Italy, Part 1 (Venice): Apparating Would've Been Nice

Yes, I am still in Italy, Florence in fact.  However, there is free internet access at the hotel and time to kill until dinner so I thought I'd write about my first Italian stop this trip: Venice.

I'll start off by telling you about my last day at Harlaxton.  (I know, it's crazy it went by that fast, right?!)  We all had to sit our last exam, British Studies, that morning.  Then people started leaving.  Alayna headed off for Heathrow and a flight home the next day at 4:30.  The Italy 1 trip left at 2 am on Thursday, taking with it Lyndsey, Gretchen, Sarah, and Jordan, my Eau Claire friends.  Loads of people left in between.  We were the last 30 students in the manor when we left at 2:30 am.  It was crazy how fast everyone left and you could feel the emotion in the buildings.  Everyone made some really good friends from other schools this semester and it's hard leaving them and not knowing when you'll ever get to see them again.  So I slept for about an hour in the Pearson Room before the early breakfast (my last cereal and toast in the manor!) and checking out.  Then it was just waiting until it was time to load the coach and be off to Gatwick.  We were all so tired!  We got a 3 hour nap on the coach, then Ian woke us up and made us get off and check our bags and go through security.  We got there and still had time to kill, so off to Cafe Nero Rachel, Christine, Mike, and I went for some caffine and food!  Then it was back to the waiting area until they showed which gate our flight was going to be at.  (I hate how they don't just tell you on your ticket!)  We finally got it and went off to the terminal, got on the plane, and left England a little after 7 am.  It was a 2.5 hour or so flight and we landed in Venice around 11 am (they're one hour ahead).  Then we had to go through customs (my stamp bearly showed up!) and get our luggage.  And we were out to find our coach in the parking lot, after which it was a 20 minute ride to the bus station area in Venice.  Once there we had to get off the coach and walk to our hotel, which involved a bridge with lots of steps!  (There are no vehicles in Venice other than boats.  It's a walking city.)  That walk took us about 15 minutes and then we were standing in the little street/alley that our hotel is in, waiting for Ian to figure out our rooms and it turns out that they wouldn't be ready till 2!  There was a place to store our luggage though, so that was good.  Turned out to be Rachel's room, as we later found out!  Whew!  Apparating would've been so much easier than all of that!  We would've gotten a full night's sleep and wouldn't still be trying to make up for it now.

Christine, Mike, Rachel, and I proceeded to get lunch of pizza, followed by gelato (chocolate for me).  Then we hit the town.  After gettting a little lost, our first stop was the Rialto Bridge and Market.  It was really cool!  There were all these stands selling everything from novelty souviners (I got my keychain) to Murano glass.  And the bridge has shop buildings on it, so unless you go to the outside, you don't even really realize you're on a bridge.  We walked this way on the way back as well, and (other than my Italy keychain) I picked up this cute glass owl and a present for Allison (I sold her original present of a Claddagh ring when she bought one in Boston over her Spring Break.  Oh well!).  After Rialto Bridge, we went to Plaza San Marco, which was awesome.  The Basilica San Marco is there, which is absolutely gorgeous.  It built out of pink and green and grey/white stone and has these awesome horses sitting on top and is awesomely decorated and everything.  And that's just the outside!  There's also this really old clock in the Plaza that has the hour in Roman Numerals.  And there are lions everywhere in Venice (it's their symbol).  There's also Doge's Palace, which we proceeded to go into.  We went at a great time because there actually wasn't any line and it wasn't really crowded!  The Doge was the president-type figure of the Venice city-state, so we got to see his appartaments and the council chambers, which were all really elaborate and had amazing paintings all over the walls and ceilings.  It was a bit overwhelming, how skilled and beautiful it all was.  And there was this map room, with paintings of maps covering the walls (of the entire world!) and two ginormous globes in the middle of the room.  It was awesome.  We sat in there looking at them for some time.  We also got to go into the prisons, which were dark and a bit dank.  Basically how you would expect a medieval prison to feel like.  It was still really cool though, because I didn't really get that feel whenever I visited castles in the Uk as much.  The last thing we did in Doge's Palace was walk across the Bridge of Sighs.  It's a really famous bridge and it's called the Bridge of Sighs because it was the bridge that prisoners would walk across on their way to being executed and you get a great view of Venice from the windows and it's said that they would all sigh at their last site of the city.  After we finished getting our money's worth walking through the Doge's Palace, we retraced our steps back to the hotel.  Once we checked in, we all headed to our rooms for a 2 hour nap.  We needed it in order to be able to go out to dinner that night!  We met down in the lobby after our nap (minus Rachel, who was still asleep and didn't hear Mike knocking at her door) and we headed out and down the road to find a restaurant.  We found this really nice one where we got to sit outside.  We ordered the house wine (red), which was really good and they gave us bread and olive oil and parmesan cheese to eat while we waited for our food.  I had a 4-cheese gnocchi, which was absolutely amazing.  I loved it!  So good!  After taking our time over dinner and wine (which was hard because we were so hungry!) we went and got gelato (Kit-Kat) and walked around the Grand Canal a bit.  Then it was back to the hotel for an earlier bed.

