((A/N: Last day...unless you count coming home, which I guess I do. So I guess I'll post again tomorrow.))
We started off in Lucca, a relatively small city/town/place with walls from the 16th century running all around it. You could walk off of them if you wanted to since the top of the wall is also the ground from the inside. It looks a lot like what happens around here when they build roads through hills. Solid ground at the top and then a sheer drop. Except in this case that drop is a lot shorter, the solid ground isn't a hill (well, it is, it just doesn't look that way when you're driving up), and instead of just dirt there's a really thick, 16th century wall there. You'd break a few bones jumping 
off that edge. >_o Here, I realized that Vig smokes a lot. Every single time I see him he has a cigarete in his hand and, if he doesn't, he will soon. Seriously, I watched him finish one, put it out, and under five minutes later he pulled out another one!
Yes, well, anyway, we started off with an introductory tour during which we looked at several cathedrals, what used to be a Roman amphitheatre but is now just a circular square, a couple towers the folks back in the day would build as a way prominent families competed with one another, and the ancient Roman forum. No, not that forum. That one's in Rome. This was the, like I said, ancient one from when apparently Lucca was the capitol and before the one in Rome. It's very small and sits next to...whatever cathedral it is. ((A/N: It was San Michele in Foro, a lovely duomo with exquisite, if not mind boggling detail.)) But there's still an open air market there! Forum essentially means market so...yeah...grand isn't it? After all this time, it's still being used for its original purpose.
There were some lovely scarves I was looking at, but I decided that they're everywhere and that I could get one in Florence later. Only later, on the bus, did I think of how cool it would have been to be able to say that I bought something in the ancient Roman forum. But oh well. I did get some more gelato on a corner nearby, so that kind of counts. Stracciatella again because nothing beats it. I don't need to try any other flavors, I just know.
Speaking of tastiness, Sarah, Monica, and I stopped by a little pizzaria--also on a corner, all the good places to eat are always on corners. At long last, something that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. I can't remember what it's called in Italian, but it was basically pizza with spicy pepperoni. Obviously, the word we used was not "pepperoni" since that means little peppers. I have to wonder if some Italians don't think we love peppers on our pizza since, no doubt, so many of us have made the mistake of saying pepperoni when we really mean spicy salami. Apparently someone in our group at some point got miffed because they ordered pepperoni pizza and got, yes, pizza with del peppers on it. Silliness. :P
The pizza was cut into rectangular slices on a flat, wooden slab. Then it was cut into four smaller strips, which is how it was served to us. I may be exaggerating, but I think Monica was on her first strip when she looked over and was shocked to see that I had already scarfed down my pizza. She was very entertained that we had finally found something that I would eat. At this point, it's become a bit of a joke amongst part of our group that I'm such a picky eater that I eat NOTHING. And it's mostly true. I've been surviving off of the snacks I brought and the rolls we get every morning at breakfast. Cereal, too, but the rolls are handy to keep with me for later in the day.
The bathroom was kind of exciting. Apparently, the light in there was on a timer and the person in there before me hadn't taken that long. I'm assuming they time it so as to give the average person enough time to do their business. Well, I was still in there when the light turned off. It was pitch black and I had to grope around for the switch, which was actually in the other portion of the small bathroom. There was the tiny front room with the sink and then the tiny back room with the toilet. So I had to get into the front room and actually open the door into the pizzaria a crack so that I could find the switch and proceed to go back and perform the hunt for the button with which to flush the toilet, which is now quite common in my day.
It was funtimes.
Well, I finally bought something. I got one of those glass cubes with little bubble images inside of it depicting thetower, cathedral, and baptismal of Pisa and a somewhat tacky little jug/vase thing. I'm a sucker for little bottles like that. And my glass cube came in a cute little box, which made it all the better. I also ended up becoming mildly obsessed with the little Easter egg trees and such. It is Easter week, after all, so they're everywhere. Monica was greatly amused by this.
Florence--well, I should say as much as possible but there's just too much. It feels like an entirely different day than the one we spent in Lucca. We all started by visiting the Piazzale Michelangelo, which overlooks Florence, a.k.a. Firenze. I'm confused as to why we call it Florence when the people who actually live there call it Firenze. But whatever, we got some amazing pictures up there.
