Si si.... dobbiamo escrivere piu... ci scusate! (Yeah yeah, we have to write more, excuse us!)
Un po musica che abbiamo ascoltato in italia - prego! (a little music we listened to in Italy - here you go!) Grazie a Hannah per il nome di canto, e'anche grazie a nostri amici Walid e Aziz chi hanno giacato la music divertente. (Thanks Hannah for the name of the song, and also to our friends Walid and Aziz who played fun music :)
Monday, July 4, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Paris - 16-19 aprile
Oh Paris. I love Paris. We went to Paris from Saturday - Tuesday, April 16th - 19th as a late birthday trip for Hannah. While quintessentially European, Paris has a different feel than Italy, accentuated by seeing and hearing everything in French. It feels ethnic... sophisticated yet carefree... gentle and a little bit wild. It was SO beautiful!
While waiting in line to board our Ryanair flight from Pisa to Beauvais (about an hour ourside of Paris), we talked about our friends who refuse to fly the budget airline because of safety concerns, and joked about how the plane would probably fall apart. We then looked over to see this reassuring sight...
Once we landed safely in Beauvais, we took a bus from the airport to Paris (the French landscape is beautiful!)...
...then a metro to our hotel. We arrived in the evening, and just grabbed some Subway, stopped by a small grocery store to pick up some things for the morning, and played a game of Scotch Bridge at the hotel.
After we left we stayed in a little park behind the Cathedral to take pictures of flowers...
...and play on one of the spinny things....
...and took a metro further north to Porte du Clignancourt to go to the gypsy (aka flea) market. After a bit of shopping, and coming so close to buying a beautiful Moroccan leather bag, we walked down (south) to the Montemartre area, which is actually elevated, near the church called Sacre Coeur. Montemarte is the small area where historically and currently there are many cute little shops and restaurants around a little court where artists would and still do paint. It is so quaint. :)
...where we had the likes of soupe a l'oignon, boeuf bourguignon, and apple tart (sorry, don't know the name for that one.) We chatted for a bit with two friendly French couples sitting at the table next to us [it was a very small, cosy (read: a bit crammed) restaurant] and they looked over and commented on our lists of important French phrases. After lunch, we went shopping a little bit...
And it is also on a hill, so from the steps outside, we saw Paris, including the far-off Eiffel Tower.
...we bought some little souvenirs from some Indian men (which apparently is illegal) who ended up running off because they're not supposed to be selling on the streets. Joanna was left with an Eiffel Tower keychain in her hand that she was about to buy. We walked down the hill and walked walked walked to a metro (where I bought Naomi a beret :) which we took over to the Arc d'Triomphe.
Monday, the next morning, we went to the Louvre!! After waiting in line for tickets, we finally entered!! We saw....
And that was mainly on one of several levels! By this point I had gotten separated from the rest of the group, but some texts and calls later, found them outside in front of the pyramid, where we had some fun...
We left the Louvre to meander the streets, shopping, stopping for sandwiches and baguettes, then beginning our trek to the Eiffel Tower, on the other side of the Seine...
All the walking is a lot more fun in the company of friends. We finally made it!!! And we just lay in the grass and soaked in the view. It wasn't just a landmark anymore or a little note on a map. We were actually there!
We climbed back down, sat in the grass, and ate the rest of our baguettes (while on my iPod I enjoyed my Paris theme music, the Amelie soundtrack... :)
We walked to the nearby metro and checked out the maps in search of the church in the Da Vinci Code. We took what we thought was the best metro line, and when we got off, asked a couple guys nearby. They are students at the University of Paris - the Sorbonne, they both speak French, but they are both American (one is from Missouri), who made some suggestions. We decided to walk towards the Sorbonne, and on the way we stopped at a grocery store, where, after being warned by the cashier to open my pomegranate soda slowly, opened it too quickly and promptly spilled half of it on the floor. Anyways, we found...
...the Sorbonne - one of the oldest universities in the world! (Alma mater of St. Thomas of Aquinas, John Calvin, Victor Hugo, Pierre and Marie Curie...)
...and then kept walking in search of a view of the lit up Eiffel Tower by night, which we couldn't see by the Sorbonne, but later on we did. We walked through the Latin Quarter, still very alive at 11 or 12 at night, then along the Seine to find that view of the Eiffel Tower.
