Firenze

Dear Medicis,

Thanks for being the bomb and making art a thing.

Xx,

Carolyn


Hi Everyone!

I’m in Florence and I’m totally in love. It’s hard not to be when your hotel room looks like this!!!

Yup. That’s right. We have a fresco on our ceiling.

I’m going to recap the first and second day in Italy into one because the first day was kind of a half day so we did the outside of the Duomo and then inside the next morning.

Meet the Brunelleschi Dome, the largest brick dome in the world. Basically, the Italian king was pissy that the Turks in Istanbul had a bigger dome, so he wanted to build one to rival the Hagia Sophia. He held a competition amongst the architects stating that anyone who could make an egg stand upright on a table would be given the assignment. No one could do it until... good old Brunelleschi here walked up to the table, smashed the bottom of the egg, and, voila! It stood upright and he got the job. Talk about bold interview moves.

Mom and I being the art geeks we are got some gelato and walked around the entire Cathedral, calling out different designs and period styles of our favorite inlays.

Unfortunately, the outside is the most beautiful part of the building. Inside is rather simple with a few frescos. At least the inside of the dome itself is beautiful, but otherwise it was kind of a big tease we waited an hour plus in line for, hahaha.

However, I do have a funny story. Mom and I forgot that this was a Cathedral in Italy and there are RULES.  I know, don’t ask me how, and right near the front we saw a sign about dress code. Well cold shouldered dresses aren’t allowed and being the good half-brown daughter I am, I wasn’t about to give into the tourist trap of street vendors selling shawls for all the American dummies like me. So what do I do? I RUN to the hotel. Race up the stairs. The poor maid was cleaning our room and had the door open and was shocked when I came in like a madwoman. At this point I get a text from Mom telling me to hurry because the line we had been standing in for one and a half hours was suddenly moving at a rapid clip. So I rush into the room, calling “don’t worry, I’ll only be a minute, you’re good!” to the mail who probably only spoke Italian.  Grabbed leggings from my suitcase, threw them on with the door open and all (I was wearing spandex but the poor maid didn’t know that) and grabbed my sweater and raced out the door. In the end I made it, with Mom just ready to wait for me at the door!! However, I did receive a few giggles from the hotel staff the next morning. Oh well, I earned it.

Here is the inside of the dome. Excuse the poor photography, but the lighting everywhere isn’t ideal and I’m working with a simple IPhone. I wish I could truly capture the magnificence of the next pieces.


We moved on to the Uffizi Gallery. This used to be the banking offices of the Medici’s and man, were they LOADED. I was so over-stimulated in there. Everywhere you looked there was something intricate and/or famous to admire. And I mean everywhere, from the ceiling to the floor. I think I would have made a great Medici though, all that art at my fingertips?! Yes, please!!! But before we got in, we had to wait for our time in the outside plaza where they so graciously left a few sculptures for the “public” and a fake David too!! Obviously I just had to take a picture of the Steamy Alpaca in front of David. However the worst part is, I’d say 3/4 of these tourists thought it was the real one!!! Mom and I giggled like snobby art buffs. But hey, at least I own up to it!

Here’s me with a Medici Lion.

Finally in the Uffizi! There were a million busts lining the corridors so I just chose one and copied it's expression before the museum people could yell at me hehehe. Sorry random dead dude, you were just too funny not to post. I think I’ll make a bust of my head so that I can one day be in a gallery too. Maybe I should do my classic eye roll?

See what I mean about it being decorated from floor to ceiling?! So much art. I’ll just spend the week here, thank you very much.

Here’s what a typical room would have looked like in these offices. It’s just so beautiful!!! I couldn’t decide where to look. 

A Michelangelo...a real Michelangelo. Have I died and gone to heaven yet?

He was sponsored by the Medici's, and this is one of his few stand-alone paintings; he also designed and created the frame for it.  It's obviously behind bullet-proof, theft-proof, touch-proof, alarmed glass...

