While we were on our flight back from Prague, there was a (supposedly) peaceful demonstration near the Colosseum here in Rome. It was one of the Occupy demonstrations, which have been happening all over the world, including the United States. It turned very violent, ending with police tear gassing some of the protestors and a car catching fire. I've never seen that kind of violence in the United States, and its kinda scary that it was so close to where we've living. I've noticed that the economy and government here are really unstable, and I keep seeing signs for various protests and seminars for various political parties. The violent demonstration on Saturday is probably just the beginning. I've also been hearing rumors about the euro being unstable, and the possibility of it completely collapsing (or of Italy and Greece being kicked out of the EU) because all of the economies of Europe are so inconsistent. Eesh. You don't realize how other countries function until living there. I don't really believe that America is as stable as it seems either, but I'm positive that we're better off there than here. The value of the euro has been dropping steadily since we've been here. Its gone from about a $1.50 to a $1.30. As much as I'm enjoying not losing tons of money in money conversions, I don't think that's really supposed to happen in such a short amount of time.
Find out more information and photos here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/15/501364/main20120893.shtml?tag=cbsContent%3BcbsCarousel
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/16/501364/main20121114.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;2
To anyone concerned, we're all fine. We're at least a twenty minute walk away from the Colosseum and most major landmarks where they would protest. Most of us weren't even in Italy when the protests on Saturday happened.
Also, blog post about Prague is below. I just split into two blog posts because it was getting ridiculously long. Yes, I know I talk too much. Enjoy.
Ciao, everyone. I've discovered that its harder to keep up with a blog than I originally thought. Not to worry, I'll try my best to keep everyone (Julie, yes, I know you're reading) updated. This past weekend, I went to Prague with Cait, Justin, Clarissa, Kyle, Naeemah, and Rose. It was a pretty big group of us, but we all decided we wanted to travel when we found out that our field trip was cancelled. We all flew out on Thursday after our cartography class. Our flight was around 4:30pm, and we got into Prague around 6:15pm. I'm not used to flights being so short. It seemed to be over right after it started. I have discovered the reason why some European flights are really cheap, though. They're really strict on baggage sizes, and with what is in your baggage and such. Random hidden fees are really common. Its annoying, but I don't mind the flights under 100 euros to travel all across Europe.
Salvator Dali museum: Divine Comedy room
When we got there, we went to the City Center and walked around and explored the city for the night. We quickly discovered the conversion from Euros to Czech crowns (Czechs? Krone?) was definitely in our favor, about 25 to one euro. Our first destination was food, and we found some cheap street food right in the main square. We all got Halusky, which is basically cabbage, potato, and bacon. We also got Kobasa, which is Czech sausage. Both were delicious. We mainly just walked around the city a bit, and saw the main bridge - the Charles Bridge.
On Saturday, we got started early to see the main aspects of the city. We meandered through the city for a while, finding the opera house and a few pretty sweet modern buildings. We weren't allowed to take pictures of them, though we found that out the hard way by getting yelled at. We finally made it back to the city center, stopping along the way at a chocolate shop so Kyle could get some chocolates (absinth truffles are gross, fyi) and Naeemah could get a chocolate waffle. We went into the Salvator Dali and Alfons Mucha museum. Both were pretty awesome, even though I'm not really a fan of modern art or art museums most of the time. I took pictures in the Dali part of the museum even though we found out later we weren't supposed to. My favorite part of the Dali museum was the Divine Comedy room. He did prints (woodcuts technically) of every canto in the entire Comedy. Some of them were really sweet looking, and it was interesting being able to tell the entire story from his prints.
View of Prague from tower on Charles Bridge
On our way to get lunch, we climbed to the top of one of the towers on the Charles Bridge. They had history of Prague and its kings on the way up, and at the top, there were breathtaking views of Prague. The architecture in Prague is so different than what we see everyday in Rome. I never really thought I'd visit any of Eastern Europe, so seeing what the cities there look like is really refreshing. We could see a lot of Prague, including the cathedral, castle, and river. The top of the tower still looked as it should have been. It wasn't made "safe" as a lot of tourist locations in the United States would be. You could still see all of the parts of the tower when you're standing right next to them. We went to go get lunch after our trip up the tower. We got stopped (again) by the Bridge Band playing on the Charles Bridge. They were actually quite good, and I was fascinated by the one guy who was playing a washboard. Rose bought their CD. We finally did get lunch after that, and most of us got goulash, which is basically beef, onion, and dumplings. It was delicious. I also had some Czech beer, Staropramen, which was pretty tasty.
View of Prague from the top of the castle
Cait, Clarissa, Justin, Kyle and I then decided to explore the St. Vitus Cathedral and the Prague Castle, which were up one of the hills of Prague. We entered the Palace, and were immediately introduced with this enormous Gothic cathedral. I love Gothic architecture, especially after learning so much about them, but the size of this cathedral was indescribable. The interior was even more breath-taking. It had huge stained glass windows on all the walls of the cathedral. How the light shone through the glass was so pretty, and it was amazing seeing how tall the main nave space in that church actually was. I'm jealous of the people who got to go to church in these spaces. The cathedral and castle seem to be connected, so we decided to go up into the castle next. Cait and Clarissa went up with me. We hiked up 287 steps to get to the top. I'm still quite out of shape. I was dying when I got to the top. It was breathtaking. You could see all of Prague, and you could see the Gothic spires close up. It was amazing. The sun was setting while we were up there, so it made it that much more beautiful. This was the first castle I've been to since being in Europe, and it was definitely a beautiful one to start out with. I only hope to see more castles and Gothic architecture in my future travels.
