I am currently working on my final paper here and its so nice to have my brother sitting next to me and all that. I just thought I would say that I will be home in less then 7 days. So for those of you who love countdowns...start counting. I honestly do want to come home too...I know, shocking that I would want to leave this place, but hey I miss my stuff...and my parents, and my back garden and front garden and well my car and my hometown and my university and my friends back home.
I will really miss everyone here though as well...its going to be a tough goodbye I know that. It's going to be weird to leave and never return for class again. Even writing that feels weird.
I went to Edinburgh this past weekend, you will have to wait to hear about that...Mike is getting bored so I need to quicken my writing pace.
Cheers
Ellen XXX
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Anyone out there?
Well. For those of you who keep asking me when I get home, I will be on US soil on teh 6th if July (that night sometime i think) so there. Now its down. What I am going to do with the last two and a half weeks is a good question. I will be writing a paper...due thursday, going to Edinburgh (hopefully), Picking my brother up from the train station and then celebrating the rest of my stay in the UK with friends (and a family member). Yea, thats it I think.
Anyway. Recently I celebrated my 21st birthday, and it was a grand time. I am not going to name or number the amount of drinks of that night. But I went to a party, had a GREAT time watching the end of the England Algeria game, and making fun of those blokes who decided that it was a great idea to YELL at the screen what they thought of the refs, players, kits, and even the ball itself. Once the game ended we had the whole upper floor to ourselves to party it up, including cake and a flaming shot of sambuca (dont worry this was not my shot of sambuca). After a while we moved the party to a local club where they played a handful of alternative songs I knew, and a handful that I didnt, but enjoyed anyway. Then we went home.
It was a good time, and I thank those out there who were there for a great time, and those that were not I wish you had been.
Now I am legal everywhere...not just Europe and Asia and Australia and South America and Central America and Africa (wait did I just name everywhere but the states!?) Huh...maybe the states need to get on board with the rest of the world.
Oh well.
Cheers.
Anyway. Recently I celebrated my 21st birthday, and it was a grand time. I am not going to name or number the amount of drinks of that night. But I went to a party, had a GREAT time watching the end of the England Algeria game, and making fun of those blokes who decided that it was a great idea to YELL at the screen what they thought of the refs, players, kits, and even the ball itself. Once the game ended we had the whole upper floor to ourselves to party it up, including cake and a flaming shot of sambuca (dont worry this was not my shot of sambuca). After a while we moved the party to a local club where they played a handful of alternative songs I knew, and a handful that I didnt, but enjoyed anyway. Then we went home.
It was a good time, and I thank those out there who were there for a great time, and those that were not I wish you had been.
Now I am legal everywhere...not just Europe and Asia and Australia and South America and Central America and Africa (wait did I just name everywhere but the states!?) Huh...maybe the states need to get on board with the rest of the world.
Oh well.
Cheers.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
lets procrastinate.
So, I'm sitting here in the computer lab over by my dorm (which finally has reopened) and I find myself doing everything but what I should be doing, of course. Which means I check my email, check my facebook, read a few articles on the217, listen to some WPGU...and now change the layout of my blog. Yea you might have noticed that it is no longer the dark brownish orange and the map picture is gone as well...well I have been noticing that a few of my friends have been changing the layout of their own blogs, and making them seem a bit more professional and I had to admit mine did not look that good. So I think this looks a bit better, if I knew code and stuff like that I think I could make it look even bettter, but oh well this will work for now.
If you have any ideas or comments please let me know.
Cheers!
If you have any ideas or comments please let me know.
Cheers!
Monday, June 7, 2010
a quick tidbit about what has been happening in England.
Well weather has been on again off again nice...I have been uber busy getting papers written and figuring out how to be a history person again.
May went by really quickly and now its June and I have two papers to write and a paper to edit.