Another room in the gallery, I considered hiding so that at night I would have the whole museum to myself. Maybe I’ll just have to get super famous, shut the place down for myself and spend the whole day here with no other humans. Kind of like Lady Diana but perhaps more a la "The Crazy Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"... I’ll let you know how this plan goes.

The Roman God Mars about to bludgeon my head in.  I took a nice photo but then Mom made that comment and I just had to get a silly one.

This. Is. Real. The REAL Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Excuse me, I think I’ve just died and gone to heaven. Oh and by they way, it wasn’t a disappointment like the Mona Lisa. Mom might be a Da Vinci die-hard, but I know the good stuff. Botticelli and Caravaggio is where the true art is at.

We followed up the museum with some classic pasta. I’m going to live off pasta and gelato for the rest of my time here and no one can stop me! Hehe. Honestly, I should have been born Italian. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner and never get tired.  

We ended our very busy day with a leisurely stroll home along the river. Here’s the famous Ponte Vecchio.

However, Mom and I kind of favored the other bridge. Look at how much more artsy it is! Leave it to us to snub social dictation of what should be famous or not. 

Do you think the government will notice if I never return home? Can’t wait to update you on our next day.

Love you lots!

Carolyn

Salamanca

HOLA!!!

I made it to Salamanca, and boy, did my heart sing. This was my first night train and we almost slept past our stop!! Oops. Thankfully, I managed to overhear some Spaniards remind the overly chatty backpacking foreigner behind us that Salamanca’s stop was next and I frantically woke up Mom. We made it, so all is good. And since then we only had the best of luck, as the hotel let us check in at 5 am (unheard of) and Mom and I got desperately needed showers and rest after being on a train for almost 10 hours.

Like true Españolas we slept in until 10 and stared adventuring around 11. How I’ve missed this city!! I can’t even begin to tell you. It’s so weird because it’s familiar, I mean I lived here for 6 months, and yet foreign. I’d forgotten the streets and landmarks like certain shops I’d recognized to tell me where to go had disappeared. So I ended up having to pull up Google maps a few times, I know I know, I can’t believe it either.

This is a picture of me in front of the cathedral (the new one to be exact. The new and the old cathedral and literally right next to each other because instead of tearing down the 14th century one, the city just shared a wall and built the 16th century one to the left of it.) Every morning when I went to my linguistics class I would walk past here. Sometimes I’d have a pan de chocolate in my hand, other times I’d dawdle after class to listen to the street guitarists or watch the tourists as if I myself had always been here.

Here is the library, Casa de las Conchas, and while I’d like to say I spent a good amount of time here, I didn’t. I was to enamored with the coffee culture. And my host Mom was great so I’d study at home or read a book on a patio in the plaza.

Welcome to La Plaza Mayor!! The main city center. I went to a summer concert here with my host Mom. And in the right archway is a little gelato stop where I literally got an ice cream every single sunny day on my way home from classes. I had a kick butt hill and a 25 minute walk so I wasn’t feeling too guilty about the calories. Then when it was cold and rainy 24/7 the gelato shop switched into a chocolate and churros shop. So I switched to hot chocolate too :). Let’s just say I never went hungry living here.

We moseyed for a bit until it was an appropriate hour to call on Espe, my host Mom.  AND THEN WE WERE REUNITED. It was so wonderful, and she was so excited that she couldn’t finish a story because she wanted to tell us so many. She was flouncing from room to room showing us new trinkets or pictures her other girls had sent her, or changes that she had made to her apartment in the four years. There were lots of tears from all three of us, as no one could believe that we were all actually here and seeing one another again.

This is my old room!!! And ironically this is the only part of the house she didn’t change. It was weird, I almost expected to see my luggage’s stored under the bed and open the closet to find my clothes hanging there.

We sat in the dining room while Espe took out her nice glasses and cups and prepared a late lunch. I tried to help her, but ended up mostly distracting her instead, hahha. So after an hour I decided that if we ever wanted to eat I should probably let her do her thing.

