Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre was the perfect weekend trip! After a three-hour train ride from Roma to La Spezia, and then a twenty-minute train to Monterosso, we were in Cinque Terre. Of the five towns, we stayed in the farthest one called Monterosso. 

 After a quiet Friday evening, we got up early Saturday and were on the trails (with fresh croissants in hand) before ten a.m. From there we hiked the hour and a half to the second town of Vernazza. Climbing roughly cut staircase after staircase, we scaled the hillside and were met with unbelievable views the entire climb. Along the way, we took a little detour in deciding to scale one of the waterfalls that crossed the path. Going up was easy, but coming down… well that was a different story leading to a few bruises and some wet shoes. Deciding to take a break, we stopped for lunch when we arrived in Vernanzza. This town had been heavily hit in the mudslide last fall, but was still operating and very quaint. From there we started the hour hike to the following town of Corniglia. Because of the mudslides, the trail was closed between the third and forth town. At that point we hopped on the train and watched as the fourth town’s station came into view… and then quickly passed by our windows without any slowing of the train…. Apparently we caught the wrong train, so we ended up in Riomaggiore, the final town, instead. We had a lot of fun exploring the harbor town and relaxing on the rocky beach. After having skipping stones and watching fishermen, we backtracked on the trail to the fourth (and final) town. The last trail was more of an easy stroll because it was along a paved path. After hiking and doing stairs all morning, our legs definitely appreciated the rest!

Start of the hike!

Monterosso

View of the coast towards the other towns

Me, Melissa, Marj and Kelly

Vernanzza

Heading out of Vernanzza towards Corniglia

Corniglia- view from about forty minutes hike away

Riomaggiore harbor

Fisherman along the rocks

Riomaggiore from above

countless lemon trees terraced the hills above each town

Manarola

The weather called for rain all weekend, but we lucked out and only had a light cooling drizzle for the first day. If the sun had been out full force, the hiking would have been pretty miserable in the humidity and heat.   

The second day we took the ferry to Porta Venere, which was probably my favorite town of the trip. It is not part of the five towns of Cinque Terre, but nearby along the coast. We only had about two and a half hours in town between the hour-long ferry ride each way and our return train trip scheduled for that evening. I absolutely loved the church that literally looked like it was built up out of the cliffside. Despite a rainstorm that blew through the town, we had a great time exploring the church, hilltop castle, and harbor stores. The ferry ride was also a hilarious time! The seas were really rough (unfortunately for Kelly), but it made it a lot of fun for the rest of us to try and keep our balance. Walking a straight line was absolutely impossible as the boat rocked side to side and up and down!  

Ferry top deck

Melissa and I failing to take a picture together because we couldn't keep our balance!

Marj and I

Porta Venere

All in all it was a great last weekend trip for the seven of us. It was the perfect break from the busy weeks at the end of the semester, and a time to unwind. Also a break from the sightseeing of cities, it was a lot of fun to do something different and hike the coast. 

ROMA takes on UDINESE

Experiencing a soccer game in Europe is not quite like that of anywhere else! Choosing to go to an awesome match up between Roma #6 and Udinese #4 (or 5), we loaded up on Roma gear and headed to the stadium amidst tons of other decked out fans. The entire area surrounding the stadium was just pulsing with the energy of the fans! I go to Penn State, home of the best fan section, and I was absolutely blown away by the Curva Sud (aka the 'South Curve' section filled with crazy fans). I can’t even express how amazed I was with the entire experience. I’m quite positive that I didn’t stop smiling from the second we passed through the first of three security gates, (well technically 5 after all our attempts at finding the right gate…) into the stadium. Its funny because despite all the security, there were flags larger than I am tall, and tons of fireworks/smoke bombs that made it into the stadium with the crowd.  Those huge flags never once stopped waving from the second they went up and added much to the atmosphere. Fans also repeatedly lit smoke bombs and threw fireworks onto the field- apparently this is a common occurrence because there were firefighters decked out in their gear who were constantly chasing and snuffing the fires out. The cheers from the crowd were constant throughout the game, but they literally went wild each time Roma scored!  One thing Kelly had pointed out when we were there was that we were the only ones yelling “woooo” like Americans always do at sporting events… apparently the Italian just cheer, yell, and sing songs at the games. It definitely was entertaining to try and fit in, but it was pretty impossible considering everyone else around us knew Italian cheers and songs. Winning 3-1 the Roma fans went crazy at the last goal in the last few moments of the game. It was absolutely a night that I will remember for a long time!  

Marj, Melisa, Kelly and I outside the stadium

Totti jerseys!! He's the Roma captain and scored the second goal of the game

Flags and smoke bombs

The group with the crazy and highly entertaining fan behind us

Smoke bombs near the field

Final score- GOOO ROMA!!!!

Will, me, Kelly, Marj, Melissa and Dave with all our Roma gear

Vatican Holy Days

I can’t say that I’ve ever been required to get a ‘ticket’ to go to Mass before coming to Italy. For both Palm Sunday and Easter people who want to attend Mass at the Vatican have to send a request for tickets weeks in advance. Luckily a big group of us were able to get tickets for both days.

