It was breath-taking! The weather was wonderful!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Time of Learning and Exploring!
We just returned from our first free travel!! Four other students and I went out on our own to travel to Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; Marseille, France; and Grindelwald and Interlaken, Switzerland. We had one week for travel and it was full of adventure!
We left on Thursday, March 24 at 5:00AM. We were able to fly to Madrid. When stayed in a hostel that was pretty decent. It was our first time to be in a hostel, not a hotel. It is almost like being at camp. There are community bathrooms and a kitchen that everyone is free to use. While in Madrid, we were able to see the Royal Palace and this pretty cathedral that was located next to it. A lot of our time was spent on the Grand Via, which was a shopping and eating district. That night we went to this huge park. It was so beautiful. They had lamps along all the paths and there was a huge lake in the middle of the park where you could rent boats. There were people in row boats going back and forth across the lake. It was very relaxing getting to sit by the lake and watch the sky turn different colors as the sun set.
The next morning at 6:15AM we left for Barcelona! It was only a 2 hour train to Barcelona. Our hostel was located on the Plaza Real which is right off the famous street, Las Ramblas. It was a perfect location for our hostel but it would have been absolutely perfect if we were students who wanted to get drunk and have a good time. However, that was not the case. I was getting ready for bed at 11:30PM while other girls were getting ready to go out for the night. We shared a room with about 15 other people. Around 6:30AM a group of girls came in from partying, unaware that half the room was already asleep. Luckily I was exhausted so it was easy to go back to sleep. Overall it was a good hostel, just for the location.
On the famous street, Las Ramblas they had flower shops set up everywhere. They also had a huge market that sold fruit, vegetables, chocolates, meets, eggs, bread, and fish. I bought a container of strawberries and pineapple for breakfast and it was delicious! The fruit was so sweet. We went to see a famous cathedral called Sagrada Familia. The architecture and design of the cathedral was really unique. They were doing a lot of construction trying to restore it. Here is a picture of Sagrada Familia.
After we saw the sights in Barcelona, we headed to the beach!!! We were so excited to be by the water! The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky! It was beautiful! We ate our lunch on the beach watching the waves crash in! There were a lot of people sitting in the sand enjoying each other's company. After we ate we took off our hiking books, rolled up our pants and ran down to the water. The water was so cold that it hurt my feet!!! Then we laid in the sand and took in the sun! It was such a relaxing afternoon!! That night after dinner we came back to the beach. We sat on the sand and the only sound we heard were the waves. Justin lead a couple songs for us. It was an incredible time to see God's power as we watch the waves come to shore.
The next day, March 26, we left for Marseille, France. This is located in the south of France. We made it there without any problems; it was only when we were trying to find our hostel that the problem started. We walked all over Marseille, we took the bus, we took the metro, we asked multiple people...we roamed for two hours. Finally we ended up at our hostel. However, they did not have any of our names for a reservation. We thought we were going to have to sleep on the street. :) Then a man came out of nowhere and said there is another hostel with the same name. So we got directions to the other hostel. The hostel we were supposed to stay at was only two minutes from the train station...the place where we had begun two hours earlier. We were not in the correct frame of mind to consider it funny. However, in a couple of hours, the whole situation was really funny.:) We went to the beach in Marseille. It wasn't very impressive. It was pretty but it wasn't like the beach in Barcelona. There was a restaurant right by the beach and this is where we ate dinner. For dessert I ordered a crepe. This was the biggest crepe I had ever seen and eaten. Here is a picture!
We were leaving Marseille Sunday afternoon. That Sunday morning we had a little church service and took communion together. It was a special moment we got to share with each other. After our worship time, we waited in the train station and in our hostel till it was time to leave.
