Day 30

Woke up early as of course I was excited for my trip.  Packed my bookbag and headed out walking 2 hours before my train left , where I would eventually catch a bus to the train station.

 Have I mentioned how much I hate public transportation in Rome?  I walked halfway to the train station than waited around for a bus and finally caught one that said station Termine(the train station).  After I got on, it turns out that it was going the opposite direction.  Crap.  Got off a half mile away and went to the other side to wait for the opposite direction bus that would head to the train station.  Found buses that would end up at the station, however all their drivers were taking breaks and laughing with each other outside.  Don't have time for that nonsense.  After waiting for 15 minutes I walked back towards where I had originally gotten on a bus.  Sure enough I see the one I had been waiting for pass me.  Ughh.  Time is ticking.  Walked towards Colosseum, realizing that I had only 30 minutes left before my train left.  Waved down a cab and cursing loudly to myself lept in.

Cab driver looked at me and put up the larger fare(they do try and take advantage of Americans, to which I just stared at him, and watched him lower it to the absolute lowest one.  Guess he kinda felt I was heated.  So it was then a race in traffic to get the the train station.  And by race...I mean crawl.  Like most things, traffic in Rome doesn't make sense, lights are all weirdly timed and people stop everywhere.  Time is ticking down while my fare was ticking up(based on time).  Finally made it with 15 minutes to go(after leaving 2 hours earlier) and went to claim my tickets.  Wouldn't work, no surprise.  Tried again and it finally worked for me, ended up climbing on with 6 minutes left.

Train ride was nice though.  Not very crowded.  Sat across from an Italian businessman who was going through accounting reports on the phone the whole time.  Probably annoying to some, but kind of interesting to me because all of the terms I understood and was trying to take a peek at the financial records to see if it was anything I know.

Beautiful countryside in Italy, really makes you forget about the city and all of the traffic there.



Arrived in Modena, not exactly sure what to make of the place.  Train stations are always rough places so I had difficulty judging what to think.  First newspaper I see laying around has on the front cover that an ATM had gotten stolen the night before.  Not just taken, ripped out of the wall.  Blue ink was everywhere from trying to mark it's captors.  Well...not a great sign.

I had the map and directions on my iPad, and even though I knew it was close, I had no idea in what direction.  There are no iPads here yet.  So to avoid causing any gleaming eyes, I would duck around corners to check the directions on my iPad.  All good so far, although it leads me down some alleys.  Keep ducking in and out of doorways to check it.

Wait...is that a $400,000 Bentley?  Ohh...so it's that kind of town.  I get it now.  Had no problem walking around and finding my way straight to my hotel after that.  How can I be worried about my iPad when there are much bigger fish to fry if someone was really looking to do something? Just gotta keep common sense and my head up.






Went out walking while it was still daylight out and visited some of the beautiful sights.  Modena is not a big town, so it was relatively easy to walk from one side to the other..without public transportation.

Visited this cathedral which was built in 1099 and has been standing since.  Very pretty.

Pretty little church dedicated to the rising of Jesus Christ.

Then I found a building dedicated to the Car Gods...

Turns out I was staying right across the block from Maserati headquarters.  Beautiful place.  I wanted to get inside, but they had closed 2 hours ago.  Tried getting in but the guard said something in Italian.  I pretended not to understand but he still wouldn't let me go.  Had to try another tactic.

"Me Piache Maserati" I told the guard.(I love Maserati).  The guard laughed and said I had two minutes to run in.

 Above:Inside of the Maserati Showroom.

Beautiful Maserati.












Deciding that wandering around Modena alone after nightfall was probably not a smart thing to do, so I retired to my hotel room and watched some media as I prepared for tomorrow.  Unlike Amsterdam, which was the first time I got to watch TV since I've been here, of course all of the channels were not in English.
Watched an Italian mafia movie for some time, then found a cartoon channel.

Yepp thats uhhh....that's Dora the Explorer.  But I have excuses!  It was on after Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny!  Some of the words were even translated into English for me to understand....

