Some of my favorite things….
So this weekend I went to Florence! I was originally going to go just for the weekend, but I decided to go early on Friday. I arrived in the morning and saw the Bargello, a sculpture museum, the science museum, the Duomo, climbed to the top of the Duomo, went shopping and bought a white dress, and chilled out in the Boboli gardens.
That evening when I returned my to my hostel room I met my roomates who were 2 brutish girls both named Jess. They invited me out to dinner with them and we went to this delicious restaurant. I ate this yummy chicken with truffle cream and avocado. There was this group of Italian men next to our table so we asked them where was a good place to out and go dancing. They suggested a club which was fun because it was a club full of Italian people, and no other English speaking people. There was just the right amount of people there and they were playing good music to dance to. Then all of the sudden the dance floor parted and there was a beauty pageant with a bunch of Italian girls in swimsuits, and then the music started up again. There was this this guy wearing a white shirt and orange pants and had a shaved head that was out of control. He would stick his hands on his hips and do this cross over thing with his legs and throw his hands up into the air. When I saw him dance, I started laughing with my head in my hands. But I avoided him by dancing with my new British girl friends.
The next morning I woke up and went to go find Sara and Steven at the train station. We went to the Accademia gallery and saw the impressive statue of David. We then walked around and went to Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge with a bunch of gold and silver shops on it and also had really good gelato nearby. Then Steven and I went to the The Mall. The mall is this outlet mall outside of florence that sells designer goods like Gucci, Prada, dolce, Armani, Ferragamo, Burberry, etc. at half price which is still quite hefty. I bought a pair of sandals at Tods and then we headed back to eat dinner.
On Sunday I woke up and went to the Medici Chapel and bought a ciao bella shirt with gold writing and a pink firenze shirt also with gold writing. We then went to the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi gallery which houses many nice pieces of art. My favorites were the Birth of Venus by Botticelli and medusa by Caravaggio- After that I decided to head home since I had been there for 2.5 days and headed to the train station. I bought my ticket for firenze to bologna to venezia which left in 15 minutes. But then it was time and the train wasn't there! It said it was delayed 10, then 25, then 45 minutes and then delayed I was like ahhhhh! But it was slightly okay because then I just hopped on the next eurostar train in that direction at 5:15, but I technically had no seat since it actually wasn't my train :( So I sat near the door in that part in between cars near the bathrooms for an hour. Then once I got to Bologna some guy was like nee how ma and I was like NO! Sono di Stati Uniti. and shook my head. My regional train to Venice was surprisingly really nice since those are normally crappy. It was a double decker train which I was really excited about and of course sat on the top level. Then I finally arrived home after the delay and went back to my flat to find a Holly Johnson (one of my good friends from MIT) on my couch! We talked and caught up until late and this morning we walked together to Thetis since she worked here 2 summers ago and wanted to visit all of her old friends. We caught up some more, and now she is gone and heading back to France. 
All in all it was a good weekend!
So this weekend I went to Cinque Terre national park (five lands) which is a beautiful area consisting of 5 coastal towns on the western coast of Italy. Nisha and I took a train on Friday night, arriving in La Spezia, a nearby larger town outside the park at exactly 7am. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel which was also outside the park and decided to walk to Riomaggiore, the first of the five towns since the busses run infrequently. We followed the directions that the hostel manager gave us, but somewhere we took a wrong turn and ended up 1.5 hrs in the wrong direction. I really thought we were going the right way… after all we were on the right trail-But I guess the unkempt condition of the path and the constant prickling of my leg by thorns suggested otherwise. We ended up in a town called Campligia. An old man helped us find the right way towards Riomaggiore, after questioning if I was serious that I wanted to go there. After buying a better map, we journeyed back in the correct direction and finally made it to the town of Riomaggiore. I had a yummy lunch of a half pesto and half seafood pizza.
Our original plan was to walk the trail that runs from Riomaggiore to Manarola to Corniglia to Vernazza to Monterosso which provides breataking viws of the coast and towns.
