As we arrived in Berlin, our third stop of the trip, the first thing we saw in the train station was a Dunkin Donuts, and I could not have been happier. I felt like a kid in a candy store walking in and got myself a hot chocolate and Boston cream doughnut. Safe to say I was in heaven. We checked into the hostel late Wednesday night and got some much needed sleep.
Thursday we started off at the Berlin Zoo. It was a perfect fall morning, sunny but still a bit chilly. It was nice to walk around outside and not have worry about following a map or dodging cars and bicycles. From the zoo, we met our tour guide for a free walking tour of Berlin. We started at the Berlin Cathedral, the largest Protestant church in Germany, and then walked to Humbolt University where the likes of Otto von Bismarck, Albert Einstein, and the Brothers Grimm have studied and worked. Next on the stop was Checkpoint Charlie, the American crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. We finished up seeing the Berlin Wall, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, and the former site of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide (now turned into a parking lot). The tour finished up at Pariser Platz at the base of the Brandenburg Gate where Napoleon marched his army through after his victory over the Prussians in 1806.  Berlin Cathedral  Jewish Holocaust Memorial |  In front of the Berlin Wall  Brandenburg Gate | After the tour ended, we went out to dinner then found a movie theater playing movies in English and saw Paranormal Activity 4. Not exactly immersing ourselves in the German culture, but we couldn't pass up a taste of home.
Friday morning we had a few hours to kill before our train to Prague, so we went to the famous East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall. The East Side Gallery is about a mile long section of the wall near the center of Berlin. Over 100 paintings by artists from around the world cover the wall, making it the largest open air gallery in the world. Some of the art was really abstract, but all of the works sent the same message of peace and unity. After a few hours at the wall, we picked up our bags, got some more Dunkin Donuts at the train station, and took off for Prague.  East Side Gallery
 "I AMsterdam" sign After arriving first class on the train, we checked in to our hostel late Monday (10/22) afternoon and grabbed some food. Our first stop: the famous Amsterdam Red Light District. After a walk around the Red Light District, we found a carnival with rides, games, and fried dough in Dam Square and spent the night there.
Tuesday morning we boarded a bus tour of the city. On the tour we saw the Royal Palace, Dam Square, the Western Church, the Skinny Bridge, and Amsterdam's tallest windmill. We also stopped off at the famous Gassan Diamond factory where we learned about the different cuts and types of diamonds. Not quite my cup of tea, but the girls loved it.
After the bus tour, we headed over for a canal tour of the city. Amsterdam has a nickname of the "Venice of the North" because of its 60 plus miles of canals intertwined in the city. There are 90 islands and over 1,500 bridges connecting the streets. Due to a shortage of housing, many people live in house boats right on the canals. I wish I could say what we saw on the tour, but I was asleep for about 75% of it. Traveling is exhausting...
 Seven bridges over the canals After my nice boat nap, the group split up and I went to the Amsterdam Dungeon with a few other. The Dungeon is more or less a very impressive haunted house. They have actors that tell stories of Amsterdam's past while at the same time scarring the living day lights out of you for an hour and a half. That certainly woke me up.
After dinner at the hostel, we went back to the carnival. Some of us went on a ride called the "Ejection Seat" where you're strapped into a metal ball on the end of a sling shot and then shot way up into the air to fling and spin around. As if that wasn't enough, my friend Jeana and I went on another thrill ride that spins you around upside down and backwards (in front of the Ferris Wheel). We both regretting going on that one after the ride finished...  Ejection Seat |  Never go on this ride... | Before our train to Berlin Wednesday at noon, we stopped by the "I amsterdam" statue around the corner from our hostel for the typical tourist photo. The letters are about 6 feet tall and we climbed all over them for the picture. We caught our train, only second class this time, and took off for Berlin!
After three weeks straight of a combination of mid-terms and traveling, I finally have a day off to catch up on the blog. Who knew studying abroad would be this exhausting?!? Probably won't be getting a lot of sympathy though...tough crowd.