Paige came and visited for a week and it was PERFECT to see her and all that and then my computer broke and then we went to London and saw Mark and Miriam and then a big group of us went to Oxford where I got a picture with a sword of sentimental meaning...and had a lovely time pretending I was a student. Then we came back to York and I had to deal with my computer and then Amy visited and that was FANTASTIC...and now I am beginning one paper and celebrating a birthday on wednesday (not mine...duh) and then Claudia comes on Thursday and the World Cup starts on Friday with South Africa playing Mexico and then Saturday is the UK vs US game and then monday my english paper is due and yea...im busy.
OH WORLD CUP STARTS AND IT IS MY VIEW THAT EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH. Please.
May went by really quickly and now its June and I have two papers to write and a paper to edit.
Paige came and visited for a week and it was PERFECT to see her and all that and then my computer broke and then we went to London and saw Mark and Miriam and then a big group of us went to Oxford where I got a picture with a sword of sentimental meaning...and had a lovely time pretending I was a student. Then we came back to York and I had to deal with my computer and then Amy visited and that was FANTASTIC...and now I am beginning one paper and celebrating a birthday on wednesday (not mine...duh) and then Claudia comes on Thursday and the World Cup starts on Friday with South Africa playing Mexico and then Saturday is the UK vs US game and then monday my english paper is due and yea...im busy.
OH WORLD CUP STARTS AND IT IS MY VIEW THAT EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH. Please.
Well while I am here... Florence
Ok. Sorry for how long you have been waiting for this...I will try below to recount the rest of my journey through Italy starting in Florence and Ending in Milan.
Firenze (Florence) is beautiful.
Sure the train ride there was a bit stressful (we missed our train because I thought we should grab lunch) and yea once we got there we couldnt figure out where we were supposed to grab a bus to get to our hostel...but once we got to the place it was FANTASTIC! The owner met us at the door with wide open arms and a pink sports jacket. He was this uber nice uber italian old man who owned the house/hostel and ran it with the help of two (or three) other women and two dogs. After bustling us into the place and showing us where we would sleep he brought us each a glass of wine and we signed all the paperwork and paid the fees. The hostel was really cute! All white and airy with little querky touches.
Maria and I decided to walk down to the main part of the city then after moving in and we just wandered about and saw some really cool buildings. One there was no line for, and the next day when we walked by there was a line out the door and around the building. That night we also went out for dinner and had a pretty good meal...not our best, but we needed a good meal out.
After the meal we ended up racing back to the hostel because I was supposed to have an interview for a position as an intern working for LAS 101. Of course when I got to the hostel I couldn't get the wireless internet working, and then the computer provided couldn't work with the microphone and headphones I had brought, so in the end I missed my interview and had to write my answers to all the questions and email them to the interviewer. BUT I got that all worked out in the end and well I didn't get the position it was still worth a shot.
The next day Maria and I headed back into town ready to discover the rest of it. We began the day at the Museum that housed the original David sculpture. Yes, you know the one. Sadly I could not get a pic considering there were only about five other people in there with us. We had decided the night before to get to the building that housed him when it opened and we only ended up standing in line for about twenty minutes before they let us in. It was pretty neat that we got in so well, some girls the night before had purchased tickets to get into the building early, we just walked in and then walked back to see him...we didnt pay a thing. That I may say is a really good feeling. After that we wandere down to the center of town to see the buildings there including the Duomo...this building is beautiful. It is all Marble on the outside and then just really open on the inside with a beautiful fresco in the main dome. We also climbed the 500 odd steps to get to the dome and then up to the roof above it. The view was SPACTACULAR and it is how I fell in love with the city. Just looking at how its set up and then also just how beautiful the landscape surrounding the city was, made me decided that I would love to live in this city. Of course my love grew as we clambored down from the dome and went back out into the city. For lunch we decided to check out the central market and outdoor market that the city had. Here we found EVERYTHING from Italian leather jackets and bags to Fish heads and Bread and Cheese and Wine and all of the above. We bought dinner for later (A HUGE loaf of bread that lasted till Venice, some Parmesan Cheese, a bottle of Rose, and some creamy garlic mushrooms) For lunch we ate at a little stall in the back of the market and had pruchetta paninis. Everything was delicious and it was all just so CHEAP too. After wandering around the rest of the day taking pictures with random sculptures or gelato or just neat buildings we decided to wander down to the water front for the sunset. Boy was it beautiful, not orange and crazy like it is supposed to be, but still pretty gorgeous. Just chilling by the water too was so nice. We walked down the river over to this really cool central bridge that has stores on either side of it. Most of these were closed by the time we got there, but there were some street musicians playing and they were quite good. Finally after wandering to the other side of the river and then back up into town we headed back to the hostel.
