Back to Vienna

We returned to Vienna via train on Saturday. Again, a really pretty trainride. I guess it was kind of similar to how a drive through Missouri looks, but it seemed a little greener, a little cuter. But I guess I haven’t been in Missouri for a while, so I’m not sure how it really looks.

The remainder of the day was spent exploring the area, and especially spending some quality time down in Naschmarkt, a great street market full of amazing food, wine and antique vendors. It was so much fun walking through all the crowded stalls, checking out the variety of food— fish and squid, piles of freshly made bread and cheese and a variety of what seemed like veggie tapas. Pete and I bought some ricotta stuffed cherry tomatoes, olives and artichoke hearts. We had some incredible kebaps, which here are made of doner meat (could be lamb, beef, mutton, or goat) cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off, tomatoes, lettuce and a tsaziki sauce wrapped in a pita-like bread. Since everything came to the market that morning, it was incredibly fresh and delicious. I also had some falafel, intrigued by it since my roommates had raved about it since being in Europe. Falafel is Middle Eastern food, a fried ball or patty made from spiced fava beans or chickpeas. It’s definitely an interesting taste, and when you have it with hummus or some other dressing, it’s absolutely fabulous.


Here's a picture I took offline to show you what doner meat looks like. They just slice it off the spit and put it in your kebap.


Pete enjoying (?) his kebap. Very goofy.

I know I’ve been raving about food a lot lately. I’ve come to realize that a lot about exploring another culture is about going out to eat and trying the native dishes of the country you’re visiting. I have almost as much fun doing that as sightseeing, which may have negative consequences for my weight, but that's ok. Totally worth it. When am I going to get the chance to eat grilled sausages and saurkraut in Austria again? Probably not anytime soon, if ever.


A really cool picture I took walking down the street our hostel was on. New next to old.

When it got dark, Pete and I decided to explore the city by night, taking a walk around the Ringstrasse. The entire old part of the city is surrounded by this beautiful, pedestrian friendly road, where you pass by some of the city's most beautiful buildings. It was finally not raining or snowing, so we took up the opportunity. We stopped at the City Hall building which looked like Cinderella’s castle. During the winter, they have a huge ice skating rink out front that they have decorated to look like a winter wonderland. We missed it by a couple of weeks, though my flatmates were able to see it when they went to Vienna over winter break. Regardless, it was so beautiful, as is the entire city in general.


Part of our nightwalk.


City Hall/Cinderella's castle.


Pete and I on our nightwalk.

We ducked later into a pub we went to our first night in Vienna for a late night snack of pretzel, a couple sausages and a pint. But by that point, I was pretty beat from the traveling and the walking, so we didn’t stay out too long. Plus, knowing we had to do Easter mass the next morning was more incentive not to stay out too late. So we called it a night.

The next morning, we got up early and attended Easter mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, right in the heart of Vienna. The inside is absolutely spectacular, and though there were people taking pictures, I still didn’t feel it appropriate to do so. St. Stephen’s is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, so the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, presided over the mass. What was really cool was that they had a full orquestra and choir singing the songs of Beethoven and Handel throughout the entire mass. Given that I didn’t understand a word that was being said over mass, the whole experience was much more like a concert than an actual service. But we were able to take communion and every once in a while sing “Hallelujah,” say “Amen” and do the sign of the cross, so I guess there was some familiarity. Overall though, kind of cool that you could say you had Easter mass in one of Europe’s largest and oldest cathedrals.

We enjoyed a nice Easter brunch and then checked out a cute Easter market set up in one of the city squares, full of handmade decorated eggs that are hollowed out and you see on people’s Christmas trees a lot. It’s fun to look at crafts at these kind of markets. I know my mom would have loved it.


The little Easter market.

To actually be tourists, I dragged Pete to the Hofburg area, where we went to 3 museums in one, the Silberkammer, the Sisi Museum and the Kaiserappartements. The first is a ridiculously large collection of silverware, place settings, and general lavish table décor that you have no idea what its actual purpose is. Pete and I weren’t so interested in this part, overwhelmed by the sheer gaudiness and amount of it all. It was all used by the Hapsburgs, the famous line of Emperors and Empresses that ruled Austria and Austria-Hungary from the 1300s up until WWI. The Sisi Museum gave us an inside look into the most famous empress, Elisabeth, who was married to Emperor Franz Joseph and lived in the 1800s. Her life has been documented by so many movies, that I guess a specific museum to her was deemed acceptable, or at least a big money maker. The Kaiserappartements are the still decorated rooms from Franz Joseph and Elisabeth when they used the Hofburg Palace area as their summer home. It was all fairly interesting, though Pete and I kind of burned out on the palace thing, since we’ve both seen so much of it. Probably not worth the admission fee to see it all, but I felt good knowing I at least did something really touristy.


