tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26833810734037841242024-03-21T08:13:15.330-07:00Bumming in the Real WorldMajahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2683381073403784124.post-23167182181544151982014-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:002014-06-18T15:28:44.445-07:00Blood in the Sistine Chapel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've been trying to keep the titles vaguely alliterative, as per the influence of Sosolimited, but the horror of the Vatican could not particularly be contained to alliterative titles.</div>
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Those of you who may know me may understand how much I hate people. I mean, I just honestly, truly, unequivocally despise people as an entity. We have visited many different tourist locations that have been crowded, that have had other tourists that were eager to see the sights, overeager even. But nothing truly rattled me in the same way as the Vatican City did.<br />
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I digress. We had a plan for our third day in Rome. We had intended to wake up earlier (as always, as usual), but we had booked a tour for 1PM so we had to at least be up by then. We rolled out of bed around 10:30 or 11, got our things together, had yet another meal at the Mini-Pizza (that place was starting to become our second home), and headed towards the Vatican. The tour we had booked was with the same company as our tour of the Colosseum, and we were supposed to meet them outside of the St. Peter's Basilica metro stop. That was easy enough, and after a bit of gelato, we were soon on our way, our guide a tiny Italian woman who loved the phrase “Mamma Mia,” which I had previously thought was an American fabrication. <br />
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The tour was another easy choice. No lines, no wait for the tickets, and since the Roma pass didn't cover the Vatican anyways, it was a small price to pay. We went in, we got our headsets, and our first stop was outside the Vatican Museum to get a view of the Basilica from far away. Already, I was a little on edge because while (even in China) I dealt with huge crowds, I was always able to get a photo away from the people. I was always able to pretend, at least for a second, that we were alone. Inside the Vatican, this was not the case. For a country with a permanent population of less than one thousand people... it was surprisingly crowded. <br />
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Our first stop in the museum was the pinecone courtyard, so named, for well, the obvious decorations.<br />
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There was also a piece of modern art in the center of the courtyard by the artist Arnaldo Pomodoro (Yes, tomato). My favorite thing about this piece of artwork was... our Italian tourguide trying to explain the meaning (let's be fair, try to explain a piece of modern art in your native tongue) and then SPINNING IT. Yes, it spins. :) It was amusing.<br />
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Afterwards, we entered the Vatican museum which was BEAUTIFUL, but packed. We were not quite wall-to-wall with people, but each room was a murmur of excuse mes (in a mix of different languages). There were rooms completely full of statues (many of which we couldn't enter), paintings, tapestries, and more. The following is just a taste. <br />
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We also saw an ancient Roman bath in an atrium designed with the Pantheon in mind, placed an an original tile floor and surrounded by bronze and marble statues. <br />
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Our tourguide noted one of the statues in this room in particular a monstrous bronze figure of Hercules, carrying the skin of the lion-monster he murdered in one arm and the club he killed him with in the other. She noted it mostly because she wanted to point out Hercules' bubble butt (again... much to Angela's immense discomfort, haaaaa). This was a trend we had noticed in the statues again and again... especially the male statues. Nicki Minaj-style asses. <br />
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A few more fun facts we learned about the statues in the Vatican. One) The fig leaves that adorn many of the statues in the museum are a later addition. While nudity was a sign of power in Roman times, once Christianity hit the empire, there was, well, a lot more shame about the matter. As a result, a lot of the statues in the Vatican made a new fashion statement or well... got castrated. O_o <br />
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Two) Once you learn this, it is literally impossible to unsee. So the Romans are largely copycats. Most of the statues in Rome, that were made during the Roman empire, are copies. Thus, a lot of the marble statues in the Vatican and elsewhere are actually copies of original marble and sometimes bronze Greek statues. However, since marble is much heavier than bronze, a lot of the poses the Greeks contorted their bronzes into are simply not possible in marble. The result is... a lot of really weird, tree-trunk light additions to the statues to support the marble. The point is, at some point you start realizing that there are a lot of really weird and unnecessary things in the statues that are LITERALLY only their for support. I'll point them out later. <br />
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After we started down the long 900m path to the Sistine Chapel. There were three different sections, one with paintings, one with tapestries, and one with maps. They were each ridiculously adorned and again, packed with people. An example of some of the wall decorations. This one happens to have the signia of one of the previous popes (I cannot, for the life of me, remember which one).<br />
