theater that Nero himself performed in, and then you get to see underground wells and aqueducts. At one point during the tour, it was so dark so they gave us candles as we walked through the extremely narrow walls. I wondered how they told someone they were too fat to participate. We had a great tour guide, and it was just so fun to be underground. It was like we had entered the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin! An interesting fact about Naples that I learned on that tour: Christianity actually came there 300 years before Constantine. That probably explains why their way of worship is a little different and there are shrines everywhere.

Grimy Naples

Maybe it's not so bad.

Sunset on our way to Capri

Capri
That afternoon we hopped on our ferry to Capri! It was the biggest boat I've ever been on; even trucks could fit on it. We saw the most beautiful sunset over the mediterranean. Finding our hotel was a little bit of a challenge, but it was so nice-it was totally worth it! The next day we expected the weather to be sunny and perfect, but it was cold and overcast. That didn't stop us though. We climbed to the top of the island and say Villa Jovis-ruins from a villa that Roman Emperor Tiberius used. It was so foggy that you could hardly see, which just added to the eeriness of it all. On the hike back down, we passed by a restaurant where Jay-Z, Beyonce, Mariah Carey and other celebrities had their pictures taken in front of. After grabbing gelato at a place that makes the cones right in front of you, we went into the Gardens of Augustus, which offered breathtaking views of the island. Even though it was only 2pm, there wasn't too much more to see besides the Grotto that we were saving for the next day, so we headed back to the hotel, taking our time. I bought a beautiful dress! Once back at the hotel, we just relaxed. We met some other Americans travelling, Rob and Ryan, and we ended up getting dinner with them that night. Really annoying thing: Pretty much from Capri on, we found out that restaurants in Italy have a "cover charge" of at least 1 euro per person. We spent a lot of energy trying to find places without a cover charge for the rest of the trip. So where we went out to eat was the 1st time we expereinced it, but we were on an island-not much you can do about it. The portions were actually pretty small in Italy. I thought they'd be huge! After dinner, we played cards. I tought everyone how to play Fantan and King's Corners! The next morning We got up early and went to experiecne the Blue Grotto. What an experience that was. The 3 of us got into a small row boat and were instructed to lay down. The rower had to lie down too and pull us through a tiny hole in the rocks using chains until we were inside the grotto. It's actually the rocks that cause a beautiful blue light to be reflected off of them. After that, we had to get on a ferry back to smelly Naples (ew), and hop on our train to Florence!

Someone's home in Cpari

Villa Jovis and all the fog

Cliffs of Cpari

View of Capri as we went up to our hotel.

Inside the blue Grotto!

Ciao Capri!

Florence
From the moment we got here, we loved it. There were actually pedestrian crossways, and no trash on the streets! We stayed in a hotel with a lot of character that was in a great location. One of the happiest moments on the trip for me was that night when we were out to eat in a beautiful piazza with lanterns everywhere. The food and ambiance was so good-this was what Italy was supposed to feel like. Quote from my journal: "Florence reminded us of Prague, Paris, and Amsterdam yet something about it was completely different."


There are so many things to do in Florence, we didn't know where to begin the next morning. However, because it was Italy's 150th birthday, all the museums were free that week! So we went into a Medici Castle that seemed pretty bare until you looked up: the ceilings there were unbelieveable. The next stop was the Ufizi museum which holds many masterpieces including The Birth of Benus by Boticelli, and things by DaVinci, Caravaggio, Van Der Goes, and Rafaello. Then after lunch with amazing lasagna and chicken we went inside the Duomo. It was not quite as impressive as the outside. Then we went inside another Medici home and took a nap in their beautiful gardens. 

Medici Castle

Carnival Masks

Duomo

On the river banks

The next day we got up early to hopefully avoid the lines at the Galleria della Academia: home of Michaelangelo's David. Unfortunately we still had to wait 45 minutes. David was just beautiful, so I guess it was worth it. Feeling like we had seen most of Florence, we hopped on a commuter train to Pisa. We pretty much got there, found the leaning tower, took our pictures, and left. There's just not much else to do there! But the pictures were worth it. 


