The In-Between

So, I know I've already been home for a week. (Ahhh what???) I tried to finish the blog before I came home, but I just ran out of time. I barely slept the last week in London, never mind finding time to blog. But, I do really want to finish writing it so I always have it to look back on. And I did write my "last" blog post before I left so that it was an "in the moment" kind of thing, so I want to finish updating everything before I post that one. So, if anyone out there is still following along, here is what I did during what I call the "In-Between" week which was after Barcelona and before my last trip to Switzerland. It's short but here it goes.

On the Tuesday night after I returned from Barcelona, Maddie, Alex, me, and a group of our friends went to Winter Wonderland, the huge winter/Christmas market and fair held in Hyde Park from November to January. It's seriously impressive how enormous this whole event is, with all these huge theme-park rides, dozens of cafes and bars (including a carousel bar) and food stands, and row upon row of market stalls. It took us over an hour just to walk through half of it--that's how big it is. Unfortunately, the rides were a bit expensive to go on (it was like 8 pounds per ride) so we mainly just walked around, and I got a really yummy crepe. It was also freezing that night and I wasn't exactly prepared for it as I had come directly from class, but it was a really neat place to walk around. For a Tuesday night, it was also very crowded! I can't imagine how busy it is on the weekends!

The next day, Wednesday, Lisa and I actually did have an "Adventure Wednesday" (yeah, we kind of dropped the ball on that one, but better late than never, right?). We decided to go see Wicked at the theater since the tickets were actually pretty cheap. I had seen Wicked years ago with Courtney and Aunt Re on Broadway and absolutely loved it, so I was really excited to see it again. And somehow, we ended up with second row tickets, so we had a fantastic view of the stage!! (Still not sure how that happened.) And, though I remembered a lot from when I had last seen the show, there were plenty of things I didn't remember so it was kind of like seeing it for the first time all over again. But, of course, the show was awesome. It's not only an amazing play, but it also has one of my favorite soundtracks, which I wouldn't stop listening to for the next 3 days.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! Obviously, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK and apparently turkey isn't really a thing here either. There are some restaurants in London that serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but you have to book them in advance which we realized too late. So a group of us ended up in Covent Garden looking for a place to eat and wound up at Bella Italia. Yup, we had Italian food for Thanksgiving, but at least it was yummy! And afterwards, I got to Skype everyone who was at Grammy's house for the holiday which I was really excited about! :)

Over the weekend, Lisa and I and some of her friends went to check out Primrose Hill again since they had yet to see it. It wasn't as nice as the day that I had gone, but it was still a pretty view. Afterwards, we went to check out some of the markets in the area we had yet to visit: The Stables Market and Camden Lock Market. Though they both are very similar to all the other markets in London, I really enjoy walking through markets in general and I'm definitely going to miss them. They always have the best food and some of the most interesting stalls. (See cupcake stall below) And these ones were also decorated for the holidays with strings of lights hung everywhere! I also found the closest thing to hot apple cider at Camden Lock Market that I could find in London, although it was just glorified hot apple juice.

On Sunday, Lisa, me, and her friend Katie also went to Brick Lane Market which is right near the area where we live, to get lunch. We all got delicious bratwursts and spent some time wandering through the area since even after 3 months I had never been there before.

All in all, it was a very good week.

Viva Barcelona

Barely four days after I returned from France, it was time to head out to Barcelona. (November was a busy month for me if you couldn’t tell.) My friends, Megan and Emma, and I booked this trip together ages before we left for it. Once more, we left Thursday afternoon to catch our flight, getting into the city in the early evening. I was happy to see that Barcelona was warmer than France, though we still had to wear jackets. We were staying in an apartment on one of the main streets, close to Las Ramblas. Though the apartment wasn’t as nice as the one I stayed in in France, it was still pleasant and much better than a hostel. The man who rented us the apartment was also very nice and helpful—he had already highlighted a map with all of the tourist sites and the easiest routes to reach them as well as the areas of the city we should avoid (aka the Red Light District at night) and spent nearly half an hour going over the map with us to make sure we knew how to get everywhere. 

Once we were done checking in, we asked for suggestions for dinner and he pointed us in the direction of a Tapas place, so we could try some local cuisine. Tapas are more like appetizers so you usually order two or three per person and though the restaurant originally didn’t look too pricey, when you have to order several small dishes to fill you up, it can add up quickly. Clearly his idea of cheap and our idea of cheap were not the same. Then again, the college-kid idea of cheap never matches anyone else’s idea of cheap. And the food was just okay, but at least we tried it. I also attempted to order in Spanish, but the waiter could obviously tell we were American and reverted to English which I was kind of disappointed about since I had been looking forward to trying out my long dormant Spanish in a real-life situation. However, nearly everyone we encountered in Barcelona, much like other cities, spoke English or spoke enough of it that we didn’t have to stress out about understanding, which usually I appreciate, but I finally knew/understood a different language but didn’t really get to test it out that much. Oh well, I haven’t taken Spanish in so long, I’d probably make a fool of myself anyway. I’d probably accidently order shellfish and then we’d all be sorry. (Just kidding, I actually do know the Spanish word for shellfish).