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After we waited in a short line and then entered... the Sistine Chapel. We had gotten a brief explanation of all the various pieces of art (and there are a LOT) in the the chapel. For instance, Michelangelo is not responsible for all of the Chapel. The first two layers of the walls were commissioned by different artists. Our guide compared the best of these initial paintings (perspective lines and realism) and the worst... which was just ehhh. She literally asked the group “Okay, which of these are the worst?” and then promptly informed “Okay, guys, you don't have to be nice. We all know it's this one.”<br />
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Poor Cosimo Rosselli.<br />
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This is not my photo. Photos are not allowed in the Sistine Chapel. <br />
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Michelangelo was commissioned at two separate time to paint the ceiling and then to paint the altarpiece (the Last Judgment). Apparently, as a sculptor, he was very unhappy about this personal request from the Pope. He didn't have any experience in fresco painting, but... how do you deny the Pope? So he went to Rome and spent 5ish years on the ceiling, in his youth, and came back much later as an old man to spend 8ish years on the chapel wall. According to our tour guide, he snuck in a few “fuck you”s to the Pope that made him do this. One) On the 8th panel of the ceiling, he paints God creating the sun and the planets and more importantly, some guy mooning the viewer. This was maybe meant to be a sort of “kiss my ass” statement. He also painted a self portrait on the face of the skin hanging off of St. Bartholomew (who was skinned alive) to say “It would be better to be skinned alive than to waste my life painting this fresco.” Of course, these are all conspiracy theories, but still, amusing (Also imagine a tiny Italian lady sharing this story).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kiss my ass, dickface.</td></tr>
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Now about the actual chapel. It... may have been the worst experience of my life. You get herded into the room like cattle, and then wall-to-wall people, like cattle waiting for the slaughter. Every few minutes a voice comes over the speaker calling for silence, and no one shuts up. Despite the ban on photos, people everywhere are trying to surreptitiously take terrible cell phone shots of the ceiling (Why? Whyyyyy?). And then suddenly, we try to take a step towards the exit and there's a man in a uniform in the way. There's no explanation, but he and his coworkers are blocking a triangular path in front of the exit that is making it very hard for people to get through the single door. And then we saw. <br />
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Ketchup? Cherry Syrup? Blood??!! <br />
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Blood. <br />
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A splatter of blood on the floor of the Sistine Chapel. <br />
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It takes them 45 minutes to find someone to mop it up. In the meantime, the crowd is restless. People are only allowed to leave in one or two at a time. People are starting to push, others are starting to complain, the guard directing traffic is a moron and everyone is getting angry. I was... stressed by the crowd before, and now, I was imagine every single death by trampling or crushing I've ever read about in my life. Needless to say, once I managed to get past the doorway where there was room to breathe again and there wasn't a small Asian woman (who totally freaking understood what the guard was telling her) violently elbowing everybody in her way, I felt immensely relieved. We did spot the source of the blood spatter, a poor older woman sitting on a wheelchair and clutching gauze to her knee (WHAT ON EARTH DID SHE DO THAT CAUSED SUCH A TORRENT OF BLOOD FROM HER KNEE???) while her husband pointed out the various drops of blood on the way out. </div>
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Needless to say, my mood was... distressed. We had one more sight to see (the Basilica itself), but I wasn't taking pictures, I was antsy, I wanted out. Fortunately, Angela still got a few photos of the rest of the Vatican. The ceiling right at the doors to St. Peter's Basilica was quite beautiful.<br />
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I think you can see the distress in my eyes in this photo in front of the chapel.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please kill me. Get me out of here.</td></tr>
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But this give syou a better view of the inside of the church. It was spectacular. All the gold and bronze and marble from the previously glamorous Roman relics were tolen to build this monstrosity. It was fabulous, if still overwhelming.<br />
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Finally we were on our way out. We snapped a photo of the Egyptian obelisk on the way out as well as the giant colossade surrounding the plaza in front of St. Peter's Basilica.<br />
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One of the fountains along the left side of the colonnade.<br />
