Italia!

Tuesday we woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight to ITALIA! It was so lush and green – I felt like it was the first time I had seen grass; I didn’t know I could miss grass. It was freezing and raining though – but it provided some excellent entertainment. For our 1-week Greco-Roman adventure our program director, Constantia, had brought a big suitcase, a carry-on suitcase with wheels, and a big purse, bought 4 bags worth of stuff at the airport in Cyprus, and another 4 our first 3 hours in Athens. So we get all of our baggage and walk out into the rain to try to find our bus. Meanwhile Constantia’s boyfriend is rolling her big suitcase, her little suitcase, all of her shopping bags, and carrying the umbrella over her head while we walk in the rain as she is carrying her purse and a folder with some information in it…dressed in stilettos and wearing her normal, crazy wardrobe consisting of a combination of 80s and gaga…never a dull moment! We got to our really nice hotel, had some Italian cuisine from a little bakery around the corner (calzone type thing and canoli – delicious!), and took the metro to the Colosseum to start our 3 hour walking tour of Roma. (While we were waiting for our tour guide we were standing in the metro station and all of a sudden we see this gladiator, in full gladiator garb buying coffee…haha crazy!)

          Despite being freezing and wet for 3 hours, I LOVED Rome! I loved how all of the ancient Roman ruins were intertwined with the modern city. We saw Mussolini’s headquarters and then walked through the Roman Forum (right). It was built in the 4th century AD, but they excavated it fairly recently. It was very well preserved and impressive; it wasn’t just 1 or 2 ruins, it was big and had basilicas, courthouses, etc. We walked on the same stones that the Romans used for their roads and even got to see where Julius Caesar was cremated. Then we walked through a mall that was inside an old Roman building/mansion and then to the Pantheon – it was HUGE! It has all marble floors and paintings up the walls. Also, the dome has a whole in the top of it, so we got to see it rain into the Pantheon. Next, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. It was so pretty and the water was SO blue - gorgeous! We threw our coins in and made a wish! Finally, we went to the Spanish Steps, which are actually translated as the Trinity Steps. For dinner a big group of us went to a little Italian restaurant and had brushetta and pizza! Num!! :)

Wednesday = tour of the Colosseum! Actually used to be called the Flavin Auditorium, built between 62-70 AD, and they estimate that it seated 40,000-70,000! It was AWESOME!! She explained the gladiators/games and pictures of what they think it used to look like (even more impressive!). The entire Colosseum used to be covered in marble! But in the 1500s they took everything out and made it into statues. The maze-like thing in the ground is where they used to keep some of the animals, but it was covered by wood and sand during the competition. The top of the Colosseum also used to be covered – they would roll out a canvas over the top so all of the spectators could be in the shade. Another interesting fact – the emperor used to sit where the cross is now placed (closest spot to the floor); he used to display crucifixes of dead Christians as an example to the rest of the citizens. So they put the cross there many years later to commemorate the Christian martyrs. The whole time I was in awe at the Colosseum!!

          We continued this captivating day and went to the Vatican museum. It was HUGE!! There was room after room after room after hallway after room after building after room covered from floor to ceiling (including the floor and ceiling) of beautiful paintings, sculptures, mosaics, gold, everything. It is indescribable. It took us almost 2 hours to actually get to the Sistine Chapel and we didn’t even stop very often. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful! Smaller than I expected, and the paintings were somewhat similar to much of the other rooms we had seen, but nonetheless very impressive!

Then we went to St. Peter’s Basilica – AMAZING!! It was HUGE and so pristine. The outside was also very impressive, it also helped that it finally was sunny!! The entire day was perfect! :)

          We had an early dinner (gnocchi) and awesome gelato! Then we did a pub crawl…well sort of. We were so exhausted from the past 4 days of traveling that we went home very early, but not before we made some friends with some other Americans in Rome and got our t-shirts “I came, I saw, I crawled”! Long story short, Rome was my favorite city!! Even through the freezing cold rain; it was amazing!