The next day we headed out to do some site-seeing. We first walked to Las Ramblas, the market street with all the touristy shops and stalls. We even passed a Dunkin Donuts, the first one I’ve seen in 3 months since it’s Starbucks that dominates in Europe. It was nice to see it, though we didn’t go in. Instead, we kept walking until we reached the harbor where dozens and dozens of sailboats and yachts, and other boats were moored. And there were palm trees!! Even if it wasn’t quite warm enough, seeing palm trees was a treat because it was different from every other city. It made the trip feel more vacation-y. 

The harbor area was absolutely beautiful. I could have easily stayed there all day, which we did end up spending a decent amount of time there because right after the harbor was the beach! I can’t even how describe how happy it made me to see the beach; despite the fact that it was too cold to lay out or go swimming. It was just so relaxing to hear the waves and be able to look out at the sea. And relaxing was exactly what I was looking for since my last two trips were jammed packed with things to do and see. (Not necessarily a bad thing, but it wears on you after a while.) The three of us actually enjoyed it so much that we grabbed lunch at one of the beach side cafes.  And even though it wasn’t exactly warm per-Se, you could still feel the sun, which you can’t say about the watery sunlight in England. It was some much needed Vitamin D. 

 

After lunch, we walked around the beach area a bit more since it was so pleasant. There were actually a bunch of people surfing in the sea, and there was a big boardwalk running the length of the beach that we meandered down for a while. (We also passed by a little kitten snuggling in the sand:). Once we finally left the beach, we walked through more of the streets of Barcelona, which are quite beautiful, and even stopped for some gelato. Across from the gelato shoppe was also a funny little store called "Happy Pills" that had a small pharmacy symbol above it. No, it wasn't a drug store--it was a candy story, which we all found very amusing.

 

 Later on, we got dinner at this restaurant called Rosa Negra which not only had 3 euro margaritas (yum!) but also a really good steak burger! Needless to say it was much better and more filling than the tapas.  

The next day we had a couple of things on our list to check out. The first were a couple of Gaudi buildings, a very individual and distinctive style of architecture by Antoni  Gaudi. The buildings are certainly different and fun to look at, but I am also pretty sure his name is where the word “gaudy” stemmed from ha ha. But, his work is all over Barcelona, including, most famously, the Sagrada Familia, which is what we went to see next. It’s an impressive and strangely beautiful church that we had often learned about in Spanish class in high school, so it was cool to get to see it in person. However, and unfortunately, it is under rather heavy construction which kind of detracts from the whole site. 

After La Sagrada Familia, we swung back by the beach area to hit up a famous sandwich shop for lunch. It was funny because it’s one of the smallest sandwich shops I’ve seen, down this narrow little side street, but it has lines extending from its door before it even opens at 1pm because of its reputation, which passes by way of mouth from study-abroad kids who pass through Barcelona. We were some of the first in line because we got there early, and boy did it live up to its reputation. I had a great sandwich of chicken, corn, cheese, lettuce, lentils, and guacamole, and at only 3 euros you couldn’t beat the price!  The three of us sat on a park bench by the harbor to eat our lunch—it was another beautiful sunny day—and we probably would’ve been content to stay if not for the next thing on our list—Park Guell. 

You would never know that this is a fantastic
sandwich place

Park Guell is half-park, half-architectural masterpiece also designed by Gaudi. (Told you he was everywhere.) You have to pay to go into the areas where he actually built things, so we stuck to the main terraces of the park that give you a fantastic view of the city! You could see all the way to the sea in one direction and to the mountains in the other. And there were cactus (cacti?) everywhere, which for whatever reason I found really amusing.  Park Guell is also unique because though it sits on this incredibly steep hill, there are actually escalators built into the hill to take you up to the top—that’s how steep the walk is to reach it. 

Atop Park Guell

We spent a good amount of time at the park and then got back on the metro to head towards “The magic fountain” which does a light show every night after dark. It sits at the foot of the National Art Museum of Catalonia, which itself is beautiful. Since we arrived before sunset, we hiked the many stairs to the top of the Museum which overlooks the city and has three beautiful waterfall fountains set into the hill so that we could watch the sun set on the city. Barcelona at dusk is just as beautiful as it is during the day. 

Sick waterfall right?

After the sun set, we walked back down to the fountain only to see that the light show wouldn’t start for another two hours. As it was getting cold and we didn’t have anywhere to really hang out for two hours, we decided to head back to our apartment to hang for a bit before dinner. Before we left though, we took a couple of pictures in front of the waterfall as they too lit up at night and were stunning. 

