Sicily

So far the first couple days in Sicily have been really fun. I probably won’t get a chance to post this blog until after I come back from my trip, but I will recall about my experience thus far.








On Thursday Leanna, Meredith and I skipped classes and got up early to catch a Terravision bus to Pisa airport. Our flight was delayed about two hours due to weather conditions in some other location, so we were off to a late start but once we got there things were downhill from there. 


Once we got into Palermo, we took a train into the city and from there it was about a fifteen minute walk to our hostel. Our hostel, ironically enough, was called Hotel Firenze. It was the cheapest place we could find (hey we are students!) and it wasn’t too bad… we ended up staying with this one girl from France. She appeared to be on a trip by herself. She seemed to understand and speak a little English, but we didn’t really communicate other than the usual “hello”. This was the first time I had ever stayed in a hostel with another random person. I guess you have to experience that while traveling on a budget at least once, right? Nothing else too exciting to report about the hotel- it had bunk beds and a sink…. Not even a bathroom!

Before leaving on the trip I asked Karin (our “mom” of the pensione) to help me find an Italy book that had information about Palermo and Agrigento (the other place we are staying at). According to the book, Sicily is known for their most drop-dead gorgeous ruins and architecture, amazing seafood (except I don’t eat it) and vegetables. One thing I noticed right away was the prices; they are significantly cheaper here in Sicily than in Florence for example. Palermo is best described as a fishing village and a big city in one and Agrigento is known as the Valley of the Temples where you can time-travel back to the 5th century B.C. One cultural thing I noticed were the men was even more vicious and aggressive when trying to talk to you. We got honked at many times and even a few of the locals (one being our waiter at dinner last night) were trying to take us out last night after dinner!

Palermo reminded me of Florence to many degrees. The narrow streets, the cobble stones, the Tabacchis, bars and architecture were very similar. One other comment- I have been forced to use all the Italian I know here because pretty much NO one speaks English. And if they do, it really is only a few phrases. Leanna and Meredith have only taken 101 so I have been the main interpreter/main talker the past few days. It has been challenging at times to get my point across (or ask the right questions), but it definitely is good practice for me. The dialect here is very different though than in the other parts of Italy. Even when I speak slowly and use my best annunciation, the locals sometimes do not understand what I am trying to say (even when they repeat what I think sounds exactly the same as what I had just said).

When we first got to Palermo on Thursday we relaxed for awhile and then just walked around and found the local market that sold really random stuff along with some fruits and veggies. The markets in Palermo are known for their souklike Arab features in their customs of selling and buying in their colors, odors, and items on display. After we walked through the market, we tried to find a restaurant to eat at, but it was so early in the day that nothing was open yet. We ended up embarking on the huge shopping street. Those who know me would probably think I went crazy here, but my shopping days have been put aside temporarily because of the drastic costs of traveling. It is definitely worth it though! However I do let myself get a postcard or two at every location; also I promised Chris (boyfriend) that I would get him a little something from every location I go to after he left Florence. Another observation I have found is that all the shops are displaying purples! I know it is a popular fashion feature or (molto MOLTO di modo) as the Italians like to say, but I saw stores that appeared to only sell purple clothing!

After searching for what seemed like forever for something to eat, Meredith and I ended up getting some sandwiches that a lady said were “molto buono” and we were set for awhile. We ended up walking to what we thought was the “coast” but didn’t make it very far because we were surrounded by boats and we couldn’t quite figure out how to get to the beach, or if that was even possible. Meredith was interested in viewing other things in the city, and Leanna and I were exhausted from traveling most of the day and from getting up super early that we just walked back and along the way we stopped at a villa with interesting trees (same ones as I talk about below), then we went to the grocery store, and hung out at the hotel for the rest of the afternoon. That night we went to a place to eat that my book recommended called Shanghai. Don’t be fooled by the name- it was by no means Asian food, but delicious, cheap Italian food! This little, very ugly restaurant lies in the middle of the Vucciria market (which I mentioned we visited earlier). Even though the entrance was unattractive, we knew we had to give it a shot because it was rated so highly in my book! I had some bread with olive oil and vinaigrette and some chicken. They kept trying to serve us other things like Apertivi (buffet style little meals) but we kindly declined. Later that evening we checked out the party scene on our street (turns out it was really hopping for night life). There were locals everywhere! We could barely make it back to our hostel it was so crowded. We felt a little out of place because no one really spoke English and they kept hitting on us, so we decided to call it a night.

The next day we took our maps and my guidebook and did a self tour of the Duomo and other various parts of the city. This church was built in the 12th century on the foundation of an earlier basilica that had been converted into a mosque by the Arabs. I really liked the architecture of this building- even though I must say I am getting a bit sick of churches (gasp! I know…). We ended up going inside and just before the entrance I saw some rosaries on sale and I remembered that my friend Emily asked for me to get her one if I saw one. I hope she likes it!  After our visit to the Duomo, we walked around and got a bit lost trying to find San Giovanni degli Eremeti. Apparently it is one of the best sites in Palermo to see, but we just got so frustrated not being able to find it (even after asking for directions) that we decided to go our separate ways and Leanna and I went to the Botanical Gardens and had a lovely time. I found some of the weirdest plants/trees I have ever seen in my life! The thing that baffled me the most was these trees that had several sections hanging down… very hard to describe and even the picture doesn’t quite capture the mysteriousness of these figures. We also saw bananas growing from trees, papayas and lots of various types of cacti!

