News and Notes

A couple of notes: this morning I finished the second season of Rome. 2 seasons in 9 days. Good stuff. After that, I headed out to go to the gym, and from there I went to St. Mary Major and St. Paul Without the Walls. Hooray, I have officially finished the official pilgrammage churches. St. Mary Major was aight, I liked St. Paul's more. Also, I wanted to note this last week, but I forgot: I swear I saw some people from the ranch crossing the bridge over near Castel St. Angelo. It was from a distance, but they both looked very familiar.

Crappy weather here. A good afternoon for a nap, followed by class from 5-8. After that, it's Prague/Vienna weekend! Good times ahead.

New photos

Well, I haven't put up photos in a while, mainly because I have not taken too many great pictures lately. If you want to check some not-great pictures (hey, at least I got the Pope in a couple!), then click here. The blurbs with the pictures might make it worth one's time. But that's not a promise.

Anyways, yesterday I woke up and headed over to St. Peter's Square, where there was a huge mass for the beatification of some dude from the Spanish Civil War and 150 martyrs. Yay death! Anyways, the pope stuck his head out at midday to do his weekly shoutouts to his homies from the balcony. I understood very little of it (my Polish/French needs work), but the English I got. He speaks English like Hans and Franz from SNL ("Iz would like to thankz ze Engliz speaking peopolzz for zier being here"). I was there, though, to see off Chad, Durst, and Jessica, two Dillon guys and a new friend. They're all heading back to London, so I'll see them in less than a month anyways.

After that, it was truly a lazy Sunday. I have nearly blown through 2 full seasons of Rome in the last week (not much to do in terms of work, clearly), and I watched a bunch of episodes of that yesterday. I can't really remember what else I did. Clearly, it wasn't important.

Today was lame too. Lame class and stuff. And I actually have lame work to do. Lame.

The US Embassy... and stuff

I want everyone to know that your hard earned US tax dollars were hard at work tonight punishing the livers of Notre Dame students at the residence of the US Ambassador to the Vatican. The ironic thing is that many of the people there were underage, so the US government (I guess I am assuming that it was on the government's dime... but I don't think I'm making a big assumption here. You'd understand if you were here) was providing a perfect opportunity for people to break the law, considering the residence is technically US soil (for my part... I plead the fifth).

As I said, it was a very pleasant party. The Rooneys were very gracious, and Kathleen looked like she had been to about a million of those kind of parties before. She was constantly like "oh God, my parents are going to kill me if I look like I'm talking to you guys all night. Let's move, and it'll look like I'm getting around the party". A whole different lifestyle than what I'm use to, for sure.

A lot of people showed up. Maybe around fifty. There were some cool people there, too. A couple of priests, and some dude who worked for Ambassador Rooney who graduated from Georgetown in 2003. He was cool, and was hanging around talking to me, Chad, Durst, Gorsche, and Kathleen a bunch. The party slowly but surely drew to a close, and there were about twelve of us who were left over. All the London kids and ND were/are still around, so we took them for a last night out. We headed to some pub/ dinner spot that the archies like to go to (there were two or three archies with us) called Mickey's. It was really, really cheap, and it was also very close to the Pantheon. It defied the laws of economics, like Old Bridge. So, anyway, we had a great meal of delicious cheap food to satisfy our drunken cravings (or sober cravings. Nobody broke the law. We promise.) and we then headed out to Campo. On our way, we stopped by the architecture studio to check it out. A bunch of poor archies were working like mad on some project that is due next week. Poor, poor souls. On a Saturday night at 11:30 in Rome, no less.

So, after that, we headed to Campo. As if they weren't drunk enough from the open bar, a couple of kids grabbed some beers, and we hung out in the square, shooting the breeze, as always. After a while, the Notre Dame and London kids realized that they would be getting up at 7:30, because the ND kids have a relatively early flight home tomorrow (I'll see some London kids tomorrow morning, hopefully). We said our tearful goodbyes. It's sad, but then again, I'll see them soon enough. Of course, I may not be living in Dillon next semester, but I guess I may still see them regardless...

EUR

Wow. I just went down to EUR, an old fascist-era city expansion that stretches out toward the sea (Mussolini wanted to grow Rome all the way out there). The place is totally depressing, stupid, and fascist. Let this be a lesson: central planning= bad idea. "Done right", even in the nonfascist way (you know, with the least bit of aesthetics), it is still done wrong. Thinking of central planning got me thinking: I forgot to pick up an absentee ballot. So, yeah, if you live in Charlotte, do me a favor. Vote to repeal in a couple of weeks. Or if you were planning on going to vote to keep the rail tax in place , just, you know, stay home, and it will be like you voted and I voted. It's only fair.

Notre Dame Kids!

Last night was very, very fun. A bunch of Notre Dame kids are all in from London and South Bend (Chad, Durst, Gruffi, Mary, Kathleen, Gorshe, a lot of others), so it was party time. They apparently spent all day doing the biggest death march ever, seeing a bunch of churches and then going to Villa Borghese.

At about 5:45, I got a phone call from Dan saying to meet him @ Baffetto at 6:30. So I met up with a crew of folks there, sharing some of the most delicious pizza in Rome. Afterwards, we decided to head over to Kathleen's house. And by Kathleen's house, I mean the United States Embassy to the Vatican. I went back to America yesterday! Big surge of patriotism for being back in the good old U.S. of A. That building is nice, too. Your tax dollars at work.

We then headed over to Campo for an evening of hanging out and chilling (not a Drunken Ship or Sloppy Sam's kind of night). We hung and chilled at the statue, enjoying the mild weather. Fun fun.

Today the plan is for me to head down to EUR, the fascist-era city-outside-the-city. I haven't been down there, and I feel like I should at some point.

Scavi tour

Today has been very, very quiet. Got up, hung around, watched 3 episodes of Rome (I started on Sunday, and I'm 9 in so far: good stuff), and then headed down with Andy to do the Scavi tour under St. Peter's, subsidized by the nice people at ND. My mom wanted me to take a bunch of pictures when I did it, but we weren't allowed to. In terms of coolness factor, I'd give it about a six out of ten (it's a 2 star on the Michelin travel guide). What can I say, I'm a tough grader.

