Day 12 - First Day in Paris!

This was our first day in Paris. We woke up around 8 or 9, and took off as soon as we were ready. For breakfast we stopped by boulangerie and grabbed some mini quiches (they were quite good). Since our hotel is only about 2 kilometers from Sacre Coeur (and we could see the top of it from the main street by our hotel) we decided to walk there. It was a pretty long walk, and we didn't really know our way, but we just followed the dome over the tops of the buildings – this was also when it actually registered in our head that the entire 2km walk was uphill, which makes sense since the church is at the top of a hill.

When we arrived there we took some pictures and looked through the tourist shops before doing a walk through of the church. It was xmas morning, so naturally there was a lot going on inside the church, but we were able to walk fully around the inside of it. It's a more modern church, and Lauren and I really like it's style, but it's still a church. The inside was pretty neat though (no pictures allowed).

Then we went down the stairs towards Paris to try and find a metro stop. The stairs were lined with vendors, including four especially aggressive friendship bracelet makers that were basically blocking the stairs that we had to push through to get by. We were able to find a metro stop relatively quickly and we headed out towards Invalides. When we got there (it is a large war museum where Napoleon is buried) we walked around the outside and took some pictures, though it was unfortunately closed since it was xmas day. We also walked over to the Rodin museum next door, but it too was closed for the day.

We then walked around the other side of Invalides (for better pictures) and headed off towards the Eiffel Tower. When we arrived, we took lots of pictures (while avoiding the throngs of identical looking wandering vendors of crappy Eiffel Tower models). We walked all the way up towards the base, and were considering going up it, but the massive line made us decide to do it another day (probably early in the morning) if at all. We have both been up it before after all.

Then we decided it was lunch time so we headed over towards the Cafe du Marche, which Lauren loves. We arrived there, and had a leisurely 1.5 – 2 hour lunch and dessert. By this time it was 4:30pm, so we decided to take a rather ambitious walk all the from near the Eiffel Tower, along the Seine, to Notre Dame. This walk took well over an hour and was 2+ miles, but we got to see all the sights down the Seine, so it was worth it.

Finally we arrived at Notre Dame. We wanted to go inside, but the line was huge (being xmas evening and all), so we decided to skip it and just take pictures from the outside. When we were done, we walked a little ways north to the metro station, where we were able to take just one metro back to our hotel stop. We got a nutella crepe at the stand right next to our stop, then headed back to the hotel, where it didn't take long for us to fall asleep.

Paris from Sacre Coeur

Same picture but focused on the city instead of the sky

Sacre Coeur

Me in the Gardens at Invalides

Invalides - Napoleon's Tomb

Lauren being adorable in front of the Eiffel Tower

Us being adorable in front of the Eiffel Tower

Lauren in front of her favorite bridge over the Seine

Notre Dame at Night (on xmas)

Day 11 - Barcelona to Paris

This was the day we left Barcelona. We woke up at 8 or 9 and did our usual relaxed morning routine (including croissants and rolls from that bakery). Our flight was at 4pm (checkin at 2), so we made sure to leave by noon. The metro ride to the train station was pretty quick and easy, but we were very confused as which train to board to get to the airport. We finally figured it out, but then naturally had to wait an extra 25 minutes for a train to actually show up. By the time we got on the train, it was past 1, and I was already a little stressed. So when a street performer started playing xmas music really loud right next to us in the crowded train car, I really just wanted to punch him.

After standing on the train for 20 minutes with our luggage, we made it to the airport. We thought we were checking in from Terminal 2 zone B, but after running up and down the 100+ checkin stands twice, we finally realized it was moved to zone C. (At first I was pissed at easyjet, but I later realized they told me in some email that they switched checkin zones). So after walking 15 minutes, partially through the rain, we arrived at checkin at 2:00, right as it started, all ready to see a huge line. However, apparently the last massive checkin line we saw can be blamed entirely on the Italian airport and not on easyjet - our checkin line was non-existent. Instead of 50 exasperating minutes, it took all of 2 easy minutes to checkin and head off to our gate.