Leanna and I met up with Meredith again later that afternoon and we hung out for awhile at our hostel and had another late dinner on the town. We went to another place that my book recommended called Antica Focacceria San Francesco. This is known for the best all-around dining bet in Palermo. We had a great time sitting outside the little restaurant. I ordered a lasagna-type dish and my friends got other various pasta dishes. It ended up being a bit pricier than we expected (they added a coperto of 3 euro each!) but it was worth it. This was the place I mentioned earlier where our waiter asked us to go out to town later. Of course he spoke no English but I could gather that he wanted to drink (bere), dance (ballare) and talk (parlare), and go out (uscire). He was nice, but a little too much for us. He originally slipped his number to me on a receipt and winked at me several times.

It was getting pretty late at that point, so we decided to just hit the hay because we had to get up fairly early to catch the train to Agrigento the next day. We caught the 10:35 train and we then figured out how to take the bus into the area where our camping site was. We are staying at this camp ground (much like the place we stayed in at Venice) where we have cabins with electricity, beds, etc. We ended up getting bumped up to a nice room with a toilet and shower without any additional cost so that was nice. We do not have internet here (hence the delayed blog post) but it is nice just to relax and be in a place that is not so crazy. Another nice thing about our mini cabin is that is has two bathrooms and a mini kitchen! We definitely have taken advantage of that so far because we cooked our dinner (tortellini and red sauce) and bought some eggs for tomorrow’s Breakfast. It definitely saves money to get food at the grocery store- for lunch we only spent a little more than a euro splitting cheese, baguettes, and salami. Yum!

Today we walked to the Valley of the Temples, which were amazing! The first temple we saw was called the Temple of Juno which was erected sometime in the mid-5th century B.C at the peak of a construction boom honoring the deities. Next we saw the Temple of Concord which ranks along with the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens as the best-preserved Greek temple in the world. Moving along we also saw the Temple of Hercules which is the oldest, dating from the 6th century B.C. After that we went to the Temple of Jove or Zeus, which was the largest in the valley, similar in some respects to the Temple of Apollo at Slinute, until it was ruined by an earthquake. The last temple we saw was called the Temple of Castor which has four Doric columns intact; it is composed of fragments from different buildings. Overall I would say the visit was a pure success… definitely worth the “schlep” to get there! The rest of the day we have just been studying, doing homework (yes, very studious students here!) relaxing, reading (I am currently reading Eat, Pray, Love) watching Gilmore Girls/OC and cooking. Very “chillaxed” as I like to call it.

So far I have preferred Agrigento over Palermo. Palermo was nice but it was very large and I prefer the more tranquility and “legit Italy” experience here in Agrigento so far. Tomorrow we are planning on going into the town by bus and also going to the beach, which is apparently close to our camp site. I am excited! I hope the weather is nice so perhaps (cross your fingers!) we can hang out at the beach in our swim attire and possibly catch some rays!

Ciao!

Note: Most of these pictures shown above are from my visit to Palermo's Botanical Gardens and the Agrigento Temples

Nice, Cannes, and Montecarlo

This last weekend was spent in Southern France. This is the third time I have been to France this semester. The first was to Paris in January and then I visited my cousin Julie in France in February. Both times I traveled with my good friend Cierra. This last weekend was with the Gonzaga group, so we all road together in one big Alterini bus.

We left on Thursday around 4:00 PM and had a 6.5 hour bus ride ahead of us to Nice, which is pronounced "Niece". Around 10:30 PM we arrived at our hostel, which turned out to be pretty interesting. It was located away from the city area (as usual haha) and up on a hill. It was actually called a "Villa". At the Villa there was a so called "chapel" that was reconstructed into a hang out area and bar. This was also where we ate Breakfast in the morning. I loved the Breakfasts at the hostel because it was equipped with a plethora of cereals! I miss having variety in my Breakfast diet. I am definitely going to be eating tons of eggs when I come home. Omelets anyone? :)

I went to bed relatively early that night after checking in. The next day I woke up early in the morning and had Breakfast with Leanna and the rest of the group in the Chapel. From here the group went on an optional tour to Nice centre with the staff.Nice (In Itallian they call it Nizza) is France's largest tourist resort and fifth biggest city. One of the first things we did on our tour was visit the daily flower and vegetable market in the Cours Saleya which is a shoppers' paradise. Leanna and I split some delicious raspberries at the market. The fashionable quarter is the Cimiez district, up on the hills overlooking the town, where the old monastery of Notre-Dame lies. After the optional tour, Leanna and I wandered around, took some gorgeous photos, and headed towards Casino Ruhl where we were meeting at noon with the rest of the group. The casino was located on the beach road called "Promendae des Anglais". This casino was very hyped up, but in my opinion it looked pretty trashy... especially since it was right next to a McDonalds- but hey! I had a kids meal there because I was craving chicken nuggets (if you can call them that ha ha). The casino did have a pretty cool looking chandelier though.