Watching the sun set on another beautiful city

The 20-block walk back to our apartment later (it seemed like a good idea at the time), we hung around for about an hour before going in search of dinner. We decided on a place that served paellas as both Emma and I really wanted to try one. (This was another thing we constantly learned about in Spanish class.) Though paellas (which are kind of rice and vegetable dish) are usually served with shellfish, this restaurant had a chicken-based one that I ordered which was very, very delicious. Now, at last, I realized why we talked about them so often in class. But in reality, I was actually very happy I got to try one and very pleased that it was so good. Who would’ve known that I liked the local cuisine in so many countries? But, all in all, Barcelona was a great, and mercifully, relaxing trip. 

Yum!

Parlez vous francais?

Less than 3 days after I returned home from Italy, it was off to Paris! I didn't even really unpack my backpack, I just switched clothes out and made sure I had enough socks.

Luckily this time we (Lisa, her two friends, and I) didn't have to leave hours ahead of time to get to an airport; we just left after everyone was done with class and headed to the train station to hop on the Eurostar. I actually can't express how nice it was not to have to deal with an airport for this trip. The train ride was just so much more pleasant and much less of a hassle. Not to mention we finally got to take the Chunnel.

We got into the  Paris train station in the early evening and after trying to figure out the metro for 15 minutes, gave up and decided to take a taxi. (Every city's metro seems twice as difficult after using the Tube all semester). It took about half an hour to reach our apartment, but we got to see a bit of the city at night, and a lot of it was already decorated and lit up for Christmas. Our apartment turned out to be right down the street from the Arc de Triomphe and was probably the nicest place we have stayed all semester. It was an actual apartment with a bedroom, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room and it was great not to have stay in a hostel.

After dropping off our stuff, we walked towards the Arc which heads a main street, and found a little Italian restaurant to eat dinner (It was the cheapest thing we could find). After dinner we walked down the street a  bit more and briefly stopped in a McDonald's to take advantage of the free wifi because in Europe, you take advantage of the free wifi wherever you can find it. Normally, I wouldn't mention something like this because it's not really that important, but within the McDonald's there was a whole bakery section which included a tray of macaroons. None of us had tried macaroons before and we knew they were a French thing so we figured we might as well try one here where they are cheaper and see if we like them. Each of us got a chocolate one and found to our delight that they were really good! And these ones were coming from McDonald's so we knew they had to be even better some place else! In any case, once we were finished, we headed back to the apartment to go to sleep.

The following morning we left our apartment and headed towards the one and only Eiffel Tower. Since we could see it from our street we decided to walk and with it as a reference point, we never really needed a map. It only took us about ten minutes to get a bridge where we could cross the river in order to get to the Tower's base. It goes without saying that it was beautiful and an amazing work of architecture and engineering. I've never seen anything like it, and it might have been one of my favorite monuments to visit, especially because when it lights up at night, it is even more breath-taking. And it's kind of amazing to think about how it draws so many visitors from around the world every day just to look at it because of how strong a cultural symbol it is for France.

We took a couple of close-up pictures, and after dodging some Gypsies (they were my least favorite part about Paris), we walked away from the Tower and through the park so we could get landscape pictures of it. Lisa and I had a grand time striking ridiculous poses in front of it or attempting to get a jumping, in-the-air picture so I have included some here for your amusement.

We probably spent an inordinate amount of time taking pictures, but hey, at least it was fun. After, we got some hot chocolate from a nearby stand because it was freezing outside! I wasn't expecting Paris to be that cold (it was nearly 15 degrees different from London) and we were actually freezing most of the weekend. Even with gloves and a pea-coat, it was hard to be outside for more than 20 minutes unless you were moving around. So after our hot chocolate, we went to the other side of the tower to catch a Hop-on, Hop-off Bus that we had paid for previously since we knew Paris was a huge city and it would probably be the easiest way to see everything we wanted to.

However, this particular company or bus was not up to par. Having taken multiple of these buses in other cities and having a good experience, I was expecting this one to be good as well, but it was the worst I've ever taken. It only came every hour when it advertised that it came every 20 minutes and there were never enough seats--they even left some people behind because there wasn't enough room after they had already waited in the cold for an hour! So by the time we got on the bus it was already late afternoon, and almost too late to really see anything else as it was getting dark. Instead, we got off at the next stop after to Tower: the Place de la Concorde, a massive square where Paris's giant Ferris Wheel is.

(The London Eye is more impressive though). After walking through the square, we found ourselves at the foot of an enormous Christmas market that stretched nearly all the way to the Arc in the distance. Dozens of these little Christmas stalls selling everything from food to jewelry lined the street on both sides and there was even Christmas music playing. It might have been a little early, (it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet) but it was still great and we spent another couple of hours there wandering up and down and browsing. I even got some lovely hand-made earrings from a jewelry stall as well as a crepe (because how can you go to Paris and not get a crepe?).


