Following from the last entry, I still had a few days left to spend in Athens before heading back to London after the guys headed out. As one last hurrah with them, we all made our way to the Archeological Museum in Athens because our guide books said it was one of the top European museums. Personally, I disagreed. Maybe it was due to my general lack of interest towards a museum that solely focused on Ancient Greece or that we had been to so many museums at this point that I no longer had the patience. Although you may not believe it, spending an afternoon in a Museum can be one of the most exhausting things you can do. I don’t know if it is the walking, reading or attempted learning but it really just takes it out of you. Fortunately for me, the rest of the guys shared the same sentiments and we only spent about an hour in the museum before we all decided to call it a day. I wished them farewell, grabbed my camera and headed off towards the Acropolis for a day of sightseeing.
It isn’t entirely clear or well marked how to get up to the Acropolis from the ground so I just sort of headed up the plateau via the less strenuous routes and, before I knew it, I was looking out over Athens from a rocky outcropping. I didn’t really understand how big Athens was until I got above it. As I made my way from one hill to another, and finally up to the Acropolis, I realized that I couldn’t see a city limit in any direction except for the Mediterranean to the south. I won’t attempt to test my literary skill by describing how stunningly gorgeous the view was because I took enough pictures for any 3 people so check out Facebook instead! The beauty of the views, however, shouldn’t take anything away from how cool the remains of the Ancient Greek Acropolis are. Considering that those structures date from more than 2000 years ago it is kind of ridiculous that they are still standing, especially given how massive they are. From the top of the Acropolis I spotted a cool old amphitheater, the original Olympic Stadium and busy public square that I wanted to check so I made my way down there after exhausting all there was to do at the Acropolis. A few hours of walking around and exploring later, I was absolutely starving and needed a meal so I made my way back to my token gyro stand. Before I headed back to the hostel I made sure to check out the “Athens Flea Market.” In all honesty, it’s more of a collection of posh shops than a flea market but, like usual, it’s always fun to browse at things. Also, for the record, the part about Europe having cooler shoes than us still held true in Athens.
When I got back to the hostel I found a new guy who had inadvertently took my bed so, naturally we got to talking. Turns out he is an architecture student from Illinois studying in Versailles for the year and was on a trip to Athens and then some Greek Islands to do some sketching. Sounded like a hell of an academic trip to me. We talked for a bit, introduced ourselves (he was Phil) and he invited me to a hostel a little closer to downtown where his friend was staying. Apparently it had a miraculous rooftop bar and a great happy hour so I couldn’t resist. Turns out his friend, Jeff, was actually a 45 year old, married man with a wife and kids who had decided to head back to school to get his architecture degree and took on the tremendous undertaking of spending a year abroad. I can’t image how hard that would be with a wife and two young kids at home. Anyways, the happy hour turned out to be spectacular so we all enjoyed our fair share of beers and conversed about everything and nothing for a few hours. When we headed back to the hostel, I had planned on going to bed but, like usual, there was something going on that I couldn’t resist joining. Maxi and a few new hostel arrivals were on the roof so I headed up there and enjoyed the rest of the evening with them.
The following morning (well, late morning) Maxi and I headed down to the main square to meet up with some girls he had met while travelling in Eastern Europe. We did introductions and then headed to catch the tram down to the beach. The 45 minute ride to the water wasn’t ideal although finally getting to the beach made it all worth it! The four of us literally did ABSOLUTELY nothing all day and it was marvelous. We just hung out, listened to music (one of the girls ended up being a country fan which was great because I hadn’t listened to it for ages!) and soaked up the sun for hours. It saddened me that my flight back to London was the next night at 6pm because I had been having such a great time. That all changed when I got back to the hostel that night and started hearing about all of the flights being cancelled thanks to Iceland’s lovely volcano. According to the news that day, airspace might be reopened by Saturday afternoon so there was a small chance my flight me still be on. Knowing my luck though, I figured it would be best if I went to the airport in the morning to see the status of everything. I tried to keep an open mind about whatever might happen that day because in all reality, how bad could it possibly be to be “stranded” in such a wonderful place? Positive vibes of course! I finally managed to get to bed decently early after a wonderful conversation about Pikies (like those in Snatch) with the resident bartender – turns out that the movie’s depictions are pretty close to real, not just a Hollywood fabrication.
I got up in the morning, gathered my things and headed to catch a bus to Athens International Airport. All I wanted to do was check with Olympic Air to see what the status of my flight was and either get a new flight or hang out all day until my flight took off. Consistent with my luck, the Olympic Air queue when I got there was about 2 hours long and at least double any other line. So there I sat, neither the clock or the line seeming to move. When I finally found that my flight for the night was definitely cancelled, I obviously figured I’d be able to get something in the next few days but it turns out that, due to the cancellations, all flights were backlogged until a week later! My heart suddenly dropped and my optimism faded. I really didn’t have the money to hang out in Greece for another week despite how much fun it may have been and I also had to get to London by Friday to get some things from the guys house that I had planned on picking up. There was also the issue of the paper I had due the following Tuesday which I had budgeted myself a week to work on before this had happened. I checked with other airlines and the story was much of the same. Suddenly, I had no idea what to do and started searching for creative ways to get back to this lovely little island. Step 1 was to call the hostel and let them know that I would for sure be spending another night there…..
The journey will continue shortly for those who are interested! It’s quite the epic tale I assure you.
Cheers until then,
Patrick
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Greece, Part One - Possibly the Most Beautiful Place on Earth!
Hello all my faithful readers (mainly relatives I presume haha) and those of you who just check this out randomly!
There has been a bit of a hiatus since my last post despite my intentions of having this one done a week ago but I have gotten so caught up in relaxing that I just couldnt seem to find any free time to write! Anyways, here is a bit about my lovely stay in Greece before Iceland tried to keep me there :)
After a long night on a ferry and a day filled with poorly scheduled and bumpy trains, arriving to Hostel Zeus in Athens and reuniting with the gang from Rome was a big relief. I lugged my stuff up the 75 stairs to my room – a climb that would get rather annoying after 5 days – and looked forward to meeting fellow travelers. I was kindly greeted by an Aussie dressed in full beach attire and listening to some hip-hop who I came to know as Maxi. We did the general introductions, realized we got along pretty well and then did the usual “what are you doing here” conversation that never ceases to be interesting with kids from all over the world. As for Maxi, he had been working construction for the last 6 or 7 years, decided he was sick of it and wanted to use some of the money he had saved up to explore Europe for about 6 weeks and then go look for something a little less labor intensive back home. A half hour or so later I was informed by some Wisco folk that the gyro stands closed at 20:00 so I had to hurry down the street to the nearest stand to get a pair of kebobs. Admittedly, I had never really ventured into Greek food so I didn’t know what to expect. Oh was I pleasantly surprised! In a nutshell, the kebabs consisted of a grilled pita filled with a meat of your choice, cucumber sauce, fries and whatever other vegetables you wanted to put in there. And for less than 2 euro a piece, it’s safe to say that I ate 2 for every non-breakfast meal for the duration of my stay in Greece!
When I got back to the hostel, the manager was in the middle of telling the people in the lobby that the bar was about to open and he would give free shots to the first 10 people up there so, naturally, I raced up the stairs to solidify my spot in the free booze line. Unfortunately, the favorite liquor of the Greeks is Uzzo, a black licorice flavored vodka type thing. Didn’t care for it much but as long as I didnt pay for it would just be silly to turn it down! Interestingly enough, the hostel manager was a British guy who had left the motherland just to see something different. Kind of a quirky guy although he did tell a good story and did a good job of keeping us entertained if necessary: would learn quite a bit about the Greek people, Athens and Britain through conversations with him over the next few days. The guys had an epic adventure planned for the next day so I just grabbed a beer with no intention of staying up too late. In retrospect, I feel like I knew that that was just an optimistic intention. Maxi and I got to talking with a few others and 1 beer turned into more than 1 beer and a few games of King’s Cup. Then the barman brought out a hookah to bring a relaxing cap to the evening.
The plan for the next day was to get up early, head to Piraeus (Athens’ port) and catch a ferry to the Greek Island of Aegina. Compared to the party paradises of Santorini and Mykonos, Aegina is just a small laid back area without all of the tourist attractions but that didn’t bother us a bit. It was only 45 minutes and 9 Euro away by ferry and gave us a chance to spend almost an entire day on the beech relaxing. Considering I passed out almost immediately on the ferry, it felt like we were there in essentially no time and greeted by a cloudless day. We quickly scoped out the parts of the island we could see and then moved to the first obvious order of business: ATV rental. Originally Stallsmith and I didn’t partake in the rental and set off down the coastline to find a favorable beach. After about 45 minutes of picturesque scenery we came across a completely deserted sandy beach outfitted with umbrellas and lounge chairs. I can’t even explain how wonderful it was to just lay out in the sun for the first time in 7 or 8 months and welcome the sunburn that would soon follow. Eventually the ATV gang came roaring down the road and joined us on the beach with some music and a frisbee. The hours rolled by as we all soaked up the sun, enjoying life, Greece, Europe and vacation.
