A Big Thank You / Mes Rêves #9

#9: SCUBA dive at a WWII wreck site ✓

I would like to give a big thank you to the country of Malta for building up my dreams to unrealistic heights and then quite literally smashing those dreams into the rocks.

I am referring, of course, to the WWII wreck site of the HMS Maori, just off the coast of Valletta, where I am now. Unfortunately, the wind is coming from a northeast direction, smashing the waves -- and my dreams -- into the rocks. I might be willing to risk my life anyway, but so far I haven't found a dive shop that will take me out.

The other WWII wrecks are either above my skill level or above my experience.

Lucky for me, my goal does not read "dive a WWII wreck site" as I originally thought, but says dive at a WWII wreck site.

During WWII, Malta was center-stage in the Mediterranean theater of war - literally and figuratively. It's location was ideal for getting supplies to the Allies in North Africa as well as launching an attack on Italy. Consequently, they dealt with some of the heaviest bombing during the war. In fact, Malta holds the record for the heaviest sustained bombing attack - 6700 tons of bombs over 154 days and nights*.

You know what that makes Malta? A WWII wreck site.

Ergo, diving at Malta = diving at a WWII wreck site.

And if that isn't enough, my dive buddy was a marine for 32 years. Which means that I, a WORLD traveler, dove with my buddy, a WAR veteran, TWO times.

Diving in the Mediterranean Sea was really cool - I saw an octopus and jellyfish and even got to go in some caves (don't worry Mom, I made it out alive), but I'm still sad I didn't actually dive a real WWII wreck site.

Current score - Kenna: 0. Malta: 9.

So while Malta may have won the battle, I plan on winning the war. My new life plan involves getting wreck and technical deep certified, going on about 50 more dives, then coming back to Malta and diving not only the HMS Maori, but the Bristol Beaufighter, the Barge X-131, the MV Odile, and the Blenheim Bomber as well.

Next time I come to Malta I will be prepared. And Malta won't know what hit it.

*http://www.visitmalta.com/en/world-war-2

Let's Talk Bread: Mes Rêves #6

#6: Try 5 different types of bread at 5 different boulangeries in one day ✓

I love bread. In fact, that was one of my main reasons for coming to France. When I told people at church how much bread I planned on eating, they warned me that I would get fat.

But I don't care, because I love bread.

It's surprising, then, that it took me so long to make it to five different boulangeries. I didn't even make my first attempt until last Saturday, but only ended up making it to four on account of rain and Iron Man 3.

So Tuesday when I had a full day in Paris, it was essential that I finish this goal. Being the genius that I am, I started off with a 250g Fougasse à la Fleur d'Oranger. For those of you who don't speak metric food measurement, 250g is the same as 2 1/2 baguettes. Plus, the bread wasn't even that good. It was dry and there was not even a hint of orange to it. But I ate the whole thing anyway. All 2 1/2 baguettes of it.

I then had to eat four more types of bread, and I wasn't even hungry. Consequently, my next four choices were all about getting the smallest thing the boulangerie sold.

My second choice was pain au chocolat. It wasn't very good. Pain au chocolat from the bakery is always dry and flaky and not very chocolate-y. If you want some really good pain au chocolat, you should pick it up from a grocery store. It's much better.

Next I got a mini beignet framboise and a mini viennoiserie. The beignet was really good. The viennoiserie, on the other hand, was not. I thought it was going to be a mini viennois with glaze on the top, but it ended up just being a gross croissant.

I then took a break, because quite honestly I was full and didn't know if I could eat any more bread. In fact, I was so full that I only got a petit gelato. I never get petit, it's always a debate between medium and large, so this is a big deal.

Finally at the end of the night I made it to a fifth boulangerie, where I finally tried a Madeleine. It was pretty good, even though I was full, and tasted strangely familiar. I still haven't figured out what it tasted like.

It was a lot of fun to see Paris through its bakeries, and I got to try a lot of new breads/pastries.

