Florence

6/29/2010

It's another travel day on the fast train! We made it to Florence within 2 hours and had an entire day to check the city out. Changing cities every few days can be quite challenging with finding your way around. Even if you have the city map it is hard to tell which direction you are heading. So in this case Rox and I got lost in which we kept walking, eating and shopping. On our adventure we came across a huge flea market. They had a lot of scarves, bags and belts. Dang! Things I already have. Rox and I stood line to see Michangelo's David at three different times. The first time we tried to stand in line was around 2:00 p.m. The sun was so hot, it seriously was miserable to stand there. We decided to go get lunch. I bet you are wanting to know where we decided to go... McDonalds. hahah, yup, cheap and fast. After we finished eating we went back to the Museums line. Again, it was not moving, too hot and no wind. MISERABLE! I got this awesome idea to go back to the hotel and book tickets online. Yea! SOLD OUT! Third time must be a charm because now it was 5:00 p.m. The sun was starting to relax and waiting in the line was not so bad. However, it only took us a hour and twenty minutes. But, before we entered we found out that they did not except Visa. Rox and I pulled together what Euros we had left and we were short 3 Euros. CRAP! No ATM or $ exchange. Thankfully we met an American family from New York who liked us enough to give us Euros. Soooo nice of them :) Rox and I felt aweful to take her money, but she kept insisting :)

Note to self: Hide Euros in pocket for emergency! lololol.

Venice Bound...

6/28/2010


Today started off with taking a water taxi to Lido Beach. We met two other Americans on the boat whom we hung out with on the Adriatic Sea. The beach was not impressive and had a lot of seaweed floating in the water and laying on the beach. However, the beach was actually sand here. Considering I was still somewhat sun burnt from the Nice sun I could only with stand laying out for a few hours. On our way back to the main part of Venice, we found a delicious restaurant. I was so famished and dehydrated from the sun I ate an entire 3 course meal. Not to mention about 20 minutes later I knocked out two Canoli’s, hahah!! That night was spent completing our souvenir shopping and taking pictures.

Travel Day to Venice

6/27/2010

Thank goodness our train ride went by fast to Venice. Venice was awesome!! Everyone who travels to Italy needs to see this city!! The old architecture, flowers, shops and canals were absolutely amazing. Rox and I did a lot of walking, but I found many souvinors and another pair of shoes!! Food choice of the day was pasta, which was just okay. Definitely determined to find a yummy pasta dish!!

Note to self: Bring bug spray.

Traveling to Milano...

6/26/2010

The morning we traveled from Nice to Milano. I was a little sad to be leaving Nice since not a lot of time was spent there. We our train arrived in Milano, the sight and smell was not so pleasant! The train station seriously smelled like urine, and what not a better way to prove the smell was by witnessing dogs urinating all over the city! Disgusting!! We checked into our hotel, which was clean and decent, however was extremely noisy during the night ☹ We also did not have internet connection and the people running the hotel told us to walk down the street and we would find good places to eat and shop. Yea! Not so true!! Supposedly we didn’t even come close to finding the awesome shopping district! Another sad face! However, I did find a cute pair of shoes!! I was pretty happy to only have spent one night in Milano because I was not impressed with that city.

Note to self: If ever going back to Milano find the shopping district away from aweful smells.

Sitting Comfortably on the Mediterranean!

6/25/2010

As we woke up today the sun was shining and it was beautiful out! We decided to rent cushioned lounge chairs and lay out on the Mediterranean beach all day! The scenery around us was absolutely stunning not to mention it felt utmost relaxful! We stayed there all day and later on we ate dinner on the beach. Dinner was delicious, but not as great as one of the lunches I had in Paris. We basically just hung out walking around, shopping and taking many pictures.

Paris to Nice= not so much fun!

6/24/2010

Today was by far the worst travel day. We left our Paris hotel at 4:30 a.m. to arrive at the airport at by 5:30 a.m. When we walked in we immediately went to go check in. We learned that the French pilots decided to go on strike. Our freaking flight was canceled. As two hours went by Rox and I tried to get on other fights and trains to get us to Nice. Nothing! Flights were expensive and conductors also decided to go on strike. However, within another hour and the help of Ryan, we found a 6 hour train that would take us from Paris to Nice. When it was time to board the train I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! It seriously was a free for all!! People pushing, cutting in front of each other and families having there children sneak and push you our of the way. There was a French Jewish family that I will never forget. They were yelling at people to get them out of their seats so they could sit down. Now let me remind you that this train merged with four other trains! For the first 30 minutes Rox and I had to sit on our suitcases in the middle of the isle way. NOT FUN! Due to the lack of space, people trampling over one another and people screaming in French, I seriously thought I was going to have a panic attack. I did stand up at scream get me off this thing!! Hahaha… Once we hit the first stop a few people in seats next to us got off the train. We immediately took their seats, but had new comers tell us to me. I looked at them and started to laugh! A man translated in French for us, “No! Due to the strike you sit where you can!” We also learned from this man that the conductors make about $6,000 per month, so it is not a big deal to them to go on strike and not get paid for one day. WEIRD! How their jobs are protected and nothing can be done fix this ciaos.

Note to self and others: Do not book country flights to Easy Jet. They are not so Easy!


We finally arrived in Nice around 7:00 p.m. Our entire day was completely shot and I wasn’t too happy about not being able to be on the beach all day! At least one good thing that happened was we checked in a great hotel that was right on the beach. Rox and I scoped the scene out, got dinner and hit the sack. BORING, Yes! But all energy was drained from the screwed up day we had.

