Walk like an Egyptian (I had to right?)

My plane flight to Cairo was delayed and so I spent some time in the Milan Airport reading Imagined Communities and people watching. I flew EgyptAir and discovered that their symbol is the Egyptian god Horus and appropriately a falcon that was worshiped for protection. (When I went to the Egyptian Museum he was everywhere!) They even had his symbol on our seat belts! The plane ride was my first alone, and the longest one I had experienced since our flight to London. However, it was only three and a half hours I think. I had plenty of room too, because the seat between this guy and me was empty! They gave us a late lunch that was interesting and the movie Matchstick Men played. Before too long, they made an announcement that we were getting ready to descend and I looked out the window and saw Cairo all lit up! It was exciting and I also thought it was funny to see sand along the runway! I felt bad for being so late, and the luggage took forever, but once I bought my visa and made it past all the people I found Uncle Mark! Uncle Mark and Musa (their driver) had just gone and got tea after calling the airline and finding out the plane was delayed. We made it back to the Breckell's apartment and I told them a little bit about Ashley and my travel over some dinner. The next day I enjoyed a relaxing day at the apartment. Instead of updating my blog, I did some Essex stuff and went on Pottermore!!! It was so fantastic I was finally able to go on :) Later that evening we went to Aunt Stacy's ultrasound appointment. I got to see my little cousin! He kept blocking his face with his hands, but we could still see how adorable he is.




The next day, Wednesday, Uncle Mark and I went to the Pyramids of Giza and the Egyptian Museum. It was a very enlightening trip because we went with a tour guide. I realized that I hardly know any Egyptian history!! It also was an incredible experience of course! Egyptian tourism has been down since the revolution and there was hardly anyone there! It was not the typical packed place a national monument would have in front of it and the souvenir industry has taken a hit. Apparently the prices of the figurines and other touristy stuff were super inexpensive! After hearing about the Great Pyramid of Giza, Khufu's pyramid, and getting an up close look at it's greatness we went down into one of the smaller pyramids! It was actually built for Khufu's wife (all the smaller pyramids that you don't think of are for the Queens). It was very hot, but really cool to actually go down into one. Going down into one of the smaller ones was plenty for me, I got the experience I think without having to go farther in bending down and walking down backwards. Plus I'm a wimp when it comes to breathing in dust and being drenched with sweat! Haha they are like ovens! Anyway, after seeing the pyramids up close, and learning a bit about each one, we drove to higher ground and saw all three of them in the distance! We got some pretty spectacular pictures as well. Next we went down to where the Sphinx is and heard all about how the ancient Egyptians prepared their dead. In the Valley Temple right next to the Sphinx, there are pink granite pillars and alabaster flooring where the mummification took place. Our tour guide, Izzat, told us a bit about the process and also a little about the ceremonial boats.




