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Monday, March 9, 2009

Spring Break: Carnivale, Athens and Berlin!

After Midterms ended, I was very much ready for a break! I didn't leave until Sunday, so I had Friday and Saturday to myself in Florence to have fun. Margaret wasn't leaving until Sunday either, so we got together on Friday and had ourselves a picnic in the Boboli Gardens. They had mock gardens from Pompeii, which was fun to go around after seeing the ruins just a week or so before. I bought myself an Uffizi Pass, so now I can go back there as often as I want! After being kicked out of the gardens as they were closing, we went back to Margaret's apartment, where I had dinner with her and Carolyn.

On Saturday Margaret and I got together again and decided that since it was such fabulous weather again, we were going to climb the Duomo. After exploring the inside, and standing in a huge line, we finally got to climb the 463 steps to the top of the dome! It was so much fun to be climbing something we had studied so much about, and we were complete architecture students the whole time....We stayed up and watched the beginning of the sunset, before again being kicked out of the Duomo. We were literally the last ones out of the cathedral. hahaha. Side note: Has anyone ever noticed how creepy the illustrations are on the dome?!?!?! See the pictures....Margaret and I went our separate ways to pack and get ready for the next day, and then met up later that night for dinner.

Sunday I went with Laelle to Viareggio for the end of Carnivale! It was a lot of fun, despite the rain, and full of loud colors, music, and LOTS of people! We were there early enough to walk around all the floats before the parade began, and then I went with Laelle and her brother to see a museum exhibit of artwork done by the 'masters' of carnivale. The parade started at 4:30 so we headed back, and bought ourselves a mask! I got absolutely COVERED in confetti, silly string, and shaving cream. This picture is of my favorite float. You can begin to see how HUGE they were! Most were 3 to 4 stories tall -- and all out of paper mache! One of the floats that went by had a ton of dancing people on it, and when I mistakenly made eye contact with one of the people on it, he dumped a bucketful of confetti and flowers directly on me. I've never seen so many little old men running around silly stringing random strangers....Really though, it was a really fun experience, and if you are ever in Europe for Carnivale, you have to go!!! Fireworks were scheduled for 7:30 but I had to run back to the train station to catch the last train to Milan, so I could get to the airport. I saw the top of the fireworks display over the top of the station as I waited on the platform. It took 4 hours to get to Milan, where I met up with Margaret and ran for the last bus to the Milan Malpensa airport at 12:30 am. JUST made it, and 'slept' in the airport on the floor.


Monday morning I caught my flight to Athens!!! I made it there just fine, and managed to catch the correct bus to Syntagma Square where I could then take the metro to my hostel, Athens Backpackers. Buying a metro ticket was an interesting experience and "It's all Greek to me" took on a WHOLE new meaning....Thankfully I ran into two students from Minnesota who were studying in Greece, and they helped me buy a ticket! The weather, incidentally was absolutely gorgeous....I think it was mid 70's until the last day I was there! Amazing.....I dropped off my stuff at the hostel, and decided to go for a walk. I had my first Acropolis sighting (!) And decided to find the entrance for tomorrow. Got followed down from the acropolis, lost them, got harassed again, and decided that staying in the hostel that night and catching up on sleep was a wonderful idea.


On Tuesday I was up early, and had breakfast at the hostel. I had decided the night before to beat the crowds, and see the Acropolis first so I headed there first. It was amazing, -- the views, the marble!!! I couldn't actually go IN any of the temples, but I got a lot of sketching in and soaked up the sun, and the fantastic views of the city before I got inundated by students and decided to head out. From there I headed to the two theaters on the hill, and off towards Hadrian’s Gate and the Temple of Olympian Zeus which was ENORMOUS. These columns were insane....Really -- look at the pictures!! I met a girl called Sarah from London there who I recognized from the Hostel, and we made plans to meet later that night for dinner. Then I went to the Patheatic stadium which was also HUGE (are you seeing a pattern here?). I decided to have lunch in the National Gardens with a turtle I met, were I was quickly joined by a rather strange, but relatively harmless Greek man...After seeing EVERY picture he had on his cell phone I managed to escape and see the Parliament buildings, and the Changing of the Guard in front of the Tomb of the Lost Soldier. I walked down to the Roman Agora and then decided to head back to the Hostel and get ready for dinner. Sarah was craving seafood so we ended up taking the metro to Piraeus, the port, and then a taxi to Zea Marina. By the time we got there we were so hungry we didn't care where we ate so we ended up having Italian. (oh the irony....) When we got back to the Hostel, one of my roommates was manning the bar, so we got a free Sangria, and a shot of Ouzo (...yuk.) and then I headed to bed.


Wednesday started even earlier when I met Sarah for Breakfast and we headed out the National Archeological Museum. Overnight Sarah had managed get eaten by bedbugs, so we first had to find a Pharmacy where we could find something for the bites....Trying to act it out to the Greek shopkeeper was quite amusing, but we eventually got what we came for and then walked to the museum. I've decided that being an EU citizen is absolutely amazing for Museums! I got in free!!!! :) We spent a few hours there, saw the Mask of Agamemnon, and then headed back to the hostel. Sarah and I went from there to the Flea Market where we tried a coconut stick. It was really good, but rather a strange consistency...Sarah had to leave then to catch her flight back to London, so I headed to the Agora, Kerameikos, and climbed up Filloppou Hill, where I met another turtle. The picture above is of the Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora. I went back to the hostel around 4, and took a nap, before meeting Sarah and Gunn from Manchester treated me to drinks and dinner at a Taverna! We had yummy bread with various spreads, a delicious Greek Salad with a HUGE piece of Feta, Souvalki, and then Gelato to finish off the night!