Saturday was our bigger sight-seeing day. We got up a bit earlier so we could fit everything in, which almost didn't matter because the stupid bus took forever again (by the time it came I couldn't feel my feet) and we had to avoid at least a dozen gypsies. Our first and only stop using the bus was the Louvre. I loved being able to see the giant glass pyramid in person having read about it in The Da Vinci Code.

And the Louvre was even bigger than I thought it was! I'm not sure how else to describe it other than to say it was massive--you could probably spend days there and not see everything it has. And the exterior of the building and the surrounding area with the pyramids and fountains is beautiful. Of course, once inside, the first thing we went to see was the Mona Lisa. Having been warned beforehand, I knew that she, or I suppose her painting, was much smaller than pictures of her make it out to be, but I found it hysterical that the painting across from her basically took up an entire wall and here she is barely bigger than a textbook and behind a wall of bullet-proof glass. We waited in line to get our pictures with her before moving on to look at some more famous pieces of art including the Sphinx and Mary Magdalene--though in reality we saw only a fraction of what the Louvre houses. 

After the museum we decided to walk to our next destination--the Lock Bridge. I was actually really excited to see the Lock Bridge because I had heard of it so many times before and had always wanted to see it in person. For those of you who don't know the Lock Bridge or Love Lock Bridge as it is also known is where sweethearts go to place a lock, usually engraved with their initials, around the rungs of the bridge and then toss the key into the river. The idea was first inspired in a book and has gained a lot of popularity as the locks now appear in many places across Europe--though the Lock Bridge in Paris is the most famous. After a little bit of a walk we did indeed find the bridge--it would be hard to miss. There must be thousands of locks along the sides of the bridge; you couldn't see the sides of the bridge for locks, and it was just as cool as I imagined it would be. I couldn't really explain to you why; but I really loved being able to see it. Of course, none of us had anyone to put a lock on the bridge with but we had a good time pretending for pictures.

After the Lock Bridge, we walked through the streets of Paris to find Notre Dame. Walking turned out to be much better than taking the stupid bus because we got more of a feel of the city, and even though the people might be rude, the city itself is beautiful. I think that's one of the reasons I liked it much much more than I originally thought I would. All of the buildings and parks are just beautiful. We eventually found Notre Dame and it looked just like I remembered it from the Disney movie!! Ha ha. I liked Esmeralda much better than the Gypsies that hang around the city though. In any case, the cathedral is gorgeous, which prompted several pictures. We didn't go inside though because the line was enormous and it was freezing outside. Instead, we walked to find a cafe where we could get something hot and we found a bakery where we got the most delicious eclairs!

We hung out there until it got dark and then headed back over to the Eiffel Tower so we could climb to the top!! And I know I said this before, but the Eiffel Tower at night might have been one of my favorite things to see. The line to take the lift all the way to the top was too long to wait outside in so instead we opted to climb to the second platform--over 600 steps. Oh yes, you read that right. 600 steps. In reality, it didn't feel that bad and we took a lift to the very top of the tower which offers a view from over 915 feet--and the view was completely worth it! A 360-view of Paris at night is worth anything. It was awesome. And after we had spent some time at the top (it was very windy) we headed back down to get one last crepe from a nearby stand, which might have been the best crepe I've ever had with strawberries and Nutella.  Also, as we were eating our crepes, we got to see the Tower sparkle as it does every hour on the hour at night, and really how can you not be happy when you are eating a crepe in Paris under the sparkling Eiffel Tower? Needless to say, it was a fantastic end to the weekend.

Florence, Rome, and Verona, Oh My! (Part 3)

So I'm lagging even farther behind than I was before, my apologies! I have so much to catch up on now, it's not even funny. It's even less funny when I realized I am coming home in less than two weeks! Yikes.

But we won't think about that now. Not yet anyway. I still have lots of trips and activities to talk about and share with you. So let's pick up where we left off, which was...Verona, yes, the last stop on my Italy trip. Wow, this seems long ago now...

Anyway, after getting back from Rome at three in the morning, the three of us headed straight to bed. We got up at 9 the next morning so we could catch another train to Verona. Having gotten a grand total of about eight hours of sleep over the course of two nights, it was safe to say I was exhausted enough to fall asleep on this train as well.

The courtyard

We got to Verona about half past 11 with the intention of visiting Juliet's (as in Romeo and Juliet's) House. But before we made our way there we stopped at a pizza restaurant to grab some lunch. I got a mushroom and prosciutto pizza if anyone is curious and it was amazing! All of us (we had a big group this time: Me, Kayla, Maddie, Jacqui, Brittany, Allie, Christina, Maddie, Jenny, Courtney, Jordan, (all Stonehill girls by the way)) had a lovely lunch and then proceeded to walk down some quaint little streets of Verona to reach our destination.

