Head home soon!

This past weekend was my last weekend in Europe! I cannot believe how fast it has gone by! After getting back from Dublin I had a pretty hectic week preparing for exams. I had two on Wednesday and my last one Thursday morning, so there were a few really late nights that week while I was up studying. But finally, Thursday morning came and went and I am officially DONE with school!

Thursday afternoon our program paid for everyone to go to the top of Mt. Generoso, one of the two huge mountains Riva San Vitale is situated between. We took a little train about 2/3 of the way up and then hiked the final section...which was about 50 minutes uphill. Despite the effort, it was absolutely amazing how high we were! Unfortunately, it wasn't really clear but we could still see all the surrounding towns. When we got up there, the four graduating seniors were surprised with a bottle of Champagne to celebrate finshing our last undergraduate exam ever! We stayed on the mountain for a while and then took the train the whole way down. That night everyone got together to celebrate my roommate, Kate's 21st birthday. We stayed in Riva but it was a ton of fun to have everyone together.

Friday morning we woke up late and got ready for our trip in Interlaken, Switzerland- the Extreme Sports Capital of the World - to go Canyoning! We got off the train and found our hostel. We didn't waste too much time to get settled before we were ready to celebrate Kate's 21st Birthday...again! The hostel's bar was one of the most famous in the little town so we started off down there and stayed close by when pretty much the whole bar transferred a couple hours later to another. It was a late night which led to a very rough Saturday morning.

Saturday (since we were only staying one night in the hostel), we were required to check out by 10:30 am. We dragged ourselves out of bed, put our bags in the luggage lockers and wondered around Interlaken for some food and, more importantly, coffee. Interlaken is by far the cutest town I have visited. It was exactly how you would picture a small Swiss town: Small wooden houses, flowers everywhere, cows in the front yard. I was adorable. (I guess since Riva is so close to Italy, it doesn't have the same feel as other parts of Switzerland) We grabbed some lunch and then headed back to the hostel to meet our group for Canyoning.

Now, going in, I had absolutely no idea what to expect for this. Outdoor Interlaken, the company we did it through, offered all sorts of packages (bungee jumping, skydiving, cliff jumping, etc.) but we were told that canyoning is the best bang for your buck since it lasts close to 3 hours. Once we signed our lives away, we were suited up in wetsuits, shoes, life-jackets and helmets. They drove our group of 8 about 10 min away and we hiked for another 15 min until we were at the start of the canyon. SO, what I have learned from my experience, is that canyoning is a mixture of a few extreme sports all rolled into one...

First we crossed the river (which was rushing so fast) and immediately were told to repel down the side of a waterfall...as if we have ever done something like that before! But apparently, our instructors weren't going to take any extra time to reassure us. We were told to lean back until our feet were flat on the rocks and then walk down. Sure, easy enough. It was pretty terrifying and so exciting once I did it! Once everyone had gone we worked our way further down the canyon jumping off rocks, sliding down areas, braving waterfalls and repelling until we were at the end two hours later. It was by far one of the coolest things I have ever done. I was constantly shocked at the stuff we were expected to do but our guides were sooo good and kept us safe the whole time. If you want a visual (since I didn't buy the photo package they offered) check out this YouTube video that you can find on the companies website...it shows you better than I could ever tell you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGsy139Q_dw
(you might have to copy and paste that into your browser)

We left after our session was over and got back to Riva Saturday night around 11pm. Since then, I have been relaxing and enjoying my last couple days on my trip!!! I leave Thursday morning and go through Heathrow and then to Dulles around 8pm Thursday night. I am really sad to end this journey but I am certainly excited to see all of you at home!!

Dublin!

So this weekend I actually made it to Ireland! After all of the volcanic ash issues I thought for sure my flight Thursday night would be cancelled. But, as the winds shifted things looked like they were getting back on track…which posed me with the tough decision of whether to go and chance getting stuck in Ireland for the week of our final exams or stay in Riva and eat the costs of my plane ticket. After a lot of research and an early morning wake-up call to my parents Thursday we came to the decision that it was defintely worth the risk :-)

I left with no problems at all Thursday night and got to Dublin airport around 10:30pm. I took a bus to a specific stop and met Lauren Dillon, a girl I swam with at VT that is living/studying in Dublin. She was a year older than me and left last August to go to Ireland so I hadn’t seen her in so long! We headed back to her apartment where I met her Irish roommate and saw her cute little place! We had welcome drinks and headed to a local bar called The Bleeding Horse (cool name huh?) I was pretty sleepy from the long day so we didn’t stay out too too late.

Friday morning Lauren and I slept in – which was really nice – and then had a day about the city. We walked through the downtown area and then visited the two main churches in Dublin: Christ Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. After, we grabbed some lunch at a nearby Pub where I had two of the necessary Ireland drinks: Guinnes and a drink called Bulmers, which is a famous Irish cider. We stopped by Brazenhead Bar, the oldest pub in Dublin, to check it out and then we toured the Jameson Irish Whisky brewing plant! We learned about how it began, the choice of the ingredients, and the distilling aging processes. At the end of the tour, I volunteered to do the Whiskey tasting where me and 5 others compared Jameson to Johnny Walker Black and Jack Daniels…It was quite obvious that the differences in prices were for a reason! Jameson was easily the best. I also got a diploma for graduating the whiskey tasting test…an accomplishment that will surely be added to my resume :-) We made it home and relaxed for a bit before grabbing a quick dinner and going to the Temple Bar area, a huge grouping of pubs in Dublin. We did our own “pub crawl” and checked them all out! There was live music in all of them and the Irish are so much fun!!!

Saturday morning there was no time to complain about a late night because we had the Races to go to!! We went to Punchestown, a horserace track in the Irish countryside about 45 minutes outside of Dublin. It was ‘Ladies Day’ so we were dressed to the nines…heels and hats included! (Pictured above was the corse they presented the horses in before they went onto the track) We spent the day there but unfortunately, my bets for the favorite never panned out. But hey, I had to give it a chance! We spent the day there and left on our bus around 7pm. After a ride of constant singing with a group of Irish men, we immediately went to get some dinner. We were thinking about just staying out earlier in the day but after a whole day on our feet (in heels) it was necessary to go home and change. We spent a little bit of time at the apartment and then went to a huge bar that was holding a concert that night. But, we didn’t stay out too long since we were pretty pooped .

Sunday morning we slept in and just hung out in the living room watching AMERICAN TELEVISION SHOWS. For anyone who has lived with me, I love my television and I have been away from in since I got here (no TV’s in the apartments or villa). Needless to say, I was pretty content.We walked around another part of Dublin and saw the huge new rugby stadium that is opening this summer, AVIVA Stadium. On the way home we stopped for an Irish burger and then it was, unfortunately, time for me to leave. No problems with my flight home and I made it back in time for the LAST week of classes in my college career!!!!!

Cinque Terre

On Wednesday we split from the group that was headed back to Riva and 5 of us (Me, Kate, Kelly, Aubrey and Cloey) took a train to Cinque Terre. It is 5 towns built into the hillside of the Italian Riviera that you can hike between. We stayed in Manarola and it was absolutely beautiful! The trip there was not long at all and we got there around 3. We checked into our hostel (which we quickly dubbed the "rules hostel" since we were allotted only one 5 min shower token and their was a curfew with lights out at 12pm haha) We got lunch down by the water and then spent the evening drinking wine on the rocks and watching the sunset!

Thursday morning we woke up early since it was our only full day in Cinque and set our to hike all 5 cities, a projected 4 hours journey. We took the train to the first town, Riomaggiore, and then got on the path that led us through all 5. It was really amazing and although the hike was harder than I expected, it was definitely worth it! We hiked towards the beach (in the last town) so we had some good incentive to keep it moving. We got to the beach around 1 and layed out/played in the freezing cold water until we ate dinner around 6. We trained back to our town and after some gellato fell asleep really early.

We left around 10 Friday morning and got back to Riva mid afternoon. Since our classes are coming to an end, we have a lot of work due these next two weeks so it was nice to have the weekend to get a head start and relax from our 11 days of traveling. This weekend I am supposed to go to Dublin to visit Lauren Dillon, a friend of mine from VT, BUT if this stupid volcano doesn't stop, I wont be going :-( SO keep your fingers crossed for me!

Sorrento

Sunday we left for Sorrento (which was a long bus ride). It is absolutely gorgeous and built into the side of clifts, making the views amazing. We were given a free day once we got there so we grabed a quick lunch and went up to our hotel's rooftop deck to lay out and relax. We had a group dinner at the hotel and afterwards went out to the one bar in this little town.

Monday morning we left for Naples. Note to all you reading...Don't go to Naples. We went for some Roman museum but it was not a good idea. It was the equivilent of taking a tour group to East Compton, LA. We saw what we needed to see, got a pizza (what Naples is known for- best I have had all trip!) and got out of there! We took the train to Pompeii. I had been there before when I went on a highschool trip, but again, I liked it a lot more because Ive learned so much about it. We spent the afternoon there and didn't get back to Sorrento until around 8pm. It was a guy in our groups 22nd birthday -making me not the only 22 year old here anymore :-), so we all went out. It was a pretty late night for all of us but still a blast.