However, since we were all ready and there on time the flight was naturally delayed 80 minutes back to 5:20pm. After waiting around the gates for a number of hours we were able to board. The flight was fine, quick, and relatively on time after it's initial delay. We landed around 7:20pm or so. After waiting 20 minutes for our luggage, we worked our across the airport to the train station. Because the ticket machines don't accept bills (just coins) or foreign credit cards (for 8 euro tickets) we had to stand in a huge 30 minute line for tickets. We finally got them, and after another 15 minutes or so of waiting for the train, we were on our way to Paris.

However, we had to make a switch to the metro, and we were very confused about how to get through the gates, since all the ticket machines were on the OTHER side of the gates that we needed a ticket to get through. Luckily the gates were nice enough to accept our train tickets, and we were off again. By this point we were tired and grouchy (and I'm pretty sure Lauren was about one more flight of stairs away from leaving her suitcase behind) and we emerged in the rain. I wasn't exactly sure which way we were supposed to go, but luckily we picked the correct direction and found our cross street, and soon after, our hotel.

It was 10pm by now and we had very little to eat since we left 10 hours ago, so after checking in we found a nice little restaurant. It was a nice a little French-Middle Eastern place, so I had some of the best couscous ever (though Lauren wasn't a huge fan of her food). After that we got back to the hotel and promptly passed out - The End (of this day anyway).

Sorry - Grouchy travelers tend to not want to mess with their cameras. No pictures from today (you're lucky there was even one picture from our last big travel day)

Day 10 - Barcelona

This was our last full day in Barcelona. As usual, we woke up slightly after nine, awoke very leisurely, and went down to the nearby bakery for breakfast. It wasn't raining more than a couple drops when we went to get breakfast, but by noon, when we decided to head out to go sightseeing, it was raining pretty hard. At first we planned on going by Parc Guile and the Gaudi Houses, but because of the heavy rain, we decided to first stop by the Plaza De Catalonia, look around, and decide how far we wanted to go.

The Plaza was neat and we took a few pictures, but there was nothing huge and exciting. Lauren wanted these mosaic salt and pepper shakers she had seen earlier, so we kept an eye our for tourist shops that might have them. Parc Guielle was actually a 20 minute walk uphill from the metro stop, and it was raining quite hard, so we decided that instead of seeing the parc and the gaudi houses, we would instead just take a leisurely walk down the Ramba.

The Ramba is kind of the “Champs-Elysees” (the famous fancy/touristy street of Paris) of Barcelona. It's a big, pretty, touristy street in Barcelona that starts at the Plaza and is lined with lots of shops and such. What turned out to be really interesting was not the shops on the sides of the streets, but all the little vendor stalls lining the streets. It started out with a few generic tourist stalls, but as we walked it turned into pet stalls. Lots of birds – just about any kind you can imagine, from lots of little chirpy pet birds all the way up to chickens, roosters, turkeys, and other traditionally edible fowl. There were also lots of rats, mice, bunnies, snakes, fish (lots of fish), lizards, etc... There were a lot more than I mentioned, but that's all that Lauren and I can precisely remember seeing at the moment. If this was such a touristy street, I'm not sure who they thought they were selling to, since probably most tourists aren't going to be able to get these animals home a on a plane. As we approached our metro stop, finally all the stalls turned into plant stalls – lots of big pretty flowers and huge leafy plants. Who knows what would've been next had we continued walking.

But alas it was still raining really hard, so we decided to forgo the rest of the sightseeing and head back to the flat. As usual, we took Barcelona's wonderful metro system back to the flat. On our way back we grabbed some bake-able prosciutto pizza from the grocery store to make for dinner. Then we spent our usual evening back at the flat, eating dinner and watching 30 Rock with Heather (who, I'm happy to say, we apparently turned into a 30 Rock addict). Lauren also ventured out by herself in the late afternoon to go get the salt and pepper shaker she wanted from where she originally saw it by the Sangrada Familia.

So as usual, we went out and saw some touristy stuff, but the heavy rain and our general inclination to relax in Barcelona kept us from being quite as insanely busy as we were in Italy. Barcelona was a really nice place to just kick back and relax because of the flat, the easy to use metro system, Heather, and the lack of nearly as much good food and touristy stuff (that we really cared about) as Italy. We suspect that Paris will be a little bit crazier.