We made it to Grindelwald, Switzerland around 11:30PM on March 27. The next day in Grindelwald, we went hiking in the Swiss Alps! It was great! The weather was perfect! We took our time. We stopped and took pictures. We stopped to take water breaks and eat lunch. We had no schedule! It was great!! After hiking we walked through Grindelwald. We went through shops and then went to the grocery to get things to make dinner. We made pasta with tomato sause and bread. We had chocolate fondu for dessert and dipped strawberries and bananas! It was delicious!!!!! Here is a picture of our dinner!
And here is a picture of Lacie, Brooke, and Justin enjoying the chocolate fondu!
When we walked out of our lodge in Grindelwald on the morning of March 29th, this is what we saw.
It was absolutely gorgeous! The mountains were breathtaking! We headed to the train station and made it to Interlaken within two hours. That day in Interlaken was relaxing. We walked around to all the shops and went to this huge lake that was surrounded by mountains. Very beautiful! I bought some yummy chocolate while we were in Interlaken! I can't wait to dig into it! :) We had an all day trip back to our facility in Verviers, Belgium on March 30th. Everyone was there to welcome us back that night! It was wonderful to be back and it was a fantastic first free travel!
Now for what I have learned! Number 1: The Lord always provides. No matter what happens, whether we miss our train or we are lost, the Lord will bring us through. Number 2: If things do go wrong, hey that's ok! Just go with it! Number 3: Be patient with others. Living with 5 people for a week can be challenging, but patience makes everything better! Number 4: Spend your money wisely, but enjoy your trip because most likely you will only be there once!
Thanks for reading! Our next trip is a week-long group trip to Germany! We will be leaving next week. I will post when we return! Au revoir!
My free travel group in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona!
We left on Thursday, March 24 at 5:00AM. We were able to fly to Madrid. When stayed in a hostel that was pretty decent. It was our first time to be in a hostel, not a hotel. It is almost like being at camp. There are community bathrooms and a kitchen that everyone is free to use. While in Madrid, we were able to see the Royal Palace and this pretty cathedral that was located next to it. A lot of our time was spent on the Grand Via, which was a shopping and eating district. That night we went to this huge park. It was so beautiful. They had lamps along all the paths and there was a huge lake in the middle of the park where you could rent boats. There were people in row boats going back and forth across the lake. It was very relaxing getting to sit by the lake and watch the sky turn different colors as the sun set.
The next morning at 6:15AM we left for Barcelona! It was only a 2 hour train to Barcelona. Our hostel was located on the Plaza Real which is right off the famous street, Las Ramblas. It was a perfect location for our hostel but it would have been absolutely perfect if we were students who wanted to get drunk and have a good time. However, that was not the case. I was getting ready for bed at 11:30PM while other girls were getting ready to go out for the night. We shared a room with about 15 other people. Around 6:30AM a group of girls came in from partying, unaware that half the room was already asleep. Luckily I was exhausted so it was easy to go back to sleep. Overall it was a good hostel, just for the location.
On the famous street, Las Ramblas they had flower shops set up everywhere. They also had a huge market that sold fruit, vegetables, chocolates, meets, eggs, bread, and fish. I bought a container of strawberries and pineapple for breakfast and it was delicious! The fruit was so sweet. We went to see a famous cathedral called Sagrada Familia. The architecture and design of the cathedral was really unique. They were doing a lot of construction trying to restore it. Here is a picture of Sagrada Familia.
After we saw the sights in Barcelona, we headed to the beach!!! We were so excited to be by the water! The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky! It was beautiful! We ate our lunch on the beach watching the waves crash in! There were a lot of people sitting in the sand enjoying each other's company. After we ate we took off our hiking books, rolled up our pants and ran down to the water. The water was so cold that it hurt my feet!!! Then we laid in the sand and took in the sun! It was such a relaxing afternoon!! That night after dinner we came back to the beach. We sat on the sand and the only sound we heard were the waves. Justin lead a couple songs for us. It was an incredible time to see God's power as we watch the waves come to shore.
