Je t'adore, Bruxelles!

I’m on a train again. My new favorite train activity has got to be blogging, replacing laying my head on the rumbling window listening to my iPod. This one is going from Brussels to Amsterdam. Takes about 3 hours. I’m just rolling right along through the low-lands countryside of this beautiful country. So, last blog I was on the train to Brussels from Paris which seems like so long ago, it really was just a couple days ago. Crazy how time flies but also seems so distant. Now I’ll update you on what I’ve done since then. One of those things has been eat a lot of waffles.

After arriving in Brussels on that train, we left the train station heading towards the hotel, and got to walk through an interestingly sketchy part of town in the process. Sunday was touring day in Brussels. We started out by walking through the Grand Place, of course, then traveled down the road to get a glance at the Manikin Pis. It’s a statue of a little boy peeing, but it’s by far the most famous in all of Brussels. Legend was that there was a great fire and he saved the city by putting it out with his pee. Legend…dary. After him we walked backed the Grand Place to visit the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate. Besides getting tons of free tastes and smells, and a demonstration, I also learned a ton about the process of chocolate making, where it comes from, and even the healthy aspects of it!

2 in 1: Mannekin Pis meets Belgian Chocolate

More touring followed, saw the Royal Palace, EU Parliament building (which was real neat after spending a whole course on EU Politics this semester), walked through some nice spacious parks (Parc du Bruxelles, Parc de Leopold, Parc de Cinquantenaire), walked through the famous squares like Sablon with all its chocolate shops, then saw a couple churches, St Michel of course being the best because he is the patron saint of Brussels, and we share a name in common. Parc Cinquantenaire was great because as we exited the park into Montgomery Circle, where they have a statue dedicated to General Montgomery who liberated Brussels in World War II, there was a carnival fair going on that was real cool. It had an awesome flea market of interesting stuff from medieval armor to classic LP albums, then tons of mini-rides for kids, concerts, and of course all the waffles, fries and beer you could imagine. I’m going to take this opportunity to remind people that French fries are Belgian, don’t let the French in the name fool you. That was just some dumb English translation, everywhere else in the world they’re just called ‘frites’. And obviously Belgium also does waffles and beer better than anyone else too. After getting my fill on all of that, we went back towards the city to check out a brewery that TripAdvisor rated as the 2^nd best thing to do in Brussels but when we got there it was boarded up closed. So, we just walked around some more and enjoyed the nice day we had out. At night, we went to some bars to test out the local beers (Palm, Jupiler and Kwak were my favorites) as the sun set then went to a big restaurant area for a good spaghetti bolognaise dinner.

Early evening Kwak beers & peanuts

My brick on the Walkway of Memories

 Monday was one of my favorite days of the trip so far. First stop was going to my old school ISB (International School of Brussels) at 10am for a tour of it. After having to switch trams twice and lots of walking to other tram stops because of tram-car accidents on the track ahead of us, we finally got there a little past 10. It was so crazy walking up to it, the place I went to school every day for years but hadn’t been back to in almost a decade. Everything definitely seemed smaller, the parking lot, the playground, the hallways, I felt like it used to take me much longer to walk across the campus but I guess my legs have grown since then. Not too much had changed, except more security, cooler playgrounds, newer buildings, oh and the fact that everyone grade 5 and above gets a laptop or tablet (their choice) now, so cool! I got pictures of my old favorite places, my favorite teachers room etc, I was talking to the guide (who happened to be the older sister of one of my good friends from when I lived in Belgium – such a small world) and for the most part all the teachers I had that I asked about weren’t there anymore. I really enjoyed that part of the day, it was so cool seeing the swing set, or the chairs in the library knowing that I had been in those exact places before, all the way here in little old Belgium. Then the best part of course was going to the brick walkway of memories where we had a brick put in with our name on it. My official mark on the country of Belgium, I got an awesome picture of me with it, facebook profile picture material for sure.

BruPark from Atonium: Planetarium, MiniEurope, Oceade &The Village

After grabbing lunch there in Boisfort, we took the tram and then metro to the other side of town to Heysel Park (or BruPark). This place, the area from the Worlds Fair in 1958, has so much cool stuff to do and is a must for anyone traveling to Brussels. First off, The Atomium, a 9 sphere architectural wonder in the shape of a crystal atom magnified like 100 billion times, is one of the coolest sites in the whole county. You can go to the top and get a great view of the city and then there are neat exhibitions in the other spheres and you get to take awesome escalators in between them.

After that was MiniEurope. Another must. I’m serious. You learn about all the different countries of Europe and at the same time how the EU works, its history, and what makes it unique. All the models were 1/25^th scaled down so you can easily compare their sizes and see that the Eiffel Tower towers over everything in Europe. Checking out my facebook album from that will make you feel like you took a quick tour of Europe-do it. It was neat seeing the places that I was just recently at like in France and Italy too. After that was the Planetarium (we’re still in BruPark, this stuff is like 2 minutes walk from each other, so convenient). There was a neat thing on the universe and asteroid attacks there that we saw, which is related to the course I’m taking next semester at UMD titled ASTR220 – Collisions in Space and Asteroid Impacts. You all know how I love my astronomy. Then, after grabbing a good Belgian beer in “the village” a restaurant/bar area of the park area, we went to the Exposition Center for a thing on King Tut and his tomb which was also really neat. So much cool stuff in that small area, I didn’t even mention the water theme park Oceade that’s there too. Well now I did, but it’s also real cool, we didn’t do it though. Then we went back to the village and ate dinner at a Mexican place that we used to go to a lot when I lived here (remember Los Amigos, Mom and Dad? – with that cool car inside that I’d always want to climb in) so that was good and nostalgic. We went back to Brussels downtown area, did some walking around some more then settled down at a bar in the Grand Place for some more Belgian beers. I got a sampler of four house beers and they were all so delicious, the amber beer being the best.

Happy Hour Perfection

I hope you guys can tell how much fun I had this day through this blog, it was really fun. I’m petitioning hard for Brussels here because I’m sick of people always telling me they’ve either never heard of it or don’t think there’s anything here to do. There is! I swear! Come to Brussels – capital of Europe for a reason!

Sunset in the Grand Place

Well, still have 2 hours left of this train ride, not sure how I’ll spend it, I’ve written enough here to even make myself not want to have to proofread it so my apologies for it being a little long. I’m not sure if people are even still reading this blog anyways, I haven’t checked my stats section lately. Congratulations again to my sister and all the 2011 graduates! I can’t wait to see all you real-people soon! 4 days from now I’ll be on a plane back home to America, (as long as this volcano eruption in Iceland isn’t a repeat of last year’s air traffic debacle.) I’m not starting work for about a week or so, so if you want to hang out with me before I get consumed by work every day again, send me a message and let’s make it happen!

Normandy = 1st Trip Failure

Le Havre was an experience. We made the train out with only minutes to spare; not that it ended up mattering. We got into Le Havre, which is in the province of Normandy at 11am. That gave us 6 hours to see the D-Day beaches, American Cemetery, War Museums, etc. None of that happened, if you were interested in reading about them, do not bother reading any more. Turns out, the bus to that area only leaves every 3 hours on Saturdays, so even if we took it out when it left (not until 2pm), it wouldn’t be able to bring us back in time to make our 5pm train back to Paris. A cab, the information guy told me, would be about 160 Euro, each way – forget that. Car rental seemed to be the cheapest and flexible option. The Avis dealership at the train station was closed for renovation. The "information guy" then sent us down a street which he promised had 3 rental agencies, he was wrong. 30 minutes of walking later, we hit the beach. There the Tourism Office told us that Europcar agency opened soon and to walk over there.  After grabbing lunch, with an amazing croque monsieur, we found Europcar and they opened at 2pm, except today, they were closed. 

