Barcelona!!!!!

In love with this city.
I know I say that about all my trips..but really Barcelona was amazing.  It is probably my second favorite after florence.


Alex and I arrived thursday night, checked into the hostel (great location right in the gothic quarter) and went straight for tapas.  We went to a place called Taller de tapas and it was sooo yummy. We got artichoke shavings, tomato bread, fried calamari, and spinach with chickpeas. I love tapas.  Then Caitlin arrived from Florence!! So happy to see her.  We all crashed early that night so we could rest up for the weekend to come.  The room in the hostel was like a blackout room...the blinds totally blocked out all light BUT in exchange for that the walls were paper thin and we could hear everything outside and throughout the hostel. no fun.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early.  We walked down La Rambla which was about 4 blocks from our hostel.  Decided the best way to see the sites was to do the hop on and off bus tour.  I didn't realize how big the city actually was... I thought it was going to be more of a florence of prague size but it was pretty big.  The bus brought us to the gothic quarter first..which us smarties realized that our hostel is in the heart of the gothic quarter..like actually right there..hahaha.  After that we got dropped off at the beach...oh how i missed the sand and water...it was gorgeous...a little cold for beach weather but it didn't even matter. We walked down the beach for a while and just took it all in. After the beach off to the Sagrada Familia....the absolutely gorgeous unfinished Gaudi church. Gaudi is amazing and I love his work, I have never seen anything like it.  It reminds me of who-ville from Dr. Seuss.  After that we got some tapas... sooooo amamzing....i loved the sausage and we got a coffee crepe with vanilla ice cream! I dont even know what it was it was just delish.  and of course got some sangria : )  Afterwards we headed to Parc Guell, my favorite place in the city, probably could have spent the whole day there.  It's a huge garden with beautiful Gaudi architecture added into it. His tiles were everywhere and I loved it.  Then back to the hostel for a little yet much needed siesta. That night we met up with our friends Phil, Daren, Dani, and Marley, and Dani's brother for dinner.  We did mexican, i got a burrito yummy.  The place was so packed.  That night we went to a club on the beach that was really neat.  People there eat dinner and go out sooooo late, not my style at all.

Saturday we slept in a little and then went to a market off of la rambla.  Great smoothies and fruit. Disgusting meat and animals hanging...and gross smelling fish.  Then we got paella...I stick with veggie after seeing and smelling that market wasn't too fond of the seafood paella so the veggie was perfect.  Then we all went to the Casa Batllo, another wonderful Gaudi building.  The whole house is about the natural light that flows in and out of every room and the sea like fixtures throughout the house.  We got an audio guide and learned all the neat deets.  After that we attempted to go to the Picasso Museum.  Got a weee bit lost on the way...and then when we finally found it we were informed that more than half the museum was closed so we didnt end up going in.  Kinda frustrating.  o well.   That night we went to a classy dinner at a place called Carpe Diem on the beach.... you sit/eat on beds.  How cool.  So we relaxed in style and then went out for a crazy night on the town.  Next mornin me cait and alex woke up early got a big breakfast then off to the airport back to londontown.

I loved barcelona and learned a lot about the city.  They don't even really consider themselves part of Spain....they are a community of catalonia...they take a lot of pride in it and don't even consider spanish their first language.  It was really interesting, beautiful, and fun.  All in all successful weekend.

Adios.

Turkey day the british way.

ok i know i havent been good at updating so im gonna try and go back to last week and remember.

