Florence

Our last two days in Florence (April 5th and 6th) were quite lovely especially because we had a real hostel complete with heater and the weather itself was gorgeous. We walked around Florence, hitting up what Amelia, who'd lived there last summer, had advised us to. (I was jealous she got to live in Florence before and now after being there I'm even more so! It really is a fantastic, beautiful city.)

Some of the things we saw...
Great view of Florence near the Boboli Gardens and our first hostel


The river running through Florence


The Dome


Lots of street markets


We tried to get into the Uffizi Museum, but showed up too late. So we got over our disappointment with gelato.


We also saw Michaelangelo's David statue, who was a lot bigger than I thought he would be! I don't have any photos of David though because we weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum he was in.

The food we had in Florence was also unbelievably wonderful. Eating in Italy is generally good anyway, but we had some uncommonly good luck at finding great places to eat (though there was one not-so-good incident where I accidentally ordered a cola and was charged 7 euro for it! Argh!). I had the best tiramisu gelato I've ever tasted in Florence. It even had chunks of cake in it. Yum! For our last dinner in Florence, Michelle and I found this sort of hole-in-the-wall restaurant hidden off one of the main roads. Michelle and I ordered bruchetta, gnocchi and tortellini followed with tiramisu and damn. It was hands down the best dinner we had during our travels (and we had some pretty good ones).

The next day we were off to Montpellier, which was our pit stop in the south of France as we made our way to Sevilla in Spain.

Cinque Terre

On our first full day in Florence (April 4th) everything was closed because it was Easter so we took a train out to Cinque Terre, which are five little villages along the coast with a foot path connecting each one.
We had had not so good a night our first night in Florence because we had to sleep in what we came to call The Terrible Tent and it truly was terrible, but I'll get back to that later. Suffice it to say, we needed a nice day out and Cinque Terre turned out to be just that.
I don't think I'll bother with describing the day or the sights with paltry adjectives that probably won't get the job done. Instead, I'll just post some of my photos from that day (of which there unfortunately aren't too many because my camera ran out of battery!).









After our great day out and about, we had to return to The Terrible Tent. The reason we were there in the first place was because we'd had a great camp site experience in Rome and figured another hostel camping site in Florence wouldn't be too bad. We were literally given a tent with a wooden platform inside and some beds with one, thin fleece blanket each. It had been raining and everything was kind of damp, so not only was it already freezing but it was impossible to get warm again.
I've made it through 21 years of Wisconsin winters and that tent was truly unbearable. Michelle and I only survived the second night by putting on all of the clothes we owned, squishing together in a single bed, and using all of the fleece blankets. Don't worry though - the next morning we checked out of that hell hole and got a new hostel with walls. (Though hell hole is probably the wrong description here because hell would have been a lot warmer!)

Michelle and I preparing for our second night in The Terrible Tent:




(Note: We only look odd and lumpy because we're wearing ten layers of clothing!)

Rome

So, Rome. I'd been to Rome before this year actually. My first time ever being out of the country was when I went with my high school English teacher and a group of English students to Rome for a week the summer before I started at Beloit.
Although it wasn't too new for me, it was really fun getting to experience it again with Michelle. She'd never been to Rome before and the city certainly doesn't lack for things to see.









March 30th: We arrived in Rome in the afternoon after traveling from Venice and after finding our hostel (which was a cute and new-looking campsite where we had a little cabin to sleep in), we ventured back out into the city itself. We took the metro to see the Trevi Fountain, which is one of my favorite things in Rome. When I was last in Rome, I was told that if one stood with their back to the fountain and tossed in a coin that meant they would return to Rome one day. Looks like it worked!

March 31st: Our first full day in Rome. We went to the Vatican and explored the Basilica there. We hadn't realized it was the week of Good Friday and Easter and it wasn't until we did did we understand why certain parts of the basilica were roped off and why the Vatican was so dang busy. We also checked out the Sistine Chapel which was lovely to see again. I can't believe poor Michelangelo painted all of that! We wandered away from the Vatican and checked out Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps.





April 1st: This day we explored the Colosseum (which Leo really liked!) and the forum nearby. We also moved to our new hostel this day which was nice because we no longer had to take the metro and catch the bus to the campsite. Rome's metro is kind of annoying to use because it doesn't really go to a lot of places in Rome because whenever they try to expand their metro, they run into ancient stuff from Rome's long history and aren't allowed to dig any further. We also got to see and hear the Pope speak at the Colosseum later that night which was pretty neat (even though we didn't understand what he was saying!)



April 2nd: We continued to wander around Rome. We checked out the park surrounding Villa Medici, which was nice and now I'd really like to learn more about the Medici family. Apparently one of my Beloit roomies has a 6 hour long documentary series on the Medici family so maybe if I ever have spare time next semester, I'll educate myself! We stopped by the Vatican again, hoping to go up into the Cupola (it was closed on the 31st), but we got there two minutes too late and it was closed. That's the third time now I've had a missed opportunity to go up the Cupola! (I didn't do it the first time around because my feet and legs didn't have it in them at the time.) While roaming the Basilica, we unexpectedly ran into a Beloiter who was in our FYI class waaaaay back in freshman year and who I hadn't really spoken to or seen since then. She's studying abroad in Rome and it was incredibly bizarre to just randomly bump into her like we did.
Later, when we went to catch our train to Florence we bumped into one of the study abroad students we know here at Lancaster and she just happened to be on the same train as us. The world really is a small place sometimes!

