An American in London

So, it's been awhile since my last blogpost.  I've been "burning the candle at both ends" as they say.  Just having lots of fun traveling around London going to different pubs and clubs.  Maybe a little too much fun as I turned what was a fairly harmless cold into a possible upper-respiratory infection.  An infection that I might have to get some medication for (not sure if I can handle 5 days of sobriety).  At least if it comes to that it will be cheap, thank you NHS (the English term for their free national health care service), and yes I am applicable to have it.

As far an England goes, I love it here.  It's an exciting city with lots of fun and friendly people.  It's actually a lot more diverse than I expected it to be, but it is an international city.    I also love living on my own (about time, I know Dad).  I live with seven other flatmates (5 women and 2 men) on the fourth floor, which is the top floor of our apartment building (Penthouse, yeah baby), and they are all awesome.  I have my own shower and bathroom as well, which is nice, although it takes the term "water CLOSET" a little too literally. But I have a great view of the city, you can see a little bit of it in the picture below.         

London is a huge city, but it is built quite a bit differently, there are not really that many skyscrapers at least when you compare it to a city like New York.  All those lights nearby as well are from the overground, which is just a train that runs from one of the main tube hubs to New Cross, where I live.  There is also a very popular student pub called the hobgoblin directly behind my room.  I've adjusted now, but the first few nights were rough because when there wasn't a train passing by my room, there were a bunch of drunk "uni" students screaming at the pub.  Of course, there have been several nights when I've been the drunk "uni" kid at the pub but no matter.  Below are my flatmates plus Rob, who is the guy to my right, he is dating Meg, the girl directly in front of me.  The girl on the far left of the photo is Mikaela (an exchange student from Norway), the girl on the far right of the photo-the one I have my arm around- is Bailey she is the only other American in our flat.  The rest of the bunch are from the surrounding areas of England.

Below was a photo taken at the pub right behind my room with a large group of people that I normally find myself hanging out with on Wednesday nights. 

So, this is our flat's kitchen, and it looks something like this about 5 times a week around 8 pm.  We're all about the pregame.

What we have here is my drink of choice in England.  It's called a snakebite, and it's one of the best drinks I've ever had, period.  If you want to try one all you need is some sort of hard cider, beer, and black current.  Then, it's half part beer, half part cider, with a shot of black current, very sweet, very classy.

 
Well I've had a great time so far.  Hopefully, I can keep myself healthy.  I've gone away from just eating crap every night, and started to try and eat fruits and veggies because it's no fun being in on a Monday night here.

Planes, Trains, and Roman Buses PART 2

On the second day, we traveled into city of Rome, which is quite a fun and vibrant place with some amazing food.  Seriously, I don't know how Italians don't have a weight problem, but I know that if I lived there all year round I'd be more dome-like than the pantheon.   

This is one of the ancient castles that can be found in Italy.  Dylan and I didn't go inside of it, but we walked by it, and it looked quite cool.  We just had too many other things to get too.

That's a phat castle right?

This was the first ancient building Dylan and I went to see, the Pantheon, which I think was essentially meeting place for Roman citizens, but it is especially known for its large dome.

As you can see, there's nothing new under the sun.  It's still a big meeting place for everyone BUT the Romans.  

The Dome actually is amazing.  I have no idea how they created it nearly 2000 years ago, yes that's 2000 with three zeros.  Even today creating such a Dome would be an impressive architectural feet, but back then with the technology they had, seems nearly impossible.

The opening is nearly a perfect circle, another incredible feet if you consider quickly how difficult it is to draw a circle on a piece of paper, now imagine trying to do it with wood and stone.  

This is a shrine to the memory of Vittorio-Emanuelle II, he was the ruler credited with uniting Italy during their second revolutionary war.  Kind of like their George Washington I suppose, you know if GW hadn't given up power and instead declared himself a king over the states.  

