Venice and Ljubljana

My last night and day in Venice turned out to be better than I expected! At first I wasn’t too keen on the hostel/campground I was staying at because I didn’t meet anyone. Well that changed almost right after I finished updating my blog last time. I met a bunch of Americans, an Australian guy, two Norwegians, and a couple of other random people. We all hung out at the hostel bar and talked about everything from politics to stereotypes to n’importe quoi. The Norwegian guys were hilarious and all over the place and ended up throwing each other in the pool. Overall it was an excellent night.

The next day in the city it was pretty hot and I had to carry my backpack around all day, from about noon until 9:30ish. That wasn’t pleasant, but I met up with Derek, an Australian I met in Rome. I saw more of the city that I hadn’t seen during the previous day, as well as the stuff I had already seen. I want into Basilica di San Marco because it was free. It was so massive! But unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos inside. The floor was all wavy from centuries of tidal movements underneath it. It was definitely impressive.
Also, check out this beauty right here: That’s right, a diamond-encrusted skull. How ostentatiously badass is that?


Anyways, I got in Ljubljana in the middle of the night. When I woke up a little bit later I wandered all over the city. The castle is so cool, but unfortunately the tower was closed. It’s such a pretty city; small, but pretty. And there’s a Tivoli Park! (I lov it!) I mostly just wandered around and took pictures during the day, going from one side to the other. There are several different types of buildings, from Soviet-influenced bloc style housing, to art nouveau style, to just massive structures. And there are a lot of green spaces in the city, which is nice. The temperature here was a little bit colder than in Venice, but that was a relief.

I went into one museum, the Narodni Galeriji (National Gallery), because there was a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition going on! His work is so great, and I was happy to see that for the most part these photos were different from the ones in Florence. His photos are just incredible! And, speaking of photos, I met a Slovenian girl who took me to another photography exhibition that her friend had some photos in. It was free, which is always great, and there was free wine and snacks, which is even better! After that we made our way to Metelkova for a concert. Metelkova is an autonomous area in the city that was taken over by squatters in 1993. It used to be used by the Yugoslav National Army. Now it’s a really cool place for alternative culture and concerts, and there is even a hostel there. The concert was decent, nothing to special, but it was cool to go to a concert since I haven’t been to one in a little while. The bands played some heavy post-rock type music. And I was able to meet a bunch of Slovenians.

Today the weather hasn’t been too great, which is why I’m updating this blog in the middle of the day. I’m not sure what I’m going to end up doing, if anything. It seems like whenever I step out the rain just starts to come down more. I did manage to go back to Metelkova to take some photos of the graffiti and buildings and things. I like it there.

That’s all for now. I head to Budapest, Hungary early tomorrow morning. I have a stop over in Zagreb, Croatia as well, but it’s only an hour so I don’t think I’ll be able to see much if anything there. I’ll update again when I can!

Venezia

So Venice. What can I say? It’s true that walking down the pedestrian streets and along the canals is like stepping into a photograph. Every other street (if not every street), you want to stop and take a photo (Mom would be going nuts, she’d come home with thousands!). It is a beautiful city, but it is an expensive one. Well, eating and shopping and that kind of stuff are expensive. Apparently, the museums aren’t too bad, but they add up because there are a lot of them. And the lines are long. So today I didn’t go in any of them. I spent a good 4.5 – 5 hours wandering around the streets. The shuttle from the campground brought me to the main bus terminal, and from there I just picked a direction and started walking. This was just after 9am. It was a bit chilly, but if today is an indicator then I can say mornings in Venice are pleasant. So I set out by myself, some music playing on my headset, without looking at the map first. I came across a bunch of churches that I don’t know the names of, but unfortunately I didn’t go into a majority of them because you have to pay. Forget that, I’m not paying to go into churches. But the architecture was beautiful, and the few churches I did go in had some excellent paintings. The streets are narrow and some are serpentine, or you take random alleys between streets that you may not take in other cities. Since there are no cars, it’s safe to assume that even the tiniest of alleys is okay to walk down. I walked from one end to the other. And snaked about in between. I saw gondolas, parks, canals, bridges, churches, and other cool buildings. The Piazza San Marco is incredible (the photo above is of the Basilica there). I may try to go into the gallery there tomorrow. I also some the hilarious site of a young, well dressed Italian guy who couldn’t be much older than myself walking around smoking a pipe. What class. I did go into a free exhibition on Vivaldi and violins. That was pretty interesting.
It was also pretty hot today, so after almost 5 hours of walking I decided to come back to the hostel and sit by the pool. I didn’t go in at all, but I chilled out and read my book (currently reading Punk Fiction, a collection of punk-inspired short stories that Hannah lent me. I finished The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera the other day, that was an excellent read) and had a low key afternoon. I was going to go back into town in the evening, but the shuttle is infrequent, and while the buses aren’t expensive I don’t know if you can actually get the bus tickets on the bus or if you have to buy them ahead of time, and I didn’t have any on me. At any rate, I’m going to be in the city in the evening tomorrow before my night train to Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Otherwise, Venice is okay. My overall impression is that it’s very pretty, but I don’t think I could spend more time here than I already am. My campground/hostel is nice, but it’s tough to meet people. I met a nice Australian guy tonight and we talked for a bit, but otherwise I haven’t met anyone. But yeah, that’s all I have to say for right now. I’ll update again in Ljubljana!

