(snack across the street from Altar of the Fatherland)
CIAO! It has been a while, but we were without internet for quite a while, and are just now getting to posting an entry in Florence, Italy. Here's a recap:
- June 7th-last day in Switzerland-went to beautiful gardens/gorge/secluded church. Stephen's aunt and uncle came with us and we had sandwiches in the woods, a great walk, and dessert (ice cream for Erin and coffee schnapps for Stephen). I would like to let it be known that the coffee thing was delicious, and I had to get it because I couldn't eat Ice Cream due to the fact I have no lactaid pills, proving that I didn't want alcohol that badly. Left that night for train ride to Rome (10 hours). Which we didn't think would be bad, little did we know....
- Train Ride (PLEASE see picture)-we expected the, now usual, recliner seat and ended up on a bunk-only train (Couchette) where there is very very minimal space (no bar,
restaurant, or even lounging/standing around areas). There are 6 beds crammed into each room (the size of a closet...literally. This looks similar to the bunks you would see in WWII submarines. We aren't whining, but it was just shocking to see this, expecting something else. It took myself and a Korean fellow 30 min to figure out how to get one of the beds to fold out of the wall, I mean it was insane. You could touch the bunk across from you while in your bed...no exaggeration). At first, we were anxiety stricken and stood in the hallway/paced through the train (hence when the pictures were taken) but around 1 a.m. we gave up and went into the room and surprisingly, I was asleep within 10 minutes. Apparently the extreme movement and background noise of this particular train was fantastic for sleeping. We also got lucky with roomates as they were all quiet, polite, and asleep immediately (including a mother and 6 year old daughter who whispered "Mama" a few times during the night-adorable). Erin fails to mention our two roomates, fellow Americans, that were even more shocked by the Train situation than we were. They got on, they couldn't be more than 18, never seen the real world, and were dying over their situation. The girl was a prissy as they come, and she made SURE her bf (presumptive) knew she wasn't happy. Also, the train takes your passport, and gives it to you in the morning, and she wanted everyone to know she wasn't leaving until she had her passport, even forcing her awkward 18 year-old boyfriend up to Erin and I to ask about the passport situation, he came in all swervy saying, "uumm, heeeyy, but like..." I had to quickly shut him down and said, "they took ours too, and the Korean guy's." Hilar. 
We arrive to Rome around 10 am. Dropped our bags off at the hostel ("hostel" is used loosely, I guess we were a little spoiled before, because it was similar to an apartment building: a fair size room and bathroom down the hall (with 3 toilets and 3 showers for 30 people), no internet, no kitchen, no lockers, and frankly, no helpful staff. In the main guy's defense, he had a little cold and wasn't feeling well, but the Hostel was a little different. It wasn't small, the room was actually a bit bigger, but it didn't have a kitchen or anything, and since we have NO money, it was tough to handle. Also, we had to put our bag with the computer behind the counter the whole time, which made it a hassle to retrieve. - Day 1 of Rome: The Colloseum, delicious Italian pizza, Altar of the Fatherland pic of us looking at the maps is on this and there's one of it at night), and a few others. We got crossed by a restaurant owner trying to advertise who had never used deodorant in her entire life...pretty common here. I have never smelt more BO than I have this trip, and I'm part Indian.. And, we noticed the extremely awkward pictures th
at other tourists were taking. Honestly. They are all people going together with one camera, and no one to take their pic, so they take turns having a picture in front of a monument, but none of them think you can just stand there, you hav
e to turn and pose in some fashion similar to if another person is standing there. Some don't smile, some seduce the camera, its quite the mix, and very funny. It's horrible...they are so awkward but incredibly entertaining to watch...we also mimicked their pics. Good times. - First night-went to the Yellow Bar across from our hostel (it was a bar for another, much better hostel which was the same chain that we stayed in in Barc
elona) to write some postcards and ended up going to get another pizza around midnight. At this place, we had the poster Italian guy..wearing a thick knotted tie, tight pants, nice shoes, and talking with his hands...he also had a killer Captain Morgans stance-hilarious (pic) James, he's hamstrings were a bit tight, he had to stretch them out... Luckily he spoke English but said "thanks to you" instead of you're welcome-hilar! When we'd say thanks when he brought water, he'd say "thanks to you." So Funny! - The next day we woke up and made our way to the Pantheon (where
we witnessed an overzealous tour guide (Steve imitating to right)-I'll let Steve add details the tour guides here are hilar. I swear, they way the talk they just make up random facts about the area. The one guy that I based this opinion off of, came around the front of the pantheon, flailing his arms around about some date this, blah, blah, and half the people had ear sets, not speaking English, so you know he had to make it up, I swear I heard him rambling about something, "and if you look here, you'll see a stone that was placed by Pope Pius XI, and he made it face blah blah...now if you'll follow me..." d-bag.), Plaza de Navona, the Fountain of Trevi (where we watched tourists throw coins in over their shoulder: 1 coin-you'll come back to Rome soon, 2 coins-you'll fall in love in Rome. Another hilarious place to watch tourists take awkward pictures...we caught a few of them on camera and then took a few of our own (coming in next post). We also visited several churches, one (and the last one I went in that day) that I got denied from for not having my shoulders fully covered. - Second night-went to a perfect Italian restaurant, Aspettando Il Pane,