Seeing the last remaining wonder of the ancient world was undoubtedly one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! I got that same awestruck feeling I get in really historical places in Europe. Who would have thought even six months ago I would be going to Egypt?!!! (especially about six months ago when the revolution was happening) After we explored Giza, we were driving to go get some lunch towards the museum when we got stuck in traffic. It was really intense standstill traffic and pretty soon hordes of people started walking our way. It turns out it was part of the funeral for a top Egyptian official that had been imprisoned and had died the day before after being transferred to a hospital. They actually carried the coffin right next to our van! It was an experience we weren't expecting and it was cool to witness! After lunch at McDonalds we went to the Egyptian Museum!! It was built in 1897 and opened in 1902 so the building was fantastic in itself! I also got to see Tahrir Square and a burned building. When you first go in you can see how easy it would have been for the people to break in from the windows on the ceiling during the revolution. We saw the old security system as we walked in, there was just some security cameras they checked on frequently. Not very secure. Izzat explained that some of the gold statues that they retrieved back look kind of different from others, so it's not certain they are the real ones. In the beginning he took us on a tour of the most interesting pieces of the museum and gave us the history behind them. Our first thing we saw was the FAKE Rosetta Stone. The real one is in London, and it's just weird that they have arguably the most significant artifact for ancient Egyptian history as the stone allowed the hieroglyphics to be deciphered. However, a French officer was actually the one to read the Greek and realize the significance, so in a way imperialism allowed ancient Egyptian history to be fully explored. Actually a lot of the most famous pieces are in London, so i'm glad I can see them! Not to diminish Cairo's museum, we saw a lot of incredible pieces. It's so big and full of tons of statues and giant walls of hieroglyphics it would have not meant as much if we hadn't had Izzat to explain things. One of my favorite Egyptian stories is of Hatshepsut. She is the only woman to have actually been Pharaoh and not just a Queen married to the King of Egypt. She dressed as a King with the false beard and refused to let the previous King's son rule as Pharaoh because of his age, and she felt she had the right to rule. At the age of 33, the son finally ruled and previously it was thought he killed her to become Pharaoh, but then they found her tomb in Luxor. If he had killed her she wouldn't have a proper King's burial, so it was clear that she had just let him rule when he became a good age. Stories like that sound familiar from when I went to an Egyptian museum in San Jose and just from learning Egyptian history but it was so nice to have a guide to show and tell us so many interesting things! The museum actually has a whole floor dedicated to King Tut and what they found in his tomb. His body is still in his tomb in Luxor, however everything that was with him is on that floor! We saw the famous gold coffins and all his jewelry in the only air conditioned room as well! He had several thrones, a chariot, pretty much everything he would need in the afterlife of course! It was interesting to see all his shoes that showed him grow up as he ruled from age 9 to 19 when he mysteriously died. The story of the military commander and the high priest killing him sounded convincing to me! I just remember watching something on him in sixth grade and his DNA showing he had scoliosis, I remember the important stuff clearly! Honestly I was upset with myself for forgetting a lot of Egyptian history, ancient history is hard for me to imagine and not my favorite, but in the future I should take a class if I can. I won't describe everything we saw, however the mummified animals were cool! Especially the crocodile mom that had a baby in her mouth! But some kitties were killed during the mummification process, for cheap mummies. :( We like the cats that were revered in Egypt! Like Shwaya of course :) Earlier at the pyramids Uncle Mark actually got a cat statue, Bastet, the feline goddess they worshipped.




After our wonderful adventure to Giza and downtown Cairo we went home and Uncle Mark had a softball game. Aunt Stacy made a delicious stir fry for dinner and after we caught up on Grey's Anatomy! Although she has the last half to finish because I stayed up later. Although this is only a piece of my experience in Egypt I'll have to save the rest for later because I'm tired. We are really having a blast! xoxo Marissa

Oh Fashion Week in Milano

Ashley and I had an interesting time in Milan. Our hostel was more like a Motel 6 so it was nice to have our own air conditioned room and a bathroom. The staff didn't speak much English but they helped us when we were in a pinch. Ashley's flight to London was so early that the Metro was closed! Luckily they were able to take her at 5am in a shuttle. They also printed some stuff for us, after a look at Ashley's phone for a translation. "Stampa" means to print and we had been saying no we don't need any stamps haha. Hotel Gala also had a great breakfast buffet!! We didn't do much in Milan due to tiredness and the fact we forgot to wear tights with our dresses. Upon entering the Cathedral the police men pointed to the no entry sign with a mini skirt. Oops! We had remembered sweaters! We decided they were much stricter than some of the guards in Florence who let Ashley in with the same dress. We also were not able to see The Last Supper and this caused us to be bitter about Milan. In the planning stages two months before we had been unable to get a reservation, and hoped that this last minute website would work, but alas we couldn't see DaVinci's masterpiece in Milan. So we walked around a bit and made it to an interesting castle! We also saw elephant sculptures everywhere which was fun! It also was fashion week in Milan so we're pretty sure we saw models. There were giant white tents places, including right next to the Cathedral! There was a news station we passed talking about shows, and a hair and makeup place! There was a line so we are pretty sure that if we had waited we could have had our makeup done by professionals! Apart from the fashion week excitement, Milan wasn't as inviting or pleasant as other big cities we decided. (It could have been the Last Supper bitterness though) One such instance was when a guy trying to get me to buy bird seed for the pigeons in front of the Cathedral, was basically throwing the kernels at me!! Ashley told him to get lost and he proceeded to yell in her face, we managed to pick out the F word and it was not pleasant. We also could not find an internet cafe for our lives! In other cities it is so easy to find things! Basically the city just stressed us out. However the Cathedral is beautiful, and parts of the city are as well and I'm sure if we ever go back we will find it much better than our initial experience.