Le Havre: Porte de L'Europe

Let me fill you in on the bane of our existence today. The G8 Summit Manifestation. So apparently there was a G8 summit, going on in Le Havre, today. This meant that every single thing in the town was shut down. It was eerie when we first got there and no one was walking the streets, and all the shops were closed, but I didn’t think much of it. Then at the lunch place and tourism agency, I found out this was why. According to one shopkeeper, everyone was mandated to shut down for the day because of security reasons (?). The lunch place was even violating them by being open, so odd. I’m going to have to look more up about it online. I know G8 summits are always heavily protested and threatened, but this seemed over the top. [According to later news articles, about 7,000 rioters/protesters were there] All the car rental places in the whole town were shut down, along with every other type of tourist attraction or shop. Another person I asked about it on the street said that it was too dangerous for places to be open today and she had only gone into her shop to do some cleaning. Then, in the weirdest event of the day, when I asked a couple for directions to the train station as we were leaving, she told me not to go in that direction because it was dangerous, but when I told her I needed to go there for my train, she said that we were very courageous and shuttered at the thought of us going that way. I guess ignorance is bliss, I’ve always liked that phrase and it applied today (perhaps). I still don’t feel like there was any danger anywhere I went, but I guess I don’t know the full story.. On our train to Le Havre, there were cops pacing the aisles a lot, and the train station in Le Havre was flooded with police, not to mention police everywhere out on the streets. 

relaxing on the pebble beach

I’m not sure exactly where in the city the events were taking place, but as we were leaving we noticed one of the streets was trashed (looking like a protest was there earlier) and there was an audible megaphone in the near distance. Odd odd odd. Whatever, we’re on the train back to Paris now. So, since going to the D-Day sites was impossible, we relaxed on the pebble beach for the afternoon, which honestly, was really fun. It was nice to just relax and not do anything, after a morning, and week, full of walking non-stop rushing to fit everything in. It was a very peaceful way to break up the trip at the halfway mark. So that’s that, right now I’m bustling through the French countryside on this train, and in a few hours will be in Belgium. I don’t even need to say how excited I am to go back (home) to Belgium. Yes, I can call it home, I grew up there. So many memories will hopefully come flooding back to me, just like speaking French has. Can’t wait. Au Revoir for now, 7 days from now at this time I will be landing in Philly, so so crazy.

Trois Jours a Paris

Here’s a quick recap of my three days in Paris plus one day in Le Havre. The glorious luxurious RyanAir flight landed at Paris Beauvais (which is actually 50 miles North of Paris = blatant lies by having Paris in the airport name) around 9am. After the really long shuttle to downtown Paris, we were walking down the Champs Elysees with our big backpacks and the Arc de Triumphe in sight when it was just about lunch time. We stopped at a ‘Quick’ the name of a fast food burger joint in France and Belgium, my childhood favorite by far. We walked to the hotel after that and checked in around 1pm.

The main parts of the day after that was the Louvre Museum and Notre Dame Cathedral. Did a lot of walk-around sightseeing, checking out the different monuments and such. Grabbed dinner at a McDonalds (fast food day=money saving day) then called it a night a little on the early side given that we had gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before.

Also, before I go any farther, I need to give two thank-you shout outs. First to my friend Eran and his sister who sent me an incredible itinerary of things to do and the order to do them all in the three days that I would be there. Also to my sister, who sent me a great list of stuff to do too. Without them I would've been lost not knowing what to do at all, so thanks to all of you, you really helped!

