Pictures from ROME!

Aaaaaaaaalright people, sorry it took so long but here's some pictures from ROME. I'll be posting the rest of the Rome trip as soon as I've got it all typed up but hopefully these will be amusing.

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DAYS 4 & 5

Day 4 (29 March 2008) – Leaving Barcelona, Arriving in Rome

Ah! Days of travel! There really are few things worse than traveling all day. Something that should be relaxing quickly becomes stressful and takes every last ounce of energy right out of you. Plus, being the one who has to organize the trip and make sure that everything falls into place and that you get everywhere on time and all that (as opposed to your dad doing it all for you!) is an added stress! Never would I have dreamed that raveling would take this much concentration and energy.

Anyway, moving on. Check out from our hostel in Barcelona was at 11 am and we had to catch the bus from the bus station around the same time to be in the Girona Airport in time for our flight so sleeping in ceased to be an option. Fortunately we made it out of the hostel and to the bus stop and consequently to the airport in time for all of this. Once again, Ryanair proved sufficient and we made it onto and through the flight with little to no hassle (thank God!).

Flying into Rome over the Mediterranean Sea was again a highlight of the trip. I really can’t stress enough how surreal the whole ordeal truly is. Lu seems to feel somewhat the same way. I feel myself randomly smiling or giggling and when she asks me why, I can’t come up with any better answer than, “We’re in Italy!” Only in my wildest and most hopeful dreams did I ever think I’d be here. But throwing sentiment aside, seeing Italy from the sky was gorgeous, even in the tail end of winter/beginning of Spring. The sun was again shining and I was again thankful. Upon arrival, we were again a bit confused where to go, but found the Terravision Bus (with the help of a nice man who pointed it out to us) and hopped on. On a completely unrelated note, we didn’t have to go through passport control or customs when we arrived in Italy which I thought was a bit odd. I was frustrated I didn’t get an Italy stamp in my passport! Anyway, 40 minutes later after sitting on a bus listening to two obnoxious Americans having a rather loud conversation behind me we had arrived in Rome! And a rather sketchy part it seemed, as well. We were apparently at the big central bus/metro station, but despite the fact that we felt even more than lost we found the metro, bought at 3 day pass, and attempted to follow the directions we had to get to our hostel (which is somewhere north, just outside of Rome).

After another hefty amount of walking carrying my heavy suitcase (why did I buy a bag without wheels!?) through the metro station we finally found our train and got to our station, but the directions said we had to change to an above-ground train, but we didn’t really know where that was, and all the signs were in Italian! Upon leaving the station, we ended up finding the train and got on. 20 minutes later we arrived at our destination but from here we were supposed to catch a shuttle bus directly to the hostel. By this point, its about 6:15pm and the part of town we were now in looked even *more* sketchy! We must have looked really lost coming out of the station though because within a minute or two this chick comes up to us and asks if we we’re British. Without even thinking, I said that I was! So she asks if we’re trying to get to the hostel and she points us towards the bus. Thankful beyond measure we started walking to the bus she had pointed us to, but she corrected me and explained that they (she and her friend) were waiting for it too! Without her help I really wonder if we should have found the place. But we did and the shuttle bus brought us to this campsite/hostel that we were to stay at.

I must admit that after the success of our hostel room in Spain I was a bit apprehensive to see what a room at some campsite outside Rome that was cheaper would be like. We checked in and got our key and were pleasantly surprised. Being situated outside central Rome, the Tiber Campsite/Hostel is quiet and quaint. It’s gorgeous with all the greenery, kept up beautifully, and is actually very safe. There is a restaurant/bar and a little market as well as a swimming pool. Our room is actually half of a portable trailer that’s been split into two rooms. But we each have a comfortable bed and a shower. Its perfect! The only drawback is that we’re a bit far from the city, but I think we’ll make it work.

After getting situated in the hostel we ventured down to the restaurant because we hadn’t eaten anything all day. The restaurant, to our surprise, was both cheap and cute. It feels like a Macaroni Grill except cheaper and more laid back. The pasta was to die for and the wine was tasty as well. Lu and I managed to finish an entire bottle of white wine and the waiter (who was quite cute, I might add) looked impressed. We sat talking for another hour and after some dessert and coffee (thank God for coffee!) we decided to call it a night. We’re off to explore Rome itself tomorrow and I couldn’t be happier!

Day 5 (30 March 2008) – ROME, Italy

Last night might be the first time I can honestly say that I didn’t really sleep. Despite going to bed at a decent time and being exhausted from all the aforementioned traveling, I could *not* fall asleep last night. Literally, I don’t think I actually even dozed off until about 5 or 6am and my alarm went off at 8am! I think it was the coffee. Well, that and our room was quite cold as well. Its lovely and adorable, but really cold. And we’re next to the restaurant/bar so its not exactly quiet until that closes at about 1am. Anyway, I spent the night tossing and turning, so after I’d finally fallen asleep waking up and taking a shower was not something I wanted to do. But alas, I sucked it up and got in the shower by 8:30am so that Lu could take one after me and we could catch the shuttle bus by 9:30am. All went according to plan and we were off on the shuttle, then to the metro which felt considerably less complicated this time.

On the agenda for the day was to see the Coliseum. I know it sounds incredibly cliché, but words truly can’t describe my awe at actually seeing this structure in real life. There it was, a mountain of stone just sitting there with people all crowded around. Again, it was something that I’d always dreamed of seeing after learning about it in school and seeing it in movies but never truly thought I’d get to see it. Immediately the cameras were out and I was snapping my first shots of the Roman Coliseum. But though the outside was incredible, we wanted to go inside.

Almost immediately we were hounded by a tour guide promising to help us beat the queues and gain access to parts of the building that the public doesn’t normally see all for the price of 15 euro! But, it was free admission day so we initially passed on his offer. Again, we were hounded by another this time offering a tour for 12 euro. Not wanting to wait in the queue (which according to the guide would take us about 2 hours to get through) and also wanted information about the place rather than just the sight of it, we paid the 12 euro and went on the tour. In all, it turned out to be slightly useless. I think the only thing we learned from the tour guide (or the only thing that stuck, at least, because she must have repeated it every 4 or 5 minutes) was that not everything that was there was actually part of the ancient structure. Apparently when the Coliseum was slightly restored, some new brick had been added to the old brick, and our tour guide felt that this was the most important point of the whole tour. New brick and old brick. It became a running joke for the rest of the trip. Old brick and new brick. New brick and old brick. Anyway, after the useless tour we got to wander around and take pictures… of the old and new brick.

To be perfectly honest, while immense and impressive, I had imagined the place to be a bit larger. The arena is big, but not enormous. But looking on it, after a while both Lu and I agreed that filled with people, and in its heyday, the Coliseum must have been truly spectacular and unprecedented. There was a neat exhibit in it as well with a bunch of original Roman artifacts which was interesting as well. To see things (carvings, busts, coins and such) that previously had only been pictures in a book until this point was both amazing and fun.

Following the Coliseum, we ate lunch at a cute little restaurant on the street, getting pizza from a buy who spoke very little English. Yay. I feel like a snobby American at places like that even though I try not to be one. It’s no wonder why Americans have a bad rep internationally… we don’t make the most agreeable tourists. But, moving on! Our tour guide had told us that for the 12 euro we had already paid we could take a tour of the Palatine Hill/Forum at 2pm. Well, Lucy and I had forgotten (or did we just not know?) about Daylight Savings time, so when we an hour late for the tour, we realized we’d been an hour behind all day! Fortunately for us, there was another tour at 3:30 so we took that one instead.

The Palatine Hill and the Ruins of the ancient Roman Forum are really nothing more than excavated ruins, but it is incredible. It was surreal (again) to be standing at Rome’s heart: the Forum, and to see Emperor’s palaces and homes and stone that’s thousands of years old in pillars, busts, arches, and very recognizable pieces of buildings. Again, we took an insane amount of pictures like any (and every) self respecting tourist. I think what I liked most about it was that it wasn’t just stone. Since it had been in ruins for so long, there was grass and greenery growing all around it!

