Cutting at the Vatican is a one way ticket to down below

So Day 2 in Rome started a little later. We decided to go to the Vatican. I forgot what day of the week the Pope did his little greeting, so we missed that one by a day... opps. But Tuesday we went, and we heard the best time to get there was around noon. We dawdled the whole way. We left around 11am, went to get pizza which was DELICIOUS! We went to this little place, Nate at the hostel told us about, and it was really cheap. They sell it in slices in two sizes- Large and small. The large is half a pizza, and the small about 2 regular slices. So I got a large piece, and a small piece. He asked if I wanted it warmed, and I said yes. When he brought it back out, he looked between Kathleen and I, and asked if we wanted it in separate boxes. When I said no, it was all for me, his eyes nearly bulged out of his eyes. Yeah I felt really fat at that moment. Kathleen then ordered the same thing, and the guy nearly died. Danielle only ordered 2 small pieces, and that was normal I guess. But nooo ordering well a whole pizza basically is not normal. The pizza was so good, and of course we loved the looks we got, so we kept going back. But we ate our pizza on the steps of some building. It was so funny, some guy took a picture of the building whose steps we were sitting on, and in that picture there are three girls stuffing their faces with pizza... I hope he loves the picture.

After pizza, we walked to the Vatican, which is of course on the other side of the city. It's not a bad walk though. We stopped at the Marcus Aurelius column so that I could drool and stare. The column is for his victories in Germania. It was being worked on, but I stared at the top of the column which has a little statue of Marcus. Of course it looks a little weird, the Christians put a halo on top of it... er. I sat down on some steps, and stared up at the column, still in disbelief that I was in Rome. I've read Mediations, I've watched Gladiator more times than I will ever admit, and I've Wikipedied Marcus Aurelius many times, and now I was in Rome, the city that he ruled... once again just amazing. One day I might believe that I have been to Rome, but for now it's still all a dream.

After his column, we kept walking, and it wasn't long before we came upon another column. On the base of it there was the name of course in Latin, "Caesar Augustus" or "Augusto", and I was staring at it, thinking that looks like a sundial at the top. I looked between the name, and the sundial at the top, and back again, and my brain went back to last year. I could hear Peter Aicher's voice in my head telling a story about when Augustus defeated everyone in Egypt that he brought back a sundial and put it in the middle of the Circus Maximus. I then realized it was the same one. I did not know this still existed, I mean Augustus brought it back from Egypt more than 2,000 years ago. EXCUSE ME! I stared at it, I could not believe that I was seeing this. I didn't realize it existed, I thought it was destroyed or it fell. But no it's in Rome. I was dumbfounded. Completely. I could not think at all. I wanted to call Shorty at that second, because I didn't know anyone else who could have appreciated this moment like I was. So amazing.

We finally made it to the Vatican. We walked along the Tiber River to get there. The Tiber River is a little dirty, but just thinking about the history, and the importance of the river... well let's just say it could be as dirty as Boston Harbour use to be, and I really wouldn't care. If you look at it from a distance, or look down river, it's not bad, it's just when you get close to it. But anyway, so we crossed the Tiber, and went to the Vatican. Very crowded, lots of cars. We found it okay, and as soon as we crossed the street into St. Peter's Square, your jaw drops a little. The square is really nice, there is a fountain, and a column in the middle. It's huge though, and filled with PEOPLE. Not as many as the crowd at the Colosseum, but still a lot of people. Mostly big tour groups, but worse than big tour groups, senior tour groups. They walk so SLOW! Once there, we messed around a little bit, took our pictures in front of the basilica, and then got postcards, and send family members some Vatican post.

But finally we made our way to the Vatican museum where the Sistine Chapel is located. Going anywhere in the Vatican is like the survival of the fittest. You have to walk miles to get everywhere. But we finally made it to the building, and then I almost died. The doors are automatic revolving doors, and yeah note the word automatic. There are signs saying please no do not push on doors, they will go themselves. Well I got in one with Danielle behind me, and this guy in front of me. 3 people to each one was the way it was going, and we are moving along, and this guy was pushing on the door behind us, which pushed against us, but our door wasn't moving any faster... I nearly died. I was pushing into the old guy in front of me apologizing the whole time, and he's like this 90 year old man who has my weight against him, and yeah he didn't need that, and the old guy is not walking very fast as we can exit, so somehow I almost got stuck with doors... if that doesn't make sense... which it doesn't, but I can't explain it, I don't truly know what happened, just that I almost got stuck in doors, and I almost killed a 90 year man because some idiot was pushing on the door behind us. Argh, people are so stupid sometimes.

Anyway, we went right to the Sistine Chapel, and we didn't rush through the other rooms, but we didn't stay and chat with all the pictures. I did take some pictures, and we looked at all of the paintings, but we were anxious to see the Sistine Chapel. In one room, there was a bathroom in another room, so I told Kathleen that I was taking a pit stop, and in that room we lost Danielle. She got swept away in a Chinese tour group, and we didn't see her until the exit. Oh well. So Kathleen and I kept going. A lot of the paintings depicted scenes from the Bible, and on a few of them I had to rack my brain to remember which scene. There was a good number of paintings depicted Roman soldiers killing male babies. I saw these paintings, and I couldn't figure out why Roman soldiers were killing babies, but it did come to me. There was another painting with someone holding a mans head with a body on the ground. I believe it was John the Baptist, I cannot remember who else lost their head.

It was seriously a Disney ride, or survival of the fitness getting to the Sistine Chapel. There were so many rooms, and corridors leading to the Sistine Chapel. It took more than a half an hour to get there. We finally did get there, and wow was it great. Pictures are not allowed inside the Chapel, and there is no talking, but people did both. I was a little annoyed. The ceiling though... wow. Is there any words for it really? The whole chapel are paintings... and the first question I thought was... WHERE DO YOU BEGIN??? The detail is amazing, in good condition, the colors are so bright and just so COOL! I couldn't stop staring, but the problem was I had no idea where to look. Do I look at the ceiling, the sides... I couldn't figure it out. So I just started at the sides, and made my way up. One part of the ceiling that kept my attention was the part with the fingers of God and Adam just about touching. I think it's one part of the ceiling that grabs your attention at once. I believe that is the first thing I looked at. I think I would have to spend all day just looking at everything to remember it all. To me it's like a film that I rally liked, I remember it, but there are a lot of parts of it that I don't. It was really so amazing, I would love to see it again. I mean I can't draw a stick figure, and Michelangelo painted the ceiling... I cannot even imagine how he did it. Or where he started... Kathleen and I were in complete awe, our mouths were on the ground, and our eyes wide opened staring at the ceiling. Even if there was rule against talking, I wouldn't have been able to do. Other than once in a while going, "Wow" I didn't say that much. We just stood there for a while, but we had to leave after awhile, there was so many people there. I wish we could have sat on the floor, and looked up at the ceiling instead of having to crane my neck. Oh well, it was well worth it. We left after spending a good amount of time in the Chapel, and then left the museum.

We went across the street and got gelato. We needed to rest, our feet were tired, so we wanted to rest, and how better to rest than getting gelato??? After gelato, we went into the basilica. We had to go through security to get there, and it was there that we got cut a few times. There, and in line to get into the actual church. We got cut by at least 5 or 6 people. We were joking that cutting at the Vatican is a one way ticket to hell. Hahaha. Inside the Church, Kathleen said that it was the best and most beautiful church she had ever been in. Well it better well be, it's like the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It really is like a museum. I walked all around the Church, and it was really beautiful. SO many people! Argh! I got separated from Kathleen and Danielle a few times because of the people. Oh well. The alter was out of this world. The whole place was out of this world.

We also went to the Tomb of the Popes, and I knew we were getting close to the tomb of Pope John Paul II when we were still a few tombs away. There was a large crowd gathered around it, and two guards that were trying to keep the line moving. There was a spot roped off that you could go to if you wanted to kneel and pray at the tomb. There was still a lot of flowers and letters on his tomb. It was a very simple tomb, it was white with his name in big letters.

We then tried to climb to the top of the basilica, but it was 4 euros to climb to the top, which was about 511 steps. 4 euros to torture yourself??? Um my limit is about 2 euros. We would have seen some amazing views, but it was okay, we had seen from up high, and we would see it again from on top of a mountain. Instead, we sat in the square and watched pigeons chase each other, and then a little boy chasing all the pigeons. It was so adorable, he kept chasing this one pigeon, who kept flying to escape the little boy, so cute.

We walked back to the hostel from the Vatican soon after watching the pigeons. Though the Vatican is on one side of the city, and our hostel on the other it's not a bad walk at all. We stopped at a few places along the way, and went home via the Trevi Fountain. As we passed the sundial Kathleen made an observation that she thought it was about to rain. Of course that is what she said the day before, 10 minutes before it started raining, so I was not happy when she said it. Danielle, who was in a white blouse, was convinced that we could make it back to the hostel before it started raining. Of course, it started raining at the Trevi Fountains, and I kept saying that we should stop at a cafe until the rain stopped. This was only agreed to when it started to downpour! We jumped into a pizza place. We were in there for just a few seconds, when it started HAILING! I looked at Kathleen and Danielle, and took a bow, if I hadn't suggested a cafe, we would have been in the hail. It was not huge, but it was big enough... I would not have wanted to be in it. Kathleen went outside, and I took a picture of her in it... hehe.

