Blog-lag... ITALY

So, this is a QUICK run-through of my 10-day Italy trip from 2 weeks ago... Next on the blog queue is a record of when mom and dad (and Sheils and Jim) visited Spain! I've been having so much fun lately, that it's been hard to take a minute to sit down and document it... Also, I do in fact attend school here...

ROME- Before I even landed, I realized how much better-looking/dressed Italians are compared to Spaniards based on the other passengers. The guys are sometimes too well-dressed though. Anyways, the flight attendant was the first of many on this trip who assumed I speak Italian. I don't, and although it's VERY similar to Spanish, it's different enough for me to be confused as heck. I picked it up pretty well by Venice.
-Arrived into Rome via bus shuttle from Ciampino airport, got in touch with Leigh easily. It was late at night at Rome Termini, there were no cabs to be found and I was afraid to ask the creeps and drunks questions... also, I don't know there language so I found my way to the hotel
-Complimentary breakfast at the hotel in Rome was amazing- eggs, bacon-ish stuff- MINI-NUTELLAS and laughing cow cheese with good rolls… better food than Spain already. I made hot chocolate espressos on the coffee machine. It was like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory pretty much
- Got Rome Sightseeing Bus tour through the Piazza with the Bernini fountain (Piazza Bernioli), etc. bus dropped us off at Trevi where we posed with a creepy Roman soldier (then he held out his hand and asked for 10euros, I think we gave him 2… as if I’d pay to be forced to wear a sweaty helmet). I was surprised by Trevi fountain. I had seen it in so many movies (Lizzie McGuire!) and pictures and I imagined it to be in a more open plaza, but it was on the side of a building with two alleys on either side (weird). We had our first taste of pizza that day (in Rome, they fold it in half, it is was… too delicious) ALSO, gelato
-Played with tour volume on bus, but it wasn’t working!! Realized 20mins later that Mrs. Sanna and I were adjusting each other’s volume/language
- Saw Ides of March, Circo Massimo, and the Vatican on PALM SUNDAY… it was like a Catholic beehive, saw the Roman forum, Pantheon, Coliseum
-At the Coliseum, ran into Matt Cairns… we had known that each other was in Rome, but we didn’t think we would be able to all meet up… so, it’s a small world in the life of a tourist
-Circus Maximus was really cool. It used to be an animal market back in the day (WAY back in the day that is)… also, it’s where the she-wolf allegedly suckled Romulus and Remus
- Went to a Restaurant that first night that served the best pasta on the trip potentially (penne alla arrabiata)… I have the address of the place still!
-Next day we took a cab-ride of death to the Vatican, where we had a tour
-Vatican fun facts: Adam’s body in Sistine took 4 days to paint… Michelangelo didn’t even like to paint, priests as late as the Renaissance could marry/ there were popes who had multiple wives and kids, the word ‘nepotism’ comes from the Italian word for ‘nephew’ because popes chose their nephews for prime positions in the papal hierarchy, saw “the torso” and Rodin’s “thinker. The map room was cool, the maps were pretty much correct other than their orientation which placed Rome as the North! There were lots of pagan figures i.e. Mars (sun god) in the papal gardens… have only been open to the public since 1940’s. In order to get there, you walk through a room where Leonardo DaVinci lived! The Vatican City has a passport… and a birthrate of zero. They won't stamp your passport upon entrance :(

Took the train to FLORENCE, walked through the Mercato Centrale (filled with leather bags, jackets, shoes, scarves)… wandered to the Duomo (the beloved church there), but we didn’t know it was the Duomo… we were very impressed by it though. Went to a restaurant for dinner, where the guy showed us to take toasted bread, cut a garlic clove in half and rub it on the toast, salt it, add olive oil and pepper and it is… delicious. The next day, we went on a bus tour of Tuscany. It stopped at Siena where that horse race (il palio) is every year. It was a really cool place, well taken care of. The bank there is the oldest in Italy, and the city is divided into “contrada” or neighbourhoods, each with its own symbol i.e. a shell. We saw St. Catherine of Siena’s burial place… and a creepy construction worker took a picture of me (weird). "Siena" comes from phrase meaning “son of”… the She-wolf is the symbol of Siena, city rival is Florence (ask me about the Ponte Vecchio Butcher/ gold flood story). The church there is pretty amazing, we called it the "Zebra church" because the inside was thick stripes of white and black marble
-Then we stopped at San Gimignano, another medieval hilltop town. Tuscany was amazing. We ended the day off at Pisa, which is a crap town minus the massive fenced off green area that has a church and gorgeous row off buildings that lead up to the Leaning Tower (again, not what I expected)
-They had PASTA VENDING MACHINES in Florence… ridiculous.
- Ran into Leigh Sanna’s Canisius friends on the street in Florence and ended up having dinner with them before we visited my friend Jen who is studying in Florence!
-The next day we went out with Jen and met up with my friend Tommy from high school. It was karaoke night at the bar we went to; so, we sang some Backstreet Boys (it was his choice)

VENICE- took the train in from Florence then a water bus, got lost a million times getting to our hotel because things they consider streets there are what I consider alleys. I was navigating and Mrs. Sanna and Leigh’s aunt had HUGE rolley luggage, so it was pretty bad… Venice had the best ambience. St. Marc’s square at night has an unforgettable aura. With the church lit up and orchestras playing Vivaldi on the café terraces lining the wide open piazza… unbelievable. We met up with our friend Kelly from high school, who joined us for Venice and then was going to Oviedo, Spain to hang out with Leigh. The Ponte Rialto is the huge main bridge, and we got a gondola at Piazza Manin. The gondolier offered us a free nighttime gondola ride, but we didn’t go because Mrs. Sanna didn’t want us to. We saw a house where Mozart lived and Casanova’s house (across from a church, how’s that for irony)…. And we spent Easter morning having coffee in St. Marc’s square. Unforgettable views in Venice and Murano glass items everywhere. It was my favourite excursion, though the Roman food was pretty good.

We had AMAZING weather the whole time, and I was in Rome during that fatal earthquake that was fairly closeby, we were about 30km from the fault. I slept through the earthquake, but everyone else kind of half woke-up. Leigh's Aunt Wendy thought they were being robbed. Italy was fantastic. I am still tired, fat and broke from it. Loved every second though/ can't complain. When I got back to Madrid, my friend Brigid from high school was meant to be in Madrid, but I didn't have phone credit and she didn't have internet at her hostel; so, I was afraid I wouldn't see her. Wouldn't you know, I walked down a path I NEVER take to a destination I always walk to in the city center, and I see her little face in the window of a RANDOM restaurant! We got to hang out the next night, and it was great having a familiar face in Madrid!

Sorry this post took so long. I've had some school work and some visitors :) of which I will talk about in my next post! Contrary to popular believe, I do attend school HOWEVER we have the long weekend off for Dia 2 de Mayo (yes, in Madrid we celebrate 2 de Mayo, not 5 de Mayo)... ANYways, my friends and I are headed to MALAGA for the long weekend to lie on the beach at on the Costa del Sol (the south coast, on the Mediterranean/ overlooking the strait of Gibraltar). It's my first foray into Andalusia, and I cannot wait! I really deserve a vacation, it's a hard life... just kidding/ don't kill me everybody. I'm thinking of you guys! I'll try to be better about the blogging!
PS- SOME of my Italy pics are up on kodakgallery... My computer freaks out at uploading, so I will try to upload the other ones later :)
PPS- keep the Ellie pics/vids coming, I can't get enough. Wish I could have been at the B'tism