Michelangelo

We spent the afternoon in Vatican City today. The Sistine Chapel was the single most amazing thing I've seen thus far. Karen and I craned our necks for about a half-hour, studying the beautiful frescoes. My neck is sore from that, and then I think of how Michelangelo must have felt, standing with his head inches from the ceiling, painting minute details on a massive scale. We were told that the amount of painting he did equaled the area of a football field. And he said he was a sculptor not a painter... whatever. I have never been more impressed by artwork than I was by the Sistine Chapel.

St. Peter's Basilica was beautiful as well. Michelangelo's "Pieta" was there, albeit behind bulletproof glass. Someone tried to destroy it about 30 years ago, so ever since then it has been protected by a glass wall. We decided we wanted to climb up the dome of the church. Seven euros and 343 steps later we were at the top and could see an expansive view of Rome. Sadly, we couldn't find the Colosseum or the Roman Forum from that viewpoint, but it was still awesome.

Everyone--and I do mean everyone--stares at us. Openly. Without breaking eye contact. It's rather strange. We've noticed this everywhere we've gone. We just scream "American Tourist" pretty much. Maybe that's it.

We're leaving Rome tomorrow and going to "Firenze," otherwise known as Florence. We're also planning a day trip to Pisa. After that, it's Switzerland and then home! I can't wait to see you all again.

I wish I could bring each of you a cone filled with gelato, but since I can't, you'll just have to come over here and try it for yourself one day!

This feels like Seattle... except there's gelato here. :)

Me again. I love writing these notes. It helps me remember everything I've seen each day and everything I want to recall after I leave here.

Gelato is the world's best dessert. Everyone who comes to Italy tries it (usually) and most leave Italy in love with it. I'm one of those people. It's absolutely AMAZING.

We spent all day yesterday walking around the center of Rome. All the main sights are within walking distance of each other: the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, etc. My favorite of all was the Pantheon, which we saw for only about fifteen minutes before hopping on the bus to go back to Azusa's house. It just blows my mind that the interior of the Pantheon dates from A.D. 120. It's in absolutely pristine condition. The intricacy of the walls and floors and the dome above was fascinating. The artist Raphael and two Italian kings are buried inside the Pantheon.

Somehow, we got into the Colosseum and the Roman Forum for free. We're not sure exactly how that happened. They were handing out free tickets to everyone, so we took one. We saved about $16 that way, which was exciting, considering that we had spent loads of money in Venice the day before. The Roman Forum sprawls out for quite some time. All that's left of it is foundations, crumbling walls, and, occasionally, great big pillars that are miraculously still standing. It was still breathtaking, and I wanted to just sit there and pretend I was back in the 1st or 2nd century.

The Colosseum was just awesome. I've seen so many pictures of it, but to stand right in front of it and go inside it was amazing. There were signs inside explaining where the gladiators would emerge. Apparently, the gladiators never knew what animal they would be fighting or what part of the stadium it would be coming from. Goodness.

The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain weren't all that great. In fact, they weren't really worth it, but that's okay. On our way there, we walked down the strip of designer stores: Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Jimmy Choo were some of them.

By the way, Karen and I feel like we're in just another big city, in some ways. Same busy streets, same harried people, same noise. And yet, we can see the Colosseum.

Today, Azusa is taking us shopping. We're going to escape the tourism for a while and be locals. Yes!

Venezia and Roma

Karen and I just had the most invigorating conversation with three Italian guys. We were on the train from Venezia to Roma (5 hours) and spent the entire time conversing with them in our extremely limited Italian (basically, we used our phrase books and the help of the younger guy who spoke some English). It was hilarious and very lively and the time sped past, needless to say. Matteo, the younger one, did the Italian "kiss-on-both-cheeks" thing to Karen and me when our train arrived in Rome and we said goodbye. *Sigh* :P

We spent today in Venezia (Venice), exploring the various canals and crossing a bazillion bridges. I had my first real Italian dinner, and it was divine. As we walked around, we kept marveling at the sheer craziness of the tourism there. Every single inch of the roads was covered in souvenir vendor stands. Yuck. It sort of kept me from enjoying Venice as much as I would have liked to.

