St. Patrick's Day: Leeds, London and Dublin

Down on sleep from the excitement from the night before, we woke up bright and early for our flight to London that Thursday morning. Luckily, Terravision buses were running time (how unusual!), and the plane took off on time.

The whole ride I was kind of anxious because I had to catch a bus at 14:00 pm from the London Victoria station to the city of Leeds, and the bus from the airport to the city center was about an hour. We actually landed on time, after I had a mini-panic attack when I forgot about the time change. With a lot of time to spare, so much that I thought I was going to be able to hop on an earlier airport shuttle than planned, I raced through the airport. Then I saw customs lines.

Side note: I have barely had to go through customs or get my passport looked at after getting off the plane in all of the countries I've traveled to. It has resulted in far less passport stamps than I'd like, but it has been pretty convenient.

Of course the ONE TIME I have to go through customs is when I actually have somewhere to be. Stupid UK.. why did they have to have legitimate rules?

The line for people from EU countries was long, but there were multiple booths open. Of course for our line, there was ONE booth open. We ended up waiting so long that I ended up missing the early shuttle I had hoped to make and the one we had actually bought tickets for. While the girls went to go exchange money (they could take their time because they weren't going to Leeds with me), I raced out of the doors to try and get on the next bus. Luckily I got on, but I knew that I was already missing my National Express bus from London to Leeds. With my regrettable but willing experiences with the Boston to Syracuse Greyhound buses, I figured that they would allow me to just get on the next one. In typical European fashion, that wouldn't be the case.

I first went to the ticket booth at the train station, where the unfriendly young guy told me that I would to buy a completely new ticket, amounting to around 50 USD. No.

So I ran across the street to the bus station, hoping that they would just let me get on, like the Greyhound would. The bus driver was actually really nice, and he told me that the bus wasn't leaving for five minutes and that I could go get my ticket fixed at customer service. I sprinted back in the other direction and waited impatiently in the line, and got to the front at 2:58 pm. The woman looked at me and said, "You'll have to buy a new ticket at ticket sales," and she pointed back across the street. That's when I panicked, realizing that I wasn't going to make it to LEeds until like 10 pm, making it a waste of a trip. I wasn't going to make it across the street in time, so I hurried and pulled out my credit card and phone to try to purchase a ticket online to get sent to my email. At 2:59 pm, it wasn't gonna happen in time.

I started tearing up at the departure door where the bus was about to leave as the WIFI kept failing. A man came through the door and asked me if I was getting on the bus. When I looked up and he realized I was starting to cry, he said, "Ma'am, ma'am don't worry! Don't cry! We'll fix it!" and he ushered me over to the little podium where they scan tickets and I explained to him what happened. He took my ticket and stamped it with some seal and instructed his buddy next to him to write in the date and new time. He escorted me over to the bus and handed the driver my ticket.

I was so relieved and hopped into the front seat of the bus. I realized that it would've have really been worse if they hadn't spoken English. Thank god this all happened in England, and not Italy.

The ride to Leeds took a few hours, and when we finally pulled into the station I could see Catherine through the glass windows. As I got off the bus, she informed me that earlier in the day, she realized that she couldn't remember whether I had told her I was taking Megabus or National Express, and panicked because she didn't know where I would be. She apparently had her own adventure that afternoon all around Leeds.

She introduced me to her friends and we walked to a nearby pub. Apparently, if you buy a drink on Thursdays, you get a free dinner. Since the free meal happened to be "bangers and mash", and since Catherine insisted I probably wouldn't like it, we ordered burgers and beers instead. I was craving a burger anyway, so that was fine with me. All of her friends were there, so we hung out and finished our dinners then headed over to her flat.

Catherine introduced me to her British flatmate Sasha, and she definitely lived up to the stories that Catherine was always telling about them. She was really funny, and kept ripping on Catherine for eating terribly and eating frozen food. I also really liked Catherine's flat. Everyone had their own room and their own bathrooms, and the common room was nice, too.

By around 11 pm everyone had gotten to the flat, so we left for the club. On the way, they pointed out the club that Harry Stiles, the guy from One Direction who used to date Taylor Swift, was at the week before. When we got to the club, Catherine made up a name to a woman holding a list and we got VIP bracelets. The club was really interesting... British girls dress crazy. I have never seen such ridiculous outfits in my life, but at least it was more interesting than the all-black Italians wear out. We had a lot of fun but left around 2 am, later than planned, because me and Catherine had to hop on a bus to London at 5 am. Getting no sleep has been a theme lately.

The bus ride to London the next morning was rough, to say the least, and made worse by a group of high school boys who would not shut up. It was 5 am! So me and Catherine moved down a level on the double decker bus and tried to sleep. Except the guy in front of me reclined his seat so far back I couldn't even move my knees. Why do they make it possible to go that far back anyway?

Roommates in front of Buckingham Palace

We were supposed to meet the girls at our hostel at 11:30 am, but were running way too late. We tried to find a Starbucks, but the one next to Victoria station was closed, so we just headed to our hostel in South Kensington first. It was pretty bad, but at least we had a private room. We put on some make up and headed in the direction where our walking tour was supposed to start and found a Starbucks. We were starving and devoured our sandwiches while we waited for our coffee, and went over to Hyde Park for the tour, where met up with Anna, Katherine, Alex and Danielle. 

