I'm moving to Italy!

So about my big adventure of 13/14: Still in school and still young the world is full of possibilities and there are lots of things on my “100 things to do before I die” list and I’m not usually sharing to much of my personal life, but this 13/14 I see as one great trip. I’m going on exchange to Italy, my neighbors will be Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, haha… I haven’t gotten a host family, so I don’t know what city, hopefully somewhere near Rome. Or Tuscany. Or the sea...
   . I don’t know anything. I know about 20 Italian words and none of them will get me far on my own in a foreign country, with classes in a language that I don’t know. So it’s time to start an Italian course and a new blog. I will still tell you about the cities and the country here, but if you want to follow the life of an exchange student, visit: www.destinationit.blogspot.com (you can go just by clicking the link in the sidebar!) And check into my new life in beautiful Italy in September. I will launch the site properly later, just thought you all should know about it J

-Mari Clémentine

The Hard Rock List

So when I tell people I’ve been to 11 HRC’s just in the last 2-3 years a lot of people ask me: Which is the best one? Or better – Which is the worst? I have a top three, and a bottom one, and my experiences might surprise you. And by the way! This is all part of my "warming up for Belgium" posts, so if you want to keep following me and I'll take you to Brussels next week! Will Amsterdam or Brussels make this list?

The current top three is:

                          

1.  Hong Kong

This one is a live bar located on Hong Kong island out of the way for tourists. We were lucky enough to be placed by the bar, and what an amazing time we had! This is a must do in Hong Kong, and experience of few. The shop is small, I didn’t even notice much memorabilia, but it was the best.

2. LondonPrepare to see Beatles, Elvis, Queens, the Rolling Stone, the Cure, Michael Jackson, Madonna and the rest of the music world at once. The 10^th café we visited, was in the city were the first ever was opened and they have lovely waiters and a lot to look at. The shop is huge so bring your wallet!

                         

3. Venice
Ah Venice. Another place with great people working there, a nice shop and a lot of things to look at. Did I mention it’s a great place to escape from the rain? The first thing the waiter did was guessing where we came from and he were 100% right.

The bottom one is actually Paris, don't ask. But wherever you are in the world, the capital often holds a Hard Rock, and you get the same familiar taste and nice faces. Sometimes it’s a great escape from Chinese food (like in Beijing) other times it’s just a place for a drink (like in Venice and Florence) since the country already have great food. But it’s always there to welcome you home. So Hard Rock all the way!

Mari Clémentine

Top 5 things to do in Florence

So for me the plan of going to Florence came out of nowhere, but when I first decided to go and started researching the city I understood it was not very much to do so I planned on a trip out of town (to Pisa) and was ready for some lazy days. The thing is that much like Venice, Florence is not about the museums and attractions, it’s about the vibe. And beside that the top 5 thing to do in Florence was not written with big bold letters on the web, so I decided to make my own list.

1. The Gucci Museum

As you may have read in my “They never told me Gucci was from Florence” post I was absolutely thrilled over the fashion museum by Piazza della Signora. It was the most refreshing thing we did in Italy and I recommend anyone up for something different a visit to a museum with no lines, a lot of space and great aircondition!

2. Climb to the top of Florence

Across the river Arno is a hill and a series of roads and stairs that lead to Piazzale Michelangelo, named after the most famous of Florentines. The ones that know me know that my favorite place in Paris is on the top of the city, so me enjoying the view from the top of the hill shouldn’t come as a surprise for anyone and I really recommend going up at night, instead of taking a bus in the hot sun. Have fun, enjoy the view.

3. Eat the world’s best Pizza at CuccioloThis is not a joke. The small pizzas you get for 3,50 at the snackbar in Corso is really the best I’ve ever had. Ever heard of. Tastes best when enjoyed on a rooftop c:

4. Look at the Street PerformersFlorence has the best street performers in the world. It’s not an understatement. The painters are fantastic, the men painting on the ground are even more fantastic and the musicians are amazing. Crowds of over a hundred gather around and make the evening unforgettable. To find them check in front of the Duomo,  Piazza della Signora and Piazza della Republica. You’ll be sure to find many.

