Hello.
So we've been in Rome since Tuesday. Our hostel is about 30 minutes from the city center by metro but it's literally right on the beach which is really nice! Since it's been so hot out we've been going to the beach in the morning and then showering and heading to the city. Tuesday we met up with Ben and saw where he's staying in Piazza Navona.. it's a really cool old building and the views are beautiful! I'm really glad I got to see him while he's here. Now is the long stretch of 5 (and a half?) weeks til we're both back in NJ. The three of us went out to dinner and then saw the Pantheon. Wednesday after the beach Julie and I went to Vatican City and saw St. Peter's Basilica which was HUGE and very cool. There was mass going on as hundreds of tourists wandered through which seemed kinda strange. We also saw the tombs of a bunch of popes. There was also a dead pope in a glass case that people were praying to.. I'm not sure if it was his real body or a replication but it was creepy. I'll have to look into that. After that we met up with Ben again and got dinner by his dorm and then headed back to our hostel and hung out on the beach. It cools off a lot at night which is good and much better for sleeping.
Today is Thursday. We just got back from the beach which is good because shortly after we got back it started practically monsooning. So we're gonna get cleaned up and then head to the Colloseum area where there are a lot of old things to check out. Hopefully the weather will clear up by the time we leave. Maybe we won't drown in our own sweat today.
Tomorrow we have to check out by 10 and then I think we're gonna do some laundry and make our way to the airport which could take a while. Our flight to Barcelona is in the afternoon.
The Rome hostel was pretty nice. It's a big hostel but the beach location is awesome and we had a private room. Well sort of. You see, they overbooked all of the private rooms so they gave us a room with 5 beds in it and a private bathroom but told us that no one else would be staying there. But then last night at like 3 ish some kid came in and said he was told to sleep there. So I guess they ran out of beds or something. We didn't really mind. You have to go with the flow in these hostels ya know? But having a private bathroom is nice. And they clean the rooms everyday and there is free breakfast which is decent. And theres a bar and a terrace and a game room and laundry room and movie theater. I wish there were places like this by the Jersey shore that we could stay in for so cheap.
That's all for now I think! I'll probably update from Barcelona next.
<3
May 28, 2009
May 25, 2009
Tuscany
Hi!
We're still in Florence until tomorrow morning when we will catch a train to Rome. Today was a wonderful day. We did the wine and bike tour through the countryside and saw tons of vineyards and olive trees and beautiful houses. Our tour guides were Per and Melissa, a young married couple (2 months married). Melissa is from California and Per is from Sweden and they met in an airport in Fiji and it was love at first sight as they say. Per had been working for other bike tour companies and then he and Melissa decided to start their own, which began a year ago.
The beginning of the tour was pretty rough. There was a whole lot of uphills and I felt the burn in my legs. There were four other people on the tour besides Julie and me-- a couple from Michigan about my parents' age and a woman from England with her mother who was from Germany and didn't speak a word of English. Everyone was really nice. We stopped frequently for water and to take pictures and catch our breath. The views were absolutely amazing. I don't think the pictures I took even begin to capture the beauty though.
After much pain we finally made it to our destination, a winery. We took a quick swim in the pool and then we had a delicious lunch prepared by one of the women who worked there. We were also given wine to taste, which I'm sure was a lot better quality than any wine I've ever had. After lunch we were given a tour of the winery and the olive oil press and such. It was really interesting. And then we descended the hills back to our starting point. Downhill was of course a whole lot easier. Which is good because it was about 100 degrees F by that point!!
And that was our lovely wine and bike tour day. We showered and napped for a bit and then got pizza for dinner and of course gelati. Yum :). And then we packed up all our stuff. I'm still not sure how we get everything to fit in such small suitcases, but it does.
I'm not really looking forward to all of the soreness tomorrow. We rode 16 miles today! My butt is already soo sore from the damn bike seat.
Ciao for now!
May 24, 2009
Italy!
