Barcelona, Ole!

Hola!

Lo siento! I'm sorry!!! You guys... if any of you are still following this... those last posts were FAR too long!!!! Can you tell I have a lot of free time on my hands since I have gotten back???

I will make Barcelona short and sweet! The best way to sum it up is in these simple words: sangria, paella, Antoni Gaudi ya la playa!

A starbucks in Barcelona had a balcony as their lobby with a view of the port! We relaxed here for at least an hour.

This is the huge Farmer's Market off of La Ramba full of fruit smoothies what were so good!

Parc Guell by artist Antoni Guadi. It's by far the most interesting park I have ever been to. Usually I use the work "interesting" as a bad thing, but this time I mean it as a good thing... fyi, for those who know my vocabulary...

Kailey and I bought tickets to a Flamenco show. I love it! I love live dancing, especially when it is a World Dance. I think the specifications of costumes and music is so interesting.

Restaurant Egipte: We had every dinner here. It had the best veggie paella and Daniel, our server was so nice! Our last two nights they treated us to Champagne. They all recognized us by night 2.

Kailey was hoping he would leave the whole bottle...

The metro in Spain was sooo nice! It was newer and had AC unlike the one in Paris. It also was WAY easier to hop on without paying!!! We would always buy two tickets, but we would both squeeze through with one, and save the other ticket for the trip back. I remember watching people in Paris hop over the turnstiles and thinking "OMG, they are going to get caught." But by the time we got to Barcelona we realized we saw people skimping on the metro in every city, so we had to give it a try... And besides, we were really poor, lol.

The Magic Fountain= Every night, every half hour they have a water show complete with music that makes you forget about the one at The Bellagio in Vegas.

Kailey and I in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. I forgot to bring my swimsuit that day, so I just went in in my dress.. I didn't want to miss the opportunity incase it didn't come again.

Sagrada Familia- an unfinished cathedral by Antoni Guadi... this was iiiiiiinteresting... it wasn't pretty, but it looked nothing like any of the thousands of other cathedrals we have seen. It's kind of weird. If you are in Barcelona you HAVE to go there.

Beach day numero dos.

La playa

Paella!!!

Sangria... they just don't make it like this in the states... Salute!

I hope you guys are still there... Hello?!?!? Anyone?!?!?!

I just wanted to thank all of you for encouraging me to continue writing in my blog. I'm sorry it took so long to finish it, but now it DONE!!!!!! I know Mim, Aunt Trish and Aunt Jodi are reading it in PA, my bestie Bailey in San Diego, Melissa, Tammy and Darlene in Long Beach, and that's just to name a few! And of course my fellow blogger & travel buddy who taught me how to blog: Calvin! This is the perfect scrapbook that I can look back to years to come and if it weren't for you guys I probably would have a lot less memories to hold on to... I have a really bad memory, seriously. When I started writing this I was mainly just wanting to tell you all about the food, but over time it turned into a way of keeping in touch with all of you at home, and now its memories that will last a life time, Merci! Grazie! Gracias!

Love,

Kristin

When in Rome...

Ciao Bellos! We are in Roma, Italia now. There are so many Rome phrases: "All roads lead to Rome." "Rome wasn't built in a day." When in Rome, do as the Romans." but after actually going to Rome they all make complete sense. When we arrived in Rome we didn't chance using anything other than a taxi (after what happened in Florence) to get us to our apartment. Luckily, our taxi driver dropped us off right around the corner (more like corners) from our address which was located right next to Piazza Navona. Now, it made perfect sense to the Roman taxi driver to drop us off where he did, but very little sense to us. We had a half-complete map of Rome (per favore, if you are planning a trip to Rome splurge on a map specifically for Rome) The larger streets were labeled and so were the major sights, but the chance that what you are looking for was actually on a major street... slim to none. After walking in circles around our neighborhood and asking 3 different people, we finally got perfect directions to the world's shortest street: Via Montegiordano. We were a short one and a half, maybe two minute walk from Piazza Navona. If you are wondering where to stay in Rome stick to areas around Campo di Fiore and Piazza Navona.