Part of the Hofburg


Before I realized you couldn't take pictures, I snapped a shot of a room of golden candlesticks. Pretty extravagant.


The Schonbrunn Palace, another part of the Hofburg area.


In a park in the Hofburg area. It doesn't date back to ancient times, but was still pretty. You can see City Hall in the left of the frame.


The Ringstrasse that we would walk around in the evenings.

We walked around the Hofburg area a little more, enjoying the outdoor gardens and gorgeous buildings. In the evening, we hit up an area called the Bermuda Triangle, full of bars that stay open really late. We bar-hopped around, enjoying live music and each other’s company late into the night. A good way to have our last evening together.


We bought liter steins, which as you can see was huge. But this is the way Austrians, and Germans for that matter, do it, so we tried to be in tune with the culture. Don't worry, we spread the drinking out over a couple of hours.

I left the following afternoon, so just spent the morning laying low and checking out of the hostel. I would go back to Vienna in a heartbeat. It was an absolutely gorgeous city with so much history that I’d like to explore even more. There are so many great public gardens that were just on the verge of blooming that if I could come back in May or June and enjoy the city in nice, non-snowing weather, I definitely would.

It was hard saying good-bye to Pete, as usual. We both realize how lucky we are, to not only be able to study in Europe at the same time, but to be able to travel together. He’s a great travel companion. We always have so much fun wherever we go, which will include Ireland in a week and Spain in a month. It’s going to be a bummer when this is all over and we can’t “plot our conquest” of the foreign countries or be chased around by gypsies or Cape Crusaders any more. Columbia in the fall will be amazing with him, as will the month of July when we’re both in Atlanta.

If I haven’t mentioned it already, I got an internship in Atlanta with a great company for the summer. I’ll be living with Pete’s mom, who has graciously taken me in. Pete won’t be back in the States until early July, but I’m on good terms with his friends, so I know I’ll have a good summer. It’s going to be fun getting to know a new region of the country and getting to know Pete’s friends and family better. I’m a little sad that I’ll have been away from the Midwest and KC for so long, but I do go to school there, so I really can’t complain. And my parents are of course wonderful in being supportive of everything and letting me go off and do my own thing for this semester and the summer. I guess that’s just where I am in life right now, and will be a year from now as well. Pretty scary, but really exciting at the same time.

Busy day today. I’ll need to update you on the past week because some fun stuff has happened, so I’ll do that as soon as possible.

BARtislava

This title is in honor of a cool T-shirt we found at the Slovak Pub during our visit. One of the waiters was wearing one that said “BARtislava” and we couldn’t have agreed more.

Don’t worry, we didn’t spend all our time in Bratislava, Slovakia in a pub. We started our Slavic adventure by catching a train from Vienna to Bratislava on Friday around noon. The ride is actually really pretty. You see the Carpathian Mountain Range appearing on the horizon and there a ton of beautiful green fields dotted with orange-roofed houses on the way.

We spent our afternoon in Bratislava walking around the old city, which is actually comprised of beautiful architecture, colorful buildings and lively squares. There were also a ton of statues just randomly spread out across the city. We strolled around, stopping at whatever caught our eye, and reveling in the fact that of all places, we found ourselves in Bratislava. Who does that? OK, I’m sure many, but Pete and I were amused by our somewhat random tourist destination. People we know have only heard about it because it’s the setting of the Hostel I and II movies, which I refuse to see since I rely on hostels while I’m over here. Don’t worry, we didn’t have any experiences like those in the movie.


Some of the colorful buildings in the town hall square.


Me being petted by Hans Christian Anderson.

We ended up climbing up a huge hill to Bratislava Castle. The museum inside the castle itself was closed, so we didn’t end up learning much about it, but it’s situation on top of this hill overlooking the city and the Danube River was absolutely stunning. We took a bunch of great pictures and spent a good amount of time up there taking in the whole damn thing.


The UFO-looking thing is a restaurant at the top of a bridge over the Danube River. We preferred cheaper dining, but it would have been a cool view.


The view of the Danube River and the Carpathians in the distance. It was beautiful.




Pete and Bratislava Castle.


Looking out onto Bratislava. I loved the orange roofs.






Me in another cute square.

It was during dinner that we made the most amazing discovery ever: Slovakia is so cheap! Cheaper than America! Hooray! We had a huge dinner at a wood fired pizza place that complete with beer, an appetizer, salads and a pizza AND tip ended up being 420 crowns, or $21. And it was good food! Needless to say, we hit up a couple other pubs to enjoy $1.50 pints. Try to imagine my joy, coming from a place where cheap pints are still almost $6. I was tempted to move after being here.


Yeah, that's a $1.50 pint right there.

We returned to Vienna on Saturday morning, but definitely could have handled another day in Bratislava. The people were really friendly and the atmosphere was really fun. Cheap pints or no, it was a worthwhile stay and a really cool place to say that I’ve visited. I was proud of ourselves for breaking out of the big city draw and giving it a chance. It should be interesting to watch Slovakia as time goes on to see how it ends up developing. You can definitely tell Bratislava is a growing city. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be able to drop back by in the future and see how it’s changed.


Contemplating the nature of existance.

Where the "w's" are pronounced as "v's"

So, I apologize for not posting sooner to let you know I survived my Eastern European adventures over Easter break. I got back Monday night, but have been a little bit of a bum since then and put off the inevitable novels of posts that I have to write.

Before I get into that, I just spent an interesting last hour reflecting on my London study abroad experience as I answered questions for an interview by my high school newspaper. They’re doing a feature story on studying abroad, and know that I always support my alma mater, especially the good ol’ Campus Crier, whenever I can.

I talked about all the things I’ve done and learned since being here, and realized that I really have accomplished quite a bit. Between sightseeing, traveling Europe, work and my fun work-related functions and just general exploration of the city, I feel like I’ve really made every minute worth it. There’s still a ton of stuff I want to see, places I’d like to eat at, and some shows/concerts to attend, but I feel that even working within a tight budget, I’ll be able to do most of the stuff. It’ll be nice now to slow down the sightseeing pace a bit since I’ve seen most of the major sights, and just take time to explore areas and see things just as someone who’s called London home for a while.

I also feel like I've grown up a bit, as cliché as that sounds. I feel a lot more self-reliant and have seen myself succeed here in this situation where I am expected to go to work every day and function as a normal Londoner. I've still got a bit of growth to go before I can take on "the big kid world" as I call it, but I'm feeling this was overall, a good step in the right direction.

I’m leaving London in four weeks, and it’s kind of a bittersweet realization. Whenever it comes up at work, Lillian looks at me and we’re both like, “Oh, let’s not talk about it!” I think we’re a good working pair and we’ll definitely miss each other when I’m gone. In general, I’ll miss quite a few things about London—its vivaciousness, its number of great stores and restaurants, the amazing public transportation, its history, my job, and my room/flatmates. But I think I’ll be happy to get back home and be more in my element again. Though Britain and America share a lot of similarities, I can’t see myself living long-term anywhere other than America. You can’t deny where you feel at home.

Enough of the sap…

Moving on to my Easter trip to Vienna (Wien) and Bratislava. I’ll probably break it up a bit to keep you from hating me.

In order to catch my flight to Vienna on Thursday morning, I had to stay the night in Heathrow Airport, as I yet again booked an early morning flight. Pete had to stay in Vienna by himself the night before, so I wanted to get there early, and I liked the idea of having a whole day to see the city. I didn’t end up sleeping in Heathrow, instead opting to take a nap before I left my flat and passing out on the flight.

Pete greeted me at the airport and we checked into our first hostel. I then officially capitalized on the fact that we were able to use the slightly less expensive Euro currency, and bought myself a cute spring jacket from H&M, something I’d been wanting for a bit. By the way, there were H&M’s on every corner in Vienna. I couldn’t believe it. We then went to the heart of downtown Vienna to explore the area and enjoy lunch. I had my first wiener schnitzel, a sort of deep fried pork sandwich, and Pete and I each enjoyed a good pint of Ottakringer, an Austrian beer.


St. Stephen's Cathedral. Note the gorgeous tiled roof. It was added on in the 1950s.

