Saturday, May 9, 2009
I'm DONE!!!
I am officially done with college! ahh that is so scary yet exciting at the same time. I finished up my finals on Wednesday and have been living up my last days in Rome, doing some repeat sightseeing and spending time with friends. I am getting really sad to leave, the semester went by so fast. Today i finished packing up all my stuff and cleaning the apartment. We have to move out tomorrow morning and Christina, Hilary and I are going to Mykonos for a week. Greece will be awesome, we've been watching Mamma Mia over and over to get ourselves pumped lol. Leaving is definitely bittersweet, I miss everyone at home but I'm not done with Rome. It's also hard to cope with the realization that I'm not living in San Diego part time anymore and so I'm still going to be missing out on all the fun there. I am ready to settle down a little though, I'm sick of moving so often. I've caught the travel bug however, there is so much of the world left for me to see. After the Greece trip, I will have gone to 11 countries in the 4 months I was studying abroad! Then it's Jordan and possibly Egypt in summer then who knows what next! My friends here and I have already started planning when we're going to visit each other, I'm happy they all live/go to school in different parts of the U.S. that I haven't been: Colorado, Texas, Maryland, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey. This semester has motivated me to go out and do new things and see as much as possible. Life's too short to sit around, there are too many adventures to experience!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Can you say STRESSED??
These last 2 weeks have been really hectic with school but a really great time in Rome. Last week I had a presentation to give and this week I have 5 essays due and a final! I really wish some of my teachers would have spread the work out more (like one class alone has 2 essays and the final the same day) but then I would have had to have done more work during the weekends and I wouldn't have been able to travel as much so I guess killing myself with work now is worth it. Here's the run down on last weeks Rome activities:
Wednesday night there was a free concert in Piazza del Pololo put on by National Geographic for Earth day. There were a couple Italian bands that played, and I actually liked one of them, called Subsonica. Basically The Killers in Italian. Headlining the show was Ben Harper! I think every American in Rome went to the concert, even if they arn't Ben Harper fans just because he's American haha. He played all his new music which I don't know, but it was still a really cool concert.
Saturday was a gorgeous day in Rome so a bunch of us went to Parc Pamphili near our house and had a picnic. I love this park because its really big and open and this is the only place you see Italian's being "normal" compared to American standards. They play games and exercise and there are kids playing everywhere. We brought food, lots of wine and mad libs to entertain ourselves. It was the perfect day, so relaxing and awesome to just enjoy the weather and take a break from school work.
The rest of the week has been work work work! Thankfully I only have one essay left to write, due tomorrow (or next week if I choose but I just want to get it done!) I'd love to say it's my last essay left ever, but one of my finals is a take home essay so I'll be working on that this weekend. Luckily I'll have only 3 actual exams to study for, so for once I'm not that worried about finals.
This Friday Christina and I are going back to Florence to visit my aunt and uncle so that will be a nice break. There are still a few sights we didn't see back in January, most importantly David!! Unfortunately we can only stay for the day, we're not even sure anymore if we can stay the night because of studying, but we'll see how it goes. I can't believe next week is my last full week in Rome, I still have so much to do!!!
Me, Christina and our roomie Hilary leave for Greece May 10th, I'm so excited!!
Wednesday night there was a free concert in Piazza del Pololo put on by National Geographic for Earth day. There were a couple Italian bands that played, and I actually liked one of them, called Subsonica. Basically The Killers in Italian. Headlining the show was Ben Harper! I think every American in Rome went to the concert, even if they arn't Ben Harper fans just because he's American haha. He played all his new music which I don't know, but it was still a really cool concert.
Saturday was a gorgeous day in Rome so a bunch of us went to Parc Pamphili near our house and had a picnic. I love this park because its really big and open and this is the only place you see Italian's being "normal" compared to American standards. They play games and exercise and there are kids playing everywhere. We brought food, lots of wine and mad libs to entertain ourselves. It was the perfect day, so relaxing and awesome to just enjoy the weather and take a break from school work.
The rest of the week has been work work work! Thankfully I only have one essay left to write, due tomorrow (or next week if I choose but I just want to get it done!) I'd love to say it's my last essay left ever, but one of my finals is a take home essay so I'll be working on that this weekend. Luckily I'll have only 3 actual exams to study for, so for once I'm not that worried about finals.
