Thursday, August 4, 2011
Nice Nice (adj then noun)
We don't have much time in Nice, so we haven't seen any tourist attractions. We chose to spend the few hours we have here before our flight to Barca on the beach, where I am currently writing this tidbit. On our way here, we bought some small pearly goodies in a souvenir shop and saw the fruit and flower market. There was a three-man band playing there and a small crowd watching. I dared Sana to stand in the middle of the circle and do the Elaine dance (from Seinfeld), but she had to decline. It was a big dare and would have definitely made it on YouTube. So this beach is rocky, but still very nice (I'm pronouncing that like how we pronounce Nice fyi, because Sana and I have decided that any time we want to say the word 'nice' during this trip, we must pronounce it as 'Nice'. Challenging! Here is a pic so you see what I'm seeing:
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
"Si tu cherches un mari à l'avenir..."
*Check out previous posting for updated pics!
Saturday, July 30th 2011
As much as we wanted to stay in Cinque for longer, it was time for Venice. Before leaving Riomaggiore, we bought some tomato and mozzarella sandwiches and latte machiatos (sp?) and enjoyed them on the marina. If any of you are planning a trip to Italy, you absolutely have to visit Cinque Terre, and give yourself some time to enjoy it. It is truly one of a kind.
Our train to Venice had two changes. On a stopover in Florence we had about an hour to eat lunch, and then we missed our next train. Yes, it is possible to do that. It was most definitely one of the top three kick myself moments of the trip thus far; another one being a senseless purchase of a purse I didn't really need on our first night in Rome. Sana did it too though! Since we were delayed an hour, we decided we may as well get some cappuccino.
Mapless in Venice is not a good way to go. We took the waterbus (free of charge because of a kind lady who didn't want to waste her tickets) to the closest stop to our B&B. After walking for what seemed like an eternity with backpacks on, we found it! Like a diamond in the rough...okay, that's not possible actually because we were in Venice. Let's scrap that sentence and say it was like a red rose in a garden of pink roses? Our B&B was nice. Pretty clean and cozy, but the furniture was just awful. The carpet was dark red and the furniture was off-white and gold with oldschool patterns on it. It looked like it was once owned by a 150 year old woman. I guess the owner was going for an antique look, and he succeeded but it was kind of creepy. Pretty tired from the traveling and missing trains and all, we ate dinner by a canal and slept relatively early.
Sunday, July 31st 2011
Our single day in Venice was relaxing. We walked to piazza st Marco, got scolded in Italian for playing with souvenirs at the carts, made some Murano glass purchases, ate pizza on a canal bridge and witnessed a gondola traffic jam. We were so relaxed that we even lay down by a bridge and tanned. This was a good indicator that we were ready for the beaches of the French riviera. Our last meal in Italy had to be classic spaghetti. It was absolutely delicious, obviously. During our meal, we attempted to take photos depicting a recreation of the scene in Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts was eating spaghetti and enjoying every moment of it. The only difference was that we were in Venice as opposed to Rome.
Monday, August 1 2011
The next morning, a very early morning, we booked it to the waterbus at 8:08am (easy to remember because of Far East Movement). As I was wrote that last sentence, I broke out into song and Sana shut me down. Our journey to Antibes was crazy; three train changes and one of them only had like a 7 minute buffer. We knew if the last train was retardo (late), we would be screwedo. And it was, but our mad dash skills and another compensating train delay, made it all okay. I must throw in that while we were waiting for that particular train on the Genova platform, I dared Sana to yell "retardo" at the top of her lungs. (We have a silly dares and rewards system going). She did it. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the reaction, or lack thereof, of our platform companions.
On that last train to Antibes, our stop at the Monaco station brought a very interesting crowd into the train. Fancy shmancy! There were two pretty blonde ladies with a Filipino baby. I spent most of the train ride trying to figure out their situation. I quickly assumed they were partners and they had adopted the baby but since the train ride was quite long, my imagination kept wandering. About a minute before our stop, I realized there was a Filipino man behind me. Turns out he was the dad.
When we arrived in Antibes, I immediately put my French skills to use to find our way to our villa. It was really far from the station, but really close to the beach! After resorting to taking a cab, we arrived at Villa Fabulite, a very pretty hotel with lots of greenery, and mosquitoes. Turns out the hotel was also famous for it's restaurant, and non-guests came to eat there as well. We were starving, and pretty much stranded (the Cap d'Antibes is far from the actual city itself) so we ate there too. I had a huge sea bass for dinner, and although I rarely order fish, I enjoyed this one! After eating our dinner, and being eaten by mosquitoes, dammit, we went to sleep.
