So here it is, more than 2 months late - my post on our final 3 weeks in Europe, and a little bit beyond that. I'm back at school and finally have some free time tonight, so I'm hoping to make this a good one before heading to bed.
I'll start with Milan. In one week, we toured Milan extensively and took day trips to Torino, Verona, and Varese. Ask any Italian (including our friends from Milan), and they'll tell you that Milan is nowhere near Italy's most beautiful or touristically impressive city. Nonetheless, Milan is impressive in its own way; with outstanding fashion, business, and even some beautiful architecture. There are beautifully dressed people everywhere you go in Milan, which was no surprise to me, and everyone is so skinny, but whether that's from exercising/dieting or from smoking an abundant amount of cigarettes is still a mystery to me. So, regardless of Milan's somewhat lack of touristic appeal, we were so happy to see our favorite European friends once again. Enrico dedicated so much of his time that weekend to showing us around Milan, and Hans flew all the way from Germany for the occasion. He brought us to "aperitivo", the world's best happy hour, where you get an all-you-can-eat buffet along with purchasing your drink. Needless to say, I loved that. He also brought us to a headphone party, where everyone in an outdoor square purchased headphones for the night and listened/danced to the same music via the headphones rather than have it blasting through speakers and causing noise violations. The realxed nature Italian culture was especially evident this night, as the "party" took place in an open, public square, and people flooded the streets and nearby bars and restaurants without restriction, something that would never happen in America. Enrico showed us Milan from a true Milanite's (is that a word?) perspective, and I can't say I would have preferred it any other way.
In Verona, we saw the wall where lovers (mostly just tourists) write notes to Juliet and we paid 5 euro to tour the arena. We climbed to the city's peak in Torino, where we had a panoramic view of the city in all of its northern-Italian beauty. We met up with Bea in Varese, where she is from, and walked up a path dotted with 14 ancient churches that lead us to another mountainous peak. The mountains in Varese had a breathtaking view of the Alps, so beautiful in fact, that it was hard for me to believe that I was actually standing there and looking at a mountain range that I had dreamt of seeing my entire life. We ate lunch at an adorable restaurant, with delicious pasta and a beautiful view of the valley below us. Then after lunch, I forgot my phone at the cash register, didn't realize until I was halfway down the mountain, and had to climb back up to get it. Not the highlight of my day, but definitely a good workout (and Myrissa opted to walk back up with me, so it wasn't as lonely/painful).
Yes, there were some hiccups during our week in Milan, but I'm not even going to mention them here because it's not worth it. Whatever misunderstandings/misgivings took place in Milan are not what I want to walk away from the week remembering, but rather the beautiful scenery and cities, and the brief, yet unforgettable time we had to spend with our friends.
Next came Sweden. After 4 weeks of Myrissa and I essentially traveling alone, hitting minor (and some major) bumps along the way, it was relieving knowing that the last 2 weeks of our trip would be spent at "home" with my grandparents and other members of my family. After a stressful train ride from Milan to the airport, during which the conductor tried fining us for not stamping our tickets before boarding, we sat down at the airport for a relaxing final dinner in Italy and boarded our 9 PM flight. For me, our flight from Milan to Sweden was wonderful, which may seem silly, but it was so quiet and relaxing, and I love flying at night. As our flight ascended, we said one final goodbye to our 3 week adventure in the world's most breathtaking country, and watched in awe as the Alps poked through the pink and blue evening sky and clouds below us. It was almost as if we were flying through heaven. I spent the remainder of the flight glued to my new favorite book, The Kite Runner, while Myrissa napped. We arrived in a seemingly deserted airport in Stockholm around midnight, and were greeted outside of customs by my grandpa and Anna. I was really, very happy to be back in Sweden after 4 years.
Our two weeks in Sweden were really wonderful. For the first week, it was just Myrissa, Anna, me and my grandparents. Myrissa, Anna and I spent a lot of time in Uppsala, doing a ridiculous amount of shopping at our favorite Swedish stores (Gina, MQ, Cubix, Indiska, Kapp Ahl...they're all so great) and eating at our favorite fast food restaurant, Max. Max is the classiest fast food restaurant I've ever been to; it really surpasses anything of the sort that we have in America. We visited Lena at her family's summer home in Dalana, a serene countryside village nestled along a huge lake. Lena gave us champagne with strawberries, her husband made delicious Salmon for dinner, and we made plans to come back the next week. Another day we went swimming at a lake about an hour away, then had dinner in a picturesque bayside town called Oregrund, which reminded me a bit of Maine. We walked out onto a cluster of rocks overlooking the water, and on our way back, I slipped on the rocks, and caught myself with the hand that was holding my phone, and ended up cracking my brand new iPhone 5's screen. Myrissa and I have decided that this phone may be cursed. Anyway, my grandparents met us in Uppsala for dinner one night and the 5 of us ate at an incredible Italian restaurant (we just can't seem to escape Italian food, but I'm not complaining!) and walked around the town afterward. I love small cities (like Florence) that seem livable, yet exciting, and for that reason, I love Uppsala. I loved walking by the river and seeing people our age gathered alongside it with their friends, enjoying food, wine, and the breezy summer air that I know Swedes look forward to all year.
The day before Sara, my cousins, and aunt and uncle were scheduled to arrive in Sweden, Myrissa and I took a train to Stockholm and stayed there for the night. We stayed in a really nice hotel right beside the train station, which was convenient because when we arrived it was pouring outside. We braved the weather and took a walk to Gamla Stan, Stockholm's old town, where we had dinner at Michaelangelo's (the same restaurant I went to 4 years ago), shopped a little bit, and headed back to the hotel before going out that night. We weren't sure what to expect from Stockholm's nightlife, but we ended up meeting some really friendly people who brought us along with them for the night. Two of the girls we met lived in Stockholm; one was an American and the other was a Swede, and the American girl's twin brother was visiting Stockholm for the week. They brought us first to a bar/nightclub, and then to an outdoor bar by the water in a neighborhood called Slussen. Upon leaving Slussen at 3 AM, the sun was beginning to rise and it was freezing outside. I was completely thrown off by this, and began to feel like it was 3 PM in February rather than 3 AM in July.
