Ireland

Let me start off by saying that Ireland is one of my new favorite countries. I had a great time there and everyone was so kind and helpful. I landed in Ireland after spending the night in the airport in London (I got 2 hours of sleep there) I made it to my hotel and arrived there at 9AM. This was well before check in time but they had a room available so they let me have that room. The room had a view of the street, a TV and my own bathroom which was really nice.

I spent the first day wandering around Dublin. Dublin is a smaller city than Rome so I was able to see most of everything I wanted to in that day I was there. I started off walking along the river and continuing into the city. I went to Trinity College and then walked down the street to the Temple Bar district. This area is full of bars and is the party scene of Dublin. I continued on to Christ Church which was beautiful and from there I went to the Dublin Castle. All of the while, I was waiting to get lunch while walking around. I was waiting for Leo Burdock's which is a local fish and chip restaurant. They opened around noon and I was third in the line. I got my fish and chips (a huge portion) and walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral and ate my lunch in the little park there. It was a very pleasant morning but my day was just beginning.

After finishing my lunch I made my way over to the Guinness Brewery. When I got there I printed out my pre-purchased ticket and made my way into the tour area. When I walked in I was met by a worker who gave a little speech about the history of Guinness. From there I was told the tour was self guided and that it took about an hour and a half. I was disappointed to hear that the tour was self guided but it was still a good experience. I was able to spend as much or as little time at an area as I wanted to. Of course the highlight of the tour was the pint of Guinness at the end of the tour at the Gravity Bar. The Gravity Bar is the bar on top of the Guinness Brewery that allows for a 360 degree view of Dublin which was really cool. While I was there I bought a shirt and a key chain. After I left there, I was off to the Old Jameson Distillery.

When I got to the Jameson Distillery, I walked in and bought my ticket for the tour. I was told the tour would be starting in 30 minutes and that it was guided. This gave me some down time to sit and have a look around the gift shop. When the tour started we first watched a 10 minute video. At the end of the video, our hilarious Irish tour guide said he would be asking for eight volunteers for a whiskey tasting. Immediately my hand shot up and I was chosen as one of the eight. I was thrilled! The tour lasted about 45 minutes and we got to walk through the Old Distillery and see how Jameson is made. Jameson is no longer made there so it is only a museum and the processes have been replicated. When the tour was finished, we went to the Jameson on site bar and had our whiskey. I was able to taste Jameson in comparison with the top selling American whiskey and the top selling Scottish whiskey. Notice I said top selling, not top shelf. To my dismay I would taste Jameson against Jack Daniels from the backwoods of Tennessee and Johnnie Walker Black from the peat bogs of Scotland. Needless to say the Jameson was the best tasting and smoothest of the three and therefore was the unanimous winner amongst the eight tasters. For our trouble we were given a certificate proclaiming that we were all now official whiskey Tasters! That tour was the highlight of my time in Dublin.

That night I went to a local micro brewery for dinner. The name of the establishment in the PorterHouse Brewing Company. This is the largest microbrewery in Ireland. While I was there I had a sampler tray of their beers. I tried their Oyster Stout which is brewed with real oysters and it was incredible. I also tried their Irish Red and their Pilsner which were also very good. I cut the night short because I had to wake up early next morning for my day trip.

That next morning I woke up around 6:30 to get ready for my day. I was taking a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher on the western coast of Ireland. I made it to my departure point, sat around for a while and finally got on the charter bus to make the journey. The total trip out to the cliffs took around four hours because we stopped at an old church that was the burial site of the O’Brien clan and we also stopped along the road to see the island as well as this little town of Dillon to have lunch. I had seafood chowder there which was incredible and extremely fresh. After a good lunch we drove another 15 minutes to the cliffs. It was a great experience and so beautiful. We spent around two hours there and I spent the majority of the time walking up and down the cliffs. From there we got back on the bus, drove through the country side and then continued on back to Dublin which only took about two hours to get back. That night I went back to The Porter House, had a few beers some onion rings and a sausage roll and called it a night.

