well we are almost to the single digit countdown until we return to the states and if i start talking about that i'm going to cry while i type this so i will just stick with talking about the day trips we have gotten to do these past couple weeks. i know a lot of you think we don't actually have homework to do and all we do is travel, but we have been crazy busy with end of the semester group projects and we are actually going to have to study for our finals. so mom and dad, if you are reading this, you should know that i am learning a ton. and not just about how to travel in different countries.
katie bug and i were fortunate to get a train pass before we came here. there are a lot of mixed reviews and opinions on if these guys are worth the money so if you are looking into getting a eurail, let me know and we'll chat in detail, but i'll just say it has served us well and paid for itself in the first 4 days of travel. but now that the semester is winding down, we have a few travel days left and we have been trying to squeeze in some day trips within italy, even if that means taking our study material with us…. or my laptop so i can catch up on my blogging….
last week katie and i went on a trip that completely went all wrong and yet it was so much fun and we loved the little adventure it ended up being. one of the things i will miss most about italy, and especially tuscany, the region florence is in, is the countryside. when people come to italy for just a few days they want to hit up the big cities…venice, milan, rome, florence, naples, etc. and i don't blame them. but some of the most beautiful places we have been are the hill towns…assisi, siena, san gimignano, and the place we had the wine tasting with my mom when she was here at the beginning of the semester. the smaller cities are awesome, still have so much history and art, and some of them sit up on a hill and you can see for miles from them. my cup of tea.
before i came here i had never seen the movie "under the tuscan sun" and even after coming, my mom still discourages me from watching it because of the terrible storyline. but i wanted to see it because it was set in this region. still haven't seen it and probably won't but my friend jenna recommended going to cortona, the town it's set in, for the day if we had time. we thought it sounded like a good idea so we looked up in our handy dandy rick steve's guidebook and saw that there are actually several other little towns in that region that we could possibly see while we were in that area. Montepulciano and Montalcino are two cities known for the wonderful wine they produce and Pienza, we heard from our new a&m friends we met in cinque terre, is worth visiting because they are known for their pecorino cheese. we saw that they were all fairly close so we decided we were going to try to make it work where we saw maybe 3 of those cities that day and we would just figure out the train once we got there. so our first stop was cortona.
i. love. cortona. it sits on the edge of tuscany so when you look out over the countryside, you can see into the region next to tuscany, called umbria. when i checked the forecast that morning before we left, i saw that it was suppose to be sunny and 70, with a 10% chance of rain. perfect, we thought. we were tired of seeing so much rain in florence, sunshine would be nice for a change. we got to cortona and figured out that we have to get on the bus to go up to the city center to walk around. as we were waiting for the bus, it just so happened to start raining. perfect. no rain jacket, no umbrella because i'm stubborn and was trying to go the whole semester without buying one, and we are standing outside of a roofless bus stop. however, the drive up to the city was beautiful and the sun actually decided to start coming out. when we got off the bus we got to take a couple of pictures of the landscape then we were going to check the times for the bus down and there was a sign in italian of course that we think tells us that the main and only road going up to the city center will be closed all afternoon from 1:30-5:30 for buses. so if we drove a car up there we could get back down or if we wanted to take a taxi, but other than that, we wouldn't be able to use the buses to get back to the station.
we decided to use our guidebook to lead us to some of the main things there is to see but we weren't very successful. we got to see a cool market in the main piazza since it was saturday and we walked down to see a church but it was closed. by the time we walked back up the hill, it was time for lunch. normally in italy the waiters are all about getting you in and out as fast as possible especially when it comes to lunch. it doesn't make a difference if there are 2 or 20 of you, they ask you what you want to eat, bring you your food, and bring you your check. no socializing and no messin around. usually. today they decided to take a loooonnnngggg time to bring me and katie our food and our check and by the time we got done eating, we had enough time to grab some gelato at gelateria snoopy (yes it's a real place and yes we will always find time to get gelato) and hop on the last bus down to the station. we were looking forward to seeing more but we figured we'd try to get to the other cities and stay there a little while longer.
our next stop was supposed to be montepulciano. we read in our guidebook that we were supposed to take a train to the small station in chiusi then you can get to montepulciano from there. well we heard there was a bus that gets you to the city since these cities are off the main lines and they're small cities so buses are available but buses tend to take longer and get stuck in traffic and all that so we were hoping it was all going to get figured out. when we got off the train in chiusi, katie and i walked by a train schedule board to see what time the train left to take us back to florence. instead, we found out that we could take a train to montepulciano. heck, why not just take a train? it's probably faster and we didn't have to pay since we were using our train pass. easy decision. well, we pull up to montepulciano a mere 30 minutes later but we find out soon after that there is only one bus a day from montepulciano station that takes you to the city center (7 pm) and the other times of the day, you have to take a taxi. that's why they recommend taking a bus…. because that's the only way to get to the city center. OK guidebook thanks for the clarification.
knowing we didn't want to spend money, we decided to just wait for the next train and go to siena. we had already been to siena once at the beginning of the semester with my mom and mrs. leach but we loved it and were happy to go back again. we figured that was an easy solution, of course nothing about this day was turning out to be easy. it was now late afternoon and we saw on the train schedule that montepulciano only has a train coming through to go to siena once an hour, but for us, it would be another hour and a half. thus began the photo shoot, the wandering around the city getting gelato (yes, again), stumbling across a soccer game, and just sitting and waiting for the next train. finally, the train arrived. we got on the three car train for a snug 2 hour train ride into siena and we were awakened from our slumber by the super loud spanish folks sitting next to us. they sang a bunch of spanish songs then switched to english/american songs like mambo #5 which was popular when i was in 6th grade, once they saw we were awake. the train ride to siena was gorgeous- again, exactly what i love about italy. rolling green hills, one house and vineyard per 1/2 mile. wide open spaces.
we arrived in siena and hopped on another bus to the city center. we walked through some of the same streets we had that first week in italy and i really love that we got to see it again because it's just a cool city. we decided to take the last train out of siena to florence so we could wander and grab some dinner. it gave us around 3 hours, which we thought was a perfect amount of time. we took some pictures and realized the sunset was going to be beautiful so we tried to find some streets that led us to a higher point to overlook the city. we were unsuccessful but we did find a mexican food restaurant and after 3 1/2 months of pizza and pasta and wine, mexican food and a beer sounded oh so delicious. take a burrito and some taquitos that we made sure had some guacamole on it and add a corona with lime and you get a pretty decent mexican food dinner. we started trying to rush to the train station because we realized we were on the other side of the city and we didn't know how the bus system worked. we decided to bypass the bus altogether because it was a pretty straightforward walk to the train station. after 45 minutes, we got there with a few minutes to spare and were just chillin at the platform when the train rolls up, everyone got off, including the train staff, and nobody got let on.
uhhh….what? we can't get on this train? is there another train going to florence tonight? no. are there any buses going to florence tonight? no. so what are we supposed to do? i don't know. *shoulder shrug* not their problem i guess. well, we come to find out that there is a train strike that started at 9 pm and the last train was leaving at 9;27 p.m. so that was perfect. to look on the bright side with no toothbrush, no change of clothes, no nothing really, there could be worse places to get stuck. we were just planning on taking the city bus back to the center and finding some place to stay. i had my friend chi on the phone, about to have her look up places to stay when a girl who spoke english but wasn't american (we couldn't place the accent at this point…) asked us if we spoke english.
