When In Paderno...

Sienna, Italy

2009-05-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

After spending another night in Stockholm, we slept in a while before waking up and getting some lunch at the train station. Then, we went to the airport and flew back to Italy – Milan to be exact. It was already around seven by the time we arrived, so there wasn’t much to do. We went ahead and checked into our hotel and asked for a good restaurant. We ended up eating at really good place just a block away. It seemed to be really popular and clams seemed to be the main dish that people were eating, but we didn’t join in on the clam consumption. The next morning we caught a train to Florence at 8:30 and dropped off our luggage at our old hostel Archi Rosi before heading to Sienna. The train ride was really pretty since everything had completely bloomed and green. We had quite a walk to get to the city center, but it was a nice walk. The scenery was really pretty on the way up.

The first thing we passed was the Fortezza Medicea or the Fort of Santa Barbara thought we didn’t know what it was at the time because we didn’t have a map.

Next we saw the Basilica or Saint Catherine. It was very empty inside and though the outside was kinda cool, overall it was not very impressive.

Finally we made it to the city center at the Piazza del Campo. It is said to be one of the most famous piazzas in the world and it was originally a meadow. We sat there for a bit with everyone else and had fun taking stupid pictures.

Our next stop was at the Il Duomo. It was beautiful, one of our favorites. It was the same marble color scheme as the one in Florence, but this one seemed to be decorated much more than the others.

Our final stop in Sienna, the Orto Botanico, was my favorite. It was a botanical garden consisting of some two thousand plants. The plants themselves were pretty ,but the view from the hill it was on was even better. From there we got a great view of the outline of the city wall and into the countryside.

When we got back to our hostel, we ate dinner provided by it for free and then did some laundry and internet stuff before hitting the hay.

Stockholm, Sweden

2009-05-01T14:55:00.001-07:00

Day 1
So we arrived at like 6:10 in the morning after a horrible night on the stupid night bus. Never again will we do that. The bus was just a charter bus and was packed full, and to our horror we had to put our bags under the bus (even our backpacks). All we could think about was that they were gonna get stolen just like our friends had. We left Oslo at 11 and we seriously stopped at least one time every hour until we arrived in Stockholm. All our necks had cricks in them, our backs hurt, and we were tired beyond belief. Basically it just sucked big time. But we were at our destination with all our stuff safe and sound. We got metro passes and headed straight to our hostel with the knowledge that they weren’t gonna let us into our room until 3 that afternoon. When we got there a little before 7 we found that it didn’t even open until 8 so we were stranded for an hour. Luckily there was a McDonald’s only a block away so we ended up eating breakfast and chilling there until we were allowed to check our luggage at the hostel. Our first thing to do in Stockholm was surprisingly going to IKEA.

If you don’t know, Rachel is extremely obsessed with IKEA and Kyle isn’t too far off but that is only part of the reason we went there. IKEA was actually started in Sweden in one of the smallest towns in the country. We got to go to like the biggest one here. It was a huge five story building and had a lot more stuff then what our have in America.

After spending a while there we got hungry and went to eat. We went to a Mexican food buffet for lunch. It was cheap and tasted ok, nothing as good as ours though. After lunch we went to the old town to do some sightseeing. Old town was neat but not very pretty. Even the royal palace wasn’t very cool looking but the guards were cool. We liked their uniforms which were blue and white and their guns with bayonets.

Rachel’s bag has been slowly, well, falling apart on her and we found a really cheap yet good bag to replace it. She decided to look around the town some more before getting it though, just to make sure it was the best deal. Kyle also found something he liked at a souvenir store but we hadn’t got any cash out yet and it didnt cost enought to use his credit card so he decided to wait too. We had decided to make dinner since our hostel had a nice kitchen. After we were finished looking around in old town we went to a grocery store and got some stuff for dinner. Completely exhausted by this point we were pretty much bums for the rest of the night. We all spent time checking our email and such since we had been deprived of it for so long. Once we were hungry we started cooking but Kyle ended up doing it as Rachel and I were sent out to get something to drink with it, something we had totally forgot about while at the store. We had some pasta with stuff kinda like Ragu (but not really) with some chicken and some bread. Oh yeah, we had to get a 4 person room and the fourth person showed up. He was an older dude, like in his forties, but he was nice. Finally we all passed out after a long, long day.

Day 2
Today we had one of the most fun days so far. We slept in just a little bit and then went to the Skansen for like 5 hours or more. The Skansen is an open air museum where historical buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries have been relocated from around the country. They made it into a replica of how the towns would be and even had craftsmen in the classic dress that would demonstrate how they would tan hides, make shoes, glow glass, as well as how the general stores were run, how they made furniture, and industrial machines among other things. We didn’t get to see everything because some things were done only at certain times but we did get to see how the general stores were run and how they had to buy things, the glass blowing, and the industrial machines.

We also went into a tobacco museum there and learned about the Swedish history of it and how they had to cut in and roll it. After all this we were still only halfway done so we had some lunch at a little restaurant inside the park. Afterwards we saw some of the old farm houses and then got to see the Scandinavian animals. That’s right; there was also a zoo inside. So we got to see all sorts of animals like peacocks, wolverines, bears, lynxes, seals, many kinds of owls, elk, caribou (reindeer), other exotic animals, and some domestic ones.

It was a lot of fun but by the end of it we were all tired and our feet were starting to hurt. Nevertheless, we walked back to the metro and went back to old town to get Rachel’s bag and Kyle’s souvenir and then dropped them off at the hotel before going to Hard Rock to get me my souvenir. Starving by this point, we went to Tennstopet, a classic Swedish restaurant, to eat dinner. The food was amazing. We all licked our plates clean. Stuffed, we came back to our hostel and talked to our families and started to write blog posts so that all of ya’ll could know how we were doing and what we are up to.

Oslo, Norway

2009-05-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

Day 1
Ok, so we road in the nicest night train that we have ever been in so far. It was just us three in the cabin and we had a lot more room than usual. Sadly, it was also the shortest ride on one as well. We had to get up at 4:20 in the morning to be able to wake up and get off the train at a little past five. Then we hung out, meaning slept, for three hours or so at the train station before getting onto our next train that was forever long which took us into Oslo. We didn’t arrive until about 2:50 that afternoon. We knew it would be that late and we had sacrificed time here for more in Copenhagen.

Our hotel was only a few blocks away so we didn’t have to lug our bags around too much. After checking in, we went back to the station and tried to get transportation to Stockholm. There weren’t any night trains so we ended up getting a night bus instead. We were all a little anxious about what they would be like but we really had no choice in the matter. Next we got a quick lunch and went to the tourist info to get a map of the city and so that they could circle what we wanted to see in order to save time. We were delighted when the lady told us that Oslo was having a “get to know your city” event the next day. They would be handing out Oslo passes for free. These passes would get us into all the museums in the city and access to all public transportation for free! We decided to wait to do most of the stuff on the following day since it would be free, and it didn’t hurt that all the museums were about to close in a couple of hours. Happy about the news, we headed off to look at some of the sites. Our first stop was the Opera House. It was definitely unique in comparison to all of the other ones that we have seen. This one looked very modern and had multiple slanted walkways allowing people to walk all the way to the top of the building.

It was quite a popular hangout. There were tons of people just sitting down taking in the scenery or just talking with their companions. After sitting awhile ourselves and taking pictures, we proceeded to walk around the harbor to our next destination the Akershus Fortress and Castle. To our disappointment however, they had just closed the gates. We were a bit confused because according to what I had found on the internet, what the lady said at the info desk, and its own sign, the place was supposed to be open until nine and it was wasn’t near that yet. But we got to see the wall a few other things peeking over the top of said wall.

