A ROMA!!!

This was. the. most. AMAZING. weekend. of my life. EVER. I love Rome. I love Rome. I love the food, I love the people, I loved the city. And the art? OH MY GOSH. I was dying. I have never been happier in my life. Okay. So now that we're all on the same page, I will start from the beginning. And there will be lots of pictures. And, Dad, probably lots of "oh my god's" since I know you miss hearing that.

So Teny, Andrea, Caroline, and Emily (Caroline's roommate in Madrid) flew into Rome on Friday. I took a late flight after class on Friday, landing in Rome around 11 pm. I had my travel folder, passport, and (Dad...) my Rome guidebooks! I got in a taxi, SO EXCITED, and handed the driver a piece of paper that I had printed before I left, not only with the hotel name and address, but a map with the hotel circled. I had anticipated that my three semesters of Italian would not get me very far, and I was right. So I just handed the cab driver the piece of paper. Better safe than sorry. So. I. Thought.

Teny, Andrea, Caroline, and Em were waiting for me at the Pinewood Hotel Rome. The cab driver dropped me off at the Palace Hotel. Let's check your reading skills. Yep, those are two different hotels. I walked in and this really nice concierge at the Palace Hotel showed some sympathy to a little lost America girl. I showed him my piece of paper from my travel folder and he called the Pinewood Hotel for me (since my phone only works in the UK, so that was very nice of him) to make sure it was the right hotel. I explained that the room was under my friend, Teny Geragos' name. I'm not totally sure what he told the person on the other line, but I did make out, "Signor Tony Gerios." I said, "no, no. My friend, Signora Teny." He said, "Si, Signor Tony." Whatever, he called me a cab and I was reunited with Signor Tony soon after.


THE FIRST DAY

We woke up bright and early. I was vey confused at the bright light peaking out through the curtains. What was that bright, light, warm thing outside. THE SUNNNNNNNNNNNNN. It had been so long since I'd seen it, I'd almost forgotten what it looked like. But it was shining in Rome, and it was beautiful. And warm! About 60 degrees. I was so happy. Our hotel looked out onto a pretty dog park with tall trees and green grass. With the city of Rome just beyond it. Not too bad. The first thing we did after enjoying our complimentary Americanos and cereal, we went to Santa Maria Maggiore. Here's the thing about this weekend. I have read about and studied everything we'd seen. But it was SO MUCH COOLER in person. That whole "things you can't read about in a book, you have to see it" ideology...very true.

Santa Maria Maggiore. Very pretty outside, breathtaking inside. 

We were so excited!!! You can see the cool, embellished rib vaulting behind Ten

Tour Guide Teny, map in hand, directed us to our next destination: the Colosseum. 

So we're walking, we're walking. The creepy Italian men are looking. And we stop, to make sure we're headed in the right direction. We look to the right. We look to the left, and....

Oh My God. There it is. OH MY GOD!!!! We skipped the rest of the way.

Andrea and me in front of the Colosseum, and, ohh yeah the Arch of Constantine, and ooh yeahh the Roman Forum!

It was so exciting. So exciting. I can't even explain it. I was just so happy to be in Rome, looking at the Colosseum. I can't even wrap my mind around it. How long this building has been here. How the Romans were SO SMART. They created concrete! and arches. I can barely do rudimentary arithmetic. I was just in a general state of awe all weekend.

The Arch of Titus, at the base of the Roman Forum.

The Forum. You had to pay to get in, but we were traveling on a budget! So we just walked around the perimeter and went into the free basilica.

Andrea, Caroline, and me with the Forum in the background -- so pretty!

Loving everything.

Look at this Roman Street!

This was just outside of the Column of Trajan.

There's the column! This was SO COOL, we learned about this in Art History. The reliefs wrap around the column, with lower reliefs on bottom, and higher reliefs on top so you can see it better. 

One more photo-op in front of the column.

Our next stop was the Pantheon. I don't think you understand how I excited I was. As soon as we saw it I started freaking out. This was our first view.

The Pantheon

Could it be more beautiful?

Caroline and me in front of the Pantheon.

I have now seen the two biggest domes in all of Europe. (The Pantheon and the British Museum)

This was the cute area around the Pantheon, kind of tourist-y, but we loved it. We had lunch outside, looking out onto the Pantheon. CHECK OUT THE FOOD. We got pizza and pasta, and the house wine. Basically what we got at every meal. It was so incredible. The pizza was crispy and light but cheesy and delicious. The pasta was out of this world. I've never liked gnocchi before. LOVE IT now. The bruschetta mmm delicious. We never had a bad meal. You all know that I am the carb queen. So this was basically Heaven. No, this was Heaven. On Earth. Alias: Rome. 

After lunch, we walked around a little more. We wandered into some shops. Like I said, this area was very cute. A lot of cheap jewelry and scarf stands and postcards, etc. Oh my god, and then we went into a bookstore. And we saw this: (Mom, you are going to die.)

That's right. Precious. Based on the novel, Push, by Sapphire.

