ROMA!

I arrived safely in Roma last night after a short 2 hour and 10 minute flight from England (can you believe how close it was?!?) and was met at the airport by the smiling Davide Castorina. While I'm in Roma I'm staying with Davide at his and his place in the middle of the city. They are family friends of Simon's and very kindly offered to host me while I'm in Rome. Unfortunately Te Ataahia (Davide's wife) returned home to New Zealand the day before I arrived so I never got to meet up with her. The streets were very quiet when I arrived so Davide drove me around to see the sights by night and this got me very excited for my first full day in this ancient city. We both decided we would set our alarms for 7.30am so that we could have an early start so I could make the most of my time in Roma. Needless to say, I had no trouble getting up because I couldn't wait to get started!

We set off on Davide's scooter (scooter is by far the best way to get around and dodge in and out or the crazy Roman traffic) just after 8.30am and our first stop was a bar to have a traditional Italian breakfast; cappuccino and pastry. I was quick to learn that in Italy you don't sit down to have your coffee but you instead stand at the bar and drink it there, hence the name 'bar'. Davide must have thought I was a bit odd just staring at my coffee on the counter unsure of what to do with myself. But now I know ;)

Davide's place overlooks St. Peter's Square so a quick stop at the square was next. It was very quiet there but you could already see the media starting to set up camp for the election of the new pope. It's going to be crazy here in a few weeks! I drunk from the fresh water spring in the square so hopefully that will bring me a bit of luck. I also stood on the very spot where you look out and can see all the columns perfectly in line so it only looks as if there is only one but when I turned around 180 degrees and looked to the other side I could see the rows of columns behind one another. I took a few pics to help illustrate this point. Davide went to a primary school literally right next to St. Peters because that's where his parents taught. He told me how because he saw it everyday he just got used to looking at it all the time. It's funny the things people get so used to they take it for granted, like us kiwis and the beautiful landscape :) I'm going back here on Thursday to do a half day tour so will have more to share about it then.

Drinking from the pope's fountain

Just one row of columns?

Nope! There's more hiding behind them!

A rather empty St. Peter's Square

Looking out from the square, nice day huh?

The Tiber

St. Peter's in the background

We then went to Davide's favourite piazza (square) in Roma, Piazza Navona. But before we went there we walked through a market where there was the freshest of everything for sale. It was exactly what I thought a real Italian market would look like. I just wanted to eat all the food!

Fruit and veg

Fresh flowers

In the Piazza Navona there was a lot of art for sale and I bought a nice painting of Roma at night to hang on my wall when I get home. Davide also told me the story behind one of the fountains, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, in the square and how there was this battle for superiority between two sculptors, Bernini and Borromini. Borromini built the church and Bernini did the fountain outside it. One of the sculptures facing the church has his hands up guarding his face an the Romans have two explanations for this; the first that it is so hideous he is hiding it from his eyes and the second is that he has hands up to protect himself in case it were to fall on him. A very clever sculpture.

Shield my eyes!

Ah!

I then found myself outside the Pantheon. Finding words to describe how standing outside this felt are hard to find so just imagine my biggest, goofiest smile and that's the look I had on my face. Going inside I was even more lost for words. I've studied it extensively at university and knew I was going to be impressed but I wasn't prepared for the size and beauty of it. It was breath taking. I loved it and my mind still can't quite get around the great engineering that is behind its construction all those thousands of years ago. Those Romans were clever.

Pretty impressive

Those are some big columns!

In awe of the dome

One happy Zara

It was still only about 11am by this time and I was beginning to think what can be better than this but I'll tell you something for free, everybody needs their own Davide when visiting Roma because he knew the perfect thing to do after visiting the Pantheon; take me for the BEST ESPRESSO IN ITALY (according to Davide). You read that right, the best. It's so good and such a well guarded secret, the espresso, that the machine where the coffee is made is hidden. Apparently you know you've had an amazing espresso if the after taste sticks and man it had, I had that after taste for a long while. I truly do believe it is the best coffee I have ever had. Wow!!!

This is THE place to drink espresso

Oh, I was impressed!

