Vacations That Change Your Life: Day 9

Saturday: Well we did it- we got up and made it downstairs by 3:30a. I'm not sure how but we got ourselves a taxi and got to the train station well in time to head to Venice. I had a migraine at this point so I kept my eyes closed and tried to sleep for most of it. When we finally landed in Venice, the sun was up and it was a beautiful day. I'm really sad that we didn't get to spend more time here, but I know that I'll come back some day...

Yea, the train station in Venice empties right onto the Grand Canal

I think that when I do come back, I'll have to see the Grand Canal at sunrise again, cause this was gorgeous

The first thing we did once over the bridge that crossed the canal was walk to the airport. We wanted to at least know that we were there and were in the right place before we tried to look for breakfast or anything. When we got to the grounds of the airport, we found a bus schedule where a specific bus is matched with each flight for the day (Example: if you're on the Barcelona flight, you want to take the bus at 8:30a to take you to your terminal). So we had about 45 minutes until our bus and we spent it sitting at a café. I got a tall macchiato and had some sweet treats. It was absolute junk food but I already didn't feel good so why not?

When we went outside to find our bus we realized the hard way that we should have figured out where it stops before we sat down to eat: it was a zoo of buses! And you know, we missed the bus. We would have liked to get all irritated about this but we didn't have time; we hailed a taxi as quick as could be and headed to the airport.

Once there, we went right into security. I checked my bag online the night before to avoid the same problem as last saturday. After that, it was a waiting game. We were all at that super tired, snippy point so I avoided interacting much with anyone while we waited. Naturally, our plane wasn't even at the gate when our flight was supposed to be boarding so we ended up taking off late. Oh well. Once on, we were safe and sound and on our way to Barcelona. The flight was really short but it was enough time for everyone to collect themselves a little bit; and what a gorgeous day it was in Barcelona!

Goodbye Venice

Hello Barcelona!

Once on the ground, I was absolutely determined to find the quickest way back to Pau- I wanted to be there by the evening! The plan we had was to take an overnight train to Pau but after such a long week, going to bed really late last night, and getting up ridiculously early this morning I was not at all interested in doing that. I asked at the information desk if there were any flights to Pau (I was that desperate that I was willing to pay for another flight) but no such luck. Our next option was to head to the train station which, fortunately, is attached to the airport by way of tram. We had to walk all the way to the other end of the grounds of the airport but at least you don't have to pay to walk. Once there with tram passes in hand, we were quite happy to sit down and wait. Did I mention that we were completely pooped by now?? The tram arrived about 15 minutes later and we boarded/crammed in with tons of others (at least we had seats). Not too much later it was time to get off at the train station and buy our tickets to Narbonne, France. After getting our tickets, we had a couple of hours to kill before the train departed. We still needed lunch and the cheapest thing in the station was McDonald's.... again. We sat there with our headaches and dark circles under our eyes and tried to stay awake and eventually, it was time to board. And I think I slept all the way to Narbonne... I can't be sure though- I don't remember.

We got to Narbonne, France around 8p and I was feeling very desperate to get to Pau that evening. I was running on next to no sleep and I categorically refused to spend the whole night on a yucky, uncomfortable train. So, we spent the next half hour trying to figure out our options and we ended up not having many: there was a train to Toulouse from 10p to 12a and then there was the final train we needed to Pau at 6:30a... the next day. :( We were not getting to Pau tonight...

I used up my last life line then and called Robina (our other program advisor) to tell her the situation and see if she had any suggestions or knew of any magical, lesser-known options for getting to Pau. Of course she didn't; and I shouldn't have really expected her to. What she suggested was finding a cheap hotel room and just spending the night in Toulouse. Chantalle, Selene, Allie, and Rosie all refused to pay for one more thing but Joe and I were on the same page: you would have to physically force us to spend the night on freezing train station benches!

We at least knew that we needed to get ourselves to Toulouse, so we started by taking that 10p train there. Once there, we all walked across the street to a café that was thankfully still serving dinner. They were baguette sandwiches but who really cared at this point? 

Ham, cheese, and butter baguette with a glass of orange juice. Welcome back to France!

