hey guys!
sorry its been a few days...but we are still here! not too much to report on...which, is actually really nice that its been pretty relaxing and laid back and not so adventure-filled. basically... we have been in school everyday...and outside of school...just hanging out and walking around barcelona and studying! haha...it may mean something when i actually get excited about learning and studying and doing homework again. hmmmm. so school is going well. the first few days were pretty hard and overwhelming...its starting to all click... its pretty amazing how i spoke no spanish coming in...and now im sitting in a classroom where only spanish is spoken...and I UNDERSTAND! its a pretty good feeling. Emily is still in the afternoon class...so we pretty much have completely different schedules. I go to school from 9-1 and she is in school from 3-7. they said she cant change during her first week, but possibly next week she can change to morning classes....which will be nice so we can have all day to go and do stuff around here.
We havent done much touristy stuff yet... i think this weekend we may go do some of that stuff. So far, we have really enjoyed just getting to know the area we live in. we live about a 1.5 miles from school....and we walk there and back every day...its a nice little walk...and its a good thing we did so much walking on our travels before we got here because it prepared us for the walking around we are doing here. ANOTHER good workout we are getting is the stairs! we are on the 4th level in our apartment complex (it says we are on the second floor...but here, ground level is 0 then there is a "principle" level...THEN the first floor) and at school, our classroom is on the 6th level!
The weather was really hot the first few days, but today there was a noticible difference...it just felt really good outside..hopefully it will stay! no one wants to show up for class pouring in sweat.
soooo. ¨futbol¨ is a big deal here...haha.. The barcelona team played its first game last night against Milan and we won 5-0. We didnt go to the game (soo expensive!) but a lot of poeple did go...its interesting being in a place where soccer is the main sport. but it does make me miss american football...im getting excited about the thought that when i return it will be football season. sorry europe. i dont think im ever gonna care as much about soccer as i do football. but know knows...david beckham just may change my mind.
emily went to the beach this morning with some other people that have afternoon classes (im so jealous!) and she said it was really nice...we are gonna have to go soon (maybe this weekend??)
oh yeah... the welcome dinner monday night was really nice!! it was at this fancy tapas place..it was good too! free food and free sangria. im not complaining!
anyway --i have 2 min left at this internet cafe so i have to go.
miss and love you all!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
koala bears and calculators...oh my!
okay... so im gonna backtrack a bit to keep you guys updated....
during our time in Tarquina, emily and i started to crave a couple different foods we hadnt had in a while... cereal and milk...and chips and salsa. so we went to the grocery store to remedy this...we got cereal/milk..but it was interesting because in italy... EVERYTHING has chocolate in it...we literally found only like 2 cereals that didnt have chocolate in it.. we just wanted a good ole fruit and oats type cereal..so we found it and then looked for chips and salsa. we thought we found that and bought our groceries and went home to have dinner. the cereal and milk were great... then we moved on. oh yeah... we couldnt find tortilla chips so we thought potato chips would do. then we opened the salsa....to find out it was spaghetti sauce. the sad thing is...we ate it anyway. potato chips and spaghetti sauce for dinner. how strange is that. we felt a little sick afterwards. seriously...who eats chips and spaghetti sauce??
speaking of food in italy... MAN. do they not get sick of pizza and pasta and gelato?? sure... all those things are great..but for every meal?? every day? im seriously surprised everyone who lives there doesnt weigh 1000 pounds each with the kind of diet they are on. to quote elizabeth gilbert (eat,pray,love)...Italy is on a ¨"No Carbs Left Behind" diet. even breakfast...croissants and sugary breads and chocolate pastries. hasnt anyone ever heard of fruit??
as i said in my last post...we had a pretty crazy day yesterday. i think all the details would be boring..but the reason we had to spend a lot more money than we were planning... and what messed up part of our traveling and made it more hectic than it already was... was because on our train from Tarquina to Rome, we had a stop in this one town in between. Normally, the train stops for about 5 min at most to drop people off and to pick up new passengers. When we pulled up to the station, we could see there were HUNDREDS of people at the station waiting to get on (there are normally like... 5-10) and they were chanting and hollering and yelling.... we found out that they were a bunch of half naked drunk (hmmm im sensing some similarities in other italians we have come across on this trip) soccer (or ¨football¨) fanatics..trying to get to Rome for some big game. they RUSHED onto the train all at once (another thing ive noticed about europe...huge generalization here...but they do not understand the concept of forming a line...ever)anyway... they rushed onto the train without tickets and were being very wild and obnoxious and the train driver couldnt stop them all.sooo..... the train completely stopped. they had to call the police and wouldnt really give us any information as to when the train would be running again... we sat around for over 2 hours waiting... and then started to kinda freak out because... we had a plane to catch!! so... we ended getting a cab..and there were 8 of us TOTAL...to take us the rest of the way to rome...it was a little over an hour and it cost EACH of us 35€. yikes. an expense we didnt intend on...
so.. to spare you some of the boring details...a few trains and buses later. we were on a plane from Italy to Spain. the only international flight i have been on was from the US to Athens on Continental...so it was an american airline. This was a european airline and it was just funky. first of all, they sell things...all SORTS of things... from lottery tickets to stuffed koala bears to calculators....and every other electronic advice you can think of. Also, as soon as the plane hit the ground for the landing... the ENTIRE plane erupted in applause. ive never seen anything like it. do planes not normally make it back okay?? its not like it was even a rough flight or terribly delayed. then when they made the announcement that we were there everyone started cheering again. i couldnt stop laughing...pretty sure i was crying i was laughing so hard at this (think "two blue moons--PM" type laughing ellen, kristen, adam, dan and aubrey)...really...laughing like that was a nice relief when youve had a stressful day of traveling. man bus stops and metro lines later.... we made it to barcelona, checked into our school and made it to our apartment!
we are sooooooo happy with everything here! we love barcelona! we love our apartment! we love our roomates! we love our school! we love each other!
we are SO loving that we are staying in one place for 3 weeks with no more heavy backpacking daily :) Our roomates are super nice. both of them have been at the school for about 3 months each (wow!) One is from Sweden and the other is from Holland...i think its gonna work out nicely. em and i are sharing a room... and the other girls are sharing a room... we have a living room with couch and chair and tv, a dining room, a bathroom, a balcony, our bedroom... hopefully pictures will come soon! ALSO. praise the Lord above... we have a WASHING MACHINE!!! you may never understand how wonderful that seems when you have been wearing the same 5 shirts/pants every day for 2 weeks.oh and i must add that packing up a slightly wet towel into your things every day really helps the smell as well. Thank God for deodorant. i must say... emily and i have done really well on this trip as far as being low maintenance goes (not that either of us are anyway)...but i didnt think i would be able to live without my flat iron. not only have i not used that in almost 3 weeks... i havent used a hair dryer at all (thats right.. its just one big frizzy mess piled ontop of my head everyday)...and no makeup either... for almost 3 weeks. thats pretty good. i dont think i could handle a trip like this if i was one of those people who had to fix their hair and makeup everyday. thank goodness neither of us are.
sooooo... we had our first day of classes today!! we met at 8 this morning...for those who have had any spanish training...they went and took a placement test (thats what emily did) And those who didnt know anything (me) they put in a beginner class. they broke it into small classes...so my class only has 6 people total!! you either get placed in morning (9 am-1pm) or afternoon (3-7pm) classes. unfortunately...i am in the morning classes and emily is in the afternoon. she is going to try to get hers switched to the morning timeslot too so we can have the whole day to do stuff after school. she is actually in class right now as im typing this (free internet.. at school!!)
my classes went well! like i said, only 6 people were in my class...and its an intensive course...so they only speak to you in spanish and everything you say (well...you are supposed to) is in spanish. pretty overwhelming when you havent had any spanish!!but it was so good! i already feel like i learned a lot just today! it makes you learn and pay attention when thats all thats being said around you and you know you will have to talk in front of others. there are 4 germans in my class and one person from holland. and then me...the lone american. there arent too many americans here... actually, emily and i are the only ones that i know of. makes if fun to meet people from all over the place. thank goodness...no matter where people are from..it seems that everyone knows english (it makes me kind of embarrassed that it is ALL i know...when these people are learning spanish as their 3rd or 4th language). oh well...im trying! maybe soon i will start typing these blogs in spanish. hah.. probably not, but maybe i will be able to hold a pretty basic conversation after this is done :)
we are really impressed with the school so far...they seem to really take in interest in the students and providing a community feel. they have activities planned for every day of the week pretty much...so people can hang out and get to know one another. Tonight we have a "welcome dinner" for new students!
sorry this was a big long ramble... hope my style of typing (i kinda type how i talk) isnt too difficult to read and follow along. i think we will get our charger situation fixed soon... so hopefully pictures will come soon!
barcelona is just so cute. i dont think i had really any expectations of what it would be like... but we love it so far!
during our time in Tarquina, emily and i started to crave a couple different foods we hadnt had in a while... cereal and milk...and chips and salsa. so we went to the grocery store to remedy this...we got cereal/milk..but it was interesting because in italy... EVERYTHING has chocolate in it...we literally found only like 2 cereals that didnt have chocolate in it.. we just wanted a good ole fruit and oats type cereal..so we found it and then looked for chips and salsa. we thought we found that and bought our groceries and went home to have dinner. the cereal and milk were great... then we moved on. oh yeah... we couldnt find tortilla chips so we thought potato chips would do. then we opened the salsa....to find out it was spaghetti sauce. the sad thing is...we ate it anyway. potato chips and spaghetti sauce for dinner. how strange is that. we felt a little sick afterwards. seriously...who eats chips and spaghetti sauce??
speaking of food in italy... MAN. do they not get sick of pizza and pasta and gelato?? sure... all those things are great..but for every meal?? every day? im seriously surprised everyone who lives there doesnt weigh 1000 pounds each with the kind of diet they are on. to quote elizabeth gilbert (eat,pray,love)...Italy is on a ¨"No Carbs Left Behind" diet. even breakfast...croissants and sugary breads and chocolate pastries. hasnt anyone ever heard of fruit??
as i said in my last post...we had a pretty crazy day yesterday. i think all the details would be boring..but the reason we had to spend a lot more money than we were planning... and what messed up part of our traveling and made it more hectic than it already was... was because on our train from Tarquina to Rome, we had a stop in this one town in between. Normally, the train stops for about 5 min at most to drop people off and to pick up new passengers. When we pulled up to the station, we could see there were HUNDREDS of people at the station waiting to get on (there are normally like... 5-10) and they were chanting and hollering and yelling.... we found out that they were a bunch of half naked drunk (hmmm im sensing some similarities in other italians we have come across on this trip) soccer (or ¨football¨) fanatics..trying to get to Rome for some big game. they RUSHED onto the train all at once (another thing ive noticed about europe...huge generalization here...but they do not understand the concept of forming a line...ever)anyway... they rushed onto the train without tickets and were being very wild and obnoxious and the train driver couldnt stop them all.sooo..... the train completely stopped. they had to call the police and wouldnt really give us any information as to when the train would be running again... we sat around for over 2 hours waiting... and then started to kinda freak out because... we had a plane to catch!! so... we ended getting a cab..and there were 8 of us TOTAL...to take us the rest of the way to rome...it was a little over an hour and it cost EACH of us 35€. yikes. an expense we didnt intend on...
so.. to spare you some of the boring details...a few trains and buses later. we were on a plane from Italy to Spain. the only international flight i have been on was from the US to Athens on Continental...so it was an american airline. This was a european airline and it was just funky. first of all, they sell things...all SORTS of things... from lottery tickets to stuffed koala bears to calculators....and every other electronic advice you can think of. Also, as soon as the plane hit the ground for the landing... the ENTIRE plane erupted in applause. ive never seen anything like it. do planes not normally make it back okay?? its not like it was even a rough flight or terribly delayed. then when they made the announcement that we were there everyone started cheering again. i couldnt stop laughing...pretty sure i was crying i was laughing so hard at this (think "two blue moons--PM" type laughing ellen, kristen, adam, dan and aubrey)...really...laughing like that was a nice relief when youve had a stressful day of traveling. man bus stops and metro lines later.... we made it to barcelona, checked into our school and made it to our apartment!
we are sooooooo happy with everything here! we love barcelona! we love our apartment! we love our roomates! we love our school! we love each other!
we are SO loving that we are staying in one place for 3 weeks with no more heavy backpacking daily :) Our roomates are super nice. both of them have been at the school for about 3 months each (wow!) One is from Sweden and the other is from Holland...i think its gonna work out nicely. em and i are sharing a room... and the other girls are sharing a room... we have a living room with couch and chair and tv, a dining room, a bathroom, a balcony, our bedroom... hopefully pictures will come soon! ALSO. praise the Lord above... we have a WASHING MACHINE!!! you may never understand how wonderful that seems when you have been wearing the same 5 shirts/pants every day for 2 weeks.oh and i must add that packing up a slightly wet towel into your things every day really helps the smell as well. Thank God for deodorant. i must say... emily and i have done really well on this trip as far as being low maintenance goes (not that either of us are anyway)...but i didnt think i would be able to live without my flat iron. not only have i not used that in almost 3 weeks... i havent used a hair dryer at all (thats right.. its just one big frizzy mess piled ontop of my head everyday)...and no makeup either... for almost 3 weeks. thats pretty good. i dont think i could handle a trip like this if i was one of those people who had to fix their hair and makeup everyday. thank goodness neither of us are.
sooooo... we had our first day of classes today!! we met at 8 this morning...for those who have had any spanish training...they went and took a placement test (thats what emily did) And those who didnt know anything (me) they put in a beginner class. they broke it into small classes...so my class only has 6 people total!! you either get placed in morning (9 am-1pm) or afternoon (3-7pm) classes. unfortunately...i am in the morning classes and emily is in the afternoon. she is going to try to get hers switched to the morning timeslot too so we can have the whole day to do stuff after school. she is actually in class right now as im typing this (free internet.. at school!!)
my classes went well! like i said, only 6 people were in my class...and its an intensive course...so they only speak to you in spanish and everything you say (well...you are supposed to) is in spanish. pretty overwhelming when you havent had any spanish!!but it was so good! i already feel like i learned a lot just today! it makes you learn and pay attention when thats all thats being said around you and you know you will have to talk in front of others. there are 4 germans in my class and one person from holland. and then me...the lone american. there arent too many americans here... actually, emily and i are the only ones that i know of. makes if fun to meet people from all over the place. thank goodness...no matter where people are from..it seems that everyone knows english (it makes me kind of embarrassed that it is ALL i know...when these people are learning spanish as their 3rd or 4th language). oh well...im trying! maybe soon i will start typing these blogs in spanish. hah.. probably not, but maybe i will be able to hold a pretty basic conversation after this is done :)
we are really impressed with the school so far...they seem to really take in interest in the students and providing a community feel. they have activities planned for every day of the week pretty much...so people can hang out and get to know one another. Tonight we have a "welcome dinner" for new students!
sorry this was a big long ramble... hope my style of typing (i kinda type how i talk) isnt too difficult to read and follow along. i think we will get our charger situation fixed soon... so hopefully pictures will come soon!
barcelona is just so cute. i dont think i had really any expectations of what it would be like... but we love it so far!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
too tired to type
hey guys.
just wanted to let yall know we are IN barcelona... checked in with the school and made it to our new apartment. everything is great... but we have had a seriously long day of traveling.
today we took the bus to the train station, the train to another town, a taxi to get to rome, another train to get to another town, a bus to get to the airport, the plane to get to girona, a bus to barcelona, the metro to the school, then another metro to the apartment...
more details later... lots of adventures and funny stories.. but we are exhausted.
school starts in the morning!
just wanted to let yall know we are IN barcelona... checked in with the school and made it to our new apartment. everything is great... but we have had a seriously long day of traveling.
today we took the bus to the train station, the train to another town, a taxi to get to rome, another train to get to another town, a bus to get to the airport, the plane to get to girona, a bus to barcelona, the metro to the school, then another metro to the apartment...
more details later... lots of adventures and funny stories.. but we are exhausted.
school starts in the morning!
