When I woke up on Saturday, my ears were KILLING but we only had one day to see everything so we ate breakfast at the hotel and went on our way. Just sitting in the Tube, I felt like crying my ears hurt so badly! We decided I needed meds so we went to a clinic in London….Clinic, not a good idea….SO SCARY! So we went to the ER instead. WE WAITED THERE FROM 10am UNTIL 2PM!! And after all that they told me to take ADVIL!!! ADVIL! WHAT THE HECK!
So basically after that, we went to the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral (that was super cool. We climbed up to the top and saw the whole city), The National Gallery (they had a picture from Ascoli Piceno there!), Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. All in the span from 2pm till 7pm. SO Tiring but soo much fun! We wanted to ride the Eye in London but we literally didn’t have the strength to walk over there. We took the tube back to the hotel (with no issues) and ate dinner at the buffet there and went to sleep. We had an early morning the next morning because we had to catch our taxi at 5:30.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday of Spring Break
When I woke up Friday morning my eye was crusted shut. Thank You Christine!! Before we left Christine had an ear infection, a sinus infection and pink eye. Apparently I had caught at least the pink eye from her…Needless to say; I was not a happy camper. We got ready to check-out (we were staying at a different hotel for the next two nights that were closer to the attractions in London) and grabbed breakfast at the buffet. We were meeting my friend Lilly in London at 10:30 and we left our hotel at 9:20. We took a shuttle to the airport because that was the easiest place to catch the Tube. By the way, I love the Tube, but it is SO SLOW! Haha. We got on the Piccadilly line into the city. They announce the termination point for each line and it just so happened that our line terminated at Cockfosters…ha..ha. We couldn’t help but giggle a little every time it was announced.
When I first got on the Tube I figured it would function just like any other metro. Nope. The Tube likes to close major stations and stops. Christine and I were on the Tube for an hour before we figured out that this wasn’t going to work. We were already going to be late for Lilly. We were about half way there so we figured we would get off and walk the rest of the way. We had our entire luggage collection at this point because we hadn’t checked into our new hotel yet. SO heavy. If you can’t tell, we LIKE trekking through foreign cities with massive backpacks. NOT. We walked for what seemed like forever and had to call Lilly and tell her to meet us in a different stop. We were going on a bike tour through London at 11am and it was already 10:50. We hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the bike tour spot. We got into the taxi and drove in a MASSIVE circle because all the roads were closed too. What is it with London? When I say a massive circle I mean a £10 circle. That’s a big circle.
He dropped us off and we gave up haha. We called Lilly and we picked a different spot to meet. Unfortunately, this spot was inside the biggest park in London, Hyde Park. So yes, we got lost AGAIN haha. We found Lilly eventually and headed to our hotel. We checked-in (it was GORGEOUS!) and got settled.
After settling in we had to decide what we were going to do since we only had a day and a half left. We decided to do the sights on Saturday and do fun little things for the rest of the afternoon and night. The first stop on our list was Abbey Road! We walked Abbey Road and took pictures! (and stopped traffic in the process ).
Then went to Harrods, and when I walked in I felt like I was in heaven. I turned to Christine who could not WAIT to go to the National Gallery the next day and I said “Christine, this is MY “National Gallery”!!!!!” I can’t even start to tell you about the clothes that I saw in there. They were breathtaking. I ran into the Pharmacy there too to grab some eye drops for my nasty eye
Then we decided we would take in a show in London so we got ticket to see Wicked! We were all so excited! We were buying tickets late and they only had a few seats left. We were going to pay £60 for not-so-good seats, but then the guy selling the tickets cut us a deal. He felt bad for us and they had three seats together, right in the best section of the house, FOR THE SAME PRICE!! TALK ABOUT SCORING A DEAL!!! So we saw Wicked and it was wicked (sorry I had to, talking about London and all…).
After the show we called it a night and left Lilly at the Tube station. Christine and I thought that we had gotten a hang of the Tube system but apparently we were wrong. We rode the same line (but four different trains) for an hour before we found the way home. We kept going back and forth between Baker Street Station and the Finchley Road stop. So sketchy! We couldn’t understand what the issue was! Eventually we figured out that it was because all the stations were being repaired. We made it back though, and went to sleep.
When I first got on the Tube I figured it would function just like any other metro. Nope. The Tube likes to close major stations and stops. Christine and I were on the Tube for an hour before we figured out that this wasn’t going to work. We were already going to be late for Lilly. We were about half way there so we figured we would get off and walk the rest of the way. We had our entire luggage collection at this point because we hadn’t checked into our new hotel yet. SO heavy. If you can’t tell, we LIKE trekking through foreign cities with massive backpacks. NOT. We walked for what seemed like forever and had to call Lilly and tell her to meet us in a different stop. We were going on a bike tour through London at 11am and it was already 10:50. We hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the bike tour spot. We got into the taxi and drove in a MASSIVE circle because all the roads were closed too. What is it with London? When I say a massive circle I mean a £10 circle. That’s a big circle.
He dropped us off and we gave up haha. We called Lilly and we picked a different spot to meet. Unfortunately, this spot was inside the biggest park in London, Hyde Park. So yes, we got lost AGAIN haha. We found Lilly eventually and headed to our hotel. We checked-in (it was GORGEOUS!) and got settled.
After settling in we had to decide what we were going to do since we only had a day and a half left. We decided to do the sights on Saturday and do fun little things for the rest of the afternoon and night. The first stop on our list was Abbey Road! We walked Abbey Road and took pictures! (and stopped traffic in the process ).
Then went to Harrods, and when I walked in I felt like I was in heaven. I turned to Christine who could not WAIT to go to the National Gallery the next day and I said “Christine, this is MY “National Gallery”!!!!!” I can’t even start to tell you about the clothes that I saw in there. They were breathtaking. I ran into the Pharmacy there too to grab some eye drops for my nasty eye
Then we decided we would take in a show in London so we got ticket to see Wicked! We were all so excited! We were buying tickets late and they only had a few seats left. We were going to pay £60 for not-so-good seats, but then the guy selling the tickets cut us a deal. He felt bad for us and they had three seats together, right in the best section of the house, FOR THE SAME PRICE!! TALK ABOUT SCORING A DEAL!!! So we saw Wicked and it was wicked (sorry I had to, talking about London and all…).
After the show we called it a night and left Lilly at the Tube station. Christine and I thought that we had gotten a hang of the Tube system but apparently we were wrong. We rode the same line (but four different trains) for an hour before we found the way home. We kept going back and forth between Baker Street Station and the Finchley Road stop. So sketchy! We couldn’t understand what the issue was! Eventually we figured out that it was because all the stations were being repaired. We made it back though, and went to sleep.
Thursday of Spring Break
We woke up around 8 (late) on Thursday because we had a tour of Wicklow National Park planned for the day. We showered and grabbed breakfast at the café again and met our bus at 9:30am. I just have to tell you that I was SO excited for this tour. As most of you know, I am obsessed with the movie P.S. I Love You. In the movie, the two main characters meet in Wicklow National Park and they fall in love, yada yada yada. I was sooo excited to see everything!
We took a quick stop at the ocean in Dun Laoghaire (where the B&B is in P.S. I Love You) to take some pictures and then headed to Wicklow. There is a part of the park (a very very small part) that is actually German soil. A little part of Germany in Ireland. During the Second World War, there were a few German planes that crash-landed in Ireland and their passengers and pilots died. They were buried in Wicklow and after the war Germany wanted them back on German soil. Rather then exhume the bodies and ship them back to Germany (which could get messy) Ireland decided to give the plot of land where the bodies were buried to Germany. Hence, there is a little part of Germany in Ireland.
So we toured Wicklow inside the bus (saw the ROAD from P.S. I Love You), and eventually we stopped at the top of one of the massive mountains there. We got out of the bus and the driver (with his Irish accent) said “If you have to take a pee…..pick a tree”. After walking around the massive CLIFFS (cliff picture) and almost slipping five million we headed back to the bus and were greeted with a shot of Jameson Whiskey. HAHA Love Ireland. Apparently nothing is fully completed unless you drink alcohol at the same time.