This Friday Christina and I are going back to Florence to visit my aunt and uncle so that will be a nice break. There are still a few sights we didn't see back in January, most importantly David!! Unfortunately we can only stay for the day, we're not even sure anymore if we can stay the night because of studying, but we'll see how it goes. I can't believe next week is my last full week in Rome, I still have so much to do!!!
Me, Christina and our roomie Hilary leave for Greece May 10th, I'm so excited!!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Amalfi Coast
Last weekend me, Christina, Jessie and Lauren went to the Amalfi Coast with bus2alps. The tour was with all Rome study abroad students, most from JCU. We met up at the train station and took a bus down to Sorrento. We stayed in Sorrento at 7 Hostel- it was gorgeous. This hostel was basically a hotel except we stayed in 10 person rooms and each floor shared bathrooms, it felt like I was living in the dorms again. Friday we went to the island of Capri. It was a long hike from the marina to the town but we saw some awesome views.
We split off for lunch and wandered the town. The weather was cool and cloudy in the morning and in town so that was a bummer but later we went back down to the marina and it got sunnier. We just relaxed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. That night we all went out to dinner and then to a karaoke bar, which was more a big singing party then karaoke.
Saturday we went to the small town of Positano, which is in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. Positano was my favorite place of the weekend, it's smaller and less touristy and has cute little boutiques. Capri was cute too but it has more designer stores, which are boring to go in when you can't afford any of it. The weather was much nice Saturday so we could lay out in our bathing suits and tan. I got handmade sandals there; Capri is famous for them but they are wayy overpriced there.
Unfortunately our tour didn't arrange our transportation back since we didn't have evening plans they let us leave whenever. Well the ferry's weren't running to Sorrento for some reason that day so everyone had to take the bus. But of course the buses didn't show up for some reason so there were like 80 tourists waiting in the road. We ended up hiring a private driver with a Mercedes to take us back, it was 12 euros each which sucked but it was the most entertaining ride ever. Our driver was hilarious and he wanted to teach me to drive stick in his Mercedes! I declined though because 1) I had been drinking most of the afternoon and 2)I haven't driven in 3 months so I would probably hit something haha. That night the hostel had Mexican BBQ and a band playing in the bar so we kicked it there all night.
Sunday we checked out of our hostel and went to Pompeii. It was so cool to see how much they uncovered. It's way bigger than I imagined.
The weather was touch and go all day, cool and rainy. Luckily it didn't rain while we were on the tour so we all had a nice time. We left around 4:30 for Rome and got home around 8:30. It was an awesome weekend, the weather could have been a little better but I got to relax by the beach so I was happy!
We split off for lunch and wandered the town. The weather was cool and cloudy in the morning and in town so that was a bummer but later we went back down to the marina and it got sunnier. We just relaxed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. That night we all went out to dinner and then to a karaoke bar, which was more a big singing party then karaoke.
Saturday we went to the small town of Positano, which is in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. Positano was my favorite place of the weekend, it's smaller and less touristy and has cute little boutiques. Capri was cute too but it has more designer stores, which are boring to go in when you can't afford any of it. The weather was much nice Saturday so we could lay out in our bathing suits and tan. I got handmade sandals there; Capri is famous for them but they are wayy overpriced there.
Unfortunately our tour didn't arrange our transportation back since we didn't have evening plans they let us leave whenever. Well the ferry's weren't running to Sorrento for some reason that day so everyone had to take the bus. But of course the buses didn't show up for some reason so there were like 80 tourists waiting in the road. We ended up hiring a private driver with a Mercedes to take us back, it was 12 euros each which sucked but it was the most entertaining ride ever. Our driver was hilarious and he wanted to teach me to drive stick in his Mercedes! I declined though because 1) I had been drinking most of the afternoon and 2)I haven't driven in 3 months so I would probably hit something haha. That night the hostel had Mexican BBQ and a band playing in the bar so we kicked it there all night.
Sunday we checked out of our hostel and went to Pompeii. It was so cool to see how much they uncovered. It's way bigger than I imagined.
