Italia

Highligts:
Our flight from jfk to Rome was delayed by an hour on the runway because of a tire problem.
We almost paid forty euros for 14 euro train tickets because the vendor spokenbad English.
The first people we met were two backpackers from brazil and though we befriended them in the morningand then left them at the train station we later randomly saw them when we were walking on some random street.
Nearly keeling over from exhaustion after being awake for 28 hours
Eating amazing gelato (at least I thought it was amazing. I had pistachio and joanna had lemon).
Seeing the colosseum and walking in the rich neighborhoods to get there.
It’s been great so far but it is only the first day so hopefully it will just get better!

Highlights:
Waking up in the middle of the night when two roommates came in loudly and made lots of noise for over an hour, although Joanna slept through the whole thing!
Having our free breakfast consisting of way too much food…it was a nice surprise.
Meeting two Canadians at breakfast who were originally a group of three until their friend left them in Prague wanting to try to drink his way through Europe. I still don’t understand how this would work?
Seeing the colosseum ( from the inside!), the roman forum and the palatine hill. We walked for ages and were so tired by the end. It was very very hot.
Hearing loud thunder but getting literally only a few drops of rain!
Seeing our new Malaysian friends when we were at the colosseum and then walking with them to the forum where we got separated from them quickly. We had met them at breakfast too.
Hanging out on the hostel terrace although the stairs to our room itself are brutal and the terrace is on the roof.
Getting yelled at in hindi multiple times. I met a Sri lankan store keeper.
Hearing about ( and experiencing) multiple times the breeze that comes directly from the ocean to the terrace from the owner.
Not going to the bar to watch the Germany-Spain game even though the rest of the world was. Apparently football is a big deal here in italy :)
Listening to faudel on the terrace
Going out for dinner and ordering pizzas that end ip being exceptionally large.
Reliving today through this post and realizing that this morning feels like it was last week.

Highlights:
Taking the metro! There is an underground mall at termini station (the main station) just like in japan. Of course it is very small in comparison.
It takes a very long time to get from the station entrance to he actual train. Joanna has estimated that it is about six stories under the streets.
Getting mobbed by people trying to sell us Vatican deals by promising to let us skip the lines.
There were no lines ( practically).
I had to hide my Swiss army knife before going through the security lines for st peter’s basilica because that was the only thing they didn’t allow inside. I was happy to see later that nobody had taken it!
Joanna using the lord’s name in vain as she entered the basilica (it was only an “oh my god”)
St. Peter’s basilica is huge….hugely amazing!
We then had lunch at a lovely restaurant so that we could have stamina and patience while in the musei vaticani.
We then noticed that the line which had stretched almost a quarter mile when we had arrived was now nonexistent. We then felt very good about ourselves because we picked the perfect time to go.
I again successfully hid and retreived my mini pink swiss army knife when entering the Vatican museum.
Room after room of amazing sculptures, paintings, frescoes, and tapestries left us numb and overwhelmed. There fifty-five rooms of MODERN art alone which we walked straight through following the signs for the Sistine chapel that start at the very beginning of the museum and lead through the entire thing. We’d see each sign, think oh it’s coming up now, only to be surprised with more great art but no chapel.
When we finally got to the chapel, it was completely packed with people and guards yelling at people constantly to be silent, not take pictures, and not sit on the steps.
After craning our necks looking up at the ceiling for so long, we could sympathize with Michaelangelo– who, did you know, went virtually blind and suffered permanent back and neck problems after his four years of work on the celebrated chapel ceiling?
After the museum we took the Metro back to the hostel where we bought supplies for bruscetta, plyed cards on the terrace (poker, betting with random objects we had on us), and then made and ate dinner.
Then we had a short but sweet converstion with one of our roomates who is from Mexico but lived for the ear in France on study abroad. ( tara she lived in ROUEN)
Now we’re going to go get dessert (the tiramisu here is supposed to be amazing)
Ok bye!

Highlights:
Last day in Rome!
We went early to the trevi fountain around 8 am by metro. It was not crowded at all and the fountain was still off. We got to watch the workers suck and sweep the coins up and theN turn on the fountain.
We saw a British family there. The mom was taking pictures of the daughter who wasn’t happy with any of them. We suspected that it was because she wasn’t smiling. The mom kept trying to give her tips whichshe wasn’t following. I guess smiling wasn’t one of them because she didn’t smile in any of hers either! It was weird.
Them we went to the Spanish steps and climbed up and down them and sat on them for a while. We saw a guy holding/feeding pigeons.
Then we saw the pantheon. The dome was amazing and we saw the tomb of rafael.
We walked to piazza navona and had lunch at this sketchy pizzeria. We thoughtthat thee would be some catch/fee since it was cheaper than everywhere else, by there wasn’t. In fact they didn’t even check to see if we had left a tip. They just continued on so we took back the tip we had left on he table. We later found out that locAls are bad tippers. We had barely been tipping ten percent and we were being met with surprise.
We then walked back to the hostel.
We reAd French cosmo that our roomate had left behind. Did you know that Eva longoria, besides being an actress, owns two restaurants, a nighclub, a perfume, and a production company with rightsto many books to make into movies.
Then we wentto another church we had heard about and while I enjoyed the beautiful mosaics, joanna went and saw the excavations of two ancient buildings/churches which had been built over.
Then we went and saw another relatively unknown church called the scala Santa which was magnificent.
Then we had delicious two euro gelato.
Then we returned to the hostel, bought our dinner at a pizza rustica for two euros each and recharged my sim card
We ate dinner on the roof and hung out with anemplouee named frido who used to live in Denmark. He told us about how he drank a liter of milk and then we discussed whether or not his man-purse was real prada (it had been a gift). We decided it was definitely fake.
Then we talked to some people from Denmark and then I wrote this post.
Our train leaves Rome tomorrow at 7:30 for Naples
Btw, one of our roommates is a teacher from Worcester, MA!!! I know, small world!
Ok goodnight ( or good afternoon. Ahh it’s like that Oreo commercial withths father and son in different timezone).

We had a hard time figuring out our seats on the train. At first we didn’t know seats were assigned and we were afraid we wouldn’t find seats.
The train Ride was two hours and I slept formost of it.
We got there and went to the hostel. It was very hotelieh and we had just a double for this one
We then walked to this museum that has most of the authentic Pompeii artifacts buut for some reason a lot of the museum was closed off and we couldn’t find amy mosaics. We did see a lot of pots and furnishings and paintings and even food. I never realized how advanced Pompeii was!
Then we went to find this famous pizza shop because Naples is the birthplace of pizza. It was good but already cold by the time we had a chance to eat it.
By this time we were running behind schedule. This day was supposed to be packed but we realized we didn’t have enough time because we went to themuseum. So we went to the train station and changed our train ticket the next day from the morning to the afternoon.
Then we went to catch a train to Pompeii. We missed onby seconds and had to wait half an hour for another. Another train finally came, but two or three stops in we realized that this train was the wrong line. It started out as the same route but then branched off. We got off at a station that had a ok e connecting the two. The station was deserted except for two people were going in the opposite direction from us. We had to wait another half hour for this train and then again when we got to a stationonthe right line. We finally got to pompeii at six only to find out that we had only 1.5 hours until closing.
We walked around the ruins. It wasamazing and especially nice since there were only a few people there. We were also not too hot because it was night and that is onenof the major problems that people have. Another is the bad labelling of signs. We looked for the casts of people for a long time with no luck. I finally spoke to a guy ( from Iowa originally new jersey and who had been to concord) who told me that it was on the other side of the park. This was at closing time.
We didn’t leave and instead walked toward the casts. It took another hour and a bit for us to reach them and when we did it was kind of anticlimactic but still really cool. It was sad because everone had been lying onthe groundcovering their faces and noses with their hands to block out the hot ash. It was, as my guidebook describes, gruesome. To get out we hopped a metal fence because we didn’t know ifthe exit would let us out and we didn’t want to walk that far.
That was the end of that.
The hostel didn’t have wifi as far as we knew.

Today we woke up and checked out, took our bags to the train station, and stored them there.
Then we went back to the circumvesuviana part where we had gotten so lost yesterday. We bought breakfast.
We got on the train to sorrento which was the opposite end of the line (we were at one extreme).
It took an hour to get there. There was no sitting space for most of the ride because there were like 20 boys In one groupmonopolizing all the street. Then there was another loud loud group ofostly teenagers who were screaming and making noise and being obnoxious for most of the ride which was 40 minutes of it. When we got to sorrento we took a bus to get to positano on the alto coast. This was about a45 min ride. Since we had a train to get at 1:50, we only spent 20 minutes there, but the two hour travel time was worth it for the amazing seaside view of cliffs, houses, winding streets, and sparkly blue water. We also bought some food at a local store. I bought a bottled water, two apricots and a banana for one euro 30 cnts. The apricots were so sweet. It lwas great!
We took the bus and train back, got our luggage and barely made our train. It was three hours, but very nice. It was express and much newer and so much more comfortable.
We got here, came to the hostel, met the roommates ( two girls from Georgia about priyas age), and then got some azimg gelato. There are tooamy flavors to choose from! I had mixed berry and mentocioccolato( mint and chocolate pieces). Both were very good. Now we are going to dinner and then we are going to watch the cup finals. Most in Italy are rooting for Spain! What about you?
Goodbye then!

It has been a week! Weird…
I woke upat around 8:45 this morning…the latest I’ve slept in so far. Joanna woke up at eight. It is very hot here in Florence.
We got breakfast at a bakery nearby. I had a chocolate croissant for only a euro. It’s amazing how cheap places are away from the tourist hubs.
On Mondays most museums are closed and we weren’t dressed for churches so we decided to have a chill day…funny since it was in the mid-nineties.
We walked around a lot andsaw the duomo. It was very crowded and we realized that we are staying in a very non-touristy part.
There are a lot of vendors around with their carts. They have a lot of leather goods.
We had lunch at a place on suggestion ofjoannas guide book. It was yummy, cheap, and filled with locals. I had zucchini risotto which was a nice change from pasta and pizza.
Then we walked around some more.
We later returned to the hostel and did laundry which took a long time. Then we had dinner and got gelato. Today I had melon and grape. It was good.
Then we returned to the hostel.
It was an overall untiring day which was nice.