And just look at the feast she prepared!!! I made the salad and cut the Manchego cheese hehe. We had fresh bread, veal, Russian filets, and French fries (not pictured). She always was the best cook and we dined like kings haha. It also helped that we were eating lunch at 4 pm aka the hanger was real.

After that, we turned Spain’s game on and chatted while turning our heads every 10 minutes or so just to check the score. She had very strong opinions on Pique’s penalty which allowed the Russians to score. For the penalty kick off we held our breaths and sat together on the edge of our seats only to be disappointed by Spain’s performance. Alas, so close and yet so far. The next World Cup we’ll get it, I’m sure. For now I’ll just have to settle for supporting FC Barcelona (or Real Madrid if I’m in front of my host Mom, she's from Central Spain and therefore I couldn't possibly like any other team but that one).

We strolled through the plaza and ordered Salamanca’s finest chocolate and churros at 9 pm. The best part about Spain? This literally counts as a dinner there since lunch is their main meal. I’m still dreaming about them, they were that good.

I’m getting kind of tired of saying goodbye. This trip was too short...and even though I’m excited to be on my way to Florence, it feels as thought I’m leaving a little piece of me behind in every city I’m traveling to. I guess I’m lucky, in that I have so many people who love me all around the world. But man, it’s hard when you can’t be everywhere at once. Mom and Espe said goodbye and as we parted ways we turned around every few steps for a last wave. I think we had at least 7 last waves and the people watching from the cafe across the street must have thought we were crazy. Either way, I know that I’ll be back and it’s nice to know I always have a home across the ocean.

Thanks for following along, promise I’ll get less sappy for the future posts haha.

Love you lots,

Carolyn

Bye Lisbon, Bye Nine

Hi Family!

Currently waiting in the airport for my flight to Florence, so let’s backtrack again to our last day in Lisbon. Sorry for getting behind, but there was just so much to do! I didn’t want to be on my phone when I could be present.

So we started the morning off in our favorite cafe, funny how after a few days you can find yourself saying things like “favorite cafe.” Guess it doesn’t take long to settle in when you’re in such a warm, friendly city.

We went to the Feria de Ladra which is this huge flea market that happens twice a week. It blocks an entire street by the church. It ranges from touristy knick knacks, to garage sale items, to high quality boutique dresses and tiles. I got two wonderful harem pants, since I’ve literally worn holes into the current pairs I have after 8 years. Probably should have stopped wearing them years ago, but I couldn’t let go since we don’t have those in LA lol.

It was my last day with Jes, which sucked but at least we got to explore the market together before she had to go. Thankfully Jihan could have cared less about our glassy eyes and promises of future adventures and pulled through taking photographs for the day. Hence why the style is different and why they are heavily filtered. But it’s good to switch it up every now and then!!!

After saying bye to Jes, we wandered the streets of the Plaza one last time. We gave Jihan the grand tour, aka parroting the tour and facts that Jes had told us on the first day.

The best part of being in the plaza during this time was that Portugal was playing Uruguay!! See that huge screen in the background? That’s been put up and dedicated to the World Cup football games. The plaza was packed with people screaming and cheering. People were dressed in national flags and jerseys. It was quite the show.

Halfway through the game we had to drop Nayyirah off and leave as well to catch our train to Salamanca. Every single Uber driver had the game on the radio, so don’t worry that we missed out. What was even funnier was after a whole first half of not scoring, Portugal managed to score while we were in the car. The sports narrator was singing and all of a sudden there was cheers all throughout the streets, and cars started honking in celebration. Even our Uber driver couldn’t help but fist pump and give a little cheer. Mom and I were just laughing as we watched the whole spectacle.

Anyways the cousins parted ways, Mom cried, and me? Well, I just couldn’t help but be excited to be returning to my second home away from home after four years.

Much love,

Aisha