Day 6: Cinque Terre/Heaven on Earth

Thursday

12 September 2013

After leaving Florence via bus (the third of many, many bus rides to come), we made our way to the charming island of Cinque Terre (Chink-wa Tear-a in Italian). If you have a Pinterest account, you may be familiar with one of the islands of Cinque Terre because its colorful seaside houses have become very popular amongst the Pinterest crowd. There was an option to take a hike across each town of the island, but I wasn't prepared to hike, so I stayed with a group that walked around the towns. So far this year my feet have been in the waters of the Bahamas, Galveston/Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean, and the beach at Brighton. Not too shabby. 

Cinque Terre is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, and I had the best time walking around eating pesto pizza and gelato, and enjoying the scenery.

My first view of Cinque Terre.

 Italy, you've done good.

 Yes, I was really there.

 Cute little Italian seaside village.

How many times did I get gelato in Italy? A lot.

 Pesto pizza is amazing and indulgent and I think everyone should try it. Especially if they are in Italy.

 This is part of the Pinterest picture I was talking about. How cute are those houses?!

 My, "Look I'm in Heaven" face.

 So pretty. 

I realize this picture looks like one of the ones above, and that's because it's the same picture, just zoomed in so the houses are a little clearer.

This island was an absolute dream and I have plans to go back someday. After we were here, we travelled to Venice, but that is kind of not a happy story, so I will save it for another time as to avoid spoiling the splendor that is Cinque Terre.

Day 4 & 5: Rome/Florence

Tuesday & Wednesday

10-11 September 2013

Tuesday was our last day in Rome and we spent it at some great places. First we went to the Borghese Gallery, a place that used to be the home of the very influential Borghese family, which has since been turned into an intimate art museum. Without a doubt this place housed some of the best art I saw on my trip. My favorite pieces were done by the sculptor Bernini, who I had actually never heard of before I got to Italy. (I've often felt very uneducated on this trip because of my lack of knowledge of fine art, especially when my art professor's five year old son can pick out his favorite paintings in the Louvre, but I'm working hard to keep up). Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the gallery, and after looking up my favorite Bernini's, I can say that the pictures online don't do the work any justice. In person the statues almost look like they could be real people. Somehow Bernini was able to make stone look fluid and flesh like, and my jaw dropped more than once when I walked around his work. If you are ever in Rome, I think the Borghese Gallery is a must-see. (Plus, my professor said that Bernini's version of David is better than Michelangelo's, if that counts for anything).

After the Borghese Gallery, a small group of us went with our Literature professor to a cemetery where some famous English authors are buried. After a long walk through French-style Roman gardens (who knew there were French gardens in Italy!), and a charming metro ride complete with accordian playing and Italian singing, we made it to the cemetery. We saw the graves of Keats and Shelley and listened to our professor read some of their poetry. The cemetery was beautiful and it was a neat experience to learn about the poets and why Rome drew in so many people of the arts.

The cemetery.

Then we said ciao to Rome and got on a bus headed to Florence. The place that we were staying in Florence was a hostel, which I thought would be a horrible experience, but it turned out okay and felt more like a hotel because we had private rooms and bathrooms. There were lots of other students there, which clued in me that Florence is a pretty happening city. We took a little tour of some of the famous places, and I immediately felt a vibe that was unlike anything I've ever experienced. In Rome things feel a little slow and laid back. Florence doesn't necessarily feel fast-paced, but it does feel cool. Even after having a couple weeks to process it, I still can't think of a word that accurately describes it. It kind of feels like you're on a movie set because the buildings look so interesting, and the weather gave everything a cinematic tinge. And there are tons of high-end shops and cobblestone roads, and interesting, well-dressed people carrying shopping bags everywhere. That's the best I can do. Just know that it's a really cool place to be. 

As we were walking around, I wasn't really paying that much attention to the buildings, but then I looked up and saw the Duomo. And my jaw-dropped for about the tenth time that day and I gasped. The Duomo is the most incredible building I've ever seen. It is so Italian looking with the colors (pink, green, and cream), and is absolutely huge. Every time I passed it I was stunned. 

 The Duomo. So cool!

 To prove I was really there.

 As you can tell, I got a little picture crazy about this place.

 Last one!

After our initial sightseeing it started pouring rain and I went and had dinner with some friends. And what kind of Italian vacation is it if you don't get pizza and gelato?!

The BEST gelato I had my whole trip. And the man who owned the store was so nice and offered to find some chairs so we could sit out of the rain. For some reason the girls I was with thought he was trying to pull off Taken-Italian style, so we left. If I could've I would have gone to this place about 5 more times.