Oh well...better that than nothing. Thank you Hotel Europa!







Went to sleep early and set my alarm for possibly my most exciting day yet....a trip to see Ferrari.  Thank you all for reading!

Day 29

Relatively quiet day, woke up and spent the morning trying to think about what I was going to do for my last weekend in Rome.  Some of my roomates and friends were going down to Sorrento(on the other side of the mountain from Positano).  Considering two of us had already been to Sorrento while we on the way to Positano, I didn't think that would be a good use of my funds.  This trip has by no means been cheap, but I do not want to spend the limited amount of time and money visiting a place that I have already been to.

So I sat and thought about everything that I have seen and done this past month, very satisfied with everything.  Anything else would just be great.  Yet, I have this feeling.  It's like when you leave home and can feel that you forgot something, but can't figure out what it is.  So I thought about it for a minute...and it hit me.

I should go to Modena and Maranello, Italy!  For anyone else, these towns probably don't mean anything nor do they ring a bell.  But for car fans...they know luxury car makers Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari all call these places home.

Being as I am a monstrous car fan, I feel like I had to go and take a look at least at the Ferrari Museum, which is right next to the Ferrari factory.  Unfortunately I already knew that you cannot enter the factory unless you have a ticket.  The ticket price is around $250,000-$1,000,000....meaning that you had to own a Ferrari to get in.  Well worth a trip to go see the museum though, who knows what might happen while I am there?

I booked the train ticket to Modena, checked the bus fare to Maranello, and booked a cheap overnight hotel in Modena.  I'm heading to Northern Italy!

Day 28

Still running behind but trying to catch up on the blogs.

For today we visited the Pantheon and an ancient monument called Ara Pacis.
Firs Ara Pacis.

The Ara Pacis literally translates into a "Peace Monument."  This is ironic because Augustus Caesar built and dedicated it after his victory against the Gauls(French).

Built in 13 BC, the majority of the monument has been preserved, but a great deal was restored.  Sacrifices were done on a regular basis(usually of a bull) and the tiny holes you see there were intended to  channel the blood out from the sacrifice.

Here we see a scene of what appears to be the Shepard finding the she-wolf and twins Romulus and Remus. The red writing is what modern historians believe to be what was originally there. Alot of the monument was politically driven, and the other side contains many of the original sculptures of Augustus and his family line, along with his plans for people to succeed him.





Next stop, Pantheon.

The Pantheon has had several versions built in it's place due to fire burning down the first two.  The first one was built in 27BC.  This one was built by Emperor Agrippa(whos name you can make out in Latin at the top) and was actually facing the other way.  The second one was built in 110AD by Emperor Domitian.  This is the same structure that stands there today, but was damaged also in a fire.  The final product that you see today was restored by Emperor Septimius and is still in that shape today.

 So the Pantheon has the largest concrete dome and the center of which is a large occulus.  The occulus is still uncovered and provides almost all of the light during the day.  That means when it rains hard a large column of water enters the Pantheon and runs into a drain, which is supposed to look spectacular.

The original intention of the Pantheon was for a "monument to all gods" and was later converted to a Roman Catholic church.  It's status as a Catholic church is largely what saved it from being recycled like so many of the other Roman monuments.  The Pantheon as we see it today is almost exactly left untouched, minus the removal of the Ancient Gods and the insertion of Catholicism.

The marble in the Pantheon is exceptional, and shows what Rome really looked like before they started recycling everything they could touch.  Churches were off limit.

Here is the body and coffin of Vittorio Emanuelle II, the first King of Unified Italy.  He of course has many more modern monuments, but is buried in one of the most prestigious.

The Pantheon was supposedly the first thing that sculptor Michelangelo rushed to see when he entered Rome.  Being nearly 1300 years old when he visited, he was in awe.  When later commissioned to build the Sistine Chapel, he specifically designed the dome he painted to be one meter smaller than the Pantheon, in order to pay it proper respect.

