Well, now that I've been home for a week, I think it's time to fill you all in on my travels to Rome, Paris, London and home!
My friend Tom arrived on Tuesday the 22nd, and the next day we set off for Rome. It was absolutely miserable hauling two and a half months worth of my life all the way up St. Aldates to High Street and down to Queen's Lane, even with his help, but we managed it and took the bus to the airport. We were on separate flights (since Tom booked earlier and managed to get a cheaper-but-indirect flight on Swiss Air that stopped in Zurich,) so I waited around at Heathrow for a few hours longer than I really needed to and went on my way!
I actually ended up in Rome more than three hours before Tom did, because his flight was delayed and he missed his connection in Zurich. Thus, I set out alone to find our hostel, which involved a train ride and short walk. I arrived before it got fully dark and settled in. The hostel was nice: it had decently comfortable beds, cheap wifi, and a bar area where you could purchase drinks and watch the World Cup, if so desired. Tom had a few more adventures on the way, but he arrived safe and sound sometime during the night and we met up at breakfast the next morning to explore.
We had two full days in Rome. The first was spent on the Colosseum, lunch, the Roman Forum and the Spanish Steps. The Colosseum is quite large, and in the middle of the modern city. There's a busy road that surrounds it, with cafes and shops on the other side of six or so lanes of traffic. The Colosseum, while really impressive in an intellectual sense, didn't touch me on a more emotional level; it mostly just felt big and hot and touristy, and I didn't get much sense of its history. The Roman Forum was much more emotionally expressive. There are these beautiful pines that have incredibly tall trunks and only branch out at the top, and just the prevalence of the ruins with the maintained gardens and vistas was really lovely. My main impression of the Spanish Steps is that there were a lot of them, and that it is delightful to eat gelato and watch the police chase off the counterfeit purse vendors.
The second was devoted to Vatican City, including St. Peter's basilica and the Sistine chapel, accessed via the Vatican Museum. Tom and I opted to climb all 551 steps of the basilica to reach the cupola, rather than pay two euro extra and cut out 221 of them. By the time we reached the top, we were absolutely exhausted, but the view of the city was lovely, and the light breeze refreshing. This wore us out, and we only had energy to go on the the museum and attached Sistine chapel before returning to the hostel. Tom went on that evening to do a bit more exploring, but as I had the following morning to explore as well, I stayed behind and watched Italy's final world cup game in the bar of the hostel with a Canadian and some Australians I'd met the night before.
In the morning, Tom and I parted ways, and I went on to explore the Pantheon and a few of Rome's famous fountains. It was a leisurely sort of day; my flight for Paris didn't leave until around 6, so I had plenty of time to explore before making my way back to the airport. The Fountain of the Four Rivers was particularly impressive, and I had a nice lunch right in front of the Pantheon. I actually managed to have a nice, abridged sort of conversation with a pleasant older Italian lady on the train to the airport; she spoke no English, and I the most minimal Italian, but we made ourselves understood well enough with snippets of language, pantomime and facial expressions. All the Rome pictures can be found
here.
Paris was next. Rather than staying in a hostel, I decided to stay in a real hotel for added security and privacy while I traveled alone in a country where I speak the language only falteringly. The hotel was cheap and the room small, but it was clean and everything worked like it was supposed to, internet and television included, which gave it a special place in my heart. It was a good 12 kilometers outside of city center, which made for a lovely quiet area, but meant that getting there from the airport involved a shuttle, two trains and a half mile walk. The train into central Paris was at least half an hour to the nearest sites. I only had one full day in Paris after arriving at around 8 in the evening, so I spent the day seeing as much as I could. I did the Eiffel Tower first, and went up to the second deck, the top being closed for "congestion." It was probably not worth the hour-long wait in line, but it's nice to say that I did it, and the view of the city was lovely. After, I saw Notre Dame, where there are the most charming birds living in the hedges which will perch on fingers to eat bread out of your hand, and the outside of the Louvre, which I didn't go into because I knew I didn't have time to do it right. Rather than speed through, see the Mona Lisa and leave, I decided to leave the whole thing for another, better time. Soaking one's feet in the fountains outside the glass pyramids, however, is absolutely delightful. Last, I saw the Arc de Triomphe, and returned to my hotel tired but feeling as though I'd made the most of my one day in Paris. I took plenty of pictures which will be linked below.