Singing I See The Light

I thought I would dedicate this post's title to the fact that ever since I started singing "I See The Light" from Tangled randomly in Berlin, Ashley and I have been known to randomly start singing it or when we are traveling we will listen to it on my iPod. Actually anytime really. Last night we played it after Backstreet Boys and sang along while we packed for Milan. Haha yay for having our own room. We also sang I'll Stand By You, by The Pretenders at the Victory monument on Berlin and these boys started staring. Haha it's my fault really, I don't know how these songs get stuck in my head! On planes we will also crack up when one of us says "There is something they aren't telling us...THERE IS A COLONIAL WOMAN ON THE WING!!!!" hahahah we just that was one of the only really funny parts of Bridemaids. Plus we travel on planes a lot! Surprisingly way more than trains. On 23/9/11 we woke up early again to go to one if the oldest and most famous art museums, the Uffizi! Home of Mr. Gregory's favorite Botticelli's and other great Renaissance and classical art. We saw it all some Rafael's, DaVinci's, Michelangelo's, Giotto's. So many! I liked seeing one of Duccio's famous Madonnas. Sienna and I did a whole project on him in AP Euro and we painted a giant cathedral with glitter on the poster board. It was awesome, I'm not going to be modest haha. Duccio isn't as famous as Giotto and his worn doesn't capture Giotto's emotion, but he is special to us. My favorites were Botticelli's Spring and the most famous Birth of Venus. His faces are just so beautiful! This day in Firenze was terrible for my allergies! (update just had a cold) It was the worst I have ever been I think. I constantly was stuffed up and would sneeze and need tissues like no other, my little unopened pack is gone now. In the Uffizi gift shop there was Birth of Venus and Spring tissue packs but as I explained to Ashley..."I don't want to wipe my nose on Botticelli" hahahahh. In the Uffizi there was also a cool post office where you could get stamps of the art and also jewelry that showed what painting it was from. So great. After we experienced that slightly uptight, but cool museum, we took a leisurely stroll around Firenze and shopped! For things like postcards though because we can't afford the fleur de lis earrings we want on the Ponte Vecchio! Also in case I forgot to mention the Ponte Vecchio is Florence's oldest bridge that was spared by the retreating Nazi's during WWII. It's beautiful and super touristy like a lot of Florence and jewelry shops line the inside of the bridge. We walked through it multiple times a day because it was on the way to things from our hostel. However when going to our favorite gelato shop where Ashley would get chocolate orange and I would get a strawberry coconut mix, we used a different bridge haha. On one of our many walks throughout the city that day we found Palazzo Strozzi which is a palace that was built to complete with the Medici's but I think Cosmo actually took and it was finally returned to the family 30 years later. Inside this building that has a open roof, there are benches, arches and pillars. It is marvelous and has free wifi! There was an exhibit upstairs but we decided to save our money, enjoy the internet and get off our feet. We went shopping some more, headed back to our Pitti residence and then set out for dinner. I didn't want to spend too much, and I can be picky haha so we walked a bit looking at menus until we found the perfect little place! We think it is pretty popular because there were a lot of reserved tables and so busy the whole time we were there. I got spaghetti with tomato sauce and Ashley got pesto. For our first time Ashley said yes to vino (wine) and they brought a half liter pitcher haha we probably could have done well with a quarter one. We did manage to drink some though! Haha at first I was not liking it, but we got the full Italian experience. And then we got gelato for the last time in Florence and passed out at our hostel.