Bongiorno Princapesa!! (Life is Beautiful anyone?)
We arrived safely in Florence yesterday. The last night in Paris was annoying because the kid sleeping in the bed under me came in at like 1 and then snored SO loud the whole night. Honestly, it was practically shaking my bed. He's lucky I remembered my ear plugs bc I think I would have killed him if I hadn't had them with me. Then Friday we just hung in the hostel and did laundry and such until it was time to leave for the train station. The overnight train was interesting-- i had never ridden one before. Each compartment was very very tiny and had 6 beds when they were all set up. Luckily, my room only had three people in it: an older French woman named Mary Noelle who spoke some English (she tried to explain how to say her name by telling me it was like Merry Christmas), and an Italian dude named Paolo who grew up in Florence but currently lives in Paris. He spoke French, Italian and English all very well. We talked for a very long time. He is a photojournalist and is currently waiting for an Iranian visa so he can go there. He's been to so many places! He made me guess his age and I guessed 28 but it turns out he was 38!! I could not believe it. Paolo was cool. Mary Noelle was going to Florence to visit her sister who lived there. Why does her sister live in Florence you ask? Because she became "how do you call it... in love.... with an italian and had babies. But they are no longer babies." haha. Also, the French countryside we drove through was soo gorgeous! I wanted to hop off and take pictures.
I didnt sleep very well on the train so we napped Saturday once our room was ready. The place we're staying in in Florence is sooo nice for what we're paying. It's more of a hotel than a hostel. We have a private room rather than dorm style and we share a bathroom but only with one other room it seems. The bathroom is clean and the shower is really nice. Our room is very cute. And there is free internet access which is always good. Yesterday we just walked around Florence and by the river until our room was ready. It's such a beautiful little city. And then after our much needed nap we showered and got Italian food. I had 4 cheese gnocchi and Julie had spaghetti pesto genovese. Both were delicious. Also the gelati here is amazing! Practically every other shop is a gelateria. So far I've had chocolate, vanilla, and nutellati or something like that.
Today we did more walking around. We climbed an enormous hill to a garden that had a beautiful view of the entire city. Then we had lunch at a restaurant that had a set menu special: bruschetta, mixed salad, and lasagna for 8 euros. It was yummmy. After another nap and shower we had margherita pizza for dinner and more gelati... mmmm. the food is so good here!
Tomorrow is the wine and bike tour. I'm a bit concerned about drinking wine in such sweltering heat and then riding a bike.. its very very hot here. We'll see how it goes though. I'm sure Julie will take many pictures if I fall off my bike and tumble down a hill.
Also an Italian man told me he loved me tonight. And after surveying the front of me he commented "very very niice" and offered to buy me a rose hahahaha. so ridiculous.
I'm enjoying Florence very much. I'll try to post a picture of the city that I took from the top of the hill. Hope it works!
-M
May 23, 2009
Americans abroad- Whatever there is to be said is said in English
Hello from Paris still!
Our Paris leg of the trip is winding down; tomorrow we catch an overnight train to Florence, Italy. I have to admit, both Julie and I enjoyed Paris a lot more than we expected to!! Also, A+ for the weather--it’s been absolutely beautiful here! Sunny the whole time and not too hot or cold. Yesterday we got an early start, had breakfast in the hostel (free!) which included cereal, apples, orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate, bread, butter, and jam. Nothing too extravagant but honestly I could eat just bread and butter every day and be content. And seriously, I have never ever in my life seen so many people walking along the streets carrying baguettes. It’s crazy. After breakfast we wandered around Champs-Elysées, a busy street in Paris with tons of shops and restaurants. We saw the Arc de Triomphe (161 ft high) and Place de la Concorde which contained the oldest manmade object in Paris, this Egyptian statue thing from 1200 B.C. After that we headed over to La Cité, one of the two islands in the Seine river, where we saw Cathédrale de Notre-Dame. It was pretty beautiful on the outside, but we decided not to pay the ten bucks to see the inside (it honestly could not be more beautiful than the Salisbury Cathedral and plus we’re not made of money). We stopped by a stand for some sandwiches, on baguettes of course, which were delicious. Then we wandered over to Ile St. Louis, the other island in the Seine, right next to La Cité. We sat by the river and watched the boats go by and such and we walked through the streets. It was a really cute place! All of the architecture in Paris is so beautiful and detailed and different from anything found in the US. Afterwards we headed back to our hostel to get cleaned up and look presentable enough to enter a real restaurant. We headed back to Champs Elysées and found the cheapest café in the row which was still ridiculously overpriced, but that was to be expected. Anyways, our dinner was delicious. They brought us little pizza squares and real potato crisps to start. For our meals Julie had penne with four cheeses and I had lasagna. Not extremely French but I’m not really trying to consume escargot or frog legs anytime soon. Afterwards we headed to Hagen-Daaz for some delicious ice cream!