Friday, August 24, 2007
adventure time!
where do i start...what an adventure.
so, emily and i took a train to Tarquinia yesterday... all we really knew that it was supposed to be a small town, kind of a etruscan town on the coast. when we got off the train... we realized we were in the middle of nowhere...we didnt see any town near us. we saw a sign pointing to Tarquinia...so we just started walking down this one road. it felt like nothing around us. We noticed it was pretty cool out, which was unusual since it has been so hot...we keep walking and walking, with our heavy backpacks on us..not really knowing what we are doing or where we are going. All of a sudden it gor really REALLY windy and emily looked at me and said "did it just get dark all of a sudden"...sure enough.. at only 2pm, the sky was a dark gray and the winds kept picking up. we picked up our pace a bit when all of a sudden it seemed like the sky fell out. im talking total downpour....but it wasnt coming straight down... it was like hitting us from beind...going horizontally because of the winds... emily and i tried to run a little bit...but the winds were really strong. i thought for sure we were gonna get knocked down or blown away. we saw ahead that there was a lone house on this road so we ran to the gate to try to get something to hold on to and try to block us from the wind. em and i just looked and each other, soaked, and were just saying "i dont know what to do"
then...i hear some yelling... the people were out of their house, on their porch yelling something. at first, i couldnt tell if they were yelling at us to get away, or what because i couldnt see their faces because of how strong the rain/wind were. looking closer, they were gesturing to COME IN, and they had opened the gate. i thought at fisrt they were just gonna let us take shleter on their porch for a little bit... and for that i would have been so grateful....but they INSISTED (in italian of course) and by using motions that me MUST come in. we were drenched and muddy...but they didnt care. they spoke no english and we knew very little italian (ciao and grazi are about all we could communicate...basically) but with huge smiles...its amazing how you dont even need words. these people took us in and tried to feed us...but we declined...we were just so grateful they let us come in from the storm. They were the typical Italian family. A mom and dad...in their middle ages, and their grown son, still living with them. they were all so warm and inviting. The mom was so cute, bussiling around making sure we were okay... then she made us some of the BEST coffee we had ever had. We exchanged names (theirs were Elena, Francesco, and Fabrizio) and that we were from America...on a trip. They were fascinated with our names...kept saying them over and over... i guess because they are pretty american names. they said my name like "broo - keh" (the the r rolled of course)..and said they knwe the name from "reality tv or film"..haha..
oh yes, i forgot to mention that the electricity went out as soon as we got there too.. so we were all sitting around in the dark, not really being able to communicate. so the storm seemed to be passing...the rains slowed down and they communicated with us that the son, Fabrizio, would be taking us to our hotel (we had shown them an address of where we were trying to go). so we said our goodbyes and plenty of smiles and waves and "ciao"s and he took us to the hotel. Its times like that when... complete strangers open up to you and show you grace and generosity that makes you see what is good in the world... and how 2 groups of people...who seemingly have nothing in common, not even language, can communicate and seem to understand each other. Emily and I agree that this was one of the best things that has happened to us on our trip...we are so appreciative of what they did for us... and thank God for their graciousness! we just couldnt believe it...it really felt like an unreal that these people were being so kind. We are going to try to find a way to get them some sort of gift basket or something and bring it to them (if we can find that house again)...hopefully that will work out.
Today...had breakfast at our hotel (btw...it is the CUTEST little place... its a bed and breakfast) and then spent a majority of the day trying to figure out the bus system in this town in order to get to the beach. first of all, none of the times and bus lines or bus stops seem to be acurate...haha.. but we eventually got it figured out and we spent most of the afternoon on the beach. it wasnt as PRETTY as the beaches on mykonos...but it was nice and quiet. this town is pretty strange. its like in the middle of no where (between rome and tuscanny... all the buildings look like they were built in pre-roman times. its not very touristy.. and thats nice to just be in a small town in the middle of nowhere...in ITALY :) there are only 2 "internet points" in this whole town... and neither of them are very close to us... so we might not be online to blog everyday... but our plan is.. staying here until sunday... then catching a train to the airport, then flying to that town outside of Barcelona..where we will have to catch a bus to Barcelona....then school starts monday!
oh yeah..one thing i must mention. EVERY single place we have been...we have somehow heard a justin timberlake song on the radio or on tv or something. hes following us. i think its a sign. i love him. ahhhh... haha...enough about that
emily has also started giving me little spanish lessons late at night before we go to sleep--to try and help me with the basics so i wont be totally lost and overwhelmed when i get there. i probably will be anyway...but at least i will know the days of the week and how to ask where is the bathroom :) well... my time is up at the little internet cafe... more later when we can.
love!
here are a few pictures i found online of Tarquinia...
.JPG)
so, emily and i took a train to Tarquinia yesterday... all we really knew that it was supposed to be a small town, kind of a etruscan town on the coast. when we got off the train... we realized we were in the middle of nowhere...we didnt see any town near us. we saw a sign pointing to Tarquinia...so we just started walking down this one road. it felt like nothing around us. We noticed it was pretty cool out, which was unusual since it has been so hot...we keep walking and walking, with our heavy backpacks on us..not really knowing what we are doing or where we are going. All of a sudden it gor really REALLY windy and emily looked at me and said "did it just get dark all of a sudden"...sure enough.. at only 2pm, the sky was a dark gray and the winds kept picking up. we picked up our pace a bit when all of a sudden it seemed like the sky fell out. im talking total downpour....but it wasnt coming straight down... it was like hitting us from beind...going horizontally because of the winds... emily and i tried to run a little bit...but the winds were really strong. i thought for sure we were gonna get knocked down or blown away. we saw ahead that there was a lone house on this road so we ran to the gate to try to get something to hold on to and try to block us from the wind. em and i just looked and each other, soaked, and were just saying "i dont know what to do"
then...i hear some yelling... the people were out of their house, on their porch yelling something. at first, i couldnt tell if they were yelling at us to get away, or what because i couldnt see their faces because of how strong the rain/wind were. looking closer, they were gesturing to COME IN, and they had opened the gate. i thought at fisrt they were just gonna let us take shleter on their porch for a little bit... and for that i would have been so grateful....but they INSISTED (in italian of course) and by using motions that me MUST come in. we were drenched and muddy...but they didnt care. they spoke no english and we knew very little italian (ciao and grazi are about all we could communicate...basically) but with huge smiles...its amazing how you dont even need words. these people took us in and tried to feed us...but we declined...we were just so grateful they let us come in from the storm. They were the typical Italian family. A mom and dad...in their middle ages, and their grown son, still living with them. they were all so warm and inviting. The mom was so cute, bussiling around making sure we were okay... then she made us some of the BEST coffee we had ever had. We exchanged names (theirs were Elena, Francesco, and Fabrizio) and that we were from America...on a trip. They were fascinated with our names...kept saying them over and over... i guess because they are pretty american names. they said my name like "broo - keh" (the the r rolled of course)..and said they knwe the name from "reality tv or film"..haha..
oh yes, i forgot to mention that the electricity went out as soon as we got there too.. so we were all sitting around in the dark, not really being able to communicate. so the storm seemed to be passing...the rains slowed down and they communicated with us that the son, Fabrizio, would be taking us to our hotel (we had shown them an address of where we were trying to go). so we said our goodbyes and plenty of smiles and waves and "ciao"s and he took us to the hotel. Its times like that when... complete strangers open up to you and show you grace and generosity that makes you see what is good in the world... and how 2 groups of people...who seemingly have nothing in common, not even language, can communicate and seem to understand each other. Emily and I agree that this was one of the best things that has happened to us on our trip...we are so appreciative of what they did for us... and thank God for their graciousness! we just couldnt believe it...it really felt like an unreal that these people were being so kind. We are going to try to find a way to get them some sort of gift basket or something and bring it to them (if we can find that house again)...hopefully that will work out.
