Pompeii and Paestum

This past weekend (February 26-27), my program went to Pompeii and Paestum to explore and analysis the two archeological sites.  The weather held off for both days and we had a great time walking around, sketching, and taking photos.

The day before we left for Pompeii, I had to go to the Vatican for one of my classes to visit the Special Collection.  Oddly enough, our professor who works at the Vatican forgot to notify the Vatican police that we were coming in a large group.  As our professor likes to put it, we also "got arrested" by the Vatican police.  Thankfully, she was able to tell them who we were and we were finally allowed in after waiting 45 minutes.

Panoramic of Pompeii

We left for Pompeii early Saturday morning around 8am on a double decker bus.  We got to Pompeii and after a short lecture about the importance of the city of Pompeii as a preserved city, we were given free reign to explore.  Pompeii has an interesting history in the sense that in 79 AD Mt. Vesuvius erupted, covering the entire city and its inhabitants in ash.  Because of this, plaster casts have been made on the cavities in the ash where animal and human remains had been.  You can see some of this casts at the site.  What is also really important about Pompeii is that it gives archeologists great insight into Roman architecture.  I remember writing a research paper in sixth grade on the importance Pompeii had in understanding how advanced ancient Roman architecture was (if only I could find this paper now!).  Pompeii also has amazing frescoes in 4 different styles: simulation of marble (or other masonry elements), architectural style (painted on elements of architecture and three dimension realities, like columns), ornate style (figurative and colorful decoration), and a baroque reaction to the Third Style (framed pictures that took up the entire wall).  I studied these styles in art history class and it was great to finally see them.

Cast mold of a dog found during excavation

Fresco at the Villa of Mysteries showing first and second style 

Fresco in the brothel (pretty explicit...)

In between Pompeii and Paestum, we stayed at a hotel right on the water.  I shared a room with my roommate from the apartment and had a room overlooking the water.  Some of the guys were crazy enough to even go for a swim.

Paestum is also a great archeological site.  However, it is not Roman in nature, but Greek.  It has three temples of the Doric Order on site and a great archeological museum that has hundreds of frescos and Black and Red Figure vases.

On our way back to Rome on Sunday afternoon, we stopped to visit a cistern, an underground reservoir for water.  The cistern is about 3 football fields longs and worked with an aqueduct system to transport the water from the cistern to the port below.  This particular cistern is actually very well known and was the location for a scene in one of the Lord of Ring movies!

Cistern

During the time of our trip, I was also taking pictures for a photography project.  I decided that for my project I would focus on framing objects with elements from the sites.  The last four images attached are for my project.  For those of you who are artists out there, let me know what you think!

New Soles

Unlike most places in America that are paved smooth with asphalt, all of Rome's streets are cobblestones.  Not only does it take some time getting used to walking on the uneven surface, but it takes a toll on one's shoes!  Before coming to Rome, I received a new pair of boots for Christmas.  I wear them almost every day and as you can imagine, the heals of my boots have worn down to reveal the material underneath the rubber sole.

Today, I decided that I would ask the Pantheon office assistant if there is a place nearby that I would be able to go to to resole my shoes.  The woman said yes and circled on a map where one was located.  She also wrote me down a phrase that I needed to say to the cobbler.

I decided that I would then go to the cobbler to get an estimate of the price it was cost to repair my shoes.  I walked into the small store down a side street and said to the man what I had been told to say: Devo resvolare la scarpa.  The cobbler looks at me as if I need to continue saying something and I just stand there smiling.  I'm then confused and I say, "Parlo italiano un po."  That's when I realize he speaks no English.  He's now talking to me in Italian.  I'm confused and try showing him the heals of my boots.  In Italian I ask how much: Quanto costa?  He replies by saying, "Dieci euros."  In my head I am saying, "Crap...I know how to count!  How much is that?  Oh right, that means ten."  He continues to say "Domani" which means tomorrow.  I'm sure he thought I was going to try to leave my boots with him today without having another pair of shoes to walk out of the store in!  I replied with "si" and tried to think of how to say I will return tomorrow, yet all I could think was how to say it in Spanish.  Frazzled, I said in English that I will be back tomorrow.  I thanked him ("Grazie mille") and left the store.

Tomorrow, I hope to drop off my shoes...in the meantime, I am going to be practicing my Italian.

Brussels without the sprouts

Bonjour! Hallo! This past weekend I spent my time in Brussels, Belgium.  Brussels is the capital of the Belgium, a western country in Europe.  It is also the capital of the European Union.  It is the largest urban city in Belgium.  What is most interesting about Belgium is that its official languages are Dutch, French, and German.  While most people speak French, Dutch is very popular within the Flemish Region.  

