Paris...one last time

Hi all,

I'm in Paris for the day before heading home tomorrow. The last three days were spent in Grenoble and in Mont-pres-Chambord with the Gaudins. It was bittersweet saying the goodbyes. Part of me feels like I've been in Europe for years and the other part feels like it's only been a few weeks. I can't wait to see all of you!

Au revoir et a bientot!

Munich part 2

Hi guys,

As most of you know the World Cup is currently going on. I happened to still be in Munich the night that Germany won 4-0 against Australia. Pure craziness is the only way I can describe that night. German people definitely know how to have a good time. I was at a beer garden and there were men, women and CHILDREN sitting there with their pints of beer, cheering on their team. I'll say that again. Children as young as 5 or 6 (future alcoholics) were throwing back a couple of pints of beer.

In other news, I went to the castle that is the model for the Disney one. So, so beautiful. It was raining that day and it literally looked like the castle was floating way up in the sky.

I'm in Frankfurt at the moment and then I'm headed back to Grenoble to say goodbye for the last time.

Go team USA!

Munich

Gutentag,


Today's my second day in Munich and I'm loving it. It's a very traditional city so there are plenty of men walking around in leiderhosen (the leather overalls) and the streets are full of musicians playing classical music. I went on a walking tour yesterday and we saw many of the sites where Hitler started his "career". Ninety percent of the city was destroyed during World War II so the buildings are all built within the last 60 years. However, they rebuilt them in the original style so it looks like it would've back in the day.

Today I went to Dachau, a concentration camp thirty minutes away from the city center. It was a very moving and educational experience. The Germans do not hide the dirty past as many countries do; they make sure that no one forgets so that it never happens again. I wish I had more time to spend here because there is so much to see and do, but time is short.

Ciao

Prague

Hello again,



Wow! Prague is an amazing city despite my airport adventures. It's like a real life DisneyWorld with turrets soaring overhead and a beautiful river winding through the center of town. I covered the entire city in about 5-6 hours so I had quite a bit of leisure time the rest of the day to wander.

My hostel is equally amazing. It has a sauna, pool, sand volleyball court and it's own enormous restaurant/bar--all for 5 bucks a night. I think I want to stay here extra time just to use the sauna more. I had sweat pouring from every pore in my body, but I felt so much better afterward. With all the walking I've been doing, my legs and feet are not happy with me.

Countdown: less than two weeks to go before I'm homeward bound and I'm not at all ready to leave. There's so much to see and so little time!

Berlin, Amsterdam and Prague

Hello,

The weeks have literally flown by. People in hostels always make fun of each other because no one knows what day it is. This is not an exaggeration folks. I could not tell you what today is, but I do know that this is day 1 of 4 in Prague and that it's June now. Most time I don't even know what time it is most of the time since my watch was stolen and I kind of prefer it that way. Life is relaxed and life is good (for the most part). Life on the road is great with the exception of having to lug a backpack all over the Europe and not having someone to make sure I wake up in time for my train or have my fly zipped up, etc.

Anyway, Berlin...wow. I was not expecting it to be the way it was. When I think of Germany, images of clean streets and order, in general, come to mind. First, it is enormous (two cities merged together). Three days was absolutely not enough time to see everything, unfortunately. Some people at my hostel went to see a concentration camp an hour away and reported that almost all of them threw up because of the stentch that still hovers over the camp. I decided not to go there because I didn't have enough time to spare. Instead, I joined a walking tour with a friend from my hostel. We both noticed how much grafitti there is. Almost every single building is covered in amazing artwork. Another interesting sight was the Berlin Wall which is not as tall as I expected. There are only a few parts left standing, but some of the original grafitti is left.

Amsterdam. I spent too much time here. Two days is sufficient to cover the entire city and the museums, but I had four. However, it was nice to see the city again 9 years later. Dutch people are extremely friendly and most of them speak English fluently. People constantly spoke to me Dutch, so maybe the family has some Dutch roots from way back when? Took a stroll through the Red Light District at night. It was extremely entertaining to see the type of people who walkout out of live porn shows.