The next day, we met up with Matilda, another one of our exchange student friends, who is from a residential area outside of Stockholm and attends Uppsala University. We spent the day touring Stockholm with her, doing some shopping, eating lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and walking through Stockholm's version of Central Park. Stockholm is such a breathtakingly gorgeous city; I love how it's situated beside the water and made up of so many different islands. It was really great to be able to see Matilda again and spend the day with her. That evening, we arrived at the station just as our train to Uppsala was about to leave. Myrissa and I literally sprinted through the station, carrying our huge backpacks and shopping bags, and got to the platform just as the train was pulling away. We couldn't help but laugh, and waited an hour for the last train to Uppsala.
When we got back to Uppsala, my cousins, Sara, and my aunt and uncle were there waiting for us. We spent the next week shopping (and eating at Max) in Uppsala, eating home-cooked dinners outside, visiting Lena (swimming in the lake, followed by going into her sauna), going to the amusement park in Stockholm, and taking long walks around Lura Rasboskil. Having 10 people in one tiny house was hard at times, but I wouldn't have wanted to end our trip any other way.
Our flight back to America was horrendous, to say the least. The crew was unprofessional, unorganized, and wouldn't turn on our personal TVs. The plane was freezing and they wanted us to pay $5 for blankets, the food was inedible (to say the least), and the seats were uncomfortable. It made our flight to London 6 weeks back look like a first class trip. When we finally landed in New York, we waited almost an hour on the runway before pulling into the gate. But, once we were off the plane, it was great to finally see my parents again and give them their gifts.
So, our 6 week European adventure was over, we were back in New Jersey, and Myrissa was leaving for Maryland that Sunday. Needless to say, there were some issues along the way, but I suppose that's just part of traveling so extensively for 6 weeks. We spent a month and a half exploring 3 very different countries, and saw them from the perspectives of people who live there. Not only did we see the most touristic attractions, but also spots that tourists would never think of visiting, thanks to my aunt Gina and uncle Rich, Sofia, Enrico, Bea, Matilda, and my grandparents. We saw Badminton and Tetbury in the English countryside, Milan and Stockholm through the eyes of our friends who have lived there for years, and places in Sweden that my grandparents have grown to love after years of traveling there. I got to spend 6 weeks with my best friend traveling to 3 countries, using 3 different currencies, taking 4 flights, 2 boats and 2 Vespa rides, staying in 7 hotels, seeing 14 cities, taking countless trains and buses, and carrying a backpack and 2 suitcases along the entire way. I spent my life's savings on this trip, and came back to America with with few plans, if any, for the next month and a half of my summer, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Myrissa and I are already trying to find an excuse to go back.
Europe, you were entirely too good to me. I feel so spoiled, but blessed, to have been able to take this trip.
The rest of my summer was spent moving into my new apartment at school, trying to get my eating habits back to normal (definitely wasn't easy), going camping in New York with my friends, visiting Cape May and the Hamptons with my family, and trying to relax and catch up with everyone at home who I had barely seen all summer. And before it could even hit me, it was time to go back to College Park for my junior year.
I'm planning on doing one final post on this blog within the next couple of weeks. I've actually grown to love blogging so much that I'm thinking of starting a permanent blog, but we'll see! So, stay tuned, I guess.
Xoxo
Christina
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
A new take on an old city
Our trip from Naples to Florence was, compared to our other trips, actually pretty easy. We dragged our suitcases from Casa Susy to the Sant'Agnello train station, took an hour long train ride to the big Naples station, ate some McDonald's, and paid 68 euros (yikes) for our train tickets to Florence. But when we saw how much nicer this train was compared to the previous public transportation we had been using, the 68 euros seemed worth it. So, we got comfortable with our big, soft seats and wifi for the three hour ride up to Florence.
After an extremely confusing bus ride to the hotel (it was supposed to take about 15 minutes, but took ahout an hour), we were settled into the hotel by about 7 PM. We stayed at Hotel D'Azeglio, a really tiny, simple hotel in the center of Florence. The woman who runs the hotel with her husband was so sweet; she marked down sightseeing, restaurants, and shopping for us on a map before even checking us in. The hotel was just a 10 minute walk from the famous Duomo Cathedral, and only a bit further to the shopping markets, piazzas, Santa Croce, and more.
Anyone who was on my Italy trip last year knows that most of us did not exactly love Florence. The 2 and a half days we spend there were hot and tiring, and many of us had negative encounters with shop owners at the street market. But this time around, I got a completely different impression of Florence and fell in love with the city.
Florence is so easy to get around. Literally everything worth seeing is within walking distance from each other, and the Dumomo provides a great central landmark in case you get lost. After checking in, we decided to try one of the nearby restaurants that the hotel owner reccomended to us. We walked just a few minutes down the road to La Ghiotta, a simple and small family owned restaurant that has some of the best food I've ever tasted. I order tagliatelle with mushrooms and cream sauce and Myrissa had ravioli with meat sauce. This pasta was so incredible; it was on par with my favorite pasta from Novecento in Rome. In fact, we both loved our food so much that we ordered a third bowl of pasta, orchiette with vegetables, and split it.
That night, we decided to go to Space Electronic disco club, the same club the Jersey Shore cast went to when they lived in Florence (not why we went!) and that Myrissa's dad went to in the seventies! We stood in line behind a group of 15 year old Brazilian kids. The club manager came out and warned all of them not to drink because they're under 18, and I wondered for a minute if Myrissa and I were about to go to a club filled with kids who are my sisters' ages. But when we walked into the club, saw the crowds of people dancing, flashing lights, and groups of American students, I knew we made the right choice. Honestly, it was one of the most fun nights we had on the trip, and I think Myrissa agrees with me. We made some friends from America and learned from the Brazilian girls how to do the Ai Se Eu Te Pego dance. My pictures and videos from the night probably do a much better job of describing it than I possibly can!
We went back to La Ghiotta for lunch the next afternoon, then spent the rest of the day sightseeing all over Florence. We originally planned to go on a wine tour, but decided to save our money and enjoy the city instead. We saw Il Duomo, Santa Croce, Piazza Repubblica, Piazza Signoria, the old bridge, and did quite a bit of shopping at the open air market. Myrissa and I went from stand to stand, smelling and rubbing purses to try and determine if they were real leather. I eneded up with a really nice brown leather (hopefully) purse that I've been using since I bought it! My market experience this year was significantly less traumatizing than last year's.