While we had been out searching the city some friends had arrived and by the time we got back to the hostel they were back from their excursions around the city as well. We ate dinner and had some dessert (the owner provided dessert and wine every night) and then just sat around and talked for a while. The other people staying at the hostel with us were all some really nice people and it was just nice to chill. It was decided as well that the next day instead of going back into Florence we would instead head to San Giminiano with Lauren and her friends and then that night make our way to Venice.
The next morning after packing up our stuff Lauren Maria and I headed out. Of course everything went wrong beginning with the fact that our bus that we were going to take to the train station showed up about a half hour late. We would have walked, but Lauren had some way strained her foot (we found out when we got back to campus that she had a stress fracture) and so the bus it was. When we boarded it we tried to pay the bus driver for three tickets, but he just took the money for one and let us all on board. We thought that he was just being friendly, but about halfway through the ride these two 'officials' got on and asked us for our tickets...and of course two of us didn't have them. SO we tried to explain what had happened and then tried to explain that we didn't know better BUT in the end Maria and I ended up paying €45 fines. Yea...we were dumb. Later we looked back at this and wondered if it was a scam...because I don't remember them checking anyone elses tickets, and also they just were a bit too insistent. We also wondered what would have happened if we had refused or said that we didn't have the money and they could have fined us the €80 for 'late' fees but then we probably could have just not bothered paying those and got by. BUT we were all a bit freaked when it happened and we didn't want to end up in Italian jail or anything so we (literally) emptied our wallets and went the rest of the way.
This little incident had spooked us pretty well and had also put a damper on our impromptu trip to San Gimimiano. BUt we did end up finally getting there and having a good time. The town is located on a hill in Tuscany and it is really touristy, but so worth a visit. The highlight of our trip there was lunch, where we ate at this little Taverna down a back alley that surved Bruchetta. It was really good and the people there were really nice. We ended up grabbing Gelato on our way back towards where the bus would pick us up to take us back to the train station where we could either grab another train, or take a bus. We opted for the bus, because then we got to see more of the tuscan landscape and also it was cheaper.
Once back in Firenze we all went back to the hostel and Maria and I grabbed our bags and headed back to the train station to catch a train to Venice.
This is where we should have recognized that the rest of the trip was not going to be as we thought.
Our train to Venice wasn't until around 9 that night and so we grabbed some HUGE slices of pizza and hunkered down in the station to wait out the time. Finally the train arrived (late) and we hopped aboard. It was packed. There were no seats and people were lined up in the aisle with luggage. We basically sat where we hopped aboard. With our feet sitting on the steps we climbed in on and our bags tucked away next to me. We were surrounded by business men and women who were all trying to get to different places around Europe. This was all post Volcano when flights were just beginning to get cancelled. The lady sitting next to me told us that they were originally supposed to fly from Moscow where they started to Munich...but after their flight was cancelled they had to fly to Rome and then take this train that we were on up to Munich. They had been traveling all day. You could see it in their eyes that they were tired. Plus there was no way anyone could get even a good sleep sitting in the aisle of a train where half of the compartments in our car were filled with French school children. Finally after what seemed forever we got to Venice, only to find ourselfs on the mainland...not on the islands. SO we had to then hop a bus (leaving around 2) to get to the bus station located on one of the Venitian islands, and then grab a water bus to where our hostel was. It was by the time we went to bed that night 4am. BUT we had survived. The next morning dawned nice and sunny and we headed into the city, a little too happy to be there.