Though we didn't get to see much of Verona overall, the bit that we did see was beautiful and you got the feeling it was a very serene, easy-going place. We quickly found Juliet's House down a narrow cobblestone street. You had to walk through a brief tunnel to reach the courtyard and in the dim lighting, you could see the entire tunnel had been graffitied with love quotes, hearts, and names. The courtyard itself was all cobblestones, bordered on one side by little touristy shops and the other by Juliet's House--or more precisely the house her's was based off of.

It was crowded when we got there as there were a lot of tour groups trying to move in the small space, but we could easily see the famous balcony as well as the famous Shakespeare quote from the Balcony Scene that was etched into a plaque beneath it. There was also a statue of Juliet on the far side of the courtyard that everyone was trying to take a picture with because apparently it's good luck, so obviously all of us joined the queue. Once we had gotten our picture, we went inside the house where we could write a letter to Juliet (based on the movie Letters to Juliet) and then tour the inside of her house. The inside of her house didn't really have much. There were some pictures and costumes and Shakespeare quotes as well as random little art projects that had nothing to really do with the scene, but other than that it was surprisingly bare. We did get to take pictures on the balcony though. And we did mail our letters though I'm not really sure where they will end up.

After our tour we browsed through some of the little shops on the main street and walked through the nearby square, but soon enough we had to head back to the train station. I'm not really sure how it ended up that there were not enough seats on this train so all of us had to stand in the aisle for the entire hour and a half ride back. (That was just as much fun and comfortable as it sounds). Our train was also 15 minutes late, which wouldn't be an important detail except that we had to catch a connecting train, and I'm sure you can guess what happened next. Yeah, we missed that one too. (The whole train thing just wasn't in our favor this weekend). Luckily the next train was in 20 minutes as opposed to 2 1/2 hours, but by the time we figured out which platform it was on we were still running to catch it.

Stonehill takes Verona

Once we made it back, we all headed right to dinner at a place the Florence girls had gone before and highly recommended, and it was obviously a good choice because I had the BEST carbonara pasta I've ever had. Nothing can ever top it. It was that good. I also tried a drink called a "spritz" which is some type of citrus-alcohol beverage.which was also really good. And, of course, it was fun because it was just a giant dinner with all my friends and a great way to end our last night in Italy! Three days, three cities, with amazing friends, and fantastic food!!

Now, usually this is where I would end the blog, but this weekend didn't end here because Monday, when Maddie and I headed back, was also the day the World Premiere of the Hunger Games: Catching Fire was taking place in London! For those of you who don't know, this is another book series I am completely obsessed with, and luckily so is Maddie. We had known before we even came to London that the premiere would be here and so we had always originally planned to go. And if you got there before 4pm, you could get through the gates that lined the red carpet to watch the actors arrive!!

Of course,the odds weren't in our favor this weekend at all (see what I did there?) and our flight was delayed for an hour because of a storm over Europe, because of which we didn't get to the gates until 4:15 after sprinting through the Tube with our bags to Leicester Square where it was being held. And yes, the gates were already closed. Since we couldn't get into the inner gates, we secured our spot at the outer gates near the entrance, and, although it sucked having our bags on our shoulders the whole time, they did come in handy because they gave us some breathing room from the mass of people.

Having only seen red carpets events on television it was awesome to see it in person, especially for one of my favorite series! The carpet wound all the way through the square to the theater on the other side and it was lined with these giant flaming torches in honor of the movie's title. There was also a giant Mockingjay statue across from where we were standing as well as a stage and screen set up for interviews. After waiting for an hour, during which they played sneak previews of the movie, the cast began to arrive amidst all the screaming and loud music, which of course Maddie and I added too. Nearly everyone came for the premiere, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Stanely Tucci, and more, and we had a pretty good view of them as they arrived!! Maddie was nearly incoherent when Josh Hutcherson first appeared, but I was all about Jennifer Lawrence because she's just awesome. I was completely fan-girling when she arrived, but I didn't even care because she's literally the best, and I'm still trying to believe I got to see her in person. They all walked around taking pictures and signing autographs for a while (which unfortunately we weren't close enough to get) before they were interviewed on stage, but all of them looked like they were having so much fun goofing off with each other! It didn't really hit us until way after the premiere that we had actually been there! I still can't really believe it, but it was an awesome experience to cross off my bucket list! Check out the pictures!

Happy Hunger Games!

Lisa, Maddie, me, and Lisa's friends also went to the midnight premiere of the movie when it came out the following week. We saw it in IMAX and it was a fantastic movie! They did a really good job adapting it from the book and all of the actors were spot-on. (I can say this with confidence because I've read the book at least four times and actually read the entire thing again the day before it came out.)  For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I have one thing to say to you-- go out to the nearest movie theater right now!

