Romin' It

Ciao! This week has flown by, but it's already the end of the week (considering our weekend starts after class ends today at 6:30), and I'm headed up to Cinque Terre on the northwest coast of Italy nauseatingly early tomorrow morning, so I figured I'd let you all know what I've been up to this week before I leave for the no-Wifi land of coastal Italy. 

Monday morning we had class at 11 with Lucia to learn about Castiglione and Rome etiquette, and what better way to learn etiquette than to practice it? So we walked around some sites relevant to Castiglione and the development of the printing press, and then at 1 we went to a restaurant chosen by Lucia to discuss Castiglione's Book of the Courtier and put into action the appropriate Roman table manners we are learning about. I took a few pictures throughout class... 

This is the courtyard of the Palazzo Dorio Pamphili, in which there is one of the largest privately owned art galleries, owned by the Pamphili family, and they had many impressive paintings, including some Caravaggio's I loved, but no cameras inside unfortunately. 

This is an elephant obelisk in the square that contains the building they used during the Inquisition to decide which books to ban as heresy. 

Pretty wall flowers on the street where we ate lunch and learned etiquette, the Roman way. 

I went on a run on the banks of the Tiber later in the day and the lighting is always so gorgeous around 7:30 that I couldn't resist stopping to take a few pictures with my phone... 

This is the bike/run trail that runs the length of the Tiber, it's so much cooler to run down there than up on the city streets because of the breeze from the water. 

A tiny island in the Tiber that has fancy restaurants and was once used as a quarantine hospital during the Plague. 

I had been wanting to go see the famous Trevi Fountain without the massive throngs of tourists swarming around it, so Tuesday morning I decided to be ambitious and wake up at sunrise (5:37am) to walk to the Fountain because, according to the locals, it is the only moment of peace at the Fountain during the summer months. Thankfully, I recruited Peter to wake up that early and come with me, and we were out of our apartment by 5:45. It was surreal and a little eerie to be walking around Rome with absolutely no one in the streets and no noise, since it is normally crowded and loud, but we made it there quickly and it was so worth the early rise. 

There were only a few other people there but it felt like we had the place to ourselves; it was so pretty to sit there and watch the sun rise above it. 

We had ample time to take the classic tourist picture of throwing your coin over your shoulder as you make a wish. If any of you have seen the Lizzy McGuire movie you'll know what I'm talking about... Daria told us one day that around 3,000 euros are thrown into the Fountain every day!! Crazy, but I did it too so I guess I'm a foolish tourist like everyone else.. 

There's a 24 hour police car parked outside to make sure no one steals from it, and also to make sure no one goes into the water. I tried to stand on the wall so Peter could take a picture of me and all the police guards jumped out of their car and whistled aggressively at me. Embarrassing, I know, but at least no one was around to see it! 

After spending time at the Fountain we decided to walk over to the Spanish Steps because they are really unbearable during the day in terms of crowds and heat, too. 

These are the steps with the Trinita dei Monti church at the top. 

View from the top of the steps. 

Halfway down the steps, you can start to see the sun rising across the city. 

On our walk back to the apartment we walked along the Tiber and passed the Ara Pacis, a monument decided to Augustus for his 200 years of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). 

Spent the rest of Tuesday lounging around the apartment until we had art history class with Daria at 3:30, and the topic of the day was Mannerism and the Counter Reformation, so we looked at a number of Jesuit churches with frescoes in the Baroque style. 

One of the churches we went to, Sant'Ignazio, had beautiful frescoed ceilings by Pozzo. 

Such incredible illusions with the figures, it looks like they're little statues climbing out of the wall, but I swear they're painted on.

In the main Jesuit Church, Il Gesu, there is an altar to St. Ignatius that is only uncovered from 5:30-6:00pm but luckily Daria knows the inside ropes so we were there for it! 

The ceiling fresco of Il Gesu is amazing...and they even have this mirror so you can take a picture of it easily without hurting your neck! But I was sort of tired and didn't realize half of my body is in it too. 

Tuesday night after class we went to Dar Poeta, a pizza place in Trastevere that my friend Annie Thomas, who studied here last summer, recommended to me as her top favorite place to eat in Rome and it was AMAZING! I got the Suprabufalo (lots of mozzarella cheese, artichoke, olives and olive oil) and I meant to take a picture but I was distracted by how good it looked so I forgot til after, and the same thing happened with the Nutella Calzone Emily and I split for dessert, sooo delicious! I'm sure we'll be back a lot though. 

On our short walk back across the river to the apartment, so gorgeous... 

Wednesday's class with Lucia was about Nobility and Patronage, so we went in a number of Palazzos and private art galleries and learned about the Roman nobility. 

This road, Via Giulia, is where the elite of Rome live. 

Apparently back in the day, when the street had parties they would make wine come out of this fountain instead of water... 

The courtyard of another palazzo with a private art gallery.