Rome - Roma

Thursday morning we left for Rome. We stopped mid-morning in Montepulciano, a Tuscan town in Italy famous for its wine. Since another class we are in is Geography of Wine, this stop worked into our schedule for a wine tasting, even though it was barely 10am haha The town was so cute though and EVEN COOLER is that it is where some of Twlight's New Moon was filmed! For those who have read it (Sara) this was the Italian town that the Voltori live; where Edward goes to sacrifice himself, thinking Bella is dead. I saw the piazza that she runs through to the clock tower to stop him from getting in the sun! So cool! They had pictures in all of the restaurants of the filming and the actors around the town. After lunch we got back on the bus and got to Rome late afternoon. We didn't do much besides shower and settle in before dinner at the Hotel. After we ate, a big group went to the Trevy Fountain for gellato and to throw a coin in to ensure we make it back to Rome again one day!

Friday was a loooong day. We woke up early and had a tone of "site reports" throughout the city (each of us were assigned a monument that we research and prepare a report about it for the group). We started with a tour of the Colosseum. I have been there before but it still is really amazing to get to go and walk around inside. We went to the Palatine Hill (one of the 7 hills Rome is constructed around), the Forum, the Imperial Forum, Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. As nerdy as it sounds I really enjoyed seeing all the sites this time around since we had been studying Roman history and the monuments this past semester...it was much more relevant and interesting. After what seemed like endless sightseeing we finally were let go for lunch and after I headed towards Vatican City. We waited in line to get into St. Peters Basilica, the largest Christian church in the world, and it was pretty amazing to see. We went to the top to get great views of the city but I opted to skip the Sistine Chapel since it was expensive to get in and I have seen the Michelangelo painting before (really the only reason you go inside anyways). We made it back to hotel around 6:30 and decided to go out in the Campo di Fiori (a square surrounded by a ton of bars) The bars were a ton of fun but the late night did not help with our trip to MORE Roman ruins Saturday morning.

Our bus took us to Osteia, a past Roman city, Saturday morning which I was far from thrilled about. We were there for close to 2 hours and thankfully got back to Rome around noon. I took a nap and spent most of the day by myself, which was pretty nice. I went to run along the Tiber River and then stopped by the Spanish Steps to hang out and people watch for a bit. As you can see, they were packed! That night 8 girls got together and had a nice dinner out and then went back for some sleep, this trip was pretty exhausting.

Florence - Firenze

Tuesday began the first day of our second class trip (the first was to Venice in January – AH so long ago) around Southern Italy. I had an early start when a few of us woke up at 4am to watch the National Championship game, Go Duke! We had breakfast and left on the bus around 6am for Florence. Since we were on a class trip we got to actually stay in hotels and not hostels. It was really nice and right next to the Duomo! We had lunch when we got there and then followed our teacher around for a while learning about the historical sites nearby. Luckily that didn't take too long and we were allowed free time the rest of the afternoon. I walked across the Ponte Vecchio bridge (which is famous for amazing jewelry) and around the main Piazza. Late afternoon was spent at the Leather Market = rows and rows of stands with leather products all made in Firenze, they are very famous for their leather. We had a group dinner that night at a really good restaurant and then went to an Irish Pub FILLED with American students- apparently, they are all over Florence.

Wednesday we had another early morning to get to Siena, a close by town that relates to the Romans…what one of our classes is about. We mostly just milled around their on our own and then left to head back to Florence around 1pm. We had a free day the rest of the day and Kate and I went on a run by the Arno river, which runs through Florence. We met up with a few others around 7 and rushed to the Piazza Michelangelo which is on top of a hill with live music and amazing views of the city. We just missed the sunset but it was gorgeous regardless. Afterwards we had dinner near to the hotel and turned in fairly early.

Been Busy

Hi! Sorry for the delay in updating but I have been all over Southern Italy on our second class trip. We started in Florence then went to Rome, Sorrento, Pompeii, Naples and Arezzo then a small group of us continued on to Cinque Terre on the Italian coast. Needless to say, it was a long 11 days of traveling! But, I am back in Riva now and attempting to catch up on work and sleep over the weekend. I can't promise all of the posts of my adventures to be up at once but I will work on having them posted by Monday. Love you guys!

