When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie, That's Amore: Italy Part II

Hey everyone!

On might call this the beginning of the end, but I just call it the end of our shared adventure. Granted, your involvement has been rather passive and vicarious, so this matters a bit less for you guys. Anyway, ONWARD!

When I left off, "we" were in Florence going to Cinque Terre to enjoy some...stuff. I actually knew almost nothing about the place before we ended up there except that the houses were pretty colors in the pictures on the internet. Clearly a knowledgeable world traveler.

We met Lee, a guy from USC (briefly mentioned in the last post), the day before; he happened to be going to the same place so we decided to take the same train. Prior to that, however, it was Food Time because when isn't Food Time? That's rhetorical. Food Time is all of the times. Unfortunately we have gone off on a tangent a bit. Let's try this again.

We headed to the food market with all of our stuff because it was on our way to the train station. Lee knew the way and also a place that sold massive four euro sandwiches, so we grabbed them to eat on the train. Lee is my new hero on account of he was able to put my suitcase on the train and on the shelf above our seat because I guess some people get to be big and strong and some people get to be pathetic so the big, strong people feel bad for you and put your stuff on shelves. Whatever it takes, I guess.

On the ride, I mostly slept and Katie and Lee talked and were sociable. To each his own. It was a couple hours until we made it just outside of Cinque Terre. We had to take a local train into our respective towns because Cinque Terre is made up of five towns, a fact Katie and I didn't know until Lee pointed out.

Katie: I wonder how many towns there are...?
Lee: Uh, five. Cinque is five.
Katie and Me: Ooooooh. I feel dumb.

Lee was staying in the first one, Riomaggiore and we were in the third one, Corniglia. We split up at Lee's stop but made plans to have dinner together, providing we both had wi-fi to communicate about a location and time later that night.

Katie had told me there were roughly four-hundred stairs to climb when we got to Corniglia, so to say I was dreading it would be an understatement. I can't count the number of times I considered just leaving my suitcase somewhere and telling the universe it won and had broken all of the spirit in my heart. Fortunately, there happened to be a bus (See van that was called a bus) that drove up to the city. They could have charged me all of the money in my wallet to get to town and I would have eagerly paid it in order to not climb up all of those stairs and cry my heart out when I finally reached the top. I guarantee that would have happened. No doubt.

That doesn't mean it wasn't a strugglebus, because the aisle of the van wasn't really wide enough for my bag. Apparently bringing All Of The Things was frowned upon in that establishment. I was glad to make it to the top of the rather large hill and get away from (some of) the staring eyes. Luckily our hostel was pretty close to the drop off point, so it wasn't a long walk. But, because life, there was a plethora of stairs which was a good game. I finally made it up all of them only to open the door of our hostel to find....More stairs. Sometimes I think life is a cosmic joke. (Not even just my life. Like all of life for everybody is great big joke. Guess I'll never know.)

I trudged up the stairs and down the hall to our room to settle in. Because of our late night, Katie and I planned on taking a naps and meeting Lee for dinner. We didn't have much time to follow through with this as Lee decided to hop on the train to our town. We had about an hour to ourselves before we went out to meet him. Even in our small town, we got briefly lost trying to find the Super Duper stairs because getting lost is our M.O. Corniglia is rather small though, so this didn't last very long and it turned out Lee was right at the top of them. Katie and I felt kind of bad because he had been exploring while we lazed about. Whoops.

Upon meeting up again, we looked for a place to eat where we could have a great view. As you may have guessed from the reference to eight billion stairs, Corniglia is at the top of a hill so we thought a place with a view would be easy to find. After a brief-ish search, it was clear that this wasn't necessarily the case. In the end, there only ended up being one place that fit the description and it happened to be the first place we looked.

Because we were so close to the ocean (Sea? I don't know...), it seemed like a good idea to order seafood. And it was, but it was also rather...Terrifying? Disturbing? Perhaps I should explain. I ordered pasta with shrimp and ended up with full shrimp with all the heads and the legs and they were staring at me with their cold, dead eyes...It was scary. And after I got over the little legs and antennas and suchlike, it was rather delicious. But I was careful about what I ordered after that, let me tell you.

After dinner, it was nearly sunset so we decided to check it out. When we had been looking for a restaurant earlier, we spotted a place for a flawless view of the sunset. Actually, there was a small mountainous region between us and the sun but it still ended up being magically beautiful. With the clouds and the sea (Ocean?) and sun, it was excellent. Pictures will come, obviously.

Later, after the setting of the setting of the sun, Lee, Katie and I ended up talking for quite some time. It was relaxing to chat with both of them, but we were all rather tired so it was bedtime. And showertime for some of us (Me. Showertime for me).

The next day dawned bright and early, and Katie and I headed to a small cafe for breakfast. A pastry and cappuccino later and we headed down to the train station to wait for Lee. I had gotten used to Italy not caring about things like schedules and things not always going right, so it wasn't a huge surprise when the train was almost an hour late. After we found Lee, the three of us immediately jumped back on and took it to the last stop in Monterosso. We checked out the town for a little bit and decided to get a snack because Lee really wanted to try focaccia and pesto, which was apparently a specialty in Cinque Terre. We found a little shop and split some between the three of us. The pesto was so good we all decided we were going to get some for dinner that night.