Building in the Plaza

You can see how hard it is raining (rain against the trees)

Lauren in front of the Rambla

Day 9 - More Barcelona

We decided to do a little more sight seeing this day. We got up around 9 or 10 and went down to that little bakery again and got bread, croissants, and a doughnut. We relaxed and slowly got ready to go out and see stuff. We left around 11:30am and jumped on the metro.

First we went to the Cathedral de Barcelona. It was kind of neat – gothic architecture, but much smaller than Segrada Familia. However, unlike Segrada Familia, we were actually able to go inside for free (during certainly hours of the day). We walked around (no pictures allowed inside) and it was neat, but to be honest it wasn't nearly as impressive as many of the churches we've already seen. After walking around and looking at all the opportunities to give money inside the church (about every fifty feet), we went back out into the square, where there were tons of vendor stalls set up, all selling xmas stuff (all involving either santa or jesus). There was also some really creepy music blasting – I can only describe it as “deranged disney”.

Then we had to track down “Wok to Walk”, this little Asian food place where we were supposed to meet Heather and one of her friends for lunch. It took us 20 minutes of walking and navigating in the rain, but we eventually found the place. Lauren wanted egg noodles with shrimp, but apparently (Heather tells us) in Barcelona, they never de-vein the shrimp anywhere, and this was true of most of the shrimp there too. For those who don't know (I didn't know this until this week), “de-veining” shrimp means removing the “vein”, which is actually the gastro-intestinal tract of the shrimp, containing all the poop. Awesome. Anyway, so she went with the egg noodles and beef (as did I), and they make it all right there. It was really good. Heather and her friend showed up soon after, and our lunch was great, except for the damn door that refused to stay closed and kept blowing cold air on us.

After lunch Lauren and I made our way over to the Picasso Museum – again, about 20 minutes of navigating on foot in the rain, but we made it. Unfortunately, they made me check my bag and pictures weren't allowed, so I have no Picasso Museum pictures to post. It was pretty neat though – they had an impressive collections of his works from throughout his life. We spent an hour in there or so, then decided we were tired and it was too rainy, so we jumped back on the metro and headed back to the flat.

When we got back around 4 or 5, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing (as usual). We made sandwiches from the fresh bread for dinner and watched a bunch of 30 rock. We also made it through two bottles of sparkling wine, which was delicious, though it only had the alcohol content of beer so it barely gave me a buzz. Anyway, it was a fun and relaxing evening, as usual.

PS - sorry I haven't been posting as many or as good pictures since Barcelona - there have just been less picture opportunities, especially with the rain. I'm sure it will pick up once we reach Paris.

Cathedral

Another Cathedral Picture

Xmas market outside the Cathedral

Day 8 - Barcelona

Lauren and I woke up pretty late (by our standards) at 9 or 10 and decided that today would be well-earned lazy day, especially since it was raining. We needed breakfast and other food, and Heather was very nice and took us to the only grocery store they had found where the milk was refrigerated. We got a bunch of breakfast, sandwich and salad material, not to mention the essentials like nutella and sparkling wine. On the way back, we stopped by this local bread shop and got some baguette, croissants, and two of the best doughnuts I've ever had.

After a breakfast, hanging out with heather for a couple hours, then lunch, we decided that we should at least go do SOMETHING touristy, just so we don't completely waste an entire day (not that it was a waste, because we badly needed the rest). So we went out to see the Segrada Familia – a massive uncompleted gothic church. We didn't go inside, because it cost quite a bit, and it would probably take about 20 minutes to walk through it and look the same as the 10 other massive churches we've walked through in the past week. We saw the church from the outside, and walked all the way around it. It's still under construction, so there were lots of cranes working all over it.

Afterward, we took the metro back to the flat. I must say – I'm very impressed with the metro in Barcelona. In Italy it was all buses, and they were so hectic and crazy, where as the metro in Barcelona is very fast, organized, and easy to navigate. When we got back to the flat, we just relaxed for the rest of the day and watched 30 rock. We went to the store and got a delicious ham pizza for dinner, and had a delicious bottle of fruity sparkling wine for dinner.

Segrada Familia - Front

Me

Back of Church

Back of Church

Lauren being cute (it's her pose)

Day 7 - Travel Hell

We woke up at 6ish and got all packed up and ready to go. Our train left at 7:58am, so we didn't even have time to eat breakfast (which starts at 7:30 at the hotel). We left the hotel at 7, took a bus to the train station, and grabbed a quick breakfast there (Lauren had a croissant, and I had a warm prosciutto and cheese sandwich). Unfortunately, because of all the snow, our train was delayed for a whole hour. Good thing I decided to get the really early tickets (that gave us way too much extra time at the airport in Milan).

