The Vine and the Branches (John 15)
"Jesus said, 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
'I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.'"
It's been a little while since I've thought about this passage, but today, I got the cool opportunity to experience this firsthand, and it immediately came to mind. :) After lunch today, Jon and I went to help Frank with his chores (out of boredom). We got to go play with the pigs for a bit and feed them peanuts, and then I went with Frank to go trim the vineyard. As I clipped off the tops of the vines, I thought of John 15 and how it really is crucial to our spiritual health to stay rooted and abiding in the true vine, Jesus. Without Him, I can't bear a single fragment of fruit. It also reminded me of discipline and the beauty of being pruned and molded for my sanctification and for the glory of God. Every time I go through a trial, it is God pruning me, cutting off the bad and unnecessary parts of my life (though I may try to hold tight onto them) so that I can bear even more fruit for Him. Praise God :)
I also got to eat a fresh duck egg for dinner (!), thanks to Frank, hehe :) Since then, it's been a pretty chill night, since our last day of class is tomorrow...insanity. The rain has started outside, so we're all just hanging out in the croft, belting Disney and Queen at the tops of our voices. I played my first chess game in probably over a decade (and beat Jon!), so that was fun. I'm going to miss chilling with these funny people.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
tell me where is fancy bred (6/28/11)
That's the name of the song (in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice") that I sang tonight at the performance get-together with Mary. I was actually more nervous than I expected, and my voice wavered a bit, but I think it went well, thankfully. Either way, it only lasted a minute or so, haha. We also heard from Josh (I really liked his short story, "The Bald"), Grace, Jason, and Ted...and Mary too, of course! I love listening to her talk. Before the get-together, I also got to go up to Ted's apartment/balcony and just chat with him for a bit, so that was fun.
After we finished performing, we got to just mingle and then watch a super-old BBC film on Ezra Pound, which was pretty neat. On the way up to Mary's apartment to help drop stuff off, she talked to me a little about her fascination with Chinese, and I realized how thankful I should be that I know as much as I do know (which is pretty limited, especially in reading/writing, but still). I really like Mary :) She's brilliant.
For reasons not completely known, but mostly related to the get-together, I felt really giddy afterwards and skipped back to the croft. Hehe.
On another note, I really want to read Dante's Inferno now...just need to get my hands on a copy of it. Bedtime!
After we finished performing, we got to just mingle and then watch a super-old BBC film on Ezra Pound, which was pretty neat. On the way up to Mary's apartment to help drop stuff off, she talked to me a little about her fascination with Chinese, and I realized how thankful I should be that I know as much as I do know (which is pretty limited, especially in reading/writing, but still). I really like Mary :) She's brilliant.
For reasons not completely known, but mostly related to the get-together, I felt really giddy afterwards and skipped back to the croft. Hehe.
On another note, I really want to read Dante's Inferno now...just need to get my hands on a copy of it. Bedtime!
sunshine and countdowns (6/28/11)
Whoo, a live update for once! Haha. I've just been spending the last few hours online because it's gotten so sunny and hot the past couple of days, which means going outside before 6 or 7 p.m. is really hot...(even though that's what I did yesterday, haha.)
After lunch yesterday (which may have been the best lunch we've ever had here: potatoes, home-grown pork, and lemon tart for dessert...although today's rivaled it: polenta and cabbage strudel with organic mirabellas and golden watermelon for dessert!), I decided to go on a hike because I was just that full >.< unfortunately, Schloss Tirol is closed for the next few days (not sure why), so I ended up visiting St. Peter's, a small, old church just up the hill, which was quiet and nice. It had very faded frescoes and funny chairs, haha. On the way back, just before I got back to the castle, I saw a sign for a hiking trail and indulged...I think I ended up hiking more than halfway down to Merano, haha. It was pretty fun, but I had to get back to drink water, since I hadn't brought any with me.
After eating some cereal as an early dinner, I met up with Brigitte and went with her to walk the pigs. It was a lot of fun :) They really do fall over when you scratch their tummies! Hehe, so cute. We just walked around and let them run around and graze. Jako, the little black lamb, also joined us. Yay for animals :) It was really nice and breezy down in that area. Afterwards, I just hung out with the other students in the kitchen, where things got a little crazy...so I just went to the vineyard for a bit for some quiet time and praise songs. :)
Today has been pretty uneventful, too, other than getting to talk to Brigitte a bit after lunch again. I always love talking to her, and I'm glad I've been making the effort to get to know the people who live here at the castle. They're so nice and talkative, especially Brigitte and India (who's gone for now). I'm hoping to get to hike with Brigitte sometime this week to go see her donkeys :) We'll see! Tonight, we have a small art show-type thing going on at 7 p.m., sponsored by Mary, where some of us will be either singing or reciting or reading short original works. I may be singing "Tell Me Where is Fancy Bred" from Merchant of Venice...! I guess Shakespeare in Song from Chamber Singers did come in handy after all XP
After lunch yesterday (which may have been the best lunch we've ever had here: potatoes, home-grown pork, and lemon tart for dessert...although today's rivaled it: polenta and cabbage strudel with organic mirabellas and golden watermelon for dessert!), I decided to go on a hike because I was just that full >.< unfortunately, Schloss Tirol is closed for the next few days (not sure why), so I ended up visiting St. Peter's, a small, old church just up the hill, which was quiet and nice. It had very faded frescoes and funny chairs, haha. On the way back, just before I got back to the castle, I saw a sign for a hiking trail and indulged...I think I ended up hiking more than halfway down to Merano, haha. It was pretty fun, but I had to get back to drink water, since I hadn't brought any with me.
After eating some cereal as an early dinner, I met up with Brigitte and went with her to walk the pigs. It was a lot of fun :) They really do fall over when you scratch their tummies! Hehe, so cute. We just walked around and let them run around and graze. Jako, the little black lamb, also joined us. Yay for animals :) It was really nice and breezy down in that area. Afterwards, I just hung out with the other students in the kitchen, where things got a little crazy...so I just went to the vineyard for a bit for some quiet time and praise songs. :)
Today has been pretty uneventful, too, other than getting to talk to Brigitte a bit after lunch again. I always love talking to her, and I'm glad I've been making the effort to get to know the people who live here at the castle. They're so nice and talkative, especially Brigitte and India (who's gone for now). I'm hoping to get to hike with Brigitte sometime this week to go see her donkeys :) We'll see! Tonight, we have a small art show-type thing going on at 7 p.m., sponsored by Mary, where some of us will be either singing or reciting or reading short original works. I may be singing "Tell Me Where is Fancy Bred" from Merchant of Venice...! I guess Shakespeare in Song from Chamber Singers did come in handy after all XP
one more week (6/26/11)
Wow, it's my last full Sunday here! I can't believe we only have one week left at the castle...crazy how quickly time flies.
Today was pretty chill; I woke up early to send Apeksha to the airport, and then we all headed back to the castle (and had delicious kebabs for lunch!). We got back in time for tea with Mary, which was delightful and yummy, and I really liked not having surprise guests that I don't know, which happened last time.
Man, Shakespeare is such a genius. We're reading The Merchant of Venice for class, and I'm loving it. I also just got done skyping with my mom and sister, yay! :) I always love doing that. Alright, goodnight! Time to finish my travel journal for class.
Today was pretty chill; I woke up early to send Apeksha to the airport, and then we all headed back to the castle (and had delicious kebabs for lunch!). We got back in time for tea with Mary, which was delightful and yummy, and I really liked not having surprise guests that I don't know, which happened last time.
Man, Shakespeare is such a genius. We're reading The Merchant of Venice for class, and I'm loving it. I also just got done skyping with my mom and sister, yay! :) I always love doing that. Alright, goodnight! Time to finish my travel journal for class.
la biennale (6/25/11)
Today was our last full day in Venice, and it was well-spent at the Biennale. Man, words can't describe how awesome and thought-provoking all the things I saw today were! I really loved the Biennale--it's like a world expo of modern art exhibits. I have so many brochures from all the pavilions I visited...haha. Every pavilion was so unique, not just in its content, but even in its architecture; every pavilion is built differently, which is pretty nifty.
At the Giardini (Gardens), we saw Spain (which was really weird and hard to understand--not the best one to see first, haha), Belgium, the main Illuminations pavilion, Israel, USA, Sweden, Denmark, France, Czechoslovakia, UK, Venice, Egypt, Austria, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Venezuela, Russia, and Switzerland. So much cool stuff! Man, I can't even describe all o fthem...The main pavilion had some cool things, both to do with light and not. Israel's was called "One man's floor is another man's feelings" and focused on the artist's attempt to build a salt bridge on the Dead Sea. Denmark's was really neat, focusing on free speech. The USA pavilion had a weird ATM-organ which was pretty amusing. I don't think I saw any (other than Spain) that I didn't really like. Ahh...I can't describe it all. It was cool, though, to see so many international things, and it reminded me of a lot of things that happened worldwide this past year, like the miners in Chile, the tsunami in Japan, and the riots in Egypt. What a sad state our world is in today =\
I also went to the Arsenale and saw some more pavilions: Iraq, Bangladesh, China, Italy, Chile, and then a whole line of India, Argentina, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and UAE. Those were also pretty neat, and I also checked out their gift shop and spent some time reading a guidebook for Houston, of all places XP It's always fun to read an outsider's view on your hometown, in my opinion, haha.
We all met back together at St. Mark's and had dinner in Campo Santa Margherita. I tried calf liver with polenta, Venetian style, and it was pretty good. Not my absolute favorite, but worth trying for sure. We briefly visited the Lido again before coming back to the campo and hanging out at a pub.
It's been a wonderful, amazing, and fun three days in Venice. Every day was so different and so full of new things, and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend our time. I love that feeling :) and I love Venice! I think it's my favorite city in Europe so far...there's just something magical about the water.
At the Giardini (Gardens), we saw Spain (which was really weird and hard to understand--not the best one to see first, haha), Belgium, the main Illuminations pavilion, Israel, USA, Sweden, Denmark, France, Czechoslovakia, UK, Venice, Egypt, Austria, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Venezuela, Russia, and Switzerland. So much cool stuff! Man, I can't even describe all o fthem...The main pavilion had some cool things, both to do with light and not. Israel's was called "One man's floor is another man's feelings" and focused on the artist's attempt to build a salt bridge on the Dead Sea. Denmark's was really neat, focusing on free speech. The USA pavilion had a weird ATM-organ which was pretty amusing. I don't think I saw any (other than Spain) that I didn't really like. Ahh...I can't describe it all. It was cool, though, to see so many international things, and it reminded me of a lot of things that happened worldwide this past year, like the miners in Chile, the tsunami in Japan, and the riots in Egypt. What a sad state our world is in today =\
I also went to the Arsenale and saw some more pavilions: Iraq, Bangladesh, China, Italy, Chile, and then a whole line of India, Argentina, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and UAE. Those were also pretty neat, and I also checked out their gift shop and spent some time reading a guidebook for Houston, of all places XP It's always fun to read an outsider's view on your hometown, in my opinion, haha.
We all met back together at St. Mark's and had dinner in Campo Santa Margherita. I tried calf liver with polenta, Venetian style, and it was pretty good. Not my absolute favorite, but worth trying for sure. We briefly visited the Lido again before coming back to the campo and hanging out at a pub.
It's been a wonderful, amazing, and fun three days in Venice. Every day was so different and so full of new things, and I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend our time. I love that feeling :) and I love Venice! I think it's my favorite city in Europe so far...there's just something magical about the water.
island-hopping (6/24/11)
Today was another amazing day, and the weather could not have been more perfect. We went island-hopping today and hit up pretty much every island with anything interesting on it. Go us!
We started the day off by going to Murano (which I'd been to before), the glass-blowing island. I'll admit, the glass-blowing show we saw today was better than the one I saw the first time, so that was nice. We spent a little while wandering and seeing the glass shops, and then we grabbed a quick lunch (and gelato--Apeksha's first time!) before getting on another vaporetto to Burano, which is known for its lace. The lace merchandise (especially the parasols) were nice, but what I liked more were the colorful buildings all around the island. It reminded me of La Boca in Buenos Aires :) The clouds in the sky provided good shade but didn't rain down on us, which was perfect, and we just sat by the water for a while.
Next up was Torcello, the oldest island in Venice. It had such a relaxing atmosphere, and we all loved it. Everything was just very simple and unadorned, but it was nice that way. We saw Ponte di Diavolo (Devil's Bridge), so nicknamed because it lacks railings on either side, as well as the church, which was very simple and good for meditating and praying. It reminded us of a chapel we visited in Santa Fe last year in its tranquility and simplicity. Afterwards, we found a spot by the water and just sunbathed for a while. Summer perfection :)
Then, we went to San Michele, the island cemetery. We found the graves of Stravinsky, Brodsky, Pound, and Rudge, which were interesting to see. The cemetery itself was pretty big, and it reminded me of Recoleta in Argentina (lol, so many reminders of Argentina!). I never quite know how to feel when I'm at a cemetery...sad? Meditative? I guess a combination of the two.
Our last island of the day was the Lido, known as the resort island of Venice, and it lives up to its name. The beach there is really pretty, and we played in the ocean for a bit. We headed back to the other side of the island (and grabbed a big pizza on the way, as well as these fried rice balls called arancini siciliani) to eat and watch the sun set over Venice. It was breathtakingly beautiful. :) The night got even better when some live jazz music started playing at a nearby restaurant, and we started to swing dance, by the water, without a care in the world. It was a really awesome feeling of pure, innocent joy :)
On the way back to San Marco, we belted out Disney songs on the vaporetto, which was fun X) Instead of taking the vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma, we opted to walk back instead...it was a lot of fun. The streets of Venice are pretty dark and extremely quiet at night, except at the restaurants, but I never felt the slightest hint of danger. It was a really cool feeling :) Great day!
We started the day off by going to Murano (which I'd been to before), the glass-blowing island. I'll admit, the glass-blowing show we saw today was better than the one I saw the first time, so that was nice. We spent a little while wandering and seeing the glass shops, and then we grabbed a quick lunch (and gelato--Apeksha's first time!) before getting on another vaporetto to Burano, which is known for its lace. The lace merchandise (especially the parasols) were nice, but what I liked more were the colorful buildings all around the island. It reminded me of La Boca in Buenos Aires :) The clouds in the sky provided good shade but didn't rain down on us, which was perfect, and we just sat by the water for a while.
Next up was Torcello, the oldest island in Venice. It had such a relaxing atmosphere, and we all loved it. Everything was just very simple and unadorned, but it was nice that way. We saw Ponte di Diavolo (Devil's Bridge), so nicknamed because it lacks railings on either side, as well as the church, which was very simple and good for meditating and praying. It reminded us of a chapel we visited in Santa Fe last year in its tranquility and simplicity. Afterwards, we found a spot by the water and just sunbathed for a while. Summer perfection :)
Then, we went to San Michele, the island cemetery. We found the graves of Stravinsky, Brodsky, Pound, and Rudge, which were interesting to see. The cemetery itself was pretty big, and it reminded me of Recoleta in Argentina (lol, so many reminders of Argentina!). I never quite know how to feel when I'm at a cemetery...sad? Meditative? I guess a combination of the two.
Our last island of the day was the Lido, known as the resort island of Venice, and it lives up to its name. The beach there is really pretty, and we played in the ocean for a bit. We headed back to the other side of the island (and grabbed a big pizza on the way, as well as these fried rice balls called arancini siciliani) to eat and watch the sun set over Venice. It was breathtakingly beautiful. :) The night got even better when some live jazz music started playing at a nearby restaurant, and we started to swing dance, by the water, without a care in the world. It was a really awesome feeling of pure, innocent joy :)
On the way back to San Marco, we belted out Disney songs on the vaporetto, which was fun X) Instead of taking the vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma, we opted to walk back instead...it was a lot of fun. The streets of Venice are pretty dark and extremely quiet at night, except at the restaurants, but I never felt the slightest hint of danger. It was a really cool feeling :) Great day!
venice from the ground up (6/23/11)
(Sorry, I'm not too creative with my post titles, as you can tell. That's actually the name of one of the books we had to read for class...it was our least favorite, by far.)
Today was our first full day in Venice together (not my first time, but first time with friends), and what a fun and full (and pricey =\) day it was! It's so different being here with family instead of friends, and I wish my family would have gotten to do some of the things we're doing, but I had a lot of fun with them, too :) what a blessing to be able to come here twice in one month...I'm well aware of it.
Paying for the hotel this morning was like going to the ATM, haha--I paid for all five of us that booked in a group, and everyone paid me cash. Whoo! It was well-needed, too, since we all spent a decent amount of money today. Oh, Venice. Thankfully, there is a shuttle that takes us to the island (since we're staying on the mainland), and it's included in the 3-day transportation pass we bought. We got to Piazzale Roma, split up, and the group I was with (Apeksha, Josh, Grace, and Sachin) walked to the Rialto Market and Bridge (and got gelato on the way! :) I tried walnut and fig...pretty tasty, actually), and then we got to St. Mark's Square not long after. The basilica was pretty the second time around, with all of its gold mosaics, and then we visited the Doge's Palace. It really is pretty awesome to see in person paintings and buildings that you've been learning about in class for the past month :) I especially enjoyed seeing Tintoretto's "Paradise" (which is giant!), which was in the Hall of the Grand Council, one of the largest meeting rooms in Europe--beast! I also liked these globes that would be in pairs--one depicting earth, one depicting the heavens--those were pretty interesting. Apeksha and I lost the other three somewhere along the way and just stuck together. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs and saw the prisons on the other side. Nifty stuff! It reminded me of when I went to visit Alcatraz with my mom and sister back in high school. It was kinda eerie but cool.
So, I got to spend the whole afternoon with Apeksha :) which was awesome. We visited the Correr Museum, which had some cool artwork, and wandered away from the plaza on a quest to find La Fenice, the opera house that we read about in one of our books. We ended up seeing the back side first, and it was just so peaceful and pretty and quiet. Soon after, we saw a whole bunch of gondolas pass through (and one of the gondoliers called out to us, "Ciao, baby!" to our amusement), and then we went around to find the front. We were debating for a little while whether or not to go in, but we decided to in the end--probably one of the best decisions we made today. It is such a beautifully decorated opera house (and keep in mind, this is after two fires), and as we were walking around, listening to the audio tour, we stumbled upon a group rehearsal in the theater, and we got to sit in and listen (in the royal box! So awesome). It was a choir rehearsal, accompanied by piano and harpsichord, and it was really pretty--the music fit the mood perfectly. It was funny, too, because everyone on stage was just in their normal clothes, so they weren't matching. It reminded me of my choir days. Good times :) The Apollo Rooms (used for socializing before, during, and after the operas) were really pretty as well, especially the ballroom. We walked down the red carpet stairs like rock stars. :)
Afterwards, we wandered into Dorsoduro, passed by the Accademia (which, after hearing from Sachin, I'm glad we opted not to visit), and we found San Trevaso, the only remaining gondola repair shop in the city. Too bad it was already closed for the day. By then, it was almost dinner time, so we went on another quest to find Al Cugnai, which had been recommended to me by Mary, for dinner. We found it, but it wasn't open yet, so then we went to try and find gelato for Apeksha, which failed because Dorsoduro really is a very residential area of Venice. Once it opened for dinner, we went back and ate (it was kinda pricey, but worth it!). I ordered monkfish (again on Mary's recommendation), which was really tasty. You can only eat the tail (which I didn't know), since the rest of the body is poisonous. Crazy!
