Video of Spring Break!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkLEQ8mkek

March 3-11: Barcelona, Paris, Rome

Hola! Bonjour! Ciao! An amazing spring break to say the least! Let’s start with the fact that David came to visit and work our way through three of the most amazing cities I have seen.

March 3-6 (Barcelona, Spain)

I met David and Josh in the Barcelona airport on Saturday night. (Such a lucky girl to be traveling with my boyfriend around Europe!!) We got a bus from the airport to our hostel (Hostal Centric) and got settled into the cutest, nicest three-person room I have stayed in yet. From there, we went to dinner at a great restaurant called Lido that was next to our hostel. After dinner, and after being warned multiple times about pick-pocketers, we walked down La Rambla (the most famous street in Barcelona) and found the safest bar we could: “American Bar.” We made our way back to our hostel not too long after going to the bar for an early night and preparation for Sunday’s exploration of Barcelona!

Sunday morning, we got up and headed to Sagrada Familia first. This is a huge church designed by Gaudi that is still under construction. From there we hiked to Parc de Guille (Gaudi’s Park). The colorful and beautiful buildings and fountains at the top made the hike worth it! From there we headed down to the beach. The beaches and La Rambla were created in Barcelona for the 1992 Olympics to be attractive to tourists, so the beach was beautiful even in the light rain that accompanied us. And we ended up running into someone we had met on the bus from the airport!

Sagrada Familia

Parc de Guell

On Sunday night, we ate dinner and headed back to La Rambla to brave the thieves again… and ended up at the Hard Rock Café. Another great American night! We split an amazing apple cobbler and watched music videos on the big screen TVs for a few hours before heading back to the hostel.

On Monday, we went to the huge open market in Barcelona (St. Joseph’s), which is off La Rambla. There was so much fruit, vegetables, meat, candy and more! Then we were off to a park in Barcelona that holds the Olympic stadium, a castle, museums and fountains. The Olympic stadium and the castle were my favorite of these attractions. The castle overlooked a port of Barcelona and had huge canons and great views.

The market

The Olympic stadium

Outside the Olympic stadium

On top of the castle

Monday afternoon we headed back to the beach (maybe a little too much begging on my part, but the boys were nice enough to take me back). After some more pictures (I don’t know if Josh knew it was just the beginning…), walking on the sand, and exploring the boardwalk, we went to meet my middle school principal, Mr. Northrup, for dinner. Another Hill School alum ended up joining us too! He graciously paid for the best meal I have had yet in Europe- a Spanish meal known as Tapas. It is basically just a variety of appetizers. With full bellies and an early flight on Tuesday morning quickly approaching, we made our way back to our hostel for an early bedtime.

Dinner with Mr. Northrup

Tuesday morning we caught the bus to the airport and we were off to Paris, France!

March 6-8 (Paris, France)

After figuring out how to get to our hostel (Maison Bacana just outside of the city center), no thanks to the very unhelpful people working at the airport, we were greeted by a very friendly, very flamboyant French man. It turns out he owned the little bed and breakfast that we would be staying in for the next two nights. He was very helpful and offered us drinks and snacks while he told us the best things to do in Paris. From there, we were off to explore again! Josh and David got their first Doner Kabab at a restaurant near our bed and breakfast (which they loved!), then we went to Montmarte.

Outside our bed and breakfast

Montmarte is a little town outside the city center that holds a beautiful cathedral and cute shops and restaurants. We got our first French crepe and explored this area of Paris for a while before heading to the Moulin Rouge area. Going to a show was just a bit outside our budget, so we settled with taking some pictures outside. There are many... well I’ll just say interesting stores in this area of Paris (the red-light district of Paris to give you a better idea). We went to Buffalo Grill near Moulin Rouge (sticking with our American theme) and enjoyed a few drinks. We met an American who came to Paris because his wife was running a half marathon, so it was interesting to hear what they had done around Paris. From there we metroed back to our home away from home.

Church in Montmarte

Crepe!

