TravelStream™ news feed for member peter148 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/peter148 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:55:20 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1227619800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1227619800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1227619800/tpod.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:55:20 -0500 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Venice, Veneto, Italy

          First I will just say a little bit about my 21st birthday in Florence! On the 25th I woke up and my apartment had been decorated by my roommates.  It was so sweet they put up balloons and banners and they put little post its all over the apartment (even on my milk cartoon) reminding me that it was my birthday.  It was nice because I was a little sad to be celebrating my birthday away from home.  My parents let Brandon come visit me from Spain for my birthday.  He got to my apartment around 9 o'clock and we went off to have a birthday dinner.  We went to a restaurant called Aqua al Due with my roommates and Garrett.  I chose this restaurant because they have one in San Diego and I wanted Brandon to try it with me so that if we liked it we could go in San Diego too.  It was a lot of fun, we got a pasta sampler where they brought us five small plates of different pastas J Afterwards we went back to the apartment for funfetti cake (Sara's mom had secretly brought the mix from America) that my roommates had made for me.  The night got late so we decided to go out to our favorite club the next night.  But Brandon and I toasted with a Birthday drink (now that we are both 21!) and walked to the Ponte Vecchio (in my opinion the most romantic spot in Florence at night.) On Wednesday night we went to a really cute bar called I Visaci and then to our favorite club called Twice. We like this place because there are a lot of Italians there (not just American tourists) and it's a nice looking place.  I had fun showing it to Brandon and we all danced my favorite! Thursday, November 27th            Brandon and I decided to go to Venice Thursday through Saturday so that we could get a cheaper hotel.  We took a euro star train (the nice ones) to Venice and got there by around 12.  It was lucky we decided to go Thursday (even though we missed a Thanksgiving dinner with my roomies) because it was the only sunny day we got in Venice.  Venice was freezing and probably at least 5-10 colder than Florence.  I was so excited to show Brandon Venice and we ran to the bridge outside the train station when we got there to see the Grand Canal! Then we hopped on a ferry bus to take it to San Marco's square, where our hotel was!            The ferry buses are fun because you get to see all the sights along the way and Brandon loved it so much he insisted on staying outside the whole time even when it was really cold at night.  I was happy to see him loving the sights so much though.  Our hotel was very close to the square so we saw the square first (my favorite square in Europe) and then checked in.  All you had to do was walk under the clock tower, turn right and then turn left on the second street and you were at our hotel.  When we arrived the bell hop took us to our room.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that our hotel room looked like a palace! It had beautiful gold curtains and a little couch seat.  And the floor literally looked the same as the one inside the palace (that we saw on our last day). Afterwards we got lunch and had a very expensive lunch because of all of the fees that they charge you to sit down to eat in Venice.  We learned our lesson from this meal and did not pay that much for so little food the whole rest of the time we were there.            Next we went back to San Marco's square and went inside the Basilica. The Basilica is unique to a lot of the churches that we have seen in that the ceilings and artwork are all made of mosaics that had a lot of gold in them.  It was beautiful.  We went up to the Terrace and got a beautiful view of the square and the Grand Canal. We toured the museum on the upper level as well.  We saw the real version of the horses that are outside on the terrace inside the museum and learned that they were 2000 years old, so cool!              Next we went on our Gondola ride! Gondola rides are very expensive so I was apprehensive about taking one but really did not want to skip up the opportunity to take one with Brandon.  But since it was my Birthday my grandparents had given me money so I decided that would be a perfect way to spend it.  Brandon negotiated with the gondolier and we were off.  We went at the perfect time of day because we went right at sunset.  This way we saw the sunset and go to see Venice at night.  I felt so lucky it was so romantic to be there with Brandon and it made it such a great Birthday! Although our gondolier did not sing (most of them don't anymore) he was great because part of the deal was that he would give us a tour, so during the ride he pointed out many of the important buildings along the canal that we would not have seen otherwise, like the house of Marco Polo.  He explained that a lot of the famous buildings are now office buildings because no one family could afford to own them.  Our ride was also very peaceful since it was night time in the slow season, which was nice.  The gondola ride was one of my favorite experiences in Europe.That night for dinner we decided to walk away from the square and try to find a cute (and cheaper) restaurant.  We ended up near the Rialto Bridge and found this cute restaurant on the water that had no cover charge or service charge.  It was a beautiful spot and we enjoyed relaxing and getting to spend time together. Friday, November 28th            Friday was the day that we decided to buy a day pass for the ferry. You pay 12 euro and you get to take as many ferries as you need.  We took the ferry to the Island of Burano.  Burano is the lace making Island and I chose it because I remembered enjoying it when I came with my family and Sara and I had gone to the other famous island Murano, when we went in October.  Burano was so lovely. It was just as I remembered it.   All of the houses are painted different colors and they are all lined up along the canal.  It was raining pretty badly that day so we walked around and then found a cute little café to have lunch at.  It was so cold that I even had hot chocolate and because Italian hot chocolate is literally just chocolate heated up, so yummy!            We explored the Island a little longer and I bought a little piece of lace for the scrapbook.  Then we took the ferry back to San Marco and went back to our hotel to warm up and put on dry clothes! That night we took the ferry to two other stops to see some of the sights and then back to where the train station is to look for a cute restaurant there.  We found an adorable restaurant that had a fixed meal for 12 euro.  Brandon go the fixed meal and I got a shrimp salad.  I jumped on the shrimp salad because the waiter assured me that this time the shrimp I ordered would not have eyes, and arms and legs, like all of the other shrimp I have gotten in Europe.  We liked the restaurant so much that we decided to come back for lunch the next day!  Then we walked around a bit and found a bar that was showing rugby.  We hung out there for a while and watched rugby, it is such a violent game!  By the time we got back to San Marco square that night it was flooded from all of the rain!  We now realized why they had put up wooden platforms across the square, because you had to walk on top of them to get across.  Because of global warming the square gets flooded now when there are higher tides.  We were fortunate that the floods were not as high as they were the week after we left and it was actually a unique sight to see a square in water, even though it was sad. Saturday November 29th            On Saturday it was still very cold and I had caught a cold from the rain the day before so we decided to do something inside.  We went to the palace that is the pink building right next to the Basilica.   We got an audio guide and really enjoyed touring the palace while learning some of the interesting history of Venetian politics.  The systems of the past seemed so complicated with every region in Italy having its own principalities and governments.  The palace was very beautiful and we got to see some of the state rooms where important meetings were held.  One of my favorite rooms in the palace was a room of maps.  It had huge globes in the middle of the rooms and paintings of maps on the walls.  It was interesting to the symbols they used to depict the different regions of the world at that time.  The palace is connected to the prison through the bridge of sighs.  We walked across the bridge, which is called the bridge of sighs because the prisoners would sigh as they had to cross it not because people sigh at its beauty as many people believe, to the prison.  The prisons were very dark and cold and we imagined the poor people who had to live there and saw their etchings on the wall.  Afterwards we went back through the palace and the golden stair case and the plaza in the middle to leave.            We then went back to the hotel to get our bags.   We then took the ferry to the train station to go have lunch at the restaurant we liked and get our tickets for our train that afternoon.   We enjoyed seeing the sights again on the way back to the train station and sat at the front of the boat and took lots of pictures of the buildings, bridges (there are 420 bridges in Venice) and the gondoliers.  The restaurant was happy to see us back and we shared a huge pizza that we had seen a girl order the night before.  We were just happy to get something that was big in Venice because everywhere else you pay a lot of money for small portions.  We then got our train tickets just in time to comfortably make our 4:45 pm train back to Florence.  We had such a wonderful time in Venice and I am so lucky and thankful to get to have has such a romantic and fun trip for my 21st birthday.  I was also happy that Brandon liked Venice so much and it was fun to see him experiencing it for the first time as I was lucky enough for it to be my third!  I still hope someday to go back when I am older because it is one of my favorite cities and just hope that it will not be completely under water by that time. The Rest of Brandon's Stay            Saturday night Brandon and I cooked and relaxed in the apartment and watched a movie.  I know it seems as though we get to spend a lot of time together and we are lucky for the time that we have gotten but I still miss him a lot (not getting to see him everyday or even every week) and it was nice just to get to be together.  We have had so many amazing experiences in Europe, together and apart, that I would not trade for anything but I will definitely be happy to back to the U.S. where we can see each other more and get to call each other without feeling guilty for how much it costs. However, I am aware of how lucky I am to get to have so many incredible experiences with him. Brandon left around 11 the next day to go to Pisa to take is flight.  The next time I will see him will be in Dublin, Ireland to tour around for a day and then fly home together!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1227462360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1227462360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1227462360/tpod.html Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:52:47 -0500 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