We got back on the bus and drove to Glendalough. We stopped for lunch at a pub, but instead of eating Christine and I bought some postcards and stamps and wrote a few letters. Back on the bus, we learned about St. Kevin and his ministry in Ireland. We reached some park in Glendalough (I forget the name). We saw the building where St. Kevin and his followers slept and the chapel that they used. We found this really cool U-shaped tree and took pictures on it. Then we walked for a little while and came across some lakes and stuff. Back to the bus again. We drove back to Dublin and got dropped off SOO far away from our hotel, so we took a cab again Before you think that it’s nice to take cabs everywhere, let me tell you…this cabbie was a little old man…WHO SMELLED SOOOO BAD! We were holding out breath for like 10 minutes!
We grabbed dinner at the hotel and got ready to leave for the airport. After mixing up busses like crazy again, we found the right one and went to the airport. We made it through check-in quickly and boarded our flight. My ears were killing on the flight because I was sick but we made it to Heathrow in London and caught another bus to our hotel. We checked in and called it a night since it was around 1am when we finally got settled.
We took a quick stop at the ocean in Dun Laoghaire (where the B&B is in P.S. I Love You) to take some pictures and then headed to Wicklow. There is a part of the park (a very very small part) that is actually German soil. A little part of Germany in Ireland. During the Second World War, there were a few German planes that crash-landed in Ireland and their passengers and pilots died. They were buried in Wicklow and after the war Germany wanted them back on German soil. Rather then exhume the bodies and ship them back to Germany (which could get messy) Ireland decided to give the plot of land where the bodies were buried to Germany. Hence, there is a little part of Germany in Ireland.
So we toured Wicklow inside the bus (saw the ROAD from P.S. I Love You), and eventually we stopped at the top of one of the massive mountains there. We got out of the bus and the driver (with his Irish accent) said “If you have to take a pee…..pick a tree”. After walking around the massive CLIFFS (cliff picture) and almost slipping five million we headed back to the bus and were greeted with a shot of Jameson Whiskey. HAHA Love Ireland. Apparently nothing is fully completed unless you drink alcohol at the same time.
We got back on the bus and drove to Glendalough. We stopped for lunch at a pub, but instead of eating Christine and I bought some postcards and stamps and wrote a few letters. Back on the bus, we learned about St. Kevin and his ministry in Ireland. We reached some park in Glendalough (I forget the name). We saw the building where St. Kevin and his followers slept and the chapel that they used. We found this really cool U-shaped tree and took pictures on it. Then we walked for a little while and came across some lakes and stuff. Back to the bus again. We drove back to Dublin and got dropped off SOO far away from our hotel, so we took a cab again Before you think that it’s nice to take cabs everywhere, let me tell you…this cabbie was a little old man…WHO SMELLED SOOOO BAD! We were holding out breath for like 10 minutes!
We grabbed dinner at the hotel and got ready to leave for the airport. After mixing up busses like crazy again, we found the right one and went to the airport. We made it through check-in quickly and boarded our flight. My ears were killing on the flight because I was sick but we made it to Heathrow in London and caught another bus to our hotel. We checked in and called it a night since it was around 1am when we finally got settled.
Wednesday of Spring Break
Wednesday morning we woke up around 10:30 and naturally I was sick from not sleeping before. We were happy to sleep but at the same time, a little disappointed in ourselves because we only had two and a half days to see all of Dublin. We got ready and grabbed breakfast at this really delicious café that we had passed the day before on the strenuous journey to the hotel. I had my first real slices of Irish soda bread. SOO GOOD!
After breakfast we decided that we would go to the Guinness Storehouse and do the tour that they offer. When I walked into the storehouse (after walking around Dublin for AN HOUR AND A HALF!!...we got a littttle lost), I felt like I had walked into Willy Wonka’s Factory. The tour was so cool. We saw the whole process of how beer is made and then we got to taste a freshly brewed beer. Then we went through the historical part of the tour (the storehouse was bought on a 9000 year lease, yes nine thousand) (it was built on a water so they have all the water and power they need) and ended in the sky bar. I drank my second Guinness in the Guinness Storehouse Sky Bar. Just to make it THAT much cooler, when the bartender poured my beer, they made a clover in the head of the Guinness. SO SICK! Check out the picture.
Right before we hit up the sky bar, we ran into another one of the girls, Brittany, that we traveled with who was met up with her boyfriend when we got to Dublin. We decided to stay together for the rest of the afternoon. Since Christine and I were exhausted from the walk to the factory, Donnie, Brittany’s boyfriend, decided that we should take a HORSE AND BUGGY to Christ Cathedral where we were meeting Christine’s friend again. HORSE AND BUGGY! And just to make it even better, the kid driving it (yes, kid, he was like 16) picked up his little brother on the way and they spoke with their little Irish accents the whole time!
We met Christine’s friend and went into a pub for some food. Again, I went traditional, and ordered Fish and Chips. One thing that I learned from Ireland and England is that when they say “chips” they don’t mean little greasy slices of potato. They mean DIESEL french fries. Amazing. I also had an apple beer and a pear beer in that pub. They tasted like airheads!
After the pub, we left Brittany and Donnie and went off with Scott, Christine’s friend. Since he is studying in Dublin for the semester, he was the perfect tour guide. He showed us around Christ Cathedral, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, the Ha’ Penny Bridge (they used to charge half a penny to cross it) and the Spire. Randomly, we ran into a polish store and bought something we had never heard of or seen and tried it. They were spice cookies….random I know…
After all our sight seeing, we were hungry again so we went to a traditional Irish bar, ordered traditional Irish food, and watched traditional Irish dancing and singing. All in all, it was an amazing day. Christine and I were so tired after everything that we ended up taking a cab back to our hotel. We couldn’t bear the ½ hour walk haha.
After breakfast we decided that we would go to the Guinness Storehouse and do the tour that they offer. When I walked into the storehouse (after walking around Dublin for AN HOUR AND A HALF!!...we got a littttle lost), I felt like I had walked into Willy Wonka’s Factory. The tour was so cool. We saw the whole process of how beer is made and then we got to taste a freshly brewed beer. Then we went through the historical part of the tour (the storehouse was bought on a 9000 year lease, yes nine thousand) (it was built on a water so they have all the water and power they need) and ended in the sky bar. I drank my second Guinness in the Guinness Storehouse Sky Bar. Just to make it THAT much cooler, when the bartender poured my beer, they made a clover in the head of the Guinness. SO SICK! Check out the picture.
Right before we hit up the sky bar, we ran into another one of the girls, Brittany, that we traveled with who was met up with her boyfriend when we got to Dublin. We decided to stay together for the rest of the afternoon. Since Christine and I were exhausted from the walk to the factory, Donnie, Brittany’s boyfriend, decided that we should take a HORSE AND BUGGY to Christ Cathedral where we were meeting Christine’s friend again. HORSE AND BUGGY! And just to make it even better, the kid driving it (yes, kid, he was like 16) picked up his little brother on the way and they spoke with their little Irish accents the whole time!
We met Christine’s friend and went into a pub for some food. Again, I went traditional, and ordered Fish and Chips. One thing that I learned from Ireland and England is that when they say “chips” they don’t mean little greasy slices of potato. They mean DIESEL french fries. Amazing. I also had an apple beer and a pear beer in that pub. They tasted like airheads!
After the pub, we left Brittany and Donnie and went off with Scott, Christine’s friend. Since he is studying in Dublin for the semester, he was the perfect tour guide. He showed us around Christ Cathedral, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, the Ha’ Penny Bridge (they used to charge half a penny to cross it) and the Spire. Randomly, we ran into a polish store and bought something we had never heard of or seen and tried it. They were spice cookies….random I know…
After all our sight seeing, we were hungry again so we went to a traditional Irish bar, ordered traditional Irish food, and watched traditional Irish dancing and singing. All in all, it was an amazing day. Christine and I were so tired after everything that we ended up taking a cab back to our hotel. We couldn’t bear the ½ hour walk haha.