Lessons in French / Mes Rêves #8

Vous avez un stylo? Do you have a pen?
Oui! Yes!
Merci. Thank you.
De rien. No problem.
*runs away with pen*
Donc, j'ai eu un stylo. Well, I had a pen.

#truestory

But she came back! The girl who stole my pen brought it back! And she made me sign some stupid paper. The paper people have you sign to steal your money. But whatever, I had my pen back. Except then I didn't. Somehow she got it back. I felt sorry for her -- or my judgment was seriously clouded -- so I gave her two euros. She looked at me and said there was a $10 minimum donation. That's fine, I'll take my two euros and my pen back! Except then she was leaving with my money AND my pen. How is this happening? So I asked for my pen back and she told me no. Umm, excuse me? So I switched her. I gave her a different pen in exchange for my pen. She told me no again, but I was firm. I wanted my pen back. She finally said yes, looked in my grocery bag to see if I had any food, and ran off.

So what's the big deal about this pen? The pen itself is actually kind of embarrassing because it has I Heart Paris all over it and the Eiffel Tower, but it writes so well. And it fits in my hand perfectly. It's also my only souvenir from Étretat, potentially my favorite place in France. Well, at least top five.

Anyway, yes, I did get the pen back. And on top of the original overpriced 2€ I had to pay, it cost me another two euros and my second favorite pen.

But I got it back.

Speaking of Étretat, I went there yesterday. It's a small city on the northern coast of France best known for its cliffs. Well, that's what brought me there.

#8: Visit the cliffs of Normandy ✓

One of the things I learned at study abroad orientation is I needed to talk to my parents about "my wishes" if I died abroad. My mom about killed me when I brought it up, and probably isn't happy that I'm mentioning it again, but I continued talking about it anyway. I told them that if I died in France and they couldn't secure me a place in the Panthéon I wanted my ashes thrown off the white cliffs of Normandy. I had no idea if these were even real things or things I made up in my head, but those were my wishes.

Now that I've been to Étretat and hiked all over these white cliffs, I've changed my wishes. I no longer care about the Panthéon, I want to be thrown directly off the cliffs of Étretat, even if someone comes back to life and a spot in the Panthéon opens up. Here's why:

I mean, who wouldn't want to spend the afterlife here? Word of warning, though: make sure the wind is going away from you so that my ashes go out to sea and don't come flying back at your face.

Mes Rêves #16

#16: See the Musical Fountain Show at Versailles✓

Sunday afternoon I went out to Versailles for the musical fountain show. I got there an hour early, so I had a picnic by King Neptune's fountain and then spent some time just wandering around. At 3:15 as I was wandering, I heard some music start and could see the very top of a fountain show. I hurried over, but right as I arrived the show ended. I was so disappointed. I had missed the opening ceremonies!

Everyone else there had some sort of program with them, so I decided to follow the crowd to wherever the next fountain show would be. I ended up just stalking a family for 5 minutes before I decided they weren't going to lead me to the next show.

They didn't lead me to the next show because they couldn't lead me to the next show. The musical fountains are all on for two hours. Even the "opening ceremonies" show repeats. I found this out when I stumbled upon it a second time, right as it was ending. I decided that I would just sit there and wait however long it took for the show to come back on. It turns out that the 3 minute show is played about every five minutes. So even though I walked up at the very end, I only had to wait about two minutes for it to start again.

The only thing I did miss was King Neptune's Fountain. It's supposed to do something special from 5:20-5:30, but I was there from 5:10-6:00 and nothing special happened. I did get to see water coming out of it, though, so maybe that was all there ever was to see.

One final important note about Versailles: They're chocolat chaud is gross.

Mes Rêves #12, 15

#12: Visit the Geneva Temple✓
#15: Order something at a store correctly and understand everything they say✓

Today was my last full day in Lyon and I figured it was time to finally run around to 5 different boulangeries to try some bread. Even though it was raining and even though I wasn't hungry. Not my smartest idea. I got to three, almost threw up eating a brioche praline before going home to dry my soaking wet feet. On my way back out I made it to a fourth one, but couldn't find an open fifth one. Which means I'm going to have to re-eat 5 different types of bread in one day.

