Thursday, June 16

This morning we were able to sleep in a little bit, which means 9, and our breakfast was amazing! I had Greek yogurt with honey, and I've never had anything SOOO good! Definitely my favorite breakfast here so far. Their coffee is really good too (Dad, we need to look into getting a European coffee maker).

Things I have learned from walking around Delphi:
-there are kittens and cats EVERYWHERE! They literally litter the streets (excuse my poor pun)(and awful alliteration).
-I have recently declared that flies are the most annoying bug. You cannot escape them here
-Greek food is AWESOME! So far what I have eaten includes moussaka, dolmades, gyros and gemista- my favorite being gyros
-Greek guys in general aren't as attractive as Italian guys (sorry!) But here is another scenario:
The same innocent American girl that has been aforementioned several times, this time accompanied by a couple of other girls, was walking casually down the winding road in the mountanous city of Delphi. With full stomachs and newly purchased jewelry and gifts for friends and family (try to contain your excitement) they made their way back in the direction of the quaint hotel. Much to their surprise, a young man (very attractive) standing casually in a doorway (posing OBVIOUSLY for the American girls) gave the girls a charming smile and a flirty "hello". Giggles. After that flattering encounter as the girls continued their stroll down the street, a car stuffed with about 8 roughly 20 year olds (in a truck that would usually fit about 4 by the way) hooted and hollered as they passed and then overtly attempted (emphasis on the word attempted) to peel out in their old truck. Definitely was not impressive in any way. Despite their failed maneuver, the girls were flattered once again, and once again reminded that they turn heads and stop traffic.

Just down the road there is the Museum of Delphi. We took a tour of its museum about Delphi’s history and learned SO much about the ancient world and about what the Greeks contributed. Inscripted in one of the temples were two things to live by- Know thyself and Nothing in excess. There were statues everywhere and we then toured the ruins just outside.

Wednesday, June 15

Bon voyage Italia, yasu Greece.
(Yes, that is 4 different languages in the same sentence using only 5 words. I am proud.)

3 hours of sleep. Waking up at 4 am. 3 hour bus ride. 2 hour wait in the airport. 2 hour plane ride. GREECE HERE I COME!!!! I have been learning Greek words on the plane ride. So far this is what I know (excuse my spelling Christian):
Efkaristoh- thank you
Parakaloh- please
Ne- yes
Ohi- no
Then thelo- no thank you
Signome- excuse me
I have been practicing on the flight attendants and I have to say that I am picking it up pretty quickly! The food on the plane was delicious and if the plane food is this good I can’t wait for the real food when we get there.

3 hour bus ride to Delphi…..
We watched the Lizzie Mcguire Movie!!! (Don’t judge). The whole time we were in Rome we girls wanted to live out the Lizzie Mcguire Movie, and since that didn’t happen, we needed to watch it and continue to live vicariously through Hilary Duff’s imaginary foreign love affair. Whenever they used Italian in the movie I could understand them! Though basic, it was neat to be able to know what they were talking about.

THE VIEW FROM OUR HOTEL IS AMAZING!!! I cannot describe it. Therefore I will rely on pictures to take place of my words.


On our drive to Delphi along the side of the mountains, we could see a rainbow that descended into the valley in between peaks. Jaw dropping. I wish I had a chance to get a picture of it but I didn't. David did though, and maybe he will post it sometime.

Upon arrival we unpacked our belongings and went to eat at a restaurant down the road. I had lamb with vegetables. SOOOOOOOOO GOOD. Erin ordered rooster and I tried some of that as well! It was delicious! Experiencing the food from different cultures is one of my favorite things, so be looking forward to more stories of interesting cuisine! This is the view from the restaurant:

Tuesday, June 14

The amount of stairs we climbed today would add up to around a THOUSAND. Yep, that’s a lot of stairs. And yep, I walked every one. Today we took a day trip to Cinque Terra, which is on the west coast of Italy. There are many little towns near each other and we hiked along the side of a mountain for about 3 kilometers from one of the beautiful towns to another. Even though it wasn't that long of a distance, we hiked up and down the most difficult trail that was available. The view was impeccable.



And SO worth the climb. I am proud to tell my soccer coaches that I was able to work out on this trip, and boy was that a work out. Best day so far. We hit up the beach after for a couple hours and soaked up the hot Italian sun. Oh yeah, and did I mention that most of the men wear speedos? Unfortunately I have gotten used to it.

Monday, June 13

It's officially been a week since I last saw the United States.

Back to Roma!
I finally stepped foot in the Colloseum! After learning about and studying it in Latin for the past 3 years, I finally got to see it in person and walk where the Romans walked.



I have seen the Roman Forum innumerable amounts of times in my Latin textbooks and online, and being able to walk in it and see the ruins and THE ARCH OF TITUS (which is my favorite thing that I have been looking forward to this whole trip) was ah-mazing. Lots of walking. But worth it.


