Well guys, we're coming to the end of our European travels. We're very sad to leave and come back to the reality of school and chores, but we must say that it will be very nice to come back home! I mean let's be honest...a whole month away from home, on our own, in foreign countries with foreign languages, is quite exhausting! But this trip has been absolutely the most amazing experience of our lives and we are so thankful we were able to have this opportunity...an opportunity that many people will never be fortunate enough to experience. Thanks parents!! We really appreciate everything you do for us! And to all of our other family and friends for all the support...we love you all!
Okay so enough sappy stuff, time for stories about London!
1. Travels from Berlin to London: Obviously we successfully made it from Berlin to London on Monday, and we have to say we were pretty proud of ourselves. Especially since the guy at the hostel gave us the WRONG bus directions to get to the airport, so the bus ended up dropping us off in the middle of the city and we had to figure out where we were and how to get to the airport from there, and to make things better, the bus driver couldn't speak English and was a complete asshole so he wasn't any help. BUT we finally made it and got here to London safely.
2. First day in London: We caught a bus from the airport to our hotel in London and were so confused when we got into the bus because it was the WRONG SIDE!! haha and then driving down the road was so scary because we kept thinking the bus driver was going to hit someone because they drive on the wrong sides of the road...it was so confusing and we decided that we could NEVER drive over here ourselves without killing ourselves along with everyone else on the road. It's really funny because all of the crosswalks have in big bold letters "LOOK TO THE RIGHT" so that us Americans don't look the wrong way and walk out in the road and get hit! Pretty crazy to say the least. So we got to our hotel, which is SO cute. We have the most amazing continental breakfast every morning, and our room is just adorable. We have a tiny double bed for us to share, so it ends up being Jenna hogging the bed and Alli stealing all the covers! Our hotel is in prime location as well, right in the center of the Bayswater district with tons of shopping, restaurants, and pubs all around. Hyde Park is just a block away and we walked around on the first day. It is over 150 acres of park which is huge! But it was beautiful and we got tons of pictures of the birds and the fountains and the swans. We also went to Kensington Palace the first day, which is where Princess Diana lived, and it was amazing. We got to see the special exhibit of 7 dresses that she actually wore to events during her life, which was so lovely. We also learned how to properly walk with good English etiquette, waltz, curtsey, and set a table. It was really cool. Oh and another thing about our hotel that we almost forgot to tell you. They have a happy hour in the restaurant from 4-7 that has buy one bottle of wine get one free, which as we all know, makes Jenna and Alli very happy!! So we have been milking that deal as much as we possibly can :)
3. It's a small world after all!!! - So the first day in London we ate at this really cute sandwhich shop right down from our hotel and had the most incredible English style fish and chips you could ever imagine, with a cappuccino (they put yummy chocolate sprinkles on top here!). As we were eating, 3 boys about our age walked in to eat as well and we were the only ones in the cafe. One of the boys had on a U of W sweatshirt and a Mariners hat, so we asked them if they were from Washington State by chance...and they were!!! And get this, one of their grandparents LIVES in Lewiston, ID and his dad went to Lewiston High School! And one of the other guys is from the Gig Harbor area! We couldn't believe it...what a small world!
4. Jenna's Family Day: On Tuesday we took a trip across London to the Sussix area to meet up with Jenna's mom's cousin and other family members. They took us to their houses and out to lunch and it was a nice relaxing day! Jenna was able to meet a bunch of family that she has never met before, and we were both schooled in how to properly speak the English language. Like when you want to go to the bathroom, it's called the "Lew" and it's only called a bathroom when you want to take a bath. A vacation is called a holiday, so until we figured that out we were pretty confused when they kept talking about all the "holidays" they have been on in the past! haha. We also tried this English dessert called a "Banoffee" pie, which is banana and toffee, and it was probably the best thing we have ever tried in our lives. We also tried real English tea and bisquits! It was a great cultural/family day :)
5. Tourist Day: So yesterday we had a little tourist day. We went to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Bridge, and climbed up the Tower of London. We can't even explain to you how BIG Big Ben really is! We walked out of the underground station and looked up, and up, and up, and up, and couldn't even see the whole of Big Ben because we were right under it! OMG it is HUGGEEE!! Daddy Bill - we were sure to go tell Big Ben hi for you, haha. So we walked across the bridge to get a good look at it and took a bunch of pictures. The London Bridge wasn't too impressive, but the Tower of London was incredible. That is the one that opens up in the center to let big boats through. We went to the top and could see an incredible view of the area. We were going to go on the London Eye, but it was really expensive and kind of an overcast/rainy day so we figured we saw just as much from the ground as we could have up there since it was so foggy and icky. Oh and then, get this (another small world experience), as we were walking to the Tower of London, we randomly ran into the other 4 Whitworth students who came to London too! WOW...in the middle of London, we were randomly in the same spot at the same time! So we went to lunch with them and met up with them later on as well for some drinks at Piccadilly Circus, which is like the Times Square of London. SO cool! After drinks with them, we went to the theater showing of Grease! Which was probably one of our most favorite experiences of this whole trip. We all know how much we LOVE Grease in the first place, but then to see it on Broadway, in London...it was amazing!!!! Be ready for a 50's themed party once we get back home because we were quite inspired.
6. Mind the Gap: So I'm guessing you all are wondering why this post is entitled "MIND THE GAP." So the undergound train system, also know as the Tube, is actually very very nice and self explanatory here in London. But when each train stops to let people off/pick people up, this voice comes over the loud speaker that says "Mind the gap!" to let people know to watch their step as they are getting off the train. It's hilarious because it says it over and over and over again haha.
