Hey guys!
So I'm back in Seville. I've been here a few days but it's Semana Santa (Holy Week) so it's been really hard for me to find an internet cafe that's open for me to use the internet. Also, I am COMPLETELY exhausted from traveling. I literally spent the first two days back in Seville doing absolutely nothing and I spent A LOT of time in bed just trying to get my body back on track after too much food, too little rest and too many sights. I have to be honest, it's been really hard to get back in the swing of things here in Seville, I'm still so tired! But I'm sure school will wake me up because I start up again tomorrow.
Anyway, when I left you last, I had just updated you guys on Florence. From Florence, we took a 2 hour train to Venice, which is at the northeast side of the country. The ride between Florence and Venice wasn't nearly as beautiful as the one between Rome and Florence, which has beautiful Italian countrysides, so we all caught up on our sleep. When we got off the train, it was night outside and we literally walked out of the train station and THERE was the Grand Canal. For those of you that don't know, the ONLY transportation in Venice is by boat. There are no cars, trucks or anything. Thankfully, our hostel was very close to the train station. It was only a short walk and we didn't need to take a water taxi. We had gotten to Venice around 10 o clock so we settled into our hostel, got some dinner and walked around. One note about Italy and Venice in particular: Up to this point, I have been to many different places in Europe, and Italy by far has the rudest people. Our waiter this night was incredibly rude and it set the tone for every other restaurant that we visited in Venice.
The next morning, we woke up, got a 36 hour pass to use the water bus (and that's exactly what is was; it was just like a bus but it was on water) and headed over to St. Mark's Square. On the way, the scenery was amazing. We passed under the Rialto Bridge and by the farmer's market on the Grand Canal. When we got to St. Mark's Square, all of us were really excited about the HUGE amount of pigeons there were. Kelsey had been scaring pigeons in every country and city we've been to so far so we knew that she would have a field day. Part of me thought it was funny that were were so many and part of me just thought it was disgusting. Regardless, we did have some fun chasing them. But these ones were tough, it took a little bit more to actually compel them to move. You nearly had to cause them harm, not such scare them. As much as I was tempted, I did not kick any pigeons. That afternoon we visited The Doge Palace (The Duke's Palace) and St. Mark's Basilica. I really enjoyed St. Mark's Basilica just because it was very different that a lot of the churches we had seen so far. Instead of stained glass and large stones, St. Mark's had gold and jewels everywhere with amazing mosaics of events from the bible. The most interesting part, by far, was the fact that St. Mark's, the gospel writer, tomb was there. After I saw it, it really hit me just how historically important this place is! Italy (Rome especially) is where Christianity took off! This is where the early apostles and followers fought for what they believed and I felt really blessed to feel so close to someone like St. Mark.
The next day, we bought tickets for an afternoon train back to Rome and then just hung out with Venice until we had to leave. We had a few hours left so we shopped around the Rialto Bridge, bought fresh fruit at an outdoor market, ate some pizza and, of course, took the cliché gondola ride. Get ready for probably the funniest story of my whole semester this far. So Kelsey, Steph and I kept joking about how we wanted a very attractive, young gondolier man to take us around Venice in his gondola. So while we were walking by the Rialto Bridge, it was like God heard our request and bought us just what we wanted. Standing on the bridge were two gondoliers: one HOT, young man and another one that looked like he was maybe 45 and not that attractive. I went up to the two of them and asked for a gondola ride. Right as I did, the younger one was being asked by another family (who literally came up at the EXACT same time as we did) so the older one offered to take us. When we got to the dock, the attractive guy was there with the family. Somehow, I think the two gondoliers decided to switch costumers because we ended up with this INCREDIBLY handsome, young gondolier who took us down the Gran Canal. We found out after taking off from the dock that his name was Marco.
So anyway, Marco is taking us through the smaller canals of Venice and is explaining the history and architecture of the buildings around us and we are just dumb in the presence his beauty. We must of had the stupidest grins on our faces as we just stared at him while he rowed. So we were passing under a bridge and Marco says "This is the famous kissing bridge. Do you want a kiss?" We thought he was kidding and we started giggling like idiots. Then under her breath (but not really under her breath; is was really easy to hear), Steph says "Ab-so-lutely". Next thing we know, Marco has got his face 5 inches from hers. We thought he was just going to give her a little kiss on the cheek. That is not what happened. He kissed her and I mean KISSED her. It was not just a peck on the lips. I think the 3 of us were going to die. I wanted to jump out of the boat I was laughing so hard. We couldn't believe it! Afterwards, he continued rowing and I asked "Do you do that to all your customers? Even the old ladies?" Marco said "No." with a grin. A few minutes later, we went under another bridge and Marco said "This is the other kissing bridge." Then he pointed at me and said "Do YOU want a kiss?" And I said "No, I'm good". As cool as that sounded, he had JUST kissed my best friend and I was not having any of that. Next thing I know, he's kissing Steph AGAIN! Much longer than the first time. By the way, there IS a real bridge called the "Kissing Bridge" but there certainly aren't two. Finally, we were back at the dock. We gave him a huge tip and left as fast as we could so we could BURST into laughter when we were out of Marco's sight. Needless to say, it was the most interesting boat ride I have EVER been on.