Munich Day 2

Saturday morning we woke up around 8 to make sure we had enough time to get things done since things were actually open! Three of us, Lindsay, Marty and me, all went to the local market to walk around. We spent time at a nearby store and ended up buying Dirndl - the traditional Bavarian dress...more likely known as a beer girl's outfiit! I tried it on and just couldn't not buy it!! SO cute and now I have my Halloween costume for a few years :-) We met up with everyone else after that and went to the beer garden near the market for lunch --> Check out that pretzel, huge! I literally lived off of pretzels and beer for the weekend...really healthy I know.

1pm we met in the Marienplatz to meet a tour group that we were told we had to go on. The guides were awesome and I learned so much about Munich! I had no idea how involved it was in Hitler's rise in Germany. It was where he attempted his 'Beer Hall Putsch' where he tried to militarily begin a revolution but failed and was put in jail (where he wrote Mein Kampf- his book outlining his extreme viewpoints). Once out, he gained power politically. We saw the room he threw a party in as soon as he got word that a Jewish man killed a member of his political team, giving Hilter a reason to attack. A few days later, Kristallnacht occurred in Munich as well as close by Austria. Some interesting stuff!! Our tour lasted around 3 hours and we visited the main sites around the city and learning a ton! We ended at the famous Hofbrauhaus for a few beers and saw an Oompha Band! (sooo cool)

We left to get back to the hostel, shower and get my drinking dress on for the night. We did a "Beer Challenge" with the same tour company that did our day tour. About 60 people met at the designated meeting spot, signed up and began our tour at a popular beer garden. We stayed there for an hour before going to the next beer hall, Augustiner, where they brew the Pope's Beer - the only beer that the Pope will drink. Next stop was the Lowenbrau beer hall and finally a club that (luckily) was really close to our hostel. It was a late/really fun night :-)

Sunday morning/10 am checkout came too soon but we packed up and left our luggage behind the front desk since our train didn't leave until 4pm...another idea that would have been great had it not been Easter and everything closed. We ended up splitting up for lunch and Lindsay, Ryan and I decided to have our Easter Brunch at the Hofbrauhaus. We got there around 11am but by 12:30 (no doubt when church began to let out) it was packed! There was drinking, singing (I know a few German beer songs now) and music...it was a blast! We stayed there for most of the day and stopped by the Englisher Garten on our way back. Inside there is a river that pitches a wave and a ton of surfers hang out there. Check out the video, pretty random in the middle of Germany! We got our train back and didn't get to Riva until past midnight but I had such a good time!

Munich Day 1

This weekend I went to Munich and I absolutely loved it! Our train left around 6am Friday morning and after a late Thursday night in Riva, we were ready for some sleep on the train. However, the Swiss Army had a slightly different plan for our train ride. 30 minutes into our trip, roughly 40 members of the Swiss Army poured into our train cart to begin their (apparently highly anticipated) four day Easter break. As soon as they got on we heard cans opening and music. We quickly realized we were not going to be able to sleep... so we decided to join in the festivities :-) We talked/drank/played games from about 6:30 AM to 8 AM until our connection in Zurich, Switzerland. The next train was much more uneventful but we got some sleep in and arrived in Munich around 2 PM.

Our hostel was really close to the train station so we dropped our stuff off and began wondering around the city…which was DEAD. We didn’t take into account that it was Good Friday (and Easter is a pretty bug deal in Europe) so pretty much everything was closed. We stumbled upon the area that Munich holds Oktoberfest which is a massive, concrete area that is packed with local brewrey tents during the festival. We then made our way to Marienplatz, the main square in Munich to window shop (our only option). Friday night, a friend of a girl in our group met up with us and took us to a local place for really great German food and Bavarian Beer. Beer in Munich is such a big deal, it is actually considered a food group. We were told that anywhere you can eat an apple, you can drink a beer (a train, the streets, a bank...anywhere). It is also a written law that everyone working in Munich is allotted one beer during their workday…which is surprising because the drinks are not small! (Only offered in ½ or full liters) That night we went to a few bars and beerhalls around the city and turned in somewhat early after a long day of traveling.

Paris!!!!!!!!!

After another hectic week, three of us (Kate, Aubrey and Me) headed to Paris for a girl's weekend! Our train from Milan left Thursday night so around 7 we made our way there and had dinner/drinks before our 11:30 train. The train was definitely not as nice as what me and Lauren had on the way to Prague. There were 6 of us in a compartment and I was stuck on the bottom…a bit claustrophobic, it took a while to convince myself that the two people above me were not going to fall/smush me while I was sleeping. We woke up in Paris around 9 and went in search of our hostel. It took a bit to find but once there, we dropped our stuff and then grabbed a quick brunch before going to the Louvre!

