A Year Later

Wow. I can’t believe it has been a whole year since Laura and I left for Europe! It makes me a little sad really. It is just another reminder on how quickly life passes. Well, I promised to conclude this blog months ago, so here is my (short) conclusion:

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."
-Miriam Beard

I often find myself wistfully thinking of my times in Europe, most especially when I am in the middle of studying. I told Laura the other day “I think I am more ‘Europe-sick’ now than I was ‘Home-sick’ in Europe.” Whenever Laura and I get together we try to plot another way and time we can escape on another adventure. I stay optimistic that day will come soon, although I can’t emphasize enough to anyone (especially if you’re younger than me) to take this time early on in your life to see a small part of the world. It is rare to be free of serious responsibilities, and I strongly implore you all to take advantage of it! Trust me, real life will be waiting for you once you return.

Speaking of real life, I’ll let you in on where our paths have lead Laura and me after Europe. Laura is currently in her second semester at Law School at Notre Dame and it has kept her quite busy to say the least! We recently were able to hang out when she came home for Spring break, but it was not nearly as much as I would have liked! As for myself, I am a part time student, part time Nanny anxiously awaiting to hear back from Nursing School (I find out the beginning of April!!! Eeek!). So time shall tell…

Traveling to Europe has only made Laura and I closer as friends, and I feel so blessed that she was my travel companion. Thank you to all who read and enjoyed my blog; it was fun to write, although I would only do a travel blog again if I had an iPad or laptop with me. I also want to thank both of our parents, who let us move back home to save up money for our adventure and were so incredibly supportive throughout everything.

I must say though, I do miss writing in the blogosphere, so maybe I’ll start another one… maybe (hopefully) about Nursing School Adventures, so stay tuned!

The End (for now)

Last Stop: Ireland. Céad Míle Fáilte!

What a horrendously long day of travel getting to Ireland was! Our flight from Athens to Dublin arrive at 1am. Once we gathered all of our belongings we found some uncomfortably cold metal chairs (with unmovable armrests) and bunkered down and tried (tried being the key word in this sentence) to get some sleep. You see, since we got into Dublin so late and intended to leave for Galway really early that same morning, we decided to forgo finding accommodations for those few hours in between. It was sooo miserable! Our bus to Galway left at 5am, and those 4 hours were so painfully long! Some comedy came about in this situation though, there were a handful of people who were doing the same as us (sleeping at the airport) and you could tell we were all struggling with the same discomfort. There were a series of "comfortable" positions that we would all be rotating through, every time I would shift positions, I would look around and see that everyone had shifted into an alternate position. It seems none of us had any luck finding one comfortable way to sleep, except for a boy who gave up on the chairs and sprawled himself on the tile floor hugging his backpack. He definitely had the right idea!

So finally 5am came, and we went out to catch our bus. We ended up being the only ones on the bus! We were able to get some sleep, but I definitely still wanted a bed to lie down in. Once we got to Galway, we were still pretty out of it, so we hazily found our way to our hostel, The Barnicles, where we found out that we were unable to check in until 2:30!! (I should also mention that this was at 8am) They let us leave our bags in storage and let us into the TV room where we proceeded to watch "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." (Since we had just come from Greece we were craving to watch it!) Then we decided to try and kill a few hours by going out and exploring Galway. Although this was the first time during this trip where I had been to the place before. My family and I went on a trip to London and Ireland in the summer of 2005 after my high school graduation. So being extremely tired made it difficult to truly take in the city. After awhile Laura and I gave up exploring and retreated back to our hostel where were passed out on each other on the only couch in the room. We slept there until 2:30, when we went to the front desk and they told us that our room would not be ready until 3:00!! Ahh! All I wanted was to be horizontal! So we returned to the couch where we napped until 3ish and the staff came to wake us up to let us know that the room was finally ready!! Laura and I decided to just take showers and try to explore Galway a bit more refreshed and then just go to bed early. So we headed out and did a little shopping, then went to an early dinner, where I overdid it a little bit. I had basically been eating bread the past few days (since when I got sick in Athens) but after this excruciating long day of travel, all I wanted was a hot delicious meal that was not bread, so I order Irish Stew accompanied with a Guinness. I probably should have eased myself back into eating real food, and probably saved the beer for a day I was not as sleep deprived. Anyways, that's what I did, and it resulted in me fading so quickly. I almost fell asleep at the restaurant. I felt like I was jetlag all over again! I was so tired, but I was trying to make it to at least 7pm to go to sleep. So I struggled through our first dinner in Ireland.

Once we got back to the hostel I immediately put on my PJs and fell asleep instantly. About an hour or so our roomies, Sean and Brendan came in the room, and I pretty much woke up once they came into the room and we all chatted for awhile until they decided to go out again and Laura and I went back to sleep. The next day, we woke up much more refreshed, and we went on our way to the Aran Islands. So we hopped on a bus that took us to a ferry. Oh. My. Gosh. That was the most turbulent boat ride I have EVER been on! I seriously felt like I was on a rollarcoaster. The funniest part though was that it was the crew's job to do laps around the boat and survey everyone making sure no one was looking green. They even had vomit bags sticking out of their back pockets ready to go. It doesn't sound like a fun job, but I guess it would be a worse job to have to clean it up off the floor!

So after a 45 minute minute ferry ride we made it to the biggest island of the Aran Islands. Once we were there, we rented bikes ( I was a little hesitant after our last bike rental experience) and departed to explore the island. And wouldn't you know it ... my bike broke! Again! I just had no luck (even in Ireland!) with the bike rentals.



So basically my chain derailed and I managed to put it back on well enough for me to ride back to the rental shop and had my bike replaced. I was still rather skeptical, but we continued on around the island for round 2. This attempt was much more successful though! Laura and I enjoyed riding around the island and taking in all the scenery. After stopping for lunch, we walked up to a seaside cliff where the remains of an army fort resided from over a thousand years ago. I army crawled to the edge of the cliff to get a peak over the side where the water crashed onto the rocks.



Very cool! Laura joined me, but as she was army crawling over the rocks leading up to the edge, she realized that she had left her camera in her front pocket of her jacket! When she reached down to grab it, Laura realized that the LCD screen on her camera (the screen that displays the photos) had cracked! The camera could no longer display her photos, but was able to still take pictures, we just could not see if they had come out or not. So from there on out (for Laura), it was like taking photos with a film camera.

Once we were done exploring the ancient fort, we went back to our bikes and rode back into town. On our way we passed a seal colony, which to be honest, I missed because I was a little too determined to get up a hill. But Laura stopped to enjoy the view. I was on my last leg at this point, I was simply exhausted. It was probably not the best decision to exert myself so much just as I was recovering from being sick. Once Laura and I got on the ferry to go back to the mainland, we both passed out. We seriously slept for the entire boat ride.