Last week was a bit hectic.  Got my life back together after prague...monday I went to the national gallery after classes to do research for my art paper...I spent three hours there!!! Who am I?!?! I got so much work done that day it felt really good.  Tuesday I went to a weird museum called the Wallace Collection with my art class.  Wasn't a big fan of it and our teacher did this exercise where we had to sit for a half hour and draw what we saw in a picture... well if you know me you know lindsey karl and drawing do not go together, at all.  After that I went with laura to meet up with her fam who is in town for the week.  We went to the Tower of London.  It was really interesting and cool but we freezed our butts off.  It is getting sooo cold here.  Wednesday I had my full day of classes.. in advertising i had my presentation...I talked about one of the google ads and nailed it...by the way you should all watch some of these google search stories...you have probably seen the parisian love story one but you should check out "graduation" and some of the other ones like the dad and daughter one.  Anywayssss after my day of classes the roomies went out to dinner with flynns family who just got into town. Everyones fams came in these past few weeks : ( made me a little homesick but its ok cause i will be home in less than 3 weeks and get to see everyone wooooo.  It was funny to see everyone and their rents though and see where they come from and what not. One night that week the roomates also went to Winter Wonderland in hyde park.  Its this whole carnival they have set up for xmas...rides, food, hot chocolate, little stands, xmas music, etc.  it was so cute and we had a good time with it.

Thursday morn...TURKEY DAY..oh wait they don't celebrate that holiday here....
My friend Brads family organized a football game in hyde park so that was nice and we all played in the freezing cold that morn....Alex and I left early though because we decided to celebrate with tapas and sangria in barcelona!

Czech me out prague

I have never made so many jokes with play on words in my life.

Prague.

Alex Soph and I flew out thurs night easy peasy no problems. Soph went to stay with a friend that is studying there and alex and I went to our hostel, The Emma Hostel.  We stayed in a 5 person room but were the only two there for the first night.  Once we got there we wandered the streets for a little and stopped at a bar to people watch out night away.  Next morning  we woke up and ventured to Bohemian Bagel.  Cinnamon raisin with cream cheese...sooo good and soo necessary.   Then off to see the sites...saw the old town center, the astronomical clock, and the jewish quarter.  The jewish quarter was pretty neat we went into a holocaust museum, and old cemetery, and the old-new synagogue (oldest synagogue in europe).  After that we crossed the charles bridge which has really cool architecture, as does the whole city, felt like i was in batman or the hunchback of notre dame.  Along the bridge are a bunch of vendors and street performers (you cant drive on it).  We headed to the John lennon wall but got lost for quite some time....in the freezing rain.  It was worth it though cause the graffiti is awesome.  It is the only graffiti in all of prague.  The pics of it turned out great too.  We met a family at the wall that lived in san diego but had recently moved to Italy with their fam (delissers?)  After all those adventures we stopped for lunch at a mexican place and got quesadillas. Czech food is not appetizing or up my alley at all so we stayed away from it....beef goulash, sausage, fried cheese, pretzels, dumplings...salt salt salt.  After lunch Alex got her much needed t-shirt that says "czech me out".  The rain started to really pick up so we headed to the hostel for a nap and shower.  That night we had a nice romantic dinner of these huge chicken salads and just sat and talked for like two hours.  After we met soph and her friends at this cave like underground bar.  There were all american students there so it was kinda funny.  The gross thing about prague is that you can smoke anywhere and everywhere, and they do.  We reeked of it from the bar and restaurants, it was awful.  After the bar Alex and I went to an 80s 90s club. It was just too funny, all the music, spice girls . i'm a barbie girl . cotton eyed joe. etc.  We had a good time dancing just the 2 of us.  Then back at the hostel we met out new roomies..2 guys from france and another rando guy.  The french guys were nice and friendly but we weren't too pleased with the other guy who was an extremely loud snorer...I thought alex was gonna chuck a shoe at him in the middle of the night, no va bene.  Saturday morning we trekked to a famous brunch place, Radost.  We got omelets and home fries it was delish, mine was spinach mushroom and cheese.  Then we walked all the way across the city (really only took about 20 m in its a small city) to the prague castle area.  Its up on a hill with a great view of the city.  We saw the castle and the other little castles around it... it was like its on little village up there and a whole different world than the city... we saw a toy museum and were tempted to go in to celebrate barbies 50th birthday but refrained.  We headed back to the center of the city instead and went to the chocolate museum : ) hahaha.  Got a demonstration and free testers as well as a chocolate covered waffle stick yum.  The rest of the day we kinda just walked around and got lost, it was freeezing. We saw the astronomical clock on the hour does this little shindig which is actually really cheesy and stupid. Then back to the hotel nap shower change routine.  Went to italian food for dinner...pest gnocchi my fave...picked the place out of nowhere but must have been good because it was soo packed.  After we went to a pub crawl...ran into some people from our london program there that we didnt even know were in prague for the weekend..legit small world.  But the crawl was fun we started at a bar and went to three different clubs.  Sunday morning we woke up and went to the bagel place again...everything bagel with veggie cream cheese this time : )  Then to the airport and home .