Today we woke up a bit later, had breakfast in the hostel again and then headed to the Louvre, the museum that contains the Mona Lisa. This place was MASSIVE. Of course anyone who is a member of the European Union between 18 and 25 gets in free but because we’re American we had to pay 9 euros!! Anyway, we spent a decent amount of time wandering around there. Unfortunately all of the plaques were written in French only, so we had no idea what anything was. We saw the Mona Lisa, some Roman sculptures, Egyptian trinkets and such, and a bunch of religious paintings. I’m not really a huge fan of museums, as mentioned earlier I believe. After that we headed over to the same café we had eaten at on Tuesday evening (we had made friends with the guy who worked there-- so what if he’s 65 and makes fun of the way we talk). We got sandwiches and a chocolate croissant/a brownie and headed over to the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. There we discovered two hours of free wi-fi from the city of Paris which is how I posted my last update. After hanging out a bit we headed over to the Seine, which is directly behind the Eiffel Tower and hopped on an hour long boat tour down the river. It was relaxing… and fun to watch this little kid get pissed off and cry every time his ice cream got on his skin. After that we had crepes by the river (Julie’s with chocolate, mine with strawberry jam) which were deliciousss! Then we got in touch with our friend Gaby who was Colleen’s roommate fall semester and was studying abroad in Paris spring semester. We met up by her apartment and she brought us to a lounge type place for happy hour. It was good to talk to her and hear about her time in Paris as well as tons of other places around Europe. Plus our drinks were delicious!
Now we’re back at the hostel, snuggled into our beds. It stays light so late in Paris! I have no idea why. It’s 10 pm right now and its as light as like 7 pm at home. Bizarre. Tomorrow we’re waking up, eating breakfast and showering and then checking out. After that we’re gonna do laundry since all of the clothes we’ve worn are pretty smelly. Luckily our hostel has laundry facilities. Then we’re going to head to the Bercy Train Station to catch our overnight train to Florence. This time we’re leaving plenty of time so that we can avoid any panic attacks or worse, missing the train. Paris has been fun, a bit more relaxing than London since we had some more time. I’m super excited for Florence and then Rome where Ben will be. J
Auviore til next time!
(P.S. sorry if my posts are too detailed or wordy!!)