My digital photography class assignment this week was to take night photos.  Night photos are really difficult, especially when you don't have a tripod, because you have to leave the aperture open for a long time to bring in enough light.  This means you have to keep the camera extremely still.  I decided to take pictures by the river and am excited with how they turned out.  It is funny because I was determined to get the perfect shot and stayed out there for a long time, which is what caused my hands to almost freeze off, but this made me feel like a real photographer making sacrifices for the shot!  As you will see I also played around with making lines with the light, I did this by using a long aperture (having the whole open for a long time) and then zooming in during the shot to create movement.  I also used a long aperture and photographed cars moving, which gave cool lines.  In one of the shots I had the whole open for just the right amount of time and caught the car in the photo too, its really cool!  Here is the link to my album so you can see all the photos!http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076271&l=c6fdb&id=35805139
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1226588400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1226588400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1226588400/tpod.html Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:46:08 -0500 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

Last weekend I went to Stockholm and had the best time! I was not originally planning to go to Sweden when I came to Europe but Brandon found us a deal on Ryanair for 10 euro a flight! We had to take two flights to get there by flying into Frankfurt, Germany first but that still meant it only cost us 20 euro to get there.  Brandon brought his roommate Garrett and his friend Tony, I brought my roommate Sara and our friend Bobby (who is studying in Edinburough, Scotland) met us in Germany. Thursday, November 13th             Our flight got into Frankfurt, Germany at 2:30 and then did not leave for Stockholm until 9:30 at night.  However, I was excited about this because Germany was one of my favorite countries that I have visited and I was excited to go back and spend a few hours in Germany on our way to Stockholm.  We were not actually in Frankfurt because Ryanair always flies into smaller airports to keep the cost down so we were actually in Hahn, Germany, which is funny because it is my roommates' last name!  We knew there would not be a lot to do in Hahn but figured we had some time there and that we would explore and make the best of it.  It is actually a funny story about how we decided which town to take a taxi too.  Bobby decided to go ask the ladies who work at the one of the food shops in the Airport.  They did not speak very good English but then he asked what other languages they spoke and they said Russian! Bobby is Russian and speaks it fluently so he had a whole conversation with them in Russian.  They told us there was not much to do but to just go to the town nearby.            We took about a 5 minute taxi to this small town.  The town was exactly how I pictured a little German town to look like. We found this adorable house that had criss crosses on the front and I was so happy because that's what I always want the houses to look like.  I showed my mom a picture and she said it looks like a house that my ancestors owned in Germany!  We spent some talking walking around the town.  It was pretty because since its fall the leaves are changing color.  We walked along this creek and came to a hill.  There was a fence but we really wanted to climb up the hill and see what was there. The boys went first and were careful because we were not sure if the fence was electric.  We decided it wasn't because there were cows on the hill and Germans would not do that to their cows! We got a beautiful view of the city from the hill.              Afterwards we walked into some shops and looked at these two really pretty churches.  Then we went to a pizza place and hung out for a few hours.  It was fun because we had not all been together since our trip in the very beginning (three months ago) so we just enjoyed being together and catching up.  When it came time to go to the airport we started looking for a bus we could take.  We went into a different pizza parlor to ask for directions and this man overheard and offered to take us!  We were a little hesitant at first but Sara said we could trust him because he was wearing a neon jacket and looked official haha.  We said we did not have to go right away because he was eating and we were planning on walking around a little more but he said it was better to go now and chugged his coke and took us to his van.  We felt better when we saw his van because it was painted for his parking company.  I guess business is slow and we figured he was bored since there was not much to do in this town.  He was very nice and drove us to the airport for free.  He is another kind person that we can add to our list of those who have helped us along our journey.  It is funny because we came here with the idea that Europeans do not like Americans but we have had so many Europeans go out of their way to help us!            We took our second flight and got into Stockholm that night.  It was too late to sightsee but we got to see some of the city in the taxi drive to our hostel and it was beautiful.  I was so excited for our hostel called, Skanstull Vanderharm (haha) because in the pictures online it looked like IKEA (a Swedish furniture company).  And I was right to be excited because our room was adorable.  The bunk beds were made of this beautiful brown wood and we each had our own little nook with our own light and everything.  The ceiling was decorated with these circular lights and there were pretty curtains.  Plus, they were the most comfortable beds that we had slept in this entire time! Friday, November 14th            On Friday it took the boys a while to get up so I was a little frustrated but I was very excited to explore once we got going.  It was raining our fist day there but we had brought warm clothes and an umbrella so we were ok.  We also had an H&M nearby so we went there a few times for people to get various things.  I got ear muffs and wore them the whole time; they kept my ears so warm!  For both of our full days there we bought day metro passes and used that to get everywhere.  We were very impressed by the metro system.  The trains were very nice and came often and each stop was decorated beautifully too.  One of the stops looked like you were underwater it was so cool.  Sweden is by far the cleanest and nicest city that I have visited in Europe.  It is the only place where there is no graffiti anywhere and the people are very nice.  The people looked a lot different from the people in Italy and Spain.  They were all very tall and good looking.  I was proud to be from there because of this.            We started by taking a boat tour.  Stockholm is made of fourteen islands and although we spent most of our time on the main one but the boat tour was a perfect way to see some of the other parts of Stockholm. We saw where they had the water races for the Olympics back in the early 1900s.  We saw palaces and rich houses that looked so charming.  We also saw the first open air museum that has animals and we saw the Vasa which is a museum that is a ship that sank, we didn't get to go to it but Brandon went on the day that I was not there and said it was really cool.   After the boat tour we headed over to the palace. It felt so cool to be in a country that has a real monarchy and to get to go inside the palace.  We bought a student ticket that had three parts: the crown jewels, the royal apartments and the museum.  We just did the crown jewels the first day and went back the next day.  It was funny because I did not know you were not allowed to take a picture of the jewels so I was taking pictures and had this funny idea where the boys would bend down and make it look like they were wearing the crowns. Then an announcement came on saying not to take pictures.  But I was already set on taking this picture.  The boys took too long for me to be sneaky about it so right after I took it the announcement came on again and I put away my camera quick!  The crown jewels were beautiful and we each picked our favorite crown.            We were hungry by this point and started our search for Swedish meatballs. Surprisingly, they are really hard to find and we had to settle for other things but it was good because our search led us to a different part of the city.  I was so happy because Stockholm was already decorated fro Christmas so we saw a huge Christmas tree and lots of lights everywhere we went. After our late lunch we went back to the hostel to take naps.  Our hostel had free pasta for dinner so we ended up going to the store for sauce and making that for dinner both nights to save time and money.              At nighttime we went to an Ice bar! We had to make a reservation and you pay 18 euro and you get 45 minutes in the bar.  I was worried we would want to stay longer but you get so cold that you don't mind leaving.  You also get a free drink with the entrance fee and our drinks were really good because it was an Absolute Ice Bar.  The ice bar was such a fun experience! They give you huge parkas with gloves to go in.  And then you get inside and see that EVERYTHING is made of ice. The walls, the tables, the chairs, and even the glasses are made of ice.  We had fun taking pictures and exploring the ice bar.  Garrett and tony made a pyramid of all of the ice glasses and everyone took pictures. The ice bar was a lot of fun and we were glad we tried it in Sweden because it seemed so appropriate to do it there.  