Firenze!

At last! I made it to Florence! Although, I will have you know that while I was in Rome I discovered that I have an Italian pop-star look alike and her co-singer begged me to sing with him at the colosseum! But really! (Lizzie McGuire Movie reference for all you Disney Channel 90's kids!)

But, even so, I left Roma on Monday by train. Yes, my dad and I made it successfully through the train station and onto the train with ALL of our luggage! Although we did get some crazy looks from the locals.

Riding the train here is literally my favorite thing to do in the entire world! I can't wait to ride another one! I think if I'm ever bored (highly unlikely) I will buy a last minute train ticket to some rando Italian town and ride there and back for the day! Its so soothing and peaceful and beautiful.

View from the morning train ride

Florence is beautiful, in case you had your doubts. 

Yesterday I met my roommates. 

In front of the Duomo. Left to right: Jenn, me, and Katie (who I will be sharing my room with)

There are 6 of us in a 3 bedroom apartment. Its located in the Mercato Centrale. that's the CENTRAL MARKET of the city people! We decided we won the best apartment location. It's only a couple blocks from the Duomo, train station, and our classes! The market is so awesome! It has fresh anything you want (even somethings you dont want, like unidentifiable animals). We also have a gelato shop right below our apartment. Yes. We win! 

We move into our apartments in the morning, so we will see how the place looks from the inside! 

The past two days have been filled with walking and beautiful sites, and boring orientation sessions. We also have a cooking class tomorrow, which I am so pumped about! Although, let's be honest, I'm already getting tired of having pasta for every single meal. 

Highlight of the day... I got a haircut!! I know, living life on the edge. It was so much fun! The lady that cut my hair did not speak any English. She had to get another lady to come translate for her before she started cutting. And after that, there was no turning back. I could not find any rhyme or reason to how she was cutting my hair. She would just take random chunks and snip away. 

Cutting, cutting, cutting!

I now look super European and will soon have the shoes to complete the look! I can't wait to get my next haircut!

So, like I mentioned before, a lot of walking has happened since my arrival to Europe. Which, came as no surprise to me. But, apparently my feet have yet to receive the memo. I also realized the boots I've worn all week are about 4 years old or more! and they do not have the best arch support, or really any support. I'm still keeping my eyes out for those perfect pair of boots! Which is great because right now is saldi, a sale that happens twice a year in Italy. It ends at the end of this month. I literally have two days to find shoes on super sale! But do not fret, there are shoe stores on every corner here! 

Did I mention my roommate Katie is an Art Major?! STOP IT GOD!! Why are you so good to me? And she isn't one of those weird, hairy, pot smoking, hippie art majors either! The whole 24 hours I've known her she seems to be SUPER awesome! So, I know so many of you prayed for my roommates and, so far, Katie is any answer to every prayer! During our tour of Florence today both of us were just in awe of the beauty and art and... everything. We've already been to one museum and plan on going to every single one in Florence. Thanks API for giving us a card that gets us in free to basically every museum in the city.

On our tour of the city, Katie and I realized we were the only 2 out of the 17 in our group that actually cared about what our tour guide was saying. She was so nice and toward the end of the short two hour tour she would mainly just talk in the direction of Katie and me when addressing the group. It was so great! I can't wait to explore the city more. Especially with my new art appreciating friend Katie! (But seriously, Praise the Lord for his provision!)

New goal for the semester. Run a half marathon. There is one in Florence in April! It is giving me motivation to work out again! Just what I needed. I feel like I need to tell you this so I will have some type of accountability to train and run the half. Thanks for looking out for me!

My dad leaves super early in the morning! Let's hear it for the Best Daddy of the Year!! 

Me and my Daddy all around Europe!

So blessed that he came with me to Europe and took me so many wonderful places! Love you dad you're the best!

On an entirely new subject!!! WILL IS COMING TO FLORENCE ON THURSDAY! I haven't seen that sweet boy in 24 days (but who's counting). I can not wait to see him! YAY YAY YAY!

Also. I'm going to Paris this weekend with him and some of his friends! Be ready for a lot of Art Lessons with Paris when I get back because I'm going to the Louvre! I'm literally dying on the inside! 

And with that phrase basically summing up the past week of my life, I must go to sleep. Moving to my apartment at 8:30 will come very early in the morning! 

Ciao!!!

The Eternal City

After missing our connection in Frankfurt on Friday night and leaving on a 7am flight to Rome yesterday morning, we finally arrived in Italia!!

Adios Amarillo. Buon Giorno Roma!

Seven years ago I fell in love with the city of Rome. Today and yesterday I have rekindled that love and can not wait to come back again in 3 weeks! We walked all over this beautiful city and proved you can see all the big sites in a mere one and a half days. It was a whirlwind.

And now, it is with great pleasure that I picture vomit Rome all over you!


SATURDAY 1.26.2013

First stop: Colosseum
It's right around the corner from our hostel!

Colosseum!

Colosseum!