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Thankfully once we were free, we were really truly free. We wanted to get away as fast as possible so without stopping to eat or shop or anything, we headed to the train station (where the National Museum was located) and sat down to eat and promptly decided that we (and me especially) needed wine. A bottle of wine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thank the lord for wine.</td></tr>
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Oh thank god, that's much better. Then, with a slight buzz on, we headed to the National Museum 1.5 hours before its closing which was blissfully, wonderfully empty. I think there were approximately 6 other visitors to the museum in the time we were there. It was mostly statues, and they were beautiful.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4YZkX7qRx_Z2R3njGXvEReILe3wIu6FtBGlYQ5Ng9dV-I6Zqe3I55BZAGPGtwgRP1yIZOvLCA7qpevVpsNNtpDtGw1EgHmNnevSFpphDU1TXpDAGwnM_uvSEl3kssFz0oCBdnoUFvDQ/s1600/DSC02021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4YZkX7qRx_Z2R3njGXvEReILe3wIu6FtBGlYQ5Ng9dV-I6Zqe3I55BZAGPGtwgRP1yIZOvLCA7qpevVpsNNtpDtGw1EgHmNnevSFpphDU1TXpDAGwnM_uvSEl3kssFz0oCBdnoUFvDQ/s1600/DSC02021.JPG" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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Many busts of various Roman emperors (Don't I look imperial?).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQJY1gTmOQuqIJeQE6XxAZVt4aM-dVAqFz5eb0Q6p7IfL1guXkXy4iYHfK2DWxk2RAmGBzycHSDN2fUwhlIj409WIA2GQr_08O8fxifjMPeKuMBHRF5HmIfTOkEp0mxDpoZcG8I_6-Q/s1600/DSC02043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQJY1gTmOQuqIJeQE6XxAZVt4aM-dVAqFz5eb0Q6p7IfL1guXkXy4iYHfK2DWxk2RAmGBzycHSDN2fUwhlIj409WIA2GQr_08O8fxifjMPeKuMBHRF5HmIfTOkEp0mxDpoZcG8I_6-Q/s1600/DSC02043.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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As well as the famous Roman (originally Greek) discus thrower. Sports!<br />
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Afterwards, we headed home, exhausted, ready for the adventures of the next day. <br />
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A few bonus selfies from the museum.<br />
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Another (and a less stressful) day in Rome tomorrow. <br />
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Love always, <br />
Maja</div>
Majahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2683381073403784124.post-8053828920788939992014-06-04T06:00:00.000-07:002014-06-10T12:26:25.566-07:00Roaming in Rome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We departed Florence at the glorious, God-forsaken time of 5:50AM. Angela had not slept. I had slept uncomfortably as my pack seemed to be missing about 80% of my belongings (WHY DOES EVERYTHING FIT ALL OF A SUDDEN?). In my defense, this ticket was about $30 cheaper than all more reasonable tickets. Although, I guess after a 15-euro cab ride it may have not been worth it. WHATEVER. We discovered that the cab system in Florence was as spectacular if not more so than the bus system... and managed to have one arrive right in front of our entrance literally 2 minutes after we called for it. Glorious. Five minutes later, we were on the train and ready to embark for ROOOOME. :) Hurrah! After two hours of unconsciousness, we arrived.</div>
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This photo of the Colosseum is actually from the second day. Sorry. I got excited. Once we got to Roma Termini, we made our way to our Airbnb which was in a nice residential neighborhood decently close to the action, but not too close. Our first day we kind of decided that... we want to relax. So on the suggestion of our delightful Irish hosts, Josh and Grace, we went to the local supermarket and picked up some fruit, wine, and cheese and picnicked in the park. We also may have missed the gigantic park that was also nearby and ended up in this friendly but... somewhat grassless tiny park that was like a block closer to the apartment. Oops. </div>
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We ate, we napped (for like three hours) and then we returned home. It was not... an eventful day. The next day we actually did some things though, I swear. We woke up a bit later than intended (I hope you're starting to notice a trend), and thought that we might make our way over to the Colosseum. Once at the appropriate metro stop, we bought our Roma pass. Similar to the Firenze card, although not as inclusive, it covered the first two sight visits completely, everything after that 30% off and all of our public transportation for the duration. Sadly it didn't cover the Vatican... but there were enough other things to make it worthwhile.</div>
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Our first stop on our Colosseum visit was, well duh, the Colosseum. We stood outside looking lost for a while until we were approached by a handsome young man who asked us if we spoke English. Our initial thought, and rightly so, was "oh shit, this is a scam." But Rick Steves did say that people would hang out around these sights offering legitimate tours and that's exactly what this was. Plus the guy was pretty cute so of course we would have been delighted to have HIM show us around. Alas, that was not the case but we did get a sassy Italian tourguide who described in gruesome detail all the horror and glory of the Colosseum back in the day. It was delightful.<br />
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This photo provides a good glimpse of the network of pulley systems and trapdoors that sat underneath the stage. As our tourguide said, the Colosseum was a stadium for the emperor who was basically a God and anything short of an ABSOLUTE MIRACLE was not suitable for a God... and so basically, they focused a whole lot on special effects is what I'm trying to say.</div>