Today...had breakfast at our hotel (btw...it is the CUTEST little place... its a bed and breakfast) and then spent a majority of the day trying to figure out the bus system in this town in order to get to the beach. first of all, none of the times and bus lines or bus stops seem to be acurate...haha.. but we eventually got it figured out and we spent most of the afternoon on the beach. it wasnt as PRETTY as the beaches on mykonos...but it was nice and quiet. this town is pretty strange. its like in the middle of no where (between rome and tuscanny... all the buildings look like they were built in pre-roman times. its not very touristy.. and thats nice to just be in a small town in the middle of nowhere...in ITALY :) there are only 2 "internet points" in this whole town... and neither of them are very close to us... so we might not be online to blog everyday... but our plan is.. staying here until sunday... then catching a train to the airport, then flying to that town outside of Barcelona..where we will have to catch a bus to Barcelona....then school starts monday!
oh yeah..one thing i must mention. EVERY single place we have been...we have somehow heard a justin timberlake song on the radio or on tv or something. hes following us. i think its a sign. i love him. ahhhh... haha...enough about that
emily has also started giving me little spanish lessons late at night before we go to sleep--to try and help me with the basics so i wont be totally lost and overwhelmed when i get there. i probably will be anyway...but at least i will know the days of the week and how to ask where is the bathroom :) well... my time is up at the little internet cafe... more later when we can.
love!
here are a few pictures i found online of Tarquinia...
.JPG)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
chips and a gadget!
another day another dollar. make that a lot of dollars. no...make that euros.
we figured out what we are doing today...for the next few days until we get to Barcelona (and ive got to start saying it "barthelona"...cause thats how they say it there..so weird") Anyway... we are going to a cute little beach town on the west coast of italy for 3 days.. its called Tarquina...and we will be on the beach and just relaxing in this little town from thursday-sunday. then....we have a flight to barcelona... EXCEPT... we realized after we booked our flight... that it really isnt barcelona... its a town 2 hours away.. the airline tricked us!! it said "barcelona-girona" and we just figured that was the name of the airport or something...but no... its a town a couple hours away... and we will have to take a bus to actual barcelona. i felt a little decieved. oh well.
yesterday.. a good chunk of our day was dedicated to going to Vatican City. we have heard that people can wait 4 hours in line just to get in...but our tour guide told us that if you go at a certain time (1:30) the line is pretty short...and we only waited probably 10 min (to get in).
the museum was massive! i think we heard there were 1400 different rooms... so crazy... we had a little audio guide, but we were still pretty overwhelmed by everything. one of the things we got a big kick out of were these little "dont fall down the steps" signs that were everywhere...not sure why...but everytme we saw it...we couldnt stop laughing.
the end of the museum is the Sistene Chapel. wow. thats all i can really say about that.
from the chapel....we also learned from a tour guide on a previous day that you dont go out where it says "exit" but you go out another exit it leads straight to St Peters Basilica instead of having to go outside and wait in line again for that. it lead us straight to the underground part of it...where the tombs of all (or most..not sure) of the previous popes are. it was really crazy to believe how much history was in the room... so many leaders who have done so many things throughout the church...all right there. one dissapointing thing about being down there... was how disrespectful people were being. there were very clear signs saying that it should be silent...and people were being very chatty anyway...
here are some pics of some of the tombs. the first one is Pope John Paul II. this was really crazy for me...to see the tomb of a pope that i had grown up hearing his name all the time and seeing on the news and everywhere. people were still laying flowers on his tomb.
the next one is of the disciple Peter..who the catholic church calls the first pope. the basilica is named after him because it was built around his tomb. it was breathtaking to see that... someone who knew Jesus personally... his body was right there. it just was a little overwhelming for me.
the next picture is of a pope (of Pope Pius X ...but its also an example of how most of the tombs looked)
after the downstairs part with the tombs, we actually went into the church, st. peters basilica. it is HUGE... i can now say ive been to the largest church in the world. there is just so much to it... it feels neverending. but really awe-inspiring and beautiful.
last night we webt to dinner... and after my last experience with paying for bread (and seeing brads comment how you just dont eat it if you dont want to pay for it) -- the bread came out and we didnt eat it... and at the end of our meal they took it away (made me wonder...im sure the re-used it for someone else... thats pretty gross..they dont know if we touched it or not). anyway.. when it came time to pay...we saw a charge for something we didnt understand.. and when we asked about it they said it was a COVER CHARGE for the table!!!! not a service charge...that was already included..but a charge to sit down at a table! whos ever heard of such a thing!
today...we went on a search for a camera store (no luck...think we are gonna have to order a charger online or something) and a post office....and then we went to the Spanish Steps (and the Piazza di Spagna)
...then went to the Villa Borghese ..which is suppppposed to be these beautiful gardens. but its august...and all we saw was a bunch of brown grass...haha..maybe we missed something. we also discovered this little underground mall at the main train station at rome... so that was fun to walk around today and go to some of the shops and the grocery store there...(we are buying our own fruits/snacks to save up for the day).
we leave rome in the morning! its been good... really good to us. both of us are glad that we stayed around and got to relax and get a feel for the city the way we did..intsead of running around like a bunch of rushed tourists... we got to take in the city leisurely, at our own pace...and really started to understand our way around this place!
we figured out what we are doing today...for the next few days until we get to Barcelona (and ive got to start saying it "barthelona"...cause thats how they say it there..so weird") Anyway... we are going to a cute little beach town on the west coast of italy for 3 days.. its called Tarquina...and we will be on the beach and just relaxing in this little town from thursday-sunday. then....we have a flight to barcelona... EXCEPT... we realized after we booked our flight... that it really isnt barcelona... its a town 2 hours away.. the airline tricked us!! it said "barcelona-girona" and we just figured that was the name of the airport or something...but no... its a town a couple hours away... and we will have to take a bus to actual barcelona. i felt a little decieved. oh well.
yesterday.. a good chunk of our day was dedicated to going to Vatican City. we have heard that people can wait 4 hours in line just to get in...but our tour guide told us that if you go at a certain time (1:30) the line is pretty short...and we only waited probably 10 min (to get in).
the museum was massive! i think we heard there were 1400 different rooms... so crazy... we had a little audio guide, but we were still pretty overwhelmed by everything. one of the things we got a big kick out of were these little "dont fall down the steps" signs that were everywhere...not sure why...but everytme we saw it...we couldnt stop laughing.
the end of the museum is the Sistene Chapel. wow. thats all i can really say about that.
from the chapel....we also learned from a tour guide on a previous day that you dont go out where it says "exit" but you go out another exit it leads straight to St Peters Basilica instead of having to go outside and wait in line again for that. it lead us straight to the underground part of it...where the tombs of all (or most..not sure) of the previous popes are. it was really crazy to believe how much history was in the room... so many leaders who have done so many things throughout the church...all right there. one dissapointing thing about being down there... was how disrespectful people were being. there were very clear signs saying that it should be silent...and people were being very chatty anyway...