Afterwards we walked around and saw the nightlife of Stockholm.  Stockholm is a busy city and all of the bars and clubs were full of people!  We ended up back at the center of town at the ice rink.  The ice rink was this cute outdoor rink that was lit up at night.  It was too late to rent skates but we met these Chilean guys who opened up there bags and had three pairs of skates that he rented to the boys.  Brandon talked to them for a while in Spanish and the other boys skated.  We ended our night at a TGI Fridays that was nearby because we missed having that at home! Saturday, November 16th            In the morning the boys were slow to get ready again but Brandon found out that the changing of the guards at the palace was at 12 so we rushed over to that.  We had to run a little but we made it and it was so cool.  It almost felt like they were putting on a little play for us.  I liked the band the best.  They were really good and always in unison.  Brandon was really impressed by the swing drummer who would swing his sticks around.  The actual changing of the guard is not a big deal but it was cool to see the entire thing with all of the guards and the band.             Since we were already there and we had tickets we went to see the Royal apartments next.  I always love to go inside the palaces.   It is really cool because we got to see the rooms that they still use to meet with government officials and we saw the guest rooms where they stay.  The apartments were of course adorned with a lot of gold and were richly designed.  The last thing we saw in the palace was the museum for the old palace that burnt down.  We watched a little movie and then walked around the museum and saw old things that were in the palace that was damaged by a fire.              We then continued our search for Swedish meatballs but were unsuccessful.  On our way we saw a big outdoor market.  It was funny because everyone was yelling, even the flower sellers!  We ended up eating in this large Food Court and through having a conversation with an owner of one of the restaurants that Swedish meatballs are more something that people cook in their homes for special occasions.  I was disappointed but made it a point to eat a lot of Swedish fish candy instead!  We all agreed that the Swedish fish in Sweden were much tastier than the ones at home.              I really wanted to go see the old town of Stockholm so we found a metro near the food court and took it to the old town spot.   The sun sets really early in Sweden this time of year so even though we got there at around 3:45 we were hit with this beautiful sunset right when walked out of the station.  The station literally drops you off at this dock right on the water where you can see the beautiful skyline of Stockholm.  From there we walked around the old town a bit and saw some beautiful buildings.  I did not know what to expect when I went to Sweden because it was kind of a spontaneous trip but it was one of the most impressive and beautiful cities I have been to.  We wandered around and found this made street that was beautifully lit and that took us back to the main center of town.  We intended on going ice skating and although we knew it closed at six did not make it there until 5:15.  We figured we would just pay for the whole hour and only skate for 45 minutes but they would not let us do that.  I was sad that we did not get to skate but I found out that Florence has an outdoor rink during Christmas time so I hope to make up for it by doing that.  Afterwards we went back to the hostel for some downtime.  Sara and I had to pack because we were leaving for our bus the next morning at 3 am.  We met one of our roommates in our 12 person room at the hostel and ended up going to a bar with him that night. It was nice because we did not have to figure out a place to go and he was a really nice guy.  The bar was really cool because they had poker there too and had soccer games on the TV.  Sara and I hung out for a little while and then went home to get a few hours of sleep before leaving for our flight.  The boys stayed longer and then went to a discotecha. Sunday, November 16th            I won't say much about our travel home because it was not that exciting.  It was a very long day that started by leaving at 3 am and not getting back to Florence until 3 in the afternoon.  We had to go back to Germany to get our connecting flight and ran into one our friends from our school in Florence who goes to Chapman.  She had been in Germany visiting her friend and was on the same flight back.  This made our journey go by a little faster because we got to tell each other about our trips.  I was really sad to leave Sweden.  I had the best time there and was pleasantly surprised by how much the city had to offer. The only nice thing about coming home was being back on the euro.  In Sweden they are on the kroner and the conversion rate is 10 kroner to one euro.  This means that something that cost ten Euros costs one hundred kroner, it is so weird!   However, I loved Sweden and did not want to leave.  The location on the water and the old architecture and palaces make Stockholm such a magical city and I had the best time there.  In the end I just felt very lucky to have gotten to visit such an amazing city with Brandon and my friends and hope to go back someday to see it in the Summertime.*Here is the link to my facebook album if you want to see more photos: anyone can view these*http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075827&l=d12b5&id=35805139 
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Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

Last weekend I visited Brandon in Barcelona to celebrate his 21st Birthday! His birthday was on Tuesday and I was sad I could not be there on the actual day but I made it there by Thursday and skipped one day of class to get to stay through Monday. We had got to do a lot of sightseeing and had a fun time celebrating his Birthday too!  Thursday November 6th:             I had a bit of a rough time getting there because they made me check my bag and charged me 22 Euros to do so! Also, my flight was delayed an hour which is unusual for Ryan air who has a 90% rate for on time flights. But nevertheless I made it to Spain and was happy because the pie I made for Brandon and packed in my bag made it there with me!             Brandon picked me up at the bus station when I finally made it to Barcelona (Ryan air makes there flights so cheap by flying into smaller airports so u always have to take at least an hour bus ride on both ends of your flight). From the bus station I took my first metro to Brandon's host family's house. His host family was very nice and they let me stay in their extra room which was great! Nidia, Brandon's host mom was very hospitable and even made meals for me while I was there I was so surprised. She is very helpful and talkative and I even understood her some of the time :-) Alvero is Brandon's host dad and he is quieter but also very friendly. He is the type of person that does not talk a lot; but rather, only talks when he has something important to say. They also have a cute little dog named Greta who acts as a guard dog and barks at you every time you enter the house.  But most of the time she is a very sweet dog who likes to cuddle.            That night I gave Brandon his presents and his pie. I got him 2-1 candles and we lit them and sang to him and he was so surprised.  Nidia had dinner already ready so we all sat and had dinner, which apparently does not usually happen, so I felt honored.  I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the dinner, even the soup! She made us a soup with rice in it and then white rice with egg.  That night the boys took me to a bar called the Dow Jones.  It is really cool because they have different drinks to represent the stock market and then as people buy drinks the prices go up until the stock market crashes and the drinks are really cheap.  The boys really like it but think they could do a better job with it and want to make their own Dow Jones Bar in America. Afterwards we met up with some people from their program at school, including Monica, and hung out at the beach.   Friday November 7th:            Brandon and I started off the day with a free tour.  Nidia made us lunch to take with us, as she did for the rest of the trip it was really nice.  We had been on some free tours in other countries and had good experiences so we decided to try the Barcelona one.  Our tour guide was actually French and was really strange.  We also did not see many of the main buildings on the tour like you usually do but it was interesting nevertheless.  We saw a palace that Gaudi designed, the school that Picasso went to, a square named after George Orwell, a roman looking emperor's tomb, and plaza real which we learned was modeled after the plaza real in Madrid. We also saw a room inside a palace that had a gold hand on the wall that supposedly if you put your hand on top of it it would give you good luck in love. Brandon and I both did it just to be safe :-)            After to the tour Brandon took me to his market and I liked it because it had the regular meats and vegetables but it had candy too!  We also went to H+M because they don't have it in Italy.  We then had lunch at home and then went to see Parc Guell, which is a park that has Gaudi architecture.  The park is up a hill and it was really cool because you can take stairs up the hill or you can take escalators which go up the middle of the hill.  We of course took the escalator and it was really cool!  We first saw a part of the park that you could see a nice view of the city and we ate this mini chocolate cake that we bought on the way there. Next we walked to this big circular area.  It has a really cool wall on one side that is lined with palm trees and the other side has mosaic benches that overlook a fountain and two houses.  I loved the houses because they looked like candy land to me. Gaudi architecture is so unique and fun to see.            That night I took Brandon out for his birthday dinner on Las Ramblas .  We found a place that had a deal where you get two tapas, a paella and sangria or water for 11 euro each.  The restaurant picks the tapas for you and then you pick the paella.  We got chicken, beef, some bread with fish on it and octopus! Brandon ate the octopus and liked it and I even tried a little piece.  Our paella was really good, I got one with chicken and Brandon got chicken and seafood.  It was fun to try the local cuisine and it was really fun to eat on Las Ramblas.  