"I want to swim naked...in the Danube!!!" "That's the Arno..."

June 7

Ok...I like the idea of blogging, but sitting down to write them has become increasingly frustrating and boring...so if this seems like rushed crap..that's because it is :)

Where are we? Ah yes, Siena. I was so excited because this was the first hotel breakfast that I liked. Then, we went back to that appliance store where I was able to trick them into giving us another converter...fo' free! Mwahahahaha. But...we also got a hairdryer and curling iron for European outlets - why, you ask? Well, they have better power than our crappy traveling hairdryer, don't get our converter scary hot, and mother plans on traveling a lot...so there.

Then we drove to Florence!!! (the mysterious Firenze I kept seeing signs for hahaha) Our GPS wanted us to take a certain route to the hotel that we couldn't shake no matter how many different turns we tried, but mother refused to enter the "unauthorized roads" cause Rick told her she'd get fined by the po-po. So....she made me hop out to find the hotel while she circled the Arno River since there was absolutely no place to park (decidedly scarier with no cellphone or anything). I went in to talk to them and ask them about how to get to the hotel. Their reply - go in the unauthorized zone. Of course. Turns out, yes the police take a picture of our license plate, but the hotel enters it into their system and notifies the police not to fine us. Problem solved!

part of our awesome view of the Arno River

So we checked in, set up our room, and tried to get a tour for the next day...but everything was full. Oh - our room had a very nice view overlooking the Arno River. We liked to just stick our heads out, feel the nice breeze, and watch the city. But on to lunch! - after just wandering in the general direction of the Accademia, we found a spot that specialized in all things buffalo. We tried two different kinds of pizzas....one with buffalo cheese....ewwwwww haha but we tried.

mmmm....tasty buffalo

Then we were off to the Accademia! Ooopss...I meant shopping! I kept running into all the stores we passed and buying my friends stuffs :) But yes, on to the Accademia (with a relatively short line)! In this gallery, we saw the Museum of Musical Instruments (not the main part of the Accademia by any stretch of the imagination, but of course I was into it) where I saw the very interesting serpentone and hurdy-gurdies and re-learned that the main difference between a harpsichord and piano is that a harpsichord plucks the strings while a piano hits them with a hammer. "And when it arrives....ahaha I'll smash it with a hammer!" (quick, 10 points if you can name that quote!)

uhhh yea I play the serpentone

 a hurdy-gurdy! isn't it just as neat as its name??

Then, along with some unfinished works by Michelangelo, we rounded the corner, I let out a very audible "WOW!", and there was his David. He was only 26 years old when he completed this 17-foot-tall sculpture with a look of concentration so intense that I, embarrassingly enough, turned around to see what he was looking at...there was a painting of a naked woman on the wall...understandable.

no pictures allowed anymore...but quite amazing...seriously

see?? you know you wanna look too...

Did I mention there was constant off-and-on rain during Florence?? Well, during this current downpour, we decided to head into a leather shop to take shelter. Mother had been trying to convince me that I needed a leather jacket from Italy and Florence was the place to get them. However, I didn't think that leather would look good on me....but the store owner was convinced otherwise (haha of course he was). But, by the tenth or so jacket that I tried on...I decided that I liked the second one's fit best and we got it - half off! Haha yea...whatever that means. Admittedly, I was upset buying a leather jacket because of animal treatment and such...but researching it, I'm coming to find that leather is a byproduct of the animal being killed for other things like meat. In other words, they aren't raised just to be killed for their skin. Unlike fur...I'm still against fur. Please post any thoughts or comments on the matter - I'm still not sure what's right...but I will say I do really like my new leather jacket :)

The rain never stopped, but we went ahead and walked past the Duomo (already closed for the day) to its museum in order to buy tour tickets for the next day which would allow us to bypass the long lines. Then, we walked in even more rain to the Uffizi Gallery where there was NO line! (partly due to rain haha and because it was at the end of the day) We closed the place after we saw numerous Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Botecelli paintings and sculptures.

The Duomo....notice the outside detailing

Well, you guessed it - there was even more rain and we had to push ourselves to find dinner at a restaurant called Buca Poldo. I ordered ravioli with asparagus (so delicious!) while mother ordered a salad with fresh parmesan cheese, grilled veggies, and assorted cheeses...with honey? Oh my gosh it was soooo good! I thought it sounded awful, but we ended up splitting it (it was to become our favorite thing to order in Italy). Plus, we each got Cokes...served in wine glasses! How fun :) Then we bought gelato to eat on the way home hehehe yum yum.

Back at the hotel, I finally figured out how to charge my computer without blowing any more converters. Remember how I said we had the 50W side and 1600W side? Well (and yes, I did feel quite mathematically awesome lol) after Googling some formulas to convert voltage and amps to watts, and checking every device from the computer to the charger to the converter, I came to the conclusion that the 1600W side was, in fact, the correct wattage to use... Basically, 1600W from the wall goes to my charger of 200somethingW then changes by the time it gets to my computer to 40W....so if you read my computer, you would put it on the wrong side (50W) and ruin everything. Haha but it's been working ever since! So glad we cleared that up :)

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters!

For those of you who got my 90s Nickelodeon TV show reference - 10 points for you (although it will not be necessary for 4 more paragraphs)! Today, we we were finally leaving Rome, but first we went to the St. Peter-in-Chains Church for an up close and personal look at the supposed chains that held St. Peter in captivity before being crucified upside down (he did not feel worthy to die the same way as Jesus), as well as Michelangelo's Moses.

the chains...hmm?? what do you think?

Michelangelo's Moses

From there, I did a little bit of gift shopping and postcardage and we checked out of the hotel, took a taxi to the railway terminal, and waited awhile to rent our Avis car. Eventually, outside the terminal where we were told to wait, a sketch guy came up to us and said he would take us to the car...yay... He packed us and our luggage into his tiny car and we were off! We finally made it to the Avis car center and got our car (WITH GPS - best idea I've ever had). And then....

mother drove in Rome. I don't think I was as scared as she was because I trust her and we had the GPS (our life-saver)...and we eventually made it out alive! (and without killing any scooters)

Next stop: the Park of the Monsters!!! A randomly awesome place that mother knew about (and Rick did not) from Landscape Architecture! In 1552, Prince Orsini had Pirro Ligorio (the architect of the Vatican after Michelangelo's death) build this monumental garden as an expression of his love for his wife. There were a lot of signs to tell us not to take pictures....so of course we did anyways :)

Proteus-Glauco - seamonster symbolizing Orsini's power in the world

mother being eaten by the giant Ogre head!

the elephant "distinguish(es) good from evil"...notice how he is catching a legionary and not me :)

Eventually (and only with the help of Mr. GPS) we made it to Siena and checked in. Unfortunately, we had lots of problems involving the internet, my computer, our converter, and postage. We finally found a store and bought a new converter (45W), set my computer up to charge, and left for dinner. We walked to Il Campo, the city's center square and ate dinner (of pizza and some sort of crepes) where we had a great view of City Hall and the 330-foot City Tower. Sadly, we didn't do much else in Siena - mother had a bottle of wine to herself and a shot of Limoncello (they brought us these shots for free...I'm still not sure why) which made for a long, crooked walk back to the hotel. I don't want this to sound like I'm dissing on my mom or anything like that - she was funny and all, I just didn't feel like drinking anything.

my terrible nighttime picture of Siena...

We got back to the hotel...which was HOT...sat in our underwear - mother went to sleep and I got on the computer for a bit. Some people walked straight by our window and looked in...well that was awkward! After our hotel in Rome, I was definitely not used to living on the first floor next to foot traffic apparently. On the computer, I was excited that I had charged up to 83%. On the computer, on the computer, tra la la...80%. What? I was still plugged into the wall...the charge should not have been dropping. Turns out I had blown our brand new converter. We didn't understand...our converter (not the new one we bought) had either a 50W side or 1600W side which specifically said use the 50W side for chargers. Oh well...tomorrow Florence.

♪A Bicycle Built for Two♪

June 5th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! Hope it was fantastic :) :)

Today we were excited to wake up late and get ready at a leisurely pace because our reservations for the Borghese Gallery were not until 1:00. Mother had trouble making the reservations online before we left for Europe, but we had our hotel check prior to leaving and they called and confirmed our spots. (Guests are only allowed to view the gallery for two hours and reservations are required.) So we arrived happy because for once we couldn't screw anything up!

Mother went to pick up our tickets and...turns out we had no reservation. Hooray...but they said we could wait around until 1 and see if there were any no-shows. There were. :) Not only did we get to see the gallery at our supposed time, it was free with those handy Roma Passes.

The Borghese Gallery is a collection of art by various artists, most notably sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, for Cardinal Scipione Borghese's villa. My favorites were Bernini's David, Aeneas, and Two Babies Milking a Goat. I'm still amazed at the level of detail that these artists provide from tensed muscles to furrowed brows. Let's take a sculpting class! ...I bet I could make a slightly smaller, more jagged piece of marble.

No photos allowed...so thanks Google! Bernini's David hurling his sling at Goliath

Bernini's Aeneas meant to be viewed from all sides - you can't even see the small child in the back! He was only 20 when he sculpted this...imagine basically me being able to do this...woah

Bernini's Two Babies Milking a Goat....he was 11 when he did this. WHAT???

Afterwards, we rented a 2-person bike and rode around the villa's gardens. The brakes were a little more than squeaky, but it was a fun and interesting way to view all the beautiful scenery.

Even though we were still upset about yesterday, with jeans and jackets we were bound and determined to gain entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. After a taxi ride, it was raining...which meant practically no line! We walked right on through security and decided to head straight for the cupola because it closed earlier than the cathedral. We thought it was closed because there were no people around like we had seen the day before, but there was just no line! Turns out people don't want to go on top of domes in the rain... The church rooftop view was insane and we enjoyed entering the church to view the dome painting up close, then we walked up the 323-step, clostrophobe's nightmare climb to the top of the dome, where it had miraculously stopped raining just long enough for us to admire a sensational panoramic view of Rome.

yes...the walls got crooked

mother in front of the city

me climbing the dome to get an even better view!

We climbed back down the craziness and went into St. Peter's (heart pounding and fingers crossed, I got in this time). The church was incredible - it was huge, for one thing. The bronze canopy over the main altar is seven stories high, the letters along a band atop the pillars are seven feet high, and the entire church can accommodate 60,000 people. However, as massive as the cathedral already looked, it is actually designed to seem smaller - a 15-foot statue stands under another that looks the same height...but is actually six feet taller so that it does not seem so far away. Mass was happening again...so we went and got our worship on...again. (Sorry St. Peter, the Pantheon was better.)

7-story canopy!

Then, on our way out, we took in Michelangelo's Pieta ("Pity"), a sculpture of Mary mourning Jesus's dead body. It is the only sculpture that Michelangelo signed and now resides behind bulletproof glass because a madman decided to hack away at it with a hammer in 1972. I know...who would do that?? Thankfully, it was restored but now sits where cameras can't flash...

Michelangelo's Pieta

And finally, dinner! At a little place next to our hotel, we ate two different kinds of pasta, one tomato-based with bacon and goat cheese and one cream-based with goat cheese and...I don't know, chicken with saffron sauce and potatoes, and...two bottles of wine. I got some good stories out of mother :) it was really fun.

Teehee.

Sorry...I'm Lutheran

Aight let's catch up with June 4th! I got up early and excited and put on my conservative red dress because today we were going to the Vatican! Rick Steves said no shorts, no miniskirts, and sleeves are required - and this dress looked nicer and had sleeves so I was ready!

St. Peter's Basilica

We ate breakfast at the hotel which was pretty bland until the Swedish/Scandinavian man I met yesterday came by to chat and share his fresh cheese with us! He just sat there talking away and slicing cheese...

We took a taxi to the Vatican and tried to suck up our disappointment, seeing the line looked about two hours long. On the long walk back to the end of the line we heard a "You want to skip the line?" Umm...yes please. How??? So we took a leap of faith (haha) and followed this sketch girl away from the line to a tour place where we bought a ticket (that was maybe twice as expensive as the regular ones, but completely worth the price) and bypassed the entire line with a group. Hooray!

The Vatican Museum holds many great treasures...I've never really been one to sit and stare at art before, but so much of this work was fascinating. My favorites were Michelangelo's Belvedere Torso and Sistine Chapel with The Last Judgment, Raphael's School of Athens, and Wenzel Peter's Garden of Eden (I found this one randomly and liked it a lot...maybe because of all the animals...maybe because of the video below...who knows)

Wenzel Peter's Garden of Eden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQhkzYVlLl8

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the Sistine Chapel was absolutely breathtaking. After getting a neckache from looking up at the ceiling for half an hour, I can't imagine how Michelangelo spent four years on a 6-story scaffolding painting those 5,900 square feet. It's unreal! I mean, the 3-D illusion was so great that I sat there staring at some places wondering "no really, that's a sculpture jutting out, right?"

Sistine Chapel ceiling - please go google for more awesome up-close pictures!

The Last Judgment where no one is smiling...

Once I finally finished marveling, we took Rick's shortcut that spit us out right next to St. Peter's Basilica. I walked towards the entrance and...NO! I was turned away because my dress was too short...the rule was two fingers above the knee, mine was probably four. Thanks Rick, I don't consider this a miniskirt but St. Peter's thinks I'm a whore...

Tired and disappointed...no actually really pissed off (my mom pointed out that if I was shorter the dress would have been long enough...so they were clearly prejudiced against tall people....haha) we took a bus near the Spanish Steps to wander around for some lunch. We ended up eating at Hard Rock Cafe. Don't judge me. We were hot and mad and I guess just needed a dose of home...plus it's kinda cool to go to all the different Hard Rocks...even though I didn't buy a shirt. :) Our waiter was the coolest person ever - he was originally from Los Angeles, loved learning languages, moved to different places to learn the culture, and then wrote about it for his living...awesome!

Spanish Steps

We somehow made it to the Spanish Steps without having to go up them...so we only had to trek down the 138 slippery steps. I'm not gonna lie...I'm not sure of the importance of this place - they are called the Spanish Steps because the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican is located there, but all I really noticed was the guy who ripped us off by forcing a bracelet onto my wrist...still not really sure how that happened (but I immediately checked bags and this was not a distraction to pickpocket us). Ehem...then I really really had to pee on our walk to the Pantheon, so we stopped in a McDonalds and waited in the longest line ever!!! I really wanted to see how the menu would be different too (cause I hear there is actually wine on the menu in France and beer in Germany) but we didn't see any unusual items.

me at the Pantheon!!! :)

Ok ok, so in Rome I loved the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, ...and the Pantheon!!! This ancient church, with a huge dome that is 142 feet high and wide is the only ancient building in Rome continuously used today...and we're proof! As we decided to sit down on some pews and take it all in, the Pantheon announced they would be closing for mass and reopening in an hour. After talking to security, we decided to stay and attend mass at the Pantheon! It was amazing!! Sure it was all in Italian, but because I'd been to Catholic mass before (which is pretty close to Lutheran liturgy anyway) and Spanish is relatively similar to Italian, I was able to follow along with the service for the most part (mother was lost the entire time, but claimed to enjoy just sitting and listening). During the sermon, the priest talked about baptism bringing Christians new life and we were easily able to identify the Nicene Creed and Lord's Prayer. The choir sang a few times and their voices lingered in the dome. It felt magical and, I don't know....holy? Sounds lame, but it was truly amazing. So HA, St. Peter's! I may not have been good enough for you, but I went to mass at the Pantheon. :) No hard feelings though.

(just the choir warming up before the service...hence all the background noise, they are sitting down, and the fact that I'm actually taking a video)

For dinner, we went to eat with the crazy turban lady :) at a restaurant called Trattoria der Pallaro where there is no menu...you just eat what they bring you. First course: olives, bread, lentils, prosciutto, salami, fried...things, and fennel. Second course: pasta with two different sauces. Third course: veal, green beans, fried potatoes, and mozzarella balls. Fourth course: a lemon cake thing and peach non-alcholic shots. The food was so-so, but the experience was awesome. My favorite part of the night was when they brought us a bottle of water with gas (also called fizzy water, sparkling water, etc.) and my mom asked, "We would like the water without bubbles??"

Just one and a half more days of Rome!!

When in Rome...

See! I'm already doing terribly at keeping up with this - but between bad internet connections and lack of time/energy, there really haven't been opportunities to blog! But here we go: June 3rd.......

Some background info: with the clock wrong where we ate lunch the day before and overhearing people complaining about our flight being two hours late, we thought there was a 7 hour difference between here and home versus the actual 6 hour difference (even though we knew it was 6...the evidence just seemed to be overwhelming!). Therefore, we woke up an hour early (completely unaware) and headed out - but wait! They're still serving breakfast?! It should have ended half an hour ago... ah ha got it - and our time difference problem was fixed. (Note: I have come to realize that any time mother travels, she refuses to change her watch from "home" time...so we add a lot)

We bought 2-day hop-on-hop-off bus passes and headed to the Colosseum! AND because we had our Roma Passes...we got to practically skip the huge line to get in :) it reminded us of the awesome trip when my mom had broken her toe and we bypassed all the lines at Disney World because she was in a wheelchair.

The Colosseum was incredible and definitely my favorite part of Rome. It was built in A.D. 80 and could accommodate 50,000 fans ready to watch gladiators battle it out. The Romans were the first to use concrete and the rounded arch, the major engineering feat that allowed the Romans to build such a massive complex and gave the Colosseum its strength to remain standing today.

My dad and I just recently watched a special on the movie "Jumper" that actually filmed in the Colosseum for a few days. Remembering how pissed we were the day before when it wasn't open and how crowded it was this day, I can't figure out how they got permission to have it closed for filming...especially since that movie wasn't even that good. Just a couple more facts: animals would be raised by elevators and enter the arena through trapped doors (which you can see because the floor is missing); a canopy provided shade for the upper deck, but because there was a strict class system, poor women got the worst seats at the very top...with the shade!; and blood from the killings was bottled and sold because drinking it was believed to cure epilepsy. Yuck.

From there, we went to the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum that housed temples, basilicas, and arches along with the place where Julius Caesar was burned, the hall of justice where all the dads were kept (sorry, I meant lawyers), and real 40 year-old virgins (not Steve Carell). Six Vestal Virgins (females) were chosen from noble families, before the age of 10, to serve a 30 year term of abstinence while tending to the sacred flame in the Temple of Vesta - as long as the sacred flame burned, Rome would stand. If a Vestal Virgin wasn't so virginal...she was buried alive with a loaf of bread and a lamp.

House of the Vestal Virgins

So after walking around all the amazing ruins and exercising my gluteus maximus to see Circus Maximus (a 2,100 foot long chariot-racing stadium!) among many other sites, we were very hot and tired as you can imagine. We thought we would just ride around on our tour bus...but the road was blocked off because of a protest...what's that Rome? MORE things closed and inconvenient??


Circus Maximus

 So after walking around everywhere to try and find the next bus stop, we stopped for a lunch of assorted cheeses and bread, fresh mixed fruit, and margherita pizza. :) The table next to us had a bottle of white wine for the wife, a bottle of red wine for the husband, and two giant glasses of beer for the son. "They must be German..." So after even more bus mishaps (waited for the 3rd one and had to switch mid-route), we arrived back at the hotel where mother napped and I finally got on the internet! Hooray!

For dinner, we decided to go to Piazza Navona that was rumored to have fun night life. We dined at an outdoor restaurant, Tucci, while listening to a saxaphone/singer duet, watching various street performers, and sitting in front of Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain. We even saw Jack Sparrow again! (But he was gone before we could take pictures with him.) And sorry, Melissa, we could not find the porn star :( boo.

I'm trying to hurry and post more days! Ahhh so behind. Love you guys!

A Long Day....

Welcome to my blog that will hopefully detail my adventures as my mom and I frolic through Europe and I work as an au pair for a family in Spain. I'm not really sure how I feel about blogs, seeing as I've never written one nor really read any before, and I have trouble keeping a diary/journal for more than 3 days, BUT I'll do my best. :) So here we go...

I say it was a long day because our flight left from Charlotte on June 1st and arrived nine or so hours later in Rome June 2nd. As I went through security, the man waved me through with a "Come on, Butter Cups." I thought nothing of it until I heard him exclaiming to another security person, "What? It wasn't sexual - it was a reference to her shirt!" (to see what shirt I was wearing, see first picture) I should have sued him for sexual harrassment and used the money to get some shoes in Milan!...but, alas, I pressed on to the plane. To sum up: 2 kids on the plane (besides a little bit of crying and odd banging sounds) not so bad, 2 adults on the plane (that would not stop laughing when the rest of the plane was sleeping) not so much, the BEST airplane dinner EVER (pasta, salad, roll, cookie, ...and a whole Coke :) hehe), choices of movies (I watched "Just Go With It"...pretty hilarious), 4 - 5 hours of shut eye, 0 hours of actual sleep. And with that, we arrived in Rome!

Taking a taxi to our hotel ended up meaning a ride in a van with a bunch of other people to their different accommodations, BUT we got to sit up front giving us the best view of CRAZY Roman drivers!! In fact, as we left the airport behind and entered the Eternal City, our driver said "Welcome to Roma"...and all the lines depicting lanes vanished. I won't lie to you, I sort of enjoyed the ridiculous free-for-all with our driver staring at a map to find all the different hotels and the scooters whizzing by, in and out of traffic. In the U.S., we try and watch out for pedestrians. In Italy, it's umm...well, slightly the opposite. All in all, I thought it was fun, but I don't especially look forward to the drive out once we rent our own car to leave Rome.

We got to the hotel, which didn't have our rooms ready, so we left our luggage...in the kitchen. Then, we headed out to see Rome with no sleep, no shower, and no cares!
Colosseum - CLOSED
Roman Forum - CLOSED
Arch of Constantine - NEVER OPEN (haha ok, it just has a fence around it, so we got as close as possible)
What the HECK??!?!! We didn't know what was going on...I still don't. Either the Festival of Ascension or some military/national parade that decided to shut down the whole city. Le sigh...so we decided to walk back to the hotel to maybe check in and figure out some plannage. On the way back, up a needlessly steep incline, we found this great spot for pictures:

Yea that's right - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...not sexual after all. From here, we could also tell that bleacher-type seats were being assembled to watch the parade - so we went and sat on a hill in a nice shady spot to see what all the fuss was about. I was bound and determined to watch this parade to feel like we did something for the day...but an hour or two later, we had only seen a parade of street sweepers.

We thought it'd be best to be as lazy as possible and take a fun bike taxi back to the hotel instead of trying to walk up that huge hill again. But when we started talking to him, we realized he was a tour guide and he said if we wanted him to act like a taxi, it would cost a lot extra...because he didn't want to go up the hill of doom either. The tour was awesome and worth every penny! ...or euro...whatever. Among other things, we saw:

The Trevi Fountain - of course I made a wish, but I can't tell you what it was!! And someone threw a coin and hit my mom hahahaha...don't worry she's ok.

The Spanish Steps - where some random scary police-looking cars/motorcycles pulled up and our driver said it was the Mafia...

The Pantheon - which was ALSO CLOSED, to the disbelief of our driver
and...

The VOLTURI - I know, Daddy. I took this just for you...as proof.

oh yea! and Captain Jack Sparrow :) he was there too.
The best part was just riding around in this little contraption while our driver rang his little bike bell every five seconds to move people out of the way...it was sort of hilarious.

So FINALLY we began our long trek back to the hotel...when it started raining, I mean pouring. When we got to our room we were soaked, but we took a nap, changed, and headed out again. After wandering around, we ended up eating at a place called "Wanted" where I ate the delicious cannoli with ricotta cheese and spinach and my mom had pasta bags with pear and walnuts. I also ordered grilled cheese - I know, I know, I'm in Italy and not supposed to be ordering food I can get at any time...but I just figured Italy could probably make a mean grilled cheese sandwich (but I got the other food in addition, no worries). Our first course was cleared and the waiter brought new silverware. "Why would the waiter give me a fork for my grilled cheese?" I asked. My mom's only reasoning, "...maybe they thought you'd be splitting the grilled vegetables with me?" But no, I had ordered...grilled...cheese.

After dinner, we walked to the Trevi Fountain again...where it was unbearably crowded again. Oh! - on the way there we found a wax museum



Why, Obama? Why?

 then we got my first real Italian gelato..YUMMM!!! So much better than grilled cheese...
thenwefinallywentbacktothehotelandpassedout....PHEW! I warned you it was a long day...but it was amazing and I can't wait for many more!