Every once so often, different people would grab the ATVs and go for a cruise along the coast. One after another people came back with their hair windblown and smiles on their faces until Julian and Abby returned with somber looks. They had been gone an awfully long time so, naturally, we made a barrage of bad jokes when they returned but once they got close enough we all noticed blood on both of their legs. Immediately we broke out into laughter and asked them what had happened. Apparently while attempting to do some donuts with the less than powerful ATVs, they had flipped it! Then, instead of coming back, they figured it would be best to head to the medical center in the town center which they had passed early. In a wonderful story that juxtaposes Europe against American, Julian reached for his wallet after they received treatment before being told “You don’t pay nothing, this is Greece not America!” Something like that says a lot about the differences between the fast capitalist lifestyle we have all gotten so used to and the laid back, relationship focused ideals that represent a lot of European cultures. Admittedly such ideals don’t help much for the debt crisis but they sure do make you feel welcome.
When the story was told and everyone got their laughs in, we all doubled up on the 4 ATVs we had and headed off for the opposite side of the island! The scenery as we made our way up the narrow winding roads from the coast up into the mountains was breathtaking. Not to sound like too much of a nerd but a lot it reminded me of the opening scene in Jurassic Park where the helicopter flies over the island...I digress haha. Our ATVs weren’t exactly high quality so they didnt really fly up the hills, especially Jon and Mikey’s which didn’t downshift into first gear so it often stalled on big climbs so they had to get off and push it up hills. Originally we didn’t know this and just figured they got behind a bit so we headed on forward. Once we hadn’t seen them for a while we figured it was probably best to stop and wait for them to make sure everything alright. We all completely died laughing when we saw Mikey pushing Jon on the ATV because they couldnt make it up the hilly section of road we just got done with. We all knew it wouldve been the right thing to do to go down there and help them but it was just far too funny to interrupt! Twenty minutes later when our stomachs hurt from laughter and they were sweaty and tired we were all together again to proceed downhill for the beach that was our final destination when we left the other side of the island 45 minutes before – we definitely took the long way! Due to our fiasco on the way over, we only had about an hour on the beach before we had to head back to catch our 8pm ferry to Athens. We got some gyros for fuel and revved up the ATVs again for the ride back. This time we pledged to not let Mikey and Jon fall so far behind. To make matters worse for them, their gas tank lid happed to wriggle itself free and fall down the mountain. One pleasure cruise later we arrived back at the port just in time.
Despite Julian’s attempts to shield the fact that he flipped the ATV, the rental folks were not at all happy about the scratches and damage to the ATV and ended up charging him a 70 Euro fine. As for the gas tank lid, who knew a little piece of plastic was worth 25 Euro?! The bad news put a little damper on a perfect day but eventually the anger turned into laugher over the entire scenario.
The guys were scheduled to leave the next day, giving me a few relaxing days to check out the Acropolis and relax on the beaches of Athens. We all enjoyed a few beers around the bar that evenings, marveled at our sunburn and reminisced on how great the last 3 weeks had been. There is no doubt that someday I will make sure to return to the Greek Islands! In the interest of length, I will cut this off here and leave the rest of my adventures in Athens for a later post...stay tuned because it will probably be coming up soon.
I trust everyone had a spectacular time at Mifflin and I’m real sorry I couldn’t be there! Good luck with finals and make sure to check out the pictures I’ve put up lately! Due to the length of this I have failed to re-read it for spelling and grammar so my sincerest apologies haha.
Cheers,
Patrick
There has been a bit of a hiatus since my last post despite my intentions of having this one done a week ago but I have gotten so caught up in relaxing that I just couldnt seem to find any free time to write! Anyways, here is a bit about my lovely stay in Greece before Iceland tried to keep me there :)
After a long night on a ferry and a day filled with poorly scheduled and bumpy trains, arriving to Hostel Zeus in Athens and reuniting with the gang from Rome was a big relief. I lugged my stuff up the 75 stairs to my room – a climb that would get rather annoying after 5 days – and looked forward to meeting fellow travelers. I was kindly greeted by an Aussie dressed in full beach attire and listening to some hip-hop who I came to know as Maxi. We did the general introductions, realized we got along pretty well and then did the usual “what are you doing here” conversation that never ceases to be interesting with kids from all over the world. As for Maxi, he had been working construction for the last 6 or 7 years, decided he was sick of it and wanted to use some of the money he had saved up to explore Europe for about 6 weeks and then go look for something a little less labor intensive back home. A half hour or so later I was informed by some Wisco folk that the gyro stands closed at 20:00 so I had to hurry down the street to the nearest stand to get a pair of kebobs. Admittedly, I had never really ventured into Greek food so I didn’t know what to expect. Oh was I pleasantly surprised! In a nutshell, the kebabs consisted of a grilled pita filled with a meat of your choice, cucumber sauce, fries and whatever other vegetables you wanted to put in there. And for less than 2 euro a piece, it’s safe to say that I ate 2 for every non-breakfast meal for the duration of my stay in Greece!
When I got back to the hostel, the manager was in the middle of telling the people in the lobby that the bar was about to open and he would give free shots to the first 10 people up there so, naturally, I raced up the stairs to solidify my spot in the free booze line. Unfortunately, the favorite liquor of the Greeks is Uzzo, a black licorice flavored vodka type thing. Didn’t care for it much but as long as I didnt pay for it would just be silly to turn it down! Interestingly enough, the hostel manager was a British guy who had left the motherland just to see something different. Kind of a quirky guy although he did tell a good story and did a good job of keeping us entertained if necessary: would learn quite a bit about the Greek people, Athens and Britain through conversations with him over the next few days. The guys had an epic adventure planned for the next day so I just grabbed a beer with no intention of staying up too late. In retrospect, I feel like I knew that that was just an optimistic intention. Maxi and I got to talking with a few others and 1 beer turned into more than 1 beer and a few games of King’s Cup. Then the barman brought out a hookah to bring a relaxing cap to the evening.
The plan for the next day was to get up early, head to Piraeus (Athens’ port) and catch a ferry to the Greek Island of Aegina. Compared to the party paradises of Santorini and Mykonos, Aegina is just a small laid back area without all of the tourist attractions but that didn’t bother us a bit. It was only 45 minutes and 9 Euro away by ferry and gave us a chance to spend almost an entire day on the beech relaxing. Considering I passed out almost immediately on the ferry, it felt like we were there in essentially no time and greeted by a cloudless day. We quickly scoped out the parts of the island we could see and then moved to the first obvious order of business: ATV rental. Originally Stallsmith and I didn’t partake in the rental and set off down the coastline to find a favorable beach. After about 45 minutes of picturesque scenery we came across a completely deserted sandy beach outfitted with umbrellas and lounge chairs. I can’t even explain how wonderful it was to just lay out in the sun for the first time in 7 or 8 months and welcome the sunburn that would soon follow. Eventually the ATV gang came roaring down the road and joined us on the beach with some music and a frisbee. The hours rolled by as we all soaked up the sun, enjoying life, Greece, Europe and vacation.
Every once so often, different people would grab the ATVs and go for a cruise along the coast. One after another people came back with their hair windblown and smiles on their faces until Julian and Abby returned with somber looks. They had been gone an awfully long time so, naturally, we made a barrage of bad jokes when they returned but once they got close enough we all noticed blood on both of their legs. Immediately we broke out into laughter and asked them what had happened. Apparently while attempting to do some donuts with the less than powerful ATVs, they had flipped it! Then, instead of coming back, they figured it would be best to head to the medical center in the town center which they had passed early. In a wonderful story that juxtaposes Europe against American, Julian reached for his wallet after they received treatment before being told “You don’t pay nothing, this is Greece not America!” Something like that says a lot about the differences between the fast capitalist lifestyle we have all gotten so used to and the laid back, relationship focused ideals that represent a lot of European cultures. Admittedly such ideals don’t help much for the debt crisis but they sure do make you feel welcome.
