Dang blast it. For the fourth time in my life I've missed feeling an earthquake. There was one that shook Lancashire earlier today, registering about a 3.7. I was awake at the time but didn't feel a thing, even though other people in my building did.
I've missed other ones in Wisconsin, Indianapolis, and Rome (the big earthquake in Italy happened the day before I got there).
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
SPQR Blues
So. Rome. Where the Pope hangs his hat.
After a quick hop over the Alps, Phillip and I arrived in Rome, so far the warmest city I've been in since October. We were lucky to get a hostel so close to St. Peter's Square, because this allowed us to get up early and beat the tourists (to the basilica, that is). The interior of the building is certainly dazzling--probably the most opulent out of all the churches I've seen so far on my Euro experience. It was also kind of cool to see all of the chairs and speakers set up for Easter, which was that Sunday.
Next stop was the Vatican Museum, the wait for which was probably the longest of my whole break. It was well worth it. I'd consider the Vatican Museum the highlight of my whole trip, as the frescoes and paintings are beyond stunning. There are so many of them--and to think that for hundreds of years they were only for the eyes of the pope and his cardinals! Now, unlike many I talked to I was not disappointed by the Sistine Chapel, though I was frustrated by a few things. For one, it is the last thing you're supposed to see on the tour, so while there are teasing signs pointing to "Cappella Sistina" around every corner, in reality it takes you about an hour to reach it. The actual chapel is fine, though the atmosphere is somewhat diminished by Swiss Guards yelling "No Foto!" and "Silenzio!"
(I had to ask Phillip's friend, who had joined us on this trip, where the [me doing the two fingers touching] was. He pointed. It was directly above my head.)
Oh yeah, and we also got to see the Popemobile Through the Ages exhibit.
Day 2 was our Much Older Rome tour, the centerpiece of which was the Colosseum (for those of you who do not know, the Colosseum was used in ancient times as a petting zoo). Like everything else in Rome, it was breathtaking to behold--after all, it's the freakin' Colosseum. As for the rest of the day, I didn't go into the Roman Forum, but I did see the Spanish Steps, the absolutely huge (and blindingly white) Victor Emmanuel Monument, the Pantheon, and the Italian Parliament. I kept asking where that fountain from Roman Holiday was but no one seemed to know what I was talking about.
In true Italian style, we had lots of pizza. Lots of it. And some of it, I admit, rivaled places in the king of pizza, Chicago. We also ate lots of gelato, and an Easter cake called a Colomba Pasquale.
Next up: the final legs of my journey: Florence and Assisi (visited on Good Friday, no less).
After a quick hop over the Alps, Phillip and I arrived in Rome, so far the warmest city I've been in since October. We were lucky to get a hostel so close to St. Peter's Square, because this allowed us to get up early and beat the tourists (to the basilica, that is). The interior of the building is certainly dazzling--probably the most opulent out of all the churches I've seen so far on my Euro experience. It was also kind of cool to see all of the chairs and speakers set up for Easter, which was that Sunday.
Next stop was the Vatican Museum, the wait for which was probably the longest of my whole break. It was well worth it. I'd consider the Vatican Museum the highlight of my whole trip, as the frescoes and paintings are beyond stunning. There are so many of them--and to think that for hundreds of years they were only for the eyes of the pope and his cardinals! Now, unlike many I talked to I was not disappointed by the Sistine Chapel, though I was frustrated by a few things. For one, it is the last thing you're supposed to see on the tour, so while there are teasing signs pointing to "Cappella Sistina" around every corner, in reality it takes you about an hour to reach it. The actual chapel is fine, though the atmosphere is somewhat diminished by Swiss Guards yelling "No Foto!" and "Silenzio!"
(I had to ask Phillip's friend, who had joined us on this trip, where the [me doing the two fingers touching] was. He pointed. It was directly above my head.)
Oh yeah, and we also got to see the Popemobile Through the Ages exhibit.
Day 2 was our Much Older Rome tour, the centerpiece of which was the Colosseum (for those of you who do not know, the Colosseum was used in ancient times as a petting zoo). Like everything else in Rome, it was breathtaking to behold--after all, it's the freakin' Colosseum. As for the rest of the day, I didn't go into the Roman Forum, but I did see the Spanish Steps, the absolutely huge (and blindingly white) Victor Emmanuel Monument, the Pantheon, and the Italian Parliament. I kept asking where that fountain from Roman Holiday was but no one seemed to know what I was talking about.
