Amsterdam

So here's the first post about spring break. Vanessa and I went to Amsterdam on the 17th. We flew through Zurich on Swiss Air, and let me tell you, there's a reason they were voted the no. 1 airline in Europe--Swiss chocolate, cucumber sandwiches, and leather seats for everyone! For free! (well, the food, not the seats) Those were some of the most relaxing flights of my whole life. There's just one minor detail...Switzerland is not in the EU, so when we got to Amsterdam (back in the EU) they gave us a bit of trouble for not having our piece of paper that registered us with the government (different from a visa)...but the Italian government in all its bureaucracy hasnt given anyone their permesso di soggiorno yet. So that was a bit of an explanation. They let us through anyway, but with a stern warning to have it next time.
We got to Amsterdam about 7 or 8 PM and not knowing a word of Dutch. But we found our way to the train to Amsterdam Centraal Station since I had printed out directions to the hostel from there. We found it pretty easily and realized from some of the other people checking in that we were definitely not far from the red light district. It had a curfew and 24-hour security, so that eased our...uneasiness..but the drunk guy breathing down Vanessa's neck did not. But since the hostel didnt allow any alcohol or drugs there, he had to leave, and all was good and right in the world again.
Our room was up three flights of stairs, two of them being those twisty Dutch ones where you have to hug the wall so you wont miss a step and tumble down. Overall, it was a pretty clean place, and they even have free breakfast (with 4 options!) every morning. It's called Shelter City, and if you're ever in Amsterdam (and under 35 ish), it's a good place.
On Sunday, Vanessa and I wandered around to find the Anne Frank House--the main reason we had come to Amsterdam. It was quite a windy walk. Apparently most of Europe, while sunny and warm the week before, was cold, windy, and rainy the week of our spring break. Wonderful. I almost got blown over. More than once. We made it there, though, and since I had bought tickets online, we passed the entire line and walked right through the side door. Yes, it was a cold and windy (and later rainy) Sunday in March, and the line was around the block. Buy tickets ahead of time.
I had already seen pictures of the annex and office before, so I sort of knew what to expect, but what really surprised me was how small it was. The rooms were tiny; I really dont know how they fit more than one bed in some of them. To get up to the second floor, you had to climb stairs that were basically a ladder, and the people hiding were there for over two years and did that every day. The museum also included the offices in front of the annex and the building next door that had some of the family's original pictures and the diary. They also told the story of what happened to each person after they were found and arrested. It was good to see the real building finally, and I even saw some things I hadnt read about before.
After lunch we trekked to the Van Gogh Museum. It's cool if you're really into Van Gogh, but Starry Night is actually in New York, so I did not get to see that. It also has lots of paintings from his contemporaries and people who influenced his painting. Good, but not my fave. The Rembrandt museum is next door, and that's more up my alley, but we only had time for one. After we finished Van Gogh, we thought a tour of the Heineken museum might be fun. It looked cool, but you know those three "free" glasses of beer are not free, and since I dont like beer, and Vanessa doesnt like Heineken, we went to a tea place instead. It started raining right after we got inside, and pretty soon after that, it hailed. I also got to see a kid wipeout on rollerblades, so that was awesome. Hehehh....
This is already getting so long, so I'll wrap it up. On Sunday night we found a little brewery restaurant place and had amazing beer bread and soup for dinner. When we left on Monday, it was seriously snowing. Nice to see snow once this winter, but not while I'm lugging my stuff to the train station. Thankfully it didnt delay our flight at all. We got to the airport waaaay too early, but there's a lot to do in Amsterdam airport. It's like a whole mall right there, complete with jacked up prices.

I fully intend to write all about spring break later, but I just wanted to say right now that I am completely obsessed with Lost. My wonderful roommate Giannina has the first couple seasons, and she made Candace and me start watching it. If you have never watched that show, go to Blockbuster and rent the first season. It's great. It will suck you in, and you will be so addicted. We can't watch just one episode at a time, oh no...it's usually three.
Oh, one more thing. My glasses broke (like, in half) when I went to Vienna, and I've been looking for a place to buy new ones ever since. Now, they have tons of places that sell them (called an ottica), but there's one minor problem. The Italians are so incredibly stylish and fashion-conscious that they do not seem to sell non-designer (ie. incredibly weird, ugly, and expensive) glasses. Never thought I'd have trouble finding glasses in Europe, so if you know where I can get something normal, let me know!

We just got back from Marseille this morning after spending a night in the airport since our flight was at 6:30 AM. I didn't get much sleep because an old French guy stole the seats I was going to sleep on. Anyway, spring break was awesome, more on all that later. I'm going to sleep.