The next day Laura and I were on our way to explore the county of Connemara. We went on a tour bus that took us around the country side and our tour guide was a funny irishman named Ray. Connemara is such a gorgeous part of Ireland! There were so many sheep, and Ray explained what the different colors on all of these sheep meant. Or at least the way he interpreted it :)
















Ray told us that the sheep with the pick on their backs were the "girly" sheep (and then proceeded to sing a parody song based off the song "Barbie Girl" but changed the lyrics to make it about girl sheep, very funny!) Then the sheep with the blue on their backs were the "lads or fellas." After he was done explaining that he then said " but now you're probably thinking to yourself... 'What about the sheep with the pink and blue on their backs?' Well those my friends would be the gay sheep, we have a lot of those in Ireland." We all laughed pretty hard! :) He finished by saying, "No, but really it is just just to brand the sheepies, but I like my version much better." And you know what Ray, so do I. Later he went on to tell us about the different types of sheep there are in Ireland, there are the hippie sheep (the ones with dreds), the hillside sheep (sheep with one leg longer than the other), suicidal sheep (ones that won't move out of the way and off the road no matter what you do) then finally, the killer sheep (the ones that lure you in, making you think that they are defenseless sheep, then when you least expect it, they ATTACK you!) Ray kept loved keeping us on the lookout for the killer sheep. I am not so sure I saw any though... :)

Ray showed us much more than just sheep though! He took us to the city of Cong, where the film "The Quiet Man" was filmed, a very popular film (especially in Ireland). So Ray showed us where several scenes were filmed, ten we stopped for a quick break there. We all munched on snacks in front of "The Quiet Man" Museum. After the town of Cong, we drove to Kylemore Abbey, which I have actually been to 5 years before with my family. But I gladly went again. It is really a beautiful place! I really enjoyed walking around the grounds, this abbey looks like a castle. Once we were done there, we went back to Galway (each falling asleep on the journey)


where we went out to celebrate the 4th of July, it was a lot of fun! If I couldn't be in America for this holiday, I am glad I was in Ireland. Although Laura and I could not stay out too late because the next day we were renting a car and I was driving to Dingle! The next day we went to pick up the rental at the Galway airport. We had the sweetest cab driver! Once he dropped us off he came back in to make sure we had found the rental place okay, and we were having some trouble!, so he helped us find the Dan Dooley representative. They were both very sweet classy Irishmen! I LOVE IRELAND!! Now we were beginning our driving adventure in Ireland, on to Dingle!









I must give myself some mad props, my first ever rental car was a stick shift Fiat that drove on the wrong side of the road! It was both a terrifying and exciting experience (it may have been a bit more terrifying for my co-pilot). I unfortunately did have a little mishap involving a stone wall... Just a little scratch! Nothing too major!! Buuttttt in my defense.... it's near impossible not to hit something on those narrow roads! It was hard enough that I had no concept of the left side of my car, but adding huge busses and trucks coming at you while you are on a narrow stone bridge makes it difficult not to hit something. Anyways! Nothing a little black sharpie can't fix...hopefully :/. So Laura and I began our driving adventure and I was the only one driving. Overall it took 7 hours to get to Dingle, which flew by rather quickly. We drove through the Burren, which was gorgeous! Then made a slight detour to the Ciffs of Mohre,





which I had been to previously with my family 5 years ago, but Laura had never been and it wasn't too far out of our way. They actually had made some improvements since I had been there last. On my previous trip there was a tiny stone wall that couldn't have been taller than a foot and a half, and cliffs were full of people hanging out right on the edge of the cliff, having picnics with their legs dangling over the edge, very creepy to witness. I can only imagine how many people fell off the cliff each year when the wall was that easy to "scale." Now they have a higher wall and have tons of signs posted, and I did not see anyone picnicking on the cliffs' edge, a dramatic change! So after the Cliffs we made a quick Fish & Chips pit stop (very delicious) then continued on our way, listening to our festive Irish music (Laura and had bought 2 CDs for our trip, The High Kings, and a cd of Irish drinking songs). I really liked the High Kings! Even though we managed to get lost a few times (luckily though, Ireland is full of nice helpful people!) we still had a fun drive.

Once we arrived in Dingle we grabbed a quick dinner then went to bed pretty exhausted from our day of driving. The next day we decided to just spend it relaxing. We slept in, then caught up on journaling and then went online (catching up on blogging for me!) where we went to a local pub for dinner where we watched the World Cup Semi Finals, Netherlands v Uruguay. It was a really exciting game, and the Netherlands won. The next day, after breakfast, we set off in the car to explore the Dingle Peninsula. Laura and I kept puling over and had a bunch of photo shoots along the coast,
it was so gorgeous and tons of fun! We found a really awesome place to go on a little hike up a bunch of rocks along the coast. It was sooooo windy! I felt like I was going to fly off into the ocean. But it was gorgeous, I seriously can't emphasize how much I love Ireland. This hike was a fun little detour. So after we were finished with our hike, we hit the road again and drove until we got to a cute little town and went into a pub where everyone in the pub, including the customers, greeted us with "hello!" and a little dog was sitting on the ground in the middle of the pub, I loved this place! Once we ate our meal we took off once again to finish the Dingle Peninsula loop. The whole drive only took a few hours, so Laura and I spent the remainder of the day exploring the cute coastal town of Dingle and did a little shopping as well :) We did this until dinner time, where we plopped ourselves down at a restaurant and watched the semi-final match, Spain vs Germany. This was a pretty exhilarating game, Spain won, with a goal scored during a corner kick. So after that match Spain was paired against he Netherlands for the Cup. Paul the German Oracle Octopus has predicted that Spain shall win, and he had yet to yield a wrong prediction! I am sure Germany was not too happy about the Octopus, after loosing this game. Laura and I even heard of some rumblings that the Germans wanted to eat the Paul! But I think after the World Cup he was able to safely retire from the Oracle business. After the game we went off to bed. Our last day in County Kerry, Laura and I took a little day trip to Kenmare, a cute little town about 2 hours east of Dingle. We grabbed some lunch and did a little shopping (are you sensing a pattern?) and wandered around the town a bit and then decided to return back to Dingle. The drive along the coast was breath-takeingly beautiful. It's hard to decide between which place was prettier, the drive through Connemara or the drive to Kenmare. Kenmare was more traditionally pretty with lots of trees, where Connemara is the beauty you envision Ireland to look like. Either way, I am so glad we rented a car to be able to enjoy it all. We spent to rest of the day packing and being lazy. The following day we woke up and set off to our next destination, Kinsale (I know, a lot of "K" named places!) which is a coastal town south of Cork.

The drive from Dingle to Kinsale was sadly very rainy, and made driving just that much more difficult, but I was able to manage. On our way, we made a stop in another "K" town called Kilarney where we went through our checklist of things to do, you know, eating, shopping and exploring. I should also mention that at this point in our journey that we knew that we had enough money to make it home and did not care about space in our bag (Ireland being the last stop on our trip) so we relaxed and loosened our purse strings... a lot, it was great! After Kinsale, we got back on the road and made our way to Kinsale. We had a little difficulty finding the hostel (what else is new!), the directions to this hostel were pretty terrible. We finally found the hostel, The Dempsey House, and they directed us to where we needed to park, which turned into yet another driving challenge. This car park was on on a hill, so it basically had two levels and it was connected by a very steep driveway made up of gravel, it was ridiculously close to being vertical. Anyways with no clear spot to park on the the top level, I hesitated a little but rolled down precariously and made it to the bottom without sliding. Whew! Once I made it down there I was informed that some was moving from the top level and I need to go back up the almost vertical gravel hill, with people watching me might I add, and park my car up there. Laura got out of the car and guided me up the hill and was able to ascend this hill without adding more damage to the car OR thoroughly embarrassing myself in the process. Woo hoo!! After that adventure Laura and I went inside to check in, and the dude behind the counter was pretty weird...it would be hard to tell you how, so you will just have to take my word on it. So he showed us to our room, and we had the most ridiculous bed! It was a bunk bed with a creaky old wooden frame, and the bottom part of it was a double and the top part was a twin!
Definitely an Irish bunk bed meant to fit as many people in one room as possible! Haha. Laura was in fact sleeping in these two photos, well she was woke up when I jumped on the top bunk for the photo, but it still turned out to be a funny picture :)