In true Italian style, we had lots of pizza. Lots of it. And some of it, I admit, rivaled places in the king of pizza, Chicago. We also ate lots of gelato, and an Easter cake called a Colomba Pasquale.
Next up: the final legs of my journey: Florence and Assisi (visited on Good Friday, no less).
Monday, April 20, 2009
I see London, I see France...
To get to Paris, I planned on taking the Eurostar train through the Chunnel, and since this departed from London I decided to go there from Dublin (having only spent an hour in London waaaay back on January 5th, when I arrived). My hostel was very upscale and swank, and pretty cheap too (coincidentally, my hostel comes recommended in an article in this Sunday's New York Times -- looks like I picked the right one). As an added bonus, a free tour departed every day from the lobby, so my itinerary was already set out for me.
One of the tour's first stops was Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard was underway, so I got to see all the pomp and circumstance associated with it, from the guards that couldn't respond to you to the band playing traditional British fare (notably "Theme from 'Pirates of Caribbean' "). The flag said the Queen was in, but I didn't see her; she might have been in the midst of Michelle-hugging.
After foiling an IRA attack, I followed the tour to other parts of the city, passing St. James's Palace and then Trafalgar Square. I happened to be in London on the day of the G20 protests, which--while being on the other side of the city--I was very reminded of repeatedly in Trafalagar Square, as there was lots of protest art set up, not to mention lots of pigeons.
Our tour ended at the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. After those I took the Tube over to the Tower of London (the moat is grass!) and the London Bridge, and then spent the rest of the day in Regent's Park, a very green but very big park right next to my hostel. Other than being beautiful, Regent's Park was also the second time I ran into G20 stuff, since the police were crowding a big section as I left.
The next day: Paris! No visit to the UK would be complete without a ride through the Chunnel, so I shilled out a pounds to take it. Actually, the Chunnel is a rather underwhelming experience: since the train is on a lowered track and there are a few tunnels before the Big One, I didn't even know I'd gone under the Channel until I came out the other side.
In Paris I met up with my friend Phillip, who also goes to Beloit and is studying in France. Among the highlights:
*Getting in free to the Louvre on the first night, where I amazingly met one of my friends from Lancaster.
*Taking a free tour of Paris, once again from a hostel, and learning that Louis XIV really loved his legs, the Revolution was started by some guy reading a newspaper, Napoleon liked big things, and that Hitler ordered Paris destroyed but some Nazi general, wanting to spare it, tricked him into thinking it was burning. Our tour guide was from New Zealand, so "their heads were cut off until they were dead" sounded like "their hids were cut off until they were did'.
*The Arc de Triomphe, which is really quite massive when you're standing under it.
*Hiking up the Eiffel Tower, but only to the second-highest level; the line to the summit was crowded and the view wouldn't have been any better anyway. Surprisingly, it wasn't very windy.
*Seeing the Paris Marathon run past, in which a Brit staying in our hostel room was a participant in.
*Getting into the Louvre for free AGAIN, since it was the 1st Sunday of the month (I go to places at just the right time). We got there early, so the Mona Lisa room wasn't all that crowded; it's really not as small as people say. The Louvre, on the other hand, is as big as they say it is; Phillip and I spent a whole day there and we didn't see everything. Some paintings there are massive, especially the 19th century French ones and the ones of Louis XIV's legs.
*Walking through Notre Dame, which had this annoying hunchback swinging on a rope. This guy drew lots of strange views from the French, because this man was actually working and not on strike.
*Pigging out on baguettes and cheese. Didn't eat at a café.
Paris was beautiful, but there was much more to see in Europe. After some brief problems at Paris' crappy Beauvais Airport, it was on to Italy!
One of the tour's first stops was Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard was underway, so I got to see all the pomp and circumstance associated with it, from the guards that couldn't respond to you to the band playing traditional British fare (notably "Theme from 'Pirates of Caribbean' "). The flag said the Queen was in, but I didn't see her; she might have been in the midst of Michelle-hugging.
After foiling an IRA attack, I followed the tour to other parts of the city, passing St. James's Palace and then Trafalgar Square. I happened to be in London on the day of the G20 protests, which--while being on the other side of the city--I was very reminded of repeatedly in Trafalagar Square, as there was lots of protest art set up, not to mention lots of pigeons.
Our tour ended at the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. After those I took the Tube over to the Tower of London (the moat is grass!) and the London Bridge, and then spent the rest of the day in Regent's Park, a very green but very big park right next to my hostel. Other than being beautiful, Regent's Park was also the second time I ran into G20 stuff, since the police were crowding a big section as I left.