That afternoon, we took a 5 hour train ride back to Rome to spend one more full day before we flew back to Seville. It was really nice to have a free day in Rome without any huge pressure to do anything because we got a lot of things done the first time we went to Rome. We woke up on our last day and decided to go back to the Coliseum. We had seen the outside at the beginning of the week, but we wanted to go back to get a full tour of the inside, which we had not seen yet. We found a tour that would take us through the Coliseum and would also take on a tour of the Roman Forum which is located right next to the Coliseum. It was amazing to see just how little of the original buildings are left. They really are just skeletons of what they used to be because over thousands of years, people in Rome would use material from the ruins to build new things. This is why the Trevi fountain is made out of marble taken from the Coliseum. I was also extremely surprised and excited to learn that right next to the Forum is a church (it wasn't originally a church, but it became a church later) that contains the prison where St. Paul and St. Peter were held before they were both martyered. This was by far my favorite sight to visit in Rome and was also the one that I took most seriously. I walked down a flight of stairs and was actually standing in the stone cell were Paul and Peter had been. There was also a column there that they used to tie them to and flog them. Being there was extremely powerful. I had the amazing opportunity to see what they saw and to try (with no success) to imagine myself in their position. I also found out that they baptized other prisoners waiting for execution while there were held down there. I will never forget that small cell for the rest of my life.
The next day we got up at the crack of dawn to come back to Seville! How blessed am I? This trip was such a gift and it was everything I could have asked for and more. Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera so I was depending on Steph, Kels and Sarah to take all the pictures. I stole some pictures from them to place on this blog. If you want to see more, you should check out Kelsey's photo bucket account: website: http://www.photobucket.com/, username: kelseymcwhirter, password: sevilla. Thanks again for reading my novels! See you next week!
P.S. The guy with us in the picture above is Marco, the gondolier
So I'm back in Seville. I've been here a few days but it's Semana Santa (Holy Week) so it's been really hard for me to find an internet cafe that's open for me to use the internet. Also, I am COMPLETELY exhausted from traveling. I literally spent the first two days back in Seville doing absolutely nothing and I spent A LOT of time in bed just trying to get my body back on track after too much food, too little rest and too many sights. I have to be honest, it's been really hard to get back in the swing of things here in Seville, I'm still so tired! But I'm sure school will wake me up because I start up again tomorrow.
Anyway, when I left you last, I had just updated you guys on Florence. From Florence, we took a 2 hour train to Venice, which is at the northeast side of the country. The ride between Florence and Venice wasn't nearly as beautiful as the one between Rome and Florence, which has beautiful Italian countrysides, so we all caught up on our sleep. When we got off the train, it was night outside and we literally walked out of the train station and THERE was the Grand Canal. For those of you that don't know, the ONLY transportation in Venice is by boat. There are no cars, trucks or anything. Thankfully, our hostel was very close to the train station. It was only a short walk and we didn't need to take a water taxi. We had gotten to Venice around 10 o clock so we settled into our hostel, got some dinner and walked around. One note about Italy and Venice in particular: Up to this point, I have been to many different places in Europe, and Italy by far has the rudest people. Our waiter this night was incredibly rude and it set the tone for every other restaurant that we visited in Venice.
The next morning, we woke up, got a 36 hour pass to use the water bus (and that's exactly what is was; it was just like a bus but it was on water) and headed over to St. Mark's Square. On the way, the scenery was amazing. We passed under the Rialto Bridge and by the farmer's market on the Grand Canal. When we got to St. Mark's Square, all of us were really excited about the HUGE amount of pigeons there were. Kelsey had been scaring pigeons in every country and city we've been to so far so we knew that she would have a field day. Part of me thought it was funny that were were so many and part of me just thought it was disgusting. Regardless, we did have some fun chasing them. But these ones were tough, it took a little bit more to actually compel them to move. You nearly had to cause them harm, not such scare them. As much as I was tempted, I did not kick any pigeons. That afternoon we visited The Doge Palace (The Duke's Palace) and St. Mark's Basilica. I really enjoyed St. Mark's Basilica just because it was very different that a lot of the churches we had seen so far. Instead of stained glass and large stones, St. Mark's had gold and jewels everywhere with amazing mosaics of events from the bible. The most interesting part, by far, was the fact that St. Mark's, the gospel writer, tomb was there. After I saw it, it really hit me just how historically important this place is! Italy (Rome especially) is where Christianity took off! This is where the early apostles and followers fought for what they believed and I felt really blessed to feel so close to someone like St. Mark.
