6:56 PM August 11, 2011. Fuimicino Airport, Rome.
Got back from Salzburg yesterday via Berlin (yes, that is the other direction. Our flight connected to Berlin). Since we had a 6 hour layover, Chelsea and I explored Berlin for a little bit.
We went on a boat tour of the river Spree(the river that runs through Berlin). We also had sausages and a stein of beer.
Now, sitting at the airport waiting to check in. They are now telling us we can't check until 7:30 :/
I'm ready to leave Rome. I had a great time, but it's time to leave. Most people were nice, others were very rude, but that's how it is in most places.
I'm over the cobblestone streets that hurt your feet and make car/bus rides very bumpy. I don't want to look at pizza and pasta for a long time. I want rice that isn't arborio. Damn it, I want soy sauce that doesn't cost €6 for a little bottle.
Yes, it's time for something new. And I am so excited to he going back to England, even if it's just for a little bit. I feel like I'll be coming home (plus I can wear more clothes).
Yes, there is turmoil around England--Liverpool, Manchester and London. And I'm staying in London. However, the riots in London are in East London and I won't be going anywhere near there. I just need to excise more caution. Anyway, I can't wait to go back!
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Venice: Day 2
9:47 PM on the night train to Salzburg
Funniest thing, I'm sitting next to a priest in our little 6 person cabin. It feels like hogwarts express and I half-expect someone with a cart to sell me a chocolate frog. And 2 girls from Manchester.
The day's mission was to buy real Venetian masks and a Murano glass piece. Met up with Tessie, Huber and Pete at Realto bridge. It's neat, it's a bridge that has shops and stalls on it and the shops and stalls extend throughout the street. It's not a converted old bridge, it was always this way. Saw the most amazing Murano light fixture...€1000. :| At least they'll ship it to you and would be insured.
We took a gondola ride. Chelsea and I never thought we'd get to ride one because it would be too expensive to split it between us (we didn't think people were gonna come with us to Venice). It was AWESOME!!!!! I don't care that it's touristy and kitschy, it was fun! I was holding on for dear life on the part where we were on the grand canal because the boat was tilting side to side (grand canal is the main thoroughfare for boat transport). The gondolier sang to us! Hahahahaha! We got to go under bridge of sighs (yea!) and the gondolier said that Venice is not sinking, but the water level is rising (still sinking). THEN, it rained. The rain made it funner! The gondolier sang 2 lines from "Singing in the Rain." The rain reminded me of punting in Cambridge when it started to rain haha
I don't care, it was still fun. Summer rain is fun in Europe because it's refreshing.
Chelsea and I successfully completed our mission after about 15 mask stores. We found reasonably priced masks that are hand made in Venice. And they are amazing and beautiful! We also bought Murano glass rings and I got a Burano lace fan.
I enjoyed Venice lots.
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Funniest thing, I'm sitting next to a priest in our little 6 person cabin. It feels like hogwarts express and I half-expect someone with a cart to sell me a chocolate frog. And 2 girls from Manchester.
The day's mission was to buy real Venetian masks and a Murano glass piece. Met up with Tessie, Huber and Pete at Realto bridge. It's neat, it's a bridge that has shops and stalls on it and the shops and stalls extend throughout the street. It's not a converted old bridge, it was always this way. Saw the most amazing Murano light fixture...€1000. :| At least they'll ship it to you and would be insured.
We took a gondola ride. Chelsea and I never thought we'd get to ride one because it would be too expensive to split it between us (we didn't think people were gonna come with us to Venice). It was AWESOME!!!!! I don't care that it's touristy and kitschy, it was fun! I was holding on for dear life on the part where we were on the grand canal because the boat was tilting side to side (grand canal is the main thoroughfare for boat transport). The gondolier sang to us! Hahahahaha! We got to go under bridge of sighs (yea!) and the gondolier said that Venice is not sinking, but the water level is rising (still sinking). THEN, it rained. The rain made it funner! The gondolier sang 2 lines from "Singing in the Rain." The rain reminded me of punting in Cambridge when it started to rain haha
I don't care, it was still fun. Summer rain is fun in Europe because it's refreshing.
Chelsea and I successfully completed our mission after about 15 mask stores. We found reasonably priced masks that are hand made in Venice. And they are amazing and beautiful! We also bought Murano glass rings and I got a Burano lace fan.
I enjoyed Venice lots.
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Venice: Day 1
11:32 PM August 6, 2011
Venice is beautiful. You get out of the train station and you are facing the Grand Canal. And no, it didn't smell. Rumor has it that Venice smells bad in the summer.
You can easily get lost with all the narrow streets and bridges crossing the canal and the streets with no names. We got lost looking for our hostel--the directions the hostel people gave us was confusing.
As I've said before, we were tired, so it was awesome getting to our room and lying down for a bit. AND there was tv. We watched the Italian version of Maury show--hilarious!
We had lunch next to a small canal by our hostel. I had a typical Venetian dish--spaghetti with cuttlefish cooked in its ink. Ok, I was very afraid of this dish but comes highly recommended by Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. I mean, the sauce is black and made with ink! However, it was very, very delicious. It did not taste inky at all. I don't know how to describe the flavor, but it was savory. And the cuttlefish was fresh! Not chewy at all! Yum.
Afterwards, we made it to Piazza San Marco taking the water bus. The water bus is a pretty cool way of seeing the city from the water. We went to Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace. It's where the ruling families of Venice would live and it was the government center of Venice during it's hay day. The cool part was we got to cross the Bridge of Sighs from the court chambers to the prison! Very extensive prison complex. I was just sad that the bridge of sighs and it's surrounding facades were covered because they are going through restoration. Restoration is good, but I just wanted to see it. I got a small book about Casanova and a small Venetian cook book. The Venice book I wanted was way too heavy to bring back home.