We ate dinner at this pizza place, and I got a salad and then my chocolate cake! I had to continue my European Chocolate tour. The cake wasn't bad, but nothing beats the cake I had in Norway. What a great day though... we crashed at 9:30pm though. I gave Kathleen my MP3 Player so she could listen to the Mighty Boosh, and I told her I would take it away from her if I heard her laughing... I was asleep before my head hit the pillow though. Hahaha.

Well that's Day 2, our last full day in Rome is next, and it was a great day. That will be my next post though.

All Roads aka Ferries and Trains Lead to Rome

So I couldn't wait to talk about Rome, so here we go. Wow I'm doing a lot of posting in one day. Anyway, quick description of our epic adventure getting to Rome. We of course took the ferry again from Patras to Bari. Oh Bari. Er. The ferry ride was fine, we learned our lesson from last night. We camped out in the lounge, but I was not comfortable, so I went up to the arcade room... which was empty. It was amazing. I put two seats together, and fell right asleep. Oh what a sleep I had too. Of course it was interrupted by what sounded like 20 chavs. It was like 5 stupid kids, who sat down around a table right next to me. ARGH! I just wanted to sleep. I just the ferry stopped, and picked up a bunch of people, but by now it was like midnight, and I had no idea what was going on. I went back down to Kathleen and Danielle, and some guy was sleeping in the chair I had before. I was little freaked out by that. I tried to sleep in the chair next to him, but it was a little chair, so er. At 3am, I woke up again, and went back to the arcade, which was once again empty, and this time I slept on the floor under a table. I didn't want to be stepped on, and I wanted to stretch out. Ohhhh I slept so well, and I didn't get woken up like Kathleen and Danielle at I think it was 6am. I slept until 7:30am, when the announcement came on that we were getting close to Bari.

So the one thing we forgot was... it was Sunday. I figured trains would be going all the time to Rome, but when we made our way to the train station, the next train going to Rome was at 4. It was now like 9:30am. AHHHH. More time in Bari. We sat in a cafe for hours, I wrote in my journal, and read, as did Kathleen. Danielle slept for awhile. It wasn't completely bad, but we were stuck in Bari for a total of 26 hours. If I ever see Bari again... it will not be good for it. We ended our time in Bari well with gelato.. but gelato makes everything better.

We took a seven hour train to Rome, leaving at 4pm and getting to Rome around 11. I spent the majority of the time reading The Romanov Prophecy, it's the Russian version of Da Vinci Code. It was SO GOOD. I couldn't put it down. It took me about 5/ 5 and a half hours to read, not a personally best. It was sooo good though. Read it. Kathleen picked this novel up in an airport, and just got around to reading it on this trip, and realized how good it was. I had finished reading my two novels- 7 Caesars, and a 100 Years of Solitude, so I would have read anything. But good choice by Kathleen.

We sat in Harry Potter like compartments, which was fun. Kathleen and I were in one, and Danielle was in the one next to us. By the time the journey ended, only I could put my feet up on the chair across from me. Kathleen was very jealous. We sat these two kids, they were fine. They didn't make a lot of noise, so it was all good. I did take a picture of them without their knowledge... hehe



It was very hard to contain my excitement as we got into Rome. I mean... Rome, the home of my dreams! Rome where Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar and Augustus ruled, walked, and LIVED! AHHHHHHHH. Of course exploring Rome would have to wait until the next day, but for now I was just happy to be in the city of all my dreams.

Alright to Rome, our first day. Careful, this will be long. I am going to type an entry I wrote in a cafe, across the street from the Colosseum, our first night there. I wrote one entry in the hostel, but it doesn't really make sense... I'm not sure I made sense that whole day. So here we go:

I'm back. It's about a half an hour later, and I am sitting by the Colosseum with the smell of English Breakfast tea coming up under my nose, and at this moment I wonder if things could be any better??? .... Okay yes they can, the waiter just brought me a plate of little cookies and chocolate, now I am in heaven. I have the Colosseum to my left, my first cup of tea since leaving England in front of me, and chocolate... ummm life is beautiful.

There is something about Italian people, one of the waiters just ordered a taxi for a couple who were eating here, and when it arrived, he bounced practically over to the taxi to open the door for them. He was all smiles, and really happy. On his way back into the cafe, he stopped, and leaned over my shoulder, and asked if I was writing about him. How did he know? I said actually yes, and he just laughed. It's weird that I am going on about my tea, and the waiter when ohhh there is this big building to my left... and wait it's the Colosseum. Let me see if I can do the Colosseum, and this day justice.

As I said before, we went to the Colosseum first, once we left the hostel. I would not hear of going anywhere else, I have waited years to see this building. I woke up with a headache this morning, but I got rid of it quickly, nothing was going to mess with this day. We had breakfast in the hostel, just bread and jam, but it's fine. Danielle had the map, and she stopped to check it every 5 seconds. I was practically running to get to the Colosseum, and I was not happy when Danielle stopped every 5 seconds. We were on this one road, and I looked to my right, and there I saw ruins. I saw a forum... and I stopped breathing. I also stopped walking, and it was the first of many times that Kathleen bumped into me. I never meant to stop walking, or breathing, but just seeing these forums, I thought they might be the famous forums, just made me stop and stare. Even if they weren't the most famous ones, like ohhhh Julius Caesar's, or Augustus's... it still had the name of some famous Emperor on it. I was half right, some of what I saw was the Forum of Julius Caesar. So I finally started walking again, I just knew I was going in the right direction, so when Danielle stopped to check the map again, I didn't stop. I kept walking, and I came to the end of this street, looked around the corner, and there it was... the Colosseum. I stopped once again.

I couldn't move, breath, blink... anything. I just stared at the Colosseum, this building I see every time I watch Gladiator, that is in every history book, that is a symbol of the great city of Rome. I close my eyes, and I see it as clearly as I did when I turned that corner, and looked on it for the first time. It was even better than seeing the Acropolis for the first time, and I would even put it up there with when I saw the Castle at Disney for the first time. I don't spent half my day thinking about Disney though, like I do Rome. (For example, this isn't in my journal, but right now I'm watching HBO Rome, and Titus Pullo is about to kill Cicero aka Mr. Collins from the A&E Pride and Prejudice. I'm good at doing two things at once) Rome is an important part of my life, I love the history of the place, and I know so much about my favorite Emperors, so to see a building that one of my favorite Emperors sat in... still takes my breath away. As always, I wish I could have seen it in all it's glory, to be there during a gladiator fight, and the crowd cheering on the fighters. Seeing an Emperor granting life, or sentencing death with either a thumbs up or down... that would be quite a sight, and of course now impossible.

agree. I don't have to watch HBO Rome anymore to The waiter I was talking about, was just talking to an American family next to me, they are from NY. They were having a discussion about how big America is, the beauty, and all the different people. They started talking about the Colosseum, and how modern life goes on with so much history in the middle. The guy brought up HBO Rome, and how interesting it was to watch the show, learn all about the childhood of Augustus, and then come to Rome and see his forum. I so agree. I don't need to watch HBO Rome anymore, to get a picture of it in my head, I'm here. It's just across the street.

When I was inside of the Colosseum today, the Barbarian Horde was running through my had. I could see Maximus leading the gladiators, Commodus watching and doing his little (woohoo), and the crowd cheering and eagerly waiting for bloodshed. I keep looking at it, afraid it's all a dream, or that I am not really here. I think I'm going to leave now, and just stare at this beautiful, majestic ruin.



To the rest of my day, after the Colosseum was the Palentine Hill. Rome doesn't really believe in signs, so I am looking at all these ruins of houses, and just thinking, WHAT ARE YOU! Where is Augustus's house? Who use to stand here? I needed signs, I would have taken them in Italian! Since Kathleen didn't know what anything was, she made it all up. She had a huge room for shoes, a big dining hall... she had it all planned out. It was so funny. We ate after the hill, and then continued on to the Trevi Fountain. This was our Trafalgar Square. Kathleen and I loved this place. It was just amazing, so many people, that it was hard to get close to it at first, but we did manage just fine. We threw coins into the fountain, if you stand with your back to it, and throw a coin over your shoulder then you will return to Rome. If you throw two then you will find love in Rome. I threw one, I just want to return. We sat on the steps of the fountain for awhile, people watching, and I just smiled at the thought of being in Rome.

