Mick Jagger's Influence, Gnocchi, and Legit Gelatos

Prague continued:

It is of huge regret that I wasn't able to see the Prague Castle at night when it's lit up with its beautiful lighting. Oh, well... My visit in Prague won't be the last. I will be going back there, hopefully, in June and then I will make sure I see the dazzling Prague Castle at night while thinking about the cool story behind it. You might be wondering why Mick Jagger is on the title for this post. Well, he has to be because if it weren't for him and The Rolling Stones, Prague Castle won't have its modern lighting system. The story behind it is that when Mick Jagger, sorry, SIR Mick Jagger, came to Prague in 1995, he was amazed by how beautiful the city was especially the Prague Castle. However, it was such a shame that he couldn't appreciate it more at night because it was too dark. The former president of Czech Republic, Václav Havel, told Sir Mick that they do not have money to fund the new lighting. So, low and behold, Sir Mick said (and I am putting words in his mouth right now), "Worry no more! I will pay for it!" AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! Mick Jagger was like a god creating/giving light to the then dark Prague Castle. I am not sure if it's right to say I am not a fan of Mick Jagger... but eh... I'm really not. Still, thanks to him, Prague Castle is so much more beautiful at night.

Oh, btdubs, Happy Easter! Here is cool picture of a lady painting a gigantic Easter egg at Old Town Square in Prague.

Happy Easter!!!

Now, let's talk about my adventures in Italy. Yeah?

20th- 22nd of April '11: Venice, Italy.

We left Prague in the morning of the 20th and it made it to Brno at 2pm: an hour from the time of our flight to Milan. Cutting it close, eh? Well, from Prague we had a series of unfortunate events that continued on until we got to the airport at Brno. So, let me tell you details here. While still in Prague, we had the mistake of taking the tram to get to the bus station which would have been easier if done by foot-- walking that is. But we got on a tram and got off the park across the trains station. There we wandered and asked where the bus station was. Luckily, it was just one train stop away so we took the train and got to the bus station. We did not buy our tickets to get back to Brno. Unfortunately, the tickets for the bus line Student Agency were sold out and that the next bus will be at 12pm. There's no way we can make it on time if we took that bus. So we decided to take Eurolines instead. It was the shittiest bus ride of my life! We sat on the back and it was very shaky. Pretending that I was just getting a bad massage from a massage chair, I survived a 2 and a half hour ride. Arriving at a different bus station where there were no cabs to be seen, going to the airport proved to be a great challenge. The clock was ticking.... 2:10pm.. 2:15pm... 2:30pm... NO WAY IN HELL we are making it to our flight... So I asked around if anybody could speak English during that waiting time and someone, thank goodness, was kind enough to translate information for us. He even pointed out where to take an alternate bus to get to the airport. However, it was already 2:45 pm and our flight was at 3pm. So... yeah.. we missed the flight, we thought. We got on the bus and arrived at the airport just wanting to get the next flight and OMG! Our flight was delayed 30 minutes. The director let us board the plane and off we went to Milan! An hour and half later, we landed with smiles extending from the left ear to the right. It was a miracle we were still able to board. That was really one of those times when you can feel happy that your flight has been delayed. Milan was just the first layover city for us though. So, we took the train to Venice and arrived in the evening. We had no energy to go out and see places so we just slept and refueled our systems for the next day.

We woke up at 9AM to get a light breakfast from the mini-market across the street since our hotel does not include breakfast. After that, we took a bus to get to the center of Venice. It was a warm day and you bet everyone was out to soak up the sun. Yep. I was right! A lot of people were there just wandering the tiny and winding streets of Venice. Oh, by the way, pardon me if I cannot relate anything to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; I've never read it. Anyway, we tried to get on a gondola but it was too expensive. It was 80 euros for a short ride. Converting that to USD, that is probably around $100. So, NO. No gondola rides... Sigh. Well, I will come back and make sure to ride one then. Being a broke college student sucks but at least I got a picture of it! We'll just be content with a picture for now. Okay? Our adventure did not end with wanting to ride a gondola. We walked around for about 5 hours taking pictures at docks here and there. We also bought some souvenirs of masks from the infamous Carnavale. I bought some magnets to take home with me for my tiny fridge at the dorms. After a couple more hours, walking around became tiring. Don't get me wrong on this... Venice is a beautiful place but after hours of walking around the same streets and getting lost became less and less appealing. It was nice to just wander but then it was hot and crowded that day. So, we just thought we should find a good restaurant to have a legit Italian meal. We did find a place and had Gnocchi with pesto sauce. It was really good! I've never had Gnocchi before but I really liked it. The last place we went to that day was Piazza San Marco where Heath Ledger's movie Casanova was filmed. I wanted to go inside but it was 8 euros to get in. Too expensive for me... Maybe next time. After this we just went back to the hotel and refreshed ourselves. We decided that we will leave early the next day to go to Verona. Venice didn't seem like a 2-day trip. So, off we went to Verona!

