Greece!!!

So I've been busing my way through Greece the last couple days. We left Italy last Saturday and headed to Athens. I have to say, when it comes to comparing Greece to Italy, it is nearly impossible to say which one I like better. They both have amazing food, culture, and sites, it makes it super difficult to choose which one is cooler. However, we have been roadtripping through the countryside of Greece and I have to say, it reminds me of Colorado, but it blows CO out of the water. I mean does Colorado have random castles on top of mountain peaks and ancient Greek temples in the middle of nowhere in the mountains? I think the answer to that is no... It doesn't. But there have been a few times when we have been away from the sea when I will look out the window and feel like I'm back home and I have to remind myself that we are actually in Greece. Alright, so far we have been to Athens, Nafplion, Sparta, Olympia, Mycenea, and all over Arcadia (also known as bear county in ancient Greece). Of course we saw the Parthenon while in Athens, but I have to say, it was not my favorite temple on the acropolis. Instead I thought the Erecthion was way cooler! It's this smaller temple off to the right of the Parthenon which is kinda overshadowed by the hype of the Parthenon. It's way cool because it has columns that are shaped to look like women, so if you have seen hercules, you can think of the muses, and that's essentially what they have at the erecthion. Also in Athens is this temple dedicated to the god Hephaestus (god of the forge, or in today's terms, god of the handyman). It was so cool, probably my favorite Greek temple (I've seen a lot since being here). But yeah, it's really well preserved and you can imaging that it still looks like it did way back when. Also in Athens we saw some extreme right wing nationalist protesting though the streets, it was a bit exciting really. So we left Athens and started our five day roadtrip through Greece on Tuesday, so we are currently on day three. I have nothing to complain about, except imagine riding a bus through the back roads of the rocky mountains an that will give you an idea of what I've been doing. It's really pretty though so I have coped with the motion sickness that keeps creeping up. In Nafplion we went up to the local castle on top of a mountain and explored it!! We had free reign to do whatever we wanted an go wherever we wanted up there, as long as we had the energy to climb up something we could if we wanted to. It was sweet, the castle was accessible by a staircase that had 910 stairs in it (we got a ride up and walked down) but it was sweet!!! We also went to sparta where there is this medieval village built into the side of one of the surrounding mountains and we walked all around there as well... And of course I had to say "This is Sparta" all epicly, seeing as I was actually in Sparta it seemed to fitting ( didn't see a giant hole in the ground though... Just saying). But yeah, that was yesterday, this morning we hung out at Olympia for a few hours and explored where the original Olympics were held. Our group had a pretty intense foot race on the track... We now have an Olympic champion in our midst.
Anyways, I feel like that is enough of an update so I'll just put up some of the pictures I just so happened to take on my phone, unfortunately for you I've been using my camera a lot more lately so I don't have too much that I can post right now, but I'll get to it when I am home!!! Enjoy

Pompeii and Florence

K so I have had a shotty Internet connection for the last few days so I haven't been able to post any of the pictures I've been holding onto. So we are actually in Florence now!! We have seen Pompeii and all that fun stuff so we moved on to bigger and brighter things!! However Pompeii was totally amazing!! I couldn't believe how a city could be totally destroyed and yet 100% preserved by lava!! It blew my mind that I was walking around in a city that had been destroyed by fire forever ago! Anyways, Florence is amazing! I am in love with it! Florence is what I imagine when I think of winding twisting streets and back alley Cafes. It is so cool. There is this sweet bridge that has about twenty different jewelry stores on the actual bridge and a whole section of town totally dedicated to a leather market!! There are museums everywhere and it it truly the city of the renaissance!! Anyways, here are some pics from the last four days or so, enjoy!!