On the plus side I got to try my first French beignet. I've wanted to try a beignet ever since I saw The Princess and the Frog and saw Tiana's delicious looking beignets. My sister and I attempted to make them once, but I don't think the beignets we made were the "key to a man's heart" that Tiana made them out to be. The beignet I had today was so delicious. It was almost a donut but more bread, less glaze, and topped off with Nutella and powdered sugar -- very impressed.

However, today was not a total waste, because when I went to the first boulangerie I ordered, the lady told me how much I owed, I thanked her, and left. When I got outside I realized the whole thing had happened in French without me realizing it. Don't get me wrong, I put a lot of effort into making I said my French right, but I was able to understand her as well, which was awesome. After a semester in France I can finally do what I came here to do -- order at a French boulangerie without any weird stares. It was a great feeling.

Lastly, three and a half weeks ago I went to Geneva. I never got around to writing about it so quick summary - the UN building is awesome and brought back a lot of great memories about Model UN, fondue can not be bought for a reasonable price between 2:30 and 6:30, and Geneva is a weird mix of big city and nature.

Another fun fact about Geneva - the Mormon Temple is not in Geneva, it is in Bern which is a 45 minute, 90€ train ride away. That's right, 90€ one way. Which means that I did not make it to the temple. Lucky for me, Geneva has a whole Temple Place on the map, so I used that to fulfill my goal. It wasn't the same as seeing this temple:

...but the places I did get to see were pretty cool, too.

One final thought (and then I'm really done): if you're following me on Twitter/Instagram (...you're not following me? I can't imagine why not, but let me try and persuade you - #bananart #ananart #nooffensefellowmormons) you will know that my favorite catch phrase is true story. Tonight during Ironman 3 I learned how to say true story in French - histoire vrai. Oh, you haven't seen Ironman 3 yet? That's because it was released in France a week before it will come out in the States.

#HistoireVrai

A Less Sleep Deprived Day - Mes Rêves #5

#5: Make a wish on the star at Notre Dame in Paris. ✓

Remember that one time I went to Paris?

Just kidding, I've been to Paris more than once.

The trip I'm referring to is the day trip to Paris that turned into a day trip to Paris and a night at the Charles de Gaulle airport.

Despite the many things that went wrong on that trip, though, at least one thing went right because I got to make a wish on the star at Notre Dame. Granted I was surrounded by a bunch of annoying teenagers, but that's okay. And sure, my wish didn't turn out like I hoped it would, but it did come true.

I hate it when fate is tricky like that.

Unfortunately, my only photo evidence of accomplishing this is on my computer, surrounded by layers of bubble wrap and in my luggage on its way back to the USA. Or, it would be if DHL had picked up my luggage today. Instead it was just me and my luggage sitting outside reading a book while we waited for a truck that never came.

I do have proof of that though:

I can't decide which was more fun, sitting there reading for two hours or dragging my luggage back up the stairs after no one showed up. (The elevator is broken from floor 0 to 1.)

Most of all I'm looking forward to re-dragging my luggage down tomorrow and another two hours of quality time with these belongings before they really head back to the states.

Serves Me Right For Wishing on Stars and Packing My Sunglasses - Mes Rêves #18

#18: Visit the Count of Monte Cristo Chateau in If ✓

Before booking a trip to Marseille, you should first check the weather.

After checking the weather, you should plan your trip according to that forecast.

This is not what I did. I booked my trip and then checked the weather. And after seeing it was supposed to be cloudy and cold all day I planned a trip that was based entirely outside.

The only things that I knew I wanted to do in Marseille were see the Chateau d'If, visit the Ile du Frioul so I could walk on the beach, and maybe go for a short hike in the Calanques if I had extra time.

In the end I didn't get to do anything of these things.