And that was pretty much it for the day. I had made it through the whole day without sleep, and this far into the trip Lucy and I can still stand each other. It was nice to be able to actually stay in explore both the Coliseum and the Forum without feeling rushed instead of trying to pack too much into the day. Wanting to make it back to our hostel before the sun had been set for long, we headed back toward the metro station by about 7pm. It was a great day. It really was and taking pictures of all of it never got old. We started at the Coliseum and finished there as well, and I took way too many pictures both times. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

We made it back to the hostel fine, and got some food and now here’s hoping that I actually sleep tonight. I didn’t have any coffee with my dinner (or all day, in fact) so here’s hoping. I did have wine with dinner though in hopes that that would send me to sleep. I love the fact that you can get a pitcher of the house wine out here for about 4 euros. It’s awesome. I’m going to miss that.

Pictures from SPAIN

Check those bad boys out right here! I'll put pictures up from Italy in the next day or so, so keep checking back. And don't forget to read the most recent post all about the rest of the Barcelona segment of the trip.... 'twas fun!

PICTURES

BARCELONA - Days 2 & 3

Day 2 (27 March 2008) – Barcelona, SPAIN

After a night’s sleep with cars continually roaring outside, when the alarm went off at 9:45 am, neither I nor Lucy wanted to get out of bed! We finally rolled out by about 10:15ish and took some showers, got some toast for breakfast and finally got out of the apartment by 12:30! The best part about the morning, apart from sleeping in of course, was that when I got out of the shower Lucy had blown up balloons and put a little “Happy Birthday” banner up on the wall. She also got me a card which she had signed in eyeliner because she had forgotten a pen. It was great! The whole thing made me really happy. Its really strange to be in a different country for my birthday, especially my 21^st, seeing as how I’ve been in Europe for the past 7 months and buying alcohol (in moderation, of course!) for the entire time! Haha.

Anyway, we made it out by about 12:30 and started walking toward this church/temple thing called The Sagrada Familia. (Church of the Sacred Family). It’s Antoni Gaudi’s (an famous architect who designed seemingly everything in Barcelona) ambitions project that was left unfinished with his death in the early 1900’s. Since then, other architects have taken up the arduous task of finishing the project, though the end seems to be in the distant future at best. Anyway, the part of the building that is finished is incredibly detailed and impressive. The finished project is to have 12 pillars representative of the apostles, 4 more representing the writers of the gospels, another for the Virgin Mary, and finishing off the structure is the massive tower/pillar in the center representing Jesus rising an impressive and imposing 170 meters into the air. Each face of the temple (or façade) tells Jesus’ story also, one side depicting the nativity, the opposite depicting the Passion/Crucifixion, and another depicting the Resurrection & subsequent glory.

Gaudi is quite famous for his work in Barcelona. We saw two other houses by him which were also very cool but we didn’t get to go inside. The remainder of the day was spent walking through this street called La Rambla which has little touristy shops and such around it and also a little covered market in which I found some small chiles! I bought a couple and tried to roast them in the oven back at the flat but I only somewhat succeeded. I put the one chile that I managed not to burn on my pizza that night and it was lovely! Lucy was laughing at me.

Anyway, today has been rather uneventful but because of all the walking, Lu and I were both quite pooped. Tomorrow is our last day in Barcelona so we’re going to try to make the most of it. Lucy said there’s this really cool fountain on the other side of the city that I think we might check out tomorrow night. It’s supposed to be quite impressive.

So we finished off today by trying to find somewhere to eat. After polishing off the last of the pizza we weren’t too hungry, so we went in search of a not too sketchy looking bar/pub/restaurant. What we ended up finding and going to was an Irish Rock Pub. I know, we’re in Spain and we go to an Irish Pub…. Haha I’m sorry. But it was cool because the had some live jazzy/bluesy acoustic music, and the chick who was singing actually sounded pretty good. I got my beer on my 21^st so I was happy.

