Christmas in Rome!

Our first week of winter break was spent in Rome, where we played tour guides for our parents as we took them to the tourist hotspots while showing them some of our favorite restaurants (and gelateria!) and hangouts. Our apartment for the week was right down the street from Campo dei Fiori, the neighborhood we know best. We spent two full days exploring the Ancient Area, where the many imperial forums and the Colosseum are located. We also took some time to visit places we had not yet seen, such as the wonderful Borghese Gallery and the impressive temporary exhibit in honor of the 2,000th anniversary of Emperor Augustus's death.

The Roman Forum

The Mouth of Truth

Carolers in our piazza!

Our parents' first gelato!

At Villa Borghese

For Christmas we spent the day relaxing, enjoying time with each other, and being extremely grateful to be able to celebrate this holiday together in Rome! While it wasn't the same as being back in California, it was wonderful being in a city full of so many beautiful places and generous people, and in a city we have come to love. In true Italian style, after dinner we celebrated Christmas with Christmas gelato! And it wouldn't have been Christmas without the Kearney-Woods Peanut-Butter Balls, thanks Mom! We hope all of you also had a lovely Christmas with your loved ones!

The piazza our apartment overlooked. 

Getting into the Christmas spirit! 

Christmas Lights!

Of course, we also visited St. Peter's and the Vatican museums, which are always impressive. While waiting in line to get into St. Peter's on the 26th, we noticed a crowd beginning to form and sensed something was about to begin. Everyone was looking above our heads at the apartments, but we had no idea what was going on. Once we passed security, we rushed to a big screen as Pope Francis came to the window to speak! We traveled as far as we could without leaving the area to try to get a full view of him as we spoke, but only could get so far as seeing his hands move as he talked. We still saw him on the big screen and heard him speak, so for not expecting to see Pope Francis it was a wonderful surprise and a great highlight to our spectacular week in Rome!

The nativity scene at St. Peter's. 

Pope Francis!

Ending the Semester on a High Note!

To celebrate the end of finals and to (sadly) send off some of our new Rome friends, we went back to St. Peter's Basilica to climb the dome. We took the elevator to the top of the basilica before continuing to climb the stairs within the dome. In order to begin our climb, we walked inside along the dome ceiling, where we could look below onto those inside the basilica. We continued up various staircases and ramps, walked along a tilted walkway, and finally arrived at a spiral staircase that was so small that a rope dangled from the top to act as a railing. The climb to the top of the Dome is not for the faint of heart! After a long journey to the top, we finally achieved our goal and got an impressive view to show for our travel! We arrived at the top just as the sun was setting and it was getting dark, so we watched as the city transformed into brilliant lights. It was a perfect way to end our first semester in Rome! 

The view from the dome!

Our fearless group! (Megan, Stephanie, Jennifer, Tess, and Katie)

After a whirlwind week of finals and emotional goodbyes, we'd like to look back on our first three months residing (and studying) in this beautiful eternal city. It seems as if our first days here were only last week, when we were in awe and even a little intimidated by being thrust into this new culture and vibrant city. While we no longer get as lost as we did those first weeks, we have yet to lose our fascination with Rome and what it has to offer: its delectable cuisine, unique culture, inspiring art and architecture, and its incomparable historical presence. Every day we come across something new, and we have no doubt this will continue next semester.

These first months in Rome would not have been the same if it hadn't been for those who have shared so many memories with us, from getting lost in the many small streets to spending evenings at our local hangout, from deciding that it's a "three euro night" at our favorite gelateria, Fridgidarium, to climbing the dome of St. Peter's. We are extremely grateful to have made so many life long friends in this short time (you know who you are), and we will always have these months of memories to laugh (and sometimes cry) about.

While it is sad to say goodbye to those who have gone back to the States, we are excited to be spending Christmas in Rome and New Year's in Florence with our parents (yay!), followed by a week each in Paris and London before returning to Rome for our second semester. This is only the end to the beginning, with so much more to come!

End of Fall Semester Adventures!

