Monday, May 22, 2006

Italia

Ciao,

To start off the tour of Italy, we stopped by the town of Pisa for an hour or so. So exciting! Actually, the tower was much smaller and different than how I had imagined. I knew the town was existent only because of the tower, but yeah. It was just different.

From there we drove to Firenze, or those who do not know, Florence. We went to a Karaoke club called Red Garter. It was fun because everyone got up and danced, but it was tiny. We got our Tour Manager drunk, which was good. She's the conservative, mother/teacher type, though I think she's very nice. It was just nice to see her let loose.
The next day we did a little tour of Firenze. We started in the Piazza with the replica of the Statue of David. We made our way to the oldest bridge in Firenze where Giorgio Armani has a house on! There used to be fish markets there, however, the Medicci family restricted the shops to Jewellry only because they did not like the smell. We later walked by the markets and then to the Duomo. I had climbed the Duomo earlier, all 463 steps which were steep and winding. Not fun! The view was nice, but not worth the time, money, or pain. Some of us made our way to the Academia where the real Statue of David is; however, the line was sooo long the only one guy decided to wait. Two Aussie sisters, myself, and a guy from Rosthern went to the markets, and then later used the internet cafe. When we met up with the rest of the group, we found out that the other guy had only just made it in to see the statue, but he could only stay in for like 5 min. Anyways, our group then went for a Tuscan dinner with pastas (3) and pork. Then we went to the Space Disco Club, which was HUGE! It was a fun night... very interesting, actually. About 70% of the people in the tour have hooked up. Oh well... there's a fun group of girls that like to gossip about it, so it's heaps of fun.

Continuing on, we went to Roma the next day. I really like it here because there's so much to do and see. We did a tour of the Colosseum (or as the Romans say, the Ampitheatre) as well as the Roman Forum. Then we went to Trevi Fountain and had awesome gelati, however, it obviously wasn't that good because it didn't stay down that long )if you know what I mean). Then we walked to the Pantheon (Temple for the Gods). It was nice, but really, I'd rather see the Greek temples, since the Romans just copied the Greeks. Oh, and according to the Romans, the French copied them. That's what I call Karma.

Speaking of which, I almost lost my purse! Not a good experience... but I got it back, so that was good. I definitelz had a heart attack. Then a girl left her Prada sunnies in a changeroom that I was in, so I gave them to her. That's my little Karma sermon.

Anyways, back on topic... We went to a nice restaurant about a block away from Piazza Navona called Navona Notte. I had delicious lasagna. Mmm... We didn't do anything special that night... Myself and three other girls were in our room and had a lot of fun just talking and lots of laughing (mostly at other people...)

The next day we had a free day to do whatever we wanted in Rome. We started with the Vatican. The museums were really nice. The Sistine Chapel was nice, but definitely not what I had expected. St Peter's Cathedral was really nice too, but all of the churches are starting to look the same. It really sucks because once you see so many things you start to appreciate the great things less than you would normally.

Anyways, I have to go... Tune in for Roma and Venezia.

Ciao

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Cannes to Nice to Monaco

Bonjour,

Well, after the long bus ride from Barcelona to Biot, France, we had a free night to do whatever we wanted. All of us just stayed in our campsite and did laundry and played cards/drank at the bar. I just played cards though, obviously.

The next day we had a free day to do what we wanted... go to Nice, Cannes, or stay in Biot. It was a gorgeous day so almost everyone went to Nice to relax on the beach. However, after Nicole rubbed it in my face that I didn't get to go to Cannes, there was no way I could not go! :) There was 9 of us that decided to do the dual cities during the day.

Cannes was really cool, but was totally revolved around the festival, which much to my dismay, started three days after we were there (started on the 17th). Everyone was preparing for it so a lot of the area around the Palais des Festivales was blocked off; therefore, I didn't get to see where they had all of the handprints. Honestly, we've had the worst luck on our trip, but such as life.