            Palm Sunday was the first time I went to Mass at the Vatican and it was quite the experience! The altar was set up outside and thousands of people crowded into the square. It was interesting because at home palms are always give out to the congregation, but when we went to the Vatican we were given olive branches (and in Marj’s case basically a whole tree because hers was so big!). Later they passed around huge palm branches (at least 5’ long) and people tore off strips, but not everyone received those. We arrived early enough to get a seat, which was nice because we were there for so many hours. We arrived there an hour early because of the crowds, then the procession of palms with the Pope took another 45 minutes, and after that Mass itself was 2 hours long! We left the house at 8am and only arrived home five hours later at 1pm. Despite Mass being long, it was nice to celebrate Mass with the Pope. When he was leaving the Pope-mobile went right past our seats so we got to see him up close.

             

All of the Priests and Deacons in white that helped to distribute Communion

The Pope leaving in his Pope-mobile

 The following weekend we went to Easter Mass, but did not get there early enough to beat the crowds. We stood in a long line to go through security and ended up having to stand. Luckily we ended up right at the back of the main aisle so we had an unimpeded view the whole time! One thing that is different about Mass here is how there is no line that forms for Communion- it is literally a free-for-all! I actually got claustrophobic in the crowd because we were packed in like sardines. Also different is that because the crowd is so big, and it could be hard to find a Priest at communion time, an attendant stands near the Priest with a large yellow and white umbrella- sort of like a way-finding device. It definitely was entertaining to see the dispersion of all the matching umbrellas the first time we saw it at Palm Sunday. 

The Pope at the outdoor altar

View from our spot

The crowd to my left

The crowd to my right

The Pope giving his blessing in different languages from the balcony

Visiting the Giancolo Hill after Mass- absolutely gorgeous day despite forecasts of rain

Easter Dinner with Mike, Kelly, Melissa, Dave, Marj and LJ

Le Vacanze di Primavera: Barcelona (Days 10,11,12,13 &14)

I absolutely loved Barcelona! Slowing down the sightseeing pace, hanging out at the beach and experiencing the Spanish culture all contributed to my love of Barcelona. With 10 of us meeting up again after having been in various cities, we had a great time together.

Beach!

The whole crew- Dave, Melissa, Mike, Will, Me, Alicia, Kelly, Marj, Dan and LJ

Russian Red concert at Palau de la Musica Catalana (Photo taken by Kelly)

Our hostel was in the perfect location. It was along the shopping district (dangerous for the wallet!) and close to just about everything. We could easily walk to the beach and also to the various Gaudi architecture sights. The hostel itself was quite interesting. The five of us girls shared one room. Just like the website said, we had a shower in our room… literally. It was not separated in any way, no wall, nothing. It simply had a curtain around part of it and the other half was clear glass… definitely made for an interesting time. (There was also a communal shower in the hallway too).

I had the opportunity to try a lot of the Spanish foods for the first time. We had tapas, paella and Sangria while in Barcelona. Tapas are basically appetizers or bite-sized snacks, which can be served hot or cold, and paella is basically a mix of rice, veggies and meat with seasonings. Unfortunately it was hard to enjoy our one meal, because at one of the restaurants our waiter brought us a larger amount of Sangria than we ordered without us knowing- that is until we got the bill and it was 30 dollars extra! We knew that he intentionally ripped us off because he had repeated our order to us correctly after taking it and then when we asked about the bill, he pretended like he spoke barely any English. Kelly and I were quite angry with the way they thought they could just pull one over on us- probably because we were American and young girls. We asked for the manager and argued until he agreed to our original order. It was interesting to see the bartender’s reaction because he was very nice to us unlike the rest of the staff. He basically implied that this happens often. It is just tough not being used to quantities expressed in liters instead of gallons or glasses.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the Gaudi architecture that we had studied in various classes back home at PSU. We spent one morning just seeing a few of his works. We toured Casa Mila and it was a lot of fun to go up to the roof and actually experience the varying levels. There was also a great exhibit on his work in the attic level.  We also went to Sagrada Familia church. It is over 100 years old and still in construction!! The interior was just absolutely amazing and nothing like I had ever seen. Even if someone wouldn’t like the architecture style, they’d have to respect the level of craft and detail in the construction!

Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo

Casa Mila

Rooftop of Casa Mila

Me, Melissa, Alicia, Kelly and Marj

Sagrada Familia

Transept of Church

Amazing ceiling!!

We also spent a morning at Gaudi’s Park Guell. It was interesting because the park was originally meant to be a self-sufficient urban development, but it failed so the city took it over. Today it is a park visited by many people who value it highly.  The mosaics of the dragon and other sculptural pieces are so gorgeous and brightly colored.

Famous mosaic

Kelly, me, Melissa and Mike in the park

We loved exploring the city and discovering the different parts of it. One sunny afternoon was spent exploring the Olympic Park area and Castel de Montjuic. 

Castel de Montjuic- we were up so high that we were basically in the low-lying clouds

The clouds passed over us and left a gorgeous view from the castle walls

Melissa and I on the edge of the castle walls with Barcelona in the background

Cable car we took down the hill from the castle

The nightlife of Barcelona is something that I don’t know that I will ever understand. The clubs didn’t start getting crowded until close to 3am! Back home, most bars are already closed by 2am! In Rome they are often open until 5am, but they are crowded way sooner than 3am. The last night we went to Razzmatazz, which is a huge warehouse that is literally five different clubs in one building. Each room had a different type of music and was large enough to be its own club. It was definitely a cool experience to be in a club that large.

Overall, I had a great time on spring break and absolutely loved Venice and Barcelona. The other cities were a lot of fun too and had some awesome things to see and experience. As a whole, the group had a great time traveling together and we have so many memories that we will look back upon fondly!