Notes of interest: on our way to try to get into the tour last week after the awful Vatican Museum scavi, we blew right by the area of the circus where Peter was killed. It's the area of the first Christian martyrs. Also, there is a little plaque where the obelisk was in the middle of the racetrack before they moved it to the center of the Piazza San Pietro. Kind of cool. You don't get to see the bones of St. Peter, though. Lame.

Perhaps the highlight of the tour was when our tour guide, a ND graduate/priest working in the Vatican now, was talking about how Romans would go out to grave sites with food and wine, and they would take out the wine and pour it over the grave sites. He then said, "you know, like some for my dead homies". Always good to hear a guy in priestly attire giving respect to the "dead homies".

More help from Mom

I'm trying to remember more about Sunday---Dad and I are wondering when we went to Largo Argentina to see where Caesar was killed. We were at Trevi fountain that day--it was so crowded. Remember Dad kept floating the idea that Sunday in Rome is especially crowded because all the tourists have arrived and will be there a few days before heading out to the other places? And we took a break on the steps of the Senate building, which undoubtably has a fancy name and is in a named square. I know we walked through some square with the designer stores--which were all closed.
And when did we walk through Campo Fiorno? We were at Piazza Novaona a couple of times.

Did we do all that on one day??? I do know that pizza at Bufetto was worth the plane trip over. Fun to sit outside at the tables along the street in the evening, sharing the table with the cigarette smoking lady and her fellow, enjoying the vino table, rosso. Fantastico.

The attempts at Italian here are fantastic. We did walk through the "Campo Fiorno" (Campo dei Fiori) and the "Piazza Novaona" (Piazza Navona- My mom tries to hard. With Italian, what you hear is usually what you spell) on Sunday, probably after heading to the Trevi Fountain. Sunday was a very busy day. We did see a lot of the city on the walking tour, aka Death March #1. As one may imagine, the parents off the plane were a bit cranky by the end. But they liked the pizza that was at the end of the tunnel.

As for me, not much is going on new. The weather has changed from perfect to a little cold, which means our marble floored/tiled apartment is really chilly. I did a bit of homework over the weekend, and now I seem to have no work to do for about two weeks. Even after that, it should not be so bad.

The most exciting stuff in my life right now are people coming into London. A bunch of my friends from Notre Dame, most in the London program but also two from South Bend, are coming in for this weekend. They get in tomorrow. One also happens to be the daughter of the US Ambassador to the Vatican, and we're going to a reception at his house on Saturday. Otherwise, I don't think anything is lock-down planned, but I know we'll have a good time.

Also, two of my friends from Providence Day, Max and Sadie (a couple... I think. It's so hard to understand kids these days) are coming over to join me from Dec. 15- Dec. 24. This is perfect, because I was hoping to have some travelling companions for after the semester. We're going to meet in Madrid, so I booked a flight Dec. 15, the day we get kicked out of Medag, to Madrid for 30 euros. Ahh, low cost airlines. Anyways, the plans are not set for what we'll do/ where we'll go after that. I'm thinking Madrid-Barcelona-go see Corey Tunstall (another friend from PDS) in southern France-Northern Italy and from there we'll see. They may want to go to Paris, though. If anyone has suggestions, let me know (jmcginni@nd.edu). But anyways, friends at PDS= friends for life. Good times, good times.

Today is my long class day. But after that, no work this weekend! Hooray. I need to convince some people to go out to try some delicious Roman cuisine this weekend.

Color me irritated. I walk all the way down to Trastevere to go to class, walk into JCU, and find out classes are cancelled for me today. Argh. I walked all that way because they apparently don't believe in the internets.

Not only that, but I have to print something out. I forgot about this in my anger, and now I have to walk all the way down to JCU again to do it. If they had emailed me about this, I could have had somebody in my room print it out for me. Now nobody is here. AAAARRRGGG feel the rage.

And it's really, really cold out. Which means it is very cold in our room. Maybe a walk isn't so bad. That's why iPods were invented.

Helping with the memory reconstruction

Here's my mom's comment about stuff we did that I forgot about. Most importantly, I forgot about the trip down to Porta Portese, a huge flea market that sets up shop every Sunday morning in Trastevere, and our lunch Monday at the Jewish Ghetto. Anyway, here it is:

Oh, Jamie, you were such a wonderful, wonderful host---but I was counting on a daily account of our days, as my feeble brain is losing that short-term recall thing. (Not having an internet connection in the apartment was the problem with last week's posts, as Jamie stayed there with us. Although John Cabot University was only six minutes away, most days he didn't have a spare thirty minutes to get there to post--it was mid-term week, and he was packing in the tour time.)


We'll have to sit down and reconstruct our days. So---

It was just incredibly perfecto to get out of our car from the airport at the corner near the apartment on a sunny Sunday morning, after our lovely travel day that included lunch with Bentley Andrews in Reston during our layover at Dulles, look down via Luciano Manara, and see mia Giacomo striding up the street! Such a sight for a mamma!

And you are right---that is one gay apartment--not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as the male figure does not offend, because it was a huge decorating motif. And the Blessed Mother. We strongly suspected that going in, and it has a major upside---we had shampoo, conditioner, nice soap, an iron, the washer, laundry racks---and three different ways to make coffee! Lots of books, comfortable sofas, and the three vases of flowers that Vincenzo offered to arrange and Dad accepted.
I've never slept in a bed that had so many pillows--and this from the mother whose sons have at least four pillows on their beds. He has one sumptuous bedroom--fabric covered walls, draperies pooled on the floor, Venetian mirror,canopied bed---.
Once I unplugged the frangrance things in the sockets all over the apartmento, it was all OK by me. He could use better lighting for eyebrow tweezing, but that's about it.

