Barcelona!!

While the rest of the world was watching the Royal Wedding, and millions celebrating the beatification of Pope John Paul II (and apparently when Obama, the CIA, and the military were planning to attack capture/kill Osama bin Laden) I was spending a beautiful weekend in Barcelona, Spain. Rachel, Gabby and I had a few goals for this trip- eat tapas and paella, drink sangria, go to Barcelona beach, and see the Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi creations. We accomplished all this and more.

We got to Barcelona at 2 am due to a two hour flight delay, I can't complain since it was due to a thunderstorm over Barcelona (safety first). Our hostel was off La Rambla, a central shopping street  in Barcelona and only a few minutes walk to the beach.

Friday:
We headed out in the late morning on Friday when it was raining, luckily we were prepared. Our first stop was the St. Joseph market off of La Rambla. At this market you could buy fruit, meat, veggies, cheese, and premade pasta among other things. It was fun to walk around because all the food was fresh and colorful. We decided to get a fruit salad for breakfast, which included mango, coconut, oranges, cantolope, watermelon, pineapple, dragonfruit, and kiwi, Then we took the extremely easy and efficient metro to La sagrada familia- or the sacred family church designed by Gaudi. He started the church in the 1920s or so but died soon after. the church is detailed, large, and elaborate that it is still being constructed, they haven't even built all the spires and the inside was just finished in 2007. It is supposed to be finished in 2030 or later, over 100 years after it was started. The church is modern looking inside, but looks almost medieval on the outside. The figures that are built on the outside depicting Jesus and his family are block like and look almost pagan to me. After this, we heard there was a Museu de la xocolata (Chocolate museum) that was rather cheap. It took us a while to find it but we made it. The museum gave us a free chocolate bar and had many different chocolate moldings. Otherwise it was kind of a disappointment. After this we decided to go to the beach. We bought sangria and snacks and sat on the beach (because it was now sunny) for a couple hours. For dinner we ate paella (rice with seafood and vegetables) near the harbor. Finally, we saw a dock with many people walking across. We decided to follow and found a large man made "island" of shopping, theaters, and an outdoor concert. After this I called it a night.

seafood at the market

fruit at the market

front view of la sagrada familia and some of its construction

me in front of (a beardless) jesus christ inside sagrada familia

the ceiling

back view of sagrada familia

chocolate sculpture of the movie UP

barcelona beach

seafood paella

Saturday:

We got up and went to the market again, this time to pack a picnic lunch for Park Guell, the park designed by Gaudi. We got another fruit salad and a pasta and rice mixture. Then we headed for Park Guell, which you have to climb up  a hill to get to. We sat and at our lunch in the park, then walked around. The park is full of typical Gaudi walls, and buildings with beautiful mosaics. We spent about an hour or so walking around the place. Afterwards, we went back to the shopping area to do some shopping. We determined that Spanish fashion is a thousand times better than Spanish fashion, so it was interesting to look around (but not buy at least for me). After this we once again went to Barcelona beach to sit and drink Sangria. Afterwards we went to a huge fountain called Montjuic that basically puts on a water show to music and lights. We heard a lot of 80s music during this show. The fountain is really cool and the area around it was full of people watching it. Then, we went to find tapas, which we apparently didn't go to the right area for, so once we saw a sign for tapas we went in. It turned out to be bar food tapas so nachos, empanadas, and fries. Not exactly real tapas but after going 4 months without this kind of food it was pretty good (and so was the sangria with dinner).

cave like wall in Park guell

Park Guell performers, they were so energetic jumping while playing instruments

mosaic bench

sitting in park guell with Barcelona in the background

mosaic ceiling

mosaic salamander fountain

walking to the montjuic fountain

montjuic show

Sunday:

On our final day in Barcelona we got up, but our bags in a storage facility and went to get breakfast. We found the cutest restaurant on La Rambla and got coffee and fried eggs with chorizo. It was very tasty. Afterwards we walked back to the area near the Chocolate museum because it looked like it had cute boutiques. We ended up running into one of the largest protests I have ever seen (except for the rally to restore sanity). The signs were all in Spanish (probably the Barcelonian Spanish Catalan) but it I realized Italian is similar to Spanish and Spanish is similar to French. So my language skills as well as the signs with scissors and the socialist part symbol led me to deduce the protest was about socialist program cuts (or their budget cuts). Spanish protests are so fun there were drummers and fire breather. Anyway, We walked around and sat in some squares until 3 pm and headed over to the Picasso Museum because it is apparently free after 3 pm on Sundays. However, it turns out it was closed that day for whatever reason. That was disappointing so we just kept walking aimlessly around the central shopping area. For a late lunch/early dinner we went to a real tapas place and ate things like their famous tomato bread, olives, cheese, and grilled sepia. Then it was time to grab our bags and head to the airport.  The plane ride home ended up being very interesting. Towards the end of the flight there was EXTREME turbulence. I'm admittedly a nervous flyer anyways and a little turbulence makes me anxious but this was the WORST. People were grabbing on to each other, looking at the emergency information cards. I decided at the time it was best to put my head down in my lap, which seemed to be an overreaction compared to the people around me, so much so that I became their in-flight entertainment. The guy sitting next to me even felt it necessary to pat me on the back and tell me it was ok and another man sitting in front of me grabbed my hand after the turbulence to calm me down (I mean I wasn't screaming or anything so these acts of kindness were surprising). Meanwhile I was strategically planning what I would do if we hit water. Anyway that turbulence finally ended and we landed safely in Rome.