After we got settled into our hotel, we went out with Cynthia and Melissa for the "second best" gelato in Italy. The best, according to Cynthia, being in Rome. Then we went sightseeing. We didn't go inside anything, there was just a lot of walking and picture taking and being awed at the sheer magnificence of things. Namely one, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which you can actually see in two of the pictures above. And its baptismal. But I was cold and wet and the sky was gloomy and my fingers were freezing so I decided that I'd get most of my pictures tomorrow since Cynthia informed us that we were going on a tour of these places then during which we could actually go inside them. It didn't help that I was exhausted before we even started.
Melissa took us by an apothecary that has since been turned into a shop where the same basic things are still sold--well, similar things. I'm really not entirely sure what I'm talking about anymore, but there was scented stuff alongside these oils and ointments and such that are supposed to help you with some ailment or another. I bought a little golden box in which you're supposed to put potpourri. I just really love the box. Rather expensive, but compared to the prices of all the leather jackets and handbags everyone is going to be spending their money on tomorrow it's probably a steal. We're going to a leather shop and an adjacent jewellry store tomorrow since Firenze is famous for its leather and gold. Anyway, according to Melissa, the same box is probably three times more expensive on their website.
Melissa also took us to see a shop in which she's spent hundreds at a time. And it's no wonder! They well what I believe she said were handmade leather bound books. The paper isn't handmade in all of them, but there are a few. Obviously they're more expensive than the rest. I bought a small journal with a fleur de lis design, much like my original travel journal that Chad gave me for Christmas, except it's not refillable. And sold in Italy instead of Barnes & Noble. Both made in Italy, though! Haha. Really, since I love leatherbound journals so much, it's rather fitting that I end up traveling to Italy and getting one directly from the source. ((A/N: I adore that little book and I use it all the time, for every little thing from grocery lists to random ramblings and writings. Kendra can attest to this. xD))
More things happened. We foudn out that the house they say was Dante's actually wasn't. Melissa would know because Dante is one of her "dead boyfriends." So, if you ever come to Italy, don't pay for the tour of Dante's house. The house itself wasn't even built in the right time period and nothing it it is from the right time either. dante was born in that general area, yes, but no one knows exactly where--it sure ain't that house, though.
After all of that, we came back tot he hotel only for Monica to find her mother sweety and not all that well lying on her bed. She's a diabetic and her blood sugar was way too low. So Monica called for Sarah, Sarah called for Cynthia, and Cynthia called for the woman among our group who happens to be a nurse. Louis is fine now, but it was pretty worrisome.
Not only that, but one of the older women's husbands is missing. She and her little group somehow managed to misplace him somewhere in Florence. How? Not a clue. Usually, group memebers keep an eye otu for one another. We sum up who all is gallavanting about with us and occasioanlly look around just to make sure everyone's still there. We even do it for other groups, making note of where we last saw this group or that.
It's 10:30pm, they lost him before we even came back tot he hotel for dinner, and Ihave no idea if they ever managed to find him. Just one disaster after another today.
Random sidenote to end the day, the first day for which I've actually managed to finish an entry for: what is up with our room keys needing to be stuck in the little slots by the door for the lights to work? I mean, yeah, you'll never misplace your key, but it's kind of hard to find that slot in the dark. Not that we have that problem with this hotel. They actually provide a single working light by the door so you can see what the heck you're doing with your key. The previous ones were rather inconvenient.
((A/N: This entry is nearly verbatim what I wrote in my original travel log. It's probably THE most accurate entry you'll see here.))
Photobucket is being annoying again, so instead of the individual albums I failed to link to throughout this entry: Lucca & Florence 3-19-08.
Today we woke up around 6:20am and I was surprised to find myself still tired since I had gone to bed so early last night. But then again, yesterday was insanity. As of this morning, I had yet to start really feeling hungry again. I can't tell anymore unless my stomach growls. That airline food really screwed me up. Meals are now my least favorite part of the day--though the sitting part is nice. Yes, everyone certainly loves the sitting part.
