Spring Break, Part Due: Italy!

Wow. I'm finally back in Cork after a 17-day trip through the Mediterranean. It was the best spring break EVER. I got to see more than I thought possible in that time...I can't even begin to imagine how many miles (kilometers?) we walked the whole time. The trip also involved some adventures, which you'll get to hear all about. I'll also refrain from putting up the 1000 pictures I've taken. I have to say that the best part of the whole trip may have been coming back to Ireland and having people tell me that I look tan. And that's why I love the Irish, because God knows what a pale person I am!

The trip even started out on an interesting note. Four of us flew out of the Shannon Airport, and when we got there, there were army people crawling EVERYWHERE. I've never seen so many military people in one place in my life! I was wondering why the Irish Army would have so many men there when I saw they weren't Irish at all--they were all US Marines and Navy guys. And they were all getting ready to get shipped out to Iraq from Ireland. It was pretty sad because a whole bunch of them looked a lot younger than me, and you could hear some of them saying that they really didn't want to leave Ireland. One of my friends talked to an airport employee, and he was saying that they ship them through here all the time. It was just trippy because that was the last thing I expected to see in the airport...I also haven't seen that many Americans in one place since I left the States in December!

We flew from Shannon to Venice, which I ended up liking a lot more than I even thought I would! It was so cool to be in a city where it's completely pedestrian. Everything is just a series of canals and bridges linking all the little islands that make up Venice. It's really easy to get lost because half of the streets aren't marked (we had a hard time finding our hostel in the dark, thankfully Tatiana was already in Venice and helped search for us!). One time we left the Piazza San Marco to head back towards our hostel, only to end up right back there 15 minutes later! But half the fun of Venice is just wandering around, anyway. We also made it out to the little island of Murano to see some glassblowing, which was fantastic! They also have these cool glass sculptures all over the island, and they're amazingly beautiful. Back in Venice, we saw the basilica and climbed to the top of the clock tower to get the best view of the city. Piazza San Marco was awesome, but I would just like to say that there were more pigeons there than I have ever seen anywhere else. In my life. Ever. Ew. But other than a little rain on our last evening there, the weather was fantastic. It was good to be someplace that can get hot again (Mom, it's definitely your country). Also, this is where my gelato addiction began. But after a couple nights in Venezia, it was time to take the night train to Roma.

After a mostly uneventful train ride to Rome (word to the wise: it's always possible to turn off the nightlight in the cabin), we got into the city and found our hostel, only to have them move us to another hostel. But even though that was a pain, we ended up with a much better deal with a much nicer hostel. Then we picked up some Roma Passes and went all over the city! I saw the Colosseum, the Forum, Trevi Fountain, the church of St. Peter in Chains to see Michelangelo's sculpture Moses, the Spanish Steps, Bernini's St. Teresa in Ecstasy, and so many random squares and piazzas. It was amazing! We spent a lot of one day at Vatican City, which was on a much bigger scale then I ever realised. The view from the cupola of the basilica was well worth the hike up there (I feel like we got owned by some old ladies hauling up those stairs). The art that the Vatican Museum has is unbelievable, and I couldn't believe I was getting to see the Sistine Chapel for myself! It was sort of easy to forget how intensely people feel the religious aspect there and kind of take it to another level...when we went down to the tombs of the popes, there was a special section blocked off behind where people could file past the tomb of Pope John Paul II because of all the people who stopped for significant amounts of time to pray there. And while we were watching some cardinals start a Mass in one of the chapels of St. Peter's, this crazy lady got hauled off by security for trying to run after the cardinals and bishops while yelling stuff at them. There's so much to do in Rome that I feel like I could go back a few more times and still not have seen everything! (It also had the best gelato I've ever had in my life...SO GOOD!) So that's what I plan on doing. And at times it felt like the city didn't want us to leave...we planned to take a 5:15 pm train out of the city that would get us into Florence around 9. But that got canceled (aka "sopresso"). We had the option of a train at 6:30, but we decided to take the 7:15 because it was direct and faster. Then the 7:15 one also got sopressoed. So we had to take an indirect one that left around 7:30, which was really just the 6:30 one running with a delay. Let me just comment on how unhelpful and unfriendly Italian train employees are. Also, there are no announcements of what station it is, so we were lucky that we even got off in the right place to switch trains. But we finally made it to Florence without much other trouble.

Florence is in Tuscany, which in my opinion means it's incredibly beautiful. Since each of the cities was in a difference region, they each had a different feel to them, and I have to say that I think Florence looked the best! It was so pretty. We got to spend more time just wandering in Florence than we had in any other city, which ended up being really nice. The only disappointment was that we spent Sunday wandering, leaving the museums until Monday--except they're all closed on Mondays. So I didn't get to see the Uffizi or Michelangelo's David, but I guess I'll just have to wait until the next time I'm in Florence! Always good to have something to look forward to! And I did get to see the Duomo, Santa Croce, a beautiful synagogue, Dostoevsky's house, and the best view of the city from Piazzale Michelangelo. Not to mention a bajillion replicas of the David that are all over Florence.

After a couple days in Florence, we took the train up to the Milan-Bergamo area to catch our flight to Spain. All in all, I could not have asked for a better experience in Italy! The espresso, gelato, and food all lived up to expectations...and I guess the sights did, too. And I felt like I kept seeing family members all over the place! I'm glad I got to see where some of my family is from, and hopefully one day I can get back there and maybe even make a trip to the south of the country! (Hint hint to Bridg for picking where she wants to study abroad...)