OK, after the apartment orientation from Monica (our "guardian angel", who is Vincenzo's assistant in his business) and Sabina, who translated for Monica, we freshened up and hit the streets for our private tour of the Romans' Rome. Staying in Trastavere was absolutely the right thing for us. Besides allowing Jamie to be just minutes from school, it showed us a slice of life we are far removed from in Charlotte--anywhere in this country, actually. On the block our apartment sits on was the bakery that is in the basement of our building, a fishmonger, a fruit store, a shop that sells high-end candies, teas, coffees, honey, and other dry goods, an optician, a fresh fruit and vegetable shop, a tobaccharia, a pet store, an Italian-equivalent of Williams-Sonoma, and ten other shops. The neighborhood--the city!--is block after block after block of the same, with a place to get prepared food in every third shop! If I hadn't seen people leaving the supermakato one evening with bags in their hands, I'd have wondered if Romans ever eat in.

As Jamie has alluded to (Death March Day One),we walked everywhere we went all week, except one Metro ride and one taxi ride to the Termini on the day we went to Pomei. Shortly after we hit the street Sunday morning we were in the middle of a huge flea market a few blocks from our apartment--the famous Potre Portese. It's like a lower-end Metrolina, mainly clothes-based as far as I could see, with the street jammed with smokers, stretching for blocks along a street that parallels VIale Trastavere, the main street that leads away from the river through the neighborhood. I do think there are some areas where the furniture is sold that we overlooked, but the smoking was really bothering us there, so we worked our way down a side street and crossed the river to the Ghetto, one of Jamie's favorite areas.
And I can see why--it reminded me of the North End of Boston, or at least the North End 28(!!!) years ago, when people would sit on the stoops and hang, and kids played in the street. Since it was Sunday, much the same was going on there, with three generations of families enjoying the gorgeous fall day. We had lunch at a tratorria, where we ate some of the classic Jewish appetizers--fried artichokes, fried salt cod, and a fried stuffed zucchini blossom. (Certain theme here, with the frying. Makes what were cheap foods more palatable---and they were fabulous.) Had more food too--and sorry that I do not recall what. It was very good though. Some days Jamie comes over for lunch, as there is a bakery there that is a find--had a wonderful fruit-bread type thing, and a great little chocolate biscotti.
(Seeing where Jamie's food obession genes come from? How else would we peasants have survived those famines, if we hadn't packed it one when we could????)
More later.

lam

Parents and Pompeii

That's me in front of Caecilius's house. That's right: my main man L. Caecilius Iucundus has a wikipedia page. And it's huge (yay Latin!).

First off, my blog past the 1000 page view mark this week. I'm just going to ignore the fact that between my mom, dad, and myself, we're probably responsible for about 100 of those (at least).

Okay, speaking of them, I guess I should do the update of how their trip went, from my point of view at least (they can comment and we'll see if I had it, more or less). Thursday was a very fun morning. We went by Ponte Sisto, dad got a cannolo with cream, I got a big cannolo siciliano. Both were tasty. Then we went into the Pantheon. We then went to Tazza D'Oro, which is one of the more famous caffes in Rome. It is supposed to have the best granita di caffe, and it was very, very tasty. From there we strolled up the Via del Corso to Santa Maria del Popolo, where we looked at the Chigi chapel and some Caravaggios. From there we climbed to the Spanish Steps, then walked to the Villa Borghese. Busy, busy, busy. Saw the Apollo and Daphne by Bernini, my favoritist sculpture, like, evar. At least that thing is still standing. That's doing better than my second favorite painting, like, evar.

From there we walked down the Via Veneto to Piazza Barberini to hop on the metro. McGinnis Family Death March 2007 had a respite as we rode the subway to St. John Lateran, where I had never been. It was big and fancy and churchy. Moving on. And moving on from there required some serious work. We walked down, through San Clemente, past the Colosseum, up past the Circus Maximus, past the Round Temple, across the river, and into Trastevere and to the apartment.

I would imagine at this point my parents were about ready to die. They seemed to be handling themselves all right, though. We had dinner in the 'hood. Not only that, but like right down the street close, at what is supposed to be one of the better gnocchi places in Rome (according to wikitravel). Anyways, it was rather tasty stuff. I won't quibble with wikitravel. Dad and I chilled at Bar San Calisto. He had another granita di caffe, which apparently led to bad sleep for him, while I had some delicious gelato.

Friday = Morning of Pain, Afternoon of Joy

Morning of Pain refers to a bad walk down to the Vatican by my parents. I sent them down the wrong route through the Janiculum Hill. I was dragging my laundry back to Medag at the time. We then met at the Vatican Museum to go into what we thought would be the St. Peter's scavi tour. We was wrong, and we was wronged. They signed us up for the new necropolis tour under the Vatican Museums, which is totally boring and worthless. And 90 minutes of total boredom. After this, my dad was rightfully pissy, because his morning was a steaming pile of dung.

We walked back to Trastevere through the right route on the Janiculum, so the view was there and pretty and whatnot. I realized our luck was turning, however, when we were able to see the Tempietto when it was supposed to be closed. Then we ate lunch at a delicious Sardinian restaurant (fried cheese for me! I love that stuff), and then we went back to the apartment. I promptly crashed for a 90 minute nap. I felt great afterwards. We went out, hung out in the hood, went to some stores (grocery store for pocket coffee!), and drank cokes in the local piazza. We then walked around to Piazza Trilussa for dinner. Nobody started eating until 8:30 around there, and we were about the first to start. We ate at some swanky winebar that had meh dinner and delicious desserts (I had fruit crepes, my mom had good cheese, and my dad had strawberries and crema gelato). Back to the apartment.

This morning I rose early to go hop on a bus to go to Pompeii for my Cities Towns and Villas class. I said goodbye to my parents, and we went off. We spent about 5 hours there. I've been, and I didn't take any good pictures. I have nothing witty or interesting to say about Pompeii. It's old and stuff.

Right now I am listening to Notre Dame playing USC. I am a masochist.

Parents are here

This is going to be a quick update on life, because I don't have any pictures of my last week to remind me of details. Anyways, here goes.

Sunday morning I got up and walked down to Trastevere, lugging a bunch of stuff I wanted to be brought back to the States with me. I arrived down there just as they were getting out of their taxi, which was nice. The apartment they chose to stay in is very nice, and totally, totally gay (not that there's anything wrong with that, as the fine folks at Seinfeld remind us). Plenty of pictures and sculptures of naked dudes, lube in the drawer next to the bed, smells fabulous. Not fabulous as in smells good; fabulous as in, well, you know. Again, not that there's anything wrong with that; gay is the most accurate description of this apartment. The interior decoration is fantastic. How stereotypical.

