Semester Abroad: Spring break... a couple of weeks later.

So... Spring break was more than a week ago and I'm a little behind on entries but I'll try to catch you all up on the past couple of weeks of my life, starting with Spring break.

Pisa

Friday, March 6- Four of us flew into Pisa, Italy. There I had my first taste of real Italian Pizza and gelato (both of which were hard to beat during the rest of the trip). We went and saw the Tower of Pisa and the Duomo. They were fascinating to see but there was not much more to see in Pisa.

☜ holding up the tower of Pisa

Florence

Later on Friday- From Pisa, Bayley and I headed to Florence while the other two girls headed to Cinque Tierre to meet up with another group. After arriving in Florence, Bayley and I found our hostel, the Archi Rossi, fairly easily (after figuring out that there are three different kinds of street numbers). We met Melanie, one of our roommates and a German student traveling around Italy alone). For dinner, Bayley, Melanie and I ate free pasta in the hostel's kitchen. It was as great as its price. After a long day of traveling, we went to bed early.

Saturday- We woke up early to be one of the first in line at the Accademia (famous for Michelangelo's David). We were the third and fourth in line so we were able to just walk right in when it opened. Another good thing about being one of the first people in the museum is that we were able to see David without people crowded around it. The statue is spectacular. It's hard to even comprehend how Michelangelo was capable of that much detail in marble. The rest of the Academia was amazing as well.

After the museum, we went back to the hostel for a walking tour of the city. Our guide lead us through the city and gave us a basic overview of the city's history. Later, we visited the Duomo of Florence and another Basilica. The Duomo is beautiful from inside but I think the exterior might be even more beautiful than the interior.

☜ Bayley and me in front of Florence Duomo's Bell Tower

We had seen a note in the Duomo announcing English Mass services... so, we went to Mass that afternoon in the Duomo. I had never been to Mass before so I didn't know when to stand, sit, or kneel. It was a very interesting experience.

We spent the rest of the evening window shopping in the designer area of Florence.

Sunday- Another early morning: We were fourth and fifth in line for the Uffizi Gallery, which is one of the premier art collections in the world. Most importantly, it contains works by all four of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo). We walked around Florence some more before heading to the train station for our trip to Venice.

We arrived in Venice in the evening and spent some time getting to know the city (WARNING: that's a euphemism for getting lost...). We arrived at the hostel, which was not the best hostel I've stayed in but it worked for our purposes. We were both tired and a bit cranky from getting lost, so we just grabbed dinner and went to sleep pretty early.

Monday- In the morning we got breakfast from a café and ate it in St. Mark's square.

☜ St. Mark's Square

We watched people commute in for the day and others setting up souvenir, food and newspaper stands. After we watched Venice wake up, or commute into the city, we went to St. Mark's basilica. The church is basically sinking so the floor has been damaged quite a bit. We had to walk through it on platform walkways. The mosaics in the church are really beautiful; it is a shame that the church is being so badly damaged. After seeing the church, we went to a museum about the history of Venice. It was interesting to see how Venice used to be. I think that the city has become more of a tourist attraction lately but, it used to be a place with festivals and parties for the residents. It would have been a fun place to live. Next we headed back to the train station (and found our way more easily than the day before). We were headed to Rome! We arrived at night and met up with the other 7 girls who had been in Cinque Tierre. We ate dinner and I had some awesome tiramisu. We went to bed in a room decorated with images of Roger and Jessica Rabbit...

Tuesday- We headed to the Vatican. After walking through the museum, which has some really great art, we go to the famous Sistine chapel. It was very cool. I just sat for a while taking in all the images the cover the ceiling and walls of the room. A young girl in front of me said "Mom, what's everyone waiting for?" It did seem as though everyone was waiting for something. We were all crowded around and the noise level steadily grew until a shout, of "Quiet please" from a guard, started the process again. But everyone was looking at what they had waited for. We then went to St. Peter's church where we saw a strange affection for the apostle Peter. To someone with limited experience with the Catholic church, it seemed peculiar how Peter is held at the same level of reverence as Christ.

That night we followed a walking tour from a guide book that one of the girls had brought. We saw the "four rivers" fountain. It is really cool because each of its four statues represent a region of the world. We also saw the Trevi fountain where we threw in coins. Apparently, that ensures me another visit to Rome. I'm OK with that.

Wednesday- We went to the Coliseum and the Forum this day. A couple of us got a guided lecture (not really a tour since we stayed in one place) of the Coliseum. He kept referencing Gladiator which I have not seen but I guess I should now that I've been there. The Forum was cool to see but I didn't really know what was what (though I pretended...). After a while, it was just more ruins after more ruins.

☜ in front of the Coliseum

Thursday- Thursday morning we flew to Malta. For those who don't know where or what Malta is (I sure did not until a few weeks ago), Malta is a small island country south of Sicily. As we were landing, I could see from coast to coast of the island. We spent most of the three days chilling at the beach, eating crepes, and walking around. It was a relaxing break from the tourism that I had done for the past week. We flew back to London Saturday night.