As soon as we dropped off our luggage we headed out to explore. We came across a cute little Bakery, it reminded us of all the Boulangeries in Paris. The ladies working were super friendly and joking back and forth, you could tell they loved their jobs... so Italian.

The bakery's store front

The treats.

Later that day for dinner we walked over to Piazza Navona and tried to decide between either a cheap meal or a pricier meal. Now, in Rome (and Italy in general) there are 4 types of meals: Super cheap pizza by the slice, cheap delizioso Italian food from a small restaurant, pricier forgettable food in a great location (i.e. sitting outside in a Piazza) or a pricier fine dining restaurant. Rick Steve said to eat cheap in Rome, but splurge at least once on either a drink or meal at a restaurant in a piazza.  We had a nice long meal full of supremo people watching. We chit-chatted with the waiters and it was decided we would go to Campo de' Fiori for some drinks with our new friend Sam the waiter.

Chapter 2: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Those who know me well, know how much I LOVE to dance. I may not be good at it, but if there is good music and others dancing I will join in! By this time it was coming up on midnight (Kailey and I are always down for a good time, but usually we push for the 'good times' to get rolling before the early morning hours). So it turned out that our friend Sam loved to dance and he knew of some Discotecas (aka Clubs) close by, so the plan was to hang out and have a drink in Campo de' Fiori and then head over to the Disco. Turns out in Rome the discos don't START till TWO IN THE MORNING!!!! We hung out in Campo de' Fiori as long as we could before begging to make our way to the disco. Sam warned us that 1:30 was still too early and no one would be there... and he was right. Finally by 2 there were enough people on the dance floor for the DJ to start spinning the dancing music. Kailey is like most of my friends and doesn't care too much for dance clubs so she was a trooper and a real friend staying up late and letting me enjoy some time on the dance floor: Shout out to Kay Wiggity-Wags!!! And ladies: Sam had rhythm. ;) Later that night we walked back over to Piazza Navona on our way home. Those of you who have been to Rome know that all the major monuments are surrounded by guards 24/7, all except the fountain in Piazza Navona:
Kailey: Could people go inside this fountain?
Sam: Why? You want to go in there?
Kailey: Ya, could we?
Sam: If you want, you could. But you better do it now.
Kailey & I: OMG! Are you serious? Let's go!!!

Thankfully we had made a friend so we got real evidence of Kailey and I jumping into the fountain at 3:30 in the morning... When in Rome...

The best part was after he took the pictures he was yelling for us to hurry up and get out. Apparently he has never actually seen anyone go jump in before. We thought people did stuff like that all the time because in movies people are always jumping in the Trevi Fountain (so not possible, you can't even touch the water without having a whistle blown at you by a female guard with a unibrow... not really... but they are pretty intimidating) but I heard you could get fined if you are caught... oops!

The Evidence.

Here is a picture of the whole fountain.

The next day we spent the whole day at the Colosseum and Roman Forum. I wish I had pictures to show, but once again... technical difficulties. I will never forget how weird and super cool it was to be walking to the Colosseum (with a map, we finally bought one... but that wasn't the cool part) so we were walking to the Colosseum to meet up with Brian, Sarah and Calvin (friends from Paris) and we turned a corner and out of nowhere there were these trench type areas filled with Ancient Roman ruins. You see all of Rome built up around these massive pieces of history. They look untouched. Then, as we walked across a walkway with Roman and Trojan ruins al around we turned the corner and at the end of the street we could see The Colosseum... Breathtaking.

 As I am writing this I am not too sure what my blog this doing, but I keep trying to tell it to put my text in certain spots, but it isn't listening to me... The picture of the food up there ^ was my dinner at Cul de Sac and the picture up and to the left is inside the restaurant. Notice the wine lining the walls? They have over 1000 wines to choose from!!!