After a week of mid-terms, Lorenzo de'Medici gave us a week off for vacation. My group of friends decided to do what's called the Northern Loop consisting of Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague (each city will have a separate post). Instead of going through the student travel company Bus2Alps, we decided to plan the trip on our own, a big undertaking to say the least. With planes, trains, and hostels booked, we set off Thursday night (10/18) the for our first destination: Paris.
We woke up Friday and set off for the Château de Versailles, or Palace of Versailles, just outside of Paris. The 17th century building was the center of political power in France when Louis XIV moved here from Paris. The palace has 2,300 rooms with original and replica pieces from the time period, and is estimated to have cost $2 billion to construct. Outside the palace is almost 2,000 acres of gardens, including the house of Marie Antoinette. No luck trying to find a "For Sale" sign anywhere on the property...  Outside the front gate |  "Backyard" at Versailles | Late Friday afternoon we went to the Musée du Louvre, the museum that houses Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Venus di Milo statue. The Mona Lisa is a lot smaller than I had imagined, although it was still pretty neat to see the original. After walking around the museum for a few hours, we went to get an authentic French dinner where I experienced my first escargot. Très bon! Thank you Nikki for treating me to birthday dinner!
Despite the rain on Saturday morning, a few of us went on a four hour bike tour of the city of Paris. We couldn't have looked like tourists anymore than we did riding around with ponchos on. The tour brought us to see the Eiffel Tower, a complex of buildings called Les Invalides that houses Napoleon's tomb, the Musées du Louvre and D'Orsay, and a few other sites.
| | After a brief stop at Louis Vuitton for the girls (although they did have a Louis golf bag), we went to climb, well, take an elevator, to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The Tower was a lot taller than I expected it to be, and the view from the top was amazing until the clouds set in and it started to rain again.
Saturday night we went out to a restaurant and formally celebrated my 21st birthday as my real birthday was in the middle of mid-terms and I spent it studying. We found a little Italian restaurant by our hostel that was surprisingly some of the best Italian food I've had in Europe. After some lasagna, spaghetti with muscles, and a few glasses (or bottles) of wine, some of us went back to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up at night.
Standing under the tower with its golden glow was amazing. The overcast conditions actually paid off for us, as the lights illuminated the fog around the top of the tower. The five of us passed around a bottle of champagne and watched the tower in amazement. I even broke out a few Frank Sinatra songs on my phone to set the mood. It was an incredible sight and an amazing night. |  Not a shabby way to celebrate my 21st birthday | As if Paris wasn't great enough, Sunday I got to go to Disneyland Paris to take a break from the traditional European culture. The park was decorated for Halloween so we all enjoyed the fall atmosphere that we're missing out on back in New England. It wasn't quite the same as Disney World back in the U.S. but we still had a great time going on all the rides (Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Rocking Roller Coaster, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.). We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe to celebrate my friend Alyssa's birthday and then headed back to the hostel.
We had half a day left in Paris Monday morning, so a few of us went over the the Notre Dame Cathedral for a few hours. Construction began in 1163 and is one of the most well known cathedrals in the world, and I could certainly see why due to the sheer size of the church. The stained glass windows were massive as well. We grabbed a baguette sandwich and some macaroons, grabbed our bags from the hostel, and caught our train for Amsterdam. Second class seats were all sold out, so we were forced into the first class cabin where we got free sandwiches, snacks, and wine, but we were most excited over the free WiFi that actually worked! | |
Have you ever had those moments where you just stop and look around in complete amazement? That's what this entire weekend was like down in the Amalfi Coast.We arrived at our hotel Friday morning around 2:30 AM and got a few short hours of sleep. We left around 8:00 AM for a private boat to the island of Capri. We sailed around the island and stopped off at the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Europe. The Blue Grotto is a small cave that the sunlight passes into through an underwater cavity and creates a blue reflection that illuminates the cave, very Avatar like. My friends and I got into very small wooden boats and we entered the cave through a tiny entrance. Some people even went swimming in the Grotto.  Entrance to the Blue Grotto |  Inside the Blue Grotto | After the boat tour, we got docked at Marina Grande on the island of Capri. We walked up to the top of the island to Augustus' Garden for a great view of Capri. We then took a bus to the town of Anacapri to spend the day. Here, we grabbed lunch and walked around. A huge mountain, Mt. Solaro, has a chairlift that takes you up to the top for 360 degree views of the island, and the view from the top was incredible. We sailed back to the mainland and that night we went to dinner in Sorrento and then to an outdoor beer garden. Saturday morning we left for the beach town of Positano. The bus ride there was an adventure in itself with the narrow, winding roads hugging the cliffs. We walked down stair after stair to finally reach the black sand beaches. It felt weird spending the first weekend in October at a beach, but the temperature was in the upper 70s and the water was even warmer than Cape Cod during the summer. The water was unusually salty so we were all able to easily float and look back at the incredible coast line. Not bad for October! Although I wouldn't mind a little Fall golf right about now... That afternoon we had the option of taking a boat out to go cliff jumping and cave swimming, which turned out to be my favorite experience of the trip. The boat pulled up to a beach, we all jumped out, and the fun began. There's a narrow path up the side of the cliff with a few places to jump from. Each time I went I kept trying to find a higher and higher place to jump from and maxed out around 25-30 feet. Lots of fun! The rest of the day was dedicated to a well earned nap on the beach.