We walked to the Capital building of Rome as well as the Trevi Fountain!!!! Let me paint another scenario for you:
A young innocent American girl (me again!) finds herself eye-to-eye with an ancient fountain of love. Hundreds scurry past her. Men, women, children, families, even a really REALLY cute Italian boy....beside the point. She walks down the steps to the edge of the water. Mist sprays across her face. It feels nice on that hot day in Rome. Clasping a one euro coin from her purse pocket, she takes her stance by the edge of the fountain and turns her back to it. A friend takes her place with her camera. On 'three' after making her wish, Rachel throws the coin over her RIGHT shoulder (very very wrong) and hears the click of the camera followed by the clinking of a coin. She missed. A couple stood by watched the whole event occur and quickly told her (in the best half-english, half-who knows what) that she needed to throw the coin from her right hand over her LEFT shoulder. She picked up her failed coin and had a second chance! This time she closed her eyes, made her wish yet again, and let go of the coin mid-air, only to hear a splash this time. It worked. And she hopes that her wish will come true.


Following that experience, we all walked to the Pantheon, which is the oldest standing church in the world (I believe). THEN we went to the Spanish Steps. Massimo told us that this is where young boys and girls hang out and meet each other. Sounds like my place. Madeline and I posted up on one of the bottom steps to scope out the boys. Let me tell you, this is the place where all the cute Italian boys come. And let me tell you, we got many many looks and stares. Mission accomplished. Massimo didn't hesitate to come over to us and talk to us. Our conversation went somewhat as follows:

"Stop trying to get the Italian boys!"
"But, Massimo, we're just sitting here! (giggles)"
"They are dirty pigs and you are just a number to them. You should try to be more than just a number. I am going to make you wear nun costumes tomorrow if you don't stop"
"But papa! (we are all his little girls) they are the ones looking at us!"
"No! Forbidden! Go sit with the others!"
Hahaha, Massimo was very protective over us, and though more was conversed, that was the gist of the banter. I will miss him very much.

Sunday, June 12

This morning we packed all of our stuff and put it in a taxi to take it all to our new hotel. Our original reservations got mixed up somehow so we had to change hotels. After our belongings left, we made our way to Del Duomo AGAIN. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all I ever wanted to see of the Del Duomo, so instead of taking pictures of the building again like everyone else, I sat down on the ground and practiced taking pictures of bicyclists using a panning technique.



When we came together again we skedaddled off to a world-famous gelato shop called Grom. Apparently it is imported to New York and because it is so expensive to import, it is the most expensive gelato per ounce in the United States. We were able to watch the workers make the gelato and we got to try some afterwards. It was delicious.



We then began a long walk to an uliveto, which is an olive grove, and ate the best olive oil on bread and different meats. It was delicious!

Firenze

Saturday, June 11

Today was amazing!
We are staying at this quaint little hostel called Hotel Esperanza (Hope)(also not really a hotel) and our street name is Via De Inferno. Which is very ironic and awesome. We are Hope in Hell. We started off the morning with a roll and jam. Oh and I had coffee. Oh and that's it. Yep, that was our breakfast- I started to think I might lose weight on this trip....until much later, but we'll get to that when it comes. First on our agenda we walked to the Piazza del Duomo, which is a plaza with a HUGE building, Del Duomo of course, as its main attraction. Carolyn and David gave us a scavenger hunt with many things to find pictures of and/or video. We headed out in groups of 4 to explore wherever we wanted in Florence (which in Italian is Firenze) and found ourselves in many neat places. One thing on the list was to video a random couple telling the story of how they met, and my group found a precious British couple who gladly told us their story (it wasn't very interesting). Then we got them to take a picture of our group jumping in the air and this is what we came out with:

Cute right?

After we finished our scavenger hunt, which by the way we found out later that Erin's group accidentally ran into the Jersey Shore's work place AND saw Pauly D (so stinkin jealous), we all headed out to eat lunch. I had their vegetable soup with bread Tuscan style (which means the bread is like in the soup so it actually is not a soup anymore) and it was deliciozo! Also, for desert we had Nutella on a waffle thing which was RIGHT up my alley considering I love Nutella. So I pretty much died and went to heaven. This is what it looked like before I devoured it:


With our full stomachs we continued to trek through the streets and ended up at a museum. The museum showcased Lorenzo Bartolini’s sculptures as well as the Statue of David by Michelangelo!!! The real one! It was amazing to see something that famous with my real eyes. He is huge.

After our fair share of naked men and women viewing in the museum we took about a 40 minute walk to a Giglio Cooking school in Florence, yes I said COOKING SCHOOL! We were able to learn how to cook genuine Italian food! It was fantastic! The menu consisted of:
First course- Ravioli ricotta e spinaci (Spinach and ricotta ravioli)
Main course- Pollo alla cacciatore (chicken cacciatore)
Side- Patate Arrosto (Roasted Potatoes)
Dessert- Tiramisu’
We dined like kings and queens.

Hit on update:
- a waiter at a restaurant on the outskirts of the Piazza del Duomo came up to me and Madeline and tried to get us to eat at the restaurant. He said he had a special dinner for us. We walked away.
- a 50 year old man raised his eyebrows at me and said things in Italian to me while looking me up and down as he walked by. EW.
- At the piazza these two boys walked past our group and kept staring at us. They then strategically walked past us again and said hi to me and smirked. THEN they stood about 10 feet away STARING at me for the longest time. Every time I looked over I would catch them looking and they kept motioning and trying to get me to go over to them but I wouldn’t. Then our group finally left.
- Leaving the piazza while walking with Massimo I received a ‘ciao bella’ from a man walking past us. Massimo felt like he needed to tell me it wasn’t for him.