Arch of Constantine

Roman Forum

Roman Forum. Arch of Trajan.

Column of Marcus Aurelius. 

Pantheon

Pantheon. Fun fact, last time I was in Rome I didn't actually go inside (idk why it's free to get in) and I've regretted it ever since. But, I went in this time! YAY!

Trevi Fountain

Wishing at Trevi

Spanish Steps

SUNDAY 1.27.2013

Went to the Vatican today. It is usually closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of every month when it is free to the public. So we went with the rest of Rome to see the museum. It was insane the amount of people there.

Vatican Museum. This guy.
Diskobolos. Vatican Museum.
I saw him 3 times today all in different places! the original doesn't exist anymore. 

Sistine Chapel. oops.. might've accidentally left my camera on.

Sistine Chapel. oops.. might've accidentally left my camera on.

Climbed to the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

on the top of the roof of the Basilica. Previous picture taken from top of the dome behind me

Above the interior of the Basilica. There was also a Mass in session while we were there, since it was Sunday morning

St. Peter's Basilica

Don't freak out... but there's a super dead guy in there!!!

This is one of the reasons I love St. Peter's Basilica. The light that comes through it. I remember this vividly from my last visit and absolutely loved seeing it again today. It is so majestic.

Me. 

Vatican City

Dad.

We also went to the National Museum. A huge difference from the Vatican as there was NO ONE there. It was so great! A Sunday night, just us and wonderful art! Couldn't be more happy.

National Museum. This guy. Another art piece I love. Probably more than the bust of Caracalla.. i know right? I studied this sculpture last semester. This guy is so legit! He's a boxer. an OLD boxer. Greeks were really big on showing men and women in their prime, highly stylized and beautiful. So when this new style of art became popular in Hellenistic Greece it was a huge deal! He is obviously worn out from a match, or practice as seen by the expression on his face. What you cant see is the detail on his body. His face is swollen in places from being hit, he has cuts and scrapes all over his face and body... he even has cauliflower ear. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! Cauliflower ear. For real. I absolutely love this piece and I had no idea I would ever see it! Day. Made. 

National Museum. This sarcophagus speaks for itself. Wow.

Primavera Fresco. I learned about this fresco last semester and oh my. Seeing it today was unreal. It was HUGE and so beautiful and all there! 

Tomorrow morning we head out for Florence! My final destination for the semester. We are traveling by train. With 6 pieces of luggage. Hopefully it will be an experience we can both look back on and laugh at. 

Stay tuned!

London

WEDNESDAY:

Loaded down with girlscout cookies and high hopes my dad and I set off from Amarillo this morning.

Who would ever want to leave such a
beautiful place behind?

My dad and I arrived in London during the wee hours of the morning... well, 6:30am. But still, after being on a plane for 9 hours, its early! And we were greeted by beautiful snow! Planning ahead, we decided to rent a car to see Stonehenge. Little did we know it would take the entire day to make the 3 hour round trip to the henge of stones!

It was a long day. And from this long day my dad and I gleaned some valuable lessons.

1) When in doubt. Go left.

Driving on the left side of the road is the worst kind of punishment ever thought of by man. My dad successfully ran into the curb 3 times that made a distinct loud THUD noise. I can't count the number of times he just drove in the middle of two lanes. He also almost ran us into a wall and managed to hit another car. YES. we had a little hit and run incident today. I was taking this picture with the window rolled down.

We are just a couple of delinquents.

See that black car? Our mirror hit its mirror. I ended up screaming at the loud noise it made right as that pedestrian walked by. It was such a great moment. No worries, there was no damage, so I might've over exaggerated the "hit and run" part.

Every time we turned onto a new road I had to yell, "Left, left... LEFTLEFTLEFTLEFT!!!" Because, obviously, he defaulted to the right lane. We came face to face with some head on traffic once or twice!

I also drove for a few minutes. It gave me a better appreciation of how difficult it is to stay in the middle of the lane. My dad found a new appreciation for how scary riding the curb can be as well.

Shifting gears with your left hand is more
difficult than you think!

B) Avebury is not the same as Amesbury. 

My dad put the town AVEbury into the GPS this morning on our way to Stonehenge. After and hour and a half of driving I looked up the directions on his phone that he downloaded on the internet and realized Stonehenge is located near AMESbury. Someone forgot to wear his glasses today (which might be the reason his driving was so terrifying). Once this mishap was corrected in the GPS we were another hour from Stonehenge. Somewhere between Avebury and Amesbury in the middle of the English country side we found ourselves lost.

Did I mention it snowed the previous day?

The country side was absolutely stunning.

Miles of fresh, untouched snow blanketed
the rolling hills

Beautiful winding roads

We had no complaints getting lost. Although, we did fear for our lives when we drove up a hill with a little bit more snow than our rental car could handle. I thought we would be stranded in the middle of nowhere in England. Can you imagine?

But do not fret! We finally found Stonehenge and it was absolutely amazing! The snow was beautiful and there was no one else there. We basically had the freezing cold, wind stricken place to ourselves! Aren't we lucky?