Spring Break: Tuesday
Spring Break:
Our morning started early on Tuesday. We actually never really went to sleep the night before because we were all up at 1:45 packing and showering and such in order to catch our 3:20am bus from Ascoli Piceno to Rome (Termini). The bus ride is three hours long, so that was three more hours of sleep that we had (if you count jostling around, as a bus speeds through mountains and around cliffs, sleep…). We arrived in Rome early and sat in a café until we could catch our next bus that would bring us to Ciampino airport. That bus ride was another hour…which translates to another hour of jostled sleep, but it works.
We arrived at the airport with time to spare so we thought we would get some food. The only option was a sandwich from one of the carts in the airport. I bought a sandwich that I though looked decent…haha yeah about that….This thing was NASTY! The prosciutto in it was literally brownish black. Needless to say, my nourishment for that morning consisted of chocolate.
We checked in and after a few issues (some of my friends decided that they would register as EU citizens….) we got in line for security, right behind an entire Italian school that was flying to London. So after waiting like and hour, and getting cut in line by EVERYONE, I made it to the front of the line. I was taking off my boots to pass through security and as I glanced down to fix my sock I saw a stash of butter knives sitting next to the front of the security line…SCKETCHY!! Haha my friends and I were like…uuhhh…..what????
After security we wanted real snacks. We didn’t find any, but I did manage to somehow spend € 10 on a pack of gum and some chocolate eggs…oops. I was glad that I bought those eggs though because our plane was delayed by a half an hour and those eggs kept me going until I could sleep on the plane. Talk about being over tired!
I tried to sleep on the plane but it just wasn’t working out. Those Ryan Air flights are so cramped (and scary because the whole time you are speeding up and slowing down and going up and dropping in the air…not really sleep friendly). I did end up meeting a woman who grew up in Dublin and she was able to tell me all the good places to go and see while I was there. She also warned me to NEVER take an Air Coach bus because they are super expensive and they take longer than the usual public transportation. Can I just say, I feel like I am a public transportation guru now after figuring out public transportation in five different countries.
We arrived in the center of Dublin literally five minutes after the St. Patrick’s Day parade ended. Good timing. Thank you Ryan Air. It’s actually a little funny. Ryan Air’s big claim to fame is that they are NEVER late. The one time they ARE late, it’s the only time I need to be on time to see something amazing.
Nine out of the sixteen girls in the program traveled to Dublin, but we were all staying in different hotels. My roommate Christine and I booked a hotel together so we said bye to the other girls and went on our way. We thought that we knew the general direction of our hotel so we set out on our way. About five minutes into our trek (and I say trek because it literally was because we both had massive backpacks filled with enough clothing for a week) we realized that we had no idea where we were going. We stopped and asked a police officer which direction we should head in. He pointed us in the right direction and told us that it would be about a 15 min. walk. After walking for what seemed like forever, we stopped another officer to ask directions again. He told us we had to walk towards St. Stephen’s Green for about 15-20 mins. We sighed and continued on our way through the center of Dublin. Did I mention that there were massive crowds of people EVERYWHERE?! So after another 15 mins, we asked another officer when we reached St. Stephen’s Green. They said we had to walk for another 10-15 mins to our hotel…..SUCH A LONG WALK!!!!
When we finally got to the hotel all I wanted to do was get that stupid backpack off of me! I was so exhausted from lack of sleep and from hiking through Dublin for the afternoon. Christine had made plans to meet up with her friend who is studying in Dublin for the semester so we both took showers and headed back out again….25 mins of walking later, we met up with her friend and looked for a place to grab a bite to eat. We ended up in this really cool three story bar/restaurant. When it came time to order our food, I wanted to go really traditional with my choice. I decided on a Steak and Guinness pie…SOOO GOOD! Did I mention that I drank my first Guinness with it?
After dinner we walked through Temple Bar in Dublin and, of course, Christine and I found a place that served nutella crepes…It’s like we have a sixth sense for these things I swear…Anyway, durante nostro passeggiato we came across three of our friends that we traveled with.
We ended up walking around with them and during our walk we were stopped by three Irish guys. They seemed fun and we were going to walk around with them until one of us noticed something fishy….they were all bleeding. When we realized what was on their shirts we asked them if they had been in a fight. They denied it and said that they had run into a dumpster…Needless to say, we left them and went on our way…We didn’t want any sketchy bloody boys hanging out with us.
We ended up heading to the Porterhouse Pub in Ireland. Apparently that was the place to be on St. Patty’s Day night. Naturally we met some Italians there and we just hung out and had fun. They played Galway girl in the pub and ALL I could think about was P.S. I Love You!
When we got tired, we decided to call it a night. Christine and I made the trek back to our hotel and went to sleep. I was up for a straight 41 hours.
Our morning started early on Tuesday. We actually never really went to sleep the night before because we were all up at 1:45 packing and showering and such in order to catch our 3:20am bus from Ascoli Piceno to Rome (Termini). The bus ride is three hours long, so that was three more hours of sleep that we had (if you count jostling around, as a bus speeds through mountains and around cliffs, sleep…). We arrived in Rome early and sat in a café until we could catch our next bus that would bring us to Ciampino airport. That bus ride was another hour…which translates to another hour of jostled sleep, but it works.
We arrived at the airport with time to spare so we thought we would get some food. The only option was a sandwich from one of the carts in the airport. I bought a sandwich that I though looked decent…haha yeah about that….This thing was NASTY! The prosciutto in it was literally brownish black. Needless to say, my nourishment for that morning consisted of chocolate.
We checked in and after a few issues (some of my friends decided that they would register as EU citizens….) we got in line for security, right behind an entire Italian school that was flying to London. So after waiting like and hour, and getting cut in line by EVERYONE, I made it to the front of the line. I was taking off my boots to pass through security and as I glanced down to fix my sock I saw a stash of butter knives sitting next to the front of the security line…SCKETCHY!! Haha my friends and I were like…uuhhh…..what????
After security we wanted real snacks. We didn’t find any, but I did manage to somehow spend € 10 on a pack of gum and some chocolate eggs…oops. I was glad that I bought those eggs though because our plane was delayed by a half an hour and those eggs kept me going until I could sleep on the plane. Talk about being over tired!
I tried to sleep on the plane but it just wasn’t working out. Those Ryan Air flights are so cramped (and scary because the whole time you are speeding up and slowing down and going up and dropping in the air…not really sleep friendly). I did end up meeting a woman who grew up in Dublin and she was able to tell me all the good places to go and see while I was there. She also warned me to NEVER take an Air Coach bus because they are super expensive and they take longer than the usual public transportation. Can I just say, I feel like I am a public transportation guru now after figuring out public transportation in five different countries.
We arrived in the center of Dublin literally five minutes after the St. Patrick’s Day parade ended. Good timing. Thank you Ryan Air. It’s actually a little funny. Ryan Air’s big claim to fame is that they are NEVER late. The one time they ARE late, it’s the only time I need to be on time to see something amazing.
Nine out of the sixteen girls in the program traveled to Dublin, but we were all staying in different hotels. My roommate Christine and I booked a hotel together so we said bye to the other girls and went on our way. We thought that we knew the general direction of our hotel so we set out on our way. About five minutes into our trek (and I say trek because it literally was because we both had massive backpacks filled with enough clothing for a week) we realized that we had no idea where we were going. We stopped and asked a police officer which direction we should head in. He pointed us in the right direction and told us that it would be about a 15 min. walk. After walking for what seemed like forever, we stopped another officer to ask directions again. He told us we had to walk towards St. Stephen’s Green for about 15-20 mins. We sighed and continued on our way through the center of Dublin. Did I mention that there were massive crowds of people EVERYWHERE?! So after another 15 mins, we asked another officer when we reached St. Stephen’s Green. They said we had to walk for another 10-15 mins to our hotel…..SUCH A LONG WALK!!!!
When we finally got to the hotel all I wanted to do was get that stupid backpack off of me! I was so exhausted from lack of sleep and from hiking through Dublin for the afternoon. Christine had made plans to meet up with her friend who is studying in Dublin for the semester so we both took showers and headed back out again….25 mins of walking later, we met up with her friend and looked for a place to grab a bite to eat. We ended up in this really cool three story bar/restaurant. When it came time to order our food, I wanted to go really traditional with my choice. I decided on a Steak and Guinness pie…SOOO GOOD! Did I mention that I drank my first Guinness with it?