Done eating our snack, it was time to find the path between Monterosso and Vernazza. We talked to the tourist information and they gave us the low down on all the paths and we found out that our hike would take about an hour and a half. Excellent, too much exercise isn't good for us! We found the trail and then the fun began. Italy wanted us to pay for the path I guess, so we bought passes that let us go on the trails and take the trains for the rest of the day. Although we were annoyed by the sneakiness of the pay-for-the-trail people, this ended up being a pretty good investment.

Then began one rather long, difficult-ish hike. It was spectacular but, because of the hills and narrowness, rather precarious at points. The stairs at the beginning nearly killed me and around each turn I was praying they would end. But, alas, they never did. I'm actually still climbing them. Okay, exaggerations again. They did eventually stop, even though I almost died to reach the top. Luckily, we never had any more that were as intense. There were eight billion tourists all along the path, mostly all French. I probably saw more French people in Italy than I did in Paris No joke.

The climb was a bit strenuous but completely worth it. We had excellent views of the ocean and the forest was really beautiful. Upon finally making it to Vernazza, we were quite tired and hungry and we saw a delightful sight to alleviate our sufferings. Sorry, guys. I worked today, so I guess it makes me feel a bit melodramatic or some such thing. Anyway, seafood in a cone guys. Seafood. In a cone.

I was terrified of the anchovies that were supposed to come with it, so instead I had extra shrimp. Likewise, I had a fear of the slightly tentacle-y calamari but I still bravely ate it. And it was good so maybe I'll try and eat somewhat weird stuff more often. (Crazy food is not my thing. Mac & Cheese is my thing.) We adventured more in the town, but all of the different towns sort of blended together because we ended up visiting all five that day. They all had there own character but similar looking houses and access to the waterfront, so I can distinguish them in my mind, but I won't be able to describe them each to you properly. Suffice it to say, we went five for five in eating food in all of them with gelato in Manarola and pesto pasta in Riomaggiore.

I can for sure tell you about a couple places. We went down to a rocky beach in one of the towns (Vernazza maybe?) and hung out on some massive rocks by the water in Riomaggiore, Lee's town. Because that was our last stop, we ate dinner there with Lee. We all had a variety of pesto pasta, and because Lee was so in love with it, he overpaid for a little baby jar of pesto. When in Italy, right? Our dinner conversation included many gems, including Lee apparently trying to teach himself to be ambidextrous. How cool is that? (Note: Katie and I were really excited to have another companion. Forgive my still-excited-ness where I talk too much and seem kind of creepy. No pasa nada.) 

After dinner, we headed down to the waterfront again because it needed to be done. Or something. It was extremely relaxing just to hang out and talk down there. Until the rain came. Katie and I said goodbye to Lee before exiting stage left toward the train station. And then it was like the heavens opened up and were incredibly depressed that A) We were all leaving Cinque Terre and B) That I had been unable to eat Chipotle for four months. The second situation has been fixed, thank you for asking. (Tangent: I forgot freedom tasted so much like Chipotle. 'Murica.)


While the rain came raining down, Katie and I hid from it under an overhang and raced into the train and were greeted by non-rain by the time we made it back to Corniglia which we were grateful for because we decided to climb the Too Many Stairs. My legs protested this, but I made it to the top. On the way, we were greeted by some Germans in lederhosen who had had a bit too much to drink. All five of them stopped on the stairs and started saying "Shhh!" as we approached. Right after we passed, they burst into a boisterous German song. Stay classy, guys.

We made it back to the hostel, packed up, and got ready for our next travel day: to Venice!

The next day dawned early and we, as per our luck, missed the bus down to the train station by five minutes. We had budgeted plenty of time though (We did learn from the Istanbul mistake. Damn you, Turkey.), and followed the windy road down because going down the stairs would have surely ended me. We began the waiting process and eventually hopped on the train to the other train station and rode more trains in a circuitous route to Venice. I'll spare you the description because riding trains is not so exciting. My one complaint is about Pringles because I didn't get as many as I should have in my baby Pringles can. So there's that. (Tangents. Tangents everywhere! Can I write a post where I keep on track for the entire thing?)

Tangent 8721hxh820ds0002139: I must retrieve my notebook to remember what the heck I did during my first day in Venice. It was a week and a half ago but I remember...nothing. I remember nothing.

That's not entirely accurate but I needed a refresher. So here we go. When we approached Venice, I was mostly blown away. I mean, yes, canals. I knew there were going to be canals. But it was surreal to have the train tracks be almost on top of the water and when we stepped outside it was all water. Everywhere. We had walking directions to our hostel but my suitcase told me it absolutely wouldn't forgive me if we walked. And, me, being a pushover, listened to said suitcase and decided a water-bus might not be a bad idea. This conversation might be a complete figment of my imagination.

In case you're wondering, a water-bus is just a boat. A really overcrowded, slow boat that eventually gets you to your destination. Even so, I would have actually enjoyed the water journey had I not been lugging around the Luggage of Death through hordes of people. We did arrive, though, and wove our way through a lot of tourists and over bridges until we reached our final hostel. Guess what, guys. There were a lot of stairs.

We chucked our stuff and peaced out to see the city. (Peaced apparently isn't a word. I make my own words as needed, here at Emily Was Abroad.) As all good tourists do in Venice, we first headed out to Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square) to kick pigeons see the sights. We got a little turned around because every once in a while a street just drops off into a canal and then you are left at a dead end. After some back-tracking and wandering, we found the people and the people found the square. The touristy parts of Venice teem with people, but we found a mostly out of the way place to sit and make some plans for the rest of our time in the city.

