When in Rome.......Don't get Arrested

Well Rome was interesting.  Interested architecture, interesting people, interesting food and also interesting encounter with the police.  We arrived at our apartment in Rome late that Tuesday night after spending the last 24 hours on a boat and then a train.  Our apartment was small but it was in a safe neighborhood and it was cheap so it was definitely going to do the trick for the four nights we were staying in Rome.  We met Marcello the guy who was renting it to us and he left us to hunker down for the night. 
The next morning was a Wednesday and the pope does a blessing every morning in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.  So naturally we wanted to get blessed by the big guy.  Trying to navigate Rome for the first time was hilarious and it took us 2 hours to figure out how to get to the Vatican, but once we made it we were golden.  There were thousands and thousands of people there and we heard Pope Francis give a short speech.  The blessing takes 90 min and we found out it is because each cardinal translates the blessing into a bunch of different languages.  Good thing English was second so we could be blessed and head.  The blessing is for all my families and friends as well so if you are reading this, congrats your blessed!!!

After the Vatican we headed to the Ancient downtown area of Rome called the Roma Forum and Palatine Hill.  It was not was I was expecting at all and cannot believe that right around this busy metropolis of Rome is this ancient cluster of ruins that once was Rome.  I'm glad that we did Greece and Rome back to back because it was interesting to see two ancient cities that are unlike anything we have in Germany or this part of Europe.  We had a very good looking tour guide at the Forum and he gave us a ton of info in the old downtown.

When we were done exploring the ruins we headed across the street to the Coliseum and went into the gladiator stadium.  It is so hard imagining this monster being filled with people cheering on men fighting for their lives or wild animals running around the mazes below ground.  There is a large cross right at the entrance overlooking the arena to commemorate all who lost their lives there.  Every year on Good Friday the Pope does the stations of the cross in the coliseum using that cross.

 

 

We tried some real Italian pizza for a little midday snack right next to all of the ruins.  We decided to kind of wander after that and walked into a gorgeous church as well as saw some monumental government buildings.  We found a grocery store after that and got some groceries for the rest of the stay in Rome.  That night we headed back to the apartment and rested after so much trekking around.

 

The next day was packed full.  We went to the Trevi Fountain in the morning, which was gorgeous and probably one of my favorite spots in Rome.  We found some gelato and a spot to park it while we could eat our gelato and just watch the fountain and all the families and couples posing by it.  We reluctantly finished our gelato and found the Spanish Steps that look like they extend to the heavens.  One of the biggest surprises was when we tried to find the Opera house and stumbled upon a huge piazza with a gigantic fountain  and St. Mary's Basilica.  Of course the Opera House was cool but it was nothing compared to the shock that we had when we exited the metro and saw that area.

 

Vatican city and the Sistine Chapel was next on our to do list and we had booked  a tour of the museum and the chapel because the tickets were sold out.  The tour ended up being pretty awesome because there is so much to see and an overwhelming amount of info at the Vatican Museum.  We saw some priceless art and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's masterpiece right above my head.  Wow there isn't much more to say other than that.  It is a magnificent sight to see and no picture does it justice.  We exited and walked right into St. Peter's Basilica with its statue of Mary with Jesus and the large twisting pillars that adorn the pillar.  It is also an overwhelming sight to take in.

 

When the sun set we found the Parthenon and Piazza Navona.  The Piazza was bustling and all light up.  There were art vendors and a huge fountain of course.  The Parthenon was also spectacular because first you aren't really expecting it when you walk around the corner and its more of a church than I was expecting.  We headed back the Trevi Fountain afterwards to see it lit up at night and it was much more busy than when we had been there earlier that morning.  We headed home after that to find that our water in our apartment had been turned off because the landlord thought there was a leak in the apt.  So we had no water to make dinner or shower or even drink.  Thank goodness for the guardian angel that was our neighbor.  She spoke great English and explained everything that was going on.  She even let us come into her house and get water to boil noodles and fill water bottles to drink.  A couple hours later her and her husband along with Marcello somehow figured out how to turn the water back on.

 

The last day we were in Italy we wanted to see something outside of Rome so we strolled around Rome a little bit more and then around noon took a train to Pisa.  We were enjoying a relaxing trip when all of a sudden our car on the train started to fill with smoke.  The train made a stop and we got off because our train had started on fire.  We were put on a different train but had to stand the rest of the way because the train was packed. 

 

Tuscany was gorgeous and we had a lovely time shopping in the craft fair and grabbing gelato by the bridge.  We found the Leaning Tower of Pisa and of course took all the touristy pictures we could think of.  We loved laying on the grass and just looking at everyone around us and enjoying a gorgeous evening.  When we finally got up we stumbled into the Cathedral and sat down a little bit of the All Saint's Day mass.  This was one of the best and most extravagant cathedrals we have been in.  On the way back to the train station we finally had an Italian meal.