…yes yes of course we do. we couldn't blend in to italian culture even if we wanted to.
well, she was a precious swedish girl who was living in siena studying law and she had 2 friends in town visiting her who absolutely had to get back to florence that night because their flight was at 6:30 the next morning to go back to sweden. she was fluent in italian and english and had already talked to another italian guy who was about to have a meltdown if he couldn't get back to florence as well as a german man who needed to get back. the deal was, there were a whole lot of taxi drivers who would be happy to drive us since we were all stranded, for 120 euros, each passenger having to pay 20. we said why not, it would be less than what we would've had to pay to stay somewhere in siena so we took them up on the offer. italian driver, italian in the front seat, swedish couple, german guy, and 2 american girls piled into a taxi and got back to florence in about an hour's time. we learned so much about the couple and loved talking to them and hearing so many different perspectives about politics and cultures and it was really quite an enjoyable experience. and they all spoke english which was cool. sure we were out 20 euros but i don't think that day could've ended better considering the day we had.
lessons learned: don't trust any guidebook except rick stoves. always try the gelato where you are. don't ever be afraid to ask questions. laugh when you get lost, and sometimes it's okay to take a taxi with 5 other people you don't know :) makes for a great story.
up next: naples, varenna/lake como, and verona! only 10 days left!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
holiday by the sea: cinque terre
*blogspot is not letting me upload pictures unfortunately. go look on my facebook to see pics even though they don't do it justice. gorgeous place!!*
so imagine that- i'm a couple weeks late on this trip but it's worth documenting so i'll go ahead and make a few remarks about it. cinque terre is one of those places that you HAVE to go when you are visiting italy. it's a truly beautiful beautiful place- with trails leading you between the five cities that give you amazing views of the mediterranean sea. unfortunately there was a really bad rainstorm in october and as a result, a couple of the cities experienced flooding and destructive mudslides that wiped out houses, vineyards, one of the beaches and even killed a few people. because of this, they have been working very hard to clean it up in lieu of those cities being so dependent on tourism to bring in their income and some of the trails were re-routed and some are still closed so you have to take a train between one of the cities.
some people choose to go to cinque terre to see all 5 cities in one day and take the train to see all of them but my friend jessie and i decided to take it slow and were determined to take as many of the hikes as we could, and enjoy just being outside. we were also very lucky because it was a slow weekend and since the forecast was cloudy with some rain, there were no crowds anywhere and it was heaven. so friday afternoon we set out as soon as jessie and i were out of class and took the train to the first town of riomaggiore.
this was the first time we didn't book a hostel and we were hoping this wasn't going to come back to bite us. as soon as we stepped off the train, all we saw was water and it was glorious. next stop was of course: a cafe to get a cappuccino. after we ordered, we sat down, jessie facing the door, and all of a sudden jessie goes "look! texas a&m!" and i whip my head around and there is a girl standing in the street with a maroon texas a&m shirt on. (i actually had that same shirt from when i visited in high school….) without even really thinking i hopped up and ran out to the poor girl and started telling her how i was from texas, and all my best friends from high school and camp go to a&m, and how sorry i was if i scared her but when you see people from america, and especially texas, i can't help but say hello because heck, they're basically family when you're over here. we started asking the basic questions like where we were studying, what year we were, who all we are here with, and where we were staying tonight. we told them we hadn't really figured that out yet and that we were going to need to look around at some point tonight. they told us we could just stay with them in their hostel- it had a bunk bed with an extra queen that no one was staying in it. so we said why not! split the cost of the room making it cheaper for everyone and all of a sudden, we had a place to stay. we got their numbers and decided we needed to go exploring. jessie and i wandered through riomaggiore until we came to the top of a hill that overlooked the sea and had a park bench and a giant wooden cross. photo op.
as we were walking down the one main road in riomaggiore, i realized we still hadn't called our other two friends, shannon and jamie, who we were planning on seeing that weekend. right as i set down my backpack to get my phone out, i look over and they are looking at us through the window of their restaurant. small towns these are. we waited for them to finish dinner, got some gelato, then took them up to the scenic overlook before jessie and i decided we wanted to grub. this region is famous for inventing pesto so everything this weekend was sure to have pesto on it. pesto gnocchi, pesto pizza, pesto focaccia…the list goes on. we met up with our new friends that night and chatted for a long while before we finally went to bed.
we woke up early the next morning to meet shannon and jamie to walk on via dell amore or the "pathway of love"- the famous road that traces the shoreline between riomaggiore and manarola. the walk normally takes around 15 minutes but we made sure we documented well and it took us a good hour or so to make it to city #2. i ain't complaining- the walk was beautiful and it was filled with lots of laughs and pictures. there is a tunnel at about the midway point of the walk and we decided to leave our mark like everyone else had.
manarola is the town that you see on all the postcards of cinque terre so naturally, we had to take a postcard pic AFTER we got some of the most delicious gelato i've had in italy at 9:30 in the morning. if you know anything about me, you know that i love sweets but mainly sweets pertaining to chocolate. even though there are lots and lots of different gelato flavors everywhere we go, i always stick to the chocolatey/oreo/chocolate chip type flavors. i'm loyal what can i say. this gelato was mandarin, the most delicious fruity gelato i've ever had.
after the postcard pictures, we said goodbye to shannon and jamie and jessie and i started our hike from manarola to corniglia, city #3. this was one of the hikes that had to be rerouted and it was a heck of a hike (i'm out of shape. thanks gelato and pizza) but it was beautiful nonetheless. we took our time, met some fellow study abroad students and a cat that jessie is obsessed with, and enjoyed the on and off again rain that sprinkled down on us. at the top of the hike we sat and had some time with Jesus and enjoyed the view, where we could see manarola on our left and corniglia on the right.
we met ruthie and katie after jessie and i enjoyed some pesto pizza for lunch. corniglia might have been the coolest city we saw. we got to hike almost all the way down the beach (unfortunately it was closed) but again, beautiful views, cool little town. i forget some people get to actually call these places home.
ruthie and katie were doing the day-trip thing so once we looked around corniglia with them, we took the train to vernazza and separated so we could do the last hike the next day before we went home. vernazza was the city that got hit the worst from the mudslides and it is still suffering economically and scenery-wise. no more beach, lots of mud still being cleaned up, and business is just very slow for apartment-renters and restaurants. we sat on the edge of the not so beachy-beach for a little while after katie and ruthie left and decided to go exploring because after all, we didn't have a place to stay for the night…again… we wandered up the streets and they kept going up and so did we. we found a couple bed and breakfasts and apartments and the first one was just too expensive for 2 people and the next one no one answered when we buzzed asking if they had anything available, which would have been a stupid question because nothing is full in these cities. we were ascending on the winding roads until we could no longer see many roofs and were only looking at the skies. what awaited us was elizabeth's.
third time's a charm. we rang the doorbell for elizabeth's and no one answered the door but a man called out "buongiorno!" from the terrace above us. we said buongiorno and asked him if he had a room available for 5, knowing our price range and hoping we wouldn't have to bargain much. he said yes and to hang on (not exactly those words, it was mostly broken english/italian, or itenglish as we have come to call it…) and he would get his sister to come help us. she said she had 2 rooms available for 5 of us at 20 euros/person. it sounded like a steal but we asked to see the rooms first. she led us up some extremely narrow and windy staircases to the first room which was literally just that- one room with one bed and a bathroom. that would be for the boy. (jessie's roommate in florence and 2 of her friends who were visiting from their study abroad program in ireland were also going to be in cinque terre that night so we called them to make sure they would stay with us before we committed.) we kept climbing the stairs and came to the very tip top of this apartment building to the ladies' room and it was an incredible view. me and jessie just looked at each other, stunned, and called megan and they agreed to get these rooms with us. the lady probably just pocketed the money since they are hurtin for some business but we didn't mind- we loved that we found this and were so thankful the Lord provided a place for us to stay. we brought jessie's hammock but with the rain and chilly weather, we weren't sure that would have been very suitable to sleep in….