We got to people watch and it was a really romantic atmosphere.            After dinner we tried to go see the fountain show but found out that it is only on earlier in the night during the winter time so we planned to come back the next night.  We walked all the way to the top of the stairs at the fountain show anyway and saw the view it was beautiful.  Afterwards we went to this place called Chupitos near Brandon's house.  It is this really cool place that has over 600 types of drinks.  The boys really like this place because they light the bar on fire for some of the drinks and they even light some of the drinks on fire it is really cool.  Monica and I both got the Girl Scout.  It is really cool because you roast a marshmallow on the bar and then dip it in your drink.  It was so fun! It was just a fun place to go to and a totally new experience. Saturday November 8th            On Saturday we went to Mount Tibidabo. Mount Tibidabo is really cool because it has a huge church and an amusement park on the top.  We took a little train car up part of the mountain and a funicular the rest of the way up it was so cute!  First we looked at the church.  It is really unique because it has a big statue of Jesus on top with his arms outstretched.  It's cool because you can see it lit up at night and it's nice to know what we were seeing.  The inside of the church is really beautiful too and it made me sad to think about going back to the U.S. and not being able to see such beautiful churches all the time.  It is one of my favorite parts about Europe.  We ate lunch that Nidia made for us on the steps.            After lunch we got tickets and went into the amusement park.  We were really surprised because the amusement park was huge and had really cool rides.  It was also amazing because when you are on the ride you get to see beautiful views of the city too.  We rode a roller coaster (that was scarier than I expected), bumper cars (which they called crash cars), swings, and even a water ride.  I did not want to get wet because I was cold but Brandon said he would let me wear his jacket after the ride so I was ok J  We also saw a 4D movie which was cool.  They gave us 3D glasses and the fourth dimension part is that we were one of the characters in the movie.  The movie was in Catalan, not Castilian so we could not understand it but it was still really fun.  The amusement park also had musician, clowns, a man on stilts and really good carnival food (we got a candy apple and popcorn).            We had to leave Mount Tibidabo to make it back in time for the Fountain show so we had to leave.  We loved Mount Tibidabo though.  The amusement park was even cooler than we imagined and there were such pretty views from the top.  The fountain show was beautiful and it was just like I remembered it from when I went with my parents when we visited Robby in Barcelona.  It is a huge fountain and there are lots of other little fountains leading up to it.  All of it was built for the Olympic Games in 1992 like many parts of the city.  The fountain show, La Fuenta, is very colorful land done to music it was very romantic.  After the show we went back to the house and Nidia had made lasagna fro us it was really good.            On Saturday night Monica, Brandon, Garrett and I went to the Barcelona soccer game.  It was my first soccer game in Europe and I was really excited.  I got to wear Brandon's scarf that I got him for his birthday.  The stadium is really impressive it is beautiful and can fit 100,000 fans!  I was lucky because I got to see a really good game.  They played all of the main players and won the game 6-0.  Eto'o scored four goals in a row it was really exciting.  The fans were really into the game and did the wave a bunch of times it was fun.  We stayed after the game for a little bit and took pictures in the stadium.  It was really funny because Garrett wore a soccer jersey and scarf and then he wore his funny England hat.  A lot of people were confused by this and it was entertaining to talk to them about it. Sunday November 9th            On Sunday we went to the beach in the morning/afternoon.  It is funny because we slept in a bit and Brandon's host family always says Buenas Notas to the boys when they wake up late.  We went back to the beach we went to at night and it looked really pretty in the daytime.   It was really sunny that day so we sat on the beach for a few hours and had our lunch there.  There were people there windsurfing, relaxing and sailing and it was fun to watch them.  It felt good to lie in the sun and it made me miss going to the beach in California, but not too much because going to the Barcelona beach was really cool.  It's interesting because Barcelona actually did not have a lot of beaches before the Olympics but they imported beach from Egypt and made beaches for people to enjoy.            After the beach we went to La Sagrada Familia., which means the Sacred Family.  It is a church that is still being built that Gaudi was the director of.  It has taken them over a century to build and they are still not finished yet.  It is funny because when I went before with my parents I said I would take them back in 50 years when it was supposed to be done and I was already back 3 years later! We went inside the church which was really pretty. It had stained glass and flower designs in the wall that made a really pretty reflection on the floor.  We took the elevator up to climb around some of the towers.  There are 8 towers that are finished but there are supposed to be 12 by the end to represent the disciples.  The towers are really pretty and some of them looked like candy to me too. There is also a museum inside that shows you the process of the construction and a timeline. After the Sagrada Familia we went to see Brandon's school because it was nearby.  It was closed but I got to see the building, which is an extension of the larger school and it was good to see where Brandon goes to school.  From his apartment it is about a ten minute metro ride and a five minute walk so it is not too bad.            That night we decided to go out to dinner because since Nidia had cooked for us we had not eaten out very much.  Brandon took me to this Mexican restaurant that was really good.  On the way to the restaurant we saw a really cool church and thought how are our dates going to be impressive again when we go home?! The restaurant was really cute and I liked how it had sandals on the wall as Mexican decorations.  Mexican food is one of the things that we have missed while we were here so it was fun to get nachos and food there.  Afterwards we went back and had a skype date with Jamie, Justin and Erich.  We have skype dates with our friends back home from time to time and it is fun for us all to be together, kind of.  Erich and Brandon decided its feels like a hologram because it is like we are there but they can't actually touch us.  Skype is such a good invention and I don't know what my experience would be without it.  It is so nice to get to talk and SEE my family, friends and Brandon for free!   Monday, November 11            Monday was my last day there so I woke in the morning and packed my stuff.  I said goodbye to the family and thanked them for such an amazing stay.  They were so nice to me and it was so nice and convenient to get to stay in the house and so sweet that she made me food all of the time.  Brandon and I went to the arc de triumph before I left for my bus because it is right by the station.  It was a cool arc but definitely not as amazing as the one in Paris.  We said goodbye and I was really sad to leave Brandon in Spain because we had such a great time there together.  I also really loved Barcelona and do not know the next time I will be back so I was sad to leave.  Brandon and I are lucky though because in a few days we would see each other for our Sweden trip.  It is still always sad to leave him though.  Spain was a lot of fun and it was nice to go somewhere where I kind of knew the language.  Barcelona is a city that is much different than any of the cities I have seen in Europe and I love the Gaudi architecture.  I also loved being with my amazing tour guide.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224910800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224910800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224910800/tpod.html Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:00:39 -0500 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Athens, Attica, Greece

Fall Break Trip to Greece: Saturday October 25th: Athens        On Saturday we left for our fall break trip to Greece! We had to first take a train to Milan and then fly out of Milan to Athens because it is harder to get cheap flights out of Florence.  So we took a three hour train to Milan and then a two hour flight to Athens.  When we got in we took a bus and checked into our hostel.  The man at the hostel was very nice and he gave us "the suite" for the night.  It was our own room and bathroom and it was really cute.  The man at the hostel recommended a place for dinner that was only five euro each.  It was a very cute authentic Greek restaurant.  It was interesting because they just brought out a tray and you pointed at what you wanted.  We decided to pick four dishes and split them all.  The dinner was really good but I regretted it later because I did not feel to well.  A day before we left for our trip I was not feeling well and went to the doctor who told me I had strep throat! It was really bad timing but he gave me lots of medication so I decided just to make the best of it and go on the trip anyway.  The antibiotics kind of made my stomach hurt though L  Anyway, after dinner we walked around and looked at the shops in Athens.  They have really nice jewelry there and decided we would shop more when we came back to Athens at the end of our trip.  Then we walked up to this big rock to sit on top of so that we could see the city at night.  When we came back we found out that that rock was right near the acropolis but Athens was really confusing so we could not find it at all the first night!  It was still a pretty view from the rock and it was nice to feel like we saw the city that night. Sunday October 26th: Santorini            On Sunday we woke up really early and took a taxi to the port.  Our ferry to Santorini was at 7:25 and we had to pick up our tickets at the port so we left around 6 am.  but that was ok because we had plenty of time to sleep on our eight hour ferry! The ferries were really difficult to figure out, a little pricey and unfortunately a lot longer than we would have wanted.  However, it was worth it to travel that far to see the beautiful Greek Islands.  