We checked our watches and it was 11.27am so we had time to make the 12 noon cannon that they light on the Janiculum Hill, one of the hills of Roma. It's an amazing spot from where you can overlook the whole if Roma. Davide took me here the night I arrived and it was beautiful but do you know what makes a stunning view at night more beautiful? A cloudless day. The cannon gave me quite a shock because it was so loud but it was nice to be able to see one of the Roman traditions. They light the cannon everyday at 12noon to remember all their soldiers that have died. I felt privileged because apparently not many tourists get to go there because the roads are tricky to navigate and there is not much parking. Luckily for me though I was with a Roman and my Roman had a scooter :)

Now, that's a view!

BOOM!

We then went to another lookout on the other side of the river, again a spot many tourists miss out on at the Giardino delgi Aranci, the Garden of Orange Trees is the English translation. The best part about this was when Davide took me to a big locked gate and told me to look through the keyhole. I don't think I have ever seen anything more beautiful. Through the keyhole was perhaps the best view in Roma, I had to keep peeking through it and I tried to take a picture but no picture will ever be as beautiful as the real thing. You looked through to see a path, flanked by trees and at the end the beautiful dome of St. Peters. Truly a perfect image I will keep with me forever.

Another fountain this time with a wolf

Beautiful!

The walk to the lookout

Imagine St. Peter's dome at the end

All through this key hole

We then zipped back home to get a set of keys for me and then Davide dropped me at the Colosseum and he went off to work. I booked a tour and it was alright, quite a lot of talking by the guide and I was just itching to get inside and have a look around. Again, the stunning day added to the beauty of this ancient site. Another amazing piece of engineering by the Romans. I won't bore you with facts but did you know that the Romans earthquake proofed the Colosseum? Yup, they inserted metal rods into the stone to help to move and withstand movement in the earth and the reason half of the Colosseum fell down is because in later years they started to remove the metal rods to use for other things. The half that still stands has not yet had the rods removed. Fascinating stuff.

Couldn't have asked for a better day

Looking down from the second level

The top and base of a column. To the right are the drums.

This is what happiness looks like

Best tasting pixie caramel I've ever had!

My tour was supposed to include the Roman Forum too but they let us go for 15 minutes on our own and told us to meet at a point but no one was at that point when I turned up. I wasn't late either. I hung around for a bit and then went to see if I could find them but they had disappeared. By the time I made it to the Forum it was 4.01pm and you guessed it, they closed the entry gate at 4pm and no matter how nicely I smiled they weren't going to let me in.

Davide recommended a visit to the church of San Clemente so that's where I walked to next. It was only about ten minutes away. This is a lovelt spot because although it just looks like one church from the outside it is actually two in one. One is underground and has been recently excavated. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures but I got a few goosebumps as I went underground into the old church. The old frescoes on the walls and stone work are so well preserved that it's hard to believe they are so old. I was glad for this recommendation.

I'm feeling very proud of myself because I managed to find my way back home by myself using both the metro and bus system where everything was in Italian. I must thank Davide later for his excellent directions ;)

Tonight I'm just going to relax and try get some sleep because I have a HUGE day ahead of me tomorrow. I'm heading to Naples and Pompeii for the day and then coming back to go out for dinner with Davide and some of his friends who know Simon. Can't wait to try some more delicious Italian cuisine and make some more friends.

So what has today taught me? Dream big because if you work hard enough they'll come true xox

Can you feel the love tonight?

Hello everyone :) It's been a while since I've written but I've just been so busy ending the term and getting ready for parent teacher day tomorrow BUT I have a free night tonight on this 2013 Valentine's Day and am feeling quite lonely and sad so thought I'd cheer myself up writing this blog entry.

Last weekend I went to London for the second time. My main purpose of the trip was to go and see 'The Lion King' musical but just by chance a friend from school spotted a post of mine on facebook and is living in London so we arranged to meet up for lunch.  I met Thomas and his girlfriend, Sarah. Thomas is a good friend of Kim's (Kim is my oldest friend) and her family and he had his big break in London a few years back doing animation work on the last Harry Potter film. I guess he's fallen in love with the big city life and I don't know when or if he'll go back to settle in NZ. He has a British passport so is lucky and doesn't have to decide anytime soon. He was the first kiwi I'd seen since I got here so you can imagine how I excited I was! We had lunch at 'Mother Mash', supposedly the best place to get bangers and mash in London and I'd agree with that, my meal was delicious.