Anyways, we met back up around noon and hopped back on the bus for the optional rafting experience. The drive was about an hour to Breil-sur-Roya. Once we got there, we had to change in a sketchy area into these wetsuits and jackets. We all looked ridiculous! I must say though, they did a great job at keeping us warm. After we all got changed, we had another 7 KM ride to the river. We got some instructions from one of the instructors and then almost everyone hopped into their kayak rafts. The staff and about four other students hopped onto a large raft with an instructor because they were out of kayak rafts. I didn't mind though- I wasn't too sure how comfortable I would be at guiding a raft down the river with another non-expert especially since the river was very up high that day so it increased the rapids from a normal 2 to a 3... even 4 in some parts. Needless to say, many people fell in the water but we were trained on how to float down the river and no one really had much of a problem getting back into their rafts. I almost fell in myself because at one point our instructor told us to all lean towards the left and Peter (a staff member) and my friend Leanna (in the front) were quickly pulled off the raft. I was next in line, and at one point I was completely horizontal with half my body dangling in the water. The only thing that was keeping me up was my foot that was lodged in a single foot compartment. Also, I screamed for help and Shelley (who happens to be my finance teacher as well as the student life coordinator) gave me a hand and pulled me back up to normal position. Whew! Peter was lifted up by the instructor, and Peter in turn helped Leanna into the boat. Don't worry... it really was all safe :-D (this note is for my mom :-p )

Around 7:30 we left our hostel for Dinner in Nice at Taverne Massena. We had a tuna salad (gross) and pizza for dinner. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted legit French food, but I guess pizza was fine.

The next day we left for Cannes on our bus, which was about a half hour drive. 150 years ago Cannes was nothing more than an unimportant fishing village. Now it is equipped with tons of beautiful sites such as the Haute Ville, The Vieuz Port, and the rue Meynadier. We had a free day for visit and there was a beach nearby. Leanna, Meredith and I opted to follow Peter, because he always knows "what's up". He took us to a vintage market, and I got a gift for Chris there... and then we walked along the beach line where all the fancy shops and hotels are. We also got some lovely bread and brie and took it up to the top of a Castle that overlooks the city. We sat there on a bench and enjoyed our lunch and took more pictures. The rest of the day we chilled at the beach with a lot of the other GU students. So many people got burnt! I wish it was about 5-10 degrees warmer, because I definitely had goosebumps while I was sporting my swim suit. It was nice to get a bit of sun though... I didn't get burnt thank goodness! :)

That evening I just hung out at the hostel and had a couple drinks. It was pretty relaxing and well needed after a long day. I went to bed fairly early and woke up on Sunday feeling refreshed. We left for Cannes around 10:00 AM, which was another half an hour drive. Monte Carolo or Monaco, is a 371 acre principality with a population of 30,000. The Grimaldi Family acquired the lordship of Monaco in the 1300's and have ruled over the city ever since. The Montecarlo Casinowas created by Charles Garnier, the architect of the opera house in Paris, in 1878. I didn't end up going into the Casino because I wasn't dressed for the occasion (they require suit and tie for men!) and it cost 10 euro to get in. For the few hour I was there, I took an optional Azur Express Tourist Train" that ended up being a joke because it was only half an hour long and our train actually broke down half way through and another one had to come in its place. After the train around the small city, we watched the changing of the guards and half a nice crepe lunch. I had a Monaco beer and a
ham and cheese crepe. Yum! The rest of the time Meredith, Leanna and I just walked around the explored the city and took some cool pictures.

And then we had the long journey back to Florence! This was one of my favorite weekends for sure. :)

Ciao!

PS! I fixed my computer! Go me!

Munich day 2 and 3

Today was another fabulous day in Munich. I signed up for an optional bike tour around the city, which turned out to be really fun!






The day first started out by another Breakfast in my pensione bus for the around 9:20and then we departed from the hostel with our private bus for the bike tour. Our tour guides were very nice and friendly and made the tour pretty interesting. We stopped at several locations on the way, and the weather was gorgeous! Not too cold and it was sunny for a change. We stopped at a famous and quaint beer garden that had a giant Chinese structure with an orchestra playing on the second floor. For lunch I had a large sausage, fries, and a beer with a hint of lemonade. It was all pretty good except I wasn't too fond of my sausage because it had some strange red curry sauce on it. I would've been fine with just ketchup...

At the river we ran into some men that were actually surfing! It looked pretty dangerous but they looked like they had a great time. It was funny when they wiped out though!










After the tour Leanna and I bought some postcards and another yummy treat from the bakery we got the pretzels the day before. This time it was a sweet treat though- I love the food here surprisingly!

Last night at Hofbrahaus was very fun! I had two sausages (roundly shaped- it was odd but very yummy) and a potato salad. We also split a couple of those huge beers and ended up taking the glasses home for a souviner.

Tonight the dinner plans are up in the air- I think Leanna, Meredith and I are going to go to a cheaper place for dinner near our hostel. Apparently it is like Hofbrahaus so I am sure it will be tasty.

Anyways, that pretty much concludes today.

