Thursday, May 8
The train to London was cold and it was raining outside (now that I typed this I wondered where else it would be raining? On the train? I hope not). But we were determined to make it a good day!
We went to the box office to pick up our tickets and the man at the desk seemed a little surprised that we had such good tickets on the closing night. Yes, we are students and yes we each paid our left arm for the tickets, but hey! Don't underestimate us. We had sort of planned to go to the British Museum, but we ended up having a lot of fun just wandering around Covent Garden. We brought our dresses and makeup to change into and we ended up using the dressing room in H&M. The guy was really nice to let us use them. We went to Garfunkel's for dinner and both ended up getting cheeseburgers. They were so good, even if a little messy. But hey, we made it work!
The ballet was so wonderful. I had never seen anything like that before. The talent was amazing. The show was called 'A Winter's Tale' and it was one of the ballet's original works. The story line was really good. What really blew me away was the set in Act 2. I really think I would excel at something like set design. Picking a major sucks...
After the show we went to the coach station and caught a bus back to Keele. By the time we got back we were exhausted and it was so wonderful to sleep!!
Monday, June 2, 2014
When in Rome...
Monday, April 28
We made it to Rome in the early afternoon and went to got check into our hostel. The hostel I booked for us in Rome ended up being really nice! We arrived in Rome earlier that we thought we would and after a quick look at a map we realized how close we were to the Trevi Fountain and a church I wanted to go see, so we set off into the city. We were in Rome soon after the Pope sainted some people and the city was insanely busy! There were thousands of people at the Trevi Fountain and it got Erin and I thinking - why is it so famous?! We read about it on Wikipedia and we still don't really know. The church I wanted to visit is called the Church of San Carlo of the Four Fountains. I learned about it in Art History classes and thought it was just so beautiful. It is one of the more overlooked churches because it is so small, but the architecture is unbelievable. I'm so glad I got to go!
Tuesday, April 29
We went to the Coliseum and the line was so long! You are told over and over how big it is, but man, it is HUGE! I just couldn't get over the fact that something so massive yet so intricate was built so many many years ago. We wandered in the Roman Forum next and ended up getting a little lost. We were so hungry and wanted to get out of the ruins! We headed towards the Pantheon and looked for food along the way and we ended up popping into the most amazing baguette place. We were so hungry and it just tasted perfect. We both got ham and cheese with truffle dressing. The place was a little hole in the wall and we had to point at the menu to order, but that's the best kind of place isn't it!
We made it to the Pantheon, and again, I was blown away by it's massive size. When you see pictures of these places in class, you really have a hard time getting an idea of the massive scale. We went to Piazza Navolo and got some gelato to enjoy while people watching before heading back towards the hostel.
Wednesday, April 30
We took the Metro across the river to check out the Vatican. We left the subway and started to follow the HUGE crowd of people. We couldn't figure out why there were so many people on a random Wednesday morning. Then we saw the pope. That's right. There he was. Riding on the car thing out in the open. I think we were about 10-15 feet away from him. Purely accidental, but pretty cool if you ask me. We then went to wait in line for the Vatican Museums. We really should have bought our tickets online. The line to get in was so long. Ugh. In the museum they had some really great contemporary and modern art pieces I didn't expect. They all had religious themes, but had a modern take. That was definitely my favorite part of the Vatican. We also saw the Sistine Chapel which was actually bigger than I thought it would be. I had been told it was smaller, and I guess if you compare it to the average sized church of the era, it was pretty small, but still, very large with really high ceilings. We went to go get in line to enter St. Peter's because I wanted to climb to the top of the dome. While waiting in line I mailed a postcard to my family from the Vatican post office. I thought that was pretty neat! The dome was great! A lot more people were climbing it than I thought there would be. After all the craziness at the Vatican, we went back towards our hostel and met up with Erin's friends Kat and Brandy from Northern Ireland. It was neat that we were in Rome at the same time! The dinner was very fun and lighthearted.
Thursday, May 1
We didn't have any real plans for today, so I started googling to see what I could find. We found this place called the Rome Cat Sanctuary. A few years back, some ladies converted some ruins (the temple where Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar) into a sanctuary for the stray cats of Rome. They started fixing them and treating them for any sicknesses they may have. Now the sanctuary is open to the public for people to come and play with the cats. Also, you can adopt the cats - actually bring one home, or virtually by donating a certain amount each month. And crazy enough, it was right across the street from the amazing baguette place! We went and grabbed some lunch then visited the cute little kitties.
On our walk to the cat sanctuary we saw some signs for the Rome Zoo and Erin hadn't been to a zoo since she was a toddler, so we found some wifi, located the Zoo and off we went! It was really neat to see all the animals. Zoos are still fun even in different countries. Much to Erin's delight we saw some giraffes. I really loved the baby goats. So cute!
Friday, May 2
Today was spent travelling back to Keele. Erin joined me and stayed for a week before heading back to Northern Ireland. All in all, Italy was great, but I definitely am so glad I studied abroad in England instead. The pasta and pizza and gelato were wonderful and I miss it so much. Italy really knows how to do it.
If you would like to see pictures from all my travels before they go online here, go check out my Facebook!