We were going to go inside Basilica San Marco but it closes at 5. We went around the shops looking at Murano glass and Venetian masks and the original, hand crafted ones are beautiful. I'm not leaving until I buy some. Had dinner in some small piazza. I had the grilled giltfish. Again, so fresh! It tasted like tilapia, but it didn't look like tilapia.
After dinner, Chelsea and I went back to Piazza San Marco to feed the birds (and yes, the Mary Poppins song was playing in my head as I did so). It was very frightening because there are sooo many pigeons! One landed on my arm and one landed on my head. It was very scary! They didn't poop on me, so that's good.
We took the water bus back to our hostel. Venice at night is just unreal. Very romantic :3
Got caught is a storm walking back to our hostel. It was very strange because it just came from no where! It felt nice since it had been hot all day, but still. No one wants to look like a wet rat.
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Venice is beautiful. You get out of the train station and you are facing the Grand Canal. And no, it didn't smell. Rumor has it that Venice smells bad in the summer.
You can easily get lost with all the narrow streets and bridges crossing the canal and the streets with no names. We got lost looking for our hostel--the directions the hostel people gave us was confusing.
As I've said before, we were tired, so it was awesome getting to our room and lying down for a bit. AND there was tv. We watched the Italian version of Maury show--hilarious!
We had lunch next to a small canal by our hostel. I had a typical Venetian dish--spaghetti with cuttlefish cooked in its ink. Ok, I was very afraid of this dish but comes highly recommended by Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. I mean, the sauce is black and made with ink! However, it was very, very delicious. It did not taste inky at all. I don't know how to describe the flavor, but it was savory. And the cuttlefish was fresh! Not chewy at all! Yum.
Afterwards, we made it to Piazza San Marco taking the water bus. The water bus is a pretty cool way of seeing the city from the water. We went to Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace. It's where the ruling families of Venice would live and it was the government center of Venice during it's hay day. The cool part was we got to cross the Bridge of Sighs from the court chambers to the prison! Very extensive prison complex. I was just sad that the bridge of sighs and it's surrounding facades were covered because they are going through restoration. Restoration is good, but I just wanted to see it. I got a small book about Casanova and a small Venetian cook book. The Venice book I wanted was way too heavy to bring back home.
We were going to go inside Basilica San Marco but it closes at 5. We went around the shops looking at Murano glass and Venetian masks and the original, hand crafted ones are beautiful. I'm not leaving until I buy some. Had dinner in some small piazza. I had the grilled giltfish. Again, so fresh! It tasted like tilapia, but it didn't look like tilapia.
After dinner, Chelsea and I went back to Piazza San Marco to feed the birds (and yes, the Mary Poppins song was playing in my head as I did so). It was very frightening because there are sooo many pigeons! One landed on my arm and one landed on my head. It was very scary! They didn't poop on me, so that's good.
We took the water bus back to our hostel. Venice at night is just unreal. Very romantic :3
Got caught is a storm walking back to our hostel. It was very strange because it just came from no where! It felt nice since it had been hot all day, but still. No one wants to look like a wet rat.
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Rome: The Final Week
7:39 AM August 6, 2011 on the train to Venice.
I am delirious and tired. I look like a monster with red eyes and dark circles. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept thinking about how the hell am I going to lug ALL my shit throughout Europe. Anyway, I left my big luggage at Chelsea's apartment because they have until the 11th, when we leave for London.
Anyway, majority of the week was spent working on our project.
As it was our last week and we still had things we wanted to see, we decided to go check them out.
Coliseum: it's smaller on the inside. It's still pretty impressive, but the facade makes it look like it would be bigger.
Palatine Hill and Roman Forum: a lot of ruins. Still pretty cool to see.
Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel: I hate people who use flash photography in museums. It ruins the colors. Oh! And this one mother fucker touched a 500 year old tapestry! WTF! The oils on your hands will ruin it! Anyway, the museum has a great collection of Greek statues and a decent Egypt collection. Rafael frescoes! Sistine Chapel was amazing. Except for the part where people don't know how to keep quiet.
Galleria Borghese: Love love LOVE the Bernini sculptures! They are sexy! Also alot of Caravaggio pieces. The frescoes on the ceilings are amazing!
On our last day of class (presentation night), our profs invited us to their place and they made us dinner. If only every presentation was like that: food and booze and very informal. Drinking with your professors = good times.
Found a bar on the way home (ok direction of home, but we didn't exactly wanted to go home). Got an Italian ice tea...it's just like a long island, but it has disarono instead. A lot more sweeter than a long island.
Found the RANDOMEST bar afterwards. It's this tiny, tiny room (about the same size as a bedroom), completely packed with people dancing, playing popular hip hop songs. Naturally, we had to get in. I was basically squished between everyone. Still got my dance on hahaha!
The second part of class continues in 2 weeks when we get back to San Diego.
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I am delirious and tired. I look like a monster with red eyes and dark circles. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept thinking about how the hell am I going to lug ALL my shit throughout Europe. Anyway, I left my big luggage at Chelsea's apartment because they have until the 11th, when we leave for London.
Anyway, majority of the week was spent working on our project.
As it was our last week and we still had things we wanted to see, we decided to go check them out.
Coliseum: it's smaller on the inside. It's still pretty impressive, but the facade makes it look like it would be bigger.
Palatine Hill and Roman Forum: a lot of ruins. Still pretty cool to see.
Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel: I hate people who use flash photography in museums. It ruins the colors. Oh! And this one mother fucker touched a 500 year old tapestry! WTF! The oils on your hands will ruin it! Anyway, the museum has a great collection of Greek statues and a decent Egypt collection. Rafael frescoes! Sistine Chapel was amazing. Except for the part where people don't know how to keep quiet.
Galleria Borghese: Love love LOVE the Bernini sculptures! They are sexy! Also alot of Caravaggio pieces. The frescoes on the ceilings are amazing!
On our last day of class (presentation night), our profs invited us to their place and they made us dinner. If only every presentation was like that: food and booze and very informal. Drinking with your professors = good times.