So it had been, like, 30 minutes. Time to eat again! Okay, get ready for this. Literally the best place EVER. Better than Disneyland. LOOK. (look at audrey on the wall!)

Could I be happier? 

Obviously, gelato is my new obsession. 

We took our gelato and made our way to the Trevi Fountain. Look at the all the Vespas on the way!

We saw the changing of the guards (Italian version) on our way, just to the right of the top of these steps.

Just some Italian buildings.

Okay, thennnnnn we got to the Trevi Fountain:

So pretty!

With our coins, ready to make our wishes!

Then we made our way to the Spanish steps. We walked all the way up to the top, where there were really cool views of the city and a really pretty park!

Spanish Steps

LOOK at this view! 

All of us on top of the Steps.

Check it out!

Doesn't this look like a postcard?

Just Rome, casually in the background.

Next, we were walking around the Piazza del Popolo, and popped into Santa Maria del Popolo. Which was SO BEAUTIFUL. It was AMAZING. All the little chapels had Caravaggio, Bernini, and Raphael. Teny and I were dying. Caravaggio's "Crucifixion of St. Peter" and "Conversion on the Way to Damascus" were breathtaking. The contrast between his dark dark colors and the realistic light source...oh my god. I had goosebumps. 

The Piazza.

Look how pretty the inside is! 

Next stop: The Ara Pacis. Ten and I really wanted to see this because we remembered studying it in Art History. But when we got there the line was really long and you had to pay. Lucky for us, the building it was in was all glass, so we walked around the perimeter and looked in through the window. 

Ten and me in front of the Ara Pacis.

We walked along the river (il fiume) to the metro station, just as the sun was setting. Look how pretty!

DAY TWO

An early rise, to take advantage of our second (and last) day in my new favorite city. On today's schedule: the Vatican.

Look how prettty

We went into St. Peter's. This was one of those "you won't believe it until you see it." It was incredible. So huge. Massive. I mean, when we read about it, books said that it was big and beautiful. But it was so big and so beautiful. The gold embellishments, the sculptures, the bronze doors, the frescos, the reliefs, the Baldachino, the Pieta, oh my gosh. 

 Teny and me in front of The Pieta. So incredible. I had goosebumps.

Then we walked to the top of the dome. It was breathetaking. And just as we walked outside, the Pope came outside and gave his blessing. We couldn't have timed it any better. It was such an incredible experience. We were all speechless.

Caroline and Teny on the million stairs to the top

After St. Peter's, Caroline and Emily left to catch their plane. Teny, Andrea, and me went to eat. We went to this darling little place. Everyone there was Italian, which is always a good sign, and the man that served us was very friendly.

 Vino della Casa e bruschetta.

YUM

We Love Pizza

Then, of course, we HAD to get gelato afterwards! I mean, WHEN IN ROME! Am I right everybody??

Tell me that's not the most amazing thing you have ever seen in your life.

We walked along the Colosseum and Forum because we wanted to exercise after lunch, on our way to the Capitoline Museum. 

Book in hand, just like GTM taught me.

Just your typical sidewalk.

Augustus Caesar. And Teny. 

The worst Michael Jackson impersonator ever. He was lip singing and dancing to Thriller, but he wasn't even singing the right words.

The piazza outside the Capitoline Museum.

The museum wasn't on the map (weird) so we were very excited when we finally got there, because we had been walking around looking for it for quite some time! But it was SO worth it. Look at all the amazing things that we saw!

The statue of Constantine. Look how HUGE his hand and head are! The statue, before it was broken up, literally must have been so large. That Constantine, everyone says how he's got a big head (!) get it?

And big feet! (Like you 10E!)

The Capitoline Wolf! 

The Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelias!

I forget what these are called. Awkward. They're like decorative columns...

THE DYING GAUL. Obviously we were so excited, we were DYING too.

Last but not least, the Flavian woman. I'm thinking of adopting her look...

That's it! That's all I got. It was the best weekend EVER! It was so much fun to see Teny and Andrea and Caroline and be in  such an amazing and historic place. I just cannot say it enough. I love ROME!

Cheers from Scotland!

I know I have been neglecting this blog lately... just been too busy and tired with school. Don't worry, Dad, I haven't forgotten that that's why I'm over here! (Not that they'd let me...) But I was lucky enough to do some traveling this weekend...so here is it is. My first weekend getaway. I went with two of my roommates and two other girls to Edinburgh (which is pronounced "Edin-bur-owe" -- thanks Mom for correcting me BEFORE I went there and said it incorrectly). It was Ah-maze-ing. I loved Scotland. The people were so friendly, the city was beautiful, and the history was so interesting! We stayed at the Art Roche Hostel, which was actually really nice. We had an 8 person room, but we only had to other roommates, these nice Italian women. Our Hostel was a couple blocks away from the Royal Mile, which is where all the Tourist sights are, and just below Edinburgh Castle. This was the view from the window in our room:

