Big Ben visits Italy!!!

Well, I guess I should tell everyone about Ben's trip to Italy...I am sorry this took so long! The day he arrived, I woke up early to clean the apartment (or at least my areas of it) and try to get stuff out that I was going to send back with him. I also was really nervous. I see him everyday on Skype, but it was weird to be seeing him for the first time in four months! We had planned on him taking a cab to my apartment, but I told him I had a surprise for him and decided I was going to meet him at the gate in the airport instead. His flight came in around 3:00 and the Florence airport is about 20 minutes out of the city, so I left my apartment around 2:00 to make sure I had enough time to get there early. Well, there is a cab stand in front of the Duomo (right near my apartment) so I walk out there (in 4 inch heels…) and the drivers all refuse to take me and drive away. So, I am now freaking out and angry as I walk 15 minutes to the train station (where the other cab stand is…) in my tall shoes. I made sure that I looked very nice before I left the house—I didn’t want to look like a schlub the first time I saw Ben in 4 months, but by the time I got to the train station, my hair was messed up and I felt like my makeup was melting off of my face. So, I get to the train station and there is the longest line I have ever seen waiting for cabs and not one in sight. So, I figure I don’t have time to wait, as it was almost 2:30 by this time, so I hike over to the bus station to see if there was a bus going to the airport. Well, of course there was, but not until 3:00. Seeing as how that was when his plane came in, that also did not work. So I call my roommate, Tracy, and am freaking out and upset because all I wanted to do was be nice and show up at the airport and Florence was making that impossible. But as I am talking to her and walking back to the train station (just to check) the line for the cabs is gone and there are 4 patiently waiting for me to get in and take me to the airport. So, I get into one, and tell the driver “Aeroporto!” and he speeds off.

As I am sitting in the cab, I catch a glimpse of my reflection, and as I had suspected, I looked awful. I was a hot, sweaty mess, so on the way I tried to cool down and fix my self. By the time we got to the airport, I think all was well and I hopped out and patiently waited for his flight to land. It finally landed about 20 minutes late and so I knew he should be coming out soon. Finally there he was, looking pretty tired from his long journey, but still excited to be there. It was great that he was here!!

As soon as he came out, we got in a cab and headed to my apartment. I introduced him to Tracy; we dropped the bags and headed out to the city. We were both starving, so I took him to a place that supposedly had pizza like Naples, and I figured that would be a good first meal for him. Well, we wouldn’t know how good their pizza was because like most of Italy during the hours of 3:00 and 7:30, it was closed. So we walked back towards the Duomo, where it’s a little more “touristy” and I knew something would be open and ate at a little place in front of the cathedral. It was pretty good and I had already started making him try new things (eggplant on pizza!! Yum!) which he said he liked, but he lies a lot about those types of things…haha. After that we went back to my apartment, so that I could pack for the weekend and get ready for the evening.

By the time I finished packing it was time to go to Thanksgiving dinner!!!! I had made plans for us to have Thanksgiving dinner with everyone at a place called “Angels.” It was cooked by two American chefs and was a full spread. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the quantity of a real Thanksgiving, but I think we definitely got enough to eat with Butternut Squash Soup (delish!!!!), turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and veggies! We then had pumpkin pie and spiced cider for dessert!! After dinner we went back to my apartment to play power hour with the roommates. Ben of course out-drank all of us, but he’s also twice the size as well. We had a table reserved at the club we frequent, so after drinking at home for a little while, we headed that direction. It was pretty fun, except the table service sucked and there was, of course, drama. Actually, the level of rudeness from a few of the club’s employees has caused us to never go back, but that’s neither here nor there. We accidentally closed the club (i.e. we left sometime after 4:00am…) and made our way back to our bed and breakfast. Which, by the way was really nice and located next door to my apartment! Ben and I had planned to take an early train to Venice, but we of course slept through my alarm and didn’t get there until a few hours later than planned. The train ride wasn’t too bad, I slept most of the way, but when we got to Venice, it was raining…a lot. It actually rained so much that weekend that it caused record floods! But, we figured out the water taxi situation and found our way to the hotel. The original one we were supposed to stay in was damaged or something, so we stayed at another place (per the first place) and it was pretty nice. The room was very green and full of jacquard, but the bathroom was great!! It was so nice to take a shower in a nice, clean shower with a towel warmer! So, we dropped our stuff and decided to go site seeing. I should mention that at this point my umbrella had broken, and poor Ben used it and let me use his nice, non-broken one. Anyway, we went to the Rialto and walked around there, by this time the rain was coming down steadily and my shoes/socks were soaked…but we were there to enjoy Venice, so we kept moving. Its odd that people say Venice is the most romantic city in the world, because being soaked to the bone and fighting off hypothermia together is great and all, but not actually “romantic.” However, we did find a gondola for hire that took us on a tour and told us a little about the city. It was nice to actually take a gondola ride, but next time, I’ll wear a poncho and bring a blanket!! After the gondola ride (which I want to add was still great despite the crappy weather) we headed over to St. Mark’s square, which was really cool and full of very tempting shopping! Fortunately for Ben, I decided to spare him the pain of going in every store, so I kept it to a bare minimum. We roamed around there for a while buying a few souvenirs and decided to start heading back. Venice is a beautiful and interesting city, as there are no streets. I’m sure that you (the reader) know this, but it’s very strange when you are actually there. I was afraid that at any moment, I would find myself in a canal if I wasn’t careful. There are little steps (like a pool) leading into the water, which makes it even more deceitful and tempting to walk in! Thankfully, I was wet and cold enough to not go for a swim and we got back safely. Once back at the hotel, we were both frozen to the core, so we each took verrry long showers to thaw out. By the time we had both showered and got ready, we realized we were starving, so we headed out to find a place for dinner. Considering Ben’s Italian is horrible, I had to figure out the menus for him, and he was so picky that night. (haha….joking.) But we eventually found a place that I deemed worthy (I wanted him to have good Italian, not tourist Italian food) and it was actually pretty good. On our way back to the hotel, we decided we were going to bed early because we were catching the 7am train to Rome. But, then we decided that maybe we should just get a drink and enjoy our night out. So, we found a cute little lounge and stopped in. A few hours later, we made our way back to the hotel (and luckily didn’t fall into any canals!) in order for our 5:30 wake up call.

On the way to Rome (it was still dark, mind you) we had basically the whole car to ourselves, which was nice because we could then sleep. However, about an hour in, of course, we had to move because we were in someone’s seat and then we had aisle seat the rest of the way. I don’t know about you, but I cannot sleep on the aisle, and poor Ben couldn’t either. So by the time we made it to Rome, we were exhausted and ready for bed, but we figured we would check in to our “hotel” and get some lunch. I try to stay optimistic about everything, but sometimes I don’t book the greatest accommodations (i.e. our horrible hostel in Dublin…ughh) As we got closer to the location of the hotel, it seemed to get a little shadier and sketchier by the block. So, we get to the place we check in and we walk down the street with this lady and she takes us to this, what seems to be, apartment. And she opens the door to our room—yellow nightmare. Not only was it a yellow nightmare, but the door to the room was frosted glass covered by a piece of black fabric. I had definitely failed on this “bed and breakfast.” Ben, of course tried to make it better than it was, but we both knew it was awful and were glad that we only had to sleep there! After we dropped our stuff, we headed for lunch at the very authentic Italian restaurant, McDonald’s.