Anyways, I then led my parents on what I'm sure they thought was a death march. Up by the Pantheon, up Campus Martius, down the river to Castel, down to Baffetto (it wasn't open, so we had a drink at Abbey Theater) My dad did not bring a jacket and was cold the entire time, my mom was somewhat tired and fairly angry at my dad for not bringing a jacket. I mean, they had just gotten off the plane. Anyways, we ate at Baffetto, and they liked it. We then headed back to Medag to crash.

The next morning, I do not recall what went on. Oh, it's all coming back to me (this was 2 days ago. Dear God). We shared a nice, long break at Bar San Calisto, which may be the nicest neighborhood bar in all of Rome. And it's my parent's neighborhood bar. Anyways, danishes and cappucchinos were shared. I then showed my parents JCU, and they hopped on the computer for what may be their only shot at the Internet while here. From this point, I again cannot recall what exactly went on that day. I know I was in class from 2-5, and we ate my mom's birthday dinner at Rivadestra, a restaurant down Via della Lungara. It was excellent food prepared in the way nice restaurants prepare food (my favorite was a wierd lasagna which was actually broccoli, a sauce, some big crackers instead of pasta, and excellent sausage), but for a reasonable price. After that, we crashed.

Tuesday my parents went up to the Vatican Museum while I was in class. Afterwards, we went up to Medag to show that off. That was followed by a stop by Old Bridge, as I brought my laundry down to the apartment. I had class from 5-8, and then we walked around looking for Bar Sant'Eustachio, which allegedly has the best coffee in Rome. It was near the Pantheon, and we had little trouble finding it. It was good coffee. We followed that with a tartuffo (chocolate "truffle") gelato at Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona, which was delicious, but perhaps overpriced.

Yesterday is my long class day, and my parents spent most of their time on a death march in Pompeii. We finished the day in Trastevere, eating down the road at Antica Pesa. There were a bunch of photos of movie stars on the wall there, and it certainly seemed like a place where the beautiful people hang. We were a little underdressed in our fleeces and jeans. Anyways, the food was good too. My parents fell asleep really quickly after we got back.

It's rainy this morning. That may screw with our plans to go to the Borghese Museum. We shall see.

A summary

This is not my work. It is too good, however, to be left unshared. This was in my mailbox this morning.

Ciao all from an honorary pirate!

I headed up to Cinque Terre (5 Lands) last weekend. Apparently the five towns used to be hideouts for pirates before the British gained power and wiped them all out. It was sooooo gorgeous and has probably been my best trip so far. Hopefully the trend of my best trip being my most recent will continue! I decided that I should write a story of our time there, especially with all the Princess Bride, Swiss Family Robinson, Lord of the Rings, and other Pirate things...so here it is....Hope you enjoy!



As the three* set out to travel to the end of the Five Lands in hopes of meeting with the other three* they encountered little that they could not overcome. With only some aeuro in their pockets, they headed off to battle their way through the land of Termini.* With little time left they managed to find some food and at the last minute caught the trayno* to the Five Lands. As the trayno left from the land of Termini, the three realized that one of them might not have purchased the correct form of passage to the Five Lands. As time passed on the trayno, the three grew weary of what would happen with asked about their passage,. Hoewever, thanks to their impeccable decisioin making skills and a nice Checker, they were allowed passage without any trouble. While en route to their first stop on the way to the Five Lands, one* slept to store up her strength for the coming trials of the Five Lands. The other two studied for the trials* they must face when the group returned from the Five Lands to the Land of the Seven Hills*. Upon arriving in La Spezia, the three encountered a man who spoke Italian, but also spoke English with a Scottish accent---a very odd experience. The three took another trayno to the farthest of the Five Lands--Monterosso. Upon arriving in Monterosso the six were united. They trekked up meet the reclusive Manuel who had offered protection from the elements in return for some aeuros.

After a wonderful night of rest, the six went down into the village to find some food. They were greeted with the sweet smells of pastries and coffee from local bakeries. After filling up on wonderful food, they headed down to the beach to swim before conquering the Five Lands. As the six swam in the crystal clear water and climbed up the old rock to look out at the sea, sadly the ring that one* possessed desired to be joined with the sea of its same color. It slipped to the bottom of the sea, where the six tried to recover it, but could not. After the disappointment of the losing the Ring of the Confirmandi*, the six packed up their belongings and headed back to Manuel's to prepare for the long hike to the other four of the Five Lands. After filling themselves on focaccia bread, they headed out to conquer the Five Lands.

On the first trail, between Monterosso and Vernazza, the six hiked up the ancient stairs, surrounded by exotic vegetation, including a bamboo type plant, cacti, olive trees, and grape vines. They found a cave which one of them had been endowed with the knowlege that it was an old treasure cave*.The continued on their way, stopping to enjoy the incredible panoramic views, but knowing that they must continue if they hoped to make it to the last of the five villages before nightfall. Upon reaching Vernazza, the six refreshed themselves with gelato and focaccia. They also saw the descendants of the Great Tiger who formed the Five Lands* This was a foreshadowing of their successes on the journey.

The next journey from Vernazza was to lead the six to the town of the Princess Cornilia (spelled Corniglia in Italian). They would arrive there safely after another long and dangerous hiked through the mountains and olive groves of the Five Lands. In the town of Princess Corniglia, the six again found refreshment in the sea air and with a cold coffee. After another period of rest, they headed out, having save the princess from tightness after they showed her how to stretch after being on a long hike*

Setting out once again, the six enjoyed a journey to Manarola that did not tax them as much as the first to trips. They stopped and enjoyed the view of the sea once again, as well as the knowledge that they were going down the large flight of stairs instead of up them. Manarola, the fourth of the Five Lands provided them with yet another place to rest where they were unfortunately reminded of the defeat of the warriors of their home land.* With this thought in the back of their head, they pushed ever on to the final and last of the Five Lands.

