La Dolce Vita...

Well, many things to update, many stories to tell, the question, as always is where to begin! Since the last posting I've had a visit from Griffin and his mom and sister, returned to Venice, had an amazing trip to Rome and oh yeah! TURNED 21!! But I guess I'll begin at the beginning!

Griff and his mom and sister arrived in Bologna Friday, March 13th and from there the adventures began! The first day they were pretty tired so we just took a leisurely walk around town Bologna. I showed them Piazza Maggiore and the two towers and then we just walked down and around a bit to see some of the porticos and shops and such. Later on that night we went to a place called "La Stanza," which means "the room," for an aperitivo (like a before dinner snack and drnk). We shared a bottle of wine and just relaxed. Afterward we went to the Irish Pub for a drink, had some laughs and then retired for the night so we could have a big day Saturday.

Saturday Griff and I went for pizzas at a place called Ristorante Nikolas. Poor guy, I had a minor slip up in my knowledge of Italian when I ordered the pizzas. I momentarily forget that peperoni in Italian is not the same as peperoni in America. So Griff was a little suprised to get a pizza covered in green peppers rather than spicy meat slices... Oops! After lunch we went over to Sala Borsa, the public library in Piazza Maggiore, so Griff could check out the transparent floor with ruins underneath and the city-planning display on the third floor. Very cool. Afterward, we met Flor and her friend Cengiz (who was visiting from Pennsylvania) and Griff's mom and sister at Neptune's fountain so we could head up to San Luca, the church on the top of a hill outside of the city center.

The walk to San Luca is long, but beautiful. Once you get outside the city center there are multiple city parks and many large estates surrounded by beautiful gardens. The actual hike up to the church begins outside of Porta Saragozza. There are 666 arches that make up the portico that leads to San Luca. All along the hike up you have a beautiful view over the city, mostly outside of the walls, and at the beginning there is a great view of the soccer stadium (Dall'Ara). It's a slightly grueling trek up to the top, but definitely worthwhile. The view from the top is breathtaking. You can see out over the hills around Bologna, and on that particular day there was a slight fog making the view even more mystical and beautiful. We spent awhile up top just hanging out and taking in the views before heading back down.

That night was my friend Taylor's 21st birthday so we all met for dinner at a place called Nino's, known for their large menu, good food and generosity with limoncello! Dinner was fabulous and fun, Taylor seemed to have a great time and Griff was able to meet some of the people he's been hearing about for the past few months. I think it was nice for him to finally be able to put names to faces. After dinner most of the group when over to a place called Soda Pops to dance and celebrate a bit more, but Griff and I had to head in for the night because we were planning on taking the 9am train to Venice in the morning.

Come morning, however, 9am was sounding pretty early... We ended up missing that train but finding another for 10am. We decided to go across the street to a cafe to kill some time until our train came. I was feeling rather annoyed already with the cafe because they were way more pricey than the other cafes around Bologna. I got even more annoyed when one of the baristas brought over my coffee and told me I didn't pay. I said I had and he kept telling me I hadn't. Eventually he gave up and went back to the bar. Goofy. I was really excited to see Venice again, this time during the day and I was even more excited for the other three to see it for the first time.

It's so exciting when you walk out of the train station in Venice because you are right at the Grand Canal and it is quite a sight. We were all pretty hungry when we got there, so we set out to find a good lookin' restaurant. We ended up at what appeared to be a cute trattoria (family-owned restaurant), but the woman who waited on us was definitely far from the friendliest face we would encounter on our trip. The food wasn't bad, but I am very confident better exists in Venice. The man who rang us up was much more friendly and Griff and I left only after having some delicious limoncello. After lunch we took a lovely gondola ride through the tiny canals to Ponte Rialta (one of the more famous bridges in Venice). I have to say, I didn't expect much from the gondola ride, but it really does give you a completely different view of the city. I really liked being able to see some of the buildings from the different angles. The gondolier, however, was quite the character. He wanted to talk to us, and pretty much refused to speak in Italian, even if he really had no idea what he was saying. Giorgio (the gondolier) kept shouting at Griff's mom "Hey! Lady! You understand?!" but he wouldn't always precede it with a statement or with anything at all, therefore, no, we did not understand! It went on like this for the entire gondola ride. Usually the answer was the same even when he had said something because his English was so hard to understand. I asked him to explain in Italian a few times and he would, but even after I had explained it he would continue to try to explain in English. Oh well, he made the ride interesting at least!