The weather was touch and go all day, cool and rainy. Luckily it didn't rain while we were on the tour so we all had a nice time. We left around 4:30 for Rome and got home around 8:30. It was an awesome weekend, the weather could have been a little better but I got to relax by the beach so I was happy!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Ireland
Over Easter weekend Me, Lauren, Jessie, Molly and her friend Cassie went to Ireland! We stayed in Dublin for 5 nights and also went on 2 day trips to nearby smaller towns. Friday we went on a free tour of Dublin and saw most of the main areas including Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Trinity College, St. Patricks Cathedral and St. Stephan's Green. The rest of the day we relaxed in the park and wandered down Grafton St. the main shopping area.
St. Stephan's Green
Saturday we went to the farmers market, explored Temple Bar area more and did some shopping. That night we were really excited to go out because it was Good Friday the day before and no alcohol was sold the whole day, meaning no bars were open. On Sunday Lauren, Jessie and I took the DART (yes just like BART aka a metro) to Dun Laoghaire, a small port town. It was a gorgeous day, sunny but cool and we walked along the pier. We stopped at People's Park where they had a farmer's market for lunch and then continued walking along the water. We ended up walking through 2 more towns, Sandycove and Dalkey. We did some rock climbing and relaxed on the huge rocks for a while, enjoying the sun and the amazing view.
Monday was the first day we had any rain, it was bound to happen being in Ireland lol. We went on the Wild Wicklow Tour that took us through the Wicklow mountains to Glendalough and past other small towns and countryside. We unfortunately couldn't see the extent of the mountains and the views because it was so foggy but we got to walk to the river in Glendalough and saw better views there.
We left Dublin Tuesday evening, it was a great trip but unfortunately the massive amounts of school work we've all been assigned were on our minds most of the trip. The end of the semester is coming fast, less than a month left and professors have been assigning a lot of essays. I've got a lot of work to do but I have to find the time to soak up as much of Rome as possible. I'm leaving tonight for the Amalfi Coast for the weekend, Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Pompeii! It's my last weekend trip of the semester, I'm glad I'll be staying put in Rome for the last few weeks.
St. Stephan's Green
Saturday we went to the farmers market, explored Temple Bar area more and did some shopping. That night we were really excited to go out because it was Good Friday the day before and no alcohol was sold the whole day, meaning no bars were open. On Sunday Lauren, Jessie and I took the DART (yes just like BART aka a metro) to Dun Laoghaire, a small port town. It was a gorgeous day, sunny but cool and we walked along the pier. We stopped at People's Park where they had a farmer's market for lunch and then continued walking along the water. We ended up walking through 2 more towns, Sandycove and Dalkey. We did some rock climbing and relaxed on the huge rocks for a while, enjoying the sun and the amazing view.
Monday was the first day we had any rain, it was bound to happen being in Ireland lol. We went on the Wild Wicklow Tour that took us through the Wicklow mountains to Glendalough and past other small towns and countryside. We unfortunately couldn't see the extent of the mountains and the views because it was so foggy but we got to walk to the river in Glendalough and saw better views there.
We left Dublin Tuesday evening, it was a great trip but unfortunately the massive amounts of school work we've all been assigned were on our minds most of the trip. The end of the semester is coming fast, less than a month left and professors have been assigning a lot of essays. I've got a lot of work to do but I have to find the time to soak up as much of Rome as possible. I'm leaving tonight for the Amalfi Coast for the weekend, Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Pompeii! It's my last weekend trip of the semester, I'm glad I'll be staying put in Rome for the last few weeks.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Paris
Me and Jessie went to Paris for the weekend and we had a blast! We stayed with her friend Kerry from school who is studying abroad there. We were so lucky to have awesome weather the whole weekend, it made me love Paris even more!. We got there Friday and did most of the touristy things, but first we ate at Breakfast in America and I basically had a Denny's grad slam, it was delicious! We walked along the Seine, went to Notre Dame, Jardin des Tuileries and sat by one of the giant ponds, walked down the Champs Elyses to the Arc de Triumph and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That night we went to Fajitas for dinner, yay for Mexican!!! Saturday we went to Disneyland Paris!