The tour was pretty good, and the tour guide was funny. We went to all of the important places, like Buckingham Palace and St. James Castle. Buckingham Palace was a little unimpressive, but I was still pumped to be standing right near it. My obsessions with royalty where definitely fed during this tour... We also learned a little fun fact that a gift to St. James Park, the pelicans, are the only ones in the world that actually eat pigeons!

St. James Castle

Pigeon-eating pelicans

At St. James Castle, she told us the story of Henry VII. It was kind of sad that I could've told the story just as well... I think my childhood consisted of too much of reading books like that. Then we saw Prince Charles's house and all the guards standing outside, which was pretty cool. It wasn't a pretty house on the outside though... kind of plain. The tour guide also told us the story of when a drunk homeless man broke into Buckingham Palace and found Queen Elizabeth's room. Apparently, he scaled the walls without anyone noticing, and wandered around the castle, setting off alarms in every room he went into. The security system was a day old, so the security guards just figured that they were tripping up by accident, so the new guard turned them off. Queen Elizabeth woke up to the man sitting at the edge of her bed, so she started talking to him. While she was having a conversation with him, she asked him if he would like a cigarette. He gratefully accepted so she picked up the phone and called downstairs to have a cigarette and security called up, and when they asked why she wanted security, she calmly told them that there was a stranger sitting on her bed. 

Olympic beach volleyball location

I guess this was in the 1980's, but there  was also an "accidental" break-in later in the 80's, too. These German guys were planning on visiting London, but all of the hotels were too expensive so they just decided they would camp out in Hyde Park. Not allowed, but whatever. They got a little confused, and thought that Hyde Park was actually across the street from where it actually was. So they scaled this strange wall and found themselves in the middle of a beautiful "park." Way nicer than they thought Hyde Park was gonna be. So they pitched a tent, roasted some hot dogs, and went to bed. In the morning, they wandered around a little and happened to run into a security guard, who immediately called for back-up. They had actually camped out in the private gardens of Buckingham Palace. After they went through an extensive few days of questioning, it was deemed the incident actually was an accident and they were allowed to go back to Germany. After these little fiascoes, they installed the electric fencing and barbed wire on the top of the walls that are there today.

We also walked around where some of the Olympic sites were held, like beach volleyball, and saw where the Churchill War Rooms were. The tour guide told some funny stories about Churchill and how blunt/rude he was, and told us that he was drunk quite often. He's still one of the most admired leaders of all time, though. We also walked around Westminster, where there are Chanel symbols everywhere because this guy had an affair with her and decided to tout it all over the city.

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

Then it started to a litttlleee cold and she talked for way too long in front of the Big Ben and Parliament, so me and Catherine just took a lot of pictures with each other and of each other to distract ourselves. She probably didn't appreciate that but whatever. At the end, everyone gave her tips and she was so nice to the family before us, and then when we handed her ours she like gave us attitude. Probably because all of our friends trickled off in the middle because they wanted to do the Harry Potter tour, but that wasn't me and Catherine's fault!

View from the Tower Bridge

We took a bunch of pictures in front of Westminster Abbey, but it was like 15 pounds to actually go in, which is just ridiculous so we didn't. Then we crossed over the London Bridge to the other side to walk around, and stopped in another Starbucks, of course. It was kind of relaxing just wandering around with Cath for a while. We ended up walking all over the entire city, and got to see St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London and the Tower of London Bridge and a lot of other stuff. London reminded me like a more historical New York, and was definitely extremely different from Rome. It was much more fast-paced and bustling, and I liked it. The weather was typical London weather, though it was interesting because no one was using an umbrella, or wearing shoes for the rain. Maybe they were just so used to it?

Catherine told me a bunch about each place we visited, like how the architect for St. Paul's was told not to make it look like a Roman-esque cathedral, and even though he promised not to, he made it the way he wanted to and no one was able to change it. She also told me that families actually live in the Tower of London, like the families of the guards and the people who watch over it. It would've been way too creepy for me to ever do that. The one place we didn't see was the place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. Not that I'm actually that morbid, it's just that I've grown up reading all about that family and I thought it would've been cool. Cath also told me all about the Shard, the strange, really tall, glass building that kind of juts into the London skyline. We also saw the London Eye and other landmarks.

Some Bieber

Meeting my hero

We had told the girls we would meet them around 7 or 8 in Piccadilly Circus, but we couldn't get in touch with them so we just went over there anyway. When we got out of the Tube, I felt like I was in Times Square. There were billboards and lights everywhere, and tons of people. We wandered down the street and went into various touristy shops, taking pictures with cardboard Justin Biebers and Kate Middletons (YES!). I also got my own touristy phone booth picture. We went into one shop where me and Catherine put on Dalmation hats and took obnoxious pictures, laughing until I was crying. Being in London together was kind of the culmination of our childhood: my nerdy books and Catherine's over-the-top obsession with Dalmations that was spurred by her love of 101 Dalmations. 

Who would've thought we'd be exploring the land of Pongo and Cruella DeVille together?

