Crete

April 11th - 18th, 2009

After leaving my family in London and spending the day with Jamie, I made my way back to Heathrow Airport. My flight to Athens took off around 8:50 pm and I landed in Athens at 2 am. I didn't get too much sleep on the plane, I ended up staying up watching "Bolt" the whole trip. I had a three hour layover in Athens, but there was free internet there which kept me distracted for a little while. I also managed to run into a girl from B.C. who was studying abroad in Spain which was cool... definitely helped pass the time. My flight to Crete took off around 5:30am and I made it to Crete around 6:30am. I had a cup of tea and then grabbed a cab to my hotel. I was so RELIEVED to find that my hotel would let me check in at 7 am. I had been up all night and was excited to get some sleep.

I woke up that afternoon and went out to explore Heraklion. I brought my book, and ended up reading by the water for awhile. That evening, I decided to celebrate Easter and go out to eat at one of the restaurants that looked crowded earlier. I was surprised to see so much open on Easter, but then I realized the Greeks celebrate Easter the following weekend. But I ended up eating dinner at a restaurant called Tabepna Oyzepi. The waiter spoke little English, but I ended up ordering Mussels and a Greek Salad. The Mussels were amazing! After dinner I wandered around the town a little before heading back to the hotel.

Monday morning I woke up and checked out of the hotel. I was walking through town again, when Mackenzie called to say she had arrived at the Villa. I was originally planning to drive with Anisha, Grace, and Amy later, but after she explained the bus schedule I was ready to go. Three hours and two buses later I had finally made it to our Villa. The place was BEAUTIFUL! The Villa was three stories, it had a bedroom, batheroom, and kitchen (with a patio) on the first floor, another bedroom and bathroom on the second floor, along with the living room and two balconies, and a laundry room and third balcony on the third floor. The pool was filled to the brim and just made you want to swim in it when you looked at it! It was so exciting to finally arrive. Mackenzie and I went out to eat at the restaurant near by and we had tzatziki which was so good! When we finished eating, the other girls arrived, and we gave them the same tour of the place.




























Tuesday we woke up, excited to go to the beach! We stopped by the grocery store first to pick up some food for later, and then made our way towards the beach. It was so nice to lay out in the sun. Anisha and I were the only two not to go in the water the today, but I didn't mind, I had my book to read. That night we went back to the restaurant from the night before, and then spent the rest of the night relaxing in the Villa watching "Oceans 13".














Wednesday turned out to be another great day. We tried for an earlier start but it didn't work as well... I think my favorite spot in the Villa is the balcony on the second floor. There was a huge table for us to eat on, and a bunch of chairs around it. Plus it gave a great view of all the mountains in Crete. We went back to the beach, and I made sure to go in the water... it was a little chilly, but the ocean is just so blue here. Mackenzie and I went on a walk down the beach and walked through the town on the way back. That night we all dressed up and went out to eat at a different restaurant closer to the main part of town. We picked up pastries, and then relaxed at home watching Friends and eating pastries.














Thursday morning, Mackenzie and I got up early and went for a walk searching for a new beach to try. We found one further away with alot of sand. The nice thing about being in Crete in mid April is that we had the whole town to ourselves. The beaches were empty. We spent most the day on the beach, only going back to the Villa for a lunch break. We stayed in that night to cook dinner and spent most our time just relaxing.














Friday morning was sad, no one wanted to leave Greece - especially since we still hadn't found Kostas. But Mackenzie madde us pancakes and then we headed to the beach to make the most of out last day. We all went in the water and hung out on the beach. We ate lunch at one of the small cafes right on the beach and then took our last pictures of the water. When we got back to the Villa I made sure to jump in the pool just once before I left. That night we packed up our luggage, and then took a cab back to the airport. It was a great vacation on the beach!

London and Scotland with the Family

April 4th - 11th, 2009

I arrived in Rome late at night on April 3rd and took the bus with Amy, Grace, and Anisha to their friend's apartment. After figuring out how to call a taxi in Italian for the next morning, we all went to sleep. I woke up early the next morning, caught my taxi and went to the airport. Between the bus ride to the apartment, and the taxi ride to the airport, that was about all I got to see of Rome. But I was excited to fly to London to see my parents. The flight landed at London Stansted Airport, and I had to catch a bus to London. The bus was supposed to take an hour, but with all the traffic, it ended up taking two. However, I finally made it to Victoria station, and I caught the tube to meet up with Molly and my family.