A close up of St. Stephen's Cathedral in central Vienna. It's a gorgeous Gothic building, but we couldn't tell if it was black because of a past fire. All the signs were in German.


You could take carriage rides all over the city.


Our very Austrian lunch of wiener schnitzel, fried zucchini and Ottakringer. Not so healthy, but so delicious.


There were a lot of buildings with this sort of architecture in Vienna. I really liked it.

It wouldn’t be a proper Pete and Sam trip if we did not have some enemy accosting us. As you may recall, in Paris it was the gypsies. In Austria, we had to battle the Cape Crusaders, men and women dressed up in capes in swarms in the high-tourist areas, trying to sell opera tickets to unsuspecting tourists. Ok, it’s actually a legit service. But their tactics are pretty low. One guy after trying to sell us a performance for Friday and hearing that we couldn’t go, tried to sell a ticket just to me, not Pete. I don’t know if it seemed to him like I expressed me interest in the whole idea or something, but Pete was not having any of it. Needless to say, we dodged the Cape Crusaders the rest of the trip. And that was a hard task, as they were so sneaky and seemed to pop up around every corner.

We later returned to central Vienna for a good Austrian dinner near St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The restaurant we selected ended up being really nice with fancy décor, classical music in the background and a great authentic menu. I opted for the quintessential Austrian selection with grilled sausages and bratwurst. We walked around and hit up a nearby bar to cap off the night, settling in a little early as I was drained from hardly any sleep the night before.

It ended up snowing quite a bit that first day. A weird cold front swept all of Europe this weekend—even London got some snow!—and the weather in Vienna was a bit schizophrenic the first day, with snow for a few minutes, then sun, then rain, then sleet, then thunder snow. Kind of frustrating, but kind of romantic when it was snowing.


Pete in the snow. They don't get that in Spain. Though he hides it behind his smile, he is unhappy with this situation.


St. Stephen's in the snow.

A Very Momas Weekend

I'm getting all ready for Easter break in Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia. My flight leaves Heathrow at an ungodly hour of the morning, but I'll be able to get a full day in Vienna when I arrive. Pete should be arriviing there shortly today, so he's going to meet me at the airport and we'll start our adventure. But before I start those, I need to get updated on the past week.

As you know, my mom and brother, Thom, came for a weekend. In the trend of simplifying names, I referred to them as "Momas" jokingly. They got in last Thursday morning, and unable to check into their hotel right away, dropped off their bags and met me for lunch at work. Seeing them that first time was so great. It was interesting however, that as we were talking and hanging out together, it was like I never left. Nothing's changed between us at all, not that I necessarily anticipated anything. It just seemed like any other semester when I drop home every few weekends for a visit. Except that, obviously, they were visiting in my current home, which is nothing like Kansas City.

When they arrived totally exhausted and jet-lagged, Denise, one of the intern supervisors, offered to book us a table at Century Club, so I got to treat "Momas" to a nice lunch of salmon appetizers and pork entrees, and they got to see why I always rave about the place. My boss, Lillian, met up with us a bit later and we had a really nice talk. My mom and brother absolutely loved Lillian and understand why I always talk about her and hold her in such high regard. London would not be the same if I didn't work for her.

After lunch, we headed back to Earls Court area so they could check in and take a quick nap. We enjoyed some pints and "pub grub" for dinner. Thom enjoyed a good steak and ale pie and I tried the shepperds pie (made of lamb). We both really liked the pies, but mine didn't come with that great pie crust outer layer, so I was determined to get another one in the near future. Thom and I went out for some more pints afterwards so he could enjoy the whole buying-alcohol-legally experience, but overall, we called it an early night, and prepared for our big day on Friday.

I once again lead a "death march" through the city on Friday. Our first stop, by Thom's request, was the Tower of London, renowned for all it's royal history and especially bloody history as it was used most as a prison. We went on a great guided tour by a Yeoman Warder, who actually lives within the Tower with his family. He was so funny and gave us some great stories that we would have missed otherwise.

Us with some of the Yeoman Warders, also what we may call "Beefeaters."


Our guide and big tour group.


Thom in front of the White Tower, the central part of the whole Tower of London complex. It's a really fortified area. You can tell why it's been around since the 1200s.

