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Friday, April 19, 2013

When in Rome..

Many many MANY apologies for this post being so late. I would love for my only excuse to be that my life has been too exciting and busy to sit down and write this, but that wouldn't necessarily be true. While I have been doing my fair share of traveling, I have had lots of free time. So again, my apologies. 

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to visit a new friend of mine, Sherilyn, in Rome last month. Because I don't have class on Fridays- living the life, I know- I hopped on a train that Thursday night in Milan and arrived three hours later in Rome where Sherilyn was waiting for me at the end of the platform. This fancy train went up to 300 KM PER HOUR. Blew my mind. 


As a side note, I have come to realize that I really love trains. Not only are you able to skip unnecessary waiting time in the airport security line, but trains also allow you much more personal space and the ability to be at the station within 5 minutes of the train leaving. There also aren't any baggage restrictions, so you can pack as much useless crap as you darn well please. 

My bed and breakfast was located just down the street from where Sherilyn lived, which was extremely convenient. This was my very first time staying in a hotel/accommodation alone, and it was a great experience. 

On Friday, we woke up early and made our way to the Colosseum. It was raining, so there wasn't too long of a line, considering the Colosseum is one of the most visited places in the world. That said, there were still many people waiting. Captain Sherilyn, as I now call her, being the ever-savvy, organized girl that she is, figured out that we could cut the line if we would buy tickets for a tour. NOTE FOR THOSE GOING TO ROME: Please save yourself the time and go on the tour. Not only will the 5 euros save lots of waiting time, but the tour is quite informational and enjoyable. Even if it's raining. 









We then meandered our way across the street to the Roman Forum, which was the center for Roman government and politics throughout the Roman Empire. Despite its former glory, it is now a maze of ruins and fallen building foundations. It was quite a bit larger than we initially thought and not well-marked, so we spent two to three hours wandering around the place. We progressively began to get a bit grumpy- we hadn't had a coffee or food for quite a while. (For those of you who know of my coffee addiction, it has gotten much worse in the last few months. Not only do I get headaches if I don't have one before noon, but I also get grumpy if I need to physically exert myself and haven't had one for a while. My sister would argue that these side effects have occurred my entire life, but don't listen to her)











That evening, we had a reservation at La Galleria Borghese, one of the most renowned art galleries in Rome. It's located in a beautiful, huge old building in one of the parks in Rome, and the interior walls and ceilings themselves could have been an exhibition. In the past couple of years, I have made an honest attempt to appreciate and learn about art; I have been spotted staring at some pieces by Picasso at the PMA and trekking around the MET, but I am certainly not an art fanatic. That said, the sculptures and paintings at La Galleria Borghese completely blew me away. I should have expected this- I mean, it is Rome- but they completely exceeded my expectations. There were multiple Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio paintings, along with two pieces by Raphael. I know this is extremely cliche, but I simply cannot use words to describe how intricate and fantastic they were. You just need to book a flight and see them for yourself. La Galleria, for obvious reasons, wouldn't allow me to take pictures, so here is the website if you want to look around:


For dinner that evening, Sherilyn and I went out with some friends and had some fantastic spaghetti with bits of pancetta- simply delicious. Not that you need reminding, but Italian food is soooo good. 

Captain Sherilyn let me sleep in a little on Saturday morning due to the throbbing that was cursing our poor feet from being on them all day. As I will explain more in my Prague post, I’ve learned that I don’t own a single pair of shoes, with the exception of tennis shoes, that are able to withstand long days of walking without punishing me with multiple blisters. For those of you who thought my feet were ugly before, I assure you that yes, they can look worse.

After breakfast at my B&B, we took the metro to La Fontana di Trevi, one of the most famous sights in Rome. Unlike the day before, it was very sunny and the light made for some beautiful pictures. As Captain Sherilyn informed me, the legend around coin-tossing into the fountain goes like this: If you throw one coin into the fountain, you will return to Rome. If you throw two in, you will fall in love with an Italian. Throw three and you will marry that Italian. Being the sassy sort that I am (and also for picture-taking purposes), I decided to throw two. Lo and behold, I found that man the very same day. (Please keep reading before you make rash assumptions. As much as I would love to be the topic around the water hole, I assure you I am not running off with an Italian man. They are often obnoxious and rather hairy)






After the fountain, we walked to both the Pantheon and the Spanish steps. And of course a gelato stop along the way. SO DELICIOUS. By far the best I have had so far.









For lunch, we found this old, family-owned restaurant a little outside of the city. I had fettuccine with mushrooms in a truffle white sauce. Those 2 ingredients alone tell you how good it was.
The owner of the restaurant, the energetic elderly man pictured below, came out 2 different times to talk to us: the first to see how we liked our food, and the second to ask our names and where we were from. And kiss us several times on the cheek and compliment us on our very broken Italian. After we finished our meal and were paying in the back of the nearly-empty restaurant, he saw that we were leaving and brought us two lemon cellos, on the house, and gave us several more kisses on the cheek while inquiring about our relationship statuses. (While writing this, I now see how intensely creepy it sounds. I promise it was much more endearing and sweet in person. At least I hope it was, or I desperately need a review on awkward social interactions). Here he is, in all his glory: the Italian man that I fell in and out of love with in just an hour. Tragic.


Later that evening, Captain and I did a little shopping and had some pizza near my B&B. You can tell when something is both good and traditional when Italian families are sitting all around you and your party is the only one speaking English. Once again, delicious.

On Sunday morning, Sherilyn and I took about an hour train to meeting and ate lunch with some of the people we met with. I caught the train back to Milan after a very relaxing, joyful afternoon spent with wonderful people.