The protest fire breather- you can't tell in this picture but the amount of people seemed to stretch for a mile

the Spanish arc de triomf

while in spain, eat churros and hot chocolate

Anyways, this week it is back to the grind since it is the last week of class. I'll be busy with papers and presentations in preparation for next weekend when I'll be studying for next week's 5 finals. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though when my parents come in less than two weeks to travel. And finally on May 29 I'll be back in the states. This semester has flown by!

Easter Weekend in Rome

Easter in Rome seemed to deserve its own post because what could be cooler than spending one of the most important Catholic holidays were the Holy See is located??

On Saturday I decided to climb the Aventine Hill where there are a number of churches. It almost seemed like I was in a small Tuscan town on top of that hill, it was very quiet and beautiful. I stopped and sat in an orange tree garden that had a great view of St. Peter's and the rest of the city. Then I stepped into a couple of the churches. Anyways, I don't know too much about the hill or the churches, but the emptiness of it was really refreshing.

walkway up to the Aventine Hill- surprisingly EMPTY

Orange tree in the orange garden

St. Peter's is in the background- it was hazy outside so it is hard to see

square surrounded by churches

After this I walked over the to Protestant Cemetery- meant for the English who died in Rome or those of the non-Catholic faith (there were some Jewish graves). The cemetery is beautiful, the gravestones are extremely elaborate and there are some famous people buried there- John Keats, PB Shelley, the son  of Goethe, and a few others. The cemetery was also very empty- which could've made it creepy, but having lived next to one my entire life I'm ok with cemeteries. Walking through it was also very relaxing.

The cemetery and some of its elaborate graves

Left is John Keats' grave, the right is his friend Severn, and the middle is Severn's baby son

I just took this picture because I recognized the symbol (chi ro) as a Christian one used by Constantine, otherwise I don't know much about it

This morning I walked up to the Vatican.  I was going to try and avoid the holiday crowds, but after thinking about how many crowded important events I've been to- Inauguration and the Inaugural concert, and the Rally to Restore Sanity- I figured I could handle thousands of Catholics on Easter Sunday- as intimidating as that sounds. I am very glad I went, I stayed towards the back so it wasn't very crowded around me. I was only going to stay a couple minutes just to check out the crowd but I stayed for 45 minutes instead because I figured a lot of people I know probably wished they were there. I did leave before the Pope's speech though (which I wish I knew he did because I would've stayed) because it was mostly in Italian/latin and I had no idea what was going on. They also had large screens set up, I started out watching the wrong one that was just clips of Pope John Paul II in preparation for his beatification next week (sadly I will miss it), but I finally realized my mistake. Then, some old Italian man tried to point out who the Pope was on the video screen to me- as if I don't know what the Pope looks like. I wonder if he saw the Jewish star around my neck and figured I didn't know anything. Anyways, I'm glad I can say I've been to Easter mass at the Vatican now.

An extremely zoomed in creeper pic of the Pope

The crowd at Easter mass- it was really hard to tell how many people were there in this picture

The pope on the big screen

Hope my Grandma's proud of me!

The Eternal City

Between all my trips and special outings within Rome, I have not gone into much detail about what else I do in Rome. There are a lot of things I have done with classes and on my own that are, in my opinion, very cool. I have quickly learned Rome really is the "Eternal City" because there are buildings still standing from all important time periods.

Mid-March:
In March, for my archaeology class we went on an on-site class that was very cool. It was around my trip to Paris so I didn't talk about it on this blog. But, we went to a place called Monte Testaccio. Testaccio means clay, and the mountain is literally made entirely of clay. This is because in antiquity Romans would import wine and olive oil from places like Spain, Africa, and Greece. The liquids would be transported in pots with a pointed bottom called amphorae that were useful for packing on boats. Then, when the liquid was all gone, Romans would take the amphorae and throw it on a mound of thousands of amphorae. This eventually made an entire hill, one of the many you can find in Rome

Oh yeah, Testaccio is in the middle of the city and you can find sheep on the top of the hill, a "green" way to keep the grass short

view of Rome from the top of Monte Testaccio

The clay pieces that make up the hill

Also later in March I went on an onsite with my Roman history class for about 4 hours. We just walked around the city and looked at monuments and sites that we had already learned about. Anyway, on this trip I saw things that I hadn't seen already so I will post these pictures.