(Video below is the view from the boat)  Me cliff jumping on the right |
Sunday we packed up from the hotel and went to Pompeii for the day. We took a tour of the ancient Roman ruins that were covered by nearly 20 feet of volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvis volcano erupted in 79 AD. The archaeologists discovered bodies of the victims of the volcano and to preserve them, pumped the moldings with plaster. These people had no where to go when the volcano erupted, so most sat down and waited for the ash to cover him/her. It was very interesting to learn about ancient Roman life.
This weekend I spent catching up on the homework and readings that I had procrastinated on for midterms (starting October 16). But after a few days of hard work we get rewarded with a 10 day Fall break that I'll be spending visiting Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague. Some life, huh?
Arrivederci! | |  On top of the world
 This past weekend was one of the trips was looking the most forward to from way back over the summer when we started planning out travel. After a month of (attempting to) speaking Italian, we were all looking forward to getting to speak English again. We departed Italy from Pisa International Airport late Thursday night and checked into our hostel in London around 2:00 AM. To our surprise, we were staying in a room with 17 other people, but for $20 a night, we'll take it.
My friend Nikki and I started off Friday bright and early to go to the Warner Brother's Studio Tour London featuring The Making of Harry Potter. Growing up, Harry Potter was my favorite series of books and I'm still a huge fan today and now have the biggest urge to watch all of the movies again. The studio tour featured the real sets, costumes, props, and animatronics used while filming the movies. We walked through the Great Hall, Gryffindor common room, Hagrid's Hut, and stopped in front of Number 4 Private Drive. I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look of the movies.
| We said goodbye to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and took off to the Natural History Museum in London where we learned a lot about, you guessed it, natural history. Friday night we went on a ghost tour of the so-called most haunted city in the world. The tour guide was very entertaining although most of his stories turned out to be "fake" ghosts. Exhausted, we went back to the hostel to plan out our next day and very happily went to bed early.
Saturday started off with buying tickets to see a play called "Our Boys" for later that night, then off for the Tower of London, or more formally called Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress. The tower has nearly 1,000 years of history; in 1080 William the Conqueror began to build the massive tower in the middle of his fortress. During the 12th and 13th centuries Kings and Queens expanded the site to its current footprint. The Tower of London is home to Her Majesty's Crown Jewels, an armory, and lots of medieval weapons. We took a tour with a Yeoman Warder who have been the Royal Bodyguard since 1509. Very funny guy who loved to scream with his Sean Connery Scottish accent. We took a few pictures with the Tower Bridge made famous over the summer with its hanging Olympic rings, a quick stop at the giant department store Harrod's (for the girls, of course), and then we were off to the show.
