Changing Cathedral

This is one of the light shows I saw at the Fête des Lumières in Lyon in mid December

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Grenoble inversed

So, finally I was able to find a computer at the library that would recognize my USB drive with all of my photos! The next few posts will be about the second part of my winter vacation.

After getting back from Rome on a long train ride, I spent New Year's in Grenoble with a few friends who live in my residence.  On January 3rd, I caught a train to Clermont-Ferrand to commence my 10 day, solo edition voyage. There were a lot of students on the train with me as they were starting school soon. I got to the city early evening and found the 'hostel' after quite a bit of wandering around the dark streets. The hostel I booked turned out to be what I believe was extra student housing that was rented out as a hostel. I actually had my own room with a bathroom and a TV! That is luxury right there. I'll be honest, think that room was nicer that the one I actually live in in Grenoble; the bed was definitely more comfortable. The rooms were very similar in structure though.

'Hostel' - see the TV, 2 chairs, and desk?!

Anyway, I had about 1 full day to explore the city. Most of the places were actually closed because it was a Monday, and a lot of people were still on holiday. It was a beautiful, clear day despite how cold it was. The little lake at the Jardin de ville was frozen over, the ground was all forst covered, and a huge Christmas tree was in the middle of the major square. Although I didn't have much to do, I enjoyed seeing another French city like the opposite of Grenoble - Clermont-Ferrand was a city at the top of a hill with lower valleys around (and actually a volcano that is a popular site in warmer weather) opposed to Grenoble which is a city in a valley surrounded by mountains.

View of the Jardin de Ville; you can see the frozen pond to the right

View of the red rooftops in the city

Empty street in Clermont-Ferrand

The beautiful Gothic cathedral that I unfortunately could not go into

Gargoyles of the cathedral

Christmas tree. I think this one was nicer that the one in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.

It was cool to see different building structures and a different layout of a city as I have gotten used to the layout of Grenoble. France is very big on regional products, so I liked going to a new region where different local foods were emphasized.

Building in Clermont-Ferrand

Door-knocker and some creepy graffiti

A main square

The shoes I got for 16 € at one of the few stores that was open

Christmas in Rome

After a snowy few days in Dublin where everyone speaks English and the biscuits and tea are very good, I got on a flight (luckily, some weren't getting out on account of the snow) out to Rome just a couple days before Chistmas.The first thing I noticed as I got off the flight was how warm it was compared to Dublin and Grenoble for that matter. I was on a different flight than Erin and Reva and got to the city late on the night of the 23rd. I basically had no plan of how I was to get to the hotel other than an address, a phone number, and knowing the general area of where the hotel was. After walking around the night city completely lost because I couldn't find any maps that were posted and the streets seemed like they went in crazy directions. All I could see was the dome of the St. Peter's Basilica lite up. I finally got a taxi who ended up needing to call the phone number. It turns out that the hotel room that Erin had booked was basically a room in an apartment flat that you had to go through three doors and take an elevator to get to, which I wasn't really expecting. I know I never would have found it without the help of the taxi driver.

Erin and Reva weren't there yet even though their flight was supposed to get in before mine. The owner of the hotel said I should wait outside on the street for them because I could tell he wasn't very interested in having them press the button outside that rings up to his room at 12:30 at night. We walked back outside to the first gate right on the street after he showed me a room with a balcony and and ferocious looking tiger picture on the wall. He said I looked worried, which was true. I didn't think that Reva and Erin would find the hotel easily, and I also felt kind of like I did when I first got to France. I can't speak a word of Italian and I had no idea about the layout of Rome. He pointed to the Dome of St. Peter's that was just a couple blocks away and said that the Pope was right there, so I was safe. I kind of gave him a look as I imagined the someone trying to mug me, but at the last second the Pope jumps out from a side street and stopping the whole affair. He reassuringly replayed with "No really, really, the Pope, he's right there."

And nothing did go wrong, and soon enough Erin and Reva got to the hotel by taxi and we spent our first night in Rome.

Our first day in Rome, we walked around near St. Peter's Square and saw a nativity that was set up outside. There really weren't that many people there considering how crowded it typically is with tourists. We also took the metro to the Colosseum, which was really beautiful. 

St. Peter's, actually quite empty just before Christmas

 

Spiral stairs of the Vatican

 The Forum near the Colosseum

In the evening, we met up with Willamette's art history professor Ricardo De Mambro Santos who was on sobatical in Rome for the semester. We got cappiccinos with him and he told us a bunch of cool places to go in Rome, such as a church near the Colosseum that has three layers under it, some dating a couple thousand years I think. It was super cool to talk to him about art, Italy, and Italians.

 

The rest of my time with Reva ans Erin was spent looking around the city, having some good pizza, and going to various museums. It is definitely a cool city, and although I saw a lot, I feel like there was so much I didn't get to see. On Christmas we went to mass in Italian at a church nearby and hung out around where we were staying because most places were closed.

Spiral stairs in the Vatican Museum

The hall done by Raphael

View of the city from the Vatican Museum


Dome in the Vatican. We went on Christmas eve, and there were various people walking around looking stressed about the evening events. 


Tomb of the unknown soldier lit up at night

Me, Reva, and Erin in front of the Trevi fountain after throwing coins in. It had been pouring all day, but at least we were only 3 of about 15 people around the fountain, which is pretty rare.

 

The river in rome isn't the prettiest of blues

After Erina and Reva left back to London, I still have two nights in Rome because I couldn't get a train back until the 28th. I stayed at hostel and met a really nice girl named Carla from Argentina who studied in Lyon last semester. I walked around with her on evening and part of the next day, which was pretty cool. She didn't speak English and I don't speak Spanish, so we talked in French the whole time. Yep, an American and an Argentinian speaking French in Italy! I love traveling.

On that note, I was really happy to go back to France because I missed Grenoble, despite how much colder I knew it would be.

The Trevi Fountain at night with a lot more people around

Square with a lit up Christmas Tree

The Spanish Steps

 

Shoes in a window on the other side of the street from the Spanish Steps. Carla and I couldn't figure out who could walk in these.

Carla and I next to a famous piece of art that I should probably know the name of.