It's almost the same as the real Disneyland, except some of the rides are a little different. I was really mad that the Indiana Jones ride is completely different, no fun adventure, just a roller coaster. Overall it was really fun and awesome to basically be in America-land, except everything was also in French. Sunday we went to the Louvre because it was free, which meant there was a long line and it was packed. We just saw the Mona Lisa and another few key pieces before leaving to enjoy the weather! Later that evening we went to the Eiffel Tower! We went to the second landing (it's cheaper than going to the third and you can actually see the view better) and took gorgeous sunset pictures.
By the time we came down, the lights turned on which was another beautiful sight.
For dinner we went to fondue! There is a set menu so it's really easy and it comes with wine, but you have to drink it out of a baby bottle! It was so much fun, it's a tiny place, with only 2 long tables, you can probably fit maybe 40 people total. The people who sit on the booth along the wall have to climb over the table! It was awesome. Monday we wandered around a little and I had the best crepe ever, nutella and banana. Mmmmm. Our flight left that evening, of course it was delayed an hour, stupid budget airlines. I had a fabulous weekend in Paris, it took all my energy to not do some serious shopping though!
It's almost the same as the real Disneyland, except some of the rides are a little different. I was really mad that the Indiana Jones ride is completely different, no fun adventure, just a roller coaster. Overall it was really fun and awesome to basically be in America-land, except everything was also in French. Sunday we went to the Louvre because it was free, which meant there was a long line and it was packed. We just saw the Mona Lisa and another few key pieces before leaving to enjoy the weather! Later that evening we went to the Eiffel Tower! We went to the second landing (it's cheaper than going to the third and you can actually see the view better) and took gorgeous sunset pictures.
By the time we came down, the lights turned on which was another beautiful sight.
For dinner we went to fondue! There is a set menu so it's really easy and it comes with wine, but you have to drink it out of a baby bottle! It was so much fun, it's a tiny place, with only 2 long tables, you can probably fit maybe 40 people total. The people who sit on the booth along the wall have to climb over the table! It was awesome. Monday we wandered around a little and I had the best crepe ever, nutella and banana. Mmmmm. Our flight left that evening, of course it was delayed an hour, stupid budget airlines. I had a fabulous weekend in Paris, it took all my energy to not do some serious shopping though!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Things I miss about America
1. Target- Italy doesn't believe in one stop shopping, and it's just fun to waste time wandering around the store.
2. Driving- It's just so much easier to get things done quickly, and I miss my little car (well it would be considered big compared to Italy's abundance of smart cars lol)
3. Foreign cuisine- Italy doesn't have the most diverse selection of food, I just want some Mexican food!!!!!!!!!
4. Being able to wear flip flops without getting crazy looks- Italians must have feet phobias because they do not like to see people in sandals.
5. Customer service- In general Italian's don't care for Americans, which I can understand because we expect them to speak to us in English and that's not fair. When they come to the U.S. they don't expect us to speak Italian! But they could be a little nicer when we struggle to speak their language. Luckily in Trastevere most are more friendly to us because they are used to all the students (and like our money haha)
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm still in love with Italy's 4-P's of food- Pizza, Pasta, Panini and Parmesan but sometimes you just crave things and unfortunately it's very difficult to get it here. I guess that's half the fun of being abroad, being forced to try living life differently and finding new loves. I'm already foreseeing my withdrawls from Italian chocolate and the cheese selection at Safeway is just not going to cut it!
On a happier note, spring as sprung in Rome. We have been enjoying temperatures in the 60's, which feels much warmer here than at home, probably because Rome isn't on the water. Even when it rains (which is often here in spring) it's still pretty warm; as long as I don't have to wear my coat anymore I'm happy!
On my walk to school
2. Driving- It's just so much easier to get things done quickly, and I miss my little car (well it would be considered big compared to Italy's abundance of smart cars lol)
3. Foreign cuisine- Italy doesn't have the most diverse selection of food, I just want some Mexican food!!!!!!!!!
4. Being able to wear flip flops without getting crazy looks- Italians must have feet phobias because they do not like to see people in sandals.