This may look like a mis-shot, however it is meant to show the curvature of the floor.  The inside of the Pantheon is described as very comforting.  This is due to the perfectly round shape and the lack of corners being inviting.  The floor also is shaped in a slight curvature, and as you can see, it is such a difference that you cannot see the ankles of people far to the other side from the ground level.  Very interesting designs and architechture to affect ones perception of the Pantheon.

Figured I'd throw in one last picture.  All of the marble that you see is colored marble.  This means the makeup on the Pantheon marble comes from around the world.  This colored marble either came from parts of Africa or Egypt when the Romans had also conquered them.  Very expensive and it had to be carved very carefully.






Sorry for lapse in blogs as I enter the final days of my stay in Rome, but I fully intend to finish the blogs by the time I leave.  Thank you all for reading!

Day 27

Quiet day really.  Went running by the Tevere river to try and get rid of the Italian gut I am getting.  Definitely going to be looking forward to American food when I get home.  I've had enough pasta and pizza to last me a while.  I'm looking forward to some real steaks and most of all some southern cooking!  Collard greens, bbq maybe some corn bread.  Mmm.  I might even have to go to Moes and get a burrito when I get home too.

Spent the day catching up on what I missed from the weekend before.  Starting to adjust back to Roman life, it feels like I've been gone from this culture for a month or something.  I realized that I really did appreciate being able to speak English anywhere I went in Amsterdam.  One thing is for sure, I don't miss having to try and guess what they were speaking behind my back in Dutch.  Trying to slow down and appreciate the last 10 days in Rome.  It's crazy that it is wrapping up so fast.

One thing I have figured out from Europe, is that America knows two things.  Capitalism and Customer Service.  Weird to say both of those in the same sentence, but true.  America may not always have the best customer service, but it's better than Europe.  There are not many places in America where you have to pay money to use the bathroom, while there are not many places in Italy where it is free.  We also have figured out the brilliance of up-selling and making objects appealing and desirable.  No one can catch onto a fad like our great nation can.  You also have to make sense. You can't charge 4 Euro for a Gatorade when the grocery store behind you sells them for .79 cents.  In addition to as far as capitalism goes, there are so many street vendors here that are selling the same exact thing, within 10 feet of each other.   Some may collaborate, but not these guys.  For goodness sake, spread the hell out.  Even 3rd graders in America realize that you can attract a bigger crowd setting up lemonade stands across the city then all focused in one place.  Good for us.  That is why America continues to be the top nation in the world.

No one in Italy can ever accuse Americans of being lazy.  Let me make it clear-there are alot of really hard working store owners in Rome.  I mentioned once that there is one guy who runs a general store who works by himself from 7am-9pm, 7 days a week.  The public sector workers here are lazy.  Sometimes they show up for work, sometimes not.  Why not take a thirty minute break when you are driving a bus?  From what I understand, like Spain and Mexico, Italians used to take a few hour break and go home in the middle of the day.  Ridiculous.  That makes almost as little sense as Chick-fil-a not being open on Sundays.  I love that you have the chance to do that, but that's not how you work your way to success.  Apparently the hard times across the world have taken their toll though, and many have ended that practice.  'Bout time.

Towards the end of the night went back with a few buddies to the top of the nearby hill that looks over all of Rome.  Still loving the legal drinking on the streets.  Definitely something that doesn't make sense.  Tons of smashed glass bottles on the streets from late night drinkers.  Would never find that in Amsterdam.

Rome is beautiful though from the top of that hill.  You can see all the way from the Colosseum to the Spanish Steps, then look to the far left and see the lights of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel.  Very cool to look over what was the greatest city in the world for many centuries.

Sorry for having a boring and more conversational piece today.  I can only endure so much action!  Can't skip a day though.  Like I said, tomorrow is the Pantheon.  Really excited to go into the piece of architecture that Michelangelo considered the most amazing in the world...despite it being 1300 years old at that point.  Thank you all for reading!

