More Spring Break!

Hi Everyone! I will start where I left off...

April 3rd
We took the train from Rome to Pisa, where we stopped to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We walked from the train station to the Leaning tower and had some pizza on the way. Pisa is actually pretty small and as far as we could tell the only attraction was the leaning tower. It was so funny to see all these people trying to get pictures of them with the leaning tower and some had some very interesting positions holding up the tower. We then took the train from Pisa to Florence. Our hostel was right in the middle of town and close to where all the American students studying there go out and we took advantage of that! We grabbed some pizza once in Florence and then headed out with some friends who are studying there. We ended up at a karaoke bar and did a wonderful cover of Livin' on a Prayer.




April 4th
We started the day off with David in the Acadamia. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures but one of my sneaky friends snuck one! We then had lunch on a side street and then walked through the Market area and the food market and then had some gelato. We stopped by the Duomo to take pictures. We went to the Uffizi which was under renovation and all of the art was not on display so it was a disappointment. We then had dinner in the Piazza by the Uffizi and had some amazing grilled eggplant and pesto pasta. We thought that gelato was in order so we topped it off with some white chocolate and chocolate amaretto gelato---by far the best gelato I had at the Gelataria Negri on the river bank.



April 5th
Palm Sunday
We did our laundry in a laundromat and took over--all of the washers and dryers were in use by us! We then went to Mass at Santa Croce Cathedral in Italian--I could understand some of it but was mostly enjoying looking around the beautiful church and going to service. We then had lunch and I had the most amazing tomato, mozarella, turkey and pesto panini on focaccia. It was soooo good! We then took the train to Venice. We bought a 48hr watertaxi ticket that we took full advantage of. Our hotel in Venice was on Lido Island and was very nice. We then went to dinner and had pizza and wine and walked around Venice.

April 6th
We walked around Venice most of the day and went through the market area where I bought a beautiful Murano glass bead necklace. We ended up getting lost on all of the tiny side streets and running into dead ends into the canals! We found a small restaurant and sat down to have a drink and ended up meeting a great American family from Newport Beach, CA. They were so nice and we got to talking and they ended up buying all 7 of us a beer. We took a gondola ride which was great and was a great way to see the picturesque part of Venice. We had dinner by the main canal and enjoyed some delicious lasagna, calamari and wine. Venice was beautiful and truly one of my favorite cities.



April 7th

Train to Milan. We stored our luggage at the train station and walked around Milan. We had a very expensive lunch of a slice of pizza and a coca light for 9 euros. We then walked to the Castle and laid in the sun. We walked to the Duomo--which is the 3rd largest in the world and walked around the touristy shopping area close to the Duomo. We then had dinner for 6 euros---for one drink and an all you can eat buffett of snacks--which we capitalized on for two hours. We then went back to the train station to pick up our luggage and trained to the airport where we spent the night waiting for our 6:45am flight to Brussels.


April 8th
Arrive in Brussels. We are all exhausted and it is raining--not the best weather for us to walk around Brussels in. Our hotel was very nice but in an odd neighborhood of Brussels. We were in the middle eastern area and as we walked around and looked in restaurants and bars not a single woman was in any of them. When we did see a woman on the street she was in full coverage with only her eyes showing. I felt naked wearing jeans, a sweater and a jacket. We went to the Grand Place and walked around trying to find some of the major sights but failing. We finally gave up, had an early dinner and went to bed around 9pm.



April 9th
We slept in very late! We woke up in time for the free breakfast from the hotel and then back to bed until noon. We finally left the hotel around 1pm and were off to get lunch and then to Mini Europe. On our way to the metro we were attacked by a small gypsy child--it was very confusing trying to buy a metro ticket while being yelled at by a small child in a different language. Mini Europe was fun and we enjoyed seeing the Eiffel tower again in mini form! We then went back to the main part of Brussels to explore some more. We had a Belguim waffel and looked for the peeing boy and girl. The peeing girl was closed but we did find the peeing boy. We then headed back to the hotel and stopped to have a Belguim beer and some pub food.


April 10th
Took a train to Amsterdam. We arrived and headed for our hostel where we were meeting our friend Allison. Allison unfortunately had a biking accident the previous day and had to go to the hospital thinking that she broke her foot--she didn't--but she was our hop-along friend for the weekend. While she was at the hospital with her friend who is studying abroad there we took a walking tour and were able to see the whole city and hear some very interesting history. We met up with Allison after the walking tour and grabbed some food at a pub close to our hostel. We then walked around the city and in Dam square found a small carnival! Marissa and I did one of the rides---it was one of the most painful carnival rides in my life! It was sooooo long and a whiplash machine! By the end Marissa and I were almost crying from laughing so hard and from wanting to get off!