That night, we went out to two bars that are pretty touristy and popular for Americans to go to. Neither of us wanted to leave Flornece, our adorable hotel, or our favorite pasta the next day. I expcted to come to Florence this time around feeling the same way I did last year, but my feelings are completely reversed now. Florence is such a liveable, comortable city, surrounded by Tuscany and molded by so much history, not to mention some of the best artwork in the world (which Myrissa and I both wish we could appreciate/understand more). Despite how breathtakingly beautiful southern Italy is, I know I could never live there, but I could live in Florence.
Two short nights in Florence really were not enough. I'm so happy I was able to experience Florence from a different perspective, but now I know I have to come back soon, especially since we didn't have time to see Tuscany!
Anyway, leaving Florence on Thursday wasn't so bad because we were beyond excited to finally reunite with our favorite Maryland exchange students in Milan. We walked around Florence for the afternoon, did a bit more shopping, and took a 4 PM train to Milan.
It was finally time to see Sofia and all our other friends! After all, they are the reason we came to Italy in the first place!
xoxo
After an extremely confusing bus ride to the hotel (it was supposed to take about 15 minutes, but took ahout an hour), we were settled into the hotel by about 7 PM. We stayed at Hotel D'Azeglio, a really tiny, simple hotel in the center of Florence. The woman who runs the hotel with her husband was so sweet; she marked down sightseeing, restaurants, and shopping for us on a map before even checking us in. The hotel was just a 10 minute walk from the famous Duomo Cathedral, and only a bit further to the shopping markets, piazzas, Santa Croce, and more.
Anyone who was on my Italy trip last year knows that most of us did not exactly love Florence. The 2 and a half days we spend there were hot and tiring, and many of us had negative encounters with shop owners at the street market. But this time around, I got a completely different impression of Florence and fell in love with the city.
Florence is so easy to get around. Literally everything worth seeing is within walking distance from each other, and the Dumomo provides a great central landmark in case you get lost. After checking in, we decided to try one of the nearby restaurants that the hotel owner reccomended to us. We walked just a few minutes down the road to La Ghiotta, a simple and small family owned restaurant that has some of the best food I've ever tasted. I order tagliatelle with mushrooms and cream sauce and Myrissa had ravioli with meat sauce. This pasta was so incredible; it was on par with my favorite pasta from Novecento in Rome. In fact, we both loved our food so much that we ordered a third bowl of pasta, orchiette with vegetables, and split it.
That night, we decided to go to Space Electronic disco club, the same club the Jersey Shore cast went to when they lived in Florence (not why we went!) and that Myrissa's dad went to in the seventies! We stood in line behind a group of 15 year old Brazilian kids. The club manager came out and warned all of them not to drink because they're under 18, and I wondered for a minute if Myrissa and I were about to go to a club filled with kids who are my sisters' ages. But when we walked into the club, saw the crowds of people dancing, flashing lights, and groups of American students, I knew we made the right choice. Honestly, it was one of the most fun nights we had on the trip, and I think Myrissa agrees with me. We made some friends from America and learned from the Brazilian girls how to do the Ai Se Eu Te Pego dance. My pictures and videos from the night probably do a much better job of describing it than I possibly can!
We went back to La Ghiotta for lunch the next afternoon, then spent the rest of the day sightseeing all over Florence. We originally planned to go on a wine tour, but decided to save our money and enjoy the city instead. We saw Il Duomo, Santa Croce, Piazza Repubblica, Piazza Signoria, the old bridge, and did quite a bit of shopping at the open air market. Myrissa and I went from stand to stand, smelling and rubbing purses to try and determine if they were real leather. I eneded up with a really nice brown leather (hopefully) purse that I've been using since I bought it! My market experience this year was significantly less traumatizing than last year's.
That night, we went out to two bars that are pretty touristy and popular for Americans to go to. Neither of us wanted to leave Flornece, our adorable hotel, or our favorite pasta the next day. I expcted to come to Florence this time around feeling the same way I did last year, but my feelings are completely reversed now. Florence is such a liveable, comortable city, surrounded by Tuscany and molded by so much history, not to mention some of the best artwork in the world (which Myrissa and I both wish we could appreciate/understand more). Despite how breathtakingly beautiful southern Italy is, I know I could never live there, but I could live in Florence.
Two short nights in Florence really were not enough. I'm so happy I was able to experience Florence from a different perspective, but now I know I have to come back soon, especially since we didn't have time to see Tuscany!
Anyway, leaving Florence on Thursday wasn't so bad because we were beyond excited to finally reunite with our favorite Maryland exchange students in Milan. We walked around Florence for the afternoon, did a bit more shopping, and took a 4 PM train to Milan.
It was finally time to see Sofia and all our other friends! After all, they are the reason we came to Italy in the first place!
xoxo
Monday, July 1, 2013
A week in Italian paradise
So, I wrote a really long and detailed post about our week in the Amalfi Coast, but somehow due to the spotty wifi in my hotel it got deleted. I still have to write about Florence and our weekend in Milan, though, so I'll keep my second take on this post a bit shorter. I can't possibly write enough to sum up what a fantastic week it was, but I'll give it a shot.
I mentioned in my last post that Myrissa and I spent our first evening in Sant'Agnello swimming at our "private" beach. Diving into that water after spending four days with little relief from the heat in Rome was exactly what we needed. We were surrounded by cliffs, topped with beautiful homes and hotels on one side, and a fiery sunset dotted with sailboats and yachts on the other. It truly felt like heaven, and after an equally enchanting trip to Positano the day after, we decided to extend our stay in Sant'Agnello from four nights to seven.