After dinner we walked through Temple Bar in Dublin and, of course, Christine and I found a place that served nutella crepes…It’s like we have a sixth sense for these things I swear…Anyway, durante nostro passeggiato we came across three of our friends that we traveled with.
We ended up walking around with them and during our walk we were stopped by three Irish guys. They seemed fun and we were going to walk around with them until one of us noticed something fishy….they were all bleeding. When we realized what was on their shirts we asked them if they had been in a fight. They denied it and said that they had run into a dumpster…Needless to say, we left them and went on our way…We didn’t want any sketchy bloody boys hanging out with us.
We ended up heading to the Porterhouse Pub in Ireland. Apparently that was the place to be on St. Patty’s Day night. Naturally we met some Italians there and we just hung out and had fun. They played Galway girl in the pub and ALL I could think about was P.S. I Love You!
When we got tired, we decided to call it a night. Christine and I made the trek back to our hotel and went to sleep. I was up for a straight 41 hours.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wow...
Wow, I'm really sorry I haven't posted in like FIVE YEARS...ok a month. Things have been super busy with traveling and work and everything! This is my post telling you that there will be more to come in the future.
As for now. I am posting pictures from my spring break trip. I plan on posting a blog within the week that gives you details, but for now, you're all going to have to make due with what you can get from the pictures haha.
The time between Barcelona and Spring break wasn't really too amazing. Just homework and sleep haha. I had/still have a cold and I was trying to get rid of it before my travels to Dublin and London for break, but that didn't work out. Haha not only did it not work out, it got worse. Oh well. It definitely made the trip interesting. You can find out why when I blog later. :) Sorry to leave you with a cliff hanger...guess you will just have to come back later!
Since the trip, things have been pretty stressful. Christine and I returned (haha I love how learning italian makes my English sounds funny...Christine and I RETURNED?!) Sunday night. We went out for pizza and then went to bed because we're both sick. Since then I have put in numerous hours researching for my paper that's due tomorrow (that I still haven't "started" yet) and even more hours in to catching up on my American TV shows in bed. I feel much better today though...probably because I watched three episodes of PSYCH including the season finale...
I am thinking of perhaps venturing to Murphy's tonight after dinner just to stop in and say hi since I haven't been there in about two weeks now...
Ok, back to this feral paper....Ciao Ciao!
As for now. I am posting pictures from my spring break trip. I plan on posting a blog within the week that gives you details, but for now, you're all going to have to make due with what you can get from the pictures haha.
The time between Barcelona and Spring break wasn't really too amazing. Just homework and sleep haha. I had/still have a cold and I was trying to get rid of it before my travels to Dublin and London for break, but that didn't work out. Haha not only did it not work out, it got worse. Oh well. It definitely made the trip interesting. You can find out why when I blog later. :) Sorry to leave you with a cliff hanger...guess you will just have to come back later!
Since the trip, things have been pretty stressful. Christine and I returned (haha I love how learning italian makes my English sounds funny...Christine and I RETURNED?!) Sunday night. We went out for pizza and then went to bed because we're both sick. Since then I have put in numerous hours researching for my paper that's due tomorrow (that I still haven't "started" yet) and even more hours in to catching up on my American TV shows in bed. I feel much better today though...probably because I watched three episodes of PSYCH including the season finale...
I am thinking of perhaps venturing to Murphy's tonight after dinner just to stop in and say hi since I haven't been there in about two weeks now...
Ok, back to this feral paper....Ciao Ciao!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Barcelona Part Three
Barcelona Part Three (Saturday)
We woke up Saturday morning, hit up the breakfast buffet, checked-out, and headed out to get some last minute sight seeing in before leaving at 2pm to start our traveling. We really wanted to see La Casa Mila “La Pedrera” by Gaudi. It is a house that Gaudi designed and lived in. So cool. Look at the pictures. On the way to La Casa Mila we may or may not have gotten lost…haha. It was ok though because we just asked directions. Apparently, my Spanish is very mumbled because I would say a sentence regularly and no one would understand me. Then, I would say the same sentence clearly, and they would know exactly what I was saying. Ehh….
So we found La Casa Mila, after stopping in a few shops and buying some chocolate, and stared at it in awe for a few minutes. Then we hit up the gift shop. By the time we finished, there was only one more thing that we wanted to do in Barcelona that weekend before we left. We wanted Paella!! We only had two hours before we had to leave for the airport journey (literally) and so we decided to take a taxi to the ocean front where we knew we would find some delicious paella. After checking out a few restaurants we decided on one and ordered some fish paella. SO DELICIOUS! It is like a risotto with red peppers and mushrooms and deliciousness haha.
After that we headed back to the hostel, but not before stopping at a smoothie place that we found the day before. They make completely fresh smoothies! They were so fresh tasting and it was just what I needed! We grabbed a smoothie for the walk back to the hostel and started on our way.
We met up with the other girls and started the trek back to Ascoli Piceno. Taxi to bus to air plane to bus to train station….where our train never showed up. We waited for our train for two hours when a man came up to us and told us that we needed to go and talk to someone at the customer service desk. When we went to the desk they told us that the train wasn’t coming because…get this… THE BRIDGE BROKE! Apparently there was water and broken bridges and such involved and that is why our train wasn’t coming.
This put us in a bit of a spot (as our Irish friends would say) since it was 11:30pm and we had no way of getting to San Benedetto to catch our 12:40am bus back to Ascoli Piceno. We have friends in San Benedetto that said we could stay with them, but we still had to actually make it to San Benedetto.
Left with no other choice (and filled up with free pizza from the nice man in the train station), my roommate Christine and I went out front to ask a taxi driver how much it would cost for a ride from Pescara to San Benedetto (50 mins). He told us 150 euro for the six of us (the 7th girl with the messed up ticket flew back through Rome with the other two Rome girls). We said ok figuring 25 euro per person. It was a little more costly then the 3.50 euro train ticket but what were we supposed to do? Hang out with the homeless guys that were setting up their beds for the night?
So we smushed 7 (including the driver) people in a taxi and were on our way. I was in the front with Christine on my lap, and there were four girls in the back seat. We made it to San Benedetto at 12:32 and literally bought our bus tickets and got on the bus and left! If we had taken the train, we would have missed our bus because it would have left early….maybe that bridge broke for a reason???
We got on the bus and relaxed for the last hour leg of our journey. When we got dropped off in Ascoli Piceno, we were walking back to our apartment (passing Murphy’s) when one of the bartenders ran up to us and was like “I MISSED YOU GIRLS!” it was so funny!
Finally, when I thought my day was over as I was taking a shower, I happened to kick the bottles away from the drain. We have razors mixed in with our bottles and when I kicked the bottles I sliced the tip of my toe off. Talk about ending the day haha. It was actually morning by this point.
All in all, I loved Barcelona and all the traveling was totally worth it. The only thing that was disappointing was that we didn’t really meet any Spanish people. We met our Irish friends and some Italians, and our Texan tour guide. I just wished I could have used my Spanish a little more. The other really weird thing that happened was that, when I tried to speak Spanish at first, Italian came out. I was so surprised! I guess it’s a good and bad thing. It shows that I am learning Italian!
We woke up Saturday morning, hit up the breakfast buffet, checked-out, and headed out to get some last minute sight seeing in before leaving at 2pm to start our traveling. We really wanted to see La Casa Mila “La Pedrera” by Gaudi. It is a house that Gaudi designed and lived in. So cool. Look at the pictures. On the way to La Casa Mila we may or may not have gotten lost…haha. It was ok though because we just asked directions. Apparently, my Spanish is very mumbled because I would say a sentence regularly and no one would understand me. Then, I would say the same sentence clearly, and they would know exactly what I was saying. Ehh….
So we found La Casa Mila, after stopping in a few shops and buying some chocolate, and stared at it in awe for a few minutes. Then we hit up the gift shop. By the time we finished, there was only one more thing that we wanted to do in Barcelona that weekend before we left. We wanted Paella!! We only had two hours before we had to leave for the airport journey (literally) and so we decided to take a taxi to the ocean front where we knew we would find some delicious paella. After checking out a few restaurants we decided on one and ordered some fish paella. SO DELICIOUS! It is like a risotto with red peppers and mushrooms and deliciousness haha.