After the Fountain, I suggested the Mausoleum of Augustus. We walked up there, Kathleen and Danielle just followed me. They had no interest in it, but to me, this was getting close to seeing the Colosseum. I do love Augustus, and not because of HBO Rome. I just think he's a good Emperor, I mean he did so much when he was so young. We stopped by a fountain close to the tomb, and rested. I couldn't exactly find it, so I rested and wrote a postcard or two, before getting up, and searching for it. Kathleen and Danielle had a power nap on the fountain. I found the tomb, and just sat on the steps, and did nothing. It was so cool to see it. I remember seeing a picture of it last year in Rome class, and my teacher said that it was an ugly building, and yes it is, but who cares. I was in Rome, looking at the tomb of Augustus. HEAVEN!

That was basically our day, we headed back after seeing his tomb. It was an amazing day, and this is a long entry.

Aegina

Day 3 began late, but it all worked out in the end. There was a lot of talk about what we would do our last full day in Athens. Danielle of course brought up Thermopylae, but everyone just rolled their eyes at that. I was never able to figure out how to get there, and in today's age if I can't find out on the computer... well it probably is not possible. Thermopylae, is where 300 Spartans took on oh all of Persia, and though they lost, they put up one heck of a fight. Anyway, I suggested Delphi, Monica actually suggested it, and I thought it was a great idea. Monica by now was on some island with her friends. Anyway, by the time we got going that night it was too late for Delphi. It takes 3 hours to get to, and the bus we would have wanted left at like 10:30, and it was 10:15, so not enough time. Oh well. The woman at reception suggested we go to an island, and there is one about an hour ago called Aegina. It sounded pretty nice, she said it was really pretty. Now of course, since we knew we were going to an island, the smart thing would have been to go back upstairs and pack our bathing suits, but we just went down to the port. The port of Athens is Piraeus, and what an interesting place. Lots of shops and people, before this trip I have not seen too many port cities. I think Piraeus is most concerned with the islands. Patras is most concerned with ships from Italy.

So down at the port, with is on the metro, we easily found a ticket office, and it cost about 15 euros round trip to this island. Pretty good deal. The ferry was leaving soon enough too, which was sweet, so we boarded and left. The ferry ride was quick. We all had our MP3 Players, so we just sat and listened to our music, aka the Mighty Boosh. I kept making Danielle and Kathleen jealous by listening to Jean Claude and doing the little movements that go along with the song so they knew what I was listening to. Hehhe.



The island was beautiful. Like the rest of Greece, all the houses had roofs of the same reddish-orange color, and everything was white. There was some ruins right by the water, which we did not explore, but I thought were nice. I cannot imagine what was there, I mean there was one lone column left... so maybe a temple? Maybe the Romans got there, and built a forum. We found a beach though, sat on the rocks, and ate our lunches. We stopped at a grocery store before going down to the port. It was really nice, we waved at all the boats that went by, and after we ate we played in the water. I rolled up my shorts, so they wouldn't get wet if a wave decided to hit me, and we just stood in the water. Of course, one of the first things I did was, was stand by the edge of the water, and sink down into the sand. I asked everyone who I was. I was referencing a scene from Lost... oh well.

We were down by the water for about 2 hours, and it was really cool. We watched two dogs chasing each other. One was pretty cute! Of course pictures were taken too, and Nguyen got some REALLY nice ones of me. Argh. Oh well. The water was okay, a little cold, but you got use to it.

We walked around Aegina a little bit after being by the beach. We didn't really leave the water though. The girls did a little shopping, I got a post card, and we just walked. We stopped at a little restaurant by the water, and just got drinks. It was such a restful, wonderful day. We stayed there until our ferry left around 5ish, and then went back to our hostel to change and wash up. We went back out for a good bye to Athens, and get some dinner.

It was at dinner that I continued the European Chocolate Tour. It was good. Nguyen was very intrigued by my chocolate tour, and kept reminding me that I had to get a piece of cake. Like I would ever forget! Hahah! We ate close to where we did the first night, with the Acropolis and the Agora close by. Such a beautiful sight. I love looking at the Acropolis at night.

So wrapping Athens up... it was a WONDERFUL trip! I loved the time spent with everyone, especially our new friend Nguyen. I've spoken to her a few times on facebook since getting back. I still cannot believe I saw the Acropolis, the Agora, the Roman Agora... all of it was just something out of a dream. Of course, we were now on our way to Rome, which made me even more excited. I stopped breathing every time I saw something Roman, so yeah that's foreshadowing. Hahah.

Until Rome.

Walking Tour of Athens

(yeah I know I look really excited, and kinda scary)

So the second day in Athens started a little later than the first. We got up around 9am, and were gone about an hour later. Monica left us, her friends from Oxford had arrived, and they went down to the port to see about going to an island or two. We had plans to go to an island, but we didn't know that it was better to just go down to the port and buy them there, so we planned to stay in Athens the whole time. It was a pretty good plan in the end, we got more time in Athens, and got a surprise the next day, but I will come to that.

The second day in Athens, we did another walking tour of the city. We first went to the National Archaeological Museum, a museum that Nguyen suggested we go to, and it was also on my list of things to do. We got in free again (woohoo)!! Danielle did not go in, she said she didn't have money for it, she was having a lot of problems with her bank.

The museum was really good, each piece was a masterpiece basically. I took a few pictures, one of the head of Zeus, one of either Poseidon or Zeus (no one is sure who it is), a boy on a horse, a statue with Pan, Aprhrodite and Eros, a cool vase, and of course some cool Emperors! Is it bad that I can see a bust of Marcus Aurelius from across the room??? Yeah well. There was a cool one of Augustus, and one that might have been Julius Caesar, or a priest... they aren't sure which one. A priest or a Roman emperor... ummmm. Good museum though. The best part was outside though, it was a statue of ODYSSEUS! I've never seen a statue of him, and I was really excited. Maybe a little too excited. Oh well, it's okay.

After the museum, we headed back to the Acropolis area, and did a little tour of the ruins. We hit Hadrian's Library, the Roman Agora, Temple of Zeus, the Stadium, Hadrian's Arch, and the Theatre of Dionysos. Hadrian had a lot to do in Athens, I never do that. Well all of this started after lunch of course. We ate in our square, which is right near Hadrian's Library.

Hadrian's Library, it was an actual library, but a temple was added on later, when it was partly destroyed by barbarians. What remains of Hadrian's Library is pretty impressive, a lot of it still remains. I stared at that for awhile, until moving on to the parts that was made into a temple. It felt so cool to walk among the ruins in a place that Hadrian built.

I have to interrupt.... I just found out that Noel Fielding from the Mighty Boosh was at the Spiderman 3 Premiere last night... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Okay I'm fine now. I missed him because I was clapping coconuts together. BIG SIGH. Okay back to Athens

To Hadrian, I walked around the library a few times just enjoying the peace, and the ruins. It was just so nice. Ah to see these places in all its glory would have been amazing.

Next to the Roman Agora. This place took away my breath. Somehow Julius Caesar and Augustus funded the Roman Agora, but especially the big gate that some of it still exists. Not sure how both of them did, but whatever. That place had a very calm and peaceful feeling to it. Which of course is weird because I'm sure when it was newly built, and for hundreds of years it was like Camden Town. Kathleen liked this place, it had public latrines. I could see this place resembling the market in HBO Rome too. I sat on the steps, just staring at the ruins, and then by myself walked the ruins. It was a completely amazing experience. The Roman Agora has also the Tower of the Winds, which is cool, and might have been there before the Forum. We stayed there for a while, I though wished we never left. It's quiet, even though right in the area is a busy square, and it's a big tourist attraction. It was cool.

We went to Hadrian's Arch next... not sure why he needed an arch, but he has one. It's not bad, and right next to the Temple of Zeus. To get there though we went through the little streets under the Acropolis, and that was cool. Each house had a balcony, and laundry went between houses, flower pots were on the balconies... it was a very pretty picture.

The Temple of Zeus was um well it lives up to its name. The columns are HUGE! We took pictures next to them, and yeah we look smaller than hobbits. I took some pictures with the Parthenon behind the Temple of Zeus, and from the other direction our hill. We saw about 5 dogs laying in the grass around the Temple. Cute little puppies. Two of them were chasing each other. It was so funny, one of the columns had fallen, so Kathleen named it Wayne. Kathleen asked me where the marble came from, and umm good question. She also asked that when we were on top of the Acropolis...

After the Temple, we walked up to the Old Stadium. The Greeks were really talented, they put in an all weathered track. Amazing, good job Greeks. It's amazing that in this huge, busy city there are all these ruins, and they are SO old! We sat at the Stadium for a long time. I think for when they hosted the Olympics, they rebuilt some of the old Stadium. The seats look good, so maybe they redid those.

Our last stop was the Theatre of Dionysos. We kind of stumbled upon it, but that was fun. It's not used anymore, but we sat in what remains of the seats, and I just sat and thought of all the plays that must have taken place there. Imagine who sat in the seats, or watched the plays. Or wait, who put on the plays. I've read a good number of these plays, and to think that they were put on in this theatre... Mind blowing.