Thursday…long, long, long bus ride to Florence via Pisa. We stopped to see the leaning tower of Pisa, which was semi-cool for about 45 seconds. Then we left the touristy area of Pisa (very weird combination of excessive tourist shops, some cafés, and locals playing soccer) and sat in a gas station café thing for an HOUR to eat lunch. Needless to say this was definitely the worse part of the trip. Got to Florence at about 6 PM and went to see a replica of the Statue of David and a panoramic view of the city from atop of a mountain/hill – beautiful!

Friday = VENICE (or Venezia)!! After we got stuck in traffic and our bus broke down (and some of the boys pushed it, only a couple feet, but it was entertaining) we finally got to the ferry and then to Venice. We walked around the square a bit and then took a gondola ride through the canals! The sun was finally out, it was so quiet and peaceful – absolutely AMAZING!! There are 60,000 people, over 300 bridges, 160ish canals, and 100 churches. It was really interesting; Venice is a completely normal city, just on water. They have boat buses, a university, post office, ambulances, everything – crazy! Anyways, our gondola man, Egor, explained some of the history of Venice and some buildings while we were in the small canals, then we made it to the Grand Canal…one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen! It was incredible! The colors of the water, the boats, the bridges, all beautiful! We also saw the apartment that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie rent out for 3 months every summer and the plaza that a new movie was being filmed at with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. We also saw where Marco Polo was born and where Casanova escaped from jail. Venice was beautiful, but the gondola ride made me love the city!

Saturday = Florence (or Firenze). We walked around and explored the city. Saw the Duomo (below) – the outside was very intricately designed/painted, but the inside was just a big undecorated church, very plain. Then we had a tour of the Ufizi Art Gallery; it was ok, but it was from the same era and all looked the same. Afterwards we continued to explore, shopped in the flea market, and had the BEST GELATO IN THE WORLD – at Grom!! The line was out the door; it was the best thing I have ever had!!!

Basically, I LOVED Italy! The history, architecture, uniqueness, and of course, the food!!! I legitimately gained 7 pounds in 1 week…definitely worth it! I can’t wait for what the rest of Europe has to offer! :D

Greece! (or Ελλάδα in Greek)

Oh man, where do I begin? The trip was crazy busy and exhausting, but it was AMAZING!!

Saturday afternoon we got to Athens and took a bus to our hotel. The mountains were dotted with white houses with red roofs. After we checked into our hotel we went and explored the city of Athens a bit. We were trying to find a certain restaurant, but ended up getting into a sketchy and dirty part of the town. There were no women on the streets and the atmosphere felt really strange (we later found out that we wandered into a bad part of the city, especially now because of the protests and riots against the government…oops!). Anyways, we finally found a different restaurant; it was really cute with traditional Greek food – stuffed grape/vine leaves, bread and olive oil, slovaki chicken, house wine, and flan – DELICIOUS!! We meandered back to our hotel, had the best baklava of my life!!! And watched Dennis the Menace on tv – we finally were able to watch TV! This first night I did not really like Greece, it seemed like a cleaner version of Egypt; it seemed dirty and not very European, but I assumed it was because of the neighborhood we were in.

Sunday we had a big European breakfast and went to the archeological museum. It was fairly interesting; our tour guide explained that they had found things in Greece that dated back to 15,000BC! We saw a replica of the statue of Athena that used to be in the Parthenon – originally it was 12 meters tall!! It wasn’t as grandiose as the Egyptian museum, but it seemed more symbolic and scholarly.

     Then we took the metro to the Acropolis

(which in ancient Greek meant “The tallest point in the city”). It was built in the 4th century BC as a temple for Athena. It had lots of construction going on when we were there, but I could still see some of the statues/figures carved into the top part. There was a couple other buildings/temples and an amphitheater also at the Acropolis.