After dinner I planned to take the group on Rick Steve's Night Walk Through Rome. Let me tell you all a little about my friend Rick. He was my mentor during my trip to Italy. I purchased his book from Barnes & Nobel before I left and we treated that book like the Bible. He gave us a quick overview of the Italian culture and what to expect, as well as where and how to spend our money, the best places to eat and which places were worth a visit. He even outlines walks through major cities in Italy, and the Night Walk Through Rome was by far his best! The walk started at Campo de' Fiori and then went to Piazza Navona, the Parliament Building, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and finished at the Spanish Steps. Along the way he points out Italy's famous gelaterias and Italy's oldest coffee shop, as well as some of the famous places to go for cafe granita con panna (frozen coffee slush with whipped cream) and tartufo (the richest dark chocolate gelato). Rome wasn't built in a day, so only 4 nights in Rome was not enough. There are so many things to do and see, and this night walk was one of my favorites! All throughout Italy we saw travelers with the same Rick Steve's Italy book in their hand (which was a perfect conversation starter) and on our night walk we noticed a couple sitting on the bench next to us at the Tervi Fountain turned to the same page we were on! We couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk about our favorite Rick recommendations, lol. They were doing the SAME walk at the SAME time on the SAME day as us! We all walked over to the Spanish Steps together and they told us how they were on their honeymoon... HOW ROMANTIC!!!!!!

Seriously though, if you are going to Italy please do not hesitate to call and ask to borrow my book, I will be so excited to help a friend out! :)

Me, Kailey and Sarah at the Trevi Fountain

Caffe Giolitti- Rome's most famous gelateria.

The gelato was truly amazing, but be careful, they don't skimp! They even top it off with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. The Oreo Biscotti was my favorite. After we paid and got our ticket we had to wait in a huge line (you only see the tail end of it in this picture) and I overheard someone say in English "The Italians don't know the meaning of the word 'queue.'" (The English's word for 'line') So that was my cue to push my way to the front... When in Rome. I got in and out fast! That's one thing traveling taught me: If that's the way they do it there, join in!

At the Pantheon there was a street performer singing our new favorite song Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli with a huge crowd surrounding him. The timing of our arrival was perfect.

The Pantheon

Trevi Fountain... again.

... and again...

It was full of people

The Spanish Steps= Some the the best people watching. There are guys selling beer out of plastic bags so every time a guard came close to them they booked it! And then there were other guys selling roses and the way they suckered people into buying them was to give them to a woman who was with a man, let her hold on to the rose thinking it was a free gift and then after a couple minutes tell the guy to pay for the rose or she has to give it back. Sad part is that it actually worked sometimes... dumb.

After the walk Kailey and I went to a famous McDonalds right next to the Spanish Steps (Rick told us about it) to use their WC and this place was HUGE and super nice! They had espresso machines, pastries, hamburgers, fries, and gelato! It's hard to see exactly now nice and huge this place was... but we almost got lost trying to find our way to the bathrooms.

Italy's Oldest Coffee Shop. I never had a chance to go during the day when it was open... Looks like I have to go back to Rome!

St. Peter's Square

View from St. Peter's Basilica looking out to St. Peter's Square. I don't know why the coloring looks like that, but I kinda like it.

On our third day in Rome we went to The Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel. Kailey also has illegal pictures of that one too! It was beautiful. To think one man painted the whole room in 4 years in unbelievable. 

This was at the Vatican Museum. The Pope asked Michelangelo to restore it 3 times, and he said no 3 times... no one says no to the pope. (Thanks to Sarah I knew that fun fact) He said it was too beautiful.

The Vatican Museum was beautiful.

The Vatican City is guarded by Swiss Guards. Its a very desired job. Only those who live there or have prescriptions for medications that are only available in Vatican City are allowed in. Oh, and gas is supposedly really cheap there... random facts I don't remember how I know them. I think Kailey read them in Rick Steve's book and then told me.

This was my dinner one night when I ordered the "seasonal veggies." No joke. The whole table was confused. We thought for sure this was the side plate to go with the boy's meat dish, but sure enough this was my meal. I got grilled veggies at other restaurants and usually it was peppers, eggplant and squash, but not here.

As we were eating we noticed a nun who also ordered the seasonal veggie plate...

We were all laughing for a good ten minutes as we watched her shovel the spinach into her mouth... oh, and the plaid hanging from her collar is indeed the linen napkin!