When the story was told and everyone got their laughs in, we all doubled up on the 4 ATVs we had and headed off for the opposite side of the island! The scenery as we made our way up the narrow winding roads from the coast up into the mountains was breathtaking. Not to sound like too much of a nerd but a lot it reminded me of the opening scene in Jurassic Park where the helicopter flies over the island...I digress haha. Our ATVs weren’t exactly high quality so they didnt really fly up the hills, especially Jon and Mikey’s which didn’t downshift into first gear so it often stalled on big climbs so they had to get off and push it up hills. Originally we didn’t know this and just figured they got behind a bit so we headed on forward. Once we hadn’t seen them for a while we figured it was probably best to stop and wait for them to make sure everything alright. We all completely died laughing when we saw Mikey pushing Jon on the ATV because they couldnt make it up the hilly section of road we just got done with. We all knew it wouldve been the right thing to do to go down there and help them but it was just far too funny to interrupt! Twenty minutes later when our stomachs hurt from laughter and they were sweaty and tired we were all together again to proceed downhill for the beach that was our final destination when we left the other side of the island 45 minutes before – we definitely took the long way! Due to our fiasco on the way over, we only had about an hour on the beach before we had to head back to catch our 8pm ferry to Athens. We got some gyros for fuel and revved up the ATVs again for the ride back. This time we pledged to not let Mikey and Jon fall so far behind. To make matters worse for them, their gas tank lid happed to wriggle itself free and fall down the mountain. One pleasure cruise later we arrived back at the port just in time.
Despite Julian’s attempts to shield the fact that he flipped the ATV, the rental folks were not at all happy about the scratches and damage to the ATV and ended up charging him a 70 Euro fine. As for the gas tank lid, who knew a little piece of plastic was worth 25 Euro?! The bad news put a little damper on a perfect day but eventually the anger turned into laugher over the entire scenario.
The guys were scheduled to leave the next day, giving me a few relaxing days to check out the Acropolis and relax on the beaches of Athens. We all enjoyed a few beers around the bar that evenings, marveled at our sunburn and reminisced on how great the last 3 weeks had been. There is no doubt that someday I will make sure to return to the Greek Islands! In the interest of length, I will cut this off here and leave the rest of my adventures in Athens for a later post...stay tuned because it will probably be coming up soon.
I trust everyone had a spectacular time at Mifflin and I’m real sorry I couldn’t be there! Good luck with finals and make sure to check out the pictures I’ve put up lately! Due to the length of this I have failed to re-read it for spelling and grammar so my sincerest apologies haha.
Cheers,
Patrick
Friday, April 23, 2010
Escape from Italy!
The plan to get from Rome to Greece was relatively simple. Leave Lucas' place in the morning, catch an 11:15 train to Bari on the southeast coast of Italy that would arrive at about 16:00 giving me 4 hours to get my ferry ticket and relax. To be honest, I had been looking forward to the journey for a while just to have some free time to catch up on my blog, write some post cards and finish a book.
Unfortunately for me, that plan fell through right after step 1. The guy at the ticket window told me that the train at 11:15 was supposedly full, which I didnt really believe at all because there just couldn't be that many people that had to get to Bari on a Monday morning, so I had to get a ticket for a 2:45 train that would only leave me an hour to get from the Bari train station to the port, get my ticket, check in and board. He did tell me that if I just went to the platform of the 11:15 train that there may be a chance they would let me on that train. I really didn't want to risk it so I sat and waited for the platform number to appear on the large display board of departures. Waiting for the number to show up resembled watching paint dry and became especially frustrating when all of the numbers came up for the trains leaving before and after it. After what seemed like days it was 11:15 and then the entire line cleared and there was no longer a departure to Bari. Well, isn't that just inconvenient. I found out later that the train was cancelled due to an unnamed 'catastrophe' on another line...what luck! Now that I had 3 hours to kill and nowhere to go, I pumped out about 12 postcards that i had been collecting along the way to Rome and then boarded my train.
After about 10 minutes on the train the Italian ticket man came around to punch little holes in our tickets confirming that we paid for the train. He marked mine and then started to ramble something to me in Italian that I couldn't understand at all. The only thing I really got out of it was that I had to get off the train at a certain stop he wrote down. I started to get a bit worried since I was going to be pressed for time anyways and I wanted to know what was going on so I went searching the cars for a bilingual Italiano. Turns out that the aforementioned catastrophe had closed a part of the direct line from Rome to Bari so we would have to get off the current train, then get on a coach to another train station to catch the final leg of the journey. This would've been all fine and dandy if it weren't for that 8pm deadline I was trying to catch. All I could do was sit on the bus and stare at my watch as it passed the 6:45 mark when our entire journey was supposed to be over. Naturally, I though my awful luck had followed me yet again and I would have to find a cheap hotel in Bari for the night and catch a ferry the next night. It wasn't even so much the money that concerned me just that I would have practically 2 less days in Athens! Suddenly I started to wish I wouldve just flown. We ended up getting into Bari train station at 7:45 where I sprinted off of the train to a taxi and mustered up my best Italian "Porto Maritima..PRONTO!"
The taxi driver seemed to really enjoy my sense of urgency and delighted in almost hitting about 3 people and getting us killed a few seperate times on the way to the port but, needless to say, I greatly appreciated his efforts. I ended up arriving at the port at about 7:55 where I grabbed my things, threw 20 Euros at the taxi driver, which I was convinced was robbery for a 7 mintue ride but I didn't have the time to argue, and then sprinted into the ticket office. I immediately started pleaded for a ticket to the boat because I knew it was still sitting at the dock. Right as the lady was telling me it was impossible for her to issue me a ticket so late, a group of 4 ran into the door and started yelling for tickets as well. It quickly became apparent that they were also on my train and stuck in the same dire situation. The ticket lady didn't really give us the time of day until the new group's Italian cab driver rushed in and started making a racket in Italian. I have absolutely no idea what he told the woman at the window; all I know is that, whatever he said, it worked and she issued us all last minute tickets onto the ferry set to leave in less than a mintue! In a Titanic-esque fashion, we all sprinted towards the ferry dock. The ferry captain didn't seem to care much that passengers still weren't on board - the 4 of us litterly jumped onto the ship as it disembarked.
Nothing like a minor crisis to bring some random strangers together. We were all relieved beyond belief just to be on that boat and not have to spend a night in Bari. One of the of the people was a girl who turned out to be from Manitowoc, WI and was having a bit of a Eurotrip. In another small world incidence, it turns out she had been staying with Julian at a mutual friend's house in Rome. The other two were a wonderfully nice older couple from Australia who were spending 3.5 months travelling the world. They had started in Singapore, India and were now in Europe before heading to Canada and the US. In fits of mutual excitement that we all made it on the boat, we all had a few drinks, relaxed and shared a bit of our personal backgrounds. It wasnt until I started to get tired from the day of travelling that I realized I only had a deck ticket instead of a cabin and would have to sleep on the floor for the evening. All things considered, it really wasn't so bad...I was just content that I had made it on the boat and I was so tired that I actually got a great nights rest!
After being rudely awakened by a crew member at 6:30AM I headed onto the deck to be greeted by some absolutely lovely views of the Greek Islands. Of course, arriving in the Greek port of Patras didn't mark the end of my journey; I still had to hop on a train to Athens. It figures that, just like the train from Rome to Bari, the train from Patras to Athens also involved a partial bus journey that made a 2 hour ride into a 4 hour spectacle. Honestly, what are the chances that the two trains I needed to get from Rome to Athens were spontaneously under construction?? It was quite a relief to arrive at Hostel Zeus, reunite with guys and get ready to enjoy 5 lazy days in Greece :)
Well, I doubt the lot of you have made it to the end of this so I will cut it off for now haha :) More about the days I spent in Greece and my ridiculous trip home from Athens in the next few days! Happy Mifflin to everyone and see you all in like 30 days
Cheers,
Patrick
Unfortunately for me, that plan fell through right after step 1. The guy at the ticket window told me that the train at 11:15 was supposedly full, which I didnt really believe at all because there just couldn't be that many people that had to get to Bari on a Monday morning, so I had to get a ticket for a 2:45 train that would only leave me an hour to get from the Bari train station to the port, get my ticket, check in and board. He did tell me that if I just went to the platform of the 11:15 train that there may be a chance they would let me on that train. I really didn't want to risk it so I sat and waited for the platform number to appear on the large display board of departures. Waiting for the number to show up resembled watching paint dry and became especially frustrating when all of the numbers came up for the trains leaving before and after it. After what seemed like days it was 11:15 and then the entire line cleared and there was no longer a departure to Bari. Well, isn't that just inconvenient. I found out later that the train was cancelled due to an unnamed 'catastrophe' on another line...what luck! Now that I had 3 hours to kill and nowhere to go, I pumped out about 12 postcards that i had been collecting along the way to Rome and then boarded my train.
