I ended my tour with a second visit to London. I did some more of the touristy things and focused my trip around Sherlock and Harry Potter hot-spots for the most part. I also wandered along the Thames quite a bit because I really like how water looks at night. It was a peaceful way to end my tour and the adventure of a lifetime.
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When we told our new friends in Rome that we were going to Naples, they grimaced and told us to clutch our bags. Keep in mind, these are people from Rome where you already should clutch your bags. Naples seemed to be the brunt of Roman jokes and and suddenly, I wasn't sure what we were getting ourselves into.
While I tried to go in with an open mind, Naples was probably my least favorite of the places we visited, though that's not to say it wasn't fun. The town felt like a more crowded and dirtier Rome. However, the people and activities of the city were wild. For example, Italians and especially Neapolitans do not car about road laws. Busy intersections would have no traffic lights at all and the best way to cross the road was to just go for it. Mopeds zoomed up all roads and sidewalks, giving you a beep and about four seconds to jump out of the way. The was a lot of graffiti in Rome and it honestly looked clean compared to the streets of Naples. We went to Pompeii, which was a bit overrated. The preservation was amazing and the casts of bodies were haunting, but the novelty rubbed off pretty quickly. I think my favorite part of Naples were the two castles we visited against the coast. Even that view wasn't super great because of the heavy smog that had settled on the mountains in the distance. It was an interesting city and worth visiting once, but I don't think I'll be hurrying back there any time soon. Back in a big city, another one of the capitals of the world, wandering Rome was a different feeling than London or Paris. Less clean, crazier streets, and it felt so much older. With every turn you encountered something new: ancient Roman ruins, giant churches, scars from world wars, and another "country" aka the Vatican. It became a joke as we walked around, if we saw a big interesting building and wondered what it was: "Probably a church." We were almost always right. We had the opportunity to meet up with Raoul, a friend of Lórien's who has lived his entire life in Rome and kindly invited us to his birthday dinner. He supplied multiple English speakers for us, so we learned some Italian and what life is like growing up in Rome. New Years Eve had that spectacular big city feeling you always see on TV. Strangers crowded on the streets and we casually passed the Colosseum a few times, which was an odd and powerful feeling. On New Year's Day we happened upon an arts and music festival along the river Tiber. There were performances from every genre: jazz, classical, rock, indie, Italian folk, opera. Oh, the opera. Everything was in Italian so I'm not really clear on the plot, but it was one of the best things I've ever seen. The people in Rome are kind of a combination of the traditional "rude" city people and the loud Italian stereotype. Combined, they possess a type of exaggerated energy that is wonderfully terrifying. Along with that, they enjoy messing with you- we had multiple waiters make fun of our attempts at Italian. Maybe it was the company, maybe it was the fact that I am enchanted by big cities, maybe it was simply the fact that I get to say that I spent New Year's Eve in Rome, but there was something special about the place. I'll definitely be back one day. The next segment of my trip has a very obvious pun in the name, so we will move past that as we made the joke at least five times a day. The coast was bright blue water splashing against smooth rocks to make a unique song. The buildings were happy shades of yellow and red and orange and in the old city where we stayed, all the shingles matched with the same shade of orange. We took a day trip to another country (though it has about the same population as a large university) and checked out Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was a lovely way to spend time between Christmas and New Years.
Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd in other words) was spent traveling across France toward the town of Vichy. A French friend of Lórien's, Justin, invited us to his home for Christmas. The day before was his cousin's birthday dinner, which we were also invited to, and that was hosted at a mansion-like castle. If you ever find yourself eating traditional meals in France, there are a couple things you learn very quickly: 1) Dinner doesn't start until around nine. (Yes, 9 p.m.) 2) Meals last around three hours (Yes, 3 hours). 3) Before you eat, you stand around with pre-dinner drinks and snacks. 4) There are multiple courses and you eat them all with wine. 5) Every meal ends with cheese ("fromage" in French). 6) And the French really like their desserts. The meal at the castle was fancy and delicious. The best part wasn't the food though. This was a French family that mostly spoke French, believe it or not. I do not speak French. This barrier led to a beautiful linguistic dance between my many new acquaintances in Justin's family. Most older people know one or two English words, so conversations are mostly gesturing. The younger French people usually know more, but they don't seem very confident when they speak and struggle to find the right words. However, many of the French people I spoke to spoke Spanish better. So for many of my conversations French people spoke Spanish at me and I responded in English. It was a fairly effective system. On Christmas Eve, Justin's family drove us through the French countryside to their delightful house in a teeny-tiny town. Every fifteen minutes on the drive we would see another castle or another church, and we made multiple stops that let us really explore a much more "real" part of France. Everything is so much older in France; the original part of Justin's parents' house was completed around the 1750s, making it older than the United States. We arrived in fog, which made everything look like a fairy tale, and there were sheep and more traditional meals and lots of wine. Everything I ate was amazing and I was blown away by the hospitality I received from Justin's family. It was difficult to spend Christmas away from my own family, but being with someone else's family was the next best thing. It was a one of a kind cultural experience that was truly incredible. I picked up a few new French words as well. So from France I wish you all a Joyeux Noël!
Barcelona was a special city to visit with Lórien. Earlier this year, she and I went to the Grand Canyon together and I forced her to listen to my obsession of the time: the album Divide by Ed Sheeran. We had memorised it by the end of the journey, and one of our favorite songs was called "Barcelona." The city was as carefree as the song suggested, especially in comparison to the hustle and bustle of London and Paris. The metro itself moved slower at stops. The buildings were still European in architecture, but places like Sagrada Familia and Parc Güell could only be described as jazzy. The food and drinks were wonderfully inexpensive, but absolutely delicious. We were able to explore a Picasso museum and a museum on the history of Catalonia (as that was a very topical issue as we went through the city). And the sea was breathtaking. We were treated to a stunning sunset the last night, the perfect ending to a lovely sample of Spain.
I've surprised myself in Paris: I think I actually like big cities. The public transportation is simple enough to figure out, there are ten million different things to do and there's always a crowd of people to see. Paris was as lovely as you could expect and I was able to do all I wanted and more. We did around 8 miles of walking each day, so my legs have been perpetually tired but happy all the same. Then, of course, the Eiffel Tower.Our second day in Paris was a bit more morbid: we went underground to the Catacombs.Our third day in Paris we spent wandering around.I began my Winter European Tour in the shiny city of London. I think I may have fallen in love with the city. It was crazy, busy and oh-so-exciting. We rode the Tube and walked so much. In my 24 hours there I saw so much, and there was so much more I didn't see. It was such an adventure though.
Lórien and I started the night at high tea as a birthday celebration- it was so fancy. Champagne and a live piano player and silver foil on desserts. Then we wandered a bit, saw some of the classic London sights, though Big Ben is under renovation right now so it was more scaffolding than clock. The lights reflecting off the Thames was beautiful. We went to a couple pubs and I had my first pint of Guinness. The next day we wandered through Hyde Park, the Winter Wonder Land, and by Buckingham Palace. After that we spent some time at the Camden Markets, which were huge and colorful. We went into some lovely and interesting shops. We went to Paris that, which was a difficult travel to say the least. But we made it and will be exploring this next capital of the world in full force tomorrow. |
Amy Golden
Amy will be spending the academic year at the University of Sunderland in England studying journalism. Archives
February 2018
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