Amsterdam and Bruges trip

On Friday we left for Amsterdam at 5:15 am, we got on the bus around 6:20 to Dover to take a ferry from Dover to Calais. From Calais we drove through Belgium to the Netherlands. Finally after about 12 hours we arrived in Amsterdam. First we went on a boat cruise of the canal which was really nice and Amsterdam is really a beautiful city. I was shocked to see how many people were out riding bikes, literally EVERYONE there rides bikes, they even have bike parking garages instead of car parking garages. After the tour we went to our hostel, which ended up being upstairs from a bar. Our hostel was decent, but ofcourse I still slept over the covers with a hood on and a towel on my pillow just incase of lice or bed bugs. Then we went on a tour of the Red Light district, which was definitely an experience and slightly disturbing. After that we went out for chinese food for dinner and had a waffle with fruit and whipped cream for dessert. Then we went to the bar in our hostel and went to bed.

On Saturday we woke up early to go to a clog making factory and a cheese making factory. They were both really cool. Then we went to the Anne Frank house which was really sad but it was really interesting to see what the annex actually looked like because I read her diary so it was unreal to see what her life was actually like. For lunch we went to a pancake place where they had savory and sweet pancakes, I had a ham and cheese pancake that was really good (they were more like crepes). Then we went back to the hotel and went souvenir shopping and got ready for dinner. We went to a traditional dutch restaurant for dinner where I had pea soup (but ofcourse it didn't compare to Mammy's). Then we went on a Pub Crawl (where you go with a group to many different bars during the night) we only went to 4 of the bars and then decided to go back to the hostel because the bars were so crowded because there were 100+ people on the pub crawl with us.

On Sunday we left in the morning for Bruges. We only spent a few hours there but it was really beautiful and quaint. We had lunch there and all got belgian waffles which were supeior to dutch waffles. Then we went to a beglian chocolate factory on the way home and prepared for a long journey back to London. It was a really fun trip!

Venice

Our gondolier
Danielle and I on the gondola

From Florence we took a train to Venice. Getting off the train in Venice we were in for a surpise, expecting to take a taxi to our hotel as we had in the other two cities we were shocked to find out that there were no taxis in Venice--- only water taxis. There are absolutely NO cars or mopeds in Venice. There aren't even any streets. Just tiny windy roads surrounded by water because the city is sinking. Public transportation is by boat, as are taxis, police, and ambulences. We took the public transportation boat to the port closest to our hotel and walked to our hotel from there. Our hotel was even nicer than the first two! We went to San Marco Square and looked at all the Venetian glass shops and I had incredible Sicilian pizza! Then we went on a Gondola ride which was really fun! After we went back to the hotel for a bit and then went to dinner where I had spaghetti in a cream sauce with clams. For dessert I had a hot chocolate which was really thick like pudding and absolutely delicious! The next morning we ate our complementary breakfast complete with blood orange juice (which is a million times better than orange juice) and italian pasteries. We then walked to the train station just outside of Venice and took a bus to the Marco Polo airport. From the airport we flew back to Gatwick concluding our wonderful Italian trip!

Florence

Me at Piazzale Michaelangelo

Canoli!

Gnocchi!

Bridge with jewelry shops

From Rome we took a train to Florence. In Florence we had a beautiful hotel right in the center of the city. Florence was much more manageable than Rome and was absolutely beautiful. We were able to easily walk everywhere. On our first day we went shopping in a market place and I bought a scarf. Then we went out for lunch and I had ravioli. From there we went to a bridge with lots of jewelry shops. After shopping we went to the city center and had dinner at this restaurant called Donnini. It was the best food I've ever had. I ordered gnocchi with pesto, and they gave us free bread and a free glass of wine. I had Cianti and surprisingly I liked it! The waiter told us that the restaurant owned a bar called Amadaeus near by and if we went there and told them we ate dinner there we'd get a free drink. We went for canoli's at this cute little pastery shop in the center and then went to the bar and they had live music, a guy around our age who was American playing piano and singing. He was pretty good and it was a lot of fun. We got a lot of free drinks from the bar and we made friends with the singer. It was a really fun night.

The next morning we slept in and then went shopping again the market place. We stopped by a sandwhich shop for lunch and I had a fresh mozzerella and spinach sandwhich. Then we went for a bus tour of Florence where we stopped at Piazzale Michalangelo which has a beautiful view of all of Florence. After the tour we decided to relive the night before and went to Donnini again for dinner, this time I had eggplant parmasean which was incredible, another canoli, and drinks at Amadeaus. Florence was absolutely incredible and by far my favorite part of the trip!

When in Rome...

Enjoying Roman Water
In front of the Colosseum with Jordan

In front of Trevi Fountain

The Colosseum

The girls in front of the Roman Forum

Me and Tara at the Vatican

The Vatican

The Campground

Our Bungalo

We spent our first two days of our tour of Italy in Rome. We flew from Gatwick Airport in London to Rome Fiumicino and from there took a taxi to our hostel. When we showed the taxi driver the address to our hostel Plus Roma he said "Oh camping." We didn't know exactly what he meant by this, but we were soon to find out. When we arrived at our hostel which was on the outskirts of Rome we found out that it was not quite a hostel but instead a camp ground where we would be staying in a bungalo (basically a trailer with 2 beds and a bathroom that would shake if someone took a shower or flushed or a toilet or just randomly throughout the night). It was definitely an experience. The staff was really helpful though and gave us a map and directions to where we wanted to go. We went to a cute typical italian restaurant where I had a rice ball (with mozzerella, tomato and beef) and a ham, mozzerella and ricotta calzone. The food was delicious and we couldn't help ourselves from stopping for gelato on the way back, I got chocolate- it was so rich and tasted almost like fudge it was amazing. Then we got a taxi back (because the buses were way to confusing at night and the metro in Rome isn't very extensive because of all the ancient ruins). We went the bar at the camp ground and got a drink and then went to bed (with towels on our pillows ofcourse in case there was lice and unfortuantley without heat).

The next morning we woke up lice free (I hope), and went to Vatican City. It was absolutely beautiful inside. We went to the Sistine Chapel and walked around for a little bit. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to spend there because we had a tour at 2 that day. We took the metro from the Vatican to Colosseus and when we got out of the metro station right in front of us was the Colosseum. It was HUGE (hence the name). We went to a near by outdoor restaurant for pizza and then sat outside by the Colosseum until our tour began. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Our tour was of Ancient Rome and was 3 hours long- it was the best tour I've ever been on. Our tour guide was an archeologist and was really knowledgeable and interesting. We went to the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, the Pantheon and Treviy Fountain. They were all really cool and the ancient aspects of the city were so striking. One cool thing about Rome that I learned is the tap water there tastes like bottled water- they have bubblers that are constantly running throughout Rome and the water tastes amazing. After the tour we went to Trastevere (a place with a lot of restaurants) and went to a wine bar and split a bottle of Italian white wine- I never liked white wine before but now i really like it- at the wine bar we ran into a group of CAPA students who were on Spring break there. Then we went to dinner where i had lasagna and garlic and olive oil brushetta and met up with my friend Cara who is studying abroad in Rome. Then we went to Sloppy Sam's at Campo Di Fiori (a place with a lot of bars) which was an American style bar with outdoor seating and we had a drink there and then headed back to the campground for our final night in Rome. The next morning we headed to the train station on our way to Florence...