Nice was very nice; the pebble beach was a little annoying because it hurt to sit on, plus it gave off a white chalk. The water, however, was SO blue... I didn't get to go fully under, but I did go in it, unlike everyone else. We went to the markets there but they sucked, so we decided to climb up the Chateau which had a gorgeous view of Nice.

That night, we took a 2 hour bus ride to Monte Carlo, Monaco. The view on the way there was really nice. Like everything we see though. We stopped to see the Royal Palace on our way to the Gran Casino. We all went into a tiny casino right beside the Gran, where I won a whopping 23,40 Euro! Haha. I know, it's not much at all, but it's better than losing. One girl won over 300,00 Euro; she wasn't even excited though. Whatever I guess, it's probably because she's always by herself and never does any of the excursions with the group. Oh... aside from her, the cars were so nice. Ferrari's, Porsche's, Bentley's.... ugly or old guys. Haha. Not that I was looking, but... sometimes it's nice to see a younger person with a nice car like that... but I guess they're at a Casino, so if they're young with that kind of money, and they're gambling it away, it's not cool. Lol. Okay. Anyways, I'm off.

Right now I am in Florence, Italy. I will update soon.

Ciao from Italy,

Larissa.

P.S. --> I feel so much more at home in France than I do in Spain because of the language barrier. Who would've thought that French class in school actually helps!
Oh, and there's a Greek girl (from Australia though) on my tour. She's going to Greece after for her first time but she speaks Greek. Cool, hey! Love you all. Bye!!!

Barcelona

Well I think I stopped rather abruptly on my last post, but I'll just start from here... after the 12-hour bus ride to Barcelona.

We had a night and then one full day; however, I was still sick on the way, and when we arrived at our cabins every muscle in my body was sore and I had the worst head cold ever. I was wiped so I went to bed around 11:00.

The next day our tour guide showed us the highlights of Barcelona such as the Royal Palace, Gaudi's Cathedral, the Gothic Quarter, La Ramblas (shopping and amazing food markets!!!), and some other stuff like the Christopher Columbus Monument, "L'Arc de Triomphe"(the little one) and Pable Picasso's Museum. I really liked the palace with all of the fountains. I didn't actually get to walk around inside, or around the fountains for that matter, but it was still nice to look at. The food markets were amazing! They had awesome fruit and tons of seafood. I can't imagine having anything like it at home... all I would ever eat is fruit. Mmm... I did some shopping down La Ramblas street. There were so many entertainers on the sidewalk dresssed up in different kinds of outfits; they were pretty cool. We also went to Mestrepiel which had statues, pearls, and leather products. The pearls were sooo nice and the leather was really soft. Only two people bought jackets though (not me!).

That night some of us went to a Flamenco Club for a couple hours. It was alright, but there were only 3 girls and one guy, so there wasn't a whole lot that they could do to make it exciting. I'd have to say the best part was when people from our group got onstage to learn how to dance. The Flamenco girls tried showing the guys, but it was rather pointless.

Later, we all went for dinner at a restaurant along the Port Olymico. We had a really nice dinner with some Sangria which went down rather nicely. We got split up in groups and I ended up sitting with four Aussie guys and one Canadian guy, which was interesting. I really don't understand where all the alcohol goes... but anyways...

After supper, 16 of us went to a club called Baja, which was huge, though I think it may have been a gay club. There was an actual band that sang, as well as a band of girls that danced and lipsynched, and a Dj. In addition, for certain songs, all of the bartenders who were dressed in boxer/board shorts, got up on the bars and did choreographed dances. It was hilarious... though they all had gorgeous bodies/stomachs (which is probably a requirement for the job). Anyways, we stayed there till about 2:45, then tried to find a taxi back to camp. We got one for 23,00 Euro but he brought us to the wrong place. We ended up walking for over an hour because we got lost. The three of us were walking along the highway for a while, found a different camp which we later found had lots of guard dogs, then when we found our camp, we got lost in it... lol... Yeah, I know what you're thinking... But actually, our campground was really big and the security guard pointed us in the wrong direction, twice!