April 11th
We were awakened by our hostel roommates practically screaming at around 8am getting ready for the day. We thought it might be a good idea to capitalize on the free breakfast so that was our first stop. We then headed off to explore Amsterdam. I truly thought Amsterdam was a beautiful city. The canals were gorgeous and all of the people were friendly and very welcoming. We went down to the market area and walked around--Allison trailing behind with her hurt foot. We then went to the Heineken brewery and took a tour. We then walked around and explored more ending up back in Dam square where Allison and I did another carnival ride--the swings--a much better ride and not painful at all! We then ended up back in the hostel and took a break from walking before going out to a pub crawl.
April 12th
We spent our Easter morning at the Anne Frank house--we didn't realize we had booked our Anne Frank experience for Easter Sunday. It was a moving experience to see the Anne Frank house and where she actually lived. We then did a canal boat ride and got to see all around the city on the water. We then headed off to the airport heading back to St. Andrews.
It was such a wonderful trip and I truly enjoyed every minute of my trip.


I love y'all and miss you!

xoxo

<3

Spring Break Pictures!

Hi Everyone! Sorry this has taken forever but I am finally putting up spring break pictures!! Spring break was amazing and I had a wonderful time!!!

March 28th arrived in Paris
We got to know the Paris metro system very well that day trying to get to our hotel. We stayed in a hotel outside of Paris but the hotel was right beside a metro station and only a 15 minute metro ride to the center of Paris. That night we went to the Eiffel Tower and took a sightseeing boat cruise on the Seine which was amazing. It truly was a great kickoff to spring break and is something that I will remember forever.



March 29th
We did major sightseeing in Paris going to the Plaza Concord (where the fountain from the Devil Wears Prada is), the Lourve, Notre Dame, the Pantheon and Luxemburg Palace and Gardens. Luckily one of the girls who was on the trip with us had been to Paris with her family previously and knew where everything was otherwise we would have been walking around lost most of the day.







March 30th
We went to the top of the Eiffel tower (riding the elevators, but then decided to come down the stairs and I proceeded to have a panic attack--seeing the ground and seeing how many stairs there were was not the best choice for me!). We went out to Versailles which ended up being closed! But we had a great time in the Gardens and rented a row boat on the pond. We went back into Paris to the Arch de Triumph and Champs Elysees.








March 31st
Fly to Rome and then did some more major sightseeing. But our first stop was lunch for some amazing pizza. We then went to the Colosseum and took a tour of it and the Forums. Our tour guide was a crazy Italian man who yelled at a kid on a school trip and invited all the ladies in the tour to a private tour of his butterfly collection later that day. He was crazy! We then went to the Pantheon and had dinner in the piazza there for 12 euros for pasta, wine and gelatto--it was delicious and everyone says it was the best meal they have ever had. It was a great location with the people and there were even people playing music--it was just like in a movie. We then went to the Trevi Fountain and threw our coin in over our shoulder so that we will be going back to Rome. We stayed there and did some people watching and met some very intersting Italian vendors who were adimate about Gabe and Mike (the only guys in the group) buying every girl a rose--we politely declined.








April 1st
We found out that on Wednesday the Pope does an address so we decided to go see it. We got there and got amazing seats after asking one of the Swiss guards where to sit and he couldn't tell us but if he were to sit somewhere he pointed out where. We were right by the Pope-mobile as it came by and were attacked by Italian women trying to get closer to him. It was worse than a moshpit! We then went to the Vatican Museums and saw the Sistine Chapel. We went back to the Basilica and saw the crypts. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at the Sain Angelo Castle. We had another amazing dinner that night at a local restaurant right by our hostel and as wine was cheaper than water we decided to have some pitchers of wine with dinner instead of water.





April 2nd
We went to the Church of Bones which is where monks took bones from their dead and made all these designs out of the bones--it was very cool and creepy all at the same time. Unfortunately you could not take pictures so I have no pictures of it. We then went to the Spanish Steps and had some gelatto and people watched. We then went to the Piazza Navana and did some more people watching. It was a very laid back day as we had crammed the past two days with extreme sightseeing. We went to a cute restaurant La Famiglia for dinner and I had the most amazing Pizza Magherita there.


I will have to add the rest of the trip later today. I am going with friends to Anstruther for the best fish in chips in the UK for lunch. I will let you know how it is! Miss y'all and love you! I will update again later today with more pictures.

xoxo