Then it was time to head back to St. Mark's, where we had bought tickets for a Vivaldi concert at 8:30. On the way, we saw the Music Museum (how fitting, right?), and it had a lot of string instruments, and even a violin-making exhibit :) cool stuff! The concert was really good--Vivaldi/the Four Seasons live is so much better than iTunes. I think because I'm more of a visual person than aural, seeing and listening to music helps me absorb and experience it a lot better than just listening. The solo violinist for the "Four Seasons" was really good, and he was super into the performance. His energy really drove the performance, even though he looked like a snob sometimes with this big grin he'd get on his face after a really hard solo part, haha.
By the time the concert ended (after two encores!), the sky was dark, so we hung out for a bit in St. Mark's before taking a crowded vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma, from where we took the bus back to our hotel. Apeksha bought profiteroles from the pizzeria, which are pretty tasty. Bedtime!
Today was our first full day in Venice together (not my first time, but first time with friends), and what a fun and full (and pricey =\) day it was! It's so different being here with family instead of friends, and I wish my family would have gotten to do some of the things we're doing, but I had a lot of fun with them, too :) what a blessing to be able to come here twice in one month...I'm well aware of it.
Paying for the hotel this morning was like going to the ATM, haha--I paid for all five of us that booked in a group, and everyone paid me cash. Whoo! It was well-needed, too, since we all spent a decent amount of money today. Oh, Venice. Thankfully, there is a shuttle that takes us to the island (since we're staying on the mainland), and it's included in the 3-day transportation pass we bought. We got to Piazzale Roma, split up, and the group I was with (Apeksha, Josh, Grace, and Sachin) walked to the Rialto Market and Bridge (and got gelato on the way! :) I tried walnut and fig...pretty tasty, actually), and then we got to St. Mark's Square not long after. The basilica was pretty the second time around, with all of its gold mosaics, and then we visited the Doge's Palace. It really is pretty awesome to see in person paintings and buildings that you've been learning about in class for the past month :) I especially enjoyed seeing Tintoretto's "Paradise" (which is giant!), which was in the Hall of the Grand Council, one of the largest meeting rooms in Europe--beast! I also liked these globes that would be in pairs--one depicting earth, one depicting the heavens--those were pretty interesting. Apeksha and I lost the other three somewhere along the way and just stuck together. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs and saw the prisons on the other side. Nifty stuff! It reminded me of when I went to visit Alcatraz with my mom and sister back in high school. It was kinda eerie but cool.
So, I got to spend the whole afternoon with Apeksha :) which was awesome. We visited the Correr Museum, which had some cool artwork, and wandered away from the plaza on a quest to find La Fenice, the opera house that we read about in one of our books. We ended up seeing the back side first, and it was just so peaceful and pretty and quiet. Soon after, we saw a whole bunch of gondolas pass through (and one of the gondoliers called out to us, "Ciao, baby!" to our amusement), and then we went around to find the front. We were debating for a little while whether or not to go in, but we decided to in the end--probably one of the best decisions we made today. It is such a beautifully decorated opera house (and keep in mind, this is after two fires), and as we were walking around, listening to the audio tour, we stumbled upon a group rehearsal in the theater, and we got to sit in and listen (in the royal box! So awesome). It was a choir rehearsal, accompanied by piano and harpsichord, and it was really pretty--the music fit the mood perfectly. It was funny, too, because everyone on stage was just in their normal clothes, so they weren't matching. It reminded me of my choir days. Good times :) The Apollo Rooms (used for socializing before, during, and after the operas) were really pretty as well, especially the ballroom. We walked down the red carpet stairs like rock stars. :)
Afterwards, we wandered into Dorsoduro, passed by the Accademia (which, after hearing from Sachin, I'm glad we opted not to visit), and we found San Trevaso, the only remaining gondola repair shop in the city. Too bad it was already closed for the day. By then, it was almost dinner time, so we went on another quest to find Al Cugnai, which had been recommended to me by Mary, for dinner. We found it, but it wasn't open yet, so then we went to try and find gelato for Apeksha, which failed because Dorsoduro really is a very residential area of Venice. Once it opened for dinner, we went back and ate (it was kinda pricey, but worth it!). I ordered monkfish (again on Mary's recommendation), which was really tasty. You can only eat the tail (which I didn't know), since the rest of the body is poisonous. Crazy!
Then it was time to head back to St. Mark's, where we had bought tickets for a Vivaldi concert at 8:30. On the way, we saw the Music Museum (how fitting, right?), and it had a lot of string instruments, and even a violin-making exhibit :) cool stuff! The concert was really good--Vivaldi/the Four Seasons live is so much better than iTunes. I think because I'm more of a visual person than aural, seeing and listening to music helps me absorb and experience it a lot better than just listening. The solo violinist for the "Four Seasons" was really good, and he was super into the performance. His energy really drove the performance, even though he looked like a snob sometimes with this big grin he'd get on his face after a really hard solo part, haha.
By the time the concert ended (after two encores!), the sky was dark, so we hung out for a bit in St. Mark's before taking a crowded vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma, from where we took the bus back to our hotel. Apeksha bought profiteroles from the pizzeria, which are pretty tasty. Bedtime!
back in venice! (6/22/11)
I'm back in Venice! And so happy to be here. Although I must say, it was quite an adventure just to get here. I like our hotel--it's nice and wasn't too expensive. Whoohoo!
Today, after lunch (and after saying bye to India! since she and Nick are on vacation these next couple of weeks), it was time to head down to Merano. The problem was, it had begun pouring right after lunch, but we didn't know how long it would last, so we set out...and immediately got drenched, pretty much. By the time we got on the bus to Merano, my sneakers were sloshy and my jeans were stuck to my legs. Awesome.
Even better, our bus broke down on the way to Merano--but luckily, another bus came by soon after and took us all to the train station. Once we got to Bolzano, we booked tickets to Venice, but what we didn't realize until after we were almost at Verona was that the ticket people had made a mistake in booking our reservations, and they had given most of us an impossible connection--we were supposed to catch a 6:30 train to Venice, but our train didn't get to Verona until 7 p.m.! Craziness. Refusing to be deterred, I hopped on the 7:05 train to Venice with the few who did have correct reservations (yay for rail passes! and no guarantee of ticket checks XP), and I got to Mestre just fine. Besides, I had to pick up Apeksha from the airport, and I didn't want her to wait there by herself for too long. Thankfully, the bus to the airport was easy to find, and there she was when I got there! It was so good to see her :) Best roommate ever. We didn't have too much trouble getting to the hotel from the station, and then we joined everyone else who was grabbing late-night pizza, and now here we are. Tomorrow, the real adventure starts! :D
Today, after lunch (and after saying bye to India! since she and Nick are on vacation these next couple of weeks), it was time to head down to Merano. The problem was, it had begun pouring right after lunch, but we didn't know how long it would last, so we set out...and immediately got drenched, pretty much. By the time we got on the bus to Merano, my sneakers were sloshy and my jeans were stuck to my legs. Awesome.
Even better, our bus broke down on the way to Merano--but luckily, another bus came by soon after and took us all to the train station. Once we got to Bolzano, we booked tickets to Venice, but what we didn't realize until after we were almost at Verona was that the ticket people had made a mistake in booking our reservations, and they had given most of us an impossible connection--we were supposed to catch a 6:30 train to Venice, but our train didn't get to Verona until 7 p.m.! Craziness. Refusing to be deterred, I hopped on the 7:05 train to Venice with the few who did have correct reservations (yay for rail passes! and no guarantee of ticket checks XP), and I got to Mestre just fine. Besides, I had to pick up Apeksha from the airport, and I didn't want her to wait there by herself for too long. Thankfully, the bus to the airport was easy to find, and there she was when I got there! It was so good to see her :) Best roommate ever. We didn't have too much trouble getting to the hotel from the station, and then we joined everyone else who was grabbing late-night pizza, and now here we are. Tomorrow, the real adventure starts! :D
Sunday, June 26, 2011
texas in tirol (6/21/11)
Well, the Internet is down for now, probably due to the fact that it's pouring pretty hard outside, so I'll just record this for now and then go to sleep. It's actually causing the ceiling to leak in our upstairs bathroom, so hopefully that doesn't cause too much trouble...
Today was a pretty good day. Between class and lunch, I went down to visit the goats and piglets, and it was fun just to pet them and watch them play around with each other. :) Lunch was a hearty, cheesy pasta followed by fruit salad, and then it was time to make chili for our "Texas in Tirol" dinner. We were assigned shifts (except I was talking to Brigitte while this happened, so I didn't sign up for one, haha), so I helped with chopping bell peppers and onions for the first shift. Afterwards, I found Ted, the professor from St. Andrews, sitting outside, and I chatted with him a bit. The weather was pretty nice, so I was trying to decide whether or not to go for a short hike, but then the guinea fowls were trying to escape from the front gate, so I just stayed and wasted a couple of hours online (but I did upload photos, yay!).
Before I knew it, it was around 7 p.m., so I went to the kitchen to see how things were going. Most people were there, and there was a chess game going on (it seems to have gotten really popular among us in the past week; now I'm wanting to play someone! I probably will only play Jon, since he's not very good, and I'm pretty sure anything I learned from 10+ years ago at summer camp, other than the rules, has long gone out the windows of my brain. Anyway...). The chili (two pots, vegetarian and meat) was done, so we were just waiting around for all of the guests. I ended up getting to sit at a table with Mary, India, Nick, and Brigitte (and Monica, Matt, and Jason), so that was pretty entertaining and interesting. We ended the meal with Mexican hot chocolate, courtesy of Grace, which tasted mostly like hot chocolate, but it's still yummy. Cleaning up wasn't too bad, and we got to see Dr. Redman's chess skills in action as he played Greg, who's also pretty good. Dr. Redman still won, but it was a good game. Chess is so intense!
After Sachin and I finished cleaning up, we saw a lot of lightning on the way back to the croft, so we detoured to the balcony outside of our classroom, where we watched the lightning light up the sky and mountains in the distance. Lightning really is God's most beautiful natural light show :) It reminded me of when my mom and I were driving back from Dallas this past May, and we saw a TON of lightning (it actually scared my mom a good bit). I thought it was awesome, haha. Anyway, the night was quiet and calm, and we just sat and watched the lightning in awe. So beautiful :) However, I think our whispers carried to Dr. Redman's apartment, which was right there, so we left pretty soon after (and good thing, too, since it started pouring soon after!)...and now here I am. Bedtime!
Today was a pretty good day. Between class and lunch, I went down to visit the goats and piglets, and it was fun just to pet them and watch them play around with each other. :) Lunch was a hearty, cheesy pasta followed by fruit salad, and then it was time to make chili for our "Texas in Tirol" dinner. We were assigned shifts (except I was talking to Brigitte while this happened, so I didn't sign up for one, haha), so I helped with chopping bell peppers and onions for the first shift. Afterwards, I found Ted, the professor from St. Andrews, sitting outside, and I chatted with him a bit. The weather was pretty nice, so I was trying to decide whether or not to go for a short hike, but then the guinea fowls were trying to escape from the front gate, so I just stayed and wasted a couple of hours online (but I did upload photos, yay!).
Before I knew it, it was around 7 p.m., so I went to the kitchen to see how things were going. Most people were there, and there was a chess game going on (it seems to have gotten really popular among us in the past week; now I'm wanting to play someone! I probably will only play Jon, since he's not very good, and I'm pretty sure anything I learned from 10+ years ago at summer camp, other than the rules, has long gone out the windows of my brain. Anyway...). The chili (two pots, vegetarian and meat) was done, so we were just waiting around for all of the guests. I ended up getting to sit at a table with Mary, India, Nick, and Brigitte (and Monica, Matt, and Jason), so that was pretty entertaining and interesting. We ended the meal with Mexican hot chocolate, courtesy of Grace, which tasted mostly like hot chocolate, but it's still yummy. Cleaning up wasn't too bad, and we got to see Dr. Redman's chess skills in action as he played Greg, who's also pretty good. Dr. Redman still won, but it was a good game. Chess is so intense!
After Sachin and I finished cleaning up, we saw a lot of lightning on the way back to the croft, so we detoured to the balcony outside of our classroom, where we watched the lightning light up the sky and mountains in the distance. Lightning really is God's most beautiful natural light show :) It reminded me of when my mom and I were driving back from Dallas this past May, and we saw a TON of lightning (it actually scared my mom a good bit). I thought it was awesome, haha. Anyway, the night was quiet and calm, and we just sat and watched the lightning in awe. So beautiful :) However, I think our whispers carried to Dr. Redman's apartment, which was right there, so we left pretty soon after (and good thing, too, since it started pouring soon after!)...and now here I am. Bedtime!
the wonders of wine (6/20/11)
Skype is so awesome! I just got to talk to Apeksha (even though I'll see her in a couple of days!), and before that, I skyped with Lisa for 2+ hours about IV stuff for the fall :) definitely a lot to pray for and prepare, but I know God will provide. It was really encouraging, both IV-wise and personally, just to be able to talk to and pray with a fellow believer.
Otherwise, earlier this evening, I got my first real tastes of wine at my first ever wine tasting. Walter, the "head" of the household here, is really educated about a lot of things, including wine, so he held a wine tasting for us with five different wines from this region. He told us a lot about the history of wine-making and of the Tyrolean region, which was pretty neat, and then he described each wine as we tasted them. I still really can't stand the taste, but I was able to get them down. I wonder if I'll ever acquire a taste for alcohol...we'll see. They also served the crunchiest bread I've ever eaten (thank goodness my braces are off!) with salami and cheese, yum. There also happen to be several guests visiting the castle this week all at once, so we met a couple of them--both professors, just at different universities. I talked for a bit with Kirby, who teaches at University of Massachusetts, and that was pretty fun.
Tomorrow, we'll be making chili as part of Dr. Redman's "Texas in Tirol" tradition as a repayment of the hospitality and wonderful food we've been given here. I'm not the biggest chili fan, but cooking for a big group with a big group is exciting! And we'll get to use Brigitte's kitchen, so that should be fun.
Otherwise, earlier this evening, I got my first real tastes of wine at my first ever wine tasting. Walter, the "head" of the household here, is really educated about a lot of things, including wine, so he held a wine tasting for us with five different wines from this region. He told us a lot about the history of wine-making and of the Tyrolean region, which was pretty neat, and then he described each wine as we tasted them. I still really can't stand the taste, but I was able to get them down. I wonder if I'll ever acquire a taste for alcohol...we'll see. They also served the crunchiest bread I've ever eaten (thank goodness my braces are off!) with salami and cheese, yum. There also happen to be several guests visiting the castle this week all at once, so we met a couple of them--both professors, just at different universities. I talked for a bit with Kirby, who teaches at University of Massachusetts, and that was pretty fun.
Tomorrow, we'll be making chili as part of Dr. Redman's "Texas in Tirol" tradition as a repayment of the hospitality and wonderful food we've been given here. I'm not the biggest chili fan, but cooking for a big group with a big group is exciting! And we'll get to use Brigitte's kitchen, so that should be fun.
third sunday (6/19/11)
Wow, I can't believe it's already my third Sunday here. I think it really hit me earlier this afternoon when I was walking through Dorf Tirol and heading down Ezra Pound Weg to get to the castle. Just two weeks ago, I was doing that for the first time...time really does fly. Whew.
It was nice to see familiarity again after almost nine hours of transportation, although naps and Joseph Brodsky's Watermark helped relieve the boredom a lot. Man, I love that book (and finished it just as we got to Merano, hehe). His writing is so eccentric but awesome! It's really catchy, if a book or an author's writing can be referred to as such.
I just got back from joining India on her evening rounds once more, but this time, we got to go feed the goats, the sheep, and the pigs, so I learned more about all of them. It reminded me of feeding the animals at ASB last year, hehe. I'm sad that India and Nick are leaving soon though (although it's for a good reason--vacation!), which means I won't get to see India any more. She's really cool and super friendly, and I love going around with her when she feeds the animals. Anyhoo, now I suppose it's time for bed. Goodnight!
It was nice to see familiarity again after almost nine hours of transportation, although naps and Joseph Brodsky's Watermark helped relieve the boredom a lot. Man, I love that book (and finished it just as we got to Merano, hehe). His writing is so eccentric but awesome! It's really catchy, if a book or an author's writing can be referred to as such.
I just got back from joining India on her evening rounds once more, but this time, we got to go feed the goats, the sheep, and the pigs, so I learned more about all of them. It reminded me of feeding the animals at ASB last year, hehe. I'm sad that India and Nick are leaving soon though (although it's for a good reason--vacation!), which means I won't get to see India any more. She's really cool and super friendly, and I love going around with her when she feeds the animals. Anyhoo, now I suppose it's time for bed. Goodnight!
vienna (6/17/11, 6/18/11)
We're in Vienna! It is such a beautiful city in its own ways--much different from Salzburg, I'll admit--kind of like the Rome of Austria (if Salzburg was the Florence of Austria), in my opinion. I still can't get over how much Vienna reminds me of Buenos Aires... :)
So yesterday morning, we left for Vienna in the morning and got here around 1:30 p.m. After some complications buying our tickets back for tomorrow, we found our hostel, dropped off our things, and then headed for a restaurant recommended by the hostelkeeper. It turns out that it was pretty far away (we walked almost 30 minutes to get there, lol), but I personally really enjoyed the walk, hungry as I was. We got to walk down the main shopping street of Vienna, called Mariahilfer Strasse, and it reminded me so, so much of Calle Florida in Buenos Aires. A lot of the architecture, combined with the different shops underneath, was just like the types I saw as I wandered the streets of Buenos Aires. Crazy, right? But it was really neat. We also saw repeats of a lot of stores as we walked...H&M, Paolo Bortolotti (a gelato place I wanted to try but didn't end up getting to), and some other ones that are escaping me. Finally, we reached the restaurant (called Centimeter), and it was pretty empty, although it was around 3 p.m., to be fair. We found out just how HUMONGOUS the portions were when our food arrived...way too big. I mean, they served some of their dishes in frying pans! (way more than one serving) Grace and I ended up with just pasta with ham and cheese, which was good at first but got tasteless and too salty very quickly. It's the only meal thus far that I haven't been able to finish in Europe (and that's saying something)...boo.