But now... Roma!!! Oh yeah. We're excited. I'll update later on when we've actually seen some sights here. Oh, the Colosseum... :)

The French Riviera and that long-dreamed-about Mediterranean Sea

Karen and I are still alive! Internet cafes have been few and far between until now. Either that, or they were extremely expensive (6-9 euros per hour, which is about 10-15 dollars an hour). This one is only 2 euros per hour. Score!!! Tonight, we're staying at a hostel here in Nice, and there's a man in our room who's from Sydney, Australia! How awesome is that? He asked me how the election in the U.S. is going, and I didn't have much to tell him, aside from all the hype about Sarah Palin. :P

(Oh, random side note. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sick and tired of eating bread!!! We've been buying bread and fruit for lunch and breakfast to save money. Now every time Karen and I see bread, we feel like puking. Haha.)

We've been traveling by train for the past few days now, speeding down to Marseilles, Nice, and the French Riviera. Needless to say, we're sick of traveling by train, although it has been nice to see the French countryside. Last night, we stayed in Marseilles, but were kind of creeped out by the hostel. We felt like we were in a mental asylum or something. Not fun. And then, we walked block after block in search of food and finally found a tiny pizzeria. The man cooked the pizzas right in front of us, after we deliberated for about twenty minutes over what kind of pizza we wanted. It didn't help that he spoke zero English. Well, he spoke SOME English. He was telling us that he knows "I love you, baby," "fish," and "one two three...". We were cracking up as he said these words with his heavy French accent. It was awesome. Oh, and the pizza was divine. Not much on it, but probably one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted. Mmmm mmmm.

We got up this morning and decided to take a train to Nice, which took us 2 1/2 hours. Now we're in Nice, and it's beautiful and sunny and everything we expected it to be. In a few minutes, we're going to walk to Vieux Nice (Old Town Nice) and explore the boutiques and eat some amazing food (it's supposed to be phenomenal here). From Vieux Nice, we're going to hike up the nearby mountain thingamajigger to see views of the Mediterranean. I have wanted to see the Mediterranean for years, and now I'm finally here!!!

Why am I sitting at a computer?

Bye for now,

Monica

Paris II

So much for not writing again anytime soon! I decided I want to document the highlights of as many days as I can, so I won't forget things.

So, get this. At Charles de Gaulle, just after Karen and I got off the plane, we saw my GRANDPA and his wife, Luisita, of all people! What the heck? I vaguely remembered having heard that they would be in Paris sometime in the fall, but still... what are the chances of our flights arriving on the same day, at the same time? Crazy.

French women ride bikes wearing high heels and mini skirts. Seriously, how do they do it? And guys: they're so well-dressed, it's not even funny. It's like everyone is made of money here, and maybe it's true, who knows? Lee, Karen, and I walked into a Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysees, and a lot of people were buying bags/totes that were priced at well over $500. That much for a purse? Yikes yikes. Anyway, I'm sure this isn't much different than a lot of big European cities, but it still blows me away.

We went to Versailles today. It was beautiful, but honestly not as amazing as I had expected. For one thing, the fountains were on in the gardens today, which meant that people had to pay an extra $9 just to walk in the gardens. Needless to say, we chose not to do that. The palace itself was beautiful, of course, but so crowded that it was hardly enjoyable. And, don't kill me for saying this, those of you who like it, but I wasn't very impressed by the Hall of Mirrors. :( Thankfully, we moseyed our way down to Marie Antoinette's "quarters," which were much less crowded and much more quaint. They were also free of charge, which was huge because we have been spending money right and left. (I've spent about $200 in the past three days, which is nothing I hadn't expected, but it's still a rude awakening).

We ate lunch (apples and kiwi bread stuff) at the edge of the Grand Canal. People were canoeing and eating picnic lunches, and we found that doing things the cheap and local way is often a lot more fun. I'd been told that before, so that wasn't a big surprise.

Oh, so we've been taking the Metro (subway) a lot of places. It's very similar to London's "tube." Very convenient way to get around the city, especially when you've been walking all day and need a break. Today, we were gone from our hostel for 12 hours and most of that time was spent walking or standing.

Karen and I have been SO grateful to Lee in the past few days. He has been absolutely indispensable with his knowledge about European transportation, customs, etc., not to mention a blast to hang out with! Tomorrow, as I mentioned yesterday, we're splitting up, and Karen and I will be on our own! It'll work out, but it's going to take a lot of work to figure out train and hostel details. Actually, I'm kind of excited to try figuring things out on my own. Sounds challenging, but fun.

Oh yes, and we went to the Musee Rodin this afternoon, which features The Kiss, The Thinker, and The Gates of Hell, among other very famous sculptures. I can't believe I'm actually seeing things in person that I've only ever heard of or seen in movies or books.

