Rome

Alex and I got to Rome Saturday morning from Paris. On the shuttle to the main train station in Rome, I was happy to see so many random Roman ruins over the small stretch of highway we crossed. I didn't have my camera out since they had made me stow my backpack underneath for some reason, even though it was small (I intentionally only brought with me enough to fill half of my backpack, which I recommend if backpacking through Europe that you have some extra space for 2 liter water bottles and such). The most notable thing was the random bits of aqueduct all over. When we got in to Rome, the first thing we did was search for a hostel to stay in that night, which took a while. The first thing we went to see, though, was the Colosseum! It was about time. I have wanted to see that my whole life.



Also, some good advice if you go to Rome: students (25 and under) can get a pass that includes the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum, a couple other places, and unlimited bus and metro travel for three days for only 25 euros. And for non-students it's a little more but considering you'd have to pay the non-student price at every place you go, the deal they have there is still cheaper. It's a good deal all around. Alex and I got unlimited metro passes and the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Forum for 23 euros, so for only 2 more you get a couple more museums and other sites. Anyways, here's me inside the Colosseum.



In the Colosseum there is a walkway all around the outside of the seating area that has been turned into a sort of museum with displays showing the weapons and armor that the gladiators and Roman soldiers used at different points in time. We spent a while in the Colosseum. Because we had gotten there so late, it was too late to get in to see the Forum and Palatine Hill that day, so we walked a little past Palatine Hill to the Circus Maximus. The Circus Maximus was a horse racing arena first used in the 600's BC and was originally made of wood, and later made of stone, though none of that remains now. Just so you can imagine how huge it was, it could hold at least 250,000 people, and a couple emperors expanded it a couple times to hold at least 270,000, with more people able to watch. But, they've left the dirt track to mark the area. Also in the picture is Palatine Hill, the home of the kings, rich people, emperors, etc, and it is where we get the world "palace" from. The buildings are the ruins of their homes.



And at the end of the track is current excavation where you can see some of the ruins that were at one end of the Circus Maximus.



Close to the Circus Maximus is the remains of a Roman bridge over the Tiber River.



After that it started to get dark and it had been a while since we really slept and the hostel was a ways outside of Rome. It took a while to get there and it included walking a few kilometers but at least the place was cheap. It didn't provide towels but we got our own bathroom. It was basically a small trailer home that was made into two apartments. We only had one key and you have to lock the door with the key, so while I was showering Alex left to use the internet and didn't come back for over an hour, so I finally just jumped out the window since I had no way of opening the door.

The next day we went to church a little ways west of the Vatican. There were quite a few Americans there who were working there or traveling, and we ran into a friend from BYU, Skye Couvret. He had served in Italy on his mission and was back for a visit. He told us of some good places to go for pizza and fried gelato in Rome, and he told us about good pizza and a place to stay in Naples.

Then it was off to the Forum and Palatine Hill. I could have spent all day there. I have to say, I never knew there were so many ruins at the Forum. I had always imagined a ruined building or two, nothing much. I was very surprised to see how large and full of ruins it was. This is a view of much of the forum.



I think my favorite thing there is what remains of the Temple of Saturn. Maybe because it's the oldest thing still partially standing there, and possibly the oldest in Rome, since it was built in 496 BC.



Something else I should mention is that Rome is awesome. For many reasons. One of those reasons is water fountains, like this one next to the Temple of Saturn. The important thing is that they were clean and you could find them all around Italy, even in the mountain villages I visited later.



More of the Forum. The only thing I wish they would do better is put up signs marking the sites. Some have signs on them, some don't, but there are 3 or 4 maps around the Forum that tell you where things are, roughly.