The ferry was a bit uncomfortable because when you get economy class you basically can just sit at the tables in the cafeteria.  They are right by the door, which means they are very cold and the smoking section is nearby.  As one could imagine we were very excited when we made it to Santorini at about 3 pm.  We had to exit through the bottom of the ship and we patiently waited as they let down the bridge and played a cute little song.  It felt like we were inside a giant music box.  We were also excited to get there because our hostel owner, George, had sent us the cutest messages telling us that he would meet us at the port. Here are the messages:Hello dear Cary. (which is cute because her name is Caryn)No there is no problem if you want move your reservation to October 26th-27th. If you change and you come in 26th send me only your arrival details (name ferry&time) so its easy for me wait you there and pick you up. Thanks. George.  Hello Dear Caryn. OK we do like that I Wait you in port 26th at 15:00 to pick you up. Thanks. George.   Sure enough he was there with his smiling face waiting to take us up to our hostel.  One of the best parts about being in Greece was the people.  They are so nice and helpful there and they treat you as if you are part of their family.  It feels like Greece, especially the Islands is this little secret and they are really excited to share it with you.  It is a huge contrast to the way that the Italians in Florence treat us because they are often either annoyed by us or rude.  Anyway George showed us to our room and insisted on carrying all four of our huge backpacks for us! The hostel is called Pension Stella (the name of his wife) and it is just outside Fira, one of the main towns on the Island.  The hostel has a cute little pool and an adorable décor. Again, we had our own room and bathroom for only 12 euro a night! George got us coffee (juice for me) and bread and got us started on planning our time there.  He pointed us to the travel agent to book a tour to the volcano for the next day while he made arrangements for us to book ATV's the next day as well.  Then he drove us to the bus station to take the bus to see the sunset in Oia.            Oia also spelled Ia and pronounced that way is the place that officially has the most beautiful sunset in the world.  It is at the end of the Island and we lucked out that we made it in time to see it the first night!  We were also lucky that since we were there outside of season there were not too many people there.  We saw postcards that showed the town being covered with people and felt special that we shared the sunset only with a few other travels. The sunset was gorgeous and we walked out to a fortress on the edge to see it closer and watch the beautiful colors in the sky. After the sun finished setting the people at the restaurant started applause it was really funny.  After seeing the most beautiful sunset in the world we were hungry for dinner.  We walked around the town a little bit and then took a bus back to the town of Fira to have dinner.              For dinner we went to a place called Nikolas.  We had read about it and were told it is one of the best Greek restaurants on the Island.  Our experience with the restaurant was quite the opposite.  The shrimp scampi that I ordered was a lot different than one that you would order in the states.  There were four large shrimps in it that looked like they were still alive.  Needless, to say there eyes that stared up at me did not help the meal.  My roommates got fish that made there stomachs not so happy that night either.  However, we made the best of it and afterwards went to a little place to try baklava, a Greek dessert.  And then a funny thing happened.  The waiter at first thought we were weird for only ordering one baklava to share.  Then Caryn went up to ask him how we should get home.  George told us to ask people where the police station was when we needed directions because it is right across the street.  However, when Caryn asked him this he thought it was quite strange.  She told him it was because "our friend was in trouble!"  This made it worse because he was probably confused as to why we would stop to eat baklava before helping our friend haha.  She later explained that she did not want to tell the man where we lived but it was still one of the funniest memories from the trip!  After making it home we took a rest and went back in the town to check out the night life.  It was pretty calm mostly because we were there out of season but we hung out for a little while anyway.  An annoying man tried to talk to us for a while and claimed he was from Santorini.  We were confused by this because all of the Greek people we had met were so nice.  Another guy explained to us that he was not Greek and that the creepy ones are not from there they just pretend to be to talk to girls! Monday October, 27th: Santorini            Monday was our full day in Santorini and probably the best day of our trip.  We only had a half day the next day so we decided that we would do all the things that we wanted to in one day.  We started off with our tour of the Volcano.  George drove us to the old port to meet our tour (he was so nice).  Once you get to the port you have to take a cable car down to the water.  Santorini is an Island that is up on the cliffs so you always have to go down to get to the water.  The view was beautiful and the ride was a little scary but fun. Once we got to the port we saw our tour waiting for us in a pirate ship! We did not really research our tour so there were lot of surprises along the way and the pirate ship was one of them. Our pirate ship took us to the Island that is the volcano.  It was nice because we got a view of the whole Island of Santorini as we left it.  The water was a little rocky so we got a little splashed along the way.  The volcano island consisted of all rocks.  We toured around the volcano with our guide for about an hour. We saw some craters and even saw sulfur coming out of one of the holes in the volcano.  Afterwards we got back into our pirate ship to go to the hot springs.            The hot springs was another surprise of the tour.  We saw a picture and had expected the boat to take us to the volcanic island and then they would lead us to this hole in the ground filled with warm bubbling water, almost like a hot tub.  However, this is not what happened.  Suddenly the boat stopped and the tour guide explained that the boat could not go any further because it was too shallow and that we would have to swim to the hot springs! Since we were already pretty cold, stripping down to our bathing suits on the boat and swimming in the cold water seemed like a crazy idea.  These Australians who were on the boat with us jumped in right away and it was a funny sight because I kept yelling to them asking if it was too cold and if we should go in. They said it was ok and we decided just to go for it. I was the first one to jump off and I got a bit of a cold shock but it was nothing like other water I have swam in, like Lake Tahoe.  After a while the water became browner and warmed up a bit.  The water was not a whole lot warmer but it was a cool experience and we were told that the mud would exfoliate our skin.  We stayed there for a few minutes.  We looked up on the mountain and saw a chicken and a couple goats.  It was so cute! There was also a beautiful church at the edge of Island and it was interesting to see, since from what we could tell no one lived on the Island.  We then swam back through the cold water to the ship.  We were cold when we got back but were proud of ourselves for making the journey and were glad we had done.            When our boat made it back to the port it was time to ride donkeys back up the cliff.  Someone had warned me not to do this and it did look a little scary but we were determined to ride a donkey while in Greece so we did it anyway.  Right as we got off the ship there was a man yelling DONKEY RIDE DONKEY.  So we followed him and ran up to the donkey area.  Immediately they were saying "four, ok four" and I was hoisted onto the donkey.  I have ridden a horse before and I expected to have time to put my feet in the straps and that maybe the men would lead me up the cliff but this is not what happened. As soon as I got on the donkey it took off.  Again I was first so I was quite surprised by this!  I was a little afraid too because the stairs upon the cliff that the donkey had to climb were very steep and he liked to stay close to the edge of the stairs the entire way.  Caryn was next on the donkey and her donkey and mine must have been friends because they stayed close to each other almost the whole way, which was fun.  Sara and Carly were behind almost the whole time because they had to walk up to different donkeys who did not run off like mine but who had to be coerced into moving.  Carly (the shortest of the four of us at 5'2'') had the biggest donkey and it was quite a funny site!  My donkey was a lot smaller and very cute and I liked to pet him and touch his ears.  Riding his donkey is surprisingly comfortable and I would say even better than riding a horse.  My donkey was very good to me and it was hard to say goodbye.             After our volcano, hot springs and donkey adventure we sat down for lunch.  Then we headed back to the place near our hostel to rent ATV's! We were told that they were 30 euro a person but hoped that if we shared two we could maybe pay 15.  The owner laughed at us and said it was only 15 euro a bike and that 30 was outrageous.  So it was 7.50 euro a person for a whole 24 hours! It is just funny because in the U.S. you would pay even more than 30 dollars for something like this and you would maybe get a few hours.  I was glad we decided to share bikes because I was a little scared and Sara drove first.  All we had to do was fill up the tank and then we were free to drive anywhere on the Island.  It was a very freeing experience and we felt cool having our own "rides."  We went down to see the beach near us first.  It was dark by now but it was fun to see it and the bar/restaurants along the beach (which were pretty dead because of the offseason.)   We also saw a lot of stray dogs there.  All of the places we went in Greece had a lot of stray dogs and cats.  We were pretty tired so we decided to drive our rides to the market and cook at our hostel and take a break.  On the way back it was my turn to drive! It was a bit scary because it was dark and there were cars on the rode but I was proud of myself for doing it and it was fun!            We pretty much just relaxed the rest of the night.  