All in all prague was very different from the other cities i have seen, but a good weekend.  Traditional food was not good but the architecture was amazing.  The whole gothic creepy feeling was really neat at night.  It was also nice to just travel with one person and not have to deal with a bunch of peoples wants and needs..it was leisurely paced and we got everything done.  The people in the city did not like to speak english..they just weren't very happy people all in all.  Oh and the currency is actually insane.  One pound in 29 crowns...One dollar is 18 crowns....So a sandwich is like 170 crowns. Took a while to get used to that.

Well one more city i can czech off my list.  hahahah I am just tooooo funny.

livin in a frat house.

So this past week has been quite hectic ..but fun.

Last week I went to the Sir John Soanes Museum with my art class. It was really neat and unlike any other museum i have seen. It is in his old house, which is an amazing house because he was an architect. Every space on the walls is covered with a piece of is art...and the walls open up to more walls behind them with more art.  The halls were so narrow and windy we weren't even allowed to carry our purses around with us.  In graphics we spent the class watching 4 weddings and a funeral...interesting.  It now gets pitch black here around 330 pm. cool. not.

Then the weekend came..the girls came..and the frat party began.  11 girls 1 apartment. Thursday night we took them to our pub down the street for fish and chips and cider..they loved it. Then we went to our favorite bar, O'Neils and had a fab night.  Friday we woke up, went for a traditional english bfast then out to see the sites in the rain.  Showed them big ben and that area then hit up Harrods.  It was awesome to see Harrods all lit up and decorated for xmas. I loved it. You can seriously get lost in that place.

Saturday we woke up and went to Kings Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter) ... it really wasn't that cool...not even a plaque there saying blahblahblah. Owell.  We then navigated our way by bus because the tube is under construction, to Abbey Road.  Took the crosswalk picture of course.  Then headed to oxford street for a day of shoppin with the girls...spent hours in topshop...but now worries i didnt buy a single thing!!! That night I had my first Indian food experience... lets just say it will probably be my last as well. After we went to an amazing club Koko and had the best night ever.

The girls left at the crack of dawn this morn :( but it was a great (crowded and hectic) weekend.  Today I went to school to study for the day... for the amount of money i pay to go here you would assume i would have no problem getting internet service there..yaaa. Gotta send that e-mail complaint.  Oh and the construction outside our building right now cut out our hot water. fun. So for now i'm gonna go catch up on some shows cause im so far behind (greys has been amazing)....gotta stay up late tonight because the sorority is re-slating positions so we have to wait up to see if we get called for one..and the time difference makes that interesting. bleh o well .

we are thinkin of maybe doing a family game night... bananagrams?!?! yes pleaseee

Dublin tours London

so tired.

Thursday night friends arrived from Dublin.  We all made a family style dinner...pasta and cuc tomato feta salad....it was quite the scene.  We took them out to our favorite bar in piccadilly, O'neils and had a great time. Next morning went to see changing of the guards but thank you london for deciding to downpour on us, real nice.  The whole ceremony really wasn't that exciting but o well it was good to see.  We all went to dinner down the street at duke of kendall and were going to to go a guy faux celebration.  It's a fireworks bonfire holiday here but it got all messed up because of the weather and we ended up just having a fun night in...pretty much still exhausted from the night before.