 

We arrived back to our apartment in one piece and started packing and getting ready to go to bed and leave for Vienna in the morning.  We were crawling into bed when all of a sudden there was knocking on our door and someone shouting police.  We looked out the peephole and saw 6 armed Italian police officers.  After much deliberation we opened the door and they started speaking to us in Italian until a lady came running down the stairs and telling us that everyone was going to be alright if we just cooperated.  Turns out Marcello, the guy that we rented the apt from, was illegally renting out the apartment to people and this lady was the real owner of the apt.  We had to give the police our passport info as well as all the receipts and documentation we had for paying for the apartment.  We were allowed to stay there that night but the police left and came back in an hour with a locksmith and changed the locks on the doors.  We did not go to bed until they left at 3 am. 

 

Who would have known that these crazy things would ever happen to us......but next time you think u have bad travel luck just remember you didn't almost go to Italian jail.....ok well neither did I but I sure felt like it.

 

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Chels

 

 

 



Cruisin' Through Greece

So it has been a week since I came home in one piece from my two week fall break trip.  I think it may be time to share my experiences thus far after letting it marinate a little and having a blasty looking at all the great pictures.

We started off with a Greek cruise that left from Athens and went to 4 different islands and Turkey.  We flew to Athens on the Thursday that classes ended and took a bus to Piraeus the ancient port of Athens.  We actually stayed in a super cheap hotel and met the nicest old Greek man who ran the hotel and love the four bubbly girls who arrived at 2 am.  The next morning we boarded our ship and I didn't really know what to expect never having been on a cruise before.  Not too long after getting on we had to do a lifeboat drill which produced this beauty of a pic.

 

 

Immediately after this little party we threw our swimsuits on and sat on the deck for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.  After some sun we decided to go to the Greek Language lesson that the boat entertainment was holding and stayed for Greek dancing, salsa dancing, and a Name that Tune game.  We were nicknamed the Happy Club that afternoon, and that was definitely not the end of the nicknames that we received on our trip.

That night we docked in Mykonos and explored the island at night.  This island is famous for its Litle Venice, where there are little Greek churches and historic windmills that line the coast.  We also found a lot of cute shops and had a real feeling of Greece with the white washed houses.  After some windy walking around the island we headed back for a nice dinner at the boat where we met one of better friends on the ship.  He was the Maitre'd and we had great chats with him every night for dinner.

 

The next morning was Kasadasi, Turkey.  At first I was really scared of this place.  We were off the ship really early and we had no idea what to do or see.  There were a lot of men harassing us and asking us if we wanted taxi rides.  Eventually we made some really great friends with the stray dogs on the island.  We found a fortress and decided to explore it just before we gave up on the city.  Boy did we have an amazing time climbing and just having our own sort of adventure.

There was a mama dog that never left our side the entire time we were hiking even though it was pretty treacherous.  The water was just so blue and when we were behind the fortress it was like we could forget the whole city even existed.  When we were walking back to the ship we saw men fishing off the pier and they were catching squid.  When we walked with the dogs none of the men who had harassed us before bothered us.  Turkey started off rough, but we had a blast and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the deck of the boat getting some much needed sun.

The night had us stopping in Patmos, Greece.  The island was small, we could see the water on both sides of the island when we hiked up the hill and looked down on the town.  The flowers all over the island were blooming and just gorgeous.  We made a horsey friend on the way hiking up the hill to the Acropolis and the church that was on the hill.  On our hike back down we wandered through the side streets and found gorgeous houses and little shops.  We also had dinner on the boat with our favorite guy.  After dinner we were roped in to doing karaoke on the boat and this gave us our new nickname as the spice girls.

The last day of our cruise had us docking in Heraklion Crete in the morning.  We did a lot of wandering this day, because Heraklion in the capital of Crete there is not a whole lot of sightseeing to do, but we had fun climbing on some of the rocks that lined the coast and we were very very surprised when we were drenched by a huge wave.  Again that afternoon we laid on the boat and then got dressed up to go to Santorini.

Santorini was magical.  We took an excursion to the village of Oia.  This is the village that has the white buildings with the blue domes.  We were there when the sun was setting and the village has little streets with a gorgeous view into the Caldera.  The island of Santorini was a huge volcanoes that just exploded one day leaving the Caldera behind as well as rich volcanic soil.  Unfortunately we did not get to ride the donkeys, but we took a bus up and a cable car down.

 

 

We had a great time on our cruise, but it just made me want to go back so badly.  The next morning we arrived back in Athens and went to the Acropolis before we left Greece.  We were one of the first people there which was good because it filled up quickly.  It was surreal standing in front of this monstrosity.  We left Athens and took a bus to Patras, Greece.  This is where we caught a 24 hour ferry that took us to Ancona, Italy.  We had tickets to sleep outside on the deck of the boat, but there was more people working on the boat then actually riding it so we got a free upgrade to sleep inside and use the airplane seating.  Stay tuned because there are 4 more posts about this 2 week trip coming up!!!

 



Auf Wiedersehen,
Chels