adventures in italy, paris, and barcelona

You've been warned: this is a long post. Lots of travels to cover, and I left out so much! Stick it out to the end if you dare.

I had the most incredible time spending two weeks with my dear friend Kayleigh Sisson traveling to various cities in Italy, then to Paris, then to Barcelona. Saying goodbyes and leaving Greystones was incredibly sad, surreal, and difficult, but it was made much easier by the excitement to come...

We flew first to Pisa because it was the least expensive option and was close to Florence. Of course we headed for the major Pisa sites before going on to Florence...

Lots of bikes!

I found it difficult to take pictures of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, because I naturally wanted to tilt my camera to make it straight! ha. So cool to see this! I remember making towers as a kid and if they were crooked I'd call it the Leaning Tower of Pisa having no clue what that actually was...

Right by the Leaning Tower was the Duomo (church) and Baptistery.

I could have stood and just looked up in this Duomo for a very long time... it was breathtaking. I completely appreciated the architects' goal of drawing visitors' eyes to heaven.

This is me showing off how little I packed for the two weeks! That backpack and my purse is all I had and it was so nice! We made it eventually by train to Florence not without some struggle. A dear old Moroccan man who only spoke Spanish helped us out when we got off at the wrong stop. He ended up riding the rest of the way to Florence with us to make sure we found it ok!

Kayleigh and I couch surfed in Florence for two nights with the sweetest Italian family: a mom, dad, young boy and young girl. We were very warmly welcomed and had this quaint little room provided with candies on the pillows and maps of the city :) They drove us to and from the  bus stop and we enjoyed tea and conversation with them the last night. We were so thankful!

Piazza del Duomo. We attended mass here! It was really neat being able to recognize creeds, Scriptures, names of God, etc. even though it was all in Italian.

 A contest had been held for who could design the best doors for this baptistery. They were so intricate!

This was a little square called Loggia dei Lanzi FULL of sculptures. Tons and tons of them.

We went to the Ufizzi Gallery, a very famous art gallery with tons of sculptures, painted ceilings, intricately decorated rooms, and paintings. This view of the Ponte Vecchio bridge was from inside the Ufizzi (no pictures allowed inside otherwise)

We walked to the Ponte Vecchio then, knowing it had shops along it, but not knowing they would literally all be selling gold jewelry! It was quite strange. But the views were gorgeous!

From Florence we took a bus to San Gimignano and the views of the Italian countryside were incredible.

San Gimignano is a small but beautiful town with lots of historic buildings...

Entering this led right onto a street full of artisan shops, restaurants, and lots of gelaterias.

We were told San Gimignano had a place with the best gelato ever so we got some at the place that said it was the first shop thinking it must be the place. It was good but...

About two hours later we came across this gelato place and if you can't tell it says "Gelato World Champion," "World's Best Gelato." What could we do? We had to get it again! I had white chocolate and chocolate nutella. MMMM

Why this picture? Let me explain but you will still probably not understand, at least we never did. We really struggled to figure out how buses in Italy were supposed to work, namely for buying tickets. We tried buying them on the bus and that didn't work, we accidentally rode for free a few times, managed to find a machine once, but otherwise we would ask people and they would tell us we had to get tickets at the Tobacco Shop. Which one? How do you know where they are? What about when they're closed? I still do not know. But once we arrived in Siena later that day we found out the Tabaccheria was also the place to buy city maps and even postcards. Apparently the Tobacco Shop is the go-to convenience store. Huh.

The historical part of Siena is all walled in with gates and the most central part is this, the Piazza del Campo. It was so neat! Completing the square opposite the building pictured was a long wall of restaurants with outdoor seating.

Yet another incredible Duomo!

We were just in time to see this processional come out singing to Mary with candles. We didn't really know what was going on but it was interesting!

Back to the Piazza del Campo to get some refreshments!

 The next day we managed to find the place to buy bus tickets to Rome but unfortunately we had just missed the last bus and had to wait an hour and a half for the next one so we sat in the beautiful sunshine and journalled. Finally it was time for the bus to come, but it ended up being over a half hour late with no explanation... we would've been a lot more concerned if there hadn't been 10 other people also waiting without being alarmed.

We found our hostel in Rome then walked down the street for our first glimpse of the Colosseum! Wow!

We did Palatine Hill first, ruins of the ancient city. So surreal.

Then we walked over to the Roman Forum, the once social and political hub of Rome.

This was a pretty busy street and as we walked along it with modern cars zooming by with ancient ruins on either side I thought what would it be like to pass by the Colosseum every day on the way to work!?

Street vendors and performers were EVERYWHERE. People would do anything for money. We saw this same act done by different people different places, it was quite clever.

And, the Colosseum. This was just crazy. SO surreal and amazing. There was basically a museum on the upper floor with lots and lots of very interesting information about the history and all that took place there as well as within Rome's government at the time... it was extremely interesting but very difficult to take it all in! Finally when I couldn't process anymore I just took pictures of the signs to read later when I could think again... haha

See the cross? One sign I read made it seem like the martyrdom of Christians didn't actually happen at the Colosseum and was fabricated over time whereas other signs talked about it like it was fact, which was confusing to me but also interesting.