    

     Afterwards, in the freezing cold rain, a couple friends and I took the metro to the Olympic Complex from 2004. We couldn’t go into any of the buildings, but we could see the outdoor pool that they used and the velodrome. There was an Athens football game about to start so we couldn’t get anywhere near the Olympic Stadium, but it was cool to see the sea of green. The architecture was also interesting to see. So now I’ve been to 2 Olympic Complexes - Munich and Athens (both in the freezing cold rain/snow).

     We changed out of our sopping wet clothes and went to dinner at a little traditional restaurant (chicken gyro for dinner), and walked around for a while. We could see the Acropolis/Parthenon lit up at night – it was BEAUTIFUL! I liked it more at night than during the day! We walked to this street that was basically like 1 big bar; it was awesome! We sat outside with everyone under these awnings with cool lights, candles, and heat lamps – it was the greatest set up and the atmosphere was awesome! We met some local Greeks and talked to them for a while until we were too tired from our busy day. As we were leaving to catch the metro back to the hotel, we were walking down the little cobblestone street with little shops and houses lining it, Greek music playing, and the lit up Acropolis in front of us – it was unreal!

     We basically mastered the metro this day because we took it everywhere! I was really nice though; it even had some of the ancient Greek statues in it! It was very easy, cheap, and exquisitely clean – not a speck of garbage, they even mopped the floors!

Monday was our free day. We were going to go to the flea market, so we left to take the metro. We stepped outside, and the city of Athens was sepia tone (I did not edit this picture at all)!! I was so bizarre, and it the whole atmosphere felt really weird and eerie. I've never seen anything like it. Anyway, we went to the flea market in the and shopped around. We were walking to take the next metro and realized that everything was covered in mud, cars, streets, umbrellas, everything - it had rained mud!! Some of our friends talked to a Greek man and he said that it does this sometimes in Athens, the mud/sand comes from the Sahara...so strange!

Anyways, we took the metro -> bus -> metro -> port, and took a 1 hour ferry to the Greek island Aegina. It was very pretty – but not like the movies/postcards you see of the Greek islands; no white houses with blue roofs. It was also March, so there weren’t many people there; I think it would be completely different in the summer, much more alive. We walked around the island, touched the water, and played on the playground! We had another traditional Greek dinner and took the last ferry back to Athens. I really enjoyed the island, but wish we could have been there in the summer and for more than 3 hours; by the time we got there, a lot of shops were closing.

The other girls we were with had went to the island before us and met the captain on the way there. So on the way home we all got to go up and meet the captain; he showed us all of the controls and how to drive the huge ferry. He was so nice and let us stay up there the whole ride. It was so cool to be up there watching as we approached Athens all lit up at night! I loved Athens much more after the first day!

Then it was off to Italy...

Mid-terms, haha

Well, I probablly shouldn't laugh, my roommates actually had tests and papers due, so I acutally did some homework too. So productive! But, overall the week wasn't fairly eventful. My friend's mom, Shirley, came to visit, so we showed her around Cyprus and went out to meze again! On Friday we went to karaoke night and hung out with some of the people from the US Embassy! It was so much fun! And on Saturday Alkea took us out!

Sunday night, we were able to go to the bar by our flat and watch the men's gold medal hockey game! I FINALLY got to see the Olympics! It was killing me! But, the other people at the bar were driving me crazy! I usually try to have patience with people when they don't know much about sports, but this was ridiculous. One of the girls on our trip was from Canada, she came in and asked, "What quarter is it?" Then we said, "umm...its the 1st period!" Come on, you're from CANADA! She had no idea. Nor did she know the Canadian National Anthem! What?! I then listened to a girl talk about how hockey players always tear up the ice and how much it sucked when she used to figure skate (when she was like 9) because they couldn't do anything... I will spare you the numerous other stories that I have, but yes, I held my tounge and zoned in on the game. Good job Marie.

That's basically it. The rest of the week was nothing noteworthy. We are just finishing packing for our week-long trip to Italy and Greece!! Except, it is supposed to rain all week - from Sunday-Friday/Saturday :(  But I can't wait! Italy and Greece, here I come! :D