 After dinner we walked along the river where we found little tents where people had their shops, kind of like what you would find at a farmer's market. Then we found this guy who had ping pong tables you could rent by the half hour... so much fun! Kailey dominated!

During our travel study in Paris we made friends with Kailyn who studied in Rome for 5 months and she told us about some of her favorite spots in Rome. Lucky for us all of them were right in our neighborhood, including FRIGIDARIUM!!!

Frigidarium= Our favorite gelateria in the WORLD. They dip it in cioccolato that hardens. We even went here on our last day before leaving Rome... in the rain.

View of the Tiber River

Kailey got us a caricature made... at this point we had no idea what it looked like. 

We were shocked! He kept telling us "You are beautiful girls! But you make good funny!"

My favorite pizza.

I wish...

Our last night it Rome we went back to the Trevi Fountain at 2am because Rick said it was the best time to go when there weren't hundreds of people crowded around... he was right, yet again!

One last stop at Frigidarium in the rain!

All of our luggage.

Ciao Italia, mio amore!!!

Florence: Pisa and Pasta

Ciao! I know it has been awhile since I have posted... and most of you know I am back home now, but lets pretend that I am still far away... I can't leave anything incomplete so I promised myself I would finish this.

Wow, so as many of you know I have a reeeeeeeally bad memory, so this is going to be iiiiinteresting. I must use all my pictures as "flashbacks" of what the trip was like.

Kailey and I started in Venice with way too much luggage...

Next to Kailey is the genius Venetian way of moving heavy things across the bridges...

... because SURPRISE! The bridges aren't flat, they are stairs... tricky, tricky...

Finally we made it to our train and we were on our way to Florence. The lovely hotel we were staying at in Florence had given us simple directions of how to get to the hotel via bus. We found the buses and jumped on the one our directions said and we were looking for the first or second stop to hop off at and we would be right around the corner from our hotel. We passed a few, but the street names weren't matching up. We figured we must have taken it the wrong direction, so instead of getting off we decided to ride it till the end, and sooner or later we would run into our stop. Finally the bus driver stopped the bus and (in Italian, of course) told everyone to get off the bus because we were at the last stop. We got off, looked around and realized we were no longer anywhere close to the city center, which also means we are no where close to anything touristic: maps, trains, cafes, piazzas, hotels, PEOPLE WHO SPEAK ENGLISH!!! We stood at the bus stop with some guy from Egypt for a while crossing our fingers a  new bus would come soon to take us back to the train station. Thankfully the Egyptian spoke a little Italian and English and he pointed to a sign taped on the bus stop and said "They are on strike. Hopefully another will come, but not for at least one hour." Grrrrreat, out of all the days of the year they chose TODAY to go on strike. Being in Europe for over a month already we realized the trains and planes love to go on strike, and when they do there is nothing you can do about it. No refunds. No rescheduling. No compensation. Luckily for us, it was just the buses. Since we had no map, no phone, and no Italian and LOTS of luggage we decided to wander the streets for a taxi. We were in an area full of houses and office buildings. It was nothing of what we thought Florence would be like. It felt like we were in a small city in California. Finally we found a few businesses, and one was a travel agency so I figured they must speak english. We popped our heads in and thankfully they knew enough to tell us if they called us a cab it would be between 20 and 40 euro to get back to the train station, but there was a train stop around the corner and a ticket back to the main train station is only 1,20 euro. We crossed our fingers and headed down the street. After locating the train station, finding the ticket counter, taking a train back to the main station and hailing a cab to take us to our hotel: we arrived. But let's not stop there. Hotel Chiazza is located on the 3rd floor up steep stairs (and in Europe the 1st floor isn't the ground level) so that's 4 flights of stairs. We got to the receptionist counter and she informs us that she booked us our first night at a hotel down the street, for the same price, because one of the rooms were flooded and they had to keep it empty for 24 hours. Thankfully she allowed us to keep our luggage there and just take enough for the night. She made it up to us by putting us in the hotel's suite for our last 4 nights.

