Afternoon in Old Town
I'm doing my best to enjoy the last days of "summer" in beautiful Stockholm. I prefer to stay in town after school and I'm not coming home before late in the evenings. You have to take the opportunity before the darkness and tiredness take over the days. I'm also pretty sure that this was the last day I wore shorts...
Rome - part 2
Third day in Rome started with a visit to the Colosseum, which was one of the absolute highlights. The Vatican and the Renaissance in all its glory, but we are both more fascinated by ancient Rome and how Romans lived 2,000 years ago.
Here we unfortunately didn't have any prepaid skip-the-line tickets, and we refused to wait a few hours in the queue but wanted to get in (a tourist's gotta do what a tourist's gotta do) so we paid a extra for a guided tour and to enter directly.
The guided tour turned out to be the best we could have done, the visit was so much more worthwhile and interesting with a guide that could tell the story behind the Colosseum, about gladiators, the area around it, how it all happened, why it got destroyed and so on. It's a much better experience this way, if you love ancient history like we do.
The movie Gladiator is one of my boyfriend's favorite movies. You can only imagine what was going on in his head when we walked through the same entrance as the gladiators entered. MAXIMUS!!!
Can you imagine that there were lot of animals down here which they lifted up to the arena through trapdoors, and that they had functioning toilets at the top of the arena. 2000 years ago. I would like to tell you everything we were told but you have to make the visit yourself!
Most of what you see in the picture above, from the Colosseum to the long track, lies in ruins today. In the pictures below you can see how the Colosseum looked like once upon a time. It even had a flexible roof. And this was before the Viking Age in Sweden...
We also got a guided tour of the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Afterwards we walk around among the ruins.
A failed attempt to smile. He was too angry since we for the third time had lost too much money on no food at all... We only got eight freaking ravioli pillows each! With a service fee of 5 € also. Never eat at Piazza Navona. Never eat at fancy tourist spots whatsoever. Eat at McDonalds. Just some tips.
The best thing about being there in the summer were those nice and warm nights, perfect for walking. The worst thing was that we saw more tourists than people from Rome. When I am abroad, I love to see how people there live, how young people hang out and what they do, how it would be if I myself was living there. Since we mostly spent our time on tourist spots we unfortunately saw very little of that.
Beautiful Trevi Fountain, where it's usually crowded by tourists. We had to get there fairly early in the morning for me to get my own space by the fountain. Of course we also threw coins, which means that we will return to Rome.
Not far away are the Spanish Steps. I was a little disappointed when I saw that they weren't covered with flowers like I've seen in pictures, but that is apparently in May. Note to self: Go to Rome in May next time.
Nearby the Spanish Steps is Villa Borghese, Rome's largest green space. In the middle of the park there is a small artificial lake where you can take a boat trip, which we did, of course.
I was totally excited when we discovered a few turtles in the lake, we even got a baby turtle on our oar (along with a lot of seaweed). Then we noticed that there were turtles everywhere!
Wherever this yucky seaweed was, you could also find a lot of turtles chilling in it! I've never seen so many turtles, we couldn't even paddle by without touching them.
Rome is really the city of scooters. We wanted to rent one so badly, and would probably have done it if either of us had a driving license, even though it is dangerous in that traffic. But it seems so nice! Next time...
And that was the last of our wonderful trip this summer!
Back to the University
After three months of vacation, it was now time to head off to the School of Architecture again. Feels like I was there yesterday. However, there was a bit new for us - new examiners and new groups. It was really fun to meet everyone again and even though I didn't want my old group to shatter it feels good to get to know other people in the class a little better. Something else good is also that the first project does not begin until October. The whole schedule and layup seems much better this year. A good start in other words.
Rome - part 1
All roads lead to Rome! Last stop on our trip was in this beautiful city. If it weren't for all the tourists you would have the feeling of being in another time while you are here. Since we could walk to all sights from our hotel there was a lot of sightseeing on foot. Tiring, but so worth it - there is something beautiful to see in every corner.
Since we catched an earlier train from Ancona we could start our sightseeing the same day as we arrived. Pantheon was the first major landmark we saw. I have heard a lot about this building during lectures in architectural history...
One of Europe's largest domes with an opening that is 8.3 m in diameter. Yep, I'm a bit mindfucked by my education.
You should apparently come here when it rains because it rains straight through the opening in the dome. Unfortunately this was not something we experienced, but it sounds cool. A mega large indoor shower.
Our second day began with a visit to the Vatican and the Vatican Museum. To avoid standing in line, I had purchased skip-the-line tickets online to the museums. I can really recommend it, the queues were crazy long.