The next day we went to the Uffizi, which is another art museum. I don't really remember much about it now, but at the time I thought it was great. We had a reservation to see Michelangelo's David at the Accadémia, but there was some miscommunication, so we didn't actually get to see it. This is a replica.

Fake David and a man on a bike.

We had the rest of the day free, so we went to a street market and looked for souvenirs. Florence is famous for its leather, so a lot of girls bartered for some leather purses. I didn't get one, but they all were pretty nice. After all the stress of Rome, it was nice to have some relaxing down time. I didn't mention this earlier, but my feet got seriously battered up. Every night when I took off my shoes, I thought that I had broken some, if not all, of my toes. Walking super fast all day everyday can do some serious damage to feet. Florence was the perfect chance to heal. 

Even though we only spent a day and half there, I feel confident enough to say that Florence was a pretty great city. I don't know if I would go there again, just because there isn't nearly as much to see as there is in Rome, but I definitely enjoyed being there. 

Day 3: The Vati-Can You Move Out of My Way

Monday 

9 September 2013

This was one of the longest and busiest days in Rome, which made it one of the most difficult but rewarding days of the trip. We started the day off by traveling to St. Peter's Basilica. It was early in the morning but already so crowded and super muggy outside. Part of St. Peter's was closed off because there was a man waxing the floors, but since the place is so huge there was still plenty to see. 

Outside St. Peter's. For some reason my computer won't let me edit the head of my classmate out. Look at the gods and goddesses instead.

The only inside shot that isn't blurry. This is the hallway leading in to the main chapel area. The rest of the chapel isn't really in this style, but I unfortunately don't have pictures.

A wider outside shot.

After this we practically ran our way over to the Vatican (which was not easy because of the size of our group and the amount of other tourists we had to get around). What an experience. The Vatican is essentially a huge place with lots of interesting art that is being blocked by the hordes of smelly people trying to see the art. I understand that Rome is not a place most people can pick up and go to whenever they want, so the Vatican has to be open to huge numbers of people so that everyone can have the opportunity to experience it if they want to. But when you have that many people in small, un-airconditioned rooms, things start to get a little frantic. Things get worse when you have to listen to your professor lecture while keeping up with a group of 55 people weaving their way around ancient sculptures all while taking notes for one of your classes. My favorite thing about the Vatican was the classical statues.

This picture of Poseidon/Neptune made me laugh. Glamour shot. 

One of the courtyards of the Vatican.

You can't take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, which is probably a good thing because it's insane in that room. Every part of your body is touching another part of a sweaty strangers body and there are guards constantly making you move around so more people can squeeze in. I'll be honest and say that I didn't enjoy seeing the Sistine Chapel and wouldn't want to do it again. I'm glad I can say I saw it, but I don't look on the experience with fond memories. 

After the Vatican we had some time to recuperate. Then we took a walking tour of the city at night. What a way to make up for the Vatican! We got to some of the ancient Roman architectural sights as the sun was setting. I'll just show the pictures because they are pretty great.

Ancient Roman site.

I forgot the name of this building but it is important and political. 

I don't like posting pictures of myself but I feel like I need to prove I was actually there and not making all this up.

Rome is so pretty at sunset and I'm glad we got to experience it before we left.

The normal version of this picture was blurry so here is our purposefully silly "Look, it's the Colosseum" picture.

Hello Colosseum. The place where Lizzie McGuire's dreams were made.

 Last delicious gelato in Rome.

This night was the absolute perfect way to remember Rome! It was so beautiful and made me forget about all of the annoying struggles of travel and being in a foreign place. We had one more morning in Rome and then we made our way to Florence. 

Day 2: Roman Churches

 Sunday

8 September 2013

We started off the second day of Rome by going to the LDS Chapel nearest us (nearest means an hour long metro ride/uphill walk) to attend a small Italian ward. We had to bring extra bread for the sacrament because we more than doubled the size of the Bra ward. They had headsets available for the English translation of the meeting, but I liked to listen to the Italian. I don’t remember much from the visit because it was so long ago and I had trouble paying attention while I was there because it was really hot. I do remember that a man performed “I Need Thee Every Hour” as a special musical number and sang in both Italian and English. It was very pretty. I also remember that the chorister sounded like a trained Opera singer, and had a very impressive voice.

 

Me and Kristin in front of the Italian sign for the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints

After our church meetings we went to see some Baroque churches in Rome (Santa Maria Vittorio, San Carlo Quattro Fontane, Il Gésu, San Luigi dei Francesi, and Sant’Agostion). There really isn’t anything like the feeling of walking into a grand and majestic chapel, and after looking at my pictures I can tell you that they don’t do most of the places any justice. I’ll put some pictures up of the ones I was most impressed by/interested in, and try to capture with words just how incredible they were.