After the Tower, we enjoyed lunch and a stroll on the Tower Bridge, which most people mistake and call the London Bridge. No, the London Bridge is not so pretty. In fact, the original London Bridge now is in Arizona, as the man who bought it thought he was getting the pretty Tower Bridge. I'm sure he was disappointed.

Mom and Thom in front of the famous Tower Bridge.

We then walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral, where Mom proceeded to feed the birds with some leftover bread scraps of her lunch, which was one of her goals in life. I was very happy for her. She actually has most of the pictures from the trip, including these. Hopefully I can obtain them and upload them for you to see. It was actually really cute. The pigeons loved her.

Inside St. Paul's we saw all the sights and climbed the 430-something stairs to the top of the dome, looking out over London. Mom was proud of herself for completing that climb. Even I was worn out, so I would be proud too. I then treated them to a celebratory pint and chips (fries, remember) at my favorite English pub, Ye Olde Chesire Cheese. I think they liked it just as much as I do.

We were to meet my Uncle Dan and new aunt, Ellen, at the National Gallery at 4, so we hurried over there. All together, we spent a bit at the museum, looking at key paintings I pointed out. We then traveled to a nearby pub for a pint before heading to Porter's English Restaurant in nearby Covent Garden for our actual dinner. We had a great night together, and I absolutely love Ellen. I honestly felt like I'd known her longer than just a couple of hours. She is so friendly and has great stories, much like Dan. They both seem so happy, which is all one can ask for. I also achieved my goal of having a real chicken pie, pie crust and all. It was absolutely delicious. British food like pies and fish and chips are pretty heavy and not very healthy, but when you're in the mood for it, it totally hits the spot.


Ellen, me, Thom and Mom in Piccadilly Circus before we parted ways.

To top up our long day, I took Thom and Mom on a walking tour across a Thames River bridge and down to the Westminster area. The night lights of the city on the Thames are gorgeous, as you might recall from the night Pete and I walked across the Waterloo Bridge when he visited. Mom and Thom were troopers and stuck it out despite the long day.

Saturday I took Mom and Thom on a stroll up to Kensington Garden, via the route I take to class. Mom loved all the parks and flowers on the way. Thom is always a good sport when we start ooo-ing and aww-ing over all the "pretty flowers." I then gave them an abbreviated tour of nearby Imperial College, just to show them where I actually study during my study abroad experience. We then traversed over to Westminster Abbey, one of my favorite sights of London still. It was just as breathtaking and awe inspiring the second go around. I think they enjoyed it too. It's kind of like a movie star spotting-being so close to some of history's most famous individuals...well, with the exception that they are dead. Kind of morbid, I guess.

Our last major stop was the Imperial War Museum, one of the best museums I've ever been to. We explored the WWI and WWII exhibits and walked through a WWI trench that was designed to look and smell like the real thing. But my favorite part was the Holocaust exhibit. It was honestly one of the most moving and chilling things I’ve ever seen. I’ve grown up seeing images of the Holocaust, but never have I seen images so graphic and heard stories so heartwrenching. Mom and I cried for a bit as a result. I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s something that needs to be seen and understood by all.

Pam joined us for our last meal together was at none other than Hard Rock Café. Yes, a little pathetic to go for the American food, especially for Mom and Thom, but Pam and I kind of miss things like chicken fingers and quesadillas, in my case. Afterwards, I showed Mom and Thom the local wine bar I frequent, and later, Thom, Pam and I went out for a couple of drinks at another pub.

They left early Sunday morning, and I was a little sad seeing them go. I could have used another couple of days with them, not just to see the sights, but just to spend time together. A couple of years ago, I would not have just said those words at all, but it’s interesting how the time apart in college makes you enjoy your family a little more. Plus, the immenent reality of moving out and on with life in a little over a year makes me want to really enjoy the family time I do get with them. I wish Dad and John could have made it over, but I’m looking forward to seeing them when I get back. I’m trying to get some good souvenirs for them to help compensate.

I guess I’ll briefly touch on the other parts of the week. Monday was St. Patty’s Day! Hooray! I had the Irish music playing, the green on, and all that other overly cheesy stuff that the Irish do, and headed down the street with Pam to O’Neill’s pub. I had far too many Guinesses, but if there’s one day to go all out in that respect, this was it. We also picked up some cool hats while we were there! My flatmates, Alex and Steph, went to Dublin for the weekend, so my experience has nothing on theirs, however, it was a good celebratory evening.