We weren’t too far from the City Hall so we decided to go there in order to know where it was the next day. City Hall was where they were going to be giving out free passes. After locating City Hall, we walked back to our hotel and timed it to see how long it would take us to get there. When we got back, we just stayed because there wasn’t much else we could do that day and we didn’t feel like doing anything anyway. What we really wanted and were excited for was internet access. Although we had thought all of the places we booked had it, we were constantly disappointed. The first place you had to pay and we had to go to the lobby to pick it up. In the second place, it was available but neither of our computers would connect to it. Apparently there was some kind of problem with it. The third didn’t have internet at all, but finally we were in a place that had it and we definitely took advantage. We stayed online checking our emails and stuff for the rest of the night and got a long, needed night’s sleep.

Day 2
After a good night’s rest, we got ready and headed to City Hall to get our free passes. The place wasn’t near as crowded as we thought it might be. However, it did take us a while to get out because they had everyone going out only one small door. All of the museums were on the other side of the harbor so we waited and took the public fairy across for free. The first place we went was the Vikingskiphuset or in another words The Viking Ship Museum. This one Kyle and I really enjoyed. These ships had been found in clay and were completely together, unlike the ones in Copenhagen. Though almost the entire ship was original, there were a few boards that you could tell that were recreated because they were not found in the wreckage. It was still pretty cool. The museum also had a chariot, sleds, and other random things that were found in the wreckage as well.

Next we went to the Frammuseet, The Polar Ship FRAM museum, which showcased a huge ship that was used back in the day for exhibitions to Antarctica. It was really neat and we got to go on the deck and all throughout the ship.

We spent a lot of time there before going to the Holocaust Center. It as well was very different from the other things we had seen. It took an in depth look into the Holocaust and what was done in Norway. It gave a lot of interesting information and even told about the research that classified races into certain characteristics and how the Nazis used it. Outside the museum an artist had made a punch card thing that had innocent words like nationality, sex, birthplace, eye color, and so on. It represented the criterion that was used to decide who to kill on a particular day.

Finally, we went to the Kon-Tiki Museum. This museum was about a Norwegian, Thor Heyerdahl, who went on many expeditions and was the first to do archaeological excavations so on Easter Island. We got to see a replica of a boat that he used to cross the Atlantic Ocean in made completely of papyrus reeds.

We took a fairy back to the main part of the city and took a tram over to the Vigelandsparken or the Vigeland Sculpture Park. It was really interesting. One artist had made all these sculptures for the park which all had some meaning.

To end the day we walked down the main street to look at shops and get some grub. To our surprise we found a TGI Friday’s. We have observed that the higher in Europe you get the more American like things get. The cities are more spacious, the people more friendly and able to speak English, and they have many American food and companies. Anyway, submitting to temptation we went in and had dinner there. It was really good and our waitress was really nice. She was actually from Sweden and had lived in Stockholm for two years so she gave us some tips. Lastly, we picked up our things at our hotel and went to the bus station.

Copenhagen, Denmark

2009-05-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

Day 1
Copenhagen was our first destination on this little adventure where we could no longer use Euros. From now on we will be switching money every country, even though they are all called Kroner. Anyway, first thing we had to get some money from the ATM because our hotel didn’t take anything but cash. Then we decided to take the recommended walking tour that was on our map. It took us almost the entire day and we passed 36 sites but I am only gonna mention the ones we really liked.

The first important place we saw was City Hall corner where we found about three 7-11s. Yeah, that’s right the gas station. Only these 7-11s didn’t sell gas they were just the convenient store, but they had really good slushies. There was also a huge building it seemed was dedicated to American dining with McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King all having residence there. At this point we went into a really good restaurant that was in the vicinity and had lunch.

By the City Hall there was the statue of the Lure Blowers which was important to them.

Moving on we went to Hojbro Square we found the statue of a Merman with seven sons. This statue was under the water in the river that ran along side of the Square.

Stroget, one of Europe’s longest shopping streets, was next on our path. From there we ran into the Royal Theatre’s new playhouse and the Opera House. Next we got a view of the Royal Palace which was actually the home to the current Royals.

After the Palace we saw the Marble Church as well as a few others including the Russian Orthodoz church and the Catholic Cathedral.

The Gefion Fountain, the city’s favorite and most spectacular fountain (as they put it), was really cool but the statue to come right after was the cities most admired, the Little Mermaid.

This statue was the furthest point on our tour and now we had to turn around and go back to the start using a different route to see more things. We were already tired of walking by this point and the rest of it seemed to take forever. That said, we passed the Citadel not far from the Little Mermaid or the Gefion Fountain.

The King’s gardens were about the only really cool thing we passed after the fortress so I won’t bore you with the rest of the walk. Finally finished we wanted to sit down so naturally we went to the movies. All of them were in English and subtitled in Danish. We ended up seeing Confessions of a Shopaholic which turned out to be really funny. Afterwards we went back to our hotel and went to bed.

Day 2
The next morning we woke up and got on the tram to go outside the city center to go see another castle, the Frederiksborg Castle, now in use as a museum. We had to walk around a lake to get there and Kyle once again started trying to play with the ducks. Sadly, they wanted nothing to do with him. Nevertheless, it was fun to watch and he actually almost touched one this time.

After eating lunch and walking around that part of town a bit, we got back on the tram and went to the complete opposite side on the city center. There we found the Viking Ship Museum which was really cool. We got to see parts of actual Viking ships, none of them were whole, and watched a video that told us about their culture and a little bit of history.

The museum had made an exact replica of all of the ships they had found. They made them exactly how the Vikings had with the same tools, methods, and even them painted in the same style. So after we were finished in the museum, we went outside to look at them.

Lastly, we went by the Hard Rock to get me a shot glass. We ended up eating there mainly because we didn’t have anything else to do, and we still had 3 and a half hours till our train was supposed to leave.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

2009-05-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Amsterdam around 11 AM and dropped off our luggage at the hotel. Next we ate lunch at KFC and then headed over the Van Gogh museum to see Starry Night (Kyle’s favorite painting). After visiting the museum we walked over to the Heineken Brewery but decided to save the 15 Euros it cost to take a tour and head over to the Hard Rock Café to have a snack and pick up a shot glass for Cody.

After eating a snack, onion rings and french fries, we walked through the streets. We had heard from friends that the scenery in Amsterdam is absolutely gorgeous and they were right! After hours of walking around, we went back to the hotel and fell asleep immediately.

The next morning we started off visiting the Anne Frank house. This was what I (Rachel) was looking forward to the most. I read the book in 4th or 5th grade and loved it, so it was neat seeing where the events actually occurred. Then we did some shopping next to our hotel.

After that we headed over to the Red Light District just to see what it was like. To say the least, it was different. None of us had ever seen anything like what lined the street of the Red Light District. We caught a night train at 7 pm to Copenhagen.

Brussels, Belgium

2009-04-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

We began our Northern Europe Tour (Kyle likes to call it) with an overnight train to Koln, Germany and then onto Brussels, Belgium. This is the first time we stayed in a 6-cabin sleeper car. It was am interesting experience and we were fortunate enough to only have one other person join us in our car, but it was still really cramped! We were supposed to arrive in Koln, Germany at 5:45 AM but thankfully we were about an hour late. Once we got to the train station, we headed over to Starbucks to get our caffeine fix and then we hopped on another train to Brussels. We went straight to the information desk and found out where our hostel was and where we could buy our next train tickets. After we got all the necessary tickets and maps, we jumped on the metro and to our hostel. We dropped off our luggage and started exploring.