Anyways, we had a fun night... but we were really tired and slept a lot of the bus ride to Biot, France.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Pretty Paris & Beaujolais Region

We toured all of Paris in one and a half days. It was really nice, but I think I prefer London. When we were at the top of the Eiffel Tower there was a couple that got engaged up there; that was cool. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre (Mona Lisa) which was massive, L´Árc de Triomphe, Napoleon´s Tomb, École Militaire, the Bookend Library, the Butterfly Museum or whatever it was, and yeah, loads of other stuff. Oh yeah, Sacré Coeur, which is the highest point in Paris! We went for supper at a quaint little restaurant, my fish was delicious but that´s about it. The wine, cheese, cheesecake, and salad/veggie paté were AWFUL! Oh well. Then we walked down a sketchy area past the Moulin Rouge theater show to our show which was called Nouvelle Eve. It was a pretty good show. The dancing wasn´t great, but I guess I just expect more for a show in Paris! There was a hilarious comedian, and an amazing gymnast who was doing tricks on a rope. It was so awesome to watch.

The next night we drove to Chateau de Cruix in the Beaujolais region. We did a winetesting of the famous red Beaujolais wine, which was alright. It was cool to learn the processes in which the wine went through. Then we went back to the Chateau and ate supper, after which I got sick. I was throwing up so I had a shower and went to bed; however, I couldn´t sleep so I decided to go down to The Cave and party (no alcohol, of course!). It was fun cause we just talked and danced a lot. So many people were just insanely wasted.

The next day we took a picnic and walked was ¨supposed¨to be a leisurely walk, but definitely wasn´t. It was so long, not to mention uphill! If that wasn´t bad enough, it started raining... talk about the poor weather we´ve been having. Anyways, we ate our lunch at the Top of the World point, which is the highest point in the Beaujolais region of France. This is where they do all of the Beaujolais winemaking. It´s so beautiful... you look into the distance and all you see are little grape vineyards. Well, the amount is not little, but the trees themselves are. Then ten of us girls walked to a little village 2 miles away called Oingt. It was soooo cute. We went to a little créperie there....

I´ve got to go... I´m in Barcelona right now, so I´ll finish this post later. Hopefully! Talk to you all soon. We´re going back to France tomorrow (Cannes & Nice)... should be nice!

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Lovely London

Well, I'm in London right now; it's absolutely gorgeous. My flight down here was horrible... My seat did not recline, and then to top it off, my TV on my overseas flight didn't work. What are the chances! Needless to say, I was not pleased.

The first day I went touring all day to a lot of the major places, and familiarized myself with London. I love it here; the tube, the buildings, the people and diversity, and the fact that no matter where you are you feel safe because there's always people/tourists around. I did do quite a bit of walking though... I was in Westminster checking out Big Ben and all that jazz in the vicinity and I decided to walk along River Thames. BIG MISTAKE!! I thought that the Tower Birdge would be nice and close but it ended up being like 5 tube stations down. THEN, after I had walked across the bridge I decided to look for a tube station. Of course, there was one on the other side of the bridge, but I was tired and thought there'd be a closer alternative. Man, I was wrong. I walked for about 45 mins and ended up in a residential area that was heavily under construcion. Finally, some nice man pointed me in a different direction, but it wasn't close! From there it took me about another 30 min to get to the tube station. Ahh... I was dead after that... Luckily, my feet weren't sore... I was just tired. Anyways, I made my way back to the Hotel after I grabbed some supper. My one roomate was there... an Aussie, Gemma. My other one, Melinda, who was also an Aussie, came later.

The next day we woke up at about 6:30, but didn't really leave until 7:30-ish. They didn't know anything about London which I found pretty surprising. They didn't even know what Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Pauls, or the London Tower were, which I found pretty surprising) So, we went to Buckingham place and all the aforementioned places... as well as Covent Gardens and Soho... (nice shopping!!! lol) I wanted to see a show but the girls I was with left the next day and one of them was so cheap that she only had soup the whole day.. which was like £1. Oh well... I guess you've got to economize... but that was a bit much for me!

Anyways... I'll keep you posted.

Love from London,

-Larissa