Journal Entry: Home!

[9:01 Texas time]

I am home. Had a great sleep last night. Now I’m trying to catch up on all the things here. Forgot it was Sunday, kept thinking it was Monday. I’m going to look at my pictures now. 

Au revoir!

Journal Entry: Nice People Everywhere & the Vatican Museums

I had the most amazing day today. I got up at 6am to my alarm going off. I had been awoken at 3a by some screaming party girls. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from though, maybe the street?

I went down to a place that said they had “English Breakfast” but they didn’t speak enough English to tell me what was in it. The guy just kept saying “orange juice.” I ordered an espresso instead.

Then I went and got two bananas from the fruit seller. I then took the metro to Ottavian stop for the Vatican. I saw a sign that said “Vaticani Musei à” but decided I wanted to see St. Peter’s square in the early morning light, before there were too many people. 

I was disappointed, in that there was a lot of scaffolding, restoring the statues. But more than that there were all these barriers everywhere. It really ruined the flow of the place. I thought I could get to the entrance to the museums by going to the other side of the square and walking up that street, but it is a dead end.  

Just as Bernini Intended it to Be - Covered up with barricades

I had to walk all the way back the way I came. My legs were killing me! When I got to the entrance, I asked a man standing there if the line I saw was for the individual without reservations. He said yes and offered me a tour that got admission early for €50. Otherwise I’d have to wait an hour. I thanked him, but said I was on a budget. I walked over to wait in line. I almost considered going on the tour, but I’m glad I didn’t! About the time I might have made up my mind to do it, a girl walked up behind me and asked if that was the line. I said yes, I had asked one of the tour guides and was sure of it. We started talking and it helped pass the hour. 

We then went through the museums together and also ate lunch, went back to St. Peter’s and walked to a couple other sites together. Her name was Halley (not her real name as she was from S. Korea)

 

Anubis

Raphael's School of Athens

We had a lot of fun together and I gave her my business card and told her to look me up on facebook. 

Halley and I in St. Peter's Square

Jan I think, had told me she hadn’t seen the “purse sellers” in Venice lately. Well they’re all in Rome, selling knock off Prada purses [in front of Castel Sant'Angelo]. That is until they suddenly started packing up. I looked behind us and it was the police!

We ate Burger King. I had a double whopper and feel so much better now. I need more protein, as I’m sure my leg muscles need all they can get.

I’ve taken 459 pictures and it’s only the second day.

My name is...

Hi, my name is Tonya and I'm thoroughly addicted to backpacking.

Unfortunately I don't have a trust fund and haven't won the lottery yet, so I can't go very often. I decided to start this blog as a way to make the journal I kept on my last trip public. I'm going to start posting it now, and the dates will be made to match when I wrote the entry back in 2009. It will be just as I wrote it, except I will correct for spelling and grammar and there are a few things I may redact because they're personal.

I will also use this blog as a way to plan where I might go next, hopefully next year. I'm thinking of starting in Nice. I need something to plan for, something to look forward to. I'm currently unemployed, and instead of waiting for me to find a job, I figure I'll start planning anyway. I like traveling on the cheap anyway.

Journal Entry: On the Plane - Homeward Bound

I’m on the plane. Had to take a bus from the terminal to the plane. I guess that’s just the way they do it at the new terminal five. I have fifteen pounds left. Mainly because I didn’t have to buy anything to eat and drink in the terminal because I was in business. They had all sorts of drinks and pastries in the lounge. They also had free internet and Lynn sent me her address because she wanted a post card. Luckily WH Smith sold stamps and there was a post box so I wrote one out to her and mailed it. I also sent another one to Jan, Andy and V. since they only sold stamps in books of four.

Well that last paragraph is a little run on.

Ah, the steward just brought me some orange juice. Lovely! I’ll be sure to save my money and my miles and only fly business class from now on. My legs are just too long for economy. And because of this it makes me feel squished the whole time and then I wind up feeling claustrophobic. 

I found a new purple pen in Warwick at an art supply store, but haven’t had to switch yet because I still have ink in this one amazingly enough. It went down fast at first and I thought I’d run out pages ago.

The skin on my left thumb is cracked and I keep hitting it on things, not fun! I keep jabbing the pen into it too when I go to re-cap it. Ugh. Last week it was my other thumb that was sore because my nail broke and took skin with it. Just about the time it got better, the other one cracked open, probably from my skin being dry.

Journal Entry: Roaming Off the Beaten Path & High Tea

I’m up way too late again. Made the mistake of trying to get some photos on Facebook. We got up and went to Long Melford today. There was a kitchen store there and we bought egg coddlers and Taine got Jan a milk frother for Christmas. It’s big enough so everyone can have milk at once. I think she’ll love it.

Then we went to the church. They had lovely stained glass dating to the medieval period. 

Graveyard of the Church in Long Melford

Crooked House in Lavenham

Then we went to Lavenham. There’s a guildhall there that was named Corpus Christi and I thought that was funny since that’s where I live. Then we had lunch at “The Swan.” It was good. I had a burger with french fries and a diet coke.

Then we headed home so I could have time to hang my laundry out to dry before tea. We had been invited to tea at a neighbor’s house. (at 4pm) She is an interior designer and I forget what her husband does. They were an older couple, very nice. We had frosted lemon cake, finger sandwiches with cucumbers and mayonnaise on them, and weak Chinese tea. It was supposed to be weak, and it was quite good. We had a fun time, and talked until nearly 6pm.

Then we came back home and putzed around. We watched a special on Stone Henge. I also called Andy and Jan. I miss Andy a lot! Only five more days. I’ll be sad that the trip is over, but happy to be home with Andy.

Good Pub Food