Making a Pit-stop

It was then off to Siena. We missed our first train (it was my fault), so got off two hours later than what we had planned, but it all worked out ok (this is a lesson I have learned far too much during this trip). We made it to Siena, found a place to leave our bags for the day, and went first to find the main plaza. We grabbed some food (I had some proscuitto pizza) and sat and stared at the plaza. Its pretty cool. There were people of all ages sitting there, talking, eating, doing all sorts of stuff. There is a large building at the front, that I'm sure used to be used as a town hall of some sort, with a giant tower. After eating, we went inside to see what it was all about. Most of it cost, so we didn't venture to those parts, but there was one exhibit that was free. It was the weirdest art exhibits where it seemed like a guy just took pictures of bird poop and called it art. Not sure what to make of it, but we didn't stay long so it wasn't too big of a deal.

We roamed around the city some, going into the small, free portions of various museums or exhibits. We then made our way to the city's duomo where we forked over 3.50 euro to see the inside. I'm glad we did, though. The outside was marvelous, with all sorts of little bits of marble and detail painting covering the exterior. The inside was just the same. There was so much detail. It was beautiful. There was also a room that not only had a marvelously painted ceiling, but also housed tons of old books, mostly containing songs, that were all ornately decorated. There were also a few paintings by famous artists around the church. It was pretty amazing.

It was then time to wonder some more. We found ourselves in the middle of a tour group, so we went with them a while to see if we could find some more awesome sites. We eventually wound up at a different church, which we didn't go into. We made our way to a park that is housed inside an old fort building. It was pretty cool. From there we could see a lot of the city. Afterwards, we picked up our bags and went to sit in the plaza for a while until it was time for our train. It was definitely a relaxing, beautiful little town. We then were off to Florence.

Plaza-sitting Siennan,
Jessica

Italia di Familia: Part 2

Wow, its been a while. Finally I have all this figured out and have so much to update on.  We’ll start where I left off – Venice. Now, Venice is quite beautiful. Its odd because they basically use the rivers at streets. I probably saw maybe five cars the whole day we were there. We started off the day by catching a water taxi from the train station to a part of town Jim stayed at when he was there last. There is a beautiful bridge where I snapped way too many pictures of the canals. From there, we headed into the streets, walking and wondering. There were so many shops. Eventually we stumbled onto the main square where there is a tall bell tower that has collapsed multiple times, a large palace, and one of the coolest cathedrals I have ever had the pleasure of going into. We went into the cathedral first, and it was truly spectacular. There were mosaics everywhere, but, unfortunately, no pictures were allowed. The most unusual thing about the church: the floors. The floors waved. Literally. There was about a one to two foot difference between the heights of the floors due to the water filled ground below. To say the least, it made me rather uncomfortable and worried about the strength of the structure. But is beauty outweighed that, and I continued to stare all around me at its beauty.

After the Cathedral we headed next door to the dopo’s palace. The Dopo of Venice was basically like a super elaborate mayor…I think. His palace was remarkable (again, no pictures allowed inside). There were massive paintings and golden crests. Oh, and a fireplace in every room, because that’s clearly essential to life. It was quite interesting to see it all.

After we jumped on the water taxi to visit one of the islands of Venice. When we got there, we realized that the church we wanted to go to was actually closed. We walked to another church, which was alright, but stood incomparable to the previous one. We then headed back to the mainland to catch a train back to Bologna.

The next day it was off to Verona…also known as the day of unlucky. We decided to sleep in since we were all tired, meaning we missed the earlier train we had planned to catch. This change put us about 2 hours behind schedule. We arrived in Verona only to find out that our car rental wouldn’t be available for another 2 hours because the place was closed for lunch for 2 hours. The panic began. My parents had organized a surprise trip to a winery and we had to be there by 3, which wasn’t looking possible with the current circumstances. We walked down the street, found a place to eat, and I got onto the internet on my phone to find the number of the winery. Luckily, we got it all arranged, picked up our car, and made it to the winery (after getting a little lost, but we made it). The winery was rather interesting. We learned all about the process of the local wines, saw the machines and barrels in which they are kept, and tried three very different forms of their wine. Afterwards we took a drive to one of Europe’s largest lakes, Lake Gardi. It was rather beautiful, and very gigantic.

We returned to Verona where we took a quite tour of the city, heading straight to the city centre. Honestly, it kind of felt like Disney world. It was almost too cutesy and picturesque. In Verona, though, there is Italy’s most intact Coliseum. We didn’t have time to go in, but the outside was quite astonishing.

After all of that, we hopped back on the train and arrived in Milan around midnight. We finally got to our lovely airport hotel around 2 am to get about 3 hours of sleep before it was time to head to the airport to catch our flight to Athens. Not so lovely, but when travelling, one has to go with the flow.

