Thursday, April 19, 2012

Paris: the land of love

After spring break we had an easy school week just getting back into everything and then that Friday it was time to visit Paris. Makenzie and I left our apartment around 330 in the morning in order to catch the bus to bring us to the Pisa Airport. On the airplane going there I had the luxury of sitting in the middle of a four year old boy and Makenzie was next to the window on my other side.  Every single time I would fall asleep on the plane my head would lean forward a little bit, and every single time the little boy would push me back into my seat because he could not see out the window.  On top of that, he kept pounding on the armrests to entertain himself.  I have never had such an awful plane ride in my life.  Once we landed, we had to take another bus just to get to Paris.  It is the only way to actually get there from the airport.  Once we finally got to our hostel we set our stuff down and made our way straight to the Eiffel Tower.  I was not expecting it to be that breathtaking.  We spent the rest of the night just wandering around Paris and seeing what the city had to offer us. 








Paris actually reminds me a lot of London except that they speak French and have a few more parks.  The parks in Paris are just like what you imagine when you think of Paris, absolutely gorgeous.  When we went back to our hostel to get some sleep, we walked in our room and discovered that one of the girls we had met on spring break was staying in the same room with us! It is such a small world.  The next morning we went on a free walking tour of Paris that the hostel sets up.  One of the funniest things I learned on the tour was that there is a woman from California that came to Paris and absolutely fell in love with the Eiffel Tower and somehow was able to legally marry it.  Then a few years later she was touring around in Italy and went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. She ended up falling even more in love with the Leaning Tower and divorced the Eiffel Tower to marry the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After the tour we all went out to lunch/dinner where I got to try duck and escargot. It was actually really good and I am so happy that I tried something new. 
The next day we decided that we would just walk around Paris and do our own thing.  We got to buy locks as a joke and put them on the bridge where you "lock your love" and throw the key into the river.  It is from a scene in "Sex and the City." Then we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral to see the inside and climb to the top.  You could see everything from the top.  We even got to go inside the bell tower to see what they look like.  It was really cool to get to see the gargoyles that decorate the Cathedral as well.  Then we rented some bikes and just rode around the city and explored.  By the end of the day we were so exhausted. We ended up going to the movies because they had them in English.  We saw the most awful movie, I cannot even remember the name of it.  I couldn't even tell you what it was about because I ended up falling asleep for most of it. 
On our last day in Paris we realized that we never went inside the Louvre or climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower so that was the first thing on our list of things to do.  The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower was amazing.  It was totally worth the hour and a half line in order to start walking the stairs.  We rushed over to the Louvre right after in order to see the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci.  Many people say that it is a lot smaller than they expected it to be, but I did not think that at all.  I was sort of expecting it to be the size that it was.  It was cool to sway my body back and forth to see her staring at me.  We got to see the Venus de Milo which was stunning!  The invisible pyramids that are in the courtyard of the Louvre were also really cool to see.  Then it was time to run off to another tour that we had signed up for.  On the tour we got to see the homes of Picasso and Van Gogh and hear the stories about how they became famous.  After the tour we had to run off and catch a tube to the bus for our plane back to Pisa.  It was a long and exhausting day of traveling and did not get back to Florence until about 2 am, but we made it back safely which is all that matters.  Paris was a fantastic place to visit and I think everyone should go and experience it there at least once in their life. 

Friday, April 13, 2012

Santorini, Greece

Santorini is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life and was a dream come true to go there.  It is the typical thing you picture when you think about Greece with the white houses and blue rooftops.  By the time that we got there we had just enough time to put our things down and go see the sunset over the water.  Then the entire group went to a bar called Murphy's, which was a lot of fun.  The next morning we went on a tour of Santorini.  The first stop was some wine tasting.  We got to sample three different types of wine overlooking the ocean view.  Then we got to go and see the red sand beach.  It is so unique to see sand that is not what I am used to seeing.  Then we got to go and see the black sand beach and relax there for the afternoon.  We even got to order lunch and eat it on the beach, until the wind started blowing and getting sand on our sandwiches, so we decided to go back inside.  We got back to the hostel and went straight back as a group to watch the sunset in a different area from the night before.  It was the area where they filmed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie and Mama Mia.  After we all took a billion pictures we went out to dinner for my friend Katherine's 21st birthday.  Then everyone on the trip went out to Murphy's again to spend one last night out all together.  The next morning we got to walk around the town on our own.  It was the perfect opportunity to buy postcards.  I also got some gifts to bring back home for my parents.  We got one last gyro, which is the Greek version of an Italian k-bob with pork, french fries, tomatoes, onion, and some type of delicious sauce.  Gyros are heaven on Earth and was pretty much the only thing everyone ate the entire time while in Greece. 









It was that time to start our long journey back to Italy.  We took the ferry back to Athens and spent one night there.  In the morning we woke up super early to go and get these famous sandals that are hand made.  The business has been in the owners family for almost 100 years.  We also got some fresh fruit for the rest of the way home to snack on.  We left at 10:30 am for the cruise ship to go back to Ancona, where we then took a bus back to Florence.  It was definitely my favorite trip that I have taken so far, and had the time of my life! I wouldn't trade if for the world.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Greece: Athens







The overnight bus to Athens was one of the worst bus rides of my life.  The bus driver would not turn off the heat and it is impossible for my to sleep when my body is too hot.  It got to the point where I was bus sick and felt so nauseous that I had to go to the front of the bus and sit next to the bus driver where he finally turned off the heat and put on the air.  As soon as we got to the hostel we got about ten minutes to freshen up before the guides took us on a walking tour of the city.  We got to see all of the government buildings, the temple of Zeus, and the Acropolis.  I was amazed at everything that I saw.  It was unbelievable, because these are the places that I have always wanted to see. After the tour we went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.  There were about 110 of us on this trip and we all went to dinner together to this Greek restaurant.  We were served about 5 courses: bread, cheese, salad, calamari, and our main course.  I chose to have the moussaka for something new.  It was good, but not my favorite meal.  I am happy that I tried it though.  The next day in Athens we all went to the beach.  It was probably my favorite day of the entire trip.  It almost reminded my of camp with all the activities I did at the beach.  The first thing I did was go on a run with my friend Mick.  The beach didn't have good sand for running, it was mainly little rocks, but we did it anyways.  It was so painful our feet were hurting the rest of the day.  After the run we jumped in the water to cool off and then it was time for some volleyball.  My friends Makenzie, Ross, Nick, Bryce, and myself were playing for a few hours until the ball accidentally hit a woman on the head... that was the end of that game.  Then Makenzie and I went on about a mile swim along the shore and walked back.  By that time I was ready for a catnap until we left to take the metro back to the hostel.  Later on that night we got to go out to dinner to another Greek restaurant where they played Greek music and did a lot of dancing.  After dinner the guides took us back to the Acropolis so we could see it lit up at night, and then took us to the top of a huge rock point for a view of Athens at night and got to hang out there.  The next morning we had to wake up at five to leave for Santorini!