Venice
The next morning we were on our early morning train into Venice. As soon as we got there we could see the pretty clear green water. We had to get on a watertaxi to our hostel which cost 6.50!!! What a ripoff. Our first stop was St. Marcus Square. It reminded me of Plaza Mayor in Madrid. We went inside there, and by this point I felt like I was sick of seeing European churches. After grabbing a coffee in a square and taking it all in, we headed into the Galleria della Academia in Venice, which was free. We found a place with no cover charge where we could eat for dinner, and sure enough we returned there. After dinner we bought some beautiful candles! 

What Venice looks like around every street corner.

Candles we bought!

The next day we met up with some people from the BU Pamplona program, and pretty much did nothing since apparently 2 nights in Venice is way too much time.


The next morning my two travel buddies headed off to Rome, and I stayed in Venice-alone! I really wanted to do a day trip to Verona (which in retrospect we could've done the day before). So I can say I tried the whole travelling alone thing. As I was walking to the train station to get to Verona, I felt very chipper. But 2 hours later, once I got to Verona, I realized I HATE travelling by myself. I had no idea what to do once I got there, but I got on a bus heading into town. I came across Roman ruins of an amphitheater, and wandered around a bit. The only good thing that came out of Verona was the best gelato I had on the trip! Since Verona is wehre Romeo and Juliet took place, I got the Romeo and Juliet flavours of gelato. They went so well together! Then I found "Juliet's house" (yes I realize she's a fictional character, but there's not much else to Verona), and coughed up the 4.50 to go inside. It wasn't really worth it, but I left my friends' letters to Juliet in there. And that's it: I headed back to the train for a 2 hour ride to Venice. When I got back to the hostel, I made friends with a lot of the people there, and for 5 euro the hostel cooks you a 3 course meal, so we all stayed in and did that. 

Best gelato in Italy!

Rome
Needless to say, by the next morning I was ready to continue my travels to Rome and meet back up with Kris and Chris! We met at Platform 9 3/4 in Rome Termini Station, then headed out to the Sheraton Rome where I would be spending the night with them. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. At least there was a shuttle bus that takes you to downtown Rome, and it least I spent only one night there. We immediately headed into the center of Rome. When I was walking down this road that leads to the Colosseum with ancient ruins on either side of the road, it was such a great feeling. Forget about the ruins at Herculaneum-this was awesome! They had musicians playing on the street, and this time I really felt like I had traveled back in time. Being the Latin scholar that I am, I knew already that Rome was my favorite city I've visited in Italy! We entered the Colosseum (which was free!) and walked all along it. At one point we were all just speechless and paused for several minutes just so we could take it in. I couldn't imagine how many gruesome deaths happened there. I could just see the gladiators and hear the crowd roaring. From there we saw the Arch of Constantine. I couldn't believe I was looking at something that the Constantine built. 

Me and my travel buddies in the Colosseum!

Trevi Fountain!

As we were walking back up this road admiring the ruins, something funny happened. Kristely saw a guy wearing a Boston t-shirt and struck up a conversation with him. He was from Weymouth, and it turns out he knew our friends Rob and Ryan that we made in Capri-they were roommates in their hostel! So typical. Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, which is beautiful. We each threw the 3 coins behind our backs, and started looking for a place to eat dinner (without a cover charge of course). I got fettucini alfredo, and realized that my Dad makes it much better than they do in Italy. Then we headed back to the hotel via the shuttle that was jam packed full of people, and I called Alex and made plans to meet up with her the following morning. It was sad to leave my travel buddies!