Our Paris leg of the trip is winding down; tomorrow we catch an overnight train to Florence, Italy. I have to admit, both Julie and I enjoyed Paris a lot more than we expected to!! Also, A+ for the weather--it’s been absolutely beautiful here! Sunny the whole time and not too hot or cold. Yesterday we got an early start, had breakfast in the hostel (free!) which included cereal, apples, orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate, bread, butter, and jam. Nothing too extravagant but honestly I could eat just bread and butter every day and be content. And seriously, I have never ever in my life seen so many people walking along the streets carrying baguettes. It’s crazy. After breakfast we wandered around Champs-Elysées, a busy street in Paris with tons of shops and restaurants. We saw the Arc de Triomphe (161 ft high) and Place de la Concorde which contained the oldest manmade object in Paris, this Egyptian statue thing from 1200 B.C. After that we headed over to La Cité, one of the two islands in the Seine river, where we saw Cathédrale de Notre-Dame. It was pretty beautiful on the outside, but we decided not to pay the ten bucks to see the inside (it honestly could not be more beautiful than the Salisbury Cathedral and plus we’re not made of money). We stopped by a stand for some sandwiches, on baguettes of course, which were delicious. Then we wandered over to Ile St. Louis, the other island in the Seine, right next to La Cité. We sat by the river and watched the boats go by and such and we walked through the streets. It was a really cute place! All of the architecture in Paris is so beautiful and detailed and different from anything found in the US. Afterwards we headed back to our hostel to get cleaned up and look presentable enough to enter a real restaurant. We headed back to Champs Elysées and found the cheapest café in the row which was still ridiculously overpriced, but that was to be expected. Anyways, our dinner was delicious. They brought us little pizza squares and real potato crisps to start. For our meals Julie had penne with four cheeses and I had lasagna. Not extremely French but I’m not really trying to consume escargot or frog legs anytime soon. Afterwards we headed to Hagen-Daaz for some delicious ice cream!
Today we woke up a bit later, had breakfast in the hostel again and then headed to the Louvre, the museum that contains the Mona Lisa. This place was MASSIVE. Of course anyone who is a member of the European Union between 18 and 25 gets in free but because we’re American we had to pay 9 euros!! Anyway, we spent a decent amount of time wandering around there. Unfortunately all of the plaques were written in French only, so we had no idea what anything was. We saw the Mona Lisa, some Roman sculptures, Egyptian trinkets and such, and a bunch of religious paintings. I’m not really a huge fan of museums, as mentioned earlier I believe. After that we headed over to the same café we had eaten at on Tuesday evening (we had made friends with the guy who worked there-- so what if he’s 65 and makes fun of the way we talk). We got sandwiches and a chocolate croissant/a brownie and headed over to the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. There we discovered two hours of free wi-fi from the city of Paris which is how I posted my last update. After hanging out a bit we headed over to the Seine, which is directly behind the Eiffel Tower and hopped on an hour long boat tour down the river. It was relaxing… and fun to watch this little kid get pissed off and cry every time his ice cream got on his skin. After that we had crepes by the river (Julie’s with chocolate, mine with strawberry jam) which were deliciousss! Then we got in touch with our friend Gaby who was Colleen’s roommate fall semester and was studying abroad in Paris spring semester. We met up by her apartment and she brought us to a lounge type place for happy hour. It was good to talk to her and hear about her time in Paris as well as tons of other places around Europe. Plus our drinks were delicious!
Now we’re back at the hostel, snuggled into our beds. It stays light so late in Paris! I have no idea why. It’s 10 pm right now and its as light as like 7 pm at home. Bizarre. Tomorrow we’re waking up, eating breakfast and showering and then checking out. After that we’re gonna do laundry since all of the clothes we’ve worn are pretty smelly. Luckily our hostel has laundry facilities. Then we’re going to head to the Bercy Train Station to catch our overnight train to Florence. This time we’re leaving plenty of time so that we can avoid any panic attacks or worse, missing the train. Paris has been fun, a bit more relaxing than London since we had some more time. I’m super excited for Florence and then Rome where Ben will be. J
Auviore til next time!
(P.S. sorry if my posts are too detailed or wordy!!)
May 21, 2009
Je ne suis pa!!
Bon jour!!
