On July 21st the whole class took a trip up to Belfast in Northern Ireland for a black taxi tour. There was a long bus ride from Dublin to Belfast and I thought it was interesting that when we got to Northern Ireland we were in the United Kingdom. They use Irish pounds for the currency which is pretty much the same thing at English pounds but they manufacture their own Irish version. Upon reaching Belfast we separated into smaller groups to ride in the taxis around to 3 different areas of Belfast. Belfast is a city that is separated into a Catholic section and Protestant section. We first rode to the Protestant section of Shankill Rd, there are many lovely murals there, but many are political in nature, and there is one that is super creepy...its a soldier that points a gun at you and the barrel of the gun follows you no matter where you are. I was super creeped out by it. After this we rode to the Peace wall and signed it, the wall separates the Catholic and Protestant sections and many people have written, drawn, and painted peace messages on this stretch of wall. The Catholic and Protestant sections have gates that close at certain times at night so the neighborhoods can't mix and cause problems. After the peace wall we went into the Catholic section and saw many murals, a few that were on the side of the Sinn Fein building which is the Catholic political party in Northern Ireland. The rest were on the side of a road and were really cool looking. I will put some pictures up soonish.
We then headed to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It is this bridge that the local fishermen use, and its in an area where on a clear day you can see Scotland. I was terrified to go across the rope bridge since I am scared of heights and it was rainy so I figured the bridge would be a little wet and slippery. I was right that is was a little slippery but it wasn't that bad. The bridge gets you to this little islandy thing, that is I am pretty sure made of peat so the ground was pretty bouncy. The views from the island were beautiful, and we had a ton of fun wandering around and taking pictures in the misty rain. After about an hour wandering around we took the bus to Giant's Causeway and ordered food then went down to the causeway. This place was super cool because it was formed by a volcanic eruption and the rocks are very geometrical so it makes very little sense that is was naturally formed. I loved the rocks though they were so cool and fun to climb! :)
The next few days were filled with classes and not much else since finals were coming up I had to work on more homework and such. By the 23rd Caitlyn came to visit to me in Dublin, so I got to take her around to the Brazen Head, St. Auden's, Dublin Castle, Boxty House, Trinity College, and Temple Bar. On the 24th Cait, Jenny and I went up the Enniskillen in Northern Ireland to visit her families castle. While we were there we had lunch at a little tea and sandwich shop before seeing a little thrift store and stopping there to get lots of lovely souvenirs. After that we made it to the castle which is still standing and has a museum inside that explains the McGuire's history in Ireland and it gave an idea of how many old Irish castles would have looked.
After Cait left I only had a few days left in Ireland with the trip so much of that time was used doing homework and making sure I had gifts for everyone I needed. On the last wednesday we all went to All Hallows College. We got a tour of the school which is really cool and the Brother that gave the tour was really funny! Everything that was there was related in some fashion to Harry Potter. I was highly amused, but the place was really pretty and had a great history.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Kilmaiham Jail and asst. days
Coming back from London very early in the morning was probably not one of my better ideas which is probably why the day I got back after classes I took a nap because I was exhausted. Therefore I have nothing important to talk about for the 19th of July.
On the 20th however I took a trip to Kilmainham Jail which was the main jail in Dublin for many years and was used to hold both the common prisoner and also the prisoners that were to be sent to Australia. One of the other important things about this jail is this is where all the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were kept and then killed. It was the killing of these men that caused the true uprising that eventually led Ireland to become separate from England. If the English had just jailed the men for a while and then let them free there is every chance that Ireland may still be a part of the UK. However the English decided to murder all the leaders and the Irish citizens saw how unfair it was and then decided to actually attempt an organized revolt against England. It took many years but they did succeed in their revolution. The jail no longer is functioning as a jail but it still has a lot of history and there is so much that I felt while I was touring around the grounds.
On the 20th however I took a trip to Kilmainham Jail which was the main jail in Dublin for many years and was used to hold both the common prisoner and also the prisoners that were to be sent to Australia. One of the other important things about this jail is this is where all the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were kept and then killed. It was the killing of these men that caused the true uprising that eventually led Ireland to become separate from England. If the English had just jailed the men for a while and then let them free there is every chance that Ireland may still be a part of the UK. However the English decided to murder all the leaders and the Irish citizens saw how unfair it was and then decided to actually attempt an organized revolt against England. It took many years but they did succeed in their revolution. The jail no longer is functioning as a jail but it still has a lot of history and there is so much that I felt while I was touring around the grounds.
There is no place like London!!
Craziest trip while in Ireland was not actually in Ireland but rather in London, England. Jenny, Ashley, and I took a flight to London on thursday July 15. Once in London after a terrible cab ride we met up with Cait in Surbiton where she was staying. Since we got in at 1am we all just went to sleep upon reaching Cait's flat. Friday was a very busy day that started with a cruise on the Thames River. The cruise was super informative and I saw and oriented myself pretty well based off what we saw. It was interesting to see how much of London I have either heard about or known about previous to my trip, I really thought I didn't know much about London at all. Once we hopped off the cruise we went for lunch and then stood in line for the London Eye, which is a super large ferris wheel that made me nervous to be on, but had the most amazing views one can even imagine. When we got off the London Eye we met up with Cait and wandered past the House of Parliament and Big Ben towards 10 Downing St where the Prime Minister lives. They have the actual road blocked off but we did see the gates. From there we walked to the Horse Guards which was awesome because we saw the guards all dressed up and marching to protect the royal horses. Our next stop was to walk through St. James park heading towards Buckingham Palace. After seeing Buckingham Palace we found Wellington's Arch and walked through Hyde Park. At this point I was wanting to be back in the 1800s with a horse drawn carriage to ride through the park like many people used to do to see and be seen! After a brief rest in Hyde Park we continued to the adjacent park called Kensington Gardens where they have a statue of Peter Pan and they have a playground in memory of Princess Diana. After all of this in one day we went back to Surbiton and had a great meal at one of the local pubs, and got some rest for saturday.
Saturday was a bit more relaxed and we started the day by attempting to go to a street market in Notting Hill, sadly we found nothing but a very pretty street so that was slightly disappointing. But then we went to the Earl's Court tube station for Jenny to find her Police Box (a Dr. Who thing, I am told). Then for Hannah we ventured to Harrods in hopes of trying on fancy clothes but it really isn't possible to do that unless you have gobs and gobs of money so we just wandered until we got lost in there. I was then on a mission to find a specific book that somehow managed to be in the computer system (of the stores) but never actually in the store. We walked from Covent Garden down Fleet St. (thank you Sweeney Todd) to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was one of the best moments of my life sitting on the steps of St. Paul's with a tuppence and Cait singing Feed the Birds. After more fruitless book shopping Jenny, Ashley and I went to see The Lion King on the West End. The show was so unbelievably good! The British accents made Scar sound all the more menacing and Simba all the cuter! :) Everything about this day was just amazing!!!
We also had all day on Sunday since we had an early morning flight back to Dublin on monday, so....we started the day with the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The whole ceremony is really rigid and calculated and pretty long, we did have great "seats" meaning we were standing right at the front gate. The only problem was this was that the people behind us we always crushing us to get closer to the gate, I did NOT appreciate that! As soon as it was over we booked it for the Tower of London in an attempt to get away from all of the crowds. At the Tower I got a tour by one of the resident Beefeaters, and he was super funny to listen to. Since we were on a limited schedule we took the tour then went into one of the small tower things, then stood in line for the Crown Jewels. The Jewels were so so so very pretty!!! Then we went to the one prison tower where many famous people were held and graffiti-ed the walls. We then went to the British Museum with Cait to see the Elgin Marbles and many other ancient artifacts. After the British Museum we went back to Surbiton and celebrated our last day in London.
As I said earlier, this was the best trip I took in Ireland even though it was really rushed.
Saturday was a bit more relaxed and we started the day by attempting to go to a street market in Notting Hill, sadly we found nothing but a very pretty street so that was slightly disappointing. But then we went to the Earl's Court tube station for Jenny to find her Police Box (a Dr. Who thing, I am told). Then for Hannah we ventured to Harrods in hopes of trying on fancy clothes but it really isn't possible to do that unless you have gobs and gobs of money so we just wandered until we got lost in there. I was then on a mission to find a specific book that somehow managed to be in the computer system (of the stores) but never actually in the store. We walked from Covent Garden down Fleet St. (thank you Sweeney Todd) to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was one of the best moments of my life sitting on the steps of St. Paul's with a tuppence and Cait singing Feed the Birds. After more fruitless book shopping Jenny, Ashley and I went to see The Lion King on the West End. The show was so unbelievably good! The British accents made Scar sound all the more menacing and Simba all the cuter! :) Everything about this day was just amazing!!!
We also had all day on Sunday since we had an early morning flight back to Dublin on monday, so....we started the day with the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The whole ceremony is really rigid and calculated and pretty long, we did have great "seats" meaning we were standing right at the front gate. The only problem was this was that the people behind us we always crushing us to get closer to the gate, I did NOT appreciate that! As soon as it was over we booked it for the Tower of London in an attempt to get away from all of the crowds. At the Tower I got a tour by one of the resident Beefeaters, and he was super funny to listen to. Since we were on a limited schedule we took the tour then went into one of the small tower things, then stood in line for the Crown Jewels. The Jewels were so so so very pretty!!! Then we went to the one prison tower where many famous people were held and graffiti-ed the walls. We then went to the British Museum with Cait to see the Elgin Marbles and many other ancient artifacts. After the British Museum we went back to Surbiton and celebrated our last day in London.
As I said earlier, this was the best trip I took in Ireland even though it was really rushed.
Glendalough, Ireland
So July 13th held very little of importance in my trip other than picking up my amazing celtic ring that I had ordered about 2 or so weeks before. I LOVE my ring!!!!! Then we had a lovely group dinner with some Dayton alum that are living in Dublin right now and some of the brothers from St Lawrence College which is one of Dayton's sister high schools in Ireland. The brothers were very nice and told us many stories about living in Ireland and changes they had seen take place in the time they have been living there. The brother I was talking to even told me what it would take to actually teach in Ireland which is a lot of work for a non-irish citizen. But it was interesting to hear nonetheless. I had a lot of fun talking to everyone that I could but I wish we could have talked to more of the brothers and alum than we had time for.
The next day on July 14, we took an all day trip to Glendalough. Glendalough was created by St. Kevin when he came to this area to live as a hermit in a cave on the mountain. After a while more and more people came wanting to live like St. Kevin so he was forced to move out of his cave and in to the main area between the two lakes. This is how the monastery of Glendalough was created. I know I have said that many things have been beautiful on my trip but nothing more than Glendalough with the trees, lakes, and the high crosses. I was absolutely astounded. We didn't have that much time to explore since it was a specific bus tour, and I could have spent an entire day out in the woods and exploring the lakes. Oh well, next time I go to Ireland I know where I will spend at least part of my time! :)
The next day on July 14, we took an all day trip to Glendalough. Glendalough was created by St. Kevin when he came to this area to live as a hermit in a cave on the mountain. After a while more and more people came wanting to live like St. Kevin so he was forced to move out of his cave and in to the main area between the two lakes. This is how the monastery of Glendalough was created. I know I have said that many things have been beautiful on my trip but nothing more than Glendalough with the trees, lakes, and the high crosses. I was absolutely astounded. We didn't have that much time to explore since it was a specific bus tour, and I could have spent an entire day out in the woods and exploring the lakes. Oh well, next time I go to Ireland I know where I will spend at least part of my time! :)
July 12, 2010 Dublin, Ireland
Once classes were over on monday the entire group went to both Christchurch and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Both churches were absolutely beautiful and very large in size. They are both Church of Ireland churches even though they are only 2 blocks away from each other. The reason for their close proximity and being the same denomination was that in the original Medieval city of Dublin Christchurch was within the walls and St. Patrick's was outside the city walls for those citizens that didn't want to pay city taxes and therefore lived outside the protection of the city walls. Christchurch has the supposed tomb of Strongbow a famous Irish warrior that took control of Ireland from the ancient Kings but it is not thought that he is actually buried there. The heart of St. Lawrence O'Toole can also be found in this church and it is the only relic to survive the reformation. There are many other important things and graves in this church mainly because it was the main cathedral in Dublin for many years.
St. Patrick's on the other hand is just as large but it feels a bit more welcoming and there are many many beautiful stained glass windows. In many way when I was in St. Pat's I focused probably too much on viewing the stained glass than I did focusing on the rest of the church, for that reason I have less to say about it, other than I would most definitely go back to St. Pat's waaay before going to Christchurch. I feel like St. Patrick's is more of the people's church that Christchurch is.
St. Patrick's on the other hand is just as large but it feels a bit more welcoming and there are many many beautiful stained glass windows. In many way when I was in St. Pat's I focused probably too much on viewing the stained glass than I did focusing on the rest of the church, for that reason I have less to say about it, other than I would most definitely go back to St. Pat's waaay before going to Christchurch. I feel like St. Patrick's is more of the people's church that Christchurch is.
Cork, Ireland
As far as I can tell from the family history my Grandpa Murphy made for my brother and I, our Irish ancestors come from County Cork on the southwest coast of Ireland. This is one of the many reasons I wanted to go and see this area. After classes on that friday Jenny and I went to Cork via a bus, it was a long trip but very worth it because the views were amazing! When we got to Cork it was raining (which is no surprise in Ireland) so we headed to our hostel to set up camp and figure out what we wanted to do for the rest of the night. This hostel was the least private one that I have stayed in on my journey since it was a 16 person mixed room, but it didn't feel that bad and the place was pretty well kept.
On saturday we decided to venture out to Blarney Castle even though it was once again raining. If you ever get a chance to go to Blarney caste leave on the earliest bus it isn't crowded at all and there are no lines at Blarney. When you get the to site you walk towards the castle which is a simple tower castle of which there are many in Ireland. We climbed up through the castle which is missing its roof so we got absolutely soaked. Once we reached the top it was the moment of truth...would I kiss the Blarney stone? Well running through my mind is the whole dilemma, this stone is disgustingly dirty but with the rain and being the very beginning of the day is probably the cleanest it will ever be, it will give me the gift of gab which many people tell me I really don't need, and its at least 3 stories up from the ground and you have to lean back and hold on while kissing it and I am scared of heights. Needless to say I did not kiss the Blarney stone because of all three contributing factors, but mostly because I was scared of heights and it was rainy and I didn't want there to be any way possible that I would fall, because that would be most unpleasant.
After I climbed back down from the castle we didn't really feel like leaving yet since we were still soaked. So we wandered the estate in search of the Blarney house since I saw a sign saying they were giving tours of it now. When we finally made it to the house I was astounded, it was so beautiful!!! We were just in time for the first tour of the house and let me tell you I really really wish I could have taken pictures of this house! So I brought my notebook with me and took note of some of the cool things the tour guide told me. The house is owned by the Colthurst family and they still live in the house today, the leave the house for a few hours a day for the tours and then they get the house back for themselves. In their entrance hall they have a 1716 grandfather clock that shows the time, tide, and moon position. They have a pure silk rug from Pakistan (which both Jenny and I were scared to walk on because it was PURE SILK!). There was also a 1710 Queen Anne writing table, a grand piano with a rose and sandalwood inlay from 1840. Another thing I found interesting about this house is there was a giant picture of a King in the stairwell going upstairs, I don't remember the particulars but apparently one of the Colthurst men rescued the King from prison during a war so in return the King gifted the family with a big picture of himself and a large bag of gold. I personally would have left the picture and just taken the gold but it does make for a nice story. I loved touring through the house, I think it is a hidden gem inside of the Blarney estate since the main draw is of course the Blarney stone. Its so much more interesting to see how a family still lives in there family house after many generations and still has the history they are living with.
After the house Jenny and I decided to head back to Cork to dry of a bit since we were literally soaked to the bone. After spending a little time drying off in the hostel we headed out to the church that was right near our hostel called St. Ann's Church in Shandon. The fun thing about St. Ann's church is that the only time the church bells ring is when tourists go up and ring them. So we did our part climbing up a few sets of stairs to ring the bells to certain tunes, I rang the bells to Amazing Grace. Once we rang the bells we put on our special headphones and climbed right past the bells up to the top of the bell tower to get a view of Cork.
After the Shandon bells we walked just up the block to the Butter Museum, yes you read correctly there is a butter museum and I found it!! It was awesome, I learned a lot about how they make Irish butter and what makes it different than all other types of butter. It was cool to see all the old butter churns and other butter making supplies. I also learned how to hopefully make my own version of Irish butter, here is hoping it works!!!
The whole day was pretty crazy and busy but we still had one more day in Cork on Sunday but we kept sunday more chill and laid back. This was partially due to the fact that in Ireland a lot of things are closed on sundays which is cool but stinks for tourists. The weather was beautiful and we saw many old churches including the Red Abbey which is not really in existence any more. I also managed to drag Jenny to mass at Holy Trinity which was really interesting to experience. I have found that church in Ireland is more relaxed than in the US. I also noticed that there were not that many people in attendance especially younger people. Once mass was over we just wandered the city until we got to the bus stop to take another long bus back to Dublin. Overall the trip to Cork was one of my favorite short trips in Ireland!
(pictures will be coming later)
On saturday we decided to venture out to Blarney Castle even though it was once again raining. If you ever get a chance to go to Blarney caste leave on the earliest bus it isn't crowded at all and there are no lines at Blarney. When you get the to site you walk towards the castle which is a simple tower castle of which there are many in Ireland. We climbed up through the castle which is missing its roof so we got absolutely soaked. Once we reached the top it was the moment of truth...would I kiss the Blarney stone? Well running through my mind is the whole dilemma, this stone is disgustingly dirty but with the rain and being the very beginning of the day is probably the cleanest it will ever be, it will give me the gift of gab which many people tell me I really don't need, and its at least 3 stories up from the ground and you have to lean back and hold on while kissing it and I am scared of heights. Needless to say I did not kiss the Blarney stone because of all three contributing factors, but mostly because I was scared of heights and it was rainy and I didn't want there to be any way possible that I would fall, because that would be most unpleasant.
After I climbed back down from the castle we didn't really feel like leaving yet since we were still soaked. So we wandered the estate in search of the Blarney house since I saw a sign saying they were giving tours of it now. When we finally made it to the house I was astounded, it was so beautiful!!! We were just in time for the first tour of the house and let me tell you I really really wish I could have taken pictures of this house! So I brought my notebook with me and took note of some of the cool things the tour guide told me. The house is owned by the Colthurst family and they still live in the house today, the leave the house for a few hours a day for the tours and then they get the house back for themselves. In their entrance hall they have a 1716 grandfather clock that shows the time, tide, and moon position. They have a pure silk rug from Pakistan (which both Jenny and I were scared to walk on because it was PURE SILK!). There was also a 1710 Queen Anne writing table, a grand piano with a rose and sandalwood inlay from 1840. Another thing I found interesting about this house is there was a giant picture of a King in the stairwell going upstairs, I don't remember the particulars but apparently one of the Colthurst men rescued the King from prison during a war so in return the King gifted the family with a big picture of himself and a large bag of gold. I personally would have left the picture and just taken the gold but it does make for a nice story. I loved touring through the house, I think it is a hidden gem inside of the Blarney estate since the main draw is of course the Blarney stone. Its so much more interesting to see how a family still lives in there family house after many generations and still has the history they are living with.
After the house Jenny and I decided to head back to Cork to dry of a bit since we were literally soaked to the bone. After spending a little time drying off in the hostel we headed out to the church that was right near our hostel called St. Ann's Church in Shandon. The fun thing about St. Ann's church is that the only time the church bells ring is when tourists go up and ring them. So we did our part climbing up a few sets of stairs to ring the bells to certain tunes, I rang the bells to Amazing Grace. Once we rang the bells we put on our special headphones and climbed right past the bells up to the top of the bell tower to get a view of Cork.
After the Shandon bells we walked just up the block to the Butter Museum, yes you read correctly there is a butter museum and I found it!! It was awesome, I learned a lot about how they make Irish butter and what makes it different than all other types of butter. It was cool to see all the old butter churns and other butter making supplies. I also learned how to hopefully make my own version of Irish butter, here is hoping it works!!!
The whole day was pretty crazy and busy but we still had one more day in Cork on Sunday but we kept sunday more chill and laid back. This was partially due to the fact that in Ireland a lot of things are closed on sundays which is cool but stinks for tourists. The weather was beautiful and we saw many old churches including the Red Abbey which is not really in existence any more. I also managed to drag Jenny to mass at Holy Trinity which was really interesting to experience. I have found that church in Ireland is more relaxed than in the US. I also noticed that there were not that many people in attendance especially younger people. Once mass was over we just wandered the city until we got to the bus stop to take another long bus back to Dublin. Overall the trip to Cork was one of my favorite short trips in Ireland!
(pictures will be coming later)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Leinster House
On July 8, I found myself standing outside Leinster House which is where the Irish parliament is located. While I was standing there I found myself watching a few protests going on, one involved the civil union bill that was being voted on in the Seanad, and the other involved the greyhound breeding bill that was being voted on in the Dail. In case you didn't know the Seanad is the Irish version of a senate and the Dail is like the house of representatives. After a few minutes of watching some protesters former Lord Mayor of Dublin Ben Briscoe (brother to a UD professor) gave us a personal tour of Leinster House.
Leinster House was originally built for the Duke of Leinster in 1745 as his town house. It has since become the house for the two branches of Irish parliament. One interesting thing to note is that the two houses have to approve a bill that is identical before it passes to become a law. Ireland also does have a president but they are really just a figure head and can't do anything without the Dail's approval. They can't even travel to another country without approval. The president is voted for by the people and the past two presidents have been female. The president has a 7 year term, but can be replaced early if necessary. The Lord Mayor has a bit more power since he acts as the speaker of the house, but he only has a year term.
It was fascinating to see how the Irish government actually works and how different it is from American politics. Within the house there seems to be a lot more arbitrary bickering that doesn't have much meaning than I have ever heard of in the US house or senate. It was truly fun to watch the process of them voting on a bill too! Ben Briscoe also told us many stories about the 5 presidents he has had the pleasure of meeting throughout his life, which was so crazy to think about. Then on the way out of Leinster house we somehow managed to find a senator that talked to us for a good 5 or so minutes even though he was in a hurry to leave. He was sooo nice, and now I have met an Irish senator!
Here is a picture of the front of Leinster House.
Leinster House was originally built for the Duke of Leinster in 1745 as his town house. It has since become the house for the two branches of Irish parliament. One interesting thing to note is that the two houses have to approve a bill that is identical before it passes to become a law. Ireland also does have a president but they are really just a figure head and can't do anything without the Dail's approval. They can't even travel to another country without approval. The president is voted for by the people and the past two presidents have been female. The president has a 7 year term, but can be replaced early if necessary. The Lord Mayor has a bit more power since he acts as the speaker of the house, but he only has a year term.
It was fascinating to see how the Irish government actually works and how different it is from American politics. Within the house there seems to be a lot more arbitrary bickering that doesn't have much meaning than I have ever heard of in the US house or senate. It was truly fun to watch the process of them voting on a bill too! Ben Briscoe also told us many stories about the 5 presidents he has had the pleasure of meeting throughout his life, which was so crazy to think about. Then on the way out of Leinster house we somehow managed to find a senator that talked to us for a good 5 or so minutes even though he was in a hurry to leave. He was sooo nice, and now I have met an Irish senator!
Here is a picture of the front of Leinster House.
Newgrange and Boyne Valley
This picture was taken from the front of Newgrange and shows the amazing view of the Boyne valley.Way back on July 7 I went on a field trip with the whole group to Newgrange and the Boyne Valley. It was only about an hour north of Dublin so not a bad day trip at all. Newgrange is a very old Irish passage grave that was built before Stonehenge. This old passage grave was built into a hillside in the Boyne valley in such a way that the passage is lit up only on the winter solstice. The three days prior and after the solstice light may also come into the passage but only when the weather is clear. The whole site seems hidden in a hill but when you walk inside of it you are actually walking up an incline into a chamber that was built around 3200 BC. The ceiling of the chamber is made of large slabs of rock that were stacked up on top of each other long ago and have never fallen or leaked yet. At the entrance of the passage grave there is a large carved kerbstone that had some swirl-like designs that are believed to symbolize the 5 days the light will illuminate the chamber.
Above is a picture of the front of the passage grave called Newgrange.I can't even describe the feeling of being inside of Newgrange, it was amazing. We all walked into the passage grave (it is light up with lights for you to see where you are going) which was not an easy walk. There are many places that even I (who is rather short) had to duck or crouch down to make it to the center where there are 3 recesses. Once we got into here there was room to stand comfortably and look around. At this point the guide demonstrated using lights how the passage way works on the winter solstice. Needless to say the tomb without modern lights (which is how it would have been 360 days of the year) is pitch black darkness. I couldn't see my hand right in front of my face!! As the sun comes up on the solstice though a warm orange glow permeates the darkness for about 15 minutes and then the passage is back into darkness. Overall just an amazing experience.
It is hard to believe that a place I was standing in was created way back in the 3000s BC, it just defies thinking. What is also astounding is that these prehistoric people were able to create this place probably over many generations to be so precise with the solstice that it is still working in the same way today!
After we left Newgrange we went to an old 5th century monastery called Monasterboice. On the grounds of the medieval monastery there are two amazing high crosses and the ruins of a round tower. The high crosses have sculpted biblical scenes in them that are still very much visible and amazingly detailed. The round tower was used as a defensive look out and hide-away from viking attackers. One of the ways they were effectively defensive is that the door to get into it was about 5 meters off the ground and one needed a ladder to make it inside. Then to get to all of the other levels within one had to climb more ladders. Most of the tower is still in tact today except for the top of it, but it is still an amazing thing to see.
Below is a picture of the round tower.
We then moved towards the town of Drogheda which is a rather important town for many reasons but we really only had time to stop here for food and to look in the Catholic St. Peter's church. One of the coolest things about St. Peter's church in Drogheda is that there are actually two of them, one is Catholic and the other Protestant. the catholic one is the only one left indecent condition in the town but it shows the religious division in Ireland that you always hear about but don't necessarily see. In my religion class we talked about how the dual names for the rival churches actually ended up hurting both churches because the people were always confused and never really knew what was going on.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Dublin Adventures
There are many things that I have probably skipped so far in this blog since I keep getting distracted by other things here, like homework and site-seeing. Therefore for my own purposes I am just going to start from the day I moved into my UCD (University-College Dublin) room on June 30.
June 30, 2010:
Overall there wasn't a lot going on in the morning, Jenny and I took our time getting breakfast at the hotel and then we took a cab to explore our new home for the month. The flat at UCD is very nice there are only 4 of us living in a 6 person flat and it has a kitchen and living roomish area. I was so happy to see a kitchen so I can cook some meals and save some money. We did go do some laundry which is not glamorous but it needed to be done. Once all of the other students moved into their flats we all met at the bus station on campus and headed into town for a meet and greet including dinner. Though at this point I had been in the city for a week and didn't need the tour it was fun to do some small exploring with people that were new to the city! After a lovely dinner at Gallaghan's Boxty House in the Temple Bar district some people went home and others stayed out.
July 1, 2010:
This was my first day of classes here in Dublin and Father Jack wasn't able to come until the 6th so I only had my sociology class. Though the class is in its early stages I am learning a lot about the Celtic Tiger and its overall effect on the Irish culture. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, the Celtic Tiger was a ten year span in which the Irish economy was booming leaving behind many questions as to whether this boom was a good or bad thing. My soc class is about figuring that out by looking at the social change brought about in the past 50 years of Irish culture...stay tuned for more information as I learn about it!
After classes the whole group met downtown for the Hop-on-off bus tour, which is kinda cheesy but very interesting. We rode the bus through all the way to start and our driver gave us a lot of information that was interesting. Jenny and I then took another of these buses to the National Gallery of Ireland and the driver we had on this tour was fantastic...we were both amazed at the differences between the two and the information they gave to us. Since we were going along the same path we could have heard the same information but each had different things to say.
That was cool!! At the National Gallery there was so much artwork by Irish artists that I have never previously heard of. I loved seeing everything through the eyes of Irish artists instead of through the eyes of the classical Roman or Italian artists that I saw while in Italy. From the National Gallery Jenny and I went to the garden area that is right there that has the statue of Oscar Wilde in it. He is just chilling on a large boulder looking toward the house he used to live in
, it was the most bizarre sculpture of a person I have seen since he was so very much relaxed and in color. Later we took the bus tour thing towards our favorite pub in Dublin so far called the Pale. This bus driver was my favorite of all of them because of his sense of humor about everything, the drive was so funny!
July 2, 2010:
Another day of just soc class but once again I am feeling like I have learned a lot about the Celtic Tiger and its lasting effects on the culture. We also learned about the differences between the country in Ireland and the big city of Dublin. Many Irish actually feel like Dublin is not an Irish city because its too international and not Irish enough!! I have to agree with that from my own experiences but I will get into that later. Since this was friday Jenny and I had planned a trip to Galway for the weekend and needed to get to the train station.
Once we got to the train station and waited for ours out to Galway we had a chance to people watch. This is actually one of my favorite things to do in a foreign country because it becomes really easy to pick out the tourists from the locals. I almost felt like I was back in Chicago at the train station but it was a but too clean to be an American train station! Another big difference I can tell just from watching the people is that the Irish in general move at a slower pace they are not always rushing to get things done or to be in a certain place at a specific time. In Dublin of course there is more of the speed and needing to be somewhere, but as you head out into the country there is a lot less of it. The train itself to Galway was pretty uneventful other than Jenny and I trying to read a ginormous paper! We got into Galway kinda late and it was cold and rainy so we just went straight to our hostel and crashed.
July 3, 2010:
My first full day in Galway and we took a bus tour around the area to make sure we saw everything that was important in the area. There is no way we would have been able to see everything we did if we had tried on our own. The bus picked us up right at our hostel and we started out going to the Burren (the place of rocks)
which has a ton of limestone mounds or hills that have developed over many many years. The coast is along this area too which is really breathtaking to see in comparison with the rocks. The next big thing we saw was the Cliffs of Moher which believe me are AMAZING!! I thought the view from Mt. Vesuvius was cool this was 10x that! We spent a good 2 hours or so at the cliffs since there was so much to see and the scenery is something you just can't rush.
On the way to the cliffs we passed by the leprechaun head which is just a place in a rock wall that sort of looks like a face. I didn't get a good picture so I am not all that certain I can truthfully pass that off as being amazing. After the cliffs we went to Kilfenora which has an interesting little church things with lots of high crosses in the cemetery. We then saw this old castle which was called the Leamanagh Castle and had a story about a woman that married many times in order to keep control over her castle from others. The coolest thing aside from the cliffs was in the Poulnabrone Dolmen which is a cemetery thing from way long ago and they have a tomb that is a bunch of stones holding up a large capstone. It was so cool to see!!
The last main thing that we saw on our journey was the Ballyalban Earthen Ring Fort, it was spectacular to see how the inner and outer rings of earth are able to stay up and not sink. The fort is said to be a home of fairies but I don't think I actually saw any, I was looking though!!
July 4, 2010:
One of the reasons for Jenny and I to go to Galway was for her to see the castle of her Irish ancestors. So on sunday we figured out how to get out to the castle (we had help with the transportation advice from saturday's bus driver). We took a bus that was going toward the castle and the driver let us off at the road that led to it. We then had to walk about 2km until we reached the castle but it was totally worth it. The castle is in really good shape and it was really cool to see the way it would have protected itself and just how little room the people needed to
live 'comfortably'. After we spent about an hour or two at the castle we began the walk back to the road so we could either walk to the closest town or hail the bus going back to Galway. There was a golf club along the road and we ate lunch there. I was really surprised at how nice they were at the club because even though they had some sort of function they were preparing for they were more than happy to serve us lunch. After lunch we finished the walk to the roadside and waited for the bus going back to Galway. This is probably the strangest thing in my mind that I have come across, the bus just stops to pick you up on the side of the road if you hail it and it doesn't leave its main path. That would never happen in the United States, you can't just hail the city bus anywhere you please along its route, it would just blow you off, but here you can! After this adventure we had to head back to Dublin since classes would start up again on monday..it was a rather odd fourth of July since there was no fireworks, or hot dogs, or anything 'American'.
July 5, 2010:
Another day of just soc, but I once that was over I had to make sure my religion papers were completed so I stayed mostly in my room to do homework and catch up on my life, since the weekend was so crazy.
July 6, 2010:
Finally Father Jack is here so I had my first religion class here and LOVED it!! We are talking about the history of Christianity here in Ireland and for me its so interesting. I have been reading on this type of information for a few years so much of the current stuff we are learning I already know, but aside from that everything is so interesting. Another plus to this class is there are only 3 other people in my class so we all get to participate in class and there is a lot of learning..I like small classes!!
As a group we all went to the National Museum today and the most interesting thing I saw there were the bog bodies. There are quite a few bodies and other things that have been found in the bogs that the peat they were buried in actually preserved their bodies pretty much intact except for leathering their skin. It was so interesting to see the bodies of these ancient people that were sacrificed to the pagan gods. On one of them you could still see his finger prints! I feel like seeing those people really makes it hit home that they were not all that different from you and me, because when you are only looking at bones there is little that is completely recognizable and being like me, but these men looked so real! It was unbelievable.
Just to add some of my random thoughts and questions that I have come up with:
1. I agree with the many Irishmen that say Dublin is not a true Irish city, why? Well for many reasons. One, its very international and tourist based, I feel like I run into more non-Irish that I do Irish. Two, the country is more laid back and open to talking for a long time not worrying about time and Dublin is much more fast paced. Three, the country is really the Ireland many of us picture when we think of the scenery; green fields, sheep, cows, farmers, and less houses.
2. I have come across this question after reading the Irish Times for my soc class...why are the Irish papers so large? The paper when opened to read the inside of it is at least like 3 feet wide! It is impossible to read on a train unless you want to be really rude to the person sitting next to you. So what is the need of such a large paper?? I don't have an answer to this but maybe someone else does.
3. It has taken me about a week and a half to find ONE store that sells plain potato chips (or crisps as the Irish call them). Apparently the normal crisp flavors here are salt and vinegar, or cheese. Yuck!! I just don't understand that when a country loves the potato as much as Ireland does why don't they sell more plain potato crisps??
June 30, 2010:
Overall there wasn't a lot going on in the morning, Jenny and I took our time getting breakfast at the hotel and then we took a cab to explore our new home for the month. The flat at UCD is very nice there are only 4 of us living in a 6 person flat and it has a kitchen and living roomish area. I was so happy to see a kitchen so I can cook some meals and save some money. We did go do some laundry which is not glamorous but it needed to be done. Once all of the other students moved into their flats we all met at the bus station on campus and headed into town for a meet and greet including dinner. Though at this point I had been in the city for a week and didn't need the tour it was fun to do some small exploring with people that were new to the city! After a lovely dinner at Gallaghan's Boxty House in the Temple Bar district some people went home and others stayed out.
July 1, 2010:
This was my first day of classes here in Dublin and Father Jack wasn't able to come until the 6th so I only had my sociology class. Though the class is in its early stages I am learning a lot about the Celtic Tiger and its overall effect on the Irish culture. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, the Celtic Tiger was a ten year span in which the Irish economy was booming leaving behind many questions as to whether this boom was a good or bad thing. My soc class is about figuring that out by looking at the social change brought about in the past 50 years of Irish culture...stay tuned for more information as I learn about it!
After classes the whole group met downtown for the Hop-on-off bus tour, which is kinda cheesy but very interesting. We rode the bus through all the way to start and our driver gave us a lot of information that was interesting. Jenny and I then took another of these buses to the National Gallery of Ireland and the driver we had on this tour was fantastic...we were both amazed at the differences between the two and the information they gave to us. Since we were going along the same path we could have heard the same information but each had different things to say.
That was cool!! At the National Gallery there was so much artwork by Irish artists that I have never previously heard of. I loved seeing everything through the eyes of Irish artists instead of through the eyes of the classical Roman or Italian artists that I saw while in Italy. From the National Gallery Jenny and I went to the garden area that is right there that has the statue of Oscar Wilde in it. He is just chilling on a large boulder looking toward the house he used to live in
, it was the most bizarre sculpture of a person I have seen since he was so very much relaxed and in color. Later we took the bus tour thing towards our favorite pub in Dublin so far called the Pale. This bus driver was my favorite of all of them because of his sense of humor about everything, the drive was so funny!July 2, 2010:
Another day of just soc class but once again I am feeling like I have learned a lot about the Celtic Tiger and its lasting effects on the culture. We also learned about the differences between the country in Ireland and the big city of Dublin. Many Irish actually feel like Dublin is not an Irish city because its too international and not Irish enough!! I have to agree with that from my own experiences but I will get into that later. Since this was friday Jenny and I had planned a trip to Galway for the weekend and needed to get to the train station.
Once we got to the train station and waited for ours out to Galway we had a chance to people watch. This is actually one of my favorite things to do in a foreign country because it becomes really easy to pick out the tourists from the locals. I almost felt like I was back in Chicago at the train station but it was a but too clean to be an American train station! Another big difference I can tell just from watching the people is that the Irish in general move at a slower pace they are not always rushing to get things done or to be in a certain place at a specific time. In Dublin of course there is more of the speed and needing to be somewhere, but as you head out into the country there is a lot less of it. The train itself to Galway was pretty uneventful other than Jenny and I trying to read a ginormous paper! We got into Galway kinda late and it was cold and rainy so we just went straight to our hostel and crashed.
July 3, 2010:
My first full day in Galway and we took a bus tour around the area to make sure we saw everything that was important in the area. There is no way we would have been able to see everything we did if we had tried on our own. The bus picked us up right at our hostel and we started out going to the Burren (the place of rocks)
which has a ton of limestone mounds or hills that have developed over many many years. The coast is along this area too which is really breathtaking to see in comparison with the rocks. The next big thing we saw was the Cliffs of Moher which believe me are AMAZING!! I thought the view from Mt. Vesuvius was cool this was 10x that! We spent a good 2 hours or so at the cliffs since there was so much to see and the scenery is something you just can't rush.
On the way to the cliffs we passed by the leprechaun head which is just a place in a rock wall that sort of looks like a face. I didn't get a good picture so I am not all that certain I can truthfully pass that off as being amazing. After the cliffs we went to Kilfenora which has an interesting little church things with lots of high crosses in the cemetery. We then saw this old castle which was called the Leamanagh Castle and had a story about a woman that married many times in order to keep control over her castle from others. The coolest thing aside from the cliffs was in the Poulnabrone Dolmen which is a cemetery thing from way long ago and they have a tomb that is a bunch of stones holding up a large capstone. It was so cool to see!!
The last main thing that we saw on our journey was the Ballyalban Earthen Ring Fort, it was spectacular to see how the inner and outer rings of earth are able to stay up and not sink. The fort is said to be a home of fairies but I don't think I actually saw any, I was looking though!!July 4, 2010:
One of the reasons for Jenny and I to go to Galway was for her to see the castle of her Irish ancestors. So on sunday we figured out how to get out to the castle (we had help with the transportation advice from saturday's bus driver). We took a bus that was going toward the castle and the driver let us off at the road that led to it. We then had to walk about 2km until we reached the castle but it was totally worth it. The castle is in really good shape and it was really cool to see the way it would have protected itself and just how little room the people needed to
live 'comfortably'. After we spent about an hour or two at the castle we began the walk back to the road so we could either walk to the closest town or hail the bus going back to Galway. There was a golf club along the road and we ate lunch there. I was really surprised at how nice they were at the club because even though they had some sort of function they were preparing for they were more than happy to serve us lunch. After lunch we finished the walk to the roadside and waited for the bus going back to Galway. This is probably the strangest thing in my mind that I have come across, the bus just stops to pick you up on the side of the road if you hail it and it doesn't leave its main path. That would never happen in the United States, you can't just hail the city bus anywhere you please along its route, it would just blow you off, but here you can! After this adventure we had to head back to Dublin since classes would start up again on monday..it was a rather odd fourth of July since there was no fireworks, or hot dogs, or anything 'American'.July 5, 2010:
Another day of just soc, but I once that was over I had to make sure my religion papers were completed so I stayed mostly in my room to do homework and catch up on my life, since the weekend was so crazy.
July 6, 2010:
Finally Father Jack is here so I had my first religion class here and LOVED it!! We are talking about the history of Christianity here in Ireland and for me its so interesting. I have been reading on this type of information for a few years so much of the current stuff we are learning I already know, but aside from that everything is so interesting. Another plus to this class is there are only 3 other people in my class so we all get to participate in class and there is a lot of learning..I like small classes!!
As a group we all went to the National Museum today and the most interesting thing I saw there were the bog bodies. There are quite a few bodies and other things that have been found in the bogs that the peat they were buried in actually preserved their bodies pretty much intact except for leathering their skin. It was so interesting to see the bodies of these ancient people that were sacrificed to the pagan gods. On one of them you could still see his finger prints! I feel like seeing those people really makes it hit home that they were not all that different from you and me, because when you are only looking at bones there is little that is completely recognizable and being like me, but these men looked so real! It was unbelievable.
Just to add some of my random thoughts and questions that I have come up with:
1. I agree with the many Irishmen that say Dublin is not a true Irish city, why? Well for many reasons. One, its very international and tourist based, I feel like I run into more non-Irish that I do Irish. Two, the country is more laid back and open to talking for a long time not worrying about time and Dublin is much more fast paced. Three, the country is really the Ireland many of us picture when we think of the scenery; green fields, sheep, cows, farmers, and less houses.
2. I have come across this question after reading the Irish Times for my soc class...why are the Irish papers so large? The paper when opened to read the inside of it is at least like 3 feet wide! It is impossible to read on a train unless you want to be really rude to the person sitting next to you. So what is the need of such a large paper?? I don't have an answer to this but maybe someone else does.
3. It has taken me about a week and a half to find ONE store that sells plain potato chips (or crisps as the Irish call them). Apparently the normal crisp flavors here are salt and vinegar, or cheese. Yuck!! I just don't understand that when a country loves the potato as much as Ireland does why don't they sell more plain potato crisps??
Monday, June 28, 2010
Pictures from the past few days!
So I have finally gotten around to getting some pictures up for you guys to see. I have not yet put my Munich pictures up so all of these were taken in Ireland. First there is a picture of me shown below on an awesome couch in the lobby of our hotel. I really wish I could have one at home!!
Next is a lovely picture of Momma dearest sitting on another piece of furniture found in the lobby of our Irish hotel. I think she looks rather good in the chair!! ;)
This next picture is of my great family (sadly minus Ryan, but he has already been here and has to be a grownup and actually work) after a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It was a great place to tour and I had a lot of fun. I actually knew a lot of the information they gave us on the brewing of beer (thank you Ryan and Dad) but there was a lot to learn and see!
Next I have a picture of the corner of Dublin Castle (the tower) and the royal chapel (to the right). This was a very cool place to see the tower is from the medieval castle and is the only one remaining from the original.
This is a view of St. Patrick's cathedral which I have not gone in, but my parents did and they said it was beautiful! I am so excited to see it soon. I just thought the outside was really pretty.
That is all for now but once I put my Munich pictures on my computer they shall make an appearance also.
Next is a lovely picture of Momma dearest sitting on another piece of furniture found in the lobby of our Irish hotel. I think she looks rather good in the chair!! ;)
This next picture is of my great family (sadly minus Ryan, but he has already been here and has to be a grownup and actually work) after a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It was a great place to tour and I had a lot of fun. I actually knew a lot of the information they gave us on the brewing of beer (thank you Ryan and Dad) but there was a lot to learn and see!
Next I have a picture of the corner of Dublin Castle (the tower) and the royal chapel (to the right). This was a very cool place to see the tower is from the medieval castle and is the only one remaining from the original.
This is a view of St. Patrick's cathedral which I have not gone in, but my parents did and they said it was beautiful! I am so excited to see it soon. I just thought the outside was really pretty.
That is all for now but once I put my Munich pictures on my computer they shall make an appearance also.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
June 20-26, 2010 abbreviated version (more later)
Well I am currently sitting in a pub watching the world cup so all is well with me. I have had a busy few days between flying to Munich to see my parents and visit some cool sites, to then flying to Dublin. Life has been good we have had great food in great places with awesome people. My parents fly home tomorrow so wish them safe travels! Also hopefully I will not be homesick once they leave since I am in such a beautiful place. While in Germany I went to a lot of different churches, the Houfbrau house (i know i spelled that wrong), climbed the tower of Fauenkirche, went to an art museum, and had lots of yummy Bavarian food!! :) Then I came here to Ireland and so far we have gone to Graften street (think shopping), went to a new pub everyday, Guinness storehouse, Dublinia, Dublin Castle, Jameson distillery, O'Connell street, Leo Burdock's, the book of Kells, and many churches. I have had a blast so far and the cuisine is so different than Italian that I am kinda confused but it is so good I am not complaining. I do have classes starting on thursday and I get to move into my housing on wednesday!! YAY for being in Ireland, more will be forthcoming later along with pictures.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
June 10-19, 2010 Italy Adventures
Ciao!!!
Well I have a lot to talk about and I have been so busy I can't even begin to express how crazy life has been here. This is going to be a long post with pictures included (hopefully) so please just stick with it and you will be rewarded with amazingness!!
Thursday June 10:
After my classes I did some shopping and then took a bus to Sorrento with 7 other girls from my trip. It was about an 8 hour bus ride and we got into Sorrento at about 3am. Since I had to be up early on friday I went immediately to bed so not a whole lot to talk about today.
Friday June 11:
I took a ferry with the group to the island of Capri. Once we got to the island we took a boat tour around the island and saw such pretty views. A few minutes into the tour we stopped at a place along the coast called the blue grotto. It was so awesome, we got into groups of 4, laid down flat into a row boat, the guy got us to the opening of the grotto grabbed a chain and yanked us through into it. Inside the grotto the water is like glowing blue, it was so cool and some of the guys starting singing in Italian! It was an unbelievable experience. Here is a picture of the amazing water!
So after we got back into the big boat we continued on our tour of the island and saw the emerald grotto and this famous rock formation below that has a specific name that is escaping me at the moment. The tour of the island was amazing and I have so many more pictures from it.
We did have some free time once we got off the boat tour, so I took a tram thing up to the city center of Capri. I got a lemon grenita which is like a lemon slushie made with fresh lemons. Oh and Capri (along with all of the Amalfi coast area) is famous for their lemons. With grenitas in hand we walked down a huge slope of the mountains to get to the beach to do some swimming and have some food. Below is a picture part way down to the beach, the ramp thing is what I was walking down and the white blobs in the water are boats to give an idea of how much walking I did.
Once we were down at the beach we got food, which was super yummy and had a great view. Then we all went to the beach which wasn't a sand beach but rather a smooth stone beach. The water was a little cold but it was so clear and blue and refreshing it was totally worth being cold for a bit. In the late afternoon we all took a bus back to the city center and went to a Lemonchello tasting, and then took a ferry back to Sorrento.
Saturday June 12:
On saturday I took a bus to Positano which is one of my favorite places I have gone to so far on my trip. As soon as we got there we had to walk down 800 stairs to get to the beach but once again it was totally worth the long walk. The beach in Positano is actually a black sand beach, but it turns into a rocky beach when you reach the water. The biggest problem I found with the black sand was the whole it being black means it is like 10 times hotter than regular sand. It literally burned my feet when I stood on it before going in the water. Below is a picture of the black sand beach.
We spent a lot of time in Positano at the beach and the 10 of us (we found the 2 guys that came down on their own from our group) rented a boat to go out around the area. After we all got on our private boat we went to this slightly secluded beach and the captain (who spoke very very little english) motions for us to jump out of the boat and go swimming and cliff jumping if we wanted to. So we went swimming and I jumped off the 10ft cliff into the water twice. I was terrified before doing it but it was so fun!!! After that we climbed back on the boat and then he moved around a bit to a cave and once again told us to jump out and go swimming through the cave. The water by the cave was so cold and the current was pretty strong but we all swam through the cave and then met him in the boat on the other side of it. Once the boat ride thing was done we had a little bit of time left and we got some grenitas to pass the time before heading back to the hotel in Sorrento. Once back in Sorrento we had dinner at the hotel and then went to a bar called the English Inn to watch the England vs. USA world cup game!!
Sunday June 13:
We checked out of the hotel pretty early and then took a bus to Pompeii. If you don't know the story of Pompeii, I will give you the most basic run down of it. Pompeii was a very rich roman port town in Southern Italy area in the ancient times and then suddenly without warning Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the entire town in ash and lava. The eruption killed everyone in the city because even if the lava and ash were survivable the toxic gas that came out wiped out anyone that was left. The picture below is a picture of what used to be the main forum in the town with a picture of Mount Vesuvius in the background. We only had about an hour and a half in the actual city of Pompeii which was not enough time to see everything. Oh well, that just means I need to go back. :)
After Pompeii we all got back into the buses that took us to Mt. Vesuvius to climb up the volcano. It was an interesting experience climbing up the volcano because its really steep and rocky, which for me does not seem to make sense with it being a volcano, but it was cool anyhow. The picture below is a view partially up the volcano, the post is the guard preventing someone from falling. The view from the volcano were amazing!!
This last picture is a group picture of all of us that climbed the volcano. It was our victory picture!! After Mt. Vesuvius we started the 8 hour trip back the Florence, all in all it was an amazing weekend!
Monday June 14:
Not a whole lot happened today other than classes and then a few things in the afternoon. I went to the Palazzo Vecchio and saw some pretty cool frescoes that are in there. After that I wandered around for a bit and Sarah and I tried to find a place to watch the Italy vs. Paraguay world cup game outside. Finally we found a piazza that had three screens up, so we watched with probably about 300 Italians. Such a great experience!
Tuesday June 15:
My last day of classes and day one of finals. I had my history final which I think went well so that was good and then a large group of us went to the market for some last minute shopping before we all head home. After shopping I went back and studied for my poly sci final which was on wednesday. Not a whole lot else happened, though I did go to a fabulous place for dinner!
Wednesday June 16:
I am officially on my *spring* break in the summer since I finished my poly sci exam. Since this is one of our last days together we had a large group of us go to dinner at a really nice family restaurant. If I am ever back in Florence I am so going there!!!! Everyone in the group ended up going out since it was almost the end of the trip and there is nothing on thursday that we had to do.
Thursday June 17:
I still didn't do a whole lot today in terms of sightseeing since I did a lot of that early on in my trip. I was doing laundry (which in and of itself is not fun) but when we were there it started pouring down rain and then the quarter size hail started!!! HAIL, in Italy!! I was so confused! Since tonight was the last night with the whole group we had a really big dinner at the hotel that was amazing, and we celebrated with the professors.
Friday June 18:
Everyone pretty much left today to go back to the states which was really sad, especially because Jenny was supposed to get here today but her flight was canceled so no Jenny today. I wandered around the city by myself and just kinda said goodbye to the city that I have come to love over the past month or so.
Saturday June 19:
I woke up really early today to meet Jenny at the train station at 7:13am this morning since that is when her train was supposed to get in. Sadly the train was like 70 minutes delayed so I just people watched for a while in the train station. It is raining today and Jenny isn't feeling the greatest so we are just chilling in the hotel trying to let her rest before we go to Munich tomorrow. Since Jenny has already been to Florence we are both ok with not doing a lot today. Tomorrow will be an adventure because we are going to Germany, yet another country that I don't speak the language!! :)
Well I have a lot to talk about and I have been so busy I can't even begin to express how crazy life has been here. This is going to be a long post with pictures included (hopefully) so please just stick with it and you will be rewarded with amazingness!!
Thursday June 10:
After my classes I did some shopping and then took a bus to Sorrento with 7 other girls from my trip. It was about an 8 hour bus ride and we got into Sorrento at about 3am. Since I had to be up early on friday I went immediately to bed so not a whole lot to talk about today.
Friday June 11:
I took a ferry with the group to the island of Capri. Once we got to the island we took a boat tour around the island and saw such pretty views. A few minutes into the tour we stopped at a place along the coast called the blue grotto. It was so awesome, we got into groups of 4, laid down flat into a row boat, the guy got us to the opening of the grotto grabbed a chain and yanked us through into it. Inside the grotto the water is like glowing blue, it was so cool and some of the guys starting singing in Italian! It was an unbelievable experience. Here is a picture of the amazing water!
So after we got back into the big boat we continued on our tour of the island and saw the emerald grotto and this famous rock formation below that has a specific name that is escaping me at the moment. The tour of the island was amazing and I have so many more pictures from it.
We did have some free time once we got off the boat tour, so I took a tram thing up to the city center of Capri. I got a lemon grenita which is like a lemon slushie made with fresh lemons. Oh and Capri (along with all of the Amalfi coast area) is famous for their lemons. With grenitas in hand we walked down a huge slope of the mountains to get to the beach to do some swimming and have some food. Below is a picture part way down to the beach, the ramp thing is what I was walking down and the white blobs in the water are boats to give an idea of how much walking I did.
Once we were down at the beach we got food, which was super yummy and had a great view. Then we all went to the beach which wasn't a sand beach but rather a smooth stone beach. The water was a little cold but it was so clear and blue and refreshing it was totally worth being cold for a bit. In the late afternoon we all took a bus back to the city center and went to a Lemonchello tasting, and then took a ferry back to Sorrento.Saturday June 12:
On saturday I took a bus to Positano which is one of my favorite places I have gone to so far on my trip. As soon as we got there we had to walk down 800 stairs to get to the beach but once again it was totally worth the long walk. The beach in Positano is actually a black sand beach, but it turns into a rocky beach when you reach the water. The biggest problem I found with the black sand was the whole it being black means it is like 10 times hotter than regular sand. It literally burned my feet when I stood on it before going in the water. Below is a picture of the black sand beach.
We spent a lot of time in Positano at the beach and the 10 of us (we found the 2 guys that came down on their own from our group) rented a boat to go out around the area. After we all got on our private boat we went to this slightly secluded beach and the captain (who spoke very very little english) motions for us to jump out of the boat and go swimming and cliff jumping if we wanted to. So we went swimming and I jumped off the 10ft cliff into the water twice. I was terrified before doing it but it was so fun!!! After that we climbed back on the boat and then he moved around a bit to a cave and once again told us to jump out and go swimming through the cave. The water by the cave was so cold and the current was pretty strong but we all swam through the cave and then met him in the boat on the other side of it. Once the boat ride thing was done we had a little bit of time left and we got some grenitas to pass the time before heading back to the hotel in Sorrento. Once back in Sorrento we had dinner at the hotel and then went to a bar called the English Inn to watch the England vs. USA world cup game!!Sunday June 13:
We checked out of the hotel pretty early and then took a bus to Pompeii. If you don't know the story of Pompeii, I will give you the most basic run down of it. Pompeii was a very rich roman port town in Southern Italy area in the ancient times and then suddenly without warning Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the entire town in ash and lava. The eruption killed everyone in the city because even if the lava and ash were survivable the toxic gas that came out wiped out anyone that was left. The picture below is a picture of what used to be the main forum in the town with a picture of Mount Vesuvius in the background. We only had about an hour and a half in the actual city of Pompeii which was not enough time to see everything. Oh well, that just means I need to go back. :)
After Pompeii we all got back into the buses that took us to Mt. Vesuvius to climb up the volcano. It was an interesting experience climbing up the volcano because its really steep and rocky, which for me does not seem to make sense with it being a volcano, but it was cool anyhow. The picture below is a view partially up the volcano, the post is the guard preventing someone from falling. The view from the volcano were amazing!!
This last picture is a group picture of all of us that climbed the volcano. It was our victory picture!! After Mt. Vesuvius we started the 8 hour trip back the Florence, all in all it was an amazing weekend!
Monday June 14:
Not a whole lot happened today other than classes and then a few things in the afternoon. I went to the Palazzo Vecchio and saw some pretty cool frescoes that are in there. After that I wandered around for a bit and Sarah and I tried to find a place to watch the Italy vs. Paraguay world cup game outside. Finally we found a piazza that had three screens up, so we watched with probably about 300 Italians. Such a great experience!
Tuesday June 15:
My last day of classes and day one of finals. I had my history final which I think went well so that was good and then a large group of us went to the market for some last minute shopping before we all head home. After shopping I went back and studied for my poly sci final which was on wednesday. Not a whole lot else happened, though I did go to a fabulous place for dinner!
Wednesday June 16:
I am officially on my *spring* break in the summer since I finished my poly sci exam. Since this is one of our last days together we had a large group of us go to dinner at a really nice family restaurant. If I am ever back in Florence I am so going there!!!! Everyone in the group ended up going out since it was almost the end of the trip and there is nothing on thursday that we had to do.
Thursday June 17:
I still didn't do a whole lot today in terms of sightseeing since I did a lot of that early on in my trip. I was doing laundry (which in and of itself is not fun) but when we were there it started pouring down rain and then the quarter size hail started!!! HAIL, in Italy!! I was so confused! Since tonight was the last night with the whole group we had a really big dinner at the hotel that was amazing, and we celebrated with the professors.
Friday June 18:
Everyone pretty much left today to go back to the states which was really sad, especially because Jenny was supposed to get here today but her flight was canceled so no Jenny today. I wandered around the city by myself and just kinda said goodbye to the city that I have come to love over the past month or so.
Saturday June 19:
I woke up really early today to meet Jenny at the train station at 7:13am this morning since that is when her train was supposed to get in. Sadly the train was like 70 minutes delayed so I just people watched for a while in the train station. It is raining today and Jenny isn't feeling the greatest so we are just chilling in the hotel trying to let her rest before we go to Munich tomorrow. Since Jenny has already been to Florence we are both ok with not doing a lot today. Tomorrow will be an adventure because we are going to Germany, yet another country that I don't speak the language!! :)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
June 6-9, 2010 Italy!
Ciao!!
As you can probably guess from me not updating the blog, I have been pretty busy lately. A few days ago I went to the Baptistry by the duomo. The picture below is one part of the mosaic on the ceiling, it is so beautiful the picture does not do it justice.
Another of the places I went to recently was the Pitti Palace and the Bobli gardens. The Pitti Palace used to be a palace that the Medici family stayed in, and some other political figures when they were in power. It has now been turned into a museum. My favorite part was the costume museum, they had a bunch of dresses and suits from a range of time periods spanning from the 1400s all the way to the 1990s. It was so cool, and I saw a dress that I really really wished I could have taken a picture of. Oh well, after I wandered through this massive museum they have a really large 'garden' behind it. The garden is huge but its really just a bunch of trees and shrubs that they arranged to look decently pretty. I was not a big fan of it. But they had a great view from the top of the garden. The picture below is of a section of the old wall of the city and a view of the countryside.
Another trip I took was up Michelangelo's piazza up on the south side of the Arno river. I have already been up there for really nice pictures but this time it was around sunset so the pictures are so amazing in my opinion. The first one below is a view of the city in general from the piazza. The second one is a close up of the ponte vecchio and some of the other bridges crossing the Arno.
On monday I went to Pisa and Lucca, mainly to see the leaning tower but also just to get out from Florence. The leaning tower was quite amusing, I was actually surprised by how much it is actually leaning! Lucca is a small town version of Florence and it was really nice, I recommend visiting there if you ever go to Pisa, its quiet but very picturesque.
There is so much else I have been doing, but it is really hot right now here and there is no AC and I can't open windows because of mosquitoes, so I have to stop writing before my lap overheats from the computer. Tomorrow I am leaving for the Amalfi coast so for sure I won't have any more posts until probably monday afternoon.
As you can probably guess from me not updating the blog, I have been pretty busy lately. A few days ago I went to the Baptistry by the duomo. The picture below is one part of the mosaic on the ceiling, it is so beautiful the picture does not do it justice.
Another of the places I went to recently was the Pitti Palace and the Bobli gardens. The Pitti Palace used to be a palace that the Medici family stayed in, and some other political figures when they were in power. It has now been turned into a museum. My favorite part was the costume museum, they had a bunch of dresses and suits from a range of time periods spanning from the 1400s all the way to the 1990s. It was so cool, and I saw a dress that I really really wished I could have taken a picture of. Oh well, after I wandered through this massive museum they have a really large 'garden' behind it. The garden is huge but its really just a bunch of trees and shrubs that they arranged to look decently pretty. I was not a big fan of it. But they had a great view from the top of the garden. The picture below is of a section of the old wall of the city and a view of the countryside.
Another trip I took was up Michelangelo's piazza up on the south side of the Arno river. I have already been up there for really nice pictures but this time it was around sunset so the pictures are so amazing in my opinion. The first one below is a view of the city in general from the piazza. The second one is a close up of the ponte vecchio and some of the other bridges crossing the Arno.
On monday I went to Pisa and Lucca, mainly to see the leaning tower but also just to get out from Florence. The leaning tower was quite amusing, I was actually surprised by how much it is actually leaning! Lucca is a small town version of Florence and it was really nice, I recommend visiting there if you ever go to Pisa, its quiet but very picturesque.
There is so much else I have been doing, but it is really hot right now here and there is no AC and I can't open windows because of mosquitoes, so I have to stop writing before my lap overheats from the computer. Tomorrow I am leaving for the Amalfi coast so for sure I won't have any more posts until probably monday afternoon.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
June 3-5, 2010 Florence, Italy
I seem to be getting worse at keeping people updating on what I am doing while here in Italy. So I guess I need to be a little better about scheduling my time! Anyway, June 3rd was thursday I believe and I had classes in the morning while it was raining and then I was going to go to Pisa and Lucca but because of the rain I staying in town. I did end up going down to Santa Croce which is a really cool church down by the Arno river that has many famous people buried there like Michelangelo for example. I spent a good deal of time there and then came back to the hotel only to leave again in a few hours to meet with some of the other students from our group and one of our professors Dr. Carter at the Duomo steps. We all went out for dinner at this place by San Lorenzo, it wasn't one of my best dining experiences here, but the company was good! :)
After dinner we all went back to the Duomo to go to mass (in Italian) and following mass there was a Eucharist prossession(?) around the Duomo and through the streets to San Lorenzo. Once the mass of people got to San Lorenzo there was a benediction and prayer. The whole experience though not the easiest to understand (it being all in Italian) was really cool! I didn't take pictures of it but Dr. Carter did and he said he would share them later. That was pretty much my thursady.Friday June 4th was another adventure, three of us took a bus to Sienna for the day and the bus ride was really short and very pretty! We got to Sienna around 11am and went to San Domenico and looked around inside the church (no pictures).
The church was very large but simply beautiful, the head of St. Catherine of Sienna is in the church. After that we walked down some really steep roads to get to St. Catherine's house and sanctuary, which had some amazing decorations! We then walked up a very steep road (that seems to be all Sienna roads...steep!) to get to the Piazza del Campo, it's the main square. There was a lot of people around there and a lot of restaurants so we stopped for some food. Once again didn't care that much for the service at the restaurant and some of my food was waaay to salty but otherwise a decent meal.
After lunch we walked to the Palazzo Pubblico which is just off of the Piazza, this place is the old town hall building in Sienna. There are some very lovely decorations inside including Lorenzetti's Allegories of Good and Bad Government. The bad government one was in really bad shape but the good government one looked really nice! They won't let you take pictures there either, sad. :( After the Palazzo we headed up some streets to get to the Duomo of Sienna. That church is probably one of my favorites so far this trip (and I have gone to a LOT of churches!) there were inlaid marble floors, marble busts of all the popes, a fabulous pulpit done by someone that I have studied before, and a lot of other pretty things. The pictures below are from the Duomo.
After the Duomo we were getting kinda tired and we had gone to all the major things in Sienna and the steep roads were not worth just wandering aimlessly so we went back to the bus station to go back to Florence.
It took us a while to figure out where we bought our bus tickets but we got our tickets and found our bus (which was a double decker!!). A few minutes after we got on our bus we left Sienna but didn't get very far before the bus just pulled over to the side of the road and people started getting off (to clarify this was supposed to be a direct Sienna to Florence bus with no stops) so we were highly confused. Finally we just followed the crowd and were moved to another smaller bus across the road. We still have no idea what is going on and we are not all fitting on this bus because there are less seats, and I am one of the people without a seat. Finally someone on that bus that spoke English told me that there was another bus behind the one I was on that was also going to Florence and that the air had stopped working on the original bus which was why they had us jump ship. So at this point I go to the other bus which was really nice because there were like only 7 other people on the bus with me and a lot of them were American. But the bus finally did make it to Florence in only a few minutes longer than it was originally supposed to take!
I didn't do a whole lot else yesterday because my feet hurt so much, they are the main thing that is slowing me down. Today I was originally planning on going to Venice with a few people but with my feet hurting and the cost of just getting to Venice I decided to stay in Florence and relax and do some homework today. I think I made the right decision. It would have been nice to see Venice but I just don't think it would be worth it in the long run. I am still planning on going to Pisa and Lucca tomorrow afternoon though! Ciao!!
After dinner we all went back to the Duomo to go to mass (in Italian) and following mass there was a Eucharist prossession(?) around the Duomo and through the streets to San Lorenzo. Once the mass of people got to San Lorenzo there was a benediction and prayer. The whole experience though not the easiest to understand (it being all in Italian) was really cool! I didn't take pictures of it but Dr. Carter did and he said he would share them later. That was pretty much my thursady.Friday June 4th was another adventure, three of us took a bus to Sienna for the day and the bus ride was really short and very pretty! We got to Sienna around 11am and went to San Domenico and looked around inside the church (no pictures).
The church was very large but simply beautiful, the head of St. Catherine of Sienna is in the church. After that we walked down some really steep roads to get to St. Catherine's house and sanctuary, which had some amazing decorations! We then walked up a very steep road (that seems to be all Sienna roads...steep!) to get to the Piazza del Campo, it's the main square. There was a lot of people around there and a lot of restaurants so we stopped for some food. Once again didn't care that much for the service at the restaurant and some of my food was waaay to salty but otherwise a decent meal.After lunch we walked to the Palazzo Pubblico which is just off of the Piazza, this place is the old town hall building in Sienna. There are some very lovely decorations inside including Lorenzetti's Allegories of Good and Bad Government. The bad government one was in really bad shape but the good government one looked really nice! They won't let you take pictures there either, sad. :( After the Palazzo we headed up some streets to get to the Duomo of Sienna. That church is probably one of my favorites so far this trip (and I have gone to a LOT of churches!) there were inlaid marble floors, marble busts of all the popes, a fabulous pulpit done by someone that I have studied before, and a lot of other pretty things. The pictures below are from the Duomo.
After the Duomo we were getting kinda tired and we had gone to all the major things in Sienna and the steep roads were not worth just wandering aimlessly so we went back to the bus station to go back to Florence.It took us a while to figure out where we bought our bus tickets but we got our tickets and found our bus (which was a double decker!!). A few minutes after we got on our bus we left Sienna but didn't get very far before the bus just pulled over to the side of the road and people started getting off (to clarify this was supposed to be a direct Sienna to Florence bus with no stops) so we were highly confused. Finally we just followed the crowd and were moved to another smaller bus across the road. We still have no idea what is going on and we are not all fitting on this bus because there are less seats, and I am one of the people without a seat. Finally someone on that bus that spoke English told me that there was another bus behind the one I was on that was also going to Florence and that the air had stopped working on the original bus which was why they had us jump ship. So at this point I go to the other bus which was really nice because there were like only 7 other people on the bus with me and a lot of them were American. But the bus finally did make it to Florence in only a few minutes longer than it was originally supposed to take!
I didn't do a whole lot else yesterday because my feet hurt so much, they are the main thing that is slowing me down. Today I was originally planning on going to Venice with a few people but with my feet hurting and the cost of just getting to Venice I decided to stay in Florence and relax and do some homework today. I think I made the right decision. It would have been nice to see Venice but I just don't think it would be worth it in the long run. I am still planning on going to Pisa and Lucca tomorrow afternoon though! Ciao!!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010 Florence, Italy
There is not a lot to say for today since when I woke up it was raining and my first class was canceled. There was a national holiday today in Italy (I think some sort of independence day-like thing) so everything was closed including the school. That however did not stop my one midterm from occurring, so I had to study for that. After a delicious lunch I took my midterm and I think it went well, then I went on an adventure to find a laundromat to clean my clothes since I had just about ran out. I was successful and then I had a yummy dinner. All around a great way to unwind from a super busy weekend!! Sorry it wasn't very interesting!!
May 31- June 1, 2010 Rome, Italy
I believe I left off talking about my winery tour, but if I am wrong let me know and I will back up a few days. So starting very early on monday morning I got up to take a three hour bus ride to Rome with the class. The bus was very nice, but I slept most of the ride since I was up at 5am, which normally would be fine but with everything I have been doing was sooo not cool. When we checked into the very nice 3 star hotel in Rome the whole group gathered downstairs in the lobby to go on a short tour of Rome for the day. We ended up leaving for the first church of the day at around 10am I believe. The first main site I saw was St. Peter's and Vatican City which was amazing! It's so weird because it is fenced off since it is its own city-state, but its in the middle of Rome.
While in the area of the Vatican we stopped at the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine chapel and the Raphael rooms that were there. The picture below is in the Raphael rooms and is called 'School of Athens.'
There were a few other sites that we saw throughout the day but mostly we saw the Vatican. The last main site we saw was Trevi fountain which was cool but very crowded, I think the picture below was the best I could do at the time. :)
That night when I went to dinner I ended up going with the professors by myself because some of the other girls where going to go with me but they decided to chicken out and I was ok with going. The upside I have found of eating with the professors is they pay for the wine and water which is really nice. I had a very good dinner that was not very far at all from the hotel in Rome!
The next morning was our last day in Rome and we had a lot planned originally for it, so after a really yummy breakfast at the hotel we all headed out to our first site. We went to the Pantheon first and I got some really good pictures there! Two of those are below.
So then we went to a few sets of Roman ruins including the Forum which was the main political center of ancient Rome. I took some pictures but we didn't go down inside it because it cost money and we had other things to go see.
The last place we went to as a group was the Collasium(?) which was cool but once again I didn't go inside it because it cost money and was really crowded. The professors then decided to give us the rest of the day off until dinner at 6pm (it was noonish) so we could do what we wanted.
Me being the church nerd that I am went around the rest of the day with Dr. carter and two other students to a total of 15 churches. I ended up seeing the burial places of 6 apostles, the pillars from the scourging of Christ, the steps from Pontius Pilate's palace that Christ walked on, Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa (below), and many more fun things!
I will fill everyone in on the many churches when I get home there is too much to say now and I still have to do some readings for class tomorrow! Ciao!!
While in the area of the Vatican we stopped at the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine chapel and the Raphael rooms that were there. The picture below is in the Raphael rooms and is called 'School of Athens.'
There were a few other sites that we saw throughout the day but mostly we saw the Vatican. The last main site we saw was Trevi fountain which was cool but very crowded, I think the picture below was the best I could do at the time. :)
That night when I went to dinner I ended up going with the professors by myself because some of the other girls where going to go with me but they decided to chicken out and I was ok with going. The upside I have found of eating with the professors is they pay for the wine and water which is really nice. I had a very good dinner that was not very far at all from the hotel in Rome!
The next morning was our last day in Rome and we had a lot planned originally for it, so after a really yummy breakfast at the hotel we all headed out to our first site. We went to the Pantheon first and I got some really good pictures there! Two of those are below.
So then we went to a few sets of Roman ruins including the Forum which was the main political center of ancient Rome. I took some pictures but we didn't go down inside it because it cost money and we had other things to go see.
The last place we went to as a group was the Collasium(?) which was cool but once again I didn't go inside it because it cost money and was really crowded. The professors then decided to give us the rest of the day off until dinner at 6pm (it was noonish) so we could do what we wanted.
Me being the church nerd that I am went around the rest of the day with Dr. carter and two other students to a total of 15 churches. I ended up seeing the burial places of 6 apostles, the pillars from the scourging of Christ, the steps from Pontius Pilate's palace that Christ walked on, Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa (below), and many more fun things!
I will fill everyone in on the many churches when I get home there is too much to say now and I still have to do some readings for class tomorrow! Ciao!!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
May 28-30, 2010 Florence, Italy
I apologize for not updating this in a few days but I have been super busy!! I will attempt to catch everyone up on what I have been doing. First I will start with friday the 28th.
Friday May 28:
The day started with classes that were not very fun, but the information I am learning is very interesting. Then after classes I had lunch at the hotel which consisted of a tomato risotto, chicken with red and orange peppers, some string beets, and then ice cream for dessert. Then Sarah and I headed for the train station and took a train to Assisi with out any problems once we figured out what train we were looking for! :)
The ride to Assisi was not bad at all I think it took about 2.5 hours, when we got to Assisi we started walking to our hostel, the only problem was we had very little idea where we were going since we had directions but no map and the streets are not very well labeled in many areas. We finally did make it to the hostel just in time to check in and have dinner. We shared a room with two lovely other women that were traveling, the first was from Toronto and it was her birthday, the other was from South Korea originally but is studying for a year in England. Dinner at the hostel started with a very very yummy zucchini and cheese pasta dish, followed by a not as yummy pork chop and salad. We did have a birthday cake for Lizet after dinner which is hard to describe so that I will do in person. Since it was Lizet's birthday; her, Sarah, and I went out wandering into Assisi to see if we could celebrate. I did get some very nice night photos of Assisi.
Saturday May 29:
After breakfast at the hostel the four of us girls headed out to Assisi to start looking at the sites, since I was on a limited time frame. The first church we went to was Basilica of San Pietro which is located right by the bottom of the city walls. That church was beautiful, after that we headed to the west to reach the Basilica of San Francesco which is one of the most popular churches in Assisi since St. Francis is buried there among some of his early followers. Also this is the church that has many frescoes on the walls that are done by many famous artists including Giotto and Simone Martini. A picture of the outside of the church is below.
After the tour of San Francesco, we went to Chiesa of Santa Maria sopre Minerva, this was the first church built in Assisi and is the location of where St. Francis renounced his father and all of his wealth to follow in God's path for him. The next place we visited was San Damiano which is a little bit out of the city walls, but that was the church that St. Francis was in when he heard the cross tell him to rebuild his church as it was crumbling around him. We then went back into the city walls to see the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Claire). This is the church where St. Claire is buried and where the original cross that spoke to St. Francis is located. After this church we were running low on time so we took a bus down to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli where St. Francis died and his miracles took place. The pictures below are some of the views to be seen while walking around Assisi.
So after the last church I had to get on a train back to Florence, since I had a winery tour the next day, Sarah decided to stay another day in Assisi so this was where we split off. I did make it back home ok and so did Sarah.
Sunday May 30:
Today was my winery tour and we left the train station on a bus at around 8:30am and got home around 9:00pm, so it was an all day affair. We drove out into the hills of Tuscany for all three wineries. The first was a pretty cool looking place and we tried a rossa and a brunello wine there that were pretty tasty but I did not buy any. We didn't have all that much time here to stay since we had to move on to the next winery. The next winery we stopped at was called Prima Donna which is run entirely by females and we got a really good tour of how they make the wine and the history of the location, but we were supposed to be able to try about 10 wines but they made us leave after I only tried 4 of them, so that was disappointing for all involved. It was around 1pm at this point so we drove to a small town called Pienza and had lunch.
My lunch at Pienza was a ravioli in a cream and walnut sauce, not the best but not terrible at all. We were able to wander the town for a bit and see some pretty good views, but then it was back to the bus for the last winery. The last winery was so much fun because the man person that took us around, Mario, can speak no English at all and he is an 80 year old man that was too adorable about his story telling and explanation of the wine making process. We had a semi-formal(ish) wine tasting here where we tried a rossa, brunello, and another brunello (different year I believe) then finished with biscotti and grapa(?) a high proof dessert wine that is really expensive and very strong. The trip back to Florence was long and tiring, and I have to be up super early tomorrow to go to Rome with the entire group plus teachers so Ciao!!!
Friday May 28:
The day started with classes that were not very fun, but the information I am learning is very interesting. Then after classes I had lunch at the hotel which consisted of a tomato risotto, chicken with red and orange peppers, some string beets, and then ice cream for dessert. Then Sarah and I headed for the train station and took a train to Assisi with out any problems once we figured out what train we were looking for! :)
The ride to Assisi was not bad at all I think it took about 2.5 hours, when we got to Assisi we started walking to our hostel, the only problem was we had very little idea where we were going since we had directions but no map and the streets are not very well labeled in many areas. We finally did make it to the hostel just in time to check in and have dinner. We shared a room with two lovely other women that were traveling, the first was from Toronto and it was her birthday, the other was from South Korea originally but is studying for a year in England. Dinner at the hostel started with a very very yummy zucchini and cheese pasta dish, followed by a not as yummy pork chop and salad. We did have a birthday cake for Lizet after dinner which is hard to describe so that I will do in person. Since it was Lizet's birthday; her, Sarah, and I went out wandering into Assisi to see if we could celebrate. I did get some very nice night photos of Assisi.
Saturday May 29:
After breakfast at the hostel the four of us girls headed out to Assisi to start looking at the sites, since I was on a limited time frame. The first church we went to was Basilica of San Pietro which is located right by the bottom of the city walls. That church was beautiful, after that we headed to the west to reach the Basilica of San Francesco which is one of the most popular churches in Assisi since St. Francis is buried there among some of his early followers. Also this is the church that has many frescoes on the walls that are done by many famous artists including Giotto and Simone Martini. A picture of the outside of the church is below.
After the tour of San Francesco, we went to Chiesa of Santa Maria sopre Minerva, this was the first church built in Assisi and is the location of where St. Francis renounced his father and all of his wealth to follow in God's path for him. The next place we visited was San Damiano which is a little bit out of the city walls, but that was the church that St. Francis was in when he heard the cross tell him to rebuild his church as it was crumbling around him. We then went back into the city walls to see the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Claire). This is the church where St. Claire is buried and where the original cross that spoke to St. Francis is located. After this church we were running low on time so we took a bus down to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli where St. Francis died and his miracles took place. The pictures below are some of the views to be seen while walking around Assisi.
So after the last church I had to get on a train back to Florence, since I had a winery tour the next day, Sarah decided to stay another day in Assisi so this was where we split off. I did make it back home ok and so did Sarah.
Sunday May 30:
Today was my winery tour and we left the train station on a bus at around 8:30am and got home around 9:00pm, so it was an all day affair. We drove out into the hills of Tuscany for all three wineries. The first was a pretty cool looking place and we tried a rossa and a brunello wine there that were pretty tasty but I did not buy any. We didn't have all that much time here to stay since we had to move on to the next winery. The next winery we stopped at was called Prima Donna which is run entirely by females and we got a really good tour of how they make the wine and the history of the location, but we were supposed to be able to try about 10 wines but they made us leave after I only tried 4 of them, so that was disappointing for all involved. It was around 1pm at this point so we drove to a small town called Pienza and had lunch.
My lunch at Pienza was a ravioli in a cream and walnut sauce, not the best but not terrible at all. We were able to wander the town for a bit and see some pretty good views, but then it was back to the bus for the last winery. The last winery was so much fun because the man person that took us around, Mario, can speak no English at all and he is an 80 year old man that was too adorable about his story telling and explanation of the wine making process. We had a semi-formal(ish) wine tasting here where we tried a rossa, brunello, and another brunello (different year I believe) then finished with biscotti and grapa(?) a high proof dessert wine that is really expensive and very strong. The trip back to Florence was long and tiring, and I have to be up super early tomorrow to go to Rome with the entire group plus teachers so Ciao!!!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
May 27, 2010 Florence, Italy Pt 2
So since I didn't have time yesterday this entry is going to be a combination of yesterday and today's adventures. So yesterday was classes and then Sarah and I went to Uffizi and spent a good 2 or so hours there to see it all. I love Uffizi but they won't let you take pictures so sadly I have nothing really to show for going. After Uffizi we went to get dinner, we just grabbed some pizza quickly and then sat on the steps of Duomo for a while. After a few minutes these slightly creepy/nice italian guys came up and tried to talk to Sarah in Italian since she speaks a little italian and he spoke a little english. When the conversation got a little awkward we left and said we were headed back to the hotel when in fact we wandered around for a while. The sun was starting to set so we headed to Ponte Vecchio to watch the sunset but didn't get the pictures we wanted because those guys were there and we didn't want them to see us. But I got a few good pictures as we walked to the next bridge down. Those are the pictures below.
So after the sun set we got some gelato and headed back to Ponte Vecchio because we figures the guys had left, and got a few pictures of the night scene on the river. Then we went to the piazza Signoria since there was supposed to be a concert starting at 9:30pm, we heard about it from my history professor Dr. Carter. So we headed over with our gelato and found some sort of seats on the side of the concert area. While we were waiting for the concert to start Dr. Carter and Dr. Bilo found us and joined us in waiting for the concert. After an hour of listening to angry Italians shouting about possibly the mafia the concert actually started. The concert itself was awesome, there was like probably about 100 or so singers to accompany the small orchestra that played classical music. I wish they had actually started on time so I could have heard a bit more of the concert!
So then today I took a short trip to the Bargello museum and saw many works that I recognized but once again I could not take pictures so I have nothing to show for the trip. Then after lunch Sarah and I went to the Duomo museum that has the original panels Ghilberti did for the Gates of Paradise, and Donatello's Mary Magdalene. Sadly they only had one of the panels from the Gates of Paradise at the moment but that and the Mary Magdalene is shown below.
So after the sun set we got some gelato and headed back to Ponte Vecchio because we figures the guys had left, and got a few pictures of the night scene on the river. Then we went to the piazza Signoria since there was supposed to be a concert starting at 9:30pm, we heard about it from my history professor Dr. Carter. So we headed over with our gelato and found some sort of seats on the side of the concert area. While we were waiting for the concert to start Dr. Carter and Dr. Bilo found us and joined us in waiting for the concert. After an hour of listening to angry Italians shouting about possibly the mafia the concert actually started. The concert itself was awesome, there was like probably about 100 or so singers to accompany the small orchestra that played classical music. I wish they had actually started on time so I could have heard a bit more of the concert!
So then today I took a short trip to the Bargello museum and saw many works that I recognized but once again I could not take pictures so I have nothing to show for the trip. Then after lunch Sarah and I went to the Duomo museum that has the original panels Ghilberti did for the Gates of Paradise, and Donatello's Mary Magdalene. Sadly they only had one of the panels from the Gates of Paradise at the moment but that and the Mary Magdalene is shown below.
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