After our first day in Positano, we spent 4 days at the public beach in Sorrento. Each day, we arrived in Sorrento via a 2 minute train ride from Sant'Agnello, walked around town and ate lunch, and then walked down 150 stairs to the beach. The beach area in Sorrento is very tiny, and is portioned off into several private and one public beach. Most tourists opt for the private beaches that cost about 20 euros to enter, but we decided not to waste our money and spend our week at the public beach among Italians from the greater Naples area. Some people noticed Myrissa and I were American and gave us a lot of attention, which was uncomfortable at times. Guys asked us out on dates, wanted to take pictures with us, and asked us about America. We witnessed (and tried to help) a group of high school age American guys getting picked on by a group of young Italian boys who were trying to steal their things. Suddenly a group of about 30 people were surrounding the American boys and yelling at one another in Italian, and the American boys were completely terrified, picked up their things and ran away. I noticed right away that nearly all the girls wore teeny tiny bikinis, while the guys are extremely skinny, have perfectly sculpted abs, and wear the smallest speedos possible. I'm not just making a generalization, either! Anyway, I suppose spending 4 days at the public beach rather than the private ones gave us a taste of real southern Italian culture, which was really cool.
We stayed at a hotel called Casa Susy, an pink hotel run by an adorable mother/grandmother who cooks and cleans all day to satisfy her family, who lives in the hotel, and guests. She was so sweet and welcoming to us, and every morning and evening greeted us with "ciao bellas!". She was happy to hear we wanted to stay for 7 nights, but didn't have room for us on the 5th night, so we hurriedly booked a room at a hostel in town for night #5. The hostel was filled with American college students (many from Penn State, I noticed) and was very comfortable and well run. At night, they essentially converted the roof into a night club, and we hung out there for a little bit until going to sleep. Staying at the hostel was great, but it was nice to return to the homey comfort of Casa Susy the next morning.
During our week, I noticed that the public transportation system in southern Italy is truly confounding and probably has not been updated in about 20 years. At the train stations, there are no ticket machines, only tellers, and the trains and platforms are not marked. There are no announcements about times or locations; a train simply pulls up to a random platform at some loosely designated time, and you get on hoping to find someone who speaks English who can tell you if it's going to the right place. Sant'Agnello's train station was simple because there was only one platform, but it was much harder at Naples and Sorrento were there were multiple trains present at one time. The bus system is even more confusing. There are no bus schedules to be found anywhere. There aren't any clearly marked bus stops, and when you finally find a bus stop, no one there seems to know when/if the train is coming. We attempted to go back to Positano during the week, only to wait for 20 minutes past "departure time" and find that the bus was not coming any time soon.
But, other than the confusing public transportation system, the Amalfi Coast is truly amazing. The highlight of our week was without a doubt the last day. Susy booked a tour of Capri for us, but at 9 AM that day we were told the tour was cancelled due to rough waters. Well, Susy called her friend who works at the company, said a lot of assertive-sounding phrases in Italian, and a few minutes later we were on our way to the boat. We boarded a gorgeous, small boat along with about 10 other people. The ride to Capri was breathtaking, and we met some great people from America and really sweet couple from Holland. From America, we met Kendra and Mickey, Mickey's son Nick, and Chalisa. Myrissa and I spent much of the boat ride sharing our travel stories (and other random conversation topics) with them. Before docking in Capri, the boat stopped at a few caves, and we were amazed at how the cloudless sky and sun reflected off the water and cave walls, giving the water a strikingly bright blue color. The boat stopped in a cove where the water was calm, and Kendra, Nick and Myrissa dove right into the turquoise tides. But, since I'm terrified of deep water (something most people don't know about me) it was hard for me to find the courage to jump in with them. I sat with Chalisa and Mickey and dipped my feet in, and after everyone cheered me on a bit, I jumped in and floated in the perfect water for a couple of minutes. In fact, the water was so beautiful that I jumped in twice!
We spent the rest of the boat ride to Capri laying out on the boat deck and watching the coast, in all of its paradisal glory, pass us by. We ate lunch with everyone on the island, and I had delicious pasta carbonara and a Rosini cocktail as I overlooked the picturesque landscape, home, water and boats that Capri is known for. The whole experience was quite surreal. During lunch, Kendra told us about a vacation tradition her family has called your "orchid" and "onion". Your orchid is the best part of your trip, and your onion is the worst. Before finishing lunch, each of us shared the orchids and onions of our trips, and Myrissa and I shared them from both London and Rome. In London, my orchid was seeing Wicked in the West End, and in Rome, it was seeing the Trevi Fountain at night.
After lunch, Myrissa and I took a team car up to the main square of Capri, where we bought coral and Murano glass bracelets and followed an enticing smell that led us to a bakery with the most delicious lemon and nut cookies I've ever had. On the boat ride back, the waves were quite rough and we got really wet from them smashing against the side of the boat. One of our tour guides, a hilarious Italian man who wore super short swim shorts and a tight red shirt, invited us all to dinner at his cooking school. 18 euro for a 4 course meal? I'll take it.
A couple of hours later, we arrived at the cooking school to find our tour guide still wearing his swim shorts and red shirt, but with a leather jacket on top and Vespa helmet in hand. Myrissa said he looked like an Italian version of Alan from The Hangover, and I could not agree more. We ate eggplant lasagna, homemade pasta with meat sauce, pork filet wrapped in mushrooms and a pastry, and apple cake for desert. After dinner, we spent the night in Sorrento with everyone we had met that day. We had drinks at a rooftop garden terrace called the English Inn, and talked and enjoyed the gorgeous night before going back to Casa Susy for our last night. It was really so great to meet all of you!
The next morning, we packed our (heavy) bags to leave for Florence. With one final "ciao bellas!" we said goodbye to Susy, our view of Vesuvius, our perfect beaches, the pizza place down the road, and a week of total relaxation. We left with dark sun tans, lots of limoncello, cookies, and heavy hearts, but knew we had great times awaiting us. That evening, we would arrive in Florence and just two days later, in Milan to reunite with our friends.
Thank you, Sant'Agnello, for an incredible week. I know we'll be back soon.
Xoxo
I mentioned in my last post that Myrissa and I spent our first evening in Sant'Agnello swimming at our "private" beach. Diving into that water after spending four days with little relief from the heat in Rome was exactly what we needed. We were surrounded by cliffs, topped with beautiful homes and hotels on one side, and a fiery sunset dotted with sailboats and yachts on the other. It truly felt like heaven, and after an equally enchanting trip to Positano the day after, we decided to extend our stay in Sant'Agnello from four nights to seven.