The past two weeks have been midterms...which is no fun at all. But Andrew was here from AU for a couple days, so I got to take a break from studying to show him around Rome. On Tuesday we went to the Pantheon after my evening class...and he was amazed (or at least sounded like it). I've seen it so many times now, that I'm kinda like, "Oh, there's the Pantheon....moving right along..." So it was nifty to see someone get all excited about it like I did the first time I saw it. On Wednesday we saw the Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, and Capitline Hill in four hours. It was blazing hot, and there were tourists everywhere; we even met some Texans, but they were Aggies fans, so we don't like them.
I had already been to the Forum a bazillion times for class, but since I had a midterm today on ancient Rome, getting to tell Andrew what everything was made a good study session. I had also been to the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum for class a couple weeks ago, but it is totally worth it to go back. I think the Colosseum looks huge on the outside but once you get in, it's smaller than you would expect. Very cool anyway, though. Makes me want to watch Gladiator. The Palatine Hill takes the same ticket as the Colosseum, and in my humble opinion, it's even better than the Colosseum. There's practically no grass or any gardens in most of Rome, but the Palatine is full of orange trees and gardens, etc etc. It was the site of the Imperial Palace back in the day. Plus on one side there's the best view of the Forum and Colosseum, and on the other side is a great view of the Circus Maximus and Aventine Hill. I really can't even describe the full awesomeness of the Palatine Hill, but if you're ever in Rome, don't miss it. If you want a preview, there will be some pictures up soon.
Oh, and I almost forgot about the amazing dinner last night. A bunch of us went to this little hole in the wall place right by our apartment called Il Piccolo Grande. It's where you go if you want the real Italian experience. They don't have any menus in English, and the guy who owns it doesn't speak much English, so it's a fun experience. And we met more Texans there, some teachers from a Jesuit school in Houston who wanted to know where to get smashed...lovely.
Anyway, that's about it. Tomorrow is Joe's birthday, so we're going to Hard Rock to celebrate. After that, it's off to Amsterdam for Vanessa and me, and then we're meeting up with Joe and Candace in the south of France on Monday. I'm so stoked. I've waited ten years to go to Amsterdam to see the Anne Frank House.
Oh yeah, and happy Ides of March. I should have worn a toga today.

Wien (that would be Vienna for all you non-German speakers)

So I just got back from Vienna...wonderful place, but I never would have thought to go there if I didn't have friends living there. It was also nice to get my personal space bubble back for a few days (Austrians value that a little more than Italians), though I had to trade my ability to speak some of the language for it. Backing up a bit, my flight from Rome to Vienna on Thursday was delayed, but no official airport person announced it; it just kind of happened. We sat there and waited and waited and waited...and NO ONE complained. People just kind of talked and had a good time. I feel that this was distinctly Italian, or at least southern-european. I would have complained out loud (believe me, I was thinking it all), but I couldn't express that very well in a language that anyone else there would understand well. I tried talking to people around me, and there wasn't much English goin on. I was looking around at people's passports to see if there were any Americans or anyone from another English-speaking country, but I didn't see any. I hope I wasn't being obvious and creepy, but no one seemed to notice. Haha... sooo when I finally got into Vienna, Kristy met me at the airport and we met Kim and another one of their friends for an amazing dinner of Austrian goodness. I had mushroom goulash and knoedle (i have no idea if that's how it's spelled, but they were bread dumplings). All in all, very satisfying.
The next day, I walked around downtown by myself while Kristy was at work. The first thing I did was find a Starbucks, as there are zero Starbucks in Italy, or any other place that sees the value in putting a drink in a paper cup to take away. After enjoying over-priced hot chocolate, I went to the Hofberg palace next door (Now I understand why they put places like McDonalds next to beautiful, historic monuments like the Pantheon...tourists like me would never find them otherwise). I saw and took illegal pictures of the imperial china collection, which sounds rather dull but was really impressive. I also went to the Sissi Museum, which is about Empress Elisabeth back in the 19th Century, and to the royal apartments. The other part of my day was spent trying to take pictures of myself in front of monuments and churches and going to H&M in search of flip flops to use in hostel showers. No luck on that front but I did find many other goodies at H&M, and I had to make myself leave the store before I drained my bank account. Oh wait, that's probably already happened! (just kidding, parents). Then Kristy and I went to Kim's and made taco salad. Mmmm...no pasta! I'm skipping over alot, but it was a long weekend, and there are too many details to write them all.
On Saturday, Kristy and I went to the summer palace, Schönbrunn. The name means "beautiful fountain," and there is a rather beautiful fountain behind the palace. There's also a really beautiful...structure (I don't know what else to call it; it's not a gazebo) up the hill behind the palace where the royal family used to have summer picnics. It was cold and raining, so Kristy and I had a picnic under there too. Then we took a bus to Kahlenberg, which is kind of out in the country. It's up on a really big hill, and there's a great view of the whole city from there. It was still cloudy, but you could see most of the city. We ate potato salad at the cafe up there; throw out your usual ideas about potato salad, because Austrian potato salad is totally different. It takes the name much more literally. There are some cold slices of potato in vinegar with a special kind of lettuce on top.
We capped off the evening with The Sound of Music. How can you go wrong watching that while you're actually in Austria? Pretty much can't. It was great. Anyway, those were the basics of the weekend. It was tons o fun, so if you're ever anywhere near Vienna, definitely make the trip out there; it's totally worth it. But learn some German first.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!