John Lennon wall - Yellow Submarine
After visiting the castle, we walked down toward the city center. We came across a shop that sold beer shampoo that apparently legitimately had beer in it. If it hadn't been so expensive, I would have considered getting some to see what it was all about. We also ended up finding a vineyard, the oldest in the Czech Republic. We were able to see the actual grapevines. Its a shame that we were there after the harvesting season. It would have been cool to see actual grapes.
After getting back to the city center and meeting up with Rose and Naeemah, we found the John Lennon wall. Basically, he wrote on the wall years ago, and people have just been putting graffiti and writing on it ever since. Someone painted a yellow submarine, and I wrote in the corner of it. I wonder if I ever visit Prague again if my name will still be there. Its really a cool looking wall though, I just wish that Lennon's original painting was still visible. It does bring back memories from first year though - good old Yellow Submarine movie.
Astronomical Clock at night
After finding the wall, Cait, Justin, Clarissa, Kyle and I decided to do a ghost tour. We found two people standing on the side of the street, one of which was dressed like the Grim Reaper. They were right next to Prague's astronomical clock, constructed in 1410 and one of the oldest astronomical clocks still in existence that still functions. The clock has the astronomical dial representing the Sun and Moon's positions in the sky, a clockwork hourly show of the figures of the Apostles with a figure of Death striking the time, and a calendar dial that shows the months. It's truly an awesome looking clock, and we watched a projection show projected on the clock while waiting for the ghost tour. It just celebrated its 600th birthday last year.
The ghost tour was absolutely hilarious. It wasn't intended to be scary at all, at least I don't think it was. Our tour guide was dressed in a black cape with all white face paint and red contacts. We walked around several churches and deserted streets while he told ghost stories from all periods of history in Prague. He also told the story of his long deceased lover and how he died. Apparently he threw poor Isabella down a well and poisoned the entire town. He was quite entertaining though. They actually have a facebook page, Cloak and Dagger ghost tours, if anyone is interested to find out more about them. I'm kinda curious to know if they are in other cities other than Prague. I'm definitely interested in doing one in Rome. I'm sure a lot of the ruins look really creepy at night.
To see the 600th anniversary projection show on Prague's astronomical clock, see video above.
The next day, Saturday, I had decided to leave early with Rose and Naeemah to save some money. Saturday morning we visited the interior of the Tyn church, the church right in the city center. It was heavily decorated, but the amount of ornamentation was interesting to see. We also went to Cafe Kafka (at the recommendation of our ghost tour guide, ironically) and I had some honey cake. It was quite good, though I'm not positive what was actually in it. After that, I basically had to head to the airport. I took the Prague metro, which wasn't too bad. It works essentially the same way as Rome's, which was comforting. I guess I might actually be getting used to city life. Our flight was fine, and we got back to Rome in time to unwind. I ended up just getting some pizza with Rachel and relaxing for the night.
So, this week we'll probably actually be doing some work for studio. Most of us haven't done much since our Phase 1 deadline, and we have a site model we need to start. We will be going to Pompeii and Paestrum this weekend, and for Italian Studies I'll be going to Cinecitta, which is basically Italy's Hollywood. It should be interesting to see both. My camera finally arrived from Wales yesterday (took... 10 days?) so I will finally be able to take normal pictures again. I've now witnessed first hand how slow Italian post is, as it took almost a week for the package to get here from Milan. It did come in a nice wrapping from the Royal Mail, which made me feel special. Ah, I want to go to England very very badly.
I also just booked tickets for Thanksgiving break, so we are all officially going to Ireland for Thanksgiving! Yay! I am also going to try to make a short trip to London during that trip as well. I am also planning on going to Paris in December (Christmas in Paris, anyone?) and Switzerland sometime in November. All of the traveling should be really fun. Hopefully I'm able to get my work done. I've realized my motivation here is pretty minimal.
Bonjour mes amis! It's been a little while since I've written here. This past weekend Clarissa, Rachel, and I went to Nice in Southern France, which is right along the French Riviera, or in French, Côte d'Azur. We left Thursday night on an overnight train to Genova, in Italy, and ended up on three different trains by the time we actually got there. We got into Nice at least 11am, and walked around until we found our hotel, Hôtel Helvètique. It was on one of the main roads in Nice, Rue de l'Hôtel des Postes. The woman at the desk was very sweet, and we decided to explore until our room was ready. We went directly to Vieux Nice, the older district of town. We saw the flower market where they sell fresh flowers, fruits, vegetables, and spices daily. Everything looked so fresh. We stopped at a cafe for lunch, and I had fresh jus d'orange and a croque madame. It was my first French cafe experience, and I loved it.