|  Simon the Yeoman warder/tour guide |  Yours truly with the Tower Bridge | After a dinner of fish and chips, we got to the show. It was one of the more inexpensive shows that was still playing and fit our schedule, so we took a chance on it. The characters were slowly introduced one by one and when one actor came out and said a few lines, we all recognized his voice. Turned out he was Matthew Lewis, the actor who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films. We were all amazed to see him and waited outside the theater after the show to get pictures with him. Good thing we chose Our Boys and not Legally Blonde! Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you how the play ended, as I might have fallen asleep... Sunday started off with a few pictures at the famous Beatles' Crossing at Abbey Road. Luckily we weren't the only tourists there that morning holding up traffic. From there we went to see Big Ben, the Parliament building, and Westminster Abbey (closed Sunday's for services). After looking real touristy, we were off to see the changing of the guards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The guards come in with marching bands through the crowds of people. I didn't have a great place to watch from, but it was still pretty interesting to see the ceremony and the palace. No, the Queen wasn't in that day for tea... |  Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) |  Beatles Crossing at Abbey Road  Big Ben |  Westminster Abbey |  Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace |
After the ceremony, the girls went off for afternoon English tea and I went to the British Museum. I saw the Rosetta Stone, lots of Egyptian mummies, and artifacts from throughout ancient history. We met up and took the London Duck Tour and quacked our way around the city and into the River Thames. At least our tour guide credited Boston with the original Duck Tour. We dried off then went up in the London Eye, a 443 foot tall Ferris wheel that provided great views of London. The London Eye was also featured on the Olympics many times over the summer.
|  Myself, Jeana, Becky, and Nikki at the top of the London Eye We grabbed dinner, stopped off at Platform 9 3/4 (also from Harry Potter) at King's Cross Station, and went back to the hostel for an early flight back to Italy. This weekend were off to the Almafi Coast in southern Italy. Looking forward to a little rest and relaxation. All this traveling (and school work) is exhausting! Cheers!
| I just got back from camping out in Munich for Oktoberfest. What did you do this weekend?
When we arrived at the Stoke Travel campground at 9:00 AM on Friday, the party officially started. We were greeted by very friendly Australians with cups of cold beer and sangria before we could even put our bags down. After checking in we were able to find our tents and and get breakfast, a five-star meal of a fried egg on a piece of toast and beans. After a few hours of hanging out, we took a bus and a train into the heart of Munich for a bike tour of the city. The bike tour was a great way to quickly see the city of Munich. It lasted about 3 hours and we got to see just how beautiful Munich is. We stopped at the "Englisher Garten" (English Garden for those who aren't fluent in German, myself included) for an authentic German lunch of french fries, sausages, giant pretzels, and last but not least, beer. | |  The famous Haufbrauhaus on the left |
After a restless nights sleep in the tents, Saturday was the big day we got to spend at Oktoberfest. We woke up at 6:30 AM to make it to the tents early to get a table, turns out we still weren't early enough. We waited outside the Hofbräu Festhalle for over an hour in the rain before we were let inside where several large German security men ripped my umbrella out of my hands and threw it away (RIP umbrella). Fortunately, some of our friends made it inside before we did and got us a table. The Hofbräu Festhalle had seating for 7,000 people, but there had to be at least 10,000 inside and even more outside.
| | | |  Inside the Haufbrau tent | Being at Oktoberfest for the opening day was really cool. The mayor of Munich goes to a tent at noon and taps the first keg, signifying the opening of Oktoberfest. As soon as he taps the first keg, all the other tents are allowed to tap their kegs and the whole building erupted. Somehow, our table was one of the first ones served. We must have gotten the beer wench to really like us somehow, hard to believe for a bunch of college students from the US. We joined in with the rest of the tent singing German drinking songs and chants (the "Let's Go Marist" chant didn't quite work out, but at least we tried).
Our tables were reserved at 3:00 PM, so security came over and screamed and blew whistles at us and kicked us out of the tent, but we like to say that we were being too loud and got kicked out on our own account. We walked around the festival grounds for a few hours, bought my souvenir stein, and then went back to the campsite for the after party. Safe to say we all slept pretty soundly that night.
WARNING: Turn your volume down for the video below!!!