In any case, we had breakfast, gave our luggage to Carlo, the bus driver, and hopped on the bus for a few hours. The countryside was nice and several shades of green and full of sheep, goats, cows, horses--y'know, the works. This much I can say: the Tuscan countryside is lovely. Didn't really have much of a chance to take pictures of it, though, unless they were through the bus windows and those never came out right. Oh well. I have more than enough pictures of Italy's greenery from later in the day. We also drove by the Mediterranean Sea. Very, very green, I have to say. I was excited about this for no real reason in particular. I guess I was just glad I got to see it. And listened to Voltaire as I was seeing it. In fact, that's just about all I did during the bus ride. There are a few songs of his that may forever remind me of the Tuscan countryside. ((A/N: I was right! There are some songs of his that will occasionally just take me right back to Italy.))
We stopped off in Grosseto first. It had a cathedral, this much I remember. The San Lorenzo Cathedral. By today, though, I'm kind of all cathedral'd out, so I don't have much to say about it. Except that I think this may've been the one in which I almost ate the stone flooring because of one of those reliefs carved into the floor of a dead person. Though for all I know that could've happened yesterday. Yes, actually, that's probably it. See? I'm already confusing my cathedrals! They're all just blurring together at this point and I can only really distinguish the big ones without going through my massive photo collection.
Well, we had lunch there in Grosseto while some folks went with Dr. White and Melissa to a museum. After yesterday, Sarah and I figured we'd opt out of that one. I had a few slices of pizza--with del peppers since it was the women next to us (and in our group, of course) who'd ordered it and I think they said "pepperoni" instead of whatever you're supposed to say to get what we consider pepperoni. I pulled the peppers off, though. Not quite that brave. In some magical way, we got out of paying for lunch yet again (we didn't have to pay yesterday either, I believe Melissa and the others took care of that).
'Tis Sarah's pregnant belly. Hoyes, the Professor causes the other group members to want to feed us for free. ((A/N: The "Professor" was my nickname for him at the time. At the time of writing he's approx. 7 months old and can be fawned over and admired in Sarah's blog.)) Well, anyway, that's where we sat and ate with Monica and her mom Louis. We all decided that, if we have time when we go back to Rome on Sunday, we'll all get a taxi and go to the Forum. This would be grand since that's one of the main sights I was hoping to see on this trip.
Mime! Haha, there were a few of these guys in Grosseto. I love mimes. :)
ue to the limited number of them they give out (they do this to ensure that there are never too many people in the tower so it doesn't, y'know, fall), we couldn't go in. But Vig got us all tickets to go inside the cathedral and the baptistry, so that's where all my attention was going. We didn't get to go into the graveyard beyond that big wall you can see in some of the pictures, but meh, the baptistry made up for that. It has the most amazing acoustics you'll likely ever hear. While we were in there, it dawned upon me that there was this incredibly eerie, beautiful whisteling noise emanating from every crevice of the structure. I started looking around for the source and realized that it was Melissa whistling. But, oh my God, you could hear it everywhere. And the tune she was whistling was so perfect and haunting. Admittedly, the baptistry isn't much to look at from the inside, but to hear someone humming, whistling, or singing in there is absolutely fantastic.Technically, you're not supposed to do that, though. I believe Melissa was shushed many times, albeit, I believe that's when she was singing. Whoever was in there that was watching us and doing the shushing apparently didn't mind the whisteling, or at least I never heard them complain. After Sarah and I left--probably while we were in the duomo (cathedral)--Melissa apparently got kicked out. But while we were still there and up in the second story, a priest or somesuch who worked there came in below and started singing. I caught a video of it for the sound alone, though it hardly does it justice. You really have to be there.
Ignore the first 15 seconds or so. That's just Melissa being shushed. xD
Did I provide all of the albums in this entry? Hm, I'm not sure, so here's the album for the whole day: Grosseto and Lucca 3-18-08.
I had a roll on the bus. It was grand, especially since I've kind of stopped with the whole eating thing. Or at least eating as much as usual. Italy isn't very appetizing.
Either way, we made it to the Colosseum! Woo! One of the main reasons I wanted to go on this trip was so that I could see such things as the Colosseum. 'Cause I'm going to be completely honest here, I didn't come to Italy for all the cathedrals. (*gasp!*) I know, I'm crazy. Sure, they're worth seeing, but what can I say? I'm a Classics minor after all, so OF COURSE I'm going to be more excited about the ruins. And it's the Colosseum! The Colosseum!