Croque Madame
Cascade
Being in France for two days made me realize that I really would love to go back. I feel like I belong there more, and its more what I expected Europe to be. It's much cleaner, and as much as I love the history here in Rome, I've always been closely tied with more traditional Western Europe like England, France, or Germany. Oh, the things we learn while abroad. It also doesn't feel like the entire country is in political turmoil like in Italy. Maybe it was just because we were in beach town, but it still felt more stable to me.
After our cafe experience, we decided to walk up to the Château which was originally built in 1517 in the hills of Nice. Most of the original structure was gone, but it yielded amazing views of Nice and of the ocean. The water in the ocean is truly blue, almost aqua. It was absolutely breath-taking. We also saw Cascade, which is a waterfall above the Château. It was also very beautiful, and we could also see a rainbow because the sun was so bright. We meandered around the Château for a few hours. We saw Nice's port as well as some of the only remaining parts of the Château. The Château had mosaics all over the floor and on some of the remaining walls. They were very well preserved, and many told stories of what Nice and France were like back then. Many had to do with water and ships, as Nice is along the water and was once a major port.
Ratatouille with blush wine and fresh bread
We eventually walked back to the hotel and finally checked in in the early afternoon. I realized that speaking and understanding French wasn't as hard as I thought as I thought it would be, even though its been years since I've taken it. I was able to order food and speak with some of the people at the hotel mostly in French. Clarissa was much better at it, but I held my own. Once we got to the room, we accidentally napped for about three hours. I guess all of the traveling by train and a stressful week in studio got the better of us. The room was basic, but very nice. We eventually did go out to dinner, and I made sure to order as many French specialties as possible, if sitting at an outdoor cafe wasn't enough. I ended up getting ratatouille, petits farcis niçois, and mousse chocolat for dinner. The petits farcis niçois is a speciality of Nice, and it was basically beef and veal paté on various vegetables. It was quite good. The ratatouille was essentially a vegetable stew, but I just had to try it. Its one of those French dishes you always hear about (the Disney movie not helping with this) but have most likely never tried.
On Saturday, we had a full agenda. We spent the morning and early afternoon shopping (its France, of course), but not before grabbing a delicious French breakfast. We ended up at Brioche Dorée, which is a popular chain in France. I got a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant). We shopped at one of the main malls in Nice. We ended up with some nice French clothes, including a beret for me. We also bought some souvenirs from Vieux Nice. I bought a salt grinder that was crafted and painted in Nice, while also buying a mug and some lavendar soap. Nice is known for lightning bugs (I don't know why, but ceramic ones were all over their merchandise) and lavendar.
Beau Rivage
Later in the day, we finally made our way to the beach. It was a pebble beach, and most of them were dark gray in color. There were a lot of random colored ones too, which made me wonder what kind of rock/mineral it was and where the colored pebbles came from. Clarissa and I went in the water first, and it was kinda cold, but it ended up being pretty refreshing. It was still pretty warm during the day, so the water felt nice. The water was so blue and clear too. I'm used to the Jersey shore where the water is brown and murky. We also watched the sunset over the water. It was really pretty, and it was amazing watching how the sun sparkled on all of the pebbles and on the water. I will have such high expectations when visiting beaches now. I guess only being able to see the Jersey shore does have its advantages.
Trilogie de Crème Brûlée
After the beach, we walked down the Promenade des Anglais. It essentially ended up being a tourist street with a lot of overpriced cafes and casinos, but it was still interesting to see. I found it interesting that the casinos basically look exactly like they do in Atlantic City. Europeans always classier than us? I don't think so. We walked around and looked at some of the gardens that were near the road. We walked around Vieux Nice and found a cafe called Côte Sud. Our goal for the night was to find crème brûlée for dessert. We were successful, and I had moules farcies (stuffed mussels) for dinner. I figured since we were on the Mediterranean coast that their seafood had to be pretty good. It was delicious, though I have no idea what the mussels were actually stuffed with. Knowing the French, it might be better that I don't know. The crème brûlée we ordered was actually a set of three different flavors - one regular, one chocolate, and one we weren't sure. All were so good. It was totally worth every euro cent.
Our train left around 9am the next morning, so we didn't really see much of Nice that day. We were on the train for most of the day. I did experience a high speed train for the first time. The shortened travel time was nice, but the fast speed tends to give one a headache, especially when going through tunnels. The scenery on the way home was nice too, we had views of the Mediterranean and the Alps. The next night and day after we got back to Rome were mainly filled with studio, finishing up the last drawings of the Arturbain competition, and phase one of our studio project.
Yesterday, Cait, Clarissa and I celebrated our freedom from homework by going to the zoo in Rome, technically called Fondazione Bioparco di Roma, or a giardino zoologico. Much cooler sounding than just "zoo." It was a really nice zoo, especially for its size. They had a lot of animals you'd expect - giraffes, lions, tigers, bears, elephants. We went to see the seals, and it was their feeding time. I've rarely seen animals with so much character. One seal sat contently while the zookeeper gave him a checkup, and he waited patiently for his fish. However, the other seal strongly reminded me of a poorly trained puppy. He kept trying to sneak fish from the bucket, and would sit with huge puppy dog eyes hoping for fish. He also wouldn't sit still and was flopping everywhere to avoid his checkup. It was hilarious, and so adorable. It made the entire trip to the zoo worth it. We were also able to go through the reptile house and the aviary before the zoo closed. It was a successful outing after cartography. We also stumbled upon a huge dog park that was also within the Villa Borghese gardens. It was refreshing seeing so many people with their dogs... kinda makes me wish I had one here.