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The reason I found this remnant of a statue especially is not only that it alluded to the glory and beauty that the Colosseum actually was in the back of the day (turns out the Christians kind of stole all the marble and everything of value to repurpose for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican) but this was found just 5 years ago! That means that when my sister and I visited Rome and (probably) the Colosseum when I was ten years old (I honestly have like 3.5 memories of that trip) this hadn't even been dug up yet! I just love that there are new things still being recovered so recently.<br />
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Our favorite story relayed to us by our tourguide was that of the public executions of criminals (usually Christians). Executions themselves are pretty bland so of course you've got to dress them up so that not only are they exciting but so that they relay the morals of the time. So for instance they might, I don't know, put on a play that would relay the story of Prometheus. As you may know, Prometheus is the guy who stole fire from the Gods, which at that time was their biggest secret or something and for that he was punished in a pretty gruesome way, namely he was tied to a rock and every day an eagle would swoop down, tear out his guts, and eat them. And every night, they would grow back just so the bird could do it again tomorrow. So, again, this is all according to our tourguide. They would hire some famous actor, George Clooney or something, to play Prometheus during the exposition. Of course, by the time Prometheus was about to be punished, he'd have gone home already and instead there would be a criminal in the same makeup ready to have his guts pulled out. You can really only do that once before someone's actually dead, of course, so what would they do? They'd have a line of criminals under the stage, all dressed the same and in the same makeup ready to be executed again and again and AGAIN.</div>
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Romans, man. They're gross. After our tour, we got a little break to wander around the Colosseum and then we met back up with our group outside the exit. I chose to wait on this totally not phallic looking column.</div>
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Seriously. A column.</div>
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Afterwards we headed to the Roman Forums, which honestly, were largely the reason we wanted to get the tour. The forums are ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL. They are so interesting, but they are also, mostly, just a series of really old rocks. You can go there and read a few scattered signs about the sights, but it's not really going to tell you very much. This is why our Airbnb host highly recommended getting a tour and it was super worth it. Here was the entrance to the forums. You can note the brick building in the background. That was actually the Senate building back in the day. The reason is it so incredibly well preserved as compared to everything else is that a church was actually built around it so over the years it was totally protected from the elements. That white building in the background with the statues of Athena on top is actually the Victor Emmanuele Monument (also, Angela's future home... more on that later), built to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1871.</div>
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Below is the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It was built by Emperor Antoninus Pius and dedicated to his wife Faustina (awwww, true love). Of course, if you notice the cross at the top, it was repurposed as a Roman Catholic church some time in the early middle ages. Like all things Roman, recycle, recycle, recycle. The door here is not the original but nearby there was a building with a very similar door that was in fact, 2000 years old. Not only that, but the original lock and key to that door STILL WORKED and are on display at the Vatican museum.</div>
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This was the Arch of Titus, one of three arches in the area, including the Arch of Septimihus Severus and the Arch of Constantine. They marked the road into the forum and to the senate building, namely that which was taken by important messenger and visitors to the emperor at the time.</div>
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After touring the forums, we also went up top on Palatine hill to view the absolutely ludicrously sized palace up there, complete with indoor chariot-racing stadium and baths, and a beautiful outdoor botanical garden from which was snapped this view (See the senate building? and the monument?).<br />
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This was a tunnel that ran underneath the Palatine hill. It was really cool (even though the windows that had formerly lit up the pathway were covered and replaced by artificial lights).<br />
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After, although we wanted to go see some more stuff, we were also very hungry. We wandered a little bit away from all of the sights down a side street and found a small grocery shop that had pizza and sandwiches for pretty cheap. It also had this giant sausage (I know the scale is not super apparent here but it was seriously like 6 feet long).<br />
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And pizza! Yum.<br />
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While we were sitting on the little high tops in front of the store, the chef came out and presented us with some desserts for free! They were super cute and apparently traditional to the area. He didn't really speak English so there wasn't really too much explanation, but they were super tasty and really free! :)<br />