Tuesday, August 2nd 2011
There's not too much to say about our day in Antibes; it was super relaxing. We ate breakfast at the villa, after which the chef brought some lovely and random surprises: tropical fruit, and swiss chocolate. We also met some other guests from Russia who were super nice. We relaxed at the beach for a few hours and it was heavenly. There were so many cute little French kids running around and enjoying the water. After the beach, we went to a small grocery store and bought some baguette and brie for lunch, and walked around the cap and up a few hills to see a view of Antibes. We like views. I think it is one of my favourite parts of traveling, because it almost always requires lots of walking/climbing and using maps, and it is tiring, but the reward is so great. The properties in the area were ridiculous. All gated up and surrounded by so much fancy greenery, and each mansion had its own name, ex. Le chateau d'Olivier.
At night after dinner and a couple of more dessert surprises from the chef, (so random but so awesome), we wanted to check out the nightlife in Antibes but we knew it would be pretty hard because we were so far from the main part of the city. So we decided to just stroll around the beach for a bit before bed. One of our fellow guests at the villa that we had met earlier had a sweet rental car and offered to drive us to town. He became known as our Russian saviour because he even gave us a ride to the Picasso museum today before our departure from Antibes. Amazing. The Picasso museum was cool; I like staring at abstract art and trying to figure it out. The two paintings I liked most were 'La joie de vivre' by Picasso, and 'Grand concert' by Nicolas de Staël.
From the Picasso museum, we went straight to the train station and made our way to Monaco! It was stunning. Enough said. Okay, I will give you a bit more of a description than that. The city looked very clean and well-kept. All the buildings looked brand new and had nice orangey and pinky colours. They had fancy balconies and detailed roofs and window sills. We loved the feel of the city. We walked over to the Jardin exotique hoping to see some fancy flowers and stuff, but were greeted with sharp cacti. Only cacti. It was still really cool because beyond the cacti we could see views of the whole city and harbor. After the cacti, we took a bus over to Monaco ville, where we saw the old village, souvenir shops, and a killer view of the city. Turn around from the view, and there is the palais du Prince. We were there to witness a changing of guards, which was very organized and proper as expected. That is until Sana whistled at one of the guards, unable to hold back. We also really wanted to see the Monte Carlo casino, so we got back on the bus and headed there. It was surrounded by fancy fountains and pretty cars.
Monday, August 1, 2011
It's gonna be a bumpy ride
Friday, July 29th 2011
Sorry it has been a few days since my last post. I havent had access to the Internet. I'm currently enjoying some baguette outside of Villa Fabulite and thought it would be a good time to start updating you. Since I am on my phone, I will upload pictures and format later when I have access to a computer.
From Florence, we took the train to Pisa to see the leaning tower. After walking pretty much the whole city with our huge backpacks, the tower appeared before us. It was exactly as we had pictured it...probably because we have all seen thousands of photos of people posing with the tower and pushing it over or holding it up. It was quite entertaining to see countless people trying to position themselves correctly with their arms outstretched to get a good picture. After doing exactly that, we relaxed on the grass for a little while before our trek back across town to the station. On the way we picked up some delicious sandwiches. Italian food...oh man.
Back on the train to our next stop, Riomaggiore; one of the five cities of Cinque Terre. The train ride there demonstrated a big transition in landscape. It was very hilly and picturesque. When we got off the train, the first thing we saw was the Mediterranean sea. The steep and hilly landscape of Cinque Terre makes for a very interesting and beautiful layout of streets and houses. The main road, via Columbo, is one huge uphill path (well, if you are at the top then it's downhill, but we were at the bottom where the train station was). The apartments and stores were all different colours from the outside, and were surrounded by narrow alleys and up steep staircases. It is pretty fascinating. Guaranteed, people that live there have some crazy leg muscles. We took some time to freshen up in La Casa di Venere, our home for the night. Looking out the window, I saw so many clothes lines and heard random Italian outbursts. It felt so different from the tourist overflow of Rome and Florence. I also enjoyed watching and taking pictures (in a non-creepy way) of the little Italian kids enjoying some play time outside.