The class walking the streets to our next palazzo. 

Piazza Navona! We live a block from this and come here a lot at night when its not as crowded but I figured I would show you what it looks like in the day with the crowds..

After class, Hillary and I decided to experiment going to the beach outside of Rome, it's in a little town called Ostia and its a 30 minute metro ride away. It was so beautiful! We went sort of late in the afternoon, so it wasn't as hot and we stayed there til early evening. There is a public beach club but we couldn't find that one so we just walked right into one of the private ones you have to pay for and the guy let us go in which was awesome and really lucky. 

Down the coastline from where the beach club was located. 

The sun started setting and looked so pretty over top of the rocks in the water. The sandbar goes out like 70 feet into the water it's amazing. 

One last view of the beach from our spot on the water. 

Amanda and I last night in our apartment! 

I actually took a break from writing this post in the morning to go to class and now I'm back from class and we went to a bunch more churches and Pope Julius's tomb, but I feel like those churches are starting to all look the same to you all, so I'll spare you! Italy is in the Eurocup semifinal tonight, woohooo!! Then tomorrow morning bright and early, we're off to Cinque Terre! 

Barcelona IS the City That Never Sleeps

Disclaimer: This post is very long... but I didn't want to split up Barcelona into more than one post, I'm sorry!!

Anyways, where do I begin for Barcelona?! It was SUCH a unique and fun city, not to mention the beach was a short walk from our hostel...Yes, I stayed in my first hostel, go me! It actually was not as rugged as I thought it would be, it felt like a cross between a dorm and a hotel. We arrived after a pretty annoying journey from Rome on Thursday night, including nearly missing our flight because the ticket machines in the train station were broken; and also our plane was crazy small, my knees literally touched the seat in front of me... 

But nonetheless, we arrived at the hostel around 10pm Thursday night and met up with the UNC roommate, Meredith, of my roommate, Amanda, in my Rome apartment. Meredith had been in Portugal through a UNC internship program for the past 6 weeks, and she went with a small group of UNC students from Portugal to Barcelona for the weekend, so it was fun to meet new UNC students and stay in the same hostel as them. We got settled into the hostel and headed over to the main exciting street of Barcelona, Las Ramblas, by midnight to have dinner and explore the city. 

This picture was taken after dinner of Meredith, Amanda, and I, and I am not kidding when I say that Barcelona never sleeps, it was just as crowded in the wee hours of the morning as it is in the middle of the afternoon!

The next morning Amanda, Meredith and I, along with 3 other UNC girls, Ana, Shoshana and Jessica, set out to explore the delicious fruit and food market on Las Ramblas and then head to the beach for the day, which was so relaxing and pretty. 

Next to the market along Las Ramblas there were houses with colored mosaic facades that I found really unique and really different from Rome. 

After Las Ramblas Blvd we passed the Barcelona Port which had miles of sailboats in the sparkling blue/green Mediterranean Sea. 

Made it to the beach!! I thought this lifeguard stand was very European and funny compared to the ones from home. 

A view of the Barcelona coastline down the beach. The water felt amazing and it was clear! 

Loving the beach!! (It was a little windy hence the hair face-mask) 

After we roasted our skin for a few hours on the beach, we set out to do a little sight-seeing, including our first stop at the Chocolate Museum!! We didn't escape from the fact of having sculptures in museums, yet this medium was a tad different than the traditional marble, and was a nice change of pace! 

The best part about the museum is that your entry ticket you receive is a chocolate bar!! 

Smurfs and their little mushroom house made out of chocolate!

The movie "Up" in chocolate!

If you read my last post about the Vatican, you would know that this is Michelangelo's "Pieta" in St. Peter's Basilica, which was a pretty funny parallel to see it in chocolate form the next day. 

After the chocolate museum we walked around Barcelona more and came upon the Barcelona Cathedral but we couldn't go inside of it since we were in bikinis and cover-ups, but it was still worth it to see from the outside! It was massive; I had to stand really far back to get the whole thing in one shot. Also, a perk of this Cathedral was that there was a Starbucks on the same road! First Starbucks Iced Coffee in Europe, I definitely took them for granted in the US. 

Second night of the trip: Meredith, Amanda and I in the kitchen of our hostel before we set out to have a fun night exploring the city with the rest of our hostel. 

Saturday morning we went on a walking tour provided by our hostel of the different buildings created by the famous architect/artist of Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi. 

The first stop was one of his earlier works, so it is not as quirky and crazy as they became later on, but it was a huge private home, and apparently the interior is really unique and beautiful but we didn't go inside of it unfortunately. I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture but those bright colored ice-cream cone-shaped objects on top of the building are actually chimneys...I don't know about you but most definitely the most interesting ones I've ever seen!

The bottom level of that same private family home. 