7. The rest of the trip: Today we're going to meet up with the other 4 Whitworth students again and go to the Waffle House and get some Cornish ice cream, probably get a Kebab, and then just hang out for the rest of the afternoon. If we have time we are going to go to Buckingham Palace as well, but if not, we're going to first thing in the morning. Today we are also going to the big huge shopping department store called Harrods, as well as some other shopping around the area. Then tomorrow our plane leaves for Berlin at 7:20pm, we're staying in the hostel again tomorrow night, then we fly out of Berlin for home on Saturday around noon! We're so excited to get back home and see everyone!! We probably won't blog again so this is the last of it! We hope you all have enjoyed our blogging, and once we get back we will be sure to start a page with all of our pictures from the trip! Take care and see you all soon! Cheers!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
LONDON BOUND
Well, we are officially done with this class. We have to write out final paper tonight, which we have already outlined like the good students we are, so it will be easy to write out tonight. Its nice to be done and we are super excited to head to london tomorrow morning!
Today we are catching up on emails, blogging (obviously), packing and doing our homework. Tonight we have one last night big group dinner together, which will be really nice. We will miss a lot of our friends that we made over here. Then we are going out for a bit to a bar because its one of the girls 21st bdays so we cant leave her hanging on that one!! Some of our good friends we made on this trip though are also some that are going to London as well tomorrow. So we will get to see them when we are there, which is awesome!
In London we will be meeting up with Jennas second cousins for a day which will be really cool to have someone show us around that actually knows what they are doing! It will be fun for Jenna to meet some family she has never met as well. Dont worry, Jenna will say hi to them for all of you Tennants back home. We will also meet up with Scotts Uncle while we are there, especially since he lives so close to our hotel. We also have some major sight seeing to do as well, such as the Big Ben (where does he live Daddy Bill??) and Kennsington palace, Crown Jewels, and Hyde Park and of course some of the Pubs too. OH and shopping. :) hehe but we know we dont have much space to afford to pack stuff up in!
Through our excitment for London, we are also excited to be heading home in 6 days. This has been the longest either of us have been away from our Washington state so its very different for us. Although being home will be nice again, we do plan on trying to change some of the things we do from what we learned in Europe. Like walking to school when the weather gets better!!! We walked so much over here, we realized we need to get out lazy butts out of the car and walking. Also, we want to not rely on the clock as much. We never even see a clock over here, the Europeans are just not worried about the time. So hopefully we can attempt that plan.
We also needed to tell you another fascination about Europe: paying to go pee. Its insane. Even at dunkin donuts, to use the toilet, you have to pay 50 cents....simply because they say they offer a clean toilet....if u call that a clean toilet, i dont even what to know what a dirty one looks like. ew.
We also have to pay for water at all restaurants....which sucks. We are excited to come home to free toilets and water!!!
We will check in with u all once we get to London! CHEERS! :)
Today we are catching up on emails, blogging (obviously), packing and doing our homework. Tonight we have one last night big group dinner together, which will be really nice. We will miss a lot of our friends that we made over here. Then we are going out for a bit to a bar because its one of the girls 21st bdays so we cant leave her hanging on that one!! Some of our good friends we made on this trip though are also some that are going to London as well tomorrow. So we will get to see them when we are there, which is awesome!
In London we will be meeting up with Jennas second cousins for a day which will be really cool to have someone show us around that actually knows what they are doing! It will be fun for Jenna to meet some family she has never met as well. Dont worry, Jenna will say hi to them for all of you Tennants back home. We will also meet up with Scotts Uncle while we are there, especially since he lives so close to our hotel. We also have some major sight seeing to do as well, such as the Big Ben (where does he live Daddy Bill??) and Kennsington palace, Crown Jewels, and Hyde Park and of course some of the Pubs too. OH and shopping. :) hehe but we know we dont have much space to afford to pack stuff up in!
Through our excitment for London, we are also excited to be heading home in 6 days. This has been the longest either of us have been away from our Washington state so its very different for us. Although being home will be nice again, we do plan on trying to change some of the things we do from what we learned in Europe. Like walking to school when the weather gets better!!! We walked so much over here, we realized we need to get out lazy butts out of the car and walking. Also, we want to not rely on the clock as much. We never even see a clock over here, the Europeans are just not worried about the time. So hopefully we can attempt that plan.
We also needed to tell you another fascination about Europe: paying to go pee. Its insane. Even at dunkin donuts, to use the toilet, you have to pay 50 cents....simply because they say they offer a clean toilet....if u call that a clean toilet, i dont even what to know what a dirty one looks like. ew.
We also have to pay for water at all restaurants....which sucks. We are excited to come home to free toilets and water!!!
We will check in with u all once we get to London! CHEERS! :)
Friday, January 23, 2009
Last Berlin Days
Hey everyone!! this is going to be a shorter blog due to time constraints...but bear with us!
We went to an awful contemporary art museum today that scared the living daylight out of us. we hated it. it had weird, creepy video machines playing everywhere and an evil clown room and some other nasty things...we decided it reminded us alot of the saw movies. not fun.
we both tried brats for the first time today too! Alli didnt like them much and jenna thought they were okay! tonight we go on the berlin pub crawl, which will be really fun and yes we will be really safe. theres a large group of 20 of us going so we all will be watching out for each other. our group here has become a big family so its great. Guess that happens when you are together daily for 3weeks!! we both got an A on our midterms too. so be proud parents!!
the other night, we went to the house of 100 beers which was awesome!!! we both had different beers and really liked them. jenna has the berliner kindler, which is a lighter beer. alli had an hefeweissen and she definitely stole the glass from the restaurant as her germany souvenier. that little thief.
we also heard that brad pitt and angelina jolie will be in london this coming week for the movie premier in the UK....so we havent lost our chance to meet them yet. we are holding out hope for london. keep u posted on that one!!
we have to write our final paper tomorrow, but its pretty easy. other than that, it will be a relaxing weekend filled with homework, the flea market and packing. we leave monday morning for london, which we are so excited for. :)
We hope all is well over there and look forward to coming home in a week! :) Love you all and miss you!