Jardin Luxembourg Eiffel Tower View

Thursday was productive. Versailles in the morning followed by a nice lunch in its gardens. After riding the metro back to Paris, we visited the Pantheon, which was really cool. I hope people reading this blog see the funny irony of Rousseau and Voltaire being buried directly across from each other. Across from that was the Jardin Luxembourg which was really neat. Just a medium sized park in the middle of Paris with a stage set up where some guys were playing jazz. It was a nice relaxing stop to break up the day. We then walked to Shakespeare and Company, an old bookstore that Hemingway and those fellows used to frequent in their time. Neat place. Then it was off across the river to the Centre Pompidou with its crazy architecture. We ate our sandwiches there while watching an impromptu performance of Michael Jackson dances by the most random assortment of people, both young, old, female, male, black and white (no they didn’t do that song though). They did Thriller, which was awesome. I was tempted to join in, having the 2 hour Thriller class at Eppley under my belt from last Halloween – shout out to my partner Cristin Carey! After some more wandering around the city, we ended up by the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero across the Seine to watch the light show. It was underwhelming but still neat to see all the lights flashing about on it. It looked cooler simply lit up at night than with the light show though.

Crowded steps of Sacre Coeur

Friday, I feel like was spent mostly in some sort of line. First up was the Eiffel tower, which was a multi-hour ordeal in itself. Ticket line, line to walk up to second floor, line to elevator to the top, line down from the top, etc etc. Totally worth it thought of course, after all, it is The Eiffel Tower. Paris from 300 meters high looks pretty darn cool. After that, we took the metro to Mont Marte, which was one of my favorite areas of Paris. It was up on a hill, away from downtown area so it had an awesome view of the whole city. Sitting on the steps of Sacre Coeur enjoying a guitarist street performer was really fun. Great way to spend the late afternoon time period. The area itself was a small artsy area with lots of cool shops and places to eat. Definitely recommend doing that to anyone going to Paris.

Au Revoir, Paris - Io sono ancora italiano.

After waiting in another line at the train station to buy the Le Havre tickets, we continued on venturing through the city and stumbled on a good cheap dinner joint with excellent Tortellini Pesto (wow I had missed Italian food, albeit after only a few days) then settled down on the Champs de Mars, the field leading up to the Eiffel Tower, where we hung out for awhile along with what seemed to be every other young person in Paris. It was cool how so many groups of friends were there picnicking with snacks and drinks as the sun set. I wish we could do stuff like that in America. It was so relaxing, just lying on the grass, enjoying a cold drink with the Eiffel Tower looming in front of you. I don’t have much faith in American college kids that they’d be able to do that as maturely/peacefully as the French kids were doing it though, not to mention that you can’t drink in public in America anyways, and also have to be over 21 (in France it’s only 18 – and in Italy, the age is - well, it’s Italy..). That just about wraps up Paris.

Comparing Paris and Rome

Arc de Triomphe

Vittorio Emanuele Monument

 

Da Roma -- à Paris

So I’m going to use this two hour train ride from Le Havre to Paris to catch up on some blogging. Afterward, there’s another train ride from Paris to Brussels so I might use that time too, we’ll see how much I have to say (like I’ve ever been short of that). I’m trying to remember where I left off. I know I put up a short blog last night but I think my last real one was when I was leaving Rome. For all that Rome was for me, I feel that last one didn’t really do it justice with how short it was. I’m also bummed that I was so busy the last week or so of Rome I never really had time to blog about all those last memorable experiences. 

Having that cookout with 20 other people, then all of us traveling to the Olympic Stadium together in a pack to cheer on Roma against AC Milan was definitely a great day and a highlight of my farewell week. The weather was perfect for it, the grill smelled incredible and the atmosphere at the game was unreal. They are so much more passionate about sports here, I love it. Almost too much. They were throwing flares from the Milan side over to the Roma side, and vice versa. I also finally bought a Roma jersey, Totti, obbviamente, numero 10. I’m excited to wear that around Europe now and show off my Italian pride. In Paris from time to time these past few days I’ve heard people speaking Italian on the streets. It’s so easy to pick up and hear now, it brings a smile to my face every time; more so than hearing people speak English for sure. Mi gia manchi, italia!

