So Little Time

I'm going to try and write this as best as I can without getting overexcited about what Kelley and I did today until the very end. Rome has kept us incredibly busy. The hostel we're staying in is not the best. While the locker systems are amazing we are experiencing some issues with mold (not sure if it is black mold) but it is severely effecting both of our breathing. Our first day in Rome, we bought tickets for a 48 hour hop on hop off tour bus, which we got our money's worth. It included two tours, one through the heart of Rome and one through some of the more "countryside." Both were pretty cool. The bus wasn't too bad when we were moving but when we stopped in the sun it was dreadful from the heat. On our first day, we went to the Roman Forums and explored them for quite some time where we discovered something quite nifty that Rome has throughout the city. They have running water faucets/fountains for people to either refill water bottles or simply get a drink. They were heaven sent and lifesavers. After the forums we hit the Colosseum which was just intense as was the forums. We also saw the Trevi Fountain, which was super packed with people, and the Spanish Steps which were kind of a let down. Later that night, after an exhausting day we tried to find a place to eat before returning to the hostel only to discover that restaurants don't open until 7:30 so we had to go shower and kill time before we could eat dinner. For dessert that night we attempted to get creme brulee, it ended up being more like flan. The next day, we used our passes again. We went and explored one of the squares and wandered for a while before hopping on a bus towards the Baths. They were pretty awesome and one could only imagine what they used to be like. From there, we made our way to the Pantheon which was also awesome. Later that day, we ate dinner in a restaurant right in front of it. It was amazing and surreal. We of course made a pit stop in between at Burger King to get a couple cokes and use the bathroom. We also had to take advantage of gelato eating it a couple times this week. We then made it over to the Castle Sant Angelo at night which was amazing with the lights and the Angel Bridge leading up to it. We wandered around it for a while as there were tents set up and a festival was going on at the time. I know I have probably left out a ton but these past couple of days have been so amazing and I'll probably be confused by all of my pictures. Today, we made it to the Vatican which was pretty cool. We took a tour and explored the museums. The amount of gold in the Vatican is crazy and the Sistine Chapel was of course amazing. Words can't even describe how awe-inspiring it was. After the Vatican, we headed back to the hostel to freshen up. Because we got to do my favorite thing so far of the trip. We saw the Fina Swimming World Championships tonight and I'm still super stoked from it. My dad joked that I fly half away around the country to see swimming. Woo hoo. Woo hoo is right though, it was amazing. I got to see Aaron Peirsol (my favorite swimmer) set a new world record and win gold in the 200 back (after he had a disappointing swim in the 100 back) and see an intense race for the mens 4x200 free relay. Ryan Lochte pulled off an amazing finish to set another WR for the boys in the event, winning them the gold, and surprise surprise giving Michael Phelps yet another gold medal. Kelley and I were just so pumped up after it we're still a little wired and going from the excitement. Tomorrow is our last day and we should be taking it easy but we shall see what craziness we find ourselves in tomorrow.

It was an interesting day to say the least. Last night when we washed our clothes, the dryer basically sucked. We dried our clothes for at least an hour and then gave up after a while since we wanted to go to bed and it was already midnight. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best that our clothes would be somewhat dry by the morning. Fortunately, they were pretty much dry except for our socks. Thank goodness for the windows and the drier climate. We packed up and headed for the train station where we caught a train to Venice. We spent the afternoon exploring the Venice, and I couldn't believe just how toursity it was. We took a water bus to San Marco's Basilica and took our required pictures and then explored the back alleys of Venice. It was a nice day out and pretty warm. Fortunately, the canals didn't really smell. The only big issue was the huge crowds. Arriving in Venice, we saw at least 4 cruise ships so they may have contributed to the crowd. There were so many amazing shops and and stands that included gorgeous Marono glass and intricate Venetian masks. There were so many things I wanted to buy but had to limit myself because of costs and the ability to transport them safely. Some of the masks I thought were really beautiful were over 80 euros and well I didn't need to spend that much money on a mask. For lunch, we enjoyed a tourist menu where Kelley got a crazy amount of food and for my "drink" that came with my meal I received a coke in a wine goblet as my drink. I truly miss my free refills and big gulps at 7-11. We then explored for a while checking out all the glass, leather, and masks. We wandered for quite a while and while we didn't get "lost" we did manage to return to stores we had already been in. We easily made our way around and caught another boat back to the train station where we had checked our luggage. We had plenty of time until our train and it gave us enough time to rearrange our bags for our new purchases. Now, we're sitting on the train to Rome. It was a pretty easy day considering how much money we spent. Oh, and we also learned the best way to get around the bathroom situation in Europe, thanks to Donna. Donna recommended we find the Burger King in Venice to use the bathroom and buy a coke. It is a brilliant idea because it is one of the cheapest cokes you can buy and you get to use the bathroom. It is amazing.

So you know how they say travel in Euope is ALWAYS on time, well, that's bull.

Traveling is kind of nerve wracking in a foreign country, where neither one of you speak the language and it kept us on our toes today. Anyways, back to the beginning. We went to the beach bright and early this morning just to dip our feet in the water in hopes of avoiding some of the crowds. Surprisingly, the beach was already starting to fill up at 9 in the morning. We did our required couple minutes in the water with our pants rolled up. It was nice and refreshing, a bit too cold for me and way too rocky but at least I can say I did it. On our way back to the hostel, we grabbed some food for the train ride. Kelley grabbed a sandwich (with mayo!!! she was way excited) and I grabbed a doughnut and pretzel from a bakery stand. We got to the train station with plenty of time, only to find out that our train was delayed and they had yet to post what stance it was going to be at so the station was full of people staring up at the sign. Mind you, it was packed, 70+ degrees and no air conditioning with our backpacks. Talk about a good time. Finally, we found out what stance and made our way to the train. Unfortunately, none of the doors to the train would not open so we were forced to stand around and wait. I loved it when people pushed their way to the front thinking we were so stupid as to not push the button to open the door. I mean really, come on people. Kelley was excited because the train was a train with compartments so she called it the Harry Potter train because there was even a food trolley. So that train was about 40+ minutes late and rather than making up time, it continued to sit at stations we passed through for long periods of time...Hmmm. Crazy. We arrived in Milan thinking we had missed our next train because we were originally supposed to have a 50 minute layover (I guess you can call it that) and definitely arrived 15 minutes after our train was supposed to have left. Fortunately, that train was also delayed and we made it with enough time. It was a fairly nice train and Kelley and I were separated in our seats. She sat across from a guy that I described as a cross between a Dead Head and a Hell's Angel. Kelley apparently really enjoyed talking to him while I thought he was a bit off his rocker. We then made it to Florence (or Firenze) early evening. It took us a couple minutes to figure out what direction we needed to go to make it to our hostel but we made it alright. Funny thing is that we have a private room for one night and this private room is bigger than all of our other rooms that held multiple people. There are even separate rooms in our room. It is crazy. The downside is that no air conditioning but it is doable. We decided to hit Florence after we dropped our bags off and we made our way to Piazza Michaelangelo for a great sight of the city at sunset. On the way, we stopped and had dinner at a Indian/Italian restaurant that had some really great prices. Food was pretty good for the price. We then hiked another great big hill and more crazy number of steps to reach the top. But it was worth it. There were some amazing views of the city and two wedding parties had chosen to take their pictures at the sight. We then enjoyed some gelato and made our way back to the hostel to do some laundry. Tomorrow should be a very long day as we go to Venice and then Rome.

I really do love America (this is my version of homesick with a week to go)

Today, Kelley and I noticed a lot of differences between the states and Europe. While we had a great day of views and sights we still had our lows but I'll try to keep the blog positive. We caught a train to Monaco at about 8:20 and it was only about a 3o minute ride. We wandered around early trying to find the palace and finally we made it after climbing another ridiculous amount of stairs. The palace didn't open until 10 so we wandered around the shops that were up there for a while buying the necessary souvenirs. The views from the sight of the palace were amazing and the palace was quite different from the others ones we had seen so far. Finally, we were able to enter the castle and were one of the first few in. We had free audio guides and it was really helpful to know what we were looking at and all about the rooms. Sadly, we probably only saw about 1/10 (if even) of the palace, as that was all the tour included. The tour took about 30 minutes and then we headed to the museum next door which was sooooo worth it. We saw two of Napoleon's tri-corner hats, the one he wore at the Battle of Waterloo and when he was exiled to Elba. We even saw several locks of his hair, don't ask me why. The best part though was the uniform of the royal guards from a while back that included purple pants. We then wandered again some more only to discover that people are really not aware of their surroundings here. They just move or stand still unaware that people are either next to them or trying to get around them. It is quite frustrating in the very narrow streets and alleys. We wandered into some more shops where I found a souvenir for my mother and bought a shot glass. We then decided to try and find a bite to eat but the restaurants didn't serve food until noon, which was stupid. We were able to find a little sandwich place that was way overpriced. A can of coke cost 3 euros...which is just plain ridic. Unfortunately, I was concerned with protecting my mother's present and I sent my shot glass flying, breaking it and wasting 4 euros. Darn. But I found another that worked (not quite in my collection standards but still cool). I had gelato twice today trying different flavors again. This time milk chocolate and raspberry. After we snacked, we were able to see the changing of the guards which was pretty neat, not overly exciting but still an experience. We then headed off to the aquarium where we were supposed to meet our roommates from the hostel. It was a little difficult to find but we finally manged it. The aquarium was responsible for some of our frustration for the day. We attempted to get our student discount, however our student ids from SU do not have a date on them so they don't accept them as valid forms of student id. I think this is crazy because what schools do have years or dates on them. So we had to pay double the price to get in. The aquarium was fun but definitely not worth the double price as they did not have any live mammals; they only had skeletons of them. I was quite disappointed. From there, we went to the terrace on top of the aquarium which had amazing views of Monaco. I can't even describe how gorgeous it was. Then we journeyed to sit in the shade and overlook the water some more. We then spent some time exploring the town a bit more, walking along the marina and seeing all the crazy expensive yachts. We then hopped on a train back to Nice. We dropped off our souvenirs and headed out to find food and to see one last touristy thing. Unfortunately, the majority of stores and restaurants are closed on Sundays so our options were very limited and we wound up eating at this restaurant called the Hippopotamus, which we later decided was a chain. It seemed pretty nice and there were lots of people there so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, we had a very rude waitress that pretty much hated us and all her other tables. Also, everything was a little pricey so we had the joy of eating the cheapest thing on the menu, burgers (sad, I know, but nothing was really open and we didn't have too much of a choice). They were okay burgers but not worth the price we paid for them. Kelley made a good point that sometimes our system of tipping is really functional. And as a server I can agree to the tip based service, although sometimes I think tip should be included. LOL. We then made our way to Block Head. A giant statue of a head that is a block. Since we are exhausted from the day we're just taking it easy tonight and heading off to Florence tomorrow. Oh, and on a side note something else that gets me. With Europe being more sexually open and free, with nude beaches and nudity in films, I don't understand why men are still vulgar at times towards women when they should be used to it. There is something left to be said about discretion. Hopefully, tomorrow will be less stressful, more relaxing, cheaper, and altogether a good day.

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

Today was a wandering day. We decided to hit the Musee Matisse first, easier said than done. We used Kelley's itouch in hopes of navigating our way with the map program. However, the map kept telling us to turn down private drives that had gates. So after taking side roads and backtracking at least three times we finally decided to ask for directions. We wandered into a pharmacy where I asked for directions and the guy complimented my French and kind of gave me directions in Franglais so that Kelley could somewhat understand them. We finally found it, and the map had us going in a crazy wrong direction. They had some exhibits on loan from other museums and had some works of Rodin too. Kelley enjoyed it more than me but it was still an experience. Then, we grabbed some lunch at a cafe. We both ordered pizza, Kelley pepperoni and myself three cheese, which was actually quite interesting. Rather than the pizza having three cheeses sprinkled all over it, the three cheeses were divided into various sections of the pizza and it was delicious. We didn't order anything to drink because the cokes were 3 euros for a small bottle. Instead, we stopped at a "convenient" store and bought a 1.5 Liter of coke for 2.3 euros, talk about a better deal, and while yes we are sipping on them warm now it is not bad at all. We then decided to wander around Nice for a while. We took somewhat directions from my dad of where to shop and find gelato and it was a great start to our wandering. We window shopped some and then made it to a square like area. There was a jazz band playing, since the jazz festival is going on right now and we listened to them for a bit and they were pretty good. We then witnessed a bocce ball tournament. I kid you not a bocce ball tournament and it was international!!!! There were teams from Scotland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and many other countries. I kid you not. Then we wandered around an area and got gelato!!!! I got strawberry and mango and Kelley enjoyed mango and lemon. It was delicious. We then tried to find some souvenirs. Kelley found something for her mom (but I'm not allowed to say what, it is a surprise). We then explored the beach some and then ventured into a back alley area to explore some of the shops and restaurants. It was really fun seeing all the various shops and exploring the alleys. We then enjoyed some more gelato (it is that good and that refreshing), this time lemoncello. And back to the beach we went where we sat for quite some time just enjoying the view of the beach and city. We sat on some benches overlooking rather than on the beach because for one it is rocky, and the other because it was crowded as crap. But we did make an interesting observation. Most women wore their tops while the occasional few embraced the topless European tradition which was somewhat awkward because 98% of the women still had their tops on. After lounging for a while, we decided to climb the stairs to Le Chateau. Easier said than done. We hiked over 400 stairs just to make it to the top but the trek was well worth it because the view of the city and water was amazing. We also were able to see the chateau waterfall up close. We then headed back down and looked for a place to eat dinner. We actually ate at a cafe right across from the one where we ate last night. I enjoyed lasagna this time while Kelley ordered penne alla arrabiata (which of course meant we had to watch Eddie Izzard's Death Star Cafe). I loved my lasagna and it was different from Kelley's from the night before because mine was meatier and had more sauces as opposed to her cheesy one. But she also loved her pasta and enjoyed a small decanter of wine. We're now back in our hostel prepping for a trip to Monaco tomorrow. It should be quite fun.

Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to breed yet alone travel

We woke early this morning to ensure that we allowed plenty of time to catch our train. And I mean actually early, 4:30. As we checked out, the guy working the desk asked if we wanted breakfast since we were missing the free breakfast. We said we were in a hurry and he ensured us that he could get us something quick and free, so we accepted. He brought us back a bagged lunch pretty much. It included a box of apple juice, an apple, a sandwich, weird granola bar thing, and paprika chips. It wasn't too bad and hey it was free. We took a train from Amsterdam to Paris. On the train, we wanted to kill the people behind us. They were shooting what they called a movie. They were blocking the path to the bathroom and said the same damn things over and over. It was quite annoying. And it didn't help they were really bad actors and trying to pull off American accents, needless to say it didn't work. When we arrived to Paris we had to change train stations. Well, easier said than done. We needed to take the metro and unfortunately, their were no tellers working and they expected us to pay with coins, and they did not have any machines to make change which so we exited the building trying to find another entrance where someone might be working. Again, no luck and I tried to talk to some French guys to try and figure out what to do. That was no good either. So we were panicking because we had less than an hour to get to the other train station. We then tried to find a taxi as a last result and had some difficulties doing that. But finally we found one and he promised us it would be 15 minutes and we were feeling a little better. It was only a 11 euro cab ride so it wasn't too bad. We hustled to the train and made it with time. It was of course another interesting train ride. There were some very vulgar young Americans sitting near us. They were carrying along in English assuming no one around them spoke English. Finally, a man spoke up scolding them. This is why stupid people should be banned. We made it to our hostel which is near the train station. It only took cash which was a bit unusual. We then went to find some food and we grabbed some from a cafe. We sat and drank a small glass of wine while we enjoyed some pasta. I got some simple spaghetti (I'll be more bold soon) and Kelley had some amazing lasagna. Now, we're sitting in our hostel and talking to some people from Kentucky that are studying in Paris for the summer. Tomorrow, we'll be journeying around Nice. Wish us luck exploring.

I AMsterdam

We decided that since we enjoyed our tour so much in Edinburgh we decided we would take another one here in Amsterdam. We met in the lobby of our hostel and then we took the tram to Dam square. Of course, it rained this morning (on and off) in which I used my umbrella and Kelley braved the weather, taking refuge under my umbrella during the stops. Unfortunately, our tour guide wasn't as awesome as last one but we still had fun on the tour. We ventured into the Red Light District which was surprisingly dead. Apparently, the government is in the process of closing down several of the "windows" and "coffee" shops in an attempt to clean up the city. While there weren't many girls in the windows, we did see one man enter the window as we passed by. Shady and awkward. We then wandered through the town some more seeing the narrowest house. We walked past the "coffee" shop where Matt Damon filmed a scene in Ocean's 12. We also went by the Anne Frank House and Museum. After the tour, we went with the group to eat at a Dutch restaurant. Kelley tried one of the specials (fried meat gravy type things) which was interesting, and I went with something I thought would be safe, cheese fingers, which basically tasted like fried cheeze whiz. Two of the girls from the group joined us after lunch, one from Germany the other from Ohio. We wandered the city for a short bit making our way to the Van Gogh Museum but only making it there a little bit before 5 and it closed at 6 and we didn't feel like spending 12 euros for only an hour so we bid the girls adieu and Kelley and I hung out in the park by it for a bit, which included the I Amsterdam sign. We grabbed some ice cream and sat on the backside of the sign where a little girl kept saying hi to us (I think she just wanted our ice cream). Then we started our long walk back to our hostel. It was nice though because we got to walk along the river. I almost got killed by two cars today and Kelley almost got taken out by a cyclist (Kelley's incident was a lot closer than mine). We then made it back to the hostel, changing into flip flops so that our feet could breathe and we set out to find food near our hostel. Kelley found a place where she could grab a Kebab which she swears was better than the one in London, minus the fact the bread scratched the roof of her mouth. I didn't try to order anything here because it was all in Dutch. We then stopped at an Italian place for me and I grabbed a pizza; it was still in Dutch but I could at least figure out most of the words. It was actually pretty good. I know you're thinking why not eat pizza when you get to Italy? I figure it is a relatiely safe food for me to eat and Italy will be all about the pasta. Oh, yeah. so I said we had yet to decide on the hostel. While we were gone during the day, the hallways developed a lovely smell. It smells like mold and we have to hold our breaths as we run down the hall to our room. Joy. Oh, well. Tomorrow, we have an all day travel to Nice where it should be warm!!!!