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!

Feb. 24-Feb. 26 (Nice, France)

Feb. 24

On Friday, we arrived at Nice in the late afternoon, and I was somewhat disappointed by the city- it was dirty and crowded and not the quaint beach town I was expecting. We made it up the hill to our hostel, quickly changed and headed straight for the beach (desperate to take advantage of the great weather… We thought 60 degrees was flip-flops, jeans, and t-shirt weather). Needless to say, our walk to the beach was pretty cold and we got some stares. The majority of those on the streets were wearing parkas… The beach was pebbles, not the sand that I was expecting, and it was beautiful! Once out of the train station area, Nice becomes a beautiful beach and boardwalk type place with cute little shops and stands all over the place. Carnevale was also happening in Nice, so there was a giant ferris wheal set up as well as costumes and confetti all over the place, which made the atmosphere that much better.

After soaking up the rays, we made out way back to our hostel for the happy hour specials. Half the group decided to stay in, but Marlee, Nichole and I decided to explore the night life of Nice. We bought our ticket for the tram and hopped on- each stop on the tram has its own little tune, which is very entertaining. About ten minutes later, the police force invaded the tram demanding to see everyone’s tickets (a common occurrence apparently). We showed them our tickets and, to our horror, we were promptly led off the tram. After revealing our passports and after a very rude, very broken English attempt at explaining where we were at fault, we realized hadn’t validated out tickets once on the tram. We were each written up and each had to pay a 30 Euro fine. A huge damper on the night, but we still made it to the recommended Wayne’s Bar and had a blast listening to live music for a couple hours. 

Feb. 25

On Saturday, at the suggestion of our hostel, we decided to visit Monaco and Cap d’Ail. Monaco was absolutely gorgeous- as the wealthiest country in the world, you would hope so! (Fun fact: 0% unemployment rate there and the most millionaires and billionaires per capita in the world.) We explore the docs with the unbelievable yachts (hot tubs on board most of them) then head to the famous Monte Carlo casino. Unfortunately, it didn’t open until two so we couldn’t go inside (not that we were in the appropriate attire anyways), but with the wide variety of fancy cars, designer shops and upscale people I can only imagine how fancy the casino is!

In front of the doc

Me, Naomi, Marlee, Caroline, Ashlee, Nichole, and Shelley

From Monaco, we caught the train back towards Nice and got off at Cap d’Ail. This is a little beach cove in the French Riviera. It was so amazing! We sat out on this terrace and enjoyed the great weather and views. There was a little running path along the cove that Marlee, Nichole and I walked along for a little ways.

Cap d'Ail

We had dinner at our hostel and sat around a table in the common room of the hostel talking and hanging out. I started getting sick earlier that day, so I decided to stay in while everyone went out. I had downloaded “The Hunger Games” books (thanks Mom!) so I wasn’t completely bored.

Feb. 26

On Sunday, Nichole, Marlee and I went for a run up to a waterfall/overlook in Nice. The view was stunning and so worth the hard run up! We then ran down along the beach for a little while before stopping to stretch and sit on the beach.

After laying on the beach for a while, we went to the flower/produce/soap/spice market along the beach. There was so much great stuff, it was hard not to buy anything! (The 30 Euro fine took enough of a toll on my budget). With the run, the beach time, the exploring and the overall great day, we lost track of time and ended up having to run to the train station to catch our train.

Feb. 23: Lugano

I suppose I should give an update on my life here in Lugano. I have officially completed two classes: Italian and Consumer Behavior. We are now only taking one class: Marketing Research. Our professor is a very kind man, but the material he has to lecture on is not exactly thrilling. It has been really warm here the past few days, and it is supposed to make it up to 75 on Friday! (Of course I will be traveling by then, but it’s still nice to think that winter is on its way OUT!) I work out pretty much every day- there are about ten flights of stairs that take you from the bottom of the Lugano hill/mountain to the top which has proven to be quite the work out. There is also a running path along the lake which is (not to be corny) absolutely breathtaking. Then a group of us does “Insanity” some nights- a work out video.

Part of the running path

We are provided dinners Monday through Thursday, and they alternate between meat and pasta/pizza. These have been very good and are a big part of why I try to work out every day…

This weekend, Marlee, Nichole, Noami, Shelley, Caroline, Ashley and I are going to Nice (the French Riviera)! Whitney is going to Rome, so this will be the first time we are apart (AH!!). Off to Marketing Research now! 

Feb. 17-19 (Venice, Italy)

Feb. 17

Venice is by far the most beautiful city I have ever been to. My favorite city yet! It didn’t hurt that we had a beautiful weekend too…

We got into Venice on Friday evening. Our hostel (Hotel Villa Serena) was not on the island, so after dropping off our stuff, we took the bus then the water taxi to meet up with some other people from our group at the San Marco square. There was a huge stage set up in the square with a lot of different performances- juggling, singing, and dancing were what we got to see. Venice is somewhat lacking in night-life, so after these performances ended around ten, we decided to make our way back to our hostel. On the way, however, we came across a bar that looked pretty lively. Marlee, Kelly, Jill, Whit and I sat down at a table just to take it all in. We got some free popcorn (always a plus!), a few drinks, got the DJ to play Marlee’s favorite song (to which she naturally danced on the table), and we called it a night.

Kelly, Marlee, me, Whit, Jill

Feb. 18

Once again, we met everyone at the San Marco square to start our day. From there we let Marlee lead us (always a questionable decision) to a spot that her travel book recommended for lunch. The tiny sandwich shop had an interesting, if not very disturbing, display of naked women all over its walls. I must admit though, the sandwiches were pretty good. After exploring the island of Venice, purchasing the traditional Carnevale masks, and sitting by the water drinking a couple glasses of wine, we boated to an island called Marano- famous for glass-blowing. The boat ride was about 30 minutes and the weather was absolutely amazing. Although it was just a water taxi, I think I will call it a cruise. Yes, I went on a cruise in Venice. Once at the island, we watched some glass-blowing, explored all the little shops full of glass figurines and anything glass you could think of, then made our way back to Venice. From beautiful weather to sitting by the water and drinking wine to exploring these cute little towns and shops, I’d say this was in the top 10 best days of my life. Some may say that this is an exaggeration, but those people have never been to Venice.

On the cruise with my new mask!

Glass blowing

That night, we went out to dinner at a little restaurant with great food. From there, we went back to “our” square, played a few games of musical bottles (musical chairs with wine bottles) with some fellow young adults enjoying Carnevale, then continued on back to the water to explore a little more. Since there is not much of a night-life in Venice, we called it a pretty early night again and made our way back to our hostel.

Feb. 19

Around 6 a.m., Whitney jumps out of bed and runs to the door, convinced that part of our group that is staying on the island is yelling our names outside our hostel. I am not sure if she was dreaming or if she really heard voices, but nonetheless our friends had not gotten the name of our hostel, traveled the twenty minutes from their hostel to ours, figured out which room was ours, and stood outside shouting our names. Our adrenaline quickly subsided and we were back asleep.

Some dinner leftovers made their way back to our hostel Saturday night. On Sunday, we woke up (after Whitney’s incident) to a few hundred ants surrounding our bag of food. Kelly is very afraid of ants, so her screams and panic made Sunday morning pretty entertaining. Showered, fed, out of our hostel and ant-free, we made our way to the train and back home to the Montarina.  

Our group in front of the docs

Feb 10-12 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Feb. 10

On Friday, we took the train to Brussels, trained to Amsterdam then tramed to our hostel (the Flying Pig Uptown). This hostel was quite different than anything we had experienced. The reception was located behind the rowdy bar of the hostel (yes, it was rowdy when we got in at noon), there was a “smoking room” which was not intended for cigarettes, and the hike up to our room was just that- a hike!

After putting our stuff in our room, Whitney and I went to the Van Gough museum. It was 14 Euros to get in, but it was definitely worth it. The paintings were beautiful and so recognizable.

We met our group back at the hostel at seven and joined the rowdy folks at the bar for a few drinks. Some braved the smoking room others went to check out the “coffee shops,” but the majority of our group headed out to dinner around 8. From there we went to a few different clubs- all playing American music, which we have gotten used to at this point. Each club also had a “smoking room” and one even sold weed! A definite culture shock.

At the Flying Pig Bar

Me, Whit, Katie, Olivia and Gina

Feb. 11

After sleeping in until 11, I leapt out of bed and ran downstairs hoping to make the free breakfast! Of course, the one day I sleep in, the one day there is free breakfast, it is over at 10:30. We ended up going to a place called Bagels  & Beans (a chain in Amsterdam). It was great! I got my first bagel in Europe and enjoyed a great coffee!

After breakfast, we went ice-skating in our shoes on the frozen canal (first time it has frozen in 15 years!), took pictures at the “I Amsterdam” sign, and toured the Anne Frank house. The Anne Frank house was my second favorite part of Amsterdam (I will explain my first later). It was so amazing to be in her house and learn more about her history and what happened during that time.

Standing on the canal!

Whit, Marlee, Nichole, me, Naomi, Kelly

Following Anne Frank’s house, we did a little shopping then saw the Red Light district, another culture shock for me. There are 200+ windows with women standing behind them in small rooms. These women ranged in looks and were often beckoning to the walker-bys. The area is quite literally lit up with red lights and it was very uncomfortable to walk through.

Now my favorite part. Every time the canal freezes (not often), there is a competition for the youth of Amsterdam. Whoever wants to can strap on their skates and compete for Emperor or Empress of Amsterdam. There is an ice skating race of about 100 yards and thousands (I am not exaggerating) of people line the streets to watch this traditional event. Whitney, Marlee, Kelly and I climbed up onto a moveable light pole and got what one could argue were the best seats in the house!

Ice Skating competition.

This night, some of us just stayed at the bar in the hostel, while others found more clubs. Now, at the Flying Pig, there is a cat that hangs out around the bar. This cat was nothing but friendly and social and we had a lovely time together the whole night. As the night was winding down, I got my phone to try to send out a few emails. Apparently Buttercup (the name we had given her) did not like being ignored and preceded to pounce on my arm and start biting me. I was obviously very frightened and jumped back from the table where I had been sitting. She began making her way around the table and attacking everyone who was in close range! A very strange way to end our night.

Whitney and I with the cat... before the attack.

Feb. 12

We got up early Sunday morning and caught the 8a.m. train back to Lugano. It was a ten hour train ride with one switch and we all just slept the entire way. A very long but very fun 10-day adventure! This weekend we are heading to Venice for Carnival, next weekend is Rome, then the weekend after that is our next ten-day already (and DAVID IS COMING!!!!).