Expedition to Europe: Athens and Prague

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to my much-neglected account of my spring break.


Basically what happened is that I'm on the rowing team (which you knew) and our big race was this past week (which you didn't know). Now that rowing is over for the term, I should be back on top of life in general and my blog especially.


We last left our intrepid adventurers, Jacque and Joy, in Venice being very, very wet. Our next stop, on Monday, March 30, is the lovely, the thankfully sunny, Greece!


At first, I was pretty uncomfortable with Greece. Jacque and I arrived in the evening, and when we went to get dinner, we saw no women on the streets and large groups of men who made suggestive comments to us (at least, I assume they were: it was all Greek to me. Ha.). I went to bed pretty unhappy on our first night, but the next morning dawned bright and warm and with exciting things in store.



We started our day at the Acropolis. The Acropolis is quite large and includes many, many more things than just the Parthenon. First, we saw the Theater of Dionysus:




Which is pretty amazing. Just think: the god Dionysus acted here! Okay, that's a lie, Dionysus doesn't actually exist. But equally as cool: ancient Greeks acted here! Here is the Theater from above:




And if you think the Theater of Dionysus is impressive, wait until you see the Odeon of Herodes Atticus:

That little red dot in the bottom right-hand corner? That's a person. This theater was HUGE. (On a side note, I had no idea what this theater was called until I looked it up on Wikipedia. On another side note, there's a chain of movie theaters here in England called the Odeon Theaters, which makes so much more sense now.)

And of course, the crowning glory of the Acropolis:

Me! Just kidding. The crowning glory is actually the Parthenon, which is behind me.

Here is a view of the southern part of the Acropolis, including the Theater of Dionysus and...some other stuff. It's not that I'm too lazy to write about it, it's just that I don't really know what it is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis,_Athens



The Parthenon is a temple to Athena, who was the patron goddess of Athens (hence the city's name, which is Athina in Greek. Actually, it's αθήνα, but whatever). Next to the Parthenon is the Old Tempe of Athena, which has some very famous columns:

These are the caryatids, and they are columns shaped like women. There are six of them here, and none of them are original. Five of the originals are in the Acropolis Museum, and the sixth original is in the British Museum. I saw the sixth original two weekends ago, actually.

The Acropolis was pretty amazing: it's very, very big, and there were many, many tourists. There were also, surprisingly, many, many dogs. Actually, there were dogs everywhere in Athens:

Jacque and I began to suspect that dogs actually run Athens because they are everywhere and no one seems to care. They sleep, they eat, they go in and out of churches, they herd people, and one even led us from the place in the photo below (more on that soon) to the Ancient Agora. Where would Athens be without dogs? It would, if you'll pardon the pun, go to the dogs...(please don't pardon that pun. It was awful).

Okay, so this photo is of Jacque sitting on the Areopagus. According to legend, the apostle Paul preached from this hill and converted a bunch of Athenians. It's kind of neat to think about Paul spreading the truth of Christ in the shadow of a huge complex built to honor non-existent gods. Light shining in the darkness, and all that.

Jacque and I ate lunch at a McDonald's. This photo is a pretty good representation of Athens: old, lovely religion and society surrounded by slightly ugly modernity, with a little bit of American capitalism thrown in.

And now we come to one of my favorite parts of Athens: the Changing of the Guard. Whoever designed this ceremony based it primarily on horses. The guards kick their legs like horses, paw the ground with their foot like a horse with its hoof, and prance:

They even have nails in their shoes, so they clip-clop like horses. They also wear the greatest costumes ever:

Please note: the pleated skirt (400 pleats, one for every year Greece was occupied by the Ottomans); the long tassel (which the head of the guard uses to brush the face of the new guards); and the gigantic pom-poms on their shoes. Jacque and I watched the changing of the guard twice because we liked it so much.

Also in Athens is a large park, sort of like Hyde Park in London or Central Park in NYC. Among other exciting things, this park had a small...well, let's call it a zoo. I think they called it a "Bird and Animal Sanctuary" or something, but it was too bizarre to be a sanctuary. In one cage, they had pigeons. Pigeons! As if there are not enough pigeons in every city in Europe, the Athenians felt a need to display the flying rats.