Next morning got up to show the girls a traditional english breakfast then sent them off to see the lion king and alex, laura, and i went to check out camden. Loved it!!!! There is a big punk/goth scene which was interesting but the markets there are so much fun...vintage clothes, london stuff, food, paintings/photos, it was so big and windy and there is a canal going through it all. It is def my favorite market so far.  We spent a good few hours there then headed home to meet up with everyone.  Went out to a club called Kanaloa near our school where a bunch of syracuse people all gathered...had a good night and grabbed some late night shwarma on the way home from cafe helen of course (death of our flat).  Sunday morning we gathered the troops to go to Brick Lane, another market that we heard is a cannot miss.  It was on the smaller side in comparison to the others but still very different and cool.  They are known for their vintage shops and.....authentic jewish bakeries.  They have two bakeries that are open 24 hours a day ( you are really supposed to go at 3 am to get fresh bagels ) and have amazing bagels...but they call them biegels.  They are famously known for their salted beef on a bagel? ew. After a good time at the market we went to speakers corner and heard the oddballs argue about everything.  There was one grandma really heated about immigrants...she was soo rude i was surprised she didn't get punched.

We were exhausted from the weekend and walking...made another fam din and hung with the girls for the night... we literally laughed all weekend....it was so good to catch up with the others and show them around "our city".  Back to the real world for now and dealing with classes and work ughhh i am so over work....

went to a work out class tonight...it was amazing and idk if i can move out of bed right now... our instructor was a fat gay guy named darren...he is amazing.

Getting back on track

Sunday was halloween and the crew decided to go to a club called church where you dress up and its from 12-4 in the afternoon....we did not realize how far it was sooo it ended up being quite an interesting day for us around london... o well it was fun... we dressed up as wonderwomen... cute and cheap?

Monday classes began again...ugh not ready for work... got some midterms back and am happy with the results : ) i can't believe we are more than half way done here...crazy. Tuesday we took our last trip to the national gallery with my art class....from now on we visit a different museum each week....as our last class there we learned about conservation and restoration which the ng has some problems with....it was pretty interesting to learn about and then actually see it first hand. After that I came home...Sophs aunt stayed over for a few nights to help her out with everything cause she is still having trouble with her ankle...her aunt lives about 45 min away from london and is hysterical. she played some tough love with Soph and whipped her back into commission (somewhat). I cleaned, food shopped, and did laundry for the rest of the day..gettin my life back on track....unlike the tubes....

wednesday there was a huge tube strike...and half of oxford street was closed down so the busses weren't running their normal routes..awesome. not. So I walked to my 1040 class...it was actually really refreshing, I took a new route, got a little lost, but enjoyed it. Found some new cool places to go to along the way. Now I just have to get my life in order for school in syracuse and internships...gotta do my resume and plan classes for next semester and senior year...SENIOR YEAR?!?!? wtf mate. I hate scheduling classes, honestly the most stressful thing ever.

Off to my last class of the week now, gonna walk again just to get some exercise ( i need it..havent been to the park in a while) then tonight our friends from Dublin are coming to visit for the weekend!!!

Phase Three: Pisa, Verona, Venice

Sadly left Florence bright and early .... first stop of the day - Pisa.  Slightly disappointed. The tower itself was really cool...ya know tilted and all..but other than that... not much going on.  It is a huge tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere next to a mcdonalds.  Bunch of vendors harassing you and asians with their fanny packs making peace sign pictures (have an exact picture of that) and people looking stupid posing as if they are pushing the tower.  Of course I got my own shots in and then I was ready to peace.  Sophs ankle was hurting her from the night before...she rolled it walking off a curb...so she had to stay on the bus.  Then we got on the bus after an hour or so and headed out to verona.  ugh. so far. Got there as the sun was setting and got to see the house of Juliet...who knew such thing existed? There was a statue of her that you go up and touch her breast and it is some kind of good luck...cool?  Then dinner with contiki in a cute little restaurant.  Start with a cheese platter then Gnocchi with tomato sauce then  chicken and tomatos... o man.  Sophs ankle still really bothering her.  no va bene. (cant believe thats the first time i have used that in the blog so far haha)   Back on the bus ... venice time.  Way too much bus today...oh wait our hotel isn't actually in venice?!? ugh really no va bene.  Lets get some sleep.