The rest of this week has been pretty chill, and today we discovered our Hill Towns field trip (which we knew nothing about to begin with) was cancelled/never existed, so we all scrambled to make travel plans. Clarissa, Cait, Justin, Naeemah, Rose and I all booked tickets to Prague, and all have an apartment to stay in for the weekend. It should be a good time, other than the fact that I can't speak Czech. I hear its beautiful there, but I guess I'll find out. My camera is currently malfunctioning, and it takes weird fuzzy pictures. I've ordered a new one from Wales (its ten times cooler just because its from the U.K., just saying) that is coming to me through the Royal Mail. It's currently in Milan according to the Royal Mail website, so hopefully I'll get it in the mail soon. This has made me realize how the pound to dollar conversion is even worse than the euro (and really, actually a lot worse), and how terrible Italy's postal system is. Shipping here takes so long, when in the U.S. a package from California could arrive in Pennsylvania in two days. Its already been five, and its still in northern Italy. Its a lot better than I expected, but still. I suppose the best things come to those who wait.
Time has been going by pretty quickly. It is already October, and we've already been here in Rome a month and a half. That's pretty crazy, honestly. This past weekend I was just here in Rome, mainly to relax after traveling for two weekends (one of which was Oktoberfest, whew) and because we went to Ostia Antica on Friday morning.
Floor mosaic of Neptune, Ostia Antica
Ostia Antica was interesting, mainly because it is the original port of Rome from ancient times. Its mostly ruins now, but some of the remaining elements are nice to see. A lot of the floor mosaics are still remaining, and they're actually very detailed. Most of them featured Roman gods. One of the more complete mosaics featured Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.
It's really hard to imagine what all of these spaces looked like thousands of years ago. I'm getting a bit tired of looking at ruins to be honest, and am much more impressed by buildings that are still existing in their entirety. The Pantheon was essentially built around the same time, and almost fully intact. This impresses me a little bit more than half foot walls and pieces of frescos. Its still interesting to see, but it would be even better if we could see what it once was. Now that was probably impressive. We walked around for about five hours and saw most of the area. We were concentrated in the Castrum, which is the original area of the port before most of the expansion happened. There is a theater in this area, and its actually mostly intact. It's actually pretty cool because most of the steps ancients would sit on are still existing, as is the stage area.
Theater area, Ostia Antica
Cheeseburger at T-bone Station
Later that night, we went to an American Steakhouse in Rome for Rose's birthday. Our party included myself, Naeemah, Clarissa, Rose, Rachel, Cait, Justin, Kyle, and Simon. We were all really craving cheeseburgers and steak. We found one right in Trastevere called T-Bone Station. The cheeseburger was quite good, as were the onion rings we had and the barbeque sauce. Its refreshing to know that there are places in Italy that serve "American food." Hearing people say that they're going to go eat "American" also sounds really strange. I guess we're known for steak and burgers. I guess there are worse things. It was a good night, and it was great to be able to have a burger again. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I started eating one. There are a few other American places in the area, and it would be interesting to try those out too.
Piazza of St. Peter's in Vatican City
On Saturday, Rose and I went to an international market near the Vatican. We also stopped in the Vatican piazza, as I still haven't seen it yet. It really wasn't as large as we were expecting it to be. Pictures make it look enormous, and when we were there, it just didn't seem as astounding as I was expecting. The international market was called Castroni, and it was on Via Cola di Rienzo a few streets up from the Vatican. It was interesting to see what selection they had. They did have some American food like Chips Ahoy and Mexican food. They also had a pretty extensive section for Asian food and for English teas. I got myself some English tea, Chips Ahoy, and pancake syrup. Pancake syrup was almost ten euros. I don't think most Europeans have even heard of pancakes, even though they're so common in the United States. Later, we meandered over to Via del Corso to do some shopping for Rose's birthday with Cait. By the end of the day, Rose managed to get an entire outfit, including shoes. I'd say it was a successful day.
That night we went to Coyote, a dance club about 25 minutes walk from where we live in Trastevere. Clarissa, Naeemah, Cait, Rose and I all went together. They played mostly American music while we were there, and we met some guys who were also in architecture in Italy. The dance club was set up essentially like an American club would be, except that Italian guys act differently. They're more flattering, and they also have different perceptions of personal space. We didn't end up leaving until 3am. As we were leaving, a group of guys asked us to go in with them to help them get in. Guys had to pay ten euros to get in, while girls are free. Basically, guys still need girls to get in to pay ten euros, whereas girls can just walk in. Kind of sucks for them, if you ask me. There were a lot of guys in there though, so maybe that was why.