Found a bar on the way home (ok direction of home, but we didn't exactly wanted to go home). Got an Italian ice tea...it's just like a long island, but it has disarono instead. A lot more sweeter than a long island.
Found the RANDOMEST bar afterwards. It's this tiny, tiny room (about the same size as a bedroom), completely packed with people dancing, playing popular hip hop songs. Naturally, we had to get in. I was basically squished between everyone. Still got my dance on hahaha!
The second part of class continues in 2 weeks when we get back to San Diego.
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Sunday, July 31, 2011
Pompeii and Vesuvius
9:39 AM July 31, 2011 on the train back to Rome
Pompeii is huge. You need the entire day. Too bad by past noon, we got tired and hungry and left.
Ok, Pompeii. We met up with Yolanda and Sebastian. Spent about half the day there getting lost. Even with the map, the place is confusing. Obviously, I didn't get to see everything, but I did get to see majority of the things I wanted to see: the theater, the forum, dead bodies and the brothel. Seeing the dead bodies was just part of my morbidness...it was interesting and I felt indifferent because I've read up and seen these bodies so many times prior to going that they didn't feel like people, just museum pieces. It also doesn't help that they are not in their original location, but on a pedestal behind a glass box.
The brothel. That place small! Hahaha Ancient erotic images are fascinating. Also, it's funny to see these things that are taboo now that were not (we think) in ancient times. Also, that shit is kinky! Hahahaha
At lunch, I told them about the round trip bus trip to Vesuvius for €10. I mean, why not, we've never gone up a volcano before and it's there and it's round trip! And that's how I convinced them to go :) I thought they would drive us up almost to the crater. Nope, that did not happen. We got dropped off NEAR the crater, but had to hike up the rest. Not expected. So we hike up, in flip flops and sandals. No joke, my calves were on FIRE. Made it up...slowly. It was pretty awesome.
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Pompeii is huge. You need the entire day. Too bad by past noon, we got tired and hungry and left.
Ok, Pompeii. We met up with Yolanda and Sebastian. Spent about half the day there getting lost. Even with the map, the place is confusing. Obviously, I didn't get to see everything, but I did get to see majority of the things I wanted to see: the theater, the forum, dead bodies and the brothel. Seeing the dead bodies was just part of my morbidness...it was interesting and I felt indifferent because I've read up and seen these bodies so many times prior to going that they didn't feel like people, just museum pieces. It also doesn't help that they are not in their original location, but on a pedestal behind a glass box.
The brothel. That place small! Hahaha Ancient erotic images are fascinating. Also, it's funny to see these things that are taboo now that were not (we think) in ancient times. Also, that shit is kinky! Hahahaha
At lunch, I told them about the round trip bus trip to Vesuvius for €10. I mean, why not, we've never gone up a volcano before and it's there and it's round trip! And that's how I convinced them to go :) I thought they would drive us up almost to the crater. Nope, that did not happen. We got dropped off NEAR the crater, but had to hike up the rest. Not expected. So we hike up, in flip flops and sandals. No joke, my calves were on FIRE. Made it up...slowly. It was pretty awesome.
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Saturday, July 30, 2011
Capri
12:17 AM July 31, 2011
Pronunciation: Caa-pri not Cap-rih
Anyway, Capri was beautiful--crystal blue water, high cliffs, houses built on the hillside, pebbly beach. Pebbly beach? Yes, no sand here. It hurt to walk o the pebbles because some of them were a little big.
We took the hydrofoil to and from Capri from Naples. It was the faster option, taking 45 minutes. The water was pretty choppy but I thought that was part of the fun.
We spent a few hours on their pebbly beach. The water was a little cold but it felt nice because it was hot.
We had the most amazing lunch at the this restaurant recommended by my guide book. It's this little place, hidden in a little street. I had sea bass acqua pazza. I'm not sure how it was cooked...it looked like it was steamed and served in its juices. Sooo goood! So fresh!
We wandered Capri's streets before catching the last hydrofoil back to Naples. It's just so pretty!
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Pronunciation: Caa-pri not Cap-rih
Anyway, Capri was beautiful--crystal blue water, high cliffs, houses built on the hillside, pebbly beach. Pebbly beach? Yes, no sand here. It hurt to walk o the pebbles because some of them were a little big.
We took the hydrofoil to and from Capri from Naples. It was the faster option, taking 45 minutes. The water was pretty choppy but I thought that was part of the fun.
We spent a few hours on their pebbly beach. The water was a little cold but it felt nice because it was hot.
We had the most amazing lunch at the this restaurant recommended by my guide book. It's this little place, hidden in a little street. I had sea bass acqua pazza. I'm not sure how it was cooked...it looked like it was steamed and served in its juices. Sooo goood! So fresh!
We wandered Capri's streets before catching the last hydrofoil back to Naples. It's just so pretty!
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Friday, July 29, 2011
Naples Day 1
12:08 PM July 29, 2011 lying on the beach in Capri.
I would have blogged yesterday but I was just really tired.
Naples is a rough city--there are gypsies and pickpockets and the you-know-what. HOWEVER, it does have great things, if you know where to look. Or a good guide book.
Anyway, we walked around Naples with our class and I am convinced that Naples is the city of historical architectural stairs. We saw a bunch of stairs. The interesting thing about Naples and it's historic buildings is that people actually live in them and make them their own. Basically, these buildings were reclaimed by the people.
Naples is the birthplace of pizza. Naturally, i had a local favorite, the Buffalina d.o.c. It's got mozzarella made of water buffalo milk, fresh tomatoes and basil. YUM!
It started to pour after lunch and we continued our journey around Naples and got SOAKED. I looked like a wet rat.
Naples reminds me of a cleaner (much cleaner) Manila, like Divisoria or something with the narrow streets and street vendors. Naples still has pretty dirty streets though.
