The Adventure of a Lifetime: March 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

Another Week in England

This past week I got to see and do many things. I went to tea with a couple of friends at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford. It was delicious and well worth the time and money. On Saturday I spent the day in Salisbury and Stonehenge. Although I am glad I saw Stonehenge, it wasn't all it's cracked up to be. It is astounding that the stones are still in their original positions--for the most part. So crazy! The fact that we still are clueless as to why or how the stones are there is fascinating. Here are some photos from this past week:

Our beautiful tea spread

All dressed up for high tea

How did these get here??

The group

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Beautiful Florence

Our last place we stayed was Florence, Italy. Such a pretty city! We only got to stay there for a day but really enjoyed it. We went to see David at the Academia and saw the Duomo and climbed the dome to see the city from the top. There is also a leather market and other markets around the city and we did lots of shopping there. So much fun!! Here are some photos:

A snuck picture of David

The Duomo Cathedral

At the top of the Dome

View from the top

Some famous door near the Duomo (it is a replica, the original is in a museum)

There was a beautiful bridge where we watched the sunset

When in Rome...

After Cinque Terre we stayed in Rome. One thing I definitely don't recommend to put yourself through is doing Rome in a day! It was super stressful. I'm glad we did it though. We went to the Vatican Museum where the Sistine Chapel is and it ended up taking us a total of 5 hours to see all there is to see there. We also visited the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. The Ancient parts of Rome were really cool! It stretched out farther than we thought and took about 2 hours to see the Forum and Roman remains. We had to come back to see the Coliseum the next morning. Here are some pictures from Rome:

The Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's Cathedral

Sistine Chapel

Roman remains

The Roman Forum

Coliseum

Inside the Coliseum

An Amazing Birthday in Italy

For my 20th Birthday I was in Cinque Terre, Italy. I absolutely LOVED it!! With a couple of days composed of sitting on the beach, watching the sunset, eating lots and lots of gelato, and relaxing, it made for a perfect birthday. We toured the five cities, shopped, and soaked up the Italian culture.

Some of what we did while in Pisa and Cinque Terre:

- eating Pizza in Pisa (ironic, haha)

- riding the train to get to Cinque Terre and seeing the sea as soon as we exit the tunnel

- the beautiful sunset and beach

- gelato, gelato, gelato, and yet even more gelato

- Pesto! They are known for the pesto in Cinque Terre and it is on everything (pizza, pasta, with bread)

This is definitely my favorite place yet! I plan to return someday. Here are some photos from Pisa and Cinque Terre:

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Attempting to take a jumping picture

One of the five cities...gorgeous!

Birthday dinner

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Barcelona!

My trip to Barcelona was amazing! We took a tour on bikes through the city, ate some amazing desserts and paella, saw some awesome art by Gaudi and Dali, and went to see flamenco dancing. We stayed in Barcelona for four days and got to see and experience so much.

Day 1: We get to our hostel and come to find out that we booked the hostel for the wrong month! Luckily the hostel worker was kind enough to find us another hostel nearby and it ended up really working out. After we got situated, we headed to the Chocolate Museum where our ticket was a bar of dark chocolate! It was awesome, there were sculptures that were made of pure chocolate! So cool! We then proceeded to the Picasso Museum where we got to see some of Picasso's original paintings. For dinner we decided to try a traditional Spanish dish called, Paella. It is rice, vegetables, and fresh seafood... delicious!

Day 2: We got up super early to get to the Fat tire bike tour and to meet some friends that we traveled with, only we had forgotten to change the clock to Barcelona time... so we ended up walking around and shopped in the market and little shops. The market was so cool and was huge! We tried this weird fruit and later we found out it was called dragon fruit. It wasn't bad. That night we got to see flamenco dancing. I was amazed by the talented dancers and singer. It was fun to watch! We also tried hot chocolate and churros. When I say hot chocolate, I mean hot chocolate... my spoon could sit on top of my drink it was so thick! There are no words to describe how good it was!

Day 3: We attempt to do the bike tour once again and succeeded. The tour took us to the Gaudi Cathedral that is still being built 100 or so years later! It was such an interesting building! We also got to see the beach and the Mediterranean... so beautiful! We had a blast. After the tour we headed to the Gaudi Park that looked like Candyland, no joke! Again, very interesting art. As we were leaving we spotted an unexpected sight... a naked man hiking in the woods! Apparently, in Barcelona walking around naked is legal and perfectly normal! Go figure! That night we also got to see a light show with lights and a huge fountain that reminded me of Fantasia.

Day 4: The last day we took a day trip to Figeres where the Dali Museum is held. The museum was so cool! We got to see some of Dali's original pieces including, "The Persistence of Memory" (the painting with the melting clocks). So cool!

Here are some photos from my trip: