Italy Day Two- Firenze

Day two in Italy started out in Roma.  We got up early to head over to the Vatican Museum so we could see the Sistine Chapel before we caught our 11:15 train to Firenze.  Little did we realize that you have to get up REALLY REALLY early in order to not have much of a wait.  We ended up in a line that took us about an hour or so to get through that wrapped around the walls of Vatican City.  The whole time we were in line people kept trying to come up to us an tell us that we were "too beautiful to stand in line" and that they would "take us to the agency" where we could get private tours for 20euro a person.  We declined their offers over and over again and even resulted to the ever charming "WE LOVE LINES" that Erin blurted out.  As we rounded the last stretch of the line, I heard my name being called.  Coming down the street were Chyna, Chelsea, and Janelle!   They were my hostel-mates when I was in Paris with Sam, Melon, and Ashleen.  It was so cool to run into them in Italy.  I knew they were going to be there at the same time as me, but I never thought we would actually see each other.  Just the week before when we were in Dublin we ran into them as we walked out of our hostel.

Inside the Vatican Museum half of the group went to check out bags while the others started towards the stairs to buy tickets.  We were stopped when we reached the stairs by a security guard.  He told us to wait for our friends because today was the last Sunday of the month so the museum was free!  It was our lucky day!  Saving 15euro!  Because we didn't have a lot of time, we went through the museum relatively fast so that we could see the Sistine Chapel.  I was in awe when I walked into the chapel.  You could spend a whole day just looking at the paintings in there.  We tried to pick out all of the murals we knew that were scenes from the Bible.  I'm so glad we took the time to go to the museum.  Hopefully one day I will be back again and be able to spend an entire day there.

(One of the beautiful ceilings in the Vatican Museum)

Upon arriving in Firenze, the group of us went straight to the Duomo.  The dome itself was not open to climb since it was a Sunday, but we were able to walk around the church and light candles for our friends and family back home.  Outside, there was a marathon being run by Italians from all over the country.  The race went right around the Duomo so we were able to catch some of the action and applaud the runners!

(Inside the Duomo)

(Lighting candles)

(Outside the doors)

(Full view)

(The girls at the Duomo)

After getting a gelato next to the Duomo we went to find our hostel- The Plus Florence.  This was a really cool hostel!  Not as amazing as the Generator in Dublin, but nevertheless, fabulous.  We had our own room with a private bathroom and a door out onto the balcony.

We settled in before moving along to do some more site seeing.  Our first stop was to see The David.  I'm not sure if it was completely worth 11euro to see The David... but I guess it was one of those things that you just have to do while you are in Italy.  It was fascinating to see and I loved reading about the history of the sculpture.  The museum also had a lot of other 'possible' works by Michelangelo.  It's incredible to think that he carved all of these statues by hand and had them turn out so precise.

(The girls at the pink David outside the museum)

The six of us wandered through town as it got dark outside looking at all of the lights on the streets.   They start Christmas early in Europe since they don't have Thanksgiving.  Everything was so pretty and lit up!  We headed towards the Ponte Vecchio, checking restaurant menus along the way.  As soon as we saw Mama Anna's we knew we had to go.  It was a cute little restaurant on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio along the main road.  We sat outside by the heaters and were waited on by a little old woman.  Our dinners were, yet again, very delicious.  I had a seafood pasta that had everything from clams, to mussels, to shrimp, and even baby octopus in it.  YES.  I ate baby octopus.  It tastes a lot like squid... but a bit squishier.  I refused to eat the little legs because they had the little suction-cuppy things still attached and it looked weird.  At the end of the meal, Mama Anna came out and said hello to us.  She was such a nice lady and had her chef's hat resting lopsided on her head.  We told her we loved her dinner and thanked her over and over again.

(Street art in Firenze)

(Me and Allie in the streets of Firenze)

(Seafood Pasta at Mama Anna's)

(Denis loves food)

(Signing the Ponte Vecchio)

Our walk continued up to the Piazzale Michelangelo (with a quick stop to sign our names on the Ponte Vecchio).  It was quite a hike to get up there, but well-worth it.  The view of the city was spectacular.  Everything was lit up below us and glowing in the clear night.  We took pictures with the Bronze David statue where Denis was the David and Allie and I were the statues on either side of him.  They came out beautifully (see below)!

(The group minus Allie)

(Surfer Duding on the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo)

(Posing at the David)

The night ended with a giant cannoli from a shop along the main street before heading back to our hostel and passing out quickly.

(Old bills from around the world)

(Best cannoli ever)

More to come!

"May the good saints protect you,
And bless you today.
And may troubles ignore you,
Each step of the way."

Italy Day One- Rome

There is so much to say about my trip to Italy that I will try to summarize it up in bullet points and short stories where needed.  The trip took place Saturday, November 24-Wednesday, November 28th.  Erin, Hope, Allie, and Liz were my travel buddies for the entire trip.  Denis, our friend from school who is studying in Spain, joined us for the first day in Rome and our day in Florence.  Saturday-Rome.  Sunday-Florence.  Monday-Pisa and Siena.  Tuesday-Siena and Rome at night.  Wednesday-Rome.

Here is the account of the first day- Rome.

I flew in to Ciampino Airport with Erin and Hope around 10:30am Italy time.  That has a nice ring to it doesn't it:  Italy time... We stepped outside and it was beautiful!  Exactly how I pictured Italy.  The warm weather was a shock- definitely something we are not used to in Ireland!  Anyway, we caught the bus into town... and that's when we got lost.  We hopped off of the bus outside of the train station and started following the crowd.  It took us about ten minutes before we realized that the further we walked, the more it smelled like sewage and garbage- not necessarily what I expected from Rome.  After a bit more walking we decided we definitely went the wrong way.  The whole time we were trying to get in touch with Allie, Liz, and Denis who were already in Rome.  We finally got in touch and told them we would meet them at the Vatican.  After referencing a map we headed in the other direction... and still couldn't figure out where we were.  We finally gave up and headed to the train station and took the metro over to Ottaviano.

At the Vatican we met up with the rest of the gang and got in line to try to get tickets for the mass with the Pope the next morning.  The line moved really fast and we finally made it through security and headed off to find the Bronze Doors.  A sign pointed us down an alley away from the crowd of people... so we cautiously followed the path.  Denis- who loves speaking to everyone in Spanish- asked a worker where the Bronze Doors were.  We were pointed up a set of step that were guarded by a fierce looking Swiss guard.  Hesitantly, we climbed up the steps towards the guard.  The closer we got, the more tense he became.  Once we were within  fifteen yards, two more guards came over with sharp spear looking things.  From what Denis understood from their broken Italish (Italian and English... pretty good mash-up right?) the tickets were sold out.  Disappointed- we headed out.

(Vatican City)

(One of the main fountains)

(Swiss guard)

Since we were already through security we decided to go to St. Peter's Basilica.  I have never seen anything so amazingly beautiful!  The detail of all of the paintings was unbelievable.  I recognized most of the layout, not because of pictures online, but because of the 3-D tours of the Vatican that Caroline made when she was interning for them four years ago.  It was very cool to be able to put two and two together and see it all in person.

(Inside St. Peter's)

(Backpacking in the Basilica)

My first piece of pizza and first gelato came from next door to Vatican City.  Although it was very good, it was not the best that we had in Italy.

(First gelato stop!)

After checking into the hostel (which had a great location-a two minutes walk from Vatican City- but was a little dodgy) we headed out to explore.  We took pictures by the river as the sun set, wandered aimlessly through the streets, threw coins into the Trevi Fountain while wishing to stay in Italy forever, and stared at the oculus in the Pantheon.  It was such a perfect night.  The sky was clear and the stars were out and not a drop of rain fell on us.