It was a dreary day in London and the soles of one of my shoes split as I was walking to the station from Reading so I had one very wet and cold foot for most of the day. While I was waiting for Thomas in 'Mother Mash' I dashed to the bathroom and whipped off my sock, wrung it out and then attempted to dry it under the hand dryer. I had warm feet for about an hour before I had to venture to the theatre. While I was doing this though I was thinking of how bizarre it was meeting up with Thomas there because London is so far from the Orongoronga Valley where Kim, Thomas and I hung out in their family bush huts as teenagers. One thing he said he misses dearly about home is the bush and the way trees grow in New Zealand (apparently trees in England are very straight?) After lunch we missioned through Chinese New Year celebrations to get to the Lyceum where my show was. The crowds reminded me of Vietnam but the cold, rain and wet feet quickly reminded me I was in London. If it wasn't for Thomas I doubt I'd have made it to the theatre in time because there were so many street closures and I didn't find this out until I'd got home but one closure we'd walked past was where the Baftas were been held that night.

Me and Thomas, we're not in Vietnam but Chinatown London! Happy Chinese New Year!

Thumbs up for 'The Lion King'

I got to the show JUST in time (had no time to purchase a programme or snacks) and was very pleased with my seat. I'd opted for a £45 ticket instead of the £90 ones so was worried it wouldn't be that great. Turns out it was in a great spot though and all I had to do was sit there and watch, I didn't have to move my head at all because I was smack bang in the middle and had no one in front of me. I have always been a huge lion king fan so knew all the songs and thought it was as good as everyone had said it'd be. I had high expectations and they were definitely met. My favourite scene was when Mufasa came back, I thought that looked really amazing.

Sweet seat

Can you feel the love tonight? I can :)

On the whole I'm not doing too bad, two musicals in my first month in England and I'm already booked in to go to see 'Monty Python's Spamalot' in April with my housemates. That's sure to be a great laugh.

I have been teaching my class all about NZ for the last three weeks and finished the study with the kids today as tomorrow is just me meeting and chatting with their parents. This week has been a real blast with them. Highlights were making poi, watching them make up their own poi dances to Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' and perform them and seeing their faces today when I gave them some of my precious Pixie Caramel bars that Simon, Mum and Nana have sent me. They were all very excited to eat some of Miss Anderson's favourite chocolate ALL the way from New Zealand. It was a VERY hard task cutting up the bars at 7am this morning, they're hard enough to break up in NZ but imagine trying to cut them in -2 degrees, I'm pretty sure they were frozen. It was totally worth it though :)

Last day of term tomorrow (YAY!) so I guess that means only... 4 more sleeps until I'll be Rome. I bought myself a pocket sized travel guide so have been reading that to figure out the must dos but to be fair, all the times that I've watched 'Eat, Pray, Love' (50+ times at least) and watched Julia Roberts stroll the streets I feel like I kinda already know the city already ;) It'll be a very fascinating time to visit with the resignation of the Pope and all that jazz so I really can't wait, I'm getting more and more excited as I write about it!

Watch this space! X

I had a ball in Bath

A very happy Zara at some Roman Baths

I know it sounds cliche but I actually had an absolute ball in Bath today. I just got back and was looking through all my photos and gosh it's going to be hard choosing which ones to upload for this entry.

I'll start at the beginning. I caught a train from Reading this morning and arrived in Bath after an hours trip at about 11am. I was itching to get to the Roman Baths so I quickly found a pamphlet at the information desk and made my way there. I got there just in time because I only had to wait about ten minutes to get in and when I left the line was all the way down the street. Bath is a World Heritage Site and the Roman Baths are one of the things that have allowed it to be so. They weren't discovered until the late 1800s when someone was investigating some leaky buildings on top of the site because over the years people had let them fall into ruin and built a city around them. The buildings were leaking because of the water that was trying to escape from the underground spring (a much better leaky building story than the ones in New Zealand). From the outside it didn't look like much but when I got inside I realised that was because you had to go underground to see them. Bath is the only place in England where there are thermal hot springs (there are three) and one of them is where the Roman Baths are. They know that people were using these baths over 2000 years ago so it's surprising it took so long to discover them. I explored the baths and the underground museum for a good few hours before I went to find some lunch and go on the walking tour I'd booked.