We decided to find the Rialto Bridge, the oldest bridge in Venice and then head to the second largest church in the city for the afternoon. We found the bridge fairly easily because Katie is a navigating pro, however, there were some problems in regards to the church. I still actually have no idea where it is. We thought we found it and actually went inside for mass but nope. It wasn't that big and didn't fit the description in the guidebook, so we had mass in a random church in a language I don't understand. Adventures.


Because of traveling earlier in the day, we decided to have an early night and therefore got dinner pretty early. I had margarita pizza, which was incredibly delicious. I will try not to make all of my posts a menu, so we won't get into the food that much. But really. If you are ever looking to have a good meal, just jet on over to Italy, stay forever, and eat everything. You can't go wrong. Although we finished eating fairly quickly, we hung around at the restaurant for a while but it became clear we needed to get some sleep and it was hostel time. And sleep time!

We got up at eight-ish the following morning, so we could get into the Doge's Palace without waiting in the massive lines that had been our downfall in Rome.  Italy is a late-rising country, so it wasn't really a surprise that there weren't a lot of breakfast places open that early. We did, luckily, find a place with pastries and coffee. After our brief meal, it was time to go to the palace. For the first time in our history of world traveling, we waited in zero lines. It was fantastic.

We were unable to take pictures of the palace and I don't break rules. Or I didn't in this case. The interior was beautiful, with grandly painted ceilings, gold and great views. It was interesting to see the mix of mythology and religion in the paintings around the place because the US doesn't really have anything to compare it to. Also, swords. That is all. Actually, that isn't quite true. We saw some dungeons and massive, fancy rooms and a place for an Important Council of People, among other things. Through one of the windows we saw what appeared to be some sort of gondola race or congregation. I am a little bummed I missed that but I guess palaces are pretty cool, right?

We didn't stay inside the palace as long as we thought we would, so we found a nearby bench and people watched for a little bit. Not wanting to waste the day though, we started wandering around the island that the important stuff is constructed on. Venice is made of 118 small islands, but I think we were on one of the larger ones because it took a while to get around to the other side. The farther we got from Saint Mark's and the palace, the less tourists and between that and the weather, it was extremely beautiful. I bought a few things at a souvenir shop and Katie realized she didn't need a jacket, so we meandered back to the hostel to drop off our things.

As always, it was Food Time so we stopped at a small pizza joint and got some deliciousness. I miss Italian food. (I'll stop about the food. I promise.) We were entertained by a mother trying to contain her son and his energy, but other than that, it was a rather uneventful meal. Let's get to the good stuff. (Gondolas!)

We traversed back to the tourist world that is Saint Mark's. We got in line for the basilica and it moved quite quickly. The Vatican should take notes. (I don't care about scale or logistics or whatever. I'm just sayin'.) Granted, this might also have to do with the fact that tourists can't take pictures so they actually have to pay attention. And people don't have great attention spans.

This was one of the my favorite churches because it was so....I don't even know. Words often fail me, but there is a legitimate reason here. My favorite story was how some crazy Venetians stole St. Mark's remains by hiding them in pork so the Muslim dudes from wherever-his-remains-used-to-be wouldn't look to closely. Now that is genius. Genius. The basilica was kind of dark and mysterious and gold and solemn. Yes, solemn, that's the right word. More than any of the others (even St. Peter's), for me this one just held something amazing and indescribable. And that's not just because I get a little lax with descriptions. It just was and exists in a way that hit me more than others. I don't know. It's late and I'm reliving feelings. So that's the best I can do to recapture it and I'm failing. So it goes.

 As per usual, the afternoon called for gelato and sitting in St. Mark's Overcrowded Square.This involved more kicking at pigeons and listening to some performers at outdoor restaurants and getting annoyed at people getting in my personal space. This was great although, after we sat down, I feared because my nemeses were perched right above me, waiting to poop on me. I am against pigeons, guys.

A brisk sit later and it was time for another great mode of transportation. Gondola! Although it was pretty expensive, the boat was plush and shnazzy and our guide was great. He talked about the city and himself and, like all stereotypes regarding gondoliers, sang in Italian to us. The ride was fantastic and I practiced my princess wave for when the peasants stared at us. The canals aren't as deep as I though they were, only three meters in most of them except the Grand Canal and other larger ones. Our gondolier was quite informative (The last building in Venice was constructed over a century ago. So the city has looked the same for at least one hundred years) and the trip was beautifully peaceful. Guys, go to Venice. Our ride didn't last nearly as long as I would've liked, but it was well worth the money we paid. There was nothing to do but snap a few pictures after the ride and then head on our way.

Katie and I then stopped at a small shop on our way to our hostel to grab a bright pink drink and hang out before dinner. We chatted and compared our favorite cities and parts of the trip, already trapped in nostalgia. We both agreed that Venice was one of our favorite places, despite hearing all about how dirty it was. Real talk now, guys. Venice is a dirty city. No doubt about it. But I don't think that takes away from anything really because there is so much beauty and it is such a surreal, magical place. Now I wouldn't want to go jump in a canal, but I would go back to that city a heartbeat. That is all.

We had been scouting out restaurants earlier and returned to one that was fairly close and seemed like a good atmosphere. It was my last real supper because airports don't count. At all. I bravely, (not really) tried a shrimp pasta with something called "rocket sauce" which is just a really wacky translation for a pesto sauce. I was really tempted to get desert there too, but I was running low on funds so we hit up a much more affordable gelateria after dinner. By that time though, it was raining because Venice was depressed to see us go. I just keep talking about how sad all the cities are to not think about the fact that, hey, maybe the weather was just crappy sometimes. Venice was sad.