It kind of sucked because our hostel was a bit far from the main town. It was not a horrible distance to walk but the weather was not cooperating with us. It would not stop raining, and I get that it is Ireland, but seriously, even the Irish were complaining. Anyways, so we drove down to the town to get some dinner at a cute little pub, walked around a bit but decided to go back to the hostel and get to bed early. Unfortunately for us, the weather did not clear up too much. So we found ourselves driving into town to peruse through the cute shops and did some serious damage to our purses (you remember the ones with the recently loosened strings?). I was able to finish up all the shopping for my family on this excursion, that was a relief! The weather started to really get us down, so we went back to the hostel, and I went to work on my journal. That evening the rain finally let up (I think I even jokingly took a picture of the of a bit of the blue sky) and we walked into town with every intention of eating at a pub and watching the match for 3rd place winner of the cup (Germany vs Uruguay) but at a last minute suggestion we quickly decided to feast on Thai food! After we were good and plump, full of Pad Thai, we watched the end of the match at a Pub, and Germany won. At this pub there were two older men who were both so beyond soused, one of them tried very persistently to get Laura to agree to marry him "What? You don't want and Irish husband? I'm rich!" and the other tried to get me to be his pen pal, which I repeatedly refused until he wrote down his "information" and told me he couldn't wait to hear from me. The piece of paper was pretty illegible, but it basically said "My name is Martin Payne. Please 2 meet u. 08515534R" After Laura and excused ourselves and skedaddled out of the bar, we burst out laughing at this note, and I still have it in my journal. So we went back to the hostel and packed up all our things, I must say at this point in the trip, we had our packing down and all the motions permanently engrained into our muscle memory! The next day we drove to the Cork airport, and after driving around in a circle a few times trying to figure out where to take the car, we finally figured out where we needed to park it. I really hoped they wouldn't notice the scratch! Then Laura and I made our way to our final city, Dublin, I couldn't believe we were going to the last stop on the trip!

We took the bus from Cork to Dublin, which was alright, it took quite awhile though (there was a hurling match that day which resulted in a bunch of traffic) but we finally arrived! This day was also World Cup Sunday, it was the final match of the World Cup between Spain and the Netherlands, so Laura and I wanted to grab a bite to eat before our last World Cup Match! So we ended up at a Thai restaurant (very typical of us) and quickly inhaled our dinner and went off in search of a pub to watch the game. After seeing how crowded every pub was, we decided to just hop into the first one we saw that was playing the match. It was one in the Temple Bar area called the Dubliner. It was a lot of fun! I was drinking Harp (one of my favorites) and watched the Netherlands face off against Spain. I was routing for Holland, and Laura for Spain, so we had a bit of a rivalry going :) Oh man, the streets were so alive! There were so many Spaniards in Ireland, in fact it was the most Spanish I had heard since being in Spain at the beginning of our trip. It was an excruciatingly long game, the score was 0-0 and the game went into super overtime. At around the 120(ith, ish)minute of the game (they are usually only 90 minutes) Spain finally scored a goal. And at that point, I had been standing in the same place at this crowded pub for a 120(ish) minutes, so I was grateful to see anyone score. Although I must say that the Netherlands played quite ruthlessly! At one point someone from Holland kicked a guy straight in the chest! I was surprised that he only got on yellow card. Many people did not like how the Netherlands played, and I do agree it did get particularly rough, so I was happy for Spain' victory. After Spain won, Dublin went a little wild! All the Spaniards in Ireland were singing and dancing in the streets and in the bars, it was pretty fun to be apart of! The next day was a pretty relaxed and uneventful day. We slept in and then wandered down Grafton Street poking our heads into a few different stores and then walked around a park then went back to the hostel to work on journaling. By the time dinner came around, we decided to get a little crazy and get some Thai food. And then out to explore some bars that came highly recommended by some of Laura's friends.

The next day, Laura and I were a bit more productive. We, along with two of our roomies from Oregon, went on a walking tour of Dublin, and our guide was a fellow named Nile, who was pretty informative and entertaining. Although 1/2 way through it began to rain so by the end of the tour I was soaked (Laura was lucky enough to snag the guide's jacket, although to be fair, she did offer it to me, but I was already drenched, so she was able to stay dry). After Lunch we went back to the hostel to dry off. We ended up talking to our two roommates who were on the tour with us for a long time, it was really nice. That night we all went out to a pub and had dinner and went out and danced! We had a bunch of fun! On our way home Laura and I found Subway sandwich store and got a little snack and then went off to bed.

The next day was our LAST DAY IN EUROPE!! So we decided to go to the Guinness factory. I was pretty sad, but also in a state of disbelief that our time in Europe was almost up. But I pushed going home to the back of my mind and focused on enjoying our day. Let me just say, the Guinness factory is awesome! Even those crazy people who are not fans of Guinness would have fun on this tour. Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the building and they still produce beer there today. They remodeled the building and incorporated the World's Largest Pint Glass within the structure of the building. We learned that they have the same genetic strand of yeast that was included in original batches of Guinness, and to this day put in ever batch they produce (talk about consistency!). And just in case something happens to their supply of yeast (you know, flood, fire, bug infestation, apocalypse etc.) they have some locked away in a safe, just to be safe :) We made our way to the top of the pint glass, where they have a Gravity Bar that overlooks the entire city, and that is where we received our free pint, Yum!

Once we were done at the factory we went off to get stamps and post cards. We separated to get the post cards because we both wrote one to each other. Then I went back to write all of my post cards. We then went out for our last dinner in Europe, and it was sad because Laura was not feeling so great. Since we had a long day of travel ahead of us, we went back to the hostel and packed for the final time (sniff sniff, tear, tear).
Although during these last two week, basically since I got sick in Athens, I had felt as though my body was rejecting Europe. My body was definitely ready to experience the comforts of home. And although I missed many things and people from home (my friends and family... sleeping in my own bed....my dogs!) I could not shake off an overall sadness. I looked over jealously at people who were only halfway through their adventure and excitingly moving on to their next destination. Basically my body called it quits on the traveling, but mentally I could have endured at least a few more months. But I was so happy to have the time that I did! Anyways, I will write about my overall thoughts in a separate post (gosh knows this has been long enough). So away I go, back to reality!

Until Next Time (which will be the last time I am afraid)---

Greece

So I have fallen a tad behind on my blog... in fact I am home right now (dealing with jet leg!) but I am going to finish what i have started! So here it goes!

When we arrived in Greece (Athens) we found out our hostel relatively easily (it was right off the metro). We were really glad we had reserved our ferry tickets during our layover to Istanbul (we had stopped off in Athens), because when we arrived in Greece (for real this time) we found out that there was a strike that day, so our ferry the next day was completely booked. Once we got to the hostel, Athen's Backpackers, we dropped off our stuff and went out to do our laundry. Oh! But the hostel made Laura and I separate into different rooms, which was really annoying because we had to get up ridiculously early the next day to catch the ferry to Santorini. And by this point in the trip Laura and I were sharing a lot of essential toiletries, that made getting up at 5am just that more difficult to get ready to leave! Anyways, so Laura and I figured out the laundry situation, we grabbed some dinner and went to bed early. And it was an odd experience after spending 3 months straight of sleeping in the same room with Laura, to be separated... we joked how weird it was that we missed each other that night!

Needless to say, the next morning SUCKED! I am not a morning person, and this was the 2nd day in a row we had to wake up ungodly early to travel. But despite my less than pleasant feelings for waking up early, I was able to get up and we made it to the metro at 5:30. Which was good that we were there so early because it took forever to get to the freaking port. I am (and neither is Laura) a big fan of Greece's public transportation. So once we finally made it to the port, we (with difficulty) found the boat and grabbed some seats on the top deck. Laura and I really failed at anticipating the weather, we did not even bother packing our fleases, and at 7am-10am we were like popsicles! Oh but we remembered to bring plenty to sunscreen, you see Laura and I thought that we would be baking in the sun on this 8 hour ferry ride. So when we claimed our seats in the shade we thought that we had scored, oh how wrong we were. Anyways we were finally able to move out chairs away from the wind, and the rest of the ride became a lot more pleasant!

After 8 hours, we made it to Santorini (!!!!!!!) ... (Seriously, when we were planning this trip, the Greek Isles was number one on my list, I can't express in words how excited I was) we had to kind of "wing it" to find our hotel, which was surprisingly easy to do. And wow... when we got to our hotel, the Kedi, we were blown away by our view of the Cauldra! It was breath taking! Sooooooo worth the hassle of getting to the Greek Islands! Seriously. That night we took some epically long showers followed by some much needed sleep (well, we did manage to squeeze in a meal between the two events!) We actually slept for 11 hours, it was AWESOME! The next afternoon, we walked around of our town of Fira, then grabbed some lunch where I had my first Greek Salad in Greece. Delicious! Then we went back to our hotel where I blogged for an hour then we hopped on a bus to go to the Northern part of the Island, Oía (Think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) Oía is the most picturesque part of Santorini. Saying this, as you may have guessed, Laura and I went a little picture crazy, it's hard not to, especially at sunset! We decided to head back to our town and hotel to catch the last part of the sunset from our balcony (with Gyros in our hand, yummmmm). What a spectacular moment, this became our Santorini tradition while we were there. Our evening turned into quite a crazy night... we cuddled up in our beds and watched the World Cup and fell asleep.

The next morning we decided be a little more adventurous and rent an ATV and drive it around the island, well, I drove it around the Island. :) Laura was the navigator. It was soooo much fun! I could not help but shout "I feel the need, the need, for speed!!" and then began to sang "Born to be Wild," good times! Basically we drove up North to Oía then took the East Coast side South to a bunch of other little towns along the way. We stopped off in a town called Kamari, where we lounged on a black sand beach. It wasn't actually too hot that day so we were able to actually lie on the beach with just our towels (black sand beaches tend to get a little too hot to normally do that) it was really nice and relaxing, I almost fell asleep! After about 20 minutes we continued on, unfortunately though, once again I was plagued with a map that displayed a route I could not take. Laura and I took the ATV up a bunch of steep switchbacks, which we discovered did not actually lead us to a path that we could actually use. At the top we could not find a road that led to the next beach. "We drove all the way up here for a view?!" said Laura when we realized that we had to go back down the switchbacks that we had just struggled to ascend. Just to double check, Laura asked a truck driver if we could get to Perissa from there, and he replied "only by foot." Ugh! Maps need to convey these important details! So Laura and I went back down and went on the correct road. We drove off to the next beach where we grabbed a late lunch and continued to relax. Once we were done overeating, we decided to head back to our town of Fira. Where, after we cleaned ourselves up a but, went down to a local sports bar and watched The US lose to Ghana, it was pretty sad because it eliminated us from the World Cup. We decided to head back to our hotel after watching our nations defeat and go to bed.

The next day we had to pack up and move to another hotel. Once we were shown our new room we quickly realized that we had a TV with a DVD player, and we got pretty excited! So yeah, we ended up being bums on our last day in Santorini. We managed to make it to dinner and watch the sunset for the last time, then went back and watched Casino Royal on DVD. OH! But I must mention that there was only one outlet near the TV. This was soooo Greece! Just adding a DVD player with no outlet nearby to plug it in! We managed to rig it to connect across the room very precariously, but it was pretty funny.



We left Santorini the next day, but this time we took a quicker ferry back to the mainland. Towards the end of he ride, I began to not feel so well. So once we got to Athens and got on the metro, while carrying a big backpack, I began to feel even worse! The intense heat and in such a confined populated space (with lots of arms raised all around me by people who have not considered adding deodorant to their daily hygiene regime) just intensified whatever I began to feel on the ferry. By the time we got to the apartment we were staying in, I felt extremely terrible, and had to lie down. And this was how I spent most of my time in Athens, pretty much bedridden. Our our last full day in Athens I did manage to make it out to the Archeological Museum, it definitely made me want to watch Indiana Jones. We went back to the apartment where we packed up all of our things. The next day we we slept in a bit, checked out, then made our way to the Partheneon. It was sooooo crowded! The crowds were difficult to handle, especially still not feeling a 100% and with the intense heat. But the Parthenon was worth it all. It was so incredible to see (scaffolding and all!). Once we were done there, we went to check out the Agore, then went to grab a quick bite to eat (just bread for me!) Then I bought a pair of custom made sandals from the Poet Sandal Maker, who made sandals for John Lennon and Jackie O (I got the Jackie O. style :) ) Laura and I then grabbed our packs and got on the metro to head to the airport.

On our way to the airport the most bizarre thing happened! We were on a train and at one of the stops the PA on the metro told everyone that this was the last stop on the line and that everyone needed to get off. Unfortunately, this announcement was in Greek at first and by the time the English announcement came on, we could not grab out bags quickly enough and the train doors shut before we had a chance to get out. Then the train started to move and Laura and I were FREAKING out! We had no idea what to do. we were running throughout the metro yelling "Help" then as we started to enter into a dark tunnel the metro stopped and after 5 minutes some lady came to the window and told us the train was going back to the platform. In the end, it was pretty hilarious, we laughed about it once we were out of the metro. :) I feel like it was the Greek Public Trans' way of saying goodbye to us. We made it to the airport and prepared ourselves to go to Ireland, the last country on our trip. We talked about how we could not believe the next plane we would be getting on, would be the one going back the US. But we reminded ourselves that we had two weeks left in Ireland, and we had better enjoy every last minute of it! So we finally were on our way to the land of MY forefathers!

Until Next Time (Which I swear will be soon!) ---

Istanbul: Where East Meets West

Istanbul was so amazing! Laura and I arrived late Thursday evening and we were picked up from the airport and dropped off directly at our hostel. It was one of our least stressful travel days (which is odd considering it was our first time flying since March). Once we got to our hostel, The Big Apple, we met our Slovenian roomie who invited us to go get a cup of tea and watch a dance called a Whirling Dervish (which I had always thought involved spinning plates on top of sticks...). And although we were fairly exhausted we could not resist the opportunity to go out and see Istanbul! It was a pretty relaxing evening, we enjoyed our teas and watched a man in a long white robe and thimble like hat spin in a circle for a rather long time in a meditation like state. It was very interesting to see.