Dad and I at Stonehenge

Panorama shot of Stonehenge

Me. Stonehenge. 

4) One does not just take a Taxi from Heathrow Airport to Lewisham.

After our rental car was returned we were bussed back to the airport where we took a taxi to Lewisham (where our B&B is located). The hour cab ride turned into a two and a half hour cab ride. 

Now at this point you may be asking yourself, "self... why didn't they take the train?"

Easier said than done. In between the two of us we have 7 bags (4 suitcases and 1 backpack and 2 day bags). I think I might've over packed. 

So we rode in a what seemed like endless taxi ride. But, somehow we made it to the Manna House and were received by friendly faces and warm tea. 

If you are still with me at this point, kudos to you! This awfully long, but beautifully cold day deserved nothing less than a painfully long post!



THURSDAY:

Wow. What a long day. I slept for 3 hours last night, no thanks to my dad's snoring.

We woke up early. Had a wonderful breakfast at the B&B and then hopped a train to central London.

Today was a day filled with much wiser choices made on our part.

• National Museum: Got there right as it opened. Had the place to ourselves the first 45 minutes we were there.

I love museums. Today I saw Monet, Rembrandt, Rafael,
Michelangelo, and many others!

• Took a cliche telephone booth picture. An obvious must do.

Cliche telephone booth picture. FTW.

• Self Guided Walking Tour: Including, but not limited to, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, and The London Eye

Big Ben

Westminister Abbey

View from the top of the London Eye

• Ate waffles for lunch. Yes. Waffles. 

Belgian waffle with ice cream and
strawberries. Yes.

• Walked to Buckingham Palace: Detoured through St. James' Park. Saw random dudes marching (not at the palace).

Random Dude's Marching

St. James' Park

St. James' Park

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

• Toured Churchill's Underground War Rooms and Museum.

There were no Buckingham Palace guards
to take a picture with. So I took a picture
with him. (Hes not real)

• Ate fish and chips, and Shepard's pie for supper. And tea! I absolutely love this tea thing the English have going on, they got it figured out!

Fish and Chips. Classic.

• Finally, took a picture my dad wanted to take all day, and hopped the train back to Lewisham. We also bought my dad a scarf. It was a big, life changing decision!

The London Eye at our fingertips.

It was another cold day in London! Filled with so much site seeing! We walked everywhere and froze our faces off! Hope the legs can recover for tomorrow. I'm not used to all this walking yet!

Big Ben. Buckingham Palace.
Westminister Abbey. London Eye.

FRIDAY:

I am writing this post from the London City Airport! YAY WIFI!!! Today was awesome! And crazy!

Sadly, I woke with sore legs this morning. It is extremely pitiful, I know, but we did A TON of walking yesterday, and a ton more today!

We headed to Greenwich to the Royal Observatory, where we stood in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Me. Standing on the Prime Meridian!

Dad. Standing over the Prime Meridian.

Prime Meridian

Then we headed to The British Museum!

The British Museum

And let me tell you. It rocked my world! It was so huge and full of so much wonderful art. The museum itself was beautiful and how they had the displays and different set ups and rooms was fabulous! One of my favorite museums by far! Plus it was filled to the brim with Ancient Greek and Roman art. And, if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for all that fun history!

These guys are SO awesome! I learned* about
them in my Art History I Survey class
as a freshman. When I saw them I basically
ran to them! They flanked the palace
doors (and other important doors) in Ancient
Assyria.

The Rosetta Stone

Caryatid from the Parthenon
(I absolutely LOVE her!)
A caryatid is a pillar in the form of a human.

Greek and Roman Pottery. Did I mention I'm thinking
about changing my concentration to ceramics?
LOVED this room! and the other 5 just like it!

Some Ancient ruins.. I cant remember
what they're from (oops!)

Dad with Easter Island Head!

No caption can fully describe my feelings
when seeing this bust. I wrote two research
papers over this Emperor, and my have given
him my heart in the process.. Yes, its true,
you can fall in love with art. As I
have with this piece. Although Caracalla
was a vicious tyrant, his bust is so beautiful!
Isn't he so handsome and dreamy?!

*Note: Basically everything we saw in the British Museum I have learned about in some form or fashion in an Art History class. I love my life.

On our way back to the B&B to get ALL of our luggage we bought a new suitcase. (I know, we already have plenty, but my main big one broke in Houston on the way out of the States... It didn't make it very far.) Then we rode the tubes and train back to Lewisham. We had exactly 5 minutes to frantically unpack the old and repack the new suitcase. We were already out of our room from this morning so we did all this in the breakfast room. Lynne, the wife that runs the Manna House, had a great laugh at our hurriedness, and at the fact we bought ANOTHER suitcase.

Here is proof of our great burden.

bags on bags on bags

And with that, we are sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Frankfurt, and finally... Rome! 

So, I say Cheers London! We had quite a jolly time!