I had a little extra time in the morning again before I had to fly to London, so I spent a few hours at the fountains by the Louvre and had lunch in a famous cafe, Angelina's. It's famous for its hot chocolate, which I did try and enjoy, but the star of the show was the quiche Lorraine, which was indisputably the best I'd ever eaten. Angelina's was also conveniently right next to Galignani's, the first English-language bookstore in Paris, where I picked up some light reading to keep me company at lunch. After that it was off to London.
The hostel in London was very comfortable. Massive, it had over 800 beds (mostly in 8-or-10 bed mixed dorms, like the one I stayed in.) It had a travel shop where you could buy towels, padlocks and other necessities, as well as a restaurant, snack bar, bar and numerous relaxation rooms. It was also decorated in outlandish neon colors, and was all-in-all a funky, fun place to stay. I again only had one day in London, though, and while I'd seen most of what I was interested in on my day trip during term, I wanted to make the most of my last full day outside the US. As such, I made my way to the Tower of London on the Underground, and spent the majority of my day there.
The Tower of London is a large enclosed area almost like a city within London. The crown jewels are housed there, which I saw (sorry, no pictures allowed and the guards seemed serious,) as well as different exhibitions on the Tower throughout history. It was a really fascinating experience, and I enjoyed wandering around and having lunch in the cool green areas. My favorite exhibition was called "Fit for a King," and showed armor from the history of the English kings. At the end of my tour, something even more exciting happened. Finding myself alone in the artillery room by sheer chance, I struck up a conversation with one of the guards/docents and chatted. I moved on after our conversation ended, but I few minutes later he came and found me in the gift shop. Taking me aside, he took me to a roped-off area where he pointed out some original stone masonry and woodwork, and actually gave me a tiny chip of stone from the original blocks of the Tower, dating something around 1077. It was fascinating, and I was so pleased to learn more, not to mention take such a fantastic souvenir home with me. I didn't manage to get a picture of the guard or learn his name, but he was very nice and made my trip even better.
In the evening, I went to the theater. I saw
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria, where I got front-row tickets for £25. Front row tickets aren't usually considered desirable, but I had the time of my life and really enjoyed the whole show. It was a fantastic way to end my time in London, and the show was incredible; I'd read the book, but seeing it onstage is a completely different experience, and I'm glad I got to do so. In retrospect, I would have expected it to feel lonely going to a show by myself, but it didn't at all, and I'm very glad. Much of this trip depended on me being able to do things by myself and enjoy them without sharing, and I really think I was able to do that. I can't imagine how dull it would have been if I'd spent the entire time wishing I had companions. That isn't to say that I wasn't ready to come home and have some friendship by the end; I just managed to enjoy myself very fully on my own as well. All the photos from Paris and London can be found
here.
My next day and the flight home were uneventful. I had no problems at any point, a perfect seat companion who both knew when to chat and when to shut up, and a varied selection of movies to keep me entertained while I crossed an ocean. My mom and grandparents met me at the airport, and thus concluded a nearly three-month adventure in Oxford and surrounding bits of Europe.
This trip has been worth a great deal. Oxford is an incredible place with a very different style of both learning and living, and I think I've gained a lot from my experiences there. I managed to guide myself and a friend to Rome, explore Paris and London on my own, and cross international borders four times in a week without getting arrested even once. While I think I'll always cherish what I did there, it also reawakened my excitement for things at home that I'd grown so accustomed to as to find boring. I'm thrilled to start my senior year at William and Mary in about seven weeks, and it's nice to be under the wide, wispy blue American sky.
Thank you for following me through all of it. It was a comfort and a source of perspective to realize that people at home were watching, waiting and rooting for me. This will be the last post in this blog, but I'm sure that I'll have other adventures, and if any of them seem worthy of recording, you will all be the first to know. Thank you again, and it's good to be home.