What I bought at the flea market
Sunday morning, I went to the huge flea market in Trastevere with Mackenzie. It was a successful day. I got a cloth bag for nine euros, when it was supposed to be ten. Some of the vendors like to haggle, and some don't. We also found a stand owned by a man and a woman who were selling real leather bracelets, keychains, rings, etc. I ended up getting a bracelet and a ring. They were gorgeous, and it was pretty amazing that they were all handmade and not that expensive. After the market, Mackenzie and I decided to make pancakes and have an American breakfast. After a long search for some oil that wasn't olive oil, we successfully made some pancakes with Rachel. It was a nice breakfast, and I have missed pancakes.
Well, that pretty much sums up my weekend. It was great being able to relax a little bit and be able to experience more of Rome. I'm also glad I was finally able to see the Vatican, and hope that I'll be able to see inside St. Peter's and the museum before I leave. This week is basically production week for studio since our first phase (the Arturbain competition) is due next Monday. Our project is coming along pretty well, and it's actually kind of fun to work on. This weekend I am going to Nice, France in the French Riviera and Clarissa and Rachel, so that should be fun.
A presto, ciao.
I figured it was about time I actually wrote something about Rome, since all I've really talked about was my traveling adventures outside of Rome. As much as Oktoberfest was amazing, I don't want to look like a crazy alcoholic. Anyway, our architecture classes here are really starting to get us walking around the city and seeing how much it really has to offer. In cartography, Allan is teaching us how you can understand Rome's history just by reading maps and being able to read building language. We're learning how to identify papal coats of arms and periods of architecture so can we easily date buildings and the surrounding area. Its amazing how much he can talk about an area just by looking at a building for a few minutes. In our analysis and studio classes, we're learning how to translate ancient architecture to modern-day, which honestly, is pretty useful being that I've found most of our architectural history classes kind of pointless up until now. We've been learning about the Renaissance, and how we can apply the same techniques they did in their buildings, and apply it to a modern style. We're using this idea in our studio projects as one of our major goals is contextualism in an ancient Roman urban fabric. We're also doing a competition for the first phase, so our professors want our projects to have a lot of thought behind them. The competition is called the Arturbain competition, and its a French competition. If we win, we would win some money and a trip to Paris. I'm not expecting anything, but our site is pretty challenging and interesting to work with. I also really enjoy the juxtaposition between modern architecture and ancient structures, so I'm excited to see where all of our projects go.
Main nave of San Clemente
We've had quite a few walks throughout Rome the past few weeks. Last week we walked down one of the old salt routes and found some of the ancient aqueducts that still exist in Rome today. The one we looked at empties into the Trevi fountain, which is one of the major landmarks in Rome. This past Wednesday, we went to San Clemente, a church near the Colosseum. The nave was very ornate, and clearly Baroque in the main area. Funnily enough, knowing the ceiling was Baroque won me a free cappuccino from my professor. It was worth it. The detailing in the church was very beautiful. The church was done with a technique called spoglia, which is essentially taking materials from several places and using them to build a new structure. If you look closely, this church has a lot of random bits of marble and other materials that are clearly from other ruins.
We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I decided I wanted to anyway. I figured as long as I wasn't making noise or using the flash that I wasn't really hurting anything (and I didn't see any scary Italian guards either...). We also visited the 4th century mausoleum that is under the nave of the church. It was much more basic down there, and the architecture was completely different. We're all realizing how you really can tell a building's story from looking at its architecture. So many buildings in Rome have been partially demolished and have had parts added and subtracted dozens of times. If you look closely enough, we can tell what happened when, and sometimes even why. It's a pretty fascinating thought.
Trajan's Markets
We also visited Trajan's Markets and Forum, which was quite a change of pace from San Clemente. The architecture here is clearly ancient, but its easy to tell what used to remain. They've transformed some of the main areas into a display for modern furniture. It was rather strange seeing such modern material in an ancient space, but the contrast was also pretty interesting. The bottom half of Trajan's markets is from ancient times. However, there is an entire layer that was built on top in medieval times. In Rome, it seems that builders usually just built on top of what remained instead of demolishing or reusing what already had existed. Its probably why Rome has such a dense culture and is such a unique city. Nothing looks the same, and most of the time, buildings don't match, and usually they had an entirely different look and function hundreds of years before.
Morning light
We had another walk today, and it was for cartography where we were following one of the prehistoric paths of Rome, defined by the seven hills. First we went into Santa Maria Maggiore, a huge church at the center of a piazza near where our route was. It was one of the pope's favorite churches and was near his villa, so the church got its own piazza. Its beautiful inside and outside, so I guess I can't blame him. We went to Santa Maria Maggiore early in the morning, so the light was coming through the stained glass windows perfectly on all of the marble columns. It was truly a beautiful sight, and its easy to see why so many of these church spaces are considered heavenly or ephemeral.
Our walk led us through some of the less pretty parts of Rome. Some of the streets were really worn down. A lot of the buildings in this area have a lot of history. You see where windows were filled in, and new windows were erected in a different place, or indentations where stairs once were, and a random opening that used to be a door. There are so many ways to be able to tell how Rome once was, whether its clues in the architecture or clues in the papal stone carvings or the detailing. I guess I'm starting to understand why they have us study in Rome. We'd never be able to do anything like that back in the United States. Our architecture just isn't old enough.