On our way we were overwhelmed with the shopping and popped into a couple stores :-) But, getting back on track, we made it to the museum around noon. It was pretty packed and VERY overwhelming with the amount of things to see but we got the main ones in, including the Mona Lisa! We spent a while in there before we relaxed in the sun outside the museum, in front of the Arch de Triumph. After we walked to the Notre-Dame Cathedral to check out Quasimodo’s house!!! It is beautiful, very gothic and I constantly sang the song “The bells of Notre-Dame” song from the Disney movie until we went inside and there was a service going on. After the cathedral we had an early dinner and then did a night boat cruise along the Seine River that runs through Paris. Since it is the “City of Lights,” all of the major monuments are lit up so it was really neat to see at night, although it was FREEZING at the open part on the top of the boat. I also got to see the Eiffel Tower light show!!! Absolutely amazing! Since Friday was a lot of walking, we headed home to check in and get settled in our hostel instead of going out.

Saturday morning we woke up early and went to Versailles! We toured the palace, it was ridiculous how big that place is!! It was the unofficial capital city of France in the 17th Century and was built by Louis XIV and upkept by his successors. Every bit of each room in the HUGE estate was covered in decoration…it was extremely decadent and unnecessary but really cool to see. We spent the morning taking a tour though the palace and exploring the gardens in the back (I am sure they are gorgeous in the summertime but there were no flowers and the fountains were turned off since it is the off-season.) We made our way back to around the Eiffel tower for lunch. We explored around that area for a little while (Paris is way bigger than I thought, the main sites are pretty far apart) since we kept stumbling into new areas we hadn’t explored yet. At 5pm we had bought tickets to the TOP ahead of time online – which I strongly suggest because we didn’t have to wait in any lines. We skipped the line, right into the elevator and to the top…pretty high up!! Although it wasn’t sunny, the views were crazy! We also saw a couple get engaged up there :-) The pictures I took from the second floor – midway up the tower- were better because you could tell what things were but I am so glad I went to the top.

After that, we walked back to hotel to shower and get ready for the night. Once ready, we went straight to the Moulin Rouge to check it out! The cheapest show was 80 Euro so it was a bit out of our price range but we still wanted to see it. Now, I am not sure if Paris has a ‘Red-light District,’ but if they do, the Moulin Rouge is smack dab in the middle of it. I was expecting it to have a bit more class about it…but it didn’t. We stayed and took a few pictures before making back towards the Eiffel Tower to go to a club we were told to go to, "it is where all the celebrities go." When I got there, I could see why. It was an expensive cover charge and the beers (their cheapest option) were 8 Euros! Needless to say, there were not many of those that night. But it was still a great place, we stayed through a really great rap/reggae band and then around 2 the DJ came out and it became a really fun dance club. We were there pretty late and took a cab back. The next morning our train left around noon so we slept until it was time to head to the station.

Conclusion: I absolutely LOVED Paris! It was such an amazing city and I HAVE to go back!!!

Vienna

Saturday morning we woke up around 7:30 for our early train out of Prague. We arrived in Vienna around noon and our hotel was easy to find. We dropped our things and walked down the main shopping road towards the St. Stephen's Cathedral. We had to stop and get lunch and we found an extremely authentic restaurant "Copenhagen Bar and Restaurant" that we sat at (that was sarcasm, they had no German food, Lauren hated it but I got a chicken sandwich that tasted like Chick-fil-A and was ecstatic!) We walked through the Cathedral afterwards and then Mozart's House. He lived in the apartment only for a few years, but it was here that he composed some of his best concerts. We got an audio tour and spent about an hour in the museum. By the time we were done it was time to go back for a much needed shower.

That night we planned to go to the Ferris Wheel we read about/saw when we were on the train. We made our way over there and found out it is located in the middle of a Theme Park...but a super low-budget Theme Park haha EXCEPT they had actual pony rides and their carousel had real horses! We went to the popular beer garden nearby for dinner and drinks until it closed around 10:30 and then took our ride on the Ferris wheel. Vienna is not that exciting at night so it was mostly us just ridding for no real reason. We went later to the strip of bars where Vienna's nightlife is and hung out there the rest of the night.

Sunday morning we got up early and had another full day in Vienna before our flight out late afternoon. We saw some of the main sites in Vienna: KarlsKirche, Opera Haus, Palace Gardens, Spanish Riding School (where they learn/practice Dressage with horses - we tried to get tickets for the practice they have in the morning but the horses were sick and it was cancelled) We got a really good lunch, actually German food Weinerschniztle and all! It was a lot and we were about to fall asleep in the restaurant but we dragged ourselves out and to the Modern Art Museum for the rest of the day.