Naples is my first real hostel experience complete with the sharing of the bathroom and bunk beds with random strangers (ok I'm sharing a bunk bed with Chelsea).
The hostel and the hostel owner make me feel like I'm staying with an old Italian relative. He's really nice and gave us a little lecture on what to see in Naples.
When we got there late, he scolded me and I should have called. I felt like I got in trouble by my grandparents hahaha
He is a staunch Napolian(?). He is all about Naples and gave us statistics from the Italian government showing Naples as a safer city than Rome, Milan or Florence. He also told us that Almafi and Sorrento are over rated. They are expensive and have very little to offer you for the amount you pay. He compared the coastlines of these cities to Australia and parts of California and they look the same. It pretty much looks like Big Sur.
I don't think Naples is horrible. Just get away from the train station and you'll be fine. It's got cool things to offer (you just have to look) and you can get to cool places from here (like Capri).
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I would have blogged yesterday but I was just really tired.
Naples is a rough city--there are gypsies and pickpockets and the you-know-what. HOWEVER, it does have great things, if you know where to look. Or a good guide book.
Anyway, we walked around Naples with our class and I am convinced that Naples is the city of historical architectural stairs. We saw a bunch of stairs. The interesting thing about Naples and it's historic buildings is that people actually live in them and make them their own. Basically, these buildings were reclaimed by the people.
Naples is the birthplace of pizza. Naturally, i had a local favorite, the Buffalina d.o.c. It's got mozzarella made of water buffalo milk, fresh tomatoes and basil. YUM!
It started to pour after lunch and we continued our journey around Naples and got SOAKED. I looked like a wet rat.
Naples reminds me of a cleaner (much cleaner) Manila, like Divisoria or something with the narrow streets and street vendors. Naples still has pretty dirty streets though.
Naples is my first real hostel experience complete with the sharing of the bathroom and bunk beds with random strangers (ok I'm sharing a bunk bed with Chelsea).
The hostel and the hostel owner make me feel like I'm staying with an old Italian relative. He's really nice and gave us a little lecture on what to see in Naples.
When we got there late, he scolded me and I should have called. I felt like I got in trouble by my grandparents hahaha
He is a staunch Napolian(?). He is all about Naples and gave us statistics from the Italian government showing Naples as a safer city than Rome, Milan or Florence. He also told us that Almafi and Sorrento are over rated. They are expensive and have very little to offer you for the amount you pay. He compared the coastlines of these cities to Australia and parts of California and they look the same. It pretty much looks like Big Sur.
I don't think Naples is horrible. Just get away from the train station and you'll be fine. It's got cool things to offer (you just have to look) and you can get to cool places from here (like Capri).
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Rome Day 20
11:23 AM July 29, 2011
Sorry I haven't blogged.
Anyway, last wednesday we got to sleep in :) Best part? I got to hang out with Yolanda and Sebastian for lunch. We had Chinese food and it was amazing and CHEAP!
Also, it started to rain. No, not rain, pour. And we were sitting outside. Good thing the patio umbrella kept us dry. Barely.
However, the city looks so pretty when it rains. The streets are empty and the colors change.
Later in the afternoon, the class took a field trip to the architecture office of IAN+. It's a prominent architecture office in Italy but they are also struggling to get major projects. According to italian law, civic/government funded buildings have to go through competitions. Even if you win the competition it could still take a while before the project actually starts. I guess no practicing in Italy then hahaha.
Sorry I haven't blogged.
Anyway, last wednesday we got to sleep in :) Best part? I got to hang out with Yolanda and Sebastian for lunch. We had Chinese food and it was amazing and CHEAP!
Also, it started to rain. No, not rain, pour. And we were sitting outside. Good thing the patio umbrella kept us dry. Barely.
However, the city looks so pretty when it rains. The streets are empty and the colors change.
Later in the afternoon, the class took a field trip to the architecture office of IAN+. It's a prominent architecture office in Italy but they are also struggling to get major projects. According to italian law, civic/government funded buildings have to go through competitions. Even if you win the competition it could still take a while before the project actually starts. I guess no practicing in Italy then hahaha.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Rome Day 19
1:55 AM July 27, 2011
Today was the last day of the class walking around Rome and seeing our sites. We had a breakfast, which is basically a pastry and coffee (from what I've noticed, it's the typical italian breakfast). I had some sort of brioche with nutella inside (YUM) and a manachella (espresso with chocolate and cream)[super YUM].
After class, decided to hit the stores to check out the sales going on ending at the end of the month. I went to Zara and got 2 dresses...in sale! SCORE!
After dinner, we went to watch a symphony perform at the courtyard of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza. Amazing!
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Today was the last day of the class walking around Rome and seeing our sites. We had a breakfast, which is basically a pastry and coffee (from what I've noticed, it's the typical italian breakfast). I had some sort of brioche with nutella inside (YUM) and a manachella (espresso with chocolate and cream)[super YUM].
After class, decided to hit the stores to check out the sales going on ending at the end of the month. I went to Zara and got 2 dresses...in sale! SCORE!
After dinner, we went to watch a symphony perform at the courtyard of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza. Amazing!
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Monday, July 25, 2011
Rome Day 18
12:30 AM July 26, 2011
Got back from Milan yesterday. Flight was at 7 and airport was 1 hour away so I was up starting 3 AM
For those who think I'm just running around Italy and not studying, let me say that that is not true.
What school work am I exactly doing in Rome? It's rather difficult to explain exactly what I'm studying. We are studying the baroque and it affects the urban fabric and how it affects the contemporary urban fabric. Specifically, I am studying Chiesa Sant'Andrea al Quirinale by Bernini and how the void becomes a voluminous space that is carved out from the poché. Can I explain that to you? Not really, not yet anyway.
Basically, we are analyzing and diagramming our assigned buildings. From this analysis, we create a 3D object that is a representation of the diagram.
See! School work!