We left the list of things to do in the luggage back at the hostel, so we just sort of winged it. We ended up sampling an official Belgium waffle, eating twice-fried French fries , and drinking Dr. Pepper for lunch,

seeing a famous statue of a boy peeing (urinating),

shopping at a flea market, visiting the Grand Place, and listening to some Belgium singers at a local festival held down town in front of a church.

After all of this we headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for dinner. Before dinner we headed to the outskirts of Belgium to see the Atomium structure. It is shaped like a giant cluster of atoms and it was built for the World Fair.

Then we headed to Chi Chi’s, a Tex-Mex restaurant, and ordered fajitas, and burritos/enchiladas. It wasn’t as good as official Tex-Mex, but they tried. Monday we visited the Royal Palace, but couldn’t go in because it is still in use. Then we strolled through the King’s Garden located next to the palace.

We spent a lot of our time this day just exploring various grocery stores, souvenir shops, and the city. Comic strips are extremely popular and numerous in Brussels. This is where the Smurfs (little blue cartoon characters) were invented and also the TinTin comics. Throughout the city there were random comics on the side of buildings and we tried to locate as many as we could.

We got up the next morning and took a train to Amsterdam.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

We started off the trip with our first robbery experience. We were on a bus headed to Padova around 10:30 pm. There were some sketch people staring at us as we got onto the bus. One of the CIMBA students in our group put her suitcase under the bus with the help of our bus driver. At about 11pm we made a stop and then we heard a loud commotion. We didn’t know what happened until an Italian guy jumped off the bus and came back with 2 of his suitcases. Then we realized, WE JUST GOT ROBBED! Cody rushed out with the CIMBA girl who put her suitcase under the bus, and to her horror, IT WAS GONE! So we stayed at the bus stop for about 30 minutes until the Italian cops “decided” to show up. After she reported her stuff, the bus driver sped the whole way to the train station so we didn’t miss our train. We arrived in Naples the next morning after a crowded overnight train. We stayed in Naples for about an hour and then caught a train to Pompeii.

It took us all day to walk through the ruins at Pompeii and then we headed to Sorrento. We were told that our hotel was a lovely .6 kilometers away from the train station. It turned out to be more like 2.6 kilometers away, and all the hotel were on a cliff outside of the city. So we got our exercise! After we checked in we grabbed something to eat and then went back to the hotel and crashed. The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch a ferry to Capri. We spend the day shopping, walking around, sun bathing and taking a tour of the island and grottos by boat.

When we got back to Sorrento we stopped and ate dinner and then grabbed some snacks for the beach at a local grocery store. The next day was Easter and one of our favorite days on this trip. We rode a bus to Positano and we seriously laid out on the beach ALL DAY!

The view was amazing and we definitely got a tan. We headed back to Sorrento at the perfect time since it was about to rain. The next day we spent the entire day on a train headed back to Paderno. Once we got back, we opened our Easter eggs (thanks Judy) and our big Italian egg that was chocolate with toys inside.

Dachau & Vienna, Austria

2009-04-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

We slept for a few hours before getting up and checking out of the hotel. Before I tell you about our next experience you have to know a bit of what we did each night at the hotel. Rachel brought her computer and downloaded Schindler’s List. For those of you who haven’t seen this movie is based on the story of a single man who saved hundreds of Jew’s during World War 2. The movie is also 3 hours long but for those who haven’t seen it I would highly recommend it. This movie helped us set the tone for the upcoming day. We spent the day visiting the Dachau concentration camp.

It was a great experience. The camp had been prettied up because the survivors wanted it to be more of an educational experience. There were memorials placed all throughout the camp and many graphic pictures that had a sombering effect. After we left the concentration camp we grabbed our luggage from the hotel and headed to Vienna.

We arrived in Vienna later that night. We were exhausted from the day’s adventures so we grabbed a bite to eat and checked into our hostel. The next day we woke up a little bit later and had breakfast at the hostel. We decided to take it slow for the day and visited some amazing palaces and castles in Vienna.

We even got to see the Austrian crown jewel collection. The jewels were spectacular and there were tons of them. The day was mostly spent walking lazily around the city and just feeling the vibe of everything. Vienna reminded me a lot of Austin to put it in Texas terms. There were quite a few hippies and it was very laid back and relaxed. No one seemed stressed or in a hurry.

The next day was quite an experience for us. Most of you are probably going to wonder why we did this but there is really no way to explain how great it was. On this day we had what we called an American day. We started out the morning going to a huge open market that Rachel said reminded her of Pike’s Place in Seattle. There were endless varieties of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and all sorts of treats. We stopped at a teashop and tried some excellent teas. Rachel bought a leaf tea that is flavored like Pina Colada and Cody got one that the lady let us try and that we really liked. It smells amazing! After the market we decided we were going to see the Ferris wheel that the city is so proud of. When we got there we found to our great surprise that the Ferris wheel was in the middle of a theme park. So Cody and Rachel rode a roller coaster ride and afterwards we got cotton candy.

We did all this just before the highlight of the day. We went to see a movie! We saw The Reader (in English) and it was actually very good. For those of you who don’t know the three of us have a tradition of going to the dollar movie every Tuesday night so this semester has been particularly hard because we have not been able to see a movie. After our movie we went to KFC and had fried chicken before catching a night train back to Paderno.

Second Week Break...Time with the Butlers

2009-04-03T02:04:00.001-07:00

Germany & Salzburg

Rachel, Kyle, and I left bright and early on Saturday morning with our 2 suitcases each and headed towards Germany. We arrived in Munich about an hour and a half before Jim, Jody, and Katy. The hotel was a sight for sore eyes! It had a bathroom in each room, sheets on the beds, provided us with 2 towels, AND let us control the temperature. I know these things sound like typical amenities, but we have gone a long time with out having these basic luxuries. Our hotel was only a 5 min walk from the train/tram/underground station so we went and checked in before going to the airport and collecting them. It was about a 45 minute ride from the airport back to the main station so we got to talk to them a lot before doing anything. They also let us sneak a peek at all the goodies they brought us from the States including fire crackers that we couldn’t resist sampling on the tram. After everyone freshened up at the hotel, we went to the old part of town and walked around some. We wanted to eat at this really famous place called the Hofbrauhaus but it was extremely crowded. Besides that, you had to seat yourself so everyone was walking around fighting for a table. We searched for thirty minutes with no success so we decided to just try again another night. On our way back to the hotel we found a nice little restaurant and decided that it looked good.

After eating we walked around a bit more then went to the train station to get train times for the next morning. This was also a learning experience for the Butlers, since they wanted to know everything about how we traveled and they also wanted to learn how to figure out the schedules. They were extremely good sports and did very well getting use to everything.

On Sunday we woke up early and took a 2 hour train ride to town where the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles were located. The Neuschwanstein Castle inspired the design of Disney’s Cinderella Castle.

They were really cool and we stayed there basically the whole day. On the way up to our second castle, Neuschwanstien, we passed this food vender that had something that smelled delicious. The only way I can describe it is having a funnel cake in ball form. They had batter and made fried dough balls in between the size of a tennis ball and a racket ball, then covered them with powdered sugar. After viewing the castle and the adjacent bridge, we decided to have dinner before taking our train back for the night.

Monday, we got on another 2 hour train and went to Salzburg. There we saw a few sights before going on the Sound of Music tour. It was tons of fun! We had a really funny tour guide who took us to see all the places they filmed like the gazebo, the house, the church, and so on.

