DAY 8 March 29, 2008- Rome

Todaywe got up walked to the Maggiore Church and saw the inside. There were services going on in a section and it made the experience so awesome. we felt weird about being in a church while services were going on, people were being so rude, like taking pictures of the people praying... we were really quiet and left as soon as we could. We bought croissants and then ate them at.... the Colliseum!!! It was sooo cool. Like "we are sitting here eating croissants next to the Colliseum!!"
We couldnt believe it. I never thought that i would see that for myself... never. It was sooo cool. We went inside... got in for free again... there were people outside advertising for english tours for like 15 euros.... and we got in for free.... somethings just dont make sense. people love ripping people off. it sucks. the colliseum was so cool. so speechless. Such an archaeological treasure with sooooo much history. I couldnt stop smiling. We then took a wrong turn on the path (like ususal) and ended up at this small church. We then walked to the Vatican... its own country... we wish we could have gotten our passports stamped... its a dictatorship not a democracy... so all the artwork is owned by the pope and not the people... how screwed is that. We then had lunch, sat for a while at St Peters... we were exhausted. i tried to call mom for her bday but she wasnt home... I got to talk to dad for like 30 seconds. We took a tour with Jason the amazing tour guide through the Vatican. Which amy and i agree was a incredable desicion... they say that if you look at everything for one minute it would take 12 years to get through it. Jason, told amazing stories, pointed out cool statues... like the one that looked like bill clinton and the purple stone... only for royalty... and he took us directly to the important stuff...the lacone one.... tons of Michaelangelo and raphael... the tapestries... the amazing wall paintings.. it was soooo cool and of course the Sistine Chapel. I saw the Sistine Chapel. It may be the most holy place i have ever been. it was so incredable. I almost died. It was so impressive... nothing like the disapointment of the mona lisa. this was real and insane. Another place i never thought i would be. We saw St Peters after saying goodbye to Jason... tear. And then we walked back to the trevi fountain to throw the coins in and wish. We of course got more gelato and had pizza and wine for dinner. We saw the sunglasses/purses guys run twice from the cops... these guys are everywhere... so annoying... getting in your face to sell fake designer sunglasses and purses. they are seriously everywhere. We walked back to the hostel.
pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051262&l=61fc0&id=9804527
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051263&l=b3ad4&id=9804527
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051389&l=851f8&id=9804527

DAY 7 March 28, 2008- Rome

the sweet old lady made us breakfast, which was still just buns and jam... and tea. We were up super early to get our train and she agreed to drive us to the station.... but thought we meant airport. so halfway there i stopped her and we did get to the train station on time.... thank god. it was a good save by me... amy was not paying attention at 6 in the morning. We took the train to Rome, got off at the wrong stop (on purpose to be closer to our hostel). and then walked the little bit to the hostel..... the most terrifying one so far, the walls were covered with graffiti saying to turn around and get out as fast as possible, we were not so pleased. Thankfully, we didnt stay there because their bathrooms were broken or something. So they sent us to an arranged other hostel-- Marco's. it was soooo nice. we lucked out big time.. marco was this big man who was super nice and friendly. it was a great place. amy and i then decided to walk into the center of the city, we didnt really know what we were doing, just what we do best- wander. we got pizza and ate it infront of this beautiful church. we then ventured down to the forum... the archaeological center of Rome. we couldnt find our way in for a while, but eventually got in.... for free. again. it was awesome. this was one of my fave places ever. it was just archaeology overload. We wandered in the forum for hours... it was huge. and saw the ancient gardens and palaces of the ceasars and everything... all the old temples for the gods and muses. it was awesome... we were stalking tour guides, to get little tidbits of what everything was, when a dashingly handsome tourguide named Jason, from lousiana (american? come on. we needed a dashing italian... oh well.) he was leading a free tour of the forum and we were bugs to a bright light... he was spinning the best tales. it was fascinating. they have to be fascinating in order to do their job. he had the entire group spell bound. by the end of his tour. i was in love (kidding... alittle.) and he like a million people following him around the forum. he then of course plugged his tours that actually cost money... and me and amy decided we had to see him again... and agreed to go on his vatican tour. We left the forum and walked to the spanish steps... a great spot. We saw the trevi fountain where the penny throwing became a tradition. We saw a bunch of oblisks. the tall pointy monuments from egypt. (like the one in d.c. which is not from egypt tho.) these were actually taken from egypt and then a cross was put on the top to crush the pagan religion... really interesting stuff. the one in the vatican supposedly has a peice of the crucifix in it... we then saw piazza popolo and had goooood pesto pasta. when we were walking back we stopped a bar for a glass of wine and sat outside. a nice touristy couple were sitting at the table next to us. Two more tourists stopped to ask them directions... and they stole the womans purse and ran... well the woman ran after them... we were just shocked by the whole thing as was her husband/boy friend. she actually caught up with them and they got arrested... the waiter thought tho that they were dining and dashing and we had to explain what happened to him.. it was quite shocking to actually witness something like that. it so could have been us... amy's purse was right next to the lady's... and we carried our lives in our purses. it would have been disasterous. anyway, we went back to the hostel and went to sleep... and discovered that i was sunburned. and in an interesting way. my hair is so long that i had it in a pony tail and over on shoulder, which meant that only half of my chest was burned... it looked so odd. it was funny.
Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051256&l=abe8c&id=9804527
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051258&l=55705&id=9804527
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051260&l=b4b45&id=9804527