The train wasn't too great – all the cars had little 6 seat rooms, and they were all reserved. We didn't realize this, so it took us squeezing through a car and a half of tiny hallways with our big suitcases before we realized that all the cars were like this, and our seat reservations were on our ticket. Luckily we were pretty close to our seats, but when we managed to squeeze our way over there, there were two people already in our seats. I had to kick them both out by tapping them and pointing out the seat numbers on our tickets. We barely managed to get into our seats and put our suitcases up on the rack, and we each had to sit in between two other people across from each other.

Naturally, the lady next to me immediately got a phone call, and proceeded to talk on her phone loudly for the next 20 minutes. Not only was it loud, but I couldn't stand her voice – she sounded like she had been smoking just a little bit too long, and it was like listening to nails on a chalk board (or in my case – the metal of a worn down pencil eraser on paper). After a long and snowy train ride, we arrived at the train station in Milan a little past 11:30am. We then had to quickly grab our stuff and run for the metro, which we took from Milano Centrale Station to Cadorna Station.

After we jumped off the metro we ran straight for the Malpensa Express – a 30 minute train that runs between Cadorna Station and the Malpensa Airport. We bought tickets for it and jumped on train about 30 seconds before the doors closed and it left. We arrived at the airport around 12:30, and had to wait 20 minutes for the bus to arrive and get us to terminal 2.

Checkin for our flight on easyjet ended at 1:50pm, and we were there around 1:00pm, with a massive line ahead of us that was barely moving. It reminded us of when they made fun of “check-in at an Italian airport” on 30 rock. Anyway, it was crazy, and by 1:30, the line had barely moved. Luckily, at this pointed they opened up a “Barcelona only” line, which we quickly jumped into. However, these people at the front of the line had some sort of problem that involved 15 minutes of not moving and a lot of random people cutting in line and carrying bags to the counter. It was pissing us off. Finally the line started moving again, and we checked in right at 1:50. Not that it mattered, because it was just announced that our flight was delayed 40 minutes, back to 3:10pm.

We got some chips and chocolate to hold us over, since we hadn't eaten since or small breakfast at 7:30 that morning. Finally we were able to board the plane, which did not have reserved seats, so we just had to get in line as quickly as possible. Luckily we got in near the front of the line, and got nice window seats in front of the plane engines. The flight was pretty nice and only took an hour and a half or so. I could see a lot of snow, the Mediterranean Sea, and even Nice, France as we flew over it. We landed in Barcelona a little past 5pm, and after collecting our luggage we headed over and boarded the train into the city.

It was much warmer than any of Italy, and everything seemed much more relaxed. At the train station when we were fumbling with the ticket machine, a worker actually came up and helped us – it was amazing, and totally unexpected (never would've happened in Italy). We got on the train and were surprised at how empty and organized it was – they actually had screens that showed the upcoming stops and announced them ahead of time (again, nothing like Italy). After the train we jumped on the metro and took it to the street where Jason and Naomi's flat is (Lauren's brother and sister-in-law).

They actually just flew to Rome, so we got to stay at their flat while they are gone. We found our way to the flat, and their one housemate who is here right now, Heather, let us in and showed us around. We were both really tired, but our food for the day consisted of a quick breakfast and a small snack, we ran out to a cafe and grabbed a really good sandwich. After we got back, Lauren passed out pretty quickly and I wasn't far behind.

So overall, it wasn't really an exciting day – just a lot of traveling (3 trains, 2 buses, 1 airplane, 2 metros, and 11 hours) and a lot of luck that we actually got there. I'm really glad I picked such an early train – I thought we were going to have many hours free at the airport before our flight, but it turned out that we barely made it on time. I later realized that if we hadn't jumped on that Malpensa Express train just seconds before the doors closed, we would've had to wait another half an hour and we probably wouldn't have made our flight checkin time. Lucky us. At least from now on we don't have to travel to get to our flights – all the airports are in the same cities we will be in, so it's just a short metro or inner-city train ride.