After spending as much time as I could in the Forum, I headed up Palatine Hill (which is right next to the Forum). Also a great place to visit. The buildings are all in ruins now, and there is only one left somewhat intact. I was sad to hear that the house of Augustus was not accessible when I was there! The guys weren't really clear, but it was either being renovated or excavated further (it was only excavated recently), so it is still largely underground. It is the only building on the hill that has its ancient frescoes intact, ones that were there 2000 years ago. Here are some of the other ruins, though.



From the hill the kings and emperors and such watched the races at the Circus Maximus, and you can see from here the excavation going on.



And here's another building on Palatine Hill.



Here's more of the ruins on Palatine Hill. I believe it's these stairs on the left that lead down to Augustus' house.



The hill has a good view of the Colosseum, and in between the hill and the Colosseum from this view is the Arch of Titus, which has been used as a model for other famous arches like the Arc de Triomphe.



The Arch of Titus was made in 81 or 82 AD to commemorate the sack of Jerusalem by Titus, who took a number of items from the temple. Here it is from the other side. It was the main entrance to the Forum and is on the Via Sacra which leads from the Colosseum to the Forum.



Rome was awesome, though it was sort of ghetto. Like the metro, for example.



Then we went to see the Trevi Fountain. It's not Roman but tells the story of the Romans finding water with the help of a virgin.



We went to a different hostel that night, then in the morning we went to the Vatican. It's very impressive, and the best part is the Sistine Chapel. This is the main square and St. Peter's Basilica.



I nearly went with a tour group. More good advice: don't!! I had avoided tours and guides the whole trip because they are just a complete waste. But, this one sounded much better than the others. They promise you you'll skip the two hour line to get in and you'll get a guide. The thing is, they're a rip-off. It was 35 euros for me as a student, plus 5 if I wanted to take pictures, plus 10 for the headset, plus.... who knows. I quit the group pretty early (they let you tag along free along the outside to see if you want to do it or not). And our guide kept stopping at shops and cafes along the way pointing out places his friends worked and recommending them. They also promise you'll get to skip the 2 hour wait. Well, turns out that's not true. As we walked to the office of the guides to pay (across from the entrance to the Vatican) I couldn't help but notice angry people in line yelling at their guides. They had already paid and been promised they'd skip the line, too. So I decided to duck out. Alex hadn't wanted to go in because of the cost, but I figured if I got in line I could still meet him on time. Turns out it only took a half hour of waiting and because I'm a student it only cost me 8 euros! And pictures were, of course, free wherever permitted. So many people got suckered into those tour groups. The thing is, the line moves VERY quickly, they have lots and lots of cashiers inside. Also, the line IS long earlier in the day. We got there in the morning and it was a huge line all along one wall of the Vatican, but when I went it was only about half of the size.

So, after only half an hour and 8 euros, I was in. It was very nice inside.



And it was massive. This is a hallway lined with Greek and Roman statues. I found it very interesting that the imagery of the pagans lines the halls of the Vatican. Also, they are 99% nude male statues. The Vatican also has many statues like the Greek and Roman statues but of Christian martyrs and such.



Also, in the Vatican it has signs throughout pointing towards the Sistine Chapel. Since that is where most people want to go, the path directs you through the rest of the Vatican first. It always has the Sistine Chapel listed as the end point with only two or three things in between, so you always think you're almost there and then they put up a new sign with two or three more things between you and the Sistine Chapel. These things often included gift shops and book stores.

But, I finally got to the Sistine Chapel, and it was worth it. Not that the rest wasn't, it was still very impressive, but this part was great. This part of the ceiling is, I believe, David slaying Goliath.



And here is the classic centerpiece.



This was the only time I saw any Swiss guards.



After that I headed to St. Peter's Basilica since I had a little while before meeting Alex, but I ran into him on the way and we changed our plans since he had decided to go to the Sistine Chapel after all. Also, as I was walking someone asked, "are you a Hawkeye?" I happened to have my Hawkeye shirt on that day. I looked around and saw a group of people. Turns out they were Hersoms from Laurens! Very random. They were Cyclone fans, though.