After the gondola ride we tried to fine La Fenice, a theater that burned almost completely during renovations because the canals surrounding it had been drained. But, seeing as how we didn't have a map and all directions point to Saint Mark's Square, we ended up in Saint Mark's Square. Not a problem though! St. Mark's Cathedral is beautiful, ornate from the outside in. Mosaics on all the archways on the outside and marble all through the inside. It was really beautiful.

I asked for directions again for La Fenice, and for the third time we got directions that ended with: "When you get around there, just ask." So off we set again, though these directions were much more clear than any of the others we'd gotten yet, possibly because we were closer now than before. Either way we actually found our way there this time! We couldn't go inside though, not without paying at least, so we just admired from afar.

After seeing what we had come to see we decided just to wander a bit, but we may have wandered a bit too much because we got ourselves pretty good and lost. I asked for directions back to the train station and the girl told me that we could just take one of the city "buses" but that it would cost 6.50 a person since we didn't have the Venice public transportation card. She thought I was crazy when I asked how to get there by walking, that should have been our signal that we should have just taken the bus. We tried to follow her directions but we never found the bridge she said we had to cross, so we just ended up more lost and wound up taking a taxi back to the station. We took the 7 o'clock train home and were back in Bologna just in time for dinner. We ate at Anna Maria's, one of my favorites here in Bologna for their homemade pasta dishes (the tortelloni are my fav!!) and desserts (we had panna cotta and Zuppa Inglese, both were quite delicious).

The next couple days we spent just relaxing in Bologna, apparently a ridiculously long hike up and down a hill followed directly by 6-7 hours straight of walking around Venice wore everyone out! Shocking!

Griff left on Wednesday around 1pm to go meet his mom and sister in Rome, so I finally did some errands I'd been meaning to do, like buy my books for my classes... I found two of them, but found out the other two I was looking for would have to be ordered and since they would come from the States it could take over a month!

So now we get to the big one: ROME!! It was so hard to sit through class on Thursday morning when all I wanted to do was get on the train and head to ROME! Flor, Corban and I were catching the train at 3:08pm, but poor Corban was feeling pretty under the weather and decided she wasn’t going to go (maybe try the next day instead). But around 2:15 she called to say she was going to try to make it! She packed and started walking to the train while Flor and I went to the grocery store to get some snacks (which turned out to be three bag-fulls) for the train.

Poor Corban made it to the platform as the train was pulling away, but she went and got another ticket right away and managed to actually get to Rome before Flor and I!

For Flor and I the adventure began long before we reached Rome, it began as we searched for a spot to sit while dragging our luggage and three full grocery bags through the narrow corridors of the train. We wound our way all the way through second class, having to make people move their luggage out of the way as we went. We definitely were on the receiving end of some pretty nasty looks… But that wasn’t the end of it. We got to the restaurant car and parked ourselves there, just decided to take our chances with sitting there for a little while. As soon as we pulled our food out, though, they made us leave. And so it began again… we started going back through the cars again, but this time settled in the first car we found with two open spots.

We ended up picking a fine car, with an Italian lady who got off after a couple of stops and a German guy who has been living in the Dolomite Mountains for the last 10 years. He got quite a kick out of Flor and me and our bags o’food. Needless to say, we were those stereotypical Americans who sat on the train stuffing our faces for 4 hours, although it was more out of necessity of needing to have less stuff to carry than anything.