After about 10 minutes on the train the Italian ticket man came around to punch little holes in our tickets confirming that we paid for the train. He marked mine and then started to ramble something to me in Italian that I couldn't understand at all. The only thing I really got out of it was that I had to get off the train at a certain stop he wrote down. I started to get a bit worried since I was going to be pressed for time anyways and I wanted to know what was going on so I went searching the cars for a bilingual Italiano. Turns out that the aforementioned catastrophe had closed a part of the direct line from Rome to Bari so we would have to get off the current train, then get on a coach to another train station to catch the final leg of the journey. This would've been all fine and dandy if it weren't for that 8pm deadline I was trying to catch. All I could do was sit on the bus and stare at my watch as it passed the 6:45 mark when our entire journey was supposed to be over. Naturally, I though my awful luck had followed me yet again and I would have to find a cheap hotel in Bari for the night and catch a ferry the next night. It wasn't even so much the money that concerned me just that I would have practically 2 less days in Athens! Suddenly I started to wish I wouldve just flown. We ended up getting into Bari train station at 7:45 where I sprinted off of the train to a taxi and mustered up my best Italian "Porto Maritima..PRONTO!"
The taxi driver seemed to really enjoy my sense of urgency and delighted in almost hitting about 3 people and getting us killed a few seperate times on the way to the port but, needless to say, I greatly appreciated his efforts. I ended up arriving at the port at about 7:55 where I grabbed my things, threw 20 Euros at the taxi driver, which I was convinced was robbery for a 7 mintue ride but I didn't have the time to argue, and then sprinted into the ticket office. I immediately started pleaded for a ticket to the boat because I knew it was still sitting at the dock. Right as the lady was telling me it was impossible for her to issue me a ticket so late, a group of 4 ran into the door and started yelling for tickets as well. It quickly became apparent that they were also on my train and stuck in the same dire situation. The ticket lady didn't really give us the time of day until the new group's Italian cab driver rushed in and started making a racket in Italian. I have absolutely no idea what he told the woman at the window; all I know is that, whatever he said, it worked and she issued us all last minute tickets onto the ferry set to leave in less than a mintue! In a Titanic-esque fashion, we all sprinted towards the ferry dock. The ferry captain didn't seem to care much that passengers still weren't on board - the 4 of us litterly jumped onto the ship as it disembarked.
Nothing like a minor crisis to bring some random strangers together. We were all relieved beyond belief just to be on that boat and not have to spend a night in Bari. One of the of the people was a girl who turned out to be from Manitowoc, WI and was having a bit of a Eurotrip. In another small world incidence, it turns out she had been staying with Julian at a mutual friend's house in Rome. The other two were a wonderfully nice older couple from Australia who were spending 3.5 months travelling the world. They had started in Singapore, India and were now in Europe before heading to Canada and the US. In fits of mutual excitement that we all made it on the boat, we all had a few drinks, relaxed and shared a bit of our personal backgrounds. It wasnt until I started to get tired from the day of travelling that I realized I only had a deck ticket instead of a cabin and would have to sleep on the floor for the evening. All things considered, it really wasn't so bad...I was just content that I had made it on the boat and I was so tired that I actually got a great nights rest!
After being rudely awakened by a crew member at 6:30AM I headed onto the deck to be greeted by some absolutely lovely views of the Greek Islands. Of course, arriving in the Greek port of Patras didn't mark the end of my journey; I still had to hop on a train to Athens. It figures that, just like the train from Rome to Bari, the train from Patras to Athens also involved a partial bus journey that made a 2 hour ride into a 4 hour spectacle. Honestly, what are the chances that the two trains I needed to get from Rome to Athens were spontaneously under construction?? It was quite a relief to arrive at Hostel Zeus, reunite with guys and get ready to enjoy 5 lazy days in Greece :)
Well, I doubt the lot of you have made it to the end of this so I will cut it off for now haha :) More about the days I spent in Greece and my ridiculous trip home from Athens in the next few days! Happy Mifflin to everyone and see you all in like 30 days
Cheers,
Patrick
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Roma, Roma, Roma
I think it is safe to say that we were all incredibly excited to be arriving in Rome for 4 days of adventuring and gelato eating. Our group had sort of split up when leaving Naples so we got into Termini station at about 8:30pm giving us plenty of time to see some of Rome's most famous sights illumnated for the evening. We made the short walk from the station to our hostel where we checked in quickly. Upon entering our room, Mike and I could only laugh at the cascade of hard liquor and beer bottles that scattered the floor - it seemed as if we had some rowdy roomates who had been around for a few days.
Our first destination was the incredible Treviso Fountain although it probably took us much longer to get there than it should have thanks to Rome's lack of city structure. On the way, we were confronted by a fellow American from Ohio currently living in Greece and were delighted to get to know him for a bit on our walk. Masterfully lit up, the fountain quite literally is a jaw dropping sight. Of course we took a barrage of pictures and then followed suit with tradition which says that if you throw in one coin you will return to rome and if you throw in two that you will fall in love there. With the exception of Party Jon, we all tossed in a single piece of change.
On the way from the fountain to the Coloseum we were randomly and abrubtly flagged down by a random driver who asked us where we were from (since it was obvious that we were not locals). We told him America greatly exciting him and then more specifically that we were from Chicago since nobody really knows where Wisconsin is anyway. His immediate reaction to our description was "yes America, I love it!...Chicago, yes....50 Cent, 50 Cent!" and then he drove off as quickly as he came. The Coloseum was equally brilliant with its soft yellow glow. Like has happened to me so many times on this trip, it really took a while for the realization that I was actually standing in Rome at the Coloseum to set in. At about midnight we decided that enough pictures had been taken and it was time to head home in the shadiest possible way. Of course, we ventured through the same park the next day and it was rather pleasant but at night it left us paranoid.
We planned on hitting the sheets early but our plans changed dramatically when those mysterious roomates of ours turned out to be a group of Germans from Bavaria on holiday. They were seated around a table, decked out in full traditional Leiderhosen with about 3 bottles of vodka open, beer bottles scattered about and a hookah. They immediately asked us to join and we simply couldn't say no. We played thumper and shared some comical cross cultural conversations while they insisted that we drink as much of their alcohol as we could. Needless to say it was about 4:30am before the desk manager of the hostel came in and shut the party down because it was disturbing other guests!
Day two brought us, and some girls we met up with who are also studyign in London, back to the Coloseum for a proper tour. For me, being inside and reading about the events that took place there really sparked my imagination. I kept picturing what it would be like to fill the giant arena with 55,000 screaming Romans who were watching men fight bears, tigers and, on a bad day, other men. In the first 100 days when the Coloseum was open and event was thrown every day free of charge to Roman citizens and after those days over 9,000 animals were killed NOT including people! Following the Coloseum we traveled to the Roman Forum. It is the largest collection of ruins in the city and was the area where all of the major commerce, religious and buerocratic functions took place in Rome. The size, scale, and brilliance of what remains only leaves you to imagine what once stood. (Another fun fact about many ancient buildings is that, at the height of their existance, many of them were painted vibrant colors which have just faded away over 2000 years leaving the white marble that we see!) Looking down on the Forumn stands Palatine hill, a place also filled with ruins of gardens that shed light onto a society long deceased. If I remember correctly it is Palatine Hill where the city of Rome was supposedly founded according to the tale of the brothers Romulus and Remis. For the evening we enjoyed an authentic Italian dinner and then proceeded to indulge ourselves in 20 gigantic jugs of wine which, despite only costing 9 Euro a piece, we could not finish between the 6 of us. During the attempt to finish these jugs I learned that wine should not be consumed at the pace of beer - it seems fine and dandy when your drinking but after about an hour or two you realize that you have actually consumed twice the amount of alcohol. Just a thought :)
Day number three in Rome took us out of Italy into the Vatican (it is actually its own country with a seperate currency and post system). Having seen St. Paul's in London and the Duomo in Florence, I incorrectly imagined that St. Peter's would be about the same. On the contrary, the level of gradeur both inside and outside of the basillica completely takes your breath away. No detail was left unperfected by the marvel of 16th century engineering. Without 2,000 words it is rather impossible to properly describe the inside of the church so I will leave that to future pictures. As for the outside, it seemed to dwarf its aforementioned cousins. It was also fun to replay the Eurotrip scene in my head and figure out where exactly Scottie came out of to confess his love to Mika haha. Later in the day we would also climb to the top of the dome to view out over the vast expanses of Rome and its 7 hills.