Here we walked around for a few hours, until it became too much of everything. Tip number two: If you ever make this visit in the summer, come here as early as possible. Later it's too much people and too hot.
Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling. You should recognize the painting at the top of the image.
From the Sistine Chapel we went on to St. Peter's Basilica. I don't know if we were allowed to take that way, but we hustled a bit and went with a guide group, jumped over a rope and voilà - we ended up at the front of the long queue that goes up to the church's dome. I am grateful that my boyfriend is good at hustling since I'm too kind for that (read: too much of a coward). We are a perfect combination when travelling.
After a lot of stairs (we were too cheap to pay for the lift), we ended up on the inside of the dome where you could see down into the huge church. We thought this was it, until we realized that we are supposed to continue up to the very top.
Going up there, there was no lift to choose and the stairs were narrow and claustrophobic, and began tilting the farther up you came. I can understand if people get a little panic here, there is no going back.
The view was worth all the stairs, though! I had to struggle a bit for this picture, everybody wants to stand here for a photo. If I'm good at anything, it's to fight for my photo and push aside all other people, haha. A true blogger.
Then we went down into St. Peter's again, the Pope's crib. It is really huge, and very beautiful.
Tip No. 3: Don't forget the water bottle! More experienced tourists (who had been in Rome for more than one day) all walked around with bottles that you can fill up everywhere in the city. After all stairs we mostly felt like lying on the floor.
Since we catched an earlier train from Ancona we could start our sightseeing the same day as we arrived. Pantheon was the first major landmark we saw. I have heard a lot about this building during lectures in architectural history...
One of Europe's largest domes with an opening that is 8.3 m in diameter. Yep, I'm a bit mindfucked by my education.
You should apparently come here when it rains because it rains straight through the opening in the dome. Unfortunately this was not something we experienced, but it sounds cool. A mega large indoor shower.
Our second day began with a visit to the Vatican and the Vatican Museum. To avoid standing in line, I had purchased skip-the-line tickets online to the museums. I can really recommend it, the queues were crazy long.
Here we walked around for a few hours, until it became too much of everything. Tip number two: If you ever make this visit in the summer, come here as early as possible. Later it's too much people and too hot.
Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling. You should recognize the painting at the top of the image.
From the Sistine Chapel we went on to St. Peter's Basilica. I don't know if we were allowed to take that way, but we hustled a bit and went with a guide group, jumped over a rope and voilà - we ended up at the front of the long queue that goes up to the church's dome. I am grateful that my boyfriend is good at hustling since I'm too kind for that (read: too much of a coward). We are a perfect combination when travelling.
After a lot of stairs (we were too cheap to pay for the lift), we ended up on the inside of the dome where you could see down into the huge church. We thought this was it, until we realized that we are supposed to continue up to the very top.
Going up there, there was no lift to choose and the stairs were narrow and claustrophobic, and began tilting the farther up you came. I can understand if people get a little panic here, there is no going back.
The view was worth all the stairs, though! I had to struggle a bit for this picture, everybody wants to stand here for a photo. If I'm good at anything, it's to fight for my photo and push aside all other people, haha. A true blogger.
Then we went down into St. Peter's again, the Pope's crib. It is really huge, and very beautiful.
Tip No. 3: Don't forget the water bottle! More experienced tourists (who had been in Rome for more than one day) all walked around with bottles that you can fill up everywhere in the city. After all stairs we mostly felt like lying on the floor.
This icecream shop near our hotel quickly became a favorite. Those mini icecreams were as delicious as they look!
Falköping & Gothenburg
Last week I went to Falköping to be with my lovely friend Jasmina for a few days, of which a couple of them were spent in Gothenburg with some more friends. We have had a really great time and did a bit of everything, from driving go-carts, playing miniature golf and partying to hanging around sheeps on Ålleberg, watching the sunset. It was wonderful to see eachother again and just get to talk about anything and everything. And now, unfortunately, we return to our long distance relationship and to missing each other again...
Living young and wild and free
I'm spending my time by just being. There are no musts and I do whatever comes to mind for the moment. The period after I got home I was ecstatic to meet with all my best friends. Coffees, dinners, barbecues, parties - the more in a day the better. Now it has switched to a slower tempo, and I continue to enjoy my free time. My boyfriend recently took his drivers license and we take every opportunity to just drive around. Tomorrow I'm taking a trip to the other side of Sweden to hang out with a very missed friend. However, when I get home it will be a little more activity here!