The next morning I woke up and had Irish breakfast at the dining room. The breakfast consisted of an over easy egg, bacon, sausage, beans, toast, tea and orange juice. What a great breakfast it was! After that I packed up and checked out of my room and left my bag with the office attendant. I then walked down to Trinity College and walked around there for a while. Then I went and got a cup of tea and walked over to St. Stephen’s Green; a beautiful park in the center of Dublin. I sat around there for a while and enjoyed my tea. After that I made my way slowly back to the guesthouse and on the way there I ran into five girls, Emily, Beth, Julia, Katherine and Liz that go to John Cabot with me. It was great running into the on the streets of Dublin. I made it back to my guesthouse and got my bags and walked over to where I was to pick the airport shuttle up at. I made it to the airport quickly and got through security. I found my gate and wouldn’t you know it there was a pub right next to my gate. I sat down and had a sandwich and my last Guinness in Ireland. I was sad to leave but I will be back to the Emerald Isle one day…….  next time with golf clubs!

Traveling

Well here I am sitting the Stansted Airport in England. I arrived here at midnight, found a corner to sleep in and caught about an hour of sleep. Today is going to be rough in Dublin and to my dismay I predict an early night unless I load myself up on caffeine and beer (probably more of the latter seeing that I am going to Dublin) You all will never guess where I am sitting in the airport typing this blog entry. After 77 days, I have been reunited with something all too American. Any guesses??? Pause…………………………………………… STARBUCKS!!!! That is right I have gone a total of 77 days without it and I didn’t miss it at all, frankly my wallet thanked me for it. However I have missed having a real cup of coffee with fake sweetener and cream instead of a cappuccino or espresso. Now don’t get me wrong Italian coffee is amazing and it has ruined me because this Starbucks tastes like water but oh so good.

Now I am going to have a little talk about airport standards and how the TSA would be having a shit fit if they were experiencing European Airport Security like I have. I will go back to last week to start this off when I returned to Italy from Switzerland. When I got to the airport I was trying to find the exit and passport control, which I did end up finding the right one. Before I found the right one I was let onto the International Departure area without a boarding pass. Yeah, they just looked at my passport and let me walk right through. Unbenounced to me I wasn’t supposed to be in there, I thought I would make my way to the exit and catch the train home. Well, if you didn’t know, international departure terminals don’t have exits unless you are getting on a plane…. So I went and talked to this nice man who spoke English at the help desk and he told me to go and tell security what had happened. I was like “oh great, stupid f****** American , I am going to get detained and questioned.” I walked up to security and spoke to this nice Italian lady who also spoke English. I told her what happened and she didn’t think it was that big of a deal. She walked me over to security and let me walk out the employee entrance and exit. I was stunned, in America (well I would never have been in that situation) but I would have been detained. After all of that I finally made it to the proper passport control area where I was in for another treat of Italian hospitality. I walked up to the window to hand the man my passport. He was having a conversation with the man in the booth next to him and guess what he did. He waived me through! That’s right he didn’t even look at my passport just waived me right on through. Must be my trusting demeanor and my face! I was again astounded. You have to wonder about those Italians. I wonder what I have in store for me this coming Friday when I go back to Italy from Dublin. Who knows!

Now lets discuss London’s security. As I went up to the security point they asked me if I had any liquids. I told them I had toothpaste and deodorant so I took the bag out and it when through the x-ray machine. The bin was pulled aside and I was told the bag was too big (mind you I left Italy and Switzerland with the same bag the week before) So I understood as it was a gallon sized bag and that was all I had. I told them to throw out the toothpaste and deodorant (both were almost empty) instead of leaving security and buying the proper sized bag outside of security. After the nice British man had thrown away my deodorant and toothpaste guess what he did. He handed me back the bag with my toothbrush in it! Wait a sec, I just was told the bag was too big. Now that there is nothing in it I can have it back?  Needless to say I was a little perturbed but I let it go. I did make the comment thought that “I guess Italy’s standards are different” that got a little smile out of him and he explained that everything should be the same. I told him no worries I understand and that was it.