Day 26

Back in Rome.  It's a little weird.  Last week I was ecstatic to be back in my home away from home-away from home- Rome.  Despite having come from one of the most beautiful places in the world(Positano), one of the most fascinating(Pompeii) and one of the dirtiest(in developed countries at least, Naples).  Walking around this morning I definitely am feeling a little resentful that I'm not back in Amsterdam.  I even dreamed I was back and hanging around our square.  That's not usual of me, but I do realize how lucky I am to have traveled to so many beautiful places in the past 4 weeks.  I have no idea what I am going to do when I am back in the States and have no action to quell my thirst for adventure.

Back to class also.  At least we have an exciting day of class planned.  First things first...visit to the Roman Forum.  Unfortunately in my grumbling about it being hot out and missing Amsterdam, I forgot my camera.  So I had to steal other people's pictures for the blog.

 So here are the remnants of the Roman Forum.  This is where the daily life of Romans revolved around.  The wealthy strolled often through this part, and the kings and emperors of their day frequented this spot. Over 800 years(nearly twice as long as America has been a country) countless buildings were erected with no real sense of layout.  This means alot of the buildings were in random spots facing random directions in this area.

The remnants of pillars that you see in the middle and the platform to the right was constructed under the guidance of none other than Julius Caesar himself.

The pillars set the scene of magnificent size and grandeur leading up to a very elevated platform that Caesar, and many emperors after spoke from.  Look at the elevation they spoke from when addressing the people of Rome.

This is the arch of Septimius Severus.  As I mentioned before, Arches were erected after a major triumph.  There are very few in the forum, this is the one of few still standing.  The reason this is unique is because it was constructed around 200AD.  This is unique because construction had ended in the Roman forum nearly 215 years before, and Emperor Severus refocused attention in this historic area by squeezing the arch in.

The arch goes much further down, but from this angle the picture does not show it.

Because the forum was originally a swamp that had been drained, there was so much sediment and debris build up- by 400AD the picture above depicts perfectly the level that was viewable.  A road was even erected through the middle.

This is a painting from the 1700's, before excavation of the forum began.  If you look in the background, you can see erect houses and buildings.  This is because they literally completely had built over the forum over thousands of years.  Sound ridiculous? They were good at recycling.  So in the 1800s and especially early 1900s they destroyed the houses and started the excavation of the forum.

S.P.Q.R. So I stopped to take a minute to describe this brand that is on everything from Ancient Monuments to modern man-hole covers.

S.P.Q.R. stands for "Senatus Populusque Romanus." It is Latin for "The Senate and People of Rome."  Literally meaning that "The property for the people and public of Rome," and has been copied by many other nations and even our States.  I thought it was pretty cool that it has been stuck around for nearly 3000 years and is everywhere.

So these are the remnants of the local racetrack that was at the end of the forum.  Everything from horse racing to primarily athletic and sporting events were held here.  This is interesting because many people would think the Colosseum would be the main point for sporting events.  Not true.  It was built later and had other purposes, will explain in a minute.






So one thing that was significant 2000 years ago was that the Roman forum literally lead straight to the Colosseum.  That's where we are going next. Finally, 40% of my initial reason for coming to Rome, I get to go into!

 The Colosseum was built between 70-80AD.  The Colosseum was built by the Flavian family, that took over the reign from the Caesar family.  The last emperor from the Caesar family was Emperor Nero, who was literally erased from history.  Before the Colosseum, Nero supposedly set fire to this land to clear out the people that lived here for his own reflection lake and monument.

One the Flavian's took power, the reflection lake was filled over and they spent their own personal fortune in building the Colosseum to win back the affection of Rome.

Much of the Colosseum has been destroyed in earthquakes and natural erosion, but this is the side that stands still.  Colosseum could seat anywhere up to 50,000 spectators.  Any slope you see, would have been filled with rows and rows of seats.

People sat in the Colosseum depending on their importance and profession.  Woman generally did not attend Colosseum events, and if they did they were seated with the slaves.