Bologna train station in the snow - other than this, we were too exasperated to take pictures. Sorry

Day 6 - Bologna with Elio and Anne (and Claudio and Luciana)

We woke up a little later than usual, around 7 or 8, and went down to get breakfast. Their continental breakfast was very good, and I ended up cutting a croissant in half and stuffing one half of it with brie and the other half with Nutella (I think this means I'm about ready for France). They had other good food too (yogurt, kiwi, cold cuts, etc...). After breakfast, we got all dressed up for the snow and went outside so Lauren could play in it.

At this point it was light out, but still snowing very hard with big flakes, and someone from the hotel was attempting to shovel cars out of the parking lot. We walked around the hotel and took lots of pictures (some of which you can see below). At this point it had probably snowed almost a foot over night (by the afternoon, it was slightly over a foot).

Around 9 or 9:30 we went back up to our room and got ready to head out for the day (and I quickly posted some of the snow pictures). Around 10:15 Elio showed up and greeted us. His English was actually pretty decent, and communication in person was much easier. However, his car at his house was under a foot of snow, so ended up taking a cab back to his house. We met his wife, Anne, and their two cats, CeeCee and Cora (I'm 99% sure that's pretty close to correct). They have a very nice pentehouse suite on the 9th floor of a building that overlooks much of Bologna.

They took us up one more floor to the roof, where you could see 360 degrees of Bologna, as well as a Basilica up in the hills (the name escapes me at the moment). There is also a covered walkway going from the Basilica to the center of Bologna – apparently it is the longest covered walkway in the world at 11 kilometers (about 5 miles long). It was neat to see the whole town covered in so much snow from the roof. Elio said that Bologna hasn't gotten that much snow in 15 years, and it sounds like it often doesn't snow in Bologna in the winter, so we really lucked out. Actually, we really liked the snow, but it seemed that we were the only ones in Bologna who did. And when I checked the weather and news the next day, it seems that most of Europe and the East Coast of the US got unusually heavy snow dumped on it. I read that 4 eurostar trains carrying 2,000 people got stuck over night in the Chunnel (between England and northern France for 10 hours without electricity, and that the East Coast got so much snow (over a foot) that most flights were grounded or delayed, and they were recommending most people not travel or drive if possible.

Anyway, back on topic – we left the roof and went back inside. Marc said that Elio really likes American cowboy/old western stuff, so I gave him the soundtracks I got him in the US (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Fist Full of Dollars, and For a Few Dollars More). He seemed excited, and promptly showed us this giant floor to ceiling shelf he had full of Italian cowboy comics he had been collecting for 30 or 40 years (it wasn't quite clear how long he had been collecting them, but I think they dated back to the 1950's, and he seemed to have every one of them in the series). It was pretty impressive.

Then we went out into the living room where they served us some very strong coffee (yes, I drank what I think was espresso and survived) and cookies. While doing that, we looked at photo albums for an hour or two. First of my family's trip to Italy a few years ago (it was the very impressive album Julia put together and had printed), then we looked at 4 or 5 albums of Elio and Anne's trips to the US over the years. They were actually pretty cool – they see like they have been everywhere. Yosemite, Death Valley, Vegas, 3 or 4 national parks in Utah, the Grand Canyon, Chicago, and New York. Some of the Chicago pictures were especially neat because they had a friend who was a physicist, and they got to visit the FERMI-lab particle collider.

Around 12 or 12:30ish we decided to go have lunch. Now Lauren and I have had some pretty good Italian food so far (basic, but good), but none it even came close to being as good as what we ate at the little restaurant they took us to. It was all traditional Bolognian food (which is supposed to have some of the best food in Italy). It started with this giant hollow piece of warm bread topped with a piece of Prosciutto – it was delicious. Next we were served a tortillini soup and about 3 different types of pasta (all hand made in the restaurant, again, traditional Bolognian pasta). It was the most delicious food I had in all of Italy, and while Elio and Anne made short work of their plates, Lauren and I barely made it through 2/3 of our food. The waiter (a young Albanian guy who spoke pretty decent English) was teasing us for not being able to finish most our food. “Now I'm just saying, I once ate two of those plates of pasta” he said. We were most of the way through the (delicious) bottle of wine, and he said the funny thing he noticed is that while Americans can't seem to eat nearly as much as Italians, even if they are completely full, they never say no to another drink. Now even though we were completely stuff, they still wanted us to try some of the last dish. There were french fries (freshly baked with some delicious seasoning) and some sort of combination of prosciutto, bread, cheese, and more prosciutto that was fried that was a horrific combination of delicious and artery clogging. I couldn't eat any more, and yet I still somehow at a good chunk of it.

