Study Abroad Day 25: Day Trip to Florence

Our trip to Florence began with a bit of a rush! None of our alarms went off so we ended up waking up with thirty minutes until our train left. We got ready really quickly and headed out for the station. We made our train and watch the Tuscan countryside roll by as we traveled up to Florence. When we arrived we got of the train and realized we had no idea where to go! We wandered around aimlessly, turned a random corner then BOOM there was the duemo:

We walked around the Duemo for a while and found a Magnum ice cream shop. They are Cal's favorite ice cream so we had to stop in. we walked in and were shocked; you make a custom bar! I ordered dark chocolate with pretzels, cookies and brownies on top (:

Next we decided just to walk in one direction and see what we happened upon. As we walked down a side street it began to rain. I felt like we were in a movie rain drizzling and horse drawn carriages trotting down the little cobblestone streets.

We asked one of the store owners how we could get to the David statue, it was really close by so we headed there. Unfortunately we found out that the actual statue is in a museum and because we only had one day in Florence we decided to skip it an just see the replica. There were tons of people around so I didn't get a good photo of David but I did get this of Cal being a goof:

We headed over to the river and it literally took my breath away, the rain was almost gone and the lighting was just right. I could walk by this river all day and never get tired of seeing it:

We were all getting hungry so we asked a local for a recommendation and had an amazing authentic tuscan meal. I got a zucchini and linguine pasta dish, Cal got a chicken salad and Sam got ravioli with meat sauce. All of the food was amazing but we gobbled it up too fast to snap a picture. We continued to wander around and ended up in the beautiful Santa Maria Novella square. I loved this area because there were beautiful flowers in front of the impressive stone facade of the church.

We once again wandered back onto a side street and found ourselves in a square surrounded by shops, restaurants, street performers, a carousel and a huge arch. Im not sure what this area is called but it was an extremely interesting place to people watch:

By this time we were all beginning to hit a wall. We found a coffee shop sat down outside and drank some cappuccinos and discussed life. I love that Cal, Sam and I are getting so comfortable with each-other. Talking about everything from serious subjects to completely ridiculous inside jokes. I think we've made a life-long friend, and that makes me so happy.

We spent our last few hours wandering around again looking at shops and just people watching. Unfortunately it was time to head to the train station. We overestimated how long it would take to get there so we looked around in the station. I ended up ordering a happy meal from McDonalds to snack on the train. As you all know the adaptations that companies like McDonalds makes abroad is very interesting to me so I could help but give it a try. Sadly the train arrived and we had to leave the beautiful walking city of Florence:

Once again we watched the Tuscan countryside roll by. I decided to take a video from the window and hopefully you can get a taste of what I watched for an hour and a half on the way back to Rome.

We got back to Rome, showered packed and went to bed. We left early the next morning for Greece, so tried to fit in as much sleep as possible!

I'm so glad we got a change to see Florence! It was definitely my favorite Italian city; I'll have to come back and stay longer next time.

Look forward to a couple blogs about Greece tomorrow!

<3 Morg

Study Abroad Day 24: Exploring Vatican City

Lets just start out this blog by saying thank you to Sam!!! Our sim card got corrupted the day we visited the Vatican so sam let us user her iPhone for photos. We owe her big time, love you Sam!

We woke up, went to class and then headed out on the metro for the Vatican. We had booked a tour online so that we could better understand everything we were seeing. It was time for some food so we stopped into a local salad place, where they custom made salads for each of us with fresh ingredients. It was the first healthy meal we've had the whole trip, and it felt great to eat some real food. Then we met up with our tour and headed into the Vatican museums:

We walked up some stairs then through security and into the actual museums. At the top of the stairs we stopped to count everyone and make sure we were situated. This is the only spot where you could see the whole dome of St. Peter's Basilica so we took a photo:

The first courtyard that the guide, Pricilla, showed us had some contemporary and ancient art in it. Unfortunately I don't remember who created these pieces but I've got some pictures to show you:

Pricilla sat us down in the shade of the courtyard and taught us about the Sistine Chapel. While inside the chapel you must be silent so she pulled out some pictures and taught us about the art we would see there. Then we headed into the ancient roman area of the museum.

These are some of the statues in the ancient roman area (notice the top right photo, all statues used to have eyeballs but may break over time):

These pieces were created when the ancient Romans conquered Egypt and copied their traditional art:

Then we transitioned into a gallery full of tapestries, we don't have too many photos of this area but it was neat to see some of the tapestries that created optical illusions. It seemed like the eyes of the people in the tapestries followed you:

Through out the whole museum the ceilings were works of art on their own, Some in 3 dimensions other just painted to look 3-d. They were all ornate and stunning:

The final section was full of maps frescoed into the walls. Each different region of Italy had a map and at the end of the corridor was a map of all of Italy. The impressive thing about this is that it was created by calculations not satellite imaging. So, someone mapped out the topography with just their brain and some paper.

This is a map of Venice, you can see the topography in the background:

Next it was time for the Sistine Chapel! Unfortunately photography is forbidden so I don't have anything to show you. We admired Michael Angelo's stunning work on the ceiling and the other artists frescos on the walls. After leaving the chapel we snapped a photo of the stairs diplomats use to have an audience with the Pope. The chapel is on the left side of the stairs and meeting room at the end of the hall:

Next we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica! This was, in my opinion, the best part of the tour. We walked in and the sun was streaming through the windows in rays and you could hear a choir singing. It felt like angels were all around us. Pricilla told us the history of the basilica then let us wander around to pray and take it all in for ourselves. I can't really describe the size of the basilica because the proportions make it seem small, you will just have to come see for yourself:

Absolutely breathtaking:

We headed back outside and into St. Peter's Square:

 Couldn't help but take a photo of the Swiss Guard in full uniform:

We walked through the gift shop, sent a few postcards home from Vatican City, then went to explore the square. I loved how if you stood in the right spot the pillars all lined up! (can you tell that there are 3 different 'layers' of pillars?)