Anyway, yesterday I spent all day working on my project, not knowing exactly what I was doing (happens all the time). I finally got to present my building. Got feedback from our professors and they guided me to the direction I wanted to take for my project. Now that I know what it's about, I just need to figure out how to do it. I need to redo some stuff but I think I'll be ok.
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Got back from Milan yesterday. Flight was at 7 and airport was 1 hour away so I was up starting 3 AM
For those who think I'm just running around Italy and not studying, let me say that that is not true.
What school work am I exactly doing in Rome? It's rather difficult to explain exactly what I'm studying. We are studying the baroque and it affects the urban fabric and how it affects the contemporary urban fabric. Specifically, I am studying Chiesa Sant'Andrea al Quirinale by Bernini and how the void becomes a voluminous space that is carved out from the poché. Can I explain that to you? Not really, not yet anyway.
Basically, we are analyzing and diagramming our assigned buildings. From this analysis, we create a 3D object that is a representation of the diagram.
See! School work!
Anyway, yesterday I spent all day working on my project, not knowing exactly what I was doing (happens all the time). I finally got to present my building. Got feedback from our professors and they guided me to the direction I wanted to take for my project. Now that I know what it's about, I just need to figure out how to do it. I need to redo some stuff but I think I'll be ok.
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Sunday, July 24, 2011
Lake Como
9:21 AM July 24, 2011 on the train from the airport going back to Rome
Left Milan this morning.
So yesterday Chelsea and I took a daytrip to Lake Como. It's an hour north of Milan by train. Very, very pretty and picturesque. Now I see why George Clooney has a house here (also, I believe I saw his house).
I didn't want to pay for a boat tour so Chelsea took the slow ferry going to Bellagio (it's a real place people, not just a Vegas hotel). Anyway, so Lake Como is a y-shaped lake at the base of the Italian Alps. Little towns are spread apart and dot the shoreline and the surrounding mountains. Like I said, very pretty.
Bellagio is a quaint little town with lots of fancy hotels on the shore and going up a hill. Cobblestone streets and little shops everywhere. I'm guessing Lake Como is famous for it's silk because there are silk shops EVERYWHERE and they are not cheap (€30 was the cheapest I saw).
It started to rain...not just rain, pour, on the way back to Como (the town). It didn't let up either. Once we were back on land, Chelsea and I booked it across the street to buy an umbrella.
The rain was very cold. I was wearing a maxi dress and Chelsea was wearing shorts. Thank goodness that there are sales everywhere and we found a store with reasonably priced clothes. I got a denim jacket and Chelsea got pants. Ate some soup and we were warm again :) Yay for emergency shopping!
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Left Milan this morning.
So yesterday Chelsea and I took a daytrip to Lake Como. It's an hour north of Milan by train. Very, very pretty and picturesque. Now I see why George Clooney has a house here (also, I believe I saw his house).
I didn't want to pay for a boat tour so Chelsea took the slow ferry going to Bellagio (it's a real place people, not just a Vegas hotel). Anyway, so Lake Como is a y-shaped lake at the base of the Italian Alps. Little towns are spread apart and dot the shoreline and the surrounding mountains. Like I said, very pretty.
Bellagio is a quaint little town with lots of fancy hotels on the shore and going up a hill. Cobblestone streets and little shops everywhere. I'm guessing Lake Como is famous for it's silk because there are silk shops EVERYWHERE and they are not cheap (€30 was the cheapest I saw).
It started to rain...not just rain, pour, on the way back to Como (the town). It didn't let up either. Once we were back on land, Chelsea and I booked it across the street to buy an umbrella.
The rain was very cold. I was wearing a maxi dress and Chelsea was wearing shorts. Thank goodness that there are sales everywhere and we found a store with reasonably priced clothes. I got a denim jacket and Chelsea got pants. Ate some soup and we were warm again :) Yay for emergency shopping!
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Friday, July 22, 2011
Milan Day 2
9:03 AM July 23, 2011 on the train to Lake Como
I will say this about Milan, there are A LOT of good looking guys out here.
And a lot of Filipinos, mostly older women. There's these group of Filipinos talking about pasalubong and inihaw.
Yesterday went a lot better than the day before. We slept in :) then we spent time in the Duomo and Teatro Spada (the Carnegie Hall of Milan). We had panzotti (?) for lunch. It's Italian street food--deep fried bread with filling(YUM).
We went to Castella Sforenza (?), a for reals castle with moats and draw bridges and turrets! Very Italian in it's architecture despite being a medieval castle.
We had dinner at a trattoria near our hostel and it was the best dinner ever.
Bruschetta pomodoro
Mixed Salad
Home made gnocchi with gorgonzola and walnuts
Cotolone alla Milanese
Eggplant Parmesan
Tiramisu and bread pudding
Beer
All for €20 a person.
Amazing.
Got back to the hostel, to 2 bottles of wine and a movie.
Good times.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I will say this about Milan, there are A LOT of good looking guys out here.
And a lot of Filipinos, mostly older women. There's these group of Filipinos talking about pasalubong and inihaw.
Yesterday went a lot better than the day before. We slept in :) then we spent time in the Duomo and Teatro Spada (the Carnegie Hall of Milan). We had panzotti (?) for lunch. It's Italian street food--deep fried bread with filling(YUM).
We went to Castella Sforenza (?), a for reals castle with moats and draw bridges and turrets! Very Italian in it's architecture despite being a medieval castle.
We had dinner at a trattoria near our hostel and it was the best dinner ever.
Bruschetta pomodoro
Mixed Salad
Home made gnocchi with gorgonzola and walnuts
Cotolone alla Milanese
Eggplant Parmesan
Tiramisu and bread pudding
Beer
All for €20 a person.
Amazing.
Got back to the hostel, to 2 bottles of wine and a movie.
Good times.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Milano Day 1
1:39 AM July 22, 2011
I'm upset at how this trip is turning out. We got to Milan last night (cheapest flight out of Rome because trains are expensive). The airport is far from Milan--it's the old airport so it's outside the city. Our flight was 40 minutes...the bus that took us to Milan was 1 hour. That should have been a sign for things to come.