My roommate, Emily, and I left Rome Thursday night for Brussels.  We took RyanAir (one of the discount airlines in Europe) and flew into an airport outside the city of Brussels.  We took a bus from the airport to the main train station in Brussels and then took a taxi from the train station to our hotel.  By the time we got to the hotel, it was almost 12:45am!  I felt awful because we told the hotel when we made reservations that we would be arriving around 12am.  We rang the doorbell to the hotel and were greeted by an older man with a set of keys.  He starts talking to the two of us in French and I stand there wide eyed.  The man continues to talk, hands Emily the keys and she thanks him in French.  He leaves and I turn to Emily with a face of confusion.  Without hesitation she says, “Our room’s on the third floor and the elevator is over there.”  In response I say, “Thank God you understood that!”  I was so thankfully that I had traveled with someone who had studied French and was able to understand most things in conversation. 

We decided to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel because we were not able to find a hostel that had a three day reservation open for this past weekend.  Our hotel was Hotel Neufchatel.  It was so nice and simple!  It had two twin beds, a private bathroom, a closet, two chairs, and a small flat screen TV.   It was great.  They were very friendly and gave us advice for places to go and restaurants to eat at.

Our first full day in Brussels was a day of exploring.  We figured out the metro and bus system and got accuanted with our surroundings.  We first went to Grand Place, the central square of Brussels.  The central square is surrounded by Baroque guildhalls, the city’s Town Hall (Hotel de Ville), museums, cafes, chocolate shops, and restaurants.  We walked to the Galleries Royales, an arcade with shops. 

Emily and me

Wherever I go, I love visiting art museums.  We proceeded to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts) and the Magritte Museum (Musée Magritte).  Emily and I got to see art by Ruebens, Pieter Breugel the Elder, Pieter the Younger, and Jan Breugel.  My favorite Museum of the two was the Magritte Museum.  Rene Magritte is one of the world’s most well known surrealist painters.  He was born in Belgium and spent most of his life in Brussels.  One of his most famous works is that of a man in a bowler hat whose face is hidden from view.  Another famous work of his, that I got to see this summer at MoMA in NYC is of a cityscape with men dressed in suits acting in the place of raindrops.  At the museum in Brussels, I was able to see over 150 of his paintings and sketches.  It was amazing. 

Magritte Museum

The following day we decided to go to the Atomium, a monument originally built for the 1958 Brussel’s World’s Fair.  It is 335 feet tall and consists of nine steel spheres resembling the shape of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.  Four of the spheres are currently open to visitors.  The top sphere is a restaurant and viewing area.  The other spheres house exhibit halls and other public space.  It was slightly overcast the morning we went, but were were still able to see the panoramic view of Brussels.  

After going to the Atomium, we did a walking tour by ourselves of the rich Art Nouveau architecture in the city.  Along our walk of both private and public buildings, we stopped to visit the Horta Museum.  Victor Horta was a prolific architect of Art Nouveau.  We were able to go into his private home and see his original designs and creations.  Art Nouveau is classically described by its organic and floral motifs and its stylized, flowing curvilinear forms.

Horta Museum

Musical Instrument Museum

On our last day in Brussels, we visited the Musical Instrument Museum.  The museum is housed in an Art Nouveau building with a black facade of wrought iron and arched windows.  The museum boasts the world’s largest collection of instruments.  They give you headphones to wear in the exhibits and when you approach a number on the floor music starts to plan from the headphones.  Not only did Emily and I look ridiculous in big bulky headphones but every time we approached a number we would jump back because the volume was set too high!  We soon figured out how to turn it down.  It was also funny to see people tapping their feet and swaying their hips as they were listening to the music. 

Brussels is known as the city of fine food, and I was not disappointed!  The food was absolutely amazing!!  Beer, chocolate, waffles, fries...what else could one ask for.  On every street we would see multiple chocolatiers.  I bought pralines, created in Brussels, and decadent chocolates.  I decided I would buy a bunch of chocolates to share with my family and friends.  I ran a bill of about 40 euros of chocolate, which is about 55 US dollars!  I have no regrets because the chocolate is that good!  The fries were delicious with different sauces to choose from.  Emily and I both got the spicy sauce which was but onto of the fries that came in a paper cone.  The waffles were also delicious and beat any “Belgian waffle” you find on any New England ski slope.