I woke up around 8:15. We had breakfast at the same bakery as yesterday. Today I had a creme pastry. We decided to go to the ufizzi museum. First we bought cards that would give us free tickets and allow us to skip all lines. Then we saw the ufizzi which used to be the Medici’s privte collection. The museumishuge and filled with works by Botticelli, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. It was great. We spent four hours there. Then we had cheap and yummy sandwiches (paninis) from a place joannas book recommended. All these places are so randomly located and don’t have any distinctive features so it would be impossible to find them on our own. After lunch we walked slowly back to the hostel stopping along the way to look at leather goods. We then got gelato. Today I had tiramisu and strawberry. I liked the strawberry better. The tiramisu was very sweet. I think they just froze the cream from them. Then we came back to the hostel and chilled/went on the Internet. I was reading my book and then ended up taking a nap. It was nice. For dinner we went to the store next doorand I got a salad and apricot ( which was very tart but I liked it), and plain yogurt (too bad I had no rice. Then we hung out in the room. We have two new roommates, one from china and one from Colombia. Ok now I’m goi g to sleep/read. Goodnight!!

Today we had the same morning routine as usual and then(using the photocopies you gave me mom) visited palazzo davanzati a “palace” aka rich person’s house from the middle ages. It was cool especially because not a lot of people visit it. We also saw one of the oldest churches in the city.
Then we saw a gothic church which was cool. It was pretty simple but had some beautiful paintings and stained glass windows. Most of the paintings we have seen in Florence are of mary and baby Jesus. It is getting kind of repetitive but also kind of funny.
After, we went to the duomo. It is gorgeous from the outside with so many colors that you don’t normally see on a church like green. Then we went inside. The inside is rather sparse with no paintings on the walls. The inside of the dome is elaborately frescoed. We also started to go to the top ofthe dome but due to joannas fear of heights and my newfound claustrophobia, we just made it to the top level of the indoor dome. The staircases were very narrow and enclosed. What made itworst was that the walls were made of thick stone. I did not like of at all. But the views of the ceiling of the dome and of the inside of the basilica were great.
Then we had lunch of sandwiches. I ordered an eggplant one which ended up being only eggplant. It wasn’t amazing. Then we wlked around some and then got gelato at this famous place called groms. I had apricot and chocolat fondente flavors and it was an amazing combo. The apricot flavor was awesome. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water.
Then we returned to the hostel and on the way bought some strawberries. They were good and looked like Japanese ones but weren’t as sweet.
At the hostel I endedbup falling asleep again.
I woke up at seven and we went out for dinner. We wanted to go to this vegetarian/kosher place that had a Wednesday night student special, but we got lost and it took us an hour to get there. Luckily it turned out for the better. They didn’t have enough tables so they sat us with an American girl. Her family is from anchorage but she is a junior at Williams college. Small world right?? What are the chances. She was supposed to be working as am au pair but the family we was working for was really obnoxious. They were super rich and snobby and expected her to work hours three times the agreed amount. The mother did absolutely nothing all day except boss her around. She worked for them for five weeks until she told her parents how she was being treated and theytold her to quit. Nowshe is in italy all by herself until they can get her a flight home (Tuesday). We really liked her and ended up staying at the food place for four hours talking. That’s the Italian way you know. It’s not weird here to stay at a restaurant after it closes. Anyway now we are going to sleep! Goodnight!

We woke up at nine this morning because we slept late last night. Today I had a cappuccino with my breakfast. It was good…much better than normal Italian coffee which is very strong, concentrated, and bitter. We figure out that the bigger the cup, the weaker the coffee.
Then we went to Pisa. At the train station, joanna felt an ominous tap on her shoulder but didn’t have time to turn around and see who it was because we were runningtocatch a train.
At Pisa we had to walk to the other end of the city to reach the tower. We saw two people in front if us who looked familiar. Turns out they had been standing in front of us for half an hour in the line to climb the duomo dome. What are the chances?? Anyway we saw the tower which looked smaller in real life and different than we had expected. We had lunch and headed back to the station where we got on the wrong train. The announcements were so confusing because they were different from what re signs said!! Anyway of was fun and we eventually got back to Firenze. We met our new roommates, from reading, England! Then we went for dinner and gelato. I had mango and chocolate. The mango wasn’t as good as I was expecting. It tasted like frozen mango pulp which you know I don’t like. Then we returned to the hostel. As we walk in the door, we see someone else familiar walking out of the shower. Our friends from Denmark who we had met in Rome!!!! Ahhh! Turns out they tapped joanna at the station!! What are the chances that first: we would be inthw same city at the same time, second: that we would be at the station at the same time and third: that we would be staying at the Same hostel!!!!!!!!!! How does so much of this happen to us!!!
Haha anyway, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight!!!