once megan, brady, and erica got to vernazza we got them settled and hung out on the terrace before we left for dinner. pizza and wine it was and we spent the rest of the evening just staying up talking and enjoying those precious moments. we fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the waves outside our door. i could get used to that :)
the last day we got up and hiked from vernazza to monterosso al mare, the last city, and the only one that really has much of a beach. we took our time, stopped to take lots of pictures, and were even more thankful we stayed in vernazza when we passed a million and a half people starting the hike from the opposite direction. the hike took less than a couple hours and the weather was perfect for us. once we started the last 15 minutes or so of the hike, we looked out over the sea and we can just see this wall of rain headed for monterosso. we picked up our pace and felt slightly bad for those people who had just started their hike because they were about to get pounded. as soon as our feet hit the city, the rain came. and when it rains, it can pour. we hid out under a bridge for a little bit while megan erica and brady ran to find an atm and we decided this would be a good time to have some lunch and make our game plan for the next few hours. we had eaten plenty of pesto but hadn't had focaccia yet so we were ready to indulge in some of those delicacies. lunch was filled with lots of it and even a nutella pizza to finish it off. we wandered around the town a little bit and did some shopping before we enjoyed gelato on the "beach" and hopped back on the train to florence. side note: if you ever go to cinque terre, buy some oranges or lemons. it's probably a safe bet that if every trail is lined with orange and lemon trees, they're pretty tasty and you should take some home with you. i've never eaten a slice of lemon whole before we got these and took them home to cook with. judge me but they were delicious, peel and all.
so all this to say, the guidebooks are right, you should absolutely go to cinque terre if you are in italy. make it a priority and stay for more than a day. enjoy the hikes, give these cities some business and help boost their economy. wander through the backroads, knock on the door of a b&b or apartment renter and see what kind of deal you can get. oh and its okay to make an effort to talk to people that you know are from your home country and sometimes it's okay to have gelato at 9:30 in the morning. you only live once.
so imagine that- i'm a couple weeks late on this trip but it's worth documenting so i'll go ahead and make a few remarks about it. cinque terre is one of those places that you HAVE to go when you are visiting italy. it's a truly beautiful beautiful place- with trails leading you between the five cities that give you amazing views of the mediterranean sea. unfortunately there was a really bad rainstorm in october and as a result, a couple of the cities experienced flooding and destructive mudslides that wiped out houses, vineyards, one of the beaches and even killed a few people. because of this, they have been working very hard to clean it up in lieu of those cities being so dependent on tourism to bring in their income and some of the trails were re-routed and some are still closed so you have to take a train between one of the cities.
some people choose to go to cinque terre to see all 5 cities in one day and take the train to see all of them but my friend jessie and i decided to take it slow and were determined to take as many of the hikes as we could, and enjoy just being outside. we were also very lucky because it was a slow weekend and since the forecast was cloudy with some rain, there were no crowds anywhere and it was heaven. so friday afternoon we set out as soon as jessie and i were out of class and took the train to the first town of riomaggiore.
this was the first time we didn't book a hostel and we were hoping this wasn't going to come back to bite us. as soon as we stepped off the train, all we saw was water and it was glorious. next stop was of course: a cafe to get a cappuccino. after we ordered, we sat down, jessie facing the door, and all of a sudden jessie goes "look! texas a&m!" and i whip my head around and there is a girl standing in the street with a maroon texas a&m shirt on. (i actually had that same shirt from when i visited in high school….) without even really thinking i hopped up and ran out to the poor girl and started telling her how i was from texas, and all my best friends from high school and camp go to a&m, and how sorry i was if i scared her but when you see people from america, and especially texas, i can't help but say hello because heck, they're basically family when you're over here. we started asking the basic questions like where we were studying, what year we were, who all we are here with, and where we were staying tonight. we told them we hadn't really figured that out yet and that we were going to need to look around at some point tonight. they told us we could just stay with them in their hostel- it had a bunk bed with an extra queen that no one was staying in it. so we said why not! split the cost of the room making it cheaper for everyone and all of a sudden, we had a place to stay. we got their numbers and decided we needed to go exploring. jessie and i wandered through riomaggiore until we came to the top of a hill that overlooked the sea and had a park bench and a giant wooden cross. photo op.
as we were walking down the one main road in riomaggiore, i realized we still hadn't called our other two friends, shannon and jamie, who we were planning on seeing that weekend. right as i set down my backpack to get my phone out, i look over and they are looking at us through the window of their restaurant. small towns these are. we waited for them to finish dinner, got some gelato, then took them up to the scenic overlook before jessie and i decided we wanted to grub. this region is famous for inventing pesto so everything this weekend was sure to have pesto on it. pesto gnocchi, pesto pizza, pesto focaccia…the list goes on. we met up with our new friends that night and chatted for a long while before we finally went to bed.
we woke up early the next morning to meet shannon and jamie to walk on via dell amore or the "pathway of love"- the famous road that traces the shoreline between riomaggiore and manarola. the walk normally takes around 15 minutes but we made sure we documented well and it took us a good hour or so to make it to city #2. i ain't complaining- the walk was beautiful and it was filled with lots of laughs and pictures. there is a tunnel at about the midway point of the walk and we decided to leave our mark like everyone else had.
manarola is the town that you see on all the postcards of cinque terre so naturally, we had to take a postcard pic AFTER we got some of the most delicious gelato i've had in italy at 9:30 in the morning. if you know anything about me, you know that i love sweets but mainly sweets pertaining to chocolate. even though there are lots and lots of different gelato flavors everywhere we go, i always stick to the chocolatey/oreo/chocolate chip type flavors. i'm loyal what can i say. this gelato was mandarin, the most delicious fruity gelato i've ever had.
after the postcard pictures, we said goodbye to shannon and jamie and jessie and i started our hike from manarola to corniglia, city #3. this was one of the hikes that had to be rerouted and it was a heck of a hike (i'm out of shape. thanks gelato and pizza) but it was beautiful nonetheless. we took our time, met some fellow study abroad students and a cat that jessie is obsessed with, and enjoyed the on and off again rain that sprinkled down on us. at the top of the hike we sat and had some time with Jesus and enjoyed the view, where we could see manarola on our left and corniglia on the right.
we met ruthie and katie after jessie and i enjoyed some pesto pizza for lunch. corniglia might have been the coolest city we saw. we got to hike almost all the way down the beach (unfortunately it was closed) but again, beautiful views, cool little town. i forget some people get to actually call these places home.
ruthie and katie were doing the day-trip thing so once we looked around corniglia with them, we took the train to vernazza and separated so we could do the last hike the next day before we went home. vernazza was the city that got hit the worst from the mudslides and it is still suffering economically and scenery-wise. no more beach, lots of mud still being cleaned up, and business is just very slow for apartment-renters and restaurants. we sat on the edge of the not so beachy-beach for a little while after katie and ruthie left and decided to go exploring because after all, we didn't have a place to stay for the night…again… we wandered up the streets and they kept going up and so did we. we found a couple bed and breakfasts and apartments and the first one was just too expensive for 2 people and the next one no one answered when we buzzed asking if they had anything available, which would have been a stupid question because nothing is full in these cities. we were ascending on the winding roads until we could no longer see many roofs and were only looking at the skies. what awaited us was elizabeth's.