At one point, we decided that we absolutely had to go into the M&M's store. Although not distinctly British (there's apparently one in Vegas and New York), it was a must. When we walked in, we took a picture in front of the double decker bus being driven by an M&M, and turned around to find a midget handing out samples of the new dark chocolate peanut M&M's. I wish someone was there to take a picture of our faces. I don't mean to be offensive, but at first I thought it was a joke. Luckily we saved face and tried the M&M's before we could burst out laughing, and I know Catherine was thinking the same thing as me. Why would you work at a candy factory as a midget? All I could think about was the comparisons the poor guy must get with Oompa Loompas. I'm a terrible person. So is my sister.

Since peanut M&M's are a top three on my list of favorite candy, I obviously had to buy the DARK CHOCOLATE versions YESSS. Catherine was in candy heaven, and I was loving this new combination. We ended up staying no less than a ridiculous 45 minutes in the store, taking pictures with everything, including the life-size version of the M&M's walking in the street like the Beatles. We also got our M&M personalities "scanned", and I was an Almond Mix: "People think you're too smart for you're own good but maybe you're just too smart for they're own good," and Catherine was the Dark Chocolate Mix: "You're very likeable. Anyone who doesn't like you has you confused with someone else." Armed with our chocolate candies, we left and finally found Alex.

We wandered up and down the streets to try to find a place to eat. You'd think it would be a little easier to just find a pub in Piccadilly Circus! At one point, we started to walk into this pub that was oddly filled with all guys, and the guy at the door said, "Girls, do you know this is a gay bar?" Oops. Should've figured that one out...

Fish & chips and steak pie... YUM!

Finally we found a place that was still serving dinner, and went upstairs where it was pretty packed. It was really authentic, just how I pictured a pub in England would be. I loved it. Me and Catherine couldn't figure out what we wanted, so we decided to split an order of the fish and chips and then this steak pie thing. Both were SO GOOD. We couldn't even finish the plates, so we ended up giving like a half of the fish to Alex because it was so huge. We decided that we were just going to go back to the hostel from there, because it was already 11 pm and we had to wake up at like 2:30 am to be sure to make our 6 am flight from London to Dublin. Katherine and Anna were taking a later flight, and Alex and Danielle were gonna go out because they were staying in London until later in the day Saturday. Me and Catherine wanted to get to Ireland early, especially because we were only going to be there one day. I had already seen a lot of London, and wanted to spend as much time as possible in Dublin!

Piccadilly Circus

Classy hostels

When we got back to the hostel, I really wanted to take a shower, so I went to check out the showers on the floor below, because obviously, the ones on our floor were broken. Absolutely not. I turned right around when I saw them. If I wanted to be the storyline for Taken 3 or part of the plot of a horror movie, then maybe. Instead, I got real classy and washed my hair in the sink in the room, and it was fully documented by my sister. Thanks.

Finally, we went to bed at around midnight just to get up two and a half hours later to trek across the city (hey, saving cab money!) to get to Victoria Station. I don't even think we said one word to each other the entire walk to the train station. To make matters worse, we got lost in the station because there were so many entrances and exits that were gated shut, so we ended up sprinting around the street. A group of guys laughed at us when they saw we couldn't get through an exit because there was a gate, and I yelled out an expletive. Oops.

We made the bus by, like, five minutes, and the people who made it after us had to wait for the next bus. We were sweaty and huffing and puffing when we got on, but at least we made it. When the bus was only a few minutes from the station, these people stood in front of the bus at a stop light demanding to be let on. They were saying their flight was in twenty minutes (uhh.. not gonna make it anyway...) and the light changed at least five times before they got out of the way. Crazy British people.

When we got to the airport, it seemed like we had enough time, even though the bus had been late, until we saw the long line to check in with Ryanair. I was freaking out. The line took forever, and when they finally checked our passports, we sprinted through the airport and tried to go through security as fast as possible. We ran down the terminal, trying to find our gate. I'm sure people were staring, especially when I slipped and fell. Catherine didn't even notice, and I had to sprint to catch up with her. The line was already formed and people were starting to board when we jumped in the back of the line. At least we made it.

Finally arrived in Dublin!

We got into Ireland at around 8:30 ish, and Catherine's roommate Maggie met us in the airport, who had just flown in from Leeds. We decided to take the bus straight to Dalkey, the little town we were staying in, instead of touring Dublin with all of our stuff. The bus ride was so pretty, and the weather was actually really nice. We drove along the water for a while and through little towns until we reached Dalkey, a cute shoreside town with beautiful homes. The bus dropped us off right at our hotel, The Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel. I couldn't believe the degree of change from one night to the other... the hostel in London to a really nice hotel in Dublin. Way better.

We checked-in and since the room wasn't ready, got ready in the bathroom/lounge of the hotel lobby and left our bags with the concierge. The woman in the lobby mapped out where to walk to get to the DART station, a local train that ran between the towns near Dublin. It was a really pretty and short walk, and when we got confused on how to buy tickets, the man at the station (not even really a station really, it was so tiny), did it for us. The few people we had met in Ireland were already so friendly. I loved it.

