My Short, Fattening Greek Vacation

      Greece! It was finally the weekend! We left my apartment at 3:30 AM, probably the earliest I have ever gotten up in my life, in order to make our 6:40am flight. Once we arrived in Athens, we were sad because it was raining, but the promise of what was to come was so exciting! We dropped our stuff at the hotel, and went to walk around the Plaka area, where our hotel was located. Everywhere we looked were shops, restaurants, and street vendors waiting for our business. We stopped at a cute cafe, and sat outside. I had been craving meat and GYROS, which is exactly what I ordered! It was deliciously hot pork, with extremely fresh tomatoes, onions and tzatziki sauce (cucumber and sour cream-type). Mom got a Greek salad, that was pale in comparison to my great food. I was extremely happy about this meal, and ready for the weekend to begin.

      After our great lunch, we went to the Acropolis! We got directions from our extremely helpful front desk attendant, and got there in no time. We ended up getting rushed through the tour because we got there only a half our before they closed the area, but we got a lot of great pictures, and helpful information from our overzealous tour guide. The Parthenon was huge, much bigger than I had ever imagined it to be. Oppositely, the Temple of Athena Nike was so much smaller than I had imagined! Everything surpassed my expectations.  After the tour, we went to the New Acropolis Museum. Years before, the British had been keeping many old pieces of the Parthenon, pottery, and other remains of the ancient Greek. This museum was recently built to show the British that the Greek people are willing to give these historically significant items a suitable place to  housed. So, after spending millions of dollars, this museum was erected. The architecture was extremely beautiful, and beautifully displayed the pieces from so long ago.

Overlooking Athens, dogs were everywhere. This one looks like he is watching over his domain.

Erechthion.

Parthenon.

New Acropolis Museum.

      After our Acropolis Experience, we wandered around and miraculously found our hotel! I think it was a mix between lack of sleep (which i probably got 3 the previous night), how excited I was, and hunger, and I thought our crazy discovery was hilarious! I laughed and laughed until I was tearing up. We then realized our great need to freshen up, eat something, and to get to bed!
      The other helpful front desk attendant told us about a great place around the corner, so we eagerly started on our way. It was a small, family-run restaurant, and we were ambitious with our ordering. We ordered stuffed cabbage that had a light lemon-y white sauce, grilled squid, saganaki, and PEPSI (which Mama was super happy about)! Everything was super delicious, especially the stuffed cabbage, much to my surprise. Yummmmm the most delicious food hides in Greece! We ate then found a little cafe, where we ate baklava and something delicious that was recommended by our waiter. As it turns out, our waiter wasn't Greek, but was from Albania. Once he found out that we were from the Chicago-area, he told us that he was soon moving to Elmhurst to live with his uncle and go to school in Chicago! What a small world. After filling ourselves up, we went back to the hotel and passed out!
      Friday was the most exciting of all! The previous day, we found a brochure for a One Day Cruise, which went from 7:30am to 8pm, and went around to 3 different islands in the Saronic Gulf. We met at the Hard Rock Cafe, and were bussed to the dock where the boat was all ready to take us away. We got a yummy breakfast of croissants and cappuccinos on the boat.  As it turned out, we were unable to go to the first and furthest island, Hydra because the water was too rough. Which meant that we were unable to ride the donkeys (sorry, U.P.). We were still super exhausted, so we took a nap in the lower deck area of the boat at one of the booth tables.

View off the top of the boat right after we left the port. 

Our tickets and boat!

      We finally arrived in Poros, a beautiful little island with a beautiful clock tower. We climbed the stairs all the way up to it, and marveled at the view from that high up. On our way down, we shopped, and walked through Poros' tiny streets. We came across a neat little bakery, where we got the absolute most delicious rice pudding, and an okay cinnamon brown oatmeal-type pudding dessert. We made our way back to the boat, where we were served a delicious lunch, and were serenaded by Stavros, the musician, who either knew 6 or 60 different languages, we couldn't tell which it was. Surprisingly, I got a tad sick, which was probably due to the INTENSE rocking of the boat forward and back, side to side, enough to think you were on a see-saw. I felt better once I was outside with the intense wind and napping.

First look at Poros.

Climbing the stairs to the clock tower, our friend waiting for us at the top.