We went to an awful contemporary art museum today that scared the living daylight out of us. we hated it. it had weird, creepy video machines playing everywhere and an evil clown room and some other nasty things...we decided it reminded us alot of the saw movies. not fun.
we both tried brats for the first time today too! Alli didnt like them much and jenna thought they were okay! tonight we go on the berlin pub crawl, which will be really fun and yes we will be really safe. theres a large group of 20 of us going so we all will be watching out for each other. our group here has become a big family so its great. Guess that happens when you are together daily for 3weeks!! we both got an A on our midterms too. so be proud parents!!
the other night, we went to the house of 100 beers which was awesome!!! we both had different beers and really liked them. jenna has the berliner kindler, which is a lighter beer. alli had an hefeweissen and she definitely stole the glass from the restaurant as her germany souvenier. that little thief.
we also heard that brad pitt and angelina jolie will be in london this coming week for the movie premier in the UK....so we havent lost our chance to meet them yet. we are holding out hope for london. keep u posted on that one!!
we have to write our final paper tomorrow, but its pretty easy. other than that, it will be a relaxing weekend filled with homework, the flea market and packing. we leave monday morning for london, which we are so excited for. :)
We hope all is well over there and look forward to coming home in a week! :) Love you all and miss you!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Berlin!!!
Guten tag! So first off we deeply apologize for not blogging for so long!! We have been so busy in Berlin it has been unreal! We are exhausted but have been finding some time to rest up which has been nice! SO here is our new list of stuff from the time we left Florence on the night train...hope you enjoy! PROST!!
1. Night train: This was definitely an experience! We had 6 girls crammed in a little tiny cubby with probably a 2 foot floor in between 2 triple bunks. We were expected to sleep on this from 10pm to 6am when we arrived in Munich...umm...impossible! We were able to doze in and out a little bit but wow, it was crazy!!! Then we arrived in Munich and switched trains, taking another 6 hour train ride to Berlin. Let me tell you when we arrived in Berlin we were ready to get up and walk around FOR SURE! It was kind of eery though looking out the window of the train as we were traveling to Berlin because it was a lot of forest area and snow and it really reminded Alli of Band of Brothers series! Germany is a beautiful country though and everything is so much cleaner! The trains, the buses, the sidewalks and roads...everything! They recycle a lot here we learned and are very conscious of the environment which is a nice change from Italy!! It is much more modern too, unlike walking down the streets of Rome and passing the Colloseum or Forum or Trevi Fountain! Downtown Berlin is much more like New York or Seattle and is very upscale and modern so we absolutely love it!
2. Hostel: We werent sure what to expect when it came to living in a youth hostel for a week but our hostel is actually really nice! The rooms are very spacious and the bathrooms really nice and the cafeteria food actually is not bad at all! The guy at the front desk is super nice too and speaks pretty good English which is great because we know NO German whatsoever! The bar at the hostel is also open 24/7, which we discovered the other night when we had a little girls night and took down some wine...it was a lot of fun :) It really feels like summer camp at the hostel though which is actually kind of fun! We have 5 girls in our room, all the girls that we really get along with on the trip, and we have been having a great time. We play card games and pool and ping pong almost every night and its been a blast! We are also in room 116...which is funny because 11 in German is "elf" and 6 is "sex" so were in the "elf sex" room...haha we thought that was pretty funny.
3. Tours, tours, TOURS: We have been on a couple tours of the city which have been very interesting. We went on a 3 hour walking tour the other morning, which was FREEZING, but it was really interesting! There is a cobblestone line throughout the city which represents where the Berlin Wall stood and every once in a while you will cross it which is kind of creepy but so cool! We also walked through the Brandenberg Gate and went to Museum Island and the Jewish Memorial for all the Jews that were exterminated during WW11 which was really sad. We also went and stood above where Hitler had his bunker 40 feet underground and where he actually committed suicide....can you say creepy!!! We also went to the German History Musem which was so interesting for us because we are both very interested in WW11 history and the Holocaust and we were able to see real Nazi uniforms and tons of memorabilia from the war and the Berlin Wall and everything...it was AMAZING! We also went to the palace/castle of Frederick the Great which was absolutely beautiful! Everything was adourned in gold and silk and the bedrooms and study rooms were so amazing! So many beautiful antiques and history.
4. Brad and Angelina: So lets just say we missed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the European premier of Benjamin Button by ONE FREAKING HOUR! They were at the Sony Center, a block away from our hostel, and some of the girls from our trip were randomly visiting the Sony Center when the premier occurred and got pictures of them and actually shook Brads hand! OH MY GOSH! But we took pictures of the red carpet that they walked on and hung around for a while, hoping to see them, but never did. Nevertheless, we were in the same town as them and thats good enough for us!!
5. Inauguration: So lats night we went to the second biggest inauguration party in the world next to the one in D.C. right here in Berlin!! It was so crazy....so many people and so much booze and we watched it on this huge screen tv and it was just out of this world. It was really interesting to see the reactions of people outside of our country to Bush and Obama. Everytime Bush came on the screen everyone boooed and flipped him off and yelled "asshole" and stuff...it was so weird. They also boooed at Rick Warren. But cheered and cheered for Obama. It was an incredible experience.
6. Too many souveniers: So we all know that we both have bought too much stuff to carry back to the US. We told you last blog that we were going to try to ship it back, but we figured out that was going to be too expensive and too much of a hassle to try to ship our wine back across borders. So we figured out that the hostel we are staying at has a locked luggage storage room that we can keep our stuff in while we go to London. So our plan is, we are staying in the hostel the last night when we get back from London before we head back to the U.S.A. And we found 2 suitcases today for dirt cheap that we bought. So were going to put our souveniers and wine and extra stuff in our new suitcases and store them while we go to London so we dont have to check anything to London and risk it getting lost, then all we have to do is pick it up when we get back to Berlin and each check one bag home to the US. That way it only has to get on the plane in Berlin back to the US and switch in Minneapolis, which should be safe. We figure this is our best bet!!!