But because of our detour we decided instead to take a train to Monterosso and chill out on the beach there. We swam in the water which was a perfect warm temperature and laid out of beach chairs for a few hours. We then headed back to the hostel to check-in and take a shower so we could go out later. Unfortunately due to the location of our hostel it was not really possible to go back to the 5 towns without putting down a lot of money. So we wandered around the quiet town where our hostel was and found this restaurant packed with locals. We ate this dish that I can't remember the name of but was surprisingly good. It consisted of three large flat pasta-potato like things, one with a chestnutty mushroom sauce, one with pesto, and one with cheese. It was strange but good. With our tummies satisfied we went back to the hostel for a night of sleep.
The next day we woke up early, determined to actually hike between the 5 towns. We walked through each, enjoying the food of the region and each town's respective quaintness and personality. 
At the end of dinner I asked where the bathroom was, but was very unsuccessful in finding it. To get to this restaurant, you had to walk up a set of stairs where you reached the layer with the kitchen on the left, then you walked up another short set of stairs where there were some more tables and also a path into a neighborhood, and then to get where we sat you walked up another flight of stairs to a patio. The guy said the bathroom was down the steps and past the 2 arches. So at first I walked down too far, and I asked someone else where the bathroom was and he said that it was upstairs, so I went back up. It looked like there was an archway towards the neighborhood path so I walked in that direction. I passed several arches but no bathroom, just more and more cats and old women walking around. By this point in time I felt very lost, and just wanted to sit down and start sleeping, but I made my way back to our restaurant table somehow and then the waiter showed me where the bathroom was. It was so much closer by than I thought, and not in the direction I went at all!
Anyways I really enjoyed the weekend because it was overflowing with one of my favorite things: quaint small townness. Everyone was really nice in all of the towns, and there weren't that many American tourists!
On Friday, we arrived in Rome and took a walking tour that provided background to many of the sites. We started off at the Colosseum, and then walked through the Roman Forum, Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon among other places.
On Saturday we woke up early and went to the Vatican to avoid the massive tour groups and line of people, which is hard to do on the weekend in touristy places. Once we finally got into the Museum we headed straight to the Sistine Chapel, weaving around the slow walking and herd like tour groups. Of course the room was strategically placed towards the end of the one-way path through the museum, but we made it and enjoyed the beautifully painted chapel. After staring at the ceiling for quite some time, we went back to the beginning of the museum and more slowly looked at other portions of the museum which is quite large. It is said that if you looked at everything in the museum for 60 seconds, you would spend 12 years in the museum! After that we took a much deserved lunch break before heading on to St. Peter's Square. Everything there was huge...the square, the basilica, the dome and blistering heat. It was as grand as I always imagined.
Panoramic view of the Vatican
On Sunday, we went to Colosseum and saw the inside which was very cool. I like ruins and imagining what life was like in the past. I also bought this cool book where the pages are photographs of current day Roman Ruins and then you can put a plastic overlay on top on the photograph to more clearly see what it looked like back in the day - I also found this very neat. After that we walked through Palatine Hill, which overlooks the roman forum area and has ruins of its own. After that we went to Villa Borghese which is a big park with a very nice art Museum. Finally, until our train left we walked around the city and checked out the sales in a bunch of stores (for the cheaper prices and in search of air conditioning! it was so hot on Sunday that if I ever stepped into the shade I never wanted to leave in fear of melting).
This is a random assortment of my side activities in Venice, in no particular order…
This past weekend I went to see the iconic St. Mark's square and the Doge's Palace of Venice.
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On Sunday, I went to the Biennale art festival which happens every other year and represents modern art from countries all over the world. It was interesting, and sometimes really strange. Some exhibits were interactive, like this glass/mirror maze. This is right after I attempted to walk over to Nisha and banged my head right into a glass panel.
The weirdest one was the exhibit from Canada. There were hairy, decaying, fake body parts all over the place, and birds sitting on them. Then there was a giant sculpture of a rotting man, and animals had made their new home inside of him.
