Pasta, and more pasta!

7/1
This morning we woke up at about 6:30 am and went to the lobby for a great breakfast! They had little packets of nutella-like stuff that I put on my bagel! (Haha, bagel… hi Jared) We checked out, put our luggage on the coach bus, and headed to the Vatican! The line at the Vatican was really, really long, but the good thing about big tour groups is that we get to cut everyone!
I wish I could use the perfect words to describe everything we saw today in the Vatican City. It was incredible and nothing like anything on this earth! We saw the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and everything else in the little city, except for the Pope himself! In the Sistine Chapel, Michaelangelo's original paintings were everywhere, including The Last Supper. It was so amazing and unbelievable. In this particular part of the Vatican, there was no talking, no pictures, and a dress attire. We saw the window that the Pope pops out of every Wednesday and the place where he sits. In one part (there were so many I can't remember which it was), there were letters made of gold surrounding the huge, massive ceiling. Each letter was taller than 6 feet!! I wish I could describe more so you could understand the detail and incredible artwork, but it's so hard to do. After the amazing adventure in the Vatican, we went shopping and sightseeing around Rome! We had about 5 hours. There were some girls on the trip with us that are from Baylor. They are really sweet and we all stuck together today! Yes, we got gelato. Then we all met back at the Vatican and took the coach bus back to Civitavecchia! When we got back, Shea and I ate our free dinner, which was more pasta. Now we are sitting in the room, blogging, charging cameras and laptops, and watching a movie! Time to sleep!! Tomorrow I have a cooking class on a farm! I can’t wait!

Penguins.. in Rome?

6/30
We (usually meaning me and Shea haha) woke up pretty early, picked up our passports on the lower deck, and boarded a coach bus. We had a 2-day tour thing (this post is day 1) that was awesome! We drove about 90 minutes to Rome (train was way faster) on the bus while our guide went around chatting with everyone. Her name was Daniela and she was so funny! Her accent was pretty heavy but she was very animated and hyper, which helped us wake up at 8am. She said it was really sunny outside and that she hoped we were wearing “sunshine lotion”.

When we got to Rome, we had a guided tour of the Coliseum, the greatest Roman amphitheatre and place for gladiator fights! We saw it from the outside the day before, but I was even more excited that we actually got to go in and wander around. This thing was huge, I mean massive. The pictures make it seem smaller, but what can I do! The Coliseum held 80,000 people and today, only 40% is missing. Interesting fact that I remember: ‘arena’ in Italian means ‘sand on top’. It was called this because the sand would soak up the blood from the gladiator battles and animal fights.

The tour guide for the Coliseum was another hilarious Italian woman, friends with Dani. Her name was Paula. She definitely sounded like she’d been smoking every day of her life. When we were all hot and tired, she said, “Imagine those people in front of you are penguins! Brrr! Aren’t you cold now?!” Haha she was great, and luckily the next day she toured us in the Vatican! After the Coliseum, we went the Roman Forum, the marketplace of ancient Rome, as well as the business district. It is so hard to put into words what I saw and experienced. It’s all fresh in my head and the pictures will help me remember it forever! So will this blog, I’m so glad I decided to make one!

Next, we had some free time (=shopping) and ate lunch in Piazza Navona. We ate at another small café. I got a small margarita pizza and a wonderful Greek salad! The shopping here in Rome is significantly better than Barcelona! After all of this touring, walking around, and shopping/more eating, we went to the hotel to check in. The rooms were huge and the bathrooms were too! This was definitely a nice change from the ship cabins. Shea and I had a cute little balcony that overlooked the part of Rome where we stayed. It was much nicer, cleaner, and quieter than the busy areas. We had about 2 hours to get ready for dinner/a walking night tour of Rome. The restaurant where we had dinner was just like a postcard! It was in a big courtyard, surrounded by tall walls, covered in vines and flowers! There were also lanterns everywhere on the brick walls with fire torches; very memorable. The dinner was delicioso, as always. We had some kind of pasta with some more pasta. Then, when we thought dinner was over, they brought out this beige square with bread crumbs on top. No one knew what it was and we were thinking it might be dessert! It ended up beaing baked potates mixed with ham and mozzorella. It was incredible, and I want some right now! Then for dessert we had Neapolitan gelato with yellow cake, and a cookie in the shape of a heart stuck in the middle. There was a band that walked around with an accordion, guitar, and a few singers. It was such a great night! After dinner, we went to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. These were both very beautiful structures.