Me, Pam and some random. Check out our cool Guiness/Shamrock hats!

Today’s class trip was to Houses of Parliament, which was kind of a surreal experience, somewhat similar to going to the White House, I guess. Except that Parliament is way prettier and has many more centuries of history. Each room was lavishly decorated in a neogothic style with gilded gold everywhere. We saw where the Queen processed in and sat during the House of Lords meetings. Unfortunately, photography was not permitted inside, so the best I’ll be able to give you when I upload the photos is the pretty recognizable exterior. I learned quite a bit about the British political system that I did not know before. For instance, the House of Lords (the other branch being the House of Commons) is comprised of unelected members, with individuals often inheriting rights into the House. The Prime Minister is the majority party leader in the House of Commons, which is set up to be more representative of the British population. However, he also, is somewhat of an unelected figure in this process. I was shocked by these two particular differences, having such an emphasis on elected officials in the United States. Definitely read up on it sometime if you’re interested. It’s pretty fascinating stuff.

I think that about wraps it up for now, but I will be sure to keep you updated on my Easter break trip as soon as I return. I'll let you know how my attempts at German and Slavic go. I'm a little nervous.

Check out pictures of Momas weekend, St. Pat’s and other randoms at this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37953395&l=67b29&id=15921830

Happy Easter!

Mom and Thom are en route!

As I was so busy posting all the spring break updates, I forgot to mention that my mom and brother, Thom, are visiting this week/weekend! They will get here tomorrow morning and leave on Sunday morning, so I get a few good days with them. I am beyond ecstatic to see them. I miss people from home so much, so it's great to get a piece of it brought to me. I'm not really sure what we'll end up doing on their visit. Thom I know wants to see the Tower of London, which we saw on our last family vacation here, and Mom wants to do Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's. I've seen all this stuff, but I loved it and am happy to tag along again. I've got work off on Friday, so I think we'll be able to see a good amount of stuff between the three days they're here. I'm also really excited because my Uncle Dan and his wife, Ellen, are meeting up with us Friday evening for tea/dinner/drinks and whatnot. They were just married in the fall, so this will be my first time officially meeting Ellen, so I am really excited for that. And to catch up with Uncle Dan, of course. He's an amazing world traveler, so it's always cool to hear what he's been up to.

In other news, this week's been pretty quiet. Everyone's still recovering from our breaks, and have kept pretty low-key. This obviously will change for St. Patrick's Day next Monday.

Today, our last major all-day class trip was to Bleinham Palace, where the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough live, and Oxford University. Bleinham is a gorgeous baroque palace that's been around since the 1600s and has housed that line of dukes. It also has a strong tie to Winston Churchill, as his uncle was the 9th Duke of Marlborough, and Churchill was the godfather of the current duke. So it was an interesting morning of exploring the aristocratic history of the building and taking in the luxuriousness of it all. They allowed us more time than necessary to explore the palace in my opinion, which probably wouldn't have been that much of a problem if we could have spent some it outside exploring the gorgeous grounds. But unfortunately, it is FREEZING here and very windy. There's a weird storm system affecting the isles and Europe right now that's causing really rainy weather everywhere (hence, our rainy days in Rome). Wales is apparently getting beaten by wind and huge waves on the coast. So we were kind of trapped indoors as much as possible during the day.

Oxford was extremely fun to go to as well, though we weren't really able to explore all the college campuses in it because of it being so cold. Oxford is not one college, but over 40 self-governing colleges and halls, all located in the same area and operating under the general Oxford system. I did not know that until I came to the UK. We took a tour of the famous Christchurch campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. It houses the smallest cathedral in the UK and its dining hall is where the scenes of the dining hall in Harry Potter movies are shot. Yeah, I was REALLY excited about that. There were no floating candles or anything, but it was still really cool to see. Harry Potter nerds like myself really enjoy that kind of stuff. After our tour, my flatmates and a couple others explored the town of Oxford. We were so happy to stumble across a place that is the closest thing I've seen to Chipotle in the UK. I had to get some chips and guacamole. I added Chipotle to my mental places of American restaurants I need to go to as soon as I get back. Restaurants here are great, but sometimes, you miss your old faves.

I'll upload the pictures I have of Bleinham and Oxrford soon, but I think I'm calling it quits for tonight.