Nave of Basilica Santa Prassede
We went to another Basilica along the way on our walk. Its called Basilica di Santa Prassede. It ranged from having a medieval style to having Renaissance paintings and a Baroque baldacchino. The paintings were very ornate with a lot of Christian symbolism, ranging from the Holy Mother to the twelve apostles, to the evangelists. There was a service going on while we were in there, in one of the smaller rooms off of the main apse. They were singing, and for some reason, the sound was truly beautiful. I don't know if I just liked the song, or thought it sounded really nice in such a grand space. We also saw one of the smaller prayer rooms that were totally covered in mosaics. I've never seen mosaics that were so intact before, let alone an entire room of them.
This basilica was also a spoglia church. The floor was made from stolen columns, and a lot of the entablatures didn't match either. Though its not perfect, I feel that having such a random selection of material gives the space more character, and shows how much history is truly there.
I think that's all for now. I enjoy seeing so many types of churches. I hope we get to see more. We're visiting Rome's original port, Ostia Antica, tomorrow, and I should be visiting France next weekend. It all should be a lot of fun, and it should all be really interesting to see.
Guten tag! Ciao a tutti! This weekend we went to Oktoberfest, the largest European festival of the year in Munich (München), Germany. Naeemah, Amanda, Mackenzie and I all bought a bus2alps all inclusive package and went together. We rode on one of their private buses. The trip was 12 hours long. It was a long ride, but the views of the sunrise over the mountains in Germany were gorgeous. I never realized how many mountains were in Germany, and just how green it is in comparison to Rome. We stayed in the Stoke campsite, which is run by Stoke Travel. The second we walked into the campsite at 9am we were handed beer or sangria to quench our thirst while in line to check-in. We all bought the package the campsite had for unlimited beer and sangria for the entire weekend for only fifteen euro. Both the beer and the sangria were delicious. Mackenzie was given a "bull bite," which is a mixture of the two, and even that tasted good. Each row was organized by letters, which were all named. Ours was O for "orgasm," so the Australians who ran the campsite obviously had quite the sense of humor. We had two tents, each for two of us, and they barely fit two people inside them. Its all part of the Oktoberfest experience, even if I really don't enjoy camping.
Entrance to Oktoberfest
Naeemah and I decided to walk around and take in the festival before going in any tents. There isn't a lot going on outside the festival; most of the important parts of the city of Munich are a few metro stops past the festival. We got off at the Hackerbrücke stop where the festival was occurring. The festival is considered to be in "Theresienwiese." We did see a beautiful Gothic cathedral literally right down the street from the festival. It was called St. Paul's Kirche (church), and it could be seen from inside the festival. I found it amusing looking up and seeing spinning carnival rides with a couple hundred year old cathedral in the background.
The festival itself is a sight to behold. The tents are all huge, and they seriously question a person's traditional definition of "tent." They all hold thousands of people, and most have biergartens outside to hold even more people. We walked around, and both got Bavarian pretzels. They also taste amazing, and you realize just how bland American soft pretzels really are. You can eat these without any mustard or anything, and they taste even better with beer (though I may be biased, as apparently my general dislike of mustard is strange). They also have carnival rides right next to all of the beer tents that young and old all enjoy together. There are also a lot more families at Oktoberfest than you would expect to see, but I suppose its because alcohol isn't as "forbidden" in Germany as it is in the United States. A lot of the children were even wearing lederhosen and drindl, which are traditional Bavarian clothing worn at Oktoberfest. Most of the women, of all shapes and sizes, wear drindl. They had so many styles and colors, and I would have bought myself some had they not been so expensive. Maybe next time.
At the Hippodrom biergarten
Later on Friday, we tried to get into a beer tent with Mackenzie and Amanda. The tents were pretty crowded by then, but we managed to make our way in to the Hippodrom beer tent toward the entrance. It looked like a large circus tent, and we found seats in its biergarten. We were sitting at a table with some Germans. The Germans at our table were very friendly and fun, and it was really interesting talking to people who live in other countries. One of them brought fake mustache, as they are "always a hit." This turned out to be true, as the four of us and other Germans (waiters and visitors alike) stopped at our table and took pictures with mustaches with us for the majority of the night. We had three rounds of beer, which turned out to be some of the best beer I've ever had. It was called Spaten-Franziskaner, which is the speciality of the Hippodrom tent. It was a lighter beer, and it had a great taste. I will have to try to find it at home. Our tablemates also bought us a round of beer and roses. The steins of beer are steep in price and size. They're about 9-10 euro, but they're about 3-4 American beers, so its worth your money. The steins are pretty cool to hold and drink out of. It turns out that in most German bars and clubs that this is what they drink out of, so I guess Americans just aren't as cool when it comes to drinking beer. We discovered that Europeans all really know how to party, and they all were accommodating. We realized that they didn't buy rounds of beers for just girls as you would in America. They are just accommodating in general, and would buy beers and food for any group of people if they were all having fun together.
Beer stein + mustache = a good night.
The night in general was great. Mackenzie and I did end up getting lost on the metro and going the wrong way twice in a row, but the amount of beer we had may have had something to do with that. We did get directions from some nice people on the metro, so we did find our way eventually. Friday night at the campsite was absolutely freezing. Germany is at least ten degrees cooler (Fahrenheit, will probably never get used to Celsius) than Rome, and all we had were thin sleeping bags. It was definitely an experience, especially since our complementary shower tokens only allowed us five minutes of hot water. Wah, more realizations of how good we have it in America.