The next day, March 26, we left for Marseille, France. This is located in the south of France. We made it there without any problems; it was only when we were trying to find our hostel that the problem started. We walked all over Marseille, we took the bus, we took the metro, we asked multiple people...we roamed for two hours. Finally we ended up at our hostel. However, they did not have any of our names for a reservation. We thought we were going to have to sleep on the street. :) Then a man came out of nowhere and said there is another hostel with the same name. So we got directions to the other hostel. The hostel we were supposed to stay at was only two minutes from the train station...the place where we had begun two hours earlier. We were not in the correct frame of mind to consider it funny. However, in a couple of hours, the whole situation was really funny.:) We went to the beach in Marseille. It wasn't very impressive. It was pretty but it wasn't like the beach in Barcelona. There was a restaurant right by the beach and this is where we ate dinner. For dessert I ordered a crepe. This was the biggest crepe I had ever seen and eaten. Here is a picture!
We were leaving Marseille Sunday afternoon. That Sunday morning we had a little church service and took communion together. It was a special moment we got to share with each other. After our worship time, we waited in the train station and in our hostel till it was time to leave.
We made it to Grindelwald, Switzerland around 11:30PM on March 27. The next day in Grindelwald, we went hiking in the Swiss Alps! It was great! The weather was perfect! We took our time. We stopped and took pictures. We stopped to take water breaks and eat lunch. We had no schedule! It was great!! After hiking we walked through Grindelwald. We went through shops and then went to the grocery to get things to make dinner. We made pasta with tomato sause and bread. We had chocolate fondu for dessert and dipped strawberries and bananas! It was delicious!!!!! Here is a picture of our dinner!
And here is a picture of Lacie, Brooke, and Justin enjoying the chocolate fondu!
When we walked out of our lodge in Grindelwald on the morning of March 29th, this is what we saw.
It was absolutely gorgeous! The mountains were breathtaking! We headed to the train station and made it to Interlaken within two hours. That day in Interlaken was relaxing. We walked around to all the shops and went to this huge lake that was surrounded by mountains. Very beautiful! I bought some yummy chocolate while we were in Interlaken! I can't wait to dig into it! :) We had an all day trip back to our facility in Verviers, Belgium on March 30th. Everyone was there to welcome us back that night! It was wonderful to be back and it was a fantastic first free travel!
Now for what I have learned! Number 1: The Lord always provides. No matter what happens, whether we miss our train or we are lost, the Lord will bring us through. Number 2: If things do go wrong, hey that's ok! Just go with it! Number 3: Be patient with others. Living with 5 people for a week can be challenging, but patience makes everything better! Number 4: Spend your money wisely, but enjoy your trip because most likely you will only be there once!
Thanks for reading! Our next trip is a week-long group trip to Germany! We will be leaving next week. I will post when we return! Au revoir!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Notre Dame
It was a little windy! We tried to go up in the bell tower to have a look over Paris, but they closed the line right before we got there. :(
Monday, March 21, 2011
I want a Crêpe!
Bonjour readers! We returned from our group trip to Paris yesterday afternoon. What an incredible trip we had! Paris is my favorite city so far! I could have spent two weeks there instead of six days! Here is a summary of all the things we did.
On the first day, we arrived in Paris mid-day and checked into our hotel. My friend Kelsie and I roomed together and we could see the Eiffel Tower from our window! After we were all settled in, we headed to see the tower! It was no longer than a 10 minute walk to get there. When we reached the Eiffel tower, I could not believe we were there!!! I have always wanted to see it and to finally be there was unbelievable. We took tons of pictures, then we went to go get tickets to go to the top of the tower. However, the line was so long just for tickets that we decided to come back later. We walked along the Seine River which was really pretty. After our Eiffel Tower experience, we headed to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was so pretty against the blue sky. Lacie, Brooke, and I had our first crepe at Notre Dame. It was so yummy!! That night we walked back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. Absolutely beautiful. Every hour the tower sparkles with silver lights. It lasts for about 2 minutes. It was so so so pretty.