After dinner, we doubled checked with each other who wanted to sleep in a bed and who wanted to [toss and turn] sleep in the station. Joe and I were still the only ones so he called our wonderful friend Aleca in Pau and she was so incredibly kind as to spend at least the next 15 minutes on her computer trying to find us a cheap and available room. I would like to take this moment to praise the lovely Aleca because she found a room that was 5 minutes from the train station (walking), cost no more than 45 euros for two, and would allow us to check in that night. Can it be so?!!

Joe and I found the hotel in no time, checked in without any problems, and decided that if we were going to be in a real bed that night, we might as well sleep as long as we needed to and just take an afternoon train to Pau. The others said they were going to take the 6:30a train and I said, more power to 'em... you're on your own with that!

You might be wondering if Joe and I were in the same room at the hotel and the answer is, yes. It was a little awkward but we had also spent the whole week in the same room as each other and were too bloody tired to give a care. Once my head hit that pillow, I cared about nothing and thought about nothing. I don't even think I dreamed that night! And when Joe's phone went off at 1a because our funny friends were calling to ask where the hotel was (they got "kicked out" of the station) I was only half-way conscious for the whole thing. I don't remember hearing him leave to let them in downstairs and I don't remember hearing him come back. I faintly heard him say something like, "just go back to sleep Sam" but I'm not even sure if that's real. In the morning, I asked Joe about the whole thing and he said that he had to go down to let the girls into the lobby. When all five of them came up to the desk, the guy recognized Joe and asked, "are they all with you?" Joe's response? "Not at all" and he left. haha!

Vacations That Change Your Life: Day 8

Friday: To be honest, this was a rather short day. I think we finally were all up and ready to go out by 1p? Unfortunately, while it is pretty, Verona is a very small town so it's one of those "literally NOTHING is open to serve food except at designated times" kind of towns. We ended up having to kill time in the hotel lobby while we waited for an option for lunch. I utilized the coffee bar once again and then we played the brand-spanking-new Wii system. It was just the five of us down stairs (Rosie stayed in all day today) so it was kind of nice. A very relaxing change of pace...

Cappuccino :)

Allie playing tennis

We finally found a place that was still doing lunch so we went with it. I had an orange juice and a bowl of pesto pasta. That came with bread.... it was a surprisingly excellent lunch. Although, my heart was a little crushed when I went to order dessert the guy at the counter said he was out of crêpes. :(

We sat here until the bus we needed to get to downtown came around. We were on our way to see the only thing left of interest to us: "Casa di Giulietta" (Juliet's House). This is the unofficial site of Shakespeare's inspiration for "Romeo & Juliet." It's unofficial because Shakespeare had never actually been to Italy. But we and thousands of others were content to pretend it was and add our names to the well-graffitied wall that leads to the infamous courtyard! On our way to the site, we walked through a big open-air market that was selling beautiful Mardi Gras masques, glassware from the famous Murano glass, and dried fruits. I bought a bag of dried pineapple to bring back to my host family (which almost didn't make it because it was the most tantalizingly sweet and soft pineapple I've ever had), a pair of really pretty Murano glass earrings for Christine (to thank her for putting up with all of the insanity that was my departure), and a pretty masque for myself. 

Verona

This place has become something of a pilgrimage site for lovers the world-over

Me in front of the wall!

"Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou, Romeo?"

Well, we had seen it. The only thing we really cared to see anymore besides the Grand Canal in Venice. So what did we do next? Duh! Our last dinner in Italy! For whatever reason, Chantalle and Selene were "sick" of the Italian food so they went to have sushi. This is still floating above my head; perhaps someone can explain it to me? Anyways, Joe, Allie, and I were going to celebrate our last meal in Italy by having the best Italian food we could find- and we were going big because we were really going home! I was absolutely prepared to splurge tonight and I was so excited to do so too. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my other favorite meal from my trip in Italy: white wine, four cheese pasta, and ham, mushroom, artichoke pizza from Naples, Italy. Enjoy!

Our lovely table

My four cheese pasta which was literally noodles and four ooey, gooey, melty cheeses. No cream, no nothing extra. There were even chunks of blue cheese floating around in there. OMG

My pizza. And I kid you not, this was THE BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER EATEN!