Pretty sure this was the Santa Maria Vittorio. As you can see, the inside chapel is very ornate with interesting frescos and architecture to look at everywhere you turn.

This was outside the San Carlo Fontane. Believe it or not, this sculpture doubles as a public water fountain! There's little spouts of water on the left and right of this man where you can put your water bottles underneath to drink from. Basically all of the water fountains in Rome are part of ancient sculptures. This is the only one I have a picture of, but trust me, there are a lot more out there. The water is really cold and really good!

My favorite church was the Il Gésu. From the outside, it doesn't look very impressive. But once you get inside there's an overwhelming amount of beauty in the paintings and architecture. They even had music playing when we were there. Our art history professor was telling us that the building was designed to be symbolic of the differences between the human body and soul. The outside is plain, but the inside, or the soul, is complex and breathtakingly beautiful. I felt so incredible and enlightened when I was in the Il Gésu, more than I was in any of the other Baroque churches, and those blew my mind so this one was especially amazing. 

Part of the ceiling of the Il Gésu. It looks the same as almost any picture of a church fresco, but in person it is really special. I took some video inside that I might put into a montage with other moments from Italy. Hopefully that captures it a little bit better.

After we saw all the churches we tried to go inside the Pantheon, but it was closed for the day so I went with a group to get dinner. We went to a restaurant near the Pantheon that was like something you see in movies about Italy. It was on a cobblestone street with twinkly lights over an awning and the nightlife was just getting going. I ordered a classic margarita pizza and split it with someone. The pizza was as amazing as you would expect pizza in Italy to be. (In fact pretty much everything in Italy that I ate was good. The only thing that was weird/annoying to me was the fact that water isn't a complimentary beverage. You have to specifically ask for tap if you don't want to get charged. And they don't bring you more water if you drink it all. And sometimes they won't give you tap because they want you to pay for bottled water). After the pizza we got some gelato, a practice that would become pretty standard over the next week. The second day of Rome was much better than the first, and if I ever go back I am definitely going to go to some of the churches I saw.

Hooray for Italian pizza!

Day 1: Rome, Rome, Send me Home

Saturday

7 September 2013

(Warning: I had a hard time with picture taking the first couple of days because everything was so crowded and busy and I was not in the best of moods. The pictures get better though!)

After taking a bus ride from our meeting place in London, we got to a hotel near the Stansted airport to prepare for our early flight to Rome. By this point it was past midnight London time and I was pretty tired. Our group booked two flights to Rome, one leaving at 4am the following morning and the other leaving at 6am. I was of course was on the 4am flight.

A mere two hours after settling into the hotel I had to get up and take a shuttle to the airport. The Stansted airport is very small and was very crowded even though it was so early. We were on a 3-hour Ryanair flight straight to Rome. In case you aren’t familiar with European airlines, Ryanair is a super cheap airline that has mastered the art of swindling people out of loads of money by the allure of mildly inexpensive tickets. We were only allowed one bag that had to be within strict dimensions and weight limitations. If it was off by a centimeter, they enforced a £60 charge (which would be somewhere around 100 US dollars. They made me stick my bag in one of those measured cages and I knew it shouldn’t have fit, but by some miracle I was able to force it in, thank goodness).

Security was ridiculous to get through (and not like normal TSA security that I’ve experienced in other airports), and by the end of it a group of us were practically running to get to the gate on time. The whole flight the stewardesses tried to sell us food and jewelry and lottery tickets and I was not having it. To top it all off we had to sit on the floor of the teeny Roman airport for two long, laborious hours until the next group of students landed. Then we had to wait another hour for our bus to the hotel. And then we had to transfer from the bus to the Metro station riddled with pickpockets. And then we had to walk uphill from the Metro to our apartments. Where we had to wait for the owner to check all of our passports. Somewhere during all of this I said to myself, “Why am I doing this,” and also, “When can I go home,” and also, “Rome smells weird.”

Things did start to look better though. The apartment complex we were in was especially for students and had decent beds, bathrooms, and Wi-Fi. After we settled into our apartments we took a walking tour of some of the famous sights in Rome. We saw the Piazza del Popolo (which I didn’t get a good picture of), the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Piaza Navona.

Street performers at the Piazza del Popolo. This is the place where Roman youths sit around smoking and targeting their pickpocket victims. This is also where sketchy street vendors try to sell you roses and plastic toys. (It isn't really that bad, I'm just not a fan of pre-teens, smoking, or street vendors, which happens to make up 80% of Italy, go figure).

