Cinque Terre, perhaps looks more like some subtropic rainforest resort rather than northern Italy! Our destinations seem to be getting better and better. CT is a string of 5 towns right along the coast connected only by a series of "coastal paths". But don't let this fool you, I was expecting leisurely strolls along the beach. The paths are up and down sheer cliffs and through some pretty rugged terrain. A 4km hike took us about 1.5hours! Incredible views all the way. Carlyn has fallen in love with the place, the crystal water, the colorful homes and of course, the amazing seafood and pesto. I am usually turned off by small towns with nothing to do but shop and meander through little streets, but I have to admit, I was presently surprised by our villa. Our hotel window looks right our over the Mediteranean, sea breeze and all. The pictures look straight out of a magazine...to be posted. we even found a small beach this morning...a bit rockier than we expected...water was freezing...but I guess that was the only opp. I got to swim on this trip.
Tomorrow we leave for Interlaken...my long awaited oasis in the hills! I want to hike all day long, we'll see how we fare trespassing the Jungfrau range. I'm sure we'll do our fair share of window shopping in "cute towns", but I guess that's a compromise I'm willing to make. Hope everyone is doing great!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Pontiff Sighting
I have to keep this short because we are hurrying out of our hostel. We got quite the bargain today! We woke up early and hurried over to the Vatican to beat the infamous lines forming at the museum. Oddly, we found ourselves swept up in all the commotion and flock of people surrounding St. Peter's Basillica even at 8 in the morning. Lots of chairs set up...rock concert?! no...who other than the Pope himself was preparing to speak before a crowd of I'd guess 10,000 in St. Peters square. We found seats in the last section, but the front row. Good choice because at precisely 10:30...the Pope in the Pope Mobil, a small Mercedes golf cart, rolled up no more than 5 feet away from us!!! I got a great pic of him...I promise to post it soon. What an amazing experience. We could have easily reached out and touched his convertible...but we were a bit scared of the Swiss Guard making sure no one got within range for a high five. Awesome!
We spent the rest of the morning touring the Vatican. Saw the Sistine Chapel (incredible!) and many famous works by Michaelangelo and Rafael (School of Athens) at a discounted student rate of only 8€! fantastic. We'll speak more about this later....I'm not kidding...5 feet!
The Basilica of St. Peter is larger than you could imagine...easily 20x the size of St. Pets back in GE. Hope everyone had a great day. We're off to CinqueTerre for some hiking and beaching.
- Matt
We spent the rest of the morning touring the Vatican. Saw the Sistine Chapel (incredible!) and many famous works by Michaelangelo and Rafael (School of Athens) at a discounted student rate of only 8€! fantastic. We'll speak more about this later....I'm not kidding...5 feet!
The Basilica of St. Peter is larger than you could imagine...easily 20x the size of St. Pets back in GE. Hope everyone had a great day. We're off to CinqueTerre for some hiking and beaching.
- Matt
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Move Over Rachel Ray!
So in case you arent familiar, Rachel Ray has a travel show called "$40 a day" in which she shows you how to visit a city and not go over your budget...Well Matt enacted a new challenge for us today..."Italy on 10€/day!"
Our entire day went something like this:
0€ - delicious breakfast of rolls, cheese, salami, coffee, OJ and yogurt at our B&B
0€ - walked through ancient ruins, saw Trajan column
1,5€ - each ate a peach at the Camp Fiore (awesome outdoor market with fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, herbs, olive oils, flowers, and public fountains to wash off your purchases)
0€ - saw the Pantheon!
1,5€ - I ate a mini sandwhich of tomato, mozz., and lettuce
0€ - Hung out by the Trevi fountain and watched tourists throw their money in and make a wish
3€ - Matt got 100 grams of roasted almonds from a street vendor
0€ - Saw the Spanish Steps (pretty anticlimactic)
5€ - Split a salad with olives, mozz, tuna and corn
0€ - went back to Hostel and used free internet
9€ - ate dinner at an awesome hole in the wall restaurant next to hostel (2 gyros and 1 tiramisu)
Grand total: 20€ (fo da bo da us! 10 each! woohoo!)
p.s. despite being overjoyed with our frugal spending habits and saving a good bit of money today, it was kinda embarrassing each time we entered a deli, immediately asked how much everything was while salivating over sandwhiches, and then had to huddle together to decide which item we could afford to pay for and split...