It was nice to see everyone, and after catching up at the restaurant near the hotel, we set off to explore London. We saw the Tower Bridge and then walked along the Thames river towards Globe Theatre. We made our way back to the hotel and then went out for dinner. We went back to the restaurant near the hotel, but unfortunately no one under 18 was allowed to eat their after 8pm... so Pat went back to the hotel, and Molly, my parents, Keely, and I had dinner. After dinner Keely and I went into London and met up with Alana at a pub down town. We hung out there for a little while before heading back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready to go into London. We had breakfast at the hotel before going to the Tower of London. It was day one with our London Passes. We took a tour of the Tower of London and then explored some of the buildings on our own. We saw the crown jewels and a few other exhibits before taking a ferry to Westminster Abby. We had lunch at a pub near the Abby, which was pretty amusing as our waitress was... very rushed you could say. Anyways after lunch we walked back to Westminster but unfortunately since it was Sunday, Westminster was closed. We took a few pictures of Big Ben, and then headed over to Trafalgar Square.

In Trafalgar Square, Pat, Keely, and I attempted to take our picture on the lions, but Keely and I had a few issues climbing up... We then headed into the London Brass Rubber Center at St Martins-in-the-Fields Church. Molly, Mom, and Keely each picked out a brass rubbing to work on, while Pat and Dad went off to explore. We met back up and had a second attempt at pictures with the lions, this one more successful. We walked over to Piccadilly Circus and explore the Lilywhites sports shop for about two hours. After shopping, we went to the restaurant, Adam's Rib for dinner. We called it a night after dinner, and went back to the hotel.

Monday morning we woke up early again took the subway to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the Guards. The ceremony was alot longer then I expected, but it was pretty cool. After the ceremony we walked through St. James Park back towards Westminster Abby. The line was long, so we decided to head over to St. Paul's Cathedral. We explored the cathedral and then climbed to the top and had a great view of London. After exploring, we had lunch in the cafe at the Cathedral, and then Dad, Pat, Keely, and I went to Globe Theatre. We took a tour of theatre which was really cool... it would actually be nice to see a show there some time! After the theatre we met up with Molly and Mom in Covent Gardens. We split off to shop and Dad took Keely and I to a pub for a drink. We then walked around a while before having dinner at Maxwells.

Tuesday morning we were off to Edinburgh via the train. The train was about four hours long, and we arrived in Edinburgh around noon. We checked into our hotel and then went out to eat at the Elephant Cafe. The Elephant Cafe is where J.K. Rowling wrote most of Harry Potter... Anyways after lunch we walked through the shops on the royal mile. Dad, Pat, Keely, and I went off to see the new Parliament building and the National Monument. On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped for the best milkshakes EVER from Wannaburger. That evening we had dinner at the hotel, and then watched the football match on T.V.

Wednesday morning Keely and I got up early and took the bus to Glasgow. We dropped my luggage off at my room and started laundry before meeting Molly, Mom, Dad, and Pat at the Glasgow Cathedral. We explored the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis and then headed to the Willow Tea Room for lunch. After lunch we spent a little time shopping on Buchanan Street, before Keely and I went back to my dorm for an interview. We met up with everyone an hour later, and walked through the campus at the University of Glasgow. We made our way back to my dorm to relax a little bit while I finished packing for the rest of the trip. We left my room and went out to dinner at Firebird. The pasta was amazing as well as the brownie! That night we took the bus back to Edinburgh and went to sleep.

Thursday morning, Keely and I got up and went to Top Shop for a little shopping. She bought another pair of sneakers (she bought the first pair in London). We met up with everyone at noon and went back to the Elephant cafe for lunch. After lunch we made our way up to Edinburgh Castle for a tour. Molly stayed behind to do some shopping since she had already seen the castle. The castle was fun, although after refusing to take a tour, Dad and Keely still managed to join part of one for a few minutes. We saw the crown jewels of Scotland and then made our way back towards the royal mile for a little more shopping. We made our way back to the hotel to relax a bit, and then when out to a pub for dinner.