Hotel is really nice but it is kind of annoying that it is not on the island... we have breakfast (coffee yogurt my fave!) then the group all hops on the train together to go to venice.  We all get on a group ferry together... where the hell are we?!?! this place is crazy... literally no real streets or cars.  Get dropped off at San Marco and take it all in.... Soph decided she had to go see a doctor cause she cant walk for her ankle...amadeo took her....the rest of us climbed the bell tower to see the view of this watery place.  Then met up with the group again for a lace and glass blowing demonstration.  The lace was pretty...i didn't know they were famous for it in venice...but the glass blowing was what was really amazing...I know Murano is the island that is famous for it but we didn't have enough time to get there... but the demonstration was really really cool...we then broke off from the group...had to pay money to use the toilet (wtf) then stopped for lunch on a small side street.  Got some great pizza and bread of course.  There is glass and masks everyone....quite the touristy place...we bought some wine (3 bottle for 9 euro best deal ever) then had to buy some cups and a cork screw... preparation for our gondola ride.  Got a gondola... couldnt open the wine...broke the corkscrew in the bottle of wine...awesome..alex then leans over to take a pic and drops her camera (with a million photos from the trip) in the venice canal. FAIL! Best worst only gondola ride ever.  hahahaha besides all that it was really pretty and cool to see the city from the canal and we laughed the whole time at our ridiculous experience.  After the ride we managed to open the wine...we sat and looked out on the canal as we drank them and reminisced on our wonderful week. Then we did what we were told is the number one thing to do in venice...but down the map, wonder, and get lost....we walked through the maze of the streets for over an hour and it was fascinating.  This place is so weird.  We got to one part of the city that was residential with little school kids playing...who lives here?!?  Then we watched the sunset over the grand canal and headed over to the train station area...met up with some syracuse kids and walked along a touristy street going in and out of the stores selling junk and more junk...Taylor bought a sailor hat.  We found a place that had like kegs of wine...they filled liters of recyclable water bottles with the wine for 1.50 !!! Amazing deal..so we walked the streets with our water bottles of wine in sailor hats hahahahha.  Went to our last italian meal... I am soooo stuffed at this point idk if my stomach can take more.  We shared friend calamari then i got pasta fagioli...yum... a man on an accordion came in and sang to us...so typical.  Then took the train home and get extremely lost...ugh not fun at all.. kind of nerve racking...but we eventually made it..thank god..soph was totally out of commission from her ankle so we all had some bonding time

next day trains planes and automobiles again.... train to the main train station...train from venice to verona...shuttle to verona airport...plane to LONDON GATWICK baby!!! Had to take Soph in a wheelchair the whole way home ..o man... at least we got to cut all the lines hahah.  Then tube to marble arch and walk home to edgware rd!! Italy was amazing but o man was it good to be back....weird that london now feels like home kinda...what a longgg day of travel...almost finished my book!

Overall the trip was absolutely amazing! I love Italy. Florence was the best.  I can't wait to go back and explore even more.  I feel so lucky and privileged that I got to have this experience and see it all. I will never forget how much fun and how fascinating it all was.

Ciao!

Phase two: Florence!!!

Loved Florence at first site! As soon as we got to our hotel, Albergo Firenze (How original) we went out to see the city…our hotel was a perfect location we were right in the center of the city!  We walked around and ended up on the ponte vecchio…no better place to end up haha. It was so cool and the view was beautiful (as it is in most places in Italy), especially during sunset…when I told mom we were there she says “they call my name when I go there! Karina Karina come in!” ….oy.  We then met up with our friend Amy who is studying in Florence for dinner. She took us to a restaurant Gatto e Volpe (cat and fox?) The free bread with balsamic before our meal was the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. I was so full from the day so didn’t want to eat too heavy…decided to get the infamous Italian ribbolita I have been hearing about forever… and shared a buffalo mozz. Salad with laura,  it was all delish.  My friend Taylor won best dish though with his pesto gnocchi, it was so so so good…the restaurant all in all was amazing. That night we went with contiki to a discoteca called space electronica….most sketch place I have ever been to in my life...hands down. After the club our friend who studies there took us to a secret bakery ….at 2 am.. you knock on the closed door in a little alleyway…hand them a few euro..and they come out with freshly baked croissants …. How flippin cool ?!?