During our last week of classes and in between course papers, studying, and finals, we were able to get in some sight seeing within Rome. Here are a few of the highlights:

Tuesday (12/3): We took a break in between classes to go into St. Peter's Cathedral to marvel in its beauty and opulence. The highlights of St. Peter's were Michelangelo's heart-wrenching "Pieta," and Bernini's Baldacchino. The amount of sculptures and artworks are astounding, and it's amazing to see the condition of the basilica knowing that it dates back to at least the Renaissance. 

Wednesday (12/4): We were fortunate enough to have tickets with our program to go to the Papal Audience. Arriving at what we considered to be early (about 2 and half hours before the Papal Audience supposedly would begin), we found that hundreds of people had already claimed their spot near the front or along the sides of the audience area so that they could get the best possible view of Pope Francis. While we weren't very close to the front, we managed to get seats close to one of the sides in hopes of getting a good view of the Pope as he passed by. As we sat in our seats in the chilly morning, the cardinals who were designated translators for the Pope, took turns welcoming different groups from the respective countries based on language. When the English speaking cardinal came up to speak, we were pleasantly surprised to hear our group, "The Students and Faculty from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana, Rome Program," announced to the audience. It was nice to know that Pope Francis knew we were there! 

Finally, the moment of Pope Francis's entrance was imminent, and the restlessness and excitement of the crowd was overwhelming. Suddenly, a loud cheer came from the front, and from one of the TV screens we saw that the Pope had arrived in his little Pope-mobile. The sentiments of the audience were infectious, and all of us began cheering and trying to get the best view of Pope Francis. Since everyone around us was standing on their chairs, we did the same and stood on our tip-toes to look over the many heads in front of us. Babies were kissed, pictures of the Pope holding various sports jerseys were taken, and many dreams were fulfilled by witnessing Pope Francis firsthand. When he finished his rounds, Pope Francis sat down and the audience commenced. After Pope Francis spoke, each of the cardinals came forward to summarize his speech in their respective languages. We finished with the "Our Father" in Latin. While we didn't understand most of the languages spoken, it was cool to be able to pick up a few words here and there in both Italian and Spanish. It was an enjoyable and captivating experience, and we can't wait to go again next semester!

Friday (12/6) to Sunday (12/8): Our last free weekend of the semester we spent in Rome re-visiting some of the main sites and seeing some new ones. On Friday, we practiced our tour route for when our parents would come, where we stopped by our classroom building, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo, as well as Via del Corso. It was amazing to see how much we had learned since our first days here not knowing where anything was! Saturday we went to the ancient section of the city, visiting the Mouth of Truth and the Capitoline Museum. In the museum we began studying for our art history and archeology finals with the Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius and busts of various emperors. We also took a brief break at the coffee shop on one of the upper floors of the museum, where we had a fantastic view of the city. The Capitoline Museum sits on top of Capitoline hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, and on top of the hill is a little piazza where the museum is situated around. In this piazza was a Christmas tree, and as we were leaving the museum, there was a military band playing. As we stopped to watch the band play, all of a sudden there were all of these photographers taking picture of a man standing in front of us. As people began to surround this Italian, we assumed he must be some important character. Later we learned that he was actually the mayor of Rome and he was there for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony! 

Monday (12/16): After a long last week of classes and a weekend full of finals, we took a little break after our Art History final to visit a notable work of art: Bernini's sculpture "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" in Santa Maria della Vittoria. One of our favorite qualities of Rome is how a relatively nondescript church can be so ornamental inside and house a famous work such as this. Seeing the "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" in person brought us back to our high school art history days, and it was even more captivating than we had originally imagined! Aside from Bernini's famous sculpture, the rest of the decorations in the church were exceptional. 

The Hills are Alive in Austria!