The next day, Christine, Mike, and I headed back to Plaza San Marco because we wanted to go inside the Basilica San Marco, since it was so gorgeous from the outside.  We got there before it opened, but there was still a huge line.  Luckily, there was a guide asking if people wanted an English tour, so we took advantage of that and hopped to the front of the line!  The tour was totally worth it too.  She not only told us about the Basilica, but also about Venice itself.  For example, Venice is a group of islands (which we already knew), over 100 of them (I didn't know that!), connected by over 400 bridges (wow!).  The islands are protected by a lagoon, which is why they don't have any walls, they don't need them because the lagoon does the protecting for them!  The ground wasn't solid enough to build on, so they shored it up with wood, which has petrified over time, becoming stronger.  That doesn't mean that buildings don't still sink every now and again (which accounts for the undulating floors in some buildings), but they fix that with concrete injections now.  The Basilica is the resting place for St. Mark, the writer of one of the gospels.  At least according to Venicians.  If you ask anyone from Alexandria they'll say he's located there.  But Venician merchants smuggled his body into Venice and buried him where the main alter in the church now is.  That's why the basilica is named after him!  Inside the Basilica the upper walls/ceilings are absolutely covered in mosaics!  (easier to keep good in a humid climate and Venice just happens to have plenty of what you need to make glass: sand!)  The background is gold, so there is a ton of gold mosaic tiles that glitter in the light!  The mosaics tell stories from the bible and were created either 800 years ago or 400 years ago, depending on which one you're looking at.  It was totally worth going in there and looking at everything.  It was just as beautiful inside as it was outside!  We left the Basilica and walked around the Doge's Palace to take a picture of the Bridge of Sighs, since we didn't do that yesterday.  It was funny because I think they're doing something to the outside of the palace and so to hide the scaffolding they let Toyota put up a massive ad!  Which is why there's all this blue in my pictures where stone should be!  We also got to see loads of gondolas while we were there (but we didn't feel like paying 80 euro between the three of us to go on one).  We left Plaza San Marco on a mission, to find the Indiana Jones Church for Mike.  Apparently the outside of it was used in the third movie as the outside of a library or something (Mike or whoever can correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going off what I remember them telling me).  I had gotten a cold the night before and my throat was hurting, so I decided to use that as a legitimate excuse to get me a gelato on the way (an excuse I'm still able to use!)  (and it was chocolate again).  After much map-pulling out we found the church!  Once Mike realized we were there he got so excited!  It was cute.  I imagine it was how I look with Harry Potter stuff.  After he took his pictures, we headed back towards our hotel, stopping for some pizza on the way.  We dropped some stuff off at the hotel and then headed back out.  Our first stop was the gelato place on the corner (strawberry this time!).  Then we bought our tickets for the water bus out to Murano, the Island of Glass.  (aka, where they make all their glass because way back when the buildings were all made out of wood, the Venicians were afraid of fire from glass-making and made all the glass-makers move out to the island of Murano so the city would be safer.)  The boat ride was really cool.  We got to see Venice from a different point of view on the canals and then looking at it from the island was really cool as well.  The island itself is pretty neat.  We got to watch them make cups, which is always fun to do.  And there were loads of glass shops there!  We went into a ton!  I bought a really cute giraffe in one of them.  After taking our time looking at all the glass on Murano, we took another water bus back to our hotel and proceeded to take another short nap (in our defence, we were still catching up from our night of no sleep and both Mike and I have colds).  We met up in the lobby again around 7 and headed out to dinner, this time at a lovely restaurant right on the Grand Canal.  We sat outside again and watched the boats and gondolas go by, watching out for some of the guys (they weren't on any of the gondolas that passed).  I had an amazing 4-cheese pizza.  AFter dinner we got some wine and drank it on the terrace at the hotel.  Then we proceeded to go out for gelato again (this time I got Nutella, which was really good!).  We walked along the canal again and then went back to hour hotel.  Before we got there though, Mike wanted another gelato and the same server helped him and she laughed out loud when she saw him back again within half an hour!  Once we got back to the hotel, we had to pack because we were leaving Venice for Florence the next day.  Venice is honestly one of the best cities I have been to this semester and I wish we had another day there!