Sorry, if some of these next few pictures are blurry.  But this is really cool.  So Dylan and I were on our way to the Trevi Fountain when all the sudden we found ourselves in front of St. Ignatius's Church.  And I have some Jesuit roots from my High School education, so I decided, hey why not give it a quick look.  The Church is amazing, Dylan and I agreed it was one of the better sites we saw.  It's a hidden gem, and i would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Rome.  The artwork inside is unreal, and it is a very breathtaking place.  I am sincerely shocked that it is not more popular, when it should be very high on everyone's list of places to visit in Rome.  

This is one of the side altars in St. Ignatius's Church.

As is this, actually this is one of the best pieces of art I saw on the entire trip.  The tapestry surrounding the stone figures is quite amazing to look at as well because it was carved and painted from marble.  

Now that's a pretty Church.

The Trevi Fountain, which Dylan and I both agreed was on of the bigger disappointments on the trip.  Cool to look at, but way too busy.  Hey at least we ran into St. Ignatius's Church because of it.

This is the huge memorial they have dedicated to Vittorio-Emmanulle II.  It's also why I know so much about him because Dylan and I went inside, which was essentially a huge museum devoted to the memory of their THREE wars of revolution.  

They take their monuments very seriously, what can I say.  Those are some seriously armed guards.  

Some nice view of the Roman skyline from the top of the monument.

More views, can you spot the Column of Trajen?  That was the last site Dylan and I visited, but my damn camera ran out of batteries just as we walked up to it.  So, this is my only picture of it.  Hint: look just left of the Dome.  

Pretty much all that's left of the once thriving civilization that was the Roman Empire, kind of frightening in a way.

One of the arches, there are still several standing in Rome today, the largest and most popular being the arch of Augustus I believe.

Can you spot the Coliseum?  Pretty cool view actually, looks like what the skyline might have been 2000 years ago.  

Well, if you couldn't find it before, here it is.  

You cant go to Rome without getting your picture in front of the Coliseum.

This is from inside the Coliseum, you can see they are trying to rebuild part of the wooden floor that used to exist when the stadium was in its prime.  Hard to believe that tens of thousands used to sit inside this monstrous structure and watch men kill each other.  Quite the shrine to human limitlessness and savagery.  Do you know where the Coliseum got its name?  

The answer is that it was given to the structure in the Middle Ages because the huge statue (over a hundred feet large) made in the likeness of Nero called the Colossus used to stand just outside the stadium.  It no longer exists.    

In this photo, you can see all of the 'hidden' passageways that existed in the Coliseum's prime.  They often stored props, wild animals, and scenery below in these passageways, then through a complex pulley system would open the floor and bring up the setting that the gladiators would fight within.  

A lot of the interior of the stadium is in ruins now, but it doesn't take much imagination to put it back together. 

The Arch of Augustus that stands right outside of the Coliseum.

I really need a new pose.  

You can basically go anywhere in the Coliseum that you want as long as it is still intact, but you get some interesting views at both the upper and lower levels.  I can't really say it was eerie to stand inside the structure, but it was interesting to imagine what it must have been like.

The arch (maybe its column) of Augustus.  

There's that pose again.

I think this might have been some sort of training facility at the height of the Empire.

Another view of the training grounds.

Some old artwork found in the ruins.

A lot of these structures used to have dozens of statues surrounding them like this one.

Me to Dylan, "What's it look like?"  Dylan, "Like you're holding a pizza twice the size of your hand."

Another arch, the Romans were quite fond of writing their great achievements down on arches.  They obviously felt they had many.

Why am I taking a picture of a field?  Well, because this isn't just any field, this used to be the Circus Maximus.  The largest stadium ever built.  Hundreds of Thousands of Romans used to watch chariot races from stands that used to surround this 'little' field.  Time hasn't been kind.  There is a little quote outside the field from a Roman Emperor that says, "All Romans want are food and games, and it will lead to our downfall."  Sound familiar?

Ruins, I wonder what ours will look like in a few thousand years?

One of the earliest republics used to hold its votes here.