My last gripe about all of Europe’s Airports is that they don’t tell you what gate you are going to be at until around 50 minutes before your flight. I am used to the States where I know about two hours before and I can go sit at my gate. Here I sit in the common area with hundreds of other people watching the screen and waiting for my gate to pop up. Oh well, I guess they do things a lot differently here. That is all for now, I am going to enjoy my coffee as I wait for my gate.

Ciao!

Florence

Last Thursday and Friday, I took a two day trip to Florence with a friend from Marquette. While we were there we got to see a lot of art including the David statue carved by Michelangelo. Seeing that is person finally was a great experience.

Florence is known for their leather goods and there was no shortage of leather shops enticing tourists and locals alike to come in and spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars. I was half tempted to buy a brief case that I found for 150 Euro but decided against it, wisely I might add. Instead I bought a hat (no not leather). The hat is made by JibeSet which is an Italian sailing company. I found this hat at a boating store I stumbled upon!

While in Florence we also had some really good pizza courtesy of Gusta Pizza. Gusta Pizza is one of three restaurants owned by the Gusta brothers. They also own Gusta Osteria and Gusta Panini. I had a panini from their shop as well and while I have to say their pizza is by far the best I have had in Italy, the panini was just alright.

Other than having rain on that Thursday the two days were very nice. Friday was sunny and beautiful and was a nice change of pace to the constant rain the week before in Rome. That is all I have for now. I am off to Dublin, Ireland tomorrow night and will be there until Friday. This Thursday I am taking a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher which I am really looking forward to. I will update when I get back!

Ciao!

What a great weekend!

As some of you may know, I spent this last weekend in the lovely country of Switzerland. I landed in Geneva around 10:30 on Thursday morning, spent about an hour there and then hopped on the train to Lausanne where I would be staying for the two nights. Lausanne is a nice town about a 45 minute train ride north along the lake. When I got to my hostel I was pleasantly surprised. It was very nice and the staff was very welcoming. I went up to my room on the third floor which had two bunk beds. It wasn't a big room by any means but it was clean and it was a place to sleep. The highlight of the room was the balcony with a mountain view. The view was stunning. After unpacking and locking up my stuff in the locker I was given I headed down to the lake front and make my way to the Official Olympic Museum.

The museum was a great experience. When I first got there, about an hour before closing, I had the place to myself. I spent my time walking around the displays of the Olympic torches, some ancient pottery from the original games and then made my way upstairs to the exhibits of the equipment used in the games. They had track shoes, snow boards, rifles, pistols, curling stones, hockey sticks and a bunch of other stuff. It was really cool to see that part of history. Of course when I entered the Winter Olympics sections I went right to the wall where it said "1980" (I hope you all know what I am referring to) for those who don't I am referring to Miracle when the USA beat the Soviets. They had a picture on the wall but I was saddened to see that there was no equipment from that game on display. After the museum I took the tram back up to where I was staying. Went and had some dinner at a local restaurant and called it a night.

The next day I woke up around 7:30, went and bought some croissants and went down to the lake to have my breakfast. After that I went up to the train station and bought my ticket to head down to Geneva for the day to attend the 2011 Geneva International Auto Show and to take a tour of the United Nations in Geneva.

Being the car fanatic that I am, the Auto Show was the highlight of my trip. I arrived to the Palexpo Center where it was being held (attached to the Geneva Airport) at 10:30 and was amazed at the size of this place. It was twice as big as the Detroit Auto Show and that show is pretty big. From 10:30 until 3:00 PM I walked around the center and looked at all of the cars. There were so many companies there, here are my favorites: Ferrari, Aston Martin, Pagani, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, Spyker, Lamborghini, Audi, Porsche, RUF, Maserati, Morgan and BMW to name a few. One of my favorite Porsche tuners, RUF which I mentioned was there. I was able to go inside their booth and look at the cars close up. I talked to one of their designers for a while and he told me the specs on their new GT12R. This is a heavily modified Porsche 911 Turbo. Needless to say he let me sit in it! This car will do a staggering 230 MPH all for the small price of $390,000. That price makes the 267 MPH (fastest production car in the world) Bugatti Veyron Super Sport at the cool cost of $2.4 Million seem like child's play! After spending around 5 hours at the show my feet were killing my but my day was not over. Time to go take a tour of the UN.