Venice is one really beautiful city...once you get into the back areas. I can tell you right now it has become a bit to touristy for me. Not that I wouldn't go back...
That frst day we spent wandering around the island of San Marco taking pictures of everything and just also spending money on gifts for people. It was a really nice day and Venice is so worth seeing. But that night everything went downhill quickly. That was when Maria got the email from Ryanair saying that her flight was cancelled, and that she had the option of rebooking, or asking for a refund. She decided on the refund, because at that point we still had hope to get a train to Paris, or to Frankfort or Hamburg or somewhere. We spent the rest of the night talking to parents and people trying to find a way out.
The next day we regretted our purchases of the day before and wandered around again in search for a Vodaphone store and a travel agency. We found both, Vodaphone was helpful, the travel agency gave us very bad news...we couldnt get to the coast. We couldn't get to Paris. We couldn't get to Hamburg. So we left and went back to the hostel to see what we could find...because it also seemed that she wasn't taking us so seriously...us being younger and all that. We went back to the hostel deciding to look into it all ourselves and what we found was trains available...but no way to book em. Also the websites were crashing slowly. We were not the only people in the hostel looking for alternative routes to Paris, or to Germany either. I think half of the residents were this way. We decided to go to the train station the next day and see what we could get.
Next day...trip to train station: results...nothing. There was no way to get us out of Italy basically. BUT we did get a call from Tim telling us that there was a flight scheduled to leave in about five days from Milan that had not been cancelled yet and also was still CHEAPish. We raced back to the hostel and spent the rest of the day booking that and then going back out to San Marco to try to see something else. But we had basically lost all motivation. We did see a good quartet play Vivaldi's Four Seasons and that was actually really nice. By now we had booked another night in the hostel beacause we were not going to be leaving quite yet...but we had the flight...and we had a plan.
The next day we headed back to the train station, this time though to purchase tickets to Verona, and then from Verona to Milan. We had decided to leave Venice...two extra nights was enough for us, and it was EXPENSIVE so we were going to head to Verona, see why Billy Shakes set one of his most famous works there. Again we wandered around Venice for the rest of the day knowing that in two days time we would hopefully be back in the UK. We also on this day went to Murano (where they make the beautiful glass) and Ledo (THE BEACH). Because of course that was going to be our last night in Venice...
Our morning the next day was nice and we headed (for the third time) to the train station to catch the train to Verona. It was a pretty uneventful train ride and we were pretty happy to be on it, Venice had become too much and we just wanted to get somewhere where it might be a bit cheaper. We were staying at a one star hotel instead of a hostel, which actually turned into a pretty good deal because we had our own room and there really wasn't anyone else on our floor so we had our own bathroom as well. The first day we kinda just lazed around and did nothing, going to the place next door for food.
Our second day in Verona we went and hit the sites. First of all we saw the castle and the really old bridge...then we walked into the city taking in the beautiful buildings and cobbled streets. We went to Juliete's house...where we saw the Dear Juliet Wall (not as cool as in the move i dont think) and then the balcony and her statue as well. The thing with the statue is that if you rub her breasts you get good luck...lets just say that there were too many young italian children on a school trip to get to the statue so we decided to skip that and head back into the city. After wandering some more we found a little cafe where we had THE BEST meal we had had so far. It was really good and italian and CHEAP! and all in all what we needed. We also had real fruit (something we hadn't really had...since we were kinda living off of bread and cheese) and then for dinner that night our usual bread and cheese.
The store where we bought the bread and cheese from also sold Lego's and I was really tempted to get something, just because it was really random that they had all this wine and bread and cheese and all that...and then a whole row of shelves stacked with lego kits.
Well that was our second and last day in Verona. The next day we headed straight to the train station catching the first train that left after we got there to Milan, and then hopping on the first bus we could to the airport. Our flight was leaving. We were headed home!!!!!
