Barcelona

Sorry I haven't written, but these past few days have been very busy! Barcelona is a busy and happening place! On our trip we wandered around to all of the major Gaudi archiecture jewels. The Sagrada Familia was my ultimate favorite. This church was HUGE. I have never seen anything like it. The inside ceiling was mesmerizing. We also went to the aquarium and the zoo after exhausting all the sightseeing spots!

Our hostel had an event coordinator who took a bunch of us hostelites on fun journeys at night! The first night we went on a bar crawl, then other nights we went to a salsa bar (despite the teachings of natives and the help of my dancing partners I still move like a white girl without rhythm.) I fell in love with the sights as well as the mojitos! I was also given a chance to dig up my high school spanish skills and was surprised at how much I could still understand when spoken to.

However, in a city most famous for its theft we did not make it out completely unscathed. My friend and traveling companion Isabelle was shoved, scratched, and had her iphone stolen on the metro! It caused a huge scene and security came but the kid was experienced and had handed it off to someone else. In the 4 days we were there 2 other people at our hostel were also robbed.

Rome pictures

Roma... for a couple hours

The check out from our hostel was at 11, but our flight to Spain wasn't until 8 o'clock. We woke up super early hoping to catch the 7:15 train to Rome, leave our luggage inthe luggage storage at the station, and have the day to explore rome. Turns out that the train does not follow the posted schedule and upon arrival the earliest train was at 9, putting us in Rome at 1:30. Must people have only a few hours might leasiurely stroll around or waste that time. Us?...NO! We checked our luggage, then utilizing the metro ate lunch at 2, saw the colosseum at 3, and the trevi fountain at 4. We made the 5:45 airport shuttle bus.

This is where our perfectly executed plans went awry. Leaving the airport the shuttle took 20 minutes. However, traffic was horrible that day and the shuttle took an hour and a half! We were let out at Terminal 5 a mere 20 minutes before our gate closed. After ten minutes of finding a map that even had our tiny terminal 2 on it we sprinted like mad men to check in. To prefface this, let me tell you that from all this walking, my old sandles had ripped earlier in the day. So sprinting through the airport me with a broken shoe, Izzy in a dress and flip flops with 40 kg of luggage between us we managed to check our bag and get through security with 5 minutes remaining. With no other transportation or accomodation, we had to make this plane. The shoes came off. Now sprinting through the airport barefoot (and I wonder why people think americans are crazy) i arrived at our gate to see that the destination shown in Prague.... oh-uh. Exhausted I digest the information that our gate was changed, our plane delayed slightly and boarding for it one gate over had not even started. We could have leisurely sauntered to our gate and made the plane....

Firenze

Oh firenze.... so far my favorite city in Italy. After being in crazy, crowded, dirty, pick-pocketing Napoli, Florence offered me quiet and beautiful sanctuary. The "international guest house" we stayed in was pretty bare and basic, but its location was fantastic. Tucked away on a side street in the heart of the city it couldnt have been easier to navigate around. I immediately fell in love with this city and its beauty and instantly regretting the little time I had there.

The first night we were there we strolled the streets aimlessly seeing sights and ended the night gellato on my favorite bridge in the city. On the second day, to maximize our time we got tickets for the hop on- hop off bus. This bus would drive around to different attractions and let you hop off and explore on your own then catch the next one to a different stop.

My only regret about this city is that I had to leave it. One day i hope I can return and see Tuscany.

Last day in Napoli

So for our last day here we decided to go on a day trip to Pompei to explore the ruins. We took a bus from the port to Pompei and hiked up a hill to reach the ruins. For the rest of the morning we casually strolled through what was left of the old city. I was shocked at how big it was. After we spent some hours meandering back through time, we returned to naples to stroll the shops. Naturally our shopping was accompanied with gellato.

Napoli day 2

Today we decided to check out the national archeology museum. This was fun because we got to see another part of Naples, it was gorgeous outside, and as a closet nerd, I enjoy museums. After the museum we got lunch. I took a shot on the menu, and ordered a tasty sound panino. This sandwich still makes me salivate just thinking of it. It came in a large roll steaming hot, and inside contained fresh mozerella and proscuitto. We polished our lunch off with some gellato that made me want to cry it was so creamy.

After my stomach had enough heaven put into it, we took a railcar to a castle on top of a hill overlooking the entire city. It was breathtaking. Tonight we are on the prowl for pasta and who knows what. Tomorrow we are day tripping it to Pompei!

I will post again soon but for now, Arrivederci!

Napoli: The farthest I've ever walked for the best pizza I've ever tasted!

Ciao!

I am simply in Italian bliss. Yesterday we fly from Athens to Roma and then took a shuttle from the airport to Roma Termini, which is the large train station. Eurail passes in hand, we were only lost for about a half hour before we found the correct ticket terminal. Once on the train, two old friendly italian men helped me in my struggle to hoist my bag onto the overhead racks. While heaving this heavy monster of a rolling duffle up and down european stairs has certainly increased my arm strength, this was a two person job.

A mere two hours later we arrived in Napoli (we called it Naples). I expected hustle and bustle from its reputation, but I was still shocked! Arriving saturday night, I had never seen more people taking up the sidewalks, the streets, etc. Our hostel, Hostel of the Sun was easy to get to via bus from the train, and the people here running it could not be friendlier.

Obviously, us two carb lovers sought out pizza (going on about 10 hours without eating) we traveled through Naples for what should have been a 20 minute walk. Took us atleast an hour after the many unplanned and unintended detours. However, upon arriving at di matteo and ordering both our own pizza and what we thought was going to be french fries (it wasnt), I got to taste the best pizza of my life. The kid at a table next to ours was eating pizza with french fries on top. It was a sight for sore eyes. After dinner, more wandering, and a (German?) beer we wound down at our hostel.