Our entire day went something like this:
0€ - delicious breakfast of rolls, cheese, salami, coffee, OJ and yogurt at our B&B
0€ - walked through ancient ruins, saw Trajan column
1,5€ - each ate a peach at the Camp Fiore (awesome outdoor market with fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, herbs, olive oils, flowers, and public fountains to wash off your purchases)
0€ - saw the Pantheon!
1,5€ - I ate a mini sandwhich of tomato, mozz., and lettuce
0€ - Hung out by the Trevi fountain and watched tourists throw their money in and make a wish
3€ - Matt got 100 grams of roasted almonds from a street vendor
0€ - Saw the Spanish Steps (pretty anticlimactic)
5€ - Split a salad with olives, mozz, tuna and corn
0€ - went back to Hostel and used free internet
9€ - ate dinner at an awesome hole in the wall restaurant next to hostel (2 gyros and 1 tiramisu)
Grand total: 20€ (fo da bo da us! 10 each! woohoo!)
p.s. despite being overjoyed with our frugal spending habits and saving a good bit of money today, it was kinda embarrassing each time we entered a deli, immediately asked how much everything was while salivating over sandwhiches, and then had to huddle together to decide which item we could afford to pay for and split...
Monday, June 2, 2008
oh i wish i was a gladiator soldier...that is what i really want to be
I'll keep my comments short because it appears Carlyn wrote a small novel for y'all to finish. Carlyn assigned me only two topics for this post: The Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica and the Colloseum.
1.) The Basilica is right next to our hostel and is perhaps the second coolest church we've seen on this trip so far. Highlights included the tomb of Pope Pius V and the final resting place of Benini. Furthermore, we saw the Bourghese family chapel within the Basilica, very ornate and surrounded by about 20 Pontiff statues. Underneath the main alter is the supposed crib of Jesus Christ. yeah...double take on that one. I learned about this in my last Catholicism class, pretty cool stuff. it was closed off when we got there, but we might go back and check it out tomorrow. Directly in front of the crib is a 10 foot tall statue of Pope Pius X, praying...unfortunately, i think it detracts a bit from the aura.
2.) THE COLLOSEUM of ROME! Perhaps my favorite sight on this trip thus far! Gotta hand it to the Romans, they sure know how to slaughter their citizens with style and class. its everything that you would imagine. After seeing The Gladiator, the whole stadium really comes to life. I spent the entire tour doing Russel Crow impersonations. Haha...Carlyn has never seen the movie and just thought I was making the whole thing up off the top of my head! "What a weirdo!" she would say...but I pose it to all of you...could you have resisted the temptation to act out Maximus' final days if you were in my shoes? I think not...my brother should be nodding right now. We will post pics soon! I'll leave it at that!
- maximus, maximus, maximus!
1.) The Basilica is right next to our hostel and is perhaps the second coolest church we've seen on this trip so far. Highlights included the tomb of Pope Pius V and the final resting place of Benini. Furthermore, we saw the Bourghese family chapel within the Basilica, very ornate and surrounded by about 20 Pontiff statues. Underneath the main alter is the supposed crib of Jesus Christ. yeah...double take on that one. I learned about this in my last Catholicism class, pretty cool stuff. it was closed off when we got there, but we might go back and check it out tomorrow. Directly in front of the crib is a 10 foot tall statue of Pope Pius X, praying...unfortunately, i think it detracts a bit from the aura.
2.) THE COLLOSEUM of ROME! Perhaps my favorite sight on this trip thus far! Gotta hand it to the Romans, they sure know how to slaughter their citizens with style and class. its everything that you would imagine. After seeing The Gladiator, the whole stadium really comes to life. I spent the entire tour doing Russel Crow impersonations. Haha...Carlyn has never seen the movie and just thought I was making the whole thing up off the top of my head! "What a weirdo!" she would say...but I pose it to all of you...could you have resisted the temptation to act out Maximus' final days if you were in my shoes? I think not...my brother should be nodding right now. We will post pics soon! I'll leave it at that!
- maximus, maximus, maximus!