Just arrived in Prague and had a hellish first two hours. The Czech Rep. is not on the Euro so I had to take out some money to pay for a bus ride. The ATM only gave out 1000czh bills which is about 20 bucks. The bus drivers would not give me change for that large a bill and nothing was open to buy something to get change because it was 10pm so I had to take a taxi which cost me as much as three nights at a hostel costs. Arrrrr!

Ciao

Eurotrip continued

Hello everyone,

I am in love with Spain. The weather, the mentality, and the history are so wonderful. The only complaint I have is the pickpockets. I was congratulating myself for spending almost two weeks in Spain and not getting robbed. My last night in Barcelona I got robbed. It could have been a lot worse because all I lost was 20 euros and my $10 watch, but I'm still angry about it.

In better news, I'm now in Berlin. It's a very historic city but we couldn't have any worse weather. It really makes me want to go back to Spain despite all the cool things to see. The guy who owns the hostel I'm staying in is from East Berlin and he was telling all of us stories about his youth. I haven't seen the actual wall yet, but that's on the agenda for tomorrow. I like Germany, but it's very diferent from what I expected. People keep assuming that I speak German so I have picked up a couple of phrases, but am lost for the most part. Interesting fact: German words are so long that street signs are double the length of US ones.

Days are flying past so I have been slacking on keeping up with this.
Ciao

So much to say so little time

This post is going to be like turning a novel into a paragraph, but I'll give the highlights.

Madrid is absolutely amazing! I had a great time walking the city and the hostel I stayed in was amazing. I saw a flamenco show which was incredible, but the highlight was a bullfight. I have always had the impression that the bullfighters had their fun with the bull and then it was let go. Not so. It is actually a slaughter. For each show six bulls are killed by being stabbed with saber thingies and then finally with a sword. I happened to get a ticket in the first row so I saw the show in all its gruesome glory. It wasn't just the bulls that got bloody though. One matador got gored in the butt and trampled on, but was fine. The second matador was not so lucky. The bull horn went through his hand. He left in an ambulance. The Spanish people loved it. They came in their best clothes and had their gin and tonics at 5 in the afternoon.

The saving grace of the fight is the fact that it is very tasty. I befriended some French people at my hostel and we had a tapas meal of bull testicles. They liked it but I thought it tasted like fried snot. I'm considering it a cultural experience.

Other than that, it's been great exploring through the windy streets and seeing the sights. I thought Spain would be dirty, but it isn't at all. People are friendly, too. They do not, however, speak English so I have been struggling to communicate. All the more reason to learn Spanish next year.

Ciao!

My Grenoble in Photos: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This is it! I left Grenoble for my eurotrip equiped with a 30lb backpack. My body hates me already. It still hasn't set in that I'm done. Anyway...Grenoble...

The Good:

My favorite park in Grenoble. I've passed many an hour there "studying".

This girl. Wow, what an amazing friend! The funny thing is that we lived next to each other freshman year and just got to know each other this semester.

Kebabs: There are no words to describe this deliciousness. It's the North African version of Taco Bell.

O'Callaghan's. In the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that." Seriously though, I've spent many great nights there with Vivien and his friends.

The Bad:

Beggars. This woman yells curses at me each time I pass by her and don't give her anything.

Enough said.
I don't have a picture of my bus stop but it is definitely in the bad column. If I added up the time I have spent waiting for buses or on them, I'm sure it would add up into days, if not weeks.

The Ugly:

Whoever invented these was a man.

I have nothing to say about this except that I wasn't the person who stepped in it.
Bye from Portugal!

Marseille the second time around

Hi again,

When Lindsay and I bought train tickets to Marseille, it was with the understanding that we'd be soaking up the rays along the Mediterranean... then we checked the weather. Instead of being 80 degrees and sunny as we had envisioned, it rained all day on Friday and Saturday and most of the day on Sunday, but we still had a great time.

