Roman Holiday

Ok, so that's a totally lame title for a blog, when I've never even seen the film Roman Holiday, nor did I spend my entire break in Rome. I did, however, travel south to Italy for a week during my winter break. Since my trip included Vatican City, I added 2 new countries to my list! The trip was divided into 2 parts. My friend Miranda and I headed to Milan and Rome from Sunday to Thursday and then on Thursday I took a train to Florence where I met my other friends Anne and Erica and then flew back on Berlin on Saturday night.

Instantly, Miranda and I caught on to quite a few differences between Italy and Germany. Language, obviously, but also some more bizarre and/or subtle differences. Italy is much dirtier in the sense that there is a lot of trash everywhere. All driving rules seem to be completely optional. Let's use an example here: Crosswalk comparison in 3 countries.
USA--Hit button, wait a bit, if there's no traffic, go for it regardless of crosswalk status. Germany--hit button, wait until crosswalk light turns green even if you are the only human for kilometers and the next car cannot even be seen. If you cross before you have permission, glares will happen and maybe even being yelled at if a child is present.
Italy-- Crosswalk? You cross anywhere that you can dodge between cars. They might stop, and they might not. Dodging buses, taxis, cars, and scooters across 5 lanes of rapidly moving traffic is the norm. Waiting is futile and for the weak. You can totally tell which tourists just got there that day. But we learned quickly "when in Rome, do as the Romans do"

We arrived in Milan thinking that it would be warm. Hence the whole purpose of going south in Feb. However, Milan is a tricksy city, just south of the Alps and therefore decided to have snow. So it snowed and we trudged through it. Monday it snow/slush/rained. It was quite quite wet as we walked through 2-3 inches of very wet slush on the ground. However, it did not stop us. We visited the Duomo there, saw the canal district, the fancy shopping (Prada, Louis Vitton, and McDonald's all shared an intersection...), and a neato palace/fortress. We attempted to see DaVinci's The Last Supper, but that was a no-go. Apparently you need reservations months in advance. We did eat the most amazing pizza on the planet though. Slightly buttery flavor. But OH SO GOOD!

Then traveled to Rome. Our phrase for Rome is "old and wet". It was warmer though! In the 50s Fahrenheit. It also rained every day for at least a little while. We did the typical tourist thing and went to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Trajan's Column, the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's, lots of churches, and lots of windy streets. There were some amazing bonuses to our time there.
A) We saw the Pope! If you're reading this, you probably know I went to Catholic school, but am not particularly religious these days. However, seeing the Pope was kinda cool. Probably the most famous person I've ever seen live, except for my super quick glance at Queen Elizabeth in London, oh, or the brush with Jude Law at "Faust" in London.
B) We stumbled on a cool guided tour company. We took 2 of their tours. 1 through Colosseum and Ancient Rome, and the other through the Vatican. Pretty spiffy stuff.
C) I saw all sorts of great things that we studied at school (Hum 110 anyone?) like Trajan's Column, the Laocoon statue, the oldest street in Rome, where Caeser Augustus lived, The Sistine Chapel, etc. Also got to live the Angels and Demons thing by actually connected the locations in the book to real places. Also connecting things to stuff I learned at St. Joe in regards to the Catholic and religious connections in Vatican City. I liked the whole St. Peter's grave is under St. Peter's Basilica and it fits back into the whole "Upon this rock I shall build my church" and then I went in that church!
D) Gelato. I love gelato! Especially Stracciatella. The Italians really know how to do ice cream. I have been known to continue to carry the gelato spoons around for hours after finishing, just ask Anne and Erica.
E) We met weirdos. From the random foreign men trying to sell you umbrellas or light up flying discs on the streets (and watching them literally get chased away by police), to the very odd Canadian guy that we nicknamed "Berty" (cause all we know is that he's from Alberta) who talked to us for 20 minutes while staring at the ground and telling us he was just going to show up in Rwanda and work for the UN--yeah right. Good luck. Italian men in general are a little weird. Anyway, what's a vacation without the weirdos?
F) Fulfill the phrases game:
"All roads lead to Rome" -specifically to the Roman Forum, the home of the Roman emporers, where I have now been
"Upon this rock I shall build my church" St. Peter's basilica is that church and I've been there
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do" a very useful bit of advice for all things including walking

Train ride to Florence went through the Chianti area of Italy. Nice countryside! I sat next to a nun. There were lots of those in Rome.

Then on to Florence. Anne studied abroad there, so it was cool to get a little off the beaten path. This is how we ended up eating an amazing 4 course Tuscan dinner for fairly little money. Florence is overrun by American college students studying abroad, so we tried to avoid those. We went to the Duomo there and to the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia. This means we saw more amazing art like Michaelangelo's David, Boticelli's Primavera and Birth of Venus, and miles of statues and Renaissance paintings. It was great! Sadly you could take no pictures of any of these things, but I saw them! I swear! We also dealt with a sucky hostel with non present staff and very drunk people having sex in our room while we were all still awake and sitting talking. That's just awkward. And annoying.

All in all, Italy was fun. I don't want to live there, but I'm glad I've been. And glad that we beat the tourist crunch and the excessive summer heat. Pictures will be posted soon on Facebook and Picasa, so you should check them out!