Friday morning we headed to Edinburgh airport for our flight to Heathrow. It was a quick flight which was nice, and breakfast was served on the plane. When we arrived in London, we took our luggage to our third and final Premiere Inn. We had lunch at the pub across the street and then headed in to London for our last day of exploring. We went back to Lilywhites and then made our way to Covent Gardens to browse the shops one last time. We had dinner that night at Pizza Express which I was really excited about! The pizza there was so good!

Saturday morning we woke up and packed up our luggage. I left my luggage at the hotel, while Molly, Mom, Dad, Keely, and Pat, brought theirs on the tube one last time while they made there way to the airport. I said goodbye to everyone and then headed into the city to meet up with my friend Jamie, for lunch, since my flight wasn't til later that night. It was definitely a great trip though!



















Keely, Pat, and I infront of Big Ben




















Mom and Molly walking in London



















Keely, Pat and I attempting to climb the lions















Keely and I infront of Buckingham Palace














Dad, Keely, and Pat on top of St. Paul's Cathedral














Keely, Pat, and I in Globes Theatre



















Keely, Pat, and I at the National Monument in Edinburgh














Inside Edinburgh Castle















Dad and Keely joining a tour group that was not ours...

Florence

April 2nd and 3rd, 2009

Thursday morning we were off to Florence. We arrived in Florence around 11am and headed to our hostel. It was really sunny out, and it looked like we would finally have a full sunny day in Italy. When we made it to our hostel, we checked in and put our luggage in our room. The hostel was huge, and it had internet! So we all checked our email, and settled in before going out to explore Florence. We started walking to the city center and stopped for lunch at Birrificio. I had a greek salad saving room for the dinner we planned for later!

After lunch we walked through this huge market located on a few of the side streets! The market had everything from scarves and ties to leather purses and wallets! We split off and shopped for awhile checking out everything in the market... When we met back up we walked to the Duomo. The Duomo in Florence was probably the best church I saw in Italy. The outside alone was beautiful. We went inside and walked around, and then waited on line to climb to the top. While we were waiting online, Amy and I played our April Fools joke we were planning the day before. We bought cookies with creme in the middle, took out the cream and added toothpaste. We offered the cookies to Anisha and Grace and it was so funny! Definitely one of the better jokes I have seen. But any ways, the stairs in the Duomo were the steepest stairs I think I have ever climbed in my life, but when we got to the top it was worth it. We had the most amazing view of Florence. We took a bunch of pictures before heading back down. On the way down, we were able to see the painting on the dome up close. It amazed me how large the painting actually was!

































After we left the Duomo, we stopped for some gelato... Florence after all is the home of gelato! We walked towards the Ponte Vecchio stopping to try on some Italian shoes along the way! We passed through the piazza near the Ufizzi and then finally made it to the Ponte Vecchio. After taking a few pictures, we were all starving and ready for dinner. Tonight was going to be our big dinner in Italy. We wanted to go all out and get all courses. We found this small Italian restaurant on one of the side streets near the Ponte Vecchio and went inside. We had the whole place to ourselves. The waitress was really nice, she brought us all wine and appetizers on the house. The appetizer was a type of cheese soup. We also all tried the Bruschetta. We had our first course - pasta - and I had the special, pasta Bolognese which was amazing, definitely the best I have had yet! For our second course - meat - I had meatballs in potatoes which were really good, even though they weren't traditional meatballs. I was so full but we still all ordered dessert to complete the meal. I don't remember what mine was called, but the waitress picked it out for me, and it tasted really good! After dinner we were all so full, we made it back to the hostel and called it a night.














The next day we checked out of the hostel and then headed over to the train station. We checked our luggage for the day and then grabbed a quick breakfast before heading over to see the David. We waited in line for about a half hour before being let in... but it was worth it! The David was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen in my life, and it was much bigger than I had ever expected!!



















After seeing the David, we stopped in the post office to pick up stamps, and then made our way back to the Ufizzi. The line for this was extremely long. Apparently approximately thirty people are let in every half hour. So while we were waiting in line, Anisha, Grace, and I headed back to the market to find ITALIAN SHOES. I bought a pair of Italian leather sandals which I LOVE!! After we finished up at the market we went back to the Ufizzi and waited a little longer before we were finally let in! I think it was about a two and a half hour wait... but we went inside and wandered through the galleries for awhile.



















When we left the Ufizzi, we had an early dinner at the Suncafe before heading to the train station to catch a night train to Rome. It was my last mean in Italy, and soon to be my last train ride in Italy as well! Next stop Rome... but only for the night haha...

Cinque Terre

April 1st, 2009

On April Fools Day, we all woke up early to be at the train station by 8 am. After traveling the past few days in Italy, I am definitely starting to get used to the Italian trains. We would lug our luggage down and up the stairs multiple times each day. Cinque Terre was no different. It was a quick train ride from Lucca to Cinque Terre, and we got to ride in a Harry Potter train (the train had cabins). When we got off the train at Riomaggiore, we were on the Italian coast and the view was amazing. Our plan for the day was to hike through each of the five cities in the Cinque Terre: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. We bought our day passes for the hike and then we set off to find our hostel to drop our luggage off.

After settling in to our hostel, we all had an early lunch, and then were ready to begin the hike. We began in Riomaggiore and started walking to Manarola. The views of the coast throughout the hike was amazing. I took so many pictures! We spent the most time in Manarola, I personally thought the views from this city were the best. We had some gelato, and then continued walking towards Corniglia. We came across a play ground along the way and stopped to hang out there for awhile. About half way on our walk to Corniglia, the trail stopped and was closed due to landslides, so we headed back to Manarola, so we could catch the train.

When we arrived in Corniglia, we walked up a huge hill to reach the city. After taking more pictures, we waited for the bus to bring us back to the train station. From there we caught the next train to Vernazza. In Vernazza, Amy decided to swim in the ocean, which we all encouraged... although the other tourists were looking at her like she was crazy... I don't think she was supposed to swim in the water! But anyways we walked around the town and looked for the path to take us to Monterosso. Unfortunately, at this point it had started to rain, so we opted for the train to take us to the fifth and final city.

It was late when we arrived in Monterosso. We walked around the beach, and threw pebbles into the ocean (this beach was actually a beach unlike the one in Vernazza). We didn't stay too long, we were all getting hungry and looking forward to getting back to Riomaggiore for dinner. Although we did have more gelato in Monterosso before we left. Dinner was slightly delayed... we took a train to Le Spezia instead of Riomaggiore... but when we finally arrived in Riomaggiore, we changed out of wet clothes and then went to dinner. Seeing as Cinque Terre is the home to pesto, I had linguine with pesto for dinner and it was amazing! After dinner we headed back to the hostel and spent the rest of the evening relaxing... and Amy and I plotted for a belated April Fools Day joke...














Riomaggiore














Manarola



















Corniglia














Vernazza














Monterosso

Pisa and Lucca

March 31st, 2009

It was another early morning for me in Italy hoping to catch the 8:13 train to Pisa. We were leaving Parma in hopes of exploring Pisa and Lucca in the same day. While the whole new day new city thing has meant alot of traveling, it has been really exciting! We arrived in Pisa around 11:30 and checked our bags at the train station. This worked perfectly since our plan was to walk to the leaning tower of Pisa and then catch a later train to Lucca, and we didn't really want to have to lug our bags everywhere! After checking our bags, we stopped for lunch at La Loggia. The girls all had pizza, which was interesting... Amy and I had some type of funky cheese that did not taste right! But we were able to eat outside and it was looking to be a beautiful day!














After lunch we made our way towards the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We had to walk of a bridge to get there and the river was brown... I was a little surprised after seeing the blue water in Venice! When we got to the tower, I found myself really impressed with it. I personally, think it looks alot more impressive in person than it does in pictures! There were alot of people around the street, and venders lined up along the edge. We all took pictures holding the tower in our hands or on our heads, and even tried to get a group shot of the girls holding the tower. After we finished taking pictures, we walked back to the train station, stopping for gelato on the way. I definitely have to say that the gelato in Pisa was the best gelato I had in Italy. It was very creamy! We finally made it to the train station as it was starting to rain, picked up our luggage, and then boarded the train to Lucca.



