At the end of the meal, when I tried to offer to pay for part of it, Elio broke out the largest repitoire of negative words I have ever heard him use. “Absolutely not! Definitely no! I will not hear of it!” he loudly proclaimed. I guess that settled that. Then we headed off to the center of town by bus. We got off the bus near Bologna's twin towers. They are two very old, tall towers that both lean in towards eat other (much like the more famous Leaning Tower of Piazza). They are 500 steps to the top, and I wanted to climb one, but apparently they were closed because of the snow. It was okay though – climbing that many stairs after eating that lunch probably would've ended with me throwing it up off the edge of a tower.

Then we walked to the center of town where we were the day before. We laughed at the giant George Clooney espresso machine advertisement again and saw the Fountain of Neptune (covered in snow this time). Also, someone brought a small pair of reindeer into the square, and there was a giant crowd around them (and even a news van set up), but I got a couple decent pictures of them. Then we headed into a building that was kind of a library (a media library I think) with a coffee shop and some other things on the first floor. We walked all around it and looked at everything, including the ancient Roman ruins that it was built directly on top of (the floor was mostly glass plates so you could see down to the ruins).

As we were leaving we met up with Claudia – I think she was the daughter some of Elio and Anne's friends. She was our age and going to the University of Bologna. She spoke perfect English at about twice the speed that we do. We all went to a little cafe and got hot chocolate, which made Lauren and I very sleepy (since it was so warm and comfortable to sit down inside and drink hot chocolate). And like my Florence hot chocolate, it was much thicker (and better) than any hot chocolate I've had in the states. They must think ours tastes like water. As usual, Elio wouldn't hear of me paying for even coffee - my euros were shoved back across the table towards me as he said something about spending it in Barcelona. After this, Claudia left and we went back to Elio and Anne's apartment.

When we got there around 3 or so, we put on a movie (Rocky Horror Picture – English with Italian subtitles) and Lauren and I just about passed out on the couch. After an hour or so Claudio (Elio's brother) and Luciana (Claudio's wife) showed up – they would have shown up earlier in the day, but they live outside of Bologna and the snow kept them from going anywhere for a while. They brought some cake (very light, fluffy bread covered in powdered sugar), and we all sat at the table and ate it and talked. Every now and then Elio would turn and watch Rocky Horror for a few minutes while giving it a very weird look (they owned it, among a small stack of some very good American movies, but apparently they hadn't seen it before). Eventually they all pulled out the alcohol (which I declined because I was already so tired) and cigarettes and continued talking intently, while occasionally asking us questions or telling us something. Communicating with us usually consisted of talking at us rapidly in Italian, followed by a few well chosen words of English that got the point across. It worked quite well.

Around 6, Lauren and I were so tired we were finally ready to head home. We took a couple group pictures, then Claudio and Luciana were nice enough to drive us back to the hotel, since they had a snow-free car. After exchanging goodbyes with Elio and Anne, we were driven back to the hotel. After we said bye to Claudio and Luciana, we went up to our room and Lauren fell right asleep. I was up for a couple more hours, but around 9 I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I passed out.

That was definitely the best day I had in Italy (I think Lauren agrees too) – it was fun to spend the day with some locals, especially who know where the best restaus.rants are and such. Even though their English was pretty limited (and our Italian was absolutely non-existent) communicating wasn't too hard (mostly thanks to their English). On a more random note – I just noticed how small all the elevators in Italy are. The one at our eco-hotel in Rome could only fit 2 people, and the elevators at our hotel in Bologna as well as the elevator in Elio's building could only fit 4 people shoulder to shoulder. He seemed to agree that their elevators were a lot smaller than ours.

Over a foot of snow - taken from our 8th floor hotel balcony

Twin leaning towers of Bologna

Elio and Anne

Reindeer!