After that we headed back to the hostel, but not before stopping at a smoothie place that we found the day before. They make completely fresh smoothies! They were so fresh tasting and it was just what I needed! We grabbed a smoothie for the walk back to the hostel and started on our way.
We met up with the other girls and started the trek back to Ascoli Piceno. Taxi to bus to air plane to bus to train station….where our train never showed up. We waited for our train for two hours when a man came up to us and told us that we needed to go and talk to someone at the customer service desk. When we went to the desk they told us that the train wasn’t coming because…get this… THE BRIDGE BROKE! Apparently there was water and broken bridges and such involved and that is why our train wasn’t coming.
This put us in a bit of a spot (as our Irish friends would say) since it was 11:30pm and we had no way of getting to San Benedetto to catch our 12:40am bus back to Ascoli Piceno. We have friends in San Benedetto that said we could stay with them, but we still had to actually make it to San Benedetto.
Left with no other choice (and filled up with free pizza from the nice man in the train station), my roommate Christine and I went out front to ask a taxi driver how much it would cost for a ride from Pescara to San Benedetto (50 mins). He told us 150 euro for the six of us (the 7th girl with the messed up ticket flew back through Rome with the other two Rome girls). We said ok figuring 25 euro per person. It was a little more costly then the 3.50 euro train ticket but what were we supposed to do? Hang out with the homeless guys that were setting up their beds for the night?
So we smushed 7 (including the driver) people in a taxi and were on our way. I was in the front with Christine on my lap, and there were four girls in the back seat. We made it to San Benedetto at 12:32 and literally bought our bus tickets and got on the bus and left! If we had taken the train, we would have missed our bus because it would have left early….maybe that bridge broke for a reason???
We got on the bus and relaxed for the last hour leg of our journey. When we got dropped off in Ascoli Piceno, we were walking back to our apartment (passing Murphy’s) when one of the bartenders ran up to us and was like “I MISSED YOU GIRLS!” it was so funny!
Finally, when I thought my day was over as I was taking a shower, I happened to kick the bottles away from the drain. We have razors mixed in with our bottles and when I kicked the bottles I sliced the tip of my toe off. Talk about ending the day haha. It was actually morning by this point.
All in all, I loved Barcelona and all the traveling was totally worth it. The only thing that was disappointing was that we didn’t really meet any Spanish people. We met our Irish friends and some Italians, and our Texan tour guide. I just wished I could have used my Spanish a little more. The other really weird thing that happened was that, when I tried to speak Spanish at first, Italian came out. I was so surprised! I guess it’s a good and bad thing. It shows that I am learning Italian!
Barcelona Part Two
Barcelona Part Two (Friday)
We started off the day with the free breakfast from the hostel (they make you rent sheets but give you free food…go figure). Naturally, we all padded our bags with a little “extra” food just in case. We had a bike tour planned for that day and knew we would need a little extra energy.
After breakfast, we set out to meet up with our tour. The bike tour was honestly the BEST thing ever. It was such a good was to see the city! We covered so much ground in four hours! It was also nice because we would make stops along the way and the tour guide (who was a looker let me tell you) would give us the history of each spot. We went from old squares to castles and churches and music houses. We stopped in this park and explored by ourselves and then the tour guide took us to see “La Sagrada Familia”. This is the church in Barcelona that was designed by Gaudi but he died before it was finished. They found the blueprints for the church in his sarcophagus (which is actually in the church) and resumed building but they are only funded by private funds so it is taking a while. I have pictures. When you look at them you will see why.
We took a break for lunch on the beach and I literally though that I had died and gone to heaven. Picture this…gorgeous day (around 65-70 degrees in the sun), beautiful sea, warm sand, surfers, cute tour guide….and a baguette, tomatoes, avocado and cheese that I bought from a grocery store for lunch! After lunch we rode around a little but more and one of my friends, who had been having bad luck with her bike all day (she ran into a pole, another biker, and a person walking down the street), suddenly was on the ground again. Luckily, I got to watch the whole thing happen and it was hilarious (she didn’t get hurt don’t worry). There were a couple skateboarders skating on this half-pipe like bench. The last one, who knew he didn’t have enough time to complete his trick, went up the bench and turned around and on his way back, he ran RIGHT INTO MY FRIEND! I watched it happening and was like “oh no, oh no oh….no good”. Like I said, she was ok, just a little flustered and embarrassed that it all happened in front of our cute tour guide.
After the tour we headed back to the hostel and showered and got ready for tapas that night. Our tour guide gave us a few recommendations. He was actually from Texas and had only moved to Barcelona 10 months prior so he knew good places to go that were “American friendly”. We went to a tapas bar he recommended and were greeted in the street by the owner (a super cute little old Spanish man!). Apparently he could tell we were Americans looking for some good food. We brought us in, sat us down and gave us a menu. Actually, it was a couple of menus. They were all the same, except in different languages…can you say….tourism. Anyway, we ordered what we thought sounded like it wouldn’t still be alive when it came to our table and began sipping our sangrias. Our food came to our table quickly. We ordered something that resembled fried calamari, a potato omelet, some chicken things and other stuff that I honestly don’t know what it was. Shortly after we began to dig in, a group of Irish men were seated right next to us. They were from Dublin and were so much fun to talk to. We though that Norman had a bad accent….until we talked to these guys.
One of them owned a bar down the street and invited us there for a Guinness when we found out that none of us had tried one before. We accepted and met them there when we finished our tapas. This bar was pretty much as Irish as a bar can get in Barcelona. The bartender’s name was “Little Leprechaun”. Come on… We hung out there for a little while but we were all exhausted after our long day so we called it a night around 12:30 and walked back to our hostel.
This day was so much fun. Fun fact….I got sunburned on the bike tour! YAY!
We started off the day with the free breakfast from the hostel (they make you rent sheets but give you free food…go figure). Naturally, we all padded our bags with a little “extra” food just in case. We had a bike tour planned for that day and knew we would need a little extra energy.
After breakfast, we set out to meet up with our tour. The bike tour was honestly the BEST thing ever. It was such a good was to see the city! We covered so much ground in four hours! It was also nice because we would make stops along the way and the tour guide (who was a looker let me tell you) would give us the history of each spot. We went from old squares to castles and churches and music houses. We stopped in this park and explored by ourselves and then the tour guide took us to see “La Sagrada Familia”. This is the church in Barcelona that was designed by Gaudi but he died before it was finished. They found the blueprints for the church in his sarcophagus (which is actually in the church) and resumed building but they are only funded by private funds so it is taking a while. I have pictures. When you look at them you will see why.
We took a break for lunch on the beach and I literally though that I had died and gone to heaven. Picture this…gorgeous day (around 65-70 degrees in the sun), beautiful sea, warm sand, surfers, cute tour guide….and a baguette, tomatoes, avocado and cheese that I bought from a grocery store for lunch! After lunch we rode around a little but more and one of my friends, who had been having bad luck with her bike all day (she ran into a pole, another biker, and a person walking down the street), suddenly was on the ground again. Luckily, I got to watch the whole thing happen and it was hilarious (she didn’t get hurt don’t worry). There were a couple skateboarders skating on this half-pipe like bench. The last one, who knew he didn’t have enough time to complete his trick, went up the bench and turned around and on his way back, he ran RIGHT INTO MY FRIEND! I watched it happening and was like “oh no, oh no oh….no good”. Like I said, she was ok, just a little flustered and embarrassed that it all happened in front of our cute tour guide.
After the tour we headed back to the hostel and showered and got ready for tapas that night. Our tour guide gave us a few recommendations. He was actually from Texas and had only moved to Barcelona 10 months prior so he knew good places to go that were “American friendly”. We went to a tapas bar he recommended and were greeted in the street by the owner (a super cute little old Spanish man!). Apparently he could tell we were Americans looking for some good food. We brought us in, sat us down and gave us a menu. Actually, it was a couple of menus. They were all the same, except in different languages…can you say….tourism. Anyway, we ordered what we thought sounded like it wouldn’t still be alive when it came to our table and began sipping our sangrias. Our food came to our table quickly. We ordered something that resembled fried calamari, a potato omelet, some chicken things and other stuff that I honestly don’t know what it was. Shortly after we began to dig in, a group of Irish men were seated right next to us. They were from Dublin and were so much fun to talk to. We though that Norman had a bad accent….until we talked to these guys.