We also had the music playing on the bus and were singing along with it. The guide tried to get Kyle to sing but he wouldn’t sing in the microphone, though he did sing. Jody and Rachel stepped in to sing for him though.

He also made Katy skip down the path while we sang, “I have confidence” just as Maria had done in the movie.

We were the fun ones in the group. The other 8 people wouldn’t do anything. Once the tour was over, we hung out around the town for an hour or so then went back to Munich. We grabbed some dinner at the train station before going back to our hotel for bed.

It was super cold and snowy on Tuesday. The entire day it snowed off and on. We all wore our ski gear to stay warm. Even though it was cold, we got to see most of Munich. First, we went down to the old town again, Marienplatz, and went to the Frauenkirche, Cathedral Church of Our Lady. Then we looked at the Old Town Hall and watched a huge coo-coo clock with life size figures go into action when the clock stroked 11.

Next, we walked past the opera house, we didn’t go inside, and went to the Residents museum. It was a palace that the royals and their relatives lived in. After the castle we went and took pictures of the soccer stadium. It had a cool design and it would light up different colors at night. Okay, just red or blue but still it was pretty cool.

We also saw out first wind turbine while abroad and we all felt at home. After that we went back into town and walked through the English Gardens and saw a Japanese teahouse and structure.

We were all pretty tired after a huge day of walking so Jim and Jody went back to the hotel and us kids went shopping for about a hour. When we got back to the hotel we all crashed! The next day, Wednesday, we got up and went to the BMW museum that had just opened a few months ago. We were the 1st ones there and got to see all the different kinds of vehicles they have made and 2 cars that Pierce Brosnan drove when he did his 007 films.

After that, we crossed the street to Olympia Park and the Olympiaturm, where Munich held the Olympics. It had a really neat design. It kind of looks like a spider web or a circus tent from the top. Take your pick. We also got to see the memorial for the Israeli team that was killed during these games. During that Olympics, 8 players from Israel were killed in a terrorist attack there. We also saw plaques of who won the top medals during these games. We got to see all the events that Spitz and his team won. Mike Spitz had the record of most gold medals until Phelps beat it this past Olympics.

We swung back around toward the BMW place and popped in to look at the new line of cars they are selling and to warm up. Then we got back on the subway and went to a place to eat that had the best and biggest Wiener schnitzel. It was relatively cheap too. Next we went to Nymphenburg Castle and did a small tour of it before it closed. Finally, we went to the Hofbrauhaus and had a beer and a small dinner, because we were still so full from lunch. The experience was unique and totally immersed us in the German culture.

We headed to a couple of stores before heading back to pack and get some sleep before waking up early the next morning. The next day we woke up at 4 a.m. to take a tram to the airport. We saw Jim, Jody, and Katy off and then headed back to the hotel.

Birthday Weekend

2009-03-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who don't know, I turned 21 last Friday the 13th and I had a great birthday! Our Italian teacher was supposed to take us to a neighboring town Asolo on my birthday for a field trip. However, she was sick so we didn’t get to go and it changed some of our birthday plans. Rachel and Kyle had planned on getting me a cake at a pastry shop while we were there so I didn’t end up getting one on my b-day. The field trip got rescheduled for this Friday though so they are gonna get me one then so I can blow out candles and stuff. Around 7 we, meaning me, Rachel, Kyle, Claire, and Meaghan, went down toward Castelcucco and ate at Besse, a really good pizzeria about a 10 min walk from campus. Three other girls from CIMBA were there getting pizza to go so they hung out with us for a bit before leaving.

Then we went to a bar/pizzeria in Paderno and met up with about 90% of the other CIMBA students. Everyone was home because of the mandatory trip for our 3 hour culture class on Saturday. So anyway I was the Birthday boy for the night and needless to say it was fun. Mom had sent me some birthday garb. Earlier I had taken pics of me in it but didn’t want to bring it with me except for a birthday pins.

However, when everyone saw the pics they loved it and convinced me to get them. I wore the stuff for like half the night along with everyone else as stuff kept getting passed around. It was so much fun and I am happy to say that I remember every bit of it (which is more than what most can say, lol).

The little fieldtrip on Saturday, however, was not so much fun. About half of us there were well, not 100% so to speak and the crazy Italian bus drivers didn't help matters at all. On Sunday we went to the Crespano market again and got some wine to bring back to the States along with other random things. At around 2, we got on a bus and went to a Soccer game in Milan. The game was INTER (Inter Milan officially) against FLORENCE, we were on INTER's side. Their colors were blue and black and we won the game 2 to 0.

We all had a lot of fun and the best part was INTER's "theme song" thing. It is the first Italian song that we liked and by the end of the game we pretty much knew the chorus. When we got back, we ended up finding it on iTunes and I downloaded it. I'm sure there is a way to attach an audio file on the blog so once I figure out how I'll add it and all of you can hear it too. It was a lot of fun but we didn’t get back until 2:30 Monday morning so we were all pretty tired. Anyway, we just thought we would give ya'll an update on our lives here. Hope ya'll are all having fun in America.

P.S. We are so excited that the Butlers are coming to tour Germany with us this coming week!!!

Interlaken and Sci Sci

2009-03-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

So our next journey began on a night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. We hopped on a train around 8 and ended up in Interlaken around 6:30 a.m. We were happily greeted with snow. We found our way to the hotel from the train station without a map and checked into our hotel, Hirschen. After checking into the hotel we put on our ski pants and jackets and decided to explore the town for the day.

We went ice-skating at a skating rink and ended up going to a very interesting restaurant where everyone was wearing cow print pants. The rest of the day we spent seeing the town and shopping. We had an early night so we could get plenty of rest for day 2.

We woke up the next morning, got dressed quickly, grabbed breakfast, and literally ran to the train station to catch a train up the mountain. The views were spectacular and everything was freshly covered in snow.

When we got to the mountain town of Grindelwald we found a place to rent skis and made our way up to the lifts. The skiing was completely different from the states for two main reasons. First of all the snow was perfect and everything was powder, no ice, and second everyone was amazing at skiing. We were the only people who fell and when we frequently did, everyone else just zoomed by. Something else that was new for us was the runs they skied. We found a good trail that ended up taking us over roads and past houses and straight into town. Our first time down the mountain took us a while because we stopped frequently to get pictures and just take in the scenery.

We skied the whole day and then went back to our hotel, showered, and grabbed a delicious meal. At dinner Cody and Claire got ravioli and Rachel and I got something called Roesti which is the name of a Swiss potato dish that has fried potatoes, ham, cheese, onions, and bacon. It was an amazing dinner and to top it off we got chocolate fondue and apple strudel for dessert. On day three we split up. Cody and Claire decided to ski for a half day before we left on the train and Rachel and I decided to explore the town of Grindelwald. We took the train up to the mountain town and looked around for about an hour before all the stores decided to close for lunch. We were thoroughly disappointed but this changed fairly quickly. After making it down the mountain we went to a convenient store and you will never guess what we found. DR. PEPPER!!! We were so excited that we bought several cans. The funny thing was we were out of Swiss Franks and you had to make a minimum purchase of 10 Franks to use a credit card. So I was running around the store grabbing random things just so we could have a few Dr. Peppers. After that we met up with Cody and Claire at the train station. While we were waiting for our train we had a very interesting homeless man talk to us about all kind of random things. He was so weird but very funny and took quite a liking to the girls. We escaped his constant chatter on our train and made our way back home to Paderno!