A side story before I get to that. You will never guess who I ran into today and of all places. Firstly it was no one I knew but I was standing outside the Geneva Centre Train Station buying my ticket for my tram to go to the UN and this couple approached me. They asked if I spoke English and of course I answered, "yes, quite well". The gentleman mentioned I sounded like I was from the states and I told them I was from Ohio. I asked where they were from and the woman replied, "Chicago" and the man replied, "Milwaukee" yeah go figure! I asked where in Chicago and she said in the loop and then I told them I go to Marquette, I think they were as shocked as I was. They wanted to know how to get to the auto show so I directed them on how to do so and that was it. I can't believe how small this world can seem at times! 

I took the tram to the UN stop and walked to the main entrance. There I met other Americans who were waiting for the tour. After getting my ID badge and paying I went to a reception area for the tour.  The tour was very interesting. We were able to go in a few of the conference rooms where the delegates meet and we were also able to go in the large meeting room that is seen on TV most of the time. Geneva is home to the second largest UN location with New York being the largest and home to the world head quarters. After the UN I headed back to the train station and was on my way back to Lausanne for the night. I went and had some dinner and then called it a night because I was exhausted. The next morning I woke up early again, bought some croissants and went down to the lake to eat my breakfast. After that I went back to my room, packed up and then hoped on the train to the Geneva Airport to catch my flight back to Rome. I ended up getting home around 6:00 that night on Saturday and went to bed really early. That was my weekend in Switzerland. 

Today in Rome it was beautiful, it was in the 70's here and I was of course not wearing my jacket while the Italians remained bundled up. I know I was getting looked at funny but I didn't care, it was a beautiful day. This Thursday and Friday I am going to Florence, then I am spending a few days at home in Rome and then I am off to Dublin, Ireland for the remainder of our spring break. Hope all is well back home! I think that is all for now.

Ciao!

Update from Rome

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I have written here so here is an update on what I have been doing:

Last week we had midterms here, I spent a lot of time studying and I did well on the midterms so it paid off. To celebrate midterms being over I took a trip to Venice for Carnevale 2011. Venice was incredible! I loved that city and wish I could go back and spend a week or two there when it is not Carnevale. There were so many people there, thousands if not tens of thousands it was a little overwhelming. The actors that were dressed up were incredible, photos can be seen at my flickr site. I spent two whole days in Venice and had a really great time. The food was great, being out on the water was great and I am glad I went. When I got back to Rome last Sunday I was glad to be home and spent the entire day sleeping as I was physically and mentally exhausted. How could I be mentally exhausted? Dealing with so many people and taking around 1,000 pictures really tired me out. I would have taken another thousand pictures but I ran out of space between my 12 gigabytes of memory cards, looks like I might be buying another one of those to take with me on my other trips.

This week was uneventful. Didn't have much to do as it is only a three day week for me. I am leaving for Geneva tomorrow morning on an 8:30 flight. I am going there for the 2011 Geneva International Auto Show, I am very excited about this. I am not staying in Geneva though. I am staying in Lausanne which is a 40 minute train ride north. It was a lot less expensive and I get to see two cities for the price of one this weekend. I am also planning on taking a tour of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne as well as touring the UN in Geneva. This will be my first time leaving Italy since I got here and I have to say, I am excited to get to another country and not have Italian food for at least a few days. Now I am off to class, I will do my best to update this more frequently in the future and I will be sure and give a big update about this weekend when I return.

Ciao!

Another beautiful day

It is another beautiful day here in Rome, the weather this weekend has been in the 60's and sunny with a nice breeze each day. Naturally, I have been taking advantage of this great weather. Yesterday I went on a 5 hour adventure and today was about 3 hours.

