So after a long and stressful week of school we finally got to embark on our spring break journey!! A week of history and culture in two ancient cities, Rome and Athens. The second my pharmacology test was over I was so ready to get on that plane for Rome....maybe a little too excited...we should have double checked our airports....
Yep, after taking a bus and train at 2:00 in the morning we finally made it to the Dusseldorf airport but we couldn't find our check in. So I walked over to someone who looked like he could help me and I asked where the check in for RyanAir (super cheap airline in europe) was and he gave me a blank expression and told me I was in the wrong airport. My heart sank and I panicked for a second. We had an hour and a half before our flight and we were at the wrong airport??!! After a split second of decisions all 8 of us packed ourselves into taxis and headed for an airport 95 km away. Thankfully we boarded our flight with a minute to spare!
Once we got to Rome I was hoping things would get better and they sure did. We found our hostel very easily and just had to walk across the street for a good italian lunch. We met up with one of the guys girlfriends and we started to explore the city. There really is no way to describe Rome. I fell in love with it the second we started exploring. Around every corner there's something new to see. Ruins are sprinkled throughout the city and sometimes it felt like I was walking around Ancient Rome in its prime. Saturday we spent most of our time at the Colosseum, then went to get gelato and dinner by the Pantheon. When the sun goes down in Rome it's definitely not the same as when the sun goes down in Amsterdam. Rome took on a romantic feel and all of the buildings lit up with a new sparkle. On our way back to the hostel we made a wish at the Trevi Fountain and walked the Spanish Steps. By the time the night was over it was definitely time for sleep (we'd all been up for almost 36 hours by then).
Sunday had even more adventures!! We grabbed a quick bite to eat in the morning and set off for the area around the Roman Forum. Thankfully we had downloaded the Rick Steves Europe application on our iphones the night before. Thanks to his free app we were able to listen to a guided audio tour during our walk in the Forum. Super helpful!! Without the audio it could've just been a giant pile of ruins with some random arches... But instead we were able to imagine and experience what once was the glorious Roman Empire. After the Forum we visited the Temple of the Unknown Soldier and the Pantheon (which we had a lunch picnic by). And before our bus ride home we even visited something the citizens of Rome have named the Cat Colosseum. So basically the city of Rome pays for stray cats to get vaccinated and they end up living in a ruin (which looked like a small square version of the Colosseum) in the middle of the city. So we spent some time finding and naming cats. And of course one of them had to be named Russel Crowe!! Grabbed another gelato before heading home for the night :)
On monday we decided to spend some time in the Vatican City since the first day of the Conclave was on Tuesday. I thought it was going to be packed on Tuesday so I thought it made sense to do touristy things Monday and then just relax in the Vatican on Tuesday (turns out I was wrong but I'll get to that). The entire place is gorgeous, the square, the church, the fountains, all of it!! We waited in a small line before heading into St. Peter's Basilica. The second I walked in my mouth dropped. Every time someone mentions the Vatican, they always say go to the Sistine Chapel (we couldn't get in because they were prepping for Conclave) but I have no idea why no one ever mentions St. Peter's!! From floor to ceiling it was brilliantly decorated with gold, bronze and marble covering every inch. I can't even begin to imagine what the Sistine Chapel looks like if no one ever mentions St. Peter's. I'll have to come back! After sending some letters from the special Vatican Post office we went searching for a late lunch. We grabbed a sandwich and started looking for a park that was on our map. We didn't ever find that park but we found something even better!! A little look out that where you could see practically all of Rome!! We sat up there for a couple hours just enjoying the view and each others company.
Tuesday: First day of Conclave!!
So before this trip began I spent a lot of my time researching papal elections....I'd say that I now know more about this age old tradition than most Catholics. I can basically walk anyone through how it works and I even called that the next pope was going to be from South America based on the information I'd gathered! All I wanted to find out was whether we'd be able to see the Sistine Chapel or not but then it turned into a statistics game of when the conclave would even start and when we might see white smoke. At first it was a little stressful thinking that the cardinals were going to take over the Vatican while we were there but then it turned into a once in a lifetime experience (except I kind of want to do it again..so maybe twice in a lifetime?? haha). Earlier that week, at the Colosseum we were taking a picture with our A&M flag. After we finally got the photo right a lady walked up to us and introduced herself as Debbie Strauss from NBC news. Turns out she thought it would be cool to have an interview with us in the Vatican when the Conclave started since her network was stationed in Houston (only about an hour away from College Station). We were all ecstatic and agreed to meet Tuesday at 1 pm. So the day was finally here and we made it on time. We met Bill, the main reporter and we had a small interview on our opinions of the resignation and why we were here, normal interviewing stuff. They were so nice to us and we even got a picture with Bill and our flag. Once the interview was done he gave us 50 euros for gelato. SO NICE!! We ended up spending the money on a bus ticket to the airport but owell. Sometimes you have to be practical.. After our good byes we decided to head to our look out spot on the top of Rome for a makeshift picnic. We only left the Vatican because it was not nearly as busy as I thought it was going to be. People really didn't start showing up until 6 and the smoke was going to show at 7:30!! But that gave us a chance to have a good lunch and say good bye to Rome at our look out spot and even head back to the hostel to warm up (it started raining and I think a cold front started to blow in). We relaxed at the hostel and were thinking about heading back to the Vatican around 6:30 but when I got back I had an email from Debbie! Bill and her loved our interview so much that they invited us back for another one during the smoke! So we rushed over to the Vatican to meet them at 6 and waited for almost 2 hours before we finally saw the first smoke signal from the tiny chimney on the Sistine Chapel. Of course, it was black, even though all of us wanted it to be white so badly. By the end of the conclave we'd had some great conversation with each other, Bill, the camera guy, and a couple other aggies we met while waiting. Overall it was an amazing experience. Before coming to Germany I never could have imagined this happening to our group.