The next day, we bought tickets for an afternoon train back to Rome and then just hung out with Venice until we had to leave. We had a few hours left so we shopped around the Rialto Bridge, bought fresh fruit at an outdoor market, ate some pizza and, of course, took the cliché gondola ride. Get ready for probably the funniest story of my whole semester this far. So Kelsey, Steph and I kept joking about how we wanted a very attractive, young gondolier man to take us around Venice in his gondola. So while we were walking by the Rialto Bridge, it was like God heard our request and bought us just what we wanted. Standing on the bridge were two gondoliers: one HOT, young man and another one that looked like he was maybe 45 and not that attractive. I went up to the two of them and asked for a gondola ride. Right as I did, the younger one was being asked by another family (who literally came up at the EXACT same time as we did) so the older one offered to take us. When we got to the dock, the attractive guy was there with the family. Somehow, I think the two gondoliers decided to switch costumers because we ended up with this INCREDIBLY handsome, young gondolier who took us down the Gran Canal. We found out after taking off from the dock that his name was Marco.
So anyway, Marco is taking us through the smaller canals of Venice and is explaining the history and architecture of the buildings around us and we are just dumb in the presence his beauty. We must of had the stupidest grins on our faces as we just stared at him while he rowed. So we were passing under a bridge and Marco says "This is the famous kissing bridge. Do you want a kiss?" We thought he was kidding and we started giggling like idiots. Then under her breath (but not really under her breath; is was really easy to hear), Steph says "Ab-so-lutely". Next thing we know, Marco has got his face 5 inches from hers. We thought he was just going to give her a little kiss on the cheek. That is not what happened. He kissed her and I mean KISSED her. It was not just a peck on the lips. I think the 3 of us were going to die. I wanted to jump out of the boat I was laughing so hard. We couldn't believe it! Afterwards, he continued rowing and I asked "Do you do that to all your customers? Even the old ladies?" Marco said "No." with a grin. A few minutes later, we went under another bridge and Marco said "This is the other kissing bridge." Then he pointed at me and said "Do YOU want a kiss?" And I said "No, I'm good". As cool as that sounded, he had JUST kissed my best friend and I was not having any of that. Next thing I know, he's kissing Steph AGAIN! Much longer than the first time. By the way, there IS a real bridge called the "Kissing Bridge" but there certainly aren't two. Finally, we were back at the dock. We gave him a huge tip and left as fast as we could so we could BURST into laughter when we were out of Marco's sight. Needless to say, it was the most interesting boat ride I have EVER been on.
That afternoon, we took a 5 hour train ride back to Rome to spend one more full day before we flew back to Seville. It was really nice to have a free day in Rome without any huge pressure to do anything because we got a lot of things done the first time we went to Rome. We woke up on our last day and decided to go back to the Coliseum. We had seen the outside at the beginning of the week, but we wanted to go back to get a full tour of the inside, which we had not seen yet. We found a tour that would take us through the Coliseum and would also take on a tour of the Roman Forum which is located right next to the Coliseum. It was amazing to see just how little of the original buildings are left. They really are just skeletons of what they used to be because over thousands of years, people in Rome would use material from the ruins to build new things. This is why the Trevi fountain is made out of marble taken from the Coliseum. I was also extremely surprised and excited to learn that right next to the Forum is a church (it wasn't originally a church, but it became a church later) that contains the prison where St. Paul and St. Peter were held before they were both martyered. This was by far my favorite sight to visit in Rome and was also the one that I took most seriously. I walked down a flight of stairs and was actually standing in the stone cell were Paul and Peter had been. There was also a column there that they used to tie them to and flog them. Being there was extremely powerful. I had the amazing opportunity to see what they saw and to try (with no success) to imagine myself in their position. I also found out that they baptized other prisoners waiting for execution while there were held down there. I will never forget that small cell for the rest of my life.
The next day we got up at the crack of dawn to come back to Seville! How blessed am I? This trip was such a gift and it was everything I could have asked for and more. Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera so I was depending on Steph, Kels and Sarah to take all the pictures. I stole some pictures from them to place on this blog. If you want to see more, you should check out Kelsey's photo bucket account: website: http://www.photobucket.com/, username: kelseymcwhirter, password: sevilla. Thanks again for reading my novels! See you next week!
P.S. The guy with us in the picture above is Marco, the gondolier
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