...then hopped on the nearby metro for the hotel. We only had the next morning in Paris...it was going too quick.
Tuesday morning arrived! The plan for the morning was an Impressionist exhibit at the Hotel d'Ville near the Seine.
Pictures were not allowed inside, but we saw some wonderful paintings and sketches by Degas (my favorite!), Van Gogh, Berand, Renoir, Caillebotte, Steinlen, and others.
I split from Mrs. Walti, Hannah, Jacob, and Joanna -- they planned to walk and shop their way towards the opera house, while I planned to visit Notre Dame again, as I didn't get a good enough look of the inside, and possibly visit Sainte Chapelle, a beautiful chapel near Notre Dame. Turns out the line for Notre Dame was even LONGER than on Palm Sunday, but I did get more pictures of the outside, this time more from the side, where you can see a bit of the flying buttresses and gargoyles, if you look closely.
While walking along the Seine towards Sainte Chapelle, some random guy came up from behind and asked, "Excuse me, do you have time for coffee?" Uhhh....No, as a matter of fact I don't, I have to catch a metro. (Which I did...a little later...)
Clearly I didn't go, because we had less than 2 hours to get to our hotel again. I stopped by an outside garden shop next to the metro stop where I wanted to look for some bells for my mom. No such luck. But it was cute. I mailed some postcards, then hopped on the metro again...
(can you tell that the metro system was key? And my metro map was the key to that key.)
From there we took another metro to the hotel, but because we were low on tickets and time (only an hour to get across Paris, buy bus tickets, and be ON the bus), Joanna and Mrs. Walti stayed in the metro system while Jacob, Hannah and I ran to the hotel, picked up our bags, ran with all of them back down into the metro system, ran onto a train, rode, switched trains, all the while Mrs. Walti and I were getting really, really nervous. When we got off the metro, we powerwalked to the bus station while Jacob ran ahead to buy tickets. Just minutes after arriving, we loaded the bus, and minutes later, it left for Beauvais. Talk about timing!
We had a fun flight back to Pisa, where I talked with Mrs. Walti and Joanna across the aisle about life and careers and all that jazz and took pictures of my weird neighbors... :)
Thus ended our whirlwind of a trip to Paris, the most beautiful city in the world! Wonderful weather, wonderful city, wonderful friends, wonderful time!
While waiting in line to board our Ryanair flight from Pisa to Beauvais (about an hour ourside of Paris), we talked about our friends who refuse to fly the budget airline because of safety concerns, and joked about how the plane would probably fall apart. We then looked over to see this reassuring sight...
Once we landed safely in Beauvais, we took a bus from the airport to Paris (the French landscape is beautiful!)...
...then a metro to our hotel. We arrived in the evening, and just grabbed some Subway, stopped by a small grocery store to pick up some things for the morning, and played a game of Scotch Bridge at the hotel.
In the morning we went to Notre Dame.
I especially wanted to hear Gregorian chants, but we failed to remember we went on Palm Sunday, during which they would have special music. But the outside is beautiful, the inside is beautiful, the parks are beautiful, Paris is beautiful. I got more video of the singing than I did of the interior...but it was just unreal. I had spent some time the semester before studying Gothic architecture, Notre Dame in particular, so to see all the arches, the flying buttresses outside, all the stained glass, it's just beautiful...
After we left we stayed in a little park behind the Cathedral to take pictures of flowers...
...and play on one of the spinny things....
We crossed the Seine....
...and took a metro further north to Porte du Clignancourt to go to the gypsy (aka flea) market. After a bit of shopping, and coming so close to buying a beautiful Moroccan leather bag, we walked down (south) to the Montemartre area, which is actually elevated, near the church called Sacre Coeur. Montemarte is the small area where historically and currently there are many cute little shops and restaurants around a little court where artists would and still do paint. It is so quaint. :)
We had lunch at a little place called Le Poulbot...
...then walked to Sacre Coeur (a later view from the bottom of the hill)...
It is beautiful. The interior feels more simple and less adorned than other churches.
And it is also on a hill, so from the steps outside, we saw Paris, including the far-off Eiffel Tower.
...After listening to a lady play the accordian...
