Plethora

Here it is- my Magnum Opus. Alright, maybe thats a slightly too dramatic name, but this post here will hopefully detail the past 4 or so days. Happy Reading! First, some pictures from Rome:



The Pantheon, which reminded me of what will be my home in a month and a half

This is a picture-perfect photo of the exterior of the Colosseum

The Unknown Soldier memorial (I told you it was epic!)

Now that we are out of the Dark Ages of Pictures imposed on us by the Italian Internet Police, we can now get on with the story, starting with my last full day in Florence.

Since all of the important museums were closed on Monday (read: the Uffizi and Accademia), Tuesday was devoted to waiting in long lines and seeing the best of Florence. I started with the Accademia, which is known almost solely for Micholangelo´s David. I was prepared to be met with disappointment at a completely overrated piece of sculpture. This attitude was destroyed when I turned the corner and saw the 14 foot masterpiece in all its glory, illuminated by the sun´s rays. It blew me away, and this is coming from someone who was utterly numb from all the artwork in Rome and Florence. David is amazing! I could have stood there for a day, just soaking up the perfection. It was also helpful to have my trusty Rick Steves Podcast that explained the tidbits of the statue to me. There were some other interesting things in the museum, but David was by far the most important and impactful.

Next up, it was off the the Medici Chapel, another Michelangelo masterpiece. It´s not well known, and it was nice of some of my more Italian-experienced friends to point me in its direction. Although it was under restoration, I could still soak up the glory of the dome´s frescoes and some of the remaining sculptures. I couldn´t linger long, however, since I had more to see!

A Not-So-Great picture of the Duomo Cathedral

I grabbed some lunch and jumped into line at the Uffizi, a museum with many more paintings and sculptures, although it´s small compared to the Vatican Museum or the Louvre. It´s a sight to see, and it was (though just barely) worth the 2 hour wait to get in. I really liked "The Birth of Venus" and some of the portraits. There were also some good views of Florence. By then the day was getting to a close (I had also waited an hour and a half for the Accademia), so I started heading back to my hosts´leather shop, where they would take me home.

On my way there, I couldn´t help but stop at their other shops, including a linens one (with only Egyptian cotton sheets made locally), and two adjoining ceramics shops. Both were great, and extremely tasteful. They also own an art gallery, which displays creative and playful contemporary art. I was really impressed by it all.

The Ponte Vecchio

And just like that it was my last night with them! Some friends came over, as is usual in their house, and we had even more delicious Italian food. They were also gracious enough to do my laundry as well! It was such a blessing, especially since I was running perilously low on clean clothes. The next morning, I said a melancholic goodbye to most of my hosts and went into town with Mrs. B for breakfast and to catch my train to Venice. All in all, Florence was great, and the stay with the family friends sent the visit into the stratosphere of awesomeness. I hope to visit again.

The view from my hosts´ villa:

By 2PM I was in one of the most unbelievable places ever- Venice! The moment you walk out of the train station, you are met with a canal- a reminder that this city has neither cars nor roads, or even a comprehensible layout. Despite my incredible hunger upon arrival, I was still so struck by the city´s unlikely beauty that I had to stop and just look around. It was great.

I found my hostel with the help of a fellow future-tenant of it from South Africa, but realized the reception was closed until 3. Too tired to look around, I waited for an hour, checked in, and then started my adventures in this island city.

I pretty much spent the day wandering around the islands, exploring narrow alleys and quaint canals to my heart´s content. Since I was so tired of museums, I couldn´t bring myself to shell out any more dough for the museums there, so I contented myself with the sights from the outside, like St. Marco´s Square, which floods at high tide. To hold off the heat, I also enjoyed some delicious gellato. Man, that stuff is delicious!

While looking for some cheap Internet (which doesn´t exist in Venice), I came across my favorite restaurant in the area- a tiny pizza place in an alley off a main walkway filled with Italians and extremely cheap and filling pizza- a backpacker´s dream. I ended up having it for dinner that night, as well as lunch and dinner the next day. Haha, what can I say, I´m a sucker for cheap delicious and authentic food.

That night, I met my roommates, who included two guys from Madrid, a guy from - get this- Venezuela, and a guy from Sydney, who was on a 10 month world tour. The Spaniards left for some dinner, but the other two and I got to talking for a while, and we decided to wake up the next day and all go to Murano together. It was the beginning of an excellent travel team.

We got up and, when looking for some cheap breakfast, we ran into my pal from South Africa, who directed us to a Costa Rican cafe, where we got our necessary nourishment and headed out. South Africa couldn´t come with us, however. We went to the Vaporetti stop that would take us to Murano, an island about 2KM from the main Venetian island cluster. Vaporetti are essentially Venice´s disgustingly expensive version of public transport. For a 5 minute ride, it was 6.50 euro each way! And they didn't even check the tickets! It really irritated us, since we were all backpackers (all of the same cheap attitude).

Upon arrival in Murano, we were directed by a man with a tourist office badge to the "Glass Factory", and as we walked along and almost went into other glass places, these men with badges kept on redirecting us to this one factory. There, they gave us a lame demonstration of unskilled glass blowers making bowls. It was definitely a sleazy tourist trap. Woody, Roberto, and I (The Australian and Venezuelan, respectively), went in search of authentic Murano glass artists. It wasn't long before we found some authentic places, and we stood in awe of the craftsmanship involved in glass blowing.

A Glass Sculpture on Display

We looked around a big bunch of stores and workshops, where we made some small purchases. I got some glass cuff links, since I think that this blown or layered glass is the most beautiful form of art, and I think they will be my only European souvenir, other than pictures, due to my lack of space. The other two went off to other stores while I went into the Murano glass making museum, which had pieces from as far back as the 1300´s! It was incredible, and they also had some modern pieces on display. I want to fill my house with this stuff!