Once we got back to the hostel we went to bed pretty quick. The next day we had no trouble sleeping in since I had gotten up early the previous 3 mornings in a row. we made it out of the hostel by mid afternoon. We started off our day by going to the Haya Sophia, which was once a Cathedral that was converted into a Mosque and then into a museum. This was so interesting to see because throughout Europe I witnessed the exact opposite evolution. We saw so many Cathedrals and Churches that we originally Mosques but were changed into the former. The famous Mosque skyline that makes up Istanbul, consists of both the Haya Sophia and the Blue Mosque. When Laura and I went into the Haya Sophia we were both a little taken aback. It's so massive and beautiful! All the pain staking details that make up all the gold mosaics are seriously gorgeous! So we walked around there for about 20 minutes and then went over to explore the Ottoman Palace.

The Palace was also a gorgeous place, it was so lavish! But it was a bit overwhelming to visit. By the time we had made it over to the Harem (the most interesting and beautiful part) we found out that it was an extra 15 Turkish Lyra to get in. Laura and I thought that it was a bit of a rip off, but we paid the extra price and went in anyways. And I was glad we went because it was rather beautiful, but I still was not very pleased that I had to pay more money to visit the Harem. The Harem was where the Sultan kept all of his concubines, so even though it was a beautiful and interesting places, the walls also held a sad history as well. Once we were done with our site seeing for the day we returned back to the hostel when Laura and I separated, she went online and I went up to the Terrace to catch up on journaling. Although I was not able to work on it for very long because there was a World Cup game on upstairs and it was the US vs Slovenia, so that was a little too distracting to continue journaling! What an exciting game! I thought that the US was totally done for after the first half, but they had an amazing comeback! I was so pissed when they did not count that last goal. What a ridiculous call! So that was a pretty exciting game to watch.

Laura and I decided to start off the next day by going to the Blue Mosque, which unlike the Haya Sophia, is a real Mosque, so they enforce a strict dress code (basically you need to have your arms and legs fully covered), if you apparel does not meet the dress code standards they give you a shawl to cover either your arms and/or legs. Then once inside you had to take off our shoes. It was especially interesting going in here after seeing the Vatican. It was a fascinating cultural experience! It was so crazy being in a Muslim country and hearing the call to prayer several times a day.

Once we were done there we continued on to the Grand Bazaar, which is the huge market full of colorful packed stalls selling everything from jewelery to clothing to lamps etc. Laura and I had so much fun there! She went a little shop crazy and stretched her haggling legs. :) I did manage to buy one thing though, a cool flowy shirt. After the shopping frenzy we returned back to the hostel for a bit before we went out to eat. We went to dinner with an Austrian boy called Rainer (he sounded just like Arnold Schwarzenegger!) and you will not believe this, he has NEVER heard of the Sound of Music!!! How crazy is that?! The two main things Americans associate Austria with are the Sound of Music and Arnold Schwarzenegger (luckily he knew who he was!). Laura and I were blown away by that!

We decided to go to the other side of the river to check out a different part of Istanbul. Unfortunately it was Sunday so most of everything was shut. We decided to have a long lunch and then went up to Taskim Square, where on the way we walked through a Turkish protest...it was a little unnerving having a mob of people waving Turkish flags and chanting in unison (chanting what I do not know) but there was a police squad standing by next to them holding shields. So Laura and I quickly scampered away from that situation! We found the funicular and went back to the hostel just in time because a massive thunder and lightning storm happened the instant we got to the hostel!

The next day Laura, Rainer and I went to Asia for lunch! (I am not going to lie, I love saying that!) We took a boat cruise down the Bosporus and ended on the Asia side where we got off and grabbed some lunch. Oh! We actually saw the Black Sea on this Cruise as well! So cool! Sadly we could not stay for long, so after lunch we got back on the boat to return to Europe. It was funny though, Laura, Rainer and I all passed out on the boat, it would have been a funny photo! It's so crazy how how much less we were harassed when we were with a boy! Seriously all the constant jeering and leering from Turkish men gets old and tiring fairly quickly. Granted some things they say are pretty hilarious. For example one guy said "you must be from Australia because you have freckles, my mother says freckles are kisses from God!!" But most of the comments are confusing and gross. Laura and I were called Spice Girls a lot and men would often make gross noises as we passed by. I guess my point that I am trying to make is the Turkish men's attitude toward women gets really tiring to deal with every time we go out.

The next day we ventured back to the Grand Bazaar once more. But this time The GB was not as fun as the previous visit. It was less crowded so we were hassled a lot more. I couldn't even stop at the stands to look at all the items. It just was not as enjoyable as the first time! That night we went back to Taskim Square, where we found that they still had all their Christmas lights up exactly 6 months later! So funny! Going to Turkey made me realize that i can travel in more foreign countries. I now feel the need/want to see the Middle east and Asia, two places that I had little to no desire to see before I went on this trip. It's weird and very cool the ways in which I have changed on this trip. I loved Istanbul, but now it is time for Greece!

Until Next Time---

Roma ---> Amor

Oh I can't even begin to tell you how many times the phrase "When in Rome" was used during this week! Rome was where we met up with our friend from High School, Karen. It was so crazy because the last time we saw her was our second day in Europe while she and her friend had a 16 hour layover in Madrid. It is just crazy how quickly time is passing!

Once we met up with Karen in ROme, we quickly put down all of our things and went out to explore Rome! Our hostel was kind of far from all the sites, but once we made it to the Trevi Fountain it sunk in (mainly for Karen and I ) the "We're in Rome!!" and let me tell you, the Trevi Fountain does not fail to impress. Although it was ridiculously crowded which made it difficult to stay there for too long, so we continued forth. Rome is such a cool city! It's this huge modern city but you turn a corner and there is a ruin that dates back well before Christ, very impressive! So Laura, Karen and I mainly spent that night catching up with eachother then watched the World Cup (which started the same day we arrived in Rome).

The next day was one of our big site seeing days! First we walked by Capitol Hill, which has the worlds largest equestrian statue. Then we ascended Michelangelo's steps, where we saw the first (of many) bride with her groom taking photos (so cute!). This was around the same time as the battle of the wind began vs our (mine and Karen's, Laura's was more structured) flowy dresses. Once we made it to the top of the steps my hat flew off and as I ran to chase after it (Karen ran with me) my skirt flew up in the process. It was like the perfect storm. Apparently the people surrounding me got a little bit of a show...Whoops! After that Karen and I epically struggled with our bottom attires, and Laura was there to document our losing battle with the wind. So with my skirt tucked between my legs and my hand holding my hat we scurried around trying to find the entrance to the Forum. Once we found the entrance we bought our tickets, which also included tickets to the Colosseum and Palentine Hill (this will come in handy later!). We wandered around the dusty Forums and saw where Julius Caesar's body was burned, it was pretty neat to see!