One of them owned a bar down the street and invited us there for a Guinness when we found out that none of us had tried one before. We accepted and met them there when we finished our tapas. This bar was pretty much as Irish as a bar can get in Barcelona. The bartender’s name was “Little Leprechaun”. Come on… We hung out there for a little while but we were all exhausted after our long day so we called it a night around 12:30 and walked back to our hostel.
This day was so much fun. Fun fact….I got sunburned on the bike tour! YAY!
Barcelona Part One
Barcelona Part one (Thursday)
Let me put this into perspective for you….right now I am sitting on the window sill of my open kitchen window, looking down four stories at the Piazza Roma. The sun is shining and the air smells like spring. It is Sunday afternoon so the usual crowd of old folks have gathered in the center of the piazza to casually sit around the palm trees and chat. Honestly, this is the perfect way to spend my Sunday afternoon after such a hectic but exciting weekend.
This weekend was my trip to Barcelona. I was looking forward to this trip since I planned it with my friends about a month ago (ok a guy just walked by in ridiculously neon colored Nike’s….John and Alf, you guys would fit in so well here….). We left for Barcelona last Thursday. Of course I had classes, so I had to sit through two hours of Italian and an hour and a half of History before I could leave to go to the airport.
Most people would think that going to the airport is as simple as jumping in a car or taxi, but traveling is not that simple here in Ascoli. There is no airport in Ascoli, so we have to travel to one of the three airports in Ancona, Pescara or Rome. We were flying out of Pescara to go to Barcelona. In order to get to the airport, we left our apartments at 2:40pm. We walked the 20 minutes with our luggage to the Ascoli train station, and grabbed a train to San Benedetto at 3pm. The train to San Benedetto is about 40 minutes long. From the station in San Benedetto, we had to take another 40 minute train to Pescara, but we had an hour and a half layover. When we got to Pescara, we had to take a 25 minute bus ride to the airport. So, by the time we got to the airport, we had already traveled a little more than three and a half hours. We had to get to the airport two hours early because we were on an international flight, so by the time we actually boarded the plane, we had been traveling for a little over five and a half hours.
We were flying Ryan Air to Barcelona, and everything was fine and dandy until the last girl from our group of 7 went to check in. We were meeting two other girls from our program in Barcelona, but they had flown out of Rome earlier that day and missed their classes. The last girl that went to check in booked her ticket later than the rest of us and made a last minute decision to fly out of Pescara instead of Rome. Unfortunately…..she booked the ticket for Rome by mistake. She had to make the choice to either travel the three hours back to Ascoli Piceno and lose 100 euro on her ticket, or buy another ticket to fly from Pescara to Barcelona and spend 220 euro on a new ticket, plus 100 euro on the old ticket.
She ended up buying another ticket to get onto our flight, but we all felt so badly for her. She dropped about 350 euro after fees and charges and wrong tickets when we only spent 35 euro. That’s a weeee bit of a difference.
After check-in we headed to security. Apparently, we are all idiots because ALL of us packed liquids, razors or tweezers. I don’t know what we were thinking. Maybe we thought European security was a little more relaxed?? Needless to say, we got many a thing confiscated. When the security guards started to throw out our things, we had the brilliant idea to check a bag of toiletries. I don’t know if any of you have flown Ryan Air…but you should NEVER check things. We should have just let the guards throw our stuff out because Ryan Air lost our ONE bag anyway. It’s a good thing that we all brought carry-on luggage.
The flight to Spain was pretty much uneventful aside from the continuous speeding up and slowing down and rising and falling of the airplane. It was definitely obvious that I paid 35 euro for my flight.
So we reached Barcelona and then figured out our bag didn’t, and ran to grab the bus from the Girona airport to the center of Barcelona. When we got out to the bus stop, there was the longest line stretching out of the bus. By the time people filed on and we reached the door, the bus driver said…”four more” (in Spanish of course). That meant our group would get split. We didn’t want that to happen, so I broke out my Spanish for the first time in FOREVER and finagled us onto the bus. The bus ride was an hour and 15 minutes long (THERE IS A MASSIVE MULLET OUTSIDE OF MY WINDOW RIGHT NOW!) and it was filled with Italians….go figure. When we hit the bus station it was after 12 midnight, and the metro had closed. We hailed down two taxis and they brought us to our hostel, but not after charging us 15 euro PER taxi….what a rip off for an 8 minute ride.
We stayed in Centric Point Hostel right in the center of Barcelona on Passaje de Gracia. We checked in and rented out sheets and blankets (yes…..RENTED….PAID EXTRA FOR….) and went upstairs to our room. We were staying in a 12 person room and there were only 9 of us so we shared a room with three other strangers. When we met the first “Stranger” I was a little sketched out at first, but that didn’t last long. The first stranger’s name was Norman and he was from Northern Ireland. Talk about accent! Haha. He was really cool and helped us plan out what we were going to do in Barcelona and in Dublin when we go there in a week. The other strangers were out with the two girls from our group who arrived earlier that day so we figured they were cool too.
At the end of the day we traveled from 2:40pm until 1am…10 hours and 20
Let me put this into perspective for you….right now I am sitting on the window sill of my open kitchen window, looking down four stories at the Piazza Roma. The sun is shining and the air smells like spring. It is Sunday afternoon so the usual crowd of old folks have gathered in the center of the piazza to casually sit around the palm trees and chat. Honestly, this is the perfect way to spend my Sunday afternoon after such a hectic but exciting weekend.
This weekend was my trip to Barcelona. I was looking forward to this trip since I planned it with my friends about a month ago (ok a guy just walked by in ridiculously neon colored Nike’s….John and Alf, you guys would fit in so well here….). We left for Barcelona last Thursday. Of course I had classes, so I had to sit through two hours of Italian and an hour and a half of History before I could leave to go to the airport.
Most people would think that going to the airport is as simple as jumping in a car or taxi, but traveling is not that simple here in Ascoli. There is no airport in Ascoli, so we have to travel to one of the three airports in Ancona, Pescara or Rome. We were flying out of Pescara to go to Barcelona. In order to get to the airport, we left our apartments at 2:40pm. We walked the 20 minutes with our luggage to the Ascoli train station, and grabbed a train to San Benedetto at 3pm. The train to San Benedetto is about 40 minutes long. From the station in San Benedetto, we had to take another 40 minute train to Pescara, but we had an hour and a half layover. When we got to Pescara, we had to take a 25 minute bus ride to the airport. So, by the time we got to the airport, we had already traveled a little more than three and a half hours. We had to get to the airport two hours early because we were on an international flight, so by the time we actually boarded the plane, we had been traveling for a little over five and a half hours.
We were flying Ryan Air to Barcelona, and everything was fine and dandy until the last girl from our group of 7 went to check in. We were meeting two other girls from our program in Barcelona, but they had flown out of Rome earlier that day and missed their classes. The last girl that went to check in booked her ticket later than the rest of us and made a last minute decision to fly out of Pescara instead of Rome. Unfortunately…..she booked the ticket for Rome by mistake. She had to make the choice to either travel the three hours back to Ascoli Piceno and lose 100 euro on her ticket, or buy another ticket to fly from Pescara to Barcelona and spend 220 euro on a new ticket, plus 100 euro on the old ticket.
She ended up buying another ticket to get onto our flight, but we all felt so badly for her. She dropped about 350 euro after fees and charges and wrong tickets when we only spent 35 euro. That’s a weeee bit of a difference.
After check-in we headed to security. Apparently, we are all idiots because ALL of us packed liquids, razors or tweezers. I don’t know what we were thinking. Maybe we thought European security was a little more relaxed?? Needless to say, we got many a thing confiscated. When the security guards started to throw out our things, we had the brilliant idea to check a bag of toiletries. I don’t know if any of you have flown Ryan Air…but you should NEVER check things. We should have just let the guards throw our stuff out because Ryan Air lost our ONE bag anyway. It’s a good thing that we all brought carry-on luggage.