Like I had said our flight went out, and we had checked our backpacks and so carried plastic grocery bags onto the plane with what we wanted for carryon purposes. Yea we used grocery bags...but hey it worked and we were only allowed one carryon so we had to put our purses in something. On the flight we were both really excited and once we landed we headed to Kings Cross where we had a hotel waiting (THANK YOU DAD). It felt really good to be back in England. All the trains to York had gone for the night, so we caught the first one the next day and finally made it back. We were met with SUN and WARMTH and FLOWERS and little GOSLINGS and just a beautiful place.
That concludes my spring break.
Sorry if I left anything out...I might have shortened some things that I would have expanded on if i had the time...but im hungry and want to go eat dinner. So until next time.
Ciao
Firenze (Florence) is beautiful.
Sure the train ride there was a bit stressful (we missed our train because I thought we should grab lunch) and yea once we got there we couldnt figure out where we were supposed to grab a bus to get to our hostel...but once we got to the place it was FANTASTIC! The owner met us at the door with wide open arms and a pink sports jacket. He was this uber nice uber italian old man who owned the house/hostel and ran it with the help of two (or three) other women and two dogs. After bustling us into the place and showing us where we would sleep he brought us each a glass of wine and we signed all the paperwork and paid the fees. The hostel was really cute! All white and airy with little querky touches.
Maria and I decided to walk down to the main part of the city then after moving in and we just wandered about and saw some really cool buildings. One there was no line for, and the next day when we walked by there was a line out the door and around the building. That night we also went out for dinner and had a pretty good meal...not our best, but we needed a good meal out.
After the meal we ended up racing back to the hostel because I was supposed to have an interview for a position as an intern working for LAS 101. Of course when I got to the hostel I couldn't get the wireless internet working, and then the computer provided couldn't work with the microphone and headphones I had brought, so in the end I missed my interview and had to write my answers to all the questions and email them to the interviewer. BUT I got that all worked out in the end and well I didn't get the position it was still worth a shot.
The next day Maria and I headed back into town ready to discover the rest of it. We began the day at the Museum that housed the original David sculpture. Yes, you know the one. Sadly I could not get a pic considering there were only about five other people in there with us. We had decided the night before to get to the building that housed him when it opened and we only ended up standing in line for about twenty minutes before they let us in. It was pretty neat that we got in so well, some girls the night before had purchased tickets to get into the building early, we just walked in and then walked back to see him...we didnt pay a thing. That I may say is a really good feeling. After that we wandere down to the center of town to see the buildings there including the Duomo...this building is beautiful. It is all Marble on the outside and then just really open on the inside with a beautiful fresco in the main dome. We also climbed the 500 odd steps to get to the dome and then up to the roof above it. The view was SPACTACULAR and it is how I fell in love with the city. Just looking at how its set up and then also just how beautiful the landscape surrounding the city was, made me decided that I would love to live in this city. Of course my love grew as we clambored down from the dome and went back out into the city. For lunch we decided to check out the central market and outdoor market that the city had. Here we found EVERYTHING from Italian leather jackets and bags to Fish heads and Bread and Cheese and Wine and all of the above. We bought dinner for later (A HUGE loaf of bread that lasted till Venice, some Parmesan Cheese, a bottle of Rose, and some creamy garlic mushrooms) For lunch we ate at a little stall in the back of the market and had pruchetta paninis. Everything was delicious and it was all just so CHEAP too. After wandering around the rest of the day taking pictures with random sculptures or gelato or just neat buildings we decided to wander down to the water front for the sunset. Boy was it beautiful, not orange and crazy like it is supposed to be, but still pretty gorgeous. Just chilling by the water too was so nice. We walked down the river over to this really cool central bridge that has stores on either side of it. Most of these were closed by the time we got there, but there were some street musicians playing and they were quite good. Finally after wandering to the other side of the river and then back up into town we headed back to the hostel.