Such a pretty clock tower. 

Back on the boat in the wind! So attractive...

      Then we made it to Aegina, the second largest island in the Sardonic Gulf. We took a panoramic tour, where we took a bus down the coast, and saw a modern Greek author's coast-side house. Driving away from the water, we learned that 365 chapels were built on a hill, one for each day of the year. Now all that remains are less than 15. We also were able to tour the Church of Saint Nectarios, which was dedicated to this recent healing saint of the Greek Orthodox Church. This church started to be built in 1971 and was finished in 1994. Off the main room of the church is a chapel dedicated to keeping St. Nectarios' right hand in a beautiful silver casket-type box. It was beautiful, and enjoyably different from the churches you would see throughout Italy. After a quick stop at the church, we went to a Pistachio farm! We were able to see the trees, the machines they use to dry and open the shells, and the packaging machines. We tasted some pistachios and coffee, and bought a few bags and some pistachio pastries before heading back to the boat.

Shore-side. 

Chapels on the hillside. 

Church of St. Nectarios.

Right hand is right in there.

Pistachios on the tree! (bad ones, though)

Mule out by the docks, pretty girl!

      Once back on the boat, the show started! We experienced amazing Greek music and dancing. At one point, they pulled Mama up to dance with some others as well, and I know she loved it and had so much fun. ME, on the other hand, had an interesting dancing experience. They pulled me up, and after watching others dance, the man pulled me up and we did a little Greek kick-line type dance, then what reminded me of the "washcloth", and after picked me up on his shoulder and spun me around. Fun?... right. But don't you worry, don't be sad you missed my Greek-dance debut, ask my mom for a look at the video, she got it all on her fancy iPhone.

Dancers dancing. I really wanted her twirl-y skirt!!

      After we got back to the port of Athens, we were about dead from hunger, so we got delicious dinner, including fresh bread, lamb chops, mouthwatering kebabs and wine. Also, we were given free shots of Uozo, the famous Greek liquor. Let me tell you, you're not missing anything if you haven't tried it yet. It tasted like straight black licorice, unappetizing. Mama liked it, but she's always liked it. After dinner we shopped around, got a few (or so...) prizes for ourselves and others, then off to bed.
      Saturday we were up later, and got breakfast at the hotel (which mom thought it was weird that we got fresh black olives), and saw the Theater of Dionysus, and went on the Athens double-decker tour bus and saw a lot. We saw ruins, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian's Arch, the Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, and a lot more. It was crazy cool to think how old all the buildings and ruins were, and who had stepped where we did. TOo cool. We got GIANT gyros for lunch, and then headed to the Parliament building to see the changing of the guard for the tomb of the unknown soldier, which was crazy different, and went to the National Park and mini zoo, with a pond full of turtles! After we literally shopped until we dropped. We ended up getting dinner and Greek music all in one, with our purchases piled on the chairs next to us, full of perfect lamb kebabs and lamb chops, and dessert of baklava and perfect rice pudding.

Hadrian's Arch

Temple of the Olympian Zeus. Used to have hundreds of columns, now it has less than 15.

Mama talking back to the goose at the farm in the National Gardens.

Changing of the Guard. 

Acropolis by night, from a window on the top floor of our hotel.

     The entire weekend was full of crappy weather, but we made the best of it. However, we walked out to our cab on Sunday to get to the airport, and there were no clouds and blue skies as far as you can see. What a shame. But, our short, fattening Greek vacation was so amazing. I had such a great time with my mama, and came back to Rome with some great memories!

Our weather on Sunday morning. Figures!

      Sunday we got back, toured Castel Sant'Angelo, which mama loved, mama packed up, grabbed some spaghetti and other pasta dinner, gelato, and we slept. Dropping mama off at the cab was so sad (she even cried a little, don't let her tell you otherwise), because we got used to seeing each other those 2 weeks, but I knew I'd be home in 5-ish weeks. Now, since I'm so late in posting, its 4 and a half weeks. Where did all the time go??

xoxo Erica

Italians vs. the Rest of Europe

This link was shown to me by my roommate, who saw it in her Italian class. It is designed to show the differences in how Italians act as opposed to the rest of Europeans. Over the past two and a half months I have observed Italians' behavior, and I can contest that this is an accurate representation of their craziness.

Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkInkNMpI1Q

xoxo Erica

Spring Break: Five Women Making Their Way Through Rome and Venice

      Hooray! Family/Spring Break week was absolutely fantastic. Not only did I get free meals and a few prizes, but I spent the week with my awesome mamma, sister, aunt, and cousin showing them around the beautiful city of Rome and a short trip to Venice. Here's how it went...

      Saturday I had gotten up early to do some dishes and clean a bit before my family got here. All of a sudden, we heard our doorbell ring, and since we weren't expecting anyone at all at to come to our apartment that day we ignored it. Then, we heard someone banging on our door, so I figured I should check it out. I opened the door and there was my mom! It turned out they didn't have the address to their hotel, but they had my address so they had the taxi drop them off here! After we reunited and I changed out of my pajamas, we went to the hotel to drop off their stuff. Then we did a nice walk around St. Peter's Square, up to the Castel Sant'Angelo, walking, talking, laughing, and window shopping a bit. After a while, we got tired so we all took close to a 3 hour nap, then freshened up. We walked then to Piazza del Popolo (the People's Square), then to the Spanish Steps, around to the Trevi Fountain, and found a very cute restaurant with a view of the fountain down the street. We had delicious food, great wine, and talked all while eating our yummy yummy food. They all were happy with the great Italian food they ate. We got gelato to end the great night and slept well.

Mama, Emily and Kathleen wishing on the Trevi. 

      The plan for Sunday was to to to mass in St. Peter's at 10:30am, but there was no way to cross the street to even get to the square because there was a marathon taking place! So many runners were whizzing by past the Vatican, with just as many people cheering on the sidelines. It was unfortunate that we missed mass in the morning, but cool to see the runners throughout the entire city during the day. So, we went for breakfast, and walked to Piazza del Popolo, and saw the marathon there as well as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh! It was almost as if we were in Disney again! We took the trek up to Villa Borghese park, which overlooks Piazza del Popolo and almost all of Rome. Our main objective was to get to the actual villa to see the art exhibit, but we took our time meandering through the beautiful, lively park. There were people riding bikes, children playing in the grass, guitar players, and couples having picnics throughout the park. By the time we got there, the ticket person told us we couldn't get in, and had to pre-pay for tickets Wednesday (that was the second strike-out for the day). We walked through and found our way out of the park, walked to the Metro and made it to mass at the Vatican at 5:30pm.

Racing around the Vatican.

      Mass was a very interesting experience (good-interesting). Were we sat was cool enough, right next to and almost underneath Bernini's Canopy. It seemed like a very long mass, especially because it was all in Italian, but it was fantastic to sit there, in St. Peter's, with so many different people, speaking many languages, from different backgrounds. There was also beautiful music sung by a group of young singers, making the place full of beautiful music.   
      After mass, we took the metro to the Re di Roma stop, and found a quaint little family-owned restaurant, and at the BEST Italian food I had had to that day; Fettuccine with grilled salmon, wine, everything so delicious. The dinner wasn't just spectacular tasting, but all 5 of us laughed and talked about the family vacations we took together, including Mexico, Florida keys, Disney, Michigan, Scotland, Ireland, and mom and Carol talked about Bass Lake. It was so funny just sitting here all talking and laughing. After that great meal, we went to the infamous POMPI! Mom, Emily, Carol and Kathleen were very impressed by the fantastic tiramisu and coffee, and we all tried the different variations that were ordered (strawberry, classic, and banana and Nutella). Great way to end the night. We taxi-ed it back, and my mom commented on how terrifying it was that they were all depending on me to get around, and how weird that it was that i was the youngest of us all and apparently "directionally challenged", even though I am not. I had to sit in the front seat of the cab as well, because I also apparently "speak Italian", if you count the few words I know.

The three daughters at POMPI.

All of our delicious desserts! Yummmm.

