When in Rome...and Switzerland
We last left Nate and Will as they departed Barcelona for Italy on a Ferry, not knowing what the conditions would be like on the Mediterranean or on the ferry. What adventures found them as they travelled to Rome, did they find some ancient Roman secret? Perhaps they ate lots of good food. Did they see the Pope? Tune in kids...
Will, myself, and some new friends of ours from Barcelona (Americans...they were hostelling...one of which was a dude from Spokane who just finished his four years in Iraq...he had some great stories to tell) boarded the ferry at 7 p.m. in Barcelona after a lovely day which I spent at a musuem and then at the beach and the area around the beach (Barceloneta). This charming little place had sidewalk cafes where musicians would come up at random and play songs, and there was even an impropmtu parade down the side of the street..all quite exciting and wonderful to digest lovely food and ice cream with.
We could tell this boat was big...the "Eurostar" was probably the biggest boat I have ever been on over water, and inside was a casino, arcade, and lots of interesting Italians. We slept in our chairs, of course, but the Italians kept going all night, dancing in the bar and having an all around good time. I finished a copy of the DaVinci Code (in preparation for Paris) and spent alot of time on the top decks as southern Spain left us along with the remaining daylight. The next morning the pool was filled and there was some family reuinion going on, all of the family members wore matching yellow baseball caps, and I couldn´t understand what they were saying because my Italian is nil.
We arrived north of Rome around 2 p.m. on a bright, sunny, and hot day at the port of Citivachelli (not sure if that´s the exact name.) and walked to the train station, though once we got there a friendy Italian man told us there was a free bus...good to know for future reference. We hopped on the train and began the last leg of our epic journey to Rome, where indeed, all roads led.
Rome is a city steeped in history, good food, and little scooters. We arrived that evening and Will and I had found out earlier that we didn´t book the same hostel for the first night, so they headed to their hostel north of Rome and I went to mine (about 10 minutes from the Vatican.) That night I went out with some new hostel friends to an Italian restaurant...and the waiter/owner was probably the best salesman I have met. Granted, it was irritating and a few things were lost in translation (such as...no...we don´t ALL want the appetizer...or...just ONE dessert). It was good fun though, but after that we headed back to the hostel for some quality sleep.
The next day I met back up with Will and company to see the sights. Despite being around 15 minutes late (whoops), I met them at the Coloseum and we began our epic journey through ancient Rome, seeing the Forum, Palatine Hills, and wonderful vistas of the surrounding city. It was truly amazing, and even though pictures don´t do the sites or the feeling you get while your sitting on a stone 2,500 years older than you that was once a part of the Roman Empire. I guess it was the history nerd in me, but wow. We then boarded the bus tour for the next stop: Vactican City. This was another place that I just can´t put into words. St. Peter´s Basillica was literally massive, and it´s not until you walk inside that zou get the true sense of just how enormous this place is. There are domes and frescoes everywhere, statues, shrines, altars, skylights, tourists, pilgrims, cute old nuns, it was absolutely unreal. We also went down to see the tomb of John Paul II, and that was a really powerful thing to see considering he had just passed on.
After that was the Vatican Museum, just close to the church, where the old Popes lived. This included the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice, but luckily Will also has a digital camera, so there will be lots of digital photo swapping once I get back stateside. This museum also featured the "Raphael Room," with amazing pictures of biblical and historic events. My favorite painting was the one depicting the famous battle (name forgotten..doh) where the Emperor Constantine painted crosses over the eagle crests on the shields of their troops and ended up winning the battle, thus proving to the previouslz "pagan" emperor of the power of Christinaity and leading to its incorporation into the Roman Empire (which some historians argue also led to its decline and eventual downfall).
That night we walked around Rome some more, ate wonderful Gellato (it was amazing!) and I had lasagne and pizza in Italy, two things that you just have to do while there. The next morning Will and I had to catch the train for Switzerland, and we had a scare when, after leaving the metro, we got separated. Luckily, we both had the same priorities (buy our tickets first, and then meet up in an obvious spot), so it all worked out and we caught our train for Zurich to meet my friend and fellow JIRPer Werner Stemphuber, who lives just an hour east of Zurich. Unfortunately, I forgot to take down his phone number, which resulted in a frantic call to Aunt Annie to try and find it. Lukckily, my instructions and Aunt Annie´s technical prowess solved that mystery, and we boarded yet another train for Rebstein. While we were in the Zurich trainstation, there was a theatre towards the back and the Star Wars theme, along with lightsabers, was playing loudlz, meaning that some Europeans got to see the new movie a full two days before the premier. I was pretty jealous. Oh well, the plan is to catch the premier in Paris, hopefully with French subtitles rather than dubbing...although hearing "Luke, je suis tu pere" would be pretty funny.
Thats all for now. Werner´s enormous hospitality led me to do my laundrz, which ended up taking way too long and resulted in me not having pants for most of the day, and no one goes outside without pants...esepcially in a foreign country. Will and I did explore Rebstein a bit, and had hot chocolate and a pastry at a restaurant, after we found someone who could speak English and could translate "Hot Chocolate." Now we´re going to head out once Werner gets back for some pizza and German Beer! (Rebstein is in the Eastern (german speaking) part of Switzerland and thus retains the language, beer, and schnitzel...mm...schnitzel.