I mean just look at it!
You can tell I'm excited can't you? 'Cause if not I've...I've just failed you. Horribly. But, yeah, this was pretty much the thing that really sticks out in my mind about today. Seriously, the Colosseum. I can now say that I've been to the Colosseum. I hardly remember anything Vig told us about it except for pointing out some of the original tile work and then the thing about the seats of course and everything else was about how they used to keep the gladiators and animals in the now exposed labyrinth of chambers under a wooden floor that was covered with sand. And they had an elevator or two to bring up said animals and gladiators. Aside from the trapdoors, I mean. But, aside from the elevator thing, this was information I already knew. I've known about it since I was just a kid reading some cute little books on Roman history from the school library and thinking about how spectacular it would be to actually see the Colosseum.
I can die happy now. :)
What was even better was that, while I was up on the second flight taking pictures (and getting my picture taken like I promised I would), I noticed a little blackish grayish smidge moving about on the grass near the Colosseum floor. It was a cat. A little stray cat was wandering about the Colosseum. That just made my day right there. xD I didn't get any good pictures of it, but if you look reeeeaaally closely here, in the full size picture, you can just make it out in the middle of the grass. Almost the center of the picture.
So after we walked around the entire Colosseum and Vig was yelling at us through the headsets that we all needed to come downstairs and regroup so we could leave, I was taking a picture of the triumphal arch, Arco di Costantino (the Arch of Constantine), across the street...
...and a bird pooped on me. xP That's one of those things I'd hoped would never happen, but it did. In Rome. With a whole day ahead of me still. Yeah, it was special. But I had some wipes on me and I did get it out of my shirt (and hair Dx) rather quickly so the spot wasn't too noticable. It was only later that I was informed that, in Italy, a bird pooping on you is actually good luck. So yay! I guess.
Well, after that we had nothing else planned so we were allowed to do as we pleased. So we decided to walk to the Forum across the street in a big ol' group, past the triumphal arch, and over very large cobblestone that I was sure my ankles or knees would give out on. And then a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...well, it's true! Something funny DID happen on the way to the Forum! I have a theory that something funny always happens on the way to the Forum. That's why they put those costumed gladiators there, ready to prey on unsuspecting tourists.
It wasn't us they were preying on, though, and I wish I'd had my camera out at the time because it was priceless. One of these gladiators was going to pose with this group of tourists. He grabbed each one of the three guys there in turn and threw them on the ground, one on top of the other. Then he struck a pose, placing one foot triumphantly on top of the pile and pulling the two girls close to him, one in each arm. Needless to say, there was much laughter and amusement involved and, like I said, I wish I'd had my camera out.
Anyway, I didn't get to go inside the Forum itself. We just looked at the ruins that we could see from the outside. I believe it was Monica and her mom Louis--part of our group, obviously--who decided to go off on their own and actually go inside. I actually wanted to go with them, but there was some confusion as to what everyone was doing and by the time I looked they were already gone. So I was kind of disappointed. One of my goals for this trip was to go into the Forum. But, as it turns out, going with Monica and Louis would've been a bad idea. They told us later that they had to pay 11 euros for a ticket when it used to be free and the ticket was for the Colosseum and another area as well, though I forget what it was. The catacombs perhaps? Either way, the lady there was mean, they went in and walked right out again without realizing it. There were no signs or anything to direct them. They couldn't get back in and found out that you're supposed to get a map at the gift shop outside at the entrance before going in. They ended up not seeing anything that you couldn't see from the street. So I guess I count myself lucky that, instead of going with them in a failed attempt to see the Forum, I went with Cynthia (Dr. White, the professor heading the tour) to go on an insane tour of what seemed like every single last cathedral in the whole of Rome.
I can't for the life of me remember where all we went. Even my pictures aren't all that helpful. I still haven't identified a number of places we visited--and certainly not for lack of trying--and some cathedrals don't allow picture-taking. I suppose I'll have to make a note to ask Sarah if she remembers anything about them. All I really recall are the Piazza Venezia (or The Wedding Cake, as they like to call it) at the beginning of our adventure and the Piazza Navona at the very end before we took the subway back to the hotel.