I met up with Alex just as planned, grateful to be staying for free in the apartment they had rented out! We all headed to Campo di Fiore, a wonderful marketplace where you can buy jewelry, pasta, vegetables, honey-anything the heart desires. Then we all did one of those bus tours with the open roof. It was a lovely day, and it was great to see so many sights in Rome. We drove right by St. Peter's basilica, Circus Maximus, the Tiber River, and other sights. We had lunch at Pizza Magi where they cut the pizza up with scissors and serve it to you. So yummy! Then for dinner we ate at supposedly the best pizza place in Rome. I got to meet Alex's boyfriend, and it's funny how much he and I have in common. 


The next day we all visited the Spanish Steps and ate lunch there. Next we did some shopping : ) That night it was Alex's birthday dinner at a really cute restaurant with her friends from school and her family. Afterwards we went to the bar so we could all be together at midnight for her birthday. It was a really fun night. The next day was dedicated entirely to getting ready for Alex's birthday party that would take place at the apartment that night. We got the cake, decorations, everything. It was a fabulous birthday party, and I wish I was spending my 21st in Europe! The next day I had my flight back to Madrid, and I just took a cab to the airport. I wasn't worried about not seeing everything there is in Rome because I love it so much I know I want to come back! 

I had a wonderful spring break, but it's good to be back in Madrid, and I know it'll feel even better once I'm back in the states :)


PS-check back for photo updates! I'm waiting for Alex and Kristely to put up photos, and when they do I'll update the blog.

Segovia/Alex's visit!

James left on Monday, and my best friend Alex arrived on Thursday! What a great week for me. Alex and I had met up in Barcelona, and this weekend she came to see me in Madrid! It gets better: in 2 weeks I'll be in Rome to celebrate her birthday as well.

We were maybe going to check out Kapital on Thursday night-a 7 story club that is free for ladies on Thursdays. I'm probably the only person who hasn't gone yet! I'm just always traveling. But then by the time we got home from the airport it was already 1:30 AM, and watching the office just seemed more appealing to both of us. I'm so grateful that my senora Casi let Alex stay for free, because many households in my program would not allow it. But I'm well taken care of over here.

Friday morning we had to be at my school at 9:30 am because my 4th and final program trip was to Segovia, Spain. It's just over an hour outside of Madrid. Upon arriving we were greeted with the view of a gorgeous fairy-tale castle. In fact, it was this very castle, the Alcazar, that inspired the Disney castle!

Alcazar and all its majesty

 The first stop we made was into Vera Cruz church, wich dates back to the thirteenth century. Since everything is done in Spanish on my program, I had to translate for Alex while our program director told us about everything around us.

Alex and I in Vera Cruz church.

Next we saw the most well-preserved Roman Aqueduct in Europe. It was totally functioning until the 1950s when the pollution from cars nearby damaged the stones that held it all together. I couldn't believe it was made without cement!

Next we walked around central Segovia and visited a synagogue with Muslim design that is now a Christian church.

Cathedral

That's right. I ordered dessert for lunch. We ate out side in the main plaza and it was so sunny out I got a sunburn!

Going inside the castle was simply amazing. It was my first time inside one in Europe! Ferdinand and Isabel, the Spanish kings who sent Columbus, lived there for a while. On the inside they had depictions of Spanish kings going all the way back to the 700s. It was a gorgeous day outside but freezing inside the castle. I can't imagine how cold it is during the winter!

Alex and I on a castle tower!

That night me, Alex, and my friend Justin went to an urban Mexican restaurant. It was super delicious apart from the drink I ordered. It was called a Michelada. It is a mixture of corona, chicken broth, and tobasco with ground chili peper on the rim. I have no idea why I ordered this! It was really gross though. After that, we did what most Spaniards do on weekends: drink in public. I'm not sure if this is legal, but it's completely socially acceptable. Plazas all over the city are filled with youth enjoying an inexpensive way to spend the night.