All right, I'm running out of time on the internet, and I'll have to pay big bucks to continue using it, so ta-ta for now!

Paris I

Karen and I are in Paris! We are still overcoming the jet lag, which basically kept us from doing anything fun yesterday (Thursday) because we were so dead tired. I'm also sick (just now getting over it), so that didn't help things. Last night, I slept fifteen hours straight!

Today, Lee, Karen, and I spent the entire day walking around the city. We figured out that we walked a total of about nine hours, from our hostel in the 11th arrondissement to the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower... and then we took the metro (subway) back because our feet weren't too happy with us. :(

I had heard plenty of times that the Louvre is unbelievably enormous, but it's hard to comprehend until you actually see it. We saw the Mona Lisa (not all that amazing) and the Venus de Milo, as well as Napoleon III's apartments, which, of course, were opulent beyond belief and made me wonder--as I did in the U.K. a few years ago--how people like Napoleon could justify living that way.

Then, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which was astoundingly huge as well, but we didn't spend much time looking at it. Then, to the Eiffel Tower, which totally lives up to all the hype. We're going to go back tomorrow to climb the stairs to the 2nd story, so we can see the view of the city from there.

I had so many opportunities to speak French today! It was awesome. Although, two French guys walked by us and asked us for the time, but I just sputtered and said "uh, uh." Then they figured out that we're not fluent French speakers and walked on. I felt so stupid, because all I should have said was a simple "Je ne parle pas francais, desole." Ugh. BUT... I've ordered food in French a few times and asked where the bathrooms were--"Ou sont les toilettes"--so I guess that counts for something. I feel so dumb whipping out my handy dandy Rick Steves phrase book every time I need to ask someone something. It positively screams "tourist." But, I am a tourist, so I guess I should be fine with it. :)

Tomorrow, we head to Versailles for the day. It's about a half-hour outside the city of Paris. I've looked forward to this particular sight for a long time. More about that after we've seen it.

Oh, the food. Let me just say that it's divine. Karen, Lee, and I just had crepes from a roadside stand... mouthwatering and surprisingly filling. I had a banana and nutella crepe as well as a chicken, tomato, and egg crepe. Mmm mmm good! But, we're realizing that we can't eat out for every meal if we want to have money for the latter half of the trip, so we stopped by a market to buy fresh fruit and other stuff.

In two days, Karen and I will say goodbye to Lee and embark on the rest of the journey all by our wittle selves. :) We have a lot of train schedules to coordinate, but I think we'll be okay if we stay on top of it.

It costs a lot of money for internet time, so I can't promise another update very soon, especially since we'll no longer be in a big city in a few days.

Au revoir for now!

On slugs and vampires

While watering my neighbor's lovely plants today, I happened upon something disturbing. A slug. A rotund brown slug moseying its way along the gravel, probably intent on reaching the grass and disappearing into its greenery.

Slugs cause one reaction in me and only one: utter disgust and revulsion. And if I'm within ten feet of one, involuntary shudders course up and down me. Yet, they're interesting to me too. Their ugly, legless bodies somehow get them from point A to point B, in surprisingly short amounts of time. They don't make any noise. And no matter how hideous and slimy they are, they can't help that. Poor things. :P

When I was 12, a baby slug--really, the tiniest thing ever--latched onto my little toe. I yelped and proceeded to flail my arms and run around the yard, as if Bigfoot himself was chasing me. My family looked at me in shock.

Slugs are a lot like vampires, really. They both inspire strange feelings of revulsion mingled with curiosity.

I'm reading a series about vampires, which is utterly and completely not like me. Since when have I been interested in that kind of thing? Since never. But each book draws me in, makes me want to keep reading into the wee hours of the night. Perhaps because the main character, Bella, and the emotions she goes through remind me of things I've gone through. Of course, none of mine had to do with vampires or being loved by a vampire boyfriend, but you get the idea. :P

Bella and Edward's relationship is astonishingly addicting for me, the reader. Her insecurities about his love for her, their inability to be too affectionate lest his brutal strength hurt her accidentally, and the overpowering pull they experience toward each other are just riveting.

I'm on the 3rd book (out of four) and can hardly bring myself to put it down. In fact, after I finish writing this, I plan to pick it up again and potentially finish it tonight, despite the fact that I have to get up at 6:45 tomorrow morning.

I'm 21 years old, a college graduate, and I'm reading a young adult series about vampires and werewolves. I feel incredibly silly. But is that going to stop me from finishing it? Nope. Not a chance. :)