here are some pics of some of the tombs. the first one is Pope John Paul II. this was really crazy for me...to see the tomb of a pope that i had grown up hearing his name all the time and seeing on the news and everywhere. people were still laying flowers on his tomb.
the next one is of the disciple Peter..who the catholic church calls the first pope. the basilica is named after him because it was built around his tomb. it was breathtaking to see that... someone who knew Jesus personally... his body was right there. it just was a little overwhelming for me.
the next picture is of a pope (of Pope Pius X ...but its also an example of how most of the tombs looked)
after the downstairs part with the tombs, we actually went into the church, st. peters basilica. it is HUGE... i can now say ive been to the largest church in the world. there is just so much to it... it feels neverending. but really awe-inspiring and beautiful.
last night we webt to dinner... and after my last experience with paying for bread (and seeing brads comment how you just dont eat it if you dont want to pay for it) -- the bread came out and we didnt eat it... and at the end of our meal they took it away (made me wonder...im sure the re-used it for someone else... thats pretty gross..they dont know if we touched it or not). anyway.. when it came time to pay...we saw a charge for something we didnt understand.. and when we asked about it they said it was a COVER CHARGE for the table!!!! not a service charge...that was already included..but a charge to sit down at a table! whos ever heard of such a thing!
today...we went on a search for a camera store (no luck...think we are gonna have to order a charger online or something) and a post office....and then we went to the Spanish Steps (and the Piazza di Spagna)
...then went to the Villa Borghese ..which is suppppposed to be these beautiful gardens. but its august...and all we saw was a bunch of brown grass...haha..maybe we missed something. we also discovered this little underground mall at the main train station at rome... so that was fun to walk around today and go to some of the shops and the grocery store there...(we are buying our own fruits/snacks to save up for the day).
we leave rome in the morning! its been good... really good to us. both of us are glad that we stayed around and got to relax and get a feel for the city the way we did..intsead of running around like a bunch of rushed tourists... we got to take in the city leisurely, at our own pace...and really started to understand our way around this place!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
titolo (italian for title)
hmm alright -- a few things.
we really pretty much made yesterday a "day of rest" too... its just so nice to be in one spot and not have to be rushing around everywhere. Although, we did have to change to a different hotel. say goodbye to our little apartment with a kitchen...they had apparently already booked it before we decided we wanted to stay longer. sooo... we got a new hotel and found out that it was about a mile away..and then packed everything back up into our backpacks and walked on over to our new room. its actually not bad... its not in a quiet neighborhood like our apartment, its on a busier more "happening" streeet...but its also walking distance to everything we need! (internet cafe is next door!)
as we were walking around yesterday... we came across the Piazza della Repubblica, one of Romes more noble open spaces. In the middle is a gorgeous fountain with naked nymphs with swans. the fountain was built fairly recently, by roman standards. according to a guidebook, the women who modeled for the nymphs were a pair of sisters, two popular burlesque dancers of their day. they gained a bit of notoriety when the fountain was completed...the church tried for months to prevent the thing from being unveiled because it was too sexy. the sisters lived well into old age, and even as late as the 1920s these two old ladies could be seen walking together everyday into the piazza to have a took at "their" fountain..and every year, once a year, for as long as he lived, the french sculptor who had captured them in marble during their prime would come to rome and take the sisters out to lunch, where they would reminisce together about the days when they were all so young and beautiful.
soo..if you know much of anything about me or emily...you probably know we looooove reading. big time nerds really. anyway...when we were trying to "pack light" each of us only brought two books for our trip...which really...we should have known better. we have read our books and each others books...and we NEEDED to each have another book (in english) for the time being. we went on a hunt and found an international bookstore with a goodsized english section. yay!! by the way...the books that we have read so far on the trip, we HIGHLY recommend...definitely some of our favorite books so far. if you read...you should check out
Eat, Pray, Love - by Elizabth Gilbert
The Kite Runner - by Khaled Hosseini
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
so we each got a new book (the new hosseini book "a thousand splendid suns" for me, and "inheritance of loss" for emily...both supposed to be good!)
another thing... we found a use for the duct tape that everyone said you should pack in a backpacking trip...lydia told me "you never know what youll need it for..but you probably will" or something along those lines... so i went and bought some duct tape...and sure enough -- last night we used it! we have to use a converter to plug in anything we brought over into these european outlets (like the camera battery charger). anyway...it wouldnt all stay up on the wall and it kept falling down...so we taped it to the wall!
speaking of the camera battery....turns out, it wasnt the battery that was bad..its the charger! soo... now we have 2 dead camera batteries and a charger that is apparently broken. blaaah... so we arent sure what to do. i guess try to find a charger somehow.
also... a weird story...emily was trying to use a payphone the other night.. and there was this man at the payphone... and she was standing there..obviously waiting to use the phone.. and the guy just kept on talking..so she went walking around... and eventually, came back to the payphone about an hour later and the man was still there at the phone. But emily said she couldnt even hear the man talking...so she got a little closer...and the man was just standing there...making kissing noises into the phone. she was furious cause all she wanted to do was use the phone and some weirdo was kissing into the phone. i thought it was pretty funny...
yesterday we had pizza and pasta for dinner last night at a place across the street from our new hotel. they brought out bread with the dinner...so we ate it. when we got the bill, they had charged us for the bread! what?? i thought that was very rude...and if i spoke italian i would have said something...but i dont, so we paid and left...oh well.
today we are off to vatican city to see the vatican museum, sistine chapel, st peters basilica...more updates to come later.
love to you all!
we really pretty much made yesterday a "day of rest" too... its just so nice to be in one spot and not have to be rushing around everywhere. Although, we did have to change to a different hotel. say goodbye to our little apartment with a kitchen...they had apparently already booked it before we decided we wanted to stay longer. sooo... we got a new hotel and found out that it was about a mile away..and then packed everything back up into our backpacks and walked on over to our new room. its actually not bad... its not in a quiet neighborhood like our apartment, its on a busier more "happening" streeet...but its also walking distance to everything we need! (internet cafe is next door!)
as we were walking around yesterday... we came across the Piazza della Repubblica, one of Romes more noble open spaces. In the middle is a gorgeous fountain with naked nymphs with swans. the fountain was built fairly recently, by roman standards. according to a guidebook, the women who modeled for the nymphs were a pair of sisters, two popular burlesque dancers of their day. they gained a bit of notoriety when the fountain was completed...the church tried for months to prevent the thing from being unveiled because it was too sexy. the sisters lived well into old age, and even as late as the 1920s these two old ladies could be seen walking together everyday into the piazza to have a took at "their" fountain..and every year, once a year, for as long as he lived, the french sculptor who had captured them in marble during their prime would come to rome and take the sisters out to lunch, where they would reminisce together about the days when they were all so young and beautiful.
soo..if you know much of anything about me or emily...you probably know we looooove reading. big time nerds really. anyway...when we were trying to "pack light" each of us only brought two books for our trip...which really...we should have known better. we have read our books and each others books...and we NEEDED to each have another book (in english) for the time being. we went on a hunt and found an international bookstore with a goodsized english section. yay!! by the way...the books that we have read so far on the trip, we HIGHLY recommend...definitely some of our favorite books so far. if you read...you should check out
Eat, Pray, Love - by Elizabth Gilbert
The Kite Runner - by Khaled Hosseini
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
so we each got a new book (the new hosseini book "a thousand splendid suns" for me, and "inheritance of loss" for emily...both supposed to be good!)
another thing... we found a use for the duct tape that everyone said you should pack in a backpacking trip...lydia told me "you never know what youll need it for..but you probably will" or something along those lines... so i went and bought some duct tape...and sure enough -- last night we used it! we have to use a converter to plug in anything we brought over into these european outlets (like the camera battery charger). anyway...it wouldnt all stay up on the wall and it kept falling down...so we taped it to the wall!