third time's a charm. we rang the doorbell for elizabeth's and no one answered the door but a man called out "buongiorno!" from the terrace above us. we said buongiorno and asked him if he had a room available for 5, knowing our price range and hoping we wouldn't have to bargain much. he said yes and to hang on (not exactly those words, it was mostly broken english/italian, or itenglish as we have come to call it…) and he would get his sister to come help us. she said she had 2 rooms available for 5 of us at 20 euros/person. it sounded like a steal but we asked to see the rooms first. she led us up some extremely narrow and windy staircases to the first room which was literally just that- one room with one bed and a bathroom. that would be for the boy. (jessie's roommate in florence and 2 of her friends who were visiting from their study abroad program in ireland were also going to be in cinque terre that night so we called them to make sure they would stay with us before we committed.) we kept climbing the stairs and came to the very tip top of this apartment building to the ladies' room and it was an incredible view. me and jessie just looked at each other, stunned, and called megan and they agreed to get these rooms with us. the lady probably just pocketed the money since they are hurtin for some business but we didn't mind- we loved that we found this and were so thankful the Lord provided a place for us to stay. we brought jessie's hammock but with the rain and chilly weather, we weren't sure that would have been very suitable to sleep in….
once megan, brady, and erica got to vernazza we got them settled and hung out on the terrace before we left for dinner. pizza and wine it was and we spent the rest of the evening just staying up talking and enjoying those precious moments. we fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the waves outside our door. i could get used to that :)
the last day we got up and hiked from vernazza to monterosso al mare, the last city, and the only one that really has much of a beach. we took our time, stopped to take lots of pictures, and were even more thankful we stayed in vernazza when we passed a million and a half people starting the hike from the opposite direction. the hike took less than a couple hours and the weather was perfect for us. once we started the last 15 minutes or so of the hike, we looked out over the sea and we can just see this wall of rain headed for monterosso. we picked up our pace and felt slightly bad for those people who had just started their hike because they were about to get pounded. as soon as our feet hit the city, the rain came. and when it rains, it can pour. we hid out under a bridge for a little bit while megan erica and brady ran to find an atm and we decided this would be a good time to have some lunch and make our game plan for the next few hours. we had eaten plenty of pesto but hadn't had focaccia yet so we were ready to indulge in some of those delicacies. lunch was filled with lots of it and even a nutella pizza to finish it off. we wandered around the town a little bit and did some shopping before we enjoyed gelato on the "beach" and hopped back on the train to florence. side note: if you ever go to cinque terre, buy some oranges or lemons. it's probably a safe bet that if every trail is lined with orange and lemon trees, they're pretty tasty and you should take some home with you. i've never eaten a slice of lemon whole before we got these and took them home to cook with. judge me but they were delicious, peel and all.
so all this to say, the guidebooks are right, you should absolutely go to cinque terre if you are in italy. make it a priority and stay for more than a day. enjoy the hikes, give these cities some business and help boost their economy. wander through the backroads, knock on the door of a b&b or apartment renter and see what kind of deal you can get. oh and its okay to make an effort to talk to people that you know are from your home country and sometimes it's okay to have gelato at 9:30 in the morning. you only live once.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
skydiving in switzerland
[keep in mind, 80% of this was written last saturday. and just a heads up, it's a long one...]
:)
laying down but can't sleep. eyelids heavy but heart racing. me and katie have been trying to find the words to describe what we got to be apart of today. the overwhelming beauty of the swiss alps and the lakes below, the feeling of falling to the earth, the total and complete trust we had in our instructors are all a lot to take in and we are speechless. so while i'm exhausted but having a hard time napping, i'll try to write it.
we got to switzerland on wednesday, ready to soak in the outdoors. there is something about the fresh air and beautiful mountains that just lights up my soul. i see the Lord's beauty in it…in feeling so small, seeing a landscape so pure, there is nothing like it to me and i've been looking forward to it all semester. since katie and i don't have class on thursdays, we decided to take the train wednesday afternoon. we rode through rain, glorious rain, the entire way here passing through northern italy and lake como to southern switzerland. the first night couple nights we stayed at a hostel that didn't have a reception…you just check in at the bar. classy establishment. no but really, this has got to be one of the greatest hostels we have stayed in so far this semester. we found this one before we got word about the two famous ones but i am super happy we found it, especially considering it's called "happy inn" and had smiley faces everywhere-even on the keys. we threw our stuff in the room and came back down to have a beer and talk to the bartenders/receptionists about the activities we could do. what i found out i should've done before i got here was check traveler's blogs about the weather in april. april is probably the most awkward time we could've come because the weather is so inconsistent and unpredictable. it's in between their ski season and their outdoor activity season and everything we wanted to do either wasn't open yet or we didn't have warm, water resistant clothes and shoes to don so we could brave the cold mountain weather.
we talked to andy and helen for a couple hours about hikes around town we could do, and their take on skydiving. i told katie, if canyoning isn't open and it's still too cold and snowy to go mountain biking, i might have to skydive. from then on, it was over for us- we had to do it. one small problem: the weather forecast. they were optimistic that we could do it the next day even though it showed clouds and rain through the weekend. we woke up the next day to soft, beautiful, drizzly rain. we had the lady at the bar call for us and sure enough, it was a no-go for that day but we were scheduled for the following day at 8:45…they told us it was our best bet. we said alrighty then, where can we go today? lucerne. never heard of it but okay…
we had the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast and were en route to lucerne 45 minutes later. through more rain, we passed brienzersee, the lake next to interlaken and the lush green fields until we arrived at lucerne. it was like a picture. lucky for us, it was small so even though we got lost a couple times, we managed to see the whole town. we have discovered a theme with just about every european town we've been to: rivers and bridges everywhere. so while we didn't do a whole lot of digging about the historical significance, we saw rivers, bridges, and lots and lots of expensive things. switzerland is COSTLY, beware. we saw the famous lion carved into rock that symbolizes lucerne, tasted some swiss chocolate, witnessed a bunch of old men dressed in traditional swiss german attire singing together, and wandered through a panoramic museum that had walls of paintings from mountains and views from all over switzerland. after we got lost the first time and were trying to get to these museums, we found a castle wall and saw some people walking down so we thought why not, and walked towards them. although there was no castle, we walked through it (the archway, that is…) and came to this beautiful view of the city. we saw a lot more people coming down from a higher hill and our curiosity got the best of us so knowing no german and being the ignorant american tourists, we walked up to the clock tower and slowly, floor by floor, traversed to the top. we passed a german lady who kinda laughed and asked if we were american and told us that technically, this clock tower wasn't having its inauguration until the next day so we were very lucky to be in there :) we wandered the rest of the floors, looking at all the different clocks that were centuries old and seeing how they worked through the huge glasses cases. after a very full afternoon, we headed back to the happy inn.
when we got there, it was 8:15, only 45 minutes from when the band was supposed to be there. since interlaken is such a small town and there's really not much of a nightlife, the entertainment on a thursday night was the jazz band playing at our hostel. so, we finally got to sample some swiss cheese fondue and enjoyed the music until we had to register for classes. the bar filled up quickly and here we were, the two american girls listening to a bunch of old guys cover some oldie blues songs that i had never heard and looking up our classes for the summer and fall on our iPhones. we got into our classes, enjoyed the rest of the music from the other room so that everyone who was 30 years older than us could have our seats and skyped with a couple of our friends. besides, we had a date with the sky the next day…
8:45 rolls around. another no-go for the sky-dive. while it wasn't raining, the clouds were too thick so they couldn't fly out and they said they would check back at 10. so we went back to bed and awoke to another no 3 minutes before they were suppose to get us. 1:00 they said. by 1:00 the weather should be cleared up and we should be able to get out. we understood but were starting to think we wouldn't be able to go at all. we decided to ask for a trail we could go hike since it wasn't suppose to rain and we had a couple hours to kill. we walked out of interlaken toward brienzersee, and somehow got lost. it's a GIANT lake and we could not find the right trail that led us right along it so after an hour and a half of incredible landscape, we decided to turn around and come back to interlaken in case we were going to get to skydive. lucky for us, we had just enough time to eat a ham and cheese toasty before stefan, the skydive guy rolled on up to the happy inn ready to take us up the valley. then came the nerves- this was actually going to get to happen.
stefan and his sweet 10 year old daughter skyler were ready to rock and roll as they led us toward lauterbrunnen, the town in the valley outside interlaken that we were going to take off from. stefan has been on over 10,000 skydiving jumps and has been jumping for nearly 30 years. he is a seasoned veteran to say the least so i was confident that if he has survived 10,000+ jumps, surely i can survive one…
famous last words…
no but really, we were confident in his ability as a skydiving professional and were getting more and more excited by the moment. we rolled on through the valley and came to lauterbrunnen, which translates to "many falls." there are over 70 waterfalls that run off into this valley and its green and the mountains seem taller and it might just be my heaven on earth. we tried to capture the beauty but we couldn't really do it justice. we signed our lives away, knowing if we were going to die we were glad it was going to be here. dan, katie's kiwi jumper guy, came in all tatted and dreaded, fresh off a morning of skiing and was ready to go. these guys live the life. onward we went, up to the heli.
the trip to our designated jump point in the sky was short, unfortunately, but the scenery was more than i could handle. we zoomed out of the valley over the tops of the snow-covered mountains and up up up we went. the ground became smaller and smaller and me and katie just gripped each other's hands tightly as we could NOT believe this was about to happen. i was suppose to go first since i was the closest to the door. out the front window: a beautiful blue lake. to the right and left snowy mountains that fade into green trees and grass and finally, interlaken, the city below. stefan taps me on the shoulder and asks me to open the door to the helicopter.
……i'm sorry you want me to do what??????
open the door, of course.
i unlatch the door and he helps me slide it open. i'm told to step out of the helicopter, onto the ledge below. hovering in the sky, standing outside the heli, i look straight out and all i see are white, snow-capped mountains and my brain doesn't process that i'm standing 12,000 feet in the air about to voluntarily jump towards the earth. the only way to describe it is that it was a spiritual moment. I love God's artistic abilities, His imaginative mind, to think that THIS is exactly how He wanted this place to look and THIS is what He thinks is beautiful too…He is speakin my love language and man it makes me love Him more. He gives us beauty each day to enjoy, to see Him in, to praise Him for. i pray for eyes to see it in the everyday things as much as i see it in the towering, swiss alps.
about 10 seconds later, i hear him counting down. head leaned back looking straight into the blue sky, knees slightly bent, i brace for it. 3…….2…….1…….. towards the earth i tumble. he warned us that we probably wouldn't remember the first couple seconds if it was our first time and i will admit, it's a tiny bit spotty. i do remember feeling the weight leaning against me as we left the helicopter, and i remember the mountains briefly, then after that…the city. i saw green trees, brown roofed houses…i'm staring straight at the ground with eyes wide and mouth gaping open. i actually remember thinking wow my mouth is really dry all of a sudden. looking back through the pictures, i realize that it's because it is open the entire time. i'm in shock, then smiling, then laughing. wow what a feeling to free fall….i can't even describe it.
a mere 45 seconds later, i feel a jerk and the parachute is deployed. right and left, the same scenery- the lakes, more green than snow, and i'm laughing. i wish i could've reversed gravity. we were still falling unfortunately, but it was still a priceless moment. i do remember asking where katie was and we looked up and by God's good grace, her parachute had deployed as well. i asked stefan if after 10,000 jumps he gets tired of the view…he answered no way. we had some more fun while we were droppin like a rock. we dove and did some fun little circles and before i knew it, he was telling me to put my knees into my chest because we were about to land. we came screaming in, thanks to the breeze sweeping through the valley but we managed to land on our feet. a few seconds later, katie came in (on her bum :]) but nevertheless, we were on the ground, injury free, grinning ear to ear, still not fulling believing that that just happened.
we were downloading the events of the day and what i was shocked about, was that even though i'm afraid of heights, i never felt that feeling in my stomach that i get when i'm up high. i remember when i'm at camp working high ropes, and i'm getting my harness on, i double, actually triple, check my harness to make sure everything is double-backed and the carabineers are on correctly and locked. when i look down for the first few minutes, i get butterflies. in the helicopter- there was none of that. the entire time stefan was getting me ready in my super snazzy jumpsuit, i trusted him 100%. he tied me in, latched us together, and we were ready. i didn't doubt for one second that he had done everything he knew to do to keep me safe. i trusted him up until we were on the ground again.
and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
how can i trust stefan, a flawed human being, with my life and yet i doubt the God of the universe who loves me WAY more than anyone else has the capacity for. not once did i look behind me to see what all stefan had to do to strap me in nor did i ask him to show me that i was secure, i just trusted. even in the air, stepping out of the helicopter, my mind did not ask once if i was going to be okay…in complete and utter faith, i let him push me off the ledge and experienced the ride of my life. why don't i trust the Lord like this? why do i always have to ask why and why do i always doubt He knows what He's doing?! He deserves my trust and my faith more than anyone else i know- He gives me hope and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. i pray for faith like that skydive: unrelenting, unhindered, joyful, willing faith in the One who has conquered all so i can live this life fearlessly, knowing my Sovereign Father knows EXACTLY what He's doing. If that means tumbling through the air, not knowing for sure the outcome of what i'm going through, i pray His peace would flood my soul, that confidence in His power would replace any fear, that joy would uproot anxiousness. He has already proven time and time again that HIs plans for my life are better than anything I could dream up. this life is not my own anyway so surrendering should be a no-brainer :)
so, strap me in God, clip me to Yourself, lead me to the edge of that helicopter. You have given your Word to guide me, You have promised You'll never leave me…to stick with the skydiving analogy- we are riding tandem through this life. You are for me, i have nothing to fear.
He deserves nothing less than all of me…surrendered, fearless, confident, assured.
i want faith each day like that first sky dive.
:)
laying down but can't sleep. eyelids heavy but heart racing. me and katie have been trying to find the words to describe what we got to be apart of today. the overwhelming beauty of the swiss alps and the lakes below, the feeling of falling to the earth, the total and complete trust we had in our instructors are all a lot to take in and we are speechless. so while i'm exhausted but having a hard time napping, i'll try to write it.
we got to switzerland on wednesday, ready to soak in the outdoors. there is something about the fresh air and beautiful mountains that just lights up my soul. i see the Lord's beauty in it…in feeling so small, seeing a landscape so pure, there is nothing like it to me and i've been looking forward to it all semester. since katie and i don't have class on thursdays, we decided to take the train wednesday afternoon. we rode through rain, glorious rain, the entire way here passing through northern italy and lake como to southern switzerland. the first night couple nights we stayed at a hostel that didn't have a reception…you just check in at the bar. classy establishment. no but really, this has got to be one of the greatest hostels we have stayed in so far this semester. we found this one before we got word about the two famous ones but i am super happy we found it, especially considering it's called "happy inn" and had smiley faces everywhere-even on the keys. we threw our stuff in the room and came back down to have a beer and talk to the bartenders/receptionists about the activities we could do. what i found out i should've done before i got here was check traveler's blogs about the weather in april. april is probably the most awkward time we could've come because the weather is so inconsistent and unpredictable. it's in between their ski season and their outdoor activity season and everything we wanted to do either wasn't open yet or we didn't have warm, water resistant clothes and shoes to don so we could brave the cold mountain weather.