Upon meeting up again at the Vaporetti stop, we got back on and took the long way to St. Marco´s square, to both see a lot of Venice and make the most of our expensive tickets. It was about a 30 minute ride, but it was a great way to see the perimeter of the city. We landed and walked through Venice back to the afore-mentioned pizza place. To our utter dismay, it had closed half an hour beforehand (we arrived at 3PM)! Luckily, we used our pity-inducing expertise to get the woman inside to open up and sell us what pizza she had left. Our achingly tired bodies were thankful.

Venizia from the Vaporetti

Too tired to continue sightseeing, we crashed at the hostel after going to an Internet cafe. There, I planned my sightseeing in Jerusalem. It is going to be INSANE! There is so much to see in that city, and I am thrilled to have planned for 5 nights there- I just may be able to see what I want. It´s so surreal that the pinnacle of my trip is two days away. Hopefully I can blog about it well so that you, dear reader, can enjoy it as well.

As I half-focused on my planning I mused to myself that despite all the Americans I have seen wearing college shirts, Columbia had not been, to my knowledge, represented! About an hour later, lo and behold, a guy walked by in the hostel´s lounge wearing a Columbia TShirt! Thrilled at such a sight, I got up and introduced myself. Turns out that he´s an upcoming freshman as well, and we swapped war stories of the application process and voiced our excitements and concerns for the upcoming year. It was incredibly refreshing to meet him, and it got me thinking all over again about next month. I´m so excited!

The Trio of Terror set out once again, this time to the train station, as I had my overnight train to Vienna, Roberto has his to Zagreb, and Woody needed to get a ticket. We, once again, got pizza at that place (the glory of a 4 euro filling meal), where the lady working there gave us the weirdest look when she heard our answers for where we come from. I would too, if I encountered a US/Venezuelan/Australian trio... haha At the station we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. It was fantastic having met those two and travelled with them, and maybe, if I´m going to be in Caracas or Sydney, I can stay with them.

This being a Europe Trip and me being a backpacker, the next adventure was but a moment away. My night train was half an hour late, and when it arrived, I was faced with the issue of figuring out a couchette room. It looks like a normal train cabin with two benches and then two beds on top, but six people sleep in it. The way they manage that is by flipping up the back cushion of the bench, thus creating six highly-claustrophobic beds. It was hilarious, and the inhabitants of my cabin made the trip awesome.

First, there was a middle aged Austrian couple, with the non-English speaking husband and English speaking wife who are veterans of night trains and gave us all the advice we needed while rolling their eyes. Next, there was an elderly Malaysian woman with her 26 year old son who was here for a paintball competition in France. Although the son didn´t talk much, the fluently English-speaking woman was an absolute hoot! She was extraordinarily talkative on any topic, whether necessary or not, and was ready to give freshly-learned travel advice to anyone who would listen. Kindly, she gave us her son´s address so we can stay with him if we ever go to Kuala Lumpor. To put it simply, I adored her. She was the quintessential talkative and over-involved Asian mother. Finally, there was a 23 year old Korean girl on a backpacking trip around Europe- she was not nearly as talkative, but had some interesting stories about special Korean hostels all over Europe that serve Korean food, provide free dinner and calls home to Korea- amazing! I wish Americans had an underground system like that...

With that bunch of interesting people, the trip was fine, though entertaining. We were in Vienna before I knew it. It was about 8:30AM when we arrived, and I got to my reserved hostel, put my bag away, and trekked off to Vienna´s center.

A Mozart Monument in Vienna

Vienna is a beautiful city, if a little commercial. There are tons of modern buildings, due to WW2 I´m sure, and the people seem really friendly. I wandered around, getting my bearings, and went to a suggested coffee shop for some famous Vienna coffee. While I considered my sights for the day, I sipped my Melange- essentially a cappuccino with twice the amount of foam. It was delicious and a good way to start the morning. I elected to go to a park and then enter MAK, a design and modern art museum, which turned out to be much cooler than I thought it would be.

In it, there was an exhibition from a British modern artist who did these flat TV screens of computerized and artsy moving landscapes of Japan, most with Mt Fuji in the background. They were excellent, and I was actually mesmerized by their quirky beauty, though that may have just been because I want to go to Japan so badly... The museum also held some other designs for buildings and furniture, but the other true jewel was an exhibition of a local Applied Arts college students´work. As strange as most of it was, it was great to see the up and coming artists´creations.

For lunch I returned to my old habit of Gyros, since I´m not in pizza land anymore. It was good, and it kept me full. As I digested, I walked around Vienna and eventually lied down in some grass and dozed off- definitely a symptom of my night train. Upon awakening, I went through another park, filled with monuments to Vienna´s great musicians, and to the Haus Der Musik- a music museum.

The museum begins with an exhibit displaying through sounds what a fetus hears in the womb- slightly creepy but still though-provoking. After that there were a bunch of exhibits about how we hear, what we hear, and other perception things. I really liked some techno renditions of Beethoven´s masterpieces. Then came the substantial stuff- exhibits on all of Vienna´s great composers. With my free (yes, free) audioguide, I learned a lot about Mozart, Beethoven, and many others. They even have Schuman´s spectacles and the door to Beethoven´s last apartment, oddly enough. I have to say, though, my favorite thing in the whole museum was the Vienna Philharmonic section, where they played the footage from the symphony´s new years performance. Watching and listening to the amazing music, a new life goal was instilled in me: Go to Prague for Christmas and then Vienna for New Years and watch the concert one year! Hopefully I get to do it. I´ve wanted to do the Prague bit for a while now...

So now, finally, you are up to date. I am never going this long without posting ever again. Haha. Please comment to make me a happy backpacker!

Stay Classy