We got to the airport in time for Lauren to try and figure out her flying schedule (a constant issue for her the whole trip since British Airways inconveniently decided to strike that weekend and they switched her flight back and forth the whole time). Of course, they were not even there. BUT since our original plans were to stay in Milan Monday night we got a later flight out of Vienna which was now an issue since Lauren was coming back to Riva with me because her flight was changed to leave on Tuesday. This is only a problem because the trains do not run past 10 from Milan to the Riva station...meaning we got as far as we could -the last stop in Italy- and then had to take a cab back to my apartment...50 Euros, very frustrating. The night wasn't over yet though, we spent another hour or two in the villa - me trying to finish work due the next day and Lauren on hold with British Airways.

We didn't get much sleep that night but Lauren worked it out so she would fly to London Monday and be able to fly out on Tuesday for LA. So after my classes were over we went to the train station together and I sent her on her way back home. I had such a blast with her and I am sooooo happy she came to visit! This weekend we are headed to Paris and I am so excited! I will make sure to update a bit quicker this time :-)

Finally...Prauge!

After our very hectic morning, we just wanted to find the hotel and calm down. We struggled at the train station to find the direction of our hotel (and went a totally backwards way of getting to it) but finally, we made it!! We put our stuff down in our really cute, perfectly located room :-) We were one street away from the main town square and in perfect walking distance from everything. We walked to the clock tower, the middle of Old Town, and went to the top for excellent views of the city. Afterwards, it was time to eat. We had such an awesome meal at an outdoor cafe that was sooo cheap! The Czech Republic works in Crowns which one Euro is 25 Crowns...so lunches would cost us 500 Crowns but really only be about 10 Euro. VERY confusing, and I am not sure Laur and I ever figured it out, but it was cool carrying around 1000 Crown bills!

After lunch, a nap was a must. We snoozed for about an hour before getting ready and heading to a popular Irish Pub, which surprisingly are all over Prague. We ate and drank there until about midnight and headed home...but not before picking up one of the greatest food concoctions ever created...the Fried Cheese Sandwich. Lauren saw something about it on the Travel Channel and was literally talking about it for weeks ahead of time. SO on the way home we stopped at the stand and ordered it. They might as well call it a heart attack. It is a patty of cheese that is deep fried to ordered and put between two buns with mayonnaise. And it is DELICIOUS! We took them home, had a picnic on our bed and went to sleep.

Friday morning we woke up to a sunny sky and decided that this day in Prague would be "our day." We walked to the town square and saw the Dhali museum which was...odd...to say the least but still very cool. We had a traditional Czech lunch of Goulash and then over the Charles Bridge and on to a boat tour where we went up and down the river for an hour learning about the buildings along it and drinking a beer on the top floor. Afterwards we hiked up to the palace and Cathedral where there were amazing views of the river and Old Town AND (the best part) they had castle guards out front! Of course I tried to make them move and took pictures with them. We headed back to the hotel around 6 to get ready for the Pub Crawl we signed up for.

On the way to the Pub Crawl we had a little bit of time and stopped in a place called Bed. There were no chairs, just big beds with comfy pillows. I had a Cosmo and felt like I was on an episode of Sex and the City haha We then made it to the Pub Crawl where were immediately handed free drinks (and they kept coming all night long). It was so much fun! And since it was just me and Laur, we were forced to meet other people to hang out with which ended up being a blast. We were herded around Prague to different bars that looked like restaurants from outside but down one floor would be nightclubs. We were out pretty late then went for a Fried Cheese Sandwich and fell asleep.

Just getting there was hard...

Sorry for the delay, things have been crazy with school and Lauren coming to visit. But I got it all done and had a great time with her!! On Tuesday she flew into Milan and I took the train to meet her to spend the day there. We got a snack and a drink near the Duomo and caught up :-) We left Milan around 6 and got back to Riva at 8. We settled into my apartment, chatted some more and passed out! Lauren was really tiered from the time change and her weekend in London before so it didn't take her long to fall asleep and I was right behind her!