Scammed! (and other fun news from Rome)
This morning we woke up in Florence, checked out of our super-Americanized hostel (complete with 80+ other recent college grads, bar/discoteca, and free pasta for everyone starting at midnight) and boarded a train to Rome. The ride to Rome was beautiful as we passed through 3.5 hours of rolling hills and quaint towns.
Once in Rome we walked out of the train station, to which I realized there is really no such thing as fresh air in Europe. Even if you are outdoors enjoying the sunshine it is a safe bet that there are at least 15 people around you blowing smoke in your face. ew, I really dont understand that part of the culture. Anyways, we headed to our hostel, which is a little eclectic...
It is called the Bavaria B & B and the picture online was of a huge, ornate German-inspired building/castle, so you can understand how our expectations were high! Once we followed the directions and found the address we were faced with a simple brown door, on a regular street in Rome... we were a little confused. We were then buzzed up by Carlo, a portly older gentleman in a tank top and slippers (it was 4 in the afternoon...) who showed us all around his apartment. This was after we wound up 3 flights of dimly lit stairs and walked through several dodgy hallways. He and his wife have turned their flat into a bed and breakfast of sorts, with multiple rooms for guests, 2 bathrooms, and a nicely-decorated kitchen area with free internet! Despite the somewhat misleading description/picture online, they were very kind and set us up with a map of the city and some tips on where to go.
We headed out to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basillica and the Colloseum for the afternoon, but I will leave those to Matt to describe. After the Colloseum we ate dinner at a restaurant nearby and got a great deal on pizza, lasagna, bruschetta and wine. For added entertainment we sat on the patio right next to the "Coming Out!" gay restaurant next door. (N.B. I have absolutely nothing against gay people, despite finding the experience somewhat comical.) We then wandered back to the hostel, meeting up with 2 other travelers like us along the way who were standing under a streetlamp looking confused, clearly holding a free map from some other hostel. Turned out to be from Texas and OK, so we chatted about San Antonio for awhile.
Next came the "lesson learned" part of the evening where we got scammed by some gelato con artists! We wandered into a gelateria/caffe in a piazza near our hotel and asked the friendly chap behind the counter how much the small was. "2 scoops for 2 euros!" he replied. Great, we thought, we will each have some. "To sit down or to take away?" he inquired. "We my as well sit down and enjoy the evening..." we responded. So we sat and they brought out the gelato in glass bowls, each with a couple of biscotti cookies drizzled with chocolate.
Later, when the bill came, it was for 17 Euros!! (Which is rougly 30 bucks...for ice cream!) Matt asked what was up with the bill, as we were led to believe it would be 4 euros total, to which they cleverly explained that to sit and eat costs 8.50, instead of 2. Needless to say there were some words exchanged, as they tried to act like it is common sense to assume the price of food increases by over 400% when you sit at their lousy table. We searched in our wallets and only came up with about 8 euros total (well we at least tried to make it look like thats all we had.) Then they insisted that I go to the ATM across the street and withdraw more money to pay for the rest of their incredibly overpriced ice cream...I am not proud to say that we made up a story about how my ATM card wouldnt work because I hadnt called the bank to let them know I was traveling, pretended to try the ATM anyway, and eventually gave them around 11 euros and called it even. We got out of paying 17, but feel pretty ripped off anyways.
In other news:
-America: 1 point, Italy 0 (in regards to having to pay extra money in order to drink water with your dinner)
-And I discovered that my 4 years of Latin education officially got me nowhere, becasue despite being surrounded by ancient latin inscriptions throughout Rome, I can only remember the translation for 1 word. (agricola = farmer)
Sorry this post is miles long, free internet will do that to you! Hope everyone is doing well!
-Carlyn
Once in Rome we walked out of the train station, to which I realized there is really no such thing as fresh air in Europe. Even if you are outdoors enjoying the sunshine it is a safe bet that there are at least 15 people around you blowing smoke in your face. ew, I really dont understand that part of the culture. Anyways, we headed to our hostel, which is a little eclectic...