Today we visited the architecture firm of Steffano Boeri. They gave us a presentation on their new project the 2015 World Exhibition in Milan. I was really interested because it was a landscape master plan using sustainability as a driver.
It went downhill after that. We were on our way to visit our sister school here in Milan called NABA (it's an art school) but got lost because we got confused when we got off the metro station. What should have taken 10 minutes took an hour. The school was supposed to show us around Milan, they sent us an exchange student who was a fashion major who knew nothing about architecture. She was a sweet girl but she just showed us where their students hang out. What she was telling us had no relevance to architecture whatsoever. We walked from the school go the city center and that took a while.
Once we hot back to the city center, I found my friends who broke away from the group earlier on and I just went with them. I was (still am) really upset that we pretty much wasted our day. I got so upset I had a break down in front of Prada Louis Vuitton. That's the classiest breakdown I've ever had.
We were invited to go to a museum for cocktails and food, but when we got there it was almost over and there were tons of Mosquitos. Since we were out, we decided to go have drinks and dinner. Got the drinks, tried to look for a place to eat, but many of the places area we were in were closed. I don't know how, but someone in the group asked a street vendor where to eat, he walked us in circles to a bar/pub that served shitty food. So far, Milan is pissing me off. Everyone is disappointed.
Also, there is a transportation strike tomorrow.
I just want to enjoy Milan.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I'm upset at how this trip is turning out. We got to Milan last night (cheapest flight out of Rome because trains are expensive). The airport is far from Milan--it's the old airport so it's outside the city. Our flight was 40 minutes...the bus that took us to Milan was 1 hour. That should have been a sign for things to come.
Today we visited the architecture firm of Steffano Boeri. They gave us a presentation on their new project the 2015 World Exhibition in Milan. I was really interested because it was a landscape master plan using sustainability as a driver.
It went downhill after that. We were on our way to visit our sister school here in Milan called NABA (it's an art school) but got lost because we got confused when we got off the metro station. What should have taken 10 minutes took an hour. The school was supposed to show us around Milan, they sent us an exchange student who was a fashion major who knew nothing about architecture. She was a sweet girl but she just showed us where their students hang out. What she was telling us had no relevance to architecture whatsoever. We walked from the school go the city center and that took a while.
Once we hot back to the city center, I found my friends who broke away from the group earlier on and I just went with them. I was (still am) really upset that we pretty much wasted our day. I got so upset I had a break down in front of Prada Louis Vuitton. That's the classiest breakdown I've ever had.
We were invited to go to a museum for cocktails and food, but when we got there it was almost over and there were tons of Mosquitos. Since we were out, we decided to go have drinks and dinner. Got the drinks, tried to look for a place to eat, but many of the places area we were in were closed. I don't know how, but someone in the group asked a street vendor where to eat, he walked us in circles to a bar/pub that served shitty food. So far, Milan is pissing me off. Everyone is disappointed.
Also, there is a transportation strike tomorrow.
I just want to enjoy Milan.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Rome Day 11
I finally saw Harry Potter 7.2!!! Took us an entire week to find it in English! Ahhh!!! Sooo goood!!! I laughed, I cried (lots), I sighed, I LOLed.
What am I going to do now?!! (wait for it to come out on blu-ray and have a marathon, I guess)
I mean, the next book series I'm waiting for won't come out until end of 2012 and there are only 2 movies!!!
We got out of the movie theaters and it started raining complete with lighting (no thunder). It wasn't raining hard, which was good because I didn't have an umbrella. It felt nice while it was raining because it cooled down the city...now it just feels humid.
Also, dried lavender works to keep the bugs away! Hooray!!! Now, to get rid of mosquitos....
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What am I going to do now?!! (wait for it to come out on blu-ray and have a marathon, I guess)
I mean, the next book series I'm waiting for won't come out until end of 2012 and there are only 2 movies!!!
We got out of the movie theaters and it started raining complete with lighting (no thunder). It wasn't raining hard, which was good because I didn't have an umbrella. It felt nice while it was raining because it cooled down the city...now it just feels humid.
Also, dried lavender works to keep the bugs away! Hooray!!! Now, to get rid of mosquitos....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, July 18, 2011
Rome: Day 10
12:08 AM July 19,2011
No blog yesterday...I was just tired. I made coq au vin for dinner last night. I was just really craving chicken and potatoes and carrots hahahaha
I'm presenting my research building tomorrow: Chiesa di Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
I've been trying to get inside for 2 days and everytime I go it's closed :/ good thing I found that virtual tour online and I wrote about this building in undergrad hahaha yay art history major!
It's an informal presentation, but I just wanted to have everything I need to say organized.
Oh! I did go to the Trevi Fountain yesterday and did the obligatory over-the-shoulder-coin-toss wish. Let's hope it comes true :) I only threw €0.50 though...maybe I should go back and spend more on my wish ;) then maybe it'll come true faster!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No blog yesterday...I was just tired. I made coq au vin for dinner last night. I was just really craving chicken and potatoes and carrots hahahaha
I'm presenting my research building tomorrow: Chiesa di Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
I've been trying to get inside for 2 days and everytime I go it's closed :/ good thing I found that virtual tour online and I wrote about this building in undergrad hahaha yay art history major!
It's an informal presentation, but I just wanted to have everything I need to say organized.
Oh! I did go to the Trevi Fountain yesterday and did the obligatory over-the-shoulder-coin-toss wish. Let's hope it comes true :) I only threw €0.50 though...maybe I should go back and spend more on my wish ;) then maybe it'll come true faster!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Rome: Day 8
1:38 AM July 17,2011
Good news everyone! We moved to our new place in Rome. By new, I mean upstairs. It's definitely much nicer--CROSS VENTILATION, open kitchen/living/dining, more bathrooms, better views, INTERNET. It's still noisy from the traffic downstairs but, whatever.
