Old friends, new friends, all friends
After that, I had a ton of work due, and then our 2 week long travel break began! Here are some highlights of that.
Kelsey and I set off to Barcelona early Saturday morning and were greeted 80 degree weather and copious amounts of sunshine. We walked all over the city, visited a really awesome market, enjoyed some tapas and paella, went on a bike tour and met some crazy British guys on a bachelor's weekend, and went to a really cool bar that had 200 different kinds of shots that you could choose from.
Me at the Barcelona letters!
Kelsey having fun at the beach
Sagrada Familia
Next, we were off to Venice! Venice was lovely, but it really only took a day to see everything. I was pretty bummed because it was super touristy and by the end of our two days there, I was sick of being harassed to eat at terrible restaurants and buy stupid noise-making toys. However, we rode the water buses around for hours which was pretty fun, and ate some good food at small Italian place deep in the narrow streets of Venice! We stayed at the most bizarre hostel in the world - 16 women to a room, no control over the lights (hello, 8:20AM unappreciated wake up call), and pretty unhelpful staff. Needless to say, we were very happy to depart for Florence after such an awful hostel! All in all, though, Venice was beautiful.
HOW WAS THIS CITY BUILT ON WATER?
z0mg so0o kewl
A nice Wisconsin man took this picture for us. Midwestern friendliness even in Italy!
Unfortunately, I suffered a a great loss in Venice. It was terribly sad, but I had to say good-bye to the best salmon colored fox-printed sneakers I've ever owned (well, the only ones I've ever owned). There was a brief moment of silence in the strange hostel, I said a few words, and buried these beautiful friends in the "all other garbage' container.
RIP Sneakers 4/13/2011
"May you never walk alone"
Anyway, we arrived in Florence by train. Trains are basically the coolest thing ever, and after traveling on them during our journey, I want to ride trains everywhere. Perhaps I'll go on a "train-America" journey after I graduate at Mac (terrifying thought right there!). Anyway, we saw Il Duomo, ate some gelato, went to the Piazza de Michaelangelo, and bought things at the Central Market. We also attempted to see the David statue, but the line was 2.5 hours long and we were not having that, so we went to the Boboli gardens instead.
Il Duomo
An from the inside!
View from Piazza de Michaelangelo
We departed Florence for our final stop: Rome! Again, we took a train (super gorgeous!) and easily found our hostel. They told us that the Colosseum was a 15 minute walk, which it was. However, a sign pointing the wrong direction caused us to take an HOUR AND A HALF detour. Needless to say, I was pretty annoyed.
Very unhappy.
However, we perked up a little bit, went inside, and walked around one of the coolest places I've ever been. We were pretty tired after getting so lost, so we chilled at the hostel and enjoyed a free pasta dinner and bought some cheap wine. A boy in our program was actually in our same hostel room, so we ended up going to a bar with him and his friend later that evening. We also met a wonderful guy from New Zealand who was traveling with his family. He liked us so much he wanted to meet up with us again the next night (I mean who wouldn't? Kelsey and I are a pretty awesome team!). Anyway, the next day, we went to the Vatican Museum. We used our sneaky skills and skipped the line so we only had to wait an hour. I was pretty disappointed in the museum - they didn't have any descriptions (unless you bought the audio guide. Yeah, right!) and the guards in the Sistine Chapel ruined the experience (perhaps it was them screaming NO PHOTO. BE QUIET YOU ARE IN A CHURCH the whole time). We saw Vatican City and then headed to the Spanish Steps and Treve fountain. However, right as a girl was about to take mine and Kelsey's picture in front of the fountain, my camera died. Womp womp. Then we took a nap - sightseeing is hard work! We grabbed some dinner, and met up with our Kiwi friend and drank the night away!
Looking happier at the Colosseum
Spanish Steps!
Our last day in Rome was spent laying in a park next to a castle that we wanted to go into (the line was too long), seeing the Forum and the Pantheon, going to a really cool view of the city, and seeing one of the prettiest churches I've ever seen. My visiting dad actually recommended it to me, and Kelsey and I kind of stumbled upon it on our way back to the hostel. The remainder of our evening was spent waiting in the Rome airport until midnight because our 10PM flight was delayed.
Enjoying the tiniest coffee ever.
I got back to my place in Copenhagen at around 3AM and then headed straight to the airport to pick up the DelSerra family for their Danish adventure at 7AM! Stupidly, I didn't take any pictures of us in Copenhagen, but got some nice photos from France! I took my family to all my favorite restaurants (Suppenatural, Paludan, and a hot dog stand), and we also ate some amazing Australian steak. It was the best having them here - as I've said, I've been pretty homesick most of my stay, and having home come to me was exactly what I needed. There was lots of bickering, but their trip wouldn't have been complete if it lacked silly arguments :)
The second half of their Euro-trip occurred in Paris! Dad's BFF from residency lives there with his fam, and we showed us around town the way Parisians do - in a mini-van with 3 screaming French children hitting each other in the backseat. Theirry's wife, Lucia, made us an amazing Italian meal our first night there, and we ate fantastically teh whole trip (French cuisine one night and tapas the next!). We went to L'Orangerie, where some of Monet's most famous paintings are held.
Sibling love at the Eiffel Tower
The way it should be
Theirry and Lucia's kids, Mateo and Angelo (center and right), and their mischievous cousin, Hugo, playing on a grate.
The next day, the grownups ate a 5 hour lunch while JJ and I explored Paris on our own. We went to Notre Dame and walked around the islands in that area. We then got caught in the middle of a thunderstorm, so we grabbed a beer and some pomme frites (while soaking wet).
JJ being cool
Me being the hunchback.
We departed on Sunday, and spent their last 2 days in Copenhagen exploring the viking museum and eating thai food in the red light district. I wish they were still here!
Since then, I've been pretty much doing work - I had 4 papers due the same day, and just finished finals on Thursday. YAY SUMMER! However, I'm now sick that I've got 5 days to do whatever I want for the last time in Copenhagen. Karma? Who knows. Anyway, I've been watching a lot of TV, sleeping, and taking multiple kinds of drugs my GP prescribed me. That was the only cool thing - going to my GP for the first and (hopefully) last time during my stay. It was strange - her office looked more like a really big apartment building. She was knowledgeable and very nice, so I'm pretty grateful. I just hope I'm better before I go home (or even before that-- I've got a bucket list I want to complete!).
OK. This is long enough. Sorry if I've starved you of entertainment, but I think this entry will probably take you the same amount of time as my hiatus. Peace, love, and antibiotics.
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