Finally we reached Rome, met Corban, bought our return tickets, maps and metro passes, found our hostel, called Griff and went to meet them for some coffee and food. We were so excited to get our trip started in Rome! After we had eaten something (yes, more eating, but come on we’re in Italy!!) Griff, Flor, Corban and I went for a little walk around Rome. First stop: Trevi Fountain. I wasn’t sure what to expect since it was already dark, but turns out the touristy spots are kept pretty well lit, and can even look more spectacular that way!

We all took turns making wishes and tossing our coins over the right shoulder into the fountain, while fending off the rose peddlers who hang out, pretty much everywhere. We took a ton of pictures and shared quite a few laughs before we moved on and continued our walk to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.

It had just rained so everything had that fresh, new, magical feeling about it. It was an absolute dream come true to be standing in front of the Colosseum with a couple of good friends and Griff. It’s an incredible feeling to realize a dream you’ve had for so long.

The next day was a big one, we took on the Colosseum (actually went inside this time) and Vatican city. Unfortunately we didn’t have the greatest weather, chilly and extremely windy – almost like being back in the Midwest again!! I had heard that going in the Colosseum could be disappointing, but I didn’t find it to be so in any way, shape or form. It really took my breath away. Just to imagine everything that happened there and to be standing on the same ground was incredible. The views from the second level out over parts of the city were beautiful, even on such a windy day.

I’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to take it all in, but I’m trying not to miss a moment, taking tons of pictures and trying to keep as detailed a journal as possible, although sometimes I don’t remember to write it all down, which I’m sure I will regret later.

After the Colosseum- and some warm Irish Coffees with lunch – we hopped on a bus to the Vatican City where we made our way to Il Museo Vaticano. We discovered there was a pretty significant student discount there (Score!) if you have a student ID. The museum was packed, literally a sardine situation. It felt like we were a school of fish just winding our way through the hallways, not even stopping to really take in anything we may have wanted to look at. Everyone seemed to be on the same mission there: reach the Sistine Chapel. In one of the travel books we had it said you could spend hours in the Vatican Museum and not see everything there was to see. This was quite true. It is a massive museum, even without stopping it took over an hour to just walk through it!

My favorite room in the museum was a hallway called “The Gallery of Maps.” It was just an amazing place. There are maps all along the walls, but the part that really took my breath away was the ornate painting that covered every surface of every wall, window-frame and the ceiling. From the numerous frescoes to gold-leaf trim on the moldings, I was just amazed.

When we finally reached the Sistine Chapel (La Capella Sistina), we greeted by the shushing of guards and immediately told to “close our cameras.” Since it is technically a chapel, a place of worship, there is supposed to be no talking and no pictures, although I doubt anyone goes there to truly worship anymore. Nonetheless, I was able to snap a couple of pictures of one of Michelangelo’s masterpieces.

Flor, Griff, Corban and I did a quick walkthrough of St. Peter’s afterward, also a breathtaking sight. All the marble is amazing, along with the silence that fills the huge space, despite the masses of people and despite the lack of shushing guards. There is just something about that church, whether it be the immenseness of it or the countless works of art or the feeling of being a part of history, something there just commands immediate and full respect, even of those who are not religious.

The Colosseum and Vatican City seemed to wipe everyone out pretty good, so we split up for a bit to rest up and regain strength. Later on Griff and I shared a dinner together at That’s Amore (how very Italian of us!). His last dinner in Italy, after a full week of taking in all that he could and seeing many buildings he’s studied in his classes and seen only in textbooks.

Unfortunately the next morning we had to accompany Griff and his sister the airport and say goodbye. That was definitely not the high point of the week, but we were fortunate to be able to spend such an incredible week together in Italy.

We still had a full day after they left on Saturday morning (two actually since we weren’t heading back to Bologna until Sunday night) so we headed for Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps. Of all the tourist sites we saw on our trip, I have to say these were by far the most disappointing. There were so many people that we couldn’t even see the steps! From there we walked to Piazza del Popolo (I think it’s at the north end of the city center…). This was sort of our starting point for the day. We hit quite a few places from there: the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Tiber Island, Teatro Marcello, Piazza del Campidoglio, the Forum from afar and above, and back to the hostel.