Anyways, after that I went to St. Peter's where I took my time since I knew Alex would be even longer since he'd be going through the other part of the Vatican now. I didn't see a sign for this, but it's probably Jesus with Peter, James and John.



When Alex and I met up a little later we decided to split up for a bit again. I wanted to see the Pantheon, he didn't. I walked on a path from the metro that took me through a couple of other ruins, including the Column of Marcus Aurelius, which was styled after the Column of Trajan which I saw later.



A little after that I got to the Pantheon. It was something I had really hoped to see since I am fascinated by Greek and Roman mythology. Of course, all the ancient Roman gods had been removed and replaced with Christian imagery. I am sad about that, but what can you do. Also, I know I never got a good picture of the dome but it is apparently the oldest dome in the world that has never had any work done on the outside of it, and it was built in 126 AD.



The inside has been renovated, but the dome is not supposed to be standing anymore because pieces of the dome were taken to build a dome in the Vatican.



In the middle of the next picture is the Column of Trajan, made to commemorate some of Emperor Trajan's victories and was finished in 113 AD. It's located at one end of another Roman Forum, the Forum of Trajan, that began with the Column of Trajan in 113.



And here's more of Trajan's Forum in the other direction. You can't quite see it, but straight ahead behind the buildings in this next picture is the Colosseum. I walked over by it again one last time before heading to the train station to meet Alex.



One thing to say about Rome. Everyone speaks English and is more than happy to accommodate you. They are very friendly and unlike Paris, they must realize that they get a lot of tourists and that people can't be expected to learn the language of every country they visit (can't tell you how many times people in France said "you came to France and you don't speak French!?") But it was just very different culturally. The French weren't nice, with exceptions of course. And we even tried to speak French as much as possible (though I would usually just ask them if they spoke English, because they have to at the train stations and restaurants and such), but they usually got frustrated with us, and if you tried to speak English to them before saying anything in French, they were incredibly rude. I didn't try it because of the reception we'd gotten in just our first hours in France, but Alex did and it didn't go over very well. Even if they were a person that had to know English for their jobs (like the guy Alex talked to). The Italians were very nice. Even in the places that weren't tourist areas and where no one spoke English, they were very, very helpful all the same and patient when we tried to use Italian. I learned a few key phrases in each language and it was enough to get me by just fine.

Alex and I met up and then we took a train to Cassino to see place where my great grandfather, Frank Testi, had lived before moving to America.

Dover and France

On July 27th, my friend and BYU roommate Alex came to my place as his first stop on a trip through Europe. I had decided to go on part of the trip with him, through France and Italy. We decided to take the train to Dover, England, and cross the English Channel to Calais, France, on the ferry, then trains from Calais to Paris. We had been told it was cheaper than taking a train or plane straight to Paris, but I checked before online and because of all the little travel parts it came out to nearly the same price. Anyways, in Dover we saw Dover Castle on the white English cliffs overlooking the English Channel.



The tallest, 4 turreted part of the castle was built in the 12th century. We didn't have long in Dover so we didn't actually go up to the castle. The sea is just to the right in the picture above. In the next picture you can see part of the castle above the white cliffs and if you look on the left you can see entrances to part of the secret tunnels built for World War 2.



The harbor from the ferry as we left. You can see the tunnels on the left, the castle on the far right, and just to the left of the castle is something else I hope to go and see some time, the Roman lighthouse (just to the left of what I think is an old church).



Leaving England.



The trip on the ferry was good and I'm glad I went that way. It was also very short , and as soon as we began to lose sight of England, we saw France.



We landed in the town of Calais. Alex and I saw all that remains of a 13th century castle and couldn't help but notice that on the plaque next to it (in English and French) it is noted being partially destroyed many times, and that the French announced their surrender from that tower in the 1300's.