(Overlooking the river at sunset)

(The gang:  Allie, Liz, Hope, Erin, me, and Denis)

(Vatican in the distance)

(Orientation Group O!)

(Making a wish!) 

(All of the girls!)

We wandered over to Trastevere to find a restaurant that our friends had recommended to us.  When I say wandered, I mean wandered.  We walked up and down the street that it was supposed to be on and could not find the name of the restaurant anywhere!  After Denis asked for help (one of his favorite things to do) we were able to find the correct place.  While sitting there, so many people kept coming up to our table (since we were outside) trying to sell us stuff.  Our favorite was a man who tried to sell us a toy cat that danced and sang Shania Twain's song "Man, I Feel Like A Woman."  He must have come back at least five times.  Our dinner, on the other hand, was nothing short of remarkable.  It really hit the spot.  And to top it off, the waiter gave us free tiramisu because they all loved Obama and were happy to have Americans at their restaurant!

(Best caprese we had in Italy)

(Tiramisu courtesy of Obama!)

Tiramisu was obviously not enough for us on our first day in Italy, so we naturally had to get gelato before going to bed.  We looked up where exactly Old Bridge Gelato (highly recommended by Caroline and Mr. Matusiak) was and realized it was right next to our hostel.  The group of us ran over and got what was definitely the best gelato of Italy.  We got three large scoops for only 2euro!  And if you wanted they would put whipped cream on top for free!  We spent the next hour in Vatican City eating our gelato, taking pictures, and in Allie's case- doing handstands in front of St. Peter's.

(Old Bridge Gelato!)

That night, I slept on a bed that sunk to the ground completely on one side.  Ohhhh what a night that was.  I woke up feeling like I had aged fifty years in one night.  Thankfully when we went back to the hostel on Tuesday night they had taken the bed out!

Goodnight, Roma!

"May your feet never sweat,
your neighbor give you ne're a treat.
When flowers bloom, I hope you'll not sneeze,
and may you always have someone to sqeeze!"

Thanksgiving... Ireland Style

So just a short post about Thanksgiving in Ireland!

Yes, we did manage to make ourselves a REAL Thanksgiving dinner, with a REAL turkey and everything!  It was actually pretty good... I was extremely proud of us.

A group of about nine of us decided to make dinner together:  Me, Melon, Erin, Erin's sister Katie, Hope, Shannon, Puff, Anne, and Ciara were all a part of our Galway family Thanksgiving dinner.  Each person made a different dish, or in some cases, multiple dishes.  Melon and I spent the night before Thanksgiving making tri-fold (choclate heaven with reese's) and pumpkin pie.  Both desserts came out really, really good!  (If anyone needs a pumpkin pie expert, just ask me!)  The next day, I made stuffing from scratch, which thankfully turned out delicious because it's one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving.

Erin was in charge of the turkey.  After spilling a few gallons of water on the floor of her kitchen when defrosting the turkey at 5am, Erin managed to cook a turkey that tasted perfect!

Everyone else made a dish that they always had during their own Thanksgivings.

(Erin's carrot souffle, my stuffing, and Anne's green bean casserole)

(Turkey!)

(My dinner)

(Line for food!)

 (Melon's plate)

(My pumpkin Pie!)

Melon and I decided to host Thanksgiving.  Thankfully my mom (thanks, mom!) had sent me turkey napkins the week before so we were all set for our dinner!  Everyone arrived around 5:30 for a few appetizers and champagne and then we feasted.  Dinner was delicious and such a success.  It was an amazing feeling to pull of an entire Thanksgiving dinner in Ireland where getting the right ingredients is very hard to do.

After dinner, Melon, Erin, Katie, Hope, and I went to College Bar for a quizzo event hosted by Erin's soccer team.  Although "Team America, **** Yeah" (name courtesy of Katie) did not come in first, we did win a bottle of Dunphy's whiskey from free raffle tickets that someone gave to us!