Day 3 (28 March 2008) – Barcelona, SPAIN

Well, the good news is that Lu and I managed to sleep really good through the traffic last night, but the bad news is that we were awoken this morning by some guy using a jack hammer outside (all morning, I might add) directly in front of our building. Talk about unpleasant. Oh well. We slept in again this morning so maybe we deserved it. Being in Barcelona, we didn’t really have a ton of stuff we wanted to see, so we’ve been sleeping in a bit and then walking around all afternoon. It’s been nice. Plus, we didn’t make t back to the room til late last night, having stayed at the pub.

On the agenda today was to go to El Poble Espanya, which is a small village type thing of old Spanish buildings that have since been converted to shops and restaurants, but it shows off old architecture in a compact space. It was a bit away from where we were staying though, but as we didn’t have much else to do today and as the metro was going to be slightly expensive, we walked! It really is incredible how much walking we’ve done since we got here. But the weather was decent and we were able to stop in a Spanish book store and get some food along the way.

We made it to El Poble Espanya by about 5pm and spent the next two hours wandering around in and out of shops and galleries some of which were adorable and others very interesting, like the glass blowing workshop, or the modern art exhibition where we were able to see some of Picasso’s (lesser known but still original) work.

By about 7pm, the sun was threatening to set so we began walking to this massive fountain in front of the art museum. We amused ourselves by sitting down and watching the fountain do an impressive light show (complete with loud music) from the steps. With all the colors of the lights and the shooting water and the music it truly was spectacular. Both Lu and I were quite mesmerized, along with a few thousand other people all crowded around the museum and the fountain.

There’s quite a few tourists here. It’s interesting walking around on the streets because you can hear a variety of different languages and see countless numbers of people holding maps, guide books, and cameras all looking confused. Oh to be a tourist… there really is nothing like it! Its also interesting to see and experience a different culture, though, and to notice the little things that are different. For instance, you can buy beer in McDonalds, or a sandwich at Starbucks! Fortunately for Lu and I, the language barrier in Spain isn’t as large as it could be. I think both of us are a little nervous to go to Rome, though, because neither of us speak Italian!

Well, being tired from all our walking, we started to head back to the hostel but stopped at The Happy Bar & Grill for dinner. It was tasty, and it reminded me of a Chile’s or an Applebee’s. After dinner we came back, quite tired but happy for our final day in Barcelona, and trying to get ready to head to ROME tomorrow.

"Take a Holiday in Spain, Leave my Wings Behind Me..."

Hey Everyone! Well Lucy and I made it to Spain & Italy and back safe and sound. We had an amazing time, took an incredible amount of pictures, attempted to sleep enough, and saw a bit of Europe neither of us had seen before. Overall, the entire trip was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Anyway, I kept a journal while we were out there, so I’m just going to type it up and put it up here over the next week, one or two days at a time. I apologize as it’s fairly long, if you don’t want to read the whole thing, then don’t! Haha, but seriously, the trip was a ton of fun, and hopefully I can put pictures up in the next few days.

Day 1 (26 March 2008) - Barcelona, SPAIN

Well, I must admit that I am, in fact, writing this on my birthday (March 27), but its still in the morning and we haven’t actually left the room yet, so I can tell you all about yesterday without having to spill into today. Anyway, getting to Spain was relatively easy. After fighting with Ryanair’s ridiculous charging policies, where you pay a fee for EVERYTHING, we finally had our tickets booked, and as the day for departure drew near, we realized that we still didn’t have anywhere to stay! So we got on HostelWorld.com and began our search for cheap and clean accommodation. After a bit of searching we found two places (one in Barcelona and another in Rome) each where we had a room to ourselves. Thank God.