And that was Day 2. When we finished our tour of Athens, we went back to the hostel, hung out, and went back out for dinner. Dinner in Athens can last for hours, and we sat there and just talked for awhile, before going back to the hostel and going to bed.

Coconut Orchestra

So I have to interrupt my posts about Athens and Rome to talk about what I did last night. It all started around 9am, when I woke up. As soon as Jenna saw that I was up on Skype, she sent me a message about some event in Trafalgar Square. The event was: The world's largest coconut orchestra... they were trying to break the world record that had been set by people in NY. It's a Monty Python thing. Jenna wanted to go, and she asked if I wanted to come. I wasn't really in the mood to go into London, we had been in the day before, and I'm trying to stay away from trains for a least a few days after all of our traveling. So I'm in class, and I kept thinking about it, and I thought... I have to. I need to be part of the world's largest coconut orchestra. So that afternoon, Kathleen and I went in about 5pm. Amaya wasn't ready when we went in, so she joined us later, as did Jenna who had class until 5pm. Kathleen and I got there around 5:30pm, and being really lazy we took the Underground to Charing Cross. Hahah, so lazy. Anyway, when we got left the Underground, and into Trafalgar Square, we saw A LOT of people. It was insane. Actually it was awesome. We found the line, and got registration cards, and quickly signed up. There was guys dressed up as the black knight, knights of the round table... it was so cool. Some people were wearing the shirt I want... it says 'Not Dead Yet'. HAHAH! I so wanted it.

Anyway, so we got to the registration table, passed in our forms, and received our coconuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took mine out of the package as soon as I got them... and of course I started playing with them. It was great, and I at once got on a horse... hehe. With our coconuts in hand, we walked up to Leicester Square to see the Spiderman 3 Premiere. Hahah, yeah we had a busy night. There was a lot of people, but more at Monty Python!! We joined the crowd, and just waited. While we were there a few cars pulled up, but no one that I knew. And then Tobey Maguire came, I guess Kristen Dunst, but I'm short and I did not see her. Oh and that's when people started putting their hands on my shoulder because they could see better if they did that??? Kathleen had a guy all over her too, so we thought... hey time to leave. It was about Monty Python time too. So we escaped the crowd, and we are walking along, and there was Tobey Maguire. So I got a sweet picture of him.. coolness.




Back down in Trafalgar Square, we found Amaya and Jenna in different parts of the line. Kathleen stayed with Amaya, and I found Jenna. As we were all waiting in the line, there was an announcement that there was no more coconuts. I felt bad, Jenna really wanted to do this. Of course I wasn't about to give up my coconuts... this was so cool. So to break the record, we did a Sing A long to 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". Whenever there is whistling, we would hit our coconuts together. So amazing! We practiced a few times, and two members of the Spamalot cast guided us through the rehearsal, as did the composer. The best part was when they divided the crowd, and just one side went. It was the side I was on, and we did a pretty good job. The other side went, but we all started booing! Hahah, it was just great. When it came time to break the record, everyone was good to go. They had the president of the Guinness Book of World Records there to make it official, and we sang along to "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life." IT WAS SOO COOL! We did it too, the last record only had like 1000 people, we had more than 4,000. Sad that we beat the Americans, but I told Jenna that if we hear about it in the States, and it's close, we should go and beat the British. Hehe. The president is Scottish, and everyone started booing him, until he threatened to fail us, and yeah there was no more booing. Hahah.

After we broke the record, they showed Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was awesome, everyone sat down and watched it. Well everyone but the people next to me, who had a few drinks, and talked through the whole movie. It was loud enough that we could still hear, but annoying. Whenever the knights were riding, everyone picked up their coconuts and hit them together. So amazing. And of course we shouted out different lines. Every time King Arthur shouted, "Run away!" You couldn't hear him, because everyone shouted it. Same with when the Knights of Ni were on, and the burn the witch scene. It was great to be around so many people who love Monty Python.

So that was my night, it ended with geletto of course. Kathleen went to Equus to try and get Daniel Radcliffe's autograph... but no one came out. James Franco went in to say hey to Daniel Radcliffe, so she got a great picture of him, but no autographs.

Great night though.. just so awesome.

The Acropolis

Our first full day in Athens, we got up early to go to the Acropolis. I was ready and good to go by 8:30am. The other girls were ready too around that time. The day before when we were walking down to the our favorite square, Monastraki, and we passed all of these fine looking bakeries. We stopped at one bakery, and I got this donut... oh wow. I still dream of it at night. It was a long one, with chocolate frosting on the top, and with a chocolate cream inside... to die for. Kathleen got the same one, and the two of us kept proclaiming our love for it. We ate and walked in a hurry to get to the Acropolis.

It took us a few minutes to figure out how to get to the Acropolis, well we saw it, but we couldn't figure out how to get up there. I ended up asking a police officer, who gave me directions, and it was really easy. The whole way up it just closer and closer, and my heart just started beating faster, and oxygen was just not getting to my brain. I know we had some conversation, and I believe I added to it, but I cannot remember what it was about, and I'm pretty sure my eyes did not leave that little hill that was to my left. Haha. Of course we were going up hill, not that steep, but steep enough, and at around 9:30am I was dying from heat. I was not use to it yet, I mean I live in England... how can I be use to heat? By the time we got to Rome I was fine with the heat, but at that moment noooo way. Heat bad. I think I skipped spring. Oh well, I was in Athens, with the Acropolis getting closer and closer, how could I be worried about anything?

So we found the steps that led up to the Acropolis, and we went up, and the first ruins I saw was the front I guess of the Theatre. I believe it's the same theatre that still has performances during the summer months. I saw it from above, and it is in really good condition, all the seats are there, and it goes pretty high up. I think it's called the Theatre of Herodes Attikus. On the other side is the Theatre of Dionysos, but that is later that I saw that.

So we continued climbing, and got to the ticket office. Oh this was beautiful. I was first in line, and to go into the Acropolis it costs 12 euros, but the ticket is also good for other ruins in the area for about 4 days. I told the woman behind the counter one student ticket, and presented my International Student Identity Card, and she asked where I was going to school. I told her England, and yes I got in FREE! It was amazing! EU students get in free... and as long as I had my Kingston Uni card on me, which I did, I was good to go. So Monica, Kathleen and I got in free, but not Nguyen or Danielle who did not have their cards on them. We laughed at them for that, until we realized they got a cool ticket, and we didn't. Er. Oh well, I'd rather save the money.

We made our way up the last steps to the Parthenon, and argh the scaffolding. Of course, the buildings are ohhh 3000 years old, so they might need a little support, but I wish I could see them without all the scaffolding. The Temple of Nike is covered in it, and the first temple you go through, the The Propylaia, I believe. That's what I think it is, way too much scaffolding. Anyway, we went through that, and there was the Parthenon. Ahhhhhhhh, beautiful. Thankfully there is only some scaffolding inside, and the outside was nice. I just stared for a few minutes, I mean I was on the Acropolis staring at the Parthenon. I think it was sometime that I was on the Acropolis that I really realised how lucky I have been this year. I've seen all of these places on the Travel Channel, or history books, and now here I was standing on the Acropolis. I never really thought it would happen, that I would get to these places, and yet I have been there. It's really so amazing.

We took our pictures our pictures in front of the Parthenon of course... how could we not? That was great, standing in front of it. Danielle made her first of two stupid comments right before my picture was taken, she said that take a picture quickly, that I usually don't smile. I thought Kathleen was going to die from lack of air. She was laughing inside, but also was really confused. I smile all the time. Monica was really confused at that comment too, hahaha. So amusing. Of course maybe she has never seen me smile soo widely, my mouth hurt after seeing the Acropolis, and then later the Colosseum. Oh well.

We stayed on the Acropolis for awhile, just walking around the Parthenon, and then the Erechtheion. That was nice too, I like the statues of the women on the side. I think copies of them are inside the museum, or other statues resembling the ones on the Erechtheion. We had some really nice views of Athens from the top of the Acropolis, and I think it was up there that we made a decision of where we would be spending our evening. The Acropolis is not a very high hill/mountain... there are a lot of them that look down on the Acropolis. In Monica's guidebook, it talks about one of these mountains where you can watch the sunset, so we made our decision that yes we would be doing that. I was already excited to see Athens from even higher up, there is something about a city from up high that I love.

After walking around, we went into the museum that has artifacts from the Parthenon, and the other temples. That was cool, some of them were cool looking artifacts. I took a few pictures, but it was no masterpieces or anything in my opinion.

We left the Acropolis after looking at the Theatre of Herodes Attikus, and climbing a small hill that gave another view of Athens. That was when we saw the Temple of Zeus from up high, and we weren't sure what it was at that time, but knew we had to find it.