Sam got this wonderful Panoramic shot of St. Peter's Square:

After exiting Vatican City, we found a Sicilian pizza place near by and grabbed dinner. Then headed back to the hotel (after stoping off by the Spanish steps to get some more tiramisu). It was getting late and we had an early train to catch in the morning! 

Prepare for our day in Florence tomorrow (:

<3 Morg

Study Abroad Day 23: Pantheon, Trevi Fountain & Spanish Steps

We started our day with class once again! After class we decided it would be fun to try and find a gluten free Italian restaurant for Callie. This turned into an ordeal, we waited for the bus that was supposed to take us to the area of the restaurant. We ended up waiting about an hour because we were standing in the wrong place for fifteen minutes, then the next bus was late and didn't come for forty five minutes! Once we got to the restaurant it was closed. We were all starving so just found the next restaurant walked in and sat down. Then God stepped in! The waiter told us they had gluten free pasta so we all got to eat pasta in an air condition restaurant with the best waiter ever. His name was Francisco, he gave us free ice cream and taught us some Italian.

He even took this photo for us:

We took a taxi from the restaurant right to the base of the Pantheon. As we walked in I was shocked by the size of the dome. The basilica is very large and its interesting to see how an ancient pagan building can be adapted into a catholic church.

It was time for the Trevi Fountain, unfortunately the fountain is undergoing some maintenance so we could only see parts of it. It was very disappointing to miss out on our Lizzie McGuire coin flipping moment, but it was nice to see the area.

As we made our way towards the Spanish Steps it began to rain. Unlike most people I absolutely love rain, so walking in the rain without an umbrella was really magical for me. We got a little lost on the way to the steps and found a huge park. There was lightning in the background and huge roman trees everywhere:

We eventually learned that in order to get to the Spanish steps we had to walk through the metro station. We found the steps and walked to the top, and snapped some pictures with the rain clouds in the background. Then we just wandered around and explored for a while.

It was really beautiful to see horse drawn carriages reflecting into the wet streets:

Cal loving the rain:

I just love spinning in the rain:

We were all getting a sweet tooth so we found a local bakery famous for it's tiramisu. Once again God helped us out and as we walked in there was a sign for gluten free tiramisu. We grabbed dessert, sat in the square and people watched.

While we stuffed our faces we saw a beautiful red dress in the Puchi store. It had a very familiar feel and a few seconds later I realized it looks just like the Salsa dancer emoji! 

Cal got a picture posing like the emoji:

Then we headed home on the metro, showered and headed to bed. I'm so happy that we finally had a really enjoyable day in Rome. The rain cooled us off and we saw some amazing sights. I hope you enjoyed our 23 day in Europe only 8 days left!

<3 Morg

Study Abroad Day 22: Eataly, Nike, and The Colosseum

Our day began with class, just like most. While Sam was in her second class Cal and I grabbed a snack at this bakery near the hotel. Then walked up to the train station and got an Italian sim card for our phone. Its really nice to be able to look up directions from anywhere, and avoid being lost.

We walked around the area of our hotel to find somewhere for lunch. We happened upon another Eataly and couldn't help but walk in. On the top floor there was a restaurant so we sat down and had a wonderful lunch. Cal and Sam ate caprese salads and I got a Rigatoni pasta. I also got a limonata which I liked even more than the san pellegrino kind we can find in the states.

We headed off to the Nike Factory Store that we saw yesterday. We went a bit crazy because the sale section was gigantic! I mean who can control themselves in a Nike store when everything is half off!

It's Colosseum time!!! We bought tickets online, got directions, and headed off. The streets of Rome are pretty dirty but some areas have really interesting architecture and history. I snapped these photos on our way to the colosseum:

We arrived and skipped the huge line because we purchased our tickets ahead of time. We strolled right in and I was immediately shocked at how much it felt like a modern stadium! Before we arrived I did some research on the history of the colosseum, while some of it's grim, I was most impressed with how much of the technology the Romans used that we still used today. The arches all over the stadium, multi leveled seating, assigned seats, tickets, running water and multiple entrances are still used today. We walked around took photos and just took in the magnificence of the amphitheater. 

Of course the tradition continues:

Next we tried to find our way to the Roman forum but walked then wrong way. There was a dead end with an adorable little church that we stopped in. I really liked the little street with initials carved into the walls, a man playing guitar, cobblestone and beautiful trees.

By the time we actually found the forum it was closed so we just decided to head back towards the hotel for dinner. On our walk we found this really cute arch covered in vines and couldn't resist taking a few photos:

It was pretty hard to find somewhere to eat, everywhere we walked by was pretty empty and people were trying to drag us in to eat. Its pretty obvious that the empty restaurants don't serve good food so we kept wandering around. We finally settled on a small pizza restaurant with a real pizza oven! I ordered a margarita pizza, Cal got cappers and Sam got lasagna. This was defiantly the best meal we've had since being in Rome.

That was our second day exploring Rome! Its really hot here but its been very fun to experience all the Roman ruins and the Italian culture.

<3 Morg