Lauren and I in front of snowy Neptune's Fountain

Cora
CeeCee (Princess)
From the Left: Luciana, Claudio, Anne, Elio, Lauren, Me (and don't forget the giraffe teapot that Lauren loved)

Emergency Post - SNOW!

It snowed all of last night and very heavily this morning. I thought some pictures were in order. This is just a very quick picture post - I'll have a real post for today up later (tonight or tomorrow)

Day 5 - Bologna

It was time to leave Florence and head off to Bologna. We got up pretty early (6ish) and headed off to that same little cafe where we had breakfast the day before. We both got the same thing, and the guy there seemed to remember my order from the day before, because as I was trying to remember "hot chocolate" in Italian, he just filled in for me. Then we headed over to the supermarket, where we had to get some odds and ends. One of those included a wine opener, which we had been needing for days.

Then we headed back to our hotel, finished packing up, and checked out. It was a relatively short walk back to the train station (10 or 15 minutes), and there we waited for our train. It was one of the really fast, nice, eurostar express trains (unlike the much crappier train we took to Florence) that take half the time to get there as other trains. When we boarded, we spent most of the (very short) ride worried that we had accidentally sat in first class because everything was so nice. Fold out tables, power outlets, power adjusting seats, power window shades, etc... And as usual, no one ever checks your ticket. You just get on and off where you need to - yay for the honor system (and the very stiff penalties if you do get caught cheating).

The train was very fast and smooth, but I kid you not, we spent more than half of the ride underground. It felt more like a subway to Bologna that occasionally surfaced. When it did surface, the mountain (that we were going through) we covered in a beautiful thin layer of snow. We only got to see a few quick flashes of it during the 37 minute ride, and soon we were at Bologna Centrale Station. I had bus directions to our hotel, but thanks to the massive amount of buses and some confusion about our stops, it took us a little while to find out correct bus going in the correct direction. But eventually we did get to our hotel, and as usual, we were able to check in before official check in time (always nice when you are tired, cold, and cranky).

After an hour or two of relaxing at the hotel, we headed out for the Piazza Maggiore, which had a massive and very impressive church, and the Fountain Neptune. We went inside the church (where I was told to take my hat off) and like other churches we had seen, it was massive (no pictures inside). Other than that it was kind of plain, though there was a very neat little exhibit with a pendulum. Apparently this was one of the first experiments showing that the earth was spinning - the pendulum was independent of earth's inertia, and in 24 hours it would make a full circle around the center point it was swinging over as the earth spins under it. Kind of an over simplified explanation, but you get the idea. And as we left the church, there was a little gift shop/table as usual. Apparently god doesn't like it when you have a hat on in church, but he isn't above merchandising.

Then we went back out into the square and saw the Fountain of Neptune. Interesting fountain, as there is alot of water spouting out of breasts (see pictures below). I don't know about the history of it (like usual, google will tell you) but it was a very neat fountain. After that we wandered around the area for an hour or two searching for food. Unfortunately we were somehow unable to find anything that served some good pasta and was open for dinner (it was 4:30 and we were hungry and tired). So we ended up going back and eating at the hotel restaurant by 5:30.

My uncle Marc has some first cousins in Bologna that we were planning on visiting. The catch? They know very little English, and I can't even pronounce most of the Italian that I can get out of google translator. So I spent 30 or 40 minutes looking up and writing down Italian phrases that I couldn't pronounce, then I gave him (Elio) a call. He immediately knew who I was, but we spent about 10 minutes on the phone just trying to communicate where I was. Finally we decided it was best that I enlist the help of a translator. I went down to the reception desk, and the receptionist was nice enough to help me have a quick conversation (she thought it was pretty funny).

Just as a random observation, I thought it was funny that as she transitioned between Italian and English, she would talk at twice the speed and volume in Italian, then half the speed and volume in English. Anyway, we decided that he would pick us up at the hotel the next day between 10 and 10:30. I think we are going to his house for lunch or something, but I'm still not entirely sure (I'm writing this about 30 minutes before he is supposed to show up). It should be a fun and interesting visit. Marc said he really likes old western stuff (especially music), so I got him the soundtrack to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and burned him a CD of music from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly", "Fist Full of Dollars," and "For a Few Dollars More" (which I couldn't find in the store, so I had to buy the music online).