We were freezing by the time we got are gelato, so we ate it inside. Some of us *raises hand* ate ours really slowly so we wouldn't have to face the cold wetness of the world quite so soon. Before long though, my ice cream was gone and cold was back. Le sigh. My last night ended on the sad note of packing for the next day. The worst.

So I'm thinking I will actually do one more post. It won't be particularly exciting but will cover these topics: Travel and adjusting to "real" life. We'll see how everything goes. Check back in a couple days and I will (at the very least) have some pictures up.

Possibly goodbye forever.

Gobble Gobble Gobble: Istanbul, Turkey!

Hey errbody!

So we have moved on to the excitement that is (was) Turkey. This all happened about a week ago, so bear with me if the memories are already a little fuzzy. There has been a lot going on recently, but I'll try to keep it all straight. Let us hope.

Katie and I had an earlier flight than the rest of the group so, as she put it, we were up "at the ass-crack of dawn." That is almost poetic. And quite accurate. So after our four-hours-of-sleep night, we braved the metro to get to the airport to sit to take a plane to eat plane food and to finally land in Turkey. Excellent. Unfortunately, we needed to take the tram to our hostel and walk a decent ways. The tram wasn't as close to the airport as we thought, so we searched for a bit until we found it.

A brief reminder: I am currently lugging around a suitcase that is quite possibly larger than me. This has been the bane of my existence.

Our journey included going down some stairs, going up some stairs, walking and then going up a bridge thing with more stairs and then down until we reached the tram. Lots and lots of the Up and Down which is quite miserable with all of my stuff. Fortunately, I look pathetic, so people have really stepped it up and helped me carry it on occasion. Thank you, good people of the earth!

We hopped off the tram and started walking toward the two massive mosques in the city: the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque (Creative, right?). We weren't entirely sure which was which and our directions were based off that, so it took a little while to find the way to go, but the sights were beautiful in the meantime. Obviously the streets were cobblestone-esque which was difficult on me and my poor luggage. I fear it will be a little beat up by the end of the trip.

We made it to our hostel safe and sound, but because it was just Katie and I, it seemed like every man was asking us if we knew where to go or if we needed help in a vaguely creepy sort of way.

Life Tip: Don't make eye-contact and just keep swimming walking.

I hadn't been aware of it before-hand, but we ended up in a 21 person room in the basement. It was lovingly referred to as The Dungeon for the rest of the trip, even though it was relatively nice and there was no sign of chains or bars or other dungeon-y items. We got settled in and made a game plan for enjoying the rest of the afternoon.

We planned on going to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia because they were so close to our hostel and pretty obvious attractions. Because the Blue Mosque is a functioning mosque, we checked the hours it was open and realized we had time to kill. This meant a brief photo shoot before looking for sustenance, which came in the form of a Nutella bagel (Spaniards don't believe in bagels, so it was the first one I had abroad). Delicious. We sat down to eat between the mosque and the Sofia when a a small boy approached us.

This boy was probably only four or five and rather grubby. He had some bread in his hand, but hid it behind his back and sat on the bench across from us and stared Katie and I down. He then proceeded to point to my bagel because Nutella is delicious. He continued to do this so I took matters into my own hands and pointed at the not-so-hidden bread he had...and he took off. Ha! Take that young child! I win again.

After such exciting excitement, we were able to go into the Mosque. Because of Muslim culture, Katie and I both had to wear scarves over our heads and take off our shoes to enter. That falls under a bit of culture shock. But the inside was rather spectacular so we enjoyed the view and sat down by a pillar to take it in. Tourists could only go in part of it, so we weren't there for very long before we headed outside again.

The Hagia Sofia wasn't open for too much longer in the day, so we decided to forgo it until the next day and instead meandered, finding a luscious park instead. My preconceptions of Istanbul were way off base because I assumed it was deserty and sandy due to it's location. Nope. There was a ton of green in the park and it was quite surprisingly beautiful.

More Randomness: While Katie and I were walking, a group of kids (a school group?) were passing through the park and I made a passing remark about how cute the little childrens were. The man leading them immediately turned around asked where I was from and, after hearing my response, pulled my in front of his class. I was introduced as the "American teacher" and was told to raise my hands while the kids sang or chanted or what have you. Katie was directed to film the process and after he told me he was a famous taxi driver (He's been on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. I checked.) and thanked me for my time (and asked all the kids to do the same). We were also introduced to his daughter who apparently wanted to learn English before he wandered back to the group. I don't know how these situations happen to me. 

After the confusion, we left the park and spent a good deal of time trying to find a bridge across from Europe to Asia because Istanbul is the only city in the world in two continents. We walked alongside the water for a while before giving it up and going back to the hostel. A brief hostel visit made way for dinner time.

Yay for food! We went to a close restaurant and ate outdoors on a relatively quiet street. The food was delicious but my favorite part was a sampler Katie and I split that had a ton of different sauces and vegetables to eat with bread. A yogurty one, couscous, a smoky one, and a few others were all absolutely great. Katie ordered a Turkish coffee and the waitress brought me one as well, for free.