Our next stop was the Colosseum where we passed the longest line of people buying tickets! Since we had already purchesed them at the Forum (which had a line of about 3 people) we felt pretty clever walking past all of those people. :) The Colosseum was HUGE! Rick told us that the Colosseum could hold 50,000 people (100,000 thumbs) and did not just have Gladiator fights. They would also put on plays with prisoners of war and would renact the deaths of legends like Achilles and Adonis and would kill the prisoners in the same manner in which the story told. Pretty gruesome! After a bunch of photos (many of us pretending to be gladiators) we went off to Palentine Hill. This is where many Kings and Queens lived. at this point we were all pretty exhausted and dirty so we did not stay here for too long. So we went back to our hostel where we watched the US tie England 1-1.

The next day was pretty relaxed, Laura and I did laundry and were on the internet for awhile. Once we we were done we went out to eat with Karen the came back to watch Germany kill Australia in their watch 4-0. We were with a bunch of Germans when they won so it was a pretty fun game to experience. Although I was silently routing for Australia. The next day Laura needed to go on the internet for awhile longer so Karen and I took our own little tour of Rome. We ended up walking by the Spanish steps and thought "this would be a good place to take some photos!" not knowing that they were the Spanish steps, we're so observant! Our little walking tour turned into a shopping spree and I bought a cute cover up for Greece (and actually Istanbul as well). We then rushed to meet up with Laura, where we walked to Campo di Fiori. This is where we watched the Italy vs Paraguay game where they tied 1-1. The crowd was so silent when Paraguay scored and then I almost went deaf when Italy scored! The whole square was in uproar, it was really fun!

The next day Karen and woke up really early to take a tour of the Vatican, Laura didn't want to go because she had already been on a previous trip. We were running a bit late and when we finally found the metro we needed to get on to we sprinted and jumped in the train and in the process knocked into a few different nuns! Whoops! After all the confusion we finally made it to Vatican city, and wow, the Vatican is impressive. But it was a bit overwhelming. The walk alone to the Sistine Chapel is covered wall to ceiling in murals. Once we made it to the Sistine Chapel I could not stop staring at the ceiling. Ricks podcast really helped explain the significance of the ceiling so I was really happy we had him there!

We made our way to St. Peter's which is also very impressive, but on a much different scale. The inside is the length of 2 football fields. It was really cool to be there! Although Karen and I did manage to get yelled at a few times (in italian) for accidentally going into places we shouldn't. Once we were done in there, we went out to St. Peter's Square where we took some photos then got in contact with Laura to meet up with us for lunch. We told her we would meet in 30-45 minutes at a place near where we had eatten a previous night. Karen and I decided to take the scenic route through a famous garden annnnnnd we failed. Epically.


Unfortunately our map did not display the different level of streets, so we ended up on the street NEXT to the street we needed to be on and we could not cross over because there were no stairs leading up to the other street. So there Karen and I were, walking on a narrow one way street with no sidewalk trudging up a hill in the sweltering heat wearing jeans (because we had to dress appropriately for the Vatican). All at the same time we can see the top of the garden to our left over a concrete wall. Then once we got to the street that we were suppose to be on we could not tell what street we needed to go down because and advertisement on the map was convieniently was covering the section of the street we were on as well as the surrounding street names. We made a guess and hoped it was the right direction. We did however stumble across a gorgeous view of the city of Rome, so we stoped for a quick photo opt. We took some fun jumping photos off a ledge which look really cool! We were now hitting an hour mark and we were still unsure of where we were. Finally we found the river and realized that we were almost back to St. Peter's!! So basically we did this horrible loop then had to walk another 15 to get to the restaurant. I should also mention that had we walked to the restaurant using the road along the river it would have taken us 20 minutes. Ugh. Merde. Luckily Laura was wiating for us in the shade with a large cold bottle of water, she is such a good friend! This was Karen's last day in Rome, we were all a little sad.

The next morning Laura and I had to get up early (not to crazy about this pattern) so we could go to the Vatican to see the Pope! We had to say our goodbyes to Karen there and then we left to go back (well for me) to the Vatican. Once we got to the Vatican we got some really amazing seats close up but we ended up roasting in the sun for 2 1/2 hours before the Pope actually arrived. Everytime a could would cover the sun there woould be a collective sigh from all of us, many would clap and then many "Praise Jesus'!" were uttered. Once the Pope got there in his Pope Mobile, we could not help but notice his lovely red sun hat. This really nice older Australian couple let me squeeze next to them at the barrier to get a really cool close up photo of him! So cool!! He then proceeded to bless us all (and all those who know us!) along with all the things we brought to be blessed. It was a really cool experience. Many bishops spoke in all the languages of everyone who were here and they would aknowledge the groups of pilgrimers that were there. It made me really miss St. A's! This would be an awesome trip for Youth Ministry!

Once we were done seeing the Pope we grabbed some lunch, packed and went to bed pretty early. We were taking a really early flight the next day, it was actually our first flight since March! I loved being in Italy, but for the sake of my waiteline I an glad to be leaving and really excited to go to Istanbul!

Until Next Time---

Cinque Terre

Oh. My. Gosh. This is paradise! We were in the fourth town of Cinque Terre called Vernazza and I was in heaven! I was so happy that we spent 6 nights here. So it was a bit difficult figuring out the trains to get to Cinque Terre. Once we bought our tickets we realized that there was no train number and there were 2 trains leaving at the same time from the same platform, but both trains were stopping at different stops on teir routes. It took us awhile to figure out(we basically had to transfer trains 3 times) but wow, was it worth it! Once we arrived, we followed our vague directions "From the train station take the main street down a bit to the piazza and you will see the door" and had a picture of the door attached to the email we had received. But surprisingly enough, it did turn out to be that easy to find. Once we found the door and began to enter a sweet elderly man came up to us and asked "Massa?" to which Laura replied "Lily Massa, Sì!" and said in a very broken english "Top Floor" and pointed up with his thumb. We ascended the stairs (of course there were stairs, a journey with our backpacks are not complete without a good set of stairs!) and made it to the top floor where and elderly lady named Lily was waiting to greet us.

She was so adorable! Although this couple could not speak a word of English (which I have to admit, definitely added to the charm!), we were able to get by with our Spanish, Lily spoke enough Spanish to converse with us and would translate it into italian for her hubby. So Lily showed us to our room and opened the window for us, and Laura and I were blown away. Our view was AMAZING!! Seriously, the description of the room said there was a view of the Sea, but we were not expecting this! The towns beach was directly looking down from our window. The window to our room can actually be seen in many of the Vernazza post cards. Once Laura and I were able to shut our jaws, we regrouped, put some dresses on and went to talk to our Nonna for awhile.

After that we went out to explore the town a bit while grabbing some pesto pizza along the way. We had met 2 people from New York at our hostel in Florence, and they were also in the same town as us in Cinque Terre. We had made plans to meet up with them for the evening, so we grabbed some strawberries, cheese and crackers and went out to (can you believe it) watch the sunset from the rocks. It was a really relaxed fun evening. We all hung out for a few hours then all decided to go to bed.