5. Customer service- In general Italian's don't care for Americans, which I can understand because we expect them to speak to us in English and that's not fair. When they come to the U.S. they don't expect us to speak Italian! But they could be a little nicer when we struggle to speak their language. Luckily in Trastevere most are more friendly to us because they are used to all the students (and like our money haha)
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm still in love with Italy's 4-P's of food- Pizza, Pasta, Panini and Parmesan but sometimes you just crave things and unfortunately it's very difficult to get it here. I guess that's half the fun of being abroad, being forced to try living life differently and finding new loves. I'm already foreseeing my withdrawls from Italian chocolate and the cheese selection at Safeway is just not going to cut it!
On a happier note, spring as sprung in Rome. We have been enjoying temperatures in the 60's, which feels much warmer here than at home, probably because Rome isn't on the water. Even when it rains (which is often here in spring) it's still pretty warm; as long as I don't have to wear my coat anymore I'm happy!
On my walk to school
Monday, March 30, 2009
Spring Break
I had 10 days to travel for spring break and I took advantage of it! Me, Jessie and Lauren went to Budapest, Vienna and Prague and then met up with Christina in London at the end of the trip. We had a great time and saw soooo much, I'll try to recap each city as best as I can!
Budapest
We arrived late Thursday night and went straight to our hostel. We stayed at the Mandragora Hostel and it was so cute and nice! It was yoga/hippie style and had only 3 rooms, a double, a six person and an eight person where we stayed. It didn't have any bunk beds but lofts instead, it was a lot more private that way. We also got free breakfast and all the coffee and tea we wanted. Friday morning we headed out to explore. We took the metro to the center of Pest and wandered around, a little lost for a while. We found Parliament, made it to the river and crossed the chain bridge into Buda where most of the "sights" are. We walked up a ton of stairs to the castle district and saw amazing views of the city.
We had lunch at a traditional Hungarian restaurant; I had goulash- yum! We struggled with money, their currency has large denominations (100, 500, 2,000, 5,000 etc) and it was confusing trying to convert prices in our head to see how much we were really spending. After lunch and some more walking in Buda, we took the metro back to Pest to go to the thermal baths! Their basically huge hot tubs, some outside and a bunch inside. It felt so good to relax and hang out in the baths and then we decided to get Thai massages! It was pretty cheap and felt so good. This little Asian lady was crawling/walking all over me and cracking my body in ways I didn't know were possible. It was awesome. We had dinner, strolled around a little and headed back to the hostel. We enjoyed the unlimited tea and went to bed early because we had to catch the train the next morning. We only spent a day in Budapest but one full day is all you really need to see most of the sights. Parts of Budapest area really nice and some are really sketchy and run down looking so we were ready to move on.
Vienna
We arrived in the early afternoon and only had to walk about 2 blocks to our hostel, the Wombat. The hostel was really cool, it had a lounge area with a pool table, computers with internet for 50 euro cents and a huge bed to relax on. There was also a kitchen with free food and the WomBar in the basement! The Wombat felt like living in the dorms, there were lots of young people staying there. We stayed in a 6 person dorm so we had randoms staying with us the 2 nights we were there. It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be since we were all out and about all day and didn't really see each other. On Friday we started in the center of town where St. Stephen's Cathedral is and continued to the area where the Vienna Boy's Choir performs, the Spanish Riding School, the Butterfly House, the Opera House, Parliament and City Hall.
In front of St. Stephen's Cathedral
We found multiple Starbuck's which was very exciting. The cool thing about them in Vienna (and some other countries) is that they ask if you want to drink your coffee there and give you real Starbucks mugs! Classy. Anyway, we were cold from walking all day so we headed home for a nap before going down to the Wombar for our free welcome drink. The next day, Sunday, we went to see Shonbrunn Palace across town. We rode the metro which is awesome in Vienna, it takes you everywhere and our hostel was right across the street from one of the stops. The palace is gorgeous, and there are gardens all around it, I only wish all the flowers would have been in bloom.
We had lunch at a traditional Viennese restaurant, I had soup with dumplings. Side note- Vienna in German is Wein, we had so much fun trying to read words in German. Words have like 15 letters in them, people thought we were crazy when we would laugh at street signs. Our favorite sign read "Gute Fahrt" (say it out loud hahaha), turns our it means "enjoy your travels". I digress... That night we went to an English cinema and watched Milk, it was my second time seeing it, so good! It was really nice to do something "normal" like going to the movies, it helps to not feel like my life here is so different than at home and that I'm in a foreign country. Vienna is a beautiful city, the architecture is gorgeous, most old buildings are crisp white with no graffiti and the whole city is very clean.