The "sanctuary" also had cages with the oddest assortment of animals. In the cage pictured below, there were: rabbits, chickens, roosters, cats (cats?), peacocks, and peahens. The rabbits were caged in the little house, and the cat was just sitting there not realizing that it had a wonderful feast of small animals in front of it.

Other than the pigeons and the oddly assorted cage, there was a cage with geese and ducks (again, as if you can't see enough of those in the wild...) and a cage with goats with the creepiest eyes I have ever seen. Imagine Lord Voldemort's eyes staring at you from under a pair of large horns. Quite scary.

Across from the park was the 1896 Summer Olympics. I am a huge fan of the Olympics, so this was pretty exciting for me. The very first modern Olympics were held in this stadium! This was the Opening Stadium, and the event stadium, and the spectator's stadium...everything, all in one! I was pretty psyched.

The next day (by now, we are at Wednesday, April 1), Jacque and I "hiked" (when I say "hiked," I mean we walked the paved pathway) up Lycabettus Hill, one of the large hills in Athens. I won't lie to you, it wasn't the most exciting thing I've ever done, but we did see a nice view! Here, in the distance, is the Acropolis:

After we "hiked" down, we went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Now, when you hear that name, you think, "Man, the Greeks were so hyperbolish" (and then you think, "Hey, is hyperbolish a word? Probably not"). I mean, "The Temple of Olympian Zeus" is an impressive name, and probably must be said impressively in your best James-Earl-Jones-as-Mufasa imitation, like this: THE TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS. And then you get to THE TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS and you realize: it deserves James Earl Jones' voice.

There are only 13 pillars left of a THE TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS, and they are 55.5 feet tall. There were meant to be 104 of these columns! Wow. Just wow.

My second WOW of the day came when we went to the 2004 Olympic Stadium. Did I mention that I am a huge fan of the Olympics?

Here is the pool--THE VERY POOL--where Michael Phelps became truly famous!

Let me reiterate: Michael Phelps, the frog-man himself, swam in this pool!

And here--right behind me!--is the Opening Stadium!! !! !! Also, I'm dressed like a stoplight in this photo.

So that was Athens, Greece. I enjoyed Athens a lot (Olympics! Ancient buildings! Gyros! Which, apparently, are pronounced not "jyros" nor "heros," but something like "jyieros." Yeah, good luck), and I especially enjoyed my time with Jacque. Also, a quick shout-out for children's literature, I enjoyed Athens so much more having read the Percy Jackson series. Check them out, they're amazing!

Sadly, my time with Jacque was at an end. I spent April 2 travelling alone (nothing interesting happened: I sat on a bus, then sat in an airport, then sat in a plane...you get it), and then I met Erin on April 3 in Prague!

Erin's description of Prague I feel is apt: she calls it "Soviet chic." Prague is on the border between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, and it is so cool because it doesn't really fit into either category. It's got the Soviet influence, definitely, but the chic influence (I hope that doesn't offend any former Soviets...) of Western Europe:

Prague was just lovely:

It was getting near Easter, and Prague was appropriately decorated:

Seriously, aren't these buildings cool?

One of Prague's main attractions is the Astronomical Clock, aka the Orloj. According to Wikipedia, "the Orloj is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; 'The Walk of the Apostles,' a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles, and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months." It is super-cool looking:

In this photo, the Astronomical Clock is on the left, and the church where Erin and I spent Palm Sunday is on the right:

Prague has a river. Across the river from the Astronomical Clock, there is the Royal Palace (where, incidentally, Obama was the day after I took this photo):

Prague has lots of great architecture. Prague also has lots of odd architecture (read: Gehry's Dancing House):

While exploring Prague, Erin and I chanced upon (are you ready for this) a Swedish high school marching band! Not even kidding. To make it even better...they were playing ABBA! And the world seemed right again:

That night, Erin and I went an orchestra concert, and we learned two things: first, that the inside of buildings are as gorgeous as the outside (see below); and second, that orchestra rocks. The concert was phenomenal. There were ten musicians, all playing string instruments, and they were playing "The Best of the Classics," which meant we recognized most of the music.