Since it wad already evening, we knew we couldn't do the hike from one end of Cinque Terre to the other, as we had originally planned. However, we did want to do some sort of hike to see the spectacular views we had seen on Google! With a somewhat aimless approach, we headed uphill...as high as we could go...until we hit a dead end. The lack of footpaths and people should've been enough of a hint that we were headed nowhere. Either way, we eventually came to our senses and headed back downhill to ask for some direction. We then followed some people, who knew what they were doing, to a spot by the shore with an amazing view of Riomaggiore. We took some time to enjoy the sights with our feet in the Mediterranean.
After 8pm, access to the national park, which includes the path connecting all of the cities, becomes free of charge. So, since it is good to think economically at times, and since we got to Cinque so late, we decided to do a mini hike to the next city, Manarola, at sunset. The trail was called Via del Amore; the walls were filled with sketches of hearts with initials, and the fences had ribbons tied on them in the shape of hearts, and locks that couples had put up during their hikes. How sickening and sweet. Once we got to Manarola, we had to find the path to the top of the hill so we could see another amazing view. We asked a local that was sitting on a bench, and he led us to the pathway. He actually ended up being out personal tour guide and hiked up with us and a few other people. Poor guy was just chilling on a bench and next thing you know he is climbing a butload of steps. Anyway, once at the top, we saw another phenomenal view of bunches of colourful block-shaped houses scattered around a steep and hilly landscape right along the coastline. I especially loved how it looked when it got dark and the houses were lit up.
It was time for a late dinner. Each meal is something to get very excited about when in Italy. We had built up good appetites from all the hiking so we ate an amazing dinner in Manarola before heading back to Riomaggiore. Sana and I are not big seafood people, but we decided to be adventurous and we ordered some seafood-ish dishes. The mussels were the highlight...so tasty! Having left Italy only today, I am already missing the food dearly.
On the dark walk back to Rio, we got to enjoy a beautiful starry sky; something we rarely see back in Toronto. It is so special to see. We sat down for a few minutes in the dark just to appreciate the sight of stars and sound of waves crashing on the coast. I had never seen a shooting star before that night, and in the 10 minutes we sat there, we saw 3!
Before calling it a night, we hung out at the bar where we met some locals, some Canadians, and a South African. That experience has made for some good laughs. Via del Amore will remember us.
Sorry it has been a few days since my last post. I havent had access to the Internet. I'm currently enjoying some baguette outside of Villa Fabulite and thought it would be a good time to start updating you. Since I am on my phone, I will upload pictures and format later when I have access to a computer.
From Florence, we took the train to Pisa to see the leaning tower. After walking pretty much the whole city with our huge backpacks, the tower appeared before us. It was exactly as we had pictured it...probably because we have all seen thousands of photos of people posing with the tower and pushing it over or holding it up. It was quite entertaining to see countless people trying to position themselves correctly with their arms outstretched to get a good picture. After doing exactly that, we relaxed on the grass for a little while before our trek back across town to the station. On the way we picked up some delicious sandwiches. Italian food...oh man.
Back on the train to our next stop, Riomaggiore; one of the five cities of Cinque Terre. The train ride there demonstrated a big transition in landscape. It was very hilly and picturesque. When we got off the train, the first thing we saw was the Mediterranean sea. The steep and hilly landscape of Cinque Terre makes for a very interesting and beautiful layout of streets and houses. The main road, via Columbo, is one huge uphill path (well, if you are at the top then it's downhill, but we were at the bottom where the train station was). The apartments and stores were all different colours from the outside, and were surrounded by narrow alleys and up steep staircases. It is pretty fascinating. Guaranteed, people that live there have some crazy leg muscles. We took some time to freshen up in La Casa di Venere, our home for the night. Looking out the window, I saw so many clothes lines and heard random Italian outbursts. It felt so different from the tourist overflow of Rome and Florence. I also enjoyed watching and taking pictures (in a non-creepy way) of the little Italian kids enjoying some play time outside.
Since it wad already evening, we knew we couldn't do the hike from one end of Cinque Terre to the other, as we had originally planned. However, we did want to do some sort of hike to see the spectacular views we had seen on Google! With a somewhat aimless approach, we headed uphill...as high as we could go...until we hit a dead end. The lack of footpaths and people should've been enough of a hint that we were headed nowhere. Either way, we eventually came to our senses and headed back downhill to ask for some direction. We then followed some people, who knew what they were doing, to a spot by the shore with an amazing view of Riomaggiore. We took some time to enjoy the sights with our feet in the Mediterranean.