Your Northern Italy Expert,
Jessica

Bilingiual, Skiing, Onsie-Coat-Wearing 5 Year Old Norwegians

Thursday morning I left at 9:05 from my room to catch a cab to the train station. There, I boarded a train, with 2 transfers, finally arriving in Liverpool at 12:45. We got off the train, and walked out of the station, asking the people working there where to catch a cab. The lady told us to go to the street and we'd be able to flag one, locking the doors to the station after us. We assumed this meant that there would be a lot of taxis driving by. There were not. Finally, after 5 minutes of standing on the side of the street waiting for a car to come, a taxi came and took us to the airport. We hopped off and walked in, instantly realizing how closed everything looked, including the check-in desks. We then found out that the security desks didn't open until 4, with our flight leaving at 6:25, so we had 3 hours to kill in an empty airport. It was not the greatest experience of my life, to say the least. Some people slept on the cold, tile floor, while others of us just ate our weight in chocolate covered raisins as we all shivered, since apparently turning the heat on is too much to ask of the John Lennon Airport. Finally it was 4. Exhausted and sleep-deprived, we wondered to the desk, checked-in, and strolled into the waiting area to sit around in a comatose state for another hour. We boarded the plane, and everyone passed out for the 2 hour flight to Oslo, Norway. When I woke up, I looked out the window to see some of the most beautiful, snow-covered landscape below me. I instantly remembered that snow is just a part of Norway and wished I had brought my snow boots like a smart person. At least I wasn't like Paige, who didn't bring a coat and had to buy one (and Oslo is extraordinarily expensive).
So we finally got to Oslo from the airport, via bus. We wondered into a mall, got some food (I got this delicious Pesto and Tomato Calzone thing), and got Paige a coat. We then made our way to our hostel. We were a bit early, so we just sat around (or fell asleep) until it was time for check-in. After check-in, we wondered around Oslo. We made our way past the Mini Bottle Gallery (the only one in the world) and eventually to Akershus Castle. As we walked around, I realized how happy I was to be there. It was absolutely beautiful. We also saw a guard with the most intense weapon for guarding a castle with.

After the castle, we strolled up to the palace, where we could see a lot of the city. It was quite beautiful.

After that, we were all exhausted, so we went back to the hostel and crashed...at 8:30 pm. Sad, yes, but we hadn't really slept in 36 hours. The next morning we started off going to a bakery that Quinn's friend had suggested. I got this crazy twisted cinnamon and sugar deliciousness. It was so good!

After breakfast we went to this peninsula where they have a bunch of museums. We first stopped at the Viking Ship Museum. It was much smaller than expected, but it was still pretty awesome to see some old ships. I also learned that they used to "retire" old boats by using them burial boats, sinking them to the bottom of the sea with the deceased wealthy. There were burial carriages, wagons, and so much more, similar to how the Egyptians buried their dead with goods.

We then went to the Kon Tiki Museum, which explained that Kon Tiki was a reed boat in which 5 people, one from Norway, traveled from South America to Polynesia in 101 days to see if South Americans could have completed such a feat and been the first to settle in Polynesia. They proved it was possible. It was actually kind of crazy. We then walked around the peninsula and stood in awe of landscape surrounding us. It was truly remarkable.

We then headed back to the city. We tried to go to the National Gallery, but only got there 10 minutes before close, so we ran through it pretty quickly. Afterward we went ice skating in the middle of city centre. It was pretty cool, and made us feel rather Norwegian. Once our feet were exhausted and sore, we headed over to a restaurant to get some Norwegian food (and our only real meal of the weekend considering how expensive it all was). I got some Norwegian meatballs, salmon, potatoes, and veggies.

After dinner we were going to go to the Ice Bar, where there everything is made of ice, including the bar and glasses. However, they do not let people under 19 in after 9, so Paige couldn't get in and we just went back to the hostel and fell asleep yet again.
Sunday was a day of being barely late for everything and falling way too many times. We were going to get up around 8, and wound up waking up around 9. This meant we missed the first ferry, but decided to catch the second one. We first went to the Opera House, where you can actually walk on top of the roof, which was, of course, covered in ice. Here begins the falling. It was a rather pretty building, though. From the top you could see a lot of the city, too.

From the opera house, we went to go catch the next ferry to see the fjords. We had a little difficulty actually finding the ferry, though, and by the time we got there, the ferry was gone. The next one was an hour away, so we chose to go to the top of the mountain to check out Holmenkollen Ski Jump, where there was also a Ski Museum. The Ski Museum taught be how serious the Norwegians take their skiing. Not only have they been skiing for at least 4000 years, but some kids start skiing at 9 months old. It is legit. After exploring the museum, we headed to the elevator to go to the top of the jump. The elevator moved on a diagonal along the jump, and was rather frightening. From the top of the jump, we could see all of Oslo and look over the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful. The actual ski jump seemed incredibly scary, though. I have no idea how people go off something so steep and so high up.

We then headed back down the mountain and got off at the Vigelandsparken, a sculpture park. On the walk down to the metro, I literally fell four times down one hill. At one point I was on the ground, and a one year old and her mom just glide right on by me. It was rather embarrassing. The park was pretty, and the statues were...interesting. It was a lot of naked people in odd and awkward positions. More falling occurred, as all the steps were sheets of ice.

After the park, we were too late to catch the last ferry, so we decided to go to the Nobel Peace Center. We learned all about the new Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Liu Xiaobo, and about China, in general. It was really interesting. We then had to hurry back to the hostel to grab our stuff and catch our bus back to the airport. As we got to the bus station, we were there with no extra time. Quinn ran ahead to make sure the bus didn't leave without us. He saw the bus backing up, and tried to get out there to stop it, but the sliding doors wouldn't open. We went to ask when the next bus would leave, and it was another hour, which would mean we would get to the airport with hardly any time to get to the gate before the plane leaves. So we ran over to the train station. Luckily, there was a train that was leaving soon to the airport that would get us there on time. So we forked over $20 extra and jumped on the train. We got there with enough time and everything worked out just fine. From Liverpool, we still had to ride the train, with 2 changes again, to get back to Leeds. At 2 am we finally made it. I got back and completely passed out from exhaustion. But it was totally worth it. Oslo was beautiful, everyone there was incredibly nice (and spoke English...literally), and despite the expensive prices, I would definitely go back again some day. Completely wonderful weekend.

Your American Norway Expert,
Jessica