The filled in part of the floor is what it would have originally looked like if the floor had not eroded.  All of the chambers and rows below were below the stage, and would not be visible.  This is where trap doors were placed for actors and gladiators to make their grand entrance.  Below the arena was made up of very complex tunnels and secret entrances, and was very elaborate for it's time.

Because of the violent nature of the games here, many Romans, especially women, opted to go to other Amphitheaters and athletic events.

When opened, there were 150 days of continuous day and night events.  Over 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals participated in the beginning events.  The first day possibly being the most exotic, they flooded the floor and had a real battle on water.  Complete with numerous ships and full crews, what a sight is must have been.

 The Colosseum has never been flooded again, however spectators would be in for many exotic animal fights they had never seen before.  Animals not ever seen, such as elephants, lions, bulls, crocodiles, and many more were used in the events.

In it's most impressive days, the Colosseum would have been clad completely in white marble and had impressive sculptures in every one of those arches.  The Romans of course took off the marble for other uses and the statues were either taken or destroyed.

Thankfully the Pope cited the Colosseum as a Holy Site in the 1700s to prevent further quarrying or dismantling.  The Pope incorrectly believed this was the site where early Christians were martyred, but thankfully what we have today is very much directly due to his preservation.

Extremely impressive, I was very satisfied by the tour of the Colosseum.  Also very thankful that our Professor is so knowledgeable about these things and so willing to share what she knows.  So I saw the initially most important monument to me and one of the world's most recognizable structures.  Love it.







Thank you all for reading.  Excitement doesn't end here.  Look Wednesday for the Pantheon!  The world's largest free standing concrete dome that is in impeccable condition dating back to 200 BC.

Day 25

Last day in Amsterdam.  Wanted to get the most out of everything, so set my alarm for 7:15.   After only getting 6 hours a sleep for the past few nights, that didn't end up happening.  Woke back up around 9:00 and went downstairs for some much needed espresso.  Wandered into the buffet where I payed 17 Euro for the food yesterday--which is expensive but oddly the best meal I have had in all of Europe.

I noticed whoever usually mans the door and takes down your room number was actually in the back when I went to get coffee.  While I was getting some another couple walked in, and I saw the guy run to stop them and get their room number.  Realizing that I had already gotten this far without being noticed, I quietly sat down and grabbed as much food as I could.  The best meal I've had...two days in a row!  I patiently waited for my moment to exit, when the guy would go to the back.  Took my chance and got up, just in time for him to emerge and start making his way to the front.  Dang, caught in the moment where I couldn't turn back.  So I blended in(badly) with a blonde and red-head family and the guy looked at me carrying coffee and some pastries out.  I nodded at him and asked whether that was okay, to which he replied yes.  Getting closer to the door....and made it out!  Lowered my buffet cost to 8.50 Euros a day! 

I wouldn't usually do that, but the hotel was expensive enough and 17 Euro for any breakfast meal is plain robbery.  True, starved guests can't be choosers in this hotel.  But you can be smart.  Great start, onto the real part of the day!

Headed to our trusty tram that takes us to the middle of the square.  Passing the American hotel and cafe which had a pretty fountain outside.  Would have really loved to stay this close to our square but probably couldn't afford it.  I have already looked up airline prices for next weekend as well as a month from now, and they are nearly 1.5-2x the amount that I payed for mine.  Might have gotten lucky picking the weekend I did.  

Pretty bad panorama shot but this is the beginning of the square. Casey unknowingly sticking his head out in the bottom right of the pic.

And this is another small part of it to the left of the picture above.  Notice good 'ol Burger King hanging out in the picture.  Actually ate there twice, probably was the cheapest meal in all of Amsterdam.

Decided it was a such a nice day out that we would spend the last part of our trip walking around.  Above is a panorama shot of the musical theater to the left, Van Gogh museum, and finally in the distance the famous Rijksmuseum.  