After the Acropolis, we investigated the Agora, and oh wow that was another wonder, and loss of oxygen to brain. I'm surprised I don't have brain damage from all the times no oxygen went above my neck... no comment on that statement. In the Agora, we first went to the left, and checked out a museum. We just looked at the statues on the outside, I think there might have been more inside, but we didn't really concern ourselves with it. The statues outside were cool, one of Hercules, and there was two statues that lost their heads, but the descriptions under it had something to do with the Iliad and Odyssey. I was a little confused, but maybe they were statues based on characters from Homer's works. There was one piece that I really liked, it was a slate that had numbers or letters on it about a Report of State Auctioneers. Um well my first question to that is... How do they know??? I mean it's all Greek to me... Hahaha, yeah that joke was made about a hundred times a day, but always welcomed.

There was also statues of some Roman Emperors, but no Marcus Aurelius... sad. There was the other four Good Emperors... just not the coolest. It was weird because everyone believed that I have the biggest crush on Hadrian, I mean I loved his library, I was excited to see his arch, and the bust of him. I mean Hadrian's cool, he's no Marcus Aurelius, but he is the reason Marcus Aurelius was adopted, so go Hadrian!

We continued on our way, our destination was the Temple of Hephaestus, which is on a hill, and like the Parthenon can be seen from a far. On the way, we saw different ruins, not really sure what most of them were. There was some artifacts like a big bowl on the ground, and a sign said that it was from the Odeion of Agrippa. Yeah, I nearly had a heart attack at that. I love Agrippa. He's the military power behind Augustus. He was the one who beat Mark Antony, and without Agrippa, Augustus would have remained Octavian. He's also wonderful in HBO Rome by the way. Which I pointed out to Monica, who shook her head, and probably was thinking what a freak. Hahah, I love HBO Rome way too much.

But the Temple of Hephaestus was really nice. We walked around it, and admired it. It is mostly in good condition. I had a good few minutes staring at the columns, they do interest me. They put so much detail into a column, a piece of stone that holds up more stone. It's just really interesting to me, which explains all the pictures of columns, the tops of them, and the bottoms. Sorry if no one else is interested.

After the Temple, we decided it was lunch time. We headed back down, and on the way I saw something amazing. The remains of the Odeion of Agrippa. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. First of all I hadn't realized that he was in Athens long enough to build a Odeion, but hey it's okay. I took a few pictures of those ruins, I was so excited. The question was already being raised about how I was going to deal in Rome. Agrippa wasn't even an Emperor, and I was having a mini heart attack about over his name, and an Odeion he built. I seriously doubted that I would live past Rome, lol. Hey I did!!!

We got lunch in our square, at this place from Monica's guidebook. Take away pita bread sandwiches for 1,60 euro... what could be better? It had a thing of beef in it, tomatoes and onions. I got mine without onions since I cannot stand them, but Oh wow was it good. My mouth right now is dying for one, and it's only in Athens!!!!!! HOW SAD!

After eating, we explored the market, it's a lot like Camden Town. Storekeepers stand at the entrance to their shops, and talk to you trying to get you to look at their merchandise. I could own a shop in there... people watch all day. How great is that? Going to different cities has given me a greater appreciation for people watching... it's so much fun. Also may be a bit creepy... it all depends on how you want to look at it. Anyway, we started to make our way to the mountain in the middle of the afternoon. There was no rush, so we walked slowly and stopped at anything we wanted to see. We stopped at a post office and mailed our post cards that we had written after eating. We also stopped at a church, that I could not go into because I had shorts on. Oh well, the girls said it was nothing special, and had a lot of scaffolding on it.

We found our way to the Old Royal Palace... and this place was great. We sat in the square, and rested after walking so much, and since it was a few minutes before the hour I suggested we se the changing of the guard. We walked across the street, just as it was starting. The guard uniforms are AMAZING! Skirts, funny shoes... it's just unbelievable. We walked in amazement as they did a walk that belongs in Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks. I can see John Cleese loving this dance, and even adding to it. I could not take these guards seriously... they had puffs on their shoes! They were in skirts and tights! Below is are pics.





We continued up to the mountain, we stopped at a grocery store first. We asked some woman where the nearest one was, and she pointed to her right and said that way. Um, of course we didn't ask how far that way, but it ended up not being that long of a walk. At the grocery store, I picked up bread, and I had still had my apples from the market in our favorite square, so I was all set. We headed up to the mountain after that, and walked up 213 steps to get to the cable car to take us to the mountain. Er. No one said anything about 213 steps. We counted on the way down though.

When we stopped to rest, Kathleen took out an orange she had picked from one of the trees. We had been wondering if it was okay to eat them, so Kathleen took one, and tried it... oh wow, the look on her face was priceless. It was really sour, she said, and ended up throwing it away. We almost died from laughing, it was just priceless.

Our time on the mountain was nice, we sat and ate, and looked down at the city of Athens. It was a little cold, and I was in shorts and a tee shirt. Fun. I had dressed for the hot day of Athens, just not for being on a mountain when the sun was setting, when it decided it should rain and be windy. Imagine that. It was great though. We did get yelled at by a woman from the States. She said that we should remember what country we represent. We weren't doing anything, maybe talking about what people do in Montana to pass time... haha, but nothing bad. Hahha, actually I didn't get yelled at, Kathleen and Danielle did. They were sitting across from Nguyen, Monica and myself, and the woman yelled at them. I would have a few things to say to her. I thought we were representing the US well, I mean we are young, having a good time, learning about Greek culture, maybe not at that second but our trip was very educational. Boo to her. Of course that was the second time, our conversation had been messed with, or not all of it understood, earlier we were talking about HBO Rome, and how everyone had to tone down the British accents so the Americans could understand them, and the woman in front of us said, "Do you speak American? I don't, they are too loud." Stupid British woman, not sure what part of the conversation she heard, but it was the wrong part. I was talking about how the accents, and how sometimes you can hear Agrippa's Irish accent... Oh well.

Our day ended on the mountain. Well somewhat, we went back to the hostel, when the sun set around 8ish, and hit up an internet cafe. We ended up at another cafe around 10ish, and we shared a table with a girl from Wales, and the other from Northern England. It's funny, a year ago, I might have said two girls from England, but I could hear the Welsh accent, and the northern accent in the other girl. We had a good time, and I got some good tea. It was great, and a perfect way to end the day.

Athens

We landed in Patras around noon, and I heard that the bus was less expensive, and the best way to go. Liar, but oh well, we would figure that one out by the time we were ready to go back to Italy. But we took the bus, it was so crowded, but we got seats unlike the guy who sat next to me on the floor. On the bus ride, I listened to the Mighty Boosh, of course and made Danielle and Kathleen jealous. I was listening to a Radio Session that Kathleen does not have, so whenever I would silently laugh, well when my face would be screwed up trying not to laugh loud enough for people in the cars next to us to hear, she would glare at me. Awesome times.

While waiting for the bus, we met up with Jack from Michigan State. He was on the ferry with us, and apparently to stay warm, he and his friends along with the two Australians partied all night! I heard them, but I didn't think that much of it. We talked with one of the Australians, sh was pretty tired, but also excited to get to Athens. She and the other Australian were pulling all nighters. Haha. They were taking the 2pm bus to Athens, I guess it was an express, but we took the 1:15pm, we were just eager to get on the road.

My first impressions of Greece are good, full of mountains, and alternating between big of green grass, to these neighborhoods where there was no room to move, the houses were so close together. Most of the houses had the same reddish orange roof on them, which was really cool to ee later on in our trip when we were on top of the mountain in Athens. But anyway, it was an interesting ride, when we would be in a town with streets and businesses, most of them were Greek, and not American stores. I believe I saw like a Shell station, and a MacDonalds, but there is nothing knew there. The bus ride took about 3 hours. I slept a little bit of the way. I enjoyed the ride that I was awake for.

On the bus we sat next to a few more Americans, one from Hopedale, MA. I cannot remember her name, but she goes to RPI. She asked if I knew where that was, and I said personally. I have never been there, but an RPI player sure tried to get friendly with me, when she sent me across the ice. Hahaha, oh well. She was with some guy, and he is from Colorado. They had another friend or two, but I never really learned that much about them. I did talk to the girl from Hopedale, she was cool. When we got to Athens, we tried to find a way to our hostel, and the seven of us stuck together, and stumbled our way around Athens. They were going to the train station to drop off their bags, and explore. They were taking an early flight out of Athens to some island. We made a merry little group, we walked single file, all of us with our huge bags. We did make it to the metro, and make our way to our hostel. The directions that I had for the hostel were horrible. We did make our way though, we had to ask a few people, but we made it.

The hostel is okay, nothing special. We were in a room for four people, and when we got there, we found a girl sitting on one of the beds. Her name is Nguyen, she's studying abroad in Paris, though she usually goes to Hamilton College in NY. I feel bad for her, she is not very happy with Paris. Paris is a dirty city anyway, but it is not what she thought it would be like. She's cool though, after we got to Athens, we all took showers, and then got some food. I invited her along, and from that second she joined our little group. Monica Buccini joined our group too. She got to Athens earlier in the day, and when we got to the hostel I went down to her room, and brought her up to ours. It was good to see her again, I haven't seen her since she left to go to Europe. She's good, been having a good time traveling.