Dublin Castle

We got on the short DART ride into the city and got off, obviously looking for a Starbucks. We crossed over the River Liffy and got some much-needed breakfast. We had to meet at the Town Hall for our walking tour, so we wandered through the cute little streets and found it. The tour was actually a little slow, and when he told us we wouldn't be seeing St. Patrick's Cathedral and some other stuff, we decided to ditch him. We followed him around and saw the very unimpressive Dublin castle and some other cool stuff, and turned a corner when he was leading the group to a different area. We couldn't go into Dublin Castle because the president of the EU was actually living in Dublin for six months, so it would have been a security hazard. There was a festival or something going on in the yard of Christ Church Cathedral, so we walked around that and took pictures outside before I got in touch with Megan. She said she was waiting at the University of Dublin for Lucie to get in, and that they would grab some lunch and then meet us at the Guinness Factory.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We walked down to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was actually really pretty and surrounded by a park. You had to pay to get in though, which was kind of annoying, so we didn't go in. It was the same deal with Christ Church. Then we really wanted to see Trinity College, so we walked through the crowded streets to a big circle and walked through the gates. Apparently the library is famous, nicknamed the Infinity Library, but we couldn't find it and didn't have time to see that or the Book of Kells, which would've been cool. Luckily it was sunny out by that point, and walking around was really nice. It would've been really fun to have gone to Trinity College- me and Catherine both really liked it.

We walked back up the street we came down to head over to the Guinness Factory. A bunch of people in the streets were dressed up all crazy for the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, and all the vendors on the street were selling Irish memorabilia, including knit Irish scarves that we picked up later on.

Since we had smartly decided to buy tickets ahead of time, we waited in a very short line while hundreds of people lined up down the block and around the corner to get into the Guinness Factory. The short wait at St. James Gate wasn't bad at all, and there was a band playing outside, horse-drawn carriages everywhere, and complimentary hot chocolate. Me, Maggie and Catherine went through the steps of how the beer was made, and I thought it was really interesting how they put so much emphasis on having the purest water for the beer. We went up each different floor, and met up with Megan, Lucie, Anna, and a bunch of other people where we sampled a small cup of Guinness. Then we headed upstairs to the Sky Bar to get our free Guinnesses, and they showed us how to pour the perfect glass, waiting for it to settle before topping it off. They even drew a little shamrock into the foam.

The Sky Bar was really fun, and everyone ended up getting more free beers than just that one. There were a ton of people up there, and we were surrounded by the best views in Dublin. The Guinness Factory is actually the tallest building in the city!

Toasting to a great Irish weekend

After the Guinness Factory, we were starving, so me, Catherine, Anna, and Maggie headed out to find food at a pub near the Temple Bar area. We found the Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Ireland, but there were no tables open because it was so packed. It was established in 1198, and was kind of cool because it looks pretty much the same as it looked back then. The walls are all stone, and the floor is stone and cobblestone and really uneven, with kind of short ceilings and a really cool atmosphere. They had live music and everyone was just drinking beer, so we weren't sure if they were even serving food at that point.

We wandered up the street until we found a pub that wasn't packed- apparently there was a big soccer game or rugby game going on, so everything was full. The pub we found was pretty packed, but we found a table that had just been emptied so we sat down there. The seating was cool and it was just pretty much everyone pulling over chairs or couches to these tables that were a little higher than cocktail tables. The waitress was so nice, and explained everything on the menu to us. We ordered ciders that are apparently pretty famous in Ireland, and then me and Catherine split this giant pork chop and mashed potatoes and a chicken stew. It was so good. The chicken stew had this huge lump of mashed potatoes on top, and the pork chop was surrounded by a pool of mashed potatoes. What more could I possibly want?

The guys next to us where getting really into the rugby game, and were fascinated when they found out we were Americans. They kept asking us to take pictures of them, and when we'd give the camera back they'd snap a picture of us in return. When we left, we were stuffed from the Guinness and the massive meals we had.

We headed over to Temple Bar Pub by around 9:30 pm, and the streets were already packed with everyone celebrating and joining in on the festivities. Apparently this was the pub that the whole street/area was named after. We each ordered a Guinness and listened to the live music, sang and dance, and tried to stand our ground as the pub got more and more packed. A group of guys next to us heard us speaking in our American accents and brought over more Guinness for us, but we were all ready to head out to a different pub.

We ended up going in and out of different pubs, and actually stood in the streets for a while with everyone dancing and singing. Catherine really wanted ice cream for some reason, so we went into this little restaurant thing that was still open and Cath ordered ice cream while me and Anna split this like pastry with steak in it. I don't know what it was called, but it was delicious. It was pretty smart of this place to stay open on such a crazy night. They were definitely going to get a lot of business.

After going in and out of some more pubs, everything was getting really packed and crazy and we had to be on the last DART out to Dalkey by 11:30 pm. When we got to the hotel, Katherine was already there after having spent the day with her friends from home. I took a long, hot shower in the beautiful bathroom, and then got in the comfy bed for a good night's sleep (finally!). We woke up around 7:30 am, and we decided that we definitely didn't have enough time to get into Dublin for the parade and back again to get to the airport. The city would be way too crazy, and with all of the streets closed, it would be way too difficult to figure out how to get out. Even though I was disappointed, I was happy that at least I'd had one very successful and fun day in Dublin.

