Mittwoch, March 26, 2008
spring break: italy
day 1. rome.
Short Lufthansa flight. arrive at rome airport expecting to find steven. steven is no where to be found. steven where the f' are you. drop 15 euros on phone call to mom. she hadn't heard anything. wait 3 hours in airport to find out he ran off to the hostel. oh well we all find each other eventually. geoff and i find a pizzeria. eat a greasy sausage pizza. not too shabby. hostel is fairly ghetto. guy working has dreads and spandex tank top. share a room with 4 loud, big breasted spanish ladies. one had a penis accessory on her head. like a crown. a penis crown. oh we also met a couple from france. they were tight. we talked with them for a couple hours. passed out. around 4am wake up to spanish ladies coming home. one of them actually had cow print pajamas. she was a fatty and honest.
day 2. rome.
free hostel breakfast aka cup of cornflakes. head toward coliseum. see arch of constantine. hike around palatine hill. find a fenced off orange orchard on top of palatine hill. ninja hop over the fence and gank an orange. ninja hop back over the fence and act like nothing happened. victory. thank savs for the encouragement. walk around around a bit more. head to coliseum. experience an overwhelming aura inside. think about russel crowe beating down some lions. get pissed about all the carvings/graffiti by inconsiderate tourists. someone drown them. barrett takes a picture of us whooping. people laugh and stare. tons of people crowding the aisles. cute asian girls crowding my mind. asians were everywhere. moving in huge packs of 50+ people. savs and i do handstands in front of the coliseum. sound of roadside guitar rocking out. see some other bums pretending to play instruments. their timing was a bit off. head to pantheon. huge columns. take sweet pics. barrett, steven, michael and i find a cafe. eat crepes. drink wine. introduction to Müller. beautiful white wine. buy a glass for 5 euros, later find a bottle in grocery store for 5 euros. lame. back to hostel. shower. dinner at classic italian restaurant. thanks "MTV's guide to europe". we get 4 courses of noodles. beautiful flavors. walnut flavor is perfect. red wine is recommended. barrett rightly describes it as "earthy". compliments food very well.
day 3. rome.
st. peters in the rain. huge lines. tons of people. how much for the umbrella? 5 euros. i'll give you 3. done. suckaaaaa. borderline amazing. the grand entrance was quite grand. tons of decoration/detail. sculptures/mosaics everywhere. see a line forming to kiss a statue's feet. think about how silly it all is. find the lineage room. list of all the popes dating back to peter. essentially the basis of the catholic church. think about pope scandals i've heard about. good times. rain continues to drop bombs. climb 500+ steps to the top of the dome. stairs get smaller and smaller. begin to wonder when the stairs become a ladder. pass out from exhaustion. recover slowly. sun peeks out as we approach the top. stunning panoramic view. good timing sun. eventually give st. peter the deuces. head to termini. stop at delish pizzeria on the way. mushroom and sausage perfection. demolish first piece and go back for 2nds. mmm. chill at train station for a bit. hop on train to napoli. 2 hour ride. listen to frou frou/imogen heap entire way there. arrive in the rain. legit rain too. not like this drizzly crap here in germany. take insane taxi ride to hostel. there don't seem to be any lanes/laws. arrive at hostel. pretty tight place. grab dinner at nearby grocery store. realize i've lost wallet at the cash register. mind becomes whirlwind of past 30 minutes. where the f' did i leave it this time. get back to hostel. find wallet in different pocket. relief. steven and i cook up some chicken and pasta.
day 4. napoli.
pompeii. this place was a gem. climb all over ancient architecture. find traces of paintings on walls. climb below ground. use camera flash as light source. find bath house with sexual drawings. find painting of guy rocking a giant penis on a scale. find preserved dead guy. find random cool stuff. great day. on a side note. the graffiti from naples to pompeii dominates most of italy. not so much the quality of the works but the consistent succession of the pieces. one right after another the entire way there. plus there were some very tight paintings. one in particular. italian hand gesture. where you put the thumb and the 4 fingers together. make a up and down movement. note sure if it is a negative or positive gesture. maybe both.
day 5. napoli.