Firenze

I arrived in Firenze (Florence) in the afternoon on the 30th of May. Keith, a friend of mine from Middlebury, met me at the station and walking between the station and his apartment near the center of the city I already knew it would be a city I would like. To start, it was way less crowded than Roma. The weather was nice on my arrival, which is always a plus. Keith’s apartment was great, and he played my tour guide for the brief time I was there, so thank you Keith for everything!

That first afternoon we wondered around a bit. Keith took me up to a spot with an astounding view of the city. All I could think was “WOW! This place is so pretty!” Afterwards checking out the view, we walked back down the hill and after some bagels at an excellent little place we crossed the Arno on Ponte Vecchio and started going meandering the city. Sculptures, or replicas of famous structures, dotted the cityscape. The architecture was beautiful. The Duomo was one of the first massive structures that I saw. I never ended up going into it or up it because of lines, but the outside was impressive, as was the outside, and in particular the doors, of the battistero. But this afternoon had something special in store. It’s impossible to go to Florence and not have Michelangelo’s David be on your list of things to see. We made our way to the Galleria dell’Accademia. After standing in line (for the shortest amount of time of any of the lines I waited on in Florence) we made our way in, but we didn’t head straight for David. I’m glad we didn’t. There was an incredible exhibition that only opened a couple days before my arrival showcasing the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe. His work was so unbelievably incredible, I recommend checking it out. There’s no way I could put into words how awesome it was. Then the David. I’ve seen pictures, and heard about it from people who have seen it, but nothing compares to seeing it up close and personal. All the detail, the way the marble looks like it’s skin covering bones, muscle, veins…I’m still reeling from it as I think about it now. The rest of the museum was also great, but it’s hard to get excited about religious art and other sculptures when the Accademia has work by Michelangelo. Just incredible. We also saw a street performing mime that was pretty hilarious. He would just mess with or intimidate people as they went by. He sent an Asian tour group running, played Patty-Cake with some random girl, and was just hilarious overall. I’ll see if I can upload one of the short videos I took of him.

The following day we were ambitious and went to two museums. It was raining for most of the day, so that seemed like the best idea. (Yes, two. But I was in Florence and where’s better place to see amazing art?) We first tried to get into the Uffizi, but the line was so long that we made reservations for later that afternoon and made our way next door to the Signoria. Both were incredible, but by the end of a long day of museum visiting it’s tough to keep your interest peeked. At the Signoria there was another incredible map room (woo!) and plenty of gold all around. Keith was telling me that because the paintings on the ceiling of the main entrance room were so heavy they had to have a special mechanism to keep it from falling. It was tough to take in everything, but both museums were totally worth the visits. I saw all the famous works in both, with the Uffizi boasting Botticelli’s Birth of Venus as well as works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael (woo, ninja turtles!), among others. Unfortunately a lot of work was not on display because they were being restored, but it was still a memorable and amazing visit. It also means that I don’t have many photos of Florence because I spent a lot of time in the museums.