Florence, Rome, and Verona, Oh My! (Part Two)

So the next morning, after being rudely awoken by our alarms after only four hours of sleep, Jacqui, Brittany, and I got up to catch our train to Rome. (And I'll just say that I can't thank the two of them enough for coming with me--they truly are amazingly wonderful friends. Both of them will be returning to Rome in a couple of weeks as part of their study abroad program in Italy, something they had already paid for, but they willing came with me because they knew how much I wanted to see Rome and without them, I doubt I would have had the courage to go by myself. And being able to go to Rome with some of my very best friends was of course an awesome experience; traveling there with them made it so much more fun and memorable. So thank you Jacqui and Brittany for being the best friends a girl could as for! I love you both!)

For the first time since I can remember, I actually fell asleep on the train ride there. Unlike my sister, I was not blessed with the ability to fall asleep anywhere, in any position, at any given time. This especially applies to trains, buses, cars, and planes and so clearly I was much more tired than I originally thought I was--and I thought I was pretty tired to begin with.

As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day, but we were going to try and see it in one. So once we got there, we sought out a Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus Tour as this was likely the only way we were going to be able to see everything we wanted to. Our first stop was a rather well-known place in Rome. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. The Colosseum anyone? Now this might sound stupid, but it looked much older than I thought it would. Obviously, it's an ancient arena, but as I had only ever seen it in pictures before, seeing it person was very different. And I'm not sure what I had originally thought Rome would look like, but I don't know if I expected the ruins to literally just appear among the every day buildings as they do. It was shocking in a way to turn the corner from a normal road and suddenly see the Colosseum, but it's also what makes Rome so unique. It's no wonder they call it the Eternal City.

Welcome to the Colosseum. And may the odds be
ever in your favor.

Our bus made a loop around the arena so we could admire it from all angles before dropping us off across the street. Though the Colosseum is set in the heart of the city, it, along with the Roman Forum, are in a wide open area so that you can better appreciate them for what they are and their historical significance. The three of us walked up a little hill where you can take a good picture in front of the arena before walking down to get in line. As both Jacqui and Brittany are going back to Rome they decided to wait outside while I went in. The line took a little bit longer than I expected, but it was worth it to see the inside of the Colosseum. It would have been fun to take a tour and learn more about the place as I discovered I knew very little to begin with, but being under a time crunch, I took a walking tour by myself and saw the arena from all different levels and sides. It was amazing to think of what it must have looked like in it's prime as it is still such a sight to behold today.

Inside the Colosseum

After I had my fill, I met up with Jacqui and Brittany again outside. The ticket I had purchased for the Colosseum also granted me access to the Roman Forum so I decided to walk around there quickly. Without a doubt, it was interesting, but as I didn't really know much about it beforehand I don't think I was able to fully appreciate it. However, it did inspire me to look it up when I got back and read about how central it was to Roman life. Once I left, the three of us hopped back on our bus and asked the tour guide where would be a good place to eat since all of us were starting to get hungry. She suggested we get off at the next stop and walk over the bridge, so we followed her advice and ended up at a cute little outside restaurant just down the street from the river. Obviously as this was my first opportunity to order Italian pizza, I jumped at the chance and got a white mushroom and sausage pizza. It was much thinner and more oily than back home, but it was delicious and everything I had hoped it would be.

Where we ate lunch

After a pleasant lunch, we got back on the bus to go see the Pantheon. We were actually dropped off in front of Castel Sant'Angelo which lies across a bridge vaguely reminiscent of the Charles Bridge in Prague with all of the statues lining the sides and which offers some great views, although we didn't actually go inside. Instead, we walked along the river for a bit before turning down the street towards the Pantheon.

The greatest friends ever
Castel Sant'Angelo

Though Rome is very different from Florence, they have the same narrow, cobblestone streets and as we were walking through them we happened upon a gelato place. Since all three of us lack self-control when it comes to any kind of dessert we stopped to get some. I got caramel and dark chocolate gelato on a waffle cone and it was amazing! I know I tend to say this about everything I eat abroad, but it was seriously the best gelato ever. Even though I'd only had gelato once before, that's besides the point, and it was still amazing when comparing it to ice cream, which it basically is.

Excuse me while I stuff my face with gelato.

The Pantheon turned out to be right around the next corner as well so we took some time to walk around the inside before heading back to the bus to go see the Vatican. By the time we got there it was night so St. Peter's Basilica was all lit up and we could easily see it from the distance we had to walk to reach it. The Square was lit up as well, not to mention huge (I couldn't help but try and picture the scenes from Angels and Demons), but it was the inside of the church that was truly amazing. I had no idea the inside was so intricately designed and as the three of us walked in, we literally stopped in our tracks to try and take it all in. I won't try and describe it because I don't think I can, but I took some pictures so you could see for yourself.