The next day we left the hostel around 8:00 A.M and then we ventured towards the Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle is the also known as "Cinderella's Castle" which is displayed before the start of all Disney movies. From postcards, it looks absoloutely beautiful but unfortunately it was snowing and it was super foggy so most of my pictures came out like the one of your left. The bus was also down because of the weather conditions, so we had to hike up the moutain for like forty minutes and then also back down. At least it was good excercise! On the way down from the Castle, Leanna and I were enticed by a delicious looking Raspberry desert. Definitely worth the extra calories! The rest of the day was pretty much spent on the bus- about an 8 hour drive from the Castle and we also stopped at a couple rest stops on the way. The main rest stops in Italy are called "Auto Grill" - they pretty much have the same things. I am excited for fastfood places like Taco Bell when I get home! I have a feeling I'm going to gain so much weight when I come home. The portions back home are so much bigger as well!

Anyways, at this point I am rambling but overall I had an excellent time in Munich! CIAO!

Malta

This last weekend Georgina and I went to Malta. We had a great time! We were hoping for the weather to be a bit warmer (I'm talking lay out in the sun weather), but it turned out to be in the lower 60's for most of the time we were there. At least it was sunny! :-D. This photo to your left is a picture outside of our first hotel room.

We left early on Wednesday morning and took the train to Rome, and then a bus from the Rome train station to the airport. I have never flown out of the Rome airport, so that was interesting. The airport is huge! We took Malta Air, which was definitely a step up from Ryan Air (the budget air fare line). I love getting food on airplanes- I know it seems weird but airline companies such as Ryan Air make you pay extra. (Picture: Isn't the coast line of Malta)

Once we got into Malta, we bought tickets to and from the airport from Maltatransfers.com. The idea sounded great, but we ended up having to wait for like 45 minutes until the van came to pick us up. The van was completely packed with other travelers and each one of us had different hotels to go to, so we got a pretty long tour of the island during our ride. The traffic was pretty rough on Wednesday for whatever reason, so it took like an hour to get to our hotel. (Picture: A view of the sea at a restaurant)

The hotel situation ended up being a disaster. We thought that we had booked the room for two people on Expedia, but it turns out Georgina and I only booked it for one person with two twin beds requested. Who would book a room with two twin beds requested if only one person was planning on staying in the room? Makes no sense to us, but the workers at the hotel wanted us to pay a huge fee for me to stay in the room as well. Long story short, we argued with the managers and this other rude guy for like half an hour. We even called a so called Expedia "representative" to help us change our package. We wanted to see how much money we could get back so that we could stay somewhere else for the duration of our visit. We decided to suck it up and pay the extra fee to stay at the hotel for that night and then we booked elsewhere for the other two nights.

After we dropped our stuff off in the ghetto hotel room, we walked over to "Amigos," which is what we thought was a Mexican restaurant. We were both craving Mexican food, so we got some Nachos with the works. We noticed on the menus that there was Italian food and stuff on there too, and we asked one of the guys that worked there and he said that this was a "mixed" restaurant. I guess that means that they have all different cultures? I even saw sweet and sour tacos... Chinese food mixed with Mexican? Interesting. Anyways, we also ordered what we thought were Margheritas, but as it turns out they didn't have those on the menu and they brought us a Margherita Pizza instead. We were so surprised when they brought out the Pizza... we originally thought he just brought it out to us because we are cute, but apparently we paid for it instead of the drinks. Good times!

Once we had our snack, we wandered around for a bit and found a little Chinese Massage place that also did manicures, pedicures, waxing, etc. We were in need of some pampering, so I got a pedicure, and Georgina go a back massage. Later that evening we went back to Amigos because they had free WiFi and we liked the food from before. We ended up straightening out the rest of the situation with Expedia. I think the lady that we talked to on the phone at the hotel was a scam, because the other lady we called on Expedia the second time around said that there was nothing in her system about refunding our stay at the other hotel. Oh man, the stresses of traveling... I cannot WAIT to be home. The rest of that evening we pretty much just chilled in Amigos (had some amazing garlic bread... talk about random huh?) and relaxed.


A few random thoughts on Malta; I was very surprised that the people drove on the opposite side of the road, like they do in England! Also, everyone there spoke English. All the signs were even in English. I think most people also speak Maltese. In addition, the plug was different too; it was on the British one. Strange, huh?

One of my highlights of the trip was going on an all day cruise to various coastal lines in Malta. We were originally going to see areas like the Dingli Cliffs (which I heard are amazing!) but due to strong winds, we had to stick to the other side of the Island. It was very beautiful though! We paid a little bit extra to see the coral reefs, but it was well worth it. We saw real live coral in caves! A guy on a speedboat took us to the caves so we were literally right there! The speed boat driver was a bit crazy though... he got Georgina and I soaked with his turns!

On our last full day in Malta, we got up early and took the bus to Valletta, where we saw a famous church that Georgina's dad recommended. It was very pretty inside; lots of gold interior work. We also got some souvenirs here because this city is a main tourist attraction on the Island. After our little journey to Valletta, we had our stress buster massages and aromatherapy facials (exactly what I needed!).