The next day was Palm Sunday, and Erin and I went to that church from the picture above. At first, we were two of ten people in the church, and Erin commented on how it was sad that churches just didn't fill up any more. Five minutes later, there was a PARADE down the church aisle of about 200 people carrying branches and singing and chanting. It was, if you'll pardon the pun, enchanting. Also ensinging...oh wait, that pun doesn't work. Anyway, the parade was joyful and solemn at once, which is pretty appropriate to Palm Sunday, and it just went on for about ten minutes. I loved it.

Before we left Prague, we stopped by the Easter Market in the square outside the church. There were all sorts of crafts and jewelry, the best pastry-thing I have ever eaten (a cross between a pretzel and a cinnamon roll...mmmmm), and this guy:

Yeah, he's a real-live blacksmith blacksmithing right in front of everyone. That is real fire. So cool.

Prague, for me, is really more about pictures than stories. Erin and I spent our day-and-a-half there just wandering around and looking, because there is so much to look at. Prague is gorgeous all over, and the people are so nice, and the food is great, and the exchange rate means that you feel like you're spending fake money ("Go straight to the yummy pastry things that cost 250 cronar-thingys, do not pass Go").

Well, kids, we have now gotten through half of my spring break! I promise to be more on top of updating this with photos and stories, and then we'll move right on to...France!

I've recently been accepted to a study-abroad program in France, which starts the day after my Oxford term ends. That means I'll be in Antibes (in the south of France), soaking up sun and hopefully the French language, until July 11, and I'll get back the States July 14!

But before France part 2 comes Berlin and France part 1. Coming soon!

Expedition to Europe: Italy

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Couldn't resist, sorry. Anyway, when we last left my adventures, I was on my way to meet Jacque in Rome.

I did, in fact, meet up with Jacque (who you will meet in the photo nine photos down). Monday was our first day in Rome. We decided to take the subway to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's; the tube was absolutely insane. When the train finally pulled up, 15 people squeezed into a space large enough for three people. I kid you not. There was no way I could have been pick-pocketed, because no one could move enough.

We finally got off the subway (launched out of the car by people desperate to get some breathing room), and made our way to the Vatican Museum. On the way, we saw six gelato places and decided that gelato was going to be a necessary part of lunch.

I'd never been inside the Vatican Museum before, and I really enjoyed it. Here is one of my favorite things:


That is not a carving: that is a painting painted to look like a carving. How cool is that?

The Vatican has roughly 45 rooms (when I say "roughly," I mean I'm totally making that number up. But there were a lot of rooms), including the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited in the Sistine Chapel, but if you Google Image "Sistine Chapel" you can pretty much see what I saw.

The amount of art in the Vatican Museum borders on overwhelming:


That's just one room, with ceilings, walls, and floors covered in art. There was so much to look at. Most of it, unsurprisingly, was of a religious nature. I enjoyed seeing the different representations of Christ and the Bible and other religious subjects:

After the Vatican Museum, we sunbathed in the Piazza San Pietro for a while, and then we went into St. Peter's Basilica:

St. Peter's pretty much lives up to its hype. It's huge and beautiful and awe-inspiring and solemn and worshipful, all at once. It's historical and religious and political and current, and I just really like it.

Across the road from St. Peter's is the Castle St. Angelo. Romans sort of apologize when they talk about the Castle St. Angelo: "We're sorry, but it's the only castle we have," they seem to be saying, as if they don't have enough other ancient stuff to keep you occupied. My family visited the Castle when we were in Rome in 2004, and I got my picture taken with a performance artist all dressed in white. I decided to do that again:

We then made our way to the Spanish Steps:

The Spanish Steps are a seething mass of humanity. We even saw a wedding party taking pictures.

To round off our Monday, we visited the Piazza del Popolo, the Villa de Medici, the Fountian of Triton, and the Piazza de Republico. I'm not going to lie to you, while those places were neat, I did not take any photos that you can't see via Google Image.