The next morning I work up pretty early (which as many of you know, is not common for me) we had slept with the window open , and I think my first day at the beach I just got excited. So Laura and I went out to grab a cappaccino and breakfast and just began to spend our first day fairly lazily (as you would do on your vacation within a vacation). After our rather long breakfast we picked some spots on the rocks by the beach to do a little journaling. It was actually too hot for me to get any real journaling done, so I ended up listening to Harry Potter on my iPod instead. After loungıng for awhıle, Laura and I decıded to avoıd the hottest past of the day and went back to the room, where I attempted to journal agaın, but I ended up takıng a nap ınstead. It was just a quıck cap nap though! I decıded to take advantage of the Med beıng just downstaırs, so I threw on my swım suıt (after slatherıng on about a half gallon of sunscreen) and walked a whole 30 seconds to get to the beach! Laura was stıll workıng on her journal so she met up wıth me a lıttle later. Once she joıned me, two boys from our hostel ın Florence came strollıng up to us on the beach. We were shocked to see them! Although they couldn´t stay for long because they were tryıng to hıke to the last town and then catch a traın back to Florence. So we bıd them farewell and I decıded to take my fırst dıp ınto the Med! Very excıtıng! I swam for about 10 mınutes then ran upstaırs to grab a quıck shower before Laura and I went to dınner wıth a couple of people we met ın Florence as well. Dınner was a bıt expensıve, but the company was very nıce. We had a really fun relaxıng nıght.

The next mornıng we dıd not get up as early as we had antıcıpated (maınly because I have trouble gettıng my butt out of bed ın the mornıng) we planned on hıkıng to the 1st,2nd, and 3rd towns of Cınque Terre (Vernazza ıs the 4th). I fınally was able to drag myself out of bed and we began the hıke around 10am. The fırst part of the hıke was defınıtely the hardest part, ıt took about 90 mınutes and the majorıty of ıt was steep staırs made of rocks, but the vıews made the trek well worth ıt! (Plus, let´s be honest, a lıttle real exercıse could do our pızza, pasta, gelato eatıng butts some good!) The vıews on thıs hıke were sımply gorgeous! We hıked along the coast and as we approached each town we could not help admırıng them! The fırst town Cornıglıa was cute enough, but ıt wasn´t my favorıte of the towns but ıt was fun to vısıt! Laura got some honey flavored gelato whıch she was pretty excıted about. We dıd not stay long ın thıs town because we were already pretty tıred and hot and we had 2 more towns to hıke to, so we contınuıed on! The next town was called Manarola. Thıs was my favorıte town of thıs hıke! There were two dıfferent places where you could swım and both were rock beaches where people jumped from ınto the water (some at rıdıculous heıghts) We got some lunch ın thıs town at a Rıck Recommended restaurant, and ıt was delıcıous! And not too prıcey eıther! I had the trente pesto, and ıt was my favorıte pesto pasta by far!

Afterwards we went for a walk above the towns through the vıneyards on the hılls, and ıt had the prettıest vıews of the entıre hıke. After takıng a bunch of photos we scaled down the hıllsıde and went for a refreshıng swım ın the Medıterranean Sea (thıs was Laura´s fırst swım ın the Med!) And ıt was so awesome to jump ınto thıs gorgeous blue water after hıkıng ın the heat for so long. The only crappy part was that Laura and I both cut up our feet (one foot each) a bıt on the rocks tryıng to get out. once we bandaged my foot up (Laura dıd realıze her´s was cut untıl later) we contınued on to the next town through flower patched and vıneyards and arrıved at our last stop Rıomaggıore. We dıd not dpend a whole lot of tıme ın thıs town maınly because we wanted to catch the last ferry back to Vernazza.But the really cute thıng about thıs townıs the lovers poınt story. There ıs a statue overlookıng the Med that has two lovers embrassıng ooverlookıng the sea. Surroundıng the 2 lovers statue are a "sea" (sorry I couldn´t help myself!) of locks attached to the raılıng of the brıdge. The legend of the locks, well to be faır, ıt ıs not really a legend so much as ıt ıs a true story. I thınk 60-80 years ago, a couple came to thıs poınt, put a lock on the raılıng, or brıdge ıf you wıll, and threw the keys to the lock ınto the ocean. So now there are thousands of locks along the entıre raılıngs surroundıng thıs poınt. It ıs esspecıally sweet because we have seen these locks on brıdges all over Europe on dıfferent brıdges. Now I am not possıtıve ıf thıs ıs where the tradıtıon orıgınatedş but ıt certaınly would be a befıttıng gorgeous place to start such a romantıc trend! Although we dıd see quıte a few "non-commıtal combo locks" as Laura would call them, along the raıls. We couldn´t help but laugh at those. We also wondered ıf anyone´s keys ever washed ashore, that would be kınd of sad. Anyways that was the hıghlıght of that town. It was a fun hıke!

So we caught the last ferry back to Vernazza, soooo pretty! and Laura and I showered up and had dınner watchıng the sunset agaın. I serısouly was so beat! I went to sleep at 9:30 that nıght! It was a good day!

The next day we kayaked. And yet agaın I was unable to get up early (but hey I was on my vacatıon wıthın a vactatıon!) but I was able to get myself together and we avoıded the crowds of the town and set off on our kayakıng adventure! We decıded to paddle towards the only town we had yet to go to and that was the 5th town of Monterosso. We had a really good tıme goıng ın and out of caves and just generally enjoyıng the vıews. Once we got to the town, we decıded to head straıght back because we dıd not want to pay another 10 euros for another hour. On the way back, Laura started to feel a lıttle sıck on the hıgh seas so we booked ıt back to the shore where she went to lıe down. Whereas I grabbed my journal (pıcked up a slıce of pesto pızza) and found a shady spot near the rocks and wrote for a few hours. Once I fınıshed wrıtıng for the day Laura was actually walkıng up to meet up wıth me (perfect tımımg!), so we decıded to grab an early dınner at yet anotehr Rıck Recommended restaurant owned by two Sıcılıan twıns who were HILARIOUS! Serıously we were crackıng up our entıre dınner. After dınner we actually dıd not get a chance to order dessert, one of the brothers told us what we should order and we oblıged. He ordered us the Panna Cotta wıth strawberrıes. Holy crap thıs was good! It has the consıstency of yogurt but ıt tastes lıke whıpped cream. A perfect summer dessert! As we walked around the beach watchıng the sun set (sensıng a pattern yet?) we could see the elserly couple we were stayıng wıth watch the sunset together out theır wındow, ıt was super cute! I thınk they do that most every nıght! Nothıng too excıtıng happened that evenıng, but ıt was so nıce to just relax at the beach ın the evenıng.

The next day we woke up to a rather sad overcast day. Luckıly we had already planned a day trıp to Portofıno and Santa Margherıta Lıgure so we went ahead and followed through wıth those plans. Both of these towns were really pretty, but just a tad underwhelmıng... In Santa Margherıta Lıgure we walked around a pretty garden that slıghtly remınded me of both Sevılla and Costa Rıca. After grabbıng a quıck bıte to eat we stumbled across a ferry that just happened to be leavıng for Portofıno, so we hopped aboard and enjoyed the sea vıstas! Portofıno, despıte beıng super cute, was not really our scene. It was pretty much a commercıalızed posh place where people port theır yachts to shop at Guccı and buy expensıve gelato. So we only stayed there for a short whıle then hıghtaıled ıt back to the traın statıon to go back to our beloved Vernazza!

