And the heavens opened up and there was SUN!
I just fought with my computer in an attempt to get some pictures posted and it didn't work, so you will all just have to deal with another message from me. At some point I do promise to get some more pictures on here, I just might have to burn them on a disk first...FRUSTRATION!
Moving on...now where were we in the tales of my adventures? Oh right, I was still in Rome. Well, that was 3 days ago and I have now moved on to Florence. But before we talke about that I need to bring you up to speed on what I did my last two days in Rome! The rain continued on, so Saturday I walked around with two of the American students sudying in Angers (Heidi...isn't that where you were????) named Kate and Katy. We started the morning off with a visit to a local backery that two of the girls had found the night before. It was amazing. So inexpensive and everything tasted SO good. I got a sandwhich for lunch, 2 doughnuts, a chocolate croisant, and a bottle of water all for under 3 Euros!! Kate went a little crazy as well because she only had a 20 Euro note and the women that worked there didn't like it when you used big bills, so spent 5 Euros and ended up with a shopping bag full of goddies that we shared for the rest of the day. After our trip to pastry paradise, we took the Metro to Piazza Republiccane to try and find some Roman Baths that were apparently there, but after wandering around for 20 minutes in a downpour, we couldn't find it. Instead we decided to just check out one of the churches that was there. From the outside it looked really decrepit and small, but once we walked inside we were blown away. The whole interior was done in pink marble with huge vaulted ceilings and numerous paintings throughout. After sitting and having some quiet time, the three of us explored a bit and found a little room off the back that explained the history of the church. It was so incredible. I love Rome but one thing that I find really lacking is any information about the history of buildings. When we were leaving the church, Kate decided that she had had enough of getting wet so decided to put a plastic bag on her head. It was so something I would have done! We were walking out of the church and an older gentleman passed Kate and Katy who were walking just behind me, and he apparently did a double take and made the best face Katy had ever seen. We had huge laugh over that.
In order to warm up a little, the three of us decided to get some tea from a cafe, and then headed to Feltrinelli International, an English Bookstore. I had read all the books I had brought from home and the hostel had nothing good I wanted to read. I bought 'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown and 'Memories of a Geisha'. I started A&D and it is really good so far.
After drying off and warming up, the three of us decided to head back to the Colosseum to check out the inside. Kate decided against going in, but Katy and I went in and it was really incredible. I had some reservations about paying to get in, and the lines that we might find, but it was well worth it.
Instead of having dinner at the hostel, me and my new American friends decided to go out for dinner. We headed over to Piazza Novona where we had an excellent Italian meal. I gave home a call first and was really excited to talk to everyone that was at my house for Thanksgiving, especially Grandma and Aunti D & Aunt Judy. Apparently my Uncles are too cool to chat to their neice who is over in Europ...their loss!!! Everyone sounded great though and I loved chatting with Benny and Matty.
After dinner I was feeling sleepy so headed back to the hostel to get some shut-eye, but ended up Journaling and then chatting with a few of the people staying at the hostel till around midnight.
Yesterday was gorgeous, so I got my but out of bed and headed over to Villa Bourghes for the day. It's a park area that is right in the middle of Rome. I sat on benches and watched families playing and I read my book. After 3 hours in the park I walked back to the hostel to take a shower. That is one of the things that was hard about the hostel I stayed in. There is only one shower for 30 people to share so you need to get creative about when you take one. After dinner (which was really gross so I didn't eat much of it) I decided to head out with my camera and take some night pictures of Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It was a quick trip, only took me around 45 minutes, but it was well worth it.
I was starving by that time, so I wandered over to a pizza place just down the road from my hostel. I had some noodles with meat sauce and some toast with 3 different spreads (tomatoe, artichoke, and olive...mmmmmm). I ended up starting a conversation with another guy that was sitting at the next table. No idea what his name was but he was from Hamburg. It was nice to chat for a while over tea.
When I got back to the Hostel, one of the girls staying there was having really bad stomach pains, so I went with her to the hospital. It was such a weird experience. First of all, the hospital was ancient, and looked it, but there was NO wait. It was the quickest visit to the emergency room I have ever had. We were back at the hostel in 2 hours! She's ok, they just perscribed her some pain relievers and she's just going to go to the hostpital when she gets back to California...oh, and it didn't cost her anything...they didn't even take her passport number or address! Thank you Italian Taxpayers!!!
Today I got up bright and early at 8am and took the 9:14am train to Florence. I was under the impression that it only took 2 hours, but I was so wrong. I didn't get here until almost 1:15pm!!! It was a little stressful for me because I needed to be at my hostel before 1:30pm to check in...but I made it and am SO glad I did because my place is great! As of 1:20pm this afternoon I had an 8 person room to myself with 2 sinks, free linens and blankets, free soap and towels, 2 showers (WITH SOAP AT THE SINK!!!), and a laundry mat across the street!!! It's amazing how these small things get you SO excited when you are traveling!!
I wandered around this afternoon, going to Santa Maria del Fiore, the huge Cathedrale in Florence. It's crazy. Its done all in green, white and pink marble! Really interesting. I then just walked around...did a little browsing in Zara, a great clothing store, but nothing really called to me so I didn't buy anything. Tonight I am going to do my laundry in a real machine, and not in a sink! I am quite excited about it! I have 3 days in town to explore and might venture out to Tuscany for a day trip if I can get myself organized. I promise that I will get my camera working so I can upload these pictures...but this place is freezing so I'll do that tomorrow.
I can't believe that I have away for a month now, it sometimes feel like it was just yesterday that I left and other days it feels like I was in Greece months ago. I am loving it and love hearing from everyone! Keep the messages and comments coming!!!