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We then proceeded to wander around the area and hit up all the nearby sites. We saw several expansions to the Roman forum that were built by later emperors, as well as Trajan's market (no longer a market today) and Trajan's column, below.</div>
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We also walked past the Victor Emanuel monument from the front, which was spectacular, even though we couldn't get past the gate. The statue there is actually the Italian "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" and is guarded by two guys in uniform and two things of fire. Angela also fell in love with this building immediately and has been plotting ways to make it possible to live there. :P<br />
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After the monument, we tried (and failed) to get into the Capotoline museum, but sadly it was 7:15pm already and it was closed. So instead we took a long and circuitous route back to the Colosseo subway stop, got one last look at the Colosseum as the sunset, and headed back to our Airbnb.</div>
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And a bonus photo of me, our host's housemate (Quentin from California), and the "nicer" cat. Ha.</div>
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Roman adventures continue tomorrow!<br />
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Love always,<br />
MajaMajahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2683381073403784124.post-18343204812303611932014-06-03T06:00:00.000-07:002014-06-10T13:03:58.997-07:00Florence's Fixation(I lost the end of this post the first time around due to internet struggles, so forgive me if it gets bitter)<br />
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Plain and simple, Florence is obsessed. This is me when I discovered the full extent of this obsession.<br />
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They are 100%, totally, completely obsessed with penises.<br />
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Yes, I did purchase that postcard. You're welcome, Putz. Now the focus is generally on the penis attached to the Statue of David (bottom right on the postcard), but it is actually completely ridiculous. They sell boxer-briefs with it on them; they sell aprons, postcards, magnets, statues, mugs, shot glasses, EVERYTHING. It's unreasonable. Anyways.<br />
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Day 2 of Florence. We woke up slightly later than intended, but quickly gathered ourselves and headed over towards the Duomo. Today was going to be a museum day and the first stop was the Galleria d'ell Accademia, home to the Michelangelo's legitimate marble Statue of David. With the Firenze card, we got to skip the line (Thank god, it looked to be more than hour long) and get into the museum almost immediately. There were some notable other sculptures and paintings, but let's be real, everyone was there to see David. Photos were not allowed inside, but let me just say, it was 100% worth it. The statue was huge and magnificent and just... awe-inspiring.<br />
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Afterwards we decided to hit up the Orto Botanico... which would not have been worth it had it not been free due to our Firenze card. But as it was, it was a nice, albeit weird, break from the crowds. At the least we got some good photos with the plants.</div>
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We then headed south, making a stop at the Medici-Riccardi Palace, the living quarters of the family that... basically owns Florence. It was lavish and full of art and worth a brief visit I think. The courtyard is pictured below.<br />
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And this was the ceiling of one of the upstairs rooms. Slightly more lavish than the Palazzo Vecchio, I would say. Or maybe the same amount of lavish. I don't know. Rick Steves probably has an opinion on the matter.</div>
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After the Medici Palace, we had a brief stop for gelato. I think we're at 5 in 4 days right now. I'm currently on a mission to find the perfect two-flavor combination. It's difficult. This was strawberry and coconut... the coconut was phenomenal. It had... literally the perfect texture.<br />
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After gelato, we headed farther south to visit the reknowned Uffizi gallery. It featured an enormous amount of artwork, include Botticelli's "Spring" and "Birth of Venus," among many others. I would... not say that it is "overrated" as our Airbnb maybe(?) jokingly said. Again, photos were not allowed inside, but it was pretty awesome. We wanted to go to the Galileo Museum afterwards (again)... but for whatever reason it closed at 1:30pm on Tuesdays... so we were unable to go. We will... literally never see that museum. Instead, we crossed the river to go to the Palazzo Pitti and visit the artwork. Unfortunately, it was already after 5pm, and we got horribly distracted by... our stomachs. So we ate in front of the palace and... discovered that it was far too late to enter the museums at that point. Oh well! At least we had delicious bruschetta and pasta (not pictured: my artichoke and prosciutto pizza).<br />
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Look how thrilled I am about the museum anyways. It was probably okay that we didn't look at more art.<br />
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So thrilled.</div>
