The Amazing Race - Family Edition: Day 8

"Italy Doesn't Want You"

The first time I went to Europe I got to visit London and Paris. I knew that the next time I came back I definitely needed to visit Rome.

This idea was so stuck in my brain that I accidentally planned four trips to Rome. Oops.

The first one was amazing. Rome almost became my new favorite city. I ran around the entire city hitting up over forty "must-see" sights, including all of the places in Roman Holiday. Even the ones that no longer exist.

Most importantly, I visited the Trevi Fountain.

Then I went on my month long adventure around Europe. Long story short: I planned two trips to Rome during this time. On the first one, I got very lost in Rome with one of the girls I met while traveling. But you better believe we made it to the Trevi Fountain.

The next time I went to Rome, though, I was only there for a day and I was really tired. So rather than make the trip back into the city I just stayed at my hostel and slept.

Now my sisters and I are trying to make it to Rome, but the whole trip is cursed. Little do they know it's because I didn't throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain on my last trip to Rome.

We were supposed to fly out of Nice, but the train to the airport was delayed by two hours. We ended up getting to the airport 10 minutes after our plane left. The next plane didn't leave for another 30 hours.

We hopped on a train to Ventimiglia to find a cheap ticket to Rome. Sometime between us getting in line and getting to the counter the train sold out, so instead we got on the train with a connection in Genoa. Our plan was to sleep at the train station in Genoa for five hours, but when we got there at midnight it was super sketchy. So instead we wandered around the city looking for a hostel.

We ended up finding a hotel that served an All American Breakfast and was in our price range, so we checked in. Then we found out the All American Breakfast was served 30 minutes after our train left for Rome.

To fully understand the difficulty of this situation, you need to remember how much we had all been craving waffles for the past eight days. Oh, I never told you that story? Well, we were supposed to get waffles in London, which was also a failed mission, but then we ended up finding some, but we were all so sleep deprived we fell asleep at the restaurant. In conclusion, we really wanted waffles.

Anyway, we seriously considered missing our train to Rome for waffles.

But we decided to take the train instead and actually made it to Rome. Only to find out that we couldn't visit the Vatican because the president of Italy was there. And then when we came back we had missed it by 10 minutes. Then we got gelato, but it was so warm that it was dripping everywhere and our hands were very sticky. Also, Kyla sat in bird poop. And we almost got pick-pocketed.

It wasn't all bad, though. We did find some of the most amazing jam ever invented. And I also finally got to tour the Roman Forum and the Coliseum. Well, I don't actually think we ever made it to the Forum, but we did get to explore Palatine Hill. And most importantly we went to the Trevi Fountain.

Now, I'm not actually a fan of the Trevi Fountain. It's not as amazing and monumental as all the movies would have you believe. In fact, the first time I ran into it I only knew it was the Trevi Fountain because of all the tourists. But I have learned to not mess with the magic of the Trevi Fountain - it really does have power to either bring you back to Rome or keep you out forever.

Not really, but you should throw in a coin, just in case.

The Amazing Race - Day 13

"Production Issues"

I was bored a couple of days ago and decided to take the time to read the entire Wikipedia post on The Amazing Race. I learned a lot of random stuff about the show. One such thing was production issues - if the producers have problems with the start of a new leg, they'll extend the current pit stop by 24 hours. This gives them time to sort out the problems, but for the viewer, it looks like the race continued as planned.

Today I took a production issue break. Venice is cool, but I pretty much saw the city yesterday, so today I hung out at my hostel's pool all day. I fixed a few problems with my itinerary, relaxed, and got a whole lot of sun.

Continuing with the random, useless facts, your fingers get wrinkly in water because it gives you a better grip on slippery objects underwater. (Courtesy of GoogleFacts)

Finally, did you know Phil Keoghan, the host of The Amazing Race, is from New Zealand? Now you do.

The Amazing Race - Day 12

"How to Pack for 2 Months in Europe - for girls"

There are about a million websites that tell you how to pack for Europe. I know, because I've read most of them. And of the ones I've read, almost none are actually helpful. They usually tell you things like: lay out everything you think you need, then take half as many clothes and twice as much money, or: take clothes you don't mind throwing away. Hello, if I don't mind throwing them away, I've already thrown them away and no longer own them.