So were running out of time on the internet here at dunkin donuts so were going to leave you now to go get some donuts and coffee! The next couple days involve some art galleries (woopie!) and a full free weekend to ourselves, where we will do a Berlin pub crawl which will be really fun. Mothers: dont worry!! Well update in the next couple days before the weekend...promise! Miss you all and love you all so much! Cant wait to come home and share pictures and our amazing experiences with you!
Bye bye!!
1. Night train: This was definitely an experience! We had 6 girls crammed in a little tiny cubby with probably a 2 foot floor in between 2 triple bunks. We were expected to sleep on this from 10pm to 6am when we arrived in Munich...umm...impossible! We were able to doze in and out a little bit but wow, it was crazy!!! Then we arrived in Munich and switched trains, taking another 6 hour train ride to Berlin. Let me tell you when we arrived in Berlin we were ready to get up and walk around FOR SURE! It was kind of eery though looking out the window of the train as we were traveling to Berlin because it was a lot of forest area and snow and it really reminded Alli of Band of Brothers series! Germany is a beautiful country though and everything is so much cleaner! The trains, the buses, the sidewalks and roads...everything! They recycle a lot here we learned and are very conscious of the environment which is a nice change from Italy!! It is much more modern too, unlike walking down the streets of Rome and passing the Colloseum or Forum or Trevi Fountain! Downtown Berlin is much more like New York or Seattle and is very upscale and modern so we absolutely love it!
2. Hostel: We werent sure what to expect when it came to living in a youth hostel for a week but our hostel is actually really nice! The rooms are very spacious and the bathrooms really nice and the cafeteria food actually is not bad at all! The guy at the front desk is super nice too and speaks pretty good English which is great because we know NO German whatsoever! The bar at the hostel is also open 24/7, which we discovered the other night when we had a little girls night and took down some wine...it was a lot of fun :) It really feels like summer camp at the hostel though which is actually kind of fun! We have 5 girls in our room, all the girls that we really get along with on the trip, and we have been having a great time. We play card games and pool and ping pong almost every night and its been a blast! We are also in room 116...which is funny because 11 in German is "elf" and 6 is "sex" so were in the "elf sex" room...haha we thought that was pretty funny.
3. Tours, tours, TOURS: We have been on a couple tours of the city which have been very interesting. We went on a 3 hour walking tour the other morning, which was FREEZING, but it was really interesting! There is a cobblestone line throughout the city which represents where the Berlin Wall stood and every once in a while you will cross it which is kind of creepy but so cool! We also walked through the Brandenberg Gate and went to Museum Island and the Jewish Memorial for all the Jews that were exterminated during WW11 which was really sad. We also went and stood above where Hitler had his bunker 40 feet underground and where he actually committed suicide....can you say creepy!!! We also went to the German History Musem which was so interesting for us because we are both very interested in WW11 history and the Holocaust and we were able to see real Nazi uniforms and tons of memorabilia from the war and the Berlin Wall and everything...it was AMAZING! We also went to the palace/castle of Frederick the Great which was absolutely beautiful! Everything was adourned in gold and silk and the bedrooms and study rooms were so amazing! So many beautiful antiques and history.
4. Brad and Angelina: So lets just say we missed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the European premier of Benjamin Button by ONE FREAKING HOUR! They were at the Sony Center, a block away from our hostel, and some of the girls from our trip were randomly visiting the Sony Center when the premier occurred and got pictures of them and actually shook Brads hand! OH MY GOSH! But we took pictures of the red carpet that they walked on and hung around for a while, hoping to see them, but never did. Nevertheless, we were in the same town as them and thats good enough for us!!
5. Inauguration: So lats night we went to the second biggest inauguration party in the world next to the one in D.C. right here in Berlin!! It was so crazy....so many people and so much booze and we watched it on this huge screen tv and it was just out of this world. It was really interesting to see the reactions of people outside of our country to Bush and Obama. Everytime Bush came on the screen everyone boooed and flipped him off and yelled "asshole" and stuff...it was so weird. They also boooed at Rick Warren. But cheered and cheered for Obama. It was an incredible experience.
6. Too many souveniers: So we all know that we both have bought too much stuff to carry back to the US. We told you last blog that we were going to try to ship it back, but we figured out that was going to be too expensive and too much of a hassle to try to ship our wine back across borders. So we figured out that the hostel we are staying at has a locked luggage storage room that we can keep our stuff in while we go to London. So our plan is, we are staying in the hostel the last night when we get back from London before we head back to the U.S.A. And we found 2 suitcases today for dirt cheap that we bought. So were going to put our souveniers and wine and extra stuff in our new suitcases and store them while we go to London so we dont have to check anything to London and risk it getting lost, then all we have to do is pick it up when we get back to Berlin and each check one bag home to the US. That way it only has to get on the plane in Berlin back to the US and switch in Minneapolis, which should be safe. We figure this is our best bet!!!
So were running out of time on the internet here at dunkin donuts so were going to leave you now to go get some donuts and coffee! The next couple days involve some art galleries (woopie!) and a full free weekend to ourselves, where we will do a Berlin pub crawl which will be really fun. Mothers: dont worry!! Well update in the next couple days before the weekend...promise! Miss you all and love you all so much! Cant wait to come home and share pictures and our amazing experiences with you!
Bye bye!!
Friday, January 16, 2009
LEANING TOWER OF PISSAAAAAAA!