The lady in the lobby directed us in which direction to go to get a good Irish breakfast, and we walked the very short walk into the town of Dalkey, and sadly found that on a Sunday morning, everything was closed. Finally, we found a little diner/breakfast place that was open, and we had a yummy breakfast that we definitely can't get in Rome. Instead of the typical Irish breakfast, though, I was really craving the pancakes they had on the menu, so I got those instead. So good.

We headed back to the hotel and I said goodbye to Catherine and Maggie, who's flight to London was in the evening. We were so tired when we got to the airport that we didn't even eat anything besides a muffin, and passed out on the plane. The plane ride was pretty standard except for when we were descending, and the flight attendant goes, "Everyone be sure that your seat belts are buckled and you take note of the closest exit." Me and Anna looked at each other as the plane bumped along and everyone else nervously laughed. I don't think I've ever heard a flight attendant say that during landing, especially when the plane ride was already a little bumpy. So after successfully landing, safe and sound, we got over to our apartment and got ready for class the next day.

With this trip, Ireland absolutely moved to the top of my list in terms of places that I want to return to.

Papal Conclave 2013

The papal conclave to elect a new pope began on Wednesday as the last of the cardinals arrived on Monday. The Sistine Chapel closed, and the chimney was installed on top of the roof. The first ballot session was held that night around 7 pm, and Anna, Alex and I decided to go. The likelihood of a pope being elected on the first ballot was slim to none, but I thought it would be just as cool to be there, even seeing the black smoke come out of the chimney.

There were news reporters from all different countries everywhere, and whenever people heard us speaking English, American newscasters would come up to us and interview us. Mostly minor stations, but it was all pretty cool. They always asked us who we thought would be the pope, and I honestly had no idea. We had been reading up on all the different cardinals who were believed to be front-runners, but in these lists they always included Cardinal Dolan, though likable and the cardinal from New York, was probably not going to get it considering he was just made a cardinal recently. So I wasn’t sure whether even to trust these articles. Besides, no one really knows what goes on in the conclaves.

Giant screens were set up so that even if you couldn’t see the chimney from where you were standing (it was kind of tiny anyway), anyone could see the smoke pour out right when it happened. It was a little rainy but we managed to stick it out through the crowd, and as 7 pm came and went we got a little anxious. It was around 7:40 pm when suddenly the crowd gasped, and black smoke came pouring out of the chimney. At first it was almost grey, and my stomach dropped, but then it was clearly black. I was still excited to have been there for the first vote! We headed home, still feeling the adrenaline from being down in St. Peter’s Square for that.

The next day, we had a site visit to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, the church where St. Paul is buried. Me and Anna had been there that morning for the 7 am Stations mass, and had to trek back there for class at 9:30. The only thing anyone could talk about was the pope, and the election. Professor Gondreau asked anyone if they had the “Pope Alarm” app, so that we would know right away if we had to start running down to the Vatican. There was a ballot at 10:30 am that morning and noon. Luckily, nothing happened for the first ballot of the morning, and because it had been passed on that there would be no smoke at all unless a pope was elected (they saved the ballots for the next vote and would put them in if there was supposed to be black smoke), we raced over to the Vatican after class to catch the smoke at noon. We got there at exactly noon, and were told that the black smoke had actually gone up really early, at 11:40 am. Looks like they don’t do anything according to schedule in Italy…

Anna, Alex, and I skipped Italian that night to make it to St. Peter’s Square for the first evening vote at 5:30 pm, and everyone met us there. There was a steady drizzle, and it was really difficult to navigate around everyone because of the massive amounts of umbrellas. There was also significantly more people in the square, and the air had a feeling of excitement. A lot of people from CEA ended up meeting up with us, as well as everyone who had gone to their later Italian classes. The smoke didn’t go up, and everyone waited and chatted. We met a newscaster and cameraman from Houston, and they talked to us for a while. Danielle lives in Houston, so she told her mom to be sure to watch the news there. It was 7 pm and everyone was just starting to get excited, but me and Anna were kind of expecting the smoke to go up later, as it had done the night before. About five minutes later, everyone gasped and yelled again, and we looked up to see white smoke billowing from the chimney. Everyone started screaming and jumping and cheering—it was a wild scene, and not something you would expect from a bunch of Catholics. We all looked at each other and everyone started running, and me and Anna followed Ben, dodging umbrellas and people. We ended up getting really up close. Everyone was screaming and yelling and cheering, and even though there was still rain falling, once everyone was packed in up near St. Peter’s, most people courteously put their umbrellas away. Anna took some pretty entertaining videos of our initial reactions and everyone else around us. There were people standing on roofs all over the Vatican, and I could not get over how close we were—almost as close as you could possibly get before the small steps leading into the Basilica.