The last two nights of our visit we stayed at a very nice hotel called Le Meridian. This is where we were got our facials and massages. I ended up forking over a lot of money, but it was well worth it. I have been so stressed out lately, so it was a nice break from everything going on. I loved being at a hotel that actually had customer service... not to mention a pool, sauna, and hot tub! We even splurged and got room service a couple times. It was nice to have a bit of luxury compared to the hostels and what not that we are normally in.

Well that pretty much concludes my thoughts on Malta. It was a gorgeous, charming place, and I would love to go back!

Leaving for Ireland!

I am leaving for Ireland today at 12:45 with the school, and we are taking a 5 hour bus ride to Milan and taking an air-lingus flight from there. I couldn't be more stoked! We are going to Belfast as well as Dublin.

I found out that my friend Megan from high school is planning on being in Ireland around the same time, so perhaps we can meet up! I haven't seen her since graduation.

Not much else is going on- I am leaving directly after my Italian class and luckily my friend Jason is going to bring me my sack lunch that Karin is providing for those that are missing today's lunch (how nice!) I wonder what it is. I hope it is the delicious burritos she is making for everyone else who is staying for lunch. Those are amazing!

Well I am in class now so I probably should get going, but I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I will take tons of pictures as usual.

CIAO

First day in Vienna

After a long and exhausting eleven hour bus ride from Florence to Vienna, we finally made it into our hostel called Meininger City Hostel around 3:00 A.M. At least the hostel is not too ghetto- there is actually a personal bathroom and SPACE! A lot better than the hostels in Paris and Innsbruck. And the best part is there is free, FAST internet! Woo hoo!

After a very short sleep, I got up around 9:30 and then got ready quickly and ventured down to Breakfast. It actually turned out to be pretty good- I had some delicious tea, some granola and cornflakes with regular yogurt, and a roll with cream cheese. Georgina originally screamed out, "Laura! Look! Its bagels with cream cheese!" I gasped and said, "REALLY!?" (bagels and cream cheese are hard to come by in Europe)and then someone bursted my bubble when they said, "no, its actually just a roll..." oh well. It was still good; I barely made it out though because one of the workers said that I had to pay an extra 1 euro to take things out of the eating area. I just simply explained that I was in a rush and I was taking this to go... she ended up letting me off the hook but said I should come to Breakfast earlier next time haha.

We all met outside the hotel around 10 A.M and then got a one day pass for the metro. Peter (one of our student life guides) took us all around on a walking tour even though it was cold, windy, and rainy. He is really incredible- he knows English, German, and Italian fluently. He grew up in Austria so he knows all the nooks and crannies (haha Chris :-p ) of the area. The architecture in Vienna is absolutely breathtaking. I love it! We walked around the "Ring" (New Gothic Town Hall, Parliament, Theatre, Heldenplatz, Imperial Palace, Spanish Riding School, Judenplatz with the
Memorial to the Jews of Vienna, and St. Stephen's Cathedral). The tour was definitely long, but everything was worth seeing in my opinion. We took a pit stop at a Starbucks, which I was very excited about. I got a
grande nonfat raspberry latte. It was delicious! It was a nice taste from home. Is it sad that I really miss Starbucks? OH man... I am such an American haha.

After walking around a few more hours and taking pictures and stopping at various locations, a group of us went with Peter to a local restaurant and sat down for a lovely lunch. Georgina and I split the famous German/Austrian dish called Weiner Schnitzel. This is like the 3rd or 4th time I have had this dish- I absolutely love it! I don't normally like pork that much, but pretty much anything fried is good (that's probably why the only seafood I'll eat is fried calamari- go figure). We also had a yummy class of wine that Peter recommended.

Once lunch was finished, Georgina and I got directions on how to take the subway back to our hostel because we were tired from the night before and needed a break. The other group went to the amusement park and went on the huge Ferris Wheel. I think this would've been fun to go to- but at that point I just needed some time to relax and take a load off. The normal me 6 months ago would want to be go, go, go but now I have learned the beauty and value of a few hours of pure relaxation.

Once we took the metro back to our stop, Georgina and I walked around our area and peeped into a few shops. They were pretty fun- we went into a mall type place with the most random assortment of department stores. I ended up getting some Loreal hairspray that was much needed, and a cute black/white purse that is big enough to hold all my stuff. I am kind of sick of carrying the same black H & M purse that I have had since the beginning of this study abroad trip. You guys should see my huge collection of purses at home! Its insane... really... After our little shopping adventure we went into a grocery store and got some snacks to have for later. I hate being without snacks; I hate the feeling of hunger and I am more of a snacker than a huge meal eater.

And for the past few hours I have been relaxing, uploading pictures (check them out on face book), talked to Chris on skype, and now I think I am going to take a brief nap before dinner/going out. I think Georgina and I are going to go to a hot dog stand near our hotel and grab a bratwurst or something; something easy to save some money. Food eats up all my money over here! It's ridiculous!

Anyways, that's the main highlights of my day with randomness spilled in. Hope all is well with everyone!

bye bye

Greece

Georgina and I went to Athens, Greece last weekend. We had such an amazing time. We stayed at this hotel called the Alassia, was said to be a four star hotel, but I think the standards in Europe are different than in America. It was nice not staying in a hostel though.