The last part of their journey took them on the Path of Love, Via dell'Amore. As they wandered along this easier part of the journey they, saw the signs of those who had left their testimonies of love* Always surrounded by the sounds of the waves on the cliffs, the six enjoyed this last part of the journey, knowing that with it's end they would have conquered the Five Lands once they reached Riomaggiore. When they did reach Riomaggiore they were able to watch the beginnings of a gorgeous sunset. They found another trayno to take them back to Monterosso where they would feast and celebrate their triumph over the Five Lands.

Upon returning to Manuel's, the six cleaned up, went to the village to feast on pesto, a local product, and relax and enjoy the night. The next day, they would make a breakfast of the fruits of the land and of the pastries before they headed out to kayak and explore the coast. After seeing il Gigante* while kayaking, they six headed back to the beach to rest and enjoy the time before they headed back to the Land of the Seven Hills. They nourished themselves once more on focaccia and purchased some old pirate booty to remind them of their victory over the trials of the Five Lands.


Hope this makes sense and that it wasn't too unclear!!! Ask me if you have any questions as to what we actually did!!1

Peace and love to you all, Erin


*1st three were me, Andy, and Ann
*2nd three were Katy, Dan and Jamie
*aeuro is how you would write the pronunciation of euro in Italian
*Termini is the big train station in Rome
*trayno is treno--train--in Italian
*the one that slept was of course me
*midterms--yuck
*Rome has 7
*it was Ann's ring
*someone who is confirmed is a confirmandi and it was Ann's confirmation ring
*Dan made up this lovely story about the treasure cave.
*Jamie came up with the creative story that Cinque Terre was formed when a big tiger stepped down on the earth and left his paw print, which formed the five cove areas where the towns are now located. The tiger's descendants would be the cats that we saw playing in the street :)
*We stopped and stretched for a while when we arrived in Corniglia--felt soo great after having hiked for a little over 2 hours!--I couldn't think of anything better to say we saved a princess from :)
*A guy from Purdue stopped and asked us if Notre Dame had won against UCLA--thankfully they had, but that is the only game they have won all year--oh so sad
*Graffiti on the walls of the Via dell'Amore was actually really cool and some of it had been done by really talented people too!
*Il Gigante is a giant man carved out of the stone on the side of the mountain

Cinque Terre

The trip was truly amazing. Here are some pictures from the whole thing.

The trip started later than I wanted. We (myself, Dan, Katy) took off for the 9:45ish train, whereas I wanted to go on the 7:45 train because we were not sure we had a reservation at any place to stay for the six of us who were going, so I was a bit worried. The train was delayed about half an hour, so my worries began to increase a bit. About two hours into the four hour train ride, all was well, because my roommate called (who was coming later) and said that the people at Manuel's Guesthouse called to confirm a reservation for six. No more problems. The train ride was painless, and we talked with some people from Seattle also heading to Cinque Terre.

We bought our 3 day pass to Cinque Terre (shouldn't have: could have saved some cash, in retrospect) in La Spezia, and then trained into Monterosso. That is the northernmost city in Cinque Terre. We also knew it to be "the biggest in most touristy", so we had an idea of what it was like going in. By big and most touristy they mean pretty small and there are a few beautiful public beaches, apparently. It was awesome getting off the train and seeing the beach right next to the cliffs. We were pumped. We then searched for the guesthoues, and we found it within 10 minutes (the "big" city is tiny. The cities are all very, very small. Like 300 residents small). The guesthouse exceeded our expectations. Big time. The triples were big, our rooms had a kitchen and fridge, nice showers, and most importantly, a beautiful, beautiful view (it's one of the pictures in the facebook album. Check that out. Seriously).

At this point I knew it would be an amazing trip. Everything was the anti-Rome. So serene, beautiful landscape, just absolute perfection. The only other place I've been to that compared is Santorini, but I think Cinque Terre is nicer. The attitude is so chill. Such a nice break from the ambulances making so much noise all the time in Rome.

That afternoon we decided we wanted to go to Vernazza, Rick Steeves's favorite town in the Cinque Terre. We missed the dinky train, so we decided to hike there. It is the next town down from Monterosso, but the hike was supposed to be the worst of the four connecting the five towns. It was about an hour and fifteen minutes, and we weren't tired at all afterwards. We watched a beautiful sunset in Vernazza (check the pictures) while munching on some focaccia bread, a specialty of the area. I also bought 2 jars of pesto for my mom's birthday, but as you've already seen one of them ended up on the ground in Monterosso. All the focaccia we had there was the best I've had so far. Anyways, we then trained down to Manarola to try to find a restaurant I wanted to go to. After searching, we realized it was closed on Thursdays, so we went to another place that looked good. Excellent decision. We spent the evening with a 2-3 hour meal, downing wine & delicious food and generally having a blast. Dan and I finished it off with a large shot of limoncino , Liguria's answer to limoncello. It tasted like bad mouthwash.

After that, we chilled (if you are not hiking in Cinque Terre, you are chilling) a bit on a ledge in Manarola and then trained back to Monterosso. We waited until about 1:30 in the morning, when the other three (Andy, Erin, and Anne) got in on the latest train that runs at night. They had class in the afternoon, so they took late trains up.

The next morning, I got up at 7 after only five hours of sleep. The sun had yet to peek out over the cliff to the left, so it was cold. I have never noticed the sun's warmth make as big a difference in temperature than at Cinque Terre. With the sun, it was perfect beach weather. Without, I needed a jacket. Anyways, I walked around Monterosso for a couple of hours alone, watching a city slowly wake up. I got some awesome views, perfect time for reflection and, yes, chilling. I headed back to our rooms around 9:15, as the rest of the crew woke up. We then headed down for the beaches, which had clearer water than Higgins Lake. So blue, so pretty. The water was very crisp, but not too cold. The land below was rocky too, so there were points out where you could stand on a rock that jutted out to about 3 feet below sea level, but then fell off to about 30 feet. A good time was had by all. Also, check the pictures of us climbing the big rock in the middle of the water. That was cool.