The next day: Paris! No visit to the UK would be complete without a ride through the Chunnel, so I shilled out a pounds to take it. Actually, the Chunnel is a rather underwhelming experience: since the train is on a lowered track and there are a few tunnels before the Big One, I didn't even know I'd gone under the Channel until I came out the other side.
In Paris I met up with my friend Phillip, who also goes to Beloit and is studying in France. Among the highlights:
*Getting in free to the Louvre on the first night, where I amazingly met one of my friends from Lancaster.
*Taking a free tour of Paris, once again from a hostel, and learning that Louis XIV really loved his legs, the Revolution was started by some guy reading a newspaper, Napoleon liked big things, and that Hitler ordered Paris destroyed but some Nazi general, wanting to spare it, tricked him into thinking it was burning. Our tour guide was from New Zealand, so "their heads were cut off until they were dead" sounded like "their hids were cut off until they were did'.
*The Arc de Triomphe, which is really quite massive when you're standing under it.
*Hiking up the Eiffel Tower, but only to the second-highest level; the line to the summit was crowded and the view wouldn't have been any better anyway. Surprisingly, it wasn't very windy.
*Seeing the Paris Marathon run past, in which a Brit staying in our hostel room was a participant in.
*Getting into the Louvre for free AGAIN, since it was the 1st Sunday of the month (I go to places at just the right time). We got there early, so the Mona Lisa room wasn't all that crowded; it's really not as small as people say. The Louvre, on the other hand, is as big as they say it is; Phillip and I spent a whole day there and we didn't see everything. Some paintings there are massive, especially the 19th century French ones and the ones of Louis XIV's legs.
*Walking through Notre Dame, which had this annoying hunchback swinging on a rope. This guy drew lots of strange views from the French, because this man was actually working and not on strike.
*Pigging out on baguettes and cheese. Didn't eat at a café.
Paris was beautiful, but there was much more to see in Europe. After some brief problems at Paris' crappy Beauvais Airport, it was on to Italy!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
I just saw a bunch of UFOs
I was in the middle of updating this blog when out my window I saw a bunch of orange lights rising in the sky and stopping and floating in the air. I went outside and watched them for about ten minutes with a bunch of other kids in my college.
OK, so they probably weren't aliens. Most people's guesses were that they were balloons filled with candles or something that were being released into the air. But it was pretty damn cool, and I took a few videos of them. You hear about people seeing UFOs all the time and I can imagine people seeing things like this at night and getting strange ideas.
And I did get to see a shooting star while watching these lights! Very cool.
OK, so they probably weren't aliens. Most people's guesses were that they were balloons filled with candles or something that were being released into the air. But it was pretty damn cool, and I took a few videos of them. You hear about people seeing UFOs all the time and I can imagine people seeing things like this at night and getting strange ideas.
And I did get to see a shooting star while watching these lights! Very cool.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Easter Break Leg 1 - Ireland
My troupe consisted of three Americans and three Australians, all ready for a journey around the Emerald Isle. Oh boy. So many accents on this trip.
Our flight from Liverpool to Dublin brought me to only the third country I'd ever stepped foot in. We got there in the afternoon and spent most of the time getting to our hostel and looking for food. We weren't planning on staying long in Dublin anyway...it's pretty expensive, and frankly I couldn't think of a whole lot of attractions there. The city seemed kind of touristy, much more international than an authentic Irish experience. I'm sure if I'd studied there I would've found plenty to do in Dublin, but our group wanted to make the most of our few days in Ireland.
So we took the train to a small town called Rathdrum. It was a nice place, very small but very picturesque. Our hostel was at the top of a large hill and was run by a strange old lady who seemed to laugh at every little thing; she did kindly inform us one morning that the country had switched to Daylight Saving Time and that we had only an hour to catch our train instead of two. Thanks, old hostel lady. Rathdrum was our stopover point for visiting Glendalough, an absolutely gorgeous park/valley in the same county. We must've hiked five or six miles up this "hill," but it was definitely worth it because of the views it offered of the surrounding geography, including a lake. We visited on a very sunny but also windy and cold day; I can imagine that it would be fantastic to visit Glendalough in the summer.
(Side note: Rathdrum was the town where they filmed a scene for the movie Michael Collins, specifically of Liam Neeson doing this, somewhere I had no idea I would visit when I brought it up in my last post. Kind of eerie. I attempted to imitate the pose in a picture.)