Anyway, we headed back out down Mariahilfer Strasse towards the House of the Secession, an art museum that Jason really wanted to see. (We got free coffee on the way! Whoot.) It turned out to be a really neat museum, and I really enjoyed everything we saw there (it wasn't even that big). We first saw Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, which was stunning. His style is so interesting, and interpretations of the artwork were provided, and it made it a lot more meaningful for me. Another exhibit that was there showcased some works done by Saskia Olde Wolbers, and they were basically very intriguing stories (based on true stories) set to a visual. It's hard to describe, but the storylines were very...captivating? for lack of a better word.
The last exhibit that we saw there was a collection of furniture by Stephen Prina ("As He Remembered It"), all painted pink, and the question that was posed was: "If a piece of furniture designed for a specific use is taken out of that context and transferred to another location, how much of its original setting does it still bear with it?" Very interesting, and it got me thinking. As I walked around the room, most of the furniture I could still distinguish from certain features (ie. bathroom sink), but it did make me wonder--not just about the furniture, but also about us as humans and how much of our "original setting" (whatever that may be) we retain when we are taken out of our "context" and transferred elsewhere. Hmmmm...
After we left the Secession, we just kept wandering around the old city center and looking at the different palaces, which are all so grand and beautiful and old! We also went down another shopping street and saw some cool street performers. We finally turned around and went back to the hostel to check in (since we were too early when we first got there), and then we headed out. By then, night was falling, and we ended up chilling at a bar for a while and then wandering down Mariahilfer Strasse again. It was very well-lit, and there were a lot of people out and about, so again, it felt very safe and comfortable. We were kinda trying to find a club, but that was unsuccessful, so we finally went back and slept.
This morning, I got the surprise of my life when we walked out of our room to check out (a process we'll have to repeat tomorrow morning, due to some complications about getting a room for an additional night, haha). As soon as I stepped outside, guess who I saw?? Jeremy Yang!! Ahh, I was so excited and surprised and overwhelmed, all at once. I haven't seen him in so long, for one, and then to see him in Vienna was just so amazing. It was crazy, because they (he was with his choir) were literally just about to go to the airport and head back to the U.S. Serendipity at its best :) That was pretty awesome.
Afterwards, we set out for the Belvedere, the other art museum at the top of Jason's list. Once again, we took Mariahilfer, but we made some detours to the Museum Quartier (with more free coffee, hehe), where we also got to see a small outdoor exhibit on UN refugees for the past six decades. Man, the hardships people have to go through...=\ all because of politics and war. Sigh.
We also saw this big fountain in another plaza, where there was also a really neat temporary exhibit called "The Morning Line", which was a bunch of metal shapes and speakers blasting different transportation sounds, like the subway, airplanes, buses, etc...it was really neat. Vienna is so exciting like that, haha :) We finally made it to the Belvedere and spent a few hours there. I really loved Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" (and so did Jason, haha), and I can see why it's famous. Like Michelangelo's David, I could just sit there for a while and look at it. And the Belvedere Museum itself was actually really big! It reminded me of the Louvre, just with fewer pieces (and all paintings).
By the time we left, it was getting to the afternoon (we had the weirdest eating schedule today, haha...just an orange and a pastry each for breakfast around noon), so we headed back and stumbled upon NachtMarket (I think that's the name?), which is just a super long strip of restaurants, many of which are Asian, surprisingly, next to the Secession. We settled on an Austrian place and got real, legitimate Wienerschnitzel from its source, Vienna (Wien)! :) I love doing things like that; I think the novelty really appeals to me, haha.
On our way back, it started to rain again, and it got pretty hard, actually. We tried going out for a bit just now to a cafe down the street, but it was dead...so now we're getting ready for bed relatively early, except Jason, who will lull us to sleep with his sansula. :)
So yesterday morning, we left for Vienna in the morning and got here around 1:30 p.m. After some complications buying our tickets back for tomorrow, we found our hostel, dropped off our things, and then headed for a restaurant recommended by the hostelkeeper. It turns out that it was pretty far away (we walked almost 30 minutes to get there, lol), but I personally really enjoyed the walk, hungry as I was. We got to walk down the main shopping street of Vienna, called Mariahilfer Strasse, and it reminded me so, so much of Calle Florida in Buenos Aires. A lot of the architecture, combined with the different shops underneath, was just like the types I saw as I wandered the streets of Buenos Aires. Crazy, right? But it was really neat. We also saw repeats of a lot of stores as we walked...H&M, Paolo Bortolotti (a gelato place I wanted to try but didn't end up getting to), and some other ones that are escaping me. Finally, we reached the restaurant (called Centimeter), and it was pretty empty, although it was around 3 p.m., to be fair. We found out just how HUMONGOUS the portions were when our food arrived...way too big. I mean, they served some of their dishes in frying pans! (way more than one serving) Grace and I ended up with just pasta with ham and cheese, which was good at first but got tasteless and too salty very quickly. It's the only meal thus far that I haven't been able to finish in Europe (and that's saying something)...boo.
Anyway, we headed back out down Mariahilfer Strasse towards the House of the Secession, an art museum that Jason really wanted to see. (We got free coffee on the way! Whoot.) It turned out to be a really neat museum, and I really enjoyed everything we saw there (it wasn't even that big). We first saw Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, which was stunning. His style is so interesting, and interpretations of the artwork were provided, and it made it a lot more meaningful for me. Another exhibit that was there showcased some works done by Saskia Olde Wolbers, and they were basically very intriguing stories (based on true stories) set to a visual. It's hard to describe, but the storylines were very...captivating? for lack of a better word.
The last exhibit that we saw there was a collection of furniture by Stephen Prina ("As He Remembered It"), all painted pink, and the question that was posed was: "If a piece of furniture designed for a specific use is taken out of that context and transferred to another location, how much of its original setting does it still bear with it?" Very interesting, and it got me thinking. As I walked around the room, most of the furniture I could still distinguish from certain features (ie. bathroom sink), but it did make me wonder--not just about the furniture, but also about us as humans and how much of our "original setting" (whatever that may be) we retain when we are taken out of our "context" and transferred elsewhere. Hmmmm...
After we left the Secession, we just kept wandering around the old city center and looking at the different palaces, which are all so grand and beautiful and old! We also went down another shopping street and saw some cool street performers. We finally turned around and went back to the hostel to check in (since we were too early when we first got there), and then we headed out. By then, night was falling, and we ended up chilling at a bar for a while and then wandering down Mariahilfer Strasse again. It was very well-lit, and there were a lot of people out and about, so again, it felt very safe and comfortable. We were kinda trying to find a club, but that was unsuccessful, so we finally went back and slept.
This morning, I got the surprise of my life when we walked out of our room to check out (a process we'll have to repeat tomorrow morning, due to some complications about getting a room for an additional night, haha). As soon as I stepped outside, guess who I saw?? Jeremy Yang!! Ahh, I was so excited and surprised and overwhelmed, all at once. I haven't seen him in so long, for one, and then to see him in Vienna was just so amazing. It was crazy, because they (he was with his choir) were literally just about to go to the airport and head back to the U.S. Serendipity at its best :) That was pretty awesome.
Afterwards, we set out for the Belvedere, the other art museum at the top of Jason's list. Once again, we took Mariahilfer, but we made some detours to the Museum Quartier (with more free coffee, hehe), where we also got to see a small outdoor exhibit on UN refugees for the past six decades. Man, the hardships people have to go through...=\ all because of politics and war. Sigh.
We also saw this big fountain in another plaza, where there was also a really neat temporary exhibit called "The Morning Line", which was a bunch of metal shapes and speakers blasting different transportation sounds, like the subway, airplanes, buses, etc...it was really neat. Vienna is so exciting like that, haha :) We finally made it to the Belvedere and spent a few hours there. I really loved Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" (and so did Jason, haha), and I can see why it's famous. Like Michelangelo's David, I could just sit there for a while and look at it. And the Belvedere Museum itself was actually really big! It reminded me of the Louvre, just with fewer pieces (and all paintings).
By the time we left, it was getting to the afternoon (we had the weirdest eating schedule today, haha...just an orange and a pastry each for breakfast around noon), so we headed back and stumbled upon NachtMarket (I think that's the name?), which is just a super long strip of restaurants, many of which are Asian, surprisingly, next to the Secession. We settled on an Austrian place and got real, legitimate Wienerschnitzel from its source, Vienna (Wien)! :) I love doing things like that; I think the novelty really appeals to me, haha.
On our way back, it started to rain again, and it got pretty hard, actually. We tried going out for a bit just now to a cafe down the street, but it was dead...so now we're getting ready for bed relatively early, except Jason, who will lull us to sleep with his sansula. :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
salzburg (6/16/11)
Another adventure update! We're currently in Salzburg, and it's such a beautiful and quiet little city. It's still hard to believe we're in Austria!
After lunch yesterday, Grace and Jason (my travel buddies!) and I took a few trains to Salzburg, stopping in Bolzano and Innsbruck. Our hostel wasn't too hard to find (and I learned that the beta-looking sign = "ss" in German, haha), and when I got to my room, I met a few hostelkeepers who work in Munich! They all spoke English and were from either the UK or Australia, and they were pretty funny. Too bad I can't stay at their hostel when I'm there; there's no more space. I might try to stop by and say hi, not sure if they'll remember me, haha...Then we just wandered around the city a bit. I guess there just aren't as many cars, and that's why it's so quiet? However, there were still a decent amount of people and lit storefronts, so it wasn't dangerous at all. The river also looked so pretty at night. We chilled at a bar for a bit before heading back.
Today, we headed back out along the same path we took last night. Before we got to anything touristy, though, we were drawn into this amazing World Instruments Store, which ended up being a lot of fun. It was small and filled with instruments of all kinds, from harmonicas and kazoos to crazy-looking string and wind instruments, most of which I'd never seen before. The shopkeeper was very kind and demonstrated several instruments that I asked about (all of which were very foreign to me). I got to sit in a chair (not sure what it's called) and have a "music trip", for lack of a better term....it was amazing. He also played something called a "water phone" (I think?) and some other instruments. It was awesome. Jason bought a sansula, which was also pretty awesome and can make some pretty interesting sounds/music.
After our musical adventure (I guess that substitutes for the Sound of Music tour that we didn't take, haha), we wandered around, ducked into some candy stores filled with chocolates with Mozart's face on the label (called Mozartkugeln, I think), and then found a place for lunch. We then climbed up to see the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which is this beautiful and big fortress on the top of a hill, and it has a couple of pretty neat museums as well as an unmatched view of Salzburg, so that was really fun :) We went on a short audio tour through different parts of the fortress, and then in another museum, we got to see old weapons, instruments, and even marionettes! Hehe.
As we kept wandering around town, it started to rain. We played for a bit in the rain in the Mirabell Gardens (which I think are in the Sound of Music?), but then the rain forced us to hide in a cafe, then a restaurant, where we had dinner (Salzburg schnitzel is yummy!).
Thankfully, the rain let up after dinner, so we went back to the Mirabell Gardens and just watched night fall over Salzburg. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful evenings I've ever experienced, and that was really nice. We also played on a strange but awesome playground that had an immense slide (way too tall for little kids, in our opinion!) and a fun seesaw. We also saw a hedgehog! So cute :)
We got to walk along the river and see the night lights in Salzburg once more, but we couldn't stay too long because the rain relapsed. Goodnight!
After lunch yesterday, Grace and Jason (my travel buddies!) and I took a few trains to Salzburg, stopping in Bolzano and Innsbruck. Our hostel wasn't too hard to find (and I learned that the beta-looking sign = "ss" in German, haha), and when I got to my room, I met a few hostelkeepers who work in Munich! They all spoke English and were from either the UK or Australia, and they were pretty funny. Too bad I can't stay at their hostel when I'm there; there's no more space. I might try to stop by and say hi, not sure if they'll remember me, haha...Then we just wandered around the city a bit. I guess there just aren't as many cars, and that's why it's so quiet? However, there were still a decent amount of people and lit storefronts, so it wasn't dangerous at all. The river also looked so pretty at night. We chilled at a bar for a bit before heading back.
Today, we headed back out along the same path we took last night. Before we got to anything touristy, though, we were drawn into this amazing World Instruments Store, which ended up being a lot of fun. It was small and filled with instruments of all kinds, from harmonicas and kazoos to crazy-looking string and wind instruments, most of which I'd never seen before. The shopkeeper was very kind and demonstrated several instruments that I asked about (all of which were very foreign to me). I got to sit in a chair (not sure what it's called) and have a "music trip", for lack of a better term....it was amazing. He also played something called a "water phone" (I think?) and some other instruments. It was awesome. Jason bought a sansula, which was also pretty awesome and can make some pretty interesting sounds/music.
After our musical adventure (I guess that substitutes for the Sound of Music tour that we didn't take, haha), we wandered around, ducked into some candy stores filled with chocolates with Mozart's face on the label (called Mozartkugeln, I think), and then found a place for lunch. We then climbed up to see the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which is this beautiful and big fortress on the top of a hill, and it has a couple of pretty neat museums as well as an unmatched view of Salzburg, so that was really fun :) We went on a short audio tour through different parts of the fortress, and then in another museum, we got to see old weapons, instruments, and even marionettes! Hehe.
As we kept wandering around town, it started to rain. We played for a bit in the rain in the Mirabell Gardens (which I think are in the Sound of Music?), but then the rain forced us to hide in a cafe, then a restaurant, where we had dinner (Salzburg schnitzel is yummy!).
Thankfully, the rain let up after dinner, so we went back to the Mirabell Gardens and just watched night fall over Salzburg. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful evenings I've ever experienced, and that was really nice. We also played on a strange but awesome playground that had an immense slide (way too tall for little kids, in our opinion!) and a fun seesaw. We also saw a hedgehog! So cute :)
We got to walk along the river and see the night lights in Salzburg once more, but we couldn't stay too long because the rain relapsed. Goodnight!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
castle-day 6 (6/14/11)
Yes! I've finally caught myself up...that took forever, haha.
Today, after lunch, we got to take a tour of Schloss Tirol (the main castle in this region) with Dr. de Rachewiltz, the executive director of the museum. He knows a lot!--something that was clear even though our tour was brief. There are some great views from up there...definitely will hike up and visit it again (and hopefully St. Peter's Church nearby) next week sometime.
I also got to chat more with Frank today after finishing my reading, which was pretty enjoyable.
Otherwise...tomorrow, I'm Salzburg-bound after lunch! Hoping for the best (even though weather says otherwise :( blah, rain!) in both Salzburg and Vienna. Thankfully, this time I'll have travel buddies :) toodles!
Today, after lunch, we got to take a tour of Schloss Tirol (the main castle in this region) with Dr. de Rachewiltz, the executive director of the museum. He knows a lot!--something that was clear even though our tour was brief. There are some great views from up there...definitely will hike up and visit it again (and hopefully St. Peter's Church nearby) next week sometime.
I also got to chat more with Frank today after finishing my reading, which was pretty enjoyable.
Otherwise...tomorrow, I'm Salzburg-bound after lunch! Hoping for the best (even though weather says otherwise :( blah, rain!) in both Salzburg and Vienna. Thankfully, this time I'll have travel buddies :) toodles!
castle-day 5 (6/13/11)
Back to class! Today was still rainy and thus rather uneventful. I watched Jon play his first game of chess, which was pretty fun...it's been a while since I've watched a chess game in general, and it brought me back to when I first learned to play. Chess is a good game. Intense, but fun too :) I also used clothespins for the first time in a long time...felt dumb, haha.
For dinner, I had typical Tirolean food, finally! Knudel (aka dumplings, but not the Asian kind...more just like dough balls in soup) with speck (which Frank dubs "super bacon: a mix of beef jerky and bacon," haha)...pretty yummy. Only 5 euro, too :)
After dinner, I walked a bit farther down the path from our castle into the vineyard area. It was a good time of just singing praises and being with God as I watched the sun go down and the moon come out. :) Yay nature!
For dinner, I had typical Tirolean food, finally! Knudel (aka dumplings, but not the Asian kind...more just like dough balls in soup) with speck (which Frank dubs "super bacon: a mix of beef jerky and bacon," haha)...pretty yummy. Only 5 euro, too :)
After dinner, I walked a bit farther down the path from our castle into the vineyard area. It was a good time of just singing praises and being with God as I watched the sun go down and the moon come out. :) Yay nature!
interlaken to merano (6/12/11)
On my way back to Dorf Tirol! Currently on my 5th train (of 8 today), and a lot more relaxed. Just praying for safe connections the rest of the way. A little sleepy today because of a disruption last night...around 2:30 a.m. or so, a bunch (maybe all) of the guys from my room returned, laughing loudly and obnoxiously. I was half-awake but could still smell the smoke and alcohol on them. One of them actually apologized when he saw me open my eyes, lol...even after they turned off the lights, there was still quite a bit of German and laughter before I fell back asleep.
Woke up this morning to sunshine! Too bad it didn't come a day earlier, but I'm glad anyway; I got to hike in cloudy/cool weather and yet still saw a glimpse of sunny Interlaken on my way out. I think I may have spotted snowy Jungfraujoch, too!
Random observation: Everyone here hikes or bikes: couples, families with little kids, old couples...everyone is so active! Is it the same in America, and I just never noticed?
Back at Dorf Tirol, not too much happened tonight, other than getting to know Frank (the farm boy for this summer) a little better. I didn't know he was our age! He's a pretty cool and funny guy.
Woke up this morning to sunshine! Too bad it didn't come a day earlier, but I'm glad anyway; I got to hike in cloudy/cool weather and yet still saw a glimpse of sunny Interlaken on my way out. I think I may have spotted snowy Jungfraujoch, too!
Random observation: Everyone here hikes or bikes: couples, families with little kids, old couples...everyone is so active! Is it the same in America, and I just never noticed?
Back at Dorf Tirol, not too much happened tonight, other than getting to know Frank (the farm boy for this summer) a little better. I didn't know he was our age! He's a pretty cool and funny guy.
interlaken (6/11/11)
Today, I soared, I glided, I flew.
And I don't just mean that metaphorically or figuratively. I literally flew through the air, with the aid of another person and a parachute. It's called paragliding :) and it was awesome. Meeting my paragliding partner (Dave, with an Australian accent), driving up the mountain to our liftoff site, suiting up--those were all pretty exciting (and the view was suhweeet!). But one of the best parts was when we were about to lift off. Dave said to me, "When I saw '3,2,1, go,' just start running. Don't lean back on your knees--just lean forward. If you feel me at your back, you need to go faster. Ready?" I just nodded, and we were off. I definitely didn't run as fast as I needed to, I don't think, but it didn't matter. A few more steps, and then suddenly--the ground disappeared from beneath me. That was SUCH a cool feeling.