St. Peter's Square

After taking some time to walk around, we got on the next bus that pulled around to see our final stop, the Trevi Fountain. We had to move quickly for this one because we were trying to make our intended train back to Florence so once we got there, we navigated through the mass of people (it was ridiculously crowded) to make our wishes and take pictures. Though we weren't able to spend that much time, the fountain itself was absolutely gorgeous, even more so that it was illuminated, and we also spotted a bride and groom taking pictures on the far side of the fountain. I can only imagine they came out great!

Inside the Church!

Of course, because we got actually got to see everything we wanted to see, we ended up missing our train, and of course the next one wasn't for another two and half hours because obviously it makes sense to run them every half hour from five to eight but not eight to ten. And of course because this was the last train it was three and a half hours back to Florence and not the hour and half one we took before. (Am I making my sarcasm clear?) So after we were done freaking out, the three of us decided to take it in stride and go in search of dinner. We ended up at a random restaurant a little ways away from the train station where I got pasta with little chunks of tomato, which was pretty good, and spent our time there until it was time to actually get our train. Three and half hours later (I actually dozed off on this train too, running around Rome for a whole day will do that to you) we found ourselves in a train station in Florence, but of course it wasn't the train station we left from which is a five minute walk from Brittany and Jacqui's apartment so we had to call a cab and finally, at close to 3 o'clock in the morning, we arrived back to immediately fall asleep. After all, we had yet another train to catch in the morning to go to Verona, but that's a story for another blog post. And even with the unexpected travel difficulties I'm so, so happy I was able to see Rome as it was amazing and definitely something you have to see on a trip to Italy. Cheers!

My wish already came true!
I'm getting to travel the world with my best friends.

Florence, Rome, and Verona, Oh My! (Part 1)

This weekend was such a whirlwind I don't even know where to begin. I'm still having difficulty processing everything I got to do in 72 hours, but let's just begin with the fact that Italy was awesome!

Thursday afternoon, my friend Maddie and I left to catch our flight to Florence. It was the longest flight we've had to take (and probably will take) so far, a little over 2 hours. But, compared to a 9-hour bus ride and the 7-hour flight to London it still paled in comparison. Besides, you can't even get to Florida in that time! And we were lucky enough to be able to sit next to each other and wrapped up in our conversation, the flight passed by quickly. We got into Florence a little after 6pm and took a bus to the train station where our friends were coming to meet us. Soon after we arrived, we saw a group of our friends approaching and  ran over to greet them. Even though we had seen them two weeks ago, we were all still so happy to see each other again.

As we chatted, they led us through the narrow streets of Florence to their apartment. The door to their apartment on this random little street in Florence was so nondescript that even after almost four days there, I would always walk past it until someone pointed it out to me, which I found amusing. But once inside, we got to deposit our things on our beds (lucky a couple of their roommates were traveling and we were able to take their beds) and then sit down to a wonderful family dinner of chicken parm and pasta that they had so nicely cooked for us. (Fun Fact: I discovered that chicken parm is not, in fact, Italian). Over dinner they told us all about the last leg of their fall break to Prague while we recounted our trips to Ireland and it almost felt like we were back at Stonehill again.

Maddie and Jacqui on the streets of Florence

After dinner, Jacqui suggested we all go out for gelato, which Maddie and I readily agreed to. They took us to their favorite place where I ordered dark chocolate gelato which was absolutely delicious. With dessert in hand we all went to sit and eat on the steps of the Duomo, an enormous church that towers over the other buildings in Florence. Remember how I said after a while all the churches and cathedrals begin to look the same? Well, this one was very, very different. Unique and beautiful, it rises suddenly from the rather cramped buildings that blend into one another to form the streets and it's so massive it's difficult to take in all at once. And at night, it seems to give off its own light. We spent a good time chatting and eating in it's shadow before heading back to get some sleep.

The Duomo

The next morning we got up on the early side because Jacqui and Brittany's program was having a field trip to Academia to see the real statue of David. Their program leader, an adorable woman named Chiara, let Maddie and I tag along with the group and even let us use our friend's museum passes (who weren't going and were nice enough to let us borrow them) so we could get in for free. Chiara was not only really nice but really knowledgeable about everything in the museum and I definitely learned more from her than I would have just walking around on my own. The statue of David itself was massive. I wasn't expecting it to be quite that large but if anything it made it more impressive. I couldn't believe Michelangelo actually carved that from marble. If I tried that all you would get is a pile of rubble. Of course, again, we were not allowed to take pictures so either imagine the statue as three times the size of a normal man or go to the old stand-by and Google it.

Chiara took us around more of the museum and then led us to a little shop were they recreate paintings by cutting tiny pieces of different stones and rearranging them to form the picture. Yes, it looks just as difficult as it sounds, but the fact that these artists were able to perfectly recreate these paintings using only bits of colored rock was truly amazing! I would've bought one had they not been so expensive because, as you can imagine, there is a ton of labor that goes into making them. After this side trip, we went to another church where the entire interior had been created using the same technique to make the picture mosaics! To say I was blown away was an understatement. I can't even imagine how many people and how much time went into building it. It was an astonishing feat, especially for something built so long ago. Once again, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, but just take a look at the picture of the small mosaic and multiple that by at least 1,000. It was amazing.

