Paris Round 2

I never thought I’d be able to say I’d been to Paris twice in one semester – but I can! When my mom was planning her trip to come visit me she talked to her good friend Erika who lives in a town in southern France.  Mom decided to make sure to see Erika while she was here, so while I was in Portugal mom was with Erika in France!

Once Steph left on Sunday I took a plane to Paris to meet Erika and Mom and we stayed there for a few days doing some sight seeing. Although I had already been for a weekend, Paris was just as captivating and fun as the first time around!

I saw a lot of the main sights again, but traveling around with Erika was different because we got a local point of view on everything we did.

I also got to climb to the top of Notre Dame and the Arc di Triomphe, which I didn’t do last time! The views from up there were spectacular and it made you feel like you were watching a movie set in Paris, when at the beginning they show scenes of the city and landmarks.

On top of Notre Dame with Mommy

View from Notre Dame

Mom, Erika and I on top of the Arc di Triomphe

I also really enjoyed the time we spent at Sacre Couer. Last time we simply saw the church and checked out the great view. However, Erika took us behind the church where we found this adorable neighborhood with a whole square filled with artists painting and selling their work. It was such a different feel than I’d seen in the city and I loved that there was something so close to where I had been before although I’d never seen it.

On Tuesday I met up with my friend Reigan, who is studying in Paris! We met at Lauderee to get macaroons because I couldn’t leave without trying some again. It’s a little strange to me how normal it feels to see all of my best friends in other countries. I think I’m getting a little too used to this whole traveling around Europe thing.

Paris was so much fun because I got to see it all with my mom, who had never been there before. I was so incredibly happy to see her and was glad we got to spend some time there together.

It was also nice to see “My Erika,” who was always there while I was growing up and is so much fun to be around. I definitely had fun watching my mom and Erika hang out. It was like the time that had passed since Erika moved to France had never happened and they picked up right where they left out. It was pretty inspiring to see a friendship like that, which cannot be stopped by years, countries or oceans!

Still best friends

Penguins In Portugal #2

On Thursday night we took a train to Lisbon, which is about 3 hours south of Porto.  This city started out a bit differently than Porto.

We walked into our hostel and the lobby was filled with screaming teenagers and two adults shouting at them in Portuguese. We waited for the commotion to die down and once they had gone to their rooms we went to the desk. The overwhelmed man told us that 90 Portuguese ninth graders would be staying at the hostel that night. So we were really looking forward to that.

In our 6-person room we met one of our roommates, Barbara, who was from the Czech Republic and told us she was afraid of the other girls in our room who apparently spoke Spanish. We never actually met them.

That night the 9^th graders decided they would rather run around the hostel until 6am screaming and singing and laughing instead of sleep. Even when Barbara got out of bed (wearing no pants, might I add) to yell at them to go to sleep they were unstoppable.

We woke up the next morning dreary-eyed and ready to kill some high schoolers but they had (thankfully) checked out.  Steph and I had booked a tour for the day through a company called “We Hate Tourism Tours.” We weren’t sure what to expect but had heard good things about it!

We were driven around to some amazing sights outside of Lisbon in a 9-seater van that was painted red and said “We Are Not The Fire Department” on the side. Our tour guide Miguel was such a character and kept us laughing the whole day.

We stopped in a number of little towns and did some wandering through neighborhoods, souvenir shopping and pastry-eating. It was determined after this trip that we will be opening a bakery and learning how to make Portuguese pastries. Because they are amazing.

My favorite part of the tour was when we went to Quinta da Regaleria. The gardens were originally built by the Regaleria Family in 1892 as a summer home. Since then they have been transformed into a tourist site and the original home is now a museum.

The gardens were so beautiful and felt somewhat magical. Steph and I spent a lot of time just climbing up the paths and looking for waterfalls and castle towers.

When we left the gardens we drove to the western-most point of mainland Europe. I thought that this stop would be cool because of its location, but it was so incredibly beautiful all on its own. We sat on the edge of the cliffs and looked out over the Atlantic Ocean. We squinted really hard but couldn’t quite make out the U.S. on the other side.

Miguel, our driver

After that we had a delicious Portuguese picnic prepared by our driver. We only had one more stop left, and it was to a little town that had a statue dedicated to Portuguese explorers (because Portugal found a lot of places on Earth) and a beautiful church. But that best part about the last stop was the pastry that our driver bought for us and had waiting when we came out of the church. YUM.

That ended our tour and Steph and I headed back to take a little nap. Between the 9^th graders the night before and the all-day tour we were ready for a snooze.

We woke up in time for dinner, which we ate with our two German roommates (who were so fun and nice) and two men from America who were in the army stationed in Europe and just traveling for the weekend. We met some pretty interesting characters in Lisbon but have some great stories now!

The next day we planned on walking around the main city center and seeing what there was in the “city” part of Lisbon, since we had left for smaller towns the day before.

An abundance of rain slowed that plan down but we still walked around to shops and had some delicious Starbucks so I’d say it was a good day.