Ciao Bella! Sorry its been so long since we last blogged...we have been trying to see the entire city of Florence in 2 days before we leave for Berlin!! We got here on Wednesday afternoon, Alli's Birthday, and now we leave on the night train to Berlin tonight! We'll make another list because that seemed to be pretty popular among all of you stalkers on our last post :)
1) Florence Fashion: So let's just say we are absolutely OBSESSED and in love with the city of Florence. It is a lot smaller than Rome and everything is in much closer proximity, but it is soooo much cleaner and the people are nicer as well. It's not as touristy which is a nice change and we don't have to ride the metro anywhere which we are definitely happy about. The first day we got here we did some shopping and sighseeing with the group and discovered the Italian Venders. There is this stretch of road that seems to go on forever with just tons of venders selling everything you can think of! So we bought some nice scarves, ties, Italian leather bracelets, etc. for not too bad of prices. We also were nearly attacked by the alley-way designer purse venders! It was crazy because they are all just hidden in an alleyway and one of them will come out to the street to try to catch you and ask if you would like a Louis Vuitton, Prada, whatever designer purse and if you are interested they take you in the back where they have an enormous stash of all of these illegal purses they have stolen. Now don't worry...we didn't go back there...we heard the story from another girl on our trip who actually bought one. But wow...kinda scary! Anywho, let's just say the fashion here in Florence is out of this world, but we have been good...we haven't gone too out of control! :)
2) Wine & pasta & chocolate & coffee, etc. purchases: So we found this one store that had every kind of Italian wine and food you could imagine! So we contemplated buying some stuff for a while and then decided that we're only in Italy once and we just HAVE to bring back some of the goodies for our family and friends. So we proceeded to buy 6 bottles of wine between the two of us, a ton of pasta, Italian spaghetti sauces, biscotti, chocolate, coffee, spices, olive oils, you name it. Please don't ask us how we're going to get it all home, but we'll figure out some way. Either we're going to have to buy another suitcase and check it, or ship it home. We're thinking shipping it home may be the best bet since stuff tends to get lost in Europe when you check it on the airplanes.
3) The David: Yesterday we went to the Academia and saw The David. We were in absolute AWE at his massiveness and beauty. Now as you all know, we're not the artsy fartsy love to just sit and stare at a piece of art kind of girls. But this 14 foot statue by Michelangelo really made our mouths drop and we stayed looking at it for probably half an hour. The emotion in the figure's eyes and the details of his body are incredible and unbelievable. Next to the Sisteine Chapel and seeing the Pope, it was probably one of our favorite historical parts of the trip. Even though you are not supposed to take pictures, we were able to sneak a couple on Alli's phone camera. :)
4) Leaning Tower of Pisa: As we speak we are actually in the city of Pisa which was about an hour long train ride from Florence. We had the afternoon off today, so we decided we HAD to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa before we left Italy. Haha it was well worth it and an absolutley hilarious sight to see. It's exactly how it looks in the pictures! Of course, we took the obnoxious tourist pictures of us trying to hold the tower up or of us pushing it over and they turned out pretty dang good. Can't wait to show you guys once we get home.
Now we just have to catch a train back to Florence around 5 tonight and then we meet for dinner as a group for our last meal in Italy at 7. Our night train to Berlin leaves Florence around 10pm and then we arrive in Munich around 6:30am Saturday morning. Then we have about an hour layover until we depart for Berlin which is about another 6 hour train ride. We should get into Berlin at about 1 or 2 in the afternoon Saturday and then we check into the Youth Hostel we are staying at. It will be a much different experience than the nice hotels we've stayed at in Italy but it should be fun. We'll update again in the next few days once we are settled in Berlin. Hope all is well back home! Miss you all very very much!
Ciao!
1) Florence Fashion: So let's just say we are absolutely OBSESSED and in love with the city of Florence. It is a lot smaller than Rome and everything is in much closer proximity, but it is soooo much cleaner and the people are nicer as well. It's not as touristy which is a nice change and we don't have to ride the metro anywhere which we are definitely happy about. The first day we got here we did some shopping and sighseeing with the group and discovered the Italian Venders. There is this stretch of road that seems to go on forever with just tons of venders selling everything you can think of! So we bought some nice scarves, ties, Italian leather bracelets, etc. for not too bad of prices. We also were nearly attacked by the alley-way designer purse venders! It was crazy because they are all just hidden in an alleyway and one of them will come out to the street to try to catch you and ask if you would like a Louis Vuitton, Prada, whatever designer purse and if you are interested they take you in the back where they have an enormous stash of all of these illegal purses they have stolen. Now don't worry...we didn't go back there...we heard the story from another girl on our trip who actually bought one. But wow...kinda scary! Anywho, let's just say the fashion here in Florence is out of this world, but we have been good...we haven't gone too out of control! :)
2) Wine & pasta & chocolate & coffee, etc. purchases: So we found this one store that had every kind of Italian wine and food you could imagine! So we contemplated buying some stuff for a while and then decided that we're only in Italy once and we just HAVE to bring back some of the goodies for our family and friends. So we proceeded to buy 6 bottles of wine between the two of us, a ton of pasta, Italian spaghetti sauces, biscotti, chocolate, coffee, spices, olive oils, you name it. Please don't ask us how we're going to get it all home, but we'll figure out some way. Either we're going to have to buy another suitcase and check it, or ship it home. We're thinking shipping it home may be the best bet since stuff tends to get lost in Europe when you check it on the airplanes.
3) The David: Yesterday we went to the Academia and saw The David. We were in absolute AWE at his massiveness and beauty. Now as you all know, we're not the artsy fartsy love to just sit and stare at a piece of art kind of girls. But this 14 foot statue by Michelangelo really made our mouths drop and we stayed looking at it for probably half an hour. The emotion in the figure's eyes and the details of his body are incredible and unbelievable. Next to the Sisteine Chapel and seeing the Pope, it was probably one of our favorite historical parts of the trip. Even though you are not supposed to take pictures, we were able to sneak a couple on Alli's phone camera. :)
4) Leaning Tower of Pisa: As we speak we are actually in the city of Pisa which was about an hour long train ride from Florence. We had the afternoon off today, so we decided we HAD to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa before we left Italy. Haha it was well worth it and an absolutley hilarious sight to see. It's exactly how it looks in the pictures! Of course, we took the obnoxious tourist pictures of us trying to hold the tower up or of us pushing it over and they turned out pretty dang good. Can't wait to show you guys once we get home.