After our first day in Positano, we spent 4 days at the public beach in Sorrento. Each day, we arrived in Sorrento via a 2 minute train ride from Sant'Agnello, walked around town and ate lunch, and then walked down 150 stairs to the beach. The beach area in Sorrento is very tiny, and is portioned off into several private and one public beach. Most tourists opt for the private beaches that cost about 20 euros to enter, but we decided not to waste our money and spend our week at the public beach among Italians from the greater Naples area. Some people noticed Myrissa and I were American and gave us a lot of attention, which was uncomfortable at times. Guys asked us out on dates, wanted to take pictures with us, and asked us about America. We witnessed (and tried to help) a group of high school age American guys getting picked on by a group of young Italian boys who were trying to steal their things. Suddenly a group of about 30 people were surrounding the American boys and yelling at one another in Italian, and the American boys were completely terrified, picked up their things and ran away. I noticed right away that nearly all the girls wore teeny tiny bikinis, while the guys are extremely skinny, have perfectly sculpted abs, and wear the smallest speedos possible. I'm not just making a generalization, either! Anyway, I suppose spending 4 days at the public beach rather than the private ones gave us a taste of real southern Italian culture, which was really cool.
We stayed at a hotel called Casa Susy, an pink hotel run by an adorable mother/grandmother who cooks and cleans all day to satisfy her family, who lives in the hotel, and guests. She was so sweet and welcoming to us, and every morning and evening greeted us with "ciao bellas!". She was happy to hear we wanted to stay for 7 nights, but didn't have room for us on the 5th night, so we hurriedly booked a room at a hostel in town for night #5. The hostel was filled with American college students (many from Penn State, I noticed) and was very comfortable and well run. At night, they essentially converted the roof into a night club, and we hung out there for a little bit until going to sleep. Staying at the hostel was great, but it was nice to return to the homey comfort of Casa Susy the next morning.
During our week, I noticed that the public transportation system in southern Italy is truly confounding and probably has not been updated in about 20 years. At the train stations, there are no ticket machines, only tellers, and the trains and platforms are not marked. There are no announcements about times or locations; a train simply pulls up to a random platform at some loosely designated time, and you get on hoping to find someone who speaks English who can tell you if it's going to the right place. Sant'Agnello's train station was simple because there was only one platform, but it was much harder at Naples and Sorrento were there were multiple trains present at one time. The bus system is even more confusing. There are no bus schedules to be found anywhere. There aren't any clearly marked bus stops, and when you finally find a bus stop, no one there seems to know when/if the train is coming. We attempted to go back to Positano during the week, only to wait for 20 minutes past "departure time" and find that the bus was not coming any time soon.
But, other than the confusing public transportation system, the Amalfi Coast is truly amazing. The highlight of our week was without a doubt the last day. Susy booked a tour of Capri for us, but at 9 AM that day we were told the tour was cancelled due to rough waters. Well, Susy called her friend who works at the company, said a lot of assertive-sounding phrases in Italian, and a few minutes later we were on our way to the boat. We boarded a gorgeous, small boat along with about 10 other people. The ride to Capri was breathtaking, and we met some great people from America and really sweet couple from Holland. From America, we met Kendra and Mickey, Mickey's son Nick, and Chalisa. Myrissa and I spent much of the boat ride sharing our travel stories (and other random conversation topics) with them. Before docking in Capri, the boat stopped at a few caves, and we were amazed at how the cloudless sky and sun reflected off the water and cave walls, giving the water a strikingly bright blue color. The boat stopped in a cove where the water was calm, and Kendra, Nick and Myrissa dove right into the turquoise tides. But, since I'm terrified of deep water (something most people don't know about me) it was hard for me to find the courage to jump in with them. I sat with Chalisa and Mickey and dipped my feet in, and after everyone cheered me on a bit, I jumped in and floated in the perfect water for a couple of minutes. In fact, the water was so beautiful that I jumped in twice!
We spent the rest of the boat ride to Capri laying out on the boat deck and watching the coast, in all of its paradisal glory, pass us by. We ate lunch with everyone on the island, and I had delicious pasta carbonara and a Rosini cocktail as I overlooked the picturesque landscape, home, water and boats that Capri is known for. The whole experience was quite surreal. During lunch, Kendra told us about a vacation tradition her family has called your "orchid" and "onion". Your orchid is the best part of your trip, and your onion is the worst. Before finishing lunch, each of us shared the orchids and onions of our trips, and Myrissa and I shared them from both London and Rome. In London, my orchid was seeing Wicked in the West End, and in Rome, it was seeing the Trevi Fountain at night.
After lunch, Myrissa and I took a team car up to the main square of Capri, where we bought coral and Murano glass bracelets and followed an enticing smell that led us to a bakery with the most delicious lemon and nut cookies I've ever had. On the boat ride back, the waves were quite rough and we got really wet from them smashing against the side of the boat. One of our tour guides, a hilarious Italian man who wore super short swim shorts and a tight red shirt, invited us all to dinner at his cooking school. 18 euro for a 4 course meal? I'll take it.
A couple of hours later, we arrived at the cooking school to find our tour guide still wearing his swim shorts and red shirt, but with a leather jacket on top and Vespa helmet in hand. Myrissa said he looked like an Italian version of Alan from The Hangover, and I could not agree more. We ate eggplant lasagna, homemade pasta with meat sauce, pork filet wrapped in mushrooms and a pastry, and apple cake for desert. After dinner, we spent the night in Sorrento with everyone we had met that day. We had drinks at a rooftop garden terrace called the English Inn, and talked and enjoyed the gorgeous night before going back to Casa Susy for our last night. It was really so great to meet all of you!
The next morning, we packed our (heavy) bags to leave for Florence. With one final "ciao bellas!" we said goodbye to Susy, our view of Vesuvius, our perfect beaches, the pizza place down the road, and a week of total relaxation. We left with dark sun tans, lots of limoncello, cookies, and heavy hearts, but knew we had great times awaiting us. That evening, we would arrive in Florence and just two days later, in Milan to reunite with our friends.