we talked to andy and helen for a couple hours about hikes around town we could do, and their take on skydiving. i told katie, if canyoning isn't open and it's still too cold and snowy to go mountain biking, i might have to skydive. from then on, it was over for us- we had to do it. one small problem: the weather forecast. they were optimistic that we could do it the next day even though it showed clouds and rain through the weekend. we woke up the next day to soft, beautiful, drizzly rain. we had the lady at the bar call for us and sure enough, it was a no-go for that day but we were scheduled for the following day at 8:45…they told us it was our best bet. we said alrighty then, where can we go today? lucerne. never heard of it but okay…
we had the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast and were en route to lucerne 45 minutes later. through more rain, we passed brienzersee, the lake next to interlaken and the lush green fields until we arrived at lucerne. it was like a picture. lucky for us, it was small so even though we got lost a couple times, we managed to see the whole town. we have discovered a theme with just about every european town we've been to: rivers and bridges everywhere. so while we didn't do a whole lot of digging about the historical significance, we saw rivers, bridges, and lots and lots of expensive things. switzerland is COSTLY, beware. we saw the famous lion carved into rock that symbolizes lucerne, tasted some swiss chocolate, witnessed a bunch of old men dressed in traditional swiss german attire singing together, and wandered through a panoramic museum that had walls of paintings from mountains and views from all over switzerland. after we got lost the first time and were trying to get to these museums, we found a castle wall and saw some people walking down so we thought why not, and walked towards them. although there was no castle, we walked through it (the archway, that is…) and came to this beautiful view of the city. we saw a lot more people coming down from a higher hill and our curiosity got the best of us so knowing no german and being the ignorant american tourists, we walked up to the clock tower and slowly, floor by floor, traversed to the top. we passed a german lady who kinda laughed and asked if we were american and told us that technically, this clock tower wasn't having its inauguration until the next day so we were very lucky to be in there :) we wandered the rest of the floors, looking at all the different clocks that were centuries old and seeing how they worked through the huge glasses cases. after a very full afternoon, we headed back to the happy inn.
when we got there, it was 8:15, only 45 minutes from when the band was supposed to be there. since interlaken is such a small town and there's really not much of a nightlife, the entertainment on a thursday night was the jazz band playing at our hostel. so, we finally got to sample some swiss cheese fondue and enjoyed the music until we had to register for classes. the bar filled up quickly and here we were, the two american girls listening to a bunch of old guys cover some oldie blues songs that i had never heard and looking up our classes for the summer and fall on our iPhones. we got into our classes, enjoyed the rest of the music from the other room so that everyone who was 30 years older than us could have our seats and skyped with a couple of our friends. besides, we had a date with the sky the next day…
8:45 rolls around. another no-go for the sky-dive. while it wasn't raining, the clouds were too thick so they couldn't fly out and they said they would check back at 10. so we went back to bed and awoke to another no 3 minutes before they were suppose to get us. 1:00 they said. by 1:00 the weather should be cleared up and we should be able to get out. we understood but were starting to think we wouldn't be able to go at all. we decided to ask for a trail we could go hike since it wasn't suppose to rain and we had a couple hours to kill. we walked out of interlaken toward brienzersee, and somehow got lost. it's a GIANT lake and we could not find the right trail that led us right along it so after an hour and a half of incredible landscape, we decided to turn around and come back to interlaken in case we were going to get to skydive. lucky for us, we had just enough time to eat a ham and cheese toasty before stefan, the skydive guy rolled on up to the happy inn ready to take us up the valley. then came the nerves- this was actually going to get to happen.
stefan and his sweet 10 year old daughter skyler were ready to rock and roll as they led us toward lauterbrunnen, the town in the valley outside interlaken that we were going to take off from. stefan has been on over 10,000 skydiving jumps and has been jumping for nearly 30 years. he is a seasoned veteran to say the least so i was confident that if he has survived 10,000+ jumps, surely i can survive one…
famous last words…
……i'm sorry you want me to do what??????
open the door, of course.
i unlatch the door and he helps me slide it open. i'm told to step out of the helicopter, onto the ledge below. hovering in the sky, standing outside the heli, i look straight out and all i see are white, snow-capped mountains and my brain doesn't process that i'm standing 12,000 feet in the air about to voluntarily jump towards the earth. the only way to describe it is that it was a spiritual moment. I love God's artistic abilities, His imaginative mind, to think that THIS is exactly how He wanted this place to look and THIS is what He thinks is beautiful too…He is speakin my love language and man it makes me love Him more. He gives us beauty each day to enjoy, to see Him in, to praise Him for. i pray for eyes to see it in the everyday things as much as i see it in the towering, swiss alps.
about 10 seconds later, i hear him counting down. head leaned back looking straight into the blue sky, knees slightly bent, i brace for it. 3…….2…….1…….. towards the earth i tumble. he warned us that we probably wouldn't remember the first couple seconds if it was our first time and i will admit, it's a tiny bit spotty. i do remember feeling the weight leaning against me as we left the helicopter, and i remember the mountains briefly, then after that…the city. i saw green trees, brown roofed houses…i'm staring straight at the ground with eyes wide and mouth gaping open. i actually remember thinking wow my mouth is really dry all of a sudden. looking back through the pictures, i realize that it's because it is open the entire time. i'm in shock, then smiling, then laughing. wow what a feeling to free fall….i can't even describe it.
we were downloading the events of the day and what i was shocked about, was that even though i'm afraid of heights, i never felt that feeling in my stomach that i get when i'm up high. i remember when i'm at camp working high ropes, and i'm getting my harness on, i double, actually triple, check my harness to make sure everything is double-backed and the carabineers are on correctly and locked. when i look down for the first few minutes, i get butterflies. in the helicopter- there was none of that. the entire time stefan was getting me ready in my super snazzy jumpsuit, i trusted him 100%. he tied me in, latched us together, and we were ready. i didn't doubt for one second that he had done everything he knew to do to keep me safe. i trusted him up until we were on the ground again.
and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
how can i trust stefan, a flawed human being, with my life and yet i doubt the God of the universe who loves me WAY more than anyone else has the capacity for. not once did i look behind me to see what all stefan had to do to strap me in nor did i ask him to show me that i was secure, i just trusted. even in the air, stepping out of the helicopter, my mind did not ask once if i was going to be okay…in complete and utter faith, i let him push me off the ledge and experienced the ride of my life. why don't i trust the Lord like this? why do i always have to ask why and why do i always doubt He knows what He's doing?! He deserves my trust and my faith more than anyone else i know- He gives me hope and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. i pray for faith like that skydive: unrelenting, unhindered, joyful, willing faith in the One who has conquered all so i can live this life fearlessly, knowing my Sovereign Father knows EXACTLY what He's doing. If that means tumbling through the air, not knowing for sure the outcome of what i'm going through, i pray His peace would flood my soul, that confidence in His power would replace any fear, that joy would uproot anxiousness. He has already proven time and time again that HIs plans for my life are better than anything I could dream up. this life is not my own anyway so surrendering should be a no-brainer :)
so, strap me in God, clip me to Yourself, lead me to the edge of that helicopter. You have given your Word to guide me, You have promised You'll never leave me…to stick with the skydiving analogy- we are riding tandem through this life. You are for me, i have nothing to fear.
He deserves nothing less than all of me…surrendered, fearless, confident, assured.
i want faith each day like that first sky dive.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
God bless the English speaking city of London.
three days after we got back from rome, katie and i were set to embark on our first trip just the two of us to LONDON!!! we were so excited about: speaking english, british accents, sight-seeing, starbucks, and speaking english. getting there, however, was half the battle. we got to have our first experience with ryanair, the airline that has really cheap flights for us poor college students. we heard from people that you get what you pay for and while you pay a very low fare to fly, don't expect a great experience service-wise. you have to pay to check a bag, there is one REALLY long line (actually it's more like a blob) to board the plane (which really stressed me out). also, the airport we have to fly out of is in pisa. so first things first, we had to take an hour train ride to pisa. then we had 4 minutes to make our connecting train and we missed it so we had to wait almost another hour to take the next train to the airport. however, while we were waiting, we met two very nice gentlemen who had just been in italy for the week and live in london so they gave us some advice on what to do and gave us their numbers in case we needed anything or had any questions while we were there. so sweet!
found out going through security that their limit for liquid/gels/aerosols is lower than the U.S. so me and katie got half of our toiletries thrown away. (the limit is 100 ml in case you are every flying in europe.) we boarded the plane, sitting a row away from each other and once we were all seated with our seat belts fastened and our seats in their full upright and locked position (I don't know if they actually said this, it was all in italian…), we got to wait on the runway because there was an air traffic control strike in france and since we were flying through there, we couldn't go until they said we could. sooooo a little over an hour later we were on our way. luckily we sat next to some awesome people on the plane and got to learn some italian and get another list of places to go in london town. once we finally got on a bus and checked in at our hostel, we had been traveling for 9 hours. day 1 and we were already exhausted.
so this was our first hostel experience and it was an interesting one. we were in a mixed dorm so we weren't quite sure what to expect as far as roommates go. we had a sink in the room, a shower connected, and the restroom was in the hall. the storage was under the bunk beds and you were suppose to bring your own locks. oops. sorry we are amateurs. we found out we only had one roommate that night after we had already gotten ready for bed. in walked tony, a sweet spanish boy who had been in london for a month looking for a job. laying in bed in my clothes (i forgot pajamas…), with no make up on and my retainer in, we got to chat with tony briefly before we went to bed.
we got up the next morning determined to go find a starbucks. since we had to pay for the internet in our hostel, we decided to just walk to the train station and figure it out once we got there. we had researched the deets on seeing a broadway show with a student discount and found out if we showed up at the box office the day of the show at 10:00, we could get the best available seats for a really cheap price. and did we ever. we were told we were actually right across the street from the theater so we went back inside to wait a few more minutes and FOUND A STARBUCKS RIGHT INSIDE! oh my goodness we were so happy. we waited outside for the tickets and got 8th row dead center. man were we pumped! this was already an awesome day! we then got on the tube/underground and went to the meeting point for the fat tire bike tours. since it was a weekday, it was a smaller group of people which made it even better. we learned A TON on our tour. i don't know why we haven't taken more tours where we have gone because it was very informative and made everything even cooler. below are some of the highlights:
after the tour we had a beer at a pub with our new friends from the bike tour and left early so we could go hit up some CHIPOTLE before wicked that night! we got off the tube at the wrong stop (which was my fault. katie is the directionally-savvy one.) so when we were asking around where it was, no one knew!!!! *gasp* we finally found it and savored every ounce of that guacamole and hot sauce and steak and YUM YUM YUM IT WAS DELICIOUS. definitely not as good as chipotle in the u.s. of a. but it satisfied fo sho! wicked was amazing, incredible, no words, wanted to cry the singing was so beautiful hahaha this is the girl that played elphaba:
that night we went home and crashed because we were exhausted from the day. the next morning we woke up to a couple deciding to share a bunk above katie's. to make the situation even more awkward, they only spoke french to each other so we didn't talk at all once they finally got up. we had to move hostels anyways because that one was booked for the weekend so we grabbed our toast with nutella, said goodbye to tony, and peaced on outta there. since we couldn't check in to our next hostel yet, we decided to go watch the changing of the guard at buckingham palace. once we got there, we realized an hour and a half later that there was a sign on the other side of the fence that said:
after that wonderful experience we checked into our next hostel which was like a dream come true. it was in a city park which was beautiful and it was part of the youth hostel association so they actually care about their property, clean sheets, and a good experience. we put our stuff in a locker since our room wasn't ready yet and we went to go see the tower bridge. me and katie were laughing because at first, we assumed since this was london, the london bridge is the really big spectacular one you see on all the postcards but as a matter of fact, it's the tower bridge. the london bridge is literally a sidewalk. nothing special whatsoever haha see for yourself how gorgeous the tower bridge is…
we got some fish and chips at a place down the road then decided to take a double-decker bus over to the london bridge just in case there was something to see. there was nothing. however, we did see a beautiful church and upon walking toward it, we found an awesome open air market called the borough market. if you go to london, you HAVE to go hear…cheeses, meats, honey, jams, fish, cookies, brownies, etc. etc. amazing stuff!
we didn't spend too long at the market because we knew we wanted to make it to the 5:00 service at westminster abbey. our tour guide told us it's a really incredible service because they have their world-famous westminster choir sing and it truly was amazing. it was a catholic service but regardless, it was really neat to be in there since so many famous people are buried there and its where william and kate got married :)
after the service we went back to chipotle for dinner and once again, it confirmed that it is, in fact, better in texas. we went to a pub to have a drink and as we were leaving, we stopped outside a theater because these three guys were jammin out on their drum and guitars. they played billie jean and upside down by jack johnson and we were LOVIN it! since the tube closed at midnight and we didn't know how to use the bus system, we scooted on outta there after the second song was done and headed home for the night.
saturday was our last day so we did our best to see all there was to see in the last few hours. at breakfast, we met a group of high school kids whose parents were stationed at the american army base in germany. the sweet old man who was leading their trip offered us sack lunches that were left over from their group and we were on our way :) katie had never been to picadilly circus so we went to go see england's version of time square. we didn't spend long there because we knew we weren't going to do any shopping so we went on over to the national gallery which was free admission and housed soooo many painting from the 1500's to today and included many many famous painters such as van gogh, monet, caravaggio, and more! afterwards, we really wanted to take a picture on the giant lions out front. our tour guide made it a joke by saying they are the only country who doesn't care if people climb all over their national monuments but its really true so we decided to go take pictures haha katie had some technical difficulties getting up but once she did, she kicked back and enjoyed the moment.