On Saturday, after sleeping in, we ate at Museo del Jamon for lunch. You can get a ham sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a drink for 2 euro. I've known about this place since I arrived in Madrid but it was my first time there and I am now obsessed with it! Then we went on the free walking tour of Madrid. I loved the tour so much I didn't mind going again, and we had a different tour guide so it was still a new experience for me. After that, I took Alex walking down Gran Via-the 5th Ave of Madrid, if you will.

On the free tour when they mentioned a pub crawl they were having that night, Alex and I exchanged glances and we knew that's what we were doing that night! So we rushed home, got ready, had a quick bite to eat at a lovely establishment known as Burger King, and headed to the pub crawl. It was much better than the one in London! The night would have been flawless had it not been for Alex's camera getting stolen. Thank God I uploaded her Segovia pictures onto my computer before we left, so at least those were saved.

On Sunday we headed to the Rastro-the market that happens every Sunday in Madrid. It was my 3rd time going, and honestly I'll probably go again before I leave!

El Rastro!

decisions, decisions. I'm definitely going back to pick out a tapestry for my apartment next year!

Alex and I had a great time together exploring Madrid and Segovia! On Thursday I leave for my 2 week spring break trip in Italy! What a long blog post that's going to be...

Amsterdam and Berlin

For James' second visit out here, we decided to take a trip to Amsterdam and Berlin before spending a weekend in Madrid. This meant that I was absent from class on Tuesday and Wednesday (totally not a big deal. I don't think the professors noticed). So Tuesday morning I had a 6:50 AM flight to Amsterdam where James and I were to meet. I actually had to take the night bus (buho) downtown and then hop on a 24 hour airport shuttle. That went pretty smoothly! I was flying easyJet, a cheap-o airline (not as bad as Ryanair though), so unfortunately I had to pay to check my bag because it didn't quite fit the size dimensions. If only I didn't pack so much! On the airplane was the first time I ever heard Dutch being spoken, and they kept saying what sounds like the F@$% a lot, I'm dying to know what that word means in Dutch! Once I landed I still had to wait 3 hours til James' plane got in, so I shopped around the airport. There was a cool store-picture Ikea, but like the CVS version. It was really affordable! I got some souvenirs for people back home, since I knew I would already have to check my bag, I may as well get my money's worth!


I thought it would be a lot easier to get to Amsterdam via transportation from the airport. I didn't do too much hardcore research on the subject but I assumed it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. But since neither James nor I can understand Dutch, we resorted to a cab. When we got to the hotel, the staff told us we were going to "get the full Amsterdam experience" by having to lug our luggage all the way up to the 4th story in extremely narrow staircases. That was fun. Inside the hotel room, it looked like we weren't going to have a bathroom. Then I open the closet and see there it was! A pretty tiny bathroom it was. 


We got lunch at an Argentinian/Italian restaurant (there were a ton of Argentinian restaurants in Amsterdam for some reason). Then we went on a canal cruise. Amsterdam has over 1000 canals in the city-the most in the world! (When I go to Venice I'll let you know how they compare!) 

Beautiful Amsterdam canals. The buildings on the left are leaning outward because they used to pull the furniture into the house using the pulleys on the top. Rather than just extend the pulleys out a little bit so that the furniture didn't crash into the side of the building, they decided to just lean out the buildings. "There's the right way, and there's the Dutch way."

We got off the boat at Centraal Station and just walked around, exploring the city. To save money we ate at an inexpensive restaurant called Walk to Wok. You choose from a variety of noodles, sauces, and meat to make your favorite Asian noodle combination. If you go to McDonald's in Amsterdam they have apple milkshakes which are really good! James got 3 in one day... That night we wanted to go to a Torture Museum, but I fell down the narrow stairs in the hotel so I was in no mood. The next morning, Wednesday, we went on the free walking tour at 11 AM. This is the 4th city that I've gone on a free tour with this company, Sandeman's New Europe, and I totally recommend it. We walked all over the city and learned so much about Amsterdam. We even walked into the Red Light District a little bit, and you better believe at 11 AM the ladies were working. 

