My Last Night in Madrid

Hello!

Tonight is my last night here in Madrid. We had a very emotional time saying goodbye to the baby Mia--Patricia's granddaughter. And we are just about to eat dinner, home made pasta from Mia's Italian granddmom...should be fabulous.

I am sorry to have been so lagging with the posts--I will do the Royal Wedding post from the states!

It is a bittersweet time here!

Spring Break III: Rome, Venice, Verona

From Berlin I took a train to Munich where I caught the rickety night bus (it was very much past its prime) to Rome! I met my friend Abigail at the train station and we went to our hotel (a luxury, not a hostel!) and then started our day. We decided to wait in line the first afternoon for the Vatican. It is a very intense experience. There are people hawking "skip the line, get a guided tour!" tickets every step of the way. We were almost swayed by these people until we saw a group from NYU in Madrid and joined them in line (skipped a bunch of people). We did end up waiting for a good two/three hours but there were gelato stores aplenty and we made do. When we finally made it into the Vatican, our waiting paid off! The "skipe the line, guided tour" people had been offering tickets for 45e a person...the actual cost of the same kind of ticket was only 8e. So we felt justified and continued on.

The most impressive thing we saw, naturally, was the Sistine Chapel! It was very eerie/surreal to see an image in person that I have seen on mugs, posters, in commercials, etc my whole life.

The next day we went to the Forum, which was by far my favorite part of Rome. It was gorgeous, amazing, and so ridiculously full of history I didn't know what to do with myself. 

Everything about it was hard to believe. We had the audioguide so we learned cool little tidbits like people used to gamble on the steps of the temple. You can still see where they carved their scores/the game:

We then went to the Colosseum which was of course very impressive and colossal. 

And then we wandered around, consuming pasta and gelato whenever we felt like it. We found and threw coins into the Trevi Fountain. I forgot what I wished for but that's ok since I wouldn't be able to tell you anyway or it wouldn't come true. 

After two fabulous days in Rome, not enough by any means, we traveled to Venice. It was lovely, but unfortunately I forgot my camera (how could this happen?) but here is a picture from Abigail's: 

We spent the day wandering around and looking at all of the little stalls and markets. And of course, ate pasta and gelato. There was one gelato place that had the best Pistachio flavor we had ever tasted. So, during the course of one day, we went there three times. I only wish we could have done more. 

The next day we went on a day trip to fair Verona. It surpassed all of my expectations! I imagined it would just be a touristy place with lots of Romeo and Juliet merchandise. It turned out to be a very cool town with lots of history. It had it's own mini-colosseum (from the Romans), several Roman bridges,  and an old castle. 

But of course, we couldn't go to Verona without doing the Romeo and Juliet stuff...

Here I am, as Juliet, waiting for my Romeo to come and marry me in secret before our confuddled and tragic suicides. 

Coming soon: 

Royal wedding!