View out of our room at "the other hotel" Not Bad.

So normally I wouldn't take a picture of the bathroom (okay, actually that's a lie, I have a picture of all the bathrooms... they all had bidets! - "small sinks" as Sarah and Calvin like to call them) but this bathroom doubled as a shower. You closed the door and you were ready to turn the water on. They don't waste space. The hardest part was keeping the toilet paper dry...

Michelangelo's David... faux David.

The one thing I was most excited for in Florence was seeing David. I remember being in Middle School and learning about Michelangelo, and later in High School taking a 3D Art class and we watched a movie on Michelangelo's experience of painting the Sistine Chapel. I remember wishing that one day I would have lots of money and be able to fulfill all my wildest dreams of traveling the world and find myself staring at the real thing. Little did I know you don't need lots of money-- just enough :) Not to mention having the most amazing parents in the world who are always putting their kids ahead of them... Now I need lots of money so I can take them somewhere amazing. When I found myself planning my trip to Florence on the top of the "To Do" list was seeing David. Kailey and I decided to splurge on a walking tour of Florence, a tour of The Uffizi Gallery and "The Original David Tour at Accademia." We used Artviva Tours (www.italy.artviva.com) recommended by none other than Rick Steve. The tour of Florence was really great. Our tour guide gave us lots of useful information of the history of Florence. There is something very special about being able to hear the history of a city you are walking through and looking all around and seeing the real evidence of the city's past. The Uffizi Tour with our tour guide Paul... well, ummmm, ya... maybe it was Paul, maybe it was the art, or more likely it was us, but Kailey and I were counting down the seconds till the tour was over. I have had some pretty boring professors and teachers, but there has never been anyone who I have had so much trouble listening to and we weren't even getting course credit for it. I even remember muting his voice on the tour headphones. We felt bad, but there was no way we were going to stay with the same tour guide for the tour of Accademia. We, thankfully, switched our tour guide to a younger girl with a more compatible personality and who loves David just as much as we do. She told us all about the history of Michelangelo and David, and how it use to be outside (where the faux David stands today) until they built Accademia, a museum made specifically to be the home of the 14 foot David. They would not allow for pictures inside, but that would never stop Kailey. Due to technical difficulties I don't have the pictures available to put on the blog, and that's probably best because those guards at Accademia would not be very happy if they found out we had pictures :)

The Duomo- Famous Cathedral in Florence. When Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpt David he was suppose to be put on top of the Duomo's roof, but for obvious reasons (he was just too beautiful) he never made it up there.

Florence is a city of Art, even street art. There were all sorts of stickers people would add to street signs, but this one is by far the cutest! <3

Not only is Florence great for Art, it was THEE City for FASHION!!!!!!!!! Now, let us all remember I spent a month in Paris, France. I was expecting to fall in love with the fashion culture of the Parisians... now, don't get me wrong, they have great style. You would never see the fashion faux pas of wearing a t-shirt and yoga pants in public or men walking around in basketball shorts (unless of course they were a tourist) but there was something about the Italian Fashion... I fell in love. Both the men and the women, young and old dressed to kill. The women invest in fabulous basics made with high quality fabric, and accessorize with designer totes and the world's most amazing gladiator sandals. They are not afraid to wear bright colors and they too love their bold nail polishes. The men all look like 10's walking around in custom tailored suits, fitted pants (designer jeans, twill dark pants, or at the knee shorts) paired with a collared polo or button up and italian leather shoes, loafers or boating shoes. They know how to pull of a messenger bag better than the US postal service, and they don't leave the house without the proper accessories: designer watch, sunglasses and an actual hairdo. I wish I had money to shop, but walking by the store fronts hours after closing was good enough for me! I want to buy a subscription for myself, and the rest of America, to Vogue Italia ASAP.

We ate lunch at a delizioso pizza place and our waiter requested the pizza chef to give us the "special" a heart shaped pizza!

They finished our meal off with a complimentary glass of Limoncello- The signature dessert beverage of Southern Italia... very strong, but very tasty!