At about 12:30 we took off to hike the famous #2 trail, which connects all five Cinque Terre cities. It was a hike, but totally worth it. About one hour into it, you begin to realize you are taking for granted some of the most picturesque views you have ever seen, and then you begin to appreciate it all over again. Fun fun. The last trail is called the Via del Amore, and is plasted with writing of lovers names with hearts drawn around and professions of undying devotion, etc. An especially funny thing was there was one that said "Da Pope" with "Dylan" written under it (no heart, unfortunately). This is a total inside joke because it involves the Tony Kornheiser Show which I'm sure nobody listens to, but this is my blog, so, uh, sorry. Moving right along.

The hike took about 5 hours, even with the stops we made for treats along the way. We were proud of our hiking abilities, and at least I wasn't even that tired afterwards. After training back to Monterosso, we bought some wine for the evening. After showering, we cracked open some of that before dinner. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but it involved a delicious meal and realizing we bought too much wine & limoncino. We spent most of it just chilling and talking on our terrace, because that place provided one of the best views we had (like I said, the 25 dollars a night for Manuel's guesthouse is the best lodging deal I'll ever see).

We woke up the next morning (Saturday) at 9, and the girls and I went down to buy some fruit to make fruit salad to go along with a chocolate/cream pie. Tasty breakfast, to be sure. We then spent the rest of the morning/ early afternoon soaking up the sun on the beach. Everyone else went kayaking, but I just wanted to lay down and get some sun (great success! First October sunburn ever!). We finally headed out around 3:20 to get to La Spezia to make the 4 PM train home. Most of the group initially planned to stop in Pisa, which would have required going on an earlier train, but very soon after arriving in Cinque Terre, they realized there was no way that was happening: hours 49 and 50 in Cinque Terre are way, way cooler than hours 1 and 2 in Pisa. I thought it was an excellent decision on their part.

The train ride home was a breeze, and we got back into Medag around 9. There was beer pong going on in the room. Home sweet home.

What is the deal with breaking glass?

Instant karma here, apparently. I was having way too good a time. Kind of like Assisi. God clearly punishes me from having a great time by making me buy things in glass and having them break. I have now spent over 25 euro for my mom's birthday that ended up breaking. ARRRRRRRGH. FEEL THE ANGER.

Oh, yeah, and this was probably the best trip of my life. Minor details. More on that later (it's late here).

Quick update for the people here. Sunday was very quiet, mainly studying and chilling out. Monday was very quiet, but I made reservations for dinner next Monday, which happens to be my mom's birthday (ahhh, Momma, and you thought I forgot! Hardly. Also, if you see my mom this week wish her a happy birthday before she takes off on Saturday). The restaurant is called Rivadestra, and it was quite hard to find. That should be a good thing, though, because it did not look the least bit touristy.

Today I had class in the morning, then I went up to Pizzeria Est! Est! Est! (named after a wine). If Da Baffetto is supposed to have the best pizza in Rome, Est! Est! Est! is supposed to be a close second, though it is not traditional Roman pizza, so maybe it's comparing apples to pears. That's where I plan on going to dinner on Sunday when a lot of other restaurants are closed. For whatever reason, Est! Est! Est! takes Monday off instead.

Later today I have a test in economics, followed by a test in Renaissance Rome and Its Monuments tomorrow morning. Yikes. Plus, next week is official midterm week, so I have three tests then. No fun with that, but plenty of fun will be had anyways. I'm going to Cinque Terre Thursday-Saturday and entertaining my parents all next week, tests and work be damned.

Paris Part Deux: I like crepes

I took 165 pictures on my Paris trip. A lot were junk, obviously. The cream of the crop can be accessed here. It will provide the visuals to my poor story telling.

After making my last blog post, Peg and I left the room, Peg took off, and I was on my own. It was about 10:45, and I had no idea what I was doing. I decided to visit Notre Dame. I hadn't gone in on my previous trip, so I figured that was something to do. It is amazing inside. Truly fantastic. After about 30 minutes there, I went to the Picasso Museum. I realized I was too hungry to go to a museum where I didn't recognize the art in the guidebook, so I then went up to Les Halles, where there are tons upon tons of food vendors. It is like my little heaven. Anyways, I got a croque monsuier (or however one spells it), because my dad is always talking about them (all my delicious foodstuffs can be seen in the photo album, except the excellent onion soup I had). I was a little disappointed. It would have been better hot.

The next order of business was walking down through the Louvre to the public gardens, where I took a nap using my bag as my pillow. I slept for about an hour, then headed to the hostel. The hostel was pretty nice, all things considered. About 25 euro for the night. It was located in Montmartre, 2 streets down from the Sacre Coeur funicular. After settling in, I decided to do what I had been planning to do all along, which was walk all the way up the Champs Elysees. I saw all the highlights: the 2 story Haagen Dazs, Louis Vuitton, etc. The biggest disappointment was that the McDonalds is no longer actually directly on the street. WTF? Angry boy. I will redouble my efforts to not buy food at Mickey D's. So far so good. After that, I crossed over to the Arc de Triomphe, in order to recreate the moment where I was taking photos of myself there 3 years ago because I couldn't convince anyone to go up it with me.

It was getting late, so I decided to start heading back. Eventually I got really hungry, so I ate at one of the many kebab/ lebanese places in paris. Very good stuff there. I then headed up to the Sacre Coeur, and passed through a really, really cute area just west of the basilica that I had no idea existed. The rest of the night was spent hanging out there, because of the awesome view and also because there was a dude and his buddies giving a free concert on the steps, and they were actually really good. I hit the sack at the hostel at about 11:30, totally exhausted.

The next morning I got up, had a croissant at the hostel (free. Otherwise I would have bought one elsewhere), then up and left. It was cold (13 celcius, about 50 farenheit); I saw my breath in the air for the first time since being at ND (who won in football yesterday GOOOOO IRISH WHOOO). If my theme for Friday was "North of the Seine", Saturday was to be "South of the Seine". I actually themed my days. It's true. I am a dork

First up was walking under the Eiffel Tower. It was already packed with tourists. The walk down was very pleasant and pretty quiet, all things considered. I guess it was somewhat early (maybe 8:30, 9 o clock). I got a crepe with nutella and a banana. Fantastic. In the park where the Eiffel Tower is, I stopped in this rugby ball-shaped tent, where they were doing a 360 degree movie inside about New Zealand and the All Blacks rugby squad. Paris is hosting the 2007 rugby world cup, and is very, very proud of it. It's all over the place there right now. Anyways, the movie made me want to go to New Zealand and/or watch rugby. I think that was the point.