Because we only had four hours of sleep the night before, we were exhausted and wanted a good night's sleep. Unfortunately (fortunately?) this didn't happen because we got to talking to the guys in the bed across from us and realized the world is crazy. The were studying in Sevilla, Spain and one was from Eagan, Minnesota and we all knew mutual people (from either our program or school). So that was actually quite exciting. But we did manage to go to sleep still relatively early after our bonding moments.

When we woke up for day two, the rest of our group had already made it to our hostel. We climbed up to the top of the building, for a free breakfast consisting of olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg, cheese, bread and instant coffee. Strange, but not unpleasant.

We headed out to the Hagia Sofia, a former church-then-mosque that was converted into a museum. I can't describe it so I won't try particularly hard. It was built in the 6th century and is absolutely massive and beautiful, an array of art and colorful tiles and stones. There you go, description. Pictures to come!

From the Sofia, we went to the Grand Bazaar. This was overwhelmingly huge and, because of this, everything started to look exactly the same. We headed into the bazaar, a massive conglomeration of shops and stands housed under one roof. All six of us started shopping but it soon became clear our group was too large for the places we were going into. Because of this, we decided to split into two groups and meet up at an ATM outside later in the afternoon. Now, one might assume that it would be possible to barter in Turkey and, to an extent, it is. But then you come across times when a shop owner wants 600 lira (about 300 euros) for a cashmere and/or silk scarf and won’t budge on the price. It was actually hard to get most of the places to come down on their prices at all.

Even with the non-bartering, it was extremely fun because all of the people are saying whatever it takes to get you to look at their things. And they can be more or less successful in their approach. The best ‘compliment’ was one Kat, a girl in my group, got:

“You look like…. My favorite girl.”

That is sure to attract all the ladies. Keep up the good work.

We all ended up making small purchases, although we ended up being late to the ATM because we A) Got lost and B) Were busy making friends for lower prices. Mostly we emphasized the fact we got lost, to not annoy the other half of the group. And in most respects it was true. There are a million places inside the bazaar and eventually they all start to look the same. The colors and people and goods just become overwhelming, so being lost was certainly true.

Because we were famished from our extensive search (no exaggerations from me), we started looking for a restaurant. The one we eventually chose was relatively inexpensive and ended up being pretty good even though there ended up being a lot of peas in my dish, which is against my principles. Anyway, real talk now.

Our waiter became slightly smitten with Kat and by slightly I mean he went next door and bought a bracelet for her, gave everyone at the table free tea, and still gave her a discount when she let him down easy. To say it was awkward after that would be an understatement, so we hightailed it out of there as soon as our bill was paid.

After the brief relaxation of lunch, we went to the Topkapi Palace which we had been told by the Sevilla guys was “the Alhambra on steroids.” Our expectations became a little too high after that. That isn’t to say it wasn’t beautiful, but we were rather tuckered out so we weren’t in the best place mentally to enjoy it as much as we could have. That said, it had some incredibly beautiful rooms and gardens. We strolled through and even found a few good views across the water to Asia. Pictures will follow this because I am currently boycotting too many descriptions. There. Take that, world!

Focus. Okay, after our exploration we split into two groups again. A few of us stayed to see the Harem in the Palace and the rest headed back to the hostel. They missed out because the harem was probably my favorite part and I now want to be a concubine. Wait. Nope. No, I actually don’t. (Can you tell I’m tired? Travel, am I right?)

After we became even more tuckered out, it was time to return to the Dungeon. I had been planning on finishing a blog post then (We can all see that didn’t happen), but Mark and Luke invited us to have a beer with them on the roof of our hostel. There is a restaurant up there where we had a great view and were able to enjoy some time hanging out with new people. A drink led to us roaming through the streets for a restaurant and eating dinner together too; I am officially a fan of the cuisine in Turkey. We hung out together for the rest of the night until we realized it was time for bed because Katie and I had a flight to catch the next day.
 
WARNING: There will be bad words in this section because normal words can't cover all the keerap that occurred for this portion of the journey. There won't be that many, but just a heads up (It has been edited to remove the real bad ones). If you are under 13 or like thinking of me as a completely non-swearing individual, avert your eyes. (It won't be that bad, Mom, I promise. I just need to properly convey everything). Ready? Okay.

I wrote all of this down in a notebook so I could preserve the everything that this day entailed. That's the level of crazy it got. Again, you have been warned.

An Excerpt from Emily's Rant Book*

Today went form good to shitty real fast and we have arrived at the Live & Learn part of the day. I woke up at 7:48 AM intending to take a shower but laze ensued so I slept until 8:09 AM to chuck all my stuff in a bag and get "ready." In actuality, I am on Day Three of no showering, so that's the point my life has reached. (I am pissed off right now, so everything seems slightly miserable.) I ate, for the second time, a bizarre breakfast of olives, cucumber, tomato, bread, jam and cheese. Also surprisingly good instant coffee. Katie and I ate with the guys studying in Sevilla and they were a good time, making even the chilly Istanbul morning bright. After, I went down the the dungeon basement to grab a curduroy jacket. Rookie mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Every good story has a beginning, middle and end but I keep skipping to the end in my mind. And that is a hellhole, so back to the briefly happy beginning.

Katie and I knew the archeological museum was somewhere between the Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sofia, so we meandered until we stumbled upon the Most Beautiful Street which led to both the park and our museum. We hadn't really known much about the place, but I enjoyed the peacefulness because there weren't really many tourists, especially so early in the morning.