Today I got into Venezia (Venice) to much nicer weather (it was raining when I left Florence this afternoon), and I briefly saw a miniscule amount of the city while looking for my bus. I ended up on the wrong one, but managed to navigate my way to the campsite/hostel without any real problems (and without a map, go me!). AND, despite having reserved a 3 bed room without a bathroom, I was given a 3 bed with one and I think I have it to myself. Cool.
It was well after 6 pm by the time I got here, so I think I’m just going to chill out for this evening, take care of some stuff I need to get done, and then get up early and explore the city tomorrow during the day and night. Being in this campground makes me feel like I’m on one of the family trips with the camper (aww, look at that, I think of my family sometimes ;-) ). So that’s all for now. I’ll updated again when I can! (Maybe tomorrow, depending on how much of this pay wifi I use up tonight.)

Roma At Night And Another Full Day

I’m having a great time in Roma. Last night at dinner I ended up meeting and hanging out with 5 other people and we decided to take a stroll around the city at night. We went to the Trevi Fountain to see it lit up, and not only were the fountains actually on but I was able to make my way up to it to throw in a coin. Woo! We wondered around to the Colosseo as well, and just kind of strolled along as we tried to make our way into a park to get a view of the entire city at night. Unfortunately the gates were all locked and there was no way to get in, but the stars and the city were beautiful.

Today I got up early again (whoa! Two days in a row!? Save the shock, but that’s probably going to be the trend) and first thing I did was go down to the Colosseo with one of the guys I met and hung out with last night, Dan. We wondered through the Colosseo then went to the Palatino and the Foro Romano. They were both huge, but after looking at ruins all day it got to be a bit repetitive. Still excellent though. Oh, and I couldn’t help but feel like I needed to fight a lion while I was in the Colosseo. Too bad there weren’t any. (Also, you know what's lame? They wouldn't give me a student discount! I showed my student ID and my France residency permit, but apparently you have to be an EU citizen. Boooooo!)

After that we wondered around some more and ended up at the Pantheon. That was pretty cool. I especially liked Raphael’s tomb. After that it was a quick jaunt up to Piazza Navona where there were tons of artists sitting about selling their work. The central fountain is incredible, and is representative of the four major rivers in the ancient world. From there we went to the Campo de Fiori where there is a big open-air market. I tried some dried limes that were a bit tough to eat but still tasty. And, because Mom told me I needed to try it, I bought a tiny bottle of Lemoncello (also known as Lemoncino) for only 1€. I haven’t given it a try yet, but I’ll let you know how it is! After that we walked to San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains), which is another basilica. This one has Michelangelo’s Moses in it. After spending a little bit of time there, we walked up to Santa Maria Maggiore. So much art and so much gold inside. My jaw literally dropped when I saw one of the side chapels inside it.

That was about all the walking I could do for today. And I feel like I’ve seen everything I wanted to see in Rome, so I came back to the hostel and chilled out, which brings me up to the present time. I don’t know what my plans are for tonight, but I leave at 10:30am tomorrow for Firenze (Florence)!

Ciao, Roma!

Buongiorno Roma!

Hooray for safely arriving in Rome! I didn’t sleep (well, maybe an hour) the night before leaving; I was like a little kid on Christmas Eve. I was just way too excited. I left Poitiers at 6:30am, got to the airport in Paris for my 11:40am flight, and I was in the center of Rome by 2:30. I was exhausted but I knew I must see some things, so I decided to start to wander in a direction and see what I came upon. I walked a little bit past the train station (my hostel is close to it) and it wasn’t long before I came upon a basilica – Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli. The outside wasn’t much too look at, but I decided to go in and boy was I glad to have done that. Unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos inside, but trust me when I say it was ornate. And wide open. AND there weren’t a lot of people inside (which is an exception to the rule in this city). And to top it all off (I just found this out), Michelangelo was one of the architechts. After that I walked down Via Nazionale until I got to the Colonna Traiana, Foro Tralano [and other foros close by (foro is Italian for forum) (man that was a lot of for sounds in a row)], and eventually Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuele II. I went into the museum there because it was free and while it had a lot of interesting stuff there weren’t many signs I could read. There’s another church pretty much attached to it, which was also very ornate and had lots of gilded items and gold on the ceiling. I can’t remember what it was called. After that I was right next to Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill). There were also tons of archaeological dig areas near by as well. (I say “tons,” but what I mean is there was one pretty large dig and a couple of smaller ones) that I saw a bit of as I made my way down to the Colosseo. I didn’t go into the Colosseo that day, but I plan on going tomorrow. I was impressed. I’ve seen plenty of pictures and learned about it in history classes for as long as I can remember, but there’s something about actually being there that makes it seem more impressive, or I guess real in a sense. After that I made my way back up to the hostel and had some (free!) dinner! I bet you can’t guess what it was! I met some cool people in the hostel and chatted with them for a little while, but I had an early night because I was exhausted.