(and no mom it didn’t involved drugs, as you have already asked,  it was just a reg. cool bakery)

Day 2 in Florence. Breakfast at the hotel same old stuff..then off to a gold and leather demonstration with contiki… it was basically a sales pitch…only thing I got out of it was that you can really tell the leather is real when you light it on fire..leather won’t catcher on fire as the fake ones will…pretty cool I guess…we bounced from the tour after that…saw the outside of santa croce but were eager to get to the duomo!!  Went inside the bottom and then climbed the 436 something steps to the top! O man o man. It was for sure worth every single one of them! The view was absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life.  I can’t even put it into words.  Gorgeous…breath taking.  Walk down—not as much fun.   Then had to scurry to get lunch before the Uffizi.  Flynn and I split a slice of veggie pizza and spinach ricotta Panini.. J   Laura Flynn and I met up with the group for the Uffizi as the others went off to do their own thing.  Saw the Primavera, Birth of Venus, and much more famous works of art.  It was not at all as large as the Louvre but still great.  So much famous artwork in one place…I appreciate it so much more now after my art history class.  Afterwards we stopped for gelato at Grom then met up with the rest of the crew to go see good old David.  HE’S HUGE!  Got a text from mom saying “don’t forget he was made thousands of years ago..out of rock”….thanks mom for the update. ;) Nothin much else in that museum besides David himself…I don’t know if anyone would really go there if it wasn’t for him.  After the David we trekked up north to the Syracuse school in Florence.  Met up with all the girls we have been missing!!! It was so good to see them…and their school well it’s definitely not Faraday (school in London) it’s like a museum there…with a nice courtyard and everything. So jealous.  But most of them have to walk about 45 min to school every morn no fun.  I guess there are pros and cons of both programs…

That night we decided to take it easy after our sketch club night….went to dinner with contiki…they were serving pasta with meat sauce so I got a special request of pesto sauce instead which was perfect.  We then went for a drink or two at a bar called Biggalo right near the hotel… ran into Zach Goldstein (from home) who is studying in Florence…too funny, what a small world!

Next day I wanted to spend more time in Florence but the tour had arranged for us to go to Chianti for the day and I didn’t want to miss out on that.  Took the bus and saw the view from Piazza Michaelangelo!!  Stopped in Sam Gimignano for lunch, got amazing pizza and world famous gelato..like seriously they are somehow world famous…http://www.gelateriadipiazza.com/….anyways it was a cute little town with a great view of course..and had fun little shops with crazy pasta, boars meat, and pretty cooking utensils and dishes.  Then off to the wine country and tasting!  Took a tour of the vineyard then sat down to wine, cheese, bread, oil, and balsamic. We sat down at one table that had salami and ham too but got kicked out and told that was for a different group haha.  Back on the bus to Florence…hit so much traffic getting into the city L… met up with the one and only Caitlin Walker when we got back!!! Miss her so much.  She took us to the Lorenzo Market…yaaay so fun…I was a typical tourist and bought an Italia shirt…and I got a cute little leather bag! I needed it.  Alex got a nice leather jacket! We attempted to bargain but weren’t too successful.  I then called Ombretta to try and meet up with her in the little time I had…she said she was already in her pjs…it was 7 pm…haha o well I tried..Went back to the hotel to change then dinner at Aqua al Due…oh my god. If you are in Florence you must go!  We got salads and wine and their famous famous famous balsamic Florentine steak. Omg. It was just amazing.  They have a famous blueberry one too but we were all too scared to try it.  Just sooo good.  We then went back to the bar near the hotel with a bunch of people from Syracuse for the night.

Next morning time to leave Florence… waahh..not enough time here…Florence is probably my favorite city I have seen so far.  From the architecture to the colors to the food  I love it all … I didn’t get to see and do everything so I must go back soon…I just couldn’t get enough of it. Gorgeous.  

Phase one: Roma Roma Roma

Figured i'd split up my amazing italian adventure by city since there is so much to tell...


Well the trip started at 5 a.m. in the torrential downpour of London.  Tube -> train ->plane to bologna....read a lot of my book which was great to finally have a chance to actually read for pleasure -> shuttle bus to train -> oh wait the train is sold out except for first class...ughhhhhhh not ok.  but no other option so we shall ride in style. - > first class train with chocolates and cookie and drinks from bologna to roma!!!! -> cab to hotel cause we are now late from the train confusion.
WOWWWWWWWW talk about transportation.  12 hours later....