On Saturday, we decided to go to the Hofbräuzelt beer tent. We all woke up around 5:45am to be able to get there around 7:30am. They opened the doors at 9am, so we were waiting in a very long line for at least an hour. Its crazy to me how many people will get up to be able to get into a tent, but Oktoberfest is a huge deal to most Europeans, especially Germans. This tent had a variety of nationalities, mostly German, Italian, American, and Australian. We only stayed for an hour or so initially. We had a round of beer, and I had a tasty sandwich with bavarian ham. It was good and tasted a lot like Lebanon bologna. The beer they served here was called Hofbräu, and I personally didn't like the taste as much. It was German beer though, so it was still good. Mackenzie and I decided to browse around a bit, and look around at the merchandise. We ended up buying beer steins, though I was tempted by the Das Boot shotglasses/glasses they had. They have some really nice metal and ceramic beer steins, but most are the better part of $100. I'll stick with glass for now. We met up again with Naeemah and Amanda who had met up with a group of Italians. They kept singing "Bevo! Bevo! Bevo!" which is an Italian translation of one of the popular German drinking songs. It was very catchy. We explored the carnival rides as well, and got a lovely view of the entire festival and the surrounding city. We also tried bratwurst, which was basically a very very tasty hot dog, and about three times as long as an American hot dog. Being able to eat German food was definitely a nice change from eating pasta all the time, and it was really enlightening to see how German culture and food differs from Italian.
Germans love the Spice Girls
Our last stop for the night was the Armbrustschützenzelt beer tent. We had to wait a little while, but it didn't take us too long to get in. We were talking to an Italian and a German. We were trying to explain American football to them, but I don't think we made much of an impression. I was enjoying practicing my (very broken) Italian with the Italian guy though, as he only knew some English. It turns out him and his friends were from Venice, and I was proud of myself when I was able to tell him in Italian that we'd be visiting Venice in a month or so for school. Once we finally got in, we were sitting in the biergarten here as well. Some random guy bought all of our beers for us, and I still can't remember who it was. The generosity still amazes me, and I don't think it was only because we were American girls. We had fun just having friendly conversation with the people sitting around us. Everyone at Oktoberfest was pretty friendly, or at least fun-loving and drunk. The beer they served at this tent was the Paulaner, which was also very good. We met a group of Germans (all wearing lederhosen, so they were pretty awesome in my opinion) who all loved singing Spice Girls. It still amazes me how much Europeans love American music, but this fact really surprised me. He knew all of the words and tunes to their major songs. It was absolutely hilarious. All the Germans just wanted to have a good time, and they all really enjoy their beer. I think Americans should definitely take a lesson out of their book. I also ordered a plate of the chicken at this beer tent. I don't really even like chicken very much, but this chicken was delicious. It was basically half of a chicken, but it was salted and seasoned just right. The Paulaner beer went very well with Bavarian food. What I really enjoyed about Oktoberfest in general is that the people there were drinking a lot, but they were still enjoying themselves. They weren't drinking only for the sole purpose of being drunk.
Main plaza of Marienplatz
On Sunday, we had to leave in the early afternoon, so Mackenzie and I decided to go to Marienplatz to see the Munich City Center and look through some of the local shops. It turned out that mostly everything was closed because it was Sunday, but it was still nice to see some of Munich other than just the festival. In the main plaza, there was a gorgeous building that housed a restaurant and some shops. It looked somewhat Gothic or Medieval in architecture, and it looked like it had once been a church. Munich's architecture and city structure in general is very clean and simple, and very much not like Rome. Rome has a lot of ruins, and many of its walls and buildings are worn. Munich's buildings are all much newer and are more cohesive. I don't know if there is a city I like more, but I love thinking about the contrast between the two. It is really refreshing to be able to visit other places outside of Italy while we're here. It helps to put Italy's culture and tradition into perspective.
Mackenzie and I stopped at a local Starbucks. The chocolate mocha and chocolate muffin tasted delicious, even fresher and tastier than a Starbucks coffee would in the United States. They also served our coffees in mugs and we sat at tables with sofas and armchairs. It was a much more formal setting than most Starbucks in America. I found it very interesting that a chain franchise even differs in different countries.
Vineyards outside the window of the bus
The ride home was a long one, but the views on the way home were absolutely breath-taking. We think we drove through Austria in between Germany and Italy. We were able to see the Alps and all of the towns that have been nestled into the mountainside. We also saw several churches and castles, which I would have loved to hop out of the bus to see. It is amazing to see how much of Europe is left untouched, and how much of it still looks natural. We also saw several miles of vineyards through Austria and Italy as well. Seeing the mountains and all of the towns was just majestic, and it can't even be expressed in pictures. The scale is something you have to experience in person. That is why I'd really love to visit the Alps again sometime while I'm here. Hopefully I am able to.