On the second day, we went to the Louvre. I was so excited to see the Mona Lisa and other famous paintings and statues. The Louvre was huge! We spent the majority of the day there and still didn't get to see the third wing of the museum. The Mona Lisa was not as big as I expected and it had a glass case around it. However, it was still really pretty to see in person. There were a lot of famous statues like the Winged Victory that I had studied about in humanities classes; that was neat getting to see those in person. That night we went to Shakespeare and Co. That was a really neat bookstore. It is wall to wall books! I bought a book called Paris to the Moon. I am reading it right now!
On the third day, we went to Saint Chapelle. It is a small chapel but has huge stain glass windows. The glass windows depict stories from the Bible. It was really pretty to see. Then our group headed to the Musee d'Orsay. This is my favorite museum because it has Impressionist artists like Monet, Degas, and Renoir. I loved getting to see those paintings in person. I could have spent all day there. We were really rushed so I didn't get to look at each painting as much as I would have wanted to. That night after our trip to the museum, some of us went to an orchestra concert in the chapel where we visited that morning, Saint Chapelle. It was an incredible performance. It was a small orchestra but they played very famous pieces that sounded beautifully within the small chapel. I loved getting to experience that. However, the highlight of this day was probably the chocolate and banana crepe I had. DELICIOUS!!!!!
On the fourth day, we went to Versailles. Versailles was massive! We only got to walk around a small portion of it, but the rooms were beautiful. They had tapestries covering the walls and decorative fabric all over the furniture. The hall of mirrors was really pretty. The chandeliers and the paintings on the ceiling were so fancy! After touring the inside, we were able to go outside and tour the gardens. Rick Steves said we needed almost two hours to tour the gardens. Sadly, we did not have two hours, but we did get time to take pictures and look around. I sure wouldn't want to pick weeds out of those gardens on a hot summer day! :) After Versailles we headed to Montmarte. This was a big, white church on a hill. Very pretty! And the view from the hill was great. All around the church there were venders and I bought an authentic painting from Paris! That night a group of us went to see THE OUTSIDE of Moulin Rouge. All we wanted to do was get our picture taken in front of the windmill and the sign that says "Moulin Rouge." Going down "Moulin Rouge avenue" was an experience. The Red Light District is not a place I would want to go and hangout!
On the fifth day, we went to DISNEYLAND PARIS!!!! What a fun way to spend our free day in Paris!!! We had the time of our lives. We rode all the rides and enjoyed acting like little kids! Paris' park is smaller than Disneyworld but there are almost all of the same rides. A 12 hour day at Disneyland definitely wears you out! I was looking forward to going to bed that night!
On our last day in Paris, we went to church. It was all in French, so I used that time to read some from my Bible. However, it was encouraging being able to be with brothers and sisters who live all the way in Paris! We made it home around 7:30PM and it felt good to be home! The laundry and schoolwork has begun again!
This was the best trip we have taken so far! I love Paris! In a couple days, four other people and I are leaving for our 1 week free travel to Spain, south of France, and Switzerland! I will post a blog about our adventures when we return. Thank you so much for reading!! A bientot!
On the first day, we arrived in Paris mid-day and checked into our hotel. My friend Kelsie and I roomed together and we could see the Eiffel Tower from our window! After we were all settled in, we headed to see the tower! It was no longer than a 10 minute walk to get there. When we reached the Eiffel tower, I could not believe we were there!!! I have always wanted to see it and to finally be there was unbelievable. We took tons of pictures, then we went to go get tickets to go to the top of the tower. However, the line was so long just for tickets that we decided to come back later. We walked along the Seine River which was really pretty. After our Eiffel Tower experience, we headed to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was so pretty against the blue sky. Lacie, Brooke, and I had our first crepe at Notre Dame. It was so yummy!! That night we walked back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. Absolutely beautiful. Every hour the tower sparkles with silver lights. It lasts for about 2 minutes. It was so so so pretty.
