When in Rome...

Bongiorno di Roma!

The city of love, ruins, and bidets.

This blog will be mostly pictures, as I took over 1000 in Italy alone :S

Breanne, my “groovy” (as she likes to call herself), Canadian friend studying in Amsterdam, met up with Mom, Aunt Mary and I at the airport in Rome.

We travelled in style (the benefits of having your Mom with you in Europe), staying at a beautiful apartment next to St. Maria Maggiore Bascillica during our first couple nights.

St. Maria Maggiore 

A play-by-play of Breanne discovering the view from our room:

For the first couple hours, I explored some beautiful churches. This one had the bodies of 2 saints below the altar.

This is St. Peter’s in Chains. Check out this relic beneath the alter!

Another church had this column in it. I wish I had asked a priest for more details, but I didn’t understand the word “flagellation.” Of all days to find it, Good Friday.

Another highlight of the trip so far: gelato.

That evening, we walked down to the Trevy fountain. On the way, Breanne asked me, “What does the Trevie Fountain remind you of?” My immediate response was “The Lizzie McGuire Movie.” Now that’s embarrassing. Apparently I wasn’t alone though. 

This is a fountain in a square in front of the president’s house, if I understood properly.

Check out the angel sculptures on top of that building!

Made it to the Trevi Fountain!

Aunt Mary, Mom and me at the Trevi Fountain

Make a wish!

Breakfast the next day consisted of pastries, cappuccino and tea! And a “toastie”, which is toast with ham and melted cheese.

Today was our hop-on hop-off bus tour (also a treat, as I typically opt for the free walking tours -- thanks Mom!) We learned a lot of history about this city this way.

Most of my pictures had the bus railings in them, so Ill just put up a few highlights.

And of course, the Vatican and the Colosseum, where we spent most of our time.

The Vatican

St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Bascillica

Writings by Aristotle at a museum at the Vatican

Breanne's "I'm in Italy and you're not" pose

Chairs outside the Basilica for the Easter Vigil Mass

The Pope said the Easter Vigil Mass here at 11:30 PM Sat night! You obviously had to have tickets well in advance though.

The Colosseum

Fact: Construction of the Colosseum began in 70-72 A.D. It was capable of seating 50 000 spectators!

The Colosseum and Breanne's Hair

Fact: Most people that fought here were slaves. Very few volunteered as a way to fame, as half the time it didn’t end well.

Strange Fact: They used to collect the blood from the battles here and people would drink it as a “cure” for epilepsy. Ew.

Saturday night, I went to St. Maria Majorie Bascilica across from our apartment for the Easter Vigil. Three hours of a beautiful Italian Mass!

About 10 bishops, 3 cardinals, and the 4 rows around me alone had 17 nuns from at least 7 different orders (I counted, haha!)

We had a good night’s sleep that night so we were ready for our 2 day trip to the ruins of Pompei and the paradise of Capri! Blog to come!

Arrivaderchi 

Mom's and Aunt Mary Come to Grenoble!

Bonjour à tous !

My Mom and Aunt Mary have arrived in Grenoble! Waahoooo! More peanut butter! Haha, and of course I’m happy they brought themselves as well.

Quick tangent before I write about their 3-night stay in Grenoble. There’s a carnival downtown right now. I tried my first nutella crepe there, yummy. They had fireworks the other night, a nice surprise! Our res definitely had the best view.

Carnival

  

Fireworks as seen from res

Also: some quick facts. The French have wussy fire trucks, and have a strange way to take out the public garbage.

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All those annoying little marks that I lost for forgetting accents on French tests? I’ve learned their importance. Without them, a “thé” shop (tea shop) becomes a "THE" shop.

Back to Mom, she’s been quite adventurous during her stay here! Dad and Cara, you’ll be real proud of her. I’ll explain in a bit.

They didn’t arrive to the nicest weather. It’s been 20s and sunny for the past couple weeks, but when they got here, it the clouds were sinking onto the mountains.

It cleared up though. They’re staying in a beautiful hotel in the middle of the centreville, “Hotel de L’Europe”. Definitely not travelling like students.

Hotel de l'Europe: The white building behind the back left corner of the park
Right in the middle of everything!

Hotel staircase,
I thought it was kind of cool

Right in front of the beautiful square

After meeting them at the Grenoble bus station, they had a little rest and then we explored the town. They’ve been doing some of shopping while I’m in class. We also went for tea at the square by their hotel.

Place Victor Hugo

Tea at the square by their hotel

We ate at a Pizzeria the first night. The next night, I treated them to a much less glamorous meal chez moi (at my res kitchen…)

Okay, here’s Mom’s Brave Moment #1: Battling her fear of heights on the téléferiques (bubbles). 

Inside the Bubble

The top!

Fort de la Bastille

I was so proud of her! She even looked around on the way down. We made it up to the Fort de la Bastille, where Mom’s Brave Moment #2 took place: Battling her claustrophobia through the military caves.

"The light at then end of the tunnel"

Yeah! Made it!

The beautiful Grenoble mountain-top view.

Next blog: A couple days in Rome, Italy with Mom, Aunt Mary and Breanne Jury! 

Andiamo!