Around 10, we had the metal shutters on our room closed (we are on the 8th floor and have a balcony) and I just happened to check Bologna's current weather. It said it was snowing, and I opened the shutters, and sure enough, it was already piled an inch high on the railing of our balcony. I immediately woke Lauren up to see it, because she had never seen falling snow before. It was quite exciting, and really pretty, especially from our balcony.

After that I stayed up until close to 11 watching drinking wine and writing my last travel blog post (yes, I was a tad buzzed) while watching Italian Wheel of Fortune, then some Robert Redford prison movie that was dubbed in Italian. Once I posted, I fell asleep immediately.

Our Florence hotel key - very old fashioned

Our train - very modern

One of the brief flashes of country side from the train

That's right - Let it be known that George Clooney does Italian espresso ads. We saw one on TV too

Lauren in front of the Cathedral

Neptune's Foutain
Neptune's Fountian up close
Lauren is very excited to see her first falling snow

Snow falling - from our balcony over Bologna

Day 4 - Florence

Day 4

We woke up rather early as usual. Since this hotel charged for breakfast, we thought this would be a nice opportunity to go hunt down our own. We found a nice little cafe and Lauren got a croissant and coffee, and I got a pastry and hot chocolate, which I kid you not, was as thick as pudding (and topped in coca powder), and much more delicious. It was especially good because Florence was very cold all day - I don't think it made it past the mid-high thirties.

The first thing we noticed about Florence is how walkable it is. The entire time there, we never needed to ride a single bus. We walked over to the Baptistery (with the Bronze doors) and the Duomo, which also sports a massive cathedral and tower (Giotto's Bell Tower and Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral). They are very beautiful, and look extremely different from any sort of church we saw in Rome (as you will see from the pictures). The style and the type of stone they use is very different. For a more in depth analysis, I am the last person in the world you would ever want to consult. Please look elsewhere. Thankyou

Next we decided to wander towards the Uffizi Gallery, since it is supposed to contain some amazing works of art. The amazing thing about Florence is that you can walk such a short distance, and just "accidentally" stumble into priceless works of art. Such was our luck, as we just turned a corner towards a big neat looking tower, and ran right into Michaelangelo's "David" sitting at the base of the tower in the Plaza. Go figure.

Then we headed into the Uffizi Gallery - unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside (so no pictures below of the inside), but it was packed full of famous paintings. If you want to know which ones, ask Lauren or look it up. I'm pretty sure many of them were mentioned in my art history class, and I'm pretty sure I didn't care (assuming I was awake, which is a pretty liberal assumption). But they were certainly neat to see in the gallery. Though admittedly, I was getting a little testy by the end of the (very long/large) gallery, but Lauren seemed to be throughly enjoying herself the entire time.

After the gallery we headed towards the Santa Croce church. Another amazing (and huge) cathedral in the same style as the Duomo, with another amazing tower coming off it. We didn't go inside, but we did take some nice pictures outside. By this point we were getting hungry and ready for a rest. We had been walking all over Florence for the past four hours after all.

We stopped at a nice little cafe and had lunch. I had been craving a panini since we arrived, and finally got one. Normally I hate tomatoes, but in Italy, that just doesn't count. I had an extremely delicious mozzarella and tomato panini, and Lauren had some pretty good pasta (along with her usual coca lite).

After lunch we headed out towards the Santa Maria Novella train station (right next to the SMN church) to get our train tickets to Bologna for the next day. We stopped at the cathedral right before the train station, and it was in the same style we had been seeing all day. Equally beautiful, though a little smaller. Then we went over to the train station and got our tickets. After that, we headed back to the hotel (around 5ish) to rest. Somehow we managed not to fall asleep, and around 7 or so we went out for dinner. We ended up going to the same place as the night before, and the calzone was just as good this time around, if not better (F- you pizza hut. Do it like Italy or stop selling calzones. Actually, just stop associating ANYTHING you make with anything Italy or Italian). After that we headed back to the hotel, and I passed out accidentally between 8 and 9.

Lauren + Bronze Doors - What could be more beautiful?

Giotto's Bell Tower and Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral (the Duomo is inside the Cathedral)

The Duomo from the inside

Mattias vs David

Tower and Castle above the statue of David

View across the river from the Uffizi
Saint Croce Cathedral + Tower

Lauren - being really cool in front of a lion statue at Saint Croce