Fall Break - Lazy Day

Friday

We had all had lots of fun in Florence, and decided to basically take the next day off. We all slept in (which is to say, I did, and Mom and Dad enjoyed a quiet breakfast without me), and when we met up later I took them to my favorite kebab shop for lunch. These aren’t kebabs like you’re probably thinking of, but that’s what they’re called here. It’s a giant tortilla wrapped around (probably pork) meat with Middle Eastern spices, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and special dressings. I’m not a very adventurous eater, so I only get the meat and lettuce, but they are certainly delicious (and remarkably cheap, as it’s a wonderfully filling and complete meal for about 3 Euro). We hopped on a small local bus up to the top of the Gianicolo Hill to eat lunch and enjoy the view—the Gianicolo Hill has a fantastic view of the whole of “downtown” Rome, where all the major sites are. 

Fall Break - Florence

(Haha, you thought I had given up on the blog now that I’m back in the US and months behind, didn’t you? Shame on you! This is as much a diary of my journeys as it is a way to show off to all of you, and I am going to finish it—I have personal notes as well as class notes for every post left)

Thursday

Ciao Firenze! For all that it has really nothing to do with classics or anything Roman, I love Florence. The evidence of its time as a Renaissance city are everywhere, particularly in the graceful cathedrals and ducal palaces. The city also has a lot of piazzas—there are plenty of narrow alleyways, of course, but then they open onto beautiful open spaces full of people, light, and sculpture. Especially sculpture—it’s everywhere! Rome is a beautifully historic city, but it tends to hide its treasures away in museums. Florence is more like one giant museum all on its own. It’s even like a museum in that in several areas, you’re more likely to hear English than Italian!

Fall Break - Vatican City

Wednesday

Wednesday was Vatican day! We went to the Colosseum very early in the morning to be at the front of line, but that doesn’t tend to work as well with the Vatican—it can take hours to get in. The easier way to deal with the lines is to wait until lunchtime, but that doesn’t leave you with anywhere near enough time to see even just the highlights. We’d been trying to find a good day to do the Vatican while dealing with this problem—and then I read in a guidebook that there’s a papal service at Saint Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday mornings. Score! We reasoned that the service would keep most people in the Basilica rather than the Vatican museums, so we hopped on the bus to the Vatican—and found practically no line at all! Actually, the museums were more empty than I or Dad have ever seen before—we got astoundingly lucky.