...we bought some little souvenirs from some Indian men (which apparently is illegal) who ended up running off because they're not supposed to be selling on the streets. Joanna was left with an Eiffel Tower keychain in her hand that she was about to buy. We walked down the hill and walked walked walked to a metro (where I bought Naomi a beret :) which we took over to the Arc d'Triomphe.
After watching some nearby street dancers...
...we took the steps under the street and up and out to the Arc d'Triomphe, which is situated in a circle with the street surrounding it and streets branching out from it like the spokes of a wheel. Napolean had it built as his triumphal arch (duh), like his own entryway. We climbed the steps up to the top (along the way we met a family that has mutual friends with the Waltis) and had an amazing view from the top.
The modern skyline in the distance.
Soon after descending the Arc d'Triomphe, as the sun was setting...
...we took a stroll down Avenue Champs des Elysees, where all the designer stores are located, and hopped on a metro back to the hotel.
Monday, the next morning, we went to the Louvre!! After waiting in line for tickets, we finally entered!! We saw....
...Egyptian (the Grande Sphinx)...
...Greek (the Winged Victory of Samothraces!)...
(one of the hallways)
...Italian (Da Vinci's Mona Lisa) - this is how hard it is to get a photo!...
....and French art (Delacroix's La Liberté guidant le peuple - Liberty guiding the people)
And that was mainly on one of several levels! By this point I had gotten separated from the rest of the group, but some texts and calls later, found them outside in front of the pyramid, where we had some fun...
We left the Louvre to meander the streets, shopping, stopping for sandwiches and baguettes, then beginning our trek to the Eiffel Tower, on the other side of the Seine...
All the walking is a lot more fun in the company of friends. We finally made it!!! And we just lay in the grass and soaked in the view. It wasn't just a landmark anymore or a little note on a map. We were actually there!
Jacob, Joanna, and I climbed the tower as far as is allowed (the second level)...
...plum tuckered out, with still a ways to go...
...plum tuckered out, with still a ways to go...
...Joanna got tired of her shoes, so she walked in my socks...
...and got a wonderful view of Paris!
We climbed back down, sat in the grass, and ate the rest of our baguettes (while on my iPod I enjoyed my Paris theme music, the Amelie soundtrack... :)
We walked to the nearby metro and checked out the maps in search of the church in the Da Vinci Code. We took what we thought was the best metro line, and when we got off, asked a couple guys nearby. They are students at the University of Paris - the Sorbonne, they both speak French, but they are both American (one is from Missouri), who made some suggestions. We decided to walk towards the Sorbonne, and on the way we stopped at a grocery store, where, after being warned by the cashier to open my pomegranate soda slowly, opened it too quickly and promptly spilled half of it on the floor. Anyways, we found...
...the Sorbonne - one of the oldest universities in the world! (Alma mater of St. Thomas of Aquinas, John Calvin, Victor Hugo, Pierre and Marie Curie...)
...and then kept walking in search of a view of the lit up Eiffel Tower by night, which we couldn't see by the Sorbonne, but later on we did. We walked through the Latin Quarter, still very alive at 11 or 12 at night, then along the Seine to find that view of the Eiffel Tower.
Along the way we saw Notre Dame again, this time by night...
While standing along the bank of the Seine, a cruiseboat floated down the river, the people on board waving to those on shore. Right after I waved back, they started cheering loudly. It was rather gratifying until we realized they were cheering for a man mooning everyone from his apartment window.
We found the view...
...then hopped on the nearby metro for the hotel. We only had the next morning in Paris...it was going too quick.
Tuesday morning arrived! The plan for the morning was an Impressionist exhibit at the Hotel d'Ville near the Seine.
Pictures were not allowed inside, but we saw some wonderful paintings and sketches by Degas (my favorite!), Van Gogh, Berand, Renoir, Caillebotte, Steinlen, and others.
I split from Mrs. Walti, Hannah, Jacob, and Joanna -- they planned to walk and shop their way towards the opera house, while I planned to visit Notre Dame again, as I didn't get a good enough look of the inside, and possibly visit Sainte Chapelle, a beautiful chapel near Notre Dame. Turns out the line for Notre Dame was even LONGER than on Palm Sunday, but I did get more pictures of the outside, this time more from the side, where you can see a bit of the flying buttresses and gargoyles, if you look closely.
While walking along the Seine towards Sainte Chapelle, some random guy came up from behind and asked, "Excuse me, do you have time for coffee?" Uhhh....No, as a matter of fact I don't, I have to catch a metro. (Which I did...a little later...)
Here's the abysmal line at Sainte Chapelle that went down the street.
Clearly I didn't go, because we had less than 2 hours to get to our hotel again. I stopped by an outside garden shop next to the metro stop where I wanted to look for some bells for my mom. No such luck. But it was cute. I mailed some postcards, then hopped on the metro again...
(can you tell that the metro system was key? And my metro map was the key to that key.)...to meet the others at L'Opera Garnier, inspiration of the Phantom of the Opera!
From there we took another metro to the hotel, but because we were low on tickets and time (only an hour to get across Paris, buy bus tickets, and be ON the bus), Joanna and Mrs. Walti stayed in the metro system while Jacob, Hannah and I ran to the hotel, picked up our bags, ran with all of them back down into the metro system, ran onto a train, rode, switched trains, all the while Mrs. Walti and I were getting really, really nervous. When we got off the metro, we powerwalked to the bus station while Jacob ran ahead to buy tickets. Just minutes after arriving, we loaded the bus, and minutes later, it left for Beauvais. Talk about timing!
We had a fun flight back to Pisa, where I talked with Mrs. Walti and Joanna across the aisle about life and careers and all that jazz and took pictures of my weird neighbors... :)
Happy birthday, Hannah :)
Thus ended our whirlwind of a trip to Paris, the most beautiful city in the world! Wonderful weather, wonderful city, wonderful friends, wonderful time!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Roma - 26-28 marzo
From March 26-28, Joanna and I went to Rome. It was quite the experience because all the decisions and navigating were in our hands. The five hour train down to Rome included an interesting conversation with a guy named Merco. He doesn't live in Rome but goes there every other weekend or so. He loved being able to try out his English, and wanted our phone numbers to call us later if we wanted him to show us around. I just took his number and told him I'd call IF we wanted to do anything. After arriving in the station and buying Roma passes, we endured a rather hellish walk down to our hotel (including coats, suitcases, cobblestones, and traffic.) But we finally made it, checked in, settled in for a bit, then headed out for the metro station which was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We got out near the Spanish steps, where we didn't sit and take a picture unlike half of the tourist population. We made our way over to the Pantheon instead.
When we turned that corner, I teared up... I guess it just got to me seeing something of that historic significance. Meaning "all gods" in Latin, the Pantheon was once a pagan temple, but now a Catholic church. We weren't able to immediately enter as a mass service was going on, but after about 20 minutes, they opened the doors. The inside has many sculptures and the like, which are more modern additions. I would've liked to see it before all the things were added to it. But the structure remained the same. A large hole in the dome lets in light, and when it rains, the water drains into small holes in the floor and into a drainage system that the Romans designed and is still functional.
After that, we watched a man sing opera in the piazza, then ate a light dinner in view of the Pantheon. On the way over to Trevi Fountain, we watched a street artist paint.
Trevi Fountain was beautiful, and I imagine particularly because it was at night.
The sculptures that comprise the fountain seem to come right out of the wall. After getting a "Poloroid" picture taken by an Indian man, sitting around taking pictures and people watching, and throwing coins in the fountain, we walked back to the metro, then back to the hotel.
NEXT morning we planned on the Vatican City, because the Vatican museum is free every last Sunday of the month. We got there before opening time, and the line had already snaked around the wall of the city. I think half of the Chinese population was there that day. After waiting in line for at least an hour, we finally entered. It was a little crazy having SO many people in the museum, not to mention the layout is kind of confusing and we saw too many things that we didn't particularly care to. But we saw one of my favorite sculptures, Laocoon and Sons...
...and the Raphael Rooms, which includes the wall-sized School of Athens (another favorite)...
...and then the Sistene Chapel, which was just surreal!
The room was packed, and although talking and photos are forbidden, it's very hard to control talking and photos. But the paintings....so much detail! While Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, other artists (including one of my favorites, Botticelli) painted frescoes on the walls, all depicting Biblical scenes. I wish I had taken more pictures of the Sistene Chapel, but considering the guard was constantly yelling "NO PHOTOS," the fact that I got a few of the ceiling is enough.