Not bad huh? We were really lucky with the weather. As you can see it was clear blue skies (the clouds came in the afternoon) on Saturday, not too cold. Perfect for walking around. I had read that in Scotland, you really get a workout walking around the city. And that is a very true statement. Every street is on a slope. The city is many different levels, because they kept building on top of it. Which was REALLY COOL because there is like an underground city below the Royal Mile, called Mary King's Close. A close in Scotland is like an alley or narrow street, so Mary King's Close was an old market street from the 14th century named after a successful shopkeeper, Mary King. We did this hour-long tour (no cameras allowed so no pictures to accompany my tale) of the underground street, and saw the different layers of building throughout history. The street was thought to be haunted because when the plague came to Scotland it apparently wiped out the inhabitants on Mary King's Close. And apparently some psychic got a feeling that a dead girl's unsettled soul was in one of the rooms. Spooky. Anyways, you can google it if you want more info, bottom line, Mary King's Close. Very cool. Worth the 10 pounds.

The architecture in Edinburgh was all Gothic and beautiful. Look!

The Cathedral on the Royal Mile.

We did a tour of the Edinburgh Castle, which was also very cool. Very old. Beautiful views of the city from the top of the mountain. We could see all the way to the ocean. Look at the views!

 My friend, Sara, and me in front of the castle.

After the castle, we went to one of Scotland's oldest kilt factories. We learned all about how they make the kilts, and the histories of each different Tartan. Naturally I asked all about the history of the clan of Macdonald. It is one of the oldest clans, dating back to an Irish monarch. They mostly came to Western Scotland, but then they dispersed all throughout the country over time. I played with the idea of quoting the song by the Scottish Tenor, you know, about the "murhdar of the clan of Macdonald," but I held back. This woman who works in the factory told me, for about 20 minutes, all about the history of Macdonalds and about their different tartans, but I only understood about 40% of what she said because her accent was so strong. And then I started thinking...am I even a descendent from the Macdonalds? It's not how we spell it...but I know we're Scottish. Well this is awkward. I need to brush up on my ancestral history...

How they make the kilts.

Kiltmakers!

After we went to the kilt factory, we got lunch at this quaint tea place. This one woman does everything: cook, serve, clean. She was about 65 years old, very sweet, and had been doing this for 30 years. We were talking to her about living in Scotland and we told her we were from the US. She said, "Oh well I've been to Arizona. I just loved it there. It didn't rain once." 

Julie, me, and Connor at tea.

After lunch, we went to the "Scottish Whiskey Experience." They take you on a tour and teach you all about how whiskey is made, show you one of the world's largest whiskey collections, and give you tastes of whiskies from different areas in Scotland. It was a cool tour, and an interesting experience, but we all concluded that we do not like whiskey. But I can appreciate the minimum 3 years it takes to make it. Here are some pictures from the factory.

Everything in the cases holds whiskey -- including the bagpiper and the golfer!

The most expensive bottle of whiskey in the collection is the third from the right. I forget how much exactly it was (I've never been good with numbers, as well you should all know) but it was a lot.

That was pretty much the tourist-y things we did, that I have pictures from. We also just roamed a lot of the city, taking in all the pretty architecture. OH! something I forgot to say. The music playing in the shops and cafes all has the bagpipes in some part. It's so funny. I really liked it though. Here are some more pictures we took throughout the weekend.

Connor, the piper, and me.

 Modeling the kilts for you.

Outside the Palace (Day 2 was a little rainier)

I loved this store. Not because of the merchandise, but because of the name!

Okay, the other thing, is that they REALLY DO say "wee" all the time. And not just say it. It's on the names of their stores! See:

It says, "House of Edinburgh: A wee gift from Scotland"

Okay. last thing. We had breakfast the second day at this cafe called Elephant House. Let's see who the real Harry Potter fans are. Anyone? Wellll JK Rowling was sitting int his cafe, when she scribbled her ideas for a little series of books called Harry Potter on a napkin. It has since then become somewhat a shrine to this day, with pictures of the author on the wall, and a very Harry Potter-adorned toilet seat in the bathroom. More than that, it was very cute, good food, and had a beautiful view of the castle.

The front of the cafe

The cool view of the castle from our table. Probably where JK sat herself.

Before we left, we passed this shop that I recognized from the Travel channel. It claims to have the world's best hot chocolate. So, naturally, we had to see for ourselves. It was a funky shop, selling tartans and kilts made there in the store, a cafe in the middle for coffee and sandwiches (and hot chocolate of course) and then in the back of the shop, there was a camera and backdrop of the scottish landscape, with costumes to the side to put on before getting photographed. Weird. It just might have been the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted though...

Looks amazing right??? It had toffee chunks, marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, toffee popcorn, and this sweet and sour green wafer on top. DELICIOUS.

Okay LAST THING, for real. But this is a shout-out to my Southern school! We got pulled pork sandwiches from this place called, the Pig (original, I know). They have one pig each day that they've prepared, which sits in the front window. Totally gross. But it was SO GOOD. I don't know, it may have rivaled South Carolina's pulled pork...

All in all, it was a really fun trip. I loved Scotland, and we had so much fun exploring the city!