The last time I was in Marseille it was a very short trip so I really didn't get to see the "real" city outside of tourist attractions. This weekend we walked around a lot and saw some things that gave me a different opinion of the city. We checked into a hostel that was highly recommended by Lonely Planet and after walking through some sketchy areas we finally found it. It wasn't until we were unpacking that Lindsay came across a little paragraph in the guide book warning of dangers in Marseille. There is a four-block radius southeast of the train station that the book did not advise spending time in. Our hostel was smack dab in the middle of this area. We never had anyone accost us but every time we went area we had to walk past at least 20 cafes full of North African men who would either say something, whistle, block our path, stare at us, or all of the above. It was Morocco all over again, but a tiny bit less intimidating.

After unloading our bags, we headed out to explore. Within an hour or so we came across an extremely drunk homeless man who exposed himself to us. Our day improved after eating bouillabaisse, a fish stew, which is legendary in Marseille, (Lindsay happened to spot a rat in the restaurant next to ours) and then going to the Vieux Port where we sat and watched the sun set over the harbor.

Saturday, we went to the legendary Chateau d'If of Dumas fame (The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo). It was quite a depressing visit, actually. The docent gave a very long explanation of the different famous people who had been in the prison and the ways they were killed. It's amazing how creative the jailers got. The inmates faced stake burnings, strangulations, drownings, starvation, etc., etc. or they spent upwards to thirty years in a stone room with one window and lost their minds. The carvings in the rock were extremely inticate and some date back to the 18th Century. All in all, it was interesting but not worth the 10 euros it cost to take the ferry there and back, especially considering that it was mating season for seagulls and we were getting dive bombed by enormous birds while walking around the island.

Cell from The Man in the Iron Mask

Water surrounding Chateau d'If

The cliffs that killed anyone who managed to escape from the cell, get past the guards, and scale the fortifications.

Cell of Edmond Dantes from the Count of Monte Cristo

After that upifting visit we walked around the fish market around the port. It is quite an experience. The smell is absolutely overpowering and there are hundreds and hundreds of seagulls hanging about waiting for the heads and bones that the fishmongers (who are almost all women) toss away.

We also happened to stumble across a regular market where we bought some gifts and then yet another protest, the preferred national past-time. The video below is hard to understand because the music was blaring, but you can see that it was basically a parade. I estimate that there were well over 3000 people there all handing out flyers and shouting their slogans for retirement, socialism, arachism, students' rights, you name it.

That night we had couscous at a North African restaurant around 9:00. It was so good that we didn't even mind the creepy men there that stared at us as we ate. While we were walking back to our hostel and bypassing the numerous piles of garbage lying in the street, we saw quite a few rats running across our path. I'm just thankful that we were not there during the garbageman strike that happened a while ago. Trash was not picked up for at least a week and you can imagine what a paradise that would be for our furry friends.

Our last day was a fail in terms of travel. We wanted to spend the day in Cassis but we missed the bus in the morning and had to take a later one. It's a long and annoying story but we only managed to spend ten minutes there (most of that in the tourism office) before we had to return. The weather finally cleared up in Marseille so we spent the rest of our day walking and sitting along the port. Not bad, not bad at all.

Notre Dame de la Guard

The Vieux Port where we spent many hours

Columns on one of Marseille's many cathedrals

Fishing boat in the midst of getting repainted

I have a love-hate relationship with Marseille. Despite the crude men and the general dirtiness, it is an extremely culturally rich city. We saw women wearing traditional African tribal dresses, fishermen selling their catches, Moroccan men drinking their mint tea, and kids swimmig in the port (the color of the water and the debris floating in weren't entirely enticing, but to each his own). It was interesting to note the many differences between Grenoble and Marseille, especially since it takes only two hours to travel between the two cities. It really is like entering a foreign country so, as much as I enjoyed myself, I let out a sigh of relief when we were in familiar surroundings again.