Split
We spent our last day in Croatia in Split. In the evening we would take the boat to Italy. It's been a long time since the last time I was in Split, I forgot how beautiful the city is! It was also the first cloudy and rainy day, which we didn't mind very much since we spent the day walking around in the old part of town.
While waiting for the boat, we sat in this cafe/restaurant/club in the port and enjoyed some delicious cake.
Then it was time to board the boat with a bunch of Italians.
To the right you see our door... First impressions were not the best. Our cabin was at the bottom, underneath two car decks, and to get to it we had to go through a maze of cabin aisles that made Viking Line and Tallink seem like luxury boats in comparison. We also got lost in the maze at one point and took an elevator that got stuck(!) between two decks. I began to hyperventilate before we managed to open the door and jump down to the floor. But the best thing was when my boyfriend, before we went to sleep, said "Remember that accident in Italy not long ago, when the boat tipped over and the captain fled?"
... Otherwise, it was okay!
As I fought for this picture! I just clicked and clicked until I captured the lightning. It was not the ultimate weather for a boat trip, but we were glad to leave the storm behind us. Talk about leaving in the right time.
We explored the boat a little and spent the rest of the evening in the casino before we went to sleep. Lucky that we slept through almost the whole trip, in the morning we noticed how much the boat rocked. My first thought when I woke up was that we were seriously about to tip over.
We were so lucky that the boat arrived a half hour earlier to Ancona, the train to Rome was leaving 8.25 and the next wouldn't leave until two o'clock (I checked all the details online before, so worth it). We fought to be among the first to get off the boat and threw ourselves into the first taxi and yelled "TO THE TRAIN STATION". After much running we made it to the train at the last second. It felt like being in Amazing Race, especially after our high five, haha. We basically got an extra day in Rome because of that!
Croatia
Croatia 2012. We spent ten wonderful days in Croatia, again in Tucepi where my family also was. I'm lucky to have a boyfriend who loves to hang out with my family, because having them close is real vacation for me. For once we were in Croatia more than in Bosnia, but in that heat there is nothing better than the sea!
The first night was Ribarska noc (how to translate it? Fishermen night? Fishing night?) and it was full of people in the harbor where you could listen to live music and buy grilled fish and other things for a cheap price.
When they started singing Zdravko Colics songs, I and his biggest fan, my mother, joined the crowd in front of the stage. You know that moment when you realize how much you are like your parent? It happens to me a little to often.
We continued the fish theme by fishing ourselves. I love it, even if it's only small fish. It is relaxing and you get a tan without even thinking about it, and not to forget the little rush of joy when you get a bite.
Note the fish at the front... He died fighting! Haha, excuse my sense of humor.
Some nights we went to Makarska to party. I've always been a bit anti-Makarska, but I must say I had some really great nights! In the end it's always about the company you're with.
As usual, we had a day of bigger waves that we played in as little children. As usual, I thought I would die a few times. At one point I had to choose if I should save my life or save my bikini trousers that came off. I exposed my butt to the whole beach.
Our cute gazda offered grilled fish one night, which must have been the most delicious I've ever eaten. As much as I love meat in Bosnia, I love fish in Croatia. Now I regret that I didn't eat more of it.
On our last night it was Heineken Night in Michigen. My brother and boyfriend wanted to go there only to get the t-shirts they didn't get last year. However, you have to drink several beers first, and they got no help from me who hates beer, so, cred to them.
We got quite hyped, however, and decided to spontaneously go to Makarska one last time, although we had not packed and was leaving the next day. But it was worth it.
Oh, I feel so much love when I see this picture. The world's best family that just had to take a lame family photo outside the bus before me and Jasmin went off to our next destination.
Stockholm Pride
I absolutely love the last picture of my mom! So much that I just had to post it on the blog. Had she been able to jump on one of the trucks to party a little, she would have, no doubt. When I saw these pictures that my dad took, I regret that I missed the festival, it is so festive and fun to watch!
Good food is for sharing
Me and my boyfriend have a new hobby: Barbecuing. We have always been experts at eating, but lately we've also had some very successful BBQs. Together with Natalie and Jp we always end up in a food coma afterwards.
Me, a.k.a. the grill master! Kidding. My boyfriend is the real grill master, I'm the meat poker. I poke it a little and go.
From one double date to another and from one dish to another. Maybe not the best planning for my poor stomach that was near breaking point, but we had a very nice dinner with Mia and Marcus, with very interesting topics of conversation. From the autopsy of the dead bodies to Japanese super toilets, haha. Nice!
The evening ended with a really fun night out with old friends from the hood. A very good day.
