Paris, je t'aime

Jessica and I went to Paris for Easter weekend a few weeks ago! It was more beautiful than I could have ever expected and I definitely want to make a trip back there in the future...maybe during summertime though! The weather was a little interesting - tt would rain then be sunny, then rain then sunny, so on, so on. We flew in Thursday night and no wonder they call it the city of lights. Everything was lit up and the Eiffel Tower was shimmering. It was amazing! We were a little shocked by how small our hotel room was. It was big enough to fit a double (maybe not even that big) size bed in and thats it. The bathroom was small but very modern. Even though it was tiny, it was still a treat from all the hostels we've stayed in.

Our little bitty room!

Friday we walked to the Eiffel Tower and it was huge! We had planned to go up it and eat lunch at one of the restaurants, but that changed when we saw the 8,000 people in line to do the same thing. Not only do you have all the people but there's gypsies, people throwing mini eiffel towers in your face for you to buy, and men with massive guns pacing back and forth. So we decided to head somewhere else to get some lunch. We found this yummy salad bar place and the waiter was so nice and pointed out everywhere we should go. So not all French people are rude! We then walked to the Arc de Triumphe and down the Champs-Elysees. We also went to The Louvre to see Mona. For dinner, we found this really cute cafe. I was really excited because they had hamburgers. Well they brought it out pretty quickly and when I cut it in half it was like a slab of raw beef. I kind of panicked because I knew I couldn't eat it and then I figured since I was paying 20euros for it, I should be able to get it the way I wanted it. So they took it back, BUT then I found a HAIR in it! So needless to say the hamburger was not too much of a success. After dinner we found a Haagens-Daz, which made everything better though!

Jess and I in front of the Eiffel Tower...

Arc de Triumphe

The Louvre

Mona

Saturday, Jessica and I were trying to find a Longchamp store and ran into the cutest little area neat Abbey St. Germain. We had brunch and shopped and found the best dessert store called Lillie's Brownies. Oh my goodness, we were so happy. We also visited Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, and Moulin Rouge. Some girls that had already been to Paris told us the area Moulin Rouge was in, Montmartre, was really cute. Im not sure if we were in a different spot but there were sex shops everywhere and a man offered me sex! I was shocked at first and then he goes "free for you". Ahhh! Needless to say, Jess and I got the heck out of there and went back to St. Germain! That night we saw Dear John (or Cher John in French) and it was so good! I actually liked it better than the book!

Notre Dame

Sacre Coeur

Moulin Rouge

Abby St. Germain

Sunday we walked around the neighborhood that our hotel was in. We stumbled upon a Subway and have never been so excited. So we had Easter lunch at Subway. Ha! We had a wonderful time and both loved Paris! As soon as we got back to Italy we had to pack for Milan. So it's been pretty crazy for the past 10 days!

Prague

Before coming to Italy, I had never heard really anything about Prague. But it is one of my top places we have traveled to while in Europe. It recently became a republic after being under communist control. With that, I figured it would not be a pretty city but to my surprise, it was so beautiful. We had amazing weather too, which probably helped! It was the first time it had reached 60 degrees!

We arrived in Prague late Thursday night and we weren't really sure how transportation to our hostel would work. A man approached us and offered us a van which could fit all 10 of us. We were all iffy at first, but then decided to go for it. Jessica was about to have a panic attack and wanted us to get his driver's license number, name, etc. I do have to say I am glad we were all sketched out by this though. So I decide that I'll sit in front and if he tries to pull anything strange I'll take control. Why do I do this to myself?! I asked myself this the whole ride to the hostel. So I try to strike up conversation with Milan and I think he faked that he didn't know English. Everything I asked him, he would just look at me strange but another girl asked him how long the ride would be and he spit out perfect English. So after that I'm ready to pull some karate moves on Milan. We made it there safely though and weren't sold to the sex slavery (which is what Jess thought was going to happen!)!

Friday, we slept in (finally!) and went to an amazing bagel shop called Bohemia Bagel. It was a great, relaxing day of sightseeing, shopping and eating. Saturday, we did some more shopping, sightseeing and eating. Saturday night we went to an amazing Mexican restaurant. That is one thing I will never take for granted again. It is so hard to find Mexican restaurants here! Sunday, we went back to Bohemia Bagel and I had PANCAKES! I have also missed those so much too. We really liked the bagel shop if you can't tell and there was a cute waiter so that helped a lot : )

The Dancing House...

The entrance to a park...

The view of Prague from the castle...

Gothic church near the castle...

Old Town Square which was decorated and had markets for Easter...

Non-Catholic Cemetery and Ninfa Gardens

For our field trip on Tuesday we went to the Non-Catholic (or Protestant) Cemetary and Shelly-Keats House. In the cemetery, anyone who is not Catholic and be buried there. I'm thinking that's why they changed the name from Protestant to Non-Catholic. It is people who lived in Italy or had a large influence here such as writers, poets, politicians, etc. It wasn't your typical cemetery. Everything was lively and the gravestones were all beautiful and unique. We also went to Shelley-Keats house which is right beside the Spanish Steps. You may ask who was Shelley or Keats? Well, that's a good question...that I'm not really sure what the answer is. ha! I know they were writers that went on the Grand Tour around Europe. That's about all my knowledge on them. We can just say you have Senioritis in Italy too. : )

The entrance of the Cemetery...

Keats and Severn's grave (I think Severn was Keats bff)...

An ancient pyramid...

The Grieving Angel...I thought she was so beautiful.

I know you were wondering what Keats looked like...so here's his face mold.

Thursday we went to the Ninfa Gardens, which used to belong to an aristocratic family. There's not much to say about them so I'll just let you enjoy the pictures : ) ...

Dresh, me and Momma O!

The whole group!

Dublin and Amsterdam!

I am slacking on my blog and I want to apologize! We have had schoolwork this week, which is a first. I know, hard life right? But I promise I'm going to get you up to date tonight! Continuing on Spring Break, we went to Ireland for a few days. The main reason we went was for St. Patrick's Day! After we arrived in Dublin, we went to the Kilmainham Prison. This was a prison for men, women and children. You may wonder why children were imprisoned? ( I definitely did)...For small things such as stealing a loaf of bread. Harsh, if you ask me! It is famous because it imprisoned many leaders of the Irish rebellions. They executed over 100 people. Now a lot of movies are filmed there and even a U2 video!

Just arriving in Dublin!

Kilmainham prison - the execution hall...

inside the prison...

on our boat tour of Dublin...

Grand Canal Docks - where U2 has a recoding studio and shot one of their album covers!

We went to Belfast that night, because it was a lot cheaper than Dublin. Our hostel guy was really nice but we were curious because he had on the same outfit for three days? We were very concerned. We're thinking that he lived there and slept on the couch. But he was really sweet, and the good thing was he cooked us a homemade breakfast each morning! But don't be fooled...English bacon is not American bacon and they served it with beans. Mmmmm. For St. Patty's Day, we went to the parade which was nice. I'm thinking that it's like Mardi Gras in Mobile - family style. We then went to an Irish pub and had chicken fingers (FINALLY!) and listened to an Irish band and watched Irish dancers. It was a lot of fun!

The parade in Belfast....

My yummy cookies and cream cupcake!

Next up was Amsterdam! Amsterdam was beautiful with over 100 canals going through it. The only problem was the bikers! They have no respect for pedestrians. Bikers have their own bike, lane which personally I think is absurd. AND when you're in their bike lane (and don't know it, like me) they just ring their bell and then almost HIT YOU. Im sorry, but in America number 1. we dont have a bike lane, number 2. pedestrians have the right of way always, and number 3. you don't just run a person over because they're in your way. Well Amsterdamians don't think that way. I swear, I almost got hit 14 times. And it made me remember my hate for bikers in Auburn. They are the same way! One time I got side swiped by one and you would think a generous person would stop and make sure I'm ok, but this boy just keeps going and yells as he's riding into the wind. Well Amsterdam brought back my hatred for bikers (sorry if you're a biker). But other than the bikers, Amsterdam was fabulous. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and we had some really yummy food! Red Light District was a little scarring but we only walked through it for a total of probably 3 minutes on it. While in Amsterdam we visited Anne Frank's house where she hid in, which was probably my most favorite part. We also visited the Van Gogh museum and Heineken factory, which were both great! We had such a fun spring break but after 3 places and 5 flights in 10 days, we were ready to get back to the palace and Ariccia! It is startig to feel like home now. Enjoy the pictures!

With the I amsterdam sign!

Beautiful Amsterdam!

Anne Frank monument...

Inside Lust, one of the great restaurants we ate at...

At the Van Gogh museum!

watching commercials at Heineken...

at a clog factory...

London

For spring break Kelly, Britani and I went to London, Dublin and Amsterdam! We had an interesting start to our week though. We woke up at three to get to the airport in time to catch our flight. And thank goodness we did, because our luggage weighed 22 kg when it can only weigh 15kg. For every kg you're over, you have to pay 20 euros. Needless to say I had clothes popping out of every corner of my backpack. I don't know if anyone has flown RyanAir before but it is seriously the worst airline. Not only is the luggage weight ridiculous but they advertise the entire plain ride. The flight attendants are walking up and down the aisles trying to sell food, smokeless cigarettes, drinks, etc. I really just wanted to sleep. Besides the advertising, flights must be a party for Italians. Everyone is yelling and talking and up and out of their seats. All I could think was these people are crazy! ha!

We finally made it!

When we got to London, we decided to shop! I was so excited, because London has some of the best shopping. I kind of forgot that we had no room in our suitcase though. So we also had to buy a new suitcase! Friday night we went and saw the Lion King. I think it was my third time to see it, but it's one of my favorite plays so I didn't mind. And all the actors were so cute with there British accents.

Eating fish and chips for the first time..

They have the cutest taxis!

Going to see the Lion King!

Saturday we went to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. If you ever want to do this, get there early. We just strolled up around 20 minutes before it started and there was already more than 1000 people! They are serious about this. We also did thedouble decker bus tour, which was so fun! That night we rode the London Eye which is similar to a ferris wheel but it is 4,500 feet high and fits 15-20 people in the little bubbles. From bubble is all windows except for the floor and you can walk around in it. You can see a beautiful panoramic view of London. I highly recommend it if you're not too scared of heights!

Buckingham Palace...

The changing of the guards...

Parliament

Big Ben!!

Britani and I on our double decker tour...

On the London Eye...

The London Eye!

Sunday we finally slept in and then went to the famous department store, Harrods. It is huge and has everything you can possibly imagine in it! There was a room just for chocolate and sweets. I was in heaven! Afterwards we had afternoon tea at the Haymarket Hotel. I really felt British having tea. They give you each four different kinds of sandwiches, desserts, scones, tea, strawberries, and champagne. It was a lot of food but then our waiter told us he could bring more of anything we wanted. We definitely took him up on that! We also went to the Absolute Icebar Sunday night. It is a bar that is made solely of ice - cups, counters, benches, everything! You go in 40 minute increments and they give you a cute cape and gloves to put on!

Sunday afternoon tea

Our yummy cakes, sandwiches, strawberries and scones...

At the icebar...

Monday we took a tour to Oxford and Windsor. We almost didn't make it as we missed our first pickup and had to book it to the last pickup spot. We were running through all the tube stations! Oxford and Windsor we both cute little towns. Oxford is where Oxford University is located and there is about 32 colleges there. It was beautiful and all the buildings were so architecturally enriched. Did you know Alice from Alice and Wonderland was based on a real little girl? I had no clue! But Alice and her family lived in Christ Church College which is also in Oxford. Hogwarts dining hall from Harry Potter was also filmed in Christ Church. When we got to Windsor the Queen was there! There is a particular flag that flies wherever she goes. The Windsor Castle was huge and you're only allowed to see a small portion of it. We were all sad to leave London on Tuesday! It was definitely my favorite out of the three places we went!

One of the colleges of Oxford University...

Christchurch College (where the real Alice lived!)

Howarts dining hall from Harry Potter!

Windsor Castle...