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

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:

On the beach!

Gaudi's Cathedral

Bull fighting arena

In the park

The group on the bike tour

Flamenco dancing

We were very excited about the hot chocolate

YUMMY!!

Dragon fruit

The Light Show

Gaudi Park (aka... Candyland)

In the park where Top Model filmed one episode

One of Gaudi's buildings

"Love comforteth like sunshine after rain"

I spent this past weekend in Stratford, the birthplace and homestead of the legendary William Shakespeare.  My family lives not far from the city and took us on the town for the weekend.  So fun!  We visited Shakespeare's birthplace and his burial ground as well as going to see one of his plays entitled, "The Tempest." We also toured Gloustershire and the Cotswolds on the English countryside.  Here are some photos:

In front of Broadway Tower

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Holy Trinity Church (where Shakespeare is buried)

*This is for you Poppy

Our Ireland trip... that turned into Bath

One of the biggest disappointments so far was our canceled trip to Dublin, Ireland.  Yet we made the best of our travel break by turning it around and going to Bath instead!  Here are some photos from our awesome weekend in Bath:

Bath Abbey

Corset fitting in the Costume Muesum

Roman Baths

Tea in the Pump Room

The Royal Crescent

Pultney Bridge

Instead of the Super Bowl

It is snowing in Oxford!  Last night we were getting ready to watch the Super Bowl (at midnight!) and it started to snow!  Of course we all went to go play in it instead of watching football.  Here are some photos of our fun:

We had so much fun!  It was like being a kid again.  Everyone was going crazy!  Snowball fight is still to come!  Cheers!

Cheers!

So since I last wrote I have gone to London for a day trip last weekend!  It was awesome!  We got to see Wicked, ride a double-decker bus, tour the Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and got to see the crown jewels in the Tower of London.  We had so much fun!  Here are some pictures:

I also got to go on more tours around Oxford for class.  

Funny Story:  I had an assignment to go on a walk along the Thames River in Oxford and to visit little villages along the way for class.  So my friend, Suzanne and I went on the walk and toured the churches and sites that had to be seen.  It was in the beautiful English countryside.  After the walk our directions told us to take a bus back to Woodstock Road.  So we find a bus stop and get on the bus that says: Woodstock.  We ask the bus driver just to make sure, "Are you headed towards Woodstock?"  She says, "No, but I can take you to the stop that a bus is going in that direction."  So we got on.  She drops us off to wait for a second bus and after a half and hour or so the bus comes.  We get on and are absolutely exhausted at this point!  As we watch all the streets we pass, we get a weird feeling about the direction we were going in.  We get off the bus and find out that we were actually in the town of Woodstock instead of Woodstock Road.  We were soooo mad!  (lesson no. 2: Clarify where you want to go when entering a bus, even if it seems like a stupid question) 

Later in the week we went to Christ Church where they filmed some scenes for Harry Potter.  I took a picture of the dining hall which is the "Hogwarts dining hall"  in the movie:

Next stop... Dublin, Ireland.  Can't wait!