We went to the train station from there to get our tickets to Paris. Unfortunately it was a lot of slow trains that made a lot of stops. We met some cool people at the train station, Lisa and Pam and their kids. Lisa and Pam had promised to take their daughters to Europe when they turned 12 and they had just come from England, too. We all missed the same train to Paris because the platform number wasn't listed, and we asked but got no help (this was very, very common in France). Lisa even spoke French, but it didn't matter. Still, she managed to get all our tickets changed for free to the next train which at least wasn't too much later. And they had a lot of luggage, so Alex and I were able to help out with that, especially since we had to change trains a couple times and move around a lot.

We got to Paris late that night and set out in search of our hostel. Unfortunately I hadn't looked at a map of Paris or seen how we'd get there, so when we got in we got a map and eventually made our way there. It took some doing, trying to ask for directions, and eventually we found the first helpful person in France who was really nice to us, and we found our place.

Some things to keep in mind about hostels: free breakfast usually means a croissant, and is not free, but is 5 euros of your stay. Ask for no breakfast if you can. Also, some of the hostels we stayed at over the trip didn't actually have 6+ person rooms, but lots of 2 person rooms with showers and toilets. And the times when you could get a room with a bunch of strangers you would only save 4 euros each, get a bathroom shared by 10+ people, and not be able to lock your room or know if you and your stuff is really secure, though you can lock stuff in lockers sometimes.

The next day Alex and I set out for Normandy and the D-day sites. We had a little time after we bought our train tickets so we went to the Champs Elysees.



And me at the Champs Elysees. I figure I should put some in every now and then.



Then it was back to the train station and on to Normandy and the D-day sites. We arrived in Bayeux and took a bus from right next to the train station to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. This trip had so many amazing highlights, and this was definitely one of the best.



Just from walking onto the grounds around the parking lot, before you can see the cemetery or anything, it seemed like being in America. They had nice bathrooms with water fountains! Second time I've seen those in Europe. And it was clean water, which was great because you have to drink bottled war in France, since the locals don't even drink the water. Then we walked into the visitors center. From the moment I entered it felt very peaceful, humbling, and sacred. I felt that way the whole time I was there. They had displays up about many of the men who fought, plus a lot of displays about the war in general. We watched a short movie about some of the men who died there that had interviews with their families. And then we walked out of the visitors center and into the cemetery. It was amazing to see.



Looking to the right of this picture is Omaha Beach. The assault of this beach was the one they use in movies and video games because it was the most intense and well-fortified of all the beaches. I took this picture standing at the top of the hill overlooking the beach. It just seems so covered, long, and well fortified that it is amazing that they took it at all. Just to the right of the picture are the remains of some of the German fortifications.



The cemetery and the sea.



The grave of a soldier whose identity is still unknown. A few of these are scattered through the cemetery.



We walked down to the beach from the cemetery. We waded in the water for a little bit and took some pictures. This picture is of the beach while standing in the water, and you can see the German bunkers in the picture.



Omaha Beach today from near the front of the first fortification.



One of the German bunkers up close. They were open, so we walked through them.



I'd love to go back to Normandy some day. I'd love to see the other beaches. One thing we didn't see was Point du Hoc, also part of Omaha Beach but farther down. It was a fortress on a cliff overlooking the beach that was stormed by Army Rangers who climbed straight up the cliff and into the fortress.

We headed back to Bayeux and ate at a cafe there, which was good. And I should mention that the people in Bayeux were nice and helpful. It was way different from Paris. Maybe it's because they made all their money in Bayeux off of tourists, or maybe because it was a smaller town, who knows, but they were nice. We didn't make it to the train station in time so we spent the night there next to the train station. It was just as good as any other hostel and only 32 euros total---the cheapest place all trip. We would have gotten in to Paris to late to do anything anyway so it wasn't a big deal, and we got the first train out at about 6 in the morning the next day so we didn't miss out on anything. The first thing we did in Paris was go to Notre Dame, which was very impressive.