Then we went to the Trevi Fountain. I can’t even describe how massive and beautiful it was. In the movie When In Rome, they used the fountain where we were!  That gives you an idea of how beautiful and famous it is. We stood in front of it (along with hundreds of other people) and just stared. Then we walked down towards the water and threw a coin over our right shoulder. Apparently that is what you do and then you make a wish! But I can’t tell you my wish or it might not come true :) After that, we walked some more and got more gelato of course! Then we went back to the comfy, big hotel for about 5 hours of sleep!
That’s basically the day in a nutshell! In the morning… the Vatican!!

"Barbie!"

Even thought I'm posting this today, it all happened on 6/29! I've been so busy that I am 3 days behind on blogging! Tonight I have a little free time, thankfully, so I'll try to catch up!

I just want to say that I miss Barcelona SO much. It was amazing and I hope to go back to Spain one day!

Rome, Italy, Day 1:

Today Shea and I went with a totally different group out in Rome! We are trying not to stay with the same exact people every time, but still remain close friends with the ones we make! It’s an awesome experience, not really comparable to college. We woke up in Civitavecchia, and there wasn’t much to see. This is probably because it’s where all of the cruise ships port and it’s 45 minutes away from Rome! We walked about 10 minutes to the train station, and it was packed! There was graffiti everywhere (not as pretty or as skilled as Barcelona’s graffiti…). We went in a little convenient store to buy the train ticket and we saw a HUGE jar of Nutella. Picture the little jar, but about 1 foot tall, proportional to the little jar! So cool. Trying to get a two-way ticket to Rome and back for the same day was nearly impossible because the cashier didn’t speak an ounce of English, and we knew no Italian. It was much easier in Spain because I can communicate a lot easier and get by. Italian is very different, and I can’t imagine how hard it will be in other countries when they do not use the alphabet like ours!

After getting our tickets, we walked down to the restroom. There was a long line and a guy letting people in one at a time, asking for money! Then someone told us that here in Italy, there are custodians who clean the bathroom every time one person uses it and they expect a tip! We didn’t go :)
It was a massive panic (to say the least) getting onto the train. It would make loud noises as if it was about to leave, and we were still trying to decide if it was going to the right place! There were people running everywhere, and we had a huge group. I had to keep an eye on my group so I wouldn’t get separated, hold onto my purse, watch out for creeps who say weird things, and hop on and off about 10 times getting hit by the door trying to stick together. Once we decided it was the right one and all piled on, forcing the doors open, we started to head to Rome! It was a beautiful view (through the nasty train windows) of the hills and valleys of Italy! To the other side was water, which was very blue! 45 minutes later, we arrived in Rome and walked with our friends to the hostel where they were staying at for the night. It was a funny place because it was called the “Pop Inn”... haha poppin’… Anyways. From the outside it looked a little strange and creepy, but inside it was beautifully painted, colorful, and decorated! We rode a little elevator lift where you open and close the doors yourself. Only 3 could fit snuggly at a time, but it was fun!