Random but typical street. Beautiful with the plants hanging down; also notice all the motor scooters. I never got to ride one, unfortunately! We did see a rental place though and were tempted :)

We just happened upon this monument on our way to somewhere else and that actually happened a lot, discovering things by accident. It was crazy because places we discovered by accident in Rome would have been main attractions in some of the other cities we'd been to! Incredible architecture, ancient ruins, and even currently ongoing excavations were literally everywhere in Rome. Beautiful is a completely inadequate adjective to describe Rome...

We went to the famous Trevvi Fountain at night and it was packed with people (I enjoyed people watching so much!) even at night. It was stunning, just as I keep calling everything I suppose, but this really was one of my favorite spots in Rome that we saw :)

We also went to the famed Spanish Steps at night.

This was the Piazza del Popolo. There were several areas similar to this that we went to, squares with monuments or fountains, etc. and neat restaurants around.

Just one example of the countless beautiful restaurants we saw just walking through the city... (not actually eating at them, unfortunately:)

Spanish Steps during the day

So many beautiful roof gardens!

Trevvi Fountain in the daytime. We also went to Villa Borghese (a beautiful park), and Via Veneto (super ritzy and famous street), but my pictures aren't worth showing from those places.

Pantheon! This used to be a temple to gods, but when Rome became Christian it was converted to a place of worship to God!

 Santa Maria Church in Trastevere, Rome's first Christian Church. Looks pretty simple on outside, but much more ornate on inside than I expected!

And then the place to top them all: the Vatican. This was definitely my favorite thing we did/saw in Rome. We bit the bullet and paid a bit extra for a tour guide, because we got to skip the 3+ hours we'd have waited in line. I ended up SO glad we did, because our tour guide was excellent and I learned a lot more about the things we saw from him than I could have known alone! Also, the Vatican museums are over 9 miles long, and its 1400 rooms, chapels, and galleries constitute former wings of the Vatican Palace. Of course going through the Vatican also included the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.

Peacocks symbolize immortality because their flesh decays so slowly.

 I learned the difference between Classical sculpture and Hellenistic sculpture. In classical the bodies are relaxed as are the facial expressions (as pictured on left). However, in Hellenistic sculpture the bodies are twisted and facial expressions very dramatic (right). Of course this is far more difficult and requires an incredible knowledge of anatomy as Michelangelo's art has proved him to have!

 We walked through room after room after room like this. It felt like our tour guide was rushing us so much, but in the end we were so exhausted and it had still taken a few hours, I was glad to have someone to point out the major pieces!

This pool weighs several tons and is huge. How did they get it in? They didn't; the pool was made first and the building built around it after. Also note the one bronze sculpture among all stone...

This is the only bronze one. It was found buried underground. It has since been figured out that it had been struck by lightening, signifying to the people that Zeus was cursing them, so the only way to get rid of the curse was to bury it!

This ceiling on the left is completely flat. I didn't believe the tour guide when he told me.

 We walked through some rooms of all tapestries. I cannot imagine designing the picture let alone figuring out the threading or whatever is required in making tapestries! They were incredible. There was one with Jesus' face in the middle. It looked like he looked right at you and when you walked his eyes "followed" you!

This wasn't inside the Sistine Chapel, but the Sistine Chapel was between the museum and St. Peter's. It was my favorite part, but no pictures can be taken inside and they also require complete silence, which was really interesting and neat. The Sistine Chapel is where a new pope is selected, and it is the official residence of the pope in the Vatican City. The ceiling was absolutely incredible, including Michelangelo's painting of God reaching to almost touch Adam (probably familiar to you?) and the Last Judgment painting was on one wall (also Michelangelo's; incredible, slightly frightening, and so captivating). All walls were covered by similarly intricate and incredible paintings. It was completely breathtaking.

This was inside St. Peter's Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world. It lies over where St. Peter, the first pope, is supposedly buried. The pope is the only person permitted to say mass here.

We walked over to Castel Sant Angelo but didn't pay to get in.

That ends our time in Rome! We were up at 2:45AM the next morning to catch a night bus. It was a miracle we made it to the airport to say the least. We didn't realize when we booked our flights that making them first thing in the morning would require TONS more planning, money, and research, because the metro would be closed and so would normal bus routes! So we had plenty of frustrations with this in different cities, but it always worked out, by God's grace. We have several stories of miracles along the way but I'll spare you all the long stories... Anyway, we made it to Paris and went separate ways! Kayleigh spent the 5 days with her Taylor roommate, Anna, and I met up first with my friend Deanna and her brother David (Deanna is from Westmont in CA and studied with me in Ireland; "just so happened" to be in Paris the same time as I would need someone to hang out with!) We went first to the Musee d'Orsay, an impressionist art gallery in a restored railway station. So cool!

This is Deanna and David. Paris is EXTREMELY expensive if you didn't know, so we got the cheapest food we could find, which many times meant a baguette and cheese :)

I don't need to tell you what that is. It seemed fake as we approached it :)

 Arc de Triomphe. Wikipedia: "honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I."