Our biggest adventure of this semester took place during our Thanksgiving Break, where we travelled to Salzburg and Vienna, Austria. Thursday was a crazy day of transportation! We flew into Vienna and had tickets for a train from Vienna to Salzburg, which of course departed less than an hour from our arrival in Vienna. To make matters worse, it took 20-40 minutes to travel from the airport to the train station, depending on traffic. Needless to say, once we landed in Vienna there was a mad dash in the airport to the taxi station, a taxi ride consisting of silent prayers and anxious looks at watches, and another frantic dash in the train station. The transportation odds were in our favor for we made it safely on the train with three minutes to spare! It was a very stressful 50 minutes, and we congratulated ourselves for our efforts. Our reward was a pleasant train ride through Austria as we headed towards Salzburg. 

After checking into our hostel, we headed to the old town of Salzburg. It took about thirty seconds for us to fall in love with this city as we walked in awe down the small streets bursting with lights and Christmas decorations. Although it was technically Thanksgiving, we welcomed the joyful Christmas spirit! We also got our first taste of Salzburg's festive Christmas markets. The lights, shops, and decorations were absolutely beautiful, and the markets even included a large Christmas tree and an ice skating rink. It was like Disneyland, but even better! While we walked the streets we stopped to treat ourselves to a traditional Austrian meal of sausage, potatoes, and sauerkraut, which proved to be a tasty replacement for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  

Christmas lights in Salzburg!

Our first walk through of the Christmas markets.

Our Austrian Thanksgiving meal.

Friday was packed with sight seeing, the infamous "Sound of Music" tour, and Black Friday shopping, "Austria Style." In the morning we took a funicular up to the fortress on the hill, Festung Hohensalzburg, where we found the most spectacular views of the city and the surrounding mountains. Although we've consistently said how beautiful the scenery has been on all of our adventures so far, nothing can compare to the mountainous countryside, not to mention the Austrian Alps, in the winter. 

The fortress had a smaller Christmas market, and it was here we tried the classic "gluhwein," or spiced wine, to help keep us warm. After we spent some more time exploring the fortress and admiring the views, we travelled back down to the Christmas markets for some traditional pretzels as a snack. We tried a cinnamon sugar pretzel as well as a cheese pretzel; both were delicious! We also visited the Cathedral of Salzburg and listened to a youth choir that came all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to sing! 

The Christmas Market at Festung Hohensalzburg.

The singing put us in the mood for the highlight of the trip: "The Sound of Music" tour!! Extremely excited for the adventure to begin, we boarded a big bus full of dedicated fans such as ourselves and a quirky tour guide ready to lead us in song. As we drove through Salzburg our tour guide gave us some interesting information about both the city of Salzburg and the history behind the film itself. For example, before "The Sound of Music" was filmed, a German film company produced a movie called "The Vonn Trapp Family Singers," which was close to the original book Maria Vonn Trapp had written. It took years (and a Broadway musical) before Fox Studios could buy the rights to their own production of "The Sound of Music." According to our tour guide, most Germans and Austrians know the German version of the movie and aren't quite as big of fans of the Fox version as the rest of the world is. 

Anyways, our first stop was at Leopoldskron Palace, where the scenes of the back of the house, such as the lake scenes, were filmed. Although almost completely frozen over, we could still recognize the scenery from the film and could imagine how beautiful it must look in the spring. Our tour guide threw a rock onto the lake, and as it skipped it made a musical sound. Quite fitting! On our way to the next stop we passed by places such as Nonnberg Abbey and Frohnburg Palace, which are private property and we unfortunately are not allowed into. We made our way to another palace which houses the Hellbrunn Gazebo, or as we know it, the "16 going on 17" Gazebo. Needless to say, there were lots of reenactments occurring outside of the famous Gazebo! 

Leopoldskron Palace

Frohnburg Palace

Nonnberg Abbey

Hellbrunn Christmas Market on the way to the Gazebo. 

The Gazebo!