So my gelato count for Venice was: 5.  I feel like I should keep track, so you'll know how much I had over the entire trip!  I probably won't get to write about Florence until I get back to the States because I believe that we have to pay for internet in Rome.  If I prove incorrect though, you may just see a post within the next few days!

Nottingham and Tonight's Excitement: Angry Wizards, Magic, and the Yule Ball

So today my friend Christine and I took a quick trip to Nottingham.  Basically all we wanted to do was go shopping at Primark and find the Robin Hood statue.  Primark is this massive store where you can buy cheaply made clothes really cheap (like 5 pound dresses, no joke).  They may not be the best made stuff, but when you're on a budget and you'd like something a little cooler for your impending Italy trip, it's always a good option to go there!  Christine and I spent forever in the store, picking up all sorts of things.  She was lucky and found some stuff, I was not.  Nothing looked right!  I did buy a 2 pound pair of aviators though (silver) because I left my own in my car in the States, thinking that I wouldn't really need them in England and I'd be ok for 9 days in Italy.  Thanks to this wonderful warm, sunny weather we've been having in here (thanks, African winds!) I've rethought my need for sunglasses and bought a pair.  When we were checking out, a group of protesters came in and were yelling into megaphones about something or other (I couldn't understand them).  With all those bobbys (police) around those must've been some angry wizards!  After Primark we went off in search of food and ended up at this awesome shake place where they made me a yummy oreo and fudge shake and Christine a shake with real strawberry cheesecake!  After sitting in the sun enjoying those, it was off to find Robin Hood and a shop Chloe told us about that was on the way.  We literally walked about 2 store fronts down before we saw the shop she had told us about, Chocolate Utopia.  They make the most amazing hot chocolate.  It's just like magic!  They steam the milk and then pour that and melted chocolate (yeah, like from a fountain except not as glamorous) into a mug and mix it up.  And you get a free chocolate with the hot chocolate!  I got a chocolate truffle and it was amazing.  A very good stop and very worthwhile!  We easily found the Robin Hood statue, which is right next to the castle (we didn't go in, just creeped on the gardens through a fence).  We took our picture next to the statue, read a bit about Robin, then headed off back to the train station to go back to Grantham.