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Since we were already on the correct side of the river, and it was practically on our way back home, we decided to make a pitstop at the Piazzale Michelangelo. Plus we thought the view at sunset and at night would be spectacular. We were not disappointed.</div>
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There was also a bronze Statue of David on top of the hill that we COULD photograph! Aha!<br />
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Unfortunately, even though we ended up on top of the hill at around 7:15pm... we quickly learned that sunset was about 1.5 hours away and so instead... headed home. We had an early train to catch in the morning after all. <3</div>
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As a bonus, this photo with Florence in the background. As Angela says, it's just not fair to the rest of the world just how freaking cute we are. </div>
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We're off to Rome tomorrow!</div>
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Love always,</div>
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Maja</div>
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Majahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2683381073403784124.post-70286079407520492212014-06-02T14:10:00.000-07:002014-06-06T14:18:48.943-07:00And We Found Ourselves in FlorenceAngela and I have learned some very important facts about each other on this trip (which in case you didn't know celebrates our fifth anniversary of marriage). Namely, she is made incredibly uncomfortable by bubbly, round butts, especially those found on Roman statues. Similarly I am made close to as uncomfortable by the Roman fixation on all things related to male genitalia. More on that later.<br />
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On Monday morning, we made the trek from our less than ideal tent hostel to the train station, walking that 20 minutes to the same bus stop, getting wholly confused by the "festa" that was going on, thankfully being able to buy bus tickets on the bus, and finally getting onto a train. We managed to be sitting in first class... which was pretty wonderful. Not only was it spacious and comfortable, but a dude came by offering drinks and such... and when we asked how much it cost, it was FREE. FREE! It was great. So we sipped concentrated apricot juice as the Tuscan countryside rolled by. It was gorgeous.<br />
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Once we made it to Florence, we spent a good amount of time feeling lost before we managed to find the tourist information office and buy our Firenze card. After that, we spent a good more amount of time feeling lost before we managed to find the correct bus stop. Unfortunately the only times that our Airbnb host was able to meet us so that we could drop off our things were at 10:40am and 12:45pm... and we arrived squarely at 10:35am. Needless to say, after floundering around for so long we only really had to wait awkwardly in front of her apartment for about an hour... but it was a moderately awkward hour. :P At least she didn't live on a terribly busy street so the number of people walking past us and our innumerable number of bags was minimal.<br />
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After we made it into our Airbnb, we quickly got changes and made up and headed out into the city. We very quickly discovered that Florence was not a very large city. Our first stop was a piazza near our apartment, the Piazza Santa Croce where we saw this church by the same name<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fsbmobF40n0boyMCPowbLD89F4pQhz5iicdXPolYd42gadblcG_TkP9v60B8nEmaQwcJepseXlFO8y_lKuJUY363e5pfK9KyR9ocpD5xh06IRZJya5e2xeuuaeDkM4bVXVynzoeIgQ/s1600/SAM_4653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fsbmobF40n0boyMCPowbLD89F4pQhz5iicdXPolYd42gadblcG_TkP9v60B8nEmaQwcJepseXlFO8y_lKuJUY363e5pfK9KyR9ocpD5xh06IRZJya5e2xeuuaeDkM4bVXVynzoeIgQ/s1600/SAM_4653.JPG" height="640" width="478" /></a></div>
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Of course, after an early morning train and an hour or so of waiting for our Airbnb host, the most important thing on our mind... was GELATO (and coffee). We got some, on the recommendation of our host, in the same square as the church above.</div>
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YUM!</div>
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After we went on a (very short) walk towards the center of town, and more importantly, towards the Duomo (Italian for Cathedral... this one is literally referred to as "Il Duomo di Firenze" normally or the "Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore" officially). It took about 5 minutes from the Piazza St. Croce, and after we turned the final corner, we were greeted with this view rising over the buildings. It was stunning!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrl0VfnAEvaCvZ0jS9e7ScZ47Gwy0b6ZC3if45P10JOczMcBiOhToOv-P7teHj76QRfYeQeFuwJdC-M0BpD3RHXt2HAzs5GvsqdkGf9LFKSQVaOM4Uje9aJF6O3tSmlFNNq7ZUfngQA/s1600/DSC01081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrl0VfnAEvaCvZ0jS9e7ScZ47Gwy0b6ZC3if45P10JOczMcBiOhToOv-P7teHj76QRfYeQeFuwJdC-M0BpD3RHXt2HAzs5GvsqdkGf9LFKSQVaOM4Uje9aJF6O3tSmlFNNq7ZUfngQA/s1600/DSC01081.JPG" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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After we passed the actual dome (the "Copula"), we took some photos outside of the rest of the church. Here is one with the Campanile (the bell tower right next to the church).<br />
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Here is one of the front of the church. Again, gorgeous.<br />