But I couldn't finish it!!! XD (Not to worry, I took the rest in a box to have tomorrow)

I was one happy girl after this meal :)

All we had left to do was enjoy the food coma and get ourselves back to the hostel. I don't think I have ever eaten so much in my life! I was literally uncomfortable as we walked to our meeting spot with Chantalle and Selene. Like the skin on my stomach hurt because it was stretching! But I guess that's the way it should be after your last meal in Italy.

So, we made it to our rendez-vous point and of course, the girls weren't there. We started walking towards were they said they were eating but we didn't see the restaurant and turned back. Eventually they came walking out and rather than getting irritated, we just brushed it off so we could figure out what we were going to do to get out of the cold. 

There is something about this picture that is very amusing to me.

We figured out that we needed to take a taxi again. We also had to split up because they can only take up to 4 people at one time. When we made it back, it was around 11p. Each one of us still needed to take a shower, re-pack our bags, do online check in for our flight, and we needed to print our boarding passes. Our flight the next day was at 10:30a from Venice to Barcelona (where we planned to train back to Pau). This means that we had to check out, take a taxi to the train station, take a train to Venice, and go through airport check in before then. So the plan was horrifying: get up and be downstairs for check out at 3:30a. :( Needless to say, when I was done showering, packing my bag, and printing our boarding passes downstairs with Joe and the front desk guy, I only got about 2 hours of sleep. Cue the exhaustion!

Vacations That Change Your Life: Day 7

Thursday: I was really brave this morning and actually managed to wake up at 8a. While this was an excellent idea in practice (we could have been out in Florence by 8:45a) I was the only one able to get up at this time. Oh well. I had a very quiet half an hour all to myself as I got ready. It took a good hour or so but we were eventually all up and ready to go by 9:30a. The first thing we did was find a place to get some breakfast in lovely Florence. I got a panini-type of sandwich that had ham and cheese on it, a creamy coffee, and a sweet, flaky pastry. An excellent way to start the day!

After breakfast we started walking towards the Accademia: a small-ish museum but which is the home of.... *wait for it*.... Michelangelo's "DAVID." Can you believe the things I am getting to see in my life right now?? Neither can I...

We paid the cheap charge to go in and see this masterpiece but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of him. Oh not to worry, that doesn't mean that we didn't! ;)

A picture of "David" taken by the wonderfully, subtly-strategic Joseph

It is one of those awe-inspiring pieces of art that makes you feel like you need to sit down when you look at it. Probably the biggest reason for this is that the statue is purposefully larger-than-life. If you were to look at David's face at eye-level, you would find him strikingly unattractive: his facial features, in particular, are dramatic and unrealistic. He has deep lines in his face and his eyebrows jut out farther than they should. But all of this is done on purpose because when you look at him correctly (from below), he looks majestic and terrifying and terrified and glorious all at the same time. How cool is that?! Michelangelo constructed "David" so large and so high up so that people would have to admire him with their heads tipped back and mouths wide open. I just LOVE little artist-secrets like this- they make art so much more profound and intriguing. The "David" statue is also really interesting not just because it is one of the most famous statues in the world, nor because it was created by one of the most famous artists in history, but it's interesting because- like most great art- it is telling a story as you look at it. Of course, you have to know a little bit about the story of David and Goliath beforehand but if you do, you can pick up on the fact that this statue is of David right before he kills the beast. You can see the rock in his hand, not yet thrown, his eyes staring in intensity (and maybe a little fear?) at his foe, and you can see the mal-proportioned size of his feet and hands to the rest of his body (signifying his physically-awkward, young age). I'm not sure if I've told you yet, but I really love art and I am developing an honest passion for it. I am starting to feel like being inside of a museum is quite possibly one of my favorite things to do, and this is why: for me, I am astounded by this story-telling characteristic to great art. For instance, I thought about all of the characteristics I just mentioned while I was looking at "David" and then I took a step back and went, "woah, wait a second. I am looking at a solid, unmoving statue, of a person who is simply standing there, and it just incited all of those thoughts in my head? How?!" This is incredible to me and I think it takes such profound skill and talent to do this! Perhaps this is why people are often described as "marveling" at art rather than "looking" at it? 

