Wash uffizi drive me to Firenze

el 10 de enero de 2009

FLORENCE

...was amazing and quite possibly my favorite city in Italy. Something about it was just magical. Justin and I got there late in the evening and found our AMAZING hostel in no time at all. If anyone goes to Florence, let me know and I'll give you the hostel name. It was under 20 euro a night for a 4 bedroom mixed, which included free breakfast, a plate of pasta at night,internet , and the location was amazing. But anyways, we checked in and hung out at the hostel, preparing ourselves for a full day the next day. After eating our plate of pasta and writing the previous entry, I headed upstairs to my room to get ready for bed. Our roommates came in and we introduced ourselves. They were a married couple from Argentina traveling around Europe. I flipped out. I WAS ready to go to bed, but instead I stayed up chatting with them in Spanish for about an hour and a half. I felt bad because Justin did not understand a word... but I was enjoying myself too much. The other great part was that they were hilarious! I feel awful for forgetting their names (doh!!) but they were Spanish and they said them quickly. Anyways, the husband was an absolute riot. He was picking on Justin a little bit saying that he's crazy for studying in Germany because of the Nazis. I almost lost it laughing at that point. And OH MAN was he confused when I explained that Justin was Jewish.Haha.

So the next day we were up early and started walking around the city. It was a little overcast, but much warmer than we had experienced in the previous cities during our travels. At one point I even took off my gloves! Crazy! But anyways, we walked and saw most of the city and it was just gorgeous. We went into the Uffizi museum, and we walked up to the Piazza Michelangelo which blew my mind! It's this beautiful park with a view of the whole city and, there's a great view of the river and the bridges. The Statue of David (or the replica anyways) outside one of the museums was actually covered due to renovations or something. I was more than upset. So just walking around and seeing all the little shops and hearing some of the music was amazing. I have three regrets about the trip:
1) We were there on the Feast of the Three Magi, so a lot of stores were closed. Especially the ones on the Ponte Vecchio which is an old really beautiful bridge.
2) I went during the winter, so some of the life of the city was hiding indoors.
3) We didn't really get to walk around at night. I was just too exhausted, I couldn't bring myself to do it. We had gotten up so early and done so much walking. I was upset. Nightlife there must be off the hook. Even just in the streets.

So to sum up, if I go back to Italy I will most certainly be stopping in Florence again. Even if it's out of the way. I loved that city so much. There's just something about it.

So that night we spent chatting with our roommates again, this time with a bunch of English mixed in so that Justin could take part. But a lot of Spanish as well. As we were eating our pasta, this Australian couple sat with the four of us, and I was playing translator. It was wicked fun! Such a moral boost too! They were really impressed with my Spanish, and I was able to keep up on almost everything they were saying. Sweet!!! The next day we were up early and grabbed a train to...

ROME

...was incredible... and big. There's just too much to do! We got there in the afternoon the first day, and decided to do what we could even though it was raining on and off. We were able to see the Forum and the Colosseum before they closed. Incredible. Truly just incredible. It made me want to watch "Gladiator." (Which I did this morning). Fun Fact: Gladiator was NOT filmed in that Colosseum, but in a better looking one elsewhere in Italy. "Jumper," however, was filmed there. But yes, the Colosseum was massive and awesome. My tour guide was this crazy crazy Italian man who was pretty funny. The tour was informational, and the one thing I learned that I really liked was the origin of the word "Arena." The stage of the Amphitheatre (the actual name of the Colosseum) was covered with about 3 inches of sand in order to soak up the blood from all of the dying gladiators and animals. "Sand" in Italian and Spanish is "arena" and, hence, we get the word "Arena." Cool eh? I thought so.

So at night we walked around more and saw the Pantheon (amazing!) and some of the other sights. We made a stop at St. Peter's Square which was amazing to see at night. And a good thing too because it rained the next day and so pictures were really out of the question. So on to the next day then. We were up at 7 am sharp, and ate quickly some food we had bought the night before and headed right to queue up outside the Vatican museums. We got in a little after 8am and, after seeing that they were going to close it from 10:30-12ish, headed right to the Sistine Chapel. Walking there was the biggest build up of suspense ever. We walked up stairways, down stairways, through rooms with art, through rooms with sculptures... then we hit the Rafael rooms and oh god those blew me away! Seeing "The Philosopher's" up close was just amazing. I remember talking about the painting back in 9th grade history class. Then seeing it then up close was just incredible. We pressed on and finally after about 15 minutes of searching and turning corners entered the chapel. I shed a tear. I really did. I put myself right in the center of the room, facing The Last Judgment and looking up and seeing the Hand of God Giving Life to Adam... just absolutely breath taking. It really did bring a tear to your eye, just simply out of the mere power of the paintings. Seeing them in person is just moving. And to be honest, the other fresco that I liked just as much was actually the one of God creating the sun and the moon. Something about it was just incredible. Like it really just blew me away. I could go on and on about the Chapel but I'll save that for when I'm home and we're having a beer together.

So we spent a good amount of time in the chapel. We eventually moved on and meandered through pretty much all of the museums. Unfortunately, nothing is labeled or described in the museums. Unless you have a tour guide, audio guide, or have studied the history of all of these works then it's actually pretty lost on you. I can still appreciate the skill involved, the implications of their being found, and the beauty of the art expressed, but so much of it was just "Oh. This is an incredible work... but I have no clue why it's important." I was a little put off about that as well. But anyways, after we walked through the museums we left and headed over to St. Peter's to see the basilica.

It was phenomenal! It was HUGE!!! We did a lap or two around the inside, enjoying the works of art on display. I made an especially long stop at Michelangelo's "Pietá". Once again, I was blown away at the impact of the work. Looking at Mary's face filled you with such deep feelings. I was very very moved. It was this mix of anguish, hopelessness, regret, pain, and utter loss. Her whole world was just brutally taken from her, and she just doesn't know what to do. I couldn't get over how someone could instill such feelings by carving a block of marble. It was truly incredible.

After hanging out a bit we went and toured the Papal Tombs which was, again, very moving. I was actually hard pressed to stay calm and actually enjoy it because of all the stupidfreakin ' tourists taking photos. There's a clearly marked sign... signs actually, as in multiple... that say do not take pictures. It doesn't even "say" it. It's a picture of a camera with a bigfreakin' red "x" across it. No language barrier there. But anyways, John Paul II's tomb was beautiful to see, and the viewing area of St. Peter's Tomb was also really moving.

After the papal tombs we paid the 5 euro to climb to the top of the church. The top. As in 551 steps, through narrow hallways and steep staircases, spiral staircases, and other types of staircases, all the way up to the inside of the Dome and then outside, and up to the outside of the dome to look out over the entire city. Now, as I said it was rainy that day so the viewing was not as nice as it should have been, but I'm not complaining. It was still incredible.

The rest of the day we spent slowly walking around. By now our feet were not only hurting, they were in constant pain and blisters were becoming ever present. This was, by now, day 9 or 10 of walking around European cities with cobblestone sidewalks. We enjoyed our last dinner in Italy and headed to see the Catacombs, but we got there after sunset and got a little lost on the way so they will be put on the "to do" list upon my return to Rome, if that happens.

So Rome was also awesome, but again there's just so much to do and a day and a half is no time frame to try and do it.

That concluded the end of the trip for me. Justin and I left our hostel at 5am the next morning to take the metro, to the bus, to the airport to fly to our respective current homes.

To sum up the whole trip:
Prague: Fucking cold. But the fireworks were awesome, and New Years was a blast.
Vienna: Fucking cold, but the city was really pretty.
Venice: Cold. Need to go in the Spring to fully experience it.
Florence: Amazing! Warmer, and I love the city. Going back ASAP.
Rome: Really great, but I felt like so much was lost on me. Still able to enjoy it regardless.


I will have to say that the one thing that this trip most certainly did for me is make me want to travel around Spain so much more. Being in Italy was great, because I knew a bit of history and some of the significance of what I was seeing. But I study Spanish. I've studied Spanish history, not Italian. There's so much in Spain that I can experience in a much deeper way knowing so much more about the history of this country. It's rather obvious, but that is indeed why I'm here and not in France or Germany. Yay Spanish IEP!!! Cities of note that I really want to see include Toledo, Granada, Sevilla, Pamplona, and Segovia. Interestingly enough, I'll only go to Madrid just to go. I've been told it's very much like any other major city in the world and really isn't that interesting. I'd rather spend the time to hop to one of those other cities. The best part is that even though I'll be working full time come March, I can take weekend trips to all of these places! Plus I'll be getting paid, so that will certainly help finance everything. Sweet!!

So now I'm back in Santander. January will be the month of hell, including within it: 1 exam, 1 presentation, and 2 papers. All of formidable size. All the while trying to find an apartment for when I move to San Sebastian. And then the onset of February will bring finals. Doh!! However, the onset of February also means visitors are coming soon... and I can't wait!!!

So until next time, I'm off to do some work. Keep an eye on facebook for pictures. There's too many to post in the blog for now.

Hasta muy pronto!

Un saludo,
Andrew
Santander, ESP

Who goes to Prague in the winter?

el 5 de enero de 2009

Seriously though, what kind of crappy tourist decides going to Prague and Vienna in the dead of fucking winter. Ridiculous. Remined me to punch my travel agent... which might be Chris Frap. I'll punch Rob instead. He won't mind.