We waited for about an hour, and in the meantime a band marched across the front of St. Peter’s. At one point, the curtain where the pope was to step out moved a little and the whole crowd went nuts… it was pretty funny. Finally, three people walked out of the door and in Latin, announced something that literally no one understood in the crowd around me. Then these Spanish people in the crowd started yelling, “PAPA FRANCESCO!”, repeating it over and over again. Ben, Anna and I just kept looking at each other, because none of us recognized that name. The three of us joked that at that point, the whole world knew who the pope was expect the people actually in the Vatican Square that night. Francesco was definitely not a name of any of the well-known cardinals. Finally, someone passed around a newspaper with all of the cardinals’ pictures and names, and the man next to us translated to us in English that it was the cardinal from Argentina. I was actually surprised, because I had heard a lot about the cardinals from Milan, Ghana, and Canada, but nothing about one from Buenos Aires. Finally, the cardinals all filed out on the balconies next to the center balcony, and all dressed in white, he addressed the crowd. Instead of the normal immediate blessing of the crowd, he instead asked us all to pray for him. He made a few jokes (which we couldn’t translate) and made the crowd laugh, but from what I later found out about what he said, he seemed like a pretty cool guy.

The atmosphere was crazy, and everyone was packed in together in the rain listening to the new pope. I couldn’t believe that I had witnessed the entire thing, from black smoke to white smoke to actually watching with my own eyes the pope walk out for the first time ever. When the pope went back inside, I took Anna’s hand and dodged through the crowd. There were masses of people all trying to leave St. Peter’s Square, and there were masses of people surrounding the Vatican for miles. We just needed to get ahead of them. So with my crowd-dodging skills, we laced in and out of the crowd until we were a little more comfortable. There was absolutely no way that we could get on any form of public transportation—the roads would all be clogged—so we decided to head to Scholar’s Pub for nachos and a beer to toast the new pope. We weren’t gonna be able to make it home anytime soon anyway. So, along with thousands of other Romans that night, we walked through the streets and crossed the bridge to the city center. There were just hoards of people everywhere on the streets, and we had been told ahead of time that if we decided to go to the conclave and the pope was actually elected, we would 100% have to trek home.

We got into the pub, having lost Alex and Danielle hours ago, and ordered a big order of nachos and fries and two Stella’s. As we got our beer, Danielle and Alex appeared out of nowhere! They had the same idea as us apparently, so we all sat together and ate and watched the one TV that the rugby game wasn’t blaring on, that was actually broadcasting news of the pope. Finally, we figured out that people had been yelling “Francesco” because he had taken on the name Pope Francis I. He was also the first Jesuit pope ever, had a degree in chemical engineering, and his parents were actually Italian immigrants.

We were so relieved that the pope had been elected that night, as we were off to London the next morning and wouldn’t have been able to be a part of it! It would’ve been terrible if we had been living in Rome and just simply weren’t in town the biggest weekend of (probably) the year!

Down South in Sicily

Since we had an open weekend for March 8th, Danielle, Alex and I decided to take a weekend trip to Sicily. After doing some research on where to go (the island is actually quite big), I decided that we should stay in Palermo. There was a lot to see just in case the weather was bad and we couldn't make it to the beach.

We took the overnight train on that Thursday. When we got on (this time with plenty of time to spare compared to our nightmare in Paris), and were pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. We each had our own beds, with sheets and a pillow, and even had a little private sink with three little packets containing face towels and various necessities. The guy who checked our tickets came around and handed out water bottles, and when he saw Danielle opening a bottle of wine, we jokingly offered him a cup. Unfortunately, he accepted.

Awesome.

Braving the overnight train

He sat in our little compartment for like twenty minutes, turning into a huge annoyance. 1) He was kind of old, and started to creep me out a little. Why was he drinking wine with a bunch of 20 years olds? 2) My bed was the one that turned into a couch, so that's where he sat while I squished myself into the corner to avoid sitting near him and 3) He didn't speak any English. So communication became an effort on our part, and we started glancing at each other, trying to figure out a way to get him to leave. Finally, he got up and left, but continued to walk by and stop in for the next hour. We shut and locked our door, and before went to bed Danielle was trying to figure out if the door in our room was actually a bathroom. You could lock it from the outside as well, so we were confused and couldn't get it open. When she took a step outside of the room, she discovered that the door connected our room to the ticket guy's room! Kind of like a hotel, where if there are two families next to each other, you can choose to both unlock the door. We hurried up and locked our side. For the next nine or so hours, whenever we hit a bump on the tracks and the door shook, I pictured him trying to get into our room...

Famous Sicilian cannoli

I think that I pictured myself getting much more sleep on the train than I actually did. The train made so much noise, so we would shut the window. Then it would get extremely hot, so we'd have to open the window again. We woke up around 9 am and washed our faces and brushed our teeth in the personal sink. The bathroom in the hallway was actually disgusting, and I don't know what I would have done if we didn't have that sink.

We got off the train around 10 am, and after having a little trouble figuring out which direction we had to go in, I led them to the hotel. We were actually right on the Quattro Conti, a famous point in the city, and right across the street from the Fountain Pretoria, a controversial and famous fountain decked out in nude statues.

We checked into the hotel and freshened up a little, then headed out to find something for breakfast. We stopped in a big open cafe, where we got cappuccinos and cannoli (Sicily did invent the cannoli, after all). We decided to head over to the Catacombe dei Cappuchin first. Even though it sounds really morbid, it is apparently a really popular tourist attraction in Palmero. When we got there, we walked through the wrong entrance and ended up in this cemetery where all the tombs were grey marble and above ground, covered in flowers and pictures. It was actually really pretty. After walking out, we turned around the corner and saw that the catacombs were closed between 12:30 and 3 pm- we had just missed it. The sun was finally coming out though, and after our rain-soaked trek up the streets of Palermo, we didn't mind walking around a little to find a restaurant to pass the time.