5. Rub the nose of Il Porcellino (The wild boar statue)              Il Porcellino is a statue of a wild boar standing by Mercato Nuovo. It is said that if you rub it’s nose you are guaranteed to return to Florence. So if you liked it, rub away!

Mari Clémentine



A silent airport

Edinburgh – London Heathrow – Stansted – Home.

It’s not easy going home, but I think this might be the first time I’ve been a little homesick and as my mom said: “We’re arriving Stansted now,” and we went off the bus I felt delighted to be one step closer to home.
    What we saw when we came in was a sleeping airport. People lying on the benches, the floor, some with pillows, others without. Many looked like they had just fallen over and right now I guess I’m among them.

The adventures over for this summer, but I won’t stop writing yet, I think
Come back for more,
Mari Clémentine

Pisa - Capital of Tourists

I have so much trouble getting up in the morning these days, but eventually we went to the train station to catch a train for Pisa. Pisa is the capital of Italy in the eyes of tourists not going to the rest of Italy, or so it seems. Never in my life have I met so many tourists on a train connecting two cities.

    Around Pisa we discovered a bunch of people speaking languages we could understand and we all came for the very same reason: The Leaning Tower. It’s actually the freestanding bellower of the Duomo and was constructed on unstable foundation – therefor it became the “leaning” tower.

    Pisa was hot. We crossed Arno River again. I ran into an Italian bookstore just because of the air-condition. Pisa: Not much to see but the leaning tower, but people speak great English! We were supposed to go on to Lucca or Volterra, but the heat were too much so we returned to Florence for one last drink at Hard Rock. Next stop: London, baby!

Mari Clémentine

They never told me Gucci was from Florence...

“You have very nice hair,” the lovley girl who had showed us the first floor at Museo Gucci told me. “Oh, thank you.” It was so nice to hear after trying to fix it all morning.

Florence has two great museums: The Uffizi Gallery and Accademia where Michelangelos David is standing. How did we end up with going to none of them? Don’t ask. Early that morning we went out to visit the Basilica di Santa Corce which holds the tomb of both Michelangelo and Galileo, it’s kind of a must, but not to interesting even though the church were rather nice, they were working on it and we did not get to see it in all its glory. So we went back to Piazza della Signora and that’s when I could not help myself. “Let’s go to the Gucci museum!” I said and dragged my mom with me to the entrance where a suit-dressed lady met us. “Do you wish to visit the museum?” she asked. I nodded and followed her. And that’s how we ended up at a fashion museum.
    The Gucci museum is the most fun thing we’ve done in Florence so far. They have different themes like travel and sport where you get different cards where they tell you about the different items you see and why they are as they are. In addition to that Paul Fryer also had a video installation and an exibition at the second floor. It was all such great fun and I would recommend it to any woman who cares about what she wears.

    

“Signorina bellina!” I smiled at the man in the restaurant door and went to the next door store to pick up some water and yogurt. This evening we ate at the Cucciolo. Snack bar again. Our we brought the pizza home and it’s really the best pizza I’ve ever had. It’s located in Via del Corso and you have to try it for yourself to get it – and it’s only 3.50!

   The rest of the evening we spent watching a fun comedian/talking pantomime clown who took people from the crowd and made them do fun stuff. People where gathering, hundreds of them, laughing and clapping. The man had been doing it for 29 years.

Mari Clémentine

Freezing in 30+ in Florence

This should've been posted after "Sunflowers", I don't know what happend, but here it is c:
So I got to sleep for a long time today. No one woke me up before ten to nine. How lucky I am. Packing was on my list last night, but I kinda ended up taking a shower and going to bed instead, so this morning I woke up, got ready, threw all my things in a suitcase and went to check out, it was time to take the train to the next Italian city: Florence.