Cinque Terre

2009-03-05T02:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we went out on another adventure but this time our intent was to have a relaxing weekend viewing beautiful scenery. However, just because that was what we wanted it doesn't mean that we didn't have any mishaps. It all started with picking which or two trains we should take. They both had the same stops and stuff but one left earlier on Friday and got us to our destination at 6 o'clock on Saturday morning and the other left later and got us there at 11 o'clock. Since we had to switch trains like 4 times in the middle of the night anyway we chose the 6 o'clock train because it would give us more time there. We ended up having a 4 hour layover in the train station from 12 to 4 in the morning. When we got off the train it was horribly cold and we all about froze to death waiting in the open train station. Apparently this train station's indoor sitting area was only open from 7 am to 11pm. After getting basically no sleep, our train finally arrived at our platform and we rushed in and waited in the warm cabin for 35 minutes until it actually left. For the next two hours all three of us were out like a light, but somehow we all woke up around 15 minutes before we arrived at our stop.

It was a bit chilly in Cinque Terre but not near as bad as it was at the other place. We walked around a while and found our hotel, but we couldn't check in till 2 so we went back to the train station and checked our luggage. Before I go any further, Cinque Terre is not a city but a type of region or territory. It is actually a string a 5, hence cinque, towns that are about a kilometer to 3 apart from each neighboring town. These are the 5 towns names in order from bottom to top: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. So, we had just missed a train to go to the other towns so we went and explored ours, Riomaggiore. The town was really pretty, hilly, had had lots of stairs to get down and up from the coast. This actually proved true for all of the towns though. We played a lot on the rocks and took lots of pictures, partly for fun and partly because we needed to kill time.

After out little stroll through the Riomaggiore we hopped on the train and went to Corniglia. The train station was down at the coast and the town was way up on a hill. We had to walk up a whole bunch of stairs but it was really nice and the weather was amazing. The temperature had risen since that morning and there was a light breeze. It felt great. We took our time walking up and enjoyed the beautiful mountain like hills along the coast with pretty flowers and numerous lemon trees.

When we got to the top, we walked around the town for a while and soon realized why Cinque Terre is not know as a touristy place but one where people come to relax. There are few shops and very little to do other than hike around and enjoy the view, at least during off season. We found this nice restaurant at to top of the town and we set out on the balcony and ate an amazing lunch. Afterward we went to Riomaggiore and checked into our hotel and freshed up a bit.

Then we headed to Manarola. It was just as pretty and we had fun on its coast. We walked across a walkway made of rock to a bigger one and took pictures. The hard part was that this makeshift walkway, if you will, was under the water besides just a little strip. Plus we had to time our crossing well or we would get drenched by the waves coming in and crashing against it and the rock that we were headed to. Plus it was slippery, but it was a lot of fun. Rachel slipped coming back but caught herself so only her shoe got wet, but she did manage to cut her hand a little though. If you enlarge the picture you can see a little blood dot on her palm.

We then walked around this cliff opposite to the one that the main part of the town was on, and me and Kyle climbed down and played on the rocks. Rachel stayed above and took pictures. You can see then in the photo album. It was a really fun place and really beautiful. It was definitely one of if not my most favorite town. I got a really pretty shot of the sun, branches, and water.

We found a really nice restaurant that wasn't that expensive so we had an early dinner there. Once dinner was over, we hopped on a train back to Riomaggiore and went to our hotel. Exhausted we all took showers and went to bed early which really didn't matter because there is not much of a night life anyway. After a long nights sleep, we woke up feeling refreshed and went and had some breakfast, checked out, and went to Vernazza. It was the biggest town and we did all of the same things like walk around, go down to the coast, go into what little stores were there, and so forth. There was a really cool shop and we all got some stuff from it. It was cloudy that day and it started raining after a while so we had some pizza at a pizzeria and then went and got a cappuccino at a cafe afterward.

Moving on to Monterosso, the rain had simmered down but there wasn't much there. We walked down the streets and looked at a few shops there but didn't get anything. At the end of the town by the coast there was a man carved into the rock holding up part of a building. It was pretty cool and easily the best part of Monterosso. Sadly our trip was at an end and we got onto our train and headed home, but with another train mishap. The man who had given us all our tickets in Bassano told us that we didn't need a reservation for this certain train. Come to find out we did and we ended up getting seats 3 minute before the train arrived and we were lucky to get those. We didn't have an assigned seat so we could sit anywhere until its rightful owner showed up and kicked us out of it. We eventually had to sit on little seats that folded out from the wall. It was a very interesting ride but we made the best of it.

Paris

2009-03-05T02:04:00.000-08:00

We started out our adventure in Paris 7:30 AM when we arrived in the train station. From there we went out to find our hotel. The directions we had received were lacking, but with some help from the locals and a map, we located the Andre Gill hotel. They went ahead and let us check in and drop off all our stuff. After we had brushed out teeth, we headed out to explore Paris. We jumped on the metro and headed to the Eiffel Tower so we could see the city. It was a beautiful day, so we had an amazing view.

After that we headed to the Arc de Triumph and then onto the Champs Elysees. This is a popular street to shop for name brands such as Dolce and Gabana, and to our excitement The GAP. We grabbed a sandwich and a pastry, but then we ran into a problem. There are no trashcans on the Champs Elysees, so we had to carry our bags all the way to the end until we went down to the metro.

Next we headed over to the Pantheon, and took some pictures. At this point we were pretty exhausted from lack of sleep and running all over Paris for a day, we headed back to our hotel to take a breather. Here we found out about this great place to view the Eiffel Tower at night while it is all lit up. So we headed up to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, but we were about 5 minutes late to see it “sparkle,” so instead of waiting another hour, we headed to dinner. The owner of the hotel’s wife had told us about an extremely good place to eat really close and cheap, so we took off in that direction. Claire, Jacob and Cody got a huge salad with potatoes on top, Kyle got chicken with avocado, and I got the best bowl of tomato basil soup, next to my moms! After dinner we headed up to a local crape maker and experienced our first, but not last, crape.

Then we headed back to the hotel and fell to sleep almost instantly. DAY 2 started out with a wonderful French breakfast consisting of fresh croissants, more bread, coffee, hot chocolate, and hot tea. We then made our way to the Louvre.

We were all so excited about going that we got there pretty quickly. We decided to go ahead and take a one and a half hour tour so that we wouldn’t get lost and our tour guide showed us most of the important stuff and then told us what else we needed to see before we left. We hung around there for a couple more hours and then headed over to the Notre Dame. This was the most beautiful church I have ever seen! The stain glass was astonishing; we just stood/sat there in awe for about 30 minutes taking everything in.

Near our hotel next to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur is where the local artists display their art, so we stopped by and checked it out. After that it was time to go to the Eiffel Tower that way we didn’t miss it “sparkle” again like the night before.

We got several pictures then we made our way over to the Moulin Rouge. Several interesting shops and people surrounded it, but the sight was definitely worth walking over to it.

Like the previous night, we made sure we had a crape before we headed back to the hotel. On DAY 3 we accomplished a lot! We began by going out to Versailles, which was about an hour away from Paris. It was filled with beautiful décor and paintings of past French royalty. We took lots of pictures including one of our reflections in the famous hall of mirrors.

After we got back to Paris, we headed over to the Opera House where the original Phantom of the Opera was performed. After a quick peek at the stage, we headed over to another shopping district.

We decided we weren’t in the mood to shop, so we went to several other landmarks we found on our map including the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise which was an old cemetery, and Eglise du dome. After all this we caught a night train back to Venice and to our home in Paderno!