March 7

We enjoyed a great breakfast at Maison Bacana on Wednesday morning before beginning our full day of seeing Paris in its entirety.

We started at Notre Dame Cathedral- a beautiful church in the center of Paris. The inside was huge with beautiful stain glass windows and a gothic architecture. Outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral is a bridge full of Love Locks. The story behind these locks is that if you and your love fasten a lock on this bridge and throw the key in the river, your love will last forever. Of course, David and I bought a lock and did this!

Notre Dame

From the bridge we made our way to see Charles de Gauge, the Eiffel tower, and the Louvre (where the Mona Lisa is). Along the way, we looked for the places where my parents took their honeymoon pictures- such a fun scavenger hunt, and so awesome to think that I was standing in the exact place where my parents once stood!

Charles de Gauge

After all this exploring we went to a small bar and relaxed for a couple hours before going to see the Eiffel tower at night… Even with the rain and the cold, this was one of the coolest things I have seen- the tower was literally sparkling and all lit up!

We enjoyed a great dinner in the Latin district of Paris then went back to our bed and breakfast for our last night in Paris (we would be getting up at 4 the next morning to catch our flight out of Paris!).

March 8-10 (Rome, Italy)

On Thursday morning, we woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the train to the airport. Our host kindly left us some great homemade bread for breakfast. We flew out of a small airport called Beauvais that is 1.5 hours outside of the city, so we had to take a train, then a shuttle bus, then we made it to the tiny terminal!

Once in Rome, we took a shuttle to our hostel (Metropolitan Guesthouse). This was the worst place we stayed. It was a very small room and had a strange smell. It still wasn’t horrible though, and we enjoyed our time in Rome as much, if not more, than the other cities we visited. Our host at this place gave us a map and told us all the places we needed to hit in Rome. After he provided us with a free lunch (always a plus), we were off!

We went to the Colosseum first (and I got in for free! Apparently it was ladies day?). It was unbelievable to walk around this amazing structure. We spent a couple hours in awe before going to explore some other ruins in Rome. Once outside the Colosseum, we were confronted by a gladiator offering to take pictures with us. Naturally we excepted this offer and snapped quite a few pictures with him before he told us we owed him 10 Euro for his service…  This was our first experience with Roman people trying to take your money any way they can!

Inside the Colosseum

We walked around Rome for a while enjoying the street performances and the amazing architecture before we found a place called Magnolias to eat a traditional Italian pasta meal. After dinner we went got Gelato then went to a bar called “Drunken Ship.” (Every bar we’d been to thus far was American, why not continue the pattern right?) About an hour later, our waitress from Magnolias walks in… Josh noticed her first and was excited that she had come to party with us! In fact, David left his credit card at the restaurant and she had come to find us and return it!   

March 9

Friday morning we went to Vatican City. We saw the Vatican museum and Saint Peter’s Basilica. A beautiful, sunny day and amazing history all around us made the morning a great one. The people chasing us around trying to force us to buy whatever they were selling was no so great though. After Vatican City, we went to the Trevi Fountain (threw in the traditional three coins), the Pantheon and the Spanish stairs. We accomplish a lot!

Vatican City

St. Peter's Basilica

Trevi Fountain

We ate dinner at a place near our hostel. The waiter brought us bread, and since we were starving we ate that pretty quick. When our check arrived, we realized that the bread cost 4 Euro! Another Roman rip off! After dinner we were planning on calling it an early night… But David was determined to see the Colosseum at night so off we went. And thank goodness we did! It was almost as cool as the sparkling Eiffel tower!

March 10

On Saturday, David and Josh flew to Milan, while I trained there. We met up in the Milan train station and went to see the beautiful Duomo of Milan before heading back to Lugano. On Sunday, David and Josh got to see all of Lugano and the expensive price of everything here! I think they enjoyed the beauty that no other city can compare to though. All in all… a fantastic trip! Thank you Josh and David for coming to visit- I had a blast with you guys!