I guess I should talk a little about Paris. Now, obviously, after living for so long in Rome, and loving every second of it, I wasn’t going to feel the same about Paris. The cities are too different. Now I know I’m going to be bias in part because I felt at home in Rome and feel like a touring stranger in Paris but that’s just how things go. Sorry Maria, but Rome wins. There are a lot of great things about Paris though, if I try to be objective (but where’s the fun in that). The public transportation is incredible, for starters. This is compared to Rome where you would wait forever for a bus or for your driver to finish his smoke break, that’s if they weren’t striking that day. The metro system is incredible in Paris. I’ve never waited over 5 minutes for one and they’re quick, easy to navigate and cover every corner of the city. They don’t rely on buses anywhere near the amount that Rome does. I guess it’s easier to build a metro line in Paris though. In Rome, every time they try and dig a metro they uncover more ruins and have to halt construction while the site gets excavated. Very tedious.

Pizza Vicoletta at Dar Poeta

The food is exponentially better in Italy both in taste and cost. There’s nothing more to say about that. Italian food just flat out wins in every way. Also, historically, Rome is way more interesting. No debate there either. Oh, and the people are much nicer (However, the French aren’t as bad as they’re stereotyped to be, just to let everyone know). Moving right along; language. French and Italian, both being in the romantic language category, are similar in many ways. At the moment, my Italian is better than my French, however, at my peak of speaking French, back when I was a young lad, that peak of linguistic ability was definitely higher than my peak in Italian skills. That semi-confusing statement being said, I haven’t done too poorly so far. The first day, my natural reactions were still kicking in and I was saying si, grazie, permesso and all those other second nature sayings that come out subconsciously. Since then, I’ve actually gotten a lot better though. My French has come flooding back to me I feel like. It’s one of those things where it’s easier to recognize then recall. By this I mean, when I see or hear things, I can understand it, but it’s much harder to spit out a sentence out of nowhere. It’s weird to explain, but once I get going in a conversation and am hearing what they say, and just responding to it, it’s smooth sailing for the most part.

I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty impressed at how much I remember and how I’ve managed so far. It’s funny to compare speaking with people here to in Italy. When I go up to ask someone something here in French, they reply in French. In Italy, when I would ask someone something in Italian, they would reply in English. This isn’t because Italians could tell I was American and French people can’t. No, no. There’s no hiding my Americanness (go away red squiggly line, that’s totally a word). It’s because the Italians were anxious to practice back their English skills on me or were just doing it because they assume that no Americans actually know Italian (which is a good assumption for a language spoken nowhere in the world outside of Italy, unlike French which is spoken in lots of other countries, and even non-countries (holla Quebec!)). In France, I’ve never once been responded to in English despite it being very clear I’m not French. They don’t really have an interest in speaking English back nor are they worried about making the conversation easier for you. I like it though, there were so many times in Italy that I would say “Non, voglio parlare in italiano, per favore”, pleading with them to keep talking in Italian so I could keep practicing my skills. But to sum it up, I think I would get a “tres bon” grade in remembering my French so far.

Paris Travel Update

Internet WiFi is terrible, but for all my blog followers out there, Adam and I had an extremely successful three days in Paris. We saw so much: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Sacre Coeur, Monmarte, Bastille, Pantheon, Jardin Luxembourg, Versailles, Champs de Mars, Notre Dame, Place de Concorde, Tuilieres, Shakespeare & Co, and so much more. Very entertaining and fun-filled 3 days. Tomorrow is Normandy, going to see the American cemetery, Omaha D-Day landing beach and war museums. Maybe even get to Bayeaux for the tapestry if time allows? I'm looking forward to paying my respects to all those that fought for my freedom, should be a great experience.

