Italy

this was our big all-group 10 day travel. it was pretty interesting boarding a night train with 55 people. but we did it! on friday night, we took an overnight train, 14 hours, from vienna to Rome. we arrived saturday morning and after checking into our lush hotel, we were released to explore the city. my friends and i chose to visit the furthest sight, the Vatican City and St Peter's Basilica. when we first got to the square, it was lunch time so we started to eat out sack lunches we had packed to save money (as a college student living on a budget in europe, you quickly learn how to eat and do everything as cheap as possible!!). we were eating on the step and the whole time a large crowd of probably 75,000 plus filled the square. when they all started cheering and yelling, we joined them to see what they were all looking at.... the pope!!! he came out and gave a speech becasue it was some catholic/italian holiday weekend. he blessed everyone in several different languages. it was very thrilling. we then went into St Peters where we saw Michelangelo's Pieta and the largest and most decorative church i have ever seen, and i've seen a lot in the past 2 months. we then walked around rome and stopped by the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps after a curb-side safe pizza dinner. the next day, we went to the colliseum, roman forum, the prison where both Peter and Paul were held and the church that holds Michelangelo's Moses. our last morning in rome we all as a group went to the vatican museums and the sistine chapel. it was beautiful!!! definately smaller than i anticipated, but the artwork was breathtaking!!!
we left that afternoon for florence and arrived there at about 5pm. after checking into our again lush hotel, me and a few friends decided at the spur of the moment to jump another 2 hour train out to the leaning tower of Pisa. from the train station, it is a 20 min fast walk. we went out there, took pictures and ran back to catch the last train that night back into florence. on tuesday, we went to the Uffizi gallery which is said to be the greatest art collection in the world. i honestly did not find it worth my time and didn't pay too much attention to the art. i feel bad for that, but at this point in the trip i am so burnt out from visiting so many museums. it's becoming repetative and boring to me. anyways, after walking around for an hour or two after that, we met to go into the Academy of Fine Arts which houses Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, the David. it was amazing!!! it was so big and beautiful. i really enjoyed it. for the rest of the afternoon and evening, we hung out in the leather markets buying as much italian leather as we could afford. just the atmosphere was pretty cool. we had chinese for dinner? don't ask me who's idea it was for oriental food in italy?? we were all glued to the hotel lobby tv for houirs that night watching the election. we woke up wednesday morning to find out that Obama had won by a land slide. if you in america think people were partying, you ain't seen nothing til you've seen europe party. they are all so excited and happy and it makes them love us. it's really weird but the saying over here is: when america sneezes, europe gets bronchitis. we boarded our last group train to venice. i have always heard how cool and unique venice is, but you can't explain it til you've been yourself. it is so beautiful with the canals and ocean and alleyways with no cars. we walked around all afternoon seeing a few sites, but mainly just enjoying the atmosphere. that night, me and a few friends went out the bay and sat for a few hours just talking and relaxing becasue it had been such a long and fast tempo week. the next morning, we set out on a mission to find the girls some swim suits. we decided to catch a taxi boat out to the island of Lido. it is world famous for it's beaches. we were unsucessful in finding suits for them, but it turned out alright because it got too cold for them. but, it was not too cold for us guys. we found an abandoned boardwalk that we could climb up and walk out about 50 yards on to jump into the ocean and then ride the waves in. it was a lot of fun. we all had a picknic on the beach and attempted to build a bonfire but all the wood was too wet. austin jordan sarah and i headed back early to venice so that we could take the girls on a gondola ride, the boats driven by a man standing on the back with one ore. it was fun, expensive but fun. i was lucky at this hotel to be given the only suite. i had a king size bed to myself and only had 2 other roommates who each had nice beds also. since our room was so big, a lot of people gathered in my room that night to watch the European Music Awards. it was funny, we went to the store to get food and just made a party out of it. our group gets along really well which makes everything really fun.
on friday morning, everyone was released for free travel with which we had to get back to vienna by sunday. i decided to go to Munich with 2 others becasue it was kinda on the way home. it was a beautiful city!! very pretty and lots to do. we took a free walking tour which we were skeptical about, but ended up loving. we saw where hitler lived and steered his nazi party from and some really cool historical sites. i also saw the largest beer hall and beer garden in the world. after a full day, me and my friend ben went to see the new 007, Quantum of Solace. it came out here on the 7th about a week before it comes out in the states. it was awsome, go and see it when it comes out.
and now i'm back at the castle. i wrote a paper for bible class this evening and worked a bit on a presentation i have coming up this week. this is our final week of classes for the semester! we leave again on friday for our last 10 day free travel and then when we come back, it's 4 days til thanksgiving and then a week before we come home!! it's going by so fast. i will be home in 1 month but it is going to fly by. i will try to post some pictures this week when i go to the internet cafe to upload onto my flash drive. take care and hope all is well with everyone