Florence - Best known for

We did see a marathon of some sort..

Off the top of my head I cannot recall any monuments or dead men I saw in Florence(painted, zombified or otherwise). To my dismay, it seems that during vacation it is imperative to view dead people. Just like the theatrical release of The Sixth Sense, you have to pay to see the dead folks. Where does that get fun?

Trying to remember if I had ever visited the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

 

I do, however, recall the awesome Moroccan server at the Hostel. He happened to speak six languages, but more importantly, made excellent shots. Unlike his meddling boss, our Moroccan friend was not keen on charging me for the round of shots I ordered the table (including our newly met birthday girl, Larissa), that is, until his boss started yelling at him in the back room about payment. As required, I went to the front desk, ordered shots to which the desk clerk looks blankly at me before turning to her boss and shouting, 'How much are shots??' '3 euro'. Ticket in hand, the Moroccan brings us shots. Six shots on the tray... Five people at the table. 'Man, my boss.... He's a real pain in my ass you know?' ' Alright, quick, quick' as he motions to the shots - one in front of each of us and one in his hand. We all quickly tip back our shots. Israeli Bastards, what a name for a shot. After kicking back some 'birras', a round of shots and a 300 gram pizza I am not really listening. I think he told us what was in the shot, too... In fact I don't really care much about anything else I did earlier or the dead people I presumably saw earlier that day. There was a statue in there somewhere, I think. Oh yeah, Michelangelo's David.  If you are ever in Florence, it is definitely worth visiting, although I cannot remember the pizzeria's name.

Rome day 3: basilica!!

And that's the CEILING!

We went to the Vatican today! All the way through the museum(think Sistine chapel). 'm more a fan of natural beauty, mountains and oceans, than human art, but the Vatican museum is breathtaking. Many of the rooms have every single inch of space covered.

After spending a few hours in the Vatican museum we visited the inside of Saint Peter's basilica. The center of the entire Catholic religion is quite amazing. Ornamental art and reliefs on top of art. The ceiling, columns, pillars, floor ... no stone is left untouched.

Everything has significance. How many cherubim on the arches, the names, words, the length. Although, I don't know what the significance might be.

Went to Saint Peter's basilica and climbed all ~435 feet to the top. Once you get near the top of the basilica over the cupola the stairs become.. interesting.. to navigate. Especially if you are taller than five feet.

From atop Saint Peter's basilica you can see all of Vatican city and a huge portion of Rome. We arrived at the top early in the morning when the crowds were thin and peered out over the city. Droves of people kept trying to pack into the balcony area but we didn't give up our prime spot. We almost stayed up there all day!













For lunch we ate at a {random} backalley restaurant, had a liter of house wine for 10€. I don't speak much Italian so I had no idea what I ordered. "Vorrei [point to menu]". Apparently I ordered something that required further choosing... so I said 'yes' several times in Italian. It was delicious.

The staff spoke about five words of English. Finished with a digestif of Limoncello! Yum! Screw the Roman metro! I want the Paris vomit-a-color back!

Paris: Epicenter of Culture?

Paris is amazing. I don't use that word lightly considering a, m and z are all moved on a French keyboard. The 73-78F, sunny weather with a light breeze doesn't hurt either.

A series of tubes.

Saturday, the second raid into Parisian controlled territory. I took the metro from the quaint east suburb area into central Paris looking for the ridiculously large Louvre. 'Taking' the metro is more like sitting in paint shaker that is mixing up a batch of 70's inspired groovy paint, a good adventure in itself. I hopped off the train as near to the Louvre as I could get and ambled through the streets of Paris and ended at a sign that definitely did not say 'Louvre' but rather 'Pompidou'. Change of plans. Scratch that, cancel the plans altogether. Into the Pompidou! Just follow my feet. Art for art's sake... There's a big shroom in the Pompidou. And a very awesome fire suppression system... Buckets, hoses, extinguishers, mammothly large fire doors... but no sprinklers, too much art of course.

I wandered off to Notre Dame de Paris next, enjoyed the weather with a juicy orange and a croissant before heading inside. The pigeons are so tame you can almost punt them. The sparrows will eat bread out of your hand. The inside of Notre Dame is pretty cool, too. The stained glass windows are AMAZING! The top of the Notre Dame towers are 400 steps up, but the view is amazing! Gargoyles, flying buttresses, wire cable so you don't jump... and one really, really big bell. The bells even have names.

If Chuck Norris were a drink he would be...

Steaming hot espresso. The first thing I drank in Paris, and I don't even like coffee/espresso/caffeine. My brother, however, thinks French coffee to be quite a worthy endeavor and made demands against the safety of my continued existence conditional upon the consumption of French coffee. So, I drank it (somewhat) happily. The espresso took a sweeping Chuck Norris roundhouse to my brain and cleared away the jet-lag, for awhile... At midnight I fell asleep in the car on the way back from the Eiffel Tower... 7 times. Even time I managed to nearly damage my pretty face in the tiny dashboard of the quaint smart car I would jolt back to life for 90 seconds. I got home and fell into bed. Best. Sleep. Ever.

Into the Depths of Paris

First off; Iù, typing on q French keyboqrd: This is ,uch hqrder thqn it ,ight see,: The letters qre ,essed up: In fqct; qll the chqrqcters qre ,essed up::: Even &;é qnd ":
Translated from French keyboard speak: First off, I'm typing on a French keyboard. This is much harder than it might seem. The letters are messed up. In fact, all the characters are messed up... Even 1,2 and 3.

That being said.... I have uploaded some pictures and will tell the stories in my next install,ent.

Turn the frustration to 11.

European Prep Work

In less than one week I will be leaving the States for the first time. Strapped to my back, I'll carry my life for about 3 weeks as I pass through Paris, Rome, Florence, Lucerne(Switzerland) and Paris(again). Oh yeah, how about a day trip to Tuscanny to drink wine?! Hiking in Switzerland?! Shenanigans in Paris?! I think 'yes'.

Throughout the journey I will blog from each wi-fi enabled McDo, hostel or cafe. The antics will be crazy traveling with some engineers(until I get back to Paris) and mathematicians(stay tuned for TandemTerror in Switzerland when we put two men on one perfectly good bike).

As of now I have a plane ticket to Paris and back, a smattering of French, five empty boxes on a railpass(Italy, France and Switzerland), nowhere to stay in Rome, one backpack and a tiny iPod for blogging! And a serious need of vacation. Engineering isn't always faeries and unicorns, kids( just somewhere after 3am).

My railpass arrived just today. Tomorrow I still have a final in Polymer Chemistry, but the trip almost feels real. Let's just say I don't officially graduate until I pass all my finals.