May 24, 2012

Today could have gone a lot smoother than it did.  I woke up at 6.50 AM when Morgan was leaving the room for his train, they caught the early one.  I packed up and met Kyle in the lobby.  I checked out and got screwed into paying some city tax fee that cost me 30 euros.  We got a cab and hit serious traffic so the cab fare was ridiculously expensive.  It was 14 euro, but for the distance we had to go that was expensive.  We got to Termini and finally figured out what train we were on.  We were getting something to eat and got separated, it was really crowded.  Kyle had the ticket so I didn’t know where in the world I was going.  The stupid Roman train station doesn’t tell you what platform you are on until about ten minutes before the train leaves.  So I find our train and the thing says platform 1.  So I figured Kyle saw the same thing and found the train.  I waited outside the train until what I thought was the last second.  I didn’t know our seat numbers either so I got on the first car and walked the entire train.  Luckily it was running late and I didn’t see Kyle on it so I got off. I walk back to the board with the schedule of trains on it and now it says that the train was supposed to be at platform 21… not 1.   So needless to say I ran up to platform 21 and saw my train taking off without me.  I got another ticket and caught a train at 12.10, kind of sucks because we don’t have that much time in Cinque Terre and this wasted about two hours.  I made it to La Spezia finally and good ol Kyle was waiting there for me. I got there at about 4.00 and we had to be back at the station at 5.00 to catch a train, otherwise the next train was at like 7.00.  We went and dropped off my luggage at the hotel and made it back to the station.  We bought a two day Cinque Terre pass that was 19 euro; it let you on the train, bus, and into the national parks for free.  We barely got our money’s worth out of it, but we did.  We wanted to make it to all five towns of Cinque Terre and we only had two days.  We went to Riomaggiore and Manarola (the first two closest to La Spezia) that Thursday, I cannot even explain how beautiful it is there, definitely the prettiest place I have ever seen.  Check out my pictures to see what exactly I mean.  That day we walked from Riomaggiore to Manarola, it was about a twenty minute walk but we got to see the beautiful coast of Italy.  We came back and got to witness the sunset from a view that most people that visit don’t get to see, you will have to look at my pictures to see.  Post again tomorrow.

T

May 23, 2012

Today was a free day on the trip so I don’t technically need to blog today… but I will.  I slept in until about 9.30 AM and Morgan, KK, Kendall, Drew, Kyle, Alex, and I went to Termini station and dealt with our train situation for tomorrow morning.  Kyle and I are taking a 9.40 train to La Spezia.  We then walked around for a while and ended up at the Trevi Fountain again.  It was still extremely crowded.  I decided to part ways with the group and I walked around for a little bit, got lunch, and walked down to the gates of Rome.  I hopped on the subway and headed back to the hotel.  I needed to come back so I could work on the assignment Anoop gave us; I don’t want to have to do that in Cinque Terre.  I worked on the assignment and a little bit of my thesis.  We went and got another kabob and I packed my bags for the morning. No pictures today. CAN’T WAIT FOR CINQUE TERRE! 