The afternoon passed uneventfully enough (though I did get to see some intense horse racing!  Lots of fences and falling down and Chloe's friend Laura's horse she bet on won the race!).  Then it was time to get ready for the Costume Ball (better known as the Easter-time Yule Ball).  There was dinner and dancing and costumes and it was great fun!  Chloe was Minnie Mouse and I was Mickey.  Alayna was Mystery Peacock (we have one randomly roaming on the grounds).  Christine was a Zebra.  Alana was a flapper.  Lyndsey, Gretchen, Jordan, and Sarah were the Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Craig/Patrick was Edward Cullen.  And there were loads of other awesome costumes as well!  As in high school, the getting ready was almost more fun than the dancing.  And, as in high school, they played a lot of the same songs (a crazy-weird version of the Cha-Cha, Macarena, Soulja Boy, Spice Girls, etc.).  It was still fun though.

Alright, so I think the next time I post I will actually be State-side!  Italy is a 9 day trip that starts in a week and a half!  I'll probably split it into three different posts by city to keep them shorter.

Northern Ireland: Here there be Giants! (need I say more?)

This past weekend I picked my self up and out of the manor and headed off to Northern Ireland (yes, by myself.  no, I wasn't nervous.  and no, I don't regret it.)  I left Friday morning (early!) and took the trains to London Stanstead Airport, then hopped on a plane to Belfast.  Once I got to Belfast, I took the bus into the city center and went off looking around.  I ended up at City Hall.  In the lawn in front they have this cool exhibition of pictures (and explanations) of the building of the Titanic, since it's the 100th Anniversary this year and it was built in Belfast.  It was cool to see those pictures and learn more about how they built it and get a sense of the scale of it!  City Hall also had free tours, so I went in there and got myself one.  Their city hall is really ornate.  The guide told us not only about the building itself, but also about the history that took place in the building and Belfast itself.  It was really interesting!  After the tour I walked around the city centre a bit, picking up something fluffy for Mindy and grabbing a quick bite to eat for dinner.  Then it was off to find my hostel.  It seemed pretty easy to get to, but mapquest didn't take into account the fact that Europeans have a love for not posting street signs!  When I ended up at the other end of the university by the park, I knew I had gone too far, so I sat down on a bench and pulled out my various maps and figured out what I had to do to get there.  I was only a block or two away, so that wasn't a big deal.  However, once I got to the street, I walked right past it!  Still not entirely sure how I did that with the massive signs they have in the windows (one of which was mine) but I did.  I figured out what I did wrong though and got there eventually.  =)  The hostel was great.  The owner and employees are really nice and friendly and it was really clean and everything.  Breakfast was included in the price!  And they had a single room for me (I had to share a bathroom, but let's face it, I'm in college so I'm always sharing bathrooms with random people I don't know!).  I spent the evening in my room, watching a movie and such.  It was nice and relaxing, especially since I didn't have anyone to go out with or feel like I had to interact with (for a change of pace).

