Greetings from Rome!
Today is our last full day in Rome before we head down to southern Italy. I love Rome! Everywhere you look there is something new and great to see. We have met lot's of people too, suprisingly enough a lot of people from Canada.
So we have been touring the big sights and enjoying some great food and wine! I am in my element here because most people dont eat dinner until 9 or so, so when in Rome...... I love being able to actually say that, lol. So we have been to the Vatican and went to St. Peters Basilica and climbed the 300 plus stairs in a narrow winding staircase to go to the top of the dome, the views made it worth it. We also went to the Vatican Musuem and seen the Sistine Chapel. We have seen many piazzas and monuments. We went to the Pantheon, Collessum, Palantine and to the Trevi Fountain in the day and in the night. The fountain was one of my must sees on our trip and lived up to my expectations. We have sat on the Spanish steps and people watched and seen all the vendors try to sell everything from beer to roses.
Last night we went on a pubcrawl which was truly a good time, not as much fun this morning, lol! They gave you free drinks at the first bar which was nice because drinks here in some restaurants can be as expensive as 9 Euros per drink. We danced and took part of a chugging contest against some other girls. They seperated the guys and the girls and had 2 seperate contests. I can proudly say I won and got a t-shirt for a prize. Overall it was fun!
Before Rome we were in Tuscany staying on a local vineyard which is a former castle and had great hosts the lady would come and make us breakfast in the morning. We didn't stay in the main part but we did stay in a cute little villa which can sleep like 10 people and Mandy and I lucked out and had it to ourself for the 3 nights we were there. We spent most of our time at the pool working on our tans. One day we did get on a bus and rode up the winding hills to Montepulciano which was very cute and had amazing views of the Tuscan countryside. We bought a couple of bottles of local wine to enjoy over our dinners. Then we had an interesting bus ride back because our bell by ouer seats didnt work so we rode all the way into Chiusi about and extra 10 or 15 minutes further, where the bus driver told us that there was no bus stop by where we were staying and you could only get there by taxi. We tried to explain to him that we got on the bus there that morning but he just looked at us like we were crazy. After some discussion and getting on the same bus again he stopped and our stop which had an actual bus stop sign and we made the 1 km walk from the main road to our villa.
Overall Rome actually Italy in general is great and I love it!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow we catch a trian from the massive train station here in Rome, this thing is probably bigger then the airport at home and we head more south here in Italy. Where we will probably spend days at the beach in warm weather, it's a rough life I know:)
Ciao,
Kristy
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Greetings from Florence, Italy!
So we arrived in Florence yesterday from Levnto close to Cinque Terre in Italy.
Cinque Terre was beautiful. We did a a 7km hike where we seen 4 of the 5 villages. The guidebook said that it would be mildily challenging, I may have called it something else. We met a girl from California who was staying at our hostel, who did the hike with us. The path was paved at first and then became more rocky and more steep as we continued. There was lots of narrow areas along the side of the cliffs with lots of steps. The views were beautiful and worth the scorching heat. At one point we clibed up ober 380 stair inorder to get to the next viilage, where we had a much deserved lunch of pasta and pesto (local specialty). Then we took the train to the next village bc we figure if it took us 3.5 hrs to do 7km then another 2 hours to do 2 more km's would probably mean that it was a pretty difficult hike. The last town Monteroso was beautiful, gorgeous crystal blue water surrounded by huge cliffs.
Then we watched a couple of soccer games on the beach that night, it was pretty intense and fun! They played barefoot on the sand and then some players even hopped into the water after the game to cool off. It was something different that we definitly don't see much of back in Edmonton.
This morning we went to see the famous statue of David at a museum in Florence, which was impressive. We got up nice and early just to make sure we didnt have to wait in line, since we heard they can be very long. We went to see the duomo which was beautiful and very big. Then we went to a market, full of purses , pashminas and lots of other things. I finally got a pashmina which I have wanted since we got here, there pretty popular over here. I was impressed that a 100% cashmere pasmina was only 10 Euros. I may never take it off, lol!
Tomorrow we plan to tour around and then on tuesday we are going on a 12hrs tour of Tuscany and Pisa, I am soooooooo excited for it.
We are going to try and upload some pitures soon!