PRAGUE

I rendezvoused with the crew (Rob, Frap, Justin, Shawn Drew, and Dillon) at the hostel around 7ish or so on the 30th. They had been there since the afternoon and had seen some of the town. We met up with one of the hostel workers and started the nightly organized pub crawl at about 9pm. We hit 3 bars. The first one was awesome, but we met some guy from Hawaii who was a total wanker. The conversation went sort of like this: I'm from Hawaii. Oh, you're from the US? Man, stupid americans. Leave my island alone! We all dropped a wtf and wrote the guys off. It's not like he was a native. He's about 30, whiter than me, and talks like someone from the continental 48. We avoided him the rest of the trip. The bars were okay and we got back drunk enough to pass out quickly. The next day was New Years. We woke up, got a bit of food, walked around, napped, and then began pregaming in preperation for the night to come. We got ourselves good and drunk and found a nice cheap Italian restaurant for some pizza adventures. And what an adventure. It was about an hour and a half before the first of the 6 pizzas came out. Explanation as to why: the whole staff was drunk. Explanation as to why we didn't really care: we were drunk. It worked out in the end. We were told fireworks would be happening down by the river, and so there we headed. We got there and drunken citizens had already begun the show. Rob got hit with several shots that either tipped over or he just ran in to. About par for the course for him. So when midnight hit, we popped some Champange and watched the fireworks. It was a truly amazing show. They were going off on either side of the bridge, over by the castle, and in one or two other places... all of which were in our view. It was great. The rest of the night was drunken adventures that not need leave Prague. The next day we recovered, spent some time walking around the city. We left early the next morning.

All in all, it was good time. Good to see Rob again and especially good to see Chris. Definitly great to have a link from back home to visit. Fireworks were amazing and good times were had.

VIENNA

So we left Prague on the 4th, 'we' being Frap, Dillon, Justin and I. My notes say the following:

Vienna/saw the sights. Gorgeous city. Belvedere was gorgeous. Failure to find Montezuma's head dress. Moved back to Mexico in 2004. Wombar was really fun. Tim from Singapore. George and (Emily?) from Canada. Fusball and pool.

Some explanation: The first night we found this epicly big palace (Belvedere Palace) with an amazing view of the city from atop the hill right next to it. We had little light left after arriving late evening so mounted the hill and then retreated back towards the hostel for dinner. We spent the next day in the city walking around. It was sunny, thank God, and so it felt a little warmer. Prague and Vienna were both f'ing freezing though. Stupid winter traveling. Whatever. Anyways, that night we spent at the Wombar (hostel name "Wombat", thus hostel bar name "Wombar"). It was actually a pretty good bar complete with pool table and table soccer, so we got a good buzz as it was Chris/Dillon's last night and chatted the night away with some of the friends we had made from the hostel. Good times.

Overall, f'ing cold. But I liked Vienna a bit more than Prague. There was cooler stuff to see. Oh! The head dress thing. Yea, so I got all excited about this exhibit in the Anthropology Museum about Montezuma's head dress, hoping there would be a whole South/Latin American exhibit. Well after going to the museum, reading about Tibet and Sri Lanka, and asking a man in the musuem next door, we finally acertained information about the head dress's whereabouts... which would be Mexico. Where it has been for 4 years. Stupid outdated information.

ITALY... well, Venice.

So yesterday Justin and I left Chris and Dillon at the airport and hopped our 1 hour flight from Vienna to Venice. We got there late at night, so checked into the hostel, ate, and went to bed. Today we were up real early, grabbed some pastry and a cappucino, and headed out. It was cold. Again. Who goes to Italy in the winter? Seriously. So the day was a blur and my feet hurt. As you all may or may not know, the city is floating. Meaning that the "roads" are just canals and waterways. Which means the city is epicly gorgeous. The streets are all really tight (to conserve space I guess?) but pretty fun to walk through. So the cold and the lack of atmosphere due to said cold kind of ruined the city for me I think. As much fun as I had, after about 5 or 6 hours of walking around the streets start to look the same. I had the Venice experience I think, which truly is just getting lost in the streets, so I am content. Also, I didn't get to ride a gondola, which I'd like to do. I'm very excited to start exploring Florence tomorrow... which is where I am right now!

Overall, Venice was great, but I'm glad it was only a day trip. I might like to go back again some day in the summer, but for now I'm content.

So there you are! And here I am, in Florence. I spend tomorrow day and night here with Justin, then we take the train early on Wednesday to Rome. We'll have all of Wednesday and Thursday in Rome before both flying out early Friday; Justing to Germany and I back to Spain. The 2 days won't be enough, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to returning for a weekend trip in the Spring/Summer.

So I hope that the New Year found you with hope for new beginnings. I am looking forward to 2009, actually. I will be starting a new job, I will be having more adventures in Spain and Europe, and I will be returning home to friends and family that I miss dearly. For now, I'll take it one day at a time... and this coming day happens to be in Florence. Shibby!!!!

Un saludo,
Andrew
Firenze, Italia