Locations of where i took each photo in order
Paestum
Paestum
Herculaneum
Herculaneum
Napels
Pompeii
Pompeii
Pompeii
last four in Florence

So we have been crazy busy the last couple days!!! We left Rome yesterday morning and yet I still don't feel like we even went to Rome!!! The fact that I'm in Italy still hasn't sunk it yet, What's wrong with me? It's crazy how fast time is flying here. We have been chilling in Pompeii for a couple days now and yet we havnt even gone to the archeological site yet. Yesterday we went to Naples and ate some delicious marcherita pizzas and we each got our own entire pizza for seven euros or something like that. It was the best pizza I have ever eaten!! Oh and Margherita pizzas here are not quiet the same thing as they sre in America. Just keep that in mind, I don't feel like describing them right now. Anyways we went to. Church to, but right now I'm pressed for time, they charge for the hour of wifi at this hotel so I am trying to be brief. Today we went to a town called paestum were there are three Greek temples that are actuall pretty well preserved and got very freshly made mozzarella cheese sandwiches. The cheese was so freaking good. This afternoon we went to Herculaneum where they have some ruins that were also covered by an eruption from mt Vesuvius. It was really cool I will show you pictures later when I have better wifi. We might be hiking mt vesuvius tomorrow, but that is still pending. Anyways pictures are pending and I will post a better description of things kn Tuesday when I get to Florence. Bye.

Random photographs from all over Rome

Ok, so in the last post I really wanted to post these pictures but it didn't make much sense to do that because what I talked about had nothing to do with these, so that is there very short dilemma I had. Anyways i had a bit of fun with these. They are kinda from all over Rome, ranging from a ways outside the main city, to the cemetery right outside the old city walls and even more within the city itself. Mainly these are some of my favorite pictures I have taken so I figured why not share them.

Oh just an FYI, a couple of the graves in some of those pictures belong to John Keats and Percy Shelly, both are pretty important figures in british literary history. I think it's pretty ironic seeing as I mentioned Percy Shelly in my first ever post and now I have seen his grave. Anyways, if you still don't know who these people are, look up Percy Shelly's poem, Mont Blanc and read it. It's pretty darn good

Last days in Rome

Ok so it's been a few days since I have made contact with anyone back home, so I figured that it was about time to do so. The last couple of days have been pretty chill compared to the first few. We have been crazy all over the place lately, we have seen a ton of churches and museums and quite frankly it is all starting to blend together. So on Monday, at least I think it was Monday, we had a long church tour. We went from church to church admiring the art and architecture of each one. I thought it was kinda funny to see how little people actually went to the church for its intended purpose. The whole time we were in those churches I couldn't help but think of the poem "church going" by Philip Larkin. Here is the poem if you are interested.

Once I am sure there's nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence,
Move forward, run my hand around the font.
From where I stand, the roof looks almost new-
Cleaned or restored? Someone would know: I don't.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
"Here endeth" much more loudly than I'd meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.
Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,
And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate, and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?
Or, after dark, will dubious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort or other will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,
A shape less recognizable each week,
A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,
Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt
Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation - marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these - for whom was built
This special shell? For, though I've no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;
A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.



Well anyways, after reading that poem and visiting a huge number of churches that literally had maybe two people actually there for religious reasons, it made me think a little bit about the oddity of the whole situation.
Well, while we were church going, we saw some pretty important pieces of art. The number one statue being the ecstasy of St Teresa by Bernini Or the Pieta by Michelangelo. It's kinda insane that these important works of art are spread throughout the city and hidden away within churches. Oh also crazy, the ceilings in literally all of the churches are intense. The detail within each and every one is monumental.
Moving away from churches a little bit, I've also seen some pretty prominent museums. Yesterday we visited the Borghese Museum which has three statues by Bernini. The first one that greats you is his version of David. Now, everyone knows Michelangelo's version of David, it's probably the most famous statue of all time, but I have to say, even though I have yet to see Michelangelos first hand, I like Bernini's David so much better. He does a really good job capturing the intensity of the moment just before David slays Goliath. The face is focused and his gaze is intent. The whole story can be told by looking at the details of the sculpture. Michelangelo's on the other hand is static and needs a bit of explanation to understand what is happening. Anyways, that's my rant. Also at the Borghese museum is my favorite of all time sculpture, berninis Apollo and Daphne. This is in my opinion Bernini's best work. You would have to see it in person to really understand the fluidity of the moment that was captured in stone. It's beautiful.
So here are some pictures of some of the things I've been able to see while I've been here. The pic of David and the one of Apollo and daphne weren't taken by me, but everything else was... Enjoy!!