Rome As far as I have gotten

The Vatican. The freaking Vatican. Oh wow the Vatican. I could not believe it, it’s the most incredible thing I have ever seen. As you will discover later I will claim that Turkey is the best overall but this hands down beats everything else I will discuss.

Rome is great, it has roman stuff duh, the Vatican, bernini, shops, more heat, hostels, great sculptures everywhere and is more picturesque as a city than is Florence. It is also home to gypsies, a lousy metro [so many ruins they can’t really even tunnel the place] and probably the worst river since the one that supposedly runs through Milan.

The theme of this trip was motion. We made the mistake, not on purpose of staying in 3 different joints over 4 nights. It was hot too, and we were confused a lot here. That didn’t stop me from having a great experience though. First, Greg had 1 night and part of 1 day here and that was it. Second, we were mis advertised on the location of an otherwise outstanding hostel. Third, the final place was for 2 nights and the people were nice but the receptionist was horrible. But we didn’t come to this city for the accommodations.

The first night was totally just trying to get it all in order. After discovering that our reservation [again!] couldn’t be honored due to constraints with some water damage, we were informed we could get a hotel style room for more money… or look elsewhere which was extremely difficult to do during this busy season. Luckily the receptionist was extremely good looking so we took it for a day.


Well this is incomplete. But turkey was awesome, and I have spent the last 3 days at a 4 star american style hotel with spa in stuttgart, deutchland paid for by the us government. I am now on my way to stockholm sweden and then to kobenhaven denmark.

Suffice to say I am only heading north for the weather and museums. I have absolutely no ulterior motives :)

Besides, who really wants to hang out with a bunch of blonde girls anyway?

Rome was great, and you will see more, despite the fact that the paragraph ends in a negative light. Thats the way it goes when 3 college dudes [alex, mauricio, and myself ] share one laptop for a few days and they are all more addicted to it than myself.

Florence

Florence

Florence is a city unlike any others which I have visited. Instead of being outwardly beautiful like so many others in Italy and other places in Europe, I felt that it had an almost dirty feel to it, and its buildings obstructed views of just about everything unless you are right next to the structure. However, it is where the renaissance started which is my favorite architecture and art style. It housed works by Michelangelo, Rafael, and Leonardo. It contains some of the worlds finest treasures.

In no particular order, the I visited the duomo, the first large dome since the construction of the pantheon, which I saw in rome, the tombs of many famous persons including Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Rafael, and many others. The Uffizi, which rivals the lourve as the most important museum in Europe, the galleria, which houses David and not much else, the tomb of the medicis in san Lorenzo’s basilica, which houses more statues by Michelangelo, and probably more.

This was outstanding. The art was simply the best that I had seen to date. On top of that, there are outdoor areas with great replicas of david and more. I saw Michelangelo’s only portrait style painting, exhibits on the genius of Leonardo, and more. It is simply impossible to talk about all of it suffice to say that my favorite artists are Caravaggio, and Michelangelo, which coincidentally is Caravaggio’s first name. The David must be seen to be believed.

We nailed down a couple of good things and some bad. First, the hostel, which I had booked, was full so a 3 star hotel was able to MATCH the price of it for us for 3 nights. This was great because it was very very hot in Italia. I mean hot too. I didn’t know the actual temperature, but since the time I had gotten used to nearly 100 degree weather, which would make one wilt in Seattle. This was awesome because it allowed me to stay in AC comfort without worry of money loss or anything for 3 nights and it made for easy resting during the heat of the day or siesta, when everything closes for 2 hours just like in spain. On top of that, I was with Brandon and Greg dudder, a friend of mine from college. Their companionship was nice after that long period spent with only Italian speaking folks.

However, the reservations and museum fees here were considerably more than anywhere else in Europe and really added to the expenses. Lines were long, but we got to david first thing in the morning and got in with no crowd. Funny thing was, in line the girl in front of us was in Brandon’s Girlfriend’s sorority. Small world. We also treated him to a 3 course Italian meal, which was great as well, if not necessarily on the wallet. It was his 23rd birthday. That means he is cut off from his insurance! I guess birthdays do get less exciting with age… Greg is an interesting guy when he talks to girls, as we discovered. To nobody’s surprise, the Australians seemed to find us here as well. They are really everywhere you look. Greg liked museums and art as much as me, but Brandon really wasn’t as cut out for this type of trip as much and didn’t seem to enjoy himself as much. It was as if he was here because he should but didn’t have his heart in it. I truly hope he had a good time, because his constant talk was about finding the internet and making calls home. Those are important, but you only come here once really so… To each his own.