The next day was Tuesday. Tuesday was Colosseum Day:

The Colosseum is such a cool place. We went on a tour with this Italian tour guide who spoke like an ideal Italian tour guide: "This-a statue was-a ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY METERS TALL."

This lady tour guide would deepen her voice and attempt an American accent to emphasize words, which was pretty funny.

Fun fact: the word "Colosseum" does not actually refer to the amphitheater. Instead, it refers to the ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY METER TALL bronze-a statue of Nero that used to stand in front of the amphitheater. People called the statue the Colossus, and...well, the rest is history.

That is the inside of the Colosseum. Did I mention it was huge? Well, it is huge, seating about 50,000 people. Before you say, "Well, Joy, Arrowhead Stadium seats 77,038 people [I did not make that number up], and Arrowhead isn't even that big," let me remind you that the Colosseum sat 50,000 people in an age before cranes, hydraulic lifts, steel, or plastic. Also let me remind you that the Colosseum housed a game even more dangerous than football: the Chiefs have neither swords nor lions, which makes the Colosseum slightly more hardcore.

And that's Jacque and I. We do not play football or have swords, but we are still pretty hardcore.

On Colosseum Day, we also visited the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, housed in a building with the Romans call the Wedding Cake. See why?

This is a view of Rome from the Wedding Cake:

This is what Rome is about: tiny streets, hills, and basilicas.

We also visited the Forum, where we got a tour from a Scottish guy. As part of that tour, I learned the story of the founding of Rome. If you want to know the full version, ask me, but the summary goes like this: Wolf-raised child chooses hill on April 21, 753 B.C. and puts a city on it because of vultures, then conquers most of the known world (which mainly consisted of...six other hills). Anyway, the Forum:

We finished our day off with some more churches (Rome is just crawling with churches) and a delicious Italian dinner. Have I mentioned the food yet? It was great. Great. I could eat in Italy every day.

On Wednesday, Jacque and I visited the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain is my favorite place in Rome. There's a legend about the Trevi Fountain that says if you throw a coin in, you are destined to return to Rome, so...

We also visited the Pantheon, which I personally think is over-hyped, and we did laundry (not at the Pantheon). Then we had a picnic and ate gelato. It was a good day. That night, we re-visited the Colosseum:

Lovely.

So that was Rome. We trained to Florence, and got in around sundown:

The next day (we are on Friday, March 27 now), we crossed Florence's river and climbed this large, steep, intimidating hill. This view was worth the climb, though:

On the left, you can see the Duomo (which translates as "dome," which tells you what to look at), and on the right you can see the mountain range that surrounds Florence.

Florence had a lot of street artists, and this one was my favorite:

They drew that with chalk. I was so impressed, I gave them money, which is probably what they were going for.

We saw Michaelangelo's David (no pictures allowed again...), and one of my favorite statues:

It's called the Rape of the Sabines. While it's a violent and tragic story, the statue is just amazing. It was innovative in its design, which is on a helix: when you look at it, you just keep walking in a circle around it.

On Saturday, we trained to Venice:

Venice has a lot of water. On the Sunday we were in Venice, there was even more water, because it poured all day. It was a little miserable:

Those are people standing on tables in San Marco Square. Apparently Venice floods on a regular basis, so they just keep tables ready for people to walk on. We didn't do much in Venice because of the rain, which was a shame, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We met some Americans from Vanderbilt in our hostel, ate dinner and gelato with them, so that was fun.

Thus ended our week in Italy. I learned that Italians really do the pursed-hand stereotype (picture a chef saying "Is-a good!" and that's the hand gesture I'm talking about); also, Italians sometimes make a large hand gesture and then forget about their hand, leaving it hanging in front of all the Smart Cars zooming down the street.

I also learned that Italians vendors are very friendly, and that they like to flirt with blondes, like Jacque. One vendor told Jacque, "Senorina! I look at you so long, I hurt myself! See, look at my knee..." Another told Jacque she dropped something, and when she looked back to see what it was, he placed his hand on his chest and sighed, "My heart."

Italy was a pretty amazing place to visit. Coming up next: Athens and Prague!