My favorite was France’s exhibit by Sophie Calle about her boyfriend’s email breakup. She had 107 women interpret the letter with interesting results.
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Right now it is sale month in Italy! They only have sales two times a year, in January and in July. I have bought some shorts and dresses to frolic in. Everything is so comfortable and colorful here…and still expensive.
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Not much is new in my life..except-Today I saw my first dead person. I went to the coop supermarket after work and near the cheese section there were shopping carts blocking off an area where the paramedics were trying to revive an old woman that was on the floor. When we went to go pay, they had stopped trying, and there was a gold sheet wrapped around her. It was very creepy because you could still see her heeled shoes pointing out. I had never been that close to a dead person before. It was quite traumatizing and I lost my appetite for the evening. I guess that's what happens when the average age of the people in your city is 50+.
My skin is hot right now, I feel like I am radiating. Anyways, this past weekend Nisha and I went to the Dolomites aka the Italian Alps. It was really nice and quaint. I like quaint, it's one of my things. I mean all of Italy has been cute so far, although I guess Rome will change that, but for the first time, I did not hear any other tourists speak english - for 2 whole days! There weren't that many tourists in general, and they mainly spoke German. So, on Saturday we arrived to Bolzano/Bozen. Everything in this region is in both German and Italian since the area used to be a part of Austria but then was taken over by Italy during one of those World Wars.
First, we dropped our stuff of at the youth hostel, which was the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in, it was really new and all ikea-like, and they had a good free breakfast that was all you could eat mmmm. Normally they give you a hunk of bread and coffee or sugary water. We walked around the small town and there was so much green-ness, I was so overwhelmed. If you think MIT is bad about green space, Venice is worse, there's hardly any :( ! There were so many bike and walking paths and streets where cars are not allowed to drive on, more things I like. On Saturdays there is a street market that sold cheap crap, like fake designer bags and clothes, and delicious fruit. We walked about, and went shopping, because I really needed more shorts for Greece, and I always wanted a pair of boardshorts but such things are hard to find in Venice. There were more outdoors and sports shops in Bolzano so I bought two pairs of shorts and nice sunglasses, which I also needed because I have been blinded by the sun while walking to and from work. It was like magic when I bought the sunglasses because it's really hard to find sunglasses that fit my round face and still look good, and on top of that don't rest on my cheeks and then move when I change my facial expression. So I tried on a bunch of sunglasses and then I asked the guy at the store, and he put a pair on my face and they fit perfectly.
BUT EVEN MORE EXCITING was seeing Otzi, the iceman! The museum was set up into 4 floors, going through the progression of man and technology starting with the stone age, then a whole floor about otzi, then the bronze age, then the roman era. You couldn't take any pictures though :( But Otzi was so cool! It was weird though, you waited in line, and look through this like 3x3 window into a room with ice walls where they keep him now. But it was still cool! I went back to look at him again later and there was nobody in line and just looked at him for a long time. We then took a cable car to Oberbozen and walked on some short trails to see earth pyramids, which kind of looked by bryce canyon but not as cool, and then to a lake. We then took the cable car back down and ate a delicious meal of the region's food, like beer dumplings, schnitzel, and beer brewed there.
On Sunday, we embarked on a grand adventure to get a good view of the dolomites. It was all about timing. We took an hour bus from Bolzano to Castelrotto, from there was took a 30 minute bus to Compastch. The road were really windy and there was like no air circulation in the bus and I felt really motion sick. But once I got outside and felt the fresh mountain air I was a lot better. We then took a chair lift up part of the mountain and hiked on trails through wideopen green mountain sides for a few hours until we got our spectacular view. Along the way there were refugios that had places to stay and restaurants. We stopped at one and ate salad, which was strange because it was the best salad I've had since getting here, like halfway up a mountain! The people in this area also wear mountain village style clothing that say let's go yodeling right now dresses and shorts held up by suspenders and funky hats. By the time we made it up the mountain it was about 2:30, and we had to get back down the mountain, get back to compatsch, take the bus to castelrotto, take the bus back to bolzano, and catch our train at 7:31. The next train back wasn't until 3:36am. We would need to back to compastch by at 5:15 at the latest, to catch the infrequent bus back to bolzano from castelrotto.