We spent a good 20 minutes absorbing this masterpiece of marble and then it was time to move onto the next dazzling constructions: the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, its duomo, the bell tower, and the "Gates of Paradise" on the adjoining Baptistery. The dome of the cathedral is the largest brick dome ever constructed and the entire building is simply gorgeous. I don't have much more to say about it except that it is something that should be admired forever.

Wow- true beauty right before our eyes! We stood enraptured for a few minutes and then we headed on in to see the inside of the dome: a massive visual display of where you get to go when you're good and where you end up when you're bad... yikes!

Touching the door on my way inside... I had to make sure it was real.

Are you serious?????

*Once again, the things that human beings are capable of creating are really astonishing to me.* We definitely allowed ourselves to truly spend some time in here. The dome tells a story just like the "David" but honestly, this is a much more complex story and to absorb it correctly you should stand under the center of it with your head tipped back for at least an hour. I don't know if it's possible, but I would like to come back here one day when it isn't very crowded, with a blanket and lay on my back under the dome just staring for as long as I feel like it. That sounds like a beautiful way to pass some time...

When we headed back outside, I got to see yet another artwork that we studied in my art history class: "The Gates of Paradise" by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The doors stand on the north side of the baptistery and they took 21 years to complete. Actually, they were created for a door-making competition. Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi (the man who constructed the dome we just saw the inside of) tied for first and were supposed to create the doors together, but Brunelleschi's pride got in the way and he left Ghiberti to create what Michelangelo eventually dubbed "The Gates of Paradise."

"The Gates of Paradise," 1422; Lorenzo Ghiberti

We decided, once again, not to pay to go inside of the baptistery but Joe and I did pay 6 euros to hike all the way to the top of the bell tower for the best view of Florence (the others didn't want to tackle the stairs). It was exhausting and my legs shut down by the time we reached the top, but it was well worth it: I got to marvel at the entire city of Florence with the wind in my hair and the sun in my eyes. 

Hello Florence, I think you are gorgeous :)

The three people at the bottom, center of the picture are (left to right) Roshanna, Selene, and Chantalle. Roshanna is taking a picture of me at the top of the tower taking a picture of her on the ground. Cool no? :)

Now THIS was a great way to get a good look at Florence, Italy. After we had soaked up enough of the view, Joe and I shook out our legs and made the climb down. By the time we reached the bottom, I had decided that the next thing I was going to do was a tie between ordering lunch and sitting down, and I didn't care if anyone came with me or not. Fortunately, everyone else was hungry and in need of a rest too so we walked for a couple minutes and found a cute café where we had lunch. I went simple and ordered a pre-made bowl of meat raviolis that was sitting in the window. I was hungry enough that I really just wanted something that could be heated up and served right away. With this I had another coffee, and also replenished my well-diminished carb and endorphin supplies with a sugar doughnut topped with Nutella. :)

Once we felt like we could get back on our feet (the vacation is starting to wear on us by now), we headed to the Galleria degli Uffizi which has one of the most important art collections in Italy. There we saw a ton of art that I studied in my class- including works by DaVinci, Cimabue, Caravaggio, Duccio, Rembrandt, and Titian- and it was just overall a very impressive place to be. I can tell you that I had an amazing time slowly strolling through each room and trying to find the story in everything that caught my eye but I did feel a little like I was with younger siblings (not specifically Spencer and Sabrina, mind you)- the others just couldn't quite appreciate everything we were seeing. They hurried through the gallery a little bit, and unfortunately, that was the pace I needed to match. We had to get ourselves back to the hostel in time to make our train to Verona.

