So for Easter I decided to leave the Catholic capital and head to Dublin. Another place that I have always wanted to go!
I went with one other girl and we ended up having three full days there. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Saturday and Monday were spent seeing the sights of Dublin while Sunday was spent on a day bus tour to the Wicklow Mountains.
Since I am so far behind on postings I am just going to give a brief over view of some of the things we did. We took a tour of Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells, we saw St. Patrick's Church, Christ's Cathedral, took a tour of Dublin Castle, took a tour of Kilmainham Gaol, went to the Guiness Storehouse (and the best part was definitely the top bar which is really high and completely glass windows all the way around so you can see out over all of Dublin), we walked thought part of Phoenix Park, and just walked around and possibly something I forgot to mention. So that pretty much sums up Saturday and Monday.
Sunday on the bus tour we basically just went and stopped at different places to get out look around and take pictures. We also stopped for food which I will mention a bit more about in a minute, and took a half an hour walk down a nature path near some small lakes that was gorgeous. And we got a small tour of a monastery. It was a very good tour and absolutely gorgeous.
I tried to eat some more Irish type foods and such since they are SO different from Italian cuisine. I have some Beef Stew, Cottage Pie (which makes that weekend probably the most red meat that I have eaten in forever seeing how at home I don't eat red meat and put that on hold for study abroad even though from day to day I still don't really eat much meat) and Fish and Chips (more English but its so close). The food is definitely a lot heavier and heartier than Italian pasta and such (which I should probably talk more about at some point).
My last thing to mention about Dublin is that there is a lot more American feel. Of course it helps that they speak English (extremely strong accent or not) but there is just a more American feel overall, they have Starbucks and such. They have their own fast food restaurants on top of McDonald's and Burger King. And I think that we partisipated in things that were more a kin to being home i the US as opposed to studying abroad in Europe. I actually had some Starbucks, we watched the MSU basketball game (unfortunately we lost...) but watching it makes me really miss MSU and school spirit. I love Rome, but I am not a fan of AUR. And we went to see a movie, Shutter Island (which was extremely creepy but good), since we liked the prospect that all the movies were in English and we didn't have to figure out where they were playing English movies.
That pretty sums up my weekend in Dublin and I definitely want to spend more time in Ireland at some point!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
So over a month ago...
I know this is way after the fact and as such I don't remember all the details and will just briefly mention my week and weekend with Sarah and Hanna.
Two posts ago was when they first arrived. As mentioned it was Sarah's birthday the day they arrived. We went to dinner for her birthday in a cute restaurant in Trestevere and had amazing tiramisu. We then walked around the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain and things to see them lit up. And of course got gelato.
The next few days included seeing all the major sights of Rome. Some of which they did on their own since I had class and some of the things I did with them included St. Peter's Basilica which is so huge and so gorgeous. (A little too ornate at times, but shhh I didn't say that.) We also climbed the dome and saw out over Rome (if you haven't noticed I love getting good views out over cities). We also did the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (we tried to get a tour and it was a major fail...)
They then went off to Florence and I met them Friday. Since I had seen all the sights I had wanted to see there I sent them to do all of those before I got there. Then we focused on the leather markets. I had absolutely no intention of buying a leather jacket. But guess what I ended up with? A leather jacket. That I have actually worn a lot. I never imagined myself wearing a leather jacket, but when in Rome, right?
Saturday, we took a train to Cinque Terre and spent a large portion of the day hiking the trail by the water. unfortunately the train between the third and fifth town was closed so we only got to hike half of it. It was breath taking-ly gorgeous and the weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny as could be and not too hot for hiking.
The next day, since some annoying woman told us that the trails were closed on Sunday (so false!) we took the train to the fifth town which is the only one that has a beach and walked around a bit and ate gelato on the beach. It was perfect! And since Cinque Terre is in teh Ligurian region of Italy which is the one were pesto is from and pine nuts they had pine nut flavored gelato that was delicious.
That pretty much wrapped up my time with Sarah and Hanna. We took a train back to Rome and they were off to the airport extremely early on Monday morning. I had such a great time with them and am so happy that they could come!!
Two posts ago was when they first arrived. As mentioned it was Sarah's birthday the day they arrived. We went to dinner for her birthday in a cute restaurant in Trestevere and had amazing tiramisu. We then walked around the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain and things to see them lit up. And of course got gelato.
The next few days included seeing all the major sights of Rome. Some of which they did on their own since I had class and some of the things I did with them included St. Peter's Basilica which is so huge and so gorgeous. (A little too ornate at times, but shhh I didn't say that.) We also climbed the dome and saw out over Rome (if you haven't noticed I love getting good views out over cities). We also did the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (we tried to get a tour and it was a major fail...)