Then, heading to Brussels that evening and will be there until Thursday morning, with a day/night trip to Amsterdam. I'm so excited to go back (home) to Belgium where I basically grew up. So many things here in Paris reminded me of Belgium, the food, language, culture, etc.. and it's just going to be so great going back. Those were some great years of my life. I'm going back to ISB, my school, to visit. Then we're also going to go to a cool park where I went a lot as a kid where the world fair was awhile ago where Belgium built what they then thought would rival the Eiffel Tower (turns out it didn't) but the Atomium is still neat. Brewery tours and castles are also on the list in Ghent. Should be great. Our hotel is right next to the Grand Place downtown. Ahhh so excited, I love you Belgium. By the way, in case you all are wondering, turns out my French is coming right back to me real easily, it's pretty neat. Oui Oui.

SHOUT OUT TO MARIA CIANFICHI for her graduation from George Mason University today. I know I'm busy out here instead of at your graduation like I should be but I was thinking of you all day! I'm so proud of you, you're the best sister and my idol, I can't wait to get my diploma just like you!

Au Revoir for now, talk to you all soonish hopefully.

The Final Blog from Roma

Ciao tutti, for the last time from Italy.

It's 12:30am now. I have to be up at 4am to catch a cab to Ciampino for my flight to Paris. This will be a brief blog. Today, we started with lunch at my sandwich place by AUR. After that delicious lunch enjoyed in the AUR garden, my last lunch there, we did Ostia Antica then Ostia the beach. Ostia Antica was incredible, way better that Pompeii unless you like crowds and noise everywhere.

Street Shop View in Ostia Antica

At Ostia Antica, the ruins were, to me, just as good and preserved yet there were no people at all. We went 30 minutes without seeing another person while wandering through them at one point. We could actually go into the ruins and climb to the top of them too which you can't do in Pompeii. I could go on, but I'm tired, so just know it was much better and cheaper and closer than Pompeii, keep that mind in mind if you ever visit Rome. After that, we hung out on the pier at the beach a couple metro stops down for awhile before coming back here.

My last Frigidarium

Got dinner in Trastevere after doing an aperitivo deal in Piazza Trilussa which was great. It was at the bar that I'd been wanting to do an aperitivo at all semester because of how crowded it always was but I never made it until now. Dinner was incredible. Ate at a place one down from Tony's, oh Tony's.., anyways this place was great. I got Calcio e Pepe, soooo good. I went out with a typical Roman meal. My last 4 meals were Gnocchi Ragu, Pizza Vicoletto, Penne Amatriciana and Tonnerelli Calcio e pepe tonight. Great lineup Mike. After an amazing last meal, we walked over Ponte Sisto to Piazza Navona and got Frigidarium ice cream, which was rated #1 on tripadvisor, (I had no clue it was that popular). We sat in Navona and ate that, then went by Pantheon to Trevi Fountain where I got a Peroni from a vending machine and drank my last Peroni by the fountain where I met up with Matt who made a surprise appearance after a few days in Copenhagen! I tossed my first, last, and only coin over my shoulder into the fountain. I wanted to wait until the last minute and I planned that one wish all semester. I only had one and I wanted to make it count. We enjoyed some time there just hanging out then said goodbye to the Vittorio Emanuele Monument and rode the #44 line back here to the hotel by AUR.

Spero che il mio desiderio diventa realta

It was so weird walking by all the sites remembering the times I'd spent there. Walking by Abbey Theatre and Panta Rei where we celebrated my birthday months ago. Walking through Trastevere recounting each table and restaurant and bar I had sat at and had so many great times at, especially on Thursday nights with Nick and that crew. All of the times I got frigidarium with my roommates. Seeing the Archi Bar, which I walked by almost every day and most memorably had celebratory drinks with my friends after finals ended not too many days ago. Sitting at Trevi where we sat so many times before. Walking through Navona enjoying the life and entertainment of that Piazza, my favorite in Rome. My last tram ride, last bus ride. Pizza e Pasta, enough said. Wow. I can go on and on. Needless to say, I'm going to miss this place and I want to thank Rome for all the great times I had here. Never again will I be able to duplicate how much I enjoyed my life here more than anywhere or anytime else. In 6 hours I'll be gone. Life moves on, and I'm forced to keep up with it. Buona notte Roma. Vi Ringrazio Per Tutto!