We made it to Paris successfully, with only a few obstacles. I’ll start from where I left off in my last post. Monday we woke up super early (in London) and went to the Victoria Coach Station to catch our bus for our tour. The tour went to Stone Henge, the city of Bath where the Roman baths are and to Salisbury. It was such a good idea because there was a decent amount of time on the bus between the three locations to rest on the bus. Plus our tour guide, Phil, was pretty awesome and was pretty much a genius about the UK. We started at Stone Henge which was pretty cool. I created a theory that the British government put the stones there like 100 years ago and then made up some big story about people dragging these stones for miles and miles 5,000 years ago, just so that it would attract tourists and bring in money. If that’s the case, we were fooled. It was still really cool to see, especially with all the fields around and the massive amounts of yellow Canola flowers around (a relatively new crop in England used to make Canola oil). There were also sheep but I couldn’t get close enough to take a picture. Then we moved on to Salisbury where we saw the Salisbury Cathedral which was huge and so beautiful with all the stained glass windows. Also that’s where one of the four copies of the Magna Carta is-- written on goat skin! We also walked around the town a bit. It was very cute. Then the last stop was the city of Bath. Various famous people such as Johnny Depp, Nicholas Cage, Jane Seymore, and Jane Austin have/had houses there. We went to the Roman baths which were pretty neat as well but we didn’t have much time to explore the city otherwise. Also it was kinda rainy, typical England weather. The ride back from there was about 2.5 hours and I slept for most of it. It was a good day to relax and not have to worry about finding our way around.
When we got back to our hostel we showered and got everything ready for our departure the following morning. Then we met up with Evan, Jesse, Mark, and a bunch of Mark’s friends and went to a club called Tiger Tiger in Picadilly Circus (a part of London). Let’s just say things got a little crazy but all in all it was a really fun night. I’ve been to bars but never a club like that. After returning at 4 in the morning we went to sleep only to not be woken up by our alarm (it didn’t go off!) which was set for 6:30. We had planned on walking to the train station to save money because it wasn’t too far. Luckily I woke up at 7:30 and asked Julie to check the phone which was under her pillow. When we saw the time we kinda freaked, threw everything into our suitcases, checked out, and booked it outta there. We took the metro to the train station, went through security and passport crap and got to our train in the nick of time. Woo! That would have been bad if we missed it. Needless to say, I will be keeping the phone by me now since I tend to wake up a lot in the morning and check the time. Hopefully the alarm will stop messing around.
ALSO, Julie’s mom was able to get the phone to work yesterday!! (Well apparently everything except the alarm hehe). So that is awesome because now we have some contact with people back home. Especially since internet access in this hostel is 2 euros for 30 minutes! (Nearly $4.00)
So we got to Paris, found the money exchange, got metro passes, figured out the metro, figured out a detour when the transfer we needed was under renovation, and walked quite a ways to our hostel with all our crap. Oh and we also stopped for a croissant to prevent fainting. How French of us J.
In London a lot of people asked us how our hostel was, to which we responded that it seems pretty nice but we don’t have much to compare it to. Well, now we do. And it turns out the London hostel was like a 5 star hotel compared to this one. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, it’s not THAT bad. The beds are a bit grimy, the pillows are so flat they’re almost nonexistent and the rooms are kinda dingy. The bathrooms are clean but in the shower there’s only one button-- to turn the shower on. It comes out warm but there is no temperature control. Also the pressure is similar to a power washer, bordering on painful. And it turns off every 45 seconds so you have to push the button again. Seems kinda dumb to me! But anyway, it’s not too horrible. We expected that we would have to rough it a little anyway. There are two other people in our room but we haven’t met them yet and we are going to bed soon. I don’t really like the idea of strangers creeping in late at night to sleep in the same room haha.
So today we just got situated, had dinner at a little street café and headed over to see the Eiffel Tower which was pretty. We didn’t go in it because it’s probably expensive and not worth it really. But we walked around that area which is really beautiful. Tomorrow we are seeing some other sites around Paris. I’m feeling pretty confident with the metro system already. Both London and Paris’ systems are similar to D.C. so that’s good. We’re going to bed early so we can get some sleep for once and get an early start.
I can’t believe I’m actually in Paris right now! Crazy.
My French vocabulary consists of: Bonjour, Merci, Je ne suis pas and un du tois. (spelling?) Literally, that’s it. Most people we’ve talked to speak at least a little English though.