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After we went through the inside of the church (beautiful frescos, statues, etc.), we decided to climb the copula, which was... exhausting. But REWARDING. The views of Florence were absolutely fantastic.<br />
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Afterwards, we were desperately trying to see more sights before everything closed (given that we had gone out at 1pm or so). BUT we also always get hungry right about the time that museums are about to close. So that's problematic. Our next stop as then... not a museum... not a church or a palace, BUT FOOD.<br />
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It was tasty, and I would have been happy... IF IT HAD COST LESS. Damn open-air cafes in tourist squares. Angela's seafood risotto was tasty... but full of sand/shells/something crunch and not edible. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure my salmon tagliatelle was made from canned salmon. STILL GOOD THOUGH.<br />
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After our meal on the square, we had intended to go to the Galileo Museum, but alas, it was closed already, so instead we went to the Palazzo Vecchio. Rick Steves describes it as "(fairly) lavish." ...You can judge for yourself exactly how lavish it is. :|<br />
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Afterwards... we had our fourth gelato in three days (oops) and promptly went back to the Airbnb and crashed.<br />
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More on Florence tomorrow!<br />
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Love always,<br />
MajaMajahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2683381073403784124.post-61115202065983914182014-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:002014-06-04T07:50:37.316-07:00Veni Vici VeniceOur second day in Venice was... a little bit more organized. And featured a LOT more vaporettos, which of course, are the boat buses that serve all of Venice. This led to a really exorbitant number of photos of Venice from the viewpoint of the grand canal. A small sampling:<br />
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Our first vaporetto ride took us from our hostel near San Stae to the St. Mark's Square again. Our first stop, and yes, you should laugh, we did... many times... was Doge's palace (unrelated: http://dogecoin.com/). We took Rick Steves' advice and went to the Correr Museum instead of straight to Doge's palace to get our tickets (an ultra-wise choice... we skipped like an hour long line). While it was pretty inside, it didn't seem worth the visit.</div>
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Afterwards we got to view the decadence that was Doge's stately palace. We learned that the Doge is in fact a position and not a dude (and mostly importantly not a shiba) and his palace was more like an assortment of rooms for like two hundred various Venetian councils to meet. We saw his apartments as well (which, despite my impression that they were pretty lavish, were apparently a step down for most of the aristocrats that were elected Doge), wandered through the armory where we saw an absolutely terrifying chastity belt (it literally had spikes facing outwards), walked across the Bridge of Sighs (where prisoners saw their last glimpse of the lagoon before being thrown into the dungeons), and got lost in some dungeons. Unfortunately photos were not allowed inside, but we did take a couple in the courtyard.</div>
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We were also allowed to take photos from the inside of the palace to the outside (just not of anything actually in the palace) which gave us a pretty cool bird's-eye view of the water.</div>
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Afterwards, we headed towards Venice's Fine Arts Museum, Gallerie dell'Accademia where we were also not allowed to take photos and ate lunch at a cafe nearby.</div>
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I have literally gained ten thousand pounds already. Yes, I am using the definition of literally that means, quite paradoxically, not literally. Deal with it. Here was the cafe across the street... that we did not eat at. I almost (!!!) lost my 18 Euro bus pass which would have been a travesty but fortunately, I recovered it... on the ground of this square. Which in itself was ridiculous. :) I am a very lucky human.</div>
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All right, this post is getting rambly because I am still fairly jetlagged. But... I will throw in a few more photos. Here is the St. Maria of Salute Basilica.<br />
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It was incredibly beautiful. Our day wrapped up with a long vaporetto ride around the island, getting lost near calle dell'oro, and some pizza. Yum!</div>
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We... made the mistake of ordering two pizzas which was... a lot of food. And when we asked for a to-go box, the waiter told us they didn't have any. :( We were super sad... except apparently we just can't tell when Italians are messing with us. WHOOPS. Anyways, immediately afterwards we gathered up our things and made the long-ass trek to our next destination on the mainland. This involved a vaporetto to the bus station, a 20 minute bus ride to god knows where, and a much longer than expected walk with all of our belongings... it was... tiring. Especially after a day out. But we made it... and we spent the night in a $11 a night tent hostel. Lol. We literally... set up camp (har har) in a large tent, featuring three beds and electricity. It was... acceptable... that is until we realized that tents are ... NOT in fact very soundproof and loud drunk Australians were right outside. I ended up yelling (politely) at some hooligans to simmer down cos I was sleeping. I felt SO OLD. >< Hahaha. We did have a train to catch in the morning though.</div>
