After school finished (I had brought my suitcase with me and left it in the IES Paris center during the day), I went ahead and got on the RER to get to the airport, and had a very lovely relaxing ride to CDG, err, Charles de Gaulle for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure (9_9) of flying through there (I had a whole compartment to myself and just looked out the window listening to music the whole hour-ish there), and although I got there wayyyy too early for my flight and had to spend a lot of time waiting around, finally I could check into my flight, which was Air Berlin to Nuremberg, and once I got there (around 10) I met right up with Rebecca and Chris. We got on a bus and got off at Nuremberg and got some Burger King there (where we happened to meet some of Chris's friends who spoke some pretty good English with us, though not nearly as flawless and natural as Chris's--JEALOUS). Then we got on a train and a bus and walked to Chris's apartment, where we stayed up reallllly late just talking and looking at things online, then finally went to sleep.
Friday, April 6
We slept in until like 1 or 2, Chris made us pasta which we ate, and then we went and walked around Nuremberg. It is so cool there, a cute little German town (I was reminded of Disneyland's Fantasyland @_@). We climbed up this castle thing and then just walked around all over, passing by Chris's old high school (he pointed out this school-sponsored graffiti thing he and some classmates had made) and other such landmarks as the place where the comic book store he would go to before/after school used to be, etc.
Then we decided to go up on this cafe on a second-floor terrace overlooking the main town square and have some sodas, which was really nice and fun, and then we went to a Thai restaurant closer to Chris's apartment for dinner. Mmmm Thai food, it was so good, I got duck :3 And then we went back to his apartment and stayed up really late (til like 6 a.m. late) talking and laughing etc.
Saturday, April 7
We all slept in (well, of course) and were so lazy we got pizza delivered, and didn't leave the house until around 5 or 6 to head to the Nuremberg fair which was just beginning, and once we got there it was so crazy and interesting. Super crowded with people, and it was fascinating to look at all the booths and rides. Crazy German fairs.
Sunday, April 8
I woke up and said goodbye to Rebecca (who had an earlier flight back than my train, and Chris drove her to the airport). Once Chris got back, it was time for him to take me to the main Nuremberg train station, where I would take a train to Munich and then catch my main night train from there to Milan. Chris ended up buying my ticket to Munich cause I didn't have enough cash on me... thanks Chris!! I'll pay you back someday! He put me on the train and then we said goodbye, it was pretty sad, can't believe we'd known each other (online) for like 8 years before that!!
From that point on things got a little shaky and scary. I mean, I made it through, but I was just pretty unsure of myself since I was ALL ON MY OWN from that point on, going from Germany to Italy. I almost didn't get off at the Munich train station, which would have sucked so I'm glad I did finally realize I was at the right one and get off, and then I had to find my night train and wait around until I could board it (I bought a muffin and a fruit cup in the meantime, ordering in English--gah I hate doing that but I don't speak a word of German!).
Munich train station.
And here is the thing. I thought "night train" would mean like, an actual compartment with a bed I could sleep in; a sleeper car. Nope, not so much. Just a plain seat, and not even one I could recline back. Fortunately, there weren't many other people on the train and I snagged a 6-seat compartment (closed off with a sliding door) all to myself. I read for a while (feeling very very alone and a tiny bit scared and worried) and then stretched out across 3 seats (not comfortable) and tried to sleep. But the thing is... this train stopped at like every station along the way (and would pause there for like 3 minutes even though no one ever got on/off, and the constant stopping and starting was really offputting especially when you're trying to sleep), and it passed through like 4 countries (Austria, Switzerland..), and at every country, inspectors got on the train and asked to see passports from all the passengers. Nope, this wasn't a sleeping train where the conductor gathers up all your passports ahead of time to show them--nooooo sir. At some points (when a no-nonsense, fit blond man in a uniform pulled open my compartment door) it felt like being interrogated by Nazis, although I know that's silly, haha. But yeah. The end result was that I got pretty much zero sleep, regretting my choice to travel to Italy by train the entire way. -_- A flight would have probably been more expensive but it wouldn't have been as ridiculous. bahhh
We got to Milan around 7:30 a.m., and I still had to figure out how to purchase a ticket to Florence...