Funny incidents:
-The hotel breakfast was only 1 croissant. I had 2 one morning and they threw a fit. The night dude later told me that the kitchen worker was nuts and don’t worry about it, but I was concerned due to the generosity of the place.
-We experienced the first problems of not having money. Luckily it was resolved quickly.
-The waiter made fun of greg when he was drunk
-The heavy set individual infront of me going up the duomo dome was the smelliest person I had seen thus far
-We experienced 2 monstrous thunder storms and got completely soaked once
-Florence wasn’t really filled with funny incidents
Florence, Rome, and Turkey

Florence is a city unlike any others which I have visited. Instead of being outwardly beautiful like so many others in Italy and other places in Europe, I felt that it had an almost dirty feel to it, and its buildings obstructed views of just about everything unless you are right next to the structure. However, it is where the renaissance started which is my favorite architecture and art style. It housed works by Michelangelo, Rafael, and Leonardo. It contains some of the worlds finest treasures.

In no particular order, the I visited the duomo, the first large dome since the construction of the pantheon, which I saw in rome, the tombs of many famous persons including Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Rafael, and many others. The Uffizi, which rivals the lourve as the most important museum in Europe, the galleria, which houses David and not much else, the tomb of the medicis in san Lorenzo’s basilica, which houses more statues by Michelangelo, and probably more.

This was outstanding. The art was simply the best that I had seen to date. On top of that, there are outdoor areas with great replicas of david and more. I saw Michelangelo’s only portrait style painting, exhibits on the genius of Leonardo, and more. It is simply impossible to talk about all of it suffice to say that my favorite artists are Caravaggio, and Michelangelo, which coincidentally is Caravaggio’s first name. The David must be seen to be believed.

We nailed down a couple of good things and some bad. First, the hostel, which I had booked, was full so a 3 star hotel was able to MATCH the price of it for us for 3 nights. This was great because it was very very hot in Italia. I mean hot too. I didn’t know the actual temperature, but since the time I had gotten used to nearly 100 degree weather, which would make one wilt in Seattle. This was awesome because it allowed me to stay in AC comfort without worry of money loss or anything for 3 nights and it made for easy resting during the heat of the day or siesta, when everything closes for 2 hours just like in spain. On top of that, I was with Brandon and Greg dudder, a friend of mine from college. Their companionship was nice after that long period spent with only Italian speaking folks.

However, the reservations and museum fees here were considerably more than anywhere else in Europe and really added to the expenses. Lines were long, but we got to david first thing in the morning and got in with no crowd. Funny thing was, in line the girl in front of us was in Brandon’s Girlfriend’s sorority. Small world. We also treated him to a 3 course Italian meal, which was great as well, if not necessarily on the wallet. It was his 23rd birthday. That means he is cut off from his insurance! I guess birthdays do get less exciting with age… Greg is an interesting guy when he talks to girls, as we discovered. To nobody’s surprise, the Australians seemed to find us here as well. They are really everywhere you look. Greg liked museums and art as much as me, but Brandon really wasn’t as cut out for this type of trip as much and didn’t seem to enjoy himself as much. It was as if he was here because he should but didn’t have his heart in it. I truly hope he had a good time, because his constant talk was about finding the internet and making calls home. Those are important, but you only come here once really so… To each his own.

Funny incidents:
-The hotel breakfast was only 1 croissant. I had 2 one morning and they threw a fit. The night dude later told me that the kitchen worker was nuts and don’t worry about it, but I was concerned due to the generosity of the place.
-We experienced the first problems of not having money. Luckily it was resolved quickly.
-The waiter made fun of greg when he was drunk
-The heavy set individual infront of me going up the duomo dome was the smelliest person I had seen thus far
-We experienced 2 monstrous thunder storms and got completely soaked once
-Florence wasn’t really filled with funny incidents

For those who thought I had just died...

I apologize for not updating, I have really been relaxing at the beach for over a week now. As it is said, I need a vacation from the vacation!

That said, when I have a few extra hours in istanbul in a couple of days I will write up the beach [not much to say about this its just a few cultural notes] istanbul, my trip to turkey, rome, and florence. Its been a while I know, but I have really liked just chilling out for a while.

So no I am not dead, and yes I am sorry for not keeping up, not just beacause of my loyal readers but because its my personal record. I don't really like written journals, and again, don't have much to hide.

By the way, renting motor scooters is an absolute blast. 20 turkish lira for 24 hours. Fun fun fun. I did it once a few days ago and will do it again later today.

Expect thourough writeups in a few days. I have a layover in isanbul inbetween my friends flights and it will be the perfect time to get it all out there.

Miss everybody and I will be home in september.

turkey

• I am havıng a ahrd tıme updatıng but ı have a number for turkey

90 5392314155 of course ıts free to receıve calls and call anytıme Id love to hear from you

I wıll wrıte up florence and rome soon. Turkey ıs the best so far by a long shot ıf you take ın the whole deal!