Notre Dame, Pantheon, Louve, Arc de Triumph and Eiffel Tower

6/23/10

Today was a busy day for us in Paris, France. The first place to went to was the Arc de Triumph. It was positioned in the middle of a busy street. We eventually found an underground street that took us to the middle. It wasn't a windy day, but for some reason when we came up from underground it was. On one side of the Arc there were a ton of military police. I am still wondering why they were all stationed there. One of my favorite places in Paris was Notre Dame. It was amazing inside! It had so much detail inside and you could light candles for people who have passed on. I think it was more beautiful inside than St. Peter's Basilica. We visited the Pantheon on the outside, which was okay to see. However, the scenery around it was pretty. By the time we got to the Louve we were exhausted from sight seeing. We basically blew through the exhibits and pushed our way through to see the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. I expected the painting to be huge, which it was not. The rest of the time spent in the museum I decided to take many silly pictures. We ended the night going back to the Eiffel Tower. My new camera's battery dies out the night before and I had to take picture of it. I decided to cross and busy street by the water so I could get a great shot of it. When I was crossing back over I was not paying attention and a Nigerian saved me from a speeding car. By looking at his facial expression I could tell that I scared the crap out of him. His friends were calling him Superman!

Note to self: By another all day Metro pass. It saves you a ton of Euro's.

Rome to Paris

6/22/10

Today we departed from Rome, Italy. When we got to the airport our Easy Jet flight was delayed four hours. Of course the airport was over crowded with frantic crazy people. Roxanna and I met a French girl named Rose. She was extremely nice and gave us some pointers for Paris. When we arrived in Paris we went directly to our hotel. The outside was very cute, but don't judge a book by its cover. Our hotel room was a dump and thankfully we barely spent any time in there. The first thing we did was go to the Eiffel Tower. OMG! It was beautiful to see. We rode to the top of it admired the beautiful scenery. We took many pictures up there as well. On the way down Rox and I rode an elevator, but had to get off to ride a different one down. Well, we couldn't find that elevator so we decided to take the stair from the second floor. Looking down it didn't seem like a lot of stair, but boy can I say it was A LOT of tiring stairs! Video and pictures eventually to follow...

Note to self: Find all elevators when touring the Eiffel Tour.

After the Eiffel Tower we went across the street to check out the World Cup soccer game. The French had a projector displaying on a gigantic screen. There were so many people there screaming and cheering it was neat to witness it all.

Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica

6-21-10

Yesterday Rox and I were on our way to the Metro in Rome Italy. We had a 9:30 a.m tour scheduled to view the the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. To make a long story short we ended up on the wrong Metro. We watched all the Italians get off the Metro and we decided to stay on because in the U.S ours go in a circle. Yea! Well not in Europe! The Metro's literally come to a complete stop after the last stop. So Needless to say Rox and I were stuck between two walls underground in somewhat of a laughable panic. Thank goodness Pietro, the conductor of the Metro busted through the doors to listen to two Americans shouting, "What do we do!?" Now, our luck again, Pietro did not understand English, but he sure did find us hysterical! The cool part of all this was being able to ride the Metro in the conductors quarters. He taught Roxanna how to drive the Metro, so she ran about 8 stops before we had to get off at our final destinations. Video still to come...

Not to self: Learn Italian before visiting Italy again.

Roxanna and I were a hour late to our tour and thankfully our tour guide let us join the 1:00 p.m tour. Every part of the Vatican Museum was detailed and well thought out. Michael Angelo's work in the Sistine Chapel was amazing! The tour from Viator was great! We wore a head set so we were able to walk and look around while our tour guide was talking to us. If you love history and architecture you must see these three places!!

Pompeii and Mt. Vesvious!

Roxanna and I toured Pompeii and climbed Mt. Vesvious yesterday. Pompeii was definitely spectacular! Our tour guide, Andre was awesome. He was down to earth and spoke English! It was also nice to see other Americans who spoke English! We also got to hike Mt. Vesvious. At first it started out gradual then kept getting steeper and steeper. It was definitely a challenge, but thankfully the elevation didn't play an effect on our breathing. Lol. Note to self: Do not wear ballerina Puma flats to climb the volcano. One will get major heel blisters! Hahaha! We had a scary moment with a homeless lady, but Rox and I put the smack down. So far the Italians have been quite nice and helpful! Another note: Take Italian speaking lessons before coming to Italy. It would be nice to understand what they are saying to us. One can only imagine....

Linguini al pesto. Yum...

We landed in Rome around 1:45 p.m today (6/19/10). Our air shuttle driver was an extremely scary driver (and you all think I am bad...) We saw a Vespa accident and our driver basically shoved people people out of our way. Roxanna and I kept hitting each other saying, "Can You believe that, seriously!?" When Rox and I got to our hotel we were greeted by one of the friendliest receptionist ever! Raffaella gave us specific directions on what to do our first day.

We ate at the de Pino alla piazetta. There were too many choices on the menu, but I decided to have the Bruschetta and Linguini al pesto. Seriously the best choice ever!!

Windsor, Canada Bound

So our journey has begun... Roxanna and I made it to Windsor, Canada and are waiting for the bus to take us to Toronto, Canada Airport. It was very eventful trying to locate the bus pickup. ROXANNA forgot to google directions and we had to stop twice to ask for help! While walking to Tim Horton's we decided to j-walk like the Canadians, and had a great experience with almost being hit by all the semi's coming at us full force.

Thank you Iggy for dropping us off. We appreciate it!!
Until Toronto...

Ciao!

Packing

It's 6:49 p.m and I just started packing for Europe. This will be my first time going to Italy and France. I am super excited to be visiting my roots and learning a ton of history! Oh! Yea! The sight seeing should be amazing too. One tour that I am stoked about is our Segway Tour of Rome. I cannot wait to ride one of those things!! Hopefully I will not have any trouble with the internet connection, so check back frequently for uploaded pictures on here or facebook :)