Each of the sights were quite amazing, only losing a little of their magic to the abundance of tourists filling them, with the exception of the Tiber Island. This is the island that was once a place to quarantine the ‘incurable’ people or to exile others, then it became a hospital. Today, there is still a hospital on half of the island and a police station on the other (in what looked to be one of the more original buildings).

After being to two of the bigger cities in Italy now (Milan and Rome), I have to say that one of the things I really liked about Rome was how the city has really been built up around all of the history. It is definitely a metropolitan space, but everywhere you turn there is a piece of history, whether it be a park completely dedicated to ancient ruins or a piece of a building façade connecting two newer buildings.

Sunday was our day of rest and relaxation. We had checked off all the things on our map and even some off the map, and in between we had created some memories that will stay with us all for a lifetime. We spent Sunday morning laying in the grass in Piazza dell’Independenza writing postcards and journals and just wallowing in the Roman sun. We met Griffin’s mom for lunch and the Corban and I proceeded to spend about 14 euro on pastries… oye, but oh were they good!

On Sunday night we headed back to Piazza di Spagna because we were meeting a friend of mine, Francesca, who had studied in Kenosha about 4 ½ years ago and I hadn’t seen since! We had kept in touch through a mutual friend who’s been to Italy a few times since. It was so nice to see her! We just went for drinks and an aperitivo, but it was crazy that after 4ish years of saying “One of these days I’ll be over there to see you!” I was actually there! When we left we said we’d keep in touch and see each other again when I go back to Rome to fly home.

So it’s time to go home now, back to Bologna. We all made it to the train early this time and planned to get on and find a place to sit right away so as to avoid a repeat of our ride there. It didn’t really work though because everyone had the same idea. We sat in the first compartment we found with three open spots, and then our second train adventure began.

All seemed fine at first, and then the girl across from me (and between Flor and Corban) began talking loudly on her cell phone. This went on for about an hour. Then she decided her needs were obviously more important than everyone else’s as far as being comfortable went. So off came the shoes and there she went, stretched out across from her seat to mine. Smelly feet in my face. But hey, as long as she was comfortable! Then she began the odd touchiness. Trying to pull my leg toward her, caressing Corban’s arm from under the armrest between them. And as I glanced over to my right I realized the man next to me thought everyone else in the car was quite asleep and he could do.. well.. as he pleased, we’ll suffice to say… Until he realized I was most definitely awake.

Thank goodness I was sitting in a young man’s assigned seat, but he had been very accommodating. When he came to say I was in his seat he said not to worry and opted to stand in the corridor for the first couple hours rather than make me move. But, let me tell you, when he came to say there were three open spots next door we bolted. Flor with a little more trouble than Corban and me, because the man who had been next to me had apparently taken quite a liking to her. When she got up to leave with us he grabbed both her arms and said “No! Stay! Stay!” which of course made her exit even faster.

Once we had changed cars, the rest of the ride was quite uneventful. Thank goodness. We made it back to Bologna in one piece and full of new stories and experiences, some good, some, well interesting to say the least, but all incredibly worthwhile.

Since I’ve been back it’s been time to try and buckle down a bit more with the studies and with saving money, so it’s been a bit uneventful.

Last Friday we all had a big picnic at Giardini Margherita, one of the big parks just outside the city center. It was so much fun! We kicked a soccer ball around and met some interesting locals… We decided we’re going to try and do it every Friday, or at least once a week when weather permits. I’m so glad the weather is starting to improve, not so much this week since it’s rained every day, but in general it’s been lovely.

Next on the agenda: my parents!! I’m so excited for them to be here, I think they are going to have a wonderful time seeing Italy and experiencing some of the things the Italians do on a daily basis.

Well, it’s off to study now! As always I miss everyone and hope that everything back home is going well! Love to all! Baci ed abbracci!