First and foremost, I would like to report that I am completely fluent in Italian now. Or rather, I know 'hello,' 'thank you,' 'you're welcome,' and 'please' and I am really good at making up an accent and sounding Italian at all the other words. I also have the movement of my hands perfectly down in order to seem like a real Italian! It is quite a skill... I know.
This weekend started with a bang and ended with a boom! Weekends like these do make me very thankful I have my own car and am not 100%, not even 10%, relying on public transportation. Why so do you ask? ....
Once upon a time on a very early Thursday morning at around 5AM, a young woman along with 12 of her friends departed for a fun filled weekend in the country of carbohydrates. First on the list, Venice.
After over 10 hours on the train, we finally arrived. And boy was Venice absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, we had less than 7 hours to enjoy the city so it was a very quick stop! We of course saw Saint Mark's Basilica, rode a Gondola, and ate our very first authentic Italian meal! None of which were disappointing! Words cannot describe how unique of a city Venice is. It is old and ruined, yet completely intriguing. I think Venice has been my favorite city so far, although Munich was also incredible. It was an absolutely perfect start to our weekend!
How long can things stay that amazing? Not long. At 10PM we left the island of Saint Lucia to head back to the mainland of Italy, to catch our next train to Rome. Unfortunately, our train did not leave till 3AM. So as simple mathematics calculates, we were sitting at the train station for 5 hours just waiting and wishing. Sitting for five hours is not so bad. After an encounter with a completely cracked up American who is traveling Europe with a band (although he was alone with a backpack), brushing our teeth in the train station, and feeling homeless and very dirty, our train arrived. That is the good news. The bad news, the train literally had not a single seat open. The 13 of us got very comfy sleeping in front of bathroom doors in hallways that reeked of pee for six hours. It was fabulous!
I can positively say arriving in Rome at 9:15AM and getting off of that train never felt so amazing. Well, besides for the shower I took at noon once we got to check into our hostel. So continuing on, we arrived in Rome dirty and very exhausted. We left the train station going straight to the hostel to get rid of our backpacks and freshen up for a fun-filled (and very tiring) day of touring the Ancient City! Over Friday and Saturday, we saw the Coliseum, Palatino Hill, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and Vatican City by foot, as well as everything else the city has to offer by bus! Below are a few pictures.
I will say, Rome did not incredibly impress me. It is so touristy, there is barely any italian culture left in the city. Of course as expected, its dirty, the natives hate the tourists, the food is expensive and tastes well below par. Obviously I am not at all cultured or take interest in art, because I don't see any difference between the Coliseum and the ancient ruins of amphitheaters and city centers I saw in Turkey a few years ago. Why see St. Peters Church in Vatican City when you can see the Cologne Dome in Germany with the three wise men buried there? Pope Benedict who? What is all the hype about when you can go somewhere equally as historically rich, yet with a native culture still in tact?
Anywho, so after all day Friday and most of Saturday until 6PM, we embarked onwards to our next location: Verona, home of the supposed Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague. Oh, Verona. In Verona, the biggest and main tourist attraction is of course Juliet's house, or more specifically the outside wall of Juliet's house with a balcony overlooking a garden where according to Shakespeare and not history, Romeo climbed up. Who has seen Letters to Juliet? That movie is lies!!!! In 2004 in an effort to preserve the outer facade of the home, letters were no longer allowed to be attached to the wall for Juliet's Secretaries. Instead, they now let you buy sharpie markers for 1,50euro and permanently graffiti it. And no, I am not kidding. But have no fear! I indeed left my letter for Juliet. I placed it in the gardens and bought a sharpie to leave mine (and Dustin's) mark forever!
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in Verona and enjoying a true Italian culture. The food was delicious! The crust was homemade and thin, and better than you can imagine! And seriously, Verona is a gorgeous city. It has a beautiful town center with fountains and statues everywhere, lined by dozens of outdoor cafes. Like Venice, Verona was almost too good to be true. And indeed it was.
We had two options: a train that left at 4:30PM on Sunday and arrived in Strasbourg at 1:00AM, or a train that left at 6:30PM and arrived at 6:3oAM. Obviously, we chose the former. At 3o'clock, with a five minute taxi ride to the train station, we began trying to haul three taxi cabs, enough for all of our bottoms. As you can imagine the story ends, it was 3:55PM and multiple phone calls to the taxi station later, only one taxi had driven by anywhere of the downtown area. So 4 of us were now successfully at the train station waiting for the rest. 4:15PM, and you guessed it, a van with just enough seats for our rumps pulled up! We jumped in and told him we had to hurry and he drove off! Four blocks later, we were kicked out of his taxi because he decided we were not the group of 8 people that had been calling for a taxi. So we were left on the streets, and 8 elderly got into the taxi at the slowest rate possible. Not very happy, we decided to walk as quick as we could to the train station. And of course, we were not there at 4:32 to catch our train.
So its now 6:30PM in Verona, Italy and we're boarding our train to Basel, Switzerland. No big deal, right? Well, unfortunately no trains run from Basel to Strasbourg after 10PM so we once again, all too familiarly, sat on the floor of a train station all cuddled up for heat till our 5:15AM train to Strasbourg arriving at 6:33AM. It was 90+degrees in Verona and 50degrees in Basel. I'm cold just thinking about sitting on the tile floor in my shorts and tank top! But be proud mom, no sleep, dirty, and chilled to the bone, we all still went to class today!!
I'd like to say my weekend in Italy was exactly how it should be for 13 young Americans: spontaneous, not according to plan, and fun!
Unfortunately, I only have one more weekend left in Europe! Next weekend is London! I think my body will be happy to not inhale quite as many carbs. :)
There are many more pictures on facebook than on my blog! Look at them all here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1702299407521.2080222.1539030106
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1717156258933.2081219.1539030106
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1743827085687.2082750.1539030106
XOXO
Victoria
1 comment:
ah adventures of a college girl! so fun! well i will agree with you on rome - it is extremely touristy! doesn't help that summer time is when most of the tourists go there! so it definitely makes a difference in the time of year you go (i think). nonetheless - i thought it was awesome seeing the ruins there (but i'm a greek/roman geek!) Verona indeed was amazing! i think venice was by far my favorite though. but i much prefer greece and switzerland and the little i did see of germany. Oh i can't decide. Europe is amazing!
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