Italy: A Sensual Overload

Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome-you make my heart so happy
I think I was meant to be Italian...no honestly, after being in Italy for 8 days I was beyond convinced that I was meant to belong to that country and people. They love the same things I love (family, friends, food, history, a belief in faith and hope, their identities) are loyal to the things they love, and seriously have the most gorgeous country in the entire world (well from what I've seen so far) I could have spent the remainder of the trip in Italy and I reminded the boys of this on a regular basis. And while Italy was probably the most emotionally trying time of the trip (think two missed trains, a phone call in tears home to the parents, and "missing" hotel rooms)it was also the most sensually overwhelming in the most wonderful way imaginable. There was not a city or place I didn't love while we were in Italy, though Florence was a bit crowded for my taste at this time of the year, and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will return there on multiple occasions. Hey, its the first place I've thought, wow if I could go anywhere in the world on my honeymoon this would be it.
Now to be fair, I went to Italy with what some could already call an obsession, and that fondness only grew as we reached our first city, Milan. Getting to Milan was an adventure in and of itself as we somehow misplaced Mike's Eurorail pass while moving out of the apartment. Luckily it wasn't a big deal, but the two hour line to try and get new tickets caused us to miss our initial train and lose some of the precious time we had in Milan. Because of the time delay we had less than 18 hours in this city but made the most of it by eating our fill of Gelato, visting the Duomo, "fashion alley", and the most beautiful mall in the world where we proceeded to spin on the "Bull's Balls" for a bit of good luck, and having our first taste of "real Italian food." Tradition has it that if you spin on a fresco of a bull on the floor in the middle of the mall you'll get good luck, and trust me when I say EVERYONE does it there, so much so that there is now a hole where the bull's balls should have been. We left Milan early the next morning, knowing to walk the block this time instead of take a taxi, to head off to Venice.




If I could create my own heaven, I would most certainly make Venice at least part of the backdrop. I have NEVER loved a city more, and despite what everyone says about it being somewhat creepy,I was mesmerized by every aspect of this city on water. The moment I stepped off the train I was enthralled and wanted to see and do as much as humanly possible in the time we had there. The first thing you should know is that there are NO cars in Venice (minus the one at the random casino that was decorated, but we didn't really know why) Everything is done through boats including police boats, ambulances, and buses. The city started out on an even higher note when two strangers gave Mike and I their tickets for the water buses which meant only Kenley needed to get his. We hopped on at the train station stop and made our way down the canals and over the bridge to our hotel, with me taking pictures non-stop the whole way. Getting into our hotel was a bit tricky as there wasn't anyone at the reception desk and we were assigned to a room that was actually the breakfast room, but we eventually found our way and got settled in. We spent the next 3 days wandering through alley ways and canals, eating great food, making our way to the glass island of Murano and the lace and colored house island of Burano, braving rain storms, and buying more souvenirs than I had on the entire trip before. We had great conversations with the most random people, took full advantage of Italy's potable water sources, and witnessed some great thunder storms. I absolutely can not wait until I get to go back to this city on the water and finally get to have my gondola ride!





Getting to Florence was probably the most emotionally trying time of the entire trip for me and resulted in this first major meltdown with a phone call home to Mom and Dad early in the morning for some encouraging words and a reminder that this trip was all about discovering myself and my inner strengths (I would NEED these words as the rest of Italy continued) Without too much detail, I ended up hopping off our initial train and rearranging for us to be on a different one in order to make our way to Florence. Once again, this way a city we had way too little time to explore, and was one of the first that I explored primarily on my own. Known to be the leather capital of Italy I was determined to find Dad's gift here so I spent much of my time figuring out how to dodge the rain while finding an Italian leather pouch (didn't quite happen, but wound up with a great alternative!)We saw the main sites of the Uffizi and the main shopping centers, the Duomo, and Michelangelo's Pavilion for sunset and while it was EXTREMELY crowded I can see why people love the city for its beauty. I would definitely enjoy visiting again during the off season and getting some more time to go in and out of all the great jewelry stores!