Prague
Our original plan was to take the overnight train from Vienna to Prague but it ended up being a lot more expensive than we thought, so we took a bus. It was a 4 hour ride but it went by pretty fast and it was cheap. We stayed in an apartment that we rented for 3 nights, it was pretty nice and there was a washing machine! We had to pack light, only backpacks or duffel bags because the budget airlines that we took charge you to check a bag so we could only have a carry-on. We packed for 5 days and were able to wash things in Prague, which was half way through the trip. The machine didn't work that great but it was good enough. My friend Martin that I know from SD last summer lives near Prague so he was our tour guide. We had lunch at a Czech restaurant down the street from our apartment, I had Wiener Schnitzel- yum and we had a beer tasting. Prague is truly a fairy tale city, it looks just like Main St. in Disneyland. All the buildings are really clean and are different colors so they stand out.
The weather was crazy though like Budapest and Vienna, windy, cold, thunderstorms, a little snow and sunshine, so bipolar. Monday we saw Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, the Municipal House, Powder Gate and we saw an Opera that night. On Tuesday we went to the Jewish Ghetto and walked along the river, then we crossed the Charles Bridge. We saw the Lennon Wall and had to take a million pictures. It was amazing, and detailed, you could stare at it for hours and still not see everything.
After we walked up a ton of stairs to the Castle area. Up on the hill is the Royal Palace, the Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral. We watched the changing of the guards before walking down the Golden Lane and then back home. That night we went clubbing at FX, the club where Rhianna shot the video for "Please Don't Stop the Music' it was a lot of fun! Wednesday we had a lazy start to the day and just wandered around the city and into a few shops. We stayed in that night to pack and rest up for London the next day.
London
We left early Thursday morning to get to the airport. We arrived in London and took a quick train into the city. Christina met us at the train station and we took the tube to the Marriott! It was awesome to end the trip in a nice, comfy hotel. After freshening up we went sightseeing. We saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey before lunch. We went to a typical English pub and had fish n chips, delicious. After we ate we crossed the Thames River and went on the London Eye. I was scared at first because I really don't like heights, but I had to go on it! It actually wasn't scary because you're completely enclosed and there is a bench in the middle to sit. The only time I would get a little scared was if I went right up to the glass and looked down. We went in the late afternoon, just before dusk and the sky was beautiful.
That night we attempted to go out, but for various reasons it didn't work out so we kicked it at the hotel. Friday we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, it was packed so I didn't see all of it but it was still cool. I was a little bummed to learn that you can't actually go up to the guards and take pictures with them like in movies. We had lunch at Pret- basically its all grab and go food, packaged but really fresh and delicious. They have them all over and other places like it, Italy needs to get on it! We also took some time to act like complete tourists and took picture with everything...
Lauren, Jessie and I went to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge while Christina went to a few museums (she was in London a few days before us so she already saw the Tower). I was so excited to go because the Tower of London was once a palace where royalty and nobility lived but then became famous as a prison. The Tower is where King Henry VIII beheaded two of his wives and had others killed as well. They had tours of the grounds lead by the Beefeaters (retired military personnel that now work here, that's their nickname, they're actually called Yeomen Wardens). Our Beefeater was awesome, he was really funny and told us about a lot of cool stuff. At the Tower of London is also the Royal Jewels- bling bling! We were grandma's again that night and stayed in. We enjoyed the pool/steam room/gym at the hotel and watched a movie in our room. Saturday we got up early and went to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to get Wicked tickets!!!! We went on a Beatles walking tour through some quieter areas of the city and saw where some of them lived, where they filmed scenes from both of their films and saw Abbey Road and Abbey Studios.