Roman Bath House

Looking down from street level

Looking down at the hot spring

Model of what the baths would have looked like

Excavated remains

Roman female bust

Mosaic

Sacred spring of Minerva Solace

Sweet view

Sacred hot spring

A real Roman woman

I made a wish!

Drinking some sacred water for good health

As soon as I left the baths I turned right and realised that the Bath Abbey was right in front of me so I figured I could wait to find food and have a quick look in there. It was worth the look!!! I had never heard of it before but was quick to learn that it has lots of historical significance for England. Apparently the first King, someone named Edgar, was crowned there and Queen Elizabeth I commemorated this during her reign. The original abbey fell into ruin and Henry VIII started restoring it but when he had to divorce one of his wives and banned Catholicism all restoration work stopped. It wasn't until the reign of Elizabeth I that it was restored fully. The same architect that worked on Westminster Abbey worked on Bath Abbey and Bath Abbey has been nick named the 'Lantern of the West' because of the amount of natural light that gets into the building because of the stained glass windows. It was very beautiful.

Bath Abbey

Stone sculpture from inside the abbey

Look at that ceiling! Beautiful!

Impressive stained glass window

One of the many stained glass windows along the sides of the abbey

When I was researching going to Bath on the internet this week, I found out about a lady named Sue who runs walking tours leaving at 2pm every Saturday. I gave her a text earlier in the week and arranged to go on the tour and it was 7 pounds very well spent. I wasn't surprised when I found out she is an ex-teacher because she was so enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about the area. I learnt a lot from the tour and got to see all the main things in Bath. She was clearly a big Jane Austen fan and I thought this was great. These are some of things I learnt from Sue;

* Bath became very popular after King James' wife came to try and heal herself because she kept having miscarriages. 9 months after she bathed in the baths she had a son! That's when it really took off and became known for it's healing powers (real or not...)
* All buildings are built in the same stone (limestone from surrounding hills) and the same stone was used to build the side walls of Buckingham Palace. It's a yellowy stone.
* Bath was the first place for the crescent and circle streets in England.
* Hospital wasn't always a place where people got healed but a place where poor people could go (hospice) and there's still one running for that purpose in Bath.
* Fire insurance plaques were placed on the outside of buildings so if a house was on fire the fire brigade knew which houses they should extinguish fires in. If it had no plaque and was on fire they would just drive past it.
* The streets are very unchanged and would have looked the same when Jane Austen walked up them.
* It was a VERY fashionable place to be seen but was a place where people only came in the 'season' and was where people had their holiday homes.


There was a HEAP more, but my phone died and I could no longer take notes so that will have to do for now.

Street as it would have looked to Jane Austen

Oldest house in Bath c.1480

Pretty streets

See that clock at the end? Jane wrote about people meeting in front of that very clock.

Traditional Georgian garden, note the gravel instead if grass so dresses wouldn't get dirty ;)

Cute sign

Look at how beautiful the day was!

First crescent buildings

Remains of medieval wall

Old man in cool get up

Sue :)

Oh I just remembered a pretty cool thing for all those Les Mis fans out there. Remember in the film where Javert commits suicide? Well, it was filmed in Bath!

Look familiar? Obviously a lot of special effects but still a cool fact.

The tour finished at 4pm so I had a few hours spare before I had to catch a train back so I looked around a few shops and got a burger for dinner. The restaurant was a real treat because when I looked at the menu was very surprised because there was a kiwiburger and a little note beside it that said 25p from each burger sold would go to an organisation to help save the kiwi. When I ordered it the waiter started explaining the poor kiwi bird in New Zealand, was quite funny. Needless to say three kiwi guys own the restaurant and the burger was delicious!

Save the kiwi

Love a kiwi :)

I had a fantastic day out in Bath and highly recommend it to anyone who is heading over this way. Looks like next weekend I'll have to stay home writing reports for parent/teacher day in two weeks, a VERY hard task because I'm still getting to know the kids...

I'm off to sleep!

Love to you all xoxox