We left on Thursday afternoon and took a train to Bologna, and then a short bus ride to the airport. We had to transfer in Frankfurt, and we ended up arriving around 1:00 or so in the morning. Because all the public transportation was closed by that time, we ended up having to take a very expensive taxi to our hotel. Apparently they double the price at night (how ridiculous!) so we had to pay twice the amount for our ride. The taxi driver was kind of sketch too- he was hauling some serious butt on the freeway... we were actually a bit freaked out.

Once we got to the hotel, we pretty much passed out from exhaustion. The next day, we had a leisurely Breakfast at the hotel. I had fried eggs (I miss those on a regular basis!) and some toast with cheese and cereal. I really enjoyed the Breakfast buffet over the weekend. It is a nice change from what I am used to at the pensione. After Breakfast, we got ready and then took the metro into town. I got this really cool souvenir- a necklace with my name in Greek! I also picked up a couple fake designer sunglasses from the African guys on the street (gotta love bargaining!) We saw a view of the Acropolis from the distance, and had a lovely lunch outside in the sun. I must say... the Greek food in Greece was everything I hoped for and more. I love the Tzasiki (sp?) sauce, feta, and the fresh grilled gyro meat. We also had this delicious Greek salad (see picture). Georgina and I were talking about how the gyro meat in the states is way different because it comes in long strips and it is way more greasy. I definitely prefer the meat in Greece.

After lunch, we walked around some shops and around the town some more and ran into this very friendly local named Yannis. He ended up talking to him for awhile and he showed us some sites nearby.
Here is a picture of a park he took us to- it was beautiful! His English was a bit hard to understand, but he was very nice.

Once it started getting dark, Georgina and I took the metro back to our hotel and hung out there for awhile and got ready to go out to dinner. We got a great recommendation from someone who worked at the hotel. We took a taxi there (the first guy didn't know where it was- strange) and once we got there, all the workers greeted us with smiles. We split some wine, feta and a grilled chicken dish with rice. Again, another delicious meal. There were singers at this restaurant too- couldn't have asked for a more "Greek" experience!

After dinner, Yannis met up with us and took us to a fun bar where we tried Oozo. It is the typical liquor in Greece. I actually wasn't too fond of it because it tasted like black licorice. I am not a fan, but I was thinking "oh I bet my dad would love this!" he LOVES black licorice. After the bar, we went to a really fun club with his friend (I forget his Greek name, but his "American" name was George). He was very nice too but he didn't speak any English. Yannis acted as the translator... hehe

We ended up staying out pretty late and didn't get much sleep because we had to get up early for what we thought would be our cruise tour to three different islands. The guy that was working at the hotel said that we originally had to go another hotel in the morning to meet up with other people on the tour, but then he told us that they would call our hotel when they wanted us to head over... well half an hour or more went by, and no call. Then the worker said that the tour already left. We were pretty bummed at first, but were excited to go back to sleep for a bit. We ended up signing up for a mid afternoon tour leaving on a bus at 2:30.

After our nap, we went down the street to a little hole in the wall with amazing Greek food. I have a wrap with grilled chicken and tzasiki sauce. We then looked around the town for a bit and then stood on the corner where the tour was supposedly supposed to pick us up. Well, we waited around 15-20 minutes, and NO tour bus. We went back inside the hotel and called the company, and they said that they were looking for us for two hours (yeah right!) and that the tour ended up being canceled because all 15 people on the tour canceled (again ya right!). We basically think the lady on the phone was a complete idiot and liar and she probably just canceled the tour because it wasn't filled. LAME! Anyways, the only tour that was left to do was the night tour (and unfortunately it had to be with the same company). The night tour ended up being really fun. We had a tour of the city at night, and even got to go to the port area where the water is. The tour ended at a restaurant with live Greek dancers and singers. Again, the food was amazing! We had fried meatballs with falafel, tzasiki with pita bread, a grilled chicken dish, Oozo (which we didn't drink) and fruit for desert.

Yannis and his buddy met us at the restaurant because he wanted to say goodbye. Once we said goodbye, Georgina and I left for the hotel, watched some Sex and the City, and called it a night. On Sunday, we got up for Breakfast, and took the metro to the Acropolis and Parthenon. We didn't think we would be able to go close to it, because the workers at the hotel said it was on strike. It was very easy to get to the top though- so not sure why they said that. None the less, it was great to see it up and close!

We ended up having lunch at the same place we went to on Friday, because it was just so darn good! Instead of chicken gyros though, we had meat gyros. I think it was beef and lamb. After our lunch, we got some souvenirs like postcards and other various things, and then we packed up and left for the airport on a bus at 2:30. We had such a long day ahead of us though- our two flights didn't get in until 11:00 into Bologna, and the last train to Florence was at 10:20, so we had to wait in the airport until 5:00 or so in the morning, and we took a taxi to the train station to take the 5:30 train into Florence. It was so exhausting, and the seats in the airport were made of metal so they were super uncomfortable. Needless to say, I skipped my morning classes on Monday and slept until lunch time.

Whew! Well there is the recap of the weekend. It is raining so hard in Florence today. Reminds me of Seattle... this weekend I am going to Vienna!