Our attempt of The Beatles Abbey Road album cover haha
After the tour we walked around the shopping areas and then went to Wicked. The show was amazing, I'm so so SO glad we went and I really want to see it again! Sunday was our last day, Christina left in the morning for her flight, the rest of us didn't fly out until that night. We did some last minute sightseeing, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, the Globe Theatre and a stroll along the river. There were a bunch of street performers out and it was so fun to see them, especially the break dancers! The last thing we did before going to the airport was go to King's Cross train station to see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter, that's right they made a little wall and trolley just for tourists lol. We had a great time in London, it was awesome to be in an English speaking country, we really didn't feel like foreigners. It mostly felt like we were in the U.S. just in a state we'd never been before, except for the cars on the other side of the road and the double decker buses haha.
Budapest
We arrived late Thursday night and went straight to our hostel. We stayed at the Mandragora Hostel and it was so cute and nice! It was yoga/hippie style and had only 3 rooms, a double, a six person and an eight person where we stayed. It didn't have any bunk beds but lofts instead, it was a lot more private that way. We also got free breakfast and all the coffee and tea we wanted. Friday morning we headed out to explore. We took the metro to the center of Pest and wandered around, a little lost for a while. We found Parliament, made it to the river and crossed the chain bridge into Buda where most of the "sights" are. We walked up a ton of stairs to the castle district and saw amazing views of the city.
We had lunch at a traditional Hungarian restaurant; I had goulash- yum! We struggled with money, their currency has large denominations (100, 500, 2,000, 5,000 etc) and it was confusing trying to convert prices in our head to see how much we were really spending. After lunch and some more walking in Buda, we took the metro back to Pest to go to the thermal baths! Their basically huge hot tubs, some outside and a bunch inside. It felt so good to relax and hang out in the baths and then we decided to get Thai massages! It was pretty cheap and felt so good. This little Asian lady was crawling/walking all over me and cracking my body in ways I didn't know were possible. It was awesome. We had dinner, strolled around a little and headed back to the hostel. We enjoyed the unlimited tea and went to bed early because we had to catch the train the next morning. We only spent a day in Budapest but one full day is all you really need to see most of the sights. Parts of Budapest area really nice and some are really sketchy and run down looking so we were ready to move on.
Vienna
We arrived in the early afternoon and only had to walk about 2 blocks to our hostel, the Wombat. The hostel was really cool, it had a lounge area with a pool table, computers with internet for 50 euro cents and a huge bed to relax on. There was also a kitchen with free food and the WomBar in the basement! The Wombat felt like living in the dorms, there were lots of young people staying there. We stayed in a 6 person dorm so we had randoms staying with us the 2 nights we were there. It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be since we were all out and about all day and didn't really see each other. On Friday we started in the center of town where St. Stephen's Cathedral is and continued to the area where the Vienna Boy's Choir performs, the Spanish Riding School, the Butterfly House, the Opera House, Parliament and City Hall.
In front of St. Stephen's Cathedral
We found multiple Starbuck's which was very exciting. The cool thing about them in Vienna (and some other countries) is that they ask if you want to drink your coffee there and give you real Starbucks mugs! Classy. Anyway, we were cold from walking all day so we headed home for a nap before going down to the Wombar for our free welcome drink. The next day, Sunday, we went to see Shonbrunn Palace across town. We rode the metro which is awesome in Vienna, it takes you everywhere and our hostel was right across the street from one of the stops. The palace is gorgeous, and there are gardens all around it, I only wish all the flowers would have been in bloom.
We had lunch at a traditional Viennese restaurant, I had soup with dumplings. Side note- Vienna in German is Wein, we had so much fun trying to read words in German. Words have like 15 letters in them, people thought we were crazy when we would laugh at street signs. Our favorite sign read "Gute Fahrt" (say it out loud hahaha), turns our it means "enjoy your travels". I digress... That night we went to an English cinema and watched Milk, it was my second time seeing it, so good! It was really nice to do something "normal" like going to the movies, it helps to not feel like my life here is so different than at home and that I'm in a foreign country. Vienna is a beautiful city, the architecture is gorgeous, most old buildings are crisp white with no graffiti and the whole city is very clean.