(including over friendly owner who gave us free bruschetta, free lemoncello, and a free slice of cake. I had a salad and Steve had a pasta dish with parmesan and bacon, delish! This dish, although sounding and appearing plain, was quite flavorful and delicious. Our waitress was a very excited girl from Venice, who said "Prego!" more than any other person in Italy...which, by the way is used before you order, when asking for more water at a restaurant, and various times throughout the day. We finally learned its true meaning in everyday life thanks to the little dictionary that Katie gave me for b-day, it has come in handy when neither one of us speak Italian. After eating what ended up being a very late dinner (until about 1 a.m.) and starting making the trek back to the hostel (about 30 min walk). Erin forgets to mention that we went back to the Plazza Navonna, which at night is buzzing with activity, one such thing was the Italian Premier! Erin and I were just strolling along, looking at the street performers and artists, and then everyone starting running with their cameras to this group of people. When we walked over to check it out, everyone was trying to get pics with this guy we had never see
n, so of course, we snapped our own pics, and then later someone identified him, deal though. After taking a few posed awkward tourist pictures, we were stopped by 5 or so Italians who were JAMMING outside of their bar (I think they all, or at least most, worked there)...they invited us (through minimal English-but we got the message) to come dance...naturally, we said Yes! and came running over like giddy school children (luckily we got a few pics...I'll let Steve tell you the details. The bar that they worked at was closed, but they were ready to keep partying. SO, when we came around the corner, they yelled Italian, and gave the Universal come here sign of waving the arm, so we ran over, danced a bit awkwardly at first (weren't sure of the invite being genuine) then our homegirl said come in, so we did, only to be greeted by an exclectic mix of sexualities and people, and a dance fest. We then stopped to rest (and take a few more really awkward pictures...I can't wait for ya'll to see these (next post)--and they are actual replicas of poses seen before-humiliating) and finally made it back to our hostel around 3 A.M. - Third day-got up a little later (after extraordinary sleep due to our quiet Chicago rooms) and ventured to the Tiber River and Vatican City State-beautiful! There will def. be pictures of this, as Steve took 603,596,287 pictures. This is the center of the Catholic church, so it is extraordinary, I have never been in a church that big, and it is just as ornate as one smaller, I mean every inch is decorated, its really amazing...no pictures do it justice. We went in St. Peter's Basilica as a church service was going on, so that was pretty neat too. We also visited the cupola (not my idea to walk the 320 swirling, narrow stairs, both having visibly shaking legs due to extreme dehydration, but you can't get a view like that elsewhere, so I thought it was well worth it, except for the older stairs sprinters, who apparently had to get down the stairs right then, so they were on my heals the WHOLE way) and then made our way back. We stopped to share a pasta dish with cheese, tomatoes, and basil (Prego!). When we got back to the hostel, we were forced to pack due to no other options within the hostel, but had Stephen's computer to play a few 90s jams. We then met our polite Chicago roomies and went to bed early for a fun day of visiting the train station and making our way to Florence.
FLORENCE
- The train ride to Florence was very pretty. It was a smooth ride also...we stopped by the train station supermarket so we had snacks (bread because it's cheap, some breakfast goodies, and a prepackaged salad with tomatoes and fresh mozzarrella, again Prego! This train ride, although on the "slow" train, was relaxing and not bad, even with the Greek woman that sat across from us on the phone the whole time. We played some tic-tac-toe and some hangman, which pretty much occupied us for the entire train ride. Once we arrived in Florence, around 7 pm, we went straight to the hostel (a little better this time with internet and a small kitchen, but still no A/C), checked in, and went out to find food and phones. We ended up at an adorable pizza place with the quintessential Italian chef sprinkling fresh cheese, tomatoes, artichoke hearts (a BIG deal here, lucky for me), olives, and a secret spice which he threw into the wood stove...quite the Italian site. I've also come to the conclusion that wine (and coffee, its like these people want to be dehydrated all the time) is cheaper than soda (and water most of the time) almost everywhere in Italy. Anyway, after dinner we attempted to get pictures on the blog but got shut down by the curfew-lame. **Oh, and the title comes from our cute roomate from Thailand that asked me if I was getting up early because she needed to dry her hair and didn't want to wake me up...I said No...kidding.
- Today! FINALLY!-we ate breakfast and mapped out the day's plans at a nearby park, grabbed coffee on the way, and headed to the local market. This was my favorite market so far (great pictures) with lots of variety including large octupus and a cow's snout. Except for the free samples, I mean someone can only take so much raw stuff..We were also forced to try something tar-tar (what? I don't know). Anyway, we got some goodies and headed to the Santa Maria Cathedral (which I got denied because of shorts), the Duoma this is where Dante was christened and where Michelangelo is buried, a monestary, and the Palazzo Vecchio with a multitude of statues and what not. Also, we stopped to look at some paintings and Stephen managed to somehow get one for the change he had in his pocket (about 4 euro when he was asking 15-steal! It's of Ponte Vecchio which we're visiting either tonight or tomorrow for the view. We've also learned that making pasta with no oven is possible...we bought cheap gnocchi and used the electric water boiler to repeatedly cover and strain the pasta--not so time efficient but cheap and pretty good (with cheese and salt of course).
- Tonight's plan: head to the all you can eat Italian buffet, since we missed it last night (6 euro-deal) recommended by the hostel and possibly head to Ponte Vecchio or the Piazzale Michelangelo (hill with view of city).
Last note: Even though I am not normally a huge fan of pasta this is a lie because we've eaten noodles and cheese like the whole time..,um I meant rich sauces like alfredo and what not...anyway, Italy's food is miles ahead of Spain...at least from our food choices. And, to Devon especially, there have been no more awkward sleeptalkings...we've been pretty lucky with roomates. Oh, and the bathroom here always smells like tequila...not easy to get used to. Steve is rushing me to dinner (jack) so more pictures coming after
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