Spain

2009-02-26T01:20:00.000-08:00

After dropping our stuff off at our hostel, HostelOne Sants, we took off walking to see what the town had to offer. First we went to a church that was designed by a famous architect named Gaudi. He definitely had his own unique style. The church was certainly different but still pretty. The only bad thing was that about half of it was being restored and covered up with scaffolding or nets.

Next, we went to a park that Gaudi had designed, made, and given to Barcelona. The park was really cool and his style looked really neat there. There were a few random buildings throughout the city that he had also built which were easily recognizable. All of his designs were all really pretty though.

At the park, there was a guy that was doing tricks with a wooden toy thing. It was kind of like a big yo-yo but the string wasn’t attached to the other part. Kyle and I watched him for a while Rachel and Claire were buying stuff from the different venders and Jacob was wondering around somewhere. We got the girls once they were done and we all watched him along with a herd of others. Later he switched tricks and got on a really tall unicycle with an umbrella and was doing tricks. He started juggling and then got down and started juggling with fire. It was fun to watch.

We went and ate an interesting little place that our hostel clerk told us to go, and then we went out with him and a group from our hostel. We all hung out and played games at the hostel at first and later they took us to some bars and a club. We made friends and traded Facebook accounts with some Americans that were teaching in Brittan and some Irish girls that were on vacation. The girls from

Ireland

were actually studying abroad in Munich,

Germany

. We are going to call them when we go there for the second week break and try to hang out with them again. The next day we went on a walking tour. We ended up being the only people who showed up so we got a private one. It was cool to learn about all the churches and stuff.

We passed by one store that was kind of famous which made shoes. A lot of people wear them like the Spanish guards, Jack Nicholson along with some other stars I can’t remember, the pope, and some other important people. So naturally Rachel, Kyle, and I got a pair. They weren’t very expensive and we all really like them. I have already worn mine once. Our tour ended around 2 and afterward we went around and looked at the shops and ate before getting our stuff and going to the train station to go to Paris.

Portugal

2009-02-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

Upon arrival in Lisbon we made our way on the bus to our hostel. It took us a little while to get there for two reasons. First we got a little bit lost on the way and second all of Lisbon is covered in hills so needless to say it was a bit of a hike. Once we got to our hostel, The Oasis Backpackers Mansion, we dropped off our stuff and found a place to eat in a nearby mall. After that we went back to our rooms and went to bed. On our second day in Lisbon we found out there was a small town nearby called Sintra. So we took a forty-minute train ride and went to Sintra. This small town was absolutely amazing and covered in little shops and castles. We spent the first hour or so just looking around and trekking up to the main part of the town.

As I said before everything in this area is covered in hills! We decided to break for lunch and went to a little restaurant, which had some really good food. They even lit Cody and Claire’s sausage on fire in front of them. It was quite a show! After lunch we went and saw Castelo dos Mouros, Quinta da Regaleira, and Palacio National da Pena. These were a combination of ancient castles, gardens, hidden passages, caves, and even a palace. The whole area was absolutely breath taking and by far the highlight of Portugal.

After seeing all the sights we made one more stop before heading back to Lisbon. We stopped at Piriquita, a pastry shop, which makes Travesseiros and Queijadas. These two pastries are the most AMAZING pasties you will ever have in your life. The only thing that was disappointing about them is that we didn’t get more! Once we got back to Lisbon we decided to splurge and eat at the Hard Rock Café. I have to admit it was refreshing to have some American food for the first time in six weeks.

Our third day was spent entirely in the city and gave us a really good view of Lisbon. We rode a trolley to the highest point in the city and made our way down. It was beautiful with the ocean in the background and the buildings painted all types of different colors.

After strolling through the city we decided to do a little shopping. The biggest souvenir sold in Lisbon was surprisingly a brightly colored rooster. It apparently stands for good luck. We also stopped in a fish store where we all bought a neatly wrapped tin of sardines. We are saving them to try when we get home so everyone can enjoy them with us! We shopped the rest of the afternoon and finished our day eating at Casa di India, an authentic Portuguese restaurant. I had swordfish and Rachel and Cody had a half of a chicken. It was all very delicious. With our dinner we had some Port wine, which is by far the strongest wine any of us have ever tasted. Once we finished our meal we grabbed our bags and caught a night train to Barcelona.

Milan

2009-02-23T02:41:00.000-08:00

The first stop on our week long break of the semester was Milan. Arriving around 8 o’clock, we went and checked in to our hotel which was really nice. We were split up into two rooms, one for two and the other for three. They both really clean, had big bathrooms, and TVs. We turned it on and saw the plane crashes that had happened in the US and in the UK. It was easily the nicest place we have stayed on our journeys, though it was the only hotel we have been at and not a hostel. Starving, we asked our desk man where a good place to eat was and headed toward it. The meal was amazing. We got a sampler appetizer and got like 4 different things plus was had some excellent pizza and pasta with some wine. The waiter was really funny. He was a poet, from what we could tell, and gave us some flyers about himself. We weren’t sure but we thought he might have owned the place too. After dinner, we walked around for a bit then went to bed.

The next morning we woke up early, had a great breakfast, and headed to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie to see if we could get in to see the last supper. We had tried to book it online but were unsuccessful and when we arrived we found it to still be completely booked for the entire day even though they had a tour thing every 20 min. Disappointed we went to Milan’s duomo Cathedral. It was big and in the Gothic style.

Next, we went to the market that some other students had told us about. It was pretty much like all the other ones we have been to and none of us ended up getting anything. Done with the market, we took the metro to the airport and got on our flight to Lisbon, Portugal.

Day 2: Firenze & Pisa

2009-02-11T01:27:00.001-08:00

We started the day later than we expected but once we were up and going we saw a lot! We had breakfast at the hostel which consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast! We were SOOOO EXCITED! We haven’t had anything but pastries since we got here, so breakfast was comforting. After we checked out, we went on a little tour of the area surrounding the hostel. There was this large wall surrounding a market that we wanted to see, but we would have had to pay to get in, so we decided not to. Instead we went to a local pond on the way to the train station.

After out short train ride we arrived in Pisa. We experienced Pisa in a different way than others who have visited. It all started when a lady on the bridge (the local bridge troll) got very angry at us for taking pictures. She threw several pieces of trash and candy at us, but only hit Claire. She was also shouting profane words at us. Then on our way back to the train station, Claire was pushed on the shoulder by an Italian for an unknown reason. Other then these instances we had a great time taking pictures “holding” the leaning tower.

Cody, Claire and Jacob wanted to climb to the top of the tower, but Kyle and I just wanted to people watch. We had to rush back in time to make our train, but we did. We rode the train back to Florence and switched to another train to Podava. This is the train that reminded us all of the compartments in Harry Potter. We made a local Italian friend that helped us know when to expect to get off. From Podava we rode a bus to Bassano, and then we had a taxi take us back to Paderno. We are glad that we have finally gotten the hang of using the trains seeing that we will validate out Rail Passes this upcoming week.

Firenze: Day 1

2009-02-10T01:49:00.000-08:00

We woke up at 3:45 Saturday morning, hopped into a taxi, and headed to the train station. At 5 o’clock, our train left Bassano Del Grappa and took us to Venezia (Venice). From there we caught a euro rail train (the fast ones) and headed toward Firenze (Florence) arriving at 9:30. We walked straight to our hostel and dropped our bags off because we could check in until 4. First, we walked around and saw the Medici Chapels which had a bunch of side venders selling everything scarves, ties, and leather to fake Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci bags and accessories. Next we headed to the Duomo. It is a huge, beautiful church building.