From Florence we were off to Rome and I once again fell in love with a city! Rome is a crazy place with so much history its next to impossible to have enough time to see everything. Because our hotel was literally right down the street from the Colosseum we headed off to see that first. We all decided to skip the lines and go on a private tour which turned out to be a great decision as we met an awesome tour guide who we also met up with the next day for a tour of the Vatican Museum, St. Paul's and the Sistine Chapel. We learned the history, saw the sites, and also got a great tour of the forum and Palantino. Walking through the forum was simply amazing as you were literally walking through history and able to touch and experience so many great sites. That night we visited the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps where I made my wishes, threw my coins, and fended off the WAY too pushy "rose guys." We once again had great Italian food and woke up bright and early the next morning to visit the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. It amazed me that so much power rested in one tiny city surrounded by a wall, and that so much art and beauty could be housed in such a small place. The Sistine Chapel was all I had hoped it would be, and despite the fact that they warned us not to take pictures I managed to sneak away from the group and snap a few for my collection. Because I was feeling pretty miserable during this time I spent a lot of my nights in the hotel room avoiding the rain storms, and while this was yet another emotionally trying portion of the trip, I managed to get in as much as I could. The final day we ventured out to see the Pantheon and a couple of other sites and enjoy our time before the rain started coming down in buckets. We spent our final night tucked in our hotel room listening to the rain, watching BBC World News for the millionth time, and enjoying the Chinese food we managed to have delivered to our hotel.










Leaving Italy was the first time I was truly sad to leave a country, and despite our 2 hour delayed plane ride, everything about the place made me love it and I think more than anywhere else on this entire journey up to that point it allowed me to discover who I was, what faith and spirituality meant to me, and how much I love my parents and best friend and how lucky I am to have them there for me when I need them the most. Italy is number one on my must return list and I can not wait to share it with those who I love as I know it will only make the place that much more amazing. There isn't possibly enough room on this blog to put all the pictures of the amazing time I had in this country, and I can't wait to go home and start learning Italian!

Catching Up and Saying Goodbye to Nice

Monaco, Cannes, and the end of Nice
So much catching up to do! While I'm currently in Florence, Italy several cities and trips have taken place on the journey here that I have a couple of catch up posts to do.
It seems as though our month in Nice flew by without us really realizing how fast the time was going. After spending the weekend in Paris with Jules every day in Nice was filled with classes, beach trips, and visiting local cities nearby. The Chicago kids and I explored as much of what we could as possible, and yet even after a month in the city of Nice we didn't see much of what our own city had to offer. We definitely got our fill of the University, the beach, local night clubs, and shopping, but probably could have given a little more time to some of the museums and parks there were, but it seemed as though the beach was just a bit more appealing after our days in class.
Our third and final weekend in Nice was spent with day trips to both Monaco/Monte Carlo and to Cannes. Monaco was gorgeous, despite being WAY too hot for our liking. Brian, Alex, Andrea and I chose to take one of the hop on hop off tours so we didn't have to hike all the way up the giant hill to see the castle in Monaco. It was totally worth the cost and even though we got kicked off at the end of the tour, and had to walk through the scariest tunnel of all times with cars flying at us, we eventually found our way back to the train station in the Mountain and made our way back to Nice. The city itself is not as big as you would expect, and while the Monte Carlo was pretty from the outside and the cars are extremely impressive, the service at the cafes near it was just plain awful and unless you're dressed to the nines don't plan on getting to go inside the casino. I did find a diamond ring I'd like some day, but the biggest purchase of the day was a magnet for Mom.




The next day the girls and I headed out to Cannes to meet up with one of the French students who was having a bar-b-que at his parents house in Cannes. After the train ride from hell, where they ended moving us all up to a first coach cabin because the second coach was so hot people were literally about to pass out and leaving puddles of sweat in their seats, we eventually made it to the beautiful city of Cannes. While we thought we were late enough to have missed the city tour with Adrien (the French student) we ended up taking a tour around the city, climbing mountains, monuments, and sweating more than I have in my entire life. Our shirts looked as though we had just taken a shower and I eventually ended up using one of the public fountains plus Snuffy, as a shower just to try and cool off. After visiting the Monks castle, the Cannes film festival site, the Hotel Carleton, and the first sand beach we had seen in months, we were off to Adrien's parents house up in the hills of Cannes. The amazing chateau (yes literally a Chateau) has been passed through the generations of his family and is where he grew up. His parents being out of town, we had free range of the house and enjoyed the french version of a B-B-Q (the picture of me aerating the fire is what we ended up cooking on)complete with football (both American and French version)dance parties, and meeting a new friend named Climo (is that the right spelling Alex?)Because the last train back to Nice was at 10pm and NONE of us were capable of finding our way back to the train station at that point in time, we all ended up crashing at Adrien's house for the night, either on the floor, the "couch" or outside in the grass. We left bright and early the next morning complete with severe headaches, great memories, and more bug bites than any girl could possible need.




Our last week in Nice was spent with a final trip to 50 cent champagne night, studying for finals, taking finals, a short trip to Antibes with Brian, and a final goodbye party with everyone at the law school. Because of the terrible cold/cough that pretty much everyone had caught by that point, I spent my final night at the hotel with Andrea eating strawberry tarts, exchanging pictures, and watching a movie on her laptop.
Nice was absolutely amazing, and while we were all beyond ready to be done with France and some of its people, it was an amazing home for a month.