T

May 22, 2012

Today was pretty unproductive up until 4.30.  I slept in pretty good until about 11.30 – 12.00.  I woke up and Morgan (my roommate for Roma) and I went down to a little corner restaurant and got lunch.  We both had the pasta plate and it was really good.  It had mushrooms, peas, beans, cheese, and some other things that I am not sure of.  We finished lunch and came back to the hotel to work on our blogs.  I think everyone pretty much had a slow day today, just taking it easy and getting caught up on some work.  We were informed that we have to make a 100 word comment on every person’s blog by the 27^th of May, so I worked on that a little today so I don’t have to worry about it in Cinque Terre.  I got an email back from Clive Turner with Zero Carbon Hub in Vienna, Austria but he was just inquiring more about my thesis, hopefully this turns into an interview because I need to get some more.  We met back up in the lobby at 4.30 and had a scavenger hunt around Rome.  There were 4 people responsible for getting a map of Rome and they were also responsible for getting us to and from different locations.  Needless to say this turned into a fiasco.  We wandered around a little but eventually figured everything out.  We started out going to the Spanish steps, we walked up and down them which were pretty tough, and there are a lot of steps.  Next we went to a museum of modern art; it is one of the more modern buildings in Rome.  Outside the museum there was this really cool water fountain and a water wall that had water seeping through pores in the wall, check out the pictures.  Next we went to the Trevi Fountain; everyone knows what that is so I’ll just post pictures for that.  It was really crowded at the fountain.  We then went to Piazza de Navona; this is apparently a big American hangout.  There were bars and restaurants; this is where ‘The Drunken Ship’ is located.  Anoop gave us a twenty minute break because some of the group wanted to go get a beer at ‘The Drunken Ship’.  We met back up and went to view Tiber Island.  Tiber Island is the only island on the Tiber River, there are residential and commercial buildings located on it.  The water around the island is extremely dirty; I got a picture to show how dirty.  We proceeded to go to the other side of the river; this is where Anoop said some of the best restaurants in Rome are located.  We walked a little ways and found a restaurant called La Spagetteria; it was really good… and really expensive.  Anoop mentioned that we should try and eat like Italians at least once while we were here so we did tonight.  We got two courses, both of which were huge.  The first course I had some kind of red pasta, it was really good.  The second course I had a steak, it was also very good.  I ended up spending 30 euros on dinner, that’s why I haven’t been eating like an Italian, it’s expensive.  We went back to ‘The Drunken Ship’ for a couple of beers and then called it a night.  

T

May 21, 2012

Today we met outside the hotel at 8.00 AM. We hopped on the subway and took about a twenty minute ride to the other side of town and arrived at the Vatican.  We got there a little early, our scheduled tour wasn’t until 11.00.  The weather was pretty crappy and it rained until we went in for the tour.  Anoop told us that around the Vatican was the best gelato shops in Roma, so of course we all got some gelato… it tasted about the same as all the other gelato I have had, but it was still good. We visited St. Peter’s Square and saw the line to enter the Vatican, good thing Anoop is on top of things and we had a scheduled appointment, because the line was crazy long.  St Peter’s Square was really cool to see.  We then walked around St. Peter’s Basilica to enter the Vatican Museum.  There were many interesting works of art and tons of gigantic statues in the museum.  Our tour guide had the most annoying accent regarding her English that I have ever heard.  The tour took us through the museum and into the Sistine Chapel.  I have seen many pictures of the chapel but now I can say that nothing substitutes for the real thing.  It was incredible to see the detail in the paintings.  We were not supposed to take pictures and they were kicking people out if they caught them but I managed to get a few, check them out.  We then walked out of the Sistine Chapel directly to the outside of St Peter’s Basilica.  This is by far the largest building we have been in yet.  You really have to look at my pictures to understand how enormous this dome is.  After walking around the basilica we were released for the day and we all came back to the hotel to change out of our pants that we had to wear (for religious reasons).  We came out of the Basilica and it was great weather, sun was out and it was really hot.  I haven’t worked out since I have been in Europe and I have been eating gelato like it is going out of style so I figured now is as good a time as any.  I went to the hotel ‘gym’ and found a treadmill and about ten dumbbells; needless to say it was a pretty weak workout.  I came and worked on my blog a little bit and researched a little more about Cinque Terre and sent a few emails out regarding interviews for my thesis.  A few of us met up and went back to the pizzeria and I got ANOTHER kabob... they are amazing.  We walked around and explored the area around our hotel a little bit.  We got a few bottles of wine and came back to the hotel.  We stayed in tonight because we didn't know what time we had to be up in the morning.  We got an email from Anoop late tonight saying that we had to meet up at 4.30 PM the next day... so we could have gone out.  Anyways, I called it a night and planned on sleeping in a little bit the next day.  Check back tomorrow.

T