Guttentag!
-Nate
Will, myself, and some new friends of ours from Barcelona (Americans...they were hostelling...one of which was a dude from Spokane who just finished his four years in Iraq...he had some great stories to tell) boarded the ferry at 7 p.m. in Barcelona after a lovely day which I spent at a musuem and then at the beach and the area around the beach (Barceloneta). This charming little place had sidewalk cafes where musicians would come up at random and play songs, and there was even an impropmtu parade down the side of the street..all quite exciting and wonderful to digest lovely food and ice cream with.
We could tell this boat was big...the "Eurostar" was probably the biggest boat I have ever been on over water, and inside was a casino, arcade, and lots of interesting Italians. We slept in our chairs, of course, but the Italians kept going all night, dancing in the bar and having an all around good time. I finished a copy of the DaVinci Code (in preparation for Paris) and spent alot of time on the top decks as southern Spain left us along with the remaining daylight. The next morning the pool was filled and there was some family reuinion going on, all of the family members wore matching yellow baseball caps, and I couldn´t understand what they were saying because my Italian is nil.
We arrived north of Rome around 2 p.m. on a bright, sunny, and hot day at the port of Citivachelli (not sure if that´s the exact name.) and walked to the train station, though once we got there a friendy Italian man told us there was a free bus...good to know for future reference. We hopped on the train and began the last leg of our epic journey to Rome, where indeed, all roads led.
Rome is a city steeped in history, good food, and little scooters. We arrived that evening and Will and I had found out earlier that we didn´t book the same hostel for the first night, so they headed to their hostel north of Rome and I went to mine (about 10 minutes from the Vatican.) That night I went out with some new hostel friends to an Italian restaurant...and the waiter/owner was probably the best salesman I have met. Granted, it was irritating and a few things were lost in translation (such as...no...we don´t ALL want the appetizer...or...just ONE dessert). It was good fun though, but after that we headed back to the hostel for some quality sleep.
The next day I met back up with Will and company to see the sights. Despite being around 15 minutes late (whoops), I met them at the Coloseum and we began our epic journey through ancient Rome, seeing the Forum, Palatine Hills, and wonderful vistas of the surrounding city. It was truly amazing, and even though pictures don´t do the sites or the feeling you get while your sitting on a stone 2,500 years older than you that was once a part of the Roman Empire. I guess it was the history nerd in me, but wow. We then boarded the bus tour for the next stop: Vactican City. This was another place that I just can´t put into words. St. Peter´s Basillica was literally massive, and it´s not until you walk inside that zou get the true sense of just how enormous this place is. There are domes and frescoes everywhere, statues, shrines, altars, skylights, tourists, pilgrims, cute old nuns, it was absolutely unreal. We also went down to see the tomb of John Paul II, and that was a really powerful thing to see considering he had just passed on.
After that was the Vatican Museum, just close to the church, where the old Popes lived. This included the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice, but luckily Will also has a digital camera, so there will be lots of digital photo swapping once I get back stateside. This museum also featured the "Raphael Room," with amazing pictures of biblical and historic events. My favorite painting was the one depicting the famous battle (name forgotten..doh) where the Emperor Constantine painted crosses over the eagle crests on the shields of their troops and ended up winning the battle, thus proving to the previouslz "pagan" emperor of the power of Christinaity and leading to its incorporation into the Roman Empire (which some historians argue also led to its decline and eventual downfall).
That night we walked around Rome some more, ate wonderful Gellato (it was amazing!) and I had lasagne and pizza in Italy, two things that you just have to do while there. The next morning Will and I had to catch the train for Switzerland, and we had a scare when, after leaving the metro, we got separated. Luckily, we both had the same priorities (buy our tickets first, and then meet up in an obvious spot), so it all worked out and we caught our train for Zurich to meet my friend and fellow JIRPer Werner Stemphuber, who lives just an hour east of Zurich. Unfortunately, I forgot to take down his phone number, which resulted in a frantic call to Aunt Annie to try and find it. Lukckily, my instructions and Aunt Annie´s technical prowess solved that mystery, and we boarded yet another train for Rebstein. While we were in the Zurich trainstation, there was a theatre towards the back and the Star Wars theme, along with lightsabers, was playing loudlz, meaning that some Europeans got to see the new movie a full two days before the premier. I was pretty jealous. Oh well, the plan is to catch the premier in Paris, hopefully with French subtitles rather than dubbing...although hearing "Luke, je suis tu pere" would be pretty funny.
Thats all for now. Werner´s enormous hospitality led me to do my laundrz, which ended up taking way too long and resulted in me not having pants for most of the day, and no one goes outside without pants...esepcially in a foreign country. Will and I did explore Rebstein a bit, and had hot chocolate and a pastry at a restaurant, after we found someone who could speak English and could translate "Hot Chocolate." Now we´re going to head out once Werner gets back for some pizza and German Beer! (Rebstein is in the Eastern (german speaking) part of Switzerland and thus retains the language, beer, and schnitzel...mm...schnitzel.
Guttentag!
-Nate
posted by Nate at
1:20 AM
2 Comments:
thank you so much for the update miss you MOM
Hi Nate, I am enjoying reading about your trip and wishing I was with you!! Wouldn't you love to have Aunt Nancy along?? Love
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