Tuesday, April 29
We made it to the Pantheon, and again, I was blown away by it's massive size. When you see pictures of these places in class, you really have a hard time getting an idea of the massive scale. We went to Piazza Navolo and got some gelato to enjoy while people watching before heading back towards the hostel.
Wednesday, April 30
We didn't have any real plans for today, so I started googling to see what I could find. We found this place called the Rome Cat Sanctuary. A few years back, some ladies converted some ruins (the temple where Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar) into a sanctuary for the stray cats of Rome. They started fixing them and treating them for any sicknesses they may have. Now the sanctuary is open to the public for people to come and play with the cats. Also, you can adopt the cats - actually bring one home, or virtually by donating a certain amount each month. And crazy enough, it was right across the street from the amazing baguette place! We went and grabbed some lunch then visited the cute little kitties.
On our walk to the cat sanctuary we saw some signs for the Rome Zoo and Erin hadn't been to a zoo since she was a toddler, so we found some wifi, located the Zoo and off we went! It was really neat to see all the animals. Zoos are still fun even in different countries. Much to Erin's delight we saw some giraffes. I really loved the baby goats. So cute!
Friday, May 2
Today was spent travelling back to Keele. Erin joined me and stayed for a week before heading back to Northern Ireland. All in all, Italy was great, but I definitely am so glad I studied abroad in England instead. The pasta and pizza and gelato were wonderful and I miss it so much. Italy really knows how to do it.
If you would like to see pictures from all my travels before they go online here, go check out my Facebook!
San Felice - A Small Beach Town in Italy
Friday, April 25
In the morning we took a train to Latina, the closest place to Sabaudia (where we thought our beach hotel was). I had found online that there was a bus that went from the train station to the town, but when we got to Latina, nobody spoke English and there were no busses to San Felice (the town next to Sabaudia where our hotel actually was). We ended up having to use our translator app to tell a taxi driver where we needed to go and took a very expensive ride through the Italian country side. It was painful to spend that much money on a taxi, but I am so glad we got where we needed to go safely.
After arriving at our hotel we walked along the beach and checked into our hotel. The staff upgraded us from a Park-view room to a Sea-view room. It was very nice of them. We also ended up with a balcony. We wandered around the town, got some gelato and pizza for dinner and just relaxed for the rest of the day.
Saturday, April 26
We slept in a little then went to the beach. The water was too cold to swim, but the sun was warm and our hotel had lounge chairs out on the beach for the guests. It was amazing to be lazy and read my book. It seemed unreal that I was on vacation in Italy!
Sunday, April 27
It rained… We took that as an opportunity to lay in bed, watch programs and read our books all day. It sucked that we couldn't go to the beach, but hey, after a crazy week of travel, it was good to rest in a comfy bed. For dinner we went to the beach restaurant to get a pizza and while we were waiting for it we walked along the ocean because it had stopped raining. Then Erin dared me to run into the sea, and so I did it. The people who worked at the restaurant thought I was crazy, but hey, I never know when I’ll have the chance to go into the Mediterranean again!
Monday, April 28
The hotel staff was super nice and when they went on their morning newspaper run, they also bought our bus tickets to Rome for that day. That meant we got to sleep in a little bit longer before having to leave. The bus ride was… Interesting. The bus had seen much better days and the Italian roads are full of potholes making it a very bumpy ride. We made it to Rome though and took the Metro to the station closest to our hostel.
In the morning we took a train to Latina, the closest place to Sabaudia (where we thought our beach hotel was). I had found online that there was a bus that went from the train station to the town, but when we got to Latina, nobody spoke English and there were no busses to San Felice (the town next to Sabaudia where our hotel actually was). We ended up having to use our translator app to tell a taxi driver where we needed to go and took a very expensive ride through the Italian country side. It was painful to spend that much money on a taxi, but I am so glad we got where we needed to go safely.
After arriving at our hotel we walked along the beach and checked into our hotel. The staff upgraded us from a Park-view room to a Sea-view room. It was very nice of them. We also ended up with a balcony. We wandered around the town, got some gelato and pizza for dinner and just relaxed for the rest of the day.
Saturday, April 26
We slept in a little then went to the beach. The water was too cold to swim, but the sun was warm and our hotel had lounge chairs out on the beach for the guests. It was amazing to be lazy and read my book. It seemed unreal that I was on vacation in Italy!
Sunday, April 27
It rained… We took that as an opportunity to lay in bed, watch programs and read our books all day. It sucked that we couldn't go to the beach, but hey, after a crazy week of travel, it was good to rest in a comfy bed. For dinner we went to the beach restaurant to get a pizza and while we were waiting for it we walked along the ocean because it had stopped raining. Then Erin dared me to run into the sea, and so I did it. The people who worked at the restaurant thought I was crazy, but hey, I never know when I’ll have the chance to go into the Mediterranean again!
Monday, April 28
The hotel staff was super nice and when they went on their morning newspaper run, they also bought our bus tickets to Rome for that day. That meant we got to sleep in a little bit longer before having to leave. The bus ride was… Interesting. The bus had seen much better days and the Italian roads are full of potholes making it a very bumpy ride. We made it to Rome though and took the Metro to the station closest to our hostel.
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