Once we made ıt back to our favorıte town we decıded to go for round 2 at Il Pırata delle Cınque Terre (the place owned by the Sıcılıan twıns) where we had a delıcıously huge dınner (and the twıns dıd not faıl to ımpress!). So after doıng some laps around the beach to feel better about our glutteneous meal we went back to the apartment where our pseudo Nonnos were stıll awake and we began a very ınterestıng bılıngual conversatıon, ıt was entertaınıng to say the least! I loved watchıng Lıly and Ben playfully banter ın ıtalıan. After about 15 mınutes we bıd them goodnıght and went off to bed.

The next day was our last full day ın Vernazza, ıt made me very sad. As I woke up, I made sure to take ın and remember the sounds of the waves crashıng on the beach outsıde our wındow along wıth musıcal tones of ıtalıan conversatıons of all the below below. Not wantıng to waste our last day, we went went (yet agaın) to Il Parata for breakfast and had our mornıng entertaınment of watchıng them ınteract wıth other customers as well as ourselves. Afterwards we grabed our towels and went out to get a good rock on the beach. I was dyıng to go swımmıng agaın! So after reapplyıng sunscreen (and lettıng ıt soak ın) I jumped ın and swam out toward the sea. I swam out wıth every ıntentıon of goıng out around the breakıng poınt to a cove on the other sıde, however once I got to the breakıng poınt I chıckened out! As sılly as ıt ıs I can,t help but thınk of Jaws when I am swımmıng ın the ocean... So anyways I just swam around there for about 20 mınutes talkıng to other fellow travelers ın the water then I went back to shore.

Laura and I just spent the rest of the day relaxıng and had our last dınner down by the beach at our usual spot. After dessert at (you probably guessed ıt) Il Pırata (we were just a lıttle obsessed wıth thıs place) we went back to the apartment and found our Nonno waıtıng up for us. He showed us a google satelıte map of hıs home ın the mountaıns and then poınted to hıs suıtcase whıch was lıned wıth newspaper and told us that he was takıng fısh and gelato wıth hım to the mountaıns (hopefully they dıd not mıx together ın transıt!). so he was leavıng really early the next day and wanted to say bye to us before he left, so sweet!

It was so sad leavıng the next day. we had felt lıke temporary locals whıle we had been there. We got to know the town dog, who we named Raffy (he really lıked Laura), the crazy bum (Ernıe) and most of the shop owners throughout the town. Thıs was the fırst tıme my excıtement for a new place dıd not trump my sadness for leavıng a famılıar one. I am defıntely comıng back!

Sorry thıs has taken so long for me to update. I am a tad behınd... bescıally a lack of free ınternet has been the problem. Hopefully I wıll be able to work on my Rome portıon whıle I am here, but I have to plan Ireland fırst, so stay tuned!

Untıl Next Tıme---

Firenze

I really cannot say it enough, I love Italy! I would really like to meet someone who does not though. :) We arrived in Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, and found our hostel, the Academy, fairly easily, and immediately took advantage of the free internet! Actually since Budapest I have been slightly paranoid about loosing all the photos I have taken (mainly because I have just switched to a new memory card). So I decided to upload all my photos from my memory card to Shutterfly. Ha! Easier said than done! I had something like 659 photos and it took me a few days to upload all of them. Laura was doing the same, which I sincerely appreciated since she has mostly photos of me on her camera, and I have most of the photos of her on mine. So that is pretty much how we spent our first day there.

Although, we did manage to squeeze in a gelato run between all of our uploading! Oh My Gosh! I had the best gelato combination! Well I think it is anyways, although I am aware few will agree with me on this, Mint Chocolate Chip and Coconut gelato. Heaven! It has been so hard not to eat gelato all day. Florence is actually famous for their gelato. My will power has been seriously tested in Italy and I am sad to report that it is failing. Hopefully all the walking will make everything even out...

The next day we decided to do our Rick Steves walking tour and strolled around Florence. Then we came upon the leather markets... Oh man. I really wish Florence was our last stop of the trip so I could stalk up on all of these amazing leather goods. Laura and I had to give into our shopping temptations (so many temptations in Italy!) and bought some purses for ourselves. Which we are pretty much in love with. Laura also bought a gorgeous wallet. After our pocket lightening detour we continued on with our Rick Steves walking tour, then went back to the hostel to keep working on our photo project.

I had purchased a ticket to go to the Academia, a small art museum that has the David statue. My ticket was a ridiculous price though, around $20 US Dollars. To put that in perspective, that is way more expensive than the Louvre, and it is 100th of a fraction smaller than the Louvre. I was really annoyed with that element, but I was really glad I went though! The David is simply spectacular. And I am not really an art person. It was really nice actually because I was able to download a free podcast of Rick Steves walking tour of the Academia so it made my experience just that much better. It is actually a pretty cool museum. The David is so impressive in all the details. My favorite part was his eyes. From straight on he has a very confident look about him, but when you go to the right (his left) his eyes have a sense of hesitation and worry. What is more impressive (aside from the massive size of the statue) are all the statues leading up to the David. They are unfinished statues called the Prisoners, and all of these statues looks as if they are stuck in these unfinished slabs of marble. It really shows how difficult the process is to make a marble statue like David. I really did enjoy listening to Rick and seeing David, but I really do dislike how they rip tourists off! Everyone should be able to view and appreciate famous art.

After I was done with the museum I stocked up on some sunscreen and headed back to the hostel, where Laura was still working on downloading her photos. Our hostel in Florence was so awesome, they had an appetizer hour where they served free food and wine, so Laura and I made that our dinner. After our cheap dinner, we headed over to one of the bridges past the Ponte Vecchio and actually ended up randomly running into some girls from our hostel there, so we all watched the sunset together on the bridge. This was such an awesome moment. Watching the sunset over the river, you cant help but think to yourself "its hard to hate life right now."

The next day the weather was not in our favor. Grey clouds loomed overhead just waiting to unload. Luckily it held out long enough for Laura and I to walk to Santa Maria Novella, a place that has produces natural fragrances for hundreds of years, originally by nuns in fact. Everything in there smelled so good, I wish those products were more in my price range! Oh well, that did not stop me from spritzing a sample on myself for the road. :) After we had finished there, we ducked into a little cafe called Zu Zu to avoid the rain. We actually waited out most of the rainstorm there, enjoying our cheese plate, pastas and cappuccinos. Then we went back to the hostel where we finally finished downloading our photos! We decided to celebrate by going out and doing a bit of shopping, but made sure we were back in time for our free appetizers at the hostel :) which turned out to be the best dinner (free dinner that is) yet! While we were enjoying our caprese and pasta, we met a bunch of boys all traveling individually (two Americans, one Canadian, one Kiwi, and one Brit) we told them about how amazing the view was from the bridge the other night, and that we planned on repeating it again that night. They all asked to tag along and we agreed. So we headed over to the bridge and enjoyed yet another gorgeous sunset. These boys were all a lot of fun, and we all grabbed some gelato after the sun had set then watched a Charlie Chaplin street performer embarrass people in his act.

Laura and I had to call it an early night after that, in order to pack. Ugh. I really do hate packing. I know this wont come as a shock to anyone who has witnessed me attempting to pack, but I just thought it should be said. Although as much as I dislike it, this was not too bad of a night, mainly because we were there for only 3 nights so we did not take too many things out of our packs. Plus I was really excited for Cinque Terre! Definitely time for some fun in the sun on a beach!

Until Next Time---