lots of songs were sung, lots of jokes were made, lots of bread & cheese & tomato & pesto were eaten.
rome: i arrived later than john and jed, but met up with them on a wednesday night. it was rainy and they were tired, and i was tired from travelling so we just got to our hostel (which is funny in and of itself-- it's basically a condominium converted into a hostel, the guy at reception seemed angry and weird, the reviews of the hostel included awful raves saying they have bedbugs, etc.). but we were okay at the hostel. we saw the st. peter's basilica, then i headed off on my own to see the roman forum, palatine hill, and colosseum (because they had already seen all of those). beautiful and ridiculous to imagine the old romans actually living there. hard for me to wrap my head around history. pretty overwhelming to listen to the audioguide and see all of it. i still feel like i have no idea about the place, but it was quite the sight to behold. went to a beer place/restaurant and then to the trevi fountain for a relaxing night-ender. then we spent about 5 hours in the vatican museum the next day. so much to see. saw the sistine chapel. too much to comprehend again, but beautiful and wonderful to see. the artists astound me-- so much time and talent and energy put into their works. life achievements are hanging and displayed all around you.
san vincenzo: beautiful little coastal town in italy. we came at an unusual time of the year, although the weather was beautiful and perfect for what we did. jed even went into the ocean, but john and i decided not to because the water was definitely pretty cold. anyways the highlight of our time in san vincenzo was simply being near the beach and staying in a wonderful little hotel right on the beach. i believe we were the only people staying at the entire hotel, so that made it all the more amazing. the woman who owned or ran the hotel was an outstandingly nice woman. we had a free breakfast in the morning which was 3 or so long tables filled with foods. she was in there waiting for us both mornings. made us a coffee of our choosing. amazing. our time in san vincenzo was spent reading, writing, relaxing, and skipping a lot of rocks. took some long-exposure night photos and played a homemade game similar to horseshoes, but with a stick of bamboo and stones. i dropped my camera in the water and it stopped working and it freaked me out.
pisa: our train from san vincenzo to florence required a connection in pisa, so we decided to walk around and see the leaning tower. i didn't take any pictures because my camera wasn't working unfortunately, but it was really neat. john took some. look forward to seeing those. i was in a sour/upset/depressed mood on the train because of my camera, but i cheered up in pisa.
florence: such a beautiful place. first night we stayed in a hostel that was just down the street from the duomo (the huge and breathtaking cathedral with such a ridiculous dome on the top). pretty nice but gladly we were able to stay with ann laurel the remainder of the days. she's studying in florence (which is ridiculous because of its beauty, but it's an american program so it seems less integrated and i'd be worried that if i studied in florence my eyes would stop seeing the beauty that it offers and it would get mundane). she lives in what i think is the more attractive part of the city, across the ponte vecchio (beautiful bridge). in florence one morning i tried my camera on a whim and it started working! so exciting and relieving. jed and i went up in the duomo. lots and lots of stairs but you get to see the terrifying painting of the last judgment plus a great view of the city. went to the accademia museum. small museum but that's where michelangelo's statue of david is. pretty amazing. just killed goliath. what a guy. went to piazza michelangelo, a place a little ways away from the city and above it, perfect to see the sunset. saw the sunset. beautiful. ate at a place where you buy a 5 euro drink then get free food to go with it. saw an italian beatles cover band at a crowded venue. the last day in florence, jed and i took a bus to a town that's above florence on the hillside. it's called fiesole and it was a relaxing way to end out the florence times. nice day, we just walked around looking over the entirety of florence. got some food from the grocery and ate in a little park. relaxed. then we headed out.
venice: we got a pretty nice hotel outside of venice the island. first night just stayed there. next day headed to the island, walked around in a pack of tourists at first. the city is enchanting because of the canals. who could resist that? it was so cool. once we got away from the feel of tourism we started enjoying ourselves more. most of our time in venice was spent wandering around. didn't do a gondala ride because they're expensive and it didn't appeal to us. got some good coffee at a place called cafe del doge. wandered around more. watched the sun set on the ocean. ate some pizza our guy at the hotel recommended. delicious. brie on a pizza? great idea. next day jed and i went to see the peggy guggenheim collection while john just hung out in a piazza/plaza/square to read. i'm glad we went, it was a nice small museum in what was peggy guggenheim's old house. quite the collection she had. pieces of surrealist art and names i actually recognized! so exciting. especially excited to see some magritte, although i didn't get to snap a picture. we walked around venice a lot, and although it doesn't seem like we did/saw much, we got a good feel for the city and wandered around the maze-like streets a lot.
budapest: to get to budapest we took a 13 hour train ride, overnight. i slept for a lot of it but we were woken about 7 times to get our passports checked. pretty frustrating. john thought it felt like a david lynch movie because it was so disorienting and bizarre. when we finally got to budapest, john's friend anna met us at the station. we got money from the atm, which is the currency of hungary, forintes. 20,000 of them equal 92 u.s. dollars. weird. budapest seemed like the u.s. more than any other city we were in, although the language was the most unfamiliar. strange. anna took us back to her family's, which is a nice apartment/condominium style thing in a suberb of the city. good place to stay. we ate lunch there then went out to see the palace. then walked around the city more with anna. hung out in a grassy area that has an area for skaters and an underground club/restaurant. pretty hip place. lots of kids hanging out there. watched rebel without a cause when we got back to her home. everyone fell asleep. went to budavari labirintus the next day. people used it for shelter from bombings in world war 2. now its a strange attraction that seems to appeal to kids and people who don't mind sacrificing historical importance for a joke. i liked it. jed and i checked out the citadel above the city. cool place, good view. walked around more, stumbled upon a horn band playing in a square. got a video, you'll see. ate some traditional hungarian food. went to a bar that is converted from a big old industrial building. like a legitimate and adult-themed rocketown. next day went to an art gallery with an exhibit on hungarian impressionist painting. saw heroes square. went to a coffee shop when it started raining. anna had a friend that knew of some band playing in some club. turned out to be the ruby suns! (whom i like). went to that. pretty nice surprise. next day we packed up and got ready for our next and last leg. anna was a good host and her family was very nice to us and i'm grateful for all that.
vienna: had the best hostel ever. vienna was just nice. clean and it seems like it has it's act together. saw one homeless person the whole time i was there. we went to joseph haydn's old house which is now a museum about exactly that. then we walked a longer route to get to the belvedere museum, which is an art museum and used to be a palace. two art museums actually. lower belvedere featured an exhibit on alfonse mucha, of whom i am now a huge fan. known for his posters. wonderful style. also went to the upper belvedere, of which their klimt pieces are probably most popular. then we ate and got to a performance. string quartet that performed 3 pieces: i think it was haydn, mozart, and dvorak. we got really cheap seats that couldn't see a thing, but the place wasn't sold out so we could move and actually peak over the balcony. it was pretty amazing. they were insanely good. well worth the price. after that we got some ice cream at the most delicious place ever, it was better than all the gelato we had in italy. might have been the best ice cream i've ever had. next day we checked out stephansdom, the cathedral. then went to the graveyard where beethoven, strauss, brahms, and more famous people are buried. got a quick lunch before we all split ways. i got a bus to the vienna airport, then flew back to brussels then took the train back to leuven.
so that's the past 17 days. phew. good time. lots and lots of sights and moving. walked so many miles. so many kilometers.
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| Rome, Italy |
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| San Vincenzo, Italy |
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| Florence, Italy |
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| Venice, Italy |
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| Budapest, Hungary |
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| Vienna, Austria |