DAY 6 March 27, 2008- Pisa

We checked out of our hostel (which by the way was in a random apartment building and our room was for four people and me and amy had this lofted part up these impossible spiral stairs.... insane with our backpacks on). We went to the train station to grab our train to Pisa. The info guy was an ass but we got on a train and got there. We arrived in the early afternoon, we took a public bus to our B&B, which was run by this really sweet old lady who did not speak a word of english, her daughter (?) spoke some, but not great. It was an experience. We took the bus to the city center to see the leaning tower of Pisa!! I never in a million years thought that I would see that. insane.. We wandered around a bit, went inside the cathedral there, didnt climb the tower since it cost like 30 euros, which is about 45 dollars. also it kinda freaked both of us out, imagining being up there. and we've been to the top of the Effiel Tower, who needs the pisa one too? We wandered the city, nothing, i repeat nothing to do here. There is a university there tho, and we walked thru a bunch of students in cafes. This was my sick day and i visited the pharmacy and got some throat numbing spray.... from a pharmasist who barely spoke english... i love it! we stopped at a cafe mentioned in our tourbook, used the internet at an internet cafe and then waited for hours for the bus, only to have not as nice a bus driver as the first time, and we got off at a stop too early and had to walk next to this busy road to get to our b and b. it was funny. quite an experience. we slept in a real bed, had a real tv and a real comfy chair. it was the life. Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051255&l=3c458&id=9804527

DAY 5 March 26, 2008- Florence

We got up early and went to the Accademia to see the David, we didnt have reservations so we got there super early and waited in line... it was the begining of free entrance... for some reason they let us in for free.. We saw the David, walked to the Duomo (huge cathedral). Got croissants and meds (this was amy's most sick day and i definately needed cough drops). We saw the cathedral, then saw San Lorenzo (cathedral) and the Bronzino painting and mucho silver and gold in the basement treasury. Then we ventured to the Palazzo Vecchico, saw the second (copy) David and all the other sculptures that I learned about in art class... prolly my favorite spot on the trip (besides all the other awesome spots). We went inside the Medici Palace and then saw the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.... We then went to the Santa Croce cathedral where the tombs of Michaelangelo and Galileo are and then we went across the ponte bridge to teh Piazza de pitti and laid on the ground outside for a while (we had no energy and couldnt afford to go into the palace). We walked around the city, sat on cathedral steps (where these boys were trying to catch our attention and we ignored them so they called us bitches.... this was not the first or last time, but for some reason it really pissed amy off... it was kinda funny.) In florence, there are alot of young women who look homeless that realllly bug everyone for money. it was very frustrating.... especially since they all looked like they worked together and probably had a boss or something. really unfortunate. we then found the hostel and went to sleep.
pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050695&l=3fa03&id=9804527

DAY 4 March 25, 2008- Venice

We checked out of the hostel and locked our bags in the lockers and ventured across the water to the Correr Museum and Archaeology museum. We went on the search for this thick crust pizza Amy wanted and we found it eventually. We found a small park, enjoyed the green and then amy thought we should go to the very first jewish ghetto.
some funny qoutes to remember:
"Don't you wanna go there?"-amy
"You mean " you're jewish, youre going to the ghetto.""- aviva

"The jewish ghetto, its the first one. The word ghetto is italian"- aviva
"You mean its not a gay club?"- amy

"we're in the yellow?" -amy
"no we're in the mustard"- aviva
"i totally thought we were in the blue"- amy (refering to the color codes on the maps--- the colors became food like mustard and ketchup... can you tell we were always hungary?)