Wednesday I had an exam in on of my classes so I got up early to study. But once I got it over with, I showered, packed and Lauren and I were on our way to Lugano! We walked around the city and waited for our train to Prague at 7:15pm from Lugano. We jumped on in time with snacks and a bottle of wine and made it to Zurich around 11:30. Our overnight train left from there so we grabbed dinner and found our couchette (which was so cute! 4 bunk beds - me and Lauren were on the top ones- so we could stretch out and sleep well). We fell asleep fast until things went south around 9am. Now...we bought tickets from Zurich to Pruage...no connections, no stops, just go to bed and you wake up in the Prague train station. But, around 9, a conductor came to our compartment telling us the train was 'finito' and we had to get on another. They pointed us in a direction and kicked us off the train into the sketchiest train station I have ever seen and, mind you, we were in the Czech Republic! (pictured above) We unknowgly followed his directions and got on another train where a guy speaking Czech (which is a terrifying language) tried to tell us what was going on...with which he was unsuccessful. The only thing we got from the conversation was a time to get off the train and that there were 4 buses involved. He ended up being right, we got off of this second train to find 4 buses waiting to take people through the terrible countryside to ANOTHER train station. We got on a train there an continued to panic/stress until we saw the Prague station, where we should have originally been 3 hours earlier. I am unsure as to what happened, maybe something was wrong with the train? Either way, one thing is for sure, Lauren and I have terrible luck...

No posts yet...

Hi guys! Just a heads up...I have a TON of things to get done this week so I can't promise an update for a little while. Having Lauren here this weekend was a blast but transportation has been a serious issue. British Airways is in a strike now that it effecting when she gets home, if she has to buy hotels, etc. etc. and its a bit stressful. Hope things are going well back home, Love Love

Seville

Wednesday we left the hostel around 7:30 to make it to the train station in time. The ride was a little over 2 hours so we got to Seville around 11am and it was beautiful out! We found the hostel and dropped our things off before exploring. Since we had a bike tour planed for the next day, we took this day to relax, have a few beers and explore with no plans. We stopped first to grab some lunch then a few for the road. We wondered down by the water on our way to yet another famous park and found a place to rent paddle boats! We split boys and girls and paddled/floated around the river for about an hour. We then café hopped our way to the park where we took a very impromptu horse-drawn carriage ride around the park and found our way to the Plaza de Espana (pictured above). After dinner and heading back home to change, we went to a small area near our hostel that was described to us by many as “alternative.” I am still unsure as to what that ment, but it was fun and cheep (Seville was SO cheap, tapas, beers, shots, water/soda bottles were all about 3 dollars less than we have paid elsewhere). Only 4 of us made it to the suggested nightclub near our hotel and we were literally the ONLY people in there. At 1:30 they were still stocking the bar, getting music prepared and telling us that it didn’t get going until around 3am…we left and went to sleep.

Thursday we got up at 9:30 to go to a bike tour around Seville! Like usual, only 5 out of the 8 made it to the actual tour due to stomach flu and tiredness from the day before. We met Carlos at a central location and he took us back to the shop to get our bikes. We then road around all of Seville! It was so much fun and I saw places I would have never known to go to without a tour. We stopped for drinks and tapas halfway through and then biked to the other side of the city. I was definitely not as impressed with Seville before the bike tour but afterwards it definitely moved up my list! We biked for around 3 hours and then visited the interior of some of the places we rode past earlier. My favorite was the bull-fighting rink we went to, Real Maestranza. There was a guide for it so I learned a lot about the sport...it is such a big deal in Spain! The season doesn’t start until April but I bet seeing a fight is pretty amazing. I left after the bull ring tour for a nap in prepartation for our last night. We all ended up napping and waking up around 7:30. We got ready and left for dinner in a local area Carlos pointed out. I finally had Paella - a signature dish of Spain- and it was soo good! Our waiter was quite a character and made the dinner a ton of fun. After dinner we went to a local bar called Big Ben. It was there we realized that Seville is FILLED with American study abroad students. We paced our night so we were ready to go to the club around 2am (when it would be crowded) – these times are crazy. We went to Buddha, a three story club with different music on each level. We set up shop on the third where American music was playing - meaning the others up there were mostly American too haha It was another late night and none of us got more than a 2 hour nap before we woke up for our 8am flight. Friday was pretty terrible with constant waiting in the airport and then long bus and train rides home making for about 12 hours of traveling. Needless to say I slept pretty late today. I will be around Riva this weekend getting myself organized for this upcoming week since Lauren is coming to visit on Tuesday!!!!