Some pics Joe also stole at the Uffizi:

"The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli (sorry for the glare)

"Madonna of the Goldfinch" by Rahaël

"Madonna With the Long Neck" by Parmigianino

We had a tiny bit of complication with leaving the museum: for one, Selene never actually came in (she didn't want to pay for it), Chantalle left Joe and I to go out and meet her when she was tired of being in the museum, and Roshanna went somewhere to sit down... but none of us knew where that was. Joe hung back with me while I enjoyed the art we had paid to see cause he has this rule about not leaving anyone in the group alone. So when Joe and I were done, we walked out of the exit and all the way back around to the front to look for Chantalle and Selene. We found them after a few minutes but Roshanna hadn't come out to meet them. Unfortunately, Joe and Roshanna were the only two in the group who still had minutes left on their phones and we all wanted to guard those for as long as possible. So Joe and I walked back to the exit and I attempted to get back in; I told the security guard there that I had lost my friend and asked if I could look for her by the bathroom. She wasn't happy about it but she let me in and I went to look for Rosie. After about 10 minutes, I hadn't found her so I came out. Thankfully, Joe had just received a call from her that she was on her way out. Eventually, we had our whole group back together. Phew! We celebrated by going to see the Ponte Vecchio in the daylight (sans Rosie because she wasn't feeling well). It would be the last true site we would see in Florence on this vacation.

Me, Chantalle, and Selene on the Ponte Vecchio!

Finally, we made it back to the hostel to get our bags and head to the train station. Unfortunately, the guy who runs the front desk was not there to let anyone in, and I don't know what the heck he was thinking when he left because there was another group there with us that was waiting to check into their room. At least Joe was able to get in touch with him on his cell and the guy said he would be there in 20 minutes. Chantalle, Selene, and I were all hungry and tired so we went across the street to a café called Caffé Michelangiolo to get something to eat and to sit while we waited. I got a sandwich with ham, cheese, and lettuce and another coffee. Hey, it had already been a long day and we still had a train to catch! 

The guy finally showed up, apologized profusely, and let us in to get our bags. We said buy after that and then hauled all of our things and our tired selves to the nearest bus stop so we could get to the train station. THAT was an experience! The buses in Italy are way smaller than you would expect: they're more like large vans where the seats in the back have all been ripped out so you can cram people inside. And they fly through the insanely bumpy cobblestoned streets. I nearly fell over my luggage when the driver turned a corner. Basically, we were thankful to get off at the train station and be standing on solid ground again. The only problem when we got to the train station? We didn't have tickets yet, nor did we know which train we wanted to take. Obviously we wanted to take the soonest and most direct line but that can be hard to figure out when you don't speak Italian. Joe offered to run across the street to figure out what we should do so the four of us went in and sat at McDonald's. We all decided to just buy dinner there and bring it on the train because we had no clue what time we would be getting into Verona. Joe got back saying that there was a train leaving in half an hour from another train station or there was one leaving in four hours from the main one across the street. Well I absolutely refused to sit at a Florence McDonald's with nothing to do for the next four hours so we tried to figure out where that other train station was. I'll make another long story short: we never found the other train station and had to wait four hours for the second train. We spent it all at McDonald's and it worked out fine: each of us did our own thing for distraction/stress relief. Joe spent it reading, Rosie worked on postcards, I wrote in my journal and I don't even remember what Chantalle and Selene did. When we finally got on the train, we were feeling better- we had a car to ourselves and we had fun for the first half our joking around and playing games. Eventually the ticket lady came by and of course, she told us we were in the wrong car. We had to move all the way to the last car and naturally, we didn't have a car to ourselves. Oh well, we got to rest for a couple hours. We finally got off in Verona (late) and realized we had to take a taxi to get to our hotel. Rosie had gotten really sick at this point- she had a fever and was coughing up a storm- so there was no way we could make her walk any farther in the cold. We just sucked it up and paid for the taxi. When we made it to the hotel, it was like 12:30a or something like that but the guy at the front desk was really understanding and gave us no issues. He also let us pay for our rooms later, rather than having to do that whole thing right then. Allie met us downstairs, and we were all happy to see her... it had been days since she was a part of our group! Basically, we got things all situated at the desk and then Rosie went up to the two person room with Allie and the four rest of us crashed in our own room. We all agreed that there wasn't much left to do on this vacation and we were too exhausted to feel motivated to do anything anyways. The vacation wasn't done yet but we felt plenty full of experiences by now. We agreed to not even set an alarm for the morning but just sleep until we woke up. Yes!