When we were all ready to go, we walked down to the old part of Athens to find food. It was cool, I got to catch up with Monica, and got to know Nguyen. We had a really good time walking down to the part of Athens where we would spend most of our time. Of course, while we were walking down the street, and all a sudden, I believe it was Monica who just stopped. She was looking to her left. The rest of us stopped, and walked over to Monica. She was there staring up at the Acropolis. Yep, the Acropolis. Ummm amazing. We all just stood there staring, mouths opened wide, at this 3000 year old building and big hill. If you think about it, I have watched travel shows on Athens for oh a while. It's just so amazing, being in these cities that I have dreamed about for so long.

I felt at that moment that yes I was in Athens, and yes I was seeing the Acropolis. I looked at Monica, who I have talked to about seeing Athens, and the Acropolis since high school. We have talked about this moment for so long, and here we were. I was in complete awe, and of course it was all lit up, so it was even more beautiful. We stood there for a little bit, just staring and enjoying the view. We did move on, and found a place to eat. It was so good, we ate with the Acropolis and the Agora. The Temple in the Agora was lit up, and of course the Parthenon was. We had a great time, we all got along really well, and we ate for hours.

After we ate, we walked around, but I don't think my eyes left the Acropolis. It was just amazing. Well actually, my eyes did leave the Acropolis... when I saw Hadrian's Library. I guess Hadrian loved Athens, he has an arch and a library. Yeah well the library got my attention. I must say that Greece reminds me a little bit of Spain, marble everywhere, but thankfully no smell. They have orange trees everywhere, I don't like oranges, but the smell was so nice and refreshing. We walked around for a little bit, and then headed back to the hostel. It was about 11pm or maybe later when we got back, and we went to bed right away, because I was getting everyone up really early to go visit the Acropolis.

Hell on Earth

Straight from my journal:
So one question that must come up when I write is where the heck am I? This time I am in the lounge, to my right are mountains, and though a bar is to my left, I know beyond there is the Aegean Sea. I'm sitting with Kathleen, and we along with Danielle just woke up. The mountains are so huge, nothing like the Alps of course, but impressive. I'm a little bit in awe right now, I'm wondering if a man like Odysseus ever saw or walked among the mountains. To think that I am in a place with like 3000 years of history, if not more, and with great heroes of old, it just boggles the mind. I wonder who else has looked at these mountains, and been amazed. Danielle would probably hit me for that comment about Odysseus, she hit me after I mentioned I wanted to see the Aventine because Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus lived there in HBO Rome. She has no sense of fun, or imagination.

So before I talk more about the ferry, let me talk about Bari. Bari was the city that we flew into, and we spent the night there. It wasn't a bad place. The town of Bari though is hell on earth. It's a port city, so I thought there would things to do. Well yeah. Um it took us awhile to figure out where to put our bags, we ended up being able to put them in the port building. Once we were rid of our bags, we were able to move around more freely. We walked down this street, and all I smell was someone baking something. Then I noticed that there was pasta in opened boxes, and I realized that in all the houses, the women were making pasta from scratch. All the doors were opened, and they were talking between kitchens. Clothes were drying on clotheslines running between the houses to in this little narrow street. It was a beautiful sight to see, just so different from anything I've seen outside of pictures and movies. I wish all of Bari was like that. We stayed by the water, and it was nice, it was hot though so we weren't really into going that far. We were sitting on a bench people watching, when I noticed that all the men were dressed so well, in suits when it was so freaking HOT! They walked very slowly, with no purpose, and no hurry.

Our day was ruined though by Kathleen's stalker. Kathleen of course has marriage proposals every 5 feet when we are in Europe. Basically every where we go Spain, Greece and Italy, guys just proclaimed their undying love for Kathleen. Usually she just ignores them, and I give them a glare, but this guy was annoying. He would jump on his little bike, drive down the street, park, and then lean up against a lamp post, as though doing nothing. We evidently had to leave the water, and we ended back up at the port building. We sat on the patio for ohhhh 6 hours, eating what food we had, and just talking. Our ferry was leaving at 8pm, though we could board at 6pm. Danielle and Kathleen got a little burned on the patio, but I sat in jeans and a long sleeve shirt, or in the shade refusing to burn on the first day of our vacation. The title of this entry goes to Bari though, maybe if I had explored more, I would like to more, but I found it way too hot, crowded, and there was nothing to do. There was a castle or fort, but it cost 10 euros to get into it, so we didn't go in.

Anyway, I could have sat outside all day, and just stared. Of course I didn't, I never thought I would be warm again, and I sought the comfort of inside the ferry. The ferry ride was something else... hehe. Our tickets were for the deck, and we had wondered what exactly does that mean? Well it means you sleep in the bar, or in the wind tunnel. Where I thought I would sleep did have a roof, but it was so windy, and SO COLD! I first fell asleep on one of the seats, with my Mickey blanket, and Carmen as my pillow. Um, I woke up about an hour later shivering, put on two shirts, a fleece, my Pooh pants over my jeans, and three pairs of socks. I was still cold. Around 2am, I woke up, and I noticed I was alone. I shrugged, turned over and tried to fall back asleep. Kathleen nudged me a few minutes later, and she said that she and Danielle went inside, and were sleeping in the stairwell. I joined them still wearing most of my clothes. I fell asleep right away, still freezing, but by 7am I was somewhat unfrozen. I did manage to sleep for about 5 or 6 hours, so I was fine sleeping wise.

Now it's about 10am, and the ferry should be landing in about two hours, and then we will make our way to Athens. I cannot wait to get there, I have no idea what to expect, but I imagine I will have a very good time.

Quick hello again

Hey, so at I am at the hostel in Rome, and Kathleen is running a quick errand, so I thought I would say hey while waiting for her. I leave Rome tomorrow... so SAD, it has been an amazing trip, and I cannot wait to write about it. I have seen so much, I have basically dragged Kathleen and Danielle around Rome to see this and that, of course all of it has to do with my favorite Roman Emperors. We had to go back to the Marcus Aurelius column today, because I did not take a picture with it.. so weird that I forgot. Rome is nothing what I imagined, but I adore it for what it is, and I really do not want to leave. So sad, that I was saying today that I have to leave Rome to go back to London.. wow my life is tough.

Athens and Rome have been dream come trues, still cannot believe I have walked in the cities that Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar, Augustus, and Pericles ruled... wow.

I hope everyone got their post cards... I have been sending a few from each of the countries I have visited, and hope I have not forgot anyone. Actually, now that I think about it, I have, er, but I did not have your address, so um opps.

Well Kathleen is back, so time to go see the city of Rome at night. Dragging the girls back down to the Colosseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountains, and well all of Rome. Complete details when I get home, and remember patience is a virtue. I need time to caption all my pics, and blog everything. Will be a little busy, since Kathleen has decided she needs to see Gladiator and HBO Rome now that she has been to Rome, and I need to be a good friend and watch them with her.

Quick Hello

Hey!!!!
Just a quick post saying HELLO FROM ATHENS!
It's amazing here, the Parthenon is out of this world! Kathleen keeps saying that she would have hated to be the one to build it! It was so unreal walking up to it yesterday, and seeing the Temple of Nike... amazing. We picked up a friend here, Ngueng (probably butchering that name, will fix when I get home), she's studying abroad in Paris, and goes to Hamilton College in the States. She is traveling by herself, so we invited her to come with us the first night we were here, and she's been part of the gang since. Monica is here too, and her friends from Oxford have arrived, but I haven't seen them yet.

We have done so much in the last two days, my feet are killing me, but it's all been worth it. The most amazing thing for me was the Roman Agora! As much as I love the Parthenon, and all the Greek stuff, my heart stops at something Roman. I have a feeling I will just die in Rome. I was in a museum today, and I looked at my pics later, the majority of them are of the busts of my favorite Roman emperors. Um. Oh well. The Roman Agora though... funded by Julius Caesar and Augustus (going to ponder that one for a few), but we were there, and it was just amazing to be in something Roman, and look at the gate that two of my favs bought for the place... just amazing.

Okay well, time to go people watch by the Palace!!!!

Back to Oslo

We arrived back in Oslo at ohhh 6:30am. Yeah early. We went back to the Anker Hostel, where Jenna and Kathleen sat down on the couches and fell asleep for an hour and a half. I wrote in my journal, and had a cup of tea. It was my third cup of tea in Norway, and just another disappointment. It was English Breakfast, but the tea bag opened, so yeah not good. Argh, I was dying to get home just to have a cup of tea, sick I know.