22nd-23rd of April '11: Verona, Italy.

Oh, the city where the novel Romeo and Juliet was based from... So lovely! Except that Juliet's balcony was so tiny that I didn't feel the love Romeo had for Juliet. At the entrance there was a wall full of comments of love by lovers and friends who have visited the balcony. It was awesome taking pictures of the place but I think seeing it once, maybe another time again, is enough. I think I also have to be inlove to appreciate it more. Haha! Anyway, I did write to Juliet year 200o style; I emailed her my love letter. They have 2 touchscreen computers where you can write to Juliet and someone from her club, Juliet's Club, will write back to you. I know... I know.. It sounds pathetic sending an email to a non-existent person but I just wanted to say I wrote her a letter. Such a hopeless romantic, huh? Well... that's me for you! Anyway, we visited other places as well so we could get our money's worth from buying the 2-day Verona card, which enabled us to go to museums and monuments for free. Each place averaged a 6 euro to 8 euro entrance fee so we did get our money's worth cause we visited 5 or 6 places. Included in those places were the duomo in Verona, the Arena, the Roman Theatre, and other museums. We did all of these in 2 days and I think I would love to come back to Verona some day. The place where we stayed here was lovely too although I still like Blindeye's friendly environment. Our bed and breakfast hostel in Verona wasn't too budget friendly. We only stayed for one night so it wasn't too expensive then. The owner Roberto was really funny and nice. He was a little clumsy but it made me laugh so all is good. The bathrooms were huge and clean so I'm happy about that. Oh, before I forget, we also had yummy pizza here and gelato that was legitimately handmade. We were told that if the gelato was piled up high to attract tourists, then it is probably not gonna be good. We went to the 2 most famous gelato places in Verona so we are sure we had the real one. We left Verona in the afternoon of the 23rd and took the train back to Milan where our flight was. It was really tiring because of all the transfers from buses to trains and then buses again. Once we got to the airport we just put our backpacks down and laid there till boarding time. About 200 people were doing the same so we didn't feel like hobos on the street. We flew into Malaga and took the bus to Granada.

24th of April '11: Granada, Spain.

It felt so good to be back in Granada! Finally! I missed my bed... the bathroom... and of course our Spanish parents, Ana and Antonio. It was raining when we came back and because of that the Easter procession was canceled. Many were saddened about this because it took a lot of time to prepare the floats for the procession. I was too! But then I was just so happy that I could relax and put my face mask to while away the evening. It was a little chilly too! Ah... Laying down never felt better! Later I went to church with my friend Estephania to catch the 6pm Easter mass. I didn't understand most of it because the priest spoke in rapid Spanish with a heavy Granadino accent although I still said my own prayers and thanks. After the mass we went to get some snacks to eat while walking and just chatted before saying goodbye. Sunday didn't seem like a good day to do homework. So, I just called my mom to tell her my stories. She had to go to a lunch date with her co-workers though so I had to cut my story short. I'll call her later day for continuation. =)


I am now posting some pictures for you to see. There are more on Facebook (I will upload them later). So just check them out there.

Here are some of the pictures:

Mask for the upcoming carnavale

Gondola tour for 80 euros...

Rialto Bridge, Venice

In the train going to Venice...

Piazza San Marco

"Man is a free agent; but he is not free if he does not believe it, for the more power he attributes to Destiny, the more he deprives himself of the power which God granted him when he gave him reason." --Casanova

Lighting candles inside the Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco

The Arena in Verona

Darkness overlooking Verona from a tower

Juliet's tiny balcony

At Piazza Brá

Omnom nom nom! Gelato

Gnocchi with pesto!


The view from the Roman Theatre

Castelvecchio or Castle Vecchio

Love locks again!

Phew! I hope you enjoyed reading this post and the one before this because I had to summarize a bit so as to not get you bored!

Regular classes resumed today so I have to get back on doing homework now... AFTER my siesta. Haha! Until my next post! =)

Arrivederci!