Link to my photo album:
http://chapman.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032127&l=c0b99&id=35800358
Alright, I admit that it has been far too long since my last post. Cut me some slack. I've been busy. Anyway, I'm going to post a blog about my other trips later this week but right now I want to talk about my most recent one, spring break in Italy.
Somehow while I was planning my flights there and back, I ended up with twelve days in Italy! Not sure how that happened but I wasn't about to put up any fuss over it. To start my trip off, I flew into Venice. My friend Rob and I flew together and found a really cheap and fun hostel outside of the city. It was called Jolly Camping but this was the most posh campsite I have been to. Our "cabins" were little RVs with our own bathroom, shower, and heater. It was the nicest hostel we stayed at the whole time in Italy.
Venice was so beautiful. Even though it rained the first two days there and a little cloudy the third, I was too excited to let it bother me. Since we were there for three days, we had more than enough time to see the city. Each day we would wander around the city discovering new places that we had never seen before. San Marco’s Square and the Rialto Bridge are the two most famous spots in Venice. They were always packed with people but were so beautiful.
Besides those two main places we bought a museum card that allowed us to visit twelve museums in Venice, including the Doge’s Palace. This palace is right next to San Marco’s Basilica and is where the Doge, the figurehead of the Venice Empire but without any real power, lived and held meetings with those in power. It was a huge building with enormous rooms covered in artwork. Besides the Doge’s Palace, we went to several other museums, sometimes just to use the free bathroom. The other museums had some interesting sculptures, books, paintings, and we even went to the glass museum on the island of Murano.
One of my favorite places was the island of Burano. It’s a tiny island a half hour by boat outside of Venice with brightly painted houses all over it. It’s known for its lace and there was a lace museum that we could have gone to but it was closes. Shucks! I just loved how colorful and cheerful this town was. Apparently this is how Venice used to look before it started to decay. Be sure to look at my photo album and see the pics of this place. Its hard to miss.
After Venice, we took a train down to Florence which was a bit of a shock since it was so different than Venice. Florence had a more modern city feel to it with scattered ancient building throughout the city. I think I liked how everywhere in Venice felt the same so it was a little bit of a let down to be in a “normal” city. In spite of this, I had an amazing time in Florence.
Since it was rainy in Venice, there were almost no crowds but now that spring break was fully in session and the sun was out the people came swarming in. Luckily we bought tickets in advance to the Uffizi and Academia Galleries. The Uffizi had an incredible amount of paintings inside. My favorite were Boticelli’s. He had his own enormous room full of paintings that I had learned about in class. “The Birth of Venus” and “Spring” were the most awe inspiring paintings that I saw. I don’t understand how paint can glow and almost jump out of a painting like that. The Academia was smaller but it had something that no one can go to Florence without seeing, Michaelangelo’s David. I knew that the David was going to be amazing but there is no way to describe how it looks from up close. The detail in the marble and the sheer size of the sculpture makes you stop and just stare for almost ten minutes. It’s difficult to move in that room cause people randomly stop walking in front of you.
Besides these museums, I climbed to the top of the Duomo which is the giant dome on the cathedral. The name Duomo is used for every cathedral that has a dome but I don’t remember the name of the cathedral in Florence. All the signs just said Duomo. Anway, the view from the top was incredible but the climb up was the truly fun part. The dome is built so there is a dome inside of a dome. This sounds confusing and when I read it in Rick Steve’s I didn’t understand until I was climbing up. What you do is climb up stairs until you reach the part where the dome starts to curve. Then you suddenly realize that you are climbing up stairs that are on top of the inside dome but that there is another dome a foot above your head. There was about a six foot space in between the two that you walk through. It was really exciting even though it was a little snug trying to squeeze your way through. I tried to take picture of myself climbing up, it’s the one where I look like I’m in a cave.
Since we had five days in Florence which was more than enough, I decided to take two day trips. The first was to Pisa. The leaning tower was beautiful and I realized that there is a giant cathedral right next to it. I was curious why they never show the cathedral when they take pictures of the tower. I would have liked to climb the tower but it was ridiculously expensive. Besides the tower, there really wasn’t much else to do but we rented a four person bike and rode around the city. That was pretty fun and more than a little dangerous when we found our way onto the main road.
My second day trip was to Sienna and it was amazing! Everyone has an idea of what Italian cities are and Sienna was mine. It’s medium sized town built on a hill about an hour outside of Florence. The streets are all small with almost no cars on them. The busiest part of town is called Il Campo which was somewhat like a large plaza but instead of being square, it was in the shape of an amphitheatre without seats. Everyone was sitting on the ground eating lunch or gelato and just hanging out. There was also a huge cathedral that was even prettier than the one in Florence. When I walked to the top of a hill, I saw earth colored houses scattered throughout the city like rows and rows of crooked teeth. That’s a pretty gross description but the view was beautiful. Especially since it was twilight and all the houses seemed to glow reddish orange.
I took the train back to Florence that night and then the next morning I set out for Rome. We knew Rome was going to be a madhouse so we planned ahead. Unfortunately we realized that our reservation for the Vatican Museum had been changed to 8:15 am and our train got into Rome at 9:15. We dropped our bags in the station and hopped a bus to the Vatican. We met a really nice Australian who told us where to go and what to do in Rome but unfortunately we had to leave him in the line for the Vatican museum that almost encircled all of Vatican City. As we ran to the front of the line, we prayed that we would be allowed in. We found our group and they said in heavily accented English “Wow, you’re really late.” And then they gave us our passes and we got in. Hurray! Kinda anti-climactic but it was pretty nerve racking for us. Before I walked in the Vatican Museum, I had no idea what was inside. I thought it was all about the history of the Vatican but I learned pretty quickly that almost everything that you want to see in Rome is in here. I don’t think I have ever seen so many statues in my life. I took a picture of one hallway where it was statue after statue as far as you can see. We walked past closed rooms where there were statues packed in like old furniture. It was so strange seeing so much art. In fact, it was actually mind numbing to see so much. It was mostly a blur except for the highlights. I think my favorite part was the Raphael Rooms. Here were frescoes painted by Raphael that covered the walls. I was a few feet away from a priceless painting that I had only seen textbooks. I don’t remember the name of my favorite one but it is the most famous. It shows Plato and Socrates (I think) in the middle surrounded by other scholarly looking people. After that we went to the Sistine Chapel. There were so many people inside. As the Spanish say, “estábamos como sardines en una lata.”(We were like sardines in a can, for those with no spanish background) I think that I would have liked the Sistine Chapel better if I could breathe and there weren’t gaurds yelling silenzio every two minutes. In spite of all that, it was still amazing to see the paintings covering every inch of the walls and ceiling. At the end of the museum, you exit into St. Peter’s Basilica. This was by the far the most amazing place that I have seen and I have seen my fair share of cathedrals since I’ve been in Spain. The ceiling had dome after dome with art and sculptures covering every nook at cranny. At the head of the church, there was a stained glass window made out of a type of translucent stone. I forget the name of it but I couldn’t believe that it was actually a rock instead of glass. There was one sculpture that I couldn’t believe. It was just a random part of the church but it was so amazing. It showed two angels with a blanket and a skeleton peaking out from under the blanket. The whole thing was carved out of brown marble but the blanket looked like I could fold it up if I wanted to. I don’t have any clue how they did that.
The next day was Easter Sunday so we decided to stay away from the Vatican which was going to be a madhouse. Instead we went to the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Palatino, Pantheon, and a bunch of other ruins. Being inside the Coliseum made me want to watch the movie Gladiator. It was incredible to see something so old and yet so large. I really enjoyed how Rome was scattered with pillars, ruins, fountains, and whatever else you could find from the Roman times except for a vomitorium. I was hoping to find one of those because I was sad that I couldn’t be eating Italian food every waking moment.
Some of the Roman stuff that I loved were the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. Both of these were incredible to see. Actually, one of the weirdest feelings I had while in Italy was right outside the Pantheon. I was taking a break from pizza or pasta and I was sitting in the patio of McDonalds looking at the Pantheon when I realized what I was doing. I was shoving some delicious French fries in my mouth while staring at one of the most amazing building I have ever seen. That could never happen in the US. Although after my fries were done I would have traded the Pantheon for a Double-Double.
Whew, this has been an epic entry so far. I would like to thank my grandparents for probably being the only ones that have read all of this so far. I know that you guys wanted some more facts on my trips but I hope that I didn’t get too into detail.
OH NO! I just realized that I forgot to even mention my favorite part about Italy. The FOOD! For my first three meals in Italy I ate pizza and I honestly could have eaten pizza the whole time. It was delicious. Pasta, artichokes, tomatoes, and a deluge of other foods that are making my mouth water were everywhere in Italy. I didn’t bother buying anything that I couldn’t shove in my mouth. Above all else, the Gelato was heavenly. I had a Gelato almost everyday, and the best one that I had was in Rome in a place called Gilitto or something. You had to pay for your cone first and then grab your receipt and fight your way to the counter. It was a madhouse in there. Everyone was screaming and elbowing their way to the front. When I finally made it to the counter I realized that I had no idea what I wanted. I panicked and chose whatever sounded good. Chocolate, banana, and tiramisu with a big blob of homemade whipped cream on top. Ummmm. There is a picture of me holding this scepter of delight in my photo album. Be sure to check it out.
Well, that about does it for my Italy trip. Don’t worry, I’m going to try and get my other trips on here soon. They probably won’t be as long though. I love and miss you guys!