A look back across from the other side of the preceding picture.  What your looking at is the concert hall for Amsterdam.  All these big things in one location...yet they are able to keep a huge public field right in the middle of it.  Won't find that many places.  I promise not Rome.

Still not very sure what the sculpture is in the middle of the water.  Looks like a duck in a hat?  Maybe I just don't get modern art.

Figured since we really have no place to hang out at and we were burning through cash this trip, going through the huge park would be nice---and free.

When I say this is a big park, it is huge.  It stretches nearly the whole city.  No cars or mopeds are allowed here, and you don't have to dodge bikes on the side of the road.  Seriously, the scariest part of Amsterdam is definitely if you don't realize that you are walking on a bike path.  They are not happy and do not stop.

There is a reason that these beautiful parks are not in Rome.  There would never be any room on the ground.  Rome doesn't have any grass, much less open areas.  But when you do find a little area with grass, lazy Italians are sleeping there for a few hours usually.  This park would be filled with people missing their jobs and sleeping.  I have never witnessed a city that is so lazy as Rome.  Breaks in the middle of their jobs, even if you are a bus driver with a bus full of people.  Even the beggars seem extra lazy in Rome.  Anyways...it was nearing time for us to head to the airport. 

No action story here like coming back from Positano.  Everything worked perfectly on time and efficiently.  Left airport on time and arrived perfectly.  Walked through Rome airport waiting to encounter customs, until I realized I had just walked through it.  Damn it! Lazy Romans didn't even show up at customs to check my passport and give me a stamp.  Even Mexico gave me a stamp!!  Ughh.

Left airport and jumped on a train that rumbled to a train stop.  Walked to the closest tram stop where we waited around 30 minutes for a tram.  Now I am refusing to buy a bus ticket on the inferior public transportation in Rome.  Not after Amsterdam.  No problem, they don't seem to mind.  Walked our bags and rolling suitcase back to the apartments about 1.5 miles away.  Would be nice, but my bag seemed to get stuck on every cobblestone that was out of place on the walk back.  Why not make a smooth road to walk on or take care of the sidewalks here?  Ohh that would make too much sense.  

Walking back I realized how much I actually miss Amsterdam.  Rome and Amsterdam are completely different places.  Amsterdam was very much an information and production oriented place, and was extremely efficient in everything.  Rome is a historic city, not much going on besides people making a living running their own small businesses.  Amsterdam is super clean and cool weather.  Rome is hot and dirty.  True, my opinion would probably change come winter in Amsterdam, but you won't catch me there then.

So here it is: Amsterdam

Pros: Super clean. Efficient. Beautiful weather in the summer when sunny. Easy to get around. Abnormal amounts of daylight(5:30am-11:15pm).  Everyone speaks English.  Very modern city, customer service is pleasant at most places.  Very safe, never felt threatened or scared, even walking around at night.

Cons: Rains often supposedly and definitely need a coat when it gets cool at night. Dutch townspeople really don't like tourists if they live there and especially if you do not understand the way the city works.  What does worry me is that they might be smarter than us, unlike Italians or Mexicans.  Everything makes so much sense there it is scary that they have found a way to make everything work so efficiently.  It's like...why didn't we do that?

They know English and Dutch.  Unlike French, Italian, Spanish and English, Dutch is not a language based off Latin root words. Which means you really have no idea what they are saying when they talk among themselves other than hearing the occasional Americano.  I feel like Americans are a little exotic there, and probably get made fun of from their point of view.  No worries, despite being a little taller than average they aren't a threatening people at all.  

So trip over.  Loved Amsterdam.  Would have loved to have a week there.  Not as happy to be back in Rome as I thought I would be, but I am glad to see the warm Italian people.  They may not be as clean or as smart, but they are nicer.  Only one weekend left...things are starting to wrap up fast.  Thank you all for reading as always!  Remember, look on my facebook for extra pictures from the trip!