Have a good week!

Hello friends,

Summer has hit full force here and I have a nasty sunburn and pretty flower pictures to prove it. On one of our numerous free days, Lindsay and I ventured to Vizillle, the place where I caught a ride with a random man last fall, to catch some rays and people watch. And we were not disappointed on either point. We went on a Thursday around mid-day and the park was absolutely packed. One can't help but wonder if the French ever work or go to school. A couple of hours into our adventure, we spied a young boy who was in the midst of dropping his pants and then proceeding to pee in the grass while his mom took pictures. This is why French men grow up thinking it is acceptable to urinate in public.

The chateau

In other news, I have taken the bus so much that I am now on first name basis with all the bus drivers. They all tease me for my American accent and I make fun of them for their driving skills and for smoking on the bus, a forbidden act, which they all do anyway. My favorite bus driver calls me "ma cherie" and, strangely enough, I'm going to miss all of them a lot when I leave TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY.

I try not to think about how fast the time has flown, but the saving grace of this is that the beaches of Spain and Portugal await me. If anyone knows of anyone in those countries who'd be willing to house a really cool 21-year-old for a couple of days, let me know. The agenda is Biarritz, San Sebastian, Leon, Porto, Lisbon, Faro, Sevilla, Grenada, Madrid, Toledo, Valencia, Castello, Barcelona, Paris, et finalement, home. Whew!

On to the pictures. I went a little overboard with the flower pictures, but they were too pretty not to take a picture of.

Proof that I do live in the country: this is on the way to the bus stop

It was over 80 degrees and Ben and Mathias went skiing the day I took this photo. No thank you!

Have a good weekend! Marseille tomorrow!

More random things

I just overheard this conversation and thought it was quite representive of how confusing French can be.

Person 1: Salut!
Person 2: Salut! Ca va?
1: Ca va, ca va. Ca va?
2: Ca va, ca va.
blah, blah, blah for a half a minute or so
1: Salut!
2: Salut!

It's all about the intonation when you're using the same three words over and over again.

In other news, I went on my second motorcycle ride. Love it! We went to our favorite Irish pub and I have to say that I felt pretty bad ass walking in with my borrowed leather jacket and helmet and ordering my beer.

That's all.

Wow, it's been a long time

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Monday. I have to start off with some very good news from today. I have a job! I shouldn't get too excited because it's only for two weeks before school starts and only pays $100 a week, but that's beside the point. The job title is International Student Advisor, which is just a fancy way of saying I get to hang with Albion's four international students for two weeks, taking them shopping, to the movies, helping them sign up for classes, and teaching them all the hottest dance moves (hahaha).

So, on to France stuff now. All of the sudden Grenoble has burst in bloom. It's really incredible how fast the landscape has changed from ugly, brown blobs that used to be plants into flowering trees and lush grass. Today I saw a pile of cottonwood fluff and the allergy meds are in my purse and ready to go (just in case).

The other day I was out on the porch trying to get rid of my ghostlike appearance and Mamy (the grandma) came over. We decided to play some Scrabble outside since nothing much was going on. The team selection was going on and no one seemed to want me on their team, which cued me that this was not going to go well. For this family, a game of Scrabble is not a game, it is war. They're bloodthirsty! Yes, they're "those people" who actually have a dictionary, but not just any dictionary, a Scrabble dictionary, on the table. I am horrible at Scrabble in English and there isn't a word to describe my skills in French Scrabble. Two and three letter words were the most I could handle. Mamy didn't even take pity on me! I put down a five-letter word that I was so proud of and according to the Scrabble Bible, it didn't count. Later on I put together some words that I had heard around town. Once I placed them, everyone either burst out laughing or stared at me. One word was "asshole" and the other was a sex position (I didn't know, I swear). That was embarrassing.