The Spanish Steps. SO crowded here hence the random person's head in my picture. It was the best one I had.

Me at the Trevi fountain. And a classmate to the left. The Trevi was not what I expected. There are steps that go down to the fountain (I thought it was level with the street), and it wasn't as big as I thought it was. This place was extremely crowded no matter what time of day I passed by it. I made my way down to the front, but got so claustrophobic I couldn't do a coin toss there. I did go to the side of the fountain and made a wish right as my group was leaving. I didn't get a picture of it, and it wasn't in the front of the fountain, but I did the traditional over-the-shoulder toss and I did it with a European form of money so I think it counts.

A building near the Trevi (I think). 

The Pantheon. And one of my professors. And some of my classmates. There are more Pantheon pictures to come.

A recognizable fountain at the Piazza Navona. Another thing that was hard to get a picture of. 

 After all this, I got my first Italian gelato and ate it on the steps of the Pantheon. Although I had only had about 4 hours total sleep from Thursday to Saturday night, and was frustrated with travelling, and seeing the sights, eating gelato on the Pantheon steps definitely made my outlook much, much better.

Hooray for fruity Italian gelato! And the safeness of Rome at night. This might be the only place in the world where it seems safer at night than it does during the day. The piazza near the Pantheon was hopping with families, lovers, Italians, musicians, ancient buildings, and pizza everywhere! Viva Roma at night! 

I'm Here!

Late last night/earlier this morning I got on my flight to London. It wasn't too crowded or uncomfortable, but I still had trouble staying asleep. I watched movies, ate the provided meal (it was actually pretty good!), had someone accidentally spill red wine on my leg, and shifted around in my seat about a million times. Overall, a pretty uneventful and standard flight experience. Once the plane landed though, things got rough.

My flight had been delayed by an hour when I left from Houston, but as we approached Heathrow airport, we had to fly around in circles (there's a technical airline term for it, but I don't remember what it is) until the runway was clear. When we finally landed I only had an hour to get through customs, get my luggage, and ride to another terminal to meet up with my group to take a shuttle to our house. I wasn't too nervous but I was absolutely drenched in sweat trying to push and pull at least 100 pounds of stuff around, all while trying to figure out where I was supposed to go and how long it would take me to get there. I finally met up with my group with about 4 minutes to spare. But then we couldn't find the shuttle. And the shuttle person was late. And he was almost impossible to understand, and not because of his accent which was totally bizarre, but because he kept getting so flustered with everything and couldn't calm down. He was nice though, and we were all in a good mood and laughed things off (like the fact that his car stalled and he used a lot of British swears)!

It still doesn't even really feel like I'm in London. I didn't see any famous landmarks on my way to the place I am staying, and I haven't heard anyone with a British accent yet! Everyone is French or Polish or Indian. But I am still so excited and not even jet-lagged, just ready to start exploring! Tomorrow early in the morning we're going to Italy. The next time I post there should be lots of pictures of beautiful Italian and French things, so hooray for that! Have a great two weeks!

An Introduction

Hello! This is the blog I've set up to share pictures and stories about living and studying abroad in London. I've never really thought about setting up a blog before, but I decided that it would be a great way for me to share my experiences for those interested as well as having an easy way for me to look back on this exciting time in my life!

As of right now I have the best intentions of blogging frequently, but I'm a procrastinator (I haven't started packing even though I'm moving to a different country in three days!) and don't really have any idea about how to format pictures or blog posts yet. I already know that my next post will probably not be for a couple of weeks, since my classmates and I will be doing some intense traveling around Europe for the beginning of the semester and I won't have time/wifi/energy to blog. This post is my one chance to familiarize myself to blogging before my life gets really crazy.

I feel like I should explain the title of this blog. I tried several different British-related puns (all of which were already taken by other people), before my dad came up with Blabbey Road. I'll be living in the city where Abbey Road/Abbey Road Studios is located and Abbey Road the Beatles album was recorded so, it kind of fits. And I've already written three paragraphs about nothing so I guess the blabby part applies. It wasn't my first choice name, but I love puns so I'll take it. Here's a picture to kind of tie everything together: (My dad photoshopped this to look like the Abbey Road album cover. All the pictures he used were of me when I was sick, or after I'd had oral surgery. Thanks Dad.)

Maybe I'll actually get to recreate this while I'm there!

I can't wait to get to London. I'm a mixture of excitement and anxiousness! I hope that I can share funny, insightful, and enlightening things with those reading. Until next time!