We walked around the whole thing then we paid to go inside and climb up to the top of the dome to view the city. We had to walk up 463 stairs to reach the top. The view was breathtaking. Firenze is one of the prettiest cites in Italy.

We stayed up at the top for a long time taking in the scenery before we decided to take the 463 step journey down, which was a lot faster than the ascent. Once down, we went to the Accademia di Belle Arti to see the famous David by Michelangelo. The statue of David is huge and really cool. We don’t know why but they wouldn’t let us take pictures of it. We were kinda confused because usually the only things museums don’t like you take pictures of are paintings because the flash exposure can ruin them. By the time we got out of the museum it was about 1:30 and we were all starving. We headed back toward the Duomo and ate at the Black Bar and had some delicious calzones then went and found some gelato for dessert. Our last big attraction for the day was the Uffizi. I really enjoyed it because I got to see a lot of paintings about the gods that I had learned about in the Greek /Roman Mythology and the World of Greece classes I took. Right beside the Uffizi was a river with bridges connecting the two parts of the city. We played around there for a bit and took some pictures. Finished with our site seeing for the day, we went out in the town and went into the shops. After a while, we went back to the first side-vender market and ended up buying a couple of things which included Firenze leather wallets, ties, and some scarves. Tired of walking, we went back to our hostel to check into our rooms and put away our purchases. The place was really neat, for a hostel. Compared to our one in Roma, it was a 4 star hotel. The room was nice, big, and CLEAN! The bathroom was big and had built in appliances, like hairdryers. The entire place, except our rooms, had paintings of the most famous things in Italy all over the wall. There was also a courtyard in the middle of the hostel with statues and such adorning it.

After resting a bit, we then proceeded to a restaurant to have dinner. We ate a really cool place that was a mix between a restaurant and a sports bar. They had a couple of huge TVs that had a soccer match on display. So naturally, we watched the game while we took our time eating. It was probably the first time that we had spent longer than 20 to 30 minutes in a restaurant. The rest of our night consisted of us going back to our hostel and chatting it up before turning the lights out and going to bed.

P.S. If you haven't noticed, we have FINALLY got our pictures up on the blog. A special thanks goes to Vonda because without her help I would have probably never figured it out. My (Cody) pictures are the only ones that you will see when you click the link at the moment. I should have the pictures from Kyle's camera up by Thursday, hopefully. Once they give them to me I will have to upload them on my computer and then add them to the web page. So for future reference, if you are wanting to see ALL the pictures you will have to revisit the link a few days after it is made because the pictures from Kyle's camera will always take a day or two longer to get added. Hope you enjoy them!!!

2009-02-10T01:32:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning came quicker than we had expected. We woke up and headed back to the WONDERFUL pastry shop, but to our disappointment it was closed. We are having a difficult time adjusting to shops and cafés not being open on Sunday. I guess church goers in Europe don’t get donuts on Sunday mornings like us Americans in the States. So sugar deprived we hopped on the metro and headed to the Church of Santa Maria. This is the lovely church that houses the “Mouth of Truth.” We hadn’t been told much about it, but it was on my tour for scenes from Roman Holiday, so Kyle made it a big deal we went to see it. Legend has it that before it was traduced by a clever philanderer it had the ability to identify liars. If someone told a lie while their hand was inserted in the god’s mouth, the hand would supposedly be bitten off.

After we all placed out hand in the “Mouth of Truth,” we headed back to the metro to revisit the Spanish Steps one more time. They were less crowded than the night before, so we were able to take more pictures without so many strangers in them. Sadly we headed back to the bus stop to ride 7.5 hours back to Paderno. About halfway through our ride back it started raining, and then snowing! It was a gorgeous ride, but we were glad to be back and sleep in our own beds.

2009-02-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

On day two we began our “Roman Holiday”. We started out the morning grabbing a quick breakfast at a nearby pastry shop. This breakfast was a refreshing change from our regular cafeteria food. After breakfast we hopped on the metro and headed to the Vatican. A giant brick wall surrounds the outside of the city, and about half way around we found the entrance. When we got inside we started going through the “miles” of museum.

The artifacts were breath taking and honestly there is not enough room on this blog to even begin to describe them. At the end of the museum tour is the Sistine Chapel and speaking for myself the highlight of the tour. The paintings covered every inch of the room and we stood there for fifteen minutes just soaking it all in. After leaving the Vatican we headed off to Saint Peter’s Basilica. The courtyard in front was gigantic and completely surrounded by columns. Like everything else in Rome, it is hard to even begin to explain. We entered Saint Peter’s Basilica, where the Pope gives mass, and roamed its endless corridors. The church was also filled with all of the past popes and their respective tombs. It had to have been the biggest church I have ever been in.

By the time we got done seeing the church the whole group was starving. So we stopped by a local ristorante and had pizza and calzones while sitting at an outside table. After lunch we stopped by The Old Bridge gelato shop. One of Jacob’s friends had said it was the best gelato in Rome and I must say it was very good. We also decided to do a little Roman shopping and Cody was able to find himself some authentic Roman scarves. Rachel also found a Roman Holiday calendar. After shopping we made a quick trip to the Spanish steps and posed for some pictures like Audrey Hepburn.

Once we were done there we headed over to Trevi fountain and took out some coins to make a wish. Everyone had to turn around and throw their coin behind their backs for a small photo shoot. By this point in the evening we were exhausted and decided to head back to the hostel before enjoying some Roman nightlife.

2009-02-03T01:44:00.000-08:00

Well we finished our first weekend getaway. It was awesome! We ended up taking a bus to Roma that was set up by a gate man from our school, Alberto. He can get anything arranged that you want. We arrived in Roma about 2 hours later than what we were told but we made it safe and sound none the less. After walking a block or two, we were at the metro station trying to find were to buy our tickets. We were looking for one in particular, the Roma Pass. It gave us unlimited access to buses and the metro for three days, got us into 2 sites for free, and 30% off any others. The first place we went to was sold out but a man that worked to the metro took us to where we could get our tickets. Once we had them, we hopped onto the metro and went one stop to our hostel. The metro is so easy. Of course, I had already had experience with it before so that probably helped. Anyway, we love using them. Our hostel was very interesting. We think, no we know we got the worst room they had (b/c we looked in the others). It stunk so bad and was freezing cold. We asked one of the workers to turn the heat on, but he didn't know what he was doing. It took him like 15 minutes playing with a remote control to get it turned on. We were all freaked out by the sheets so we were glad we had brought a least a sheet of our own.

Our first stop was the Coliseum which was only like a 5 minute walk from our hostel or one metro stop away. We used our Roma Pass to get our entry fee waved and we ended up getting a tour of the coliseum for only eight Euro. The tour also included the Roman Forum or some church. We all took so many pictures. It was BEAUTIFUL! Words can't describe. After we were done with the Coliseum, a different took the 6 in our group on a little tour of the Roman Forum. It had closed at like 3:30 so we could only walk beside it instead of through it, but it was still neat. Our second tour guide was from Georgia. He was really nice and told us some cool places to go and the best way to get to the sites.