Now we are back in Rome for our third week of classes. Last week we visited the Via Salaria, which was an old salt route in Rome. We were also able to see some of the remaining ruins of the old aqueducts, including a still functioning portion that feeds the Trevi fountain. Its fascinating seeing something that has lasted and functioned for so long. Tomorrow we are visiting the St. Clemente church near the Colosseum, and this week we are also visiting Ostia Antica, which is Rome's original port. It all should be nice to see, and it will be nice to see more of Rome for a weekend. In the next weekend or so, we may be trying to go to Southern France, so hopefully we will be able to do that. Well, that is all I have for now. A presto, as I leave you with a picture of my first (and definitely not my last) Italian cappuccino. I never liked coffee much, but as usual, the espresso and cappuccino here tastes much different and sweeter than it does at home.
On Wednesday, we were introduced to our site for our studio project, which should be an university. It is on Via Trinitatis, which doesn't still exist by that name, but portions of the road still exist. It starts near Castel Sant'Angelo and ends at the Spanish Steps. We walked up all of the steps and were able to see some nice views of the entire city of Rome. We also were able to take a drink from the fountain at the bottom of the plaza. According to Allan, the water running through that fountain is the same water that ran through the Roman aqueducts two thousand years ago. Some of those aqueducts still exist today. The water did taste pretty pure.
As much as the Spanish Steps and the rest of the site are interesting to look at, our site for studio is pretty challenging. It should produce some cool projects though, especially since our site is in Rome.
This weekend Rachel and I went to Pisa in Italy's region of Tuscany. We left on Friday around 10am and arrived at about 2pm. We stayed in a hostel right on the main shopping street, Corso Italia. The hostel was pretty quaint, and I enjoyed my stay there, given I really had no idea what to expect from a hostel. The staff seemed friendly enough and the accommodations were nice. We also had 300-year-old glass windows in the room we were staying in, which I thought was pretty interesting. Rachel and I spent a lot of the day shopping and stopped for gelato at La Borsa Gelateria, one of the larger gelato places in Pisa. Pisa in general is a fairly small Italian town, and is an interesting juxtaposition to Rome. Corso Italia seemed to have most of the activity, and other streets seemed sleepy and almost a little creepy at night.
Knocking down the Leaning Tower of Pisa
On Saturday, we went to the Field of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli) where the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Duomo Cathedral are in the town of Pisa. We did the typical tourist photos in front of the Tower, and then proceeded to be amused at watching everyone make poses out of context. We walked along the tourist carts and ended up buying Pisa mugs. They leaned and were shaped like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Good use of six euros if you ask me. I also bought one of the Harry Potter books and the City of Glass in Italian. I'm interested to see how Italian and English translations differ in fiction books (as both books were originally written in English). That, and they were just really cool and I love books.
We also went inside the Duomo Cathedral. It was gorgeous inside, and the striped arches reminded me of Cordoba. Tuscany has its own branch of architecture, and Pisa is even more unique still. The inner nave had gold leaf on the ceiling, and all of the arches were striped with a light pink and white marble. The cathedral also had magnificent original paintings on all of the walls, and had a transept that was dedicated to prayers to Catholic saints. The cathedral also had small stained glass windows that cast pretty colored light on to all surfaces of the cathedral. The scale of the cathedral cannot even be read in pictures. The columns themselves are huge in comparison to a person, and the height of the nave is even more large. Cathedrals are really spectacular structures and I can't wait to see more in other countries.
Nave of Duomo Cathedral
The Duomo Cathedral truly does seem like an ephemeral place. The light shines through the clerestory and subtly shines into the space. Its truly majestic, and it was truly worth the ticket to see it.
After the cathedral, we eventually got more gelato. We went to another gelato place where you could have one, two, or three flavors in one. I chose three flavors with mango, melon, and dark chocolate (mango, melone, e cioccolato fondente). It was delicious and very rich and creamy. The mango and chocolate combination was a great one.
When we went to dinner, I tried gnocchi con burro e salvia. I still have no idea what salvia is other than the drug, but the dish was good either way. I've never had gnocchi and had no idea they were made of potatoes. During our dinner, we found out that there is a train strike in Italy starting at 9pm and ending at 9pm Sunday. Our returning train was scheduled for 7:45am Sunday morning, and we started worrying. We ran to the train station in Pisa, Pisa Centrale Stazione, and they said it may still be running. We decided to sleep and hope for the best. Our train was running, but it was the only one running out of any of the trains that were scheduled. Our train ended up being delayed because of other people who missed their train, but we still got home much earlier than we thought we would. Train strikes and union strikes seem pretty regular here in Italy, and it really makes me wonder what state their government and economy are in, and how often this could affect traveling in the future.
I also noticed in Pisa how they seemed to be having some kind of government protest or problem. All over the walls they had phrases like "Pisa e basta," "solo Pisa," "Livorno merda," and "fascisti" in graffiti. I still don't know what the issue between Pisa and Livorno (a bordering city) is, but there must be something going on. It seems that Italian government is hanging by a thread. We witnessed a politician giving a speech and a protest while we were in Pisa as well. It was pretty crazy that we saw all of that in one weekend in one Italian town.
That's about all for now. We start another week of classes this week, and this weekend we will be at Oktoberfest. It should be a great week. Ciao for now.