Then we began to soar. High up above the trees on the mountain. We even saw a hawk flying around beneath us in a similar manner, and watching it made me feel like a bird, hehe. We made some crazy turns and dips over the trees before going out over the rooftops of the city, where we could see both lakes on either side. That was a pretty dizzying but unique view, too. Too soon, it was time to land in a large meadow...but seriously, paragliding was so amazing. :) Do it if you can! Plus, I bought the pictures from when we were in the air--even though they were a tad pricey, it was worth it.
Other than paragliding, I went hiking in the morning (in the rain, sadly) to go see one of the lakes, which was pretty fun. The water is just so clear! And it turns into this beautiful blue color when you look farther out...so cool.
After paragliding, I ate some random things for lunch before going on a 6-hour (I didn't realize this at the time) hike. I climbed up this small mountain behind my hostel, from which I could see both lakes from different vantage points. After that, I just kept walking...stopped by some old castle ruins and also walked through a couple of mountain towns before turning around. I got slightly lost on the way back (and had to walk along rail tracks downhill, grr), but it ended well. I got to see the lake at ground level, which was pretty sweet. Those lakes are SO HUGE. But so beautiful :) Topped off the night with some deliciously soft passion fruit/mango ice cream. Yay for a wonderful day in Interlaken!
And I don't just mean that metaphorically or figuratively. I literally flew through the air, with the aid of another person and a parachute. It's called paragliding :) and it was awesome. Meeting my paragliding partner (Dave, with an Australian accent), driving up the mountain to our liftoff site, suiting up--those were all pretty exciting (and the view was suhweeet!). But one of the best parts was when we were about to lift off. Dave said to me, "When I saw '3,2,1, go,' just start running. Don't lean back on your knees--just lean forward. If you feel me at your back, you need to go faster. Ready?" I just nodded, and we were off. I definitely didn't run as fast as I needed to, I don't think, but it didn't matter. A few more steps, and then suddenly--the ground disappeared from beneath me. That was SUCH a cool feeling.
Then we began to soar. High up above the trees on the mountain. We even saw a hawk flying around beneath us in a similar manner, and watching it made me feel like a bird, hehe. We made some crazy turns and dips over the trees before going out over the rooftops of the city, where we could see both lakes on either side. That was a pretty dizzying but unique view, too. Too soon, it was time to land in a large meadow...but seriously, paragliding was so amazing. :) Do it if you can! Plus, I bought the pictures from when we were in the air--even though they were a tad pricey, it was worth it.
Other than paragliding, I went hiking in the morning (in the rain, sadly) to go see one of the lakes, which was pretty fun. The water is just so clear! And it turns into this beautiful blue color when you look farther out...so cool.
After paragliding, I ate some random things for lunch before going on a 6-hour (I didn't realize this at the time) hike. I climbed up this small mountain behind my hostel, from which I could see both lakes from different vantage points. After that, I just kept walking...stopped by some old castle ruins and also walked through a couple of mountain towns before turning around. I got slightly lost on the way back (and had to walk along rail tracks downhill, grr), but it ended well. I got to see the lake at ground level, which was pretty sweet. Those lakes are SO HUGE. But so beautiful :) Topped off the night with some deliciously soft passion fruit/mango ice cream. Yay for a wonderful day in Interlaken!
journey to interlaken (6/10/11)
So, I wrote this in a series of short notes to myself as I boarded/rode the various trains to Interlaken on Friday. Apologies for all the jumps in thought, if you feel like trying to read through them!
I'm scared.
It's Friday morning, I'm sitting by myself on the train to Malles, I'm surrounded by people who only speak either Italian or German, and I'm scared. It's funny, because this isn't the first time I've traveled alone--and on a train in Europe, to boot. No, I didn't have too much difficulty riding to Padova or Verona by myself on the train, and that was just last week. I think it's the whole Eurail Pass deal that I'm uncertain about. I know it will save my money (or at least I hope it will...), but right now it's just a hassle. I think that, plus the fact that my trip to Interlaken today involves no fewer than seven connections, is starting to get to me a little. I just want to get to Interlaken before it's dark, unscathed.
Whoo! Praise God, first connection successful. I'm now on a bus that will take me to Zernez, Switzerland. The bus driver accepted my rail pass, thankfully; I don't know if it works or because he didn't want to deal with it...German sounds so different. On the bus to Merano this morning, it was so crowded and full of people speaking German. It reminded me of the bus in Pisa, where there were a lot of hilarious Spaniards getting really excited. I can't wait for Spain :)
Excited to cross the border!
Wow. Just hit a huge school group boarding the bus. Wonder if they speak any English...probably not. A few have helmets, interesting.
So now I'm on my fourth train, and my rail pass worked once again. Thank You, Jesus :) I'd say the saying, "The journey matters more so than the destination" resonates a lot more with me now, haha. I've received grace from several strangers and gotten to watch mountain landscapes every ride (except this one--it's all tunnel). There are definitely several school/youth groups traveling together that I've seen. I spy an older Asian couple! I'm not the only one here! Wonder if they're German...
Praise the Lord! I'm on my 7th and last train of the day. Destination: Interlaken Ost. (On my last train, I sat near someone with handcuffs...random)
(After wandering around town with dinner on the go)
First impressions of Interlaken: I'm definitely happy to be here. The neighborhoods kind of remind me of American suburbia, except the buildings are all super cute and rustic log-cabin types. The hotelkeeper was really friendly and switched me to one room for both nights. I got to my room, and I'm pretty sure everyone else is a guy. It smells like guy, lol.
There are a LOT of Asians (Indians, Chinese, Korean) here. Therefore, there is a decent amount of Asian/Indian restaurants, too. The food is kinda pricey at every restaurant. There are also a lot of hotels, watch shops, knives, and chocolates.
Now I'm sleeping early...need to decide what adventurous thing to do tomorrow...bungee or skydive or paraglide.
I'm scared.
It's Friday morning, I'm sitting by myself on the train to Malles, I'm surrounded by people who only speak either Italian or German, and I'm scared. It's funny, because this isn't the first time I've traveled alone--and on a train in Europe, to boot. No, I didn't have too much difficulty riding to Padova or Verona by myself on the train, and that was just last week. I think it's the whole Eurail Pass deal that I'm uncertain about. I know it will save my money (or at least I hope it will...), but right now it's just a hassle. I think that, plus the fact that my trip to Interlaken today involves no fewer than seven connections, is starting to get to me a little. I just want to get to Interlaken before it's dark, unscathed.
Whoo! Praise God, first connection successful. I'm now on a bus that will take me to Zernez, Switzerland. The bus driver accepted my rail pass, thankfully; I don't know if it works or because he didn't want to deal with it...German sounds so different. On the bus to Merano this morning, it was so crowded and full of people speaking German. It reminded me of the bus in Pisa, where there were a lot of hilarious Spaniards getting really excited. I can't wait for Spain :)
Excited to cross the border!
Wow. Just hit a huge school group boarding the bus. Wonder if they speak any English...probably not. A few have helmets, interesting.
So now I'm on my fourth train, and my rail pass worked once again. Thank You, Jesus :) I'd say the saying, "The journey matters more so than the destination" resonates a lot more with me now, haha. I've received grace from several strangers and gotten to watch mountain landscapes every ride (except this one--it's all tunnel). There are definitely several school/youth groups traveling together that I've seen. I spy an older Asian couple! I'm not the only one here! Wonder if they're German...
Praise the Lord! I'm on my 7th and last train of the day. Destination: Interlaken Ost. (On my last train, I sat near someone with handcuffs...random)
(After wandering around town with dinner on the go)
First impressions of Interlaken: I'm definitely happy to be here. The neighborhoods kind of remind me of American suburbia, except the buildings are all super cute and rustic log-cabin types. The hotelkeeper was really friendly and switched me to one room for both nights. I got to my room, and I'm pretty sure everyone else is a guy. It smells like guy, lol.
There are a LOT of Asians (Indians, Chinese, Korean) here. Therefore, there is a decent amount of Asian/Indian restaurants, too. The food is kinda pricey at every restaurant. There are also a lot of hotels, watch shops, knives, and chocolates.
Now I'm sleeping early...need to decide what adventurous thing to do tomorrow...bungee or skydive or paraglide.
castle-day 4 (6/9/11)
Getting a dose of farm life is so exciting! I just got back from a chance meeting with India while visiting the bunnies (everyone else had gone to the village for dinner), and she was just finishing her evening chores. She actually saved me from Dino, the crazy gander (yes, it turns out he has a name) as he was coming up behind me. No joke, that bird inspires fear in my heart as soon as I see him coming, but I guess I feel a bit better after getting a couple of tips from India. She showed me the turkey and its surrogate duckling child (cute!). Then, as we were preparing to take the two donkeys, Gina and Leila, back to their stall, Leila suddenly galloped off into the vineyard, and Gina followed. Bad news, since the donkeys will chew the vines. We went to get their leads, as well as some peanuts, and without too much trouble, we got them hooked and led them back to the stall. It's a funny feeling to feed a peanut to a donkey, I'll tell you that much. It tickles your fingers. Before heading back, I went to visit the goats and the pigs. I hopped into the pig pen for a bit and got to play with the piglets, but then I think they realized that I didn't have any food for them, so they ran back inside their shed.
Otherwise, my day was pretty average. After lunch, I went down to Merano with Jon and Sachin, who were heading to Florence, and tried again to ask the train station worker about how to make a reservation for my trip to Interlaken tomorrow. Once again, it was only slightly helpful. Then I just spent some time wandering down one of the main streets of Merano. At the bridge, the breeze was wonderful, and it was funny to look one way and see the sun shining brightly, and then turn around to see the rain clouds descending on the mountains up ahead. I just love when the clouds do that--shroud and envelop the mountaintops--which they've been doing a lot lately, in fact. It makes them look so...mysterious.
Before the rain hit, I wandered some more to a long row of food stalls, mostly selling cheese, meat, bread, or a combination. They had some gigantic loaves of bread! But I guess it makes sense if they sell it by the kilogram.
I always love walking through food markets (much more than clothes or other goods)--it's such fun for the senses! The colorful sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes (should there be a sample or purchase). I even saw a chocolate fountain as well as a legit lemonade stand. Fun! Afterwards, the rain signaled that it was time for me to go back, so I headed back up to Dorf Tirol. I did get to take a quick stroll through the church cemetery, which seemed to fit the rainy afternoon. The tombstones are all very fancy, and there were flowers growing over every grave. RIP.
Yay! Hoping for Interlaken tomorrow.
Otherwise, my day was pretty average. After lunch, I went down to Merano with Jon and Sachin, who were heading to Florence, and tried again to ask the train station worker about how to make a reservation for my trip to Interlaken tomorrow. Once again, it was only slightly helpful. Then I just spent some time wandering down one of the main streets of Merano. At the bridge, the breeze was wonderful, and it was funny to look one way and see the sun shining brightly, and then turn around to see the rain clouds descending on the mountains up ahead. I just love when the clouds do that--shroud and envelop the mountaintops--which they've been doing a lot lately, in fact. It makes them look so...mysterious.
Before the rain hit, I wandered some more to a long row of food stalls, mostly selling cheese, meat, bread, or a combination. They had some gigantic loaves of bread! But I guess it makes sense if they sell it by the kilogram.
I always love walking through food markets (much more than clothes or other goods)--it's such fun for the senses! The colorful sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes (should there be a sample or purchase). I even saw a chocolate fountain as well as a legit lemonade stand. Fun! Afterwards, the rain signaled that it was time for me to go back, so I headed back up to Dorf Tirol. I did get to take a quick stroll through the church cemetery, which seemed to fit the rainy afternoon. The tombstones are all very fancy, and there were flowers growing over every grave. RIP.
Yay! Hoping for Interlaken tomorrow.
castle-day 3 (6/8/11)
I feel like such a loner right now. Everyone else is in the kitchen cooking and eating spaghetti, but I don't mind too much. I'm full, and to be honest, I'm not that close with anyone here, except maybe Sachin. For the most part, I'm just not that close to the McDs, plus I feel sometimes like they're very worldly and talk about perverse/awkward things...it makes me miss my family and my IV family. It is a struggle to go these two months without any fellowship, but I know God has and will continue to make me strong and teach me in that way.
Today, after lunch (delish! polenta and stuffed bell peppers), a few of us went down to Merano to run various errands. I went to try and find out about making a reservation for my trip to Interlaken, but he just told me to come back after several hours to talk to his colleague (who, by the way, didn't speak English either). We wandered around downtown Merano a bit, stopping for gelato, a sweatshirt and pillow for Ben, and groceries. That store had expensive fruit! After, we returned to the train station where the other worker just printed a few timetables for me before throwing up his hands in frustration...oops. Back in Dorf Tirol, we stopped for some groceries (I visited the fruit and veggies lady and got a couple of apples from her!), and I've been blogging and trying to book hostels for this weekend. Looks like I won't be going anywhere until Friday...
Today, after lunch (delish! polenta and stuffed bell peppers), a few of us went down to Merano to run various errands. I went to try and find out about making a reservation for my trip to Interlaken, but he just told me to come back after several hours to talk to his colleague (who, by the way, didn't speak English either). We wandered around downtown Merano a bit, stopping for gelato, a sweatshirt and pillow for Ben, and groceries. That store had expensive fruit! After, we returned to the train station where the other worker just printed a few timetables for me before throwing up his hands in frustration...oops. Back in Dorf Tirol, we stopped for some groceries (I visited the fruit and veggies lady and got a couple of apples from her!), and I've been blogging and trying to book hostels for this weekend. Looks like I won't be going anywhere until Friday...
castle-day 2 (6/7/11)
Gah, I am such a klutz. Earlier, I was sitting and reading in the library with Jon and Sachin as they planned their Florence trip, and as I was running to my room to grab something, I underestimated my leap across a few steps and crashed onto the stairs. Needless to say, in addition to scaring the others, I also gave myself a decent scab and bruise on my shin (which stung in my cold shower right after). I felt so dumb.
Anyway, things were better earlier in the day (other than waking up with a ton of bug bites on my face and hand). After our delicious lunch (ratatouille! with pasta, then ice cream with strawberries for dessert), I stayed behind to chat with Brigitte a bit and get to know her better. She's so nice and talkative! She told me a bit about her hometown (four hours away in Austria) and her family, as well as life at the castle (and how it's not as easy as it seems--they all have to work really hard, still!). She also told me a bit about her travels (and how her favorite is Africa!), and then she gave a brief diatribe about our generation and its obsession with technology and Google and such, even though those she knows without these things (ie. her friends in Africa) are much happier in many ways. I completely agree with her--nature is such a gift! But she concluded, realistically and rather unfortunately, that it is a very romanticized mindset. It was really refreshing and interesting to talk to her, though.
Then, at 4 p.m., I went up with Greg and Grace to have afternoon tea with Dr. Redman and Mrs. Mary de Rachewiltz, daughter of Ezra Pound. (Nbd, lol) we were joined by two guests from Bolzano, Pier Paolo and Ruth. It was an enjoyable and interesting time of conversation, and Mary really is so sharp! She showed us a book of her poems, compiled by her friend, and she read one to us. It went something like...
"I own nothing, save for the snow falling from the sky on my straw hat in a foreign land."
So beautiful. :) They also talked for a while about an upcoming Pound conference in London, where Mary will be a keynote speaker. She also let us go out on her balcony--what a great view! She also has a really extensive library, since she spent much of her life studying and translating Pound's Cantos.
For dinner, we realized we could eat leftovers from breakfast and save money. Yay! Haha :P
Anyway, things were better earlier in the day (other than waking up with a ton of bug bites on my face and hand). After our delicious lunch (ratatouille! with pasta, then ice cream with strawberries for dessert), I stayed behind to chat with Brigitte a bit and get to know her better. She's so nice and talkative! She told me a bit about her hometown (four hours away in Austria) and her family, as well as life at the castle (and how it's not as easy as it seems--they all have to work really hard, still!). She also told me a bit about her travels (and how her favorite is Africa!), and then she gave a brief diatribe about our generation and its obsession with technology and Google and such, even though those she knows without these things (ie. her friends in Africa) are much happier in many ways. I completely agree with her--nature is such a gift! But she concluded, realistically and rather unfortunately, that it is a very romanticized mindset. It was really refreshing and interesting to talk to her, though.
Then, at 4 p.m., I went up with Greg and Grace to have afternoon tea with Dr. Redman and Mrs. Mary de Rachewiltz, daughter of Ezra Pound. (Nbd, lol) we were joined by two guests from Bolzano, Pier Paolo and Ruth. It was an enjoyable and interesting time of conversation, and Mary really is so sharp! She showed us a book of her poems, compiled by her friend, and she read one to us. It went something like...
"I own nothing, save for the snow falling from the sky on my straw hat in a foreign land."
So beautiful. :) They also talked for a while about an upcoming Pound conference in London, where Mary will be a keynote speaker. She also let us go out on her balcony--what a great view! She also has a really extensive library, since she spent much of her life studying and translating Pound's Cantos.
For dinner, we realized we could eat leftovers from breakfast and save money. Yay! Haha :P
castle-day 1 of class (6/6/11)
Today was our first day of class! Something worth noting. Breakfast was good (the wonderful bread, as mentioned below, that seems to be in endless supply, plus some tasty granola-cereal, aka muesli), and class wasn't too bad. It went by pretty quickly, and we learned the format of the quizzes and that they're not that hard, thank goodness. Afterwards was our first lunch with Brigitte's cooking once again, which was pretty yummy (and followed by a pretty dessert! Yogurt-cream with freshly picked cherries).
Over lunch, we discussed the idea that all identity is plagiarism (any thoughts?), and we also talked about our individual projects for the class. Our interests are all so diverse! It reminded me of God's creativity in uniquely molding our personalities and interests. :) Among us, there will be projects on Pound (Josh), fashion (Lauren), adapting to new places (Monica), photoblog (Sachin), travel journal (me), food (Kayla), theater (Grace), urban design (Greg), cars (Matt), stereotypes (Jon), Venice (Jason), and life up in the mountains (Ben). I wish we got the chance to present our projects to each other, like we did in Argentina...
After lunch, the rainy afternoon kept us in the croft (our living area), where we mostly used the Internet, which we'd just gotten access to. For dinner, we ventured up to a pizzeria (Lindenwilt) in Dorf Tirol, but several of us opted not to eat a whole meal and instead got snacks from the neighboring Despar (grocery store). As we waited, we chilled and chatted in front of a potable fountain, where we witnessed a dog get a quick bath, haha. After they were done eating, we found one of our classmates to be rather giggly, and then we stopped by the gelato place from the night before for more fancy ice cream.