The next day I took a Paddywagon tour of Northern Ireland.  I got to the place they were picking us up and had to wait a long time for the bright green coach to roll up (I had overestimated the time).  As I found out throughout the day, I was apparently the only one in the entire group of 40-some people who was alone!  That made it a little lonely at times, but overall it was good.  =)  Our first stop on the tour was Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, which goes from the mainland to a little island (cliff to cliff) and was built by salmon fishers according to our guide.  It was about a km hike/walk from the car park to the bridge, but it was absolutely gorgeous, so you didn't even notice!  And yes, I did go across.  I was scared as heck going across and stared straight ahead the entire time and had a firm grasp on both sides of the bridge, but I made it across and back! And it was worth it.  The bridge isn't as long as I thought it was before seeing it in person, which made it better, and you got some amazing views of the coast from the island (and the birds!).  Our next stop was the Giant's Causeway, which is this little stretch of coast that has all these rock formations on it that look like carved stones, as if it's the ruins of something.  The story goes that the giant Fionn McCool had gotten tired of yelling obscenities across the sea to the Scottish giant Benandonner and wanted to go over there and fight him instead.  So Fionn carved all these stones by hand and built a causeway over to Scotland (on a related note, you can see Scotland from both the Giant's Causeway and the rope bridge).  Once Fionn got over there and saw Benandonner, he realized that the Scot was 3x's his size and hightailed it back across the causeway!  He ran to his wife for help, because he knew the Scot would come looking for him now and she told him to get into the bed and dress up like a baby.  The Scot did come over and Mrs. McCool invited him in for a cuppa tea, saying that Fionn would be out until 5.  While the Scot was drinking tea he noticed Fionn and asked Mrs. McCool who that was, to which she replied, why that's Fionn's baby.  Now the Scot got nervous, thinking, if that's how big Fionn's baby is, how big is Fionn?  So the Scot ran back across the causeway, tearing it up as he went so that Fionn couldn't follow him across!  Now, the geologists say that the Giant's causeway was made from an ancient volcanic eruption, but personally, I like to think that some of Hagrid's ancestors were involved.  The walk to the causeway was about a km again, but it was still beautiful to look around, so you wouldn't get bored on the walk!  And it was awesome to come around the corner and see the Giant's Causeway!  This is the reason that I made the trip!  It's amazing how the rocks look!  Because they really do look like some giant sat down and carved each and every one individually!  I really enjoyed clambering up and around on them as well.  It was quite a lot of fun.  I was getting hungry though, so eventually I made my way back up to the car park and the hotel where I got some lunch (which was pretty good).  While I was eating, the four Welsh gentlemen that were on the tour came in for their lunch and asked me if I was all by myself.  When I answered yes, they started talking to me and for the rest of the trip made sure I was on the coach and on the tour and everything!  It was so cute!  And apparently (because my name's Caitlin) I should tell people that I'm the daughter of some famous Welsh poet and was named after my mother (his wife, whose name was apparently Caitlin as well, though I didn't ask how she spelled it.  I had a feeling they'd be disappointed if I told them it was different.).  Anyways, it was fun to meet them and have their random comments the rest of the day!  Our last stop on the tour was Derry (also known as Londonderry).  The city has the most complete city walls in the United Kingdom and had a lot of IRA activity during the Troubles.  I chose to take the walking tour of Derry, and throughly enjoyed it!  We had a guide who grew up in Derry, so he knew about everything first-hand, which was really interesting.  We got to learn about the older history of the city, like the fact that the London guild built the city walls, which is why they added London to the name of the town officially, and about the more recent history of the Troubles.  Murals and things like that are still up and it was interesting to hear the stories behind them and everything.  I'd really like to learn more about the more recent history on the island, picking up where my Irish history course left off last semester.  After Derry, it was the coach trip back to Belfast, where I picked up some food on the way back to the hostel for dinner.  I spent the evening in my room, happily eating and chatting and watching a show and went to go get ready for bed early-ish since I had to be up so early the next morning in order to catch the bus to the airport and get my flight.  However, that didn't happen because as I was walking back to my room after brushing my teeth, the owner and one of the employees nabbed me and the owner wouldn't let me go to bed until I had stayed up and talked with them awhile!  It turned out to be fun and I got to learn a lot of stuff, but I certainly regretted it in the morning when I only had 5 hours of sleep!  The employee was really nice though and offered to make me toast in the morning before I left, even though it wasn't breakfast time (and I took advantage of that!).

Sunday morning it was simply breakfast, a walk to the bus centre, a bus to the airport, a flight to Stanstead, a train to a station, the underground to King's Cross, and a train back to Grantham.  There, Chloe met me and her mum cooked us (Alayna too) a lovely Sunday roast dinner for Mother's Day!  It was really nice!  And yummy!  I really appreciated it.  It was so good to have homecooked food again!

So, I think I have one more post for next week, when Christine and I go find Robin Hood, then nothing for a couple of weeks until Italy (and I'll actually be back in the states when I write them!).