The flight to Spain was pretty much uneventful aside from the continuous speeding up and slowing down and rising and falling of the airplane. It was definitely obvious that I paid 35 euro for my flight.
So we reached Barcelona and then figured out our bag didn’t, and ran to grab the bus from the Girona airport to the center of Barcelona. When we got out to the bus stop, there was the longest line stretching out of the bus. By the time people filed on and we reached the door, the bus driver said…”four more” (in Spanish of course). That meant our group would get split. We didn’t want that to happen, so I broke out my Spanish for the first time in FOREVER and finagled us onto the bus. The bus ride was an hour and 15 minutes long (THERE IS A MASSIVE MULLET OUTSIDE OF MY WINDOW RIGHT NOW!) and it was filled with Italians….go figure. When we hit the bus station it was after 12 midnight, and the metro had closed. We hailed down two taxis and they brought us to our hostel, but not after charging us 15 euro PER taxi….what a rip off for an 8 minute ride.
We stayed in Centric Point Hostel right in the center of Barcelona on Passaje de Gracia. We checked in and rented out sheets and blankets (yes…..RENTED….PAID EXTRA FOR….) and went upstairs to our room. We were staying in a 12 person room and there were only 9 of us so we shared a room with three other strangers. When we met the first “Stranger” I was a little sketched out at first, but that didn’t last long. The first stranger’s name was Norman and he was from Northern Ireland. Talk about accent! Haha. He was really cool and helped us plan out what we were going to do in Barcelona and in Dublin when we go there in a week. The other strangers were out with the two girls from our group who arrived earlier that day so we figured they were cool too.
At the end of the day we traveled from 2:40pm until 1am…10 hours and 20
Firenze Part One
FRIDAY
The train to San Benedetto was only about 40 minutes so we were in San Benedetto pretty quickly. We all thought that the trip was going pretty well up to this point….that was until our train from San Benedetto to Faenza decided that it would take the day off. It literally just did not show up…you gotta love the European Public Transportation System.
So, once we found out that the train just wasn’t coming…we had to figure it out for ourselves because no one decided to make any sort of announcement…we looked into taking the next train. The next train to Faenza wasn’t for another two hours so we sat at platform number 4…and waited…and waited…and then we decided that we would act like typical Americans and eat our boredom away, so out came the nutella and cookies, and the cheese and crackers. We sat and ate amidst the skinny Italians, while they watched us stuff our faces and scarf down the jar of nutella. By the time the train came, the only residual sign of the nutella jar were the smears of chocolate hazelnut spread on our faces and clothing.
Luckily,the train was a Euro Star train! This was such a nice surprise! The Euro Star trains are faster and more luxurious than the regular trains….they also cost more which is why we didn’t book this train in the first place. We had bought tickets for the regular train but we boarded the Euro Star train anyway because that was the only option we had to get to Faenza and still catch our train to Florence. We grabbed seats on the train, and a few minutes into the ride a man came by checking tickets. When he asked us for our tickets, we knew we were going to either get in trouble or have to pay more….so we just pretended that we didn’t speak or understand ANY Italian WHATSOEVER! Unfortunately, this plan that we though was sooo amazing didn’t work out too well…primarily because the man spoke English, but also because apparently none of us can act. We ended up having to pay an extra 7 euro, but all in all, I think that the Euro Star was worth the extra money. It just seemed like it was so much cleaner and almost luxurious compared to the other train.
When we realized we had reached Faenza (because at first we weren’t paying attention since we were so into our conversations and almost missed our stop), we literally got off one train, ran down the stairs, under one railway, and up the stairs on the other side and boarded our other train to Florence. We JUST made it…talk about cutting it close. The ride from Faenza to Florence was pretty uneventful. Just a few smelly people sitting near us for the nice our and a half trip…
When we reached the train station in Florence we regained our bearings and headed out in the direction that we thought would bring us to our hotel. After a little walking and navigation with our handy dandy pop-out map of Florence, we found our hotel. It was right in the middle of everything!! SO PERFECT! Five minutes from the train station, five minutes from the Duomo…perfection. Our hotel was a little sketchy at first. We walked through this massive doorway and there were two sets of stairs…one to more stairs and one to an elevator. We went the stairs route first…which epically failed when we realized that we couldn’t find a light anywhere and the spiral staircase was a little too much for us to handle with our overstuffed backpacks. The elevator route was next. We walked up the stairs to the elevator and pressed the call button. When the elevator showed up, it only confirmed my assumptions that ALL Italian people are smaller and skinnier than pretty much ALL Americans. This elevator could literally it one of us with our backpacks on.
So, we checked in and dropped off our things in the hotel rooms (which were GORGEOUS and complete with baroque artwork) and then headed out to get down to business….time to get gelato and shop…not necessarily in that order. We ended up shoe shopping and then stopping for a gelato break. We went to a few places comparing prices and settled on this one place that served the most delicious gelato flavors. Thinking back now, I should have known and taken a hint when I realized that the name of the gelato place was “Very Good”, but I just didn’t take the God given hint. We all ordered gelato and when it came time to pay, we all almost passed out (and not because the gelato was so amazing…because it wasn’t). THOSE STUPID GELATOS COST US A TOTAL OF 39 EURO!! SOO MUCH MONEY! ON BAD GELATO! They averaged 8 euro each!
We finished our shopping, headed back to the hotel and got dressed for dinner. We met up with one of the girl’s friends who is studying in Florence and got dinner with her and her friends. I ate dinner quickly because I was so excited for AFTER dinner. I had plans to meet up with Lorelle’s (one of my really good friends from home) sister, Amanda, after dinner. Amanda studied in Florence two years ago when she was a junior in college and decided that she wanted to live there after she graduated. We met up in front of the Duomo and went out for a drink and some catch-up chit-chat. So much fun! We called it a night around 12am because we were all so tired from our journey, and decided we would wake up early the next day to take on all that is historical in Florence…which is pretty much everything.
SATURDAY We started our day off Saturday with a free breakfast from the hotel. Hearty corn flakes...mmmhhh and nutella. We had reservations to see the Galleria degli Uffizi at 9:30. We spent TWO hours just going through the Uffizi. I saw paintings by Botticelli like The Birth of Venus and La Primavera. I honestly can’t describe what I felt walking through the Uffizi. There were so many gorgeous statues and paintings. It seemed as through they just stretched on forever.
After the Uffizi, we went for a little walk through Ponto Veccio. In case you didn’t know, Ponto Veccio is known for it’s gold. I went to Ponto Veccio with the intention of buying a necklace and a pendent to remember my trip to Florence. When I browsed a few shops…I realized I wouldn’t be purchasing ANYTHING from Ponto Veccio. Let me put it this way…If they sold gelato on the Ponto Veccio it would be even more expensive than the 8 euro gelato we got the day before. It would be more like 200 euro gelato.
After the Ponto Veccio we grabbed lunch at a little side pizzeria and got in line at the Duomo. We only had about two hours before our reservations at the Galleria Academica. We were in line at the Duomo for about 10 mins (did I mention the weather was AMAZING that day? Definitely in the 60’s). We paid our entrance fee and began our ascent to the top of the Duomo. When the sign said 436 stairs, I was expecting a few stairs and a bit of a climb. I definitely was not expecting a verticle, dizzying, spiral ascent that involved claustrophobia. Ohh the Duomo. When we reached the top of the dome, I realized that it was totally worth it. The climb up was actually pretty fun once I stopped psyching myself out
The train to San Benedetto was only about 40 minutes so we were in San Benedetto pretty quickly. We all thought that the trip was going pretty well up to this point….that was until our train from San Benedetto to Faenza decided that it would take the day off. It literally just did not show up…you gotta love the European Public Transportation System.
