July 6th blog

Our trip has come to and end, and as excited I am to go home, I know I'm going to miss Europe, I'm already planning what I need to see if I ever get to come again. Our flight home seemed like it would never end. We left our hotel at 6:00 a.m. lugged our baggage to the train station where we caught a bus to the Piza airport. When we arrived in Piza we had just enough time to hop a bus and take a few pictures of the famous leaning tower before our flight was to leave.

Kari demonstrates just how accustomed we've become to life on the move when she and Cassie decided to wash their hair in the Piza airport, the janitor looked at them like they were crazy Americans.

I can't express how thankful I was that our TV on the flight back actually worked this time, as it was broken when we flew to London, and it made the flight seem even longer. We had to wait on the runway at JFK for two hours before we could take off due to traffic on the runway, and that was perhaps the most excruciated part of the trip, we just were all so excited to be home and were trying so hard not to sleep too much so we wouldn't have too much jet lag when we got home. When we finally took of we'd been watching the movie Premonition, and as they never turned if off at take off at take off it and the lights began to shake on and off with the turbulence of the plane, and Sandra Bullock's voice slowed to a deep barely audible groaning, it struck me as something out of a cheesy horror movie and I had to laugh. We finally made it back safe and sound, and I now find just how grateful I am for America.

July 4th post

July 3rd blog

Siena was worth my free day. We spent a little extra money on a ticket that would give us access to the Domo, Art Museum, Baptistery, and Crypt and it was well worth the money. The Domo was arguably one of the top cathedrals I've seen in Europe.

Siena's colors are black and white and the entire domo was covered in bands of black and white stone, some marble and another I wasn't sure about.

We learned of Siena's legend that it was founded by two twin brothers who were raised by a wolf.

After the domo we went to the art museum and up an old portion of the church which looked out over the entire city and miles and miles of Tuscan vineyards, definitely my favorite view of the entire trip.

We also saw the crypt which shows the progression of churches built on top of one another all the way back to the 11th century, most of which are now in ruins, but it was still neat to see how far down they went. they had glass floors in some sections so you could see the spaces beneath you, and I had a difficult time walking on them, The crevices are so deep and dimly lit so they look as if they go on forever, I felt like Indiana Jones in Quest for the holy grail where he has to take a step on an invisible bridge.

The entire day we snacked on huge green grapes fresh from the vineyard, that were delicious but the seeds were much too large and bitter to chew, so we had to find discrete places to spit them. The main attraction in Siena is the Square where the horse parades are held

The races have been going on for century's and seems to have become like a religion, the people take them so seriously. Don't quote me on this but I think they may even have an annual race dedicated to the virgin Mary. The day before we were in Sienna their team had won the race, and a parade was held in honor of the victory through the square. We had a great vantage point for viewing the drumming boys and flags, after the team and boys come their wives and daughters come behind singing a victory sign, it was quite a sight to behold.

On the way back to the station we stopped at a specialty olive oil and balsamic vinegar store, where the vinegar was aged so long it looked like syrup, if it hadn't been so expensive I'd definitely have taken some home with me.

We also met some LDS missionaries as we were leaving, making Florence the only city we haven’t crossed paths with them.

July 2nd blog

For some reason half of my pictures won't transfer to my computer today, so the shots of Florence from the hill won't be posted until later, but at least you can enjoy some pictures we took next to the river at sunset.

Our second day of Florence was spent mostly in shopping at the flea markets. I got a steal on leather coat and we went to the same silk tie vendor so many times he began to give anyone from our group discounts. Melon gelato is amazing, I had some on our walk to view the sunset.

On our way back to the hotel there was a live concert on Florence’s oldest bridge. I've never heard a more beautiful version of the songs "With or Without You" and "Fields of Barley," I suppose everything sounds better when its sung with an exotic accent. Tomorrow a few of us will be going to Sienna, from what I hear I have a lot to look forward to, so I suppose I should go to bed and save a bit of energy for our excursion.