    It is a three hour (on the minute) train ride to Firenze Rifredi, and with an air-conditioned train, I had a rather nice time on the train. The air in Florence was much cooler than in Rome it was a welcome change, but now, sitting out at the food terrace of our hotel, overlooking the Duomo, at ten o’clock, I am wearing both a jacket and a scarf. Yeah. I just came from Rome, please excuse my strange behavior.  

Mari Clementine

The painting

This is the story of how I made it up to myself when I bought a small oil painting for 50 euro at the top of Florence:

“Well… Actually it’s our painting I said,” looking at my mom as she had given me half of the money. “And I do love sunflowers.” She nodded. “And if it hangs on our wall for 500 days, that’s only 5 cents a day!”

“And we walked up here and if we hadn’t walked with would probably have taken some expencive night tour of Florence!”

“Yeah!”

“And that would have cost us 30 euro at least!”

“Our 60! And then we actually saved money!”

     Yes. That actually happened. Welcome to my world. But as you all know, since you of course read tis blog every day, I have a thing for sunflowers, and the oil painting was of a sunflower field here in Tuscany, so the money gods have forgiven me, right?

Mari Clémentine

Party at the Piazza

After walking around Basilica di Santa Corce for a while I think we both understood that we would never find that tourist information so we could get a map, so in the end my mom said “Let’s go to the river!” So we did, only steps away from the Basilica where Michelangelo and Galileo sleeps the river of Arno is splitting the city in two.

    We crossed the blue river and went out to explore the streets the tourists haven’t taken over yet and found a little shop where we bought a map, not that we have needed it much. The Duomo can be seen from pretty much all over the city and we live right next to it at a charming little two star hotel called Hotel Medici.

 For lunch we had pizza, bought in a tiny, tiny shop somewhere between Ponte alle Gazie and the beautiful Ponte Vecchio, eaten at a street corner. Dinner on the other hand was not so Italian as we have a tradition of visiting Hard Rock and this one were just across the Piazza della Republica, a minute or two from the hotel. The food was great, the drinks were even greater and it was good to speak with someone who actually understood English. So while watching music videos and resting between Rod Stewards shoes and Paul Stanly’s guitar we had a lovley meal.

    “I don’t get why people go to Paris or Rome for romantic holidays,” my mom said. “They should try Florence.” I agreed and we spent the rest of the evening going from Piazza della Republica to Piazza Signoria listening to the incredible street musicians of Florence.. The trio at Republica got an entire crowd of at least hundred watching, clapping and enjoying the fun men playing violin, accordion and bass. At Signoria the crowds from Uffizi sat down to listen to the man on the guitar, and later another one playing the flute. Further up the street, two more en at the accordion played classics like Toccata.

      We decided to climb up the stairs to Piazzale Michelangelo in the evening. From there you can see the whole of Florence and it was stunning, even better as the guy in front of the David Statue singing “Oh baby, baby, it’s a wild world,” and while dancing around up there I tought that everyone should know about Florence and come here instead of going off to Rome for their romantic springbreak.

Mari Clémentine

Sunflowers

Ah, the train. The air-condition. Love. We even had our compartment for ourselves most of the way. It was two years earlier, on a 7-hour long trip from Rome to Milan, I first saw the sunflower fields. I don’t think I’ve passed anything more beautiful during a train ride. So ever since that day I’ve had a thing for the sunflowers.

   As many of you may know I’m a writer. I write. I’ve written four books and writing in general is a great part of my life. It was only months after my trip to Italy I wrote a chapter called Grand Soleil (which means sunflower in French) where one of my characters gives a sunflower to my main person. It was set in the city of Paris.

 Sunflower fields of Tuscany

    Paris is one of my favorite places. I’ve visited the city several times and the autumn of 2011 we went there again. The first thing I see when we arrive in the city: A market where they sell flowers. Sunflowers.

