mykonos

Sometimes, there are no words. I miss Greece.

bologna la rossa (bologna part 3)

this weekend i went to san marino (so excited to share those photos with you!) but first i have to play catch up with bologna! heather and i climbed torre degli asinelli and saw cute, little and crooked torre degli garisenda right next to it. these photos are by far my favorite.

my first spotting of asinelli. so excited!

just a small glimpse of the expansive stairs going up

view from halfway

finally at the top!

this city is known as "bologna la grassa (the fat, for it's delicious food),

la dotta (the learned, because it is home to the oldest university in europe),

e la rossa (because of all of its red roofs!)"

our pictures of accomplishment after we went up and down the tower's

489 steps!

Catching Up (Dim Sum)

For those of you who don't know me very well, I often take a ton of pictures then procrastinate in posting them. I think it might be a disease. Most of my "Catching Up"s were from this summer, when I had bad internet in Greece and had a valid excuse not to update, but after I went to dim sum with some of my favorite girls a few weeks ago, I really had no excuse not to post. But, better late than never, right?

My dear friend, Norris, invited my drawmates and me to have an authentic dim sum experience with her. I'd gone with my family previously, but we're filipino so it's not really the same. I have never been too adventurous when it comes to dim sum, but this time I tried jelly fish and chicken feet! To me, it's really important to expose yourself to other cultures and their traditions, even if you have to step outside of your comfort zone. I actually really liked the jelly fish, but I still need to get used to the chicken feet :)

Elaine, my roommate, is a vegetarian. BUT, since she is leaving for Madrid in a few weeks she decided she may as well start eating meat because it's going to be difficult to maintain vegetarianism over in Spain. So, what does she eat as her first bite as a omnivore? Chicken feet. And she liked it!

Let me just say that this was a really amazing experience. It was really fun having Norris share her favorites with us and there was SO MUCH DELICIOUS FOOD. I never really think of dim sum as being filling, because there are just small, bite-sized things- but when you keep ordering everything because it's delicious, it really starts to add up.

The environment is so lively and bustling, yet close and intimate- I think I understand why it's such an important tradition. Moreover, it makes even more sense why "dim sum" literally means

"(to) touch the heart"

Thank you so much, Norris!

Catching Up (Delphi)

Delphi

I have something to confess. I didn't take pictures of my feet in every city, like I thought I did. And I'm really regretting it now. But here's a substitute photo.

Delphi was my absolute favorite site. I also didn't take as many photos as I wished I had, so I also regret that. This little city is in the middle of mountains or giant hills or something, so it's all stairs. Each street is one level, and to get to the next street over you have to go up or down a flight. Needless to say, my knee hurt a lot. And, as I found myself saying frequently, "Who needs a Stairmaster when you have Delphi." Anyway, here is Delphi at night. These pretty little lights were everywhere.

Here is the beautiful site. Everything is up hill, but it was so worth it.

Justine, cute as always.

I think this is the Treasury of Apollo.

I missed it on our quiz.

THE ORACLE OF APOLLO.

(haha sorry for the caps, it was a big highlight being there).

On our way to the museum, Jamie found this little guy on her foot.

The famous kouros brothers (please don't ask me their names).

They were on their way to the festival of Dionysus but their cart broke down. Their mother really wanted to go but couldn't walk because she was sick. The brothers then carted their mother over to the festival. Later, the mother went to the temple to give thanks and asked how to make her sons die the happiest men alive. The next morning they were found, like this, dead but immortalized in stone. That day was their happiest because they served their mother and the gods. (I think that's how the story goes).

Me and the view from Delphi.

Greek risotto. Delicious.

Beautiful little church.

The day before, when we went to Delphi we couldn't go to the Temple of Athena because they were doing construction. I really wanted to see it, so the morning that our bus was leaving, I woke up really early and walked down to see it myself. It was a hike, but it was worth it.

I love you, Delphi.

Catching Up (Olympia)

Olympia

Olympia was a very, very small town- but here is a photo of our hotel:

It had an amazingly large swimming pool and it was so nice! I think it may have been 11 or 12 feet deep so I did a lot of diving in which is always very refreshing in the hot sun.

The site we went to visit, was of course, the Olympic ruins. Here, the ancient Olympic games were held. Even though pretty much everything left was only a a fifth of what it used to be (or not there anymore..), you could tell that this was a gigantic place. I couldn't even imagine what it would have looked like to see it as it was meant to be seen.

Here I am with a Greek tablet. The room used to be (something else) but was turned into a church, so the tablet says things about Jesus and his divinity.

These were pedestals for statues.

An Ancient Wonder of the World:

The Temple of Zeus

That single column is actually a replica, to give an idea of

what the temple would have looked like (i.e. it was huge).

Entering the stadium...

where races were held

Professor Engen, showing us the proper way to start

(my feet photo at the top is the correct positioning for your feet)

Tholos tomb

And of course, after the site we always go to the museum.

Here is a pedament:

The helmet of Militiades, the general at the Battle of Marathon.

And, funny story.

When I first flew to Athens from Philadelphia, I sat next to this guy on the plane who was an incoming college freshmen at Yale. He said he was Greek and that he went to Greece every summer to stay with his grandmother in Thessaloniki. He also fluent in Greek, so he taught me some words (which were really, really helpful) and when the plane ride ended and we got past passport control, we said good luck to one another and were on our way.

The trip continues, I go to Athens, Nauplion, Sparta, and then here, to Olympia. At the hotel, I'm walking out to lecture and I pass some people entering the hotel- one of which is none other than Marios, my 9 hour plane trip buddy. WHAT?!?!

And after that, I run into him here, at the Olympia museum.

And then I see him again at the Delphi site, completely randomly.

After I get home and post my photos on facebook, he leaves me links to his photos,

which are of the exact same places as mine, showing that we were pretty much

at the same places, just at different times.

Amazing.