On the second day, we went to the Louvre. I was so excited to see the Mona Lisa and other famous paintings and statues. The Louvre was huge! We spent the majority of the day there and still didn't get to see the third wing of the museum. The Mona Lisa was not as big as I expected and it had a glass case around it. However, it was still really pretty to see in person. There were a lot of famous statues like the Winged Victory that I had studied about in humanities classes; that was neat getting to see those in person. That night we went to Shakespeare and Co. That was a really neat bookstore. It is wall to wall books! I bought a book called Paris to the Moon. I am reading it right now!
On the third day, we went to Saint Chapelle. It is a small chapel but has huge stain glass windows. The glass windows depict stories from the Bible. It was really pretty to see. Then our group headed to the Musee d'Orsay. This is my favorite museum because it has Impressionist artists like Monet, Degas, and Renoir. I loved getting to see those paintings in person. I could have spent all day there. We were really rushed so I didn't get to look at each painting as much as I would have wanted to. That night after our trip to the museum, some of us went to an orchestra concert in the chapel where we visited that morning, Saint Chapelle. It was an incredible performance. It was a small orchestra but they played very famous pieces that sounded beautifully within the small chapel. I loved getting to experience that. However, the highlight of this day was probably the chocolate and banana crepe I had. DELICIOUS!!!!!
On the fourth day, we went to Versailles. Versailles was massive! We only got to walk around a small portion of it, but the rooms were beautiful. They had tapestries covering the walls and decorative fabric all over the furniture. The hall of mirrors was really pretty. The chandeliers and the paintings on the ceiling were so fancy! After touring the inside, we were able to go outside and tour the gardens. Rick Steves said we needed almost two hours to tour the gardens. Sadly, we did not have two hours, but we did get time to take pictures and look around. I sure wouldn't want to pick weeds out of those gardens on a hot summer day! :) After Versailles we headed to Montmarte. This was a big, white church on a hill. Very pretty! And the view from the hill was great. All around the church there were venders and I bought an authentic painting from Paris! That night a group of us went to see THE OUTSIDE of Moulin Rouge. All we wanted to do was get our picture taken in front of the windmill and the sign that says "Moulin Rouge." Going down "Moulin Rouge avenue" was an experience. The Red Light District is not a place I would want to go and hangout!
On the fifth day, we went to DISNEYLAND PARIS!!!! What a fun way to spend our free day in Paris!!! We had the time of our lives. We rode all the rides and enjoyed acting like little kids! Paris' park is smaller than Disneyworld but there are almost all of the same rides. A 12 hour day at Disneyland definitely wears you out! I was looking forward to going to bed that night!
On our last day in Paris, we went to church. It was all in French, so I used that time to read some from my Bible. However, it was encouraging being able to be with brothers and sisters who live all the way in Paris! We made it home around 7:30PM and it felt good to be home! The laundry and schoolwork has begun again!
This was the best trip we have taken so far! I love Paris! In a couple days, four other people and I are leaving for our 1 week free travel to Spain, south of France, and Switzerland! I will post a blog about our adventures when we return. Thank you so much for reading!! A bientot!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Saving the world, one euro at a time!
On the second half of group travel we went to Italy. We left Athens on Monday the 28th and flew to Rome. We had a quick flight and once we made it to our hotel we headed out into Rome! Our hotel was on the outskirts so we had to take the metro into the historic part of the city. Riding the metro was an experience, let me tell you!! We were packed on that metro like a sardines! That was a wonderful welcome into Rome. :) The first things we saw were the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. I had always heard about these places so it was really neat getting to see them in person. When we were at the Trevi fountain, we saw two men stealing coins out of the fountain! They had these skinny pointers with a magnet on the end. They would walk all around the fountain staring in to the water. When they saw the coin they wanted, they would reach the pointer into the water and the coin would attach to the magnet. They had it down to a fine art! My group and I followed this one man around the fountain. At one point I stood next to him and pretended like I was looking for coins too. Lacie got a video of him stealing coins and Kelsie got pictures of him! It was so funny! Other people in our group also saw the man stealing and told the police. The police wanted to see the video that Lacie had made and the pictures Kelsie had. We were saving the world, one euro at a time! Best day of the whole trip!
