Welcome to Roma!

Crazy Nights; The Rome edition!

Rome has been amazing! We experienced it all by foot, and walked all day every day... but I've never loved walking more. The gardens and parks were all stunning, and the Colleseum was beautiful. We saw it lit up orange at night and then went during the day to explore as well. The Trevi fountain was covered for restoration the day AFTER we saw it in all its glory and lit up in the night time (lucky break!), and we met a great Ausi named Jeremy who went with Ryan and I on the Spanish Steps Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl was pretty crazy, free shots at each bar and A LOT of boozing! then, on the second night, Jeremy and I walked about twenty blocks at 1am to find food after talking for hours in the hostel about all the foods that we missed from home. The neighborhood was super sketchy.... and for a moment I thought that we might be in trouble haha... but we arrived home safe and sound after salad and shwarma ...mmmmm.
On our last day there, we saw a huge military parade and celebration, and some great artists... then we booked our cheap flight to Athens, found the airport, and made our way out of Rome with the help of Jose (our roommate.) Rome was an amazing city with a great night life... but I can't wait for Athens!!!

Florence Pt. 2

(An overview)

Ryan, Scott and I went to the top of the Duomo at the Cathedral of S. Maria del fiore in Florence. There's no life so we had to walk 463 steps to the top... and then down again... but it was well worth every step! You could see out over Florence and Tuscany in every direction and all the pillars were white marble and absolutely gorgeous. Inside the ceilings were painted with huge, beautiful murals and there was amazing artwork everywhere. We also went to Museo dell' Opera and Academea where we saw the Statue of David by Michelangelo. They say once you've seen 'Daved' you have seen perfection.. and I absolutely agree. The people in Florence were all very friendly as well, however it's very "fashion forward" aka expensive aka... no shopping for me :( lol. It certainly sets itself apart from everywhere else in Italy that we have seen, and I really liked it there, but after the big attractions there isn't much else to see. Tonight we are going to the street market, and then we are out of here and off to ROMA! can't wait!

Florence, Italy

Chianti and Tuscany wine tasting! (and the black cock lol)

Today was an amazing day! I met so many great people and got to see some great views in Tuscany. The drive through Chianti was all fields, sunflowers and rolling hills (amazing!) We went to two different wine tastings and had tons of different breads, meats, cheeses (and of course wine), while relaxing out on the terrace overlooking the sunflower fields. After the tastings, we walked up to the small village of San Gimignano and got a great view over Chianti. We also did some shopping in the town market and had some world famous Gilato (best in the WORLD in 2007.) then we finished off the day by walking downtown Florence to the canal and the Gardens, and we all enjoyed the view together. THEN, after all of that, we went back to the hostel and climbed up onto the roof where we all sat, drank wine together, and looked out over the city! It really was such an amazing day and a great contender for one of my favorite here in Europe. I will definitely remember the rooftop chats forever.
Sooooo.. you must now be wondering about the black cock? lol.... don't worry... I'm talking about a rooster! The black rooster is pretty strong symbol there, and there was actually one running around at our second wine tasting that I caught (although it did try to bite me eventually :P)

Venice, Italy

October 11, 2008 - Let the Pictures Speak for themselves!
St. Marks square, the Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal, Great new friends and amazing travel stories shared over wine. It's time to leave for Florence, but I could stay in Venice forever. ♥t

Amsterdam Adventures

October 8, 2008

Driving from Berlin to Amsterdam was 6 hours long and i didn't get bored for a second. The view through the Netherlands was beautiful- all green fields and so many windmills; just listening to music and enjoying the window seat.
The city was even more amazing with beautiful architecture, the canals, and the lit up main street. It is a mix of London, Paris, Berlin, Venice and New York all in one. Plus, the people there are SO nice, and the streets are so safe that I felt completely at home there. If I had to live anywhere here, it would be Amsterdam. And all of the bikes! Parking garages full of bikes, special bike lanes and light on the roads for bikes (I could lose a lot of weight riding around here lol.)
The red light district had so much character that it brought life to the entire city, and I even dragged the boys to the Van Gogh Gallery which made the experience ten times better. I saw "Sunflowers" (his defining piece) and "Wheat field." We took a boat tour through the canals until it got dark, and then we stayed thirty minutes out of town in the cutest little cabins (which were freezing), but it was an awesome experience (and I'm sure we'll get a good laugh out of it later!) Keep an eye out for more ridiculousness! Lovingly ♥t

Berlin! - The land of Quirky Things

October 6, 2008

Wow! Berlin is a beautiful place! It's so much more built up and urban than anywhere else that we've been (at it's center), so it's a big change of pace. The graffiti here is amazing and it's everywhere that you look. Most of my pictures have actually been of painted walls and street art. We took the train out to Sachenhousen Concentration camp and took the guided tour. It's so intense to actually stand where so many people lived and died... and it evoked a lot of unexpected emotion. after we did that, we went to see a large standing portion of the Berlin Wall in East Berlin and spent a lot of time just walking along beside it. I bought some really great black and white postcards to put up in my room when I eventually make it home :P A cool little fact that I learned: East and West Berlin actually fought to keep their own "walk" signals on their street lights, so it's HUGE here! They have them on magnets, mugs, shirts (you name it- they have it!) Anyways, I've loved my stay here (and not just because we finally got around to doing laundry), but I can't wait to get out of the big city atmosphere and back into the country. Next stop- Amsterdam! ... Smokin! ♥t

Oktoberfest!!