Over lunch, we discussed the idea that all identity is plagiarism (any thoughts?), and we also talked about our individual projects for the class. Our interests are all so diverse! It reminded me of God's creativity in uniquely molding our personalities and interests. :) Among us, there will be projects on Pound (Josh), fashion (Lauren), adapting to new places (Monica), photoblog (Sachin), travel journal (me), food (Kayla), theater (Grace), urban design (Greg), cars (Matt), stereotypes (Jon), Venice (Jason), and life up in the mountains (Ben). I wish we got the chance to present our projects to each other, like we did in Argentina...
After lunch, the rainy afternoon kept us in the croft (our living area), where we mostly used the Internet, which we'd just gotten access to. For dinner, we ventured up to a pizzeria (Lindenwilt) in Dorf Tirol, but several of us opted not to eat a whole meal and instead got snacks from the neighboring Despar (grocery store). As we waited, we chilled and chatted in front of a potable fountain, where we witnessed a dog get a quick bath, haha. After they were done eating, we found one of our classmates to be rather giggly, and then we stopped by the gelato place from the night before for more fancy ice cream.
getting to the castle (6/5/11)
(Okay, to help with clarification, I'm going to date these entries, since they're all starting from last week...at least until I can catch up >.<)
Today was the most confusing morning of my life...
For starters, the bus that my hostelkeeper told me to take, #91, wasn't running (even though it was supposed to run specifically on Sundays), so I had to wander around for a bit, until I found another bus stop that looked like it could work. Thankfully, I met a nice Aussie couple (with Italian roots) at that bus stop who were also headed for the train station. As we talked, we saw a bike race pass by--they had police escorts and everything! It was pretty intense.
Once I got to the train station, the ticket validation machines weren't working, and when I tried to ask the train officer what to do, he wasn't very clear and just told me to get on train. Once again, I cried a little out of frustration while trying to calm down--I was mostly just scared of getting a fine again. (It reminded me of something Daphne was telling me the night before: when she had been waiting for the bus to the hostel, it had also taken forever, and she had gotten worried, so she just "put on her shades and cried a little bit." That's how I felt, minus the shades.) It turns out that the same officer I'd talked to was the one checking tickets, so I was good to go (why do I always have such little faith?...sigh)
When I got to Bolzano, I realized that the signs were now all in either Italian or German, neither of which I know well enough to survive, so that was a little nerve-wracking. I made it to Merano without any other obstacles, thankfully, and I was able to find the bus up to Dorf Tirol almost immediately after getting off my train. Buying my ticket on the bus was a little confusing and embarrassing, but it wasn't too bad. I was just glad to be on the bus. Once the bus dropped us all off in Dorf Tirol, it was a little hard to navigate to Schloss Brunnenburg, but it ended up alright...just a really steep slope down to the castle (something we're still dealing with every day! haha).
Man, I was so thankful to finally make it to the castle. Praise God--that's all I can say :) As the first one there, I got a mini-tour from Dr. Redman and then just relaxed. To pass the time, I found some old "yearbooks" from St. Andrews students (they come here in the fall for a three-month program), and those were interesting, to say the least. Since there's also a farm here at the castle, I went to explore the animals' cages for a bit (bunnies!), and then around 4 p.m., half of the group showed up, which was pretty exciting. Due to a lottery drawing, we all ended up with single rooms, even though some of us were supposed to be in doubles, so that was kind of funny (it looked like we were doing it first come, first serve, but it was a fair draw!). After another mini-tour, we had a delicious cold buffet (our first taste of Brigitte's cooking!), after which the rest of the group arrived, and then we went downhill to play with the goats and pigs for a bit, hehe.
Since it was still relatively early after we finished dinner, we went up to the village and got gelato before coming back, settling in, and just chatting with each other and finishing up reading.
First (and compiled) thoughts on the castle:
It is so, so beautiful here. It's not just the nature, it's not just the view, it's not just the castle itself, it's not just the people/family who own the castle and live here...it's all of it together. This is such a unique place (I still get slightly weirded out when I tell people where I am, haha), and it's just so different from anywhere I've ever lived. I love the rusticness of our rooms (but we're not lacking anything modern at all), the view of the mountains and Merano in the valley every time I step outside or look out my window, the farm animals, the cute German/Austrian accent the family members have, the amazing food we're being fed by Brigitte (and even breakfast! Bread is somehow super amazing here), the vineyards and greenery everywhere...mm. Thank You, Jesus, for allowing me a glimpse into a completely different world for a month. I'm trying to make the most of every day and really take it all in, because I really won't be here for very long at all.
verona. (6/4/11)
At breakfast, I met a group of Texas Tech students (yay Texas!) who were studying architecture in Verona/other parts of Italy, so that was kind of cool. Since I didn't have too much planned for the day, I started off climbing uphill for a bit for a pretty good view of Verona before heading down to the city center. At Juliet's house/balcony, there were a lot of tourists taking pictures while rubbing the breast of her statue (awkward, but supposedly it brings you true love?...). There was also a crazy amount of graffiti on the walls leading to the balcony...it was kind of cool-looking, actually. At the nearby Piazza Erbe/Piazza Fruta, I munched on some strawberries, saw a statue of Dante, and then headed down Via Mazzini, the main shopping street.
For a little while, I went into the Disney store and lost myself for a bit. It's funny--it made me feel like I had been transported back home, I guess to the Galleria, and I momentarily forgot I was in Verona until I left the store again, haha.
At Piazza Bra (where there was a mini-Colosseum of sorts, haha), I just sat for a while in the park and people-watched. I forgot how fun and relaxing it can be, haha. I ended up near this building (a church?) next to the park, and I guess it was the place in town to get married: in the course of an hour or so, I saw 7 or 8 brides (no joke). Crazy, right?! I've never seen so many different newlyweds celebrating and taking pictures in the vicinity of each other, haha. Some of their wedding cars were even the same...haha. Also, their dresses were pretty interesting; some just looked like prom dresses and were black, magenta, or red instead of the ordinary white.
As I sat there, I fell into a very reflective mood...seeing the brides reminded me of Chris Rice's "Smile (Just Wanna Be With You)," which talks about yearning for the day when we finally get to be with Jesus forever. Another thought that came to mind was what the speaker at this year's Epic Anthology said about God waiting excitedly for us on that day, looking at us with such love and adoration, the way a groom looks at his bride on their wedding day. I can't wait :) I also reflected on my whole trip thus far as I rested there. With my mind filled with so many thoughts, I really wanted to journal but didn't have any paper on me at the time. Lame! For lunch, I had some scrumptious pumpkin ravioli, and then I wandered over to the Arsenale and Castelvecchio (Old Castle), where there was a bridge spanning the river, and it felt really nice to just sit there for a while.
I did some more people watching back in Piazza Bra, mostly because my legs were tired. Man, I thought the smokers were bad in Argentina last year...but it's even worse here in Europe. It seems like EVERYONE smokes, and they start really young, too! I saw some kids who looked around 12 or 13 years of age who were smoking together, and it just made me sad. It seems impossible to break that cycle when smoking is so embedded in their culture...gross. Something random: I also saw a TON of Hard Rock Cafe shirts that day in Verona from a decent number of cities/places...like Barcelona, California, Russia, England, etc. I also saw Anna from my Padova hostel, which was totally unexpected. It reminded me of when Michelle and I saw the "headphones girl" (a girl we saw on the train to Versailles) when we were in Venice. What are the chances, right?
That afternoon in the piazza, there was some sort of event where people with disabilities had the chance to perform music in small groups. It reminded me of the MI kids at Rogers, as well as Best Buddies at Bellaire. It'd been a while since I'd seen people like that, and just seeing them tugged at my heartstrings.
Back at the hostel, I got ahold of a bit of Internet, and then I was going to go back to Piazza Erbe for a concert that night, but we got rained in, so I don't even know if the concert happened. Either way, I stayed in my room and met a few new girls: Daphne from the Netherlands and Natalie and Francesca from Germany. Daphne was really talkative, haha, but it was fun to get to know them a bit before heading to sleep.
For a little while, I went into the Disney store and lost myself for a bit. It's funny--it made me feel like I had been transported back home, I guess to the Galleria, and I momentarily forgot I was in Verona until I left the store again, haha.
At Piazza Bra (where there was a mini-Colosseum of sorts, haha), I just sat for a while in the park and people-watched. I forgot how fun and relaxing it can be, haha. I ended up near this building (a church?) next to the park, and I guess it was the place in town to get married: in the course of an hour or so, I saw 7 or 8 brides (no joke). Crazy, right?! I've never seen so many different newlyweds celebrating and taking pictures in the vicinity of each other, haha. Some of their wedding cars were even the same...haha. Also, their dresses were pretty interesting; some just looked like prom dresses and were black, magenta, or red instead of the ordinary white.
As I sat there, I fell into a very reflective mood...seeing the brides reminded me of Chris Rice's "Smile (Just Wanna Be With You)," which talks about yearning for the day when we finally get to be with Jesus forever. Another thought that came to mind was what the speaker at this year's Epic Anthology said about God waiting excitedly for us on that day, looking at us with such love and adoration, the way a groom looks at his bride on their wedding day. I can't wait :) I also reflected on my whole trip thus far as I rested there. With my mind filled with so many thoughts, I really wanted to journal but didn't have any paper on me at the time. Lame! For lunch, I had some scrumptious pumpkin ravioli, and then I wandered over to the Arsenale and Castelvecchio (Old Castle), where there was a bridge spanning the river, and it felt really nice to just sit there for a while.
I did some more people watching back in Piazza Bra, mostly because my legs were tired. Man, I thought the smokers were bad in Argentina last year...but it's even worse here in Europe. It seems like EVERYONE smokes, and they start really young, too! I saw some kids who looked around 12 or 13 years of age who were smoking together, and it just made me sad. It seems impossible to break that cycle when smoking is so embedded in their culture...gross. Something random: I also saw a TON of Hard Rock Cafe shirts that day in Verona from a decent number of cities/places...like Barcelona, California, Russia, England, etc. I also saw Anna from my Padova hostel, which was totally unexpected. It reminded me of when Michelle and I saw the "headphones girl" (a girl we saw on the train to Versailles) when we were in Venice. What are the chances, right?
That afternoon in the piazza, there was some sort of event where people with disabilities had the chance to perform music in small groups. It reminded me of the MI kids at Rogers, as well as Best Buddies at Bellaire. It'd been a while since I'd seen people like that, and just seeing them tugged at my heartstrings.
Back at the hostel, I got ahold of a bit of Internet, and then I was going to go back to Piazza Erbe for a concert that night, but we got rained in, so I don't even know if the concert happened. Either way, I stayed in my room and met a few new girls: Daphne from the Netherlands and Natalie and Francesca from Germany. Daphne was really talkative, haha, but it was fun to get to know them a bit before heading to sleep.
padova. (6/3/11)
For my first day alone, I'm glad I was in Padova. I really, really liked it, probably for several reasons, but I also just liked the overall feel of the city. It was interesting but not too hectic. I don't know; it's a little hard to describe, but I think it was definitely worth a day's visit. :)
In the morning, there was some type of field day event going on in Prato della Valle, with tons of elementary-age kids grouped by their t-shirt colors participating in semi-athletic events. I actually don't know how else to describe it other than field day, haha. It was fun to watch for a bit, and it definitely brought me back to my days at Lovett. Good times! There was also an amusement park/carnival around the corner from the square...kinda random, haha.
I checked out St. Anthony's Basilica, which was pretty cool. One part of the church has his tomb, and it was interesting to see a lot of people praying to him while touching his tomb. I guess it's a bit weird for me, since I'm not Catholic and don't put that much import in the saints (I don't even really know what St. Anthony did, other than that he was a really good orator--which I learned from Rick Steves--plus his tongue is a relic in the chapel at the back, which I thought was slightly strange).
Since I had a Padova Card, which allowed me free admission to a decent number of museums and buildings, I went to the Loggia and Odeo Cornaro, a small museum showcasing a couple of old buildings. Since it was just me and an older Italian lady visiting at the same time, the tour guide, a young lady, conducted her tour in Italian. I tried really hard to understand what she was saying, using my years of learning Spanish, but it didn't help too much. I picked up key words here and there, but it was an interesting experience. Afterwards, I stopped by the Piazza Erbe again, which was a lot more lively and filled with fruit markets--yay! I got a peach and an orange for 35 euro cents, hehe.
Then came the highlight of my visit to Padova--going to see Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel. They're really awesome! He's just a great artist. The limitations on visiting are pretty intense--they only let in groups of up to 25 people for 15 minutes at a time to maintain the humidity inside the small chapel, but it was worth it, in my opinion. Most of the frescoes portrayed different scenes of Jesus' life and ministry, and they were just really realistic and well-done. The one that hit me the most was the one of the kiss of Judas. Jesus' expression seemed to clearly say, "Do what you came to do," (Matthew 26:50) and I was reminded again of the weight of Jesus' burden and obedience to the Father. Praise God for His salvation through Jesus Christ, again and again.
After our brief visit in the Scrovegni, I wandered around the neighboring Eremitani Museums, which had a lot of paintings and old ruins and artifacts, as well as Palazzo Zuckermann, which also had a collection of various items that were pretty neat. On my way back to the hostel area, I also stopped by Palazzo della Ragione above Piazza Erbe, which had a giant horse statue, as well as an exhibit on counterfeit money (talk about unrelated topics). I ate my first European kebab (yum!) for "linner", since it was around 4 p.m., lol...I also stopped by the small Botanic Garden, since I had a little more time before my train, where I saw a lot of college student-age artists sketching various plants. On my way out, I got gelato (that matched my shirt, haha), and the guy behind the counter gave me an extra sample, which was surprising but nice. Yay for random kindness :)
However, not yay for train fines...which I was subject to on my train to Verona. Apparently, I had gotten onto an inter-city train without paying the extra fee that came with it, so that was a little off-putting...oh well. It happens, I guess. But things didn't get better yet. I got to Verona and waited for the bus to the hostel area of town...for forever, it seemed (30 minutes, realistically). It started to frustrate me, since the sun was setting soon, and there was nothing I could do. While I waited, a little girl even talked to me for a bit, but only in Italian, so not much was communicated in that short conversation. Even when the bus finally came, it was hard to find the hostel after I got off the bus. After asking the bus driver plus a couple of strangers, plus following various street signs with a hostel logo, I climbed uphill for a bit longer before finally finding the hostel. Geez, it could not be farther from the train station...anyway, when I checked in (since that place doesn't take reservations), the guy behind the counter told me there might not be beds for two nights in a row, and I would have to check again in the morning. That was also unexpected, and pretty much the last straw for me. I managed to hold myself together until I got to my room, but once I got there, I broke down and cried for a little bit. It wasn't anything big, just a buildup of several frustrating things in the course of an hour or two, and I needed to let it out. Prayer definitely helped me calm down, too. I just spent the rest of the night organizing my things, figuring out the shower and trying to shower quickly (it was a weird, kind of corporate shower, and potentially very awkward...but the next morning, I saw girls go in with their swimsuits on, which would make sense...too bad I didn't bring that with me to Europe!), and then turning in early. Which I guess is something I'm not doing tonight...must finish updating!
In the morning, there was some type of field day event going on in Prato della Valle, with tons of elementary-age kids grouped by their t-shirt colors participating in semi-athletic events. I actually don't know how else to describe it other than field day, haha. It was fun to watch for a bit, and it definitely brought me back to my days at Lovett. Good times! There was also an amusement park/carnival around the corner from the square...kinda random, haha.
I checked out St. Anthony's Basilica, which was pretty cool. One part of the church has his tomb, and it was interesting to see a lot of people praying to him while touching his tomb. I guess it's a bit weird for me, since I'm not Catholic and don't put that much import in the saints (I don't even really know what St. Anthony did, other than that he was a really good orator--which I learned from Rick Steves--plus his tongue is a relic in the chapel at the back, which I thought was slightly strange).
Since I had a Padova Card, which allowed me free admission to a decent number of museums and buildings, I went to the Loggia and Odeo Cornaro, a small museum showcasing a couple of old buildings. Since it was just me and an older Italian lady visiting at the same time, the tour guide, a young lady, conducted her tour in Italian. I tried really hard to understand what she was saying, using my years of learning Spanish, but it didn't help too much. I picked up key words here and there, but it was an interesting experience. Afterwards, I stopped by the Piazza Erbe again, which was a lot more lively and filled with fruit markets--yay! I got a peach and an orange for 35 euro cents, hehe.
Then came the highlight of my visit to Padova--going to see Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel. They're really awesome! He's just a great artist. The limitations on visiting are pretty intense--they only let in groups of up to 25 people for 15 minutes at a time to maintain the humidity inside the small chapel, but it was worth it, in my opinion. Most of the frescoes portrayed different scenes of Jesus' life and ministry, and they were just really realistic and well-done. The one that hit me the most was the one of the kiss of Judas. Jesus' expression seemed to clearly say, "Do what you came to do," (Matthew 26:50) and I was reminded again of the weight of Jesus' burden and obedience to the Father. Praise God for His salvation through Jesus Christ, again and again.
After our brief visit in the Scrovegni, I wandered around the neighboring Eremitani Museums, which had a lot of paintings and old ruins and artifacts, as well as Palazzo Zuckermann, which also had a collection of various items that were pretty neat. On my way back to the hostel area, I also stopped by Palazzo della Ragione above Piazza Erbe, which had a giant horse statue, as well as an exhibit on counterfeit money (talk about unrelated topics). I ate my first European kebab (yum!) for "linner", since it was around 4 p.m., lol...I also stopped by the small Botanic Garden, since I had a little more time before my train, where I saw a lot of college student-age artists sketching various plants. On my way out, I got gelato (that matched my shirt, haha), and the guy behind the counter gave me an extra sample, which was surprising but nice. Yay for random kindness :)
However, not yay for train fines...which I was subject to on my train to Verona. Apparently, I had gotten onto an inter-city train without paying the extra fee that came with it, so that was a little off-putting...oh well. It happens, I guess. But things didn't get better yet. I got to Verona and waited for the bus to the hostel area of town...for forever, it seemed (30 minutes, realistically). It started to frustrate me, since the sun was setting soon, and there was nothing I could do. While I waited, a little girl even talked to me for a bit, but only in Italian, so not much was communicated in that short conversation. Even when the bus finally came, it was hard to find the hostel after I got off the bus. After asking the bus driver plus a couple of strangers, plus following various street signs with a hostel logo, I climbed uphill for a bit longer before finally finding the hostel. Geez, it could not be farther from the train station...anyway, when I checked in (since that place doesn't take reservations), the guy behind the counter told me there might not be beds for two nights in a row, and I would have to check again in the morning. That was also unexpected, and pretty much the last straw for me. I managed to hold myself together until I got to my room, but once I got there, I broke down and cried for a little bit. It wasn't anything big, just a buildup of several frustrating things in the course of an hour or two, and I needed to let it out. Prayer definitely helped me calm down, too. I just spent the rest of the night organizing my things, figuring out the shower and trying to shower quickly (it was a weird, kind of corporate shower, and potentially very awkward...but the next morning, I saw girls go in with their swimsuits on, which would make sense...too bad I didn't bring that with me to Europe!), and then turning in early. Which I guess is something I'm not doing tonight...must finish updating!
family fun, days 10-11: venice!