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After sleeping in for a few extra hours Sunday morning, we took off to Dachau concentration camp, the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany that opened in 1933. As much fun as Oktoberfest was, this experience brought all of us back to Earth. We walked around and followed a tour path with signs and descriptions of what we were seeing. Over 200,000 prisoners were incarcerated here and more than 43,000 died. Truly a humbling experience walking though the gas chambers and past the crematoriums. Being able to see the camp first hand is something that I will never forget.
| | We departed Munich Sunday afternoon and arrived in Florence shortly after midnight. What a weekend. I have a few days of classes and then we're off to London for the weekend. I'll be sure to give the Queen everyone's best wishes.
Prost! (German for "Cheers!")
I'll start by saying I never expected Croatia to be as amazing as it was. It was one of those countries that I've heard of but knew nothing about or had any intention of visiting until we started planning and looking into trips.
We showed up at the bus meeting point and I looked around at the group and noticed something. Other than our tour guide, I was the only guy on the trip. 50 girls. 2 guys. 12 hour bus ride. It's safe to say I was a little worried for my life...
After the 13 hour overnight bus ride (highway was shut down to to incredibly strong wind), we checked into our hostel in Split, Croatia, dropped off our bags, and headed out to go white water rafting. After a bus ride through the mountains, we met the rafting crew at the Cetina River. They gave us our wetsuits, helmets, and water shoes and we were on our way. We spent about 3 hours rafting down the river with a few breaks to swim and cliff jump. Our tour guide took us up to the top of a cliff (about 15-20 feet tall). It didn't look as far down til about half way into the jump, but it was a great experience. We asked our tour guide, Marco, about life in Croatia and he asked us about the U.S. and our culture. He was a very funny guy and made fun of the girls in the boat for being tired and not paddling hard enough. When it started raining Marco started to sing "It's raining again! Hallelujah!" until we told him the correct lyrics of "It's raining men!". Safe to say he won't be singing that on any future tours. We finished up the rafting in the pouring rain and they had dinner waiting for us (and wine to cheer everyone up). |
We spent Saturday cruising Croatia's Dalmatian coastline on the Adriatic Sea on a private boat going island hopping and swimming. Tough life huh? The views from the bow of the boat were amazing and I spent the entire boat ride sitting back and watching the waves go by. Certainly could get used to this lifestyle. We stopped at the islands of Brac and Solta to swim and nap on the rock beach. I couldn't believe how clear and blue the water was. It looked more like a painting than reality. A boat ride back to shore, dinner in Trogir, Croatia, and then we called it a day.
| |  View from the beach | On our way back to Florence on Sunday we stopped at Krka National Park to go swimming in a waterfall. Walking through the paths to get to the waterfall looked like a scene out of Avatar. The water was a little chilly but we all got over it pretty quickly. Swimming out to the base of the waterfall was unreal. It was a perfect way to end the weekend before our 10 hour bus ride back to Florence. | |
Hard to believe that it's already been two weeks since I arrived in Italy. The time is flying by and I'm constantly doing something, including going to classes. If it wasn't for Lorenzo de' Medici's strict attendance policy I'd be out cruising the islands of Greece, but unfortunately, I have class.
Last week of class was "syllabus week" where the professors just go over what we will be learning and the students go out every night to the bars. This week we had assignments and reading due. All of my classes seem really interesting and the professors are all very nice and enthusiastic about their course. They all speak English with an accent so at times it's hard to understand. I was able to pick my classes so I don't have any on Mondays, and the school doesn't have Friday classes, so I have four day weekends to travel and catch up on sleep. It's a hard life but somebody's got to do it.
I start the week off with Elementary Italian Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9:00 AM (3:00 AM EST), were learning some key phrases and words so we can get by in conversation. Italian is pretty similar to Spanish, so I know a lot of the words already, but everything is pronounced differently so I have to retrain myself to say the words correctly. But if you just talk really loudly, wave your arms around, and roll your R's it all sounds the exact same to me.