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Oh and a bonus photo. </div>
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tl;dr: Venice is freaking gorgeous.</div>
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Next stop: Florence!<br />
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Love always,<br />
MajaMajahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2683381073403784124.post-49765092088753061262014-05-31T06:00:00.000-07:002014-06-03T13:36:22.074-07:00A View of VeniceWe started our journey early morning on Friday May 30th. We somehow both made it to the airport for a 9AM flight (a feat in itself which is impressive consider Angela literally graduated yesterday) and took a tiny 45 minute flight to JFK Airport where we encountered what is probably the worst airport and terminal in the States. Why can't everything be like Hartsfield?<br />
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We walked from the lovely renovated Terminal 1 to the... not yet renovated Terminal 2, spent an exorbitant amount of time in lines, and ate some disgusting food that was full of regret. We boarded our 9 hour flight to... Moscow. Yes, Moscow. And it was actually quite lovely! Even though Aeroflot sounds like it should be shitshowy, it was quite comfy and I... promptly passed out. Angela had a slightly harder time as her ears seemed permanently popped after the flight.<br />
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After, we had a brief... 4 hour layover in the lovely Sherementyevo Airport. There was chocolate.<br />
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And alcohol.</div>
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And then after three hours on a flight where neither Angela nor I were awake for more than 30 seconds, we arrived in Venice. AND IT WAS DISGUSTINGLY ADORABLE. Seriously though. This was the view outside of our hostel (incidentally we may have pissed off our adorable tiny Italian lady hostess).</div>
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After we dropped off our things, we went exploring. I think the greatest part of our experience in Venice was just wandering around. There are sights to see, but... it's not really the most important thing. Wandering around the city, hopping on and off vaporetto (yes all the buses are boats. and all the cards are boats. and all the taxis are boats.), taking photos of random things, and so forth really made the city enjoyable. It's also a pretty tiny place so this is totally possible. Initially, we decided to walk to the waterfront to eat. On the way, we saw gondolas.<br />
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We also saw a ludicrous amount of Venetian masks (in all shapes and sizes and varieties and price ranges).<br />
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And we also saw, of course, ten million beautiful views of the tiny canals that go through Venice (isn't that gondolier adorable???).</div>
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We eventually made it to the waterfront on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Market and the Rialto Bridge.</div>
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AND WE ATE OUR FIRST ITALIAN MEAL. IT WAS AMAZING. OH MY GOD.<br />
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This is going to be problematic. >> BUT DELICIOUS. So I don't know. I guess I should go run or something. We also took some postcard-perfect photos from atop the Rialto Bridge. And by postcard-perfect, I mean that this was literally my computer background for some time before we ever came to Venice. :P<br />
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Afterwards we wandered over in the direction of Venice's main attraction, St. Mark's Square (again, not a particularly large city). First though, we discovered that the golden gates appear JUST ONCE in the old city of Venice as McDonald's was very eager to make us aware. :P<br />
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We eventually made it to St. Mark's Square where we saw the Basilica and Doge's Palace from the outside (it was a bit too late at this point to go inside anything. Tourism, man. Everything closes at 6 on the dot).</div>
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We also had a beautiful view of the water next to the square... with extra gondolas!</div>
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We also found a nice garden to walk into... (if we had been in Paris, it would have been an ideal napping location... we're trying to do a little bit better with jet lag this time around).</div>
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And we eventually made it to the Ponte d'ell Accademia (the only other bridge across the Grand Canal besides the Rialto)... which looked beautiful in the sunset and was lined with engraved locks. <3<br />
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At some point I became gravely concerned...</div>
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Because I saw what our future held as tourists in Italy... OOOOOOOOOPS. :P Hopefully we won't be quite that bad.</div>
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More on the rest of our Venice visit soon!</div>
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Love always,</div>
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Maja</div>
Majahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06430752370181687108noreply@blogger.com0