Okay...time to catch up/super-update! Ready?
Day 10:
After breakfast, we set out on foot to find the Rialto markets, which were mostly fish/seafood markets (talk about pungent!) and fruit markets. Fun stuff! The fish markets had a lot of different and exotic looking seafoods (ie. cuttlefish, swordfish)--pretty exciting. Crossing the super well-known Rialto Bridge (the most-photographed bridge in Italy or Europe, I forget) reminded me of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, since both have a lot of shops on them.
St. Mark's Basilica was very grand and beautiful, with the ceilings full of Biblical characters and stories set on gold mosaic background (we're learning about it in class now! Haha). Lunch was at Marco Polo Restaurant, per Caiqian's recommendation, and it was alright. My spaghetti with squid ink was quite an adventure and gave me a very black mouth, to the amusement of my family. If you go to Venice, eat seafood! Even though my parents got normal spaghetti and margherita pizza, haha...After lunch, our parents left us to check out the casino, but after Michelle and I started wandering for a bit, we ran into them! Turns out we were close to the casino, and they didn't end up going in and headed back to the hotel instead. Munching on fruit cups followed by gelato (Michelle found her beloved Crema de Grom, haha), we wandered down different streets and got slightly lost, but that's part of the fun in Venice. Trust me :)
After meeting our parents back at the hotel, we took our first vaporetto (water bus) to St. Mark's, which was pretty fun. We didn't go down the Grand Canal, but went south of the island, past Giudecca, so we got to see a bit of the open sea, which was still pretty nice. The Bridge of Sighs is tinier than I thought (right off the Doge's Palace) and has the acclaimed tiny windows where, legend says, prisoners would look out at the sky one last time and sigh as they headed to their death. Mmmmorbid...
After a bit of confusion, we found Il Ridotto (per Michelle's friend's recommendation) and its connecting restaurant, which her friend had recommended for pizza. We ended up sitting next to a group of elderly folk who were from different parts of the U.S. (Chicago, Nashville, Boston) and were traveling together in Italy. Fun times! They were pretty friendly and easy to talk to. We even saw them briefly on the streets the next day while getting gelato, haha.
Back at St. Mark's, now that it was nighttime, we saw some of the "dueling orchestras" that Rick Steves talked about, which was basically small bands in front of different cafes performing different pieces. One of them did a Sound of Music medley :D Then we took the vaporetto back along the Grand Canal, which was really pretty--all of the palazzos (palaces) were lit up with lights, and it was just really neat to see it at night in a totally different light (Rialto Bridge, too).
Day 11:
In the morning, we took another vaporetto to Murano, the small island of Venice dedicated to glass-making. We got to see a brief glass-blowing demonstration and then just wandered down the main street past dozens of glass shops with a lot of cool glasswork! Glass is so pretty (and versatile, too!). We also checked out the glass museum, which had information on how glass-making works, as well as glasswork from more ancient times. After a quick lunch, we vaporetto-ed back to St. Mark's (and I got splashed on the way, lol), where we got to feed pigeons! :D No joke, that stuff is really fun. A lot of people were doing it, actually. We just took what we had (a big meringue and croissants, haha), crushed/tore it up, and held it out. The pigeons landed on our hands, arms, shoulders, and even our heads! Michelle and I had a lot of fun and even got our parents to join us :) Thank goodness, none of them pooped on us, but we got some pretty fun pictures. On our way out from the square, we actually ran across an acapella group that was giving an impromptu performance! They were Italian but were singing English songs: a couple of hymns/worship songs, as well as Build Me Up, Buttercup :) good stuff! I recorded them and am trying to upload them to Facebook...but yeah, that was pretty cool. The praise songs were new to us, but we really liked them! For the rest of the afternoon, we just ate (gelato and Nutella crepe, mmm) and chilled at the hotel and train station, waiting for my train.
Finally, the time came for me to get on my train and leave my family. Gah, that was hard. I knew I'd have a hard time saying goodbye, especially knowing that I won't see my parents for a few months at the very least :( I tried to hold back my tears, but as I hugged them goodbye, it was impossible. I felt so embarrassed once I sat in my seat, since my family was waiting just outside my seat window, but it took a little while to calm down >.< Man, praise God for family. I love them so much :) and I wish they could still be with me when I travel and have adventures!
After about an hour on the train, I got to Padova, where I made it to my hostel after getting help and directions (and even a hand-drawn map! so kind) to my hostel. I walked around for a bit to Prato della Valle, St. Anthony's, and Piazza Erbe, just to see what they were like at night. The basilica obviously wasn't open, and Piazza Erbe was empty, but I really liked Prato della Valle. It's like a huge park area in the shape of an oval, so there's plenty of room to walk around and just sit, chat with friends, walk your dog, people watch, or even rollerblade. I loved the feel of it, and I think my family would have enjoyed it :) since we're into walking after meals. Back at the hostel, I met a couple of girls in my room--Anna from Germany and Ayako from Japan--who I got to talk to for a bit about their travels, and then we all just went to sleep. I was officially on my own!
Day 10:
After breakfast, we set out on foot to find the Rialto markets, which were mostly fish/seafood markets (talk about pungent!) and fruit markets. Fun stuff! The fish markets had a lot of different and exotic looking seafoods (ie. cuttlefish, swordfish)--pretty exciting. Crossing the super well-known Rialto Bridge (the most-photographed bridge in Italy or Europe, I forget) reminded me of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, since both have a lot of shops on them.
St. Mark's Basilica was very grand and beautiful, with the ceilings full of Biblical characters and stories set on gold mosaic background (we're learning about it in class now! Haha). Lunch was at Marco Polo Restaurant, per Caiqian's recommendation, and it was alright. My spaghetti with squid ink was quite an adventure and gave me a very black mouth, to the amusement of my family. If you go to Venice, eat seafood! Even though my parents got normal spaghetti and margherita pizza, haha...After lunch, our parents left us to check out the casino, but after Michelle and I started wandering for a bit, we ran into them! Turns out we were close to the casino, and they didn't end up going in and headed back to the hotel instead. Munching on fruit cups followed by gelato (Michelle found her beloved Crema de Grom, haha), we wandered down different streets and got slightly lost, but that's part of the fun in Venice. Trust me :)
After meeting our parents back at the hotel, we took our first vaporetto (water bus) to St. Mark's, which was pretty fun. We didn't go down the Grand Canal, but went south of the island, past Giudecca, so we got to see a bit of the open sea, which was still pretty nice. The Bridge of Sighs is tinier than I thought (right off the Doge's Palace) and has the acclaimed tiny windows where, legend says, prisoners would look out at the sky one last time and sigh as they headed to their death. Mmmmorbid...
After a bit of confusion, we found Il Ridotto (per Michelle's friend's recommendation) and its connecting restaurant, which her friend had recommended for pizza. We ended up sitting next to a group of elderly folk who were from different parts of the U.S. (Chicago, Nashville, Boston) and were traveling together in Italy. Fun times! They were pretty friendly and easy to talk to. We even saw them briefly on the streets the next day while getting gelato, haha.
Back at St. Mark's, now that it was nighttime, we saw some of the "dueling orchestras" that Rick Steves talked about, which was basically small bands in front of different cafes performing different pieces. One of them did a Sound of Music medley :D Then we took the vaporetto back along the Grand Canal, which was really pretty--all of the palazzos (palaces) were lit up with lights, and it was just really neat to see it at night in a totally different light (Rialto Bridge, too).
Day 11:
In the morning, we took another vaporetto to Murano, the small island of Venice dedicated to glass-making. We got to see a brief glass-blowing demonstration and then just wandered down the main street past dozens of glass shops with a lot of cool glasswork! Glass is so pretty (and versatile, too!). We also checked out the glass museum, which had information on how glass-making works, as well as glasswork from more ancient times. After a quick lunch, we vaporetto-ed back to St. Mark's (and I got splashed on the way, lol), where we got to feed pigeons! :D No joke, that stuff is really fun. A lot of people were doing it, actually. We just took what we had (a big meringue and croissants, haha), crushed/tore it up, and held it out. The pigeons landed on our hands, arms, shoulders, and even our heads! Michelle and I had a lot of fun and even got our parents to join us :) Thank goodness, none of them pooped on us, but we got some pretty fun pictures. On our way out from the square, we actually ran across an acapella group that was giving an impromptu performance! They were Italian but were singing English songs: a couple of hymns/worship songs, as well as Build Me Up, Buttercup :) good stuff! I recorded them and am trying to upload them to Facebook...but yeah, that was pretty cool. The praise songs were new to us, but we really liked them! For the rest of the afternoon, we just ate (gelato and Nutella crepe, mmm) and chilled at the hotel and train station, waiting for my train.
Finally, the time came for me to get on my train and leave my family. Gah, that was hard. I knew I'd have a hard time saying goodbye, especially knowing that I won't see my parents for a few months at the very least :( I tried to hold back my tears, but as I hugged them goodbye, it was impossible. I felt so embarrassed once I sat in my seat, since my family was waiting just outside my seat window, but it took a little while to calm down >.< Man, praise God for family. I love them so much :) and I wish they could still be with me when I travel and have adventures!
After about an hour on the train, I got to Padova, where I made it to my hostel after getting help and directions (and even a hand-drawn map! so kind) to my hostel. I walked around for a bit to Prato della Valle, St. Anthony's, and Piazza Erbe, just to see what they were like at night. The basilica obviously wasn't open, and Piazza Erbe was empty, but I really liked Prato della Valle. It's like a huge park area in the shape of an oval, so there's plenty of room to walk around and just sit, chat with friends, walk your dog, people watch, or even rollerblade. I loved the feel of it, and I think my family would have enjoyed it :) since we're into walking after meals. Back at the hostel, I met a couple of girls in my room--Anna from Germany and Ayako from Japan--who I got to talk to for a bit about their travels, and then we all just went to sleep. I was officially on my own!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
family fun, days 8-9: florence!
Day 8:
In the morning, we headed to the train station (got breakfast on the go--cannoli is too sweet for the morning!) and hopped onto a train to Pisa, which is only an hour or so away from Florence. We got there, took a bus to the Field of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli), where there is the whole church complex that includes the Leaning Tower of Pisa (since it's actually the bell-tower), as well as the baptistery, the cathedral, and the cemetery. The tower is really super leany! Geez. Talk about an engineering miracle. It's been like that for centuries, too...so insane. It was really cool to see in person (and harder than you'd think to take pictures with creative/cool poses with it, haha), and the cathedral was pretty neat as well. We didn't spend too long there, and then went back to the train station. However, on the way back, our bus got stuck in this awkward position where it couldn't quite make a turn but couldn't back out because traffic was flowing behind it...we were stuck there for a few minutes, haha.
Anyway, after getting back to Florence, we went on a mad hunt for the grocery store (per our dad's request), then split for lunch. Michelle and I were wandering past a market and then were looking at a menu outside a restaurant/bar when the owner came outside and said, "Sorry, we're closed for now, (since it was already 3 p.m.) unless you want sandwiches, then that's okay." Since that's all we were looking for, he made us each a pretty yummy sandwich with crunchy bread, salami, salad, and mushrooms. Mmm. As we sat on the steps behind a church and munched, we saw this adorable little blonde kid passing by who kept turning back and waving to us. Hehe X)
After we met up with our parents at the hotel, we checked out the Duomo Church (which was literally a one-minute walk from our hotel, or less), which has a huge frescoed dome of The Final Judgment (nothing new), which was pretty impressive. Michelle and I hiked up 400+ stairs up the belltower to see a view of Florence (and the neighboring dome). Pretty view :)
Then we tried to go to see the Boboli Gardens across the bride (Ponte Vecchio, which means "Old Bridge"--it's pretty cool, has a ton of jewelry stores), but it was closed, so we walked over to Piazzale Michelangelo, climbed another long slope, and got a view of Florence from the southeast as the sun was setting. Cool stuff :) and fun for pictures.
We ate some hearty Tuscan cooking for dinner at Casalinga--(salty) beef stew, tortellini with cream and ham (interesting), tripe, and garden pasta--pretty good and not too expensive. Too oily for my parents, though :( We took our mom to Grom on the way back! Yay gelato. We also saw the street performers (a trio of guitar, cello, and violin) from the night before in one of the plazas. They were pretty good!
Day 9:
We woke up, checked out, and then crossed the river again to the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens (where we'd tried to go the previous day). Seeing the prices (which were a little too high for what it seemed was inside, in our opinions), we stood outside for a while trying to decide what to do...lol, oh indecision. We finally decided against it and just roamed around the area (Florence is that type of city, after all). We looked at the jewelry on Ponte Vecchio and then chilled for a bit in Orsanmichele Church, where I got to share the gospel with my mom :) I think she just kinda heard it as information, but I'm still praying and hoping. We then all grabbed small sandwiches for lunch before heading to the famous Uffizi Gallery for our appointed/reserved time. That museum has a deceptively simple floor plan (a big "U"), but there are so many rooms off the main hall, and it's so big! It got pretty tiring after a while, plus we had another reserved time for the Accademia, so we got out around 2:30...and then we couldn't find our dad. It drove us a little crazy for a while, but my mom got permission to go back in and look for him. Thankfully, she found him not too long after, and we speed-walked to the Accademia, which is famous for Michelangelo's David (the original). It was very beautiful indeed. I just sat there for a while gazing at it (it's so tall, too!). I also really liked looking at his unfinished Prisoners series. I think there's something about seeing an unfinished work (I saw an unfinished Da Vinci painting at the Uffizi, too) that makes me even more aware of the whole process of creating the painting or sculpture (or whatever it is) and thus more admiring of the artist. So neat :) what talent.
After we were done with that, it was almost time to catch our next train, so we grabbed some gelato, our backpacks, and then went to the train station and boarded our train to Venice. A couple of hours later, we were there!
Man, Venice is just something else (and I'm not just saying that because I'm currently taking a class on it, haha). We walked out of the train station and bam--water! No cars, no big streets--just water. It was a really cool sight and feeling. I fell in love almost immediately. Not saying that Venice doesn't have its drawbacks (one of the biggest ones being the millions of tourists that go through it ever year, and then there's the fact that it's sinking...), because it does, but just seeing it for the first time was so...cool. Very unique.
We found our hotel (nearby, thankfully), dropped off our bags, and split for dinner. Michelle and I were trying to look for a place that didn't have a multilingual menu (per Rick Steves' suggestion), but there were nearly none near the train station that didn't have menus in English, Italian, French, and German (sheesh! lol). Finally, we settled on a touristy-looking one, but it ended up being one of our better meals :) in our opinion, anyway. Seafood is definitely the item to get in Venice! Pasta with scallops and gnocchi with cream of salmon. Mmm.
We wandered around a bit more (crossed the new Calatrava Bridge, which really doesn't fit in with the city's architecture at all), then headed back for bed. Which might be where I'm headed now...
In the morning, we headed to the train station (got breakfast on the go--cannoli is too sweet for the morning!) and hopped onto a train to Pisa, which is only an hour or so away from Florence. We got there, took a bus to the Field of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli), where there is the whole church complex that includes the Leaning Tower of Pisa (since it's actually the bell-tower), as well as the baptistery, the cathedral, and the cemetery. The tower is really super leany! Geez. Talk about an engineering miracle. It's been like that for centuries, too...so insane. It was really cool to see in person (and harder than you'd think to take pictures with creative/cool poses with it, haha), and the cathedral was pretty neat as well. We didn't spend too long there, and then went back to the train station. However, on the way back, our bus got stuck in this awkward position where it couldn't quite make a turn but couldn't back out because traffic was flowing behind it...we were stuck there for a few minutes, haha.
Anyway, after getting back to Florence, we went on a mad hunt for the grocery store (per our dad's request), then split for lunch. Michelle and I were wandering past a market and then were looking at a menu outside a restaurant/bar when the owner came outside and said, "Sorry, we're closed for now, (since it was already 3 p.m.) unless you want sandwiches, then that's okay." Since that's all we were looking for, he made us each a pretty yummy sandwich with crunchy bread, salami, salad, and mushrooms. Mmm. As we sat on the steps behind a church and munched, we saw this adorable little blonde kid passing by who kept turning back and waving to us. Hehe X)
After we met up with our parents at the hotel, we checked out the Duomo Church (which was literally a one-minute walk from our hotel, or less), which has a huge frescoed dome of The Final Judgment (nothing new), which was pretty impressive. Michelle and I hiked up 400+ stairs up the belltower to see a view of Florence (and the neighboring dome). Pretty view :)
Then we tried to go to see the Boboli Gardens across the bride (Ponte Vecchio, which means "Old Bridge"--it's pretty cool, has a ton of jewelry stores), but it was closed, so we walked over to Piazzale Michelangelo, climbed another long slope, and got a view of Florence from the southeast as the sun was setting. Cool stuff :) and fun for pictures.
We ate some hearty Tuscan cooking for dinner at Casalinga--(salty) beef stew, tortellini with cream and ham (interesting), tripe, and garden pasta--pretty good and not too expensive. Too oily for my parents, though :( We took our mom to Grom on the way back! Yay gelato. We also saw the street performers (a trio of guitar, cello, and violin) from the night before in one of the plazas. They were pretty good!
Day 9:
We woke up, checked out, and then crossed the river again to the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens (where we'd tried to go the previous day). Seeing the prices (which were a little too high for what it seemed was inside, in our opinions), we stood outside for a while trying to decide what to do...lol, oh indecision. We finally decided against it and just roamed around the area (Florence is that type of city, after all). We looked at the jewelry on Ponte Vecchio and then chilled for a bit in Orsanmichele Church, where I got to share the gospel with my mom :) I think she just kinda heard it as information, but I'm still praying and hoping. We then all grabbed small sandwiches for lunch before heading to the famous Uffizi Gallery for our appointed/reserved time. That museum has a deceptively simple floor plan (a big "U"), but there are so many rooms off the main hall, and it's so big! It got pretty tiring after a while, plus we had another reserved time for the Accademia, so we got out around 2:30...and then we couldn't find our dad. It drove us a little crazy for a while, but my mom got permission to go back in and look for him. Thankfully, she found him not too long after, and we speed-walked to the Accademia, which is famous for Michelangelo's David (the original). It was very beautiful indeed. I just sat there for a while gazing at it (it's so tall, too!). I also really liked looking at his unfinished Prisoners series. I think there's something about seeing an unfinished work (I saw an unfinished Da Vinci painting at the Uffizi, too) that makes me even more aware of the whole process of creating the painting or sculpture (or whatever it is) and thus more admiring of the artist. So neat :) what talent.