The artifacts, once again got me thinking about time. This is probably the most fascinating idea ever to me because (tangent) time means oblivion. Which is both terrifying and comforting. Like I am having a helluva shitty day today, but it won't matter in eight bajillion years. But neither will I so...yeah. Not that I'm saying "Life is Short" and all forms of Encouragements, but it makes you think about what is considered significant (to humanity or on a smaller scale)...

Anyway. We saw things like the Tomb of Alexander the Great and jars coming form the 12th Century BC (Time, right?!?) among other things. All in all, a pleasant morning that did little to foreshadow the terribility of the afternoon.

We have come to the middle of the story: The hero must make decisions that will define her and bring conflict. And hopefully resolution.

Our defining moment came in our decision to traverse across the continent into Asia. Even though we had very little notion of what was on the other side, it seemed cool to be able to say, "Oh, yeah. I went to Asia this morning. No big deal." Casual.

Our flight had been delayed a little, so we thought we had a little leeway and we were idiots. The ferry ride was nice enough, although it got rather hazy and wasn't super beautiful This theme continues.

My feet in Asia!

We had no plans for the time we spent in another continent and ended up staying really close to the port. We noticed the clouds thickening like smoke, and assumed it had come from the boats coming in (Stupid, stupid). Our time elapsed quickly and after a few short goodbyes we returned to the ship docking area to depart.

All hell broke loose.

We bought tokens for our return journey before learning it had been delayed due to the smog and lack of visibility. The workers didn't speak English well so we went across the street to get directions on how to get back to Europe, because our flight.

We were told to take the 110 bus and get off at B7jsjuqw5hxhuq-something, walk ten minutes and take the tram to Almost-our-hostel. This journey was supposed to take one hour total, cutting close to our deadline but also not impossible. The first sign of Shit Hitting the Fan occurred when we glimpsed the line for our bus, which was a billion times longer than for any other bus. We shoved through and bought our overpriced ticket and waited on the godforsaken bus. It was packed tighter than the Campus Connector in wintertime and was boiling hot. My jacket didn't help with the sweat situation but I didn't have room to take it off.

The traffic ended up being insane because obviously it would be insane but eventually we made reached our stop. Unfortunately, it appeared no one knew where the hell the tram was, so we mimed and pointed and hoped until we got some directions from non-English speaking policemen.

This began the Running of the Emily, where we ran through the streets, looking for our faithful tram. We eventually found it (not a ten minute walk) and got in line behind two people who couldn't, for the life of them, figure out how to use the machine to buy tickets. The tram pulled up just as we bought ours, so we sprinted to catch it.

Now things weren't going well, but we were getting there, right?

We stood on the also overcrowded tram in the overly-warmness of all the people in Turkey before we finally got off. And more with the sprinting. And losing of the flip-flops. I became the person who runs barefoot through the streets of Turkey, because Life.

New ticket to Rome. Don't ever look like this.

Katie raced ahead to talk to a taxi-driver and I ran to grab my too-much-shit so we could get out quick. I had the strength of a mother pulling her baby out of a burning building when carrying my damn suitcase up the spiral stairs. A short wait for the taxi and a tense drive found us at the airport, caught between hopeful and anxious. We ended up paying our driver in both lira and US dollars because we couldn't come up with the money otherwise.

A massive line awaited us inside the doors because security here is pretty intense. After getting through the line fairly quickly we sprinted through the airport to come up....

Not victorious.

I have officially missed a flight and dropped 240 euros to get to Rome. Asia is against all of my principles now. So I am bitterly writing this to get out all the anger because that leads to the Dark Side. Also, I refuse to Romanticize the situation because I won't be extra grateful to be in Rome because it was hard to get there.

*Rant Book: Similar to a journal, where one rants due to feelings, generally of anger or frustration

Wow. Emotions, right? This story isn't over, we just need to relocate the setting to Rome. You can look forward to the second half of Emily's Journey to Rome in the next blog.

Until then! 

Planes, Trains & Automobiles: Semana Santa Part II

Hello Everyone!

I just made it back to Toledo, so it's time to update you on my many comings and goings. Along with this, I have news about future travels plans. Intrigued? Then it's time for Emily Is Abroad.

Titanic!

My program ends at the end of April (the 28th), but I have made the difficult (not really) decision to stay 2 and a half weeks longer. This is still in the works, but I'm at the 90% sure it's going to happen stage, so I've decided to make this announcement to all my adoring fans. I'm hoping to go to Istanbul, Athens, Santorini, and a million places in Italy. Also, maybe Prague. We shall see. I hope this works because it would be the bestest thing ever (besides seeing my dad!)

Now that you are super excited/jealous of me, we'll get to what Claire, Mom, and I did this week. It was extremely busy and hectic, so be prepared. This will (probably) be a long one.

Monday

Unfortunately when starting off this particular post, I had to start with probably the most boring day of week. Alas for that is, as they say, how the cookie crumbles. We traveled by train to Málaga, a coastal city in the south of Spain. From there, we took the metro to Torremolinos, the town our hotel was in. Our travel agent said that Torremolinos, was super pretty and great or whatever. Lies! Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it is more of a resorty, touristy city so it was mostly abandoned when we got there. Claire and I were lazy and there wasn't much to do unless we wanted to catch the metro back to Málaga...and laze won out. We meandered around the streets for a while and got some good seafood. Being the sloths we are (not my mommy), we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night. (We watched BATMAN cartoons. I regret nothing.)