Tuesday afternoons I have Lifestyles of Renaissance Florence with Marcello Bellini, a short, eccentric Italian man who loves to make fun of the students and himself. The first day of class he told us how mad he gets when people call him "Marshmallow" and for us to never call him that. The class focuses on the art, architecture, sculptures, and lifestyles of Florence from the 13th century and it's surprisingly much more interesting than it sounds. We talked about a couple families the first half of class and spent the second half exploring the city of Florence. We visited the Santa Trinita church and saw the chapels and tombs of the families we talked about. You get a much better understanding of the times when you're standing next to the guy's dead body. Next week we're visiting the Santa Croce church (hopefully named after my ancestors).  Santa Croce, view from the top of the Bell Tower near the Duomo Wednesdays I have Introduction to Italian Philosophy. Not that interesting to me but still pretty cool to be reading the works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
After Philosophy I have my most interesting class, Mysteries and Sacred Knowledge in Architecture. It reminded me of the "Da Vinci Code" and so far hasn't disappointed. Today we learned about different theories and myths of ancient pyramids and how the Egyptians might not have actually build them. The professor is a self-proclaimed hippie and is pretty out there. Half way through class he stopped and lead us in meditation for ten minutes. He said we'll do a different type of meditation each class to change our level of consciousness. Can't believe I actually get credit for his class.
Thursdays I have Elementary Italian again and then Italian Style Cooking in the afternoons. The professor prides himself on using fresh and healthy ingredients low in calories. Last week we made bruschetta with buffalo mozzarella and basil, a bell pepper bread roll, baked eggplant with herbs on top, and a fruit salad with vanilla dressing. The best part is that we end each class eating all the food we just made. We're also going on two field trips for cooking, one to San Gimignano (where I did the wine tour last weekend) and the other to the Chocolate Factory of Perugina in San Sista. Hopefully it will be a little different than Willie Wonka's chocolate factory...
I'm slowing adjusting to the Florence city lifestyle. The streets are very narrow and the cars, buses, vespas, and bicycles drive incredibly fast right past you. There are always groups of foreigners on tours and gypsies begging you for money. You just put your head down walking to class and go. Other than walking around, everything moves at a much slower pace: at least two hours if you go out to eat, professors arrive late to class, the washing machine takes over two hours to finish. But it's nice to sit back and relax with a glass of wine (yes, I can legally buy alcohol now!). There are no dryers so everything has to be put on a drying rack in our kitchen over night to dry. While food shopping you just buy what you see and hope it's something you'll eat, but worst case scenario I have a Subway and McDonald's right down the street from my apartment.
Off to a family style dinner with unlimited wine now. I'll be spending this upcoming weekend white water rafting and island hopping in Croatia. Ahhh living the life!
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After a long day drinking wine in San Gimignano, how better than to spend the next day at the beach? A few of my friends and I took a train from the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence to Viareggio, about 1:45 hours away on the northwestern coast of Italy. After getting a little bit lost, we finally found the public beach at the end of the strip. It was great to be able to float around in the water, and it was a lot warmer than the beaches on the Cape. Not a bad view either...
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| Today we took a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano with Bus2Alps, a student travel agency that plans day, weekend, and week long trips around Europe. Siena used to be a rival city to Florence and is home to medieval and renaissance architecture. We started with a walking tour of the city and saw the Siena Cathedral and Duomo and then walked to Piazza del Campo in the center of Siena. Twice every year, the piazza is completely transformed to host the Pailo di Siena, an incredibly dangerous horse race for both jockeys and horses. The piazza is packed full of people and everyone is dead quiet at the start of the race. I had to watch this video to actually believe it. |  Piazza del Campo | From Siena we drove to Tenuta Torciano, a winery and vineyard in San Gimignano. We got the VIP treatment there, 8 different wines to sample, a plate of bread, cheeses, and salamis to try with the wines, and a plate of lasagna with truffle oil drizzled over it. The owner of the vineyard, Pierluigi, was the typical Italian wine drinker. He said wine isn't just a drink, its "passion and love." My friend Nikki had quite the encounter with the owner's nephew (video below). We all had a great time throwing back glass after glass and could have spent hours there.  My friend Kristen and I at the vineyard Don't worry, he didn't feed or kiss me after the video stopped...
Loaded up with lots of wine, we went to the walled medieval town of San Gimignano for gelato and time to explore the city. We didn't last there very long and everyone passed out on the bus ride home.  View from overlook at San Gimignano
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