While we had been out searching the city some friends had arrived and by the time we got back to the hostel they were back from their excursions around the city as well. We ate dinner and had some dessert (the owner provided dessert and wine every night) and then just sat around and talked for a while. The other people staying at the hostel with us were all some really nice people and it was just nice to chill. It was decided as well that the next day instead of going back into Florence we would instead head to San Giminiano with Lauren and her friends and then that night make our way to Venice.
The next morning after packing up our stuff Lauren Maria and I headed out. Of course everything went wrong beginning with the fact that our bus that we were going to take to the train station showed up about a half hour late. We would have walked, but Lauren had some way strained her foot (we found out when we got back to campus that she had a stress fracture) and so the bus it was. When we boarded it we tried to pay the bus driver for three tickets, but he just took the money for one and let us all on board. We thought that he was just being friendly, but about halfway through the ride these two 'officials' got on and asked us for our tickets...and of course two of us didn't have them. SO we tried to explain what had happened and then tried to explain that we didn't know better BUT in the end Maria and I ended up paying €45 fines. Yea...we were dumb. Later we looked back at this and wondered if it was a scam...because I don't remember them checking anyone elses tickets, and also they just were a bit too insistent. We also wondered what would have happened if we had refused or said that we didn't have the money and they could have fined us the €80 for 'late' fees but then we probably could have just not bothered paying those and got by. BUT we were all a bit freaked when it happened and we didn't want to end up in Italian jail or anything so we (literally) emptied our wallets and went the rest of the way.
This little incident had spooked us pretty well and had also put a damper on our impromptu trip to San Gimimiano. BUt we did end up finally getting there and having a good time. The town is located on a hill in Tuscany and it is really touristy, but so worth a visit. The highlight of our trip there was lunch, where we ate at this little Taverna down a back alley that surved Bruchetta. It was really good and the people there were really nice. We ended up grabbing Gelato on our way back towards where the bus would pick us up to take us back to the train station where we could either grab another train, or take a bus. We opted for the bus, because then we got to see more of the tuscan landscape and also it was cheaper.
Once back in Firenze we all went back to the hostel and Maria and I grabbed our bags and headed back to the train station to catch a train to Venice.
This is where we should have recognized that the rest of the trip was not going to be as we thought.
Our train to Venice wasn't until around 9 that night and so we grabbed some HUGE slices of pizza and hunkered down in the station to wait out the time. Finally the train arrived (late) and we hopped aboard. It was packed. There were no seats and people were lined up in the aisle with luggage. We basically sat where we hopped aboard. With our feet sitting on the steps we climbed in on and our bags tucked away next to me. We were surrounded by business men and women who were all trying to get to different places around Europe. This was all post Volcano when flights were just beginning to get cancelled. The lady sitting next to me told us that they were originally supposed to fly from Moscow where they started to Munich...but after their flight was cancelled they had to fly to Rome and then take this train that we were on up to Munich. They had been traveling all day. You could see it in their eyes that they were tired. Plus there was no way anyone could get even a good sleep sitting in the aisle of a train where half of the compartments in our car were filled with French school children. Finally after what seemed forever we got to Venice, only to find ourselfs on the mainland...not on the islands. SO we had to then hop a bus (leaving around 2) to get to the bus station located on one of the Venitian islands, and then grab a water bus to where our hostel was. It was by the time we went to bed that night 4am. BUT we had survived. The next morning dawned nice and sunny and we headed into the city, a little too happy to be there.
Venice is one really beautiful city...once you get into the back areas. I can tell you right now it has become a bit to touristy for me. Not that I wouldn't go back...
That frst day we spent wandering around the island of San Marco taking pictures of everything and just also spending money on gifts for people. It was a really nice day and Venice is so worth seeing. But that night everything went downhill quickly. That was when Maria got the email from Ryanair saying that her flight was cancelled, and that she had the option of rebooking, or asking for a refund. She decided on the refund, because at that point we still had hope to get a train to Paris, or to Frankfort or Hamburg or somewhere. We spent the rest of the night talking to parents and people trying to find a way out.