From Rathdrum we took a train across Ireland to Galway, a city on the western shore of Ireland. I loved it there. One, it was much warmer facing the Atlantic than facing the Irish Sea; and two, I feel Galway provided me with much more of an "authentic" Irish experience. The pubs we wandered into were great, with lots of live music and friendly Irish people who loved talking about Obama and how Ireland is really going through tough economic times. Galway's waterfront reminded me a bit of Milwaukee, and lo and behold, Wikipedia tells me Galway is a sister city of Milwaukee. Go figure. The Galway Museum is small but has some interesting bits, including a fairly large section on JFK's one-hour visit to the city back in 1963.
On the magic day of March 31, my friend Ben and I returned to Dublin so we could catch our respective flights out of there the next day. Seeing as it was my 21st birthday, we felt obligated to hit a few pubs. Now, this was both good and bad: I enjoyed celebrating my birthday in this manner, as I will forever be able to tell people I spent the big 21 gallivanting around Dublin. However, it was Dublin--pints were not cheap. Oh €uro, must you mock me?
Some general observations on Ireland: Despite what I've heard, the Irish are very friendly people. Even the drunk guy outside our hostel seemed nice, as one morning he very loudly offered that anyone who wanted money could come back to his house, where he had a printing press. I also noticed many similarities between Ireland and America, namely that they don't drive the eco-friendly cars that the Brits do, they say "Thank you" instead of "cheers," and they call football "soccer."
Coming up next: London during the G20, and Springtime in Paris!
Our flight from Liverpool to Dublin brought me to only the third country I'd ever stepped foot in. We got there in the afternoon and spent most of the time getting to our hostel and looking for food. We weren't planning on staying long in Dublin anyway...it's pretty expensive, and frankly I couldn't think of a whole lot of attractions there. The city seemed kind of touristy, much more international than an authentic Irish experience. I'm sure if I'd studied there I would've found plenty to do in Dublin, but our group wanted to make the most of our few days in Ireland.
So we took the train to a small town called Rathdrum. It was a nice place, very small but very picturesque. Our hostel was at the top of a large hill and was run by a strange old lady who seemed to laugh at every little thing; she did kindly inform us one morning that the country had switched to Daylight Saving Time and that we had only an hour to catch our train instead of two. Thanks, old hostel lady. Rathdrum was our stopover point for visiting Glendalough, an absolutely gorgeous park/valley in the same county. We must've hiked five or six miles up this "hill," but it was definitely worth it because of the views it offered of the surrounding geography, including a lake. We visited on a very sunny but also windy and cold day; I can imagine that it would be fantastic to visit Glendalough in the summer.
(Side note: Rathdrum was the town where they filmed a scene for the movie Michael Collins, specifically of Liam Neeson doing this, somewhere I had no idea I would visit when I brought it up in my last post. Kind of eerie. I attempted to imitate the pose in a picture.)
From Rathdrum we took a train across Ireland to Galway, a city on the western shore of Ireland. I loved it there. One, it was much warmer facing the Atlantic than facing the Irish Sea; and two, I feel Galway provided me with much more of an "authentic" Irish experience. The pubs we wandered into were great, with lots of live music and friendly Irish people who loved talking about Obama and how Ireland is really going through tough economic times. Galway's waterfront reminded me a bit of Milwaukee, and lo and behold, Wikipedia tells me Galway is a sister city of Milwaukee. Go figure. The Galway Museum is small but has some interesting bits, including a fairly large section on JFK's one-hour visit to the city back in 1963.
On the magic day of March 31, my friend Ben and I returned to Dublin so we could catch our respective flights out of there the next day. Seeing as it was my 21st birthday, we felt obligated to hit a few pubs. Now, this was both good and bad: I enjoyed celebrating my birthday in this manner, as I will forever be able to tell people I spent the big 21 gallivanting around Dublin. However, it was Dublin--pints were not cheap. Oh €uro, must you mock me?
Some general observations on Ireland: Despite what I've heard, the Irish are very friendly people. Even the drunk guy outside our hostel seemed nice, as one morning he very loudly offered that anyone who wanted money could come back to his house, where he had a printing press. I also noticed many similarities between Ireland and America, namely that they don't drive the eco-friendly cars that the Brits do, they say "Thank you" instead of "cheers," and they call football "soccer."
Coming up next: London during the G20, and Springtime in Paris!
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