We had to get crepes while in Paris. We got Nutella banana crepes. Wow were they tasty. I am going to learn to make them.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

In front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, this circle marks the center of Paris and has been used in map making for hundreds of years. Supposedly if you stand on it and turn in a full circle you will return to Paris within 7 years I think it was? Also note my ridiculous footed tights with sandals... this is what happens when you pack lightly :)

Yes, the baguette and cheese shows up again.

The Louvre, said by some to be the world's most famous museum. Externally it was amazing architecture! It had SOOO much to be seen inside... I think this was my most exhausted day and we stuck to the majors.

Everyone else was doing this picture so I joined in.

I don't know why the Mona Lisa is so famous. It's just another portrait if you ask me. But there was a massive, densely packed crowd in front of it and despite my cynicism I pushed my way to the front anyway and got my shot :) on the right is La Venus de Milo. It's of Aphrodite from 120 BC and is also very famous.

Replica of the torch flame of the Statue of Liberty. Woop.

 Lover's Bridge. Lovers attach a padlock to the bridge and throw the key into the river, signifying the eternal nature of their love.

Famous fountain of Saint Michel killing the devil.

Sacre Coeur. Aka Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Le Palais Garnier. Paris opera house. Wow.

 

I LOVED Paris. I could live there if it wasn't so expensive! I also had a really really good experience couch surfing here with Yaya, a Fashion Marketing student originally from China. We hung out quite a bit, talking for hours and going to dinner and the cinema together, and she was most welcoming and kind to me, the perfect person to stay with while I was alone for two days. 

I definitely hope to return to Paris in the not-so-distant future!

Final destination: Barcelona! Here we also couch surfed, this time with a student named Anna from Warsaw, Poland. Another great experience! This pictures some work of the famous architect, Gaudi.

Another Gaudi building

Barcelona was just such a fun city to walk through! We had gorgeous, very warm weather and sun, and there was so much interesting architecture and greenery and flowers everywhere!

La Sagrada Familia

Lots of construction. Also designed by Gaudi. Apparently it's actually not finished being built yet, just over halfway finished. I am sure it will be much nicer without all of the tarps and cranes and such, but it was still very neat to see!

Up at 4AM that morning, we were exhausted. We fell asleep on a bench in front of the Sagrada Familia.

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

The apartment we stayed in was quite near to the beach, so we went there just before sunset, and it was beautiful!

This nearby cheap but delicious cafe was a wonderful contrast to the extremely expensive Parisian cafes. This sign on a window made me laugh.

Parc de la Ciudad

View from Parc de Montjuic

Olympic Stadium in Parc de Montjuic. We just viewed  it from outside the gate.

I flew out from Barcelona to Dublin, had a night in Greystones (it was SO strange being there alone!), and then thought I was to fly out the next morning. I got to the airport only to be told I was not on the flight; in fact my flight was the next day! Extremely frustrated and sad initially, I ended up having a gorgeous, peaceful, and reflective day in Dublin to finish my time abroad (I found a hostel to stay at that night).

Unfortunately my trip home was not so gorgeous or peaceful. My suitcases were in horrible condition so pulling them was exhausting yet I managed to take two trains and get up three flights of stairs out of the station (just as I was hitting my breaking point I prayed "God please send someone to help me right now" and I do not exaggerate right after I prayed that a man came around the corner and said "let me help you" and took my big bag up the rest of the way. This was not my only experience like this on my way either!) to get to Union Station in Chicago. I had many dear souls help me along the way and I made it just on time to the bus stop for the Megabus to Toledo. Then I heard the driver tell the guy in front of me his suitcase was too big to be allowed (mine was nearly as big) and the girl in front of me she couldn't have a big suitcase and a carry-on suitcase. He told me the same. I had NO idea what I was going to do if I got stranded there, and after all that struggle to finally get there and be denied boarding!? I was pleading with God to get him to show mercy. After everyone else's bags were loaded he very reluctantly took my bags and loaded them (as well as the two other poor people in my same condition). Praise to the Lord! Yikes.

When I reached Toledo and saw my parents' vehicle come and park across the street, I was ecstatic, and we ran to meet each other, to my joy that my grandparents and Alyssa were also along! It was an incredibly sweet reunion and I was beyond overjoyed to finally be home after all I'd been through that day. My past several days home have been wonderful and very surreal. It sort of feels like Ireland was all a dream. A glorious one, though :)

One last update. Even though my job in Turkey would only be for two months, you may remember I decided to just trust that the Lord would provide me with work for the few weeks I'd be living at home. My mom spoke with a lady from my church just a day before I began my journey home who was asking if she knew of any college students who would take a part time job as a job coach for people with disabilities. My mom said YES, her daughter (me!) would! I have just worked my first day today. It is a great experience and I cannot be thankful enough for the Lord's provision for me! Who hires someone for 2.5 weeks? And it's a great job, too! I am humbled. I could never have deserved these kinds of gifts from my good, good God.

If you actually read this whole thing, I thank you for being incredibly supportive and interested in all that is happening in my life! It means SO much to me to have your encouragement and especially your prayers. Love you all so much!