Venice

This past weekend I went to Venice with the school. I had a great time despite still battling from a bad cold. There was a huge number of us that went on the trip this weekend- 90! That is pretty much everyone in the program...

We were off to a bit of a late start on Friday because the bus drivers thought we wanted to be picked up at 4:00 P.M even though Peter clearly said 8:30 in the morning... oh well. After we left the drive was only about 3.5 hours... not bad! I slept, caught up on some studying, and read part of my new book and a Cosmo that my mom sent over with Chris when he visited in Florence.

We stayed about 25 minutes by ferry in a small town called Fusina. We stayed at a campground in small cabins, which actually ended up being pretty nice. However, it was pretty annoying that the power kept going on and off during the weekend. Once we arrived in Fusina on Friday, Georgina, Angie and I decided to stray away from the group because we wanted to take a shower and rest up a bit before exploring the city. Around 2:00 we caught the ferry to Venice. We walked all around the small city and peeped into various shops. Georgina and I were craving a Crepe (random huh?) and I embarked on a place called "Le Cafe" that was surely French. We ended up splitting a nutella crepe with banana and a bottle of Pino Grigio- yum! I think my mind was still a bit on France from the week before because how random is it that I was craving a crepe?! The rest of the evening I just relaxed and act some snacks that I got at a local grocery store.

Some of my favorite memories include looking at all the shops, seeing everyone dressed up (it was Carnevale weekend), and just exploring the small city. I got a gorgeous dark blue and turquoise Murano-style necklace while in Venice, and I am wearing it right now as we speak! I also purchased some post cards and a souviner for Chris (but I am not going to mention what it is on here).

I really liked the outside of St. Mark's Basilica- I didn't get a chance to go inside, but the outside was beautiful!

This weekend was so packed with tourists and natives of Venice because of the Carnevale. I wanted to buy a mask and "fit in" so to speak, but I knew that my pretty mask wouldn't last on the way home... it was much too fragile! They were pretty though (look at the picture on the left :0) ).

Anyways, most of Saturday I spent just exploring the city and wandering around and doing my own thing. There were optional tours to go on this weekend, but I wasn't feeling too well because of my cold, so I didn't want to be tied down in case I wanted to go back earlier than everyone else.

On Sunday we had to check out by 10 AM and then we had the option to go back into Venice one last time before we left at 3 PM. Georgina and I went into Venice for a few hours and just walked around the outskirts of the water and took pictures. We also got another lovely Crepe (I got a nutella and coconut- yum!) but this time it was from a little hut outside the main bridge in Venice. It was a pretty relaxing day! After we came back from Venice into Fusina, we decided to chill at the local restaurant/bar and study for our Management and Organization test that I took today. And in case you are wondering, I think I did a pretty good job! :-D

Well that is my recap of the weekend. I am going to Athens, Greece this weekend with Georgina.

Ciao!

Barcelona

Two weekends ago Chris and I went to Barcelona. We originally thought that we had Thursday-Sunday there, but after the people at the hotel mentioned we had one more night there before we left, we had to look over the itinerary and sure enough, we were leaving the next day, Friday. That Thursday instead, we dedicated to exploring Florence. It ended up being a pretty nice day! :)

We left for the airport around 11:15 on Friday, and once we got there and waited in line to check in, the lady at the Lufthansa desk mentioned that our flight was about 45 minutes late, and that it was necessary to book a later connecting flight from Munich to Barcelona. We were a bit bummed because we then had a long layover of about 3-4 hours (the flight from Munich to Barcelona was scheduled to leave around 7:00 PM) but we accepted it. Well, once we got to the terminal, our flight appeared to be completely on time. We were very confused, and were determined to switch our connecting flight back to the original time. Once we got into Munich, we hustled to the Lufthansa service desk, and practically begged them to switch us back to our original flight plans. They mentioned this was very difficult to do, but with much persistence we were able to change it back just in the nick of time.

We didn’t end up getting into Barcelona until late afternoon/evening and then we had to take a metro train to our hotel which was located pretty far from the airport. Our hotel was very, very nice though. We decided to stay in a nicer place just because it was a special weekend for both of us. We stayed at Vincci Maritimo , which ended up being a pretty nice location to the city’s hot spots. That evening we took a taxi into the part of town where my friends Georgina and Jessie were staying. We met for some happy hour drinks. and then we took the metro train again to the waterfront where a lot of the famous restaurants were located. We had some red wine, Chris and I split some fried Calamari (oddly it is the only seafood I’ll eat pretty much) and we all split some chicken and vegetable Paella (very authentic Spanish food). It was delicious! That evening we walked around the town and encountered all the hot spots of the nightlife in Barcelona. We went into a few clubs and bars and had a great evening.

he next day, Chris and I slept in because we were exhausted from the busy night before. Once we were off for the day, there was no stopping us! We knew we pretty much only had today to explore the city and see all the sights, so we wasted no time. Once we hoped on the metro train (we used this a lot while we were there), the first thing we did was have tapas at this local restaurant near the Picasso Museum. We split these sausages, spicy tomato sauce fries, beer, and bread with a tomato sauce. It was super yummy! Once we were finished, we went to the Picasso museum. It was pretty cool, but kind of small. I didn’t mind though- I’ m not much of a museum goer, but I felt it was necessary to go to this museum while I was there!