This is Gaudi's very famous Casa Batllo, which I had learned about in Spanish class last fall so it was really cool to see in person! You can really start to see the quirky personality of Gaudi that shone through in his architecture, and also how nature inspired his work with the wave-like curves of the bottom layer of the house. 

Amanda, Meredith and I in front of Casa Batllo. 

Another Gaudi building, Casa Mila. 

From the base of Casa Mila. 

And now onto my favorite sight in Barcelona, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral!! Looks just like a drip sandcastle at the beach, right? It was absolutely the most stunning building I've seen in Europe, inside and outside. 

This is the backside of it, interestingly enough, it is STILL under construction (it was started in 1882) and will not be entirely finished for another 14 years. Gaudi died in 1926 but he left many detailed plans of what he wanted the rest to be like, which is how they have been able to proceed without him. 

Even though you had to pay to go in while our walking tour was free, it was SO worth the money of the ticket. The inside is so hard to describe so hopefully some pictures will do it justice... Try to think of a combination of skeleton/roller-coaster/living organism, that sort of captures it's essence I guess.. 

Crazy architecture... this is looking down the center of the church towards the altar. 

It was so beautiful, this one side hall looked like sunflowers were growing on the ceiling, and that is my favorite flower :) 

Side wall. 

There was so much beautiful stained glass, I could have looked at it for hours. (And we sort of did)

Also in these many side chapels down near the ground they had the Lord's Prayer in many different languages, probably somewhere between 50-100 different ones, which was pretty special how it made the church universal. 

Another view of the ceiling. 

Something that Gaudi said that really resonated with me...I was never that religious before I came on this trip but seeing so many churches and going into Vatican City it's hard not to value and respect the worth and purpose of religion. This perspective of Gaudi, in my opinion, gives an opening into religion for people at some point in their life even if they do not embrace it at first, and I thought I'd share it on here in case it resonates with anyone else...

Standing on the outside porch of Sagrada Familia. 

Across the pond looking at the cathedral. Gaudi intended for there to be a park of some sorts on all four sides for people to sit in to relax and reflect, but only the ones on the front and back are completed so far. I didn't come at the right part of the day but apparently he chose a pond as the park on this side because at certain times the sun reflects a beautiful shadow reflection of the church into the water, I'm bummed I missed it!

Sitting next to the pond across Sagrada Familia. 

Saturday night, we had sort of a different night but it was fun nonetheless! One of the UNC students on Meredith's Portugal trip is friends with a student in Barcelona named David that studied at the Kenan-Flagler Business School for a semester recently, and he graciously welcomed us to his house to watch the Spain France Eurocup game. He had a bunch of his Barcelona friends over so it was cool to interact with locals that are our age, and they were all so kind they cooked us dinner and hosted us all night since Saturday night is the Festival of St. John which is an important celebration in June in Barcelona that lasts all night long. 

His house was located in the center of the city and there was a beautiful sunset during halftime of the soccer match. 

The UNC crew, Shoshana, Ana, Sebastian and I, at David's house. 

Sunday morning we wanted to go to the top of Montjuic, which is a mountain that overlooks the city and contains a number of special sights and spots. 

On our way to the metro to take us up to the top of the mountain, we passed the beautiful harbor again.

And then we passed this Picasso sculpture in the town center... (We sort of rambled around before actually going to the metro) 

Finally at the top of the mountain! This is inside a beautiful garden that overlooks the city, we are sitting in the lap of an ancient sculpture. 

Down in the beautiful gardens atop the city. 

Another view of the one of the fountains and trellises found in these gardens. 

Next stop... 1992 Olympic Stadium!! Barcelona held the Olympics up here on Montjuic in '92 and built a MASSIVE stadium facility in which the events took place. 

This is where the Olympic Torch burned for the duration of the '92 Games. 

For all the Tarheels, you will appreciate how cool this was to be walking outside the Olympic Stadium among the captured footprints of athlete legends and find Carolina's very own Michael Jordan's huge footprint!! 

Inside the Stadium overlooking the track and field. 

Next we stumbled upon the National Palace of Montjuic, which was very stately and impressive. 

An unobstructed view of the Palace. 

Found this funny statue outside the Palace and saw other people taking pictures imitating it so I wanted to do it too...but didn't quite stand in the center, whoops... 

Final garden in Montjuic, so serene. 

One last remark about a Rome/Barcelona comparison that I found amusing... 

I think because I'm obsessed with my dogs from home that I always notice the No Dogs Allowed signs on public areas, so I had already taken a picture of one near the Roman Forum by the Colosseum in Rome, and then I saw Barcelona's unique one and found it amusing that they included soccer on it as one of the prohibited activities. The country really is obsessed with the sport... 

Barcelona sign: No dogs, walking on grass or playing football on grass... 

Rome sign: No dogs, walking on gardens or picking flowers from the gardens...

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! Sorry it was so long I just wanted to include a lot!! (You should see the few hundred pictures I left out of the blog...)