Despite some spotty weather, I had such a fantastic time in Rome. It is such a beautiful city filled with history, art, and culture. It was also great to visit a friend who had been living there for a while and knew the ins and outs of the city. It made things much less stressful and thus much more fun. At a certain point I had to stop taking pictures of all of the simply stunning buildings I saw because there are just so many of them. I was there for three days and barely got the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, St. Peter's Basilica was closed because it was just after the Pope resigned, so I wasn't able to make it to the Vatican. 


I am very excited that I will be able to return to Rome (and see the Vatican) before I leave to come back to the States- when MY FAMILY IS COMING TO VISIT!!! That’s right folks, Papa Coe is flying across the Atlantic to visit his daughter. IF HE CAN DO IT, THEN YOU DEFINITELY CAN.

I hope you are all enjoying the warm weather (finally) and surviving the last few days of school.

Yours,
A





Thursday, March 14, 2013

Quick Peek into Torino

Ciao tutti!

I'm sorry that this has taken so long, but I guess it means I'm enjoying myself over here. Or I'm just really slow at editing pictures....probably both. I'm a little behind in posts, so just bear with me please.

Two weekends ago, my friend Lily and I decided to go to Torino for a day. Torino is just a short two hour train ride away from Milan, so thankfully it didn't require much coordination or planning. Which I have found is rather tiring. 

So. Here are the highlights:
Apparently the largest Ancient Egyptian collection, outside of Cairo, is interestingly located in Torino. Who knew? So, of course, being the nerds that we are (Lily goes to Yale, which makes her much much more nerdy than me :) ) we had to go. IT WAS AWESOME:


An actual Mummy. I promise it's real. And gross.



Books of the Dead, which were numerous and extremely interesting:



As most tourists do in beautiful cities, we also wandered around taking pictures of the amazing architecture. This is another museum:




And a view of a stunning piazza:




The church where the Shroud of Turin is kept. It is currently undergoing some type of preservation and won't be displayed for a few years:




Yet another beautiful church, where Lily and I sat on the steps and admired the view:




And, of course, I  had some gelato. I'm seriously considering starting a gelato blog as well. Pistachio and a delicious blend of pear and berries:


ALL of my pictures of Torino are located on my "Photos" page, which you can access at the top of the page. 

I PROMISE I WILL GET MY ROME PICTURES UP SOON! I just have so many.

Also, to keep you all updated on my travel plans: spring break begins next weekend!!! I am spending a few days in Prague and then meeting my friend Sherilyn in Naples, where we are catching a ferry to Palermo, Sicily. We will be exploring the Sicilian countryside (and also soaking in some sun on the Mediterranean beaches!!) for about a week, then I have some studying to do for midterms. SO EXCITED. For the trip, not the exams. Obviously. Just one more week of classes to get through! 

Yours,
A


Sunday, February 24, 2013

For the love of Fur

THIS WEEKEND WAS SO MUCH FUN.

First, some wise words from our dear Coco Chanel to get you all in the mood-
"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."
"Fashion fades, only style remains the same."

As I told you in my last post, I went down to experience Milan Fashion Week on Friday and Saturday. Since I obviously missed the call from my BFF Michael Kors personally inviting me to his favorite shows, I had to settle for awkwardly stalking the exterior of the venues, camera in hand. Regardless, there was an addictive air of anticipation that kept everyone waiting with bated breath for that moment when a celebrity would step out of one of the 4700 Maseratis that are cruising around the piazza. It was so invigorating, and I don't even follow high-fashion at all. Well, until Friday. 

On Friday, I returned to the Golden Triangle with my D3100 in hand. Versace's show was scheduled for 7:00 and 8:00 pm in Via Gesu, so I decided to scope the area and observe what people were wearing. Via Gesu is also the home for the Four Seasons, so it didn't take long to figure out where a majority of the well-dressed people were coming from.


The exterior view of where the Versace show was held. 


 I didn't stay for long because it was FREEZING. Before I hopped on the tram back to my dorm, I visited the headquarters for Italian Fashion, which is located in this beautiful piazza close to Il Duomo. The timing was right, apparently, because I was able to see REAL SUPER MODELS practicing their strut:





One of them almost tripped in their sky-high heels, so it reassured me that they are at least partly human. 
In other news- If you need me, I'll be in the gym and starving myself all week. 

Fashion Week is very important to the Italian population regardless of the availability of the tickets, as expressed by the massive public screens where a live feed showed the latest designs of the major labels:



On Saturday, a larger group of us went to another part of Milan where Jil Sander's show was being displayed. While waiting outside, I was able to snap these photos of random people on the street that were very willing to pose. Photos were like an avalanche affect. Whenever one person with a fancy camera asked someone to pause for a photo, another flood of people (sometimes including myself) came rushing over to take pictures too, often without knowing who the person or what his/her contribution to the fashion world was. After a while, I couldn't help but start to laugh. We were like little ants attacking dropped crumbs. 
Here are a few of the better ones: 




This one, however, my friends and I did recognize. He is 'The Sartorialist', the writer of a very well known fashion blog. He was kind enough to let some of the girls I was with take pictures with him:


More random pictures that deserve a comment:

ARE THOSE FROM SCOOBY DOO?



       Hey there Philly!                                  


 I was (still am) really obsessed with this jacket. And those SHOES!


One thing is for sure- fur will forever be in style. It was EVERYWHERE, from older women to teenagers.

Ma'am, your child called. She wants her stuffed animal back: 







 But enough fun. Back to the grind tomorrow. JOKES, it's Italy. I only have one class tomorrow due to elections. 

I hope you all had a great, warm weekend with lots of laughs. 


Yours,
A