Ciao,
Kristy
Cinque Terre was beautiful. We did a a 7km hike where we seen 4 of the 5 villages. The guidebook said that it would be mildily challenging, I may have called it something else. We met a girl from California who was staying at our hostel, who did the hike with us. The path was paved at first and then became more rocky and more steep as we continued. There was lots of narrow areas along the side of the cliffs with lots of steps. The views were beautiful and worth the scorching heat. At one point we clibed up ober 380 stair inorder to get to the next viilage, where we had a much deserved lunch of pasta and pesto (local specialty). Then we took the train to the next village bc we figure if it took us 3.5 hrs to do 7km then another 2 hours to do 2 more km's would probably mean that it was a pretty difficult hike. The last town Monteroso was beautiful, gorgeous crystal blue water surrounded by huge cliffs.
Then we watched a couple of soccer games on the beach that night, it was pretty intense and fun! They played barefoot on the sand and then some players even hopped into the water after the game to cool off. It was something different that we definitly don't see much of back in Edmonton.
This morning we went to see the famous statue of David at a museum in Florence, which was impressive. We got up nice and early just to make sure we didnt have to wait in line, since we heard they can be very long. We went to see the duomo which was beautiful and very big. Then we went to a market, full of purses , pashminas and lots of other things. I finally got a pashmina which I have wanted since we got here, there pretty popular over here. I was impressed that a 100% cashmere pasmina was only 10 Euros. I may never take it off, lol!
Tomorrow we plan to tour around and then on tuesday we are going on a 12hrs tour of Tuscany and Pisa, I am soooooooo excited for it.
We are going to try and upload some pitures soon!
Ciao,
Kristy
Sunday, July 6, 2008
French Riveria
Hello,
So we have decided to stay a couple extra night in Nice. Our hostel is nice and it is beautiful here. We went on a day trip to At. Ralphels which is just past Cannes [Famous film festival location]. We rode on a very ghetto train to get there which was suprising because it is soooooo beautiful here. We have also toured around Nice, and have done some shopping because in France for the month of july the government says that stores need to put things on sale, its like boxing day for all of july.
We also planned to go to Monte Carlo last night but we ended up leaving to late in the evening so we went out in Old Nice, which has lots of vendors, restaurants and bars and even some of the stores stay open. Then we ate dinner in a nice restaurant in a square followed by ice cream, yummy! Then we walked along the boardwalk by the water, it was fun.
Today we are going to the beach and tomorrow most likely either Monte Carlo or Cannes. Then the other one the next day.
Wow we have just been informed that there is going to be a train stike in Italy and maybe france tomorrow, which means that trains don't run on schedule and all the people that work at the ticket information booths, conductors, etc don't work. Apparently it can only last for 24hrs by law. We don't travel until thursday so hopefully it doesn't effect us too bad. I guess there are worse places to be stuck in then the French Riveria!
TTYL,
Kristy
So we have decided to stay a couple extra night in Nice. Our hostel is nice and it is beautiful here. We went on a day trip to At. Ralphels which is just past Cannes [Famous film festival location]. We rode on a very ghetto train to get there which was suprising because it is soooooo beautiful here. We have also toured around Nice, and have done some shopping because in France for the month of july the government says that stores need to put things on sale, its like boxing day for all of july.
We also planned to go to Monte Carlo last night but we ended up leaving to late in the evening so we went out in Old Nice, which has lots of vendors, restaurants and bars and even some of the stores stay open. Then we ate dinner in a nice restaurant in a square followed by ice cream, yummy! Then we walked along the boardwalk by the water, it was fun.
Today we are going to the beach and tomorrow most likely either Monte Carlo or Cannes. Then the other one the next day.
Wow we have just been informed that there is going to be a train stike in Italy and maybe france tomorrow, which means that trains don't run on schedule and all the people that work at the ticket information booths, conductors, etc don't work. Apparently it can only last for 24hrs by law. We don't travel until thursday so hopefully it doesn't effect us too bad. I guess there are worse places to be stuck in then the French Riveria!
TTYL,
Kristy
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Paris, Innsbruck (Austria), Venice (Italy) and Nice (France)!
Hello all!