After McDonald’s we went to the Coliseum, which was just a train ride away. Once we got there and inside we took the audio tour. It was so cool to see it. It was huge and I could just imagine it as it was. After we walked around the Coliseum, we went to the ruins across the street. They were also beautiful and full of cats! This, of course was very exciting for me…haha. After the ruins we (quickly) headed over to the Vatican, which was very interesting as well. Unfortunately, we did not get to go into St.Peter’s because there was an enormous line and we only had one day basically to get through Rome; but we looked around and took it all in. There were nuns and priests everywhere and of course, the Swiss guards in their funny outfits. After the Vatican, we headed down to Trevi Fountain. When we got off the metro, there was a tiny little fountain, about where Trevi should be. But, I knew this was not it…so we finally figured out that it in fact was not, and that the actual fountain is enormous! It was so pretty, and it was about when the sun was going down and there was an interesting glow to the whole area. We made a couple wishes and then off we went to the Spanish Steps. When we got to the steps, we realized just how many there were, but climbed them anyways. It was definitely worth it for the cool view of the street. After that, we had decided that we had seen as much as we could that day, so we wandered around the streets just taking it all in. Finally we decided that we should go back to the “hotel” and get ready for dinner. We asked the guy at the desk where we should go, and he wasn’t much help, so we decided to go to an area that another person had told us about for dinner. So, we had to get on a bus and get off at a certain stop, or so we thought. While on this bus we realized that we had probably missed the stop and had to walk back, but during us passing the stop I had seen a couple of restaurants that looked cool, so that is where we headed. We ended up (finally) at this cute little place that had great food. After dinner we didn’t do much, just got a bottle of wine and hung out before passing out for the night, which was rather early considering our exhaustion from the previous day.

Sunday morning, we woke up pretty early, checked out and headed to the Pantheon and the Sacred Area. Both of which were amazing and beautiful. I particularly liked the Sacred Area because it was also full of kitties!! After seeing both of these places we hopped on the bus and headed to the train station to go back to Florence. Unfortunately, we thought we had 24-hour bus tickets, but apparently we did not. One of the employees of the transit authority decided to board our bus and so kindly (ha!) inform us that our tickets are not 24-hour tickets and that we needed to promptly hand over 50€ a piece to her. So, we reluctantly did and went into the train station. We waited around for a couple of hours for the train, because we missed the earlier one by about 2 minutes.

Once we got back to Florence we went back to my apartment and got everything packed up to go to the final bed and breakfast. It was close to the train station, but unfortunately not close to my apartment. So, poor Ben rolled the suitcase full of all my souvenirs 20 minutes across town...he’s so nice. Once we got there it was already time to get ready for dinner and that night I had made reservations at Il Latini, the best restaurant I had eaten at in Florence. I had gone there with one of my roommate’s parents and knew that it was the place to show Ben what eating in Italy is all about: quality and quantity. So, by the time we got ready to go it was raining a bit (as it had all weekend of course…) but it was nothing too serious. By the time we had walked down the street it was hailing golf ball sized hail! So, we ducked into an overhang to wait it out, but we were running late so we had to hurry. Finally we get to the train station (one of the only taxi stands in the city…) and because of the weather, there is an enormous line for a cab. So, of course we are late…but we finally get a cab and head over to the best meal ever!

We arrive at Il Latini and the restaurant is definitely not fancy. It looks like someone’s basement, there are bare white walls and meat hanging from the ceiling and a couple of pieces of furniture here and there along with rows of tables. The seating is family style, meaning if you don’t know the other people at your table, you will by the time dinner is over. You don’t necessarily share food with the strangers at your table, but you don share bread and wine…and honestly what more do you need anyways? Also, there are no menus, so a guy comes out and asks if you want to start with an antipasti and then he tells you what your choices are. We chose the tomato and mozzarella salad along with proscuitto (standard…), and crostinis that had new olive oil on them as well as chicken liver pâté. It was delicious, although I am not a fan of liver, but Ben ate it and claimed he liked it! So, points for that (he tends to be a picky eater, so I try to make him step outside the box…) As for the next course, which was the primi piatti, it consisted of pasta and soup. So we got one of each: tomato and bread soup (delicious and hearty) and fresh homemade pasta in a wild boar sauce (my favorite thing …ever.) Ben also gave those the thumbs up and I was feeling that even if we stopped now, I had succeeded in making him try new food and he actually liked it!! After we got through that course we headed into the main course of meat. We ordered lamb and rabbit, but unfortunately they were out of the rabbit, so we got beef in place of it along with a side of their roasted potatoes and Tuscan beans. It was delicious and he also liked all of that (minus the beans…which is fine, he was doing well otherwise…haha) Lastly came the desserts!! They brought us this Vin Santo (a type of “wine” which I find repulsive..I have had it in many other Italian restaurants..) and biscotti and then they ask you what dessert you want. So we decided to go with pannacotta (which is delicious) and I can’t remember what Ben ordered…but it was delicious as well. To top off all of the desserts they bring you Limoncello (also repulsive…but Ben seemed to enjoy, it is like a lemon infused vodka) so as we sat and reflected on the giant meal we had just devoured we ended up talking to the people next to us. They were Russian, but from New York. The younger woman was actually a fashion designer who had just finished working at Ralph Lauren and gave me her contact information to meet with her when I was in New York (whenever that will be?) It was a great way to not only end our night, but our few days together in Italy. We hobbled back to the bed and breakfast and passed out for a few hours until Ben had to leave for the States the next morning.

It was so great to have him there visiting for those few days. I felt like I was an actually resident of Florence and it was nice to show him around and to show him what I had been doing for the last few months. I will always remember that week of my trip as it meant so much. We had such a fun time and I look forward to our next adventure!! (Although it will probably not be in Europe…haha)

P.S. I am sorry this took me so long to post… L

its been awhile...

Well I have not written in a very long time and for that I apologize. I haven’t been doing much since I haven’t been traveling Europe. The last month has been fun but rather uneventful. I have been enjoying my time in Florence by going out, sleeping in and working hard at school. We have celebrated a few birthdays, which is funny because they were 21^st birthdays…and how I remember that year, oh so long ago.

After our travels concluded, the first weekend was Halloween! So, we celebrated American-style, by getting dressed up and hitting the town. There were a bunch of us, and we were the cast of The Wizard of Oz. I was the Wicked Witch of the East, you know, the one who got the house dropped on her? It was pretty fun, but it was basically the beginning of the cold rainy season, so the weather was not enjoyable. All in all, it was a pretty fun night, but definitely nothing compared to Halloween in America.