They then went off to Florence and I met them Friday. Since I had seen all the sights I had wanted to see there I sent them to do all of those before I got there. Then we focused on the leather markets. I had absolutely no intention of buying a leather jacket. But guess what I ended up with? A leather jacket. That I have actually worn a lot. I never imagined myself wearing a leather jacket, but when in Rome, right?
Saturday, we took a train to Cinque Terre and spent a large portion of the day hiking the trail by the water. unfortunately the train between the third and fifth town was closed so we only got to hike half of it. It was breath taking-ly gorgeous and the weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny as could be and not too hot for hiking.
The next day, since some annoying woman told us that the trails were closed on Sunday (so false!) we took the train to the fifth town which is the only one that has a beach and walked around a bit and ate gelato on the beach. It was perfect! And since Cinque Terre is in teh Ligurian region of Italy which is the one were pesto is from and pine nuts they had pine nut flavored gelato that was delicious.
That pretty much wrapped up my time with Sarah and Hanna. We took a train back to Rome and they were off to the airport extremely early on Monday morning. I had such a great time with them and am so happy that they could come!!
A lot can happen in 10 days...
So, I am really behind on this blogging thing. I went on spring break and traveled through Europe for 10 days and obviously that means that there is a lot to talk about which just seemed so overwhelming to do I put it off, and put it off, and put it off. Which meant that I also spent a weekend in Dublin, Ireland that I haven't talked about yet and then another weekend with a revisit to Tivoli and a day trip to Tuscany to talk about as well. And then a weekend in the Amalfi Coast and not to mention a weekend of travels to Florence and Cinque Terre with Sarah and Hanna that happened BEFORE spring break.
As you can tell a lot has been happening and will be until the end of this journey. But first of all I want to tell some stories of spring break and that will take a while so bear with me.
I left the morning of Friday, March 19th. My plane was at 6:50 am to Zurich, Switzerland. Instead of waking up at essentially 2 am to go through torturous public transportation methods because of the hour to get to the airport on time I chose to take a set rate taxi. They said they would pick me up at 4:30. They were right on time... and made it to the airport at 4:40. This ride is supposed to take 35-45 minutes depending on traffic, there was no traffic, oh and the taxi driver was going 200km/h which is approximately 125 mph; let's just say that was a slightly scary cab ride.
I got to Zurich and had an interesting time finding my hostel; which even though it was sorta far from everything I was only there one night so it wasn't a big deal. The hostel was HUGE and extremely nice. The first day in Zurich I took a bus tour or the city and we also went in a cable car ride in the surrounding area and then a ferry across the water. It was gorgeous. You can see the alps like behind that water which is an amazingly beautiful combination.
The next day I walked around and saw some of the churches, climbed to the top of one to look out over everything, and most importantly of all I purchased a lot of Swiss chocolate. (Which I will be returning to the US with so if you catch me in time I might share a bit before its all gone!) Over all, Zurich was a really cool city and its not the most commonly visited but I would highly recommend it!
Then I was off to Interlaken. Not much to mention. The alps are of course gorgeous. Due to time and weather constraints I didn't get to ski in the Alps. The weather would have made it miserable and not worth how expensive it would have been to rent all the gear including a coat and snow pants etc.
But that does not mean my visit to the alps was adventure-less. I ended up going canyon jumping. I will post a video on facebook soon; but in short. They took us up into the alps and we hiked out to a canyon where there is a small metal platform. There are some intense rope set ups from which a big rope hangs that they attach to your harness and you then jump. It is about a 200 ft drop or so and then you swing back and forth a few times. It was AMAZING. One of the best things I have ever done! You should go try it like NOW and bring me with you.
After that adventure, off to Brussels I went. On the whole I was not a huge fan of Brussels. It was kind of cool but I just wasn't feeling it. Definitely not one of my faves but I am glad I saw it. I didn't do that much exciting. Just walked around seeing the sites and ate a lot of french fries and waffles.
Then my most anticipated and last stop of spring break: PARIS!
I have some family that lives and Paris and they were extremely kind and let me stay with them. Also, one of my roommates from Rome was in Paris at the same time so I saw some stuff with her and her friends a bit. The first day I did a walking tour and we saw Notre Dame, the Sorbonne, the Paris Pantheon, Les Invalides, the Rodin Museum, and got caught in a massive down pour.