speaking of the camera battery....turns out, it wasnt the battery that was bad..its the charger! soo... now we have 2 dead camera batteries and a charger that is apparently broken. blaaah... so we arent sure what to do. i guess try to find a charger somehow.
also... a weird story...emily was trying to use a payphone the other night.. and there was this man at the payphone... and she was standing there..obviously waiting to use the phone.. and the guy just kept on talking..so she went walking around... and eventually, came back to the payphone about an hour later and the man was still there at the phone. But emily said she couldnt even hear the man talking...so she got a little closer...and the man was just standing there...making kissing noises into the phone. she was furious cause all she wanted to do was use the phone and some weirdo was kissing into the phone. i thought it was pretty funny...
yesterday we had pizza and pasta for dinner last night at a place across the street from our new hotel. they brought out bread with the dinner...so we ate it. when we got the bill, they had charged us for the bread! what?? i thought that was very rude...and if i spoke italian i would have said something...but i dont, so we paid and left...oh well.
today we are off to vatican city to see the vatican museum, sistine chapel, st peters basilica...more updates to come later.
love to you all!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
ice cream of the crispy saint
yesterday was a day packed full of all sorts of touristy siteseeing stuff....and since we had a camera that means lots of pictures!
from our apartment - we walked down to the Colleseum and took it all in... hard to believe that everything we have heard about in history that took place there... that we were actually in that very spot..it wasnt some recreation..we were actually there... crazy to imagine 50,000 people in that place and think about all the craziness that happened there.
our feet...walking on the original 2000 year old marble floor....we thought that was pretty cool..thinking about how many people through the ages have walked on the same marble floor.
texas a&m... on the colloseum. gig em aggies...wow.
emily and i escaping from cages that held lions, tigers, bears, slaves, and gladiators before fights
after that, we walked to the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill...some pics from that...
then... from there we walked even further to the Pantheon
and then over to Trevi Fountain... where it is the custom to throw one coin over your shoulder to ensure a return trip to rome... and a second coin for a wish. here we are in sitting in front of it
at this point...we had seriously walked what felt like 100 miles... we deserved a treat! emily and i both read the book "eat pray love"...basically - this woman raves about this gelato place called "il gelato de san crispino" which we think might translate as "ice cream of the crispy saint"...our europe guide book also said this was the place to go... we were very excited to find it!
then... the long walk home.. we had been walking for hours and hours without resting... and we were totally worn out and everything hurt. we felt like we walked forreeever that day.. emily and i both agreed thats probably the most walking either of us have ever done in one day. we took a picture to show how tired we were...
we came home... and emily made us some spaghetti and we relaxed!! we declared today (sunday) as a day of rest... and thats what weve been doing all day... its been nice! to save money...we went to the grocery store yesterday and we bought groceries for all of our meals...its actually been really nice.
from our apartment - we walked down to the Colleseum and took it all in... hard to believe that everything we have heard about in history that took place there... that we were actually in that very spot..it wasnt some recreation..we were actually there... crazy to imagine 50,000 people in that place and think about all the craziness that happened there.
our feet...walking on the original 2000 year old marble floor....we thought that was pretty cool..thinking about how many people through the ages have walked on the same marble floor.
texas a&m... on the colloseum. gig em aggies...wow.
emily and i escaping from cages that held lions, tigers, bears, slaves, and gladiators before fights
after that, we walked to the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill...some pics from that...
then... from there we walked even further to the Pantheon
and then over to Trevi Fountain... where it is the custom to throw one coin over your shoulder to ensure a return trip to rome... and a second coin for a wish. here we are in sitting in front of it
at this point...we had seriously walked what felt like 100 miles... we deserved a treat! emily and i both read the book "eat pray love"...basically - this woman raves about this gelato place called "il gelato de san crispino" which we think might translate as "ice cream of the crispy saint"...our europe guide book also said this was the place to go... we were very excited to find it!
then... the long walk home.. we had been walking for hours and hours without resting... and we were totally worn out and everything hurt. we felt like we walked forreeever that day.. emily and i both agreed thats probably the most walking either of us have ever done in one day. we took a picture to show how tired we were...
we came home... and emily made us some spaghetti and we relaxed!! we declared today (sunday) as a day of rest... and thats what weve been doing all day... its been nice! to save money...we went to the grocery store yesterday and we bought groceries for all of our meals...its actually been really nice.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
less is more
we got a new camera battery!!!!
okay... first of all...emily and i are in love
with rome.
okay-- we just had a good laugh at that. anyway...we are really really happy with our little apartment, and rome in general --that i think we are gonna stay here even longer.. and cut out some of the other stuff in italy...we are tired of traveling around and we decided that less is more.. and that to really get the most out of a place..we need to stay there for a little while and enjoy it.. and not rush around from place to place. i think we are gonna stay here until thursday --then go to chinque terra for a couple days, then ferry over to barcelona!
here are some pics from our apt.
from the outside.
some pics from the inside
here is a view of our street
last night we walked around and again... had amazing pizza...then -- for the first time in our trip, we had dessert. you cannot go to italy without getting gelato.. and ooooh my goodness it was .
so on this trip -- we have gotten into the habit of going to bed fairly early and getting up early..which isnt really like either one of us..but its really nice to get up early and have the whole day to enjoy...
this morning we walked to the grocery store and bought some groceries for the next few days since we have a fridge to put stuff in. for breakfast we put nuttella on a piece of bread with slices of bananna.
and here is emily... SoooooOOoooo happy we have a new camera battery! just look at that smile.
a cute litte door we came across
okay -- now we are off to do some sightseeing... we will post more updates and pics later!
okay... first of all...emily and i are in love
with rome.
okay-- we just had a good laugh at that. anyway...we are really really happy with our little apartment, and rome in general --that i think we are gonna stay here even longer.. and cut out some of the other stuff in italy...we are tired of traveling around and we decided that less is more.. and that to really get the most out of a place..we need to stay there for a little while and enjoy it.. and not rush around from place to place. i think we are gonna stay here until thursday --then go to chinque terra for a couple days, then ferry over to barcelona!
here are some pics from our apt.
from the outside.
some pics from the inside
here is a view of our street
last night we walked around and again... had amazing pizza...then -- for the first time in our trip, we had dessert. you cannot go to italy without getting gelato.. and ooooh my goodness it was .
so on this trip -- we have gotten into the habit of going to bed fairly early and getting up early..which isnt really like either one of us..but its really nice to get up early and have the whole day to enjoy...
this morning we walked to the grocery store and bought some groceries for the next few days since we have a fridge to put stuff in. for breakfast we put nuttella on a piece of bread with slices of bananna.
and here is emily... SoooooOOoooo happy we have a new camera battery! just look at that smile.
a cute litte door we came across
okay -- now we are off to do some sightseeing... we will post more updates and pics later!