So we went on a tour of the Flanders fields areas and learn't all about WWII, our guide was amazing. Then we went to Paris for a couple of days. I loved Paris and would go back. The Louvre was amazing, we seen the Mona Lisa and I have pictures. Our first night there we went on a night cruise on the Siene river. We went to the Eiffel Tower which was amazing, you have to see it to believe it!
Then went through Switzerland and into Austria. We stayed in Zierl for one night in a 4 star hotel, which was nice and not overly expensive, we were so excited to be sleeping in a nice room with our own bathroom, it's the little things you learn to appreciate when travelling. Then we spent a couple days in Innsbruck, also in Austria. We went to Wattens and to the the Swarovoski crystal museum/showcase! I was sooo happy, anyone who knows me knows I love most things sparkly. Plus there was the biggest Swarovoski store there, it was amazing, mandy had great patience for me as I oohed and awed over all the beautiful things! It was beautiful!!!!!!
Then one night we went to listen to some bands in the fan zones in Innsbtruck, they hosted some games for EuroCup there, so it was still all done up in the fan zones. Then the next night we watched the final outside in the fan zone on a screen it was great fun and then it started pouring rain which made it even more fun, lol. It was a great atmosphere and great fun!!!!!!!
We traveled from Innsbruck to Verona and switched trains and went to Venice (Venezzia). We stayed in a nice B and B just outside of Venice once we finally got to it. We rode bikes that we borrowed from the lady at the bed and breakfast and rode for like 1 km to a little town with a pizzeria, it was sooo funny! Then it started lightening and it thundered and rained through the night and into much of the next morning. Once it cleared up we spent the afternoon in Venice and went on a Gondola ride through the canals of Venice and the Grande canal, which was amazing! It was very warm and humid in Venice!
Then we got on a train for about 8 hrs today from Venice and changed trains in Milan, Italy and are now in Nice, France!
So right now we are just at our hostel in Nice it's great there is a little bar area in it and there is free internet. The hostel is nice and it has been on top ten lists for best hostel in the world, so me and Mandy are excited.
Tomorrow we plan to go to a beach along the French Riveria!
TTYL,
Kristy
So we went on a tour of the Flanders fields areas and learn't all about WWII, our guide was amazing. Then we went to Paris for a couple of days. I loved Paris and would go back. The Louvre was amazing, we seen the Mona Lisa and I have pictures. Our first night there we went on a night cruise on the Siene river. We went to the Eiffel Tower which was amazing, you have to see it to believe it!
Then went through Switzerland and into Austria. We stayed in Zierl for one night in a 4 star hotel, which was nice and not overly expensive, we were so excited to be sleeping in a nice room with our own bathroom, it's the little things you learn to appreciate when travelling. Then we spent a couple days in Innsbruck, also in Austria. We went to Wattens and to the the Swarovoski crystal museum/showcase! I was sooo happy, anyone who knows me knows I love most things sparkly. Plus there was the biggest Swarovoski store there, it was amazing, mandy had great patience for me as I oohed and awed over all the beautiful things! It was beautiful!!!!!!
Then one night we went to listen to some bands in the fan zones in Innsbtruck, they hosted some games for EuroCup there, so it was still all done up in the fan zones. Then the next night we watched the final outside in the fan zone on a screen it was great fun and then it started pouring rain which made it even more fun, lol. It was a great atmosphere and great fun!!!!!!!
We traveled from Innsbruck to Verona and switched trains and went to Venice (Venezzia). We stayed in a nice B and B just outside of Venice once we finally got to it. We rode bikes that we borrowed from the lady at the bed and breakfast and rode for like 1 km to a little town with a pizzeria, it was sooo funny! Then it started lightening and it thundered and rained through the night and into much of the next morning. Once it cleared up we spent the afternoon in Venice and went on a Gondola ride through the canals of Venice and the Grande canal, which was amazing! It was very warm and humid in Venice!
Then we got on a train for about 8 hrs today from Venice and changed trains in Milan, Italy and are now in Nice, France!
So right now we are just at our hostel in Nice it's great there is a little bar area in it and there is free internet. The hostel is nice and it has been on top ten lists for best hostel in the world, so me and Mandy are excited.
Tomorrow we plan to go to a beach along the French Riveria!
TTYL,
Kristy
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