But when the girls woke up, we got our breakfast, and got a bus to the Viking Museum. What a cool place! We thought it opened at 10:00am, so we got there about 10:30am, but it didn't open until 11am. We sat there, and ate our breakfast, and then a group of Chinese tourists came up. It was a huge group of them, and we ignored them. We were just sitting in a row almost eating apples and Kathleen had her bueno stuff. All a sudden, they took a picture of us. I gave them one of my best glares. But the place opened, so we went inside. I was first in line, go me, and I took one look at the list of prices, and one of the Chinese tourist idiots, pushed past Kathleen, and went right to the ticket window. Argh so annoying. After we paid, we hung back just looking at he gift shop letting them get ahead of us. There is nothing more annoying that a group of Chinese tourists... nothing. They take a thousand pictures of each other in front of everything. I'm always tempted to start using elbows when I'm in London by around Big Ben or something. They are pretty bad there. Argh oh well. So we started looking at the ships, and about 20 minutes later, I was reading something about one of the ships, when I see a flash out of the corner of my eye. I looked up expecting to see like Jenna taking a picture of me, but yeah it was one of the Chinese tourists. AH!

Argh anyway, the Viking Museum was nice. They had three ships, and artifacts. It was really interesting, the ships were cool. Amazing that they were buried and found in some farm. We spent a little less than hour there. After that we almost went to the folk museum, but when we got there, it was more like Plymouth Plantation for little kids, so we left. We took the bus back to the harbour, went to the Resistance Museum, that I believe I talked about in an earlier blog. Opps. After that, we went to the park that is full of naked statues. Kathleen wanted to see one of a baby stomping his foot, or something. It was a long walk, but we made it. There was also a statue of Abe Lincoln, which Kathleen went crazy over. She loves Abraham Lincoln.

We had a good time, just hanging out, and talking. After that we went back to the hostel, we ate, and went back to the hostel. It was late, and we were waking up early, at like oh 5am. I went to bed at like 9:30pm, and was sleeping peacefully until 1am, when our room mates came in, and made enough noise to wake the dead. They turned on the lights, were whispering and laughing. After about 15 minutes they finally settled down and went to bed. I, of course, never forget what is done to me, and the girl who was closest to me got a rude awakening the next morning. We got up and left around 5am, and I grabbed my bag and let it fall onto my bed. She woke suddenly...hehe. Stupid girls. I have no idea from where they were from, they didn't speak English, but at 1am I could not tell what language they spoke. It was pretty obvious though as soon as they turned on the light, that there was three sleeping girls in the room, and maybe one should be quiet. Who has manners these days though?

But that's my trip to Norway. Tomorrow I leave for Athens and then Rome. I CANNOT WAIT! I've been preparing by watching Rome. Since no one else is here, youtube and dailymotion work, so I was able to watch the first season of Rome. AHHHHH! So exciting. The other day I was looking at wikitravel and writing down places in Rome that I would like to go to, and it would have been easier to type: EVERYWHERE. HAHA! Cannot wait!!

Til I return from Athens and Rome.

Sore

Alright so Day 2 in Bergen. Yeah good times. I swear I stretched before going to bed, but it didn't feel like it in the morning. My hips KILLED, well actually just every muscle in my legs, some that I didn't even know existed. So we grabbed our stuff, checked out of the hostel, and went to the grocery store to pick up our apples of the day. I ate two apples every morning, it was great. That is when Kathleen upon her new treat, it's basically a bueno in a tube. It's chocolate/hazelnut spread, and yeah she didn't really spread it on anything, just ate it out of the tube. Well actually to be fair, it was first spread on bread, but later that was ignored. It was sick. Jenna was all into it too. I did not even try it, I dislike hazelnut. But with our food, we took the bus down to the city centre, put our bags in a big locker, and started to explore all that was Bergen.

Since this time we started out in the city centre, we understood it more, and it is a really nice place. Of course there is a 7-11 on every street corner, as well as MacDonalds and Burger King, but it was really nice. Kathleen wanted to see the fish market, so we went there first, but I did not go in. Well I stepped in, sniffed, and ran out. The smell of fish gets to me. I walked around the area for a few minutes, and met them on the other side. Um Kathleen ate a piece of whale. WHALE! I hit her for it when I found out. Jenna predicted that I would do that. The poor whale!
After that we walked to the fortress thing, but it was closed, as was everything in Bergen. We stopped and sat watching the harbour for a few minutes. We saw St. Mary's church, the oldest building in Bergen, some statues, some memorial thing for the first ship to leave Norway and go to Chicago.

Of course then it started to rain, so we went to the Apple Store to check out e-mail. As I was doing that, Jenna and Kathleen started to watch the Mighty Boosh. Amazing. I stopped what was doing to watch, but yeah it ended up with us laughing in the middle of the store. Wonderful.

We walked so much that day, and every step was really painful. It was so funny. We walked up to the Cathedral, just for it to be closed. It was up on a hill of course. That was a funny trip up the hill. Every step hurt. Going down was no better than going up. How horrible.

After the Cathedral, we went to a pub for a few hours, it was cold and rainy, and we were sore, so we sat and talked for a while. We are getting way too comfortable in England, I mean we need somewhere to rest, and our first thoughts is a pub. Amazing.

That's about it for Bergen, we had dinner, and caught the 11pm train back to Oslo. I slept the majority of it. I was gone before the ticket guy came around, I hear he was not pleased. I had my reference number in my hand, but I just fell asleep. I woke up to find my receipt on my lap, hahah. Oh well.

Bergen was amazing, I had a wonderful time there. There was some amazing views, and I was soo glad I went. Norway is just a wonderful place.

We don't hike, we vike

So on Day 2, we took a 7 hour train ride to Bergen. Kathleen was all about the fjords, and of course the best ones are in Bergen. Bergen of course is on the other side of the country. I was willing though to go, as was Jenna, so we took this wonderful train ride, getting up way too early to get to the train station in time. But since we went to bed really early, it wasn't much of a problem to get up early.

The train ride was amazing. Kathleen slept basically the whole way, but I wrote in my journal, read a little, and just watched the scenes. So beautiful. It was April Fool's Day when we traveled, so I took a picture at the train station of the wall, and put it up on Webshots saying that this was all we saw. Yeah it was funny at the time. I got some really nice shots though. It was cool we went from warm and green, to cold and snowy, and back to warm and green. Jenna and Kathleen were very amused, I would be sleeping, and all a sudden I would wake up, turn on my camera that was in my right hand, hold it up, take a picture, turn it off, and go back to sleep. LOL! I just had the feeling that there was something beautiful outside at that second, and I should do something about it. Jenna had the best views for awhile, so some of my shots aren't as good, I had to zoom in around Jenna and the guy sitting next to her. The shots aren't bad though.

Some of the sights we saw though are just amazing, huge mountains, rivers, and then the snowy mountains... just amazing. It was a really a beautiful train ride, I was awake for most of it, and I am really glad that I was awake. We crossed the country of Norway in 7 hours. Amazing.

It was great because we all sat together, and of course there was many jokes made, and we had a good time. It didn't feel like 7 hours either. We got off the train around 2ish, and it didn't feel like it.

So Bergen. Great place, a lot like ohhh Minas Tirith. There are windy roads that go up the mountain. The majority of the houses are on the way up to the top of the mountain. Our hostel was up there, we stayed at the Montana Youth Hostel just for Kathleen. She's from Montana, and is very proud of the state that has more cows than people. So after we checked in, we went in search of the cable car we saw on the way up to our hostel that leads to the top of the mountain. Our journey to find this cable car took us down a really steep, steep hill, I would love to go down this hill on a sled during the winter. It's sooo steep, so we went down, and couldn't find anything. We thought that maybe we missed a little path, so we walked back up it, almost dying on the way. At the top, we couldn't find anything, so I asked a guy who walked past us. He told us to go back down the hill, and follow the road. Er. So we went back down the hill, followed the road and found it. The guy did tell me that there is a path going right past our hostel, so we could climb down the mountain and be at our hostel. It was kind of obvious we were staying there, we only saw one other hostel and it was in the centre of town.

So we went up to the top of the mountain. The cable car ride was fun. Short, but we got our first views of Bergen from high up. Amazing place. At the top of the mountain, the view is just unbelievable. This mountain is the highest one in Bergen, so we saw it all. Of course there was a cafe at the top of the mountain, so we got some ice cream. It was the vacation of ice cream, good times. We sat outside at one of the tables and ate, and I was really surprised at the other people. A lot of them had their dogs with them. We saw 3 or 4 dogs at least. No black labs, and all in all the dogs were not that cute. Oh well.

After our snack, we walked around, and had fun talking some pictures with the big flag of Norway. Kathleen and Jenna looked like they had just conquered Norway. I pondered the country of Norway, and then Jenna dared me to do a Marlyn Monroe pose. Of course I did.

It amazed me that on top of the highest mountain in Bergen, there was no boundaries. We could walk wherever we wanted. We didn't go that far, I would have walked every inch of the mountains, it was so beautiful, and up that high you see sights that are just amazing. It's quite an experience, one that I have mentioned before. I just free so free up there, you can do anything, see anything... I do treasure all the times I've been up that high. But we walked around for a while, I kept going farther and farther. Oh well.