After walking through Les Invalides (didn't see Napoleon's tomb; been there, done that), I walked along the river to get to the Musee D'Orsay area. I wanted to see our old hotel, where many good times were once had. Found it with no problem at all. That hotel is damn expensive, apparently. 440 euro for a "decouverte" room, and 490 for a "privilege" room. Whoa Nellie.

After a delicious chocolate eclair (another foodstuff I wanted to eat in Paris), I went to the Saint Sulpice church in order to get my Da Vinci code on. I could not find the pink brick thing. Total disappointment. The church was somewhat dull. After that, it was to the gardens south of Luxumbourg, which were beautiful and a good time for a rest. Following that, it was over to the Pantheon, where a bunch of French thinkers (Rousseau, the Curies, Voltaire, Braille, Victor Hugo, Dumas) are buried. Also, it is where Foucault's pendulum was demonstrated and there is a pendulum hanging from the ceiling now. That was the only touristy thing I paid for all day, other than food of course.

It was getting near time for me to jump on the train, so I decided to head back to Les Halles in order to get some food before going. On the way I ran into a crowd watching rugby on a huge public screen, which was awesome to watch everyone getting into it. After grabbing a crepe filled with egg, cheese, and ham (think Bojangles breakfast buiscuits... but even way better), I jumped on the train, headed to De Gaulle, and eventually flew home. I arrived back in Medag at about 11, less than 7 hours after leaving Les Halles, where the whole thing started and ended.

What a trip.

France trip, part un: The Premiere

So I'm going to try to split my posts about this trip into two. It is Friday morning right now, about 27 hours into my trip to Paris. So far it has been a blast.

I left Medag at 6 AM yesterday morning to catch a 9:25 (allegedly) flight out of Ciampino. I left a little early. The way to get to the airport is to ride the subway (using my new monthly Rome public transportation pass, which I got at the discounted rate because the tabacchi guy must have thought I am a Roman. Heh. I am the whitest person alive. He probably doesn't make more money if I pay 30 euro or 18) to the end of the Red line, then take a bus to Ciampino from there. I had no idea how long the metro ride was. It was 32 minutes. I pegged it at 50 minutes before going, so I arrived with plenty of time to spare for the 7:20 bus, which really took off 15 minutes late. Checking in and security at Ciampino was a breeze, but our flight was late. Boarding was fast because people just line up. No assigned seating is kind of cool. Our plane took off about an hour and ten minutes delayed.

Getting into center city Paris from Orly is very easy as well. Less than 30 minutes by metro into the Les Halles station. I had never been into Les Halles, so I had no real idea where I was when I got out. Peg told me to call her when I got there, but my cell phone was acting weird, so I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get in touch with Peg, my parents, or find a policeman to direct me to Peg's appartment. Luckily, about 15 minutes into this, Peg gave me a call. We met up 5 minutes later.

Peg's appartment is great (I am typing there now). Plenty of space for one person, bedroom, kitchenette, couch, plenty of floor space. But the best thing is the location: it is a stones throw from the Musee Pompidou! I love this area. Lots of good food around, my favorite modern art museum; very, VERY well located. Very cool. I walked around the area yesterday for about an hour, just seeing what all there was to see. There was much. I had been in the area a bunch on my previous trip, but a lot of it seemed new anyways.

Last night, we got all dressed up and headed out. Peg looked fabulous in some clothes that she sewed herself. Very cool. I was in my pink bow tie. Anyways, we went to a department store first, so Peg could buy some treats for her coworkers, and then we headed over to the theater. Went backstage, Peg handed out the treats, and then we went to get our tickets. Everyone I saw initially was very dressed up (tuxedos), so I was a bit worried about my jacket and slacks. I ended up not being so bad, though. The younger crowd there and some of the crew were about at my level of dressiness, so that worked out fine.

Both before and after the show there was a big party with a bunch of very stylish people chatting and eating some really high concept finger food (like fois gras and chocolate, among others. Weird stuff). Everyone knew everyone, it seemed, so I was a bit of a fish out of water. Peg did her best to introduce me to a bunch of people.

The play was fantastic, as were our seats. I was across the aisle from Julie Taymor and Tom Schumacher (you will recognize him if you've watched the Oscars a few times. He told me he "hated me" because I was living the dream living in Rome). Bob Iger, the president of Disney, was further down their row. During intermission, I unintentionally followed some people into a VIP party, so we were rubbing shoulders with these people for about 20 minutes.

Like I said, the play was very cool. I know the storyline, so the language barrier was not that big of a deal. It actually allowed me to focus more on the art side of things, and the more you focus on that the more impressive it is. So much detail in so many different ways. Insane. Best. Show. Ever. I'm biased, of course. But, I mean, come on. It's pretty sweet.

After the show Peg and one of her friends and I went to this brassiere (or however you spell it) called the Pig's Foot, which serves all kinds of meats and delicious foods. Peg said it has the best French Onion soup in the world, and despite the fact that I have never had that before, I got it (of course. When in Rome, or Paris, as it may be). It was fantastic. On the downside with the whole food thing, I must note, I have developed a bit of an extra layer around the belly from all the delicious treats I have been eating. I have decided to ignore this to the best of my ability: I'm probably not going to be eating this well this cheaply ever again.

Roman Holiday

Thanks to the excellent instruction in all things Latin from Mrs. McKaig during my time at PD, I felt totally knowledgeable today in my art history class. My teacher was showing us a room in the Villa Farnesina with paintings by Raphael about Cupid and Psyche and she said something along the lines of "I would never expect this of you, but does anyone know the story of Cupid and Psyche?" I had already been talking a lot during class (answering a bunch of questions about dates that I have spent the last week memorizing), so I fought the urge to raise my hand, mainly because I don't want my classmates thinking I'm a know-it-all. But, in that case, I totally knew it all, because Mrs. McKaig's Valentine's Day hearts worked wonders. I've been told some PD teachers have looked at the blog, so if you're one of those teachers, let Mrs. McKaig know that I say thanks.