Until later...

"May you have love that never ends,
lots of money, and lots of friends.
Health be yours, whatever you do,
and may God send many blessings to you!"

'Nova Takes Dublin

On November 16th the 'Nova group had a trip planned to go to Dublin for the weekend with Mary.  She wasn't able to be with us for the first half of the day, so our bus driver, Michael, took us out to Clonmacnoise in County Offaly for our first stop.  Clonmacnoise is an old religious settlement founded by St. Ciran.  He started his community there in order to spread the word of God through education.  At Clonmacnoise, the group watched a video on the history of the area which included its religious background as well as its history in war and siege.  Afterwards, we were free to explore the small museum that housed some of the oldest Celtic crosses still standing.  One was from the 10th century, one from the 9th century, and one from the 8th century.  Each one was more and more worn the older they were.  Outside of the museum were the cemetery grounds where people come to today to make pilgrimages and have picnics.

(10th Century)

 (9th Century)

(8th Century)

 (At Clonmacnoise)

Because we were running incredibly behind, Michael took us straight to Dublin after Clonmacnoise.  We were staying at the Generator Hostel on the opposite side of the river from the Temple Bar area.  The hostel was unbelievable!  It was so clean and looked like a modern hotel.  It even had a big bar downstairs right near the entrance where a bunch of us spent out night after dinner.
We couldn't put our bags in the rooms when we got there because we needed Mary in order to pay for the rooms.  Instead, we all hung around the lobby and the bar until it was time to go to dinner.  Dinner that night was at La Caverna which is an Italian restaurant near the Temple Bar area.  Michael drove us over to the restaurant and we got seated and ordered while we waited for Mary to arrive.  The private room that we were seated in was very neat!  It was like a stone tunnel that you would see in an ancient city.  It was lit up with colored lights and had racks of wine along the back wall.  Dinner that night was very delicious, as all of our meals with Mary are.  I had a salmon pasta for my entree and tiramisu for dessert.

(La Caverna)

(Salmon Pasta)

(Me and Melon)

By the end of the dinner, everyone wanted to go back to the hostel to relax for a bit before we decided what we would do for the night.  Melon, Ashleen, Erin, Hope, and I were all in the same room together.  The five of us were very tired and so we chose to stay at the hostel for the night and see how the bar scene downstairs was.  Melon, Ashleen, Hope, and Sam all got what we dubbed "blue drank."  It was some sort of blue alcohol that was super sweet.  Although it looked really cool, I thought it was a bit too sweet.  Instead of blue drank I just got a cider.... and stole the Heineken glass they put it in for my collection!

(Chrissy, Shannon, and me at the Generator)

(Bar at the Generator)

The next morning we headed out early to go to Kilmainham Gaol.  Gaol is Irish for jail.  This is the jail where the first movements for independence really started.  It was here that many famous rebels were jailed and later executed for standing up to the British rule.  We were given a full tour of the jail and even got to see the main wing where people such as Joseph Plunkett, Grace Gifford, and Eamon de Valera.  This wing was familiar to a few of us because we had watched the movie In the Name of the Father for a research assignment for Mary's class (it's a very good movie- I highly recommend it).

(Sign in front of Kilmainham Gaol)

(Inside one of the jail cells)

(The main room) 

(Cross in memory of all of those executed at Kilmainham)

The next stage of our trip took us to the Guinness Factory!  Yay for Guinness!  The group of us split off upon arrival to explore the factory on our own.  We walked through the stages that showed how the beer was made, the history of the company, and the slogans and propaganda that they used.  I loved the section where you could look up your surname in a database and see if any of your relatives worked for Guinness at any point in its history.  There are loads of Fords in the system... so maybe one of them was related?  Let me know if you have any idea!