October 10, 2008- Do it for the Beer!

Huge Beers. Huge Beer tents. Amazing entertainment. Great food. Biggest party I've ever seen!
We almost didn't even make it to Oktoberfest because of a mess up with the train schedule from Paris and having to spend ANOTHER night in a train station... but we made it just in time for the last day of celebrations! The room in our hostel could only fit 2, so we had to sneak Ryan in and out with the crowds (which we thought would be difficult seeing as he's 6 feet tall and one of the only people NOT in lederhosen), but it was easy as pie! The crowds were huge, people piling onto the metro, all drunk and all singing, and I had a beer chugging contest with Scott that I (almost) won... all in all it was definitely worth the effort. Love always; Hung over and happy ♥t

Pictures from Paris

Oui Oui Paris!

October 3, 2008 - lost and found

What can I say about Paris other than it was gorgeous! We got a little lost finding our hostel that ended up being on a street that doesn't exist (conveniently located two blocks from metro stop that isn't located on the tourist maps), however we found our footing again after a drawn out verbal battle of "whose the loudest?" (Oh the joys of traveling with friends! :P)
We only had 3 other roommates at our hostel (instead of the 16 that we had in London), and we spent a lot of our time with 2 of them (Emily and Christie> sisters who were from Canada as well.) Our third roommate seemed like a nice girl, but she was only with us for one night and scott stole her pants in his sleep... so we distanced ourselves after that, lol.
We saw the Eifel tower in the daylight and lit up again at night, and we rode to the top to see all of Paris lit up at night. We also went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa (soooo small), and the statue of Aphrodite- Venus de Milo (among other things.) We took the metro and then walked in the rain to Notre Dame... and then spent far too many euros on ice cream on our way home. Aside from the main attractions, we saw Moulan Rouge and then bought a feast of chicken and salads from the outdoor market on Rue de Pigalle. I wish that we could have stayed in Paris so much longer than we did> maybe I would have picked up a little more of the language :S Oh well, Signing off for now; clearly foreign :P ♥t

My First Day as a Backpacker- Welcome to the Road

September 28, 2008- First Steps

I don't think that I've ever been as nervous as I am today; Setting out on a new adventure, far from home with little more than the shoes on my feet. I left today with Scott and Ryan from the airport in Toronto, and have landed safely here in London, UK to a beautiful view of the morning sunrise. We don't check in at our first hostel until noon, so it's safe to say that we have plenty of time to get lost as we take our very first 'baby steps' on new soil. Now, I know that this is pretty lame for a first entry, however nothing more exciting than airplane food and jet lag has come our way just yet (yes.. I said 'yet'.) If you know me though, then it's safe to assume that I will get into plenty of trouble before this month is over. Wish me luck!!! ♥t

September 30, 2008 - Sick Days!

London has been awesome! We only had one day of rain, I ate the best fish and chips EVER, took a walk through Kensington Park to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the Guards. We took a walk down the wharf through the art district, and to the London Aquarium where I pretended for a little while that I was in the movie 'Closer' meeting my quirky online stalker (apologies... I just can't help but love that movie), as well as all the other tourist sites (London Bridge, London Eye, Shakespeare's globe Theater, and Westminster Abbey.) It was my first time on the metro without being mindlessly guided through Toronto, and I don't think I've ever heard the words Piccadilly Circus' more in my entire life.
Last night , I climbed into bed around midnight to find that there was German in my bunk! He had thrown my things onto a hostel locker and left me to fend for myself. After feeling around in the dark for a spare bunk (and touching far to many other travelers for my first week :P), I managed to find a bunk under an open window, and got rained on over night leaving me sick and coughing all day today. I am NOT miserable.. because London is gorgeous... but I am wishing away this sick... asap! ♥t

October 1, 2008- Sleeping at Buffalo Burger!

Bump in the Road #1: Getting from London to Paris proved to be more of an adventure than we had bargained for! When we got to the train station in London, we realized that price difference between taking the train that night and the train in the morning was vastly different (main difference being about 150$), but we had no accommodations in London for the night... so we decided to camp out. Now, the station was gorgeous... don't get me wrong... but it was also partially outside... in October... in London (if you catch my drift.) We took shelter in Buffalo Burger where we met a fellow traveler working temporarily behind the counter, and when he heard our story he offered us food, booze and shelter until the end of his shift. I had a great nap on the counter while he swept the floors, and then he took Scott, Ryan and myself out for drinks at a neighborhood pub where I drank until I would only stand because I had to :P, then he walked us back to the station to catch our train. I can't imagine that I will ever forget London to Paris aka our night at Buffalo Burger. Thanks Robert!! ♥t