We left for the airport early the next morning. Steph boarded a plane home and I headed to Paris to meet up with my mom.

Getting to spend some time with Steph was so much fun. I got to show her around my lovely Verona and we had the chance to see a great new place together!

Penguins In Portugal #1

On Wednesday, March 13^th, Steph and I headed out for Portugal. This is somewhere that both of us had wanted to go and we were excited to get to experience it together.

We flew into Porto Wednesday night, which is a town in northern Portugal. Since our flight was taking us there we had decided to spend one night in Porto before heading to Lisbon the next day.

The minute we walked into our hostel in Porto I knew it was going to be a fun trip. The receptionist came running to the desk from another room saying something about burning a cake. Sure enough, after we got settled in our room we walked downstairs to find fresh, free homemade chocolate cake. So that was a nice start.

The next day we decided to do a free walking tour of Porto. We figured this would be the best way to learn about the city. The tour was extremely interesting and we both fell in love with Porto instantly. In hindsight we should have stayed more than one day because we just loved it so much.

At Cafe Magestic

Beautiful painted tiles that were all over the buildings

The tour took us all around the city and we had the chance to see some amazing architecture. Our tour guide told us some interesting things but this is what really stuck with me.

Similarities between Porto and Harry Potter

1. J.K. Rowling was living in Porto around the time she began writing the series

2. It is believed (but not confirmed) that she began writing in this café, which Steph and I unknowingly ate ice cream in at about 10 am that day.

3. Portugal had a terrible dictator by the name of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar

which is also the name of the founder of the Slytherin House.

4. The University students in Portugal where uniforms, and part of the uniforms includes a CAPE, much like the uniforms at Hogwarts.

After the walking tour we decided to do a tour of a wine cellar. Porto is known for port wine, which is sweeter than normal wine. This is due to the fact that the fermentation is stopped early so that not all of the sugar has turned to alcohol yet. Brandy is also added to port wine, giving it much higher alcohol content than normal wine.

The wine tour was one of our favorite things and we got to try some really tasty stuff!

Showing Off My City

On Monday and Tuesday (the 11^th and 12^th) I got to show Steph around Verona! It’s so much fun having someone to show off to and really made me realize how proud I am of Verona.

On Monday we did a lot of walking and looking. I also took her to Juliet’s house and we went inside the museum there, which was the first time I’d done that!

The museum had some really interesting items, like the bed that was used in the original 1968 film. We also got to stand out on Juliet’s balcony, which was pretty exciting.

On Tuesday we met up with Maggie and planned on having a picnic at the top of a hill with a great view. However, we got sidetracked by a cute little restaurant with a terrace looking over the river and decided to eat there instead. The PB&J sandwiches in my purse would be eaten later that day.

After eating we really did walk up the hill and spent some time goofing around and taking in the sights of Verona. I realized that is why I love this city so much. There is no Eiffel Tower or Coliseum to rush to, but there are still some amazing things to see. You can spend time truly soaking in the culture and your surroundings while touring Verona.  

Sister and Venice

On the afternoon of Saturday, March 9 my sister Steph arrived in Verona! After an extremely long journey she was happy to get to my apartment. I have no words for how excited I was to see her, my little piece of home :)

I let her sleep a little that afternoon and we headed out for a delicious dinner of lasagna, wine and funny waiters who laugh at my attempts to speak Italian. After a stroll in the piazza for gelato we snuggled up in my twin bed to get some rest.

The next morning we headed to Venice for the day with my program. I truly didn’t know what to expect, because my only knowledge of Venice is that it’s sinking (or something like that).

When we arrived I immediately knew I was in a place unlike any other. I think that was my main take-away from the day there – Venice it’s incredibly unique just by the nature of it’s geographical design.

In the morning Claudio took us to a glass blowing studio and a school famous for teaching how to make Venetian lace. We saw demonstrations at both places and had some time to look around at the amazing hand-crafted products there.

It was time for lunch after that. Since it was a Claudio-planned trip, you already know that lunch was one of the highlights. I’d like to think that this semester has really helped me broaden my horizons and I’m into trying new things. However, eating squid-ink pasta was not such a positive experience. It tasted like the Shedd Aquarium. 

After lunch we walked past a small canal with some gondoliers waiting for anxious tourists to drop their euros for a scenic tour through the floating city. We were those exact tourists.

While on the gondola we learned that no cars or bikes are allowed on the island of Venice, and that there are over 400 bridges in the city connecting all of the smaller islands.

We had some more free time after that and decided to visited St. Mark’s Basilica and wander through the shops.

Venice was definitely an exciting day and I loved watching how all of the boats, gondolas and water taxis navigate the Grand Canal together. 

Catching Up

No one ever told me how exhausting traveling was going to be. In the past 14 days I have been in 4 countries, my sister Steph came and went, and I got to spend time with my parents and Mark. Needless to say, I am a very very lucky girl.

I’m going to try to catch up in the next few posts and recap everything I did over my spring break!