Okay, byye!
We made it to Paris successfully, with only a few obstacles. I’ll start from where I left off in my last post. Monday we woke up super early (in London) and went to the Victoria Coach Station to catch our bus for our tour. The tour went to Stone Henge, the city of Bath where the Roman baths are and to Salisbury. It was such a good idea because there was a decent amount of time on the bus between the three locations to rest on the bus. Plus our tour guide, Phil, was pretty awesome and was pretty much a genius about the UK. We started at Stone Henge which was pretty cool. I created a theory that the British government put the stones there like 100 years ago and then made up some big story about people dragging these stones for miles and miles 5,000 years ago, just so that it would attract tourists and bring in money. If that’s the case, we were fooled. It was still really cool to see, especially with all the fields around and the massive amounts of yellow Canola flowers around (a relatively new crop in England used to make Canola oil). There were also sheep but I couldn’t get close enough to take a picture. Then we moved on to Salisbury where we saw the Salisbury Cathedral which was huge and so beautiful with all the stained glass windows. Also that’s where one of the four copies of the Magna Carta is-- written on goat skin! We also walked around the town a bit. It was very cute. Then the last stop was the city of Bath. Various famous people such as Johnny Depp, Nicholas Cage, Jane Seymore, and Jane Austin have/had houses there. We went to the Roman baths which were pretty neat as well but we didn’t have much time to explore the city otherwise. Also it was kinda rainy, typical England weather. The ride back from there was about 2.5 hours and I slept for most of it. It was a good day to relax and not have to worry about finding our way around.
When we got back to our hostel we showered and got everything ready for our departure the following morning. Then we met up with Evan, Jesse, Mark, and a bunch of Mark’s friends and went to a club called Tiger Tiger in Picadilly Circus (a part of London). Let’s just say things got a little crazy but all in all it was a really fun night. I’ve been to bars but never a club like that. After returning at 4 in the morning we went to sleep only to not be woken up by our alarm (it didn’t go off!) which was set for 6:30. We had planned on walking to the train station to save money because it wasn’t too far. Luckily I woke up at 7:30 and asked Julie to check the phone which was under her pillow. When we saw the time we kinda freaked, threw everything into our suitcases, checked out, and booked it outta there. We took the metro to the train station, went through security and passport crap and got to our train in the nick of time. Woo! That would have been bad if we missed it. Needless to say, I will be keeping the phone by me now since I tend to wake up a lot in the morning and check the time. Hopefully the alarm will stop messing around.
ALSO, Julie’s mom was able to get the phone to work yesterday!! (Well apparently everything except the alarm hehe). So that is awesome because now we have some contact with people back home. Especially since internet access in this hostel is 2 euros for 30 minutes! (Nearly $4.00)
So we got to Paris, found the money exchange, got metro passes, figured out the metro, figured out a detour when the transfer we needed was under renovation, and walked quite a ways to our hostel with all our crap. Oh and we also stopped for a croissant to prevent fainting. How French of us J.
In London a lot of people asked us how our hostel was, to which we responded that it seems pretty nice but we don’t have much to compare it to. Well, now we do. And it turns out the London hostel was like a 5 star hotel compared to this one. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, it’s not THAT bad. The beds are a bit grimy, the pillows are so flat they’re almost nonexistent and the rooms are kinda dingy. The bathrooms are clean but in the shower there’s only one button-- to turn the shower on. It comes out warm but there is no temperature control. Also the pressure is similar to a power washer, bordering on painful. And it turns off every 45 seconds so you have to push the button again. Seems kinda dumb to me! But anyway, it’s not too horrible. We expected that we would have to rough it a little anyway. There are two other people in our room but we haven’t met them yet and we are going to bed soon. I don’t really like the idea of strangers creeping in late at night to sleep in the same room haha.