As the million and one-th list, I probably don't have any new information to share, but everything on this list I gained from personal experience, so maybe it will be helpful anyway. At the very least, feel free to laugh at what I thought was a good idea to pack for two months of travel.

1. Bring clothes you look good in. You're going to be taking a lot of pictures as you travel around Europe. Don't bring the clothes you're thinking of throwing away, just throw them away and pack cute clothes.

2. Don't pack a lot of clothes. No matter how well you pack, there will come a point when you will consider throwing away every single item in your backpack. The less clothes you have, the less likely you are to throw any of them away. Considering you've packed all the clothes you look best in, this is a good thing.

What exactly is packing light? Personally, I packed a pair of black jeans, a skirt, a dress, two pairs of shorts, five t-shirts, pajamas, and a swim suit. Every couple of days I find myself wearing the exact same outfit I did the day before out of necessity, which I take as a good sign of having packed light.

3. You get two scarves maximum. Maybe you're not a scarf person, but I am. Either way, you do not need more than two scarves. Wear one and pack the other.

4. If you ignored the above advice because scarves are light and you really need that third one, at least have the sense to pack scarves you don't like. Unlike clothes, you can pack scarves you don't like because they won't ruin a picture. Then when you need more room you can start throwing scarves away. (They take up a lot more room than you might think.) Whatever you do, don't pack your three favorite scarves or you'll be stuck with them the whole trip.

5. Check the weather forecast and then pack for the weather you're going to get, not the weather you want. If you choose to ignore the weather forecast because you're an optimist you'll be stuck with exactly one outfit you can wear comfortably in cold weather. This means you'll either going to wear one outfit for two weeks or you'll have to suffer through the cold.

6. If the weather says rain for the entire time you're traveling, pack an umbrella.

7. If you choose to leave the umbrella at home, at least be smart enough to pack a rain jacket.

8. If you don't bring a rain jacket, you're going to need a fleece. (This is the only one I got right.)

9. Even in the summer Europe can be cold, especially in the north, which is why I recommend a fleece. It keeps you warm even when it's wet. Kind of.

However, if you are spending a lot of time in Southern Europe, it is worth it to be cold for a while and avoid having to pack a huge jacket all around Italy. So bring a jacket, but not a huge one. You'll be cold for a while, but you'll survive.

10. Don't pack the new towel you bought while you were studying abroad that you love because

a) it is very hard to find a place to dry a towel in a hostel

b) towels do not smell that great when they don't have the chance to dry before you pack them back into your suitcase

c) it is not fun to dry yourself after you just got clean with a towel that smells weird.

Just sayin'.

11. Yes, you can pack that curling iron. Some people may think this is a waste of valuable space, but some days you'll just want to curl your hair, and that's okay. You're going to Europe, not the wilds of Africa. It's okay to want to look cute.

12. Be careful with shoes. It's easy to go overboard with shoes, especially for a girl. So keep it simple - a pair of closed toes, a pair of flats, and a pair of flip flops that can get wet (for the beach, shower, etc.) No boots and no heavy shoes. At some point you'll try and pack them and wonder why your suitcase is suddenly twice as heavy. I get frustrated enough when I try to pack my converse-like shoes in my backpack and they are about the same size as my flats.

13. Toiletries take up a lot of room. Accept that and move on. No, you can't throw away your shampoo, toothpaste, and brush. Unfortunately those are things you have to carry with you the whole time.

In other news I spent the day in Venice where I finally got to wear a warm weather outfit without being cold. It was a good day.

Mes Rêves #19

#19: Tour a Castle ✓

I went to Verona because Amanda Seyfried went to Verona in Letters to Juliet and fell in love with a British guy.

I did not. Fall in love with a British guy. Because I couldn't find any*. I did go to Verona, though.

When I got there, I realized I had no idea what I was supposed to do besides visit Juliet's house. Lucky for me, there is a scene in Letters to Juliet where Sophie lists all the things she wants to do in Verona. So I copied her list and set off on my day's adventure. First up - Castelvecchio!