That weekend, was pretty low-key for me, because my roommates were out of town (which was great) and I decided, I needed a weekend to myself and to rest. So, I strolled around Florence, buying souvenirs for people and doing a little shopping for myself. I stumbled upon a great antique market and found 2 vintage Gucci hand bags, which I immediately purchased of course. I also found some cute little dishes that were hand painted and made in Florence, so I bought them as well. How I am going to get them back into the States, I have no idea, but I guess, I will figure that out later. There were so many cool things there that I wanted to buy everything, but unfortunately, funds are limited, so I had to settle with those things.

The next weekend was Ashley’s (one of the other girls) 21^st birthday. It was a typical night out until the end, when some girl tried to pick a fight with me. Why I get picked on everywhere, I will never know, but whatever. This girl kept throwing her coat on me (at our table, at which she was not) so I kept removing it from my lap. Well, after a few things had piled up, I asked the owner if he could ask them to move their things, because there wasn’t enough room to sit down with all of their stuff there. So he did, and she of course got a big attitude. So, she threw her coat on me again and I moved it again and she then punched me in the face! I was absolutely shocked, and managed to just laugh. I figure me laughing in her face was a lot more mean than me hitting her and I didn’t look trashy. She definitely didn’t like that, so then she started to yell at me in some language I do not understand. I told the owner again what had happened and he radioed for the bouncers to throw her out. In the mean time she spit her drink in my face, and then when I had my back turned, she raked her disgusting nails across my back. By that time the bouncer had just arrived to see all of this, and physically removed her. She went out with a fight too, I don’t know what her problem was, but I showed restraint (as hard as it was) and feel that even though I now have scars on my back from her, I came out on top by not looking like a piece of trash starting a fight at a club. After this incident, we all decided it was time to turn it in for the night and rightfully so.

Sunday of that weekend, we went to see a soccer game! It was Fiorentina vs. (someone else…) It was interesting to see, but the section we were in was a little boring. We bought jerseys and scarves though so we definitely looked the part of the Fiorentina soccer fans. They won, so it was good…but I must admit slightly boring. Nothing beats American football.

The next weekend we went to Milan. This was a school trip, so we had “school things” to do, but it was still fun! We started out by visiting some notable shops in the area, which were all really interesting. Then we went to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” It was so cool to see in person. It is a huge secco (a different type of fresco) and it preserved pretty well considering its age. It is fading in areas such as the feet and some of the faces, but overall it still looks great. For those of you who have read “The Da Vinci Code” it does look like a woman seated next to Jesus, but with most things, I think the translation is left to the individual viewer and shaped by their experiences and openness. After seeing the painting, which by the way, you get 15 minutes to see it, you are funneled in like cattle and then when your time is up they bark at you over the PA and then you are funneled out. It’s very strange. Anyway…after seeing the painting we headed to our hotel to check in and freshen up. Afterwards we went to the Galleria, which is like a mall but is original to the town. It holds many restaurants and shops and is home to the original Prada store. It was very cool inside; it had many original items and a lot of museum-type pieces. After that we went to the Armani Super Store, which contained every Armani label under one roof. They had a very cute little café/bar so we of course had a cocktail and some mini-sandwiches before heading off to dinner. We found a cute little restaurant which had very interesting food. I had pumpkin ravioli with a cheese fondue sauce with cocoa on top. It was very good, but very sweet and dessert like. Following dinner we walked around enjoying Milan and found a very cute hip bar that we were definitely not cool enough to even be in. But, we managed to have a good time. The next day we scoped out all of the vintage stores and found some very interesting items, but being in a large city, all were over priced so I left empty handed.

That Sunday we decided to go horse-back riding in Tuscany (Ruffina to be exact) it was the perfect day! It was a cool, crisp fall day with the sun shining. Perfect!!! It was a two hour ride through vineyards and fields and wooded areas. It was absolutely beautiful. My horse, Cidia, was a dream to ride. She was very responsive and attentive, she was great. It was probably one of my favorite things we have done in Italy as it was such a great way to see the countryside and enjoy it as well.

The next week, we went to Sienna with school. It is a small town about an hour from Florence and is a very interesting place to visit. There are scenes from the new James Bond movie filmed there during an event they call the “Paolo” which is a horse race through the city. It’s a very big deal to the people of Sienna and they are very divided on it as well. Each person belongs to a different neighborhood in Sienna. There are rivals, flags, mascots, songs and specific areas. They take it very seriously. Our tour guide (who was Samantha Brown’s twin…if you are a travel channel fan…) was an honorary member of one of these neighborhoods and is only one of eleven Americans who hold this honor. She was a great tour guide and was full of interesting facts and knowledge. Sienna was a very beautiful place and I suggest visiting if you are ever in Florence.

This was about all of the fun I had until Ben came to Italy…which was for Thanksgiving break.

Ciao!

Vote for Change

I would like to officially endorse Senator Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. He makes me want to be proud again that I am American. I feel that although he is young, he will bring a fresh new perspective and at this point, that is what our country is dying for. Please get out and vote today (no matter who it is for). There are people who put their life on the line every day so that you can have to right to vote.

BARACK THE VOTE '08!

Hola!

This past weekend I was in Barcelona, Spain! I was looking forward to spending the weekend in a warm climate, whit lots of sun and enjoying my last trip of the semester. Well, when we first got there we met up with 3 other girls from school who were staying in our hostel. We get on the metro to get to the hostel, only to discover that it closed in 5 minutes, so we had to get off. We got off at what we thought was our stop (as indicated on the directions from the hostel) and discovered that it was actually about a 20 minute walk from where we were. It was about 1:00 am, so we were trying to hurry, as it’s never a good idea to be out late, and a group of 9 American girls is like a moving target. So, we get directions from two nice ladies who happened to be walking by and make our way down the street. As we are crossing the street we hear one of the girls screaming. I turn around she is being dragged down the street by a Vespa. She falls face first into the street and the guy speeds away. So, we all run over to her and try to process what has just happened. I thought the Vespa had hit her, but apparently he had tried to grab her purse off of her arm and she didn’t let go so he was dragging her. She gets up and her face is bruised and scraped up as well as her arms and feet. She is shaking terribly, and is obviously shaken up, as all of us are, but we are now trying to figure out what to do. No cabs would stop for us, and we were still 15 minutes away from the hostel, so I tried to clean her up, a few girls grabbed her stuff and we continued walking. I have never been so scared in my life. Every Vespa or motorcycle that would drive back, I would just hold my breath and tremble. Its one thing to hear of these types of things happening, but you never think it will happen to you (or someone you know) and then when it does, it is the biggest reality check. We were all silent walking to the hostel, I think because we were all scared and no one knew what to say. It was horrible and one of the worst things I have seen happen to a friend. I hope it never happens again, and serves as a reminder that there are bad people out there and to hold your belongings close, because around every corner someone is there to rob you and take advantage of you. I was so glad that she had held onto her purse, because her life was in there. I am glad that she is ok for what happened, but if he would’ve gotten her purse she would’ve lost her passport, credit cards, cash, etc…all in a foreign country and when the embassies are all closed. She would’ve been screwed. So, on one hand her face would’ve been saved if she would’ve just let go, but at what cost? Anyway, we finally got cabs, and we finally got to the hostel. Everyone was afraid to leave the hostel because of what just happened, but we decided that at this point we could all use a drink, so we went next door to an Irish pub. It was nice to be crammed in, and feel safe actually. The rest of the girls went home, and Tracy and I stayed out for a little bit and blew off some steam. It was an interesting day to say the least.