Day 24

Today we woke up early and I wandered downstairs to try and find some coffee or espresso.  Walked right into the middle of the greatest array of food I have seen since I was back in America.  The hotel had an available breakfast buffet with homemade waffles, many pastries, real eggs, sausage, cereal, toast, 4 different types of juices and yogurt with fruit.  Wow.  I may sound like my Grandpa, who when asked about how the cruise he went on was would respond with how good he thought the food is.  But this was amazing.  Only downside was it was 17 Euro($25).  I had to do it.  I wouldn't forget the price tag though, look for justification tomorrow.

So far great start to the day.  Needed a sweatshirt and jeans for the first few hours of the day but turned out to beautiful.  First things first, we headed into town and figured out what we were going to do for the day.  Well, the Heineken brewery tour seems to be quite popular, shall we head that way?

This is the place where the original factory was built in 1873.  It has since been torn down and rebuilt around the early 1900's.  Now the factory has been moved out to the countryside and the old factory is being used for tours.


Note:This is a picture from the day before, that's why its cloudy.

One of the old delivery trucks for Heineken.  A little bit less advanced then today's delivery methods.

 Evolution of the Heineken bottle over a hundred years.

Pretty cool, they give you some at the end and have quite the little setup in the serving room.  Wherever you moved your glass, the Heineken coaster would automatically move under it.

Went to the Anne Frank house but unfortunately it is very commercialized and there were several hundred people outside waiting to get in.  If they were able to hide a small girl and her family in an area, I really doubt they can shuffle several hundred people in and out in a timely manner.

So instead, we decided it might be cool to check out the Van Gogh Museum.  A little bit of a line when we went, but we expected anything to have quite the line.

Like seemingly every museum, we were not allowed to take pictures except on the ground level.  A few things I didn't know about Van Gogh.  Van Gogh was a sculptor/painter in the late 1800's.  He did not like city life and painted mostly things in nature and on farms--which was surprising.

Also Van Gogh was not popular or rich at all while he was alive.  He was a mooch of his brother's family actually, and none of his work got popular until after his death.  Van Gogh felt like his creativity was not the same as it used to be, and selfishly killed himself in  1890.

Eventually the Van Gogh museum started to close on us and we continued walking around the city.  The great thing was that we were staying at 4-star hotels, the bad thing was that we were hardly in the room.  Every moment other than sleeping we were out walking around the beautiful city.  I really had a mis-perception on Amsterdam.  I thought it would be a large, dirty, unorganized city with a few historic sites.  Could not have been more wrong.  It is a small, beautiful, incredibly efficient and extremely clean modern city that is more production-oriented than historic.  It is so clean that I actually felt bad when I dropped a piece of muffin, and stopped and picked it up.  There is zero trash on the streets.

It seems that although Heineken is a very popular beer because it is produced in Amsterdam, everyone seems to forgot the little brother that is also produced there.  Amstel Light.  Amstel light used to be my favorite beer for many years(of course I must say legally just a few months since I turned 21 in March). Anyways, it was actually hard to find Amstel, despite being produced in the city.





Pretty active day.  Managed to go to a few historical sites as well as a brewery tour.  Absolutely love the public transportation, it made negotiating the small city so much easier than walking and cheaper than taking a taxi.  Just upset it closes so early at 12:30.  Sounds late, but when you have sunlight until 11:15, it certainly doesn't feel late.  Well day 3 of Amsterdam, and still loving every minute of it.  Last full day here already.  So disappointing, I don't want to go back to Rome.  At least not yet.  Thank you all for reading!  Stay tuned for final day in Amsterdam!

Day 23

Today woke up at my hotel after a night of the greatest sleep I have had in months.  Set my alarm early though so I could get out and enjoy Amsterdam.  The bed at CitizenM was the size of a large Italian car. Needless to say, I was loving that compared to the small bed that I have at the dorms at JCU.  Went downstairs to grab a small breakfast before I headed out.