Oh! Of course! The Pantheon! How could I forget? It feels like that was an entirely different day, but we did in fact visit the Pantheon today. It was magnificent, inside and out. Though not quite so magnificent from the back. I didn't even know where we'd gone until we rounded the corner and I saw the gargantuan columns and doors. I figured we were just going to see another cathedral and, at that point in the day, they were really all starting to blend together, so I wasn't all that excited. But when I saw where we were--wow! I mean, I knew it was big, just not how incredibly big. The inside was incredibly crowded, making it difficult to take decent pictures, but I tried to ignore that. After all, I'd already been in one massive, crowded, uncomfortable building today, I was used to it by now. Besides, it was the Pantheon. Despite the sheer beauty of St. Peter's Basilica, this was just so much more worth my patience.
Ugh, I keep forgetting things. I think I'm done but then no, I remember something else. Let's see, there was Cynthia's kids drinking out of a water fountain in a little park carrying water via the old aqueducts (I, sadly, did not partake), those in our group who wanted only to get drunk for St. Patrick's day and got these weird Dr. Seuss-like hats that were green from a bar that had them last year (they said St. Patrick's Day 2007 or somesuch), and the long search for lunch. We all split up and Sarah and I couldn't find anyplace that looked good to eat, nor one that had a bathroom. But we stumbled upon Melissa, Cynthia's friend, and some of the other members of our group. Melissa told me to put me in one of my books and then made me try white wine, which was nasty. Then I felt bad because I didn't eat much of the pasta that I'd ordered and I think I confused the waiter since there was so much of it left. And I think I confused many others as well. Just because I wasn't eating. But I don't really like pasta all that much and, well, this is Italy, there's pasta by the barrelfull here. So I guess I'll either get used to it, or I'll starve.
My vote's for the latter.
Photo albums for the various locations we visited (in no particular order): Rome 3/17, ruins across from the Forum that I never learned the name of, San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, another cathedral, a neat looking place we passed by, and a very large courtyard area where we got gelato. I had stracciatella. :)
Lookit! Seats! SEATS! THAT'S WHERE THEY USED TO SIT AND WATCH GLADIATORS KILL EACH OTHER!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!
You can tell I'm excited can't you? 'Cause if not I've...I've just failed you. Horribly. But, yeah, this was pretty much the thing that really sticks out in my mind about today. Seriously, the Colosseum. I can now say that I've been to the Colosseum. I hardly remember anything Vig told us about it except for pointing out some of the original tile work and then the thing about the seats of course and everything else was about how they used to keep the gladiators and animals in the now exposed labyrinth of chambers under a wooden floor that was covered with sand. And they had an elevator or two to bring up said animals and gladiators. Aside from the trapdoors, I mean. But, aside from the elevator thing, this was information I already knew. I've known about it since I was just a kid reading some cute little books on Roman history from the school library and thinking about how spectacular it would be to actually see the Colosseum.
I can die happy now. :)What was even better was that, while I was up on the second flight taking pictures (and getting my picture taken like I promised I would), I noticed a little blackish grayish smidge moving about on the grass near the Colosseum floor. It was a cat. A little stray cat was wandering about the Colosseum. That just made my day right there. xD I didn't get any good pictures of it, but if you look reeeeaaally closely here, in the full size picture, you can just make it out in the middle of the grass. Almost the center of the picture.
So after we walked around the entire Colosseum and Vig was yelling at us through the headsets that we all needed to come downstairs and regroup so we could leave, I was taking a picture of the triumphal arch, Arco di Costantino (the Arch of Constantine), across the street......and a bird pooped on me. xP That's one of those things I'd hoped would never happen, but it did. In Rome. With a whole day ahead of me still. Yeah, it was special. But I had some wipes on me and I did get it out of my shirt (and hair Dx) rather quickly so the spot wasn't too noticable. It was only later that I was informed that, in Italy, a bird pooping on you is actually good luck. So yay! I guess.