We started hiking in the direction we thought was right, but we weren't sure because the map actually wasn't that good. We asked a man where we were, and he told us we were somewhere completely different than where we thought and on the other side of the mountain. I don't think he was right, but we freaked out, and we couldn't tell where we were either. So we headed back the way we came, but it would have taken too long to head completely back the way we came. We decided to try to catch a different chair lift down, but we still weren't sure where we were. So I was like let's run down this hill onto that trail over there and walk in that direction, even though on the map it didn't look like exactly the right one we wanted, but the map seemed wrong anyways. So that's what we did, which could have screwed us over if it was the wrong trail, but we ran into a man in suspenders walking his dog and asked him where we were and we were in the right spot, yay! We made it to the chairlift dead tired and scared the chairlift operator with our incoherent jumble. We were trying to ask him how to take the chairlift down, but we must have come across as zombies. His response? Well, do you have money? As we made our way back down the mountain, the bubble of our chairlift suddenly closed and delirious Nisha and I both screamed. Finally, we made our way back, and ate a hot dog and strudel while waiting for the different connections and made our way home. It was ridiculous but awesome.
And since Dennis requested pictures of people in traditional outfits…
This past weekend I went to Pisa, Lucca, and Siena- Three very amazing towns.
On Saturday, we went to Pisa to climb the leaning tower. I was surprised how much it leans, it was actually more than I imagined. After walking around a little bit, we headed to a small nearby town called Lucca, since there is little else to do in Pisa other than look at the tower and surrounding buildings.
Lucca was enclosed in tall thick walls during medevial times to barricade it from attacks from the outside world. Now, instead of taking them down, they turned the top of the walls into a bike path with grassy areas to sit and relax. It's cool because while you bike you get a good view of outside and inside the city. We then walked around and up a tall tower to enjoy more scenery from above and enjoy a refreshing cool breeze.
Today, Monday, there is the Palio, an intense horse race between the 10 of 17 districts in the main plaza area. The city goes crazy preparing for this race, so that was also exciting to see. I didn't get to see the Palio, but maybe someday I will. However, I bought 3 flags: the turtle, the noble caterpillar, and the snail. The noble caterpillar design reminded me of Brasil. Now of course there are much mightier and traditional animals, but I thought it was nice that they choose such overlooked creatures to represent them. Like how can a caterpillar or snail beat a double headed phoenix? Its possible in the Palio!
Last night I was invited by another MIT student, Sara John to go to a festival with her coworker and some of her co worker's friends. It was a lot of fun. First we walked across the island to somewhere I had never been before, (my goal is to walk on all the streets of Venice), and went to a restaurant. The best part was when this 70 year old drunk woman latched onto Sara John's arm and started yelling at an old man. Then she shuffled away somewhere to go bother other people, but when we toasted, she shuffled back over to say "cheer cheer!" with us.
We then walked over to the festival which was tucked away in a little corner of the island. It was definitely a local scene, and we were probably the only non-Venetians. There were tents with food and drink, and I ate a deliciously greasy meal of ribs, sausage, fries, and coke. Mmm it was a nice change from pasta, pizza, water, and salad. It was so cute too, the joy in the air, all the children with strangely shaped balloons, the italian band performing latin sounding music, the quaint wooden bridges over waterways decorated with colored lights, the moonlight reflecting off the dark water. Sara John bought me a balloon and we danced the night away. Finally, we headed home and walked through Saint Mark's Square at Midnight, which was a pretty sight, compared its crowdedness and pigeonfullness during the daytime. To top the night off, I made my way home, pink balloon in tow, floating behind me as I walked through the dark and empty streets. Every once in a while I would pass a bar and people would look at me like how random, a girl with a pink balloon walking through the streets at night, or even smile at me, and I was content.