Tuesday

This day was exhausting. We ate a healthy and nutritious breakfast at the hotel and found the metro stop to get back to Málaga. My mommy has become obsessed with cathedrals, so that was our first stop when we got there. It was quite beautiful, although we all agreed the ones in Sevilla and Toledo were still quite a bit better. We also met more Americans there, which excited my mom a lot. Anytime she found someone to speak English with was probably one of the better times in her trip. (This didn't stop her from jabbering with people on the train though. If they sort of understand English, it's enough for a conversation.)

After our Cathedral adventure, we went to the Alcazaba, which is an ancient fortress castle thing. It had some quite excellent vantage points, but we kept noticing a path to the very top of the hill. Claire and I weren't particularly interested in finding said path; we mostly messed around, which led to a little bit of sassiness when my Mams really wanted to find they way up to the top. Exhausted from our excruciating search (I swear, I don't exaggerate), we went to a nearby restaurant to find some sustenance. In true Emily-and-Claire fashion, we ordered brownies with ice cream while my mommy-face got a salad. Unfortunately we were still hungry, so Claire and I split a salad after that. And then came inspiration for another Claire poem. The pigeons started searching for crumbs by our feet...So Claire fed one chicken. Oops.

Least Flattering Picture

With our spirits much higher after food, we decided to continue our trek in search of the Mysterious Path We Couldn't Find. Fear not, for we did indeed find it, and the view was spectacular. While Mom found more Americans, Claire and I spent the time taking pictures. This led to the Least Flattering Picture of Me, here for your enjoyment. Thanks, Claire! The giant hill led to much exhaustion and it was fairly late, so we headed back to our hotel for the night and get ready for more traveling adventures the next day!

Wednesday

We woke up early Wednesday, so we could take a fairly short trip to Granada. I remember none of this because I slept on the bus and woke up with my neck hurting and being in a new city. Yay! Upon getting settled, we headed out into the wild blue yonder. Actually, it was more like the hunt for the Random Plaza so we could buy tickets to a really old Muslim/Arab palace. Because every map we've had on this trip was sub-par, we ended up (surprise, surprise) getting minorly lost. After a few wrong turns and a short uh... discussion later, we made it to the Magic Plaza (my name for it, not the Spaniards') and found our little kiosk. We got our audio-guides and tickets for the next day.

It had been a while since breakfast, so we went to a nearby restaurant. The waiter asked if we spoke Spanish, to which my mom (obviously) and sister answered in the negative. He got them English menus and me a Spanish one. We had a short conversation in Spanish and he said I spoke it well! It wasn't exactly accurate, but if the cute Spanish waiter is going to say something nice to me, I'll take it. To be perfectly honest with you, all of my days are blending together so I believe we headed back to our hotel whereupon I immediately took a nap and Claire and Mom read/slept. But I could be completely wrong. Either way, we're gonna say we killed a few hours doing these activities. Yup, I'm sticking to it.

My mommy-face didn't want the day to be a complete waste though, so after our lazy afternoon, we stepped into the night and pursued that flighty temptress, adventure (Harry Potter reference much?). Our adventure consisted of more wandering until we ran into another procession near the Cathedral. There was a huge float and a bajillion people around, just chilling and socializing. Because all of the streets were so crowded, our journey probably didn't last more than an hour. Also, more ice cream, so this can be considered a non-waste of a night.

Thursday

I have so many of the days to talk about. It's exhausting! Okay, almost all of Thursday was spent at the Alhambra. We had quite a bit of free time in the morning so we went out into the streets and went shopping. Because of the Arab influence of the Alhambra, there are a ton of Moroccan-y markets in the streets with pretty cheap stuff. All three of us made purchases and we ended up stumbling upon the way to the Alhambra, which was excellent. We decided to go back to our hotel and dump our stuff before heading back. We also bought strawberries which were delicious (otherwise I wouldn't mention them...)

The Alhambra was absolutely A) huge and B) amazing. We were there for four-ish hours because there is so much to see. The Alhambra used to be a fancy palace, so it has a bunch of gardens, castle-y parts, and water stairs. We got there at about two in the afternoon and spent a good deal of time in the gardens because they were so beautiful. Afterwards, we headed to the castle-ish area that has a special name that I forgot. We climbed around this area for a while and got to see a great view of the city. There was also some random labyrinth-y part that my mom kept asking me about. (What is this? I wonder why it's here...Are you sure you don't know what it was used for?) We were there for quite some time before it was our turn to go into the palace part. Which is, again, indescribable. Pictures!

I really fast-forwarded that part, but we were there for forever. I just can't remember describe everything and this is already a lengthy blog. My apologies. 

Because we were so tired, we took the bus back to the Cathedral and then found a delicious place to eat. We all had pasta, which of course, is a very Spanish meal. (Sarcasm hand raised). Either way, it was one of the best meals ever. Our Granada journey ended with relaxation and packing.

Friday

Almost done. I can do it! Friday started off with a plethora of un-fun. We woke up early and took a taxi to the bus station. We thought there were buses from Granada to Madrid at 9AM, 10AM, and 1PM, but this proved false. There were only buses at 9AM and 1PM, so we made an upgrade in our bus and booked it so we could catch the earlier one. 

The Super Fancy Nice Bus was an excellent upgrade. It had super plush seats and we were given two snacks and drinks. We got headphones so we could watch Cars 2 (I like children's movies, okay?) and were given a gift bag at the end. This is the definition of class.