L'ultima foto di me a Roma

Roma, Roma, Roma, where did you go?

Okay, so I know I left many people disappointed with my last blog. I pretty much brought up a lot of stuff that I never fully discussed. Sorry about that. So much has happened this past week that I can't even begin to describe it in a blog. As you all know by now, all my friends are gone. Almost all of them by now are back in America, back to their old lives, living life in the USA just like they were 4 months ago at this time. It's crazy. Here I am, still in Rome, with the majority of them very jealous of me that I'm still here, but in a way, I am jealous that they are all back to their lives with their old family and friends. I'm very glad I'm still here though, I wouldn't mind seeing my family and friends though. But I guess I can't have it both ways. I'm very fine with this choice. Last day in Roma is tomorrow though. Non buono.

View of Rome from Piazza Garibaldi/Gianicolo Hill

Okay, so to recap my past few days. Saturday morning, I picked Adam up at the airport. We came back to my apartment, packed it up, I said a sad goodbye to the place I've called home for the past 4 months then moved over here to the hotel by AUR (my school). After that, I took him up onto the Gianicolo hill, then down it through Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Largo Argentina, the Jewish Ghetto, Teatro Marcello, Circus Maximus, Bocca della Verita then finally up onto Aventine hill where I showed him the 'keyhole' to Rome with it's incredible view. After that, we went back to Trastevere, had some wine in Piazza Trilussa, dinner at La Scaletta then enjoyed some more wine sitting in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere with Cristina where we watched the same terrible street performer magician act, twice. He was really bad, we could've done his routine better after seeing him twice. You'll notice a theme of us trying to enjoy Rome by just drinking wine on anything that we can sit on. Also, I ran into two friends that day in Rome. I saw Josh as he was leaving for Spain and I hung out with Cristina as she was about to leave for the USA again, so it was a nice transition to at least see a couple friends after everyone had gone. Hope you're having fun on your Eurotrip, Josh!

Campo dei Fiori

So then yesterday was also very productive. We started late, given that he was jetlagged and I only had a couple hours sleep the night before because I was out saying goodbye to my friends then couldn't sleep anyways. After a late start, around Noon, we first set off for the Catacombs of Santa Priscilla, which were recommended to me as the best in Rome by my archaeology teacher, so I took her word for it. I had already been to the catacombs of San Domitilla with Maria when she visited me and those were so cool. Priscilla was really cool. It had better preserved areas than the other so we really got to see incredible frescoes and paintings that were thousands of years old. We saw the earliest ever depiction of the blessed mother Mary along with many other incredible depictions of Jesus and old testament events from just the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was very cool. The guide wasn't very good but luckily I knew most of the stuff from my first tour with Maria and from my archaeology class so it worked out. All the catacombs are the same for the most part. After that, I took Adam to the Cappuchin Crypt, which he lovedd. See my blog from when Nonny visited me, or do a quick google search on them to remember what they are. Creepiest/interesting thing here in Rome in my opinion. Then I took him to Baths of Diocletian and Santa Maria della Vittoria from Angels and Demons. I've been doing a good job of taking him to places he hadn't heard of or been to before, considering he was just in Rome in December. Then, we wandered over to Campo di Fiori, the textbook America hang out (see blog about why drinking outside after 11pm is banned) and we again had some wine of the steps there in that piazza. After watching some clown-doctor celebration thing, we went back to Trastevere for dinner at Dar Poeta (the best) after some drinks at Mr Brown bar. I got my normal Vicoletta pizza (baked potatoes, pesto, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella) and then of course the nutella calzone dessert (for you Maria!). After that, we went back to Piazza Garibaldi to enjoy some more wine on top of the Gianicolo hill by our hotel that overlooks Rome.