The great thing and problem with living with a family is that I learn many slang terms. These words should not be used in everyday language, but I don't know that until I say it to someone and they either tell me right away or they don't tell me and I find out in school or from friends later. Either way, I'm sure I turn bright red.

Anyway, enough of my embarrassing moments. Some interesting things I have noticed about eating habits here:
1. I was telling the fam about eating corn on the cob and their response was "Thats what farm animals eat." In other words, it's uncivilized. They'll eat pig blood and snails but they don't eat corn on a stick. Weird. The sad part of all this is that you can't find corn ANYWHERE unless it's the canned variety.
2. They peel the skin off everything...apples, pears, potatoes. They also cut their fruit before they eat it (it's more elegant to chew on an apple slice then chomp into a whole apple). I'm a convert to this eating technique.
3. They eat around 8 or 9:00 every night. This was hard to adjust to, but I love it now.
4. They always have bread with every meal, duh, this is France for all. Cheese for every lunch and dinner, too.
5. It's rude to have your no-dominant hand on your lap while at the dinner table. I have a really hard time actually doing this.
6. It's rude to cut salad. You use a piece of bread to fold it on the fork.
7. The plate is always wiped clean with a piece of bread after each course. Gotta get all the juicey and saucey goodness!

There's probably more too, but it's 8:30 and time to eat dinner.

Ciao

Musical success

Hello again,

I didn't trip or start singing at the wrong moment! The musical actually went really well, and I even had fans in the audience. I don't have pictures, but they're rumors that there's a video floating around somewhere, being saved for use as blackmail.

The past week or so has been very emotionally draining because Betty, my adopted grandma, has been in the hospital. It's difficult to know that someone I love is in pain and I can't be there. This is the hardest part about being so far away from home for so long; not being there to celebrate the good events (marriages, pregnancies, etc.) and console each other about the bad (sickness, death, etc.).

Have a good week,
Liz

7 month anniversary

Hello all,

How time flies! I have been in France for seven months, as of Wednesday. In honor of that I thought I'd do a little summary of my feelings at the moment. Have I had the time of my life? Definitely. Has it always been rainbows and butterflies? Not at all. There have been a lot of times when I've wanted to run to the airport and get on the first plane out of France. This past week, the mass transportation workers striked in Grenoble, meaning that one in four buses passed in town and where I live not a single bus passed until 3:00 in the afternoon, by which time I had missed all my classes. It's little things like this that are a normal part of French life that I have not and will probably never become accustomed to. The language is another obstacle. Although I understand almost everything that is said, there are also a lot of times when I have no idea what's going on. This is often the case at dinner when there are at least seven of us at the table every night (sometimes up to twelve or thirteen people) and everyone is talking quickly and loudly at the same time. This has been one of the hardest adjustments for me because I prefer peace and quiet and large groups of people exhaust me after a while.

Despite all these annoyances, there are also many things that I enjoy. I can tell that I have grown in so many ways from my experiences here. Never again will I mock a non-Anglophone's accent in English. Even friendly teasing really hurts and it's extremely frustrating to know that you stick out like a sore thumb the moment you open your mouth (I can't tell you the number of times that I have been asked if I'm German or Russian). I can also say that I am much more sulf-suficient. Being in difficult situations, dealing with them yourself, and coming out OK is a liberating feeling.

I guess I would sum these seven months as a love-hate relationship with the French and their culture. I dislike the fact that the French are always on strike (they get four weeks of vacation and 35 hr. work week, for God's sake), that almost every single person has or currently smokes, that they NEVER pick up dog crap, they don't talk to their neighbors, and that NOTHING is open on Sundays. On the contrary, I appreciate their waste-not attitude (if mold is growing on the cheese, they just scrape it off), they use the least amount of water and energy possible (10 min. showers, at the most; no drying machines), cities are very pedestrian and bike friendly, and they appreciate a good bottle of wine. It's impossible to say if France is better than the US or vica versa, but I can appreciate the positives and negatives of both cultures.

There are a little over three months remaining before I head back home and I am both looking forward to it and dreading it. While I have improved in French, I now find it difficult to express myself in English. It is difficult to think of words that would have come easily to me before and the fact that I will be taking Spanish next semester will complicate things even further. Another small but significant change is that I have followed French culture for so long that I have no idea what's going on in politics (I heard about the health care bill, don't worry), what songs and movies are popular, what clothes are "in". In other words, returning home will be like entering a foreign country again. My host family asked me the other day why I don't follow American news and my response was that France was my home until July. When I left home, my goal was to emerge myself as much as possible in French culture and I've done that to the best of my ability.

One of the activities that I've engaged in is a musical that is taking place this weekend. This past week we have been rehearsing at least four hours each night and we're all exhausted. It's hard enough to memorize 25 songs in English, but this is in French! However, there is one song in English and I'm providing an excerpt because I think it's hilarious.

"Hey man keep going far your own seat.
You should blow your horn and play music as I have told you tonight. Yeah. Yeah.
But if you drink or take bad sweets please watch your mind.
I will fire you and you won't come back.
Listen to music as you start up your set.
Would you please show me that you give me your best.
Listen to music as you start up your set.
You shouldn't relax up midnight time comes up..."

The Haitian man who wrote this was so proud of it and I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't exactly grammatically correct English. This is the one and only song that I have a micro so I have to do it justice. Here's hoping that I don't fall on my face in front of 300 people!

Pictures!

The view from Eze

Eze

Again

Oranges and lemons! There were at least ten other structures like this.

Monaco

The Monte Carlo casino

Nice is nice

Salut,

Lindsay and I just got back from Nice late last night. We arrived around 6 pm on Friday and searched around for a hostel that I had heard about from some classmates. Once we found it we dumped our stuff and headed for the beach. We thought that we would be basking on the shore of the Mediterranean...if only it were 40 degrees warmer! After freezing from our beach adventure, we found a cute restaurant and then headed to a bar with live music. To give you an idea of the crowd there, the band members all had hair longer than either Lindsay's or mine and the guitarist was wearing a shirt that said "No one's bitch." We left there after a little bit and headed back to our hostel to decompress.

We woke up fairly early Saturday because we wanted to do a lot of things while the weather was nice. Lindsay went into the bathroom and a few minutes later I could hear her urgently whispering my name from the stall. I went to see what was wrong and found out that we was trapped inside. We spent twenty minutes trying to open the door without avail. She tried climbing over, but based on my catching skills, we decided it was a bad idea. All of the sudden, when I was about to leave her to her doom, the door popped open. I have never seen anyone so relieved to be out of a bathroom!

After that wonderful start to the day we headed to the local market where we bought some honey, bread, and fruit and sat on the beach (all rocks, no sand) to eat breakfast and watch the waves roll in for a while. The next stop was the bus station to go to Monaco. It was a beautiful half hour drive along the sea, but a waste of time. One can see fabulously rich people, the casino, and very expensive cars...and that's about it. Disappointed, we went to Menton, an Italian border town. There wasn't much to see there either, except for the enormous floats of oranges and lemons (pictures to come). It really was amazing to see the things that they can make out of fruit.

The next stop during our whirlwind day was Eze, a cute little town with an amazing view. We happened to be in the village during their canivale. There were a couple of floats filled with kids throwing confetti. I turned around to say something to Lindsay and at the same time a man on the float pointed a leafblower filled with confetti directly at us. I was still finding pieces of paper in my hair and clothes a day afterward. While we brushed ourselves off, we climbed up a huge hill and could see miles and miles in every direction.

We took the bus back to Nice and found a sushi place that was amazing. Although sushi is not exactly French cuisine, it just looks too good to resist. After our delicious dinner, we walked along la Promenade des Anglais and bought a bottle of wine to take back to our hostel. When we came back, we joined some English, Irish, and Philipino guys drinking beers and watching soccer. It was hilarious trying to figure out what they were saying (the Irish accent is incomprehensible) and we ended up talking with them for a couple of hours before heading to bed.

Because of our Irish (came in really late) and Chinese (left really early) roommates, we slept badly and caught up by sleeping in til 11:30. It was a miserable day and we needed something to do indoors so we went to some kind of exposition with well over 500 booths. Neither of us bought anything, but it was fun looking at everything. By the time we were done, it was time to go back to the train station. Within a three hour span we went from fairly warm temperatures to two inches of snow!

Provence is purely addictive. Next weekend I'm going south again to escape the cold, but for now I have to hit the books for my midterms this week :(

Ciao Italia

Hello,

I apologize for taking so long to post this. The Internet has not been cooperating with me lately and it has taken all my willpower not to bash my laptop with a hammer. Anyway, on to the details. Our trip was awesome, except for the off-and-on rain and snow. Our hostel in Florence, as a mentioned earlier, was absolutely wonderful. What kind of hostel encourages you to graffiti the walls?! This one does! We thought we'd take advantage and etch our names in.

No joke, the entire hostel was like this :)When I come back in 60 years, I can be reminded of the good ol' days.

Rome at night. Since we arrived in Rome the first time, the river had risen at least 4 feet.

We decided that we might as well see Vatican City since we were in the area and all. All the religious fanatics were out in force and it wasn't even prime tourist season. St. Peter's Basilica was enormous and it took us 20 minutes just to walk the inside. I have no idea why, but I have always invisaged the Sistine Chapel as it's own building. We kept looking for a sign that was pointing to it, but there was nothing. So after looking at the very creepy corpse of John Paul II and the Pieta, we went in search of the illusive chapel. We saw a long line of people and decided to get in it. Where there are toursits, there's usually something important to see, right? We waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, we got to the front of the line. There was a little sign saying that the entrance fee was 7 euros with the use of an elevator and 5 euros to go on foot. There was no way that we were going to pay extra just to use an elevator, so we took a deep breath and started climbing. After the first few turns on the spiral staircase, my head was spinning. About 15 minutes into our climb, we came to a landing. I looked at Lindsay and said, "That wasn't bad at all." I had spoken to soon because we walked a few feet more and then we saw more. Ten minutes more of climbing and then we came to a balcony inside St. Peter's which looked up at none other than the Sistine Chapel. It turns out that we had been searching for a non-existent building, when we had been walking right underneath it the whole time. The angle that we were at on the balcony did not give a very good view of the painting so we decided to go back done and look up from the ground level.

We were heading back to look for the exit when I saw some people going up a staircase. Feeling adventurous, we followed them into what was the scariest staircase I have ever been on. It was a spiral staircase that was no wider than two and half feet wide (I'm being generous here). We were climbing into the rotunda so we had to lean our bodies to the right while we walked up steps that were extremely steep and had a "handrail" that was a rope hanging down from the ceiling. I admit that I am slightly clausterphobic, but Lindsay agreed that it was not a fun experience. People were dropping like flies while climbing up and everyone else had to squeeze their way by. By the time we finally got to the top, we were gasping for breath and holding our sides. Luckily, the view was worth it. We came out at the very top of the rotunda and the entire city of Rome was laid out beneath us. So beautiful, but my ears were popping! After 15 minutes of gawking, we headed back down, which was as, if not more scary, than the way down. Side Note: When the workmen were building the chapel and Michaelangelo was painting it, they lived at the top and had food and water delivered to them. Can you imagine having to climb the stairs everyday to deliver things to the workers?! I think I'd rather be unemployed.

We went back to the ground level again and checked out the Sistine Chapel from 500 feet below. Sadly, you can't see much.

This was taking from the bottom with my zoom all the way out.

The Pieta. It was behind glass because some crazy person tried to sabotage it. The Vatican guards are no joke. We were sitting on a ledge in the basilica looking at our guide book and a guard almost escorted us out.