Anyways, tomorrow I fly out of Ciampino Airport for the first time. I am a bit apprehensive (side note: has anyone ever said "apprehensive" without a qualifier? Whenever I've heard it used, it is always "a bit apprehensive" or "somewhat apprehensive". Anyways, moving right along...) about that situation. Ciampino is the cheap airline airport, and I've never flown these things. I guess I had better get used to it.

Anyways, why I'm going to Ciampino is this: I get to go to the Lion King opening in Paris! Great success. The plan is to get in, meet cousin Peg at the metro station (all dressy, by the way. I have no idea what I'll do with my sportcoat when I'm at the hostel the next night), and go from there. Actually, I have no clue what I'm doing tomorrow, and tomorrow is even more structured than the subsequent day, when I'll be in Paris on my own. Champs-Élysées, here I come! I plan on eating at your 2 story Haagan Daaz restaurant, simply to remind myself of good times of old (like 3 years old, actually). Also, on that street I will be able to see the last McDonalds I ever went into with the intention of ordering food (I did not. They had no Butterfinger McFlurry. I will not eat at McDonalds until they bring that back. It's been over 5 years since I last ate at one so far). I mean, that has huge historal significance, clearly.

As far as this week, there has been very little exciting since Assisi. Work work work, boring boring boring. I should go to bed now (11:09 PM), because my alarm is set for 5:40. Bleh.

Assisi Retreat

Here is the aforementioned Assisi retreat post. Here are some photos to accompany the post.

Friday I woke up fairly early. I finished my second art history paper that I started the day before in the morning. After that, it was a little cooking, followed by a walk over to Termini. It was probably the longest walking trip from point A to point B I have done yet (rather, up to that point. More on this later). It was worth it though, because there were rumblings of a transit strike, and I didn't want to deal with getting stuck having to take a taxi because the metro isn't working. I saw the Repubblica piazza for the first time, which was nice. I walked near, but not by the Trevi Fountain. I still need to go there.

Anyways, painless trainride to Assisi. We had a couple of guys along for the trip from Campus Ministry: Andrew, the Europe youth-contact stationed in Dublin, and Darryl, who came from ND for a few retreats (one here, one in London, one in Dublin). Both were very nice, and they kind-of knew there stuff. Somewhat. Okay, not so much, considering Andrew says he was "obsessed" with St. Francis and has a Franciscan cross tattooed on his wrist, but that's okay.

Got in, walked to our room. We stayed in this convent-like area for pilgrims (with the bed and breakfast for two nights, plus 3 prepared meals which were excellent, it ran the tab to over 2000 euros, or $2920 for the 18 of us. I know this because I did the translating and did the conversion. I= sooper jenius. And we only paid 5 euro). The four male students on the trip (myself, John, Pat, and Andy) had a really, really sweet room. It was two stories, and the beds were super comfortable. Very pleasant.

We arrived pretty late at night, and unlike the major cities, Assisi shuts down at night. The religious pilgrims ain't as big into the whole party thing, apparently (that's not fair: party at God's house on Sunday morning! Wine provided!). We played a fun game called Mafia. Essentially, it's a game based around lying. Appropriate. It's not like that is expressly forbidden by the Ten Commandments or anything. Actually, I had a blast with that. I played fairly well. People were not defending themselves when they were accused of being Mafia, and a few times when I was Mafia I got off because of some fantastic acting. Not to brag, or anything. But pretty much nobody else did. They're clearly too honest in real life. Suckers.

The next morning and day, we saw the sites of Assisi. It is a very, very small little mountain town. Somehow, though, when I went with Kutner after 10th grade, we did not see the sites. We didn't even see half the Cathedral with some Cimabues and some Giottos. To be fair to Kutner, the sites were generally forgetful, other than the Cathedral. The actual town was much more enjoyable than the religious stuff (again, to be fair, I am probably the least religious person who was at the trip). Great little food spots. And it was cheap, too. I probably dropped around 30 euro on food, and that doesn't even include any sit-down meals. So I have (check that, had) plenty of dolci.

Our tour of the Cathedral was probably the coolest thing we did, though. We were led by the only English-speaking native Franciscan at Assisi, and he knew his stuff. He was also very jovial, a sense you get from most of the Franciscans. That's good; taking yourself too seriously is would seem to be an easy trapping if you dedicate yourself to the highest calling. Anyways, like I said, he knew his stuff, and he did a great job.

After the tour, I ran back to the center-city, got my wine (I don't want to talk about the energy I put into finding this bottle of wine again), ran back, and we joined a procession that was happening, and we processed into Saturday vigil Mass. The Mass kind of bothered me, to be honest. I think it was the patriarchal nature of the mass; I'm not really all sure why. "Signore" is the Italian word they use in place of God, for example. I can't explain.

That night was a meal, then Mafia again. Good times, good times. EDIT: Oh, and that whole deal with the wine. I have not yet successfully repressed the memory.

Sunday morning, we got up, I chugged approximately 8 shots of espresso, and we went to hike up a hill to this little hovel that St. Francis used to go to. We took some crazy back way. The hike up got really really steep at some points, and I got the first real cardio exercise I've had since I got to Rome. Sweating and whatnot. It felt good. The problem is, there were like 3 kids and the youth advisor who are in pretty good athletic shape, including myself. If I'm sweating, the other kids must have been dying. I say must have, because we got separated from them pretty early, and I've heard some horror stories. We got lost, though, and ended up walking probably about 7 miles to walk what should have been about 2-3. And the place we went to was not that cool, either. The hike made the trip; I found the silver lining. For others, it must have been terrible. We ended up not all being together in a group until about 1:45 when the last group of stragglers, including myself because I volunteered to wait around until we thought we had everybody, came into lunch an hour and fifteen minutes late.

We then went down, checked out a church on the base of the city which looked brand new and actually was really sweet, and then hopped on the train to come home. Upon the arrival to Medag, I spent like 2 1/2 hours trying to read all my stuffs on the Internets. I still have more to do, so I will now get to that.