Prague
Our original plan was to take the overnight train from Vienna to Prague but it ended up being a lot more expensive than we thought, so we took a bus. It was a 4 hour ride but it went by pretty fast and it was cheap. We stayed in an apartment that we rented for 3 nights, it was pretty nice and there was a washing machine! We had to pack light, only backpacks or duffel bags because the budget airlines that we took charge you to check a bag so we could only have a carry-on. We packed for 5 days and were able to wash things in Prague, which was half way through the trip. The machine didn't work that great but it was good enough. My friend Martin that I know from SD last summer lives near Prague so he was our tour guide. We had lunch at a Czech restaurant down the street from our apartment, I had Wiener Schnitzel- yum and we had a beer tasting. Prague is truly a fairy tale city, it looks just like Main St. in Disneyland. All the buildings are really clean and are different colors so they stand out.
The weather was crazy though like Budapest and Vienna, windy, cold, thunderstorms, a little snow and sunshine, so bipolar. Monday we saw Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, the Municipal House, Powder Gate and we saw an Opera that night. On Tuesday we went to the Jewish Ghetto and walked along the river, then we crossed the Charles Bridge. We saw the Lennon Wall and had to take a million pictures. It was amazing, and detailed, you could stare at it for hours and still not see everything.
After we walked up a ton of stairs to the Castle area. Up on the hill is the Royal Palace, the Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral. We watched the changing of the guards before walking down the Golden Lane and then back home. That night we went clubbing at FX, the club where Rhianna shot the video for "Please Don't Stop the Music' it was a lot of fun! Wednesday we had a lazy start to the day and just wandered around the city and into a few shops. We stayed in that night to pack and rest up for London the next day.
London
We left early Thursday morning to get to the airport. We arrived in London and took a quick train into the city. Christina met us at the train station and we took the tube to the Marriott! It was awesome to end the trip in a nice, comfy hotel. After freshening up we went sightseeing. We saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey before lunch. We went to a typical English pub and had fish n chips, delicious. After we ate we crossed the Thames River and went on the London Eye. I was scared at first because I really don't like heights, but I had to go on it! It actually wasn't scary because you're completely enclosed and there is a bench in the middle to sit. The only time I would get a little scared was if I went right up to the glass and looked down. We went in the late afternoon, just before dusk and the sky was beautiful.
That night we attempted to go out, but for various reasons it didn't work out so we kicked it at the hotel. Friday we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, it was packed so I didn't see all of it but it was still cool. I was a little bummed to learn that you can't actually go up to the guards and take pictures with them like in movies. We had lunch at Pret- basically its all grab and go food, packaged but really fresh and delicious. They have them all over and other places like it, Italy needs to get on it! We also took some time to act like complete tourists and took picture with everything...
Lauren, Jessie and I went to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge while Christina went to a few museums (she was in London a few days before us so she already saw the Tower). I was so excited to go because the Tower of London was once a palace where royalty and nobility lived but then became famous as a prison. The Tower is where King Henry VIII beheaded two of his wives and had others killed as well. They had tours of the grounds lead by the Beefeaters (retired military personnel that now work here, that's their nickname, they're actually called Yeomen Wardens). Our Beefeater was awesome, he was really funny and told us about a lot of cool stuff. At the Tower of London is also the Royal Jewels- bling bling! We were grandma's again that night and stayed in. We enjoyed the pool/steam room/gym at the hotel and watched a movie in our room. Saturday we got up early and went to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to get Wicked tickets!!!! We went on a Beatles walking tour through some quieter areas of the city and saw where some of them lived, where they filmed scenes from both of their films and saw Abbey Road and Abbey Studios.
Our attempt of The Beatles Abbey Road album cover haha
After the tour we walked around the shopping areas and then went to Wicked. The show was amazing, I'm so so SO glad we went and I really want to see it again! Sunday was our last day, Christina left in the morning for her flight, the rest of us didn't fly out until that night. We did some last minute sightseeing, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, the Globe Theatre and a stroll along the river. There were a bunch of street performers out and it was so fun to see them, especially the break dancers! The last thing we did before going to the airport was go to King's Cross train station to see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter, that's right they made a little wall and trolley just for tourists lol. We had a great time in London, it was awesome to be in an English speaking country, we really didn't feel like foreigners. It mostly felt like we were in the U.S. just in a state we'd never been before, except for the cars on the other side of the road and the double decker buses haha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)