After 8pm, access to the national park, which includes the path connecting all of the cities, becomes free of charge. So, since it is good to think economically at times, and since we got to Cinque so late, we decided to do a mini hike to the next city, Manarola, at sunset. The trail was called Via del Amore; the walls were filled with sketches of hearts with initials, and the fences had ribbons tied on them in the shape of hearts, and locks that couples had put up during their hikes. How sickening and sweet. Once we got to Manarola, we had to find the path to the top of the hill so we could see another amazing view. We asked a local that was sitting on a bench, and he led us to the pathway. He actually ended up being out personal tour guide and hiked up with us and a few other people. Poor guy was just chilling on a bench and next thing you know he is climbing a butload of steps. Anyway, once at the top, we saw another phenomenal view of bunches of colourful block-shaped houses scattered around a steep and hilly landscape right along the coastline. I especially loved how it looked when it got dark and the houses were lit up.
It was time for a late dinner. Each meal is something to get very excited about when in Italy. We had built up good appetites from all the hiking so we ate an amazing dinner in Manarola before heading back to Riomaggiore. Sana and I are not big seafood people, but we decided to be adventurous and we ordered some seafood-ish dishes. The mussels were the highlight...so tasty! Having left Italy only today, I am already missing the food dearly.
On the dark walk back to Rio, we got to enjoy a beautiful starry sky; something we rarely see back in Toronto. It is so special to see. We sat down for a few minutes in the dark just to appreciate the sight of stars and sound of waves crashing on the coast. I had never seen a shooting star before that night, and in the 10 minutes we sat there, we saw 3!
Before calling it a night, we hung out at the bar where we met some locals, some Canadians, and a South African. That experience has made for some good laughs. Via del Amore will remember us.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
On to the next one: Firenze
Wednesday, July 27 2011
Before heading to the Roma Termini, we had one last sight to see (that rhymes). It was what I referred to earlier as a bunch of skeletons: Cappuchin Crypt. It is basically like a cemetery for about 4000 priests, but it is not your typical cemetery; when you walk in there are small rooms with designs and intricate patterns all over the walls and ceilings, made of bones from all parts of their bodies. It was creepy and fascinating at the same time. In the last room , there was a quote wrriten in the ground - "What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be..."
The train station was con.fus.ing. We knew we had to get our Eurail passes validated, but we didn't know where. We went to the information desk and explained where we were traveling and that we had Eurail passes to be validated, and the old man behind the counter kept repeating two words: "Platform 5". His response to everything we said...Platform 5. We finally found someone that could help us and got on the train to Florence. Turns out, the train to Florence was on Platform 2. It was really easy to find our hostel, Academy hostel, and we were quite glad that we had a day of straightforward walking routes...spoke too soon. At night we wanted to go to Santa Croce, a lively area of bars and pubs. We brought along one of our roommates, Alex from Brazil, who was not impressed by my phenomenal navigation skills. Either way, about an hour later, we found Santa Croce, which was literally 5 bars in one block. Seriously?! We chose a bar called Red Garter, where Sana and I rocked it out on karaoke to "Only Girl" by Rihanna. Sorry people, there is no videotaped evidence. So sorry.
Thursday, July 28 2011
Today we headed to the Uffizi gallery, the world's oldest gallery. The wait in the ticket line was two hours! It was brutal. However, we did meet a sweet Nepalese family and chatted with them for most of the wait. The little girl, Maya, befriended me and gave me a silly band - how cute! Once in the gallery, Sana and I were greeted with an overwhelming amount of male genitalia...on the sculptures obviously. We tried counting but lost track after 37. Once we had had enough of the sculptures we looked at the paintings, many of which were of baby Jesus and Madonna (I found out Madonna meant the Virgin Mary). I had trouble keeping focus when looking at all the Madonna and Jesus paintings, but the gallery visit showed its worth when we got to the Leonardo Da Vinci paintings. I was most impressed by one called "Adoration of the Magi". We walked home to the beautiful sound of a lady singing opera outside the Duomo.
