Italy Day 2

Today was another day in Italy we woke up to an amazing breakfast by probably the nicest waitstaff in Rome. Then we headed out to the Colosseum for our tour. The tour guide talked mostly about the gladiators and how the emperor decided their fate just by the hand signal he gave. We also learned about the old appearance of the Colosseum vs what is there today. There were three teirs of arches with a tier of pillars on top. Each arch use to have a statue inside. Like in modern day stadiums the richest sat closest to the action in the front and the poor sat farther back. The stadium at its peak is thought to have held 35,000 people. The brick used to have metal built into the wall for stucture but it was taken out and scraped into something else, but the structure has still stood for for nearly 2000 years. The Colosseum was originally a white ish stone but over time the polition of the city has turned it to the tan/brown/black that can be seen today. This evening we went to Ristorante f.lli Crisciotti another restaurant right around the corner of our hotel. Once again the friendlist people ever. They specially made fettuccine so we could try their alfredo sauce which is really different from the American randition. The sauce is much thinner and more butter base if that makes any sense. After dinner we headed up to the hotel terrace were we had an amazing view of the sunset. Now we are relaxing eating some gelato watching Spain get killed by the Netherlands in some World Cup soccer. Which is much bigger of a deal here. There are people from all over the world at our hotel who love to try to convince us who to cheer for. Tomorrow is another exciting day, we even have a pizza making class in the evening! 

Colosseum 

Cross in the Coloseum as a tribute to the end of the gladiator era. Every Good Friday there is a procession through the Colosseum in rememberance. 

Colosseum interior. 

This might be my favorite picture from the whole trip. 

Just having one of many goofy moments. 

Sunset setting on another amazing day. 

Italy Day 1

Today was filled with walking, information, and art of all kinds. This morning we woke up and the wifi even worked in our rooms which was a huge change from our location in London. At our hotel we had breakfast which was filled with all kinds of Italian pastries, fruit, and any kind of coffe you would want. Italy also seem to be a huge Nutella fans so that is a major plus. Then we hoped on the metro and headed to the Vatican. Basically the Vatican has 12 museums the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedrial that we  visited. Each mesum is filled with art, sculptures, tapestry, and paintings covering the cealing. Each day over 25,000 visitors come to visit the Vatican sometimes reaching close to 50,000. There are actually only about 800 residents including the Pope. It would take hours for me to attempt to explain half of the things we saw there so instead I'm going to post just some of the million pictures I have. This afternoon we fianally took a break and napped for a few hours before heading to pizza and gellato for dinner. Which I can easily say gellato will become an addiction hard to break when we leave. Tomorrow we have another day in Rome at the Colosseum. 

Entrance to the Vatican 

St. Peter's Cathedrial dome

This door is only opened every 25 years by the Pope for the jubilee the last time it was open was in 2000.

St. Peter's Cathedrial 

St. Peter's Cathedrial

St. Peter's Cathedrial

St. Peter's Cathedrial

The middle balcony is where the Pope stands when he talks to the people. 

Emma, Tyler, Rebecca, and I

The streets of Rome

Mango gelato. 

Travel Day

After a morning of dragging our luggage around London we finally made it to the airport. London airport has a unique way of not telling you where your flight is until 30 minute before your flight boards. Which causes a quick dash across the airport for your flight, but it was quite fun considering I was in FaceTime conversation with Nathan at the same time. Our flight was a quick two hour flight right into Rome. When we arrived I could easily tell a nice change of pace. The escalators were slower, the people were more chill which is amazing compared to the crazy past days in London. On our drive to the hotel we got our first experience of Italy driving. If you think Texas driving is crazy you haven't seen anything yet. We ended up following the trolley car path then running over a median where other cars were parked then somehow got a quick view of the Colosseum before arriving at the hotel. Tonight we went to Ristorante L'Europeo which was hands down the best Italian food I have ever had. I had spinach ravioli and tiramisu. The waiter at the restaurant was also super hospitable. Right when we came in he said I know what you want and he gave us the wifi password. Then he taught us some Italian throughout dinner. After dinner walking back to our hotel we met an Irish couple who was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The husband had traveled all over the south US and even knew a lot about Texas. He said Texas was his favorite place he visited in the US so we all immediately got along splendidly. Then we headed back to the hotel to go to the terrace patio on the roof which hands down is the cutest place we have been to. Is has a flowers everywhere and a great view of the city. Tomorrow we head off to the Vatican until then arrivederci! 

Jennie,Emma and I all on the plane together.

Flying over the mountains!

Colosseum!

Genuinely happy about getting some itallian food for dinner. 

Tarice on top of the hotel. 

London Day 10

Tuesday was the last day of lecture before the group splits into two groups going to Italy or Germany. See discussed D-Day to prepare us for Normandy after we go to Italy. We revieedw on all the events of D-Day. Regarding to industrialization we discussed how important science and technology was in the Allies choice in the location to attack and in the defending of the coast was for the Axis. After our lecture we broke out into our respective groups to talk logistics for our trip tomorrow. This afternoon we headed over to Oxford St to shop for some last minute things for Italy. The weather is going to be warming up drastically for us tomorrow it's been around 70 every day in London and it will be closer to the Texas 90+ tomorrow in Italy. This evening I am staying back at the university to pack up and get ready for our day of travels tomorrow. 

Since the blog is super short today I am going to post my favorite things about London. In random order here our my ten favorite things. 

1. Flat Whites are like expressos with a cappachino type foam. 

2. Nando's chicken probably my favorite place to eat ever! 

3. London Eye 

4.Java Cakes a dark chocolate type cookie with orange inside. 

5. Windsor Castle 

6. Pret like a Panera or Mcallisters it's absoluly amazing. 

7. Tesco and their 3 for £3 lunch deals. 

8.Buckingham Palace 

9. The Tube the fastest and besides walking the only form of transportation we can get without messing up. 

10. The National Gallery 

London Day 9

Monday has been another amazing day in London. Looking back it's crazy how much more comfortable I am in my understanding of the city. Today we finally took the time to understand the bus system instead of just zipping through on the tube. We tried and still passed our stop haha but we made and effort and that's what counts. This morning we had a lecture with Dr. Dobbs who is in charge of the Regents Program at Texas A&M- Commerce. We discussed World War I & I I more in depth and detailed to England, Italy, France, and Germany where the group with be traveling while we are in Europe. And also how our regarded topics Nationalism, Enlightenment, and Industrialization effected and were effected by the wars. Industrialization specifically we focused on how without a high industrialized economy and technological culture Germany would not have been able pull of something like the Holocaust. As sad as it is the Holocaust took very strategic planning and high levels of organization. Then this afternoon Emma, Tyler, and I headed back to The National Gallery to spend more time there. 

Since last time we had selected pairings we focused on this time I picked some of my own favorites.  My favorite was Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh, and represents welcome and friendship.  

My second favorite was The Thames below Westminster by Claude Monet. The painting mostly focuses on industrialization and the building up of industry along the Thames river. The painting shows steam ships, iron bridges, and even the building of something new on the left of the painting. 

While at The National Gallery I picked up some stamps to finally get the postcards sent off and I picked up a Leonardo da Vinci knot patterned inspired ring. Since typical souvenirs are not normally my thing I have decided to get a piece of jewelry from each country I visit that way each item would have personal meaning to me. 

Leonardo knot inspired ring from The National Gallery. 

This evening we hung around the hotel to get some much needed wifi tlc. I even got the chance to FaceTime my family and my brother Nathan who is staying with the Weichmans. Only one more day in London then it's off to Rome on Wednesday!

FaceTime with Nathan and the Wiechmans.