First night in rome we had an included dinner with the contiki tour we were on  ... we were lazy and did our trip through a tour so they would organize hotels and transportation through italy for us hehe our tour guide was this crazy italian man named amadeo who never ran out of energy...so dinner 1st course pasta with spicy delicious red sauce...2nd course chicken and salad...3rd course cake...and of course some wine to go with it all. Afterwards we walked around to see the city lit up at night for a bit then met up with some fellow syracuse people in an area called El Campo...went to some bars and had a really fun night.  Then back to our hotel late night... my soph and flynn roomed together while alex laura and taylor were in another room... we ended up in a handicapped room, quite an interesting bathroom haha.


8:30 wake up for our first full day.  Breakfast in the hotel was pastries cheese, salami, and ham. Then on the contiki bus to the vatican to see the papal audience.  Waited around for a while until the pope himself came out at 12 to give his speech, in italian.  Couldn't understand him of course but it was insane to see the enormous amount of people that come and what they do...ranges from your typical tourist, to the really religious person, to protestors, and guards.  The pope just pops his head out a little window way up high, you can barely see him.  After that we broke off from the group to start our own day of touring...and what better of a way to start than with gelato, hazelnut of course!  Walked towards the Pantheon and saw so much beautiful scenery on the way...fountains galore, vendors with millions of scarves, souvenirs, and jewelry.  The pantheon was amazing with the hole in the ceiling and all...but i wish i knew more of the story behind it so gotta put that on my list of things to research...  Next was the Trevi fountain...omg...fell in love with it, absolutely gorgeous.  Made my wish of course, behind the back. It was so crowded though... i hate how things become so touristy except I guess thats a little contradictory of me to say as i am one of those tourists....Stopped on a side street for a pasta lunch but had a rude mean italian man that was tryin to fool us stupid americans. not cool.  After that we regrouped and went over to the colosseum. Passed so many people that are dressed up and painted as statues trying to get money...pretty amusing. We joined with a tour group for a few euro that would take us through and explain everything...in english.  I learned a lot about the structure and history...crazy interesting. Probably my favorite place in Rome..as well as the fountain.  Next off to the spanish steps ...nothing too special compared to the other things we saw that day, i think.  Took the metro back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit...walked way toooo much today.   Went for a late night dinner with Alex's friend from home who is studying in Rome. She took us to this great local place...SOOO AMAZING! I got a basic margarita pizza and garlic bread and wine.  Then my 2nd gelato of the day...UGH...tiramisu flavor?!?! yes please.   bus back -> bed!

Wake up..hotel breakfast...vatican...this time we had a guided tour inside Vatican City with the contiki group.  The tour guide was a hilarious old italian man...we all had headphones to listen to him and he would go..."shake a leg contikiiiiii, lets gooo, follow the silk flag, you like the silk?, contikiiiii shake a leggg" got quite a kick out of it (reminded me of i like your sweater).  The paintings inside were absolutely breathtaking the sistine chapel, where everyone is supposed to be quiet, is just covered in art by michaelangelo, amazing.  There are religious men standing around wearing black cloaks and what looks like hot pink yamakahs hahah.  Alex also thought the sistine chapel was the 16th chapel...we had a few good laughs throughout the tour.
After the long long tour we got paninis...eggplant and veggies yummm. Then on the contiki bus to florence!!!  Kind of a long drive but arrived a little before dinner time.

All in all i really liked rome...it seemed like i was in a story book and the monuments were these huge pop ups...it was surreal. The buildings and houses are just gorgeous in their coloring alone. Gave me a great taste (literally) of what I had in store for my trip in Italy.
oh and for our tour... its for 18-35 year olds and we are by far the youngest...some people are on their honeymoons?!?!? It's basically for people that are incapable of figuring out trips on their own...they are all weird and nerdy...thank god I came with the 5 others and we can stick together...and make fun of these people....