The walk down was amazing, and not in a good way. We followed the signs for Montana, thinking it was our hostel, and it could have been, but who knows. The signs led us down these fake steps, that were just big rocks, and there was a rail. We held onto the rail, and walked down. For awhile, it seemed like we made no progress at all. Some way down, we got passed by an older couple, and they kicked our butts. I bet they were in a cafe, having a nice cup of tea by the time we got down the mountain. It was kinda sad. Kathleen had the worst shoes on for walking down mountains, she had on flats. Her ankles got soooo big, her ankles looked bigger than my left one did went I took the puck to it, and it barely fit in my skate that one time in high school. Jenna and I got a few good laughs over it, wait I'm still laughing at her for it.

But the walk down, we ended up on an old dried up creek as a path, I never have walked on so many rocks in my life. We walked for probably an hour. We were all sooo tired by the end. You would think after a while I would get smart and stop climbing mountains, or get use to it. Oh well.

When we finally made it back to the hostel, we cleaned up, and went down to the city centre, and of course got lost. We thought we were taking a short cut, yeah right. It was a fun walk, because all we did was laugh, and make jokes, but yeah we got a little lost. But we did find our way, no big deal. It's part of the experience of being in a new city. The problem was none of us understood Bergen, we started at the wrong part of it, and assumed we were closer to the city centre than we were. Oh well. Everything is an experience.

We finally ate dinner at a pizza place in the city centre. We devoured the pizza in 2 seconds. Jenna and I ordered garlic bread, and it came on one plate, so our waitress went to get another plate, but when she returned a few seconds later, the garlic bread was gone. It was very amusing.

After eating, we got a bus and went back to the hostel. There was no way we were walking back up the hill to our hostel, it was just too long of a walk.

Our first day in Bergen was fun though, a lot of walking, but seeing some amazing sights. We would pay for it though, oh would we pay.

P.S. Almost forgot to explain the title: We don't hike, we vike. Um well if you knew Kathleen you would read that, and think yep that's a Kathleen line. She said that a few times on the way down. She kept saying that we were vikings exploring new lands (LOL), so yeah we don't hike, we vike. It rhymes, and it's funny.

Old Gregg, Pizza, and Olav

Hey, so I'm back from Norway. What a place... what a time. I'm smiling just thinking of it. So let me include you in on the joke.

I went to Norway with Jenna and Kathleen. Kathleen of course being my flat mate, and Jenna just the girl who hangs out in our flat so much, I'm surprised she hasn't bought a bed and just sleep in our hall. Hahah, just kidding. I went to Ireland with Jenna, and that was a great time, so I was really looking forward to this trip. In the few days before our trip, we have been watching the Mighty Boosh like there is no tomorrow. We um actually all bought Seasons 1 and 2... um yeah well. So right before we left, I mean seconds before we left, we watched Old Gregg, and yeah that was probably not a good idea. I talked about the Mighty Boosh before, but without seeing it, it's hard to describe. It's just two guys who work in a zoo, and it's British humour at it's best. But Old Gregg is my new favorite character, I'm thinking my Halloween costume next year, because he's just that awesome. But we quoted Old Gregg the whole time. We would be walking down the street, and all a sudden one of us would be like, "I'm Old Greggggg." or "Love games." and the other two would burst out laughing. Actually one night in a hostel, Kathleen was listening to the Mighty Boosh, and it was silent, and all sudden Jenna started laughing. Kathleen had her music up a little loud, and she heard, "I'm Old Gregg." I didn't hear it, I was above Kathleen on the bunk bed, but they laughed, so I laughed, and the three of us were laughing, and we weren't alone in the room. So embarrassing.

ANYWAY! Off the Mighty Boosh, though I am listening to it right now, yeah I have the DVDs, and the songs on my MP3 Player... it's sick I know. But to Norway. So we slept in the airport on Friday night, because our plane left at oohhh you know 6:30am. Ick, early. We took the last train to Victoria, and then caught the National Express to Stansted. We got to Stansted around 2ish, and I was kinda surprised how many people were in the airport. Some people had blow up mattresses, and this one guy was sleeping on the scale, and had his head against the counter. LOL! Kathleen of course decided we should sleep right in the middle of the floor. We weren't the only ones doing it though, so it was okay. I did not sleep that night, Jenna and Kathleen kept quoting the Mighty Boosh, and decided it was like a slumber party so we should tell stories. I told a few, but my eyes started to close, so I tried to sleep, but those two kept going. I called for quiet time, like we were 5 years old or something, and it worked, but just as sleep was taking me over, people started to move. Yeah all of Stansted was up at 4am. Er. We had to move, lines started to form around us, so we went off to the corner, and tried to sleep for another half an hour, and I might have fallen asleep for 10 minutes. Oh well.

So we checked in, and went through security with no problems. I was so tired, that I couldn't think properly, it took me a while to decide that yes I was hungry. Of course I thought ahead, and brought some cookies, but we ate those in line for check in, so we were all hungry again. By the time we all got food, we had to basically run to the gate, but Stansted was being slow that morning, so we were fine. Kathleen had priority boarding... not sure how, but she did, so she grabbed seats for Jenna and I.

I don't really remember the plane ride, I was out like a light. I don't even remember the plane taking off, so yeah quick ride. It's what I like. Every time I fly, it gets to me even more. It's horrible, because I like the fly, but I get a stomach ache every time, stupid motion sickness. I can go on roller coasters, but can't fly. Er.

When we got to Oslo, we had to take a bus into the actually city. We were in the Stansted of Norway, so we grabbed the bus, and took the hour and a half ride into the city. Once again, I was out like a light.

Around 1pm, we were in Oslo, all three of us tired, and just wanting to sleep. Jenna had the directions for the airport, but being tired, she didn't really read them right. We were looking for Karl Johans Gate for some reason, and we stopped to look at a map, when I looked at the directions, and realized our hostel was on the road we had just been walking up and down. Great. So we found our hostel. It's not bad, the Anker Hostel. We couldn't check in yet, because it wasn't 3pm, so we left our stuff, and went to get food. We stopped at a Pizza place down the street, and 5 minutes after getting our pizzas they were gone. Great pizza. Of course, a few seconds after we sat down, I see this guy walk past the window, and he has a Yankees hat on. AH! Stupid Yankees, even in Norway people wear those stupid hats. Oh well.

After we ate though, we walked down the street, and came to the store that had everything I desire in life, well almost. It had Lord of the Rings stuff (Helmets and swords), and Maximus's helmet!!!!! I put it on, it was so cool. Loved that store. Jenna had a great time in it too, we both just wanted it all.

But then we kept walking down to the Cathedral, and then to the Palace. By the Cathedral, we saw our first Viking. There are some people in Norway who seriously look like Vikings... big beards, weird clothes that so do not match, and either bald or way too much hair. Jenna and I both turned to Kathleen at the same time though and said, "Viking." Yeah we spend too much time together.

The Palace is cool though, it's up on a hill of course. We walked up there, and there are no gates. You can walk right up to the door, of course the guard would probably shoot you, but you can walk up to the guard, who is really close to the door. There is a gate by the side of the palace, but not around the whole place, like at Buckingham or the White House. There is a statue in front of the palace, but I don't really know who it is. Not Olav though.

Okay I must explain Olav. In the Guide to Oslo, a book we picked up at the hostel, there was an article about Olav V, the people's king. He died in 1991, but before then he was the Defense Minster in the last years of the War, while the rest of his family was in exile he chose to stay with the people. Then during a time when cars weren't allowed to be driven in the 60's I believe, he rode the tram to go skiing, and he rode it with the people. He didn't have to pay for the fare, the driver said that the people had already paid his ticket. He was asked later if he was afraid to be among the people, and he said no, that he had 4 million bodyguards. He was a really popular king, and actually the great grandchild of Queen Victoria, his mother was Princess Maud (daughter of King Edward VII of the UK). But we took a liking to him, and the whole time we were in Norway we looked out for a statue of him. Did we find one? NO! We didn't go to the right section... so sad, we tried so hard.

After the Palace, we went down to the harbour, saw the Nobel Peace Centre, and the fortress. We went up to the fortress, what a cool place. We never made it inside the castle alas, it was never opened when we went. But the view was cool, and we did go into the Resistance Museum upon returning to Oslo. Personally, I knew nothing about Norway and the War, but they did have some action. Sweden of course opened the door for Hitler, and let him into Norway. Norway resisted, but the Royal family had to go into exile. Olav's family went to the States, to Washington actually, but Olav stayed and helped fight the war. The museum was really interesting, it gave so much info, and had a lot of original letters and other pictures.

This was also the vacation of ice cream, we ate ice cream by the water, it was nice enough to do so. There was so many people out eating by the water, it was so nice.

So by now it was getting kind of late, especially since we had been up since ohhh 4am, and only had around 3 hours of sleep. We got MacDonalds because it's cheap, and quick. There we saw another Viking... so cool. He was behind me talking to himself, and playing with his chips. After that we went to bed. We were all so tired. That was Day 1 in Oslo, and the next day we were going to Bergen.