It is called the Bavaria B & B and the picture online was of a huge, ornate German-inspired building/castle, so you can understand how our expectations were high! Once we followed the directions and found the address we were faced with a simple brown door, on a regular street in Rome... we were a little confused. We were then buzzed up by Carlo, a portly older gentleman in a tank top and slippers (it was 4 in the afternoon...) who showed us all around his apartment. This was after we wound up 3 flights of dimly lit stairs and walked through several dodgy hallways. He and his wife have turned their flat into a bed and breakfast of sorts, with multiple rooms for guests, 2 bathrooms, and a nicely-decorated kitchen area with free internet! Despite the somewhat misleading description/picture online, they were very kind and set us up with a map of the city and some tips on where to go.
We headed out to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basillica and the Colloseum for the afternoon, but I will leave those to Matt to describe. After the Colloseum we ate dinner at a restaurant nearby and got a great deal on pizza, lasagna, bruschetta and wine. For added entertainment we sat on the patio right next to the "Coming Out!" gay restaurant next door. (N.B. I have absolutely nothing against gay people, despite finding the experience somewhat comical.) We then wandered back to the hostel, meeting up with 2 other travelers like us along the way who were standing under a streetlamp looking confused, clearly holding a free map from some other hostel. Turned out to be from Texas and OK, so we chatted about San Antonio for awhile.
Next came the "lesson learned" part of the evening where we got scammed by some gelato con artists! We wandered into a gelateria/caffe in a piazza near our hotel and asked the friendly chap behind the counter how much the small was. "2 scoops for 2 euros!" he replied. Great, we thought, we will each have some. "To sit down or to take away?" he inquired. "We my as well sit down and enjoy the evening..." we responded. So we sat and they brought out the gelato in glass bowls, each with a couple of biscotti cookies drizzled with chocolate.
Later, when the bill came, it was for 17 Euros!! (Which is rougly 30 bucks...for ice cream!) Matt asked what was up with the bill, as we were led to believe it would be 4 euros total, to which they cleverly explained that to sit and eat costs 8.50, instead of 2. Needless to say there were some words exchanged, as they tried to act like it is common sense to assume the price of food increases by over 400% when you sit at their lousy table. We searched in our wallets and only came up with about 8 euros total (well we at least tried to make it look like thats all we had.) Then they insisted that I go to the ATM across the street and withdraw more money to pay for the rest of their incredibly overpriced ice cream...I am not proud to say that we made up a story about how my ATM card wouldnt work because I hadnt called the bank to let them know I was traveling, pretended to try the ATM anyway, and eventually gave them around 11 euros and called it even. We got out of paying 17, but feel pretty ripped off anyways.
In other news:
-America: 1 point, Italy 0 (in regards to having to pay extra money in order to drink water with your dinner)
-And I discovered that my 4 years of Latin education officially got me nowhere, becasue despite being surrounded by ancient latin inscriptions throughout Rome, I can only remember the translation for 1 word. (agricola = farmer)
Sorry this post is miles long, free internet will do that to you! Hope everyone is doing well!
-Carlyn
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Italianisms
So I have picked up on a few things since being in Italy...
1. Italians seem to be obsessed with naked people and naked body parts. I would venture that 90% of the art we have seen in this country is of nude or partially nude people. (A little too much nakedness for my tastes, but who am I to judge.)
2. Florence is a little like Mexico. Lots of pushcarts selling leather goods, lots of haggling! (A lot of fun for Matt.)
3. Fresh fruit is quite the luxury, and apparantly only to be consumed on special occasions. For breakfast this morning all I really wanted was some fresh fruit...much to my despise I discovered that a (small) cup of fruit is 6 euros! (For 6 euros you could instead get an entire cheese pizza, 1.5 bottles of wine, 6 chocolate croissants, or 2 prosciutto and mozzarella panninis. geez, where do these people get their antioxidants!?)
4. Mopeds and Motorcycles are the coolest. The ratio of motorcycles:cars is probably 3:1.
I am sure I am forgeting to mention a whole host of other peculiarities, but thats all for now!
-Carlyn
1. Italians seem to be obsessed with naked people and naked body parts. I would venture that 90% of the art we have seen in this country is of nude or partially nude people. (A little too much nakedness for my tastes, but who am I to judge.)