After we were done with that, it was almost time to catch our next train, so we grabbed some gelato, our backpacks, and then went to the train station and boarded our train to Venice. A couple of hours later, we were there!
Man, Venice is just something else (and I'm not just saying that because I'm currently taking a class on it, haha). We walked out of the train station and bam--water! No cars, no big streets--just water. It was a really cool sight and feeling. I fell in love almost immediately. Not saying that Venice doesn't have its drawbacks (one of the biggest ones being the millions of tourists that go through it ever year, and then there's the fact that it's sinking...), because it does, but just seeing it for the first time was so...cool. Very unique.
We found our hotel (nearby, thankfully), dropped off our bags, and split for dinner. Michelle and I were trying to look for a place that didn't have a multilingual menu (per Rick Steves' suggestion), but there were nearly none near the train station that didn't have menus in English, Italian, French, and German (sheesh! lol). Finally, we settled on a touristy-looking one, but it ended up being one of our better meals :) in our opinion, anyway. Seafood is definitely the item to get in Venice! Pasta with scallops and gnocchi with cream of salmon. Mmm.
We wandered around a bit more (crossed the new Calatrava Bridge, which really doesn't fit in with the city's architecture at all), then headed back for bed. Which might be where I'm headed now...
family fun, days 4-7: roma!
Day 4:
We arrived in Rome mid-morning, had some trouble finding our hotel, and then we had even more trouble getting in. It was a B&B, and no one was answering the phone. Praise God for providing a nice young Chinese lady nearby who was willing to help call them for us (our B&B, funny enough, was in the middle of a Chinatown-type neighborhood, lol) and also someone who walked out of the building, allowing us to get inside and find the hotel. We finally found it, got settled, and set out. After a quick lunch of sandwiches and pizza (eggplant is not the best topping, I found out), we walked to the Colosseum to check out Ancient Rome. For the first time (of many), we saw the potable water fountains that are so common in Italy :) Walked through the Colosseum, Imperial Forums, and Palatine Hill.
I loved seeing the Colosseum! Especially after doing the Ancient Rome touchcart a few years back at HMNS (Ecoteens, anyone? <3 ) and learning about the Colosseum and Roman roads and togas. Mm, good times. It was cool to stand there and just imagine a roaring crowd watching a lively, albeit grotesque, show. It's really quite neat to walk back into history like that. :)
After Ancient Rome, we headed back to the hotel, and then we went to eat out at a restaurant nearby. We tried to go somewhere our hotel-keeper recommended, but she didn't give us a restaurant name, so I'm afraid we picked the wrong place. Either way, we all had different types of pastas that were just okay and a bit pricey, but it's okay. It happens.
(You know, I'm thankful I grew up on milk and cereal (or bread/bread items) every day for breakfast, because that's essentially the diet of hotels/hostels here.)
Day 5:
We took the Metro (one of their two lines, lol) to the Vatican! We went to the Vatican Museum, which was huuuge and so marvelous. Of course, the masterpiece was the Sistine Chapel :) I loved it. Michelangelo was such a beast. I kinda wish we'd stayed there a bit longer, but it's okay. I hope to go back there someday and just stare at the ceiling for a while. It was neat to recognize a lot of the scenes from the Bible :)
We then headed for mid-afternoon lunch, and we wound up (unfortunately) at a bar with a tourist menu. Probably our second to worst dining experience, mostly because we had to wait nearly an hour for our food...bleh. However, their French fries were decent, and I kinda liked my margherita pizza, haha. No more lunches off a tourist menu, that's for sure!
After lunch, we walked over to St. Peter's Basilica, which is ginormous. So astounding in size and architecture. In the end, though, I feel like (and I think Michelle was the same) I admired it more for its architecture than anything else. Seeing all the churches (not just St. Peter's, but in general) and other buildings made me want to learn more about two things: (European) architecture and Catholicism. So many questions and things I don't know...but then I know I could just look up a lot of those things online, and I don't/haven't. We'll see, I guess.
One thing that was a little heartbreaking was when we were in St. Peter's, our mom told Michelle and me to quickly pray a prayer in the center of the church, since that may be the only time we go there. I was caught off guard, and I guess she meant well, but it broke my heart to see how little she understands of the faith. We tried to briefly explain to her that prayer isn't limited to any time or space...at the moment, I just prayed that God would open her eyes (and my dad's) to who He really is. Ongoing prayer request for sure.
After resting a while in the square in front of St. Peter's (speaking of which...it was FILLED with chairs! Probably almost 1000...crazy o.o I guess it's for when the Pope comes out on Wednesday mornings?), we Metro'd over to the Spanish Steps, which we climbed, took some pictures, and then headed back. Due to our late and filling lunch, we just had apples and gelato for dinner :) and walked for a bit in the plaza next to our hotel.
Day 6:
Having hit all of the major must-sees in the first two days, we decided to take a walking tour of another part of Rome. We headed out, passed the intersection with four fountains, looked around the Palazzo Quirinale (Rome's government building, I believe), and then stopped by the Trevi Fountain. It's so big! And pretty. And crowded, lol. Then we wandered over to the Pantheon (which I think I had confused with the Parthenon in Greece...fail), which has a cool dome with a beam of sunlight coming through--neat! Piazza Navona was also really pretty; I especially liked Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers (the Nile, Danube, Ganges, and Rio de la Plata); it's so creative! They're depicted as river gods with different poses :) Then we split for lunch--our parents munched on calzones, while Michelle and I tracked down one of the restaurants recommended by Rick Steves (oh yeah, how could I forget to mention him? He was like our fifth companion, and we referred to him as such, for the most part. Whoohoo for a borrowed 2009 edition of Rick Steve's Italy! Haha. His books were everywhere...no joke).
We found the place (Osteria di Marco, I think?) and took a seat next to a strange Italian man. When our waiter (who was highly amusing and who I really liked--he had a very "Italian" nose, as Michelle put it) came to take our orders, I think he made some joke referring to us and the man next to me, and it thoroughly confused us. What was even weirder was that the man reached over and tugged slightly on my purse, then looked at me incredulously. Talk about confusing body language. I was so confused...but he left us alone for the most part (other than another instance where he did some weird hand motion in the air...lol). We wanted to ask him what he recommended, but he didn't seem too friendly. We ended up getting two yummy pasta dishes, and it was a good time :) I kinda wish I'd taken a picture with our waiter...oh well.
Afterwards, we walked over to Campo di Fiori (Field of Flowers), which is just a market plaza, and then we crossed the Tiber River to Trastevere, the neighborhood on the other side of the river. We rested for a while in the Church of Santa Maria della Trastevere, which was pretty beautiful itself. Not knowing what to do (and emptied of suggestions from Rick Steves), we ended up finding our solution on our dad's map of Rome that he'd bought right before coming: climbing Gianicolo for one of the best views of Rome. It was quite a climb (and there was tons of PDA at the top), but it was worth it! We could see pretty much all of Rome, and St. Peter's was pretty close as well. Yay for a good photo op!
We descended the hill, headed back to Ancient Rome area, and then split again. Our parents went back to our hotel area for Chinese food for dinner, and Michelle wanted to go back and re-climb the hill for a view during sunset, so off we went (with apples for dinner once again), after stopping by Capitol Hill. The climb was still pretty hard, but the view was nice (and we saw a newlywed couple taking pictures!) with the glow of the sun. Best of all, we got to catch up :)
Before the night was over, we swung by Giolitti (one of the best gelatos ever) for chocolate and mango gelato (so good!), as well as the Trevi Fountain to see it at night and throw in a coin each to assure our return to Rome :P per the tourist custom. We followed it up with more gelato (hehe) from San Crispino, and then it was rushing back to the hotel for bedtime.
Day 7:
Last day in Rome! We checked out and then headed for the National Museum of Rome, not knowing where else to go. However, we decided at the end not to go (I think our parents were kinda museum-ed out for the moment, and we still had at least two big ones to visit in Florence), so we wandered into the Church of St. Maria of Angels and Martyrs (I think?), which ended up being pretty neat. They had a Galileo exhibit temporarily up, which was pretty interesting, and we also got to see the organist play a mini-concert, which was awesome! Free music and a shady place of respite :)
Afterwards, we headed over to a shopping mall near Giolitti that we'd seen the night before, and then headed back to the Pantheon area for lunch. On the way, we saw a ton of people wearing pink jerseys and waving flags that proclaimed "Palermo." We eventually figured out (from one of their t-shirts) that Palermo is a soccer team, and they had a game that night. Yay for football spirit :) Per Rick Steve's recommendation, we got a granita di caffe con panna (coffee slushie with whipped cream) from one of the bars near the Pantheon, and it was amaaazing! Yum. We had pizza for lunch and Giolitti for dessert. Yay :)
We walked back to the church from the morning to take a slight siesta before heading to the train station and hopping on the train to Florence.
After a couple of hours, we got to Florence and found our hotel (after my faulty directions made us take several unnecessary turns, lol), which turned out to be right on the Duomo Square--neat stuff! We split again for dinner, and Michelle and I found a self-serve cafeteria (lol) from Rick Steves' book, where we had the simplest dinner I think we had during the whole two weeks. But sometimes that's what you need :) Minestrone and tortellini and a bowl of cherries for 10 euros? Perfect. Afterward, we wandered around the nearby plazas (I love Florence for its charm and walkable-ness! :D), and Michelle discovered the joys of crema de Grom at a gelateria called Grom. She cannot get over that flavor, haha. XP
Whoo! Another update done. In the meantime, my classmates downstairs are taking the weirdest "purity test" ever...talk about awkward.
We arrived in Rome mid-morning, had some trouble finding our hotel, and then we had even more trouble getting in. It was a B&B, and no one was answering the phone. Praise God for providing a nice young Chinese lady nearby who was willing to help call them for us (our B&B, funny enough, was in the middle of a Chinatown-type neighborhood, lol) and also someone who walked out of the building, allowing us to get inside and find the hotel. We finally found it, got settled, and set out. After a quick lunch of sandwiches and pizza (eggplant is not the best topping, I found out), we walked to the Colosseum to check out Ancient Rome. For the first time (of many), we saw the potable water fountains that are so common in Italy :) Walked through the Colosseum, Imperial Forums, and Palatine Hill.
I loved seeing the Colosseum! Especially after doing the Ancient Rome touchcart a few years back at HMNS (Ecoteens, anyone? <3 ) and learning about the Colosseum and Roman roads and togas. Mm, good times. It was cool to stand there and just imagine a roaring crowd watching a lively, albeit grotesque, show. It's really quite neat to walk back into history like that. :)
After Ancient Rome, we headed back to the hotel, and then we went to eat out at a restaurant nearby. We tried to go somewhere our hotel-keeper recommended, but she didn't give us a restaurant name, so I'm afraid we picked the wrong place. Either way, we all had different types of pastas that were just okay and a bit pricey, but it's okay. It happens.
(You know, I'm thankful I grew up on milk and cereal (or bread/bread items) every day for breakfast, because that's essentially the diet of hotels/hostels here.)
Day 5:
We took the Metro (one of their two lines, lol) to the Vatican! We went to the Vatican Museum, which was huuuge and so marvelous. Of course, the masterpiece was the Sistine Chapel :) I loved it. Michelangelo was such a beast. I kinda wish we'd stayed there a bit longer, but it's okay. I hope to go back there someday and just stare at the ceiling for a while. It was neat to recognize a lot of the scenes from the Bible :)
We then headed for mid-afternoon lunch, and we wound up (unfortunately) at a bar with a tourist menu. Probably our second to worst dining experience, mostly because we had to wait nearly an hour for our food...bleh. However, their French fries were decent, and I kinda liked my margherita pizza, haha. No more lunches off a tourist menu, that's for sure!
After lunch, we walked over to St. Peter's Basilica, which is ginormous. So astounding in size and architecture. In the end, though, I feel like (and I think Michelle was the same) I admired it more for its architecture than anything else. Seeing all the churches (not just St. Peter's, but in general) and other buildings made me want to learn more about two things: (European) architecture and Catholicism. So many questions and things I don't know...but then I know I could just look up a lot of those things online, and I don't/haven't. We'll see, I guess.
One thing that was a little heartbreaking was when we were in St. Peter's, our mom told Michelle and me to quickly pray a prayer in the center of the church, since that may be the only time we go there. I was caught off guard, and I guess she meant well, but it broke my heart to see how little she understands of the faith. We tried to briefly explain to her that prayer isn't limited to any time or space...at the moment, I just prayed that God would open her eyes (and my dad's) to who He really is. Ongoing prayer request for sure.
After resting a while in the square in front of St. Peter's (speaking of which...it was FILLED with chairs! Probably almost 1000...crazy o.o I guess it's for when the Pope comes out on Wednesday mornings?), we Metro'd over to the Spanish Steps, which we climbed, took some pictures, and then headed back. Due to our late and filling lunch, we just had apples and gelato for dinner :) and walked for a bit in the plaza next to our hotel.
Day 6:
Having hit all of the major must-sees in the first two days, we decided to take a walking tour of another part of Rome. We headed out, passed the intersection with four fountains, looked around the Palazzo Quirinale (Rome's government building, I believe), and then stopped by the Trevi Fountain. It's so big! And pretty. And crowded, lol. Then we wandered over to the Pantheon (which I think I had confused with the Parthenon in Greece...fail), which has a cool dome with a beam of sunlight coming through--neat! Piazza Navona was also really pretty; I especially liked Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers (the Nile, Danube, Ganges, and Rio de la Plata); it's so creative! They're depicted as river gods with different poses :) Then we split for lunch--our parents munched on calzones, while Michelle and I tracked down one of the restaurants recommended by Rick Steves (oh yeah, how could I forget to mention him? He was like our fifth companion, and we referred to him as such, for the most part. Whoohoo for a borrowed 2009 edition of Rick Steve's Italy! Haha. His books were everywhere...no joke).
We found the place (Osteria di Marco, I think?) and took a seat next to a strange Italian man. When our waiter (who was highly amusing and who I really liked--he had a very "Italian" nose, as Michelle put it) came to take our orders, I think he made some joke referring to us and the man next to me, and it thoroughly confused us. What was even weirder was that the man reached over and tugged slightly on my purse, then looked at me incredulously. Talk about confusing body language. I was so confused...but he left us alone for the most part (other than another instance where he did some weird hand motion in the air...lol). We wanted to ask him what he recommended, but he didn't seem too friendly. We ended up getting two yummy pasta dishes, and it was a good time :) I kinda wish I'd taken a picture with our waiter...oh well.
Afterwards, we walked over to Campo di Fiori (Field of Flowers), which is just a market plaza, and then we crossed the Tiber River to Trastevere, the neighborhood on the other side of the river. We rested for a while in the Church of Santa Maria della Trastevere, which was pretty beautiful itself. Not knowing what to do (and emptied of suggestions from Rick Steves), we ended up finding our solution on our dad's map of Rome that he'd bought right before coming: climbing Gianicolo for one of the best views of Rome. It was quite a climb (and there was tons of PDA at the top), but it was worth it! We could see pretty much all of Rome, and St. Peter's was pretty close as well. Yay for a good photo op!
We descended the hill, headed back to Ancient Rome area, and then split again. Our parents went back to our hotel area for Chinese food for dinner, and Michelle wanted to go back and re-climb the hill for a view during sunset, so off we went (with apples for dinner once again), after stopping by Capitol Hill. The climb was still pretty hard, but the view was nice (and we saw a newlywed couple taking pictures!) with the glow of the sun. Best of all, we got to catch up :)
Before the night was over, we swung by Giolitti (one of the best gelatos ever) for chocolate and mango gelato (so good!), as well as the Trevi Fountain to see it at night and throw in a coin each to assure our return to Rome :P per the tourist custom. We followed it up with more gelato (hehe) from San Crispino, and then it was rushing back to the hotel for bedtime.
Day 7:
Last day in Rome! We checked out and then headed for the National Museum of Rome, not knowing where else to go. However, we decided at the end not to go (I think our parents were kinda museum-ed out for the moment, and we still had at least two big ones to visit in Florence), so we wandered into the Church of St. Maria of Angels and Martyrs (I think?), which ended up being pretty neat. They had a Galileo exhibit temporarily up, which was pretty interesting, and we also got to see the organist play a mini-concert, which was awesome! Free music and a shady place of respite :)
Afterwards, we headed over to a shopping mall near Giolitti that we'd seen the night before, and then headed back to the Pantheon area for lunch. On the way, we saw a ton of people wearing pink jerseys and waving flags that proclaimed "Palermo." We eventually figured out (from one of their t-shirts) that Palermo is a soccer team, and they had a game that night. Yay for football spirit :) Per Rick Steve's recommendation, we got a granita di caffe con panna (coffee slushie with whipped cream) from one of the bars near the Pantheon, and it was amaaazing! Yum. We had pizza for lunch and Giolitti for dessert. Yay :)
We walked back to the church from the morning to take a slight siesta before heading to the train station and hopping on the train to Florence.
After a couple of hours, we got to Florence and found our hotel (after my faulty directions made us take several unnecessary turns, lol), which turned out to be right on the Duomo Square--neat stuff! We split again for dinner, and Michelle and I found a self-serve cafeteria (lol) from Rick Steves' book, where we had the simplest dinner I think we had during the whole two weeks. But sometimes that's what you need :) Minestrone and tortellini and a bowl of cherries for 10 euros? Perfect. Afterward, we wandered around the nearby plazas (I love Florence for its charm and walkable-ness! :D), and Michelle discovered the joys of crema de Grom at a gelateria called Grom. She cannot get over that flavor, haha. XP
Whoo! Another update done. In the meantime, my classmates downstairs are taking the weirdest "purity test" ever...talk about awkward.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
overnight travels (silly french boys).
So when we were entering Bercy station (to go to Rome), we passed a kid who looked around middle-school age, and he had Bieber-like hair and a Nirvana shirt, and I said to Michelle, "He's most likely from the U.S." Little did I know...