By the time we got to the Pantheon it was getting dark so it was all lit up. Like everything else it was beautiful and really cool looking. Right across from it was a McDonald's, lol. Rachel and Kyle were craving some french fries so we stopped for a little break and indulged them. Once they had gobbled up all the fries, we continued on the the Piazza del Novana. It had four fountains there which were all lit up. They are special for some reason but none of us knew why. We went in a shop or two then headed back to our hostel. Since the Coliseum was on our way, we stopped and took pictures of it while it was all lit up. We were all starving and decided to see if we could eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. We asked an Italian where to go and they told us which metro exit to get off at so we hopped back on the metro. When we got there, there was an hour and a half wait to get in. That and the fact that a hamburger alone was 16 euro, we decided to eat somewhere else. Close to our hostel was a nice little Italian restaurant so we ate there. The food was really good. We had cheese ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti, and one of us had some kind of chicken. Done with dinner, we stopped and got some gelato and then went to bed.

We love ya'll so much and hope everything is going well!

P.S. We are wanting to put more pictures on here but it will only let us put 5 a post and we cant figure out the slide show or any other feature. If any of you (Jenna, Vonda, Shaila - ya'll have a blog) know how to get them on there we would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks.

2009-01-25T09:05:00.001-08:00

Ciao! Sunday was the market in Crespano, a town about 1 km away from campus. It was basically like a big flee market all through the town. There were tons and tons of shops. Only Claire and Rachel bought anything though, and they only got a scarf each. The shops ranged from clothing and electronics to fruits and fish, lol. They even had hard core riding lawnmowers there. We went to this cool pub for lunch around 11 because all the food shops were making us really hungry. The waiter didn't speak English but we didn't have much of a problem giving her our order. Since the menu was all in Italian we used what little knowledge of food words to order either versions of bruschetta or pizza. It was all amazing. The pizza was exactly how I remembered it this time, as opposed to the one on Saturday, and the bruschetta was good as well, though a little different than in the States.

Speaking of which, we have all got into the habit of calling the US the States now because thats what everyone here calls it. After lunch we headed back out to finish looking at the rest of the market. One of the actual stores, a gelato store, had a funny/kinda scary sign. The little child looks a little possessed. His face is hard to see so click on the picture to see it in a larger view.

Once the market started to end (around 1), we started to explore the rest of the town. We went to a nice cemetery that had a church and bell tower and walked the back alleys. Then tired of walking we started back to campus and started planning our trip for next weekend. We are going to Roma. Ciao!

2009-01-25T08:29:00.000-08:00

Buongiorno! So it is finally the weekend! We were all so excited. Friday after our Italian class, our Italian professoressa, took me and Rachel (Kyle had to go to class) down to Castelcucco in her car to show us some things to do this weekend. It was a lot of fun. We stopped in the grocery store, which was a nice sized one, and she showed us some of the food that was good and that we should try. She suggested a type of "coke like" drink but it was really bad and bitter so naturally we made every try a sip of it. On Saturday, the group slept in and headed down to Castelcucco on foot. It was a pretty walk and only like 1 1/2 to 2 km (kilometers) away. On the way, all the houses we passed had flowers, apparently they grow here in the cold. Anyway, we saw one house that had the biggest flower we had ever seen. See for yourselves. First, we took the others to the grocery store and showed them everything there. Then we walked around some and looked at the sites while waiting for the shops to reopen - they shut down from like 1-2:30. Once it opened back up, we went into a pastry shop and had the best sweets ever for only a euro. After trying each others sweets and licking our plates clean (haha not really), we went into some other shops, looked at the sites, and took lots of pics. While we were on our way back we saw some old men playing a game so we stopped to watch. It looked really fun. They would throw a small ball then try to roll bigger balls and be the closest to the small one. Sometimes they would put a stick down and the next people in line would have to throw the ball over it instead of rolling it. We didn't understand that part but none the less it was interesting. That night we went to the pizzeria in Paderno. It was ok but it was paper thin and not how I remembered it. The rest of the night we just hung out in our rooms and went to bed.

2009-01-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

CIAO! CIMBA provided us with a bus to go to a nearby town, Castelfranco, where we were able to shop at a mall. Now, this mall wasn’t a typical mall, it was a European superstore and a couple shops. So, we were able to purchase shampoo and then walk over and look at luggage/purses. Since the grocery store opened into the mall, we were able to push a grocery cart throughout the mall. We had our first taste of Italian gelato for dessert! Claire and I were discussing the difference between gelato and ice cream and we thought it had to do with the quality of ingredients, but I Googled it when I got back and this is the real reason why gelato is BETTER than ice cream. While ice cream legally has a minimum of 10 percent fat, gelato is made with a greater proportion of whole milk to cream, so it contains more like five to seven percent fat. Gelato is also churned at a slower speed than ice cream, so it's denser because not as much air is whipped into the mixture. (Gelato contains about 25 to 30 percent air, while ice cream can contain as much as 50 percent air) Finally, while ice cream is typically served frozen, gelato is typically stored and served at a slightly warmer temperature, so it's not quite completely frozen. Hope ya’ll found this as interesting as I did! Love all! Arrivederci!

2009-01-23T01:34:00.001-08:00

Guess what??? The sky finally cleared up and we can finally see the whole mountain. Even though it has been the only day it hasn't rained, so far anyway, it is freezing outside. We wore lighter clothing and when we got outside I had to go back and get my big coat.

2009-01-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

Hey,
We are getting settled here. It has rained or sprinkled every day and has been foggy. The fog is really thick here. We didn't even know there was a mountain right beside our campus until yesterday when the fog cleared up a little bit. We still have yet to see the peak (as you can see by these pics). I personally love the weather, but it makes Rachel want to go to sleep. Our new gang, Me, Rachel, Kyle, Jacob, and Claire, went to the bar the other night to check it out. We got a pitcher of "tap" wine which came out of a spout like a coke or beer would. The pitcher only cost 5 Euros. Since we shared, we each spent 1 Euro for two glasses of wine, which was how much the pitcher filled up. We decided that it would be our new tradition to do that once a week, or maybe twice...

Off we go...

2009-01-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
Well it was one long day of traveling. We started off meeting two people in Dallas that were going to Paderno as well. The plane ride was very nice. Rachel, Kyle, and I sat together in the middle row of the plane with one of the new people we had met, Bethany. A man traded her spots because he wanted to sit with his friend and his seat just happened to be with us. Jacob, our new friend, sat in the row above us. It was a long plane ride. Rachel and I both only got about an hour of sleep on the plane even though we had stayed up late the night before so we would be able to sleep more on the plane. Needless to say, our plan failed. Kyle on the other hand got a good couple of hours. We arrived in Frankfort about 35 minutes early than scheduled and walked around trying to get to our next flight. The problem was that they didn’t have a gate scheduled for it yet but they at least narrowed it down somewhere on “A”. So we waited around, ate, got the gate changed 3 times, and the flight delayed 40 minutes before we took off for Venice. Oh, did I mention that there were about 40 people on that flight that were going to the program as well. We met another good friend, Claire, when we were getting our baggage in Venice. Everyone’s baggage had arrived safe and sound. It took us a while, but we figured out how to work the ticket machine and get the bus to take us the train station. Because of our delayed plane and the bus ride that took longer than expected, we were rushing to get to onto the train. A Cimba RI, like a resident assistant, was there to help us. While we were getting on the train, the door started to close on me, Kyle, Rachel, Jacob, and Clare still outside of it. The director held it open which was not easy. He had all his strength pushing against both doors in order for it not to shut. Kyle jumped through and we were throwing our luggage at him through the small opening and jumping on ourselves. Finally, after a panicked moment, all of us and our luggage were on the train. Getting out was a lot easier. After that, we hopped on a bus that took us on about a 20 minute ride to our campus. We picked up our phones, welcome packets, and schedules, dropped off our stuff in our rooms and then went to dinner. After dinner, we had a small orientation then, being exhausted, went to bed.