Friday, we got a late start because of our really late bedtime the previous night, but we got some lunch and went to Starbucks and all was ok. We decided to head to the beach, even though it was chilly, we still wanted to walk in the sand. By the time we figured out where the beach was it was pouring. It was a little windy when we left the hostel, and it kept getting darker, but we figured it would hold off. It did not. It was so windy and cold and rainy—absolutely miserable. Where we were, there was not much to do inside, so we braved the rain (with my now broken umbrella) and hit the shops on La Rambla. The shopping there was amazing! The style was so different than anything I have ever seen. The colors and prints were crazy, anything went. I thought this was only in one store, and as we kept walking around I found this was not the case. I didn’t really buy anything crazy, but the other girls did and let me tell you, it is nothing you would ever find in the States. It was very inspiring to be around all of this, I loved it. After shopping we figured we should go back to the hostel and get ready for the night. We went to a Spanish restaurant for dinner, where we had a ton of Sangria. I also got typical Spanish food; it was pretty good, actually. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I liked it a lot. After dinner we went to a club that was supposed to be “the best club in Spain!” It was definitely not. There were about 5 people there and the drinks were ridiculously expensive. However, like always, we made friends with the managers and bartenders, so we did not have to pay. But, this fact did not make this club any less lame, and on top of that, Spain still allows smoking inside, so it reeked of smoke and it was everywhere. Ugh. We decided to leave after a few hours and this club was in the middle of nowhere, so getting a cab was next to impossible. When we finally got one, we realized we had 5 people (cabs only allow 4) and had to beg the driver to take us. He finally did after much convincing and we made it home safe and sound.

Saturday also started relatively late (the bars stay open until 5am) but once we did get up we wanted to walk around and see the architecture. Some of the other girls went on a bus tour, but I wanted to walk so Tracy and I and 2 other girls did our own tour. By the time we finished with lunch, it was raining again. So, we had to waste time somehow in the shops. I can only look at the same clothes for so long, so this was getting old, but I bought a few souvenirs and we finally made our way outside to the Casa Batillò, which is the famous Gaudi building. Gaudi is an architect (and artist, I guess…) from the early 1900s whose style was very modernistic and crazy for the time period. I personally love his style and would live in any house he designed in an instant. He liked to derive inspiration from all things “nature” and used them quite literally, but more on that later. Anyway, so we are walking and taking our time and taking photos of everything and checking out shops. We then realize that it’s almost 8pm and the house is probably going to be closed. So we hurry to the house, and it had just closed, so we vow to get up early the next day (we had to anyway to check out) and go inside. So, we decided to walk around some more and go back to the hostel to get ready for the evening’s festivities. We go to dinner at this tiny little restaurant/pub on this little side street. I wasn’t really that hungry, but I ordered something “meat in the oven” whatever that means. Well it comes out and it’s like a big slab of “meat” I don’t know what it was, but it was disgusting. I am pretty open to trying new food, but I couldn’t eat it. Luckily it came with mashed potatoes, so I ate those. The server comes to clear the table and looks at my untouched plate and says “you don’t like?” and I say apologetically, “no, I am sorry…it’s ok though” and she gives me the dirtiest look ever. Whatever, I didn’t mean to offend her, but I just couldn’t eat it. Anyway, to smooth things over (plus I was hungry at that point still) I ordered a chocolate tart and cleaned my plate. After dinner we went to a tiny little salsa bar, and I mean tiny. There were 10 of us and we barely fit. After sitting at a cramped table for an hour, we decided to change locations. We went to this little place where there was a great dj and a lot of interesting people. It ended up being really fun and a great way to end our night out in Barcelona. We went back early because we wanted to be able to get up early the next day.

Sunday morning came pretty early, as we had to be up and checked out by 10am. So after that, we went to the Gaudi house, Casa Batillò. We went in this time and it was amazing. I have never in my life seen anything like it. The inside was made to represent the inside of a whale. The staircase looked as if it had a spine attached made of beautiful polished wood. The windows were supposed to be like the teeth and they had beautiful stained glass inserts like bubbles. There were so many interesting things in this house, it is almost impossible to remember them all! Just the way things were designed was so amazing and thinking of the time period in which all of this was created is even more impressive. For instance, the doors had a ventilation system, where you could open however many to create air circulation within the rooms, and the handles on the windows were designed to fit perfectly into your hand. The staircase railing was the same way, the wood was so soft and it fit smoothly into my hand. In the center of the house there was a courtyard referred to as the “courtyard of light.” It was tiled in blue tiles that at the bottom were light and as you went up the stairs, you noticed that they became a more cobalt blue. This was done to create a brightening effect at the bottom. This courtyard was covered by glass to let the light in and it was the entire height of the house. Once we got to the top, there was a rooftop terrace. It was so cool! The front of the house has a shape that is reminiscent of a dragon’s back and is tile in mosaics accordingly. There are also little stairs that go to secret places all over the house, even on the roof. The chimney covers were made to resemble a castle, and are mosaic tiled as well. It was perfectly reminiscent of Barcelona with its bright colors and interesting design. This was my favorite thing that we did, only because it was so unique and I really enjoy unique architecture and design. After the Casa Batillo, we walked around more and saw the things we kept missing. We got one last lunch of tapas and other Spanish food (I got paella…a rice dish, so good!) and headed back to the hostel to pack up our luggage and get to the airport.

Overall, this trip was great. Even though it started horribly and it rained most of the time, it was still enjoyable and I loved it. Barcelona is a very unique and beautiful place, which I would recommend to anyone. The architecture alone is worth the trip. There were so many other Gaudi buildings that we didn’t get to see, but the Casa Batillo was the crown jewel for sure. Unfortunately that was my last trip to another country (unless I plan something on a whim…) but I will spend the remainder of my trip in Italy. This weekend I was hoping to get back to Amsterdam with some girls from class, but I waited way too long to book a flight and they are now ridiculously expensive, so maybe later. I would like to take a trip by myself, but I am not sure if I will and where I would go. This weekend, I will stay in Florence and probably do some Christmas shopping for people and visit museums. My roommate, Tracy will be out of town with her parents, and my other roommate has a friend coming, so I am hoping to be alone all weekend and will enjoy every second of it. I need the rest and especially the alone time, as spending 24 hours a day with the same people, can be taxing. I will write again soon.