Thank you, Sant'Agnello, for an incredible week. I know we'll be back soon.
Xoxo
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
End of London/Rome
After visiting the countryside, we tried to make the most of our final 4 days in London. On Monday, we toured around the city like crazy, hitting Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Camden Tow and Kensington Palace all in one day. Throughout the next few days, we also saw Wicked and Les Mis in the West End, both of which were absolutely incredible (and we got cheap tickets and decent seats!), went to a few more pubs, took a guided tour of the city, visited Myrissa's dad's old home in the London suburbs, ate at an Italian restaurant where Sofia used to work, went to Harrod's, went out to a great dinner with my aunt, did a bit of shopping, and stumbled upon an autograph signing for the new superman movie with quite a few celebrities in Picadilly Circus. We're really happy with how much we accomplished to see and do in our week in London!
Then it was time to say goodbye to that beautiful Chelsea neighborhood and head to Rome. Honestly, the trip over to Rome was anything but easy. We were both tired and frustrated from the night before because we had not slept much, and the airport we wre leaving from was a nightmare. We found a cheap flight to Rome in British Airways but it left from Gatwick Airport, outside of London, rather than Heathrow Airport which is very close to the city. Gatwick Airport is like a jungle. The terminals are crowded and noisy and there is hardly anywhere to eat or to sit. Finally, we found space at a restaurant and our food was pretty terrible. Our flight was delayed about an hour without notice, and when we finally got to Rome, our hotel was not what we had expected. It was way on the outskirts of the city in a very sketchy neighborhood and on the complete last stop of the metro. Our room had no air conditioning, no windows, and the entire hotel was guarded by gates and cameras. We spent the evening eating pizza at the Trevi Fountain and moved to a new hotel in the city center the next morning. We felt bad leaving our hotel because the workers were so kind to us, but we knew we had to do it.
When we arrived at our new bed and "breakfast" in Rome, the found that the receptionist did not speak a word of English. She kept speaking to us in Italian, asked if we understood, and when we said no, she repeated herself, asked if we understood again, and then mumbled "mama Mia!" under her breath in annoyance over our lack of Italian fluency. We were taken aback by her blatantly rude attitude, and left to spend the day in the city. We ended up having a great day exploring different piazzas, the Spanish Steps, did some shopping, ate pizza, and saw the Panetheon while eating gelato. The gelato place we went to is the same one I went to last year and it has about 100 different flavors. We went to a piazza called Piazza Del Popolo and climbed up to a small overlook above it called Villa Borghese. From up there we had a view of almost the entire city. On our way back down, the steps were quite slippery and Myrissa fell down and proceeded to slide for about 5 more steps. Luckily, her arm broke her fall, but now she has a pretty intense bruise that we have nicknamed Stella. We had such a great day exploring Rome that we decided to go out for the night, and joined a group of college age students who were going on a pub crawl. We went to two pubs and a nightclub, all of which were really fun, despite the creepy men who were trying to follow us around. But overall we had a great time and met some really cool people from America and elsewhere.
Before leaving Rome, we also saw the Colosseum, had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Novecento, went out at night to Campo di Fiori, ate delicious pizza, ate local food from nearby supermarkets, and got totally ripped off for a terrible tour of the Vatican. I'm sad to say we payed almost $50 for an English tour with a guide who hardly spoke English and told us nothing about the artwork or history. Seeing St. Peter's was the highlight of the day, which was great but also frustrating because it was the only part of the day we really enjoyed and the only part that was free.
Overall, my second trip to Rome was fantastic, but we realized in a huge city like Rome, cheap hotels are not worth it. Even though our second hotel was in a good location, it did not include breakfast or air conditioning as the website had promised, the receptionist was incredibly rude, and it was very tiny and cramped. Next time, Myrissa and I agreed we will splurge a bit to get a nicer hotel.
Leaving Rome was just as hard as getting there. We dragged our heavy luggage all the way to the train station, waited almost an hour in the heat for our train, and got on the train only to find that the seating was really complicated. For some reason, Italian trains assign seats to each passenger, which gets very complicated because some people decide to ignore the seat assignments altogether while others take it very seriously. It also turned out that not a single person on that train spoke English, and when the seating arrangements got totally mixed up, we were really frustrated because no one understood what we were saying. Finally, we found empty seats, relaxed for a couple of hours, and arrived in Naples only to find that the local train to our hotel was delayed. We waited on the platform, drenched in sweat, exhausted and completely confused until our train finally came. About half an hour later, we were in Sant'Agnello, an adorable seaside town next to Sorrento where our B&B is located.
Arriving at our new hotel was really great. After sub-par accommodation in Rome, we arrived at Casa Susy, a pink bed and breakfast overlooking Vesuvius in the distance, and were greeted by the adorable Italian owner, Susy. We finally settled into our comfortable room (with air-conditioning!!!) and changed right away into our bathing suits. We walked along the breathtakingly beautiful coastline, passing by luxury hotels and restaurants overlooking the sea and the mountains, until we walked down many stairs and through a tunnel to the beach, all of which took no longer than 10 minutes. By this point, it was about 8 PM, so the beach was totally empty and Myrissa and I swam and watched the sunset blaze red and pink over the water. I really do not have the words to describe how gorgeous and peaceful the water and sunset were. We both agreed that we would come back to this exact spot many times in the future. We then had pizza at a cute local restaurant, then I Skyped with Joe for about an hour (which was so nice!) and spent the night sleeping so comfortably in our new hotel.
We woke up to cloudless skies and a perfect view of Vesuvius and Naples in the distance. Susy made us breakfast and homemade cappuccino, and afterward we headed for Positano for the day. After a somewhat terrifying bus ride that literally wove through the cliffs over the ocean, we arrived in Positano where we had a delicious lunch and laid on the beach all day. We bought some homemade limoncello, swam in the clear blue water, shopped (of course), napped in our lounge chaurs, got really nice tan lines, and just appreciated the unbelievable beauty of our surroundings. We went back to the same pizza place tonight and were greeted with free champagne and a friendly "welcome back!" from the waiter. The pizza was delicious and now we're going to sleep in our wonderfully air conditioned room. I think that our first day and a half in the Amalfi Coast has made us both realize how wonderful this trip and life in general really are.
xoxo
Christina
P.S. I will never take air conditioning or cold water (most water here is room temperature) for granted ever again!! also I finally learned how to add line breaks to my posts so that everything isn't one giant paragrap! but my grammar and spelling will probably not improve because typing on my iPad is really hard!