We had reserved a couchette for the overnight train from Paris to Rome, which meant it had six beds. When we arrived at our compartment, lo and behold--it was Nirvana kid and his friend! And...they were definitely speaking French to each other, haha. We had just passed several compartments of other kids who looked around the same age, so we guessed it was a French school group traveling together, which turned out to be correct. The two boys' names were Julian and Marian (that took a while to find out, haha), and they were really silly. They had the top two bunks, so they mostly stayed up there (after devouring about a backpack's worth of snacks, LOL). After a little while, they talked for a bit to Michelle and me, albeit in rather broken English. Julian (Nirvana kid) was the one who talked to us mostly, since his friend was pretty shy. They would randomly ask us if we liked something, in the format of, (Julian sticks his head down to us) "Do you liiike...(fill in the blank)?" Haha. It was cute and very amusing.
Everything else was pretty normal. The compartment made us think of Harry Potter (I wish it was the Hogwarts Express!), but otherwise, it was like the trains we've traveled on in China. I love trains :) riding them is so relaxing and fun. And I think it's interesting that no matter where you go, countryside pretty much looks the same. Nothing remarkable, but I think I like it that way.
We had reserved a couchette for the overnight train from Paris to Rome, which meant it had six beds. When we arrived at our compartment, lo and behold--it was Nirvana kid and his friend! And...they were definitely speaking French to each other, haha. We had just passed several compartments of other kids who looked around the same age, so we guessed it was a French school group traveling together, which turned out to be correct. The two boys' names were Julian and Marian (that took a while to find out, haha), and they were really silly. They had the top two bunks, so they mostly stayed up there (after devouring about a backpack's worth of snacks, LOL). After a little while, they talked for a bit to Michelle and me, albeit in rather broken English. Julian (Nirvana kid) was the one who talked to us mostly, since his friend was pretty shy. They would randomly ask us if we liked something, in the format of, (Julian sticks his head down to us) "Do you liiike...(fill in the blank)?" Haha. It was cute and very amusing.
Everything else was pretty normal. The compartment made us think of Harry Potter (I wish it was the Hogwarts Express!), but otherwise, it was like the trains we've traveled on in China. I love trains :) riding them is so relaxing and fun. And I think it's interesting that no matter where you go, countryside pretty much looks the same. Nothing remarkable, but I think I like it that way.
family fun, days 1-3: paris.
(It was Monday morning when we arrived, so our official Day 1)
Michelle finally came back with our dad, and I think I had never been so happy to see him (I think it was the combination of really wanting to get food and rest plus not having seen him since my birthday). Michelle bought me an orange soda to help revive me a bit, then we took the train to our hotel in central Paris. After crashing on the bed for a bit, we all went out to find some sustenance (lol, Thor). My dad got a sandwich, Michelle and I shared a crepe, and my mom got some soup from a Chinese restaurant around the corner. We eventually worked up the strength to start sightseeing, thankfully.
We headed to Notre Dame to meet Sara, toured the church, then started to head to Sacre Couer, but my mom and I ended up too tired to make the extra trek, so we went back to the hotel to nap, while the three of them went to Sacre Couer and Centre Pompidou before coming back. By then, it was dinner time. We ended up having a pretty terrible first real dining experience in Paris =\ especially Michelle, lol. At a random French restaurant with no English menu and no English-speaking staff, I had a hamburger and French fries (haha), and Michelle had some...weird salad. Anyway, after dinner, we walked down Champs Elysees as the sun set over Arc de Triomphe, which was kinda neat. We got to the Arc, climbed to the top (except for our dad), and got to see all the streets radiating out from the square--it really is like the spokes of a wheel! We also got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, hehe.
Day 2: We woke up, got breakfast to go at a nearby bakery, and hopped on the train to Versailles! After waiting in line for a bit and getting our tickets, we walked through the golden gates and saw SO MANY people. Seriously, Versailles was where we ended up waiting in line the longest (it wound up being an hour)...the line snaked around the front courtyard several times, and it was just to get into the palace. (Funny story: our mom thought the Asian girl in the group in front of us was Jenny Fan...and she didn't look like her at all, lol. But they were a random group of people that had met at their hostel! which was kinda neat.) When we finally got in, we toured for a couple of hours through all of the Grand Apartments of Louis the XIV. Talk about extravagant! Sheesh. And extensive. It was still pretty cool, though (I have a lot of pictures from the palace). We took some pictures out at the biiiig gardens in the back before heading out. It was around 4 p.m., but we were too hungry not to eat, so we ate a super-late lunch before getting back on the train. We tried to make it to Musee D'Orsay, but it closed just as we got there...sad. So we looked at our map, were intrigued by the Galleries Lafayette and the picture of its cool glass dome ceiling, and set off. We found a tall, Prudential Tower-like tower, and after wandering around the mall for a bit, we gave up. Turns out we went to the wrong one (there were two)! Fail. But it was okay, because we had crepes and ice cream in the meantime, haha.
We then headed to the Eiffel Tower, where we took pictures, saw all the guys selling trinkets running from the cops (pretty funny--apparently, they sell those things without a license, so when they think they see the cops coming, they all grab their things and run--it was pretty intense! I have a picture somewhere), and then decided to climb up to the second level when we saw that the line was nearly NON-EXISTENT. Haha. Michelle and I climbed up 669 steps to the second level, took pictures, looked around (it's so cool! Learning about the engineering of the structure was pretty neat), and went back down. We went to get pho (yes, in Paris) for dinner in their semi-shady Chinatown, haha. Yum!
Day 3: Our last day in Paris together, and we spent most of it at the Louvre! Except for our mom, who declined. Our dad, Michelle, and I spent about four hours total in the museum. My legs got so tired, lol. It was pretty neat seeing all those famous artpieces (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo), along with many that I didn't know about but still admired. It was funny--my mom was asking this, but I couldn't answer, and I kind of have the same question: what makes the Mona Lisa so famous? It's a pretty good painting, yes, but there are many that I thought were more impressive. Guess I'm not well-educated enough in art history...
After wandering around for four hours, we headed to Pierre Herme to get macarons! Such cute but expensive (around 2 euro each!) cookies. We then went back to the hotel, swung by Berthillon for supposedly famous (and pretty tasty) ice cream--thanks for the recommendation, Caiqian :) sorry I couldn't see you in Paris!--and then headed to the train station. Au revoir, Paris!
Michelle finally came back with our dad, and I think I had never been so happy to see him (I think it was the combination of really wanting to get food and rest plus not having seen him since my birthday). Michelle bought me an orange soda to help revive me a bit, then we took the train to our hotel in central Paris. After crashing on the bed for a bit, we all went out to find some sustenance (lol, Thor). My dad got a sandwich, Michelle and I shared a crepe, and my mom got some soup from a Chinese restaurant around the corner. We eventually worked up the strength to start sightseeing, thankfully.
We headed to Notre Dame to meet Sara, toured the church, then started to head to Sacre Couer, but my mom and I ended up too tired to make the extra trek, so we went back to the hotel to nap, while the three of them went to Sacre Couer and Centre Pompidou before coming back. By then, it was dinner time. We ended up having a pretty terrible first real dining experience in Paris =\ especially Michelle, lol. At a random French restaurant with no English menu and no English-speaking staff, I had a hamburger and French fries (haha), and Michelle had some...weird salad. Anyway, after dinner, we walked down Champs Elysees as the sun set over Arc de Triomphe, which was kinda neat. We got to the Arc, climbed to the top (except for our dad), and got to see all the streets radiating out from the square--it really is like the spokes of a wheel! We also got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, hehe.
Day 2: We woke up, got breakfast to go at a nearby bakery, and hopped on the train to Versailles! After waiting in line for a bit and getting our tickets, we walked through the golden gates and saw SO MANY people. Seriously, Versailles was where we ended up waiting in line the longest (it wound up being an hour)...the line snaked around the front courtyard several times, and it was just to get into the palace. (Funny story: our mom thought the Asian girl in the group in front of us was Jenny Fan...and she didn't look like her at all, lol. But they were a random group of people that had met at their hostel! which was kinda neat.) When we finally got in, we toured for a couple of hours through all of the Grand Apartments of Louis the XIV. Talk about extravagant! Sheesh. And extensive. It was still pretty cool, though (I have a lot of pictures from the palace). We took some pictures out at the biiiig gardens in the back before heading out. It was around 4 p.m., but we were too hungry not to eat, so we ate a super-late lunch before getting back on the train. We tried to make it to Musee D'Orsay, but it closed just as we got there...sad. So we looked at our map, were intrigued by the Galleries Lafayette and the picture of its cool glass dome ceiling, and set off. We found a tall, Prudential Tower-like tower, and after wandering around the mall for a bit, we gave up. Turns out we went to the wrong one (there were two)! Fail. But it was okay, because we had crepes and ice cream in the meantime, haha.
We then headed to the Eiffel Tower, where we took pictures, saw all the guys selling trinkets running from the cops (pretty funny--apparently, they sell those things without a license, so when they think they see the cops coming, they all grab their things and run--it was pretty intense! I have a picture somewhere), and then decided to climb up to the second level when we saw that the line was nearly NON-EXISTENT. Haha. Michelle and I climbed up 669 steps to the second level, took pictures, looked around (it's so cool! Learning about the engineering of the structure was pretty neat), and went back down. We went to get pho (yes, in Paris) for dinner in their semi-shady Chinatown, haha. Yum!
Day 3: Our last day in Paris together, and we spent most of it at the Louvre! Except for our mom, who declined. Our dad, Michelle, and I spent about four hours total in the museum. My legs got so tired, lol. It was pretty neat seeing all those famous artpieces (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo), along with many that I didn't know about but still admired. It was funny--my mom was asking this, but I couldn't answer, and I kind of have the same question: what makes the Mona Lisa so famous? It's a pretty good painting, yes, but there are many that I thought were more impressive. Guess I'm not well-educated enough in art history...
After wandering around for four hours, we headed to Pierre Herme to get macarons! Such cute but expensive (around 2 euro each!) cookies. We then went back to the hotel, swung by Berthillon for supposedly famous (and pretty tasty) ice cream--thanks for the recommendation, Caiqian :) sorry I couldn't see you in Paris!--and then headed to the train station. Au revoir, Paris!
hunger that weakens (flying out).
Okay, scratch everything. I'll just start from the beginning and see what happens. (Sorry, I guess I'm pretty tired after all...)
Sunday (May 23) was departure day. Exciting! My hair had just been cut, I was still finishing last-minute packing, and then my mom took Michelle to the airport. She got back, we lunched, and then discovered that my dad's flight (as well as ours) was delayed...boo! Well, more than boo--it actually stressed out my mom a decent bit. Thankfully, nothing got too messed up; we would just arrive an hour or two later in Paris on Monday morning than planned, which just meant more waiting time at the Paris CDG airport for Michelle.
It was finally time for my mom and I to go (after I got a quick goodbye call, which was nice :) it's been a while since I've made or received one of those, actually), so Angela dropped us off at the Metro stop, my mom freaked out a little when trying to buy our tickets, and the bus shuttled us to IAH. Got on the plane, we were both feeling alright...my mom slept a bit while I (stupidly, looking back) decided to watch Black Swan. I thought it was an okay movie, but a psychological thriller is not conducive to a very calm flight experience, at least not for me. Stupid idea. Anyway, we both ate, I finished the movie, then tried to sleep without much success. Thankfully, the seat on my other side was empty, so I slept on my mom's lap :) which helped. Unfortunately, we both ended up getting airsick in the end, and it was worse than normal...usually, when we get off the plane, it gets better, but we both still felt sick at the terminal. My mom was a bit better off than me; I was incredibly weak.
To be honest, I don't think I've ever felt weaker in my life than I did in those few hours. It was kind of scary. One of the songs we sang at Rec Week, "Por un destello de tu gloria (For a glimpse of Your glory)," kept repeating in my head. Specifically, these lyrics:
Tengo hambre de ti, de tu presencia, de tu fragrancia, de tu poder
Hambre que duele, que debilita, que desespera por ti
(I hunger for You, for Your presence, for Your fragrance, for Your power
Hunger that hurts, that weakens, that is desperate for You)
I don't quite know why, but it was just stuck in my head. As I sat in the terminal with my mom, miserable and weak, waiting for Michelle to get our dad, I was reminded of my humanity, my depravity. I took it as a gentle thorn and reproof from my loving Father, though it was a thorn that hurt. I need to hunger for Him until it hurts, until it makes me as weak as I was in that airport, until I'm desperate for Him. Because there's nothing else that can even compare, praise God for that. :)
Sunday (May 23) was departure day. Exciting! My hair had just been cut, I was still finishing last-minute packing, and then my mom took Michelle to the airport. She got back, we lunched, and then discovered that my dad's flight (as well as ours) was delayed...boo! Well, more than boo--it actually stressed out my mom a decent bit. Thankfully, nothing got too messed up; we would just arrive an hour or two later in Paris on Monday morning than planned, which just meant more waiting time at the Paris CDG airport for Michelle.
It was finally time for my mom and I to go (after I got a quick goodbye call, which was nice :) it's been a while since I've made or received one of those, actually), so Angela dropped us off at the Metro stop, my mom freaked out a little when trying to buy our tickets, and the bus shuttled us to IAH. Got on the plane, we were both feeling alright...my mom slept a bit while I (stupidly, looking back) decided to watch Black Swan. I thought it was an okay movie, but a psychological thriller is not conducive to a very calm flight experience, at least not for me. Stupid idea. Anyway, we both ate, I finished the movie, then tried to sleep without much success. Thankfully, the seat on my other side was empty, so I slept on my mom's lap :) which helped. Unfortunately, we both ended up getting airsick in the end, and it was worse than normal...usually, when we get off the plane, it gets better, but we both still felt sick at the terminal. My mom was a bit better off than me; I was incredibly weak.
To be honest, I don't think I've ever felt weaker in my life than I did in those few hours. It was kind of scary. One of the songs we sang at Rec Week, "Por un destello de tu gloria (For a glimpse of Your glory)," kept repeating in my head. Specifically, these lyrics:
Tengo hambre de ti, de tu presencia, de tu fragrancia, de tu poder
Hambre que duele, que debilita, que desespera por ti
(I hunger for You, for Your presence, for Your fragrance, for Your power
Hunger that hurts, that weakens, that is desperate for You)
I don't quite know why, but it was just stuck in my head. As I sat in the terminal with my mom, miserable and weak, waiting for Michelle to get our dad, I was reminded of my humanity, my depravity. I took it as a gentle thorn and reproof from my loving Father, though it was a thorn that hurt. I need to hunger for Him until it hurts, until it makes me as weak as I was in that airport, until I'm desperate for Him. Because there's nothing else that can even compare, praise God for that. :)
(castle) day 3: still itchy.
Actually, I decided to just start with today and work backwards, then hopefully after I finish everything that's past, I can stay more updated for the rest of the trip. We'll see how THAT goes, haha...again with the being-too-ambitious problem. Anyway, here goes.
I'm lying on my bed, starting to update, and still really itchy. Yesterday (Tuesday) morning, I woke up with that ever-unpleasant sensation of discovering multiple new bug bites. I still have no idea what or where they came from, and I probably never will, but they're bugging me still. Turns out I have one trail of bites from my right ear, down my jawline, to my neck, and then there's another random collection of bites on my right hand (both around eight bites each), and then there are random ones on my other arm and a few on my legs. Gah! It's been a while since I've had so much itchyness on my body. They look like they might just be mosquito bites (and I'm hoping that's all they are, because anything else is usually worse in terms of being some type of bug that's infesting...somewhere), but I just wish they would subside. Talk about a thorn, right? My most troublesome one at the moment is probably the one on my right index finger knuckle--it's slightly swelling the joint whenever I bend it, like I do to type.
Enough about bug bites, though. I'm a little tired, since I've slept a bit later than I should the past couple of nights, but everyone else is still awake and talking rather loudly, so attempts to sleep at this hour would probably fail anyway. Even though I'm upstairs, voices carry rather easily through the croft (the building where we're living) and the walls. A bit earlier, two of my classmates were in the small common area outside my room (if you ask me, I think there's something developing between them...we'll see), and their conversation carried enough to my room to distract me, but now it's just general talking. I'll blog till it's quiet, I guess.
...aiya, I keep going back and forth on how to chronicle everything so far. I feel like if I type any more about today, I'll just confuse myself. Back to the original plan?
I'm lying on my bed, starting to update, and still really itchy. Yesterday (Tuesday) morning, I woke up with that ever-unpleasant sensation of discovering multiple new bug bites. I still have no idea what or where they came from, and I probably never will, but they're bugging me still. Turns out I have one trail of bites from my right ear, down my jawline, to my neck, and then there's another random collection of bites on my right hand (both around eight bites each), and then there are random ones on my other arm and a few on my legs. Gah! It's been a while since I've had so much itchyness on my body. They look like they might just be mosquito bites (and I'm hoping that's all they are, because anything else is usually worse in terms of being some type of bug that's infesting...somewhere), but I just wish they would subside. Talk about a thorn, right? My most troublesome one at the moment is probably the one on my right index finger knuckle--it's slightly swelling the joint whenever I bend it, like I do to type.
Enough about bug bites, though. I'm a little tired, since I've slept a bit later than I should the past couple of nights, but everyone else is still awake and talking rather loudly, so attempts to sleep at this hour would probably fail anyway. Even though I'm upstairs, voices carry rather easily through the croft (the building where we're living) and the walls. A bit earlier, two of my classmates were in the small common area outside my room (if you ask me, I think there's something developing between them...we'll see), and their conversation carried enough to my room to distract me, but now it's just general talking. I'll blog till it's quiet, I guess.
...aiya, I keep going back and forth on how to chronicle everything so far. I feel like if I type any more about today, I'll just confuse myself. Back to the original plan?
chronology clarifications.
I feel like this is something I always have to explain (mostly for myself when I look back, but also for the sake of any reader passing by out there, I suppose), and it's partially due to my lack of updating regularly in the first place. Oh, what procrastination will do to you--er, me--as a blogger, in this case.
I guess since the first two weeks of travel with my family were so jam-packed with things to do and new experiences, I didn't really get a chance to journal any of the happenings or my thoughts that went along with them. So, I'll try to start with whenever my "blog-thought tendencies" started, which is when my family left me and I started traveling on my own, a couple of days before I got to the castle...then fast-forward to now, then back on those first two weeks? Oh dear, now even I'm confused. I guess we'll see what happens. I always get too ambitious with major catch-up posts, anyway.
I guess since the first two weeks of travel with my family were so jam-packed with things to do and new experiences, I didn't really get a chance to journal any of the happenings or my thoughts that went along with them. So, I'll try to start with whenever my "blog-thought tendencies" started, which is when my family left me and I started traveling on my own, a couple of days before I got to the castle...then fast-forward to now, then back on those first two weeks? Oh dear, now even I'm confused. I guess we'll see what happens. I always get too ambitious with major catch-up posts, anyway.
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