After we regained a little energy from our adventurous day we drove the ATV's around a bit in search of dessert in coffee and then called it a night. Tuesday October 28th: Santorini            Our ferry on Tuesday was that afternoon so we decided just to drive our ATV's around and see some more of the Island in the morning. We drove it to another beach that was closer.  The beach was beautiful and it was fun because we were the only ones there! It definitely was not beach weather because it was a bit cold and windy but it was a sunny day so that was nice.  Next we headed to ancient Thira.  Along the way Carly and Caryn's ATV broke down and the guy had to come pick them up.  They decided to get a new bike and go in town to see the parade that George's sun was in for a World War II holiday in Greece.  Sara and I wanted to see some more of the Island so we continued on.  We stopped at looked at this adorable blue and white church.  I love how almost all of the building are painted this way it adds to the ambiance of the Island.  Then we tried to find Ancient Thira but found out that we had to drive up this huge hill to get there.  We started but had to turn around because we didn't think our ATV could handle it.            After we returned our bikes for the day we sat at a restaurant on our street and had crepes for lunch.  Crepes are a new thing that I have experienced in Europe that are really good!  Then we grabbed our bags and George drove us to the port.  It was sad to say goodbye to George and he told us that if we did not like Ios that we could just come back and he would pick us up and take us back to the hostel.  He was such a nice man who would always say "oh my beautiful girls, my girls" whenever he saw us!            Our ferry to Ios was less than an hour, which felt even shorter in comparison to our 8 hour ferry a few days before.   Ios:            Once we reached Ios, George #2 (his name was hard to pronounce so we referred to him as this because he was very nice and accommodating like George #1) picked up us and four other study abroad students from the port.  Ios is more what I thought Santorini would look like.  It is a lot smaller and there is more land than there is town space.  Plus, the houses are almost completely all white with blue, while in Santorini there was more variation.  Our hostel was on a hill above the main town.  As usual we made it in perfect timing to see the sunset and the view from our hostel was beautiful.  We got to gaze at the town amidst the pink and orange sunset it was amazing.   We got two rooms this time and we each had our own bathroom which would have been a great set-up if we had hot water! We were relieved that we were only staying there for one night for this reason.            On our way in George #2 pointed out some of the things we could see on the island.  First we went to go see the old amphitheatre.  We were not quite sure where it was but just started walking up the hill.  Then this man pointed out the window and shouted directions to us.  We were not sure what he was talking about but followed his directions, which of course led us straight to the amphitheatre! It was so cute, he must have known since we were tourists that we would be looking for it.  The amphitheatre was pretty big and had a nice view of the beach that we visited the next day.  I ran down to the stage area and started talking and was taken aback by how loud my voice was.  It was a really cool experience.              Afterwards we walked into the main town and checked out what was there.  Ios known for being a party Island (this is not the reason we went there) so there was a row of bars and clubs.  However, it was off season so they were mostly closed.  There was also a really cute church and a cupcake store.  We decided to have dinner at George #2's restaurant called "The Mills" because it is right next to the windmills (a trademark of the Greek islands).   George #2 was really nice to us and after dinner he gave us free dessert and gave us and the other study abroad students staying at our hostel (they had gone there for dinner too) this drink that he made himself.  We all said "yamas" (which means cheers) and tried it together.  It tasted really good and had cinnamon in it.  One of the girls in the other group said it tasted like Christmas.  After dinner the other group and the four of us decided we wanted to go out even though the Island was basically dead.  We figured we only had one night there so we might as well.  We made the best of it and went to one of the only club/bars that were open and danced the night away.  It was pretty much just the eight of us, a few locals who kind of stayed to the side, and the bartenders.  We had a lot of fun though anyway.  They played really fun music, for example Greece Lightening, and showed us some fun dances.  We even got this older Greek man to show us some of his moves.  We had a really fun time.  Wednesday, October 29th:            We got up at a decent time because we wanted to see some more of the Island before leaving for our ferry around one.  We wanted to have breakfast at our hostel but did not see anyone there at first.  We kept walking and found the waiter from the restaurant from the night before and we think he was sawing a table! He called George #2 (who was at the restaurant) and he came and made us omelets.  He put the omelet on top of a piece of toast and it was quite delicious.  After breakfast we paid 15 euro for our stay and the breakfast and loaded our stuff in the van.  George #2 said we could leave our stuff there and he would just meet us at the port with it.  So we went back into town first to see it during the day and then walked down to the beach.  It was kind of a far walk but it was a pretty beach and it was nice to see a different part of the Island.  We then took a 9 hour ferry back to Athens.  This was a really long ferry and it took up most of the day because we did not get to Athens until about 12 at night.  We checked back into the first hostel when we got in and went to bed. Thursday, October 30th            On Thursday we had until it was time to take the bus to the airport around 5 to explore Athens.  We found a public bus that was only five euro that would take us to all of the sights.  However, there was a metro strike that day so because of all the traffic that created the bus did not end up being on time.  However we did see the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was right near our hostel and the Acropolis and the Parthenon so we felt like we saw the major sights.              The temple of Olympian Zeus has an archway and then some really old columns.  One of the columns had fallen over which was interesting because you could see how they had built each section of the column since they had broken apart.  Near the temple you could see rocks lined up where houses and baths had been.  I always love to see these things and think about how old the civilizations that inhabited them are.             The acropolis was an incredible thing to see and it felt so real to be standing in front it.  All of my roommates had studied at one time or another and they were so amazed to actually be standing in front of it. We saw the Parthenon which is the main building and some of the other buildings and stairways.  I learned that when the columns are thicker they are male columns and when they are female columns they are thinner because that means they are more feminine.  The acropolis is on a hill so you get a pretty good 360 view Athens from up above.  We sat on the hill for a while and looked at the view.              After the Acropolis we waited for the bus and then gave up and walked to get lunch.  We had an amazing last Greek meal.  Sara and I both got pizza with feta on it and were very satisfied.  For our last few hours we looked in all of the little shops to find jewelry and presents.  The Greek jewelry is really special because it has old symbols on it.  I got a ring that means eternity and some other gifts.            The rest of our journey was long and tiring.  We had to take a bus to the airport.  Then take the plane that was about 40 minutes late, making the rest of our trip tighter for time.  Then a bus to the train stations and two trains that got us back to Florence at 7 in the morning.  Although the traveling was long it was well worth it to get to go to such a beautiful place and have so many great experiences.  We just feel so lucky to have had this experience together and have spent the last few days staring at pictures and talking about all of the amazing things that we did. We are very thankful. I hope you enjoyed my long recap of the trip and here are the links to the photos if you want to see more!Athens:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074098&l=3ee18&id=35805139Santorini:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074101&l=acb5b&id=35805139Rest of Santorini and then Ios:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074106&l=47173&id=35805139
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224331200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224331200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224331200/tpod.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:29:01 -0400 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Perugia, Umbria, Italy