After about four hours at the museums, we had some lunch, and walked out of the city to enter at another point to see St. Peter's Basilica, the pilgrimage hot spot (not exactly ours...) This is the Pieta, which Michaelangelo sculpted at the young age of 25.
The Basilica as a whole feels very open and naturally lit, which was really nice compared to some other major churches we've seen.
After we left the basilica, we sat for a bit to write and then mail postcards. (All the chairs in this picture below are for the crowd blessed by Pope Benedict about 30 minutes before we got to the basilica. Oops...didn't know that minor detail. Not like we care too much about the pope, it just would've been cool.)
We stopped by one of the drinking fountains, found a gelateria, then headed to the metro to go to the Colosseum.
OHmahgoodness, the Colosseum. I knew it would be close to the metro station but not THAT close! We walked out and there it was! Another amazing moment. We hadn't planned on joining any tour groups during our trip, but considering how we knew very little about the Colosseum, we joined an English-speaking one, and our tour guide was fantastic.
With the price of the Colosseum tour group, we also got a free tour of the nearby Roman Forum -- however, after running through the Colosseum to meet our tour group just outside, we could not find them, and we couldn't even see them near the entrance to the forums. We were pretty bummed about that, but entered the area after some time anyways -- we just didn't have much time. We saw the Arch of Titus...
Photo by Joanna
...and the Forum...
This was about the time we decided to call Merco to let him know we hadn't forgotten about him and we'd like to know where a good place to eat near the Colosseum was? But it turned into a 10 minute conversation...I'm sorry he couldn't come to meet us that night, but no, we were very busy with teaching, we wouldn't be able to meet up anywhere else. No, we couldn't meet up with him in Florence some time. So sorry, have a nice evening.
It is very beautiful there, and the next time I'm in Rome, I would like to spend more time in the Palatine area, which looks even more beautiful.
After a long day, we found a restaurant with a view of the Colosseum at night. Another metro ride and a walk back to the hotel later, we crashed for the night before a morning of shopping and the Jewish district.
Monday morning, we took the metro back over the the Colosseum where we got a picture of us as we were on our way to nearby Mamertine Prison.
After the suggestions of my mom and a friend, we visited Mamertine Prison, aka Peter and Paul's prison, where they are believed to have been imprisoned. It wasn't much to speak of -- steps down to a small cell. But the thought of being in the same room as these great men was very powerful.
We had another quick view of the Roman forums...
...then made our way past the Capitoline museums (recognize this?)...
Photo by Joanna
...cute little Joanna...
...to find the Jewish district near the Tiber River. We walked along it for a bit, crossed the Tiber at the point of an island in the middle, then went back. We passed by the main synagogue, which is also houses a Jewish history museum...
...and shopped a bit. We stepped into a small Judaica shop to find our brother-in-law a prayer book. Score! We found one with Hebrew and Italian side-by-side! After a lovely light lunch at a Kosher restaurant...
Photo by Joanna
...we passed by the Colosseum one last time, hopped on the metro, and blitzed back to the hotel. The rather hellish walk uphill back to the train station involved Joanna getting hit by a van and a man complimenting me effusively in Italian all while we tried to powerwalk. We made it to our train platform with a few minutes to spare, and talked and napped the train ride home...
When we turned that corner, I teared up... I guess it just got to me seeing something of that historic significance. Meaning "all gods" in Latin, the Pantheon was once a pagan temple, but now a Catholic church. We weren't able to immediately enter as a mass service was going on, but after about 20 minutes, they opened the doors. The inside has many sculptures and the like, which are more modern additions. I would've liked to see it before all the things were added to it. But the structure remained the same. A large hole in the dome lets in light, and when it rains, the water drains into small holes in the floor and into a drainage system that the Romans designed and is still functional.
After that, we watched a man sing opera in the piazza, then ate a light dinner in view of the Pantheon. On the way over to Trevi Fountain, we watched a street artist paint.
Trevi Fountain was beautiful, and I imagine particularly because it was at night.
The sculptures that comprise the fountain seem to come right out of the wall. After getting a "Poloroid" picture taken by an Indian man, sitting around taking pictures and people watching, and throwing coins in the fountain, we walked back to the metro, then back to the hotel.