After a bit of a rest, we started to walk to the Piazzele Michaelangelo, which has a spectacular view of the entire city. On the way, however, we of course got distracted by a gelato shop. We ended up spending more on gelato than on dinner. Go figure. I decided to get a cone with nutella and banana gelato, and Sana got a waffle with tiramisu gelato on it, which every passerby was eyeing. We had to sit down and eat because Sana's waffle was so darn big! Speaking of eyeing, while enjoying our delicious dessert, (Sana had more gelato on her face than in her mouth), some Italian guys stopped to make conversation with us. I must mention that about a minute earlier, the same guys had walked by us, and it was obvious that they had come back. Needless to say, we were sketched out. As a safeguard, Sana started frantically eating her humongous waffle. In the process, her fork flung out of her hand onto the ground. At that point, we decided to scurry off and find her a new fork, which turned out to be quite the task because every competing gelato place denied her.
After this fiasco, we found the Piazzele and took in the amazing view of the city. As I enjoyed the view of Florence, I thought about how different Florence is from many of the other cities I've been to. This is because Florence seems calm from a distance, as well as when you are wandering its streets. On the walk back to the hostel, we spent some time on the Ponte Vecchio and witnessed some live music. I am pretty happy to be sitting down right now because my feet are in desperate need of a break. This need for a break is unfortunate as tomorrow morning we head to Pisa and then Cinque Terre, where we plan to do an 18 km hike. Pray for me?
Before heading to the Roma Termini, we had one last sight to see (that rhymes). It was what I referred to earlier as a bunch of skeletons: Cappuchin Crypt. It is basically like a cemetery for about 4000 priests, but it is not your typical cemetery; when you walk in there are small rooms with designs and intricate patterns all over the walls and ceilings, made of bones from all parts of their bodies. It was creepy and fascinating at the same time. In the last room , there was a quote wrriten in the ground - "What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be..."
The train station was con.fus.ing. We knew we had to get our Eurail passes validated, but we didn't know where. We went to the information desk and explained where we were traveling and that we had Eurail passes to be validated, and the old man behind the counter kept repeating two words: "Platform 5". His response to everything we said...Platform 5. We finally found someone that could help us and got on the train to Florence. Turns out, the train to Florence was on Platform 2. It was really easy to find our hostel, Academy hostel, and we were quite glad that we had a day of straightforward walking routes...spoke too soon. At night we wanted to go to Santa Croce, a lively area of bars and pubs. We brought along one of our roommates, Alex from Brazil, who was not impressed by my phenomenal navigation skills. Either way, about an hour later, we found Santa Croce, which was literally 5 bars in one block. Seriously?! We chose a bar called Red Garter, where Sana and I rocked it out on karaoke to "Only Girl" by Rihanna. Sorry people, there is no videotaped evidence. So sorry.
Thursday, July 28 2011
Today we headed to the Uffizi gallery, the world's oldest gallery. The wait in the ticket line was two hours! It was brutal. However, we did meet a sweet Nepalese family and chatted with them for most of the wait. The little girl, Maya, befriended me and gave me a silly band - how cute! Once in the gallery, Sana and I were greeted with an overwhelming amount of male genitalia...on the sculptures obviously. We tried counting but lost track after 37. Once we had had enough of the sculptures we looked at the paintings, many of which were of baby Jesus and Madonna (I found out Madonna meant the Virgin Mary). I had trouble keeping focus when looking at all the Madonna and Jesus paintings, but the gallery visit showed its worth when we got to the Leonardo Da Vinci paintings. I was most impressed by one called "Adoration of the Magi". We walked home to the beautiful sound of a lady singing opera outside the Duomo.
After a bit of a rest, we started to walk to the Piazzele Michaelangelo, which has a spectacular view of the entire city. On the way, however, we of course got distracted by a gelato shop. We ended up spending more on gelato than on dinner. Go figure. I decided to get a cone with nutella and banana gelato, and Sana got a waffle with tiramisu gelato on it, which every passerby was eyeing. We had to sit down and eat because Sana's waffle was so darn big! Speaking of eyeing, while enjoying our delicious dessert, (Sana had more gelato on her face than in her mouth), some Italian guys stopped to make conversation with us. I must mention that about a minute earlier, the same guys had walked by us, and it was obvious that they had come back. Needless to say, we were sketched out. As a safeguard, Sana started frantically eating her humongous waffle. In the process, her fork flung out of her hand onto the ground. At that point, we decided to scurry off and find her a new fork, which turned out to be quite the task because every competing gelato place denied her.