Paris with Jules

AKA Paris Part 2
My third weekend here I was off to Paris again, only this time it was a completely different experience. When I was in Paris the first time I knew there was absolutely no way I would be able to see everything I wanted to see and experience everything I wanted to experience in the 3 and a half days I was there with the boys, so I opted to skip Spain and Running with the Bulls (still a tough decision, but after hearing the stories one I'm pretty satisfied with)and return to Paris for the weekend. Initially I was only going to go for Friday and Saturday night and return to school on Sunday but low and behold one of my closest friends Jules decided that she would fly out and meet me there. But plans changed, and suddenly a 4 night 4 and a half day adventure was planned. I left for Paris from the Nice airport right after school on Thursday (we don't have classes on Fridays)and although I missed the first tram between the stations at the airport I successfully made it to the airport, printed my plane ticket and checked in for the hour and a half flight to Orly airport in Paris all speaking French (along with nodding and pointing of course)

Despite warnings from my Professor about how terrible AirFrance is I had no problems with the flight at all and actually enjoyed my own row and being one of the first to receive their baggage. I navigated my way through the airport to the Metro and found my way to the end of the number 4 line and the Metro stop Porte De'Orleans which led directly to my hotel and to Jules who was waiting in the hot pink lobby. Despite my great find on the hotel, there was one slight problem with it, there was no air conditioning at all. Now while this wouldn't normally be a huge problem in Paris in the summer time, we of course picked the weekend with record breaking heat waves and the room was a bit uncomfortable the first night (I eventually bought a fan from what can best be described as a Paris dollar store except things weren't a dollar)but got better as the weather cooled down and the rain kicked in.
Jules and I had both agreed that this would be a leisurely trip for both of us with no set plans and a simple agreement to see what we could see when we could see it. Every night was spent at the Eiffel Tower taking ridiculous amounts of pictures, laughing at the random people we talked to (Americans who were drunk and touched Jules feet to inspect her tattoo, French guitar players who sang Britney Spears and the Beatles, Italians who moved to France but couldn't speak a lick of English, and all of the individuals who tried to sell us wine, cigarettes, beer, key chains, champagne, and helicopter toys)and simply enjoying our own personal heaven, followed by pizza and way too expensive sodas at the the cafe by the Metro station.



We purchased Museum passes so our days were spent exploring all of the random little museums I didn't get to see the first time around including Musee D'Orsay, Musee L'Orangerie, The Crypt at Notre Dame, the Deportation Museum, Notre Dame, Arc De Triomphe, and several other parks and bookstores along the way sneaking illegal pictures and giggling at some of the subjects that were chosen to be displayed.


The Musee L'Orangerie was my absolute favorite and I think Jules and I both could have spent an entire day there. The water lily rooms were to die for and getting to see Professor Golden (my contracts prof. who is also teaching in Nice this summer) and his wife was an added bonus to this tiny museum that deserves far more recognition. We took way too many pictures and videos of this one and enjoyed every minute of the air conditioned glory.




In addition to visiting the museums I didn't get to see the first time around, I also made sure I got to get in some quality shopping time this trip. Poor Jules followed me up and down the Champs-Elysees, as I walked into and out of stores, most of which I couldn't afford but enjoyed thoroughly anyway and eventually found my way to the affordable boutiques where I picked up some things for myself and a couple of things for some others as well. (Yet another Zara I can add to my list)A personal favorite of both of ours was the Swarovski crystal store where the stairs were made entirely of the gorgeous gems. Between those and the chandeliers we saw in the D'Orsay Jules and I have our future houses planned out.





We also made stops at Saint Chapelle, the French Supreme Court, the Top of the Eiffel Tower (AMAZING views and I would recommend it to anyone no matter how long the wait is),Moulin Rouge (just hop on the metro, go take some pictures and hop right back on because it is a SHADY neighborhood there), and Giverny (where Monet lived and the actual water lily gardens are, about a 45 minute train ride outside of Paris, an awesome side trip that would be better if it weren't 102 degrees outside)
Despite the days being horrendously hot, we did our best to enjoy what we saw and not to complain too much. Unfortunately the heat really did cut into some of the peace and enjoyment of the trip, but it was still a great experience topped off by the final game of the world cup which we watched on the Trocadero with about 5000 other people (some of whom decided to light fire works and throw them at trees which then lit on fire and caused people to run for their lives...including us)
Paris is an AMAZING city that I still feel I haven't experienced fully. Everything about is magical and I am so glad I got experience it again and this time around with such a good friend. I can't wait to come back and explore more with others and fall in love with the city all over again. Thanks for an awesome trip Jules, can't wait to do it again!
(More pictures to come, the internet is just being HORRIBLY slow at the apartment right now)