Perugia for the Chocolate Festival and Brandon's Visit!             On Saturday there was a chocolate festival called Euro Chocolate 2008 in Perugia.  It worked out perfectly that Perugia is about half way between Rome and Florence.  We decided to take the regional train that takes four hours total and just have it take two hours to Perugia and then two hours to Florence that night.  We got to the train on time but the train was completely full! We had to sit on the floor for about an hour of the trip because the train was so crowded.  I got a little worried that the festival would be too crowded but it did not matter too much once we got there.  We were able to store our bags for the day and were off to the Chocolate Festival!            My roommate Sara had gone with her class so the first thing we did was find her once we go there. Then we spent the day going around to different chocolate booths and trying free chocolate!  I was in heaven.  I never thought I would say that I have had too much chocolate in one day but I actually did! My favorite booths were the Toblerone booth and the Milky booth that was a log cabin that you could go in and take a picture with a chocolate cow. The festival was in the middle of the town and there was a game of chocolate chess and a giant chocolate key at the end of the tents.  Our train was not until around 5:30 so we had time to explore Perugia a little bit as well and of course buy some chocolate.  Perugia, like many of the little towns near Florence, had a beautiful view of the countryside that we spent some time admiring as well.              We were back in Florence by Saturday night and since Brandon stayed until Tuesday we had a few days in Florence together.  It was nice just to get to spend time together and Brandon got to meet my roommates.  I cooked Brandon a lot of Pasta because he missed having it in Spain and he cooked me dinner one night too. We went up to the Piazza Michelangelo and got a beautiful view of the city.  We went up there during the day and then Brandon had the idea of going back at night for the sunset too and it was very romantic.  I took Brandon to the San Lorenzo market and we bought gifts for people there.  On Monday after I had class we went and climbed the Duomo.   I had done this with my parents but wanted to show Brandon the church and the view at the top.  That night we went to dinner at Tijuana, a Mexican restaurant here.  We both mixed Mexican food and it was fun because we go to Mexican together a lot at home so it was familiar.  Afterwards we walked around Florence at night and Brandon bought me roses from one of the guys who walks around selling them   We ended the night at the Ponte Vecchio and it was very romantic.  The next day Brandon went to Pisa (where he was flying from) early to see the Leaning Tower before he left.  It was really fun to get to show Brandon around Florence and I was happy because he said I picked a good city!*To see the rest of the photos go to these links*http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073055&l=9ca82&id=35805139http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073308&l=725ee&id=35805139
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224162000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224162000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1224162000/tpod.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:53:18 -0400 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

   Late wednesday night Brandon got into Florence.  It was so nice because he was able to stay all the way until Tuesday so we got six days together :-)   On Thursday morning we took a train to Rome! Brandon had an extra eurail pass and really wanted to go.  In the beginning I was not that excited because I had already been and there are so many places to see but the closer it got to the trip the more excited I became.  I had not been in six years and there are so many things to see!  We took a eurostar train so it only took 2 and a half hours to get there (versus four if we took a regional train).  It was a little more expensive but definitely worth it.  We got to Rome in the afternoon and found our hostel.  It is a really cute place right near the train station.  It is a very small hostel with a lot of character.  It was strange because we only saw the lady who owned it that very first day, the rest of the time we had our own keys.  She told us we could buy a bus pas for the day for four euro and ended up using one for both days because we never validated it (the bus drivers are very lax in europe).  So we took the bus to the colliseum first thing!     We sat down for lunch at a cute little restaurant right across the street from the colliseum.  The people outside the restaurants are very persuasive at getting you to sit there and our guy was especially so.  Brandon recalled how his business teacher said that Italians are good salesman but its strange because they are also really lazy, I thought this was funny because it is so true! After lunch we walked across the street to the colliseum. It is such an awe inspiring structure and it felt unreal to be up close to it. We found a tour of the colliseum where we could skip the line and have a guide for the colliseum and for the palatino so we decided to take it.         The tour guide was very funny and he taught us a lot about the colliseum.  We were also really happy to skip the line :-) We toured the inside of the colliseum and it was crazy to think back to a time when it was actually in use about two thousand years ago! He taught us about the elevators they used to bring the animals up from below the stage.  He also showed us where the lions entered and where the king sat.  I thought it was so amazing that they had to bring the animals from Africa to fight! After the colliseum we got a tour of the palatino from a really an energetic tour gruide from Australia.  I learned that the Palatino was where the first Roman tribe was found.  He told us the story of Romulus (where Rome gets its name) and Remus.  Romulus was the king, then there were two more Roman kings and after that there were four Etruscans kins.  The Etruscan kings brought technology that they had learned from the Greeks with them.  All of the emperors lived in the Palatino.  We toured around and got to see the Emperors house and where the sports were held.  We also walked into the room where the emperor would see other leaders and make negotiations.  Brandon and I each went up to the rock that marks where his throne had been.  He sat on it and I stood! Right next to the palatino is the forum.  We stood up above the forum and got an amazing view of the ruins. I had forgotten how big the forum was and was amazed by the many ruins. Later in the trip Brandon found a piece of rock just behind the fence and brought it home -we are convinced that we now posses a piece of the forum!       After the Palatino we took a bus to see the Trevi fountain.  The trevi fountain is a lot larger than I remembered it and there were people everywhere.  The fountain is one of my favorite parts of Rome.  The color of the water is so unique and the large statues are so beautiful.  We each threw a coin into the fountain in hopes that it will enable us to come back some day (it worked for me the first time!)  We found a cute place to have dinner on a nearby street and got gelato by the fountain afterwards.  After this very full day we went back to the hostel.  I loved getting to see all of these things with Brandon because we both have the same enthusiasm about wanting to see and do everything :-)        On Friday morning we got up to go to see the Vatican.  We took a bus early because we were told by our tourguide that there would be a bus strike from 8:30-4:30.  This strike never happened but it was good because it got us to all of the sites early and we did not have to wait in any lines!  We headed strait for Saint Peters Basilica and saw where the Pope is! This was our favorite part of Rome. The building is massive and the Basilica has hallways coming out on either side to look like it is embracing you.  The square in the middle is such a huge and impressive square.  The Basilica de San Pietro is the largest church in Europe.  The entire church is ordained with gold and impressive structures. There are many tombs for the Popes that have reined throughout the years.  The biggest tomb is the shrine for Saint Peter, which has a huge wooden canopy over it in the center of the church.  We really enjoyed admiring the church and also found a little chapel that was just for prayer and spent some time there, being thankful for our trip!  As soon as we walked out of the Basilica it began to rain and we were glad that we were not standing in the huge line that had formed outside of the Basilica while we had been in there.         Next we headed for the Vatican museum and the Sistene Chapel.  We did not have time to see many of the museum exhibits but we saw many paintins and rugs (hung on the wall) on the way to the Sistene Chapel.  There was a huge crowd in the Sisten Chapel but we were still able to marvel at the paintings.  It is unbelievable that one person painted the entire chapel with so much detail.  I can not imagine working on the same project for eleven years, but it definitely paid off, the chapel is amazing.  The guards inside silence everyone every few minutes and tell us not to take pictures.  In true Brandon fashion we were sneaky and took a few pictures anyway becauses we really wanted to have them!  We found seats along the wall and just sat and stared at the paintins on the ceiling and the walls.  I can truly see why the Sisten Chapel is so famous because it is so beautiful. After the Sistene Chapel we grabbed some pizza at an paneria nearby (I love Italian Pizza!)        After lunch we took the Metro to the Spanish steps.   We had the rest of the day left so we decided to see as much as we could.  The spanish steps were beautiful and from the top you got a nice view of the Basilica. There was also this really cool boat shaped fountain there too. The Tevi fountain was nearby so we stopped there again for a view of it in the day time and it was even more beautiful!  Next we went to Pantheon which is the oldest building in Rome.  It is this really cool dome shaped building with pillars on the front and you can tell how old it is from the looks of it.  We stopped at a few other plazas on our way back to the bus.  We saw the government buildings there.           After taking a nap (we were tired from the packed day) we went back to the colleseum to have dinner.  We found a cute restaurant and had the place to ourselves for a while.  The people who worked there were very nice.  We took a walk and saw the building that has two chariots on top it was really pretty.  Before going home for the night we explored some more old buildings across from the forum and took in our last moments in Rome.*To see the rest of the photos you can go to these links*http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073054&l=dba75&id=35805139http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073055&l=9ca82&id=35805139 (this one has some pictures from the chocolate festival too which is my next blog entry)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1223838420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1223838420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1223838420/tpod.html Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:03:14 -0400 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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Monterosso, Italian Riviera, Italy

For our last day we did a day trip through this travel group in Florence called Florence For Fun to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is these five little towns along the coast of Italy.  They are adorable towns that are connected by a hike.  We me our tour group at the train station and they took us to the first town Riomaggiore.  From there we began our five mile hike.  We only hiked between four of the towns and took a ferry to the last town because the last hike would have been very challenging and would have taken too long.  The hike was actually quite a strennuous hike and we hiked up lots of stairs in many places to get the beautiful views that we saw along the way. I was so glad that I took my parents on this tour.  Apparently it was the last tour of the season because the weather is going to get colder but we got a perfect day.  The sun was shining but we were not too hot.  Each town had its own little character.  The first town is Riomaggiore and this is where our train pulled into.  From there we hiked on the Via dell'Amore to the town of Manorrola.  This is known as the lovers hike.  We went through a tunnell and inside the tunnell is this little chair big enough for two lovers.  I took a picture of my parents on it! On either side of the chair is a fence that lovers have chained locks to to profess their love, it was really cute!  When we reached Monarolla we had some time to visit the little town. Here we walked up to a little view point where we could see the area we had hiked.  Then we stopped off for some Gelato, of course!Next we hiked onto Vernazza which was my favorite town. The hike to this town was a bit more challeging but well worth it once we finally arrived.  When we arrived in the town one of the tour guides told us that the men were going to have a beer and to meet them later! It was really cute so the boys went off and my dad bought our friendly Italian tour guide a beer.  This guide later explained to us that he grew up going to his Grandpa's Chianti vineyard everywhere weekend and that he picked the grapes as a small child.  He said that had two baptisms, a regular one and one of grapes.  He then did three crosses on his body- one on his head for the spirit of the mind, one on his heart for the spirit of the heart and one on his stomach for the spirti of the soul- it was such a cute story.  My mom and I sat outside the same bar and she had a nice glass of wine and I had a pina colada! Afterwards we spent some time down by the water because my mom had to touch the water because she does that everywhere we go.Then we took a five minute ferry to the last town, Monte Rosso.  This is the most famous town.  It has two sections, an older section and a newer section.  We rushed off to the older section to grab some dinner before the three hour train ride back.  We found a cute little Italian restaurant and all had the same seafood pasta dish that was very good.  The town was gorgeous and we were sad we did not have more time to see it.  Then we met for the train and were on our way home! It was a long and tiring day but full of many beautiful sights and five quaint Italian towns.  I was so glad I got to do such a beautiful hike and that I got to share it with my parents.  We had a wonderful time!*I posted the rest of my pictures on facebook.  Here is the public link if you want to view them and don't have facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072695&l=103ea&id=35805139&l=103ea&id=35805139
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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

On Saturday we got up early because we thought we were going to go to the Academia to see the David, however, we decided since we had already seen it that we would use the day to do some new things.  Here are all the things we did:1) Climb the Duomo: It takes 450 steps to climb to the top of the duomo.  It is a pretty narrow stair case and there is only room for one person which poses a problem when you run into someone who wants to go the opposite direction.  Part way to the top you walk iinside the church up by the top of the duomo.  This is really cool because you get to walk right next to the beautiful frescos that are at the top of the dome.   At the end you climb a couple steep staircases to get outside to the top.  From the top you can see the famous red roofs and many of the landmarks of Florence.  My dad was a little scared but we were proud of him for making it to the outside on the top and staying up there for a while.  The way down is a lot easier although it is another 450 steps and our legs were a little tired by the end.2) Shopping: My parents were really nice and bought me my birthday present, a pair of leather boots! All of the Florentine Italian women wear them and I could not pass up the opportunity to buy some more Italian leather.  It took us a while to find the right pair but in the end I found a really cute pair that is dark brown with heals and has a cute buckle and scrunch in the back.  My mom bought a purse from the same guy who sold me mine.  He is a very good salesman and is very nice.  The other guy at the store convinced my dad to buy this beautiful leather jacket.  It is two toned (dark brown with a light brown collar).  I was happy for my dad because the guys make it in their own factory and it is something he can have for a long time! Afterwards I took my parents to see the huge food market and we bought wine and food to make for dinner.3) Pizza lunch: we found a pizza place for lunch because my parents hadn't had Italian pizza yet.  It was very good.4) Pitti Palace: We crossed the ponte vecchio and got to see all of the gold shops that are open during the day time.  The Pitti Palace is the old palace of the Medici family and has the famous boboli gardens.  We only had time to tour the palace but it was beautiful.  Some of the rooms displayed some very old art.  The rest of the rooms were on display how they would have been.  They were gorgeous and I was amazed by how much gold they used in every room! It reminded me of the palace of Versailles but probably because that is the only other palace I have been too.  My favorite room was the queens bedroom.  It is a beautiful color of blue and has an amazing canopy over the bed.5) Duomo Church Service: We went to the five o'clock saturday enlgish service in the Duomo.  It was really cool to go to a service the same day that we climbed to the top.  The service was nice and had a lot of similiarties to the Episcopal service we are used to.  We were dissapointed though because we could not take communion since we were not Catholic.  Nevertheless it was pretty amazing to attend a church service in the Duomo.6) Italian meal: My roomates were gone Saturday so I had my parents over to the apartment to cook them an Italian meal.  My mom helped and we cooked some pasta, we made our own sauce, and some eggplant.  It was an enjoyable meal and I was happy to show my parents my new cooking skills.7) Santa Croce: After dinner we took a walk and saw the Santa Croce (the most famous church in Florence- where Michealangelo is buried) at night.  We reminisced on coming to the same square with our tour guide marco and going into a leather store.8) Buona Note: We went to bed after that because we had to get up early again to go to Cinque Terre!* I posted all of the photos on Facebook- I know many of you don't have facebook but you can view all of the photos with this public link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072674&l=e2618&id=35805139
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1223655600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1223655600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peter148/1/1223655600/tpod.html Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:21:05 -0400 Living in Italy and Traveling in Europe!

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San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy

On Friday I took my parents to a town in Tuscany called San Gimignano.  I had had such a wonderful time in Cortona the weekend before that I really wanted my parents to get to see a Tuscan town and have a similiar experience.  I researched a bunch of towns and this one was the one that looked the best and the easiest to get to.  We took a train at about 9 in the morning and it took us a little under an hour and a half to get there.  Once we got there we took a bus up to the Town.San Gimignano is a mideval town that is famous for its four towers.  There used to be fourteen but there are only four that you can see today.  We had a wonderful time exploring the town.  We walked through the town archway and looked in the little shops on the way into the town.  Then we found an area were you could see a panoramic view.  Here we got a  nice view of the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We continued on to the two main squares.  There we bought a ticket to climb up the tower. We climbed up a number of steps and at the top got a view of the town.  My dad is afraid of heights but we were proud of him because he made it to the top, although he did not stay as long.  After climbing the tower we were hungry for lunch. I wanted my parents to get to go to an Enoteca (wine bar) like we did in Cortona so we searched for a wine bar that had a good lunch menu too.  We were drawn in by this one that had a sine for free wine tasting.  We later found this to mean one sip of one type of wine but we each ordered our own glass as well.  My mom and I got white and my dad got red and the glasses of which the lady brought to us in large sized glasses.  My mom was a little tipsy from such a big glass in the afternoon and it was entertaining :-) We ordered three things and shared them: bruschetta, salad, and a panini. We had a nice meal and enjoyed the quaint wine bar.  Afterwards we went back to the main square and had some award winning gelato (they had a sign that said they were world champions) yummm. Afterwards we went back to this square that we had seen an orchestra setting up in and when we got there they were playing.  They had an orchestra and some brass instruments as well and they performed a nice little concert.  They were a group from Germany that must have just been traveling from town to town.  We really enjoyed the music and my mom got a nice little nap.  We felt really lucky to catch the day that this little group was performing. Next we went into see the church.  From the outside it is a modest looking church but the inside is adorned with beautiful frescos.  My favorite part was how they designed it to have stories of the old testament on one side and the new testament on the other side.  We listened to an information box that pointed out a lot of the stories and it was really interesting.  I imagine it would be a helfpul way to learn bible stories.  The church was such a beautiful place and I was glad we got to see such a pretty building. Afterwards we purchased a few things in the shops (biscotti and cream lemoncello for my parents to try) and took the bus/train home.  I was happy because my parents really enjoyed getting to see a less tourist part of Tuscay.
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