On our second day we went to the Colosseum. That was so awesome to see! It was huge! We walked all through it. It was really neat trying to imagine people sitting there watching a performance or being one of the actors under the stage floor getting ready to perform. The Arc of Constantine is right next to the Colosseum. It was really pretty. All the arches throughout Rome have so much intricate detail on them. Very pretty! We then went to a massive white political building that they call the wedding cake. We were able to go to the top and look out over the city of Rome. Gorgeous view! Our last two stops were the Pantheon and this huge square with lots of shops. The Pantheon was really pretty inside, with lots of decor. The square had people set up selling paintings that were absolutely beautiful. Our day ended with shopping and a long trek back to the hotel in down-pouring rain.
On the third day we went to Pompeii. It was about a three hour bus ride to the sight. Pompeii was huge. I didn't realize how big it was until we had walked through it for about two hours and there was still more to see. It was really interesting getting to see all the buildings that were intact and the things that were preserved under the ash after the volcano erupted. After Pompeii we stopped for about 30 minutes in the city of Naples, Italy.
On the fourth day we went to Vatican City. We walked through the Vatican and it was absolutely beautiful. The artwork on the floors, walls, and ceilings were incredible. I think I walked with my mouth open in awe the whole time. We went to the Sistine Chapel. In humanities classes we had studied some of the paintings that were in the chapel, and it was great finally getting to see those paintings in person. After the chapel we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It was a massive church. However, it was very sad seeing these people worshipping these men and holding them in such high esteem. After the church, we went to the Catacombs. I had no idea what to except. We were below ground 10s of feet. These catacombs were where Christians would bury their dead. We got to go through some of their tunnels and see some of the graves. So interesting. Before we left the catacombs our tour guide let us sing. Mr. Cliff led "It Is Well With My Soul". It sounded beautiful in the catacombs.
On March 4th, we took a bus to Florence. Once we got to Florence, we found our hotel and got settled in. Our hotel was like a villa. It was so Italian! We only had time for a fast lunch, so we stopped at this restaurant and ordered pizzas. I ordered ham and mushroom. We were able to watch the man make the pizzas in the brick oven. The pizza was delicious. We sat on the curb and ate our pizza. All the people walking by stared and laughed. It was so fun! After our quick lunch we went to the Accademia to see the statue of David. The statue was a lot bigger in person than in pictures. After leaving the museum we went on a walking tour of Florence and got to see the Duomo. The outside of the Duomo was so beautiful. After our tour we had free time to do as we please...so we went shopping!!!
Our second day in Florence was a free day. We decided to go to Pisa and see the leaning tower. When we saw the leaning tower, we took the cheesy pictures that everyone takes of trying to hold up the tower. The tower wasn't as big as I thought it would be but it was really neat getting to see it. We eventually headed back to Florence and spent the day shopping and enjoying the Florence atmosphere.
That night we left Florence around 8:30 on a night train to head back to Verviers. That was my first time on a sleeper train. What an experience! The compartment that we were in was tiny and it housed six girls. One side of this tiny compartment had three beds and the other side had the other three beds. Sleeping was ok but we made frequent stops throughout the night. The next day our train stopped in Munich, Germany where we got breakfast and then caught another train to Aachen, Germany. Finally we made it home to Verviers and it felt great to be "home" again.
Thanks so much for reading! Our next group trip is a six day trip to Paris next week! I will update the blog when we return! Ciao!