So naturally a trip to the Guinness Factory includes a pint of Guinness.  We used our tickets to go to the Guinness Academy on the fifth floor where we learned to pour the perfect pint!  I will say, I am quite the pro at it now- even thinking of becoming a bartender at a pub and staying in Ireland forever.  We finished up the tour of Guinness with lunch at the restaurant (Guinness stew of course) and a trip up to the Gravity Bar where we could see all of Dublin because it was a very clear and sunny day!

(Everyone's Irish on March 17th!)

(Pouring the perfect pint!)

(Certified!)

(Melon and me taking our first sips)

(James, me, and Owen in front of the gates)

Before we could finish our day we had to add in a trip the the Archaeology Museum in Dublin.  It was a great stop to make, particularly for me a few others because we had taken a course called Landscapes of Cult and Kingship.  In this class we learned about the Bog Bodies of Ireland and other countries which were on display in the museum.  Putting real-life ruins with the material we learned about the Bog Bodies was incredible and made our class seem a bit more useful and interesting to us.

We had a bit of free time after the museum that some of us used to go to the Celtic Whiskey Shop to purchase mini bottles of whiskey as souvenirs.  I got one with a Galway sticker on it to bring
home with me.

We climbed back onto the bus as it was getting dark outside.  Not moments after everyone had boarded the bus, we noticed a large crowd of people coming up from behind the bus.  Who would have thought we would have gotten stuck in the middle of a protest in Ireland.  The protest was for Pro-Choice initiatives for the country.  In the days prior to our trip, the incident with Savita (an Indian woman who died after doctors in Galway refused to give her an abortion) had caused a global stir and created chaos across Ireland.  We were stuck on the side of the road for about forty minutes until the last of the crowd had left and we were able to pull out onto the street again.

That night, we went to The Cedar Tree for dinner.  This is a Lebanese tapas restaurant near Trinity College.  There was so much food there.  I don't even know what I ate, but most of it was delicious.  I guess if anything, I came out of that dinner knowing that I enjoy Lebanese food!

(Food for four!?)

Another night in Dublin can only mean one thing- an evening at The Porterhouse.  A few of us parted for the pub immediately after dinner.  This is definitely my favorite pub in Dublin because it has live music every night and has four floors.  Each floor has its own coaster, too, so people try to collect them all whenever they visit.  Allie, Melon, and I decided to celebrate the night by taking a shot.  We couldn't choose which one we wanted so we asked the bartender what he suggested.  He told us his favorite shot was one that he came up with himself:  equal parts Malibu, Tequila, and Sambuca.  Later that night, we were joined for a short while by Ali Moran's friend Kathleen who was studying in Dublin for the semester.  She had seen me in Galway when she visited and so we had to make sure we met up for a little bit while I was in Dublin.

(Me and Kathleen at the Porterhouse)

Sunday morning we had a late start and headed to Galsnevin Cemetary.  It is the largest cemetery and home to almost one and a half times the population of Dublin.  We had a guided tour around the cemetery grounds where we were told about the history of the sacred ground.  It is a non-denominational cemetery, meaning that anyone can be buried there no matter what religion they are or even if they have no religious affiliation at all.  Over 300,000 of the people buried in Glasnevin are in poor graves where the bodies were stacked on top of each other in large ditches during mass breakouts of illness when few could afford burials on such short notice.  Regardless of the unseemly burial methods for those people, the records of Glasnevin can tell you where each person is buried down to the exact square foot on the grid.  Along with the poor of Dublin, famous people such as Daniel O'Connell (founder of the cemetery) and Charles Parnell who is buried in the Cholera plot.

(Daniel O'Connell's monument)

(Grave of Michael Collins- a French curator brings sends flowers to him multiple times a year signed from his lover...)

Our Dublin trip came to an end at Glasnevin.  We had gone on our last trip with Mary and would likely not all be together again for the rest of the trip.  It was a wonderful weekend adventure with lots of interesting sites to see.

"May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go,
and guide you in whatever you do--
and may his loving protection be a blessing to you always."