Yesterday was a great day. I decided to go to the Harley Davidson dealership in Rome. I also went to the U.S. Embassy and the Ferrari Store. On my walk to the Harley Dealership, about an hour walk, I went through Piazza di Spagna and continued on. When I got to the store, they were closed until 3:30, it was 2:00. So I had an hour and a half to kill. I walked over to the U.S. Embassy and was awestruck with its size. The Embassy is situated on four blocks of large official looking buildings with pristine lawns and gardens. I felt special when I walked up to the guards in the "U.S. Citizen" line to ask if I could go inside and have a tour. Much to my dismay I was told that tours were not given and I needed official business to go inside. I was disappointed but can understand for security reasons why they wouldn't want to give tours. From there I walked over to Piazza Della Repubblica, a beautiful Piazza with a large fountain in the middle. On the way there I stopped by a book and DVD store and bought Inception. What a great movie! I recommend it to everyone reading this. Back to the day, from the Piazza I walked to the Harley store. It was a small dealership which I expected because space is an expensive commodity in Rome but it was a nice store. There were lots of bikes and it smelled just like the dealerships do back in Milwaukee, of rubber, leather and oil. I bought a t-shirt and left to walk back home. On my way back I stopped by the Pantheon and had some gelato, cioccolato e mirtillo su un cono (Chocolate and black raspberry on a cone) it was delicious! The rest of the night was spent at home watching tv on my laptop and having some dinner.

Today, I decided to take a walk up the hill behind my apartment. The view was breathtaking! I uploaded the photos to my flickr so you all can have a look. I really don't have much to say about the trip other than it was amazing. I had no plan in mind, just kept walking on the street seeing where they would lead me next. I took some videos as well which I am going to put on youtube and add a link to this page.

No other plans for this weekend. Tonight for dinner I am thinking about going to get Chinese at this little restaurant near Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, I have heard it is really good and cheap. Now I am off to the Guarini Campus to meet up with a group to discuss a project for my International Business Law class. Oh, classes are going well also, though they sure are distracting from the vacation aspect of this trip, not too much though.

Ciao!

Another week has passed

Another week has flown by here in Rome. I meant to write this last night but didn't get around to it because I was busy studying....... If you believe that, well must be mistaking me for someone else. To be honest though I did do some reading for class this weekend, for some reason I still have to go to class here though I would prefer a semester long vacation.

Last night I went out with my roommate Charlie to Dar Poeta, a pizza place located in Trastevere that was in Rick Steve's Rome guide book. It was probably the best pizza I have had in my life. I meant to take a picture but I left my camera at home, don't worry, I plan on going back there many more times.

This past weekend was also good for finding bars. I found a local bar that has great drink and a happy hour from 11:00 AM until 22:00 (10:00 for you American's) Can you imagine! A bar with an 11 hour happy hour every day of the week! Anyway, all the drinks there are good. My new favorite cocktail is now a White Russian and my new favorite beer is, well, beer. We then left that bar and walked over to Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa, which translates to, I haven't any idea. All I know is that it is a locals futbol (soccer for you people) bar and they have about 14 beers on tap from all over Europe. I plan on sampling all of them while I am here. Drinking is very much accepted and part of everyday life here. There has not been one day while walking back from class in the evening that the bars don't have a few customers sitting down and chatting while enjoying a nice cold brew. You can even take your beer to go at some places and walk around the streets with it. This can be done for any alcohol including walking around with whole bottles of wine in hand. That is done by American's and Italians alike.

Today after class I stopped by (I know you are thinking I am probably going to say a bar) a bakery (fooled you!). I bought myself half a loaf of bread which cost me 1.43euro ($1.94) and the bread was still warm when it was given to me. I have never tasted bread so fresh and wonderful. It had a hard crust that gave a beautiful rapport when tapped and was so light and spongy on the inside. We do not get bread like this back home unless we go to true baker and pay $5-$10 a loaf (at least in Milwaukee at the Public Market) That is just how it is here, amazing quality for little money. The same can be said about the pizza from the same baker. A rectangle about 10incles long and 6inches wide can be bought for 3euro and is outstanding!

Anyway the food here is amazing, for some reason this blog seems to be about food. I wonder why..... oh yeah, I like to eat! Well I am off to cook dinner, tonight on the menu is sauteed chicken breast which will top a salad of fresh mixed green, mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes and a mustard vinaigrette and a slice or two of the wonderful bread with some olive oil. Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure!

Sto vivendo la dolce vita a Roma!
Ciao!