We arrived in Lucca in the late afternoon, and it was at this point that I learned that Lucca is spelled with two "c's." We took taxis from the train station to our bed and breakfast, which was called Centro Storico. The place was beautiful, and apparently a palace. The room we were staying in was huge! We had our own batheroom, and two bedrooms... compared to the hostels we have stayed in, this place was amazing! After we had settled in, we picked up some food for later, and then met of with three Italian guys Grace was aquianted with. Her friend from school studied abroad in Italy last semester and met these guys, and they agreed to take us on a tour through Lucca.














We met the guys in the main square and then walked to a bar for a drink. We sat outside and listened to the guys talk about Lucca for awhile. One of the guys had lived in Lucca his entire life, while the other two had moved here from England. After we finished we walked around the town. It was raining again... I am really starting to think that Italy may get more rain than Scotland. We saw the Royal Amphitheatre and a tower with trees growing on top! After exploring the sights we walked around the city walls before stopping at one of the guys house so he could change before dinner. While we stopped at his house, we went up to the terrace and went on the roof to see the view of the city.



















The guys took us to one of there favorite places for dinner in Lucca. It was a small Italian restaurant that was actually pretty busy for a Tuesday! I tried the raviolli with meat sauce which was pretty good... we met an American family visiting from Panama City. They said they came to Italy to get away from all the college kids going to Spring break in Panama City which made me laugh because that was where Sue went for spring break. It was also funny because Amy didn't realize they were from Panama City, Florida, she thought they were actually from Panama! After dinner, we said bye to the guys and then headed back to the bed and breakfast. The next day was to bring another early start and another new city!

Parma

March 30th, 2009

This morning we woke up early to catch the train from Venice to Parma. The friends we were staying with in Venice got back to the apartment after a weekend in Naples pretty early, so we had a chance to catch up with them before we left. After leaving there place we set off to catch the boat to bring us to the train station. When it was our stop, the boat was so packed that we actually got stuck on the boat and missed our stop. Amy was the only one who made it off the boat and the rest of us had to go to the next stop to catch the next boat. Fortunately the next stop was the Rialdo, so we had a chance to see the Rialdo on a sunny day, despite missing our boat stop. We also were pretty lucky that the next boat going to the train station was leaving five minutes after we arrived! Although when we went to get on the boat, Sal and Anisha made it on for free, but the lady stopped Grace and I and made us buy a ticket... it wasn't too bad considering the boats we had taken the previous day had all been free. When we all finally made it to the train station, we bought tickets and boarded the 10:57 train to Parma!

We arrived in Parma and it was beautiful and sunny which was really nice after the rainy day we had in Venice. We took a taxi from the train station in Parma to the place where Amy's friend was staying to drop all our stuff off. Her friend is staying in a homestay in Parma, and the apartment was beautiful! There was bread and nutella waiting for us when we arrived. After dropping off our luggage we made our way into the city center where we met up with my friend Jenn who was also studying abroad in Parma! We set off to explore the Duomo in Parma - apparently every city in Itlay has their own Duomo - and the inside was beautiful. We then stopped in to explore a second church near the duomo to have a look around. There are definitely a lot of churches in Italy. After we finished, we took a break to have some gelato. The plan was to have gelato in every city in Italy! The gelato place we went to was called K2 Gelato which was really good. Amy and I split fragola (strawberry) and it was served to us in the shape of a flower! After eating the gelato, we walked through the park, back to Amy's friend's apartment, where we waited for her to get back from class.














Jenn, Sal, Anisha, and I headed off to Jenn's apartment to drop off my luggage and to pick up some bikes! Aparently Parma is a city known for many people riding on bikes, and fortunately between Jenn and Amy's friend, there were enough bikes for all of us to use! So we set off on a bike tour of Parma... it was weird riding a bike again and it definitely took some getting used to, it had been awhile! But the bikes were definitely worth it. We rode around the park for awhile before heading back to Jenn's apartment.