After the museum, we went to a souvenir shop and I got some postcards, and Chris got a little bull figurine. We asked the man that worked there for directions to the city Cathedral, and we were on our way. We were pretty close to the cathedral, so we ended up just walking there. On the way to the church, I ran into a Starbucks and I was ecstatic. I definitely miss Starbucks from the states; although it is even more expensive in Europe, it is totally worth going to because they are non existent here in Italy. As we were walking over to the church, we noticed some talented street performers and we sat and watched them while I sipped my coffee. Anyways, the church was super cool, but like many things that weekend, it was under construction on the outside. The inside was very beautiful though.

After our short visit to the church, we took the metro train to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Church. Before we entered the building, Chris and I spotted a place across the street to get hot dogs, and I haven't had a hot dog since I left the states, so I was ecstatic. They even had ketchup! :) Anyways, after our little snack, I couldn't help but notice the outside of the church was simply breathtaking and had very interesting architecture. This famous structure is currently unfinished. According to Trivia-library.comthe shell of a church, one of the landmarks of Barcelona, Spain, occupied architect Antonio Gaudi throughout his career. He inherited the project from the original architect, Francisco del Villar, in 1883, one year after construction had begun, and transformed the conventional Gothic-style cathedral into a surrealistic forest of imaginative shapes resembling natural objects. After 1910 he abandoned almost all other work, secluding himself on the church site. His work, described as the three-dimensional dreams of a madman, contains bulging facades, swaying pillars, and weird protuberances. In 1926 Gaudi, 73, was run over by a Barcelona streetcar. Only one of the 13 planned tubular towers and one transept of the church were completed when he died five days later. Although the church was brutally damaged during the Spanish Civil War, Gaudi's assistants, friends, and concerned citizens have kept the work going. Although Chris and I were a bit unimpressed with the inside of the church, we began to appreciate the structure after learning about the history and the historical significance. My favorite part about the building was the optional elevator lift that took us to the top of the Church unto a balcony. It was here that we had an amazing view of the city. We definitely took lots of pictures up here.

When we were done looking inside the church, we had a quick snack (again) at KFC. It is nothing like the states though; they didn't even have popcorn chicken! Anyways, we took the subway to the stop where "La Pedrera" was located. I am not quite sure the significance of this building, but it looks really cool and I knew I wanted to see it. We didn't go inside or anything (I think it might even be an apartment complex?) but it looked super neat. I know the building was also designed by Gaudi.

We took the metro train once again back to our hotel, freshened up, and met Jessie and Georgina again for a buffet dinner. It was all you can eat for 9.50 euro, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but most of the food was terrible. The salad bar with the cold pasta salads was really good, but the hot foods looked and tasted stale. It was almost as if they were sitting out all day... gross. I guess that's what you get for eating a buffet, right? haha. That evening we were looking for two famous bars in particular; a "shots cafe" and a "Stock-exchange bar". We got lost trying to find the shot cafe, and apparently it is a very Americanized bar, so none of the Barcelona natives knew where it was, or even had heard of it. Bummer... but we did end up finding the Stock-exchange bar. It was pretty much out in the middle of no where, and the concept behind it was there is menu that contains all the of drinks and next to it, much like stocks, are the current prices of the drink. Every 10 minutes or so, they are adjusted based on the "market" and drinks either go up or down based on their popularity. There even were "stock-market crashes" much like the real world. It was a cool idea, but the bar was so crowded and really smoky. We had one drink, and had to leave. We ended up going to a bar close to the girls' hostel, and it turned out to be pretty fun. We hung out in the basement of the bar, and there were two British men that decided to sit next to us and chat. They were very friendly! Apparently they were both teaching English to the Spanish people; I was curious how long they have been speaking Spanish, and the man replied... "oh only about 9 months or so!" I was completely shocked; I wondered how in the world are these people teaching English if they are not even fluent in Spanish?! The man said that they pretty much speak only English to them, even from day one. Wow, things are so different in Europe!

We ended up staying until the bar closed, and then we went to bed. The next day, Chris and I had a quick Breakfast and then we headed to the metro station one last time to get to the airport. We thought things were fine and dandy, but the man at the train station gave us the wrong train to take to the airport, so we were just riding along, and after awhile, we noticed things were looking pretty strange. There were cows and other various farm animals on either side of us... and we were just thinking something didn't feel right. Sure enough, we were heading in the wrong direction, so we got off at the next stop and waited until the train was going the opposite direction. We figured out which stop to get off to transfer to the real airport line, but at that point, we were super pressed for time. It was so stressful; once we finally got to the airport, we had about 15 minutes until our flight left! We booked it with our bags to the Lufthansa check in, explained our situation, and luckily we arrived just in the nick of time as the flight was boarding. We were sweating though!! The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and I was mainly consumed for studying for my Operations test the next day. It is so hard to study with your boyfriend there, believe me!

Whew! What a recap... hope I didn't bore you guys to tears! I am currently in the process of posting all my Barcelona trip pictures on face book. Feel free to have a look! :)

Ciao buddies!