On our second day we went to the Colosseum. That was so awesome to see! It was huge! We walked all through it. It was really neat trying to imagine people sitting there watching a performance or being one of the actors under the stage floor getting ready to perform. The Arc of Constantine is right next to the Colosseum. It was really pretty. All the arches throughout Rome have so much intricate detail on them. Very pretty! We then went to a massive white political building that they call the wedding cake. We were able to go to the top and look out over the city of Rome. Gorgeous view! Our last two stops were the Pantheon and this huge square with lots of shops. The Pantheon was really pretty inside, with lots of decor. The square had people set up selling paintings that were absolutely beautiful. Our day ended with shopping and a long trek back to the hotel in down-pouring rain.
On the third day we went to Pompeii. It was about a three hour bus ride to the sight. Pompeii was huge. I didn't realize how big it was until we had walked through it for about two hours and there was still more to see. It was really interesting getting to see all the buildings that were intact and the things that were preserved under the ash after the volcano erupted. After Pompeii we stopped for about 30 minutes in the city of Naples, Italy.
On the fourth day we went to Vatican City. We walked through the Vatican and it was absolutely beautiful. The artwork on the floors, walls, and ceilings were incredible. I think I walked with my mouth open in awe the whole time. We went to the Sistine Chapel. In humanities classes we had studied some of the paintings that were in the chapel, and it was great finally getting to see those paintings in person. After the chapel we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It was a massive church. However, it was very sad seeing these people worshipping these men and holding them in such high esteem. After the church, we went to the Catacombs. I had no idea what to except. We were below ground 10s of feet. These catacombs were where Christians would bury their dead. We got to go through some of their tunnels and see some of the graves. So interesting. Before we left the catacombs our tour guide let us sing. Mr. Cliff led "It Is Well With My Soul". It sounded beautiful in the catacombs.
On March 4th, we took a bus to Florence. Once we got to Florence, we found our hotel and got settled in. Our hotel was like a villa. It was so Italian! We only had time for a fast lunch, so we stopped at this restaurant and ordered pizzas. I ordered ham and mushroom. We were able to watch the man make the pizzas in the brick oven. The pizza was delicious. We sat on the curb and ate our pizza. All the people walking by stared and laughed. It was so fun! After our quick lunch we went to the Accademia to see the statue of David. The statue was a lot bigger in person than in pictures. After leaving the museum we went on a walking tour of Florence and got to see the Duomo. The outside of the Duomo was so beautiful. After our tour we had free time to do as we please...so we went shopping!!!
Our second day in Florence was a free day. We decided to go to Pisa and see the leaning tower. When we saw the leaning tower, we took the cheesy pictures that everyone takes of trying to hold up the tower. The tower wasn't as big as I thought it would be but it was really neat getting to see it. We eventually headed back to Florence and spent the day shopping and enjoying the Florence atmosphere.
That night we left Florence around 8:30 on a night train to head back to Verviers. That was my first time on a sleeper train. What an experience! The compartment that we were in was tiny and it housed six girls. One side of this tiny compartment had three beds and the other side had the other three beds. Sleeping was ok but we made frequent stops throughout the night. The next day our train stopped in Munich, Germany where we got breakfast and then caught another train to Aachen, Germany. Finally we made it home to Verviers and it felt great to be "home" again.
Thanks so much for reading! Our next group trip is a six day trip to Paris next week! I will update the blog when we return! Ciao!
Sistine Chapel and Trevi Fountain: Favorite places in Italy
This was the only picture I could take of the Sistine Chapel. We were not allowed to take pictures within the chapel. These three boards containing pictures from the chapel were located outside of the building. This is where our tour guide explained the artwork that covered the walls and ceiling of the chapel. It was absolutely stunning within the Sistine Chapel.
I always wanted to see Trevi Fountain and when I finally had the opportunity to, it was incredible! It is such a romantic place and the fountain was absolutely beautiful. My friend Lacie and I made a wish by throwing a coin into the fountain from our right hand over our left shoulder. This means that I have to return to Rome in order for my wish to come true! I love Trevi!!!
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