The next day we regretted our purchases of the day before and wandered around again in search for a Vodaphone store and a travel agency. We found both, Vodaphone was helpful, the travel agency gave us very bad news...we couldnt get to the coast. We couldn't get to Paris. We couldn't get to Hamburg. So we left and went back to the hostel to see what we could find...because it also seemed that she wasn't taking us so seriously...us being younger and all that. We went back to the hostel deciding to look into it all ourselves and what we found was trains available...but no way to book em. Also the websites were crashing slowly. We were not the only people in the hostel looking for alternative routes to Paris, or to Germany either. I think half of the residents were this way. We decided to go to the train station the next day and see what we could get.
Next day...trip to train station: results...nothing. There was no way to get us out of Italy basically. BUT we did get a call from Tim telling us that there was a flight scheduled to leave in about five days from Milan that had not been cancelled yet and also was still CHEAPish. We raced back to the hostel and spent the rest of the day booking that and then going back out to San Marco to try to see something else. But we had basically lost all motivation. We did see a good quartet play Vivaldi's Four Seasons and that was actually really nice. By now we had booked another night in the hostel beacause we were not going to be leaving quite yet...but we had the flight...and we had a plan.
The next day we headed back to the train station, this time though to purchase tickets to Verona, and then from Verona to Milan. We had decided to leave Venice...two extra nights was enough for us, and it was EXPENSIVE so we were going to head to Verona, see why Billy Shakes set one of his most famous works there. Again we wandered around Venice for the rest of the day knowing that in two days time we would hopefully be back in the UK. We also on this day went to Murano (where they make the beautiful glass) and Ledo (THE BEACH). Because of course that was going to be our last night in Venice...
Our morning the next day was nice and we headed (for the third time) to the train station to catch the train to Verona. It was a pretty uneventful train ride and we were pretty happy to be on it, Venice had become too much and we just wanted to get somewhere where it might be a bit cheaper. We were staying at a one star hotel instead of a hostel, which actually turned into a pretty good deal because we had our own room and there really wasn't anyone else on our floor so we had our own bathroom as well. The first day we kinda just lazed around and did nothing, going to the place next door for food.
Our second day in Verona we went and hit the sites. First of all we saw the castle and the really old bridge...then we walked into the city taking in the beautiful buildings and cobbled streets. We went to Juliete's house...where we saw the Dear Juliet Wall (not as cool as in the move i dont think) and then the balcony and her statue as well. The thing with the statue is that if you rub her breasts you get good luck...lets just say that there were too many young italian children on a school trip to get to the statue so we decided to skip that and head back into the city. After wandering some more we found a little cafe where we had THE BEST meal we had had so far. It was really good and italian and CHEAP! and all in all what we needed. We also had real fruit (something we hadn't really had...since we were kinda living off of bread and cheese) and then for dinner that night our usual bread and cheese.
The store where we bought the bread and cheese from also sold Lego's and I was really tempted to get something, just because it was really random that they had all this wine and bread and cheese and all that...and then a whole row of shelves stacked with lego kits.
Well that was our second and last day in Verona. The next day we headed straight to the train station catching the first train that left after we got there to Milan, and then hopping on the first bus we could to the airport. Our flight was leaving. We were headed home!!!!!
Like I had said our flight went out, and we had checked our backpacks and so carried plastic grocery bags onto the plane with what we wanted for carryon purposes. Yea we used grocery bags...but hey it worked and we were only allowed one carryon so we had to put our purses in something. On the flight we were both really excited and once we landed we headed to Kings Cross where we had a hotel waiting (THANK YOU DAD). It felt really good to be back in England. All the trains to York had gone for the night, so we caught the first one the next day and finally made it back. We were met with SUN and WARMTH and FLOWERS and little GOSLINGS and just a beautiful place.
That concludes my spring break.
Sorry if I left anything out...I might have shortened some things that I would have expanded on if i had the time...but im hungry and want to go eat dinner. So until next time.
Ciao
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)