Going backwards a bit, our first trip of the day involved the lengthy line at the Vatican Museum. Of course we took shifts in line in order to get Gelato from one of the most notable places in Rome - it helped a great deal to pass the time. The Vatican Museum holds so many important works of Renaissance art that, by the end of our 4 hour trek through its halls we were all completely exhausted. Only the Louvre seemed to have even more mental stimulation. Although a lot of the works went over our heads since none of us really study art history, we all followed our self apointed guide, Julian, with his Rick Steve's book so we could learn about the importance of what we were seeing. For me, actually seeing Raphael's famous "School of Athens" and, as the grande finale, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was an amazing experince. I probably spent almost 30 min gazing at both of those works, taking in all the fine details and noting the ways in which they revolutionized art. A long day of learning only leads to a desire to drink afterwords so we all caught dinner, a few bottles of wine and headed to "The Drunken Ship" for cheap pichers of beer and to watch the Barcelona football match. One more gelato run on the way home capped a great day.
For my final day in Rome I met up with my friend Lucas from Madison to stay with him for the night before I had to catch my 16 hour ferry from Italy to Greece. He gave me a tour of some of the less touristy places in Rome for which I was very greatful. It takes some time to get to know a city like those who have lived there for a while and I definitely never wouldve stumbled upon the places he showed me by myself. Original plans to see the Roma game fell through but we still had a solid day and it was good to catch up and share stories from our travels. We returned to the place we had eaten dinner the previous two nights because, unknown to us, it was the favorite place to eat of study abroad students in Rome. Small world. For the first time since arriving I got a decent night's sleep before the long travel day I had ahead. I was actually sort of excited to have a relaxing journey on a train then ferry. Turns out however that, even 5000 miles away from home, I still cannot escape my rotten luck.....(intended cliffhanger haha).
Anyways, I am currently in the process of trying to get back to London thanks to Iceland and its wonderful volcano. I will save the whole story for a future entry but it has been an absolutely ridiculous experience so far! As of now my goal is to get to Paris by Thursday 4/22 at 2pm when I have a coach booked to head up to London. Keeping those positive vibes and fingers crossed :)
More about Greece soon and hope everyone in Europe is getting home safely and those in the Staters are content not to be stuck away from home haha. My story about how I got back from Iceland is an epic so stay tuned :)
Cheers,
Patrick
Our first destination was the incredible Treviso Fountain although it probably took us much longer to get there than it should have thanks to Rome's lack of city structure. On the way, we were confronted by a fellow American from Ohio currently living in Greece and were delighted to get to know him for a bit on our walk. Masterfully lit up, the fountain quite literally is a jaw dropping sight. Of course we took a barrage of pictures and then followed suit with tradition which says that if you throw in one coin you will return to rome and if you throw in two that you will fall in love there. With the exception of Party Jon, we all tossed in a single piece of change.
On the way from the fountain to the Coloseum we were randomly and abrubtly flagged down by a random driver who asked us where we were from (since it was obvious that we were not locals). We told him America greatly exciting him and then more specifically that we were from Chicago since nobody really knows where Wisconsin is anyway. His immediate reaction to our description was "yes America, I love it!...Chicago, yes....50 Cent, 50 Cent!" and then he drove off as quickly as he came. The Coloseum was equally brilliant with its soft yellow glow. Like has happened to me so many times on this trip, it really took a while for the realization that I was actually standing in Rome at the Coloseum to set in. At about midnight we decided that enough pictures had been taken and it was time to head home in the shadiest possible way. Of course, we ventured through the same park the next day and it was rather pleasant but at night it left us paranoid.
We planned on hitting the sheets early but our plans changed dramatically when those mysterious roomates of ours turned out to be a group of Germans from Bavaria on holiday. They were seated around a table, decked out in full traditional Leiderhosen with about 3 bottles of vodka open, beer bottles scattered about and a hookah. They immediately asked us to join and we simply couldn't say no. We played thumper and shared some comical cross cultural conversations while they insisted that we drink as much of their alcohol as we could. Needless to say it was about 4:30am before the desk manager of the hostel came in and shut the party down because it was disturbing other guests!
Day two brought us, and some girls we met up with who are also studyign in London, back to the Coloseum for a proper tour. For me, being inside and reading about the events that took place there really sparked my imagination. I kept picturing what it would be like to fill the giant arena with 55,000 screaming Romans who were watching men fight bears, tigers and, on a bad day, other men. In the first 100 days when the Coloseum was open and event was thrown every day free of charge to Roman citizens and after those days over 9,000 animals were killed NOT including people! Following the Coloseum we traveled to the Roman Forum. It is the largest collection of ruins in the city and was the area where all of the major commerce, religious and buerocratic functions took place in Rome. The size, scale, and brilliance of what remains only leaves you to imagine what once stood. (Another fun fact about many ancient buildings is that, at the height of their existance, many of them were painted vibrant colors which have just faded away over 2000 years leaving the white marble that we see!) Looking down on the Forumn stands Palatine hill, a place also filled with ruins of gardens that shed light onto a society long deceased. If I remember correctly it is Palatine Hill where the city of Rome was supposedly founded according to the tale of the brothers Romulus and Remis. For the evening we enjoyed an authentic Italian dinner and then proceeded to indulge ourselves in 20 gigantic jugs of wine which, despite only costing 9 Euro a piece, we could not finish between the 6 of us. During the attempt to finish these jugs I learned that wine should not be consumed at the pace of beer - it seems fine and dandy when your drinking but after about an hour or two you realize that you have actually consumed twice the amount of alcohol. Just a thought :)
Day number three in Rome took us out of Italy into the Vatican (it is actually its own country with a seperate currency and post system). Having seen St. Paul's in London and the Duomo in Florence, I incorrectly imagined that St. Peter's would be about the same. On the contrary, the level of gradeur both inside and outside of the basillica completely takes your breath away. No detail was left unperfected by the marvel of 16th century engineering. Without 2,000 words it is rather impossible to properly describe the inside of the church so I will leave that to future pictures. As for the outside, it seemed to dwarf its aforementioned cousins. It was also fun to replay the Eurotrip scene in my head and figure out where exactly Scottie came out of to confess his love to Mika haha. Later in the day we would also climb to the top of the dome to view out over the vast expanses of Rome and its 7 hills.
Going backwards a bit, our first trip of the day involved the lengthy line at the Vatican Museum. Of course we took shifts in line in order to get Gelato from one of the most notable places in Rome - it helped a great deal to pass the time. The Vatican Museum holds so many important works of Renaissance art that, by the end of our 4 hour trek through its halls we were all completely exhausted. Only the Louvre seemed to have even more mental stimulation. Although a lot of the works went over our heads since none of us really study art history, we all followed our self apointed guide, Julian, with his Rick Steve's book so we could learn about the importance of what we were seeing. For me, actually seeing Raphael's famous "School of Athens" and, as the grande finale, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was an amazing experince. I probably spent almost 30 min gazing at both of those works, taking in all the fine details and noting the ways in which they revolutionized art. A long day of learning only leads to a desire to drink afterwords so we all caught dinner, a few bottles of wine and headed to "The Drunken Ship" for cheap pichers of beer and to watch the Barcelona football match. One more gelato run on the way home capped a great day.
For my final day in Rome I met up with my friend Lucas from Madison to stay with him for the night before I had to catch my 16 hour ferry from Italy to Greece. He gave me a tour of some of the less touristy places in Rome for which I was very greatful. It takes some time to get to know a city like those who have lived there for a while and I definitely never wouldve stumbled upon the places he showed me by myself. Original plans to see the Roma game fell through but we still had a solid day and it was good to catch up and share stories from our travels. We returned to the place we had eaten dinner the previous two nights because, unknown to us, it was the favorite place to eat of study abroad students in Rome. Small world. For the first time since arriving I got a decent night's sleep before the long travel day I had ahead. I was actually sort of excited to have a relaxing journey on a train then ferry. Turns out however that, even 5000 miles away from home, I still cannot escape my rotten luck.....(intended cliffhanger haha).
Anyways, I am currently in the process of trying to get back to London thanks to Iceland and its wonderful volcano. I will save the whole story for a future entry but it has been an absolutely ridiculous experience so far! As of now my goal is to get to Paris by Thursday 4/22 at 2pm when I have a coach booked to head up to London. Keeping those positive vibes and fingers crossed :)
More about Greece soon and hope everyone in Europe is getting home safely and those in the Staters are content not to be stuck away from home haha. My story about how I got back from Iceland is an epic so stay tuned :)
Cheers,
Patrick
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Naples and Pompeii
This post is a bit belated and does not mention my current inability to get back to England thanks to Iceland and its stupid volcano! Off to Madrid for a few days and trying to catch a train to Paris then bus to London...ahhh!