Oh, and apparently there was a huge soccer final going on. I had no idea, but that would explain why the one night of my hostel was so much more expensive than the others. There was a multitude of people in the streets! Everywhere was jammed pack. And, in a measure to keep people under some control I guess, supermarkets weren’t allowed to sell anything with alcohol in it on the day of the final. I was hoping to celebrate the start of my trip with some Italian wine, but I guess I’ll just have to push that off until tonight or some other time.

Today I got myself up early (7:30am! I know, don’t everyone have a heart attack now) and decided that today would be the day I go to the Vatican and to Basilica S. Pietro. All I can say is WOW! The Basilica was incredible, and it was the first stop for my day. Luckily I got there early enough and I only had to wait online for maybe 2 minutes while going through security. I took some photos, but I’m not positive how they came out. (Oh yeah, speaking of photos, I’ve been here since 2:30 yesterday, it is 5:15 as I’m writing this, and I’ve taken 245ish photos. Yeah, I guess I got a little shutter happy). I don’t like the flash on the marble and I couldn’t be bothered to try and manually focus. I’ll take a look in a moment when I add some photos to this post. But yeah, I was impressed. I did get a talking to by one of the “guard” people inside though...I forgot to take off my bandana. Oops. Oh well, actual security didn’t care at all.
After that I walked to the Vatican Museums. I was surprised – I didn’t have to wait on line for more than 5 minutes, and that was when I was at the student line to pay for my ticket (8⁄€ for students, yay!). There was so much inside! I took some photos inside when I could, but a lot of the time I was herded through quickly, or pushed through quickly, because there were SO MANY PEOPLE inside; lots of tour groups and lots of individuals. But I went into every room that was open (some were closed, and some exhibits in rooms were closed for restoration.) I was surprised to see some pieces by Dalí in the Modern Religious Art section, but I liked them a lot. The Sistine Chapel was of course great, but at the same time I didn’t like my experience there. You get so packed in with all the people there it’s tough to move around, let alone sit and appreciate the work. The official rules are no photos and be silent, but everyone was ignoring both those rules (so it got really loud as well). I managed to take a couple of photos; we’ll see how those turned out, but they’re probably dark. There were too many people bumping into everyone to even attempt to manually focus and set up a shot.

After the Vatican area I walked to the Spanish Steps (Trinità dei Monti), then to the Fontana di Trevi. Both were incredible, but packed. There were so many people at the Trevi Fountain that I didn’t bother to go down and throw a coin in. I guess my return to Rome isn’t ensured. OH NOES! I’m sure it’ll be fine. :P After that I walked back past the Spanish Steps and up to the Villa Borghese with the intention of sitting on the grass and lounging about for a little while (since at this point I had been walking around virtually nonstop for about 6.5 hours), but the grass was dead and there was some sort of equestrian event going on, so I took a quick jaunt through and made my way back to the hostel to sign up for free dinner and rest a bit.

And that’s the end of this (longer than I intended) entry. Who knows what tonight has in store. I’ll update again when I can (woo free wifi in the hostel!), be it in Rome tomorrow or in Florence the day after. And don’t worry, it’ll most likely be a shorter update.

Con amore, da Roma (With love, from Rome. I hope that’s how you say it, I used Google Translator)

*photos to come later* Voila, some photos. I'll post a link to an album when I have time to make one.