Then it was time to say goodbye to that beautiful Chelsea neighborhood and head to Rome. Honestly, the trip over to Rome was anything but easy. We were both tired and frustrated from the night before because we had not slept much, and the airport we wre leaving from was a nightmare. We found a cheap flight to Rome in British Airways but it left from Gatwick Airport, outside of London, rather than Heathrow Airport which is very close to the city. Gatwick Airport is like a jungle. The terminals are crowded and noisy and there is hardly anywhere to eat or to sit. Finally, we found space at a restaurant and our food was pretty terrible. Our flight was delayed about an hour without notice, and when we finally got to Rome, our hotel was not what we had expected. It was way on the outskirts of the city in a very sketchy neighborhood and on the complete last stop of the metro. Our room had no air conditioning, no windows, and the entire hotel was guarded by gates and cameras. We spent the evening eating pizza at the Trevi Fountain and moved to a new hotel in the city center the next morning. We felt bad leaving our hotel because the workers were so kind to us, but we knew we had to do it.
When we arrived at our new bed and "breakfast" in Rome, the found that the receptionist did not speak a word of English. She kept speaking to us in Italian, asked if we understood, and when we said no, she repeated herself, asked if we understood again, and then mumbled "mama Mia!" under her breath in annoyance over our lack of Italian fluency. We were taken aback by her blatantly rude attitude, and left to spend the day in the city. We ended up having a great day exploring different piazzas, the Spanish Steps, did some shopping, ate pizza, and saw the Panetheon while eating gelato. The gelato place we went to is the same one I went to last year and it has about 100 different flavors. We went to a piazza called Piazza Del Popolo and climbed up to a small overlook above it called Villa Borghese. From up there we had a view of almost the entire city. On our way back down, the steps were quite slippery and Myrissa fell down and proceeded to slide for about 5 more steps. Luckily, her arm broke her fall, but now she has a pretty intense bruise that we have nicknamed Stella. We had such a great day exploring Rome that we decided to go out for the night, and joined a group of college age students who were going on a pub crawl. We went to two pubs and a nightclub, all of which were really fun, despite the creepy men who were trying to follow us around. But overall we had a great time and met some really cool people from America and elsewhere.
Before leaving Rome, we also saw the Colosseum, had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Novecento, went out at night to Campo di Fiori, ate delicious pizza, ate local food from nearby supermarkets, and got totally ripped off for a terrible tour of the Vatican. I'm sad to say we payed almost $50 for an English tour with a guide who hardly spoke English and told us nothing about the artwork or history. Seeing St. Peter's was the highlight of the day, which was great but also frustrating because it was the only part of the day we really enjoyed and the only part that was free.
Overall, my second trip to Rome was fantastic, but we realized in a huge city like Rome, cheap hotels are not worth it. Even though our second hotel was in a good location, it did not include breakfast or air conditioning as the website had promised, the receptionist was incredibly rude, and it was very tiny and cramped. Next time, Myrissa and I agreed we will splurge a bit to get a nicer hotel.
Leaving Rome was just as hard as getting there. We dragged our heavy luggage all the way to the train station, waited almost an hour in the heat for our train, and got on the train only to find that the seating was really complicated. For some reason, Italian trains assign seats to each passenger, which gets very complicated because some people decide to ignore the seat assignments altogether while others take it very seriously. It also turned out that not a single person on that train spoke English, and when the seating arrangements got totally mixed up, we were really frustrated because no one understood what we were saying. Finally, we found empty seats, relaxed for a couple of hours, and arrived in Naples only to find that the local train to our hotel was delayed. We waited on the platform, drenched in sweat, exhausted and completely confused until our train finally came. About half an hour later, we were in Sant'Agnello, an adorable seaside town next to Sorrento where our B&B is located.
Arriving at our new hotel was really great. After sub-par accommodation in Rome, we arrived at Casa Susy, a pink bed and breakfast overlooking Vesuvius in the distance, and were greeted by the adorable Italian owner, Susy. We finally settled into our comfortable room (with air-conditioning!!!) and changed right away into our bathing suits. We walked along the breathtakingly beautiful coastline, passing by luxury hotels and restaurants overlooking the sea and the mountains, until we walked down many stairs and through a tunnel to the beach, all of which took no longer than 10 minutes. By this point, it was about 8 PM, so the beach was totally empty and Myrissa and I swam and watched the sunset blaze red and pink over the water. I really do not have the words to describe how gorgeous and peaceful the water and sunset were. We both agreed that we would come back to this exact spot many times in the future. We then had pizza at a cute local restaurant, then I Skyped with Joe for about an hour (which was so nice!) and spent the night sleeping so comfortably in our new hotel.
We woke up to cloudless skies and a perfect view of Vesuvius and Naples in the distance. Susy made us breakfast and homemade cappuccino, and afterward we headed for Positano for the day. After a somewhat terrifying bus ride that literally wove through the cliffs over the ocean, we arrived in Positano where we had a delicious lunch and laid on the beach all day. We bought some homemade limoncello, swam in the clear blue water, shopped (of course), napped in our lounge chaurs, got really nice tan lines, and just appreciated the unbelievable beauty of our surroundings. We went back to the same pizza place tonight and were greeted with free champagne and a friendly "welcome back!" from the waiter. The pizza was delicious and now we're going to sleep in our wonderfully air conditioned room. I think that our first day and a half in the Amalfi Coast has made us both realize how wonderful this trip and life in general really are.