That's all for now, I'll write again soon!!!
Moving on...now where were we in the tales of my adventures? Oh right, I was still in Rome. Well, that was 3 days ago and I have now moved on to Florence. But before we talke about that I need to bring you up to speed on what I did my last two days in Rome! The rain continued on, so Saturday I walked around with two of the American students sudying in Angers (Heidi...isn't that where you were????) named Kate and Katy. We started the morning off with a visit to a local backery that two of the girls had found the night before. It was amazing. So inexpensive and everything tasted SO good. I got a sandwhich for lunch, 2 doughnuts, a chocolate croisant, and a bottle of water all for under 3 Euros!! Kate went a little crazy as well because she only had a 20 Euro note and the women that worked there didn't like it when you used big bills, so spent 5 Euros and ended up with a shopping bag full of goddies that we shared for the rest of the day. After our trip to pastry paradise, we took the Metro to Piazza Republiccane to try and find some Roman Baths that were apparently there, but after wandering around for 20 minutes in a downpour, we couldn't find it. Instead we decided to just check out one of the churches that was there. From the outside it looked really decrepit and small, but once we walked inside we were blown away. The whole interior was done in pink marble with huge vaulted ceilings and numerous paintings throughout. After sitting and having some quiet time, the three of us explored a bit and found a little room off the back that explained the history of the church. It was so incredible. I love Rome but one thing that I find really lacking is any information about the history of buildings. When we were leaving the church, Kate decided that she had had enough of getting wet so decided to put a plastic bag on her head. It was so something I would have done! We were walking out of the church and an older gentleman passed Kate and Katy who were walking just behind me, and he apparently did a double take and made the best face Katy had ever seen. We had huge laugh over that.
In order to warm up a little, the three of us decided to get some tea from a cafe, and then headed to Feltrinelli International, an English Bookstore. I had read all the books I had brought from home and the hostel had nothing good I wanted to read. I bought 'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown and 'Memories of a Geisha'. I started A&D and it is really good so far.
After drying off and warming up, the three of us decided to head back to the Colosseum to check out the inside. Kate decided against going in, but Katy and I went in and it was really incredible. I had some reservations about paying to get in, and the lines that we might find, but it was well worth it.
Instead of having dinner at the hostel, me and my new American friends decided to go out for dinner. We headed over to Piazza Novona where we had an excellent Italian meal. I gave home a call first and was really excited to talk to everyone that was at my house for Thanksgiving, especially Grandma and Aunti D & Aunt Judy. Apparently my Uncles are too cool to chat to their neice who is over in Europ...their loss!!! Everyone sounded great though and I loved chatting with Benny and Matty.
After dinner I was feeling sleepy so headed back to the hostel to get some shut-eye, but ended up Journaling and then chatting with a few of the people staying at the hostel till around midnight.
Yesterday was gorgeous, so I got my but out of bed and headed over to Villa Bourghes for the day. It's a park area that is right in the middle of Rome. I sat on benches and watched families playing and I read my book. After 3 hours in the park I walked back to the hostel to take a shower. That is one of the things that was hard about the hostel I stayed in. There is only one shower for 30 people to share so you need to get creative about when you take one. After dinner (which was really gross so I didn't eat much of it) I decided to head out with my camera and take some night pictures of Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It was a quick trip, only took me around 45 minutes, but it was well worth it.
I was starving by that time, so I wandered over to a pizza place just down the road from my hostel. I had some noodles with meat sauce and some toast with 3 different spreads (tomatoe, artichoke, and olive...mmmmmm). I ended up starting a conversation with another guy that was sitting at the next table. No idea what his name was but he was from Hamburg. It was nice to chat for a while over tea.
When I got back to the Hostel, one of the girls staying there was having really bad stomach pains, so I went with her to the hospital. It was such a weird experience. First of all, the hospital was ancient, and looked it, but there was NO wait. It was the quickest visit to the emergency room I have ever had. We were back at the hostel in 2 hours! She's ok, they just perscribed her some pain relievers and she's just going to go to the hostpital when she gets back to California...oh, and it didn't cost her anything...they didn't even take her passport number or address! Thank you Italian Taxpayers!!!
Today I got up bright and early at 8am and took the 9:14am train to Florence. I was under the impression that it only took 2 hours, but I was so wrong. I didn't get here until almost 1:15pm!!! It was a little stressful for me because I needed to be at my hostel before 1:30pm to check in...but I made it and am SO glad I did because my place is great! As of 1:20pm this afternoon I had an 8 person room to myself with 2 sinks, free linens and blankets, free soap and towels, 2 showers (WITH SOAP AT THE SINK!!!), and a laundry mat across the street!!! It's amazing how these small things get you SO excited when you are traveling!!
I wandered around this afternoon, going to Santa Maria del Fiore, the huge Cathedrale in Florence. It's crazy. Its done all in green, white and pink marble! Really interesting. I then just walked around...did a little browsing in Zara, a great clothing store, but nothing really called to me so I didn't buy anything. Tonight I am going to do my laundry in a real machine, and not in a sink! I am quite excited about it! I have 3 days in town to explore and might venture out to Tuscany for a day trip if I can get myself organized. I promise that I will get my camera working so I can upload these pictures...but this place is freezing so I'll do that tomorrow.
I can't believe that I have away for a month now, it sometimes feel like it was just yesterday that I left and other days it feels like I was in Greece months ago. I am loving it and love hearing from everyone! Keep the messages and comments coming!!!
That's all for now, I'll write again soon!!!
posted by Traveling Amanda @ 8:39 AM
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