get up early. hostel breakfast. walk around harbor. find a line full of pushy people. boat leaves in 10-15 min. make it thru capri ticket line. punch a guy im the face for trying to get in front of us. not really. board huge boat. everyone makes it on. up on the seating deck we see the douche bag that tried to ninja in line. we all walk over and sit next to him like a pissed off swarm. after we make him cry a little inside we go up top. view of city as we pull away is great. take 'pretty' pictures. enjoy mediterranean breeze. more pics. think about what lives below the water. wonder if it minds the intrusion. sky is awesome. gorgeous blue. cloudless sky. perfect colors. capri. steep cliffs. white wash splashing on rocks below. white roofs splatter hillside. disembark. priority una: scooters. find three rental places. rejected at each one. lame. end up hiking from harbor area strait up hillside to capri. very steep. make-you-realize-how-out-of-shape-you-are steep. walls on both sides. home entrances scattered along. take a break. breath. look out. lots of blue. hillside, cliffs, awesome. pick up the pace. at the top, once again rejected at scooter rental. beginning of season, no insurance yet. ugh. give up on scooter. bus to anicapri. highest part of island. scary switch backs up mountain. face pressed against window. inches from cliff edge. vertical drop. get off bus. find chair lift to look out point. gangster single person chair lift. pass over small homes and small animals. get to the top. bam. wow. look down on a jugle of cliffs, tree tops and a crashing tide. absolutely beautiful. i think a cloud actually passed through us. we were eye level with most. take lots of pics. get as close to the edge as possible. play on top of italy for 30 minutes. times up. back down the chair lift. catch a taxi back to capri harbor. back to napoli on a smaller/faster pontoon boat. share it with 123,293 asians. rap up things at hostel. tram to main train station. train to firenze. get in late. find hostel. "come, i take you to another room. 5 min walk." few minutes later and a little more gangster, hostel's back-up. inside was much cleaner than first expected. the 6 of us share one room. works out well. pretty tight deal after the sketchy approach. sleep.
day 6. firenze.
awake. excited about scooter rentals. search for the place. mtv's guide book leads us to the right place. 3 bikes. one 125cc and two 100cc scooters with our names on 'em. steven/geoff and i are the only ones with any previous experience. matt jumps on the 125 with me. savs with geoff. barret with steven. this day was probably one of the most fun days i've had. driving a scooter through the rolling hills of the tuscan vineyards. text can not do this day justice. the weather was perfect. we stopped at a castle/vineyard. bought a bottle of chianti classic. chianti classic is aged in oak barrels. chianti is aged in steel drums. oak for the win. wine fit nicely under the scooter seat. drive some more in the hills. narrow switch backs. tight turns that force you into the on coming lane. scare the hell outa matt. "slowwww down". awesome. i'm so content just thinking about it right now. anyways. leave the hills as it starts getting late in the afternoon. get lost on the way back to town and end up on highway. cross 4 lanes of traffic to get off highway. turns out to be less scary that it looked. end up in florence rush hour traffic. 10 minutes into and we are one of the locals. splitting lanes. diving in and out of traffic. skidding around cars and buses and pedestrians. just like the professionals. the adrenaline was pumping the entire time. make it back to hostel in one piece. no one got hurt. no bikes were damaged. perfect day. exhausted. sleep.
day 7. firenze.
feeling somewhat worn out. do the touristy thing. see some architecture. climb a ton of stairs. 360 panoramic view of city. very nice. find a market. try to buy stuff for family. end up buying a tight hat for me. i suck at getting gifts. sorry. train to rome. eat at a really tight italian restaurant. very legit. owner greets us all. think old guy, constant smile. classic "family" like atmosphere. "would you like the wine of my house?" thick italian accent. how can you refuse that? great food. great wine. buy an expesive bottle of wine. blown away by the fullness of the flavor. meet a bavarian who teaches us how to properly smell a glass of wine. we smell our wine. he smells our wine. we all smell our wine. fantastico. sleep great.
day 8. rome.
sistine chapel. overwhelmed by everything i've experienced. overwhelmed by the beauty of the cities. the people. the diversity. the culture. the land. the styles. the bums. the food. the gelato. amazing gelato. oh except the lunch-type food from carts on the streets. this absolutely sucked compared to paris. worst panini ever. oh well. the actual restaurants were great. it is going to be hard to compete with the crepes of france. mmmm.
the end.
Italy was: amazing. beautiful. classic. ancient. roman. 125cc scooters. mediterranean. delicious pasta. chianti. nappy(the dog). ocean. crazy traffic. good company. grafiti. paintings. sculptures. architecture. castles. tourists. Italy was too many pictures.