Going to Rome again was a nostalgic visit for me because I feel like a very different version of myself was walking the streets of Rome the second time around. It made me think of the high schooler I was then and the college student I am now.
When I went to Rome the first time I had never been so far away from home or my parents before and had never been abroad. It was intimidating for me to do, but it also made me realize that I love seeing new places. Now I've lived and studied in two different countries on two different continents and I'm even more interested in travel than I was then. As my brother is set to enter the fray of college life, I've been thinking about pre-college me lately. I remember how nervous, but excited I was to start at Beloit. I wish I could go back in time and tell high school me not to worry a bit: college is made of all kinds of life-changing awesomeness! I guess I'll just have to tell my brother instead. :)





(My face looks fatter, my hair much improved, but my company in Rome always superb.)

Venice

We spent most of Tuesday (March 29) traveling via train though the south of France and into Venice. Back in Paris, we'd had some issues reserving our train ticket to Venice, so were were only there for a little over 16 hours! Being in Venice for less than a day was definitely not part of our original travel plans, but the unexpected does and will happen during traveling, so we did what we could in those 16 hours.

Stepping out of the train station and seeing Venice was like stepping into a fairy tale. I loved all the canals and how walking through the city was like walking through a labyrinth of pretty, stone buildings.







We had to check in at our hostel first, but to get there we had to take a boat! Venice has what is sort of the equivalent of city buses, but in boat form, so we took one of those.

Boat station


Our hostel was on the other side of Venice, so we were able to see a lot of the city's major waterways. After sleeping on our train (even if it was first class), Michelle and I were pretty grateful to have a large room all to ourselves.
After we checked in, we walked around the area of Venice we were in, ate dinner (and gelato!), wandered around some more, and then headed back to the hostel for the night.



The next morning we had to catch our train, which was thankfully not too early in the morning, so we were able to sleep in some and take our time. Michelle and I bought gelato and quickly cemented our addiction. I don't know how much gelato we ate while in Italy, but our average was two cups or cones of gelato a day. Gee.
We took another boat to the train station from our hostel, bought some lunch for the train and then we were on our way to Rome!

Paris

March 24th: We arrived in Paris just fine, though the airport was a bit away from the city itself so we had to take a bus into Paris proper. It was evening and it was fantastic to see the city lit up from afar. My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower was truly breathtaking and it was a nice welcome into the city. It took us a while to find our hostel because we were tired, it was dark and our hostel was on the other end of Paris. Someone helpfully pointed the way to us (He actually had to run down the street to find someone who spoke English for us) and he gave us a nice little Obama chant. Ha ha. It's a good change to have a president people from other countries actually seem to like! As soon as we checked into our hostel we ate some food and conked out.

March 25th: The first thing we did that morning (and every morning after) was stroll down the street our hostel was on and buy fresh pastries. I wish I could start every day like that, but maybe it's good that I can't - I'd be the size of a house by now! The first sight that we went to see in Paris was the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was one of the things I had really wanted to see. It was so strange to see it standing so tall in the square and all the stone statues embedded into the walls of it looking down.



The interior was pretty, but a bit too crowded for me. However, I did get to go up into the cathedral itself (so. many. stairs.) and look out over the city from the walkway that connects the two towers. I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful than the Eiffel Tower off in the distance and the Seine glittering below and winding away into the city. It made me really want to read Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is currently sitting on my bookshelf at home.





As soon as we left Notre Dame, the sky dumped buckets of rain on us. We retreated into the metro, got lost, but eventually stopped at the Eiffel tower. I'd seen it from afar, but it was completely different to stand beneath it. I think when you see iconic symbols like the Eiffel tower your entire life, when you finally see it in person it's very, very surreal.



After the Eiffel (we didn't go up the tower because the line was ridiculously long), we headed back to the hotel and had the best omelets I've ever tasted in my entire life for dinner.

March 26th: We went to the Louvre on this day and walking through it made me wish I knew more about art. I'm afraid the best I can do when looking at a painting is decide whether I like it or not... and I usually only like a work of art if I feel like it tells an interesting story. But anyway, we did get to see the Mona Lisa (though I wish we could have gotten closer!) and the Venus de Milo.



My previous statement about seeing icons in person still stands: surreal, surreal, surreal. I think, though, seeing these things up close you realize that even though a picture can capture their image, it's still completely different when you're standing right there beside it.

March 27th: The previous two days we sort of knew we wanted to do this or that one thing, but this day we went to as many places as we possibly could. The first was to the catacombs under Paris, which was incredibly creepy and seemed to go on forever (and we only saw a part of it). The first half was mostly just passageway and Michelle and I listened to the theme of Phantom of the Opera on her iPod while we walked it. (Yeah, we're *that* nerdy.)