Ciao

Cheers!

Last weekend I traveled to Dublin, Ireland, one of the “mother lands.” It was beautiful. I felt about Ireland, the way I felt about London. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I knew I would love it. As soon as we got off the plane, we went to our hostel, The Dublin City Bunkhouse, to drop our stuff and go get some dinner. We arrived to our hostel, which was in a good location and close to everything and promptly checked in. The lobby seemed nice enough, and we were interested to see what staying in a 16-person “mixed dorm” would actually be like, so we lugged all of our stuff up to the top floor and went in. As soon as we walked in, we noticed there were mostly guys in the room, and it smelled horrible. I would liken it to a dirty sock, covered in old milk: the worst smell ever. Also, it was really hot and the windows were closed, so the first thing I did was open the windows to air it out and hopefully get rid of the disgusting smell. We quickly freshened up and left to go to dinner.

We went to a place called “The Oval” as we wanted to eat traditional Irish food and of course get a pint of Guinness. We all got stew, and it was delicious. It was exactly the comfort food I have been craving and I was very happy! After dinner, we walked around the Temple Bar area, which is the touristy part, but there is a lot to do there. We stopped in a pub that had live music and had a drink. It would’ve been great except for the fact that it was shoulder to shoulder and when we were there the musician had taken an hour break. So we finished our drinks and decided to just call it a night. We got back to our hostel and much to my dismay; I discovered that I was on the top bunk which was inches away from the next top bunk, who happened to be some smelly guy. Seeing as how I didn’t feel like “sharing” my bed with a stranger, I turned around so at least my feet were in his face if he decided to make a move (he obviously did not…)

Friday morning after one of the worst nights of sleep I have ever had we got up and went to the Guinness Storehouse. It is a huge brewery and the inside part that you tour is shaped like a pint glass, thus the world’s largest pint glass. We started the tour at the 9,000 year lease Arthur Guinness signed for the building and made our way through the brewing process. It was very interesting and mid-way you get to go to the “tasting lab” and taste their low alcohol beer (2.5%) It was pretty good and afterwards we continued our tour. It takes you through the history of the beer and the advertising and it was really cool to see all of the old advertisements and bottles. After this portion you get to learn how to pour the “perfect pint” which you get to drink afterwards (for free of course!) So, I got certified after pouring my pint and we decided to have lunch at the restaurant there. It was so good, and again, I ate stew and again, it was amazing. Then we went up to the top floor, which they call the “Gravity Bar” and it gives you a 360˚ view of Dublin 15 stories up. It was really crowded, but they were playing really good American classic rock, so we stayed and enjoyed our free pints. We then met some very nice Irishmen around our age who were bent on showing us the real Dublin, aka not Temple Bar. So some of the girls exchanged information with them and we agreed to meet them later. That night we did some shopping and dinner and decided we were tired and went to bed early.

Saturday morning we got up around 6am to go to Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. We arrived at our meeting point right on time, to discover that the bus had left early and without us. So at 7am I am arguing with the staff about how they could just leave us, seeing as how we had paid 70€ for the trip, just like everyone else and why would they just leave, especially when we weren’t late? So there we were running behind the manager of the company down the street to catch the bus and they were sorry and so on… Anyways, we get on the bus and get on our way. It is about 3 hours to Limerick, which is where we have to change buses to go on to Cork, which is where Blarney Castle is located. The driver tells us a little bit about the towns we are driving through, like we passed through the area where the battle scenes from Braveheart were filmed. We also drove through the very small town of Moneygall, where apparently Barack Obama’s ancestors are from, which I, of course thought was cool. We then arrived in Limerick, which apparently is referred to as “Stab City” because so many people are stabbed and robbed there. I was a bit concerned, but we only stopped there for 5 minutes, took a picture and left, so I think we were safe. After we changed buses, we sped off for the town of Cork. And I mean sped off, our little bus we were in, felt like it was going 100mph over these hills, bumps and curves, so I was very glad when we finally arrived to the castle.

The castle was not as big as I thought it would be, but the grounds surrounding it were so beautiful. It was everything you think of, when you think of Ireland. It was lush green grass, lots of trees, animals: beautiful nature. We walked through the castle and although it was in pretty good shape for its age, it was still aging. On the top was the infamous Blarney Stone, which was why we were there in the first place. If you don’t know the story I will tell you. The stone is supposed to give you the gift of eloquence for 7 years because the man who originally lived there had a speech impediment, and he was also a very prominent leader in the area. He saw a beautiful woman drowning in the river, so he went to save her, and when he pulled her out, she thanked him, but he couldn’t say anything back to her because of his speech problem. She then promptly turned into a witch, but instead of cursing him, she was thankful for him saving her life, and asked him what his greatest wish was. He told in her as best he could, about his speech impediment and that he wanted to be cured, so she put a spell on the stone and him giving him the gift of eloquence. And now, everyone that kisses it receives this gift as well. Hopefully it works, as I will have quite a few job interviews coming up within the next 7 years, and could use that gift! After the Blarney Stone, we did a little bit of shopping (again…) and had some lunch and then it was time to leave.

When we arrived back in Dublin, we decided that we just wanted to get coffee and hang out a little before going out that night, so we went to a place called “Murray’s Pub” near our hostel, and they happened to also have Irish dancing that night. So we got our coffees and settled in for the dancing to begin. It was so amazing to watch and it really made me miss dancing. They danced to traditional Irish music and did a few routines and then of course called for audience participation. I, of course get volunteered by my roommates, so up to the stage I went. It was embarrassing, but still fun and now I can say I danced on stage (however bad…) in Ireland! After the dancing concluded we went back to our smelly hostel to get ready for the evening.

We met the friendly Irishmen at a pub called O’Donahughes’, which was definitely not a tourist pub, but still really fun. The pubs close early in Ireland (like in London…) so they told us they were going to a club, and invited us along for free entry and VIP room. So, of course we went and had a blast. We danced all night, and there was an Xbox360 in the VIP room, that I played PacMan and Frogger on. It was so fun and everyone was so nice. It was nice to go out and have a good time for the sake of fun. It was around 4am when I decided to call it a night. I was exhausted from dancing all night and it was time for bed. So I said my goodbyes and went back to the hostel.