After that we headed to the Eiffel Tower. I wasn't that impressed by it, though it was still worth seeing. The top of it was different than I remembered from seeing it in pictures.



From there we split up. I went to the Louvre, and Alex walked to the train station we needed to take to Italy.



Inside, the Louvre was a very impressive building. I know it is a palace, but it seemed more focused on the building than on the objects. I felt like there were just not very many things on display, which seemed odd for a museum of this popular. But I think it's just because it does such a good job with what it has that it's so popular. The British Museum easily has more and is also very well displayed, but it seems more focused on the objects than the building (but I suppose that could be argued too after the most recent renovations). I looked it up, and the Louvre only displays 35,000 objects, compared to hundreds of thousands at the British Museum. Still, I would have liked to have had more time in the Louvre but I at least got to see the Greek and Roman sections, including this statue room.



From there I went to the train station to meet Alex. We tried to get train tickets to Italy. Now, I had been told by many people that it's best to wait to buy tickets until you're ready since you don't need to book in advance and it only sometimes saves you money and the trains, even the overnight trains, usually never fill up. There was one problem. When we got to the train station they said, "normally they don't fill up, only in the last week of July and the first week of August." And it was July 30th. The next day's trains were full, too, so we got plane tickets online for a little more than we would have spent on the trains, so it ended up ok. We spent the night at the airport, taking turns in the sleeping bag, since our flight left pretty early. Then it was on to Italy!

Oxford and Utah

Oxford Castle:



It took me a while to get this post up because I went to Oxford two days before flying to Utah. I recently got permission to use the libraries at the University of Oxford to do my research, so I went to get a card and look around.



After the library, I headed to Oxford Castle, which I'd been hoping to see but hadn't had time the other times I'd been to Oxford. This is the view from Castle Mound. The tower of Oxford Castle is one of the oldest buildings in Oxford, built around 1000 AD. The rest was added over time, and can you believe this was an actual prison until 1996??



And here's the view of Castle Mound from the top of Oxford Castle's tower. Castle Mound used to be an earthen fort.



And the view of much of Oxford from the top of the tower, with many churches and colleges visible.



One of the cells. At one time, these cells could hold up to 30 prisoners each. Our tour guide packed our group of 20 people in just to show us how cramped it was, and we hadn't even reached the limit yet.



Our guide then took us down to the castle crypt. In the back right corner in this picture is where a ghost is commonly seen by workers and visitors.



Before I went home I had some dinner and ate with a this view of the oldest building in Oxford, a Saxon church built slightly before the tower of Oxford Castle. It was closed by then, but I'll be back.



A couple days later, I flew back to Utah for my brother Matt's wedding. I got there on a Friday, so about a week before Matt and Whitney's wedding. I spent my time between them and seeing friends before my family got there on Monday, then I was just with them. It was great to have everyone together and do a lot of fun stuff. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have the whole time I was there, but I do actually have one with me in it at Stewart Falls, with my sister Tamara and two of her kids, Sara and Sicily.



The day after Matt's wedding, my brothers and I (except Matt, of course) went shooting with Mark's father-in-law. One highlight was that I finally got to shoot an AK-47, which doesn't seem to kick as much as people had told me, but it is as inaccurate as I had heard. I won't write too much more, but I'm glad I got to spend some time with my old friends for almost two weeks after Matt's wedding and my family all had to get back to work and responsibility...

But, there were a few great things I have to mention. I drank root beer. A lot of it. And creme soda. One day Kevin and I suddenly decided to make a zombie movie, so we made one the next day. It's terrible, but we got out of it what we wanted. I played basketball and ultimate frisbee. I discovered with my friends that "How I met your Mother" is amazingly (awesomely) hilarious. I played laser tag at the nickelcade (and played other games at the nickelcade, sorry Andrew). And, of course, walked around BYU a couple times.

Basically, it was a great, long vacation and now I need to finish my masters thesis. And visit more of Europe.