I don't know how there aren't more (or even one!) sit-down restaurants near this main part of Palermo, but we ended up walking forever to find someplace that wasn't a "bar" (remember bar = cafe). Finally, after passing some fresh fish markets all over, we found a place that we could sit down at. The prices were pretty decent, and me and Alex split an order of bruschetta and then each ordered this thing that was kind of like a calzone but lighter. It didn't end up being very good, but we comforted ourselves with Sicilian wine. I actually felt like I was on vacation in just my t-shirt, and having to put on sunglasses at lunch.

Port in Palermo

We made it to the catacombs after lunch and were actually really disturbed. The bodies were actually well-preserved, with their original clothing on them... some even had hair still. They were either laid out in little coves or actually hung up on the wall. I have to admit, the idea does sound super inhumane, but these people actually wanted to be preserved and displayed (well, maybe not displayed to this extent). Wealthy Sicilians would put it in their will that they wanted to go through with this, and sometimes even had clauses requiring their loved ones to change their clothing after certain periods of time. The tradition was begun by the Cappuchin monks to preserve their bodies. By far the creepiest thing was the body of a two year old little girl who had passed away in 1920. Her body was preserved so much so that she looked like a doll. Her body was the last to be preserved in the catacomb.

After leaving, we were all a little shook up. We had paid three euros to get in, and though I was determined to go through the whole thing, I removed myself from the actual reality of what I was seeing and I kind of just looped through without thinking about it. I still prefer not to think too hard about it.

We walked back to our hotel and on the way, got to witness a lot of cool architecture and bridges. Sicily has huge African and Arabian influences, both from its location and proximity to Africa, as well as who inhabited and conquered the land over the past centuries. The sun was shining brightly and it had gotten pretty warm out, so I led us down to the port where we walked around for a few hours. We stopped in a cafe for a quick snack, and then headed back to the hotel again to change for dinner.

We didn't have any definite dinner plans, so we walked down the street and found a bunch of really fun cobblestone and music-filled streets that led to a ton of restaurants where people were all sitting outside. We went into one of the tents and decided to do apertivo, where you order a drink and then get to eat whatever you want from the buffet. There was all kinds of risotto, pesto pasta, quinoa and lots of other good stuff. The tent was stuffed with people eating and drinking, and the different colored lights made it feel like a club. Danielle and Alex decided to go out after, but because it was already 12:30 am, I decided to just go to bed. I wanted to be able to wake up early and tour and still get a full beach day in the next day! The girls ended up coming back really late, so I was pretty happy that I stayed in. In combination with being sick earlier in the week, I wanted to get a good night's sleep.

We left the hotel the next morning around 10:15 am, and I led us to the Mercato di Ballero in the bright warm sunshine. One of the most famous markets in Italy, it boasted all kinds of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and cheeses, and especially fish. It was definitely my favorite part of the trip to Sicily. We wandered around and the vendors all called out to us, trying to get us to test their cheeses or buy fruit. We agreed to try this man's strawberries, and he dipped them in this homemade whipped cream for us. We bought enough for the three of us to take to the beach, and wandered along until we found a place that had a ton of fresh cheese. We got a bunch of slices of swiss, and then picked up some bread at another vendor. Alex got a ton of olives for herself, and even though I don't like olives, they even looked good to me. At one point, while we were waiting for the man to give us the fresh slices of cheese, we looked at all the fish at the next vendor over. The buckets of shrimp were literally still moving, and the squid and octopus in this makeshift pen on the table were moving around the surface.

Enjoying my fresh strawberries

After regretfully leaving the market, we trekked through the city to the bus stop to get to Mondello Beach. We didn't know how or where to get tickets, so we just hopped on nervously and hoped the bus driver wouldn't check. He didn't, and many other people seemed to do the same, so whatever. The bus ride took about twenty minutes, and we went up a cliff, passing goats and farmland and then coming back down. As the beach started to come into view, I was getting so excited. The setting was so beautiful, surrounded by cliffs with bright blue water. Luckily, the temperature felt like it was around (or maybe a little cooler than) 70 degrees, so laid out our towels and got down to our bathing suits. I checked the water, and it was freezing, but there was a good number of people actually in the water! Beyond the swimmers, there were windsurfers all over.

We laid out for a little, trying to get some color, and a cute little puppy ran up to us, followed by the puppy's owner. The older man sat in the sand near us for a little, talking to us about where we from. He told us that he had lectured at Columbia in New York, and that he worked on operations for aerospace industries (I think?). His English wasn't always perfect and came across as disjointed, but he was pretty nice and we asked him if he knew of any good places to get seafood. That was when he got a little creepy, offering to drive us back to Palermo in the afternoon and telling us that there wasn't any good seafood on the beach. He also asked us to meet him at a restaurant in Palermo at 7:45 and asked where we were staying, but I told him I forgot the name of the hotel and we played dumb. I also brought up that we were meeting up with a bunch of other people that night, so we would have to see (lies). He finally got up and walked away, and we went down to the water to take pictures. Again he appeared and offered to take them.