Friday, August 17, 2007
best pizza on EARTH!
hello hello!
emily and i are curretnly sitting in an internet cafe in rome....heeelllo. rome is awesome so far. its just breathtakinly beautiful. we had planned to stay 3 nights ' but now we are gonna try to add a another if possible becaaaaaaaause....
the hotel that we booked...upgraded us to our OWN PRIVATE STUDIO APARTMENT!! and it is soooooooooooooooo cute... i mean --really really cute. we have GOT to figure out this camera situation soon to post pictures...but its in this precious little neighborhood... and you walk into the living room...big queen sized bed, a tv with hundreds of channels, of course there is a bathroom, then has its own kitchen filled with dishes and everything --even a coffee maker!... its so wonderful. really.. hopefully we will be able to work it out where we can stay 4 nights total instead of the 3 we already paid for.whoo hoooo!!
but let me backtrack a little. last night we got into naples and checked into our hostel...then walked around for a while and found a precious little pizza restaurant and we communicated to them that we wanted a pizza to go...they sat us down and while we were waiting for our pizza a PRECIOUS little italian girl just came up to us and sat down at the table... she sat with us until our pizza came (about 10 min) and talked to us in the little english she knew..she was facsinated with the bracelets we each had on (i had 2 silver ones from james avery and emily had some beads from africa) --she just kept looking at them longingly saying "bella...bella" and tried them on several times... hmm here is a time to insert just how darling little italian children are... makes me want one --not to have one of my own ..but get one already speaking italian. theres just somethiung about that language that is so beautiful --and everyone who speaks it..speaks so passionately! anyway --we left our cute little 8 year old friend and went back to the hostel to eat our pizza. one word for pizza from Naples: AMAZING. in every sense of the word..oh my gosh. let me remind you...the best pizza in the world comes from italy.. and the best pizza in italy is from naples. we had the best pizza in the freakin world!!okay-- enough about pizza... (one more thing,nashville friends...will mafiaozas ever be the same to me?)
this morning we got up early and took a train to Pompeii... wow. it was something else. we took a guided tour (in english) and it was so worth it... it was sooo cool to see the ruins of an entire community left behind from almost 2 thousand years ago.
anyway...we got back from pompeii and after some frustration at the train station... we finally got tickets to rome (and we told the guy we wanted it"cheap" and he laughed and gave us the discount for children!).... the trainride was about 2 hours long... good time for some reading.
we are reallllly excited about our time in rome! there is sooo much to do and see --i just hope we can fit it all in and still have a relaxing/enjoyable time. we enjoy your comments and emails and messages!! keep them coming! love love love!!
--brooke and emily
emily and i are curretnly sitting in an internet cafe in rome....heeelllo. rome is awesome so far. its just breathtakinly beautiful. we had planned to stay 3 nights ' but now we are gonna try to add a another if possible becaaaaaaaause....
the hotel that we booked...upgraded us to our OWN PRIVATE STUDIO APARTMENT!! and it is soooooooooooooooo cute... i mean --really really cute. we have GOT to figure out this camera situation soon to post pictures...but its in this precious little neighborhood... and you walk into the living room...big queen sized bed, a tv with hundreds of channels, of course there is a bathroom, then has its own kitchen filled with dishes and everything --even a coffee maker!... its so wonderful. really.. hopefully we will be able to work it out where we can stay 4 nights total instead of the 3 we already paid for.whoo hoooo!!
but let me backtrack a little. last night we got into naples and checked into our hostel...then walked around for a while and found a precious little pizza restaurant and we communicated to them that we wanted a pizza to go...they sat us down and while we were waiting for our pizza a PRECIOUS little italian girl just came up to us and sat down at the table... she sat with us until our pizza came (about 10 min) and talked to us in the little english she knew..she was facsinated with the bracelets we each had on (i had 2 silver ones from james avery and emily had some beads from africa) --she just kept looking at them longingly saying "bella...bella" and tried them on several times... hmm here is a time to insert just how darling little italian children are... makes me want one --not to have one of my own ..but get one already speaking italian. theres just somethiung about that language that is so beautiful --and everyone who speaks it..speaks so passionately! anyway --we left our cute little 8 year old friend and went back to the hostel to eat our pizza. one word for pizza from Naples: AMAZING. in every sense of the word..oh my gosh. let me remind you...the best pizza in the world comes from italy.. and the best pizza in italy is from naples. we had the best pizza in the freakin world!!okay-- enough about pizza... (one more thing,nashville friends...will mafiaozas ever be the same to me?)
this morning we got up early and took a train to Pompeii... wow. it was something else. we took a guided tour (in english) and it was so worth it... it was sooo cool to see the ruins of an entire community left behind from almost 2 thousand years ago.
anyway...we got back from pompeii and after some frustration at the train station... we finally got tickets to rome (and we told the guy we wanted it"cheap" and he laughed and gave us the discount for children!).... the trainride was about 2 hours long... good time for some reading.
we are reallllly excited about our time in rome! there is sooo much to do and see --i just hope we can fit it all in and still have a relaxing/enjoyable time. we enjoy your comments and emails and messages!! keep them coming! love love love!!
--brooke and emily
Thursday, August 16, 2007
italia!!
oooh man. Italy - here we are. we are wooooorn out. our overnight ferry from Athens to Italy was amaaaaaaaaazing. ive never been on a cruise-- but emily said it was like a cruise ship -- so big and really really nice...it had showers, bars, restaurants, a pool, sauna, jacuzi, cafes, shops.... and we actually got a good nights sleep!
bad news... emilys camera battery has lost its life. the charger cant bring it back to life. its gone.... so we have still got to figure out what to do about that.try to find a place to buy a new battery ...or get a disposable or something... in other sad news.. in the great wave that washed away our pickles...it also soaked our purses and emilys phone we think is also broken... not that it would have worked here anyway -- but itjust sucks she probably lost all her numbers and is another something she will have to deal with when she gets back home.
we met a friend from switzerland at the bus stop in mykonos - he just happened to be going to the over night ferry to athens as well...so when we actually got to athens we hung out with him for part of the day until we each took our separate ferries to different parts of italy
on the ferry last night ' we thought about trying to sneak in one of the unused cabin rooms for the night... our plan was foiled when we opened up what we thought was an empty room and there was a man in there looking at us like we were crazy... we said ''wrong room wrong room!!'' then ran away giggling like a couple of teenage girls.. haha -- oh well. we tried. our lounge seats though were nice... we were each supposed to have one (obviously) but the ferry wasnt very full and we were the first stop to get on... so we each took up 3 seats to lay across and sleep... it was a dark and quiet room and we slept really well.
so -- this morning we arive in Bari. uhm - i know this muuust be a shock to most of you...but people DONT SPEAK ENGLISH here.. and its confusing!! in greece-- most everything was also written in english ' and we got around pretty easily....but here -- not at all...and not very many people speak it at all... but we are making it work. even if it means walking around lost for hours... we are figuring it out :) we also met a couple other travelers today, one from germany and the other from spain.. nice girls and they were with us for a little bit while we were trying to figure out how to get around...
we took a bus from bari to Naples (Napoli as it is called here)...walked around for a long time in search of our hostel... and now -- here wer are! tomorrow morning we are off to Pompeii and then onto Roma! we are exhausted... but having such a blast -- and learning many lessons along the way. mostly how to be an adult and figure out what to do in stressful situations and how to react when things dont go as planned. so... while at times it has been hard, physically and emotionally -- it is overall great! weve been gone a week now... 5 more to go! we miss you guys...
--brooke and emily
bad news... emilys camera battery has lost its life. the charger cant bring it back to life. its gone.... so we have still got to figure out what to do about that.try to find a place to buy a new battery ...or get a disposable or something... in other sad news.. in the great wave that washed away our pickles...it also soaked our purses and emilys phone we think is also broken... not that it would have worked here anyway -- but itjust sucks she probably lost all her numbers and is another something she will have to deal with when she gets back home.
we met a friend from switzerland at the bus stop in mykonos - he just happened to be going to the over night ferry to athens as well...so when we actually got to athens we hung out with him for part of the day until we each took our separate ferries to different parts of italy
on the ferry last night ' we thought about trying to sneak in one of the unused cabin rooms for the night... our plan was foiled when we opened up what we thought was an empty room and there was a man in there looking at us like we were crazy... we said ''wrong room wrong room!!'' then ran away giggling like a couple of teenage girls.. haha -- oh well. we tried. our lounge seats though were nice... we were each supposed to have one (obviously) but the ferry wasnt very full and we were the first stop to get on... so we each took up 3 seats to lay across and sleep... it was a dark and quiet room and we slept really well.
so -- this morning we arive in Bari. uhm - i know this muuust be a shock to most of you...but people DONT SPEAK ENGLISH here.. and its confusing!! in greece-- most everything was also written in english ' and we got around pretty easily....but here -- not at all...and not very many people speak it at all... but we are making it work. even if it means walking around lost for hours... we are figuring it out :) we also met a couple other travelers today, one from germany and the other from spain.. nice girls and they were with us for a little bit while we were trying to figure out how to get around...
we took a bus from bari to Naples (Napoli as it is called here)...walked around for a long time in search of our hostel... and now -- here wer are! tomorrow morning we are off to Pompeii and then onto Roma! we are exhausted... but having such a blast -- and learning many lessons along the way. mostly how to be an adult and figure out what to do in stressful situations and how to react when things dont go as planned. so... while at times it has been hard, physically and emotionally -- it is overall great! weve been gone a week now... 5 more to go! we miss you guys...