We caught the train to Florence, found our hostel, had dinner and crashed.

DAY 3 March 24, 2008- Venice

First thing in the morning we went across the water to the Doge's Palace and Prison, walked across the bridge of sighs and then visited San Marco Basilica. We then walked to San Salvadore and got lost on the way to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and saw some amazing Titian works. We got lost again and had good sandwiches for lunch. We went to Accademia museum (my insitute of archaeology id got me in for free, poor amy had to pay the huge full price... wasnt quite fair) There was a huge Titian exhibit, it was soo cool to see art that i studied in class. We had coffee and got lost trying to find the gardens. We had dinner and then waited for hours at the hostel for the internet.

DAY 2 March 23, 2008- Venice

We had our first italian b-fast (which is weird... like hard buns and chocolate cookies.) we then caught a intensly packed bus to the islands of venice! When we got there we bought 72 hour vaporetto (like the metro but on water) tickets covering our whole time there. We found our hostel (on the farthest island) and dropped our bags off... and then went off to explore venice... on easter sunday (insanely crowed and a bit rainy). We traveled across to one of the main islands and walked around San Marco and Dorsdoro and San Croce. We basically were completely lost for hours... but on small islands its no big deal... and it seemed like if you minused the tourists and the vendors and the gondola guys... there would be no one left... did all the inhabitants leave the islands for easter or just hide in their houses? We ended up in a park laughing at pigeons... it must be pigeon mating time because everywhere (italy and greece) the male pigeons are strutting thier stuff and spinning in circles... i took video of it... haha. WE found the famous rialto bridge and I bought souvenirs... a small classic venice festival mask and a tiny gondola hat. I had gooooood pizza for lunch and then gelato for dessert.... (some of you may know that i have not had ice cream in 14 months... the gelato in italy does not count and I am once again not eating ice cream... there had to be an exception) We found the famous snail staircase church in a back alley and wandered around some more... basically all we did in venice was wander the islands. Then I ran into Rachel Cohen from Deis... it was crazy!! It was really good to see her... Shes living with Nina and the crew next year so I will see them eventually.Amy and I got dinner (pestoooooo) and found the vaporetto back to the hostel... for my first hostel it wasnt that bad.. they gave us clean sheets (i still used the ones we brought with us) and a locker for our stuff... we were kinda bored and watched a movie on my ipod and then crashed and went to bed.
lots of venice pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050627&l=67669&id=9804527

DAY 1 March 22, 2008

Alix had come for the weekend and left this morning... we had a great time... I showed her around london and we saw a bunch of hare krishnas (they are awesome!) She continued on to paris while Amy and I caught our flight to Venice... The flight was delayed because of the hail in London, and they had to de-ice the wings of the plane. We landed late (like 930pm) and took a crazy bus ride to our hotel on the mainland. We actually got off at the right stop, and had our first italian meal! such good pasta. We then got to sleep.

Back!

Hey all, (whos ever reading still) sorry i have not written in a while, I have been touring italy and greece for the past two and a half weeks! It was an amazing trip and because I know my awful memory, Amy and I took notes every night before we went to bed so that I could write them all down in the blog to be forever remembered. So.... here the posts come!

(oh ps... when Alix was here housing was done back at Deis and thanks to our awesome proxy we got the last 5 person grad apartment... top floor but what ever... me and dad have had that experience of carrying my crap to the top floor before (without an elevator.... sorry dad). anyway its Zack, Me, Alix, Emily and Jamie (girl). Its gunna rock... exactly what we wanted!!! Yay!!!!

St. Patty's Day

So, I was feeling alittle bit cranky today and didnt think I would enjoy going out for pattys and to top it off amy's sick and cant go out like ever again and thats a bummer. So tonight I went out with some of the fifth floor americans and their friends from home. It was ok... we ended up back in Ramsay's basement and they played games while we found.... Inspector Gadget!!! So amazing... i swear when i was a kid that show made sense... now its just ridiculous... Ahhh..... st pattys day and inspector gadget... what a combination.