No rain to RUIN our exploration of ancient Rome

I'm so lame. I love puns. Pete's even more of a fan of them than I am, so I partially blame him for the cheesiness of my blog titles.

Day 8: A hands-on history lesson (Hooray! You made it to the last day!)
This was probably my favorite day in Rome, even beating out the amazing Vatican experience. Weather was warm and sunny, so I really got to see just how beautiful of a city Rome is. Plus, I'm a bit of a history buff, and I got to learn first-hand what ancient Rome was like by walking among the incredible ruins in the heart of the city.

We started the day at the Colosseum where women got in free for some random women’s appreciation holiday. Once again, luck was on my side, or at least on my budget's. To treat myself, I got an audioguide, which really gave such comprehensive background about how the Colosseum was built, what it was used for and of course, information on the gladiator battles. It’s really such intriguing stuff. I just wish I could see what it looked like during its hey-day. The Colossuem is legitimately huge. All of its arches kind of reminded me of the old Busch Stadium, actually.

A view from outside.

Inside, amidst all the excavation work that's been done to show all the cages beneath the old arena floor where animals and equipment were kept.

Pam and I spent the rest of the day exploring the Palatine and the Roman Forum, both areas of Roman Empire ruins dating back to the earliest centuries. Pam and I had so much fun, randomly exploring these ruins and discovering the history behind ancient castles, gardens, stadiums and forums. Our method of sightseeing was find a sight, look it up in this amazing guidebook I brought along, and read what it’s all about. That’s pretty much how we approached our entire Roman trip. See following photo:


We had a nice lunch basking in the ruins in the sun. I felt so at peace and never wanted to leave.
People basking in the ruins. We soon joined them.

Here are a couple more pictures of the Palatine and Roman Forum.



A stadium that was part of the Imperial palaces built in the 1st century A.D. They are not exactly sure what it was used for.


The Roman Forum with the Palatine hill behind it.


Me and the ruins.


In terms of what we saw, you really need to look at the Facebook albums, which gives some background on the ruins and buildings. Just copy and paste this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2241844&l=28e35&id=1592183

The end of my break…finally. Thanks for hanging in there with me. We caught another early flight from Rome to London on Sunday morning. It feels good to be back, but it's always hard going back to school and work after a vacation.

Final thoughts on my first mainland Europe trip:

-Being in France and Italy made me realize how embarrassed I am to speak only one language fluently. Almost everyone I encountered was able to speak English as a second language, and perhaps another language as well. I think that American schools should put an even greater emphasis on having kids learn a foreign language at a younger age. The experience really put this in perspective for me, and I realized as I was trying to somewhat converse with my Argentinian roommates in Spanish, that I really wanted to buffer up my Spanish a bit before I go to Spain for two weeks at the end of my time abroad. Yeah, I’ll have Pete there to guide me, but it’s not the same. I don’t want to get by just knowing the standard, “Please,” “Thank you,” “Sorry,” and the worst, “Do You Speak English?”
-I love traveling. I’ve always liked it, but it was really fun planning my own trip this go-around, as stressful as transportation issues were at some points. It gave me confidence for future trips.
-Pete and I are better than ever. The Paris trip was one of the best times of my life. I can’t wait to see more of Europe with him during our future adventures.

OK, I’m done. Until next time…

Isn't Rome supposed to be warm?

Day 3: Keeping busy in rainy Rome

We were originally banking on sunnier weather while in Rome. Unfortunately, it reminded me a little too much of London weather and rained 3 out of the 4 days we were here. We had planned on traveling out to a nearby beach on our Friday, but the cold rain kept us in Rome, as opposed to spending money on transportation. I was set on seeing the beach, but I know I'll get my chance in a couple of weeks when I travel to Spain. Pete and I are planning a weekend in either Alicante or Valencia on the Mediterranean. I think I can wait until then.

We intended on seeing some museums and mostly staying indoors on this day, but many of the museums were closed or had ridiculous prices and booking policies. Museo Borguese for instance not only was outrageously priced but required advanced bookings. Boo. Coming from London, where most museums are free, Pam and I were not happy with this discovery. So instead, we spent most of the afternoon walking around and seeing some of the sights we had missed earlier, such as the Piazza del Popolo, the Castel Sant’ Angelo, the shopping area Piazza Navara where Pam and I each devoured our own delicious 12” pizza (All the walking worked up an appetite! What can I say?), and the Pantheon.


Piazza del Popolo. We didn't get a chance to go in the twin churches because they shut down for afternoon services.

The Pantheon was really cool since it’s a mix of both pagan and Christian origin and it really has withstood the test of time, unlike most of the other Roman structures built that long ago. It was originally a temple to the Roman gods, but was converted to a Christian church in the Middle Ages. Currently, it’s used as a church and has some kings buried there as well as the famous artist Raphael.


The Pantheon.

Honestly, the sightseeing was really fun. We covered a lot of area and learned a lot during our adventures. The only bad part was that since I anticipated warmer weather, I left gloves at home, and thus my genetically poor circulation to my hands lead to a really painful afternoon. By the time we sat down to eat our pizza my hands were so numb that I could hardly hold a knife and fork, let alone slice my pizza.

Sorry, I digress. We ended our excursions back at Piazza del Popolo, where we visited the church Santa Maria del Popolo. This gorgeous church transported me into Dan Brown's novel, "Angels and Demons," which made me happy. There is a ton of religious significance at this place. It's walls are lined with famous little chapels including the Chigi Chapel, which was designed by Raphael. On the floor of the chapel is a mosaic called the Kneeling Skeleton, which is pretty famous. Unfortunately, we couldn't see that or most of the chapel because of what else?--scaffolding. But there were a lot of other cool chapels, including Cybo Chapel, which is totally made of marble. It was absolutely stunning. Sorry, there are no pictures from this part of the excursion. My batteries were dead. But if you want to see some good pictures, copy this link: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/rome/popolo/popolo.html

Our long day of walking in the cold left us once again exhausted, but Pam and I toughed it out and had a really fun late night at the hostel’s bar with a few of our roommates. The hostel had free sangria hours and good happy hour specials all throughout the month ,and a lot of the visitors like to come down there for the evenings, so it made for a really fun time every night we were there.

My Holy Pilgrimmage

Day 6: Hello, God!

I got one step closer to God last Thursday. Or at least I felt like it. I made a holy pilgrimage to the Vatican City, which ended up being one of the coolest experiences of my life. Pam and I wanted to avoid the crazy long lines that form during the day, so we got there by 8 a.m. and walked right in to St. Peter’s Basilica. Yes, we are hardcore. Check out the absense of people in the piazza at this ridiculously early time of day.



The basilica is an absolutely huge structure, easily twice the size of Notre Dame. And it is one of the most gorgeous buildings I have ever seen, with it’s walls and floors made of over 20 different kinds of marble. Unfortunately, the lighting didn’t make for good photos at all, so it’s definitely something you should try to see in person at least once in your life. One of the highlights for me was Michelangelo’s famous “Pieta” statue in one of the side chapels of the basilica.



There is also stairs in the middle leading downstairs to the point where St. Peter is buried. We did not have access to that, unfortunately, but being that close worked for me. We also explored the crypts of the basilica and stood literally feet away from where John Paul II is buried. It was a little surreal. At the Vatican, I was sure to buy some Holy Water. It ended up leaking a bit, leaving Pam and I with the question of what to do with leaked Holy Water…do you let it go down the sink? Try to get it back in the bottle? I’ll have to call the Pope for an answer, I guess.


Here's a cool picture looking out at the square from the basilica. Very rainy, but a little promise of sun. It never actually came, but it was a cool picture.

The Vatican Museums aren’t ajoined to the basilica, so we did have to wait in a long line to get in. Part of the Museums is the famous Sistine Chapel, the chapel where Michelangeo painted images of the Old Testament on all the walls and ceiling. It is an absolutely huge chapel, so you really understand and come to appreciate all those years Michelangelo spent painting on his back. And the artwork is incredible. We literally spent 15 minutes at least staring up at this ceiling. It was the only room where you couldn’t take photos, so I didn’t, though I probably could have gotten away with it just like hundreds of other tourists. I’ll post a better photo from online for you.

Also inside the museums were some amazing rooms painted by Raphael, including one of his most famous works “School of Athens.” I really enjoyed going through each of those rooms and learning a bit about each work. I think my mom would be proud of all the art history I’ve experienced while abroad.


Raphael's "School of Athens."

Again, here's the link to this Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37878783&l=12c7e&id=15921830.
It's definitely worth taking a look at because I've included a lot more information about each individual photo.