I got into Marseille at 8 and since the first boat to the Chateau doesn't leave until 10:30 I decided to go exploring. The city was beautiful. There is something special about walking around a city that's still waking up. I got to see the main sites without a bunch of tourists holding up their iPads to get a picture. I also got to see people setting up a fish market at the Old Port. It was everything I hoped Marseille would be.

Well, almost everything. I had hoped to walk around Marseille in shorts and sunglasses getting a tan on the Mediterranean Coast, but it was actually freezing and cloudy. Luckily I had the sense to pack my fleece jacket at the last minute.

At 10:00 I found the Frioul - If Ferry and confidently asked for a ticket - in French. Then the cashier told me I could only go to Ile de Frioul. I froze and just stared at her. What did she mean I could only go to Frioul? The only reason I came to Marseille was to visit the Chateau!

I walked around looking for other ways to get to the Chateau, but there was no use. No boats were going to the Chateau today, all because of a little wind. And by a little wind I mean I-almost-fell-in-the-water-from-standing-to-close-to-the-edge kind of wind.

I was so shocked that I was being defeated in this goal that I got some bread to eat while I thought things over. I finally decided to go to Frioul and try and see the Chateau as we passed in the boat. That's almost the same thing as actually visiting it, right?

However, by the time I made this decision, the boat schedule had become even more limited. It was now only making two trips out to Frioul and I either had to stay there for 20 minutes or six hours. By this point it had started raining and since the only thing I wanted to do in Frioul was walk on the beach and read I figured it wasn't worth it.

But I was determined to see the Chateau. I had specifically read The Count of Monte Cristo before coming to Marseille to be sure I fully appreciated this trip.

So in the wind and rain and my very thin fleece jacket I started walking away from the port and up a hill I hoped would lead to a view of the Chateau.

As I came around a corner I finally saw it. It was beautiful sitting all alone in the middle of the stormy sea. And while I didn't actually visit it, seeing it was almost as cool. Who wants to tour a chateau and see the tunnel Edmond Dantès dug anyway?

I sat there on a bench just looking out at the sea for a while until the rain finally got to me and I had to make my way back to town.

All I wanted was to find somewhere inside and warm were I could pass the next 11 hours. The Chateau was no longer an option, I had missed the boat to Frioul, and I had no intentions of hiking around the Calanques in the wind and rain.

I managed to find a street lined with stores and pretended to shop for a while when really I was just using them for the heat and shelter from rain they offered.

Finally at 1:00 I gave up and decided to head back to the train station.

I got lunch at the grocery store across the street and sat on the floor of the train station so I could charge my phone while I watched The Princess and the Frog. Of course the only outlets also happened to be right next to the door. Every time someone opened the door I was reminded of how cold I was and how much colder it was outside.

I had completely written off Marseille at this point. In fact, as I was sitting there in the train station I decided that if I ever met someone from Marseille I would blatantly tell them their city sucks.

But then I had the chance to spend 5 hours at the train station. And let me tell you a few things about the Marseille train station:

a) It is an open train station. If it's cold outside, it's cold in the train station.

b) The climate-controlled waiting room is hidden, but it does exist. There are chairs and outlets here.

c) Apparently sleeping in the climate-controlled waiting room is frowned upon. The security guard will wake you up and look at you judging-ly for having the gall to sleep on the floor.

d) There are two sets of bathrooms; one costs money and one is free. The free bathrooms are always closed, though, because they have problems with vandalism, and they will direct you instead to the 50 cent bathrooms.

e) There is a piano in the train station that anyone can play. This is the best place to pass time as you will get to see a variety of very talented musicians perform.

I ended up buying an earlier ticket home and only spent five, instead of the originally planned ten, hours at the train station, but in that time I learned something about Marseille. I think the city purposely made sure I couldn't do the things I wanted to and offered me a different view of Marseille - the people side; people who are nice and let you practice French even as you butcher their beautiful language and people who genuinely love their city. I think that told me more about this city than anything I would have seen if today had been what I wanted it to be.

And who knows, maybe one day I'll go back to Marseille and actually visit the Chateau and hike the Calanques.

Then again, maybe not.