For the first time since I've been in Europe, I got off of the train station in Naples and was completely underwhelmed. Not entirely sure why Naples gets built up as such a tourist destination (or how I got the impressions I had of it) but the reality is that the streets are rather dirty, littered with grafitti and there is a complete lack of the charm that has made the rest of Italy so wonderful. The dodgy walk to the hostel kept us all on our toes for what we thought as an imminent attack. Upon our arrival at the acclaimed hostel known as "Giovanni's House" which has recently been rated the world's best hostel, a lot of our perceptions changed. We walked in the door to find a nice old man that greeted us with glasses of water and had us all sit around his small computer desk. We got settled, he pulled out a map, a few books and proceeded to give us a description of everything Naples had to offer complete with history, pictures and crime statistics. Turns out that, contrary to popular perceptions, Naples is actually one of the least dangerous places in Italy due to the prescence of the mafia. Armed with 5 colors of highlighters, Giovanni mapped out a tour and showed us pictures of all the things to see in the city of Naples. We all just sat there with smiles on our faces, unable to believe the wonderful hospitality of the hostel owner when compared to some of the places we have stayed in the past. It was also funny how he didn't hesitate to frown upon many of the places around Naples to attempt to sway us to stay within the city. He called the Amolfi Coast, famous for its gorgeous cliffs, villages and tourism just "water and rocks," which, according to Giovanni you could find anywhere: "Naples is a beautiful city." After his historical presentation, he called and made reservations for us at what he called "the best pizza place in Naples" - it should also be noted that pizza was invented there so we had to go try it! After the pizza and calzones we all had, it was hard to not believe Giovanni about his reccomendations. To top off the evening, he brought chocolate around for all of us before bed..what a guy!
For our first full day in Naples, our group split up with a few people to head to the island of Capri just of the Naples coast and a few of us to make an attempt to do the tour Giovanni had given us. The things he told us to do weren't quite as cool as we had built them up to be after his speech but spending the day outside in gorgeous weather and spending a few hours tanning totally made up for. Not to mention we bought a real cheap little soccer ball and showed off our lack of talent in various public spaces around the city. Coming back to the hostel in early afternoon and spending some time relaxing and reading on Gio's rooftop balcony was just what the doctor ordered for me after a week of hiking and travelling. He even greeting us with home made spaghetti pie when we all returned for our day's explorations! The night concluded with another pizza run and a good night sleep since we had to get up real early to head off to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.
After a short train ride, the first thing on our list was to hike up the volcanno infamous for destroying, and in turn, perserving Pompeii. We got a rather unsteady van about 3/4 way up the summit then set off on foot to the crater. Vesuvius isn't really a lava volcanno but looking into an active crater is still a pretty cool experience. More incredible than the mountain itself were the panoramic views of the surrounding area and the deep blues and greens of the Sea. Positively glorious! A barrage of pictures later, we hiked back down, got on the train and headed south towards Pompeii. Keeping pace with our usual quota of 1 travel mishap per city and end up going backwards before we could get there but it was all in good fun and we made the best of it. Pompeii itself isn't much for exciting to blog about however it was really awesome to see. So much of the city is preserved that you can pretty easily imagine what life used to be like for the great Roman city before the infamous volcano. Remains of the entire city are pretty intact instead of just monumental structures like in Rome or Athens so you can distinguish between the different dynamics that make up a city as a whole. With a map in hand and a little book that gives a brief description of each site we made our own sort of walking tour by having someone read the information outloud as we went. Like I said, not much to write about but still a great day.
From Pompeii we headed back to Giovanni's to grab out stuff, bid him farwell and thank him for the wonderful hospitality. To the train station we went where we hopped on a train for Rome! Of course, our train got delayed almost an hour but we were so excited it didn't much matter. We arrived in Rome three hours later, checked in, and immediately went out to check out the city at night passing by Treviso Founain and the Coloseum, both of which were absolutely glorious all lit up! It would only be the beginning of a few wonderful days :)
Just relaxing in my hostel in Athens at the moment, wishing I had another week here or on the islands. It may just be infatuation but I dare say I am in love with this place after only two days! If nothing else, I now have a wonderful excuse to come back when I have a bit more disposable income...if anybody wants in just let me kno :) I also can't believe that I head back to London in a few short days, maybe even before this gets posted. What a trip it has been!
Talk to everyone soon :)
Cheers,
Patrick
For the first time since I've been in Europe, I got off of the train station in Naples and was completely underwhelmed. Not entirely sure why Naples gets built up as such a tourist destination (or how I got the impressions I had of it) but the reality is that the streets are rather dirty, littered with grafitti and there is a complete lack of the charm that has made the rest of Italy so wonderful. The dodgy walk to the hostel kept us all on our toes for what we thought as an imminent attack. Upon our arrival at the acclaimed hostel known as "Giovanni's House" which has recently been rated the world's best hostel, a lot of our perceptions changed. We walked in the door to find a nice old man that greeted us with glasses of water and had us all sit around his small computer desk. We got settled, he pulled out a map, a few books and proceeded to give us a description of everything Naples had to offer complete with history, pictures and crime statistics. Turns out that, contrary to popular perceptions, Naples is actually one of the least dangerous places in Italy due to the prescence of the mafia. Armed with 5 colors of highlighters, Giovanni mapped out a tour and showed us pictures of all the things to see in the city of Naples. We all just sat there with smiles on our faces, unable to believe the wonderful hospitality of the hostel owner when compared to some of the places we have stayed in the past. It was also funny how he didn't hesitate to frown upon many of the places around Naples to attempt to sway us to stay within the city. He called the Amolfi Coast, famous for its gorgeous cliffs, villages and tourism just "water and rocks," which, according to Giovanni you could find anywhere: "Naples is a beautiful city." After his historical presentation, he called and made reservations for us at what he called "the best pizza place in Naples" - it should also be noted that pizza was invented there so we had to go try it! After the pizza and calzones we all had, it was hard to not believe Giovanni about his reccomendations. To top off the evening, he brought chocolate around for all of us before bed..what a guy!
For our first full day in Naples, our group split up with a few people to head to the island of Capri just of the Naples coast and a few of us to make an attempt to do the tour Giovanni had given us. The things he told us to do weren't quite as cool as we had built them up to be after his speech but spending the day outside in gorgeous weather and spending a few hours tanning totally made up for. Not to mention we bought a real cheap little soccer ball and showed off our lack of talent in various public spaces around the city. Coming back to the hostel in early afternoon and spending some time relaxing and reading on Gio's rooftop balcony was just what the doctor ordered for me after a week of hiking and travelling. He even greeting us with home made spaghetti pie when we all returned for our day's explorations! The night concluded with another pizza run and a good night sleep since we had to get up real early to head off to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.
After a short train ride, the first thing on our list was to hike up the volcanno infamous for destroying, and in turn, perserving Pompeii. We got a rather unsteady van about 3/4 way up the summit then set off on foot to the crater. Vesuvius isn't really a lava volcanno but looking into an active crater is still a pretty cool experience. More incredible than the mountain itself were the panoramic views of the surrounding area and the deep blues and greens of the Sea. Positively glorious! A barrage of pictures later, we hiked back down, got on the train and headed south towards Pompeii. Keeping pace with our usual quota of 1 travel mishap per city and end up going backwards before we could get there but it was all in good fun and we made the best of it. Pompeii itself isn't much for exciting to blog about however it was really awesome to see. So much of the city is preserved that you can pretty easily imagine what life used to be like for the great Roman city before the infamous volcano. Remains of the entire city are pretty intact instead of just monumental structures like in Rome or Athens so you can distinguish between the different dynamics that make up a city as a whole. With a map in hand and a little book that gives a brief description of each site we made our own sort of walking tour by having someone read the information outloud as we went. Like I said, not much to write about but still a great day.
From Pompeii we headed back to Giovanni's to grab out stuff, bid him farwell and thank him for the wonderful hospitality. To the train station we went where we hopped on a train for Rome! Of course, our train got delayed almost an hour but we were so excited it didn't much matter. We arrived in Rome three hours later, checked in, and immediately went out to check out the city at night passing by Treviso Founain and the Coloseum, both of which were absolutely glorious all lit up! It would only be the beginning of a few wonderful days :)
Just relaxing in my hostel in Athens at the moment, wishing I had another week here or on the islands. It may just be infatuation but I dare say I am in love with this place after only two days! If nothing else, I now have a wonderful excuse to come back when I have a bit more disposable income...if anybody wants in just let me kno :) I also can't believe that I head back to London in a few short days, maybe even before this gets posted. What a trip it has been!