NEXT morning we planned on the Vatican City, because the Vatican museum is free every last Sunday of the month. We got there before opening time, and the line had already snaked around the wall of the city. I think half of the Chinese population was there that day. After waiting in line for at least an hour, we finally entered. It was a little crazy having SO many people in the museum, not to mention the layout is kind of confusing and we saw too many things that we didn't particularly care to. But we saw one of my favorite sculptures, Laocoon and Sons...
...and the Raphael Rooms, which includes the wall-sized School of Athens (another favorite)...
...and then the Sistene Chapel, which was just surreal!
The room was packed, and although talking and photos are forbidden, it's very hard to control talking and photos. But the paintings....so much detail! While Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, other artists (including one of my favorites, Botticelli) painted frescoes on the walls, all depicting Biblical scenes. I wish I had taken more pictures of the Sistene Chapel, but considering the guard was constantly yelling "NO PHOTOS," the fact that I got a few of the ceiling is enough.
After about four hours at the museums, we had some lunch, and walked out of the city to enter at another point to see St. Peter's Basilica, the pilgrimage hot spot (not exactly ours...) This is the Pieta, which Michaelangelo sculpted at the young age of 25.
The Basilica as a whole feels very open and naturally lit, which was really nice compared to some other major churches we've seen.
After we left the basilica, we sat for a bit to write and then mail postcards. (All the chairs in this picture below are for the crowd blessed by Pope Benedict about 30 minutes before we got to the basilica. Oops...didn't know that minor detail. Not like we care too much about the pope, it just would've been cool.)
We stopped by one of the drinking fountains, found a gelateria, then headed to the metro to go to the Colosseum.
OHmahgoodness, the Colosseum. I knew it would be close to the metro station but not THAT close! We walked out and there it was! Another amazing moment. We hadn't planned on joining any tour groups during our trip, but considering how we knew very little about the Colosseum, we joined an English-speaking one, and our tour guide was fantastic.
We learned so much!
With the price of the Colosseum tour group, we also got a free tour of the nearby Roman Forum -- however, after running through the Colosseum to meet our tour group just outside, we could not find them, and we couldn't even see them near the entrance to the forums. We were pretty bummed about that, but entered the area after some time anyways -- we just didn't have much time. We saw the Arch of Titus...
Photo by Joanna...and the Forum...
This was about the time we decided to call Merco to let him know we hadn't forgotten about him and we'd like to know where a good place to eat near the Colosseum was? But it turned into a 10 minute conversation...I'm sorry he couldn't come to meet us that night, but no, we were very busy with teaching, we wouldn't be able to meet up anywhere else. No, we couldn't meet up with him in Florence some time. So sorry, have a nice evening.
It is very beautiful there, and the next time I'm in Rome, I would like to spend more time in the Palatine area, which looks even more beautiful.
After a long day, we found a restaurant with a view of the Colosseum at night. Another metro ride and a walk back to the hotel later, we crashed for the night before a morning of shopping and the Jewish district.
Monday morning, we took the metro back over the the Colosseum where we got a picture of us as we were on our way to nearby Mamertine Prison.
After the suggestions of my mom and a friend, we visited Mamertine Prison, aka Peter and Paul's prison, where they are believed to have been imprisoned. It wasn't much to speak of -- steps down to a small cell. But the thought of being in the same room as these great men was very powerful.
We had another quick view of the Roman forums...
...then made our way past the Capitoline museums (recognize this?)...
Photo by Joanna...cute little Joanna...
...to find the Jewish district near the Tiber River. We walked along it for a bit, crossed the Tiber at the point of an island in the middle, then went back. We passed by the main synagogue, which is also houses a Jewish history museum...
...and shopped a bit. We stepped into a small Judaica shop to find our brother-in-law a prayer book. Score! We found one with Hebrew and Italian side-by-side! After a lovely light lunch at a Kosher restaurant...
Photo by Joanna...we passed by the Colosseum one last time, hopped on the metro, and blitzed back to the hotel. The rather hellish walk uphill back to the train station involved Joanna getting hit by a van and a man complimenting me effusively in Italian all while we tried to powerwalk. We made it to our train platform with a few minutes to spare, and talked and napped the train ride home...
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