Downside: since Italy (from what I've seen) does not use mesh around their windows, bugs can just get in. Because the ventilation is great in our room, we wanted to keep the windows open. BIG MISTAKE. Moths were draw to the light in the room, then to the light of our laptops. I'm still a little paranoid right now that there are moths all over me.
But no matter, I refuse for bugs to ruin this upgrade haha! Tomorrow I will be hanging lavender and mint and rosemary all over the windows, attaching lavender to the fans and making a little lavender spray to deter all these bugs. If that doesn't work, I will bug spray the shit out of those moths.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Good news everyone! We moved to our new place in Rome. By new, I mean upstairs. It's definitely much nicer--CROSS VENTILATION, open kitchen/living/dining, more bathrooms, better views, INTERNET. It's still noisy from the traffic downstairs but, whatever.
Downside: since Italy (from what I've seen) does not use mesh around their windows, bugs can just get in. Because the ventilation is great in our room, we wanted to keep the windows open. BIG MISTAKE. Moths were draw to the light in the room, then to the light of our laptops. I'm still a little paranoid right now that there are moths all over me.
But no matter, I refuse for bugs to ruin this upgrade haha! Tomorrow I will be hanging lavender and mint and rosemary all over the windows, attaching lavender to the fans and making a little lavender spray to deter all these bugs. If that doesn't work, I will bug spray the shit out of those moths.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Daytrip: Pisa
6:26 PM July 16,2011 on the train back to Rome.
According to my travel book, Pisa only has 2 things: the leaning tower and 3 universities. From what I saw today, that seems very true.
Pisa is an hour by train from Florence (very busy train line because Pisa has the airport). Might as well go, it's only €6, right? Right.
It's an easy wall from the train station to the piazza (about 1 mile). Pisa seems like a quiet town with a bunch of tourists in 1 place.
We didn't go inside the baptistry, basilica or the tower because it costs too much (ok, €15, but you're just really paying for the tower).
Ok, so the tower was built to be the basilica's bell tower. Construction stopped when it started to lean due to the poor soil.
History done. As all the other tourists, we, too did our share of silly and (somewhat) inappropriate poses in front of the tower. What are you gonna do, it's leaning and the poses (are) funny!
You can see the tilt very clearly at the base. When you look straight up the tower from the base, it looks like it's spiraling.
The weather was very nice--probably started out at 65 then got up to 70 with a nice breeze :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
According to my travel book, Pisa only has 2 things: the leaning tower and 3 universities. From what I saw today, that seems very true.
Pisa is an hour by train from Florence (very busy train line because Pisa has the airport). Might as well go, it's only €6, right? Right.
It's an easy wall from the train station to the piazza (about 1 mile). Pisa seems like a quiet town with a bunch of tourists in 1 place.
We didn't go inside the baptistry, basilica or the tower because it costs too much (ok, €15, but you're just really paying for the tower).
Ok, so the tower was built to be the basilica's bell tower. Construction stopped when it started to lean due to the poor soil.
History done. As all the other tourists, we, too did our share of silly and (somewhat) inappropriate poses in front of the tower. What are you gonna do, it's leaning and the poses (are) funny!
You can see the tilt very clearly at the base. When you look straight up the tower from the base, it looks like it's spiraling.
The weather was very nice--probably started out at 65 then got up to 70 with a nice breeze :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, July 15, 2011
Florence: Day 2
12:26 AM July 16,2011
Soooooo tired. Today was another good day. I didn't have to wake up early and the room was cold :)
Had cappuccino and a croissant. So European haha :)
Climbed up the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiure (umm, I'm sure I spelled something wrong there hahaha). The climb was scary, especially getting to the top where the stairs got narrower and steeper. But the climb is worth it. The view is gorgeous! 360 view of Firenze and it's surroundings. I didn't want to leave! The climb back down wasn't that bad, except for the spiral staircase part...that freaked me out and I got dizzy afterwards.
After the Duomo, we went to the Accademia Gallery. It was a lot of medieval paintings and some renaissance paintings, marble statues...and of course, Michelangelo's David. That statue was beautiful...he can be my boyfriend hahahaha!!! I was underwhelmed with everything else. It was cool, but the main thing here was David. I wish we had time to go to the Ufizzi Gallery...many of the famous renaissance paintings are there, including Bottocello's Birth of Venus. Oh well :/
I need to get a Florence plate!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Soooooo tired. Today was another good day. I didn't have to wake up early and the room was cold :)
Had cappuccino and a croissant. So European haha :)
Climbed up the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiure (umm, I'm sure I spelled something wrong there hahaha). The climb was scary, especially getting to the top where the stairs got narrower and steeper. But the climb is worth it. The view is gorgeous! 360 view of Firenze and it's surroundings. I didn't want to leave! The climb back down wasn't that bad, except for the spiral staircase part...that freaked me out and I got dizzy afterwards.
After the Duomo, we went to the Accademia Gallery. It was a lot of medieval paintings and some renaissance paintings, marble statues...and of course, Michelangelo's David. That statue was beautiful...he can be my boyfriend hahahaha!!! I was underwhelmed with everything else. It was cool, but the main thing here was David. I wish we had time to go to the Ufizzi Gallery...many of the famous renaissance paintings are there, including Bottocello's Birth of Venus. Oh well :/
I need to get a Florence plate!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Florence Day 1
9:18 AM July 15,2011
Paying extra for air conditioner is totally worth it. The hostel we are staying at gave us the option to have AC for extra charge. It's worth it.
We got to Florence yesterday around 10:00 AM by train (our train left Rome at 8:30). Tickets cost €45 for 2nd class one way. It's a little more expensive but the train is faster (it's a eurostar train). The scenery on the way here was really pretty--idyllic Italian countryside with vineyards, and hills, and little hamlets.