A statue of a Roman ruler, I'm not sure which one probably Caesar   

All that remains...

Rome was definitely an interesting trip.  It was weird though how drastically different the two days were from one another.  The Vatican had a very complete collection stretching back for thousands of years.  While the former Capital of the once great empire is just lots of ruins and broken columns to a great extent.  The Vatican, the Coliseum, and St. Ignatius's Church were all great choices though, and it was a pretty profound and beautiful trip.  There's just really nothing like it in the states.    

Planes, Trains, and Roman Buses PART 1

I just want to assure everyone that yes, I am still alive.  Unfortunately, when I crossed the channel the internet decided not to follow.  So, I've been completely disconnected from the viral life for the past three days, which forced me to live my 'real' life, whatever that is, but a bummer, I know.  So, a lot has happened, I traveled to Rome with my friend Dylan for two days, and I think this blog is mostly going to focus on that trip, which was spectacular.

We spent our first day in Vatican City, which was pretty surreal.  Standing in the square, looking up at St. Peter's Basilica, it makes you feel like you're an extra in "The Da Vinci Code" (damn you Dan Brown), but really it was pretty intense and the pictures do not do justice to the scale of the Basilica, which dwarfed any Church I have ever seen before including the Duomo.

 

I like this picture because I feel it captures the vibrancy of the city, obviously the Basilica is in the background, but the activity that's happening in the foreground, pretty standard in Rome no matter where you go.  

I apologize beforehand for ruining every picture I'm in, I'm just not a photogenic person, and in this particular picture the sun was glaring in my eyes.  It's a good picture to judge the scale though because notice how all the people in the background look like ants.  Italians tend to be a little bit shorter, but not quite THAT short.  

Statues like this surround the entire perimeter of the square, I don't know how they got them up there.  

I enjoy this picture because as you can tell initially, the Vatican is quite a busy place, but once people realized who the hell I was, everyone got out of my way so I could take a proper picture. All except for tank top to the right, but later he got turned away at the door because he didn't have proper clothing, and they just let me pass because yeah, I'm that cool.  

Most of my pictures from inside the Basilica didn't turn out so well.  Because the place is so huge that they turn out extremely dark.  This one turned out well for the Church, not so well for me.  Basilica 1, AJ 0, LOSING! But this is a picture of one of the side altars, there are basically 5 or 6 Church's within the Basilica.

I thought this statue was very impressive, not the most impressive, but it turned out the best in my camera.  I find it very Shakespearean as well, probably because of the "Billy Madison" scene where Adam Sandler delivers the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy, and he has a skull in his hand.  I think obviously whoever made this statue had that image in mind.  I should also say I guarantee that this blog is 100% historically accurate, and that everything I say is fact.  So, if you would like to reference my blog in some academic paper or something, well then I'll be expecting some small stipend.  

What we have here is a Swiss Guard, his job is to protect the Papacy with antiquated weapons and a silly jump suit, very intimidating.  He also fills the important role of "Random Man of whom Tourists can Take Pictures and then Post Them Online."    

This is a small square just in between the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, and its where a lot of the information can be found about what can be seen in the Sistine  Chapel.  

This is the ceiling just outside of the Basilica.  Yes, I took a picture of a ceiling, why?  Because they are really tall, and the designs are often very beautiful.

This is the large dome from inside the Basilica, this picture makes it look like it's not way up there, but trust me it is, its probably 3 or 4 hundred feet "up there."  

Now, we are leaving the Basilica, and into the long stretch of buildings that make up the Sistine Chapel.  There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of statues like this in the surrounding buildings around the Sistine Chapel.

Boo! Most of the statues are of people or Greek and Roman Gods, kind of interesting considering the Vatican is the heart of Catholicism, but the way the Sistine Chapel is set up, it almost feels like the story of human history told through art, which is pretty cool. 

One of the sad realities of male statues, castration, scarring, and yes a little horrifying.  