After all the mostly empty passages, we turned a corner and bam, human skeletons just piled from floor to ceiling on all sides and we walked through hallways of that for some time. To have thousands upon thousands of dead Parisians staring at you as you walk past was unsettling to say the least. Once we came back up into the sunlight, we went to the Musee d'Orsay, which used to be a train station but has since been converted into a fab art museum. We got in for free too! (Gotta love those museum workers who couldn't care less if you're an EU member or not.) Lots of Monet and Van Gogh, but my favorites were the Renoirs. They looked happier and brighter to me. After the museum, we ate crepes just outside and then took the metro to the Paris Opera House where the Phantom lives. (Nerds, nerds, nerds.)



We even got a peak inside the front hall. Our last stop was the Moulin Rouge. (We were just having a movies-set-in-Paris day, I guess!) We saw it in the evening, which was best because we were able to see it all lit up.



For dinner we wandered the streets desperately, but everything was closed. (We were in the St. Denis area of Paris, which is tucked out of the way so things close early.) Just when we began to give up all hope we spotted a cute little restaurant. The waiter was adorable and did his best to speak English, which was very nice of him. We had an omelete (again!) and tiramisu. :)

March 28th: We woke up to general craziness. We were supposed to check out of our hotel this day and had planned to sleep in a little, but unbeknown to us, the clocks had all moved forward an hour. Luckily we managed to check out on time in the end and since we had time to kill we went to Saint Denis Basilica Cathedral, which was easily within walking distance. We went down inside the crypt wherein where they buried French royalty. I think the most exciting bit was seeing Marie Antoinette's grave. Craziness! Afterwards, we loaded up on pastries and fruits and went to Gare de Leon (the train station) to reserve the rest of our train tickets for our remaining time on the continent. We stopped at the Arc d'triomphe via metro and it made me wish I lived somewhere where I could just be driving my car to work and drive past huge, historical monuments.



After that, we headed back to the train station and hopped on our night train to Venice. It was sad to say good-bye to Paris, but Michelle and I (and Leo!) were super excited to be heading towards Venice.

Catching Up & Belfast

Wow, it's been a pretty long time since I last updated this blog, but I had good reason - I was traveling for 5 weeks straight and then my first week back here in good ole Lancaster involved dissertation and portfolio writing. But all of that is over with now, so I'm going to work backwards from when I first left Lancaster in March (what!) and hopefully catch up to the present before I head off to London later this month. (I know, I've been living in England for how long now and still haven't gone to London? For shame.)

Our (Michelle and I)'s first stop on our travel adventure was Glasgow to drop off some of our belongings, pack properly, and go with Lael (Michelle's California friend who's studying there) on to Belfast the next day.

Being the organized people that we are, Michelle and I did a very neat and tidy job of packing.



We took a plane from Glasgow airport to Belfast, Ireland and arrived with it being fairly decently sunny (for the UK anyway). We met up with another of Michelle's California friends (they're all over the place here!) and ate Indian food, checked into our hostel, and wandered aimlessly around Belfast for a while. I've decided I really love just walking around a place with no real intention to get anywhere just because then you never know what you're going to find.







(The Crown Bar which keeps its architecture inside and out historically accurate. I've decided that the 1800s was a cramped and dingy time period!):



We met some great people at our hostel who were from everywhere (Germany, Australia, South Africa, England... even Wisconsin!). I learned how to say a few new things in a few new languages and taught everyone how to ask 'Where are my pants?' in Japanese. As for the usefulness of that phrase, I'm not so sure.

Also, fun fact: Belfast is historically known for ship building and it was here where the Titanic was actually built. (Great job guys.) There were lots of Titanic tours offered in Belfast, but it seemed like a strange thing for a city to brag about!

While in Belfast, we had an afternoon where we explored some of the hills surrounding the city. We explored a cute little castle that we quickly named 'Cat Castle' because of all the cat statues, mosaics, shrubs, etc. that decorated the castle grounds. It really reminded me of a petite, fairy tale castle, especially due to the pink-ness of it and the curvy stone staircase in the back.



We continued on our hike up into the hills and found a cave to climb up to, though only Michelle managed to successfully get inside.



The view was spectacular either way. It seems like wherever we go we manage to find fantastic places to look out over the city.



Later in the day, we got a little lost trying to find our way to a long stretch of city murals that reflect Belfast (and Northern Ireland)'s turbulent history. Luckily, someone saw our struggles and called a taxi to take us there. The taxi driver told us a little bit about how Belfast is still in many ways divided down Protestant and Catholic lines. We drove past a wall that is meant to separate the two sides, which felt really eerie to me but also made me realize how little I know of Irish history (and country histories that aren't the US or Japan) in general.

A couple of the murals we saw:





After we had our fill of Belfast, it was back to Glasgow for a brief pit stop where we said good bye to Lael and then on to Paris, France!