Talk to everyone soon :)
Cheers,
Patrick
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Chillin in the Home of the Renaissance - Florence
My initial views of the beautiful city of Florence were a bit negative due to the downpour we arrived into and the decrepid state of our hostel, the "David Inn." We arrived at the hostel soaking wet despite umbrellas and raincoats to be checked in by a gangly looking Italian man with one large sideburn. We were trying to stay positive about it but the fact that there was one sink, one toilet and one shower for the 20 people there was absolutely horrible. Moreover, upon showing us around, our less than gracious host introduced the entire kitchen as 'broken.' How the hell is the entire kitchen broken? Nonetheless, we had two days there so we tried to make the best of it.
After another instance as the proverbial 'loud Americans' at an authentic Italian pizzeria, the next day greeted us with sunshine and a laundry list of thins to do and see. Florence is unlike any other city I have every been to. All of the architecture, from the size of the buildings to the classic terra cotta tile roofs give the entire Florence area an unparalleled sense of togetherness and unity. Even the gigantic Duomo at the center of the city holds the traditional color scheme while acting as the center piece for a city most well known for its intellectual role during the Renaissance. Walking around the streets of Florence can be somewhat overwhelming if you sit down and think about what you're doing - just imagining the people that walked through the same streets can be baffling. Notable Florentine inhabitants were not just celebrities but those who helped make the discoveries that shaped the world we live in.
Us guys met up with a group of girls from USC who are also studying in London and got in line to hike up the winding, narrow steps of the Duomo to get a birds eye view of the city. I spent the majority of the clime ducking and thankful that I was skinny. The builders of the dome were clearly under 5'10" and rather fit. Regardless of who they were, it still baffles me how such an enormous and gradiose structure was built by anyone over 500 years ago. Absolutely incredible. The view from the top gave a few of the city that really did its part to try and take your breath away. Again, I strongly adivse anyone to take 30 seconds and run a google search, it will be completely worth your time! For the rest of the day we all wandered the streets and outdoor markets, taking in the sights as we went. We made sure to head towards the Palazzo Vecchio, a large public square and Medici palace filled with some of the most impressive sculptures I have ever seen. There was also Ponte Vecchio, a nearby bridge which is covered with shops and houses similar to London Bridge a few hundred years ago. To end the day we found or selves some cheap bottles of wine and headed up to the Piazza Michealangelo which sat upon a hill south of the river giving a brilliant panoramic view of the city. We spent more than an hour up there passing bottles and watching the sun set. Normally, I dont consider going out to dinner a particularly notable occasion but we managed to find a place that gave unlimited amounts of free wine with dinner to student groups :) Lets just say we took advantage of it - Thank you Pizzaria Dante!
On our last day in Florence we tourned the world famous Uffizi Gallery and its beautiful collection of Renaissance art from some of the most notable artists in world history. Aside from that we took some time to enjoy the gorgeous day before hoping on our train down to Naples where our adventure would continue. I am currently in the last few hours of my ferry adventure (as of when I'm writing this, not when it will be posted) from Italy to Greece and excited to get into Athens for the evening. Along the way I have met a wonderful Australian couple taking a 3.5 month tour of the world who have been kind enough to buy me a few beers and breakfast :)
More to come and I promise I will put up pictures eventually! Hope all is well with everyone and I'll be in touch with a great deal of you once I get back to the UK :)
Cheers,
Patrick
After another instance as the proverbial 'loud Americans' at an authentic Italian pizzeria, the next day greeted us with sunshine and a laundry list of thins to do and see. Florence is unlike any other city I have every been to. All of the architecture, from the size of the buildings to the classic terra cotta tile roofs give the entire Florence area an unparalleled sense of togetherness and unity. Even the gigantic Duomo at the center of the city holds the traditional color scheme while acting as the center piece for a city most well known for its intellectual role during the Renaissance. Walking around the streets of Florence can be somewhat overwhelming if you sit down and think about what you're doing - just imagining the people that walked through the same streets can be baffling. Notable Florentine inhabitants were not just celebrities but those who helped make the discoveries that shaped the world we live in.
Us guys met up with a group of girls from USC who are also studying in London and got in line to hike up the winding, narrow steps of the Duomo to get a birds eye view of the city. I spent the majority of the clime ducking and thankful that I was skinny. The builders of the dome were clearly under 5'10" and rather fit. Regardless of who they were, it still baffles me how such an enormous and gradiose structure was built by anyone over 500 years ago. Absolutely incredible. The view from the top gave a few of the city that really did its part to try and take your breath away. Again, I strongly adivse anyone to take 30 seconds and run a google search, it will be completely worth your time! For the rest of the day we all wandered the streets and outdoor markets, taking in the sights as we went. We made sure to head towards the Palazzo Vecchio, a large public square and Medici palace filled with some of the most impressive sculptures I have ever seen. There was also Ponte Vecchio, a nearby bridge which is covered with shops and houses similar to London Bridge a few hundred years ago. To end the day we found or selves some cheap bottles of wine and headed up to the Piazza Michealangelo which sat upon a hill south of the river giving a brilliant panoramic view of the city. We spent more than an hour up there passing bottles and watching the sun set. Normally, I dont consider going out to dinner a particularly notable occasion but we managed to find a place that gave unlimited amounts of free wine with dinner to student groups :) Lets just say we took advantage of it - Thank you Pizzaria Dante!
On our last day in Florence we tourned the world famous Uffizi Gallery and its beautiful collection of Renaissance art from some of the most notable artists in world history. Aside from that we took some time to enjoy the gorgeous day before hoping on our train down to Naples where our adventure would continue. I am currently in the last few hours of my ferry adventure (as of when I'm writing this, not when it will be posted) from Italy to Greece and excited to get into Athens for the evening. Along the way I have met a wonderful Australian couple taking a 3.5 month tour of the world who have been kind enough to buy me a few beers and breakfast :)
More to come and I promise I will put up pictures eventually! Hope all is well with everyone and I'll be in touch with a great deal of you once I get back to the UK :)
Cheers,
Patrick
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Cinque Terre National Park - The Hike of a Lifetime!
This entry is still a bit dated but I'm catching up :) Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes...I'm without spellcheck!
Although I had a great couple of days with random folks in Genoa, it was good to be with a gang again and headed off to the Cinque Terre National Park on the northwest coast of Italy. The park consists of cliffside paths that wind between five seperate villages that are embedded into the clifs and are about as quintessentially Italian as anything can get. I didn't really know much about the place myself but I had heard such good things that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the hike. Our plan was to hike from the first village to the third village where we would spend a night at the hostel there and then finish the last two villages and catch a short train to Florence to continue the adventure. The weather wasn't perfect when we arrived which, at first, seemed rather unfortunate. The opinions about the clouds quickly changed when we found ourselves hiking up at least 500 uneven and skinny steps to get our way up the cliff side with 35 pound backpacks on! I soon realized that I am not exactly in the best shape of my life. Regardless, it felt great to be out hiking and in the outdoors again. Not to mention, the views of the sea and the mountains we were hiking were absolutely incredible. Even if you were tired and sweating the idea of what the next corner could hold always kept us going. Plus, with our group there were never a lack of picture stops so we were always somewhat rested.
Complimenting the hikes, the time we got to spend in each of the small little seaside villages will not soon be forgotten. Each village seemed to take you back about 20 or 30 years when things were more simple and life was good all of the time (at least in theory). The old square buildings shone brightly in pastel shades of yellow, pink and orange. Without exception green shutters lined every window and closelines were filled with the days laundry. The cobble stone alleys zig-zagged back and forth inbetween a plethora of small shops, gelaterias and pizza places. The locals were some of the most friendly people I have ever met, embracing the large amounts of tourism the get and eager to help out a lost traveller looking for a good lunch or the direction to the next village. I do not have anywhere near the amount of literary skill or descriptive ability to do the villages justice and I highly reccomend that anyone who reads this does a quick Google search for "Cinque Terre"- you will not be dissapointed, I promise!
Between the second and third village, we ran into a few American girls who were on spring break from Barcelona. We shared a few laughs and broke into a few verses of KC and Jojo songs along the hike. Unfortunately, when one girl from Texas Tech tried to tell us about how her school had made a remix of Soulja Boy into "Crank that Crabtree" for their famous RUNNING BACK..we could hold a serious conversation for the remander of the hike haha! It felt great to arrive at the third village towards the end of the afternoon. A long day of hiking seemed like a perfect excuse to pig out on gelato and get an authentic Italian pizza! We also made sure to grab a few bottles of cheap local wine and some Lemoncello, a thick lemon liquor, as if we needed any more assistance in passing out after a long day of strenuous hiking and laughing.