Sunday morning, we packed our things and decided that we would explore Dublin some before we left for Italy. We went to Christ Church Cathedral, which is one of the oldest churches in Dublin. It has 16 different types of bells and we were told that a lot of people traditionally go there on New Year’s Eve at midnight for their kiss. We also went to Dublin Castle, which now houses their city hall. Nothing remains of the original castle except for one tower, so that wasn’t as interesting as we thought it would be. We then found ourselves at Trinity College. It was one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. There was so much green space and the architecture was so old and fascinating. We strolled through the campus, and I wished I had enrolled or that they had a fashion design program. It was perfect! We then went to St.Patrick’s Cathedral. It was under a lot of construction, so it was hard to see, but what we could see was amazing. It’s so remarkable that I have this opportunity and I sometimes just sit in awe of these types of things. I have learned about it in school, but seeing it in person is so much better, and this of course goes for all of things I have seen. Anyways, at St.Patrick’s there is a very nice park, so we sat for a bit there and then decided to go in. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, but I snuck a few of course, as it was very nice inside as well. By this time, it was time to head to the airport, so we unfortunately concluded our visit to Dublin.
Overall, this was one of my favorite trips. It was very beautiful, and the people were so nice. I would love to go back there again, and stay much longer so that I could enjoy it. This weekend I am off to Barcelona, Spain, which will be the polar opposite of Ireland, but I am excited just the same!

Ciao-

Gutentaag!

Last weekend was spent in Munich, Germany and it was one of the best trips yet. A couple of us left very early Friday morning (4:00 am) to get to the airport for our 6:30 flight, which of course was delayed about an hour. Once we got off the plane, I realized that I wasn’t sure how to get to our hostel. I knew the street that it was on, but we weren’t sure how to get there from the airport. There was a little old man who was helping everyone out, and when he saw us standing in front of the ticket machine in the subway he came over to help. We told him our dilemma and and he told us exactly where we needed to go and sent us on our way. Then, some Italians came up to us and tried to sell us their subway pass. We thought this might be a bit sketchy, but apparently it is common practice in Germany. The pass they sold us (for 5€) was an 18€ pass that was good for 5 people and for 24hours. Apparently they had bought the ticket because it is cheaper than buying 2 individual passes and they were leaving to go back to Italy, so we got a cheap subway pass and were on our way. As a side not about the subway system in Munich, there are no gates and no one checks your tickets, so after our 24 hours expired, we figured we’d just chance it and not worry about the tickets. It worked.

Anyway, once we got to our hostel we dropped our bags and headed to Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp located just outside of Munich. I was looking forward to this visit, except for the fact that it was 40˚ and pouring rain. The walkways in Dachau are gravel, so I had trench foot by the time this visit was over, but it was worth it to see this piece of history, plus I think the weather suited the mood anyway.

When we got into the camp, there were rows of buildings and you could see where the old watchtowers were and the foundations of the rows and rows of buildings where the prisoners were housed. The first building we went to was where the “special prisoners” were housed. These were usually ministers, doctors and I think a lot of “non-Jewish” people. There were really long hallways of cells and it was dark and damp and very sad to think of someone having to live there. This part of the building looked a lot like prison cells. I think this is also where they would punish the prisoners by isolation in the dark, “pole hangings” and other terrible things. At the end of one of the halls, there was a gate that blocked off the rest of the cells for whatever reason, and people had left flowers, coins, notes and other things as a sort of memorial. It was moving to see. The rest of this building had been converted into a museum where there were stories, people’s belongings, uniforms etcetera. It was interesting to read the survivors’ stories and appalling to think that these things were allowed to occur. The museum seemed to go on forever and it was set against a background of the basically unchanged rooms of the past. After leaving the museum area, we headed to where people were housed. It was rows and rows and rows of wooden bunk beds. Not the kind you think of now, but stacked and crammed in. I couldn’t even imagine living in conditions such as this, as I can’t even stand sharing a room, let alone a bed. Some of the stories I had read at the museum talked about how the beds had to be made which such precision and the floors had to be spotless and perfect, all within an hour. If they were not just right, they were subjected to harsh and horrible punishment. After leaving the bunkhouses, we went to where the gas chambers and crematoriums were. The strangest part about going to this area was that it smelled horrible, like death. The only reason I even know what something dead smells like is from driving by poor animals on the road, but the smell is unmistakable and I could smell it in this area. It actually was nauseating. I asked my friends if they could smell it, and they could too. It definitely intensified the situation and the thoughts I was already lost in. As we walked through this area, I was taking pictures feeling like a horrible person, but I wanted to be able to show people at home what I was seeing. It didn’t make me feel any better, but I tried to remind myself of this fact through this area. It was very disturbing to think of these things and I was anxious to finish our visit to Dachau. We stopped in one of the many churches on the property and paid our respects and promptly left. I am glad I was able to see Dachau, and I feel that it is important to experience these kinds of things, but this was definitely not an uplifting segment of our trip and I was ready to be uplifted.

After Dachau, we realized that we were starving, so we got off at Hackerbrucke (the stop where Oktoberfest is) and decided to go look for food there. We knew we wanted a beer and German food. So we stopped at the first place we came to, a huge place called Hacker-Pschorr. We walked in and it was packed, as it was directly across from the festivities. However, we happened to catch people leaving a table, so we snatched it up and parked it for quite a while. The first thing we wanted was a liter of beer. Then we had to figure out how to read German and order dinner. We flagged over our waitress and asked some questions, and she promptly brought us the English menu, which made things much easier. I ended up going with the “Crispy pork with potato dumplings, cabbage salad with beer sauce.” It was delicious as was my first real German beer. After we had finished eating, we met some Germans at the table next to us. They came up and sat with us and we had a really good time with them. The party really started to get going around 7pm when the band started to play. At this point the Germans had bought us another round and we were dancing on chairs singing German songs. We then met a couple from Hudson (which is a couple towns away from Kent…so random) who were so nice and really fun as well. By the time 9:30 rolled around, my roommate, Tracy had well over enough to drink so we had to cart her back to the hostel. So we said auf weidersehen to our newfound friends and decided it was best if we all turn in early to prepare for our early wake-up call the next day.