Overall, last night was a good break away from the tourist grind, the monotony of going home every night and cooking, washing the dishes, and then going to sleep. It's easy to feel isolated on the Island, because of the lack of young people, the lack of locals, and no connection with the familiar world after I leave my computer at work. I guess this is what life is about, not falling into that trap of repetition and boredom, doing different things, but still taking time to relax.
Today we slept in late, and made our way over to Murano, an island close to Venice, that is famous for their glass. Every single store was either sold glass or food. I bought a glass animal 'family'. Basically, you buy a set of 4 creatures of the same species and that constitutes a family. However, my family consists of 3 frogs, and 1 turtle. I have no idea how the turtle got in the family, but I found that to be part of the charm, and thus decided on that mismatched set. We walked around most of the island and saw some really cute things.
First, we stumbled upon a soccer tournament on a really small soccer field down a side street. Second, we saw a trio of old ladies walking down the street in sync, arm in arm.
Finally, we stumbled into a residential area away from all the glass stops and sat on a dock and stared out into the water. An older couple drove up in their motorboat having spent the say gathering mussels.
For dinner, we had fried calamari and pasta mmm. We then took the vaporetto back to the main island, and walked all the way home through a touristy drag.
DAY 1 5/31/07- And so it begins…after crunching in a few errands, and eating one last boloco burrito, I was off to logan airport to Venice! It was a longish flight, but fortunately there was no one sitting next to me on my connection to Amsterdam, and I was able to watch 2 movies from a wide selection on my own personal screen. I watched 'Romeo and Juliet' the 1994 version, which I felt obligated to see because I was going to Italy, the setting of the original, and Freedom Writers.
After a short wait in Amsterdam, where I was nearly driven crazy by first the price of a small bottle of water, €2.50! Second, because my departure gate was near the end of a moving walkway that kept on saying "Mind your step" whenever someone approached the end. I then connected to Venice, and waited several hours in the Marco Polo airport for Nisha to arrive. At first, I played a game of deciphering between who was a tourist versus a native Italian. This was mainly based on attire, sense of fashion, and tightness of the outfit. In the meantime, some random questions popped into my head. Why is it that a lot of older women adopt the short haircut style? Why don't public restrooms in airports have doors? Why does KLM always give me a gross egg sandwich?
Before I time to deeply think about these questions, Nisha arrived, and that's when our Italian adventure really began. Our Challenge? To arrive at CVN before they closed for the evening so that we could get the keys to the flat and had somewhere to stay. We caught a bus to the island of Venezia, and arrived at Piazzale Roma. From there we tried to catch a taxi to San Samuele, the location of CVN, but that was actually impossible since Venice is made up of numerous canals, making it impassible for anything other than feet and boats. So we bought tickets for the Vaporetto, the form of public transportation here, a large ferry boat that services the city. We hopped on the #1 vaporetto which is like the #1 bus to Harvard – slow, crowded, and stops frequently. Soon we arrived at the San Angelo stop, which the closest we could get to San Samuele, but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the boat to easily get off. I made my way over to the exit, but as I turned my head to see if Nisha was still behind me, a crowd of people started pushing their way off. I became part of a roadblock since I was preventing people from getting onto the boat, but at the same time I couldn't get past the people pushing towards me. Really, it was a bunch of elderly Italian woman yelling 'Descender?!?' at me, and me being too freaked out to understand. They were asking, or perhaps yelling, for me to get off. The vaporetto man kindly assisted us in lifting our bags onto the dock after many confused looks, and we were still on our way to CVN.
We had no idea what time Italians stop working, but it was past 5, and we were worried that would wouldn't be able to find a place to sleep. After lugging our bags over bridges, we found the double green doors of the office, which is next to some really strange store. We made it in time though, and conveniently, the real estate office was right next door. After settling into our flat which was on the first floor in a neighborhood no more than 3 minutes away and complete with a bedroom, couch, bathroom, and kitchen, we went out to explore the grand city of Venice. We had a dinner of plain pizza in San Samuele square before passing out for about 13 hours. When we wake up it was 1:45pm the next day, which I originally thought was a mistake, but it wasn't!
Venice at last!