By that point, the clouds had kind of started to roll in and the wind was whipping so hard that the sand stung. We decided to head down to a strip of boardwalk, and luckily he had left. Compared to American beach towns, finding a place off the beach that offered some kind of seafood or fried seafood was actually kind of hard, and made me kind of miss the States. Sounds stupid, but I kept comparing it to the American beaches I knew and loved. Finally, we found a little stand that had a bunch of fresh seafood, and Alex and I got a plate of fried calamari and Danielle got a swordfish sandwich that was a little too fishy for my taste. It actually started raining at that point, so we headed inside for the girls to get gelato, and I asked a guy how to get to the bus stop that takes us back to Palermo.

While on the bus ride back to Palermo, we were entertained by a baby in a stroller in front of us, and jokingly harassed by a group of boys that seemed to range in age from 12 to 16. I don't think that they realized I knew they were talking about us in Italian. My Italian's bad, but come on, I've been in Italy for three months now. They were sitting behind us, and when they started mocking us and saying that we were "bella," I turned around and said, "Grazie, bambini," (Thank you, children), and they all burst out in laughter. When we got off the bus, they even followed us down the street for a little, but they were harmless and we were laughing.

Teatro Massimo

On the way home we passed the place where they shot the last scene of The Godfather, Teatro Massimo. The roots of the Italian Mafia are in Sicily, especially Palermo, and still exist and exert influence today.

We got back to the hotel and I hopped in the shower. While Danielle napped, me and Alex went to mass at the church next to the hotel, a famous cathedral whose name escapes me now... I should probably look that up. The mass was in Italian but I tried to follow along. The priest seemed like a cool guy- he was African and had dreadlocks. Mass went well except for my Eucharist experience. Although I've been to mass in Rome almost every week, I haven't adopted the way of taking communion directly into my mouth, as every Italian does. I still just hold out my hands. On this particular occasion, for some reason I decided to try it, and it amounted to perhaps the most awkward moment I've ever had at church. I got confused and didn't know when to say "Amen," and as the Eucharist was still on my tongue I had to mumble it and the woman looked to confused, and I was confused. Oops. I wandered back to my pew and told Alex and we started laughing when I told her that I was never doing that again.

Mondello Beach

After mass, we got dressed for dinner and went to a place down the street that kind of reminded us of our beloved little Gran Sasso. Unfortunately, it was so popular for locals that the owner didn't have any tables. When we asked how long he thought it would be, he regretfully shrugged and didn't know what to tell us. In Italy, people linger at their tables with wine and dessert and coffee more so than the States, and there's not usually a way to estimate that, especially in these local family-owned places. So we went down to the next corner, a little disappointed because it had look so good in there. We found a place pretty similar down the next side street and were seated right away. We ordered a bottle of the house red wine and the favorite antipasto on the menu. It was only 10 euros, and we got to try all of the local delicacies of Palermo, including these rolled up eggplant parm things (delicious) and what we think was pickled salmon (that was left on the plate after I almost gagged). There was also mixes of cheese and vegetables and fried things that were all really delicious. Then we all got our meals: Alex got a seafood risotto with a ton of oysters and clams, Danielle got this fettucine with whole lobster and what looked like crayfish (?) on top with some shrimp, and I got a lemon shrimp risotto. Mine was really delicious, and everyone else's looked good, too. The seafood was a little different, and Danielle' lobster looked a little strange. It kind of made me miss home again for some reason.

We ended up going back to the hotel around 11 pm, and although Danielle wanted to go out, all passed out in our beds because we were so exhausted. I even fell asleep in my clothes, and had to wake up at 2 am to get out of them! We woke up the next morning and headed to the train station, where we picked up some croissants and a cappuccino on the way. I ended up being chatted up by the ticket guy and an Italian man next to me, both of whom seemed to want to practice their English with me, even though I just wanted to read my book. They asked where I was from, and the ticket guy, who could barely speak English, told me the only thing that he knew about New York State was the movie The Express, which was his favorite movie. I started laughing and told him that I was from Syracuse, and lived right outside the city, and that my boyfriend and friends went to school there. He asked if Peter was a football player and I told him, no, lacrosse, which started a whole new conversation. They literally had no idea what lacrosse was, and I unsuccessfully tried to explain it to them. At one point, I realized the guy thought I was talking about darts. I eventually gave up and waited for them to kind of walk away, and for the next ten hours, didn't take my headphones out in fear that someone would try to talk to me. At one point, the train entered onto a ferry where we crossed over the ocean and back over to mainland Italy. When we finally arrived back in Rome, I was kind of happy.

I loved Sicily and was really glad I went there, but I doubt I'll ever go back to Palermo in my life. It was the kind of thing that once I saw it, I saw it. The beaches were nice, but were comparable to the ones in America. In fact, I decided that I liked the ones in the States better. However, Sicily is a huge island and there are many other places to go on it, including Lampedusa, which has the #1 rated beach in the world, according to tripadvisor.com, which is called Rabbit Beach. I would definitely be up for traveling to a different part of Sicily at one point. Palermo is now on my list of travels, and I think that for now, I'm happy with it being on there once.

Mercato di Ballero

Mercato di Ballero

Mondello Beach