 Met a British guy that was carrying on a conversation downstairs at the breakfast place and thought I would ask him a cultural question.  If you type in Cheadle on Google, you will find a few towns in Britain by the name of Cheadle, as well as one in Canada.  So I asked the guy if he had ever heard of a town named Cheadle.  Sure enough, this guy grew up in the one in Manchester.  Hah, pretty cool.  I don't have any reason to believe I'm of British descent, but I also don't have any idea about my Dad's side except for Native American, nor does know as far as I assume.  When asked, I know I'm mostly Italian as my Grandpa's family is from Sicilia and my Grandmas from Naples.  Good enough for me.

Woke up and it was raining and cold.  Good time to talk about the climate in Amsterdam.  It was around 55 degrees at night and anywhere up to 70 during the day.  Absolutely beautiful when sunny, which was enjoyable extensively considering the sun rose at 5:30AM and set nearly at 10:45PM.  That's right, it was light out until almost 11:30PM.  That was awesome.  Definitely couldn't go out at night without a coat, and jeans were perfect for anytime of the day.  Talked to one American who visited often and one thing is for sure, you do not want to visit Amsterdam in the winter.  Fine by me, I will take and enjoy the summer weather anyday.

 Got a few cool pictures where I am in the sunlight and you could see how intense the weather is in the background.

  This is the Rijksmuseum, a dutch National museum that was designed around early 1800 under the order of Napoleon Bonaparte's brother.










Waited around a little bit then went back to my hotel to go and meet Casey in front of our new hotel that we were staying at.  Kinda wish we had stayed at CitizenM the rest of the time, but I am just thankful that we were able to stay at two 4-star hotels.  The week before I had buses blaring into our window starting at 6:00AM and no A/C.

Ended up showing up like thirty minutes to meet him, thanks to Google Maps leading me a completely difficult direction.  Also, because of our Italian cell phones, I had no way to reach him and we had just decided on a meeting place the day before.  Our hotel, Westwood Fashion Hotel was very nice, and we dropped our bags off and went to explore the city.

Another moment to discuss Amsterdam public transportation.

I absolutely love Amsterdam public transportation.  Although a little expensive, you buy one day pass from someone on any tram car or bus for 7 Euro.  The pass is electronic and can be used on any bus, tram or train.

Every train stop has an electronic timer that shows when your bus will be there, and a map that shows where anyone can figure out which bus/tram comes into closest contact with their destination.

Another noteworthy thing, bikes and mopeds have their own lane on the sidewalk, and take that lane very seriously.  Very seriously.  I almost got hit several times over the few days and witness tourists almost get hit, because the lanes very much look like sidewalks.  But they are not, and bikers do not slow down or have any mercy.  Many use their little bell, and we even heard someone with a duck horn use it.  They don't even like you to walk on the opposite sidewalk.  Sounds crazy, but makes sense.  Everyone has their own lanes and makes things very efficient.  It all makes sense. Refreshing break from Italian public transportation, where bus drivers take 30 minute breaks in the middle of their shift, and route.

It was raining lightly most of day, which is quite a long time with the way the sun stays out.  However we took awhile walking around and exploring.

Many rivers run through Amsterdam, all seemingly man made and above all...make sense.  They go in direct lines around the city and have small bridges very often over them to cross.  Wow something else that Rome hasn't thought of...

Cool church that was one of the oldest in Amsterdam.
















Continued exploring until rain finally stopped and we ran back to hotel to change.  Very difficult and expensive to find any kind of food in Amsterdam.  Went to the Hard Rock and looked at the menu, 15 Euro for a cheeseburger and 7 for a drink, no thank you!  Sorry Hard Rock, even I have my limits...which will be pressed in tomorrow's blog.  By this time it was nearing dark, so was almost 11.  Trams quit running at 12:30 so we walked around for a little bit then went back to the hotel.  My first experience with media in nearly a month! Family Guy was on at the hotel, and was even in English!  What a perfect place.  They must really know how starved from TV we really were.

Slept perfect again on my bed there, even though it was a little bit smaller than the car-bed at the other hotel.  Actually, despite the weather, loving every bit of Amsterdam so far.