7 am came very early Saturday, but in order for us to even have a small chance of getting into the tents, we would have to be in line by 8. We decided to go for the tent that is one of the biggest and most popular, Hofbrauhaus. I particularly wanted to go here, because as you Cincinnatians know, Cincinnati has the only other Hofbrauhas in the world besides Munich (and Vegas) and it is one of my favorite places to hang out in Cincy. Anyway, this tent is almost impossible to get into, so we knew we were going to have to fight. So we get to the tent and there is already a huge crowd, so we kinda push our way in to get a spot in line. The tents don’t open until 10, so we prepare to wait for a couple of hours. Well, around 8:30 people start cheering, and me being short, I can’t see what everyone is cheering about, but I can tell that we are moving, so I run up and grab my friends too. Well, then it starts to get a little tight. Which each surge forward f the crowd, the back comes running up, and I am sandwiched in the middle. It continues in this manner for about 10 minutes. At this point, my feet are barely touching the ground, because my body is wedged up so tight against the person in front of me and I can barely breathe because there is no room to expand my chest. This is when it starts to become painful and I realize that if I just don’t keep going with the crowd and keep my head up, I will get swallowed up and potentially seriously injured. The crowd keeps pushing and pushing and I just keep getting more and more squished. I am crying out in pain, as is everyone else, but we are almost to the door. Finally we get into the foyer, but there is still one more door to go through, and instead of it being a wide doorway, it is the size of a regular doorway. Imagine squeezing 2000 people into one small doorway at the same time. I basically get swept away from my friends in the current of bodies and get all turned around and twisted and then all of a sudden, I notice that I am in!!!! My excitement is put on hold as a German police officer grabs me and starts screaming at me in German, and I finally realize he wants to search my bag. So I open it and he does and then he throws me away and into the area where the tables are. There are not many left, so I grab a table and wait for my friends. We all eventually find each other and are ecstatic that we got in and are hugging and jumping around like we had just won the lottery. We got to know our neighbors at our table, who happened to be Italian and waited patiently for the beer to come. Around 9, this sweet old lady came to our table carrying 8 liters of beer. It was an amazing feat, as I can barely carry one without breaking my arm and I was particularly sore on the top of my hand from the giant steins of the night before. But anyhow, we got our beers and “Prost!”-ed more times than I can count and got down to enjoying our delicious Hofbaruhaus Oktoberfest brew. The Italians next to us finally get their beers too and “Prost” us, and they are really hard core because, they break my glass into pieces. So, I get another, no big deal. Well the second time around they want to toast, and again. They break my glass and their glass this time so, after that I decided no more of that, I would just nod and smile. After staying there until around 4 we decided that we needed to do some souvenir shopping and to get something to eat. So I decide to try a sausage, and I still didn’t like it, just like I don’t in the States, but I figured I should try it. So I pulled out the sausage and ate the bun. Tracy and I headed to Marienplatz where there is a ton of shopping. We got a few souvenirs and went back to the hostel to find the other girls. Once we got there, we were hungry again, so we went to the Chinese place down the street and headed back to Oktoberfest before they closed for the night. We had one last beer there and went back to our hostel to take advantage of the bar in the basement. It turned out to be really fun and we danced all night to bad European techno and had a great time.

Sunday we had to be at the airport by 9:30, so we didn’t have time to really do anything, but we had a layover in Zurich for 5 hours. Once we got to Zurich we got some lunch at Burger King (it sounded good...haha) and realized that Zurich isn’t on the Euro or even in Germany. We asked the nice lady at the BK counter where we were, and she laughed and informed us that we were in Switzerland, which is on the Swiss Franc. This was news to us, as we realized that we had paid $13USD for a “value meal”. The only reason I know how much I paid in dollars is because the Swiss Franc is 1:1 with the dollar, so this was ridiculous and that was my meal for the day. After our extravagant meal at Burger King we found a place to hang out for the next 5 hours. Luckily it ended up being a place that we could sleep, so we did just that. Finally it was time for our plane to leave and as we were flying home to Italy, I looked out the window and noticed we were flying over the Swiss Alps. It was so cool because they are so tall! It looked as if the plane was flying low, but I assume it was not as that would be dangerous, and the peaks of the mountains were so close! It was a very cool ending to our great trip to Munich and once we got back to Florence everyone crashed early to recuperate from the weekends festivities. This weekend I am off to Dublin, so until then!

Ciao!

J'adore Paris!

Bonjour mes amis! I just returned from Paris and what a trip it was! It began with an extremely unpleasant 12 hour train ride from Florence to Paris. It was a "couchette" which slept 6 people. Luckily, everyone in our couchette was from our school and got along, so we didn't have any creeps in our midst. There were 3 beds stacked on top of each other, and there was maybe 1 square foot of room to walk, it was smaller than a closet. The worst part of the train was that it was unbearably cold and the train car rocked. It was so scary and I definitely watch way too much CNN, because I have seen the train accidents in Europe and I was sure that I was going to be a part of another one. I woke up with every shake, wobble and screech; it was not ideal for sleeping even after tossing back a few Excedrin PM's. Once it was morning, we had to get dressed and ready for an entire day of things our professor had planned for us. Getting dressed and putting on makeup on a moving train was a gymnastic feat in itself, but somehow I managed to look semi-human. Once we got off the train, we headed to a charter bus that took us to a little French restaurant, where we had a traditional French breakfast consisting of croissants, baguettes, pound cake and coffee.
After our carb filled meal, we went back to the bus for our guided tour. It was great to see the city and have a French person's perspective. She showed us Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees and all of the other major Parisian attractions. We were then dropped off at a store called Collette that is a "lifestyle" store that offers high-end designers next to unknown designers and a wealth of trendy magazines, books, music, footwear and gadgets. They do not show the labels of the clothes and don't put prices on anything because they want you to purchase the item because you love it, not because of who made it or how much it costs. I think this is a great philosophy if money is no object, but unfortunately that is not my case, so I looked intently and with envy.
Immediately after visiting the store, we were rushed off to the Paris-American Academy to attend a workshop given by Madame Picot, who was the head draper for the House of Gres, a French couturier known for the micropleating of the dresses that was done by hand. These dresses were mostly popular in the 60s and 70s and could sell for around $50,000. They took about 300-500 hours of work per dress and everything was done by hand. Madame Picot told us the story of Madame Grès and showed us the pleating technique. I took a video of it so that I can refer back to it at a later date, it was very inspiring.

After the draping demonstration, we walked to a place called the "Trend Union" where a woman named, Li Edelkoort plays God of all things fashion. She predicts the future of trends, colors, textiles, lifestyles, everything. She puts together 250 trend books that sell for around $3000 a piece. They contain all of the information portrayed through her visual presentation. Her predictions are usually accurate and she says she is never wrong, just too ahead of the game. This arrogant attitude was experienced first hand by my friend and I after her presentation. We spotted her across the room and decided to go talk to her, so we walk on over and she is talking to someone else, so we patiently wait. After she is finished talking to the other person, I introduce myself to her and tell her that I was very inspired by her work and thanked her and then told her I was an American fashion design student. She looks at me, laughs and says, “Oh how unfortunate.” I just stood there in shock as she turned around to kiss and hug someone else. My thought is that you do not have to be rude to people and everyone was no one at some point in their life, but I guess she did not get that memo. I just feel that if ever, one day I get to a position where people admire me or my work and tell me so, I would graciously thank them and feel grateful that someone thinks I am important enough to even have the position, but I was raised correctly and with manners and respect for others. The funny thing is that, this would not be my first encounter with a very rude person in France.

After my nice experience with Ms. Edelkoort, Tracy and I stuck around to drink her free wine, as this was also a cocktail party, so we figured that since she was rude, we would take extra advantage of her party. So we made friends with the waiters and they made sure our glass was always full and we always had something to eat. I met some interesting students from all over Europe and it actually turned out to be an enjoyable evening.