Florence itself is very, very pretty. Very renaissance. It is packed with tourists, but in my head, it's completely crammed with them--it's not, only at the very popular places (the duomo, ufizzi gallery, Medici palace, the academy gallery)...haha ok that's the reason people come here. Ok, what I'm trying to say is that you can still walk around with personal space.
We walked EVERYWHERE...starting from the train station to Ponte Veccho, to the piazzale di Michelangelo, which is on a hill looking over Florence, and all the Albertis, Brunallescis, Michelangelos (architecturally speaking) in between.
Ponte Vecchio: I've never seen so many jewelers in one place. Dear God I wanted every shiny piece of gold, pearl, silver,etc. Very very distracting.
Churches in Florence: you need to pay an entrance fee to get it. Very strange.
Panino for lunch with soda: €5
Speck, olive pate and cheese. I miss speck (shpeck)! Reminds me of Yolanda and her giant stash of it that she'd bring from Tahoe.
Dinner: had dinner at this little trattoria--very mom-and-pop. Cheap good food (had beef with rosemary, which was good. Should have gone with the pork, which was to die for). Got dessert. I forgot what they were called but we got some sort custard pie/cake and biscotti with prunes (in fruit form) which you dip in brandy...YUUUM!
In case we weren't full enough (let's not forget 5 of us splitting a big bottle of wine), we also had gelato :)
Now, off to climb the duomo, see Botticelli and David in all his naked glory.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Paying extra for air conditioner is totally worth it. The hostel we are staying at gave us the option to have AC for extra charge. It's worth it.
We got to Florence yesterday around 10:00 AM by train (our train left Rome at 8:30). Tickets cost €45 for 2nd class one way. It's a little more expensive but the train is faster (it's a eurostar train). The scenery on the way here was really pretty--idyllic Italian countryside with vineyards, and hills, and little hamlets.
Florence itself is very, very pretty. Very renaissance. It is packed with tourists, but in my head, it's completely crammed with them--it's not, only at the very popular places (the duomo, ufizzi gallery, Medici palace, the academy gallery)...haha ok that's the reason people come here. Ok, what I'm trying to say is that you can still walk around with personal space.
We walked EVERYWHERE...starting from the train station to Ponte Veccho, to the piazzale di Michelangelo, which is on a hill looking over Florence, and all the Albertis, Brunallescis, Michelangelos (architecturally speaking) in between.
Ponte Vecchio: I've never seen so many jewelers in one place. Dear God I wanted every shiny piece of gold, pearl, silver,etc. Very very distracting.
Churches in Florence: you need to pay an entrance fee to get it. Very strange.
Panino for lunch with soda: €5
Speck, olive pate and cheese. I miss speck (shpeck)! Reminds me of Yolanda and her giant stash of it that she'd bring from Tahoe.
Dinner: had dinner at this little trattoria--very mom-and-pop. Cheap good food (had beef with rosemary, which was good. Should have gone with the pork, which was to die for). Got dessert. I forgot what they were called but we got some sort custard pie/cake and biscotti with prunes (in fruit form) which you dip in brandy...YUUUM!
In case we weren't full enough (let's not forget 5 of us splitting a big bottle of wine), we also had gelato :)
Now, off to climb the duomo, see Botticelli and David in all his naked glory.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Rome: Day 5
12:33 AM July 14, 2011
Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday, internet was down in the entire building the entire day :/ We currently have internet but is only available in the common area and it's super weak. I've got 2 bars on my wi-fi.
I'm slightly confused, my last post was Day 4, so this should be Day 6 but I counted and I've only been here for 5 days.
Yesterday's theme for the class was "Cultural Periphery." We visited the northern part of Rome where we visited famous modern structures: Nervi's Palazzetto dello Sport (little basketball stadium), Renzo Piano's Parco della Musica and Zaha Hadid's MAXXI museum. Later on that night, we went back to the MAXXI to watch an architecture presentation [though we weren't really paying attention because it was in Italian].
Had a GREAT time at a local bar next to the MAXXI--just some hole-in-the-wall that is frequented by locals. We met 2 older gentlemen at the bar while drinking Bush beer...strong shit! 10.8% alcohol level...but is a really good beer. Had fun with the puns on George Bush with the locals. Had 2 and I was gone! Good times :]
Today class theme was based on the southern part of the city that is called EUR (Universal Exhibition in Rome) which was started by the Fascist period with Mussolini and ended around the 1970s. I guess the theme was how to re-image Rome (especially after WWII) in which old Roman symbols of power was reclaimed and rebranded into a different meaning.
Housing news: we are going to be moved to the top floor, I guess. I just hope that that is better than this.
Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday, internet was down in the entire building the entire day :/ We currently have internet but is only available in the common area and it's super weak. I've got 2 bars on my wi-fi.
I'm slightly confused, my last post was Day 4, so this should be Day 6 but I counted and I've only been here for 5 days.
Yesterday's theme for the class was "Cultural Periphery." We visited the northern part of Rome where we visited famous modern structures: Nervi's Palazzetto dello Sport (little basketball stadium), Renzo Piano's Parco della Musica and Zaha Hadid's MAXXI museum. Later on that night, we went back to the MAXXI to watch an architecture presentation [though we weren't really paying attention because it was in Italian].
Had a GREAT time at a local bar next to the MAXXI--just some hole-in-the-wall that is frequented by locals. We met 2 older gentlemen at the bar while drinking Bush beer...strong shit! 10.8% alcohol level...but is a really good beer. Had fun with the puns on George Bush with the locals. Had 2 and I was gone! Good times :]
Today class theme was based on the southern part of the city that is called EUR (Universal Exhibition in Rome) which was started by the Fascist period with Mussolini and ended around the 1970s. I guess the theme was how to re-image Rome (especially after WWII) in which old Roman symbols of power was reclaimed and rebranded into a different meaning.
Housing news: we are going to be moved to the top floor, I guess. I just hope that that is better than this.
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