We then took a longer drive into the Lake District of Salzburg, where many of the beginning panoramic shots were taken. We felt we couldn't be more in love with Austria as we drove through the countryside covered with snow, listening (and singing along) to the songs from the film. Our tour bus even stopped to let us take some gorgeous pictures of the mountains and lakes! Arriving in the small town of Mondsee as it was getting dark, our tour guide let us roam the main street for an hour, where we went inside the Mondsee Cathedral, the setting Maria and the Captain's wedding. Of course, there was a small Christmas market in front of the Cathedral, which only added to our delight. We also ate some typical Austrian apple streusel with vanilla cream sauce to warm us up. The town of Mondsee was very picturesque, with the buildings painted different colors and adorned with beautiful trim and the streets were lined with decorations and lights. It was the perfect end to our "Sound of Music" Tour, and while we didn't get to go inside some of these sights or get as close as we would have liked, the visit to Mondsee and the views we saw on the drive in the Lake District were absolutely worth it and only added to our experience. We have already decided that we need to take this tour again when it's spring or summer!

The beautiful Lake District of Salzburg

Mondsee Cathedral

Mondsee decorated for Christmas

Enjoying some apple streusel!

We were back in the old town section Salzburg in the early evening, which was perfect timing to spend the rest of the night exploring and shopping at the "Christkindlmarkt." While we didn't buy much at these shops, it was so much fun to walk around and take in all of the painted and wooden ornaments, candles, sweets, decorations, etc... We spent hours roaming from shop to shop, occasionally purchasing something that we loved, but more so allowing ourselves to experience this holiday culture. 

We woke up early Saturday morning to get in a few more sights before we left for Vienna. We went to Mirabell Gardens, in one of the central areas of Salzburg, where most of the "Do-Re-Me" song was filmed. Here our group re-enacted many of the scenes, such as walking along the fountain, running through the ivy tunnel, and standing on the famous steps. We were all giddy with our overwhelming "Sound of Music" fanaticism! We also walked across the Mozart footbridge, where the children and Maria run across in the beginning of that song, and we finally realized that one of the fountains that we had been searching for (the one shown in "I Have Confidence") was actually hidden by the Christmas markets all along! It was a very productive morning as a continuation of the previous day's tour. For lunch we tried Bosna, which is basically a sandwich containing two sausages covered with curry, some mustard and grilled onions. 

Mirabell Gardens

Cuckoo, cuckoo!

Bosnas!

We hopped on the train back to Vienna, where we didn't arrive until the late afternoon. Wanting to get in as much of Vienna as we possibly could in the short time period, we walked through the Museum section and part of the old town to see some recognizable monuments and buildings. We had a nice Austrian feast consisting of pork schnitzel and sauerkraut, and we tried one of Austria's classic desserts: sachertorte, which is a chocolate fruit cake. As we walked around the city we came across two more Christmas markets, one of them being a huge market in front of the Parliament building. Being a larger city, Vienna was a little more decked out with decorations than Salzburg; this market even had a small train-car to transport people around! We sipped on some Kinderpunsch as we walked around the stalls and enjoyed our last night in the cold yet festive weather of Austria. 

Vienna at night

More markets!

Megan, Stephanie, and Katie enjoying the Christmas spirit!

Before our flight back to Rome we visited the Schonbrunn Palace Gardens. For those of you who watch the TV show "The Amazing Race," this palace was recently a stop on the show, and the reason we knew it existed. While it was noticeably barer due to the season, the property was still vast and beautiful, and we took our time wandering around. There was yet another Christmas market on the grounds in front of the palace, and we had some delicious potato soup before it was time to go to the airport and eventually back to Rome. 

Katie, Stephanie, Megan, and Holly in the Schonbrunn Gardens.

The Schonbrunn Palace Christmas Market!

After considering all of the cities we have visited so far this year, we agree that Salzburg, Austria was definitely our most favorite stop. Its gentle, yet festive and welcoming atmosphere surpassed our expectations and convinced us that we will definitely be coming back to this wonderful city and country in the future. While it seems like we did a lot in our few days in Austria, there is still so much more to explore and experience, especially in different seasons. No matter what season, Austria has so much more to offer than it often gets credit for, and we look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

We will not say "So long, Farewell" to Austria, but rather, until next time!