xoxo
Christina
P.S. I will never take air conditioning or cold water (most water here is room temperature) for granted ever again!! also I finally learned how to add line breaks to my posts so that everything isn't one giant paragrap! but my grammar and spelling will probably not improve because typing on my iPad is really hard!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
London & the countryside
I haven't had a chance to write my first actual post because we've been so busy and have had limited wifi, but I'll try to remember what we've done so far! The trip over here was easy. My bag was almost overweight, of course, even after I took out a sweatshirt and pair of shoes on the way to the airport. We took Virgin Airlines over and it was great. The pLane was enormous; each seat had its own TV and they were pouring champagne as we boarded the flight. One of the flight attendants saw us looking at the champagne and asked if we would like some. We jokingly said yes, and a few minutes later champagne was delivered to us at our seats, completely free of charge. The rest of the flight was easy and we enjoyed talking to the flight attendants and hearing their British accents. When we landed at Heathrow, it was almost 8 PM, and we decided to take the underground to my aunts house in the Chelsea district of London. Taking the underground was pretty fast, and incredibly easy, even with our huge suitcases. The first part of London we saw when we came off the underground was Sloane Square, a cute square road with shops, restaurants, and a double decker bus parked on the corner. We found our way to my aunts house from the underground station without a problem, and when we arrived, she and my uncle had food waiting for us and talked to us about London sightseeing before going to sleep. Their house is really beautiful; since its in the city, it's really narrow but has 6 floors inside, with a lot of staircases.
The next day, we wandered over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. The crowd in front of the palace was enormous and we couldn't see much, but I was able to get a few decent videos. Then we decided to check out Picadilly Circus and Soho, so we took the underground over and walked around for a bit until lunch. We decided to go to St. James' Pub, where we had fish and chips, British beer and Swedish hard cider, all of which were delicious. Then we stumbled upon Carnaby Street, which is a cobblestone, pedestrian only road lined with shops. We went into Monki, where I found an incredible cream colored cable knit sweater for 25 pounds, and convinced myself it wasn't expensive since it was only "25". After buying it, I realized I had just spent nearly 40 American Dollars on one sweater. Lesson number 1: converting pounds to dollars is not fun. Later that evening, we drove with my aunt and 8 year old cousin Langan to their weekend home in the countryside. The home they rent belongs to a very important English duke, who is one of the most prominent land owners in the UK. The home is in a small, somewhat remote village called Badminton, where all the homes are hundreds of years old and the scenery looks like something out of a fairy tale. Myrissa and I shared a cozy room in the attic of the house slept like babies under a thick down comforter and cashmere blanket. We kept joking that we felt like we were on a romantic getaway weekend.
In the morning, my aunt took Myrissa and I to a nearby town called Teterby, where we walked around, shopped and had lunch. The town is hundreds of years old and is apparently a very popular place to visit. My aunt brought us to beautiful boutique shops, where the prices were totally outrageous, but it was fun to try things on anyway. We went into a store that sold gorgeous jackets; so gorgeous that even Kate Middleton shops there. I fell completely in love with a dark brown leather jacket that cost about 1,000$. We had lunch, then went back to the house where my uncle and 6 year old cousin Finnian had just arrived from London. It was Finnian's birthday and he'd had a tee-ball game that morning, during which he hit a grand slam. We had cupcakes for his birthday, took a walk around the estate, where we saw the duke's enormous palace, and ate some delicious pasta carbonara. They have a trampoline in the backyard, so we bounced around on there for a while and then went to feed the neighbors pigs with Finnian. On the way we came across a treehouse with a zip line coming out of it, and despite being scared, all three of us gave the zip line a try. It hurt my hands and I almost crashed into a tree, but it was so fun anyway. Then Myrissa and I drank some French wine that my aunt gave us and went to sleep.
Today was my aunts birthday. We went to an old English inn and restaurant for her birthday brunch, where we had champagne, wine, hard cider, roasted chicken, poached eggs with crab meat, goat cheese with beets, some sort of puréed liver spread on toast, and homemade ice cream for desert. We decided to be adventurous and try some new things, being that we're in Europe. Tonight we came back to London and walked around Chelsea and Kensington, where we found the mom's house from The Parent Trap, but were sad to see that it is under construction. We walked by Harrods, which was lit up so beautifully, then decided to try some British McDonald's, which was cool because they had waffle fries. When we walked home, we got really lost somewhere in the Chelsea neighborhood, which was tough because so many of the houses look the same here. Finally we were so tired that we hailed a cab, only to realize we were literally down the road from my aunts house and paid for a cab for no reason. Lesson number 2: bring a map everywhere we go.
Sorry for any typos and bad grammar; I'm typing this on my iPad and it's really hard!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Is this actually happening?
This semester, Myrissa and Sofia came into my life as random roommates. In January, we were strangers, and today, they're two of my closest and dearest friends. I can't say how often Myrissa and I obsessed over The Lizzie McGuire Movie this past semester, but it was pretty often. We'd watch the movie, sing and dance along to the soundtrack, and wish that we could galavant through Italy like Lizzie McGuire did. My obsession with Italy started last summer when I went there on an incredible 3-week study abroad trip through school. We went to Sorrento, Florence, Venice, San Remo, Cinque Terre, and Rome, to name a few, and since then I've been wishing I could return. And my obsession with Italy continued when I met Sofia, our Italian roommmate who was studying at Maryland through an exchange program with her home university in Milan. One day, Myrissa and I were fantasizing about going on a Europe trip, as usual, when Sofia invited us to visit her over the summer. At that point, we weren't sure if she really meant it, if our parents would let us, if we had enough money, or if the two of us would ever be able to navigate our way to Sofia's house in Padova. That was sometime in February, and it all seemed like a daydream then.
Tomorrow, Myrissa and I are flying to London at 7:45 in the morning. Since we're supposed to be there at 4:45, I doubt I'll get more than a few hours of sleep tonight. I can never sleep before flights. What started as a fantasy trip to Italy while we were watching Lizzie McGuire evolved into a 6 week adventure to London, Rome, Sorrento, Florence, Padova (and surrounding areas), and Sweden. Since we were already paying for plane tickets over to Europe, we figured we may as well extend our trip from just Italy to include London and Sweden, since I have family there that we can stay with. We are going to "backpack" through Europe (I'm using the term "backpacking" very loosely, since my already huge suitcase is likely overweight), taking planes, trains and probably some buses, boats and bikes along the way. I'm seeing some of Europe's most beautiful cities, visiting family, and traveling with two of my best friends. In the words of Lizzie McGuire, this really is what dreams are made of.
Wish us luck!
xoxo
Christina
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