Italy - Pisa & Venice & Home

Sunday was once again spent traveling and on our way to Venice we stopped by Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. The Tuscany region is stunningly beautiful. It's probably my favorite zone of Italy. And the weather in Pisa that day was fantastic and sunny, a nice contrast to the cold in Florence the day before.

There isn't much to see in Pisa, aside from the Field of Miracles with the church, baptistery, and bell tower (the Leaning Tower), so we spent the afternoon lounging around on the grass, enjoying the weather and each other's company. We took all the cheesy, touristy photos "leaning" against the Tower and everything and eventually worked our way up to making pyramids in front of the Tower. We really wanted to do one with the whole group, but the biggest one we managed to make was with 10 people. For a bit of the afternoon, several of us rented these bike-things to ride around the city. That was fun (and some good practice for driving!).

Supporting the Tower. haha

The church and the Tower.

The bike-car-thingy we rented.

Later they kicked us off the grass, so not long after that we headed on towards Venice. That night though, we went out on the town to celebrate Josh's 18th birthday. We went out to a bar/club and then headed back to round up the night on the beach in front of our hotel.

Venice was definitely one of my favorite stops we made. Monday, we woke up and went to the boat that would take us to Venice. Technically, Venice is part island and part mainland city, but the city that everyone thinks of as Venice is the island part. There was a problem with our tour guide, meaning we had some free time, so a small group of us that were interested went and found the cheapest priced gondola ride we could. It was 80€, but since we split it between the 6 of us, it wasn't that bad. And getting to ride around Venice through the canals in a gondola was definitely worth it. Our guide finally showed up and we were shown around the city and St. Mark's Square and inside St. Mark's and the other main sights, like the Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. We got to see a glass-blowing demonstration, which was astounding (the rapidity of the glass-blower to make a beautifully crafted vase mainly). After that, we were free to wander the city and some of us went to see the Rialto Bridge.

Evan and Caitriona with our gondolier, Antonio.

Standing on the Rialto, overlooking the Grand Canal.

St. Mark's Basilica and St. Mark's Square.

Tuesday was the worst day because it was our last day together. We were all exhausted from having stayed up the night before hanging out and signing postcards, kinda in the style of yearbooks or whatnot. I didn't have that many postcards, so I had people write their notes in my Rick Steves' Italy guidebook that my (real) parents had given me. I did that, because I was constantly passing it out to people or referring to it to explain things to people. I was declared the "unofficial tour guide" within the group. haha...
Anyways, we spent Tuesday sleeping on the bus to Milan and then flying from Milan to Madrid, where we ended up missing our train since the flight had been slightly delayed, and we made our goodbyes and headed to the train station to get our tickets changed and we came home.

All in all, they were some of the 9 best days of my life and I made 22 amazing new friends (or deepened an already existing friendship).

Currently listening to:
Song: Running Out Of Days
Artist: 3 Doors Down
Album: Away From the Sun

Italy - Asis & Florence

After Rome and Naples, we got up and headed to Florence. Since it was only about a half-day of travel, on the way we stopped in Asis, the birthplace/origin of St. Francis of Asis. It was a pretty small town, but the church was interesting, as it had several different levels and then the catacomb-esque tomb of St. Francis. Asis had to be my least favorite of everything, but that's only because there wasn't really anything to do, but the city was cool because of the history is has with St. Francis and everything.

In the plaza in front of the church in Asis.

Lunch was in Asis and then we continued on to Florence and went to the hotel.

Saturday was spent in Florence. The morning was spent being led around by our guide and the afternoon we had free. We hit the Duomo (the call it that, but duomo is Italian for cathedral), Santa Maria del Fiore, again, but only from the outside. A small group of us decided to pay the 6.50€ to enter the Gallery of the Accademia, where they have Michelangelo's David. That statue was worth every penny. It's breathtaking: in size, in detail, in everything. We also stopped and saw the Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery (but didn't go into the gallery as the lines were ridiculously long). Florence was nice because it was really easy to find our way around as we just wandered through the city, stopping at the different markets and sights that caught our eye. While we were there, about 8 of us took the opportunity to buy some Italian leather items: 2 girls bought leather gloves and the rest bought leather jackets. It was the first time I'd ever had to haggle the price for something and I think it went pretty well.

Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence.

Piazza della Signiora in Florence.

Michelangelo's David (they didn't allow photography, so this is the only shot I got, but I couldn't NOT take a picture to show I'd been there...haha)

Next: Pisa & Venice!

Currently listening to:
Song: Details in the Fabric
Artist: Jason Mraz
Album: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

Italy - Rome & Naples/Capri

There are so many stories from the Italy trip, so I'll just keep this to a quick run through of what we did and save the stories for later.

Sunday the 15th, Cassie and Maddy came down to spend the night here since we had a really early train to catch. I showed them around Alicante and the beaches and then we had Mac & Cheese that Maddy had with her for dinner. Yummy!

Monday, we got up and took the train (business class tickets - that was an interesting experience!) to Madrid and then the metro to the airport, where we eventually met up with the other students. They could be divided into 3 groups: those I remembered, those I remembered but not the names, and those I didn't know. So we all got introduced or re-introduced. Then we caught our flight to Rome.