The next day Sarah, Calvin, Kailey and I headed over to Pisa. When we came to the tower we turned the corner to see this grassy field full of tourist posing for their cliche "Don't let the leaning tower fall" picture. We all laughed when we saw this (kinda hard to see in this picture) and then we joined in :)

Cliche Leaning Tower picture.

Most of my pictures in Pisa look as though the tower is no longer leaning. It was hard to not want to correct it by tilting my camera :-/

Then we headed back to Florence. This bridge "Ponte Vecchio" meaning "Old Bridge" in Italian is the only bridge that was left standing after WWII because a German soilder said it was too beautiful to destroy. The bridge is full of jewelry shops, and looks like a picturesque tuscany bridge.

View of Ponte Vecchio from Galleria degli Uffizi- Best part of all of Uffizi, I promise.

One night after already having gelato Calvin, Sarah, Kailey and I ran into this popsicle shop. They had all fruit pops and ice-cream pops that they dip in chocolate and roll around in different nuts. The Italians know their frozen treats!

Our first night in Florence Kailey and I walked down the street and were looking for food but no where was open. We looked at a menu for a restaurant called La Luna and decided we would come back and have dinner there during our stay. They menu had a lot to choose from, and the pricing was just right. We ended up taking Sarah and Calvin here for dinner, and Kailey and I returned again the next night. We like to be regulars at places, and when you know you really love a place, why not?!?! AND the funny thing was that the second night we saw the same American family that was there the previous night, they too decided to stick with the tried and true.

I don't remember what this was called, but there was squid in it, and it was YUM!

Dessert Calzone with chocolate (or maybe it was nutella) and mascarpone (or maybe it was ricotta)... whatever it was, it was delish!

Alfonso (server), Kailey, Me, Owner of LA LUNA (I don't remember his name) 

Kailey was talking to the owner our second night there about Top Chef and Fabio (an Italian who has won Top Chef) and how Fabio has a restaurant Cafe Firenze in her hometown of Moorepark, CA. I don't think he had a clue what she was talking about, but I was laughing the whole time! He did understand that we LOVED his restaurant. He hopes to one day open one in New York... New Yorkers keep an eye out!

On our last day in Florence Kailey and I went to the Central Market, which is a huge covered market full of fresh meat, fresh fish, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and authentic pasta. There were a few restaurants inside that were more like stands, and a couple picnic type tables where people were squished next to each other getting comfortable and enjoying their pasta. When we were waiting in live we saw this 6 foot, heavy set man grubbing on a three course pasta meal. He was obviously a regular. The man never even sat down, he just shoveled the food into his mouth as he stood at the counter. I loved it! We got the pesto and bruschetta. It was such an authentic italian meal, everyone sharing a long table in a loud market full of people yelling over you to their friend who is ordering food in line while they saved seats.

Basilica of Santa Croce.

After our second night at La Luna, Alfonso the server took us to Piazza de Santa Croce for a drink. You order one at a bar and then you can just walk out and find a seat on the steps of the Basilica or an open bench in the piazza. Very different than California, huh guys?! We can't even drink on the beach!

Oops, got side tracked by the order of my pictures, now back to our last day in Florence: Sarah (gosh I hope I have my facts straight on this one) heard about a place Piazza Michelangelo where you can hike up to these steps where people gather to watch the sunset behind a beautiful view of the city.

Piazza Michelangelo is across this bridge and to the left. The weather was perfect for a sunset.

On our way up we passed this house where the gate was open... I want to live there.

View from atop the steps

The sun about to set

We arrived a little early but the closer it got to sunset the more the steps filled with people from all over the world. We were surrounded by Spaniards. We even made friends with a group from Sevilla.

The sunset and view of Florence was one of my favorite things we did. I kinda have a thing for city views AND sunsets so I was in heaven. I am use to watching the sunset on the beach so this was a nice little change. You can see the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio in the pictures.

Dinner

Dessert: Gelato. This place was right around the corner from our hotel and we didn't find it till our last night. If I remember correctly they have multiple locations in Italy: Rome, Turin, Milan and Florence.

Now off to Roma! Ciao e Arrivederci!