Now we just have to catch a train back to Florence around 5 tonight and then we meet for dinner as a group for our last meal in Italy at 7. Our night train to Berlin leaves Florence around 10pm and then we arrive in Munich around 6:30am Saturday morning. Then we have about an hour layover until we depart for Berlin which is about another 6 hour train ride. We should get into Berlin at about 1 or 2 in the afternoon Saturday and then we check into the Youth Hostel we are staying at. It will be a much different experience than the nice hotels we've stayed at in Italy but it should be fun. We'll update again in the next few days once we are settled in Berlin. Hope all is well back home! Miss you all very very much!
Ciao!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Italian Leather Boots!!
Buongiorno! We have a lot to update about so be ready for a long but entertaining post! We decided we are just going to make a big list of the new stuff we want to tell all of you about so here it goes:
1) Boots. Yes, we both found an amazing pair of 100% Italian leather boots! Alli's are brown and Jenna's are black and they are absolutely amazing!! AND they were 90 Euros, which is about $120, so we got a pretty dang good deal on them, considering they are 100% Italian leather!!
2) Creepers. Let's just say there are A LOT of creeper Italians out there. It seems like everywhere we go we either get stares or guys yell "Ciao Bellissima!" which means very beautiful or they ask to take their photo with us. Haha its pretty comical to say the least. Yesterday we had a group of 3 Italian POLICE OFFICERS, yes, policeman, try to pick us up. Pathetic. Disgusting. Ugh!
3) MEOW! So this one is for Nathan, who better be keeping up with this blog! We saw a cat on the side of the road the other day, and of course, proceeded to MEOW at it because we love to meow and the cat totally ignored us! How rude. So we concluded that the cat didn't understand us because we're in Italy and we don't know how to Meow in Italian! DUH!
4) Graffiti. We are really surprised and pretty disgusted at the abundance of graffiti here in Italy. It is ALL OVER, on the metros, old ancient buildings, the streets, everywhere you look. We thought it would be cleaner than that but apparently not. Hmm...
5) PDAs. So public displays of affection are definitely not a big deal at all here. Couples make out all over the place, on escalators, in the trains, on the sidewalks...and when we say make out, we mean practically go at it right in public! It's so weird and awkward! And they don't even close their eyes! They look all around as they are kissing which is even more awkward! We don't know if this is a European thing or an Italian thing but all we can say is wow...
6) The Pope! Just to let you all know, we are best friends with the Pope now. Yes, the POPE! Yesterday we went to Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican which was incredible. The Pope spoke and led the mass service and it was such an amazing experience! Then we saw the Pope's appearance right in the middle of the Basilica outside the church which was abolutely unreal!! He came out of a window really high up and spoke to a huge audience of people in every language...Italian, German, English, French...it was amazing. We got GREAT pictures zoomed in of him which was awesome! We were really surprised at how little the security was to see the Pope. You didn't have to go through any sort of x-ray or security scanner to come into the square to see his appearance. I guess we are just used to being in America, and I guess there really wouldn't be any reason for someone to assassinate the Pope...at least we hope not! But moral of the story, we totally know the Pope now. So be jealous!
7) Symphony. So we went to this big symphony last night which was jam-packed of rich Italians with fur and expensive clothes and big hair, it was hilarious. But the symphony was actually very impressive. Very talented individuals. It was a great experience, but went on for almost 2 hours, which kind of made us fall asleep...sorry moms and dads but we couldn't help it!!!!
8) Catacombs. Today we went to the Roman Catacombs outside the city walls which were really interesting! They are the underground cemetaries where Christians were buried thousands of years ago. They began being built in 4th Cenutry A.D. and the ones where we were at stretch for over 30 miles underneath Rome! They go as deep at 75 feet as well. We went down 40 feet underground to see them with a tour guide and it was so interesting! They made them out of lava rock and they have been greatly restored since their creation but it was really cool. Very creepy and eerie though!!
9) Purse. So Alli bought a knock off Luis Vuitton purse from one of the marketplaces yesterday and it's totally legit! You cannot even tell its fake! The guy wanted 40 Euros for it, but she talked him down to 25. YES! Pretty exciting...
10) Dinner. We had dinner on our own this weekend which was kind of nice so we could choose where we went to eat instead of having to go to the group. So we decided to go upstairs of our hotel to the restaurant on the roof, which was very beautiful! It was funny though because it was extremely romantic so it definitely made us miss Scott and Derek, but we are pretty good dates together too :) It was a pretty fancy place too so we shared dinner cuz it was so expensive, and the service was INSANE. Like they literally stood there, 15 feet away from our table, STARING at us, watching our every move. Everytime we took a drink of our water they were right there to fill it up again. It was so crazy!!! A little awkward...but DELICIOUS food!
11) Sick. So we are both sick. Almost everyone on our trip is sick or has been sick or is getting sick. How lame! This morning we thought we were going to die but we got outside and started feeling a little bit better. Alli has a sinus infection, but thanks to her mamma making her bring antibiotics and her dad getting her a prescription before she left, she has some medicine to hopefully get rid of it! Jenna is all congested and stuffed up too, but we went to the Pharmacy place today to get some cold medicine so hopefully it will start making us feel better! I mean come on, we're in Rome! We can't be sick!!
12) Dreams. We both have to admit that as much as we LOVE it over here, every once in a while we get homesick and start to really miss everyone. We have both had pretty bad dreams the past couple of nights about our boyfriend's leaving us while we're gone and about Jenna's dad getting cancer. HAHAHA I know a little odd and crazy but it just means we really miss all of you guys and this is a great experience for us but it will be really nice to be back home!!!