After this fiasco, we found the Piazzele and took in the amazing view of the city. As I enjoyed the view of Florence, I thought about how different Florence is from many of the other cities I've been to. This is because Florence seems calm from a distance, as well as when you are wandering its streets. On the walk back to the hostel, we spent some time on the Ponte Vecchio and witnessed some live music. I am pretty happy to be sitting down right now because my feet are in desperate need of a break. This need for a break is unfortunate as tomorrow morning we head to Pisa and then Cinque Terre, where we plan to do an 18 km hike. Pray for me?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Rome Uscita
Uscita means exit, a new Italian word I learned yesterday during our metro shenanigans. Last night, after our long journey back to Papa, a journey for which I was very proud of us because we were able to find the right bus to get on, I decided what my favourite packed item is: ear plugs. I didn't hear a sound all night, including my alarm in the morning. Sana heard it though, so now we are checking out of Papa Germano, going to see a bunch of skeletons (I will elaborate later), and heading to Roma Termini, where we will catch our first train to our next destination: Firenze. Sidenote: if I make any errors during this post, it is because I'm distracted by Papa at the front desk, randomly singing in Italian. Love it.
Anyway, yesterday evening we headed to the Spanish steps, sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere for a bit, then headed to the top where there was a church. We decided to go inside and witness a mass and the sermon was in French. It was pleasant to watch. After the Spanish steps we walked through Via Condotti, the location of all the Italian designer stores. Fancy stuff. As the sun began to set, we headed up a steep hill near the Piazza di Spagna to catch a view of the entire city, which was breathtaking (both because we had just climbed a really big hill and because it was a pretty view). As night set in, we made our way to the Colesseum and struggled a bit to take pictures because of this derranged man who kept throwing lit up toys into the air, trying to convince people to buy them, but doing the complete opposite. One almost hit me; landed about 30cm in front of me as I posed for a picture. Not amused. We then had some delicious risotto and called it a night.
Anyway, yesterday evening we headed to the Spanish steps, sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere for a bit, then headed to the top where there was a church. We decided to go inside and witness a mass and the sermon was in French. It was pleasant to watch. After the Spanish steps we walked through Via Condotti, the location of all the Italian designer stores. Fancy stuff. As the sun began to set, we headed up a steep hill near the Piazza di Spagna to catch a view of the entire city, which was breathtaking (both because we had just climbed a really big hill and because it was a pretty view). As night set in, we made our way to the Colesseum and struggled a bit to take pictures because of this derranged man who kept throwing lit up toys into the air, trying to convince people to buy them, but doing the complete opposite. One almost hit me; landed about 30cm in front of me as I posed for a picture. Not amused. We then had some delicious risotto and called it a night.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
First stop: ROMA
Bonjourno to all! I decided to attempt at keeping a blog during our month-long backpacking trip to Europe. I will try and blog as often as possible, and Sana will possibly contribute some entries and add some insights to mine. We will be traveling to cities within Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Netherlands. Hope you enjoy reading about our adventures!
Fauz (and Sana...sometimes)
Monday July 25th, 2011
Alright. Sana and I arrived alive in the capital of Italy after a red eye flight, which involved minimal sleep. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, we got through customs and to the baggage claim. A great spot too, right by the start of the conveyor belt. After about 15 minutes of watching bags come down and people struggle to pick them up, we realized we were standing at the wrong baggage claim. Standard rookie mistake, no big deal. After finally getting our backpacks, (mine looks more like a huge-ass suitcase strapped to my back), we found a shuttle bus that would take us right to our hostel! Perfecto! En route to Papa Germano, as our driver skillfully and frightfully wove through the Rome traffic mess, he told us, mostly in his sweet papa bear Italian way of speaking, about the sights we were passing. I was already having so much fun! Once we made it to our hostel, we set our stuff down and took a lovely and much-needed nap. We woke up to our new roommates coming into the room: two awesome fellow Canadian girls! After chatting with them, we decided to meander the city streets and perhaps see a couple of pretty sights. But first, we had to have some Italian espresso. It was bitter and kind of gross, but I know I will be having a lot more of it in the next few days! With a map in hand, we made our way to S.Maria Maggiore, followed by a bit of a sketchy detour through the hilly cobblestoned streets of Rome, which looked gorgeous in the night and also posed as tripping hazards. We found the Trevi fountain, got turned down by a security guard when we asked him to take our photo, and then sat at a restaurant patio. Since we sat and therefore had to pay the sitting fee, we decided to eat there as well (lol). After a great pasta meal, we expertly navigated our way back to the hostel, getting lost only...twice?
