Art History Alli

Saturday, October 30, 2010

ROME

October 20, 2010
Roma!!
- get off boat 7:30 (late arrival)
- walk to train station for 1 hour 20 min ride to Roma Termini
- get on Metro to Coliseum!!
- get back on Metro to Spanish Steps, walk up and down the steps.
- walk to Trevi Fountain!! Throw a coin and eat delish gelato (Alli had melon, everyone else has nutella).
- walk to Pantheon!!!! Scale is VAST!!
It just kept getting better and better.
- walk to Piazza Navona and bought art.
- took bus to Vatican City. St. Peter's square was closed (papal audience at noon). Arrived at Vatican Museum at 12:30 so we barely missed seeing Pope Benedict. Saw the Laocoon!!! Saw Raphael "School of Athens"!!! Saw 3 sister missionaries in the museum for their P-Day. Saw the Sistine Chapel- ah!!!!! It really is as amazing as they say it is.
- snuck out a side door from Sistine Chapel and got right into St. Peter's Basilica when they re-opened it after the papal audience.
- saw Michelangelo "Pieta"
- saw the Baldachino- the scale is HUGE!!!
- ate lunch sitting on the steps of Bernini's perfectly designed piazza- the arms reaching out.
- took the train ride from Hell back to port (over crowded, hot, had to stand for an hour)- we call it the Pit of Dispair. Les counted 35 people crammed in to the entry-way/loading area standing without A/C for an hour.
- dinner and hot tubbing to soak our aching muscles.
- ordered hot chocolate from room service- it came with hot milk :)
BEST. DAY. EVER

Naples, Sorrento, and Capri

October 19, 2010
Naples, Italy
-Walk Through Naples and miraculously found Corso Gharibaldi when we asked a paperman and we were already on the street :)
- train ride to Sorrento took aprox 1 hour
- walk through Sorrento in the rain, cute shops, lemons and coral.
- walked down to shore and took water taxi to Capri.
- hike up to the City of Capri.
- drink in the view of island!!
- walk down alleys with designer shops
- more jewelry stores.
- more amazing views and photo-ops.
- take water taxi back to Naples across the bay.
- dinner in Carmen
- Name That Tune: 70s songs
- Beatles Manics Show

On the train from Naples.

Sunny Sorrento wasn't really sunny for us :(

Hiking up the island of Capri to the town of Capri.

The view was SO worth it!!

Getting on the Ship and Our Day at Sea

October 17, 2010
Happy Birthday Lacey!!
-woke up and had breakfast at Starbucks across from Hotel.
-checked out of hotel and booked room for next week
-walked with luggage to Place de Catalunya and down las ramblas to the CC monument. Then we walked to the sea port terminal and across a large bridge to port B (Royal Caribbean) and checked into our cruise.
-talked to head waiter about eating at 7pm not 9pm.
-lunch at the buffet- the Windjammer Cafe. We had breakfast there almost every morning.
-explored the pool area, spa and walking track.
- walked the royal promenade and entered raffle (welcome expo).
-found rooms
-watched the boat pull out of Barcelona harbor at sun set!
-ate dinner and had a mix up because head waiter didn't really change our time to eat but it all worked in the end.
-Beatles music in the Vault where we saw some Asian lady dancing by herself and having a great time.
-majority rules game
-party around the world parade
-singles dance at the Vault- fun!! The boat was SO rocky that you could see the crowned dance floor sway- especially during line dances :) it was awesome!!!
-ship is very bumpy/rolley/rocky- to the extreme.

October 18, 2010
Day at Sea on boat
- ate breakfast (eggs Benedict!!)
- took nap until 1:30 pm
- Oktoberfest in the Royal Promenade (yummy pretzels)
- walked to very front of ship and saw some coastline as we sailed between Corsica and Sardinia.
- went to highest point on ship (sky bar)
- saw ice show!!
- mini golf and watched the end of soccer tournament.
- snack at Promenade Cafe.
- got ready for Formal Night at dinner.
- dinner at Carmen
- sat in "our spot" Aquarium Bar
- saw "Music in Motion" in La Scala theater.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Getting lost in Barcelona is...

Fun!!

Adventurous!!

A little frustrating!!

Hilarious when you discover you've been walking down the exact street you've been looking for all afternoon!!

October 16, 2010
Barcelona
- arrived at 3 pm
- took airport shuttle to Place de Catalunya and walked to our hostel. Jenny and Lacey were going to meet us there.
- walked to Block of Discord which was only a block away from our hostel.
- walked down main boulevard to Place de Catalunya and stopped at the Information Center.
- started on our search for a souvenir shop I saw listed online on Carders Street.
- walked through Barrio Gothic and saw charming streets and cafes.
- finally found Carders even though we were already on the street. I really get confused when streets change names mid-street. Oops :)
- walked back to the Eixample district and ate at Que Que tapas bar listed by Rick Steves. I've discovered I do not like tapas.
- back at hotel to sleep. I was so happy that we made it all afternoon with not wanting to die of tiredness. Too bad we really weren't able to sleep because the streets were full of loud people ALL NIGHT LONG- it was a Saturday night and Barcelona football had a game (which we found out had won b/c of the people cheering in the streets at 2 AM). It did not get quiet until the sun rose.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Bon Voyage

10 days in Europe and my suitcase only weighs 26 lbs!! Funnily enough- Lesley's carry-on also weighs 26 lbs!! I guess we must be twins :)

Saturday, October 09, 2010

We're on the news!!!

This is a snippet of a news story tonight on Fox 13 News. We participated in Making Strides for Breast Cancer at Liberty Park- a five mile walk to raise awareness and support. At the very end, a reporter asked to interview us so we were all nice and sweaty from speed walking but we were happy to answer her questions. She interviewed all of us (mom, Andrea, Lesley, and ended with me) and then her camera man followed us a little in the park. Lauren was still in her jammies that just happened to match our tee-shirts. I had to give a shout-out to Weight Watchers and Gina's Tuesday Turtles!!
So now I'm basically a legend "let's face it, it happened" and "I'm no longer carrying photo ID because people should know who I am" (Sue Sylvester)