Monday, April 9
...so good thing the lady at the tickets window didn't speak any English, and that Milan station is slightly ghetto and fairly intimidating for a girl traveling alone!! Oh well... I'd already looked it up so I just wrote down the details and put it up against the window and got my ticket. I took the 9:00 Eurostar Italia (the nice train, because I felt like I deserved it darnit) to Florence, and once I arrived in Florence I met Kathryn at the train station and she took me to her apartment (which she shares with 3 other girls, and which is fortunately very close to the station). I was so glad to have made it successfully and to see a friendly face!! ahhh.
After I put my stuff away and freshened up a bit (a shower was DEFINITELY in order), she showed me around Florence, which is, of course, utterly beautiful, although since it was April by that point, definitely crowded with tourists. But the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We got lunch at this wonderful sandwich place frequented by American exchange students known as the Oil Shoppe (ooooomg, so, so, so good) and then went to Santa Croce church, where Galileo, Machiavelli, and Dante all have tombs (although Dante is actually buried in Ravenna so his tomb is fake). It was so cool and pretty in there!
Kathryn and I outside the Arno river
riverrr
Florence~
Galileo's tomb
Michelangelo's tomb.
Dante's fake tomb
We also got some gelato (twice, actually, haha) as we were wandering around the city, which was so so so good. Mmm gelato. We went back to the apartment and I had a much-deserved/-needed nap and then we went to get dinner at this restaurant Kathryn knew. We split pizza and pasta carbonara and it was amaaaziiiingggggg! @_@
Tuesday, April 10
Today was the day I was supposed to meet up with my IES Paris friends, who had made their own way to Florence, and after much deliberation and searching we found them by the banks of the Arno river, and they asked Kathryn where they could buy ingredients for dinner so she took them to this indoor market place and they got pasta, sauce, cheese, meat, etc, and we said goodbye to Kathryn there (she had to go to school).
It was my IES Paris friends plus McKenzie and Mark's friend Emily (who was studying abroad in Birmingham, England, and was beginning a MONTH-LONG spring break), and since she booked her hostel reservation later than the rest of my friends, she didn't get a spot in their hostel and had to go check in to this other one, so we went with her allllll the way to the other side of town (like a 30-minute walk) to go check into her new hostel. Once we got up there, we just wandered around making our way back to the main part of Florence, getting gelato and relaxing in a park along the way. We wanted to go see the David but we got a little lost and wound up at the wrong place, and by the time we figured that out, it would have been too late to get over to where he actually is in time. So, no David, which is sad. :(
Cool fountain in the park we chilled at.
After that I met back up with Kathryn and we hung out with her roommates that night.
Wednesday, April 11
Kathryn and I got up early to go to the Uffizi museum, and we had to wait in line for like 45 minutes (a novelty to me, I never have had to wait to get into the Louvre!) but we did get in and I got to see so many awesome paintings like Birth of Venus (the whole Botticelli room was amazinggg), and even some I wasn't expecting to be there like Venus of Urbino, which I knew about because of the paper I did researching Manet/Olympia sophomore year for French class. I bought a print of it in the gift shop :)
We had been hoping that maybe afterwards we would have time for David too before I had to meet up with my friends again for our train to Rome, but we didn't, so we just headed back to the apartment and I packed up my stuff and Kathryn accompanied me to the train station, where we found everyone lounging out front on the grass in the sunshine (feet away from gypsies... haha). We got on our train to Rome and had a bit of a stressful time navigating the Rome train system (we had to transfer to another line to get to the stop closest to our apartment) but we did finally arrive at our stop, one right outside the Colosseum, and we walked down the road to get to the apartment we would be renting. We had decided we wanted to rent an apartment together for our days there instead of a hostel, so that we could make dinner, have our own space, etc, and Marc had been in charge of talking to the guy about it and he'd done a good job, because the apartment was very nice! We got there and threw open all the windows, claiming rooms (I got a cot in the room with a big bed that Emily and McKenzie would be sharing), while the guy who owned the apartment gave us instructions etc. After he left, we set out in search of a grocery store to buy things for our meals from, and it took us a while to figure out where one was but we FINALLY found one and got things for breakfast, dinner, etc. We made dinner using some of the leftover pasta from Florence and some sausage, etc. We made a salad too, we pretty much had a feast, it was so good!
Thursday, April 12
We split up a bit today, because Marc and Jack and Joe went on this tour of the Colosseum, while McKenzie, Mark, Emily and I hit up Palatine Hill, exploring that all over. I was astonished to see all the fountains with fresh drinking water flowing out of them, where you could just drink straight from or fill up your water bottle with or whatever. We also found some orange trees and were determined to get some oranges down out of them. It was definitely an intensive process, but we did get some oranges down, and felt very proud of ourselves.
Chilling somewhere around Palatine Hill (there are all these cool, relaxing park areas down by the bottom). I'm wearing the sunglasses I purchased from one of the sketchy sidewalk vendor dudes (we bartered him down to something like 12 euros, but looking back on it that's still way too much for knockoff sunglasses).
Emily getting fountain water
The park areas I was talking about
Looking out over the Roman Forum and the rest of the city from the hill
Oranges yeahhh
We were walking back down from Palatine Hill when Mark suddenly got sick and had to literally RUN home (yeah... it was that urgent of a sickness. >_>). That night, since it was mostly the girls who had made dinner the night before, the boys made dinner. They made feta-stuffed hamburgers--SO, SO AMAZING AND DELICIOUS. Ooooomg. Then again, as before, hanging out and talking etc at night.
Friday, April 13
Those of us who hadn't been to the Colosseum the day before hit it up today, and it was so cool and awesome to see.
Sup Colosseum. I like how they're building a new platform over the top, so it looks more like what it used to be like in its heyday.
Then we went over to Vatican City and saw St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museum (we almost didn't get in and we were losing hope but we stuck it out and made it in--and I'm glad, because it was so cool to see the Sistine Chapel, something I can remember learning about in like 3rd grade and never imagining I'd actually see for real someday).
St. Peter's Basilica & Egyptian obelisk
Swiss Guard dudes hee hee hee
Inside the Basilica
Vatican Museum
Once we got back to the apartment, we went for dinner at this pizza place right across the street from our apartment.
Saturday, April 14
Today we went to the Pantheon (we're goin goin goin to the Pantheon!), Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Nerona (which is where I called Bekah and wished her a happy birthday), saw some of the Roman cats, etc.
Trevi Fountain (yes, I put coins in and made wishes etc)
Spanish Steps
Piazza Nerona
Roman cats!
Sunday, April 15
We all got up at 3:45 a.m. to get a 4 a.m. taxi to Ciampino airport (it had been my responsibility to order the taxi and it was such a headache and I was really not that appreciated for it, plus it took forever to get everyone up and some of them snapped at me for it--which, yeah, sucked) in order to catch our cheap Ryanair 7:00 a.m. flight home. Ryanair sucks and I'm never using it again. It's super cheap for a REASON--they hit you with ads the whole time you're on the plane, and forget about being served any food or anything. Such ridiculousness. When you get to Paris you're dumped out at this airport way out in the boonies and you have to take this hourlong (11-euro) bus ride back into Paris, to Porte Maillot. But from there we could catch our own trains home, and it was soooo wonderful to come out from the subway and ascend back into Paris, where spring had sprung and the weather was breezy and beautiful. yayyyy so glad to be home
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