That evening, Jenn, her roommates, and I all went out to dinner at Osteria dello Zingaro. I had tortellini, which was really raviolloi, with spinach and cheese inside and parmesan cheese on top. I figure you can't go to Parma without trying Parmesan cheese! The food was great, and after dinner we headed back to Jenn's place to have some cheese and prochuttio before going to bed - apparently Parma is also well known for their prochuttio.

Venice Underwater

March 28th and 29th, 2009

Spring break has officially begun and I am ready to embark on a three week journey through Italy, London, Scotland and Greece! The first stop is Venice. We left Glasgow Saturday, March 28th around 10:30 am to catch a taxi to the train station. It is definitely worth noting the different modes of transportation I took to Venice, because I literally took every mode except for the subway. We got to Prestwick airport around 12:30 and made our way through security. Our flight took off around 2 pm and we arrived in Turin at 5pm. We took another taxi to another train station and bought our tickets to Venice. We ate dinner in the train station which was not really good, but I figured the train station food is no comparison to what we would eventually eat in the Italian restaurants. Our train to Venice took about five hours, stopping in Milan for 15 minutes during the journey. We finally arrived in Venice at midnight and had no clue how to get to San Servillo, the island we were staying on. We ended up taking a taxi boat my friends apartment and settled into the apartment around 1 am after the long day of traveling.














Sunday morning we woke up and were ready to explore Venice! We took a boat to San Marco - the boat is basically their version of the Subway which was pretty cool, and free for the most part. Actually the boat system is pretty interesting in Venice, the subway boats run til about 2 am, and taxi boats run 24/7. But apparently if you get caught on the wrong island after 2 am the taxi boats double their prices. Anyways, when arrived in San Marco we searched for somewhere to eat breakfast. It was pouring out in Venice. I don't even think it has ever rained that hard in Scotland since I have been here. We all bought Umbrellas, because without them there was no way we would have made it through the day! We ended up eating breakfast in a small cafe called Forst which was pretty good. The interesting about the shops in Venice is that they all had umbrella holders in the front to keep the floors dry. After breakfast we explored a few Venesian glass shops, and the jewelry was beautiful! Everything was amazing, I really enjoyed walking through all the different shops. We made our way to the Piazza di San Marco and it was still pouring. There were planks set up for people to walk on to avoid the flooding. It was amazing to see how flooded Venice was, and to truely understand what people mean when they talk about Venice Underwater. Some of the Shops were completely flooded that the tables were all raised to avoid material getting damaged.














After walking around the piazza, we went inside the Basilica. The inside was beautiful, I can not imagine how long it took the artists to finish, because everything was mosaic. When we left the Basilica, we continued to walk through the square and explore the shops (we were walking on the planks of course). But we had our first official gelato in Italy!! I branched out from my normal vanilla choice and had strawberry and vanilla flavored gelato which was really good. We then met up with one of Sal's friends, and she showed us the way to the Rialto. The Rialto had a great view of Venice, and of the brave people who decided to take a gondola ride in the rainy weather.

















We explored the shops near the Rialto which had more and more Venecian glass! We actually found this one stored where all the girls were able to find something special... We then headed back to the cafe to have something hot while we waited for our boat back to San Serillo. I had my first cappechino, and I have to admit I still am not a fan... but we made our way back to my friend's apartment to dry off before dinner.

















We headed back to San Marco for dinner. We went out to eat at this nice Italian restaurant called 'da Roberto' to celebrate Grace's 21st birthday. The food was great, and the waiters were very nice. For my first Italian meal I had spaghetti with clams in a white sauce, and for dessert flan. The spaghetti was amazing! The waiters brought out a cake and we sang happy birthday to Grace, but then the cake was returned to the kitchen never to be seen again... I think they wanted to use it for a different guest at the restaurant...

After dinner we wanted to continue exploring Venice. It was still raining though, and the streets were, if possible, even more flooded then they were this morning, making it impossible to walk anywhere. We tried to avoid the floods, but then just gave up and walked through everything! We were all soaked, but it was actually a ton of fun. We walked to the piazza and there were people sitting outside the restaurants just watching the water. Everybody sang and danced and jumped in the water. We sat at some of the tables in the water and just listened to a man playing the violin and relaxed. We headed back later that night and attempted some laundry before going to bed.