Mes Rêves #14

#14: Finish a book in French ✓ 

For this goal I chose to read Harry Potter because:

a) I have the whole series memorized so even if I didn't understand the French I would still know what was going on.

b) ...

Just kidding, that was my only reason for choosing Harry Potter.

I knew it was going to be difficult to read a whole book in French, but I didn't realize how hard it would really be until I actually started trying to read. It turns out that having a book memorized and speaking Spanish is not enough to make me a fluent French reader.

But I was determined. I sat in a café for an hour and a half the first day... and made it through the whole first chapter. On the one hand I felt so accomplished for finishing a chapter, but on the other hand I was annoyed at how slow I read. I could have told myself the story in English verbatim faster than I could read it in French.

A little less than a month in (and three or four chapters) I had to put Harry Potter on hold so that I could read The Count of Monte Cristo before I visited Marseille. It was so much fun to be reading in English again that I conveniently forgot about Harry Potter and found other English books to read.

In March I decided it was time to try Harry Potter again. That was the first time I realized how much French I had learned. I was still slow, but I was no longer illiterate-child-who-just-started-kindergarten slow. I could actually read a chapter without having to devote my entire day to it. I started taking Harry Potter with me everywhere and reading whenever I could. The more I read, the easier it was.

Then, three weeks ago I finally made it to the last chapter. But I really wanted a cool picture of me finishing the book, which meant I had to wait for the weather to warm up so that I could finish the book at the park.

Today the weather was beautiful and I finally finished Harry Potter. I read 312 pages in French.

In those 312 pages I learned a lot of interesting things about French Harry Potter:

1. The French version likes to change names unnecessarily. You may think that if Dudley, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Weasley, and Hermione Granger make the cut, everyone will make the cut. This is not the case. Draco Malfoy becomes Drago Malefoy and Snape becomes Severus Rogue (not to be confused with rouge, the color red). Were these name changes really necessary? Why did some people have to change their names and not others?
2. Hogwarts is not Hogwarts. Speaking of name changes, Hogwarts is Poudlard in the French version. Really? Who wants to go to a school called Poudlard?
3. A final rant on names. Gryffindor = Gryffondor. Easy enough. Slytherin = Serpentard. Not as obvious, but still pretty obvious. Hufflepuff = Poufsouffle. A little more challenging, but that word just seems to scream Hufflepuff (perhaps it's the excessive number of 'f's'). Ravenclaw = Serdaigle. What? Where in the world did that come from?
4. French wizards use magical baguettes. True story. A magic wand in French is baguette magique, which now makes me want to wave my bread around and cast spells at people.
5. Voldemort gets another name. In French there is a difference between you formal (vous) and you informal (tu) which means that you can't just have You-Know-Who, you have to have Tu-Sais-Qui and Vous-Savez-Quoi. This is in addition to all of his other names including Celui-Dont-On-Ne-Doit-Pas-Prononcer-Le-Nom (He Who Must Not Be Named). It really gives new meaning to the "fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself" idea.
6. À L'école Des Sorciers is the same thing as The Sorcerer's Stone. The French title of the first Harry Potter book literally translates to Harry Potter at the School of the Wizards. However, when you try and put this into Google translate to make sure you are right, it changes at the last second to "The Sorcerer's Stone" (it works backwards, too). Apparently Harry Potter et la Pierre philosophale just wasn't as cool.

The best thing about reading French Harry Potter, though, was how many new words and phrases it taught me. Like hélas (alas), balai (broom), Dubois (Wood), jumeaux (twins), Moldus (muggles)... Hopefully some of these show up on my French final tomorrow.

Mes Rêves #10

#10: Visit the Musée Miniature et Cinéma ✓

 

I don't know what it is about films that fascinates me so much, but j'adore le cinéma. Today I finally visited Lyon's cinema museum.

It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

The first few floors were dedicated to recreated sets. Not only were the rooms redesigned exactly has they had been for the movies, but there was creepy music playing in the background. To walk between rooms you had to go through poorly lit tunnels with stone walls. The whole experience was just like being transported to another world.