Right now as I write this we are traveling on a train to Milan. I am also listening to the Beatles but just switched to Disney songs. For the first time we were separated because these tickets actually have compartments and seat numbers! But I like compartments because of the Hogwarts Express of course.(Speaking of which, I finally got my Pottermore email!!! I basically freaked out this morning while Ash was in the bathroom, too bad I can't go on yet!) When the trolley came by I got a chocolate frog! Haha I actually didn't get anything because the wonderful Ashley had ventured out and got me a muffin earlier. It's our last time traveling together though! (and we are not together haha) After Milan I head for Cairo and she goes to London! Craziness. Ciao Bella!

I was behind sorry! Now need a Milan one

We are not in Berlin anymore

On 22/9/11 we started our day super early to go see il Duomo! The church is officially called Santa Maria del Fiore but everyone just calls it the Duomo. It is actually the third largest church in the world behind St. Peters and St. Pauls. Last time I was in Firenze I didn't actually go up to the top, I just stared in awe! So I was super excited this time. While waiting for the dome to open Ashley walked over and got us some croissants and she got her expresso. Then with only about 10 people in front of us, they opened the doors and we climbed the four hundred and something stairs! At first we just thought that we were going up to the edge of the dome to view the inside of the church and look up at the paintings, but we soon realized you kept going! We were so excited! Some of those stairs are so steep and the climb is not for the feign-hearted, but it is so worth it! Part of the time you realize that you are climbing alongside the dome itself! Brunelleschi's brilliance is unbelievable and the view is incredible once you get to the top. Luckily since it was so early there was hardly anyone up there and it was cool. Imagine climbing those stairs in the heat! People were so friendly and everyone got wonderful pictures. After 15 or so minutes we soon lost the peace as hordes of people made their way up. We decided to start heading down but until you get to a certain point there isn't a separate exit so another couple and us had an interesting time running down the stairs during a gap and then moving to the side haha. Once we got down, we went over to the baptistry and took pictures with the door. It's so amazing! Then we headed over to the Academia Galleria to the David! I also had never seen Michelangelo's real work, only the two copies in the city. The gallery was designed for it and besides the Rape of the Sabine Woman there was just some Florentine art and unfinished Michelangelo statues. Everyone pretty much just stares at the statue until their neck aches. Luckily when we went to the museum it was still early so our line was pretty short. I love the way Michelangelo captured his eyes and how you can see the human in David, like his veins! So incredible. We went for a dinner that night in front of the Duomo! It was great, I had the best lasagna ever! Ashley got the smallest beer for 4 euros! Hence we are not in Berlin anymore. Our waiter also told me that my name is Italian which makes sense because Maris is Latin for "of the sea". However this waiter and the owner told us we should come back for drinks "on the house" at ten. Naturally we did not take them up on their offer.. Haha Ashley and I have had interesting experiences this trip. We went back to our hostel and were able to skype with our parents before we passes out from exhaustion.