13) Crazy Drivers. So apparently Italians really don't know how to drive. They are all over the roads with their little smart cars and fiats and are just absolutely crazy! So many people have vespas as well and have no limits. We don't even think there are speed limits either. We have decided that our cars, Candy and Stella, would not survive over here. Maybe that's because their drivers (aka us) would not be able to handle the craziness on the roads but we know it would not be a good sight.
14) Alli's Birthday! So as we all know, Alli's birthday is on Wednesday! Yayy! That is the day that we all travel to Florence which will be amazing! A bunch of us might go on a pub crawl tomorrow night for our last night in Rome, so we may make that our celebration of Alli's birthday. But don't worry! We will be careful and we will NOT get extremely drunk! Mom's - We are responsible so don't worry! If we don't do the pub crawl we will probably just go out for a bit in Florence once we get there. We're so excited to celebrate her birthday over here!! And everyone back home, be ready for a make-up US celebration once we get back! :)
Well that's all for now. Yes we know, LONG blog, but we had so much to tell you guys! We are enjoying every minute and hopefully we will start feeling better too! We miss you all and hope things back on the homestead are going well!
Ciao!!
1) Boots. Yes, we both found an amazing pair of 100% Italian leather boots! Alli's are brown and Jenna's are black and they are absolutely amazing!! AND they were 90 Euros, which is about $120, so we got a pretty dang good deal on them, considering they are 100% Italian leather!!
2) Creepers. Let's just say there are A LOT of creeper Italians out there. It seems like everywhere we go we either get stares or guys yell "Ciao Bellissima!" which means very beautiful or they ask to take their photo with us. Haha its pretty comical to say the least. Yesterday we had a group of 3 Italian POLICE OFFICERS, yes, policeman, try to pick us up. Pathetic. Disgusting. Ugh!
3) MEOW! So this one is for Nathan, who better be keeping up with this blog! We saw a cat on the side of the road the other day, and of course, proceeded to MEOW at it because we love to meow and the cat totally ignored us! How rude. So we concluded that the cat didn't understand us because we're in Italy and we don't know how to Meow in Italian! DUH!
4) Graffiti. We are really surprised and pretty disgusted at the abundance of graffiti here in Italy. It is ALL OVER, on the metros, old ancient buildings, the streets, everywhere you look. We thought it would be cleaner than that but apparently not. Hmm...
5) PDAs. So public displays of affection are definitely not a big deal at all here. Couples make out all over the place, on escalators, in the trains, on the sidewalks...and when we say make out, we mean practically go at it right in public! It's so weird and awkward! And they don't even close their eyes! They look all around as they are kissing which is even more awkward! We don't know if this is a European thing or an Italian thing but all we can say is wow...
6) The Pope! Just to let you all know, we are best friends with the Pope now. Yes, the POPE! Yesterday we went to Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican which was incredible. The Pope spoke and led the mass service and it was such an amazing experience! Then we saw the Pope's appearance right in the middle of the Basilica outside the church which was abolutely unreal!! He came out of a window really high up and spoke to a huge audience of people in every language...Italian, German, English, French...it was amazing. We got GREAT pictures zoomed in of him which was awesome! We were really surprised at how little the security was to see the Pope. You didn't have to go through any sort of x-ray or security scanner to come into the square to see his appearance. I guess we are just used to being in America, and I guess there really wouldn't be any reason for someone to assassinate the Pope...at least we hope not! But moral of the story, we totally know the Pope now. So be jealous!
7) Symphony. So we went to this big symphony last night which was jam-packed of rich Italians with fur and expensive clothes and big hair, it was hilarious. But the symphony was actually very impressive. Very talented individuals. It was a great experience, but went on for almost 2 hours, which kind of made us fall asleep...sorry moms and dads but we couldn't help it!!!!
8) Catacombs. Today we went to the Roman Catacombs outside the city walls which were really interesting! They are the underground cemetaries where Christians were buried thousands of years ago. They began being built in 4th Cenutry A.D. and the ones where we were at stretch for over 30 miles underneath Rome! They go as deep at 75 feet as well. We went down 40 feet underground to see them with a tour guide and it was so interesting! They made them out of lava rock and they have been greatly restored since their creation but it was really cool. Very creepy and eerie though!!
9) Purse. So Alli bought a knock off Luis Vuitton purse from one of the marketplaces yesterday and it's totally legit! You cannot even tell its fake! The guy wanted 40 Euros for it, but she talked him down to 25. YES! Pretty exciting...
10) Dinner. We had dinner on our own this weekend which was kind of nice so we could choose where we went to eat instead of having to go to the group. So we decided to go upstairs of our hotel to the restaurant on the roof, which was very beautiful! It was funny though because it was extremely romantic so it definitely made us miss Scott and Derek, but we are pretty good dates together too :) It was a pretty fancy place too so we shared dinner cuz it was so expensive, and the service was INSANE. Like they literally stood there, 15 feet away from our table, STARING at us, watching our every move. Everytime we took a drink of our water they were right there to fill it up again. It was so crazy!!! A little awkward...but DELICIOUS food!
11) Sick. So we are both sick. Almost everyone on our trip is sick or has been sick or is getting sick. How lame! This morning we thought we were going to die but we got outside and started feeling a little bit better. Alli has a sinus infection, but thanks to her mamma making her bring antibiotics and her dad getting her a prescription before she left, she has some medicine to hopefully get rid of it! Jenna is all congested and stuffed up too, but we went to the Pharmacy place today to get some cold medicine so hopefully it will start making us feel better! I mean come on, we're in Rome! We can't be sick!!
12) Dreams. We both have to admit that as much as we LOVE it over here, every once in a while we get homesick and start to really miss everyone. We have both had pretty bad dreams the past couple of nights about our boyfriend's leaving us while we're gone and about Jenna's dad getting cancer. HAHAHA I know a little odd and crazy but it just means we really miss all of you guys and this is a great experience for us but it will be really nice to be back home!!!