    It wasn’t until this summer my passion for the flower started blooming again as I was walking the streets of Oslo with my boyfriend. We went cross a square where they always sell flowers out in the open, and there they were. Pretty, yellow sunflowers in a pot. And now not my home nor my hotels rooms are complete without a bouquet of sunflowers. So if anyone wonders where I am headed tomorrow, you’ll find me at the flower shop.

   Being back in Italy, on the very same track (from Rome to Milan) is kinda wonderful, kinda weird, but when it comes to seeing the sunflower fields again, I do not regret taking the train this time either. Florence, here I come.

Like a 14-year old in Paris

Mari Clémentine

It's hard to be a tourist in Rome

“What do you want?” she asked me and looked at me from the other side of the table. I shrugged. “I don’t know… I’m just hungry.” She laughed.  I hadn’t really done much but eating for the last three days. From breakfast at the hotel, to gelato in the streets, a Panini here and there, melon at the market, a pizza-slice for lunch and lovely pasta for dinner. Well about the pasta…

We started out this morning at 7 am to catch the 9 am walking tour of the Vatican Gardens. It must have been the warmest day of our stay and we went to catch a walking-tour.

    The Vatican is, as you may know, not a part of Italy, but a country of its own, so if you want to call someone from the Vatican gardens you will actually have to dial a country code. Yeah, that’s how official it is. Our guide on the other hand was a fun lady from Italy, who made jokes about the church and the Catholics all morning long. Unfortunately touring Vatican gardens is the only way you really can get into the Vatican (besides Musei Vaticani) if you’re not living there, but you have to be with an official guide at all times. Nevertheless we had great fun that morning, even though we ended up rather hot in the burning sun.

 

   

“Maggie!” I turned as my English-nickname was shouted out over Piazza di Spagna. I turned to find my good friend Lulu. I had met her in Brighton three years earlier, and hadn’t seen her since last time I visited Rome two years ago. “Oh my God!” I ran up to hug her and my mom was following slowly kissing Lulus mom on the cheek. It was a lot of screaming and a lot of “How are you!?”’s.

    There is something special about meeting old friends. In special those who live in another country that you have not seen in two years. We went walking to a little place where we always go called Antica Roma and sat down for drinks. There was a lot of discussing old times, school, travelling and not to forget weather. It was the hottest summer in Rome in a long time, it was the hottest day as far as we knew and at times I took myself in longing to London, which have about 13+ or so.

   The time went by fast and after some shopping in Via del Corso, maybe Rome’s finest shopping street, Lulu and her mom had to go and we said our goodbyes at the bottom of the Spanish-steps. “I’ll see you in a couple of years, Maggie!”

“Hopefully not to many,” I said and smiled.

     The sun kissed my skin a last time before it went down behind the churches of the city and we sat down in a lovely restaurant not far from our hotel called Pastarito where they served the most fantastic Pasta Carbonara with a -  quoting my mother – dangerously good wine. I ate until I got sick and then we headed back to Cicerone to pack our bags. Next stop: Florence.

Mari Clémentine

The Past and the Present

So as I’m taking things a little step by step these days I just wanted to tell you a little about the present as well as the past. Just for the record: I "just" came home from a couple of days in Paris and a week in Trondheim that was more about festival-life than anything else. It all looked a little like this (at least Paris did):

Tomrrow I’m flying to Rome to explore more of the Vatican and meet a friend of mine, then we are taking the train to Florence – a city I’ve never been to before, but I’m sure I’ll have a lot of fun in the sun. And how bad can it be in the land of gelato and pizza? (Pictures are from my 2010trip to Rome)

From Florence we’re flying to London, getting ready for a piece of West End and Harry Potter, with day trips to Brighton to walk down memory lane and Oxford to walk the footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien. After a couple of days in London we’re heading north to Scotland and Edinburgh to sit where J.K. Rowling sat and explore castles, lochs and bagpipes. I am so excited for this trip and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of stories to share with you guys, so stay tuned!

Mari Clémentine