Thursday I got up and checked out, and stashed my bag before trying to visit the new Acropolis Museum. It wasn't open unfortunately, so I went and grabbed a few groceries and then walked to Syntagma Square to a bookshop. It was POURING it down, but I still wanted to climb Lycabettus Hill -- so I did.....aaaaand got SOAKED. It was foggy, but I still managed to get a pretty good view. I then decided to go back to the hostel, and try and dry off a bit before heading out to the Airport around 4:30. I flew to Berlin at 8:30, and got in around 11:00 Berlin time. I found the hostel and navigated the train system without too much trouble and met up with Laura, Margaret, Karen and Christine at the Lette 'm Sleep 7 Hostel.

On Friday Margaret and I decided to go on a free walking tour while the other three took a bike tour. We found a bakery with fantastic chocolate croissants for Breakfast and then just wandered until 1:00. We met at the Circus Hostel were we randomly ran into 6 other architecture students from Palazzo Rucellai. The tour guide was hilarious, and the tour was a lot of fun! It went on for about 4 hours, and we saw a LOT of Berlin. We saw:
Berliner Dome
New and Old Museum
The Site of the book burning, and the memorial
St. Hedwigs Cathedral
The victims of War and Tyranny Memorial
AMAZING Chocolate shop with giant chocolate sculptures...
Calvinist and Hungarian Cathedrals
Berlin Wall
Nazi Office Building -- HUGE building
Checkpoint Charlie
The Needle (Television Tower)
Site of Hitler’s bunker, and eventual suicide
Jewish Memorial
Academy of Art Building
Gehry's Bank Building
US Embassy
Brandenburg Gate
The Sony Center -- My favorite!!!! The picture above is of the roof of the Sony Center. It is lit up at night and changes from a bright blue to a magenta color.

It rained the entire time, and was absolutely FREEZING especially after Greece! The Architecture is much more contemporary, and fresh. I LOVED the Sony center and Margaret and I ended up finding our way into one of the buildings and riding the elevator up to the top to take pictures. Karen, Laura and Christine ended up deciding to watch a movie at the Sony Center so we joined them to watch "He's Just Not that Into You" which was really funny -- and gave us enough time to thaw out! We went back to the Hostel and made dinner, before collapsing.


Saturday all 5 of us decided to go on an Architecture tour. We were up and got groceries and another chocolate croissant before catching the metro to the Olympic Stadium. Then we went to another chunk of what is left of the Berlin Wall. We took the three girls back to the chocolate shop to show them the amazing sculptures, where I bought myself a little chocolate egg. :) We walked back to St. Hedwigs Cathedral and toured the inside. When it was bombed back in the war, the bomb dropped directly through the roof and blew the building from the inside out, causing a giant crater. They used that crater in the new design as a crypt. We also took the girls to the War and Tyranny memorial, and then went to Humboldt University where 29 Nobel Peace Price winners went to school, including Albert Einstein?!!! Hopefully some of that greatness rubbed off on me! We went to the GSW building, and then Margaret and I split off to see Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum. !!!!! It was so exciting to go inside a building I had learned so much about in school!! The exhibits were really well done as well, and I really liked how it was set up. Laura, Christine and Karen decided to go and see the Blue Man Group that night, but Margaret and I decided it was too expensive, and went and made amazing risotto at the hostel and watched Bridget Jones, while drinking RIDICULOUSLY cheap German beer.

Sunday Karen and Christine headed back to Florence in the early morning, and Laura, Margaret and I day tripped out to Potsdam where we toured the royal Palaces and gardens. After spending most of the day there, we rode the metro back into Berlin where we rode the U back and forth between a few stops (...don't ask...) and then got really cheap tickets to see a ballet at the opera house!!! We ended up seeing Tchaikovsky: The Mysteries of Life and Death which was a modern opera written by Boris Eifman about Tchaikovsky’s life, set to his Symphony No. 5, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, String Serenade Op. 48, and the finale of his Pathétique, as well as references to some of his ballets. It was interesting to be able to pick out parts of ballets and stories that I knew like the Nutcraker. We went back to the hostel afterwards, picked up our bags, and then caught the last train out to the Airport. Margaret knew of some couches in a cafe, since she had spent a crazy amount of time sleeping in various airports this week, and we went and collapsed on them for a few hours before catching our 6:35am flight back to Milan, and then the bus to the train station, and then the rain back to Florence. We got back, and I managed to grab a quick shower, (where I had an argument with the shower curtain, and it ended up pulling completely out of the wall....fabulous....), and eat some food before heading out to class at 4!

Quite the week, and I had a fantastic time, but I’m glad to be back in Florence and in some semblance of a normal schedule. :)

2 comments:

Amy said...

Katie! Spring break sounded amazing! I just wish i could have been there with you! I really want to see He's just not that into you - i read the book.... but can't find a copy here in Asia... too bad for me.
I love you love you love you! we shall chat soon!

Unknown said...

Katie,
First of all, congrat on WSU for next Fall. There was no doubt in my mind they would want a great student like you.
Secondly, to bad you can't find anything to do in Europe....really....your adventure sounds amazing....
I got a little tired just reading about all the places that you have visited in the last couple of weeks. I enjoy the pictures as well. Continue to have a great time. Its sounds like you're leading amazing stuff.
Take care,
Liz