So today we just got situated, had dinner at a little street café and headed over to see the Eiffel Tower which was pretty. We didn’t go in it because it’s probably expensive and not worth it really. But we walked around that area which is really beautiful. Tomorrow we are seeing some other sites around Paris. I’m feeling pretty confident with the metro system already. Both London and Paris’ systems are similar to D.C. so that’s good. We’re going to bed early so we can get some sleep for once and get an early start.
I can’t believe I’m actually in Paris right now! Crazy.
My French vocabulary consists of: Bonjour, Merci, Je ne suis pas and un du tois. (spelling?) Literally, that’s it. Most people we’ve talked to speak at least a little English though.
Okay, byye!
May 17, 2009
Sitting on a park bench that's older than my country..
Man oh man im exhausted!! I think we walked like ten miles today or more, no joke. (Irene I have no idea how you survive those 40 mile walks... you're crazy!) Anyway, it was a fun day despite the achey feet. Yesterday we arrived in London early early. Figured out that our phone doesn't work and that we couldn't check into our hostel until 2. But we were able to find a computer with internet in some Korean restaurant and get in touch with Evan who met up with us in front of the British museum which is by our hostel. So we went to the museum and then walked around London a bit... saw Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, the main shopping area. Then we met up with Patty and some of her friends and went to dinner (admittedly we got Italian food haha) and then went to a pub which was fun. By the end of the day Julie and I were pretty much dead since we were running on very little sleep so we went to bed relatively early and slept like babies!
Today was an early start. Breakfast is included at our hostel so we had cereal. And I had a ham and cheese sandwich. Then we met up with Evan again and saw all the major London touristy things. We went to Buckingham Palace and the Queen's Gallery which was really cool, and thats saying a lot since I dont really like museums. It was full of art and furniture and jewelry of the royal family. Then we saw Big Ben, rode the London Eye (ferris wheel), went to the Tate Modern, walked the London Bridge, saw the Parliment building, the London Tower, Westminster Abbey, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now. We also met up with Jesse around noon and he joined us. It's strange to see so many people from home in London! After all the sight seeing we went to dinner at a pub. I got a meatpie and the other three got fish and chips. Very British of us especially compared to last night. Our hostel room is a 4 bed mixed dorm. The couple we are staying with is college students from Munich, Germany. They're really nice! We didn't talk to them much at first because we werent sure if they could speak English well, but it turns out they are just shy.
So now we're back at the hostel letting our feet take a much needed break and then showering. Tonight we are going out with Evan, Jesse, and Mark... not really sure where to. But tomorrow is another early day (guided tour of Stone Henge, Bath, and Salisbury) so we're not going to stay out too late. I definitely need to put fewer things in my backpack or I'm going to come home with serious back problems!
I'm pretty excited for tomorrow's tour. And then Tuesday we are off to Paris.
That's all for now. I'll probably update from Paris next depending on the internet situation. (This hostel gave us 40 free minutes and then you have to pay a pound per 40 minutes.)
Later gatorssss.
Today was an early start. Breakfast is included at our hostel so we had cereal. And I had a ham and cheese sandwich. Then we met up with Evan again and saw all the major London touristy things. We went to Buckingham Palace and the Queen's Gallery which was really cool, and thats saying a lot since I dont really like museums. It was full of art and furniture and jewelry of the royal family. Then we saw Big Ben, rode the London Eye (ferris wheel), went to the Tate Modern, walked the London Bridge, saw the Parliment building, the London Tower, Westminster Abbey, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now. We also met up with Jesse around noon and he joined us. It's strange to see so many people from home in London! After all the sight seeing we went to dinner at a pub. I got a meatpie and the other three got fish and chips. Very British of us especially compared to last night. Our hostel room is a 4 bed mixed dorm. The couple we are staying with is college students from Munich, Germany. They're really nice! We didn't talk to them much at first because we werent sure if they could speak English well, but it turns out they are just shy.