      Monday was such a busy day, starting at the Colosseum. Even though I've been there once before, it was still awe-inspiring to see the gigantic structure and think about its history. After a while spent in the Colosseum, we made our way to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, which were cool, even if everything is in ruins it was interesting to see it for yourself after learning about it in school. After a quick lunch, we made our way to the Pantheon, and picked up University of Rome sweatshirts because it got sooo chilly really quick. The Pantheon is also amazing to go to multiple times, because you always are still surprised at how big and ingenious it is. This is where Rafael's tomb is, Vittorio Emanuele (first king of Italy who also unified all of Italy), and his son and daughter-in-law (Margherita, who was the inspiration for pizza Margherita). Afterwards, we all made our way to St Louis of the French church where paintings by Caravaggio are on the walls, as well as to Piazza Navona, where there are artists everywhere displaying their beautiful talents.

Near the Colosseum (or Roman Forum?)

      Tuesday was extremely long, because we went through the Vatican Museums, which took about 4 hours. I had been there once before, but this time we got the audio guides, which helped immensely in knowing what was important and in giving interesting background information. We went through the museums, the Sistine Chapel, and were about to drop dead by that time. Before going into the square and the basilica, we ate delicious paninis, and gelato at the famous Old Bridge gelato shop, which definitely hit the spot.

      When Mom, Carol and Emily walked around the basilica, Kathleen and I took to the stairs to climb up to the cupola, or the top dome which overlooks so much of Rome at every angle. I love the views from here, so I had an excellent time climbing up, however out of breath we were from taking the stairs the entire way, about 551 stairs all the way to the top. Thank goodness it was cool outside, or we would have roasted in the tiny stairways! It was, once again, an incredible view, and I'd even do it again.

      Wednesday morning we woke up super early and made our way to the Villa Borghese art museum, which was larger than I had expected, and a little more boring than I had expected. However, there were some very interesting sculptures and paintings that I enjoyed looking at and learning about. After, the four of them all went to the Leonardo DaVinci Museum, where there are some of his inventions made, which you can touch and move and figure out how it works/moves. I had already gone with my Travel Writing class, so I passed in order to sit in Piazza del Popolo (right by the little museum) to soak up some wonderful sunshine. We tried then to go to the Catacombs, but they were closed on Wednesdays (of course, the day we want to go), so we decided to got to the church of the Cappuchian Monks. This was an experience everyone should have, however creepy it was. Under the church there were the "tombs" of the monks, but it was more of rooms full of bones-literally. The walls, ceilings and floors were decorated with the bones of the dead monks, taken apart to create almost-beautiful designs. You were even lucky enough to see full skeletons of some monks, Yuck. It was cool to see, but very gross and morbid. After that experience, we went shopping, and then tried to find a place for dinner, but couldn't find it (probably it was closed), so we settled on a different one, where some of our food came in the pans they were cooked in.

Beautiful trees in the park.

The Villa in the park Villa Borghese.

      Thursday morning was very stressful for me, as we settled on meeting before our train to Venice at ten to 7, but my wonderful family decided to be 30 minutes late, giving us less than 30 minutes to get to the train station and to get on our train, which I thought was almost impossible. We caught a cab, thinking it would be faster, but we hit a few traffic blocks, and made it to the station with 5 minutes to spare before the train left, getting on the train with about a minute and a half to spare. I almost had a heart attack, being so nervous that we would miss it, but I guess it all turned out okay. 

      We got to Venice and were AMAZED. We found our hotel down a little alleyway, and walked around taking picture after picture of the beautiful water, bridges, gondolas, buildings, everything.  Also, we ended up taking our first gondola ride late that afternoon, which was spectacular. Our gondolier took us around through the little waterways, showing us Napolean Bonapart's house, Marco Polo's house, and many other landmarks. I couldn't tell you which pictures were of which houses, but it was beautiful and great to hear about it. We also learned from Fabio that the right side of the gondola is shorter than the left, which makes up for the gondolier's rowing, or however he moves the gondola. Also we learned that there are over 200 churches in Venice, as well as over 400 bridges, connecting all the islands together. The pictures I took were absolutely beautiful, I wish I could share ALL of them with you! Afterwards we had "happy hour with a bottle of Belini (Prosecco [sparkling white wine] and peach juice.. to die for), and went to dinner.

Gondolas by the edge of the canal, what we first saw after arriving. 

The "street" (more of an alley-way) to our hotel.

What the window of our hotel room looked out onto.

B-E-A-utiful.

Gondoliers taking a break.

On the gondola!