So, once we found out that the train just wasn’t coming…we had to figure it out for ourselves because no one decided to make any sort of announcement…we looked into taking the next train. The next train to Faenza wasn’t for another two hours so we sat at platform number 4…and waited…and waited…and then we decided that we would act like typical Americans and eat our boredom away, so out came the nutella and cookies, and the cheese and crackers. We sat and ate amidst the skinny Italians, while they watched us stuff our faces and scarf down the jar of nutella. By the time the train came, the only residual sign of the nutella jar were the smears of chocolate hazelnut spread on our faces and clothing.
Luckily,the train was a Euro Star train! This was such a nice surprise! The Euro Star trains are faster and more luxurious than the regular trains….they also cost more which is why we didn’t book this train in the first place. We had bought tickets for the regular train but we boarded the Euro Star train anyway because that was the only option we had to get to Faenza and still catch our train to Florence. We grabbed seats on the train, and a few minutes into the ride a man came by checking tickets. When he asked us for our tickets, we knew we were going to either get in trouble or have to pay more….so we just pretended that we didn’t speak or understand ANY Italian WHATSOEVER! Unfortunately, this plan that we though was sooo amazing didn’t work out too well…primarily because the man spoke English, but also because apparently none of us can act. We ended up having to pay an extra 7 euro, but all in all, I think that the Euro Star was worth the extra money. It just seemed like it was so much cleaner and almost luxurious compared to the other train.
When we realized we had reached Faenza (because at first we weren’t paying attention since we were so into our conversations and almost missed our stop), we literally got off one train, ran down the stairs, under one railway, and up the stairs on the other side and boarded our other train to Florence. We JUST made it…talk about cutting it close. The ride from Faenza to Florence was pretty uneventful. Just a few smelly people sitting near us for the nice our and a half trip…
When we reached the train station in Florence we regained our bearings and headed out in the direction that we thought would bring us to our hotel. After a little walking and navigation with our handy dandy pop-out map of Florence, we found our hotel. It was right in the middle of everything!! SO PERFECT! Five minutes from the train station, five minutes from the Duomo…perfection. Our hotel was a little sketchy at first. We walked through this massive doorway and there were two sets of stairs…one to more stairs and one to an elevator. We went the stairs route first…which epically failed when we realized that we couldn’t find a light anywhere and the spiral staircase was a little too much for us to handle with our overstuffed backpacks. The elevator route was next. We walked up the stairs to the elevator and pressed the call button. When the elevator showed up, it only confirmed my assumptions that ALL Italian people are smaller and skinnier than pretty much ALL Americans. This elevator could literally it one of us with our backpacks on.
So, we checked in and dropped off our things in the hotel rooms (which were GORGEOUS and complete with baroque artwork) and then headed out to get down to business….time to get gelato and shop…not necessarily in that order. We ended up shoe shopping and then stopping for a gelato break. We went to a few places comparing prices and settled on this one place that served the most delicious gelato flavors. Thinking back now, I should have known and taken a hint when I realized that the name of the gelato place was “Very Good”, but I just didn’t take the God given hint. We all ordered gelato and when it came time to pay, we all almost passed out (and not because the gelato was so amazing…because it wasn’t). THOSE STUPID GELATOS COST US A TOTAL OF 39 EURO!! SOO MUCH MONEY! ON BAD GELATO! They averaged 8 euro each!
We finished our shopping, headed back to the hotel and got dressed for dinner. We met up with one of the girl’s friends who is studying in Florence and got dinner with her and her friends. I ate dinner quickly because I was so excited for AFTER dinner. I had plans to meet up with Lorelle’s (one of my really good friends from home) sister, Amanda, after dinner. Amanda studied in Florence two years ago when she was a junior in college and decided that she wanted to live there after she graduated. We met up in front of the Duomo and went out for a drink and some catch-up chit-chat. So much fun! We called it a night around 12am because we were all so tired from our journey, and decided we would wake up early the next day to take on all that is historical in Florence…which is pretty much everything.
SATURDAY We started our day off Saturday with a free breakfast from the hotel. Hearty corn flakes...mmmhhh and nutella. We had reservations to see the Galleria degli Uffizi at 9:30. We spent TWO hours just going through the Uffizi. I saw paintings by Botticelli like The Birth of Venus and La Primavera. I honestly can’t describe what I felt walking through the Uffizi. There were so many gorgeous statues and paintings. It seemed as through they just stretched on forever.
After the Uffizi, we went for a little walk through Ponto Veccio. In case you didn’t know, Ponto Veccio is known for it’s gold. I went to Ponto Veccio with the intention of buying a necklace and a pendent to remember my trip to Florence. When I browsed a few shops…I realized I wouldn’t be purchasing ANYTHING from Ponto Veccio. Let me put it this way…If they sold gelato on the Ponto Veccio it would be even more expensive than the 8 euro gelato we got the day before. It would be more like 200 euro gelato.
After the Ponto Veccio we grabbed lunch at a little side pizzeria and got in line at the Duomo. We only had about two hours before our reservations at the Galleria Academica. We were in line at the Duomo for about 10 mins (did I mention the weather was AMAZING that day? Definitely in the 60’s). We paid our entrance fee and began our ascent to the top of the Duomo. When the sign said 436 stairs, I was expecting a few stairs and a bit of a climb. I definitely was not expecting a verticle, dizzying, spiral ascent that involved claustrophobia. Ohh the Duomo. When we reached the top of the dome, I realized that it was totally worth it. The climb up was actually pretty fun once I stopped psyching myself out
Monday, March 2, 2009
Opera
Oh man! Florence is amazing! Ok, now that I got that out of the way, here is the update from the last time I blogged...
Thursday night we traveled to Ancona to go to the Opera! We saw Rigoletto. Most people do not know the story of Rigoletto, I didn't, but almost EVERYONE knows the famous song from the Opera, La Donna e Mobile. Youtube it, I BET you have heard it before.
Anyway, before the Opera my friends and I did some last minute shopping (go figure) and then got dressed and grabbed the bus at 6:15pm. The ride to Ancona was about an hour and a half. We arrived at the Opera house just in time to grab some pizza across the street and then head in to the show. UNH bought our opera tickets for us, and I wasn't expecting much...haha...but when I say nosebleed seats....I really am NOT lying. I felt like I was going to sneeze and go hurtling over the balcony and plummet to my death....yeah. I was scared to get up and walk anywhere. I am unstable enough walking in heels, never mind walking in heels 2000 feet in the air.
So we watched the opera, which was about three hours of italian mumble singing, and even though I could only catch about one word every three minutes, I still got the jist of what was going on. Such a tragic ending, but what else would you expect from Italian opera?
We got home from the opera around 1am, but I still had to pack for my trip to Florence. I had five hours before I had to leave for Florence by the time we got back to our apartments from the opera. I packed up as fast as I could, ate some tortolini, and went to sleep.
All in all, I enjoyed the opera. There were a few times where it felt like torture, but for the most part I felt like it was a cultural experience that I will always remember.
Thursday night we traveled to Ancona to go to the Opera! We saw Rigoletto. Most people do not know the story of Rigoletto, I didn't, but almost EVERYONE knows the famous song from the Opera, La Donna e Mobile. Youtube it, I BET you have heard it before.
Anyway, before the Opera my friends and I did some last minute shopping (go figure) and then got dressed and grabbed the bus at 6:15pm. The ride to Ancona was about an hour and a half. We arrived at the Opera house just in time to grab some pizza across the street and then head in to the show. UNH bought our opera tickets for us, and I wasn't expecting much...haha...but when I say nosebleed seats....I really am NOT lying. I felt like I was going to sneeze and go hurtling over the balcony and plummet to my death....yeah. I was scared to get up and walk anywhere. I am unstable enough walking in heels, never mind walking in heels 2000 feet in the air.
So we watched the opera, which was about three hours of italian mumble singing, and even though I could only catch about one word every three minutes, I still got the jist of what was going on. Such a tragic ending, but what else would you expect from Italian opera?
We got home from the opera around 1am, but I still had to pack for my trip to Florence. I had five hours before I had to leave for Florence by the time we got back to our apartments from the opera. I packed up as fast as I could, ate some tortolini, and went to sleep.
All in all, I enjoyed the opera. There were a few times where it felt like torture, but for the most part I felt like it was a cultural experience that I will always remember.
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