So then, today was also a lot. Wow, we've done a lot, these days have flown by. We got up, had breakfast here at the hotel/bed breakfast-whatever this is, and then were on our way. Went to St Peter's first but the line there was longest I've ever seen to get, well over 2 hours, so we left to go to Castel San Angelo (which was closed b/c it's Monday) so we walked to the Mausoleum of Augustus Caesar then Villa Borghese where we hung out and had lunch on some old Roman ruins. After that we took the metro to San Giovanni where I showed him that church, but the other churches in the area were closed so we took the bus to Via Appia Antica. I showed him where the other catacombs were then I tried to take him to that WWII memorial from my "bodies and burials" class a few weeks ago, but of course it was also closed b/c it was Monday. Sorry for Rome being awful on Mondays, Adam. We did stumble upon this memorial plaque dedicated to the national and international martyrs of democracy, liberty, human rights and peace because of terrorism. Anyways, we turned back around and went back to the churches by San Giovanni that were closed. I showed him the place that has steps from the residence of Pontius Pilate that Jesus walked on then I also showed him Santa Croce in Gerusaleme where the nails of the true cross, wood from the true cross, thorns from Jesus' crown etc etc all are. So many Christian relics in that area, we both enjoyed seeing them (me for like the 4th time, but it's still a great experience).

Vino a Il Pantheon

After that, we went to the Spanish Steps, where apart from getting hastled by those Pakistani salesmen selling roses and light up toys, we managed to enjoy some drinks while people watching. Then, we moved to the Pantheon where we again enjoyed some drinks while people watching. After that, we went back to Monte Verde, where my old apartment was, and I ate dinner at my favorite dinner place, Pizza e Pasta. It's that place run by a family that has incredible pizza and pasta, for a great price. I went there normally 4 times a week at least this semester. My plan was to marry the daughter who was my age and then take over the family business from her Dad, who actually liked me as did the Mom. However, the whole language barrier got in the way and that never happened. I went there for the last time tonight and had a great conversation with the Dad who shook my hand when I left as I said farewell and reminded him that it's the BEST pizzeria in Roma, and I'll stand by that til I die. If you're going to Rome soon, make sure you ask me to tell you how to get here. GREAT food and not a single tourist within miles. Outstanding. After that we went back up to Piazza Garibaldi and enjoyed some more wine while overlooking the city at night. My favorite spot to hang out.

Now, tomorrow, is Ostia Antica, the secret Pompeii that no one visits. It's supposedly better than Pompeii preservation-wise, and less tourists. I'm excited. Then after that, we'll come back, get one last dinner in Trastevere for me, trek over to Trevi Fountain, I'll FINALLY throw my coin in over my shoulder, then I'll make my peace with leaving Rome and get ready for our 6am flight to Paris Wednesday morning. I feel like I'm not going to handle it well. As I've said before, I've felt more at home here than anywhere in my life before, which I know sounds weird because this is a foreign country, but I'm being 100% honest when I say that. I don't want to leave here. Leaving the best 4 months of my life is going to be a tough pill to swallow but life must move on. Paris for 3 days. Normandy for 1. Brussels for 3. Amsterdam for 1. Back to Brussels for 1 day. London for 2 days. Before I know it, I'll be in Philadelphia and not have had time to realize I'm never going back to Rome, at least for awhile. Hopefully all the other touring keeps me busy enough to keep it out of my mind, but I know it won't.

I'm glad all my friends are back home safe, hopefully my travels go just as well. I can't wait to see you all again soon, and I can't wait to see all my old friends who hopefully haven't forgotten about me soon. Dinko, you better be ready for our baseball game the day after I get back or whenever that is. I can't wait. Also, for anyone wondering, my first meal will be Chick-fil-A, followed by Applebees for dinner, for anyone who would like to join me. Invitations out there. Have a good day everyone. Hopefully I'll blog about Ostia Antica, if not, I'll talk to ya'll in Paris!