Tuesday July 26th, 2011
We woke up early today to make it to Vatican city. En route to the Republica metro station, we came across a round-about, with cars zooming around during what seemed like Rome rush hour. It looked very challenging to cross, so we seeked help from a local kid, who seemed like an expert crosser. Once we all started crossing, we realized that the kid had abandoned us in this time of great despair. In the middle of the round-about, we heard an ambulance and froze...the cars didn't freeze though. It was traumatic. Sana took control and halted an oncoming car, and then we successfully made it across.
After a few subway stops, we made it to Vatican city- the smallest country in the world. Personally, seeing the museum and all that never really appealed to me, but since I'm here, I figured I should see what the hype is all about. And my oh my, is there hype. Thousands of people standing in a two hour line...not my cup of tea. We chose to take a tour instead, paying about 8 euros to skip the line and have a tour guide explain all the history behind the artwork and statues. I must say, the musem and basilica are gorgeous and I am glad I got to see them. My only tip for anyone that plans on visiting, is to put on your patience cap (like a thinking cap but for patience) and be hydrated. Once we had taken in enough of the architecture, we had our first gelatos and some signature pizza, and made our way back to the hostel. Time for break. Stay tuned!
Fauz (and Sana...sometimes)
Monday July 25th, 2011
Alright. Sana and I arrived alive in the capital of Italy after a red eye flight, which involved minimal sleep. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, we got through customs and to the baggage claim. A great spot too, right by the start of the conveyor belt. After about 15 minutes of watching bags come down and people struggle to pick them up, we realized we were standing at the wrong baggage claim. Standard rookie mistake, no big deal. After finally getting our backpacks, (mine looks more like a huge-ass suitcase strapped to my back), we found a shuttle bus that would take us right to our hostel! Perfecto! En route to Papa Germano, as our driver skillfully and frightfully wove through the Rome traffic mess, he told us, mostly in his sweet papa bear Italian way of speaking, about the sights we were passing. I was already having so much fun! Once we made it to our hostel, we set our stuff down and took a lovely and much-needed nap. We woke up to our new roommates coming into the room: two awesome fellow Canadian girls! After chatting with them, we decided to meander the city streets and perhaps see a couple of pretty sights. But first, we had to have some Italian espresso. It was bitter and kind of gross, but I know I will be having a lot more of it in the next few days! With a map in hand, we made our way to S.Maria Maggiore, followed by a bit of a sketchy detour through the hilly cobblestoned streets of Rome, which looked gorgeous in the night and also posed as tripping hazards. We found the Trevi fountain, got turned down by a security guard when we asked him to take our photo, and then sat at a restaurant patio. Since we sat and therefore had to pay the sitting fee, we decided to eat there as well (lol). After a great pasta meal, we expertly navigated our way back to the hostel, getting lost only...twice?
Tuesday July 26th, 2011
We woke up early today to make it to Vatican city. En route to the Republica metro station, we came across a round-about, with cars zooming around during what seemed like Rome rush hour. It looked very challenging to cross, so we seeked help from a local kid, who seemed like an expert crosser. Once we all started crossing, we realized that the kid had abandoned us in this time of great despair. In the middle of the round-about, we heard an ambulance and froze...the cars didn't freeze though. It was traumatic. Sana took control and halted an oncoming car, and then we successfully made it across.
After a few subway stops, we made it to Vatican city- the smallest country in the world. Personally, seeing the museum and all that never really appealed to me, but since I'm here, I figured I should see what the hype is all about. And my oh my, is there hype. Thousands of people standing in a two hour line...not my cup of tea. We chose to take a tour instead, paying about 8 euros to skip the line and have a tour guide explain all the history behind the artwork and statues. I must say, the musem and basilica are gorgeous and I am glad I got to see them. My only tip for anyone that plans on visiting, is to put on your patience cap (like a thinking cap but for patience) and be hydrated. Once we had taken in enough of the architecture, we had our first gelatos and some signature pizza, and made our way back to the hostel. Time for break. Stay tuned!
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