--brooke and emily
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Patra
well... we dont have a lot of time - so i will try to make this quick!
we spent all day at the beach yesterday at the beach again... which was great...unfortunately, i am feeling the effects of it today. i am sunburnt pretty bad on my face and chest and randomly...around my ankles. it has caused my ankles to swell and they are really red - emily thinks it could be an infection from a sunburn. we are gonna try to put benadryl or something on it first before i take any anti-biotics and see if that helps. but -- carrying around that heavy backpack on my burnt shoulders has been pretty miserable.
anyway - we rode an overnight ferry last night to Athens...then took a train to Patra today. It was a really cool train ride...went along the southern coast of greece -- it was the beach out our window the entire way - beautiful! it was a reaaally bumpy ride... but it made it seem more of an authentic ride. hah.
we are about to board our ferry here...for a 17 hour ferry ride (overnight) to the southern part of Italy, where from there...we will take a bus or train to Naples.
we have been buying food from the market the past few days to eat on the beach instead of paying to eat out. so yesterday -- we boughta loaf of fresh bread, cheese, meat... and a jar of pickles! we were laying out... and all of a sudden we got drenched! the waves had come in and covered alll of our stuff. i had to chase my flip flops into the water then they got washed somewhere down shore. our bread got soaked...and so did our purses...anyway - later we were sitting down to eat and we realized our pickles were missing! our pickles got washed away by the waves... maybe they will wash up some where and someone can enjoy them...who knows.
well - we are about to board the ferry - gotta go now
love to you all!
--brooke and em
we spent all day at the beach yesterday at the beach again... which was great...unfortunately, i am feeling the effects of it today. i am sunburnt pretty bad on my face and chest and randomly...around my ankles. it has caused my ankles to swell and they are really red - emily thinks it could be an infection from a sunburn. we are gonna try to put benadryl or something on it first before i take any anti-biotics and see if that helps. but -- carrying around that heavy backpack on my burnt shoulders has been pretty miserable.
anyway - we rode an overnight ferry last night to Athens...then took a train to Patra today. It was a really cool train ride...went along the southern coast of greece -- it was the beach out our window the entire way - beautiful! it was a reaaally bumpy ride... but it made it seem more of an authentic ride. hah.
we are about to board our ferry here...for a 17 hour ferry ride (overnight) to the southern part of Italy, where from there...we will take a bus or train to Naples.
we have been buying food from the market the past few days to eat on the beach instead of paying to eat out. so yesterday -- we boughta loaf of fresh bread, cheese, meat... and a jar of pickles! we were laying out... and all of a sudden we got drenched! the waves had come in and covered alll of our stuff. i had to chase my flip flops into the water then they got washed somewhere down shore. our bread got soaked...and so did our purses...anyway - later we were sitting down to eat and we realized our pickles were missing! our pickles got washed away by the waves... maybe they will wash up some where and someone can enjoy them...who knows.
well - we are about to board the ferry - gotta go now
love to you all!
--brooke and em
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
the case of the missing tent
yesterday was probably one of the most perfect days ever. we had that wonderful breakfast at the cafe on the sea..then spent all day at the BEST beach. we found another beach that wasnt so "party-time" -it was really laid back and just..ahhh perfect. The water was so warm and the perfect shade of blue/green and there was a nice breeze all day. We laid out and swam in the sea all day and well into the evening... the Agean Sea people!! the Agean Sea... we were swimming in the Agean Sea. so - its totally not uncommon for the women to be topless at the beaches (i was told to expect this) - its funny how little people wear! no tops, g string bikinis and the men in speedos (uhm...a little eww on that one). its all great though - because we are here. in Mykonos --in Greece.
So - after our amazing day on the beach... we went to a little cafe on the beach and had some wine and stuffed grape leaves and listened to some live Greek music. it was quite nice... then we did a little walk back to the beach where we were camping... and that invloved a little bit of in the dark, flip flop wearing rock climbing -- but we made it :)
so we arrive back at the camp area to find that our TENT IS MISSING!!! all the other tents around it are still there -- but ours is gone. we are just completely confused... did someone steal it? we didnt know... -- But a group of guys, who did not spend ANY english (one said "i speak school english only") tried to help us out -- one of them found the tent -- folded up back in its case (with our sweatshirts still inside...folded up)all neatly packagaed up -- behind some garbage cans -- we are still totally confused as to what happened...who took it down and folded it up.. and why. Anyway - the nice and a little overly friendly (drunk) boys were a huge help in setting up the tent again for us. When they went away... a boy that had helped us that wasnt with the group of them came us to us. he literally spoke no english at all -- but he conveyed to us using gestures and saying "italians... alcohol" -- then tried his best to tell us we needed to move our tent to another location so the drunk italians wouldnt come back from partying and try to bother us.... and he was pretty insistent. maybe he understood italian and heard them say something along those lines.... Anyway - we thought it sounded like a good idea and moved our tent to a new location and got another night of sleep on the ground with nmo blankets or pillows :)
today we are going back to our favorite beach to lounge around and swim all day until we have to catch an overnight ferry back to Athens... we will get there tomorrow morning - then takebus to the western side of greece to catch another overnight ferry to Italy! so --its possible we may not be updating for a few days.
So - after our amazing day on the beach... we went to a little cafe on the beach and had some wine and stuffed grape leaves and listened to some live Greek music. it was quite nice... then we did a little walk back to the beach where we were camping... and that invloved a little bit of in the dark, flip flop wearing rock climbing -- but we made it :)
so we arrive back at the camp area to find that our TENT IS MISSING!!! all the other tents around it are still there -- but ours is gone. we are just completely confused... did someone steal it? we didnt know... -- But a group of guys, who did not spend ANY english (one said "i speak school english only") tried to help us out -- one of them found the tent -- folded up back in its case (with our sweatshirts still inside...folded up)all neatly packagaed up -- behind some garbage cans -- we are still totally confused as to what happened...who took it down and folded it up.. and why. Anyway - the nice and a little overly friendly (drunk) boys were a huge help in setting up the tent again for us. When they went away... a boy that had helped us that wasnt with the group of them came us to us. he literally spoke no english at all -- but he conveyed to us using gestures and saying "italians... alcohol" -- then tried his best to tell us we needed to move our tent to another location so the drunk italians wouldnt come back from partying and try to bother us.... and he was pretty insistent. maybe he understood italian and heard them say something along those lines.... Anyway - we thought it sounded like a good idea and moved our tent to a new location and got another night of sleep on the ground with nmo blankets or pillows :)
today we are going back to our favorite beach to lounge around and swim all day until we have to catch an overnight ferry back to Athens... we will get there tomorrow morning - then takebus to the western side of greece to catch another overnight ferry to Italy! so --its possible we may not be updating for a few days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)