The ceiling of one of the outer buildings leading to the Sistine Chapel, basically every ceiling is this spectacular or more so, and keep in mind that you are also surrounded by dozens of statues, paintings, tapestries, even the floors have stucco designs and things.  Your quite literally surrounded by hundreds, in some cases, thousands of years of human art.  The next several photos all came from the outer buildings leading to the Sistine Chapel.

A statue of Neptune I think.  

Another "Boo" moment.  As you can tell, walking through the Vatican is like a mix between walking through a Church and a Haunted House, the differences, subtle.  

Some fine tapestries, aka rugs.  

It's all about scale and size.

Another awesome ceiling, but next time I'm bringing a pick-ax to get some of that gold out.  

Really think I might have to redecorate my ceiling when I get back home.

The pictures encased in glass in the walls are old maps of the world.  Some of them were surprisingly accurate for being several hundred years old.  

This is "The School of Athens," which is a very famous painting by Raphael, the painter not the Mutant Ninja Turtle.  

My favorite part of the Chapel was actually the modern art wing, some of the paintings were quite fantastic I must say.

This was not in the modern art wing...

This was, pretty cool, and yes it was in the modern art wing.

Van Gogh, can you see his style.

More modern art, this is mostly for Derrick since I know how much he LOVES modern painting.  

Banana peal, great social critique, Max will understand.

This legitimately might be upside down, it's been several days and I can't remember exactly how it looked, but it looks cool this way too.

This actually is a very cool painting called "No Names."  Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what it's trying to convey, it's brilliant nonetheless.  

Little shout out to R.J., this is a portrait of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  And for those of us who actually paid attention in theology, he is the founder of the Jesuits.  

"WHAT IS THIS!  A CHAPEL FOR ANTS!"  

This is a tapestry of "The Last Supper," but its not actually "The Last Supper."  If you do want to see the actual Last Supper, well you better invent a time machine and go back a few thousand years. If you want to see the original painting by Da Vinci, well then you better invent a time machine and go back a few years to a time BEFORE Dan Brown.  Because the real one is in Milan, and you have to reserve a time 3 weeks in advance to get in to see it for a moment or two (Damnit Dan, really?)  

I have no pictures from inside the Sistine Chapel, it is STRICTLY forbidden that no one can take pictures in that magnificent Chapel.  But it is a lot different from what I was expecting.  The whole Adam and God touching fingers 'thing,' is actually fairly small and only one of many interesting paintings on the ceiling and along the walls.  What I took from it: that Michelangelo guy was pretty good. 

There's an interesting little museum in the Vatican that almost nobody goes to see, but it's quite intriguing.  I don't know it's official name, but Dylan and I just called it the Pope-Mobil Museum.  And it has several dozen carriages and cars that carried the Popes of the past.  This is by far the most extravagant of the carriages.  It's actually quite ridiculous that the Papacy would spend that kind of money on a carriage like this, but the Catholic Church has a long a storied history I suppose.  I will say that the most recent Pope-Mobil's are quite scaled back in quality as compared to say this carriage.  I think I would be quite disappointed if I was Pope.  

Just another picture that can be seen from the buildings that are just exterior to the Chapel.

So, I think I will end part 1 of this blog post for now, and pick it up in the next few days to show you some cool photos of the ancient Capital.  A few closing thoughts, The Vatican itself felt mostly like a giant art museum, and if you’re planning on visiting the Sistine Chapel you’ll be surprised to find that you’ve basically stepped into one of the largest art museums in the world that you get to navigate through before you ever get close to the Chapel.  There are literally hundreds of rooms filled with statues, paintings, tapestries, etc. mostly from the Renaissance.  However, there is the modern art wing as well, and it has many pieces from the mid to late 20^th century.  The Chapel itself is quite beautiful, but it was a little disappointing that you could not take pictures, especially because you are allowed to take photos of just about everything else in the Vatican.  It was a lot of fun though, and a little eerie to be standing in the same rooms that Raphael and Michelangelo once inhabited to create their work.