Firenze

21/9/11 The morning we woke up in beautiful Florence we took our time getting ready for the day. It was so nice just to stroll around looking for breakfast but not feeling rushed. Our hostel is amazingly old and right across from Pitti Palace so it's a really short walk until you hit the Ponte Vecchio. It's also great that we have our own little room! On our adventure to find shampoo and face wash we actually ran into one of Ashley's Cal Poly friends that is doing the architecture program here! It was pretty awesome, and Kristina invited us to her apartment for tea later that night! We managed to find a market and I got some shampoo and Ashley just had to guess on the face wash, unless she wanted to spend 17 euro on the Cetaphil we found haha. We got some waters and yogurt too, haha I'm obsessed with European yogurt now. We next decided to head to Santa Croce Church. It was funny because we both knew we wanted to go their from reading the night before but couldn't remember why! As soon as we went in I recognized it from our last trip! We got to see Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante and Machiavelli's tombs! Although Dante's body is actually in the place he died. Franciscans saved Galileo's body and finally he was given a Christian burial way after he died. It's amazing how they were able to hide his family and his body from the Church for so long! Monks are awesome. And Michelangelo wanted to be buried where he died, Rome! But someone convinced others that since he had family here it was meant to be. Santa Croce was also amazing because in the museum you can see the restored works they were able to save after the horrendous flood of 1966. We saw a lot of other tombs too that I won't list but know from my limited knowledge of Italian history. There was some works by Giotto and Brunelleschi too! After we went back to our room and decided to head out for lunch and get a good view of the city to see il Duomo and the buildings of Palazzo Vecchio. On our way walking we found a really good gelato shop and started heading up the hills. The problem was that I had no idea how to get to Palazzo Michelangelo and we found this spot that might be it on the map and went that way. Haha it was this abandoned fortress and there were signs about how people had died. Needless to say we were not going to go up there, and it was so quiet and very eerie so we started walking back down towards the center of the city. But the road that followed didn't have a sidewalk so that was an adventure as well. It was very pretty because it was next to the old wall but terrifying with cars flying by! We walked down and found a tower that you could go up that had just recently opened called Niccolo Tower I think. It was gorgeous. Ashley got her view and we realized we were so close to the Palazzo we were looking for! Haha but after climbing all those steps and walking up hills we decided to save that for the next day. We went back to our hostel for a bit and then set out for Kristina's apartment. They live pretty close to the duomo and it was very pretty at night. We got to her apartment and she served us some tea and biscotti, we met her roommate Jessica too. They have such an adorable apartment that was decorated when they got it and then it had their figure drawings. After finding out that we hadn't had dinner Kristina made us some pasta with fresh eggplant and it was delicious! Then we all went out for a walk and some gelato we ate on one of the bridges over the Arno. It was a great night and we were pretty excited to hear how they liked studying abroad so far, it's safe to say they loved it. :)

Manic Monday in Paris

We began this hectic day by thinking we only had four things to do and we thought it would be less stressful than the day before! We were completely wrong haha. So we had been too lazy to go downstairs and print a reservation for the Eiffel Tower and decided since it was so late to do it in the morning. In the morning we realized it had to be a day before..oops! So wearing light sweaters, dresses and tights we set off for a long line at Tour Eiffel. We didn't realize how windy it was until we got off the metro. We were so cold! Standing in line was pure torture but since I had never been to the top I felt I needed the experience! We then realized the very top was closed, but we were almost there! So I settled for the second level and we took some photos. Then we saw that they had opened the top and beat the queues by finding a different ticket machine but it only took large coins so it was a close one! We were so excited! And going up the elevator to the top was sort of scary as you looked down, it is a thousand feet high! Once we got there Ashley got some champagne and we had a marvelous time finding various landmarks and enjoying the view. It was really exciting! Well somehow when we finally made it back down and ate lunch at this adorable American cafe it was already 14:00 or 2 pm! We waited for ever and we had spent a long time up there too apparently. Luckily the cafe with tons of French teenagers, was awesome! We had hamburgers and they sold all kinds of American candy, soda, cereal, and food in general! It was so funny to see all our brands and we had missed burgers. My favorite was the kraft macaroni and cheese! But it was all super expensive of course. So putting the Louvre last on our list, we managed to make it to the Hotel de las Invalides and see the Dome Church! I had never been and I was excited to see it! The front is incredible, the gilded dome was definitely cool to see up close. I liked the history of how Napoleon's tomb made it in there as well. Louis-Philippe had it commissioned after he was voted into the new Republic. Napoleon had actually wanted his ashes spread on the banks of the Seine I believe. Along with a couple of Napoleon's relatives there are other important French military generals, I wish I had known more about but we were on a time crunch so I couldn't find anything to translate fast. After that, we decided to head to Notre Dame because we feel you can't go to Paris without visiting. On the way I'm pretty sure the strangest occurrence yet happened to me. Ashley was walking behind me and I was trying to tell her something so I wasn't looking in front of me. A man walked straight up to me and snorted super loudly at me. He was so close and I just stood frozen in utter shock and terror actually. Ashley said later he was like a beast and he was given the nickname pigman. But seriously it's hard to describe how weird and kinda scary it was haha. Anyway back to Notre Dame...It always amazes me how old it is and I'm grateful Victor Hugo led that campaign to restore it after the revolution! As the 850th anniversary is happening (or something close to that number) they were also doing some restorative work on the sides. After admiring our favorite rose window, we went over to the Justice Palace and made our way over to Saint Chapelle. We both had never seen the famous stained glass there. It had been restored recently and the windows are truly indescribable. The difference between the restored and unrestored was definitely apparent. But the light coming through was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. But we didn't stay as long as we had wanted to because the Louvre was closing in an hour and we thought we could at least see our favorites. Alas, after literally running through different metro stations at times we didn't make it! Even though technically it was still open for a little more than a half hour. We went outside and took some pictures in front of the pyramid and relaxed. We were pretty dead. Ashley would have passed out at our hostel if we hadn't eaten yet. After an hour or so at our hostel in which I got to skype my dad, it took a lot out of us to put our coats on and venture out to Montmartre for some dinner. We got some crepes as well, I tried just plain sugar and decided though it was good nothing can beat nutella! We also took a look at the famous Moulin Rouge while it was lit up. We didn't even shower before we went to be and I failed at catching up on blogging! Also we couldn't stop laughing before we went to bed about pigman... I'll occasionally see Ashley start cracking up and she's reliving it, apparently my face was priceless, i'm pretty sure she would have had the same reaction! I'm on the train to Florence currently after we flew into Pisa, yay Italy and pasta! <3

