and so i begin the longest blog there ever was. just got back from my marathon euro-trip with the novio during semana santa, and although i missed one of the most important weeks in Sevilla, i experienced four amazing cities (and escaped a very rainy week in Sevilla, apparently). From rome, to florence, to venice, to paris, i took 3 flights, 2 trains, and 1 bus. my feet underwent miles of walking and my eyes saw more famous sights than most people can dream of seeing in a lifetime, let alone a week. i ate my heart out in pizza, pasta, crepes, and croissants and took over 1000 pictures. Italy and Paris: good job. you win.
ROME
after a 6 hour bus ride to madrid, another 7 hours in the airport and a 2 hour flight, we got to rome. flying in, we got glimpses of the colosseum (thanks, wikitravel) but nothing could prepare us for the real thing. it started off our trip with a bang- i certainly wasn't in sevilla anymore. that and the rest of ancient rome were like something out of a movie, the world was literally in ruins. we walked around the whole day, taking muchisimas fotos of fallen palaces and destroyed civilizations. oh and also, it was all free. woohoo, culture week in italy!
the next day, off to vatican city! no big deal really, just the smallest country in the world and home of the pope. we climbed up the 500 something steps to the top of st peter's basilica to see a view of rome muy preciosa. no time for lunch (a sin in italy) and off to the vatican museum to see the sistine chapel! my neck hurt from looking up so much, but, ¡que increíble! i'd say the dude had some talent. and he said he wasn't a painter.
final day in rome and we explored centro storico, with the trevi fountain, the pantheon, campo d' fiore, and a surprise church with a false dome. tricky, those romans. went to our first outdoor market of the trip and had the best pizza i've ever had. way to go rome, you beat new york- and that's damn hard to do.
FLORENCE
early train ride to florence on day 4! arrived at our hostel, a converted convent, attached to a church, and full of german middle schoolers. nice. first stop, the david! first impression: "shit, david was one ripped dude." second impression: "shit, michelangelo was effing good." one piece of (very large) marble, and he's smooth as a baby's bottom. i tried to take a picture, but guess that wasn't allowed. i just wanted a keepsake, to remind myself what really signifies 'carved from marble.' we ate dinner earlier than we have in the past 3 months, at 7:30 we felt like we were getting the early bird special. upon return to the hostel, the germans were raging to american pop music, full on with a dj, strobe lights, and everything. i mean, noah and i could have shown them how it was really done, but we didn't want to make them feel bad, so we left them to dance awkwardly on their own. next time, germany.
the next day we went to our second outdoor market, by far the best of the trip, and ate our weight in free samples and mozzarella. our climb up the duomo was rewarded by the prettiest view of any city i've ever been to, terra cotta roofs and everything. finished the day off walking around, enjoying our second stop in italy.
VENICE
stereotype confirmed: singing men in striped shirts and berets really do row gondola's along canals
venice. wow. don't even know how to describe it. this has got to be the most amazing little city i've ever seen. there's barely anything to do but it is just SO beautiful, and so cliche and romantic, but i loved it. we only had a day or so here but it was amazing. piazza san marco was really cool, and the basilica was freaking awesome. the entire ceiling and walls are covered in golden mosaics, it was beautiful. the rest of the day was spent walking along the canals and tiny alleyways. we had a cute little picnic along one canal near the rialto bridge, full of cheese, salami, and wine. obvi. great times in venice, and very relaxing.
stereotype confirmed: they really do love their baguettes. all 3 feet of bread.
stereotype not confirmed: all parisians are mean. we actually found everyone to be extremely friendly.
finally, the time came to hit up paris, obviously what i was looking forward to most (the cheesy romantic in me couldn't help it). we got in late afternoon with a hunger that surpassed any need to sightsee- first priority: food. obvious first choice was a croissant. done. yummy, but still not filling (it's basically air right? not full of pounds of butter?) obvious second choice: crepes. we found a little stand on champs elysee and decided to settle, our hunger was reaching hulk status. beurre sucre (butter and sugar) was the cheapest so we opted for that, only to find that it was the best thing we had eaten all week. i mean, it's hard to mess it up, what with a pancake filled with a stick of butter and a pound of sugar. see, this is why i'm going to have to be rolled home after i leave. we spent the rest of the night enjoying city of lights and got our first glimpses of the eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, and a pretty sick bridge.
next day we took a little trip to the largest art museum in the world, a place called the louvre- have you heard of it? it has this painting of a woman, the mona lisa, i think? yeppppp. the building itself is really incredible, massive, but beautiful, and there are these incredible gardens in the center of the plaza, filled with parisians taking in the sun by day and aprovechar-ing some botellon by night. we then hit up the eiffel tower for a romantic picnic during sunset, alongside fellow spaniards who were kind enough to offer us cups when they saw us chugging wine out of the bottle. forgot how classy the spanish are. ended our night with another delicious crepe, this time with chocolate and whipped cream, my favorite!
finally, our last day in paris and on our 10 day marathon, we hit up notre dame, luxembourg gardens, and the pantheon. after a freak rainshower, we tried to find the jewish quarter, but sadly, no luck, our jewish senses failed us. we did however find an outdoor market (successfully one in every city!!!) and a long street lined with restaurants from around the world.
and so, here ends my epic euro-trip. but have no fear, i will return with stories from prague and portugal this coming weekend! of course, i will also tell tales from the infamous feria de abril in sevilla, a 10 day stretch of flamenco, day drinking, and contests of wealth and class. although my semester in spain is sadly coming to an end, my euro travels are far from over!
viva la vida.