 

The next floors were filled with props from movies; everything from a Union soldier's costume from Spielberg's Lincoln to Harry Potter's wand. Yes, that's right, I was two feet away from Harry Potter's wand and original letter.

The final floors were devoted to miniature items - miniature sets, miniature dolls, miniature instruments, miniature shoes... 

It was amazing how much detail went into each piece, but I have a hard time understanding why someone would spend their life building replicas of everyday items at a 1:12 ratio.

Also, why isn't anyone building this hat at a 1:1 ratio so that I can buy it and wear it?

Mes Rêves #1, 3, 7, 11

I've had a lot of time to think over this past week because I spent most of it in my bed. And what I thought about most was how much time I was wasting by lying in bed. Today I was determined to stop wasting time.

#1: See the Saône River flowing North. ✓

The Saône, like any other normal river, flows south. However, it moves so slowly that if it is windy enough outside it will look like it is flowing north. Well, it was windy today.

And the Saône river was flowing north.

 #3: Take a picture with every cathedral built before the 18th century in Lyon. ✓

Before researching this goal, I had visions of myself running around Lyon taking pictures left and right trying to get a picture with all of the cathedrals. It turns out there is only one cathedral in Lyon. Luckily, it was built before the 18th century.

Cathédrale Saint Jean-Baptiste - 1480

But I was determined to run around Lyon anyway, so I expanded my criteria to include all of the religious buildings - churches, basilicas, and temples. I got all but two because my phone had a heart attack at the end.

Saint Polycarpe - 1670

Saint Bruno des Chartreux - 1690

Notre-Dame de Saint-Vincent - 1789

Eglise Catholique Saint Paul - 549

Temple du Change - 17th century
This used to be Lyon's Stock Exchange. But it's old and has the word 'Temple' in the title, so it counts.

Saint-Martin d'Ainay - 1107

Eglise Saint-Bonaventure - 1327

Even though they weren't Cathedrals, most of these buildings were pretty cool, and it was a fun quest. Plus, I got to go through some parts of town I had never seen before, which inspired my new song titled Sketchy-McSketchyville.

UPDATE: Just for good measure I decided to make it out to those other two churches:

Chapelle de la Trinité - 1622

Église Saint-Nizier - late 16th century

 

#7: Eat gelato at the Roman Amphitheaters. ✓

The gelato stores around Lyon finally opened at the beginning of March. So today I got some gelato and started running to the Roman Amphitheaters.

I made it halfway up these stairs before I stopped running. I was wearing two jackets because I thought it was going to be cold - it wasn't - and I was dying from the heat. But I needed to make it to the Amphitheaters before my gelato melted so I continued up the giant hill.

At one point I stopped to take off my jackets and get a picture of the hill I was walking up. Unfortunately, I was caught taking a picture of myself by some of the other students in my program. They were nice about it, though, and even offered to get in the picture with me.

I eventually made it to the top and got to eat my gelato at the amphitheater while reading Harry Potter. The best part, though, is that exactly one year ago, on March 16, 2012, I tasted speculoos gelato for the first time. Today I was reminded why I should never eat any other flavor.

#11: Walk to the top of Fourvière (and make it to the church). ✓

Sometime at the beginning of my time here in Lyon I decided it would be fun to walk to Fourvière. I followed the signs up a giant hill only to end up nowhere near the church. Rather than wander around and try and find it, I went back down the hill and looked up with disdain at the church from the river.

I was so disappointed in my failure that I made it a goal to actually walk to the top of Fourvière and make it to the church.

It turns out that I was about 10 meters from the church and if I would have walked two steps in ANY direction other than back down the hill I would have realized that. Which made today's accomplishment a little less exciting than I imagined. But it was still satisfying.

I also got to go inside the basilica because they finally finished the construction work. I walked inside and realized that I had completely misjudged Notre Dame de Fourvière. The inside is simply stunning. 

The outside is just so-so, though, and the crypt is super lame, so I don't feel very bad about my misjudgment.

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.