The buildings lean every which-way in this city.

These are used to prevent public urination. Try and pee in this corner and it'll splash back all over you!

Beautiful Begijnhof-a neighborhood in which men are not allowed. aka heaven!

Angels burning in an oven? Back when people couldn't read they used pictures like these instead of house numbers. In fact, the Dutch didn't use last names until they were forced to choose ones for themselves. The guide said many people chose "Poopie" as a last name.

Modern part of Amsterdam

Smallest house!

The free tour ended at the Anne Frank Museum, so we went in there. It was moving to see the rooms where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis for so long. After that we ate at another Argentinian restaurant because I was so starving I just walked into the first place I saw. After that we headed to the Van Gogh Museum, which was really awesome. It's my second favorite museum I've been to, behind the Musee d'Orsay in Paris where you can see a lot of impressionist art. Right outside of the museum is the famous I amsterdam sign, so naturally a photo shoot occurred there. 

I amsterdam!

After dinner and wandering through the canals, we went to bed early to prepare ourselves for the next part of our journey: Berlin! Once again, we thought that it would be fairly simple to take the public transportation from the airport to the hotel, but turns out Berlin has the shabbiest system I've experienced in Europe. In that respect I felt at home because it was pretty much as bad as the T. You're supposed to buy a ride, which lasts for 2 hours, and if you're caught without it you get fined, so its pretty much an honor system. 


Anyway, we got to the hotel around 11 AM, and surprisingly our room was ready. I knew I then that I was going to love Berlin. We were staying right in the middle of the action, it felt like I was on 5th Ave. It was my first time in Germany (aside from just being in Frankfurt airport), and it really felt right. It was nice to not stick out for being tall, blonde, and blue-eyed. We hit the ground running in Berlin with a bus tour. It was my first time not doing a free walking tour in a city! but we were so tired and it was 10 euro for 2 hours, and at least we got to relax and get an idea of what the city was like. We drove by many embassies, churches, and government buildings. Many of them are quite modern since Berlin has seen a lot of destruction in its not so distant past. 

An old building: what a rare sight

 After the tour we grabbed some lunch and rest, and headed to the attraction that I was most looking forward to: the East Side Gallery, a portion of the Berlin wall still standing that is covered in murals. It's almost 2 km long, but here's a glimpse of it. 

East Side Gallery

 After making it there in the last remaining moments of daylight, we went into KaDeWe, Europe's largest department store, square footage wise. It gets 80,000 visitors a day, but it was so expensive! I couldn't picture real people shopping there. We ate at the EuropaCenter for dinner that night and enjoyed some drinks on the lovely roofdeck of our hotel afterwards. 

Berlin at night on the roof deck.

The next day was quite busy. We started off at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. For not showing much initial interest in it, I ended up loving it! It included tons of stories and tools that were used to cross over different sides of the Berlin Wall, including cars that people were snuck into, and human sling shots. Then we headed to what was called the Third Reich Tour. It was given by Sandeman's, the free tour guys, but it was 10 euro and totally worth it. On the 4 hour walking tour we talked all about how Hitler came to power, the groups he targeted, the people that were under his command, and a variety of interesting World War II facts. It was so cool to be standing in front of the Reichstag, or the site of Hitler's bunker, and hear the history that happened there. The happiest part of the tour was me trying my first Doner Kebap, a Turkish wrap type thing. 

A synagogue that was spared on Kristallnacht.

Our yummy Italian dinner after the tour.

 Next stop after Berlin: back to Madrid. This time James got to meet some more of my friends, and the highlight of Madrid/the whole trip was going to the zoo in Madrid! It was hilarious because we rented a two person golf cart and cruised and goofed around the zoo. It was the epitome of the lazy American stereotype! But so fun!

Our two seater.

Adios until next time!