July 1st blog

I haven’t seen much of Florence yet but so far its much like Venice, just with wider streets and cars. We woke up early in Venice, 6:45 to be exact since my room mates and I slept in, so I had 15 minutes to finish packing and head out the door. The train ride to Florence was fairly uneventful, I always feel guilty on our rides because I don’t watch the scenery enough, I’m either touching up a sketch or catching up on sleep. Our hotel is nice, a hole in the wall type of place you hardly would know is hear. Our concierge is nice, and he thought my name was awesome because its two soccer teams. I finally found a pretty good deal on food I had a falafel for dinner that was yummy.

Today was the first day in Italy that I had gelato only once, so far Hazelnut is my favorite, but coconut, stracitella, and nutella were all good, but nutella was a bit weak on flavor (just in case you really are that interested).

Not much to report on architecture or design as we didn’t do much today, but I will say that the black lights in the Florence train station bathrooms today were a bit strange. A leather salesman offered 70 percent off to friends of the missionaries today, but it was still too expensive. Most of the day was spent relaxing and catching up on sleep as all the traveling has left us exhausted.

June 30th blog

I was a little disappointed when I saw on our schedule that we'd only be spending a day and a half in Venice, but to tell the truth that’s about all you need for a short tour such as ours. There were still many of things I would’ve liked to do, my life isn’t quite complete since I didn’t go on a gondola ride, but that just means I have to find a way to come back later in life.

Mainly our day was spent shopping, prices hear are fairly reasonable, and the murano glass and masquerade masks are beautiful.

I've truly been able to see an American influence everywhere I've been, and I'm sad to report that it usually shows itself in the form of junk food. Kitty corner to St. Marks was an American snack bar, with your typical hot dogs, American style pizza, etc, and it was more crowded with American tourists than most of the authentic Italian bistro's, its no wonder we're such a fat nation.

In one of the squares a group of young boys and one or two men were writing messages with yards and yards of tin foil, later in the day when we came back through the boys had rolled it into multiple balls of foil and were playing games with it, quite entertaining, I wish I could've understood what they were writing.

This picture shows just how close quarters are hear in Venice.

June 29th blog

We arrived in Venice this afternoon and so far it exceeds my expectations.

Things hear are so laid back, perhaps it has something to do with the absence of roaring traffic, of course when you get close to the main canals it gets a bit busier, but the streets are very peaceful.

Its exactly what you'd expect, laundry lines hanging from buildings with brightly colored linens, chipping paint on family boats just adds to the character, and I don't think I've had to walk more than 5 minutes without seeing a gelateria.

We walked to St. Marks, but it didn’t have time to go through tonight, hopefully tomorrow we'll get a chance to do so, the exterior was beautiful though its so unfathomable to me that people could build such magnificent structures with so little technology.

There was a scare in London today, apparently some car bombs were left close to Piccadilly square, I'm definitely glad we left when we did.

June 28th blog

As I write I’m sitting on the top bunk of a triple decker bed on a train.

We left Paris for Venice about an hour ago and in about eleven more hours we will arrive at our destination. None of us did much to speak about this afternoon, just last minute shopping. A few of us got up early to do laundry before we checked out of the hotel, and for once I didn’t feel like coin operated washing machines in America are a rip off.

June 27th blog

I thought my legs were tired after hiking to the top of Salisbury Cathedral, but after the grounds at Versailles and part of the Eiffel Tower they feel like jell-O. I couldn’t believe my luck today. I’ve wanted to see the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles since I was a girl, but its been under repair for the past few years and we didn’t think we’d get to see it in its entirety. When we were approaching the final few rooms before the hall our tour guide announced that the final repairs to the Hall of Mirrors had been completed only yesterday and it was now finished and completely viewable.

That in itself made my day, and it was even more complete when we went up the Eiffel Tower this evening. As much as I loved Versailles, I still feel like there was so much more to see, I suppose that’s the way everyone feels. I’m glad we stopped when we did though, from the chateau to the Grand and Petit Trianon’s to the Queens Hamlet I’m sure we did multiple miles.

Our tour guide was and interesting individual, I sat across from him during lunch and I was terrified to talk because he’d told another girl that she should not address him unless she spoke proper English. The View from the Eiffel Tower was amazing.

We got there at the perfect time, light enough to see the city by day, but soon dark enough to appreciate it at night.

When they turn on the sparkling lights every hour its spectacular. And I had probably my millionth banana nutella crepe on the way home, so my day came to a very sweet end.