Madrid

Madrid was really cool. It is the capital of Spain so it was very urban. It reminded me of New York City but MUCH cleaner. We found our hostel and got ready for the Tapas Tour that I organized last week. A nice man named Pablo picked all 8 of us up at our hostel around 7:30 and took us to 3 different restaurants around the city of Madrid. At each place, we had glasses of wine that he personally paired with the tapas dish he chose. At the first place we had a really great white wine with shrimp in garlic butter. At the second we had a very exclusive unfiltered wine not even available in Spain that was paired with scallops and shrimp. Lastly, our drink was a really dark, 12-year-old red wine with beef and ham dishes, followed by a little-too-sweet-for-me desert wine. It was such a great experience and we tried things we never would have known about had Pablo not shown us. It was well worth the money. After we were done with the planned stops, Pablo took us to a local piano bar and dropped us off. We were definitely the only tourists and the music was great. We went to a few other places before calling it a night fairly late.

Tuesday morning only half of us made it out to look around. Me, Kate, Lindsay, Corey and Mike left the hostel, got a Starbucks (I have missed it so much!) and headed to the Royal Palace of Madrid, the official palace of the King of Spain. We toured around the inside and then went close by to the Santa María la Real de La Almudena Cathedral. This was by far my favorite church I have seen in Europe. It was covered in stained glass windows and the ceiling was covered in colorful mosaic. It had a really modern feel and a really interesting interior. After the church we went to the opposite side of the city to explore the Parque del Retiro. It was a huge park with runners and bikers everywhere and really beautiful scenery. Thank goodness the day was as gorgeous as it was! We made our way to the Monument to Alfonso XII and found that you could rent rowboats for the lake in front of the monument for only 5 Euro!!! So of course, we did it. We went to the downtown area after boating in search of the Reina Sofia Museum, which has a huge collection of Picasso and Salvador Dali. But just our luck, it was closed on a Tuesday…I was super bummed. We went to the Botanical Gardens which we quickly dubbed the “garden of death” since nothing was bloomed and almost everything was dead. We met up with the ones that stayed behind in the morning around dinner time and then got back to the hostel around 7. We didn’t have plans for the night and earlier in the day I saw a sign for the musical Chicago playing in a theater near our hostel. Of course, that being one of my more favorite musicals, I decided I was going. The show started at 8:30 and I went by myself to see it :-) The language barrier was a bit unnerving (since I speak zero Spanish) but I found some people who spoke English to tell me how to get to my seat. Since I knew all the songs and the storyline, it was sooo cool to see and I am happy I did it even though no one else wanted to. When I was done I came back to everyone waiting for me to go out. We wandered into random places such as a Hawaii bar that made us order 7 Euro drinks just to sit down. There are also a ton of promoters on the streets offering your free drinks/shots/pizzas if you went to their bar. We took advantage of a few of those offers during the night. We didn’t stay out too late since we had a train ride to Seville at 8:30 the next morning.

Barcelona: Part II

We met at the sports shop at 5pm and were surprised to find that our tour guide was unable to make it to our tour. SO, we got a discount on the blades and were pointed in the direction of the ocean front. NOW…I am sure most of you know that I am far from coordinated on land (with some even comparing me to a baby giraffe), this was further reinforced by my terrible experience rollerblading the streets of Barcelona. Getting to the beach was pretty difficult but I kept thinking I would get better as the day went on...in reality, I just got worse, thank god we were padded up. I only had 3 major falls, with the last one in a crosswalk where I took down Kate and received multiple yells and honks as we crawled to the other side of the street. Pretty embarrassing but still a complete blast. That night the last two of our trip met up with us, Leigh Anne and her brother. We ate dinner at the hostel (it was provided) and hung out at the hostel bar until we ventured out to a few places nearby. We all reconvened at 1:45 at the hostel to go to Razzmatazz, a HUGE nightclub in Barcelona. We were there pretty late, headed to the hostel and fell asleep when the sun was coming up.

Sunday, as you can imagine, was a bit of a slow start. We got up, showered and had a much needed breakfast and left the hostel around 1:30. The boys wanted to go to Park Guell so me and Kate split up to check out other sites around the city. We visited the Picasso Museum, which was really neat but a bit crowded since we hit it on the one day a month with free admission. We shopped a bit and met up with everyone else around 7 to get ready for dinner. But, dinner continued to get pushed back until it was 9 and we hadn’t eaten. We had planned to see a 9:30 Flamenco show so we decided dinner would wait until after. Flamenco is wild! It was so worth seeing but still, very strange. The music is really great, with a guitarist and drummer but the singing it a bit odd and the women who dance stare daggers into the audience as they stomp around the stage. We got a late dinner (late for us, not for Spain) and then went to some places nearby for a not-so-crazy of a night. Monday morning we went to the train station to get a train to Madrid. Our train left around 2:00 putting us into Madrid around 5pm.