Temple for Hercules- it is rounded whereas most temples are rectangular

archway of an ancient marketplace

circus massimus- where ancient chariot races were held

Then we stumbled on a present day protest- seemingly for workers rights

column of trajan- the column depicts his war against the Jews in Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple

On another day in late March my Roman history class went to the Capitoline Museum, which houses items found from ancient sites. There are statues, remnants of a pre-Republic Pagan temple, and mosaics. The most famous though is what is left from a gigantic statue of Constantine. Only the head, a foot, and parts of his arm are left. 

Constantine's foot- it is about the same size as I am

his head, elbow, and hand

Outside of class and my trips I tend to go on long walks around the city to see what I stumble upon. One day I took a walk around the Campo di Fiori and Pantheon area to find Piazza Navona because I heard it was really beautiful and I hadn't been there yet. In this area, if you take the wrong turn down a tiny cobblestone road, you'll get lost for a very long time. I did this a bunch of times this day but I stumbled upon a part of Rome that I didn't know existed. I'll call it the hipster/yuppie part of Rome. There were hip clothing boutiques, antique stores, and art galleries. It was really beautiful. I also saw some religious procession I didn't know anything about so I tried to avoid it. Anyways, I finally found Piazza Navona and of course, since I am my mother's daughter, that day there was an anti-war rally going on! I am not so sure what they were rallying against since at the time Italy was not involved in any war (they had not yet intervened in Libya) but it was really cool since there was live Italian music. Piazza Navona is also interesting because it is an oval shape because it is built  over the ancient stadium of Domitian. In the Middle Ages Romans didn't know how to make concrete anymore because it died with ancient Rome, so they would build using ancient Roman buildings as their foundation

The rally wasn't that crowded, but it was a rally

A cool Bernini Fountain- Four Rivers

Also on this day I stumbled upon Castle San Angelo, which used to be Hadrian's mausoleum until the Christians took it over and it was made into a castle/fortress. Now it is a museum

A very unique looking building

Within just 2 weeks at the beginning of April I had 4 people visit that I know from school. First Cheryl and Laura stayed with me for three nights. I made dinner for them 2 nights- a lot of pasta and some veggies, and we went to Le Fate one night for bruschetta, ravioli, and tiramisu. One day I even put my tour guide skills to use and showed them around the Pantheon, the Forum, and the Colosseum. The next week my friend Mariel stayed with me for one night. Gabby and I took her for pizza for lunch one day then I cooked her dinner- sausage, asparagus, and little bit of pasta of course. Then we took her out that night. Anyways it was great having such close friends stay with me and made me miss the USA that much more. Finally last Friday Jared stayed with Gabby and we took him to the Colosseum (which was free for culture week!) and the Vatican. This was my first time there and the Museums are just as good as any other I've been to. The entire Museum though is just a long pilgrimage to the Sistine Chapel. It is amazing how Michaelangelo could paint that ceiling but I have to say, it wasn't much more impressive than any other Renaissance ceiling I've seen. Maybe I just didn't get a good enough look, or I should have taken an Art History class in Rome to fully appreciate it. Finally we went back to Le Fate that night and had more bruschetta, gnocchi, and a gelato + coffee dessert.

St. Peter's

a hallway in the Vatican Museum

This ceiling is probably just as cool as the Sistine Chapel!

As is this one!

Jared really love gelato, but we wouldn't let him have two gelatos in one day. 

As I mentioned above, last week was culture week, which theoretically meant all museums were free. But this being Italy museums found a way around this and I didn't get to enjoy the perk as much as I wanted to. I did get into the Colosseum for free but then I went to the Capitoline museum since I wanted to see some artefacts I hadn't seen but the guy handing out tickets tried to convince me I had to pay 4 euro and I got so frustrated and left. Other museums I wanted to see had long lines. Then, on Sunday I had to go to the Roman Museum of Modern Art to see a special exhibit for extra credit for a class. I thought going during culture week meant I would get into the exhibit for free but I still had to pay for it. The exhibit was boring- modern artists trying to replicated Middle Ages and Renaissance Italian art. But the rest of the museum was interesting. The website said there were a lot of Kandinskys there (I only saw one), but they also had a lot of Duchamps, and Fascist era Italian paintings I recognized. Afterwards I walked around the Villa Borghese- kind of like Rome's central park. It felt just like central park anyways- a green haven away from Rome's dirty streets and traffic. I would love to rent a bike and ride around there just like I saw almost every other family do.

Duchamp took a urinal, turned it upside down and called it a fountain and wrote R. Mutt on it. But is that really art?

The Museum of Modern art- looks like an American Museum

Villa Borghese