So now we're back at the hostel letting our feet take a much needed break and then showering. Tonight we are going out with Evan, Jesse, and Mark... not really sure where to. But tomorrow is another early day (guided tour of Stone Henge, Bath, and Salisbury) so we're not going to stay out too late. I definitely need to put fewer things in my backpack or I'm going to come home with serious back problems!
I'm pretty excited for tomorrow's tour. And then Tuesday we are off to Paris.
That's all for now. I'll probably update from Paris next depending on the internet situation. (This hostel gave us 40 free minutes and then you have to pay a pound per 40 minutes.)
Later gatorssss.
Airplane.
Greetings from… the air (36,000 feet up to be exact)… over the Atlantic. 1496 miles from London (2152 miles from NJ). But don’t you worry, we’re traveling at 583 miles per hour. The airplane has those nifty flight map things if you couldn’t tell. Julie and I just finished watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Talk about a tear jerker! Also, it was ridiculously long. So now its 11:00 pm in New Jersey and 4 am in London. And I have a feeling I am going to be very very tired tomorrow.
Anyways, I’m not sure why I’m even posting right now because not much has happened yet. Some of the people on the plane are unbelievably rude. One girl complained to a flight attendant about her hunger before the plane even took off and then didn’t even like her food when she got it, another guy was angry that they didn’t have a vegetarian meal for him and he refused to accept a salad or pick around the meatballs in his pasta. And my all time favorite is the lady who goes “Are you EVER gonna turn the lights off in here??! UGHHH”, and then proceeded to wrap the blanket over her head. Mmm.. Real mature. I guess my years as a waitress cause me to sympathize with the flight attendants!
Ive only slept for about 15 minutes so far. And that was when our plane was in line (20th in line) to take off. And when we land it will be morning and a whole new day! We will get our luggage (*cross your fingers that it didn’t get lost somewhere in the Atlantic), find our hostel, drop our luggage hopefully and then who knows what! Probably grab some breakfast. Maybe find Evan even though he probably won’t be awake yet. Ok I think I should stop talking about things that MIGHT happen and just wait until I actually have something real to post about. Obviously I have to wait to post this until I have internet access because there is none up here. I still don’t understand how planes fly… this plane is HUGE. It kinda freaks me out if I think about it too long. ALSO our TV’s have 329 movies to choose from!! It’s crazy. I’m tempted to stay up and watch Twilight or something else perhaps but I know I’ll regret that decision so I’m gonna try and catch some Z’s. J I promise not to update until I have something interesting to write about. Mwah!
Anyways, I’m not sure why I’m even posting right now because not much has happened yet. Some of the people on the plane are unbelievably rude. One girl complained to a flight attendant about her hunger before the plane even took off and then didn’t even like her food when she got it, another guy was angry that they didn’t have a vegetarian meal for him and he refused to accept a salad or pick around the meatballs in his pasta. And my all time favorite is the lady who goes “Are you EVER gonna turn the lights off in here??! UGHHH”, and then proceeded to wrap the blanket over her head. Mmm.. Real mature. I guess my years as a waitress cause me to sympathize with the flight attendants!
Ive only slept for about 15 minutes so far. And that was when our plane was in line (20th in line) to take off. And when we land it will be morning and a whole new day! We will get our luggage (*cross your fingers that it didn’t get lost somewhere in the Atlantic), find our hostel, drop our luggage hopefully and then who knows what! Probably grab some breakfast. Maybe find Evan even though he probably won’t be awake yet. Ok I think I should stop talking about things that MIGHT happen and just wait until I actually have something real to post about. Obviously I have to wait to post this until I have internet access because there is none up here. I still don’t understand how planes fly… this plane is HUGE. It kinda freaks me out if I think about it too long. ALSO our TV’s have 329 movies to choose from!! It’s crazy. I’m tempted to stay up and watch Twilight or something else perhaps but I know I’ll regret that decision so I’m gonna try and catch some Z’s. J I promise not to update until I have something interesting to write about. Mwah!
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