The next morning was the “big day.” We had tickets to the largest textile tradeshow in the world: Première Vision. This trade show is where all the important designers, buyers, companies and textile companies come together as one. I am not sure how much space this building covered, but it was HUGE, bigger than anything I had ever seen. The fabrics there were of spectacular quality and were beautiful. I saw a lot of interesting things that I wished I could either take a picture of or purchase. Unfortunately, fabric was not being sold by the yard, (obviously) and cameras were forbidden! I saw a girl take a picture and the security guard yelled at her and stood there while she deleted it. They were very serious about that! We strolled around touching fabrics and staring in awe for a few hours and then we were off to a fashion show at Galleries Lafayette (which is a very large and famous French department store).

It was actually like a mall fashion show, so it was a little bit cheesy, and the models looked about 14. The clothes they were wearing were expensive designer clothing, such as Armani; but to see a girl who looked 14 in an Armani suit, was a bit of a joke. It was still cool to watch I guess but afterwards we went shopping, so that made up for the lack of coolness in the show. Actually, the best part was the rooftop deck, which had a great view of Paris and the weather was perfect. While browsing through the store, I saw about a million things I wanted to purchase, but unfortunately my financial situation does not allow purchases of this magnitude, so I instead looked with awe and envy.

After Lafayette, it was time to go back to our “hotel,” which I guess I haven’t even said anything about. It was called “FIAP Jean Monnet,” and it looked more like a human experimentation facility than a hotel. Apparently it’s actually a hostel; my professor who plans these trips really dropped the ball on Paris, considering our money is supposed to be used on airfare and hotels, not overnight trains and hostels. Anyway, when we walked into our room, we noticed that it smelled like a foot and the bathroom smelled like there may have been something dead in there. Our beds were really hard (which I actually enjoyed because it felt good for my back) and the pillow was like a piece of paper. However, breakfast and dinner was included in the price, so that was great, even though the food was a little cafeteria-ish. Unfortunately, we were not informed that dinner was included at our “hotel” so we had made reservations at a couple of really nice restaurants, which were most certainly not free or cheap.

Anyways, Friday night, Tracy and I had reservations at Buddha Bar; while the other girls were going to see Moulin Rouge. (google it, very cool place and they have great music that they release in compilations, and I own all of them!) The tickets for Moulin Rouge were about 200 € and that is way too expensive, so Tracy and I decided not to go. Buddha Bar was amazing and we stayed afterwards to hang out in their lounge area and have a couple of very expensive, yet very tasty cocktails. We always end up meeting random people who have connections elsewhere, so we ended up at an ultra-exclusive club near the Louvre, with a table and our own complimentary (well, to us...) bottle of Belvedere. After having a good time dancing and hanging out, our bottle came to an end, so as we were making our way to the dance floor, Tracy met a couple of nice gentleman who invited us to sit and hang out. After having a drink with them, some guy comes up to us and tells us to get up from the table because it’s not ours. So were like, “ok, whatever” and get up. I was rounding out the rear of the 6 of us and the mean guy was standing next to me yelling. I didn’t realize what he was saying until he was screaming in my face, “you didn’t pay for that!!!! Get out of here!!!!! This isn’t your table!” and I’m like, “Obviously. But we were invited to sit, what is the big deal?” Well, he keeps repeating himself as he grabs a hold of me and starts shoving me, like “you wanna fight?” style. So, by this point the conversation has escalated to a screaming match and me getting manhandled by some psycho. He is pushing and shoving me towards the door (which was really hurting) and I am screaming at him to get off of me and let me go. I turn around with my back to him and he shoves me so hard that I fly face first into a bouncer. The bouncer then proceeds to literally drag me up the stairs (I don’t think my feet were even on the ground) and toss me into the street. While all this is happening, the girls I was with are just watching and come running after me. I have no clue as to why this all happened, but after that I was done with French people being rude to me. After being tossed into the street, we waited about 3 ½ hours for a cab and finally arrived back to the hotel after 5am. It was a horrible end to my night and I am so mad that it happened, because I really wanted to dispel the rumors that the French aren’t nasty horrible people, but it got harder and harder with each passing day.

We got a very late start Saturday morning because of how late we were out, but we made it to the Louvre around noon and headed straight to the Mona Lisa. It was weird, because I always thought the painting was so much bigger, but it was kinda small. It was really neat to see it, but I feel like I have seen it a million times because it’s plastered everywhere. When we got to the Eiffel Tower, I felt the same way; which is all King’s Island’s fault. Anyways, so after the Mona Lisa, we went to see the coronation jewels and then the Venus. It was a very quick and abbreviated trip, but we had a million things to do, so unfortunately it had to be that way.

After the Louvre, we went to lunch because we were starving and had a traditional French sandwich called a Croque Monsieur. It is usually a hot ham and cheese sandwich with a certain type of cheese (I don’t know what kind) but ours was open-faced style, but was pretty good. After lunch we walked through Champs-Elysèes and down to the Arc de Triomphe. Afterwards we walked back and went to the Louis Vuitton flagship store and the Chanel store, yet another amazing and mouthwatering place to be. By the time all of this was done, it was almost time to go and get ready for dinner, so we did.

We had reservations this night at a restaurant called, “World Place” which used to be called, “Man Ray” and is partly owned by Johnny Depp. It was very hip and chic, but the service was HORRIBLE! After sitting at our table for about 20 minutes with no menus or seeing our server, a girl comes up to our table and says “Drinks?” And to that we responded, “Menus?” So she finally brings us 4 menus for 9 people, we ask for more but she says they don’t have anymore; which was odd considering the restaurant was probably a quarter full. Anyways, the food was way overpriced, there was barely anything appetizing on the menu and once we ordered we never saw our waitress again. I ended up getting veal, which was actually amazing but I was still annoyed to be paying so much money for such a disappointing experience.

After dinner, Tracy and I went to the Eiffel Tower because at night it is blue and it sparkles every hour. It was so beautiful and huge! It definitely puts the one at King’s Island to shame! Haha. We walked around for a bit and decided we were tired and our feet were killing us so we just went back to the “hotel.”

Sunday morning we packed up and left for Versailles, our final destination in Paris. Versailles was amazing and huge and grand and all of those describing words you could ever think of. It was also jam packed with tourists, but I guess we are tourists as well, so oh well. The décor was unbelievable, and the Queen and King’s rooms were so beautiful, it’s no wonder they didn’t care what was happening to their country, why would you ever want to leave that? Check out my pictures of Versailles and see what I am talking about, however the magnitude and vibrancy of the colors is not done any justice in the photos, but still, check them out.

After Versailles, we went to the airport and came back to reality. As I sit here and think about Paris, I try really hard not to be ignorant and think that the French are terrible people, any of these situations could have happened in the States, but they didn’t, and I am constantly struggling not to think that way. I met plenty of nice French people, and plenty of rude French people, so why do I struggle? I guess it’s the preconceived notion that every American has of France and the French and you just have to try to put it out of your mind. I loved Paris as a city and the people and I are still working on a loving relationship. I guess as with any relationship, it takes work and persistance.

Ciao-

Kellie