The next day was the iconic Paris day: the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and Le Tour Eiffel. We stood in line, freezing, for over two hours. But it was really cool to see over Paris at night from the Eiffel Tower, we had planned to see it in the day... but the two hour wait kind of changed that. But we saw it sparkling from the second floor so that was really cool. (For those of you who don't know at night the Eiffel Tower sparkles every hour on the hour for five minutes making it seem even more spectacular.)
My last day in Paris I went to brunch with one of my cousins and walked around different parts of Paris seeing different things by myself. I got to see the Moulin Rouge which was exciting in the sense that that is my all time favorite movie.
There are a lot of things that I didn't get to see in Paris (including Versailles) but I guess that just means I have to go back!
That pretty much sums up my Spring Break. It was incredibly exhausting and I was sick for the entire Paris portion that was sort of a bummer but it was a great experience and I am so happy I got to see and do all those incredible things. It still blows my mind all this traveling I am doing!
Ciao Ciao!
As you can tell a lot has been happening and will be until the end of this journey. But first of all I want to tell some stories of spring break and that will take a while so bear with me.
I left the morning of Friday, March 19th. My plane was at 6:50 am to Zurich, Switzerland. Instead of waking up at essentially 2 am to go through torturous public transportation methods because of the hour to get to the airport on time I chose to take a set rate taxi. They said they would pick me up at 4:30. They were right on time... and made it to the airport at 4:40. This ride is supposed to take 35-45 minutes depending on traffic, there was no traffic, oh and the taxi driver was going 200km/h which is approximately 125 mph; let's just say that was a slightly scary cab ride.
I got to Zurich and had an interesting time finding my hostel; which even though it was sorta far from everything I was only there one night so it wasn't a big deal. The hostel was HUGE and extremely nice. The first day in Zurich I took a bus tour or the city and we also went in a cable car ride in the surrounding area and then a ferry across the water. It was gorgeous. You can see the alps like behind that water which is an amazingly beautiful combination.
The next day I walked around and saw some of the churches, climbed to the top of one to look out over everything, and most importantly of all I purchased a lot of Swiss chocolate. (Which I will be returning to the US with so if you catch me in time I might share a bit before its all gone!) Over all, Zurich was a really cool city and its not the most commonly visited but I would highly recommend it!
Then I was off to Interlaken. Not much to mention. The alps are of course gorgeous. Due to time and weather constraints I didn't get to ski in the Alps. The weather would have made it miserable and not worth how expensive it would have been to rent all the gear including a coat and snow pants etc.
But that does not mean my visit to the alps was adventure-less. I ended up going canyon jumping. I will post a video on facebook soon; but in short. They took us up into the alps and we hiked out to a canyon where there is a small metal platform. There are some intense rope set ups from which a big rope hangs that they attach to your harness and you then jump. It is about a 200 ft drop or so and then you swing back and forth a few times. It was AMAZING. One of the best things I have ever done! You should go try it like NOW and bring me with you.
After that adventure, off to Brussels I went. On the whole I was not a huge fan of Brussels. It was kind of cool but I just wasn't feeling it. Definitely not one of my faves but I am glad I saw it. I didn't do that much exciting. Just walked around seeing the sites and ate a lot of french fries and waffles.
Then my most anticipated and last stop of spring break: PARIS!
I have some family that lives and Paris and they were extremely kind and let me stay with them. Also, one of my roommates from Rome was in Paris at the same time so I saw some stuff with her and her friends a bit. The first day I did a walking tour and we saw Notre Dame, the Sorbonne, the Paris Pantheon, Les Invalides, the Rodin Museum, and got caught in a massive down pour.
The next day was the iconic Paris day: the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and Le Tour Eiffel. We stood in line, freezing, for over two hours. But it was really cool to see over Paris at night from the Eiffel Tower, we had planned to see it in the day... but the two hour wait kind of changed that. But we saw it sparkling from the second floor so that was really cool. (For those of you who don't know at night the Eiffel Tower sparkles every hour on the hour for five minutes making it seem even more spectacular.)
My last day in Paris I went to brunch with one of my cousins and walked around different parts of Paris seeing different things by myself. I got to see the Moulin Rouge which was exciting in the sense that that is my all time favorite movie.
There are a lot of things that I didn't get to see in Paris (including Versailles) but I guess that just means I have to go back!
That pretty much sums up my Spring Break. It was incredibly exhausting and I was sick for the entire Paris portion that was sort of a bummer but it was a great experience and I am so happy I got to see and do all those incredible things. It still blows my mind all this traveling I am doing!
Ciao Ciao!
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