Waterlilies, Mirrors and a Crepe!

We were very tired yesterday morning. Our trip's traveling is catching up to us. After breakfast we set out in the slightly cold Parisian morning and went to the Sacre Coeur, which is a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ. Up at the top of Montmartre, it has so many stairs to climb up, but once you are there it is magnificent! It is the second highest point after the Eifferl Tower. The church was built by businessmen who swore that if Paris was saved from destruction in the Franco-Prussian War they would build a church. It was finally completed on the onset of WWI so they waited until 1919 for it to be officially consecrated. After Sacre Coeur, we went to the Musee de Orsay and saw a bunch of beautiful impressionist and postimpressionist works. There were tons of famous paintings that we saw as well as a couple of statues we recognized. The Van Gogh's were incredible and the Degas, Renoir, Manet, Monet, I could go on forever. I love seeing paintings from history textbooks as well like "dancing at the moulin de la galette" - Renoir and "Olympia"- Manet. So crazy to see things in real life! We then headed to the Musee de l'Orangerie to see Monet's waterlilies. They were so pretty and huge! They cover whole walls, so seeing them in person is a unique experience and awesome to get their full effect. After Zurich, Orsay, and the Orangerie we feel like we have seen so many! It's amazing. We then got some lunch and headed for Versailles because we realized it is closed on Mondays! And I really wanted to go there because art is more of Ashley's thing, and history is mine. The Palace of Versailles is so grand, it amazed me again even for the second time. I adore the cliche rooms, haha of course the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's bedroom. The hall of mirrors I could spend so much time in if the hordes of people weren't so much of a deterrent. I just imagine how it must have felt to the people who had never looked at themselves in a mirror before! And Marie's bedroom is so great because you can see her escape door she used! We couldn't go to the gardens because they had some special show our pass didn't cover, but we did see them at least. And I'm glad I've walked through them before. We got some dinner in the Latin Quarter and while Ashley ate and got coffee I went quickly to the Pantheon to see if it was still open because it was 6:30 already. It was closed but Ashley didn't want to see it anyways and we saw the front which is always amazing. But I would have likes to see the inside and Voltaire's tomb again. We did find a flea market in the Latin Quarter and wished we had space in our luggage, there were so many cool things! We finished our day with taking the metro to our hostel worn out and then trying to find food. All I wanted was yogurt and a nutella crepe, they were amazing :)