Day two of hiking was supposed to be much less strenuous than the first and we had planned on arriving in Florence by mid to late afternoon. That plan quickly changed when we ended up taking the wrong path from the 4th to the 5th village turning a 20 min hike along the coast into a 2 hour quest up a mountain. It really wouldn't have taken so long but while hiking down into a valley we came across the Sandlot of soccer fields situated 100 feet below a mountain overpass on on the side of a cliff. The field wasn't in great shape but was littered with cones, soccer balls and had two perfectly good goals that proved it had been used recently. Almost simultaneous the inner child of us all ran down into the field, dropped our packs like bags of rocks and started our attempts at playing soccer. The place was so magical, straight out of a movie - it was like the clouds opened up and a ray of sunlight shone on this little field calling us to it for a pick up game even though we are so terrible at the game that the field stands for. We quickly named the playing surface the "Field of Dreams" and spent over an hour there having shootouts and playing 2 on 2, all of us giddy with excitement. We pretended to be famous footballers, pretended to be decent and completely forgot about any of our plans to get to Florence. Like the rest of the Cinque Terre, our little moment is sort of hard to put into words but the time we spend at the "Field of Dreams" really encapsulated everything sports are supposed to be about.
Eventually we did finish the hike and caught a train to Firenza (Florence). On the way we realized we were going to be stopping through Pisa and, in the name of the stereotypical leaning tower picture, we decided to make a stop. The lady working the train told us to get off on the South Pisa stop, so we did. Immediately after stepping off the train it seemed like we had landed in one of the biggest shitholes in Italy. We knew essentially nothing about Pisa but decided that we must've been supposed to get off at Pisa Centrale. Right before we were about to hop back on the train, a random traveller from Texas informed us that we were, in fact, only about 10 minutes walk from the infamous leaning tower. Thankful that we didn't get back on the train we headed towards the tower to take 20 mintues worth of photos and be on our way. 20 minutes quickly turned into 30 and became accompanied by a great deal of rain that we had no way to get out of. We then remembered that we had a train to catch in about 6 mintues, and, after some deliberation, all took off in dead sprints back towards the train station. Dripping wet, exhausted from a half mile sprint with 30 pound backpacks and rather miserable we just made it back to the platform before the train departed for Florence! Getting out of the rain quickly changed all of our moods towards our little adventure and we all broke out in laugher, deeming our sprint the "escape from Pisa!" Another memory that will not soon be forgotten!
I am currently on an overnight ferry from Italy to Greece and can barely keep my eyes open so I will leave Florence for a future date. The story about how I got on this ferry is absolutely ridiculous itself, I can't hardly believe it! All of these things will be coming soon as I still struggle to catch up with the blog. It is surreal that today was my last day in Italy, it went so so fast!
Like always, I hope everyone is doing as well as possible with school and life in general. I'm real sad I can't make Mifflin this year so I need everyone to pitch in and drink the 20 or so beers I would've planned on consuming :) If everyone pulls together I don't think it will be a problem hehe.
Until next time, stay in touch and I will be tryign to call a bunch of people when I get back into London to do some much needed caching up!
Cheers,
Patrick
Although I had a great couple of days with random folks in Genoa, it was good to be with a gang again and headed off to the Cinque Terre National Park on the northwest coast of Italy. The park consists of cliffside paths that wind between five seperate villages that are embedded into the clifs and are about as quintessentially Italian as anything can get. I didn't really know much about the place myself but I had heard such good things that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the hike. Our plan was to hike from the first village to the third village where we would spend a night at the hostel there and then finish the last two villages and catch a short train to Florence to continue the adventure. The weather wasn't perfect when we arrived which, at first, seemed rather unfortunate. The opinions about the clouds quickly changed when we found ourselves hiking up at least 500 uneven and skinny steps to get our way up the cliff side with 35 pound backpacks on! I soon realized that I am not exactly in the best shape of my life. Regardless, it felt great to be out hiking and in the outdoors again. Not to mention, the views of the sea and the mountains we were hiking were absolutely incredible. Even if you were tired and sweating the idea of what the next corner could hold always kept us going. Plus, with our group there were never a lack of picture stops so we were always somewhat rested.
Complimenting the hikes, the time we got to spend in each of the small little seaside villages will not soon be forgotten. Each village seemed to take you back about 20 or 30 years when things were more simple and life was good all of the time (at least in theory). The old square buildings shone brightly in pastel shades of yellow, pink and orange. Without exception green shutters lined every window and closelines were filled with the days laundry. The cobble stone alleys zig-zagged back and forth inbetween a plethora of small shops, gelaterias and pizza places. The locals were some of the most friendly people I have ever met, embracing the large amounts of tourism the get and eager to help out a lost traveller looking for a good lunch or the direction to the next village. I do not have anywhere near the amount of literary skill or descriptive ability to do the villages justice and I highly reccomend that anyone who reads this does a quick Google search for "Cinque Terre"- you will not be dissapointed, I promise!
Between the second and third village, we ran into a few American girls who were on spring break from Barcelona. We shared a few laughs and broke into a few verses of KC and Jojo songs along the hike. Unfortunately, when one girl from Texas Tech tried to tell us about how her school had made a remix of Soulja Boy into "Crank that Crabtree" for their famous RUNNING BACK..we could hold a serious conversation for the remander of the hike haha! It felt great to arrive at the third village towards the end of the afternoon. A long day of hiking seemed like a perfect excuse to pig out on gelato and get an authentic Italian pizza! We also made sure to grab a few bottles of cheap local wine and some Lemoncello, a thick lemon liquor, as if we needed any more assistance in passing out after a long day of strenuous hiking and laughing.
Day two of hiking was supposed to be much less strenuous than the first and we had planned on arriving in Florence by mid to late afternoon. That plan quickly changed when we ended up taking the wrong path from the 4th to the 5th village turning a 20 min hike along the coast into a 2 hour quest up a mountain. It really wouldn't have taken so long but while hiking down into a valley we came across the Sandlot of soccer fields situated 100 feet below a mountain overpass on on the side of a cliff. The field wasn't in great shape but was littered with cones, soccer balls and had two perfectly good goals that proved it had been used recently. Almost simultaneous the inner child of us all ran down into the field, dropped our packs like bags of rocks and started our attempts at playing soccer. The place was so magical, straight out of a movie - it was like the clouds opened up and a ray of sunlight shone on this little field calling us to it for a pick up game even though we are so terrible at the game that the field stands for. We quickly named the playing surface the "Field of Dreams" and spent over an hour there having shootouts and playing 2 on 2, all of us giddy with excitement. We pretended to be famous footballers, pretended to be decent and completely forgot about any of our plans to get to Florence. Like the rest of the Cinque Terre, our little moment is sort of hard to put into words but the time we spend at the "Field of Dreams" really encapsulated everything sports are supposed to be about.
Eventually we did finish the hike and caught a train to Firenza (Florence). On the way we realized we were going to be stopping through Pisa and, in the name of the stereotypical leaning tower picture, we decided to make a stop. The lady working the train told us to get off on the South Pisa stop, so we did. Immediately after stepping off the train it seemed like we had landed in one of the biggest shitholes in Italy. We knew essentially nothing about Pisa but decided that we must've been supposed to get off at Pisa Centrale. Right before we were about to hop back on the train, a random traveller from Texas informed us that we were, in fact, only about 10 minutes walk from the infamous leaning tower. Thankful that we didn't get back on the train we headed towards the tower to take 20 mintues worth of photos and be on our way. 20 minutes quickly turned into 30 and became accompanied by a great deal of rain that we had no way to get out of. We then remembered that we had a train to catch in about 6 mintues, and, after some deliberation, all took off in dead sprints back towards the train station. Dripping wet, exhausted from a half mile sprint with 30 pound backpacks and rather miserable we just made it back to the platform before the train departed for Florence! Getting out of the rain quickly changed all of our moods towards our little adventure and we all broke out in laugher, deeming our sprint the "escape from Pisa!" Another memory that will not soon be forgotten!
I am currently on an overnight ferry from Italy to Greece and can barely keep my eyes open so I will leave Florence for a future date. The story about how I got on this ferry is absolutely ridiculous itself, I can't hardly believe it! All of these things will be coming soon as I still struggle to catch up with the blog. It is surreal that today was my last day in Italy, it went so so fast!
Like always, I hope everyone is doing as well as possible with school and life in general. I'm real sad I can't make Mifflin this year so I need everyone to pitch in and drink the 20 or so beers I would've planned on consuming :) If everyone pulls together I don't think it will be a problem hehe.
Until next time, stay in touch and I will be tryign to call a bunch of people when I get back into London to do some much needed caching up!
Cheers,
Patrick
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