Yes, that picture is made up entirely of little stones 

After the field trip, our friend group decided to grab some lunch. We headed to a place called Mario's to eat where I got roasted chicken and salad. It was good, but I definitely couldn't wait to try pizza and pasta! Also, I was surprised to find that their bread was so bland, but Jacqui explained to me that traditional Tuscan diets are very plain and so their bread usually doesn't have any salt in it, making it rather tasteless. That's not to say it was bad, but it definitely wasn't the Bertucci's rolls or Olive Garden bread sticks we are so use to eating by the basket at home.

Following lunch, Jacqui, Brittany, Jordan, JoAnna and I went to climb to the top of the Duomo, something they had been dying to do since they arrived in Florence. Like many other things I've climbed on this whole Europe adventure, this climb was steep, dizzying, and completely worth it by the time we reached the top. After 463 steps straight up, we were greeted by a spectacular panoramic view of Florence spread far below us with the green hills rising in the distance. With the sun peeking from between the clouds to throw steaks of light across the scene it was more than picture perfect. I hadn't even had time to catch my breath before it was stolen again. And I could have stayed up there just looking at it all day long.

From the top of the Duomo

We actually spent a decent amount of time up there, leaning on the railings, just talking, trying to absorb the view and feeling of being so high and imprint it in our memories. Finally, once the sun was starting to get low in the sky we all headed back down to the ground. Brittany and Jordan had to go work on a photo project so Jacqui, Kayla, JoAnna, and Colleen and I headed to Michelangelo Square so I could see a different view of the city at night. Originally, we wanted to try and make it there for sunset, but the walk was a little longer than we thought and I wanted to stop to take some pictures along the way. We made it up just after the sun had set and all of the city lights had come on and it was just as beautiful as my friends had promised it would be. We spent some more time up there walking and talking before we turned to head back to their apartment because some of our other friends from school were arriving that night! It's so funny how well these meet-ups all over Europe have worked out with very little effort.

Me and Jacqui

Our friends Jenny and Courtney who are studying in Denmark (Jacqui and I lived with Courtney last year) weren't due to arrive until after nine and Kayla and Colleen had offered to cook dinner that night so the rest went to just hang out for a while. I was actually so tired from only getting four hours of sleep the night before that I took a quick nap before we all reconvened for dinner during which our friends who are studying abroad in Rome also showed up so the apartment was full to bursting with a giant Stonehill reunion.

Another view from the top.

 Once everyone had caught up with how everyone else was doing abroad, we (well the majority of us) decided to make the most of our night all together in Florence and go out. We went to a club called Space that the Italian girls had been to before and spent hours there dancing to what was a great music selection (a lot of people/places in Europe play mostly American music). It was so great to be with everyone from school again and it was one of my favorite nights abroad yet. We ended up leaving pretty late, but we didn't want the night to end just yet so Brittany, Jordan, and I decided to go find a secret bakery!

Going out for a night on the town

Secret bakeries are just what their name implies. They are industrial bakeries that don't open until late in the night, normally past 2am, usually down a nondescript side-street with no precise location or marking. They bake all night to cook the pastries that will fill the shelves of the city's cafes in the morning and, many people, tourists, students, and Italians alike will try and hunt them down, because on the odd chance that you come across one, you can buy a fresh pastry for only 1 euro. I had heard about them before my trip to Italy and it was on my bucket list to find one before I left. None of our friends had yet to find one, but the three of us were determined to. Luckily, Kayla had a friend who had studied in Florence previously and knew the general location of one, somewhere near Santa Croce, and so with only a landmark in mind we set off to see if we could discover the elusive secret bakery. Once we reached Santa Croce, we turned down a side street, hoping our noses would alert us to the location of one as you can usually smell them from far away and that it how most people tend to find them. Funnily enough, as we were walking down the street, we bumped into another girl and boy who were also looking for the bakery. The girl told us she had been here once before and believed it was just ahead, and what do you know, but two minutes later we found it!

Yum!!

Literally just a large window in the wall with a small metal counter, the secret bakery looks like the back of any normal bakery. But the smells coming from it were amazing and our mouths immediately started watering at the sheets upon sheets of pastries on the cooling racks! One of the bakers smiled when he spotted our little group and came over to take our order. The three of us each got two chocolate-filled pastries with sugar and honey on top and they were even more delicious than they sound! We couldn't help but eat both by the time we got back. And with our chocolate-craving satisfied, and another great adventure checked-off our bucket list we headed off to bed. After all, we had to be up early to catch our train to Rome!

(Side note: This post was started last week before I went to Paris but I ran out of time to finish so now I'm frantically trying to catch up! So be sure to check tomorrow for the rest of the Italy post!)