Belgian Frites

While wine is like water in Rome, Beer is like water in Belgium.  No other country has such a rich and diverse tradition of beer.  Every beer has its own glass with its own embossing as if to enhance the flavor.  In the 19th century, Belgium had more than 3,000 breweries.  Today, there are about 100 different breweries (the decrease is due to WWI).  Lambic is the traditional beer of Brussels and is considered the champagne of the beer world.  The description of lambic says that “they are not immediately likeable - they’re sharp and acidic and tend to contort the faces of novices.”  However, I actually liked it and found it to be more fruity than anything.  I also really enjoyed Duvel, a golden ale.  It is served in a special glass that, as the guide book puts it is “seductive and undulating.”  Some of the many other types of beer in Belgium are Trappist beers, white beers, abbey beer, and Flemish Red beers.

Emily and I had an absolutely amazing time in Brussels!  I would suggest going there to anyone who is going to be in Europe.  However, chocoholics beware!  Nowhere in the world will test your self control as much as Belgium.

Photos from 2/11-2/12

Here are some photos from last weekend (February 11 and 12) when Elizabeth and three of her friends from Smith came to visit Rome!  The photos are courtesy of Leda Grossman.

Emily, Elizabeth, and I try to read a map and guidebook written in Italian

Me, Emily, Elizabeth, Leda, Janelle, Olivia 

Leda, Elizabeth, and me in the Pantheon

At the Colosseum

In Rome and Loving It

Buon San Valentino!  Happy St. Valentine's Day from Italy!  While I don't have a Valentine to share chocolates with or send flowers to, a group of girls on my floor decided it would be fun to cook a Valentine's Day dinner together.

This past week has been crazy!  I went on a lot of field trips for class: Colosseum, Roman Forum, and a five and a half hour field trip to see S. Sabina, Post Office Via Marmorata, the Garbatella District, and the EUR District.  I've done so much walking that I am going to need to buy new shoes soon.  The soles in all my shoes are starting to wear down.

S. Sabina

Post Office Via Marmorata

   

EUR

This past weekend, while all my apartment-mates went to either the Swiss Alps or Paris, I stayed in Rome and was hostess for my friend Elizabeth who was visiting from Florence.  Elizabeth and I were first year roommates at Smith College and have kept in touch with each other ever since!  Elizabeth came to Rome from Florence by train with three other friends from Smith studying with her in Florence.

Elizabeth and me

Olivia and Janelle

Trevi Fountain

We had a great weekend!  They got to see Rome for the first (or second time), and I got to do some of the touristy stuff I normally wouldn't do.  We visited the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon.  We made a homemade meal on Friday and Saturday and went out to a few bars later on in the evenings.  We did a lot of walking and they got lost on the bus a couple of times.  It was so great to see Elizabeth and to be able to catch up since we last saw each other in September when she visited me at Conn before she left for Italy (she is studying in Florence for the entire year).  With my program, I will be going to Florence on March 14 and 15 and hopefully we will be able together then.

On Sunday (February 13), I decided to go with two friends to Via del Corso (where all the major shopping is) and I found myself in the middle of a protest against Berlusconi.  It was crazy!  The entire Piazza del Popolo was packed with people, mainly women.  It turns out that the protest in Piazza del Popolo was the main protest among 200 protests around the country against Berlusconi.  I was amazed that I was able to be a part of Italian history.

In case you haven't been following World News, Berlusconi is currently the Prime Minister of Italy and has been caught in multiple sex scandals.  He is under investigation for paying to have sex with a 17 year old Moroccan girl.  The protestors against Berlusconi have been enraged for how Berlusconi degrades the female sex as a whole.  For more information on the protest, check out this news site: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=12906229

(I'll let you look this quote up...)

"Naked or dressed we are finished!"

Last night, my roommate and I bought tickets to go to Brussels, Belgium this upcoming weekend.  We are very excited to see Belgium!  I'm especially excited to go to the country that is world renowned for chocolate (and beer, too).  If you have any suggestions for places in Brussels I should visit, please let me know!

I must be lucky!

Take a look at what I found this morning after my run!  It's a four and a six leaf clover!  I didn't even know a six leaf clover existed!  Hopefully this will mean luck is on my side.

Capri and Naples : Heaven and Hell

This past weekend (February 5-6) two friends and I decided to travel south to visit Naples and Capri.  While our visit was not as glamourous as we had hoped, it was still an adventure.