When they checked in, we asked for a recommendation of a place to eat. The receptionist gave us directions to a place about 2 blocks away, tucked into the side of a little street! It was called Trattoria dell Omo. She said that if we see a restaurant with ‘trattoria’ written on it, go inside. It basically means family-owned and fresh, daily baked meals! When we went in, a little old couple (both under 5’5’’) was shuffling around with huge plates full of green beans, sausages, meats, rice stuffed tomatoes, and so many other delicious looking things! Their son sat us down and took our orders because he spoke a little English. Shea and I each got this amazing ravioli. Picture the little ravioli squares, but ones the size of your plate! It took a while to come out, but that is because it was definitely home made! Oh and the bread was to die for. Hot and fresh. Molto bueno! Another strange thing that is very hard to get used to is ordering water. You have to order a bottle, which is usually about 2 Euros, and then save it to last the whole meal! It will definitely be a change going back to America and getting water served as you sit down to eat, unlimited supply. I do miss that! And meals in Italy, and in Spain too, are considered more of a social event, more so than in America. You can sit for 30 minutes before anyone walks up to you, and it’s not offensive because it’s their way of life. Every time we eat, it takes a good 30 minutes after we are completely finished to get the bill. Also, everyone gets an espresso shot after they eat, especially old men!
After our first meal in Italy, we walked through the busy streets all the way to the Coliseum. It was everything I imagined, and more. When you are up close and in person, it just makes you admire the determination. The group we were with decided to go in and tour it, but Shea and I had a tour the next day, so we waited so the surprise wasn’t ruined. :)

We walked down the main street by the Coliseum. There were stands everywhere selling fruit, shirts, souvenirs, hats, sunglasses, and whatever else you can think of. One man walked by and yelled, “Barbie!” to me and Shea. We were laughing pretty hard because these people come up with the funniest things to say to us. There were 4 guys on a bike-car and they yelled, “Cheese!” as they tried to turn around and come towards us, but they almost flipped. It was pretty funny. Ten minutes later were standing next to a family and the mother asked me to take a picture of her and her family, I thought. Turns out she wanted us in the picture. Yep, I got one too, a photo of a big Italian family, with Shea and me in the middle. They seemed pretty happy to have a picture with us. Maybe we will start charging like the gladiators do when you take a picture with them!

While we were walking around, we saw a huge building with a sign on the side that said Monet Exhibit. We looked at the dates and it was the last day! We were really hot, and tired of the sun, so we were like hey let’s go check it out! I think it’s funny how we had no idea it was there or that it was so cheap to go in, we just randomly stumbled upon it! It was incredible. My favorite part was the end, where we could walk up directly to the huge Lilly Pad painting and many more just as beautiful. I’m usually not interested in art museums, but I definitely wanted to see Monet’s! Now I’ve been to the Picasso one, and the Monet exhibit! I’m starting to like it more and more, plus it’s in a different country so it makes it a little more exciting!

After that, we went and got more gelato, of course. I can honestly say I’ve gotten gelato every day so far… and it is much better than in Spain. The place we went to was very small and colorful. The guy who gave us our gelato said, “Bye, see you tomorrow!” It was funny because we thought maybe he didn’t know what he was saying, because people don’t usually say that. Maybe he thought it just meant “see you later” or something. Coincidentally, the next day, we went back! He was right, he saw us “tomorrow”. Haha. After that, we went back to the girls’ hostel and napped, checked Internet stuff, and got ready to go to dinner. Yes, it’s one meal on to the next! We kept walking past the main street, and went off on a little side one. They are usually less expensive, and less touristy when you go off the busy streets. It was precious! I ordered a pizza called Pizza Baba (Baba was the name of the restaurant). It had fresh mozzarella, yummy tomato sauce, pear slices all over it, and roasted walnuts. Best pizza invention ever. I would never think to put that on a pizza but I decided to try it and I loved it! We had fun at dinner, just a big group of us talking and relaxing, and then they walked Shea and me to the train station because we had to get up early the next day!

At the station we asked a family where to find the train because it was overwhelming and chaotic. There were about 10 trains in a row, and no English anywhere. The family we picked to ask knew no English, but they looked totally American and were wearing clothes like us! Then we asked another man who spoke better English, which helped! Right as we started to try to find the other train, which was really far away, we saw some of our classmates! I think every time we get into a situation where we may get lost or miss something, God grants our wishes and it always works out safely! We all RAN to the train because the last one was in 20 minutes and the next one was at 5am the next morning… Rode train home and slept, got back to ship, packed for the next day’s overnight stay!!