Once in Rome, we found our bus, went to eat dinner and then headed to the hotel to get settled in.

Tuesday began the actual tour. After picking up our guide for Rome, we started with a bus tour hitting the main sights: some old Roman baths, the Circo Maximo, the Colosseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill, etc. Then we got off the bus and walked around on foot and passed through the Trastevere neighborhood and the Jewish quarter and we saw some more ruins (they're everywhere), the place where Caesar got killed, and the Castel Sant'Angelo. Then we rushed to make it to lunch on time, so we would have time to get into the Colosseum. After lunch we went back to the Colosseum and we went inside. It was amazing and a dream come true, to be there. After the Colosseum, we went around Rome a little and we saw the Arch of Constantine, the Forum and Palatine Hill up close, Trajan's Column, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, and we had our first gelato! Then came dinner and the night tour of Rome's plazas and fountains. We went to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Four Rivers Fountain and Plaza Navona. At the Trevi Fountain, we all threw in the coins to come back to Rome.

Caesar got killed somewhere in here.

Inside the Colosseum.

In front of the Trevi Fountain.

Wednesday, we actually went to a different country. But since the Vatican is basically a giant museum, I don't know how it can be a country but it is! haha
The Vatican wasn't that interesting but that's because we spent most of the time looking at statues, mosaics, or paintings, but they were kinda cool. We saw all the Popemobiles from the different epochs, we got to see the Sistine Chapel (Amazing!), and we went into St. Peter's Basilica, which is enormous, and we saw Michelangelo's "Pieta" statue too. And we saw some Swiss guards.

The Pope's balcony, from St. Peter's Square.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica.

After the Vatican, we had a free afternoon, so we split up and my group went back to see the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon with less of a rush. We also did some shopping and tried some famous "death by chocolate" gelato, which was good but not that rich.

The next day, Thursday, was a day trip to Naples and the island of Capri. Really it was a trip to Capri, because we barely spent any time in Naples, which I didn't like, because I really wanted to see Pompeii, which is right next to Naples. But Capri was beautiful, even though the weather was a little chilly.

Naples and Mt. Vesuvius.

On the island of Capri.

We ate lunch on the island and then wandered around Naples for about half an hour before returning to Rome to spend the night.
Next: Asis and Florence!

Currently listening to:
Song: Not A Man
Artist: Celebrity Chimp
Album: Celebrity is the New Royalty

3 teens, 2 days, 1 city...(Part 3 of 3)

Sunday, we split up a little. We went to see the Tower of London from up close. I decided that I should enter at least one of the historic landmarks we were seeing, and so paid the £14.50 student price (instead of the normal £17 price. Either way, the price is ridiculous.) to get in, while Luis and Juanmi went to see a couple modern architectural landmarks they wanted to see. The Tower was impressive. Between replicas of the torture machines used when it was a prison, engravings on the walls left by the prisoners that are still there today, the displays of old armor, the interactive museum, and the Crown Jewels, it was definitely worth the price. I took a lot of pictures, including some of the Jewels, which techincally is prohibited, but I couldn't NOT photograph every step of the trip.



Running about 10 minutes late, I met up with Luis and Juanmi outside the Tower and we went to see St. Paul's Cathedral. After that, the day went downhill.
We left the cathedral, our map almost blew away, we headed down the main street looking for the Metro station, it started raining, we realized we'd lost the map and also gotten lost, we walked about 10-15 blocks in the rain until we found a station, which happened to be on one of the two central lines through downtown London which were closed that weekend for repair, we walked another couple blocks in the rain to another station, realized we really didn't have any more time to see anything more. So we headed to the restaurant Masiel had recommended for lunch before heading home. However, the whole street of restaurants was closed! We ended up going to Wok-in-a-Box, where they only accepted cash. I used the last of mine, and Luis only had the £20 note. Uh-oh (earlier that day, buying the train/metro tickets, we'd tried to use the note to buy them, but the ticket agent justed started laughing, saying it was a really old note and asking where we'd gotten it!). The Chinese woman behind the register just stared at it for awhile, before calling over her workmate, and then the other, and the other, and finally the manager. After all 5 of them had looked it over, they finally took it. And so ended the saga of the old £20 note.

After lunch, we went home, thanked Masiel, grabbed our suitcases and took the train to the airport. However, due to construction that started THAT day, we ended up taking 4 trains instead of 2 and we missed the check-in for the flight by 10 minutes!!! They wouldn't reopen for us, so we had to pay £35 each to catch the next flight to Alicante. So instead of flying out Sunday night at 6:50PM, we had to fly home Monday morning at 6:35AM!!! As such, we had to spend the night in the airport. Between sleeping on the benches, calling the parents to explain how we'd missed the flight, and trying to exchange 2€ so I could use a computer and check my debit card (that I'd been using all weekend) and send an email, it was an interesting night. It was also an interesting end to a fun weekend.

Sleeping on the benches in the airport.

My legs/feet were killing me after so much walking, but it was worth it, to get to see London.
Next week: ITALY!!!

More in PARTS 1 & 2!!!

Part 1: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-city.html
Part 2: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-citypart-2-of-3.html

Currently listening to:
Song: Elgar/Something Inside
Artist: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Album: August Rush Soundtrack