The Vatican. See those columns at the very top? We were above that.

This is out of chronological order--apologies. While we were staying in Florence, we took a daytrip to Pisa. Not much to see there other than the tower, but that was fun. We spent a good hour sitting just below it, making fun of the all the tourists doing the infamous leaning tower pose.

Doesn't look that crooked from here.

From here it does. Supposedly it is completely safe because they have stabilizers under the building, but I'm still not so sure.

Went back to Florence for one last night, but under mitigating circumstances, we took a very late train back to Rome. We arrived at 1:30 in the morning and got to our hostel around 2. The kid who was in charge of the hostel was not there (found out later that he was at the bar)and we didn't know what room we were in, so we sat in the kitchen waiting. A Mexican couple came in, took pity on us, and gave us some "water" they had brought from Mexico. It was 2:30 at this point and we were tired of waiting around so we left our stuff in the hostel and walking around looking for some place to sit and wait for morning. Where else could we go, but the Coliseum? We sat on some rocks, which I'm sure used to be columns, sang, talked, and slept for about 5 minutes. I can officially say it: I slept outside the Coliseum. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure that it's illegal to sleep on Roman ruins, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Our last day in Rome we walked around (our favorite activity) and window shopped. We decided to come back to our hostel early to get ready for our 4 am wake-up call. As we were contemplating going into a divy-looking restaurant, a furry black creature scurried away in front of us. Lindsay turned to me and asked, "Was that what I think it was?" We just kept walking and found a restaurant...far away.

Going through airport security was interesting as well. Poor Lindsay got her water bottle, face wash, and treasured basil sauce confiscated, while I got my sauce, 2 lighters, fingernail clippers, and way too many liquids through without a problem. Airport security fails on so many levels.

This weekend is our trip to Nice. Here's hoping that it will be nice. Thanks Lindsay :)

More Rome pics

Cesaer and some Roman guards I have no idea what these building are, but the contrast was beautiful

A palace

A protest that we stumbled upon. The Anarchists, Communists, goths, and LBGTQ were all there in force

We were wondering this car was reserved for protests or if the guy drove it around for everyday use

An outdoor theater that we came across in our wandering

Carnivale brings out all the street performers

An skating rink that was steadily melting in front of our eyes

The Vatican. We're planning on going next weekend when we rent a scooter

Ancient ruins

Italy 2,3,4

Hello again from Italy,

So far we have been having a great time here. Our trip of Rome was very simple; we walked miles and miles, saw more cathedrals and old buildings than I can count, passed by the Colliseum at least 10 times, drank very good wine, and ate enormous amounts of pizza and gelato...yum! Saturday night we went barhopping with the owner of the youth hostel and his friend, both of whom were ex-pat Romanians. We ended up getting to bed at about 4:30 in the morning and then sleeping until noon on Valentine's.

Monday we decided to go to Florence because we were a little tired of Rome. The train station was very confusing so we asked some Italian women for help. They saved us not once, but two times because we almost got on the wrong train and then we forgot to validate our tickets once we got on the right train. Because they were extremely patient and nice to us, we gave them a jar of basilic sauce that we bought in a market.

For economic reasons we took the slow train which ended up stopping in every village en route. Very beautiful scenery, but we ended up sleeping for most of the four hours. By the time we got to Florence it was 7 at night and we didn't have reservations anywhere. Thank God I bought a travel guide in Grenoble because we found a great hostel 5 minutes from the train station. It was 20 euros a night with breakfast, dinner, and a city tour included!

Today we have walked all over Florence and chatted. I have the best travel partner ever! We both have a hatred of tourist traps and we like to make plans on the fly. Because today is Mardi Gras, I'm sure there will be some hilarious pictures coming on the next post.

How they created this out of a chunk of rock is beyond meLook at the piles of gelato--words cannot express how good this is :)Chocolate and mint!We bought and bottle of wine at the hostel and they gave us these classy plastic cups!