So the night before leaving found Lucy and I packing at midnight, despite the fact that I had to be up by 4am to take a shower to leave by 5am to be at the airport no later than 6:15am to catch a plane that left at 8:05am. Honestly. Anyway, I finally made it to bed at about 1 am, and didn’t do more than doze in and out of sleep for the next 3 hours when my alarm went off and I found myself up once again and in the shower. So 5am we leave and Lucy’s dad drops us off at the London Stansted Airport at 6am, we check in for our flight, go through security, and board the plane (after getting coffee and breakfast!) without hassle. I was thankful for an uneventful trip.

Well, we finally made it to Spain, and I have to go through a different passport control than Lucy because I am not a citizen of the EU (European Union), but she is. So the man at passport control was a bit grumpy, but I’m sure dealing with incompetent foreigners who don’t speak your language all day can’t really be the most fun job in the world. But nonetheless we made it through, got our bags, and attempted to find a way from the airport actually *into* Barcelona. Ryanair, being a budget airline, flies into tiny airports outside of big cities, but they usually have a shuttle service that can get you there. SO we hop on the Barcelona Bus and begin driving across the Spanish countryside. Even in the end of winter with all the trees still dead Spain is lovely. And Barcelona has mountains! They reminded me of home. In fact, it looked like Spain was a mixture of New Mexico and England… however that works. Anyway, besides the mountains, the best part was that the sun was shining which was especially appreciated seeing as we had left a particularly dreary England that morning!

Well, an hour and a half later we pull into the bus station in Barcelona, but as we’d never been there before, and see as how everything was in Spanish/Catalan, we didn’t have a blessed clue where we were or where we were supposed to go from there! So shouldering our bags, we began walking figuring that if we could find a street, then we could figure out where we were on the map. Meanwhile, we’re trying to call the guy at the hostel to let him know we made it so that we can get the key to our room. With the hostel not actually having a front desk, and basically being no more than a rented out apartment, instead of checking in, we were supposed to call the hostel when we got there and then they would meet us in front of the building and then they give you the key. After fighting about who was going to call, I made the phone call (telling Lu she then had to do the calling Italy, which didn’t make her too happy!) and fortunately, the guy spoke English. Also, the hostel wasn’t far from the bus station and we had no difficulty finding it. We had to wait outside for a few minutes because we were early, but then this hot emo Spanish boy came and let us in, showed us around, we paid for the room, and we were set.

The room was perfect. For the price we paid, I didn’t think we could have found anything better. There were two incredibly comfortable beds in a very clean room in a flat in an apartment building on the 5^th floor. Also in the flat is a kitchen, a sort of common room, and two bathrooms, all of which were in great shape and very clean. The only drawback was that we were on one of the busier streets in the city so we could hear loud traffic all night. But hey, you take what you can get, right? Despite the traffic, we still managed to sleep just fine.

Anyway, we got all situated and dumped our stuff in the room and decided to explore the city (after taking pictures of our Spanish room, that is). It was only about 2pm, so we had plenty of daylight left. We didn’t go anywhere in particular, save the beach, but we walked around the side of town we were staying in, in and out of little streets, finally arriving at the beach. Seeing the Mediterranean Sea, even if it was only for 10 minutes in cold weather with cloud cover was AWESOME. Lucy was laughing at me, but I took my shoes off immediately and ran to put my feet in the freezing water. It was surreal; the Mediterranean (and Spain for that matter) is one of those places I’d learned about in school, always wanted to see, but never really thought I’d find a chance to. And yet here I was, running away from the tiny wave, which still somehow managed to get my jeans wet! But Lucy, who despises sand, didn’t appear to be having near as much fun as I was, and it was cold, and my jeans were wet so we sat down on a rock so I could de-sand my feet and head back. As we were walking back it started to sprinkle, but it never properly poured down, which was nice as neither of us had umbrellas.

Making it back to the flat, we were both quite exhausted from the day and lack of sleep, but we needed some food so we set off to find a grocery store and had a bit of a hard time finding one. Finally, we found one, got some pizza, and came back to the room to eat, talk, and sleep. Having no TV and being far too tired to go out, we fell asleep reading by about 10:30 pm feeling like rubbish tourists for going to bed so early!