View from the gondola on the canal.

      Friday we were contemplating what we were going to do, and decided against a ton of art museums, because it was absolutely gorgeous the entire time we were there, 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. So, we went to the famous St. Mark's square, as well as into the basilica of St. Mark, which was full of beautiful mosaic masterpieces covering the whole of the walls and ceiling, as well as a fantastic view from the balcony overlooking the square. The large bronze horses on top were the fake ones, but they were gigantic to stand next to, and impressive to look up to from the ground. We also made it to Santa Maria Gloriosa di Frari church, which housed the famous alterpiece Assumption of the Virgin by Titian, as well as Madonna and Child with Saint by Bartolomeo Vivarini, among others, also housing the monuments to Titian and Antonio Canova. It was fantastic. That night we also had a wonderful, but expensive, meal. Kathleen had lobster spaghetti, Carol and Emily had shrips, and mom and I had flounder, with Gorgonzola gnocchi = DELICIOUS! It also turned out that our waitress skillfully de-boned the fish right in front of us, with only a fork and a spoon. Delicious!

This is us walking through the "streets" of Venice. 

St. Mark's Square from the top of St. Mark's church.

The girls not afraid to whip out a map when we got lost. 

Gorgonzola gnocci.

Delicious fish!!

      The next day we walked around for an hour before our train back to Venice, and bought last minute souvenirs. Train ride home, they all packed, and got a yummy speghetti meal by the spanish steps, a great way to end a spectacular week!

      Emily, Carol and Kathleen left on Sunday, and mom and I went to Via Appia Antica, where the catacombs were located. Our guide was a bit quirky, but he was very informative throughout the tour. It was incredibly interesting to hear that so many people, mostly children, were buried here, the only Christian cemetary. Eventually when Constantine came to power, but so many people before that were buried there. After the tour, mom and I got ourselves pretty lost, got some lunch at a little cafe, and found our way to the bus, meeting 2 couples here from France, communicating interestingly in English, French, and my little Italian, and a family from Arizona with two young girls. 

      After we got back, we got gelato, yet again, I did my homework, and mom slept here, and I walked her to the train in the morning, where she went to Florence until Wednesday. 

xoxo Erica

My New Reason for Life.

My roommates have introduced me to the BEST food combination ever. Just take a look. 

I am sure you will see what I mean. 

YUmmmmmmmmmy. 

xoxo Erica

St. Patrick's Day!

      Hey all! This past week was midterms, so nothing really exciting happened as I was furiously studying. Last night, however, was a great night.
      As you all know, the 17th of march is St. Patrick's Day! However, you may not know that it is also the anniversary of the unification of Italy, which happened in 1861. So, yesterday was the big 150th year celebration! There were many more people out at night than usual, there were museums open for later times, fireworks at the Colosseum (which I missed by 2 minutes, who thought that Italians would be on time the one time that I wasn't?)

Me in front of the Colosseum, AFTER the fireworks.

      Last night, though, me and my roommates decided to celebrate St. Patrick's day, since it was mostly one of our favorite days of the year (especially me!). So we went to an Irish pub called the Abbey Theater, who was to have live music at 9:30 that night. Another huge reason for us going there was because they had CHEESEBURGERS. We had all been craving cheeseburgers and French fries for the longest time, and decided that the day after we were done with finals was a good time to reward ourselves with these deliciously unhealthy treats. And let me tell you, they were worth every calorie! Also in honor of St. Patty's day, my roommate talked me into trying a Guinness! Just after I tasted it I thought about my Uncle Pat, and how proud he would be that I liked it! We stayed for the band, which turned out to be just 4 guys (playing a wooden flute, a guitar and a fiddle) playing at a table while drinking, who we could barely hear over the people in the pub, but they did sound great, and I had the urge to get up and do a jig (almost!). It was overall a fun and laid-back night with Irish music and crazy fun people to laugh at!

 Finally, our cheeseburgers!

YUmmmmmmmmmy.

Fine!

Me and my 1st Guinness.

 The band from across the bar. 

.....

And gelato to finish off the night, of course!

Next week on Erica's Blog: Mamma, Emily, Kathleen and Carol visit!!! only 18 hours until they arrive in Italy!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe St. Patrick's day!
xoxo Erica