Next stop Athens!!
The flight to Athens was flawless compared to our adventure on the way to Rome. The was no weight limit for carry-ons (as long as it was the right size) which was super helpful because I purchased some souvenirs. Most of our first day in Athens was spent exploring our neighborhood area of Glyfada, about 45 minute tram ride from Athens. Apparently the area we stayed in was the posh area of Athens ( I was just thankful for not having to put a down payment on a towel... we had on-suite bathrooms!! That's what I call luxury.) We wandered down the bay and the sea was gorgeous in the setting sun. We relaxed on the rocks by the harbor and had some time to breath and relax. We wrapped up the night with dinner on the beach. The man who checked us in at the hotel suggested we eat at some of the restaurants by the water because it was authentic Grecian seafood. I really didn't expect seafood in Greece to be different than seafood in other countries. I mean, it's fish right? Well I actually ordered a Greek salad (I wanted to eat that and yogurt in Greece, those were my goals) but my other friends decided to go for some fish or shrimp. They brought out my salad and I was very pleased with my choice especially when our waiter started to bring out everyone else's meal....lightly fried everything. There were little fish and big fish and shrimp and everyone of them was just lightly fried, heads and tails still intact. At first, my friends were taken aback but then they went for it and it actually wasn't that bad. I even got to try a whole fish too!! And I have to say, the head was the best part! So with that experience behind us we headed for the hotel and prepped for a day trip to Athens while watching the new pope give his blessing to the millions of people in St. Peter's square....missed it by 12 hours!! But he was from South America! Knew it!
On Thursday we headed for Athens on the tram. I guess I really didn't know what downtown Athens was going to look like. When I think of Greece I imagine islands like Santorini with the pretty blue roofs all on a hill lining the pristine sea. Athens was nothing like that, of course, but to me it was a mix between Santorini and China. Yes, it reminded me a little of China. The grocery stores were exactly alike, it kind of smelt the same and the city had the same lay out of Harbin (the city I visited this past summer). But on the other hand if you looked from a high place (the Acropolis) your only view is a sea of white buildings stretching from the sea to the mountains. The city had kind of an elegance about it that you can't appreciate from ground level. So once we got there I really wasn't sure where to head first. We walked through the National Gardens on our way to the Temple of Olympian Zeus then wrapped around to find the Acropolis. On our way up to the Acropolis we visited the Theatre of Dionysus (the oldest theatre in the world). Then we started the trek up to the ancient city (while listening to Rick Steves tell us stories of the Athenians of course). Everything was huge and impressive. It's a crazy thought that we were walking on so much history. We saw the Parthenon, the Erectheum, and the Temple of Athena Nike. We could also see the entire city of Athens!! Once we were done we decided to try to squeeze in a visit to the Ancient Agora but we couldn't find the entrance. So we started to look for food but on the way down the hill we were followed by more and more stray dogs (did I mention there are stray dogs everywhere in Athens?? Another reason it reminds me of China). After about 20 minutes we had a nice pack of 5 dogs all just wandering around us. I wasn't really intimidated until they started barking at people and cars around us...but never us...it was the strangest thing. That freaked me out a little so I decided to just walk away from the group, I'm looking back now and that was probably the worst decision ever. Either way, I made my decision and started walking very fast in front of our group in no particular direction; I just didn't want to be next to these random dogs anymore. About 30 minutes later we're all in front of the New Acropolis Museum ( I thought it would be a safe place) and we had lost track of the dogs. I think about it now and it's actually really funny that these dogs "adopted" us into their gang but that day I was kind of freaking out. But we found a gyro place and grabbed some lunch and headed to the flea markets on Monastiriki Street!! Got some good deals and saw lots of pretty things. On our way back to the tram to head home we witnessed a mini demonstration in front of the Parliament building. I was really hoping to avoid any type of assemblies while I was in Greece but this one seemed peaceful so I calmed down a little. Once we got home we had some pie (not pizza) at a restaurant down the street from our hotel and talked there for most of the night.
Friday was an attempted beach day but it didn't go so well. It was a little colder than we were expecting but we made the best of it!! Until it started drizzling...then we went back to the hotel and decided to take naps. After we woke up from our naps the sun was out and we decided to grab some gelato and head for the rocks we visited the first day. We played some frisbee and just laid out on the rocks and relaxed and watched the sun set over the bay. We enjoyed some dinner and I headed for bed early that night.
We decided to spend our last day in Athens again because there were still some things we hadn't seen. Once we arrived we stopped by the oldest olympic stadium (revamped for the first modern olympic games in 1896) and made our way to the Ancient Agora. Since this was the same path to the Acropolis I was really hoping we weren't going to run into anymore dogs and thankfully, we didn't. We toured the marketplace/meeting point of ancient Athens and took pictures of the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa which were both still in pretty good condition for being built in 6th century BC. Once we were done exploring we headed to Mount Lycabettus (the tallest point in Athens) and grabbed a really late lunch along the way. We finally found a path that looked like it was going up so we started our trek. Once we were up there it was totally worth having a late lunch and being slightly lost. The view was even better than at the Acropolis. It was the perfect 360 degree view of Athens and a great way to end our trip!!
By the end of our break the flight back to Bonn was welcomed by all of us (we even got food on the plane back). There's something about Germany that just feels like home and I was definitely excited to sleep in my bed again. This trip was what I had hoped for and more!!
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