Castelvecchio, as the name implies, is a castle, which you are allowed to tour. In my head this meant I was going to be able to run around some castle ruins with little to no supervision and maybe find a treasure. However, it turns out that Italy doesn't just let you run around their old castles.

Even worse, they decided to turn Castelvecchio into an art museum. I tried really hard to pretend like I cared about the art, but I didn't. I mean, the entire first floor was dedicated to medieval art. "Ahh, the lack of a foot must symbolize the fact that this boy has no place to call home because he is always chasing unrealistic dreams. The man with no arms talking to the horse must represent those unrealistic dreams."

But after 20 minutes of pretending like I understood art I got to the collection of unfinished medieval art. As I sat there looking at all that was left of a wall mural all I could think was, "Who cares about this splash of red paint on the wall? What am I supposed to get out of this?"

So I stopped pretending to care and just started trying to not look at the art without anyone noticing I wasn't paying attention to any of the art.

I was pretty disappointed. I came to tour a castle, but all I got to see of that castle were white washed walls and bad art. I finally finished that first floor, though, and made it outside where I ran into a giant bell. I've been a fan of giant bells ever since I saw the Liberty Bell for the first time.

Then I went to the second floor where I saw more bells.

 

I mean, how many bells does one castle need? This just seems a bit excessive. And why is there more art up here? Why can't I tour the cool underground part of this castle?

Seriously, why is that not a part of the tour?

Anyway, I had almost given up on all hope of having fun on this castle tour when I came to the roof of the castle. There was a sign warning visitors to continue at their own risk, which is almost the same thing as a "Something Awesome is Ahead" sign.

The roof was so cool. There were beautiful views of Verona, plus it looked just like I thought a castle should.

And then they made me go look at more art... ugh.

In conclusion, even though the inside of the castle was beyond boring, the outside was pretty cool. Plus I got to check off another goal from my list, so it was worth it.

*This is a lie. The guy staying at the room next to mine had a British accent, but I didn't find this out until the day I left so there was no time for an adventure across Italy together. Unfortunately.

Mes Rêves #2

#2: Visit the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Torino ✓ 

There is a really great bus company here in Europe called IDBus. As long as you have plenty of extra time to allow for long travel days, you can go to any of their seven stops very cheap. Lucky for me, one of those stops is Lyon.

It was because of IDBus that I even considered a trip to Torino. When I Googled it the first thing that came up with the Cinema Museum. I was sold.

Then I actually went to Torino and I seriously started to question my travel planning methods. I didn't know anything about this city except that it had a cinema museum. (It also turns out that the Olympics were here once upon a time, who knew?) I wandered around for a while, but it was snowing... and when I say snowing I mean snowing... and all I was wearing was a fleece. Serious lack of judgment on my part.

Luckily I spent most of my day in a museum.

The first floor of the museum was all about light and how light passes through mirrors and how the camera was invented... it was sooo boring. It was mostly just looking at pictures and reading - in Italian - about scientific stuff.

I paid for this? This is one of my study abroad goals? This is all I could think as I meandered around the museum. I didn't want to leave, though, because it was still snowing and I had no where else to go.

Then I made it to the second floor and suddenly my whole view changed. This museum is amazing! They had movie props and memorabilia and even a miniature set that had been used in Jurassic Park.

They also had a lot of interactive stations. Most used green screens to add you to film scenes, including the Yellow Brick Road scene from The Wizard of Oz.

They explained how movies are made, which I loved. They had sets built to look like movies that you could walk through. They also have one of the largest collections of movie posters. The entire third floor is just filled with movie posters.

In the middle of the museum is an open area with two giant screens playing scenes from movies. The best part, though, was the chairs that were set up so you could watch the movies. They laid all the way back, had speakers right by your ears so you could listen to the movie, and were so comfortable. Every cinema should be set up this way, and every museum, too. It's the perfect way to rest your feet after walking all around the museum.

I ended my trip to the museum with an elevator ride to the top of the Mole Antonelliana (that's the official name of the cinema museum building). The view of Torino was beautiful.

Oh, and one more fun fact about the museum? The place mats at the restaurant are screens that scroll through movie clips and information about movies from the early 1900s until now.

I will never again question my questionable travel planning methods.