13) Crazy Drivers. So apparently Italians really don't know how to drive. They are all over the roads with their little smart cars and fiats and are just absolutely crazy! So many people have vespas as well and have no limits. We don't even think there are speed limits either. We have decided that our cars, Candy and Stella, would not survive over here. Maybe that's because their drivers (aka us) would not be able to handle the craziness on the roads but we know it would not be a good sight.
14) Alli's Birthday! So as we all know, Alli's birthday is on Wednesday! Yayy! That is the day that we all travel to Florence which will be amazing! A bunch of us might go on a pub crawl tomorrow night for our last night in Rome, so we may make that our celebration of Alli's birthday. But don't worry! We will be careful and we will NOT get extremely drunk! Mom's - We are responsible so don't worry! If we don't do the pub crawl we will probably just go out for a bit in Florence once we get there. We're so excited to celebrate her birthday over here!! And everyone back home, be ready for a make-up US celebration once we get back! :)
Well that's all for now. Yes we know, LONG blog, but we had so much to tell you guys! We are enjoying every minute and hopefully we will start feeling better too! We miss you all and hope things back on the homestead are going well!
Ciao!!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Vatican!
Hey guys! Here we are for another update. Yesterday was amazing. We went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. Can we just say probably the most incredible experience ever! The Vatican was absolutely beautiful! All of the paintings and statues and the building itself was unfathomable. Gold everywhere, paintings on the ceilings, walls, everywhere. Mosaics on the floors. There were a couple real mummies where you could actually see their fingernails. Creepy!! But by far, the Sisteine Chapel was our favorite. We stayed in there for at least a half hour just staring at it, trying to take it all in. The whole Creation story is displayed on the ceiling like a storybook. The Last Judgment on the main wall was probably the most amazing thing we have ever seen. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but we were able to sneak a few. I mean really, how often do you go to the Sisteine Chapel? Don't worry though...we weren't the only ones...nearly everybody was taking pictures as well. After the Vatican Museum we trekked over to St. Peter's Basilica which was gorgeous as well. Alli saw this lady that was like the Pigeon Lady from Home Alone because she had pigeons all over her! So she took a picture :) We then went inside of the Cathedral which was out of this world. Everything was so beautiful and massive and it was hard to take it all in. Sadly, our professor failed to inform us that they won't let you inside if you have leggings and a skirt on, which of course Jenna was wearing, so she wasn't able to get in!! Alli went in though and were going to go back on Monday so that Jenna can experience it. Alli also walked up the dome to the top which was very exhausting....about 570 steps or so! But once at the top, you could see a complete 360 view of Rome which was so beautiful. She took some great pictures and sent one to Mom so make sure she forwards them to all of you! Alli then went to eat some great pasta and gelato with the group she had been assigned to for the day and Jenna went back to the hotel with her group. P.S. the gelato is AMAZING! nom nom nom nom nom :) Jenna got little homesick, but when Alli finally got back to the hotel she cheered up real quick. We took a little nap and then Alli had a little accident. She showered before dinner and when she climbed out of the shower she slipped on the ground and fell, hitting her poor swollen ankles on the edge of the shower and now they will barely fit in her shoes..... But as we all know, its expected for Alli to fall and hurt herself so shes used to it. Thanks to the wonderful Adams family genes, she has to deal with the bad joints and bad health alltogether. haha. Anywho, after we got everything all straightened out we went to dinner and then all went out to a couple bars which was a ton of fun! The boys first took us for a 20 minute walk to this bar they had been to the night before, but it was PACKED and there was a band which was awesome but we couldnt even get in to get a drink. So we went back towards the hotel to this other bar called Robin Hood which was a ton of fun! They brought us a tray of like 15 free shots for all of us which was awesome! There were poles on the bar with pole dancers and it was pretty cool. Alli ordered a vodka cran for us but they dont do vodka crans over here. They do vodka blueberry instead so we went with it and it was delicious! So side note, there was this CREEPY CREEPY old guy that apparently had been following us to the bar and was so creeper the whole time, just staring at all of us, trying to look up Jennas skirt even though she was wearing leggings, and just a real loser. So the boys were so protective and made sure that there was always a boy between us girls and the creeper so he couldnt watch us. So Alli, being the brave one to try to speak Italian to everyone, started talking to these really nice Italian guys at the bar to try to tell them about the creepy guy and to have him leave. BUT they spoke NO English so Alli kept just pointing at the guy and saying VADA VIA which means Go Away! Haha they just laughed and finally the guy left. It was a great time until these 2 obnoxious Italian guys came in and started trying to grab all of us and dance with us and kept yelling and whistleing so we figured it was time to go. Jenna kept hitting their hands when they tried to grab us girls and Alli turned around and gave them the dirtiest look so they poured beer all over her leg! OMG how rude so we booked it out of there. One of the guys on the trip ended up punching one of them in the face cuz he was so mad they were doing that to us girls. Finally we made it back to the hotel safe and sound and just passed out happily! We had a huge breakfast this morning and are now off to see San Paulo and do some shopping on our free day! Well update again soon! Ciao!
Oh and one more thing about last night. We found out this morning that once the boys got us safe and sound back to the hotel, they went out again until like 5am!! Then when they came back they were so loud I guess and our teacher came out of his room, IN HIS UNDERWEAR, and yelled at them!! HAHAHAHAHA thats pretty hilarious....
Alrighty see ya! LOVE YA!
Oh and one more thing about last night. We found out this morning that once the boys got us safe and sound back to the hotel, they went out again until like 5am!! Then when they came back they were so loud I guess and our teacher came out of his room, IN HIS UNDERWEAR, and yelled at them!! HAHAHAHAHA thats pretty hilarious....
Alrighty see ya! LOVE YA!
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