Thanksgiving Weekend or Bust!

BUST!

So, the Weekend started great on Thursday, I had a great day of planning and relaxing in preparations for what was supposed to be a fun-filled weekend of trips to Viterbo, Bracciano, and Sezze around Rome. Then I woke up Friday...

I hadn't slept well, and I woke with a fever and could barely hold down any food for breakfast. I ended up in bed for most of Friday instead of going to Viterbo and Bracciano, two medieval towns north of Rome.

Insert non-existent photos of Viterbo/Bracciano Trip

On Saturday afternoon, I had been planning to accept an invitation to join our friend and Rome guide Ruth for a stay at her house in Sezze, a small ancient town about 45 minutes south of Rome by train. On Sunday, Ruth was making a Thanksgiving-ish dinner for some British friends of hers and we were invited as well.

Although I was feeling slightly better than Friday, I still was nowhere near ready to make the Sezze trip on Saturday. But there was still some hope! Although Annie had accepted the Saturday invitation, Jordan had agreed to take the train down early on Sunday afternoon after he attended church. I could still hitch a ride then.

Of course, that didn't happen, so I didn't get to see the little town of Sezze nestled in the hills with views of the Sea. I was still not well enough to make any sort of long distance journey, I had trouble running down to the grocery store for some fruit and juice to eat!

Insert non-existent photos of Sezze and Thanksgiving Dinner

 Thankfully, Annie was able to bring me some quail and squash and a slice of pumpkin pie. I will be eating that for lunch today, as once again, I am stuck at home!

Anyways, hopefully the week will turn around! Quickly!

Ciao for now,
Kyle

Fun in Firenze

Yesterday, I took a long day trip to Florence, Italy! I left Rome at about 6:00am on a four hour train ride, I only slept about an hour on the train. The countryside of Tuscany was beautiful!

When I got to Florence, I bought myself a map and pocket guidebook which turned out to be great! Then, I headed over to the Duomo, the main cathedral in Florence. On my way there, a parade was blocking the street.

They ended up marching to the Duomo and performing a series of flags routines. It was fun to see, but the Duomo was the main attraction for sure! The building is massive! 300 feet tall and 300 feet long!

Inside, the first person I met in Florence was a tour guide for the church who was from Puerto Rico. He was my age and we quickly figured out he goes to ISU also! Small world...or not...I think Cyclones are just EVERYWHERE!

Anyways, after he gave me a tour of the Duomo, he offered to give me a tour of the city. We did a nice long walking tour of the city, from the Duomo to Ponte Vecchio and then up to Piazzale Michelangiolo then down to Santa Croce before heading back to his neighborhood!

Map of Florence city center. My route for the day: Arrived at the Train Station (24 on the map), went to the Duomo (1), across Ponte Vecchio (12), Lunch on Via San Miniato (near Via Belvedere), up the hill to Piazzale Michelangiolo (20), across Ponte Alle Grazie to Santa Croce (17), back up to Via Guelfa (north of 4 and 2), then back to the Train Station (24)

On the way back from Florence, I met an Israeli on the train who was traveling around Italy for a few weeks, he was great to talk with. We got into Rome around 11:30pm, long day! Overall, the day was great! It was nice to get out of Rome and see something new for a day and it was nice to have a day to myself.

Ciao for now,
Kyle

Ostia Antica and the Lido

On Saturday, Annie and I traveled to Ostia Antica and visited the ruins there. Ostia was the old Roman port town before the Tiber River changed course. The ruins are open air and you can even walk in and around most of them. All of the pictures of Ostia are on Annie's camera, so I will put those up when I get them, but the ruins were amazing. It is crazy to think that those ruins were a thriving town for so long and then were just left to crumble.

After spending a few hours wandering around the ruins (aka Scavi), we hopped on the train and went to the Lido (aka beach). I can officially say that I have set foot in the Mediterranean Sea, right about here! Again, more pictures to come!

Then, this morning, we went out to the market again to look for a few things. I got a small bag for when I go out as a tourist/on the city...kind of like a small messenger bag. It works great and I got it for only €10..so about  US$13. It is big enough to hold a water bottle, a book for train rides, and an umbrella with some room to spare! Annie loves it because now I don't have an excuse to use her purse as storage for tourist excursions, etc...LOL

The market is crazy, at least 10 blocks long and packed tightly...it shuts the area down from about 5am-5pm on Sundays.

View from the South end of the market,
just about a block south of our apartment building.
This is just one of the two rows.

Annie perusing the wares of Porta
Portese! She got a few nice scarves to
blend in with all the Romans.

A view of the market from one of our balconies.
It was about 3:00pm, so the vendors
had already started packing up!

Ciao for now,

Kyle

The Vatican Museums and Roman Rain

 Yesterday, Annie and I braved the light rain and decided to visit the Vatican Museums. On the last Sunday of the month, the museums are free admission! We got to the Vatican around 9:20 and ended up waiting in line for about two and a half hours. We got inside just before they closed the doors for the day. I would love to say that the museums were amazing and fantastic, but after waiting in the rain for two and a half hours, we were tired, sore and cranky, we ended up fast-tracking to the Sistine Chapel which was not what I expected. The chapel was packed like a can of sardines and there were security watching everyone to prevent people from taking pictures. In the end we got in and out pretty quickly. We are planning to go sometime later, but we will reserve tickets so we don't have to wait in line!

The line to get into St. Peter's Bascilica...it was
raining and the line was easily three hour wait.

Our line to the Vatican Museums...also raining
...still ended up with a two hour wait.

A dome inside the Vatican Museums.

A Vatican Museums corridor ceiling, the
net is to catch any falling pieces of plaster.

Long view of the corridor of maps, the walls are
covered in antique renditions of maps of the world.

Another ceiling in a corridor
of the Vatican Museums.

Otherwise, we are currently experiencing Roman rains. It has been raining almost steadily since Sunday early morning and isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow evening. Then we get about 4 days of sun before more rain!

Other than all of that, I am loving my time in Rome! We are thinking of taking a trip to Greece for our Thanksgiving break, but there aren't really any plans yet on the books.

Ciao for now.
Kyle