After our four-and-a-half hour bus ride, we were sufficiently tuckered out. We recovered a little at our Super Fancy Nice Hotel in Madrid and took showers to wash the travel off. (It might sound dumb, but I swear travel sticks to you. It feels gross.) Afterwards, my mom was already done with the idea of sitting, so it was time to explore. I was excited because I've been to Madrid, which means I know what's up. It was super easy for me to navigate the metro and Claire and my Mams were quite impressed. And I live for impressing them.

We ended up near the Palacio Real and the Cathedral of Something. Because it was Good Friday, we figured the Cathedral was closed to tourists which left us with the terrible (just kidding) option of seeing the palace. This, however, didn't go as planned. The Palacio was closing in a hour and the tour people told us it would probably take an hour and a half to go through the entire thing, so we made the decision to save it for the next day. 


My Mams was determined the day not be wasted though. Because the Cathedral was right next to the Palacio, we checked to make sure it was closed. Lo and behold, no tourist activity was allowed but a mass was starting within half an hour. My mommy made the split-second decision to go inside to see it. I didn't get any pictures because, church, but this church was very different from the others. The stones were all white and the style of painting was brighter, so it seemed more airy. Unfortunately, we were in a back corner, and it wasn't super easy to see what was going on. At least I could partially understand it though.

Mom would ask me what was going on every once in a while. At first, I couldn't really answer because I would sort of understand but then would lose the flow of the words. It was sort of like having water run through your hands, where you have it one second and then it's gone. By the end, I was doing better though, and things made more sense. It was extremely interesting and fascinating to experience.

Afterwards, we went to an American restaurant because America is the man. 

Saturday

This day, we figured out the most excellent form of touring a city ever, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Sorry, excitement! Saturday morning we were unable to find a place to eat breakfast on account of our hotel was located in some swanky shopping district. This led to us taking the handy-dandy metro to the center of the city and me locating a delicious churro & chocolate restaurant. Obviously, I had churros for breakfast and that was one of the best meals of the trip. Mmmmmm. After a uh, healthy breakfast, we went shopping for a little while and meandered towards the Palacio Real. I've already described this in my...second (?) blog, so I won't go through the details again. Suffice to say, in nearly every room I asked my mom if we could redecorate our house.

Me: Oooh! Blue and gold! Mom, can we get a chandelier? I think we need to rethink our floor plan.

Okay, now the best touring experience of the trip. [Sidenote: I realize I've gotten your expectations up. You are probably thinking we rode upon the backs of some majestic emus or something that pranced of into the sunset. I'm so, so sorry.] A bus! We got on a double-decker open air bus and this was the best decision ever. Now you may ask "Why are you so excited about a bus, Emily?" 

Answer: We did not get lost and laze.

For most of the trip, we've walked nearly everywhere. Which can get fairly exhausting. So a chance to see most of the city without walking is better than majestic emus. Also, Madrid is huge so we would have been able to do significantly less had we not taken this tour. It was beautiful out for most of the day, which made this and even better decision. We hopped off at the Puerta del Sol, a huge plaza. Claire bought a Crisitano Ronaldo my future husband's fútbol jersey and I showed them the best pastry shop ever. We jumped on the bus again after a little bit and searched for a restaurant from the comfort of our bus. (I am not endorsed by the company, I swear.) Eventually, we found the Hard Rock Cafe. Yup, authentic Spanish food at its finest. Either way, the food was good and our entire Spain journey ended on a high note.   

Sunday

How I feel about missing the fam

We woke up early (actually this time), with a few false starts. The time change just occurred here, so that made the travel day extra fun. It was a whirlwind of packing and then checking out of the hotel. My mom decided to take a taxi to the airport instead of the metro because real adults don't need to be quite as cheap as college students. (The front desk said it was going to be 30 euros. I said it was 42 euros when we took a taxi...and it ended up being like 41-something. Nailed it!)

After printing boarding passes and checking bags, it was time to say goodbye. I miss you people already! (Especially inside jokes with Claire. Save Bandit!) I can NOT wait to see MY DAD, Mom and Claire again when I get back. Maybe Tom.

A uninteresting metro and bus ride left me happily in Toledo. It's good to be home.   

Traveling Conclusions

1) Being the leader is the worst. I navigated (!!!!!) almost everywhere, which is terrifying in itself. Also, being the only translator is a rough gig. My mom would want to talk to people and I was always thinking, "But people. We aren't supposed to talk to strangers!" This left my mom un-thrilled and ready to get the English back. She later asked me how I did everything on my other trips and wasn't super surprised by my response. Answer: follow everyone. It's (mostly) stress free and easy.

2) My mom is paranoid. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing because it's somewhere between practical, hilarious and annoying. She's more of a "ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure" type of gal and I'm more "Eh, what happens, happens." We didn't get anything stolen (good job, Mams!) but it also led to Claire and me waiting in the lobby of every hotel while my mom went to fish out our passports from her hidden money belt. And this gem of a conversation:

Me: Mom, the room is super hot. Can we leave the window open tonight, pleeease?

Mom:....Okay

Mom: [20 MINUTES LATER] I can't sleep! We have a balcony...someone could sneak in through the window....I just have to close it!

Me: .....*sigh* 

3) It is fun but exhausting. I don't think anything is quite so exciting and so draining at the same time.

Next weekend will hopefully be a bit more relaxing, as we plan on staying in Toledo.

Adios until then!