2. Florence is a little like Mexico. Lots of pushcarts selling leather goods, lots of haggling! (A lot of fun for Matt.)
3. Fresh fruit is quite the luxury, and apparantly only to be consumed on special occasions. For breakfast this morning all I really wanted was some fresh fruit...much to my despise I discovered that a (small) cup of fruit is 6 euros! (For 6 euros you could instead get an entire cheese pizza, 1.5 bottles of wine, 6 chocolate croissants, or 2 prosciutto and mozzarella panninis. geez, where do these people get their antioxidants!?)
4. Mopeds and Motorcycles are the coolest. The ratio of motorcycles:cars is probably 3:1.
I am sure I am forgeting to mention a whole host of other peculiarities, but thats all for now!
-Carlyn
Post on VI - I - MMVIII
So we are just finishing up our time in Firenze (Florence). Today we went to the famed Uffizi gallery and waited in line for 2.25 hours! that's more time than we spent inside the gallery! That's more time than we spent planning our trip to Florence, or Europe for that matter! Was it worth it? well, we saw a lot of great paintings and sculptures by Da Vinci, Rafael, Michaelangelo etc...I don't remember most of them, even though i would consider myself a bit of an art guy. We did see the Birth of Venus, you know the one where she is standing on an oyster! That was kind of cool. We also saw multiple versions of the Adoration of the Magi, also neat. to be honest, the museum was well worth the 6.50€ entrance fee. I would not stand in line for 3 hours again to go see the exhibit though. The best part of standing in line was watching Carlyn's pen explode all over her hand, only to be hastily taken care of by 4 elderly Italian women bearing gifts of wet wipes, giving me dirty looks since I was rolled over in laughter. I told her to put the pen down..."it has a cap" she said, "no worries", then blam! black ink everywhere!
After the gallery, we walked around the famed Florence leather shops, snooping for deals and haggling over merchandise. Carlyn splurged on a 80€ leather coat. she assures me it is a good deal, high quality, and that her parents won't get mad at her. I thought it looked swell.
tonight, we're going to walk around the main plaza, there is a great guitar player who hangs out there at night and plays Paul Simon, U2 and Beatles hits.
Tomorrow we head to Rome...I'm sure the visit will go as follows...we arive after a 2 hour train ride to a hostel resembling Ceaser's Palace, we are fed grapes, wine and cheese as we are paraded through the streets on chariots. Then we will entertain ourselves at the Colliseum with some sport, before proceeding to the Pantheon and Spanish Steps. The next day will entail trips to the Vatican to visit the Pope, all while being treated like Ceaser Augustus....Let's be honest...we will probably spend half our time there standing in lines to see 2000 year old crumbling architecture all while avoiding pickpocketers seeking to wreak havoc on innocent tourists. its kind of fun to imagine though.
Ciao! - Mattimus Jamus Kinnivus, Ruler of the armies of the North and Servant to the Once True Emperor Marcus Aurelius...Or...Don Mattheus, head of the most famed mob family in all of Italy...If you don't comment on this blog...you'll find yourself swimming with the fishes.
After the gallery, we walked around the famed Florence leather shops, snooping for deals and haggling over merchandise. Carlyn splurged on a 80€ leather coat. she assures me it is a good deal, high quality, and that her parents won't get mad at her. I thought it looked swell.
tonight, we're going to walk around the main plaza, there is a great guitar player who hangs out there at night and plays Paul Simon, U2 and Beatles hits.
Tomorrow we head to Rome...I'm sure the visit will go as follows...we arive after a 2 hour train ride to a hostel resembling Ceaser's Palace, we are fed grapes, wine and cheese as we are paraded through the streets on chariots. Then we will entertain ourselves at the Colliseum with some sport, before proceeding to the Pantheon and Spanish Steps. The next day will entail trips to the Vatican to visit the Pope, all while being treated like Ceaser Augustus....Let's be honest...we will probably spend half our time there standing in lines to see 2000 year old crumbling architecture all while avoiding pickpocketers seeking to wreak havoc on innocent tourists. its kind of fun to imagine though.
Ciao! - Mattimus Jamus Kinnivus, Ruler of the armies of the North and Servant to the Once True Emperor Marcus Aurelius...Or...Don Mattheus, head of the most famed mob family in all of Italy...If you don't comment on this blog...you'll find yourself swimming with the fishes.
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