Well, after that we had nothing else planned so we were allowed to do as we pleased. So we decided to walk to the Forum across the street in a big ol' group, past the triumphal arch, and over very large cobblestone that I was sure my ankles or knees would give out on. And then a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...well, it's true! Something funny DID happen on the way to the Forum! I have a theory that something funny always happens on the way to the Forum. That's why they put those costumed gladiators there, ready to prey on unsuspecting tourists.
It wasn't us they were preying on, though, and I wish I'd had my camera out at the time because it was priceless. One of these gladiators was going to pose with this group of tourists. He grabbed each one of the three guys there in turn and threw them on the ground, one on top of the other. Then he struck a pose, placing one foot triumphantly on top of the pile and pulling the two girls close to him, one in each arm. Needless to say, there was much laughter and amusement involved and, like I said, I wish I'd had my camera out.
Anyway, I didn't get to go inside the Forum itself. We just looked at the ruins that we could see from the outside. I believe it was Monica and her mom Louis--part of our group, obviously--who decided to go off on their own and actually go inside. I actually wanted to go with them, but there was some confusion as to what everyone was doing and by the time I looked they were already gone. So I was kind of disappointed. One of my goals for this trip was to go into the Forum. But, as it turns out, going with Monica and Louis would've been a bad idea. They told us later that they had to pay 11 euros for a ticket when it used to be free and the ticket was for the Colosseum and another area as well, though I forget what it was. The catacombs perhaps? Either way, the lady there was mean, they went in and walked right out again without realizing it. There were no signs or anything to direct them. They couldn't get back in and found out that you're supposed to get a map at the gift shop outside at the entrance before going in. They ended up not seeing anything that you couldn't see from the street. So I guess I count myself lucky that, instead of going with them in a failed attempt to see the Forum, I went with Cynthia (Dr. White, the professor heading the tour) to go on an insane tour of what seemed like every single last cathedral in the whole of Rome.
I can't for the life of me remember where all we went. Even my pictures aren't all that helpful. I still haven't identified a number of places we visited--and certainly not for lack of trying--and some cathedrals don't allow picture-taking. I suppose I'll have to make a note to ask Sarah if she remembers anything about them. All I really recall are the Piazza Venezia (or The Wedding Cake, as they like to call it) at the beginning of our adventure and the Piazza Navona at the very end before we took the subway back to the hotel.
Oh! Of course! The Pantheon! How could I forget? It feels like that was an entirely different day, but we did in fact visit the Pantheon today. It was magnificent, inside and out. Though not quite so magnificent from the back. I didn't even know where we'd gone until we rounded the corner and I saw the gargantuan columns and doors. I figured we were just going to see another cathedral and, at that point in the day, they were really all starting to blend together, so I wasn't all that excited. But when I saw where we were--wow! I mean, I knew it was big, just not how incredibly big. The inside was incredibly crowded, making it difficult to take decent pictures, but I tried to ignore that. After all, I'd already been in one massive, crowded, uncomfortable building today, I was used to it by now. Besides, it was the Pantheon. Despite the sheer beauty of St. Peter's Basilica, this was just so much more worth my patience.
Ugh, I keep forgetting things. I think I'm done but then no, I remember something else. Let's see, there was Cynthia's kids drinking out of a water fountain in a little park carrying water via the old aqueducts (I, sadly, did not partake), those in our group who wanted only to get drunk for St. Patrick's day and got these weird Dr. Seuss-like hats that were green from a bar that had them last year (they said St. Patrick's Day 2007 or somesuch), and the long search for lunch. We all split up and Sarah and I couldn't find anyplace that looked good to eat, nor one that had a bathroom. But we stumbled upon Melissa, Cynthia's friend, and some of the other members of our group. Melissa told me to put me in one of my books and then made me try white wine, which was nasty. Then I felt bad because I didn't eat much of the pasta that I'd ordered and I think I confused the waiter since there was so much of it left. And I think I confused many others as well. Just because I wasn't eating. But I don't really like pasta all that much and, well, this is Italy, there's pasta by the barrelfull here. So I guess I'll either get used to it, or I'll starve.
My vote's for the latter.
Photo albums for the various locations we visited (in no particular order): Rome 3/17, ruins across from the Forum that I never learned the name of, San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, another cathedral, a neat looking place we passed by, and a very large courtyard area where we got gelato. I had stracciatella. :)