Pizza at Da Michele

We left on a train for Naples at 8:20am, Saturday morning.  We arrived at Naples around 11:00am and decided that our hunger had taken over us and that we better go find the best pizza in Naples (Naples is the birthplace of pizza).  We decided to go straight to Da Michele, infamously known due to its being mentioned in the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love.  At Da Michele you can order only three types of pizza: marinara, margarita, and margarita with extra cheese.  The best decision was ordering the pizza with extra cheese...it was heavenly!  How could such a simple pizza taste so good?  The crust was perfect, doughy and not burnt, and the cheese melted perfectly with a piece of basil sitting in the middle.  It had to be one of the best pizzas I have ever had.  As we left the line to get a table at the resturant had to be 30 people deep!  To top it off one of the cooks came up to my friend, Kendall, and handed her a business card.  It turns out one of the cooks was infatuated with my friend and decided he would give her his email address!  That’s when we first realized Naples was a little different from Rome.

On our way to our hostel, Italian men were constantly cat calling us, especially my friend who is blonde.  At one point, one of the girls shouted at me to walk faster because there was a guy trying to talk to her.  

Mosaic of Alexander the Great

Once we got to the hostel, we decided to drop off our stuff for the rest of the afternoon and go sight seeing.  Kendall and I went into the National Archeological Museum of Naples to see if we could find a mosaic of Alexander the Great fighting Darius.  When we finally found it, Kendall was speechless.  She has had a passion for studying Alexander the Great and was amazed that this mosaic was here in Naples and not in a major art museum, like the Louvre.  After the museum we started walking back to our hostel.  That’s when things turned south and Naples became hell on earth.

We were about to cross the street, in single file, when I noticed my friend in front of me, Molly, stopped short as a group of around 12 eight year old boys came running towards us.  Thats when I realized that they started spraying her with what I imagined was silly string.  It wasn’t silly string but shaving cream!  Kendall soon realizing it wasn’t silly string decided to start sprinting across the street.  Molly and I, being sprayed with shaving cream, run across into the median of the cross walk.  One of the little boys decides it would be funny to follow us.  Kendall is yelling at us to cross the street, while Molly is nervous to cut off traffic since we don’t have the right of way.  I turn to the boy walking towards us and start yelling at him.  I shout, “NO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING! WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?!”  Want to know what he did? Jumping around like a boxer in a fight, he takes his spray can and points it directly at my face and shoots.  Shaving cream gets all over my face and all in my hair!  I wanted so badly to take the can out of the little boys hand and start beating him with it!  Except I controlled myself and decided that being arrested for beating up an eight year old wasn’t worth it.  I finally get across the street and Kendall starts yelling at me to get the shaving cream off my face.  I’m in shock of what happened and cannot get the shaving cream off my face and keep saying, “It’s all in my hair!”  Looking like crazy people, two Italian woman stopped us and handed us a packet of tissues.  For the rest of the walk back to the hostel, we were all very antsy...not only did we hate Italian men and their forward style of coming up to you and saying your beautiful, but we hated Italian boys and their antics.  

Our lovely night spent at Hostel of the Sun

Thankfully the hostel we stayed at, Hostel of the Sun, had to be one of the best hostels I have ever stayed at.  It was clean, fun, and most importantly, friendly!  The staff were surprised to hear about our day and told us that the month of February was carnival and that young boys usually did mischievous things. 

Sunday morning we decided to take the 9:05 ferry from Naples to Capri.  Of course, we go to the wrong port and have to run to the port the ferry is to leave out of.  We buy our tickets at 9:05 just as the ferry is about to leave.  Thankfully, we were able still to get on.

Capri, is an island off the coast of Italy, near Naples, and is best known for it beautiful scenic views of cliffs and rocks.  It was absolutely breathtaking!!  Going to Capri canceled out negative experience we had the day before.  I would definitely suggest to anyone to go to Capri if they have the chance (even if that means you have to go to Naples to get there).  In a way, Capri reminds me a bit of Bermuda, with its crystal blue water and white stucco houses. 

Capri

We get back from Capri around 5:30 and race from the port to get to the hostel to get our bags and get on a bus to get to the train station.  We raced from the bus to the station, ignoring all the shouts from guys we were getting and jumping over the trash that lined the street.  We run in, find the track and realize we still need to validate our tickets!  In Europe, you need to validate your ticket before you get onto the train by putting it into a machine that prints the time on it.  As we run from the validating machine to the track, our train was leaving! So it turns out we rushed to the train station only to have to wait two more hours until the next train would leave.  

We finally got back to Rome around 11:30pm Sunday night and were so happy to be “home!”  The atmosphere of Naples was different from our perceived notions.  It’s streets are dirty (Naples is having an ongoing trash problem where it is refused to be picked up by municipal workers because landfills are full) and it’s people are dirty.  We didn’t feel all that safe there and were glad to finally return to a place we knew. 

Although our time in Naples wasn’t the best, it was an adventure! And if it wasn’t for Naples, we would never have been able to get to Capri.