Stonehenge Salisbury Sarum

So yesterday I went to Stonehenge!!!! It was great. And not disappointing like some people say it will be. Maybe thats cause i am an archaeologist and can appreciate it all, every bump and groove. I got up super early, went to the International Students House to be picked up and then we drove in this minibus to the site. We had this guide (there were 11 of us). the guide was the same guy who dropped us off at our halls of residence from butler! so i kinda knew him. he was the first guy i heard say "cheers" and he calls everyone "pet". its great. So we got to Stonehenge... you cant approach the stones because so many people would visit and the stones were getting dislodged from the people stepping near them. So they have made this path around the site where you listen to an audio guide tell you everything you would want to know. I walked around for about an hour and then we got back on the bus to the town, no excuse me, city of Salisbury. The thing is that this city isnt big enough to be called a city but because it has a cathedral, it is automatically a city. I thought that was ridiculous. there are other towns bigger that are still towns because they dont have a cathedral. anyway, the guide gave us a tour of the city and then I saw the cathedral (has the tallest spire in the uk!) and got lunch... Then i took the big hike up to the archaeological site of Sarum, where the town used to be in like the medieval times or whatever. It was awesome. the walk was long... like 45 minutes but way worth it for this archaeologist. It was the ruins of this castle on this hill. It had like 3 moats. I made best friends with this horse that was on the site... the site is also fields i guess, there were sheep and cows and horses just wandering around. Then I walked back to the city and caught the minibus, just as the rain started, back to london! It was a great day. I was by myself for most of it, I didnt know anyone on the trip, but it was nice to have some alone time. I think if i went with friends i wouldnt have had such a great archaeological time of it all.

Links to more pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048490&l=d72e4&id=9804527
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048494&l=1dcaa&id=9804527
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048518&l=33c7b&id=9804527

PICS:

The opera! and Alexandras bday

So yesterday was Alexandra's bday and it was a day full of frustration! No, it was fine. She went with some people out to dinner and I met her at the opera! The English National Opera Company's Madame Butterfly. It was amazing. we had the very last seats in the very last row but it was awesome. The only prob was that the opera was not in italian... which was alittle disapointing.... it was in english... so strange. anyway, then she wanted people to meet us at a nice pub but we walked for an hour in the wrong direction only to finally find the bar closed. Then we walked back home. it took forever. and the whole night i really wanted a margarita and so when we got to Potions, it was closed too. So we went home and ate cake...

Tomorrow I go to Stonehenge! hopefully.... as long as its not cancelled because it may be only me going.... we'll see.... Im an archaeologist... i will get to stongehenge if its the last thing i do!

Note to myself

When compiling these entries at the end, add one here that is saved in word.

Warwick Castle and Stratford-apon-Avon

Today, I got up super early to catch a bus to Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon. (Stratford is the town, Avon is the river). It took about 2 hours to get to Warwick, and the very expensive entrance fee was paid by Butler. (Thank you Butler!) We got to explore, including the dungeon, which was kinda disapointing because the real dungeon was under this grate which was on top of a ditch where the prisoners were actually held. I would not like to be in that situation. Then Kathy and I explored the inside, including the chapel and royal chambers. There was even a wax figure of the queen you could get your picture with, of course for a fee. Then we started to climb the 600 steps around the castle wall. My god. It was amazing tho. We made it through all the spiral staircases which were very tiny. I kept saying, "you can do this, Maya temples are way worse." Its true. Spiral staircases with railings beat crumbling, tiny steps straight up a Maya pyramid. Then I bought my arial view postcard, at each castle/cathedral I seem to buy an ariel view postcard, since it is the only view I cant seem to get with my camera, and its a cool souvenir. We got on the bus (Kathy and I were on the wrong Butler bus for a second. No big deal except we screwed up the roll call for a second.). We then went to Stratford and explored the birthtown of Shakespeare. I didnt get to meet him tho (sorry mom no impersonators.) There was one guy pretending to be a statue and then jumping at people and freaking them out. WE didnt go into the house he was born at because once again it cost a fortune but you cant take pictures in there anyway and we got to see the outside. I did pay 50 pence to see his grave tho. It was pretty awesome. We walked the river, saw the royal shakespeare theatre and the swan theatre. Not alot more to do there but take pictures of old houses and walk the river, which was great and perfect for the two hours we had there. Then back onto the bus for the ride home. (I got our fantastic 3 pound pizza, which was the best deal in town, except now (gasp) they raised the price to 3.50! Everyone is upset which is kinda funny.) Pics to follow: