Bilbao
On the morning before leaving Bilbao, there was a fair going on called Santo Tomás. I couldn't pass up visiting a fair bearing my own name, so I went, and it was very Basque, including all the goods I saw on market day in Gernika. Talos, sidra, and txakoli were all also being sold. I bought a talo de lomo, but was very disappointed in it.
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| Basque men making talos |
Rome
I was in charge of finding accommodations for this trip, and I learned many lessons. Our first priority was price, so I found the cheapest places to stay in each city. I was optimistic about taking advantage of CouchSurfing and meeting native Italians while staying in their homes. Finding hosts willing to host four people was very difficult, but I found them in Rome and Florence. Unfortunately in Rome, the metro line that led to our host's apartment was down for maintenance, so arriving there from the city center meant nearly an hour's journey involving two metro lines, a bus, and a little bit of walking. Yes, it was near the beach, but it was cold, cloudy, rainy the whole time. Our host, Fabrizio, was nice, but quiet. He seemed like he had had so many guests, that we were just other passing faces. If we tried to start a conversation, he wouldn't let it get very far. On the upside, we had a key to his apt. and could come and go as we pleased. A big downside was that his apt. was pretty small, and we all crammed onto his hideaway bed, doable the first night with three people, but nearly impossible the next night with four people. Fabrizio lived as if he did not have guests. He really didn't even have dishes for us to use. There were only enough for him, and though they were in the cupboard, they were not clean. And one night, we came back from a day of tourism to find him nonchalantly sitting at the table in his tighty-whities and a t-shirt. Fabrizio is also a Buddhist and meditates in a small closet of a room for an hour every morning. One house rule is that we could not kill any living thing while we were in his house. While Fabrizio wasn't home on Christmas Eve, I was on my computer when an annoying fruit fly started buzzing around my head. I clapped it in my hands, and after a millisecond of triumphant satisfaction, I gasped and looked up at Bryan in horrified guilt. Then we broke into laughter. Primarily because of transportation limitations on Christmas, we cut our stay short with him and spent our last night in Rome in a hostel.
I didn't know what all there was to see in Rome, but I had just finished reading the portion of The Count of Monte Cristo that is set in Rome, so I was excited about visiting the famous places that the book mentioned. Of course, it mentioned the Colosseum. I walked past it every day, and I'd planned on going inside, but on Christmas Eve it closed early I couldn't. Piazza del Popolo was another important part of the story, and an impressive plaza. I could imagine all the scenes I had read taking place there. Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish steps) and Castel San Angelo are also briefly mentioned, and I visited those on Christmas day. Lastly, I didn't want to leave Rome without seeing the catacombs. There are in fact several catacombs in Rome, but only a few are open to the public. Alexander Dumas helped me narrow down my choices to the catacombs of San Sebastian, where the Viscount Morcerf was held captive by Luigi Vampa. We reached these by taking a bus down the Appian Way, which is apparently the road the Apostle Paul took to enter Rome (Acts 28:15). We took an informative tour of the 'combs. I learned many things about the Christians in Rome under Diocletian. It was basically a grid of tunnels in which dead Christians were buried in the walls because their families wanted to preserve their bodies but avoid religious persecution. I don't remember the numbers --they were high and in the metric system-- but there are miles and miles of these tunnels, and the ones we visited had several layers.
I must also mention other Roman tourist sites that I visited, such as the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain (Yes, I did throw a coin in), and the circus maximus. As my foot was in possibly the most pain of the trip, I visited St. Peter's Basilica and its respective plaza. The Basilica itself is the largest church in the world. I almost wished that I were Catholic so that I could appreciate it more as something nearly divine. I also went under the church and saw the graves of deceased popes including the traditional burial site of Saint Peter. Later, I went to the Vatican Museum, which was incredible. Rooms after rooms of statues, paintings, tapestries, and gardens. I enjoyed many interesting statues that made me wonder what the sculptor was thinking.
There was so much art that by the end of it I was all art-ed out. In the courtyard of the pine cone, Sergio and I helped a group of policemen take their picture. As a reward, they gave us both Santa hats. My hat became the only way that my friends could pick me out in a crowd, so even if I took it off, they'd ask me to put it back on, which I didn't mind of course. One of the things I couldn't take a picture of was the famous Sistine Chapel, but the light was so dim in the chapel that I wouldn't have been able to get a decent one if I tried. The intricacy was incredible but I couldn't fully appreciate it without knowledge of the structure and characters, time to look for them all, and binoculars.
Rome gave me my first impression of Italy as whole. I had my first Italian pizza, cappuccino, and gelato there. On Christmas day, I had the best pasta dish of the trip in a restaurant called Sugo near Piazza Navona. The dish is called gnocchi, which is potato-stuffed pasta. The thing that made it extraordinary was the sauce. The restaurant had great food, good service, and was decently priced; everything a tourist could ask for. If I find myself in Rome again, I will make a point to return.
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| bad English = great restaurant! |
Siena
Unfortunately, we made it to Siena as the sun was going down, and we were expected in Florence by our next CSing host, so we could only spend a few hours there. It was much colder than Rome had been, but we saw some of the main sights that surround the main plaza of the city. I will always associate Siena with the best pizza that I've had in my life: Italian sausage and mushroom, from just a normal pizza store, but it was freshly made and incredible.
Florence
In Florence, our CS host, Leonardo, was the complete opposite of Fabrizio. First, if Leonardo wasn't in his apartment, we couldn't be either. That meant getting up earlier so he could get to work on time. Fabrizio also wanted us to have dinner together every night to participate in a cultural meal exchange. Our first night, he served us a two course meal of noodles followed by a lamb stew. Leo seemed to say everything with a smile, and he said a lot, even though he made a lot of mistakes. Our second night Bryan and I made chili, and Leo was shocked that we would prepare a one course meal. The third night, some Chinese girls who arrived later made Chinese dumplings and Saraí and Sergio made burritos. Each morning with Leo, he served us a slice of a giant muffin called panetonne and tea. We learned through conversation that his wife had died recently and since then, he had been coping by hosting CSers nonstop. Our first morning with Leo, he gave us a tour of Fiesole, a part of Florence. He showed us an Etruscan wall, a view, a church, and a typical Tuscan garden, though I hardly remember any of his commentary. Our sleeping arrangements were much more comfortable at Leo's, and he was incredibly helpful. He even let us borrow an old GPS, which we used until Bryan replaced his iPhone.
After the tour, we had more independence. We were able to park in Piazza Michelangelo and from there walk to all the most important places of Florence, including the Ponte Vecchio, the most important plazas, and the duomo (cathedral). The next day I visited the Uffizi Museum. The line was at least a kilometer long, so I paid a few extra euros to set an appointment to enter. Inside there were works by Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and many many other famous artists.
Pisa
We knew beforehand that we didn't want to spend a whole day at Pisa, so we drove there, stopped a few hours to see the tower and its surrounding areas, and then went to Bologna. After seeing so many cathedrals in these cities, I noticed how each would have a bell tower and a baptistery, sometimes as separate buildings from the main cathedral. So I thought it was interesting the the famous leaning tower is simply the bell tower, an adjunct, to the cathedral of Pisa. The cathedral and baptistery are just as intricate as the leaning tower, yet don't share in its renown. I was shocked by the amount of tourists who happened to be there on the same day that we chose to come, and of course they all posed the way one does when you go to the tower.
Bologna
In Bologna I had arranged lodging at a hostel that we agreed felt like it used to be a school or a prison. We all had our own bed there which seemed to be quite a luxury. Unfortunately, what with the tilt of the earth during winter, by the time we went to the center of Bologna, it was already getting dark. However, I got a good feel for the city. I was dazzled by its portici (plural for portico). Bryan told us that he'd heard that you could walk from one end of the city to the other without getting wet because of all these covered walkways. I don't know why Bilbao didn't think of that. I might bet money that it rains more in Bilbao than in Bologna. We began with Europe's oldest university, and then we walked to the two towers, very slender and tall. They leaned quite a bit, and the shorter of the two had been shortened so that it didn't collapse. We also walked through the main plaza of Bologna. Later that night, we drove to the top of a hill where there was an eerie castle. We drove several kilometers, and yet there was a portico along the road the whole way there!
Venice
Our Venice lodging was in a lowest-stars-possible hotel in Mestre. When we made it to the island I was immediately assaulted with souvenirs and salesmen who tried to force the Venice experience on me. Instead of naturally experiencing what the city is all about, these vendors gave it away like an annoying person blurts out the twist in a psychological thriller at the beginning of the movie. I continued to be shocked by the quantity of tourists. It seemed to me that Venice was not the powerful city it once was, but instead a massive tourism machine in which each tourist group tries to pretend that the others are not there.
That said, the environment and beauty of the city is incredible, and I tried to imagine that I was there a century or two ago. All the merchandise in the stores were displayed very nicely, including some bizarre-looking treats. We saw the most important and famous bridges of Venice and the area surrounding Saint Mark's square. My favorite part of Venice was the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. It is not overwhelmingly big like the Louvre, but it contained a small collection of the kind of modern art that I enjoy most, including Dali, Kandinsky, Bacon, and Rothko to name a few. Outside the museum was a mind-trip mirror-glass thing that I loved.
The New Year's celebration was a bit of a let-down. It was very cold, and the entertainment was not entertaining. I had more fun talking to the Australian couple to my left and playing with a South American girl whose family was to my right. After the countdown the fireworks began, but I didn't get to see any of them due to the flood of people. Another highlight of Venice was a bar that I discovered that served hot wine. The first time we went there weren't very many people, and the lady working there let us sit without paying even though we just got one drink. There was also a charming little bird who lived in a pot that hung from the ceiling and entertained us by flying from table to table and looking at us skeptically.
Verona
On new year's day we arrived in Verona at the place we thought we'd stay. It turned out that the manager of that place had overbooked his rooms. So, he sent us to a friend's bed and breakfast that was nicer than where we would have stayed, but we didn't have to pay a higher price. After all our traveling, this B&B felt like luxury. We had a great pizza dinner that night at a pizza place within walking distance. During the day, we saw the city's main plazas and churches, along with the alleged home of Juliet Capulet, the worlds 3rd largest ancient arena, and the medieval Castelvecchio (old castle) with its interesting bridge. We also drove up a hill to watch the sun set over the city from the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
After our first day there we decided to linger the next day, which allowed Bryan and I to visit an archaeological museum which was an ancient Roman theater and contained many interesting ruins and incredible views of the city.
Milan
Milan's low-budget hotel was decent, but cold at night. Everything in Milan is much more spread out than in any of the other cities we visited. Hence, we took advantage of the subway system. Milan is most famous for its duomo and fashion. We explored the main plaza where the duomo is, and went in the enormous Galeria Vittorio Emanuele II, with expensive things bearing names I've never cared about.
We wanted to see Da Vinci's Last Supper, but in the end we decided it wasn't worth the effort and money required to do so. The church next to the famous painting, though, displayed three corpses in glass coffins that was very creepy. The central corpse was the body of St. Ambrose, patron saint of Milan. The next day, we saw the Castello Sforzesco, along with the two main Milanese parks, and a famous arch. Later, Sergio, Bryan, and I took a tour of the stadium of A. C. Milan, famous Italian soccer team. Soccer isn't exactly something I follow, but the visit was worth it to see the interesting architecture of the stadium and the enthusiasm on the faces of Bryan and Sergio. And the next time I meet an A. C. Milan fan, I'll get to make him/her jealous!
That night we went to the Navigli canal district of Milan to get a taste of authentic Milan. This area was a pleasant escape from the world of tourism, and we found an amazing bar with a cheap but good all-you-can eat buffet. On our last day Bryan and I met a Russian girl named Elena on our way the monumental cemetery. After exploring the cemetery, we went inside and on top of the duomo. The inside reminded me of Moria, from LOTR. There were 247 steps up a narrow tower to the top of the duomo, but the incredible view and sunset was worth it.
Then, we went into the famous Scala theater and museum in which pictures were not allowed. It was interesting to see a theater with so much history, and the auditorium was beautiful. I could imagine all the families of the Milanese aristocracy entering their expensive boxes only to gossip about the other families throughout the program. That night we returned to our now favorite bar in Milan for dinner, and spent the rest of the night chatting with Elena.
Bilbao
Now I have just completed my first week back in Bilbao, and it is incredible how familiar and homey everything feels after spending two weeks in a constantly changing and unfamiliar environment. Also, after not understanding Italian for two weeks, I feel extra confident in my Spanish comprehension. I'm very optimistic about the semester as well. I have older students, and I plan to be more communicative with the professors I'm working with.