two more stops then i'm done, promise!! one of the places our friend on the plane told us to go was the camden market. we got off the train at camden town to a SWARM of people. they had scheduled engineering work planned for that weekend on one of their busiest lines so all the trains were just incredibly busy and on top of that it was a saturday so everyone was out and about going to the market. initially we thought maybe this guy didn't know us very well because all we saw were like gothic clothing shops and tattoo/piercing parlors and i really thought these people were scary. fortunately katie thought maybe we just hadn't gone far enough so we kept walking and sure enough, ran into a freakin awesome market. it had a ton of independent food stands as well as the most precious boutique clothing and trinket shops. we spent a couple hours there walking around then finally we went to………………………………………………..PLATFORM 9 3/4!!!!!! i know harry potter fans, i'm awesome. there was a line but it was worth the 15 minute wait to take a couple pictures! :)
we hopped on the tube and went back to our hostel to get our stuff because we thought we were timing our trip back just perfectly but as soon as we got on the train we heard over the loud speaker that there were train delays so we were expecting to be stuck for awhile. since the tube had been working perfectly the whole time we were there, we recognized the Lord was giving us an opportunity to trust Him so we sat back and waited for the trains to start up again. right when the train operator was telling us over the loud speaker to expect long delays and to consider other alternative routes to our destination, the train started going again. my head whipped over to katie and i said "that was random!" and she just smiled and said "no it wasn't." God is good, even in the little things. long story short, we missed our first bus but made the second to get to the airport, security made me throw away my brand new greek honey i got from the borough market, our plane was late so we got great seats once it finally arrived, and after a long travel day, we made it home and were in bed by 3 a.m. :)
so thankful to Jesus for a safe trip and sweet memories with my wonderful friend katie! studying studying studying for mid-terms this next week then SPRING BREAK! this life is so sweet, whether in florence, london, or skyping with the people i love who are thousands of miles away. enjoy today, soak in the sunshine, and be thankful for whatever you have, wherever you are because at the end of the day, these experiences are awesome, but knowing Jesus is always going to be better. ciao ciao! baci xoxo
found out going through security that their limit for liquid/gels/aerosols is lower than the U.S. so me and katie got half of our toiletries thrown away. (the limit is 100 ml in case you are every flying in europe.) we boarded the plane, sitting a row away from each other and once we were all seated with our seat belts fastened and our seats in their full upright and locked position (I don't know if they actually said this, it was all in italian…), we got to wait on the runway because there was an air traffic control strike in france and since we were flying through there, we couldn't go until they said we could. sooooo a little over an hour later we were on our way. luckily we sat next to some awesome people on the plane and got to learn some italian and get another list of places to go in london town. once we finally got on a bus and checked in at our hostel, we had been traveling for 9 hours. day 1 and we were already exhausted.
so this was our first hostel experience and it was an interesting one. we were in a mixed dorm so we weren't quite sure what to expect as far as roommates go. we had a sink in the room, a shower connected, and the restroom was in the hall. the storage was under the bunk beds and you were suppose to bring your own locks. oops. sorry we are amateurs. we found out we only had one roommate that night after we had already gotten ready for bed. in walked tony, a sweet spanish boy who had been in london for a month looking for a job. laying in bed in my clothes (i forgot pajamas…), with no make up on and my retainer in, we got to chat with tony briefly before we went to bed.
we got up the next morning determined to go find a starbucks. since we had to pay for the internet in our hostel, we decided to just walk to the train station and figure it out once we got there. we had researched the deets on seeing a broadway show with a student discount and found out if we showed up at the box office the day of the show at 10:00, we could get the best available seats for a really cheap price. and did we ever. we were told we were actually right across the street from the theater so we went back inside to wait a few more minutes and FOUND A STARBUCKS RIGHT INSIDE! oh my goodness we were so happy. we waited outside for the tickets and got 8th row dead center. man were we pumped! this was already an awesome day! we then got on the tube/underground and went to the meeting point for the fat tire bike tours. since it was a weekday, it was a smaller group of people which made it even better. we learned A TON on our tour. i don't know why we haven't taken more tours where we have gone because it was very informative and made everything even cooler. below are some of the highlights:
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| the first of many |
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| beginning our tour through kensington gardens |
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| kensington palace: the apartments in the back are where william and kate will move in. the construction kinda sucked... |
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| perfect timing for the horse guards |
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| the building on the left was used to film the king's speech and the one on the right is where prince charles and camila live. it's also where harry lives and where william lived before he got married! |
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| the prime minister's house. this area that is covered with dirt now is where the beach volleyball matches will be played for the olympics |
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| westminster abbey |
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| the school that a ton of famous musicians went to such as the band bush, gavin rossdale, dido, and more that i forgot. |
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| us and ben :) |
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| the london eye |
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| the beautiful blue bridge in st. james' park |
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| rollin on through hyde park |
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| Alba Memorial facing Royal Albert Hall |
that night we went home and crashed because we were exhausted from the day. the next morning we woke up to a couple deciding to share a bunk above katie's. to make the situation even more awkward, they only spoke french to each other so we didn't talk at all once they finally got up. we had to move hostels anyways because that one was booked for the weekend so we grabbed our toast with nutella, said goodbye to tony, and peaced on outta there. since we couldn't check in to our next hostel yet, we decided to go watch the changing of the guard at buckingham palace. once we got there, we realized an hour and a half later that there was a sign on the other side of the fence that said:
after that wonderful experience we checked into our next hostel which was like a dream come true. it was in a city park which was beautiful and it was part of the youth hostel association so they actually care about their property, clean sheets, and a good experience. we put our stuff in a locker since our room wasn't ready yet and we went to go see the tower bridge. me and katie were laughing because at first, we assumed since this was london, the london bridge is the really big spectacular one you see on all the postcards but as a matter of fact, it's the tower bridge. the london bridge is literally a sidewalk. nothing special whatsoever haha see for yourself how gorgeous the tower bridge is…
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| tower of london |
we got some fish and chips at a place down the road then decided to take a double-decker bus over to the london bridge just in case there was something to see. there was nothing. however, we did see a beautiful church and upon walking toward it, we found an awesome open air market called the borough market. if you go to london, you HAVE to go hear…cheeses, meats, honey, jams, fish, cookies, brownies, etc. etc. amazing stuff!
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| the very unexciting london bridge |
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| southwark cathedral- the first gothic style church in london |
we didn't spend too long at the market because we knew we wanted to make it to the 5:00 service at westminster abbey. our tour guide told us it's a really incredible service because they have their world-famous westminster choir sing and it truly was amazing. it was a catholic service but regardless, it was really neat to be in there since so many famous people are buried there and its where william and kate got married :)
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saturday was our last day so we did our best to see all there was to see in the last few hours. at breakfast, we met a group of high school kids whose parents were stationed at the american army base in germany. the sweet old man who was leading their trip offered us sack lunches that were left over from their group and we were on our way :) katie had never been to picadilly circus so we went to go see england's version of time square. we didn't spend long there because we knew we weren't going to do any shopping so we went on over to the national gallery which was free admission and housed soooo many painting from the 1500's to today and included many many famous painters such as van gogh, monet, caravaggio, and more! afterwards, we really wanted to take a picture on the giant lions out front. our tour guide made it a joke by saying they are the only country who doesn't care if people climb all over their national monuments but its really true so we decided to go take pictures haha katie had some technical difficulties getting up but once she did, she kicked back and enjoyed the moment.
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| Picadilly circus |
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| chillin in trafalgar square |
two more stops then i'm done, promise!! one of the places our friend on the plane told us to go was the camden market. we got off the train at camden town to a SWARM of people. they had scheduled engineering work planned for that weekend on one of their busiest lines so all the trains were just incredibly busy and on top of that it was a saturday so everyone was out and about going to the market. initially we thought maybe this guy didn't know us very well because all we saw were like gothic clothing shops and tattoo/piercing parlors and i really thought these people were scary. fortunately katie thought maybe we just hadn't gone far enough so we kept walking and sure enough, ran into a freakin awesome market. it had a ton of independent food stands as well as the most precious boutique clothing and trinket shops. we spent a couple hours there walking around then finally we went to………………………………………………..PLATFORM 9 3/4!!!!!! i know harry potter fans, i'm awesome. there was a line but it was worth the 15 minute wait to take a couple pictures! :)
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| camden market |
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| had to. |
so thankful to Jesus for a safe trip and sweet memories with my wonderful friend katie! studying studying studying for mid-terms this next week then SPRING BREAK! this life is so sweet, whether in florence, london, or skyping with the people i love who are thousands of miles away. enjoy today, soak in the sunshine, and be thankful for whatever you have, wherever you are because at the end of the day, these experiences are awesome, but knowing Jesus is always going to be better. ciao ciao! baci xoxo
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